《The Legion of Nothing》


 The Beginning: Part 1

    Cassie held out the latest issue of "Double V," flipping the front half of the magazine under the back to make it easier to hold. She pointed to an article titled "Twelve Threats: New and Notable."


    Halfway down the list of new supervillains was a picture of a group of men and women with automatic rifles. Below the text it said:


    "Syndicate L: A growing criminal organization originating in the northeast but with connections throughout the country, it specializes in acquiring materials-both legal and illegal. Staffed primarily by normal, unmodified humans, it employs a few supers as hired muscle."


    "We could take them," she said. "Not the whole group, but definitely a local branch."


    I stood by my locker, flipping my eyes between the magazine and her face.


    This was the part where (in her mind) I should now be saying, "Great, let''s go out tonight and take on organized crime."


    Or to put it another way, it was a totally crazy idea. I was about to tell her as much when one of her friends stepped out of the between classes crowd and stopped next to us.


    "Hey Kayla." Cassie pushed the magazine into my hands.


    "Thanks for showing me the article, Nick," she said, leading Kayla down the hall.


    Kayla gave me an odd look, likely mystified as to why Cassie would be talking to me at all.


    At that moment, I was living proof that knowledge did not bring peace of mind.


    Last year she wouldn''t have been talking to me. We moved in different circles. Hers: girl jocks. Mine: smart kids who spend more time on odd projects like building trebuchets or robots than doing their actual schoolwork.


    The latter circle, by the way, was a group of one.


    That changed last summer. My grandfather had died in May; Cassie had called to find out how I was doing. She also asked if I knew what any of the others were doing and mostly I didn''t. With the official dissolution of the Grand Lake Heroes League and the deaths of all but two of its members, I didn''t know where to begin.


    I visited her a few times though. She was on bed rest for half the summer due to receiving some kind of treatment. I guessed cancer, but she didn''t want to talk about it.


    We did talk about our shared childhoods-picnics in the park near my grandfather''s lab, almost all of the heroes being grandparents now and their costumes packed away. The only exception to this being Cassie''s father (Captain Commando), who, thanks to an acute case of immortality, was still active more than fifty years after World War II.


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    I remembered him manning the grill, joking along with all the adults, but sometimes going silent and gazing off into the distance. In retrospect, I wondered what was going on. Was it just his temperament or was he reflecting on the fact that all his friends - all the people he would ever meet - would die soon and he would just continue living? If so, it was ironic that he would be blown up four years before my grandfather died.


    Not that Cassie and I discussed that much.


    "DVD Night" was her idea. Get together all the kids again, hang out, watch a movie and remember.


    It was a success of a kind. Most of the kids were older than we are and had left town for one reason or another, but we managed to get four of us most weeks, sometimes a few more.


    Cassie and I were regulars, of course, but we also had Daniel, son of Mindstryke and grandson of the Mentalist (another war buddy of grandpa''s), and Jaclyn, a granddaughter of Hotfoot. Sometimes one or another of Jaclyn''s older brothers would be there and sometimes the grandchildren of Red Lightning or the Night Wolf but nobody else I considered a friend.


    In August, Cassie began to feel better. The treatments stopped and I began to realize what kind of treatments they were. They weren''t treatments for cancer. They were treatments for being normal and she had definitely been cured.


    She spent one week completely awake, occupying herself by doing things like running to and from Jericho, a town forty miles up the coast of Lake Michigan. Unlike Hotfoot or his grandchildren, she wasn''t spectacularly fast, so it really did take her most of the night.


    I remember running into her at DVD night the next day.


    "You''re... okay?" I said after hearing about what she''d done.


    "I''m not just okay," she said, "I''m not even tired."


    A couple weeks after that she signed up at the studio where I took martial arts. If this were any normal martial arts studio, I''d undoubtedly be telling you how she shocked the teacher with her intense focus and inhuman level of athletic ability, but it was not a normal studio.


    So I''ll just tell you that she fit in-better than I did, actually. When I wasn''t wearing my grandfather''s armored suit, I didn''t have any powers.


    Not having powers wasn''t a problem though. Unlike Cassie, I had no intention of going out in the night and fighting crime.

 The Beginning: Part 2

    Jaclyn left a message on my cell phone¡¯s voicemail. She couldn¡¯t make it. This was par for the course now that the school year had started. She wanted to get into medical school and the first piece of that plan included getting into the best college she could manage. So far, she had straight A¡¯s.


    I stepped into the only clear corner of Grandpa¡¯s lab. After a brief burst of red light, the retinal scanner passed me, four walls shot up from the floor, and the elevator dropped several hundred feet into the earth.


    Moments later, I stepped out into the remains of the headquarters of Earth¡¯s premiere postwar superhero team. Think concrete walls, floors and ceiling with an olive green carpet that had to have been installed in the 1970¡¯s. The TV was twenty feet high and used to show the faces of presidents and generals needing the League¡¯s help.


    That night it would show ¡°The Godfather¡± (Daniel¡¯s choice) which fit the dignity of the place better than last week¡¯s movie--¡°Monty Python and the Holy Grail¡± (my choice).


    Cassie¡¯s choices veered wildly between romantic comedies and war movies.


    She sat down and looked irritated when I told them about Jaclyn, but Daniel just said, ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go.¡±


    I grabbed a piece of pizza and sat in a bucket seat salvaged from Dr. Madness¡¯ War Machine, one of many mementos littering the League¡¯s HQ. Whatever else might be said about that late, unlamented, evil genius, he had comfortable chairs.


    We watched Michael Corleone get pulled back into the family business. Cassie fiddled with items from her duffle bag, but Daniel and I enjoyed it.


    After it ended, Cassie got up and walked to the bathroom while I popped out the DVD and put Guitar Hero II into the playstation.


    While Daniel and I worked our way through ¡°Carry On, My Wayward Son,¡± she came back. I didn¡¯t notice until he paused the game.


    ¡°I¡¯m going out on patrol,¡± she said.


    She wore a costume that was an exact match for her father¡¯s¡ªlight blue with the red, white and blue of the U.S. flag covering her chest. I recognized the material. My grandfather had designed it for her father. It was resistant to bullets and most physical attacks. Grandpa could have made it bulletproof, but Captain Commando preferred mobility to protection. His major power was regeneration, so being hit wasn''t such a big deal.


    Cap¡¯s costume had also been skintight, but I¡¯d never thought about it.


    I noticed one other thing. She¡¯d cut off her hair. It was a short, blond brush cut instead of shoulder length.


    ¡°Your hair,¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said, ¡°it wasn¡¯t comfortable under the mask and it moved around a lot. So I cut it off back in August.¡±


    ¡°You had hair five minutes ago.¡±


    She pulled a blond wig out of her duffel bag.


    ¡°Now that we¡¯ve got the important stuff out of the way,¡± she said, ¡°why don¡¯t we get back to the original point. I¡¯m going out on patrol. Anyone want to go with me?¡±


    Daniel said, ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll go get into costume. It¡¯s in my car.¡±


    ¡°You guys go,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll be here.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Cassie said. Whether her tone had an accusatory edge to it or not, I believed I heard one.


    ¡°Because that¡¯s not a direction I want my life to take,¡± I said. ¡°I sat down here with my grandfather or up in his lab and met the heroes who came through. Half of them were talking about their divorces or how their lives were going down the tubes because they were fighting crime instead of paying attention to their job or their kids. I don¡¯t want to do that.


    ¡°I want to have a life where I only have one identity and I have time to do things actually I care about.¡±


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    ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°Well, do that then.¡±


    Daniel said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be like that. My parents have been happily married for years and for that matter, I¡¯d say his work as a prosecutor actually complements his work as a superhero.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just drop it,¡± she said. ¡°You go change, I¡¯ve got to find something.¡±


    As he walked toward the elevator, he grinned at me and I heard his voice in my head. Don¡¯t worry about it. She¡¯s just nervous. First time out on the streets at night. And by the way, if you do know where her dad¡¯s sword is, tell her. It might be a while before she asks.


    Well, a telepath would know. On the other hand, I thought to myself, I could just let her search.


    Not worth it.


    Cassie, in the meantime, was already looking irritated. The League¡¯s meeting room was the size of a basketball court and filled with file cabinets, obscure curios, small monuments and awards.


    More than one sword hung on the wall.


    ¡°Cassie,¡± I said, ¡° I know where your dad¡¯s sword is.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± She swept across the room with her eyes. ¡°That¡¯s great, because I don¡¯t want to sort through all this crap right now.¡±


    I got it for her. It was in the storage area for powered equipment just off the meeting room along with my grandpa¡¯s spare suits, all of them standing at attention, shining golden in the light, and waiting for action.


    It¡¯s been called the Freedom Sword and the Eagle Sword but that¡¯s just by the press. Cap just called it the sword and occasionally ¡°the goddamn oversized can-opener.¡± From what I¡¯ve heard, he never had any strong attachment to it. It¡¯s associated with him in the public imagination because it¡¯s the only piece of equipment Grandpa made for him that lasted more than a couple months. Well, that and the fact that he died with it in his hand.


    It¡¯s not really meant for sword fighting. It¡¯s more for chopping through things like tanks, walls and bridges.


    As Cassie strapped the sword on her back, she said, ¡°Thanks.¡±


    ¡°No problem.¡±


    ¡°Not to spoil the gesture,¡± she said, ¡°but the only reason you knew what I was looking for is because Daniel pulled it out of my head and told you, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°He has to stop doing that. Even when it helps, it¡¯s still creepy.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll get no argument from me,¡± I said.


    They left soon after that.


    I tried playing Guitar Hero for a little while, but I found I wasn¡¯t in the mood. I thought about going home and going to bed, but it was only nine.


    I got up and walked into the lab. I could almost see grandpa there, scribbling on the plans for the next version of his suit, mumbling about what an idiot he¡¯d been when he designed the last version and telling me how much better the next version would be.


    He wasn¡¯t there, of course.


    The tools, the tables and the fabrication machines¡­ They were there. The computers we¡¯d used to design the last version of the suit were there too.


    He¡¯d included me in the process, justifying it by saying he needed a young mind to help him with the CAD software. By the end, I knew every piece of the suit, the materials, the systems and subsystems, his design philosophy and the experiences behind some of the quirkier design choices he¡¯d made.


    The suit stood in the corner like medieval armor¡ªassuming that armor had been designed in an Art Deco style. It was golden with black detailing. Streamlined. Slim.


    I stared at the helmet.


    Would it kill me, I asked myself, if I took to the streets for one night?

 The Beginning: Part 3

    The League¡¯s HQ had a lot of exits. The one I shot out of opens up just above water level on Grand Lake itself. It used to pour sewage into the lake, but was abandoned by the city in the 1960¡¯s.


    It was Grandpa¡¯s favorite way to exit the complex.


    I could see why. There¡¯s something about bursting out of a tunnel, flying briefly over dark water and then turning to see the lights of the city, the public beach, and the harbor.


    I¡¯m not sure what it is.


    By the time I crossed the highway that runs next to the lake, I¡¯d formulated a few rules for what I would and would not do that evening. I was not going to go find Cassie and Daniel. I was not going to turn on the police band and listen for crimes.


    What I was going to do was get out of League HQ, get out of my parents¡¯ house and do something that nobody had told me to do.


    If it so happened that I saw a crime being committed, I would stop it, but I wasn¡¯t going to seek out trouble.


    I landed on a lawn just on the other side of the highway, next to a collection of hotels and high-rise apartment buildings. Running, I crossed the sidewalk and merged into traffic.


    With a name like ¡°The Rocket,¡± you might expect Grandpa to have flown everywhere, but he didn¡¯t. He only had an hour of fuel to work with so he spent most of his patrols on the ground.


    Even though the new version of the suit was lighter than the original, making that one hour of fuel last three, I liked running. For one thing it charged the suit¡¯s battery. For another, if you really wanted to appreciate the physical power the suit made available to you, you could keep up with traffic¡ªprovided traffic was moving below forty miles per hour.


    Not that I had much traffic to deal with. I¡¯d deliberately chosen an empty street. This evening¡¯s exercise was less about fighting crime than sorting things out in my head.


    I got into the run, settling on a good thirty mile per hour pace and began to think about what had driven me out for the night.


    It wasn¡¯t really the life of a superhero that bothered me. It was the feeling of being pushed into it. Grandpa had never asked me if I wanted his suit. He¡¯d just given it to me in a secret clause of his will.


    He¡¯d also never asked me if I wanted his lab or the League¡¯s HQ beneath it.


    Or if I needed eleven million dollars in a Swiss bank account earmarked for ¡°fighting evil¡±¡ªall of which would be donated to the Superhero Legal Defense Fund should I choose not to bother.


    So yeah, no pressure.


    Despite having all the time in the world to think, I got nowhere. I ran through conversations with my grandfather in my head, trying to think if he¡¯d ever brought it up in any way. I couldn¡¯t. In the end, I just concentrated on the running, not worrying about where I was or how quickly was moving. By the time I started paying attention to the world around me, I didn¡¯t recognize anything.


    The SUV ahead of me stopped.


    Not having the space to slow down, I jumped up, shooting over the SUV and landing just short of people smoking on the sidewalk in front of ¡°Willy¡¯s Bar¡± (or so said the sign in the window). The guy nearest to me dropped his cigarette, shouting, ¡°Holy shit! You trying to kill me?¡±


    I gave a little wave and said, ¡°Sorry.¡± Thanks to the fact that I¡¯d been showing Daniel the suit¡¯s ability to imitate sounds, this came out less reassuring than I thought it would¡ªwe¡¯re talking a 100% dead-on imitation of Darth Vader.


    On the bright side, the landing had killed my momentum.


    Deciding to stop trying to salvage the situation, I ignored them and started walking. The SUV wasn¡¯t the only stopped car. From what I could see, the line of cars went to the end of the block.


    It wasn¡¯t a block that I would choose to be stuck on. This part of Fourth Street seemed to be heavy on bars, liquor stores, seedy shops and boarded-up buildings.


    I reached the end of the block to find two cars in the middle of the intersection. A rusty, blue pickup had hit an Audi convertible from behind, smashing the trunk in.


    A crowd of people stood on the corners and watched while the owners yelled at each other. In one corner, a thirty-ish, blond guy who looked like he went to the gym several times a week. In the other (next to the truck with the broken headlight) stood a pot-bellied, forty-something with a stringy beard and a Metallica t-shirt.


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    I stopped at the back of the crowd, wondering if I would have to open up with the rockets and fly over. ¡°Excuse me,¡± I said, ¡°coming through¡­¡±


    No one turned to look at me. No one moved.


    It occurred to me that switching the voice mechanism to a lightly modified version of my own voice and away from Darth Vader''s might have been a bad idea.


    I tapped the guy ahead of me on the shoulder. He wore a Grand Lake University sweatshirt and was standing at the back of a group of guys.


    He turned around, beginning to say, ¡°What do you want¡° when he suddenly seemed to notice the armor.


    ¡°Please move,¡± I said, turning up the volume on the PA a little.


    ¡°No problem,¡± he said. ¡°Uh... Guys?¡±


    They parted like the Red Sea.


    The man in the Metallica t-shirt had the passenger door open and seemed to be going through the glove compartment. ¡°Gimme a second,¡± he muttered.


    ¡°A second? I¡¯ve given you twenty minutes. No. You¡¯re going find your fucking insurance now.¡±


    The blond man pulled a handgun out of his Audi.


    The first thought that jumped into my head was that someone should call the police. The second thought? That I was an idiot.


    I jumped into the intersection, moving between the two men.


    I got shot.


    The bullet bounced harmlessly off the armor, but it was still a surprise. I pushed his arm toward the ground with my right hand while pulling the gun away with my left.


    Once I had the gun in my hand, I stuck my fingers through the guard and pushed the trigger sideways till I broke it.


    Then I dropped the gun and the trigger in the street.


    He looked down at the gun and then back up at me. Then he started shouting. ¡°You broke my gun. I¡¯ll kill you!¡±


    He went on in that vein for a while.


    I had no idea what to do. I had options. The most obvious was threatening him or punching him, but I didn¡¯t want to. When I was in costume, I could punch through walls¡ªand people. I knew I had to do something though. In the moment, however, it was hard to think just what that should be.


    As some bullies at school had found, I was not all that great with witty repartee under pressure either.


    I decided to ignore him. I turned to check on the guy with the truck. He¡¯d shut his car door and stood next to the vehicle, having found what he was looking for or just given up.


    From behind me I heard, ¡°Hey, you¡¯re not listening to me. Listen to me, damn you! I¡¯m going to sue you. You and this guy too. He trashed my car. You trashed my gun. That¡¯s private property. Did you hear me? Private property.¡±


    I turned around, increasing the volume on the built-in PA as high as it could go. As in, up to eleven.


    Now before I go on, I should mention that I¡¯ve always had mixed feelings about the suit¡¯s sonic systems. First of all, because they could have permanent side effects--like deafness. Second, because I had always seen them as the result of forty years worth of feature creep. Back in WW2, Grandpa decided the suit needed a PA. Then he decided it might be useful if the PA could modify a person¡¯s voice. Then he noticed that he could break glass with the PA and wondered how far he could take that.


    Since the early 70¡¯s, in addition to the PA, each arm of the suit has had ¡°weaponized¡± speakers that can focus concentrated sound on an object, sometimes shattering it (even if it¡¯s not glass).


    Not that I was using anything more than the PA, but the PA was bad enough.


    ¡°Will. You. SHUT. UP,¡± I said.


    He heard me. That¡¯s what I¡¯m assuming from the way he put his hands to his ears and how his face whitened.


    Not only did he hear me, but so did the crowd (which went dead silent), people several blocks away, and, for all I know, people inside the International Space Station.


    He whimpered.


    Lowering the volume to something bearable, I turned back to the guy with the truck. ¡°You may as well find your registration, because I think I hear the police.¡±


    He didn¡¯t say anything. He just nodded.


    ¡°Well anyway,¡± I said to the crowd, ¡±have a nice night everybody.¡±


    I started the rockets and blasted into the air just as the police cars arrived.

 The Beginning: Part 4

    Lunch tray in my hands, I walked toward the table where Cassie sat. It was on the other side of the cafeteria from where I usually sat and just a few tables away from Kayla and the girls Cassie generally ate with. Kayla glanced in our direction as I sat down.


    ¡°You got my note,¡± Cassie said brightly.


    I had. It came in the form of a paper airplane to the back of my head during our only shared class¡ªgovernment.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got good aim,¡± I said.


    ¡°Looks like you made national news last night.¡± She put a printout on the table. Headlined ¡°The Rocket Returns?¡± an Associated Press article gave a brief description of the incident and went on to speculate about whether it was the 1940¡¯s era Rocket or a new one, including a quote from a ¡°superhero historian¡± that said, ¡°but if he is the same person, he has to be in his eighties or nineties...¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯d you find that?¡±


    ¡°Yahoo¡¯s got an RSS feed for superhero news, and besides, it¡¯s been on the local news all morning. Don¡¯t you listen to the radio?¡±


    ¡°Not this morning.¡±


    I eyed my lunch. In honor of the year¡¯s first football game, the hamburger had been renamed ¡°The Central High Burger,¡± dyed blue, and placed on a yellow bun.


    I suppose I should be thankful our school colors aren¡¯t orange and green.


    I took a bite. It tasted normal.


    ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°how did things go for you?¡±


    She grinned. ¡°Boring at first, but remember Syndicate L? We found them. They¡¯re here in Grand Lake.¡±


    ¡°Where and¡­ How do you know?¡±


    ¡°Daniel,¡± she said. ¡°They¡¯ve got an old warehouse downtown. He happened to pick up something from the mind of a truck driver making a delivery.¡±


    ¡°Did you tell his dad?¡±


    She rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Of course not. We¡¯re going to do this ourselves. And by we,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯d like to include you.¡±


    I nearly spat out my burger. It¡¯s not that I was surprised. I could hardly be surprised since she¡¯d be going on about this for a while now, but at our level of skill, I thought we shouldn¡¯t be taking on organized crime, we should be taking down muggers and working our way up.


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    She didn¡¯t wait for me to reply. ¡°I know you¡¯ve got mixed feelings about this and I know we¡¯re not experienced, but we¡¯re not going in without a plan. Daniel found out that something big is coming in tonight and it¡¯s not legal. Fortunately they¡¯re not guarding it with much. Ten people, maybe. Normal people. We can take them. Then we call the police.¡±


    ¡°And if you can¡¯t handle them¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°Then we call Daniel¡¯s dad or maybe even Larry.¡±


    Larry is better known as ¡°The Rhino.¡± He¡¯s a nationally recognized hero--though that¡¯s less because of his powers and more because of his nationally branded beer. It¡¯s not that he¡¯s not tough, he is. He¡¯s just better known for his portrait on the bottle and an over the top Superbowl ad than he is for any villain he¡¯s ever fought.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± She put her hands on the table as if she were just about to stand up and leave, but didn¡¯t.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t going do this,¡° she said, ¡°but Daniel tells me that whatever¡¯s going on with you is because you feel like I¡¯m making you do this. I¡¯m not making you. You started training with sensei five years ago. You¡¯ve been working with your grandfather longer than that. Whether or not you intended to, you¡¯ve been preparing longer than anyone but Daniel and he¡¯s had powers since birth.¡±


    I opened my mouth to interrupt.


    ¡°No,¡± she said, ¡°Don¡¯t say anything. Just think about it. You could have done anything last night after we left, but instead,¡° she lowered her voice, ¡°you went out for a run in costume. What does that tell you?


    ¡°You want to do it too. That¡¯s what. You¡ª¡° She looked up at the clock in the middle of the lunchroom wall. ¡°I¡¯ve got five minutes to eat all this stuff.¡± She indicated the tray in front of her. It held at least three trays worth of food.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a fast metabolism,¡± she said.

 The Beginning: Part 5

    Flying toward the warehouse that night, I was still thinking about the conversation. It¡¯s not just that I thought that Cassie was pushing me to do this. I knew that there was more to it.


    The conditions of my grandfather¡¯s will, I decided, were a weight over my head. The money. My grandfather¡¯s lab and the ownership of the complex underneath¡ªwhat was I supposed to do with them? Revive the Grand Lake Heroes League? In its time it had been major, but now things were different. We weren¡¯t heroes coming back from a war. We were a bunch of kids with middle of the pack powers.


    They¡¯d done a great thing and the best I could follow it up with was a kind of mediocre sequel.


    With that melancholy thought, I sighted the warehouse. In the twilight I couldn¡¯t see much other than that it was old, brown and brick¡ªwhich meant it didn¡¯t stand out at all in that section of the city.


    Daniel and Cassie were on the roof of the warehouse¡¯s twin across the street.


    I landed on the far side of the roof, trying not to be too obvious about it, and started walking toward them.


    Suddenly, I heard Daniel¡¯s voice in my head.


    Crawl. They¡¯ve got cameras and someone to monitor them. I think he missed you, but he¡¯s on the edge of my effective range, so I¡¯m not sure.


    Right, I thought, and crawled the rest of the way across the roof.


    The delivery already came. It¡¯s over there.


    A picture of the loading dock on the other side of the building appeared in my head. A semi had backed its trailer in.


    So why are we on this side of the building, I thought.


    Cassie¡¯s idea was that I could clairvoyantly scry from over here since they don¡¯t watch this side much.


    So do we have a plan?


    It¡¯s not much of a plan, but it¡¯s good enough. We fly over there, take them out, and call the police.


    Are you sure that¡¯s enough?


    They¡¯re normal people, Nick. All they¡¯ve got are guns. And besides they¡¯re all in the room next to the loading dock. I¡¯d bet it¡¯ll take less than a minute.


    Cassie said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    I stood up.


    And got shot.


    Twice.


    ¡°Where¡¯d that guy come from?¡± I muttered.


    He must have moved when we were talking. Sorry. He¡¯s behind the top floor window, the third from the end.


    I dived off the building with rockets engaged, hurtled across the gap and broke through the window, flying over the shooter and landing behind him. Landing is actually a charitable word for it since I stumbled and landed on my chest.


    I stood up and turned around to find a man in a black uniform pointing a rifle at me. I grabbed the rifle¡¯s body with my right hand, bent the barrel ninety degrees with my left and stepped forward to punch the guy in the face.


    He fell to the floor.


    As I looked down, wondering briefly if I¡¯d killed him despite my training, I heard Daniel in my head again.


    He¡¯s alive and we¡¯re off to the loading docks. Meet you there.


    I flew out the window and above the building just in time to see Daniel and Cassie disappearing over the far end of the roof. Not long ago he¡¯d had a hard time moving a basketball with his telekinesis. Now he could move people. It made me wonder what he¡¯d be able to do in five years.


    I caught up quickly and landed on the loading dock only slightly after them.


    Cassie had jumped into a group of three, downing one of them with a punch that knocked him off the loading dock. Two more were firing submachine guns at Daniel, but he seemed unharmed.


    The other three are behind the door. Get them before they call in reinforcements or something.


    A human-sized metal door stood to the left of the large door meant for unloading the truck. I ran for it, hitting it at as close to full speed as possible and knocking it out of the door frame.


    It slammed into the wooden floor inside and then slid for a few feet, knocking over a cot. The loading bay appeared to be some kind of combination control center and camp, containing cots, sleeping bags, a laptop, guns and boxes of gear.


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    The laptop on the desk showed eight different views of the outside of the building.


    The people inside the room pulled out guns and started firing at me. I didn¡¯t make any effort to disarm them. I just punched them until they stopped.


    Cassie walked in after me, stepping over the door. ¡°What did I say? It was easy. Good job, Rocket.¡±


    That was probably one of the stranger moments of the evening. In my mind, it¡¯s still my grandfather¡¯s name. I imagine him to have been confident in his abilities. Me? I was still worried I might have accidentally killed one of them, and, disturbed that one of them was a woman. Mind you, she had been firing an AK-47 at me, but it still felt wrong.


    Is it sexist that I didn¡¯t feel as bad about the men?


    ¡°Good job¡­ uh¡­ Captain Commando?¡±


    She laughed. ¡°You know, it¡¯s funny that you didn¡¯t know. You¡¯re right, but I¡­¡± She lapsed into silence, eyes on the unconscious bodies for a moment and then flicking back toward the door¡ªbehind which lay five more bodies if she and Daniel had done their jobs.


    ¡°It¡¯s funny,¡± she said again, not sounding amused at all, ¡°it¡¯s his name and his costume and it was all so easy. I should be happier about this, but¡­¡±


    She trailed off again.


    ¡°I think I know what you mean,¡± I said. ¡°It feels off somehow.¡±


    Daniel (or I suppose ¡°the Mystic¡± in this context) poked his head through the door. ¡°My dad says fighting normal people is a lot like fighting ten year olds. You¡¯re just so much better that it¡¯s not much of a challenge.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± he said, ¡°anyone want to find out what¡¯s in the semi?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± I said. ¡°I thought you could sense what¡¯s on the other side of walls and stuff.¡±


    ¡°Not if they block me.¡±


    We walked out to the loading dock and stared at the back door of the truck.


    Cassie put her hand on the latch. ¡°How would they block you?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± he said, ¡°some people use electronics. Sometimes telepaths can do it. That kind of thing.¡±


    She pulled the doors open.


    It looked more like an expensive hotel suite than I¡¯d expected--wall to wall carpeting (dark red), hot tub, big screen TV, large bed, and a walled off area at the far end that I assumed had to be the bathroom.


    A big man sat on the couch in front of the TV.


    He picked up the remote, turned off the TV, and pulled himself up to his full height. I¡¯d guess he was around six and half feet tall, but he wasn¡¯t especially frightening looking. He was balding, unshaven, had a bit of a potbelly, and stifled a yawn while he walked toward us.


    He wore a bathrobe.


    Cassie turned to me and said, ¡°This can¡¯t all be for him, can it?¡±


    I didn¡¯t answer. I¡¯d just recognized him.


    ¡°Double V¡± is the fanboy nickname for ¡°Villains and Vigilantes,¡± a magazine that covers supers. I don¡¯t get the magazine, but my grandpa did. I follow their website¡¯s RSS feed and had read his profile a couple years before.


    His name is Jason Swan, AKA The Grey Giant, AKA The Rock Goliath, AKA the West Coast ATM Thief. From what I remembered at the time, he was practically invulnerable and incredibly strong. He also had one other power, but I couldn¡¯t think of it.


    That bugged me.


    On his own he wasn¡¯t much of a threat. He didn¡¯t have much ambition. This isn¡¯t a guy who would be taking Chicago for ransom in exchange for ten billion dollars. Left to himself, he emptied bank vaults and stole ATM machines, but he didn¡¯t terrorize people.


    When working for other people though¡­ He killed two supers in Seattle three years ago¡ªLightweaver and the Shield. From what the article said, it wasn¡¯t malice. He just hit them too hard. That doesn¡¯t even count the normals who died when he knocked out a load bearing wall on a five story building.


    In the end, they needed half the North Pacific Defenders to take him down.


    Basically if you needed a distraction, needed to guard something, or needed somebody beaten up, he¡¯d do it for a price. The article described him as ¡°a small time thug with the powers of a world-beater.¡±


    And here he was.

 The Beginning: Part 6

    Before our eyes, he transformed from a paunchy, balding, middle-aged guy to a nine-foot tall, freakishly muscular humanoid with grey rock for skin.


    ¡°Happy, kids? You fucked up a good payday for me.  Should have gone outside the second I heard gunfire.¡± He started walking toward us, clenching his right hand into a fist.


    ¡°I don¡¯t make a habit of hurting children, but you know, I¡¯ve got to make an example.¡±


    He grew larger, too big to fit comfortably into the semi-trailer, but it didn¡¯t faze him. He just ripped out the roof. I¡¯d say he was fifteen feet tall at that point.


    I was about to ask Daniel to send everything I knew about him from my mind to Cassie¡¯s, but I was too slow.


    Cassie had already jumped into action. She¡¯d closed the distance in one jump, kicking him in the stomach, but not actually hurting him. Hitting him stopped her dead in the air. She managed to fall hands first, back outstretched with feet above, hitting the floor with her hands, using the momentum to flip herself to her feet.


    He leaned forward to punch her but never had a chance. She jumped up, landing on his shoulders, using his own arm for an assist. Then she started pounding him in the head, the ears, and the face¡­ all while dodging his attempts to grab her


    Well, at least for a little while.


    Just at the moment I¡¯d revved up the rockets and decided to shoot myself into his solar plexus, he grabbed her leg and threw her out of the trailer and into the building. I heard a thump as she hit and began to fall toward the loading dock behind us.


    I received an image of Cassie falling and felt that Daniel was trying to catch her telekinetically. Realizing that I was the only thing stopping The Grey Giant from attacking Daniel, I launched myself toward the giant¡¯s midsection.


    And immediately experienced pain as a fist the size of my head connected with my chest.


    Tumbling through the air, I flew across the street, struggling to gain control of where I was going, but only succeeding in hitting the brick wall of another warehouse.


    That also hurt.


    Hitting the ground felt pleasant by comparison.


    Lying half-conscious next to the factory it occurred to me that this was what life as a baseball must be like.


    When my head cleared, I found myself sprawled on the thin line of grass between the sidewalk and the road. I groaned. My ribs hurt from the punch.


    In the twilight, I could make out The Grey Giant next to the ruin of the semi¡¯s trailer. He seemed to be studying the roof. I guessed that Daniel might have moved Cassie up there after I¡¯d been taken out.


    Right in one, Daniel said.


    Was Cassie OK?


    Well, she lost a tooth, but it looks like it¡¯s already beginning to come back a little.


    ¡°Is there any way to make this a three-way call?¡± I thought at him.


    Daniel: Yeah. Why didn¡¯t I think of that?


    Cassie: Oh, great. Now I can¡¯t ignore you at all.


    I felt pain in the background as she thought.


    Me: I¡¯m calling 911. This guy is out of our league. I¡¯m pretty sure they can get a hold of Daniel¡¯s dad.


    Daniel: They can.


    Cassie: Let him take care of it then.


    Me: Cassie. Are you okay?


    Cassie: I¡¯m fucking fine.


    Her pain pulsed.


    Cassie: You know what they don¡¯t tell you? They don¡¯t tell you that regenerating hurts almost as much as the original wound¡­ and lasts longer.


    The Grey Giant pulled a large black object out of the trailer, leaned back and threw it into the air.


    It flew over the side of the factory.


    Daniel didn¡¯t close the link and I so experienced two simultaneous views of a large screen TV tumbling through the air, bouncing once and shattering. Daniel concentrated, and the pieces shifted to the left, landing just two feet to the side.


    For a moment I sensed a double share of relief and then the vision faded, leaving me solely in mental contact.


    Me: Wow.


    Cassie: Tell me about it.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.Daniel: I know we can¡¯t take him down, but we can¡¯t just sit here and see if he comes up with something better.


    Me: I¡¯ll call the cops.


    The suit has a radio transmitter that contacts HQ, which in turn has a device that plugs it in into the phone network. I think of it as futuristic 1960¡¯s technology. One of these days I need to put in a cell phone.


    It has its uses, though. For one thing, the number is a known quantity. When the person on the other end of the line picked up, I could feel sure that their screen showed ¡°Grand Lake Hero League.¡± In theory, this should have gotten me instant respect.


    ¡°Hello?¡± I said.


    The woman on the other end said nothing for a moment, but then managed, ¡°Um¡­¡±


    I suppose this is an understandable response to being called by a defunct super organization.


    ¡°This is the Rocket,¡± I said, ¡°and I need some backup here. Call the Rhino and Mindstryke if you can get them. If you can¡¯t, get one of the teams in Chicago. We¡¯re facing The Grey Giant at 130 Elm. It¡¯s an old factory. Syndicate L is involved somehow. Do you need anything else?¡±


    The pause from the other end was lengthy. Then, ¡°Aren¡¯t you retired? I mean, are you real?¡±


    ¡°How real do I have to be? The key point is that The Grey Giant is out of my league. Seriously. I¡¯m not the original Rocket.¡± I said. Then I hung up.


    Me: Well, that was useless.


    Cassie: Kinda.


    Daniel: I can call my dad on my cell phone, but there¡¯s no guarantee that he¡¯ll be able to get Larry.


    Me: Well, then what do we do?


    Daniel: I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m having a hard time getting into The Grey Giant¡¯s head--so mental attacks don¡¯t do much. All I¡¯ve got at this point is flinging blasts of telekinetic force at him.


    I looked over at The Grey Giant. He¡¯d doubled in size, bringing himself just ten feet short of the roof of the factory.


    Me: I¡¯d get off the roof if I were you.


    Daniel: Meet us on the roof of the factory you¡¯re in front of?


    Me: You got it.


    I got up and ran around the corner, waiting until I got to the opposite side to open up and shoot myself to the roof. When I got there, I found Cassie and Daniel landing on the far end.


    Simultaneously, I could hear loud booming and crashing noises. Being on the opposite end of the roof blocked my view of most of the warehouse, but I could see the middle of its wall collapse.


    We met in the middle of the factory¡¯s roof.


    ¡°Dad¡¯s not answering his cell phone,¡± Daniel said.


    ¡°So it¡¯s totally up to us,¡± Cassie said, glancing across the street as the left corner of the warehouse shattered and fell in. Was I right in thinking I heard her mood lift as she said it?


    ¡°And what are we supposed to do to him?¡± I asked. ¡°Worse, what do we do with him if we actually catch him?¡±


    ¡°I think,¡± Daniel said, ¡±that there are victory conditions that don¡¯t necessarily mean winning. If we manage to get him out of town without having him hurt much of anything, I¡¯d count that as a win.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯d count it as a win too if I had the slightest idea of how to do it.¡±


    ¡°Cut the crap,¡± Cassie said, sounding more confident as she went on, ¡°We¡¯ve got something he wants. He wants to hurt us to make an example, but¡ª.¡°


    ¡°We¡¯re faster than he is,¡± Daniel said, having undoubtedly pulled it straight out of her head.


    ¡°Right,¡± Cassie said, sounding annoyed. ¡°Here¡¯s what we do: we lead him to the lake and then down the coast. Then we ditch him when we get far enough from town.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t think of anything better,¡± I said, wondering where he was now. It had been a little while since the most recent section of wall had fallen in.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s go get him,¡± Cassie said.


    ¡°If we can find him,¡± I muttered.


    The building creaked and I saw a large gray hand appear on the side of the roof that faced the now demolished warehouse.


    Daniel said, ¡°I hope this building¡¯s insurance covers rampaging giants.¡±

 The Beginning: Part 7

    Rockets engaged, I shot off the roof toward the ruins of the warehouse, landing next to an enormous pile of bricks that had spilled into the street.


    The Grey Giant, illuminated by the streetlights, stood nearly forty feet tall and reached over the side of the building toward Daniel and Cassie.


    I picked up a cluster of bricks and threw it at the Giant, hitting him solidly in the back.


    It shattered. He turned toward me while Daniel and Cassie lifted off from the roof¡ªor so I assumed. It was dark enough that I couldn¡¯t see them until they landed next to me.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking that he might get pissed enough to keep after us if we throw enough bricks at him,¡± I said. ¡°The highway¡¯s not too busy at night so we can lead him to it and then just follow the coast when it turns east.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Daniel said.


    A stream of bricks started to fly toward the Giant. It was as if someone had turned on a hose. About the time bricks hit him in the face, the Grey Giant''s expression turned sour.


    Growling, he ran toward us. Cassie and I ran west down Boyce Street, knowing we were only four blocks from the highway. Not having any special physical abilities, Daniel flew next to us while the Giant lumbered behind.


    Some things seem like a better idea when you¡¯re thinking about them than when you¡¯re actually trying them.


    Leading a forty foot tall super villain down a highway at night is one of those things.


    Lakeside Road is a state highway that runs north to Grand Lake and then east around Grand Lake before continuing north. Most of the factories are on the south side of Grand Lake City. It turns into six lane highway in the middle of town, but before and after, it''s four lanes wide.


    While it does change from city to countryside fairly quickly, the ¡°countryside¡± is mostly forest, houses with large lots, million dollar lakeside ¡°cottages,¡± and a few farms.


    In other words, we would have to run for miles to lead him some place where he could be left alone.


    By the time we reached the highway, we were all in the air again. Daniel telekinetically carried Cassie and himself. I flew under my own power.


    The Grey Giant ran behind us. It turns out that when you¡¯re nearly forty feet tall, you have a ridiculously long stride. Cassie and I had no chance of staying ahead of him on the ground.


    The chase caused as much chaos as you might expect. People stopped their cars and ran into the darkness off the side of the road. The Grey Giant knocked over a couple streetlights, downed at least one power line, and cursed a blue streak at us.


    When we were about a mile out from downtown, he threw a SUV at me. It was a blue Chevy Tahoe. I dodged and watched it disappear into the darkness past the streetlights, grateful that it was unoccupied.


    Overall though, I was surprised that I hadn¡¯t seen more cars (or crowds) once the fight started. More often than not, from what I understand, people gather round to watch supers go at it.


    To give credit where credit¡¯s due, the government¡¯s run a big PSA campaign over the last five years¡ªyou know the one¡ªwhere some old cop tells you what to do when you see supers fighting. "Don¡¯t stay and watch. Drive away. If you can¡¯t drive away, get out and run away. Don¡¯t stay and become a hostage, a missile or a distraction."


    However effective the commercials though, it was only a matter of time before we ran into someone with a death wish.


    We didn¡¯t notice it immediately because the mini-van sat on the far side of the northbound lane. We were in the southbound.


    We noticed when the Grey Giant lurched to cross the median. That¡¯s the point where I realized that a middle-aged man with a camcorder and his teenage son were filming everything.


    Daniel: They¡¯re planning to upload the video to Youtube.


    Knowing that I was faster than anyone else while flying, I was already accelerating toward the Grey Giant at full speed and didn¡¯t bother to reply.


    One of the settings for the ¡°weaponized¡± speakers allows me to narrowcast sound at a target. I set it for a decibel level well past the threshold of pain, intending it to be more of a distraction than a serious attempt to hurt him.


    Either too slow to react or too distracted by his goal to notice me, he let me get close. I held out my right arm toward his ear and shot in a blast of sound from ten feet away.


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    He stopped reaching toward the van, missing me as I moved up and away from him, but managing to ding me with his other hand when I slowed down.


    I¡¯d thought I was out of his reach.


    He followed it up with an open hand smack that sent me back across the median and down into the southbound lane, scraping the road until I rolled onto the gravel and then the grass.


    I lay there, winded, wondering what Daniel and Cassie were doing now.


    Then I heard a crashing noise, much like that of the warehouse falling down, followed quickly by squealing tires and an accelerating engine.


    I pulled myself up.


    I saw the minivan, the teenager pointing the camera out the window while his father drove. They stopped fifty feet away.


    The Grey Giant lay on the road behind them.


    The idiots in the mini-van weren¡¯t the only ones taking pictures. A helicopter from the local NBC affiliate, News 10 hovered above the streetlights. Evidently reporters paid no attention to PSA announcements either.


    Of course, I had no right to complain about how stupid a person must be to get anywhere near this fight.


    The Grey Giant pulled himself up from the road, leaving deep impressions where he¡¯d landed.


    Cassie stood in front of him with the sword out. Behind her, the boy was now pointing the camera out the rear window of the minivan.


    Well, at least they hadn¡¯t stepped outside for a better angle.


    Daniel: I tripped him.


    Me: I¡¯d wondered.


    Daniel hung in the air behind Cassie.


    Daniel: I¡¯m going to pull Cassie into the air when he attacks and----


    But he didn¡¯t. The Grey Giant attacked too quickly for either of us to do anything.


    A word about the sword first though: Grandpa¡¯s original idea was to make it just a hilt with a monomolecular wire as the blade, allowing it to cut through just about anything. I guess there were practical problems with this (or maybe Captain Commando just wanted to bash people with the flat of the blade) so he changed it. Now it¡¯s a normal sword blade that reforms into multiple monomolecular wires when it powers on.


    Cap never used it on people, but I could understand why Cassie intended to make a special exception at this moment.


    He leaned forward and swiped at her with his right hand. She jumped backward, slashing it.


    He looked bewildered, then stood fully and examined the back of his hand. It dripped greyish goo.


    Cassie jumped forward, slashing his right shin, then jumped away to his right, into the median and out of easy reach.


    He turned and ran. Ignoring the men in the van and the three of us, he ran at full speed away from Grand Lake, southbound down the highway.


    I started the rockets and began to fly after him while Daniel pulled Cassie into the air.


    Neither of us needed to do so.


    I¡¯d been hearing police sirens for the last few minutes, but just as I started chasing the Grey Giant I heard a clattering noise from the north.


    I knew that noise.


    It was Larry, AKA my Crazy Uncle Larry, AKA the Rhino. Like my grandfather, he also used powered armor, but while my grandfather¡¯s was elegant, Larry¡¯s looked a lot like the Michelin man and sounded like a jackhammer.


    He hit the Grey Giant from behind at a couple hundred miles per hour, knocking the Giant¡¯s legs out from under him. While Larry skidded to a stop, a tear in reality opened above the road.


    Out of it flew too many costumed heroes for me to recognize them individually, but it didn¡¯t matter. They were on the Giant before I had a chance to do anything.


    By the time Daniel and I got close enough to participate (if the fight had still been going), the Grey Giant lay on the ground. Hands now manacled in glowing blue energy, he had transformed back into his human form. Cassie¡¯s cuts to his skin had shrunk to just a couple bloody lines.


    One of the heroes, a muscular man in a silver costume, looked up from the unconscious body to size us up, commenting to no one in particular, ¡°Damn, the kids get younger every year.¡±

 The Beginning: Part 8

    I recognized him. He called himself Guardian and led a team called the Midwest Defenders. He¡¯s a pretty big deal. Follow Double V and you¡¯ll get the impression that he stops supervillains from burning down Chicago one week and goes into space to fight invading aliens the next.


    He stepped away from the Grey Giant¡¯s unconscious form and waved us to follow him off to the side of the highway.


    As we stepped off the blacktop, Cassie said, ¡°What do you suppose he wants?¡±


    I had no idea.


    ¡°You,¡± he was looking at me. ¡°You¡¯re not the real Rocket, right? Because seriously, you fucked up. This guy¡¯s way out of your league. You should have withdrawn and called us¡ªor hell, even Rhino over there.¡±


    Larry was talking with the police a couple hundred feet behind him.


    ¡°I called 911,¡± I said. ¡°It took ages before you got here.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t call 911. We¡¯ve got a number for stuff like this. You call it before you go in and we¡¯ll have someone available.¡±


    He sounded tired, as if he told me this already a couple times and I¡¯d somehow forgotten.


    ¡°What number? Seriously,¡± I said, ¡°is it in the phone book? Do you put it on billboards? I¡¯ve never seen this number. We had no idea that he was here. We just thought we were dealing with Syndicate L¡ªyou know, normal people with guns. This was just our bad luck.¡±


    ¡°Besides,¡± Cassie said, ¡°if this is a mess, it¡¯s not the Rocket¡¯s fault, it¡¯s mine. I called him in at the last minute.¡±


    ¡°Mine too,¡± Daniel said. ¡°I thought we¡¯d done enough recon.¡± Daniel took a deep breath. He looked tired.


    Guardian scowled, suddenly reminding me more of a pissed off coach than a superhero.


    ¡°I look at you,¡± he said, ¡°and it¡¯s pretty obvious you¡¯ve been into the Hero League¡¯s stuff. Hell, you¡¯re probably related to them. But you know what? You¡¯re not them.¡±


    He glared at each of us in turn.


    ¡°They,¡± he continued, ¡°were an experienced combat team. You are a bunch of kids taking a break from your homework to ¡®fight crime.¡¯ If you don¡¯t want to remember that your mistakes can kill people, then do us all a favor and go home.¡±


    He emphasized the last two words quite loudly. Behind him, the growing crowd of police, costumed heroes, civilians, and reporters all began to look in our direction.


    ¡°Tonight you had this guy next to a bunch of abandoned factories and you drove him toward a commonly used highway, knocking out power for I don¡¯t know how many city blocks as you went. If you¡¯d done any research at all, you¡¯d have had back up. Our number is on our website.¡±


    He looked me directly in the eye.


    What could I say to that?


    ¡°If you want to do this,¡± he said, ¡°get serious. This isn¡¯t about glory. It¡¯s definitely not about money. It¡¯s about keeping thugs like that guy off the streets.¡±


    Then he turned, glancing toward where the Grey Giant¡¯s human body was being loaded into a Box¡ªone of those small trucks specially modified for holding supers.


    ¡°Because if you don¡¯t get serious,¡± he said, ¡°you¡¯ll probably die young.¡±


    Everything else after that is a blur of police and press questions. I answered the police, ignored the press and we all flew back to headquarters. Daniel and Cassie left for their homes after cleaning up and changing into street clothes.


    I stayed, checking the suit over for damage in the lab. Then I went and sat at the table in the main room, turning on the TV.


    The massive room filled with a massive screen seemed wasted on one person. The trophies hanging on the walls or covered in glass cases told the story of a team twenty years gone.


    I flipped through channels on the big screen, finding more coverage of tonight¡¯s activities than I really wanted to see. I got to watch myself get smacked across the highway and Cassie slash the Grey Giant via the Channel 10 Choppercam. Meanwhile the reporter talked about a collaboration between ¡°what may be a revival of the Heroes¡¯ League and Chicago¡¯s Midwest Defenders.¡±


    It sounded better than the real story which would have been ¡°Clueless local heroes saved by jerks from Chicago.¡±


    When they shifted to the main news desk to discuss how long the power would be off in the downtown area, I shut off the TV. I didn¡¯t need to hear more.


    While I walked around HQ, shutting off the lights, I heard the door to the sewer exits slide open and then a familiar clanking. I found Larry removing the head to the Rhino suit in the main room, dumping the helmet on the table in front of the TV next to a pizza.


    Then the rest of the armor snapped open. I¡¯m not sure how. He stepped out of it, wearing a grey coverall similar to a flight suit. With shoulder length hair and a bit of a gut, Larry doesn¡¯t look like your average pilot. On the other hand, Larry¡¯s costume doesn¡¯t allow him to fly.


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    ¡°Hey Nick. Free pizza. I¡¯d have brought beer, but then I¡¯d have to arrest myself or something.¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯d you get the pizza,¡± I asked, but that¡¯s not what I was really wondering. I was wondering how he could get at the money to pay for a pizza. So far as I can tell, his armor has no pockets.


    He grabbed some pizza out of the box. ¡°Antonio¡¯s. You know, just around the corner? They usually give me a freebie when I get on TV. Mind if I turn it on?¡±


    Despite the fact that I did mind, I said, ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    It didn¡¯t take that long to find a channel showing Larry (as the Rhino) knocking the Grey Giant on his back. Actually, we found several¡ªincluding footage from the idiots in the mini-van.


    I got to watch the Grey Giant slap me straight into the pavement on CNN.


    ¡°Oh geez,¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Larry said, ¡°bad break there. You¡¯re still walking though. That¡¯s a plus.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t change the fact that I suck,¡± I said. ¡°I mean, what did I do this whole time? I got knocked out of the fight twice and didn¡¯t really hurt the guy at all. Daniel at least tripped the guy once and Cassie probably could have killed him by herself.¡±


    ¡°Ah, don¡¯t beat yourself up,¡± Larry said. ¡°Trust me kid, there are people willing to do that for you.¡±


    Larry pulled another piece of pizza onto his plate. ¡°Besides, you stopped the Grey Giant from going after the van. If he¡¯d thrown it at somebody, the guys inside would be pushing daisies.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s something,¡± I said, ¡°but in the meantime we managed to knock out power for half the downtown and chased him down a highway. Guardian was right. We didn¡¯t plan at all.¡±


    ¡°Is that what this is all about?¡± The expression on Larry¡¯s face was hard to read, but it tilted toward annoyance.


    ¡°Look Nick,¡± he said, ¡°Guardian¡¯s an ass. I missed what he said back there, but you guys did all right for the first time out as team. Did I ever tell you about the first time I ever faced an actual supervillain?¡±


    He hadn¡¯t.


    ¡°Well okay,¡± he said, ¡°Mind if I take the last piece?¡±


    I was okay with that.


    ¡°So here I am,¡± he said, ¡° Fifteen years old. I¡¯ve taken out a couple muggers, busted a counterfeiter, and I¡¯m ready to take on the world. I¡¯ve upgraded the Rhino suit and I can throw trucks if I want to. Hell, I¡¯m just looking for the chance.


    ¡°I hear on the radio that some supervillain¡ªI think his name was Electroman¡ªis downtown blasting away at the police with lightning bolts. So I run down there. I¡¯m going to take him on. I show up running eighty miles an hour and ready to punch him into next week. The moment I get out in front of the cops, the guy sends I don¡¯t know how many volts of electricity straight into the suit and burns out everything in it.¡±


    ¡°What did you do?¡±


    ¡°Nothing. I was frozen in place. I had to stand there while the wiseass laughed and told me I should rename myself the ¡®Coat Rack¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Did he get away?¡±


    ¡°Nah,¡± Larry grinned. ¡°About that time your Grandpa showed up and clobbered him. He got blasted a couple times too, but his armor had better protection. He took the guy out.¡±


    Larry didn¡¯t stay much longer. After he left, I finished shutting everything down, got into the elevator, and traveled to the surface.


    The sky was clear and I could see stars through the trees that lined the street. The air felt warm. It was one of those fall nights when you wonder whether or not summer had ended. I walked away from Grandpa¡¯s aboveground lab, a bungalow next to Veterans¡¯ Memorial Park.


    I¡¯d received the bungalow in Grandpa¡¯s will. It had passed without remark in a will reading that included giving away several million dollars that no one had realized Grandpa had.


    A few cars passed me. A dog barked. I saw the glow of the David Letterman Show through somebody¡¯s picture window.


    I knew that Larry had told me that story to make me feel better, but for the moment it had worked.


    The night hadn¡¯t been a complete disaster. In the end, the Grey Giant had been caught. Cassie had gotten her chance to take on Syndicate L and we had won that part of the evening hands down.


    I walked up to the side door of my parents¡¯ house, pulled out my key and unlocked it.


    Inside, it was like any other night. My dad sat in a chair in the living room, books on the floor and his laptop on his lap. My mom was already in bed.


    ¡°Back a little late,¡± he said. ¡°What were you doing?¡±


    ¡°Nothing much,¡± I said. ¡°Just hanging out with Cassie and Daniel at Grandpa¡¯s lab.¡±


    ¡°Try to be in before eleven next time.¡±


    Next time, I decided, the Rocket would have to do a better job at making his curfew.

 Lightning Strikes Twice: Part 1

    On Saturday morning Jaclyn and I stepped out of the elevator into the main room of the headquarters of the Grand Lake Heroes League. It smelled just as musty as you might expect the HQ of a super organization that¡¯s been defunct for twenty years.


    Jaclyn had just been saying, ¡°If I¡¯d known what ¡®DVD Night¡¯ was really all about, I¡¯d have been there last week.¡±


    I¡¯d been just about to reply, ¡°Keeping it secret and then springing it on people was Cassie¡¯s idea so you probably ought to take that up with her,¡± but then the door opened.


    Cassie sat directly in front of us in the main room. Two empty mailbags lay on the floor. Two piles of mail covered half of the table.


    ¡°Will you look at this?¡± Cassie waved her hand toward the piles. ¡°This is just since the fight.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s in them?¡±


    ¡°Fan mail, mostly. Did you know that the Heroes League even had a fan club? It looks like they¡¯re still going and most of them are ecstatic that we¡¯re back. And when I say ecstatic, I mean pages and pages worth of gushing praise from old people¡ªyou know, baby boomers.¡±


    I looked over the piles. There were a lot of letters. ¡±So that¡¯s all fan mail?¡±


    ¡°Well, no. There are a few people who complain about the new Captain Commando being a ¡®little girl.¡¯ There¡¯s some perv out there who wants naked pictures of me. And back on the fannish end of things, there are a bunch of girls who think Daniel is super cute and want his autograph.¡±


    ¡°Anything for me?¡±


    ¡°Do you like bills?¡±


    Jaclyn laughed. I groaned, thinking of all the things we might be charged for. Still, last week¡¯s power outage wasn¡¯t entirely our fault.


    ¡°I¡¯m joking,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Sure. There are a bunch of people who wrote to say how the first Rocket inspired them to go into engineering or something like that. And then there are another bunch of people who want hints on how they can make a suit of powered armor of their very own.¡±


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    ¡°Oh great.¡±


    ¡°Well anyway,¡± Cassie said, ¡±would you mind helping me look through this stuff?¡±


    So that¡¯s how we spent most of the next two hours. Daniel was attending a cousin¡¯s Bar Mitzvah, but we ended up discussing what Cassie called ¡°team business¡± anyway. What sort of team business given that we didn¡¯t officially have a team? You¡¯d just have to ask Cassie--which I did.


    ¡°How about a team name? The press will want to call us something and if we don¡¯t give them a name, they¡¯ll just call us ¡®the New Heroes League¡¯ or something worse.¡±


    ¡°Or how about this,¡± she continued. ¡°How do we decide who can join up? I¡¯ve been talking to Vaughn and he¡¯s interested, but it¡¯s not like he¡¯s got any powers or anything. But, you know, I bet he could get powers.¡±


    I paused in the middle of opening a letter and glanced at Jaclyn whose jaw had dropped a little. ¡°That could work out well,¡± she said, ¡°if he turns out to be a little less completely insane than his grandfather.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s not like that at all,¡± Cassie said. ¡°You remember him from the picnics, right? Nick, you know him a little. Tell her.¡±


    Well, I did know him. We were on the Cross Country team together, but he¡¯s not one of the people I hung out with on the team. For that matter, he didn¡¯t attend very many picnics either. I don¡¯t know the reason, but I suspect that it¡¯s because Vaughn¡¯s grandmother might have felt a little uncomfortable hanging out with a bunch of people who would have killed her husband if he hadn¡¯t managed to die first.


    I didn¡¯t say that though. All I said was, ¡°Do you suppose he ever wants revenge for his grandfather¡¯s death?¡±

 Lightning Strikes Twice: Part 2

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Just the opposite, the family¡¯s had to live with this for years and Vaughn told me he¡¯d like a chance to make things right.¡±


    I considered making a sarcastic comment about how the Hardwicks have suffered, but didn¡¯t. Still, it¡¯s hard to make a good case for shame damaging a family that owns half the city. Well okay, maybe not half the city, but they¡¯ve got a lot of money.


    Back in the 19th century, they were lumber barons. In the 20th they¡¯d invested their money in manufacturing cars and office furniture. In the 21st they were funding research in biotechnology from pharmaceuticals and genetic engineering to nanotechnology. Already in the 1930¡¯s and 40¡¯s, the Hardwicks were considered an ¡°old money¡± family for the area.


    Red Lightning (Giles Hardwick) had done the ¡°rich citizen protects the city¡± thing starting just before World War II and then somehow ended up in the same ¡°super soldier¡± unit as Captain Commando, Hotfoot (Jaclyn¡¯s grandfather), and my grandfather.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, ¡°let¡¯s say that he does want to make things right. How¡¯s he going to do it? Red Lightning¡¯s powers only worked when he was juiced up with that stuff he made¡­ What was it?¡±


    ¡°Spinach?¡± Jaclyn suggested, softly singing a bit of Popeye¡¯s theme song.


    I laughed.


    ¡°Not funny,¡± Cassie said.


    But she¡¯d laughed too.


    ¡°It was called the ¡®Power Elixir¡¯,¡± Cassie continued, talking over Jaclyn¡¯s and my laughter. ¡°I know it sounds stupid, but Vaughn¡¯s not planning on using that. Vaughn¡¯s planning on using the machine that made Red Lightning¡¯s powers permanent. The¡­ ¡®Power Impregnator¡¯.¡±


    She stopped and looked at us warily.


    We weren¡¯t laughing.


    The moment Red Lightning managed to make his powers permanent is the moment a lot of things began to go wrong for the Heroes League. I wasn¡¯t around for it. I wouldn¡¯t be born for more than twenty years, but I had heard a few things from my grandfather.


    When I asked him directly, he would only say, ¡°I don¡¯t like to talk about it.¡±


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    From comments he made while I was growing up though, I¡¯ve got a general picture of the events leading to Red Lightning¡¯s death. When my grandfather and Red Lightning finished the Power Impregnator, it freed Giles (Red Lightning) from carrying vials of liquid that always seemed to break at the worst moment. Giles had been growing distant from the team for the a couple years before that, but afterward (at least for a little while), it was like it had been during the war¡ªa bunch of guys standing up to whatever the world could throw at them.


    I¡¯m not sure of the details, but within a few years superpowered gangs began to appear¡ªwell organized gangs that were unnervingly capable of not only avoiding, but also predicting the Heroes League¡¯s every move. It had to be an inside job. Suspicion fell on everyone in turn, but the Mentalist, Daniel¡¯s grandfather, discovered that the gangs had gained their abilities by ingesting an addictive drug similar to the Power Elixir.


    After that, it turned into all out war between Red Lightning and the League¡ªa war the League won, but not easily.


    ¡°So,¡± I asked Cassie, ¡°where is the Power Impregnator these days?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I guessed it must be in storage or, maybe¡­ Red Lightning¡¯s lab?¡±


    I shrugged, adding, ¡°I¡¯ve got no idea where that would be.¡±


    Strictly speaking, that answer wasn¡¯t even a lie¡ªI really didn¡¯t know where Red Lightning¡¯s lab had been. The comically named ¡°Power Impregnator,¡± however? That was in a cardboard box about 30 feet away, sitting in the corner of the main room next to twenty other boxes of memorabilia.


    I¡¯d never been so grateful not to have Daniel around.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Cassie said, ¡°would you just talk to Vaughn tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said.


    Remembering the letter in my hand, I finished opening the envelope and scanned the letter¡¯s contents. ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°get this, someone wants to sell us life insurance.¡±

 Lightning Strikes Twice: Part 3

    I didn¡¯t talk to Vaughn.


    The next day was Sunday so I went to church with my parents, spent most of the afternoon reading Larry Niven¡¯s Ringworld, and worked on homework until eleven at night.


    After I finished my homework, I read Ringworld until one in the morning.


    I missed him on Monday too. Honestly, I forgot completely about it until nine-thirty at night when the phone rang. I¡¯d been playing ¡°Tony Hawk¡¯s Downhill Jam¡± (and to be honest, not doing all that well) when my mom called out, ¡°Nick, it¡¯s Daniel on the phone.¡±


    I dropped the controller and watched my skateboarder crash. Well, no great loss.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said as I picked up the phone.


    ¡°Hi,¡± Daniel said. ¡°Talked to Vaughn yet?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ no. Who told you about that?¡±


    ¡°I ran into Jaclyn after school.¡±


    Grand Lake had enough of a Jewish community to have a Jewish day school, but not enough of one to have sports facilities. It used Grand Lake South High School¡¯s fields and gym¡ªthat was where Jaclyn went.


    ¡°Is she on the volleyball team?¡±


    ¡°And just about everything else you can sign up for. But you¡¯re right. Volleyball too. Our practices ended about the same time,¡± he said.


    I walked up the stairs to my room, trying to avoid Grunion (our cat) who had inexplicably decided that the first step of the stairway was his territory. He slashed at my sock as I stepped over him.


    With the direction this conversation seemed to be going, I didn¡¯t want my mom to overhear and I was willing to risk a bloody sock.


    ¡°Any particular reason you haven¡¯t talked to him yet?¡± Daniel asked.


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°just busy. Well, that and I forgot. Not that it really matters though. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s got any powers or anything so it¡¯s a moot point.¡±


    ¡°But if he had powers,¡± Daniel said, ¡°it wouldn¡¯t be particularly fair to him.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± I said, ¡°but if he had powers, I¡¯d want you to talk to him. You¡¯re the guy who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve already talked to him,¡± Daniel said, ¡°he¡¯s okay. He was at DVD night a couple times during the summer. Remember?¡±


    ¡°Well, no,¡± I said. ¡°I forgot. I must have missed him.¡±


    By that time I was in my room. I sat down at my desk and looked out into the dark. It was a quiet suburban street. A few porch lights glimmered. A streetlight illuminated the corner.


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    It occurred to me that if we were real team, we¡¯d probably have someone out on patrol right now. I mentioned it to Daniel and he said, ¡°Maybe we ought to think about it. The hard part is choosing the right route¡­¡±


    We talked about possible patrol routes for ten minutes until Daniel said, ¡°Let¡¯s just go. In fact, let¡¯s not even plan a route. I¡¯ve got something I want to try.¡±


    If he¡¯d been there, I¡¯d have raised an eyebrow. As it was, I just said, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Prescient meditation,¡± he said.


    ¡°Oooh kay,¡± I said.


    ¡°You know that I can sense the future when I¡¯m fighting,¡± he said. ¡°I can sense just enough to know where not to be. Well here¡¯s what I can do. I can turn it around¡ªso instead of sensing danger to me, I sense danger to the city, and instead of going away from the danger, we fly toward it.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, my mind suddenly awash in possibilities. ¡°So if you had used it last week, we would have found the Grey Giant¡¯s truck earlier and¡ª¡°


    ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°Last week I used it and that¡¯s how we found the truck driver and the warehouse and everything.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to get into something that big any time soon.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Daniel said. ¡°It¡¯s not like that. I try to sense a threat to the city and when I get there it could be anything. I mean really anything. Once I went to an apartment building and found that some guy had managed to lock himself out of his apartment. I managed to get him in again and suddenly everything was fine. No threats.¡±


    ¡°What does your dad think? Can he do it too?¡±


    ¡°No. He¡¯s nervous about it. It¡¯s an intuitive thing, so who knows what I¡¯m really preventing? He says it¡¯s one thing to change the future when you know why you¡¯re trying, but to do it on less than a guess? He doesn¡¯t think it¡¯s worth the risk.¡±


    ¡°The risk of what?¡±


    ¡°Future time travelers coming back to stop me? I have no idea.¡±


    ¡°You know,¡± I said, ¡°that might actually be kind of cool.¡±


    We laughed.


    ¡°So anyway,¡± he said, ¡°you want to go out and see if anyone¡¯s getting mugged?¡±


    ¡°Only if we¡¯re not out too late."

 Lightning Strikes Twice: Part 4

    Back in the Heroes League¡¯s old headquarters, the lights were on. I called out a few times, but no one answered.


    I checked the main room, grandpa¡¯s lab, a few storage rooms and the entrance to the sewers, but didn¡¯t see anyone there either. I even checked in the hanger¡ªwhich was a waste.  You could see the dust. It¡¯s been a couple presidential administrations since anything in there worked.


    Deciding that someone had just forgotten to turn out the lights, I went back to the lab and suited up. Between Larry, Cassie, Jaclyn and her brothers, the chances that someone had forgotten to turn things off were pretty good.


    Once I had the suit on and checked the systems, I exited the complex through the sewer line by the lake again. Then I flew toward Daniel¡¯s house.


    He joined me in the air.


    I hovered for a moment and he floated. I could see downtown¡¯s buildings in the distance and the lights of the suburbs spreading around us. It¡¯s a strange thing to be able to get the view you¡¯d get from a ten story building while flying under your own power.


    Well, strange to me anyway. And awe inspiring too.


    People who¡¯ve been at this a while probably get used to it, but I¡¯m not there yet.


    Daniel flew toward me and I heard his voice in my head.


    Daniel: Ready go out and save the world?


    Me: No. Got anything smaller to save? Like a pebble, maybe? That I could handle.


    Daniel: Ha. Ha.


    After deciding to fly downtown, we lapsed into companionable silence.


    It was a quiet night. Apparently criminals don¡¯t do much between nine-thirty and eleven on a Monday--not in Grand Lake anyway.


    From the comics, movies, and television, you expect something to happen on patrol. In real life, muggers sometimes stay home--that or Daniel¡¯s range wasn¡¯t good enough to detect anything interesting.


    I suppose we could have tuned the suit¡¯s radio to police band, but the whole point was to stop crimes the police weren¡¯t aware of.


    After twenty minutes of flight, I felt an excitement that I knew wasn¡¯t mine.


    Daniel: Let¡¯s take this a little more interesting.


    Me: I don¡¯t want to get into anything really big right now. I mean, we¡¯re only thirty minutes from my curfew.


    Daniel: How big can it be?


    I could feel it as he rearranged his mind. Amid the murmuring of the city and its suburbs'' nearly one million lives, I could feel shadowy presences and indistinct connections. It was overwhelming.


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    Daniel: Fly toward the thing that makes you most nervous.


    Me: Just guide me. I¡¯ll be completely happy to remain in my own head.


    I didn¡¯t notice anything interesting at first, but as we flew south, passing over downtown, it occurred to me that we were flying in the general direction of home. Moments later, we were within a few blocks of my house.


    Instants later we were over Veterans Memorial Park and Heroes League HQ.


    I could see the lights of my grandfather¡¯s bungalow and immediately thought, ¡°Lights.¡±


    Earlier in the summer, before I¡¯d realized what DVD Night was really all about, I¡¯d given a lot of people the ability to walk into HQ if they wanted. With the exception of Larry, they were all League kids.


    This was less stupid and na?ve than it sounds when you bring another thing into the conversation¡ª¡°the Block.¡±


    As my grandfather told me the story, the team had been talking late one night about their children when Captain Commando, the only team member without kids had said, ¡°So, have they figured it out yet? You know they¡¯re going to.¡±


    That night they set some very strict policies about secret identities and the Mentalist (Daniel¡¯s grandfather) took the duty of being the last resort should their children find out. From what I understand, none of them ever did¡ªwith the exception of those (like Daniel¡¯s father) who had powers themselves.


    I imagine those who did figure it out had that memory quietly erased.


    The grandchildren got off easy. The Mentalist created a mental block that prevented any of us from speaking about the picnics outside the group.


    It¡®s not especially heroic, but how far can you trust children with something like that?


    I¡¯m not trying to justify it, but I understand the logic.


    By the time we got into HQ, it became obvious to me that if the Block had ever included not touching League property, Vaughn¡¯s had been removed.


    Just as they¡¯d been when I entered the complex before, the lights in the main room were bright. Unlike before, the boxes in one corner were open and a device had been assembled in front of them.


    It resembled a futuristic electric chair as imagined in the 1950''s. All curves and chrome except for the black seat cushion and leather straps, the device purred quietly, occasionally sending sparks down the length of the body slumped on the seat.


    All I could think was that if Vaughn were still alive, I now had no excuse for not talking to him about the League.

 Lightning Strikes Twice: Part 5

    I pulled out the plug--a big, industrial plug. Heroes League HQ had been designed with the assumption that you never knew where you might need a high voltage connector.


    Well, okay¡­ I tried to pull out the plug and it didn¡¯t come. It was a twist-lock plug so I had to twist the thing first. After that, it really did come out.


    The hum stopped.


    ¡°Is he still alive?¡± I began to walk toward the ¡°Power Impregnator,¡± intending to undo the straps, but Daniel waved me away.


    ¡°He¡¯s alive,¡± he said. The straps undid themselves and Vaughn¡¯s body floated out of the chair, landing on the dusty, olive green carpet.


    Vaughn moaned and one of his eyes flickered open for a moment. A bluish-white spark ran across it.


    I suppose I should describe Vaughn.  He¡¯s shorter than I am and cultivates what I¡¯d describe as the ¡°sensitive bad boy look.¡± Think black leather jacket, shoulder length hair and one earring. I¡¯m told by reliable sources (well, Cassie) that he¡¯s good looking, but I don¡¯t see it myself.


    On the other hand, no one¡¯s at their best lying on a dusty floor, face awash in sweat and tears.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°what do you think we ought to do with him?¡±


    Daniel looked down at Vaughn¡¯s body. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    I knew why he didn¡¯t know. Red Lightning had originally just been an inventor type with a poor way with words, fighting crime while saying things like, ¡°I will stop you in the name of TRUTH and JUSTICE,¡± and crap like that. Beyond his ¡°Power Elixir¡± and the abilities it gave him (flinging lightning short distances and a little bit of added strength), he didn¡¯t have powers to speak of.


    After being zapped by the ¡°Power Impregnator,¡± his lightning power went from being little more than a taser to being capable of destroying small buildings. Physically he became considerably stronger and tougher than a normal person. Plus, he could fly.


    Between that, his insanity, and his drug addicted, superpowered goons, he gave the League a hellish five year run as a supervillain.


    After Red Lightning died, opinion was split as to whether it was the Power Impregnator, years of homebrewed drug use in the form of the Power Elixir, or simply native craziness that ultimately caused him to go bad.


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    Paranoid vigilante types in the superhero community would argue that we should kill Vaughn now and save everyone trouble later.


    ¡°We should take him home,¡± I said.


    Daniel didn¡¯t say anything. His face showed no expression.


    ¡°Daniel,¡± I said. ¡°Hey? You there?¡±


    ¡°What? Sorry. I was trying to run through a few possibilities. I don¡¯t sense any possibility that he¡¯ll die from this. There is some kind of danger connected with him, but it¡¯s not big¡­ and not immediate. So yeah, we should take him home.¡±


    ¡°As superheroes or as ourselves? Personally, I favor being heroes. That way his mom won¡¯t ask us as many ques¡ªoh no¡­¡±


    My suit has a line of readouts at the top of my vision inside the helmet. When I¡¯m flying I can find out air pressure, altitude, speed and few other things--including the time. Just then the clock began blinking red. It was 10:55 PM¡ªfive minutes before curfew.


    Or to put it another way, five minutes before I got grounded for neither making curfew nor informing my parents why.


    My suit had a phone, but since I didn¡¯t want to show up on the caller ID as ¡°Grand Lakes Heroes League,¡± I took off my helmet and ran to the lab for my cell phone.


    I began to call home, but remembered that I was in a concrete bunker a couple hundred feet below the ground. This does not do wonders for cell phone reception.


    I ran to the elevator, shot up to Grandpa¡¯s lab in the bungalow, and phoned home.


    My Dad answered the phone. ¡°Hello, Nick.¡±


    In the background, I could hear an announcer and cheering crowds, leaving me to wonder which version of ESPN he was watching.


    ¡°Dad,¡± I said, ¡°Something kind of bad just happened. Daniel and I were at Grandpa¡¯s house¡­ um¡­ studying and we were just about to leave when we found Vaughn¡­ Do you remember Vaughn? He was sleeping on the front doorstep. Would you mind driving him home?¡±

 Lightning Strikes Twice: Part 6

    Within ten minutes, Dad had parked his SUV in front of the house. He stepped out of the car still dressed for work¡ªno tie or jacket, but wearing a button down shirt and slacks.


    Dad was all business, immediately walking up the steps to the front porch and checking Vaughn over where he sat on the front step. Dad¡¯s a psychologist who¡¯s written a few books on marriage and family issues¡ªincluding addictions.


    It didn¡¯t surprise me then when he sniffed Vaughn¡¯s breath for alcohol, discretely rolled down his sleeves to look for needle marks, and felt Vaughn¡¯s wrist for his pulse.


    He touched Vaughn¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Can you hear me?¡±


    Vaughn mumbled something.


    I don¡¯t know how Dad felt, but I was relieved. Daniel had said that Vaughn was probably okay but I knew that I wouldn¡¯t feel secure until I saw him walking away under his own power.


    Dad said, ¡°I didn¡¯t understand that. Could you repeat yourself?¡±


    Vaughn said, ¡°Dr. K?¡±


    So in case you¡¯re wondering, that meant that Vaughn was either a current or former client. Not that it¡¯s particularly surprising. I don¡¯t know if Dad¡¯s the best psychologist in the city, but he¡¯s definitely got the most publicity¡ªespecially with Evangelical Christians.


    Vaughn¡¯s family goes to Grand Lake Community Church¡ªa church, I suddenly remembered, where the pastor once interviewed Dad as part of a sermon.


    All of which goes to show that the best advertising is the kind you don¡¯t have to pay for.


    Dad put his hand on Vaughn¡¯s shoulder, clearly ready to help him stand up. ¡°Can you walk?¡±


    ¡°Walk? Sure I can walk. I just¡­¡± and here Vaughn looked at Daniel for a moment, ¡°fell asleep.¡±


    He pushed himself up, stumbling where an old oak tree¡¯s roots made the sidewalk buckle. My Dad frowned, but didn¡¯t say anything.


    Moments later everybody else followed him in and we started the twenty minute drive to Vaughn¡¯s house. After Vaughn gave Dad his address, we didn¡¯t talk much. Normally Dad gets my friends to talk about what they¡¯re doing in school, hobbies, and whatever, but tonight he just said, ¡°Everybody buckled in?¡± and drove off.


    Bearing in mind that it was after eleven by that time, I¡¯m guessing he wanted to go to bed. Also, with Vaughn being a client at all, asking him all about his life probably felt a lot like work.


    This meant that theoretically Daniel and I had twenty minutes to talk telepathically if he wanted to¡ªbut didn¡¯t. He was looking pretty drained. In addition to flying around with me, he¡¯d flown home to grab clothes before my Dad got to Grandpa¡¯s house. I don¡¯t know how much probing the future took out of him, but it probably wasn¡¯t free.


    Both he and Vaughn fell asleep in the back seat, leaving Dad and me the only people still awake. I took advantage of the moment to watch the streetlights as Dad¡¯s Saturn Vue chewed up the pavement. The local NPR station played Jazz after ten, so we found ourselves listening to Miles Davis¡¯ ¡°Kind of Blue¡± as we drove deeper into the suburbs.


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    Vaughn¡¯s family lives near Lake Michigan on a street where the houses grow ever larger and the grass greener¡ªat least from what I could see on this side of the fence.


    Vaughn¡¯s family¡¯s house, for example, included both a tennis court and a helicopter pad. I¡¯d heard that there was a swimming pool back there too, but you couldn¡¯t see it from the street. Mind you, a swimming pool seemed redundant when you had one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world in your backyard, but what did I know?


    Vaughn woke up as we stopped in the driveway, and passed my dad his keycard. The gate slid in, and Dad drove the Vue about a quarter of a mile to the end of the driveway.


    A light turned on, illuminating our car as well as the front of the six-stall garage. The middle garage door opened and a woman stepped out. She looked a lot like Vaughn¡ªif Vaughn were forty-ish, short haired, and female.


    Vaughn got out of the Vue, talked to his mom for a minute and then went inside. Dad rolled down his window as she walked toward us.


    ¡°Thanks for bringing Vaughn home,¡± she said. ¡°Could I speak to your son for a moment?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a problem, Suzanne.¡± To me he said, ¡°Nick, why don¡¯t you step out and talk to her?¡±


    I did. She walked around to my side of the car as I shut the door.


    ¡°Hi,¡± I said.


    ¡°Thanks for bringing Vaughn home,¡± she said. Then, out of nowhere she said, ¡°Did I see you on the news last week?¡±


    ¡°Not that I know of.¡±


    ¡°My mistake,¡± she said, keeping her tone light. ¡°I thought I might have seen you on television with a couple of your friends.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said.


    ¡°Well,¡± she said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to see him involved in anything like that. Do you understand?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ Yeah.¡±


    She waved goodbye and left, managing to smile until she disappeared into the garage. The garage door shut behind her.


    The ride to Daniel¡¯s house was a blur of suburban lawns, passing cars, and blinking red lights. The major difference from the ride to Vaughn¡¯s was that Daniel was awake.


    Daniel: She knows.


    Me: Yeah. How?


    Daniel: Well, you know about my Grandpa¡¯s Alzheimers or whatever it is. So, if she discovered any of her dad¡¯s stuff after Grandpa stopped caring¡­ My Dad hated the whole idea, so it¡¯s not like he¡¯s going to erase stuff from people¡¯s heads.


    Me: This is bad. If Vaughn¡¯s mom knows, who else does?

 Lightning Strikes Twice: Part 7

    It took till study hall, my last ¡°class¡± of the day, for me to decide that I¡¯d actually had a pretty good day yesterday. Mind you, it was easy to confuse with a bad day. Finding Vaughn on the floor of HQ wasn¡¯t exactly good, and lying to my dad two different times wasn¡¯t a good thing either.


    Finding out that Vaughn¡¯s mom saw us on TV and guessed who we were? That sucked.


    Still, the fact that my Dad didn¡¯t even seem to have grounding on the mind despite it being after midnight by the time we got home? That was good.


    We had stepped into the house. The lights were all off. Mom was in bed. With my older sister Rachel at college, the house felt empty. When she was home, you could count on someone being awake after midnight.


    Dad pushed the button that closed the garage door, shut the back door behind us and locked it.


    ¡°Nick,¡± he said, ¡°is there anything I should know about what just happened?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°You know about as much as there is. We found Vaughn asleep on the porch when we were about to leave, and so I called you. That¡¯s all.¡±


    He stopped by the kitchen table and looked at me, passing his keys from his right hand to his left and then back again.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure out how to say this without breaking confidentiality,¡± he said.


    ¡°Vaughn¡¯s parents came to me for other reasons last year, but as we did therapy, I learned that Vaughn was involved in things he shouldn¡¯t be. I can¡¯t go into any details, but if it looks to you like he¡¯s having problems, tell someone.¡±


    ¡°Like what problems?¡±


    Dad put his keys into his pocket. ¡°I can¡¯t talk about it.¡±


    ¡°Drugs?¡± I said.


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you,¡± he said, then paused and asked, ¡°What did his mom talk to you about?¡±


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I said. ¡°She thanked me and then she asked me if she¡¯d seen me on TV.¡±


    ¡°Had she?¡±


    ¡°Not that I know of. It¡¯s not like the cross country team gets a whole lot of press.¡±


    He laughed, and that was it. We both went to our rooms.


    I was off scot-free.


    In my mind at least, I was also off scot-free on the whole Vaughn thing. Probably not in Cassie¡¯s, but seriously, his mom knew and she¡¯d told me to stay away. It¡¯s not like she¡¯d miss it if our team (assuming we have one) now included a guy who flings lightning bolts.


    This is what I told myself as I did my calculus homework¨Cignoring an obvious problem. Whatever I might think, Vaughn would be the person who decided whether he should be involved with us and not his mom.


    After a few minutes, I disappeared completely into the world of limits, derivatives, and integrals. I lost track of time, the cafeteria, and the silent students around me.


    The bell rang as I began the last problem. I considered finishing it, but the cascade of noise from books and feet made it hard to think. By the time most of the other students had left, I had given up on the idea and started hauling my books back to my locker.


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    As I began turning my combination lock, my cell rang. Picking up the phone, I heard Vaughn¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Nick. Let¡¯s talk.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. OK. Give me a second.¡± I held the phone to my ear with my shoulder and finished opening the lock.


    We agreed to meet outside the front door and talk for a little while before heading off to cross country practice. It doesn¡¯t start till 3:30 anyway.


    Central High is three blocks from downtown in a century-old, brown, brick building. The parking lot is across the street and surrounded by a six-foot high fence. Only fifteen minutes past the end of the school day, the parking lot already seemed to be ninety percent empty.


    I looked around the front steps, noticing Vaughn sitting on the lowest one, leaning back and looking to the sky.


    I walked down and sat next to him.


    ¡°So what¡¯s up?¡± I said.


    He sat up, pulled a strand of hair out of his face. Then he looked up the steps. We were alone.


    ¡°I just thought I¡¯d thank you and your dad for bringing me home last night and apologize¡­ for breaking in and making a mess and all that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll pass that on to my dad,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said, ¡°about that. See if you can do it and leave the impression that I¡¯m not on drugs or something.¡±


    ¡°I can try.¡±


    We sat in silence for a moment.


    ¡°Do you know anything about my grandfather¡¯s powers?¡± He looked down at his right hand and flexed it.


    ¡°Not much more than anybody else.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure he could do more than this,¡± he said, making his fingers into a fist and then opening the fist and spreading the fingers as far apart as he could. Electricity crackled and bluish-white sparks flew from finger to finger, making the hand hard to look at for a moment.


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°It is cool,¡± he said, ¡°but I read that Grandpa could blow up buildings. I¡¯m not much more than a human taser.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s only been a day,¡± I said.


    ¡°I suppose the powers could grow,¡± he said. ¡°That would be cool.¡±


    The front door opened behind us.


    Sean Drucker walked out. Sean¡¯s tall, blonde and curly haired. Last year he got kicked off the basketball team for drinking.


    ¡°Got what you owe me?¡±


    Vaughn said, ¡°No.¡± His tone suggested he was tired of the question.


    Sean didn¡¯t seem to have expected a yes. He didn¡¯t even stop walking.


    ¡°What do you owe him?¡± I asked.


    ¡°About a thousand bucks,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°And a new car.¡±

 Lightning Strikes Twice: Part 8

    ¡°How do you owe somebody a thousand dollars?¡± I didn¡¯t need to ask about the car. Everybody in school had heard about Vaughn crashing Sean¡¯s car.


    I¡¯d heard three different versions of that story and I¡¯m mostly unaware of the school rumor mill.


    ¡°Last year was a wild year,¡± Vaughn said.


    On the sidewalk in front of us, Sean got into the passenger seat of a red jeep. He gave Vaughn the finger as the jeep drove off.


    ¡°For you,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said, ¡°for me. My parents gave me a pretty big allowance and weren¡¯t paying much attention to what I did with it. So I spent a lot of it on parties and sometimes when I was out of cash, I borrowed.¡±


    ¡°You borrowed a thousand dollars?¡±


    ¡°Not all at once. Just when Sean added it all up, you know? And he¡¯s not the only guy I owe money to. I could have paid it back, but then my parents cut off my allowance and sent me to rehab.¡±


    I know enough about Dad''s style to know that he recommends parents create clear and immediate consequences.


    ¡°Who else do you owe?¡±


    ¡°Look, I didn¡¯t come here to tell you everything I ever did wrong. I came here to apologize. I¡¯m sorry I broke in. I¡¯m sorry you had to take me home. That¡¯s it.¡±


    He stood up and started walking back up the stairs and into the school. I hurried to keep up with him, passing under Central High¡¯s arched doorway. I didn¡¯t want to risk a fight (what with him being a walking electrical outlet and me being out of costume), but some things still bothered me.


    We walked past the glassed in trophy display case on one side and the windows into the computer lab on the other.


    ¡°Vaughn,¡± I said, still a couple steps behind him in the hall, ¡°Why now? If you wanted power, you had all summer. What were you waiting for?¡±


    So yeah, brilliant move.  Instead of leaving a guy who may the ability to electrocute me alone, I go and point out to him that logically he should have broken into Grandpa¡¯s house earlier.


    He stopped and turned to face me. It may have just been my imagination, but I thought I saw something arc up his forearm from his right hand.


    ¡°They told me I had a week to get them more of Grandpa¡¯s stuff or else, you know, they¡¯d¡ªthey never said, but it sounded like they were going to go after my parents next.¡±


    ¡°Wait a second, you were breaking in to steal something?¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t stealing anything. I was breaking in to get the power to protect myself.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you call the police?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not that simple,¡± he said and opened the door that led to the school locker rooms. Central has special locker rooms for people on a sports team. Both the athletes¡¯ lockers and the regular lockers are part of a 70¡¯s era addition and include a lot of cinderblock painted blue and yellow, but the athletes¡¯ locker rooms have bigger lockers.


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    The athletes¡¯ locker room smells of BenGay and sweat soaked athletic uniforms. It was empty¡ªexcept for Coach Michaelson.


    Coach Michaelson is also known as Mr. Michaelson, one of the math teachers. I always liked him, but being cross country coach struck me as a bit of a blow off job. So far as I can tell, ninety percent of it was saying, ¡°Today we¡¯re going to run six miles. Go out and have a great time.¡±


    Granted, it¡¯s not always six miles, but it¡¯s basically the same line.


    ¡°You¡¯re late,¡± he said, ¡°but it¡¯s OK. Everyone else is already gone, but you guys can buddy up and do a four mile run. Have fun.¡±


    He wrote something on his clipboard and left.


    Vaughn and I put on our sweats and walked out of the locker room into the gym. From there we stepped outside, exiting through big metal doors to the track behind the school.


    We didn¡¯t talk while running warm up laps. Then we left the school grounds to do the run. Central High was in the middle of the city so we did a lot of our training on the road.


    It was a decent day for running. The skies were blue. The temperature wasn¡¯t too hot or too cold. Goldilocks would have been pleased.


    A couple blocks into the run I asked Vaughn, ¡°Who are ¡®they?'' I mean seriously, you make it sound like the Men in Black or the Mafia.¡±


    We were leaving downtown, passing into old neighborhoods of Victorian houses, wooden homes with towers and turrets.


    ¡°A couple guys who were hanging out at the parties I went to. After my parents cut off my allowance, they gave me a few loans.¡±


    ¡°And all they wanted was your grandfather¡¯s stuff? That¡¯s crazy.¡±


    Vaughn stopped running. When he replied, he was almost shouting at me. ¡°You don¡¯t know what it was like. Sean and everyone else wanted their money back and I was panicking and they had money. And they gave it to me no strings attached.¡±


    I began to open my mouth and point out that handing over his grandfather¡¯s equipment was more like a rope than a string and it probably had a noose on the end to boot.


    He interrupted me before I even got a word out, saving the metaphor from abuse.


    ¡°I know it was stupid. Don¡¯t tell me.¡±


    ¡°What did you give them?¡±


    ¡°Some gadget from his costume and book full of formulas. After that they left me alone--or at least they did until you guys turned cape."

 Lightning Strikes Twice: Part 9

    ¡°What did that have to do with it?¡±


    Vaughn said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. After I gave them a little bit of my grandfather¡¯s stuff, they left me alone for months until you guys fought the Grey Giant. That night they dropped by and let me know that they wanted more.¡±


    ¡°What did you tell them?¡±


    ¡°I told them to go away.¡± He glanced toward the house next to us. It was a big red Victorian house with a big lawn. ¡°Let¡¯s start running before these people start wondering why we¡¯re in front of their house.¡±


    We started running again, but this time, it was different. Vaughn started a little fast, but I sped up to match him. Then I passed him. When I got a little tired, he passed me.


    Within a few blocks, we were running almost all out. Not sprinting all out, but as close to it as we could knowing we still had three miles to run. I don¡¯t know why exactly we did it. It just seemed like the thing to do.


    We may have been pissed off at each other. I know I wasn¡¯t happy with the idea of bringing him into the League, and I was beginning to guess that he was sensitive about discussing last year. So rather than talk about it, we attempted to run each other into the ground.


    I¡¯m not claiming it¡¯s one of the most mature things I¡¯ve ever done.


    We were running through some of the less desirable older neighborhoods, places where the roads had big potholes from last winter. Paint flaked off the wooden siding of most houses and too many windows had cracks.


    Vaughn shot away from me, running around a car at a four way stop and passing in front of a black Cadillac Escalade. It had been rolling forward but stopped as he crossed the street.


    Lungs and legs burning, I followed him, glancing at the Escalade as I did. Wondering where I had seen it before, I realized that I¡¯d seen it parked in front of the school while we were talking.


    I put on a burst of speed and tried to catch Vaughn, managing to get close halfway down the block.


    ¡°Vaughn,¡± I said, barely able to talk, ¡°behind.¡±


    We both turned around in time to see the Escalade disappear behind a house. It had followed the cross street without turning in our direction.


    ¡°What?¡± He tried to breathe in the middle of it, turning the word into three syllables.


    ¡°Car,¡± I said, ¡°saw it at school.¡±


    We slowed to a walk, both of us breathing hard. We were next to each other in the street. Cars seemed to be parked on both sides almost all the way down the block, leaving only a lane and three-quarters for cars to pass through.


    ¡°Sidewalk?¡± I suggested, and we walked up the nearest driveway.


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    I turned my head to look behind us again and didn¡¯t see the Escalade. I looked ahead in case it might be coming around the corner. It wasn¡¯t. The only moving vehicle on the road was a yellow sports car. Well, I decided, I might just be paranoid.


    The yellow sports car pulled up in the driveway directly in front of us.


    Two men stepped out. I pegged them as mid-twenties. One was blond and stocky. The other, the driver, was dark haired and average build. Both wore suit jackets and looked¡­ I don¡¯t know. Well-manicured? They looked clean cut. Like they were the kind of people who paid attention to haircuts, fingernails, and color-coordinated clothes.


    I guess that everyone¡¯s supposed to do that, but personally, I figure that everything matches blue jeans.


    The blond one said, ¡°Vaughn, how¡¯re you doing?¡± Meanwhile, the dark haired one stepped around the front of the car. He leaned against it and gave Vaughn a little wave.


    Wise people would have turned around and run away by then.


    ¡°Hey Stevie,¡± Vaughn nodded to the blonde guy. ¡°And Dom, great to see you too.¡±


    As far I can tell, that¡¯s Vaughn¡¯s default face to the world. Even when you might be hiding a semi-automatic under your sports jacket, you still get treated as if you¡¯re an old friend coming over to hang out.


    Dom gave him a small, quickly disappearing smile.


    Stevie said, ¡°I¡¯d like both you guys to step into the car. Friend of ours wants to speak to you.¡±


    Vaughn said, ¡°Sorry. We¡¯re both in the middle of cross country practice. We¡¯ve got to get back, but maybe later, right?¡±


    Dom¡¯s right hand moved toward the inside of his jacket.


    Vaughn held out his right hand and the air between them crackled.


    I didn¡¯t bother to find out what exactly Vaughn was doing. I stepped forward, punching ¡°Stevie¡± in the nose. It was a great punch, delivered exactly as my martial arts instructor had taught me. Unfortunately, Stevie didn¡¯t go down. He stood there looking stunned.


    My second punch hit him instants later in exactly the same spot, propelled forward by another step to give it just a little added oomph.


    He went down, falling backward, his head hitting the car and then the driveway. He didn¡¯t move.


    To my right, Vaughn stood over Dom¡¯s unconscious body, his hands still glowing with bluish sparks.


    It reminded me ever so slightly of the end of the Return of the Jedi. The bit where the Emperor stands over Luke¡¯s body? Except where the Emperor looked happy, Vaughn looked scared.


    Well, we had that in common.

 Lightning Strikes Twice: Part 10

    I looked down at Stevie again. He moaned, but didn¡¯t open his eyes. Now that he was lying on the ground, his jacket gaped, exposing his gun and shoulder holster. I pulled out the gun, yanked out the clip, and dumped the bullets into the storm drain next to the driveway.


    Then I opened up his cell phone case, popped out the battery and stole the SIM card. I assumed that Dom¡¯s SIM card had probably been annihilated when Vaughn shocked him, but I took his too. You never know.


    As I was dismantling Dom¡¯s phone, Vaughn pulled out of his funk enough to ask me, ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Stealing their SIM cards. Without them they can¡¯t call anybody, and I can check out their contact list.¡±


    ¡°Is that legal?¡±


    ¡°Probably not, but it¡¯s the best way I can think of to find out a little bit about them.¡±


    ¡°What about looking through their wallets?¡±


    He had a point there.


    I pulled out Dom¡¯s wallet and flipped through his identification. He had plenty of driver¡¯s licenses, none of which identified him as Dom. He also had ID¡¯s that identified him as FBI, CIA, a U.S. Marshal, a Secret Service agent and an employee of the NSA for good measure.


    Stevie¡¯s wallet had just as much variety.


    ¡°This can¡¯t be real,¡± I said.


    ¡°No kidding,¡± Vaughn said, looking over my shoulder.


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°we should probably get out of here. Would you open the car and nuke the inside? That way they can¡¯t drive around and look for us.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± He opened the passenger side door and stopped, picking some photographs off the front seat.


    He flipped through them and handed them to me, saying, ¡°Nick, look at this.¡±


    They were glossy, blown up to 8? by 11 inches and showed the faces of everyone who had attended a DVD Night: Daniel, Cassie, Jaclyn, Vaughn and myself, plus her brothers and a few other people who had only attended once.


    All of them seemed to show Grandpa¡¯s house, lawn, or a neighbor¡¯s house as background. How had we failed to notice? Did they use more than one car? Or had they placed cameras nearby?


    Just as important, why were they bothering?


    My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Vaughn making lightning and the smell of burnt plastic.


    As the lightning¡¯s afterimage faded from my eyes, I said, ¡°Maybe we ought to go. If the guys in the Escalade are working with them they could get here at any time.¡±


    ¡°Never mind the Escalade,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°Look at that¡­ A few shots and I might be able to destroy the whole car.¡±


    Blackened, and smoking, the steering wheel lay in the front seat. The clear plastic over the speedometer had shattered and in some spots the dashboard had melted.


    If it was a rental, they definitely weren¡¯t getting their deposit back.


    ¡°I get a little stronger each time,¡± he said.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t want to find out if they¡¯ve got backup,¡± I said.


    We ran back toward the school.


    Somewhere out there is a crazy coach looking for new ideas for training cross country runners. The coach¡¯s school is in the middle of the city so there¡¯s not much of a cross country course to train on.


    If that coach were to ride around in an SUV, hunting runners with a BB gun, forcing them to run through yards instead of anything resembling a road, he might create a workout similar to, but not quite like, the workout a gazelle gets before being eaten by a lion.


    He might also get fired.


    Coach Michaelson isn¡¯t that coach, but that¡¯s the workout I got.


    We cut through backyards, climbed over fences and hid in the bushes as we decided where to cross the street. When we crossed, we sprinted.


    We saw the Escalade three times. First we saw it as we left Dom and Stevie on the ground. It came around the corner slowly. We ran around a dark house with grimy windows into the backyard and followed the alley almost to the end of the street, cutting through another backyard to escape.


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    The second time we saw it we were hiding behind a yellow, plastic slide/swingset. Vaughn peered around the side of the slide as the Escalade stopped at the corner. It turned right, traveling away from the school and us.


    ¡°They¡¯re giving up,¡± Vaughn said.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said.


    The third time, we were almost to the school. We were running down the sidewalk in a nice neighborhood just to the north of Central¡¯s athletic fields. The houses were obviously beginning their second century, but were kept up and the lawns mowed.


    A boy that couldn¡¯t be older than five raced past us on his bike shouting, ¡°I winned you!¡±


    Vaughn turned to me, grinning. ¡°Race you to the gate,¡± he said.


    He sprinted and I sprinted after him. We¡¯d decided to make for the back entrance to the school fields, betting that if the Escalade did show up, they wouldn¡¯t have the nerve to go after us in public.


    We were wrong about that.


    The moment that Vaughn and I began to sprint, I heard a deep roar behind us. I didn¡¯t even look behind to check what it was.


    ¡°Backyard,¡± I shouted. He didn¡¯t reply. He¡¯d already left the sidewalk and begun scrambling up the nearest house¡¯s front yard. All houses on the school side sat at least five feet above the street.


    I followed Vaughn up the hill, past a brown house, around the plastic chairs on their back porch and into the backyard.


    The gate through the school fence was three houses down from here. Between us and it stood a seven foot tall wooden fence, extending from the house back to the twelve foot tall school fence.


    The Escalade drove straight up the driveway and stopped in front of the small, single car garage. The doors opened and four men in black suits stepped out, pistols in hand.


    Technically, they probably weren¡¯t the Men in Black of conspiracy theory fame, but I didn¡¯t really have a good opportunity to ask about that.


    ¡°Halt,¡± that nearest one shouted.


    I was frozen, not because I was listening, but because I couldn¡¯t think of what to do next. The fences seemed too tall to climb and I didn¡¯t see a way to get past the men and around the side of the house.


    Vaughn didn¡¯t stop.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him run toward the school fence, jumping to give himself a head start on the twelve foot climb.


    He flew into the air, hands outstretched, ready to grab the chain link fence.


    He never grabbed it. He flew past and turned around in the air, facing us and suddenly giving a laugh.


    The nearest Man in Black raised his gun toward Vaughn, but he never had a chance. Vaughn¡¯s hands seemed to explode with bolt after bolt of lightning.


    I couldn¡¯t see in the brightness and closed my eyes. I opened them to find Vaughn standing next to me and all the men unconscious on the ground.


    ¡°Did you see that? It was incredible.¡± He looked over the yard¡ªthe unconscious men, the Escalade (now with four flat tires), and a hole in the lawn that I assumed came from a miss.


    ¡°Some of it,¡± I said.


    ¡°I had no idea I could do that stuff. I¡¯ve only ever seen it on TV,¡± he said, mumbling the last sentence.


    ¡°You okay?¡±


    ¡°No, fine,¡± he said. ¡°Maybe a little tired.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°let¡¯s get out of here.¡±


    <hr />


    Hope you''re all enjoying this so far. While the story doesn''t currently have a massive number of followers, I''m finding that people from RRL are visiting the main site, so I feel like I have a reason to believe people are appreciating the story. I''m glad you''re here.

 Lightning Strikes Twice: Part 11

    Vaughn seemed tired and a little punchy on the way back. He stumbled as we walked up the hill to the gate and then again on the way down the hill to the school¡¯s tennis courts. Tennis being a spring sport, the courts were empty.


    As we walked toward the soccer fields and the entrance to the gym, he seemed unable to stop talking.


    ¡°I¡¯m in a position to do some good in the world now,¡± he said, ¡°and change things. I know who sold me drugs. I bet I could find out where they live. I¡¯d collect evidence and bring them, you know¡ªKER-POW¡ªzapped unconscious to the police. I¡¯d just have to get a costume. Leather would be cool, but I wear leather a lot of the time anyway so that wouldn¡¯t be much of a disguise¡­ And a name¡­ I¡¯ll need a name...¡±


    Daniel got that way when he overused his abilities too. Well, not precisely that way. Daniel got quiet and fell asleep a lot.


    I felt tired myself. We had done around four miles, most of it running. That¡¯s not a massive distance, but it counts.


    We stepped into the gym to find the volleyball team just finishing practice. A couple girls were still practicing serves, but most of them were standing and talking.


    Cassie stood in one of the bigger groups, laughing loudly with girls I recognized, but couldn¡¯t name. As I shut the door, she waved and half-ran over to us. ¡°Hey Nick, Vaughn. Have a good run?¡±


    Unlike anyone else in the room she didn¡¯t look tired at all.


    She smiled at me, living temporarily in a happy world where Vaughn and I walking in together meant that we¡¯d had a long talk and were now best friends forever.


    Vaughn barely seemed to notice her. He leaned against the wall. ¡°White Lightning,¡± he said, ¡°That¡¯s a cool name. I could go with that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure ¡®White Lightning¡¯ is synonym for moonshine,¡± I said.


    ¡°No way? That¡¯d piss off my mom. Not that that¡¯s hard.¡±


    Cassie said, ¡°Is he drunk?¡±


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°I am not drunk. Just tired. And I mean bone tired.¡±


    He sat down on the floor.


    ¡°He really isn¡¯t drunk,¡± I said, ¡°but a few things happened during the run that we probably shouldn¡¯t talk about here.¡±


    She glanced toward the rest of the volleyball team. Most of them were leaving for the locker room. A few still stood talking next to the bleachers.


    ¡°Tell you what, I¡¯ve got my mom¡¯s car. I¡¯ll drive you home.¡±


    ¡°That would take care of everything,¡± I said. ¡°Um¡­ You want to help me get him over to the guy¡¯s lockers?¡±


    Vaughn head lay on his chest. He had fallen asleep.


    ¡°Only if I don¡¯t have to go in. The boys'' locker room reeks. Do you any of you guys ever wash your uniforms or do you just keep them there for the season?¡±


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    I decided to take that as a rhetorical question and started to pull Vaughn up by his right arm. Cassie took the other arm, and to be honest, did most of the work. Not that that should surprise anyone.


    Vaughn woke up enough to get himself into the locker room. We showered and changed into clothes. While I rearranged my locker, it occurred to me that Cassie was right about the smell. The reason¡¯s not hard to explain.


    I left my sweats there all week and took them home to be washed on Friday. I¡¯m sure I wasn''t the only one. In fact I¡¯m pretty sure some people left their stuff longer.


    Don¡¯t judge me.


    I pulled my backpack out of my locker and put the SIM cards into the front pocket along with the pictures.


    Vaughn already had his jacket on and had one strap of his backpack over his shoulder.


    ¡°So,¡± he said, ¡°rumor says you and Cassie are going out.¡±


    ¡°Where did anyone get that idea?¡±


    ¡°I heard it from Kayla first, but she¡¯s not the only one who says it. I¡¯d wondered myself. I¡¯ve never seen you together before this year and this year you¡¯re talking in the hall. You¡¯re having lunch. You¡¯re riding home from school together¡­ Everything but PDA.¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    Which goes to show that the school rumor machine is pretty much full of it. Last time I heard anything about Cassie in school, the rumor was that she was a lesbian. Bearing in mind that that rumor goes out about all female athletes that are any good and every female phys ed teacher, I didn¡¯t pay any attention to it.


    It made me wonder if anyone bothered to try to reconcile contradictory rumors or if these things just washed ashore like waves on the beach and disappeared.


    ¡°I¡¯ll bet you can think of one other reason we might be hanging out,¡± I told him.


    Vaughn looked puzzled for a second, but then said, ¡°Oh, duh. I''m a moron.¡±


    I grabbed my backpack and we walked out of the locker room. Cassie was waiting for us in the hall. We walked quietly down the hall, out of the school and out to the parking lot.


    Cassie''s mom had a late model blue sedan. It looked distinctly like a mom-mobile--as in clean, has a tissue box, a trash receptacle,  and didn''t have bags of fast food garbage on the floor or the seats.


    Once we shut the doors she said, ¡°OK, what have you got for me?¡±


    I pulled out the photos and the SIM cards.


    I told her everything.


    <hr />


    A new chapter starts tomorrow, and we''ll find out how much deeper this mess can get. If you''re enjoying the story, please do review. I can use the help. A lot of people are reading on my main site, but I''d like to become more visible here.

 Gathering: Part 1

    So it was Friday night, the night (if popular culture is to be believed) when everybody who is anybody is out doing something fun.


    I was in my grandfather¡¯s lab in Heroes¡¯ League HQ setting rules for the security system. During the summer when I¡¯d basically decided to use HQ as a massive home theater/video game room, I¡¯d set it to let in anybody connected to the original League.


    Recent events had made it obvious that that was not a good idea.


    I set the security program to let in Daniel, Jaclyn, Cassie and myself without question, other people if they were with one of us, and for everyone else the program would email me a request.


    Also, it would always notify me if someone entered the complex.


    Having saved the rules, I clicked out of the program and pushed off the stool, walking out of the lab.


    The main room was just as filled with boxes as ever, all of them neatly labeled, contents listed. One of these days I would have to go through them. Who knew what else had been sitting inside for twenty years or more?


    The communications screen filling most of the far wall was dark. I considered pulling out Guitar Hero II and playing a few songs, but people would be arriving soon and I didn''t want them to find me mangling "Psychobilly Freakout" yet again.


    I wasn''t completely sure how I did want them to find me, but I preferred conveying the thought "teenager with grownup problems" as opposed to "teenager with delusions of grandeur who really sucks at Guitar Hero."


    I walked up to one of the command consoles at the main table, setting the screen to display a publicity picture of the Heroes League circa 1965. It showed the team posing next to the command console in costume. Ghostwoman sat next to the console¡ªjust transparent enough to see the outline of the chair she sat in. Grandpa stood behind her as the Rocket. Next to her crouched Night Wolf, all in dark gray and looking feral. Behind him stood Hotfoot, recently renamed ¡°C,¡± and probably just back from marching for civil rights somewhere in the South.


    Captain Commando (wearing an enormous utility belt) stood next to C and Red Lightning stood in front of Captain Commando, electrical sparks covering his arms. The Mentalist stood next to Captain Commando and partially behind Red Lightning. He appeared deep in thought.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    I backed away from the table to admire it, briefly wishing that they were dealing with all this instead of me.


    Jaclyn arrived first. She runs at the speed of sound so that¡¯s not much of a surprise. She walked into the main room through one of the tunnel entrances.


    She wore a purple costume with a mask that covered all of her face except for her mouth. It didn¡¯t have any markings or symbols.


    She turned to a blur between the tunnel and the table. By the time I could make out her features, she¡¯d taken the mask off and sat down.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know you had a costume,¡± I said. ¡°Do you have a name?¡±


    ¡°My grandpa gave me the costume last year but no, no name.¡±


    Jaclyn looks a lot like her grandfather. She¡¯s tall (around six feet), skinny, dark skinned, and there¡¯s a facial resemblance too. I¡¯m not quite sure how to describe it. A long face doesn¡¯t quite say what I mean, but it¡¯s the closest I can come up with.


    ¡°I never really intended to wear it,¡± she said. ¡°My brothers didn¡¯t bother to use their powers until after they¡¯d graduated college and moved to Atlanta. Besides, I don''t want to run around the city looking for muggers when I''ve got schoolwork.¡±


    Schoolwork that she¡¯s probably doing at Mach 1, I thought. Between being in sports, school council at Grand Lake South High, playing cello in the orchestra, and on South¡¯s yearbook team, she was probably using her speed just to get through daily life.


    ¡°I barely have time to be here,¡± she said.


    ¡°What,¡± I said, ¡°you have something else going tonight?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s just that I could be working on my homework or researching colleges for my applications or practicing or¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t really want to stay for the meeting. Could we just talk about it now?¡±


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re really going to need everyone. After we talk about what¡¯s going on we¡¯re going to have to figure out what to do about it.¡±


    ¡°What exactly,¡± she said, ¡°is going on?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ It looks like someone¡¯s watching us and I don¡¯t know for sure, but they might be trying to kill us or something."

 Gathering: Part 2

    ¡°I don¡¯t like this,¡± Jaclyn said.


    I¡¯d just told her about Vaughn and I discovering the pictures in the car. The fact that all of them seemed to have been taken next to Grandpa¡¯s house hadn¡¯t escaped her. She put the pictures on the table and turned into a purplish blur, moving from one side of the room to the other.


    Pacing, I guess.


    After a few times across the room she stopped by me again.


    ¡°What I really hate about this is that I can¡¯t ignore it. They know who we are. They probably know where we live.¡±


    She paused, frowned. "Do you know anything about them?"


    ¡°I¡¯m working on it.¡±


    ¡°Work faster,¡± she said.


    Easy for her to say.


    I occupied myself with the command console, making sure I could get at the results of my research on the contact list. Not that the results were all that impressive. I was only half done.


    Jaclyn had sat down again and had been surfing the internet on one of the other consoles.


    ¡°What do you think about Vaughn? Do you think he¡¯s working with them?¡±


    ¡°I doubt it,¡± I said. ¡°He seemed as confused as I was.¡±


    She sighed.


    ¡°This sounded like a lot more fun last week,¡± she said.


    It¡¯s funny. Aside from Daniel with whom I¡¯ve been best friends since I was four, Jaclyn¡¯s been the only one I kept up with after Captain Commando died, the Mentalist developed dementia, and the picnics stopped.


    I still had no idea what to say to her.


    I could have told her that fighting the Grey Giant wasn¡¯t really fun at all. I felt terrified half the time and utterly out of my depth for the other half.


    It didn¡¯t seem like the right thing to say, but not saying anything felt wrong too.


    The console beeped, saving me from replying.


    Checking the security cameras showed that three different groups were coming through three different tunnels. Clicking the mouse pointer on each window in turn, I was relieved to find that I recognized everybody.


    Daniel and Cassie exited first¡ªfrom the tunnel on the far wall, both of them in costume. Three mailbags floated behind them.


    ¡°More?¡± I said. ¡°Didn¡¯t we just do this?¡±


    ¡°Did you see Time magazine this week?¡± Cassie said.


    My confusion must have shown on my face, because she followed it up with, ¡°You don¡¯t pay any attention to the news at all, do you?¡±


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°I read Reddit,¡± I said.


    From the expression on her face, I guessed that Reddit didn''t qualify as a news source.


    ¡°We¡¯re on the cover,¡± she said. ¡°They did an article called ¡®The New Old Heroes.¡¯ I don¡¯t have one here, but I¡¯ll bet there¡¯s one in the sacks.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not just about us,¡± Daniel said. ¡°There are a bunch of second or third versions of heroes showing up. Mostly no one you¡¯ve heard of.¡±


    ¡°Why did you pick up the mail now?¡±


    ¡°I thought it¡¯d make us seem more real. Also, ¡° Daniel continued, ¡°we can¡¯t just let them stack up in the storefront downtown.¡±


    Unlike a lot of superhero groups now, the Heroes League never built a big shiny building in the middle of a city. They built a bunker under Grandpa¡¯s house and bought an old shoe store and former speakeasy. During the 50¡¯s and 60¡¯s, they staffed it with a secretary, but in the 70¡¯s they turned it into a futuristic, automated office.


    I¡¯d thought about making things work again, but it would probably take weeks.


    Daniel floated the mailbags in between the table and the screen¡ªwhere it would be impossible to miss them.


    ¡°You¡¯re worried about seeming real?¡± Jaclyn said.


    ¡°You know,¡± Daniel said. ¡°Like we¡¯re more than bunch of teenagers.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you should give everyone issues of Time magazine,¡± she said. She didn¡¯t sound sarcastic exactly, but her tone had an edge.


    ¡°Funny,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m not obsessing about this. This is a big deal. We¡¯re getting together a bunch of people who haven¡¯t seen each other since they were five and asking them to trust each other. We¡¯re going to make decisions that might put our lives at risk. So the details matter. A lot.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°I¡¯m not arguing. I know what''s at stake. That¡¯s the only reason I¡¯m still here.¡±


    Daniel breathed in, paused and then spoke, ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m just trying to make this work. I¡¯ve been thinking about it maybe a little too mu--¡±


    ¡°Yo, Danny-boy,¡± said a voice from the other wall, ¡°Are we late?¡±


    <hr />


    It''s funny reading this again after writing it around 8 years ago. The characters feel a lot younger by comparison to the current versions of the same characters.

 Gathering: Part 3

    Two of Night Wolf¡¯s grandchildren came in through one of the tunnel entrances.


    Daniel turned around and checked his cell phone. ¡°You¡¯re on time. Hi Travis.¡±


    Travis held the metal door open, waiting for a moment as his sister Haley stepped through. He closed it as casually as I do when I¡¯m wearing the suit. Travis stood about six foot eight and had the musculature of a body builder.


    Haley was a foot and a half shorter.


    Both of them wore dark gray costumes modeled on their grandfather¡¯s and had the same black hair.


    It amused me. Night Wolf¡¯s whole shtick was being a nocturnal predator. He would step out of the darkness and lay them on the ground before anyone knew he was there.


    I found it hard to imagine darkness big enough for Travis to hide in. By contrast, Haley could definitely hide, but being barely over five feet tall, how hard she could hit?


    As Travis started to talk to Daniel and Cassie stepped over to Haley , I remarked to Jaclyn, ¡°We¡¯ve only got Marcus and Vaughn to go. And Marcus is in the tunnels.¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯s Vaughn?¡± Jaclyn said.


    ¡°I¡¯ve no idea. He hasn¡¯t been in school since Tuesday so that¡¯s two¡­ no, three days. He was looking really tired after the uh¡­ incident. So he¡¯s probably at home.¡±


    I¡¯d called his house (his parents still haven¡¯t given him back his cell phone), but only got his mom. She¡¯d told me he was sleeping, and, she may have been telling the truth. Cassie had said she¡¯d try to talk to him in person, but she¡¯d never told me if she had.


    ¡°Well,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°I¡¯m not running this, but if I were, I¡¯d say let¡¯s start the second Marcus steps inside. Like how about now?¡±


    ¡°Is Marcus here already?¡± I checked the monitor. The tunnels were empty.


    ¡°Behind you,¡± Marcus said.


    Marcus is the son of one of Jaclyn¡¯s aunts and one of Travis and Haley¡¯s uncles¡ªwhich makes him the grandson of both C/Hotfoot and Night Wolf.


    I turned around.


    Marcus is about my height, has curly hair, light brown skin and wore black sweats.


    ¡°I know Daniel said we should come in costume, but I don¡¯t have a costume. So I came in this¡­¡± He waved his hand toward his body.


    ¡°Fine with me,¡± I said.


    Daniel was the one who¡¯d thought costumes were a good idea. ¡°People need to see things,¡± he¡¯d said. ¡°If we get them into costume, putting together a team will be easier to imagine.¡±


    All I cared about was that people came through the secret entrances so they wouldn¡¯t be seen. We¡¯d discussed it Tuesday night in a seemingly endless three way instant messaging session. Getting together tonight was step one of the plan.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    While Marcus and Jaclyn talked, I leaned over and tapped Cassie on the shoulder. ¡°Did you ever talk to Vaughn?¡±


    ¡°A little,¡± Cassie said, stepping away from Haley, Travis and Daniel. ¡°It went wrong. All wrong.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°You know how Vaughn¡¯s parents have decided to protect him from ever doing anything wrong again and took away his cell phone and his bank account and his car?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    Cassie sat down on the command console next to the monitor I¡¯d been sitting in front of.


    ¡°I called Vaughn¡¯s house and got his mom on Tuesday night¡ªyou know, just to see if he was available tonight and his mom answered. I left a message to call me, but he didn¡¯t. So I called back on Thursday and his mom answered again. Only this time she told me I was a bad influence and not to call back. Then she hung up on me. Seriously, what the hell is going on with that?¡±


    Cassie rolled her eyes and then grinned at me. Everyone else had stopped talking.


    ¡°I¡¯m standing there with my phone in my hand and I¡¯m pissed. I did drop him off after a party once last year, but it¡¯s not like I made him get drunk. I took away his keys that night. And anyway, all I wanted was for him to answer one very simple question. So, screw it, I decided, I¡¯m breaking into Fortress Mom.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ wow,¡± I said.


    Travis snorted.


    ¡°I grabbed one of Dad¡¯s old utility belts and drove over. I jumped over the fence and then went to the side of the house where Vaughn¡¯s room is¡ªexcept his room is on the second story. So I threw up the grappling hook and it caught. After that it was easy. I just crawled up the side of the house.¡±


    I glanced over at Daniel. He had an extremely blank facial expression.


    Cassie continued, ¡°I knocked on Vaughn¡¯s window and you should have seen the look on his face. He opened it and I¡¯m hanging there on a rope. I started to tell him about the meeting while I was stepping inside, but we didn¡¯t get very far. His mom opened the bedroom door and started shouting at me. I jumped out the window, yanked the grappling hook until I dislodged it and ran back to the car.¡±


    ¡°I may have missed it,¡± I said, ¡°but is Vaughn coming or not?¡±


    ¡°I told him about the meeting,¡± Cassie said, ¡°but your guess is as good as mine.¡±

 Gathering: Part 4

    ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°we might as well get started. I think we¡¯ve got chairs for everyone.¡±


    I sat down at the table and pulled up a few things on the monitor in front of me¡ªthe photos, the contact list I¡¯d retrieved from the SIM card.


    By the time I looked up, everyone had taken a seat around the table. Daniel sat on the end and then Cassie to the left of me. Travis and Haley were across the table. Marcus sat at the far end and Jaclyn to my right.  We still had room for Vaughn if by some miracle he actually showed.


    For a moment, I felt a little thrill to see the seats filled and wondered what it had been like for the original League. Less cluttered by piles of cardboard boxes, trophies, and momentos of course, but it was still a group of people around a table. It felt good to imagine that we might be like them.


    I stood up and began to describe the how Vaughn and I had been almost kidnapped by the guys in the sports car and then attacked by the men in the Escalade. I started a slideshow of  the scanned copies of the photos Vaughn had found. They cycled through on the big screen on the wall, giving each picture a long enough appearance that each person could be recognized.


    Then I showed people the contact list.


    ¡°I¡¯m still going through this,¡± I said. ¡°Right now all I know is that there are a few more numbers with Chicago area codes than anywhere else.  I¡¯m sure I could have found out more, but I also had homework to finish. I¡¯m hoping to learn a little more this weekend. And if you want to help, I¡¯m open.¡±


    Travis raised his hand, ¡°Didn¡¯t the League used to have connections with the FBI¡¯s Superhuman Affairs Department? That list sounds like the kind of thing they¡¯d handle.¡±


    ¡°It does,¡± I agreed, ¡°but I¡¯ve got no idea how to contact them or anything.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d try the phone book,¡± Travis said. Haley and Marcus laughed a little.


    ¡°Good point,¡± I said, ¡°though Daniel and I were talking about passing it to his father if I couldn¡¯t find anything useful.¡±


    Travis nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. He¡¯s a lawyer.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a prosecutor,¡± Daniel said.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± I said, ¡°that¡¯s longer term. Shorter term I¡¯m more worried about us. They¡¯ve got our pictures and they might know our names.¡±


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    I pulled a box out from under the table. It contained rings, necklaces, and watches.


    ¡°Take one you like,¡± I said, passing the box to Jaclyn. ¡°They¡¯re homing signals my grandfather made. They probably belong in a museum, but they work.¡±


    Jaclyn sorted through the box. ¡°I¡¯m sure your grandfather was a great inventor, but his taste in jewelry¡ªoh God. Look at this¡­¡± She pulled out a big silver medallion shaped like a peace symbol. ¡°What were they doing? Infiltrating a group of hippies?¡±


    Eventually, she picked a gold ring and passed the box to Marcus.


    When everyone had pulled out something, I closed the box and put it back under the table.


    Cassie took over from there, talking about how important it was for us to practice fighting together just in case we had to operate as a group.


    I didn¡¯t listen. I pretended I was listening, but I had other things on my mind. I didn¡¯t know if Travis had thought it all the way through, but if he had, he was right. We shouldn¡¯t be handling this ourselves. We should have been storming Daniel¡¯s dad¡¯s office and asking for advice.


    Or honestly, just finding someone who actually knew what they were doing and handing it all over to them. Like Guardian over in Chicago if we had to¡­ Or Larry. He¡¯s not much of a detective, but he has at least been living this life for twenty years.


    What got me as I sat there was how few options we had. Telling the police would mean revealing our grandparents¡¯ secret identities and Daniel¡¯s dad¡¯s along the way. Not to mention opening up our families to revenge by who knows how many people.


    Handing it over to a group of experienced heroes wouldn¡¯t take us out of danger either¡ªeven if I could persuade Daniel and Cassie that it was a good idea.


    They had some kind of drive to revive the League, a drive that I somehow didn¡¯t receive as part of my inheritance.


    However much Daniel might want this to feel real, I still felt like I was just pretending.

 Gathering: Part 5

    After every party comes the cleanup.


    I stood alone in League HQ holding six empty pizza boxes in my hands. I¡¯d already put the leftovers in the refrigerator along with the pop.


    David Letterman kept me company. Twenty feet tall on the Leagues¡¯ TV, he joked about the president, the current presidential candidates, and how the next big super team would be eight year olds from Indiana.


    It didn¡¯t get much of a laugh, but I stared, dumbstruck, at the screen. Was that a reference to us? Hadn¡¯t our fifteen minutes of fame run out yet?


    I dumped the pizza boxes into the trash compactor, shut the door, and heard a satisfying crunching noise. The next time I opened the door, it would be empty. One of these days I would have to find out where it all went. Given the level of environmental awareness when Grandpa designed this place, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised to discover it all shot into Lake Michigan.


    While I pushed the chairs underneath the main table, I heard a low-pitched beeping. Looking up at the screen, I noticed a blue bar running across the bottom of the screen. The words ¡°incoming call¡± floated from the right side of the screen to the left.


    Crap.


    I knew what that meant. It meant official. As in federal. As in a representative from our actual government wanted to talk to someone here.


    I ran into the lab and put on the Rocket suit. I¡¯d taken it off after everyone left.


    With any luck, they¡¯d give up before I finished. I had to pull on the arms, gloves, legs, chest piece, and helmet separately, each one with it¡¯s own special connections.


    The beeping didn¡¯t stop.


    I ran back out to the main console, clicked the ¡°receive¡± button with the mouse and watched as the FBI¡¯s seal appeared on the TV. Underneath the symbol were the words ¡°Superhuman Affairs Branch.¡±


    In a moment, the seal dissolved into a dark haired man standing in front of a wide desk in a cramped office. Piles of papers threatened to crowd out his computer and the big pile on the left appeared just about ready to fall over.


    He was in his mid-forties and wore a blue suit. Just at the moment he became visible, he had been putting a gold colored action figure on his desk. I couldn¡¯t see exactly what sort of action figure it was, but the idea of a FBI agent playing with C3PO in his spare time amused me.


    I wondered how he would take it if I asked about it.


    The fact that he was smiling also didn¡¯t quite fit with my mental image of the FBI. Of course, my image of the FBI comes mostly from X-Files reruns.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°Hi,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m the Rocket.¡±


    ¡°Good to meet you Rocket,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m Isaac Lim, Super Team Liaison for the northern Midwest.¡±


    His accent sounded like it was from one of the northeastern states. I couldn¡¯t place which one.


    ¡°I¡¯m calling,¡± he said, ¡°to let you know that your team is part of our agency¡¯s National Hero program.¡±


    ¡°I knew that the Heroes League was, ¡°I said, ¡°but what we¡¯ve got here right now only barely qualifies as a team. Besides aren¡¯t there some requirements for that? I think I remember something about five years of supervision and needing¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ a security clearance?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯ve been grandfathered in.¡±


    ¡°Well that¡¯s good, I guess. What do we get out of that?¡±


    He looked a little surprised at the question, but said, ¡°The usual. Federal resources for your cases and sometimes equipment if you need it. You get paid when you¡¯re on call. You also get guidance from an experienced field agent¡ªme, in this case.¡±


    ¡°OK,¡± I said, ¡°what do you get out of it?¡±


    ¡°We get heroes and in your case, we get legendary heroes back from beyond the grave,¡± laughing a little as he said the last part.


    ¡°More like replacement heroes,¡± I said.


    ¡°No,¡± he said, ¡°I¡¯m serious about that. The League was legendary. I idolized the original Rocket as a kid. Most supers are born with powers, but here was a normal person who could go toe to toe with them. You don¡¯t know how much I wanted my own suit or how many hours I wasted daydreaming about it¡­¡±


    He stopped, looking a little embarrassed. ¡°Don¡¯t mind me,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s been a late night and I ought to go home.¡±


    ¡°So should I,¡± I said, ¡°but if we really do have access to FBI records, I¡¯ve got a list of names and numbers I¡¯d like you to check out.¡±


    ¡°Absolutely,¡± he said, and told me how to send him the file. Apparently our network had a secure connection to the Feds.


    Then he signed off.


    After I sent him the contact list, I wondered if I really should be trusting him with something like that so soon. It was too late to take it back though. Besides, I told myself as I took the suit off, he seemed to really like Grandpa.


    Funny to imagine an FBI agent having a Rocket action figure in his office. It¡¯s a strange world.

 From the Past: Part 1

    ¡°The hot lunch menu says that it¡¯s called ¡°Mystery Pizza,¡± I said. The pizza appeared to be crust covered with baked beans, red onion and cheddar cheese.


    The only thing I found mysterious was that someone could actually believe high school students might recognize it as food.


    Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯ll eat it if you don¡¯t.¡±


    She¡¯d come with her usual three trays worth of food and had already finished half.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ll deal.¡± I picked it up and ate it. What other option did I have? I didn¡¯t particularly feel like listening to my stomach growl for the afternoon.


    ¡°Hey there ¡®Bad Influences¡¯,¡± Vaughn said, putting his tray down between the two of us, ¡°Ready to save the world?¡±


    Cassie and I both replied simultaneously, Cassie saying, ¡°Not that loud¡± while I said, ¡°Not here.¡±


    Granted we were sitting at the back table in a corner with basically no one around. Still, you don¡¯t talk about superhero stuff in a high school cafeteria¡ªat least not loudly.


    ¡°When did I become a bad influence?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Ah don¡¯t worry about it, ¡° Vaughn said, ¡°you¡¯re not. I just didn¡¯t want you to feel left out.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Cassie scowled for a moment and then said, ¡°What I don¡¯t understand is why I¡¯m a bad influence at all. It¡¯s not as if I brought you to parties. I brought you home because you were too drunk to drive.¡±


    Vaughn poked at the pizza with his fork.


    ¡°Look, I don¡¯t know. I think she¡¯s decided everyone she saw me with just before going into rehab is a bad influence.¡±


    He laughed, ¡°Of course, now she thinks you¡¯re a crazy stalker too¡­¡±


    He turned to me, ¡°She told you about climbing through the window, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Friday night,¡± I said.


    ¡°Wish I could have made it. I swear, it¡¯s like Mom never stops watching me.¡± He picked up the pizza, took a bite. ¡°You know, this stuff is okay. Better than the ¡®Mystery Casserole.¡¯ I never did figure out what was in that.¡±


    He chewed the pizza thoughtfully for a moment. ¡°Did she tell you about the shingles?¡±


    Cassie looked away from the table.


    ¡°She jumps out the window and starts yanking on the grappling hook only it doesn¡¯t come out. It¡¯s stuck. Only she yanks again and there¡¯s a ripping noise and geez¡­ ten shingles came down with the grapple. It was hilarious¡ªthe shingles were raining down and my mom was finally too shocked to shout at anybody.¡±


    ¡°About Friday,¡± Cassie said, her face slightly reddened, ¡°Daniel and I worked out a patrol schedule and a response procedure if one of us gets attacked. I¡¯ll get it to you after school.¡±


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    ¡°And I¡¯ll get to use it when they finally let me out of my cage,¡± Vaughn muttered.


    For a few minutes after that, we just ate.


    Cassie finished first. ¡°Did either of you see the news over the weekend? There were a bunch of fights in Chicago on Friday night and a few more on Saturday and Sunday.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°All the Chicago supers were in on it plus Defenders groups from both coasts.¡±


    ¡°Fighting gangs, right?¡± I had paid some attention to the news this weekend.


    ¡°Not just any gangs,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Powered gangs. Not hugely powerful individually, but there were a lot of them.¡±


    ¡°And CNN said that even the normals had military grade weapons,¡± Vaughn said.


    I zoned out while they discussed the highlights.


    ¡°¡­ Guardian opening a gate like he did when we fought the Grey Giant¡­¡±


    ¡°¡ªthat fire guy¡ª¡°


    ¡°Supernova dusting the building¡­¡±


    ¡°All that water just pouring through downtown¡ª¡°


    I could see how the Superhuman Affairs Branch guy would have been in the office on a Friday night. From what I¡¯d read, the major action would have been finished by the time he¡¯d called me.


    ¡°Vaughn,¡± I said, ¡°weren¡¯t low powered gang members your grandfather¡¯s MO? Addicted to that ¡®power elixir¡¯ stuff and rampaging through the city?¡±


    ¡°Shit, yeah,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°You don¡¯t think he¡¯s alive, do you? That¡¯d be way too much like a comic book.¡±


    ¡°No. I was thinking more of the stuff you passed on to Stevie and company back when you were on drugs.¡±


    The expression on Vaughn¡¯s face managed to move from shock to despair faster than I¡¯d thought possible.


    What he would have said next I don¡¯t know because Cassie¡¯s friend Kayla had walked up to the table, a tray of food in her hands. Kayla was a little taller than Cassie and always seemed to be tanned.


    Previous to this year, I¡¯d almost never seen her apart from Cassie.


    ¡°Mind if I sit down?¡±


    Still halfway into the conversation we¡¯d been having, we were silent for a moment.


    ¡°I can go if you don¡¯t want me,¡± she said, looking at Cassie.


    ¡°No, no,¡± Cassie said, ¡°Sit down.¡±


    ¡°We were just talking about Chicago,¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Kayla said, ¡°all those poor people who lost their homes.¡±


    Funny how that aspect of the weekend had never entered our discussion.

 From the Past: Part 2

    Haley hung her legs over the edge of the roof. I stood a couple feet away from the ledge. Despite being able to fly when I¡¯m wearing the Rocket suit, I still hadn¡¯t gotten over the fact that eight stories is a long way to fall.


    We were looking over downtown.


    Downtown is a mixture of modern, glassy buildings like you see in any big city and 19th century architecture. The 19th century stuff includes buildings that must have been intended to be beautiful¡ªmarble pillars in front and ornate sculptured cherubs holding up the roof¡ªand brick factories that existed only to pump out as much furniture as possible.


    Grand Lake was nationally known for furniture production back then.


    The building we were on used to be a movie theater back in the era of silent films. Now the bottom story was ¡°The Black Crow Tavern.¡± The other stories held offices.


    According to Daniel and Cassie¡¯s list, Haley and I were on patrol tonight.


    The evening so far had all the awkwardness of a first date and none of the excitement. Just like the time I¡¯d gone on patrol with Daniel, we hadn¡¯t found any crimes that I felt comfortable interrupting. I¡¯d been listening to police and fire departments over the suit¡¯s radio, but they seemed to have everything well in hand. After half an hour of running across rooftops Matrix-style, Haley had suggested we find someplace to sit down.


    ¡°Not what you expected?¡± I stepped a little closer to the ledge where she sat. The street still looked a long way down.


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m not expecting anything. I¡¯m just along for the ride.¡±


    ¡°Along for the ride?¡±


    ¡°Travis loves the idea of bringing back the Heroes League,¡± she said. ¡°He was so excited he called me at one in the morning from his dorm to tell me about the meeting. And I thought it sounded fun, so I came.¡±


    "I think we''ve got different definitions of fun,¡± I said.


    ¡°I didn''t mean the meeting. I mean Travis. Having him be excited about something is fun. Don''t tell him I told you,¡± she said, "but I don''t think he''s been this into anything since before the Air Force Academy rejected him..."


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    She paused, then said, "What about you? What got you into it?"


    ¡°Me?¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think Cassie and Daniel nagged me into it.¡±


    We talked for a few minutes after that about classes and then just watched the city. It was around nine at night and we could see solitary cars moving down the streets. Once the tourist season ends, Grand Lake doesn¡¯t have much nightlife.


    Just below us someone crossed an intersection diagonally, ignoring the stoplight.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°we could go down and tell off the jaywalker. I think that¡¯s the only illegal action we¡¯re going to see tonight.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± she said, ¡°It sounds like we¡¯re both just out here for the exercise anyway.¡±


    Just as I was about to ask her if she wanted to go home, I saw a beam of bright red light strike something and then realized that the pole in front of Channel 10¡¯s studios was burning.


    ¡°Did someone shoot Willy?¡± Haley asked.


    Willy the Weather Worm is a metal earthworm covered with lights. It glows different colors for different forecasts. The local NBC affiliate, News 10 came up with it in the 1960¡¯s, took it down in the late 70¡¯s and pulled it out of a junkyard in the late 90¡¯s¡ªthough it briefly had to compete with the Weather Worm remnant Channel 6 pulled out of a different junkyard for being the real Weather Worm.


    I wish I were joking about that.


    ¡°Are you up for checking it out?¡± I said, running through a systems check on my suit. Glowing readouts appeared on the inside of my helmet.


    Over the radio, I could hear the police and the fire department being dispatched¡­ ¡°We¡¯ve got a 10-80 downtown¡­¡±


    A 10-80 is an explosion.

 From the Past: Part 3

    Even as I landed, the police were arriving.


    Channel 10¡¯s studios are in an old former factory. A big brick box on the edge of downtown, it had a strip of lawn in front with the sign and a large parking lot on the opposite side.


    I had landed in front, not wanting to land in the middle of the trouble without having a chance to look it over first. I¡¯d carried Haley to save time.


    ¡°Your armor¡¯s cold,¡± she said.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s warm on the inside.¡±


    ¡°Then I get to be inside next time,¡± she said, rubbing her arms.


    Lights ablaze in the night, police cars passed us without stopping, either not noticing or not caring that we were there. Over the radio, I heard the dispatcher give the code calling up the SWAT team.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to take a look around the corner and find out what we¡¯re up against,¡± I said.


    ¡°Not without me.¡±


    I made it to the corner in a few long strides. She kept up.


    I peered around the edge of the building. Now decapitated, Willy the Weather Worm burned, his pole listing toward the parking lot. Willy¡¯s head had partially smashed in the roof of an SUV.


    Five police cars were parked on the street, police behind them, guns out and pointed toward the middle of the parking lot.


    Man-machine stood in the parking lot. I¡¯d assumed he was dead.


    Almost every superhero seems to have a stable of regular villains, the people who show up again and again, apparently more interested in making the hero¡¯s life hell than committing crimes. Man-machine was one of Grandpa¡¯s.


    Just like Grandpa, he was into powered armor. Unlike Grandpa, the armor he created couldn¡¯t fly. Man-machine concentrated on strength and armor. Where Grandpa¡¯s armor looked slim and elegant, Man-machine¡¯s looked blocky and angular. Though only slightly taller than a normal man, the armor was twice as wide.


    The laser cannon mounted on his left shoulder explained the red beam of light I¡¯d seen earlier.


    Above me, I heard Haley¡¯s voice say, ¡°I didn¡¯t know he was still alive.¡±


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    She hung on the wall between the first and second story. Her fingers and toenails dug into the brick. They were longer, more claw-like than I remembered, and dull black in color.


    ¡°Looks like it.¡±


    ¡°Do you have a plan?¡±


    ¡°Does calling for backup count?¡± Yesterday I¡¯d set things up so that my suit would transmit my address along with a message calling for help to League members¡¯ phones. I activated it.


    ¡°I suppose,¡± she said. Her tone of voice suggested that it only barely counted. Her brother, I imagined, would probably already be dismembering Man-machine by now.


    In fairness to me, I should mention that neither Grandpa nor anyone else ever succeeded in catching Man-machine. He¡¯d been defeated, but always got away. Stepping out from behind the building and challenging him seemed like several kinds of stupid.


    Meanwhile from the parking lot, I could hear a police officer addressing him over a megaphone. ¡°Man-machine,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time. What brings you out tonight?¡±


    A dry, wheezing laugh filled the parking lot. Grandpa wasn¡¯t the only one who¡¯d put amplifiers into his armor.


    ¡°Officer Van Kley? It¡¯s been years. Still working on the front lines? I¡¯d have thought you would be further along in your career by now.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a lieutenant,¡± she said, ¡° but they still let me out on special occasions.¡±


    ¡°It will be just,¡° he gasped for breath, ¡°like old times.¡±


    Lieutenant Van Kley let her megaphone droop for a moment, but then asked, ¡°Are you alright? We have medical personnel on the way. If you need to be looked at--¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sick.¡± He took another breath. ¡°Just old. Call the Rocket if you haven¡¯t already.¡±


    ¡°Man-machine,¡± she said, ¡±the Rocket you fought is gone. If the new one¡¯s the same age as the rest of them, he¡¯s just a kid.¡±


    The laser cannon swiveled toward the side of the parking lot opposite the police cars and fired. A car exploded.


    ¡°The Rocket. In five minutes.¡±

 From the Past: Part 4

    When faced with people whose skin repels bullets or who shoot lasers out of their eyes, cops don¡¯t have a lot of options. From what I understand, standard policy is to stall them until someone with a chance of dealing with them arrives.


    Officer Van Kley was doing her best. I could hear her talking again. I wondered whether anyone would arrive before Man-machine got bored.


    ¡°I¡¯m going in,¡± I said.


    Haley said, ¡°With me.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°Can you fight?¡±


    From what I remembered, her grandfather, Night Wolf, had the ability to hide, could climb walls and had inhumanly good senses, but an enhanced sense of smell (no matter how good) seemed pretty useless at the moment.


    ¡°Yes, I can fight,¡± she said.


    I looked up the wall to find her glaring down at me. Her eyes were slit like a cat¡¯s and glowed slightly.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said.


    From the parking lot, Man-machine¡¯s voice said, ¡°Time¡¯s up.¡±


    A red beam hit the nearest police car, melting the right side window and starting the front seat on fire. The two policemen crouched behind it ran to the next car.


    ¡°We better get in there,¡± I said and engaged the rockets, shooting across the parking lot toward him at full thrust.


    I crossed the parking lot in seconds, readied myself to punch him, and missed. I¡¯d misjudged how close I had to be and passed him about two feet to the left. I didn¡¯t even try to blast him with the sonic weapons on my arms. I was too busy climbing to avoid the former factory on the other side of the parking lot.


    That factory used to make bikes. Now it¡¯s a store called ¡°Lavender West.¡± They sell clothes and hippie paraphernalia. There¡¯s a skate park on the fourth floor.


    I¡¯m told (though I¡¯ve never had any reason to check) that they also sell bongs.


    If I¡¯d turned a little slower, I could have smashed into the building and found out. As it was I missed the wall by inches, flying directly in front of a third and then a fourth floor window. I could have reached out and shaken the hands of the people crowding to see the fight.


    Of course, moving at 286 mph, I would have ripped their hands right off.


    Once above the building, I gave myself a little spin, rotating so that I was facing the parking lot, and dove. I had a plan this time.


    Grandpa used to tell a lot of stories about fighting Man-machine. Nearly half of them ended with Grandpa finding a way to smash the transparent faceplate. Sometimes he¡¯d punch Man-machine unconscious. Sometimes he¡¯d smash the glass without breaking it, leaving it in one piece but impossible to see through.


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    I was going to fire the sonic weapons directly into the faceplate. All I had to do was get close enough.


    Three-quarters of the way down, I realized that Man-machine had turned to face me. Then I saw flash of red and felt heat on my chest.


    Systems reported the damage as medium¡ªsuit integrity intact but heavy damage to that spot. I¡¯d better not get hit there again.


    The blast distracted me from my intended approach. I leveled off fifteen feet above the ground and some twenty feet away from Man-machine, beginning a tight circle that I hoped would put me on a near collision course with him.


    It did.


    He barely had chance to turn and had no chance to turn the cannon. I fired a sonic blast directly into the faceplate and then I was past him.


    I managed to turn more quickly this time, not even leaving the parking lot. I didn¡¯t know what I was going to do next, but I did want to see what damage I¡¯d done.


    Tactically that wasn¡¯t such a great move and I probably would have gotten shot a second time except that Haley chose that moment to enter the fight.


    By ¡°enter the fight¡± I mean that she threw a Prius at him.


    At least I assumed it was Haley. I never saw her do it, but cars don¡¯t generally launch themselves into the air.


    It knocked him over, but not out. He pushed the car off with one hand and stood up, shouting into the darkness.


    Disappointingly, the sonics didn¡¯t appear to have hurt his faceplate at all.


    ¡°Why of all the cowardly things¡­¡± He began, but couldn¡¯t seem to finish the thought.


    Beginning again, he said, ¡°It¡¯ll take more than that¡ª¡°


    I didn¡¯t allow him time to finish. I gave the rockets fuel and flew toward him, arms outstretched. Once over his head, I dipped, pulling my forearms up in front of my helmet and using them to smash into the side of the laser cannon.


    It broke off from the mount point on his shoulder with a satisfying crack.


    The momentum took us both downward and I scraped across the parking lot, stopping a row of cars away from him.


    I pulled myself up. He lay there, unmoving.


    The Man-machine of my grandfather¡¯s stories would have been on me by now, trying to crush the life out of me. His armor had always been stronger than Grandpa¡¯s and in straight hand-to-hand combat, that¡¯s what counts.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± I edged a step closer to him. It could be a trick.


    I could hear labored breathing over his speakers before he spoke.


    ¡°Damn¡­¡± He said. ¡°Damn you.¡±

 From the Past: Part 5

    Haley stood next to me. I don¡¯t know when she appeared.


    Man-machine said, ¡°You¡¯re one of Night Wolf¡¯s grandkids, right?¡±


    Haley looked up at me for a second. When it was obvious I didn¡¯t have any advice for her, she said, ¡°Could be.¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t fight fair either.¡±


    ¡°Fair?¡± Haley said, ¡°You were blowing up innocent people¡¯s cars with a laser cannon. When is that fair?¡±


    ¡°Forget about it,¡± Man-machine said. ¡°You win. Just get me an ambulance. My chest hurts.¡±


    We stepped away as the police surrounded him. Officer Van Kley read him his rights while Man-machine told the paramedics how to remove his armor.


    I kept on watching him the whole time. By reputation, Man-machine would have slipped away by now, having hidden a mini-jetpack or smoke grenades inside his armor.


    Instead he just looked old as they pulled the armor apart and lifted him onto a stretcher¡ªjust a gray-haired man wearing t-shirt and jeans.


    The armor lay open on the ground. I wondered how long it would be before the FBI picked it up.


    It got crowded after that. Now that the violence was over, the people in Lavender West came out to gawk. The journalists in News 10 rushed out the front door of the studio, cameramen in tow.


    As Haley and I were being interviewed, I saw blur appear at the edge of the crowd. It turned into Jaclyn.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ve got to talk to someone over here.¡±


    The crowd opened to let her through.


    ¡°I am so sorry,¡± she said. ¡°My dad caught me on the way out and wanted to know where I was going. It took a long time to get away. Where¡¯s everyone else?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the first one here,¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯re kidding.¡±


    Vaughn and Daniel flew in after that. Vaughn was in a black leather outfit that I can only describe as superhero bondage gear. Marcus flew in, having taken the form of a faceless, bat-winged man. Travis and Cassie arrived last¡ªprobably because they¡¯d taken cars and parked two blocks away to avoid being identified.


    I decided it was safe to conclude that this test of our alert system was completely unsuccessful.


    By the next morning, it was all over the news. Man-machine turned out to be the secret identity of Gerald Cannon, owner of ¡°G¡¯s Auto Parts¡± a small chain. Apparently he¡¯d been having a heart attack the entire time we¡¯d been fighting.


    It was his second. The first had happened in 1981, the year Man-machine had disappeared.


    Gerald had survived the night, but was in Grand Lake University¡¯s Hospital under guard and not allowed visitors.


    I had time to read about it on a Tuesday morning because school had been closed for the day. Central High had received a bomb threat. The FBI was investigating it, but I had good reason to believe they weren¡¯t investigating very hard.


    I got a call on my cell phone at 6:30 AM, practically at the moment my alarm went off.


    ¡°Good morning, Nick. It¡¯s Isaac Lim,¡± said the voice on the other end of the line.


    His voice oozed cheerfulness.


    I managed to get out a ¡°Hi.¡±


    He gave me an address. ¡°Be there at 10:30 in the morning, fully dressed and ready for action. You¡¯ll want to see this.¡±


    ¡°I have school,¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯ve taken care of that.¡±


    Four hours later I landed on a lawn in a subdivision just south of Grand Lake. The house I was in front of stood out for a number of reasons. First, it was a hundred year old, white painted, wooden farmhouse in a neighborhood of nearly identical, aluminum-sided McMansions with three car garages.


    Second, because this house had ten cars and a semi-truck in front of it. Four of the cars were police cars. Most of the rest had government plates.


    Third, because of the yellow ¡°Police Line Do Not Cross¡± that held back more than twenty members of the media with their cameras, trucks, and satellite uplinks.


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    Isaac stood in the middle of the lawn and shook my hand almost immediately after I touched down. ¡°Good to see you, Rocket. Follow me in.¡±


    He turned and started toward the house¡¯s front porch. ¡°Don¡¯t mind the civilians,¡± he said. ¡±They¡¯re having a bad day.¡±


    The inside felt comfortable, a place where needlepoint versions of Norman Rockwell paintings hung on the wall with pictures of grandchildren.


    A grey haired, older woman sat in the living room in front of the TV. It was shut off. A red haired woman in a flannel shirt sat on the couch next to her, holding a cup of coffee. ¡°Two teaspoons of sugar, Mom?¡±


    We walked through without a word and stepped into the kitchen. A teenaged boy stood behind the counter eating a ham sandwich. He was watching a small TV that hung from the bottom of a cupboard. Over its tinny speaker, I could hear a voice say, ¡°The Rocket just entered Cannon¡¯s house.¡±


    I knew him. His name was Chris Cannon and he was a sophomore. We¡¯d both been on the school¡¯s Science Olympiad team together last year.


    I¡¯d never felt more grateful for the helmet.


    He watched us, saying nothing, as we opened the door to the basement and walked downstairs.


    The basement was little more than concrete walls, a furnace, tools and a workbench. Cans of paint, two by fours, pipes, and plumbing fixtures lay next to the workbench. Evidently Man-machine was a bit of a do-it-yourselfer.


    At the far end of the basement, a piece of the concrete wall swung outward. Had it been shut, I¡¯d never have looked at it twice.


    It opened up into a room three times the size and one that seemed oddly familiar to me. Man-machine used some of the same tools and machines as my grandfather. At least eight recognizable versions of Man-machine¡¯s armor filled the space.


    The older ones all had broken faceplates.


    FBI personnel were everywhere in the room, documenting, photographing, investigating¡­


    Isaac turned to me. ¡°I think this may be the best moment of my career.¡±


    One of the nearer agents, a short, dark-skinned man said, ¡°Nah, just of your childhood, Isaac.¡±


    Isaac laughed with them.


    After a little while, he said, ¡°You¡¯ll want to take a look at this for sure. We¡¯ll have to classify most of it, of course.¡±


    He led me to the far end of the room. Newspaper clipping and photographs covered the wall. A few showed Man-machine with other villains, the products of short-lived teams set up to oppose the Heroes¡¯ League.


    Photographs of the Rocket covered the rest of the wall and overflowed around the corner to the next. The pictures went as far back as World War II up to this year.


    Up to me.


    Maps of the city hung on the wall, Grandpa¡¯s patrol routes drawn on them and dated. Photographs of Grandpa¡¯s armor had been enlarged nearly to full height. Each redesign¡¯s picture was covered with scribbled speculations about weak points and improvements.


    The speculations written about the redesign I wore were unnervingly close.


    Not as unnerving as some of the pictures though. Starting in the late 1960¡¯s the photographs included pictures of my grandfather even when he was out of costume and they continued past 1983 when the League disbanded and he retired.


    I recognized pictures of my mom and her older brothers playing in the front yard of my grandparents¡¯ house. I found a picture of myself as a toddler swinging on the porch swing with my grandfather.


    I don¡¯t remember hearing of him ever attacking Grandpa out of costume or kidnapping any of the kids. I can only guess that he would have thought that unfair.


    I left after that. Told Isaac to let me know if he found anything important. Flew back to HQ, took off the armor and left it in the lab.


    Then I sat on the porch swing for a while.

 In the Public Eye: Part 1

    HQ had become busy.


    Ok, that might be an overstatement, but it no longer felt deserted. Travis sat at one of the command consoles at the main table. A pile of books sat next to him. His Spanish book was open and he was making flash cards with a Spanish word written on one side and the English equivalent on the other.


    ¡°It got too noisy in the dorm,¡± he¡¯d said. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to go to the library, so I came here. Hope you don¡¯t mind.¡±


    ¡°No problem,¡± I¡¯d said.


    So now he sat there, flashcards in one huge hand, pen in the other.


    Meanwhile, I sat in front of one of the other command consoles going through the messages in the voicemail system. It had a lot of messages because I¡¯d never gotten around to listening to them.


    When I say ¡°never got around to listening to them,¡± I mean it in the most literal sense possible. I mean that my grandfather¡¯s voice still welcomed people to the Heroes¡¯ League even though he had been dead for five months, and he was the last person who had checked for messages.


    There were hundreds. Scrolling down the screen, I highlighted everything except the last week¡¯s and deleted them, hoping that I wasn¡¯t losing anything important. Then I listened to the hundred or so that were left.


    I deleted reporters asking for interviews instantly, leaving the ones that were more problematic. A few were from established teams like the various regional Defenders units congratulating us on reestablishing the group. Did we have to make a response? I decided to put it to the rest of the group later.


    Then there were the calls from people who probably ought to have called the police or the fire department instead. We had a ¡°my cat¡¯s stuck in a tree¡± call from a couple days ago. Hopefully it was down by now, but we really ought to set some sort of policy on things like that.


    We also had a call from an angry sounding man who ranted about the state of the world and finished by shouting about how kids our age ought to be in school instead of beating up people. That was quickly deleted.


    Finally, the Mayor¡¯s office had left a voicemail asking us all to come down and meet him. I kept that one.


    Then I headed off to the bathroom¡ªthough ¡°bathroom¡± is a bit of a misnomer. It¡¯s actually more of a locker room. It¡¯s got six stalls, four urinals and ten showers. Plus lockers.


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    The original League only had one woman¡ªGhostwoman¡ªand she wasn¡¯t all that active after the 50¡¯s, making the old League something of a sausage fest. The ¡°New Heroes League¡± (or so the press had named us, much to Cassie''s annoyance) was closer to equal and had three girls and five guys and it looked like we were already beginning to compete for control of the facilities.


    At any rate, that¡¯s how I interpreted the existence of three boxes of tampons and pads that had been placed under the sink.


    When I finished my business in one of the stalls, I discovered that someone had again flipped the toilet paper¡ªwhich made it twice in the past two weeks. Instead of going over the top, it now fell behind. I switched it back.


    I checked the other stalls. They¡¯d been changed too. I switched them back for good measure.


    When I got back to the table, Travis put down the cards. ¡°We missed all the action a couple nights ago.¡±


    ¡°It worked out,¡± I said.


    ¡°We can¡¯t count on these guys having heart attacks. We¡¯ve got to work out a better system. Instead of having everyone do backup, we have a couple people we assign to do backup. That way they¡¯ve already made their excuses and they¡¯re ready to go.


    ¡°I was in the library talking with a girl, and then my phone goes off and I have to run across campus, get my costume and my car. If I¡¯d been prepared, I¡¯d have been there faster.¡±


    We talked about it for a while longer and then he said, ¡°What we really need is faster transportation. The League had all that shit. Any idea what happened to it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s probably all in the hanger,¡± I said. ¡°You want to take a look? My grandfather mothballed all of it, so I¡¯m sure it can work, but I doubt it does right now.¡±


    I went back to the main menu on the command console, clicked to open the hanger doors and turn on the lights.


    <hr />


    And now we begin to get into the meat of the story. We also begin to talk about toilet paper a little. Because toilet paper is important.

 In the Public Eye: Part 2

    The big metal doors rattled open, revealing the hanger and kicking up dust. Travis and I both sneezed.


    In the far left corner, a light shattered and went dark.


    Still that didn¡¯t detract from the awesomeness of the scene. I mean, you¡¯ve got this huge room that could just as easily be on an aircraft carrier or the Death Star, and in the middle of it you¡¯ve got the Heroes¡¯ League jet, covered with some kind of form fitting white plastic, surrounded by a few other things under tarps.


    Travis and I started pulling the tarps off. We¡¯d uncovered Night Wolf¡¯s corvette (still black and shiny) and Captain Commando¡¯s motorcycle (red, white and blue) by the time we heard the hum of the elevator.


    ¡°Cassie¡¯s back,¡± I said. I was pulling the tarp off a rack on the wall. The rack held ten small, silver jetpacks.


    ¡°Here¡¯s what they did,¡± I said. ¡°All the people who couldn¡¯t fly got jetpacks so they could get to HQ and grab their stuff. They don¡¯t have much of a range, but they fit in a briefcase.¡±


    ¡°Think it could hold me?¡± Travis picked one up. It wasn¡¯t much longer than his hand.


    ¡°No idea.¡±


    Cassie stepped into the hangar, still in costume from patrol. ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± Then she noticed the motorcycle. She didn¡¯t even wait for an answer before hopping on the seat. ¡°Oh my god, Dad¡¯s motorcycle. Does it work?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s going to get it to work,¡± Travis said.


    I didn¡¯t even have a chance to object. By the time I was able to think  of a response, Travis started in on how to solve our response time problem.


    ¡°The only problem I see with using this stuff,¡± Cassie said when he was finished, ¡°is that I don¡¯t know how to drive a motorcycle and none of us can fly a jet. Nick can teach us how to use the backpacks, but the rest of it¡­¡±


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    "I can fly a plane," Travis said.


    "Jets are different," Cassie said.


    ¡°I think I know someone who might be able to get us lessons,¡± I said. Then I told them about the FBI and Isaac Lim.


    ¡°You were just sitting on that for days?¡± Cassie said.


    ¡°I was going to tell you on Monday at lunch,¡± I said, "but then Kayla showed up."


    "She''s my friend," Cassie said.


    "I know," I said, "but she still blew my only chance to bring it up."


    "Never mind that,¡± Travis said. ¡°Do you have any idea how hard it is to qualify to work with the FBI?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t qualify,¡± I said. ¡°I think they¡¯re just allowing us in for the publicity.¡±


    ¡°Who cares?¡± Travis said, ¡°All that matters we get their stuff, or hey, our stuff. It¡¯s our tax dollars paying for it.¡±


    ¡°Whatever,¡± Cassie said. ¡°I¡¯m changing back into clothes and taking a shower. Don¡¯t come in.¡±


    As she walked away, Travis asked me, ¡°You think you can get this stuff working again?¡±


    ¡°I think so. Grandpa was pretty good about leaving directions.¡±


    ¡°Cool.¡± He walked back to the table and started looking at his Spanish cards.


    I picked up one of the jetpacks. They wouldn¡¯t be hard at all. The jet? That would be a challenge, but oh, so cool. I tried to remember where I¡¯d seen the jet¡¯s plans and documentation.


    I found it in one of the file cabinets in the main room along with the car¡¯s manual, the motorcycle¡¯s and most of the others. The jet¡¯s documentation was hundreds of pages long.


    As I flipped through the three ring binder, I heard Cassie shout something from the bathroom.


    I walked to the door and said, ¡°What was that?¡±


    ¡°I said,¡± Cassie shouted again, ¡°Who keeps on messing with the toilet paper?¡±

 In the Public Eye: Part 3

    Mayor Bouman¡¯s office was less impressive than you might expect. It was big enough for all of us, which ought to help. Located in City Hall, a Victorian era building, it had intricately carved woodwork, old paintings and a view of downtown. The mayor¡¯s desk appeared to be the size of a small boat¡ªthough it had a richer finish and probably included more gold than most boats (at least those boats not crewed by pirates).


    Despite all of that, it was still just an office.


    Maybe I¡¯d been expecting too much.


    Mayor Bouman shook our hands. The mayor was in his forties, brown haired and blandly handsome.


    A photographer snapped another picture as the mayor struck up a conversation with Vaughn. If nothing else, they were a study in contrast. The mayor wore a blue suit. Vaughn wore black leather pants and a matching jacket, both pieces of clothing having more straps and loops than seemed functionally necessary.


    ¡°So, if it¡¯s not secret, how did you get into this?¡± Mayor Bouman smiled at him.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°I just woke up one day and found I had powers beyond the reach of mortal man, you know. Some shit like that.¡±


    The mayor laughed and asked, ¡°What sort of powers?¡±


    Vaughn paused a little too long, but then said, ¡°Weather powers mostly¡­ Look out the window for a second.¡±


    Mist gathered outside, forming gradually into a small cloud. Vaughn breathed out.  ¡°OK,¡± he said, ¡°I¡¯m letting it go now.¡±


    It drifted away, floating away from downtown toward the suburbs, shrinking as it went.


    Vaughn said, ¡°Some things come easier to me than others.¡±


    ¡°What comes easily?¡±


    ¡°Wind,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°a couple other things.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s impressive. I¡¯ll call you in if it rains during Cityfest next summer.¡± Then he held out his hand to Haley, saying, ¡°And what can you do?¡±


    He went down the line. He asked us our powers, our names, acted impressed by any demonstrations we gave, handed each of us his card, and generally pressed the flesh.


    When he was done, he said, ¡°Feel free to sit down if you want. I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ve got to give you a little bit of a speech.¡±


    I sat down, still holding his card. The suit wasn¡¯t designed for social occasions and so there weren¡¯t any pockets. Leaning back, I realized that the chair hadn¡¯t been built to accommodate jetpacks. I stood up.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, ¡°I don¡¯t fit in the chair.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± the mayor said. ¡°I¡¯ll try to make it short.¡±


    I spent more time pretending to listen than actually listening. Helmets are good for that. Keep your head pointed in the right direction and no one has any idea how bored you actually are. Mind you, it¡¯s not that he was actually boring, but all he¡¯d really called us in to do was let us know how much (or little) the city supported us.


    Here¡¯s the gist of it: The city was honored to see the Heroes¡¯ League active again, but they¡¯d prefer that we concentrate our efforts on things the police can¡¯t handle (like supervillains) and leave normal crimes alone. The city wasn¡¯t going to specifically give us missions because that might leave them open to charges of child endangerment, but we were welcome to warn the police if we were working on something. Finally, while it was true that technically vigilante justice wasn¡¯t legal, he wanted to let us know that we had his support.


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    ¡°Keep the streets safe,¡± he said as we walked out of his office.


    I slowed to walk next to Vaughn. ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know about the weather stuff.¡±


    ¡°I just figured it out recently,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°And it¡¯s great. If I can do some other things, maybe people won¡¯t pay so much attention to the lightning, you know?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯d be cool,¡± I said.


    People inside the offices were standing up to stare through the windows at us as we passed through the hall. I was grateful when we made it to the stairs.


    I was not grateful, however, to experience the heady rush of eight way mental contact, and I wasn¡¯t alone. I could feel Cassie grabbing a railing while Travis tried to avoid falling into her. Marcus grew an extra leg  to balance himself.


    Daniel: Sorry, I couldn¡¯t¡ª


    Cassie: ¡­ while we¡¯re walking down a stairway? Daniel, what the fu¡ª


    Haley: Does anyone else feel like they''re floating?


    Jaclyn¡¯s thoughts were too fast to make any sense of at all, but I could feel the irritation.


    Daniel: He¡¯s corrupt. I couldn¡¯t read everything but he was trying to get something out of us. Maybe out of Vaughn.


    Travis: What?


    Vaughn: Yeah, what?


    Daniel: I don¡¯t know. He¡¯s hard to probe.


    Travis: Let¡¯s table this for now.


    Daniel: No. I should go back up there and try and¡ª


    I found myself in the middle of a mind as Daniel must experience minds, whirling eddies of thought, fluid rivers of emotion, and unmoving structures that I couldn¡¯t identify. He intended to thread his way in and do something, but I never got time to figure out exactly what.


    Travis: Dammit Daniel. You can¡¯t just go up there and rummage through the Mayor¡¯s head on a suspicion.


    Daniel cut the connection. We walked out silently.


    <hr />


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 In the Public Eye: Part 4

    Fall. Leaves lay in piles next to the street. The air felt just a little cooler on the skin. I walked down the sidewalk. It was dark, slightly past ten o¡¯clock at night, and I¡¯d finished my homework.


    I wanted to be alone. Just call me Greta Garbo. Or was it Bridget Bardot? I¡¯ve never gotten all those early movie stars straight.


    In the not so distant past, I might have gone to League HQ and spent an hour fiddling with Grandpa¡¯s tools or going through League memorabilia. League HQ had changed utterly in the past two weeks. Instead of being the nearly deserted place where Grandpa showed me how the Rocket suit worked and sometimes told stories, it had become a place where at any given moment any of us might show up.


    I wasn¡¯t sure I liked that.


    Tonight, for example, Daniel and Vaughn were going on patrol and Travis was still using it as a study hall.


    Were I to walk in, people would want to know about my progress with getting the vehicles ready and whether Isaac had yet gotten back to me on the contact list.


    And since there wasn¡¯t any progress on either front, I decided not to show my face.


    So, I walked, kicked a few leaf piles, imagined ways of improving the jetpack¡¯s fuel efficiency, and generally kept to myself.


    My parents¡¯ house stands in a section of town developed in the mid-sixties on what was then the edge of town. It¡¯s still a nice area, but it¡¯s not that far from older and slightly rougher neighborhoods. Their reputation might just be racism in that they¡¯re more black than white, but there¡¯s no denying the people are poorer and the houses cheaper. Whatever the case, I¡¯d never had any trouble there.


    I saw a few other people out, including Terrence and Darius, a couple kids I recognized. Passing each other on the sidewalk, we all said, ¡°hi,¡± something we never bothered to do in school. Then they went on their way and I mine.


    This was fine. I really wasn¡¯t in the mood to talk. Of course, the fact that I wasn¡¯t in the mood to talk didn¡¯t mean that people weren¡¯t in the mood to talk to me.


    My cell phone rang. I didn¡¯t recognize the number, but took the call.


    ¡°Hi Nick.¡± It was Haley, Travis¡¯ younger sister.


    ¡°Are you in trouble?¡± I couldn¡¯t think of any other reason she might call me.


    ¡°What? No. I just thought I¡¯d call and see how you were doing after, you know¡­ everything.¡±


    ¡°Which everything?¡± I said. ¡°Do you mean ¡®talked with the Mayor¡¯ everything or ¡®fought Man-machine¡¯ everything?¡±


    ¡°Everything, everything,¡± she said, ¡°But mostly Man-machine.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m feeling kind of guilty,¡± I said, though I hadn¡¯t realized it till then. I¡¯d just won a fight with an old man who was having a heart attack at the time. Beyond that, I¡¯d seen Chris Cannon, Man-machine¡¯s grandson at school yesterday. He still looked lost.


    ¡°Really? Why?¡±


    So I told her about going to the Cannons¡¯ house, seeing Chris, and the wall of photos in the basement. ¡°I know I didn¡¯t make him do it, but going in there¡­ It felt like I¡¯d killed him.¡±


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    ¡°But you didn¡¯t. He tried to kill you. He blew up people¡¯s cars just to get your attention. And filling a wall of pictures of your grandfather and his family? That¡¯s just weird. He should be feeling guilty.¡±


    I lingered under a streetlight at a corner, checked for cars, and crossed, deciding that I probably ought to go home.


    ¡°True, I guess,¡± I said, deciding to change the subject a bit. ¡°How are you doing after um... everything?¡±


    ¡°I had fun,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve spent most of my life trying to avoid having people notice what I can do, but in a costume I don¡¯t have to pretend at all. I can climb walls¡ª¡°


    ¡°And throw cars,¡± I said.


    ¡°I felt a little guilty about the car,¡± she said. ¡°I like Prius¡¯s. I should have thrown an SUV, but I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d be able to throw it far enough.¡±


    I laughed.


    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡±


    ¡°It just occurred to me that I¡¯m having a conversation about which cars are best for throwing.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I mean,¡± she said, ¡°we really could have a conversation about throwing cars and it wouldn¡¯t be weird at all.¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯d still be a little weird,¡± I said.


    We talked more while I walked home. The walk wasn¡¯t bad¡ªjust step after step down the sidewalk in the dark.


    I got a call and a voicemail while I was talking to her, but I didn¡¯t recognize the number so I didn¡¯t take the call.


    ¡°So does gymnastics start soon?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said, ¡±I¡¯m not doing it this year.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± I said, ¡°You were really good last year. Didn¡¯t South High almost win State?¡±


    ¡°We did, but... Do you remember Jackie Thomas?¡±


    I did. Jackie Thomas was the state wrestling champion two years ago, or, at least he was until he saved some kid from being hit by a truck. He saw it bearing down on a four year old boy who had wandered into the road. Instead of grabbing the child, he¡¯d picked up the four-ton truck, dug his feet into the road, and held the front end in the air till the child got out of the way.


    He was hailed as a hero at first, but within a week things changed. The association that regulates high school sports stripped him of his title. The media argued about whether he was a cheater. His protests that he didn¡¯t know he was that strong fell on deaf ears.


    I don¡¯t know what happened to him in the end. I think I read that his family left Detroit, but I don¡¯t know where they moved.


    ¡°I can see your point,¡± I said.


    We hung up a couple blocks from my house, a full twenty minutes before eleven. I had time enough to make my curfew and get my voicemail.


    The message was from Isaac Lim, our FBI contact. ¡°I¡¯ve got your contact list checked out. I¡¯ve sent it back with notes. You¡¯ll find it interesting.¡±


    I shut the phone and put it back in my pocket. ¡°Interesting¡± wasn¡¯t a promising word.


    Well, at least talking with Haley had gone better than I¡¯d expected. Of course, the fact that she''d called me at all was pretty odd.

 In the Public Eye: Part 5

    I could thank the fact that everyone else apparently had more of a social life than I did for HQ being empty Friday night. Normally Daniel and I might have done something, but he had something family related going. To hear him tell it, it didn¡¯t sound fun.


    I logged into the command console and found the files Isaac had sent me. It was all pictures and reports pulled from government databases that Isaac assured me we would soon be free to peruse ourselves. It included several hundred pages, including death certificates and photos.


    I wasn¡¯t going to finish all this tonight.


    I walked to the kitchen and found more food than I¡¯d expected¡ªthree-fourths of a large pepperoni pizza and a couple two liters of Coke (one of which was diet). Ordinarily, I wouldn¡¯t have taken someone else¡¯s food, but someone had written, ¡°Eat me¡± on the pizza box and ¡°Drink me¡± on the Coke in black marker. I poured some pop and warmed up a couple pieces of pizza in the microwave, hoping that taking the food would work out better for me than it had for Alice.


    Then I walked back to the table and began to read.


    For each number, they included basic personal information about the number¡¯s owner, a criminal record if the person had one, and any relevant files that the government kept on them.


    The one thing that most of the phone number¡¯s owners had in common was being dead. Almost all of the dead people had died last weekend in Chicago during the massive dust-up between a few teams of supers and super powered gangs. From what the reports said, the people who had died weren¡¯t gang members. They¡¯d just died because they happened to be downtown during the fighting or because their apartment building happened to burn down that weekend.


    I didn¡¯t buy it and neither apparently did the FBI. The report pointed out each person who died worked directly or indirectly for Martin Magnus. I¡¯d never heard of Magnus before, but according to the reports he invested in a lot of businesses and had a personal fortune of one hundred million dollars.


    The FBI had investigated the connection between Magnus and the violence as far as they could. Magnus¡¯ people didn¡¯t have any obvious link to the violence outside of dying in it. They¡¯d interviewed Magnus himself, but didn¡¯t get anything worth including in their report.


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    I moved on, clicking through page after page of photos. Of all of them, one caught my interest. It showed an office in downtown Chicago. It was an insurance office owned by a person named Ron Hirschfield who had once been part of Martin Magnus¡¯ personal staff.


    The office had been ransacked. Files lay on the floor next to a dead man. His arms were outstretched in front of him. A golden ring inscribed with symbols glittered on his right hand. The FBI¡¯s photographer must have thought it interesting too because the next photo showed a close up of the ring. The symbols were Egyptian hieroglyphics.


    I¡¯d seen those symbols before.


    I got up and walked over to the cardboard boxes full of memorabilia. Reading the labels on the boxes, I found the ones from the destruction of Red Lightning¡¯s lab, opening each individually. I dug through journals full of ranting and experimental chemistry, stoppered vials still containing colored liquids, and old tools that I didn''t recognize.


    I sorted through the boxes until I found Red Lightning¡¯s uniforms. He had a lot. I suppose that''s a necessity when you lead fanatic, drug addicted hordes.


    The uniforms smelled like HQ--musty, but with a hint of cardboard. Like many costumes then as now, they were made from damage resistant material my grandfather had designed. The colors weren¡¯t faded.


    Gold, black and red, Red Lightning''s costume had been designed in a pseudo-Egyptian style. A jagged bolt of red lightning ran through the middle of the chest under a gold arch decorated with Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was the same collection of symbols as on the ring.


    Packed with the costume, of course, were Red Lightning¡¯s crook and flail. I tried to remember what they could do, but it slipped my mind. Ultimately, it didn¡¯t matter. Grandpa had undoubtedly left schematics and design notes somewhere.


    I wondered if the FBI had made the connection with Red Lightning, but doubted it. The hieroglyphics on his chest were too small to be anything but blurry in photos.


    So now, what was I supposed to do about it? It always seemed so much more obvious in stories.

 In the Public Eye: Part 6

    Daniel and I sat in my room. He sat in the chair by the desk. I sat on my bed.


    While hanging out with Daniel had never been completely normal, it felt as normal as a Saturday night used to be. Some things felt a little different. For example, the poster over my bed showing the original Heroes¡¯ League called up entirely different feelings now.


    Looking up at it reminded me that I should already be further along with the vehicles than I actually was. Meanwhile, the dots on Red Lightning¡¯s chest made me wonder what exactly the hieroglyphics meant. It was probably in the report¡ªwhich meant I had one more thing to add to my ¡°to-do¡± list the next time I stepped into HQ.


    ¡°We¡¯ll have to bring in everyone,¡± Daniel said, ¡°but what I think we should do is bug Magnus¡¯ house.¡±


    ¡°That would tell us some things,¡± I admitted.


    As things were, it wasn¡¯t clear whether Magnus¡¯ was the villain or the victim of last weekend¡¯s fighting. On the one hand, he had lost current and former employees, and friends. On the other, he could have used the fighting as cover to off people he didn¡¯t want talking. Either way, the deaths had to be connected somehow.


    ¡°Do you know how cool it would be if we broke this thing? We wouldn¡¯t be a bunch of kids who inherited everything. We¡¯d have our own reputation,¡± Daniel said.


    ¡°It¡¯d suck though,¡± I said, ¡°if it¡¯s a reputation for butting into other people¡¯s business. It¡¯s not like Chicago doesn¡¯t have the Defenders plus a few independents.¡±


    ¡°Screw ¡®em,¡± Daniel said. ¡°They missed it.¡±


    I was pretty sure that that wasn¡¯t how it worked. From what I understood, it was polite to let people know if you were going to do work in their town¡ªat least if you could find them. The Defenders¡¯ headquarters was a big building in downtown Chicago so we didn¡¯t have much of an excuse.


    ¡°I know,¡± Daniel said, ¡°we¡¯ll tell them, but we don¡¯t have to have them looking over our shoulders the whole time.¡±


    ¡°Which begs the question of what exactly we¡¯re going to do about it,¡± I said. ¡°We could figure out a way to electronically bug Magnus or just, I don¡¯t know, station you on the roof for a few hours?¡±


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    ¡°Sounds like fun times,¡± Daniel said. ¡°But count me out for now.¡±


    I barely had time to notice my own surprise when he continued.


    ¡°Don¡¯t count me out forever. Just for the bugging part. I assume that that¡¯s your thing, not mine. I¡¯ll be in whenever you need me, but I¡¯ve got another project going on too.¡±


    ¡°Another project?¡±


    Daniel smiled. ¡°I¡¯m going to expose the Mayor.¡±


    ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. My Dad¡¯s been saying the Mayor¡¯s corrupt for ages, but he¡¯s never been corrupt enough for my Dad to make a special project out of it.¡±


    ¡°This is about the meeting,¡± I said.


    Daniel leaned forward in the chair. ¡°He was trying to find out something about Vaughn back there in his office, but it wasn¡¯t for himself. It was for someone else. I want to find out who¡¯s got enough power over him that they can enlist him to ask questions.¡±


    I sat up on the bed. ¡°Can you do that?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not,¡± Daniel said.


    ¡°What I meant was, are we really allowed to just overthrow the government or something?¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Daniel said. ¡°As I said, I don¡¯t see why not. Besides, it¡¯s not as if I¡¯m going to try to lead the city in revolt. I¡¯m going to expose the mayor¡¯s connection with anything he¡¯s done that¡¯s illegal. After that, it all goes to the courts.¡±


    ¡°Are you talking to your dad about it? I don¡¯t want you to end up in trouble.¡±


    ¡°Do you talk to him before doing anything? I don¡¯t either. We¡¯re vigilantes. Technically almost everything we do is illegal.¡±


    Daniel sounded irritated. I¡¯d noticed that he got that way when we''d talked about asking his dad for advice before. I also know that he isn¡¯t as strong as either his father or grandfather as a telepath and I¡¯ve sometimes wondered if the two facts were somehow connected.


    ¡°I don¡¯t feel inferior to my father,¡± Daniel said.


    We sat silently for a moment. I tried to think of nothing in particular.


    ¡°You want to go downstairs and play video games?¡± I pushed myself off the bed.


    Daniel said, ¡°Why not?"

 In the Public Eye: Part 7

    Standing in HQ¡¯s hangar one week later, I let go of the hood of Night Wolf¡¯s Corvette and heard it click shut.


    ¡°Done,¡± I muttered.


    I¡¯d spent most of Saturday testing the car. Grandpa had a long and detailed list of what needed doing and I didn¡¯t want to miss anything.


    Night Wolf drove a black, 1964 Stingray¡ªsort of. By ¡°sort of¡± I mean that I doubted that any of the parts were original. Even forgetting that the car was forty years old, I seriously doubted that an armored body, windows made of transparent metal, or hidden wings that could extend out below the doors were standard on any model of Corvette.


    I had worked on Night Wolf¡¯s car and Captain Commando¡¯s motorcycle as a way of passing the time while waiting for the parts I needed for my redesign of my grandfather¡¯s eavesdropping system.


    My back felt sore after standing for six hours¡ªstanding under the car while it was on the lift and standing under the open hood while reaching into engine.


    I opened the door and sat inside. The seat felt good. I touched a button and the window disappeared into the door. My eyes swept across the dashboard, its complexity rivaling the control panel of the still mothballed jet. I knew what all the car¡¯s controls did now. Travis would have a good time with it.


    I put my hands on the steering wheel and thought about whether I should take it out for a drive. Then I closed my eyes. My grip loosened and I fell asleep.


    I woke to find Cassie¡¯s hand on my shoulder. She gave it a small push. ¡°Nick? Are you awake?¡±


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    ¡°I was just thinking about taking this car for a test drive.¡±


    ¡°Did you say thinking or dreaming?¡±


    She wore street clothes¡ªblue jeans and a dark blue hoodie. A motorcycle leaned against the wall behind her. I guessed it might be from the 1970¡¯s.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Dad¡¯s other motorcycle. Mom had it in the back of the garage. Would you mind looking it over?¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± I said. ¡°I already finished the other one.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯d just prefer to take lessons as myself instead of showing up in costume.¡±


    Covered with dust and spider webs, the bike looked like it had sat in the back of the garage for ten years. I got out of the car and started wiping the bike off with a rag. It was a Honda CB400F.


    ¡°Did you ride it over here?¡±


    ¡°What? No, I pushed. I should have had Daniel float it over.¡±


    So now I had another vehicle to fix. On the other hand, it didn¡¯t have to break the sound barrier or hide a machinegun¡ªwhich meant it would be simpler. I considered ways I might improve it. I might just toss the engine and replace it¡ªmaybe with a turbocharged diesel. But why stop there? Why not put in something interesting like a rocket assisted speed boost?


    Cassie said, ¡°Earth to Nick. What the hell are you doing?¡±


    I realized that I was holding a screwdriver and had already begun to take the bike apart.


    ¡°Nothing that can¡¯t wait,¡± I said. ¡°You want to come along while I test drive Night Wolf¡¯s car?¡±

 In the Public Eye: Part 8

    We exited the tunnel into the Heroes League¡¯s mostly defunct downtown office. There was too much to fix there for me to even bother to try, but I¡¯d made sure one thing worked¡ªthe mechanism that opened the garage door.


    We moved through the garage and out onto the small, exit ramp. By small, I mean it was a car length from the road.


    Sunlight hit my eyes for the first time in eight hours. I blinked and then watched for a break in traffic. You can¡¯t expect a lot of traffic at four o¡¯clock on a Saturday, but enough cars passed that I couldn¡¯t enter the right lane instantly.


    It made sense. This part of downtown was a mile of hospitals, medical and genetic research facilities, and doctors¡¯ offices. Hospitals don''t close down.


    Further down State Street, the company that ran most of the city¡¯s hospitals had a data mining operation. I intended to get in there someday.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Cassie said, ¡±go. The lane¡¯s open.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said.


    ¡°Honestly,¡± she said, ¡°you¡¯re so distractable.¡±


    I pulled out and merged into traffic. The car responded beautifully. It had a smooth acceleration, matching the speed of the other cars almost before I noticed. I wondered if I could get away with testing how it handled high speeds on the freeway.


    ¡°Hey Nick,¡± Cassie said, ¡°How¡¯s the research on the contact list going?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡±that depends on your point of view. Almost everyone on it is dead, but they work or worked for someone named Martin Magnus who might not be dead. I plan to bug his house as soon as the parts I need come in the mail.¡±


    Cassie sighed. ¡°We should have just called the Midwest Defenders and had them look into it. It¡¯s been more than three weeks since we got that list.¡±


    ¡°With all that happened in Chicago,¡± I said, ¡°Magnus is probably dead too. Whatever was going on might have died with him.¡±


    ¡°If we¡¯re lucky,¡± she said.


    I was paying too much attention to the road to know for sure, but it seemed like she frowned.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was going to be this hard,¡± she said. ¡°Do you know how many people skipped out on their patrols this week? Jaclyn and Haley had tests and wanted to study and Vaughn¡¯s mom kept him home again. Daniel went, but he barely put any time into it.¡±


    ¡°Everyone is pretty busy,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe patrols aren¡¯t the best thing we could do. Or maybe just less often would be better?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Cassie said. ¡°I just thought it would be good to bring the League back.¡±


    ¡°It is. We¡¯re all just feeling our way into it,¡± I said. ¡°Pretty soon we¡¯ll know what works for us.¡±


    It was the nicest thing I could say. Personally, I¡¯d enjoyed the quiet.


    We had gone far enough down State Street that we¡¯d passed Grand Lake University Hospital, the Hardwick Institute for Biomedical Research, the non-descript, brown, brick building that housed the data mining facilities, and the street had turned from four lanes to two.


    The traffic was sparse. The nearest car in front had to be a couple hundred feet ahead of us. A police car was close behind us, but not much of anything was behind it.


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    ¡°Cassie,¡± I said, ¡°I think we¡¯re about to have a problem.¡±


    ¡°Why? We aren¡¯t breaking any laws.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have a license plate,¡± I said.


    Before Cassie could reply, the lights started flashing and the siren began to wail. I started to slow down, but Cassie shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t stop. Go!¡±


    She had a point. Neither of us were wearing costumes and I had no way of explaining who exactly this car belonged to.


    I gunned it.


    I¡¯ve watched a lot of car chases on TV in my life, but it¡¯s interesting to learn that one thing about them is true. The police really will chase you if you drive away from them at high speed.


    If the car had had a different driver, we would have lost them without a problem. Beyond being able to corner well, the car could pass two hundred miles per hour easily. It had all the standard accessories for a hero¡¯s or villain''s car¡ªcaltrops for popping tires, the ability to release a blinding wall of black smoke¡­


    I could have used them, but I wasn¡¯t willing to risk killing people who were, after all, just doing their job.


    When you¡¯re watching TV, the drivers in these chases never slow down. They don¡¯t stop for signs or they never pass them. They have the sense to get into chases on the highway instead of residential streets.


    Me? I slowed for stop signs and barely ever got above forty miles per hour. I drove down the twisting streets of nice neighborhoods, doing everything I could to avoid dead ends, worrying that I might slam into a kid on a bike.


    Cassie seemed to know more about the layout of the streets than I did. ¡°Don¡¯t go that way. Go that way!¡±


    I¡¯d swerve and go the opposite direction of the one I¡¯d been intending, skid a little, and stay away from the police a moment longer.


    ¡°That way,¡± Cassie pointed. ¡°Get on the highway and you can really make the speed count.¡±


    We were getting close to where one of the development¡¯s streets¡ªNorthwood¡ªexits onto Belmont (a four lane road) when I realized that the police had blocked the intersection.


    Three cars parked at the end in front of the traffic light. Two more followed behind us. It was almost a relief. I was finally in a situation that could be solved by technology instead of my skill at driving.


    I pressed the button that extended the wings, guessed how much thrust it would take to clear the cars, and pressed the button to fire the car¡¯s rockets. It couldn¡¯t fly far, but this was exactly the sort of situation Grandpa had designed it to handle.


    I felt just like I did in the suit or an airplane as we took off--like I¡¯d left my stomach back on the ground.


    We easily flew over the cars, crossing all four lanes of the intersection, and smashing the traffic light on the other side of the street.


    They¡¯re bigger than they look from the ground.


    I managed to touch down without destroying the car and we drove off without stopping.


    ¡°They¡¯re not following us,¡± Cassie said, craning her neck to look out the back.


    ¡°Do you think they finally recognized Night Wolf¡¯s car?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope not."

 In the Public Eye: Part 9

    You don¡¯t know how the press will spin an accidental car chase. Will they portray you as a menace? A fool? Or will they fail to even recognize you?


    With that in mind, I was relieved to find the story in the lower right corner of page three of the Grand Lake Sentinel¡¯s Sunday edition under the name ¡°Mistaken Identity Causes Low Speed Chase.¡±


    A quote from the article¡­


    ¡°An unidentified police officer stated, ¡¯If the officers on patrol had ever properly identified the car, I¡¯d have told them to leave it alone. I remember Night Wolf. He never bothered to stop either.¡¯¡±


    I left the paper in a pile on the couch. Dad would read it when he and Mom came home from the conference. I spent Sunday afternoon re-reading David Brin¡¯s ¡°Kiln People¡± while sprawling on my bed. Fixing the Legion¡¯s old vehicles and attempting to play superhero had cut seriously into the time I normally would have used to play video games and read.


    It felt good to be normal for a change.


    My parents came through the door around five. The conference had been relatively close to home¡ªjust a few hours drive to Indianapolis.


    My Dad was a child psychologist. He specialized in troubled teens, but did work with children of all ages. He did more than just work with troubled teens, however, he wrote books with titles like "What Your Teen Wants from You."


    According to Dad, most teens want consistent rules, love and appropriate discipline. Personally, I could have used a copy of Firefly on DVD, but that had yet to show up.


    Ever since his first book had been published (when I was five), Dad had gone to conferences, acting as a speaker, panelist, attending just to network, or getting a booth to plug his books. Mom, as his business manager, went with him.


    I opened the door to my room. On the other end of the upstairs hallway, I could see Mom, still in her blue suit, dumping their dirty clothes down the laundry chute.


    ¡°Nick, how did your weekend go?¡±


    So here was a bit of irony, in his books Dad claimed that one of the reasons teens begin having massive parties in the house or get involved with the wrong crowd is because parents just aren¡¯t home enough.


    Dad and Mom ended up going out of town on speaking engagements at least once a month. So far I hadn¡¯t set up any parties or joined a gang. I didn¡¯t even get invited to those sort of parties. In fact, prior to hanging around with Vaughn and Cassie, I didn¡¯t even know when I¡¯d missed one.


    On the other hand, you could argue that a superhero team isn¡¯t that much different from a gang.


    ¡°Not a whole lot happened,¡± I said. ¡°I did my homework. I read a book. I hung around with Cassie a little on Saturday afternoon.¡±


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    ¡°She¡¯s nice,¡± Mom said. ¡°You¡¯ve been spending a lot of time together lately.¡±


    She stood next to the wall, waiting for my reply.


    ¡°We¡¯re friends, Mom.¡±


    She smiled at me and walked into the bedroom to help my dad unpack.


    I went back into my room, read for another hour and then went downstairs. Dad sat on the couch reading the paper. Mom was fixing herself a sandwich.


    ¡°So now they¡¯re joyriding in Night Wolf¡¯s car,¡± Dad said. He sounded amused.


    ¡°Who?¡± Mom said.


    ¡°The kids who fought that thug a few weeks ago. The Grey Giant?¡± Dad flipped open the paper, following the story to page four.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think the article said they were joyriding,¡± I said.


    ¡°What else would kids be doing with a car like that? I had this old rust bucket of a Camaro in high school and I tried things that should have killed me a couple times over.¡±


    He scanned the rest of the article. ¡°The city¡¯s not going to fine them for destroying the traffic light either.¡±


    ¡°Should they?¡± I walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the leftover Chinese takeout from Saturday night.


    ¡°They should. Kids need accountability.¡±


    ¡°I''m sure they feel guilty about it.¡± I poured the rest of General Tso¡¯s Chicken over the rice and put the plate in the microwave.


    "They probably do.¡± He put down the paper.


    ¡°But that¡¯s not good enough," he said. "It''s the whole package that causes problems. There¡¯s the secret identity¡ªwhich means these kids can¡¯t talk to anybody about what¡¯s going on in their lives, the constant exposure to violence which could give anybody post-traumatic stress disorder, and then there¡¯s the government. Some kid, or even an adult, goes over the line and they just smooth it over.


    ¡°It¡¯s corrosive,¡± he said. ¡°It takes a child¡¯s community away and it gives them what? Adulation for hurting people. And they wonder why some of these people go over to the other side of the law.¡±


    I pulled up my stool to the counter and ate my food.


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of it quite that way,¡± I said.


    He shrugged. ¡°Neither had I, but I had a client a couple years ago. Basically a good kid, but with a bad case of PTSD. He started skipping school and killed a man outright. It turned out that the man was a villain who had abducted and killed the kid''s girlfriend as part of a plan to kill him. The government covered it up and told him to take a break for a while. His parents brought me in because they knew something was wrong, but they didn''t know what.¡±


    ¡°Is he still active?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I haven''t seen him lately. He''s not from around here.¡±

 In the Public Eye: Part 10

    Sometimes when you realize something for the first time there¡¯s a certain excitement as your whole world changes. Sometimes you feel like an idiot.


    For example, imagine that after three weeks you finally decided to check out a lead that you should have checked out earlier, but didn¡¯t because you assumed traveling to Chicago was a huge hassle. Then, weeks later, you actually calculated how long it would take you to get to Chicago if you were using your grandfather¡¯s suit of powered armor that just happened to include a jetpack.


    Imagining a direct flight from Grand Lake to Chicago, that¡¯s about twenty minutes.


    I realized it on Thursday while sitting in Grandpa¡¯s lab in League HQ. I¡¯d just scooped the bugs I planned to plant into a bag, and thought about the practical details involved.


    That¡¯s when I realized that I could fly to Chicago in about the same time it takes to drive a car across town. Theoretically, I could have flown to and from Magnus¡¯ house during lunch hour at school.


    I¡¯m an idiot sometimes.


    I told my mom that I¡¯d be at Grandpa¡¯s house studying and didn¡¯t worry about my dad because Thursday night is one of the nights where he stays late at his private practice.


    Then I suited up and shot myself out of the tunnel that exits over Lake Michigan, flying across the water.


    The sun had already set, leaving the stars and moon to glow in a cloudless sky and dark waves below. I saw the blinking lights of a jet above me and watched for planes at my own altitude.


    Moving at three hundred miles per hour, it seemed that I¡¯d barely put Grand Lake behind me when I began to see Chicago¡¯s lights. The Sears Tower¡¯s top story shone while the two antennas glowed red in the night.


    I had a sudden urge to buzz the building, but didn¡¯t. You know that wouldn¡¯t generate good press.


    I shifted course a little, informed by my GPS that Magnus¡¯ house lay to the north of the city.


    Passing over endless suburbs, cars and well-lit streets, I wondered how well Grandpa¡¯s suit showed up on radar. I knew he¡¯d done his best to make it hard to see, but that didn¡¯t guarantee anything. After having to avoid the police last weekend, it would really stink if the Air Force scrambled fighters to investigate me today.


    Worse, I suppose, would be if the Midwest Defenders decided I was threat. I had left them a voicemail saying I¡¯d be in town, but how often did they check it?


    I landed half a block away from Magnus¡¯ house, guessing that I¡¯d probably make too much noise if I landed on the roof, and suspecting that landing on the front lawn might be a little too ¡°in your face¡± for comfort.


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    The neighborhood had big lots, large lawns, and enough trees that it felt like a forest. Magnus'' house looked like an Italian villa with a square tower, a wide arched doorway, and three disjointed sections, each as large as my home.


    None of the lights were on. I wasn¡¯t sure if this was good or bad. It could be good because it would make it a little easier to bug the place, but on the other hand, it could mean that Magnus had already made a run for it.


    I stood on the sidewalk next to the brick wall that divided Magnus¡¯ property from the street.


    Unhooking the pouch from the powered armor, I pulled it open, and fished around inside for the controller. With the controller in hand, I activated the bugs and watched them swarm out.


    Long and multi-legged, they could pass for large cockroaches. I adjusted the picture on the controller to include the house and pressed the ¡°infiltrate¡± button. Most scuttled down the other side of the wall while a couple flew upward to tap the telephone line, both to listen to Magnus¡¯ calls and so that they could broadcast any information back to League HQ.


    The thought that I was ¡°bugging¡± a house with cockroach shaped robots amused me much more than it deserved to.


    Seriously. I actually giggled a couple times.


    I briefly considered moving somewhere less visible while I watched the roachbots (a nickname that also seemed considerably funnier at that moment) do their initial once over of the house. A guy in golden armor doesn¡¯t blend into any neighborhood.


    Unfortunately, I got distracted.


    Flipping between the viewpoints from thirty different bots, I found that one of them had made its way into a very interesting room. Bookshelves lined the walls. Beakers, jars, and test tubes covered the tables along with human skulls and animals preserved in jars of formaldehyde.


    I tried to decide if the room fit better in one of the Harry Potter movies or Frankenstein, but found myself pulled back to reality by a more pressing issue.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± said a voice from behind me. ¡°Turn around and hold your hands where I can see them or I¡¯ll blow you away.¡±


    I held up my hands and began to turn around, curious. If all he turned out to be was a guy with a gun, he was about to have a very unpleasant surprise.

 In the Public Eye: Part 11

    If I had to choose one word to describe him, it would be ¡°professional.¡±


    Clean-cut, clean shaven, and wearing black jeans, shirt and jacket, the man pointed a submachine gun at me.


    ¡°What¡¯s that in your hand?¡± He used the gun to indicate my right hand, the one that held the controller.


    I decided not to bother to reply, putting the controller back into the pouch.


    ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing? Pass that thing over here.¡±


    Shrugging, I tried to think of my next move. The classic answer would be to knock him unconscious, but he hadn¡¯t done anything other than point a weapon at me.


    That¡¯s not much of a threat.


    Of course, it was possible that he might have armor piercing bullets that actually worked against my armor.


    ¡°So,¡± I said conversationally, ¡°do you work for Martin Magnus?¡±


    ¡°Do you have a hearing problem? Give me that thing or I¡¯ll shoot you.¡±


    He stepped toward me.


    I smacked the muzzle of the gun with my left hand, forcing it to point away from my body then grabbed the top of the gun with the right hand, and yanked it away from him.


    Unfortunately, it was on a shoulder strap. So in yanking the gun away from him, I¡¯d pulled him toward me and he took advantage of it, diving into me like a linebacker and catching me in the stomach with his shoulder.


    I fell over. He landed on top of me, pulled himself up and punched me in the head.


    It didn¡¯t hurt. The helmet took the blow, but it was still a strong punch, easily in line with what Cassie had thrown at me in practice.


    I landed an open-handed strike to his face, knocking him unconscious. Then I rolled him off me and stood up, checking him over.


    His trigger finger pointed at an odd angle relative to the rest of his right hand. I must have done that when I pulled the gun away. Looking at it made me a little queasy. I turned my attention to his head, hoping I hadn¡¯t cracked his skull when I struck him.


    His face seemed to be normally shaped and didn''t give when I touched it. Without an X-ray, that was as far as I could go.


    Anyway, he seemed to be breathing normally. With any luck, whatever gave him that strength also gave him some kind of help in healing.


    I could hope.


    Originally I¡¯d been planning to let the bots do a quick once over and then let the bugs report after that. Now, I could count on people removing anything interesting as soon as he either reported in or failed to.


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    Leaving him on the sidewalk, I started the rockets and flew up to a balcony on the wing to my left. I ducked under an arch while floating over the railing and landed in front of a door. It was locked. Punching through the window next to the doorknob, I reached in and unlocked the door.


    I walked through a guest bedroom that ought to have been in a motel¡ªall carved wooden bed and dressers, a couple paintings, a big television, a radio, and no clutter or personal items.


    From there, I went out the door and down the hall, following information from the controller. I had to break the door open to get in, deciding as I did it that I ought to learn how to pick locks.


    But even as I thought it, I was inside.


    If possible, it was weirder than it looked from the robot¡¯s perspective. From where the robot had been, I had seen the books, the skulls, and the jars of preserved animals, but I hadn¡¯t noticed the number of plastic containers filled with different colored dust. The refrigerator turned out to be stocked with animal parts (I closed it quickly).


    Another thing I noticed was that though it used glass beakers and test tubes just like I remembered from chemistry lab, the beakers seemed much larger. Whatever Magnus did in this lab, he clearly did in bulk.


    The books were another mystery. An entire shelf held three-ring binders filled with photocopies and pictures of writings in other languages¡ªEgyptian hieroglyphics, Sumerian cuneiform, and others I didn¡¯t recognize. Near them were another shelf of grammars and dictionaries.


    The rest of books seemed to be a mixture of the anatomy, biology, and chemistry.


    I had no idea what to do next. It was obvious that this all connected somehow to Vaughn¡¯s grandfather. It also seemed obvious that the ancient writings were somehow useful in creating whatever Magnus worked on in this lab, but the overall picture was not coming together.


    In an ideal world, one of the books on the bookshelf would be The Book That Explains Everything. Unfortunately, if such a book did exist, it appeared to have been checked out. What¡¯s more, I had no chance of going through this much stuff quickly.


    Unfortunately, I had an idea. I didn¡¯t like it much, but it was the only idea I had.


    I activated the cell phone I¡¯d recently wired into the suit, placed a call to one of the numbers I had on speed dial.


    ¡°Hey Isaac,¡± I said, ¡°I was wondering how good the FBI is at confiscating property for no good reason?¡±

 In the Public Eye: Part 12

    The FBI arrived shortly in the form of unmarked vans and cars. I¡¯d explained the connection between Red Lightning, the ring in the picture, and Magnus to Isaac over the phone. When the FBI arrived, I showed them where the room was, but they didn¡¯t need me after that.


    They took the man I¡¯d fought away in an ambulance. I watched the lights flash while standing on the sidewalk where we¡¯d fought.


    I walked away from the house, barely able to see the stars in the sky thanks to all the trees. The streetlights didn¡¯t help either.


    Not paying any attention to my surroundings, I thought about the last hour¡¯s work. If I took what I¡¯d done at all seriously, I ought to be turning myself in.


    Crimes committed? Breaking into Magnus¡¯ house, tapping his phone lines, bugging his house, and hurting some guy who had threatened me (but who, to be honest, had no real way to hurt me).


    Crimes prevented/criminals caught? None to speak of so far.


    Amusingly, Isaac Lim, the only law enforcement official I knew, had simply told me ¡°good job¡± and called in a crew to confiscate the evidence I wanted.


    Whatever had prompted Dad¡¯s rant about how corrosive being a hero could become, he had a point. I¡¯d just been given positive reinforcement for breaking into somebody¡¯s house on a hunch. It made me wonder how far I could go before they tried to reel me in. On the other hand, the FBI had to have a policy against allowing teenage supers to do anything they wanted.


    I was probably overthinking things as usual.


    An annoyed voice shook me out of my ruminations. ¡°So you¡¯re just going to leave?¡±


    In front of me a man-shaped cloak appeared, transparent at first, but slowly becoming more solid. Once the cloak became opaque, I realized I could see the hint of a face in the shadow of the hood.


    ¡°Dark Cloak?¡± I asked. He fit the description I¡¯d read on Double V¡¯s website. Dark Cloak was one of Chicago¡¯s independent heroes. From what I remembered, he specialized in gang activity, but he hadn¡¯t been doing very much in the past two years.


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    His voice told me something Double V hadn¡¯t, however. He sounded my age, maybe a little older.


    Ignoring me, he continued, ¡°Whatever they¡¯ve said, they don¡¯t really give a damn about you. If something happens and you stop, they¡¯ll move on to the next guy.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said, ¡°I followed less than half of that.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re using you. What¡¯s to follow?¡±


    I started to say something, but stopped. Being used wasn¡¯t a worry, and Isaac hadn¡¯t promised me anything besides assistance¡­ I was more worried about becoming dependent on the FBI for things we could be doing ourselves.


    ¡°Don¡¯t believe me?¡± he said. ¡°I worked with them for years and then they told me to quit. I can¡¯t say they didn¡¯t have reasons for that, but I¡¯m back now and they still aren''t talking to me. Where¡¯s the gratitude? I gave them Death Mask when I was just sixteen and I''m better than I was then.¡±


    ¡°I remember Death Mask,¡± I said.


    It had been a big deal at three years ago. National news. I remembered seeing him on Late Night with David Letterman. Or was it Jay Leno?


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°I probably ought to go. Got to get back home before my parents miss me, you know.¡±


    He seemed to stiffen, but then made a small step toward me. ¡°Don¡¯t believe me then,¡± he said.


    ¡°It¡¯s not about belief,¡± I said. ¡°I just don¡¯t think we¡¯re in the same situation.¡±


    Then I shot myself into the night sky.


    Flying home toward Grand Lake across Lake Michigan, I wondered if he¡¯d been the client Dad had talked about.


    For a moment, I wished I¡¯d thought of it earlier, but decided it wouldn¡¯t have made a difference. I couldn¡¯t mention my dad without blowing my own secret identity, and he probably wouldn¡¯t have taken the more general question, ¡°Have you ever seen a psychologist?¡± particularly well.

 In the Public Eye: Part 13

    After supper the next day, I walked over to League HQ, deciding I might as well check for messages. I arrived to find Vaughn watching Channel 10 News on the big screen in the main room.


    A copy of the Grand Lake Sentinel lay next to a command console. I picked it up and looked at the front page.


    The headline said, ¡°Mayor Denies Influence¡± while the article argued that the mayor had received money from a group called ¡°Michigan Citizens for Business¡± and then hired members of the group into his administration.


    Much of the evidence came from an ¡°anonymous source¡±¡ªDaniel, probably. Telepathy seemed tailor made for gathering dirt.


    The next story¡¯s headline was ¡°Storm King Continues War on Local Drug Pushers.¡±  The picture showed police leading handcuffed men out of a house¡¯s shattered doorway. As a former client, Vaughn would have some insight into the local drug culture.


    I skimmed the article, but put the paper down as News 10 covered the same story on the TV.


    Vaughn grinned widely while a reporter interviewed a round-faced woman in a bathrobe about what had happened.


    ¡°The fog came out of nowhere and surrounded the house across the street and then lightning shattered the front door. I always knew something was wrong over there, but I never did know what.¡±


    ¡°Got ¡®em,¡± Vaughn muttered. Then, ¡°Hey Nick, is that cool or what?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s cool,¡± I said, giving it just enough enthusiasm that hopefully Vaughn wouldn¡¯t ask me again. Meanwhile, I checked through our voicemail. We had about forty, some of them two week old complaints about my ride in Night Wolf¡¯s car. Why didn¡¯t anyone else bother to check for messages? It wasn¡¯t as if it was hard.


    The most recent one had come just ten minutes ago. Mayor Bouman had left a voicemail asking me to drop by his office because he had a few questions for me. I called him back, letting him know that I was coming, put my suit on, and flew downtown.


    For someone who can fly without help, I imagine flight must be all about air on your face and the roar of wind in your ears. For me, it¡¯s the warmth of the rockets on my back, and the smell of plastic, metal, and my own sweat.


    The city of Grand Lake blurred beneath me, all lights and suburban lawns at first, but ending in the mixture of glassy, modernism and turreted Victoriana we called downtown.


    Within minutes I stood in the mayor¡¯s office.


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    He shook my hand, thanked me for coming, and said, ¡°I did what I could to make sure you could sit down this time.¡±


    The chair in front of his desk had no arms.


    He gave me a smile as he walked around the desk and sat down in his own chair. The sight of him in a high backed chair in front of windows that showed a dark sky gave me a sudden flashback to scenes with the Emperor in Return of the Jedi or Revenge of the Sith.


    I suppose that ought to have frightened me.


    Not that Mayor Bouman looked at all like the Emperor. Despite being in his forties, he could pass for thirty. Tanned, he had no wrinkles to speak of. I wondered if he used botox treatments.


    Next to the window hung a framed copy of the Grand Lake Sentinel. The headline read, ¡°DynaChem Loses Appeal.¡± Before he became mayor, he had been a lawyer, successfully suing DynaChem after people began to die of cancer near one of their storage facilities.


    ¡°It was one of my best moments,¡± he said, glancing toward the framed paper. ¡°They¡¯d gotten so big, they didn¡¯t imagine an ordinary person could do anything to them. They thought they could hide evidence and lie on the stand. It turns out that they couldn¡¯t.¡±


    Inside the helmet, I rolled my eyes. Even two years after the election, he still couldn¡¯t stop campaigning.


    ¡°But enough about that,¡± he said, ¡°I imagine you¡¯re wondering what I wanted to talk to you about.¡±


    I had been.


    ¡°You¡¯ve heard about the scandal,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯d like you to talk to your friends and see if you can find out who¡¯s behind it.¡±


    ¡°I can talk to them,¡± I said, knowing that I didn¡¯t have far to look to find the culprit. Turning him in was, of course, a completely different thing.


    ¡°Great,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s all I can ask for.¡±


    As he spoke, I felt something in my mind. Growing up with Daniel as a friend, I¡¯d long ago learned to recognize the feeling. Everyone in his family from his parents to his younger brother and sister had probably been in my head at some point.


    Whoever it was lacked their skill.


    I felt pressure, not a painful pressure, but a solid if slightly clumsy touch.


    Mayor Bouman had stopped talking and held the edge of his desk with both hands.


    I tried to think of what to do next.

 In the Public Eye: Part 14

    Knowing that Daniel found it hard to read my mind when I was working through a technical problem, I focused on some lingering issues from the roachbots I¡¯d released in Martin Magnus¡¯ house.


    They needed to move faster. I ran through some possibilities in my head, making some general calculations. With any luck, all the details in my head would hide the fact that I could feel his intrusion.


    The pressure of the mayor¡¯s mental touch lessened, but didn¡¯t disappear.


    ¡°Someone¡¯s trying to destroy me,¡± he said. ¡°You work your way into a position where you can do some good and people try to tear you down.¡±


    He leaned forward, his hand next to a picture of his wife and twin sons.


    ¡°I have a right to defend myself,¡± he said.


    ¡°You do,¡± I said, more as a way of indicating that I was listening than actual sympathy. Still, I was distracted enough to wonder if he¡¯d seen anything in my head.


    That was a mistake.


    I suddenly felt the pressure of his touch on my mind increase and then I could feel exhilaration mixed with fear that wasn¡¯t my own. My attempt at defending myself by calculating technical details such as the optimum power of the roachbots¡¯ motors dissolved at contact.


    Oh well. Defending oneself from telepathic assault via the Power of Math sounded like something out of an educational kids show anyway¡ªthe sort of TV show where the villains say things like, ¡°Fractions will not save you now, foolish mortal!¡±


    Sadly, I would have totally watched that show as a seven year old.


    Touching Daniel¡¯s mind felt like a conversation between equals¡ªa little more intimate than I¡¯d prefer¡ªbut the mayor¡¯s felt like an invasion. I could feel his anxiety that something must not be discovered, but it wasn¡¯t obvious what. I could feel him searching frantically through my head, not finding what he wanted.


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    I couldn¡¯t think of Daniel¡¯s name or even my own.


    It felt as if sections of my memory closed down as Mayor Bouman¡¯s mind touched them. I knew I was the Rocket. I knew I was being attacked. I could feel. I could see, but for the moment I had no past.


    My mind echoed with his frustration at finding nothing.


    I felt empty.


    Well, not quite empty.


    I had one thing. I had memories of my martial arts training. I remembered my teacher (whose face I couldn¡¯t see and whose name I couldn¡¯t think of) and the hours I¡¯d spent running through patterns of moves¡ªboth in and out of the suit.


    There was something odd about my teacher though I couldn¡¯t think what.


    Through a blur of techniques explained and practiced, I could hear Mayor Bouman think, ¡°Wow, it¡¯s amazing how many years you¡¯ve spent training for someone so young¡­¡±


    I punched him.


    My gloved fist hit him squarely in the nose, pushing his head back into the chair. I felt surprise, a brief pain, and then he was out of my head.


    I found myself leaning over the desk, pulling my right hand back into ready position at my waist, my left arm raised in a block. He slumped forward in his chair, face hitting the desk.


    Standing up, I realized that I felt myself again. I also realized that I¡¯d knocked the mayor unconscious. Assaulting the mayor struck me as considerably more serious than trashing a stoplight. What kind of trouble had I gotten us all into now?


    But had it been entirely me? I¡¯d been stripped down to little more than my martial arts training and my basic urges. In my opinion, I¡¯d almost been somebody else. The mayor couldn¡¯t have done that, but I knew people who could.


    For the moment, I could even remember their names.

 In the Public Eye: Part 15

    I stood in Daniel¡¯s room in my street clothes. I¡¯d left the suit back at HQ. Putting it away and borrowing my mom¡¯s car had given me enough time to calm down.


    Mostly.


    Bookshelves were built into one wall. Daniel¡¯s room used to be his dad¡¯s home office. Daniel had done a surprisingly good job of filling it with books, CD¡¯s/DVD¡¯s, and video games.


    He had a lot of books about the Civil War. I flipped through a couple.


    ¡°Dad¡¯s just about to fly back from Chicago,¡± he said, shutting his door as he stepped into the room.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to have to go home just about the time he gets here,¡± I said.


    ¡°I know.¡±


    I paused, trying to figure out a good way to accuse my best friend of secretly planting something in my brain.


    ¡°Look,¡± he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I should have told you.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know my own name.¡±


    ¡°I know. Here¡¯s what happened¡­ You remember the block Grandpa put into everybody¡¯s heads? So none of us would talk about the League in front of outsiders? Well, a couple years ago I looked at yours and I realized I could improve it. Now if a telepath tries to go deeply into your head, the block shuts off access to anything he happens to touch.¡±


    ¡°And not just to the telepath,¡± I said.


    ¡°Not really,¡± he said, ¡°It¡¯s all there. You just can¡¯t consciously think of it. That¡¯s the beauty of it all. You just trust your instincts and you¡¯ve got unconscious access to everything.¡±


    ¡°What about the martial arts training? That didn¡¯t go away.¡±


    ¡°I thought you might need conscious access to that.¡±


    I bit back a reply about how having conscious access to my name and history might also be useful. Unfortunately for my righteous anger, I understood why he¡¯d done it. If he hadn¡¯t, I¡¯d be back in the mayor¡¯s office right now spilling my guts. Worse, however irritated I might be with Daniel, if the mayor had had the chance to change things around my head who knows what he would have stuck inside?


    ¡°If you feel some urge to screw around with my brain in the future, tell me first,¡± I said.


    ¡°I get it,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    We stood there quietly for a moment. I wanted to move on to another topic, but still I didn¡¯t quite want to let this one go.


    ¡°So,¡± Daniel said, ¡°how do you suppose the mayor¡¯s going to play this? Think that he¡¯ll ignore it or call the police?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea.¡± I said. ¡°Haven¡¯t you been investigating him or something?¡±


    ¡°Sort of,¡± Daniel said. He sounded a little frustrated as he said it. ¡°My dad said he was corrupt, but I haven¡¯t found any evidence of it. I mean, there¡¯s the thing I fed to the paper, but there¡¯s no direct evidence that he was involved at all. The organization gave money to his campaign and he did hire a former staffer of theirs, but that¡¯s all. If it weren¡¯t for what happened to you and the way he was trying to get information out of Vaughn, I¡¯d be worried I was going after the wrong guy.¡±


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    I considered asking him why he¡¯d released the information to the paper if he wasn¡¯t confident of it, but I never got a chance.


    ¡°I was trying to push him to do something,¡± Daniel said.


    ¡°It worked.¡±


    ¡°Not very well,¡± he muttered.


    I laughed, and he did too after a moment.


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°if you want to check, I think FOX 50 has news at ten. I¡¯d think that punching the mayor would make news no matter who did it.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s got a TV in his room. The remote floated from the dresser to his hand and he turned the TV on.


    We watched the broadcast. It contained the usual litany of car accidents, the presidential campaign, an expose on a local contractor who was ripping off the elderly, sports, and finished off with a report about a water skiing squirrel.


    Near the end of the program we heard shuffling footsteps in the hall.


    Then each door opened one by one, swinging with enough force that the metal doorstops buzzed when the doors bounced off them.


    Daniel got up quickly and stepped into the hall. I could hear the doors begin to shut¡ªsoftly this time.


    I got up off the floor and stepped into the hall after him. The second story hall in Daniel¡¯s house looks down on the living room on the right. The bedrooms are all to the left.


    A short, white haired man stood a few doors down the hall, leaning on the railing. He wore a dark blue bathrobe and had a confused expression on his face.


    ¡°Grandpa?¡± Daniel said.


    ¡°I can¡¯t find my room. Do you know where it is?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re standing next to it,¡± Daniel said. ¡°It¡¯s the only door that¡¯s still open.¡±


    His grandfather took his hand off the railing, turned toward the door and looked inside.


    ¡°That¡¯s not my room.¡±


    I heard Daniel¡¯s voice in my head. I hate this.


    ¡°Grandpa,¡± he said, ¡°I¡¯ll show you.¡±


    He walked down the hall, reached his hand into the room, and turned on the light.


    ¡°See?¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± His grandfather peered in. ¡°It looked different. Thank you. You¡¯re both fine young men.¡±


    He stepped into the room and then turned to face us. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be in uniform,¡± he asked. ¡°There¡¯s a war on.¡±


    The door shut behind him.


    Daniel turned to me. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t too bad,¡± I said. ¡°Remember the time he thought I was my grandfather?¡±


    Daniel nodded. ¡°Yeah, that was worse.¡±

 In the Public Eye: Part 16

    I stopped by HQ the next day after cross country practice, knowing that I could squeeze in twenty minutes without my parents wondering where I was.


    Daniel¡¯s dad had left an email at my official, government-supplied account. Don¡¯t ask me where he got it. Between being city prosecutor, ex-military intelligence, a telepath, and Daniel¡¯s dad, he has resources.


    The email advised me not to talk about punching the mayor (like I would) and said that we should meet soon to talk about the public relations end of the situation.


    Okay.


    I saw another email, this one from Isaac Lim, letting me know that I should call him about some things that they¡¯d found at Magnus¡¯ house¡ªnothing urgent, but I should definitely call.


    I wanted to, but I had a bad feeling that that would take a lot longer than twenty minutes.


    That got me back to the real reason I¡¯d stopped in¡ªthe roachbots. Despite calling Isaac in, I¡¯d left a few roachbots around to monitor the house and I wanted know if they¡¯d been able to send anything back.


    They had.


    Most of the pictures showed Isaac¡¯s people tearing apart the lab. One showed Dark Cloak materializing inside after all of Isaac¡¯s people were gone. The last few showed three people in dark clothes sneaking into the house and removing something from a safe in Magnus¡¯ office.


    I couldn¡¯t see their faces, but it made leaving the bots there completely worth it¡ªwell, except for the fact that I knew nothing about them.


    I walked home still speculating who they were.


    When I came back after supper, Vaughn was there.


    He sat at the main table, hair wet because he¡¯d probably just taken a shower, books lying next to a monitor. A chemistry textbook lay open in front of him.


    ¡°You¡¯re here a lot lately,¡± I said. ¡°I thought you were basically grounded forever.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but I realized something lately. I realized that I can go anywhere I want. I mean, what are my parents going to do about it? They¡¯ve taken away my bank account and car and shit. So what¡¯s left?¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t there supposed to be conditions where you can earn everything back?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Sure. In a year.¡±


    ¡°A year?¡±


    ¡°One year clean and they give back my car and my bank account. Just in time to leave for college.¡±


    ¡°Shouldn''t there be some sort of graduated system,¡± I said, ¡°where you get more back the longer you go?¡±


    ¡°Heh,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°That¡¯s what your dad said too. Trouble is, they tried it before, back when I was using. I went right back to everything the second I got my bank account back.¡±


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    ¡°But you¡¯re not using drugs anymore,¡± I said, thinking, ¡°Right?¡± to myself, but not saying it out loud.


    ¡°No.¡± he said, ¡°I¡¯m clean. My grades are good. I¡¯m not going to parties. I¡¯m doing everything they want. So I figure screw them, I can fly. I don¡¯t have to stick around the house if I don¡¯t want to.¡±


    This didn¡¯t seem quite like the best way to prove that you¡¯re responsible and should get your stuff back early, but I suspected that this wasn''t about being rational.


    ¡°So what are they doing about it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°It¡¯s just like when I was using. I pretend I¡¯m not ignoring them and they pretend I¡¯m not doing anything wrong.¡±


    They¡¯d have to be pretending pretty hard given that his mom had recognized Daniel, Cassie and I our first time out. Of all of us, Vaughn was now the person most visibly using his powers. His mom had to have recognized him.


    ¡°Oh hey, I¡¯m probably going to be on the news again tonight,¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah? Another bust?¡± I sat down at a command console and got ready to call Isaac Lim.


    ¡°Nope. Interview on the evening news. You should do higher profile stuff and get some press attention.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t need more attention.¡± I clicked on Isaac¡¯s name and a bar on the screen began to read ¡°calling.¡±


    ¡°What are you up to?¡± Vaughn leaned over toward my screen. ¡°Top secret FBI stuff?¡±


    ¡°Not top secret,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m still following up on the contact list from those phones.¡±


    ¡°Cool. I¡¯ll listen in.¡±


    It¡¯s safe to say that that wasn¡¯t the reply I was hoping for, and was about to say that it was private, but then Isaac answered. His face appeared on the screen and he said, ¡°Hi Nick. And this is?¡±


    ¡°Vaughn,¡± I said, clicked a button, and moved the picture over to the big screen, making Isaac''s face twenty feet tall. It wasn''t private, but, at least that way Vaughn wasn¡¯t looking over my shoulder.


    ¡°Red Lightning¡¯s grandson?¡± Isaac¡¯s expression as he looked Vaughn over wasn¡¯t hostile so much as appraising.


    ¡°Well, this concerns you as much as anyone else,¡± Isaac said. ¡°We¡¯ve had people translating the books from Magnus¡¯ house and they claim to describe how to create the ¡®drink of gods.¡¯ From our records, it appears similar to what Red Lightning was brewing."

 In the Public Eye: Part 17

    ¡°So what does the ¡®drink of gods¡¯ do?¡± I asked.


    Isaac flicked toward Vaughn as he said, ¡°It depends on the drink. Each one does something different. It could be anything from throwing lightning to becoming strong. Some don¡¯t do anything. They just test which recipes will work on a person.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s wild,¡± I said. ¡°It sounds a lot like Red Lightning. He gave stuff like that to his henchmen after he decided to turn on the League.¡±


    ¡°Are they exactly like Red Lightning¡¯s?¡± Vaughn pushed his hair out of his face and stood there looking uncomfortable.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Isaac said. ¡°We don¡¯t have Red Lightning¡¯s recipes to compare them to. All we¡¯ve got are old samples of his work. Do you have something more?¡±


    Even I could hear the interest in his voice.


    ¡°No,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°I used to, but I gave it away. You haven¡¯t seen it with the other books? An old brown journal in my grandfather¡¯s handwriting?¡±


    ¡°Nothing like that,¡± Isaac said. ¡°Everything we got out of there is in a dead language.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± Vaughn muttered.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s what I¡¯ve got,¡± Isaac said, ¡°I¡¯ll let you know more when I get it. Email me if you¡¯ve got questions.¡±


    I saw his hand move to cut off the call.


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ve got one more thing I should mention. I¡­ punched the mayor in the head yesterday.¡±


    He said, ¡°Was it in costume or out?¡±


    I told him the whole story. Isaac took notes. Vaughn just said, ¡°Whoa.¡±


    ¡°Nick,¡± Isaac said. ¡°The time to tell me this was yesterday. If he starts pushing this we¡¯ve got no plan for damage control.¡±


    ¡°He hasn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Yet,¡± Isaac said. ¡°He¡¯s going to. It¡¯s just a question of when.¡±


    ¡°Daniel¡¯s dad has a plan.¡±


    ¡°Mindstryke? OK. What is it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Isaac sighed. ¡°Nick, I¡¯ll get back to you later. I¡¯ve got to call some people.¡±


    He cut off the connection.


    Above us, the television screen on the wall went black. It felt like the whole room turned dark. As my eyes adjusted, Vaughn said, ¡°Think he¡¯s pissed?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I stood up. ¡°I think I¡¯m going to go home.¡±


    ¡°No problem. Get some sleep or something. I¡¯ll shut things down on my way out. Or you know, you could stay and watch my interview¡ªshit, it¡¯s on now.¡±


    He put Fox 50 on the big screen and I heard the announcer say, ¡°Our lead story tonight is ¡®The New Heroes League: Too Young?¡¯¡±


    The very tanned and fit reporter continued, ¡°A little more than a month ago, the New Heroes League appeared, seemingly from nowhere, but reviving names and identities that were household names in the 1950¡¯s.


    ¡°But the original Heroes League were first of all soldiers who had been tested in the battlefields of World War Two. The current members of the League don¡¯t appear to be any older than twenty. Do they have the judgment necessary to defend a city? Let¡¯s go to City Hall where...¡±


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    The picture showed the mayor and a reporter standing in the mayor¡¯s office. Wind blew through the windows behind the desk. I¡¯d shattered them with the sonics after knocking the mayor unconscious.


    Then, it had seemed like the quickest way to leave. Now it seemed like a really dumb idea.


    I started paying attention again midway through Mayor Bouman¡¯s reply to the reporter.


    ¡°¡­ we were talking about the scandal when he punched me. I don¡¯t know anything after that.¡±


    The camera moved in for a close-up of the mayor¡¯s face as he talked. They definitely hadn¡¯t covered his black eye with make-up for the broadcast. It looked bad.


    With the segue, ¡°And we all remember this from just a few weeks ago,¡± they went into footage from the car chase¡ªincluding the moment where we hit the stoplight. Had one of the police cars been filming? I didn¡¯t remember seeing cameras at the time.


    Following that, they showed a small interview with Vaughn as the ¡°Storm King,¡± ending Vaughn¡¯s clip with him saying, ¡°I know how much drugs can hurt a guy personally. That¡¯s why I go after them so hard.¡±


    Next to me, Vaughn said, ¡°Well that¡¯s not the worst thing. I was getting worried that they¡¯d show¡ªoh no¡­ ¡±


    The screen showed Vaughn in the parking lot at the station answering a question. ¡°You know,¡± he said, ¡°weather powers. Rain, fog, lightning¡­ You want to see? Sure. And what¡¯s really cool is I¡¯ve got a lot more control than I used to. Watch this¡­¡±


    He pointed his hand at the station¡¯s mailbox. Electricity arced across the gap, blasting the metal box off camera and turning the wooden post into blackened shards of splintered wood.


    The camera turned toward Vaughn. ¡°Oh man, I meant to stop just short of the mailbox. Sorry guys.¡±


    Back inside the studio, they showed the stage where they do interviews. In one chair sat the reporter. In the other sat my dad wearing the dark blue suit he always wore on television.


    ¡°To add some perspective, we¡¯ve asked noted child psychologist Dr. John Klein to comment on what we¡¯ve seen.


    ¡°Dr. Klein,¡± the reporter said, giving his voice a serious tone, ¡°do you think teenagers are ready for this kind of responsibility?¡±


    Dad said, ¡°To be a vigilante? I don¡¯t think anybody¡¯s ready for that.¡±


    ¡°But Dr. Klein, what about teenagers in particular?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d say it can be a corrosive force in your life whether you¡¯re a child or an adult,¡± he began.


    I overrode Vaughn¡¯s control of the screen and shut off the broadcast.


    Now the wall TV showed my desktop wallpaper¡ªa picture of a spaceship called Serenity.


    ¡°But that was your dad,¡± Vaughn said.


    ¡°I can listen to him at home,¡± I started to walk toward the elevator. Even before the door of the elevator opened, all four phone lines began to ring.


    Vaughn stared at the phones, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to help?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t deal with this,¡± I said.

 In the Public Eye: Part 18

    Walking around at night can be relaxing, but I didn¡¯t even get a block from HQ when my cell phone started ringing. Initially, I thought about ignoring it, but then I checked the number on the display. It was Daniel¡¯s dad.


    In addition to being a prosecutor and a superhero, Daniel¡¯s dad is also responsible for managing a number of assets related to the Heroes League including Grandpa¡¯s house, it¡¯s connection to League HQ, and a few million dollars Grandpa intended to be used to stop supervillains.


    In short, until I''m 18 I have to get Daniel¡¯s dad¡¯s permission every time I buy anything for HQ¡ªranging from toilet paper to thermite. You never know when you might need thermite.


    I took the call.


    ¡°Hi Nick, I¡¯d ask how you were doing, but I¡¯d guess you¡¯re feeling lousy right now.¡±


    ¡°Good guess,¡± I said.


    ¡°I doubt it will comfort you much, but this goes with public life. Sometimes you¡¯re the hero of the day. Sometimes you¡¯re not. The bad press gives me at least as much motivation as the good¡ªit gives me the chance to show them just how little they really know.¡±


    I stepped over a bit of sidewalk that had buckled because of the growth of a tree root. I didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°Here¡¯s my plan. Larry and I are going to make sure that the local media knows that we support you. If the mayor goes after you after that, I¡¯ll try to raise issues about the mayor¡¯s credibility and piggyback on the scandal. If that doesn¡¯t work, well, we¡¯ve got options.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not going to unmask him as a telepath? Or, I don¡¯t know, just stop him?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d be nice if it were that easy, and sometimes it is. But not this time. If I¡¯m going up against the mayor, I want it to be an open and shut case. If I meet up with him, rip everything that he might be planning out of his head and accuse him of it, it¡¯ll be his word against mine.


    ¡°So what I want is evidence that no one can argue with. Daniel and I are going to do our best to dig some up. What I want you to do is lay low.¡±


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    ¡°I can do that,¡± I said.


    At that moment, laying low sounded like a great idea. I was up for it. I was up for laying low till the end of my senior year and maybe college. Because seriously, before putting on the armor I¡¯d had no idea that the city¡¯s mayor was psychic, that my grandfather¡¯s archnemesis was alive and knew where I lived, and that the FBI used superpowered teenagers against supervillains.


    Ignorance really is bliss. Don¡¯t underrate it.


    ¡°Glad to hear it, Nick.¡±


    A pause.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Daniel¡¯s dad said, ¡°you know why I¡¯m saying that, right?¡±


    ¡°Uh,¡± I said, ¡°because if I¡¯m out of sight, I¡¯m out of mind?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s because tomorrow this is going to hit Reuters, the Associated Press, all three networks and the cable news channels. It may not be the top story, but it¡¯ll be watched. After that we¡¯ll have a mini-convention of ambitious, no-name heroes here to take out the Rocket¡¯s crazy replacement. And then there¡¯s Vaughn¡­ People remember Red Lightning. The people who come to take him out aren¡¯t going to be no-names. It¡¯ll be a paranoid sonovabitch like Vengeance and he¡¯ll be armed for bear.¡±


    I could see my house down the block, living room windows bright with light, I wondered if Dad was home. He could be if the interview had been taped, but it would be easier if he weren¡¯t.


    ¡°Even if I¡¯d really punched the mayor for no good reason,¡± I said, ¡°isn¡¯t this way out of proportion? And Vaughn hasn¡¯t done anything.¡±


    ¡°Nick, there are a lot of good people in costume, but we¡¯ve got more than our share of crazies. That¡¯s what happens when you have no choice but to hand off law enforcement to anyone who¡¯s willing to do it in his spare time.¡±

 In the Public Eye: Part 19

    Call it the geek lunch if you need a name. More accurately, you could call it the male geek lunch because there weren¡¯t any females at the table.


    We were sitting just a few tables away from the entrance to the cafeteria, ensuring that a constant stream of people passed, all of them carrying lunch trays and talking. Andy, Mike and Kyle were having an in depth discussion about whether the new version of Dungeons and Dragons really was a ripoff or not.


    It felt like a throwback to last year even though it shouldn¡¯t have. Most days I still ate here. Hanging around with Vaughn and Cassie at school was still more the exception than the rule, and today I had more reason than ever not to stand out.


    His name was Future Knight and he circulated around the cafeteria, asking questions, sometimes even cracking jokes. He looked like a thin Cylon (minus the roving red eye)¡ªsilver armor reflecting the lunchroom like a mirror. A sword hung on his left side and a pistol on the right. He wore a rifle strapped across his back.


    According to an interview in Double V, he claimed to be a normal guy from Detroit who had been pulled into the future, trained to be a cop and then sent back to our time. Normally he worked with a crossbow wielding partner named Red Bolt.


    I guessed that Red Bolt must be at a different high school today.


    Concentrating on my pizza, I hoped that he didn¡¯t have the ability to notice that I was wearing the stealth suit.


    Grandpa had designed different versions of his armor for different situations. The stealth version is little more than a black bodysuit that fits under clothes. It acts as armor, gives a little extra strength, and includes a full power version of the sonic systems. Along with that, there¡¯s an underpowered jetpack that passes as a backpack.


    On a practical level, this meant that I could go to school and still feel like I wasn¡¯t completely defenseless.


    Chris Cannon, Man-machine¡¯s grandson, sat down next to me.


    ¡°Did you see the cape?¡± His tray hit the table with a clunk, causing his milk carton to fall over on its side. Fortunately, it wasn¡¯t open. He picked it up, opened it, his hands shaking a little, and put in the straw.


    Chris knew me from Science Olympiad and ate with me occasionally. It felt a little awkward sometimes, but I suppose that might have been entirely in my head.


    ¡°Only just now,¡± I said.


    ¡°He questioned me. He was all friendly about it, but he wanted to know if I¡¯d ever heard what happened to the old Rocket or his suit. I mean it was like he thought I might have it.¡± Chris sounded just on the edge of shouting or maybe tears.


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    ¡°That would be¡­ bizarre,¡± I said.


    ¡°No shit,¡± he said. ¡°Grandpa wasn¡¯t always the nicest guy in the world, but I wouldn¡¯t have beaten him up. Besides in order to have the old Rocket¡¯s armor, I¡¯d have had to meet him first, and have him train me and tell me all his secrets. After which, I¡¯d do what? Commit myself to making up for my grandfather¡¯s crimes? How far-fetched is that?¡±


    ¡°It sounds pretty typical for a superhero.¡±


    He snorted, then laughed.


    ¡°Good point,¡± he said. ¡°How hard do you think it would be to make armor like the Rocket''s or my grandfather''s?¡±


    There aren¡¯t a lot of sentences I¡¯d less like to hear coming out of his mouth than that one--though, ¡°Hey Nick, watch me crush this car,¡± is right up there.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it would be near impossible,¡± I said. ¡°First of all, you¡¯d have to get the right materials¡ªby which I mean you¡¯d probably have to create them yourself and¡ª¡°


    Then I stopped talking. It wasn¡¯t because I realized that I was beginning to go off on a technical monologue that risked exposing me (and giving Chris specifics on constructing powered armor).


    It was because Kayla and Cassie were walking past and Cassie had punched me in the arm.


    It hurt less than usual. I should wear the stealth suit every day.


    ¡°Nick,¡± she said, ¡°still need a ride home?¡±


    She didn¡¯t really need to ask. We¡¯d arranged it the night before. This was actually a bit of theater that would allow us to avoid explaining why were leaving together after our practices were done.


    ¡°If it¡¯s okay,¡± I said.


    ¡°It''s totally okay."


    They left for the other side of the room to eat with about half of the volleyball team.


    After that, Chris and I got drawn into the Dungeons and Dragons discussion.


    Sixth hour: Kayla and I both had the same American Literature class. She sat a couple seats behind me and to the left. It¡¯s not normally worth mentioning because it wasn¡¯t as if we ever talked. We didn¡¯t even say, ¡°hi¡± when we passed each other in the hall.


    So when the bell rang, and I dumped my books in my backpack, and walked into the hall to find that Kayla was walking next to me? That was a little weird, verging on uncomfortable.


    ¡°Hi,¡± she said.


    ¡°Uh¡­ hi.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure where to go from there. All I knew about Kayla was that she was a good basketball player, and I watch basketball about as often as I play golf on the moon.


    She opened her mouth, closed it, frowned, then blurted, ¡°What¡¯s going on between you and Cassie and Vaughn?¡±

 In the Public Eye: Part 20

    I didn''t quite know how to answer. It was obvious I''d have to lie. If Cassie hadn''t told her, I certainly wasn''t going to.


    The problem was, of course, what I could tell her that fit the facts. Given the way we hid it, it had to be something shameful or illegal. Recreational drug use? Strange sexual practices? Maybe we''d all joined a cult?


    I decided to go as close to the truth as I dared.


    "We''re just friends," I said. "Our grandfathers all served together in World War II and we got together as kids. We''re just getting together again now."


    "Every night?" Kayla stopped walking.


    "Well, if Cassie''s out every night, I don''t know what she''s doing," I said.


    "She''s never home anymore. No one is. Her mom has barely been there for years." Kayla raised her hands in what I guessed was a gesture of frustration. If she moved her right arm much more, she''d lose half the papers in her notebook.


    "I don''t know why," I said. "We''ve just been getting together every once in a while since school started."


    The crowd in the halls had thinned. I had half the school to cover to make it to the cafeteria for study hall.


    "Where''s your next class?" I said, "Because I''m going to have to run."


    "The cafeteria," she said, sounding irritated.


    Should I have known that?


    The warning bell rang. We had less than a minute before we were late.


    We looked at each other and began to walk quickly. Running in the halls isn''t allowed.


    We made it just barely before the bell rang. Kayla sat the next table down. Funny. We were halfway through the semester and I had had no idea she was there. It make sense, though. They''d assigned seating in alphabetical order. My last name is Klein. Hers is Ketchem. Go figure.


    I spent most of study hall on math homework. When that was done, I thought about the mayor. Whatever Daniel''s dad said, I didn''t think that it would be a good idea to stay entirely out of it. Obviously I wouldn''t start running around in costume, but there had to be a way to contribute. By the end of study hall, I had a plan.


    When the bell rang again, school was over. I picked up my books and began to walk out--except that Kayla caught up with me again.


    "Nick, do you have just a second?"


    I stopped, leaning against the table near the door, while a quarter of the school seemed to file past us.


    "I''m not trying to pry into your life," she said, "but I''m worried about Cassie. You know how she was sick this summer? Ever since then, something''s been different. She disappears. She''s been hanging around Vaughn a lot and you know what people say about him. And have you looked at her lately? She doesn''t look like a guy, but look at her muscles. Do you think she''s using steroids?"


    Everything she said seemed to come in one breath. I tried to take it all in.


    "No. Vaughn would be against that more than anyone. He'' s been off drugs for a while now--at least since the summer anyway. His parents sent him to some kind of camp."


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    She held my gaze, but didn''t say anything. I guessed she didn''t believe me.


    "Well, I know you''re not like that," she said.


    We left for our respective practices after that--her for volleyball, me for cross country--but not before I''d promised to let her know if I saw anything.


    Practice was a relief. For me at least, getting out on the road and just running, having time to daydream and not needing to talk can be almost like sleep. Not exactly like sleep when you consider the aching muscles and the constant need to push yourself to keep up with everyone else, but it does relax me.


    Cassie, Vaughn and I met up on the front steps of the school afterward. I was last.


    "Finally," Cassie said. "What kept you?"


    "I don''t know," I said. "My shower?"


    I looked down the stairs and across the street to the parking lot. Future Knight stood next to the gate to the fenced in lot, his armor gleaming red under the setting sun.


    "Maybe I should just walk home," I said.


    "No. That would look weird. Stay with us," Cassie said.


    "Yeah," Vaughn said. "You can handle it. You''re Vomitman, right?"


    Moments like that make me regret ever mentioning that if I found the right frequency, I could probably use the sonic systems to induce nausea.


    We crossed the street.


    "Greetings humans," he said, his electronically modulated tone and clipped delivery making me wonder if he was a robot.


    Then he started laughing. "Ah-hah-hah," he said. "Your faces..."


    His laughter still sounded electronic, but stupid jokes like that? That''s all human.


    "Sorry," he said, "I''ve got to keep myself awake somehow. If you give me a second, I''d like to ask you some questions. I''m trying to find some kids. Do you know anyone who''s been disappearing a lot lately? Or who''s changed physically? Maybe changed groups of friends?"


    "No," we all said simultaneously.


    He looked us over. I hoped he couldn''t somehow detect the stealth suit--though if anything he''d probably notice the amps attached under my forearms or maybe the jetpack. I''d been hanging onto my backpack by the strap. I pulled it up and put it on my back.


    "Try it in harmony next time," he said. "Move along."


    Cassie''s mom''s car was on the other side of the parking lot. As Cassie unlocked the doors, I said, "That could have been worse."


    Cassie stepped inside. "We''re still in the parking lot," she said.


    On the way out of the lot, we saw Kayla and a few other girls from the volleyball team talking to Future Knight. Cassie waved to Kayla. Kayla waved back weakly, eyes wide, her mouth hanging just a little open.


    My dad has often said that the best part of his job is seeing the moment when a client comes to a new understanding. I had a feeling I''d just seen that look. I didn''t like it much.

 In the Public Eye: Part 21

    In superhero cartoons, the square-jawed leader describes the plan and all the other heroes recognize its wisdom. Then they go out and trash the baddies.


    It doesn''t work that way in real life. If it does, it''s only with grown-ups.


    Cassie had called a "Special Emergency Team Meeting" last night via email/IM/cellphone until she got everybody. The idea being that there should be a team response to the Mayor''s accusations of me and to the growing negative media coverage.


    Travis (who seemed to think that he was the square-jawed leader) suggested a raid on City Hall in which we would force the mayor to explain what was going on, give it to the media, and emerge the heroes. Daniel and I shot that down. First, because a telepathically forced confession probably wouldn''t hold up well in court. Second, because that sort of thing only worked on "24." Third, if it didn''t work, we''d all end up looking like a bunch of power-mad freaks.


    Cassie asked, "Does anyone else have an idea?"


    "Kind of," I said. "It''s a variation on the last suggestion. Sort of."


    I described the idea I''d had in study hall. I wanted to use the roachbots to bug the mayor''s house, car, office and anything else I could manage. People looked interested enough at the beginning, but I got distracted and ended up describing technical problems I''d had while redesigning the robots.


    Travis, Haley, Daniel, Jaclyn, and Cassie managed to look politely interested (until Cassie started flipping her phone open and shut). Strangely, Marcus seemed to be taking notes. Well, I thought he was. The notebook turned out to contain a drawing of a knight spearing an enormous cockroach with a lance.


    Vaughn watched music videos on one of the command consoles, muting the sound. What he was supposed to be doing was checking the cameras to see if Future Knight had managed to track us here.


    I noticed all of it, but sometimes I can''t quite stop myself from talking about certain things. I finished saying, "but I think it''ll work well if they don''t overheat."


    For a moment, no one said anything.


    "Bugging the place sounds like a great idea," Daniel said, breaking the silence. "It''ll save me some work. My dad wanted me to sit on the roof and listen for anything interesting. Thing is, I already have been and haven''t turned up much."


    "Alright," Travis said. "So after we collect the dirt, then what?"


    "We hand it over to my dad," Daniel said.


    "I was just thinking we should handle it ourselves," Travis said.


    Daniel scowled. "This isn''t something we can afford to screw up," he said.


    "Long term, we need to be able to do this ourselves. Your dad can''t be our training wheels."


    "What have you got against my dad?"


    "Whoa," Jaclyn said. "Time out. I did not put off homework to come here and watch you argue."


    Cassie almost simultaneously said, "Maybe Daniel''s dad could come here and--"


    The doorbell rang.


    My command console''s monitor showed Future Knight standing next to a bearded man in a red, medieval themed costume--Red Bolt. In short, where my grandfather had managed to hide his identity for more than forty years of active service, I''d managed to hide mine for about a month and half.


    Vaughn said, "It''s them."


    I could have pointed out that Vaughn would have seen them earlier if he hadn''t been paying more attention to Shakira''s dancing, but I didn''t.


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    Vaughn sent the picture to the wall screen and we could see them from three different angles. They rang the doorbell again.


    With a wave toward the elevator Travis said, "Nick, get up there before they knock down the door. Haley go with him. The rest of us should suit up and take whatever tunnel will get us up there fastest."


    From Haley''s expression, I guessed she might be thinking the same thing I was, that being, "Who gave you the right to tell me what to do?"


    I wasn''t going to argue with him though. We didn''t have time.


    The elevator from Grandpa''s house to HQ barely fits two people. If you happen to be Travis, it fits one. Haley, despite being his sister, is shorter and smaller than I am and so we both fit.


    "He gets so bossy sometimes," Haley muttered as the door clanked shut.


    The elevator rolled upward, stopping with a jerk in Grandpa''s workroom. Then the walls sank into the floor.


    The doorbell rang yet again. A voice I didn''t recognize said, "Prithee, Sir Knight, let us smash through the door."


    "Oh jeez, Red," Future Knight said, "can you save the shtick for the civilians?"


    Grandpa''s workroom was in the back of the house so we had to run through the kitchen into the living room in the dark. I turned on the lamp next to the couch and flicked on the porch light.


    Then I opened the door, finding myself once again eye to faceplate with Future Knight.


    "So we meet again, Nick. Where''s the rest of the choir?"


    "In the basement playing ping-pong," I said. "I''m sure they''ll come up soon."


    I could hope.


    "Great," he said. "Mind if we come in? I''m sure you don''t want a couple of superheroes standing on your porch."


    "No," I said, "why don''t you just stay on the porch? I''m sure this won''t take long."


    I couldn''t see Future Knight''s face, but just behind him, Red Bolt looked annoyed.


    Keeping his voice friendly (as friendly as a computer-processed voice can be), he said, "OK. Sounds good. I''ll make it short for you and your lady friend.


    "You''re young, so I don''t expect that you think about this much, but the only reason the government is as hands off as it is about heroes is that we police our own. Now you''ve just attacked a member of the government. You may have Mindstryke and the Rhino telling the papers that you''re nice, but over on our side of the state, we''ve decided you need some supervision.


    "I''m empowered to offer you this on behalf of the Michigan Heroes Alliance--you take one of us on your team as an adviser and we''ll do what we can to make this all go away. If not, I''m empowered to take you in and give you to the cops."


    Under other circumstances, I would love to have someone on the team with experience, but this way?


    "No," I said. "We''re not taking on mentors and you''re not taking me anywhere."


    "Use your head, Nick. You''re outmatched. I''m in armor. You''re not. I''ve got Red Bolt behind me. You''ve got a little girl."


    Next to me Haley said, "A little girl?"


    Ignoring her, he continued, "You''d be going two on two with us and all you''d get out of it is a criminal record. Think about it."


    From outside, I heard the sound of wind followed by the scraping sound Jaclyn made when she tried to stop.


    Red Bolt glanced behind toward where Jaclyn stood on the walk.


    "Three on two," I said.

 In the Public Eye: Part 22

    Future Knight didn''t wait to find out what would happen next. He dove into the house, pinning me to the ground.


    The stealth suit took most of it, but hitting the wooden floor with my back still hurt. Worse, he''d grabbed both my arms, making it impossible take a swing at him.


    I could still point the sonic weapons on my forearms at him though. Straining to aim, I brought my fingers down on the palm pad and pressed.


    Grandpa''s design did a wonderful job of narrowcasting the sound. I could feel the speakers grow warm under my arms, but I heard nothing more than a high pitched whine.


    Future Knight''s faceplate shattered without breaking, still in one piece, but so full of cracks that it was completely opaque.


    It didn''t stay unbroken for long.


    Haley yanked him off me, grabbing his left arm with her right. He let go of me and swung wildly at her, but never connected. I saw a flash of black and white as she punched through the face mask.


    He went limp.


    Lowering him to the floor, her dull, black claws adjusted, turning into hands, milky white nails becoming shorter and pinker.


    I pulled myself up.


    Just then, Jaclyn stepped through the front door carrying Red Bolt''s unconscious body.


    "Where''s everyone else?" I asked.


    "I don''t know." She dropped Red Bolt next to Future Knight. "Call downstairs. They might still be putting on costumes."


    She grinned.


    "I had no idea it would so easy," she said. "One punch and he''s down."


    She looked toward where Red Bolt lay, then looked up. Then paused. "Do you think he''s okay?"


    "He''s still breathing," I said, "and I don''t see any blood."


    "Too bad we don''t have anyone who''d know," she said. "So, are you going to be safe with ''Mirrorman'' while I bring Red Bolt downstairs?"


    "As safe as we are anywhere," I said.


    The rest of the team arrived shortly after that. Minutes later we were all back in HQ. Jaclyn and Daniel had laid Future Knight and Red Bolt face up on the carpet. Daniel stood between them. The rest of us sat down at the main table.


    Except for Haley and I, everyone else was still in costume.


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    Haley sat next to me. "Are you okay?"


    "I''m great," I said. "The suit took most of it when he jumped me, and you got him off me before he punched me. How about you?"


    "Me?" She gave a half smile. "I''m good."


    But it was only a half smile.


    "Good," Travis said, "you''re great. I''ve never heard of the guy, but the armor looks tough. Good idea to go for the faceplate, Haley."


    "That was Nick''s idea. He broke it. I just punched through."


    "Well, there''s lots to be said for teamwork too," he said. "Which reminds me, good job Jaclyn."


    "It''s nice to be included," she said in an amused tone that (to my ear) hinted that she''d only barely been included.


    That may have just been my imagination. At any rate, Travis didn''t seem to notice it. He turned to Daniel and said, "Hey Danny-boy, what''ve we got?"


    "Nothing good," Daniel said, "They know who Nick is and they''ve got ideas about Vaughn and Cassie. Plus they''re not the only ones out here. There''s a team after Nick. I get the impression that they''re a bunch of nobodies, but Vengeance is here and he''s after Vaughn."


    "Holy shit," Vaughn said. "He''s going to kill me over a mail box?"


    Almost at the same time, Cassie said, "That doesn''t make any sense."


    "It doesn''t have to," Daniel said, "the guy''s crazy."


    Marcus looked up from his sketchpad, "I heard he collects ears."


    "I don''t think that''s true," I said.


    Travis said, "Daniel, did they tell anybody where they were going before they came here?"


    "No." Daniel turned away from the bodies, giving Travis his full attention.


    "Great. Then just wipe their memories of the day. One problem solved."


    "I can''t do that. That''s not right."


    <hr />


    Hey folks, I''m going to be on vacation for the next week. I''ll continue to update because I''ve got all of this written already, but if something happens, you can go to my website</a> and pick up where you left off.

 In the Public Eye: Part 23

    "Not right? Letting these guys have our names isn''t right either," Travis said.


    "I''m not letting them," Daniel said, "They figured it out for themselves. Future Knight has something in there that detects when people are lying to him. He caught something when he was talking to Nick and talking to Kayla blew it open for him."


    "Wait," Cassie said, "what did Kayla tell him?"


    "Nothing," Daniel said, "she just figured out who you were and lied about it. That''s enough."


    Travis nodded. "OK Daniel. Why is it wrong?"


    "Because it''s their brains. They''re trying to do the right thing. If I just erase today, I might erase a lot more than that. The brain''s not a computer. Everything connects to other things and I don''t want to turn these guys into vegetables by mistake."


    Travis raised his eyebrow. "Is that likely?"


    I couldn''t help but think that erasing a day from Future Knight''s memory sounded a lot easier than what Daniel had done to my head. I didn''t say so though.


    Daniel shot a glance at me and frowned. "No. They''ll probably be okay. It''s just that this isn''t just a question of whether I wipe a day from these guys'' minds. It''s a question of whether we''re allowed to do this in the first place. Your memories are who you are. I''m permanently changing them."


    "I''m not going to argue that," Travis said. "But right now these guys are going to turn us all in first chance they get, right?"


    I didn''t need telepathy to read the answer from Daniel''s face.


    "OK," he said, "I''ll do it."


    He turned around and walked back between the two unconscious men, sitting next to Future Knight.


    "That''ll buy us some time," Travis told me. "Maybe your bots will have time to get something good."


    "I hope so," I said.


    "Me too, because if they don''t, we need a backup plan. You should see if your friend at the FBI has anything."


    "Yeah," I said.


    Almost everybody left after that. Daniel floated the bodies down the coast a few miles, escorted by Jaclyn. Cassie and Vaughn left together, followed by Marcus, Travis and Haley.


    I sent a voice mail asking Isaac Lim to call me. He hadn''t been all that happy with me the last time we''d talked, but it had sounded like he wanted to help.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    I stood up from the command console, thinking that I should shut everything down for the night. Isaac would call me at home if he wanted to. Then I began mentally running through the lights I should turn off and tunnel doors I should lock.


    Adrift in my head, I did a double take as I realized that Haley stood only a few feet away from me.


    "Sorry," she said, "I didn''t mean to scare you." She hesitated for a moment on the word "scare."


    "I''m not scared," I said, " I just thought you were already gone. I thought everybody was gone. I was going to turn things off."


    "I wanted to ask you something," she said, "so I came back."


    "Sure," I said, "go ahead."


    "You''ve seen me when I change," she said. "It doesn''t creep you out, does it? The claws and the fangs?"


    "I didn''t know you had fangs."


    I looked at her mouth. It seemed normal--except where it was quirked in an expression that might have been annoyance.


    "I don''t right now," she said.


    "Sorry. No, I''m not bothered. I mean, it''s what you do, right?"


    "What I do," she said, "is turn into some kind of weird, half-human thing."


    "It must be nice to have powers all the time, though. As it is, I''d need to have someone following me in a van if I wanted to change quickly."


    "I don''t want to change at all." She stopped talking, paused. "Well, that''s not true. I like the change. I don''t like looking like a refugee from a horror movie when I do it."


    I felt like I should say something. I felt sure that someone who was actually good with people would pull out a line that would help her see things in a new and positive light.


    Can you tell my dad is a psychologist?


    Unfortunately, nothing came to mind, and I realized suddenly that she was looking at me as if she expected me to say something.


    What I felt like I should be saying is, "You don''t really look like a refugee from a horror movie." Problem was, she actually did. I just couldn''t think of which one.


    "Well," I said, "at least you can turn back, right?"

 In the Public Eye: Part 24

    11:50 pm, Friday night. I sat in Grandpa''s house waiting for Haley to show up. It was after my curfew, but that was a moot point since I''d snuck out of my window anyway. When you''re about to go bug the mayor''s house, office and car, curfews seem less important.


    I sat on Grandpa''s old brown couch. Haley had said it would be somewhere between eleven and twelve, but I was beginning to wonder if she was coming at all.


    Inviting her along had seemed like a good idea for a couple different reasons. First, she was Night Wolf''s granddaughter and outside of Ghostwoman, he was the best at sneaking around. Second, as dense as I sometimes am about people, it had occurred to me that she might like me. She''d gone out of her way to speak to me after the meeting couple nights ago. Way out of her way, actually. I''d had to borrow my mom''s car to drive her home.


    That''s when I''d had the semi-brilliant idea of inviting her along for the bugging. It wouldn''t be a date because it was "work," but at the same time it would allow us to hang out and give me the chance to figure out what was going on. She''d seemed enthusiastic at the time.


    I waited longer, flipping through the channels on the TV, grateful that the monologues were over on Letterman, Leno, and Kimmel. It''s easier to feel like you''re not dragging your grandfather''s name through the mud when you aren''t hearing people joke about it.


    12:10 am, Saturday morning. Maybe, I thought to myself, she wasn''t coming. I''d blundered pretty seriously when I''d started trying to check for fangs. Obviously she was sensitive about that. For that matter, the bit where I assured her that at least she could change back? If you thought about it, that statement assumed that her change was creepy which was what she was worried about in the first place. In reality, she was cute either way. It''s just that when she monstered out, she was cute with murderous claws and an inhuman skin tone.


    Not that I had ever used the phrase "monstered out."


    I think.


    She arrived at 12:16 am (or so said my cell phone), dropped off by a fortyish blond woman in a rusty Honda Civic.


    I opened the door as she walked up. She waved at the car and turned to me. "Hi, Nick!"


    "Hey. Who was that?"


    "Terry. She''s another waitress at Leo''s. I nearly got stuck closing tonight. That''s why I''m late."


    Haley''s (and Travis'' and Marcus'') family owned a small chain of Italian restaurants, a couple dine-in and a few take-out pizza places. Everyone in the family did their time as staff.


    "Do you mind if I shower before we get on costumes? I reek of pizza and grease."


    I hadn''t noticed, but whatever. She''s the one with better than human senses. We had to go downstairs to HQ for her to shower because there hadn''t been soap in the actual house since Grandpa died.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    While she showered, I got on the stealth suit, went into the hangar and readied another thing I thought we might need. When you''re not trying to hide it under your clothes, you can use some additional accessories. For example, there''s a more powerful jetpack that can''t fit in a backpack and a utility belt full of tools. Also, pants, a jacket, a helmet, and gloves that give a little extra strength, protection, and warmth. Warmth comes in particularly handy at night in October. The color? All black. Grandpa mostly used the stealth suit when he needed to break into buildings.


    She came out of the bathroom in costume (all black with a grey wolf on her chest).


    It felt awkward in a way that it hadn''t when we went out on patrol. Part of it was simply that then I was thinking about her mostly as Travis'' younger sister (who, to be honest, Daniel, Travis and I had tried to ditch as quickly as possible as little kids). The other part of it is simply that your average superhero bodysuit is form fitting for purely practical reasons (it makes it harder to get a grip on your clothes, for example), but for a teenage boy, well, even the most modest bodysuit is distracting. Hers didn''t show much of anything, but still.


    After a moment of mentally flailing for words, I said, "Half of us still haven''t come up with names, how about you?"


    "No, but I should. Did you see the paper after we fought Man-machine?"


    The Grand Lake Sentinel''s headline had been "ROCKET AND SIDEKICK DEFEAT MAN-MACHINE."


    We left in Night Wolf''s car. She drove. I had pulled it out of mothballs at Travis'' suggestion, but she had as much right to it as he did. More than I did for sure. After the last debacle, Isaac had arranged three separate license plates for it, none of which had any connection to the Heroes League.


    Bugging the mayor''s office went easily. She scaled City Hall and let the roachbots in through the boarded up window.


    His house turned out to be another matter.


    Back in the 1800''s, local lumber barons built houses on a hill near downtown. Mayor Bouman bought one a couple years before he ran for office. It''s a Victorian (like a lot of houses in Grand Lake proper) with two turrets and a large lawn.


    A police car parked in front of it. Above the house flew a woman who appeared to be on fire.


    Haley drove past. I looked out the window (which was now tinted dark enough that no one could see inside).


    "This doesn''t look easy," I said.


    "Be optimistic," she said. "We''ll think of something."


    If love is blind, are teenage crushes unrealistically hopeful?

 In the Public Eye: Part 25

    We parked the car two blocks from the mayor''s house, pressing the button that changed the car''s color to yellow and the license plate to Illinois. Haley changed herself. I noticed the fangs this time. They didn''t look incredibly long--just very white and very sharp.


    We ran through backyards, jumping a couple fences in the dark. Even in the stealth suit, I can still leap six foot fences in a single bound.


    Stopping behind the hedge that marked the end of the mayor''s property we reviewed the plan--such as it was.


    "How close do I have to get?"


    "Theoretically, I could let them go here," I whispered, "but I want to minimize how much they move because--"


    "Because you don''t want them to overheat," she said. "I caught that." Did she smile at me when she said it? I don''t know. It was hard to tell in the dark.


    "But it still doesn''t tell me how close," she said.


    "I don''t know. They''ve got to find a crack and go through. They might have a good shot at going through the eaves and into the attic."


    I handed her the bag of roachbots.


    "I could do that," she said. Then, "Think I could make it up a turret?"


    "Not a good idea," I said. "You''d almost be level with the flaming flying lady. You don''t want to be seen."


    "The flaming flying lady?" She sounded amused.


    "I don''t know her name. Anyway, I''ll activate the bots now so all you have to do is let them out somewhere they can get a grip."


    She leaned in toward a gap between the bushes. "Wish me luck," she said and dived through.


    I got on my knees and pushed into the gap where she''d been.


    She covered the distance between the hedge and the house in a few leaps, making it to the wall just in time. The "flaming flying lady" had come to check out this side of the house.


    Not wanting to risk drawing attention by making the bushes move, I continued to watch.


    Some people with fire powers appear to be engulfed in fire at all times. She looked mostly normal except that she just happened to be burning, small fires running the length of her body. She wore red robes, trimmed with gold--the kind of robes you see on ancient Greek pottery.


    As she curved around the house, staying at the height of the roof, she nearly flew over the hedge. Fortunately I was all but hugging the bushes by then and thus wasn''t visible.


    Stolen story; please report.


    That''s when I recognized her. I still didn''t know her name, but I knew her group--The Elementals. Sometime last summer, back when I thought Cassie might be dying, we followed the press coverage of how some unknown US superteam broke up a terrorist cell in Greece. Two boys and two girls, they obviously had no experience and from interviews it had sounded like they were all college students.


    I hadn''t seen anything in Double V about them since.


    I wondered if it would be possible to get her attention and convince her that she''d cast her lot with the bad guys this time around, but I decided not to chance it.


    Haley, meanwhile, stayed still, hanging on the wall about six feet up and surprisingly close to invisible.


    After a tense few seconds, the flaming woman passed to the side of the house.


    The moment she was out of sight Haley started climbing, managing to get up to the second story, then sideways, and up the nearest turret. She let the bots out on a windowsill and then jumped to the ground, landing at a run, crossing the yard in seconds, and doing it in complete silence.


    "Complete success," she said as she slipped through the hedge.


    I did what I could to extricate myself without breaking any branches, hearing them scrape my jacket despite my best efforts to be silent.


    "Yep. They''re in," I said, checking the robots'' controller. They couldn''t get through the window, but they''d crawled up the wall into a crack in the eaves.


    "The turret''s got a nice view," she said.


    "I bet," I replied. Then I glanced at the controller again. The bots were beginning to spread throughout the house. Time to go.


    We walked back to the car silently, but it felt more relaxed. We didn''t try to hide, but we didn''t do anything particularly obvious either. We stayed in people''s backyards. We didn''t walk down the street.


    Our only hint that we might not be the only people out came when we were almost to the car. We stood next to the corner of a house, making one last check before walking to the car.


    "Did you just hear something?" Haley asked.


    "No," I said.


    "Yes," growled a voice from behind us.

 In the Public Eye: Part 26

    I turned, expecting to see one of the Elementals. We''d just seen fire. That left air, earth, and water as possibilities, but not, as it turned out, reality. The bearded man behind us was not linked to any element unless camouflage had been added to the list. An automatic rifle that looked larger and heavier than normal hung on his back. His belt held devices I didn''t even recognize.


    "I am Vengeance," he said.


    Cheesy? Just a little, but it seemed a lot less cheesy when you knew his reputation. He didn''t have any powers worth mentioning, but he''d taken out powered people by the score.


    "Tell the new Red Lightning we need to talk," he said.


    Deciding that what I told Vaughn would be more of a warning than a message, I said, "Sure."


    "I''ve got questions for him," he said.


    "I''ll let him know," I said. "Did you... want to meet him somewhere?"


    He laughed. "I''ll find him."


    In the light of the streetlight, I found that my eyes drifted toward something hanging from a cord around his neck. It didn''t look like an ear. Not a whole one at any rate. Maybe an earlobe at most, but definitely a shrunken, dried bit of something.


    "One more thing," he said. "Stay away from the mayor. Leave him to the big boys."


    Next to me, Haley said, "Isn''t that a little condescending?"


    "Nah, it''s just true. Get a few years in and you might be ready for this. For now, stay out."


    He disappeared into the dark.


    We stood there for a little while, staring into the darkness. Then we got into the car.


    "What a jerk," Haley said. She didn''t even put the key into the ignition.


    I pulled off my helmet and put it on the floor. I don''t mind wearing it, but it gets stuffy after a while.


    "I know," I said. "I always heard he was crazy not... I don''t know. Whatever that was."


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Why did you even talk to him about Vaughn and all that?"


    "I don''t know. I was just hoping that he''d go away if I seemed cooperative."


    We sat for a few more moments without saying anything.


    "So, what do we do now?" Haley asked.


    "I''m not sure," I said. Within my brain came the glimmering of the bad point of asking Haley on a non-date to figure out if she''d say yes to actual date--she might not give any sign either way. Or worse, she might give quite a few and I''d miss all of them.


    "We''ve done what we planned," I continued, "I guess we just go home. I don''t know how you handled it, but I snuck out the window. I guess I can sneak back in."


    "My parents think I''m heading to Sara''s to stay overnight after work."


    "Does she know that?" One parental call to Sara''s could open up a big can of worms.


    "She knows. If she gets a call, she''ll tell them that I''m asleep. She thinks I''m secretly meeting a boy."


    "That''s believable," I said. "People really do that."


    "They do," she said.


    Her expression struck me as somewhere between amusement and frustration.


    That''s the point at which I probably should have realized that she was trying to tell me something. I didn''t. I was thinking about how odd it was that even now in the the twenty-first century asking someone out still often fell to the boy. She probably assumed that because I was older than she was I had some idea of what to do next, and she might even be offended if I didn''t do anything.


    "You know," she said, "It might be nice if we did something together. I''m not thinking of anything expensive. Coffee could be fun."


    On the other hand, it occurred to me, she might have a more realistic understanding of me than I''d thought.

 In the Public Eye: Part 27

    Isaac Lim caught up with me as I sat in League HQ the next afternoon. I''d slept in, but decided it might be fun to go in and look over the jet''s manual.


    The FBI symbol appeared on the League''s wall screen the moment my hand flipped the first page. Thinking it would be good to know what, if anything, the FBI would be doing to help me out of this mess, I took the call. Then I saw Isaac''s face.


    "So, no support at all," I said.


    "Nothing official," Isaac said. "I''ve been talking you up, but the boys upstairs get worried about bad press." He stood up and his face popped off the top of the screen. The camera adjusted, zooming in. Given that I was watching him over the big screen in League HQ, it was more of a close up than I wanted. Imagine a twenty foot tall face, pores included.


    A bit of popcorn shell had gotten stuck in one of his gums.


    "The good news," Isaac said, "is that no one associated with our Hero program is taking action against you. Between Mindstryke and me, the major groups won''t interfere and all Mayor Bouman''s got is no-names."


    "Which reminds me," I said, "do you know anything about a group calling themselves ''The Elementals''?"


    "The bare minimum. They operate out of Lansing. Probably Michigan State students. Probably got their powers in Greece. Magic based, I''m betting."


    "That''s more than I had," I said.


    "Are they in this too?" Isaac shook his head as the camera mercifully pulled back. "Nick, you''re going to have to watch it. They did a number on those guys in Greece last summer and that was back when they didn''t know anything. By now they might be competent."


    He stepped back and sat on his desk, pushing a pile of papers and a bag of microwaved popcorn to the right.


    "I can''t do anything official for you," he said, "but remember this. Your grandfather and the League were among the first superheroes. Even back in the 1950''s, there were more powerful people, but the League was the best. People thrill at seeing the costume in action now even though they know it can''t be the same guy. Give them a good enough reason and they''ll be behind you."


    And I''d thought pep talks had ended last week with cross country regionals...


    Well anyway, I told myself, I guess his heart is in the right place, but it''s a good thing we don''t depend on the Feds for a whole lot.


    I spent the next few days doing homework, reading, and listening through the recordings sent over by the roachbots. I talked to Haley on Tuesday night. We hadn''t set a time to have coffee because Haley hadn''t found out her work schedule yet, but on Tuesday we set it for Thursday after school.


    If you think that listening to someone else''s day to day life sounds interesting, it''s probably because you''ve never done it. The bots only recorded if someone was talking, but that still left a pile of uninteresting crap. I heard the mayor''s kids playing (and fighting), conversations with his wife about his day at work, and his actual day at work--including the schmoozing.


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    I fast forwarded through most of it, thinking that if I''d been smart, I''d have split monitoring up between the group of us. Better yet, I''d have come up with a way to have the computer transcribe the conversations and search for certain words.


    On Wednesday afternoon, I trawled through the mayor''s conversations for the night and the day so far.


    I felt like I knew him a little bit now. I knew he liked his coffee with sugar, but no milk. I knew that he sometimes called his wife little endearments, and that he managed to be home for supper with his family most nights even if he did have to leave for a meeting afterwards.


    Around 4:30 pm, I found myself listening to a recording of him talking with his wife in the living room. The bots tagged the time as 11:51 pm Tuesday night.


    "Tony says he''s closing his sub shop," he said. "He tells me there''s just not enough foot traffic downtown--"


    That''s the point at which I would have fast forwarded--except that his cell phone rang.


    "Gotta get this, hon. I''ll be in bed in a minute."


    The roachbot lost the mayor''s wife''s reply as he stepped out of the living room and walked into the kitchen. The bot stationed there picked him up, but the reception wasn''t perfect. It garbled Bouman''s voice ever so slightly and didn''t pick up the caller''s at all.


    "--these guys are after me and you''re giving me nothing. My only protection is people who''ll throw me in jail the second they know what''s going on."


    It took a few minutes before I heard anything else. Then...


    "How am I supposed to do that? I can''t just send the police to raid some kid''s house. Not when the trustee is a prosecutor. Think how that will look. If you want the machine, you''ll have to send your own people or grab Red Lightning''s grandson, and see if you can get him to talk."


    Another wait.


    "Well I don''t know if he''s used it. I''d bet yes, but how am I supposed to know?"


    ... followed by a deep breath.


    "No. I didn''t mean it that way. I''ll do everything, and I mean everything in my power. Just tell the Cabal it will be hard."


    Finally, in a softer voice...


    "Much easier when we get it. I know... I know. I''ll watch for Magnus'' people too. I''ll kill them if I have to."


    I stopped the recording there, stood up, and walked away from the command console. We could use this. I''d just have to obscure the bit about Red Lightning''s grandson and the trustee being a prosecutor. They pointed too clearly in Vaughn''s and my direction for comfort.

 In the Public Eye: Part 28

    Aside from having more or less the sort of dirt that we''d been trying to get, I had a reason to be happy. I understood what was going on--at least in abstract.


    We had two groups, Magnus and the Cabal, going after Red Lightning''s machine, or, more accurately, the knowledge that created Red Lightning''s machine. Why were they even bothering? It all had to do with powers in the end. From what scientists have discovered so far, it looks like very few people have powers or even the potential for powers. Among those to do, a few get lucky and have them practically from birth, others experience "metahuman expression" at puberty, and the rest need some sort of trigger.


    It''s complicated by the fact that the same trigger won''t work on everyone. Expose one guy to the bite of a radioactive giraffe and you''ve got a superhero (Giraffeman?). Expose another and you''ve got a nasty, infected wound.


    The "drink of gods" and Red Lightning''s potions had to be basically the same thing--a temporarily effective trigger that provided a low level version of a person''s abilities. Beyond anything else, the hieroglyphic on Red Lightning''s costume and Magnus'' former employee''s ring argued for a connection there.


    Between the two of them, my grandfather and Vaughn''s had managed to create a machine that delivered a permanent version of Red Lightning''s powers. If the process they used to discover what that trigger was worked for even a few people, they had something that anybody using the "drink of gods" would want.


    Plus, the rampaging gangs in Chicago earlier (that needed heroes from all over the country to control them) vs. Red Lightning''s superpowered, drug addicted gangs back in the 1960''s? Another connection. It couldn''t be coincidental that it took out a bunch of people connected with Magnus. For that matter, I thought, that might have been the riots'' whole point.


    I felt like a detective--like I should be getting all the suspects into the parlor and informing them that it was Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with the candlestick.


    Unfortunately, I was alone, in a basement the size of a basketball court with endless cardboard boxes containing forty years worth of memorabilia.


    I had a sense that I should be doing something. The problem was, what exactly? Release the conversation to the media? Call Daniel''s dad as he''d probably expect?


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.None of those were particularly heroic. I couldn''t imagine my grandfather bringing down a politician with dirt--though who knows? I really didn''t know half the stuff the original Heroes League had been involved in. I also didn''t quite feel like passing it off to Daniel''s dad. Some part of me felt stubbornly like it was my life and my case and why shouldn''t I take care of it myself?


    Well, mostly because I had no idea what to do next, and also, supper. Mom generally had it ready between 5:30 and 6:00. It was now 5:12, so I walked home.


    Mom had made stir fry, a meal that she liked because you could take just about any vegetables you happened to have in the refrigerator, combine them with meat, and have supper in about half an hour. Mom worked as dad''s business manager/publicist and managed his website. Whatever she made had to fit into the time she had available.


    Personally, I was a little sick of stir fry, but I wasn''t in the mood to complain either, so I ate.


    After supper, I helped load the dishwasher and washed the wok. Then I walked upstairs to Dad''s study. I caught him as he arranged books and papers around the desk. He was working on another book--something about troubled teens undoubtedly.


    I decided to give him some practical experience.


    "Dad?"


    Dad looked up from moving the books and papers into comfortable reach.


    "Nick," he said, "how''re things going?"


    I found myself thinking about just how much easier this would be if I could actually explain anything to him. As it was I was going to have to cloak everything in generalities to the point that Dad''s advice might end up being useless.


    "Okay," I said, "I was just wondering if I could ask you a question."


    "Shoot."


    "I''m working on a project with some other kids and I''ve hit something I''m not comfortable with."


    Dad nodded. "What kind of ''not comfortable?'' Are you saying it makes you nervous or do you mean morally?"


    "Well, I don''t think it''s wrong as much as ''less right'' than some other options," I said.


    "You''ll have to think about how much less right it needs to be before you say something," he said.


    I know we talked for a little while after that, but I don''t remember it. I went to my room and started on my homework, pausing occasionally to think.

 In the Public Eye: Part 29

    I caught Vaughn on the way out of the lunchroom. We didn''t have any classes together and we hadn''t eaten together lately because Cassie had been spending a lot of time with Kayla. Repairing relations, I guessed.


    Vaughn had been talking with a couple other guys. Neil leaned against the wall next to the door, tracing the tattooed dragon on his forearm while Dave talked. "... someone called the cops and we ended up climbing the fence while holding our skateboards. They caught Mike, but Neil and I got away."


    "Have a second?" I asked.


    Vaughn stepped away from them. "What''s up?"


    I gave him a quick summary of what I''d heard the mayor say and my guesses about what it meant.


    "So watch out for the mayor," I said. "Not that you aren''t already."


    "I''m still more worried about Vengeance," Vaughn said.


    "He says he just wants to talk," I said.


    "I"m not going to bet my ass on that."


    "I''m just passing it along. Is there any way we could talk about the stuff you gave Magnus'' people?"


    "I''ve got nothing going after school," he said.


    "Uh... how about tonight?"


    "What''re you doing after school? I know you''re not going to Cross Country Finals."


    "No. I''ve just got an appointment."


    "Sure thing," Vaughn said. "You want to meet at Hardwick House around eight?"


    "You mean the museum?"


    "I mean the mansion my family lets the city use as a museum. I''ve got keys, but you might want to wear your armor."


    "Why?"


    "Partly traps and partly just in case there''s a cave-in."


    "There are traps in the museum?"


    "In my grandfather''s secret lair, yeah." Vaughn grinned. "It''s pretty cool. Not in the best of shape, but they had some kind of massive battle there back in the 60''s so I should just be glad it''s still there."


    "Okay, I''ll go," I said, guessing I''d be able to get away with a short jaunt like that without pissing off Daniel''s dad.


    * * *


    "Solid Grounds" was within walking distance of my house, one of four businesses in a strip of brick buildings that probably sold hardware or groceries back in the 1880''s. They had kept the original tin ceiling, but painted it black and run red neon lights near the top of the walls.


    The music alternated unpredictably between jazz and indie rock.


    Haley and I sat at a table next to the smoking section, a glassed in area almost half the size of the coffeehouse. We drank our coffee silently.


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    Glancing across the table at her, it occurred to me that I hadn''t seen her without a mask very often. Her eyes were green even when not slit like a cat''s.


    She caught my gaze and looked up from her coffee, giving me a faint smile.


    "I was just thinking you looked different without a mask," I said, realizing even as I said it that "different" could mean anything and that I''d just missed a chance to compliment her hair, or clothes or something.


    "Not as different as you look," she said, smiling a little more this time.


    Well at least I hadn''t started her worrying about what she looked like when she transformed.


    We talked about school for a little while after that. Then we finished our drinks and pulled on our coats, deciding to take a walk before dropping by my house and borrowing my mom''s car.


    It felt cold. November started on Friday. Thursday was Halloween. The trees were mostly bare of leaves, a few stragglers waiting to fall.


    Her hand bumped mine as we walked down the sidewalk. The first time I didn''t notice, but on the second I realized that she might want to hold hands and caught it. She didn''t pull away.


    "Do you think this will cause any trouble," she said, "with the team?"


    "I don''t know. I don''t think so. Oh, hey that reminds me..." I told her about what I''d heard from the bots, what I''d figured out, and that I''d be meeting Vaughn.


    "Does everybody know?"


    "Just you and Vaughn so far."


    "I know you don''t want to release the recording to the media but you ought to tell all of us. Keeping it to yourself will just make people angry."


    "You''re probably right."


    We walked quietly for a little while.


    "Can I come along tonight? I heard stories from my grandfather, but I never got to go there. I always thought they destroyed it."


    I snorted. "It doesn''t sound like it''s in great shape. Vaughn told me to wear armor because of the traps. I was halfway to asking him if I should bring a whip and fedora."


    She laughed.


    "You can come along if you want to," I said. "We''re meeting there at eight. By the way, what kind of stories did you hear from your grandfather?"


    "The same kind you heard, I bet. How at the end everybody ended up captive in the lair and how your grandfather freed them."


    "My grandfather didn''t talk about it much. I don''t think he was particularly proud of the way he did it."


    "Oh. I can see that."


    She gave my hand a squeeze.

 In the Public Eye: Part 30

    Putting the suit on and checking the systems took a good ten minutes as usual. I ran down a tunnel to the exit in the middle of the forest in Veterans'' Memorial Park. It felt good to be in the full suit. The last time had to have been when I''d bugged Magnus'' house in Chicago ¡ª almost a month ago now.


    The doors opened above me and I jumped, making it a good twenty feet before the rockets kicked in and took me the rest of the way into the sky. The trees went past in a blur of branches. I found myself looking down on the city lights almost before I realized it.


    To avoid being seen, I planned to shoot up like a ballistic missile then fall down, using the rockets to slow myself until I landed directly in front of Hardwick House. It seemed like a better idea than flying low across half the city and being visible through any body''s window.


    I was wrong.


    Either my armor was more vulnerable to radar than I realized, or one of the heroes summoned to deal with me had fairly impressive night vision. Whatever the case, something grabbed my arms from behind at about 500 feet above the ground, pulling them together. I slowed my descent and then hovered.


    Twisting my head, I saw a man in a blue costume with a mask covering the upper half of his face. A missile superimposed over a circle appeared both on his chest and on his forehead ¡ª which told me who he was. According to Double V (whose RSS feed I evidently spent too much time reading), his name was Tomahawk. His powers? Flight, strength, and all around toughness. Until two years ago, he used to work for the Mafia in the Northeast, particularly Boston. Then he turned informant, gave up names and evidence, and since then he''d been living on the right side of the law.


    Normally I''d be cheering him, but at that moment I couldn''t help but wish he''d gone into the witness protection program instead.


    Breaking the silence, I said, "Aren''t you the guy in the lock commercial?"


    "You looking for an autograph? ''Cause your timing''s pretty bad."


    "No, just curious."


    "You know what you oughta be curious about? Where we''re going next."


    "OK," I said, "Where are we going next?"


    "We''re going to meet with a couple guys and come to an understanding about this situation."


    Honestly, it sounded like he was still in the mob.


    Probably at that point I should have sent a distress call to the rest of the group, but I didn''t. I thought I could handle the situation without help. He struck me as one of those guys who relied on his powers and didn''t do any real training.


    For example, grabbing a guy''s arms and holding them together behind his back might work on the ground, but in the air it opened up a host of problems. In my case, the only reason he hadn''t tipped me, causing me to fire off in some random direction is because I was deliberately hovering in one spot.


    Holding my arms straight behind me showed another lack of forethought on his part. The weaponized amplifiers on my forearms were pointed roughly at his groin.


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    I fired them off on high power.


    Human soft tissue doesn''t shatter like glass, but to judge from his shout, it felt at least as bad as a kick in the crotch.


    He let go. I flew up about fifty feet and started shouting down at him. "I didn''t just punch the mayor for the fun of it. He''s a telepath! He tried to break into my mind!"


    Tomahawk rushed me.


    Turns out blasting someone in the groin isn''t a great way to gain their trust.


    From there it turned into one of those fights that the media love and insurance adjusters hate; the kind of fight I most associate with Los Angeles or New York City. You know what I mean ¡ª two powered lunatics buzzing through the downtown, pausing only to exchange blows or plow into a wall.


    Downtown Grand Lake isn''t busy during late fall, but there were people downtown. They got off the street as soon as they saw us.


    I was trying to escape most of the time, keeping my corners tight, and trying to avoid hitting streetlights and power lines. Realizing after a little while that he flew a little faster than I did, I opted to stay low, guessing that as a hometown boy I''d be able to use my knowledge of the city to lose him.


    Unfortunately, I''ve got a lousy sense of direction, and even though the helmet has a GPS readout, it''s hard to concentrate on it in the middle of a fight. I ended up whipping around the corner to find that the alley I hoped would lead me out of downtown actually dead-ended into the back of a three story brick building.


    As quickly as we were moving, I wouldn''t have time to slow down before I hit the wall, but neither would he.


    I flipped over, nearly blacking out at the force of a one hundred-eighty degree direction change. He flew over me, beginning to try to flip over himself.


    I opened up on him with the sonics as he passed above me, this time choosing the setting that creates a massive piercing scream.


    I don''t know whether the sonics distracted him or whether he just didn''t have time to flip, but he hit the wall with his back, crashing through into the store behind.


    I had too much momentum to stop myself as well, but I hit the wall below the newly created hole relatively softly ¡ª I didn''t go through.


    After lying on the ground for a moment, I stood up shakily. From the shouts and screams, I guessed that the store was open. When I managed to look in, I realized it was a lingerie shop. Tomahawk had smashed into some shelving after plowing through the wall and now its contents lay scattered across half the room. No one else seemed to be hurt though.


    I considered calling 911 in case he needed an ambulance, but then it occurred to me that it might be safer to do so from a distance.


    So, I flew away, leaving him unconscious and covered with thongs.

 In the Public Eye: Part 31

    Hardwick House sat on a hill near the middle of downtown. It began, not especially humbly, as an enormous mansion back when Percival Hardwick made his fortune as a lumber baron. His heirs added on to it in a peculiar mixture of styles. The first section used the thin spires and intricate woodwork of the Gothic style. A later addition to the house had added an eight story tower and the extensive stonework of the Medieval Revival style. The final section of the house had been added in the late 1920''s -- six, flat roofed stories, each story less wide than the story below. The final story ended in the shape of an Egyptian pyramid.


    Impressively hideous, it absorbed almost half a city block when you included the grounds.


    I circled it once before landing in the garden next to the tower. Aside from the grass and trees, everything appeared to be dead. Autumn in Grand Lake isn''t kind to flowers, turning the garden into a place of drying leaves and dirt.


    Vaughn and Haley (both in costume) stood just on the other side of a walled section of the garden, hidden from the street. Behind them rose a huge wooden door that was large enough that a horse (or possibly two) could walk through.


    The dark tower loomed above.


    "Geez," Vaughn said, "What happened to you?"


    I looked down. Between a couple punches Tomahawk had gotten in during the chase and hitting the brick wall at the end, I''d picked up a few scratches on my armor.


    "Some guy tried to grab me on the way over."


    Haley gave my armor a closer look and said, "Are you okay?"


    "I''m fine. I hit a wall, but he hit it harder."


    "Was it a cape?" Vaughn asked.


    "Ever heard of Tomahawk?" I said.


    "I guess we''d better get inside then," Vaughn said.


    He had a point. The mayor''s house was just a block lower on the same hill. Who knew who was patrolling there tonight and how far their senses extended?


    He unlocked the door, motioning for us to enter. Once inside Vaughn flicked on a weak light, illuminating a hallway that kept up the medieval theme with the wooden floor and stone walls, but ruined it by filling the place with clutter -- old couches, chairs, beds, bookcases, lamps, and debris from more than one hundred years of occupancy.


    "Wow," I said, "it reminds me of HQ."


    "Wait till we get to the lair," Vaughn said.


    Haley stood next to a Victorian bed. The headboard was almost twice her height and covered with detailed carvings that I couldn''t make out.


    "I love this bed," she said.


    "We''ve got piles of crap like this all over," Vaughn said. "The best stuff is out in the visitors section.


    "Oh, Haley," he said. "Would you mind getting the lights? They''re just down the hall, but we''ll run out of light before we ever see the switch."


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    "Sure," Haley threaded her way through the furniture and disappeared.


    Once she was gone, Vaughn said, "I don''t mind that she''s here, but you could have told me."


    "Sorry. She asked this afternoon and I didn''t see anything wrong with it."


    "There isn''t, but, she just appeared out of nowhere. Scared the shit out of me."


    The lights went on and we walked down the curving hall, making a path over and through the furniture. Vaughn climbed over a couch and turned to me. "Hey, are you guys going out?"


    "Uh... I don''t know. We went out for coffee today, but that was the first time we''ve ever done anything."


    "Did you clear it with Travis?"


    "I didn''t know I had to."


    "I''m not saying you do. He just seems like the kind of guy who''d care, you know?"


    "Even if he does care, it''s none of his business," said Haley''s voice. I looked up. She hung on the wall above a series of bookcases and dressers.


    "Right," Vaughn said, "got it."


    He clambered across four chairs, past a Victrola and small, 1950''s era television. Then he stepped around the bookcases. I followed, glad to be standing on the actual floor again. Haley crawled to the section of wall above us and then dropped.


    Stopping next to the light switches, Vaughn turned to both of us and said, "This is where things get interesting." He pushed in two of the stones and a previously hidden door fell open next to the switches, opening to a stairway that appeared to follow the curve of the tower deep into the ground. It was all concrete with no lights. I held on to the railing.


    The door shut behind us as we walked down.


    "Did I just hear it lock?" Haley asked.


    "Yeah," Vaughn said, "Don''t worry about it. We can get out."


    After another few seconds walking downward in the dark, Haley said, "What''s that hissing sound?"


    I didn''t hear anything.


    "Hissing sound?" Vaughn said, "That''s the security system. It''s probably trying to blow in poison gas, but no one''s ever refilled the canister, so no biggie."


    We walked further down the stairs. After another minute, Haley said, "I''ve reached the bottom."


    "Great. Don''t go any farther, okay? Nick should probably go first from now on."


    "Why?" I didn''t quite manage to keep the suspicion out of my voice.


    "Machine guns, man. The hall''s got a couple. They won''t hurt you, so you can punch through the wall and, you know, trash them."


    "Couldn''t you have just turned them off?" I asked.


    "I don''t know how," he said. "I''ve never come this way."


    <hr />


    I think this is one of my favorite sections in the first book of the Legion of Nothing.

 In the Public Eye: Part 32

    "Why are we going this way then?"


    "The tunnel I used to go through collapsed during the rainstorms we got near the end of August. This is the only other one I know about," Vaughn said.


    I couldn''t see anything. Was I supposed to go down there and locate the gun by the flash from its muzzle? If I was lucky, the gun was fixed and capable of firing in only one direction. If I was unlucky, it had the ability to track targets. My armor did well against bullets, but I didn''t feel much of an urge to test its limits.


    "Haley, can you see anything?"


    "Just a hallway. The door''s maybe fifty feet away from us. No... Wait. I think I see a hole in the wall. Two. One on each side. They''re at waist level in the middle. I wonder if I could just crawl across the wall? Do you think I could?"


    "I don''t know. It depends on what triggers the guns. Vaughn?"


    "Fuck," Vaughn said. "How am I supposed to know how the guns work?"


    It felt like I was in the worst Dungeons and Dragons game ever -- no equipment and no one with any skills relevant to the situation.


    Finding the guns by the light generated from being shot at sounded like a better and better idea by the moment.


    "OK. I guess I''ve got a plan. You guys back up the stair a bit and I''ll take care of it."


    "I''ll come along," Haley said.


    "You don''t have armor," I said.


    Vaughn said, "Yeah, no matter what happens, Nick''s not going to get hurt."


    "I''m fast enough to dodge bullets," Haley said, "and my costume''s a standard League suit."


    Which meant that my grandfather had designed the material. It was probably made from the same stuff as the stealth suit.


    "Just let me go first," I said. "That way they''ll be firing at me. The armor can take it better than your costume."


    "Great," she said, "Let''s go."


    "First" is a surprisingly fuzzy concept in English. It could mean waiting until I got ten feet ahead and then start to walk. It could mean following just a couple feet behind me. For Haley it apparently meant that she could crawl along the wall from the instant I set off.


    Bearing in mind that I couldn''t see much of anything, I couldn''t know that for sure.


    I walked down the hallway blind, wondering when I''d be hit and from what direction. The answer turned out to be "from the left and right simultaneously and at an angle." Bullets will knock me over if I''m not expecting them, but in this case I was. It caught me mid-step and I rocked back, put my foot behind me, and held myself in place. When the bullets failed to stop, I jumped forward, aiming for the flashes of light, and started punching the wall.


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    It broke under the force of my blows. Chunks of concrete hit me on the helmet, the chest, the legs. My hand finally landed a glancing blow on the barrel of the gun, bending it a little, but not enough to stop the gunfire. Following the barrel back with my hand, I felt the body of the device. Pulling it to my chest, I yanked it free of its mounting and through what was left of the wall.


    It stopped firing. I dumped it on the floor, listening to it crash against the ground.


    It struck me that I''d just broken down a wall on whim and yanked a weapon that had been mounted to concrete free by myself. That was wild. I''d known that Grandpa could do that kind of thing and I''d known how strong the suit was, but it hadn''t ever been real to me.


    Then I realized that the other gun had stopped as well.


    Something grabbed my arm. From the click of claws on my armor, I guessed who it might be.


    "I didn''t know I could break concrete," Haley said. "Did you see me punch through that wall?"


    "I can''t see anything," I said.


    She laughed. "Of course you can''t. Why didn''t you bring a flashlight?"


    "When Vaughn said Hardwick House, I assumed there''d be lighting. What I''m wondering is why Vaughn didn''t say anything."


    Vaughn said, "I never take this way. The other tunnel had lights."


    "Well anyway, let''s go," I said, and started walking.


    Haley grabbed my arm again. "Wrong way," she said, turning me. "The door''s over there."


    Haley had to help Vaughn through the rubble too, but within a few moments we all stood at the door. Vaughn gave Haley a series of numbers and she typed them into a keypad. The door clicked open.


    In a moment, the lights turned on and we saw the cave.


    It felt like a cathedral, but a cathedral to what god? Concrete supports arched upward, holding a ceiling of rock. Across from us, the wall showed a mural of Red Lightning''s symbol -- jagged lightning under a golden arch with hieroglyphics. Like everything else, the mural had been blackened by fire.


    Cells covered the wall to the right, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, everything in them completely visible through the bars. Everyone in the original League had been imprisoned there near the end.


    Directly in front of us lay the remains of the last battle -- warped metal machines, the skeletons of Red Lightning''s henchmen, and a silver dome, now ragged edged and cracked in two, rising in the middle of it all.

 In the Public Eye: Part 33

    "Looks pretty bad, doesn''t it?" Vaughn said. "You''d never believe it, but my grandfather''s personal stuff never burned."


    "It must be the only thing that didn''t," I said.


    A layer of dark soot seemed to be everywhere, mixed with bits that crunched when I stepped on them.


    "Nah," Vaughn said, "The side tunnels didn''t burn. That''s where I found the stuff that I handed over. Let''s go."


    We turned left, walking toward the wall opposite the wall with the cells, and avoiding the worst of the destruction in the middle of the room. I watched the dome as we moved, thinking it might be interesting to go inside the dome or possibly try to find Grandpa''s old cell.


    "Did you want to go into the dome?" Haley asked. "I''d like to."


    "A little," I said, "but this is really more important."


    "You want to hit it on the way out?" Vaughn asked.


    "Sure," I said.


    "Say," Vaughn said, "did you ever hear why the dome blew up?"


    I''d asked my grandfather once -- sort of. He''d been pointing out how he''d made some component solve two different problems. Then he stopped talking. I asked him why. He''d said, "Just thinking that solving two problems works better in engineering than life." He paused. "Back when Red Lightning captured all of us, he wanted me to construct a machine to increase his powers. I had to occupy Red Lightning''s people and I had to free the team. I set the device to amplify his powers past any hope of control."


    That was the most he ever told me about it.


    "My grandfather sabotaged it," I said, wondering how many details I should share.


    "My grandfather," Haley said, "said he couldn''t tell whether Red Lightning or the machine inside had exploded. Just suddenly he saw Red Lightning erupt out of the dome, surrounded by fire and lightning, and everything began to burn."


    Vaughn muttered, "Lousy way to die."


    Haley glanced toward me, then toward Vaughn and said, "After everything he put everyone else through, he deserved it."


    "I know," Vaughn said, "I''m not going to argue. I didn''t even know him. I was just thinking that I''m glad I''m not going to be talking about this with my mom. She''s freaked out enough already."


    We passed out of the main area, walking between two huge vats. I guessed they had to be twenty feet tall. Smaller vats and tables covered with test tubes were near them, the test tubes mostly shattered.


    Unlocking a steel door, Vaughn led us into a hallway. From the main area outside, I would never have expected the hall to look the way it did. It could have been transported from someplace in Europe -- like maybe the Palace of Versailles. Paintings covered the arched ceiling and more paintings hung on the walls. Gold paint covered the woodwork. I assumed it was paint. It may have been gold.


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    A closer look at the pictures made me realize that even if the Classical style fit, the subject matter did not. The pictures showed men in suits or workman''s clothing, women in dresses, and children playing. All of them were white (except for the servants). They went about their daily business, working, cooking, cleaning, all of them smiling. It might have passed for a series of paintings about daily life in the 50''s and 60''s except that every picture included one man or woman wearing a red, Roman toga.


    At the end of the hall, the final painting showed a man sitting in a chair. Golden light surrounded his head and people bowed before him. He bore a resemblance to pictures I''d seen of Vaughn''s grandfather.


    "These pictures are really weird," Haley said.


    "No kidding." I stared up at the ceiling.


    "Oh yeah," Vaughn said. "I shot up in here once. You would not believe the stuff that went on in my head."


    We followed him into a room. Except for the bookshelves and desk, it looked like the hall. Red Lightning appeared to share reading tastes with Martin Magnus. The bookshelves held books in languages I didn''t recognize, books on translating ancient languages, and a long line of handwritten journals (organized by date).


    "This is where I got the stuff I gave Magnus'' people," he said. "I didn''t give them much. You''re welcome to the rest."


    "I''ll need to come back with a bag or something."


    Haley picked the first journal off the shelf and started flipping through it. "If we were in Harry Potter," she said, "I''d end up possessed by this book."


    "Which would make me what," Vaughn asked, "Malfoy?"


    "Have you read them?" I asked Vaughn. "Do you have any idea why he did any of it?"


    "Not really. I''ve read bits of them. They''re all pretty normal up till about two years before he gets zapped with the Power Impregnator. After that they just get batshit insane."


    "So there''s no reason?" I said. "He just goes crazy? That''s dumb."


    "Ever read ''Breakfast of Champions'' by Kurt Vonnegut?" Vaughn asked. "There''s a character in there that goes crazy and starts killing people and Vonnegut blames it on bad chemicals in his brain. In the book, it''s funny."


    "That doesn''t sound very funny," Haley said.


    "But see," Vaughn said, "it''s Vonnegut. He''s funny as hell."

 In the Public Eye: Part 34

    I decided to take the day off from costumes, but the day didn''t cooperate with me.


    School went okay that way. I saw Vaughn and Cassie in the halls and said, "hi," but that was about it. The day didn''t fall apart till I got home. I arrived before my parents, pulling the mail out of the mail box and grabbing the paper off the front porch. I unrolled it to find myself on the front page under the headline, "ROCKET AND TOMAHAWK BRAWL DOWNTOWN." A smaller headline below it said, "Mayor Calls for More Assistance."


    Tomahawk turned out to be okay. No permanent physical damage.


    Emotional? Maybe. A reporter made it to the lingerie shop while he was still unconscious, photographing him lying under the thongs. The photograph dominated the page. Next to it were three smaller photos of the two of us fighting. I''d never noticed anyone taking pictures, but, on the other hand, I''d been paying more attention to getting away.


    I didn''t bother to read the article. I walked around to the door by the garage, unlocked it and stepped inside. I put my coat into the closet, left my shoes by the door and dropped the mail and newspaper on the kitchen counter. Then I went upstairs to my room.


    Sitting down on the bed, I realized that I didn''t know what I was going to do next. I didn''t feel like doing homework. I could go into HQ and work on the jet. Maybe do repairs on the suit? I dismissed the thought. Who knows who would be in? I''d get roped into a conversation about last night or worse, about the mayor.


    In my gut, I felt that if I wanted to release what he''d said about killing people and the bits that made it sound as if he was controlled by mysterious forces, now would be the time.


    It still didn''t feel right.


    Specifically, I mean it felt morally wrong somehow. I couldn''t put it into words. When I tried to, it sounded stupid. It felt like I was blackmailing the guy and damaging his reputation. On the other hand, this was someone who really deserved to have his reputation damaged.


    I decided to think about something else, but couldn''t.


    The best reason for not publicizing it was that it might make it harder to catch the actual mysterious forces behind him. On the other hand, making their existence obvious might force them into the open where more experienced people could take over.


    Of course, I wasn''t completely sure I wanted them to take over.


    I lay down on the bed. I could almost have gone to sleep. After being shot, punched and slammed into a brick wall, I did feel a little sore.


    I wondered what Haley was doing. Probably working. That was why we went out yesterday. I couldn''t imagine that Italian restaurants were particularly popular on Halloween, but I guessed that they still had to be staffed.


    Should I call her? I thought about it. Obviously I shouldn''t do while she was working, but I''d heard that girls worried if they didn''t get called back.


    Of course, bearing in mind that I got all of my information about dating from novels and the internet, it might not be right.


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    I sat up again. I decided to go downstairs to the computer and find out if she had a Facebook page.


    Before I even got out of my room, my cell phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket, checked who it was.


    Travis.


    I answered the phone.


    "Heya Nick, you home?"


    "Um... yeah."


    "Great. I''m driving down your street. We''ve got to talk."


    "I''ll be here."


    He hung up.


    By the time I got downstairs, he was already knocking at the front door. I opened it and let him in, thinking as I did it that he was huge. I was almost a foot taller than Haley. He was almost a foot taller than me. Haley wasn''t much more than five feet tall and she could throw cars. I had a bad feeling Travis could probably rip me in two whether or not I wore armor.


    Still, he didn''t seem angry.


    "We''ve got to talk, Nick. How about over here?" He pointed toward the living room. Then he went and sat down on the couch.


    Contrary to its name, the living room didn''t. It was more the "preserved in amber" room. As in, you could see the tracks from the vacuum cleaner (all running in the same direction) on the white carpet if you looked. Imagine pictures of Rachel and myself on the walls, a black, grand piano in one corner, and a picture window without the slightest hint of dust or cat hair on the wide windowsill.


    Picture books sat on the coffee table in two distinct piles, one of foreign countries, the other of national parks.


    Travis picked one up and flipped through it''s pages. "Ever been to Denali?" He asked.


    "No," I said, "I haven''t been to Egypt either." That was the book on the other pile.


    "The pictures don''t do it justice. You''ve got to go there and smell the place."


    I walked into the room, aware at every step that I was leaving footprints, sitting down in the chair across from him. The cushion felt stiff.


    "So Nick, can we take the mayor down on what you''ve got?"


    "I don''t know. It''s not going to make him look good, but it''s not exactly a confession... How did you find out about that?"


    "I called Cassie tonight. She drove Vaughn home from school."


    He leaned forward. "The story I got was all jumbled. The mayor''s part of some huge conspiracy and he''s going to kill people from another conspiracy and somehow it''s got something to do with Red Lightning? What''s the real scoop?"


    "That''s actually pretty close to all I''ve got. Except I think that Red Lightning must have gotten his abilities from those guys somehow."


    He went silent for a moment. "OK. Bottom line, what exactly is on that recording?"


    "Well," I said, "the bottom line is he''s obviously taking orders from somebody and he really does threaten to kill people."


    "That''s what we need, Nick."

 In the Public Eye: Part 35

    "OK," I said, "I''ll take a look at the recording tonight and put something together for the local news."


    "Thanks, Nick," Travis said, "Once we get this asshole off our backs, we can get back to fighting crime instead of other heroes. Which reminds me, how did you end up fighting Tomahawk anyway?"


    I told him.


    "Red Lightning''s lair? That''s unbelievable. You''ve got to take me down there." Travis put down the Denali book and not, I noticed, on the pile. It was placed diagonally next to the pile.


    Fighting an urge to pick it up and put it back, I said, "No reason you can''t go. Just talk to Vaughn. He let me and Haley in."


    "Haley?" Travis looked surprised.


    "Yeah. She came along."


    "That''s good," Travis said. "That''s what I was hoping for when I pushed her into the group. Ever since the press went after that wrestler and she quit gymnastics, all she''s done is mope around the house."


    Evidently she hadn''t told him about the two of us going out for coffee. Not that it really was any of his business, but I wasn''t going to mention it if she hadn''t.


    "Did I ever tell you I had a match with that guy in high school? I pinned him." He grinned at me. "I wonder what he''s doing now?"


    "If he''s lucky, he''s in California," I said. "Don''t they have a statewide, powered high school sports league there?"


    "Last I heard they were having financial troubles," Travis said. "Well, anyway, I better get moving. Nice to see you, Nick. Let me know when you''re ready."


    He left.


    I looked down at the picture book, put it back on top the correct pile. On the floor, I could see the imprint of our shoes, small, regular indentations on either side of the coffee table.


    I could have pulled out the sweeper and removed them, but I didn''t. Instead I walked upstairs, recognizing even as I did so that as gestures of rebellion go, this one was fairly pathetic.


    * * *


    Despite constant interruptions by children shouting, "Trick or treat" at the front door, I made my way through my homework quickly -- largely because I only had math.


    By the time I walked to Grandpa''s house around nine, the kids were off the streets. Trick or treating was over for the night, but I still saw some pumpkins on porches, their eyes and mouths aglow from the candles inside.


    Using the computers in League HQ to cut the mayor''s conversation out from the context took a little work, but not much. I burned a CD of it, then listened to it. As I did, I wondered how much an ordinary person would get out of it.


    I listened to it again.


    All I''d said to Travis was true, but the mayor didn''t lay it out in as many words as I might have liked.


    I listened to it yet another time. Then I did something I knew Travis wouldn''t like. I called Daniel''s dad.


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    He walked out of the tunnels minutes later in a navy blue costume similar to a uniform, the Greek letter "psi" visible on the left side of his chest. The costume looked more professional than the standard skintight thing, but personally, it reminded me more of Babylon 5''s Psi Corp than anything else. For those of you who never watched the TV show, the Psi Corp was evil.


    "Hi Nick," he said, walking over to the command console and sitting down. "What have you got?"


    I didn''t bother to explain. I played the CD, figuring he''d grab it straight from my head anyway.


    When it finished, he said, "That''s not bad. What else do you have?"


    "Nothing," I said.


    "Then don''t use it," he said. "Do you know why I''m saying that?"


    "Because it''s not clear enough?"


    "It''s not clear," he said, "but that''s not it. At the right moment, what you''ve got there could be devastating, but you need more of it. As a vigilante, you''ve got two tools -- violence and public opinion. You''ve got to put just as much work into the latter as the former. You don''t need one snippet like that. You need five. If you can''t find more, you have to look for other things like irregularities with campaign contributions or hints that he might be embezzling money. The key point is that you need to have a story, and then you use the press to put it into people''s heads."


    "Oh," I said. It seemed obvious when he put it that way.


    "I make the initial accusation," he continued, "then release supporting details, and when they''re beginning to respond, I hit them with something totally new.The way you win is to pound and pound at them until they resign or make a mistake -- and then you jump on that."


    After he started giving examples, I realized that the police chief''s resignation a couple years ago hadn''t been as much of a surprise to him as the rest of the city. Next, it occurred to me that he was basically teaching me how to run a very negative political campaign.


    "Is there any other kind?" He asked. "Call me back when you''ve got more evidence. In the meantime, I''m heading home. The Midwest Defenders'' telepath quit, so I''ve been in Chicago twice today already."


    Seconds later, I sat alone in HQ, reflecting on the fact that I never wanted Daniel''s dad as an enemy.


    Then I went into the command console to check on the roachbots. According to the monitoring program, I had more than nine hours of audio to listen to and less than an hour before my curfew. I decided to go home.


    During the walk, my cellphone rang. I answered it despite not recognizing the number.


    Opening the phone, I heard the word, "Hello," delivered in an unrecognizable voice and accent, followed by, "I''m Martin Magnus."

 In the Public Eye: Part 36

    "Uh, hi?"


    I stood on a corner a couple blocks from my house. The street was dark and music came from the house behind me. With all the windows shut, I couldn''t tell what kind except that it definitely included a bass drum. Cars lined the street in front of it. A man in a devil costume walked up to the front door and stepped inside.


    I felt naked. My armor sat back in HQ and I wasn''t wearing the full stealth suit -- just the part that could fit under clothes.


    "Once my followers would have led you to my house and I would have shown you my wealth, treated you to my food, and shown you my gardens. In these times, I call you from my hiding place."


    "That''s okay," I began, "I''m just fine with --"


    "Be silent."


    I stopped.


    "Once I had an army, men and women such as your friends who loved me as god. Even now I have a few such followers, but too few. I decay, as do we all, and do not command the power I once did."


    He paused, but this time I didn''t say anything.


    "You and your friends are at the beginning of your ascendance. Surely you will rule if you wish to, but you are young. You require guidance."


    "Believe me," I said, "I''m getting a lot of guidance lately, and I can''t say any of us want to rule anything."


    "But you want out from under your mayor''s thumb? You don''t wish to fight off his gang of men forever? You are the enemy of my enemy, and one he fears. We should make an alliance."


    "With me?"


    I was barely paying attention to him. I crossed the street, walking a little faster. I knew that the people who had tried to catch us during the cross country season worked for Magnus. They had had our pictures. Now he had my cell phone number.


    He had to know where I lived.


    "Yes. You, and your friends."


    "So if we had this alliance," I said, "What exactly would we do for each other?"


    "You have the power to act, to make war. My troops are damaged, destroyed, but I have resources, connections with those who have the power to control his wealth, to curtail his power."


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    "So you''re saying you''d close his bank account?"


    I could see my house now.


    "After a fashion. And you will fight him, beat him, leave him on the ground with the blood running down his face."


    He wasn''t making it easy to pretend he was one of the good guys.


    "I don''t think I can make a decision on something like this without talking to the rest of the group," I said. "Maybe you could call me back tomorrow?"


    "Very good," he said, "we will meet and our foes will fear us and run before our slaughter."


    He also wasn''t making it easy to pretend he was sane.


    "You could just call me," I said. "We don''t have to slaughter anything."


    He hung up.


    Abandoning any pretense toward calmness, I ran to the side door, unlocked it and ran inside.


    I don''t know what I was expecting to find. My parents dead on the floor? Magnus'' men force feeding them the drink of the gods?


    Instead I burst in to find the kitchen warm, and still smelling of spaghetti sauce and garlic bread. Past the kitchen, I could see my dad sitting the couch in the family room and hear the TV announcer babbling about football.


    Mom was probably already in bed.


    Dad stood up and stepped into doorway between the kitchen and the family room. "Something wrong, Nick?"


    "No," I said, "I just thought I might be late."


    "Late? It''s only ten. What were you doing?"


    "Just playing video games at Grandpa''s -- I mean, at my house."


    "Your house." Dad''s expression stiffened for just a moment. "What your grandfather was thinking, I''ll never know."


    <hr />


    This... was one of the odder episodes to write. How exactly do you write someone who''s been around for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, someone who hasn''t quite adapted to modern culture, and who''s not quite all there?


    I''m not sure, but this is what came out.

 In the Public Eye: Part 37

    Sitting on my bed later, I tried to think through my next move.


    I didn''t for a minute intend to seriously consider anything Magnus thought he had to offer. It sounded like he wasn''t going to be any help in a fight and I couldn''t see how cutting off access to the mayor''s money would do any good. I would have blown him off immediately except that I had been freaked out by the fact that he''d called me on my cell phone.


    Not that I still wasn''t a little freaked out by that.


    We needed to protect ourselves and our families. How to do it wasn''t completely obvious. We couldn''t watch our parents all day. Simply having Daniel strengthen everyone''s "block" like he''d done for me wouldn''t do it either.


    I thought about it while getting my pajamas on. Then I got into bed, still running through possibilities.


    I couldn''t get to sleep.


    I got up, pulled my cell phone off my dresser, and turned it on. I called Daniel, knowing that he generally turned off his phone when he went to bed.


    It rang.


    "Hi Nick," Daniel answered. "You''re up late."


    "I know," I said, "I''m trying to figure something out."


    "OK, what?"


    For what seemed like the millionth time, I went through what I''d heard the mayor say, the fight with Tomahawk, how Haley, Vaughn and I snuck into Red Lightning''s lair, and how Travis and Daniel''s dad gave completely contradictory advice about what to do with the recording.


    I ended by describing the walk home and the call with Martin Magnus, finally saying, "Magnus knows who we are. His people had the pictures. I think the mayor must know who I am too. We need to do something to protect ourselves before one of them takes us out."


    I''m sure I must have gone on for twenty minutes before I got done.


    "I knew a bit of that," Daniel said. "My dad told me about the recording, and of course, the fight with Tomahawk was in the news, but I didn''t know anything about Red Lightning''s lair. Why didn''t you tell me about it when you were going over there?"


    "I don''t know. Everything happened so fast, I didn''t really have time to think about it."


    "How did Haley end up going?"


    "We were talking after school and I mentioned it. I mean seriously, things were busy and I never had the chance to call you."


    "Well, okay," he said. "On a slightly different subject, my dad told me that I should remind you not to go out in armor again."


    "I was surprised he didn''t say anything when we talked."


    "He was tired," Daniel said, "and besides he thought making Tomahawk look silly was a great move even if you didn''t do it intentionally. Did you read the paper?"


    "I looked at the headlines," I said.


    "You''ve got to read the article. More than half the people interviewed were on your side."


    "Not that it''ll do us any good against Magnus or the Cabal or whoever any of these people are."


    "It''s popular support. That''s worth something."


    "Even if it''s public support for my grandfather," I said.


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    We talked a little longer and then I went to bed for a second time. That time I slept.


    Daniel came by after school the next day and we went down to HQ. I sat in the lab and assembled more roachbots. Some minor modifications later, they would make great burglar alarms. I probably should have asked people if they wanted their houses watched, but I decided it would be better if I had the roachbots available before I asked instead of asking and then making people wait.


    Sitting there at a stool in the lab with hundreds of little metal parts on the counter, I carefully fit the pieces together. It felt good. Repetitive work is like that sometimes.


    Daniel went through the past couple days recordings. I could hear them playing over the speakers in the main room. When I glanced out the doorway, I could see hazy images of the mayor''s office, his house and sometimes his car. I probably should have gone with higher quality cameras.


    The mayor and his guests talked about the usual boring crap -- business zoning, details about contractors for road repair, and issues they planned to bring up to the city council.


    A girl scout troop visited the mayor''s office. Daniel fast forwarded and the screen blurred into static. I would have too. It was hard to imagine the mayor working against us by placing mental suggestions into minds of girl scouts. What were they going to do? Sell us poisoned cookies?


    Turning my attention to the parts in front of me, I went back to roachbot assembly.


    Daniel interrupted me after about an hour.


    "Nick," Daniel said, "Come in here and take a look at this."


    I put down the tools and the bot I had been working on and stepped into the main room. The big screens showed pictures of the mayor''s office from several different angles.


    I''m a firm believer in redundant robots.


    The window behind the desk had been fixed, but I barely noticed that. Superheroes filled the office -- Red Bolt and Future Knight, Tomahawk and all four of the Elementals.


    They stood in circles, talking to each other, drinking coffee, sometimes laughing--all except Tomahawk. He looked angry about something.


    The moment the Mayor stood up, they stopped talking. He walked around his desk, gazing deeply into the eyes of one and then moving to the next. When he had stopped next to each of them, they suddenly started talking again as if nothing had happened.


    "What did I just see?" I checked the time at the bottom of the videos. It showed 11:13:43 AM today.


    "He''s not strong enough to control them all at once, but he is strong enough to insert commands into their subconscious. I''m pretty sure that''s it."


    Daniel said it with about the same level of emotion he might show about the weather.


    "What do you think they''re about to do?" I said.


    "I don''t know," Daniel said, "but whatever it is, they''ve had a good five hours to get started."

 In the Public Eye: Part 38

    Having watched the recording, I understood why the mayor had slipped under everybody''s radar for so long. We had video right here of him planting commands into the brains of an entire team of heroes while simultaneously having almost no evidence of it.


    The fact that everybody had stopped and started talking on his cue pointed in that direction, but not inarguably. It was purely circumstantial evidence.


    "Purely circumstantial is okay," Daniel said. "People get convicted on circumstantial evidence all the time. I don''t know what my dad would say about this particular piece of evidence, but --"


    "He''d say I needed to get five more."


    Daniel laughed. "I got that lecture too. Remember when I was releasing everything I could find about the mayor to the press?"


    "Yeah. What happened with that?"


    "I ran out of good stuff to release."


    I looked up at the screen again. "Do you think we ought to alert everybody?"


    "I don''t know. I''d send them a yellow, not a red."


    "I suppose there''s no reason to summon everybody here," I said.


    I went into the command console and set everybody''s homing devices to blink yellow. Hopefully people were wearing them. I''d passed them out the first time we got together as a team -- more than enough time for everyone to forget about them.


    With any luck, we''d be getting calls in the next few minutes.


    "Think anyone''s still wearing them?" I asked Daniel.


    He held out his right hand. The dark gemstone on his ring flickered yellow.


    The phone rang.


    Daniel pointed to the phone, "It''s for you."


    I picked it up and pressed line four, answering with, "Hi."


    Haley said, "Hi Nick, I''m at work. Is something going on?"


    "I don''t know yet. The mayor''s got some kind of control over all the out of town supers, and he''s sent them out, but I don''t know why."


    "I don''t see any of them here," she said, "but I''ll look. Oh, my parents don''t want me taking phone calls at work, but calling around now is okay. We''re usually really slow before five."


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    And that, Daniel thought at me, is a hint that she''d like you to call her at work occasionally.


    I''d have mustered up some righteous indignation against his assumption that I''d missed it, but, unfortunately, I had.


    Marcus called next, followed by Travis, Cassie, and Jaclyn. We were only missing Vaughn.


    "Vaughn doesn''t have one," Daniel said. "He didn''t make it the night we passed them out."


    "Oh, yeah," I said.


    "We should call Cassie," Daniel said. "They hang around sometimes."


    "Wouldn''t Cassie have mentioned it if he were with her?"


    "Probably," Daniel said. "But she might know where he is."


    The phone rang again.


    "It''s not Vaughn," Daniel said.


    "Who is it?"


    "I don''t know. Just not Vaughn."


    If I had the ability to sense the future, I''d want it to be a little more precise.


    I picked up the phone. "Hello?"


    "Nick?"


    It was my mom.


    "Don''t come home. Don''t go out. There were two..." She paused, "superheroes here asking about you. Nick, are you..." She paused again. "Nick, forget that question. Just don''t come home right now."


    "Mom?"


    She hung up.


    It had to be the block. We grandchildren got the weak version, something that prevented us from talking about things we shouldn''t. Our parents had gotten something more extensive, possibly more sophisticated. I didn''t know anything about the details, but it sounded like she was on the edge of knowing something, but just... couldn''t.


    "My dad hated it," Daniel said. "He still does."


    Then I started thinking about what she''d actually said. Two of them had been at my house.


    "Red," Daniel said. "Set everybody''s devices to red."


    <hr />


    You know, I really like writing that point in the story where everything goes to hell.

 In the Public Eye: Part 39

    I punched the distress call.


    Above us, scattered lights began to blink slowly red.


    I looked up. "I didn''t know that happened."


    "Me neither," Daniel said. "It looks like we''ve got a lot of dead bulbs."


    With that we got another round of phone calls -- except we got one less. In addition to Vaughn, Jaclyn didn''t call back.


    "Is there any way to triangulate where she is from her... " Daniel stopped for a second, "What do you call these things?"


    "I''ve called them homing devices, but it''s not really the best name. Anyway, the only way to track them is if someone sets up a distress call -- and she hasn''t."


    I stared at the screen of the command console in front of me, flipping through the cameras at the tunnel entrances. I didn''t see her.


    The phrase "picking us off one by one" started to run through my head.


    "Can you stop that?" Daniel asked. "It''s hard enough concentrating as is."


    Having a best friend who could read my mind seemed like a lot more fun when we were little kids.


    I ignored him and kept on flipping from camera to camera, finally moving the whole display to the big screen so that I could watch all of them at once.


    Next to me, Daniel closed his eyes. "The largest probability of danger comes from the downtown office," he said.


    "What," I said, "is the old League mainframe going to wake up and take over the world?"


    "I don''t need sarcasm right now."


    "It''s just that almost nothing in the downtown office actually works," I said.


    "I don''t get details," Daniel said. "You know that."


    Something started beeping.


    Leaving the camera display on the big screen, I checked the dashboard of the security program. Jaclyn and her grandfather had just been scanned at the downtown office.


    Looking up at the main screen, I could see them running down the tunnel holding hands, Jaclyn leading, her grandfather carrying his cane. Bizarrely, both of them were in costume. It had to have been a long time for him. He started having problems with macular degeneration fifteen years ago. Near blindness and the ability to run at high speed didn''t go well together.


    "Is it really them?" Daniel stared up at their picture.


    "The retinal scans check out," I said, " and they''re moving at upwards of two hundred miles per hour."


    Off to the side, the door to the hangar opened and Jaclyn and her grandfather walked out.


    It is really them, Daniel told me.


    "They''re behind us," Jaclyn said. "Not right behind us, but too close."


    I turned back to the console and changed the security settings to high, wishing that I''d set a higher priority on checking out the security systems.


    Steel doors clanked into place in the tunnels.


    "There," Daniel said.


    I looked up at the screen. Two of the Elementals stood in front of the downtown office. Both wore classically styled Mediterranean clothes. The guy was tall and skinny. The girl had dark hair in a pageboy haircut, and 60''s style, catseye glasses that somehow clashed with her costume. Both wore clothing from classical Greece -- which had to be pretty cold in November.


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    Then the guy sank into the ground, coming up again inside the offices. As he did, I could see a shadowy, but bulkier form around him. The girl dissolved into a gust of wind, the door shaking as she poured through the cracks.


    "Crap," I said. HQ''s defenses wouldn''t do much against them.


    "They appeared in the middle of my living room," Jaclyn said, "told me I was terrorist, and they were going to bring me in."


    It didn''t take telepathy to catch her anger.


    "The mayor''s been messing with their heads," Daniel said.


    "Oh. Takes one to know one."


    "What was that supposed to mean?" Daniel turned toward her.


    "Nothing. He''s a telepath too. That''s all. Relax," she said.


    Jaclyn''s grandfather cleared his throat. We all turned toward him. Looking at him, I''d never have guessed he was in his nineties. I''d have guessed sixties, and, even then I''d have thought he looked young for his age. Blindness aside, he was in good physical shape. He had wrinkles and gray hair, but you could still see the muscles under his costume.


    "Focus," he said. "Who can take them out?"


    "I''m the only one," Daniel said. "They''ll phase out of anybody else''s way."


    "Wrong," Jaclyn said. "Anyone can hit the guy. He doesn''t phase out. He just phases into the ground."


    "Good," her grandfather said, "here''s your plan. When they get closer, Jaclyn, you go into the tunnel and distract them until Nick is finished getting his armor on, then lead them back here. Daniel, you take them out the first chance you get whether Nick''s back or not."


    "What if I don''t get the armor on fast enough?" I asked.


    "Hurry," he said.


    I ran for the lab.


    As I left, I heard Jaclyn say, "What if they get past me?"


    I didn''t hear the answer.


    * * *


    By the time I got back, Jaclyn was already in the tunnels. I ran down the side of the main room and through the door to the hangar. Jaclyn''s grandfather stood next to it.


    "She didn''t want me too close to the action," he said.


    Daniel (now in costume) stood next to the open tunnel entrance and racks of replacement parts. The League jet loomed behind him.


    You and Jaclyn are supposed to keep them busy while I mindream them.


    He looked scared.


    I could hear wind, running, and very solid punch, followed by the sound of rock scraping concrete, and bellow of pain. Jaclyn ran out, skidding to a stop and turned on a dime to stand next to me.


    "I got a punch in," she said. "He''s not happy."

 In the Public Eye: Part 40

    Wind blew out of the tunnel, rattling parts in their boxes and tools hanging the walls. In the middle of it, I could see the hazy shape of the girl. I wondered what effect the sonics would have on her. Would sound do nothing or would it disrupt whatever connected her to herself in that form?


    I didn''t want to kill her, so I decided not to think about it. She was Daniel''s problem.


    "She''s kind of... dispersed mentally," he said, "but I can do this --"


    The hazy form flattened as it hit an invisible wall, face, glasses and the back of her skull interpenetrating each other. She dissolved into a colored gas, reforming a few feet away as cloudy version of herself.


    The guy ran out of the tunnel. The shadowy form around him seemed more detailed, all rocks and earth.


    Jaclyn and I both went for him, but Jaclyn got there first, giving him a punch in the gut that he barely noticed. He hit her with two of his four hands, grazing her stomach with his own, but pummeling her in the face with the shadowy version of the same hand so quickly I barely saw the punch. She fell, not hitting the floor only because she stepped backwards fast enough that she managed to get her feet under her, ending up behind me.


    I considered charging him, but didn''t. He struck me as someone who might be strong enough to start ripping my armor off.


    I blasted at him with the sonics.


    He gritted his teeth as dirt and rocks shot outward from him, becoming solid as they landed on the floor. Looking at him as I tried to figure out my next move, I didn''t see any major damage.


    Even as I decided I had to risk hand to hand, Jaclyn came back into the fight. She hit him hard enough with her right hand that he flew backward five feet toward the tunnel, but she kept up with him as he flew backwards, giving him another punch with her left that knocked him back again.


    It reminded me of dribbling a soccer ball.


    At least it did until he sank into the floor -- which he did shortly after the second punch.


    Jaclyn turned around, calling to me, "Do you see him?"


    "Not yet."


    He came up again in the middle of the hangar, just behind Night Wolf''s car and to the side of the jet. His shadow form no longer looked like dirt and rocks. It looked like concrete and stood maybe a foot taller.


    Above us, the girl with air powers was still dodging Daniel''s attempts to surround her with an air-tight telekinetic container.


    Jaclyn''s grandfather shouted out, "Work together!"


    Honestly, what did he think we were doing?


    Jaclyn blurred and then stood next to me. "I''ll run at him and you can come from the side?"


    "Sure," I said.


    She shot at him, jumped over the car and started pounding on him, dodging his attempts to punch back. Bits of concrete shot into the air from the impact of her blows and he backed up.


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    I started the rockets, flew in the direction of the jet, banked right, and dove toward the two of them. As I rushed toward him, a thought hit me. He had earth powers. What happened if he was no longer touching the earth?


    I grabbed his legs and gained altitude -- well, to the degree I could inside the hangar -- and found myself dragging him through the air. Chunks of concrete crashed to the ground as I pulled myself upright and hovered, holding him upside down. I couldn''t see any sign of a shadowy presence. In fact, he wasn''t even trying to fight me anymore, he was shouting.


    "Ann! I mean Air! Heeeey, Air! Help!" The guy was waving his arms and all but pissing himself.


    Near the front of the hangar where she''d been fighting Daniel, Ann/Air turned toward me, drawing herself together and beginning to fly straight at me.


    It took Daniel only an instant. She fell unconscious and floated to the ground. As soon as she was on the floor, the guy fell unconscious as well.


    I felt like cheering. Even if he wasn''t any more powerful than a normal man by then, I had still been worried that with all his moving around, I might drop him.


    I flew down to where Daniel stood next to Ann''s body. I laid the guy down next to her. Jaclyn had beat me there.


    Of course.


    "Did you hear him use her real name? God," she said, "I couldn''t believe it. I knew better than that before I was ten."


    "That shocked me too," Daniel said. "You never use someone''s real name when they''re in costume."


    "Do you have a name yet?" I asked Jaclyn. "Or are we just supposed to call you Purple or something?"


    Her costume was quite purple.


    "He," Jaclyn said, pointing to her grandfather, "thinks I ought to call myself ''Little C''. I think that no one ever got his name straight after he changed it to ''C'' from Hotfoot."


    "It was a great name," her grandfather said. "It was a reference to the speed of light."


    "It was a great example," she said, "of why people shouldn''t name themselves after a piece of an equation."


    The bodies floated up to waist height and Daniel said, "We probably ought to move them into the main room."


    As we stepped through the doorway, I realized the phones in the main room were ringing.


    "What now?" I said.


    "Did you set security to high?" Jaclyn''s grandfather asked.


    I admitted I had.


    "Well, back in my time high security meant that no one who isn''t already in the base gets in even if they passed the scan."


    Oops.

 In the Public Eye: Part 41

    As I ran toward the table in the middle of the main room, I wondered just what else putting HQ on high security did. What if it sent an alert to other hero groups? I didn''t feel like explaining all this to Guardian or the Midwest Defenders.


    Glancing at the screen, I saw Travis, Haley, Marcus and Cassie crouched at the forest entrance, in costume and looking nervous.


    Picking up the phone, I said, "Hi."


    Travis said, "We can''t get in. What''s going on in there?"


    "Sorry, a couple of them got in and we got into a fight and I put it on high security, but I didn''t know it''d shut you ou--"


    "Right," Travis said. "Just let us in."


    I tapped the keyboard, making a few more errors than usual because of the armor''s gloves, but finally managing to move the security level to medium, and open the door.


    The forest entrance was a hole in the ground covered by doors of reinforced concrete. Grandpa had designed a system that kept the doors constantly covered by leaves and dirt, both of which fell in as the doors opened. Moments later, the four of them jumped in -- well, except that Marcus turned his arms into wings and glided to the floor of the tunnel.


    Within a few minutes everyone stood in the main room in front of the video screen. Well, most of us stood. Air and Earth slept on HQ''s olive green carpet.


    We were talking about the fight with those of us who had been involved explaining our parts in it.


    "What made you think to pick him up?" Jaclyn asked me.


    "Something Daniel said once. He told me about a giant in Greek mythology who was impossible to defeat while he touched the ground."


    "Antaeus," Daniel said. "He was a son of Gaea and Poseidon. Hercules picked him up and strangled him."


    "That''s kind of what I was thinking of," I said. "Except for the strangling."


    "It''s a great idea," Jaclyn said, "but if it didn''t work, you''d have been holding him in the air while he tried to rip you apart."


    "I know," I said. "I hadn''t really planned that far ahead."


    "But it did work," Haley said. "Good job."


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    Off to my left, I heard Travis ask Daniel, "So, did you get anything out of them?"


    Daniel said, "Yeah. Everything I could. The mayor made them think we were mind controlled by some kind of telepathic terrorist."


    Jaclyn laughed, "I wonder how he came up with that?"


    "But can you prove it?" Travis asked. "If we brought in another telepath, could he see what you saw?"


    "Oh yeah," Daniel said. "I didn''t remove anything. I didn''t mess anything up, and it''s obviously not my style of work. Mayor Bouman''s stronger telepathically than a normal person, but he''s self-taught. You can''t see it from the outside, but it''s really crudely done. I''m stronger than he is and I''ve been trained, so my style would be considerably more precise."


    Travis nodded. "Good. Glad we''re covered there. So Nick, when were you going to release that recording?"


    "Uh... I wasn''t. I talked to Daniel''s dad and he said to wait until we had more evidence."


    "Well, why the fuck didn''t you tell me earlier?"


    "I don''t know," I said. "Too much stuff going on."


    "Nick," he said, "when you agree to do something and then change your mind completely, you tell somebody."


    "I''m sure he didn''t mean to," Haley began.


    "Hush," Jaclyn''s grandfather said.


    I''d forgotten he was there.


    He stood behind the group of us, upright, his cane parallel to the floor as if he really didn''t need it. With his costume on, the orange suit with a white "C" fading into his chest, I could imagine him thirty years younger.


    "You have one man missing. Your enemy has sent powered heroes out to find you. Now isn''t the time to assign blame. Now is the time to get them first."


    "What about proof?" I said. "Don''t we have to have something on them?"


    "You''re not policemen, you''re vigilantes. The Mayor''s not asking if he has the right to do what he''s doing. He''s attacking you. Worry about what''s going to happen afterwards, afterwards. Right now, you need to take him down."

 In the Public Eye: Part 42

    Kids don''t really know adults. What I remembered of Jaclyn''s grandfather from the picnics was a man who spent a lot more time laughing, telling funny stories, and coaxing me into racing Jaclyn. I think I only ever won one race. He gave me a forty-nine foot head start out of fifty feet and even then it was a near thing.


    As a crimefighter though, he had the old school, "fight the criminals, and run from the cops" approach.


    I wouldn''t have expected it, but maybe I should have. The Heroes League pretty much defined the old school as well as bringing about it''s demise. When you get popular, you don''t have to run from the cops unless you want to avoid signing autographs.


    "Now I don''t know exactly what we would have done," he said, "except that Captain Commando would already be out there. He never did wait for anything."


    He paused and thought for a moment.


    "It seems to me that Daniel should be able to find them all if his powers are anything like his grandfather''s."


    "I''m weaker than he was," Daniel said.


    "Ah, your grandfather wasn''t any great shakes at the beginning. You''ll do fine. Mind you, if all of you come at them at once, they''ll run away. I''d say find them and then let one of you become visible. After that, the rest of you come out of the shadows."


    * * *


    Twenty minutes later we all stood in the woods while Daniel scanned the area. All of us except for Jaclyn''s grandfather at any rate. Someone had to stay in HQ in case Vaughn showed up. Also, I don''t think he wanted anyone to have to protect him in a fight.


    "I''m not getting much of anybody," Daniel said.


    "You ought to be," Travis said, "we gave them the slip around here just before Nick finally let us in."


    I wondered whether the irritation in his voice was more for me or Daniel.


    "They must have moved," Daniel said, flashing me a mental picture of Travis with his mask stuffed in his mouth.


    No question who Daniel was irritated with.


    "No, wait," Daniel said. "I''ve got all five of them. Red Bolt, Future Knight and Water are over on the edge of the park. Tomahawk and Fire are in the air above the park looking for people."


    "Hey," Cassie said, "we can split up and attack them simultaneously. Everyone who can fly goes up and the rest of us attack the people left on the ground."


    "Right," Travis said, "only use the ambush strategy C suggested. Also Mystic, hang back unless the fliers are losing. If we lose you, we lose any chance to communicate between the two groups."


    So that''s how I found myself flying into combat with Marcus, the person I knew least of everybody on the team while Daniel stayed on the ground.


    I flew through the trees, a bunch of big evergreens, into the twilight sky. Marcus hung onto my leg, having transformed into a reptilian thing that most reminded me of a pterodactyl except that real pterodactyls never had tentacles. I had no way of knowing for sure, but I seriously doubted that they had had the same grayish skin that Travis and Haley''s hands had after their transformations.


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    "Hope you don''t mind," he said, "I''d never keep up with you if I had to flap my wings."


    "No problem," I said.


    Real pterodactyls probably didn''t talk either.


    We saw Tomahawk and Fire approximately the same time they saw us.


    They had just passed the big swing set on the edge of the playground and were beginning to fly over the forest. Unlike when she''d appeared over the mayor''s house, Fire appeared to be a woman shaped fire.


    Tomahawk looked just the same as the last time I''d seen him except much, much angrier.


    He made a beeline for me, screaming something.


    He said he''s going to rip you limb from limb and he really means it, Daniel sent, but I could barely make it out. We were probably on the edge of his range.


    I don''t know that I mentioned this before, but Tomahawk could really haul, and it was obvious he intended to ram me.


    "Let go!" I shouted back to Marcus.


    "I''ll do it. That guy looks insane," he said, letting go with the tentacle, transforming into a more dragon-like form, and diving.


    I opened up the jetpack to full power and swerved right. Tomahawk shot past me, trying to turn, but failing, and ending up a quarter mile behind me and to my right before he managed to slow down, ending up above the houses next to the park. If Grandpa had ever put aerial defenses into HQ, he wouldn''t be far from them. I had to check on that sometime.


    In the meantime, my best shot would be to get him over Daniel (or the Mystic while in costume) and let Daniel take the guy''s head apart, but if I couldn''t, I''d have to punch him until he went down.


    I tried to get Daniel''s attention mentally, but couldn''t raise him.


    Meanwhile, Tomahawk had turned around and started to rush toward me again.


    I started to fly upwards, but then it occurred to me that last time I''d defeated him by putting myself into situations where agility and planning mattered more than speed. He''d be able to take care of a change in height easily. What I had to do was get him over the forest where Daniel was hiding.


    Adjusting my route, I flew straight towards him, passing over the forest and reaching the edge of the park before I turned right to lead him over Daniel''s position.


    Unfortunately, I''d misjudged how close I could get to him and still stay ahead. I felt him grab my leg and yank even as I began to fly over trees again.


    <hr />


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 In the Public Eye: Part 43

    It took less than a second for him to fly under me, flip around to face me and grab my throat with both hands.


    His face told me everything I needed to know about his intentions. Screaming incoherently at me, he squeezed the armor around my neck. It didn''t break, but I could feel it move under his fingers. Cords of muscle visible in his forearms, he strained his arms to put as much force into the squeeze as he could.


    For that moment, my armor held.


    My martial arts instructor had always made a big deal about asking his students to think about what they were willing to do in a fight. Were they willing to maim somebody? Were they willing to kill somebody? If they weren''t, they shouldn''t practice moves that would maim or kill.


    I decided early in my training that in a choice between life and death, I was willing to risk doing either.


    Moving my hand in front of his face, I raked my armored fingertips across his eyes, following it up with the hardest punch I could manage to his solar plexus.


    His eyes shut reflexively as my hand crossed his face and his grip loosened. My punch made him gasp, sending him away from me and downwards, but not into a tree.


    We had passed over Daniel''s position and the forest and flew above the dark waters of Lake Michigan.


    Even though I didn''t want to risk being grabbed from behind again, I swung back toward the shore. I didn''t know about Tomahawk, but the Rocket suit didn''t work well in water.


    The fact that Daniel hadn''t tried to help, or even sent me a message saying why, worried me. I flew over what had been Daniel''s position a second time.


    Nothing.


    I decided to check behind me. Predictably, Tomahawk flew towards me at full speed. His mouth was shut, but he definitely still looked angry.


    I turned left and dove towards the open area next to the forest with the picnic tables and the playground. It seemed like the best place for a fight. In early November it was too cold and too dark for kids.


    It amazed me that Tomahawk had managed to stay enraged this entire time, never stepping back to reflect or trying any better tactics than catch me and try to hurt me.


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    Well, the mayor had probably messed with his mind too.


    I landed in the picnic area and turned to face him.


    Less than one hundred feet behind me, he dove and closed the distance, hand pulled back, ready to punch me.


    Well, at least I hadn''t blinded him.


    His fist blurred toward me as I thought it would. I grabbed his wrist with my right hand, twisting my body as I placed my left hand behind his bicep, aiming him toward the ground.


    He hit hard, headfirst, slamming into the grass, then tumbling a few more feet.


    I ran to keep up with him, stopping when he did. For a moment, he lay still on the grass, but then pushed himself up, and growled at me.


    My instructor would have kicked him while he was getting up (or even before), but I didn''t.


    I waited for him to find his footing. Then he charged me, hitting me in the chest with his right fist.


    I gave him a sonic blast with my right arm, and punched him in the face with my left.


    He stopped, looking dazed.


    I punched him in the face again with my right, not holding anything back.


    He fell backwards and hit the ground.


    Stepping towards him, I studied his chest to make sure that he was still breathing.


    He was.


    Of course, I had no way to tell if he would end up with brain damage, but given how much it had taken to bring him to this point, I had reason to hope he would be tough enough to avoid it.


    Still, I wasn''t completely sure what to do with him. I didn''t have Daniel around to put him under indefinitely so I had to choose between leaving him and carrying him with me.


    I don''t know how long I stayed there, trying to think, but then I looked up. Over by the edge of the forest, I saw a red beam lance across the distance between my grandfather''s neighbor''s backyard and the trees.


    It had to be a laser. Didn''t Future Knight carry some kind of rifle? And who was he shooting at?


    Screw Tomahawk, I decided.


    I ran towards the woods.

 In the Public Eye: Part 44

    My grandfather''s property (and that of all the neighbors on his side of the block) went up to the edge of Veterans Memorial Park. I followed the chain link fence that separated private property from city property.


    I slowed down as I got closer to where I''d seen the shot. No point in running into somebody''s line of fire.


    Three houses away from my grandfather''s house, I heard Daniel in my head.


    Nick. Stop.


    I stopped.


    Me: Where are you?


    Daniel: In the trees with Haley and Marcus.


    Me: Where''s everyone else?


    Daniel: Stuck to the street in front of the house.


    Me: What?


    Daniel: Future Knight has some kind of gun that can shoot sticky stuff.


    Me: That Jaclyn or Travis can''t break?


    Daniel: Not without ripping the skin off their legs.


    Me: Ugh. So, now what?


    Daniel: We''re at a bit of an impasse. We''ve got Red Bolt, but they can''t get close without me slamming them back. I can''t get them because Water (of the Elementals) is literally water right now and Future Knight has some kind of anti-telepathy thing in his suit.


    Me: How''d the mayor get into his head then?


    Daniel: I guess it must not be on all the time.


    Me: Well, depending on how much power it draws, I could see that.


    I stood over the fence from the Nicholson''s backyard. As a little kid, I had played with their son Jon when I''d been over at my grandparents. I glanced over toward the house, wondering what the family was doing.


    The answer? Staring at me. I could see four figures crowding the patio door. Mr. Nicholson held a phone to his ear.


    Daniel: Whatever we''re going to do, we''ll have to do it before the police come.


    Me: Yeah. Can we bring in everybody and discuss things?


    Daniel: I''d rather just bring in those that can move. I''m getting kind of tired -- oh, wait a second. Let me deal with this.


    Two figures stepped past the brown, two story house on the other side of Grandpa''s. The first, seven feet of walking human-shaped water, splashed toward the woods. Behind it came Future Knight, laser rifle in his hands, a wide barreled pistol hanging at his side that reminded me of a musket. His silver armor glistened wetly in the porch light.


    Suddenly Future Knight started running towards the woods, sweeping the rifle''s red beam like a flashlight. Then, as if attracted by some unseen force, Future Knight and Water flew together with a splash, killing the beam. Just as quickly, they shot backwards, disappearing between the houses.


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    Me: That was pretty cool.


    Daniel: Yeah, but they''re trying to wear me out. I''ve done that about three times now.


    Me: Why didn''t you just hold them in the air or something?


    Daniel: The water elemental guy is strong enough to break my hold. I''ve got to keep contact brief. Anyway, here''s everybody...


    I felt Haley''s presence along with brief happiness and a strong sense of anxiety. Then Marcus came into the link. He radiated amusement.


    Marcus: Hey Nick, I caught Fire by myself. Turned into a ball -- only with a mouth -- and snuffed her like a candle.


    Me: Good idea. Where''s she now?


    Marcus: Daniel put her to sleep and floated her into HQ.


    Haley (almost simultaneously): We don''t have time to talk. They''ve got everybody else.


    Daniel and I (simultaneously): Right.


    Me: Well, I might be able to take out Future Knight... and if you guys can distract the water guy for a while maybe Cassie can cut herself free or something.


    Daniel: She already tried once and he just gooped her again while she was doing it. I had to talk her out of cutting off her foot.


    Haley: Are you serious?


    Daniel: It would grow back.


    Marcus: I can just see her hopping after Future Knight on one leg like that knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.


    Me: Wow. It would be exactly like that. It''s just a flesh wound!


    Daniel: Um... guys? Not now.


    Haley: Let''s go --


    Future Knight''s computer generated and amplified voice cut off her thought. "Attention Heroes League! I''ve called the police and the Midwest Defenders for assistance. Surrender now and it''ll go easier on you."


    Daniel: Yeah, right. My dad''s practically in the Defenders right now. If they come, they won''t be helping these guys.


    Haley: Let''s go.


    Me: I''m going.


    The rockets roared.

 In the Public Eye: Part 45

    Only as I passed over the house did I realize that we didn''t have much of a plan. I was going to attack Future Knight and they were going to do what to the water elemental guy?


    Too late to stop now.


    In the streetlights'' illumination, I could see Travis, Jaclyn, and Cassie standing in the street. All of them were up to their knees in white stuff that reminded me of shaving cream or possibly meringue.


    Future Knight stood on the sidewalk, talking with Water.


    Not good.


    I didn''t want to end up within arm''s reach of both of them.


    I dove toward Future Knight, taking the most direct route that allowed me to avoid power lines and low hanging branches, bobbing and weaving in the air to make it just a little harder if he tried to shoot me.


    I hit him going more than two hundred miles per hour, grabbing him with both arms and dragging him down the sidewalk, sparks flying. Then I cut the power and we both hit the concrete, him first, tumbling over each other I don''t know how many times, and finally ending up lying on our backs about ten feet apart.


    We made it to our feet at almost the same time. He began to draw his oddly wide barreled pistol.


    I jumped for him, catching him before the gun''s barrel had left the holster.


    I aimed my jump for just behind where he stood, making him stumble backward when I landed. Grabbing his right arm with both hands, I moved my right hand toward the gun and we struggled for control, somehow firing into the air.


    A long line of a white substance shot out -- kind of like of Silly String only thicker and not green. I didn''t see where it landed.


    He punched me in the side twice. It didn''t hurt much.


    I managed to get a get a grip on the gun, and pulled. I had it. Then I threw it away as hard as I could, paying no attention to where it went until I heard a crashing noise.


    I''d broken the picture window of a house a few doors down from my grandfather''s.


    Great.


    During my moment of distraction, he punched me again.


    Deciding I wanted to end it quickly, I punched for his face. The faceplate had been a weak point last time.


    I didn''t see exactly how he did it, but he grabbed my arm before it reached him, twisted it, and sent me tumbling toward the ground.


    I looked up to find him pulling his sword out of its sheath. The edge of the blade glowed white. I raised my arm and did what I should have done before. I aimed for the face and blasted him with the sonics.


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    Unfortunately, I didn''t hit the faceplate. The sword shivered during the blast, but didn''t break. Still, he stopped to check it which was enough time for me to send the rockets some fuel and slide halfway across the street.


    I stood up and then flew upwards even as he ran towards me, sword still in hand. On the off chance that it could actually pierce my armor, I decided that I would keep some distance -- but not so much distance that he would try the rifle on me.


    I landed next to a flowerbed on a lawn about ten feet behind him even as he turned around.


    This time I activated the sonics on both arms, hoping that at least one of them would hit the faceplate.


    They rewarded me with the familiar spiderweb of cracks and completely opaque white spots I''d created the last time. I only needed to punch through and knock him out. Unfortunately, he still held the sword as if he believed it could actually hurt me.


    I decided not to chance the possibility that he knew his stuff. Grabbing a rock from the flowerbed, I threw it at him.


    I missed. It flew past him, crashing through the garage door of the same house where I''d broken the window with the pistol.


    "Still afraid of me?" He asked. "The first Rocket would have taken me out by now. Don''t you feel like there''s something wrong?"


    He started walking toward me, but not, I noted, with the same confidence he''d had earlier.


    My second rock knocked him over.


    As he fell, I jumped forward, my eyes on the sword and the arm that held it. I dove onto him, grabbing his arm and pushing it to the street. It felt like trying to pull the pistol out of his hand before, but with one difference. This time I knew my suit was stronger than his.


    Pulling his fingers apart, I grabbed the sword, the white glow disappearing as I handled it, and tossed it a short distance. It landed point first, falling to the road.


    "Are you going to kill me now? Don''t do it. You''ll kill an innocent man. You don''t know the whole story. You''ve been brainwashed by the --"


    I punched through the faceplate, knocking him unconscious. How many other memories had the mayor modified? How many other people would I have to hurt?

 In the Public Eye: Part 46

    I stood.


    Not far from where the others were stuck to the street, Daniel, Haley, and Marcus were fighting Water and doing about as well as they would fighting a puddle.


    Haley stood in the middle of the road, directly in front of the elemental. Marcus stood just behind her, having shifted into a vaguely demonic shape complete with batwings and wide blades instead of hands. Daniel stood on the sidewalk.


    Haley slashed the humanoid''s middle, leaving ripples, but no wound. She ducked a punch then flipped backward, allowing Daniel to take a shot.


    Daniel concentrated and a hole appeared in Water''s chest, water splashing out on both sides and... then splashing back in and filling the hole.


    Travis began to shout, "Good one," as the hole appeared, but stopped as everything came back together. Cassie shouted, "Nice try!"


    Daniel frowned.


    I ran down the street toward them, trying to think of what exactly I would do when I got there.


    The elemental must have interpreted my run as the beginning of an attack and jumped into the air (over Jaclyn who tried to grab his legs), landing directly in front of me and hitting me with a large liquid fist.


    I fell backwards, smacking the street with my butt.


    He pulled his arm back for another blow, but never hit me.


    With a flap of his wings, Marcus landed behind him and chopped off his arm near the shoulder. It lost its shape as it fell, splashing on the street.


    Water began to turn around.


    Marcus chopped off his other arm.


    The elemental stopped moving, turning into a shapeless watery blob, and absorbing the liquid that had been cut off.


    Then it flowed into the nearest storm drain.


    "Got him on the run," Marcus said, changing into a snake-like shape even as he dove after it.


    "Marcus!" Haley ran to the storm drain and peered through the grate. "They''re gone," she said.


    "I''m sure Marcus will be okay," I said, pushing myself up.


    "I hope so," she said. "I could barely hurt it at all."


    From the street, Travis shouted, "Hey, Mystic! Future Knight''s got to know how to get us out of this crap. Can you pull it out of his head?"


    * * *


    Two minutes later we''d gotten everybody out. Daniel floated the pistol that fired the sticky stuff out of the living room of the house I''d thrown it into. Then he flew off to collect Tomahawk''s body.


    The pistol turned out to have another setting that dissolved the stuff. A quick spray and the mounds of coiled white strings became pockmarked. Then the little pocks turned to visible holes. The holes grew until only little rings of white blobs remained.


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    "I feel heroic," Jaclyn said as the last of it disappeared. "I got to stand around and watch everyone else fight."


    "How did you get caught?" I let the pistol fall down to my side.


    "I knocked out Red Bolt again and Future Knight got me from behind. Yeah, I know... I got to do something, but after that I was useless."


    "Travis and I were both trying to fight Water," Cassie said. "Did you see how fast he was? I think he broke five of my ribs in one punch. I was going to try my sword on him and then Future Knight shot us from behind too."


    Travis had a black eye. "Who would think we''d get hurt fighting a walking pond?"


    He stopped, closed his eyes for a moment, sniffed the air.


    "We''d better get out of here before the police come. I''ve been hearing sirens in the distance the whole time. In fact -- hey, what''s that?"


    "It sounds like a truck," Haley said. "Wait... No not quite. They''re making it a little harder to hear."


    She gestured toward a group of people gathering on one of the lawns.


    I, of course, couldn''t hear the people or any other noise.


    "Do you have a direction?" I asked. "I could fly that way and look around."


    Haley put her finger to her lips. "Shh."


    I walked a little way away from them and turned the radio inside my helmet to police band.


    Haley looked at me and made a face.


    "Sorry." I turned it down as low as I could.


    "(crackle)... the important thing is to protect Mayor Bouman. Nothing else matters. They''re after him... (crackle) ... I''m at the house now. The fire''s out. No sign of the Hangmen. When did you say the Guard would be here?"


    The noise of a massive engine overwhelmed everything else. I recognized the sound even before it came around the corner.


    The Larrymobile.


    Well, that was my name for it. He called it the Rhinomobile. I''d never quite decided whether he''d modified a tank or dump truck when he created it.


    If you were to imagine a huge lump of gray metal, put it on treads and add a couple of turrets, you''d basically have the Larrymobile. It contained sleeping quarters, a workroom for fixing his armor, and space for a lot of fuel, equipment, and ammunition.


    Fuel and ammunition are a great combination.


    The door opened and Larry jumped out in the Rhino suit, bulky gray armor that matched his ride.


    "Hey, kids! I got here as soon as I could. I was in Lansing on business when the League distress call started going and I''m like ''Damn, never thought I''d see that again,'' so I suited up. I''d have been here faster but I had to off-road to get past the National Guard."

 In the Public Eye: Part 47

    Legion HQ felt full. Three of the four Elementals plus Future Knight, Red Bolt, and Tomahawk were sleeping on the floor. All of the new League (except Vaughn and Marcus) plus Jaclyn''s grandfather, Larry, and Mindstryke, Daniel''s dad.


    Mindstryke had showed up just after we''d all sat down at the main table. He looked tired.


    "I had to settle my dad down. He thought it was 1965 and the original League was still fighting Red Lightning. I didn''t know he still had one." He held a ring in his hand. The gem flickered.


    "How''s Grandpa?" Daniel asked.


    "OK, for now. He''s with Mom."


    Daniel looked down at the table.


    Jaclyn''s grandfather said, "I''m sorry."


    Mindstryke shrugged. "There''s nothing anyone can do about it. Let''s get on with this."


    Jaclyn''s grandfather nodded. "Alright. As I see it, we''ve got six people with their brains modified. Once we capture Mayor Bouman, any decent telepath should be able to clear the Rocket. Am I right, Mindstryke?"


    Daniel''s dad nodded.


    "Good. So what''s it like out there?"


    "Chock full of tanks and troops," Larry said.


    "I didn''t go past the tanks," Mindstryke said, "but the whole block around Bouman''s house is crawling with cops."


    "While you all were out," Jaclyn''s grandfather said, "I was listening to the radio. From what I can tell, the mayor called in the police, the National Guard, and the Feds around the time he sent out these clowns." He waved in the direction of the people sleeping on our carpet.


    "He can''t do that, can he? I didn''t think mayors could just call the National Guard or the Feds in," I said.


    "They can''t," Mindstryke said, "but he''s had every opportunity to touch the minds of people who can."


    "What I''m thinking," Jaclyn''s grandfather said, "is that stealth would be best. Travis and Haley, you''ve both got Chuck''s abilities, correct?"


    Travis said, "Yes, sir," while Haley said, "Right," in a chirpy voice that seemed somehow out of place.


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    "Good. Then I think the two of them should sneak in, knock him out, and leave."


    "Unless the mayor senses them and bores straight into their heads," Daniel said.


    "That''s the hole in the plan," Jaclyn''s grandfather said, sounding amused.


    That you could drive a truck through, Daniel sent to me.


    In both of our minds, Daniel''s dad''s voice said: Listen.


    "Since stealth isn''t an option," Jaclyn''s grandfather said, straightening in his chair, "we''ll have to take the direct route. Larry, could you take the Rhinomobile straight up to the door?"


    Larry laughed. "I could drive it into the living room."


    "That''s not what I want you to do. I want you to drive straight up to the house and distract the police and the Guard. Fight them if you have to. Everyone who can''t fly will be with you.


    "Everyone who can fly will be going in through the second floor. Nick, you''ll want to hang back while Daniel and his dad subdue the mayor. Someone will need to be watching for attacks from the air."


    "Is that likely?" I asked.


    "Anything''s possible," he said. "The Hangmen are in town. They''ve already been beaten back from the mayor''s house once today. When the Rhinomobile breaks through, it''ll be a race between you and Vengeance''s people. Be first."


    He moved his head to face everyone at the table, regarding us with his nearly sightless eyes.


    "One more thing, you may kill somebody today. We don''t want you to, but sometimes it''s unavoidable. We won''t think anything less of you for it."


    "No. It can always be avoided," Daniel''s dad said. "Always. And it should be. Whatever we might think, in the public''s opinion you''ll have killed an innocent man."


    "Not," Jaclyn''s grandfather said, "in my experience."


    Daniel''s dad stood up. "We need to talk through a few things privately. Nick, is the lab unlocked?"

 In the Public Eye: Part 48

    "Are you getting anything?" I asked Daniel.


    We stood about twenty feet to the side of the main table where everyone else sat, quietly talking.


    "Almost," Daniel said. "I''ll pull you in when I''ve got it."


    The grownups hadn''t been gone for long.


    My vision blurred. Superimposed upon the League HQ''s main room, I saw the lab with it''s collection of machines and spare Rocket suit parts. Larry (his helmet off) fiddled with the controls of one of Grandpa''s more advanced fabrication machines. Daniel''s dad and C, Jaclyn''s grandfather, faced each other next to the counter on the left side of the room.


    I''d left a lot of tools and a spare right arm on the counter while doing maintenance on the suit earlier.


    I hoped they wouldn''t touch anything.


    "-- I don''t like this plan at all," Daniel''s dad said. "You don''t tell teenagers that it''s okay to kill people. You don''t send them up against trained soldiers. This isn''t the League you remember."


    Jaclyn''s grandfather leaned against the counter. His arm pushed a wrench into the soldering iron and some of the smaller tools.


    "Whoops." He pulled his arm back. "If the boy''s grandfather were alive, I''d never have heard the end of that."


    The tools floated back to almost the same position they''d been in.


    "Thank you. Do you remember," Jaclyn''s grandfather asked, "what your father was doing at their age?"


    "Yes --"


    "He was lying about his age so the army would take him."


    "We''re not at war," Daniel''s dad said.


    "We''re always at war. The venue changes."


    "I''ve heard that line before. It makes it far too easy to justify --"


    "It''s a good line. It''s a true line."


    "There''s a difference between trying to stop Hitler and whatever''s going on here. Equating the two lets you guys set up things like the block. I spent my childhood with half of my friends practically lobotomized and you didn''t even stop when they got married. You had my dad block their spouses too."


    Jaclyn''s grandfather barely raised his voice in response. "I didn''t do it. The League did it. We did it, and it''s the only reason you''re around to complain. We weren''t fighting good men, David. We were fighting killers. Men who would go after wives and children. The block meant our kids never noticed our hours, our strange disappearances, or any hints about what we were. It freed them to have normal lives. It freed us from worrying about them. It freed you to experiment with your powers and not worry if your friends would ask questions."


    "I''d have rather had the questions."


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    "Not at the expense of your life."


    Daniel''s dad stood quietly. "Let''s get back to the main topic," he said after a moment.


    Then he turned toward us, concentrating. The room disappeared, leaving the two of us standing next to each other in HQ''s main room.


    "I didn''t know he could do that," Daniel said.


    * * *


    The night felt colder than before. Daniel, his father and I stood in the forest. Clouds covered the stars. I wondered if it might snow.


    Larry and the rest would be arriving at the Mayor''s soon.


    "So," Daniel''s dad said, "the two of you were witness to our little disagreement. It''s OK. I''m not angry."


    "I shouldn''t have been," Daniel said.


    "I''m glad you know it. Live it next time."


    A few seconds passed. A crow cawed.


    "I can''t believe it," he said. "More than thirty years later, C still makes me feel like I''m tagging along with my dad."


    He checked his watch. "Nine o''clock. Let''s go."


    We rose into the air, flying above the treetops, and crossing the blocks of residential houses on the outside of the city. The mayor''s house stood near the top of a hill on the edge of downtown with a few other Victorian houses built by the city''s leading families of the period.


    Tonight it stood out.


    Soldiers stood on the lawn. Police cars, trucks and two tanks were on the street. They''d also blocked off the roads around the house. Around the corner, I could see a "box," one of the bulky trucks specifically used for holding supers. I didn''t know much about military tactics, but it didn''t look quite right to me. What exactly did they plan to do with the tanks?


    A block away, I heard Mindstryke''s voice in my head.


    Let''s land and talk.


    We landed on the street in front of some more old Victorians. I hoped we weren''t too obvious.


    "It seems like overkill," I said. "Calling in the National Guard and all those police over us? It''s not as if they know you and the Rhino are involved."


    "Blame Vengeance," Daniel''s dad said. "He and the Hangmen attacked the second the Elementals left. They''re taking no chances."


    I asked, "How did they fight him off?"


    To the degree that I could see his face through the mask, Daniel''s dad looked thoughtful. "I don''t know."


    Next to me, Daniel seemed to be spacing out. I guess concentrating would be the kinder way to put it. His eyes pointed at nothing, his mouth hung partly open.


    "Hey," Daniel said, "I''ve found Vaughn."

 In the Public Eye: Part 49

    "Marcus, too," Daniel continued. "Really, they found each other. I''ve told them where we are."


    Moments later, they stepped out from behind the nearest house and into the light outside their garage. Marcus appeared almost like himself except for feathered wings. Also, though I hadn''t noticed it earlier, I realized that he wore a costume and had been all night. Gray like Travis and Haley''s, his costume flashed a rainbow of colors when he moved. On the left side of his chest were the words, "The Shift."


    Vaughn limped next to him, his left arm hanging in a way that seemed somehow off. Blood spattered the lower half of his face where he had no mask. A slit the width of a knife blade showed skin and dried blood on the right side of his neck. To judge from the amount of dried blood on his costume, it surprised me that any could be left inside him.


    "What happened to you?" I asked.


    "Vengeance," he said. "It looks worse than it is. He really did want to speak to me, but I didn''t want to speak to him. Trouble was, the Hangmen don''t take no for an answer."


    "That''s their reputation," I said.


    "I heard the distress call," Vaughn said, "and I hauled ass toward HQ except one of them managed to catch me with a noose --"


    "They really use the nooses?" Daniel said. "I thought they were just there for atmosphere."


    "They really use them," Daniel''s dad said. He didn''t sound happy about it.


    "Anyway," Vaughn said, "they pulled me out of the air and they told me to wait -- except I zapped one of them... Then the other two beat me unconscious and tied me up."


    "Is that when you got stabbed?" I asked.


    "No," Vaughn said. "Vengeance did that. Did you ever notice that big knife on this belt? I swear it''s alive."


    "Alive?" I asked. "You mean it talks or something?"


    "No," he said, "Alive like Stormbringer in Moorcock''s Elric series. You know, as in ''Blood and souls for Lord Arioch''?"


    "I never read that one," I said.


    "I''m lying on the ground, barely conscious," Vaughn said, "and suddenly Vengeance is right there, and, he says something like ''let''s see if you''re anything like the original Red Lightning,'' and I''m trying to say I''m the Storm King, but there''s this burning pain in my neck, and I''m screaming, and he''s holding my mouth shut, and I can feel a presence and it''s judging me.


    "Everything, and I mean really everything, I''ve ever done is swimming before my eyes. Drugs and school and fights with my parents. All of it. Finally it ends and he pulls out the knife, tells me I''m innocent and leaves me there."


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    "You''re innocent?" I said. "What would he have done if he found you guilty? Killed you?"


    Daniel''s dad said, "Exactly. He''d have left him to die. The cut''s completely healed, right?"


    Vaughn said, "Yeah."


    "If you''d been guilty," Daniel''s dad said, "you''d have just bled and it wouldn''t stop."


    A police car drove down the street, headlights on, but it passed us without stopping or turning on the flashing lights.


    "They didn''t see us," Daniel''s dad said, "but we''d better get going anyway."


    Gesturing to Marcus, he said, "Could you take Vaughn back to HQ?"


    Vaughn said, "I''m not going back," at almost the same time Marcus said, "Why should I take him back?"


    Daniel''s dad sighed. "We don''t have time to argue about it. Come along, but stay outside when we go in. The last thing we need is the mayor rearranging your heads."


    We took to the air.


    I assumed that Daniel''s dad would want us to stay low, but I was wrong. He led us up a couple hundred feet and had us hover.


    I thought about pointing out that even though it was night, we still might be seen, but then I saw the Rhinomobile moving up the hill, picking up speed as it went.


    The police had blocked off St. John''s Avenue with two police cars.


    The Rhinomobile flattened them while the officers who had been standing behind the cars dove for the sidewalk. Then it roared straight up the road toward the mayor''s house.


    Soldiers pulled out their rifles while one of the tanks rolled (slowly and somewhat jerkily) into the middle of the street. The Rhinomobile swung to the left and moved around it with ease.


    As it did, a figure jumped out the top of the Rhinomobile, somersaulted a few times and pulled out a sword. The blade shone under the streetlights. Cassie charged the tank and cut the treads on one side before moving to the other.


    The Rhinomobile crossed the lawn, crushing a lamp and shattering the gazebo before stopping in front of the front door.


    Pipes popped out of the ugly gray vehicle and black smoke billowed out on all sides, turning the front yard into a sea of fog.


    Smoke. Larry never stops tinkering with that thing, Daniel''s dad thought at us. Let''s go in.

 In the Public Eye: Part 50

    We descended toward the house. Daniel and his father floated down with no visible means of support as if they were riding an invisible elevator. The wind held Vaughn in the air, blowing his hair wildly as he rode it down. Marcus circled down, gliding like a hawk. I followed Daniel, my jetpack set to give slightly less force than it would take to hover.


    OK, Daniel''s dad thought at us, Bouman''s in the basement with his wife and kids. He''s armed with some kind of gun, probably equipment confiscated by the police. I have no idea what it can do so be careful and keep the violence to a minimum. If we can manage to capture Bouman without beating him unconscious in front of his family, I''ll be happy.


    A burst of thought from Daniel: We''re going to be attacked shortly... um... now.


    Men and women rose from below and surrounded us, but they didn''t attack.


    I didn''t count how many, but it couldn''t have been more than ten. About half of them wore dark blue Rocket suits.


    Seriously.


    When my grandfather left the army, he left the suits he''d used during World War II with the government. They''d paid for them, right? The government left them alone for a while, but reverse engineered them in the 1980''s. Despite their efforts to update the design, Grandpa estimated the government version had to be twenty years behind his -- and not just in technology.


    Most supers, hero or villain make an effort to wear the designs that look inspiring. The government agents wore navy blue costumes (whether Rocket suits or not) with "FBI" written in big white letters across the chest.


    I found it interesting to observe what they''d updated and what they''d kept from Grandpa''s design. For example, back in the war, the Rocket suit didn''t have sonics, but did have mountings to attach weapons under the arm. These suits had mountings (mostly using them for guns), but completely lacked the amplifier system that Grandpa had put into the original suit. Also, to judge from the shape of the helmets, they probably had night vision and better communication systems.


    If they had radar, I''d be jealous.


    On the bright side, the way things had been going, we''d probably end up with at least one wrecked suit by the end of the night.


    I just hoped it wouldn''t be mine.


    If it were one of theirs though, they probably wouldn''t miss a few pieces. The helmet for sure and maybe an arm to check if they also had control buttons in the palm.


    As I began to consider edging toward them (the leg joints were an interesting departure from Grandpa''s design), their leader started to speak.


    Brush cut and apparently in her forties, she didn''t wear a Rocket suit, just the armored bodysuit common to government supers.


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    "Don''t move! FBI!"


    Easily cutting through the shouting below us, her voice included a humanly impossible cascade of tones, ranging from a deep bass to soprano.


    "Mindstryke. Tell the Rhino to call off his attack."


    "Sorry, Agent Brown, but hell no. Bouman down there has telepathic hooks into too many minds. The sooner we deal with it, the better."


    To the rest of us he sent, When I give the word, drop and get into the house. I''ll handle them.


    Agent Brown said, "Can you support that? I''ve got orders to bring anyone threatening Bouman in."


    "I''ve got six unconscious heroes who have something wrong with their heads, but I don''t have time for you to independently verify it."


    Drop.


    We dropped. They didn''t follow.


    I don''t know whether Daniel''s dad stopped them, or whether they were scared and didn''t try to get around him.


    Aside from being the son of a member of the Heroes League, Daniel''s dad was definitely on the A-list on his own merits. Daniel''s telekinetic output reached one thousand pounds of force on a good day. His dad''s output could be rated in tons.


    I may have heard automatic weapons fire from above me as I went down, but if I did, it ended quickly.


    Still, Daniel''s dad didn''t follow us down.


    We flew down to the house and Daniel shattered one of the windows in the tower on the far end of the house. We all climbed inside.


    Books lined the walls, almost all of them about law, government and public policy. The desk in the middle of the room displayed pictures of the mayor''s wife and children. The screensaver of the laptop on desk showed even more pictures -- mostly beach scenes.


    "The mayor''s in the basement," Daniel said. "The Rocket and I had better go."


    "What are we supposed to do?" Vaughn turned toward him. "Stay here and surf the internet?"


    "I don''t know," Daniel said. "Just don''t come down. Bouman''s a telepath. If you get in range, we could end up fighting you."


    "Then why is Nick going down? He''s not a telepath."


    "Use his codename," Daniel said. "Anyway, the Rocket''s got protection."


    "I thought you were going to fight the mayor, not have sex with him," Vaughn said.


    "Oh, funny," Daniel said.


    Marcus laughed. "Guys," he said. "Guys, let''s get moving. Mystic, just tell us when you think we''re too close. We''ll stop, right uh... what are you calling yourself again?


    "It was on the news," Vaughn said. When no one else said anything, he said, "Call me Storm King."


    "I''m ''The Shift''," Marcus said. "As in third shift. Or shape shift."


    From outside, came several bursts of automatic weapons fire.


    "Let''s go," I said.

 In the Public Eye: Part 51

    Walking through the house seemed to take forever. We had to go down three stories before we reached the first floor.


    We couldn''t see out of the windows because the smoke reached higher than our heads. Wisps of it came through the edges of the windowsill and the bottom of the front door.


    From what I could tell, the mayor lived very well. I couldn''t really tell expensive decorations from cheap, but the house looked expensive. It had larger rooms than I would have expected in an older house, but on the other hand, it was an old mansion. The wooden floors showed no signs of wear and the furniture appeared heavy on wood and leather. Paintings hung on the walls, mostly depicting local scenes -- the old lighthouse in Grand Lake''s harbor, Hardwick House, City Hall, and the city skyline.


    Behind the kitchen, we found the stairway to the basement.


    "You''ll want to stay back," Daniel said to Marcus and Vaughn. "He''ll be able to sense you if you get much closer."


    "Are you sure he doesn''t sense us now?" Vaughn asked.


    "Not completely," Daniel said. He peered at Vaughn. "But at least he''s not in your head. If you feel anything, get out of here."


    "Right," Marcus said. "If I suddenly start thinking the mayor''s a nice guy, I''ll try to remember that I''m wrong."


    I heard a splash.


    A human shaped mass of water stepped out of the kitchen sink.


    "Whoa," I said and asked Marcus, "Weren''t you going after him?"


    "I lost him," Marcus said. "In a sewer, all the water looks the same."


    The Elemental began to walk toward us.


    Marcus stepped toward him and changed. Blades sprouted from his shoulders, chest, legs and hands.


    "You''re called Water, right?" Marcus said. "You and I, we both know what''s going to happen next, don''t we?"


    His fingers lengthened into long, wide blades.


    The Elemental hesitated and then stepped forward, readying his right hand for a punch.


    Marcus moved faster than I could see. Using both arms to cut, he chopped through the right leg and the chest simultaneously. The body fell apart with a splash and a gurgling scream, turning into a big puddle in the middle of the kitchen.


    "Snicker-snack," Marcus muttered.


    The water reformed into a blond haired, college aged guy who from his looks could have been a model. He took a long, gasping breath. "Oh my god, that hurt..."


    "You''re the Heroes League, right?" He said. "Until just a second ago, I thought you guys were mind controlled by terrorists."


    "Part of the League," I said.


    Almost simultaneously, Daniel said, "The mayor''s a telepath. He planted that and I just took it out."


    He stood up and it finally registered that he wore ancient Greek clothes like everyone else on his team. "That bastard. We''ve been protecting the guy for a few weeks now... Ever since all that shit about you guys hit the news."


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    He eyed Vaughn. "You''re what? The new Red Lightning?"


    "I call myself Storm King." Vaughn sounded irritated.


    "So was it all fake? The news reports? Everything?"


    "I wouldn''t say fake," I said. "I really did punch the mayor, but he was trying to break into my mind at the time. So they weren''t fake as much as... selective."


    "Jerks," Vaughn said.


    Water turned toward me (as if I had any kind of authority). "What happened to the rest of my team?"


    "They''re sleeping," I said. "The Mystic left them back at our headquarters. I don''t think that any of them are badly hurt."


    "Good. Then let''s go downstairs and get this guy."


    "It''s just going to have to be the Mystic and I --" I began.


    "Once I change I''m immune," he said.


    "He''s right," Daniel said. "A telepath''s got to catch him in his normal form while he''s vulnerable."


    "Uh... How about changing right now?" I said.


    His body bulged, grew, and turned transparent. Beneath him, the wooden floor creaked and sagged.


    He began walking toward door to the basement.


    "Wait," Vaughn said, "what are we supposed to be doing while you''re down there?"


    "I don''t know," I said. "Mindstryke or C said we''d probably have to race Vengeance to get the mayor first. So, stop him, I guess."


    "Oh yeah," Vaughn said, "because I did so well the first time."


    Marcus said, "Don''t worry about us, go get that man."


    Daniel and I followed the avatar of the element of water through the door and down the stairs. We stepped into a big room half the size of the first floor.


    During the 1960''s, some prior occupant of the house had finished the basement. Wooden paneling covered the walls. A bar stood in the far corner of the room, complete with stools.


    On the floor in front of the bar, two boys moved Thomas the Tank Engine around a circle of tracks on the white carpet. Neither of them could have been older than seven.


    A tall woman with long brown hair grabbed their hands and began to pull them away from the toys. "I told you to come here," she said and pulled them to the wall next to her.


    The taller one waved toward Water and shouted, "Hi," and strained against his mother''s grip to run across the room.


    Water said, "Hi Alex."


    Mayor Bouman stood next to the bar, his hand on a lumpy object I didn''t recognize.


    "Why are you leading them here? Attack them!" He pulled the lumpy object off the bar. It could only be described as a raygun. I''d seen villains from the 50''s holding ones like it in my grandfather''s files and old issues of Double V.


    The avatar of the element of water said, "You douchebag."


    White light burst from the gun.

 In the Public Eye: Part 52

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


    "Come any closer to me or my family and I''ll blast you," Bouman said.


    "Oh come on," Daniel said. "This has nothing to do with your family. That has got to be one of the stupidest rationalizations I have ever heard. You''ve been manipulating people for ages and now you''re afraid to face the music. That''s the only reason you''re holding the gun."


    I didn''t know what negotiating tactics police forces taught their members for dealing with armed suspects, but I imagined that throwing the person''s motives in their face wasn''t one of them.


    To Daniel''s credit, at least he didn''t move any closer.


    Outside I heard a muffled explosion and then weapons'' fire.


    The smaller of the two boys started crying. His mother pulled him to herself.


    "Manipulating people? I manipulated people into a higher millage for the schools and more money for street repair. I manipulated people into providing food for lower income students. What have you done?"


    Mayor Bouman seemed to forget about the gun and it drooped as he talked.


    Daniel didn''t say anything. His face wore a blank expression


    "Mayor," Water said, "Give it up, guy. It''s over. You can''t get into our heads, and you''re never going to blow away all three of us."


    Bouman seemed to remember the gun then. He pulled it upwards and pointed it at Daniel.


    He failed to pull the trigger.


    It''s not that he didn''t try. He did. His finger wouldn''t move. He pulled it away from the trigger, bent it without a problem. He put it back against the trigger of the gun.


    Got him, Daniel sent to me. He didn''t realize until just now that I''d passed through his shield. Not that it was much of a shield.


    Mayor Bouman dropped the gun, stared at Daniel.


    Then he grabbed the taller of his sons'' arm and told his wife, "Sheryl, go!"


    A hallway on the right side of the room ran even deeper into the basement.


    He pulled the taller boy along while his wife carried the other. She opened the door, fumbled for the light switch, walked through. Mayor Bouman followed her.


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    Almost.


    Daniel said, "No."


    The mayor froze in place.


    Daniel said, "I''m sorry, Alex," and the boy floated through the door, landing next his mother. It shut behind him.


    From behind the door came the boy''s voice, "Mom. Daddy''s back there."


    "Daddy will take care of himself. Come on..."


    When their voices faded away, Daniel said, "Well, now what do we do with him?"


    "My team always turned them in to the police," Water said.


    "It''s nice when the police are on your side," I said. "Hey Mystic, didn''t your dad have a plan?"


    "Probably," Daniel said, "but he''s not in range right now. We should just take the guy away, but if I''d like to find out something first..."


    I''m going into his head to find out what''s behind all this. It''ll just take a second, Daniel said. Do you want to come along?


    I did.


    I have never known how to explain entering somebody else''s mind. Maybe it would be easier if I could do it myself, but it''s always been filtered through Daniel so whatever I felt was always his interpretation.


    In this case, I felt despair surround me, small voices muttering on the edges of my consciousness... "It''s over. They''ll know everything."


    Daniel sorted through forty years of another man''s memories. I saw flashes of Bouman''s childhood -- camping trips, days at the beach, high school valedictorian speech...


    He lost his first run to be mayor, ending twenty thousand dollars in debt. That night, he found himself standing alone in the hotel conference room he''d rented for the victory party. He didn''t know the man talking to him, but I did. I''d seen his face in information sent to me by the FBI -- Martin Magnus.


    Magnus couldn''t have been more than five and half feet tall and looked about thirty even though the government''s documentation said he had to be at least fifty. He wore a blue suit.


    "A plague on the fools," Magnus said. "People want to be ruled. With our help, you could learn to rule them."

 In the Public Eye: Part 53

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


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


    A recent memory -- A red-haired man in a black suit and sunglasses sat in the mayor''s study upstairs. I could feel a mixture of anticipation and fear as the mayor looked across the desk.


    "You haven''t heard anything from Magnus?" The man said.


    "Not since he left the Cabal, or I''d have reported it."


    "He''s wanted to know how the League made Red Lightning''s powers permanent for years."


    "Don''t we all," the mayor said.


    "We''ve got leads. During the Chicago operation, we found some interesting things in Magnus'' offices. They managed to get Red Lightning''s grandson to pass on some stuff he owned and it''s authentic. It includes some revised formulas for the ''drink of the gods'' which improve on the original. Think about that for a second."


    "That ought to cause a shake-up. Senior leadership''s always said that couldn''t be done."


    "Almost all of the senior leadership''s more than a thousand years old. They''re overdue for a surprise. We''ve also got pictures of friends of his that almost have to be other League grandchildren. We don''t know their names yet, but that''s your job. Find out who they are and do anything you have to do to find the League''s records."


    "Are you talking about killing them?"


    "I''m saying do whatever works."


    The mayor sat in the study for an hour after the man left. Could he justify it? They were only kids. Kids with freakish abilities, but kids nonetheless.


    On the other hand, if he failed (or refused) his own boys would likely grow up without a father. Besides, he could do so much more good if his powers were permanent. The needs of the city outweighed the needs of the few.


    Daniel jerked us out of the mayor''s head and back into reality.


    The mayor''s body tumbled to the floor.


    "We could be in there for hours," Daniel said. "There''s just too much to go through."


    "Couldn''t you record his memories or something? Then you could carry it along." I asked.


    "That''s not recommended," Daniel said. "Take too much into your brain and you end up with a fused personality, or worse, a kind of possession."


    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.While we''d been distracted, Water had changed back to normal form. He leaned over the mayor. "Yeah, one of this guy is enough. If you''re planning on getting him out of here, we should go soon. It''s getting worse out there."


    Now that he had said it, I realized that he was right. I heard more shouting, machine guns, police sirens, and shattering glass than I had earlier.


    "Where''s the mayor''s family?" I asked.


    "Out the window on the far end of the basement," Water said. "I heard them while you guys were poking around inside."


    "I''ve got him," Daniel said. "Let''s get out of here."


    The mayor floated into the air, flattening out as if he were on a bed, and moving up the stairs. We all followed him.


    I found myself walking behind Water. "With all the bullets flying around, I''m surprised you changed back," I said.


    "I get sick of it," he said. "There''s a lot to like, but it''s nice to breathe sometimes. Besides, I change quickly."


    With that we were up the stairs and walking into the kitchen. Marcus stood next to the stainless steel refrigerator. "You got him? Great. We''ve got to get out of here. I think I heard someone upstairs."


    "I still think you''re hearing things," Vaughn said. He stood next to the granite counter, using his right hand to spread mayonnaise on wheat bread. He used his left hand to steady the mayo jar -- but didn''t seem to put much force into it. It probably still hurt.


    "You''re making a sandwich?" I said.


    "I didn''t have supper," Vaughn said. He put two slices of roast beef and a slice of swiss cheese on the bread.


    "I didn''t take anything," Marcus said, " but they''ve got completely untouched shrimp pad thai and some kind of coconut milk based curry in the fridge. The kind with beef, green curry paste and those small eggplant?"


    I hadn''t had supper either. My stomach growled.


    We really needed to get out of there. Maybe we could get pizza or hit the Chinese buffet down on Washington Avenue later?


    "Could you guys stop thinking about food?" Daniel said. "Between that and all the people outside I can barely sense -- crap --"


    He stared up at the ceiling as boards, plaster, and the chandelier rained down on the dining room table.


    Vengeance jumped through the hole after them, using the edge to swing over the debris, and landing to the side of the table.


    The Hangmen stumbled through after him, three hooded men with grayish skin. They landed in a clump, breaking the table. A jagged sliver of wood punctured the leg of one of them. It didn''t bleed and the Hangman didn''t seem overly concerned. He just pulled it out.


    The walking dead are like that, I guess.

 In the Public Eye: Part 54

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


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


    Vengeance stood in front of them, knife hanging from his belt, rifle on his back.


    "Time to hand him over, kids," he said. "You did some nice work grabbing him, but this is too big for you."


    Vaughn put down the sandwich he''d been just about to eat, moving his hands behind the counter and out of sight -- to Vengeance at least.


    Sparks ran across both hands, but not any higher.


    "How big is it?" Vaughn asked.


    "Hey, it''s Red Lightning, Jr," Vengeance said. "No hard feelings about the stabbing. I had to make sure. But back to your question, hanging on to that man is like holding dynamite."


    "Not too big for the Rhino and Mindstryke," Daniel said. "We''re not acting alone."


    Vengeance laughed. "I''ve been on this for weeks now. Trust me, you can''t even imagine how big this is and it''s not going to be solved by beer or mind reading."


    He stepped forward.


    Behind him, the Hangmen had spread out. They stood in a line behind Vengeance, each of the three holding a noose. Another couple feet and they would be standing in the kitchen.


    "The Rhino''s done a lot more than beer commercials," I said.


    Ignoring me, he said, "Time''s a wasting. Hand him over."


    "What are you going to do with him?" I said.


    "He''s going to stab him," Daniel said. "If it judges the mayor unworthy, the knife will absorb his essence and kill him."


    Next to me, Water said, "He''d deserve it after what he did to us. Don''t look at me like that. He does."


    "He deserves the judicial system," Daniel said. "Everyone does."


    "So he can hire a lawyer and get off?" Vengeance said. "The law never touches his kind. Best thing you can do is hand them over to a judge that only wants justice."


    Vengeance took another step forward. Behind him, the Hangmen moved a step closer to the entrance of the kitchen.


    Now Vengeance stood across the counter from Vaughn, about ten feet in front of where Water, Marcus and I stood next to the refrigerator. Daniel and the still floating mayor were on the other side of the kitchen next to a small table.


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    It struck me that I couldn''t hear anything happening outside.


    He turned toward Daniel. "I''ve heard a lot of crap about the system over the years, but if it worked, we wouldn''t be here. The first League went on and on about helping the system work, but how''d they start? They burned down some mobster''s warehouse and they weren''t nice about it. It was war. They didn''t go soft till they killed one of their own. Fucking fools. If they''d killed him earlier, that would have saved some lives. Me, I''d have opened him up the second I knew."


    Daniel began, "I can''t believe you. If there''s one thing that came out of Red Lightning, it ought to be that we need rules of conduct --"


    Vaughn interrupted him. "Vengeance," Vaughn said. "Hey, dude."


    He pulled his hands out from below the counter. I could barely see hands beneath the electricity arcing between them.


    Vengeance began to move, but I couldn''t see where because of the lightning strike. The thunderclap rattled the windows -- the ones that hadn''t been shattered anyway.


    During the blast, I could only see white, so it took me a moment to realize that Vaughn had missed. The strike had blackened the wall, broken two windows, and stared a fire on the drapes.


    As my eyes adjusted to normal light, Vengeance leaped off the floor toward Daniel, landing on him. Daniel fell backwards, hitting the wall and then the floor.


    The Hangmen closed the gap with more speed that I would have expected. One jumped over the counter to struggle with Vaughn, both of them falling to the floor while bright arcs of electricity lit that half of the room. Then came a cracking noise and the electricity stopped.


    The remaining two Hangmen went for Marcus, Water and I, running toward us, throwing the nooses ahead.


    The rope caught Marcus mid-change into a kind of panther. The noose snaked through the air, the rope end growing in length while the noose end caught Marcus, constricting around the neck. He didn''t fight it. He just fell, his limbs unmoving.


    The other noose widened, and before I could do anything, it closed around my neck. I couldn''t feel it, of course. It only touched my armor.


    In all likelihood, that had to be the reason I could still move.

 In the Public Eye: Part 55

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


    They''d taken us all out.


    Well, all of us except me, and I''d decided to pretend otherwise. With any luck I''d get some useful information and maybe get the chance to surprise them.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vengeance pull himself up off Daniel and turn towards the Hangmen.


    "Kids," he said. "Do you suppose any of their parents know what they''re doing? Anyway, will one of you boys put out the fire? I gotta give this man the test before we get interrupted."


    Behind Vengeance, the fire on the drapes continued to burn. A line of flame ran up the left side of one drape, the smoke rising toward the ceiling.


    A fire alarm began to beep.


    Vengeance pulled his knife out of its sheath.


    I stopped pretending.


    Grabbing the rope, I yanked the Hangman toward me, punching him in the face.


    It did nothing.


    He grabbed my arm and punched me back before I had time to react. It didn''t hurt.


    Instead of trying to pull my arm away, I stepped toward him, grabbed his belt with my left hand and as long as he was hanging on to my right hand anyway, pulled him into the air above my head. Then I threw him as hard as I could.


    He flew out the entrance to the kitchen into the dining room, and hit the wall, smashing the frame of a picture of a clipper ship, and falling to the floor. The picture fell on top of him, revealing cracks and broken plaster on the wall behind where it had hung.


    I would have worried about hurting him more if I hadn''t known that he had been dead long before I met him. Seriously, what more could I do?


    Unfortunately, the other two Hangmen decided to take advantage of my distraction. The one who''d used his noose on Marcus and Water dove for my chest while the one who''d had taken Vaughn out ran toward me, hitting me with his shoulder.


    Without the suit, I''m sure I would have dislocated something or at the very least ended up on the floor with the two of them on top of me.


    With the suit, I stood.


    I moved my hand against the belly of one of them and pushed upward and away, launching him across the room. He hit the far wall of the kitchen, landing on the wooden bench built into the wall next to the table.


    I threw the other out the entrance, watching him land on the remains of the dining room table and the chandelier.


    I turned toward Vengeance to find him watching me. I couldn''t quite read the look on his face, but I might have seen a little fear. Everyone else in the group looked like teenagers, but the style of the Rocket suit hadn''t changed since the 1950''s.


    Almost anybody could be inside for all he knew, possibly even someone competent. If that was what he thought, I decided not to disillusion him.


    I stepped over Marcus, preparing to blast Vengeance with the sonics if I saw him try to stab the mayor.


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    He didn''t.


    The window behind the table spanned half the wall. He turned around, stepped around the table, onto the bench, smashed it with his knife, knocking down a couple of the bigger pieces, and stepped through. I assumed that his camouflage must offer some protection against glass.


    I didn''t chase him.


    A survey of the room showed I had enough to think about. The fire had spread from one drape to the rest. Worse, one drape had burned through, a piece falling onto the pile of newspapers on the far end of the bench.


    One of the Hangmen lay next to the pile.


    A part of me wanted to pull him away from the fire. Another part remembered the Double V article. It didn''t matter what I did. The house could burn to ashes -- actually, it could probably be thrown into the sun -- and the next morning those guys would get up, dust themselves off and start walking home.


    Well, maybe not from the sun.


    I could only think of that as a good thing though, because looking at the angles of the bodies, I had to have broken their necks.


    Or backs.


    I turned my head away.


    If they had been normal people, I would have killed them. On the other hand, if they were normal people I''d have never thrown them like that.


    I stood there doing nothing for a moment, unsure if I should look for a fire extinguisher or just pull everyone out. The mayor had to have an extinguisher somewhere. Hadn''t the city done a major push to get people to buy fire extinguishers and alarms with ten year batteries just a couple years ago?


    It would be ironic in the extreme if he didn''t have one.


    Noticing Daniel lying on the floor next to the mayor decided me.


    I stepped over the mayor, picked up Daniel, stepped onto the bench, and through the window. Jumping out, I landed in the remains of a flowerbed.


    Making sure I couldn''t see any glass shards, I put Daniel on the ground and climbed back in to get the others.


    As I stepped back onto the bench, I heard Haley''s voice from behind me.


    "Ni-- I mean, Rocket, you''re going back in there?"


    "Everyone else is," I shouted back. "Everyone else is in here, I mean."


    The mayor lay on the floor. I stepped over him again and did what I should have done earlier. I pulled the noose off Marcus'' head. It resisted at first, but I didn''t stop pulling.


    As I got it off, he started and pulled himself back into a fully human form instead of the half-panther shape he''d been stuck in.


    "I don''t know where it was," Marcus said, "but I was somewhere else. All around me, I could feel this strange humming --"


    Haley jumped through the window, landed on the table and hopped down on the other side of the mayor. She looked around at the bodies, the Hangmen, and the growing blaze.


    "Oh my gosh," she said, "is that a gas stove?"

 In the Public Eye: Part 56

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


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


    I hit the ground when it blew like everyone else, realizing belatedly that I probably didn''t have to.


    As Marcus, Haley, Water and I began to stand up, the Rhinomobile pulled around the side of the house. Daniel stayed on the ground in front of me, still not feeling well enough to stand. Vaughn and the mayor lay near Daniel''s feet.


    The Rhinomobile stopped just short of us. A firehose led down the lawn from the back of vehicle to a fire hydrant.


    Over the loudspeakers, Larry shouted, "Anybody still in there? If you need help, give a shout. Otherwise I''m hosing this place down."


    The side of the Rhinomobile opened and Larry walked out onto the ledge above a tread carrying another hose. He jumped down and ran to the back of the Rhinomobile and attached it.


    Daniel said, "There''s no one left inside. No one living anyway."


    "Got it," Larry said, and opened up with the hose. It didn''t take long before he''d put out the worst of it.


    We all rode back in the Rhinomobile. No one bothered to chase us. In fact, cars pulled off the side of the road to let us go past.


    They probably didn''t want to get run over.


    I stood in the opening between the sleeping area and the... I don''t know what to call it. The cockpit? The cab? Whatever you call the place people sit in to drive a vehicle that doesn''t fly.


    Larry drove, of course. Marcus sat in the bucket seat next to him, asking questions about the dashboard.


    It had a lot of buttons.


    "That''s for the oil slick," Larry said.


    Marcus pointed to another button. "That one?"


    "Engages the flamethrowers," Larry said. "I like to start the oil slick on fire."


    "Is that why you''ve got a firehose?" I asked.


    "Nah," Larry said. "I''ve got a firehose because even when I don''t start the fire it seems like half the time I go anywhere something starts burning."


    * * *


    Larry parked the Rhinomobile inside the hangar and we all walked out together. Larry carried the mayor. I found myself walking in next to Vaughn and Haley.


    Travis, Jaclyn, Cassie, Marcus, Water, and Daniel walked behind us. Jaclyn talked about how she''d disarmed the police. "Half of them were standing in a row," she said. "It''s like they were saying, ''Jaclyn, could you please take my gun?'' and when asked so politely, how could I refuse?"


    Everyone laughed, Travis particularly loudly.


    "Like both arms," Vaughn said to Haley and I over the noise. "They hurt. Not unbearable pain or anything, but it stays there and it won''t go away."


    He tried to roll up his right sleeve, but barely got it halfway. What we could see of his bicep looked red and swollen. The forearm of his left arm, the arm he''d used to roll up the sleeve, didn''t looked any better. He lost his grip on the sleeve three times while rolling it up.


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    "Fuck," Vaughn muttered. "I give up."


    Haley said, "You need a doctor. Nick, the League used to have an arrangement with a somebody. Do you remember who?"


    "If they did," I said, "the doctor''s probably eighty-something. Or dead."


    She frowned.


    I pressed the button that opened the door between the hangar and the main room of HQ.


    If the room felt full before we left, it felt twice as full now. Aside from the bodies still sleeping on the floor, Daniel''s dad and C, Jaclyn''s grandfather sat at the main table talking to the Guardian and two women -- Dreadnought and Flick -- which meant we had almost a third of the Midwest Defenders in residence.


    Beyond the people who were actually physically there, the big wall screen held three more people''s images: The Marvelous X, current president of the Michigan Heroes Alliance, and a man and a woman who were wearing dark business suits.


    Daniel''s dad stood up from the table as the door rolled open and I heard Jaclyn''s grandfather say, "They''re back. Time to get started."


    The people disappeared from the screen.


    The Guardian and Flick followed after Daniel''s dad, the three of them meeting up with us halfway into the room.


    The Guardian looked just like he did while chewing us out after we defeated the Grey Giant; big and muscular in a silver costume. I pegged him as being in his early forties.


    Flick looked a lot smaller, but only by comparison. She had blond hair and wore a powder blue costume. Her mask covered the upper half her face.


    "Aside from the explosion, it sounds like you kids did a good job," the Guardian said.


    From our last encounter, I had a feeling that this would be the closest to a compliment he gave.


    "Oh come on," Flick said, "it''s not as if we''ve never blown up anything. They did great."


    The Guardian stared at Vaughn. Between the blood covering his costume, the new scar on his neck, and the swollen redness of his arm (he still hadn''t rolled down his right sleeve), he looked bad.


    "Christ," the Guardian, "what happened to you? Let''s get a look at this."


    He pulled the sleeve up the rest of the way and then said, "Where else does it hurt?"


    Vaughn held up his left arm, wincing as the Guardian rolled up the sleeve and inspected Vaughn''s forearm.


    "Kid," he said, "you''ve got two broken arms."


    "He''s a doctor in normal life," Flick said, watching them.


    I''d guessed that from his gentle, bedside manner.


    Daniel''s dad had already walked over to Daniel, so I asked Flick, "Not that I''m not happy to see all of you, but why are you here?"


    "You know Mindstryke. You''ve been in all over the news for weeks now. They''ve been showing pictures of your fight with Tomahawk, and the broken window in the Mayor''s office. Mindstryke thinks you''ll need an appearance that will put you on TV, and maybe throw out a few memorable sound bites."

 In the Public Eye: Part 57

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


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


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


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


    "Grandpa handled questions from the press," I said. "He said no one else wanted to."


    "Was that how it happened?" Haley said, "My grandfather always said it was because he was better at it than anyone else."


    "No," I said. "He just hated it less."


    "I''m sure they won''t make you if you don''t want to," Flick said.


    Off to my left I heard a crackle of energy and a door-sized, reflective rectangle appeared next to Vaughn and the Guardian.


    "Flick," the Guardian said. "Kid Lightning over here needs more medical attention than I can give him without supplies. I''m taking him to Chicago. Don''t let them start without me."


    He didn''t even wait for a reply. He dragged Vaughn through, the reflective surface splashing bits of itself into the air before disappearing entirely.


    Vaughn''s voice cut off as they disappeared. "Hey, I''m called Storm Ki --"


    "Wow," I said. "He doesn''t hesitate."


    "He doesn''t," Flick said, "but when you get to know him better, he''s a real sweetheart."


    Maybe he was, I thought. Maybe deep inside Guardian loved people and fluffy bunnies, but it didn''t stop him from being a total jerk on the outside.


    "So," Flick said, "tell me about yourselves. How did you get involved in all of this?"


    We spent the next hour talking with Flick and with each other. While we''d been out, Jaclyn''s grandfather had ordered pizza because no one had had supper. Checking the time on one of the monitors at HQ''s main table, I found that it was only 9:13 PM. It felt like months had passed since we''d left.


    In order to eat, I had to pull off my helmet and use the mask from the stealth suit. It leaves enough of the mouth uncovered that you can eat. I considered eating without the mask, but didn''t. Dreadnought and Flick were heroes, but I didn''t know them.


    After an hour, Jaclyn''s grandfather said, "Now I know Guardian''s not back yet, but he''s agreed to everything. For the benefit of the kids, let''s talk about what we''re going to do. Mindstryke?"


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    Daniel''s dad stood up and addressed us.


    "You''ve all seen the news reports about the mayor and the Rocket and Storm King. What that means is that when we turn the mayor in, we can''t turn him in quietly to the police or the Feds. We''ve got to give them an image to compete with all the destruction. At 10:00 PM, we''ll land in front of the police station. Between C and I, we''ve contacted the local and national media. We''ll also have a Fed telepath waiting for us at the station. He''ll be going through the mayor''s mind and the minds of all the heroes who had been misled into helping him.


    "The Michigan Heroes Alliance will have their own telepath along as a witness. That way we''ve got a neutral party there.


    "We''re going to reestablish trust in the League by reminding them of the first League. What that means is C''s going to be running alongside the Rhinomobile with Jaclyn and we''re going to minimize how much anybody speaks to the press. We''ll use the Rocket as a spokesman."


    "What?" I said.


    Daniel''s dad said. "Don''t be nervous about it. I''ll tell you what to say."


    "I''ll be your puppet?" I said.


    "No. I''ll just be offering advice. Good advice. Nothing''s going to say the Heroes League is back like the Rocket taking the microphone. If you could tweak the vocal output to give just a hint of those old recordings of your grandfather''s voice, it would be even better."


    "I don''t want to be a fake."


    "You won''t be a fake. You''ll be reassuring. They''ll know you''re not the original. You''ll know. I''ll know, but it doesn''t matter. People don''t make every decision based on logic. They base them on impressions. It''s your choice whether those impressions work for you or against you."


    I opened my mouth to begin to argue more, but I heard static off to my left and Guardian and Vaughn stepped out of a gate. Both of Vaughn''s arms hung in slings.


    "Already at it?" Guardian said. "I asked you to wait."


    Daniel''s dad said, "We''re just going over the basics. Nothing you haven''t already agreed to. The Rocket and I were just talking about how he fit in."


    "Nice touch," the Guardian said. "It''s 1953 all over again."


    "I don''t really want to," I said. "I''m not the original."


    "Sometimes you just have to suck it up and do it. Besides, this doesn''t have to be hard. Let him into your head and Mindstryke over there can flap your lips for you."


    <hr />


    Hope you''re enjoying this... We''re getting near to the end, and to the beginning of the next book.

 In the Public Eye: Part 58

    "No. There''s no way I''m doing that," I said.


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


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


    Flick leaned in toward the table and smiled briefly. "He''s right. Some of you have heard about what happened when I joined the Defenders. I think the most important thing I''ve learned in the past two years is how to handle myself in public."


    I hadn''t heard, but didn''t get a chance to ask.


    She looked over at Daniel''s dad and then Guardian, "You''re not planning on having him speak very long, are you?"


    Daniel''s dad said, "Nothing long. Just a short explanation of why we''ve got the mayor."


    Cassie looked up from her own plate of pizza and said, "Nothing against the Rocket, but I''ve heard his explanation for why we needed to go get the mayor and it''s not short."


    "I won''t have to go over all that stuff with Magnus for the press," I said.


    "You''d better not," Cassie said. "And if you feel the urge to talk about how the roachbots work, resist it."


    Water, standing on the far end of the table next to Marcus said, "Who''s Magnus?"


    Marcus said, "Don''t worry about it." Turning to the rest of us, he said, "I''ll tell him later."


    Flick turned toward me and said, "Roachbots? As in cockroaches?"


    * * *


    Grand Lake''s police department operated out of an old building downtown. From the 1920''s up to the early 1970''s, it used to be Fleischmann''s department store, but the store moved to a mall in the suburbs. The building dated from the late 1800''s, but any interesting architectural features had been removed by renovations in the 1980''s. Now it looked like a tall, featureless, brick building.


    Oddly, the 2002 renovation for the police department''s relocation included adding in Victorian style lights and circular signs with the word "Police" in large letters.


    I ran in front of the Rhinomobile with Jaclyn and her grandfather. Marcus, Daniel and Daniel''s father flew just above us. Everyone else rode inside.


    Ahead of us, the police had blocked off traffic so we could take the Rhinomobile directly in front of the main entrance.


    "Watch out for the curb," Jaclyn said.


    "I''ve been stepping over curbs since before you were born," I heard her grandfather say.


    News crews stood on both sides of me, but police kept the path from the Rhinomobile to the entrance clear. In front of the door, stood the FBI agents that had tried to catch us earlier -- Agent Brown and her people wearing copies of Grandpa''s 40''s era armor. The group included a new member, another guy in the standard navy blue FBI super uniform. This guy, however, had a silver helmet. So... Fed telepath? Check.


    A skinny guy in a green karate uniform stood off to the side of them. I recognized him. It had to be PsyKick, the telepath from the Michigan Heroes Alliance. I''d always thought he had one of the cheesier codenames imaginable. It was like he sat down one day and asked himself, "I''m a martial artist and a telepath. What will I call myself? Ooooh. Psy... Kick! Isn''t that clever?"


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    He glared at me.


    Annoyed Michigan Heroes Alliance guy? Check.


    Daniel landed next to me. You need to think a little more quietly, he suggested.


    A silver rectangle appeared in front of us. Flick, Dreadnought and Guardian stepped out of it and the doorway disappeared.


    If I''d had any worry that this would end up in a gigantic melee, that would have ended it. Dreadnought and the Guardian had to be on the A-list of powered supers. Guardian had been turned into some kind of super-soldier by a race of energy beings. I didn''t know Dreadnought''s origin, but I knew that (appropriately, given her name) she could throw battleships.


    Between the two of them, I felt fairly sure the police and the Feds felt motivated to give us the benefit of the doubt.


    Behind me, I could hear the door of the Rhinomobile open. I turned to watch the rest of the team jump out -- Larry, Water, Travis, Haley, Cassie and Vaughn (slings and all).


    After them, the bodies of the mayor and all six of the heroes who had fought us floated out.


    Cameras flashed while reporters shouted questions.


    Now, Nick, Daniel''s dad told me.


    So this was it, my moment in the spotlight.


    "Attention, everybody! Hey!" I said, giving the sonics enough volume for me to shout over the crowd.


    Everybody stopped talking and looked at me expectantly.


    I suddenly wished I had three by five cards or had taken Daniel''s dad up on his offer. What was I supposed to say again?


    The mayor, Daniel said.


    Thanks, I sent back.


    Don''t thank me. Talk.


    "The mayor was a telepath," I said. "He left commands buried in people across the state and nation. We don''t yet know all the people, but it definitely included government officials, police and the supers we''re bringing in now. We''ve got a bunch of telepaths here to probe him for information so... um... you can all expect to know more pretty soon.


    "Okay?"


    Well, I thought, leaving off the ''okay'' would have sounded a little more professional.


    I didn''t really have a chance to think about it though.


    Nancy Gonzalez, the anchor for Channel 10, started shouting at me. "Can you tell us how the fire got started?"


    I tried to think about whether I should answer or not.


    Haley took my hand. "Rocket, we''re supposed to go in now."


    From my other side, Larry, massive in his own powered armor, said, "She''s right. Let''s get on in."

 In the Public Eye: Part 59

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


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


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


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


    We had nothing to do. Daniel''s dad had asked us to be as quiet as possible before they started.


    For a while, I watched the telepaths, but watching three men stand motionless while a fourth (PsyKick) sat and meditated was not interesting. After that I looked around, read the motivational posters, and decided that I felt more tired than motivated.


    Next to me, Haley leaned against the wall, doing nothing at first, but then started quietly drumming her fingers against the wall.


    Ahead of us, the Fed wearing the silver helmet looked up her. Then he held up his left hand, pointed at it with his right, and shook his head.


    Haley pulled her hand away from the wall and looked up at me, her face wearing a mildly annoyed expression.


    I shrugged.


    She shook her head.


    After a few more minutes, I had a bright idea. I adjusted the pitch of the speaker so that it went above the range of human hearing.


    "Can you hear me?" I asked.


    She moved so that her back faced the telepaths and the bodies. "You sound like a hamster," she whispered.


    "Best I could do," I said.


    She glanced over her shoulder.


    No one seemed to have noticed us.


    "We ought to do something again," I said. "I don''t know when, but it looks like this whole thing with the mayor is wrapping up. Do you have any nights off next weekend?"


    "I don''t know," she said. "Travis always seemed to get nights off when he was at home. I''ll talk to my dad. Even if I don''t, there''s always weekdays."


    "Assuming we both don''t get grounded because of tonight," I said.


    "I''m safe," she said. "Both of my parents are working till two."


    "Lucky you," I said. "My dad''s probably up reading and waiting for me. I''m surprised he hasn''t tried to call me yet."


    The readout above my helmet''s eye holes showed the time as 10:23 PM.


    "You two are dating?" Travis said.


    The last I''d seen he had been standing across the room next to Jaclyn, Cassie, and Vaughn. I didn''t even notice that he''d moved until he stood next to the two of us.


    "None of your business," Haley said.


    "Hey," Travis said. "I approve. I mean, the Rocket''s a hell of an improvement over that guy you were dating last year."


    Turning his face toward me, he said, "We''re talking total asshole."


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    "We didn''t date very long," Haley said.


    "You know how much of an asshole? She ended up scratching the guy. You know, with the poison dewclaw?"


    "Travis," she whispered, but it was a loud whisper. Then she gave a quick kick to his foot.


    "Like I said," Travis continued, "he was a total asshole. Anyway, I''ll leave you two."


    Everyone in the room seemed to be staring at us as he walked away.


    "Sorry," Haley said.


    "Well," Daniel''s dad said, "We were done anyway."


    Guardian stepped away from the wall and said, "What have you got?"


    "A lot. We should go over it in private." Daniel''s dad turned to the agent next to him. "Sid, did the helmet record everything?"


    Sid nodded. "Every last bit. The kids should consider themselves cleared of any possible charges. We might have questions for them later but obviously we know what was really going on now."


    "Good," Daniel''s dad said. He turned to us. "You can go if you want. If you need a lift, the Rhino can take you back."


    "Call me when you need me," Larry said.


    "It''ll be soon." Daniel''s dad examined the bodies. "As long as Sid''s recorded everything and PsyKick can testify he''s seen the same thing as everyone else, I''ll dismantle Bouman''s suggestions and wake these people up. PsyKick?"


    "My mystic powers have revealed unto me the mayor''s deceptive tactics as well."


    Daniel''s dad said, "I''ll take that as a yes."


    Then he turned back to the bodies.


    Daniel walked over to Haley and I.


    Switching back to a normal voice, I said, "So what did they find? Anything we missed?"


    "Some more, yeah. My dad had me show him what I found earlier and then he explored a little further, but he didn''t pass any back my way. They''re going after Magnus and the Cabal though. I could tell Dad was looking for the day to day operational stuff. You know, the way they communicate, the kind of resources they have, where they live, names of people involved..."


    Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Cassie and Vaughn joining the group of us with Jaclyn, Travis and Marcus close behind them.


    "We''ll get in on it, right?" Cassie said.


    Daniel shrugged. "I''d like to, but I get the feeling Dad''s not too wild about it, and even if he were, I know that Guardian isn''t. So I''d bet against it."


    "That''s not fair. We''re the only reason they even know about it. I should go over there and..." She stopped and watched the middle of the room. Daniel''s dad stepped back as Water helped Fire to her feet. She hung on to his shoulder. On the floor, Earth and Air blinked at the lights and looked confused.


    Mindstryke turned toward me. "Rocket, you''ll want to get out of the room before I wake Tomahawk here. Bouman wasn''t powerful enough to get that much of a response without something to work with."


    "Wait," I said, "so Tomahawk really hates me?"


    "I wouldn''t say that," Daniel''s dad said, "but let''s call him a sore loser."


    "I guess I''ll go then."

 In the Public Eye: Part 60

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


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


    Since I was already in the hole, I decided to take a shower. With only one locker room, this meant waiting while Jaclyn, Haley and Cassie used the showers. The guys stood out in the main room with Larry and showered after they walked out.


    Given the waiting, I think I did fairly well.


    Larry hung around while I turned off the lights.


    I turned them off everywhere except for the hangar and the main room, skipping the hangar only because that''s where the Rhinomobile had been parked.


    Larry and I stood next to the Rhinomobile, Larry leaning against the tread. We were both out of our armor. It felt good to be in street clothes. The armor gets stuffy after a few hours.


    I said, "I''m tempted to just tell my parents. It would make nights like this easier. I''m going to get grounded for nothing tonight and I''m sure this won''t be the last time. My parents'' block won''t work if you just tell them straight out, will it?"


    Larry looked uncomfortable, and said, "Can you say it straight out?"


    "I don''t think I could have when I was a little kid, but I think I can now. Daniel said blocks degrade over time."


    Larry paused for a moment, took a breath and rested his hand on the top of the tread. "Nick, don''t expect too much out of your parents. I''ve got a feeling their blocks still work."


    Larry pulled himself up and sat on the tread. "Back when the original League was active, Daniel''s dad and I spent a lot of time together. As stupid as it sounds, we were basically sidekicks, him to his dad, the Mentalist, and me to the Rocket. David hated the whole idea of the block. I could see his point. It seemed like the Mentalist had been in the head of everybody we knew. David even dated Suzanne, Red Lightning''s daughter, for a while there. Oh god, that made things interesting..."


    "Wait," I said. "You mean Vaughn''s mom?"


    "Well, yeah. She must have figured out that he was a hero three times before they broke up. Freaked out every time and the Mentalist had to erase it every time. After the third time, David''s dad just forbid him to date her anymore, and that time David actually listened.


    "He wasn''t happy about it though. As soon as he had the chance, he planned to take all the blocks down."


    "Were they dating when the League was fighting Red Lightning?"


    "Nah," Larry said. "They were both under ten during all that. I wasn''t much older. I only met Giles once or twice before your grandfather blew him up."


    "So why didn''t Mindstryke take down all the blocks?" I said.


    Larry sighed. "I''m not totally clear on it myself, but however the Mentalist did it, the block got linked to other things. David said that if he took down blocks, he risked some kind of general personality collapse."


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    "Oh," I said.


    "But they''d probably be okay if the block fell apart naturally."


    "Huh," I said. "I don''t think Vaughn''s mom has a block at all anymore."


    "Yeah?" Larry said. "I don''t know anything about that, but I wouldn''t be surprised. Nothing they did to her head ever seemed to stick."


    We sat in silence for a moment, both of us lost in our own thoughts.


    After that we talked a little more. Then he stepped into the Rhinomobile and it rumbled off.


    * * *


    The walk home felt cold. Barely illuminated by the streetlights, I saw the remains of our fight on Grandpa''s street -- the white goo from Future Knight''s gun, the broken garage door, the window. It could have been worse. If Vaughn had been in the fight, he''d have been flinging lightning around. Imagine the devastation from one of his misses.


    I checked the messages on my cell phone. Isaac Lim had left a message congratulating me and letting me know that his superiors were allowing him to contact us again. Martin Magnus had left a message that I should call him back.


    I didn''t plan to.


    I walked through the door to my house around 11:45.


    Dad sat at the kitchen table, a pile of books and notebooks next to his laptop. Mom had to be in bed by now.


    He looked up as I stepped in and said, "Hi Nick, how''d it go?"


    "How''d what go?" I said.


    "Whatever you were doing at Daniel''s house. His dad called around supper time to let us know you wouldn''t be home and that you might be home late."


    "He did?"


    Dad pushed his chair back from the table and said, "He did. What were you doing?"


    I hesitated. Should I try to tell him? Even if he didn''t like it, I''d still feel better with him knowing.


    "Well," I said, "that''s an interesting question. I got together with Daniel and some friends and we kidnapped the mayor and turned him in to the police."


    "Got together with friends? The DVD night thing?"


    "Kind of," I said. "Except there wasn''t a movie and we almost burned down the mayor''s house."


    "Good. I always thought you ought to get out more. You''re never going to have this kind of free time again in your life. Look at me. It''s Friday night and I''m working."


    He closed the laptop. "Well, not any more, I''m going to bed. You should too."


    I hung up my coat in the closet while he picked up the books and put the computer in its bag.


    Obviously the block was in full force. Crazy. I''d spent half the night stopping the mayor from mentally manipulating people and freeing people who he had deluded from his influence.


    My own parents were stuck within the block until they worked their own way out.


    "Good night, Dad," I said, and walked up the stairs to my room.


    <hr />


    And that''s the end of book 1. Book 2 starts shortly, but before that will be a short interlude with Nick''s grandfather, the original Rocket.

 1953: Part 1

    Even the snow in the parking lot passed his ankles. Joe Vander Sloot stepped out of the Chevy, shut the door, and walked across the almost empty lot to "Chuck''s Pizza."


    Giles'' black Jaguar put the "almost" next to the "empty."


    Joe shook his head. Only someone with the Hardwicks'' money could put a car like that through a Michigan winter. Joe stopped next to it, brushed snow off the window, and, out of curiosity checked which side the steering wheel was on. Despite being a made in Britain, the steering wheel turned out to be on the left. Joe wondered if they''d redesigned it for the US market or whether Giles had had his customized.


    After a few moments more, he walked away from the car. Ignoring the "Closed" sign in the window, he opened the door and walked inside.


    Just as small on the inside as it appeared outside, "Chuck''s Pizza" held four booths and a couple tables. To the right, Joe could see the kitchen on the other side of the counter. To the left, Giles and Chuck sat at the booth on the middle of the far side.


    They were the only people in the restaurant.


    Giles wore a pinstriped suit and looked heavier than Joe remembered. Chuck still looked small, but a muscular sort of small. He wore an grease stained apron over his clothes.


    Unzipping his coat, Joe walked toward the table.


    "Joe," Chuck said. "It''s been an age. How are you? How''s the wife?"


    "Hi Chuck. Romy''s fine. We''re both fine." He sat down next to Giles.


    Holding out his hand, Giles said, "Hi-di-ho."


    Joe shook it. "Giles, I saw your car."


    "You like it? The salesman told me they''re popular in Hollywood these days. Humphrey Bogart''s got one."


    "I like it." Joe said.


    Chuck leaned in, "I still don''t believe it. You and her? She was on the other side."


    Joe shrugged. "The war''s over, Chuck. It''s been over for eight years and it wasn''t personal."


    "War''s over, yeah, but I don''t think there''s a one of us she didn''t take a shot at. Besides, you took up with her while it was still going."


    "She came over to our side while it was still going."


    "She was a spy. You couldn''t know what she had in mind."


    "I''ve told you before -- Isaac did. He passed her."


    "Isaac made mistakes too. Remember the --"


    Giles held up his his hands. "Boys. Boys! Why rehash that old argument? Children born when it was relevant are now entering the third grade. Let''s talk about why we''re here. Chuck?"


    "Hey," Chuck said, "sorry about that. Seeing you guys again puts me back a few years. I didn''t mean anything by it."


    "It''s alright," Joe said. "So, why are we here?"


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    "It''s my father in law. He got involved with the Chicago Outfit. You know, the mob. Remember how ''Leonardo''s'' used to be a speakeasy? They got him liquor during Prohibition. He got extra food during rationing. Now he wants out, and as the guy who''s going to take over after he retires, I agree. I don''t want to be connected to those guys."


    Joe nodded. "I wouldn''t either. What did you plan to do?"


    Chuck said, "Well, I thought I''d get a few of us together and put the fear of God in them. You know, what I''m doing in the neighborhood. Just bigger."


    * * *


    Two hours later, Joe sat in the sub-basement he''d excavated below his house. Nearly one hundred feet below the surface, all gray concrete, and filled with tools and machines, it wouldn''t win awards for interior design.


    Joe didn''t know why he''d done it. A secret workroom had seemed like a good idea when he came back from the war. If nothing else it worked as a fallout shelter. Of course, that hadn''t been the real reason. Originally he''d intended to start up as the Rocket again -- just like he had been before the war.


    He hadn''t.


    Some guy calling himself Man-machine had appeared while he was overseas. He ran around town in a huge suit of powered armor.


    Joe didn''t think that Grand Lake needed two armored protectors, and by the end of the war he had fewer illusions about what fighting meant.


    He''d decided to concentrate on his job. Being an engineer for an auto parts factory didn''t inspire him, but it paid the bills.


    He inspected the armor where it stood in the corner. He had the suit he''d left three quarters finished when he went to war. Dull, gray superstructure, and the layered artificial muscles, it waited for action.


    He''d left the version of the Rocket suit he created during the war with the army.


    He sat on a stool and thought. If he did help Chuck, he''d have to finish it first. He had a few ideas he''d never gotten to try during the war and a few improvements.


    Half an hour passed and he sat motionless, flipping from one possibility to another in his mind.


    Romy floated through the ceiling, cigarette still in hand. Her feet appeared first, followed by the hem of her skirt and finally the rest of her body.


    Joe didn''t even look up.


    She tapped the ashes into a metal bowl, eyed the suit, and in an amused tone said, "So, are you going to tell me what you''re planning, or will I have to torture you first?"


    <hr>


    So this is it, the beginning of a short interlude with the first Rocket. It''ll be eight episodes, and then we get back to the current Rocket.

 1953: Part 2

    He woke knowing that he had just drowned in the North Sea in full armor. He couldn''t pull it off before sinking. Half naked in the darkness, he had kicked and pushed. But had he really been swimming upwards? He couldn''t tell.


    Gasping for air, his mouth filled with water.


    Bolting awake, at first not realizing where he was, he took a breath.


    "Joe?"


    "Sorry. Bad dream."


    "Which one?"


    "One of the drowning ones. The North Sea this time."


    She sat up and laid a hand on his shoulder.


    "It could have been worse. It didn''t really happen. I''ve seen worse in real life," he said. The sheets and blankets lay on his lap. He suddenly became conscious of how cold it was.


    "I know," she said.


    "I haven''t been in any kind of action since the end of the war, but I''m still dreaming about it," he said. "I don''t plan to get back into it, but I''ve been making what downstairs? Some kind of bunker. I don''t think all of it''s even on our property any more. It''s partly under the park."


    He leaned back against the headboard of the bed.


    "I told you about what Chuck and Giles are doing. I''m going to finish off the suit, help Chuck out, and then maybe it''ll be over."


    Romy said, "It doesn''t have to be over. You don''t really like your job. You''ve said yourself that you were at least making things that mattered during the war. Maybe there''s a way to make a living off of being the Rocket."


    "Well," he said, "maybe there is, but I can''t think of one unless it''s advertising. I could be the Rocket, sponsored by Camel."


    "I''d try for Lucky Strikes," she said.


    "Thinking they''ll pay their share in cartons?"


    "I can hope," she said. "But I''m not joking about this. It seems like there are more people in costume all the time. Man-machine here in town. The Marvelous X over in Lansing. Someone has to invent their devices. You''re already doing it for Captain Commando and you did it all the time during the war."


    "He''s an old friend, and anyway, he breaks them practically the second they touch his hand."


    "Then you''ll have repeat business," she said.


    "It''s a good dream," he said. "I just don''t see myself as much of a businessman. The best thing I can do is find a better job. Consulting isn''t stable."


    "It''s better than being bored."


    "I''d rather be bored than unemployed."


    The alarm rang. He fumbled till found it on the end table and shut it off. He reached over the alarm clock and turned on the lamp. She''d already pulled the covers back over herself.


    Well, he thought, another day helping General Motors conquer the world.


    * * *


    He stopped by Cannon''s Hardware on the way home.


    The snow wasn''t any better than the night before, but at least it had been plowed. Sand lay on a hardened layer of flattened snow that covered the streets. The temperature was too low for salt to melt anything.


    He parked in front of the store in the street. The hardware store stood in a line of stores in two story buildings from the 1880''s, one of Grand Lake''s boom times. Neon lights spelled out "Cannon" on a sign that ran down from the roof to just above the first story. Kay''s Sewing stood just to the right. He would have to stop there too. Romy had asked him to pick up material.


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    He hadn''t even known she could sew.


    He crossed the sidewalk. Cannon''s kept it shoveled all the way to the concrete. By this time in the winter, most other businesses seemed to end up with a layer of snow that didn''t seem worth removing somewhere around their stores.


    He approved. If they kept the store like their sidewalk, he might stop here more often.


    He walked in, pulled out his list and started going through the store. Half an hour later, he had almost everything he needed.


    Pushing the cart up to the counter, he passed his list over to the cashier, a tall, blond teenager. Putting down a notebook, the boy looked it over and said, "We''ll have to special order most of this. We don''t keep this kind of welding supplies in stock."


    "And this," the boy said, pointing far down the list, "isn''t really for residential use anyway. We try to focus on homeowner needs. We can special order it for you, but I''ve never seen it on the shelves, sir."


    "As long as I get it by next week, it doesn''t matter."


    The boy pulled out a couple forms and some catalogs from under the counter. "I''ll have to fill these out a second."


    "That''s no problem."


    Joe looked over the counter while the kid wrote information out of the catalog onto the form. The notebook lay open next to the catalog. The headline of the newspaper clipping pasted to the page said, "Rocket Moves to Pacific Theater."


    The picture showed him flying over the ocean toward an aircraft carrier.


    Next to the article, someone had drawn his armor, labeling the parts, and making another purely speculative drawing about what might be under the surface. The handwriting and the drawing were both clean and precise.


    The guesses, Joe thought, weren''t bad.


    "The Rocket''s been gone for a while now," Joe said.


    The kid looked up from the second form.


    "Oh, I know, but he was great. He was from Grand Lake. Did you know that?" The kid flipped to the first page of the notebook which showed a yellowed clipping of the picture from some long lost article. It showed him running downtown in the first Rocket suit. He hadn''t even added the rocket pack yet at that point. He couldn''t have been much older than this kid when he did it either.


    "I''d heard," Joe said. "Do you have pictures of the rest of them? He wasn''t the only guy in that unit."


    "No. Just the Rocket. The rest of the guys always seemed to be sneaking around. With the Rocket you''ve got a guy who''s not afraid of a full on fight."


    "I don''t think any of them were afraid of a fight, but tactically, the Rocket was the best choice. In war, you use people where they fit."


    "But you never saw them taking on tanks." The kid was actually getting red in the face.


    Joe could actually think of times they had.


    "Not in the paper," he said. "So am I all set?"


    The kid didn''t say anything for a second, but then said, "Yep. Do you need me to help carry it out to the car?"


    "I''ll be fine."


    <hr />


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 1953: Part 3

    The butler opened the door and showed the two of them into Hardwick House.


    Stepping into the small alcove next to the door, Joe noticed that Giles had had the place redecorated since he''d last been in. All the old Victorian furniture with its intricate carvings had been replaced by modern furniture with straight lines, uncarved wood, and basic shapes. Joe wondered where all the old stuff had gone, but did not plan to ask. It really didn''t matter.


    Turning to the butler, he said, "Mitchell, If you don''t mind, we''ll find our own way in. They''re at the top of the pyramid, right?"


    The butler nodded.


    As they followed the main hall from the older, Gothic mansion to the pyramid shaped section on the far end, Joe sometimes poked his head into the rooms and pointed them out to Romy.


    "The ballroom," he said.


    A little later... "The library."


    "That''s the guest suite. I think Teddy Roosevelt slept there once."


    Without the old furniture, they looked less cluttered but somehow less impressive, Joe thought. On the other hand, it wasn''t as if he was ten anymore. He couldn''t seriously expect Giles to have kept the house the same.


    The elevator stood in a column in the middle of the first floor of the pyramid. They stepped inside and Joe pushed the button.


    "A pyramid. A tower. A house that recalls the style of a cathedral," she said. "It''s as if the owners are desperate to be old, but this house isn''t even one hundred, is it?"


    "It might be eighty," Joe said. "Still, it seemed impressive enough when I was a kid. Try to imagine playing hide and go seek here. The basement is almost as large as the house."


    "What do they use it for?"


    "Not much. I think they started digging before they started asking why they wanted to dig."


    They reached the top floor. The elevator opened and they stepped out into an open room with windows on all four sides. The top of Hardwick House''s tower stood just across the roof to the west, blocking the view of part of downtown. Past it, Grand Lake and Lake Michigan merged into the darkness.


    Chuck and Giles sat at a table near the window.


    They both stood up as Joe and Romy stepped out of the elevator. Giles saying, "Good to see you both. Can I get either of you a drink?"


    "I''ll have a beer," Joe said.


    Romy said, "What have you got?"


    As Giles waved her over to the bar, Chuck stepped up to Joe. "You told her?"


    Joe said, "She asked."


    "My wife asked, but I didn''t bring her in. You don''t tell people about this."


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation."You know Romy can keep a secret. She worked with us for almost half the war."


    Chuck glanced toward the bar. Joe followed his gaze. Romy and Giles were already walking back.


    "OK, she can help, but watch her."


    Joe didn''t say anything.


    "Well, let''s start," Giles said. "Chuck and I have been going over the basics and we have come up with some ideas. We can''t just tell the Chicago mob to keep away from Leonardo''s because if we go after them after that, they''ll guess we''re connected to his father-in-law. What we need to do is think big. We''re going to tell them to get out of Grand Lake."


    Romy handed Joe a glass of beer as they sat down at the table.


    "We''re just going to kick the mob out of the city?" Joe said. "That won''t be easy."


    "Easier than you''d expect," Chuck said. "The cops have to pay attention to evidence and proof and all that. We don''t. I figure we go after one thing only -- the profits. The mob wants to make money. If we want them out of here, we make it too much of a hassle to make a profit and they''ll go."


    "How?" Romy said. "How exactly will we go after their profits?"


    "Lots of different ways," Chuck said. "First, my father-in-law has a good general idea who''s paying protection money. I''m going to go in as Night Wolf and tell them not to pay."


    "That''s one," Romy said.


    "The other one," Giles said, "and this is the part I love, is that we start going after their property. They own some warehouses and some businesses. We burn down the warehouses and start giving their businesses hell. I''ll use my influence to start investigations by the police, and make sure anything they need from the city bureaucracy moves at a snail''s pace. I''ll have my people buy up anything they need and sell it back to them at double the price."


    Joe nodded. "I''d be lying if I said I didn''t like parts of it, but off the top of my head, I see a few problems. The mob''s going to strike back and the obvious target''s going to be the other business owners. We need to make sure they don''t take the brunt of it. Second, we''re going to end up fighting the police or maybe even Man-machine when we start burning down buildings. Do you think we can get away with it?"


    "Details," Giles said. "We''ll sort it all out in the end."


    "We''re better off if we start sorting it out now," Joe said.


    Romy took another sip out of her wine glass. "I think we''ve got the germ of something good here. Let''s start one step further back. What sort of resources do they have?"


    They talked until well past two in the morning.

 1953: Part 4

    Two weeks later, Joe stood in the McAllister''s living room. Chuck sat on the couch. He wore a baggy flannel shirt.


    "You can''t see it," Chuck said, "but I got shot twice. Once in the gut. The other grazed me. I had my doc sew me up."


    "How did it happen?"


    "I''d just dropped by King''s Smokes. The owner was on my list of people to contact. I talk to the guy and the whole time I could smell that he''s scared as hell and just getting worse. So, I cut it short. On my way, I climbed up the building across the street and when I looked back, I saw that he was on the phone. Before I got even a block over, people in one of the passing cars started shooting at me. Luckily my doctor''s house wasn''t far."


    Joe nodded, then said, "Wait, did you change or does the doctor know about Night Wolf now?"


    "The doc''s one of my wife''s cousins and he''s known for a while. It''s not the first time I''ve walked in there bleeding. I''ve stayed active, you know? I should give you his number. You might need it."


    "If something gets past the Rocket suit, I''m not going to need a doctor. I''ll need a morgue."


    Chuck laughed a little and then grimaced. "Yeah. You''ve got a point there, but still, you never know."


    "Yeah. You don''t. I guess I''ll take that number."


    * * *


    King''s Smokes closed at seven at night. Joe landed the Rocket suit half a block down the street at six-thirty and walked down the sidewalk to the store.


    A few cars moved slowly down the road. None of them stopped.


    Joe guessed that the Rocket had been forgotten during the eight years between the end of the war and now. That and it was dark by six in the winter. It could be that they just couldn''t see him very well.


    He opened the door to the smoke shop and walked through. Even through the helmet, he could smell the pipe tobacco. Boxes of cigars and tobacco covered the shelves. Behind the counter, a bald, mustached man smoked a pipe.


    The pipe dropped from his hand when Joe walked through the door, his armor golden in the light.


    "Hi," Joe said. He didn''t quite sound like himself.


    Before leaving, he had experimented with the PA system in the helmet, modifying his voice to sound deeper.


    "I''d like you to do something for me," he said. "Yesterday Night Wolf came to visit. You called the mob and they came and shot him. I''d like you to do the same for me."


    The man pulled his pipe off the floor, then, hands shaking, dropped it on the counter.


    "I didn''t call the mob. I don''t know anyone in the mob... He didn''t die, did he?"


    "No. He didn''t die, but he did see you calling somebody. Who were you calling?"


    "My... wife. I was coming home late."


    "I don''t buy it."


    "It''s true, goddamn it. What is it with you people? You''re a bunch of thugs just like they are. Can''t you leave things alone? I''m trying to run a business here."


    Joe wondered when he''d stepped into a Raymond Chandler novel.


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    Stepping up to the counter, he said, "No. We can''t just leave things alone. I don''t see the point of being shot at all over the world only to get home and find mobsters in my own home town and people like you helping them."


    He smacked the counter for emphasis.


    It made a loud booming noise, but didn''t break.


    Even as he did it, he felt like was in two places -- hitting it and watching. When had he gotten this angry? He needed to step back and calm down.


    The man backed away from the counter, bumping the shelves behind him. A box of cigars fell to the floor.


    "Look at it this way," Joe said. "You''ve been paying them protection money for years, right? If we''re just a bunch of thugs, it''s time to call them and get your money''s worth."


    "OK. OK, I''ll call them, but can you just get out of the store? I don''t want to be near you if they come in shooting."


    It almost made him want to stay. The kind of person who informed on people to the mob deserved to get his store shot up.


    Giving the guy a final look, he said, "I''ll walk outside. Just make that call quickly. I don''t want to stand out there any longer than I have to."


    The man didn''t reply, but he did pick up the phone and start dialing.


    Joe walked outside and let the door swing shut behind him.


    He walked a few steps away, waiting while the snow fell, appreciating the heater he had built into it.


    He didn''t wait long.


    The car came around the corner, traveling quickly up the street.


    Not a bad response time, he thought.


    It stopped directly in front of him, maybe ten feet away. The passenger side door opened and a man stepped out. He wore a winter coat instead of a trenchcoat as Joe might have expected from the movies, but he did hold a gun in his hand.


    From what Joe could see, the other three guys in the car also had guns.


    Not that that mattered.


    "Hey you," the mobster said, "get away from that store and stay away. Tell all your friends to stay away too."


    The mobster had a typical Midwestern accent. Joe couldn''t hear even the slightest hint of Italian. It figured. He''d heard that the Chicago mob included more than just Sicilians.


    He whistled. He didn''t whistle a tune. He started with one note, slowly adjusting pitch higher, using the suit''s PA system to increase the volume to unbearable levels.


    The mobster held his hands to his ears.


    The car''s windows shattered. The ones on the side nearest to him went first, followed by the windows on the front, rear and the other side all at once.


    The man opened the door and jumped back into the car.


    Joe closed the distance in one long step. Crouching, he grabbed the bottom of the car and pulled it upward, flipping it over on its side.


    The rear tires rotated uselessly.


    "Tell your boss," Joe said, "that one way or another you guys are going to leave Grand Lake."

 1953: Part 5

    "So what happened after that?" Giles said.


    They sat in the kitchen table at Joe''s house, both of them holding bottles of beer.


    "The guy pulled out a gun and shot me."


    Giles laughed.


    "Yeah, I know," Joe said. "You know how I had the car on its side? I flipped it onto its top and started pushing it down the street. I''m not Reg, but I got the car up to the speed of traffic."


    "How did they take that?"


    "They didn''t like it much. Chunks of packed snow and ice were coming in through the windows. You know, the big chunks that build up behind the wheels? You should have heard them cursing at me. After a couple blocks, I came to Harris Hill and pushed them down it."


    "The hill where we used to go sledding when we were kids? How''d they take the big bump?"


    "Not well. The car rolled."


    Giles laughed for a while.


    "I stayed until they got out," Joe said. "They were all walking and didn''t look too badly hurt. That made me feel a little better, but I still don''t think I''d do it again."


    "Why?"


    "Well, with no windows it would be all too easy to stick an arm out and crush it under the car."


    "Ah, but they''re all parasites," Giles said. "They don''t make their own money. They steal other people''s. I''d say they deserve whatever comes to them."


    "I''d say you''re right except they wouldn''t have been hurt in the name of justice. They''d have been hurt because I was angry that they shot Chuck."


    Giles shrugged. "The law will never catch up to them. I''ve spoken to the mayor and the chief of police. They don''t have any evidence on these people. We''re as close as it gets, mixed motives or not. I''d say they still got treated better than they deserved."


    Joe mumbled, "Could be.


    "Well," Giles said. "We''ve got their attention anyway. A couple of them stopped by while Chuck was at the restaurant today. They told him that he was to call them if any of us came by or if he had any clue as to who we might be."


    "Did Chuck lie or just play dumb?"


    "Oh, he played dumb. He turned on the charm and pretended he was just another scared little lap dog. I don''t think they have any idea what''s coming. Which reminds me, how''s Romy doing?"


    "I think she''s got just about everything we need."


    * * *


    Joe stepped into Cannon''s Hardware to check on a couple more things he''d ordered. Just like the last time he''d been there, he marveled at the care that someone had taken for the store. Everything that needed to be labeled had been, and the floors appeared to be spotless despite the constant stream of customers with dripping boots.


    Either the store owner was a fanatic about cleanliness or the employees were extremely bored.


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    Judging from how the owner kept the sidewalk, Joe would bet on the former.


    He walked up to the counter to find the same teenager as before. The Grand Lake Sentinel lay folded over on the counter. On the bottom half of the page, he saw a story entitled, "Armored Man Pushes Car Down Hill."


    The notebook lay open to an empty page.


    The kid stared at the paper.


    "I can''t believe he''s alive. I figured he''d died in the war."


    "Who," Joe said, "the Rocket? Why did you think that?"


    "He didn''t do anything after the war, but the other guys in his unit did. I just don''t understand why he''d go after Mr. Monroe''s people."


    "Did you know the guys in that car?"


    "No, but the article says they work for Mr. Monroe. The guy who owns the garbage collection business. He''s a nice guy. When I was little he used to have my family and a bunch of others over for a Christmas party and play Santa for the kids. I don''t get it."


    "I''m sure that the Rocket''s got a reason."


    "It can''t be a good one. This just makes no sense."


    * * *


    Joe stood in the sub-basement, completely suited up except for the helmet.


    He attached the flamethrower under his left arm, a modified Browning automatic rifle under his right.


    Crazy, he thought. Here he was back home and armed for war. If he kept on doing this, he would have to swap the attachments out for something less lethal. He''d far rather hand over a living criminal to the cops than a bullet-riddled, burning corpse.


    He picked up the helmet and walked over to the tunnel that led up to the basement, shouting, "Romy, are you ready?"


    A voice behind him said, "Before you were."


    He turned around to find no one in the room.


    Then she appeared in front of the band saw, changing from transparent to solid. She wore a solid white costume with a mask that covered the upper half of her face. A semi-automatic pistol hung from her utility belt.


    "You''ve got a new costume," he said.


    "The old one had too many swastikas," she said.


    "Do you really need the gun?" He said.


    "Says the man with a flamethrower and a machine gun?"


    They laughed.


    "And yes, I do," she said. "But if you''ve invented something better, I''ll use it."


    "I didn''t think I''d need to," he said.


    "Then you''ve got something to think about for next time."


    "What makes you think there''s going to be a next time?"


    She smiled at him.


    "Normal people don''t build underground laboratories."

 1953: Part 6

    It felt like he''d set half the city on fire.


    It wasn''t true, of course. He''d burned down a couple bars and a car dealership. Giles and Chuck had taken a restaurant and the warehouse.


    They''d gotten into a rhythm after the first two buildings. Romy would fly through to make sure that nobody was inside. He would break through the door and spray the inside with trails of the flamethrower''s fuel. It didn''t take much to start it burning after that.


    Doing the car dealership had been a little like making popcorn. The ones that exploded tended to blow up in clusters with a couple more going even after he''d thought they were finished.


    They''d left Monroe''s garbage collection business for last, planning to meet there.


    The business wasn''t much to look at, especially in the dark. Surrounded by old brick factories and warehouses, "Monroe''s Garbage Collection and Removal" boasted a squat, brick building that was large enough to fix garbage trucks inside plus space for administrative offices. It sat in the middle of a parking lot half filled with garbage trucks. Lights on the building illuminated the parking lot and the chain link fence that crowded the edge of the sidewalk.


    Joe and Romy stood on the roof of the factory across the street.


    "Think they''re on the way?" He said.


    "They can''t be long," she said.


    Neither of them were looking at the building they''d come to burn.


    South of them, near to Grand Lake''s harbor, a warehouse burned. They couldn''t see flames anymore, but earlier they had reached past the roof. The sound of sirens had ended not too long ago.


    "The fire department''s having a long night," Joe said. "I hope no one gets hurt."


    "If Chuck''s doing his job, there won''t be any reason to get hurt."


    Joe laughed. "No hard feelings about his sense of smell?"


    "If anything I should thank him. Imagine what might have happened if he hadn''t caught me."


    Knowing the answer already, he said, "Have you ever thanked him?"


    "No, and I don''t think I will while he''s still hinting I might turn you over to the SS."


    "He''s more up to date than that. I''m sure he thinks you''ll turn me over to the Russians these days."


    She laughed briefly. Very briefly.


    The wind picked up, blowing small snowflakes across the roof.


    "Cold?" Joe asked. "We could fly down to the street."


    "No, but I think that if they don''t get here soon we should start without them."


    They waited another ten minutes. Joe watched in the direction of the harbor, hearing police sirens and wondering what that meant.


    Romy''s hand sunk through the Rocket suit to touch him on the shoulder. "Let''s finish it," she said.


    "You''re right. They can take care of themselves."


    She faded, becoming transparent and rising a foot above the roof. "I''ll go first," she said.


    He watched her fly toward the building, becoming invisible as she crossed the street.


    Starting the jetpack, he rose into the air and crossed the street, landing next to the building. He considered flying up to the roof to get a better view, but decided not to.


    He walked around the side of the building, no longer able to see the road because of the garbage trucks parked between him and it.


    Someone had placed a wooden dog house next to the building. Joe checked inside, but couldn''t see a dog. The mound of blankets, old towels, and shed fur inside argued that the dog had been there recently. Hopefully someone had taken it home. It was too cold to sleep outside, he thought.


    Deciding that this was a good spot to stay out of sight, he leaned against the wall and waited.


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    Romy stepped out next to him a few minutes later.


    "There you are," she said. "I went through their files but didn''t find anything new since Tuesday. It''s all yours now."


    "You didn''t happen to see a dog?"


    "The dog? No. It''s always outside."


    "It doesn''t seem to be here now. I guess it''s time to start the fire, but, could you check on what''s keeping the other guys?"


    Soundlessly, she flew away, disappearing into the brick wall across the street.


    It didn''t take long. He broke down the door and sprayed the offices inside with fuel. He left the repair bays alone. Then he took to the air and hit the garbage trucks and the building with fuel from above. The liquid splashed on the building''s roof and ran down the side of the trucks.


    Hovering over an empty section of the property, he raised his arm toward the building, set the flamethrower to burn, and clicked the button on his palm that started the stream.


    He had sprayed a lot of fuel on the building''s flat roof and it went up with a roar, creating a massive cloud of smoke. He wondered if anyone had heard.


    The garbage trucks went randomly. One exploded. For the others, the fuel just burned, blackening parts of their metal bodies and cracking the windows.


    He wondered if he should go back and finish them more thoroughly, maybe shoot a few bullets through the windows, but decided not to. The point had been made. He''d just done thousands of dollars of damage. It might be covered under insurance, but what he could burn down once, he could burn down twice -- assuming the documents Romy had been collecting all week didn''t put Monroe and his people in jail.


    A large, dark shape ran away from the trucks into the open area of the lot.


    It stopped, turned to look back at the building and the trucks, then bounded to the chain link fence, pausing in front of a door. It had been chained shut.


    Huh, Joe thought, the dog. Where had it been hiding?


    He thought about carrying it over the fence, but discarded the thought. If he let it out, he''d either have to bring it home or let it wander the streets. If he left it, the firemen would get it back to it''s owner or bring it to a shelter.


    He flew toward it, hovering some twenty feet away. He couldn''t guess the breed, but suspected he wouldn''t be able to guess in broad daylight either. It struck him as a mutt the size of a great dane.


    It stared up at him, then turned its head to the street.


    He heard footsteps. Big ones.


    Joe followed the dog''s gaze. Something huge and almost human shaped ran up the street toward him. If he didn''t know better, he would have guessed it was his suit''s older brother.


    Fifteen feet tall, the machine''s chest and head easily cleared the fence. Joe looked it over. While, it had superficial similarities to his own powered armor, it was an entirely new design.


    The Rocket armor simply amplified his own strength. From the way the new machine moved and the loud whine as it approached, he guessed that multiple engines did the work, but, however jerky its movements, it moved quickly.


    Dull gray, its limbs and torso seemed to be shaped almost entirely of rectangles. A massive gun hung under the right arm while a metal screen covered much of what would have been the face.


    Joe had seen his picture in the paper, but now he saw Man-machine in the steel reinforced flesh.


    Out of Man-machine''s loudspeaker came the words, "LEAVE THE DOG ALONE! What are you going to do? Burn him like you did everything else?"

 1953: Part 7

    "What are you talking about?" Joe asked. "I''m not going to burn the dog. I only burned the building because the mob owned it."


    "The mob? Mr. Monroe''s not part of the mob. He''s a decent man."


    "My definition of decent doesn''t include protection rackets or money laundering."


    "He doesn''t do that. I''ve known him -- I mean he''s been in this town for years. Just ask around."


    "I''ve been in this town for years. I didn''t know anything about it until a couple weeks ago."


    Man-machine adjusted his stance, lowering the gun arm.


    Joe decided not to read anything into it, but hoped it meant his message was getting through. Just in case it wasn''t, he edged ever so slowly right, moving away from the dog and between Man-machine and Monroe''s building. If the guy did start firing at him, his misses would hit something that deserved the damage.


    "Where are you going?" The gun arm went back up.


    "Nowhere. Just moving a little. Thought I might get away from the dog."


    Joe stopped. No need to make the guy nervous. He had a huge gun hanging under that arm. Stupid. Could the guy have copied the features of the wartime Rocket suit without thinking about what he''d designed it for?


    "So," Joe said, "what''s with the gun? I''ve seen smaller weapons on tanks. Have you been facing some kind of armored menace I haven''t heard about?"


    "No... I just thought, the bigger, the better."


    "I''d wondered. If you carry that thing around, you''re going to use it on a civilian sooner or later."


    "Well what about you? You''re carrying a gun."


    "I''m out to destroy buildings tonight. If I keep on doing this and I have to face people, I''ll use something that takes them out without killing them. If you want, I''ll pass on the design."


    "I don''t want your design! I know Mr. Monroe. He''s been a friend of my family for ages. I can''t even tell you how much he''s helped me --"


    Joe stopped listening. It came together all at once. The overly certain attitude. The connection with Monroe. The powered armor with almost all the same features as his own... Could it be the kid from the hardware store? But where did he get the money to build this thing?


    "Monroe paid for your materials, didn''t he?" Joe said.


    The gun arm came back up.


    "Look, I''m not trying to make you angry here," Joe said. "I''m just thinking. How many mob related tips have you gotten from Monroe? If you think about it, you''d be a great weapon against rivals. Short of a bazooka, they''d have no way to stop you."


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    Man-machine didn''t say anything. He seemed frozen in place.


    "So what is it?" Joe asked. "Does he tell you that he''s heard about a mob operation or do you receive anonymous tips?"


    "You''ve no right to accuse him after what you''ve done."


    Man-machine fired a burst from his gun.


    The bullets missed Joe, flying over Monroe''s building to thud into the top floor of the factory behind him.


    Joe gave the jetpack fuel and shot upward.


    The kid (if it was the kid) wasn''t listening. He didn''t care to find out what would happen if Man-machine hit him, but whoever it was in that armor used deadly force just because he got angry.


    That bothered him.


    He rotated a little to the right, flipped over and started downward, aiming to hit a little toward the back on Man-machine''s left side.


    Man-machine tried to twist and bring the gun around, but the armor couldn''t twist quickly enough. Joe hit him in the side, knocking Man-machine over, but bouncing off him as Man-machine fell down.


    The bounce carried him upwards.


    He twisted left, making a quick circle over the burning building and the trucks to land on the street some thirty feet from where Man-machine struggled to stand up.


    "Hey, I know you don''t believe me, but hear me out. Read the paper tomorrow and then go out and hunt me down if you still want to."


    Man-machine stood and shouted, "No. I don''t believe you."


    Then he jumped.


    Joe stepped sideways, narrowly avoiding being landed on.


    He threw a punch at Man-machine''s leg, knocking him sideways, but not far. Worse, Man-machine''s arm swung down from above, hitting him in the side with the bottom of his fist, knocking him down the street.


    When he stopped tumbling, he pulled himself up.


    Man-machine was already coming for him, boxy legs covering the distance far too quickly.


    The dog, stuck behind the fence, barked at both of them.


    Joe punched the button on his palm that fed fuel into the jetpack, rising into the air. Hovering one hundred feet above the street, he thought about his options. He could fly away. It was a pointless fight. Whoever was in that armor hadn''t thought through what it meant to use it. A punch or stray bullets from that thing could easily kill somebody.


    Man-machine needed to learn that.


    The question, Joe asked himself, was whether he personally had any duty to teach.

 1953: Part 8

    Unfortunately, if he didn''t do anything about it, who would? No one, unless Romy found the guys soon.


    He could just wait, but who knew when Romy would be back. He could try to talk some sense into the kid, but it hadn''t worked so far. At this point, Joe figured the best thing he could do would be damaging the kid''s suit enough that he couldn''t fight.


    Down below, Man-machine raised his gun arm and began to fire. None of the shots hit, but Joe cursed himself and started moving, thinking how much of an idiot he had to be to hover when his opponent had high powered weaponry.


    He aimed himself for the air above the factory, giving the jetpack all the fuel it could take.


    Man-machine fired at him continuously.


    Stupid kid, Joe thought. Didn''t he realize all those bullets had to come down somewhere?


    Crossing the factory''s roof, he shot toward its north side where it met Elm street. Then he came down on the other side, landing just around the corner.


    Out of Man-machine''s sight for a moment, he rechecked his own gun. It was ready, armed with armor piercing rounds.


    He leaned just enough to the side that one eye could see around the corner. Man-machine stood in the street in front of the factory where he had been, not seeming to know where to look. Sometimes he''d look up where the Rocket had disappeared, sometimes nervously in one direction or another down the street.


    Joe stepped out from behind the wall and started firing -- single shot, not automatic -- at Man-machine''s legs.


    He fired carefully, using the sight inside the helmet.


    The first shot grazed the outside of the right leg.


    The second hit the leg solidly, making a hole in the middle of the upper part of the limb.


    Man-machine pulled up his arm, beginning to aim the gun.


    Joe jumped into the air, punching the button in his palm that gave the jetpack fuel, weaving in the air to make himself harder to hit as the jetpack''s thrust closed the distance between him and his opponent.


    He aimed for the middle of Man-machine''s chest, but at the last moment twisted to grab Man-machine''s upper arm, hitting the right shoulder of Man-machine''s powered armor with his left shoulder.


    Man-machine toppled.


    For a few frightening moments, the Rocket suit''s thrust dragged the both of them down the street, bumping across the snow and bare sections of concrete and ice.


    Snow sprayed up from the street, hitting Joe''s helmet.


    Flailing, Man-machine tried to get a grip on Joe''s armored leg, but failed, unable to bend his arms far enough sideways.


    Halfway down the street, Joe cut fuel to the jetpack, then let go of Man-machine''s arm, pushing off the street with both of his own arms. Man-machine slid forward past him.


    Joe landed on his butt, but pulled himself to his feet while Man-machine struggled to coordinate both legs. The right leg wouldn''t straighten out.


    Deciding that it was time for the fight to be over, Joe pulled up his gun arm and fired at the lower half of Man-machine''s torso. Hole after hole appeared. After a moment, several began to leak fluid. Joe guessed it might be battery acid.


    Man-machine''s suit fell to the street and the limbs stopped moving.


    Joe walked closer. "Are you okay in there?"


    Silence.


    "I don''t know if you''re hurt or just pretending to be, but I''m going to have to rip open your armor to make sure."


    In a noise just short of an explosion, the armor cracked open. Steam filled the air above it as a man in a black mask and jumpsuit leaped out of the wreckage and began to run away.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Joe didn''t give chase.


    * * *


    Holding the phone to his ear in the kitchen five nights later, Joe said, "Well, how was I supposed to know the kid was going to do that? He must have had more than one set of armor."


    The Grand Lake Sentinel lay on the kitchen table with the headline, "Man-machine Destroys Monroe''s House: Kills 2." Lower on the page, another headline read, "More Documents Link Monroe to Chicago Mob."


    "The article says the deaths were accidental and I''d believe it. He didn''t seem like a killer to me. I think he''s just got a temper and an oversized sense of personal injury."


    He listened a little longer. "Sure, Chuck, I''ll be at the meeting."


    A pause.


    "Yes, Romy''s coming."


    Another pause.


    "I''ve got to go. I need to drop by a couple places before they close.... Right. Good-bye."


    He hung up the phone.


    Romy stood in the doorway to the living room. "Are you sure about this?"


    "I''ve got a duty to the thing," he said. "I should check in on it."


    "Well, the soup will be ready when you get back," she said. "Don''t be long."


    He pulled on his coat and hat, put his galoshes on over his shoes and walked out to the garage.


    He stopped at Cannon''s Hardware on the way. He walked to the back and grabbed a wrench. He''d needed one in that size for a while anyway. The store still looked clean, but the sidewalk outside hadn''t been shoveled as well as it had been. A thin layer of snow had been trampled into a flat, hard snow/ice mixture. Someone had put sand on top for traction.


    Joe noticed sand and melting ice on the floor next to the front door as he walked up to the cash register.


    The tall, middle-aged man behind the counter looked like an older version of the teenager.


    "I expected to see your son," Joe said, putting the wrench on the counter.


    "Yeah. He''s out doing something. Hasn''t been worth much of anything this last week."


    Joe tried to think of a way to get a little more detail, but the man spoke again.


    "Jerry''s been all broke up. Came home last week with bruises all over his body. Wouldn''t tell me how he got them. Then he saw the paper a couple days ago and blew up. He''d always liked Harry Monroe."


    "The mobster?" Joe said.


    "Yeah. I''ve been paying him protection money for years. I never explained it to the kid. I didn''t want him to be afraid. Besides, Harry, he played it like we were all friends, and he was just visiting because of his garbage business."


    The man picked up the wrench and read the price tag. "That''ll be two dollars even."


    Joe pulled out his wallet and paid.


    Handing him the receipt, the man said, "I just hope he gets over it all soon."


    "Ah," Joe said, "he''ll get over it."


    He waved as he left the store.


    Starting up the cold car a moment later, he wondered if the kid would get over it. Losing two childhood heroes in a week and then killing two people accidentally. It seemed like a lot to "get over." Still, he''d been through the war. He didn''t even know how many people he''d killed. But hadn''t he gotten over it?


    He hoped so.


    On the other hand, he''d spent the last couple years digging a bunker and recreating his weaponry. What did that say?


    He shook his head. Nothing he could do about it now.


    Next stop, the dog pound.


    <hr />


    And that''s it. We''ll be getting back to the main storyline tomorrow.

 Aftermath: Part 1

    So after you''ve secretly saved the city from a telepathic mayor and uncovered some kind of ancient conspiracy, you might wonder what would change in your life after that.


    Speaking only for myself -- not much.


    At least it seemed that way at the beginning. The people at school who hadn''t ever spoken to me continued not to speak to me. I continued to split my time between hanging out at the geek lunch table and hanging out with Cassie, Kayla, and Vaughn.


    The one thing that did seem different is that somehow of all things I''d done in the last month, the fact that I''d gone out with Haley once somehow did manage to hit the high school rumor mill.


    The way I heard it later, a barista at the coffeehouse we went to happened to go to Haley''s school, but her cousin Julie went to my school. Julie happened to be there visiting her cousin when Haley and I went out together and snapped a picture of us with her cellphone, passing it on to a lot of people.


    I had no idea why. I didn''t even know who she was.


    "Her," Cassie pointed two tables down.


    A lot of girls were sitting at that table.


    "''Her'' doesn''t help much," I said.


    "Julie''s the one standing up," Kayla said.


    Julie put her tray on the table, pulled out a chair and sat down.


    "She was standing up," Cassie said. "She''s the one in the blue top."


    "I know who she is now," I said.


    I did. I''d seen her before, but never noticed her. She was blond, attractive (but not unusually so), and her shirt seemed to be in a style I''d seen on a lot of girls this year. Undoubtedly the style had a name, but I wasn''t the person to ask about that.


    "What I don''t understand," I said, "is why she''d care."


    "You could bug her house and find out," Kayla said, laughing. That change I wasn''t particularly liking. Kayla now knew everything about the current League, or, if she didn''t know everything, she knew enough that I hadn''t noticed anything she was missing yet.


    It left me with some sympathy for the original League''s policy on mindwiping.


    Vaughn put his tray down next to mine and then pulled out his chair one handed. His right arm still hung in a sling.


    "It''s not that hard to figure out. Haley''s brother was a football star over at South High. Haley was a good gymnast, and you''re a total geek. What could you possibly have in common?"


    "Yeah," I said. "I guess I can see that."


    I could see it, and it made me just a little nervous. Even though my life hadn''t changed much, I had begun to see some spillover between my two lives. Take Haley, for example. She''d taken my hand on the way into the police station. Not having much other information about us, the press had spent a lot of time talking about that. What happened if we ever broke up in real life? How visible would it be when we were in costume? Even if that never happened, it made it more dangerous for her if someone wanted to pressure me.


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    And then there was Kayla, Cassie''s best friend from I don''t know what age. Would she be tagging along from now on?


    I really hoped that she could keep a secret.


    * * *


    After school, I didn''t even bother to go home. I walked straight to Grandpa''s old house, leaving footprints in the slush. Late November never seemed capable of committing to being winter. At the moment, we were feeling a little bit of a thaw.


    I took the elevator in Grandpa''s workroom down to Heroes League HQ, turned on the lights and walked up to the main table in the middle of the room. I sat in front of one of the screens at the table, entered my name and password, checked email, and waited for Isaac Lim''s call.


    It came a little after four.


    The FBI''s seal appeared on the screen, resolving into Isaac Lim leaning against the front of his book-and-paper covered desk.


    "Nick, how''s it going?"


    "Fine," I said. "Nothing much going on."


    "Heard from Magnus lately?"


    "I never did call him back," I said. "He hasn''t tried since."


    "I wish you had. We''re so close on these guys. The West Coast Defenders caught a bunch of Cabal people the other day and catching Magnus would help complete the picture."


    "What picture is that exactly?"


    "I don''t know. It''s wide open. Are they the whole conspiracy or was it bigger? Bouman seemed to think it was bigger, but he was small fry. He wasn''t in the middle of it."


    I nodded.


    "Don''t get me wrong," Isaac said. "You guys did good. Not many supers discover something as big as you did and live to tell about it, but we don''t have them all yet."


    I couldn''t argue with him. We had done well. Now it seemed like every day brought another super adding a piece to the puzzle. The West Coast Defenders found a Cabal group in Oregon just last week.


    We hadn''t been involved since the initial bust, of course. Who would trust teenagers with something like that?


    "What blows me away," Isaac said, "is that those books from Magnus? They really work. We can identify people with potential and give them powers temporarily. Nick, it''s the beginning of a new age of humanity and you started it."


    "Yeah," I said, and struggled to think of anything to follow it up with.


    Isaac seemed like a decent guy. Everyone I''d met from the FBI seemed decent so far, but, somehow I couldn''t quite be enthusiastic. The idea of the goverment being able to identify people with the potential for superpowers and control the substance that gave them temporary abilities... Um...


    Seriously, what could go wrong with that?


    <hr />


    And now I give you... The beginning of Book 2.

 Aftermath: Part 2

    "Nick," Isaac said, "I''ve got two more things for you. First of all, I''ve arranged training on how to fly the jet for any of you that want it. I''ll send you the information on that along with the evasive driving I mentioned before. Second, I need you to let me know if you''ve got any hint that Magnus or any of the Cabal''s people are in Grand Lake. Some of my people think they might drop by to remove any evidence they can from the Mayor''s house."


    "I thought you got basically everything," I said.


    Isaac shrugged. "We tried. Thanks to the powers that be deciding that I couldn''t talk to you at the time, I''ve no way to guess what we missed because we didn''t coordinate."


    "Which reminds me," he said, "do you have any more information on what your grandfather did to make Red Lightning''s powers permanent?"


    "Sorry," I said. "I don''t know anything about that. You might talk to Vaughn."


    "Yeah," Isaac said, "I''ll try it, but I''ve got a feeling he''ll be less than helpful. His family and the original team hushed everything up. "


    "Really?" I said.


    * * *


    Haley didn''t work on Wednesdays most weeks.


    It made for an extremely low pressure date, low pressure enough that we didn''t even call it a date. I would call her on Tuesday and talk and ask her if she were off. We''d meet at my Grandpa''s house, go down to League HQ, and go on patrol. Typically we''d borrow Night Wolf''s Corvette from the hangar and drive around town listening to the police band, pretending that what we were doing had anything at all to do with making the streets safer.


    I''d wear the stealth suit with the helmet off. It was more comfortable in a car than the full Rocket suit.


    The car turned out to be ideal for hanging around. The darkened windows gave us privacy and the fact that people now recognized Night Wolf''s car meant that if we stopped somewhere people assumed it had to be a stakeout. If we''d been in a normal car, they''d have called the police or just told us to go somewhere else.


    Not that we were making out or anything. We were just talking. Honestly, we hadn''t even kissed yet.


    On that particular Wednesday, we met at Solid Grounds after school.


    Walking up to the counter, I recognized the barista. She''d been here the last time we''d come.


    Haley walked up to the counter and said, "Hi, Shannon" in a tone that was clear and completely without any hint of annoyance.


    I lined up behind Haley.


    Shannon looked both of us over. She blushed. "I''m really sorry," she said. "I didn''t even know Julie had taken that picture."


    "It''s OK," Haley said.


    I wasn''t quite convinced that it was OK, but didn''t argue.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Not too long after that we went to Grandpa''s house, suited up, and started the patrol, this time with more of a focus than usual. We were going to the Mayor''s house.


    We arrived around four, got out of the car and started walking around the yard.


    It looked deserted.


    Broken windows had been boarded up. Peering in through the unbroken windows showed that all the unbroken furnishings had been removed. The table still sat in pieces in the dining room. No one had fixed the floor above it where Vengeance and the Hangmen had broken through.


    The swing set in the backyard had disappeared.


    Soot covered the bricks above the windows where the gas had exploded.


    I wondered whether or not they were keeping the heat on or at least draining the pipes. If water froze and then expanded, making leaks all over the house, they''d ultimately have to pay so much more to get things fixed up and sell the place.


    I turned away from the window toward the backyard. Haley stood next to one of the holes left by the swing set''s removal.


    "Hey," I said, "do you suppose we ought to break in?"


    "Just a second," she said, "I''m getting something."


    She had her nose in the air as if sniffing the wind.


    "I think someone''s here," she said. "Or maybe someone has been here. I''m going to climb the tower."


    She climbed up the wall.


    Starting up the jet pack, I flew past her, stopping near the top of the tower. Hovering in front of a broken window, I guessed it had to be recently broken by the fact that I couldn''t see any snow inside the Mayor''s study. I stepped inside.


    Haley stepped in after me.


    The study had been ransacked. Most of the books were gone. The ones that weren''t lay on the floor in disorganized piles, some open, some closed as if they''d fallen and no one bothered to pick them up.


    It felt cold. I could see my breath.


    Haley held her hand up to her lips and then stood still.


    We waited silently for a minute, maybe longer. Then she said, "I don''t think anyone''s here now, but someone was."


    "I wonder why," I said.


    "I don''t know. What was the mayor''s mission here in Grand Lake anyway?" She said.


    "I''m not sure," I said. "I assumed it had to be connected with Red Lightning somehow. Maybe to do with making the powers connected with the potions he made permanent instead of temporary? That would be my best guess. Isaac was digging for exactly the same thing just yesterday."


    We looked around the study for a little while after that, but didn''t find anything, not even a conveniently located secret compartment containing the mayor''s plans.

 Aftermath: Part 3

    She called me on Thursday night at 10:07 PM. I''d just finished the last of my homework, and was sitting at my desk in my bedroom thinking about what to do before going to bed.


    "Nick, I know where he is."


    "He?" I said.


    "Men and women smell different."


    "Like with perfume versus aftershave?"


    "Before that even, but that''s not important. He''s staying in one of the rental cottages on the south shore of Grand Lake. If he''s still here, we might be able to find which one."


    "Wait," I said, "how do you figure that?"


    "He smelled a little like dill. I didn''t think about it last night, but today I got it."


    She didn''t have to say much more than that for me to make the connection.


    The Heinz pickle plant stood on the south shore of Grand Lake. It sat next to a number of old businesses and factories on the edges of downtown. Further down Shoreline Drive could be found cottages, lakeside condos, and surprisingly expensive older homes.


    The key point about the Heinz plant was that it reeked of pickles. Ten foot tall barrels stood outside in all weather. With the right wind, the smell could cover a quarter of the city.


    "I just got out of work," she said. "I''m at Chuck''s Pizza. They were short staffed, so Dad sent me here. Do you want to pick me up in Grandpa''s car? I''ll be about a block east of the restaurant."


    "I''m done with homework so I guess I''m free for a little while."


    "I''ve still got a few algebra problems left," she said. "Do you think we could make it quick?"


    "I''ve got an eleven o''clock curfew," I said. "It''ll have to be."


    We hung up. I considered telling her to be careful, but I stopped myself. While Chuck''s Pizza wasn''t in the nicest of neighborhoods these days, she was probably the most dangerous person there.


    * * *


    My parents didn''t seem to have any problem with me running down to Grandpa''s house -- though it wasn''t as if I''d given them time to think about it. I just told them I''d left some books there and ran out the door.


    Ten minutes later, I found myself driving Night Wolf''s car downtown. I adjusted the wheel on the dashboard until the color turned blue, pressing the button that swapped out the license plate.


    The car handled beautifully even in the snow. I didn''t even have to flick on the spikes for extra traction.


    As she''d said, Haley stood a block down from the pizza place in front of "Hal''s Used Cars," a surprisingly dingy, but, well lit used car lot. A line of cheap red and green plastic flags hung on poles around the perimeter.


    "This is so cool," she said as she stepped in, stashing her backpack in the back seat. "I bet the Defenders do things like this all the time."


    "Probably," I said, "but I bet they''re getting paid."


    I pulled away from the curb the second she shut the door, giving the car more gas than I should have, but it accelerated so smoothly I barely noticed the speed. Driving it felt like flying except less exposed.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    I shot past three cars almost immediately and didn''t stop, changing the color of the car back to all black (and the license plate to "Night Wolf") as we turned onto Shoreline Drive. We were far ahead of traffic by then.


    She glanced over at me.


    "You seem a little nervous."


    "I''m okay," I said. "I''m a little worried about getting home before my curfew though. It''s already 10:24 and I''ve got to be back home by eleven, so we''ve probably got to find whoever it is before 10:40. We''re just cutting it close."


    "What would they do about it?"


    "I don''t know. Ground me, maybe."


    I pulled over to the side of the road. We stopped in front of an old video store just past the pickle plant. Posters in the window advertised videos in Spanish.


    Ahead of us, trees lined the street, marking an end to downtown and the beginning of houses and rental cottages. If we pushed through the yard, we could have walked along the edge of Grand Lake, but in that weather, we wouldn''t have wanted to even if we had the time.


    "Does this look like a good place to begin?" I asked.


    "Perfect," she said. "Could you get out first? I need to get into costume."


    "Sure," I said, and stepped outside, walking around the front of the car in the slush, and waiting for her on her side of the car.


    It took her a couple minutes. I occupied myself by playing with my equipment. According to the readouts from my helmet, the temperature was just a little above freezing and the wind blew at ten mph. I felt grateful that the stealth suit included an optional jacket.


    I''d found our exact latitude and longitude and had begun to use the GPS to calculate the exact distance from here to HQ by the time Haley got out of the car. She wore a black League jumpsuit -- which meant it was insulated, bulletproof, and form fitting. A mask hid the upper half her face.


    "I''ll try to catch his scent," she said.


    She started walking down the side of the road and I followed her.


    It didn''t take long before we stood in front of a long, one story, wooden building. Glowing, the old sign in front of it said, "motel" without giving a name. In smaller, neon letters, it said, "vacancy."


    I''d ridden past it all my life, but it had never occurred to me that it was still open.


    "He''s here," she said. "I can smell him. I bet we can find his exact room."


    She stepped off the side of the road and into the driveway and parking lot of the motel. The building stood close enough to the road that the parking lot touched the sidewalk.


    We walked past each of the doors, peering to the degree we could around the curtains in the window.


    As we passed the fifth door, Haley touched my arm and whispered, "This one."


    The door opened.

 Aftermath: Part 4

    I''d never have looked at him twice normally.


    The man behind the door had longish hair, wore jeans and a Chicago Cubs sweatshirt and seemed to be in his late 20''s or early 30''s. If I''d passed him in the street, I might have noticed that he seemed more fit than the average guy, but I might not.


    At this moment, the main thing I noticed was that he was holding a metal flask in his hand. He placed it somewhere off to the left of the door as he opened it.


    "Looking for me?" He said.


    I''d have liked to say no, but given that I was dressed in black, wearing a helmet and carrying a jet pack on my back, I didn''t feel like I''d be able to get away with lying.


    "I might be," I said.


    "Where''s the girl?"


    Haley wasn''t next to me.


    I didn''t say anything. I looked off to the right where she''d been. No one.


    When I turned my attention back to him, I realized that the size of his muscles had doubled and he''d grabbed an oddly shaped gun from somewhere while I wasn''t looking.


    Well, at least he hadn''t turned green.


    He pointed the gun at me and I felt something hit my chest.


    I looked down, noticing a tranquilizer dart on the ground near my feet.


    Combat situations are a really stupid time to look at your feet. He charged me, grabbing me in a bear hug and knocking me over.


    I tried to hit him with the sonics, but missed. Windows shattered behind him.


    Hitting the ground didn''t feel good, but it didn''t knock me out either. I managed to move my arm enough to punch him in the side.


    He grunted appropriately.


    Despite being able to punch him, I still couldn''t move my arm very far and breaking his grip turned out to be hard.


    By hard I mean nearly impossible. The stealth suit includes some of the same technology as the regular suit, but it''s not anywhere near as strong.


    Fortunately, it didn''t matter.


    Lying on the ground, I suddenly knew where Haley had gone. She''d jumped onto the roof. I understood this now because she was jumping down.


    She landed just to the right of me.


    Her right arm blurred, her hand raked across the back of his neck.


    "Shi--" he began, and then went limp on top of me.


    I pushed him off and pulled myself up.


    "How did you do that?" I asked.


    She looked uncomfortable. "Poison," she said. "You know, my hand..."


    Her voice trailed off. She held out her her hand.


    I didn''t see anything unusual about it at first. Then I noticed a dark spot of liquid next to her thumb.


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    "There?" I began to point at it with my finger.


    "Don''t touch it!" She pulled her hand back.


    She took a breath. "I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to snap at you. Just a second, I''ll show you."


    She held out her hand again, palm up. A sharp sliver of grayish claw slid out almost parallel with her thumb.


    "It stays even when I''m not changed."


    "Do you have one on the other hand too?"


    "Yes." She held out her left hand. The claw flicked out and then back in.


    "So, does it knock him unconscious or is it a paralytic or what?"


    "It''s a paralytic. Do we have to talk about it?"


    "No. I''m just asking because of him. I don''t have handcuffs, and I''m pretty sure he could break them even if I did. How long can you keep him out?"


    "Around twenty minutes for most people, but I can''t scratch him again and again. I need time for the..." she paused, "poison sacs to refill. Also, if I had to and I mean only if I really had to, I could bite him."


    "Bite him?"


    "I''ve got poison fangs, Nick."


    "Even before you transform?"


    "Yes, but they''re not really fangs until then."


    From the expression on her face, even I could tell that she didn''t want to talk about it anymore.


    "We should call Isaac and tell him what we''ve got," I said. "Can I borrow your cell phone? I left mine in my pants pocket back at HQ."


    "Mine is back in the car in my purse. I can go get it," she said.


    "You might as well grab the car while you''re at it. It''s at least a block away."


    "OK. I''ll go and--oh no."


    The man tried to pull himself to his feet, stumbled and fell.


    She leaned over, grabbing his arm. The claw slid out from her right hand and entered his skin. His eyes shut and his face hit the snow dusted pavement.


    She let go.


    "That wasn''t anywhere near twenty minutes. I wonder if we could just call the police from his room?" I said.


    "I hope so," she said. "I''ll be happy to get away from everybody."


    "Everybody?" I said.


    Half the doors of the motel seemed to be open with people standing in front of them. One man pointed his camera at us. The flash seemed extra bright in the darkness.


    Two doors down from where we stood, a middle-aged woman in a nightgown and winter coat shouted, "I''ve already called the police."


    "Great," I said. "Thanks."

 Aftermath: Part 5

    The police came twenty minutes later. Haley had to knock the guy out three more times while we were waiting for them. We''d moved him back into his room to keep him warm while we waited -- not that it made the room much warmer. I''d broken his window when he jumped me.


    We had to deal with predictable issues in the meantime. The man with the camera wouldn''t leave us alone. He hung around and asked questions until the police arrived.


    By the time the police put the man who''d attacked us onto a stretcher and carried him off, his muscles had gone down to their normal size.


    Haley and I walked back to the car.


    "Do you want to drive?" I asked. "It''s your grandfather''s car."


    "No, go ahead," she said. "I''ll be glad to warm up."


    I opened the car doors.


    "Maybe we can find a coat for you or have one made. I don''t know. Something that doesn''t restrict your movements, but keeps you warm in the winter."


    We sat down and shut the doors. I started the car and turned on the heater, taking off my helmet. She pulled off her mask.


    The clock on the dashboard said that the time was quarter after eleven. I hadn''t broken curfew so much as shattered it.


    "Nick, can we talk?"


    "Sure," I said. I couldn''t imagine that my parents would be much more angry at 11:40 than they would have been at 11:20.


    "I meant to tell you about the poison and everything, but I get worried," she said.


    "You don''t have to be," I said. "There''s nothing to worry about. It''d be nice to have powers all the time. I''m stuck with whatever I happen to be wearing, and if it''s the wrong thing, I''m useless."


    "It''s not nice," she said. "It didn''t bother me when I was little. The block kept me from showing it to people or talking about it, but that wore off in middle school -- and that''s just when I started to really be able to change. After that, it was always there. I had to watch what I did, and not jump too high, or try too hard, or stand out."


    "The little marks where the claws come out never go away, and sometimes people ask about them," she said. "I tell them it''s a birth defect."


    "I didn''t know you thought about it that way," I said.


    "I don''t all the time," she said.


    She went quiet for a few moments. "There was a gymnastics meet tonight. I heard it from Jenny. Not being involved this year I don''t think I''ve talked to her or anyone else on the team since the season started."


    I thought about what to say next. It seemed obvious that I ought to say something -- ideally something comforting, but I drew a blank.


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    I put my hand on her shoulder.


    She leaned into me and I let my arm go across her back.


    We stayed that way for a while.


    * * *


    By the time I walked in the door, the clock said ten minutes before midnight. I hung up my coat in the closet and stepped into the kitchen, unsurprised to find my dad there with his laptop, but very surprised to find my mom walking down the stairs.


    She usually went to bed by eleven.


    "Oh, hi," I said. "I''m really sorry I''m back so late. I kind of lost track of the time."


    "Nick," Dad said, "where were you really? You weren''t answering your phone. I drove past Grandpa''s house and there were no lights on. I even called Daniel and he didn''t know where you were either. So where were you?"


    "I must have turned off my phone," I said. "I was watching TV with the lights off."


    "I knocked on the door," he said. "I looked in the windows. You weren''t there. Don''t lie about it."


    "Oh," I said.


    "Your sister didn''t do this," Mom said. "She always came home on time."


    Rachel had, but Rachel had also showed me how to get out the second story window of her room onto the veranda, and down the side of the porch. She wasn''t fighting crime, but she''d definitely done a better job keeping part of her life secret and below parental radar than I currently was.


    Of course, I had one ace in the hole that she hadn''t. The question was, of course, whether it would work without Daniel''s dad calling ahead to give them a story.


    "Actually," I said, "I went out, got on Grandpa''s Rocket suit and helped catch someone for the FBI. If you turn on the CNN, you might even catch something about it."


    Dad looked puzzled. Then he said, "I must have missed you. We''ll allow it this once, but don''t let it happen again."


    Mom''s face was blank. "I think I need to go to bed," she said and started up the stairs.


    I grabbed my backpack from near the door, went upstairs to my own room and got ready for bed.


    My cellphone rang as I pulled my pajama top over my head.


    I grabbed the phone as quickly as I could, hoping neither parent had heard the phone ring.


    "Nick," Haley said, "you dropped me off too close to the house, and my parents saw the car. They wanted to know who owned it and where I''d been."


    "What did you tell them?"


    "Nothing. I barely got a word in. I don''t think I''ve ever seen them this angry."


    "Did you try to use the Mentalist''s block on them?" I asked. "It''s worth it."

 The New Heroes League: Part 1

    You know what''s weird? Weird is when something you were connected with gets its own graphics and theme music on most major news channels.


    I sat in League HQ surfing the web with one of the consoles at the table while I had MSNBC playing on the big screen on the wall. I had turned off the big screen''s sound, but I occasionally looked up to check the news crawl or if the main story seemed interesting.


    I''d been in taking a final look at the jet. I''d followed Grandpa''s directions, de-mothballed it, and tested all the systems I could. I''d even run the engines a little bit. Now all we needed was a pilot.


    In the middle of feeling satisfied that I''d at least gotten that off my plate, I looked up at the big screen. It showed a reporter at a desk. Next to him on the screen were the words "The Cabal" set against a background of test tubes, Red Lightning''s symbol, and a picture of Mayor Bouman.


    I turned on the sound.


    "... Heroes League captured another member of the Cabal last night. He is now in FBI custody. That brings the number of Cabal members in custody up to forty-seven. The FBI has yet to reveal the identity of the most recent arrest. For some insight on these events, we''ll now go to our guest Dr. Sidney Smith, formerly known as Mr. Menace. Dr. Smith, you fought the Heroes League and allied with Red Lightning when he broke away from them."


    The screen briefly showed a picture of Mr. Menace in a lavender uniform, muscles bunched up, throwing a Ford LTD sometime during the 1970''s. For a white guy, he had a huge afro. Then it cut to him now.


    He looked like an old, bald, overweight guy in a suit. Still, he looked nice -- as nice as you can be and spend twenty years in costume calling yourself Mr. Menace.


    "I did," he said, "that I did. Great times. You know Red Lightning offered me immortality if I stood with him."


    The reporter appeared visibly skeptical. "Could he do that?"


    "Do you think I''d be here if he could? I''d be in Tahiti with a couple of women and one hell of a fat Swiss bank account." Then he laughed.


    "Well, then what do you think of the Cabal? Related to Red Lightning or not?"


    "Related. I always got the feeling he didn''t come up with the potions himself."


    "What do you think of the new Heroes League?"


    "They''re a bunch of kids in costumes. I don''t mean that in a bad way. Mindstryke and the Rhino took me down a couple times when they were kids in costumes. Oh, and for anyone still speculating that the original Rocket came back, you''re wrong... Can you run the footage?"


    The picture cut to black and white TV footage of my grandfather as the Rocket beating up a bunch Red Lightning''s men in the street in front of City Hall.


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    "See how he fights," Dr. Smith''s voice covered over the footage''s muffled shouts, "the original Rocket used the Fairbairn-Sykes close combat style combined with your basic straight ahead brawling."


    "What''s the Fairbairn-Sykes style?" The reviewer asked.


    "A hand to hand system used by the Allies special forces during World War II."


    The picture changed. It showed Daniel, Cassie and me fighting Syndicate L''s people just before we ran into the Grey Giant. I wondered where they''d gotten the footage. The Grey Giant had pretty much trashed the building. I''d have expected any security cameras to go with it.


    "Now watch the Rocket and the new Captain Commando. They don''t use the same style. They use lots of punches and kicks. There''s bits of aikido and bits of Fairbairn-Sykes too, but it''s totally different and a little bit of a mystery. I''ve encountered it before, but I''m not sure who teaches it or where it comes from. The guy who invented it though? He gets around."


    After that, they talked about Dr. Smith''s autobiography, "My Life As a Menace."


    I missed it. Just as the old man started telling about his origin and how he got into crime, I heard the elevator run.


    I got up and walked through the stacked boxes to find Cassie and Kayla stepping out into HQ.


    "I didn''t expect to see you here," I said to Kayla.


    "I hope it''s OK," she said.


    Cassie said, "It''s fine. It''s not as if you don''t know almost all of our secrets anyway."


    Personally, I would have thought that that would have been bad enough without giving her the location of HQ as well.


    I don''t know what the expression on my face looked like, but Cassie caught my eye and then said to Kayla, "I''d like to talk to Nick for a second. If you walk past the boxes to the front, we''ll catch up."


    She went.


    "Bringing her here isn''t hurting anything," Cassie said.


    I paused, gathering my thoughts.


    "Cassie," I said, "I know she''s your friend, but no one outside the League should know as much as she does. All she''s got to do is let one thing slip and she''s a target and so are we."


    "She won''t slip, Nick. I''ve known her for years."


    "Any of us could slip," I said. "The difference is if it''s one of us, we''ve got a way to protect ourselves. She''s a sitting duck."


    "I''ll protect her. She''s my friend. She''s my problem. Besides, she figured it out for herself. What can we do about it?"


    I knew better than to say the obvious answer.

 The New Heroes League: Part 2

    I also didn''t feel quite comfortable with the idea. Taking advantage of the fact that my parents had the block was one thing. Installing it on Kayla (assuming that Daniel would) felt like it would cross some kind of ethical boundary.


    I just wasn''t sure which one.


    It seemed like there had to be something wrong with modifying a friend''s perception of reality for your personal convenience. On the other hand, one could argue that it would be for everyone''s protection -- including hers.


    "Nick?" Cassie said. "Anybody home?"


    "Sorry. Just thinking. We should probably talk about this again when she''s not here."


    "Or we could just skip it," she said, and started walking toward the front of the room.


    I walked with her.


    When we got to the front, Cassie gave Kayla the full tour, pointing out the hangar for the jet and the vehicles, the lab, the storage units, the tunnels, and the main console.


    Noticing my playstation, the assorted controllers (including guitars), and games lying next to the front of the main table, Kayla said, "Top secret superhero devices?"


    "It would be funny," I said. "You know, if I had a real guitar and if I could actually play it, I probably could figure out a way to plug it into the Rocket suit and blow things up by jamming."


    "Don''t give him ideas," Cassie said.


    "I wonder if there are any guitar based supers?" I walked over to a command console and logged in. "The FBI gives us access to their database. I''m just going to search it with the keyword ''guitar'' -- which ought to give us guitar based weapons, superheroes with guitars as part of their costume... Whatever, you know?"


    I did. I found nothing worth mentioning. It turned out that several superheroes played guitar, but none of them as part of their crime fighting persona. I even recognized the real name of the guitarist in a band I liked.


    "Nothing," I said. "That''s totally open."


    I thought back to the guitar playstation controller. They had the right idea. I didn''t have to go get a real guitar. All I only needed to design something with the complexity of a controller -- buttons on the neck instead of strings, a plastic lever, and possibly a whammy bar.


    It could be done.


    What kind of powers would it have? Sound, I decided, but also light. Rock musicians had light shows. The guitar interface opened up a lot of possibilities. With enough buttons, a person could just slide their fingers down the neck, launching attack after attack.


    I logged off from the terminal and started walking toward the lab.


    I didn''t intend to use it. I didn''t even intend to build it. It would be an interesting design exercise though. I would just set it up in a CAD program and see how far I could take it.


    Then maybe I''d build a prototype. That might be fun.


    As I walked away, I heard Kayla say, "What''s going on? Is he still angry?"


    "No. He''s thinking. Just let him get it out of his system. He''ll be okay in a day or two. The worst that can happen is that he comes back with a nuclear guitar."


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    Now there was an idea.


    Still thinking through possible designs, I heard them talking, but the meaning of their words somehow didn''t register.


    The phone rang, but not the real phone. The fake sounding ring that meant the call came through our government provided sound and video connection.


    That registered.


    I stood halfway across the room from a command console, however. Cassie leaned over, typed at the keyboard, and a outline of a muscular man in front of an outline of the state of Michigan covered the screen. The words "Michigan Heroes Alliance" appeared out of it.


    It dissolved into "The Marvelous X," the organization''s president. Obviously in his eighties, the man wore a silver tuxedo and a silver mask that covered little more than glasses would have. Not a single hair seemed out of place.


    I started running back to the front of the room.


    Just so that there''s no confusion, I should mention that the Michigan Heroes Alliance wasn''t a team. It was more of a union. It provided health and retirement benefits to members, lobbied the government on issues important to super powered individuals, and while it did organize heroes to fight villains, the ability to do that wasn''t the organization''s main point.


    "Greetings Heroes League," the Mavelous X said. "I''m happy that you consented to speak to me, but I''m unsure as to whom I''m speaking to."


    "Sorry," Cassie said. "This is Captain Commando. I left the video off because only the Rocket and I are here and we''re both out of costume."


    She stopped talking, frowned.


    "Wait," Cassie said, "I don''t mean that the way it sounds. We''re in street clothes. We''re not... Oh god, never mind."


    From her expression, Kayla appeared to be torn between mortification and breaking into laughter.


    The Marvelous X did laugh.


    "I didn''t think you were, but the thought takes me back. Your predecessor never seemed to stay with a woman for more than a fortnight. Sometimes, it seemed harder to find a woman in costume who hadn''t had a relationship with him, however brief, than one who had."


    "Hi," I said when I felt like I could do it without sounding out of breath.


    "The Rocket," he said. "You sound like the original. Did you know he helped found the Alliance?"


    "He mentioned it," I said.


    "Good. I''d like to apologize on behalf of the Alliance for the actions of Future Knight, Red Bolt, and Tomahawk. Even before they were mind controlled, they rushed to judgment. They should have been helping you, but instead they assumed you had to be in the wrong. In view of your team''s historic involvement with the Alliance, you are now all members in good standing."


    "Thanks," I said.


    Cassie shrugged, but said, "thanks," without sounding anything but grateful.


    "You''re welcome," he said. "In the spirit of our new found amity, I''d like to suggest you come down to our offices in Lansing. I can give you the tour and we can talk about what we can do for each other."

 The New Heroes League: Part 3

    We drove home from Lansing on Saturday afternoon. "We" in this case turned out to be Daniel, Cassie, Haley and I. Night Wolf''s car could barely hold four people, much less nine. Even though it only looked like a corvette at this point, it still didn''t have much of a back seat. We swapped seats and drivers at the halfway mark of the two hour drive.


    Touring the offices of the Michigan Heroes Alliance had turned out to be every bit as interesting as touring the offices of your average lobbying firm, chamber of commerce, or business.


    I was bored out of my mind.


    Before we left, they handed us a few boxes of equipment -- adapters that would allow us to connect laptops to their wireless network as well as the necessary technical information to connect other devices.


    It would have been my turn to drive first, but I let Haley go instead.


    She pulled out of the Michigan Heroes Alliance''s basement parking garage at a responsible speed quite unlike the one Cassie had used during her turn.


    I plugged the adapter into Daniel''s laptop. The CD that came with it installed the driver and a few programs.


    We had internet access.


    More to the point, we had access to their databases. I suspected we probably had access to the same information through the FBI databases, but this program had a different user interface.


    With the Feds'' stuff, you could search the database for a name, go down a list or whatever, but this program showed the state of Michigan. Dots marked the spots where villains had been sighted.


    "Nick," Cassie said, "pass it back. Just for a second."


    "Well, okay..." I paused, but handed it back to her anway, angling it to fit between the seats.


    Daniel looked mildly annoyed as she took it, but with as little space as the back seat had, he could definitely see what she was doing with it.


    "This kicks ass," she began. "Did you know that you could make it show former villains too? It shows Man-machine in the special prison near Jackson and there are a couple in Grand Lake. Any of you ever heard of ''Eye'' or ''Milo''s Revenge?''"


    "Milo''s Revenge?" I said. "Wasn''t that a video game or something?"


    "I don''t know," Cassie said. "It doesn''t matter anyway. They''re retired and it doesn''t look like anyone suspects them of anything current."


    Cassie tapped a little more. "Oh my gosh, I just changed it to show sightings from the the past week. Anyone ever heard of ''The Executioner?'' He''s active and he''s been sighted near Grand Lake."


    "No," I said.


    Haley said, "I haven''t. He''s not the same person as ''the Exposer,'' right?"


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author."The Exposer?" I turned my head toward her. "There''s a name. What was he? Some kind of superpowered flasher?"


    "Yuck," Haley said, "and no."


    Daniel said, "I''ll have heard of the Executioner if I read your mind."


    "Don''t." Cassie said. "I hate it when you do that."


    "Look, I know. You don''t have to tell me."


    "That''s the problem," Cassie said.


    For a moment, no one said anything. I became suddenly aware of the sound of the car driving down the highway and the piles of snow on either side of us. After a moment, I noticed that we were listening to ABBA''s "Dancing Queen."


    A cassette sat in the eight-track cassette player.


    "Where did that come from?"


    "I found a box full of them in my parents'' attic," Haley said.


    "I''m glad it''s your parents''. Listening to ABBA doesn''t quite fit with your grandfather''s whole ''scary vigilante in the dark'' thing."


    "I did find a couple under the seat," she said. "The soundtrack to ''The Sound of Music'' and a Lawrence Welk Christmas album."


    "That''s totally wrong."


    Haley glanced backward and said, "So who''s the Executioner?"


    "Well," Cassie began, "the computer says he''s a kind of hitman. Only he''s got a little bit of a specialty in superheroes. It looks like what he does is destroy their lives. Kill the people they know first and then finally them. He does normals too, but it looks like he makes less of a production out of it."


    "You know what we should do?" Cassie said.


    "Try to avoid getting his attention?" I suggested.


    "We should find him and catch him ourselves."


    "Except for the part where he hunts down everyone we care about," I said, "that sounds like a great idea."


    "Just hear me out. I think that a lot of what''s gone wrong for us went wrong because we waited for things to happen instead of starting it ourselves."


    "True," I said, "but if I remember correctly, the last time we started something it ended with a forty foot tall giant chasing us through downtown. Besides, if we''ve got this, every hero in Michigan''s got it. Someone else is probably already on the case."


    From behind me, Daniel said, "Could be, but I think there''s one more thing to think about. Why is he here on this side of the state in the first place? With Larry mostly running his business and my dad splitting his time between the Midwest Defenders and his job, we''re probably the best known heroes in the area right now."


    "Do you really think he''s here for us?" Cassie said quickly.


    "I don''t know, but I don''t know why else he''d be near Grand Lake."

 The New Heroes League: Part 4

    He really could have been here to go after us, but I hadn''t seen any hint of it. Of course, if he were good at his job, I wouldn''t.


    "Then we have to get him," Cassie said.


    She tapped away at the keyboard. "The sightings all seem to be ten, twenty miles north of Grand Lake. I wonder if he''s staying at a cottage?"


    "In December?" I said. "Can people use them in the winter? I always thought they were summer only."


    "My family''s got a cottage on Lake Michigan," Haley said. "We do our family Christmas there."


    "Really? I didn''t know." I said.


    "We use ours mostly in the summer, but it''s comfortable during the winter too. It''s a little bigger than most, but it has to be. My dad''s side of the family -- brothers, sisters, cousins... They all come for Christmas. You ought to come."


    "I''d like to," I said, "but I''d feel a little weird walking in on your family''s Christmas party."


    "Don''t worry about it. Between everybody, we''ve got more than one hundred people there most years and people bring friends... and dates. You''ll fit in. I don''t even know all my cousins."


    "It must be nice," Cassie said. "I''ve only got two cousins my age and I wish I didn''t know them. Anyway, let''s say we''ve agreed that some cottages can be used in the winter. From what I see here, he''s come around this time in other years."


    "Which means he probably isn''t targeting us," I said.


    "He might have a cottage," Daniel said, "or maybe a hideout."


    "You''d think they''d have caught him by now if he did," I said. "Someone would watch for him."


    "They are," Cassie said. "That''s what''s cool about this thing. You can sign up to receive updates on him by email and, if you want, you can publicly list yourself as being after him."


    "Who''s on the list?" I asked.


    Cassie smirked. "Protection Force."


    "Oh. Wow," I said. "That''s wild."


    Haley said, "Are they the team that sells ad space on their costumes?"


    Cassie said, "You''ve got it. Protection Force -- justice and sponsorships."


    "There''s nothing wrong with it necessarily," Daniel said. "Taking sponsors is okay. Putting their logos on your costume is legal. They just go a little too far."


    "It''s embarrassing," Cassie said. "Half the time they''re on TV, they''re trying to slip in the name of their sponsors."


    "Didn''t Larry used to cover his costume with logos?" Haley said.


    "Oh, yeah. He looked like a NASCAR driver," Cassie said.


    "Well, to be fair to him," I said," the factory he worked at had closed and unemployment had run out so he was basically living off his sponsorships at that point. Once his brewery started growing, he ditched all of them except for a pizza place and that''s only because he really likes their pizza."


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    "He had to pay his bills," Daniel said. "I''m sure the Rhino suit and the Rhinomobile don''t come cheap."


    Daniel had a point. Anyone who wanted to be a superhero (teams especially) eventually faced the issue of money. Did you want to go full time? Buy or create more equipment? Expand your reach beyond your hometown? Money decided whether or not you could. Some, like the various Defender groups, were mostly government funded. Others were non-profits. Still others took the for-profit route. Most of the last managed to look less silly than Protection Force, licensing out the rights to action figures or technology instead of taking advertising.


    The car went silent for a little while as we all tried to remember where the conversation had been going before the detour.


    "I wonder why no one but Protection Force is after him?" I asked. "He seems kind of major."


    "Like I should know?" Cassie shrugged. "They don''t publicly list everyone who wants email updates. Maybe a lot of people care, but only Protection Force wants to be listed."


    "Could be," Daniel said. "It''s accessible to any heroes that ask for it whether they''re active or not. My dad never publicly lists himself as being after someone unless he wants the person to know it."


    "Does he really think supervillains are using it?" Haley sounded surprised.


    "That''s the thing," Daniel said, "he doesn''t know, so he doesn''t assume they aren''t."


    * * *


    We changed seats again at a McDonald''s. I ended up driving. Daniel got his laptop back and spent most of the rest of the ride experimenting with his internet access and the Alliance''s online applications.


    The driving wasn''t bad. The freeway turned out to be free of ice and snow despite being piled high on either side. I drove about five miles per hour over the speed limit and passed a few cars. I guessed that we''d probably get home before five.


    Haley sat across from me in the front and twisted back toward Cassie, "Travis wanted me to choose a wolf based name because of Grandpa, but after Travis took Night Wolf what was there? He thought I should choose a name based on a female wolf, but I didn''t like ''She-wolf'' and I really didn''t like my other options."


    Cassie laughed. "What did he want you to do? Call yourself ''Night Bitch''?"


    "See?" Haley said. "There aren''t any good female wolf names. That''s why I went with Night Cat."


    "I think it''s a good name," I said. "Night Cat, I mean. Not the other one."


    "Nice save, Nick," Cassie said, sounding amused.


    "You know I didn''t mean -- " I began.


    Haley laughed.


    From the back, Daniel said, "Wouldn''t it be crazy if the Executioner had family here and that''s why he came back?"


    "Not if it were my family," Haley said.

 The New Heroes League: Part 5

    "That would be bad," Daniel said, straightening as much as he could in the cramped back seat. "But," he continued, "you''d probably know if it were someone in your family were doing that kind of thing."


    Off to my right, Haley said, "I might not. You don''t really think he''d be there, do you?"


    "I don''t know." Daniel sounded thoughtful. "There''s got to be some reason he''s coming back every year and that''s as good a reason as any. What I think we ought to do is get together some night and I could try to find him."


    "By doing the ''sense the greatest threat'' thing?" I said. "Which works if he really is the greatest threat, but what if he''s not?"


    "I think I can try to sense what kind of threat he is."


    "Well, that would be cool," I said. "Do we really want to go after this guy though? I mean considering his record of hunting people down?"


    Cassie leaned forward and put her hand on the back of my seat. "I think he''s ideal. He''s high profile and if he has powers, they''re not important enough to show up in the database. All he''s got is weapons training and gadgets. If we take him down, we''ll have a helluva rep."


    I considered pointing out that lack of powers didn''t necessarily make you an easy mark, but didn''t.


    "If we really are going to go after him, we''re going to have to make sure that our families and friends aren''t vulnerable. Thanks to the block, I know that our families aren''t, but I''m thinking about Kayla," I began.


    "You''re not going to go on about that again?"


    "I feel like I should. The guy''s some kind of specialist in finding people''s secret identities and killing their friends. I''m not talking about just doing it to her. We should ask her or something and if she says yes... I don''t know, just make it so that she won''t talk about secret stuff except with us."


    "Daniel doesn''t even like doing that kind of thing. Do you?" From the corner of my eye, I saw her turn her face toward him.


    "I''m okay with it if it''s voluntary. My dad never liked how the original League just imposed the block, but giving people a choice is different. Plus I wouldn''t be erasing anything. Just hiding it."


    "Okay. I don''t like it, but I''ll ask her."


    I felt the seat move as she let go and leaned back.


    * * *


    On Monday after school, I happened to be in League HQ when I heard the elevator hum.


    I had been sitting in front of the counter in the lab, the monitor showing what most people would dismiss as a guitar hero controller. I knew better. Despite not being quite as obsessed by the idea as I had been when I came up with it, I still found it amusing enough to throw together a design.


    The elevator door clanked open and I heard Daniel''s voice first, followed by Cassie and Kayla''s.


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    I got up and walked out of the lab, said hi to the group of them, and joined them as they crossed to the front of the main room.


    "Will it take long?" Kayla didn''t seem especially nervous as she asked the question, but I can''t always tell that sort of thing.


    "No," Daniel said. "It''s not a complicated block. You''re not all that likely to share information you shouldn''t anyway, so all I have to do is strengthen that a little. Giving you a limited shield to telepathic scanning will be a little harder, but not that hard. I don''t know if you''ll even notice how long it takes."


    "Good," she said as we walked up to the room''s main table. She pulled out a chair and sat down. Daniel pulled out the chair next to her and sat down facing her.


    "Just close your eyes and breathe slowly," he said.


    "OK," she said and took a breath. Daniel closed his own eyes and she slumped in her chair.


    Cassie and I waited, not saying anything at first, but after a couple minutes I asked her, "How did she take it?"


    "Without argument. I told her what Daniel was going to do and that we''d all had it done. I think she might even have been relieved. She''d been a little nervous about giving us away."


    "That''s good."


    "I still don''t like it." Cassie folded her hands across her chest. "I just don''t see any other way."


    "Me neither," I said. "One thing though... Daniel changed my block and he probably ought to do something similar to all of us. If he hadn''t, the mayor would have gotten into my head just like he did everyone else."


    "I''ll think about it. Just don''t bring it up for a while."


    "Don''t bring what up?" Kayla asked.


    "And we''re done," Daniel began to stand up and push back his chair.


    Cassie grimaced. "I''ll tell you later."


    Cassie and Kayla left a couple minutes after that.


    When the elevator door shut behind them, I asked Daniel, "Do you think we did the right thing?"


    "More right than the original League. According to my dad, they didn''t even ask. They just went and did it."


    Replying to an unvoiced thought of mine he continued, "Yeah, I know I didn''t ask for your opinion either, but that was protection. With our parents, it''s a mental construct that distracts them whenever a family member appears to be doing hero stuff. That''s pretty serious.


    "I''d say we''re doing great," he said.


    "You''re probably right," I said, "but whenever I change anything on the suit, it seems like there are unexpected consequences. The brain''s got to be at least as complicated."


    "My dad and grandpa both showed me how blocks work," Daniel said. "I can do one in my sleep. It should be fine."

 Rattling Cages: Part 1

    "So let''s get on with it," Cassie said.


    We sat in her mom''s car on Herrick Street on the north side of Grand Lake. Strictly speaking, it wasn''t in Grand Lake itself. The road ran north/south parallel to the shore. Homes lay on either side of it, some of them "cottages" in name, but larger than my parents'' house.


    The piles of snow on either side of the road rose nearly to the height of Cassie''s mom''s car, leaving many of the mailboxes partially buried in snow. The plowed driveways were in the same state as the road -- the ones that had been plowed looked like a good wind could fill them in a moment.


    Small snowflakes blew across the road in a mist-like cloud.


    Off to the left, I could see Lake Michigan past the dunes. Off to the right, the houses stood surrounded by evergreens and a mix of trees that had long since lost their leaves.


    "How far do we have to go?"


    "About a mile. When Daniel and I came through last night, he said that he could sense danger associated with the Executioner until he got around here. After that he couldn''t get a good reading."


    "So something''s interfering with his abilities. That''s bad."


    Cassie shrugged. "From what I read, the Executioner takes the obvious precautions. In Grand Lake, you''d better prepare to avoid Daniel or his dad."


    With a sinking feeling, I pulled the magazine order forms out of my backpack, wondering what the obvious precautions against me were.


    Cassie opened the door and stepped out of the car. I did the same.


    It felt miserably cold.


    "So this is for band?" I asked.


    "They want to buy new uniforms," Cassie said. "Between volleyball and this kind of thing I''ve been to busy to do much. I figured we could kill two birds with one stone."


    "Great," I said.


    So that was the plan. We were going to tromp down the driveway of every house for the next mile or so, knock on the door and look for clues. If someone answered the door, we would be selling magazine subscriptions. If no one did, we''d look through the windows, hoping to notice any exotic weaponry or dead bodies they might have hidden inside.


    Cassie and I planned to walk together, figuring that the buddy system had its place when searching for a professional killer.


    In case we really got in trouble, Marcus and Travis waited in the family cottage. It had turned out to be within the area protected from Daniel''s abilities.


    We''d placed everyone on alert and brought our homing devices just in case we needed the help.


    We needn''t have bothered.


    Almost half the driveways hadn''t been plowed since the snow started falling. We trudged down the first two like that, but by the third we''d agreed that the Executioner would probably plow his driveway -- especially if the driveway were more than one hundred feet long.


    Most likely the houses'' owners lived in Chicago''s suburbs and came up for the summer.


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    Over the next hour and a half we walked down the road, stopping only at the houses where we could see a hint of occupancy -- footprints, plowed driveways, mail in the mailbox, lights, anything.


    Near the end of the road, just a couple houses away from Haley''s family cottage, Cassie said, "This one. I bet it''s this one."


    "Why?"


    "It''s all perfect, but it still doesn''t look like anyone lives here."


    She had a point.


    We stood at the front door of a big, brown, brick house. It couldn''t have been more than two years old with a wide lot, a three stall garage, and a long, wide driveway.


    The driveway had been plowed, probably by a service. The area in front of the front door had to have been shoveled straight down to the concrete immediately after it snowed.


    I couldn''t see even a hint of frozen footprints. Houses that people actually use can''t avoid them.


    "I''ll go up to the front door," Cassie said. "You... stand behind me and be ready to blast him."


    I had the stealth suit on under my street clothes, sonic systems all warmed up. I could feel warmth under my forearms.


    She knocked just under the Christmas wreath.


    The door didn''t open.


    "Let''s circle around and look through the windows. Did you bring the roachbots along?"


    "You didn''t ask me to," I said.


    She gave me a look.


    "Anyway, even though this weather definitely solves the overheating problem, they don''t do well with ice and when it comes to snow -- "


    Cassie had already jumped over the short brick wall that jutted out from the house on the right side of the walk. "Got it," she said, "they don''t work in snow. Good enough."


    I followed her and we worked our way around the house, stopping to look through windows.


    Whoever lived there had money -- big television, big stereo, big speakers, a hot tub, a room full of exercise equipment...


    "It has to be him," Cassie said. "Did you see all that equipment? He''s got better stuff than the high school."


    "Could be," I said.


    Somehow I''d gotten ahead of her. As we came around the back corner and started moving up the side to the driveway, a woman''s voice shouted, "Hey, what are you kids doing over there?"


    I turned toward the voice.


    The house between where we were and Haley''s family''s didn''t quite meet the same standard. White with chipped wooden siding and easily a century old, it sat on a small lot with a couple bare-limbed trees. A blue, pickup truck and a rusty, red Honda Civic sat in the driveway. I didn''t see a garage.


    A red haired woman in a thick, green jacket shouted at us, "I said, what do you think you''re doing over there?"


    "Checking if anyone''s home," I said. "We''re selling magazines. Would you be interested in... um... ''Good Housekeeping''?"

 Rattling Cages: Part 2

    Haley''s family''s cottage turned out to be half again the size of my parents'' house. Two stories tall, it extended down the Lake Michigan side of the dune.


    Cassie and I waited on the wide wooden porch.


    Marcus opened the door and let us in. "Come on in. So did you find him?"


    The door opened into a living room that seemed to take up half the first floor. Marcus stood next to a pile of boxes. The nearest had the words "Christmas Tree" written on it in black marker. Travis sat on one of the three couches watching ESPN on the big screen television.


    "Hey," Travis said, waving at us.


    Noticing my gaze, Marcus said, "We got the keys to the cottage from my aunt because we said we''d bring the Christmas decorations out of the basement."


    "Do you have to put them up too?" I asked.


    "Ha," Travis said. "They''d never trust us with that. We might put something up in the wrong place."


    "I was telling Travis that what we ought to do is start putting things up only we''d deliberately put things up in the wrong place. Like, I don''t know, put the nativity scene up on the top of the fireplace instead of the piano and put the tree in the wrong corner. Aunt Theresa would explode. Seriously. We''d find pieces of her in other rooms."


    "Yeah," Travis said, "count me out."


    Cassie pulled off her coat and hat. "We might have found him. Who owns the house two doors down?"


    Travis got up from the couch and walked over. "North of us? I don''t know his name. He''s a businessman out of Chicago. I''m not sure what he''s in. Garbage, maybe. I can''t see him as much of a hitman though. The guy''s seriously out of shape."


    "Are you sure?" Cassie asked. "There''s some high end exercise equipment in that house."


    "Doesn''t mean he uses it," Travis said. "The guy''s got asthma or something. Plus he''s got a gut."


    "Maybe he transforms?" Cassie didn''t sound like she believed it even as she said it.


    "I''m imagining a magic inhaler," Marcus said, "and wacky synthesized music and lots of sparkles."


    "I just don''t think he''s our guy," Travis said. "I don''t know him, but he''s up every other weekend in the summer. Doesn''t the Executioner only appear in the winter?"


    "Yeah. Crap. And I was so sure."


    "It could be anyone around here," Marcus said. "Half the houses on the road aren''t occupied except in the summer. Take the woman next door. I''ve almost never seen her except at Christmas. So here''s the idea, maybe she dresses up as a guy to do a hit. Don''t look at me like that. It could happen. It''d totally throw people off. Think about her build. She''s tall for a woman, doesn''t have a lot of body fat, and it''s pretty obvious she works out. She could pass."


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    Cassie raised an eyebrow.


    "I draw," Marcus said. "I notice these things."


    "Sure, Marcus," Cassie said. "Let''s say that it''s not her and it''s not the businessman in the house we checked on. What do we do next? He''s got to be around here. How do we smoke him out?"


    "Christmas day," Travis said. "Christmas Eve we do traditional family stuff, but Christmas day it turns into a party. Everyone in the neighborhood knows they''re allowed to drop in. Place pretty much fills up for the night. Chances are if he''s in the neighborhood he''ll drop by."


    "That''s three weeks away," Cassie said. "That''s way too long."


    "I could try to work up some surveillance equipment," I said. "I might be able to modify the roachbots so they work outside."


    "That''s a start." Cassie put her hands in the pocket of her sweatshirt. "Is anyone else cold?"


    * * *


    Haley and I sat in Solid Grounds sipping coffee. Jazz played over the sound system.


    "I''m trying to come up with something that works," I said, "but the roachbots don''t do very well in this weather."


    Outside the window, snow blew.


    We weren''t the only ones in the coffee shop. A bunch of goths had pushed together a couple tables on the other side of the shop and were laughing about something.


    They sounded like they were having a good time. Not that we weren''t, but our conversation felt a little more serious.


    "Do you think Cassie''s a little too into it?" Haley held her cappuccino thoughtfully before taking another sip.


    "I don''t know," I said. "Cassie''s always seemed kind of focused to me. At least on this. Well, now that I think of it, sports too. Really, if she cares, she just goes straight ahead, you know?"


    "I know," she said. "I was just thinking today that if he''s really been coming to our Christmas party all these years that maybe it would be better to wait until after Christmas to try to catch him. If we try before Christmas and we mess up, he''s angry and all my relatives are here. If we wait until after Christmas and we mess up at least some of my relatives will be gone, and if we''re lucky maybe he''ll go someplace else next year.


    "I know I don''t sound very heroic," she said, "but doesn''t this feel a little reckless to you?"

 Rattling Cages: Part 3

    I couldn''t argue with her. Every injury that sent me to the emergency room before the age of ten happened while playing with Cassie -- the broken arm, more than forty stitches worth of cuts, and the time she stapled my foot.


    When push came to shove, I probably came out with less damage when we fought the Grey Giant than I did most times when we played together as kids.


    "It does seem reckless," I said, "but I''m not exactly sure what to do about it. She tends to just do what she''s going to do."


    Haley frowned. "I can''t believe she gets away with it. We need to have a meeting or... I don''t know what. People need to be able to say no if she''s going to do something that really could get people hurt."


    "Travis said we should have a team leader once."


    "Are you sure he didn''t mean that he should be team leader?"


    I tried to remember.


    "I''m not trying to rag on him," she said, "but he always takes over. It drove the managers crazy, but they couldn''t fire him."


    "I think he was advocating for a rotating position."


    "Oh." Haley paused for a second. "That might be okay, but it doesn''t help us now. I still think we need to talk to Cassie."


    I sat in my chair, trying to think what to say next. "I''ll see her at school tomorrow. Otherwise I suppose you could just call her on the phone."


    "I could, but I don''t think she''d listen to me alone. I think we''ll need everybody."


    "Really?"


    I couldn''t help but wonder how that would go and if everyone would even agree.


    Just as I began to tell her my thoughts, I realized that she was looking out the window.


    I followed her gaze, seeing blowing snow, and parked cars.


    "Do you hear something?" She searched the sky through the window.


    "Hear what?"


    "A hum," she said. "There." She pointed upward.


    A small helicopter hung above the row of brick buildings across the street. It could not have been more than two, maybe three feet long.


    The fact that it stayed in the air amazed me. When you considered the size of the object, the speed of the wind, the fact that the snow could not be making things any easier for either the remote pilot or the control mechanism, it should have been struggling.


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    Instead it stayed level just a few feet above "Doug''s Pharmacy."


    "Is it armed?" I asked. The body seemed to be little more than a cone, but something protruded from the front.


    "I can''t see it that well," she said. "It might be a gun."


    "I wonder if we should get away from the window?" I asked. Inside though, I found myself pulled in different directions. Whoever made that thing had solved all the problems I had with winterizing the roachbots. If I took it down, I could save myself weeks of work.


    "Actually," I said, getting up, "why don''t I just quick a minute look out the door?"


    Haley got up with me, grabbed my arm before I made it to the door, and leaned into me, whispering, "What are you really doing?"


    To the goths and the staff, it must have looked as if we were about to kiss.


    "I''m wearing the stealth suit. I''ll take it out with the sonics."


    "You don''t need to protect me."


    "I''m not," I began, but stopped, realizing it would be better to be thought overly protective than explain that I really only wanted to shoot it down and take it apart.


    I managed to break away long enough to step through the coffee shop''s glass door. Haley followed just behind me.


    The drone swiveled to point at me. I began to raise my right arm, but never got a shot off.


    The drone blew up.


    A beam of yellow energy came out of the sky, blasting it into pieces, most of which were blackened or burning.


    Haley pulled me back into the doorway to avoid one of the rotors. It hit the brick wall just to the left of the door, bouncing off to land on the snow covered sidewalk.


    From above, a human form began to descend, yellow energies surrounding it, moving like fire moved, reminding me of pictures of the surface of the sun.


    A super. Great.


    I prepared to pretend I''d just been saved.

 Rattling Cages: Part 4

    So the first rule of pretending to be normal was "pretend you''re grateful for being saved" instead of being annoyed that some overly powerful idiot just blew up a machine you were hoping to reverse engineer.


    The second rule probably went something like, "Don''t stuff your pockets full of burning debris."


    I narrowly managed to do the first and avoid the second.


    I did the first by saying nothing while the super descended and landed in front of us.


    He toned down the burning a little bit, but standing in front of him still felt warm. The snow and ice on the sidewalk melted around him. With the temperature being well below freezing, I couldn''t complain about it.


    As he landed and walked toward Haley and I, I realized that we weren''t alone. Most of the people inside had followed us out the door. The ones that hadn''t watched from the windows.


    Now that I saw him close up, I recognized him.


    He worked for Protection Force using the codename Solar Flare -- thus the yellow costume with reddish, flame-like decorations spelling out the words "Solar Flare."


    The Pepsi logo below his name was larger than I''d personally prefer, but smaller than I imagined it might be -- almost tasteful really. The second Pepsi logo I later noticed covered half his back. That wasn''t tasteful at all.


    "Relax everybody," he said. "You''ve got nothing to worry about. I destroyed the device and the police will be here shortly."


    "Police?" I must have said it louder than I realized, because he faced me and nodded.


    "Sorry about that, but we can''t avoid it. I''m in the middle of a case and it looks like one of you might be part of it."


    He paused to smile at us. He had perfect, white teeth. They matched the rest of him. He looked like a big, blond god. His mask covered the top of his face, but from what I could see of the rest, he probably could have worked as a model.


    Protection Force used him in their publicity for a reason.


    Someone behind us said, "Can I have your autograph?"


    A blond girl wearing black pushed past us holding a pen and a napkin. Two other people followed her.


    I glanced at Haley quietly saying, "Maybe we should go?"


    "We could stay. It''d be fun to meet him."


    "Not like this," I said.


    "Well, okay."


    "I should grab my coffee though," I said. I''d left it inside. Who goes into a fight carrying a mocha latte?


    As we began to push through the people behind us, Solar Flare said, "Looks like someone has the right idea. Everybody needs to go back into the coffeehouse, and I''m sorry, but no one gets to leave until after the police come by and ask you some questions."


    That killed that idea.


    Everybody followed us back into the coffee house.


    We waited about ten minutes for the police. Meanwhile Solar Flare walked around the shop and asked questions. The goth girl with the napkin and the barista were pretty enthusiastic to talk to him. The barista had one of the goth guys snap a picture of the two of them with her camera.


    The tallest of the goth guys amused me most. Throughout the short conversation, he acted extra relaxed. I didn''t hear much of it, but what did carry over ("Yeah, I''ll think about that") sounded just on the edge of rude.


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    I suppose most goths don''t go for the sort of heroes who sell advertising on their costumes. It does scream "corporate tool." On the other hand, what kind of supers did goths like? I didn''t know, but guessed they might prefer something dark and brooding.


    He came over to us next.


    Not surrounding by burning yellow energy for the moment, he pulled up a chair from a nearby table and sat with.


    "Hi, I''m Solar Flare. Nice to meet you," he said, holding out his hand to me and then Haley.


    It felt warm.


    "Hi," I said.


    Haley said, "Weren''t you on TV last night?"


    "One of your local stations interviewed me, but I couldn''t tell them much. It''s that kind of case."


    He grinned at both of us.


    "Who are you after?" Haley said, smiling back at him.


    After the initial thought that she seemed awfully interested, it struck me that she might be trying to get information out of him.


    "Sorry," he said. "Can''t tell you. I couldn''t tell her either. It made for a lousy interview, believe me. If it helps, this is the biggest break anyone''s had on this case in years. So if you answer my questions, I''ll be able to tell everyone sooner."


    "We''ll do our best." Haley''s tone came straight from a pep rally.


    "I hear you were the first ones out the door," he said.


    "She saw something floating above the building across the street and we went out to see what it was," I said.


    "Ever seen anything like it before?" He asked.


    "No." Not that I hadn''t created myself at any rate.


    "You?" He turned toward Haley.


    "No. Not unless you count TV."


    To me, both of us sounded like normal people, but he stopped smiling for a moment as if he''d sensed something significant.


    "Have either of you been north of town lately? Do your families or friends have a house on the beach?"


    "No," I said.


    "My family''s got a cottage," Haley said, "but it''s not just ours so I haven''t been there since late summer."


    Solar Flare nodded. "That sounds cool," he said, "but what do you mean by ''not just ours?'' Who do you share it with?"


    "Just family," Haley said. "We all choose weeks. So one week it''ll be my family and the next week one of my uncles'' or aunts''. That''s all."


    "It sounds like you''ve got a big family,"


    "People tell me it''s huge."


    "I know what you mean," he said. "I''ve got a family like that myself. Does your family rent it out this time of year?"


    Haley shook her head. "We never rent it out. There aren''t enough weeks in the year for everybody to get all the time they want now."


    "Well, all right," he said. "Those are my questions. I should go bug someone else. Don''t leave though. The police have questions of their own and don''t tell anybody, but we may have to put everyone in this place under police protection until we know more."


    Police protection? I groaned inwardly. Well, crap. Let''s just make this more complicated.

 Rattling Cages: Part 5

    Two police cars came roaring up the street soon after that. The FBI came with them. Two of them came in a nondescript white van followed by two more in a separate car.


    The men in the van started collecting pieces of the destroyed robot.


    The police and FBI agents started another round of questioning while Solar Flare stepped up to the counter and ordered a latte.


    "Do you think we''ll be able to go soon?" Haley checked her phone. "I should get home."


    "I don''t know," I said. "This seems to be getting bigger by the second."


    "Do you think they''ll do anything if we just walk out?" She stood up.


    The FBI agents appeared just as I began to say yes.


    The taller of the two, a middle aged woman with touches of gray in her brown hair said, "I''d like to talk to you outside."


    The other agent, a short, bald black man said, "It''s nothing bad."


    We followed them out. I''d wondered if they knew who we were, but the answer seemed self-evident.


    Once we got outside, the woman herded us down the sidewalk, stopping about twenty feet from the entrance to the coffee house. The police appeared to have blocked off the street while the men in the van photographed the scene and picked up the machine''s pieces.


    "I''m Agent Brecker and this is Agent Satterfield," she nodded toward the other agent. "We work with Agent Lim in the Superhuman Affairs Branch."


    She held out a leather case with her badge and identification.


    "We''d like to hear anything anything you know about this."


    "I don''t know anything," I said. "We were in the coffee house and Haley noticed it floating above the building across the street so we went out to get a closer look."


    "I didn''t know what it was," Haley said.


    Agent Brecker looked each of us over, but didn''t follow up. Either she''d decided we were telling the truth or that getting it out of us wouldn''t be worth the effort.


    "We''re assigning agents to watch you -- and I mean all of you -- and your families. Try to stay out of costume until after the New Year. It will be safer."


    "Why?" I said, trying to sound as surprised as I could.


    "I''m not authorized to say. Take it up with Agent Lim."


    "Okay," I said.


    "Good," she said, "Now if you''ll excuse me, I have to speak to someone."


    She walked down the sidewalk toward one of the police cars.


    The other agent turned to follow her, but said, "Talk to Isaac. You know he''ll tell you. Just don''t let him say too much or you''ll get the man in trouble."


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    "No problem," I said.


    He left.


    We stood next to each other on the sidewalk for a little while, watching the people from the van pick up pieces of the machine and the police redirect traffic down a side road.


    Agent Brecker and Agent Satterfield stood next to a cruiser and talked with a couple police officers.


    "They smelled weird," Haley said.


    "Weird how?"


    "Like the mayor," she said. "Red Lightning''s lair smelled of it too."


    "Smelled of what?"


    "I don''t know. It smelled of chemicals, but I don''t know which chemicals."


    "''Drink of the Gods'' probably," I said. "The stuff that gave Red Lightning his powers and everyone in the Cabal theirs... Isaac as much as told me they were experimenting with it. I didn''t know they were giving it to agents in the field."


    She frowned and put her hands in her coat pockets. "What did we just step into?"


    "I don''t know. On the bright side, it sounds like they plan to protect our families until the Executioner is out of town."


    "That''s something." She stopped talking for a moment. "Nick, I need to get home."


    "Right," I said. "Let''s go."


    We started walking toward where I''d parked my mom''s car, but only moved a few steps before one of the policemen started shouting at us.


    I ended up driving home with a police escort. We drove toward Haley''s house first, traveling south, the sky growing darker by the second. She lived just north of Fillmore, the nearest suburb. I took the highway, merging into three lanes of heavy traffic at about seventy miles per hour.


    Haley turned around, stretching to check the rear window and then slipping back to a normal sitting position at a speed I felt sure wasn''t normally humanly possible.


    "They''re still behind us," she said. "I can''t believe it. Do you think they''ll park in front of the house? My mom''s going to freak out."


    "They don''t have their lights on. Maybe she won''t notice."


    "She''ll notice," Haley said. She folded her hands across her chest.


    "I wish Cassie hadn''t ever seen anything about the Executioner. She needs to understand that when you start things like this real people can get hurt. Not just people on TV."


    I could have pointed out that outside of the cartoons even the people on TV were real, but I didn''t. I had some degree of common sense.


    "Yeah," I said. "I guess we all need to learn that."

 Rattling Cages: Part 6

    You would think after all that that we were on the edge of some sort of attack, that the Executioner would just start killing people, but you would be wrong. Nothing happened.


    December continued its steady march toward Christmas.


    I finished off reviving Cassie''s dad''s normal motorcycle (even though she wasn''t going to do much with it during the winter), worked on the prototype for the guitar, and logged a few hours on the flight simulator that Isaac assured me would be a close match to the Heroes League jet.


    The Friday afternoon of the week before Christmas, Isaac passed on some information about the Executioner, but it wasn''t anything I couldn''t find out from the state or federal databases.


    "Don''t get involved," Isaac told me. "He''s psychotic. You won''t survive setting him off. Besides, we''ve already got people on this."


    "Protection Force?"


    He looked down at me from the big screen in the front of League HQ''s main room. He smiled a little.


    "Not Protection Force. We''ve got our own people out there."


    I thought about pressing it, pointing out that FBI agents with just barely understood powers might be even less of a match than we would be, but I didn''t.


    I didn''t officially know about the agents being loaded up with drugs so why reveal it?


    I probably should have mentioned something. Isaac had been straight with me, but I couldn''t quite make myself do it. Some part of me felt that keeping information in reserve would help. I wasn''t completely clear how.


    After a few more minutes, he signed off, leaving me alone in League HQ. I worked on the guitar for a little while in the lab after that. It was coming along.


    * * *


    The walk home left my fingers cold. I''d worn gloves, but near zero temperatures made me think I needed thicker ones. Snow fell in small particles, blown by the wind to cover the sidewalks and the streets.


    It would be great snow for skiing and sledding, but the temperature was far too cold.


    As I walked up the driveway, I checked the cars on the block for police or FBI agents doing surveillance. I didn''t see any.


    I opened the door to find that Rachel''s suitcases at least were back from the University of Michigan and sitting next to the shoes and coats hanging next to the side door.


    Rachel stood in the hall between the side door and the kitchen, pulling a Diet Coke out of the refrigerator.


    "Hi Nick." She opened up the can. "I hear you''ve got a girlfriend."


    From around the corner in the kitchen, I could hear Mom''s voice saying, "He does?"


    "Where did you hear that?" I shut the door and started to take off my boots.


    "A message from Travis on Facebook."


    "You''re talking about me on Facebook?"


    "Haley''s talking about you on Facebook." She watched the reaction on my face and then laughed.


    Rachel looked a lot Grandma Vander Sloot (or as we sometimes called her Grandma Romy). I''ve read that genetically a person''s more likely to be similar to one of their grandparents than their parents and having seen old pictures of Grandma, I was prepared to believe it. Despite not being blond, Rachel had her face and her height. She was almost as tall as me -- which made her taller than average for a woman.


    "Is she talking about me a lot?"


    "Not that much. Maybe a couple times, but Travis thought it was funny."


    Finished taking off my boots and hanging my jacket, I stepped into the kitchen. Mom stood in front of the counter chopping beef into strips. From the wok on the stove and smell of rice, I guessed that we were having stir fry.


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    "He would, I guess."


    Rachel grinned, obviously finding the situation much more amusing than it deserved. "He said better you than the last person she dated."


    "I''ve heard that."


    "Would you mind helping me take my things up?"


    "What if the answer was yes?"


    "I''d tell you to take one anyway." She stepped out of the kitchen and handed me a suitcase.


    Her room looked exactly the same as it had the last time I''d been in it -- about three months ago when she''d visited at the end of summer. A poster for Evanescence''s album "The Open Door" hung on the wall above her dresser, the woman on it forever just about to step through an otherworldly doorway. A few stuffed animals lay on the bed. The bookcase still held a mixture of things -- Harry Potter books, Little House on the Prairie books, classics (mostly assigned in school), and more vampire novels than I personally had any interest in.


    She shut the door as she walked in behind me, putting the suitcase on the bed, and starting to put things in drawers.


    "What''s the New Heroes League up to these days?" she asked.


    "Oh, well... not much. We''re kind of grounded for the moment, and it''s probably safer not to tell you why."


    She put the t-shirt she''d been holding back into suitcase.


    "So what''s it like? Reviving the League, I mean."


    "I don''t know," I said. "Mostly terrifying so far, mixed with some of the weirdest questions. What are you supposed to do with fan mail anyway? It seems rude not to reply, but I don''t think they even want a reply from me. I think they really want the old League back again."


    "I got a lot of questions from my friends at school," Rachel said. "They wanted to know if I''d ever seen the original League or the new League and all I could say was ''no.''"


    "The block?"


    "No. It''s long gone. Just hope I don''t run into any telepaths."


    "If you wanted, Daniel could probably strengthen it."


    "Thanks, but no. Are you really doing that again?"


    "Only if people agree. Not involuntarily, and it''s not really the same block. It''s more of a mental shield."


    "Good, because that was wrong. They had no right to do that."


    "They were just trying to protect people."


    "Look, I know. Grandma didn''t like it."


    "I don''t think Grandpa really did either."


    She picked up the t-shirt (along with a couple others) and stuffed them into her drawer. Then she started hanging up pants in her closet.


    I put the suitcase I''d carried on her bed. "Do you want me to open this up?"


    "No, I''ll--"


    My mom''s voice carried up from downstairs, "Nick, Rachel, supper''s ready."


    We went downstairs.


    Someone had already set the table and placed the rice and stir fry in the middle. Mom stood next to her chair. "Time to eat," she said.


    Through the doorway, I could see Dad standing in front of the television, remote control in his hand. CNN showed paramedics moving a woman on a stretcher into an ambulance. The reporter''s voice over began "Model Tiffany Sanchez was shot today in Chicago..." and went on to describe the details, mentioning that she''d been in the company of her boyfriend, another model named Brian Perry.


    The television showed a blond man in a leather jacket, caught in the midst of obvious grief.


    "Can''t talk," he said to the reporter. Then he jumped into the ambulance.


    I recognized the lower half of his face and his build. The man was Solar Flare.

 Rattling Cages: Part 7

    After supper, I sat on my bed and started to read "The Ringworld Engineers." I''d intended to read it earlier in the fall, but I''d been too busy to get much reading in. With Daniel generally busy on Friday nights and Haley scheduled to work, tonight looked like I had a good chance of getting somewhere in the book -- provided I could concentrate on it.


    "Nick, do you mind if I come in?" Rachel stepped through the doorway.


    So much for reading.


    "Go ahead."


    She pulled my chair out from my desk and sat down.


    "I thought you''d be out with friends," I said.


    She shrugged. "I spent half the morning packing, drove for three hours, and then I unpacked. I''m done for the day. Besides, I don''t think anyone else is home yet. What are you doing here? You''ve going out with Haley and you''re still home on Friday night?"


    I put down my book.


    "Haley''s working. Daniel''s busy. I figured I''d read."


    "I half expected to find that you''d snuck out of the house. I saw your face just before supper... The guy on TV. You know him."


    "I met him once. I can''t say I know him, but he grew up in the San Francisco Compound. I visited once with Grandpa. I didn''t play with Brian, but I got to know a few of his cousins. I saw him a couple times there and here once when his dad had Grandpa fix something."


    "Something?" Rachel said.


    "Grandpa never let me look at it. I ended up playing hide and go seek with Brian''s younger brother Theo in the hangar."


    "With all the things you took apart, I''m not surprised. I don''t think you ever put anything back together again. Remember my music box?"


    "No."


    "You shouldn''t. I barely had it a week before you took it apart."


    "I remember you being mad about something I took apart when I was a kid."


    "Some things," she said. "Note the plural. Grandpa managed to put the music box back together at least."


    "I don''t remember that at all."


    "Do you remember taking the back off the TV?"


    "Dad got kind of angry about that."


    "You took it apart on Superbowl Sunday after unscrewing a couple cupboard doors. He didn''t get kind of angry. He freaked out."


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    "Think Dad got any material out of that?"


    "I doubt it. Normal kids don''t do things like that. Now your bedwetting, that he got a book out of."


    "I remember."


    He didn''t actually ever mention my name in the book, but that didn''t stop people from figuring it out. Annoying. Especially annoying when you considered that the whole point of the book was that I had stopped.


    "So Brian''s a Compound kid," Rachel said.


    "Yeah. Perry''s not his real last name. I think it''s really Alexiou or something like that. I''m pretty sure he''s one of Helios'' grandchildren."


    "I was always jealous of them. The 1970''s were pretty crazy, but they had some good ideas. They threw secret identities to the wind and just decided to be themselves. They''re people. They have powers and they don''t have to hide." Rachel pulled her legs onto the chair and hugged them to herself.


    "Moot point," I said. "There aren''t any powers to be had in this family. It might have been a good deal for everyone else."


    "So what did you think I was doing with Grandma while you were with Grandpa in the lab?"


    "I don''t know. I never really thought about it."


    "Why didn''t you think about it?"


    It was a good question. I am, and almost always have been, a fairly curious guy.


    "The block?" I phrased it as a question, but it really wasn''t. "Wait. So you''ve got Grandma''s powers and you can walk through walls and stuff?"


    She faded into invisibility, back to solidity, and followed it up by sticking her left hand through my desk''s top drawer and pulling out a pen. Then she dropped it on my desk. It bounced twice.


    "Wow," I said. "Why didn''t you ever say anything?"


    She put her legs back on the floor. "I couldn''t when I was a kid, and by the time I could I didn''t have a reason to bring it up."


    "You couldn''t even say something to family?"


    "They set my block so that I couldn''t even use my abilities without permission for years."


    "I''m sure they had a reason, but it does sound kind of harsh."


    "A reason? They did. They were worried I might float under the ground and become corporeal somewhere they couldn''t find me."

 Rattling Cages: Part 8

    We talked for a couple more hours. I explained the whole thing with the Executioner and we talked about what I''d been doing with the League during the fall. There wasn''t much of a reason to hold back.


    "We''re being watched?" Rachel turned toward the window above my desk glanced toward the window over my bed.


    The night looked normal. Both cars parked in the street belonged to neighbors and I couldn''t see anyone sitting inside them.


    "Kind of. I''ve never seen them watching, but Isaac told me we were. Maybe they''ve bugged the house or maybe they''ve put up small cameras all around the block."


    She stood up and looked out the window a little more. "Hmn. Big Brother is your friend."


    After she left, I sat on the bed. I read a little, but found myself drifting off into thought. It had been a long time since we''d talked. She''d been in Ann Arbor all summer except for Grandpa''s funeral and she hadn''t come home for Thanksgiving.


    Strange that she had had powers the whole time and I hadn''t known. It made me wonder what other secrets were hanging around in my family tree.


    And the block... I''d always found it funny the way she outwardly acted perfect (straight A student, student council member) but secretly climbed out the windows to meet friends at parties. Would she have done that without the block? I couldn''t see a direct connection, but her version of the block had been more extreme than mine.


    I supposed we were both under some degree of pressure to behave well. Dad''s books on handling troubled teens probably wouldn''t sell as well if we were troubled.


    In the end, I stayed up till one in the morning reading. It wasn''t as if I had anything going the next day.


    * * *


    The week went quickly. I spent a lot of it with Daniel and Haley, mostly at different times. On Wednesday, two days before Christmas we got everyone in the League plus Rachel together for a DVD night. No one wanted to watch "Iron Man" so we ended up with "A Christmas Story" (don''t ask me why) and somehow "Bubba-Hotep."


    It felt good in a way. It was nice to know that we could all just be here together and relate to each other as friends instead of as people who happened to be in danger at the same time.


    Jaclyn and I went to the kitchen to grab some pop at the same time. "A Christmas Story" was over. People were waiting to start "Bubba-Hotep" until after everyone had used the bathroom. Daniel and Cassie were taking his car to the Walgreen''s a few blocks away for more potato chips and other snacks.


    It felt a little awkward.


    Before we''d started up the League again, I saw Jaclyn more than any of us but Daniel. Not that it was all that often. It was mostly at school competitions or at the library, but I did at least see her.


    The most recent time I''d seen her had been the night we fought the mayor -- eons ago.


    The League''s kitchen was just large enough for a refrigerator, a stove and some cupboards. Opening the refrigerator door blocked off that half of the room.


    I checked inside. "We''ve got Coke, Orange Slice, and um... Dr. Pepper. You want me to grab one for you?"


    "I''ll take the Coke. Better yet, let''s just carry them out so that no one has to come back here during the movie," she said.


    I pulled out the two liter of Coke and handed it to her, picking up the other two myself and closing the door.


    As we walked out of the kitchen, she said, "I heard a couple people taking about someone called the Executioner. What''s going on?"


    I explained.


    Jaclyn stopped walking only a few steps out of the kitchen. We were still among all the boxes and trophies, almost completely on the other side of the room from the TV screen. Over there, someone kept switching channels.


    "You didn''t think this was worth telling everyone about?"


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    "Well," I said, "you mostly haven''t been all that interested."


    "I wasn''t interested in Cassie''s patrol thing where we were all going out every night and pretending we were the police. I''m very interested when you''re facing someone who kills the friends and relatives of any super that crosses him, especially when I fit into both categories."


    She frowned at me.


    "It''s a moot point," I said, "The FBI told us to stay out of this. When I talked to Isaac about it recently, he said the Executioner probably doesn''t even realize the League was involved and that it was in our best interest to keep it that way."


    "Are they watching my house too?"


    "I don''t know. They said they''re watching my house, but I''ve never seen them doing it. I''ve been wondering if they''ve bugged the place so that they can watch it all the time."


    "And you''re okay with that?"


    "Not really, but if it keeps my parents safe right now, I can live with it."


    "And you really didn''t think this was worth mentioning?"


    "I''m sorry. We really should have told you, but I thought that someone had. At first the only people that knew were Cassie and Daniel and Haley but then someone told Travis and Marcus. I assumed that someone told you and I guess I shouldn''t have. Now I''m wondering if anyone told Vaughn."


    "Vaughn and Cassie were the people I overheard."


    "Oh. Uh, it really wasn''t intentional."


    "I know, but, if I''m going to be my grandfather''s replacement in all this, it''d be nice if one of us got some credit this time around."


    I could see her point.


    Early on in World War II, the army didn''t allow blacks in combat so her grandfather ended up doing courier duty. It seemed a perfect fit when you considered he could run at the speed of sound. At the same time, it didn''t use him to his potential. C (or as they called him at the time Hotfoot) could run, but consider how strong a person would have to be to run at the speed of sound. Also, consider how tough a person would have to be to survive tripping at that speed. C wasn''t invulnerable, but he could shrug off automatic weapons and blast through most walls.


    I''ve always tended to imagine him as Superman, but without the flight or X-ray vision.


    When they finally did let blacks fight, he got to be a more visible part of the US''s super soldier team, but they still didn''t quite dare to use him fully. I think they were still afraid of how it would play domestically, but it could be that they were just afraid of him.


    He got less credit than he deserved for his work with the Heroes League too.


    We brought the pop back and watched TV while we waited for Daniel and Cassie to return.


    Someone had changed the channel to SuperTV and were watching "Bounties," the show about superpowered bounty hunters and the criminals with the highest bounties of the week. They''d just gone to commercial.


    We were all sitting on exercise pads on the floor. Haley sat next to me on my left and Jaclyn, Marcus and Vaughn were on the pad to the right. Travis poured himself some Coke from where we''d placed it at the command console.


    Vaughn said, "The bounty on the Executioner is at fifty thousand. Can you imagine if we catch him?"


    Travis shrugged, "Split nine ways."


    "Yeah, well, my parents still haven''t freed up my bank accounts."


    Travis laughed. "You could pay back what''s his name, right?"


    "Yeah," Vaughn said. "Pretty much."


    Just before going back to the show, they ran through the news. "In Chicago today," the announcer began, "Solar Flare stopped a bombing at the Windy City Talent agency..."


    Jaclyn nudged me with her elbow. "I hope the FBI isn''t watching out for his family and friends."


    "Why?"


    "Because if they are, they don''t seem to be very good at it."

 Rattling Cages: Part 9

    Christmas day. In any other year, getting out of the house would have been a challenge. When Grandpa Vander Sloot was alive, we always seemed to have one of Mom''s brothers'' families at our house for Christmas. This year everyone had done their own thing. I suppose we could have gone to visit Dad''s family, but we''d visited Grandpa and Grandma Klein in Wyoming last year.


    Wyoming is a long drive from Michigan and it doesn''t get any better in the winter.


    We stayed home.


    On Christmas day it turned out to be just the four of us. After we''d opened presents, gone to church, had dinner, and hung around the house for a while, visiting Haley''s family cottage sounded like a good idea.


    It wasn''t terrible to be with my parents, but I''ve heard that the first Christmas without someone who has died is always the hardest. I don''t know if that is really true, but the house did feel empty without him. Even near the end when he seemed to get tired quickly, I could still look over and find him listening. Sometimes he''d smile when he caught me looking.


    Around five o''clock, I asked Mom and Dad if they minded if I visited Haley''s family. "It''s really just a big party for the whole neighborhood or whoever comes," I told them.


    Mom and Dad were sitting on the couch in the family room. The TV chattered on unnoticed.


    "Haley''s your girlfriend," she said. "The granddaughter of Chuck McAllister? From Grandpa''s army unit?"


    "Right," I said.


    The pause before her reply went longer than I expected. She sighed.


    "Go ahead," she said.


    "It''s fine," Dad said.


    "I''ll drive him." Rachel stood in the doorway between the family room and the kitchen.


    "I can drive myself," I said.


    "I know," she said, "but I''ve got people I''d like to see there too."


    * * *


    We were more than halfway to Haley''s family''s cottage when I understood why Mom might be a little distracted. If I were missing Grandpa, she''d be missing her dad and likely remembering her mom too.


    I don''t know what I''d have done if I''d realized it while I was still home. I probably would have gone to Haley''s anyway, but I might have said something at least. On the other hand, maybe I wouldn''t have. We weren''t a particularly demonstrative family. We cared for each other, but we weren''t exactly into spontaneous hugs or deep, heartfelt conversations.


    Crossing Grand Lake in the dark, it felt like Rachel''s Honda Civic was only car on the road. It wasn''t true, but it felt that way.


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    "Getting out of the house was a great idea," Rachel said as she turned on to Herrick Street. "Mom''s been about to cry for most of the day. Maybe with us out of the house she''ll finally be able to do it."


    "Most of the day?" I was less aware than I''d thought.


    "Didn''t you notice?"


    "Sure."


    We followed Herrick Street north for about ten minutes, passing block after block of houses and cottages, trees and snow covered dunes. Past the houses on my left, I could see Lake Michigan, dark lake blending with the dark sky at an unseen horizon.


    Haley''s family cottage glowed in the night. Christmas lights hung outside, red and green, outlining the porch. Cars parked on both sides of the street in front of the house.


    "Just as busy as ever," Rachel said, slowing to look for an open space.


    "You''ve been here before?"


    "Just once, a couple years ago, but I''ve heard about it."


    She managed to find a spot. We were just across the street from the garbage executive from Chicago''s house. A few lights were on there and I could see tracks in the snow on the driveway.


    Rachel grabbed her purse from the car and I pulled my guitar case out of the back seat and slung it across my back.


    "When did you start playing guitar?"


    "I don''t. It''s a guitar controller. It works with Rock Band and Guitar Hero."


    "You''re not seriously expecting to play video games?"


    "It also blows things up."


    "And here I thought you were no fun."


    We walked up the steps to the front door. I could hear Christmas music and people talking already. I raised my hand to knock.


    "Just walk in," Rachel said. "They''ll never hear you anyway."


    She put her hand on the doorknob and opened the door.


    It looked nothing like it had the last time I was there. Christmas decorations hung everywhere. The whole, massive room that took up most of the first floor seemed to be full of people talking, eating, drinking and laughing. Food covered the tables. "A Christmas Story" played on the television.


    At first, I didn''t recognize anybody -- too many people and too much noise. Then I heard Haley.


    "Nick, you came!"


    She hugged me and we held each other for a little while.


    When we stopped, she said, "I can take your coats and your..." She looked up at the guitar case, "thing."


    In a lower voice, she asked, "It''s not really nuclear powered, is it?"


    "No," I said, "I couldn''t find any uranium."

 Rattling Cages: Part 10

    "Well," I said, "it turned out that you could find uranium on Amazon, but they sold it in such small amounts that if you wanted to do anything interesting you''d have to buy a lot of it and I don''t think we really have the facilities for working with it anyway."


    I started to tell her exactly what sort of things I''d need to buy, but then I stopped, because sometimes I do notice when I''m telling people more than they''ll ever want to know.


    "Tell you what," Rachel said, "I''ll take the coats and leave you two here together. You''re putting them over there like last time, right?" She pointed toward a door on the wall across from us.


    "That''s it," Haley said.


    I kept the guitar on my back.


    "Are you going to carry it the whole time?"


    "I know it looks weird, but that''s the only way I''ll have it with me if something happens."


    From the expression on her face, I could see she wasn''t happy about it, but she didn''t argue either.


    "Do you think something might? It seems like he left and went to Chicago last week."


    "We''re only two hours away." I shrugged.


    "Let''s get some food and then I could introduce you to everybody. Maybe you could lean it against the wall someplace close while we''re talking."


    The next hour went quickly. I got food -- a lot of it -- and met people. I knew her parents already, but I met uncles and aunts and cousins. I noticed Travis as well as Marcus and his parents.


    Travis was talking with Rachel next to one of the couches by the TV.


    "Oh, that''s interesting," Haley said when she saw where I was looking.


    "What?"


    "Them."


    "Should I be seeing something I''m not?"


    "They went out a couple years ago and then they broke up here. Loudly."


    "Huh. Here, as in at this party?"


    "Two years ago exactly."


    "Oh."


    I looked at them a little longer. They didn''t seem to be anything more than friends now.


    I decided not to think about it any more because it would be really weird if they did start dating again.


    A woman''s voice said, "Excuse me." It sounded familiar though I couldn''t immediately place it.


    "Sorry," I said, moving away from the table. I''d been blocking access to the shrimp and some cookies that I didn''t recognize. Haley had told me the names, but they were in Italian and I didn''t remember them.


    I did recognize the woman. I''d tried to sell her a subscription to Good Housekeeping not long ago.


    As she took some shrimp, I realized that Marcus had been right after all. She really could pass as the Executioner. She''d have to hide her red hair, bind her breasts and maybe wear a costume with padding in the right places. She seemed a little short for a guy, but she could gain an inch or two with the right shoes...


    She turned toward me, "Aren''t you the one who tried to sell me the magazines?"


    "Uh, yeah. Sorry. I was helping a friend."


    "Helping friends. I''ve gotten into a lot of trouble that way myself. Where''s she?"


    "Cassie''s with her mom. I think they''re somewhere in Indiana for Christmas."


    "Hi, Gena," Haley said.


    Gena said, "Hey, Haley." To me she said, "Sorry about shouting at you. I got stressed out while I was cleaning out the cottage and being constantly, and I really mean constantly interrupted that day."


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    "No problem. I gather people don''t like salesmen," I said.


    "Salesmen are okay. I''ve done sales. I''d been getting calls all day from work even though I''m on vacation. Pardon my french, but, fuck that, you know?"


    "Yeah," I nodded. "So what do you do?"


    "I''m an administrative assistant. Sounds like they really do need me, especially when I''m not there."


    She talked about her job in some office in Chicago, men she''d dated and eventually walked off to talk to one of her neighbors.


    More people had come in in the meantime. The place had gotten full. Haley ended up pulling me around to meet yet more of her relatives, most of whom were visiting from out of town. By the time another hour had passed I''d made a lot of small talk with people I barely knew, forgotten almost every name and face I''d been introduced to, and had begun to feel tired.


    I put up with it because it was part of the plan.


    First, before explaining the plan, two assumptions. The first assumption: Despite all that had gone on these last two weeks, the Executioner might show up anyway. The second: That leaving him (or her) alone would be the best idea, but if something did happen, we needed to have as many of us there as possible. Cassie, Daniel, and Vaughn were out because they''d never been there before and didn''t hang out with Haley or Travis socially. Everyone else had a reason to show up.


    The plan was fairly pathetic. It went like this: If the Executioner did appear and started hurting people, we''d beat him into the ground. Meanwhile, Daniel, Cassie and Vaughn would find a way to get here if we couldn''t handle it.


    As I said, it wasn''t a good plan, but it was all we had.


    In the meantime, those of us who were inside were going to see if we could recognize the Executioner before he started killing people -- which meant Haley and I had to look natural. For her, this meant introducing me to relatives until I wanted to scream.


    All of which meant that when Haley''s mom called her into the kitchen to help, I felt relieved to stand by myself drinking punch and meditating on which of the barbecued chicken wings I intended to eat first.


    I looked up from my plate to find Marcus next to me, holding his own plate of food. "So," Marcus said, "do you still like us?"


    "Shouldn''t I?"


    "Just asking. I wouldn''t be here if it weren''t my family. There are too many people and it''s too loud. Between the television, the stereo playing completely different music and people talking. It adds up. Also, you''re standing here alone."


    After checking to see if Haley was coming up behind me, I said, "Honestly, I like everybody, but a smaller crowd would be nice."


    Marcus nodded. Then he looked across the room. "Did you see anything suspicious yet?"


    "No. Not really."


    "Me neither. Except, hey... Do you know those guys? They''re the first people I''ve seen that I don''t know at all."


    I followed his hand over to the buffet. A black man in his thirties and a white woman in her forties stood in the buffet line, the man wearing sweats, the woman a casual suit. The man talked and laughed with one of Haley''s uncles. The woman appeared to be checking over the whole room.


    "Yeah," I said, "I know them. The guy''s Agent Satterfield. The woman''s Agent Brecker, both of the FBI."

 Rattling Cages: Part 11

    "Do you think they''re going to arrest him right here?" Marcus said, keeping his voice low.


    "No idea. I hope not. He''s probably armed, and, from reputation, he doesn''t sound like he''d go easily."


    "Or she," Marcus said.


    "Or she."


    Up until that day I might have rolled my eyes at that one, but I''d seen a couple pictures of the Executioner in the Feds'' database and Gena might just fit. Come to think of it, I told myself, she''d said she worked in an office, but she hadn''t said which one.


    I checked over the FBI agents in the buffet line again, wondering whether or not I should talk to them.


    I decided not to. If they wanted to talk to me, they''d already be doing it.


    Besides, mentioning something to the FBI would make it harder to meet our goal of not starting a fight in the middle of the party.


    "I''m going to fill my plate again," I told Marcus, and walked over around the far side of the buffet where there wasn''t a line.


    By the time I came back, Marcus had moved a few feet away and started talking with one of his uncles. Haley had introduced me, but I couldn''t remember the man''s name. Not that that was a surprise.


    I stood and ate next to the door to the kitchen, hoping that Haley would come back soon.


    Halfway through the food, a balding, black-haired guy stepped up to me. Just and inch or two shorter than I was, he had a thin, wiry build. I pegged his age as mid-thirties. He held a can of beer in his right hand and a plate of food in the other.


    "Hi, I''m Ray, how are you doing?"


    "Pretty much okay," I said, trying to remember if Haley had mentioned a relative named Ray. "I''m Nick."


    "So," he took a drink, "are you with the family?"


    "I''m dating a member of the family."


    "Yeah? That''s cool. Me, I come up from Chicago most years to have Christmas with a friend of mine. Then we drop by."


    "Really? Does your friend live close?"


    "Just a couple houses down. He''s got a nice place."


    "I think I know which house you mean." Cassie and I had climbed around it.


    "Yeah," he said. "It''s got a good view."


    I caught a flash of gold from his left wrist.


    He angled his plate so I could see his watch better. "It''s a Rolex."


    "Huh," I said. "I don''t think I''ve ever seen a real one."


    "Rolexes or watches? All you kids just use cell phones these days."


    "Good point," I said, "I''m trying to think if I''ve ever owned a watch that didn''t come out of a Happy Meal."


    He laughed. "Ha. You make me feel old." He moved his arm to a more comfortable position.


    "So, you''re dating someone here? Where is she?"


    "Well," I said, "the kitchen right now. She was summoned by her mom."


    "Really? Think she made any of the food?"


    "I''ve got no idea."


    "It''s great stuff, and no wonder with half the family in the restaurant business. So are you in high school? College?"


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    "High school. Senior year."


    "Man that was a long time ago. Having fun?"


    "Mostly, it''s been a strange year."


    "Yeah. Grand Lake''s been exciting this year. I''ve seen the news coverage. Crazy."


    The kitchen door swung open and Haley walked out carrying a tray of meats and cheeses. She smiled at me as she went past.


    "That her?"


    "Yes."


    "Seems I can barely turn around without finding another kid has grown up. Well, I won''t keep you. I gotta catch a couple people before I go. I''ll see you next year."


    "You bet," I said.


    He walked away and struck up a conversation with a group of Haley''s relatives and people who might have been neighbors. I couldn''t be sure.


    "Are you done?" I asked Haley as she walked up to me.


    "I am if I stay out of sight," she said. "Let''s get away from the kitchen."


    "Over here," she said. She led me toward the edge of the crowd and also, incidentally, the wall. We followed the wall down to the stairway that led to the second story.


    "The downstairs stairway is in the kitchen, but even if my mom didn''t snag me," Haley said, "we''d end up with the little kids. No one''s upstairs."


    Someone had hung lights all the way down the banister along with some kind of green, plastic leaves. We walked three fourths of the way up the stairs and sat down next to each other.


    I could still hear the murmuring of conversation below us, but at least I didn''t have to see anyone.


    "I ran into some guy named Ray downstairs," I said, "Do you know who he is?"


    "A little," Haley said. "He''s friends with the guy from Chicago a couple doors down from us. He comes for Christmas most years. Why?"


    "I don''t know. Just trying to make things make sense. I haven''t met anyone yet that really seems like a hit man. The only hint I''ve seen that anything weird is going on is the FBI agents, and they''re raiding the buffet."


    "Everyone gets hungry," she said.


    "Wouldn''t it be funny if that were the only reason they''re here?"


    "Your tax dollars at work." She grinned.


    "Yours, maybe," I said. "I couldn''t find a job last summer."


    I looked a little closer at the railing behind Haley. The fake plastic leaves had red berries.


    "Is that supposed to be mistletoe?"


    "It''s supposed to be."


    "You''re under it."


    "And?"


    I leaned toward her and she leaned toward me. We kissed. Then we kissed a couple more times.


    I''d wanted to kiss her before. We''d had a lot of opportunities, but the moment hadn''t seemed quite right. Now, with a possible hit man downstairs, the moment couldn''t have been more wrong, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.


    We pulled apart, still looking at each other, my arm around her waist.


    What were we supposed to do now?


    "I wonder," I began, but downstairs, people started shouting.

 Rattling Cages: Part 12

    I couldn''t quite understand what any of them were saying, but the tone of the conversation sounded ugly.


    "Ugh," I said, "I can''t make out who it is. Can you?"


    Haley listened and frowned, "I think it''s the agents from the coffeehouse. We''d better hurry."


    We both stood up and she looked over the side of the railing as if she were considering jumping over.


    She didn''t.


    We ran down the stairs and into the living room to find the crowd gathered near the front door. Solar Flare stood directly in front of it, the crowd giving him a big gap.


    The only people standing next to him were Agent Brecker and Agent Satterfield. Satterfield stood facing him. Brecker watched the crowd.


    The first line I could actually understand came from Solar Flare shouting at Agent Satterfield, "--dammit. She''s dead. She died today and the killer''s here."


    I didn''t hear Satterfield''s reply, but Solar Flare addressed the crowd. "Did you hear me? The person who shot Tiffany Sanchez is in this goddamned room and he''d better surrender before I find him."


    I didn''t hear Satterfield''s reply to that either, but hoped that Solar Flare would have the sense not to start flinging blasts of plasma inside the house.


    Haley pushed through the crowd. I followed, making it to the front.


    Looking at his face, I decided that whatever hope I might have about his good judgment had to be tempered with the fact that he was out of his mind. The most recent time I''d seen him, he struck me as amiable, but not especially smart (though not stupid either). Just then, his expression seemed to be stuck at rage, briefly switching to a blank look that I assumed to be grief.


    We found ourselves standing next to Jaclyn.


    "Hi," I said.


    Jaclyn whispered, "He''s nuts."


    He strode toward us, watching people''s reactions as they backed away.


    We backed along with everyone else, leaving Solar Flare in the middle of the room next to the buffet. Light burned hazily around him.


    "What are you doing?" He swung his head around the room to address everyone. "Protecting him?"


    "We need to do something," Haley said.


    "I know," I muttered.


    Travis stepped out of the crowd. "Protecting him? What are you thinking? If the Executioner were here, we''d toss him out on his ass."


    "Travis," Travis and Haley''s dad stepped up next to him. Though their father wasn''t as tall as Travis, he had the same bulky build -- just thirty pounds heavier. "My son didn''t say it very well, but we aren''t protecting anybody. If there''s a criminal here, take him. We''ll help in any way we can."


    "Thanks for you help, Mr. McAllister." Agent Brecker took a drink of the bluish liquid in her water bottle. Brecker and Satterfield had followed Solar Flare into the middle of the room. As I glanced at him, I noticed Agent Satterfield putting a hip flask back into his pocket as he watched the opposite half of the room from Brecker.


    Very quietly, Agent Brecker said, "Settle down, Solar Flare, we''ll find him. Follow our lead."


    To Satterfield, only a little more loudly, she said, "Do it now."


    At first, I couldn''t see anything unusual, but as he turned away from the other side of the room, his eyes glowed red.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    As he scanned our side of the room, bathing us in (hopefully low level) radiation, a number of things happened.


    Haley said, "Down, guns," and pushed me toward the floor.


    Agent Satterfield pulled a gun out of the pocket of his sweats.


    Jaclyn whirled around at an inhuman speed.


    Then she lost control and fell over, tumbling into one of Haley''s cousins.


    As she fell, my legs grew wobbly and I started to fall myself. I tried to catch myself, but my arms felt suddenly as if they were connected to someone else -- or possibly no one.


    We weren''t the only ones falling. People went down like bowling pins, thumping heavily on the wooden floor without crying out.


    On the floor, I became aware of a humming noise while my mind ran over the most likely possibilities, finally settling on remote paralysis.


    Paralysis devices seemed really clever in theory, I decided, but I wished that they''d blocked the ability to feel pain in addition to the ability move limbs. Hitting the floor face first had hurt.


    The victim''s comfort probably wasn''t high on the weapon designer''s priority list.


    From behind me I heard Ray''s voice. "Got ''em all. I tell ya, wide angle paralysis is the best."


    Gena''s voice said, "So, are we doing the usual for Feds?"


    "Yeah, the usual."


    A deep male voice said, "We''re gonna kill the super-feds? They''re going to be pissed, Ray."


    "What''s new?"


    I heard footsteps. Then Ray and Gena''s feet came into view. Ray wore black leather shoes. Gena wore Nike running shoes.


    I didn''t have control of my eyeballs either. I''d landed on my face and that meant I could only see the shoes in the peripheral vision of my left eye.


    "I''m in position, Ray." Gena''s voice came from where Agent Brecker must have been laying.


    "Just do it."


    I heard a muffled pop.


    "I''ve got the other one," Ray said. A gunshot followed immediately.


    "What do we do with the hero?" The deep voice came from the middle of the room.


    "We leave him. We''re not done with the guy yet."


    Ray''s shoes passed briefly through my field of vision.


    "Hey Brian, if I can call you Brian, you''ve still got too many people left to lose. So for now, you live."


    "As for the rest of you, you''ve got nothing to worry about. I''ve had nothing but good times here every year and I don''t want to end it with murder. Well, not with mass murder. I''m sentimental that way. There''s nothing you know about me that plastic surgery won''t cure, you know?"


    He paused, then said, "Bill, Gena... Could one of you grab the coats? I never remember where they put them."


    "Anyway," he said, "back to you guys. That bit about not wanting to end this with mass murder? Well, that only applies if you keep your mouths shut. Otherwise, I may have to reconsider. Got it?"


    From the front came the noise of the closet door opening.


    "Well, it looks like Gena''s found the coats. G''night everybody."


    A pause.


    "I''ll see you later, Brian."

 Rattling Cages: Part 13

    Jaclyn started moving a couple minutes after the door shut.


    I could hear her push herself up, fall once, push herself up again, and then I saw her black, heeled boots on the floor in front of me. She stopped for a moment, looking (I assumed) at the people on the floor, and then ran to the window on the far side of the room.


    I heard the kitchen door open, followed by a gasp.


    Jaclyn said, "It''s bad, but not as bad as it looks, Mrs. McAllister. Two people are dead, but everyone else is paralyzed. It''s temporary. They''ll get up just like I did."


    Next to me, Haley said, "Mom?"


    I felt her brush against me, steady herself and then stand up.


    Further down the room, Travis said, "Those people are sick."


    As he talked, I realized I could move my arms and my head.


    I looked toward the buffet tables and instantly wished I hadn''t.


    Solar Flare stood next to the buffet, still angry, but completely motionless. The FBI agents were dead -- dead in a way that included sprawling limbs, splinters of skulls and a better view of the inside of their heads than I wanted.


    My stomach gave a long, queasy roll and threatened more.


    I turned my head toward Haley, both to check her reaction and to look at something I wanted to see. Moving put me a little off balance, but she caught my arm.


    "I''m okay," I said. "Mostly."


    Outside I heard Ray shouting something and then Gena''s voice.


    A car started.


    I grabbed my guitar case and ran to the front door. Jaclyn got there just as I did, unable to move faster without looking superhuman, I supposed.


    We got out onto the porch just as Gena''s blue pickup truck pulled out of the driveway, following an SUV down the road. Without my jacket, the wind felt like it was cutting through my clothes despite wearing the stealth suit underneath.


    Unzipping the outer pocket of the case, I pulled out the controller for the newest generation of roachbots, targeted the SUV and the truck and pressed the launch button.


    The controller bucked in my hands as they shot off like the little missiles they basically were.


    "There," I said, "now we can follow them forever -- or at least until they notice the roachbots. One of the two."


    "Give me a second, I''ll change." Jaclyn opened the door to go inside.


    Following her, I found Haley standing just on the other side.


    "They didn''t see you, did they?" She looked uncomfortable.


    "They didn''t stop," I said.


    The explosions hit just as I shut the door.


    Though the windows, I could see Gena''s house explode and then the house Cassie and I had walked around.


    I closed my eyes against the brightness, hearing the windows rattle in their frames, and small objects hit the cottage''s roof.


    Haley''s relatives were mostly up by then and I heard gasps, curses, and little shouts as the houses burned, sometimes exploding again as something new caught.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Nick, Haley, Jaclyn, over here." Travis stood next to a bedroom door. Rachel stood next to him. Marcus stepped inside as Travis gave me a wave.


    I looked over at Solar Flare while we walked to the room. He still stood there, frozen in place. They must have given him a double dose. In their position, I would have. The guy could rain down superheated plasma at them from the sky, and in his current mood, he probably would.


    It might, I thought, be better for everyone if he didn''t get involved.


    I managed to turn my head towards the bedroom without looking at the floor.


    We all squeezed into the room and Travis shut the door.


    I sat next to Marcus and Haley on the bed while Rachel, Travis and Jaclyn tried to find places to stand among the suitcases and children''s toys.


    "Man," Travis said, "that got bad. They''re calling 911 right now and I think we''d better get out of here and after them before the police show up."


    "Calling us all in here for a meeting is definitely helping with that," Jaclyn said.


    "We''ve got to coordinate, Jackie. Besides, this isn''t a meeting. It''s more of a huddle."


    "I stopped being ''Jackie'' when I was ten, but go on."


    "Sorry. I brought Grandpa''s car along in case we had to chase, but it''s small. We''re not all going to fit."


    "I''ll run," Jaclyn said.


    "I''ve got a jet pack in Rachel''s car," I said. "You''ll have plenty of room, especially if Rachel''s not coming."


    "Who said I''m not coming?"


    "No one, but you don''t have a costume or anything," I looked up at her. "Right?"


    "Grandma gave me a costume."


    "I didn''t know that."


    "Hey," Travis said, "the more the merrier. We''re going to need Ghostwoman. Can you do everything she could?"


    "I''m nowhere near as good a shot."


    "If you''re half as good..." Travis began. "Grandpa said she scared the hell out of everybody during the war."


    "We''re not getting anywhere here. Let''s move out," Jaclyn said.


    "We''d better," Travis said. "I don''t know what''s going to happen, but let''s try to stick together. None of us are going to be able to take them out alone."


    "Wait," Haley got off the bed. "Do we really want to do this? You know what they''re doing to Solar Flare. You know how Ray said he''d kill everybody if the family talked."


    "I''m sure every hit man says stuff like that," Travis said.


    Jaclyn tapped her foot against the floor. "No, she''s right. He probably will kill everybody if he finds out, but you know what? That kind of guy might decide to kill everybody if he feels nervous ten minutes from now even if we don''t do anything. He''s a psycho. They''re all psychos."


    Strangely, I didn''t find that as strong an argument for going after them as she probably intended.

 Rattling Cages: Part 14

    Flying in the winter is cold.


    The full Rocket armor feels warm even in the worst weather, probably because Grandpa spent a lot of time flying during the winter. By contrast, Grandpa''s main focus when he created the stealth suit was for it to fit under clothes. Even after pulling the supplementary jacket, pants and gloves over the basic suit, the stealth suit still felt colder.


    Adding a guitar to the mix didn''t make things any easier.


    I''d thought far enough ahead to realize that I couldn''t hang it over my back with the jet pack and to arrange a way to hook it into the jacket on my front, but not far enough to stop it from moving around while I flew. The neck knocked against my chest and swung as I turned, hitting the bottom of my helmet.


    Annoying.


    By the time we managed to get away and get changed, we were fifteen minutes behind them. That would have been an insurmountable lead without the roachbots broadcasting their position.


    As it was, I could follow them via the GPS readout in my helmet. Two dots followed the highway south, moving at about sixty miles per hour.


    Funny that they''d chosen to take the two lane highway instead of the four lane freeway that ran roughly parallel to it. On the other hand, even without leaves the trees made it harder to see them.


    Jaclyn or I could catch them in minutes if we wanted to, me because I could fly straight after them, Jaclyn because she could run at the speed of sound.


    As I began to close, I decided to call everybody to find out if the people in the car had come up with a plan. I pressed down on the buttons on my palm until I found them in my address book and called, relieved that I''d managed to plug a cell phone into at least this version of the suit.


    I got Jaclyn first and then pulled Travis into the three way call. Hopefully he''d figured out the cars'' phone interface. That way everyone could get into the conversation.


    "We''re here," he said as he picked up.


    "Do you guys have any kind of plan? I can almost see them."


    "We''ve been talking about it," Travis said. "I think our best shot is to send Rachel in to deal with the paralysis guns. After that we can probably take them in a straight fight."


    "How''s she going to catch up to them?" Jaclyn asked. "The last I heard Ghostwoman didn''t move very fast in the air."


    "That''s been a sticking point," Travis said.


    I cut in. "I can make them stop."


    "How?" Jaclyn said.


    "Um... The power of rock and roll?"


    Laughter came from the car.


    Jaclyn said, "Oh, that''ll do it. How much power does rock and roll have these days?"


    "Enough to melt a small hole in the side of a battleship."


    "Oookay then," Jaclyn said, wind blowing in the background as she spoke. "It''s not really nuclear, is it?"


    "Everyone keeps asking me that. No, but the battery design I used was really cool. It holds a lot of power. I took a couple of Grandpa''s designs and combined them."


    I paused, trying to think of the best way to explain the difference between the designs and why combining them had been a good idea.


    "Sounds great," Jaclyn said. "So we''ve got to time this so that Nick gets there first, the car gets there second, and I appear as soon Rachel takes out the paralysis weapons. Is there anything more to the plan than that?"


    "No," Travis said, "but if anyone''s got an idea, I''m open to suggestions."


    We didn''t have any.


    * * *


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "I''m going in. Try not to look directly at the beam."


    We''d finally caught up with them forty minutes south of Grand Lake. Ray''s SUV and Gena''s truck were the only cars on the highway. It wasn''t a surprise. Most people didn''t travel much of anywhere on Christmas night.


    We were out in the middle of nowhere. The nearest house sat a couple hundred feet back from the road, almost invisible because of the trees. Above me, the stars shone more brightly than usual in an empty sky.


    I turned on the guitar, feeling more than hearing the hum as all of its components activated.


    My helmet''s targeting feature superimposed a semi-transparent red dot in the direction the laser pointed -- in this case out of my view since the end of the neck currently pointed in a direction outside my field of vision. I made a mental note to have video feed from the guitar appear inside the helmet one of these days.


    Adjusting the guitar so that the neck pointed downward, I moved over the roadway. I dropped a little altitude, leveling off just below the tops of the trees on either side.


    It felt a little like entering the Death Star trench, but I had a clear shot at the tires of both vehicles, leaving me to decide which to shoot first. Tactically, it would be better to shoot Ray''s SUV in front because then they''d both have to stop. Given the snowy roads, however, they could easily end up crashing into each other.


    I wanted to capture them, not kill them.


    I moved my hand down the neck and pushed down the pulse laser button, plucking the lever that activated it. Bright red light shot out of the end of the neck, popping Gena''s truck''s back tire, and turning a quarter of the rim to molten metal.


    Who says skills acquired in video games are useless?


    While the truck screeched to a halt, I aimed again, fired, and missed as the SUV started weaving.


    Moving my hand lower on the neck, I switched to the beam laser button, knowing it would be slightly less powerful, but that it would stay on as long as I held the button down. Ray''s evasive driving prevented me from getting a precise shot, so I decided to go with imprecise.


    I raked the beam across the SUV''s body starting just ahead of the left, rear wheel, slicing partially through the rim, and cutting across the tire. Ray jerked to the left just as I started, but only managed to have the beam hit lower on the tire.


    It popped, coming partially off and beginning to wrap around the axle. A jagged piece of the rim fell off, bouncing down the road while the hubcap shattered.


    The damaged rim left a trail of sparks as Ray braked, stopping some fifty feet from where I''d cut his tire. Weaving to avoid the shot had turned his stop into a skid that ended with the SUV blocking both lanes, but it stood upright.


    As I flew past them, Ray and the other guy jumped out of the SUV, taking cover behind it and beginning to fire at me.


    You would think people destroyed their tires with laser beams every day.


    I gave myself some altitude and spun out of the roadway and above the trees.


    That''s when I noticed that the distance between Gena''s truck and Ray''s SUV had to be at least two hundred feet. Rachel, Travis, Haley and Marcus would need to get past her to do anything. In the meantime, Ray and the other guy could do anything they wanted.


    I wondered what Jaclyn would do when she saw what had happened.


    What was the saying? No battle plan survives contact with the enemy?

 Rattling Cages: Part 15

    Circling around, I tried to think of the next step. If they had equipment in the SUV, I didn''t want them to have access to it, so I dipped back into the roadway, firing at the SUV''s cargo area and hoping I''d destroy anything that mattered inside.


    When I started firing, Ray and the other guy were already moving. By the time the laser had melted a few holes in the vehicle''s side, they''d already run to the edge of the woods and started to return fire.


    I angled myself upwards, over the trees, and out of their sight.


    Then I called Jaclyn and told her "The vehicles got separated. I''m going to try to keep their attention from a distance until Rachel can take care of the paralysis rays."


    Jaclyn said, "How''s Rachel doing?"


    "I don''t know."


    I flew closer to the road and checked, leaving the connection open.


    Illuminated under the road''s sole streetlight, Gena stood behind the truck, automatic rifle in her hands, firing over the bed of the pickup at Rachel.


    Gena wore black armor with guns, knives and other devices strapped to her arms, belt, and legs.


    Rachel''s costume could have come straight from an old news clipping. White spandex with a semi-automatic pistol holstered on her right hip, it looked exactly like Grandma''s and glowed dimly. Something seemed wrong with Rachel''s left arm, but I couldn''t figure out what.


    Rachel glided toward Gena, completely unaffected by the machine gun.


    As she floated through the other side of the truck bed, Gena turned and tried to run for the woods.


    I wouldn''t have thought Rachel''s glide would be faster than running, but she caught Gena''s bare neck with her right hand just as Gena turned her head and put down her gun.


    Sparks came from Rachel''s glove. Gena spasmed and fell to the ground.


    I would have expected someone to get out of Night Wolf''s car at that moment -- if only to help Rachel with Gena''s body.


    No one did. In the meantime, Rachel''s left arm hung loosely as she took away the rifle and started unstrapping the other weapons.


    "Nick," Jaclyn''s voice said, "what''s happening?"


    "Rachel just took out Gena. I need to check where Ray and his friend are."


    I turned toward the SUV, then toward the woods where I''d last seen the two of them. They weren''t there or my eyes had adjusted to the streetlight. Either way, it looked dark.


    "Nick?" Jaclyn said.


    "I can''t see them. Give me a second."


    Pushing the button that activated the sonar, I struck the lever on the guitar, aiming the body towards the woods. Images filled the readout just above my eyes. Stripped of detail, tree trunks appeared solid and white. Thinner branches appeared gray.


    A white torso with grayish arms and legs appeared in the woods, followed by another, sneaking from tree to tree, moving in the direction of Gena''s truck.


    "They''re going to try to rescue Gena. No one in the car is doing anything. I think they must be para --"


    "Nick, stop talking. I''m coming."


    With the push of a button on the palm of my left hand, I activated the suit''s sonic systems.


    "Hey," I said, addressing the woods, "you out there. It''s going to be a lot easier on everyone if you just give up. You don''t get hurt that way. We don''t get hurt. Everyone wins, you know?"


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    I knew it didn''t have much of a chance, but if nothing else, it bought Jaclyn a little time.


    She wouldn''t need much.


    To my surprise, Ray''s voice came from the woods.


    "Nice try, kid. I''ve got a proposition for you too. You let us grab the woman and go, and my friend over here won''t blow your friends'' museum piece of supercar to hell."


    I could just see the two of them in the streetlight. Both of them wore black armor like Gena''s, complete with strapped on weapons, a helmet, and night vision goggles.


    The big man next to Ray held a rifle with two barrels. The lower barrel probably fired off grenades.


    "Do anything suspicious and we let the goddamn car have it. And that includes going invisible, Ghostgirl. See? I know my history."


    Rachel turned away from Gena''s unconscious body and rose a few inches in the air. "Yeah, you''re so smart I bet you''ll be able to figure when the ''War of 1812'' started -- eventually."


    From all I''d ever heard, Grandma didn''t back down either.


    "What the fuck was that? Do you want us to kill your friends?" Ray pointed his rifle at me.


    "No," I said. "Calm down. We can work this out."


    I moved my right arm ever so slightly closer to the guitar, trying to think if I had anything short of the laser that would work at this range. Hitting Ray with that would burn a hole through him -- a small one for a battleship, but a big one for a man. On the bright side, I supposed, the wound would be cauterized.


    If we did have to fight, Night Wolf''s car could probably take a grenade or two, but I didn''t feel like testing it. If anyone inside got hurt, or worse, killed, what would I do then?


    The second my right arm moved, Ray shouted, "Don''t touch the fucking guitar!"


    "Hey, no problem," I said, but it was almost a moot point.


    The neck had long ago slipped down to point toward the ground. I could see the red dot that acted as the laser''s sight whenever I looked down. Turning myself a little would place it in the middle of his chest.


    After that, I only had to touch the guitar. Could I do it quickly enough? That was less clear.


    Out of the corner of my eye, a purple blur fell from the sky. I didn''t know where she had begun her jump, but Jaclyn landed in front of Night Wolf''s car.


    The road cracked under the impact of her feet. The man with the grenade launcher fired almost instantaneously, but it didn''t matter.


    She spiked the grenade, knocking it out of the air to land at her feet.


    It exploded.


    She covered her eyes as the blast knocked on her back, but aside from that she appeared to be unhurt.


    As she stood, I knew that that was precisely the sort of thing that the Army never let out about her grandfather.


    I didn''t have long to meditate on race relations and near invulnerability in 1940''s America though. Ray had apparently decided to empty the magazine of his rifle at me.

 Rattling Cages: Part 16

    Bullets bounced off my helmet, and the guitar, hitting the stealth suit. With the full suit, I would have just felt the impact. With the stealth suit, I felt each individual bullet. It hurt.


    Purely out of habit, I pointed my arm at Ray and blasted at him with the sonics. The answering shout and a pause in the rain of bullets made it worth it.


    Had I been in the full suit, I might have blasted straight at him then, but I didn''t. If I missed him, I''d probably slam into a tree, and in the stealth suit, I had less confidence that I''d survive it.


    I dived for him, but pulled up about ten feet in front of him and dropped to the ground, using the momentum to give me a good start on closing the distance. I took a step and then jumped into a side kick.


    The kick didn''t, as I''d hoped, hit his solar plexus and knock the air out of him.


    He dodged and I hit him in the ribs -- still fairly hard, but not hard enough to take him out. I might have broken a rib though.


    Worse, he grabbed my left leg. He''d already dropped his rifle as I''d approached, but I''d assumed that it was because he''d emptied the magazine not because he wanted to prepare for hand to hand combat.


    I''m dumb sometimes.


    I leaned back and let myself fall to the ground, the guitar hitting the ground with me.


    He let go of my leg.


    The guitar chose that moment to start playing Black Sabbath''s "War Pigs" at maximum possible volume. Given the amount of power available and the other uses of the speakers that was very loud.


    Generals gathered in their masses


    Just like witches at black masses...


    The musical choice could have fit worse. I''d filled it with songs from Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but late one night I''d also loaded up some other songs I liked by They Might Be Giants and from Dr. Horrible''s Sing-Along-Blog. They didn''t quite fit with the rest, but it seemed funny at the time.


    In my semi-distracted state, I considered skipping to a different song, but common sense took over. I fumbled for the guitar, moving up the neck to a very different setting.


    "It''s a fucking iPod," Ray said, yanking a submachine gun off his leg and aiming it at me. "This has armor piercing ammo."


    I pressed a button on the guitar. Small lasers on the face of the guitar exploded into blinding, multi-colored light. What''s a rock concert without a light show?


    My helmet automatically adjusted, but Ray couldn''t see anything and started firing wildly.


    I got hit. One hit my helmet. It didn''t go through. Another couple hit my chest. They didn''t go through either, but the bullets stuck in my jacket. If I hadn''t been wearing it, I''d have been dead.


    Whether the guitar got hit or just shorted, the song changed, cutting to the middle of a song from Dr. Horrible''s Sing-Along-Blog.


    It¡¯s a brand new day


    Yeah the sun is high


    All the angels sing


    Because you¡¯re gonna die


    Not precisely the sentiments I was looking for.


    I rolled to the side and pushed myself up just as the light ceased. The guitar banged against my chest and one of the bullets fell off.


    Still blinded by the light, Ray stopped firing, probably trying to listen for me, but defeated by the still unbearably loud vocals.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.I jumped a little to Ray''s right side, grabbing his gun hand with my left and punching him in the face with my right hand.


    I could feel the artificial muscles moving around my arm as I struck -- more than I did when wearing the full suit.


    He fell backwards, unconscious, landing on the snow.


    Off to my left, I saw Jaclyn standing over the body of the other man.


    From my right, I heard Rachel say, "Hey, you got him. For a minute there I thought I''d have to help."


    "Yeah, I did." I grabbed the guitar and managed to turn off the sound, noticing that she seemed to be moving her left arm now.


    "Your arm seems better."


    "Travis, the big dope, moved too close to Gena and she got us with the paralysis gun. I didn''t fade out quickly enough."


    "I didn''t know you could get half paralyzed. Do you think everyone else is okay?"


    "Well, they weren''t moving yet, the last time I looked, but it can''t be any worse than back at the house."


    I looked back toward the car. I felt like I ought to be going over there, but how would I help?


    "So what are you going to do with them?" Rachel started unstrapping the guns and knives, and pulling them off Ray''s body. "Do you have handcuffs or anything?"


    "Handcuffs?" I said.


    "What were you planning on doing with them after you caught them?"


    "I don''t know," I said. "Just a second."


    I called 911.


    While I talked to the dispatcher on the other end, Jaclyn said, "I think there might be handcuffs in Night Wolf''s car, but they''re probably twenty years old and there''s no guarantee we''ll be able to find the keys."


    Rachel laughed. "You should see some of the things he''s lost around the house. Come to think of it, I wouldn''t put it past him to have melted them down for the metal."


    Jaclyn carried the other guy over. "I think I got everything off this guy, but I''ve never done this before and you know I''ll have missed something."


    Rachel said, "Don''t look at me. I''ve never done this before either."


    I hung up. "The police will be here pretty soon. I''ll bet the FBI will be here sooner. Anyway, I''m sure I didn''t melt down the handcuffs or their keys either."


    Probably.


    Jaclyn grinned at me. "Of course you didn''t. We all know better than that. So how''s Cassie''s motorcycle? The normal one? The one she wanted to train on so she didn''t stick out?"


    I thought for a second. "Oh that... I had to make some minor modifications."


    "Uh-huh," she said, drawing it out.


    Rachel laughed.


    "About these modifications," Jaclyn said, "Will it still look like a motorcycle when you''re done?"


    They went on like that while we carried the bodies out into the road and found some rope in the trunk of Night Wolf''s car.


    It wasn''t that long until someone arrived, but it wasn''t the police or the Feds.


    We put the bodies in the bed of Gena''s truck. As Jaclyn tied the last man''s feet together, we noticed something bright in the sky. The glowing shape of a man descended, landing in the road in behind the pickup.


    Solar Flare.


    I looked up from watching Jaclyn, and Rachel caught my eye.


    "Here comes trouble," she said.

 Rattling Cages: Part 17

    Solar Flare didn''t stop burning when he landed. White and yellow flames covered his body.


    I checked him for any hint that he might have calmed down since crashing the McAllister''s Christmas party. His face was immobile. His lips were a thin line.


    It felt like the wrong kind of calm.


    "Get away from them." I recognized his voice, but only barely. It sounded rougher than when he''d questioned us -- as if he''d been doing a lot shouting or possibly crying.


    The flames around his right hand intensified, growing brighter.


    He started walking toward us, passing Night Wolf''s car.


    The right door opened. A featureless grayish goo exited, resolving itself into Marcus.


    "I just figured out how to shift out of the paralysis. Is that cool or what?"


    Solar Flare turned his head back, expression tense, his hands curling into fists while his arms moved up, almost into a fighting position.


    "Hey," Marcus said. "I''m not looking for trouble. I just got out of the car."


    He grabbed an old jacket with the Heroes League logo (a stylized HL in a double circle) on it and put it on. "Quite some weather we''re having, isn''t it? You''d think it was the middle of February."


    Walking around Solar Flare, he said, "Have you met everybody yet? I''m The Shift. This is the Rocket. This is Ghost Something Or Other." He pointed to Rachel. "And this is She-Who-Must-Choose-a-Name." He pointed to Jaclyn.


    "I''m getting to it," Jaclyn said.


    Rachel gave him a lopsided smile. "Right now I''m going by Ghost. Ask me again tomorrow."


    Solar Flare checked back toward Marcus and then toward Jaclyn, Rachel, and I as we stood behind the truck.


    "You''re all what, grandchildren of the Heroes League?"


    "You got it," Marcus walked around him and joined us.


    Solar Flare moved his eyes across the four of us and sighed.


    "Just get out of my way," he said.


    "You''re not going to kill them in cold blood?" Jaclyn sounded just on the edge of angry. Her right hand clenched.


    "They''ve been doing this for years!" He sounded exactly like he had in the McAllister''s cottage. "Do you know how many people they''ve killed? And not for a good reason... They''ve done it for money. Money for a life. Money for lives. People''s friends, parents, children, all killed to rip them apart, to make an example of them... Better to end it and make sure they''re done."


    Stolen story; please report.


    I could feel the heat coming off his body through the helmet.


    "Even if you end up going to jail for it?" Rachel glanced behind her toward the bodies in the back of the truck. "If someone finds three bodies in a hole in the highway with the remains of a truck melted around them, there''s not going to be any kind of mystery who''s behind it."


    "I''ll think about that later."


    None of us moved, but the thought that someone might find seven bodies in a hole in the highway began to nag at my mind.


    Behind me, Ray moaned.


    Solar Flare''s fist burned brightly enough that my helmet adjusted the light levels.


    "Move now!" Solar Flare pulled back his arm, clearly threatening a plasma strike.


    Next to me, Rachel pushed away from the back of the truck, her arm moving through the tailgate as if it didn''t exist.


    Jaclyn stepped forward, shielding her eyes with her arm. "No."


    I couldn''t see Marcus where he stood on the other side of Jaclyn, but I heard him say, "You don''t want to kill us."


    As for myself, I had the sonics ready. A blast of sound would distract him enough for Jaclyn to take him out. If I were going to do it though, I''d have to strike first. The stealth suit would never protect me from a full blast.


    From the truck bed, Ray said, "Solar Flare, you''ve got me. You''ve got all of us. The cops are coming. What more do you want?"


    "I want her back." Solar Flare began to float upward.


    Jaclyn jumped on to the truck bed and stood next to where Ray lay.


    "Look at me," Ray said. "I can''t fight you. I can''t even move. I''m half blind from the kid''s guitar right now. If you want to fight me, it''s too late. There''s nothing left to fight."

 Rattling Cages: Part 18

    A thin, almost surgical blast flew from Solar Flare''s hand toward Ray''s head.


    I didn''t see Jaclyn''s hand move, but it met the plasma in mid air, outlining her hand and arm in white and splashing out of her palm. She gave a gasp while Ray screamed.


    Bits of plasma fell toward Gena and the other man, waking them both up screaming in pain, and splattering across their armor.


    They kicked their legs against the truck bed and tried to move their arms, but we''d tied their arms together at their backs. The most they could do was try to rollover.


    I smelled something that reminded me simultaneously of meat and plastic.


    The screams seemed to hit Solar Flare in a way nothing we''d said could.


    He cringed and started to float down toward the truck.


    Jaclyn held her hand against her chest, possibly trying to cool it against her costume.


    Hovering at eye level with Jaclyn, he said, "I am sorry."


    She looked him in the eye and said, "Get away from me."


    He ignored her, his gaze drawn to the bed of the pickup truck.


    Plasma had burned through their armor, mixing skin, melted fabric, and blood. One drop had hit Ray''s face. Bone, rimmed with charred skin, showed through a divot just under his left eye, reddish skin all around it. Two more had hit his chest. Each breath caused him to clench his teeth.


    Gena started asking questions. "What just hit me? Why does my arm hurt? What''s going on?"


    "Shut up. Shut up!" Ray started shouting, but he grimaced as he did it. I wondered how much talking pulled on the burnt skin.


    The spray had hit the man to Ray''s left the most. I counted at least five different holes in his chest. After he stopped screaming, he kept his mouth tightly shut, breathing slowly, carefully.


    Jaclyn''s attempt to save Ray might have been more punishment than simply letting him die.


    "Do you see this?" She pointed at them. "It didn''t have to happen. I mean, what were you thinking? They killed FBI agents in front of a roomful of witnesses. Even if you can''t pin all the Executioner''s kills on them, they''re facing in the death penalty anyway. God..."


    Solar Flare exhaled and looked tired. "I wish I could believe it."


    He landed and walked away from the truck, stopping some twenty feet away -- alone.


    "''I wish I could believe it?''" Jaclyn jumped off the truck, landing next to Rachel, Marcus, and I. "There were a roomful of witnesses. Believe it or not, they''re going to jail."


    "You got it, freak," Ray said.


    Jaclyn eyed him where he lay. "Remind me. Why did I bother to save your life?"


    * * *


    I opened the window that faced the backyard and Daniel floated in with cold air. While I fumbled with closing the screen, the storm window and finally the regular window, Daniel sat down at my desk and pulled off his mask. He''d come in full costume as the Mystic.


    "Better to be seen in costume than be flying without one," he said in response to my unspoken question. "What did I miss?" Daniel asked.


    I sat down on my bed and ran through the whole series of events, starting with the party at the cottage and ending with the FBI and police taking Ray and the others away. They''d brought a box, the special truck they used for supers, as well as an ambulance.


    "The end was a pretty bad scene," I said. "Even the spatters burned through the armor to the skin and, honestly, probably past skin. I tried not to look very hard. All I know is that they needed the ambulance."


    "What about Jaclyn?"


    "I think she''s okay. I saw her hand. It was reddish, but wasn''t blistered or anything. I''m sure it hurt though."


    "If it were any of the rest of us, we wouldn''t have a hand."


    "Yeah," I said. "Hopefully none of the rest of us would try to catch anything like that."


    In the brief seconds of silence that followed, Rachel faded into visibility, stepping into the middle of the room. Daniel blinked.


    "I didn''t sense your mind at all," he said.


    "Really?" Rachel sat down on the bed with me. "That''s pretty cool."


    "I can sense you now," he said.


    "You''d have to be blind not to." She pointedly stared at his costume. "Do you hang out here like that a lot?"


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    "I didn''t feel like carrying along street clothes."


    "I was just telling Daniel what happened," I said. "Anyway, Jaclyn was really pissed off at Solar Flare and she tried to talk to the police about it, but they didn''t do anything. I don''t think the FBI listened to her either."


    "Well... yeah," Daniel said. "I''m not surprised. The whole blue code of silence thing."


    "More like the multi-colored spandex code of silence in this case."


    Daniel snorted. Rachel rolled her eyes.


    "But really," Daniel said, "you think about how many people they''d killed over the years -- innocents, cops, FBI agents... I bet Solar Flare could have killed the group of them in a fight and nobody would have blinked. The way it happened -- I''m sure everybody could see themselves doing the same thing."


    "Killing them in the middle of a fight is one thing, but they were lying there, tied up," I said.


    "But it''s still a professional courtesy thing. I probably shouldn''t say specifics, but my dad''s seen things... Heroes just lose it sometimes and if you know it, you just keep your mouth shut."


    "Does it happen a lot?" Rachel asked.


    "I don''t know how often, but it happens."


    "That''s wrong." I said.


    "It works," Daniel said. "I don''t think there''s much of a choice. The police and FBI can''t keep up with supers, and they gave up trying back in the 1960''s with Red Lightning and everything."


    "I know," I said. "I can understand losing your temper and maybe hurting someone more than you should, but killing? There''s some point where you pass being a person in pain and become something else."


    "Well, you definitely can''t let yourself go and do anything, but you''ve got to trust yourself. I don''t know that he''s right, but, one of my dad''s friends does think that anyone who''s got powers has them for a reason."


    "That''s bullshit," Rachael said. "It''s just a way to justify doing whatever you want just because there''s no one around who can stop you."


    "I''m sure he didn''t mean it like that." Daniel said. "Besides I''m not saying he''s right. Don''t jump on me."


    Rachel stopped and looked thoughtful for a second. "I''ve probably got issues with that."


    Daniel nodded. "Nick told me about your block."


    "I know they meant well," Rachael said, "but it took so long before I could do anything with my powers alone or even talk about it. What Solar Flare tried to do seems like the same thing in another form. It''s playing God."


    "I don''t know about Grandpa and Grandma," I said, "But Daniel, your dad''s friend does make it sound like the divine right of kings or something. On a totally different subject, is your dad in the Midwest Defenders officially yet?"


    "It''s looking that way. We''ll see. There''s still stuff to work out -- like whether he''s going to drop his job. Being a prosecutor and a Defender takes up way too much time."


    Muffled steps came from the hall.


    "It''s your mom," Daniel said.


    "Quick, get out the window," Rachel said. "Unless things have changed a lot, it''s way too late for Nick to have people over."


    "It''ll be okay," I said.


    Mom knocked on the door and stepped inside, looking directly at Daniel, but not seeming to notice anything unusual. "I thought I heard voices. Hi Daniel."


    "Hey Mom," I said, "it''s superhero stuff."


    She left.


    Rachel watched her go. "I wish I''d known about that in high school."


    "It''s nice right now," I said. "but there''s something kind of creepy about it."


    "Hey Rachel," Daniel said. "What did you think about getting the chance to actually use your powers for something?"


    "A little conflicted. It was exciting, but with the deaths and the blood, it''s nothing I want to get used to."


    "I''m not used to it," I said, "but at least it''s over."


    "If you''re lucky," Rachel said. "The Executioner was supposed to be one guy, right? It turned out to be three people. Why couldn''t there be more?"


    I didn''t have an answer for that. Neither did Daniel.

 Bullies and Counselors: Part 1

    South High had money.


    Unlike Central High, my high school, South had a new building built in the late 1990''s during better economic times. It looked more like an office building. Think gleaming mirrored windows, white walls, and beautifully landscaped lawns. Of course, in the middle of February lawns were a memory. Snow covered them to a depth of about a foot.


    I parked my mom''s car in South''s parking lot, which, I couldn''t help but note, was definitely better plowed than our lot.


    I zipped up my coat, stepped out of the car, and walked toward the school. South High''s parking lot had a path that led from the front of the school to the back of the parking lot. It was white, standing out from the blacktop surrounding it, and textured with pebbles. Waist high lights stood next to each row''s concrete curbs, presumably for night time events.


    Central High''s parking lot consisted of dirt and gravel surrounded by a chain link fence.


    The front doors were level with the sidewalk and probably wheelchair accessible. I pulled open one of the glass doors and stepped inside.


    It felt wonderfully warm.


    I checked my cell phone for the time. 3:30 PM.


    I didn''t see Haley among the few kids still leaving the building. Could I have gone to the wrong entrance? No. This had to be the main entrance. I decided to wait.


    I stood in the hall, wondering if the white walls could be any brighter.


    Pulling my ipod out of my pocket, I untangled the earbuds, set it to shuffle, and started listening. It mostly held music from bands that appeared in Guitar Hero or Rock Band. I didn''t listen to much music before that -- except passively.


    Midway through "Don''t Fear the Reaper," I felt a hand on my shoulder.


    "How loud do you have that thing set anyway? I called your name a couple different times."


    I turned to find Jaclyn standing behind me, backpack hanging on her shoulder. I pulled out my earbuds and turned the ipod off.


    "Not that loud. I guess I must have been thinking. Anyway, I didn''t know you were coming."


    Jaclyn checked behind her. No one stood near us.


    "That fight in December didn''t go so well. If I''m going to do this, I want to do it better. If it means I''ve got to learn how to fight, I''ll learn how to fight."


    "That''s great," I said. "We''ll have Haley and Cassie and now you... and me. That''s enough."


    Jaclyn frowned. "Where''s everyone else?"


    "Well, Travis has class and then works at one of the restaurants with Marcus. Vaughn just got his casts off his arms, but he''s still supposed to take it easy."


    "What about Daniel?"


    "Daniel says that just being in the same room with him makes his head ache."


    "With your martial arts teacher? What''s his deal?"


    "That''s a good question," I said.


    "But it doesn''t have a good answer," she said.


    It didn''t. Speculation about his origin ranged wildly -- people in the Double V online forums had suggested that he was a dragon in human form, a vampire, a fallen angel that had deserted Satan''s legions, or even a retired god of war.


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    I had no idea which was true, if any. All I knew was that he had a deal with Grandpa to teach me and anyone who wanted to train with me -- at least when he was around. He tended to disappear for six months at a time.


    "I really don''t know," I said.


    She pulled her phone out of her backpack. "Well, let''s at least get lesson dates straight." She started tapping on it with her finger. "Is class going to be the same time every week?"


    "Another good question," I said. "He''s a bit of a free spirit. Things... come up."


    She raised an eyebrow. "What things?"


    "Well, last summer he ended up canceling once because he wanted to play in a Jazz festival, and then another time he got hired as a mercenary... But he generally calls."


    "Generally?"


    "When he can," I said.


    "How am I supposed to keep track of that?"


    "Don''t ask me. I just show up at the studio and hope he makes it."


    From the expression on Jaclyn''s face, I guessed that that wasn''t good enough.


    "I can''t believe --"


    I never found out what she didn''t believe.


    Haley, coming seemingly from nowhere, leaned into me and said, "Hi Nick," and we kissed. Sometime in the past two months we''d gone from occasionally holding hands in public to occasionally kissing in public. I wasn''t sure when that had happened.


    When I looked up from her, I realized that two of her friends were with her. Ashley, a short, blond girl with the same build as Haley. She was on the gymnastics team just like Haley had been. The other one was taller, brown haired and wore glasses. From what I remembered, she preferred to be called Kay, but her real name was Irma.


    Haley said, "Nick, do you remember Ashley and Kay?"


    "They were at your house a couple weeks ago," I said. "Hi."


    "And you know Jaclyn," Haley said.


    Jaclyn still looked a little irritated.


    Kay said, "I''ve seen you on stage accepting awards a lot. Didn''t you win that scholarship to Grand Lake U?"


    "If I accept it," Jaclyn said. "It''s my safety school. I''d really like to get into the Ivy League."


    Ashley nudged Haley, "Haley, look at that."


    I followed her gaze.


    Sean Drucker, the guy whose car Vaughn had crashed (and to whom Vaughn owed at least a thousand bucks) walked down the hall with a two of his friends and a couple girls. I knew them -- one was Julie, the girl from my high school who had inexplicably sent pictures of Haley and I to everyone she knew. The other was Shannon, her cousin, a barista at the Solid Grounds coffeehouse. Shannon went to South High.


    "I know," Haley said quietly. "I was ignoring them."


    If she was ignoring them, it couldn''t have been easy. They were laughing pretty hard -- less hard as they passed us though. Sean actually looked kind of pissed off.


    Kay gave me somewhat bemused look. "Haley''s ex-boyfriend," she said.


    Oh.

 Bullies and Counselors: Part 2

    I don''t remember much of the drive over. I wanted to ask Haley a bunch of different things, but with Jaclyn in the car it didn''t feel right. It also seemed kind of nosy.


    It took about thirty minutes to get to the studio. Normally it would have taken fifteen, but the after-school traffic slowed everything down. South High was practically in the suburbs. The Grand Lake Martial Arts Academy sat midway between downtown and the edge of the city. In the 1880''s it had been near the edge of Grand Lake. In the 1950''s, it had been Cannon''s Hardware before Cannon''s became an auto parts chain. The red neon "Cannon''s Hardware" sign still hung parallel to the building, stretching from the top of the second floor to the top of the first. It wasn''t lit.


    A painted, plywood sign with the words "Grand Lake Martial Arts Academy" rested on the ledge above the first floor of the brown, brick building.


    I drove the car down the alley between it and the vacant building next door. The sign said "Kay''s Sewing," but it had been vacant as long as I''d been alive. The studio''s parking lot was little more than dirt during the summer. In the winter, it looked like flattened snow mixed with lines where tire tracks dug through to the soil.


    I ended up parking behind the vacant building. Cars had filled both lots thanks to the kids'' karate lessons that ran on the first floor between four and six.


    Jaclyn made it to the back door while Haley and I were still getting our duffel bags out of the car.


    As we walked up to the door, I asked Haley, "Was Sean the guy Travis was talking about? The ex-boyfriend you scratched?"


    "Yes," she said.


    I recognized her tone from the conversation that had turned into our first fight. A tip for those of you not in relationships: Even if your girlfriend and some shrews both make paralytic poisons, she probably doesn''t want to hear about it.


    I wasn''t going to get much more out of her.


    We went through the door and up the wooden stairs to the second story. From below we could hear childrens'' voices shouting. From above, we could hear the crack of wooden staves striking each other and occasionally the smack of a staff hitting a person.


    When we got to the top of the stairs we found Cassie fighting Lee AKA Immortal. Vaughn sat on a bench at the side of the room. While Haley and Jaclyn went into the dressing room to change, I walked over to him.


    "Hey, I thought you weren''t coming."


    "I didn''t say I wasn''t coming. I just said I couldn''t train. I still want to watch. Oh, and hey, I drove. My parents let me borrow the car now that my arms have mostly healed. Maybe if I end up in traction they''ll give me back my bank account and my phone."


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "You can hope," I said. "What''ll they do if you lose an eye?"


    "Buy me a new car if I''m lucky," Vaughn said.


    Haley and Jaclyn came out of the dressing room wearing sweats. Lee didn''t go for martial arts uniforms.


    "I better get dressed," I said, and I left.


    When I got out of the dressing room, I found him giving a talk I''d heard in different forms over the last few years.


    "... I''m not here to make you better people. This isn''t a spiritual journey. I''m here to teach you how to fight. If you manage to get more out of it than that, good for you."


    He caught my eye as I stepped out the door.


    "Nick, good to see you. Let''s start."


    Describing Lee was a problem. His appearance changed. At the studio, I saw him as a twenty-something Asian man. Grandpa had been introduced to Lee during World War II, told that his name was G¨¹nther, and years later still saw him as white and blond.


    I''d seen him as G¨¹nther once or twice when he''d been reminiscing with Grandpa about the war. When I''d seen him playing music, his looks fit the age and ethnicity of the group. I''d always suspected it wasn''t a shapeshifting thing as much as an illusion that took place in the viewers'' minds.


    I spent some of class helping him teach the others, some of it working on my own stuff, or sparring with Cassie. Lee taught a mixture of styles so I practiced kicks, punches and aikido style throws.


    Cassie and I finished a little earlier and found ourselves talking to Vaughn while Lee taught Jaclyn and Haley new ways to fall.


    Cassie pulled a towel out of her duffel bag and wiped sweat off her face. "You got here nearly half an hour after us. What happened?"


    "I don''t know. I ended up waiting for Haley and Jaclyn for a while, and then traffic was bad. I got stuck behind a school bus a couple different times."


    "I didn''t even know Jaclyn was coming," Vaughn said, "so I was imagining you and Haley had stopped to make out."


    Cassie laughed.


    Talking through her laughter, I said, "No, but we did run into Sean Drucker. He was at South with Julie from our school, her cousin, and a couple of his friends. It''s like almost all the people I''d least like to see got together and had a convention or something."


    "You know why they know each other?" Vaughn asked.


    "No idea," I said.


    "Almost the same reason we know each other except kind of the exact opposite."


    I didn''t like where this was going.


    "Exact opposite?" Cassie asked, dropping the towel on the bench.


    "Their grandparents worked for my grandfather."

 Bullies and Counselors: Part 3

    "Worked for your grandfather in the ''worked for one of his companies'' sense or in the ''foot soldiers in his Legions of Evil'' sense?" I asked.


    "A little of both," Vaughn said. "Actually a lot of both. All their grandparents were pretty high up in both places. Grandpa hired in a bunch of his people into positions where they could have a legal paycheck. Fact is, he did more than that, whenever he found someone that his potions could affect, he moved them here. I think it was one of those ''breed a super race'' ideas. Obviously, it didn''t pan out."


    Cassie said, "The kids didn''t have powers?"


    "Oh, I''m sure they had them, but he didn''t have enough time. He started the breeding program in the ''50''s and he got taken down in the ''60''s so the oldest kids were maybe twelve -- not old enough to help."


    "That''s really crazy," I said. "So how many of them do you think there were?"


    "Oh, hundreds at least. He tried to get people with powers together, but he also had this program where he encouraged his people to, as he put it, ''spread their seed'' in the general community."


    "Hundreds?" I''d never met any other kids with powers -- at least that I knew of.


    "Hundreds in his day. I''d bet it''s thousands by now, but it''s not like they can do anything. None of their grandparents had active powers without potions. I''d bet they don''t either."


    "We need to stop them," Cassie said.


    "Yeah," Vaughn said, "Stop them from doing what? Stop them from getting a hold of chemicals they probably don''t even know they need? Sean''s a jerk, but he''s got no connections."


    "It totally explains things though," I said. "I''d wondered why the Cabal would go to the bother of setting up the Mayor in the first place. Grand Lake would be a perfect recruiting ground for them if you think about it."


    "Hadn''t thought about that," he said, "but we toasted him. The Mayor''s gone."


    Cassie frowned, "Wait, how do you know all this?"


    "Because of my plans to rule the world!"


    He followed it up with a fake evil laugh, but you could have heard a pin drop in the rest of the room.


    "Hey," he said, "it''s a joke."


    "Count yourself lucky," Lee said. "No one ever takes me seriously when I say that."


    "I don''t want to be taken seriously. I take way too much crap for what he did." He got off the bench and began walking toward the door. "Didn''t I get fucking stabbed for it?"


    "Vaughn," Cassie followed him. "No one really thinks --"


    I didn''t hear the rest of of it. She shut the stairway door behind her. Anyway, I knew the answer. He''d probably read it in his grandfather''s journals.


    "Minus the crazy," Lee said, "he''s a lot like his grandfather."


    "Nice," Jaclyn said. "Tell him and I''m sure he''ll feel better."


    "You''re not really going to take over the world?" Haley had stepped away from the mats and joined the rest of us.


    I knew better than to ask. Get him going and he''ll talk forever. I mean, seriously, he''s got eternity.


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    "You bet," he said. "I''ve got to wait till Nick dies a natural death. I made a few promises to his grandfather that would conflict with starting now."


    Haley shot me a look that despite her lack of telepathy clearly said, "Should I take him seriously?"


    I shook my head, "No."


    Catching both of our looks, he said, "See? But never mind, class is over anyway."


    "We should talk to Vaughn," Haley said.


    "Cassie is already." I looked over at the door. "If it were me, having everyone come over to apologize would be just as bad."


    "He''s not you," Haley said, but she didn''t start going downstairs.


    "I wouldn''t want everyone following me out either." Jaclyn walked past the dressing room, stopping to look out the back window. "They''re talking in the parking lot. I''m not going to worry about it. Let''s get dressed. He''ll have calmed down by the time we get there."


    She grabbed her duffel bag, opened the dressing room''s flimsy door, and stepped inside.


    Haley and I stood next to the bench waiting with Lee.


    Turning to him, I said, "I had some questions for you during the fall, but I never got a hold of you. I couldn''t even leave a message because your mail box was full."


    Lee shrugged. "I got busy with mercenary work. I don''t turn my cellphone on in the middle of an operation. It''s a security thing."


    "That was a long operation -- I couldn''t call you for months."


    Lee shook his head. "Wasn''t long. I forgot about it when I went on vacation afterward and I left it in Paris. I just got a new one when I came back."


    Haley looked skeptical. "How do you forget your cellphone?"


    "Well, it''s probably more honest to say I got sick of it and threw it out a window. I kept on getting calls from an ex-business partner."


    "The lawsuit?" I said.


    "Lawsuit?" Haley gave me a sidelong glance.


    "The fucking lawsuit, yeah." Seeing that Haley didn''t know about it, he said, "It was a great scam. Back in the seventies, people were into new religions and expanding their consciousness and I got to thinking that there had to be a way to make a buck off it. Well, I ran into this guy and we came up with an idea. He''d write a few books about how I''d given him secret knowledge and I''d show up and spout self help shit when he needed me. Things slowed down in the eighties and I got sick of it and stopped. He fell on hard times a couple years ago and sued me for loss of income."


    Haley''s jaw dropped a little. "Wait, was one of these books called Teachings of the Eldest?"


    "You got it."


    "My mom''s got that book."


    "And you know how much I made off it? Not nearly enough, and now the bastard wants even more."


    He frowned. "You know, civilization went to hell when they outlawed dueling."

 Bullies and Counselors: Part 4

    By the time Haley, Jaclyn, and I got changed and went downstairs, Vaughn had calmed down, but we didn''t get to talk to him much. We said goodbye in the parking lot and watched him drive off in his mother''s Audi.


    Then I drove Jaclyn and Haley home, Haley next to me in the front and Jaclyn in the back.


    Typically for February, the sun was already setting. I pulled out of the parking lot and drove toward 90th Street, the road that would take us most of the way to Jaclyn''s.


    We rode home in the twilight, no one saying very much at first. I guessed they might be tired. I certainly was.


    As we crossed the railroad tracks on the south side of the city, Jaclyn said, "He knows how to fight. Did you see it when he threw me? He didn''t use anything more than normal human strength and I ended up lying on the mat."


    "Lee says he''s got better than human abilities uh... ''in storage'' somewhere, but he doesn''t use them. Something about not liking the price."


    "Let me guess... The bank of powers charges fees for early withdrawals?"


    "I think he said they were ''in storage just outside of reality.'' I didn''t ask him for details."


    "He smells wrong," Haley said. "Not really wrong. He smells like a person, but... off."


    I glanced over at her. She looked thoughtful, but with a slightly nervous smile.


    "Off, how? Like he''s spoiling?"


    "I don''t know. Just off. It doesn''t mean I don''t like him. He''s funny, and he''s a better teacher than some of mine at school, but I don''t think he''s... human."


    "That''s okay," I said. "I don''t think he is either."


    "Good," Jaclyn said. "Then it sounds like we''re all on the same page. When I told my grandpa what I was doing this afternoon he said, ''You''re training with G¨¹nther? Never thought I''d see it,'' but then he said, ''you should be completely safe provided he understands you''re Nick''s friend''."


    "Really? I don''t know what he meant by that."


    "You did tell him that we were your friends, right?"


    "Maybe not directly, but it seems obvious." I slowed the car as we approached a stop sign. "I''ll make a point of saying something if it''ll make people feel better."


    Haley adjusted her position in the seat. "So what is he, Nick?"


    "I don''t know. All I''ve ever known about him is that he''s immortal, he''s a good musician, and he''s good at killing people. Outside of that, it''s all speculation."


    * * *


    With Haley working and Daniel busy, I didn''t have anything particular to do after school the next day. I ended up lingering in the hall next to my locker talking to Chris Cannon.


    "-- and after I changed that," Chris said, "you would not believe the acceleration. Zero to sixty in four seconds."


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    "In a Honda Civic? Are you trying to die?"


    "I''ve had some ideas about that. I figure there''s got to be some way to reinforce it so that it can handle a high speed crash..."


    We swapped ideas about schemes for crash proofing a small car while the halls drained of people. Part of me wondered if discussing what were essentially strategies for constructing armor with the grandson of Man-machine was such a hot idea. Another part rejoiced. When else did I ever get to discuss things like this with someone who cared or who could talk at more or less the same level?


    "I was talking with my grandfather," he began.


    That brought me back to reality.


    "I brought my grandmother to visit him in prison and he had a bunch of ideas."


    "Yeah?" I wondered if any of them included revenge.


    "They were amazing, but really complex. Just to try them, I''d need the equipment that the FBI confiscated from his house."


    Sean Drucker broke into the conversation, "Your grandfather, the supervillain? That''s hard core. Gonna put a laser together?"


    Sean stood just behind and slightly to the right of Chris, a position that emphasized that he was about six inches taller than either of us. His question represented the friendliest thing he''d said in my presence in the last five years.


    Chris moved his back toward the locker, apparently not liking the idea of having Sean behind him, and turned to say, "Private conversation, Sean."


    "I''m not trying to bother you. I''d just like a word with Nick over here."


    "What''s up?"


    Maybe I could get it over with quickly.


    "You''re going out with Haley. I went out with Haley last summer. I thought I''d give you some advice."


    "Advice?"


    "Dump her. She''s got a screw loose somewhere. One night we were making out and I thought we were just about to, you know, seal the deal, when all of a sudden I''m feeling sick and I can''t move.When my parents brought me to the hospital, the labs found poison in my blood. Poison. She fucking poisoned me. So watch out."


    "Oh right," Chris said, "because that thing with the poison. It didn''t have anything to do with you. She just did that for no good reason."


    "Hey," Sean said, "I''m not talking to you, dumbass." To me, he continued, "Don''t say I didn''t warn you."


    Maybe I should have been saying what Chris said, but I didn''t. I wanted the conversation over with and I really didn''t want public speculation about where the poison came from.


    As Sean walked away, I asked Chris, "Why did you say that? Do you know something?"


    "Nothing much," Chris said. "I''ve just heard he''s a jerk."

 Bullies and Counselors: Part 5

    "I can''t believe he said that." Haley''s voice crackled over the cellphone and I could hear someone shouting that they were getting low on plates.


    "I''m going to move someplace I can hear better," she said.


    Scraping noises followed. Then a door shut.


    The next time she spoke, I could hear her perfectly.


    "I went outside."


    "Hope you''ve got your coat."


    "I''m not stupid."


    I sat at my desk in my room, looking out the side window toward the street. Against the light of the streetlight, I could see snow falling.


    "I didn''t say you were. It just looks cold out there."


    "It''s not as bad as it was."


    Haley didn''t say anything for a little while. I began to wonder if we''d lost the connection.


    "Haley?"


    "He''s such a jerk. He''s such an... asshole."


    She stopped talking again. This time I waited.


    "It didn''t go like he said it did. We were making out, and he might have been thinking about sex, but I wasn''t. I don''t even know if the pill would work for me. All I knew was that he was pushing me further than I wanted to go."


    "Are you saying he was trying to rape you?"


    "I didn''t think so then. Right now... I don''t know. It might have been going that way. He wouldn''t listen to me and I got nervous and I started to feel the change begin. So I stabbed him with the dewclaw and I called my parents."


    "Wow."


    "The worst part was that it didn''t end there. His dad knew someone at the police department, and the police wanted to know how a neurotoxin got into his blood. It just went on and on. Eventually they gave up, but not before everyone had hired lawyers. It was awful."


    "I never heard about any of that."


    "By the time you and Daniel and Cassie started having DVD nights, it was over and I wasn''t going to bring it up."


    "There wasn''t even a hint, though."


    "I didn''t want to think about it any more," she said.


    I heard the sound of a door opening and a voice in the background.


    In a slightly annoyed voice she said, "I have to work. Talk to you later."


    * * *


    During spring semester, the first class I had in the morning was American History. I enjoyed the class anyway. History was really more Daniel''s thing than mine, but, I liked Mr. Beacham. Every school had a teacher that resembled the teacher in "Dead Poets'' Society," the kind who had the class rip pages out of textbooks that he thought ridiculous or stood on his desk to make a point.


    Mr. Beacham hadn''t done any of those things specifically, but he was the closest we had.


    In school, people knew him most for a lecture he delivered to every American History class near the end of the semester. In it, he took a contrarian point of view on superheroes, arguing that they made the Bill of Rights irrelevant and subverted the rule of law.


    No one knew what he really believed, but, from all I''d ever heard, he made a good argument.


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    Since it was still early in the semester, we were nowhere near that lecture. We were talking about the controversies surrounding slavery prior to the Civil War.


    I scribbled notes as he lectured, enjoying the class less than usual because I was more aware than usual that I shared it with Sean.


    Mr. Beacham lectured about the Dred Scott decision without any theatrics. It didn''t make for a bad class, but it didn''t come up to his normal standards either.


    On the other hand, theatrics might not have been appropriate for the story of a slave whose attempt to become free ultimately played a role in causing the Civil War.


    When class ended, I followed everyone else out of the room and started down the hall to my next class -- physics.


    Sean walked out as I did and walked with me.


    "Nick, I got a call from Haley last night. She told me to leave you alone. Do I scare you?"


    He made a scary face.


    "I didn''t know I scared you so much that you had to sic your girlfriend on me. Is she going to beat me up if I don''t leave you alone? I''m so frightened."


    I ignored him.


    Just three rooms further down the hall and I''d be able to step into the physics classroom.


    I walked a little faster, pulling ahead of him, but not being able to make a break for it because the halls were basically wall to wall people.


    He grabbed my right arm.


    I stopped and twisted my arm, moving it downward and out of his hand. I''d practiced the move for years, but this was the first time I''d used it for real.


    "Can''t you just stop bothering me?" I asked -- which probably ranks high on the list of least clever responses to high school bullying.


    I''d also moved my feet into a subtle version of a basic stance, not pulling my arms up ready to block and strike, but giving myself the option.


    Now that I''d turned around and stood facing him, I couldn''t help but notice that he wasn''t in anything resembling a fighting stance. Basic targets -- nose, solar plexus, groin, and knees -- were completely open and unprotected. Didn''t he know anything? What had he thought he was going to do once he caught me?


    People pushed past us, not really aware of what was going on. Jamal, from my physics class, passed us saying, "Can''t you guys stand somewhere else? You''re blocking the hall."


    "Fuck off, Jamal," Sean suggested.


    Jamal gave him the finger and walked away.


    With Sean distracted, I followed Jamal, pushing through a group of girls ("Hey!" "Sorry"), and managing to get to the side of the hall which, if I were willing to risk bumping into lockers and trophy cases, was almost always free of people.


    I got into the classroom just as the warning bell rang.


    I spent the beginning of class wondering if Sean had any idea of how badly he could get hurt if he kept bothering us.


    I also wondered how far I was willing to go to stop it.

 Bullies and Counselors: Part 6

    The rest of the day didn''t go as badly as the morning, but after school turned out worse. I missed the bus because I thought I might catch a ride from Cassie, but she''d already left.


    I stood just inside the main entrance of the school, trying people on my phone. Mom''s went directly to voice mail. The battery was probably dead. Daniel had basketball. Their team had done well enough this year that they were going to finals. Cassie didn''t pick up.


    I called Haley. She probably worked, but it was worth a shot.


    She answered and I explained the situation.


    "I might be able to borrow Mom''s car. She''ll be home in half an hour."


    Adding in the twenty minute drive from Haley''s house, I''d be able to walk home before that. I told her so.


    "Are you sure you''d want to walk in the slush?"


    "It doesn''t look that bad."


    "If you say so. Call me if you change your mind."


    "OK."


    I ended up walking.


    The day turned out to be one of those mid-February thaws where the temperature pops up into the mid-forties and all the snow melts, turning the roads and sidewalks into a mixture of slush and ice.


    According to my physics teacher, water on ice has a very low coefficient of friction, making it one of the slickest surfaces we were likely to encounter in normal life.


    After five minutes of walking home, I felt inclined to believe her.


    The sidewalk next to the school managed to combine the worst features of the winter and the thaw. Water puddled in the spots where tree roots caused the sidewalk to buckle, sometimes to a depth of two or three inches. Even the relatively water free sections were icy, crunching as I walked over them.


    I crossed the street, hoping that the school parking lot''s sidewalks might be better.


    They weren''t.


    I ended up watching my feet as I walked, carefully avoiding the wettest, most slippery, or submerged spots. That''s why I barely noticed the car slowing to the side of me.


    Sean''s voice came through the open window. "Nick, you want a ride?"


    I ignored him.


    "If you don''t, I can think of someone who might, you know, just want to ride and ride and ride."


    I glared at him, catching his eye as he held both hands out, miming thrusting.


    I bent down, grabbed some slushy snow, and threw it at the car. The slushball didn''t stay together like a snowball would have, breaking into pieces halfway there. Enough went in through the window to make my point -- whatever that had been.


    A couple pieces hit Sean in the face. Others looked like they went deeper into the car.


    From the driver''s side, a deep voice shouted, "Fuck! He threw snow in my fucking car."


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    The car stopped.


    I didn''t see why he''d get that upset. The car was a two door, blue Geo Metro from the 1990''s, and pretty far into its descent into beaterdom. Rust surrounded the wheel wells and the bottoms of the doors.


    The driver got out. Dayton stood almost as tall as Sean only with broader shoulders. A guy named Jody squeezed out of the back seat, following Sean through the passenger side door. Jody was about my height. All I knew about him was that he supposedly had a bad attitude. I could guess that being a guy named Jody might contribute to that.


    So anyway, the moment when the car stopped would have been a great moment to start running if I''d had the sense to.


    I didn''t.


    Three people. I could probably take three people if I were smart -- provided they were really normal people.


    Well, maybe.


    The key point to successfully fighting multiple people, at least according to Lee, is not to fight multiple people. You want to arrange things so that you only fight one person at a time.


    I started backing down the sidewalk, keeping them toward my front instead of surrounding me.


    Dayton charged me.


    I stepped just slightly to the side, grabbed one of his wrists with my right arm and his shoulder with my left, and turned, unbalancing him.


    He fell face forward into an icy puddle.


    Unfortunately, Sean managed to grab my shoulder from behind as I watched Dayton fall.


    I elbowed him in the solar plexus and he gasped for breath, allowing me to pull away and begin to turn toward him.


    Jody plowed into me, knocking me flat on my back, and landing on top of me.


    My backpack made the fall worse, driving the sharp edges of the books inside into my back. It hurt.


    Hands grabbed my right arm.


    "Got him," Dayton said. "Grab his other arm."


    I tried to keep my left arm out of Jody''s reach, but since he was on top of me already, he didn''t have much difficulty grabbing my arm.


    They pulled both my arms straight and held them to the ground.


    Instead of fighting, I decided to take advantage of the moment to rest. Let them assume I couldn''t do anything because they''d pinned my arms.


    Sean stepped forward next to Dayton and said, "Like fighting? Try this."


    He kicked me in the right side. Pain erupted from the spot and lingered.


    I hoped he hadn''t broken any ribs.


    He took a step back.


    I didn''t give him a chance to think about his next move. I rocked backwards onto my back and then drove my right foot as hard as I could into his knee.

 Bullies and Counselors: Part 7

    The kick didn''t do as much damage as it could have -- by which I mean that it didn''t make his knee point the wrong direction. On the other hand, it did do what it was supposed to.


    Sean fell over, landing in the snow next to where Jody held my arm down.


    He didn''t stop talking either. "I can''t stand on my leg. I can''t stand on my fucking leg..."


    I felt Jody''s grip on my arm loosen and I pulled it out of his hands, using the momentum to roll toward Dayton and punch him in the face.


    I didn''t hit him hard enough to take him out, but he let go of my right arm.


    I pushed myself up, trying to avoid stepping on Sean as I stood, moving toward Dayton''s car. Because Lee pushed paying attention to what you''re standing on, I choose to move over the sidewalk and stand on the other side of a particularly slick section of ice.


    Neither Dayton nor Jody moved.


    "If we''re all done," I said, "I''ll just go home and you guys can... do whatever. I mean seriously, why fight?"


    "Don''t just lie there," Sean said. "You see what he did to me? Remember your car, Dayton? You could take him down by yourself. And Jody, didn''t you say you hated guys like that?"


    Oh great. A pep talk.


    Dayton stood up, reminding me just how big he actually was. With football season over, I''d heard that he gotten into bodybuilding.


    Crap.


    "Hey," I said, "you don''t have to listen to him."


    Dayton didn''t say anything.


    Jody got up. "Who do you think we should listen to? You?"


    Dayton stepped onto the sidewalk.


    The key point in fighting someone like Dayton was to make sure it didn''t turn into a wrestling match. In a wrestling match, strength helps, and I wasn''t going to win that contest.


    I waited for him to get both feet on the ice.


    Then I punched him in the face.


    His feet went out from under him and he fell sideways onto the sidewalk, hitting his head against it.


    Remembering the last time I''d knocked him down, I turned away from Dayton''s fall to face Jody.


    Jody''s eyes were still on Dayton''s body.


    "Hey," I said. "We don''t really have to fight. Seriously. I''ve been training for years now, and I''m actually pretty good at it."


    "Stick your training up your ass, bed wetter."


    He charged me.


    I threw him like I had Dayton in the beginning of the fight, my reasoning being that now that I was only facing one opponent, I could do that all day. Eventually he''d get sick of eating snow and stop fighting me.


    I''d forgotten about something though -- the car. I had been standing in front of it and he hit it with a solid thump. Unconscious, he lay next to the back tire, face scraped by the rusty metal.


    I wondered how recently he''d gotten a tetanus shot.


    "Holy shit." Sean had pulled himself up on the fence. "Someone get Mr. Sledge. Tell him Nick just beat the fuck out of us."


    He wasn''t talking to me.


    During the fight a small crowd (maybe ten people) had formed on the other side of the fence -- which made sense given that I wasn''t even off school property yet. I''d been walking next to our parking lot and it wasn''t even half an hour after school.


    How had I managed not to notice the people?


    From the crowd, Kayla said, "Nick, are you okay?"


    She stood next to half the girl''s basketball team. They had a game against Grand Lake North today.


    "Fine," I said, but then I drew in a breath. It hurt. "Wait, I don''t know. I think I might have a broken rib."


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    "Does anyone know the number of the office?" She said to the person next to her, a short, dark-skinned girl I didn''t know. The girl shrugged.


    "I''ll run in," Kayla said. "We''ve got that much time."


    "I''ve got it." A boy two cars over from her pointed to his phone. I didn''t know his name, but I knew he was a freshman.


    Less than a minute later, Mr. Sledge came running out of the school''s front door. He didn''t look happy.


    * * *


    Four hours and one emergency room visit later, I found myself at home finishing supper at the kitchen table. Mom had bought a whopper value meal from Burger King on the way back from the hospital.


    Given what Vaughn had said about Sean''s connections with other descendants of Red Lightning''s army, and knowing what had happened after Haley injected him with poison, I probably shouldn''t have been surprised that Mr. Sledge tried to pin the whole thing on me.


    I was anyway.


    Being questioned by a police officer on the way out of the emergency room didn''t make me feel any better, but the cracked rib supported my version of events. Better yet, it turned out that a couple different students had seen the whole thing from beginning to end.


    Because of that, they couldn''t do much to me. The key word in that sentence being "much."


    Dad came into the house around eight o''clock, just as I was throwing the bag and wrappers into the trash can under the sink.


    "Gah," he muttered, shutting the side door behind him. "I think I must have gotten ten phone calls on this already. Nick, what happened this afternoon?"


    Standing next to the sink, I told him, starting from the beginning.


    "I understand defending yourself, but the part with the snowball? You didn''t have to do that. Don''t most martial arts teachers teach you to avoid fights?"


    "Yeah," I said. Lee had said things like that -- sort of. He''d phrased it as, "Don''t get into a fight that will get you in trouble. Ambush them later and dispose of the body quietly."


    "Well, I told the Assistant Principal that I agreed with scheduling a few sessions with the school counselor to work on any anger issues you may have."


    "You''re kidding me. I don''t have anger issues."


    "It doesn''t matter. This isn''t about you. This is about pacifying them. I got called by all their parents today. If you get counseling for a little while, they''ll go away. If you don''t, Mr. Drucker threatened a civil suit."


    "But I don''t need counseling. They need counseling."


    "I''m told they''ll get it too. Besides, I know Mr. McGhee. He''s a good guy. You''ll like him."


    I doubted somehow that they''d end up talking to anyone at all, but arguing with Dad wasn''t going to change anything. The force of the almighty dollar was at work.


    "Ok," I said. "I''ll deal with it."


    I went up to my room after that, still kind of pissed off about the whole thing. Dad had to cave in. He didn''t have much of a choice. He''d built a practice on working with families, particularly troubled teens. A lawsuit, even one that ended quickly, wasn''t going to make him look good at all.


    I''d lived in that particular fishbowl for years and I understood, but it still stank.


    "Bed wetter," Jody had said. His parents obviously owned at least one of Dad''s books. I wondered if it had done him any good.

 King of Storms: Part 1

    Vaughn and I stood in the parking lot of the Grand Lake Martial Arts Academy, taking in some of the first decent weather of the year.


    We''d had heavy snow during the last two weeks of February, but the first week of March had seen the (re)melting of all the snow and temperatures in the fifties. This wasn''t especially warm, but after three months of near zero, it felt like a heat wave.


    Combined with the ever increasing daylight hours, it made standing out amid the mud, dirt and cars while waiting for everyone else seem like a good idea.


    "So get this," Vaughn said, "I got an email from someone called ''King of Storms'' a couple days ago. It said that my codename ''Storm King'' was too similar to his and that I should change it because he had ''the prior claim''. You ever heard of this guy?"


    "Maybe. Is this the guy in Pittsburgh?"


    Vaughn shrugged. "Like I should know, it was an email."


    "Are you going to change it?"


    "No. What''s he going to do about it? Come up here and kick my ass?"


    "Actually, if he''s the guy I''m thinking of," I began.


    The door opened behind us. Haley came out, followed by Cassie, Jaclyn, Marcus, Travis and surprisingly, Lee.


    Lee had his keys out and a duffel bag full of gear.


    "Don''t you usually teach after this?" I asked him as he walked past me toward his car, a red Dodge Viper.


    "I do. Still am, but I''m heading to Ann Arbor tonight."


    "Why?"


    "Your sister. Rachel''s there, not here."


    "I didn''t know she was taking lessons from you."


    "She wasn''t, but she always had the option. Last month she used it."


    He walked over to the car and opened the door.


    "Later," he said. His car spat gravel across the parking lot.


    * * *


    League HQ wasn''t exactly a romantic setting. Between the forty year old, olive green carpet, the dust, the concrete walls and the steel-reinforced doors, it felt simultaneously out-of-date, abandoned and more like a bunker than a castle.


    At the same time, hanging out at my parents'' house wouldn''t have been private, and my grandfather''s old house (which I''d inherited) felt too empty. We could have gone to Haley''s house, but that wouldn''t have been private either.


    We''d grabbed a couple chairs in front of the command console and swiveled the chairs to face each other, trying to figure out a way to sit near to each other that wasn''t awkward.


    HQ needed a couch.


    We ended up sitting with our legs touching and sometimes holding hands.


    "What was Vaughn saying about someone wanting him to change his name?"


    "From just before you walked outside?"


    Between a best friend who was a telepath and a girlfriend with inhumanly sharp senses, I''d long ago given up on personal privacy.


    She smiled in a way that made me think that she, unlike Daniel, might be a little embarrassed to have overheard.


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    "Well," I said, "That''s pretty much all. We didn''t get to say much more than that. There''s a guy in Pittsburgh codenamed King of Storms who wants Vaughn to choose a different name."


    "Is he?"


    "I don''t think so, but maybe he should. I didn''t get to say anything to him about it, but if he''s talking about the same guy I think he is, the guy''s some kind of wizard who specializes in weather magic. I really don''t know much more about him though."


    "A wizard? For real?"


    "Says the girl who can throw cars," I said.


    "I''m not saying it''s impossible. I just can''t believe anyone like that would worry about Vaughn."


    "I don''t know. Maybe he''s really insecure... or no, wait, maybe he''s just using it as an excuse to pick a fight. It''s not like anyone can''t guess who Vaughn''s grandfather was."


    She withdrew her hand, moving it as she talked.


    "You think he wants to hunt Vaughn down?"


    "I don''t know. It''s just the only thing I can think of."


    She frowned. "Sometimes I think that we''ll never be anything more than our grandparents to people."


    I couldn''t think of a reply.


    We sat in silence for a little while. Then Haley said, "What''s that blinking light?"


    A blue light blinked slowly on and off in the lower right corner of the monitors at the command center table and on the big wall screen.


    "I don''t know. It''s never gone off before."


    I swung my chair around and clicked on the spot with the mouse.


    The blue spot resolved into the words, "Emergency Call: Local Police. Answer? Yes/No."


    I clicked on "Yes."


    A Grand Lake police force badge appeared on the screen. Static came over the speakers as a woman''s voice said, "Lieutenant Van Kley, I''ve got the Heroes League."


    A voice in the background said, "What about Mindstryke or the Rhino?"


    "They''re not picking up."


    "Give me the phone."


    A clunking noise came from the speakers as the phone transferred hands.


    "Heroes League, this is Lieutenant Van Kley. We''ve got a hostage situation. Do you have anyone available?"


    "Sure," I said.


    "I''ve still got advanced algebra homework," Haley whispered.


    "I can help," I said.


    "I don''t need help. I need to be home by nine so I have time to finish it."


    I talked into the microphone next to the monitor. "How late would we end up staying up?"


    "I don''t know. This is a hostage situation. It depends on when the hostages are freed."


    "I thought you had SWAT teams for stuff like that." I said.


    "We had a SWAT team until about ten minutes ago. So, are any of you available?"


    "Me. I''m the Rocket."


    "I''m coming. I''m Night Cat," Haley said.

 King of Storms: Part 2

    We arrived while the ambulances were still there. I flew in in the full Rocket suit. Haley drove her grandfather''s car.


    We met up across the street in the parking lot of a brick, two story office building of an oddly modern design that housed a couple dentists'' offices. The walls had been shaped to resemble waves, inspired no doubt by the name "Grand Lake Dentistry."


    The police had blocked off the road and detoured traffic around it -- which was kind of a big deal. Jefferson Street was a five lane road if you counted the middle turn lane and almost as important, it was part of "the Strip."


    No one called it the Strip. The Strip was just my name for that section of road in just about every city in the United States that seems to contain at least one store or restaurant from every franchise known to humankind -- Best Buy next to Burger King, Target across from Office Max, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and McDonald''s.


    At seven at night, glowing signs and streetlights lit up the twilight, giving us a good view of a Box upside down in the middle lane -- "Box" being the slang term for trucks with specialized equipment for hauling supers.


    The Box''s side had been blown open as if by a bomb.


    Another truck, this one with its front blown open, lay next to it. I could just barely read the words "Police" and "SWAT" in the wrinkled metal of its side.


    Paramedics were loading people from the trucks into ambulances as Haley got out of the car.


    I stood in next to Lt. Van Kley. Tall with close-cropped grey hair, she watched Shorty''s Convenience Mart out of the corner of her eye as we talked.


    The last time I''d seen her, she''d been in charge of a group of police attempting to contain Man-machine. Either she had a reputation for being able to deal with supers or her supervisors didn''t like her much.


    "They''re in there." She flicked her hand in the direction of Shorty''s.


    "OK," I said. "So what do you want us to do?"


    "First, let''s get around the corner."


    She led us around the corner of the brick building, bringing us out of direct line of sight of the convenience store. Two squad cars were parked parallel to the curb -- as close as possible to the building.


    When we stood next to the first police car, she said, "It''s just the two of you?"


    "No," Haley said, "Captain Commando will be coming and we might have the Shift too -- if we''re lucky."


    A muscle in Van Kley''s face twitched. "How long will it be before the rest arrive?"


    "Captain Commando should be here soon," I said. "The Shift is anybody''s guess."


    Marcus had to work. He said he''d get off work in half an hour, but he''d try to think of an excuse to get out sooner.


    I heard the sound of a motorcycle growing closer and then Cassie appeared riding Captain Commando''s motorcycle.


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Cassie jumped off it and walked over to us, sword on her back, the US flag on her chest. "So what have we got?"


    Van Kley glanced at her and said, "Didn''t you have a telepath?"


    "The Mystic''s busy," I said.


    Daniel had had a track meet and was riding home on a bus when I called.


    She looked over the three of us. "Well, if this is everyone--"


    "So who is it?" Cassie said, "Terrorists? Johnny Destruction?"


    Van Kley looked irritated, but answered. "No one you''ve ever heard of. We don''t even know their names. An officer happened to be in the convenience store when they held it up. He tried to stop them but didn''t succeed. His partner managed to shoot one of them when they tried to leave and called for backup."


    "What can they do?" I asked.


    Van Kley said, "Bullets bounce off one of them. Another one can blow things up from a distance. I don''t know about the third one."


    Cassie thought for a moment. "They''ve got the ability to blow up trucks and they''re robbing convenience stores?"


    Van Kley said, "It doesn''t make sense to me either."


    "That is kind of weird," I said.


    "Do we have a plan?" Cassie asked.


    "No," I said.


    Van Kley shook her head. "Usually I let supers follow their own lead, but I''ve got some advice for you if you want it."


    She looked us over. We were listening.


    "None of you have subtle powers. You''re going to have to go in like we did -- quickly. Can any of you sense where they are in the building?"


    She looked at me.


    I shook my head. "Sorry. Maybe in the next version of the suit."


    Haley said, "I can try."


    "Know exactly where they are and take them out before they kill any more hostages."


    "Any more?" Cassie looked from Lt. Van Kley to Haley and I.


    "They killed Officer Brondsema when we brought in the SWAT team."


    * * *


    Minutes later, Cassie and I stood on top of Shorty''s looking through a hole in the roof. Haley sat next to it, leaning her head over the opening.


    Cassie had cut through the flat roof with her sword with complete silence. Monomolecular blades can do that. Haley and I had lifted it out, using background noise generated by the sonics to mask the sound.


    We couldn''t see through the drop ceiling, but it didn''t matter.


    "The hostages are shut in a room in the back. I think it''s the break room. I can hear them talking. One of the hostage-takers is with them," Haley said. "The other two are near the front door talking with the police on the phone.


    "I smell fear," she said, "and blood. And Rocket, do you remember the chemical smell I smelled on the powered FBI agents? The ones the Executioner killed? I smell that too."

 King of Storms: Part 3

    "Here''s my idea," Cassie whispered to Haley, "you find the hostages while Nick and I attack the guys in front. If you can free them, get them out. If you can''t, at least you''ll probably get a chance to surprise the guy watching them."


    Haley nodded, transforming her hands and feet to grayish claws with long, sharp nails.


    I found myself a little curious if her teeth had transformed into fangs as well, but it didn''t seem like the time to ask. She seemed a little sensitive about that.


    "Good luck," she said, and slipped inside, crawling upside down between the roof and the ceiling.


    I caught a glimpse of her teeth as she''d talked. Fangs. She could definitely take a chunk out of somebody.


    "Let''s give her a little while," Cassie said. "Then we''ll jump through the ceiling."


    "And onto what?"


    "I''ll move this and look. Just a second."


    She leaned in, pulled one end of tile out of the slot, and moved it a little to the left. From what I could see, we were just above an aisle.


    Good. Stumbling on canned corn and landing on cereal boxes full of Captain Crunch wouldn''t exactly promote a feeling of inevitable justice.


    She moved the tile back.


    "I''ll chop a hole before we jump," she said, and pulled herself out. "This is going to be fun."


    That wasn''t quite my perspective. Just at that moment, I''d been reflecting on the fact that if we screwed up, people might die.


    From down below a scratchy voice said, "The lady cop called again. She said we can still surrender. I''m thinking we should."


    A deeper voice said, "Bullshit. They can''t do a thing to us while we''ve still got hostages. Did they say anything about giving us the money and a car?"


    "You know they''re never going to give us anything. A few minutes from now they''re going to call in Mindstryke and we''re all going to fall asleep and wake up in jail."


    "Stuff it. Call her back. Remind her what happened to the cop and remind her that we''ve still got 7 people. If she doesn''t jump for it, call what''s his face -- Phillips -- the store owner. See if he''ll deal."


    "You think Phillips can call off the cops? I don''t. If we''re not going to surrender, let''s go out the back way and run."


    "Right. They got the place surrounded. Where are we going to go?"


    "I don''t know, but I don''t want to stay in here."


    "Dumbass. You''re the one who made us stay."


    "Yeah, well. They shot me. You think I''m going to want to run away right after I got shot in the leg?"


    "Well, it''s too fucking late to leave now."


    "It''s stupid to stay in here."


    A third voice shouted from another corner of the store, "Will you both cut it out?"


    They didn''t.


    Cassie turned to me. "Do you think she''s in position yet?"


    "I hope so. They''ve been snapping at each other for forever."


    "Then I''d say it''s time to shut them up."


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    She leaned into the hole and cut a circle in the ceiling, the sword moving through the metal and the tiles quickly and without resistance.


    As it fell with a clatter, she jumped through. I followed, waiting a second so that I wouldn''t land on her. I shouldn''t have bothered. She moved immediately to the left and out of my way.


    I got shot twice on the way down and not just anywhere. Both of them hit the eye-holes -- well, where holes would have been if the whole helmet hadn''t been made of a substance my Grandpa created. I thought of it as "plasteel" in homage to Dune. The eye-holes were just transparent plasteel. The shots didn''t hurt, but the force knocked me sideways.


    I hit a rack of paper products. Paper towels, toilet paper, and kleenex boxes rained down on me.


    "That was smooth." Cassie crouched next to me, sword ready.


    "He shot me in the face," I said. "Totally dead on. No way that could have been luck."


    She stopped smiling for a second -- a good thing.


    If one of these guys shot her in the head, the brain tissue would grow back, but I doubted that the knowledge would.


    I pulled myself up, knocking off a couple boxes of tissues. "I''ll go first."


    "Go for it. Soak up the bullets, I''ll finish them off," Cassie said.


    I stepped out of our aisle and into the aisle that ran against a wall of coolers holding pop, beer, and other drinks.


    The second I became visible, bullets hit me, starting with the face and moving down the center of my body.


    I didn''t fall that time. I ran and leaped toward my attacker.


    He stood at the end of the aisle, next the checkout counter, and a life-sized cardboard cutout of an extremely busty woman wearing a Budweiser t-shirt.


    He had to be in his fifties -- unshaven with greasy, graying hair and a blue winter jacket that looked like it hadn''t been washed in a couple presidential administrations. His lower right leg had been sloppily wrapped in bandages.


    He popped out a magazine from his nine millimeter and replaced it with a new one while I was still in the air.


    It didn''t matter.


    Normal bullets don''t make it past the Rocket suit, and these were as normal as they came. He managed to fire off a few shots at near point blank range as I landed in front of him, and punched him in the face.


    He went down on his back, unconscious, landing on the black mat in front of the exit. The door hummed and swung open.


    By the time I wondered where his partner had gone, it was too late. A fist hit my chest, knocking me backwards into a row of groceries. Cans of green beans and bottles of ketchup burst from the force of my landing.


    In front of me stood a fat, bearded man in a worn, black, leather jacket. He had to be at least three hundred pounds and in his late forties at youngest.


    "Don''t move," he said, "or I''ll beat your ass."

 King of Storms: Part 4

    I got up anyway, putting my hand in a puddle of ketchup as I pushed off.


    He drew his right hand back and took a step forward. "Don''t you listen?"


    "He''s got a learning disability," Cassie said.


    She stood in the aisle between the freezers and the end of the shelving unit, sword in her right hand.


    He turned toward her.


    "The last Captain Commando didn''t have tits," he said.


    "But unlike you, he had pants."


    She swung the sword and cut, starting just above his belt and ending an inch below.


    A hole gaped and I could see his underwear. Aside from a small nick just above his waist, Cassie''s cut went no deeper than the belt and his black jeans.


    For the record, he wore briefs.


    He looked down, eyes locked on the drips of blood. "Holy shit."


    "It can cut anything," I said. "Anyway, we don''t have to fight. Surrender and I''m sure it''ll go a little better for you."


    "Fuck that -- we''ve still got the hostages and if you come any closer, we''ll nuke ''em. Mackie?"


    Something exploded and the shelving behind me ripped and cracked. Cans, both shattered and whole, hit me along with their contents. I stepped forward to steady myself and squashed a peach.


    "You... Watch out or I''ll blow you up. And them. Right, Russ?"


    I looked toward the source of the voice. Over on the left side of the store, across a vast sea of overpriced groceries and over the counter medicines, a thin man stood in front of the "Staff Only" doorway, the door shut behind him. He wore a button down shirt, a red tie, and, incongruously, big sunglasses. I pegged him as being in his early forties and wondered what his codename could be -- the Accountant?


    "You got it. Now you, girl, put down the sword and go out the front door." Russ held his pants together with his left hand.


    "You," this was directed at me, "take off the jet pack."


    "You can''t control it without the suit," I said.


    "Take it off." Russ pointed to the floor between us. "Do it or we''ll kill one of the hostages."


    "Fuck, no," Cassie said.


    "You''re not going to fit inside anyway," I pointed out.


    "Mackie, pull someone out. Let''s show these kids what brains look like."


    Mackie moved his left hand toward the doorknob, but he never made it.


    Wood cracked and Haley''s claws came through the door behind him, grabbing him, and yanking him into the door. He flailed his arms wildly and explosions started all over.


    Lights broke near the middle of the room, shattering and falling along with more tiles and metal from the drop ceiling. Glass refrigerator doors cracked and the milk, beer, pop and juice bottles broke open, spraying, bubbling, and dripping.


    Shelves of food fell over. The windows in the front of the store shattered, the glass blasting outward into the parking lot.


    Haley''s claws slid upward till she found his neck. I thought I saw the moment when the hidden claw pierced his throat.


    Whether it was my imagination or not, he slumped down. When she let go of the body, he fell.


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    I can only assume that Cassie was looking at Haley too because I heard her grunt, turned to look at her, and realized that Russ had grabbed her sword hand.


    I heard a cracking noise.


    Her face whitened, but aside from the grunt, she didn''t say anything. She punched him in the face with her left hand.


    He barely reacted, just pulled her hand away from the sword. It was a mangled mess with fingers pointing directions that they shouldn''t, and visible fragments of bone. Blood dripped from the sword''s hilt.


    About the time it struck me that I should be doing something to stop this, he stepped back, giving the sword a practice slash in the air.


    "Cuts anything?" He said. "How about armor?"


    I snuck a look at Cassie. She held her broken hand against her stomach, smoothing it out with other hand. As horrible as it looked, it already looked better than it had a moment ago.


    She caught my eye and we both backed up. If we''d learned anything from Lee, we''d learned not to stand too close to people who can cut you in half. She backed down the side aisle. I backed down the front aisle, trying to think what I could do now.


    "That''s right," he said, "run away."


    Cassie had gotten into the third aisle and started picking something off the floor.


    He jumped up, leaping over me, and landing behind me. From the look on his face, his strength surprised him too.


    It took him a moment to turn around. While he was doing it, I jumped away, landing next to the checkout counter and the body of the guy I''d punched. He was still unconscious and lying on the mat that operated the automatic door. The door began to shut, hummed again, and opened fully.


    I turned around, getting into a martial arts stance without thinking about it. It wasn''t a useful reflex. Blocking Cassie''s sword with my arm would only result in amputation.


    To my right, sitting on the checkout counter, the screen of the orange Michigan Lottery machine glowed.


    I wondered what my chances of surviving the next few seconds were.


    Sure, I could blast him with the sonics, but they worked better on objects that were basically one material. I had a better chance of breaking bones with them when they weren''t surrounded by skin and muscle. Hurting his ears with sound would work better if I had a good next step. It was, after all, basically a feint.


    I had a few moves for disarming people, but none of them were guaranteed.


    "He''s going down." Cassie stood next to me with a mop in her left hand and some kind of cleaning liquid with a spray top in the other.


    He walked toward us, holding the sword in front of him. "You''re my hostages now. Go with me out the back and I won''t kill anybody."


    He''d apparently decided to ignore the hole in his pants.


    Pointing my arms toward his head, I hit him with the sonics.


    While he cringed, Cassie stepped forward and sprayed him in the face.


    The cleaning liquid smelled of citrus and ammonia.

 King of Storms: Part 5

    Russ brought his hands up to his eyes while Cassie dropped the cleaning liquid and mop, grabbing the sword''s hilt with both her hands and yanking it away.


    Russ made grab for it as she stepped back, but stopped when she pointed the blade at him.


    Eyes watering, he jumped sideways out of the building and into the parking lot, colliding with an old Chrysler Caravan that had been parked in a handicapped spot. He left a human sized dent behind and a shattered passenger side window.


    Then he started to run, each step carrying him a good twenty feet or more.


    I ran to the window and activated the rockets, letting them carry me across the parking lot.


    He''d already made it to the street despite smashing into another car on the way. He stopped at the corner of Jefferson Street and 48th -- just past the destroyed SWAT team truck and the Box.


    The ambulances, at least, were gone.


    Police stood behind their cars, guns ready, blocking Jefferson just a little past 48th and blocking 48th just a little north and south of Jefferson. Two helicopters hung in the air. Though labeled with the word "Police," one looked military. A sniper pointed a rifle out the open side door.


    Predictably, the other one came from NBC News 10.


    Lt. Van Kley''s voice blanketed the area in the flattened tone of a person using a loudspeaker.


    "This is the police. Surrender. We can and will use deadly force should you attempt to pass the perimeter."


    He jumped into the air, easily giving himself enough force to pass over the police cars.


    I opened up, giving the rockets all the fuel I could, and hit him in the back in midair. Then I aimed the both of us toward the street, and hoped he''d be a good landing pad.


    For a second, I worried that I might kill him when we hit the street, but, then I remembered that he''d damaged two cars accidentally, and walked away unhurt.


    At that point, I worried that hitting the street might not be enough, but, I didn''t have long to think about it.


    Hitting the street hurt. Even in armor and using Russ as my pillow (or perhaps because he was my pillow), it still hurt. My rib, the one the doctor had just recently declared healed, twinged.


    The street cracked where we came down, but we didn''t stay in one place. We both bounced, tumbling and bumping almost parallel to each other. When we finally stopped, I tried to stand up and nearly fell over.


    When my head stopped spinning enough that standing wasn''t a challenge, I checked out what Russ was doing.


    He wasn''t doing anything.


    He wasn''t dead. I could see his chest rise and fall, and, when I say I could see it rise and fall, I mean I could see his chest hairs.


    Our skid down the pavement had ripped the front off his Iron Maiden t-shirt. The back of the leather jacket lay partially under his legs, connected only barely to the rest. The cut Cassie made on his pants had already ripped down to the knee when he started running, but lay mostly around his knees now.


    Except for the nick from Cassie''s sword, his body was unscratched.


    He moaned.


    A Box rolled out of the crowd of police vehicles and stopped next to me. Two men in body armor jumped out, one of them carrying what looked like metal briefcase. The other carried a very big gun.


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    The first man opened the briefcase, taking out what looked like a cross between a hypodermic needle and a jackhammer.


    The man with the gun pointed it at Russ.


    Putting the hypodermic on Russ'' skin, the man said, "This gets through just about anything."


    He pressed the button on the top, and, with a noise like a gunshot, injected Russ with what I assumed to be sedatives.


    After he was done, he turned toward me and said, "Are things taken care of inside? That''s our next stop."


    "They were when I left."


    "Great." He looked back down at the body.


    "Do you know what that stuff is?" He pointed at a liquid dripping out of the jacket and pooling next to Russ'' body. In the Box''s headlights, it looked blue.


    I had a feeling it wasn''t Romulan Ale. I said, "Uh... It might be the stuff that gave him powers."


    After pulling plastic gloves out of the briefcase, he dug a cracked, metal flask out of a pocket inside the leather jacket''s front and put it in a plastic bag.


    "Here''s one for the Feds."


    * * *


    Two hours later, I sat in League HQ''s lab, cleaning crud out of the Rocket suit. With all the food I''d stepped on or fallen into during the fight, I wanted to get it off before it turned crusty or messed with the suit in some way. Not that wetness should have been able to do any real damage, but you never knew.


    Haley had gone home to do her algebra homework. Cassie sat on a stool next to me. I''d put the Rocket suit on a stand and held a soap and water filled sponge.


    She''d showered and gotten into jeans and a sweatshirt. I wasn''t completely sure why she hadn''t left, but I suspected it was more because she''d be bored at home than any interest in the suit.


    "I need better equipment," she said.


    Or possibly she had something on her mind.


    "I don''t know. The sword''s pretty cool. Well, when you''re holding it, anyway." I looked up from the suit. I''d just managed to the get the majority of the ketchup off the arm.


    "Right," she said.


    "I could modify it so the power turns off automatically when anyone else picks it up."


    She nodded. "A good idea, but it doesn''t solve the problem. When I punched that guy, he didn''t even feel it. I need some way to hurt people like that without chopping them to pieces."


    "I could look up what sort of things your dad''s utility belt used to have, but I''d have to look at the schematics. I doubt we have any spares."


    Cassie smiled. "Yeah. Dad was hard on equipment. Didn''t he destroy practically everything your grandpa ever made for him?"


    "Except for the sword," I said.


    "Which could get us all killed," she said. "Do you think it''s worth it?


    "What''s worth what?"


    "Nearly dying at the hands of the monster of the week. I know you didn''t, but you could have. So could Haley. I mean, God, just one second of looking the wrong way..."


    "It worked out though. You got it back."


    "It didn''t have to. I''m okay with getting hurt if I make a mistake, but I''m not okay with all of you getting hurt."


    "We all make mistakes. I wasn''t watching him either."


    "Yeah," Cassie said. "I''m not going to make that one twice."

 King of Storms: Part 6

    The point where the whole secret identity thing begins to get weird is when you start hearing about your exploits secondhand in real life.


    I found myself stuck a couple people behind Sean Drucker and Jody on the way to class. Sean moved slowly on crutches. Jody carried his books. Apparently he''d had knee surgery almost immediately after our fight. I didn''t know the details. Anyway, with the hall as full as it was, it didn''t seem worth pushing past him. With my luck, I''d knock him over.


    And that''s how I ended up hearing last night''s five minutes of terror and destruction reduced to...


    "Captain Commando''s too thin and she''s kind of flat, but I''d do Night Cat. She''s short, but she looks okay."


    "The claws?" Jody asked.


    "Well yeah, those are creepy. And the teeth, geez..."


    So what would the appropriate response to that be?


    I didn''t know. Going up and complaining about it would only blow everybody''s secret identity which, honestly, I couldn''t believe Sean hadn''t already figured out. He knew who Vaughn''s grandfather was. He had to have guessed that Vaughn and "Storm King" were the same person.


    The only reason I could think that he hadn''t pegged Cassie or I for who we were was that Vaughn hung out with everybody. If he suspected all the people who hung out with Vaughn of being superheroes, he''d be watching half the senior class.


    Absorbed in that thought, I missed anything else they had to say about how hot (or not) the rest of the League was. I did catch Sean say, "Did you see the clip from the end of the fight? When the Rocket knocks that guy out of the air and slams him into the street? That was so fucking cool."


    Jody nodded. "No doubt, but we''d do better."


    Sean shot him a warning look.


    Jody laughed. "What? Do you think the Heroes League is going to beat up our grandparents?"


    "Stuff it, Jody."


    Jody aimed an exaggerated, fake kick at Sean''s crutch. It didn''t connect.


    "Fuck off, Jody."


    I turned in to my classroom, trying to shake the feeling that if they approved of me, I had to be doing something wrong.


    * * *


    After I got home, I put on running clothes. With Lee being in Grand Lake for a while, I''d decided not to be on the track team this year. Nonetheless, I still went running. Lifting weights wouldn''t make much difference because the suit determined my strength, but, if I worked on the endurance, I''d be able to fight longer.


    Anyway, something about putting foot to pavement feels good.


    I liked spring days in particular. Sixty degree days were perfect -- neither too warm nor too cold.


    Sometimes I wore an iPod, but, lately I''d been running without one. I felt better knowing that even if I found myself daydreaming about modifications to the suit or Cassie''s motorcycle, I''d at least have the chance to hear someone trying to run me down with a car.


    I ran south of my parents'' house, toward the suburbs. I could have run to Haley''s house, but I didn''t feel like doing a fifteen mile round trip. As it was, I got to see the history of Grand Lake''s expansion as told in buildings -- passing out of the blocks with houses from the 1920''s and moving into blocks from the city''s next big expansion in the 1950''s and 60''s.


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    I actually ran down Jefferson for a little while. The sign on Shorty''s Convenience Mart said "Closed" and a dumpster stood in the parking lot. People carried trash out in wheelbarrows.


    Once I turned onto 48th Street and started running through quiet neighborhoods of ranch style houses, I got into the run. Unaware of anything but my own thoughts, I passed kids playing outside and other runners.


    Just before the midway point, a horn beeped.


    I turned to the source of the noise, already thinking about the best route to escape if it turned out to be hostile.


    I hadn''t had the best of luck with people in cars stopping me while running or walking this year.


    The car turned out to be a blue Prius -- which was a little bit of a relief by itself because I had a hard time imagining anyone who wanted to hurt me being that into saving gas.


    The car pulled to the side of the street and stopped. Isaac Lim stepped out, not looking much like an FBI agent at all. Skip the suit and trench coat, he wore casual clothes -- a polo shirt, slacks and a light jacket. The bulge under his left arm had to be a gun though.


    He went around the front of the car and across the lawn to the sidewalk.


    "Hi, Nick, let''s talk."


    "Right here?"


    "It won''t take long. If someone comes up, I''m asking for directions to the airport."


    "Okay. What''s going on?"


    "The men you fought last night didn''t have any record of working with Mayor Bouman, Magnus or the Cabal. They don''t have any history of showing powers. Basically they''ve bummed around all their lives doing petty crimes and working for anyone who would have them. Well, except for one guy. He used to be an accountant for one of the crime syndicates."


    "So who gave them the..." I searched for a word.


    "Juice?"


    "That works."


    "I''ve no idea who they got it from. That''s what I''m here to check into. Have you heard of anyone else suddenly showing powers around here?"


    "No."


    Isaac sighed. "The last thing I need is to have us discover how to use this stuff, and then have it immediately get into the hands of organized crime. That''s the only lead I''ve got right now. They''ve all got connections to Syndicate L -- small ones, but connections."


    "You think Syndicate L has somebody in the FBI?"


    "I didn''t say that. Besides, they wouldn''t have to have anyone in the Bureau. All they''d need to have is someone on the power juice project. So, if any of you kids feel like checking something out, you might look into where the juice came from."


    "I could."


    "Just don''t tell me about it electronically. I''ll talk to you in person."

 King of Storms: Part 7

    On the one hand, he''d said he didn''t think organized crime had infiltrated the Bureau. On the other, he''d just told me not to send him information via the government owned and installed communication systems that pretty much only the government had a reasonable chance of bugging.


    Uh-huh.


    I decided not to say anything, but he obviously wasn''t telling me the full story.


    "One more thing before I go," Isaac said. "You''re taking martial arts lessons from Lee, sometimes called G¨¹nther, sometimes called a lot of other things. In the Bureau, we just call him the Immortal. Watch out for him."


    "Lee? Why?"


    "How much do you know about him?"


    "Let''s see... He''s a mercenary, a musician. He doesn''t die and doesn''t have a fixed appearance."


    "You''ve got the surface right. Let''s add to it. He doesn''t seem to have any noticeable moral code, and he''s worked for some of the worst monsters alive in the last sixty years, maybe in the last thousand. He''s overthrown governments as far back as written history goes, including at least two Roman emperors. He''s on the NSTL and we''ve got a team tracking him."


    "NSTL?"


    "National Security Threat List."


    "A national security threat? How? He never talks about politics. I really don''t think he cares."


    "Because anyone who does care becomes a threat the second they hire him."


    "Isaac, aside from not dying, he doesn''t have any powers. Sure, he knows how to fight, but there are people out there who could personally make a crater out of Washington D.C. He''s not one of them."


    "Everything I want to say about this is classified, but, if I could say anything, it would blow your mind. Here''s a hint though -- we''ve got psychics, both the mystical kind and the telepathic kind. We had one of the mystics look into him, but, he couldn''t even find him. All he could do is see the effects of Lee''s passing, and, when he did manage to find something, he mysteriously forgot it all. Then we sent in the telepath. She managed to lock in on him but then she started to scream and try to claw her eyes out. She stayed in a psychiatric hospital for months. No human gets reactions like that. Not even telepaths like Daniel''s grandfather.You know what does? Old gods and Lovecraftian horrors."


    "Then why do you even let him into the country?"


    "We don''t want to find out what will happen if we keep him out."


    * * *


    It rained the next day.


    It rained buckets.


    Think water flowing down the street in front of the school and overflowing onto the lawn. Lightning flashed almost constantly from two in the afternoon on. Between the noise of the thunder and my own tendency to drift off into thought, I barely paid attention during the last part of my calculus class.


    That was okay. I felt confident I could figure out what I''d missed.


    Given what came next, not being able to pay attention might actually be a bonus.


    I had to skip study hall and go to my mandatory counseling session.


    My dad''s perspective on counseling is that it''s better to have the client meet with the same therapist each time. That way you build up trust and don''t have to repeat the same stories over and over again. The Grand Lake School District''s perspective was that it cost less to make sure that someone was there for the appointment than the same person.


    I could therefore thank the school district''s small, but uncaring bureacracy that rather than getting Mr. McGhee (who I''d seen the last two times), I would be seeing Ms. D''Onofrio.


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    That made things weird in a whole lot of ways.


    A lot of guys in the school thought Ms. D''Onofrio a major improvement over Mr. McGhee simply because of her looks. She looked like a model -- blond, blue eyed, and stylish clothes. Personally, I found her looks irrelevant to my life when you considered that she was also married, had two kids, and was nearly twice my age.


    I still noticed her though.


    To make things even crazier, D''Onofrio happened to be Haley''s grandmother''s maiden name. She''d married one of Haley''s second cousins, and had been one of far too many people that Haley introduced me to at the Christmas party.


    Her husband worked for a bank. I didn''t remember what he did for it, or, for that matter, his first name.


    The counseling offices were next to the administrative offices and the teachers lounge on the first floor of the school.


    The door stood partway open. I knocked on it and stepped inside.


    She turned off one of the local Christian radio stations and said, "Hi Nick, please sit down."


    If I had to put a word to describe her office, I would have chosen organized. Aside from the open folder on her desk (my file), I couldn''t see any loose papers. Her diplomas for her bachelors and masters degrees hung on the wall along with her state license to practice psychology.


    Framed childrens'' art hung on the walls along with pictures of her husband and children.


    I wondered if she was aware of her reputation with the high school''s male students and deliberately played up the "mom decor" or if she just liked her kids'' art.


    Both, maybe.


    Taking a quick look at the file, she said, "Nick, it''s good to see you again. I haven''t seen you since the Christmas party."


    She frowned for a moment, remembering, no doubt, the double murder at the end of the party.


    "Are you still dating Haley?"


    "Yes. Definitely."


    "Good. After what happened that night, I wouldn''t be surprised to hear you''d broken up.


    "According to the notes I have here, we should be working on anger management skills, but before we go into any of that, I''m wondering if there''s anything going on in your life that you''d like to talk about?"


    "Not really," I said. I thought for a second, and, came up with something that was bothering me a little. With luck, I could make it last forty-five minutes, saving me the bother of working on my non-existent anger management problem.


    "Well, wait," I said, "there is one thing. I have a couple friends and one of them doesn''t seem to like the other one at all. And really, I guess I should say that they''re both adults. They''re not really friends of mine in the sense that I hang around with them. They''re kind of both teachers really."


    Outside, lightning flashed, but flashed wasn''t quite the right word. It went on and on and kept on flashing, making the room uncomfortably bright.


    It felt unnatural.


    When the thunder came, which it did, even as the lightning still flashed, the noise went on and on, sounding like a freight train might if it were riding through the middle of the room.


    Then it began to hail, rattling the windows.


    Ordinarily I might have blamed Vaughn, but I didn''t think he could control weather at anywhere near that level.

 King of Storms: Part 8

    The noise didn''t let up for the entire period.


    Whether it hailed, thundered, or rained, it never became anything that could exist comfortably in the background.


    Meanwhile, I attempted to explain the situation between Lee and Isaac while simultaneously not explaining things. I couldn''t exactly tell her that the friend saying nasty things another friend was an FBI agent who acted as a handler for heroes in this region. I also couldn''t tell her that what bothered Isaac about Lee wasn''t interpersonal stuff as much as that Lee might be capable of plunging the world into an unholy reign of darkness and terror.


    "I shouldn''t ask this," she said, "but do either of the people you''re talking about work at this school?"


    After waiting for the most recent blast of thunder to end, I said, "No. That would be bad, wouldn''t it?"


    She laughed.


    "Believe me," she said, "it gets awkward. Knowing that something like that''s going on and not being able to tell anybody? But I shouldn''t have brought it up. What are you feeling about the situation?"


    "Me? Well, it''s not much of a situation. It''s just that one of them tried to warn me to watch out for the other."


    "Well, then what bothers you about it? Why did you want to talk about it?"


    The honest answer was, of course, that I didn''t want to go over the fight again and talk about my imaginary anger management issues, but I couldn''t say that.


    "It bothers me because I can''t really do a thing about it. It''s not like I''m going to get them together. Whatever''s going on is their problem and not mine. So what I''m planning on doing is, well, basically nothing. It''s just kind of strange in that I didn''t even know that either one of them knew about the other one''s existence, and, now one of them''s telling me to watch out for the other one because he might be the anti-Christ or something."


    "The anti-Christ?"


    "I might be exaggerating a little."


    I was, but, given what Isaac had told me, less than one might assume.


    "A little?" She said, but she let it go. "Overall, I''d say you''ve got a very mature attitude to the situation. You''re not responsible for either of them. Having them take up their problems with each other, and, not through you is exactly the right approach. Now though, I think we should talk about the reason you''re here."


    By the end of the session, I''d gone into the whole fight with Sean, and the reasons it happened -- including Haley''s relationship with him, but not, obviously, the part where she''d poisoned him.


    She looked unhappy when I started to explain Haley''s experience with him. By the time I described the fight and its aftermath she began to look angry.


    "Did Mr. Sledge say why he assigned you to get counseling instead of Sean?" She asked.


    "No. I assumed it was because Sean and his friends all looked hurt and I didn''t. Well, also I think Sean''s dad has some kind of influence, but it''s not like I can prove that."


    She stopped talking, saying nothing for an uncomfortable moment.


    "This story bothers me on more levels than I''m comfortable talking about. I can''t make any promises, but I don''t see any reason why you should have to come to counseling sessions. From what I''ve seen of you, you don''t seem to have any major issues at all, and I don''t see evidence of any in Mr. McGhee''s notes either."


    "That would be great, but, I think this was some sort of deal with Mr. Sledge and Sean''s dad and my parents. No matter how much sense it makes, I don''t think anybody''s going to let me out of this."


    "You might be right, Nick, but counseling sessions are for helping people. They''re not supposed to be a weapon against other students."


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    I didn''t know whether it said bad things about me or the school that I''d never even considered the possibility that an adult might end up on my side.


    When the bell rang, I walked toward Vaughn''s locker because even if he wasn''t responsible for the storm, he might be able to answer some questions.


    It took a little while to get there because he''d been assigned one on the second floor of the school.


    When I found him, I discovered he wasn''t alone. Cassie and Kayla stood next to him in front of his locker.


    "Oh geez," Vaughn said as I joined the group, "I just told them it wasn''t my fault already."


    He continued putting his books in a backpack.


    I looked from him back into the hall and to the lockers on either side. No one seemed to be listening or even especially interested. Still, it would be so easy to blow secret identities by standing around and talking like this.


    "Cassie," I said, "do you happen to have a car today?"


    "Do you need a ride?" Cassie asked.


    Vaughn snickered.


    "Well, thank you for your input, Mr. Mind in the Gutter," Cassie said, but she looked more amused than offended.


    "I do need a ride home," I said.


    "I''ve got Mom''s car," Cassie said. "You''re welcome to ride along. I''m already bringing him." She nodded toward Vaughn.


    "Might be the last time," Vaughn said. "I could be getting a car tomorrow."


    "Really?" I said. "I didn''t think that would ever happen."


    "Tell me about it," Vaughn said. "I think my parents must have figured that almost a year was long enough. That, and they''re sick of driving me places."


    "If you''re all going to go," Kayla said, "I''ll get to track practice."


    After she left, walking downstairs toward Cassie''s and my lockers, Cassie said, "It might have been nice to be on the team during senior year. Still, it''s not as if there would have been any real competition. I''d have spent the whole year trying not to break too many records."


    By the time we got to the front door, we had stopped at three different lockers and were among the few people left in the school. Four people hung around in the front of the doors, all but one of them talking on their cell phones. None of them looked very happy.


    We stopped in front of the front doors, barely able to see through the glass thanks to the rain.


    "Anyone got an umbrella?" Cassie asked.


    Vaughn muttered, "Yeah, right."


    "No," I said. "Don''t you?"


    "It''s in the car," Cassie said.


    "I guess we''ll have to run."


    Cassie pulled a door open and stepped into the rain, instantly becoming soaked.


    I stepped through the door next to hers at about the same time, suddenly remembering that I could have pulled a hood out of my jacket''s collar.


    The cold rain hit, dripping down the back of my neck and under my shirt.


    As Vaughn stepped outside, the rain stopped.


    Not a drop hit him.


    "No shit," Vaughn muttered.


    Then it started again, pelting all of us just as hard as before.


    I would have started running down the steps toward the street except that I heard a voice coming from off to the side.


    Composed of darkness and rain, a squat, manlike shape stood just past the railing.


    With a voice just barely distinguishable from the sounds around us, it said, "''Storm King,'' my master, the King of Storms, bids you to meet him on the shore of Lake Michigan at 4 o''clock next Wednesday."


    "Where on the shore?" Vaughn said. "The State Park? Behind my house? What?"


    "Choose one. He''ll find you."


    "You got it."

 King of Storms: Part 9

    The thing faded into the storm and disappeared. Between the darkness and the possibility that its body might have been nothing more than falling rain, I didn''t know whether it had teleported away or simply ceased to be.


    Either way, the rain changed from a downpour to nothing in the space of ten seconds.


    As the rain ended, the clouds thinned, letting the sun illuminate the puddles in the road and the mud across the street in the parking lot.


    "Wow," I said.


    "Yeah," Vaughn said. "That''s not exactly how I''d put it. He''s probably going to cream me."


    "Seriously?" I asked. "Then why''d you agree to meet him?"


    "He might not want to fight me, and, honestly, I don''t like bullies. It''s just a stupid name, but, it''s my name."


    "Is it worth a fight?"


    "I don''t know," Vaughn said, "but I hope so."


    The doors to the school opened and the people we''d seen in the hall started walking out.


    "We''d probably better take this to the car," I said.


    Vaughn glanced back. "Yeah."


    Ahead of us, Cassie turned around. "Are you coming or not?"


    We followed her, dodging the mud puddles in the parking lot.


    When we did pull out in the car, splashing mud as high as the windows and almost getting stuck once, we didn''t actually talk all that much about it.


    Cassie dropped me off first, stopping in front of my parents'' house.


    "Here?" She asked. "Or did you want me to drop you off at HQ?"


    "Here works. I just thought of something though. Vaughn, you''ll have to skip practice with Lee to meet with that guy."


    "I can miss a week," Vaughn said.


    "You''re not going alone," Cassie said.


    "No," I said. "You''re not."


    * * *


    When I called Lee to let him know, Lee said, "Looks like class''ll be at 4:00, wherever the hell Vaughn is on the beach."


    So that''s how Jaclyn, Haley, Daniel, Cassie, Vaughn, Lee and I all ended up on the beach near where Grand Lake met Lake Michigan. I don''t remember who suggested it, but the reasoning was that no tourists visited Grand Lake in March.


    Not that anyone would recognize us, we were all in costume anyway. Well, except for Lee, but who knew what the average passerby saw when they looked at him?


    The piles of ice and snow at the water''s edge had melted a week ago. Nothing remained of them, leaving only sand and water.


    I hoped the sand wouldn''t get into the suit. It couldn''t be good for any of its mechanisms.


    As we walked further, I resigned myself to blowing the sand out after we got back.


    "I hope this doesn''t last long," Daniel muttered to me.


    "Yeah? I''m surprised you came at all."


    "All of you guys were. It seemed important enough to cut track for. Besides, I can''t avoid Lee forever. I''ve got to figure out how to handle myself when he''s nearby."


    "Is it bad?"


    He looked at me. "It''s like standing in the middle of an orchestra where everybody''s out of tune."


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere."That could be worse."


    "And every so often one of the musicians decides to take a whack at me with his instrument."


    "Huh."


    "Seriously?" Haley asked.


    Daniel nodded. "Very seriously. How did Grandpa manage to work with him for the entire war?"


    Just ahead of us, walking next to Jaclyn, Cassie and Vaughn, Lee turned and said, "He blocked it out after a while. The longer he stayed around me, the easier it got."


    "I''m not sure it would be worth it."


    "It was for him," Lee said. "Trust me on this." Then he grinned at Daniel, and I got the impression of something really, really big.


    Haley glanced at Lee and asked me, "Did you just feel a chill?"


    We walked past the largest of the dunes, the one just past the lighthouse and the entrance to the actual Grand Lake that gave the city its name. All the boardwalks were empty. The cottages looked abandoned, but I knew they''d be full come summer.


    Three dunes down, we stopped. The nearest cottage stood at the top of the dune and a long wooden staircase. Trees and stalks of dune grass stood around it, some forty feet above us.


    It took only seconds before we heard wind blowing across the beach, kicking up sand. I heard rather than felt it hit my armor.


    Cassie spat. "It got into my mouth."


    A dark cloud gathered above us, tendrils moving, roiling and expanding like clouds do in one of those fast motion weather videos. In moments, the beach stood in shadow.


    I missed the moment when the King of Storms appeared, but suddenly he floated in the sky, slowly descending.


    He landed on the beach in front of us, a cloaked, hooded figure. I couldn''t see a face in the darkness under his hood, only lightning and rain.


    He stood at least as tall as Daniel. Daniel''s a little over six feet.


    At least I assumed it was a he. Between the cloak and the utter lack of a face, I couldn''t know it. I couldn''t necessarily be sure it was human.


    "I am the King of Storms. It is good to meet in person. Perhaps we can discuss this matter and come to an agreement. Please introduce your friends."


    "You bet," Vaughn said, and started going through all the names, stopping when he came to Jaclyn. "Hey, what should I call you? You''ve been procrastinating on a codename forever."


    "Call me Accelerando. I''m not sure I like it, but it''s better than nothing."


    "It''s kind of cool," Vaughn said.


    "It''s a musical term," Jaclyn said. "I can''t say I wasted nine years of piano lessons now."


    Vaughn also stopped dead when he got to Lee. "And this is... Geez. What should I call you here?"


    Lee chuckled. "You don''t need to introduce me. They know a few of my names already."


    The King of Storms stepped back and pointed his hood toward Lee. I''d call it staring except without eyes, it was hard to say. Whatever the case, it was as if he hadn''t even noticed Lee was there until Vaughn pointed him out.


    Half a dozen lightning strikes flashed within the cowl. I could hear them crackle.

 King of Storms: Part 10

    Above us, the cloud became darker, extending across the dune toward Grand Lake.


    "Relax," Lee said. "We both know that if I were coming to kill you, I''d have already tried by now."


    "Why are you here?"


    "I''m training them." He waved vaguely in our direction.


    "In what?"


    "Fighting. What else?"


    "Given your history, I made no assumptions."


    "Think I might be scamming someone? No. I made a deal with the original Rocket. I''m keeping my end of it."


    "Does this agreement include protection?"


    "No, but there''s a limit to how much hurt I''ll allow in training."


    "So in effect, yes."


    Lee shrugged. "You could look at it that way."


    For a little while, neither of them said anything.


    Then the King of Storms said, "But he stole my name!" His voice had the same not quite human tone, evoking the sound of thunder and lightning as much as it did human breath, but I couldn''t help but think, "What is he? Twelve?"


    That''s about right, Daniel thought back at me. There are at least three major personalities going on under that hood. I''m thinking there might be more than a hundred, but, I can''t be sure. They''re muted.


    I looked over at him. Daniel didn''t blink.


    No joke.


    Ahead of us, Vaughn said, "I did not steal your name. We went through this already in email. You''re called King of Storms. I''m called Storm King. They''re not the same name."


    "It''s the same words. I''ve been on TV and in the newspapers and... You knew and you just took it."


    Talking through the first speaker, another voice from within the hood said, "What I mean to say is that your use of that moniker is potentially confusing, and, should you behave like your ancestor, it will bring me shame as well."


    Simultaneously with the other two voices, a third voice, (possibly a woman''s) said, "We can''t argue like this in public."


    She said a few other things too, but too quietly for me to catch them.


    Vaughn said, "Behave as my ancestor? You are totally full of shit. I haven''t done anything he''s done. If I wanted to behave like my grandfather, I''d have sent a dozen, drug addicted goons to Pittsburgh to waste you. You know what I did? I checked the national names list and I listed myself with the Michigan Heroes Alliance. And you know what? You didn''t list yourself at all. In fact, after you sent me the email, I talked to the Pennsylvania Heroes Alliance and they say you won''t even talk to them. Hell, didn''t you take down a couple heroes while you were fighting Red Rage? They were on your side. Isn''t that shame enough? I don''t think you need me for that."


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    The KIng of Storms seemed too floored to speak for a moment.


    Then a cacophony of voices came from within the hood. Some shouted. Others whispered or wailed, but on the whole, the main emotion I heard had to be anger.


    In the initial blast of noise, the only statement I could clearly make out was, "You expect me to talk to those unnatural things?"


    A dark cloud seemed to be forming around him as the voices continued.


    "But doesn''t he have a point?" asked one.


    Another answered in a language I didn''t recognize, setting off babbling in half a dozen other languages. One of them might have been Spanish.


    Next to me, Daniel held his jaw stiffly shut, concentrating on something.


    Haley said, "I think we should be doing something."


    Cassie and Jaclyn were whispering together while electricity moved from finger to finger of Vaughn''s right hand. I wondered if he even knew it he was doing it.


    To Haley, I said, "What?"


    She didn''t answer. The King of Storms'' internal argument had grown louder.


    The twelve year old voice (or something near to it) began shouting, "Hold it! It''s my body. I''m the only one of us who''s still alive. You''re all here to serve me."


    Silence.


    He turned toward Vaughn and said, "I''ve pulled it together now. Sometimes they''re as not much help as they''re supposed to be. Back to what we were talking about, the King of Storms has been active in the Pittsburgh since the 1940''s and for at least one thousand years before that. We predate the Heroes Alliance groups and see no point in participating in an all volunteer bureaucracy with no real authority."


    I found it interesting to hear him talk like a normal kid at first, but sound considerably older than twelve by the time he''d ended.


    "All volunteer or not, handling it through the Heroes Alliance would have saved everybody a lot of problems because I''m not changing."


    "Nor am I."

 King of Storms: Part 11

    "Let''s get on with it then," Lee said.


    Both Vaughn and the King of Storms turned to look at him.


    "Neither of you is going to change their name so now it''s time to come up with another way to handle it. You''ll want to choose seconds and Vaughn, you get to choose the weapon if it''s a duel."


    "Duel?" Vaughn sounded incredulous.


    "Sure. What else would it be?" Lee grinned at the both of them, but started talking before either of them could reply. "Of course it doesn''t have to be a duel. Trial by ordeal has it own good points. I always liked the one where you each stuck a hand into boiling water and the one whose hand healed best won."


    Jaclyn stopped talking to Cassie long enough to say, "Wouldn''t that be cheating?"


    "Of course it was cheating. Worked pretty well too -- except for the time that some baron decided my healing had to be from the devil, and, they burned me alive."


    "Burned you alive?" Vaughn said.


    "It didn''t take," Lee said. "Ah, but you should have seen their faces. They''d had the sense to use chain instead of rope, but by the time most of my flesh had burnt off, the chains weren''t tight anymore, so I pulled my hands out and walked away. I didn''t even have to fight them, but, of course, I was still on fire.


    "Public executions," he said, "you just can''t beat them for cheap entertainment.


    "But let''s get back to trial by ordeal," Lee said. "My idea is that we have the Rocket whip up a machine that controls current and we find out how much electricity each of you can take before passing out or giving up. What do you say?"


    "I think I could handle that," Vaughn said.


    "No." The King of Storms shook his head.


    Lee eyed him, "Well, what kind of ordeal would you prefer?"


    The King of Storms said nothing for a moment and then at least six voices started talking at once.


    "OK," Lee said. "Stow it. If you can''t come up with an ordeal you like, let''s go with a duel."


    * * *


    Two days later, on Friday afternoon, we stood with the same people in the same place.


    Jaclyn stood in the sand talking to Daniel, Haley and I. "I think the whole thing is stupid. A duel? That''s the best way we can do? ''Oh look, we''ve got nearly the same name. How will we figure out who gets to use it? I''ve got it. Let''s throw lightning at each other.'' "


    "It does look that way," I said. "On the other hand, neither of them seem to want to compromise."


    "She''s right," Haley said. "It all just seems senseless."


    Some twenty feet off to our right on the beach, the other group of people broke up. Cassie, Vaughn, and Lee walked over and joined us. The King of Storms and a short man wearing a blue robe with gold trim stood together next to the water.


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    Cassie broke the silence. "Here''s what''s going to happen. They''ll fight until unconsciousness. If Storm King wins, he keeps his name. If the King of Storms wins, he chooses a new one."


    "What weapons are they using?" Daniel asked.


    "Duh. Weather." Cassie rolled her eyes.


    "I asked because you didn''t have to do that. Vaughn, as the challenged could have chosen anything. I read where some guy chose sausages as the weapon, one of which contained cholera."


    "Sausages?" Vaughn said. "What happened?"


    "I think the challenger withdrew the challenge."


    Vaughn looked over to Lee. "I wonder if we should have gone with something like that."


    "No," Lee said. "He''s just looking for an excuse to attack you anyway. Put it into a duel that includes a chance of getting what he wants, and the violence is contained. That''s the whole point. If you choose something silly, he might attack you in the middle of town."


    "In Neal Stephenson''s Baroque Cycle, there''s a duel in which the challenged person chooses cannons. It''s great," I said.


    Daniel shook his head. "How did you make it through that? It''s something like three thousand pages."


    "I liked the books. Besides, you should talk. Some of those histories of the Civil War you''ve read are about a thousand pages by themselves and really dry."


    Jaclyn looked down the beach, "Who''s the guy in the robes?"


    "I don''t know," Cassie said. "King of Storms'' second. Some wizard."


    "Let''s get moving," Lee said. "They''re expecting this to start soon. Time for all the rest of us to get away from Vaughn."


    We joined the blue robed wizard at the midpoint between them and then got out of the path between Vaughn and the King of Storms.


    "You may begin on the count of three," Lee shouted. "One. Two. Three."


    The moment Lee said three, a dark spot appeared over the King of Storms. It expanded into clouds that covered the beach and the old lighthouse at the beginning of the channel to Grand Lake.


    "Vaughn can''t do that," Cassie said. "Not that quickly."


    Lightning began to strike the beach where Vaughn stood, but never quite managed to hit him. At the last moment it bent away.


    "Wow," I asked no one in particular. "Is Vaughn doing that? That''s cool."


    The lightning strikes doubled in intensity and number, the thunder hurting my ears while the brightness of the lightning activated my helmet''s ability to filter light. I could see sand spray into air near Vaughn with each strike.


    As a particularly large strike blasted sand into our faces, Jaclyn commented, "You call this contained?"

 King of Storms: Part 12

    Vaughn never got hit by the lightning.


    When the strikes stopped, he stood there unharmed, smiling nervously, glass shards and glass craters surrounding him.


    "He''s cheating! You can''t do that." The King of Storms shouted at Lee.


    "He''s controlling weather." Lee said. "Get on with it or yield."


    Without a face to look at, I found the King of Storms'' reaction hard to read -- well, up until the point where he raised his arms and screamed a word. Then hail started falling, not all of it heading for Vaughn.


    Jaclyn knocked one out of the air. A couple pieces hit my helmet while I heard Haley say, "Ow!"


    Then the hail stopped -- well, it stopped hitting us. It still thumped against an invisible barrier above us, while simultaneously splashing into Lake Michigan and smacking into the beach.


    The short man in the blue robes said, "I could have done that."


    I glanced over at him, realizing for the first time that he wasn''t a man. He had to be ten or twelve year old, red-haired kid. What was up with that? Had Hogwarts let out early for the summer?


    "Feel free," Daniel muttered, but I had a hard time hearing him over the roaring wind.


    I looked in the direction of the noise.


    Vaughn had apparently decided to protect himself by creating a funnel cloud. It started between him and the King of Storms, but rose high enough to block the hail, scattering it in all directions, including back at the King of Storms.


    It didn''t seem as large as a full blown tornado. We weren''t being pulled into it, but I could feel the wind and see the sand swirl.


    The King of Storms replied by shouting a few more words and raising up a second funnel cloud, this one larger than Vaughn''s. I could feel the pull.


    "This is to unconsciousness?" Jaclyn asked. "How are you supposed to knock out anything with that?"


    "I wouldn''t be surprised if you ended up unconscious by the time you were whirling around in there." I said.


    "If you got hit on the head with a chunk of rock, sure, but not because it pulled you in."


    The twin funnel clouds whirled around each other, gouging paths in the sand.


    A metal sign near them rattled, then broke apart and disappeared into the whirling mass. It was one of the signs that you could find all over the edges of the beach. It had said, "Private Beach. No Trespassing. Violators Can Be Prosecuted. Thank You, Grand Lake Beach Association."


    Meanwhile, the golf ball sized hail continued to fall, pounding the beach around us and the cottages behind us. I heard windows shatter.


    Daniel said, "I can keep this up for a while, but not forever. Think that they could finish soon or at least stop the hail?"


    Cassie began to say something, but a blinding flash of lightning along with the accompanying thunder cut her off.


    Vaughn had aimed a lightning bolt through the tornadoes toward King of Storms, but somehow it hadn''t hit him. A silvery metal mesh had appeared in the sand in front of him.


    "Hey," Jaclyn said. "That''s nothing but cheating. That''s not weather control at all."


    "Well," the kid wizard next to us said, "your guy cheated."


    "He can''t cheat," Cassie said. "Weather control is all Storm King can do!"


    "Right," I said. "I''m guessing Storm King ionized the air around him, making it more conductive than he was. That''s just how you control lightning."


    "Exactly," Jaclyn said. "I''m ending this now."


    She ran out from under Daniel''s shield, ignoring the hail, and passing around the tornadoes before I realized she''d gone. Only a trail of kicked up sand marked her passage.


    The struggle happened too quickly for me to see the details. When it ended, Jaclyn held the King of Storms'' cloak in one hand and a short haired boy wearing a Pittsburgh Riverhounds t-shirt in the other. He had to be at least a foot shorter.


    The moment the cloak came off him, the King of Storms'' tornado fell apart, the hail stopped, and the clouds began to disperse. The silvery mesh dissolved.


    Jaclyn pulled the boy to her, jumped, and landed in front of us.


    She let the boy drop to the sand.


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    "Do you see how completely pointless this was?" She waved her hand toward the beach with its glass shards and craters, and then the cottages. The roof above the nearest cottage''s porch had fallen in during the fight.


    I''d missed that somehow.


    "I didn''t want a duel. That was you guys."


    "Oh come on. You came here to tell him to change his name. If he didn''t, what were you going to do?"


    "I don''t know."


    "You do know. There wasn''t anything to do, but fight him."


    The kid brushed sand off his blue jeans and his shirt. "Well, they told me that was how you handled it, and they were right. I looked it up. Supers do that all the time. Can I have my cloak back?"


    Jaclyn looked down at him. "Sometimes supers are dumb as rocks. And no, you can''t."


    As they talked, Vaughn''s tornado wound down to nothing and he flew over, carried by the wind. "Geez, I didn''t know he was that young."


    "I''m not a little kid." He eyed the cloak in Jaclyn''s hand and then looked over to his friend.


    The kid in the blue robe began to mumble something.


    "Hey," Lee said, "Fight''s over. Believe me, if anybody starts using magic, I''ll know."


    The kid looked at him for a moment, and his face went white. He stepped back and began to raise his hands.


    "Look, I''m not doing anything, but what did I just say?" Lee held out his hands. "I''m not even holding a weapon. See?


    "So anyway, the way I look at it, the King of Storms just lost because he violated the conditions of the duel. Storm King keeps on calling himself Storm King and you two guys run along home and stay out of your parents'' hair."


    "But it''s not settled," the kid who had been King of Storms said. "If he''s Red Lightning come back, just like that guy''s the Rocket, he could go evil and they''d think it was me or something. Look at him."


    Checking out Vaughn''s costume for a second, I did have to admit that it did look like it had taken a step into the villains'' end of the pool -- all black with straps with unknown purposes hanging in odd places. An abstract representation of a storm cloud covered the upper half of his chest. Except for the logo, it made me think of Marilyn Manson. Of course, Vaughn''s costume didn''t leave his butt cheeks exposed.


    "I can''t believe this shit," Vaughn said. "Look, I can''t deny that I inherited his powers, but I''m not him. I didn''t even get to know him. He died more than twenty years before I was born. So look, why don''t you wait till I actually go crazy before beating on me? It could be that I won''t, and everything I do will make you look good."


    "But you could," the kid said. "The rest of them told me."


    "Everyone could," Vaughn said. "You could too. And those voices in the cloak? How do you know they''re all trustworthy anyway?"


    "Well, I --"


    "You don''t," Vaughn said. "You took a chance with them. Give me the same chance."


    * * *


    They left not long after that. We scattered, leaving just before the fire department arrived. Someone had called them during the battle. I could imagine that it would have been terrifying for a normal person to be sitting in their cottage, enjoying a spring day when suddenly all hell broke loose on the beach. Who wouldn''t call 911?


    Reporters tried the League''s phone number, but none of us took the calls. Everyone had gone home. Haley had to work. Daniel went to synagogue with his family. I don''t know what everyone else did.


    I spent most of the night working on new utility belts for the League. I had some ideas I wanted to try out.


    At points though, I did think about what had happened. Vaughn really had done a lot better than I would have expected. I wouldn''t have expected him to do as much research as he apparently had done on the King of Storms, for example, and his speech near the end had made things better, not worse.


    Maybe it shouldn''t have surprised me, but it had, just a little.


    That was okay. After the last couple weeks, I''d take a good surprise. It made for a nice change of pace.

 Three: Part 1

    If you happen to know the right person in the FBI, it''s not that hard to get the stealth suit plus a highly modified guitar controller through airport security.


    The Department of Homeland Security guys at Grand Lake''s airport had looked at each other and then at me as the guitar controller (in its lead lined cloth case) rolled through the X-ray machine. The metal detector''s alarm went off as I stepped through too.


    I blamed the sonic systems, but the utility belt hidden under my jacket didn''t help.


    They waved me on anyway.


    "A glitch," the guard next to the metal detector said to the business-suited woman behind me.


    Mom and Dad waited at the end of the conveyor belt. I picked up the guitar case, put my laptop back inside my backpack, and started pulling the rest of my belongings out of the plastic boxes I''d dumped them in.


    "I still don''t see why you took that," Mom said, pointing at the guitar.


    "Alex doesn''t have more than one controller," I said. "This way we can both play at the same time."


    "You haven''t seen each other in years," she said. "I''m sure he won''t want to play video games the entire time you''re there."


    We started walking toward the terminal, passing the back lit signs advertising PNC bank, Hertz, and the Grand Lake Sentinel.


    "It''ll be fine, Mom."


    The flight didn''t go badly. We waited for an hour in the United terminal, then waited on the runway, and then finally we flew, stopping in Chicago, and landing in Los Angeles around midnight.


    From there we went to the hotel, a Best Western across from a strip mall that had been styled to look like a pagoda. We waited in the lobby while Dad checked us in, coming back with the plastic key card. He gave one to me and one to Mom.


    "You''ve got your own room this time," he said as he put it in my hand.


    "No way."


    "The conference is paying for it. I''m not arguing with them."


    Our rooms were right next to each other, which was okay. I could have watched television. I could have gone online. I could have done anything I wanted, but I''d sat in planes or airports for the last eight hours. I fell into bed and slept.


    Mom knocked on the door at seven the next morning, waking me up.


    "Nick, we''re going to the conference. Don''t forget to get breakfast. They close the buffet by nine."


    I grunted something, and fell back to sleep, waking at 8:30. Recognizing the time, I pulled on shorts and a t-shirt, and ran down the hall to the lobby/breakfast area. It was like the continental breakfast at every hotel in the country -- waffles, donuts, muffins, cereal and your choice of juice, coffee or whatever.


    When I finished, I emailed Haley to let her know I''d made it, and then I grabbed my backpack and the guitar and went outside.


    The Best Western was on one of those roads that seems to be exclusively hotels, strip malls, and franchises -- only in this case some had Chinese characters on the signs. I ended up having to cross the street and go around the pagoda style strip mall in order to change into the stealth suit. I changed behind three dumpsters, using them to stay out of view of the houses just across the fence.


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    I live a glamorous life.


    Then I started up the rocketpack and shot into the sky, the helmet giving me a constant readout of my speed and heading.


    I''d done it. For once, I wasn''t going to spend half my spring break at a conference on child psychology. I was going to spend it hanging out with Alex, the son of Preserver, and a hero in his own right.


    Following the GPS, I aimed myself south toward the coast.


    Flying in Los Angeles was different than flying in Grand Lake. For one thing, the air felt different. I didn''t quite have the words to describe it, but different. For another, the view... mountains in one direction, skyscrapers in another, and if that weren''t enough, the ocean. Also, compared to Grand Lake, there weren''t a lot of trees on the ground.


    In addition, the houses seemed endless in all directions, mountains and ocean aside.


    I also noticed another difference -- air traffic. LA had more helicopters by a long shot. More interesting than that, LA had more people flying through the air. In one sense, it wasn''t a surprise. LA and New York City seemed to have an irresistable pull for metahumans.


    In another sense, it still seemed strange to see five different people in the sky and not know any of them.


    One of them veered toward me, and he was fast. One moment, he seemed to be halfway across the city. The next, I found him pulling up beside me. He wore a black uniform, complete with badge and arm patch proclaiming him a member of the Los Angeles Police Department. In a concession to practicality, he wore a mask instead of a hat.


    As he caught up, I said, "Is there a problem?"


    "No problem. I didn''t recognize you. I thought I''d do a flyby and check you out."


    "I''m the Rocket. You can check with the FBI if you want. They know I''m here."


    "One of those kids bringing back the Heroes League? You here for a reason?"


    "No. Just visiting people. I know Preserver''s son."


    "No kidding? I''ve run into him. Nice guy."


    Flicking my eyes up toward the GPS readout, I read that we were passing over Huntington Beach, and wondered where his jurisdiction ended. I supposed that he might have arrangements with other cities around LA.


    "Hey Rocket," he said. "I know you said you''re not doing anything, but if you do turn out to be, call us. We don''t want to step on each other''s toes."


    He stayed with me until the house came in sight. Then he veered away. I could still see him even as I began to descend toward the house.

 Three: Part 2

    Even from the sky, it looked like a huge house. Shaped roughly like an "L," it had space for an outside pool and a tennis court, and rose three stories at the point where the two wings met. The short side faced the Pacific ocean.


    In Michigan something similar could fetch a million dollars. In California, I didn''t dare speculate. The crazy thing was that in Michigan there would be space around it and probably some forest. Here, it crowded the edge of the lot and ten other houses of the same size stood right next to it.


    I landed on the deck.


    Glancing backwards toward the ocean, I wondered what exactly we would end up doing. I''d left my bathing suit back at the hotel. Despite what I''d said to my mom, coming to California and spending the entire time playing Guitar Hero sounded like a waste.


    A door slid open.


    Alex leaned out. "Hey, don''t stand there, come inside!"


    I hadn''t seen him since my grandfather''s funeral. He''d come in disguise. His dad, Preserver didn''t have much of a secret identity and no one wanted to blow Grandpa''s even in death.


    He looked like a surfer stereotype -- blond, tanned, and good looking. He hadn''t shaved, and unlike when I did that, you could actually tell.


    I walked into the house and took my helmet off.


    "You want me to take that?" He gestured toward my helmet.


    "I just landed. I don''t know what I want."


    I''d stepped into the dining room. That was one way to put it. A more accurate way might be "the really huge room that combined kitchen, family room, and dining room into one massive room almost the size of my house."


    The room''s ceiling reached to the second floor. The second floor''s hall actually turned into a walkway above the room.


    Whoever had designed the place loved the look of wood. I wondered if the exposed wooden beams were in any way functional.


    Alex brought me back to the situation. "How was your flight?"


    "Which one? The plane flight or the one I just took over here?"


    "Whichever."


    "The cross country flight was okay. The flight over here was... strange. I think I almost got pulled over by a cop."


    "The Blue Streak?"


    "I don''t know. He was all in black except for the badge."


    "No. Before he started working for LAPD, he called himself Blue Streak. He still does in his off hours."


    "If it''s the same guy, he hauls. I''ve never seen anybody that fast."


    "Yeah, he''s quick, but that''s about his only power. Believe me, he needs that gun. Not like I should talk, but he''s got nothing offensive."


    I was about to ask Alex about his own abilities, but didn''t get the chance. Two girls around my age had gotten up from the couches in front of the television and come to join us.


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    One was tall with long, curly blond hair. It was probably unfair of me, but something about her said cheerleader. She smiled as she stood next to Alex. I''d never seen her before.


    The other girl had dark, straight black hair, light brown skin and glasses -- which gave her a more studious look, whether or not it matched her personality. I recognized Jenny even before she hugged me. "Hi Nick."


    "Wow," I said. "It''s been... nearly a year."


    She''d gone to Grandpa''s funeral too. As the granddaughter of Multitude, alias Albert Nakamura, I''d seen her at the League picnics sometimes. Multitude hadn''t settled in Grand Lake or become part of the Heroes League, but he''d been part of the same unit while they were in Europe. The army didn''t send Japanese soldiers to fight in the Pacific theater.


    If they had, he''d have been with the other guys longer, and maybe he''d have come to Grand Lake with the rest.


    "Less for me. I''ve been seeing you in the news for most of it."


    "Seriously? I know we got covered but I thought they''d stopped paying attention a while ago."


    "Believe it," Alex said. "The buzz has faded, but they still pull up your picture every time anybody connected with that conspiracy gets caught. Maybe we should move to Grand Lake."


    The blond girl, who I guessed might be Alex'' girlfriend said, "Between Jenny and Alex and the news, I feel like I know you a little already. I''m Brooke. You don''t know me, but you know my dad. I''m Guardian''s daughter."


    Guardian being the guy who''d chewed Daniel, Cassie and I out after we''d fought the Grey Giant. In short, she was the daughter of my least favorite superhero ever.


    I don''t know how much of that showed on my face, but, she gave a laugh and said, "He likes you. Really."


    "I wouldn''t have guessed. Anyway, I didn''t know he was married."


    "He was married. If you want to talk to someone who really doesn''t like him, talk to my mom."


    I laughed. "It''s okay. It''s not like I hate him."


    "They divorced when I was three, but from the way Mom talks, all you need to hate him is to live with him," she said. "That''s why he''s in Chicago and we''re here."


    I didn''t know quite how to respond to that and didn''t. Alex said, "Well at least you don''t have to put up with the stepmonster."


    "Mine or yours?" Brooke asked.


    They laughed.


    "So," I said, "what were we going to do anyway?"


    Alex took Brooke''s hand and said, "We can''t really go after anybody because there''s no one to supervise us, but how do you feel about vigilante pranksterism? Syndicate L is always good for a laugh."

 Three: Part 3

    "I''m not supposed to."


    We stood outside another massive house in the same subdivision. This one had probably won some kind of architectural award. I say that because it looked strange. All white walls with huge glass windows that stretched from the first floor to the top of the house, the house curved and bulged all over, reminding me of a collection of toadstools.


    A little boy sat on his bike in the driveway. He couldn''t have been more than ten.


    "My dad said I have to ask him first."


    Alex crouched, keeping his head level with the kid''s. "Look, you know we''re the good guys. My mom and dad work with your mom and dad, right?"


    "Mmm-hmn."


    "So how about I buy you some ice cream and you find Syndicate L''s local headquarters?"


    "My dad said you''re not allowed to give me ice cream."


    Alex glanced over at Brooke, and then said, "Did he say anything about popsicles?"


    "Can I have a grape one?"


    * * *


    "I''ve been waiting since I don'' t know how long to try this one. It''s going to be great."


    Vigilante pranksterism aside, we were walking out of Alex'' house to the swimming pool. They kept extra bathing suits around the house for just such an emergency.


    I couldn''t say I liked the suit. I might have liked it better if it came with a sign that said "This is Not My Purple Speedo."


    On the other hand, it fit.


    "There''s something weird about using a pool when you''ve got an ocean in front of your house," I said.


    "The pool''s heated, but the ocean''s cold today. Trust me on this one."


    I was about to ask him what the water temperature was when he ran across the concrete and dived in, coming up for air next to Brooke. For them at least, the next hour turned out to be all about splashing each other and pushing each other into the water.


    I can''t say I didn''t do any of that, but I didn''t do as much.


    Mostly, I found myself leaning against the wall in the shallow end of the pool, talking to Jenny.


    As Alex pushed Brooke off the diving board, I asked her, "Are they going out?"


    "I wish. They''ve been just about to go out for months."


    "You wish?"


    "Desperately. You know how in movies or on TV they have the obligatory ''person of color'' best friend who everybody confides in? That''s been me for the last four months. Brooke worries about whether going out with him would ruin their friendship. Alex wants to know what he should buy her for her birthday. I''m living a season of Friends."


    "Just curious."


    "Totally okay. It is curious. Anyway, I hear you''re going out with... Night Cat?"


    "How''d you find out about that?"


    "A little research I did while watching national television. She took your hand after the news conference last fall?"


    "Oh, right, but, technically we weren''t going out at the time."


    "But you are now, so..."


    "Are you asking me to confide in you?"


    She splashed me.


    Then she said, "We''re just talking right now. If you start confiding in me, I''m getting out of the pool."


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    "She''s happy. I''m happy. Um... anything else?"


    "You have to have more to say than that."


    So I told her about the night Haley and I fought Man-machine, and how we started talking to each other. After that (and I''m not sure how), conversation turned to their team.


    "Right now," Jenny said, "we''re calling ourselves ''Three.''"


    "And if you get another member, you''re going to call yourselves... Four?"


    "I don''t know, if we ever do, maybe we''ll change it. Or maybe we won''t and just let people wonder if we can count.


    "Besides," she continued, "I don''t think we''ll need another member. Our powers complement each other like you wouldn''t believe. If we ever get the chance to do something big, I think we''ll surprise everybody."


    "You''d have the perfect opportunity here. New York and LA are metahuman central."


    "Which makes it that much harder to stand out, and it''s not like our parents let us do anything. They''ll let us tag along, but that''s all. If anything, we envy you."


    "Seriously? That''s bizarre."


    Alex and Brooke walked down the side of the pool.


    "Hey," Alex said, "let''s get out of here. We''ve got to plan."


    They grabbed their towels off the table. Jenny and I pulled ourselves up the side, following them.


    As I dried myself off, two kids, a boy and a girl, ran out of the sliding door on the far side of the pool, jumping in just a couple feet from us.


    "And here comes the other reason Alex wanted to go," Jenny began. Alex and Brooke had already slipped away.


    The door the kids came through slid open again. A dark haired woman in a black bathing suit walked through, carrying towels and an inflatable raft. I recognized her.


    Remembering her costume, I had an easier time identifying her in the bathing suit than I would have in normal clothes. Lady Deathtouch had turned herself in ten years ago, transforming herself from femme fatale to suburban mom in the meantime.


    "Hi Sylvia," Jenny said.


    Sylvia came around the pool toward us. She dropped the raft next to the pool and put the towels on the table.


    She shook my hand. "You''re Nick? Nice to meet you. I met your grandfather once."


    "I heard about that," I said. It had been in the early eighties, just before his retirement. She was indirectly responsible for the suit''s air filtering system.


    Jenny nodded her head toward the door. "We should catch up with Alex."


    * * *


    On the way to Alex'' room, I told Jenny, "She didn''t seem that bad."


    "I don''t think so, but she''s not my stepmom."


    Alex'' room was on the second floor and had a balcony with a table and chairs. We all changed into clothes before meeting out there.


    "Here''s the idea," Alex said, "Syndicate L does a lot of transportation so they''ve got a pile of vehicles. We take anything we can -- cars, trucks, whatever, but especially anything illegal -- and ditch them all over town."

 Three: Part 4

    "Let''s do it this afternoon," Alex said.


    "Seriously?" I said. "We''re not prepared. I''m not, that''s for sure. Also, I mean, we don''t even have any sense of when the best time would be."


    "Nah. We got all that stuff from Carlos, you know, Technomage''s kid. Brooke, show him."


    Brooke reached across the table and touched my hand, putting us into mental contact.


    It felt different than when Daniel did it. I''m not sure how best to describe it. With as many years as Daniel and I had been friends, the mental contact itself felt natural, but we''d connected so often I barely thought about it.


    With Brooke, I immediately felt a strong sense of her surprise.


    Brooke: You''re sure you''re not a telepath? Because if you aren''t, somebody''s put a lot of work into your head.


    Me: I''m not, but I''d bet I''ve spent more time talking mind to mind than most people.


    Brooke: You''ve got the rudiments of a shield. Many people who know telepaths do. But behind the shield is something else again. Whoever created it was preparing for all out telepathic war. I''m not even sure I should be in here.


    Pause.


    Brooke: Wait. I can do this. As long as you deliberately accept what I''m giving you, it shouldn''t trigger anything.


    Me: I''m ready.


    I sensed another mind. Not a mind that was there. More of a recording. Carlos'' mind, I guessed -- and not all of it, just one very specific memory.


    I sensed streams of data. An address. A building. The roads around it. The average number of cars on those roads at any given time of the day. The number of people that entered that building. The time of entry. The number of vehicles that exited that building. Their make. Their model. Their year. Then I had security camera footage from inside the building. Satellite footage of the outside. Building plans...


    Aloud, Brooke said, "See?"


    She''d withdrawn her hand.


    "That was amazing. What else can that kid do?"


    "He''s got the same powers as his dad," she said.


    "Right," Alex said, "I''d say we''ve got all in the information we need. You''ve got your equipment and we can grab ours. This is going to be great."


    * * *


    In some ways, I knew better than to listen to him. I knew about his father''s powers. Preserver could heal people, but that wasn''t all. Even when he wasn''t deliberately healing people, his presence did something to the bodies of the people around him, allowing them to work at their maximum mental and physical potential.


    It took a little while for it to start, but just having been in Alex'' presence for the morning, I felt good, clear headed and refreshed.


    I didn''t trust the feeling. I knew he wasn''t directly affecting my brain, but feeling generally good had to be why I was going along with an idea this obviously bad.


    Alex had thought it through though. Thanks to Carlos, we knew everything about Syndicate L''s use of that garage, and during the afternoons, they didn''t use it much. This was the garage with the secret equipment. You don''t tool around town in a car with secret missile launchers without a good reason.


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    The other pieces of the plan were easily covered by the skills and abilities of everyone there.


    So, by the time found myself suiting up, I realized that I was committed. Not that I suited up in the house. I went into the bathroom off of Alex'' room and changed. Everyone else stayed in their clothes.


    "All our stuff is at Center," Alex said


    Then Brooke opened up a gateway and we all walked through into a room that reminded me of nothing more than that bit in the Matrix where Neo gets outfitted with guns.


    As armories went, it felt less oppressive than I''d expected. It had white walls and a sunroof the length of the room. Unsurprisingly, guns hung on the walls, but few of them were the conventional sort that used bullets. Alex, Brooke and Jenny grabbed equipment and then Brooke opened another gate.


    We stepped through. This room looked like a combination rec room and command center. Think round with white walls, painted steel beams, and enormous windows. Downtown Los Angeles surrounded us on all sides -- skyscrapers, parking garages, shops... We were at the top floor and at least ten stories up, hanging above a building that had two other towers just like this one.


    "This is the South California Defenders Center?" I asked.


    "The junior Defenders room," Alex said. "Give us a second while we change."


    They walked over to a walled off area in the center of the room and went inside. I occupied myself by looking through the room. It had a pool table, a foosball table, computers, and a large TV in front of the walled off space.


    I found the remote and turned on the TV just about the same time Alex walked out. SuperTV was showing a studio interview with Guardian. I changed it to CNN.


    Alex strapped on his utility belt as he stepped around the corner. He wore a white long coat over a grey, armored jumpsuit, somehow combining the look of a cowboy and a knight. Two guns hung from his belt. Both had flat barrels.


    He swung his helmet as he walked, holding it with his right hand.


    "I should have asked you before, but what are you guys'' codenames?"


    "I''m calling myself Paladin. Jenny''s Flame Legion, and Brooke''s Portal."


    "Isn''t Portal taken?"


    "Nah," Alex said. "The last Portal retired in 1995. We looked it up. It''s open. Well, it was."


    Jenny came out wearing a red jumpsuit, a rifle, a couple guns, and what looked like a very full utility belt.


    "Flame Legion?" I asked. "I understand the legion part, but where does the flame come from?"


    "My mom''s never been an active hero, but she can do this..." A flame appeared in her palm. "At maximum, I can get maybe a ten foot stream... I''d show you, but the fire alarms would probably go off."


    Brooke came out as Jenny talked. She wore a silvery costume that flowed as she walked.


    She saw me staring and looked a little embarrassed. "My dad got it for me as soon as he heard Alex and I were going on patrol sometimes. It''s Xiniti technology."


    It changed from blue to green and then chameleon-style matched the room behind her, making her appear to be a disembodied head for a moment.


    "Is there any way I could get a sample?"


    "I''m sure my Dad would kill me."


    Alien technology. I made a mental note to watch if any pieces fell off during a fight.


    "Alright," Alex said, "we''re ready. Let''s do it."


    "Just a second," Jenny said.


    There were four of her.


    "Now I''m ready."

 Three: Part 5

    Brooke opened another portal.


    Through it I could see a warehouse filled with vehicles -- delivery trucks, police cars, armored trucks, hummers, and a semi. It wasn''t full either. The information we''d gotten from Carlos showed that half the vehicles were out this time of day.


    Brooke changed the scene to the inside of a delivery vehicle and Jenny climbed through. She did the same thing until Jenny sat in each vehicle.


    "Your turn," Brooke said, and closed the portal. Then she grabbed my hand and the hand of the sole remaining Jenny.


    Suddenly, I could sense Jenny and Brooke, but behind them, the Jennys in the warehouse, a Jenny keeping watch down the block from there, and a Jenny writing down notes in a history class.


    Me: You''re in school?


    Jenny: My spring break was last week.


    Pause.


    Jenny: Ready to teach me how to hotwire cars?


    I guided her through the first one, pointing out which wires to connect. After that, I assisted her with the difficult ones, making the next few minutes a blur of Jenny''s hands, tools, and wires. Within a few moments, the garage roared with the sound of engines.


    Distantly, I heard Alex say, "Are we ready?"


    "They''re all started."


    "Great. Brooke, put us in one of the hummers."


    Brooke withdrew her hand and the connection to Jenny and all the cars cut off. I found myself sitting on the couch in front of the TV with Brooke and Jenny standing off to my left.


    Alex stepped through the portal in front of us.


    "You''re next," Brooke said.


    I followed Alex through and found myself in the backseat of a Hummer. Jenny was already in the driver''s seat. Brooke appeared next to her a moment later.


    Jenny gunned the engine, driving toward one of the opened doors, joining a line of cars and trucks that she was also driving. It was crazy. It felt like I was in the middle of "Being John Malkovich" -- which was, by the way, a very strange film.


    As we drove toward the door, people started running into the room. A few of them held guns. Most wore coveralls. I assumed they were mechanics.


    Everyone went down, caught in the crossfire of multiple Jennys with pistols.


    "Stun guns," Alex said. "They''ll be fine."


    The semi-truck passed us. The Jenny inside blew the truck''s air horn and waved.


    Within seconds we were out on the street, part of a near traffic jam of Jenny driven vehicles going in all directions. Halfway down the block, Jenny said, "We''re all out. None of me are left in the garage."


    "Kick ass," Alex said.


    I turned and looked out the back window. No one seemed to be behind us -- well, no one but Jenny.


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    When we got two blocks away I said, "I can''t believe we''re getting away with this."


    "We haven''t yet," Jenny said.


    "We will," Alex said. "We got everything out. From here on, the worst that can happen is we get pulled over."


    "I don''t know," I said. "If Syndicate L has any metahumans, you never know what''s going to happen."


    "That''s the beauty of going after Syndicate L," Alex said. "No metahumans allowed. They got worried about metahumans taking over the group so they only allow them as contractors. Contractors aren''t going to go to the wall for them. So all we''re dealing with is normal people."


    "The one time I went up against them they had a super."


    Alex shook his head. "I know it, but, it wasn''t the same thing. They''re a transport operation and he was cargo."


    * * *


    We did get away with it.


    The only excitement we had after that was almost anti-climactic. For a second, it looked like a police car was following us, but it turned left and disappeared.


    We abandoned the hummer in a quiet neighborhood in San Bernardino. Jenny pulled out a can of bright, red, spray paint and wrote "Syndicate L" across the side. She wrote "wash me" on the other side.


    It showed up nicely against the hummer''s dark gray paint job.


    Alex took a can of black paint and sprayed over the dashboard, taking care to cover the speedometer and radio.


    Then Brooke opened up a portal and we went back.


    We took turns watching the TV while everyone changed back into street clothes. I''d brought mine along.


    We flipped through the channels, but didn''t see immediate coverage of what we''d done. It was a little disappointing. Jenny had left them in clusters of three or four in front of places like police and fire departments. In most cases, she''d painted the warehouse''s address on their sides.


    I watched the eleven o''clock news alone in my hotel room. They covered it.


    "Police are investigating the source of vehicles found parked in front of municipal buildings in various cities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties..."


    One police department had treated it as a potential bomb threat. Another had managed to accidentally activate hidden machine guns in one of the cars. No one had gotten hurt.


    Unnervingly, the next picture showed "the address of a Riverside warehouse painted on several of the cars."


    Fire trucks and flame dominated the scene.


    "Police will not confirm or deny whether the warehouse was associated with Syndicate L."

 Three: Part 6

    I didn''t feel quite right about it the next morning.


    Parts of the news report stuck in my head -- the accidental activation of the weapons, for example. If someone had gotten hurt, it would have been our fault too.


    Also, we hadn''t started the fire in the warehouse. Syndicate L must have done that themselves. They''d had something to hide there.


    I wondered if we shouldn''t have just given the warehouse''s address to the police.


    I got dressed and managed to get downstairs before the hotel''s continental breakfast closed, making myself a waffle with their machine, and sitting down to watch the flat screen TV they''d hung on the wall. The channel was set to a local NBC affiliate, but kept cutting away from the Today show to follow a car chase.


    A blue hummer from the Syndicate L warehouse roared down the highway. I could tell because Jenny had spray painted that one too. The back window said, "Syndicate L Sucks" in red. Blue Streak, the cop who had flown over to talk with me the day before, flew after him, sometimes flying alongside, talking to the driver through the window.


    The driver had apparently discovered how to operate the hummer''s hidden banks of missiles and fired one at Blue Streak, but didn''t hit.


    The chase was still going when I finished my waffle, a danish, and some orange juice.


    When I got back to my room, I sent some email and waited for Alex to call.


    Instead, I heard Brooke''s voice in my room. "Nick? Do you mind if I open a portal? Don''t say yes if you''re still in bed."


    After looking around for a second, I recognized the silvery outline of a portal hovering above my bed. On the other side of it, I could see Brooke''s lips.


    "Go ahead."


    The small circle stretched into a larger than human sized oval. Jenny, Alex and Brooke, all wearing street clothes, stepped through to the floor between the two beds.


    I shut my laptop and stood up.


    "Have you been watching the news?" I asked.


    "Yeah," Alex said, "I don''t think we''ve done anything that''s gotten this much press before."


    "That''s not really what I meant." I turned on the television and flipped over to the ongoing chase, watching as the hummer weaved through traffic. "If that guy gets hurt or kills someone, we''re responsible for it."


    Another missile shot off the side of the hummer. It missed Blue Streak.


    "Where do you suppose that''s going to land?"


    Alex shrugged. "I don''t know."


    "Neither do I," I said, "but if it hits somebody, they''re probably going to die."


    "Got it. Got your point, but I look at it differently. We stole more than a million dollars worth of equipment from Syndicate L yesterday -- and that''s not counting any special modifications they made to those trucks. Whatever they used them for -- probably drug running and other stuff that''s just as illegal -- they can''t use them now. It''s not like they''re going to go up to the police and ask for their fleet back. No way. They''ve got to put it together all over again."


    "That still means we''re responsible if someone gets hurt."


    Alex held up his hands, "Look, if anybody gets hurt, I will personally heal them. Problem solved."


    "Can you heal dead people?"


    "Hey, nobody''s died."


    I looked away from Alex for a second, checking what the others were doing.


    Brooke frowned as I glanced toward her.


    Jenny said, "Alex, I think he''s right only I don''t think he went far enough. Syndicate L is big. They''re not going to just take this. They''re going to strike back somewhere."


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    "I''m not going to worry about it. We were all in costume. They don''t know who we are. Okay, they might recognize me, but none of you have public identities, and I never got out of the hummer."


    "You said you''ve pulled other pranks," I said. "You don''t think they''ll guess? They had to have seen a lot of Jenny."


    Alex began to open his mouth, but he never got a word in. Brooke talked over him. "Can we just stop talking about this? It''s finished. We did it yesterday. We can''t change it. Let''s just stay out of costume today, okay?"


    "Sure," Alex said. "That was the plan anyway. I pulled a bunch of tickets out of the Defenders'' stash. We''ve got Disneyland, Universal Studios, a bunch of museums, or we could just watch some movies."


    He spread them out in his right hand like cards.


    "Why do the Defenders have all that?"


    "Donations. Sometimes they give them out to people they''ve saved. Sometimes they pass them out to their families. Good publicity for the donating organization either way. You want to choose, Nick? We''ve been to all of them half a dozen times."


    "Isn''t there a Tar Pit museum or something like that?"


    Brooke didn''t look happy. "Not La Brea. I''m not really in the mood."


    "I just went there for a school field trip a couple weeks ago," Jenny said. "And I''m sick of movies. We already went to movies on Monday and Tuesday."


    "Okay," I said. "No museums. No movies. Uh... Disneyland?"


    * * *


    We went to Disneyland. After Brooke portaled us back to the house, Alex drove us in his family''s silver Range Rover, and on the whole, it was a pretty good time.


    Basically, if you keep in mind that there will be massive lines, overpriced food, and that while fun, it will not be the mind-blowing experience it would have been if you were ten, you''ll enjoy Disneyland.


    To keep our spirits up, we made jokes about the people wearing Mickey Mouse costumes, and I had a brief moment of "inspiration" in which I imagined Mickey Mouse themed powered armor.


    Jenny noticed me drawing and scribbling equations in a notebook when we were eating lunch (at Redd Rockett''s Pizza Port...). "Nick, that''s insane. It looks ridiculous and anyway, Disney would sue you."


    "It''s more a joke than a serious design, but it would work... Did you notice that his buttons are particle accelerators?"


    On the whole, it was a good thing that we had Disneyland as a distraction because I didn''t know what I would have done if I''d had to hang out with Alex alone. He spent a lot of time talking about the private school he''d been kicked out of, former bodyguards he''d had, and friends that he had in common with Brooke and Jenny, many of whom were children of famous actors.


    Memories of childhood play dates (when his father visited my grandfather) were really all we had in common.


    We left the park around ten and it took more than half an hour to get back to the house -- well, almost to the house.


    The gate didn''t open automatically as we approached, and, looking at the gatehouse in the middle of the road, I didn''t see anyone inside even though the light was on.


    "This doesn''t look right," Alex said.


    Just as he began to back the Range Rover away from the gate, a figure ran out of the darkness, and smashed the hood of the SUV, popping both front tires, and forcing the front end into the road.

 Three: Part 7

    I picked up my guitar from the floor and pulled it out of its vinyl case. Jenny didn''t say anything, but her expression probably meant, "I hope that''s not really for playing video games."


    The man stepped around the smashed hood, grabbed Alex'' door and ripped it off the car. A black mask covered the man''s face, but his black and red shirt showed massive muscles and a lot of skin.


    That wasn''t a good sign. Only supers with an extreme resistance to damage went with a t-shirt instead of armor.


    "Hey there," Alex said.


    "Hit the jackpot," the man shouted into the darkness. "We''ve got some choice hostage material here. Hey, what the --"


    He disappeared, falling just as if someone had opened a trapdoor immediately beneath him -- which was more or less the case.


    Men with automatic rifles ran out of the darkness near the gate. Someone shouted, "Don''t move!"


    Then the SUV began to sink through the road.


    A couple seconds and jarring crash later, the Range Rover sat on the plaza in front of the South California Defenders Center. Palm trees surrounded a fountain in the middle of the plaza. The center, a tall, cylindrical building with three towers rose above us.


    "You okay, Brooke?"


    Brooke slumped in her chair, breathing audibly.


    Alex touched her shoulder.


    "I''m fine." She took another breath. "Just give me a second."


    "I don''t know if I should bring this up now," I said, "but we should let your dad know, right?"


    "I''m sure he already knows." He didn''t even look away from Brooke. "Half the team''s probably on their way already --"


    Then he stopped and looked right at me. "Except they''re not. Almost everybody''s off-planet. Government stuff. Fuck!"


    I didn''t ask how exactly you forgot your dad was off-planet.


    "Do you think they got past the gate?" Jenny asked.


    "Don''t know," Alex said. "Wait a second... We didn''t see the android in the gatehouse."


    "Android?" I asked.


    "The guard? Technomage whipped him up." Alex said. "When the Defenders bought up half the development, protection was part of the deal, but if they could get past the android, they''re probably in."


    He pulled out his cellphone, pressed a few buttons, held the phone to his ear. "No answer. Sylvia''s not answering anything."


    Brooke asked, "Do you have your Defenders phone?"


    "No. I left it at home. You?"


    "I never wear that thing. Jenny?"


    "My dad''s just an auxiliary member. I''ve never had one."


    "Defenders phone?" I asked.


    "A tracking device, mostly." Alex said. "You can''t turn it off and if you''ve got it, people at the Center can find out exactly where you are. I don''t wear it unless I have to."


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    "It works everywhere," Brooke said. "We''re supposed to be wearing them at all times."


    "It''s like Big Brother," Alex said.


    "Maybe we can call her from inside?" Jenny began to open her door.


    Alex looked up at the Center. "Yeah, that''s a plan."


    * * *


    We suited up in the Junior Defenders room. The view was just as incredible at night as during the day -- city lights as far as I could see.


    I stepped out of the locker room, all in costume and carrying my helmet only to find Alex talking to Raptor. He appeared on the television just around the corner from the locker room. To judge from the view of Los Angeles, the banks of computers, and empty seats, he probably stood in the command center a few stories below us.


    "Alex, I just got word from your father and Sylvia. You''re supposed to stand down let the police take care of it."


    "Yeah, we''ll just leave Carlos with Syndicate L. The cops can send in Blue Streak to fly over them until they surrender."


    Carlos, I remembered, was the first name of Technomage''s son, the kid Alex had gotten to find Syndicate L''s garage by bribing him with a popsicle.


    Raptor''s massive brown wings rustled, probably in irritation.


    "I''m not going to argue with you. Stay out of the police''s way. Sleep here tonight. Got it?"


    "I got it."


    The picture faded into a local station''s coverage of the night''s events. The bullet-riddled body of the android lay behind the gatehouse, illuminated by the streetlight, endlessly repeating the words, "--ease show me your identification..."


    "Are Brooke and Jenny still getting dressed?"


    From Alex'' tone of voice, he didn''t sound in the best of moods.


    "No," Jenny''s voice came from around the corner.


    I stepped back and checked. She and Brooke had just stepped out the door.


    "So," I said, "we can''t go?"


    "We''re going," Alex said.


    "Raptor said," I began.


    "The only reason the kid''s in trouble is because of me!" Alex'' voice easily passed the volume of casual conversation.


    "What did Raptor say?" Jenny asked. She had her entire costume on except for her face mask.


    Behind her, Brooke still wore street clothes -- jean shorts and a t-shirt that read, "No one cares about your blog."


    What had she been doing in the locker room? Talking?


    "To stay here," I said.

 Three: Part 8

    "But we''re not going to," Alex said. "Raptor''s not going to take on Syndicate L by himself. He''s got to stay here and direct the people who are still left, and, you know, most of them got the short end of the stick when it comes to powers, so what good are they?"


    "Well," I said, "they''re experienced for one. Powers don''t do much good if you don''t know how to use them."


    "Come on," Alex said. "You''re experienced. You guys made national news a bunch of times. The Grey Giant, that conspiracy, the Executioner... That''s more than any of the no-names Raptor will be using. I don''t see why you''re being such a wuss about this."


    "I didn''t plan to get involved in any of that. Most of those guys attacked us first."


    Alex dismissed it with a wave of his hand.


    "Yeah, but you won. No help from your parents at all. No interference. No supervision. No one telling you to wait."


    "Well actually," I said, "Daniel''s dad did help us a little and the rest of our parents don''t have powers at all, and, I mean honestly, they mostly don''t know what we''re doing."


    "How did you arrange that?" Jenny asked.


    "We didn''t. Our grandparents placed some kind of block in our parents'' brains so they wouldn''t notice."


    "That''s so cool." Alex said.


    Brooke''s nose wrinkled as if she''d smelled something unusually bad. "That''s... wrong."


    "Are you joking?" Jenny turned her head toward me, waiting for a reply.


    "I wish," I said. "I wouldn''t have done it."


    "OK," Alex said, "let''s reel it in. Carlos is in trouble and who knows, maybe other people too. How are we going to get him back?"


    I didn''t say anything since the obvious answer was, "Let the grown-ups deal with it." I knew I didn''t want to be responsible for the mistake that killed a kid. On the other hand, I really didn''t want to be responsible through inaction either.


    Brooke thought for a second. "If we could capture one of them, I could get a picture of the location out of his head. Then we could portal in."


    "Yeah, exactly," Alex said, "What about the guy you portaled out?"


    "I dropped him next to the tar pits, but I''m sure he didn''t stay there."


    "If the Defenders capture anyone while they secure the development where you live," I said, "Brooke might get it out of them."


    "If they don''t turn them over the police first," Alex said.


    "I don''t think there are any telepaths among the people still home," Jenny said. "We could volunteer Brooke."


    "They''d see through that." Alex said.


    No one said anything.


    Something on Alex'' utility belt began to beep. "Already? I just put the thing on and the Defenders'' phone begins ringing." He pulled it off the belt and looked at it.


    Then he held it out for everyone to see.


    A text message on the phone said, "Alex. Help."


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.As we looked at it, it beeped. Alex turned it toward himself and clicked. Then he showed it to us again. It said, "Video. Now."


    Jenny grabbed the TV''s remote control and started flipping channels. "He probably means the general communications account."


    The screen changed to a picture of a nondescript conference room -- long table, white walls, chairs. Scared looking people stood against the wall -- nine of them, three women, two men, and four kids, one of which was Carlos. The taller of the two men had a big bruise on his cheek.


    An obviously electronically distorted voice said, "-- Raptor, we''ve left each other alone, but some recent incidents have left us with no choice but try for a more formal arrangement. We''re willing to give these people back to you as a gesture of good will, provided you leave us alone."


    Raptor''s picture in the lower right corner showed him looking impassive. "You know we can''t do that. I''m grateful for the gesture, but I can''t promise anything. Where can we pick them up?"


    The voice laughed. "Nice try, but you know we can''t leave it at that. If you can''t promise anything now, I''ll call you back in a little while, and, I''m hoping that by then you''ll have something you can promise."


    The picture cut off, leaving Raptor with a sour look on the lower half of his face, one small portrait against a background of gray. Then that disappeared too.


    "I can''t believe it. That''s all I need to portal in," Brooke said.


    Alex laughed. "They can be so dumb." He eyed the rest of us, pulled his long coat off the table and put it on. "Let''s go in."


    "Wait," I said, "shouldn''t we at least tell Raptor what we''ve got?"


    "He''s not going to listen, but, fuck it, go ahead if you don''t believe me."


    Alex did something with the remote and suddenly I was facing Raptor on the screen.


    "Now what?" He stood in a conference room with half a dozen costumed men and women.


    "I''m the Rocket. Look, we can really help you out. Portal''s got a way to drop us right into the room where they''re being held."


    Raptor took a deep breath. "Kid, I''ve seen the news reports out of Grand Lake. I''ve seen what you''ve done, but this is LA, and I don''t want anyone starting a fight in the middle of a room full of hostages. You got it?"


    "Yeah," I said.


    He cut off the connection before I even finished.


    "See?" Alex said.


    Jenny pulled on her mask and split into two. "We''re not really going to jump into the middle of the room, are we?"


    Brooke rolled her eyes. "No. I was going to open a small portal and scout around first. Maybe we can place a few of you outside the building for backup?"


    Jenny nodded. "I''ll need to get into the armory."


    "That sounds good," Alex said. "Nick, you''re coming, right?"


    "Yeah," I said. "I guess I am."

 Three: Part 9

    "Great," Alex said. "Let''s put a plan together and get in there. It looks like simple get in, get out sort of mission to me. Anybody else?"


    Brooke shook her head. "I don''t know... Something''s not right. Why do they think they can take on the Defenders?"


    "You think it''s more than just the hostages?" Jenny said.


    "How often do hostages work against people with powers?" Brooke said.


    Alex shook his head. "Give the area a quick scan and if there isn''t anything, we go in. We''ve got to move before they change rooms."


    Brooke gave him an irritated look, but opened up a gate the size of a quarter. After a moment, she said, "There are six of them in the room and more outside the door. None of them look especially tough..."


    "Then let''s move in," Alex said.


    "Wait," I said, "Can''t Brooke just portal them out?"


    "After the car, I''m too tired. The larger the portal, the harder it gets. I can''t take the group all at once, and, if I did them one by one Syndicate L could move at least one of them before I finished."


    "Okay," I said.


    "That''s why we''re going to pop in, and make them pay attention to us instead of the hostages," Alex said.


    "Brooke," I said, "are you going to have the energy to get us all back here?"


    "I wouldn''t do it if I didn''t think I could."


    "Do we have a backup plan just in case?"


    They had one.


    * * *


    Dropping straight into the room turned out to be the best idea, given how tired Brooke was. Having a bunch of Jennys appear in the hallway outside would have been a good idea, but not realistic.


    From back in the Junior Defenders'' room, I watched Jenny step out of the portal already firing her Defenders stun pistol, splitting into twenty of herself moments after her feet hit the floor. Caught in a crossfire of beams, the Syndicate L goons didn''t have a chance. They fell to the floor instantly. Then she ran out the door and into the hall, splitting more and firing away.


    I came through after Alex just as one of the Jennys still in the conference room said, "We''ve taken the hall and the room. Easy."


    Brooke stepped through after me, keeping the portal open.


    She''d changed into costume and was again completely covered in silver from head to toe -- including her hair. I sighed. Xiniti battle armor that her dad had managed to get through personal connections to one of the nastier races in space. It stunk that the version he''d provided her had no weapons.


    Carlos ran to Alex and hugged his leg.


    Carlos wore Spongebob Squarepants pajamas.


    "Hey dude," Alex said. "We''ve got you. Everybody... start moving through the portal. We don''t have long before they send more people."


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    As the people started stepping through, Alex asked Carlos, "Where''s your mom?"


    "Home. Uncle Ric was driving me home."


    One of the men, dark haired and wearing a suit, but no tie, said, "Come on Carlos, he told us to hurry."


    The rest of the people had already left. I could see them waiting on the other side.


    "I want to go with Paladin."


    "Carlos," his uncle said, "you need to listen to me."


    Alex turned to Ric, "Start on through, I''ll walk with him."


    Ric didn''t say anything, but walked through the portal, never taking his eye off Carlos, and stopping just on the other side to wait.


    The Jenny standing nearest the portal said, "We really do have to move. I''m looking down the hall and they''re coming again."


    "Right behind you, kid." Alex gestured toward the portal.


    Carlos didn''t go anywhere. Instead, he watched the door. "Is it the armored guys?"


    "I don''t know," Jenny said. Then she paused, and said, "Paladin, everybody, go!"


    As she said it, the building started to hum loudly. It reminded me of the sound of amplifiers before a rock concert when no one''s playing anything, but it''s obvious that the amps are on. You can feel it in your chest.


    According to Daniel, people have invented devices that disrupt most psychic disciplines, teleportation included. Apparently Syndicate L had fitted the building with that one at the very least.


    Brooke''s gate broke apart into hundreds of shattered pieces and disappeared.


    Her eyes widened.


    Alex reached out toward her, "Are you okay?"


    "Give me a second."


    Well, at least everybody but Carlos had gotten out. Better that we had to take care of one person than nine.


    The hall echoed with the sound of gunfire and the blast of a grenade.


    I couldn''t see her expression because her mask hid her face, but Jenny''s body stiffened. "I hate it when I get killed."


    Far too late to do anything about it, everything became obvious. It was a trap. Needing to see the place you''re teleporting to was pretty common among teleporters. Syndicate L had to realize they were dealing with one, so they had sent their demands over video. It didn''t take much to guess that the pranks had to be connected to the Defenders, so they had kidnapped people in front of the Defender''s development. All Syndicate L had needed to do was set up a situation which would cause us to teleport in. Then they''d be in a position to make sure we couldn''t teleport out.


    I unslung the guitar from my back. I felt sure I''d get the chance to use it this time.

 Three: Part 10

    Four of them came through the door. They wore black, powered armor and helmets with wide, transparent facemasks. The armor made me think of police riot gear except riot gear generally included padding. This armor appeared be hard from top to bottom.


    An automatic rifle hung under the right arm. Another weapon hung under the left. It reminded me of the Executioner''s paralysis gun.


    In design, the armor didn''t obviously descend from either of the Rocket suit or Man-machine''s armor. Grandpa had designed the Rocket suit to fit closely over the wearer''s body and amplify the person''s strength. With the exception of the rocketpack''s fuel, he''d avoided external power sources, preferring batteries that recharged off of the user''s movement. Man-machine''s armor tended to be big enough to sit in and powered by massive batteries.


    This armor appeared to be close fitting, but the large hump on the back seemed likely to be a power source. I wondered who had designed it.


    Whoever it was was mass producing it and selling it to organized crime. Was it just Syndicate L or did they sell it more generally?


    Whichever it was, I found myself wishing I had the full Rocket suit on.


    Near me, Brooke said, "Everybody, plan B." She still sounded tired.


    Alex gave her a look.


    Several Jennys began firing at the armored men with Defenders stun pistols. Beam after beam hit, but none of the men went down.


    One of the men aimed his left arm, the one with the paralysis ray at the line of Jennys. They fell over and then instantly disappeared. More appeared next to the Jennys that were still standing.


    This time though, instead of using guns, ten foot long streams of bluish-white flame extended from Jenny''s hands.


    I didn''t know if they were actually vulnerable to fire, but the men in the powered armor backed up. Dangerous or not, flame is intimidating.


    At least, I was intimidated -- more so when I noticed that the carpet in front of Syndicate L''s men had caught on fire.


    As they backed towards the door, I moved my hand down the neck of the guitar to the most powerful pulse laser setting, pushed the button and started firing at the ceiling above them.


    It worked as planned.


    Chunks of concrete fell down from the ceiling on top of them. I kept on firing, flicking the lever much faster than I normally could. Actually, my aim was better too. Not that my aim was ever that bad, but it felt like I couldn''t miss.


    Within seconds, I''d made a hole in the ceiling and covered them in rubble.


    Light fell through from the room above -- which was good because the blasts had taken out the lights of the room we were in.


    "That was freaking cool," Alex said. "I want one."


    "My dad could make one," Carlos said.


    Jenny laughed.


    "Rocket," Brooke said, "We need another hole. Now."


    She sounded an awful lot like her father, but she had a point. The pile of armored thugs and concrete rubble had blocked the door.


    "Right," I said, and aimed the guitar''s neck at a piece of wall just a bit down from the door and opened up on it, blowing out a ragged hole ten feet wide. It wasn''t by any stretch of the imagination a neat hole, but it was wide enough for the five of us.


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    We ran through, hearing pieces of concrete settle and fall as we stepped into the hall.


    I worried for a moment that I''d managed to take out a load bearing wall, but then it occurred to me that it was probably the guys in armor beginning to dig themselves out.


    Not that that was exactly good news.


    Unlike the room, the hall''s lights still worked. Like the room, the hall appeared to be a bunker decorated in the style of an office building -- concrete walls painted beige and dark, brown, carpeted floors.


    The fire alarm went on and water started spraying down at us from the ceiling.


    "Now which direction do we go?" Jenny asked. More Jennys came out of hole in the wall after us.


    I opened up a pouch on my utility belt, then pulled the roachbot controller from the spot next to it. Activating the bots, I sent them down the hall in both directions.


    They swarmed out of the pouch, flying next to the ceiling to avoid being hit by the water.


    Carlos watched me with a level of fascination that only kids manage to achieve -- completely unselfconsciously walking up to me and almost blocking my view of the controller with his head.


    "Can I hold it? I can do... a lot of different things with it."


    I gave it to him. I had a feeling I''d need both hands free for a while anyway.


    "Hey," Carlos said, "They found some stairs, but look at all those people..."


    In the controller''s screen I could see a blurry picture of a stairwell filled with people wearing bulletproof vests and carrying automatic rifles.


    "Is there another stairway?" Brooke leaned over Carlos head to view the controller.


    "No," Carlos said. "The swarm that went in the other direction hasn''t found anything."


    Alex took a step forward. "C''mon. Let''s go. Better to fight those guys than wait around for the armored dudes to get out from under the concrete."


    The thumping and crashing of falling concrete came from inside the room. A voice said, "Watch it, Dave. Half that shit fell on me."


    "Sorry."


    More crashing came from inside and then the clang of metal boots hitting the floor.


    "What the fuck, man? Don''t you listen?"


    We all looked at each other.


    Brooke said, "Jenny, can some of you take the rear and hold them off and then send some of you ahead? The rest of us will follow them to the stairs."


    "I''ll go in front." Alex said.


    Brooke grabbed Carlos'' left hand, "You''re coming with me, and Rocket and Flame Legion take the rear."


    We started to run -- Jenny''s duplicates both ahead and behind us.


    "Too much more of this," Jenny said, "and even with Alex giving off that healing field around himself, I''m still going to be too tired to do anything."


    "I know," I said. "If those armored guys catch up to us again, I''m going to have to choose between knocking out the ceiling, or directing the laser at them and killing them outright."

 Three: Part 11

    Lee made us think through the circumstances in which we were willing to kill people.


    Partially, I''m sure, it was because the circumstances in which you''re willing to kill dictate the sort of moves you need to practice. Partially, it had to be because when the moment came, you needed to recognize it and not hesitate.


    We were close to mine.


    I''d always believed that I''d be willing to kill, if it were choice between killing, or letting someone I cared about die.


    The four people in powered armor stepped out of the wall and started running after us, firing their automatics and knocking Jennys over. Her costume obviously had some protection against bullets, but not enough to shrug off the hit.


    Next to me, Jenny grunted as her doubles fell.


    I needed to do something, but I didn''t want to kill anybody.


    Running two across, the men in powered armor had covered the distance between us and the hole in instants. I had to make a decision immediately.


    I pointed the guitar at the leg of the first person and fired. I was dead on. The shot burned cleanly through the armor and the leg. The man fell down.


    I aimed the guitar at the man next to him, centered his leg in the helmet''s sight and fired. He went down too. The laser burned through the armor like it didn''t even exist.


    I took out the other two just as easily, each time in the leg. The last one ended up not more than ten feet from me. They''d managed to take out all the Jennys behind me with a combination of automatic fire and paralysis. The last one had taken a twenty foot long leap in the air in a last ditch effort to take me down, getting him close enough for me to see the beam enter and exit his leg.


    He hit the ground, and, I could hear him screaming through his helmet.


    The laser blast had cauterized the wound, making him much less likely bleed to death, but it couldn''t have felt good.


    As disturbed as I felt by his obvious pain, part of me felt awed by my sudden ability to shoot that well while twisting around to fire backwards.


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    Then, remembering what Alex'' dad''s powers were, I wasn''t awed so much as full of understanding. Even when he wasn''t actively healing, the bodies of people near him adjusted to reach their maximum potential plus some more. I''d wondered how long it took to be affected. Apparently, two days was long enough.


    That completely explained how Jenny could be as accurate as she was.


    I wondered just how far I could take it myself, and, how long it would be before it faded away.


    Not that I really had much time to think. The standard Syndicate L troops had made it down the stairwell.


    I turned back toward the front to watch. The Jennys ahead of me started firing first, taking out about half the group with her stunners before Syndicate L''s people regrouped and started firing back. Somewhere in the middle of all that Alex began firing too, one pistol in each hand, using guns that fired mini-concussion grenades. The blasts knocked people over and into walls.


    I don''t know how many people he and the Jennys took out.


    A lot of bodies lay on the floor -- at least thirty -- and none of them Jennys because her bodies just disappeared.


    Syndicate L''s people kept coming down the stairway.


    To judge from the expression on their faces, they didn''t look happy about it, and why would they be? On the floor lay the bodies of their friends and ahead of them, a grinning teenager in a white, long coat whose pistols seemed to act as extensions of his hands.


    Then he stopped firing and holstered the guns.


    "He''s out of ammo," Jenny said.


    Six more of her appeared, and ran to join him.


    I ran after them, passing Brooke and Carlos, and catching up to the Jennys. Just as I began to think about which of the guitar''s modes to use, Alex engaged the first one to step out from the stairwell.


    He punched the guy in the face, knocking him unconscious and into the next person on the stairway. While the second guy tried to disentangle himself, Alex punched him, knocking him backwards.


    Alex didn''t have a particularly complex hand to hand style, but he executed it perfectly.


    I pulled a grenade off my utility belt and threw it into the stairwell, aiming high so that the flash would be most likely to blind our enemies and shouting, "Don''t look!"


    I watched anyway. The helmet blocked it.


    Even through the helmet, the flash blinded me for a moment, turning the room completely white. The people with no protection against the blast would be seeing spots for the next minute or so.


    Alex laughed, pulled the men he''d knocked down out of the stairwell, and started pounding the men behind them.


    It seemed inevitable that we would win. Alex fought better than any normal human could and even if he hadn''t been, the flash grenade had left his enemies partially blinded.


    I started to follow him up the stairs, and then felt an unpleasant sensation I remembered from Christmas. My limbs stopped responding and I fell forwards into the stairwell.


    A paralysis ray.


    I''d left the guys in powered armor lying on the floor, but still conscious. Then I''d gotten too distracted thinking about the way I''d taken them down to ask what I should be doing to them next.


    We were going to lose, and it was my fault.

 Three: Part 12

    Thanks to having fallen face down in the stairwell, I could only listen to what happened next.


    A voice, the same voice that had been in the video conversation with Raptor, said, "Surrender. We''ve captured all your friends."


    Alex must have, because the next thing I knew, people were picking me up and carrying me to an elevator.


    When they put me down, I found myself lying next to Brooke, Carlos, and Jenny in an office. By office, I don''t mean a room large enough for a desk and a little more. I mean a room large enough for a desk plus table, chairs, and a bar in the corner.


    My head lay facing the table. The bar lay on the other side.


    I heard people opening a refrigerator and grabbing something off its shelves after they brought us in. It looked like bottled water. Presumably Syndicate L was organized crime as it would be if run by evil Yuppies.


    I heard them pull Jenny and Brooke''s weapons off their belts. They pulled the guitar off my shoulder, but then they discovered the cable that led from the guitar to my helmet.


    A big, curly-haired thug yanked on it. It didn''t come out, but he did manage to yank my head backward. The armor didn''t allow it to hurt me, but it still didn''t feel good.


    Then he put his hands on my helmet and started feeling under my jaw for the release. He found it, but he''d never been instructed in the correct way to use it. The moment he moved the release the wrong way current traveled through his hand.


    "The fucking helmet''s booby trapped!"


    Then he followed the cable to where it connected to the back of the helmet, trying to unscrew it. That hurt him for exactly the same reason.


    He kicked me in the head, but the stealth suit stiffened, holding the helmet in place. So, when he kicked me, the helmet didn''t move at all, and I, of course, didn''t feel it. For him, it probably felt like kicking a rock.


    "Hey," Alex said, "stop it!"


    Another voice said, "Don''t get any closer, kid. Besides, your friend''s not the one getting hurt."


    The guy who''d kicked me cursed for a while after that, but he stopped trying to remove the helmet.


    I heard him say, "This kid''s one freaking trap after another. I can''t get the guitar off him. Can''t take off the helmet. What do you want me to do?"


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    Another voice said, "He''ll be paralyzed for another half hour anyway, just like the rest of them. Don''t worry about it."


    It was a bit of a relief. If he''d kept on trying, he''d have activated the next level of defense.


    They left us alone while they discussed something off to side of the room. I heard words like "camera," "money," and "payoff."


    I stared at the table, hoping the paralysis would wear off sooner than they thought it would. My mind kept on going back to the fight. What could I have done to take the guys in power armor completely out of the fight? Cutting their legs off rather than simply cutting through them would have done it, but it sounded too disturbing for me to want to try it.


    One can''t be prepared for everything, but, something like the Executioner''s paralysis ray would be nice. I wondered who made them and if it was the same person who made the powered armor.


    Then I felt something touch my side and suddenly felt Brooke''s mind in my head.


    Me: You''re faking it?


    Brooke: Or you''re imagining this.


    Me: Right.


    Brooke: Alex was the only one standing and I only had stun pistols. I thought it''d be better if we could take them by surprise.


    Me: Hope you''re right. How''s Jenny?


    Jenny: Still paralyzed.


    Me: Carlos?


    Jenny: I think they put him next to me.


    Me: So what are we going to do?


    Brooke: I managed to brush Alex when they were carrying me up the stairs. I told him to heal you two of the paralysis if he could. After that I''m out of ideas besides the obvious. If Jenny starts multiplying and starting things on fire, maybe she could grab a weapon while she''s at it.


    Me: Worth a shot, but I''ve still got my weapons. They gave up after nearly getting electrocuted. They didn''t even try for my utility belt. As for weapons, if you had my guitar, could you multiply it?


    Jenny: Is it under twenty pounds?


    Me: Yes.


    Jenny: I can take out a wall with it?


    Me: Well, yeah, but not right now.


    Jenny: ?


    Brooke: ?


    Me: The lasers use a lot of power and I''ve already used them a lot. You could use the light or sound to blind or deafen them or something. That being said if you really needed to take out a wall, there''s always the self-destruct. It''s on a different power source.


    Jenny: Self-destruct?


    Brooke: Why would you want to blow up your guitar?


    Me: I never really intended to use it. It''s more of a concept weapon. So you know all those bands that smash their guitars or start them on fire? Well, with this you hit the guitar against something, it starts on fire, explodes, and annihilates everything in its path.


    Jenny: Everything?


    Me: Well, a tank for sure. In the original design, I made the bomb nuclear just for fun, but there were practical problems.


    Jenny: Like surviving a nuclear explosion at ground zero?


    Me: Yeah. That was one. Also, getting a hold of a breeder reactor sounded like such a hassle.


    Brooke: It''s not nuclear now, is it?


    Me: No, just a boring old shaped charge, but the way I did it seriously multiplies the generated force, believe me.


    I found myself bathed in Jenny and Brooke''s mental relief.


    Brooke: So here''s the plan: Jenny multiplies around us, blocking them from firing at us. You hand her the guitar and then she absorbs the first wave, generates a new armed wave, blinds everybody and we make for the stairway.


    Me: No, she takes my utility belt too. It''s got a two grappling hooks. We''ll go down the side of the building and won''t have to worry about ambushes.


    Jenny: Two grappling hooks, Nick? You can fly.


    Me: Technically they''re not really grappling hooks. They''re gauss guns that fire reusable missiles with adhesive tips and attached lines, but basically, yeah, they''re grappling hooks.


    Jenny: Two?


    Me: It''s in case I ever need to do the Spider-man thing.

 Three: Part 13

    So we had a plan. Now all we had to do was successfully execute it.


    Until Jenny and I had the ability to move, however, we couldn''t do anything but wait and listen.


    I heard the voice I remembered from the video talking to Raptor again.


    "How are you doing, Raptor? Busy night? I can see that. I''ve got something for you. Something that you might want... Oh, you''d guessed? Good. Here''s what we want: ten million dollars. We know the Defenders have it. It''ll pay for what your kids damaged plus a little profit to compensate for our pain and suffering."


    He laughed.


    "If you don''t pay, we''ll have to find something more interesting to do with them. As you can see from the pictures, it''s not a question if we''ve got them."


    They continued only a little longer than that. When they hung up, the man said, "He said he''d have to talk to people, but he won''t. They''re going to come after us. It''s just a question of how long before they find us. Everyone''s ready, right? We''re going to have to make it obvious that it''s not worth it. Get ready to fight, and Gardner, come here. We''re going to find a new place for the hostages."


    We lay there for a few minutes more, listening to whispered conversations, orders, and occasional shouting. I became aware of how uncomfortable it felt to have my left arm between my stomach and the floor. I wished I could move.


    At the same time, I felt good -- really good, optimistic. I felt sure our plan would work and that we''d somehow get out of this before they figured out the best way to move us.


    I moved my left hand. It was under me anyway.


    Brooke thought at me, You can move?


    Me: Seems like it. How''d you know?


    Brooke: The sudden optimism. People generally feel good when Alex goes at them.


    Me: Oh. Hey Jenny? Are you still listening?


    Jenny: I''m listening, and just had my very own artificial high. Is everyone ready?


    Brooke: Jenny, are you ready?


    Jenny: I''m as ready as you are. Nick?


    Me: Doesn''t sound like I''ve got much of a choice.


    Brooke: You don''t. Let''s move on "three."


    She counted and on three Jenny generated ten Jennys who jumped up to stand in a circle around us. Almost as quickly, Jenny and I pulled ourselves up from the floor and I handed her my guitar and utility belt. More Jennys appeared, all of them wearing guitars.


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    A voice shouted, "They''re standing. Take them down!"


    In one simultaneous motion, all the Jennys clicked the button that caused the guitar to generate blinding light. My helmet blocked most of it.


    Then one of the Jennys pressed the buttons that activated the self-destruct sequence. Grabbing the guitar by the neck, she smashed it against the bookcase next to her (knocking a plant off the top).


    Then she pointed its base toward the wall with the windows. It burst into flame and then exploded.


    All the windows shattered and a ten foot in diameter hole appeared in the wall.


    Brooke grabbed Carlos as Alex appeared from the other side of the room. A quick glance back toward the direction he''d come from found five men lying on the floor.


    He grabbed Brooke''s, Jenny''s and his utility belts off the desk in the front of the room and handed them back to their owners.


    We walked toward the hole, Jennys closing behind us in a wedge, and handing each of us a copy of one of my grappling hooks.


    "Don''t worry about me," I said. "I''ll just fly."


    All the Jennys said, "See?"


    Meanwhile the voice that had been talking to Raptor started giving orders. I followed the noise. Looking him over, he looked like I might have imagined him -- thirtyish, and wearing a black suit jacket, and a silk, blue, button down shirt without a tie.


    Syndicate L really was run by evil Yuppies.


    "Can anyone see? Shoot them if you have to!"


    No one did.


    He dug in his suit coat, and pulled out what might have been a cell phone, or, might have been a walkie-talkie. It was hard to be sure. "They''re escaping!"


    "No," he said, "I don''t know where they''re going. They fucking blinded me!"


    Meanwhile everyone else had leaned out the window, stuck their grappling hooks to the wall outside and started descending.


    One of the Jennys said, "Earth to Rocket, everyone else is gone."


    I turned around, started my jets and flew out the hole. The Jennys followed me out, sliding toward the ground.


    Flying at night in Los Angeles is pretty cool, but wasn''t just at that moment. Syndicate L''s building stood four stories tall, a grey, concrete, 1960''s office building stuck in the middle of a block of buildings just as interesting.


    I didn''t know Los Angeles well enough to recognize exactly where we were, but I thought we might be close to downtown.


    Lack of architectural variety wasn''t the main reason why flying in L.A. wasn''t cool on that particular night, though. Flying gave me a great view of the forces Syndicate L had put into place to fight the Defenders when they showed up.


    I''d shot upward when I left the building and found myself flying just a little higher than the flat roof. It was occupied by at least twenty people. Ten of them wore powered armor like the people I''d shot in the basement. Several more wore costumes. The rest manned two big guns. By big, I mean big enough that you don''t carry them. You sit in them.


    If that wasn''t enough, I realized that they had gunmen on top of the shops across the street and a mech in the alley next to the building. Stylistically, it reminded me of the powered armor except that it was twenty feet tall. It was grey instead of black, but guns hung under the arms, and I suspected it would move the same way. It probably had the same designer.


    I dove for the street, half hoping Brooke would be able to teleport out of here, and, half hoping I''d get a chance to take control of the giant robot.

 Three: Part 14

    They were in front of the building but beginning to run down the street. I landed next to them.


    I ran around a couple Jennys to join the core of the group.


    "This is bad," I said. "They''ve got snipers and supers on the shops over there and a giant robot hiding off to the side of the Syndicate L''s building. Can you teleport yet?"


    Brooke shook her head. "We''ve got to get farther away."


    "Do you think they''ll let us get farther away?"


    Alex said, "Don''t walk, let''s run. If it''s the way you say it is, we don''t have time to talk."


    As we ran, Jenny handed me back my utility belt and guitar. Another Jenny handed her a guitar and belt and disappeared.


    "Wow," I said, "I didn''t know that your equipment could continue to exist after the copy that it came with disappeared."


    She grinned at me. "That''s how we replace the equipment we lose when we''re out."


    "That''s funny. Do they ever check serial numbers?"


    "I hope not --"


    A voice came over a loudspeaker and cut her off.


    "Stop running!"


    We didn''t.


    A burning beam of light hit the ground ahead of us. Chunks of the street flew into the air. Irrationally, I held up my arm to shield my head from flying gravel.


    "Stop running or we blow you away."


    We stopped. We weren''t following orders as much as shocked by the sudden blast of light.


    "Can we take out that gun?" Alex asked.


    "If I still had juice in my guitar, I might have a chance." I looked over toward the building. We hadn''t gone all that far. We''d made it to the next building, a square two story labeled "Morgan Smith Title Company."


    As I watched, figures began to drop off the roof of Syndicate L''s building -- the people in powered armor -- landing on the street, shattering the ground below and pulling themselves out of the hole they''d created.


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    They started running toward us. I tried to think of anything we had that might take them down.


    The Jennys (about thirty of them) brought up their copies of my guitar just as I concluded that it was our only real chance. They pulled the guitars off their backs at exactly the same time in exactly the same way. It reminded me of synchronized swimming except that there were more explosions and no water.


    And that, I guess, made it completely unlike synchronized swimming.


    The ends of of the guitars exploded at exactly the same moment, some of them aimed at the people running toward us, others aimed at the people who had just landed in front of the building, and still others aimed at people still dropping.


    This strikes me as a good moment to mention the fact that I''d cheated a little when creating the guitar. I''d originally intended to have the bottom explode, but then I realized that the blast would cause the guitar to push (with equal and opposite force) in the direction of the person holding it. So, I reluctantly designed it to fire the bottom piece of the guitar off in the direction the holder pointed it, and then explode within a certain distance of the target, making the explosion that blew up the top half of the guitar a purely aesthetic gesture.


    I mention this only to explain why the guitars'' blasts did not at all disperse over the distance between us and them.


    The men in powered armor who were running at us disappeared briefly as the explosions knocked them backward, slamming them into their friends on the ground.


    One hit a parking meter, leaving it lying on the sidewalk.


    The blasts aimed at the armored people standing in front of the lower level knocked them backwards into the walls, blasting huge holes in the concrete, and throwing both wall and thugs into the lobby.


    As the lower sections of the wall in front buckled, the slabs of concrete just above them fell as well, landing on the sidewalk.


    That would have been the end of it except that all the people in powered armor had jumped off from the same general area of the roof. The Jennys'' blasts went straight up the side of the building in a line. Thanks to whatever Alex'' did to bring everyone around him to their physical peak, she never missed and each shot knocked a big hole through the wall, blasting the person into the concrete. In some cases, they smacked into the cubicles inside the building. In others, falling concrete carried them down.


    But that wasn''t the end of it either.


    With as many holes as the guitars made in the wall all at once, the area around each hole fell as well. Chunks of concrete hit the sidewalk in a massive pile, some pieces bouncing into the street.


    Finally, half of the building''s front lay on the sidewalk or the street and clouds of dust floated underneath the streetlights.


    We could see a cross section of each floor just like I remembered seeing them in picture books when I was a little kid.


    Carlos giggled.


    Jenny stared up at the building. "I didn''t mean to do all that."


    Alex grabbed her arm. "We don''t have time. Got to run now."


    Brooke grabbed Carlos and started to run down the street, aiming for the next block which seemed (in the dark at least) to be a bunch of old brick houses with fenced lots and wide porches.


    She had the right idea. The farther away we got, the more likely she''d be able to open up a portal to someplace safer.


    We followed her, but I looked behind, curious to find out what they were doing. I couldn''t see any movement on top the strip mall and despite their implied threat they weren''t firing the big guns at us. I supposed they might be worried about the stability of Syndicate L''s building.


    One thing did bother me though.


    The mech had come out of the alley and begun to lumber down the road after us.

 Three: Part 15

    "Lumbering" wasn''t quite the word to use though.


    It looked slow and clumsy, but it moved. Within seconds it had gotten past the piles of concrete on the street and caught up to us. It swiped at a line of Jennys with its arm, knocking some of them over, hitting others hard enough that Jenny discorporated them, probably just to stop the pain.


    A few more Jennys appeared to replace the ones that were gone, but not as many as there had been. I noticed that none of the new ones had copies of my guitar and all of them seemed tired.


    Alex turned to try to attack it, but the thing swung a huge metal fist at him and he flew across the street. He hit the front of a dry cleaner''s shop and lay still.


    Pointing the sonics at it, I aimed for the head, hoping that the mech''s faceplate would shatter.


    It didn''t.


    The mech stepped toward me.


    I gave the rocketpack some fuel and shot upward.


    It raised an arm at me, and, I noticed that just like the people in power armor, it also had a gun under its arm.


    It didn''t get to fire it though.


    All the Jennys nearby showered the mech in flame -- which struck me as a great idea. If enough of them did it for long enough, it would probably overheat and maybe burn out.


    I could hope.


    Like many hopes, this one died quickly.


    The Jennys all disappeared but three, and all three of them looked dead tired.


    I turned on the speakers and shouted, "Follow Portal. I''ll take care of this."


    I just had to figure out how.


    On the bright side -- the single, solitary bright side -- Brooke and Carlos had actually made it to the corner.


    I had an idea.


    I pulled out a grappling device and pointed it at the mech''s leg. The blunt head of the device shot forward, pulling a line behind it.


    It hit.


    I dove toward the mech, circling it once, twice.


    Once I pulled the line tight and tripped the thing, all those years of watching "The Empire Strikes Back" were going to pay off.


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    Except... I tried to pull the line tight by flying after Brooke and Carlos toward the corner. In theory, if I managed to get the mech on its back, it would have a hard time getting up due to its less than human range of motion.


    It wasn''t bad theory, and may even have been true, but I never got to find out.


    The ropes tightened, but I didn''t yank its feet out from under it. Apparently it was too heavy for that. It reached down with its metal hand and snapped the line.


    I shot past Brooke, Carlos and several houses before angling upwards and then flipping myself over so that I could fly back towards it.


    Dodging the telephone and electrical lines for a second time, I weaved randomly in all directions, hopefully making it hard for him to target me. As I closed with it, I fired off sonics on each arm. It hadn''t done much good last time, but this time I wasn''t trying to shatter the faceplate. I set the sonics on one arm to try to make the mech ring like a bell. I set the other to try frequencies that generally trashed electronics.


    Something had to work.


    I saw a flash of light silhouette the person inside the mech''s head. The reflective surface of the faceplate didn''t allow me to see details, but it was nice to know I''d done some damage.


    Whatever I''d hurt didn''t stop it from jumping sideways as I began to turn away from it.


    It punched me in the chest.


    The stealth suit tightened, becoming as hard as metal for an instant, stopping the hit from turning my insides to jelly.


    It made it completely impossible to stay on course though. I flew sideways over the strip mall and over the next street before I got control. Once I did, I flipped over and flew back towards the mech as it began to follow Brooke and Carlos across the street.


    All three Jennys ran after it, but not very quickly. They ran fifty feet behind it and they weren''t gaining.


    Alex ran after the mech too -- maybe ten feet behind it, but he wasn''t gaining either. He''d healed himself from whatever injuries he''d taken, so damage wasn''t the problem. He had to have a reason.


    He pulled something out of a pouch on his belt and threw it like a baseball. It wobbled and stretched as it flew, hitting the mech on the top of the right shoulder, popping, and coating the upper part of the mech''s arm and torso.


    I''d seen the Defenders use goo grenades on TV. The dark liquid inside hardened when exposed to air. Most villains couldn''t break it and the ones that could thought twice because it bonded to skin.


    It wasn''t a bad idea, but it still didn''t take the mech down.


    The liquid hardened instantly. The mech tried to reach out toward Carlos, but couldn''t. It stopped running and attempted to straighten the arm. I could hear the whine of the motors as it worked. Then the solid layer of goo shattered around the shoulder joint.


    If any of it had gotten inside, it would cause problems later, but if I did what I''d decided to do, there wouldn''t be a later.


    Still, Alex had accomplished one thing. It had been closing on Brooke and Carlos when he''d thrown the goo grenade. Now they''d got a head start. I could just see them running as I landed behind the mech and whipped the guitar off my back.


    Turning up the loudspeakers to maximum possible volume, I shouted, "Hey!"


    The sonics were the only part of the stealth suit that matched the regular Rocket suit''s specs.


    To the right of me on the side of the road, the back window of an old Cadillac cracked and shattered.


    The mech turned toward me, raising its arm to strike.


    I leaped upwards, aiming the guitar''s bottom end at the mech''s chest.


    I pressed the buttons that started the self-destruct sequence and saw the bottom of the guitar explode, firing the shaped charge.


    I''d fired it too close for the charge to explode a distance away from the target like it normally would.


    That was intentional.


    The charge flew forward, hitting the mech, and exploding in that instant. At least that''s what I assumed happened.


    It shot out of the bottom of the guitar quickly and the explosion was too bright for me to catch details.

 Three: Part 16

    When the brightness and the thundering boom of the explosion ended, I saw that the guitar''s charge had turned a chunk of the mech''s chest into a smoking ruin.


    It fell backwards, crashing onto the street.


    The left arm beat the ground with jerky flailing motions. The shell muffled the sound of screaming, but I could still hear it.


    "Oh God, oh God, it hurts..."


    You wonder, sometimes, what kind of person takes a job operating a mech for organized crime. Do they have a family? Kids? What does a job like that represent to them? A big payoff? Excitement?


    Also, does it bother them when they''re ordered to hunt down children in the street at night?


    I didn''t know the answer to any of those questions. All I knew for sure was that if you blasted their mech with an explosive charge, it hurt them.


    Alex caught up with me. "You got him. You really got him. Come over here."


    He jumped over the body, landing next to the unmoving right arm.


    "Is that suit strong enough to bend metal?"


    Walking around the legs and over to him, I said, "I don''t know. Why?"


    He put his hands on the body and leaned over, looking at the buckled metal where the blast had made a hole.


    "He''s going to bleed out soon. The metal cut into his leg."


    I stood next to him and looked inside, promptly wishing I hadn''t . Past the sparking wires, the broken rubber tubes dripping liquids, a bent piece of the mech''s metal shell had pierced his charred thigh and grey jumpsuit. Blood had soaked through, pumping out around the wound.


    "Bend the metal out."


    "Won''t that hurt him?"


    "Not as much as ripping the wound open if I heal him while it''s still inside."


    "Geez."


    I reached in with both hands and pulled the metal back, arranging myself so that I could use the artificial muscles in the suit''s arms instead of the less powerful fingers.


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    He screamed wordlessly as the metal came out, ripping his skin a little bit sideways. Then, mercifully, it cut off.


    I turned toward Alex, "I didn''t kill him, did I?"


    "No, he''s just unconscious."


    He put his hands inside and closed his eyes for a moment. Seconds later, he opened them. "He''ll be okay. I''m going to have to go over this again, but he''ll be okay."


    Shouting from the direction of Syndicate L''s building reminded me to check behind us.


    Looking past the three Jennys who had just caught up with us, I noticed that the supers from the top of the building and the people in powered armor who were still mobile were fighting. Oddly enough, they weren''t fighting the Defenders. They were fighting each other in the middle of the street.


    I wondered why, but then I recognized the Defenders'' psychic, Empath. She stood just on our side of the Syndicate L building, just in front of the Morgan Smith Title Company, a shadowy figure barely illuminated by their sign. I wondered who Syndicate L''s hired villains and powered armor operators thought they were fighting.


    One of the big guns fell off the top of the building, pushed by one of Raptors'' outstretched wings. His feathers glistened, reflecting the streetlights below him.


    On the other side of the street, someone threw one of Syndicate L''s soldiers off the top of the strip mall.


    "When did they show up?" I asked no one in particular.


    Alex followed my gaze. "I don''t know."


    Brooke said, "Just now. I portaled back to my room and grabbed my Defenders phone when we were suiting up. I pressed the distress call as soon as I got my utility belt back."


    "What?" Alex said, "Why? It''s like having our parents sitting on our shoulders everywhere we go."


    "Because we were completely overmatched. They''d planned for everything we could do. If they''d known about the Rocket, we''d never have gotten out."


    They continued arguing with each other.


    Meanwhile, I looked over the scene. People stood in the windows of every house I could see, but no one came outside.


    Carlos walked over to the mech.


    He put his hand on it and the top hatch opened up, revealing the unconscious body of its operator. He looked fortyish and a little overweight.


    "Can I get him out?" Carlos asked. "I''d like to look at the mech. Can I?"


    "Sure," I said. "I don''t really want him in there if anything still works."


    "The hatch works," Carlos said. "At least if you bypass a couple systems. You blew up the fire control for the gun and the paralysis ray. That was cool."


    I walked over to the top of the mech and pulled the operator out. He moaned, but Alex would have said something if we weren''t supposed to move him, right?


    As Carlos began to check out the control panel I said, "Don''t run away with it."


    "It''s too broken." Carlos reached inside and the right arm flexed.


    "By the way," I said, "where are my bots?"


    Carlos sat down in the cockpit and pulled the controller out of his pocket. He held it up for me to grab.


    I took it. It had been turned off.


    "Look at this," he said. "I figured out how make ''em do what I want without the controller."


    The bots swarmed out of the darkness.


    "Open your pouch and I''ll give them back," he said.


    I did.


    They flew inside.


    I closed the pouch. "Could you have taken over those guys'' powered armor back there? It would have helped."


    "No, I need to touch things for a little while first."

 Three: Part 17

    We managed to escape reporters only because crossing the street had gotten Brooke out of range of the devices that stopped her from opening a gate.


    We couldn''t go immediately because we couldn''t leave the mech operator -- both because Alex wanted to make sure he hadn''t missed anything and because we didn''t want the mech operator to wake up and run off.


    The Defenders took out the remaining Syndicate L people within a couple minutes. Blue Streak and several SWAT teams arrived while they were still fighting and joined in.


    As for the press, they awed me. In Grand Lake I was always surprised at how quickly News 10''s chopper showed up, and, if not them, a few reporters from the Grand Lake Sentinel and the local TV stations. In Los Angeles, at least three (maybe four) helicopters showed up, several crews from TV stations, other reporters, and the paparazzi.


    A couple photographers started walking up the street toward us. Glancing over at them, Jenny handed me the only surviving copy of my guitar. "We''d better go."


    I pulled the strap over my head. "I know."


    We got up from our seats on the curb.


    Brooke and Alex had stopped arguing, and Alex was talking to Carlos as he messed with the mech. I''d already looked it over and hadn''t found anything technically interesting, but, I had learned two things. First that the mech and the powered armor shared enough similarities that I was almost certain the same person had designed them. Second, numerous small signs made me think that the mechs were being mass produced.


    We stayed only long enough for the police to pick up the mech operator. Brooke opened the gate and we all walked through. Still tired, Jenny ended up hanging on to my shoulder as we stepped into the Junior Defenders room.


    * * *


    My last day in Los Angeles felt anti-climactic.


    I slept over at Alex'' house because Brooke felt too tired to port me directly into my hotel room, and I wasn''t up for flying over there.


    Waking up in one of the guest bedrooms, I found that I had a small headache and felt sore in more places than I''d expected. I got up and found my suitcase next to the bed. Apparently Brooke had felt less tired this morning.


    I put on clothes and went down to breakfast.


    In one corner of the huge, combined kitchen/family room/living room, Alex'' half sister and brother watched cartoons on the large TV. Alex and Brooke sat at the table eating french toast and sausage. Sylvia, Alex'' step-mom, stood behind the counter next to the stove, turning off the burners as I approached.


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    "Help yourself. Everything that''s left is on the warming tray."


    The pile of sausage, and french toast slices on the tray left me with no worries about whether I''d have enough food.


    "Thanks." I picked up a plate, served myself, and sat down near Alex and Brooke.


    As I sat down, Brooke had actually just fed Alex a piece of french toast from her fork. It seemed a little more intimate than I really wanted to deal with at breakfast, but I supposed it could have been worse.


    "Nick," Alex said. "I''ve been thinking about last night, and we had some serious problems. The only thing saving us about half the time was your weapons. With Jenny multiplying the guitar, we did some serious damage to Syndicate L, but without it we''d never have gotten out. We ought to have you make stuff for us, you know, like your grandfather sometimes did for my dad."


    I wasn''t convinced that a lack of heavy weaponry was the major cause of the problems we had had the night before. Still, they could use heavier weaponry than they''d snuck out of the Defenders armory.


    "Sure," I said. "We ought to talk about what you want."


    "Yeah," Alex said. "We need something that can take out mechs. My dad''s fought supers tougher than that, so we need something at least that powerful... And, while you''re at it, we need a communication system so we don''t have to use the Defenders if we don''t want to. Oh, and I don''t know exactly what, but other weapons too... Weapons that can be used for more than just blowing things up --"


    "Alex," Brooke said, "let him eat."


    "Sure," he said.


    I ate, thankful to Brooke for the chance.


    She didn''t know how much I''d underestimated her. I''d dismissed her as a blond, cheerleader type when we''d first met, but she really deserved most of the credit for getting us out. She''d pretended to be paralyzed, managed to get Alex to heal us, and coordinated Jenny''s and my counterattack -- all of it with telepathy so weak she had to touch us to make contact.


    And now we were here, and, she was making eyes at Alex and giggling.


    It made me wonder which side of her was real and which was fake.


    Anyway, I ate.


    Jenny came by before noon. We all talked for a while, but Alex and Brooke stepped out onto the deck, leaving Jenny and I alone together at the table.


    Of any of us, she seemed the least tired. I asked her why.


    "Oh, you know... The obvious. I put my equipment away and then I absorbed myself. This body didn''t fight Syndicate L last night. I always leave a version of myself home being normal when I''m out with Alex and Brooke. Like last night, my boyfriend took me out to dinner. He was really sweet about it."


    "Oh," I asked. "Does he know about everything?"


    She shook her head. "No, and I''m not going to tell him either. I try to keep all the parts of my life separate."


    "You''ve got a better chance at that than most people."


    "I know. That''s why my costume''s got a full face mask. My dad keeps on telling me that he doesn''t want me to grow up in ''super-world,'' and that''s why we''re not living in this development with everyone else, and I go to a different school and everything... I don''t think it worked -- I mean, look, I''m here all the time -- but I try to keep a part of me in normal life. I think Alex and Brooke could both use a little more of it."


    She looked out toward the patio. Alex and Brooke were kissing.


    "Does that count?" I asked.


    "Only if they''re going out now," she said. "I shouldn''t have to put up with that much PDA, and angst about whether or not they should date at the same time."


    My parents came about an hour later and we left for LAX. My mom asked me whether I''d had a good time, and I told her that I had. Even with the explosions, hanging around with Alex had still been more fun than sitting at a booth in the convention hall, trying to sell my dad''s books.

 Chemistry: Part 1

    A lot of people care about superheroes. They''re cultural icons. Like fashion, movies or television, heroes bring back memories of the times they caught the public imagination. For most people, the Allies'' and Axis'' super soldier units will be forever associated with World War 2, the Grand Lake Heroes League with the 1950''s and 1960''s, Wonder Eye with the 1970''s, and grim anti-heroes (like Vengeance) with the late 80''s and beyond.


    Some people go beyond caring and into obsession -- we''re talking much more than following their favorite hero''s exploits in the paper and buying merchandise. I''m thinking about Keith and his girlfriend Courtney who were the biggest fans of Guardian I''d ever met.


    Last summer, Keith somehow convinced his parents to let him drive to Tennessee where Guardian had had some kind of big dust-up with the Grey Giant, flattening buildings in the process. Keith had snuck through the police lines and found a chunk of concrete which obviously bore the marks of the Grey Giant''s fist.


    I generally tried to avoid the two of them. I didn''t have anything against them, but my personal experiences of Guardian usually featured him being a bit of a jerk.


    On the Monday after spring break I ended up eating with them anyway because Keith waved me over to their table. Aside from their taste in heroes, I liked them so I sat down.


    They were sitting in the main area of the lunchroom, away from the main doors, near the salad bar. Central High''s lunchroom was a combination of two rooms at the corner of the school''s first floor. On one side you could look over the athletic fields through the windows. On the other hung inspirational posters with messages like "Success," "Imagination," and "Perseverance."


    Two years ago someone had swapped out the normal posters with fake, horror themed, inspirational posters from online. The messages were different. For example... "Attitude: Really Doesn''t Matter When You''re One of the Evil Dead." It took two weeks before the administration noticed and took them down.


    Over Christmas break, I found out it had been my older sister Rachel who''d done it. She''d always thought the posters were stupid.


    Keith looked across the round table at me and said, "What did you do over spring break?"


    I had a little difficulty hearing him over the noise of all the other people in the cafeteria talking, but once I worked it out I said, "Went to Los Angeles with my parents. There''s a child psychology conference he goes to. This year he was the keynote speaker."


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    "Los Angeles? That''s so cool. Did you see the fight?"


    "Which fight? It''s Los Angeles. I saw two or three in the news while I was there."


    "Spend half a week in L.A. and you get jaded, Nick. I''m talking about the big one. Syndicate L versus the Defenders with massive property damage and a mech."


    "I saw a little of it on the news, but I flew home the day after the fight, so I missed most of it."


    "Oh, it was cool. I saw most of it on Double V''s site. Someone in the forums linked together footage from the news and security cams from the neighborhood."


    He went on to give me a blow by blow account starting from the point where we''d blown through the wall and started to descend down the side of the building.


    I wondered how anyone got footage of that.


    "Best of all," he said, "the silver girl -- Portal? She''s got to be Guardian''s daughter."


    I stopped eating an unidentifiable pasta dish, holding the fork halfway to my mouth.


    "How do you figure that?"


    "Well everyone knows that Empath and Insight are sisters. Insight used to be part of the Midwest Defenders, but she moved to Los Angeles in the early nineties to be part of the Southern California Defenders. Everyone suspected that she and Guardian had some kind of thing going and she took a year off somewhere in there. So now there''s this girl Portal and she''s got the same powers as Guardian did before the aliens kidnapped him and really amped him up. So no telepathy that I''ve heard about, but teleportation? Guardian and Insight had a kid and she looks like she''s about our age."


    Courtney said, "He thinks she''s hot," and laughed.


    "I don''t," he said, but he was blushing, so...


    "Don''t worry about it. I''m not jealous. You''ll never even meet her."


    Courtney smiled at him.


    I managed to smile a little too, but it reminded me of the other reason I hadn''t been hanging around with him recently. He was the exact sort of person who might notice that I''d been in Los Angeles at exactly the same time the Rocket had.


    I tried to figure out a way to leave, but couldn''t. I still hadn''t finished my lunch, and really, leaving would cause more questions.


    Could I call someone over so that the conversation would change?


    I noticed Chris Cannon standing next to the end of the salad bar, looking over the tables. I waved him over.


    He noticed me, came over, and pulled out a chair.


    That''s when I thought, I mean really thought, about what I''d just done.


    In an effort to draw thoughts of the Rocket from Keith''s mind, I''d just called over Chris Cannon, whose grandfather the supervillain called Man-machine, my grandfather''s main rival, a villain I''d put in jail when he challenged me to a fight, and, had a heart attack midway through.


    Worse, with his grandfather''s secret identity revealed, everybody knew Chris was Man-machine''s grandson.


    Oh yeah, I thought, brilliant move. This would definitely take everybody''s minds off superheroes.


    "Nick," he said to me as he sat down. "You''re not going to believe this. Now that the trial''s over, the FBI had to give most of my grandfather''s stuff back. They kept all the armor prototypes, but tools are just tools, you know?"

 Chemistry: Part 2

    How do you respond to that? Saying, "How cool. Would you mind showing me your grandfather''s lair?" seemed a little off somehow. The question I really wanted to know the answer to, "So are you planning to build a new set of armor and hunt down the Rocket in revenge?" didn''t seem quite like the right thing to say either.


    Keith and Courtney didn''t share my hesitation.


    "So they''re just giving you his stuff?" Keith talked loudly enough that people at the tables around us looked in his direction.


    Meanwhile Courtney said, "That''s got to be such a piece of history."


    "They''re not giving it to me," Chris said. "It''s Grandpa''s stuff so they''re putting it back in Grandpa''s and Grandma''s basement." He paused. "His lair."


    "That''s so cool," Courtney said.


    "Maybe," Chris said. "Not having Grandpa in jail would be cooler."


    "Well," she said. "I didn''t mean it that way, but your grandpa made history. He was one of the greatest villains the original Rocket ever faced. It''s not good for you, but those old villains and heroes are so... classic. You know?"


    Chris'' expression left little doubt that he didn''t care how "classic" his grandfather was. People got back to eating which was nice for everyone, but especially Chris.


    I definitely owed him some kind of apology for throwing him to the wolves.


    Fortunately, the conversation faded. Keith finished first and and Courtney soon after.


    As they got up, Keith said, "I was going to tell you earlier, but get this... Have you been following the Double V forums lately?"


    "No," I said. "I got back yesterday and I was way too busy while I was there to go online."


    "Some guy linked to this massive PDF on Pirate Bay. It looks like it''s a collection of government documents about how to create supers. It''s full of chemical formulas and a note by some guy who said that he couldn''t in good conscience let the government be the only one with access to this stuff so he put it all online. Information wants to be free, you know?"


    "He?" Courtney said.


    "Whatever," Keith said. "Whoever it was didn''t sign their name."


    "Hey," he said, looking at Chris, "You think we could try to cook up some of this stuff in your grandpa''s lair?"


    Chris didn''t look amused. "No. My Grandpa did electronics and big, mechanical armor. He didn''t do chemistry. I''m sure he didn''t have the equipment."


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    "Couldn''t hurt to ask," Keith said, and they left.


    I found myself staring after them as they passed people at their tables, and walked out the door. I''d known that the government had made use of the Cabal''s ability to give people temporary powers. I''d even known that the power juice formulas had made it outside to organized crime, but, the Pirate Bay?


    I knew it didn''t work for everybody. In fact I felt pretty sure from what Vaughn said that it only worked on people with the potential for powers anyway. I couldn''t help but think though, that even if the number of people with potential was small, empowering everyone with the potential would still change a lot of things.


    "Bizarre," Chris said. "I wonder if it would work on me?"


    "I don''t know," I said.


    I spent the rest of the school day distracted and biked straight to my grandfather''s home afterward.


    Taking the elevator down to Heroes League HQ, I sat down at the computer terminals at the main table, and set them to follow major news channels and websites and to alert me if anything related to the Pirate Bay, superpowers, and other associated words came up.


    In the meantime, I went into the forums of Villains and Vigilantes, affectionately known as "Double V," the magazine and website that acted as a news source on, and professional journal for supers.


    It wasn''t hard to find the link, follow it back to the Pirate Bay and download the torrent. To judge from the thousands of people currently seeding it, I guessed that it had to get on the news soon if it wasn''t already.


    It took me maybe five minutes to download it. Then I opened it up.


    The pdf was several thousand pages. It included multiple studies, government trials, multiple versions of the formulas for creating powerjuice, and finally the documents that the original formulas came from. I recognized a few of them from when I broke into Martin Magnus'' house in Chicago, and called in Isaac Lim to confiscate his stuff.


    That wasn''t all though.


    More refined versions of the original formulas came in a notebook. I recognized both the handwriting and notebook itself. It looked just like all of Red Lightning''s journals that we''d seen when we visited his lair under Hardwick House. The handwriting looked like Red Lightning''s handwriting -- except where it looked just like my grandfather''s. His showed up more in the diagrams for the Power Impregnator. The diagrams and formulas for the Impregnator weren''t complete by any means -- just preliminary work. We had the complete set here. What they had in the journal would never work -- though I decided to cross check it just in case.


    Still it was interesting for a couple reasons.


    First of all, our FBI liaison Isaac Lim had been asking me about the Power Impregnator. I''d evaded the questions.


    Second, he''d evidently been lying to us too. Vaughn asked him if he''d seen the book of formulas that Vaughn had passed on to the Cabal. Isaac had said no. It made sense that they hadn''t found it in Magnus'' house since Magnus had split off from the Cabal, but they''d apparently come across it afterward.


    The government didn''t seem to have put much effort into the Impregnator though. They''d concentrated their effort on making easily reproduced powerjuice. I felt fairly sure that if you could just get the ingredients you could put it together in a high school chemistry lab -- maybe even at home.


    I sat back in my chair, thinking about it.


    The elevator hummed, pulling me out of my thoughts.


    I turned away from the screen and looked past the trophies on their pedestals, the cardboard boxes filled with old equipment, and the mementos picked up during forty years of work to see the door of the elevator open.


    Haley stepped out and walked across the room toward me. "Nick, how was Los Angeles?"


    She looked at the screen. "What are you doing?"

 Chemistry: Part 3

    I was about to explain when the news scanner program started beeping at me. I sent the results to the big screen on the wall.


    Titles of articles that linked to websites cascaded down half the screen. The other half showed pictures of ongoing news stories on all major networks. I clicked through them, staying just long enough to get the gist of how each one was reporting the story.


    "... breaking news. What if everyone could have superpowers? Our top story--"


    "... a story that will bring a chill to the hearts of anyone who remembers the early 60''s when Red Lightning recruited ordinary people into his army of..."


    "... our source informs us that the government is searching desperately for the source of the leak..."


    "-- imagine if the number of metahumans tripled --"


    "Tripled?" Haley asked.


    "According to this," I pointed at the document my screen, "there are roughly 10,000 active metahumans. If everyone who could possibly get an effect out of the drugs Red Lightning created actually took them, we might have 30,000. That''s not a lot out of a population of six billion."


    "Wait," she said, "someone released Red Lightning''s formulas to the general public?"


    "Not just his," I said. "Also the government''s revised and improved versions."


    "Oh no." She looked up at the screen and the increasing list of headlines. "How different are the formulas?"


    "Well, they''re not addictive this time around -- probably. So it''s not like anyone has an army of near slaves."


    "Don''t you feel like we ought to help somehow?"


    "Yeah, somehow, but, I don''t know how. It''s all out there. Thousands of people have downloaded this thing already and now that it''s on the news even more. I think we''re stuck with this."


    She frowned. "I hope this ends better than it did with Red Lightning. Can you imagine if Sean got his hands on it?"


    "That would be bad." It struck me that if Sean did have the potential for superpowers, I''d better hope he could do something useless like talk to fish. Lake Michigan didn''t have sharks, after all. I could deal with the threat of being attacked by trout.


    The words "incoming call" floated across the bottom of the screen. The FBI symbol with the words "Superhuman Affairs Branch" appeared on the screen.


    I clicked "answer" on the screen and the face resolved into Isaac Lim.


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    The picture wasn''t very good. His face seemed a little blurry and got more blurry when he moved. Unlike all the other times he''d called me, he wasn''t in his office. I couldn''t make out the background very well either, but from the blue sky and spots of green, he had to be outside.


    "Nick, Haley. You''ve seen the news?"


    "Yes."


    "Do you know anything?"


    I glanced toward the report on my computer screen.


    "Nothing that everybody else doesn''t. I downloaded the torrent just now."


    "The torrent." Isaac scowled for a moment. "I can''t believe anyone would leak this. Did you know that the Chinese government is already setting up a factory to make power juice? One stupid download is going to affect international relations."


    "Already? How long has the torrent been available?"


    "I don''t know. We weren''t watching at first -- a couple days on Pirate Bay. At least a week on other websites."


    Isaac looked away from the screen.


    "Well," he said, "I''ve got to go. Don''t mention the Chinese factory to anybody."


    He cut the connection and the screen went black.


    I''d thought I might ask him about Vaughn''s book, but...


    "Are we still going to do something?"


    I wondered for a moment if we had been about to do something. Then I remembered that we''d arranged to meet today before I''d even left for Los Angeles.


    "Sure."


    "You completely forgot, didn''t you?"


    "Only just now. Not totally. I''m here. We could go for a walk, or, I don''t know... The jet works now."


    She didn''t say anything for a second, but then (I''m assuming) decided to let it go for the moment.


    "It might be fun to fly in the jet." She glanced toward the hangar''s doors. "But, I think I''d rather walk outside. I''ve been cooped up all winter."


    We took the elevator up and walked out the side door.


    The temperature was in the sixties so we didn''t need jackets. It felt colder than California, but warmer than the last few months.


    "So what happened in Los Angeles? I followed the Double V news for California, but I''m sure I missed most of it."


    I told her the whole story, starting from when I arrived at the airport. I ended up stopping and starting a few times.


    It felt good. We walked through the neighborhood holding hands and then over to the playground at Veterans Memorial Park. We sat on the swings and watched the little kids run around on the playground equipment.


    I told her about preparing for the prank at Syndicate L''s warehouse.


    "So Jenny''s Flame Legion? Jenny from the picnics?"


    "Right. I didn''t know she knew Alex. I knew they were both in Los Angeles, but that''s all."


    "Double V had a picture of you practically carrying her after the fight."


    "She was tired. She must have created a couple hundred copies of herself that night. I hope you''re not thinking that we--"


    She looked at me. "I''m not, but the forums went crazy speculating. How did the prank turn out?"


    "That went like clockwork. Things didn''t go crazy until after that..."


    I kept on talking, relieved that she trusted me. If she had been jealous of Jenny, we''d have fought about literally nothing. The only reason she had been touching me at all was because she could barely walk.


    She drove herself home in her mom''s car, a 70''s Trans Am. She''d parked on the other side of the street so I hadn''t noticed it before.


    "My dad got it out of storage last week. He bought it for her when I was twelve, mostly because he wanted it."


    "Still, it''s cool."


    We kissed before she left. As she let go, she said, "Have you been working out?"


    I''d noticed it myself. I didn''t look like a weightlifter, but I was noticeably more defined.


    "No. It''s a side effect of hanging around with Alex. Enjoy it while it lasts -- which is probably about two weeks by the way."


    She laughed, and then drove off.


    After an afternoon like that, you would think that it could only get crazier, but it didn''t. It took a few days before anything odd happened at all.

 Chemistry: Part 4

    Even though my life didn''t get immediately stranger as a result, the "national discussion" of the problem got heated. Some people hailed the unnamed leaker as a hero standing up against the potential for government tyranny. Other people described the person as a traitor who had endangered national security out of misguided idealism.


    Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats had a consistent party line.


    A lot of stations showed footage of the damage caused by Red Lightning''s gangs during the 1960''s. More than one hero died fighting them and the fights were savage, particularly near the end. One documentary showed my grandfather punching a gang member in the throat. The guy had been throwing gouts of fire at Night Wolf, but I still found it strange to see my grandfather, a man who I most easily imagined tinkering quietly in his lab, punching anyone like that.


    I turned off the TV in the family room and went upstairs to read in my bedroom.


    The next day I walked into Mr. Beacham''s U.S. History class to find out that he''d moved up the "Superheroes vs. the Constitution" lecture from the last week of class to today. Mr. Beacham was in his late twenties, one of the younger teachers. I''d heard around the school that he''d been some kind of environmental activist during college.


    Along with the expected maps and pictures of dead presidents, he''d decorated his room with pictures of people in old political movements from Free Silver Movement to the Women''s Christian Temperance Union, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Black Panthers.


    A poster with the words of King''s "I Have a Dream" speech hung on the wall next to the chalkboard.


    "Welcome everyone to the greatest show on earth -- U.S. history class. Today we''ll be talking about one of the stranger social trends of the last century -- the urge to dress up in tight clothing and fight crime."


    He traced the development of superheroes from the 1920''s and 1930''s when they first appeared up to the present. The earliest heroes mostly faced mobsters and didn''t have especially impressive powers. Really powerful people didn''t surface until World War 2 when governments all over the world recruited them to fight.


    "Change really started in the 1950''s when everybody came home and started adjusting to civilian life. That''s when society discovered that not every powered person had joined the war effort. Thanks to Red Lighting, we discovered in the 1960''s that the powered people we knew about were the tip of the iceberg, and that''s of course when all of us who weren''t powered basically gave up."


    The faces of the people around me showed at least as much confusion as I felt.


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    "Before the 1960''s vigilante justice was illegal. After Red Lightning''s Army showed the police that they had little chance against metahumans, people stopped enforcing those laws. Now they''re only enforced when a hero goes over the line and often not even then. Supers can collect evidence and pass it on to police and they don''t have to follow the rules police follow. They can break into any house or business, and, so long as they come out with evidence, no one cares. They can beat up another citizen, justly or not, and we can''t put them in jail because we don''t know their names. Even when the hero has a public identity, we don''t do it because we lack the nerve. They''re too powerful, we say. They protect us from people that are even worse, we say. Most of the time they hurt the right people, we say. And when they don''t, well, we tell ourselves that they make mistakes too.


    "What I''ve found interesting about it all is this. We''re a country that''s founded on the idea that all people are created equal, but, we''ve handed off some of the tools of the state to a class of warriors that inherits their powers. It smells strongly of feudalism to me."


    I raised my hand. "Not everybody inherits powers. Some heroes don''t have them."


    "A good point, but they''re the exceptions to the rule. Besides when you compare our local hero, the Rocket, to someone like Guardian who can literally teleport you into the sun, it''s easy to tell who''s the most powerful, and thus who''s really going to set the tone."


    I raised my hand again. "You could argue though, that the Rocket is only limited by his imagination whereas they''re limited by their powers."


    He shrugged, "But people like the Rocket are an exception. They''re not normal either. It''s the difference between being born into wealth and earning it. In the end, the Rocket''s more similar to people with powers than he is to people without them."


    He broke us up into groups and had us talk about the pros and cons of having superheroes, asking questions like, "Are superheroes an arm of the state? Should they be? How do their unofficial law enforcement powers affect the Bill of Rights?"


    From the reputation the lecture had, I had expected to walk out with my mind blown, questioning whether or not anyone had the right to put on a costume. I tried to classify my response, but found I didn''t have much of one. It didn''t seem relevant because I didn''t feel much like a feudal lord.


    On the other hand, thinking about Alex, I could almost see Mr. Beacham''s point. The Southern California Defenders did seem a little distant from normal life, but I wasn''t sure whether powers or wealth played a bigger role in that.


    Seeing my grandfather punch that guy in the throat bothered me more than the lecture.


    * * *


    Keith caught me at the end of the day. I''d stuffed my backpack full of books and started walking down the hall toward the stairs.


    "Guess what I have?"


    He seemed more excited than I wanted to see, but didn''t seem to be carrying anything larger than a backpack and his trombone.


    "I don''t know. Did you buy one of Guardian''s used costumes?"


    "I wish. He sold one on Ebay once and it went for more than twenty thousand."


    "OK. I don''t know."


    "I brewed up a batch of the stuff that tests whether you have powers. It''s in my backpack. It was a piece of cake."


    "Seriously? What about the ingredients?"


    "My uncle''s a chemist and since it''s not illegal, he got the ingredients."


    "Wait, he helped you?"


    "Oh yeah. He tried the stuff himself. Me too. Do you want to? I''m getting people together."

 Chemistry: Part 5

    "Well... Where are you meeting?"


    Keith said, "Nowhere much. The school parking lot. It''ll be quick."


    He grinned at me. "I''ve a majorly cool demonstration of what I found out."


    I wanted to ask him about it, but he must have read that off my face.


    He started walking down the hall toward at the stairs. "Come on, let''s go. I''ll show you when I show everyone else."


    * * *


    Ten people stood around his vehicle, a rusty, maroon Dodge Caravan. I recognized a few, but I really didn''t know any of them except for Keith and Courtney. A couple of them were in Science Olympiad, but not during the years that I was involved. I think a few of them were juniors, but a couple of the girls looked young enough to be freshmen.


    He opened the van''s side door and dumped his trombone inside. Then he took off his backpack, rested it on the carpeted floor and took out three water bottles -- the nice kind -- aluminum.


    "So here''s what I''ve got. Oh man, this so cool. This stuff will tell you if you''ve got the potential for powers and what kind they are. I''ll drop a little bit on your arm and it''ll turn color. The darker it gets, the stronger you are."


    "Like with allergy testing?" A red-haired girl standing to the back of the group asked. "I thought we''d have to drink it."


    Keith said, "How are we going to see what color it turns then? Pump your stomach?"


    Courtney said, "Hey, be nice." She punched Keith. "Why don''t you tell us what each one does?"


    "So what you''ve got here is three areas of power -- energy, mind and body. It turns red if you can make things happen outside of you and blue if it''s all inside."


    A boy standing directly in front of Keith said. "What if it''s both? Like what if I''ve got mind powers and I can make things happen inside and outside?"


    "It turns purple."


    "It''s not very precise," I said. "Mind, body, and energy? Those are really broad areas and they probably overlap. Energy sounds like it would cover teleportation portals and lightning blasts. They''re totally different, but then there''s something like telekinesis. That might fit in energy and mind."


    Keith didn''t look bothered by the question. "You''re overthinking this. The juice comes in six different varieties. If you''ve got powers in more than one area, you mix them and there''s special instructions for some powers."


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    "Like what?"


    "I don''t know. Nick. The pdf''s a few thousand pages long. I didn''t read all of it -- just the interesting parts."


    "Let''s not argue," Courtney picked up one of the water bottles. "We could be the next generation of heroes --"


    "Or villains," one of the freshman girls said. She and her friend giggled.


    "-- so let''s have someone try it. Nick?"


    "Me?"


    She put an eyedropper in the bottle and said, "Why not?"


    I couldn''t see any way to avoid it without making a big fuss so I held out my arm.


    "Cool." She dropped a small dot of each of the three bottles'' liquids on my arm.


    The dot for "mind" and "energy" turned slightly blue, but only if you were willing to use your imagination. They were just one step past clear.


    "You''ve got nothing, Nick." Keith leaned over my arm. "You''ll have to leave the heroing to people with real powers. Who''s next?"


    I wiped the stuff off my arm with my hand, relieved and disappointed at the same time. It might have been cool if I''d had some kind of power. As it was, when I wasn''t wearing a version of the Rocket suit, I had pretty much nothing. Sure, I knew how to fight, but it''s not like you''re going to take out someone who can turn themselves into living flame with a well placed kick.


    I consoled myself with the fact that most of the other people were as badly off as I was. Worse, actually. In a most cases, all three dots stayed clear without even a hint of color.


    I moved to the back of the group as Courtney and Kieth put drops on people''s arms. I considered leaving, but decided not to. First of all, I wanted to see whatever demonstration Keith had. Second, if any of these people had strong potential for powers, I wanted to know.


    "Allison," Courtney said, "look at that."


    The "energy" dot had turned red while the "body" dot had turned noticeably blue.


    Allison didn''t seem all that impressed. She looked at the dots for a moment, then pulled a tissue out of her purse, and wiped her arm.


    "So what can I do?" After looking around for a second, she put the tissue back in her purse.


    "That''s the fun part, Allison. It could be anything." Courtney started dotting the arm of the next person. "But don''t worry about it. Keith''s already started brewing the different kinds of juice."


    Keith looked up from the arm of one of the girls I''d pegged as freshmen. "Come on, Courtney. That was going to be a surprise."


    "After this?" She waved her eyedropper at the group. "People would only be surprised if you didn''t make it."


    The girl elbowed her friend. "Look, Kelsey!" Each of the three dots had turned solid blue.


    I wondered what that meant, but didn''t really get to think very long.


    Vaughn pushed past me into the group. "Hey, Keith what are you doing? Selling illegal allergy tests?"


    Keith laughed. "It''s power juice. You know, from the news?"


    "I thought you had to drink it."


    "It''s the test for what juice will work on you." He took Vaughn''s arm and put a drop of the "energy" test liquid on it.


    It turned so deeply red it was almost black.


    Keith stared. "That''s unbelievable. If you were using the juice, you''d be a frickin'' god."


    "Vaughn," Cassie said. I hadn''t noticed her standing next to me.


    Vaughn watched Keith put the "mind" and "body" drops down. The mind drop turned a slight red and the body drop turned a slight blue.


    "Nick, help me get him out of here," she whispered to me. She began to push through and tried to grab Vaughn''s shoulder.


    Keith looked at her. "You''re Cassie Kowalski, right? Want to find out if you''ve got powers?"


    She said, "No," which isn''t especially rude on the face of it, but her tone said, "Talk to me again, and I turn you into paste."


    From behind me Sean''s voice said, "I''d like to try it."

 Chemistry: Part 6

    I couldn''t think of a person I''d least like to hear say those words, but it didn''t really matter what I thought.


    Sean, still limping a little, but off the crutches he''d been using since our fight, pushed through the crowd. The fact that Dayton, Sean''s much larger friend, walked with him undoubtedly helped with the pushing.


    Ignoring Vaughn, he said, "So what do I do?"


    "Just hold out your arm." Keith put drips of each liquid on Sean''s forearm.


    The "body" drip turned a light blue. The mind drip turned a very, very light red. The energy drip turned a very dark red almost instantaneously -- just like Vaughn''s had.


    Keith looked up from Sean''s arm and said, "You ought to get together with Vaughn. You''d be unstoppable."


    Sean glanced over where Vaughn had been, looking a little confused. Cassie had managed to yank Vaughn back out of the circle.


    "Whatever," Sean said. "Let''s see what Dayton can do."


    Dayton held out his arm. The "mind" dot turned so blue it was almost indistinguishable from black, and the "body" dot turned a solid blue. The "energy" dot stayed clear.


    "Jody should have been here." Dayton said. He looked down at the dots on his forearm again. "Does this stuff stain?"


    Sean looked around the crowd, "Anybody got kleenex?"


    No one volunteered any.


    Sean wiped the liquid off with his hand.


    "Hey," Keith climbed up into his Caravan and stood on the floor, hanging out the side door.


    I looked around. The crowd had grown to about thirty.


    He waved for everybody''s attention.


    "As cool as the test is," he said, "I''ve got something even cooler. We''ve made power juice. Not all the kinds, but I made one and it works."


    He pulled out another water bottle from his backpack and started to unbutton his shirt.


    Someone in the crowd whistled and a few people laughed.


    If I had to use three words to describe Keith, I''d use "tall, skinny geek," so obviously he wasn''t doing this out of an urge show off his body.


    If he were, he was seriously overestimating his looks.


    "Watch this." He chugged the water bottle.


    A thought nagged me.


    "Keith," I said, "did you come up positive for more than one ability?


    "Yeah."


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    "Didn''t you say you were supposed to mix them?"


    "I''ve tried it already. I know what I''m doing."


    At that moment, his body started to change. His muscles started growing. His chest widened. Even his thighs widened, straining at the confines of his pants.


    He stepped off the van which rocked as he moved. His foot hit the ground with an audible thump.


    He held up his arm and flexed it, showing off muscles that were uncomfortably well defined.


    Then something cracked. Keith moaned in pain. His bicep didn''t look right, mostly because biceps are generally straight. After the cracking noise, his bulged in the middle.


    He dropped his arm and peered at it.


    Courtney grabbed his other arm, "God, Keith, what happened?"


    I didn''t hear Keith''s reply.


    Next to me, Cassie had called 911. "... looks like he broke his arm. You know that power juice they''re talking about on the news? He was using it. So if you''ve got specialists in metahuman medicine, call them in."


    She at least had kept her head.


    I couldn''t say the same for the rest of the crowd. Kids were pressing in on him, asking Keith brilliant questions like, "Are you okay?" Other kids were snapping pictures with their cellphones. A couple more kids had their phones to their ears. I wanted to believe that they were calling 911, but to judge from the chattery quality of the conversations, I guessed they might be calling friends.


    I wished Alex were here. It would be a lot better if we could just heal Keith and get it over with.


    Vaughn must have been thinking along the similar lines. When Cassie got off the phone, he whispered, "Could you heal him if you dropped a little blood in his mouth?"


    "Life''s not a TV show, Vaughn. It''d be more likely to kill him," Cassie said. "My blood doesn''t play well with others."


    * * *


    You don''t get out of a scene like that easily. After the ambulance took him away, and the police asked everybody a few questions, Cassie drove Vaughn and me home.


    I thought that it would end there. Maybe at most I might get a call from the police asking for a few more details, but it didn''t.


    I managed to finish my homework before supper.


    After supper I planned to read the pdf and see if I could figure out what just happened. Specifically, I wondered if there were anything in there to confirm my suspicions about why Keith''s arm broke, and whether he really knew enough to interpret the test. More importantly, did Vaughn''s result mean that he was massively powerful? Worse, did it mean that Sean was just as powerful?


    I sat on the couch in the family room and opened up the pdf on my laptop.


    Dad sat in his chair with his laptop open, a pile of books laying on the carpeted floor next to him. He typed furiously, paused to open a book, closed it, and started typing again.


    The phone rang.


    Dad leaned over to the end table and picked it up.


    "Yes," he said. "He''s here. I''m his father. What''s this all about?"


    He listened for a while


    He had an odd expression on his face as he handed the phone to me. "It''s a reporter. She''s asking for you."


    The reporter was named Leah and worked for the Grand Lake Sentinel, our local newspaper. She''d apparently talked to the police, and several students had named me as someone attending Keith''s brief moment of power.


    I didn''t give her much, confirming a few things others had said.


    After that I hung up.


    "So, did you take the test?" His voice remained level, but his expression made me uncomfortable. He looked anxious.


    "It came up empty, Dad. I don''t have superpowers."


    "Good. Nick..." He drew a breath, paused, and then went on. "I told you about the former teenage hero I helped. The one who killed his girlfriend''s murderers and whose parents got him into therapy? He''s back at it. His mother called me last week while we were in California. She wanted to know if I''d heard from him, and I haven''t. I have no idea where he is."


    Dad put his laptop on the floor.


    "Nick." He looked me in the eye. "He could end up just as dead as she is. Tell somebody if any of your friends starts using that stuff. Becoming a superhero sounds glamorous, but there''s another side to it, and it''s not pretty."


    I knew that he couldn''t know that I was the Rocket. The original team''s block had seen to that. But I still wondered if he could be aware of it somehow, deep down, and this concern was the way it came out.


    On the other hand, with my dad being my dad, I knew that he cared about his clients. It could easily just be what was on his mind.


    "Dad, believe me, if I find out that someone''s using this stuff, I won''t be able to ignore it. I''ll do something."


    I didn''t say exactly what I''d do though. That meant I''d avoided lying, more or less.

 Hysteria: Part 1

    The next day we stepped out of school and into a media circus.


    Sometime between last night and that afternoon, the reporter''s story had been taken up by the Associated Press and a video of Keith''s transformation had gone viral. Reporters stood at the bottom of the steps. Vans with satellite uplinks parked alongside the sidewalk. Photographers and cameramen stood waiting.


    We''d known that they''d be there. The principal had made an announcement over the PA system. While he couldn''t forbid us from talking to the media while off of school property, he discouraged us from doing so. He also called most of the people who had been at Keith''s demonstration into a class room just before the end of the day and said more of the same. As he put it, he didn''t want us to embarrass ourselves. I''m sure it had a lot more to do with not embarrassing him, but he didn''t say that.


    They actually tried to slip those of us who''d been there out a side door. It turned out to be a better idea in theory than in practice. We came out the back of the school near the track, but the cars were still in the front of the school. The kids who caught the bus in front of the school had to run because now they had to get around the school first. That worked out well for the administration because they definitely weren''t going to stop.


    Most of the people who''d seen it didn''t take the bus. They walked, biked, or drove.


    So we all walked out the back. Ahead of us lay the track. Next to us stood the gym, an addition built in the 1960''s. When we got around it, the reporters stopped talking to the students coming out the main entrance and mobbed us.


    Had the school sent us out with everyone else, the people the press wanted to interview would have been needles in a haystack. As it was, we were a haystack made out of needles.


    A reporter from ABC walked up to Sean and Dayton started asking questions. "Care to talk about what you saw yesterday?"


    I glanced over at them, and, kept on walking with Cassie and Vaughn.


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    Vaughn had been looking over at Sean too. "He''s going to spend the whole interview telling them that he''s the next Guardian or something."


    Cassie shrugged. "Don''t worry about it. Let''s get out of here."


    A hand grabbed my arm. I stopped myself from using a thumb lock and moving his hand somewhere else.


    The man''s eyes widened and he pulled his hand away. I knew him. My grandfather had worked on his equipment once or twice. As a hero, he''d called himself Soulfire. He''d retired three or four years ago. Now he was just Shane Smith, journalist. The guy couldn''t have been much older than thirty.


    "I know you," he said, "you''re the kid that was telling Keith not to drink the juice, right?"


    "Guess so," I kept on walking with Vaughn and Cassie.


    He and his cameraman kept up with me.


    "So what happened?"


    "Nothing that you haven''t seen on Youtube. It''s all there."


    We headed toward the street, crossing in front of News 10''s van. Checking the main entrance to the school, I noticed the crowd watching us and that the reporters that had been interviewing normal kids were turning our way.


    "What about you?" Shane stayed with me. "Did your test show up with any kind of powers?"


    "No," I said, which was technically true.


    "What about you two?" He smiled at Vaughn and Cassie.


    "Nothing worth mentioning," Vaughn said.


    Cassie just said, "Come on."


    He didn''t follow us across the street, but he did push his business card into my hand.


    * * *


    Daniel dropped by on the way home from track practice, stayed for supper, and we went up to my room with the idea that we might get some homework done.


    We did a little of it between conversations.


    I sat at my desk with my calculus book out. He sat on my bed, having finished most of his advanced algebra.


    Looking up from the book, he said, "I''m surprised you didn''t visit Keith at that hospital" -- making him the third person after my mom and Haley to say that.


    "I don''t know. He''s not really a friend. The only thing that we really have in common is that we both know more about superheroes than anyone really needs to."


    "Still," Daniel said, "you don''t want the guy to feel forgotten."


    Conversation lapsed, and we actually did some homework.


    I finished my calculus homework and started on an essay for my composition class -- started in the sense of brainstorming ideas, not writing.


    The phone rang.


    I ignored it.


    Moments later though, my mom opened the door.


    "Nick, it''s for you. Another reporter."


    I took the phone.


    "Nick, this is Leah from the Grand Lake Sentinel. I interviewed you about Keith Wilson last night. Someone broke into his hospital room about half an hour ago and beat him unconscious. I''d like to get your reaction."

 Hysteria: Part 2

    Outside of shock, I didn''t have much of a reaction.


    When I hung up, I turned to Daniel, who had undoubtedly been listening to both sides of the conversation, and asked, "So now what?"


    "We go to the hospital. This is going to be big."


    "Like maybe too big for us?"


    Daniel shrugged. "Everything''s too big for everyone the first time. If we get stuck, we''ll call somebody."


    "Think we could get in as ourselves?"


    "I doubt it."


    I opened my door and put the phone back in its charger on the table in the hall.


    * * *


    Daniel drove us down to Grandpa''s house and we changed. I went in full armor. We flew out of the exit in the forest in Veterans Memorial Park.


    Even though Daniel couldn''t fly as fast as the Rocket suit, it still didn''t take very long to get downtown to the hospital. We landed on the roof, near the helicopter pad.


    As many times as I''d done it, I still thought it was cool to be flying. The city lights dotted the darkness, little islands of human handiwork keeping back the night.


    "Just a second," Daniel said, "I''ll go find him."


    Then he stepped off the edge of the roof.


    I waited around for him, hoping I wouldn''t have to explain what exactly I was doing there.


    He floated back up in a little while and landed next to me.


    "He''s in surgery now. They''ve got a lot to close up. Nick, this is bad. The guy who beat on him was an actual supervillain."


    "How''d it happen?"


    "Experience it yourself."


    And then I was there. Keith lay in bed watching Mythbusters. His arm hung in a sling. It surprised me a little that it wasn''t in a cast, but I supposed they might be worried about whether it might expand again unpredictably.


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    Outside the room, I could hear nurses talking, and something beeping, but none of the frantic running of a bad hospital drama.


    In any case, Keith didn''t look too badly off -- at least for a little while.


    Then the window broke. Glass fell across the floor and Keith made a wordless sound of surprise.


    A man climbed into the room. His skin appeared to be metal and a line of spikes ran down the front of his chest, down his spine, and across the bottom of his forearms.


    Keith struggled to get off the bed, but fell on the floor.


    The metal skinned man leaned across the bed, pulled Keith off the floor like he didn''t weigh anything, and held him in the air.


    "I saw you on TV the other day." The metal man smiled. Even his teeth were metal spikes. "And I said to myself, ''This kid has potential.'' And you do. You''ve got the potential to put me and my friends in charge of the biggest group of psychos in the Midwest. Do you know who I am?"


    Even if Keith didn''t, I did, but it turned out that Keith knew too.


    "You''re Spike."


    Keith''s voice sounded just a step away from panic.


    "You''re a winner. Somebody ring the goddamn bell." Spike turned his head toward the room''s door. "How about you?"


    A policeman stood in the doorway. I pegged him as being in his late 20''s. He held his right hand near, but not on his gun. "Put the boy down."


    "Or you''ll what? Shoot me? Save yourself some trouble and leave."


    The cop had balls of steel though, and in the face of a fight he had to know was unwinnable, he didn''t back down.


    "Let''s just step back and talk," the policeman began, but he didn''t get to finish.


    Dropping Keith, Spike struck a blow with one long arm and the policeman disappeared, thumping against a wall in hallway.


    Shutting the door, Spike said, "I''d prefer a private conversation."


    Spike grabbed Keith again, lifting him up toward the ceiling.


    "We''ve got to talk. Who made the power juice? Was it you? Someone else?"


    Keith hung limp in his arms. The skin below his eyes seemed shiny -- possibly from tears.


    Keith didn''t say anything.


    "Protecting the guy? I respect that. It''s not very healthy, but I respect it."


    Spike lowered Keith to the floor, let go with his right hand, but held on to Keith with his left.


    Spike''s fingers reshaped themselves into knife blades.


    He grabbed Keith''s face, making little cuts on his cheeks and chin.


    That''s the point at which I''d have changed the channel if it were on TV or had Daniel stop. Unfortunately he''d just stuffed the memory into my head all at once. I knew the whole thing from beginning to end.


    Let''s just say that Keith gave Spike his uncle''s name and address before Spike amputated anything, but after some fairly nasty punches and puncture wounds.


    I became aware of myself again as Daniel shook my armor.


    "Rocket," he said, "did you get it all?"


    "Yeah. We''d better get over there. It''s probably too late, but... Also, we''ll need everyone else. Spike''s part of a team. There''s his twin brother for one and then a couple other guys."


    "I know. I already sent everybody a yellow." He held up the old Heroes League ring we''d handed out the first time we''d gotten together as a team. It glowed. With any luck, everyone else was wearing their own trinket.


    I plugged Keith''s uncle''s address into my GPS and blasted off, Daniel just behind me.

 Hysteria: Part 3

    By the time we got there, there were four of us. Vaughn met us in the air. Jaclyn met us at the house.


    The house didn''t stick out normally. A white, two story house in a subdivision full of modern, two story homes of almost exactly the same design (basically a rectangle), it didn''t have much of a chance of looking ominous. The lawn had been mowed, the bushes clipped. The trees still looked bare of leaves, but, if the rest of the yard was any indication, not because the owner had neglected anything.


    Tonight the house stuck out. The front door hung by two of the three hinges. The windows in its upper half had been shattered. Its metal body bent inward.


    People stood in the lawn, most of them wearing jackets. A stocky, white haired woman held a younger looking woman who seemed to be going along with it more out of shock than a need for comfort.


    A boy and a girl that I pegged as middle school aged stood near them. The girl''s face reminded me a little of Keith''s.


    We landed on the sidewalk near the front lawn, and people started shouting.


    "Over there. They went that way." A bearded man in a button down shirt pointed toward the street.


    I couldn''t see anything moving in that direction.


    Off to the side of me, I heard someone say, "Should bring them into the house? They''ll need to collect evidence, right?"


    "No, that''s the police."


    "Did anyone call the police?"


    "I did. Ages ago."


    I hadn''t the faintest clue what to do next.


    Daniel walked over to the house''s front door and stood there. He concentrated for a little while. Then he stopped and walked back to the rest of us.


    "Was it as bad as the hospital?" I asked.


    "Worse. His kids and wife had to watch."


    I glanced over at the kids, and realized that they, and everyone else, were staring at us.


    Vaughn said, "Did you find out where they went?"


    Daniel shook his head. "No, but I think I can follow them."


    He floated upward, flew over to the street and started flying down the road some six feet above the ground.


    We went after him. What else could we do?


    Flying down the road at an altitude just a little higher than a car''s roof gets a little weird.


    First of all we were flying at just about the level of Jaclyn''s head. That mattered because instead of running below us, she now ran with us. Second, the Rocket pack wasn''t exactly silent. People stared out their windows at us.


    If I didn''t make enough noise on my own, Vaughn added whole new level of annoyance. He flew by directing wind currents, and it took a lot of wind to keep him in the air. Even though he aimed the wind mostly at himself, it still blew litter and childrens'' toys across the lawn. I saw more than one garbage bag roll off of the curb, and, away on new and exciting adventures of its own.


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    I don''t even like to think about what happened to the plastic recycle bins full of cardboard, plastic, and tin cans.


    Let''s just say that if the owners had started running out of their houses and shaking their fists at us, I wouldn''t have blamed them.


    Sadly, it all turned out to be useless.


    We followed the trail through suburban neighborhoods and past strip malls until we hit the highway.


    Daniel stopped before we started up the entrance ramp.


    He floated off to the side of the road and stood in the empty parking lot in front of a brown, brick warehouse.


    "We''re screwed. I just lost them."


    Jaclyn came to a stop next to him. "Oh come on, Mystic. They have to have taken the highway."


    "That''s why I''m saying I lost them. I was following impressions they left. The longer and the more recently they''ve been there, the easier it is. Normal roads are bad enough, but highways? They leave basically no emotional impressions and then I have to sort out their nothing from all the other people who traveled over the exact same spot. Highways are impossible."


    Jaclyn held up her hands. "Alright. Alright. I get it. How about this -- you send me a picture of the car and I''ll run down the highway and send an alert if I catch up to them?"


    "That sounds good," I said. "We could follow you."


    "Only if you stay in the air. Storm King''s not going to be doing anyone a favor by blowing them off the road."


    That''s what we ended up doing.


    Jaclyn ran down the freeway, outdistancing us immediately, and we followed, flying high enough that people probably couldn''t see us.


    A few minutes later, Jaclyn came back, waving us off the highway before jumping over the concrete barrier herself.


    We found ourselves standing in one of the nastier areas of downtown. Think of old buildings whose windows had long ago been replaced with boards, and brown brick gone gray with the exhaust of passing cars.


    If I hadn''t been in armor, I might have worried about being mugged.


    "They''re not on the highway anymore. I went twenty miles north before turning around. I didn''t see them."


    Vaughn looked over at the highway. "It''s dark. Couldn''t you have missed them?"


    "It''s not that dark. They''ve got streetlights."


    Daniel held up his hand. "Hey everybody. We''ve got one more shot at this. I''ll try to sense the city''s biggest near future threat. It''s probably them."


    "Or somebody''s lost cat," I said. "The ''city''s biggest'' part of that sentence almost never seems to work out."


    "Do you have any better ideas?"


    Moments later, all of us but Jaclyn were in the air, and even she didn''t stay on the ground the whole time. She got sick of running around buildings and jumped over a few.


    For all my complaints about how unreliable Daniel''s precognition was, the last flight of the evening had a different mood to it than the ones that came before. We''d all given up on finding them by then. I''d lost all my nervousness about getting into a fight because I knew it wouldn''t happen.


    Daniel in turn didn''t seem like he needed to concentrate as hard on this as he did while following impressions of the car.


    What this meant on a practical level was that instead of being all white knuckled and silent, he would point and say which direction we needed to go next.


    Vaughn by comparison seemed to grow more thoughtful the farther we went.


    We flew away from the nastier parts of downtown, past the more attractive part of downtown (turn of the century shops and modern office buildings), and over one of the residential spots of downtown -- near where Central High was located and the very same section where the mayor had lived. Hardwick House''s tower and pyramid lay before us, outlined by spotlights.


    Daniel flew past them, landing in a neighborhood of old Victorian houses, the homes of the city fathers during the late 1800''s.


    He landed in the street, facing an especially large house with ornate woodwork. It rose three stories high and had probably once been the home of a lumber baron.


    A couple lights were on upstairs.


    Daniel pointed at it with his left hand. "That''s it. I don''t have any specifics, but there''s something big connected with that house."


    "I suppose we ought to find out who lives there at least," Jaclyn said.


    Vaughn shook his head. "We don''t have to. I know who lives there."


    I looked at his black mask. "And?"


    "It''s Sean Drucker''s house."

 Hysteria: Part 4

    We didn''t break into the house, though we did think about it.


    "No," Daniel said. "We don''t have any justification for it. Sean''s mom and little sister are home anyway, and they don''t know anything."


    We left and went home.


    * * *


    I ended up going through the whole story with Lee after practice. It wasn''t an official team practice. I happened to know that he was going to be at the studio and rode there after school.


    After chaining my bike to the bike rack, I went into the back of the building, glimpsing the kids karate class on the lower level.


    Walking up the stairs, I found Lee throwing ping pong balls into the air and slicing them in half with a sword -- not a katana either -- just a medieval, Western style sword. The sword and scabbard both looked worn.


    A number of severed ping pong balls lay near his feet on the wooden floor. At least as many whole balls lay scattered around the room.


    Unfortunately, Lee wasn''t in the mood to talk. When I began to say, "I''ve got a little bit of a problem," he handed me a broadsword and said, "Later."


    We sparred for the next two hours. I use the word "sparred" somewhat loosely because I was only one step above completely incompetent. Lee stopped me all the time, showing me with as few words as possible what I was doing wrong, and then started up again.


    His tendency to change form while we fought didn''t help. I saw him as Viking warriors, medieval knights, a long haired man who could have come straight out of the Three Musketeers, and warriors from civilizations too ancient for me to name. I suspected a few of them had to be from other planets.


    I don''t think he did it intentionally, but it was distracting.


    By the time we stopped, I felt tired, beaten, and had a small cut on my cheek. I wanted to believe that he''d cut me, but couldn''t rule out the possibility that I''d managed to do it myself.


    Lee pulled out the first aid kit and cleaned the cut. "You need to learn how to do this yourself," he said. "You need to learn how to put in stitches, set bones, all of it."


    "Seriously?"


    From the studio downstairs, a host of children shouted, "Hai!"


    "You don''t have a doctor on the team. First aid will make the difference between life and death one of these days."


    "What?"


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    Lee shrugged. "You''re training to fight. Someone''s going to get hurt. Plan for it."


    He stopped for a moment. "Which reminds me. You''re going to have to make sure that more of your team shows up more often. You''ve got nine people. We need to practice with nine people. You need to start fighting like a small group instead of a group of individual fighters -- that went out with the Sumerians."


    He went on for a while about which small group tactics might work for us before asking me what I''d wanted to talk about.


    I told him what we''d done the night before, ending with, "... So we lost them. I don''t know where they are and it''s not like Daniel''s a bloodhound. If there''s not enough of a threat to tweak his prescience, he''s not going to get anywhere."


    "I''ve heard of them. They''re just a bunch of thugs. Listen to the police band tonight and you''ll catch them. I bet they''ll rob a bank."


    * * *


    I didn''t have much homework that night. That was a good thing for a lot of reasons.


    First of all, I had to phone the whole team and ask them to make it to Lee''s studio tomorrow. While I was at it, I ended up telling them to be ready if I sent a yellow or red to their homing device, and if they could, could they listen to police band?


    "God," Jaclyn said from the other end, "Didn''t we just do this last night? I''ve still got two hours of homework to go."


    As I opened my mouth to reply, she said, "I''m not saying I''m not coming, but last night was enough of an interruption."


    "You don''t have to if you don''t want to."


    "Nick, don''t guilt trip me."


    "I''m not trying to."


    Haley was at work. I left a message with her phone.


    By the time I finished that, it was about 7:00 PM. I spent the next hour or two reading up on Spike and his friends, while listening to police band in League HQ and drinking Coca Cola. Sometimes I''d get distracted and think about things totally unrelated, wondering for example, why my grandfather hadn''t ever invented something to stop HQ from smelling like a musty basement.


    Anyway, I really did learn a couple things while reading through the FBI''s files on Spike. I learned that he and his twin brother Skewer had started a group called "Blood Money" five years ago and specialized in robbing banks.


    Disappointingly, the other two guys in the group didn''t have names that followed the "sharp pointy objects that start with ''S''" theme. They were called Cold Cash and Payback.


    Presumably Spike and Skewer handled the "Blood" portion of the theme and Cold Cash and Payback dealt with the "Money" portion.


    Cold Cash apparently had ice powers and Payback manifested some kind of weird force field. A physicist working for the FBI had written a paper on it. I pulled it up and while I was absorbing the finer details, Haley touched me on the shoulder.


    I didn''t jump exactly, but I did kind of move upwards. I didn''t leave the chair though, so it didn''t really count as a jump.


    Haley giggled. "I wasn''t even trying to sneak up on you. Honest."


    "Crap. I think I spilled Coke on my pants."


    We walked to the kitchen to grab paper towels and I wiped the pop off. It had landed on and around my crotch.


    While we were at it, I heard the elevator hum and the door open. Seconds after that, Cassie walked into the kitchen, finding me next to the counter, paper towels in hand, and Haley looking apologetic.


    "I don''t even want to know what you''ve been up to," Cassie said.


    Haley and I both said, "Nothing," simultaneously. Then she started laughing.


    "Did you hear me asking?" Cassie said. "Hear anything from the police yet?"


    "Nothing," I said, putting the paper towels in the trash.


    "No," Haley said, "they''re saying something right now."


    So Lee turned out to be wrong about the bank part at least.


    Over the HQ''s speakers, I heard the dispatcher''s voice saying, "Suspected masked felony at 2225 138th Street."


    When we looked up the address it turned out to be for a business called "Chemical Supplies, Incorporated."

 Hysteria: Part 5

    We sent everybody a yellow and changed into our costumes.


    Haley left in her grandfather''s car. Cassie left on her father''s motorcycle. I left after both of them because changing into the Rocket suit takes time.


    I flew out of the tunnel that opens over the lake, flipped over in the air, and aimed in the direction of the warehouse, listening to police band radio over my helmet.


    Chemical Supplies, Inc.''s building must have been on the edge of town in the 1970''s or 80''s when they put it up, but now 138th Street held a series of offices, warehouses, and factories -- the new kind as opposed to the ones downtown. Bland white buildings sat in the middle of a sea of grass, one next to the other on both sides of the street.


    They weren''t all white, but the majority seemed to be white, beige or a light brown. In short, something boring.


    I arrived before anyone else. Haley and Cassie had to follow streets.


    Crossing the city in less than a minute, I arrived at Chemical Supplies, Inc. just as a policeman called for assistance with a high speed chase over police band.


    A white delivery van had left the parking lot, moving past the factory''s sign with a police car in pursuit.


    The sign said "CSI."


    They must get some interesting prank calls.


    I followed the cars, giving a couple clicks to my palm which sent everyone a second yellow and set me as the default location to follow if you wanted to find the action.


    I dove, moving to a level just above the streets and power lines.


    It was a totally classic superhero scene. I knew that this happened in LA and New York all the time, but the whole "car chase through the city streets" thing hadn''t happened to me before. Well, the Executioner had been close, but really that had been a car chase through the countryside which didn''t quite have the same feel.


    Arguably, this didn''t either in that this was a car chase through a bunch of boring buildings on the edge of the suburbs, but, you know, you take what you can get.


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    Anyway, you could argue that this actually added to the scene. 138th Street was long and straight with the Grand Lake airport at the far end -- which honestly is almost the only reason to use the road unless you''ve got business at one of the buildings on it.


    It only had stoplights at major roads, so the person driving the van took advantage of the situation to really move, cutting in front of other cars, hitting at at least seventy on a road that normally ran at 45 miles/hour.


    Cars swerved to avoid accidents. The police car weaved through after it, barely avoiding other cars.


    So obviously I had to do something.


    Heroes in comics or on TV always seemed to know how to handle this, but I had no idea. I''d never trained in how to stop a car.


    All my ideas seemed to have obvious bad points. For example, dropping in front of the van and digging my feet into the road opened up the possibility of stopping them so suddenly that any cars behind them would crash into the back, giving everyone inside whiplash or worse.


    Aiming myself like a missile at their engine had similar flaws.


    Landing behind the van and grabbing the rear bumper might just rip their bumper off without stopping them -- assuming I could get a good hold.


    Punching through the roof from above seemed like the best choice, but I didn''t have magnetic boots to help keep me on, something I mentally added to my growing list of future armor tweaks.


    What would Batman do, I wondered? Probably cover the windshield with his cape and assume the other drivers could take care of themselves.


    I didn''t have cape, and anyway, fictional superheroes probably weren''t the best role models when there were real ones around.


    Still wouldn''t it be cool to have a bracelet with WWBD on it?


    Then I had another idea.


    I accelerated straight for the rear of the van. It had just run a red light, barely missing a semi truck, and I had to shoot upward to miss the truck myself.


    Once I got over the trailer, I accelerated again, this time slamming into the back of the van and breaking through the right back window with my fist as I tried to find the back bumper with my feet.


    That went well except that the right door began to fall out. Apparently I''d hit it hard enough to break its hinges.


    I grabbed the handle of the left door and moved sideways, letting the right door fall to the ground, hoping it didn''t cause an accident.


    Then I stepped into the back of the van, or at any rate tried to.


    Barrels, drums, and plastic buckets filled the rear entrance, blocking my way.


    The two guys in the front seat were both shiny metal. Though he didn''t look spikey just at that moment, one of them had to be Spike, meaning the other one had to be Skewer. The guy with a mullet in a white costume seemed likely to be Cold Cash, leaving the muscular guy in the tank top to be Payback.


    That came to four, of course, not five. The fifth guy had blood on his face and duct tape wrapped around his hands -- Keith''s uncle.


    I should have guessed that the van would be full of chemicals, but now I had to get past them.


    None of them had hazard symbols. I''d just decided to start throwing them out the back when the world suddenly went white and cold.


    Cold Cash had encased my helmet in ice.

 Hysteria: Part 6

    Punching yourself in the face isn''t a great tactic in most fights, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.


    The ice fell off my helmet and hit the floor. I swung back out onto the bumper behind the only remaining door, and tried to get a second to think.


    I could blast away with the sonics, distract everybody, fly into the middle of them and start punching, but I didn''t like my odds. Besides Keith''s uncle didn''t deserve to have his ears bleed from the noise.


    Then the solution struck me. I''d lean out, blast one of the rear tires with the sonics, and they''d have to stop. If they didn''t, I''d blast the other tire.


    I began to lean out, still hanging onto the door handle, when the whole van leaned sideways, and then, almost instantly leveled out and rose eight feet in the air. I barely stayed on.


    Moving at roughly the same speed, it crossed the right lane, the curb, and into the lawn of another business -- Radotron Industries. Spotlights lit the sign, making it visible enough that anyone could find it in the twilight. I had no idea why anyone would want to, but I wasn''t really thinking about it just at that moment.


    I leaned over and looked down, recognizing the blur of Jaclyn''s legs in her purple costume moving below the car.


    I jumped off as she dropped the van on the lawn. Tires popped with the impact, but it rolled forward until it got stuck in the bushes in front of the building''s entrance.


    She turned her head toward me as I landed on the grass.


    "Rocket? When did you get here?"


    "Before you did. I was hanging on the back of the van when you picked it up."


    "Really? I didn''t even notice. That''s hilarious."


    She laughed loudly as Spike kicked the door out of the side of the van and stepped out.


    "So you think that''s funny, do you?" He crossed the distance between the van and us in three big steps. Pulling his arm back to strike, he said, "You think this is funny?"


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    Jaclyn stepped to the side and he missed. Her hands blurred. The first punch stopped him where he stood. The second sent him into the air like a baseball.


    Radotron had a long, brown, brick building with a sloped roof. Spike hit it where the roof and wall met, smashing a body shaped hole into the overhang, exposing the steel frames, and knocking down a pile of bricks and shingles. The gutter crumpled at his impact and fell.


    He dropped to the ground with the debris, looking dazed.


    "I wasn''t laughing at you," Jaclyn said, "but you''re making me think I should."


    Behind me I heard the roar of engines. I didn''t even need to turn to know that Cassie and Haley were driving across the lawn to join us. Haley had activated the spikes for extra traction, and the car churned up soil in its wake.


    Radotron Industries'' landscaping crew were going to love us.


    Cassie shouted, "Got ''em?" and jumped off the motorcycle.


    I shook my head. "There''s still three more in the van plus the guy they kidnapped."


    "Fire up the sonics and order them out."


    Behind me, Haley stepped out of Night Wolf''s car, and, ran around the front. "They''re trying to sneak out the passenger side!"


    I jumped sideways ten feet, landing behind her as the other metal skinned guy stepped back into the van and quickly shut the door.


    "Huh," I said. "A cowardly supervillian?"


    Turning up the volume on my speakers, I addressed the van. "Attention. The police are coming here soon. All of you exit the driver''s side door, holding your hands above your heads. Then lean up against the van."


    It worked for the police, right?


    Haley and I moved back to the same side of the van as Jaclyn and Cassie while they got out.


    As Skewer stepped onto the ground, Spike got up at stood next to him. Cold Cash and Payback stood behind them.


    Keith''s uncle came out with Payback.


    Their formation reminded me of an offensive line in football. That''s the moment that I realized that we''d lost control of the situation. That or maybe we''d never had control.


    Payback looked us over. "I heard about you kids. Girl''s night out, right?"


    He chuckled.


    What, was I invisible?


    Holding Keith''s uncle up by his bicep, he said, "Here''s the situation. You trashed our ride. You''re going to let us borrow yours or I''ll break this guy''s arm. Got it?"


    Cassie rolled her eyes. "I''ve got a better idea. Why don'' t you surrender now and you won''t have to live knowing a bunch of girls --"


    "And one guy," I said.


    " -- beat you up."


    Payback smirked. "Cash?"


    The big man pointed his arm at us and covered Cassie, Jaclyn and me in ice up to the waist.


    Haley had jumped to the roof of the van.


    Jaclyn and I only had to flex our legs and the ice shattered. Cassie couldn''t move hers at all, and started battering the ice with her fists.


    I''d have helped her except that Spike and Skewer jumped the distance between us. Spike went for Jaclyn. Skewer landed in front of me. I suppose I should have been comforted by the fact that Skewer was skinnier and less muscular than his brother.


    Unfortunately, the way each of his hands molded into a sharp blade didn''t comfort me at all.

 Hysteria: Part 7

    I raised my left arm, fist pointed upward, shielding my chest. My right arm hung near my waist, ready to punch.


    I didn''t punch Skewer.


    Pushing down on two buttons on my right palm, I blasted him with the sonics.


    As his blades changed back into hands, and he tried to cover his ears, I punched him in the stomach . It wasn''t a particularly fair tactic, but Lee had liked the idea when I first mentioned it to him so I''d practiced it along with my other combinations.


    I didn''t pull my punch either.


    Skewer flew backwards towards Payback -- which would have been impressive if I''d intended to do it.


    It also wasn''t as good a thing as it sounds.


    According to the paper I''d read while researching the group, Payback created a force field that absorbed kinetic energy -- which he could then choose to release. In short, I''d effectively just charged him up.


    Neither Skewer nor Payback went down. Skewer slowed as if landing on a giant cushion, not quite hitting Payback.


    Then I heard a noise that sounded like a small cannon firing, or maybe a large burp. Either way, Skewer flew back at me just as fast as he''d flown away.


    Fastball specials seem a lot cooler when you''re not on the receiving end.


    Skewer hit me, knocking me over, but not really getting much use out of it at first because he kept on rolling.


    Unfortunately he stopped himself just a few feet past me, and leapt at me before I managed to move.


    Transformed back into blades, his hands hit the middle of the Rocket suit''s chest. I felt the impact, but not much.


    He stopped, frowning.


    I began to raise my arms, ready to give him another taste of the sonics when Cassie said, "Hey, over here."


    Her legs still surrounded by ice, she held up a flash grenade, giving it just the smallest of throws.


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    It blew up in Skewer''s face. My helmet filtered it, but he screamed as it went off, and kept on shouting as Cassie pulled a small, metal tube off her utility belt, pointed it at him, and extended it instantly to quarterstaff length, hitting him in the head.


    He fell over, blindly rolling into the ice surrounding Cassie''s legs as he tried to push himself up.


    I aimed the sonics at the ice, and watched cracks appear across the side facing me. Cassie hit Skewer in the head a second time, and then brought down the staff, shattering the ice.


    He shouted, and fell to the ground, but still didn''t fall unconscious.


    Just past Cassie, I could see Jaclyn, but couldn''t see Spike at all. Judging from how Jaclyn seemed to be looking toward the top of Radotron Industries'' roof, it didn''t take much to guess that she''d knocked him further away this time.


    I wondered where Haley was, but didn''t have time to think about it.


    Cold Cash had just frozen Cassie, Jaclyn, and I again, catching Skewer along with us.


    Meanwhile Cold Cash shouted, "Hey brother, sorry ''bout that," -- presumably to Skewer.


    We had to do something about that guy.


    Well, both of them actually.


    As Skewer remolded his body, cracking the ice around himself, I shattered Cassie''s ice a second time with the sonics.


    Jaclyn shrugged off her own, running toward Cold Cash and Payback.


    Skewer stood up, and Cassie hit him full in the face with the staff again.


    When he slashed toward her with his hand/blade, I punched him in the back of the head as hard as I could.


    That time, he hit the ground and didn''t get up.


    I felt a moment of sickness in my stomach as I realized that I''d left a hand sized dent in his skull, but then the metal molded itself back into a more normal shape.


    I felt suddenly better except for worrying that he might not be unconscious after all.


    When he still didn''t get up, I turned toward the building.


    Haley stood over Cold Cash''s body, but didn''t look triumphant about the win. I guessed that she must have used poison, something she seemed unnecessarily sensitive about.


    Jaclyn stood in front of Payback, pounding him with her fists, but not doing any visible damage.


    I couldn''t think of a good way to warn her that Payback was just absorbing everything except by shouting, "Accelerando, stop. He''s--"


    Too late.


    With a big booming noise, he shot enough concussive force at her to send her upward into the air, out over the lawn, and into the street. She hit one of the police cars that must have just shown up.


    Then he turned toward Haley, but she jumped up, flipping backwards to land on the roof of the building.


    He blasted again, caving in the front wall. Bricks flew inward and the roof sagged.


    Haley jumped off and landed on the grass.


    I gave the rocketpack some fuel and shot over there, landing between the two of them.


    I couldn''t punch him without adding to his available power. Sound being basically concussive force, I couldn''t use the sonics either, but my armor could probably take anything he could dish out.


    "Rocket," I heard from just behind me, "I can take care of myself."


    I didn''t say anything. I tried to think of something I could do.


    Then I heard the sound of roaring wind and Vaughn shouting, "Hey motherfucker, eat lightning!"


    Jagged white lines filled my field of vision, and the sound of thunder buffeted my ears.


    Lightning would definitely work.

 Hysteria: Part 8

    Payback screamed and fell over, his body outlined in electricity.


    The air smelled of ozone, and smoke.


    When the lightning stopped, I could see Payback more clearly. His chest still moved, but he wasn''t doing much more than that. His right arm looked uncomfortably red and blistered.


    From behind me Vaughn shouted, "I got him, right?"


    I turned, watching the grass flatten as he landed.


    "Oh yeah, he''s down."


    Haley stepped next to me and looked down at the body. "He needs an ambulance."


    "Let him bleed," Cassie said. "Did you see what he did to Accelerando?"


    I checked the road.


    Jaclyn walked across the grass toward us. She didn''t appear to be hurt.


    The police car had a broken windshield and a human sized dent in its hood.


    Fortunately, it wasn''t the only police car there. They''d apparently assigned four cars plus two of the bulky, armored trucks people referred to as "boxes" to the immediate area. Having blocked the road, police were waving away the few civilian cars I could still see, but the crowd of reporters weren''t listening.


    All the local TV stations seemed to have parked a van by the side of the road plus a few stations I didn''t recognize at all, and, if that weren''t enough, vans that just showed the names of national networks -- ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS, FOX...


    Keith''s experiment and hospitalization (in combination with the release of the power juice) had caused reporters specializing in metahuman affairs to converge on Grand Lake. When they heard the words "masked felony" come over their police scanners, how could they not show up?


    All of which meant that with the exception of Los Angeles, this had to be the best covered incident I''d ever been involved in -- and not just on the ground. A police helicopter hung in the air above a nearby factory, its side door open, revealing a man sitting behind a big gun.


    Three other helicopters hovered over the road, staying outside the the line of fire. I recognized News 10''s copter of course, but had never seen the others.


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    In the dark, I noticed something else moving through the air.


    Partly because of the dark, I didn''t immediately recognize it, but realized after a second that it had to be a car. The two lights on the front were headlights.


    "Rocket," Haley whispered, "that''s Dayton''s car."


    At the speed it moved, it didn''t take long for the rusty Geo Metro to land in the grass just ahead of Jaclyn.


    Dayton, Jody, and Sean stepped out. All of them wore school clothes.


    Jaclyn turned to face them. "What are you doing here? Get back behind the police cars. We haven''t secured the area."


    Even in the twilight, I could see Sean grinning. "Then we''ll do it. Watch and learn."


    The expression on Jaclyn''s face (the part the mask showed at least) said a lot of things. Most strongly it said, "I''d never expected that you were this stupid."


    Aloud she said, "I don''t know what you''ve seen on TV, but powers alone don''t --"


    Sometimes you don''t think the moment can get any worse, but reality goes beyond your wildest expectations.


    Before Jaclyn had gotten distracted by Payback, she''d been trying to figure out where her latest punch had sent Spike.


    Spike chose that moment to reappear. I heard his steps on the metal roof of Radotron''s building. As I thought to turn around, he jumped, and flew over me, landing next to Skewer.


    Skewer pushed himself up out of the grass as Spike landed. How long had he been playing dead?


    Jody took off running, moving from where he''d been standing to directly in front of Spike almost instantaneously.


    I couldn''t say it with complete certainty, but he seemed like he might be in Jaclyn''s league.


    He attacked Spike in a blur of fists, doing no damage at all.


    Skewer punched him in the side of the head and Jody went down.


    Skewer''s hand changed into a blade and he began to bring it down at Jody''s chest.


    I didn''t even see Jaclyn start moving, but she blocked the blade with her left arm and punched Skewer in the face with the right.


    Skewer fell backwards.


    Spike''s fingers changed to blades, but he never got a chance to strike her.


    Both Spike and Skewer rose into the sky.


    On the ground, Sean smirked, but didn''t say anything, obviously concentrating.


    I wondered what he intended to do with them. Neither of them were unconscious and either one seemed likely to be capable of ripping a box apart.


    Sean slammed the two them against each other in the air.


    Neither of them fell unconscious, but they didn''t seem to like it.


    I couldn''t hear precisely what they were saying but they were shouting at Sean.


    He slammed them against each other several more times.


    Inside my head, Daniel''s voice said, "What an idiot."


    Coming from the same direction as the car had, he flew toward the floating bodies as Sean drew them apart from each other, preparing to smash them together again.


    The words, "Stop it," echoed in my brain and probably the brains of everyone within Daniel''s range.


    The bodies stopped moving.


    Then Spike and his brother''s bodies fell limp, changing back into normal human beings. Except for being flesh instead of metal, they didn''t look much different. Spike looked short and muscular. Skewer looked taller and skinnier.


    As they touched the ground, the police and reporters swarmed across the lawn.

 Hysteria: Part 9

    Sean looked over the oncoming crowd a little nervously, and asked me, "What are we supposed to do now?"


    "No idea," I said.


    Then I turned on the loudspeaker.


    They were halfway across the lawn, and the growing darkness gave the group a "Night of the Living Dead" feel. Not that they were really zombies, but a crowd of people walking toward you isn''t a normal situation.


    "Hey everybody. Please let the police and the boxes get through first. All these guys look like they''re unconscious, but we really don''t know for sure. It''d be a bad thing if one of them eviscerated you or something."


    I don''t know if they really listened to me or not, but they did get out of the way when the trucks crossed the lawn.


    Haley stepped behind me as I talked, and held her hands over her ears. Better than human hearing and loudspeakers don''t mix.


    Vaughn and Daniel landed next to me.


    Meanwhile, Jody moaned and tried to get up.


    Dayton stood over him. "You took a big hit. Why don''t you just stay on the ground till the paramedics get here?"


    "Yeah." Jody took a gasping breath.


    "You did good," Sean said. "I could barely see you when you were moving."


    I didn''t say anything. Jody really hadn''t done all that well. Sure he''d moved his fists quickly, but he''d stood directly in front of Skewer and stayed there. If he''d moved his body, jumping in and out of range, Skewer couldn''t have touched him.


    For a few seconds after that no one said anything.


    Dayton addressed the group of us. "I''d just like to say how much of a thrill it is to be standing next to you. I hope we didn''t get in your way."


    Sean said, "Don''t worry about it, Dayton, we helped."


    I had a hard time talking. What he said felt far from any reality I recognized. If they hadn''t shown up, Daniel would have been able to take Spike and Skewer out as soon as he''d arrived -- provided we''d managed to contain them.


    I felt Daniel''s mental presence.


    +++


    Daniel: Nick, just let it be. You don''t want to give him any reason to guess who you are. He already suspects Vaughn.


    Me: You''ve passed that along to Vaughn?


    Daniel: That''s why he''s quiet.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.+++


    From just behind me, Haley said, "I''ve got to go."


    Jaclyn watched as the police men started to put Spike and Skewer on to stretchers. "I''ve still got homework."


    "Don''t go," Cassie said, "we''ve all got to meet at HQ for debriefing. Everybody."


    Eying Sean, she said, "Well, all of us."


    +++


    Me: We should be discussing this mind to mind.


    Daniel: I know!


    +++


    Sean looked over at Jaclyn. "Homework? What school do you go to?"


    "One that gives homework."


    "I get it. The secret identity. No problem."


    He paused. "I don''t believe in secret identities myself."


    The arrival of all the reporters saved us the bother of a reply.


    I gave my version of events several times. I usually avoided talking to reporters altogether, but, Sean didn''t look like he was leaving at all, and who knew what he''d say?


    * * *


    We all ended up in HQ afterward. Everyone slumped in their seats. I don''t know how the others felt, but I felt tired.


    Cassie stood up at the main table. "Hey, everybody! After every game my soccer coach used to have us talk about what the team thought went right, and what could have gone better. I think we should too."


    Daniel sat up, nodding. "According to my dad, the Defenders do the same thing."


    Jaclyn sighed. "When I said I had homework, I wasn''t just trying to get rid of Sean. I''ve got fifty pages to finish and a book report to write. Can we keep this short?"


    Cassie said, "When is it due?"


    "Next Monday."


    "And you''re already started?"


    Vaughn raised his hand. "I shouldn''t be out all that late either. My mom''s going to kill me once she sees the news. I don''t want to make it worse by being late. I mean, it''s not like she''s been zombified like your parents. She knows what I''m doing."


    "Zombified?" Haley sounded irritated.


    "Well," Vaughn said, "you know what I mean. The whole ''I was being a superhero, forget everything'' and they''re like ''yes, master?'' Do you have any idea how much you could be getting away with?"


    "Whoa," Cassie waved her right hand. "We''re getting totally off topic. Nick, what do you think we did right?"


    "I don''t know. We won, and even though we didn''t have everybody I think that''s the closest we''ve ever come to having almost everybody there at the beginning of the fight."


    "Great. What else did we do right?"


    Vaughn shrugged. "I missed half the fight, but I took out what''s his name... Paycheck? I took him down, and Haley got that other guy. I saw that."


    Haley said, "Even though you couldn''t stop them, the rest of you did a good job with Spike and Skewer. They didn''t get away. Cassie, and all of you really, kept on fighting even after Cold Cash froze your legs."


    "And how many times did that happen? I couldn''t believe it." Jaclyn shook her head.


    "We''ll call that something that didn''t work," Cassie said. "What else didn''t work?"


    "Communication," I said. "I didn''t know Jaclyn was going to pick up the van, and dump it in the yard. She didn''t know I was hanging on to the back. I think I need to design the next version of our League tracking devices."


    Daniel sighed. "I was later than everybody else. Sorry."


    Cassie said, "Whatever, Travis and Marcus didn''t even show up, and, you finally took down Spike and Skewer. None of us could."


    "What do we do about Sean?" Haley asked. "Is he going to start showing up everywhere now?"


    "I was wondering how he got power juice this soon," I said. "He didn''t seem to know anything when Keith tested everyone."


    Daniel smiled a little. "I caught some of that from Sean''s head. You know how Sean''s grandparents were with Vaughn''s grandfather? Sean''s dad got a hold of some power juice and kept it around. Somehow he heard about the government''s version and had some of that made up. Now he''s got a few vats in the house."


    "Wouldn''t surprise me," Vaughn said. "A whole bunch of my grandfather''s people stayed on after everything fell apart. Sean''s dad still works at one of my family''s companies."

 Hysteria: Part 10

    "Where does he work?" I asked.


    "I don''t know," Vaughn said. "Something medical."


    We started talking about the fight again for another thirty minutes or so. Somehow the conversation turned to Lee, and I reminded people that he wanted all of us there the next day and ideally every practice thereafter.


    "And that''s why I need to go," Jaclyn said. "If I want to have time for that, I can''t stay here all night."


    She left, and then Vaughn and Cassie left, leaving Daniel, Haley and me sitting together.


    Daniel watched as the elevator doors shut behind them.


    "You mentioned the Defenders," I asked, "is your dad officially in now?"


    Daniel nodded. "He''s going to resign as a prosecutor next month and then officially become one of the Midwest Defenders six months after that. In the meantime, he''s been appearing with them a lot. Hopefully no one will make a connection."


    "That''ll be a change," I said.


    "And not all a good one. He''ll have to commute to Chicago every morning unless we move."


    "Is that likely?"


    Daniel shrugged. "I don''t know. He can fly there in thirty minutes. That''s probably a faster commute than if he were driving in Chicago. On the other hand, if he gets hurt Mom would have to drive for three hours to see him. And who would watch Grandpa while she''s gone?"


    Haley nodded. "I heard your grandpa wasn''t doing well. Is it Alzheimer''s?"


    Daniel hesitated before speaking. Then, "Probably. It''s a little hard to tell sometimes. For a while there he was ranting on and on about Red Lightning and his army and that we needed to tell the Rocket. We put that down to Alzheimers, but bearing in mind everything that''s happened since... I don''t know. It might be something unique to his ability to sense the future. Anyway, here we''ve got to keep him at home, but my mom can''t handle that forever. Chicago might have people around who can stop an Alzheimer''s patient capable of telekinetically lifting fifty tons."


    I felt weird thinking about it. Daniel and I had known each other practically since birth.


    "It won''t be that bad," Daniel said. "We don''t know if we''re going yet and we''ll both be in college anyway. If we both go to Grand Lake U., it really won''t matter."


    "True."


    "Well," Daniel said, "I really ought to go myself. I still have some homework tonight."


    Then he spoke directly into my mind.


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    +++


    Daniel: Also, Haley wants to talk to you alone.


    Me: About what?


    Daniel: None of my business, but it won''t be too bad -- unless you really screw it up.


    +++


    Aloud, he said, "See you."


    We said good-bye, and he turned and walked to the elevator.


    Then we stood there quietly for a moment.


    "Nick, can we talk?"


    "Sure."


    "Could you take off your helmet?"


    Once Cassie had started with the debriefing, I lost my chance to shower and take off my armor.


    I removed my helmet.


    "You didn''t have to get between me and Payback. I knew what he was going to do."


    "I didn''t want you to get hurt."


    "Nick, I dodged him twice before you got there. I could have kept it up."


    "I --"


    I tried to think of what to say next.


    "Travis does crap like that all the time. I don''t need protection any more than you do."


    "What if --" I began, but then, thinking better of it, I started again. "I''m sorry. I didn''t know it bothered you. I''ll stop."


    In my head, I made a special exception for situations she really couldn''t get out of herself.


    For few moments, neither of us said anything.


    She looked up at me. "Do you have any homework left? I''m done with mine. I could stay for a little while."


    "I''m free. What do you want to do?"


    "We could just sit and talk."


    We got out of our costumes, waited while the other showered, and finally sat next to each other in chairs, talking and sometimes holding hands.


    Not for the first time, I thought that HQ desperately needed a couch. Only by the most desperate stretch of the imagination could HQ be considered romantic. Between the dust, awards, cardboard boxes, failed inventions, and trophies snatched from supervillians'' headquarters, it still reminded me more of a storage room.


    On the other hand, it was private.


    We stayed there for two hours, the big wall screen flickering. Local, hourly news didn''t show more than the shortest clips of the fight -- Jaclyn punching Spike into the building, and Sean bashing Spike and Skewer against each other in the air.


    I''d set the sound low, and we didn''t pay much attention to it.


    The two hour mark found Haley on my lap which wasn''t a bad thing, but she was heavier than she looked. Whatever substance her bones and muscles were made out of had to be remarkably light by comparison to its strength, but not by comparison to normal people.


    My legs felt a little uncomfortable, but not painfully so, and it might have been the chair. It wasn''t made to hold two.


    It felt good to have her near me anyway.


    We were kissing when the words "Incoming Call" followed by the FBI symbol and "Superhuman Affairs Branch" floated across the screen.


    We stopped.


    I considered ignoring it, but she''d already gotten off my lap.


    I reached out to the mouse, clicked, and accepted the call.


    Isaac''s face appeared on the screen. He wasn''t in his office.


    He stood in front of a concrete wall next to a pile of wooden crates, his face mostly in shadow. In the background, people shouted and I heard the annoying beep and diesel roar of something big backing up.


    Over the noise he said, "Hey, I hear you just had some help. Tell me about it."


    Haley and I did, including where Sean had gotten the drugs.


    "His grandfather was part of Red Lightning''s crew and his dad keeps power juice at home?" Isaac shook his head. "I shouldn''t have asked. This opens up a whole new can of worms."


    "Are you going to take him in?" Haley didn''t sound vengeful, just concerned.


    "The most I can do right now is question him. The juice isn''t illegal yet. Yet. The way I understand it, it''s about to become a controlled substance."


    Isaac paused. "Unfortunately I can''t act under the law we will have, just the ones we''ve got. Why do you care?"


    "Sean''s sister Sydney is nice. I was just wondering."


    Isaac nodded. "OK. Well, I''ve got to go. We''re wrapping up here."


    Someone shouted, and then the wall screen''s picture twisted, changing to a blurry view of a fork lift and more crates while Isaac said, "Give me a second!"


    In a seasickness inducing move, the view changed back. Isaac''s face appeared again. "One more thing. Nick, you''ve got lipstick on your nose."

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 1

    In fairness to Sean, he didn''t try to claim credit for taking them out. He didn''t have to. The cameras lied.


    Good visuals are crack for news crews. Explaining that Daniel mentally blasted Spike and Skewer into unconsciousness is hard to show on screen. Bashing them together in the air looked great even if it didn''t do anything to them.


    Not that Sean got all the credit. Punching people into walls also made for great footage -- as did shots of Jaclyn and I shattering the ice around us, or Vaughn blasting Payback with a lightning bolt.


    Cassie and Haley barely appeared except on those stations that ran the fight straight through.


    Another reason Sean got more public exposure had to be his completely public identity. News crews stopped by his house after the fight. He must have done five interviews that night.


    All of which meant that by the time school came around the next day, everyone had heard his side of the story and wanted more.


    Crowds surrounded him at lunch and in the hallways between classes. It seemed like I could hear his voice everywhere I went.


    Stuck behind the cluster of people surrounding him, I had no choice but listen while he recounted what happened the night before. Echoing what he''d said in more than one interview he said, "I don''t really believe in secret identities. Heroes ought to say who they are instead of being anonymous. We should have to follow the same rules as everyone else. That''s the great thing about the juice. It allows anyone to be a superhero, not just an elite few."


    And that, of course, was total garbage. Whether ten thousand people have powers or thirty thousand, it''s still a vanishingly small percentage of six billion.


    The people around him lapped it up. Sean didn''t even get that kind of attention before he got kicked off the basketball team.


    For me, it made for a long day.


    Whether or not it was true, I felt like half of the school was watching me. Everyone knew about our fight.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    During lunch, I thought I heard someone wonder what Sean was going to do about me now.


    I wondered myself.


    I didn''t worry to the point of being constantly distracted in class, but it passed through my mind.


    When the bell rang at three, I walked to my locker with relief. With the school day over, my life was my own -- except that it wasn''t really. I had to go to Lee''s studio so that the new League could learn to create organized mayhem instead of disorganized mayhem.


    While I started putting my books into my backpack, I heard a relaxed, low voice next to me say, "Nick, let''s talk."


    Dayton leaned on a locker just to my right. Flecks of rust and tan paint fell on to his blue letter jacket and from there to the floor.


    I stood eye level with his shoulder. His biceps were almost as thick as my thighs. I''d successfully taken him down last time, but I didn''t feel like testing if I could go two for two.


    I looked up toward his face. "Hi."


    "So... uh... You''ve been training in the martial arts, right?"


    Trying to figure out where this was going, I said, "Yeah."


    Dayton gave a nod and a small smile. "I noticed that when you... beat all three of us. What style do you use?"


    "No style. Have you ever heard of Jeet Kune Do?"


    Dayton shook his head.


    "That''s Bruce Lee''s style. It''s not the one I''m learning, but it''s similar because like Jeet Kune Do, it''s not a style. It''s just a philosophy. My teacher''s way of thinking is that you take anything that works."


    Including automatic weapons, but I didn''t mention that.


    "Got it," Dayton said. "I''m looking for something like that. You didn''t see it on TV, but I was at that fight with Sean and the Heroes League. When I take the juice, I''ve got total control of my body and total access to all my memories. So if I watch a martial arts movie, I can do anything they did, but only until the juice wears off. I''m thinking that if I train in some martial art, I''ll be able to pull stuff out of my brain that I never even knew I learned."


    That sounded possible.


    "I go to the Grand Lake Martial Arts Academy, but you probably won''t get my teacher. He''s a jazz musician, so he spends a lot of time touring."


    That''s what the bio on the Academy''s website said anyway. It left out the possibility that Lee might be a dragon, supernatural horror or lost god.


    "Are the other teachers good?"


    "I don''t know. I''ve only worked with him. If you don''t like the other guys though, there''s a bunch of studios in town."


    "Right, I should look around. Man, it would be a much cooler power if all of the benefits didn''t fade after a couple hours."


    With the hall now mostly empty, Sean, finally alone, walked up and stood next to him.


    "Dayton, we''ve got to go."


    He looked down at me. "Nick, if you''re wondering what I''m going to do next, forget it. It was one stupid fight. I''ve got bigger things to worry about now."


    The lockers rattled as they walked away.

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 2

    "So you just told him?" Jaclyn didn''t seem to be able to contain her disbelief.


    "It''s not like I invited him to train with us," I said. "I just told him the same thing I''ve always told anyone curious about who I''m taking martial arts from."


    "It''s not that bad," Haley said. "Of all Sean''s friends, Dayton''s the only one who''s actually nice."


    We stood in an old, empty warehouse downtown -- concrete floor, brick walls, and fluorescent lights that flickered constantly. Except for the section with the office, the ceiling rose two stories high.


    All of us were in costume, but, I had my helmet off so I could get a drink of water. The helmet had a thin mask under it. Sometimes Grandpa had needed to eat in costume.


    As Lee requested, all nine of us were all there -- including my sister Rachel who had taken her last exam and gotten back from the University of Michigan just that day.


    While we took a break, Lee said, "For the last half of class we''re going to start fighting in groups."


    "We already fight in groups," Vaughn said.


    As everybody turned to look at him, he said, "What? We do." The straps and rings on his costume bumped against each other as he looked over the group.


    "You need to learn to fight as a group," Lee said. "Right now you''re fighting next to each other. It''s not the same thing. That''s why I''m breaking you up into small groups. Rocket and Accelerando, you''re together. Storm King and Mystic, you too. Night Cat, Night Wolf and Captain Commando, over there... Shift, and Ghost, over there..."


    Haley raised her hand, "Do I have to be with my brother?"


    Travis raised an eyebrow, but sounded amused as he said. "What''s wrong with that?"


    Lee just said, "Yes."


    From the other side of the group, Rachel waved her hand. "Why are Shift and I together? He''s a shapeshifter, I walk through walls." Marcus, who had been talking with Vaughn looked like he was wondering too.


    "Figure you''re more similar to each other than to anyone else. Any more questions?"


    Lee took a couple steps, stopping in the middle of all of us.


    "Here''s what you''ve got. You''ve got two fast, armored hand to hand fighters, two people who are better off attacking from a distance, three people who excel at hand to hand, and two people with weird, but useful abilities. We''re going to play full contact capture the flag. What I want you to do is come up with strategies and tactics that use your group''s strengths."


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    So that''s what we did for the next hour. Lee swapped groups within each team, making sure that each of the small groups had a turn together. At first, whichever team had Rachel and Marcus won automatically. She''d turn invisible and intangible, grab one of the towels Lee had designated a flag, disappear, and reappear back on their side of the room. Even worse, Lee teamed Rachel and Marcus with Vaughn and Daniel once, which meant that not only could Daniel grab the flag''s location from our minds, and direct Rachel to it, but Vaughn rolled a fog into their half of the floor, allowing Marcus to hide, and making it impossible to search their side without being jumped.


    That wasn''t fun at all, but then Lee changed it to "Capture the Chair," and allowed us to use every floor of the building. That''s when it became a challenge for everyone. Rachel couldn''t turn a chair intangible, and Daniel''s range couldn''t cover the entire building.


    By the time we were done, I felt like I''d learned a lot. Having Vaughn fill a room with fog worked great -- especially if Daniel guided Jaclyn and I through it at a couple hundred miles per hour. People didn''t get in our way -- especially when Vaughn cleared the path with lightning.


    I also learned that fog didn''t stop Travis and Haley at all. While Haley wasn''t quite strong enough to hold the Rocket suit in place, Travis could.


    At the end, we sat down on the concrete floor, everybody but Cassie completely tired out. Even Cassie seemed a little tired.


    "That''s what I was looking for." Lee said. "You''re beginning to work with each other, and you''re beginning to look at people''s powers strategically. We''re going to focus on that for a while."


    * * *


    Everyone changed back into clothes and showered at HQ.


    Rachel and I ended up waiting for everyone else to go so I could turn off the lights. We walked together as I checked on the hangar, the storage rooms, the lab and the tunnels.


    "Something''s on your mind," Rachel said.


    "It''s Sean." I said.


    I shut the door next to the main door to the hangar.


    Rachel nodded. "Sean who dated Haley last summer, and, whose ass you kicked in February?"


    "Right."


    "Is that the Sean whose face was all over the news a couple days ago?"


    "Yeah."


    I turned off a few more lights and we took the elevator up to Grandpa''s house. We walked out of Grandpa''s workroom, down the hall and into the living room.


    "It looks so bare," Rachel said.


    I''d gotten the house in Grandpa''s will, but the family split up the possessions. Now the furniture amounted to a couple chairs and a ten year old television set in the living room. When Grandpa and Grandma were alive, photos of all their children and grandchildren hung on the walls. They were gone now.


    I locked the door and we stepped out of the house. It was lighter than I''d expected though not as light as it would be during the summer.


    Time to get home and eat. I wondered if my parents were waiting for us or if Mom had put the food in the refrigerator.


    Rachel stood on the porch next to the swing. "So, what are you going to do about him?"


    "I don''t know. I''ve been thinking about bugging his house and finding out what he''s really up to."


    "Then do it."


    "He hasn''t done anything wrong."


    "I think Haley might disagree. After all that business with the fight, you might disagree."


    "I can''t go and bug people for personal reasons."


    "You know he''s a jerk normally. Now he''s got power. It sounds like a good enough reason to me."


    She looked down at the porch swing and gave the armrest a push. It swung a little.


    "Tell you what," she said. "I''ll float in and find out what''s going on."


    "I''d prefer to handle this myself."

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 3

    We pulled stir fry out of the refrigerator, heated it up, and ate. Afterward, I went upstairs to do homework while Rachel followed me upstairs and went into her own room. After an electronic crackle, I heard her play exercises on her guitar.


    I finished the calculus homework in an hour. Then I took another half hour to read a short story and wrote the answers to some questions about it.


    By that time, it was after nine.


    I pulled my guitar controller out from under the bed along with the utility belt, helmet, the backpack hiding the small rocketpack. I pulled the stealth suit, complete with the second layer of jacket and pants out of my closet and put everything on. Then I opened the window, removed the screen and climbed out, hanging on to the window ledge.


    I turned on the rocketpack, increasing the power slowly until I hovered in the air, leaving the window slightly open so I could get back in without drawing attention. I could have just let the block take care of distracting my parents, but better yet if no one had any reason to ask questions at all.


    As I began to fly away from the house, I felt something touch my leg, but I didn''t see anything. I decided it had to be a stray branch from the tree outside my window. It would be easy to miss something like that in the dark.


    I flew to the Drucker''s house, crossing the city in a few minutes, and landing on their roof as quietly as I could.


    Worried that they might have heard me anyway, I lay down for a minute or so. Even the stealth suit''s rocketpack made some noise, and my feet had to have at least made the roof creak as I touched down.


    As I lay there with a cool wind crossing my body, thinking that I didn''t really like the slant of the roof, I heard Rachel''s voice say, "They''re not coming up, Nick."


    I looked around for her for a moment before realizing that she had to be invisible.


    "How did you get here?"


    "Your leg."


    Phasing in enough to grab things while still being intangible had to be one of Rachel and my grandmother''s better tricks.


    "I thought I felt something. Why did you come along?"


    "It sounded like more fun than sitting at home alone."


    I sat up and pulled the the roachbot controller off my belt and opened my pouch. I sent the roachbots down to infiltrate the house, find people and broadcast back their conversation.


    Rachel turned visible next to me. She wore street clothes -- black jeans and a long sleeved black shirt. She looked a little under-dressed for sitting on top of houses, but at least she would blend in.


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    As the swarm of small, black, pseudo bugs crawled down the roof, she said, "Creepy. Yours or Grandpa''s?"


    "Mostly Grandpa''s, with some modifications to update the technology."


    I flipped through broadcasts from the bots, watching for a view from inside the house.


    It took a few minutes.


    "They don''t move very quickly do they?" Rachel leaned over as I switched from one view of the roof to another. "I''m going in."


    I didn''t even have time say anything as she faded out and started sinking into the roof.


    The screen on the controller flickered. The roachbots had made it inside.


    Static broke up the pictures and some details were hard to make out, but I could tell the Druckers shared my mom''s mania for cleaning the house. Nothing looked out of place.


    It was impressive, considering the size of the house. While not the size of some of the McMansions built in the suburbs, the three story Victorian had a lot of space. Not that it looked much like a Victorian inside. Victorian houses tended to have a lot of small rooms. They''d opened up most of the first floor, leaving the detailed woodwork, but carpeting over sections of the wooden floor.


    The bots sent back images, and I noticed a girl from school sitting at the kitchen table doing homework. Haley had said that Sean had a sister named Sydney. Now that I knew what to look for, I could see the resemblance.


    A woman stood in the room just off the kitchen, talking on the phone. I could see her resemblance to Sean more obviously than his sister''s.


    She looked tired, and possibly a little angry.


    "I don''t care who you are, I''m still not bringing him to the phone." She clicked a button and hung up.


    It started to ring again. She checked the caller ID, but didn''t pick the phone up.


    I flipped the roachbots'' viewpoints.


    None of them had found Sean yet, but they didn''t crawl very quickly either.


    I waited for a few more minutes. I''d set the roachbots to search for heat and noise. About ten minutes later, the screen changed to a view of a unfinished room in the basement.


    Sean stood in front of his father amid plastic vats that I assumed had to be full of power juice and a couple shelves worth of tools. More tools hung on the wall.


    Mr. Drucker looked a lot like Sean. Both had blond hair, but his dad had a broader face. Their builds were almost exactly the same -- tall -- like a lot of basketball players. His dad had more of a belly, but didn''t look overweight. He wore a blue suit, but held the jacket as he leaned against the tool bench.


    "Dammit, Sean. What were you thinking? Do you want to draw the Cabal''s attention?"


    "Dad, everybody and their dog can make it now. It''s not going to give us away."


    Mr. Drucker shook his head. "You don''t fucking get it. We''re not hiding from the Cabal because we know about the juice. We''re hiding because when they want people to join up, they don''t take no for an answer. They kill you, and use your family for breeding."


    "Dad, the Cabal''s dead. The League took them down here and other heroes destroyed them all across the country. They''re nothing anymore."


    Judging from the way Mr. Drucker''s teeth clenched together and his hands gripped the edge of the tool bench, he didn''t agree. "You can''t know that! No one knows how long they''ve been around. I don''t think a bunch of kids could find them all. The original League never caught your grandparents."


    He seemed to be barely controlling his anger.


    Then with a loud grunt or a small yell, he turned around and slammed his fist against the tool bench. "I can''t believe you''ve been so stupid!"


    Sean flinched as if he expected to be hit himself.


    Turning back toward Sean, he stopped midway, staring upward, directly into the screen.


    He''d seen the roachbot.


    I pressed the self-destruct for that unit, and sent the others the evacuate order.

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 4

    I flipped through the roachbot''s viewpoints, watching them scuttle up walls, through windows to the outside, or into vents.


    I had a brief moment where I thought that the best thing I could do would be self-destruct all of them, but I''d just made them last fall. I didn''t want to do it all over again.


    I waited on the top of the roof.


    Silently, Rachel faded into view next to me. "They both chugged some juice and they''re coming outside. We''d better go -- unless you want to fight them."


    "I don''t want to leave the bots."


    "They''re just stupid machines."


    "Just give me a second and they''ll all be here."


    A few were already crawling back into the pouch.


    Rachel''s expression fell somewhere between amusement and irritation. "I''ll watch for him. If he gets up here before you go, you can explain why you''re on top of the house."


    She turned invisible and I heard her scramble up the roof to look over the peak.


    From below, a door opened and Sean''s father said, "What the hell are you thinking?"


    Rachel snorted as if she were trying to keep back a laugh. "Oh my god... Nick you have to see this. He should call himself Shovelman."


    I left the pouch on the roof for the bots, and crawled toward Rachel''s voice till I reached the peak of the roof.


    Sean floated upward. If he were just floating that would be one thing, but he was sitting on the metal blade of a snow shovel.


    "Um... yeah. It reminds me of the Quidditch scenes in Harry Potter... only dumb... I wonder..."


    I thought of Dayton''s flying car... Of Sean bashing the two metal members of Blood Money together... The lockers rattling as he walked away... I''d assumed he had telekinesis like Daniel, but no. Sean controlled magnetic forces.


    I couldn''t think of any power that would screw me over more if we ever went up against each other. What was I supposed to do, hunt him down in a loincloth while armed with a rubber band gun?


    Unasked for, ideas about how to design a more powerful rubber band gun popped into my mind.


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    Sean kept on rising. If he happened to turn around and look at his house, he''d see me. He''d see the stealth suit''s helmet, not my face, but I didn''t want to explain why the Rocket was bugging his house either.


    I dropped flat to the roof, and tried think of a way to make him go downward without revealing myself.


    I had an idea.


    Changing the voice settings to a deeper, harsher voice, I readied one of the sonics'' better samples.


    Pointing my arm toward the garage door across the street, I narrowcast my voice. "We''ve got him," I shouted, and then started in with the sound of automatic weapons fire. With any luck, the sounds would disperse after hitting the garage door, making it sound as if the noise came from that direction.


    Grandpa had used that trick during the war, mostly when he''d been sneaking into buildings.


    After all he''d done with them, it surprised me how little I''d gotten out of the sonics'' more subtle abilities.


    Sean turned in the direction of the noise, watching the darkness near the garage.


    Annoyingly, he still didn''t descend, and I still had roachbots crawling up toward the pouch.


    Maybe he thought he could stop the bullets with this mind, or, maybe he hadn''t been fooled.


    Out of the darkness of the roof, Rachel''s voice said, "Give me a second."


    Seconds later, the left side of the shovel''s blade dipped downward, nearly pitching Sean off. He swore and hung on to the wooden handle as the blade leveled off again.


    Then the end of the handle moved straight upward.


    He pulled himself closer to the handle and righted the shovel. While he struggled, I threw my voice again. "Make your TK useful, Wilson! Knock him off."


    Reflecting on it, I thought I sounded kind of like a cartoon military character, but whatever. I followed it up with more sampled gunfire and the sound of ricochets.


    Sean dove toward the lawn.


    "Get in here," his father yelled.


    The door slammed shut -- a good thing. I''d been worried that his father would figure it out.


    * * *


    Sean seemed a little nervous the next day at school.


    People in Mr. Beacham''s class asked whether he thought Sean''s very public identity was better for society than a secret identity. Mr. Beacham glanced over at Sean and said, "If it were me, I''d be a little frightened that people could find my house in the telephone book."


    Sean didn''t say anything.


    I don''t know if people were just bored of the topic or put off by Sean''s mood, but not as many people were hanging around with him. There were still people walking up to him and asking about the fight two days before. A short freshman in the hall outside Mr. Beacham''s class even wanted him to autograph a copy of the Grand Lake Sentinel. Tangling with Spike and Skewer''s gang in combination with all the issues surrounding the super juice had made the front page yesterday.


    Sean looked flattered as he signed it, but lapsed into silence as the guy walked away.


    I walked around him on my way out of the classroom, watching him out of the corner of my eye.


    On my way to the next class, it struck me that we might have even done Sean a service by going over there. If he wanted to use his abilities, he needed to start analyzing what he was doing. Hanging the air after you hear gunfire was not a good idea even if you''ve theoretically got the ability to stop bullets.


    Too bad for him that he didn''t have someone like Lee around. A good teacher could make all the difference in the world.


    Not that I really wanted him to get better, but I didn''t want him to die uselessly.

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 5

    As crazy as it sounds, part of the reason people might not have been paying quite as much attention to Sean was that there were other things to think about. For example, prom was that Friday. The administration had been talking about canceling it after everything that happened with Keith''s accident, the massive number of reporters, and the abduction of Keith''s uncle, but somehow they didn''t.


    What this meant on a practical level was that I still had to go. Not that that was all bad, but I was going to not one, but two proms.


    Late in February, I realized that if I didn''t ask Haley to prom, I''d be guilty of criminal girlfriend neglect. I''d skipped prom last year, partly out of lack of interest, partly because I didn''t have a date, and didn''t feel like hanging around everybody I normally ate lunch with only in a tuxedo.


    When you''re dating someone, you pretty much have to go.


    So, one night when Haley and I were sitting together in League HQ, I asked her.


    "Yes," she said. She smiled at me and said, "Will you go to mine?"


    I didn''t say anything for a moment.


    She frowned. "You don''t have to go."


    "I''m not saying no. I''ll go, but... what if they''re on the same day?"


    "They''re not. I checked. Mine''s the week after yours."


    "Ok. Let''s go."


    So yeah, two proms.


    By the time I made it to lunch, I found Chris Cannon sitting with Keith and Courtney. Next to them, Andy, Mike and Kyle were misquoting scenes from Monty Python and cracking themselves up. They were sitting at one of the round tables in the short end of the L-shaped cafeteria.


    Noticing Keith, I said, "I thought you were in the hospital."


    "I got better."


    In the background, Andy said, "She turned me into a newt!"


    Ignoring them, I put my tray on the table and sat down.


    Courtney leaned over the table and said, "After his uncle got away from the kidnappers, he brewed up a new batch of juice. Keith transformed and when Keith turned back, he wasn''t hurt anymore."


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    "Actually," Keith said, "I''m still a little sore, but I''m getting better."


    "No you''re not. You''ll be stone dead in a moment." Mike said.


    Kyle snorted and said, "But I''m not dead!" in a bad British accent.


    I liked Monty Python, but there was a limit. Really, there was. For me, the limit was if I couldn''t conduct a conversation, they were quoting it too much.


    "How''s your uncle doing?"


    Keith seemed surprisingly untroubled by anything that had happened. "He''s doing great. No thanks to Sean. From what my uncle said, Sean didn''t do squat, really. The Heroes League did everything."


    "Really?"


    "No doubt, but from what he said, it could have gone either way."


    While it was nice to know that everybody didn''t worship Sean, I struggled to think of ways to change the subject.


    Nothing came to mind.


    "Hey Nick, are these seats taken?" Cassie''s voice knocked me out of my indecision.


    "No."


    Kayla and Cassie sat down next to each other. Vaughn squeezed in between them and me.


    Andy, Mike and Kyle stopped quoting Monty Python. Keith looked over at the group of them and said, "Uh... hi."


    And blushed.


    Courtney smiled a little, but didn''t say anything.


    So yeah, awkward. Between Cassie and Kayla, you had the better players in half Central High''s girls sports teams. Andy, Mike, Kyle, Courtney, Keith and Chris represented the core of Science Olympiad and Debate.


    Basically all they had in common was me, which is to say, nothing.


    Well, Vaughn and Chris could have compared notes about being grandchildren of major supervillains, but Chris didn''t know that. I wondered if Man-machine ever worked with Red Lightning, and decided to look it up sometime.


    Cassie smiled and said, "Hi everybody."


    Kayla''s expression said, "Why am I here?"


    On my left, Chris muttered, "Does she have enough food?"


    Cassie''s tray held her normal amount of food -- about three times as much as anybody else.


    Taking in the table, Vaughn said, "So what''s everyone doing for prom?"


    Keith said, "Courtney and I are going." He looked over at Courtney. "I''ll be more talkative than last year''s date."


    Last year Courtney and a friend of hers had each bought tickets for two, and brought along human sized puppets. Courtney''s had been a moose.


    "I don''t know," Courtney said, "Hector was quite the conversationalist, but alas, he couldn''t come this year. The principal''s prejudiced against puppets."


    People laughed.


    Rules for buying tickets to this year''s prom had included, "Couple''s tickets may only be bought for two human beings. No animals (living or stuffed) will be allowed inside."


    Andy said, "I like how they included the ''living or stuffed'' part. Just to make sure someone didn''t bring their dog."


    Cassie nudged Kayla. "Poor you. You can''t bring your horse."


    Kayla smiled without enthusiasm, and poked at the lasagna with her fork.


    Mike picked up his dinner roll and took a bite. Then he said, "Hey Keith, someone told me that Logan Prescott''s going to be bringing that power juice stuff to prom. You know anything about that?"


    Keith shook his head. "Nothing. Vaughn, do you?"


    If Vaughn felt annoyed about becoming the table''s resident druggie, he didn''t show it.


    "I''m out of touch these days," Vaughn said, "but it wouldn''t surprise me. Logan always went for the new stuff."

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 6

    Talk turned back to who people were going to the prom with. Vaughn and Cassie were both going, but not with each other. Kayla either wasn''t going or didn''t have a date. Either way, she didn''t want to talk about it. I didn''t hear what the rest of the guys were doing, but maybe they didn''t say.


    When Keith heard I was going with Haley, he said, "You should go to a restaurant with Courtney and I before prom."


    I glanced over at Courtney, hoping that she might look a little bothered by the idea, but she said, "That would be fun. We''ve barely seen you this year, and we''d love to meet Haley."


    "I''ll talk to her and ask what she thinks."


    I ended up leaving the cafeteria with Chris Cannon and followed the crowds toward classes.


    "Get this," he said as we walked down the hall and then up the stairs, "Sean asked me to make him some armor. People must have heard that I''d gotten a lot of my grandfather''s equipment back."


    "What did you say?"


    "I''m not going to help that jerk out. If I''m going to construct powered armor, it''s going to be for me."


    He looked around, checking if anyone was close.


    "They didn''t get all of my grandfather''s designs. He told me about a compartment where he''d hidden the new ones."


    That''s what I needed. In addition to drug addicts with powers, why not have Chris Cannon running around in the new and improved version of Man-machine''s armor?


    Checking around me, I said, "I bet the FBI would notice if you put together a Man-machine suit."


    He shook his head. "Of course they would. They''d probably figure out a way to charge me too."


    We stopped at his locker for a moment.


    He pulled out a few books and a notebook and turned to me. "Here''s what I should do. Grandpa had all kinds of escape pods in his armor over the years. I should build a costume around that. Kind of like how the Rocket has that stripped down version of his suit? The one with the laser guitar?"


    "Yeah. I know what you''re talking about, but don''t you think they''d notice that too?"


    "No. He made a separate cache of that stuff. The FBI never found it."


    "Wow."


    "Yeah, wow. You want to help me put together some of it? I could use the help."


    I stood there for a moment, then said, "Sure. When?"


    * * *


    I didn''t go over to Chris'' house after school. We decided next week would be better. After school, I went home, did homework, picked up the tuxedo from the shop I''d rented it from, and went over to League HQ after supper.


    Haley called me on break from work, and I explained why.


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    "Did you ever watch ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer?'' People die at dances. I''m trying to figure out what I can bring along that''ll allow me to stop somebody, but also won''t make it very obvious that I did it, because it''s not like I''ll have the chance to change."


    In the background, someone asked, "Got a light."


    "Sorry, no," Haley said.


    To me she said, "Just a second."


    A few moments later she said, "I had to move."


    She didn''t say anything for a second. Then, "My costume won''t fit under my dress."


    "It''s okay. I can''t bring much either. You could leave it in the car, or maybe a backpack?"


    "I don''t want to bring a backpack."


    "Right. Do you think we could get away with bringing your grandfather''s car?"


    "Oh, let''s do it. The car changes color. Turn it red and no one will know."


    She paused for a moment. "But I really wish we didn''t have to bring anything."


    We talked about a few other things after that like eating with Courtney and Keith beforehand. To my surprise, Haley sounded interested.


    "That sounds fun. I''d like to meet friends of yours who aren''t... you know..."


    Would she be meeting friends? I wasn''t exactly sure what I''d call Keith. We were both interested in in superheroes and we talked about that. We had a kind of rivalry when it came to grades. I didn''t care about what his were, but he really wanted to beat mine. Outside of that, I didn''t seek him out.


    We hung up later when she said, "I''ve got to go. Break''s over. I''ll see you tomorrow."


    That left me sitting alone among the memorabilia and dustbunnies in League HQ, wondering what tech to bring along to prom. I turned on the SuperTV channel and sent the signal to the big screen on the wall, not for any useful reason, but mostly because I could. Then I pulled up an inventory of the League''s possessions.


    I ruled out using anything recovered from magical villains on general principle. That kind of stuff tended to turn the user evil, or crazy, or leave them possessed by an evil, crazy spirit from beyond the grave. And anyway, we didn''t have the good stuff.


    In terms of major items, we had the broken wand of the Super-Sorcerer, but, I didn''t know how to repair it. We also had the melted ring of the Evil Beatnik. In theory, I could have recast it, but it''d probably just cause him to come back more powerful and less square than ever.


    I looked through the technological items. We had more variety there, but the variety turned out to be a variety of partially broken ray guns -- nothing subtle and nothing that I could trust.


    I''d have to use my own stuff.


    Of course, maybe I was looking at the problem the wrong way. Maybe the question I should be answering wasn''t, "How can I act without revealing myself?" but, "How can I get away and change into costume?"


    As I thought about that, I became aware of what was on the screen at SuperTV.


    They showed a big fight in Los Angeles. I saw the South California Defenders fighting armored people that I guessed might be Syndicate L. Though they carried guns, they also appeared to be powered. Laser eye blasts took out one of the Defenders flying personnel carriers. Meanwhile, Alex, Jenny and Brooke fought alongside Raptor, Alex'' father (Preserver), and Technomage.


    The picture faded out, leaving a journalist saying, "Syndicate L appears to be supplying power juice to its people. We''ve got Dr. Randy Henson here to answer some questions about that and what the government''s report means. Dr. Henson, knowing how rare people with the potential to use the power juice are, where are they getting them from?"


    "That''s a good question, but an easy one to answer. In addition to the government''s information on how to construct the power juice, the report also contained a list of cities the United States where people with powers tend to cluster. Now obviously that includes large cities, particularly New York and Los Angeles, but surprisingly, it also includes a few small towns scattered across the country. The government tracked down the genealogy of a number of the people who they caught working for the Cabal after the Heroes League exposed them last fall. Even more interesting is that they tracked the ancestry of the people in the small towns there to some very specific and very isolated small towns in Europe. It looks for all the world like a breeding program that''s been going on for more than four hundred years."


    They went on to discuss it further, but I stopped listening.


    Not that it wasn''t interesting. It was. It just didn''t surprise me. Red Lightning had taken the juice''s formula from the Cabal. Why couldn''t he take their breeding program as well?


    Anyway, I''d had an idea. Two actually. One had to do with the roachbots. The other had to do with Night Wolf''s car.

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 7

    If worst came to worst, Haley or I could summon her grandfather''s car. The only bad point would be the intervening walls. If we didn''t care about the property damage, the car would come right to us and we could get in and change -- or just use the car to take out the problem.


    If I wanted to use the roachbots, I''d need to modify them a little more, but the flying ones would definitely be useful as a distraction.


    I thought a little more and one of the most obvious ideas ever came to mind. Four of us would be there. If we combined our efforts. we could get a lot more done.


    I called Cassie, figuring that she tended to stay up late anyway, and that she''d at least have a chance of answering her phone.


    Even though it was a few minutes after ten, she picked up.


    "Calling on the League line?" She asked.


    "I didn''t think to block Caller ID. Actually I should just make that the default."


    "Whatever. Too late now. What''s up?"


    "I thought we might want to coordinate if something happens at prom."


    "I was going to talk with you about that at lunch... And then you left with Chris Cannon. You know he''s Man-machine''s grandson, right?"


    "It''s hard to forget."


    "What were you talking about anyway?"


    "He''s interested in putting together a new suit based on technology his grandfather hid from the FBI."


    "Are you helping him?"


    "Well... It''s better than being surprised."


    "What are you planning to do if he figures out who you are?"


    I thought about it for a moment. Assuming that he didn''t go the way his grandfather did, it would be better to let him know from the beginning. That way he wouldn''t think I''d just been spying on him. Grandpa had told me the story of how he first fought Man-machine, but I didn''t remember it. I heard it when I was a little kid, and so what impressed me most about the story was that Grandpa had gotten a dog out of it.


    He''d loved the dog. I''d run across its collar in League HQ just recently.


    From the other side of the phone, Cassie said, "Nick? Hello?"


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    "I don''t know what I''ll do. I''m hoping he won''t."


    "Well, think about it. For now, let''s plan for tomorrow."


    "That''s why I called. Did you come up with something?"


    "Vaughn and I had a few ideas. We could have him flood the room with fog while we change into costume, and you''ll have the stealth suit along, right?"


    "Right."


    "Order people out with the sonics."


    We discussed other possibilities for half an hour before we hung up.


    * * *


    I pulled into Haley''s family''s driveway around four-thirty in the afternoon. We planned to be at the restaurant around five, and to prom by seven-thirty.


    I''d set the color of Night Wolf''s car to red, making it look like a normal ''64 Stingray. Knowledgeable observers might notice unusual details, but not many. I''d darkened the windows so they couldn''t see the inside.


    I tried to remember the last time I''d been there, and didn''t come up with anything because I hadn''t. When I was a kid, and my grandparents occasionally picked Haley and Travis up, they''d lived in another house.


    Now they lived close to the edge of the city limits in a new development. No houses seemed to have less than three car garages or two stories. Their house was no different -- and I really mean no different at all -- just bigger and longer than most. Not that they all looked alike, but the neighborhood''s houses did look like they''d all been designed by the same architect, and then mixed and matched so that it was less obvious that they were all variations on the same three or four designs.


    Haley''s family''s was brick. The neighbors had vinyl siding, but they all had arches above the front door (and pillars alongside it) that reached the second story.


    However redundant its design, the front door opened and Haley stepped out just as I stopped in the driveway.


    She wore a knee length, green, strapless dress. I could see why she''d said she couldn''t fit a costume under it.


    I stepped out of the car, taking her corsage with me.


    She walked down the steps and down to the walk before I even made it off the driveway.


    "Nick, you look great. I like it when you dress up."


    "Thanks." I felt like I should be saying something similar, but what exactly? I thought she looked great too, but if I said that, I''d just be repeating her. I could have said that she looked attractive except that "attractive" sounded like something from a catalog. The dress looked elegant, but, she looked too happy for me to say she looked elegant. And how interesting was any dress really? I wanted to say something nice about her.


    "Nick?"


    "Sorry. I was... just looking at you."


    She blushed a little.


    Assuming that I''d said something right, I decided to move on before she noticed how much I sucked at this sort of thing.


    Holding up the corsage, I said, "I''m supposed to put this on you, right?"


    "I can help if you want..."


    "Don''t worry about it. I''ll be fine."


    Immediately I noticed a problem. I''d assumed that I was supposed to pin the flower arrangement to the strap of her dress -- except this dress didn''t have straps. On the bright side, it was basically an engineering problem. I had to figure out a way to attach the corsage without groping her breast or stabbing her with the pin.


    After a false start, I managed to get the pin through the dress, the wrapped stems, and then the dress again. It would have been near impossible if the dress had been cut lower.


    We went to the car, and I opened the door for her. I never did that normally, but it seemed like the right thing to do.


    When we were both in the car, she said, "Where are we meeting your friends?"


    "Keith and Courtney? I know how to get there, but I don''t remember the name. It''s not Italian though. Can you imagine ending up at one of your family''s places?"


    She grinned. "It''s happened. I think I spent more time talking to the wait staff than my date."

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 8

    Restaurants ran down both sides of Jefferson Street, most of them chains. Scattered among the McDonalds, Burger Kings, CVS Pharmacies, and gas stations were local businesses.


    As we neared the restaurant, Haley stopped talking and asked, "What kind of restaurant was it?"


    "Basically fine dining. A steak house, I think."


    Off to the right I saw the building, a long building, decorated to suggested a cabin in the woods -- fake wooden logs for the walls, a big, glowing sign that said "Grand Lake Steak and Fine Dining" next to a picture of a buck.


    I turned the car into the parking lot.


    "Oh, this ought to be interesting," she said.


    "Why?"


    "It''s one of ours."


    "I thought your family only did Italian food."


    "We just bought this one a month ago. They were in a lot of trouble, and the owner offered to my dad for low price, and he''s always wanted a location in this part of town, so..."


    "Well, it''s not like they''ll know you then."


    She laughed. "I wish. No, Dad went here once and thought the service was horrible. He sent in people to change the kitchen''s system, and retrain the wait staff. I helped with the wait staff."


    I parked the car. We got out and began to cross the parking lot. It was about half full.


    "Well, if you do end up talking to the staff, I won''t be bothered."


    She snorted. "I don''t think you have to worry about that. They hate me."


    I put my hand on the door handle and held it open for her. "Why?"


    "I''m the daughter of the guy who might fire everybody, and I''m here to tell them how to do their jobs."


    We stepped inside. Instead of chairs, the waiting area had benches made out fake logs, but no one was sitting on them.


    A blond girl a little taller than Haley stood behind hostess stand. I guessed she might be a little older than we were. She wore the restaurant''s uniform, a white shirt and green skirt, and looked familiar.


    "Gloria!" Haley said.


    They hugged briefly.


    "Nick, this is my cousin Gloria. She was at the Christmas party. Her sister works at your school."


    "You mean Ms. D''Onofrio? You look a lot alike."


    "People say that a lot. I really don''t see it. Are the two of you with the other couple here for prom?"


    When we said yes, she led us to the table. While we were walking, Haley said, "How are things going?"


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    "Slow, but it''s only five. If you''re talking about the staff -- better than last week."


    It looked different in the dining area than I''d expected. The fake logs made the place look a little cheesy, but inside, the interior designer had gone for elegance -- tablecloths, portraits, dark wall hangings, candles at the tables, and golden light fixtures. Classical music played in the background, and the few people in the restaurant wore suits or dresses. No one I saw wore jeans.


    Gloria brought us to Keith and Courtney''s table, handed us menus, and said, "Your server will be with you in a moment."


    Haley looked up at her. "Who?"


    Gloria said, "Your favorite," and left before Haley could say anything else.


    Leaning close to me, Haley said, "That doesn''t sound good."


    Keith and Courtney had a corner table, giving a view of Jefferson street on one side and the neighboring Taco Bell through the other window.


    I introduced Haley to them and as I did, noticed that Courtney looked different. For one thing, she looked tanned. For another, she seemed thinner. She''d never been grossly overweight, but didn''t look overweight at all at that moment. She wasn''t wearing a dress that would hide it either.


    Both Keith and Courtney laughed as I stopped to look at her.


    In a low voice, Courtney said, "I can change my body at will."


    "How much?"


    "I can''t turn into animals, but as long as I look human, I can change anything else -- eyes, skin, hair..."


    Her hand turned darker until it was a very dark brown and then faded back to almost her normal color.


    "Wow. Can you do anything else?"


    "I can make myself stronger or weaker or faster by changing shape, but not superhero strong. Despite what he thinks," she nudged Keith, "I''m not going to run out and stop muggers. Can you imagine it?"


    "You''d have a easier time with a secret identity than most. You could change into a guy."


    Haley gave me a look.


    "I''m not saying she should."


    Courtney said, "I''m not tempted at all. Don''t get me wrong. I like heroes. I''ve followed Guardian and the Midwest Defenders all my life, but there''s fantasy and reality. Not everybody becomes a big name. A lot of people die."


    Keith picked up a piece of bread from the middle of the table and started to butter it. "I think she should. She could sneak into anywhere."


    Courtney said, "It''s not going to happen, hon."


    Honestly, it was like they''d been married for thirty years or something.


    The waitress came up just then. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties.


    "Are you ready to order?" Then in a voice that sounded like it was supposed to be friendly, but, just wasn''t quite, "Oh, hi Haley."


    "Hi Tracy." Haley''s voice had almost exactly the same tone.


    "We''re ready," Keith said. "They just got here."


    "I know what''s on the menu," Haley said.


    I picked up my menu. "Go ahead, just ask me last."


    They ordered. Keith ordered prime rib. Courtney ordered chicken marsala. Haley ordered steak.


    "I''d like it very rare." Haley said. "Seared on the outside, but that''s all."


    I read the menu while she finished ordering and finally said, "I''ll have the New York Peppersteak. Medium rare."


    As Tracy left with our order, Haley said, "I caught her stealing desserts at one of our other restaurants and they fired her, and put her on our blacklist."


    "Why is she here then?"


    "They hired her before we bought it, and she hasn''t done anything wrong."


    To Keith and Courtney, I said, "Haley''s family owns a bunch of Italian restaurants in town."


    Tracy came back with the appetizer, some kind of cheese plate, and we talked. It went well. Keith and Courtney asked Haley about her family''s restaurants. We all talked about where we planned to go to college.


    On the whole it went better than I''d have expected, given that Keith was capable of talking about superheroes for hours (he didn''t), and Haley definitely wouldn''t want to.


    Then Tracy came out with the tray of food, giving Haley her plate last, and leaving for the kitchen.


    My steak smelled great. I had my fork and knife in my hands and had begun to cut when Haley said, "Nick, there''s something wrong."


    Her steak seemed normal to me. It had been lightly seared on the top, barely cooked, but that''s what she''d asked for.


    She stuck her fork into the meat and pulled it up, away from the plate.


    The bottom had been completely blackened.


    "I can''t believe this."


    She stood up, taking the plate with her.


    I watched her turn toward the kitchen and begin to walk. "What are you going to do?"


    "I don''t know, but I don''t think it''s going to win me any friends."

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 9

    Haley crossed the floor and stepped into the kitchen, the door swaying back and forth after she passed through.


    Even as she passed out of sight, a rusty, white Ford Taurus raced through the parking lot, barely stopping before turning on to Jefferson Street. I couldn''t be sure, but I thought I saw our waitress in the driver''s seat.


    Though I couldn''t understand her words, I could hear Haley''s voice. She wasn''t shouting, but she wasn''t making an effort to keep the volume down either.


    Gloria walked away from the waitress stand, across the back of the restaurant, and into the kitchen.


    It got a little quieter. I could still hear voices from the kitchen, but not as well.


    Keith shook his head. "What a crazy couple weeks this has been."


    Courtney nodded.


    Minutes later, Haley came back to the table without her plate.


    "I''m sorry," she said, "I''m not trying to mess up everyone''s night. They''re making me another steak. It won''t be long, but don''t wait for me."


    "I wasn''t," Keith said, and continued eating.


    Courtney watched him for a second, and shook her head.


    Keith''s mild rudeness didn''t seem to make any impression on Haley though. She kept on talking. "The cook said that that''s how the order came in -- very rare, but burned black on the bottom. He thought it was weird, but he''d seen weirder so he just did it. I don''t understand Tracy''s problem. We were going to keep her as long as she stayed out of trouble. It''s so stupid."


    "I don''t know if it was her," I said, "but someone raced out of the parking lot when you went back."


    "It had to be her." Haley looked out the window. "I couldn''t find her anywhere."


    "Sounds like she wanted to go out in a blaze of jerkiness," Keith said.


    * * *


    Haley seemed to be in a better mood by the time we started driving to the prom, not maybe as good a mood as she had been in before supper, but better than when her first steak arrived.


    It didn''t take long to get to the high school.


    We arrived around 7:30 pm, more or less when everybody else did.


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    A line of limousines blocked the right side of the road and we waited while they let people off in front of the school. When the limo just in front of me moved toward the curb, I was finally able to get around it and turn into our parking lot.


    I got out of the car and passed around the back, intending to open her door for her if she wanted me to, but she opened it herself. She frowned as she put her foot down in the dirt and gravel.


    "If I''d thought about you being in high heels, I''d have let you off at the curb."


    Haley sighed. "Well, it''s too late now."


    "At least it hasn''t rained. Then it''s one big puddle."


    She joined me and we walked together between the rows of cars.


    "I''m surprised they''ve never paved it. Ten years ago, we got a whole new high school. It seems unfair."


    Limousines and students'' cars rolled into the lot, and passed us as we followed other students out, and across the street.


    We weren''t close enough for anyone to overhear so I leaned closer to Haley, and said, "I brought one of your costumes just in case."


    "I saw it in the back next to the guitar. Thanks, but I hope we don''t have to use it."


    We walked up the stairs to the entrance of the school. A few people stood while others took pictures of them. I found it funny to imagine anyone taking pictures of themselves walking into school.


    "I don''t think I''ve ever been in your school," Haley said.


    "I don''t think you''re going to be impressed."


    A banner hanging from the ceiling proclaimed, "Welcome to Central High."


    Under it four juniors whose names I didn''t know sat at a long folding table. I signed the two of us in, and we walked into the gym.


    I wasn''t completely sure what the theme was, but they''d decorated the place like London in the late 1800''s. Paper with paintings of London landmarks covered the walls. Scattered around the sides of the gym were standalone buildings. Big Ben rose most of the way to the ceiling. The majority of the gym looked like a park, but with fake gaslit streetlights.


    "It looks nice. Who did it?"


    "The junior class, their parents, and anyone standing too close to the gym. Our class did it last year. Everyone got to submit theme ideas. They didn''t use either of mine."


    "What did you suggest?"


    "Zombie apocalypse and Soylent Green."


    Haley smiled a little. "I can''t imagine why. What did they choose?"


    "Not sure, but they decorated the place like Washington D.C., because, you know, nothing says romance like Congress."


    "Hold still," someone said. "Smile."


    The path we were on went through a gazebo next to a fake pond. Just on the other side stood a photographer. I was willing to bet we could order extra prints afterward if we wanted them.


    We posed, and after a moment we could go. We took a few steps down the path, but found ourselves stopped behind a cluster of people talking. Most of the guys were members of the basketball team.


    One of them turned around. I recognized him -- Logan. Despite what Vaughn had said, Logan didn''t look like a druggie. About my height, he looked clean cut, and good looking.


    "Haley! I didn''t expect to see you here. Not after you and Sean broke up. How are you doing?"


    "I''m doing great. Do you know Nick?"


    He looked at me for a second. "I''m sure I should. You go here, right?"


    "Right."


    If we''d ever talked, I didn''t remember it.


    Logan tapped the girl next to him on the shoulder and she turned around. "Hey Melanie, Haley''s here. And this is her date."


    Melanie had long hair that was blond to the point of being white, pale skin, stood a couple inches taller than Logan, and had a very vacant expression. The slit in the front of her red dress ran down to her belly button.


    Not recognizing her from school, I speculated that she might have met him as result of a shared interest in methamphetamines. I didn''t say it out loud.


    She tilted her head, blinked and said, "Your mind is like a carousel."

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 10

    "Um... Yeah?"


    Knowing that Daniel had a hard time reading my mind when I thought about technical problems, I thought about some ideas I had about redesigning Night Wolf''s car for more speed. Once I got going with that, I felt around mentally for a connection of some kind, especially inexpert mental touches.


    I knew what they felt like. Growing up with Daniel as a best friend, I''d spent a lot of time in his head as well as mine, and knew as much about telepathy as any non-telepath could. Even beyond working with Daniel, I''d had his younger brother and sister attempting to poke around in my head nearly every time I came over.


    Melanie barely touched my mind at all.


    Given that Daniel had set up a shield in my head that would shut off conscious access to everything but my martial arts training if someone deep probed me, this was probably a good thing. In theory, I''d be able to let my unconscious urges guide me through the situation, but the last time I''d let them do that, I''d punched the mayor in the face.


    Knowing that, I let myself loose on ways to redesign an engine for maximum power and fuel efficiency until I felt the touch withdraw.


    When I started paying attention again, I heard Logan saying, "Well, at least you got dinner. It took ages to get the two of us up here, and we skipped it. Hope they''ve got food."


    "What happened?" Haley asked.


    Logan shrugged. "I had to visit a couple people on the way. We came in just after you, I think. I thought it might be you, but you weren''t with Sean, so I didn''t know. Were you in the old Corvette?"


    I nodded.


    "That''s a cool car. Where''d you get that?"


    "I borrowed it." I said.


    Logan nodded. "I''d thought it might be Haley''s dad''s."


    "Why?"


    "My dad collects cars," Haley said.


    Should I have known that? I supposed that I should have guessed when I found out that he''d bought Haley''s mom a 70''s Trans Am.


    Melanie put her hand around Logan''s shoulders and leaned against him.


    I moved closer to Haley, made like I was looking at the people behind us and muttered, "She''s a telepath. We should get out of range."


    Then I turned my head back to them.


    Haley didn''t miss a beat. "There''s Vaughn. We should catch him before the dancing. Come on, Nick. Nice to see you again, Logan. Nice to meet you, Melanie!"


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    We cut across some of the fake grass alongside the path.


    Vaughn stood next to a lamppost in front of a building labeled 221B Baker Street, uncharacteristically alone. His tuxedo looked a little lumpy around the pockets.


    As we walked up to him, he said, "Brittany''s in the bathroom with Cassie. I think they''re talking about me."


    "Why?" I asked.


    "My guess? She was curious if I was still using, and thought Cassie would be the best person to ask."


    He didn''t say anything for a second and then asked, "So how''s Logan?"


    Haley gave a bleak look. "Reeking of power juice and alcohol. Melanie smells the same, but with perfume. And more deodorant. Also, she''s got a cat."


    "Here?" I looked over there. No cat in evidence, and really Melanie''s dress couldn''t hide anything.


    "Not here, silly," Haley said. "At home."


    I shrugged. "It''s not like we didn''t expect that he''d be drunk or high."


    "No, but I''d been hoping Logan might be doing better. Not all of Sean''s friends are jerks, Nick."


    I was still formulating a reply when Cassie and Brittany showed up.


    Cassie wore a blue dress that was less revealing than most. Her shoulders were covered, and the dress went straight down to her ankles though there were slits in the side that went fairly far up her legs. She''d had her hair cut short, around the jawline, which was better than the beginning of the year when she''d had a brush cut and wore a wig over it.


    Brittany walked directly to Vaughn and they left for the dance floor.


    According to school rumor, Brittany was far from a virgin and secretly had an abortion last year. Of course, according to school rumor, Cassie was a lesbian, and we had a thing for each other.


    So, yeah. School rumor clearly smoked crack. It also needed some education about the definition of "lesbian."


    "Where''s your date?" Haley asked.


    Cassie pointed at a cluster of people talking. "Paul''s over there. I should go find him before people start dancing, but are you guys prepared?"


    "For what?" Haley turned her head back to Cassie.


    "Alien invasions? Insane robots? Giant ants? I''ve got my costume on under the dress. Well, except for the legs and arms. See?"


    She pulled up the dress a little and I could see the blue of her costume through a slit. Then I looked away, hoping that no one was looking.


    "God, Nick, I''m not flashing you. Anyway, I couldn''t fit the utility belt under the dress, but I''ve taped my staff and a couple grenades to my legs."


    Music, and the sound of the DJ''s voice began to carry across the room.


    "Hey, gotta go." She left.


    As we followed everyone to the dance floor, Haley said, "I think she must have chosen that whole outfit to hide her costume. You weren''t expecting me to do that, were you?"


    "Would it matter if I did?"


    "No."


    Many people have written that you can''t tell a story about people having a good time. That''s true, because for the most part we had a good time dancing and there''s not much to say about it. I didn''t step on Haley''s feet very often, and if she did have to tell me how to dance sometimes, well, that wasn''t bad.


    Chaperones did have to tell a few people to stop dancing in ways that were a zipper short of sex, but that was par for the course at a dance.


    Problems didn''t start until we stopped dancing.


    I grabbed some punch from the table for the two of us, and noticed Logan grabbing a lot of food -- cake, and hors d¡¯oeuvres, frantically -- in amounts that I''d seen Cassie use. Melanie watched him, giggling.


    "Wow," I muttered.


    "I think we might need to do something," Haley said.


    One of the two chaperones serving the drinks began walking down the table toward him as he knocked a few plates off the table.


    A big guy, the chaperone put his hand on Logan''s arm and said, "I think you need to relax."


    Logan snarled at him.


    Then Logan changed, grew about two feet taller, adding fangs, fur, and claws. The tuxedo, needless to say, ripped in a lot of different places.


    Part of my mind ran through our options for stopping him before he did anything. Another part came up with an inappropriate song request for the DJ -- inappropriate in part because he was more giant man-ape than any kind of canine, but still...


    "Werewolves of London. Ahhwooooo..."

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 11

    The chaperone backed away from the table as Logan, now considerably furrier, looked at him as if he were the snack.


    A brush cut, blond guy I''d seen talking to Logan said, "Logan? Hey! Are you in there? Leave the guy alone."


    Joshua. That was the guy''s name.


    He pushed his way around the table, standing between Logan and the chaperone. If Joshua hoped to intimidate Logan, I couldn''t see how it would work. The guy stood only a few inches taller than Haley, and she was only five feet tall.


    He pulled a flask out of an inside pocket in his tuxedo jacket and chugged a few swallows.


    "I don''t really want to do this, but I will if you try to hurt anybody."


    Logan grunted and reached toward the chaperone with his claw.


    Joshua burst into flame, and Logan snatched his arm back to his chest, making a noise somewhere between a snarl and squeal of pain.


    Logan backed up a few steps, moving toward us, but not turning around.


    I slid my hand into my pocket and pulled out an electronic device that used to be a PSP (Playstation Portable).


    "The roachbots?" Haley said in a low voice.


    I had the car on standby, but I didn''t want to blow a hole in the wall of the gym unless I had to.


    I nodded as we backed away from Logan, the sounds of our footsteps covered by shouts and screams as people noticed what was happening.


    I clicked a few buttons, bringing the roachbots out of their own standby mode. It justified the bother of sneaking them in here in the first place.


    Joshua, meanwhile, kept on talking in a soothing voice despite the flames surrounding his body.


    Curiously, his tuxedo appeared to be unharmed.


    "Logan," he began, "nothing''s happened yet. Why don''t you just sit down someplace and turn back?"


    Still next to the table, Melanie, sounding like she was concentrating on something else said, "Logan, I see fire and water and blood."


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    Logan made a low moan that reminded me of Chewbacca more than anything else.


    On the bright side, maybe Haley and I wouldn''t have to do anything. Joshua seemed to be talking him down.


    Unfortunately, I''d left out the possibility that our school''s local superheroes would become involved. By that I don''t mean the League, I''m referring to Sean and friends.


    Sean, Dayton, and Jody walked out of the crowd on the dance floor, accompanied by Shannon, the barista at Solid Grounds, and her cousin Julie, the girl who''d emailed practically the whole school with pictures of Haley and I on a date.


    Sean walked up with the rest just behind him, reminding me of a Western. "I don''t know where you came from, monster, but you better not hurt anybody here."


    He looked over the shredded, ripped clothing on Logan''s changed body.


    "Nice tux."


    Logan turned toward Sean and screamed. Or maybe he roared. Something like that.


    At the same time, Joshua leaned forward, put his hand on the table with the punchbowl, and, shouted, "It''s not a monster, it''s Logan!"


    Unfortunately, Joshua must have forgotten that he was on fire. Thick, white paper had covered the top of the table and some kind of ruffled cloth went around it, hiding the legs.


    The paper and cloth both started burning.


    Logan leaped in the air, passing over Haley and I, and bounded toward Sean, claws outstretched, and mouth open. Wooden boards broke where he landed, but he barely noticed.


    I started thinking about what I''d have to do to get the roachbots between Logan and Sean when suddenly it didn''t matter. With a great clanking noise, folding chairs flew across the gym, and aimed themselves at Logan.


    It wasn''t the new chairs either.


    Sean had grabbed the really old, all metal chairs that they kept in the back of the gym for emergencies.


    I don''t know how many Sean sent at Logan, but it was impressive -- a dark cloud of chairs that blocked the ceiling lights.


    Logan jumped out of the way, twisting in the air to avoid them, knocking chairs out of the air with his arms.


    I didn''t get to follow exactly whether Logan made it to them because of one other detail. Haley and I were standing behind him. That meant the chairs that missed Logan flew directly at us.


    I barely registered the chairs flying at me before Haley grabbed my waist and jumped. She didn''t jump far, just ten feet avoided most of the barrage.


    Joshua didn''t get as lucky. Chairs hit the table, the punch bowl, and him, knocking him over. The table turned on its side and the punchbowl shattered.


    Then the gym''s sprinkler system went on. Water fell everywhere while the fire alarm started beeping.


    People began to run for the doors.


    Between the chairs and the water, Joshua''s flames had gone out and the chaperone pulled him to his feet and started carrying him out. The man stopped only as he noticed Haley and I.


    "Are you playing video games? Don''t just stand there, get out!"


    We looked at each other, and I was just about to ask Haley if she wanted to at least pretend to leave, but I got distracted.


    I''d just noticed what Logan had been doing in the meantime.


    Sean lay on the floor, his pants ripped, long, bloody claw marks on his right leg. A pile of folding chairs lay around him.


    Julie and Shannon tried to pull him up while Logan and Dayton traded blows nearby. Dayton seemed to be fast enough to dodge Logan''s claws, but not strong enough to really hurt him.


    Jody seemed to have the same problem only more quickly.


    Leaning forward to hide the PSP from the falling water, I aimed the roachbots toward Logan.


    Around the edges of the gym, fog began to form.

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 12

    The water didn''t help at all.


    Both Grandpa''s design and my redesign assumed that the flying bots would be operating outside and made them water resistant, but they were still small. Getting hit knocked them to one side or another, making the swarm move more slowly because of the constant course adjustments.


    That meant that they didn''t instantly leave the steel beams near the ceiling of the gym where I''d sent them earlier. It also meant that that Logan, Dayton, and Jody fought longer than they might have after I summoned the roachbots.


    That gave Jody time to try some different attacks -- a lot of them, actually, thanks to his speed.


    Though he moved too quickly for me to see details, he appeared to be punching Logan at first. After giving that up, he grabbed a chair (or so I guessed from the new, larger, and chair shaped blur), but Logan grabbed it away somehow, throwing it halfway across the gym.


    When Jody tried to grab Logan''s leg and yank him off balance, he sacrificed his major advantage (mobility), and Logan caught Jody''s shoulder, claws sinking through the tuxedo''s jacket.


    Jody screamed.


    Logan threw him aside, causing him to tumble into the middle of the dance floor.


    Jody managed to touch his hands to the floor, one at time as he flipped, gaining control of the momentum, and finally ending up with his feet on the floor. He ran for few steps, slowing himself down, then turned around and stopped. Pulling open his jacket, he looked at the front of his shirt, checking for damage.


    It wasn''t soaked with blood, but blood seeped around the holes Logan''s claws had made.


    While part of my mind noted that Jody''s speed ability must work differently from Jaclyn''s, my hands directed three of the flying roachbots into Logan''s face and set their self-destructs to explode.


    One of these days I would have to work weaponry into the bots'' design.


    The explosions caused Logan to back away from Dayton, howling and waving his arms wildly in the air. Unfortunately, Dayton chose that moment to attack, guessing that Logan would be distracted, and taking a punch directly to the solar plexus.


    He fell forward to the floor, gasping for breath.


    Logan bent down, mouth open, extending wider than I thought possible. I could only think that he intended to eat him, possibly to swallow him whole. Dayton tried to move. He started pulling himself up with his hands, but not quickly enough.


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    Next to him, Julie screamed, but not an uncontrolled scream. It had a queer tone to it that I could feel in my stomach. Though it had no words at first, it resolved into, "Stop!"


    Logan stopped just inches from ripping open Dayton''s stomach, but he wasn''t the only one. Everyone near them stopped.


    Honestly, I wanted to stop. Something in me needed to follow her order, and stand there forever.


    I ignored it, and took a step forward, mostly just to see if I could.


    Haley said, "Not her, too."


    I could only agree. I didn''t know what Julie had intended by passing along the picture of Haley and I together, but it felt hostile.


    On the other hand, if she stopped Logan now, I couldn''t complain.


    Motionless at first, with one claw on Dayton''s arm, Logan shook his head a few times and stared at Julie. Apparently, he didn''t have much mind to control at the moment. That, or she wasn''t very good at it yet.


    Julie started to run, but her red dress didn''t have much give around the legs. She could walk, but couldn''t get much of a stride.


    He rose, and made it to her in one step. Logan''s clawed hand went toward her throat, presumably to rip it out.


    It didn''t make it.


    Cassie''s staff got in the way. She''d taken off her dress at some point during the melee and stood there in the costume she''d hidden. The grenades had been taped to the back of her lower legs.


    Then she kicked him in his solar plexus.


    It didn''t take him out, but as he gasped for breath, she put her leg back on the floor and hit Logan in the face with the staff.


    He backed away, still trying to find his breath.


    She stepped toward him, aiming her staff at his right leg.


    He stepped backward again, dodging it, then turned around and ran.


    Toward us.


    Cassie followed him.


    Behind her, the fog expanded, causing Sean and his group to disappear into mist. Vaughn flew out of it after her, mask and costume on, tuxedo shed, wearing his utility belt, and carrying Cassie''s.


    Strangely enough, this was mostly according to plan, though "plan" sounded better than the reality. What Cassie and I had worked out over the phone had been a set of tactical guidelines that could be summarized as "Get the civilians out of the action, and herd the problem toward each other."


    Not knowing what the problem would be made it hard to come up with details.


    I set the rest of the roachbots in to dive bomb Logan while I pulled out my own copy of Cassie''s staff out of my pocket, extended it, and put away the PSP.


    The bots hit Logan in the back. He yelped as they exploded.


    Jumping away, he aimed at the only obvious target -- us.


    His leap probably would have allowed him to land on top of us except for the gust of wind that caught him mid way, blowing him over our heads, and slamming him into the wall behind us.


    Vaughn appeared to be following another one of our tactical guidelines. As Cassie put it, that would be, "No fucking lightning bolts in the gym."


    Logan fell twenty feet, but still wasn''t down for the count.


    He pulled himself up off the floor , growled, and threw what was left of the burned, smashed food table out the way.


    I readied my staff, waiting for his attack.


    Haley kicked off her shoes, allowing her hands and feet to turn into claws. Her teeth extended into fangs.


    Logan leapt at us again, landing directly in front of us thanks to another gust of wind that forced him down sooner than he planned.


    I got him in the head with the staff, but I don''t know how much good it did.


    Haley grabbed his right arm with her right hand and injected poison straight into his neck with her left.


    He struggled for a few seconds as it took effect, but between Cassie, Haley and I, we held him down.


    Eventually he went limp.

 Uncontrolled Substances: Part 13

    I''d gotten used to the aftermath of a fight. This one had the same components as the others -- curious bystanders, police, firemen, ambulances and the arrival of a "box," one of the vehicles specially created to contain supers.


    They took Logan away in it. He wasn''t doing much, but better safe than sorry, I supposed. Melanie wanted to follow, but the police took her home.


    The aftermath of that fight differed from most in that we weren''t in costume.


    Vaughn and Cassie disappeared into the fog while Haley and I ended up standing there.


    People swarmed in as the fog faded away, and everyone seemed to have questions. Haley and I followed the line we''d agreed to -- describe everything that happened, and just neglect to mention anything related to secret identities. Were the Heroes League here? Yes. Where did they go? I don''t know. They disappeared into the fog.


    That''s what we told the principal.


    Dr. Williams (doctorate in education) had walked in the moment the fog cleared with the paramedics and the police. Balding, and a little shorter than I was, he didn''t look impressive. He had to be in his sixties, had a bit of a belly, and wore glasses. His right foot dragged a little as he walked, and his green suit might have been as old as I was.


    At the same time, despite his body, he had walked directly to Haley and I, stopping only to inspect Logan as the box''s staff of metahuman specialists attached adjustable plastic and metal cuffs on his arms and legs.


    Dr. Williams listened to us describe what happened. "I wish you''d left with everyone else, but as long as you''re safe, we''ll just have to be grateful for that."


    "Yeah," Sean said, "and next time maybe you won''t play video games in the middle of a fight."


    Sean had walked up behind Dr. Williams. His leg bled, but apparently Logan had only left long scratches as opposed to ripping through the skin into muscle.


    The same couldn''t be said for Jody. Paramedics were already taking him away on a stretcher.


    Looking at Haley, Sean said, "At least I never brought video games to a dance."


    After seeing him lying on the floor, I''d been a little worried about him, but I felt less worried all the time.


    Dr. Williams looked up at him and his eyes narrowed. "Mr. Drucker, show courtesy to other students. Your abilities do not exempt you from that."


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    We didn''t get to talk much more. Police interviewed us. Then a couple FBI agents showed up, separated us from the rest of the crowd, and asked their own questions. I didn''t recognize them, but one of them pointedly mentioned Isaac Lim.


    By then reporters had began to show up, but we never got to talk to them.


    As the FBI agents led us away, I heard Sean saying to someone, "FBI? How does he rate that? He didn''t do anything."


    I didn''t hear the response.


    Eventually they let us leave.


    We walked out of the school, crossed the street, and sat down in the car. Most of the rest of the cars had left the parking lot already. Even the fire truck was gone.


    We sat there in the dark, without even the light of the dashboard, while other stragglers left the school.


    Haley broke the silence. "That was awful."


    She put her hand on my shoulder. "I''m not blaming you. I''m glad you invited me, but it was such a mess."


    "On the bright side, we won."


    Haley had a blank expression for a moment. Then, "But even there... Of all the people that we could have fought, why Logan? When Sean and I were dating, I didn''t like some of his friends. I mean, Jody should be locked up, but Logan was nice. He had his problems. I never saw him take drugs, even though I heard he was doing it. He treated people well, and he was funny, and today I had to poison him. Why did he have to turn into something that ate people?"


    "Well, at least it''s not addictive. Red Lightning''s version was, but the government''s version isn''t. So it''s not like he''s going to try again. I''d bet he barely remembers it afterward."


    Haley bit her lip. She took a breath. Then she spoke. "I don''t know what his transformation was like, but mine... It''s a rush. I''ve never taken drugs, but it must be a little like it. I don''t think I can describe how good it feels, or the smells or... I don''t know. I barely feel like myself."


    "So if his is like yours..."


    "Then it might be addictive. It isn''t for me, but I''ve been doing it all my life. Besides Grandpa supervised Travis and I, and we had the block. So we weren''t ever in a situation where the transformation had the chance to control us."


    I thought about it for a moment. "Well, if nothing else the police and the FBI know about him now. He''ll probably get some kind of supervision."


    "I hope so," she said.


    We sat in silence for a little while and I began to notice that the car was becoming colder.


    I pulled the keys out of my pocket. "Do you want to go home? There''s some kind of post-prom overnight thing that we could go to. I wasn''t planning on going, but I think we can just show up."


    "I''m sorry, Nick. I''m tired. I want to go home." She stopped and thought. "Is there any way we could stop at McDonald''s on the way? I''m also kind of hungry. It happens after I change."


    "I think there''s a Chinese buffet on Jefferson Street that''s open till two in the morning."


    "I could go for Chinese."


    I turned on the car and drove out of the parking lot, matching speed with traffic almost before I realized it. Reminding myself to be careful, I slowed down. If I hit somebody, we''d be fine, but the other car would be totaled.


    Glancing at the dashboard, I noted the array of buttons and the screen. I could have viewed our surroundings with the on-board radar, but I didn''t. It would have been too distracting anyway.


    Still, it felt good in that moment to be riding together at night in the car, its engine barely audible, and potentially faster than anything on the road.


    Another thought struck me, one that made me less happy. "What was Sean''s deal? The way he acted, you''d think I''d done something to him."


    "I don''t know what''s going on in Sean''s mind, but if I had to guess, I''d say that you were getting the attention that he thought he deserved."

 Rivalry: Part 1

    Hitting the Chinese buffet at eleven at night went better than any other part of the evening. I think we both felt a little weird going there in the same clothes we wore to the prom, but we didn''t have anything to change into but our costumes.


    So yeah, we were overdressed.


    On the whole though, it went better than any other part of the night -- no burnt food, no bloodthirsty maniacs, just the two of us.


    The next few days were surreal. I got called back both by the police and FBI for details. Haley did too. My dad, a psychologist who specialized in children and teenagers, got called all weekend by parents who wanted advice. Even more called his office.


    And then there was the media.


    If you were hoping to get completely sensationalized coverage of the event, you couldn''t come up with anything better. People freak out about drugs, threats to their children, and celebrities. So what we had was a teenager, driven crazy by drugs, and turned into a slavering, man-eating ape-thing. Then we had the Heroes League (us!), teenage descendants of well known heroes, stopping him, and disappearing before the police arrived.


    The only way it could have pushed more buttons would have been by bringing in racism or terrorists.


    Compound that with the on-going national "discussion" (if by discussion, you mean shouting matches on talk shows) about power juice, the social implications of it getting out, the effects on international security of "rogue" countries having more metahumans in their armed forces, the continuing search for the person who leaked the material, and we got a media circus.


    Again.


    The only reason it wasn''t even worse was because Grand Lake wasn''t the only place with problems -- just the most visible.


    I barely watched the news, and even I''d heard about some talk radio host who''d been quoted as saying people should be tested for powers, and quarantined if they had the potential. Almost everyone thought he was a nutjob, but he wasn''t the only nutjob getting quoted in the media.


    Meanwhile, our home phone got more than its share of reporters calling. Isaac Lim had advised me not to do any interviews, and to my parents'' relief, I didn''t.


    That didn''t stop reporters from calling my dad though. Local stations called partly because he''d written about teenagers and post traumatic stress disorder, and partly because he was my dad. National programs called because their local representatives had seen him on TV in Grand Lake. Most of them used it as a route to asking about me, but enough of them actually talked about PTSD that he did several interviews anyway.


    On Tuesday, in the middle of all that, I met Chris Cannon, and rode with him in his Honda Civic to his grandparents'' house -- sort of.


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    Technically we never entered his grandparents'' house. Chris parked one street over in the same subdivision. The houses had as much character as the houses near Haley''s -- big, new homes that were almost indistinguishable.


    We walked across the lawn between two houses that differed from each other only because one had a pool, crossing into Chris'' grandparents'' backyard.


    Chris'' grandmother lived in a hundred year old, white farmhouse, the kind with two stories and a wide, wrap-around porch. A large, red, storage shed, or possibly a small barn, stood on the edge of the property.


    "Over here," Chris said.


    He opened the door and we stepped inside.


    The storage shed held exactly what I would have expected to find -- a riding lawn mower, rakes, shovels, a trimmer, bags of fertilizer and grass seeds.


    Chris walked over to the far wall, touched something I didn''t notice, and a section of the wall slid sideways, opening into a dark room.


    "Fake wall," Chris said.


    When we stepped inside, the door closed. Chris touched another button, and the floor moved downward.


    It didn''t take long before we stopped and the door opened into Man-machine''s lair. I recognized it from the time Isaac had summoned me to watch the FBI as they took possession of the lab.


    It reminded me of Heroes League HQ -- just smaller and less cluttered. It had the same concrete walls and industrial power outlets. I also recognized the machines, and the same tools.


    The pictures of my grandfather and the analysis of the various Rocket suits weren''t on the wall any more though.


    "I still can''t believe they gave anything back," I said.


    Chris shrugged. "Neither can I. Grandpa had good lawyers, I guess, but not good enough to get him off."


    "I guess not."


    Chris led me to the back of the room. "Watch this."


    He rested his hand on a spot of concrete about the height of his head. The wall moved, opening into a room that hadn''t been visible when I came here with Isaac.


    It held sheets of metal, wires, half-finished versions of the Man-machine armor, costumes, and devices I didn''t remember ever hearing that Man-machine used -- probably backups in case the armor got destroyed.


    "What we were talking about before," Chris said, "was to put together something from the escape suits. Still think that looks good?"


    "I won''t know till we''ve gone through this stuff."


    We spent the next thirty minutes going over what we had. Because it had all been meant for escape, we had an easy time finding light armor and things that would move quickly away. Finding something with offensive capabilities turned out to be harder.


    Both of us were looking down at a black, ball-shaped pod. We''d found it near the back.


    "Well," I said, "I think we can rule this out for sure. Unless you want your only ability to be the power of rolling away quickly. Still, I bet we could work weapons into it. I''m just not sure how."


    "Right," Chris said, "and I could call myself the Eight Ball or something. Let''s look at the other stuff."


    A little bit later we did find equipment with potential -- an exoskeleton that looked like it had been optimized for running, and a bunch of light generating equipment. In addition to huge, hulking powered armor, light had been Man-machine''s thing, just like my grandfather''s had been sound.


    "Now this we can work with, I think." I picked up a laser rod and its backpack. "We''ll want to attach this to the right arm of the exoskeleton so you don''t have to constantly pull it off a belt, and maybe we could attach that stuff under the other hand." I pointed at the rest of the pile.


    "Also, the mechanism surrounding the feet on the exoskeleton. That''s not going to stand up to repeated use, but I bet we could substitute in the boots from the regular Man-machine armor and maybe its power source."


    Chris looked everything over. "Let''s go with it."

 Rivalry: Part 2

    We worked better together than separately.


    We''d noticed this before. During my sophomore and junior year, we''d collaborated on projects for Science Olympiad. Design came most naturally to me. The details of working came most naturally to him. We could both do both, but if we got stuck on how to fit a bunch of wires through a small space he came up with the solution more quickly than I did. By contrast, I typically came up with simpler, more elegant designs.


    I say typically, because in this case I was more familiar with the tools, whereas Chris had clearly been looking over his grandfather''s designs, and knew how they worked.


    It still felt like Science Olympiad though. When I was a sophomore and he was a freshman, he''d been assigned to my project. Even three years later, he still let me be the final word on the major design decisions, just like I let him be the final word on the process of putting things together.


    All that being said, we both gave each other a lot of suggestions -- which was good, because I''d always thought he was just as good at this as I was.


    On the whole, I enjoyed it. I''d decided not to do Science Olympiad this last year because I just didn''t have time. In that moment, I regretted it. I''d missed the collaboration.


    One thing that made it particularly interesting was comparing Chris'' and my grandfather''s design philosophies. My grandfather had constructed the Rocket suit knowing that he would have to operate far behind enemy lines, and might not be able to refuel. He''d designed the Rocket suit to amplify his own force, and recharge the batteries using his movement.


    Man-machine''s powered armor had been designed postwar with the assumption that a way to refuel and repair would be nearby. Man-Machine''s suits had been larger, stronger, and faster on the ground, their force generated by machines instead of the wearer''s own motion.


    At least that''s the general difference in theory. In practice it became muddier. They''d both analyzed shattered versions of each other''s armor after fights, and that left a mark on their own designs.


    Everything felt familiar, but a little bit off.


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    All the same, it didn''t take us long to put things together -- two hours at most.


    Chris put the exoskeleton on over a green costume. Whoever had made it, the costume seemed to be similar to the stealth suit -- good for bullets, but not too much more than that. The exoskeleton completely covered his lower arms, legs and back in a metallic gray, but left his chest unprotected except for a strip across his upper chest and shoulders. The mask that went with it provided night vision, targeting, and protection.


    "Is it comfortable?" I asked.


    "It kicks ass."


    He dashed to the far side of his grandfather''s lab. Empty except for the machines we''d been using, he had the space. The suit seemed to have been designed for a maximum speed of two hundred miles per hour. Jaclyn, and probably Jody too, could run several times that fast, but it was quick enough for a human with a normal reaction speed.


    He ran back to me and stopped.


    "The boots rock. They don''t feel like add-ons. I think we''re ready for the next step. We ought to test them outside."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah. They work great in here."


    "Sure. Let''s do it. Um... Before we do though, I''m curious as to why you want to put a suit together anyway?"


    He stood for a moment, thinking.


    "This sounds crazy, but I didn''t think about it. I just wanted to do something with the gear. I mean, what would you do if your grandpa left you something like this?"


    "I''m sure I''d figure out a way to play with it, but from the news, you''d think that everyone instantly picks a side and starts fighting."


    Chris pulled up his mask. "Yeah. Fuck that. I don''t have a burning need to bring anybody to justice, and I''m not going to take on the Rocket in his memory."


    "I didn''t expect you would, but why not?"


    "Besides the other eight people on his team? Grandpa isn''t someone I''d go out of my way to avenge. He was a jerk. At family gatherings he''d usually start shouting, and disappear. Except for my dad, no one stayed in Grand Lake. The family didn''t go into business with him. Mostly people went there to see Grandma."


    "Seriously? How''d you learn about all this then?"


    Chris smiled. "Well, that''s the crazy part. After he got caught, tried, and sentenced, he became less of an asshole. Don''t know what his deal was, but now he''s talking about being Man-machine, and he''s in a better mood."


    "So he just volunteered that the FBI had missed some stuff?"


    "He hinted at it when I brought Grandma to visit him in prison one weekend."


    "What does she think?"


    Chris put the mask back on. "She doesn''t know. That''s why we didn''t park in front of her house. You want to watch me test this thing?"


    "I''m not going to see much. If it''s as fast as it looks, you''re just going to disappear."


    "You''re right. Hey, we should work something up for you too. Then you could follow along."


    I thought about it. It would be cool, but, I said, "I don''t want to put you to any trouble. Do you think the ball still works? I could try to follow you in that."

 Rivalry: Part 3

    I ran the ball up and down the room a couple times before I felt comfortable with the controls. We''d had to charge the batteries. Even though they charged relatively quickly, they only made it halfway before we gave up on waiting.


    Chris clicked a button, opening a tunnel that led to the surface. Just like the Heroes League''s tunnels, it had concrete walls. Chris ran out first, the machines that powered his legs giving him a massive stride. The clipped sound of his footfalls echoed in the tunnel.


    I followed, listening to the hum of the ball''s engine, rolling straight up the tunnel after him.


    The ball''s controls weren''t much different from a car''s. It had a steering wheel, accelerator pedal and brakes. The dashboard looked a little different from most cars. The readouts were LED''s, glowing red, probably with the intention of saving the driver''s night vision.


    I''d been wrong to believe it didn''t have weapons. It had a laser and the paralysis weapons that the Executioner and Syndicate L''s people had when I fought them in Los Angeles.


    The crosshairs of the targeting system glowed slightly on the windshield. I couldn''t find the button to turn it off, though I could find the joystick that moved it.


    We came out of the tunnel in the middle of a forest. I didn''t get a good look at the building we came out of, but I got the impression of a barn.


    I heard rather than saw the door shut behind us.


    Following Chris, I went down a dirt road for little while. Then we turned on to a country road.


    While we could have gone toward Chris'' grandmother''s house in the suburbs, we didn''t. We traveled in the other direction -- away from Grand Lake. Two story houses on big lots shared the landscape with forest, corn fields, and rows of blueberry bushes.


    Chris made good time. The ball''s speedometer showed 90 mph. I noted that the speedometer had space for four digits, and wondered if the first one was just for decoration.


    It didn''t take Chris long to find the entrance to the freeway. I followed him up the entrance ramp and onto the road.


    When we''d talked about it beforehand, I''d been against using the freeway, remembering what happened when Cassie and I took Night Wolf''s car out for the first time, but he pointed out that the country roads nearby weren''t built for speed.


    The ball didn''t have any problem keeping up with him.


    This far out of Grand Lake, the traffic had thinned out, and Chris had no trouble finding space on the road. He ran off to the side once when cars blocked both lanes.


    I followed, nearly losing control as the ball rolled off the edge into the grass.


    Managing somehow to avoid bouncing off into a field, I rolled back into a lane.


    Soon after that we both hit 150 mph and kept on accelerating.


    About the time we hit 190 mph, we passed a highway patrol car like it was standing still.


    The lights and siren went on, but the car couldn''t move quickly enough to catch us.


    I pressed down on the gas pedal (electric pedal?) and widened the distance. Then I came up even with Chris. I managed to get the PA system going and said, "Maybe we ought to turn around."


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    Through the sound of the wind, Chris said, "There?" He pointed ahead.


    We were coming up on one of those dirt connections between the lanes on freeways, the ones with "Authorized Vehicles Only" signs.


    We decided we were authorized, and turned.


    As we accelerated onto the northbound lane, I wondered if we should have stopped. Most police were understanding when supers did things like this. If we explained ourselves...


    Chris got ahead of me, moving in front of a semi and a couple cars. I decided I''d better catch up when my key chain beeped. I dug in my pocket and pulled my keys out. When we''d chosen League alert/homing devices, I''d chosen a 1950''s stylized rocket ship that attached to a key chain. The cockpit blinked yellow.


    It didn''t take much to guess what had happened. We''d passed the cop so quickly that couldn''t ever catch up. He''d called it in. The police called League HQ and someone was actually there.


    I wondered who, and if I should call to tell them not to worry.


    Calling someone while driving wasn''t ever a great idea, and calling while driving at three times the speed limit seemed even worse.


    I stuffed my keys back into my pocket, noticing suddenly that I''d missed the exit near Chris'' grandmother''s house. In fact, I''d missed three after that. If I stayed on the highway much longer without turning around, I''d end up downtown.


    Annoyingly, the freeway had gotten more crowded the nearer to downtown I''d gotten. It was 6:16. People were still leaving work, or going out to eat.


    I decided to look for a way to get off the freeway.


    The cars didn''t make it easier, but the ball was ridiculously agile. With the ball''s speed and acceleration, I could make it into any gap I saw.


    I rolled off to the right side of the road, passed three cars, and rolled back into the right lane. Then I rolled left, passing into the left lane, and out to the other side of the road. I passed several cars on that side of the road before getting back into the left lane.


    A space opened up on my right. I moved the ball into it, getting off at an exit near downtown. Then I followed the road left, crossing under the freeway and getting on via the entrance ramp for the southbound lane.


    Surprisingly, the southbound lane didn''t have quite as many cars as the northbound, and I merged with traffic.


    Not long after that, Jaclyn, her legs a blur of purple, knocked on the window.


    The ball wobbled.


    "You in there, stop before I stop you."


    Forgetting that she couldn''t see inside, I waved at her. Then I turned on the PA.


    "Accelerando. It''s the Rocket."


    She stared at the ball.


    "Prove it."


    I pulled my keys out of my pocket, placed them on my lap, and sent everybody a green.


    The League communication unit on Jaclyn''s utility belt changed from blinking yellow to green.


    "Rocket, you need to get this thing off the streets. You have no idea how much trouble you''re in."


    "Trouble?"


    "Can you follow me back to HQ, or do I need to carry it?"


    "It''s not mine. I can''t steal it."


    "We don''t have time to talk. Follow me back."


    I followed her. It was easier than normal. She stayed under 200 mph most of the time, and the ball didn''t have any trouble keeping up.


    We entered HQ through the hidden entrance in Veterans Memorial Park -- not the one in the forest, the hidden vehicle entrance that Larry uses when he brings the Rhinomobile. We followed the rangers access trail through the park until we got up to a hill. The side of the hill next to the trail was nothing but big slab of rock.


    Jaclyn said the password, and the slab opened into the elevator that led into HQ''s hangar where we kept all our vehicles -- Cassie''s motorcycle, the jet, a rack of small rocketpacks, and some of the larger versions of the Rocket suit...


    When the elevator door opened, I drove in, dodging the racks of gear, tools for maintenance, and spare parts, parking it next to Night Wolf''s car, and clicking on the button that caused the parking gear to slide out. Then I opened the top.


    "So," I said, "what''s up with this thing?"


    Jaclyn threw her hands up in the air. "I don''t know. All I got from the cops was a team of villains called the Maniacs used it in a summer crime spree about fifteen years ago. The rest of them got caught. They never found this. Where did you get it?"


    "Uh... Man-machine''s stuff. I was going through it with Chris Cannon."


    "He was the other guy? Van Kley wasn''t sure if you were with him or trying to kill him."


    She stared at me. "Wait a second, where did he get that stuff? The FBI didn''t give it back to him, did they?"


    "No. His grandpa had a secret compartment."


    "Great. So now he''s armed too. Is he with Sean''s people? Wait... Does he know who you are?"


    "No and no. I think he''ll be okay. He just wants to play with the technology."


    "Oh, and there''s no way that could go horribly wrong. Don''t take this badly, Nick, but for all the talk about power juice, I think you inventor types are the scary people around here."

 Rivalry: Part 4

    It was the first time I could think of that Jaclyn got involved in a case. She''d always had a kind of "take it or leave it" approach to the Heroes League since we''d reformed. For this, she took the same approach she took toward homework -- focus.


    Within half an hour, we knew who the Maniacs were, and what they''d been doing for the last fifteen years. With a of couple exceptions, they''d been in jail. Jack Maniac and Christine Maniac apparently still robbed banks together. Jason and Chucky Maniac were in jail. Freddy had died.


    "The names are all from 80''s horror movies?" Jaclyn said. "I get Freddy, and Jason, but where did Jack come from?"


    "Nicholson, maybe?" I looked up from the monitor, and Double V''s entry on the Maniacs. "I don''t know what the name of the guy he played in ''The Shining'' was, but Jack Nicholson''s pretty scary by himself."


    Looking back at the screen, I continued to read. It hadn''t been a power heavy group. They appeared to be mostly dependent on gadgets -- the ball, paralysis rays, light power armor, a couple mechs, and some disturbing looking knives. The equipment list sounded a lot like what we faced with Syndicate L. I wondered if they''d gotten preliminary versions of the same stuff, or if one of them had created it.


    The connection with Man-machine didn''t seem obvious.


    The ball had disappeared near the end of the summer crime spree. Double V''s online database didn''t have anything about it, but had a lot of coverage of the Maniacs'' final battle as a group. Some guy who called himself Justice Fiend took them out in a three day battle that leveled a couple buildings in Louisville, Kentucky. I vaguely remembered that he was a big deal in the 90''s.


    In the end, the police accounted for most of the Maniacs'' loot and equipment. They never found the ball though.


    Jaclyn looked up from her terminal. "Did you find anything that would explain why Man-machine had it?"


    "No."


    "Me neither. We should ask Isaac to arrange a visit with him."


    "We could. Do you want to call him?"


    "I''m allowed to? It seems like you''re the only one he talks to."


    "Not intentionally."


    I sent her an email with his contact information. Then we left, both of us hurrying to our homes for supper.


    She probably made it on time.


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    I arrived after everyone else had finished, escaping a tongue lashing only by saying, "Superhero stuff." After that, both my parents went on as if nothing had gone wrong.


    My dad blinked for a second and looked confused, but my mom kept on talking to Rachel about places she might find a summer job.


    After supper, I did homework. Through the wall, I could hear Rachel practice her guitar and sometimes talk to people on her phone.


    I did the calculus on autopilot, read a chapter in my physics textbook, and then a few chapters in Charles Dickens'' "A Tale of Two Cities."


    Occasionally I stopped and thought about the ball, wishing that I''d had the chance to start testing how the paralysis rays worked. Understanding them would be great, but I''d be happy if I could just figure out a good way to shield against them.


    I speculated how they might work several different times before I finished reading, probably doubling the time it should have taken, and finally gave up on the physics. I knew it anyway. I just had to familiarize myself with the equations they wanted me to use for the test. My own modified versions probably wouldn''t make the teacher happy.


    Jaclyn called as I turned the final page of Dickens. I picked up my cell phone.


    "Nick. I talked to Isaac. We''ll head straight to Ionia Maximum Correctional Facility tomorrow after training."


    "Okay. Just the two of us?"


    "Is there anyone you want to bring?"


    "Daniel."


    "Duh. Why didn''t I think of that? He''ll slow down our travel time though."


    "We could take the jet. It''s ready."


    "I don''t think the prison''s got a runway, Nick."


    "It can do the vertical take off and landing thing. Sort of. Grandpa worked in some alien tech."


    "Oookay. If you can fly it, take it. I might beat you out there though."


    We said our good-byes and hung up.


    I got another call almost immediately, this one from Chris Cannon.


    "Damn, Nick, what happened? You were behind me there and then you were gone. And then I heard on police band that they''d called in the Heroes League. Did they catch you?"


    "Yeah and no. I missed your exit, and Accelerando caught up with me. I managed to ditch her, and hide the ball at my Grandpa Vander Sloot''s house."


    "Isn''t he dead?"


    "Yes, but we''ve still got the house. With the Heroes League and the police looking for the ball, I''m thinking maybe I should keep it for a few days, and then bring it back some night. Maybe Friday?"


    "Good idea. Things might cool down by then. I hope so, anyway. I was just watching SuperTV. Ever heard of Justice Fiend? He''s coming to Grand Lake."


    * * *


    I stood at the back of the studio, waiting for people to get out of workout clothes. As the dressing room held maybe two people at once, I''d be waiting for a while. A copy of the Grand Lake Sentinel lay on a table near the dressing room. I picked it up.


    Any other time, the whole business with the ball, and an unidentified super running down the highway would have gotten the front page in the Grand Lake Sentinel, and been the lead story on local TV news. With power juice taking the nation''s attention, it ended up on the bottom left of the front page.


    The Sentinel''s headline was "Power Juice Massacre." Some guy with laser eyes had burned down twenty people in a Pittsburgh McDonald''s before the King of Storms stopped him.


    I shook my head. Hopefully the kid hadn''t gotten hurt doing it.


    Daniel walked up to me. "So who all is going?"


    I started thinking about it.


    "Just Jaclyn, you and me then," he said.


    "Going where?" Cassie had been talking to Travis and Haley, but she turned toward me.


    "They''re going to visit Man-machine in prison," Rachel said, stepping out of the dressing room. Then she explained why.


    Cassie listened, then said, "You are not leaving me out of that."

 Rivalry: Part 5

    By the time we left Lee''s, everybody wanted in on it. Not everybody went. Nine people would have been overkill. Not to mention that we might not all fit in the room.


    Prison cells weren''t known for their spaciousness.


    In the end, only five of us got in the jet -- Jaclyn, Cassie, Daniel, Haley, and I.


    We all wore our costumes -- even me. Grandpa had designed the seats to adjust to fit someone wearing a rocketpack.


    With all the work it took to put the Rocket suit on, everyone else made it inside before I did.


    I walked into the hangar, ignoring the ball, Night Wolf''s car, and Captain Commando''s motorcycle.


    This would be the first official use of the Heroes League jet in years. I looked it over once before climbing the stairs. With its cylindrical, silver body and stubby wings, it looked like a futuristic jet, or spaceship, as imagined in the 1950''s.


    I walked up the stairs and into the cockpit. Sitting down at the instrument panel, I took off my helmet and attached it to the seat where Grandpa had intended.


    If its style matched the age of the jet''s outside, the panel would have been dials on a metal dash. It didn''t match. Dark plastic covered the dash and instruments glowed behind it. Screens showed the surrounding area, our position on GPS, and information that would be much more useful once we got into the air.


    Haley sat next to me. The screens in front of her showed information about the jet''s weapons systems.


    I ran through the pre-flight checklist, ending it by sending the signal that opened the airlock.


    Haley looked up. "None of this was in the flight simulator."


    I took the fusion reactor off standby, and set it to scale appropriately to power demands.


    "The flight simulator Isaac gave us only covers how it worked when it was a jet. It still handles pretty much the same when flying. It''s just got more power."


    Behind me, Cassie said, "How much more power?"


    Almost at the same time Haley said, "Was a jet? What is it now?"


    Daniel snorted.


    I clicked on the buttons that activated the anti-gravity panels. The jet began to float upwards and pulled in the landing gear.


    "Seriously," Jaclyn said, "What is it now, and when did it change?"


    I turned around to look at them. "An alien fighter crash landed and Grandpa somehow got a hold of it. It took him a couple decades, but he managed to reverse engineer it. He swapped in the new drives in the 1970''s."


    Cassie stared at me. "This is a starship?"


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    I shook my head. "No. We don''t have a warp drive or anything. It''s a spaceship. We can get into orbit and move a lot faster than your average jet, but it''s not for long trips."


    Jaclyn thought for moment and then said, "I didn''t think we were allowed to have spaceships."


    "As I understand it," I said, "the Xiniti and the rest are pretty flexible unless we were to start spreading it around. If I started selling fusion plants, we''d probably start a war or something though."


    "Nick," Haley said. "We''re drifting."


    I turned back to the instrument panel. We were drifting slightly to the right. The right wing pointed downward, passing just above Night Wolf''s car.


    Searching for what I''d done wrong, I moved the joystick to the left in an attempt to raise the wing -- which helped. Then I noticed that I''d missed activating one of the anti-gravity panels.


    I pressed the button, and the plane leveled.


    Pointing the joystick forward, I sent the jet moving slowly into the airlock. The doors rumbled together behind us, and water quickly filled the room, covering the plane within a few moments.


    "This would be a bad time to discover a leak, right Nick?" Daniel asked as the water passed the top of the cockpit. Then he laughed at the looks on people''s faces.


    I, in the meantime, had opened the ballast tanks so that the plane wouldn''t bob like a cork in the water, or worse, scrape against the ceiling.


    When the room filled completely, I turned on the underwater propulsion systems. Then, the huge doors on the opposite side of the airlock opened, and I followed the tunnel until we came out in Lake Michigan.


    After that, the actual flight was almost anti-climactic. We''d spent more time getting out of League HQ and into the lake.


    When we surfaced, I brought the main engines online, and we made it to the prison in about ten minutes.


    Landing turned out to be easy. I stopped the plane above the parking lot and let it float down.


    As we all walked away, Jaclyn asked, "How fast can this thing go?"


    "I''m not really sure about the maximum, but I know it can reach escape velocity -- that''s about 25,000 mph or..." I calculated it. "... roughly Mach 33."


    "That''s fast."


    "True, though it''s not the fastest thing out there."


    "What''s faster?"


    "I don''t know, but Grandpa''s manual said it''s not."


    Aside from being near a prison, it felt like spring. The grass had turned green. The trees around the prison were still mostly bare of leaves, but looked like they might be budding.


    Set in the middle of farmland and forest, the fences, towers and guards felt out of place. We walked toward the large, red, brick building, and prepared to state our business to the guards.


    We didn''t need to. They''d been watching for the jet.


    Guards led us through the building and into the yard. With the exception of the guards, it reminded me of a college campus. When we walked out of a door into the prison''s main area, I saw five buildings, all of them L-shaped, the point of the "L" facing inward.


    The guard leading us said, "Cannon''s in the metahuman containment housing unit."


    Haley looked at me and said, "But he''s not a metahuman."


    The guard, a middle-aged, balding man shrugged and said, "It''s policy."


    Eventually we got inside. It felt like going underground. The only light came from florescent bulbs in the ceiling. I didn''t see any windows.


    They led us into a small room. The chairs and tables were connected to each other in a way that reminded me of fast food restaurants.


    Gerald Cannon, alias Man-machine sat at one of the tables. A big man, his knees almost touched the bottom of the table. It looked uncomfortable.


    He wore an orange prison jumpsuit, and his legs had been shackled together. Two guards stood next to him.


    Even here, his white hair had been combed and cut short, his face shaved clean. Except for the jumpsuit, and shackles, he might have been in church.


    He raised his head and looked us over, giving a crooked smile. "It feels almost like old times except back then, I didn''t get caught. So, what do you want?"


    Jaclyn stood in front of him. "The ball. Where did it come from, and how did you get it?"


    "I can tell you, but I have conditions."


    "He''s setting conditions?" Cassie muttered to Haley.


    Haley shushed her.


    "First," he pointed at Daniel. "He''s not in the room while I talk. Second, I want out."

 Rivalry: Part 6

    "You''re going to have to talk to a judge if you want to get out." Jaclyn stood opposite Chris'' grandfather. "We don''t have any power over that."


    Cannon didn''t seemed fazed by her response. "The old League was in bed with the FBI. You''re telling me you aren''t? Besides, I''m not expecting you to do it directly. I''ll tell you what you want to know about the ball, and after that you''ll call the FBI and I''ll tell them something they want to know."


    "Like what?"


    "Not while the Mystic''s in the room. Get him out and we''ll talk."


    Daniel stood to the left and just behind me. Cannon looked up and met his eyes. "I want your word that you won''t listen in."


    Without hesitation Daniel said, "You''ve got it."


    Jaclyn turned around, "Mystic?"


    I thought in his direction, confident that he''d notice.


    +++


    Me: ?


    Daniel: It''s okay -- just a second, I''m bringing everyone in -- he''s not going to screw us over.


    Jaclyn: What is he going to do?


    Daniel: Exactly what he said. He''s going to tell us where the ball came from and then give the FBI the name of someone he thinks they''ll want.


    Me: Who?


    Daniel: I don''t know, but it''s somehow connected with the ball.


    Me: Why isn''t he giving him to us then?


    Daniel: Not sure, but I''m guessing he doesn''t think we can handle it.


    Cassie: How would he know?


    Haley: Did you get the name?


    Daniel: No. He''s doing a good job keeping it out of his head. Anyway, I''d better get out of the room.


    +++


    The connection stopped.


    "I''ll be outside." He walked around Cannon and his guards and stepped out the door. The guards followed Daniel out, leaving Cannon alone with us. Did the guards trust us, or were they hoping we''d pull a Jack Bauer on him?


    Cassie took a seat on one of the tables and put her feet on a chair.


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    With the click of the door''s lock, and the fading of Daniel and the guards'' footfalls, Cannon started talking.


    "I collaborated on the ball with one of my students. He knew the Maniacs and needed help with the laser and a few other problems. I did what I could, solved some problems he couldn''t, and then he delivered it to them. Well, after that he told me that they''d just taken it, and didn''t pay. At first I didn''t care. I''d retired when the Rocket did, and I had my business. I didn''t need the money. But then I saw that they''d made millions of dollars. It pissed me off. That''s when I decided that they could afford my fee, so I dusted off the Man-machine armor, and caught up with them in Louisville. I ambushed them while they were counting the money from one of their jobs, and took the damn ball back. They were a bunch of pansies without their armor. A bunch of whiners."


    Jaclyn''s mouth twisted. "You ambushed them and beat them up?"


    "Tell me heroes don''t do it. Ask the original League about it if they''re still alive."


    "Hey --" Jaclyn began.


    Cannon talked over her. "They were in this little motel on the edge of town. I ripped open the wall, and gassed the group of them. When I questioned the first one to come out of it, you know what I learned? They''d paid. My student had taken both of our shares. Asshole. I took the ball anyway. Told them they should take it up with him if they wanted another one."


    Cassie laughed.


    "That''s the story," he said. "Nothing more to tell about that."


    "No, wait," Jaclyn said. "Your student. Don''t you think he''ll want it back?"


    "He''s moved on to bigger and better things. He''s the guy who came up with the paralysis rays Syndicate L uses. He and his people supply them with powered armor, mechs, and a lot more than that. And not just them -- the mob, foreign governments, and individual criminals too... That''s the name I''m willing to give the Feds. Tell them."


    Cassie got off the table and stood up. "Why didn''t you just do that in the first place?"


    "I don''t rat out my friends that easily. Even him. My lawyers thought they could get me off with a short sentence because of my age and the statute of limitations had expired on almost everything I''d done -- except for assault on the Rocket here. They still do, but I don''t want to be stuck here if the Maniacs decide to pay me a visit."


    Jaclyn looked at him. "You don''t think they''ve planned for the possibility that people might break into prison?"


    Cannon''s lips curled. "I don''t believe in any security system I haven''t checked out myself, and they haven''t let me look at theirs."


    No one said anything for a moment.


    "Well," Jaclyn said, "if nobody else has questions, I guess we can go. Anybody? Night Cat? Rocket? You haven''t said much."


    "I''ve only got questions he can''t answer," I said.


    Haley looked Cannon over once more, and said, "I don''t have any questions."


    "We''re done?" He said. "Good. I want to talk to the Rocket -- alone."

 Rivalry: Part 7

    After a little hesitation, they left me alone with him. I stood there, waiting as they shut the door, smelling concrete and disinfectant.


    "Funny to see girls in the League. Never saw women as vigilantes back in my day except for Ghostwoman. She was goddamn scary -- phased her pistol through my armor and nearly into my head. Stopped me a couple times."


    "Did you really think she''d kill you?"


    "I didn''t want to tempt fate. I heard what she did during the war."


    He looked up at me from his seat at the table.


    "But that''s not what I wanted to talk to you about. I know who you are, boy. The original Rocket and I, we both knew each other''s identities."


    "I knew you did. I saw the pictures in your lab. I didn''t know that he did."


    Cannon leaned toward me over the table. "He knew who I was before I knew about him. We had an agreement. We didn''t go after each other as civilians. We didn''t go after each other''s families. It was our own Cold War -- mutually assured destruction -- only this time it was personal, not international."


    I thought about it for a moment and then asked, "Why? It doesn''t make sense to me."


    "Why? Because as soon as you start going after each other as civilians it blows the whole thing open. I didn''t want to go after his wife and kids. I''m sure he didn''t want to go after mine. No. Pretending you don''t know just makes it simpler."


    "How did that work into challenging me last fall? He''s dead. You knew that, right?"


    "Dead," he snorted. "I had to be sure. Death turns out to be too fucking iffy around supers, but you''re right. You''re not him. That''s why I''m talking to you now. I read the newspaper, and the newspaper said there were two objects on the road. The ball was one of them. The other was some guy running at a couple hundred miles per hour. I know where the ball came from. I know where the parts for the exoskeleton came from. I know who I told about the ball, but someone else was with him on the road."


    He stared at me, and his face tensed. "I know that I might not get out of here before something happens. Federal bureaucracy works slowly, but if something happens to my wife and family, I''ve got a press release about the story of me and the Rocket set to go. It''ll go out whether I''m alive or dead. It won''t take much to guess who you are after that. Only one of his children stayed in Grand Lake."


    I didn''t know how to respond. I felt a surging need to do something about it, but "something" wasn''t coming to mind.


    When I finally did manage to say something, I half shouted. "This is crazy. I''d have looked out for Ch--"


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    "Don''t say his name," Cannon said.


    I''d have glared at him, but through the helmet, he''d have no way to notice.


    "I''d have looked out for him anyway," I said.


    "What, have you been training him? Does he have any sense of how to handle himself? Does he know who you really are? No, he doesn''t, and I had to be sure."


    "Geez," I said. Then I walked out of the room, bending the edge of a table I brushed against, and shut the door behind me. It boomed as it hit the doorframe, startling the guards who were standing outside. Cannon might have said something else, but I missed it.


    I checked to make sure I hadn''t broken the door or the doorframe by mistake.


    I hadn''t.


    I looked away to find everyone else standing just down the hall, looking at me.


    Haley turned away from the group and took a step toward me. "I didn''t hear everything. Did he really just threaten to --"


    "I''ll just tell everyone when we get back on the plane."


    She held my hand as we walked back. It was a nice gesture, but would have been more comforting if I could feel much of anything through the glove.


    We didn''t talk much during the walk out through the gray, painted halls. I spent most of the time thinking about what had just happened. He didn''t have to blackmail me. I''d have watched out for Chris anyway. He was a friend.


    He was probably the only person I knew that I could talk to about how anything worked, and actually have him care.


    I could respect Cannon''s motivation, and even understand the reason he''d done it. He''d changed an unpredictable component of his plan into something more predictable. In engineering, that made sense. Pieces of a machine didn''t generally harbor lingering resentments.


    I thought I might.


    "Are you still thinking about it?" Haley asked as we walked out of the building.


    "Kind of."


    It felt good to be out in the yard. A green area, even one surrounded by fences and guard towers, felt better than the inside of a building with concrete walls and no windows.


    Men played basketball in the concrete yard behind the building next to the one we''d just come out of.


    Just ahead of me, Daniel, Cassie, and Jaclyn talked about something. I wasn''t sure what.


    I kept on running the conversation with Cannon through my head, prompting more questions. I thought of Chris as a friend. I wasn''t really close to him, but basically he was a friend. Was I really his friend? I''d basically ended up spying on him to find out what he was doing with his grandfather''s stuff. I hadn''t been upfront about the ball.


    If he really wanted to use the exoskeleton, I probably ought to pull him into lessons with Lee, or figure out some way to train with him. We hadn''t really gotten to use it as a group, but I suspected Lee''s perspective on fighting could make a life and death difference.


    I knew it had for me personally.


    Of course, by that logic, I should have pulled in Sean and his group. Not that Sean was a friend at all, but how much guidance were they getting?


    Unfortunately, I already saw Sean more than I wanted to, and I didn''t need to see more.


    I liked Chris, but if he did turn out like his grandfather, I didn''t want to deal with it. On the other hand, Vaughn''s grandfather hadn''t turned out well, but Vaughn had been decent -- so far.


    I thought about it a little more before hearing Daniel''s voice in my head.


    +++


    Daniel: Nick, relax. We can do something between full membership and no contact. If I meet him, I''ll get a good sense of him pretty quickly.


    Me: That''s an idea.


    Daniel: And don''t worry about Cannon''s blackmail attempt --


    Me: You were listening?


    Daniel: No. I said I wouldn''t, and I didn''t, but I couldn''t help hearing you think it over. I''ve got some ideas.


    Me: Good. I --


    +++


    I stopped thinking at him.


    The League alert light in my helmet''s readout had started to flash yellow.

 Rivalry: Part 8

    When we got back to the jet, I pulled the alert''s GPS data up, and headed toward downtown Grand Lake.


    We flew westward through the sky, toward the sun as it moved lower, beginning to dip into Lake Michigan.


    I gave them the short version of what Cannon had said as we flew home, but we didn''t get to really discuss it. Including the time it took to start the jet, it took ten minutes to get there.


    We were too late, but in the best possible way.


    As we started descending toward the coordinates, the alert turned from yellow back to green. I decided to keep on going anyway, firing the directional jets to help slow us down, and bringing the anti-gravity panels online.


    It didn''t take much to figure out where to land.


    Michigan National Bank had a branch downtown -- an old one that was three stories tall with pillars made of either gray stone, or concrete going from top to bottom.


    I landed the jet in the middle of a street of buildings which, just like the bank, mostly dated back to the late 1800''s. Normally I''d have worried about blocking traffic, but the police had already blocked off the road.


    They were busily handcuffing and hauling off people in police cars. Noticing that most of them had "Bloods" on the back of their jackets, I wondered if they were connected to the well-known gang, or if they''d just taken the name. Two ambulances were parked next to the police cars.


    Travis, Rachel, Marcus, and Vaughn stood together in front of the bank, talking with a police officer. All of them were in costume, even Marcus. I''d known he had one, but when he''d shifted out of a human shape it disappeared so I hadn''t seen it much. For example, I''d no idea that it was green.


    Everyone turned to watch as we stepped out the jet.


    While the officer paused from asking Travis questions, Cassie walked up to Vaughn and said, "So what happened? What did we miss?"


    "It was awesome. A few of those guys got powers from the juice, and they decided to rob the bank. I''d decided to go to HQ and shower after practice. The cops called, so I sent everybody a yellow, and we got down here. They were mostly in the bank, so I fogged it up, and Night Wolf and the Shift took out the ones inside."


    Rachel shifted her position to stand next to Vaughn. "And I didn''t do anything at all. I combed my hair and ate... bonbons."


    Rachel''s hair was almost as short as mine.


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    Vaughn frowned for a moment. "I was getting to that. Ghost took out half the guys outside by zapping them invisibly with her electric gloves. I had the wind blow the rest of them into walls."


    He nodded at the jet. "Cool that you got it working. Did you get anything out of Man-machine?"


    "A little. Nothing I want to talk about here."


    Vaughn eyed the cop that was talking to Travis. "Right. Is there room for everybody inside?"


    "Yeah. There are up to twelve seats. We can fold them into and out of the floor. How''d you all get here?"


    "Marcus flew, and I used the wind to carry Ghost and Night Wolf."


    "Cool."


    I felt a chill and a sudden irrational need to leave. From the expression on Vaughn''s face, I could see he felt the same thing.


    +++


    Daniel: Hey everybody, that''s not you. Look up.


    +++


    A man in a red and black costume descended from the sky. He landed next to us. A smaller guy, who was also flying, stayed in the air.


    Once the man landed on the ground, I recognized him from Double V''s database as Justice Fiend. He had short horns that barely poked through his black hair, and wore a small black mask, covering only the area around his eyes.


    I guessed he might be in his mid-thirties.


    Except for the scar on his right cheek that ran parallel to his nose, his face might have been a model''s. As it was, he could have played the part of "rugged hero" in most action movies.


    That wasn''t what caught my eye, though. I found myself staring at the inside of his cape. Despite all the reasons to avoid them, he actually wore one. His was black on the outside, but on the inside, it showed changing patterns of darkness and fire. Shapes that could almost be people writhed among them.


    Creepy. I wouldn''t be grabbing that cape any time soon.


    He smiled. He had very white teeth.


    "You''re hard to find. I got into this town late last night. I found out your offices have been closed for the last twenty years, and when I called you, I just got voice mail. You want some friendly advice? Get yourself an emergency number for supers. All the major teams have them."


    "Thanks," Jaclyn said. Her tone didn''t sound especially thankful.


    "I''m Justice Fiend. I recognize your team from the news. Good job on the bank robbery. I''m here because of the ball from yesterday. I''m going to find out where it came from and make sure they don''t use it again. Do any of you know anything?"


    The fear I felt before I''d seen him hadn''t gone away, and as he stood there looking each one of us individually in the eye, I felt a surge of need to say something. What would happen if he found out I knew, and didn''t tell him?


    I don''t know what I would have done next, but it didn''t matter. I found myself suddenly calmed, and recognized Daniel''s presence in my head.


    +++


    Me: You''re doing this?


    Daniel: For you and almost everyone else. Actually Vaughn''s more resistant than I''d have thought.


    Me: You''re blocking this for everyone though? That''s got to be hard.


    Daniel: Not blocking. It''s not telepathy. I''m just muting it. It''s actually easier than being near Lee. With this guy, it''s like being dropped in a deep swimming pool. With Lee, it''s like being dropped in the middle of Lake Michigan with a lead weight.


    Me: How much is it like being near Lee?


    Daniel: Exactly, but on a much smaller scale, except that being near Lee only seems to affect psychics.


    Me: Huh.


    +++


    If Justice Fiend had any sense of what was going on in our heads, he didn''t show it.


    "Nothing? Call me if you learn anything. I''ve left my number in your voice mail. Besides, you''ve got an arrangement with the Feds. They''ll have my email address."

 Rivalry: Part 9

    "You bet. We''ll pass on whatever shows up," Vaughn said. "Right, guys?" He looked over the rest of us.


    I thought about replying. It seemed like a good idea, but maybe not immediately. I had time. Then I thought about it a little more.


    +++


    Me: We might be a little too calm.


    Daniel: Crap. I was concentrating too hard on resisting him. You''re right.


    +++


    Travis blinked a couple times and replied, "Sure."


    Rachel caught Daniel''s eye and raised an eyebrow.


    +++


    Daniel: Sorry.


    Rachel: I felt like I''d swallowed a bottle of Benadryl.


    Cassie: Daniel, that was you?


    Marcus: Professor X would have handled this a lot better.


    Daniel: Sorry.


    +++


    "Good. I''ll be waiting for it." Justice Fiend bunched up his legs, and leaped into the air, flying away. The smaller guy in a red and white costume followed him. He held a small camera to his face. He''d been filming the entire time.


    "A camera? Who was that guy?" Cassie watched them disappear behind the row of old buildings.


    Vaughn said, "I don''t remember his name, but Justice Fiend hired some guy to film pretty near everything he does. He''s trying to make a comeback."


    "Oh, that''s great." Jaclyn stared in the direction Justice Fiend had taken.


    "I''m not defending him," Vaughn said.


    "Defending him from what?" Cassie asked.


    Jaclyn sighed and looked at Vaughn. "You tell her."


    "OK," Vaughn said. "You remember how he was big in the 90''s? He was making a lot of money in endorsements and appeared in some commercials? You know how that ended, right?"


    "No," Cassie said.


    We were all listening by then.


    "I think he made a joke that even he was afraid to ride on the subway in New York City, and then he dug the hole deeper when he tried to explain it. It wasn''t like he ever said the N-word or anything, but it could be taken that way. I don''t know. I was maybe ten when it all happened."


    Jaclyn turned to Marcus. "Do you remember Grandpa talking about it?"


    Marcus shook his head. "No. I don''t remember anything like that."


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    Jaclyn didn''t say anything for a second. "Grandpa went to an event at the Hall of Fame. I don''t know who was being inducted, but the Mentalist went with him, and maybe the Rocket?"


    Daniel nodded. "Yeah, that was before Grandpa''s dementia got bad. The Rocket didn''t go along."


    Rachel said, "I remember that. Grandma had just died from cancer, and he wasn''t in the mood."


    Jaclyn continued, "Grandpa went up to him to talk about what he''d said, and Justice Fiend blew him off. I don''t know exactly how it happened, but I think they ended up shouting at each other."


    Vaughn nodded. "Some reporter saw the whole thing, and it appeared all over. He lost all his endorsements after that. I didn''t hear much about him until a couple years ago."


    "We''d better go to the jet," I said.


    I''d recognized the older, red Ford Explorer that had parked just past the police cars as the car of one of the Grand Lake Sentinel''s reporters.


    Travis, following my gaze to the car, nodded. "Good idea. Everybody, move it."


    As we walked to the jet, Haley turned to Vaughn. "How do you know so much about Justice Fiend? I''d never heard of him."


    Vaughn looked embarrassed -- at least on the part of his face that wasn''t covered by a mask.


    "He was one of my favorite heroes when I was a little kid. I don''t know why. He just seemed cool. Him and bunch of those guys like Vengeance who came up in the 90''s. You weren''t sure whether they were a hero or a villain, but they were cool, you know?


    "You know what''s funny? He was a lot nicer than I expected. I bet a lot of his fans think he sold out."


    * * *


    I didn''t get to talk to Chris Cannon until after school the next day. We ended up standing outside the school on the steps.


    We''d made it into May, and the day felt like summer. The morning had been a little cool, but by noon I wished that I''d worn a short sleeve shirt, and that the school''s dress code allowed shorts.


    The sound of the track team shouting carried in the air. I wondered what they were doing, but not enough to walk around the side of the school to check. They were probably stretching or doing push-ups anyway.


    "I''m thinking I should practice with my suit," Chris said in a low voice.


    People had stopped coming out of the school, and most of the cars had left the parking lot.


    "I thought you just wanted to play with it."


    "That was before Justice Fiend came to town. Did you read up on that guy? Back in the 90''s, he didn''t just take people in, he killed them. He didn''t go to jail for it because they were all total psychos, but you know how he became famous? He fought some team of supervillains called the Maniacs, the guys who used to have the ball. You know who''s got the ball now? Me."


    He paused.


    "Actually, you do. You''ve got to get rid of that thing. Roll it into the lake or something. You don''t want him to find it in your Grandpa''s garage."


    "I really ought to get it back to you."


    "Nick, I don''t really care about that right now. Whoever''s got it stands a good chance of being turned into paste."


    "How about this: I could contact the Heroes League, and turn it over to them, and then we''re both out of it. Once Justice Fiend''s gone, I''m pretty sure that they''ll even find a way to get it back to you."


    "Doesn''t matter. What matters is that you''re out of it," Chris said. "With a guy like Justice Fiend, I don''t think for a second that I''m out of it, but, do it. It''s my fault you''re in this mess."


    That''s where we left it. He dropped me off at home, and I headed upstairs to check my email on my laptop. I didn''t have any email worth mentioning on my own account, but the Rocket''s email had a message from Isaac Lim.


    Last night, Jack and Christine Maniac had been sighted in Chicago.

 Rivalry: Part 10

    I spent the rest of the night doing homework, and I was at it till eleven o''clock.


    After I stuffed my books back in my backpack, I sat at my desk, staring at the screen of my laptop. It sucked. I didn''t have time to do much more than go to bed. Cassie could probably stay up for days with no effect, but if I didn''t start sleeping soon, I''d sleep in class.


    I might be able to get away with reading a few chapters of a book -- provided I didn''t get involved enough to finish it. Then I might find myself going to bed at four in the morning.


    I considered opening up the laptop again. Haley or Daniel might be online.


    I wondered if Rachel was still up. I supposed I could go and check. I''d heard her practicing guitar a little bit, but that had been a couple hours ago.


    So maybe, I told myself, I should just to go to bed.


    I got into pajamas, got into bed, and congratulated myself for going to bed at an hour at which I''d sometimes found myself wearing the Rocket suit. I might, I thought, actually not feel dead tired the next morning.


    Lying in bed, I listened to the breeze through the open window, open at night for the first time this year.


    The screen ripped, and a dark figure flew through the window.


    I tried to get off the bed, and onto my feet, but didn''t even get the chance to pull myself up.


    Justice Fiend held one gloved hand over my mouth, and pushed the other into my abdomen before I got anywhere.


    I grabbed his arm with both hands and tried to move it away. I might as well have tried to pick up my high school.


    Double V''s database rated Justice Fiend a 7 out of 10 for strength. They rated the Grey Giant an 9, and the Rocket suit a 5. They had only news reports to go on so the data had a fairly significant fudge factor, but that didn''t change the fact that they rated a normal, unmodified human a 1.


    Their rating scale didn''t go up one unit at a time either. Each number represented a big jump up from the last -- kind of like the Richter scale.


    I didn''t try to bite his hand. Double V rated his "durability" an 8 out of 10. Grenades exploded harmlessly against his skin. My teeth weren''t going to get anywhere.


    "You lied."


    If I felt afraid before, it was much worse now.


    Only the hand covering my mouth stopped me from screaming.


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    I tried to get it under control. I tried to think about the Rocket suit''s design and speculated about ways to improve the efficiency of the engine or change the fuel mixture.


    I couldn''t concentrate.


    I tried something less complex -- finding all the prime numbers less than 500.


    Still too hard.


    Ditching anything that required complex thought, I concentrated on breathing in a way that Lee had taught me.


    That was a little better, but not much.


    Still, the fear ebbed a bit, but it might have been Justice Fiend more than anything I''d done.


    "When I pull my hand away, tell me where the Ball is."


    He pulled his hand away.


    "How did you find me?" Maybe I could distract him?


    "I''m asking the questions."


    My line might not have been original, but his came out of every Hollywood interrogation ever made.


    Clich¨¦ or no, it didn''t stop him from moving the hand off my chest, and up to my throat far too quickly for me to do anything about it.


    Then he pulled me upright, and leaned into my face. "Where''s the Ball?"


    I tried to think of things I could do. Making a lot of noise might bring my parents, and even though the block might make them forget it, they couldn''t do much to help. Calling Rachel would help, but how could I call her without getting my parents too?


    "I don''t know where the Ball is," I said, making my voice a little louder than usual.


    "Tell the truth!"


    "I don''t know!"


    Something in me wanted to tell him, but the need wasn''t as overwhelming as it felt when we''d first met him. Maybe Lee''s exercises had worked. Maybe I''d just gotten used to it.


    His grip on my neck tightened, and it became harder to breath.


    "You want to do this the hard way? Because if you do, it''s going to hurt."


    I tried to think of anything I could do that didn''t involved calling for help. I couldn''t generate enough force to make martial arts useful against him. Could I count on him being unwilling to kill or maim a high school student?


    From the grimace on his face, I didn''t feel certain of that. The shadowy, agonized figures in the lining of his cloak argued that hurting people didn''t bother him much.


    "All right," he said, "if that''s the way it''s going to be--"


    Something clicked.


    Rachel had faded in next to Justice Fiend. She held the pistol from Grandma''s Ghostwoman costume in her hand, but wasn''t wearing a costume. She wore black jeans and a black t-shirt.


    "Let go of my brother," she said.


    "A gun? I see my reputation hasn''t made it here. Bullets bounce off my skin, sister. So unless you know where the Ball is, it''ll be better if you stay out of this."


    She phased the barrel of the gun an inch deep into his chest. "The bullet will become solid when it leaves the barrel. Are your lungs invulnerable too? Will they stop it? Or do you think it will just bounce around, turning your insides into swiss cheese?"


    He tried to move away, but since he stood next to my bed, holding my neck in place with one hand, he really didn''t have any place to go.


    He lashed out with his left hand, moving it through her head. He didn''t connect with anything.


    Rachel barely moved.


    Justice Fiend''s expression went blank. Then he watched her for a moment. "You won''t shoot me. You''ve never shot anyone in your life."


    "There''s always a first time. Besides, let''s say you''re right. Let''s say I''ve never pointed a gun at a live person before, and I''m horribly, horribly nervous. I wonder how long I can go before firing it accidentally?"


    He stared at her.


    Then he let go of my throat, and flew out the window. Bits of the storm window''s metal frame went with him.


    Rachel took a deep breath and sat down in the chair next to my desk. She put the gun down next to my laptop.


    Her hands were shaking.


    She looked at them for a moment and folded them together.


    I touched my neck. It still hurt a little.


    "Thanks," I said.

 Rivalry: Part 11

    Unsurprisingly, I didn''t sleep very well after that.


    I dragged myself through the next day, almost falling asleep in study hall, barely staying awake during lectures. When it ended, I could at least console myself with the fact that it was Friday and I didn''t have any other demands on my life -- probably.


    Something did nag at my mind though. I thought I might have forgotten something. I just hoped it wasn''t important.


    I caught up with Cassie and Vaughn on the way out the door, and talked through what had happened the night before. I''d sent everyone a yellow alert, and left an email with their League email accounts last night, but I hadn''t gone into detail.


    We rode in Vaughn''s car, a not especially new, or fashionable, red, 1998 Saturn.


    Cassie turned back to look at me from the front seat. "So how did he know where to find you?"


    "I don''t know exactly. I''m just sure he knows I''m the Rocket. The first words out of his mouth were ''you lied'' as in I lied about not knowing about the Ball. Technically, I don''t think I said anything when he asked, so it''s more a sin of omission rather than commission, but yeah, he knows who I am."


    "I don''t like not knowing how he found you. We need to stop that leak."


    "I don''t think it''s possible. He''s got some kind of magic stalking power. I looked him up in the government''s databases, and one of their psychics thinks he''s half-demon. They suspect his dad was some kind of hunter demon."


    "Hunter demon?" Vaughn said. "You''ve got to admit that that is kind of cool."


    "Not if he''s sneaking into your house." Cassie scowled, and turned back to look at the road.


    "So," Vaughn said, "you''re going to South High''s prom, right? Sounds like they''re going to be crazy secure."


    "Yeah, I am," I began, and then I trailed off, experiencing a trail of realizations. Haley''s prom was the week after mine. Mine was last Friday. Today was Friday only one week later. Therefore...


    Cassie started laughing. "Vaughn, he had no idea. Nick, did you even rent a tuxedo?"


    "I''m okay. I set up the date for this tuxedo when I set up the last one. I do have to pick it up though. Vaughn are you going to mind dropping by the tux shop and um... a florist?"


    * * *


    Haley called just as I got through the door into my house. "I was going to call you to tell you what time you needed to pick me up yesterday, but I forgot. This week was crazy. I worked last night and lost track of everything."


    I''d just walked in through the side door. My backpack hung on my back. I held the tuxedo''s black plastic bag in my left hand along with the corsage and boutineer, and held my cell phone up to my head with my right.


    From somewhere in the house, Rachel shouted, "Nick, the tuxedo shop called. Did you pick up your tux?"


    Meanwhile, Haley continued talking. "You don''t have to pay for dinner this time. My dad gave me fifty dollars. He''ll pay as long as we go to Modesti''s Tuscan Express and take a copy of their menu."


    "Free food in exchange for corporate espionage?"


    "Sometimes I think that''s the only reason my family ever ate out."


    Rachel stepped into view at the other end of the hallway. "Nick, did you..."


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    Then she saw the tux, the flowers, and the phone. She smirked, and left.


    I''m going to cut to the chase, and say that nothing happened.


    Modesti''s Tuscan Express had great food. One waitress did recognize Haley, but they got along. The prom did not get interrupted by anyone taking power juice. In fact, they''d set up security to avoid it. Everyone met up at South High, but they took buses to the Hardwick International Hotel where they''d rented a couple ballrooms. Before anyone could get on the buses, they had to be patted down. No liquids of any kind were allowed on the bus.


    Oh, and the buses? They weren''t the standard yellow school bus with hard green seats. These were less than two years old, painted in school colors (red, white, and black), had comfortable seats, and were obviously intended for the sports teams. Our sports teams didn''t have anything like them.


    I ran into Jaclyn, and her date (who I didn''t know). More surprisingly, I ran into Marcus who didn''t even go there. He went to a charter school south of town. I didn''t know his date either, but they all seemed to have a good time.


    We could have gone to an "after prom" event, but I couldn''t take any more crowds.


    Instead, I drove Night Wolf''s car (in civilian mode) down to one of the smaller parks on Grand Lake. The parking lot looked out over the lake. We could see the stars, lights from houses and buildings all around the lake, and boats docked at the marinas.


    We talked for while, and then we started to make out.


    Cars aren''t as comfortable for that sort of thing as you''d expect given the amount of use high school students give them. We had to be more careful than most people. Not only did we have to avoid the stick shift, and the parking brake, but also buttons that could only be found in a superhero''s car.


    Knocking the rocket booster would have been an extremely bad move, for example.


    Haley was on top of me, and we were kissing, and mostly in the passenger''s seat, when we heard an explosion followed by a small tremor in the ground.


    Haley pushed herself up to look out the back window.


    "Do you see anything?"


    She shook her head. "It sounded like a building to me. Do you think we should..." She frowned.


    "We''re probably closer than anybody."


    "I know. Well, maybe we needed to stop."


    It wasn''t like we were naked. I had my jacket off, and my shirt partially unbuttoned. I''d unzipped the back of her dress, but we hadn''t gotten much farther than that.


    She squeezed through the space between the front seats into the back, and passed the stealth suit up to me.


    Within a minute we were dressed, and Haley drove us out of the park. I had the guitar lying next to my legs. In the meantime, I sent everyone else a yellow alert, making ready to send a red.


    We moved out from under the trees and into the start of blocks of old warehouses and factories.


    I''d worried that we might not be able to find the fight, but that turned out to be easy.


    We just had to look for the fire.


    Just a couple blocks south of the park, one of the factories lay in ruins. One half of it had fallen in, leaving jagged edged brick walls and dark cloud of smoke. Bricks lay in the road. Windows of nearby buildings had shattered.


    Haley tried to avoid the bigger chunks while I called 911 to report the fire.


    Once we got past it, she stopped the car and I didn''t blame her. We weren''t ready for this.


    Justice Fiend faced one of the strangest pieces of powered armor I''d seen in years of following heroes. More than anything else, it reminded me of something out of "The Nightmare Before Christmas."


    The upper half of the face had been molded in the form of a hockey mask while the bottom of the face had been molded into an insanely wide smile. The teeth were sharp, silvery metal, and shaped like a shark''s.


    The armor''s right hand appeared to be an axe with a massive curved blade. The left hand had actually been shaped like a hand, but with metal fingers and sharp tips. A wide barreled gun of some kind hung under its left arm.


    I assumed that it had to be Jack Maniac.


    Both of them hung in the air above the street, flares shooting out from Jack''s clawed feet.


    In the street, a couple hundred feet ahead of us and below them, stood Christine Maniac. It reminded me of Stephen King''s famous, red Plymouth Fury if the car had been reimagined as a Transformer. It was definitely in mech form now. I could recognize bits of the car, but didn''t like the additions. I noticed machine guns, grenade launchers, and the big gun on its shoulder probably belonged on a battleship.


    We were out of our league. Way out.


    I pointed the car''s eavesdropping equipment in their direction, and we heard their conversation, locking in on it as a deep voice said, "... not going to be like Louisville, this time. You''ll find our equipment''s been upgraded, and there''s only one of you."


    Justice Fiend started to reply, but a familiar voice interrupted it. "Oh yeah? I wouldn''t count on that."


    Sean flew out of the sky and stopped next to Justice Fiend. He wore a green costume with plates of gray metal covering vital spots, and with an open faced helmet. It actually looked good. Someone had gone to a lot of work.


    Justice Fiend looked over at him. "Who the hell are you?"


    "I''m the Power."


    I felt my jaw drop. "That name''s got to be taken already."

 Rivalry: Part 12

    Jack Maniac seemed to get a big kick out of the name. He laughed hard enough that he wobbled in the air. "The Power? Don''t you think that''s a little fucking pretentious? What happened to the first Power?"


    "I don''t know. It was available two days ago."


    "Two days? Oh that''s rich. Do your worst, kid."


    The dashboard screen showed Sean''s face. I had a hard time telling whether he looked more angry or embarrassed, but Jack''s power armor flipped over in the air, aiming him at the street.


    Jack barely began to reorient himself before hitting Christine. He didn''t hit her full on, but his back brushed her, and his legs hit her chest (the Plymouth Fury''s gleaming, chrome grill).


    The mech stepped back, trying not to fall.


    Jack managed to get control of his flight, and circled around and up, ending with his back facing us, but flanking Sean and Justice Fiend. He raised his left arm -- the one with the weapon mounted under his forearm.


    Justice Fiend blurred, flying at Sean as something flew out of the weapon''s muzzle and exploded.


    The dashboard screen and the air ahead of me both filled with fire.


    When it cleared, Sean sat on the roof of the nearest building, an old, three story, brick warehouse. Justice Fiend stood between him, and Jack Maniac, but not for long. Jack turned, the flames burning under his feet tripling in size, and flew away.


    Christine transformed into a car, and roared off, disappearing around the corner.


    Sean stood. "They''re getting away!"


    Justice Fiend muttered, "Dammit."


    Then he knocked Sean unconscious with a punch, and flew upward, leaving him on the flat roof.


    "He just punched him?" Haley stared at the screen.


    On the off chance that she still liked Sean in some way, I didn''t mention how much I preferred an unconscious Sean to the conscious version.


    Haley drove the car down the street. "We should check if he''s okay."


    We didn''t get the chance. As we stopped in front of the section of roof I''d seen him fall onto, a human shape flew away, briefly silhouetted against the stars.


    I followed it across the dark sky until the warehouse across the street blocked my view.


    "I think he''ll be fine," I said.


    Haley accelerated, and turned down the street Christine had taken. A few cars traveled down the street. We could see their lights, but no sign of Christine or any kind of fight.


    "Maybe we''ll see something..." Haley continued down the street, looking down the blocks as we went through intersections.


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    I began to doubt that we would after the first three streets, but as we crossed the fourth, I found myself hearing Daniel''s thoughts, followed by Haley''s slightly more anxious mental presence.


    +++


    Daniel: I didn''t see where the Maniacs went, and Sean just went past me. He hasn''t seen them either.


    Me: Where''s everyone else?


    Daniel: Cassie''s on her dad''s motorcycle. Vaughn''s collecting Travis. I haven''t heard from Rachel, Jaclyn, or Marcus.


    Haley: I think they went to the post prom lock-in at Harry''s Fun Dome.


    Me: Rachel was doing something with friends tonight, but, I''m surprised she didn''t call back.


    Daniel: Let''s not wait for them. If Justice Fiend''s fight with the Maniacs took out city blocks the last time they fought, we need to stop them as soon as possible.


    Me: I want to change into the full suit. Otherwise I''m not going to be any good except as a sniper, and if we don''t have Jaclyn, we won''t have anyone that''s mobile and tough.


    Daniel: Good point, but hurry. If I sense them clairvoyantly, we''ll have to move.


    +++


    I stepped out of the car, put on my helmet, and pulled on the stealth suit''s rocket pack. Then I flew to HQ.


    * * *


    Someday when I revised our communications system, I needed to build a GPS into everybody''s alert device. It worked great with the Rocket suit.


    I found them on the north side of Grand Lake. Illuminated only by the streetlight, they stood in the parking lot of an old, brick factory much like the others only this time on the north side of Grand Lake instead of the south.


    To judge from the painted, wooden sign, it had most recently been "Smith''s Tool & Die," but the building looked abandoned. No lights were on inside. Outside of Night Wolf''s car (now all black except for the gray, wolf''s head on the hood), and Captain Commando''s motorcycle, no vehicles sat in the parking lot.


    Haley sat on the hood of Night Wolf''s car with her arms crossed. Cassie, Travis, and Vaughn were near her, talking among themselves. Daniel stood a little bit away from them all, eyes closed, concentrating on something.


    I landed next to the car, touching down with a muffled click as my boots hit the concrete.


    Haley got off the car, and joined me as I walked up to the group.


    "Guess whose powers are being flaky?" Cassie asked.


    Vaughn put his hand to his head, closed his eyes, and said, "I sense... nothing."


    Daniel opened his eyes and glared at them. "They''re not being flaky. Something''s going to happen. It''ll happen right here... or close to here. Anyway, it''s dangerous, and it''s got everything to do with Justice Fiend and the Maniacs."


    Travis held his right hand in the air. "Everybody calm down. Bickering isn''t going to help."


    "It''s been like this the whole time," Haley said.


    "The closer it gets," Daniel said, "the more accurate I''ll get. Just give me the chance to concentrate, and I''ll--"


    Justice Fiend flew out of the sky, and smashed through the roof of the factory. Jack Maniac followed him, axe ready, and disappeared through the roof''s new hole.


    We all looked at each other. I didn''t know what anyone else was thinking, but I was wondering if we should go in. What followed happened too quickly for me to even move.


    Loud crashes came from inside, and then Jack Maniac flew backwards out through the wall, landing in the parking lot, bouncing, rolling, and finally stopping in the street.


    Not that it mattered. The street was as empty as the parking lots of nearest buildings.


    Jack dropped something on the ground. I couldn''t see it well, but it looked like a metal ball.


    It rolled in a wide circle around him, leaving a trail of metal, stopping just before its starting point.


    Justice Fiend flew out of the factory, smashed into Jack and the both of them ended up rolling across the road and onto the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Justice Fiend pounded on Jack Maniac with his fists while Jack hit back with his axe and metal hand.


    They didn''t seem to be doing much damage to each other, but chunks of concrete flew upward when they missed.


    I missed the exact moment when it happened, but Jack managed to grab Justice Fiend, swing him around, and throw him into the middle of the circle. With a click, it closed.


    Jack Manaic straightened up, recovering from the throw. "Gotcha," he muttered.


    Then he looked over at us. "What''s this, some kind of convention?"

 Rivalry: Part 13

    "But seriously," he continued, "if you''re the new Heroes League, I''ve been looking for you."


    Travis looked Jack Maniac over, and said, "Why?"


    "You''ve got something I want. I''m looking for a vehicle we used to own. It looks like a ball. You probably saw in the news a couple nights ago. I want it back. I heard that you''ve got it."


    Keeping my voice calm, I said, "From who?"


    "Man-machine''s grandson. Nice kid. He was visiting his grandmother when we came over."


    "He''s okay, right?"


    "Sure. He''s fine for now."


    "There''s no good reason to bother them," I said. "They''re right. I''ve got the Ball."


    "Then let''s make a deal. Give me the ball and I free him --" He pointed at Justice Fiend. "-- and we leave, and everybody''s happy."


    Justice Fiend stood in a circle of silver metal. Dark characters written in an unknown alphabet had been scrawled around the entire ring. Justice Fiend stood at the edge closest to us. When he tried to extend his hand past the ring, something hissed, and he pulled his hand back as if he''d been burned.


    He cursed while Jack Maniac laughed.


    "And if we can''t make a deal," Jack said, "then maybe I pay Man-machine''s wife another visit."


    He waved the arm with the axe blade. The blade glinted in the streetlight.


    +++


    Daniel: Do you have a plan?


    Me: No. I was just hoping to give him a reason to come after me instead of Chris.


    Daniel: Then we''d better think of one.


    Me: Just take him out mind to mind.


    Daniel: It''s not that easy. He''s got a shield.


    Me: He''s a telepath?


    Daniel: It''s a technological shield.


    Me: Seems like there are a lot of those out there.


    Daniel: Blame my dad. He''s well enough known that anyone who operates in the Midwest factors him in.


    +++


    "Not that I mind," Cassie said, "but what did you do to him?"


    Jack said, "To Justice Fiend? I talked to the Dark Master and he came up with a way to cage him. Money well spent."


    A pair of headlights traveled down the road that Justice Fiend had been trapped on. I wondered if a car would be stopped by the circle, if it could ignore it, or if it would break it.


    As it got closer, I recognized it as a red Plymouth Fury. It transformed into mech form just before reaching Justice Fiend.


    Now there were two of them.


    We needed some kind of plan, but not much came to mind. As I struggled to come up with options, I felt Daniel''s presence in my head, followed by everyone else.


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    +++


    Daniel: Quick, everybody. What''s the plan?


    Travis: Let''s attack them and take them down.


    Me: Trouble is, from all I''ve read Justice Fiend''s stronger and tougher than any of us, and he hasn''t been able to do it.


    Vaughn: I bet I could short them out.


    Me: Wouldn''t count on it. My suit''s mostly invulnerable to that, and I''m seeing some design similarities in theirs.


    Cassie: If you''re that sure we''ll lose, Nick, why don''t we just give them the Ball?


    Me: I''m not saying we''ll lose. I''m trying to give everyone a realistic picture of what we''re facing.


    Cassie: Look, if I can just get close to them, I can take them apart. You know that.


    Haley: Travis and I can rip through concrete. Their armor can''t be that much worse.


    Travis: So here''s what we do. Daniel, Nick, and Vaughn, you drive them toward the building, and we''ll try to grab them.


    Me: Just watch their armor for booby traps.


    +++


    After that, it was all just details.


    So the nice thing about mental conferences is that they don''t take nearly as long as the spoken variety. Writing the words down loses the lightning interplay of ideas, momentary glimpses into someone else''s consciousness, and the flash of connections made in multiple minds simultaneously. So when Daniel let us draw apart, it felt like we''d been talking for ten minutes.


    Unless they had some kind of device for monitoring telepathy, the Maniacs probably didn''t even realize we''d talked at all.


    "Rocket," Jack said. "Here''s how we''re going to do the exchange. You fly back and get the thing. Your friends stay here. Got it?"


    "Sure." That could easily be made to fit the plan. I sent off the minor changes to Daniel who had to be listening in on my thoughts anyway.


    I started the rocketpack, feeling the warmth against my back and the thrust beginning to pull me upward. I took off more slowly than usual, climbing to about thirty feet before the others started.


    I heard the wind before I felt it. So did the Maniacs. It came from behind them, currents of wind converging on the spot where they stood, blowing Jack and Christine into the air, over the parking lot where everyone stood and into the old Tool & Die shop sign.


    When you''re throwing around that much wind, it doesn''t just hit your target. Vaughn''s blast lifted pebbles from the side of the roadbed, loose chunks of road, tree branches from the pine trees behind the businesses on the other side of the road, grass, and dirt.


    They hit the building along with the Maniacs, shattering windows, making cracks in the bricks, and divots in the wall.


    It didn''t knock them out, but it didn''t have to.


    I''d turned around, aiming myself at Jack Maniac. If I could keep him from flying away, Travis and Haley could rip and tear at his armor.


    They fell to the ground after hitting the building. Jack began to pull himself up, but some force knocked his feet out from under him. From the lack of collateral damage, I guessed it must have been Daniel''s telekinesis.


    He landed on his face, and I hit him immediately after. We both slammed into the wall.


    I slipped my arms under his arms and behind his neck. In wrestling, it would have been a killer move, sometimes literally, but wrestling takes different turns when the combatants can create tons of force.


    He couldn''t reach me with his axe, or point his gun at me, but he could still push against the ground.


    His push sent us into the air, pointed upward. Then the jets on his legs kicked in.


    I let go with one hand, aiming it at his face, and activating the sonics.


    The answering shout told me his helmet hadn''t be insulated against noise. Had the electronics been insulated? No way to know but try.


    I gave him another shot in the face, this one at a frequency that damaged electronics, and moved my hand back to his neck.


    He didn''t lose control of the armor which was a disappointment, but he did shout, "What the fuck!"


    That gave me hope, but hope doesn''t win fights.


    I looked up, deciding it was time to make sure he wasn''t trying to scrape me against the wall of a building.


    We were traveling straight up into the sky. I gave the rocketpack more fuel. Time to take control of this flight.


    Maybe, I thought, I could scrape him against a wall.

 Rivalry: Part 14

    Taking control of the direction of the flight didn''t work.


    He had directional jets on his arms and legs. I had the rocketpack on my back. After a few moments of struggle, we established that he could change direction more easily than I could, and that tumbling through the air at hundreds of miles per hour made us both dizzy.


    I powered down the rocketpack, and decided to concentrate on trashing his suit.


    Putting pressure on the neck didn''t cause noticeable stress. The suit''s designer had kept the major systems inside the armor, so I couldn''t just rip them out. Judging from what I could see, the suit''s weakest points would likely be the joints, but hanging on Jack Maniac''s back wasn''t a great position to put a lot of force into an attack.


    We were above downtown Grand Lake when I let go, but the second I was off his back, he started flying south.


    I made the rocketpack pour out a pile of thrust, but lost ground at first. I never learned what his top speed was, but he definitely accelerated faster than I did.


    That was bad, because I had a good guess where he was going.


    I began to close with him again, but not quickly enough. I recognized Man-machine''s house just as Jack landed on the lawn.


    The lights were on in rooms on both stories.


    Jack ran straight toward the front door, axe raised, ready to chop it down.


    I didn''t bother to land. Diving, I held out my arms and aimed for his back.


    The push did exactly what I intended. It knocked him forward, face heading for the ground. He hit a lawn gnome next to the steps of the wraparound porch, shattering it.


    I made as tight a circle as I could in the air, losing some momentum so I could land on the lawn myself.


    My right foot went six inches into the lawn. By the time I pulled it out, Jack had gotten up, turned around, and pointed the arm with the hanging gun at me.


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    It didn''t fire.


    The anti-electronic sonic blast had done some good after all.


    He turned away from me, ready to trash the door with his axe, and turn this into a hostage situation.


    From the darkness, a voice said, "Hey, jerk. I don''t know why you''re here, but she''s not home."


    An inch wide red circle appeared on Jack''s chest. It had that intense quality laser light often has.


    I followed the light back to its source and recognized Chris, now in his exoskeleton, standing next to the corner of the house. He pointed the laser rod mounted under his right arm at Jack.


    Jack charged Chris, running down the wraparound porch with the axe.


    Chris shot him.


    The red bolt didn''t take him out, but it did melt partway through the armor. Lines of molten liquid dripped down his front, and smoke floated upward in front of his face.


    Then Chris multiplied, generating five copies of himself, all of them with an odd shimmery quality. Then he moved, and they all moved around him.


    Thanks to Man-machine being such a perfectionist, the original suit shimmered like the rest. I couldn''t tell where the original was.


    Jack couldn''t either.


    He stopped for just a second, then charged the group of them, swinging his axe through one of the wooden pillars that held up the overhang without even noticing.


    The group of Chris'' turned around and ran away, crashing through the wooden railing on the right side of the porch, running into the side yard, and then turning to run over to me where I stood.


    That felt a little weird.


    I stood among his holographic illusions, trying to figure out which one was Chris while the group of them pointed their lasers at Jack.


    He definitely wasn''t faster than Chris was -- at least not on the ground. Jack stood at the end of the porch where Chris had broken the railing, still turning his head to face us.


    "Hey," I said, pumping some power into the speakers, and setting the sonics for the standard Rocket voice. "Surrender, and things will go easier for you."


    "Can''t hear anything in my right ear, or I might listen."


    Jack walked through the front railing, cracking the wood, stepping through the flowerbed in front of it (not that there were any flowers yet), and then started to run at us.


    Knowing that even if Chris'' exoskeleton could take a lot of damage, the costume protecting most of his body wasn''t much better than my stealth suit, I ran out ahead of him -- well, where I thought he was. I avoided the holograms as if they were real people mostly. I may have walked through one.


    Jack raised his axe, obviously aiming for my head.


    I raised my arm to block it, only to see him rising into the air.


    I couldn''t see his face behind his helmet''s fake hockey mask, but it didn''t take much to realize that he wasn''t under his own power. First, the jets on his legs weren''t firing. Second, I felt sure he wouldn''t aim himself at the pickup truck parked across the street.


    He smashed into the side of the cab, making a more than human sized dent, the impact completely destroying all the windows.


    From above me, I heard Sean''s voice shouting, "Got you, you bastard!"


    Jack pushed himself away from the truck. It rocked a couple times.


    Jets of flame sprouted from his feet and he shot in the direction of Sean''s voice.

 Rivalry: Part 15

    Sean didn''t have a chance, and I knew it even if he didn''t.


    I gave the rocketpack thrust, and aimed myself at Jack. Unfortunately, that was harder than it sounds. When you''re fighting someone who can grab you with his mind, a force field or some other kind of energy, you''ve got a couple choices -- charge straight for him so quickly that he doesn''t have time to think, or make a lot of unpredictable turns while moving at an outrageous speed.


    Jack went with the latter option, making it hard for Sean to concentrate on him, and for me to grab him.


    Jinking left just after he crossed the street, he flew over Man-machine''s neighbor''s house, leaving me to twist and aim in a new direction.


    Meanwhile Chris took a couple shots at him with the laser.


    Then Jack dipped downward between the houses, probably planning to stay next to the building, and shoot upward.


    I opted to stay in the air, hovering above the house, guessing I might be able to move to protect Sean, or Chris.


    As an idea, it panned out. As a plan, it left a little to be desired.


    When Jack came up the side of the house, he was moving too quickly for me to do much of anything. I saw a blurred shape, flame, and then I saw him shoot straight toward Sean.


    As he got closer to Sean, he slowed for a second, then twisted and shot off to the left, then turned right again and came around, aiming at Sean''s side.


    If Sean did manage to affect Jack with his magnetic abilities, he wasn''t strong enough (or maybe he was too tired) to deflect him.


    Jack wobbled for a movement as he flew toward Sean, but still closed the distance, brushing Sean in the chest with his fist, and knocking him backwards through the air.


    I couldn''t tell whether or not Sean remained conscious, but aimed myself in his direction in case he began to fall.


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    As I did, two red beams cut through the night, both of them hitting Jack, but not taking him down.


    I caught up to Jack before I got a good look at Sean, coming from below, and grabbing Jack''s shoulder.


    Sean''s expression seemed a little dazed, but he didn''t seem to be falling.


    Jack''s shoulder, on the other hand, offered up more possibilities than I''d expected.


    Chris'' laser had burned through the armor''s outer layer, and I could see wires, connections, and metal. I stuck my hand into the hole, and pulled out everything I could -- including fibers from the muscular systems underneath. The directional jets around his elbow gave a short blast and cut out.


    That reminded me that just about any system could have been routed nearby. I shot a sonic blast into it because it couldn''t hurt.


    A small popping noise rewarded me for my efforts.


    Jack tried to twist away, but he didn''t use his right arm at all. The axe flopped next to his leg.


    I stuck my hand into the hole again, this time taking a good handful of the outside plating, and pulled.


    A big chunk of the plating protecting his neck, and upper back came away in my hand.


    I threw it away, noting new pieces of the suit''s underlying systems had just become visible, and regretting that I wouldn''t have time to appreciate the nuances of how it worked.


    Noticing a particularly well protected bunch of cables, I yanked them out.


    The jets on his legs cut out and we began to fall.


    I hung on to him, and used the rocketpack to slow our descent, bringing him to the ground on the lawn of one of Man-machine''s neighbors about five doors down.


    We hit hard, but he hit harder. The force of the landing knocked me off his back.


    Rolling, I hit a lamp -- one of those fake gaslight street lamps that some people have next to the walk to their front door.


    Jack hit the walk itself, cracking the concrete.


    Despite that, he began to get up, pushing upward with his left hand while his right arm hung uselessly.


    I heard a whirring noise, and Chris said, "Don''t move."


    He pointed his laser at Jack. Jack turned back to look for the voice, and nearly fell.


    He never got to reply.


    A force pulled him into the air and then slammed him --


    Once.


    Twice.


    Three times -- into the street.


    Metal started to peal off him like a snake shedding a skin, removing the outer layer of armor, leaving a mess of wires, plastic and metal surrounding a man.


    With the helmet gone, I could see Jack Maniac''s real face -- unshaven and plain looking. I''d never have noticed him on the street.


    Once he had barely any armor left, Jack floated upward again, screaming.


    When he got to twenty feet above the ground, Chris and I both started shouting upward at Sean, who hovered above the house next to us.


    I couldn''t hear what Chris said. I drowned him out with the sonics as I shouted, "What do you think you''re doing?"


    "I''m going to knock him out. You know he''d have done worse to you."

 Rivalry: Part 16

    "You''re going to fucking kill him," Chris said.


    "I was going to be careful. I wasn''t going to hit him against the ground as hard."


    "That''s insane."


    Sean descended from the black sky, landing in front of us. He turned his head to look at Jack floating above the street.


    "Do you know how many people that guy killed? I was going to make sure he couldn''t do anything."


    Chris looked at him without saying anything. I couldn''t see his face behind his mask, but I could imagine his look of disgust.


    "That''s moronic. You just stripped the top layer of his armor. Strip the rest, or better yet, yank out his power source, and leave everything else on. Then he''ll have to carry that stuff around without help."


    Sean''s lip curled. "Yeah? Well, who the hell are you? I''ve never seen you before."


    Sean looked at him a little harder. "Wait, I saw you on TV. You''re the guy who went running with the Ball. How do I know you''re not on his side?"


    "I don''t know," Chris said. "Maybe from the fact that I shot him a few times?"


    "Come on, everybody," I said. "Let''s just calm down. It''d really suck if he got away while we were arguing."


    "Who asked you?" Sean said.


    I didn''t reply. I gave the rocketpack some thrust, and flew over to where Jack hung in the air. It didn''t take much to recognize the battery despite the mess of wires, and shredded cables. Grabbing it in both hands, I ripped it off, and dropped it in the street. Meanwhile, my helmet readouts went screwy -- a byproduct of Sean''s powers, no doubt. It didn''t surprise me.


    Still, the suit''s arms had just as much strength as ever, and that didn''t surprise me either. Grandpa had put in a lot of non-metallic substitutes into the armor. With the Cold War''s constant worry about nuclear weapons, he''d designed later versions of his armor to have as good a chance as possible of working after an electromagnetic pulse.


    That, and he''d probably fought villains with magnetic powers before -- including, in all probability, Sean''s grandfather.


    Landing, I walked the twenty feet off the street, across the strip of grass next to the road, and joined Sean and Chris on the lawn. While walking, I called 911, and let the police know we''d captured Jack.


    Even in the shadow of his helmet, I could see a flash of anger in Sean''s expression as he watched me walking back.


    "I just called the police," I said.


    "Why did you do that?"


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    "Because that''s what you do. Also, I didn''t see any point in arguing. You''re right that we had to make sure he was down, and... uh..." I tried to think of what to call Chris, "... this guy was right about how."


    I didn''t think Sean looked like he believed it, but he said, "I think I got too excited. I wasn''t thinking."


    Chris didn''t say anything.


    * * *


    After the police came, they stripped Jack from what was left of his armor, and took him and the armor away in a Box.


    I met up with everybody else back at HQ. By everyone else, I mean everyone -- including Jaclyn, Marcus and Rachel. Not that everyone was visible when I stepped out of the tunnel that came from the woods in Veterans Memorial Park.


    Daniel, and Travis sat at terminals at the table in the middle of the room. Vaughn stood behind them. I checked the clock in my helmet. It was 1:24 AM.


    Marcus came from the direction of the kitchen, carrying a couple 2 liters of pop, and some cups, as I shut the door behind me.


    "Hey Nick. We caught some of the footage on channel 10. It looked pretty cool. You''d never know it was Grand Lake. It looked like something from Chicago or New York."


    "You saw it? How much did they catch?"


    "They had a helicopter in the air while you were chasing him. I think they must have been zooming in on you. Oh, and there were people filming you with their cameras while you were on the ground."


    "I didn''t even notice it."


    "You looked busy. Who was the guy with the laser?"


    "Man-machine''s grandson."


    "Wow."


    "No kidding. Uh... What are you doing here? Last I saw you, you were heading for the post prom party."


    Marcus threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, that got crazy. So I was with Lakisha -- you know, my date -- and I noticed this guy at the party, and I was pretty sure he was one of the gang members we fought a couple days ago. So, I called your sister because I thought she might be able to identify him, and because she could get in without anybody noticing."


    "And?"


    "He was in the gang, but I think he noticed her. Worse, he wasn''t the only one there, so it all turned into a big fight. Jaclyn and I got pulled into it, and after everything settled down, we came here."


    I popped my helmet off. It felt good to breathe unfiltered air even if HQ''s was a bit musty.


    "What about the party? Are you guys going back?"


    Marcus shook his head. "After that? No, they sent everybody home. And it''s OK. I mean seriously, it was a party with inflatable slides."


    I nodded. "That''s one of the reasons Haley and I didn''t go. She was worried about her claws coming out at the wrong time." I paused for a second. "Where is Haley?"


    "They took the showers first. If we ever renovate this place, we''ve got to put in another shower room."


    I left him, headed for the lab, and stripped out of my armor. I ended up wearing the flight suit I wore under the armor. It was basically a variation on the stealth suit, and smelled like old sweats at the best of times.


    I joined the rest of the guys at the main table. Daniel looked up. "Wondering what happened after you left?"


    "How''d you know?"


    "Lucky guess."


    Daniel pushed his chair back from the table. "Basically, we used wolf pack tactics. Vaughn and I distracted Christine while Cassie, Haley, and Travis attacked. Cassie chopped off the mech''s legs. Haley and Travis ripped it apart."


    "I thought she''d be tougher than that."


    Daniel snorted. "She was tougher than that. It could have gone either way."


    "Oh yeah," Travis said. He didn''t look up from the screen, but I noticed that his uniform had a rip going up his forearm, and a cut to match it.


    "So what are you guys doing?"


    Travis looked up from the screen at that. "We''re checking FBI databases on that gang. They don''t have anything to do with the Bloods in Los Angeles. According to the FBI, they''re a gang the Cabal set up to recruit potential juice users."


    I pulled out a chair and sat down. "To join them?"


    "Yep. Except now there''s no Cabal, and the FBI developed a better version of the juice," Travis said. "Think about that."


    "I''m thinking about it."

 Decisions: Part 1

    Haley came over on Saturday afternoon. We hadn''t planned on doing anything, but after what had happened the night before, she thought it might be nice to get together without the threat of imminent fighting.


    We ended up sitting together on the bed in my room, and it had been a nice afternoon. We hadn''t done anything special, just gone for a walk and talked.


    She told me about going out for coffee with her friends, Kay and Ashley after school earlier in the week.


    "I''m surprised you had time. I feel like I spent the entire week either fixing or wearing powered armor."


    "It was on Tuesday before everything got crazy." Then she stopped, probably thinking about last week''s prom, and said, "Well, more crazy."


    "That was when I took the Ball out, and got the new mess started. It feels like last year. Um... That reminds me. What happened with Justice Fiend?"


    "After the fight, Daniel picked up the silver ring, and let him out. Oh... and he told us we''d done a good job, but he wished we''d let him out earlier. Like we had a chance to. She was fast."


    I looked at Haley''s face. She had a two inch long cut on her cheek from the fight.


    "How is the cut? We could take the jet, and I bet Alex or his dad could take care of it. It''d only take twenty minutes to get there."


    "I''ll be fine. I heal quickly. Not like Cassie, but faster than normal people. It went all the way through my cheek, but after I shifted my fangs and claws away, it was just a cut -- kind of like it works with Marcus."


    "I didn''t know it went all the way through. Wow."


    She shrugged. "I should be able to cover it with makeup by Monday. Nick, there''s something else I should tell you..." She stopped, and didn''t say anything for a second.


    Then... "Travis and Marcus think we should all go after that gang. We''ve beaten them twice this week, and Travis says that if we don''t take them out, they''ll come after us."


    "I heard a little bit about that while you were in the shower. I''m not sure how they''d manage it. Even we don''t know when we''ll appear in costume next. I doubt they''d be able to post a lookout everywhere in the city."


    "I don''t know. I''m telling you what I heard. Travis thinks that we''ve got to act together this time. With the Mayor, we all just waited on you, and Daniel to discover what was going on, but if everybody had been working together from the beginning, we might have stopped him before he called in the National Guard."


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    "I can see that. It did get way out of control."


    "I hope you don''t feel like he''s picking on you. You and Daniel didn''t do anything wrong."


    "I didn''t. It''s better if everyone''s involved."


    "Good." She smiled, and somehow looked a little less worried. "Travis comes up with plans, but I don''t think he always thinks about how other people might take them."


    "I didn''t know this was at the ''plan'' stage. I thought he was just talking."


    "I don''t know where he is with it, but from what he said on the way home, it sounded like he''d been thinking about it a lot."


    Her phone beeped. She pulled it out of her purse, looked at the screen, and said, "I''ve got to go. I work in half an hour."


    She kissed me, and I walked her out of the house.


    * * *


    After supper, I went into HQ. I spent the first hour fixing the Rocket suit. It wasn''t unsafe, but Jack had put some serious strain on the upper torso. I checked out the suit''s electronic components just in case exposure to Sean''s magnetic field had damaged anything.


    I found myself almost disappointed that it hadn''t. If he could control magnetism, Sean theoretically ought to be able to produce electricity, light, and chemical changes. Of course he might lack the fine control necessary, or maybe the knowledge. Personally, the first thing I would have done with his powers would have been to learn how to create a controlled electromagnetic pulse.


    Just one of those would take out most electronics -- Jack Maniac''s armor would have been useless.


    I decided to stop meditating on Sean''s cluelessness, and got back to working on the suit.


    I''d sent the cable TV signal to the computer screen in the lab, and paid attention to it occasionally.


    With the ongoing national "people with power juice running wild" story, Jack and Christine Maniac''s capture got almost no press at all. What little press it got showed me fighting Jack above the city, Chris blasting him, and the rest of the League dismantling Christine -- and that was on SuperTV. SuperTV was for the superhero obsessed.


    I wondered if Sean felt overlooked, but then decided not to care.


    Once I finished working on the Rocket suit, I sat down at the main table, and logged into a computer.


    I''d been meaning to look up the original Power after I''d heard Sean claim the name. I knew of the man, but hadn''t realized he was dead, or more accurately, that he''d died recently enough for the name to still be available.


    By the time I finished reading Double V''s database entry on him, I knew a lot more. The Power first appeared in the 1950''s, putting him in the same era as the original Heroes League. He''d been involved in founding the Southern California Defenders, and had actually recruited Preserver, Alex''s dad, the current team leader. He''d had the ability to manipulate molecules, a hugely versatile power. Retiring in the 1970''s when his powers began to fade, he lived quietly in Washington state until just last year.


    Double V didn''t say how he died. They just stated the date of death. Checking the name registration list, I noticed that the Power''s name had only become available a couple weeks ago.


    I went to the FBI''s records.


    They had a little more. He''d apparently been a good friend of Helios, Solar Flare''s grandfather, and a grandfather figure for Solar Flare after Helios died. He''d visited the San Francisco Compound where Solar Flare grew up regularly.


    An unknown person had shot him in the afternoon of December 25 last year. He''d been reading in his living room. I remembered the day. That was the day we''d caught Ray, (and his team) in the woods a few miles from Haley''s family''s cottage.


    I felt cold just remembering it.


    Reading a little further, I noted that his death was still under investigation.

 Decisions: Part 2

    I decided to check in on where Ray and the others were in the trial system.


    We hadn''t been involved after we''d handed him over. From what I''d heard, the FBI had done what they could to discourage either the prosecution or the defense from using us. We''d been interviewed by police, but none of us had said anything that adults hadn''t.


    According to government records, they were all still in maximum security federal prisons, the judge having decided they were far too dangerous to be let out on bail.


    So far, they were only charging them with the murder of the FBI agents (a felony), and unlawful imprisonment (spraying the room with paralysis rays). More charges would likely be added. Agents were working to get Gina to testify against Ray, but she hadn''t. Unfortunately, that meant that the government didn''t have enough evidence to connect them to murders in other states. If they''d left records in the cottage they''d lived in (and burned down), no one had found them. They apparently used different guns for different jobs so while the ballistics sometimes matched up with the deaths of one hero''s friends and relatives, they couldn''t link different jobs together.


    The pattern of killing relatives and friends first, followed by the death of the super connected to them did stay constant, but that wasn''t enough to charge anybody.


    I spent an hour running down information on the trial preparations before reading up on Ray. Ray (short for Raymond) was actually his real name. His real last name (Malone) wasn''t the same as the one on the driver''s license he was using, but they''d found it soon enough. He''d been a Green Beret before leaving the service, and worked for the mob afterward thanks to connections his father had. Agents'' reports indicated that he''d moved to Syndicate L before reappearing as part of "Team Executioner."


    I looked up his father.


    Freddie Malone had worked as an enforcer for the Chicago mob before dying at the age of 44. He''d been killed in a fight with Chicago Hawk, a hero who''d briefly appeared during the 1980''s. Before he''d worked for the mob, he''d been in the Streetlords, one of the gangs Red Lightning had supplied with his own addictive version of power juice.


    I stared at the monitor and thought about that. His father''s death might explain the grudge against heroes, but his father''s membership in the Streetlords rang all kinds of warning bells.


    I couldn''t find any mention of powers, but they might not have been observed.


    I couldn''t think of anything else I could research from there, so I put the relevant links into an email, and sent it to everybody''s Heroes League email accounts.


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    That would give people something to think about.


    Then I checked my regular email, and some web comics.


    While I sat there, I heard the sound of the elevator. Turning to find out who was coming in, I saw Daniel step out. He was generally more available on Saturday evening than during the day, or when his family went to synagogue on Friday night.


    "Your mom said she didn''t know where you were, so I guessed you were here. What''s up?"


    "I''ve been reading up on some things."


    I told him about the Executioner, about the original Power''s death, and mentioned that Travis wanted to coordinate some kind of anti-gang crusade.


    "I was there when Travis was talking about the gang. I wouldn''t be surprised if they did go after us. Back when Red Lightning was in charge, his gangs gave the original League a hard time, and from what my grandfather said, it sounded like their version of the juice was less powerful than the government''s stuff."


    I nodded. "I got that impression too. And that''s not a good thing. Our grandfathers worked together for years before they went up against Red Lightning''s people."


    "We''ve been training for years. This time there''s only one gang. Plus none of us are secretly running the gang. I think it evens out."


    "Good point. But still, are we supposed to just go after those guys out of the blue?"


    "The cops can''t. Somebody ought to. Honestly, it sounds fun."


    "Fun?"


    "A powered gang sounds like a challenge, but the right kind. I tagged along after my dad for years, you know, and this is why. He''s going to be busy with Guardian and the Midwest Defenders, but we''re all here. We''re protecting the city, and we''re ready for this."


    "I wish I felt that confident."


    "I''m confident about them. The rest? Not as much. The more I''ve thought about it, the more I think that you guys got lucky with the Executioner. I don''t think you''d have ever caught him if he were here to do a job on us. They had a hideout here and got careless, but careless for them means they still had it rigged to blow up, had devices to prevent telepathic detection, and were armed with automatic weapons. They were probably prepared for Solar Flare somehow, but underestimated us. If they get out, they won''t do that again."


    "Yeah. That''s why I''d put them higher on my priority list than the gang."


    "Except they are still in prison."


    "Not whoever killed the Power."


    "I''d say call Isaac with that one. If the FBI can handle it, that''s better for everybody."


    "Yeah. I agree. I don''t think they know who any of us are for sure, but it''s likely that they''ll connect Haley''s family with us somehow."


    Daniel nodded. "There''s no doubt of it. The question is how much more they''ll pick up if they get out, and start working on it. For normal people, killing supers takes preparation and planning. Ray and his team killed a lot of supers."


    I sighed. I didn''t have a lot to add.


    Daniel did, though.


    "There''s one more thing we should be thinking about. A lot of teams have some kind of leadership. We''ve just been falling together with whoever''s been around at the time. I think we should at least come up with people to lead small groups while we''re fighting. Someone''s got to make decisions and there''s no time for a committee."


    "Was this Travis'' idea?"


    "Yeah, but he''s right."

 Decisions: Part 3

    Daniel and I spent the rest of the night playing video games on the big screen. Even if the novelty had long since worn off, it beat the TV my family had at home by a long shot.


    It felt good.


    After a week that included being chased, attacked in my own bed, and ending a second prom night in violence, Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk seemed like a simple, relaxing way to finish off the week. It was made more relaxing by sending Isaac Lim an email about the original Power''s death instead of calling him.


    It couldn''t last.


    On Sunday afternoon, Travis called everybody in the League, asking people to meet at HQ on Sunday night to talk. So that meant I had to drop the book I''d been reading (David Brin''s Kiln People), and finish my homework during the afternoon, because I wouldn''t get the chance that night.


    The meeting officially started at 8:00 PM. I arrived early (around 7:15 PM) to find that Travis was already there, sitting at one of the consoles at the main table, and printing something out.


    Haley sat at the table too, but she''d pushed her chair away from it, and was looking in my direction as the elevator door opened.


    She didn''t waste an instant before getting up.


    We met halfway across the room, next to a big pile of cardboard boxes. One of these days we''d have to declutter the room and move them.


    "Travis came early so I got stuck coming with him."


    "Why is he here now?"


    "He''s been doing research on the gang, and some other things. He wanted to print stuff out so we all have copies."


    I looked over at him. He looked up and gave me a wave.


    Haley followed my gaze, then turned back to me. "I''ve already been sitting here for an hour."


    "Ugh."


    "Why are you here early?"


    "I don''t know. I thought I''d check email. Maybe play video games. I guess I didn''t have anything better to do."


    Instead of joining Travis, we went into the lab, sat on stools next to one of the work tables, and talked until everyone else arrived forty minutes later.


    Vaughn came down the elevator last. The door opened, and Travis, who had just been saying, "Let''s get started--" stopped. Vaughn crossed the room, and sat down between Marcus and Rachel. Then he pulled two liters of Coke, Sunkist, and Mountain Dew out of a grocery bag.


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    "I brought pop. Do we have cups?"


    Getting them took another couple minutes.


    When he''d gotten back from the kitchen, and everybody had something to drink, Travis started again.


    "We''ve all just had an unbelievable week. We took on two different groups, and we won. If it weren''t for power juice showing up all over the country either one of them would have made national headlines. I''d say the training we''ve been getting is paying off. Unfortunately that''s not the end of it. The gang''s big enough that we know we didn''t catch them all, and you all got the email Nick sent. If we want to take down that gang, and prepare to keep the Executioner away from ourselves, and our families, we''re going to have to take this to the next level.


    "We''re going to have to professionalize this group, elect some leadership, and start planning to handle it."


    Vaughn took a drink from his cup, and said, "So what are you running for, Travis? President?"


    "I''m not running for anything, but we''re going to have to put leadership in place. The old League had a chain of command. We''ll need one too. That''s why I called this meeting."


    Jaclyn nodded. "I agree. We can''t let this just keep on going like it is, but do you have a plan? Or are you just bringing the subject up?"


    "Yeah. I took a look at the structure of the Defenders and a few other groups and I thought we could choose one we liked. You''ve got the paper in front of you."


    "Unnecessary," Daniel said. "We''ve got all that stuff taken care of."


    Travis stared at him. "When did that happen?"


    "Back in the 1950''s. The old League set up a financial and governing structure. We''ve got a non-profit foundation that handles money for the League, including supplying money for keeping up the vehicles and HQ. There''s also a for-profit corporation that handles licensing the likenesses of League members for toys, and stuff like that. You''ve seen the action figures in stores, right?"


    Travis sat there with his mouth hanging a little bit open. "I did, but since they were all our grandparents, I guessed it had to be an old agreement. I didn''t know we still had people cutting deals for us. Why didn''t you tell anybody?"


    "I knew about the foundation part." I said. "Every time I buy anything for this place, I''ve got to get the money from Daniel''s dad."


    "Dad''s responsible for the foundation." Daniel said. "Once we all hit 18, we''re responsible. Marcus and Haley are both sixteen, right? So that''s two years from now."


    "Unless your younger brother and sister join," I said. "Then it''s something like six or eight more years?"


    "Right, but we''re not going to let them," Daniel said. "If we wait until all of us are 18, we can set our own rules for underage members."


    "Wait," Cassie said, "we get total control once everyone turns 18? Why don''t we just kick the youngest members out? Then we can take control and bring them back in right away."


    Next to me, Haley said, "Hey..."


    Rachel said, "Cassie, are you even 18 yet?"


    Daniel started off like he didn''t hear either of them. "I don''t think it''s worded like that. First of all, we don''t get total control. We get a structure we can vote to change, and we also get an organizational board. My dad''s on the board, so I don''t think we can game the system."


    "It was worth a shot," Vaughn said.


    "Anyway," Daniel said, "my point was that all we really have to decide is who our field commander or commanders are. The rest of it''s out of our hands for now."


    Travis sat back in his chair. "So again, why didn''t anybody tell us this before?"


    Daniel shrugged. "I don''t know. My dad was supposed to, but he''s been really busy this year."


    "Okay," Travis said, "who wants to be a field commander?"


    Cassie held up her hand. "Me."


    At just about the same time, Jaclyn said, "I''m interested."


    Vaughn looked thoughtful. "It might be cool."


    Marcus stopped drawing, put down his notepad, and said, "So is there going to be one field commander or more?"


    "I think we''ve got to decide that," Travis said. "But, I want to be in the running either way."

 Decisions: Part 4

    "Here''s a thought," Daniel said. "Does anybody want to nominate anybody else?"


    "Looking for a nomination?" Vaughn asked.


    Daniel shook his head. "No. I''m willing to do communications, but keeping track of what people are doing, using prescience to sense future attacks, blocking them with telekinesis, attacking people, passing messages, and coming up with plans all at the same time sounds overwhelming. For me, just being in a crowd can be bad."


    "I think Nick could do a good job," Haley said.


    "I don''t know," I said.


    "I bet you''ve been in more action than anybody else."


    Marcus looked around the table. "Jaclyn and Travis would both do a good job. He''s been manager when I''ve been working, and he keeps his head on straight. It''s not combat, but it''s busy. And Jaclyn''s smart and thinks faster than any of us."


    Rachel took a breath, somehow managing to get everybody''s attention just as she started to talk.


    "I don''t want to offend anybody," Rachel began, "because I''ve only been part of this since I got home, but I''m not ready to nominate anybody. I don''t know what a good field commander would be like, and I don''t want to follow somebody just because they won a popularity contest."


    Travis shook his head. "It''s not a popularity contest. We need to get organized, or we won''t get anywhere. We''ve gotten lucky so far, but we''ve got real enemies now. We''ve got to keep up with them, or we''ll lose."


    Rachel looked like she wanted to reply, but Vaughn started in. "Who led the original League? Why can''t we copy them?"


    "It changed a lot," Daniel said. "I think they rotated it around."


    "During the war," Cassie said, "my dad led the team, but he got busted down in rank near the end."


    My grandfather had ended up the ranking officer, but he still had Captain Commando leading the actual missions. He told me he liked the planning more.


    "The way they did it doesn''t matter now," Jaclyn said. "The army would barely admit my grandfather was on the team at the beginning of the war."


    "Exactly," Travis said. "We need to figure out what works for us."


    Daniel raised his hand and gave a little wave. "There are some of us who want to, and some of us who don''t, but none of us are hugely experienced. I think that everybody ought to get a chance whether they want it or not."


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    I looked at him. "Why?"


    "Because the people who don''t want to could turn out to be good at it. Besides, what happens if all the people who want to command get knocked out? Who takes charge then?"


    Haley nodded. "We''d train first, right? I''d like to try it, but I wouldn''t want to take over for the first time during a real fight."


    Travis'' expression looked a little stiff. "I''d hoped to get this settled tonight."


    Rachel shook her head. "Even plays have tryouts, Travis."


    We left it there. The meeting didn''t end, of course, because we still had to discuss the Executioner and the gang, but that didn''t end up being quite as controversial. We divided into groups. Marcus, Haley, Cassie, and I were assigned to come up with ideas for how to deal with the Executioner if the team got out of jail. Everyone else began to work on the question of how to deal with the gang.


    * * *


    Two hours later, the meeting had ended, most people had left, and I talked with Daniel and Haley. By comparison to having the whole team with us, HQ felt strangely empty.


    Haley and I sat next to each other on the main table in the middle of the room.


    "Well, I guess we''re seeing the main problem as protecting our parents, but also even knowing when they show up and start poking around. I''m likely to end up bugging nearly everywhere."


    "And we can''t be sure that they won''t have a way to detect bugs, so maybe we''ll have to get them somewhere else anyway," Haley said. "The FBI watched them last time."


    Daniel nodded. "I''m not going to be much help. They brought clairvoyant blocking devices last time around. Who knows what they''ll bring if they''re actually after us?"


    "Yeah." I thought about that for a second. It wasn''t a thought I cared to follow very far. "What are people thinking about the gang?"


    Daniel shrugged. "Vaughn thinks that he saw something about them in his grandfather''s books. He''s thinking that since his grandfather stole so many of the Cabal''s methods, he might be able to find something in the cave under Hardwick House. Aside from that, I think I''m going to be telepathically spying on them. Once we find out who their leadership is, we''ll go after it, I guess."


    Haley looked up at him. "You don''t sound like you like it very much."


    "I don''t think it''s a bad plan. I''m just tired from being in the middle of a room full of emotional people. People talk and they vote and they act nice, but underneath they''re churning. I just can''t stand it after a while. Anyway, I think I''m going."


    After he left, Haley and I walked toward the hangar and got into Night Wolf''s car. I switched the color to green, started it, and drove out the exit in the park. The door slid closed behind us, looking just like any other chunk of rock in the hill.


    I took us slowly up the park rangers'' access road.


    "You didn''t have to nominate me," I said. "I don''t need to lead the team."


    She turned away from the windshield to look at me. "I think you could be good at it."


    "Why?"


    "You''ve been doing it more than any of us. Well, except for Daniel. His dad took him along a lot."


    "Yeah."


    I stopped the car where the rangers'' road met the street and watched for cars -- well, for headlights. The cars themselves weren''t visible until they got close.


    "It didn''t bother you, did it?"


    "What?" I stopped looking at the road to look at her. "No. I just don''t really think of myself as a leader."


    "It''s funny how different you are from Travis. He goes directly for things like that. School council, captain of the football team, quarterback... All of it."


    "Is he good at it?"


    "I don''t know. The football team won a lot when he was on it, but it can''t just be because of him."

 Decisions: Part 5

    I drove Haley to her home, but ended up staying for a couple hours after that.


    I left there just before eleven, dropping off the car back at HQ, and making it home on time for curfew. Then I read a book for a few more hours, and went to bed around two in the morning.


    I didn''t fall asleep at school the next day, but I hadn''t gotten enough sleep, making me more withdrawn than usual. I took notes, ate lunch by myself, and stayed away from people.


    This had one practical result. I didn''t know where any of my friends were going to be after school, making it hard for me to bum a ride home. That wouldn''t ordinarily have been a problem except that it started to rain during the last period, and didn''t stop when school let out.


    All of which left me standing in the hall, looking out the front doors of the school, trying to decide if I should call someone to pick me up or just wait for the rain to stop.


    People walked past me to buses waiting in front of the school, and across the street to the muddy parking lot.


    While I scanned passing faces for friends, Chris stepped out of the crowd.


    "Nick, are you waiting for somebody?"


    "No. I''m trying to find a ride home."


    He gave a bemused looking smile. "I''m stuck too. My car didn''t start this morning so I rode my bike, but I don''t want to ride home in this shit."


    Looking him over, I decided I wouldn''t ride home on a bike in his situation either. I doubted the jean jacket he wore would do a very good job keeping him dry.


    "I was hoping things would let up soon."


    "I wish. The forecast calls for rain from now till midnight. I checked it on my phone."


    I looked toward the front doors, watching the rain through the glass. "So, what do you think is wrong with your car?"


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    "I''m thinking the battery, maybe the alternator. On the other hand, I might have done something stupid that''s draining the battery. I didn''t have time to check."


    "What have you been doing to the car?"


    "Just experimenting. I had a couple ideas..."


    He started telling me about his ideas, and the conversation took off. Twenty minutes passed without me even noticing.


    Sean''s voice finally drew me back to reality. The majority of people had now long since left the school and Sean, Dayton, Jody, and a couple girls were the only people walking down the hall. Julie, the girl who had emailed a picture of Haley and I out to most of the school, was one of them. I thought I might recognize the other from when Keith tested people in the parking lot.


    Sean''s voice carried. "They''re still out there. What we have to do is get famous enough that they won''t have the nerve to make us disappear. Seriously, they bugged my house..."


    As I looked over at them, Sean glared at me, lowered his voice, and kept on talking.


    At that moment, I suppose I could have said, "You don''t have to worry about it. The Cabal didn''t bug your house. That was me."


    It didn''t seem like the right time.


    Chris watched them pass with an expression that I interpreted as disgust.


    When the front door shut behind them, and we were the only people standing there, Chris opened his mouth, stopped, and said nothing. Then he quietly said, "I know who the Rocket is."


    My guts froze, but I managed to say, "How?"


    "You were too good at helping me with Grandpa''s stuff. No one figures out something that complicated in an afternoon."


    "Just from that?"


    "That and when I mentioned to Grandpa that you might help, he looked relieved. Also, when I thought about it, that bit with handing the ball over to the League."


    I don''t know what the expression on my face looked like, but he said, "Don''t worry about it. I''m not going to tell anybody. I just wanted you to know I knew."


    "Thanks, and don''t take this badly, but I think I''ve got to get better at hiding it."


    "Easy. Don''t fix supervillains'' equipment."


    "Right. I --" I was going to arrange getting the ball back to him. Even as I began, I thought better of doing it right there, and then my phone rang.


    I pulled it out of my pocket, noticing two things immediately -- that it was nearly an hour after school had ended and that Vaughn was calling.


    "Nick, this is bad. I went into my family''s house''s uh... really big basement, and someone''s been down there. Can you get over here? I''ve already got Cassie."


    "Can you pick me up? I don''t have a car, and I''m still at school."


    "I''m sure someone can pick you up." Distantly, I heard him say, "Cassie?"


    "Wait," I said. "I just thought of something. Haley''s not working. She can probably bring me."


    "Right. And she might be useful too."


    After we hung up, I made a mental note to put "new communications system" higher on my list of projects. I didn''t think we''d said anything dangerous, but just about anybody could eavesdrop on a cell phone.


    "Hey," I told Chris. "I think I had an idea about how to get you home."

 Decisions: Part 6

    I called Haley and asked her if she would pick us up, and she agreed. I couldn''t think of a way to tell her about Vaughn without telling Chris indirectly, so I didn''t. Knowing my identity was one thing, but I wasn''t going to blow the whole team''s.


    While we waited, we talked.


    After checking again to see if we were alone, Chris said, "I was kind of pissed off when I finally figured it out. I mean, what was going on with that? Were you spying on me? Were you trying to steal the ball? Then I calmed down and remembered that I invited you, and you talked about bringing the ball back, but I stopped you. So in the end, we''re okay."


    "Now that Justice Fiend''s out of town, and the Maniacs are in jail, I think I can get it back to you any time. Though... I''d like to figure out how the paralysis ray worked, and if I can''t figure that out, I''d at least like to figure out how to block it."


    "We''ll figure something out. I''d be willing to help, if you want."


    "That''d be cool," I said, but I didn''t say much more. HQ would be the best place for that, and I''d want to warn people first.


    Not long after that Haley showed up in her mom''s Trans Am. Chris talked about the car during most of the ride to his house. When he got out, I explained to Haley what was going on.


    "Does Vaughn want us there in costume? Last time there were traps."


    I called him. He didn''t.


    We drove to Hardwick House, parking in the Visitor''s Parking Lot. Instead of going through the main entrance, we ran through the rain, around the Gothic section, into the garden, and over to the door next to the pseudo-Medieval tower.


    Vaughn, Marcus and Cassie stood inside. Like Haley and I, they were all in street clothes. Vaughn''s leather jacket had unfashionably full pockets.


    I glanced over at the vaguely pyramid shaped "modern" section of the building before we stepped inside, and shut the door.


    Victorian furniture cluttered up the tower''s entrance area as well as the hallway that led to the door to the cave below.


    "Just a second everybody," Vaughn said, and pulled a flashlight out of his jacket.


    I recognized it as one of the flashlights from the team''s utility belts.


    Vaughn must have noticed me looking because he said, "Cassie had me stuff almost all the stuff in my utility belt into my tux. I''ve been intending to bring it back to HQ, but I keep on forgetting. It''s nice now though."


    "Like it''s my fault," Cassie said.


    I took my backpack off, pulled my utility belt out of it and put it around my waist. I''d been keeping most of the stealth suit on me lately.


    I pulled out my own flashlight, and we climbed over the furniture blocking the hall until we came to the door to the stairway. The device that pumped poison gas didn''t go on this time. Either Vaughn must have found a way to turn it off, or the mechanism had finally broken.


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    At the bottom of the stairs, we walked through the hallway where machine guns had fired on us in the fall. Haley and I had left only bent metal, broken concrete rubble, and spent shells.


    Vaughn typed some numbers into a key pad at the end of the hall, and the door opened.


    We walked into the cave with its floor covering of black, greasy soot, the little bits of crunching bone, and the occasional full skeleton. We didn''t go into the broken silver dome where Red Lightning had exploded, or visit the cages where he''d kept our grandparents, but I thought about it. One of these days, it might be worth checking out.


    Finally, we went into Red Lightning''s private hall with its gilded trim, wall and ceiling paintings of his new order, and the room where he kept his books.


    Vaughn flicked on the lights and pointed at the bookcases.


    Red Lightning''s journals weren''t there. They lay on a wooden desk, some of them open. The desk had gold trim.


    "I didn''t get them out," Vaughn said. "I don''t know who did."


    Haley hesitated for a moment and then stepped toward the books. "If you give me a second, I might be able to catch the person''s scent."


    She leaned down toward the books and closed her eyes. "I''ve got it. It''s a guy. I''m not sure how old, but not really old or really young. He wears cologne. I also smell a lot of the same smells I smell in a doctor''s office."


    Vaughn snorted. "Well, that narrows it down to, like, half my family. My dad''s a doctor, and right now a lot of people are involved in the medical businesses we''ve got -- like most of my cousins, and for that matter, my mom."


    Marcus stopped inspecting the paintings on the walls and ceiling. "Vaughn, what makes you think it''s got to be your family?"


    "No one else has the key or the key code. I stole the key from my mom and duplicated it back when I was using, and my grandma''s house has a bunch of Red Lightning stuff in boxes. I found out about the cave and got the key code there."


    "Haley," I said, "do you think you could follow the scent?"


    "Maybe. It can''t be more than a couple hours old. Is everybody ready to go?"


    "I don''t see any reason to stay," Cassie said.


    Vaughn shrugged. "I''ve been here enough. Unless we wanted to put away the books."


    Then he stared at the desk where they lay.


    "Yeah, we''re the Heroes League," Marcus said. "We clean up crime -- and lairs." Then he noticed Vaughn picking up one of the books. "Wait, are you serious?"


    Vaughn appeared to be checking the number on the journal''s spine. He went through all of them. "One''s missing."


    "You gave one to the Cabal. That''s the one the Feds have now."


    "No," Vaughn said. "Another one. The one after that."


    Cassie nodded. "What''s in it?"


    Vaughn put down the journal. "Well, you know how the journal I gave away had the modified formulas for power juice and preliminary work on the power impregnator?"


    "Very preliminary." I volunteered. "None of the power impregnator stuff worked yet. They went up a couple blind alleys before they figured things out."


    "This one had the finished plans."


    Cassie waved her hand toward the door. "He could still be around. Let''s go. Haley?"


    "I want to go ahead of everyone. It''ll make it easier for me to concentrate."


    We left Red Lightning''s rooms behind us. Vaughn shut the metal door, and it clanked into place.


    We followed Haley through the burned mess of the main cave, our feet crunching down on things I didn''t want to think about. After a little bit of wandering around, Haley started going back the way we''d come. We went up the stairs, and climbed back over the furniture, ending up back in the tower.


    Haley opened the door, frowned, zipped up her jacket and then stepped out into the rain.


    Cassie turned to Vaughn. "Won''t the rain wash the smell away?"


    "No," Marcus said. "Sometimes rain makes it easier. Not that I''d know, but that''s what Grandpa McAllister said."


    We followed her out through the garden, and down the block. Hardwick House stood next to houses built by prominent families from the 1800''s, and took up most of the block. Whoever it was had parked on the north end of the grounds.


    The huge old houses across the street were mostly stone and wood. Some kind of preservation law prevented them from updating the houses to more modern materials.


    "Here." Haley stood next to the road. "This is where he parked."

 Decisions: Part 7

    We spent the next few days bugging the houses and cars of any family members Vaughn thought had connections to his family''s medical interests or worked in medicine.


    Giles Hardwick, Vaughn''s grandfather, had had five kids and they''d each had two or three children of their own. Plus, he had a brother and two sisters and they''d had children and grandchildren too. Not all of them stayed in Grand Lake, but by the time we were done on Wednesday night, we''d bugged twenty different people.


    Vaughn seemed positively tickled that his older cousins were our targets.


    We were on the last house. It was 10:30 PM, and we''d landed behind an older white house not too far from Grand Lake University''s campus. I guessed than it dated from the 1950''s. Most of the houses around campus did. Vaughn was in costume, and I wore the stealth suit, complete with guitar.


    According to Vaughn, his cousin''s family had bought the house because it would be cheaper than having their kids live in the dorm. The oldest, Lucas, was in medical school.


    Vaughn stood next to me while I let the roachbots out of the pouch on my utility belt. "Lucas was always perfect. Never got in trouble. Good grades. Piles of awards all the way through school -- he got into med school -- and we''re bugging him because he might be planning to be Red Lightning 2. It''s funny."


    I looked up from the remote control. "I''ve got them in place."


    "Cool. Let''s get out of here."


    I activated the rocketpack, and shot into the night sky, high enough that I could look over the Grand Lake University campus, and surrounding neighborhoods. The lights of their windows, and a few well placed spotlights, made the chapel, the administration building, lecture halls, and dormitories practically glow in the dark.


    I''d probably be going there next year. I only had a month and half of my senior year in high school left.


    That felt a little weird.


    Above the sound of the rocketpack and the wind keeping Vaughn in the air, Vaughn said, "I''m going there next year. You?"


    "Yeah, that or maybe Abraham Kuyper College. I got accepted both places."


    "Did you look into the Stapledon program? Isaac Lim sent everyone an email about it."


    "I looked at it. Student loan forgiveness for four years of government service after graduation? If I go to Grand Lake, I won''t need it between what my grandfather left me and scholarships. With Kuyper, that''s another story, but I''m probably going to Grand Lake."


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    "I''m doing it. If I''m going on their dime, my parents are practically going to pick my major for me. If the government''s paying, I choose. They''ve got no control."


    "Won''t your parents wonder how you''re affording it?"


    "Nah. The government''s got a system where they award fake scholarships, and with my ACT scores, it''ll work. Shit, it''s the ACT scores that are the problem. With my grades, my parents would have been happy if I even got into college, but I got in the top ten percent in my test scores for just about everything. After that, they got way too involved."


    "I didn''t know you did that well."


    "Didn''t try to. Anyway, Cassie''s doing it too. She was planning to even before the email. I think it was part of the deal for her treatments last summer."


    "Maybe I''ll think about it, but it seems like trading off one form of control for another, you know?"


    "I know, but I look at it this way. The government can already expect us to show up whenever they want in exchange for giving us access to their databases. This is a little more of the same."


    I felt pretty sure it was ultimately going to amount to more than that, but didn''t say anything. I got distracted.


    I''d been monitoring the police band the whole time we were out on the off chance that someone noticed us, and called 911.


    No one had, but as Vaughn had been talking, the dispatcher sent cars to deal with, "... a robbery and fight in the Meijer parking lot. Metahuman involvement. Proceed with caution."


    Vaughn and I flew off.


    Meijer had several stores around Grand Lake. We flew to the oldest one, the one on the corner of Jefferson and 28th.


    From the air, I could see the big, boxy building, surrounded by its huge parking lot. Meijer stores sold everything -- groceries, clothing, electronics, building supplies, whatever.


    We''d had to cross town, flying directly over Grand Lake itself, arriving at the same time as two police cars and a Box.


    The parking lot looked like a disaster had hit. Cars had been smashed and destroyed around the entrance, and group of costumed figures stood around four unconscious people.


    At first, I didn''t recognize anybody.


    The unconscious guys looked kind of scruffy -- a couple were unshaven, one had a chest length beard that went all over. Their jeans and Carhartt jackets looked worn. I guessed they might be in their mid-thirties.


    A line of TV''s (with smashed screens) lay on the ground, leading from them into the store. As I got closer, I noticed that one TV had been embedded in the grill of a Ford Bronco, and another, a particularly large plasma TV, had smashed in the door of a semi-truck at the far end of the parking lot.


    One of the costumed figures held a rifle. Its barrel had been bent backwards into a "U" shape.


    I recognized Sean then, and everyone else almost instantly -- Dayton, Jody, Julie, Shannon (the barista at the coffee shop), and that girl I''d seen with them at school.


    They had matching costumes, and expensive matching costumes at that. Dark bodysuits with masks covered their faces except for the mouth. Each had a different color combination, but they all had a clenched fist on their chests and a similar look.


    They had to have hired a designer for the uniforms.


    I''d recognized their costumes'' material before the people. The military used it instead of kevlar. My grandfather had sold the design to a military contractor ten years ago. It was an older version of what I used in the stealth suit.


    Between the material and the designer, someone had dropped at least twenty thousand dollars.


    As Vaughn and I landed, Sean said, "Don''t worry about it. We''ve got this one."


    Vaughn nodded. "No problem. What''s up?"


    I heard the answer, but didn''t pay attention. In the upper right hand corner of my helmet, the Heroes League alert had started blinking yellow.

 Decisions: Part 8

    I barely got to wonder what the yellow light meant before the phone in my suit rang. The helmet''s readout showed it as being from HQ.


    Walking a little bit away from Vaughn, I took the call, talking low into my helmet''s microphone.


    "It''s Marcus," said the voice on the other end. "I went into HQ after work, and you won''t believe it. You''ve already hit pay dirt."


    "How?"


    "You''re going to have to come back here and listen to it yourself, but imagine the scariest bit of intel ever. It''s a meeting with one of Vaughn''s uncles and a bunch of other people."


    "What are they talking about?"


    "The Cabal. The mayor. The gang we messed with, and some super team they''re putting together."


    I turned around to look at Sean and his crew. "Superhero team?"


    "For real. Like this city needs more than one, but seriously, hurry. They know more about us than anyone would want them to."


    "Like how much?"


    "Like they''re on the right track to figure out all of our real names."


    "That''s bad."


    "You''re not kidding."


    The police started questioning Sean about what had happened. The men from the Box handcuffed the men on the ground, and started taking blood samples -- that, or injecting sedatives.


    Maybe both.


    Telling Marcus that we''d get back as soon as we could, I hung up.


    Even as I did it, I noticed Vaughn explaining to an officer that neither of us had been involved at all.


    "See," Sean said, "it was all us. We''re Justice Fist."


    So yeah, not exactly the most clever name in the world, but the policeman nodded, and asked Sean a few more questions.


    As ignored as Sean seemed to feel when we''d operated together (or at least in the same fight), I didn''t have a problem giving him his moment in the sun.


    It didn''t last.


    One of the guys from the Box walked up to me. He was short, and had crew cut, red hair. He was stocky, but had muscle under the fat.


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    "Different costume, same Rocket, right?"


    "Uh... Right."


    "Anything we ought to know about the guys on the ground? Are they juicers?"


    I froze, trying to think. "I really don''t know. I got here after everything was over. You''ve got the blood sample."


    "Fair enough. You''re the smart guy. I thought I''d check to see if you knew anything special."


    "I''ve read the formulas, but I don''t know anything about these specific people. I wasn''t even here for the fight."


    He nodded at me, and walked back to the Box.


    Sean stared at me. "You''re the Rocket? Where''s your normal costume?"


    "I''ve got different suits for different problems."


    "What''s with the guitar?"


    "It... does stuff. Hey, Storm King, we probably ought to go."


    "Talk to you guys later," Vaughn said. "Keep on keeping the peace," and he gave everyone a wave.


    It didn''t take long to make it back to HQ. We flew from Meijer across Grand Lake, landed in the forest in Veterans Memorial Park, and followed the tunnel there back into HQ.


    As we stepped through the dark, touching our hands to the wall, and letting it lead us in, Vaughn asked, "What''s the rush?"


    "I don''t know. Marcus said it was something big."


    "Marcus? No way. I think it''s the first time he''s done anything."


    "He was there for the fight with the Mayor, and when Vengeance stabbed you. I"m pretty sure he''s been to every group meeting."


    "Yeah, but this is the first time he''s acted on his own. You think it''s because of the field commander thing?"


    "I''ve no clue."


    End of the tunnel. I pulled my helmet off, and the retinal scanner glowed red.


    The door slid open, and Vaughn and I stepped into the hangar. We walked past the jet, and Night Wolf''s car. Captain Commando''s motorcycle was out.


    I wondered what Cassie was doing with it.


    We walked into the main room to find Marcus sitting at the main table, hand on the mouse. The big wall screen showed a roachbot''s view of a meeting in somebody''s kitchen.


    I needed to work on making the optics better. This was still dark, and still blurry.


    When I got a good view of the faces on the screen though, I found it clear enough to make my heart stop.


    Well, that might be an exaggeration, but I recognized way too many of the people on the screen. Just for example: the tall, blond guy was Sean''s dad. Next to him sat a tired looking man in a worn, brown suit -- Mr. Sledge, my school''s assistant principal. A middle aged women in a black suit (which even to my eyes seemed more fashionable than Mr. Sledge''s) sat next him. I guessed she might be Latino, but I didn''t recognize her.


    I did recognize Russell Hardwick though. With the bald head and confident look, he reminded me of pictures of his father, Giles Hardwick. Beyond being Lucas'' dad, I''d seen him on TV. He always seemed to be donating something, and he had some position in the Hardwick family''s businesses. I didn''t know what it was, but it was definitely visible.


    There were other people at the table too, but I could only see the back of their heads.


    "Uncle Russ?" Vaughn muttered.


    Marcus looked up from the computer, and smiled. He seemed a little tired.


    "You haven''t even heard them yet." Marcus moved the mouse, and on the screen, the pointer touched the rewind button. "Give me a second and you can listen to everything. Everything that matters, anyway."


    He stopped playing it twice, hunting for the right spot before letting the file run.


    Sean''s dad said, "... I don''t like putting them on the front lines."


    An off screen voice said, "Your son did it to himself. He can''t pass a camera without standing in front of it."


    "We''re hiding behind our kids. That should be us out there!" Mr. Drucker leaned over the table at somebody. His face looked red, but that could have been the light.


    Russell Hardwick held up a hand. "Calm down, George. You know as well as I do that Sean volunteered. Besides, we''re not going let him, or any of our children die. They''re a distraction. They''ll give the remnants of the Cabal''s army something to worry about while we get the Impregnator built. After that, we''ll never have to fear the Cabal again."

 Decisions: Part 9

    Mr. Drucker didn''t look satisfied by Vaughn''s uncle''s reply, but he didn''t keep on arguing either.


    I couldn''t tell whether it came from the table or from someone outside the roachbot''s view, but someone asked, "What about the Heroes League?"


    Vaughn''s uncle turned to look to the left -- away from the table, "What about them?"


    "They''ll try to stop us."


    He shook his head. "I see them as natural allies. They''ve fought Mayor Bouman and by extension the Cabal. I''m sure they won''t help us make the Impregnator, but once we''ve been empowered, they''ll cooperate."


    A woman''s voice said, "You''re sure about that?"


    "They''re young, but they''re not idiots. They''ll see reason."


    Assistant Principal Sledge eyed him, "You''re very sure about that."


    "Are you implying something?"


    "Knowing that Storm King throws lightning, I thought you might have someone on their team."


    Hardwick laughed. "I don''t know for sure who, but I have my suspicions, and when I tell you, you''ll know why I laughed."


    He paused for a second. "I think they''ve got a Hardwick, but I doubt he''d be of any use to us. My guess is that he''s Suzanne''s youngest -- one of your students."


    The woman next to Mr. Sledge said, "The druggie?"


    Hardwick nodded. "My sister says he''s been clean for nearly a year now, but I didn''t discount him because of the drugs. He''s got problems with authority. If you know his mother, that isn''t a surprise."


    A few people around the table laughed.


    Mr. Sledge didn''t. He waited until they stopped. "I think he''s stayed clean. He''s stopped associating with the party crowd, and I''ve seen him with new friends this year. He''s always talked with Cassie Kowalski, one of our better athletes, but now they''re together with Kayla, another girl, also an athlete, and some quiet kid. Nick Klein, son of the psychologist. The boy who fought George''s son."


    He paused. "And Dayton and Jody. And he was the least injured of the three."


    He paused again, thinking. "And, now that I think about it, Kowalski hasn''t been in sports during winter or spring, which is a shame because she was playing noticeably better this year."


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    The people on the screen went silent, and so did we.


    Vaughn looked over at me, and then Marcus. "I''m not with them."


    "I know," I said. "I didn''t think you were."


    Marcus moved the mouse, and clicked on the stop button.


    "Just a second guys, the next bit doesn''t have anything new, just them guessing whether or not you''re in the League. You can go over it yourself if you want, but the part I''m forwarding to will make you crap your pants."


    He clicked on forward, and they started making jerky movements until he pressed play again.


    "... one more issue that we need to discuss tonight." Russell Hardwick smiled briefly at everyone, but it seemed fake to me. "We may need to make a hard decision. Some of you remember Ray Malone, the son of Freddie Malone. Freddie stayed in touch with some of your parents... after everything."


    A voice said, "I remember him."


    Another said, "The Executioner?"


    "Part of the team," Hardwick said. "I was contacted by someone who said he might get out soon, and he''s coming to this area. Do we want him?"


    "Want him?" Mr. Sledge raised his head to look directly at Hardwick. "I don''t think there''s any legal way for him to avoid jail. What would we want him for?"


    "Men like that don''t stay in jail. And remember he''s going to come here once he gets away. The question is whether we want to be people who help him, or a security problem he has to solve? We all know about him, and he knows about us. And we''ve all shared information about the Cabal with descendants of Red Lightning''s army (including him) over the years. I don''t think we''ve got a choice. Besides, he knows how to fight, and we''re going to need that."


    Marcus stopped it again.


    "Hey," Vaughn said, "don''t stop there. We need to know what they decide to do."


    "They don''t decide anything. They argued about it for the next hour, and agreed to take it up again at their next meeting."


    "So this is just going to hang over our heads? Fuck." Vaughn stared blankly ahead for a second. Then he walked away from us to look up at the frozen picture on the wall screen.


    I turned away from Vaughn to look over at Marcus. "Did you have any ideas about what to do with it?"


    Marcus looked up from the screen. "Oh yeah. A pile. The obvious one is we keep on watching them, and swoop in if they decide to do anything we need to stop. And then we''ve got the sneaky option... We have someone go up and work out an alliance, and warn them against Ray and all those guys. If we were really clever about it, we might even be able to divide the group or something... And the Batman option: We go in, and I don''t know, dangle Hardwick out of a building and tell him to keep them out of all this. Trouble is, I bet they wouldn''t so... Well, my other idea is we have Daniel erase everything he can."


    "Erase? I don''t like that one."


    "I didn''t say it was a good idea."


    Vaughn turned away from the screen. "Besides, it probably wouldn''t work. My grandfather wasn''t totally immune to telepathy, but he was resistant. That''s how come the Mentalist didn''t know he was Red Lightning from the beginning. And my mom... When he tried to put in the block, it dissolved. I''d bet that Uncle Russ would be like everyone else. People say he''s a lot like my grandfather anyway."


    We''ll never know where the conversation would have gone after that because at that moment we heard the hum of the door and the roar of Cassie''s motorcycle coming in through the vehicle entrance to the hangar.


    Seconds later she walked into the main room in costume, sword on her back. "You''re looking busy down here. What''s with the yellow?"

 Decisions: Part 10

    Marcus started to show Cassie the clips, but once he started Jaclyn showed up, and then as he backed up to find the start for her, Daniel stepped out of the elevator.


    We decided at that point that we were better off waiting for everybody.


    It didn''t take more than ten minutes for everyone to show up, making it eleven o''clock before we got started, guaranteeing that I''d be tired at school the next day. Vaughn and I were both out of our costumes by then.


    Travis and Haley arrived last, and together -- probably directly from the same restaurant.


    Haley walked up to me, and leaned on me for a moment. "I feel like I''ve been standing all day."


    Then she pulled out a chair from under the table and sat down.


    As it occurred to me that I was probably supposed to ask her about her day at that point, Marcus killed the lights and started the clips going.


    Everyone watched.


    Cassie gasped when Mr. Sledge drew the connection between Vaughn, herself, Kayla, and I. Travis muttered, "Shit," when Hardwick started talking about the Executioner.


    In her chair, Haley leaned forward toward the screen.


    Marcus stopped it a few minutes later than he had with us, letting everyone watch as Hardwick''s group descended into pointless argument.


    When the lights came on, Jaclyn stood up from her own seat. "Well, it''s obvious we''re going to have to do something about this."


    "Damn straight," Travis said. "I say we wipe their memories."


    Standing next to me, Daniel said, "By ''we'' you''re meaning me, but I''m saying no. It''s not going to work. The Hardwicks have been resistant in the past, and beyond that, I''m not comfortable with just going in and treating people''s minds like my personal toy."


    "You did it last time."


    "It''s not the same. Red Bolt and Future Knight knew where HQ was, and they were going to get other people to take us out the first chance they got. These people are just guessing. We can still do something else."


    Travis eyed him. "What?"


    "I''m not sure yet, but I''m sure we can think of something. Travis, the human mind isn''t like a chalkboard. You don''t mess around with it, and expect to erase it without side effects. Every time I do something like that, I risk getting rid of something important too."


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    "And anyway," Vaughn said, "it still won''t work. Daniel''s right about that. My uncle would start remembering again pretty soon."


    "Then do the rest of them, and leave Hardwick alone. We''ll make him see that joining up with the Executioner isn''t a good idea."


    Rachel said, "Planning to go Jack Bauer on him? If he gets too scared, you know he''ll start taking juice and using it against us."


    Travis stayed quiet for a moment, his face unmoving. Then, "Easy for you to say. It''s not your family that the Executioner will go after first."


    "Nick caught him," Rachel said. "I''m sure we''ll be on the list."


    "But he knows us by sight," Travis said. "We need to stop them, and we can''t hesitate."


    Vaughn waived his hand, "Hey everybody, maybe we could just make a deal with them? If they don''t help Ray, we''ll help them against what''s left of the Cabal."


    Cassie nodded. "I like it. Making a deal would be simpler than mindwiping everyone but the Hardwicks. What bugs me is that there are a lot of them. It only takes one to be secretly working with Ray, and they''ll know everything about us."


    "And we can''t risk that," Travis said. "That''s why mindwiping makes the most sense."


    Daniel frowned. "But it''s off the table because I''m not going to do it."


    Travis opened his mouth, probably to start arguing with Daniel, but Jaclyn talked over him.


    "We''re out of our depth." Turning to Travis she said, "You''ve never done this before. I''ve never done this before. We should talk to someone who has. Daniel, is your dad around? And if he''s not, what about the rest of the Midwest Defenders?"


    Daniel shook his head. "They''re not around. I mean, there''s a skeleton crew in Chicago, but most of them are off-planet right now."


    That was an interesting coincidence. I wondered how much context Daniel was picking out of my head as I asked, "Off-planet? The Southern California Defenders were doing the same thing when I was in Los Angeles. What''s going on up there?"


    Daniel shrugged. "Wish I knew. Dad hasn''t said anything, and believe me, I''ve asked."


    Jaclyn looked around. "Then who else can we talk to? My grandfather would be happy to help, but I don''t want to pull him into the middle of this and get him hurt."


    "There''s Larry," I said.


    Travis smiled a little. "Larry''s great if we wanted to take out a building, but not something like this."


    Haley looked up, pursed her lips and said, "What about Isaac Lim? We can''t be the only heroes with secret identity problems."


    "What''s he going to do?" Travis asked, "Drown them in bureaucracy?"


    "I don''t know. We could ask him."


    Cassie nodded. "Don''t underestimate him. He''s got a lot of connections in D.C."


    So even though it was nearly midnight, we called him. I expected we''d just get voice mail, but he actually answered the phone.


    Normally we got video, but not this time. The FBI seal appeared on the screen, easily visible against a blue background.


    "Heroes League," he said, "What''s on your mind?"


    Cassie spoke first. "Vaughn''s uncle knows who we really are."


    "So why is that a problem? Not an uncle that likes him? Or is it something more interesting?"


    I didn''t feel comfortable handing the Impregnator over to the government, so I''d never told Isaac that we had one -- which made the question of what Cassie was just about to tell Isaac more than a little interesting.


    Too bad we hadn''t agreed on a story before calling.

 Decisions: Part 11

    In my mind, I tried to get Daniel''s attention, and succeeded.


    +++


    Me: Don''t tell him about the Impregnator. Pass it on.


    Daniel: Got it.


    +++


    He did, and everyone looked at me.


    Cassie paused, and then rattled off, "It''s a lot more interesting. Vaughn''s uncle is leading a group of Red Lightning''s followers'' kids. They''ve got juice. They''re using their kids as a distraction while they''re planning on fighting with a local gang that used to be part of the Cabal, and they''re in contact with Ray of the Executioner team somehow, and he''s hoping to join up with them."


    She took a deep breath.


    How could she not? Almost all of that was just one sentence.


    Meanwhile, Isaac didn''t say anything, and I began to wonder if we''d been cut off.


    Then, "Are you serious? How did they talk to Ray?"


    "I don''t know. The Rocket bugged the house and all they said was that he''d been called by someone who said Ray would be out of jail soon."


    "And they didn''t say who the contact was?"


    I broke in. "Did you ever look into the death of the original Power? He knew Solar Flare, and he died the same day we caught the Executioner here. I don''t think it''s a coincidence. I think that part of the team is still out there, and I''m betting that''s the contact."


    Isaac sighed. "OK. How did they find out about you?"


    "Remember when I fought those guys after school, and ended up in counseling? The kids I fought are children of the group. My school''s assistant principal, the guy who assigned me to counseling? He''s in the group too. Vaughn''s uncle guessed that Vaughn had powers. Mr. Sledge noticed Cassie and Vaughn and I were hanging around together this year, and --"


    "Got it. Here''s the plan. We''ve got people who can impersonate you. I''ll send them up soon. Seeing both of you at the same time should throw them off. We''ll just have to coordinate the appearance. Aside from that, I want any evidence you''ve got. Send me a copy of whatever they said about Ray. We''re going to have to up the security on him. In situations like this, I''m told by our legal team, that I should tell you that I''m not requesting that you do any surveillance work, merely asking you to provide me with work you''ve already done. You understand that, right?"


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    Vaughn laughed. "And if we happen to do more, you''d like to hear that too."


    "Right," Isaac said, "but I didn''t request that you do any more, because I can''t. It would be completely illegal to request anything like that, so I''m not. Before I go though, I need to ask if you''ve got any reports of violence between the gang and Vaughn''s uncle''s people. Do you?"


    "Nothing''s happened yet," I said. "At least that we know about."


    "Good. I''ve got a few other questions to ask you, but I''ll call back tomorrow. I''m going to call a few more people tonight, and start them looking into Ray''s contacts. Also, can you give me the name of the uncle?"


    "Russell Hardwick," Vaughn said.


    "Great. I may get to sleep tonight after all. If you could identify any people you know are involved in this little conspiracy, that would help too. Get it to me with the surveillance."


    "Sure," Cassie said, and we signed off.


    Once Marcus cut the connection, Travis turned to me and asked, "What''s with ''Don''t tell Isaac about the Impregnator''?"


    "I just haven''t been telling him. Giving the government the ability to empower supers seemed like a bad idea. Grandpa had fifty years to hand it over, and he never did. Why start now?"


    "Cool," Travis nodded. "I''d argue with you, but when you think about how some guy leaked the whole juice project... Can you imagine criminal organizations empowering their people? Government can''t handle this stuff."


    "Well, it wouldn''t work on everybody. Really, an incredibly low percentage of the general population. What was more on my mind was that the original juice was about a third as effective as activated powers. The government''s version is about two-thirds as good, but we don''t need more people at full power."


    Sean seemed powerful enough already.


    Cassie frowned a little. "The government''s not doing that badly. The Goldstein process is still secret. That''s what they used on my dad, and me."


    Travis nodded. "Yeah, but that''s probably totally military."


    Jaclyn pulled out her phone, checked the front, and put it back in her pocket. "Are we done? I''ve got school tomorrow."


    Except for Travis and Rachel, we all did.


    "Not quite," Travis said. "Isaac''s got people on the Executioner, and he''ll send people out to deal with the identity problem, but the journal''s still out there, and there''s still the Cabal''s gang. We should have a plan."


    As usual, Cassie didn''t look tired at all, and inevitably said, "I''m all for staying."


    Sitting at the table, Haley rested her head on her arm. "I''m not."


    Vaughn raised an eyebrow. "It doesn''t seem like there''s much to plan. If we keep on listening in on my family and maybe bug the other guys'' houses, the journal will show up. All we have to do is wait."


    Travis shook his head. "I was thinking about something a little more active. Haley caught the scent of the guy who took the journal. If Daniel can copy it over to me, we can both hunt him down."


    "Travis, I''m not hunting anyone right now," Haley said.


    "Let''s try tomorrow, but Daniel should give me the scent now."


    Haley''s eyes narrowed, and she shot him a look that I wouldn''t have wanted to be on the other end of.


    "Fine."


    When Daniel finished, Travis said, "Yeah, that''ll work. We ought to meet again tomorrow. I''ve got some ideas about how to find the gang."


    I felt that it might be a mistake to assume Isaac could actually take care of everything on his end, and that even if he could, the fact that he had people capable of impersonating us on call didn''t seem like an entirely good thing.


    On the whole though, I wanted to go to bed. Everything else could wait till tomorrow.

 Dupes: Part 1

    On Friday afternoon, as planned, the Heroes League landed on Central High''s lawn.


    The Rocket looked exactly right. The Feds had the original design for the World War 2 era Rocket, so it probably hadn''t been hard to come up with something similar looking to the current version.


    Captain Commando had Cassie''s build -- her mask hid her face and hair, so that was easy too. Whoever put her costume together did a great job since they only had TV to go on. The precise wave of the flag on her chest wasn''t quite right, but would pass, and obviously the sword wasn''t functional.


    I didn''t see any major flaws in the Mystic''s or Storm King''s costume either.


    We''d talked with them on Thursday over the phone arranging things, and they did what they were supposed to -- they went through the school looking for something. They didn''t say exactly what.


    With permission from the principal, they checked every classroom in the school, not paying any special attention to us.


    It worked perfectly.


    I actually saw Mr. Sledge guiding them through the school. They stopped next to the door during my physics lab, and Mr. Sledge looked in while "the Mystic" closed his eyes, concentrated, and then declared the classroom clean.


    It took them a while to get through the whole school. They must have been inside when school let out, because they were on the lawn with a crowd of students surrounding them when I walked out.


    Sean seemed to be talking to them.


    I considered going over to find out what they were saying, but Chris had cornered me, and he wanted to talk.


    We walked a little bit down the sidewalk from the school''s entrance, past the buses waiting for students, but not so far that we were past the parking lot across the street.


    The key point being that we were out of earshot, standing just across the street from where I''d fought with Sean.


    "Who are those guys?" Chris glanced in the direction of the school.


    "I don''t know their real names, but someone guessed at some of the Heroes League''s identities, and this is how we''re dealing with it."


    "Who?"


    "I don''t think I should say. Believe me it''d make your life more complicated than you want it to be."


    Chris'' smiled for a second. "More complicated than it is? Sean sent one of his buddies, Dayton, I think, to see if I was interested in helping with some team he was forming, and it''s the second time he''s asked. I already know about you, and the Feds dropped by after Justice Fiend left. They asked me if I knew anything about the Ball or the Maniacs or whatever."


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    Justice Fiend seemed like last year, I thought, and then another thought struck me -- Justice Fist. How hard had Sean been thinking when he came up with the group''s name? Justice Fiend seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn''t take the potential confusion very well at all. I decided not to go into that for the moment though...


    "What did you tell them?"


    "Dayton or the Feds?"


    "I''m assuming you didn''t tell the FBI anything. What did you tell Dayton?"


    The expression on Chris'' face told me I didn''t even need to ask.


    "I told them no. I don''t like Sean much in person. In costume I like him even less. Did you see that shit? Slamming that guy into the ground? I mean, not like Jack Maniac deserves better, but Sean could have killed him. You think about it for a second, if he''d lost his temper, he might have killed us."


    "I did think about that."


    "One more reason that I wonder whether I should ever put a costume on. I was terrified the whole time. You think about our grandfathers... For them it was second nature. I''m not like that."


    "Me neither. I''m usually scared too. It''s just that I get too busy fighting to think about it most of the time."


    "Yeah? I guess it''s good to know I''m not the only one, but I''m still going to think long and hard before I do anything else. Hey, we were talking about bringing the Ball back. Are you done with it yet?"


    "No, but I don''t think I''m going to get to it for a while. I''ll just bring it back tonight, and maybe we can just experiment with it on Saturday or something."


    "Sure. That sounds like fun."


    Shortly after that, Chris took his car home, and I took my bike.


    * * *


    Travis, Cassie and I met them at the Heroes League''s official office. It had a long way to go before everything could be considered fully fixed up, but it worked for what we needed it for.


    An old storefront that the League had converted in the late 60''s and used for meeting the public, it hadn''t changed much since the original League retired.


    The meeting room had a long, fake wood grain table with orange chairs to sit on. Framed newspapers showing the League''s triumphs, and pictures of the League''s various lineups hung on the wall. At the very least, we''d need to add another picture.


    That, and clean out twenty years of dust.


    The FBI League impersonators stood on one side of the table. We stood on the other.


    "The Rocket" took off his helmet and introduced himself as Duncan Adams. His blond hair reached nearly to his shoulders. Looking at him, I could imagine him as a rock star more easily than an FBI agent.


    Next to him, "Captain Commando''s" mask disappeared and the costume turned into a black suit. For a moment the woman''s face did look similar to Cassie''s, but then her cheekbones narrowed, her skin darkened, and the hair turned black, flecked with gray.


    Then her body, which had been exactly like Cassie''s, became shorter and stockier.


    "Agent Cynthia Torres. Superhuman Affairs. Good to meet you in person."


    As she greeted us, Daniel''s and Vaughn''s duplicates faded away.


    "Nice," Cassie said. "There were only two of you. I never noticed."


    Travis held his hand out to each of them. "Agent Adams. Agent Torres. Good to meet both of you."


    Standing across from where the illusionary duplicates had been and far from the real agents, I held up my hand. "Hi."


    None of us were in costume. It hadn''t seemed worth it. We''d come through the tunnel from HQ, and they knew our identities anyway.


    Agent Torres looked the three of us over, and asked, "Is the rest of the team coming?"


    Travis shook his head. "They weren''t planning on it. Do we need them?"


    "No, but we''re interested in how you''re planning to handle Russell Hardwick and his allies."

 Dupes: Part 2

    As we sat down at the table, Travis said, "Handle them? We don''t see them as a big threat yet. We don''t want them to know who we are obviously, but they''re not targeting us. The Executioner and that gang? Those guys have to be handled."


    Agent Torres smiled back. "Then I should ask what operations you''re running right now."


    Cassie caught my eye at that. From her expression she seemed just short of laughing aloud.


    Given Cassie''s sense of humor, I considered whether Torres had made any unintentional double entendres. She hadn''t. Then I guessed that Cassie had to be responding to the way the question made it sound like we "ran operations" as opposed to getting stuck in big, confusing messes.


    Travis said, "Well, let''s see... You''re taking care of the Executioner. That whole team''s in jail, and if anyone isn''t, we don''t know where they are. We''re listening in on Russell Hardwick and the others, and we''re preparing in case that gang we fought a couple times last week decides to strike back. That''s it."


    Agent Torres nodded. "We''re going to have to coordinate our efforts. If you are going to move on Hardwick, we''d like a heads up. For the moment, power juice isn''t illegal, but conspiring to hide an escaped prisoner is. We want anything you can get us on that. As for the gang, if you''ve seen our records, you know that they''re likely a remnant of the Cabal. We don''t currently have a specific reason to go after them, but that could change. Keep us informed about them too."


    Travis said, "We''ll do that."


    "Good. We''ve got one other issue to bring up. You know about the Cabal''s breeding program, and you know that Red Lightning took over their program in Grand Lake. The other populations were located in small towns that we''ve been able to isolate and monitor. Grand Lake is too large for that. We need you to get to know new power juice users, especially the ones who become capes."


    I thought about people I knew who were using it and said, "Why?"


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    "Superhuman Affairs has two missions. First, it''s to keep criminals with powers in check. Second, it''s to keep all of you people from going at each others'' throats. We''ve found that putting people with new powers in touch with people who have been at it for a while helps them adjust."


    Next to her, Agent Adams said, "You''ll want to talk to that new group that''s forming here... Justice Fist. It seems they go to your school, and they''d be interested in meeting you."


    "I''ve already met them. No."


    Adams said, "The fight. Right. If it''s any consolation, they''re really into you when you''re in armor. Especially the girls."


    I''d never noticed, but then, I spent most of the time I was in armor trying not to die.


    Agent Torres raised an eyebrow.


    Adams laughed. "He deserves to know."


    Travis said, "He''s dating my sister."


    Adams laughed again. "Then it''s good that he''s not interested. But seriously, you need to talk to these people."


    Travis shrugged. "I guess we could."


    I considered being quiet, and just not saying anything about it until they left, but I couldn''t quite do it. I opened my mouth. "You know that they''re the kids of Hardwick''s group, right?"


    Torres nodded. "That''s why we need you to do it. I''ve seen personal quarrels between supers destroy half a city."


    "I don''t think that''s likely. I''ve actually worked with Sean in costume, and I see him too much already. I don''t want pretend to be his friend or something."


    Agent Adams cleared his throat. "In this case, it''s ''or something.'' I''m sure they think that you''re a kid underneath, but when they look at you, they''re seeing fifty years of history. You''re an authority. Use it."


    "An authority? I think I''d have noticed that by now."


    Adams brushed some hair out of his eyes. "I''ve been using mobile suits for the last five years, and I''ve never had people look at me like they do in this one. Your grandfather... really, all of your grandparents, were legends. Give people a little push and you''ll be surprised at what happens."


    I thought about it. It seemed like cheating somehow to trade in on people''s goodwill toward Grandpa to manipulate them. On the other hand, if it solved problems without fighting, that was good, right?


    "Hey," Cassie said. "You said that power juice was legal ''for the moment.'' Is it going stop being legal?"


    The agents looked at each other.


    Agent Torres said, "After everything that''s happened, the Attorney General is going to make it a temporary Schedule I controlled substance soon. Then the DEA will consider adding the drug to the list permanently."


    Cassie nodded. "And after it''s illegal, what do we do then?"


    Torres said, "You''ll use your influence to discourage people from using it."

 Dupes: Part 3

    On Saturday morning around 6 a.m., I drove the Ball over to Man-machine''s lair. It was far too early to get up for a Saturday, but it was the best time to go.


    Taking the Ball apart turned out to be a bit of a pain. Chris and I kept on discovering new wires and cables to detach from the back of the dashboard, but then we discovered an access panel for the weaponry on the outside of the Ball.


    Granted when you''re making weaponry for supervillains, making access panels clear and obvious probably isn''t the highest priority, but I still wished it had been a little higher up on the designer''s list.


    Once we got the dashboard back in place, we activated the button that opened the access panel.


    The front of the bottom section of the outer shell fell at my feet, giving access to a button on the inside shell that opened straight to the guts of the weaponry.


    I understood how the laser worked more quickly than I expected. I''d used similar technology in the guitar.


    What surprised me about the paralysis ray was just how familiar I turned out to be with its design. The paralysis ray wasn''t exactly what I would have imagined a "ray" would be. Like most people, I imagined something based on visible light, or at the very least, radiation.


    The device caused paralysis using low-frequency ultrasound to stimulate the brain into creating the kind of paralysis that prevents sleeping people from physically reacting to their nightmares.


    At least that was what it looked like. Between removing the dashboard, putting it back in, making sure the various cables were still connected, removing the access panel, looking over the paralysis "ray," and talking about everything as we did it, we easily used up the six hours I had available.


    All that, and getting donuts around 8 a.m.


    I had to go, and I still didn''t fully understand the details.


    "Well," Chris said as we closed the access panel, "you''re halfway there."


    "Maybe less. I''m still trying to figure exactly how it works."


    Chris shrugged. "You can always come back. I''ll be here a lot. I''ve been thinking of modifying my suit."


    "I thought you weren''t even sure if you''d ever put it on again."


    "I might not, but it''s still fun to mess with it. It''s kind of like modding a car, you know? The difference is I know this doesn''t have to be street legal."


    "True. It''s not going to be any kind of legal. Are you thinking about a codename at all?"


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    "I shouldn''t be, but I have. Trouble is, all of them suck. The first thing I came up with was Laser Rod... The suit''s got one, but you know that''s just asking for jokes."


    I snorted.


    "But on the bright side," he said, "I checked the registry, and it''s available."


    "I wonder why."


    "Yeah. Well, it''s not like it matters."


    "However much it sucks, at least you know it. Did you hear that Sean''s group called itself ''Justice Fist''?"


    "As in fisting? That''s the worst name I''ve ever heard."


    * * *


    Haley picked me up at the end of the block. She could have picked me up at Chris'' grandmother''s house, but that would have gotten weird since Chris'' grandmother didn''t even know we were there.


    Haley came by in her mom''s Trans Am which was cool. As we drove off, I thought about improvements I could make to it. Not that I would. I had more sense than to turn Haley''s mom''s car into... something.


    As I leaned forward to check on some details to aid my daydreaming, Haley said, "Nick, don''t do it."


    "What?"


    "Whatever you''re thinking about doing."


    "How did you--"


    "You were mumbling to yourself, and it looked like you were inspecting the glove compartment."


    "I wasn''t going to do anything much. Sorry."


    She looked like she wanted to say something more on the subject, but she didn''t. She turned back to the road and asked, "What happened at the meeting yesterday?"


    I told her, finishing with, "The crazy thing about it is that they seem to expect us to make friends with Sean''s group, and then once the law changes, I''m supposed tell them to stop. I really don''t think they will. It doesn''t matter how much influence I have. They''ll still have their parents telling them to do it."


    Haley slowed the car, and stopped at a stop light. "Do you really think they''ll outlaw it?"


    "I don''t know. I don''t follow the news all that much, but people are scared about the juice. I think I saw footage of Logan from prom on TV again yesterday, and that was two weeks ago."


    "Where did they get it?"


    "I think it must have been from somebody''s cellphone."


    The light changed, and Haley followed the cars forward.


    She paused as the cars ahead of us started moving and then said, "Let''s just go to lunch. Do you still want to go to Solid Grounds?"


    I did, and we got there within a couple minutes.


    Lunch time on Saturday at Solid Grounds was a total crap shoot as to whether or not it would be busy. On that particular day, the place was maybe half full -- ten or fifteen people, most of them our age.


    Trance music played over the sound system.


    I bought lunch -- soup and some sandwiches wrapped in plastic.They weren''t bad. I also bought coffee, which was really the whole point of going to Solid Grounds in the first place.


    We sat together next to one of the windows and ate. I tried to think about something we could talk about in public, but nothing came to mind.


    My first hint that things were about to go wrong came as Shannon walked in with her cousin Julie. She didn''t go into the back to get ready for work either. The two of them bought coffee, and pushed three two person tables next to the far wall together. Then they sat and talked, sometimes laughing.


    I wondered who else they were meeting.


    As I watched them, Julie noticed me, and smirked.


    Minutes later, Sean, Dayton, Jody, and the girl I''d seen with them before walked in.


    I considered leaving. We had every right to stay, but it probably wouldn''t be fun.


    "Haley," I began.


    "I know. I saw them. I''m not going to leave just because they''re here."


    We didn''t have the opportunity. After Sean and the others got drinks, he said, "Julie, get them out."


    Julie turned her face toward us and in a strange tone said, "Leave."


    We stood up and started walking for the door.


    Over at their table, Shannon said, "But they''re not even done."


    "Don''t forget your coffee," Julie said.


    We got our drinks, and found ourselves standing on the sidewalk before we even had time to think.

 Dupes: Part 4

    Haley turned around and started walking back toward the door.


    "Where are you going?"


    "They can''t do that. They don''t have any right to tell us what to do."


    I put my hand on her shoulder. "She''ll probably make you turn around again. Or something worse."


    Haley''s shoulder muscles felt tense, rock hard in fact, reminding me that she could literally generate tons of force. She didn''t move, and I worried that she might be about to leap into the coffee shop.


    Proving that sometimes I worry too much, she didn''t.


    She turned away from the door, and said, "I guess we should go to the car."


    "We could go for a walk."


    "I don''t want to do it around here."


    She''d parked her mom''s car a block down the street. We walked quickly past "Kevin''s Hotdogs," a couple used bookstores, and stopped in front of "Sal''s Pizza Take-out." All the stores on the block seemed to be brick buildings constructed about a hundred years ago.


    We''d stopped short of where she''d parked the car though. I wondered why for a moment, and then recognized the car next to us. Within the last week or two Sean had gotten a car to replace the one Vaughn had smashed last year. It was a silver Ford Escort from the late 90''s.


    I''d seen him drive off in it a couple times after school. I could only guess that Haley had caught his scent on it.


    She checked up and down the sidewalk. Then her right hand changed, turning claw-like, and she stabbed a milky white nail into the front tire.


    When she pulled her hand away, she left an inch wide slit in the tire wall.


    It hissed.


    We looked at each other, walked quickly to her mom''s car, got inside, and shut the doors.


    "Wow," I began, "you --"


    "I shouldn''t have done it. I almost feel like I should tell them except --"


    "They''d never let you get a word in edgewise."


    "I know. This is what I hate about it. When I''m angry or worried, I can always feel the change coming, and I always hold it back, but it''s hard."


    "Well, he kind of deserved it."


    "I''m not supposed to do things like that."


    "But you didn''t hurt anybody, really. Most tire shops will fix something like that for free."


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    She didn''t say anything, and we sat quietly in the car.


    As we sat, a gray BMW from the early 90''s parked on the other side of the street. I recognized the driver from pictures Vaughn had shown me -- his cousin Lucas. Lucas was in his mid-twenties, dark haired, and dressed semi-casually -- jeans and a green button down shirt. He carried an aluminum water bottle in his left hand.


    I wondered if it actually held water.


    Meanwhile, he got out and hurried toward the coffeehouse. In profile, his face reminded me a little of Vaughn''s.


    Haley must have noticed what I was looking at because she said, "I wonder if we should listen in. I don''t have my costume, but I think I could get close enough."


    "I''ve got my backpack," I said, which meant more than just the backpack. After what happened the last time I''d driven the Ball, I''d been prepared this morning. I brought the backpack that hid a small rocketpack, and contained my helmet, the stealth suit''s jacket, and my utility belt.


    The utility belt included a pouch full of roachbots. Most of the roachbots were tied up, but I had enough for this.


    I let a few fly out the window, and waited, pulling out the controller to watch what they saw.


    Once they crawled through a gap in the lower, right corner of the doorway, I turned up the volume so we could hear.


    I''d sent in four bots, so we had a choice of angles. The grainy picture showed Lucas pulling a chair away from an empty table, and sitting down with the rest of them.


    "... to see that you showed up," Sean said to him. "What were you doing?"


    "Sleeping. I''ve been up for most of the last two days."


    From to other end of the tables, across from Shannon, Julie said, "Why?"


    "My residency. They work you till you drop. But enough about that, where are you in the meeting?"


    "Nowhere," Sean said. "We''ve been waiting for you, dude."


    "Then what have you been doing?" He paused, then smiled, "Dude."


    Sean looked annoyed.


    Jody laughed. "Julie kicked his ex and her loser boyfriend out, and told everyone they couldn''t hear us. Watch this..." He put two fingers in his mouth and made a piercing whistle.


    No one looked up.


    Lucas checked around the room. "Can they hear us, but can''t respond, or do they really just not hear us?"


    Julie said, "How should I know?"


    "We''d better find out because if there''s a telepath out there, they''ll be able to find out everything."


    "Just in case it works, I''ll tell everyone to forget this when we leave, okay?"


    "That''s not really good enough, but it can''t hurt." Lucas looked around the room again, and frowned. "Let''s get to business. My dad says you did a great job at Mejiers. Wish I could have been there, but they would have noticed if I left the hospital. You got on TV in costume. They even covered it on SuperTV for a minute or two. So we''re nationally visible now. It''s mostly because we''re in the same town as the Heroes League, and part of the juice story, but we''ll take what we can get.


    "Related to that," Lucas continued, "the best thing we can do is stay visible. My dad''s got connections in the police department, and he says that the Cabal''s gang is moving in on the Lake Street gang. If we keep watching them, we might get lucky."


    "And then what?" Dayton asked.


    "We capture one of them, and Julie opens them up, and makes them into our own personal mole."


    "And then we take the bastards down," Sean said. "And we don''t have them hanging over our heads anymore. I feel like they''ve been following me for my entire fucking life."


    "They haven''t." Lucas said. "You''re not that important."


    "They bugged my house once," Sean said.


    "So you''ve told me." Lucas didn''t look impressed. "I don''t think it was them, but I''m not going to argue about it. My dad''s already scanned in the Impregnator plans along with the modifications that''ll make it work on more than just my family, and passed it out to his engineers. They think they can put it together in a week."


    Haley looked away from the screen, talking over Dayton''s response to Lucas. "The Impregnator only worked on Vaughn''s family?"


    I nodded. "More like only people with similar powers, but Grandpa''s plans showed how it could be modified to work with others. I guess that was in the journal too."

 Dupes: Part 5

    Haley and I listened until they finished the meeting, but they didn''t have any more bombshells. Not that anything could trump the bit where Russell Hardwick had scanned the relevant bits of Red Lightning''s version of the working Impregnator plans and was handing them out to his people.


    Probably at that point, people more competent than we were would have tracked down the engineers Hardwick had assigned the job, deleted their files, recovered the original journal, and scared them away from even trying to reconstruct them.


    We didn''t have the slightest clue where we would have started on that. Plus they''d probably already had the plans for a couple days, so they likely understood the concepts behind the process, which would make the destruction of the plans more of an inconvenience than anything else.


    At least that''s how it would have worked for me.


    One other reason we didn''t go directly into action was that Haley and I''d already put off doing something together. We''d planned on going out on Friday night, but I''d ended up meeting with the FBI agents, and then one of her family''s restaurants had been short staffed so her dad scheduled her to cover the busiest parts of both Friday and Saturday night.


    So what we actually did was go to a park, and go for a walk. We talked about the fact that I''d be graduating soon, and where I''d be going, and where she was hoping to apply...


    All the while, I had a vague sense that I ought to be doing something, but I wasn''t sure what, and I didn''t want her to feel like I''d just dropped the date so that I could run off and play superhero. So, I didn''t.


    Maybe she would have been interested, but to be honest, it felt like all I''d done lately was school, training, and running around in costume. I couldn''t think of the last video game I''d played, and the last book I''d been reading, Brin''s Kiln People, sat half finished on my desk.


    I decided to enjoy myself, and hoped Hardwick''s engineers wouldn''t get the Impregnator going that afternoon.


    * * *


    Haley dropped me off at home around 4:00, and drove home to get ready for work. My parents ordered out pizza, and except for when Dad asked Rachel if she''d gotten a summer job yet, it was a good meal.


    Rachel and I ended up talking a little in the upstairs hallway next to my room.


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    I stood in the doorway. "I bet Haley''s dad could find something for you."


    "And I could log more ''hanging-around-with-the-ex-boyfriend'' time with Travis. That sounds fun. Besides Nick, you know I don''t need a job. Even split with everybody, I still got two thousand dollars off the bounty for Christine Maniac, and that doesn''t even count the money from Grandpa Vander Sloot or my scholarships. School''s paid for. If I need a little extra cash, I''ll find somebody on the FBI''s list and catch them."


    She had a point.


    Lying in my room after that, I stopped reading to wonder if Chris knew how to pick up his share of the bounty on Jack Maniac. Or if Sean did.


    I added it to the growing list of things I ought to address with Sean if I ran into him in costume.


    I''d added another while walking with Haley. I''d been reminded somehow of my grandfather speculating about what caused Red Lightning to go bad. He''d theorized at different times that it might have been the Impregnator, a combination of the Impregnator and something in Giles Hardwick''s mental makeup, or possibly the combination of Power Elixir and the Impregnator.


    They''d fought someone that night, and Giles had used it. He''d undoubtedly had it in his system when he sat down in the chair.


    Grandpa had wondered for years afterward if waiting another day would have made the difference.


    Given that Vaughn had never used power juice, and that so far he hadn''t shown any sign of wanting to take over the world, Grandpa''s theory had one point in its favor.


    If they really were going to have the Impregnator ready in a week, I didn''t have time to waste. I needed to go find Sean and tell him to dry out and get the remnants of the juice out of his system before getting treated.


    I couldn''t say I really wanted to help him, but in a purely practical sense, Grand Lake didn''t need a group of megalomaniacs running around.


    I might have gone right then, except that Daniel and I usually did something on Saturday night, and I knew he''d be dropping by around seven.


    He did -- almost exactly at seven.


    My mom let him in, and I heard him walk up the stairs after he asked her how she was doing.


    Daniel did stuff like that. It was like he was seventeen going on forty. On the bright side, he was one of those friends that parents always seemed to approve of.


    When he did come up, I told him about the meeting the night before, and what Haley and I had done during the afternoon, skipping the parts that were none of his business. He probably caught a few of those from my thoughts anyway.


    "Let''s do it tonight," he said. "I''m sure you''re not going to want to talk to him any more tomorrow than you are today, and I bet I can find him faster than you would alone."


    "I''d kind of imagined doing something like hanging out, or playing video games, or... something that might actually be fun."


    "I''m sure we won''t end up looking for him all night."


    "Did you ever notice that once we get into costume we end up staying in costume? Once I put the Rocket suit on, we''re pretty much doomed to run into the latest bunch of psychotics who decided that they need to murder half the city."


    "Let''s go, Nick. You know you''ve already decided I''m right."


    I could have argued with him, but what was the point?

 Dupes: Part 6

    Daniel drove us to HQ and we suited up.


    I got into the full Rocket suit because Sean apparently hadn''t realized that the stealth suit was also a Rocket suit at Meijers. I''d told him, but better to make things completely unambiguous if we were going to hunt him down and pretend to be voices of authority.


    Crazy. We were just about to do the same thing Red Bolt and Future Knight had done on the Michigan Heroes Alliance''s behalf after I''d punched the mayor. Not under exactly the same circumstances, but we were definitely there to do the "supers policing supers" thing to a degree.


    With luck, we''d do a better job.


    We flew out of the abandoned sewage tunnel on Grand Lake, flew over the water for a second, then adjusted our courses and flew toward Sean''s house without even discussing it.


    With as long we''d known each other, and as much time as we''d spent in each other''s heads over the years, we barely needed to.


    So, for the third time that spring, I found myself flying toward the big, Victorian house where Sean''s family lived. Daniel flew downward to figure out if Sean was home. I stayed in the air.


    Though not as loud as jet engines,the full Rocket suit''s rocket pack wasn''t particularly conducive to stealth.


    It didn''t take long before Daniel flew back up, moving in an effortlessly controlled and nearly silent way that''s possible when your flight isn''t dependent on hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of pounds of force shooting out of a pack on your back.


    +++


    Daniel: I know where he went.


    Me: Where?


    Daniel: Out to practice with his powers at that metal yard near the lake.


    Me: I guess we should go there then.


    +++


    The Kolba metal yard stood near the harbor on Grand Lake. Piles of scrap metal stood behind tall fences -- the frames of cars, engine blocks, steel beams, and unrecognizable shards.


    We descended from the sky above the yard.


    It didn''t take much to identify Sean. He stood on the lake side of the yard, near the docks. In the growing darkness, light posts illuminated huge piles of unsorted metal.


    A circle of scrap floated in the air above him. It reminded me somehow of The Empire Strikes Back. We didn''t have Yoda around, but I did see Dayton standing on top of the pile. As we descended, I thought I saw Jody standing next to one of the piles, but he blurred, and by the time Daniel and I touched down, he stood next to Sean.


    None of them were in costume.


    All three watched us land.


    We landed about a hundred feet in front of Sean. Amping up the volume on the suit''s speakers so that they could definitely hear me, I said, "We should talk."


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    The scrap metal continued to circle above Sean as he said, "About what?"


    "A few things. Like for example, the Feds want to give you ten thousand dollars for your part in capturing Jack Maniac."


    Sean laughed. "Yeah? Cool. What do I have to do?"


    "Fill out some paperwork at the FBI office. It should be easier for you since you don''t have a secret identity."


    Sean said something that we couldn''t really hear, and didn''t look quite as happy as he had before, but he didn''t attack us either.


    We walked closer. Shouting wasn''t going to make the conversation easier.


    Leading off with the news about the money had been Daniel''s idea, but I''d evidently screwed it up a little somehow.


    +++


    Daniel: Don''t worry about it. He''s still happy about the money, but he''s been having second thoughts about the public identity.


    Me: Sucks to be him then. Once you''re out, you''re pretty much stuck there.


    +++


    Jody looked up at Sean. "Ten thousand dollars? Why didn''t you call me?"


    Meanwhile Dayton jumped down from the top of the pile, landing in a few different spots along the way. From the easy way he dropped, and dodged sharp pieces that stuck out of the pile, it looked like he''d probably picked up some enhanced strength, and agility along with his skill mimicry abilities.


    "There are a couple other things we should talk about," I said. "First off, I''ve heard that some people out there are putting together a new version of the machine that gave Red Lightning his powers. The original Rocket thought that it was the machine that somehow changed Red Lightning. Using it isn''t a good idea, but if you are going to use it, don''t have any power juice in your system when you do. There''s some evidence that being clean will keep you safe. Tell everybody. You don''t want anyone to end up like Red Lightning."


    Sean looked at Daniel and I. "How''d you know about that?"


    "It doesn''t matter," Daniel said. "People tell us things."


    Sean looked thoughtful.


    "We heard one other thing you should think about," Daniel said. "We heard that one of your people mind controlled an entire room full of people today. You probably know that I was trained by Mindstryke who was trained by the Mentalist. That''s three generations of telepaths. Here''s something we''ve learned: Normals don''t put up with that. They''ll put up with a lot of stuff, but casual mind control isn''t one of them. What she did was probably just a misdemeanor, but as soon as you mind control a government employee, even accidentally, it becomes a felony, and depending on what you do with them, it could easily become a federal offense. Best case scenario, people get stuffed with drugs so they can''t use their powers. Worst case, they get the death penalty. Don''t let it go that far."


    Now standing next to Sean and Jody, Dayton said, "We''d better talk to Julie. I don''t think she''s thinking about this at all."


    Sean lowered his head and looked directly at us. "Is that what this is really all about? You''re trying to scare us away from using our powers. Well, we''re not a bunch of little kids. You can''t tell us what to do. You know what? You guys have the Heroes League name, but you''re not them. You just inherited their stuff and their powers. Well, with juice all over the place now, we don''t need you. We are normal people, and we can take care of things ourselves."


    A wiser person probably would have handled it better. They probably would have figured out some way to calm Sean down, and convince him that we had his best interests at heart.


    I wasn''t that guy. I could see how living in fear of some shadowy group might make you suspicious of people telling you to stop using the powers you just got. I could guess that being tracked down, and told about stuff you''d done that you thought no one knew about might make you afraid.


    I understood it, but that''s not what I said...


    I said, "What kind of idiot are you? We''re not trying to hurt you. We''re trying to prevent you from turning into psychotic, power-mad morons. We''re trying to prevent the Feds from taking you down. That''s the only agenda we''ve got, and if you think at all, it''ll be obvious."

 Dupes: Part 7

    Pieces of metal dropped out of the air. An engine block landed twenty feet away from me and bounced, smacking into the scrap pile, then bouncing off it and rolling to a stop.


    Insulting a guy with magnetic powers in middle of a metal scrap yard might not have been a good idea.


    "I think," Sean said. "you can''t handle the idea that new people might be coming up. You''ve been getting the attention, and the money, and you don''t want to give it up. Well, all of us using the juice? We''re the revolution. We''re going to change everything."


    Trying to sound as if I didn''t think what he''d just said was completely ridiculous, I asked, "How?"


    "The juice and the impregnator open powers up to everyone. Powers won''t be held by one little group. It''s going to be like a democracy."


    "Bull. Even if everybody that could use juice did, it would just move the metahuman population from ten thousand to thirty thousand people out of nearly seven billion. That''s not much of a difference."


    Sean had evidently absorbed the part of Mr. Beacham''s lecture where he''d compared supers with inherited powers to feudal lords, but hadn''t been reading the newspaper reports about the government''s juice research.


    "Yeah? It''s still more, and there''s a lot of us around here. That''s what you''re afraid of. You''re afraid of us being better than you."


    "Better?" I paused, trying to figure out where any of this came from. It was all completely irrelevant to the conversation. Why were we even talking about it?


    In my mind, Daniel said, "Because it''s a big deal to him."


    Right.


    "This is totally stupid," I said aloud. "If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn''t have said anything, and let you turn yourself into a homicidal manaic. Because if you want everyone to know your name, that''s the way to go."


    "If you call me stupid again, I am going to kick your ass."


    The pieces of metal in the air stopped circling altogether, and hung, motionless, above us.


    "I didn''t call you stupid," I said, and then I thought about it. I had implied he was stupid -- well, maybe more than implied. It might be closer to say that I''d broadly hinted he was stupid.


    "Bullshit. You''re nothing without that suit, and you know what it''s made of? Metal. And that''s my thing."


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    Technically, it wasn''t all metal. Actually an awful lot of what used to be metal had been replaced with high tech ceramics and plastics. Still, Grandpa and I hadn''t gotten rid of all of it.


    "I didn''t try to call you stupid, but don''t you think that beating a guy up because you thought he called you stupid wouldn''t be the brightest --"


    In retrospect, I probably could have phrased that better.


    All the metal hanging above Sean flew toward the scrap piles next to us, some of it landing on the pile, some of it missing, and flying into the main yard.


    Then Sean started yanking at the suit with his powers. I knew it for a few different reasons. First of all because I could feel a pull on the suit. Second, because the readouts went out. Grandpa had designed the suit so that it was resistant to electromagnetic fields. He''d also designed it so that if the field was particularly powerful, it would shut down the most vulnerable systems.


    That meant that the sonics wouldn''t work, and I only had strength and the armor''s protection left. I hoped Sean wouldn''t think to throw me into the lake.


    Sean meanwhile, looked frustrated. Evidently the relatively small amounts metal had made it harder to get a good hold.


    That''s not to say he wasn''t moving me. He was. My feet scraped across the ground for a foot or so as if I were water-skiing in slow motion.


    Then Sean fell over.


    As he did, the force pulling me forward stopped, and I just barely managed to avoid falling.


    Even as I began to balance, I noticed Jody beginning to blur as he ran toward Daniel and I.


    The readouts in my helmet had reappeared, and I began to raise my arm to blast him with the sonics, but I didn''t have to.


    Jody floated upward three feet. His feet moved uselessly for a moment, but then he stopped, and started cursing at us.


    I looked to see what Dayton was doing.


    He raised his hands to head level, and held them there, palms facing me.


    "I''m not going to fight the two of you by myself."


    "Sorry," I said. To Daniel, I said, "I guess we should go."


    <div>


    * * *


    Afterward, we flew back to HQ, changed into normal clothes, and played video games for a couple hours. Nothing interrupted us -- which was good, because I wasn''t in the mood to respond to emergencies anyway.


    We talked about what had happened too, but not until after we''d turned off the Playstation.


    "I guess that could have gone better," I said.


    "No kidding," Daniel said. "Try not to imply, or hint, that people are idiots, and it generally goes better."


    "I gathered that. Still, you were pretty impressive at the end."


    Daniel shrugged. "As a precaution, I''d been trying to work out how to paralyze Sean the whole time you were talking. By the time he attacked you, I understood what it took for him. With Jody, I had a little precognitive warning. Lifting him was easy."


    "Did I tell you I''d figured out what to do with Julie''s mind control stuff? I''m pretty sure that''s got to use ultrasonic frequencies just like the Ball''s paralysis ray. I''m thinking about a device that could stop it, but it''s got to be something I can use at school. After today, I can''t assume that she won''t use it in normal life."


    "Right." Daniel thought for a second. "I think there''s a pretty good chance that Sean will be nervous enough to listen to you about the Impregnator. If nothing else, Dayton will be. Maybe that''ll be good enough."


    We walked around HQ for a little while longer, turning out lights and talking.


    Daniel took his car home, and I walked to my house. It wasn''t far, and I wanted to walk.


    Walking down the sidewalk, I knew we had to let everyone know what had happened, and not just tonight, but this afternoon too.


    I didn''t look forward to it.

 Legio: Part 1

    Around four on Sunday afternoon, Lt. Van Kley showed Travis, Haley, Daniel, and I the dead bodies. There were three of them -- two men and a woman, each of them horribly burned.


    The house looked as bad inside as it had outside. Outside, it stood as an excellent example of urban decay in Grand Lake. Built in the 1920''s, the house had cracked, beige paint over wooden siding with spots of greenish moss. It sat in the middle of a neighborhood of houses almost exactly like it.


    Inside, threadbare rugs covered the wooden floor of the living room, which seemed to be half couches and half entertainment center.


    They had big speakers, and a lot of them. Some hung on the walls. I guessed that they might have been going for surround sound.


    The woman''s body lay in front of the television as if she''d been about to change the DVD as the murderer entered the room. The side of her facing the door had been blackened to the point of being featureless ash. The other side of her body hadn''t, which actually made it worse to look at.


    One of the men, a big guy, lay on the floor just in front of the couch, burned on his front, ashes made from his skin and clothing on the floor around him.


    The other guy hadn''t even made it off the couch. His upper half, along with his clothing and the couch next to him had been blackened, but then spattered with white. Someone must have used a fire extinguisher.


    "So this is it," Lt. Van Kley said, "we thought you should take a look." She waved her hand in the direction of the bodies.


    Daniel said, "How long has it been?"


    Van Kley checked her watch. "I''d say forty-five minutes."


    "I''m not usually much good with this stuff after about half an hour unless it was a really intense experience."


    Van Kley folded her arms, and watched Daniel as he walked over to the woman on the floor. "Looks intense to me."


    Daniel''s masked head tilted toward the charred body. "Good point."


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    He knelt next to her.


    Next to me, Haley said, "This is sick."


    I thought back to the last time I''d seen dead bodies, back at her family''s Christmas party. I''d felt nauseous. I felt okay for the moment, and hoped I stayed that way. The last thing I needed was to puke with the helmet on.


    "Hey Night Cat," Travis said, "let''s try to catch the scent. Rocket, see if you notice anything strange."


    I didn''t know what I''d be looking for, but whatever, we''d settled on having Travis be field commander for the day. I''d look.


    From the smile on the unmasked part of Haley''s face, I gathered she found his orders amusing somehow -- or maybe it was the fact that he didn''t act any different as field commander than he did normally.


    Careful not to touch anything, I looked over the bodies. Nothing unusual jumped out at me.


    Near me, Haley said, "The burnt meat smell covers over everything. No, wait. I think I might smell something... Meth, maybe?"


    Over on the other side of room, Travis said, "Right. Meth. Maybe marijuana too. I don''t think they''re here right now, but they have been. How did you recognize the smell?"


    "Friends of a friend were using them," Haley said quietly.


    I wondered if she meant Logan, and maybe Vaughn. Strange to think that she''d once been dating Sean, and that she''d probably gone to some of the same parties that Vaughn attended before he got sent to treatment.


    If events had gone differently, she might still be dating Sean now.


    Daniel''s voice brought me out of my thoughts. "I''ve just seen it. Does anybody else want to? It''s... intense."


    I sent him a mental yes.


    He turned toward Van Kley. "Lieutenant?"


    She didn''t say anything for second. Then, "God. I can''t say I like this, but go ahead."


    Then I was in the same room almost an hour earlier. The people were alive, and not much older than we were.


    The woman had just gotten off the couch, and picked a DVD out of the tray. She had long, black hair, and a nice smile.


    She said something to the two men sitting on the couch, but I couldn''t understand it. It was in Spanish. That didn''t surprise me. Van Kley had said the people who died were part of a gang called the Southsiders. I''d heard the Southsiders were mostly Hispanic.


    She had the DVD in her hand as the door opened.


    I didn''t recognize the man who pushed open the door.


    He had short, blond hair, a greasy, pimpled face, and a black, jean jacket. "I''ve got a message from Prime. No deal."


    The woman dropped the DVD as he raised his right hand. The air rippled in front of it, and I could see her clothes catch fire, and her skin begin to blacken as she screamed.


    I turned away from her in time to watch him point his hand toward a big, heavily muscled guy in a t-shirt. He''d only took a step away from the couch before he began to burn as well.


    The man by the door pointed his left hand at the man still sitting on the couch. The guy didn''t have a chance. Along with his body, the couch caught on fire.


    As someone from the upstairs shouted, the killer took one last look around the room, and then he left.

 Legio: Part 2

    The vision of the room''s past dissolved into the equally disturbing present.


    From off to my right, Haley said, "That was... horrible."


    Next to the upstairs stairway, Travis said, "It was definitely intense. Hey, Lieutenant, did you ever talk to the guy from upstairs?"


    Travis began to move his hand near the railing, but stopped. Before she''d let us inside, she''d told us not to touch anything.


    Lt. Van Kley stood next to the burned couch. Her face looked almost as gray as her hair. "I''ll never get used to that," she said.


    In a quiet voice, Daniel said, "Sorry."


    Van Kley shook her head. "It wouldn''t be the first time. Mindstryke has done the same thing often enough. Where is Mindstryke?"


    "In space right now. And no," Daniel said, "I don''t know why."


    Van Kley opened her mouth to ask something else, but the front door opened, and another police officer walked in.


    "Lieutenant, there''s some cape out here who wants to come inside."


    She turned toward the door and began to ask, "Who?"


    The policeman said "Some kid," as Sean pushed the door open and stepped inside.


    Van Kley stared at him. "I didn''t say you could come in here."


    "I just want to help. Besides, they''re in here."


    "I asked them to be here, just like I asked you to leave. If you do not leave, I''ll have to arrest you for interfering in a police investigation."


    He scowled, and then said, "Alright, I''ll go."


    He left.


    Beyond a few guns and the smell of drugs, Haley and Travis didn''t find anything worth mentioning. We all left a few minutes later.


    Just before opening the door to go out, Travis said to me, "As much as I wish you guys hadn''t pissed him off, I''ve got to admit he''s an asshole. I wanted to punch him for most of last year."


    More quietly he said, "I can''t believe you ever dated that guy."


    "He seemed nice." Haley sounded tired of the subject.


    Outside, a small crowd had gathered behind the yellow police line. A couple officers stood outside watching them.


    The crowd appeared to be mostly neighbors -- a mix of senior citizens, families and a few teenagers. I didn''t recognize them. There were a couple reporters, one from the Grand Lake Sentinel, the other from NBC News 10. The cameraman pointed his camera at us as Travis ducked his head to avoid hitting the top of the door frame.


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    I came out just behind him.


    Sean and the rest of his team stood together, talking, a little to the right of the rest of the crowd. For the second time, I couldn''t help but notice how comparatively colorful and coordinated their costumes were. Travis and Haley''s costumes were both black and gray. Daniel''s was black with silver. The Rocket suit was basically gold with black lines.


    By contrast, while they all had a white, V-shaped spot (plus the clenched fist logo) on their chests, their uniforms seemed to be the colors of the rainbow. Sean had green. Dayton, blue. Jody, silver. Julie, pink. Shannon, yellow. And the girl whose name I could never remember (Camille) wore orange.


    They''d somehow missed the color red.


    Still, it made me think of the Mighty Morphin'' Power Rangers, or, possibly, the Teletubbies.


    I walked down the front steps, and Sean glared at me.


    Well, it''s not like I wasn''t used to it. It had been weirder when he''d respected the Rocket, and disliked me as myself.


    Once outside, Travis and Haley drove off in Night Wolf''s car. Daniel and I flew away.


    * * *


    We started regular patrols up again that week.


    We had tried them at Cassie''s insistence back in the fall, but aside from running into Man-machine one time, nothing had ever happened. Grand Lake didn''t have a big problem with crime -- especially when things got cold enough that any self-respecting mugger would need to wear gloves, a winter hat, a thick jacket, boots, and possibly snow pants just to avoid frostbite.


    In May, however, we had entered a season when a person could get away with having open windows.


    And anyway, the person we were looking for wasn''t likely to have a problem keeping warm.


    On Thursday night, I ended up going on patrol with Marcus. It would have been more fun to go with Daniel or Haley, but Daniel had a track meet, and Haley had to work. Besides Haley and I had planned to do something on Friday night anyway.


    I kept police band murmuring at a low level in my helmet while I flew. Marcus had turned into a dragon-like form with wide, leathery wings. After about an hour of flying, we landed on the flat roof of an empty store to talk. The Rocket suit''s readouts showed the time as 9:16 PM.


    The store stood next to a couple other brick buildings in the middle of an older neighborhood. We stood at about the level of the tops of trees. The trees were still bare of leaves, but I thought I saw buds.


    Marcus shifted away from the dragon form as he landed on the roof.


    Within seconds he''d turned into himself, but wearing a green costume. I wondered where the costume disappeared to when he wasn''t shaped like a person.


    "Anything happening on police band?" Marcus asked.


    "Not really. A couple people got caught speeding, and there was a noise complaint somewhere."


    "So, it''s a total bust. Isn''t that funny? You always hear about supers getting to these huge fights because of a casual night time patrol, but when we actually do it, you can hear the crickets chirp, you know?"


    I didn''t hear any crickets, and I knew he didn''t mean it literally, but still...


    "It''s probably a good thing," I said. And it was, sort of. Any night where people weren''t being murdered was a good night, but, it would have been nice to have a lead.


    Back when Haley and I had eavesdropped on Justice Fist, one of them had said that the Cabal''s gang had been going after the Lake Street gang. I''d suggested we follow Lake Street around through downtown, and the old factory district in the hope that something would happen.


    "It''s good," Marcus said, "but boring, boring, boring. I wish the Mystic were here to do his ''find the greatest danger'' trick."


    "It''d be nice, but we''d be just as likely to end up feeding somebody''s goldfish as doing anything useful."


    Marcus laughed. "Maybe we should shake things up a little bit, and run instead of fly. I''ve been working on this cool new running form --"


    I stopped listening to Marcus, and started looking into the sky. I didn''t have a danger sense, but something about the sound of the wind seemed wrong.


    Illuminated by the streetlights, a man flew toward us and landed on the roof. He wore a red, Justice Fist uniform.


    "Nice entrance," Marcus said. "Who are you?"


    "I call myself Red Legacy."

 Legio: Part 3

    "Red Legacy?" Marcus said. "Are you trying to remind people of Red Lightning? Or was that accidental?"


    Red Legacy chuckled. "I was going to remind people of Red Lightning one way or the other."


    He held his hands apart in front of him, facing each other. Electricity crackled between them. It was colored red.


    "Oh wow, you''re doomed."


    "Right," Red Legacy said, "so I thought I''d take it head on."


    "Yeah," Marcus said. "I can see where you might do that. As soon as Storm King started with the lightning, people got real nervous, and his wasn''t even red. So, do you do weather too?"


    Red Legacy shook his head. "I can''t, but Red Lightning couldn''t do much of that either."


    "So, can you blow up buildings with your lightning?"


    "Small buildings, maybe. I haven''t tried it, but I''m not as powerful as he was after his power upgrade. The government juice is more powerful than his Power Elixir, but not like the fully activated power."


    "The way I remember it," I said, "he was also strong and really tough afterward. You too?"


    Red Legacy nodded. "I can bench a couple of tons when fully medicated. No one''s tried to kill me, so I haven''t gotten to test if bullets bounce off my chest. Anyway, what are you guys doing out tonight?"


    "Patrolling," Marcus said. "It''s been dead quiet, but since the murders, we''ve been out looking for the guy."


    "Right. Us too. Do you have anything?"


    "No," I said.


    Marcus smiled. "I''m surprised to see you here alone. Don''t you guys always show up together?"


    "I''ve nothing against them, but they''re all a bunch of high school kids. I''m not meaning to offend either of you if you''re still in high school, but I''ve been out for about eight years now. I''ve got no interest in who''s dating who, and which teachers are mean and all that. I''m sure I cared back then, but it''s been a few years."


    And that, if I hadn''t already suspected it, pretty much confirmed it had to be Lucas, Russell Hardwick''s son. He''d graduated medical school, and was in his residency. Of course, he wouldn''t care about high school gossip.


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    Yet again, I wished Daniel were with us. Of any of them, Lucas would be in the best position to know if the Impregnator were up and running yet. It was his dad''s project, after all, and it had been about a week now. Hopefully, Sean would follow my advice about not mixing the juice with the Impregnator.


    And on the off chance he hadn''t passed my advice on...


    "Hey," I said. "I tried to tell uh... the Power... this last Sunday, but if you guys get something like the Power Impregnator working, make sure that you''ve dried out from power juice by the time you try it. Give it at least a day, maybe a week. The original Rocket thought mixing the two might have been the reason Red Lightning went crazy. I told the Power to tell everyone."


    Red Legacy frowned. "He didn''t tell me at all. Not that we have anything like that, but if we ever do, I''d like to stick with the sane part of Red Lightning''s legacy."


    He turned to look out over the neighborhood. We were only a few blocks from where the murder occurred. It wasn''t the best neighborhood in town, but wasn''t the worst either. Most of the houses were well kept up. They were older houses though, so the houses that weren''t kept up stuck out.


    At night however, unmowed lawns, overgrown gardens, and cracked windows disappeared, so even the houses that people ignored seemed okay. We could see a few blocks over, row after row of lit up windows.


    Red Legacy faced us again after a moment. "So, we''re all out patrolling. Do you want to work together tonight?"


    "Sure," Marcus said.


    I went along with it. Marcus was field commander for the night, and I thought it might be worth getting a sense of whether Lucas was as messed up as his father seemed to be.


    The obvious didn''t happen. By that I mean that we didn''t get attacked. He didn''t awe us with his wisdom, disgust us with his cowardice, or lead us into a trap and betray us. Mostly he just seemed like a decent enough guy.


    Over the next few hours, he took a few drinks from the metal flasks hanging on his utility belt every forty minutes or so. I timed him.


    It seemed like a detail worth knowing.


    * * *


    In an ideal world, I would have been out on patrol the next time anyone saw the guy with the burning hands, but I wasn''t.


    On Tuesday night, almost a week later, I sat on a stool in the lab in HQ, assembling the copies of my paralysis ray blocker for everyone''s utility belt.


    Around seven, lights started blinking yellow throughout the complex, and I checked the computer. Jaclyn''s alert device had been activated. I got her coordinates, put on the Rocket suit, and flew out to find her.


    Following the Rocket suit''s GPS led me to the Harbor Place apartment complex on the southeast side of the city, near Abraham Kuyper College. Why they called it Harbor Place, I didn''t know. Grand Lake and Lake Michigan were on the west side of the city.


    Harbor Place had two ponds in front of it, but no river. It hadn''t even been decorated with a nautical theme. The buildings were four story brown brick with brown siding, and brown, wooden balconies.


    I recognized Cassie''s (as in Captain Commando''s) motorcycle in the parking lot instantly. I''d spent too many hours rebuilding it not to.


    Even if I hadn''t recognized the bike though, I would have noticed a few other clues that I was in the right place.


    The first? The front of a mini-van in the parking lot had been half melted.


    The ten foot hole in the side of the building was the second clue.


    Cassie, Jaclyn, Red Legacy and another member of Justice Fist stood in front of the hole shouting at each other. Five bodies lay at their feet.

 Legio: Part 4

    As I slowed down, preparing to land, I felt the wind pushing at me from the right. Checking over my shoulder told me exactly what I suspected. Vaughn flew toward me, catching up.


    I landed the usual way, turning my body so that my feet were toward the ground. I gave it a little more fuel, straightening me out, and moving upward before lowering myself to the ground.


    Vaughn landed at about the same time.


    On the bright side, they''d stopped arguing. I suspected it was less due to solving the problem than that the combination of rocketpack and wind made it hard to hear.


    The bodies on the ground weren''t burned. That boded well. They might not be dead.


    Something about them seemed a little off. They wore jeans and shirts with sports teams. A couple had baggy pants. They seemed right for a gang in a Hollywood sort of way, but wrong in some of the little details.


    From what I''d seen at school, gangs didn''t seem to be equal opportunity employers. They seemed to be mostly of one ethnic group or another. These guys included all skin tones -- white, black and in between. Also, in the gap between one man''s red jacket and jeans, I could see the man''s t-shirt. It seemed to be made of a material similar to the stealth suit.


    I wondered if they all wore it.


    Even beyond that, they seemed too clean cut. It didn''t jump out at me because they had different hair lengths, but they''d all shaved. The two guys with long hair wore it in ponytails. I could have written all that off to my own stereotypes of what gangs should look like, but I noticed three submachine guns on the ground. They were identical.


    Did gangs buy guns in bulk? I had no way of knowing, but I doubted it.


    Vaughn stopped to stare at the bodies, and then the hole, but then said, "So, what happened?"


    Jaclyn stiffened. "These two practically helped them get away."


    Red Legacy held up his hands in (I assumed) frustration. "I already said I was sorry."


    "But they''re still gone," Jaclyn said.


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    Next to Red Legacy, the yellow-costumed Justice Fist member didn''t speak, or meet anybody''s eyes.


    "Whoa everybody," Vaughn said. "Take a breath. How did it happen?"


    Cassie and Jaclyn looked at each other for a second.


    Then Cassie said, "Before we went out tonight, the Mystic said that he thought that something might happen around here --"


    "Actually," Jaclyn said, "he said that he''d felt that something might happen here last night when he was on patrol, so we decided to watch it tonight."


    "Anyway," Cassie shot an annoyed look at her, "we stuck around here and saw two vans pull up. These guys got out of one, and four other guys stepped out of the other. I recognized the guy with the burning hands. That''s when we went in."


    "Except we didn''t recognize him," Jaclyn said, "until after the really big guy punched a hole in the building."


    Cassie sighed. "I recognized him. The cycle''s got a camera... So, Accelerando got there first, and threw the big guy almost to the road. I jumped off my bike, and started to help her except these guys," she nodded toward the men on the ground, "got in my way. So I started fighting them. I took out three."


    "And that," Jaclyn said, "is when Red Taser and Darkness Girl showed up. He," she pointed at Red Legacy, "zapped everybody, and she put out the lights."


    I looked around the group of them. "What happened after that? Where''d they go?"


    "I don''t know," Jaclyn said. "I was unconscious."


    Cassie said, "Me too," and then glared at Red Legacy. "What were you thinking?"


    "I''m not going to apologize for this again... Lightning is hard to direct. The farther it gets from my body, the less control I''ve got. I had the choice of doing nothing or taking out everybody. I didn''t think either of you would get permanently hurt, so I took the shot."


    Vaughn looked at Red Legacy. "Oh come on, you have to have more control than that."


    "I''m working on it, but no, not yet."


    "So what happened?" I asked. "If Red Legacy took everyone out, what happened to the other guys?"


    The other Justice Fist member spoke. From her voice, I recognized Shannon, Julie''s cousin, and one of the baristas at Solid Grounds. "They didn''t all go down. Two of them stayed conscious and pulled the other two back to their van. Then they drove away. We couldn''t follow them because we couldn''t see through it."


    Vaughn laughed. "They could see through your darkness, and you couldn''t? That''s kind of funny, you know?"


    She paused for a few seconds. "It''s not funny. It makes it all my fault."


    I felt like I should say something comforting, but what exactly?


    "Nah," Vaughn said. "You''ve got a bunch of people who weren''t working together, and you guys probably haven''t done this much. They didn''t kill anybody this time, did they?"


    Shannon looked toward the hole in the building. We all did.


    The wall had fallen into an apartment''s living room, covering the couch, and breaking the television. We didn''t see any bodies.


    Cassie said, "Well, at least something went right, but we''ve still lost them."


    "I don''t know," I said. I pointed toward the melted van. "They took two vans. Is that their other one? The Mystic''s going to show up soon, and even if the guys on the ground have protection against mental probes, I bet he can get something off the van."

 Legio: Part 5

    Daniel arrived before the police, checked out the unconscious men''s minds, and then concentrated on the van.


    "They were all blocked," Daniel said. "I wasn''t awed by the work. Whoever did it, didn''t have as much power or fine control as I do, but given those limitations, it was sophisticated. It would take me hours of work to get anywhere, and I couldn''t be sure I got everything.


    "Fortunately for us," he continued, "they didn''t do any thing to block impressions from building up in the van. So I''ve got the address."


    "Great," Cassie said. "Let''s go."


    "What?" Vaughn grinned at her. "We''re just going to go over there and take them on?"


    "Why not?"


    "They might be expecting us," I said. "Or expecting to be chased at any rate."


    "No," Cassie said. "They got away. No pursuit. I''m sure they''ll be watching, but they don''t have a reason to be."


    "Right," Jaclyn said. "We were doing okay with just the two of us. Now we''ve got five --"


    "Seven," Lucas said.


    "Oh, no," Jaclyn said. "We are not bringing you along."


    "Lu -- Red Legacy," Shannon began. "They don''t want us. I''d be fine with going home."


    "No," Lucas said. "I want to see this through."


    Cassie put her hand on Daniel''s shoulder, "Hey Mystic, where are they?"


    "The north side. It''s in an older neighborhood, not far from all the factories and warehouses. They''ve rented an older house. A big one."


    "Are there a lot of people in the house?"


    "I don''t know. I couldn''t get that."


    "Do a lot of different people use the van? Or is it the same people all the time."


    Daniel stepped back, and thought about it. "Yeah. A lot of different people."


    Cassie smiled at Lucas and Shannon. "Consider yourself in. Let''s go."


    Jaclyn looked over at them and then at Cassie. "Are you serious?"


    "We might need them."


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    "What about the rest of the League? They ought to be showing up soon."


    "I doubt it. I canceled the yellow once Storm King and Rocket showed up. Everyone else has to cross town to HQ to suit up before they get here, not to mention leaving whatever they''re doing... I bet they didn''t even get to HQ before the alert changed."


    Daniel nodded. "It turned to green on my way. I only showed up because I was closer to here than home."


    Vaughn said, "We could call everybody, and have them meet us there."


    Cassie shook her head. "We''d still have to wait, and I want to hit them while they''re off-balance. Let''s go."


    "What about those guys?" I pointed toward the bodies.


    "We''ll leave them for the cops. Accelerando, you could tell them what happened, and then catch up with us. Mystic, can you give her the address?"


    As Daniel said, "Sure," Lucas turned to me and asked, "She''s team leader?"


    "For the day. We switch off."


    The police showed up as we flew away, Cassie''s motorcycle running down the road below us.


    * * *


    The north side of downtown held mostly factories, old houses, and Grand Lake University. The house stood less than half a mile from the two smashed buildings where we''d run into the Gray Giant, and the abandoned building where Lee sometimes held practices.


    Jaclyn had caught up with us before we arrived, running next to Cassie.


    We stopped a couple blocks away from the house, gathering in the parking lot of an old brick factory. The factory went for half a block by itself, obscuring most of the parking lot from the view of Lake Street, the main road through this section of town.


    The factory used to make furniture. White bricks spelled the name "Wilson Furniture Co." on the side. I didn''t know what it made now.


    Whatever it made, it closed before eight. We were the only ones in the parking lot. With the sun still setting, we had light to work with, and we''d made a point of standing with the factory between us and the road.


    We circled next to Cassie and her motorcycle.


    Shannon stood next to Lucas, shifting her weight from one foot to another, and sometimes looking down the street.


    Vaughn moved between Jaclyn and Cassie, asking Jaclyn, "How''d it go with the cops?"


    "I barely talked to them. I told them who the guys on the ground were, and how the hole got there, and left."


    Shannon said, "I don''t want to be a pest, but who were they? I don''t know either."


    We all looked at each other.


    "I don''t know, for sure," I said, "but I''ve been assuming that they were what''s left of the Cabal''s gang. We know they''re in the area, and since they went after members of the Southside gang, it fits. Kind of, anyhow. They''ve got better equipment than normal gangs."


    "It makes sense," Vaughn said. "I always heard that you could buy drugs from the Lake Street gang at Harbor Place apartments. Maybe they''re taking over or something?"


    "I told the police they were with the guy who murdered those people last Sunday," Jaclyn said. "That''s where I stopped."


    "Well," Cassie said, "we''ll know more when we take them in. Right now, we should make a plan, and I came up with one I like on the way here.


    "Here it is... The Mystic, Storm King and Red Legacy fly up above the house. I''ll use the motorcycle to shoot in smoke and tear gas grenades. The Mystic can tell us where they''re leaving the house, and you two," she pointed at Lucas and Vaughn, "can zap everybody coming out from above. The rest of us will take anyone you missed."


    "I don''t really know anything about fighting," Shannon said. "What should I --"


    Cassie interrupted her. "Don''t worry about it. If you can put a thin layer of darkness around the sides and back, they''ll come out the front. Can you do that?"


    "I think so."


    "Anyone else?" Cassie asked.


    The last time Cassie had been in charge, we''d fought the Gray Giant. That hadn''t gone very well, mostly because we had no idea what we were really facing.


    This plan sounded pretty good.

 Legio: Part 6

    The house sat just off Lake Street. It was big -- not Hardwick House big, but eighteenth century "big enough for a family of eight, plus servants" big.


    I''d heard somewhere that back then, people built the larger houses on main roads, and at the ends of side streets just off the main roads. It was easier to catch the trolley that way, making the houses more desirable, and thus they were built for people who were better off.


    Sometime between now and then, that changed. Houses near factories, warehouses, and moving freight trains weren''t for people with money anymore.


    Not to mention the fact that Grand Lake hadn''t had a working trolley system in ninety years.


    Anyway, whatever family had had the house built probably wouldn''t have recognized the place. Other owners had subdivided it into apartments, rented it to anyone who could pay the deposit, and painted it purple.


    It could have looked nice. Two stories tall, it had big windows, took up as much space as the two houses next to it, and had a wide porch that stretched the length of the front. At the same time, the front yard had big spots of dirt surrounded by grass and weeds. While flying there, I''d noticed that most of the back yard had been turned into a parking lot for the residents.


    Even in the twilight, the house didn''t look good.


    Interestingly, it was the worst looking house on the block. Despite the factories, the rest of that neighborhood had been kept up. I''d noticed grills, swing sets in backyards, and some newer cars when I''d been flying over.


    It made me worry a little bit though. What happened if the people inside came out with guns blazing, spraying bullets everywhere? Houses weren''t bulletproof.


    Unfortunately, I didn''t have the chance to do anything about it.


    Smoke followed them out.


    They started firing at Cassie as one, and she put her head down below the top of the windscreen. Bullets bounced off it, ricocheting into the yard, but not for very long.


    Bolts of red lightning rained down on them from the sky, making their bodies jerk spastically as they fell.


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    If it had ended there, the plan would have worked perfectly.


    It didn''t.


    +++They''re going out all at once!+++


    From Jaclyn''s side of the house came the snap and crash of boards breaking. On other side, glass shattered.


    We knew what we had to cover. Red Legacy went to help Jaclyn. Vaughn and I flew toward the side with shattered glass. Daniel stayed in place, observing who needed help most, ready to pass information along to Cassie and Shannon.


    I descended as Vaughn sent a blast of white lightning down toward the people jumping out of the window, appearing only as they left Shannon''s wall of darkness.


    There were six of them. Just like the people in front, they wore black body armor, and carried sub-machine guns. I recognized the guy with burning hands.


    They were well trained. Despite the lightning, they kept calm and aimed their guns upward -- well, except for one guy.


    A pudgy, red haired man raised up his hand, and drew the lightning in.


    It wrapped around his arm from all directions and disappeared.


    The bullets hit me, and I felt them, but I dropped until I touched the ground. Then I fired a blast of the sonics.


    That stopped the bullets for a moment. I took advantage of it to punch a couple people in the face.


    They went down.


    The pudgy, guy pointed his hand at me, and electricity bridged the gap between us. Of course, if Grandpa had designed the suit to handle anything, he''d designed it to handle lightning.


    I blasted away with the sonics, hoping the noise would distract him long enough.


    He held his hands up, blocking his face, and then sent back a less powerful version of my own sonic wail. It didn''t hurt me, but something else did.


    The guy with the burning hands ran up and grabbed my right forearm where the sonic device hung. The heat became instantly painful. Meanwhile a red dot in the helmet readouts warned me that I risked losing suit integrity. Then it told me I''d just lost the right arm sonic.


    Better that than my arm.


    I dug my encased fingers into the palm of my left gauntlet, pressing the button that engaged the rocketpack, and shot upward. He hung on until he got five feet into the air.


    Then he dropped.


    Wind hit the group of them near where I''d been, knocking them to the ground, and pushing me toward the front of the house.


    I became level with the house''s roof soon afterward, finding Vaughn standing on the edge.


    For a moment, I thought the wind he''d created would take care of them. One of them tried to stand, it blew him ten feet before he stretched out, and lay on the ground. They couldn''t fire their guns, and even if they did, the bullets wouldn''t have flown straight.


    Engaging the helmet''s speaker, I shouted, "Put down your weapons."


    They didn''t. The pudgy guy grabbed the leg of the guy with the burning hands. The man raised his right hand, and suddenly I could feel heat and see the helmet readout of the temperature climb.


    Vaughn flew backwards, away from the edge, as that side of the house burst into flame.


    I followed, mentally adding "energy absorption" and "energy boost" to the list of powers I didn''t much like.

 Legio: Part 7

    Vaughn started coughing as I landed next to him on the roof.


    "Got a big breath of hot air and smoke," he said.


    "You think you''ll be okay?"


    "Yeah. It''s my own fault, anyway."


    It wasn''t really his fault, but when you depend on wind to fly, it''s not much of a surprise if the wind carries smoke along too.


    Past Vaughn, Daniel and Lucas hovered over the far end of the house. Lightning arced from Lucas'' hands toward the ground, flashing again and again.


    A gun fired from below and bullets hit Lucas in the chest, driving him backward in the air. The lightning stopped for a second as he looked down toward his chest.


    Then he laughed, and dove downward.


    I guessed he must have discovered that bullets did bounce off his chest.


    Too bad though that Lucas hadn''t decided to help Vaughn and I out. What were we going to do about those guys? I thought a little more, and then said, "Hey Storm King --"


    Too late. Vaughn had stopped coughing and was already flying down toward the burning side of the house.


    I gave the rocketpack some fuel and followed him.


    The upper half of that side of the house hadn''t just caught fire, but really started to burn. I tried to get Vaughn''s attention, but I didn''t need to. A big gust of wind blew at the house, snuffing out most of the fire. A few flames licked the eaves.


    Another gust of wind made all of those disappear too.


    It almost made it worth getting off the roof to find the guys we''d been fighting -- except not quite. They weren''t there anymore.


    I swung around to the backyard, realizing that Shannon must have let the darkness go, and saw the people we''d fought as they ran toward the other side of the house.


    Vaughn and I rounded the corner, finding the fight that everyone else had been drawn into.


    Jaclyn and Cassie had described one of the people they''d fought as being a big guy, and they''d been right. He stood around seven feet high, and his muscles would have been the envy of bodybuilders. Unlike the rest of his group, he didn''t wear any kind of armor, just a ripped, black t-shirt revealing a heavily muscled chest.


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    He stood, trading blows with Jaclyn, in the side yard of the house they''d been renting, and behind the backyard of the house on the corner.


    The truly scary thing about the fight for me was that Jaclyn didn''t seem to be holding back. Jaclyn had legs strong enough to push her along at the speed of sound when she wanted to, and her arms weren''t any weaker. She delivered every blow at a blur, and every hit made a solid thumping noise.


    The particularly hard blows caused him to back up, and even drove his leg a few inches into the ground.


    Jaclyn mostly managed to dodge the man''s punches, but his seemed to be at least as hard as hers.


    Only a few feet past Jaclyn, Cassie lay on the ground near her motorcycle. Her left forearm had been broken, and hung at a disquieting angle. As I noticed her, she used her other hand to straighten the limb out on the ground.


    I had a few moments to wonder why no one seemed to be helping Jaclyn out, when the question answered itself.


    +++Daniel: Nick, on your left...+++


    Everything worth looking at was on my left, but then I noticed another person. Two, actually. A black haired woman with paper white skin stood next to the house''s brick chimney (which unlike the rest of the house hadn''t been painted purple). She stood as tall as the big guy, but seemed to be all spindly limbs, excessively skinny even with the armored jacket bulking up her torso.


    I might have worried less about her if it weren''t for Red Legacy''s legs. They stuck out of the side of the chimney. The rest of him had presumably been pushed through it.


    She jumped at me, moving twenty feet upward through the air. She seemed just about to grab my leg when she hit an invisible wall. As she stopped, and began to fall, a gust of wind came up and blew her into the parking lot behind the house.


    She hit the van.


    I mentally thanked Daniel and Vaughn for the assist. They''d done it to me a couple times in practice. It was nice to see it could be useful against someone not on our team.


    +++


    Daniel: Vaughn, Nick. Cassie wants you to stop the guys you were fighting from reaching Jaclyn.


    Me: Right. Vaughn, I''ll take the energy absorber. You take burning hands guy.


    Vaughn: Got it. This is going to be easy.


    +++


    Burning hands guy, and pudgy guy had reached Jaclyn.


    She stepped to the left of the big guy, flanking him on the left, while dodging a blast of heat that melted the chain length fence between the yards.


    Jaclyn landed a good punch. I could hear bones break, and see the left side of his chest cave in. He gasped, but the moment didn''t last. The bones knit themselves back together as I watched.


    His left hand blurred in a punch that swung around his body, hitting Jaclyn and throwing her into the air.


    She flew over the fence, through the back wall of the house next door, and possibly out the front of the house too, because I heard a second crash, the screeching of brakes, and then cars beeping.


    A gust of wind sent burning hands guy into the side of the house. He hit and stopped moving.


    I flew in, landing directly in front of the pudgy guy, and punched him in the face.


    He fell to the ground. I''d been right in guessing that he absorbed energy better than mechanical force.


    Unfortunately, that put me within arms reach of the big guy, who turned and punched me in the face, triggering internal warnings that another punch like that could crack the helmet.


    Needless to say, it hurt.


    I fell on my back.


    He raised his foot to stomp on my leg, and I was just about to trigger the rocketpack to shoot me across the lawn, toward the parking lot, except two things happened.


    A globe of pitch-black darkness appeared around the guy''s head, allowing me time to twist away.


    The other was that Cassie came from behind, and, with quick swipe of her sword, chopped off his left leg just above the knee.

 Legio: Part 8

    By the time the guy and his severed leg hit the ground, I''d already rolled away. Given what I''d seen in his fight with Jaclyn, I couldn''t rule out the possibility that he might be able to grab me, and crush the life out me.


    I stood up, keeping myself out of arm''s reach.


    Shannon walked up from the parking lot, holding the darkness around his head.


    "You cut off his leg?" I couldn''t see her face behind the yellow and black mask, but it felt like she was staring.


    "He regenerates," Cassie said. "It''s not permanent."


    I noticed that the stump wasn''t bleeding anymore, and had already scabbed over. It might have been my imagination, but it already seemed to be growing a little. Even more creepy, the severed part had stopped bleeding too. Fortunately, it didn''t seem to be getting larger.


    It would be just our luck if the guy could clone himself from his own severed bits.


    "I can''t say I''m wild about it either," I said, "but if she hadn''t, I think he could have killed me, or at least smashed my leg." To Cassie, I said, "Thanks."


    The cloud of darkness prevented me from seeing his face, but the man on the ground tensed.


    For no obvious reason, the man''s belt removed itself, and floated over to land next to me. The belts and guns of the other two (who I''d mentally renamed "Burning Hands Guy" and "Energy Absorbing Dude") detached and joined them.


    Daniel landed next to the belts, and did the same with "Spindly Woman," moving her next to them.


    We didn''t have handcuffs, but it wasn''t as if they''d work on these guys.


    I called the police, and told them who we''d caught. The dispatcher told me that they were already on their way.


    "It''s okay," Daniel said, "They can''t move. I''ve gone into their heads. They''ve got anti-telepathic stuff inside the house, but they''re not inside anymore. Anyway, hanging around with You-Know-Who has made me better at filtering out stuff like that."


    I didn''t need to ask who Daniel meant. It had to be Lee, not Lord Voldemort.


    From behind me came several thumps mixed with the clatter of smaller things falling. "Shit." Lucas had pushed himself (along with bricks and mortar) out of the side of the chimney, leaving a hole.


    Soot stained his arms and front.


    He walked over to stand with the rest of us. "She grabbed my leg, and swung me in before I could even think about it. I''ve never seen anyone that fast. Was I out long?"


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    Vaughn stood next to Shannon. "Don''t think so. I didn''t even have time to notice you were gone."


    In the chaos, I''d kind of forgotten about him myself.


    I thought about apologizing, but never got the chance.


    Jaclyn came around the side of the corner house, jumped over the fence, and landed next to Cassie. She looked better than I would have expected after being thrown through a house. Her costume had ripped on her right thigh, and her cheek looked swollen, but otherwise she seemed alright.


    "You got him?" She looked down on the ground, and then turned to Cassie. "You cut off his leg?"


    "I didn''t have a choice. The guy was just about to smash the Rocket''s leg. It was maim or kill, so I chose maim. Besides, he regenerates. You saw it."


    "The Rocket''s armor couldn''t take it?"


    "I got a warning that the next shot might destroy the helmet when he hit me."


    Jaclyn shook her head. "Really? I thought you might have a chance."


    "Not in a fair fight, I guess."


    "I thought I might have a chance," Lucas said, "but he just shrugged off my lightning."


    Shannon turned her head away from the man on the ground., and told Vaughn, "I can''t believe we''re standing around talking next to a man whose leg just got chopped off."


    Vaughn shrugged. "We could move."


    "It will grow back," Cassie said, with maybe just a little more emphasis than necessary.


    +++


    Me: Daniel, have you gotten anything about who these guys (well, except for Spindly) are and what they were doing here?


    Daniel: I''ve been looking since we took them down. I''ve got lots of stuff. They''re exactly what we thought they were. They''re the Cabal''s army only now they''re not fighting for the Cabal. They''re trying to take over organized crime in the area.


    Me: In Grand Lake?


    Daniel: I''m guessing for recruiting purposes. From what I''ve gotten out of them so far, it looks like the Mayor had some system for identifying potential recruits. They''ve got a list.


    Me: Maybe we should see if we can find that...


    Daniel: If we can do it before the cops get here.


    Me: You might be able to find it while they''re here. Well, if they don''t see you, anyway.


    Daniel: If I''m going to try, I should start now. They''re coming.


    +++


    When the telepathic connection stopped, Daniel announced, "I''m going to fly over and check on the normals. I don''t want them waking up before the police get here."


    As he began to float upward into the darkening sky, another thought occurred to me. Just before the murder that started all of this going, Burning Hands Guy had mentioned someone named Prime.


    +++


    Me: Hey, Daniel. Who''s Prime?


    Daniel: Oh... That''s the best part of this. You know how the Cabal was run by a bunch of immortals? The Cabal''s army is organizationally descended from one of the Roman Legions. I don''t know which one.


    Me: And Prime is?


    Daniel: I don''t know who it is is, but I''m guessing it''s short for the lead centurion in a legion -- Primus Pilus.


    Me: Wow.


    Daniel: No kidding. You''ve just witnessed the one and only moment in my life when knowing about the Roman Empire was a practical skill.


    +++


    He disappeared over the house as I began to hear sirens in the distance.


    Moments like that one made me wonder if my dad had a point about teenaged superheroes. We''d just fought what amounted to trained soldiers, and could have died at their hands. If they''d had a better plan, more people, or if we''d made more mistakes, the fight could have turned out completely different.


    We''d taken damage. I''d have to go over the Rocket suit looking for cracks, and test the internal systems. Jaclyn probably ought to see a doctor just to make sure.


    And then, of course, there were the many little things we were keeping from the authorities. We weren''t telling Isaac about the Impregnator, or letting the police find a fairly important piece of evidence, simply because I felt uncomfortable with it.


    What right did I have to make that kind of decision?


    I didn''t know.

 Counterattack: Part 1

    I don''t remember exactly who made the patrol schedule, but whoever it was never scheduled Haley and I on the same night.


    I asked Cassie about it one night, and she''d said they tried to match people''s movement styles, like putting people who could fly together, for example. "And also," she''d said, "We want you to patrol instead of making out in the car."


    That would have been completely unfair except that we actually had used Night Wolf''s car to get some privacy during the winter. We''d called it patrolling, but since we mostly stayed in the same place, it didn''t really count. To be fair though, the parking lot of Grand Lake''s beach, the access road to the city''s softball fields, and a number of spots around the city where a car could park unobtrusively had never been better protected.


    On Thursday, a couple days after we''d fought the Cabal''s army, Travis ended up working unexpectedly instead of patrolling with Haley.


    She called me, and we drove off in Night Wolf''s car.


    Disappointingly, we actually did patrol, but it made for a nice break from repairing the Rocket suit.


    I went in the stealth suit, complete with guitar, and I guessed that we''d end up driving around town.


    I was wrong. Haley had other ideas.


    "I''d like to try the grappling hooks."


    "There''s not much to try. You shoot them toward the top of a building, and they pull you up."


    "You know what I mean. You told me why you gave everyone two of them."


    "Well, that was kind of the dream, but I''m betting it''s more complicated than Spider-Man makes it look."


    "I want to try it. I think it would be a fun way to move around downtown."


    Just for the record, trying to swing from building to building in Grand Lake is not like trying to swing from building to building in New York City. At least from what I''d seen in movies, New York''s downtown buildings seemed to be at least five stories high, and a lot of them were higher. Not only that, but New York was a big city and had been a big city for a long time, so they had tall buildings all over.


    At the time, they had 8 million people within the city limits.


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    Grand Lake was a second tier city. It had around a million, including the suburbs. Downtown had three or four blocks of office buildings that might qualify for swinging. North of downtown, the old factories, the university, and the area around the Morehouse Arena might also qualify, but the buildings became two or three story shops or houses fairly quickly past that.


    It didn''t stop us from trying though.


    So just a quick word about swinging between buildings. It''s a lot easier if your agility is better than human, and you''ve got some way to cling to walls. Bonus points if your senses are freakishly good.


    All of which meant that Haley had an easier time of it than I did.


    We parked the car near the arena, directly in front of Sid''s Tavern. Sid''s occupied the first floor of a five story building that had been refurbished to look like people imagined Victorian buildings had looked instead of how they actually were. Concrete gargoyles, and complex decorations had been added to the edges of the roof, the corners, and the front.


    The arena didn''t have anything going that night, so Sid''s looked empty. Certainly the streets were.


    Haley jumped into the air, landing with her right hand in the window frame, clawed feet grasping the bricks and molded concrete decorations below it. With her left hand, she pulled a grappling hook off of her utility belt.


    "Ready?"


    I wasn''t. I wasn''t even sure how to start. I thought about hovering with the rocketpack, and swinging from there, but Haley must have seen my fingers twitch toward the buttons on the palm of my gauntlet.


    "Hey, no cheating."


    I pulled both grappling hooks from my belt, pointed one at the fourth floor of Sid''s, and the other at the building across the street. Then I had both of the devices retract line until I hung above the street at approximately the same level as Haley.


    After that we swung through the downtown streets, something made possible by the fact that the "grappling hooks" weren''t hooks and didn''t grapple. They were guns that shot out a long line with an adhesive tip. We could control whether it stuck or not, retract the line, or whatever.


    I needed to come up with a better name.


    Anyway, we swung through downtown, keeping at least fifty feet above traffic most of the time. On the whole, it felt somewhere between exhilarating and terrifying.


    Haley stayed ahead of me, but that was okay.


    We had a good hour of it between seven and eight. Avoiding getting the sun in our eyes made it a little more work, but it felt fun once I got the hang of it.


    The police seemed to be amused. With the police headquarters downtown, it wasn''t much of a surprise that officers would notice, and comment on police band.


    I don''t know if that''s how the sniper realized we were out there, or if someone had stationed people to watch the routes we usually patrolled, but whatever the case, they found us.


    We were outside the main area of downtown, past the mix of modern and Victorian architecture and into the area near where we parked the car, an area that could be best described by "urban renewal" -- converted factories and old shops. Some were empty and abandoned. Others were bars, quietly trendy clubs, and new restaurants.


    I didn''t hear the shot. I didn''t even realize anything was wrong until Haley twisted in the air in front of me to avoid it, and then let out enough line to drop to the ground.


    The stealth suit tensed at the impact of the bullets hitting my chest. I hoped they weren''t armor piercing rounds.

 Counterattack: Part 2

    The stealth suit didn''t have as much hardware in it as the regular Rocket suit, but it could sense damage. The damage readouts showed a "2" in red.


    "2" meant that at least one bullet had passed the jacket''s outer layer, and into the inner gel layer, but had stopped before going through the layer I could wear under clothes. Passing through that layer would have been a "3."


    A "3" meant that I would be visiting the hospital soon, if I were lucky.


    I pressed the button that released, and retracted the grappling hook''s line.


    Both my hands were full, so I activated the rocketpack through the mouthguard in my helmet, sending me upward.


    Meanwhile, I tried to find the sniper.


    Haley''s movement tipped me off. When she had dropped to the sidewalk, she ran around the corner of an old, five story, brick building, jumped to the second story, and started climbing.


    He stood on the flat roof of the building, wearing the same black armor as the people we''d fought on Tuesday. He kept on firing at me for a few more moments after I started flying, but not for long.


    As I turned back downward, diving toward the roof, he stopped, and started running toward the middle of the wall on the right side of the building -- the side where the fire escape hung.


    I adjusted my flight path, aiming for him, not completely sure what I''d do when I caught him.


    He only made it halfway. Deciding that I''d only drag him across the roof if I tried to tackle him, I aimed for his upper back, clipping him in the right shoulder.


    That didn''t sound like much, but I was moving at seventy miles per hour.


    He fell forward, completely out of control, holding his hands out front, but not really stopping when he hit. Because of the angle I''d hit him at, he flipped over, landing on his back, the gun banging around, hitting his face and his arms.


    He rolled a few more times before stopping on his stomach, and managed to get the rifle into his hands, sitting up and trying to point it at me. He had long, bloody scrapes down the length of his left forearm, and the gun wobbled.


    I''d circled around, and touched down by then, momentum from my flight carrying me forward across the roof toward him.


    Maybe he would have been able to fire at me, but he didn''t get the chance.


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    His body jerked forward, then fell backward, landing on the roof, and then slid away from me at high speed, bumping and shouting as he went.


    Haley stood on the other side of the building, leaning backwards, the claws on her feet gripping the roof. She held a grappling hook in her right hand, pushing the button that retracted the line.


    He tried to bring his gun to bear, but he crossed the roof before he had the chance. She leaned over, brought her left hand down on his neck, and he stopped moving.


    Letting go, she stood up and sighed.


    Using the armor''s internal phone, I called the police.


    * * *


    After the police took him away, we got back into Night Wolf''s car, drove back to HQ, changed into our clothes, and went to visit Lee.


    We took my dad''s SUV, and parked in the dirt parking lot behind the martial arts studio. By the time we got there, it was around nine at night. The sun had set, and the second evening class was letting out.


    We waited as people left. It was the typical crowd -- a mix of little kids and adult men and women, some of them still in their white uniforms, most of them carrying duffel bags filled with sparring gear and equipment.


    A few recognized me, and said, "Hi."


    I''d been in the class for my first two years of training. After that, Lee had moved me into his "advanced class" -- which meant that more often than not, I was the only student. Except some nights, we were joined by men and women who were very serious about training. I assumed that some of them had to be capes in their civilian identities. Some must have been official law enforcement. A few might have been mercenaries, and others, villains.


    I had no way of knowing for sure. They didn''t talk much.


    The only reason it mattered was because I needed to talk to Lee before tonight''s advanced class showed up (if there was one).


    When the League practiced with him, Lee almost always used the upper level of the building. Tonight, we found him in the lower level, talking with the few students left. Aside from being better lit, the first floor looked a lot like the upstairs -- a sanded wooden floor, mirrors on one wall, a heap of floor pads for practicing falls.


    Eventually, Lee caught my eye, and gestured that we should go upstairs. He joined us a few minutes later.


    We told him what happened.


    "Who do you think he was with?" Lee asked.


    "What''s left of the Cabal." None of the other options seemed right.


    Lee nodded. "That''d be my guess. It seems like just the right mixture of competence and incompetence."


    "Incompetence?" Haley sounded surprised. "He could have killed us."


    "Sure," Lee said," but it''s not because he knew what he was doing. The Cabal''s people don''t keep up with military techniques. Powers have always allowed them to overwhelm the opposition. They were effective a couple days ago, but that''s because they know how to use their powers tactically. Chances are that this guy has one ability and it''s something like... I don''t know... night vision, or maybe he reacts quickly, even if he can''t run quickly. That kind of thing. A military sniper would have had a spotter along, a different kind of gun, and likely would have attacked from far enough away that you''d have no idea where he was. Whereas even if the Cabal knew their tactics were crap, they''d assume that their abilities would make up the difference. It''s worked for them in the past.


    "Frankly, I''m surprised they lasted as long as they did. When you guys exposed them this fall, you destroyed them, and whoever''s left hasn''t adjusted. Of course, they''ve been run by the same inbred group of near immortals since the Roman Empire. They don''t change easily."


    "You seem to know them pretty well," I said.


    "Well enough," Lee said. "I''ve worked for them once or twice."

 Counterattack: Part 3

    "You worked for the Cabal? When?"


    "Not recently," Lee said. "I helped overthrow a couple emperors during the Roman Empire. Second time around, they didn''t pay me, so I killed the guy they were trying to get in, and took power myself."


    Haley looked up at me. Her expression probably meant, "Is he serious?"


    I looked back at Lee. "You were a Roman Emperor? Which one?"


    "I didn''t stay long enough to get an official name. Maybe a month, tops. I figured out that I''d have to do a lot of political bootlicking if I actually wanted to stay in power, and I didn''t. All I wanted to do was piss Magnus off, so I found a guy who did want to do politics and put him in charge."


    "Who?"


    "Don''t remember. It was a long time ago. You might not believe it, but five hundred years of emperors all blend together."


    "Okay... Then what about Magnus? Someone named Martin Magnus called me a couple times to propose an alliance against the Mayor. Is that the same guy?"


    "It''s got to be. I''d heard he''d left the Cabal."


    Haley looked and me and then at Lee. "Are you going to help us against them?"


    "Nope."


    "Why not?"


    "It''s not part of the deal. Teaching''s part of the deal, and the only part you need to worry about. I''ve got my own projects to keep me busy. I''m not your babysitter. Or Nick''s. You want advice, though? I''ve got advice."


    "Sure," I said.


    "They''re targeting you. Track them down, and take them out. Don''t hesitate, and don''t leave any of them alive."


    "Uh..." I said.


    "Imprisoned people eventually get out," he said. "Yeah, I know you won''t, but if you want advice, that''s mine."


    Haley didn''t say anything.


    Lee grinned at both of us. "While I''m giving advice, I''ll give a little more. You guys did pretty well with the Executioner. I wasn''t in town for it, but I read about it, and I''ve got a few sources. When he gets out, he''ll be gunning for you. Start preparing for it. Create safe houses, alternate identities, and make your secret identities air tight. Talk to me as a group, and I''ll give you some guidelines. In fact, call me when you hear he''s out."


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    Haley had an odd look on her face. "That sounds like you''re going to give us more than advice."


    Lee laughed. "Maybe. The deal''s mostly teaching, but there are a few other things thrown in. Here''s what you have to think about. Ray and his people''s strength is preparation. When you met them they weren''t prepared. I don''t know why. Maybe they''d gotten too comfortable in Grand Lake. Maybe they didn''t think you were a threat.


    "Now, you''re on their elimination list. They''ll go in, find out everything they can, and start picking off your families and friends one by one. They''re not like the Cabal. They''re competent all the time. So... If you keep things separate, he''ll only be able to go after you. And if he only goes after you, my presence around here will be a surprise."


    "Wait," I said, "are you saying you''re going to stop him yourself?"


    "We''ll see. Ray and I have a little history, and I''d like to talk to him first before we... stop him."


    That gave a new twist on the word "stop."


    Haley''s eyes narrowed. "I thought you just said that wasn''t part of the deal."


    "There are exceptions," Lee said. "When I''m completely sure you''re going to die if I don''t help, I''m in."


    * * *


    The next morning, I came downstairs to find that Mom and Dad had already left for a weekend conference.


    Rachel sat at the kitchen table in a black t-shirt, and blue jeans. She looked tired, and it wasn''t hard to guess why. She''d been working on something when I went to bed at midnight, and I''d overheard Mom comment recently (kind of loudly) that she hadn''t been getting up before ten in the last few weeks.


    NPR news played on the radio while the coffeemaker sputtered and hummed.


    "I''m bringing you to school today."


    "I could bike."


    "Have you looked outside?"


    Past the sliding doors to the backyard, clouds covered the sky, making it darker than normal at seven-thirty in the morning. Worse, rain fell steadily. I could hear the drops.


    "I can drive myself."


    "I''ve got errands to run. I can''t run them if the car''s sitting in the school parking lot."


    "What kinds of errands? You don''t have a job or anything."


    "Don''t you start. I get enough of that from Mom and Dad. I''m meeting with a coffeehouse owner about playing there, and it''s kind of an audition. I''m not going to haul my guitar around in the rain."


    She had me there.


    "Which coffeehouse? Not Solid Grounds, right?" If Justice Fist held a team meeting there again, that could get weird.


    "No. It''s downtown. Remember Four Friends?"


    "Oh, yeah. Okay."


    I poured myself a bowl of cereal, and pulled some milk and orange juice out of the refrigerator. In the background, the radio station had gone from the national news to local.


    "--Grand Lake Police Department reports two shootings on Thursday night. The first shooter attempted to fire on members of the New Heroes League and was apprehended downtown. The second shot a member of the recently formed Justice Fist team, and is still at large..."

 Counterattack: Part 4

    "It was one of those two A.M. phone calls," Vaughn said. "You know, the ones that are either going to be incredibly good, or incredibly bad."


    The cafeteria was mostly empty and lunch hour was mostly over. Vaughn had happened to pass my table on the way out. Courtney and Keith were sitting with me, so I couldn''t say much.


    "That was how it worked when my uncle got kidnapped too," Keith said. "I was already in the hospital, but my mom and dad got called out of the blue."


    "Have you gone to see him?" Courtney asked.


    "No. My parents aren''t going to have me skip school for it. My mom might have dropped by during the day. I don''t know."


    Keith nodded. "How did he get hurt?"


    "Some kind of random thing," Vaughn said. "He''s in his residency, so he comes home really late, and just happened to be in the middle of a shooting."


    "Like with whoever it was in Justice Fist, and the Heroes League? There''s something going on." Keith looked around the table at all of us. "You and I ought to go investigate. Wouldn''t that be cool?"


    "No." Courtney pushed his shoulder. "It would not be cool. Those people have real guns."


    "It''s a waste to be able to lift a couple tons and not be able to use it. With great power comes great responsibility, right? You investigate and I''ll take them down. It''s made to be."


    Courtney stared at him. "It''s crazy. Remember the fight on the north side? Captain Commando cut off somebody''s leg, and someone else got thrown through a house. If we got attacked, the worst I could do is develop really bad acne, and hope to scare them away. And you''re strong, but not Grey Giant strong. We''d get killed."


    "Well, that''s the thing," Keith said. "This place is getting to be like New York or something. I think all of us second stringers need to get organized because otherwise we won''t be able to protect ourselves."


    "I''m going to bring my tray back. It''s nearly time for class," I said, and got up, wondering if Vaughn would walk with me.


    He didn''t hesitate, just waved to them, and walked along.


    We shoveled our leftovers into the trash can, and put our trays on the racks that stood in the corner.


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    I looked both ways as we stepped out of the door. No one stood anywhere near us.


    "How did Lucas keep the press from connecting him with Red Legacy?"


    "Oh, family stuff, I bet. We''ve got a lot of pull with the hospital and the police. He went into the hospital as Red Legacy, but got moved to another room as himself."


    Keeping my voice low, I said, "How bad is it?"


    "Bad. He can''t move his legs. They got him while the juice was low in his system."


    "Is it permanent?"


    "They''re still trying to work that out."


    "He deserves better than that."


    "Yeah," Vaughn said. "I know. He does. I''ve never really liked him, but I can''t deny that."


    "Why?"


    "No real reason. He''s not a bad guy, but I get sick of hearing my mom tell me that I ought to be more like him. Good grades. Good athlete. Never in trouble. It gets old."


    "Do you think it would cause problems if I brought someone in? You know the Southern California Defenders? Paladin''s a friend of mine...


    * * *


    Getting a hold of Alex wasn''t as easy as it might have been. Theoretically, I could have just texted him from school, but there was the whole secret identity thing to consider.


    Specifically, Alex didn''t have one. I did, and with Lee''s comments about keeping my identities separate fresh in my mind, I waited until I got home. Then I went over to Grandpa''s house, took the elevator down to HQ, and emailed Alex directly from my Heroes League email account.


    I pressed send around four, and he called me back fifteen minutes later.


    The League communications system registered the call, and a blue strip with the words "Incoming Call" ran across the bottom of the twenty foot tall screen on the wall. After I clicked on "Accept" with the mouse, a circle with a stylized version of the Los Angeles skyline appeared. Underneath it were the words "SoCal Defenders" with the word "Paladin" underneath in parentheses.


    It faded into Alex'' tanned face, and sun-bleached hair. He wore a white L.A. Galaxy t-shirt, and stood in front of a beige wall. I didn''t recognize the place.


    "Rocket, what''s up with the picture?"


    He had to be referring to the still of the Rocket that appeared instead of me. I''d used a shot of myself flying over downtown Grand Lake.


    "I''m not in costume, and I didn''t know if you were alone."


    "I wasn''t. I am now. Kind of. I''m in the hall at school."


    "School? Oh, yeah. Time zones. I could call back in a couple hours."


    "Don''t worry about it. No one''s got a problem with me stepping out of class. At least not when the Defenders phone rings."


    "I thought you didn''t carry it."


    "I didn''t. After what happened on spring break, my dad nailed my ass to the wall for that one. We''re all carrying now, and not just because he got pissed. They''re bringing us in on the action."


    "What brought that on?"


    "We did more than a million dollars of property damage to the building alone when you were here. That and Syndicate L''s taken a page from Red Lightning, and laced their power juice with addictive drugs, so Dad needs the help."


    "Wow. I saw something on TV recently. I didn''t know it was that bad."


    "It''s bad enough that they brought my stepmomster into action. That''s bad. They''ve let me lead a couple missions. That''s really bad."


    "Huh. I don''t know if you''ll be able to take time for this, but there''s this guy I know who''s been shot. Now he can''t walk. He''s a hero. Any chance you could --"


    "I''ll be there before you know it."

 Counterattack: Part 5

    "Before you know it," turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration.


    He arrived on Saturday afternoon, complete with chaperon, meeting me in front of the parking garage behind the hospital.


    The area around the hospital was one of those spots in Grand Lake that felt like a big city. The highway that ran through downtown wasn''t far off, and we could hear it. The hospital, a big, block-shaped, brick building, sprawled across the street. The new medical research institute, a long metal and glass building that could have been stolen from the cover of a science fiction novel, stretched as long as the combined hospital and garage.


    Alex wore his costume -- a white long coat covering gray armor.


    Next to him stood a short, completely hairless man with dead white skin. He wore black armor. It shimmered. I didn''t recognize the material.


    With the Rocket suit still in need of repair, and the stealth suit''s jacket ruined, I wore the 80''s era Rocket suit. It had been a bit of a departure from most of Grandpa''s designs, but everything worked. The next version of the suit, the one he''d designed for me, had been a return to basics.


    I landed on the sidewalk with a thump. The 80''s suit was heavier than the current version.


    Alex looked me over. "That''s a blast from the past."


    "I know. I''m repairing the regular Rocket suit."


    "How many do you have?"


    "That''s hard to say. Some of them share parts. I''ve got four or five that I could use without installing anything, but some were made for very specialized situations, and a couple of them are really old."


    "Older than that one? Not that I''m complaining. It''s the badass Rocket suit, right?"


    I hadn''t thought of it in exactly that way.


    "Hey," he continued, "let''s go in and get this done."


    As we crossed the street, I turned toward the hairless guy, and said, "Hi."


    He nodded, but didn''t say anything.


    "Straka doesn''t talk much," Alex said. "Don''t worry about it."


    Last time I''d been near the hospital in costume, it had been at night, and I''d been on the roof. This time I went through a public entrance with Alex during the day.


    People asked for autographs, and not just from me. They also recognized Alex. Apparently, the South California Defenders had been getting a lot of air time lately. Alex handled the requests smoothly, asking people''s names while signing, personalizing the autograph, and moving on to the next.


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    I struggled not to crush the pens. No Rocket suit had been designed for writing -- this one less than most.


    It took us twenty minutes to get to the elevator.


    When we finally got up to the fourth floor, it didn''t take long to find the room.


    I bumped my helmet on the door frame, a hazard of being a foot taller than normal.


    We''d come during visiting hours, and Lucas had visitors. I recognized his father immediately. Russell Hardwick, a big voice in the Hardwick''s family businesses, and a leader of the remnants of Red Lightning''s army, stood next to a thin, almost frail, woman. I guessed she must be Lucas'' mother.


    Vaughn''s mother stood next to them. She frowned a little as she saw me. Vaughn''s mother had guessed my secret identity the time Daniel, Cassie and I had fought the Grey Giant.


    I didn''t recognize anyone else. There were a few college-aged girls that I guessed might be Lucas'' sisters, or possibly cousins. They stared at us.


    Lucas lay on the bed. A bag of some fluid hung on a pole, its tube ending in his arm. Wires led to other machines with blinking lights. Sometimes they beeped.


    Lucas slept, not reacting to us at all.


    Russell Hardwick looked at Alex and I. A muscle in his face twitched, but when he talked, it came out calm, even welcoming.


    "I''ve seen both of you in the news, but I''m surprised to see you here." He eyed Alex. "Aren''t you out of Los Angeles?"


    "I happened to be in the area," Alex said, "and I heard he might not walk again. If you want me to, I can make sure that he will."


    Lucas'' mother started crying.


    His father''s face went stiff for a second, and his mouth opened in something that wasn''t really a smile. Then he said, "You can do that?"


    Alex put his hand on Lucus'' mother''s shoulder and said, "I''ve handled worse."


    Then he went to where Lucas lay on the bed, put his hands on Lucas'' stomach, and closed his eyes.


    We all waited.


    Then Alex turned around and said, "That''s it. The spinal cord''s been repaired, and everything around it."


    Lucas didn''t look any different, except possibly a little less pale.


    "Have the doctors check him out when he wakes up," Alex said. After talking a little longer, he shook Lucas'' parents'' hands, and we left, meeting up with Straka. He''d been waiting in the hall.


    As we walked, I asked, "So that''s it? He''s better."


    Alex nodded. "Yeah. He''ll walk. It''ll be like he never got shot."


    "They didn''t seem as happy as I would have thought."


    "It''s typical. They''ve been worrying for days, and they couldn''t even tell if I''d cured him. No big deal. Actually, there''s something that worries me more... Do you have someplace private?"


    We left the hospital and met up at the Heroes League offices. They weren''t far from downtown. Straka parked their car inside (some kind of floating car with the SoCal Defenders logo), and occupied himself with the TV in the lobby.


    Alex and I went into the meeting room. He smiled, looking over its late 70''s office decor, and photos of the old League''s victories.


    "It matches the suit," Alex said.


    "People have talked about redoing the place. I kind of like it the way it is. Uh... What were you going to tell me?"


    "The guy''s father? There''s something wrong with him."


    "He''s sick?"


    "No. I can sense sickness just like I can sense health. He''s not either one. I''m sensing big cell die offs, and massive growth all at once. It''s a lot like running into someone who''s taken power juice, but worse."


    "You can sense that?"


    "Oh, yeah."


    Thinking, I paused. Then I said. "I think I know what''s going on."


    I explained about Justice Fist, their parents, the Executioner, the remains of the Cabal''s army and the theft of the Impregnator plans from Red Lightning''s lair.


    At the end, Alex said, "Don''t take this wrong, but it sounds like you''re screwed. If you need help, call me and I''ll figure out a way to be here for more than an hour. Just... Make sure you don''t go through official channels. It gives me more options."


    He left after that, and I ran down the tunnel to HQ, thinking about everything that had happened. For example, if they''d gotten the Impregnator working, who else had they tried it on?

 Counterattack: Part 6

    On Monday, when I went back to school, I couldn''t help but notice that all the members of Justice Fist seemed to be tired.


    I''d have put it down to them spending a lot of time by Lucas bedside, except I hadn''t seen any of them when we were there. And really, I only saw Jody, Dayton, and Sean. They were walking ahead of me in the hall. Sean had ditched the crutches, but he still limped a little on the leg where I kicked him.


    He limped a little more that day.


    I was a few people behind them, too many to have any chance of hearing a conversation, but they didn''t show any signs of having one.


    I caught a glimpse of Julie at lunch. She sat with her friends, but seemed to be doing more listening than talking. It reminded me that I needed to get back to work on the device for blocking her voice.


    I never saw Camille (whose name I usually couldn''t remember anyway), and Shannon, of course, went to Haley''s school.


    I didn''t like it.


    I remembered Vaughn just after using the Impregnator. He''d been unconscious, and seemed tired even after he did wake up. The next day when he''d actually tried to use his powers, he''d ended up drained, and all but babbling.


    If they had all gone through the Impregnator, they would have powers all the time now, and if Red Lightning''s results were any guide, sometimes more powers. He''d only been a little more than a walking taser on power juice, but after the Impregnator, he was stronger, tougher, and he could fly.


    Shannon probably deserved a little more power. Darkness wasn''t very effective offensively.


    I wasn''t sure about the rest of them though -- well, except for Lucas. He seemed okay.


    Nothing happened that confirmed my worries until after school.


    I was walking down the hall, backpack hanging on my back, trying to decide whether to bum a ride off somebody, or just walk home.


    The next thing I knew, my feet were in the air, and I was falling backwards. If I''d learned nothing else from Lee, I had learned how to fall. The backpack didn''t help, but the stealth suit underneath my clothes did. I didn''t get hurt.


    The books in my backpack made a loud slapping noise though.


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    As I stood up, someone asked if I was okay. I told them I was.


    I just didn''t know why I''d fallen.


    When I looked at the front doors though, I had an idea. Jody had joined Dayton and Sean, and stood there, looking back at me and laughing.


    He hadn''t been there before. I knew he hadn''t been there.


    "Not cool," Dayton said.


    Sean said something. I couldn''t hear it. He didn''t exactly look concerned though.


    I walked out without stopping, and made it halfway down the steps before Dayton caught up with me. He towered over me. "Are you okay?"


    "I''m fine."


    I didn''t slow down to talk more about it, and he rejoined his friends. I started to walk down the sidewalk, and stopped, wondering if I should keep on walking when I knew that Sean, Jody, and Dayton would be passing me in a car soon.


    A rematch didn''t seem likely to end well.


    I stood, and looked toward the track. The school partially blocked my view of it, but I could see the team stretching in a circle in the middle. I''d enjoyed running long distance the years I''d done it. Part of me wished I was out there with them. Part of me wondered if exposing the mayor last fall had been a mistake. Ultimately, letting him recruit everyone he could into the Cabal wouldn''t have been a good thing, but handing the Cabal''s techniques over to everybody didn''t seem to be going well either.


    Not that everybody could use them, but the selection of the people who could hadn''t exactly been improving my life lately.


    When I turned away from the track, I noticed Chris Cannon''s Honda Civic in the parking lot.


    I crossed the street, found an entrance in the fence, and went around to the car. Chris showed up not long after that.


    "Let me guess," he said, "you don''t feel like walking home?"


    "That would be a good guess."


    "No problem."


    Once we shut the doors, I said, "There''s a little more to it though."


    I caught him up on what had been happening in my life -- Justice Fist, the Impregnator, the Cabal''s army, the possibility that the Executioner might come back, all of it -- well, all of it except for Lee, and anything that pointed to the League''s identities.


    "Are you sure I need to know this?" He asked when I finished.


    I''d asked myself the same question.


    "Yes. The Executioner tends to kill off friends of the victim first, and leaves the target for last."


    "So I could be --" He stopped talking, and I noticed that he was gripping the steering wheel hard enough that his knuckles whitened. Fortunately, he hadn''t turned on the car yet.


    "Shit," he said.


    "I know. I thought I''d tell you ahead of time. They''re all still in jail, so you can start preparing now. Also, if Jody''s really responsible for tripping me, you might want to think about him too. Maybe we can coordinate somehow."


    "Yeah," Chris said. He started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot a little faster than necessary. The Civic''s engine rumbled. He''d put in one that was considerably more powerful than the car needed.


    "I can''t believe Jody just tripped you like that."


    "I don''t know it for sure. If it was him, he was moving so fast I couldn''t see it."


    Conversation lapsed, and the ride home was a little quieter than usual. It was understandable, but it still felt uncomfortable.


    After he let me off at home, I walked down to HQ. Bored of fixing the Rocket suit, I worked on a couple ideas I''d had for weaponizing the roachbots.

 Counterattack: Part 7

    After the attack of the week before, we''d made the patrols less obvious. No more swinging through the streets, or even flying low for Vaughn and Daniel. We concentrated on stealth, or at least on keeping a low profile.


    We didn''t see any more snipers.


    They''d apparently decided to go for another method of attack -- and so had we.


    We planted roachbots with improved video and audio collection abilities all around the city, particularly downtown, on major roads, and in a few neighborhoods we thought might be good for an armed group to hide.


    They collected hours and hours of video, too many for us to go through.


    Despite all our efforts, the next move came from them.


    On Wednesday, I went to practice, came home, and had supper, and had gone through about half of my calculus homework when my cellphone rang.


    It was Marcus. He''d been stopping by HQ more lately, mostly on the way too or from work. He''d been checking the League''s official voice mail and email messages -- which was good. I never did.


    "Nick, I''ve got something you''re going to want to look at. It''s big. Hurry, and bring Rachel."


    I told Rachel, interrupting her while she sat on her bed, drawing something. It looked like plans for a metal sculpture.


    As we opened the door to go out, Mom called out, "Where are you going?"


    Rachel glanced over at me. "Grandpa''s house."


    "You''re not getting together with your friends now. It''s a school night, and you already went to martial arts practice with them."


    "Mom," Rachel said.


    "I know it''s not a school night for you, but for Nick --"


    "Mom, we''re leaving. Superhero stuff. Bye." She walked out the door.


    Mom didn''t say anything, or if she did, she waited so long that we''d already left.


    I had to wait for the elevator to come back up when we got to the house. Rachel decided not to, floating down through the floor.


    Jaclyn, Daniel, and Vaughn were already there when I came down. Cassie, Travis, and Haley came down a few minutes later. Marcus waited to play the voice mail until everyone arrived.


    "Everybody, I found this one when I checked the main voice mail today. They sound really serious." He put his monitor view on the wall screen, and we watched as his mouse pointer clicked on a voice mail labeled "Today -- 3:17 PM."


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    I didn''t recognize the voice. The man''s accent sounded normal to me -- which was to say, Midwestern -- and not unusually high or low.


    "Heroes League. It''s time we talked. We''ve gotten in each other''s way lately, and we don''t have to. You''ve got interests in this town. We''ve got interests. Let''s all meet tonight around nine in the middle of the Ottawa Trails Golf Course. I''m sure we can work out something between you, us, and Justice Fist that lets everyone get on with their lives. If you don''t show up, we can''t do much to you, but it''s too bad Justice Fist doesn''t have secret identities."


    "And that''s it," Marcus said. "We don''t have a lot of time."


    The clock in the lower right corner of his screen showed the time as "8:43 pm."


    "I wonder if it''s a trap?" I asked.


    "Of course it''s a trap," Travis said. "I''ve played that course, and there''s no cover. When we show up, they''ll shoot us from the edges."


    "And if we don''t show up," I said, "they''ll go after Justice Fist."


    "Oh, then let''s not," Jaclyn said.


    "You can''t mean that," Haley began. "They''re not all --"


    "Of course I didn''t mean it. I was joking. Look, someone''s got to go. I''ll do it."


    "Right," Travis said, "but we''ll have to go with more of us so that they don''t think there''s something wrong. I''d say you, me, Nick and Rachel. The rest of you spread out, and hunt down the people in the trees around the golf course."


    "It''s 8:50," Marcus said.


    "Let''s suit up and move out," Travis said.


    "Wait a second," Cassie waved her right hand for people''s attention. "Whose turn is it?"


    Haley bit her lip. "I think it''s mine. I was supposed to patrol with Marcus tonight. I don''t feel comfortable leading everyone. Not for this."


    "I''ll take it," Travis said.


    Jaclyn shook her head. "No, I''ll do it. I''m on for tomorrow, and I doubt they''ve got anything that can take me out."


    "Maybe the different groups should have different people in charge?" Haley said, looking over at me.


    I said, "I think that''s a good idea."


    "I think that''s a great idea," Rachel said. "Jaclyn can take that group. Haley take the outside group."


    Haley said, "But I --"


    Travis sounded a little annoyed, but he said, "No, that''s a good idea. Haley can smell and hear where they are. I''d say Daniel and Vaughn might need to act independently, and help whoever needs it."


    "It''s 8:52," Marcus said. "We need to go."


    We left. Well, they left.


    Putting on the 80''s Rocket suit took longer than the regular Rocket suit. Even going as fast as I could, I didn''t finish until 9:00 pm. Fortunately, it took all of ten seconds to get to the golf course by air.


    Despite the near darkness, the suit''s night vision showed me nearly perfect (if a little washed-out) versions of Jaclyn, Travis and Rachel standing in the middle of the golf course. Six people in black body armor walked toward them. Just like the other people we''d fought, they carried submachine guns.


    Along with the people, came labels in blocky, pixelated lettering indicating objects hidden in people''s clothes. It did a good job with wallets, guns and knives, but put "unknown" in a lot of spots, including some obvious cellphones.


    The software probably hadn''t been updated since 1983.


    Everyone looked up at me. At triple the weight, and held up by a more powerful rocket pack, it definitely wasn''t stealthier than the regular version..


    I landed next to Rachel.


    "Long time, no see," she said.


    Travis looked over her head at me. Our eyes were level -- which, considering that he was close to seven feet tall, was unusual. "I don''t know why you don''t use that suit all the time. It''s a hell of a lot more intimidating."


    "Maintenance," I said. "There''s five times as many things that could go wrong."

 Counterattack: Part 8

    According to Lee, anyone who chooses to fight you has a reason to think they''ll win. They may not be right, but they''ve got a reason, and the sooner you know it, the better.


    I had no idea why they thought they could beat us.


    Granted, we were supposedly there to talk, but what were the chances of that?


    They stopped about ten feet away from us, and one of them said, "You''re close enough. Let''s talk."


    He had white skin, a square jaw, a day''s worth of whiskers, and a little bit of a paunch. I guessed he might be in his early forties.


    In addition to the rest of their gear, he wore goggles -- night vision goggles, I assumed. All of them did. It made them look a little goofy. It wasn''t that dark yet.


    "OK," Jaclyn said, "talk."


    He frowned a little at her, possibly taken aback that she seemed so casual about it, possibly surprised that she seemed to be in charge.


    "Where are the rest?"


    "They had homework," Jaclyn said, and frowned a little herself.


    "Well, here''s what we got. How about you leave us alone, and we''ll help keep a lid on crime here in the city. We know people. We''ve got connections. Say the word, and we can keep people out. We can even get you backup against supers if you need it."


    "Really? And if we said there was no chance we''d ever cooperate?"


    "Then..." He nodded, almost imperceptibly, toward the person next to him.


    I felt the sudden pressure of Daniel''s mind in my head.


    +++Close your eyes.+++


    A Cabal member blazed with white light. The Rocket suit darkened my view, but not before I got an eyeful. Even as my eyes shut, I could see a bluish afterimage.


    When I opened my eyes again, I found that the suit had blocked out most of it, but the guy still shone like a miniature sun.


    Meanwhile they''d started firing their submachine guns at us. Small blocky letters and an arrow pointing to the guns appeared in my vision. The label said, "Heckler and Koch MP5. Unknown variant."


    I supposed that knowing which type of gun was pounding my armor with bullets might be useful somehow.


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    Then I heard Jaclyn''s voice, "Take down the glowing guy!"


    A look to my right showed Jaclyn covering her eyes, but still standing, despite the bullets hitting her. Rachel floated toward them, but she didn''t seem to be able see them, and so she wasn''t going quite in the right direction.


    They were shooting quite a few bullets uselessly through her, however, so that was a good thing.


    Travis, meanwhile, had apparently jumped over the group of them when Daniel warned us. He didn''t seem to need to see, and had already taken out one of them, but not, unfortunately, the human glowstick causing the problem.


    Trouble was, they could see him. When a couple of them started firing at him, he jumped out of the way. I couldn''t tell where he landed.


    That left me.


    I ran at the glowing guy. One of the others noticed, and moved his gun to fire at me, hitting with what was probably better than human accuracy.


    I barely noticed, smacking him with my hand as I ran.


    He went down.


    Almost at the same time, I reached glowstick guy, and punched him in the stomach. Well, technically in the armor covering the stomach.


    He doubled over, and the light went out.


    The helmet''s system adjusted back to normal night vision. I looked around and realized that we''d taken out more of them than I''d thought. All six were on the ground. One of them lay at Jaclyn''s feet, holding his leg. It looked broken -- unless it had always had three joints.


    Rachel floated above one that she must have taken out with her taser gloves.


    I''d seen Travis take out one for sure. Maybe he''d taken out two. Either way, he stood with us, his hands and feet still shaped like claws, and his mouth full of very sharp teeth.


    I noticed marks on his costume where bullets must have hit. The team''s costumes all had stealth suit technology worked into them, so they hadn''t gone through.


    "We got ''em," Travis said. "Think the rest of the team did their part?"


    He should have known better than to hand the universe straight lines like that.


    I heard popping noises in the distance that I wouldn''t have noticed if I weren''t already paranoid. Also, with the outside noise filtered through the suit anyway, it might have been intentionally amplified.


    Travis noticed them too. "Everybody get down."


    He dropped.


    I didn''t, and got hit a couple more times. No big deal. The 80''s version of the suit had heavier armor than the one I usually wore. A rifle''s armor-piercing bullets were not a worry. They would need something a lot bigger.


    I used the suit''s radar to take in the situation.


    The Ottawa Trails Golf Course ran down Jefferson Street, up to Fifty-Second Avenue on the east side -- where the parking lot, and pro shop were. People hid near, possibly in, the trees that blocked the view from Fifty-Second. To the north, the golf course stopped at a small forest. The helmet showed people with guns there too. They were fighting already -- probably with Haley, Marcus, and Cassie.


    To the west, the golf course stopped at a small river. I didn''t know the name. I didn''t see anyone over there, but it didn''t matter. There weren''t many trees on the course, so people in the forest or near the pro shop could fire at will, and have a clear shot.


    I left the south till last because I didn''t expect to find anything there at all. No trees blocked the view of Jefferson Street, or of the Meijer store (with its massive parking lot) immediately opposite the course.


    On top of the store, above the glowing red letters that spelled its name, and the facade that gave the impression of a series of little shops, stood three men.


    The helmet identified two of them as holding rifles, and the third, a missile launcher.


    It didn''t take much to guess who he planned to shoot with that.

 Counterattack: Part 9

    "Accelerando," I said, "They''ve got people on top of the Meijers."


    "Go," Jaclyn said. "Night Wolf, Ghost, let''s head over there."


    I didn''t wait to see what happened. I shot across the road, weaving to make myself a less of a target, and keeping low.


    The parking lot passed in blur of dark cars.


    I shot upward when I had no other choice, passing the top of the roof, and then flipping over and pointing myself directly at the the three of them with the sonics wailing.


    The guy with the missile launcher had it ready, and fired, but not exactly at me. He fired just as I flicked the sonics on, but he''d been pointing the launcher at an angle roughly parallel to the roof, and I was above him. The missile flew into the darkness and exploded.


    I hoped it hadn''t hurt anyone.


    I landed about ten feet to the side of them.


    One of them fired an automatic rifle at me while the other two ran away. Instead of running toward the back of the building, they ran westward, parallel to the road.


    I knocked down the guy with the rifle, and ran after the others. It took just a few steps to begin to catch up.


    Then one of them threw a grenade at me. It exploded, knocking me backwards.


    The guy with the missile launcher had dropped it when they started to run, but he charged me when I fell backward, and started pounding on my armor. The helmet readout pegged his punches as having enough force to lift 800 pounds or so -- above a normal human but basically a lightweight compared to supers whose main power was strength.


    The suit could take it all day -- if all he did was pound. If he''d gotten smart, and started targeting joints, I might have had a problem.


    I let him hit me for a couple seconds, and then hit him in the chest with a palm strike, throwing him backwards. He rolled a few times, and then stopped about five feet short of the edge of the roof.


    He groaned a little, but didn''t get up. Apparently invulnerability wasn''t part of his power set.


    The last guy didn''t stay. He kept on running.


    I pulled myself to my feet, and looked over at the main fight. The suit picked out at least thirty people firing automatic weapons. When had they showed up? I mentally kicked myself for not thoroughly scanning the woods earlier. They''d probably been further in.


    I didn''t need the suit to see lightning flashes or hear the thunderclaps.


    Vaughn and Daniel were doing a good job of forcing them to stay in the woods where our strength in stealth, and hand to hand combat would make a difference.


    They stood on the golf course, Daniel deflecting bullets with a mixture of foresight and telekinesis, Vaughn blasting away.


    I wished that we''d notified the police before coming here, because most of the bullets were heading in the direction of Jefferson street, and Meijers'' parking lot. On the bright side, the constant roar, and the massive light show might clue people in to the fact that they were in danger.


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    Guessing that Daniel and Vaughn would get tired in the not too distant future, I fired up the rocketpack, and shot into the air.


    As I flew higher than the trees, I realized that I wasn''t the only person in the air. I''d been joined by most of Justice Fist -- no, all of Justice Fist.


    I also understood how I''d missed them.


    Before I''d seen Shannon manipulating darkness during the day. It stood out, as something outside the natural order does. That night, they weren''t there, and then they faded in, the cloud of darkness around them disappearing a little at a time.


    I knew she couldn''t do that the last time I''d seen her. She could create darkness or not. I''d seen no evidence of this level of control.


    More interesting than that, they faded in on radar at the same time they faded in by sight.


    Lucas flew toward the woods, red lightning bolts firing in all directions from his hands. Camille, in her orange and white costume, flew after him, bringing the non-flying members of group (Dayton, Jody, Shannon, and Julie) with her to the edge of the forest.


    Gray trails representing the paths of bullets appeared within my helmet. Some of the Cabal''s men were aiming at the new arrivals.


    They never reached them. When they got within twenty feet of Camille''s group, the bullets simply dropped, falling as if gravity had become heavier in that spot.


    Then Sean held out his arms, closed his eyes, and bullets all over changed their paths and flew toward him, collecting in a cloud before dropping on the ground.


    If only bullets had been affected, I would have been okay with it.


    Even though the 80''s Rocket suit didn''t have as much metal as earlier versions, I still felt the pull. Worse, I could hear the distinctive popping noise of electrical shorts as bits of metal that no one ever intended to touch, touched for the very first time.


    Grandpa had retired this suit because of some bad experiences that showed it didn''t handle electricity or electromagnetism as well as he wanted it to. Memorably, the suit had actually burned images into the vision systems, leaving only half the helmet''s display uncovered. He''d won, but not before shutting down almost every system in the suit.


    That was why the current Rocket suit didn''t allow readouts to appear anywhere but the top of the user''s vision.


    I decided to follow his example while I could still see, and landed immediately on the golf course.


    As I did, I heard a series of big pops, and the suit''s limbs weighed a lot more than they had. The powered systems had just stopped working, leaving the emergency backup systems, the ones that amplified muscle movement. They powered all other versions of the Rocket suit. With this one, they had three times as much suit to move.


    Naturally that was the moment when the members of the Cabal''s army that were still conscious decided to make a desperate last charge. Or maybe they were making a desperate retreat because all their cars were at Meijer? I never learned the reasoning.


    All I knew was that they charged out of the forest, and away from the pro shop, making for Jefferson Street.


    I learned later that the members of the Cabal who ended up wearing armor and carrying guns had powers, but basically the powers of about half a superhero. These were the people with super strength but no special toughness, the ability to talk to fish, but no ability to breath underwater, the ability to see through walls but no other powers at all.


    They charged. All their guns and knives were gone, so they attacked us with their one flaming hand, their fifty pound telekinetic push, their telepathic ability to shout loudly in somebody''s mind...


    I made my way to Daniel and Vaughn, both of whom were too tired to fly away. They pulled out the extendable, metal staves from their utility belts, and I stood with them, punching and kicking anyone that came near us.


    Sean, of course, was no help at all, because once they no longer had metal on them, he couldn''t do anything to them. He might have started pelting them with their own guns, but apparently even he could see that might have unintended consequences.


    We would have lost if we''d been alone, but after they came out of the woods, so did everyone else.


    Jaclyn and Jody came out at a blur, and started pounding on people. Jody seemed to be faster, but Jaclyn only needed one punch to take someone out. Lucas zapped several people out at once with lightning. Haley, Cassie, Marcus, Rachel and Travis took out anyone left. The other members of Justice Fist must have helped too, but I missed it.


    What I remembered most about that fight was the leaden feeling in my limbs, and my on-going anger about how much of an idiot Sean could be.

 Counterattack: Part 10

    Vaughn, Marcus, and Daniel, each of them too tired to fly, ended up riding in the back of Night Wolf''s car with Travis and Haley.


    With the Rocket suit''s computer down, I didn''t feel comfortable with the idea of flying either, so I ran back to HQ. Jaclyn ran with me, making sure I made it. Even with many systems down, the suit still did most of the work, so I was okay. Besides, I''d rested a little while other people talked to police and reporters.


    Taking off the suit turned out to be a near impossible without help. Systems that were supposed to unlock the armor''s sections wouldn''t release their hold.


    Travis, Haley, and Jaclyn all helped remove pieces, sometimes with tearing noises that made me cringe.


    Looking at the pile of parts afterward, I wondered what I was supposed to wear. I still hadn''t finished repairing the regular suit. It didn''t have too far to go, but I didn''t know exactly how long. I''d begun to worry that I''d have to just recreate the whole arm instead of fixing the melted one.


    I didn''t even like to think about how long repairing the 80''s Rocket suit would take.


    I could have used the classic 60''s and 70''s version of the armor, but it wasn''t just one suit. I had three similar (but not quite complete) suits with parts that could almost be easily swapped.


    I didn''t even consider using the space version of the suit. With all the talk about various Defenders units going to space, I thought I might need it soon.


    I could have used the underwater version, but I hadn''t fully checked that one over. And anyway, it wasn''t intended for land use.


    In the end I decided I''d have to use the stealth suit for a while. On the bright side, I had a couple extra jackets, and, unlike any of the other suits, I could create replacements for the stealth suit quickly.


    If I supplemented it with other gadgets that might be enough to tide me over until I could use the real Rocket suit.


    I walked out of the lab to see most of the team standing next the main table in front of the wall screen, talking over what had happened. Haley walked with me. I hadn''t realized that she was there.


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    "Are you okay?"


    "I don''t know. Mostly just tired." I paused, then said, "What was Sean thinking? He didn''t have to do that."


    "Do you think he tried to?"


    "I don''t know. I did kind of piss him off recently, but he wasn''t looking at me or anything as he did it."


    "If he knew who we were, he might."


    "I don''t think he does. He hasn''t said anything, and he''s not quiet about things like that."


    "No, he''s not."


    At that point, I came within earshot of the group''s conversation.


    "What we really needed," Jaclyn said, "was communication. I didn''t have any idea what Haley or any of her crew were doing. Not that I''m complaining." She looked over at Haley. "I heard you did a good job."


    "She did," Cassie said. "We wouldn''t have found half the people we did without her. Most of the time, they barely knew we were there."


    Marcus slouched in one of the seats next to the table. "Cassie''s right. I bet some of them still don''t know what hit them."


    "Thanks," Haley said. "But it wasn''t hard."


    "But I still wish we''d known what was going on with you," Travis said. "If it had all gone wrong, there were a lot of them back there. They could have killed you all and we wouldn''t notice."


    I thought about it and said, "Daniel might have known."


    "No," Daniel said. "They were out of range most of the time."


    Like Marcus, Daniel sat at the table. He sat up, but he still looked tired.


    "You''ve talked about a new communications system," Travis said. "You should make it first priority. We''ll need it. I don''t think we''ve seen the last of these guys."


    I sighed. "I''ve still got to fix my own stuff."


    "I know," Travis said, "but communication could save us all."


    "While you''re at it," Vaughn said, "make it something Sean can''t nuke. I had my cellphone with me, and it''s dead. My parents are going to be pissed."


    Deciding to ignore the possibility that he''d accidentally done it himself, I nodded.


    Ignored by all of us, the local Fox affiliate played on the wall screen. Unlike all the other channels, they had news at ten pm instead of eleven. I remembered seeing them show up after the fight.


    We all went silent when they started showing the aftermath of the fight. From the way they presented it, you would have thought Sean won the fight by himself. They showed the piles of guns, and the unconscious bodies. I appeared, weaving a little in the Rocket suit before I sat down. Paramedics checked over Daniel and Vaughn in the background while they interviewed Sean.


    "They''re lucky we showed up," Sean said.


    No one asked him why our team seemed so much more tired than theirs.


    The next story was about how the Executioner team was finally going to trial.


    According to the reporter, "The prosecutor''s office believes that even if they can''t link them to other murders, the alleged murder of FBI agents should be enough to send them to jail, or possibly to their own executions."


    We all went home after the broadcast. I walked with Rachel. Neither of us said very much, and even more than team communicators, I thought about going to bed.


    Except I couldn''t. I had half my calculus homework to finish.

 Graduation: Part 1

    The next day wasn''t much better.


    You know how in the Harry Potter books, there always seems to be some period in which Malfoy struts around as if he owns the school? That''s what happened with Sean. And not just Sean, everybody in Justice Fist got attention.


    Sean, Dayton, Jody, Camille, and Julie seemed to be surrounded with people all day. Even the teachers seemed to want to hear about it.


    I passed a huge clot in the hall as I went to Mr. Beacham''s class. Some girl around Sean said something about "knees?"


    Sean shrugged. "I don''t know. That''s a Heroes League thing."


    I could have explained, but I didn''t.


    There had been more of them than I''d realized. The newspaper and radio stations reported it as fifty. Most of them had ended up in the hospital, many of them with broken knees.


    Lee often said, "If you can''t walk, you can''t fight."


    While it wasn''t true if you could fly or had energy powers, it was true for most people, most of the time.


    I knew I''d kicked a few during the fight, and it sounded like the rest of the team had too. I''d also broken a lot of ribs, and collarbones.


    Despite Mr. Beacham''s best efforts, I had a hard time paying attention in class. He was a good teacher, but not good enough to compete with what was going on in my head.


    On Sean''s way into the room, I had accidentally made eye contact with him. He smiled at me, and my pen rolled off my desk, bouncing two rows over.


    The girl in the next desk passed it back to me, and I swapped it for one with a plastic body.


    Evidently his statement that he had better things to do than worry about me no longer applied.


    I held on to the pen, took notes, and hoped he didn''t do more.


    * * *


    I rode my bike straight to Grandpa''s house after school. I still had to repair the suit(s?), design the communicators, and I''d had some ideas about mass producing roachbots I wanted to try.


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    Not to mention that school had sent home a pile of graduation related paperwork. I had to fill it out, and better to fill it out someplace quiet.


    Except... HQ wasn''t quiet.


    Marcus sat at the command console, having thrown his monitor''s contents to the wall screen. He had opened at least eight windows to recorded sessions from the houses and cars of Vaughn''s cousins and descendants from Red Lightning''s group.


    I walked past one of the stacks of boxes, and made my way to the front of the room where he sat.


    "I didn''t expect to see you here."


    He looked up. "Nick. I''m running through the latest stuff."


    He clicked on a mouse button, and the largest of the windows paused. It showed Sean''s dad standing in the kitchen. The two windows next to it showed other spots in the house.


    "I''m glad someone is. With everything else going on, I kind of forgot about it."


    "Yeah, me too. Rachel and I have been swapping off, and I skipped a few days, but after last night, I thought I''d get back to it."


    "Have you learned anything?"


    "Nothing important... Just personal stuff. Like Sean''s dad is a total jerk."


    "Wait. Did he just turn into a jerk in the last two weeks?"


    "I think he''s always been a jerk. Like this video? It''s from last week, but there''s a dozen more like it. Sean''s sister... Her name''s Sydney. She just asked for permission to go on a date, and he went off on her, called her names you wouldn''t believe. My parents get angry with us, but they never do anything like that."


    "Does he... hit them?"


    "No, but what he does is bad enough."


    He clicked on the mouse again, and Sean''s sister left the room, crying -- or so I assumed. The sound was off.


    Just a moment before she walked off camera, she turned around and flicked him off. Another window''s camera showed Sean''s dad shouting more in response. I thought I read a couple of the words from his lips. If they were what I thought they were, I''d never even heard my parents say them.


    "Is he like this with Sean too?"


    "Oh, yeah. Sometimes he''s decent to them too, but then he overdoes it, like he got Sean a new car out of nowhere. Something''s messed up there."


    "Do you think she''s been through the Impregnator?" I asked, and then I thought about what I''d said.


    "That sounds really wrong when you''re talking about a girl, but no, I don''t know."


    He closed out that window, and clicked on another, that one showing a meeting with Russell Hardwick and Justice Fist''s parents in the living room of somebody''s house.


    It enlarged to fill the spot that Sean''s father had been in, but didn''t play.


    "Sydney''s kind of cute," Marcus commented.


    Thinking about her, I could see his point.


    "Aren''t you with Latisha?"


    "It''s Lakisha, and I''m not with her. We went on a date to prom, but we aren''t dating."


    "You''re not going to ask Sydney out, are you?"


    "No. I don''t even know her. Besides, what if she''s psycho like everybody else in the family?"


    His eyes widened for a second. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you the best bit about Sean''s dad. Look at this person." He pointed at a woman in Russell Hardwick''s group that I''d guessed might be Hispanic.


    "Red Lightning worked with the Fillipino resistance to the Japanese occupation, and he helped a couple he knew there immigrate to the US. She''s their daughter. She works with Sean''s dad at one of the Hardwicks'' companies. Her daughter is Camille, or Gravity Star if she''s in costume with Justice Fist. Guess who Camille''s dad is?"


    He pulled a picture of her up on the screen. Her face reminded me of Sydney, and of Sean''s dad, and she had a lighter complexion than her mom.


    "No way."


    "You got it. Rachel found a bit of video of the two of them talking after a meeting. Crazy, right?"


    "Really crazy. Does Sean know?"


    "I don''t think so."

 Graduation: Part 2

    I thought about Camille for a second. She was a junior -- which meant that Sean''s dad was doing it with her mom when Mrs. Drucker was pregnant with Sean.


    The fact that Sean didn''t know led me to another thought. "If Sean and Camille ever got involved, that would be really messed up."


    "That would be sick. Someone should tell them -- just to avoid it. I read somewhere that siblings who weren''t raised together are actually more likely to find each other attractive than your average person."


    "Yuck."


    "No kidding. Do you think one of us should say something?"


    "You can do it," I said. "I don''t think he''d listen to me."


    I thought for a moment, and than asked, "When you said Rachel noticed them talking, were they just talking, or are they still together?"


    "No. They were talking about money. I think he must be paying her monthly."


    "Blackmail?"


    "Wouldn''t that be cool? But no, it''s boring. I think he''s just paying his share. So maybe he''s not a complete jerk. It''s just hard to tell. Actually, from what I''ve seen Sean and Sydney might be better off with the same arrangement."


    "You mean getting his money, but not actually seeing him?"


    "Exactly. I wouldn''t live at their house if you paid me."


    We talked for a little longer after that, but eventually I did manage to end the conversation and retreat to the lab. There, sitting in the same room as two broken Rocket suits, I managed to get through my graduation paperwork within half an hour. It had looked worse than it was.


    With that out of the way, I set up the various machines in the lab to start pumping out roachbot parts. After an hour of messing around, it became obvious that I couldn''t create roachbots from start to finish by machine. I could, however, get them about halfway. I''d have to do a lot of the soldering myself, but I could at least get the shell finished and a majority of the components inside.


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    The new ideas used largely the same design. With the exception of replacement bots for bugging people, they were all essentially mini-missiles.


    Basically I had three new concepts:


    1. Explosive roachbots.


    2. Roachbots that delivered the same paralyzing noise as the paralysis guns.


    3. Roachbots that sped after cars or people and latched on, delivering coordinates back to HQ or my controller.


    I started the machines going, waiting a while to make sure things were going correctly, and then I left the room.


    Marcus was still watching video.


    I sat down at the main table, logged into a terminal, and opened up a window to monitor the machines in the lab.


    "Hey, Marcus. Do you have anything left? Should I be helping?"


    "I''m getting close to done, but if you want to check the voice mail, it''ll get me out sooner. Rachel''s been checking it, but she hasn''t been in today, so someone''s got to."


    "Ok."


    I deleted the voice mail from reporters. There were a lot of them, just like there always were after a big fight. I forwarded anything that sounded like a business proposition over to the board''s email.


    I listened to the voice mail from normal people. Some of them were complaining about the property damage from the fight. Others were calling to thank us for fighting.


    I wasn''t sure if we deserved the praise. There wouldn''t have been a fight last night if the Cabal''s army hadn''t been trying to trap us.


    After about twenty minutes, I only had a few voice mails to go.


    One of them stood out. From the area code, it appeared to come out of Tennessee, but the caller ID didn''t supply a name.


    I clicked on the call.


    I didn''t recognize the voice that came over the line. It sounded level, male, and not all that old -- at best, I guessed that the speaker had to be in his thirties.


    The man''s accent hinted that the speaker came from the south, but it didn''t hint very strongly.


    "Heroes League. You escaped. I never expected it. All of our intelligence indicated that you were nothing more than children who''d gotten lucky when you faced your mayor, but now you''ve fought some of the best of us. So, a few of you must be competent. That, or luckier than I want to believe.


    "I can''t ignore you anymore, and I can no longer trust you solely to my subordinates.


    "I''m coming myself.


    "Don''t congratulate yourselves for this. I, and the people with me, are the inheritors of a two thousand year tradition of service to the Cabal, the part that survived its destruction, the empire''s last, hidden legion. You exposed the Cabal, and you stand in the way of our plans. We will destroy you or die trying.


    "I am Prime, the legion''s commander, and I will see you soon," he finished, and hung up.


    I listened to it a couple more times before stopping and staring at the screen.


    Marcus'' voice broke me out of imagining what powers and people the Cabal''s remnants might have at their disposal.


    "Nick, are you okay?"


    "Kind of, but you''re going to want to listen to this."

 Graduation: Part 3

    The next day at school, it occurred to me that I should have been more scared after receiving that message.


    I can''t say that I wasn''t scared at all, but I didn''t freak out. Marcus and I called Isaac Lim, and the FBI traced the call to a payphone somewhere near Nashville. It surprised me that Prime could even find a payphone.


    I mean, seriously, who uses them?


    When I explained why we wanted the trace done, Isaac wanted to hear the call himself, and told us that he''d look into getting us some help. I almost told him not to worry about it.


    Apparently, I was getting used to the idea that people wanted to kill me.


    Well, that was one possibility, the other was that I might be relying too much on Lee''s assessment of danger. He hadn''t thought much of the professionalism of the Cabal or the little that was left of them. On the other hand, he''d been impressed by the Executioner (or the team that portrayed him).


    So anyway, that''s the sort of thing that was going through my head during the special assembly for graduating seniors (only). Which was okay because it was largely a waste of time. We all gathered in the auditorium after first period, filling only the center section because we only had a quarter of the school there.


    It lasted for an hour.


    The principal, Dr. Williams, talked about his memories of our class, conversations he''d had with parents, how we''d all grown over the last four years, how we''d remember this time with fondness for the rest of our lives, and that even the people in our class that we didn''t like now would be friends in the future because they''d shared this moment with us.


    After he finished, Assistant Principal Sledge went up to the podium, and talked about the importance of filling out the graduation paperwork that went home with us the night before. It included ordering our robes, the way we wanted our names to appear on our diplomas, signing up for the senior trip, and signing up for the post-graduation party.


    So again, largely a waste of time.


    I spent the largest part of the assembly speculating as to why Prime had called us to let us know he was coming. Surprising us seemed like the better strategy. Of course, they''d tried that twice already, and it hadn''t worked.


    If I remembered my world history class correctly, the Roman Empire''s army had been full of barbarians by the end. Maybe Prime had been one of them? Directly challenging somebody seemed like the sort of thing a barbarian might do. Of course, leaving the challenge as a voice mail sounded like something from a Monty Python skit.


    If Prime were immortal, it could mean he hadn''t adjusted very well to the modern age. On the other hand, an immortal would to have centuries of experience with people to draw from. He might be using it.


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    In the end, I decided I didn''t have enough data to make a good guess.


    When Mr. Sledge stopped, I left with everyone else, walking with Cassie and Kayla. Thanks to alphabetically assigned seating (Nick Klein, Kayla Ketchem, Cassie Kowalski), we were all near each other anyway.


    "Ready to be out of here?" Cassie stepped between Kayla and I and put her arms around our shoulders.


    "I can''t believe it''s almost over," Kayla said. "I feel like our class just started to come together."


    "I don''t know," I said. "I feel like I''ve barely been here this year."


    Cassie laughed. "I believe you. You zoned out for the entire assembly." Then more quietly, she said, "Anything important?"


    "Ask me after school."


    Kayla didn''t say anything.


    After we got back into the hall, I left them, and headed to my locker.


    The halls were empty except for seniors and senior homeroom teachers. Everyone else was still in class. I passed Sean''s locker. It was only a few down from mine. He stood there, hanging onto the open door, and not moving, staring inside.


    I wondered if I''d been that obviously out of it during the assembly.


    I half-expected him to notice me, and ask me what I was looking at, or possibly give me the finger.


    He didn''t. Dayton came up, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, still upset?"


    Sean turned around, frowning as he noticed me, and said, "Not here. After school."


    I knew what I wanted to talk about after school. What did he want to talk about?


    Fortunately, death threats have a way of focusing the mind, and I''d come to school more prepared than usual. I''d worn the stealth suit under my clothes, and carried a bunch of roachbots with their PSP shaped controller in my backpack.


    During study hall, my last class of the day, I texted Cassie, telling her to wait for me because I might not come out immediately.


    Once I got out, I made a beeline for my locker, got out the PSP, and sent out a few roachbots around the school. It took a couple minutes, but I did find Sean. Instead of talking with Dayton, he''d gone into Mr. Beacham''s room. He''d shut the door behind him, but the roachbot fit underneath it.


    I sent in two. Then I started walking, backpack on my back, earphones in my ears, and pretending to be more interested in a video game than where I was going.


    "... I don''t know who he was, but he called my house last night," Sean said.


    Mr. Beacham and he stood talking in front of Mr. Beacham''s desk. The roachbot gave me a good view of the "I Have a Dream" speech poster, and the chalkboard.


    "He knows where I live. He looked it up in the phone book, and he told me if I got into his business again, he''d kill me. Now what am I supposed to do?"


    Mr. Beacham checked outside. "I''d call the police, or maybe the FBI."


    "They can''t do anything. You know they can''t do anything. They just die when supers come to town."


    "Then call the Heroes League. Teenagers or not, they seem to know what they''re doing."


    "But I thought you didn''t like secret identities, and inherited powers. I thought it sounded like feudalism to you. You said you wanted supers to be public and accountable."


    "I did. Sean, I''m a teacher. It''s my job to teach you, and maybe in the future, you can change how the world works. For now, you need to work with what''s here."


    Sean clenched his fists as Mr. Beacham talked, and when he stopped, Sean started shouting.


    "But they don''t like me, and they''re not going to help me. I''m public because you said it was the right thing to do, and I''m going to die, and it''s all your fault!"


    The plastic paperclip box on Mr. Beacham''s desk fell over, and metal paperclips spread across it, pointing in Sean''s direction.


    Sean looked down at the mess, making a wordless noise, and left, slamming the door behind him.


    The roachbot''s signal blinked out for a moment as he walked under it, but then reconnected, much to my relief.


    As Mr. Beacham took a deep breath, I wondered if Prime had been trying to provoke reactions like Sean''s.

 Graduation: Part 4

    Vaughn, Cassie and I got into Vaughn''s car.


    I told them what happened, finishing with, "... It''s a relief we didn''t go that route. Until we suit up, the worst they can do is leave us nasty voice mail messages."


    "I''m imagining the call to Sean''s," Vaughn said. "''Hi, I''m an evil overlord, is your son at home?'' Not that I should make light of it. I''ve done stupid shit myself. But it''s not just him, you know. They''ll go after everybody. Well, maybe not Lucas. I think he''s the only one of them that hasn''t made his identity public. And since he doesn''t hang out with the rest of them, he might actually stay secret."


    "But they know everyone else," Cassie said.


    "And Prime''ll figure it out if Justice Fist holds any team meetings in public," I said. "They do that."


    "The whole public identity thing is so dumb." Cassie turned to address me, as Vaughn backed his car away from the fence, and started driving toward the parking lot''s exit. "Didn''t a bunch of people try that in the 70''s and 80''s? Are any of them still active?"


    "Well..." I thought about it for a second. "Not many at all. It''s been twenty or thirty years. Most heroes don''t stay active that long. But now that I think about it, all those people at the San Francisco Compound, and a lot of people in the Defender unit in Los Angeles. They''re active."


    "You visited the Defenders on spring break. How did that go?" Cassie asked.


    "Strangely," I said. "You know how people always say superheroes with public identities are going to be more like regular people? They''re not. The Defenders live in a gated community, and they''re all pretty wealthy. They''re like regular people in the same way movie stars are. I mean, people just give them stuff like free cars."


    "That could be cool," Vaughn said.


    "But if they want us to be like normal people, we''ve got a better chance with a secret identity. That''s all I''m saying."


    Cassie scowled. "If they knew who we were, it''d be like it was after Keith tried power juice in the parking lot only all the time. Did I tell you about the reporter that practically camped out in my yard?"


    I said, "No," about the same time Vaughn said, "Yes."


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    Cassie said. "He just wouldn''t leave, but then some new story came up, and then he left."


    "Wow. I got a few calls, but nothing like that."


    "Right," Cassie said. "You know what we need? A team meeting."


    I almost groaned. "Why?"


    "We can''t just all respond to Prime randomly. We need a plan."


    I couldn''t argue with her.


    * * *


    Cassie sent everyone a yellow, but it wasn''t really a team meeting. Travis and Marcus had to work. Rachel had a performance scheduled, and she wasn''t going to skip it for a meeting. Daniel''s family sometimes went to the Friday night service, and with his dad being out of town, he had to ask his mom if he could skip, and she said, "No."


    We had a "most of the team" meeting -- including Cassie, Jaclyn, Vaughn, Haley and I. We sat in HQ, pizza on the table next to the computer monitors, and listened to the recording of Sean.


    Jaclyn shook her head as it ended. "I was going to bring it up after the last meeting, but we don''t just need more communication with each other. We need more communication with Justice Fist. Sean destroyed your suit because he wasn''t thinking about you, and they appeared out of nowhere. We should have an arrangement. Maybe we could even run some exercises with them. That''s what we should be doing."


    Haley wrinkled her nose. She didn''t look particularly happy about the idea.


    Jaclyn noticed. "Haley, I know you and Sean have history, but there''s a bigger picture to look at here."


    Haley sighed, and sat a little lower in her seat. "I know," she said, "but I don''t want to. Did you notice him after the fight on Wednesday? While Nick was sitting, and we were helping the police clean up, Sean came up and tried to make conversation. I wanted to tell him to go away the whole time, but I had to be nice."


    "Oh, god," Cassie muttered.


    "So that''s what he was doing?" Vaughn said. "I saw him over there helping you and Dayton get people into Boxes and ambulances. I didn''t know he was trying to pick you up. See, that''s the bad point about secret identities. If he knew who you were, he wouldn''t have bothered."


    "I don''t know," Haley said. "Even when we were going out, he wouldn''t always leave me alone when I told him to."


    Jaclyn paused, and took a breath. "OK. So even if we''re not going to do anything with them soon, we might want to coordinate against Prime because it sounds like he''s planning to kill all of us."


    "We could talk to Lucas," I said.


    "Right," Jaclyn said. "How about tonight?"


    Vaughn leaned back in his chair. "If we do, I''m not saying anything. Even with the Feds'' doubles, he still might figure out who I am."


    I grabbed a mouse, and started clicking. "I know I''ve got his number somewhere." We''d gotten his cellphone number early on when we bugged his house, and I''d put it into the computer system.


    As I looked, a yellow box appeared in the bottom corner of the screen while something in HQ started beeping. Red letters in the yellow box spelled, "Intrusion."


    I clicked on the box, and got a view from the camera on top of the League''s building near downtown. I sent the picture to the wall screen.


    It pointed downward, showing the front of the building, following it down to the sidewalk.


    A dead man in a ratty trench coat hung between the first and second story. Metal glinted from under the collarbone on each side of his body. I guessed the metal might be the heads of railroad spikes.


    Prime''s threat suddenly felt a little more real.

 Graduation: Part 5

    I called the police. Then we put our costumes on, and went to investigate.


    The cops seemed to find the idea of superheroes calling the police about a dead body more funny than I did, but they did finally identify the guy. He was a homeless person who lived downtown, bouncing between the city''s homeless shelters.


    We told them about Prime.


    While we were waiting for them, Haley had stood underneath the man, and sniffed thoughtfully a few times.


    I didn''t know what she''d told the police, so I asked her when we got back to HQ.


    "I didn''t learn much." She looked apologetic, and she started listing everything she''d mentioned. " His last meal was pepperoni pizza, and he must have been sleeping in the park downtown because he smelled like dirt and grass. The people who stuck him up there were taking power juice. I smelled at least three of them. They''d had pizza too."


    We all went back to our seats at the table -- only now we were all in costume. It felt more official somehow, and maybe a little weird.


    I took off my helmet (the air felt stuffy), and followed the security cameras'' feeds backwards until just before the intrusion alert. A white van stopped in front of the League''s office. Three of them stepped out of the back, and they didn''t look like gang members, or like the Cabal''s semi-professional soldiers.


    They wore jeans and hooded sweatshirts. The sweatshirts were inside out, presumably to hide whatever was written on them. Not that it made a difference. The one holding the dead body wore red in the color of Haley''s school.


    I couldn''t see them very well because of the sun had just set, but it seemed like they were nervous. The one with the body paused, looking up and down the sidewalk.


    A grown-up''s voice came from inside the van. "Get on with it!"


    A guy in a black sweatshirt floated upward, followed by the dead body. He pounded the spikes in with a hammer, each spike in one blow.


    The hood fell back on the second strike.


    Jaclyn said, "Haley, that''s Jeff Winters from your class."


    "Oh, no. " She stared at the wall screen. "I should have said something. I''ve been smelling power juice at school, but I thought people were just experimenting."


    Apparently, they''d been recruiting.


    I sent a copy of the video to the police. I sent an email with it telling them they might want us along if they planned to make an arrest.


    After I finished that, I wondered what to do next. What had we been talking about before?


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    Then I remembered -- coordinating with Justice Fist and calling Lucas.


    As I started paying attention to my surroundings again, I heard Vaughn saying, "They''re sending us a message, and it''s got to be something like ''stay out of our way unless you want to end up like him''."


    "They''re sick," Haley said. "Killing someone just as a demonstration for us? He didn''t deserve that."


    Cassie shrugged, "At least it wasn''t anyone we know."


    Haley''s jaw dropped. "He was a person."


    "Don''t look at me like that. I didn''t kill him. I''m just glad they didn''t kill my mom. Or one of us."


    Haley looked like she wanted to say something more, but Jaclyn talked first.


    "We''ve got to let Travis, Daniel and Marcus know what happened. Anyone want to do that?"


    Cassie said, "Sure, I''ll call them."


    Jaclyn nodded. "Great, and wasn''t there something else? Right. Nick, you were just about to call Lucas."


    "Yeah, I was."


    "Vaughn and I are scheduled to patrol tonight, so we''ll be busy."


    Jaclyn got up from the table. "I don''t want to bug you about this, but are you working on communicators?"


    "I will be. I''m hoping to start tomorrow."


    "Good," Jaclyn said. "Because it would make nights like this so much easier. I can''t fly, and Vaughn probably shouldn''t fly close to the ground with all that wind. When we work together, I spend more time looking for him than anything else."


    "But man," Vaughn said, "if we could talk to each other, that would be cool."


    It would be cool. "I''ll see what I can do."


    They left, and I called Lucas. We arranged to meet on top of the old piano factory on the north side. It was close to his house. Not that he said it, but after bugging the place, I knew.


    I finished the call to find Cassie and Haley looking at me.


    "Where are you meeting him?" Cassie asked.


    "The old piano factory."


    "Do you mind if I come along?"


    I looked over at Haley.


    Cassie looked at each of us. "You were going to go out tonight, weren''t you? Don''t worry about it. I''ll go home."


    "We were," Haley said, "but it''s okay. It can still work out."


    * * *


    About twenty minutes later, I landed on top of the piano factory''s roof. It wasn''t entirely dark. A light wind blew. If I looked west, past factories, houses, Grand Lake University over to Lake Michigan, I could see a hint of light at the horizon.


    Looking up, I only saw stars.


    Lucas stood in front of me in his Red Legacy uniform.


    "Did you come alone? I thought I heard other people in the background when you called."


    "No. Night Cat and Captain Commando are coming too."


    Moments later, I heard the thrum of Haley''s car and roar of Cassie''s bike. Not long after that they both came over the side of the roof. Haley came first, followed by Cassie.


    "Hey, everybody," Lucas said as they walked up the slope toward us, "you''re not the first call of the night, if you can believe it. Someone nailed a dog to the front door of the... " Lucas smirked, "Power''s home, and that''s after he freaked out because someone called him to tell him to keep our noses out of the ''Hidden Legion''s'' business. Am I right to assume they''re the people we fought on Wednesday?"


    "You''re right," I said.


    "Looks like we''ve all stepped in something big."


    "Very big, but we can one up you with the dead bodies. Ours was a person." Cassie said.


    Haley looked over at her.


    "He''ll see it on the news anyway," Cassie said.


    Lucas turned his head back to me. "They don''t play around, do they?"


    "No. I guess they don''t. That''s why we called. We''ve been thinking we should coordinate better in the future."


    Lucas nodded. "Good idea, but it''s going to get complicated. You know my real identity, obviously. I realized that after your hospital visit. Thanks for healing me, by the way, but there are a few things you probably don''t know. Like just for example, my dad''s bringing in some guy to train us."


    "Who?" Cassie asked.


    "I don''t know. All I know is that he''s experienced in fighting. Former special forces. Something like that, and he won''t just be training us. It sounds like my dad''s putting together some kind of army."

 Graduation: Part 6

    "Army?" I said.


    "I might be exaggerating, but he''s been running anyone he thinks he can trust through the Impregnator -- including kids like Sean''s little sister. She''s what, fourteen? She''s not even done growing."


    Haley took a step closer to Lucas and me, and said, "Sydney?" The claws on her feet dug a little deeper into the roof. "What gives him the right to do that?"


    Lucas threw up his hands. "You don''t understand this. I don''t know how things were for you, but for Red Lightning''s descendants and that the people that worked for him, it''s been pretty bad. We''ve been living in fear for forty years, worrying that the Cabal will move on us. So now they''re almost gone, and my dad wants to end them. Trouble is, even in our families, there aren''t that many people with the potential for powers. That''s why he''s pulling in Sydney, and anyone else that tests positive."


    Haley didn''t look sympathetic. "It''s still wrong."


    "Look, I know, but the way he sees it, Prime''s coming here with what he''s got left, and Dad needs to use every advantage he can find. If they''ve got the improved version of power juice, we''ve got our full, permanent powers."


    I wasn''t sure if I should say anything, but I asked the obvious question. "Did your dad take juice before getting into the machine?"


    "No one did. I told everybody, and Sean must have said something because some people already knew. The problem is that it may not matter. The original Rocket might have been right about it being the mixture of power juice and the impregnator, but not for the right reason. You know that I''m a doctor, right? I''ve been using my dad''s connections to keep tabs on those Cabal supers we captured a few weeks ago. I even got some tissue and blood samples, and I don''t like what I''m seeing."


    "How?"


    "The stuff stays in the system much longer than a week. You know the guy who lost a leg? They haven''t given him any more juice, and the leg''s almost grown back. Now, the guy who generates heat, he hasn''t been able to do anything without juice, but all the people with physical abilities? They''re fading slowly, but they''re still there. My theory is that if you take juice for a long time, like they have, the effects will linger. The question is, how long do you have to have been taking it for that to work? I took it for a few weeks, Sean for a little longer, but our parents have been using it for years."


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    He stopped, took a breath, and continued. "I don''t feel any different mentally, but would I notice? And Dad''s been acting aggressive lately, but he''s always been aggressive. He''s been the driving force behind our family businesses for years. If whatever went wrong with my grandfather takes time to develop, it might hit all of us slowly, before we even notice. If it requires years of using power juice, half of our parents are on the way to madness and they don''t even know it yet."


    "A dozen Red Lightnings?" Cassie shook her head. "This sounds worse all the time."


    "More like twenty," Lucas said. "and I might be one of them."


    "You still seem sane," I said.


    Lucas smiled a little. "So anyway, about coordinating... I wouldn''t go through Sean, but if you call me, or just about anyone but Jody, it could work out. Don''t be surprised if we''re busy though. It sounds like we''ll be doing a lot of training."


    We worked through some details, and Lucas left, flying into the night sky.


    * * *


    After we got back to HQ, Cassie left Haley and I alone, and we did what we''d been planning to do. Lee''s band was playing at one of Haley''s family''s restaurants, and we went to hear him.


    Like most of their restaurants, it had been named "D''Onofrio''s," served Italian, and split the building between fine dining and a bar. Lee''s band was playing in the bar.


    Even without a Jazz band, the room would have been filled with noise and light. TV''s hung in the corners and over the bar along the side of the room. People stood and talked around the tables. The booths on the wall opposite the bar had TV''s hanging above each table.


    We got a booth close to the front, but no alcohol. Even if we''d had fake ID''s proving that we were both 21, too many people recognized Haley for it to work. For example, one of Haley''s cousins was managing the bar.


    We ordered pop to drink, and split an order of nachos.


    I turned off the sound on the TV (there didn''t seem to be any way to turn the TV off), and changed the channel to CNN.


    Haley and I talked, and watched Lee''s band.


    Of course, technically no one named Lee played in the band. A tall, black man named Ben Montgomery played piano for the group except I knew he was Lee -- to a degree. It felt easier to think of him as Ben.


    Ben was a phenomenal pianist. His fingers blurred as he played his solo, and everyone watched.


    Though fun, that alone wouldn''t have made the evening worth mentioning. Two events made the evening memorable.


    The first was when Haley took a break from talking about normal life to whisper, "Remember when Red Lightning''s journal with the Impregnator plans disappeared from the cave? Lucas was the one who took them. I recognized his smell."


    I didn''t have anything more to say but, "Wow."


    The other event didn''t even happen in the bar. It happened on CNN. They showed footage of how Ray Malone''s trial had been interrupted by people in powered armor. They blasted a wall out of the courthouse, grabbing Ray and the other two members of the team.


    The powered armor looked exactly like the armor worn by Syndicate L''s people when I''d visited Los Angeles. Worse, they were supported by two mechs like the one I''d seen in California.

 Graduation: Part 7

    We told Lee after the performance. He (as Ben) had walked down to the bar to grab a beer.


    Haley got up before I even noticed where he''d gone, and made it halfway across the room before I had time to even think. She didn''t talk to him for very long. When she came back, she told me, "He said to wait and he''ll come over."


    He did, eventually. He drank his beer, flirted with one of the women tending bar, walked to the back, and into the men''s bathroom. When he came out of the bathroom, he appeared to be white, in his twenties, and wearing a button down shirt that was open at least a button further than I''d ever worn any shirt.


    He sat down next to Haley, and he didn''t need to tell me that his name was Ryan. I already knew it.


    "So?" He asked.


    "You told me to let you know when the Executioner got out of jail." I switched the station to SuperTV. They were holding a roundtable discussion between retired heroes and villains with literal blow by blow coverage of Ray''s escape. They would advance the video one frame at a time, halting to discuss technique, tactics and strategy.


    We didn''t watch it very long.


    "Well," Lee (or at that moment Ryan) said, "you''ve got your work cut out for you. You''ve got three, maybe four groups that could go gunning for you, possibly together. Anyway, I teach classes tomorrow morning, so here''s my suggestion -- I''ll meet the team at HQ around one in the afternoon. Then we''ll talk it through."


    He got up. "Later."


    * * *


    You know how in movies stressful situations cause the male and female leads to comfort each other, invariably leading to sex? So far as I can tell, it doesn''t work that way in real life.


    Not for me anyway, and not like I expected it to.


    After Lee left, Haley drove me home, and though we did sit in the car holding each other for a while, we didn''t kiss goodnight.


    My stomach felt uncomfortable, and we gave each other a quick hug. Her end of the hug felt a little too hard.


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    I walked into my house with an entirely different feeling than when I''d left it. When I''d left, Prime''s threats had been overrated. When I got back, I felt full of the realization that if Ray''s team treated me like they had Solar Flare, this might be one of the last nights I''d see my parents alive.


    I managed to fall asleep, but didn''t stay that way. I woke up at five in the morning, and after ten minutes, couldn''t bear to sit awake in bed anymore. Finally, I left a note to my parents and walked to Grandpa''s house. I slipped a note for Rachel under her door.


    I spent the next few hours working on the communicators. The parts I''d ordered had been dropped off at the downtown storefront the day before. If I couldn''t do a thing about the Executioner, I could at least do something to keep my mind off the subject.


    The communicators were little more than modified roachbots. The roachbots already had the ability to take in sound, images, video, encrypt the information, and send it home. I just had to modify them to be more like phones. I went with a design that stuck to the wrist, and only worked with the voiceprint of the owner -- except to call 911. Making the touchscreen durable, and waterproof turned out to be a challenge, but Grandpa had created a number of materials that worked for that.


    The trouble was that we needed to contact each other when we weren''t in costume. That''s why I''d ordered cases that looked exactly like everyone''s normal cellphones. It''d be less obvious that everyone had two that way.


    It would have been nice if we''d been able to keep the old rings, necklaces, and so on, but we needed to pass more information now. Besides, the old stuff would still work. It might be nice to have a backup.


    Or, it might be a security hole. I''d have to think about that.


    Around eleven, I realized a couple things. First, that I still had a lot of soldering left to do, and second that I still hadn''t eaten breakfast. I took the elevator back up to Grandpa''s workroom in the house, and grabbed his old bike from the garage. After I pumped up the tires, I biked to Donutville, and bought a couple donuts.


    On my way back, I thought about the last time I''d gotten up this early and done something technical. I wondered if should call Chris. Chances are he''d already seen the news. If he hadn''t though, he deserved to know. He''d been sighted with me in costume and out. If Ray''s people came for me, he''d be on the list.


    Still thinking as I biked, I decided that what Chris really needed to do was finish the next version of Man-machine''s armor. He''d gone with something different mostly out of fear of the FBI, but I could talk to the FBI. He needed to have the most powerful suit he could -- especially if Syndicate L brought mechs into this. Man-machine''s suits had practically been mechs anyway.


    I called him with my cellphone when I got back to Grandpa''s house.


    Chris answered, "Nick, what''s up?"


    "Did you watch news yesterday?"


    "No."


    "You remember what I told you about the Executioner? The team''s out of jail, and I''ve got some ideas that we probably shouldn''t talk about on the phone."


    "Shit. Yeah, I''ll come over."


    "To my Grandpa''s place."


    "You got it."

 Graduation: Part 8

    Chris came over fifteen minutes later, and parked in Grandpa''s driveway. I still had about an hour before I had to really worry about people showing up, and unintentionally revealing the person behind the mask. I thought Chris could be trusted, but I wasn''t about to out people without permission.


    We ended up talking in the living room. It didn''t have much more than a thirty year old brown couch, and an old TV set. The family had taken all the furniture and decorations that anyone liked after Grandpa died.


    Standing while Chris sat on the couch, I explained that people in armored suits and mechs had broken Ray and his team out. "Which means they''re either with Syndicate L somehow, or they''re connected with someone who buys mechs from the same people."


    Like the guy Man-machine had taught -- the guy who''d made the Ball, the Maniacs'' powered armor, and probably the paralysis guns Ray and Syndicate L used.


    "That''s my theory anyway," I told Chris. "I''m thinking we should finish the last Man-machine suit. The big one. Speed, and a laser will only last so long against those guys."


    Chris sat on the couch. "That''ll be good if I get a chance to get into armor, but what if they get me at school? I''m not going to have it with me in study hall."


    "Yeah. Uh... Well, we''ve got Heroes League suit technology that you could wear under your clothes. That''d stop bullets at least. I wear it all the time myself. Not much head protection, but you can carry a mask of the same material for emergencies."


    "That would help. Do you really think I''ll need heavy armor?"


    "I don''t know. I''ve kind of got an ulterior motive here. I''m thinking I might need the backup."


    Chris took a breath and thought for a second. "Yeah. I read about Ray and those Executioner guys when you captured them. The paper said they''re responsible for hundreds of deaths. And Syndicate L''s with them too?"


    "That and the remains of the Cabal''s enforcers, plus the descendants of people who worked for Red Lightning, and about half of Justice Fist."


    "Geez. Do you go around looking for psychos to piss off?"


    "I don''t try to piss anyone off."


    A car rolled into the driveway. I didn''t see it because it went up the driveway before I could turn toward the window, but it sounded like Daniel''s.


    A voice in my head said, "Good guess."


    Daniel stepped through the door a moment later. "Hey, Nick."


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    "I didn''t expect to see you."


    "Because it''s Shabbat? We''re observant, but not crazy. If lives are in danger, you do what you have to."


    He turned to Chris, "You must be Chris Cannon. I''m Daniel Cohen, also known as the Mystic."


    So, whatever standards Daniel had, Chris passed them.


    Chris said. "You know who my grandfather is."


    "Sure. So, are you and Nick going to work together?"


    Chris didn''t say anything at first, but then said, "I think so. I''m not planning to turn cape, but I''ll help."


    Daniel smiled and said to Chris, "The two of you could do a powered armor barn raising. Nick''s two suits down."


    Chris looked over at me. "What are you using now?"


    "The stealth suit. It''ll be okay. I''ve got a guitar that shoots lasers --"


    Chris raised an eyebrow.


    "-- and I''ve got some backup plans I''m working on. I''m not going to get either version of the Rocket suit fixed any time soon, but I can mass produce the roachbots."


    Chris looked over at Daniel, and then back to me. "What''s a roachbot?"


    "Think predator drone, but teeny," I said. "I mostly use them for bugging houses."


    "With teeny, tiny bullets?" Chris asked.


    "Not for bugging houses, but they do have shaped charges. I realized if I had enough, I could send them into crevices, and do targeted demolitions."


    "That could be pretty cool."


    "I hope so, because I don''t have time for much else." I stopped for a second, a thought nagging at me. "How far do you think your Grandfather''s heavy suit is from being done? I remember it as being half finished, but then we removed the boots."


    "Closer than that. You remember how I said I liked messing with Grandpa''s stuff? I''ve been working on it."


    "What were you planning on using it for?"


    "Nothing. I got curious if I could make it work."


    I thought about that for a second. Then... "What''s it got on it?"


    We talked about that for a while, but Daniel said, "Unless Chris is planning to stay for the team meeting, he probably ought to leave soon."


    Chris got up. "Right, I''ll go."


    * * *


    Lee arrived exactly at 1 pm. We were all there. Normally, Marcus or Vaughn might have been late, but they weren''t.


    Today Lee appeared as we saw him at the studio -- a twenty or thirty year old Asian man with shoulder length hair. He wore jeans and a leather jacket instead of a martial arts uniform though.


    It felt a little weird. Normally when we got together with him, he called us to attention, and we started class. I wasn''t sure how the rules went here. Everyone stood or sat next to the table eating hamburgers, and drinking pop. Cassie had put an order on the League credit card along the way.


    Daniel''s dad had provided us with cards with $200 limits for day-to-day operations.


    Lee may have have caught my hesitancy about how to start the meeting. He grabbed a cheeseburger out of one of the bags.


    He unwrapped it, took a bite, and started waving everybody to sit down.


    "It''s been a long time since I''ve been down here with this many people. I think the last time might have been when Cassie was one -- the League''s last, unofficial mission. Did they ever tell you about Dr. Mind? One of Captain Commando''s enemies. I think the guy wanted to make some kind of clone army, but in the end, we handed him his ass. Good times."


    Lee finished the burger, and walked a few steps away from the table, standing between it and the wall screen.


    He crumpled up the wrapper, and threw it in the trash. "So, you''ve got four different forces that might go after you," he said. "I dealt with a similar situation back a few years when I was living in Constantinople. We can''t really use the same tactics, but I had a good time. I infiltrated each group and gave them secret information about each other. In the end, they all somehow became convinced that they were full of traitors, and decimated themselves from within."

 Graduation: Part 9

    Travis put down his burger. "Why can''t you just do that again?"


    "Because I''m not going to. I made a deal with the original Rocket and solving your problems isn''t in it. Teaching is."


    "What else is in the deal?"


    "Telling you about it isn''t in the deal either. When Nick''s eighteen, I''ll tell him, and Rachel. After that, it''s their business."


    I thought about it. "I turn eighteen on July second. There''s not much of a difference."


    "Then you don''t have long to wait. Anyone else?"


    He didn''t look like he wanted another comment, and no one said anything.


    "Good. Then let''s start out with some general policies about secret identities, and move on from there. You don''t do too badly most of the time, but nights like this aren''t good at all. You don''t want all of your cars parked in front of Nick''s house, and then go into action as the League. You need to find other places to change, someplace that won''t be linked to you. Flying out of your bedroom window is an invitation for the Executioner to murder your whole family. Got it?


    "Now let''s talk about school. When you see each other in normal life, you don''t talk to each other about this stuff. You don''t pass notes about it. You don''t text about it unless it''s encrypted. I like moving cars for privacy, but even they can be bugged. Check for it."


    Lee lead us through a half hour long discussion about ways we might use to avoid blowing our secret identities to Ray and his team.


    "With the basics covered," Lee said, "let''s talk about what you''re facing. You''ve got one very competent team of normal human assassins who are connected to Syndicate L. In the Cabal, you''ve got a group of near immortal soldiers who haven''t adjusted to modern times, but are deadly inside their area of competence. Then there''s the remains of Red Lightning''s people, and their children in Justice Fist. They''ve all gone through the Impregnator, and may become homicidal maniacs in the near future. Have I missed anything?"


    Vaughn leaned back in his chair. "Wow. It sounds really bad when you put it all together like that."


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    "Homicidal maniacs?" Jaclyn looked over the table at me. "I thought you''d told them not to use the Impregnator with juice in their system."


    "Yeah. I found out a couple things last night from Lucas. He thinks it''s more complicated than that."


    "I told you we had new info when I told you about the meeting," Cassie said.


    "You could have told me that before the meeting." Jaclyn turned back to face Lee. "Go ahead. Don''t let us stop you."


    "OK," Lee said. "What have you got on them?"


    "We''ve bugged their houses. Justice Fist and Red Lightning''s people''s houses, that is." I said.


    "That''s a start. What about the others?"


    "I don''t think any of them are located in Grand Lake. The Cabal used to have people, but we fought them, and the cops took them away, and made it a crime scene and stuff."


    "Missed opportunity," Lee said. "You might have gotten something interesting if you''d put up cameras. Someone might have come by looking for things the police didn''t notice."


    "Not entirely missed," Daniel said. "I managed to grab the list of their local recruits. I''d forgotten about it, but I remembered when Cassie called last night. We''ve got names and some addresses -- which is better than we''d normally have. Prime and the Executioner have all the anti-telepath, anti-clairvoyant stuff and they use them."


    "That''s good. We''ll have to get more, but that''s a good start. Now first off, don''t count on bugging people. Once they discover the bugs, they''ll start feeding you false information. You''ll have to set up alternate systems so you can double check. Second, the anti-telepathic stuff isn''t all bad. If you find a hole in what you can detect, you''ll know they''re there."


    Lee walked back over to the group of us where we sat at the table. "Are any of you taking notes? Someone should, and why don''t you throw them up on the wall screen while you''re at it?"


    "I''m taking notes," Daniel said, "but I''d like to clean them up first. Give me a second."


    "Use mine," Jaclyn said. She moved her mouse and they appeared. She''d typed in complete sentences, indented where appropriate, lettering, and numbering points as if they were part of an outline.


    Marcus laughed. "Jaclyn, you have a problem."


    "Don''t listen to him," Rachel said. "I wish I were that organized."


    To guess from the expression on Cassie''s face, her notes wouldn''t have been anywhere near that complete. Not that she was taking any.


    Next to me, Haley whispered, "I didn''t know we needed to take notes for this."


    "Uh... Me neither."


    Lee kept on going. "Good. Now here''s how I see things. Last time you faced anything this big, it was the Mayor, and you did OK, but if you''d been facing a soldier instead of a politician, you''d have died. For the most part, you reacted. He chose when the endgame started, and most of the steps along the way.


    "This time around, you''re going find out what they''re doing, and where they''re doing it. Then you''re going to attack them, and you''ll do it before they expect you to."

 Graduation: Part 10

    Travis nodded. "That sounds good, but we still don''t even know who we''re going to attack. The Cabal''s going for us for sure. Justice Fist and their parents might not. And we don''t know whether Ray and his people are going to go after us first, or whether they''ll go after Solar Flare."


    "Right. That''s exactly what I''m talking about. You don''t know, and it''s time to find out. Time to bug the Cabal''s recruits, and setup surveillance on the best targets. Also, you''ve got to come up with a better way of searching through the videos than you''ve got so far. From what you''ve said, it sounds like you''re always behind."


    "We are," Marcus said. "There''s more to go through than we''ve got time for. Hours and hours. We''re bugging over twenty people, and it feels like a million."


    "Automate it," Lee said.


    I thought about it. "I think I could, but, an audio to text program might garble it."


    "Being two days behind is worse. You want to know what they''re going to do before they do it."


    "OK."


    On the other side of the table, Vaughn brought his chair back to the floor. "Lee, I know you know what you''re doing, but don''t you think you might be a little paranoid? I mean, I know the Executioner and the Cabal''s people are dangerous, but it doesn''t look like they''re going to join forces and go after us. Nick read that Ray''s dad was with Red Lightning, and it sounds like he''s going to work with my uncle and Justice Fist. So, he''ll be fighting the Cabal''s people. By the time it''s over, he might not even be alive. Besides Justice Fist might not go crazy. I went through the Impregnator, and I''m fine."


    Lee nodded as Vaughn talked, and then grinned for a second. He walked away from the table, and stood in front of the screen. "Nick, could you throw up some pictures of the Cabal group you fought? The guys from the house. Thanks."


    Lee gave the screen a once over,and turned to us. "Remember that guy?" He pointed to the guy whose leg Cassie cut off. "I know him a little. He''s not the only guy like that that they''ve got. And now that everyone''s got the government version of the juice, they''ll all be working closer to their potential than they used to be. Not only that, but only the toughest of them could have survived being hunted down all over the country. From what I know of Prime, he''ll come down here with those guys, and it will be bloody and brutal."


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    Giving the picture of the Cabal''s people another look, he walked back towards us.


    "Vaughn, you might be right about the two of them taking each other out, but I doubt that Ray and his team are going to be on the front lines. They don''t have powers. If they''re acting as advisers, it''ll be your uncle and cousin who will be on the front lines. Ray''s team will probably melt away if it gets tough. Hell, they''ll probably snag the Impregnator, and sell it to Syndicate L on the way out.


    "So, even if you don''t care what happens to Prime, Ray or the Hardwick''s group, care about yourselves. Whoever has the Impregnator has the power to build an army of supers, and if Prime gets it, they''ll be more powerful than before, and pointed at you. And I''ve only given you a couple of the bad scenarios that become possible now. Here''s another... What if Ray''s a potential super? His dad was with Red Lightning, right? Or another... What if he caught enough clues about who you are that it won''t be hard to figure out your real identities now that he''s out of prison?


    "There are lots of possibilities, and to be blunt, I don''t think the nine of you can handle them alone. We''re going to do three things this afternoon. First, we''re going to list people who can help, and we''re going to call them. Second, we''re going to start finding out where Prime, Ray, and everybody else are. Third, we''re going to come up with contingency plans for all the major possibilities."


    * * *


    We were there for four more hours, and by the time we were done, my mind spun.


    The many ways that we could die, and the possible solutions blurred together with what I needed to do to the communicators, and the surveillance recordings. I could barely eat when I got home for supper, and Rachel didn''t seem much better.


    My parents didn''t say anything, but they had to notice.


    Rachel and I walked back to HQ afterward. On most Saturday nights, HQ would have been empty, but Rachel and Marcus were going through the recordings at the table in the main room, bringing us up to date. Travis, Daniel, Haley, Cassie, Jaclyn, and Vaughn pulled up chairs on the other side of the boxes in the main room, discussing how to bug everybody on the recruits list.


    I''d planned to finish working on the communicators myself, but Jaclyn stepped through the door of the lab. "Do you need any help?"


    I looked up. "If you''re interested, sure."


    I showed her where to solder, and we finished all of them that night. She finished more than I did.


    We even got to test them. She ran a few miles away from town, and I tried to contact her while flying. The communicators worked, but I definitely needed to come up with a better way to filter out wind noise.


    After Jaclyn left, and Haley''s meeting broke off for the night, she came into the lab.


    I was cleaning up, putting away the soldering irons and the spare parts.


    She sat down on one of the stools, and asked me, "Do you think it will be like this for the rest of our lives?"


    Thinking about Prime, the Executioner, the people I''d called, and all the contingency plans, I said, "I hope not."

 Graduation: Part 11

    The next day was Sunday. After my family went to church, and had dinner, I decided that I was going to go to HQ to get some serious work done on the anti-paralysis device. I had a working prototype. I just had to put out a copy for all of us, plus spares. Except then I realized I ought to make copies for anyone who planned to help us, plus if I managed to pump out more roachbots, it wouldn''t hurt.


    That''s what I thought at about 1:30, but then I remembered that Keith and Courtney''s graduation open houses were that afternoon between two and four, and that I''d RSVP''ed. Worse, I couldn''t just skip it because Haley had been invited too.


    I borrowed my dad''s Saturn Vue, and picked Haley up. By two, we were there. Keith lived on the south side of Grand Lake in a subdivision built in the 1960''s.


    Clouds covered half the sky, but not all of it. It felt hot, but not unbearably so, a good day for an open house, all things considered.


    They''d set up a few card tables on the front lawn, and covered them with food. Around thirty people stood or sat on chairs, talking in front of the one story, white, ranch style house. I recognized people from my school as well as Keith''s uncle. He stood next to a man just as tall with the same hook nose, and whiter hair -- probably Keith''s dad.


    Keith''s uncle looked less scared than I remembered him. I wondered if he was still making power juice as a hobby.


    With cars parked on both sides of the street, Haley and I had walked halfway down the block.


    Keith noticed us as we stepped onto the driveway next to the card table with the cakes and balloons. The next one over showed pictures of the graduates.


    "Hey Nick, good to see you here. Haley, you too."


    Courtney walked up as we replied.


    She looked good, almost like she had at prom. She wasn''t wearing the dress obviously -- she wore shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt with the Chicago Defenders logo on her chest. She''d either manipulated her body with power juice or lost weight. That or she''d been using juice so much that she''d lost weight anyway. I had no way of knowing. Whatever the cause, she wasn''t noticeably overweight anymore.


    I wondered if Keith was using it too. I hadn''t heard about any sightings of him, and after taking the juice, he would have been hard to miss.


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    We talked for a little while, mostly about the fight at the golf course, and the dead body at the Heroes League.


    "It''s like New York," Keith said. "Or maybe the Sixties here... Grand Lake was a center for supers when the League was around."


    "They''re around now," I said.


    "Yeah," Keith said. "But the current group''s brand new. The old League was legendary. It almost makes me wish I were going to college here."


    He''d applied to the University of Chicago, mostly to be near the Defenders, I suspected.


    They moved on when the next person from school showed up.


    Haley and I talked with other people from my school for half an hour, and then found ourselves alone on the edge of the yard.


    "You want to go?" I asked.


    "Sure. Vaughn''s starts at three anyway."


    And I thought, "Vaughn''s?"


    "Nick, did you forget?"


    "Not entirely. I bought a present for him. It''s back at my house. I just forgot that it was today."


    We went back to the car, and drove to Vaughn''s, stopping by my house on the way, noticing that Rachel''s car was gone. Was she going too?


    As we rode, Haley commented, "Courtney reeked of power juice. It was all I could do not to ask her if she was okay."


    "What about Keith?"


    "A little. His uncle smelled slightly of it, but like a lot of other chemicals too."


    "He is a chemist, and I suppose the materials might smell different than the finished product."


    "I know. I hope they''re getting it from him. Weren''t they on the Cabal''s list?"


    "They were on the list as possible recruits, but I''m sure they haven''t been recruited. Well, I hope."


    "Me too."


    We arrived at Vaughn''s house. It looked as big as usual. They''d left the gates open, so we didn''t need a keycard. Cars filled the driveway, and parked on the lawn. Someone had set up a huge tent next to the swimming pool.


    There were a lot of people. It seemed like Vaughn had invited half the senior class, plus other friends, and relatives. I didn''t know how many people there were. It had to number in the low hundreds.


    They were in the pool, the house, and I saw a few hitting balls on the tennis court. No one seemed to be on the helicopter pad behind the house, but it was less interesting without a helicopter.


    For all I knew, we might not even be seeing everyone. Some might have gone over the dune behind the house to walk along the beach by Lake Michigan.


    I parked on the lawn next to the other cars, and we walked across the lawn toward the tent.


    Haley took in the scene. "I didn''t know Vaughn''s house was this big. Have you been here before?"


    "Once, last fall. My dad brought him back here after he, well... you know what."


    It seemed like a long time ago, and somewhere in the meantime Vaughn had gone from being this messed up guy I barely knew to a friend. When had that happened?


    The tent held too many things to focus on -- a bar, bartenders, a large "Wall of Vaughn" with pictures from birth through to his senior pictures (blown up to nearly life size), several punch bowls, tables of food, and far too many people.


    "I can''t believe it," Haley muttered.


    Following her gaze, I noticed Vaughn''s parents talking with Russell Hardwick, his wife and Sean Drucker''s dad. Lucas stood near them, talking with two people I thought might be Vaughn''s older sisters.


    Sean, Dayton, Julie, and Sean''s sister Sydney were talking with Vaughn, and some other people from school as they filled their trays with barbecue.

 Graduation: Part 12

    Vaughn walked over to us as soon as he saw us. He said something to Sean and the others, and met us just as I''d started to look over Vaughn''s pictures. Fortunately, only the senior pictures had been blown up. Some of them, specifically one where a five year old Vaughn had smeared red jelly over half his face, were mortifying enough at three by five inches.


    I made a mental note to ask for veto power over any pictures my parents felt a need to share.


    "Nick, Haley, you want to step outside? Grab some food first, but you want to go over there?"


    He pointed at a spot outside the tent that didn''t have anybody very close.


    We put some food on our plates, and followed him out.


    "Man, this is weird." Vaughn turned toward the tent, possibly to check if anyone was coming out of it after him.


    "Yeah," I said. "I thought Sean was angry with you."


    "Oh. Well, I paid him back with the bounty from fighting the Maniacs--"


    "Vaughn," Haley whispered.


    "Sorry. Anyway, I paid him back. So he likes me now."


    "Didn''t you crash his car?" I asked.


    Vaughn''s head flicked back toward the tent. "His dad bought him a new one, and he''s over it."


    I looked past Vaughn to the tent. More than half of Justice Fist were there, plus their parents. "I guess I''m still surprised you invited him, and well, almost all of them."


    "Like I had much of anything to do with the invitation list. I invited people I liked, but my mom and dad invited a whole bunch of people they felt should be on the list -- like relatives and people from work. We spent a lot time with Sean''s family when I was a kid, so they had to invite his parents, and the others too. I invited, you know, all of us --"


    And then he stopped. Someone had walked out of the tent, saying, "There''s Vaughn."


    Mr. Beacham.


    He wore a button down shirt, shorts, and sandals. In some ways that was even weirder than Sean being there. He looked surprisingly young outside school. I could believe that he was only ten years older than we were.


    "Congratulations." He shook Vaughn''s hand, and turned to me, "Congratulations to you too. I didn''t realize you knew each other."


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    "Sure," I said. "We''ve known each other since we were little kids."


    Haley nudged me with her elbow.


    "Oh, and this is Haley. She goes to South High. Haley, this is Mr. Beacham, our history teacher."


    "Nice to meet you, Haley. You''re on South''s gymnastics team, right? Aren''t you Travis McAllister''s sister?"


    Haley frowned briefly and said, "I am, but I wasn''t on the gymnastics team this year. I was... too busy."


    "Too bad. I''d heard you were one of the best. Well, maybe next year."


    "Maybe," she said.


    He must have caught something in her tone, or maybe a new thought struck him. Either way he changed the subject. "I''ve been doing a little research lately, and you might find it interesting. With so many superheroes around here, I did some research into the history of supers in our city. You know who was the first recorded supervillain in Grand Lake?"


    "No idea," I said.


    He paused for a second, just like he did when he wanted the class''s attention. "Someone calling himself ''The Master Martian,'' if you can believe it. According to the newspapers, he could ''cloud men''s minds''."


    Haley cocked her head to one side, "He wasn''t really a Martian, was he?"


    "I doubt it. The Sentinel''s article did say he had green skin -- but that''s not the interesting part. You know who caught him? Two twelve year old kids. Giles Hardwick, and another boy named Joe. They shocked the Master Martian into unconsciousness with a device they''d invented, and brought him to the police."


    "Shocked him?" Vaughn asked.


    "Right. Isn''t that unreal? With the kid geniuses, it sounds like a Tom Swift story. Well, I should go. I''ve got another open house to get to, and it''s the fourth today. Congratulations again, to both of you, and nice to meet you, Haley."


    He walked toward the rows of cars parked on the lawn.


    When he got out of earshot, Haley said, "Your grandfather was named Joe. Could he have invented something? Or..."


    Vaughn interrupted. "Do you think they were already experimenting with power juice?"


    I watched Mr. Beacham go. "I could believe anything at this point. Wow. They did that at twelve? No wonder Grandpa started me with Lee when I was a kid."


    "Yeah," Vaughn said. Then he asked Haley, "What did you think of Mr. Beacham?"


    "He seems nice." She gave a half smile, "But I hope he''s not spreading that story around."


    "Yeah," Vaughn said, "but most people won''t think about it like we do. I''m glad he came though. It was nice to have someone here who didn''t hint that he was surprised that I even made it to graduation, and try to give me advice. Get this... One of my uncles, Uncle Rory, came up to me holding a cigarette in one hand, and a beer in the other, and told me that if I stayed away from drugs, I could do something great with my life. All I could think was, ''are you looking at yourself?'' He''s spent his whole life working on family stuff."


    "I''m sure he meant well," Haley said.


    "Yeah. I bet."


    Ignoring the two of them for the moment, I checked over the crowd. "Didn''t you say that you invited everyone?"


    Sure. I''ve seen Travis, Rachel, Daniel, Marcus, Cassie... I think Jaclyn''s coming."


    I pulled out my League phone. With Jaclyn''s help, I''d managed to get everyone their new phone and their suit communicators last night.


    I tapped at the screen, and sent everyone a text message. "Who''s at Vaughn''s party?"


    Daniel replied, skipping the phone, and delivering his message directly into my brain.


    Daniel: Everyone. I''m on the opposite side of the tent from you. You know how Lee said we should be collecting intelligence?


    Me: Yeah.


    Daniel: I''ve been trying to read Russell Hardwick.


    Me: Get anything?


    Daniel: Reading him is like listening to static, but I know one thing. Ray and the rest of his team arrived last night. They''re in Grand Lake.

 Graduation: Part 13

    Me: Crap. I thought we might have more time.


    Daniel: I don¡¯t know. It seems about right to me.


    Me: Do you know where he is?


    Daniel: No. It¡¯s hard to get much of anything. I get snippets, but not much more.


    I paused, wondering how many of us would be alive a week from now.


    Me: So, are you going to let people know, or should I?


    Daniel: I¡¯ll do it.


    Me: Oh... I know that Vaughn¡¯s relatives are generally resistant to telepathy, but did you notice if Russell Hardwick is more resistant now? Or anything weird?


    Daniel: What kind of weird?


    Me: I should have mentioned this earlier, but Alex noticed something odd about him. I assumed that Alex was sensing the change from the Impregnator, but maybe he wasn¡¯t. If the combination of juice and Impregnator is most likely to hurt someone who¡¯s been at it for years, it¡¯ll be the parents who are at the most risk of losing it.


    Daniel: Right, but no, I haven¡¯t noticed anything. He doesn¡¯t seem crazy, just focused.


    Me: Are you going to keep on eavesdropping for the rest of the party?


    Daniel: As long as I can stand it.


    Me: Good luck.


    As Daniel broke contact, I noticed that Haley and Vaughn weren¡¯t saying anything.


    Instants later, Vaughn said, ¡°Shit.¡±


    Haley¡¯s eyes darted around, examining the crowd. Then she stopped, closed her eyes, and sniffed the air.


    ¡°I don¡¯t smell him. I wonder how long we should stay?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m stuck here,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°unless I really want to piss off my mom. Or unless we had a thunderstorm, and it¡¯s not like I¡¯d get away with it either. Unlike your parents, she¡¯d know exactly what happened.¡±


    Haley pursed her lips. ¡°Do you think she¡¯d tell your uncle anything?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°They barely have anything to do with each other outside work. She¡¯s more involved in the family charities anyway.¡±


    I glanced down at my phone, and thought about texting everyone again, but then it beeped simultaneous with Vaughn¡¯s and Haley¡¯s.


    I had a text message from Travis. Opening it, I learned that he¡¯d called a team meeting for five -- after this was over.


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    As Vaughn and Haley pulled out their own phones, and read their copies of the message, I said to Vaughn, ¡°Do you have to stay to clean up?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got people for that. I¡¯ll be there. My mom might want me to stay around for family stuff, but I¡¯ll skip it.¡±


    * * *


    Isaac Lim stared down at us from the wall screen. ¡°You¡¯re going to what? No. Let us take care of it. We¡¯ve got people for that. I know you¡¯re the Heroes League. I know you¡¯ve fought these people before, but you got lucky. If you make a mistake, they¡¯ll kill you, and your families. This isn¡¯t a game. You¡¯re not in the Executioner¡¯s league, and you¡¯re definitely not in Syndicate L¡¯s -- not when they turn their full attention to you. The best thing you can do is tell us what you know. When we need your help, we¡¯ll bring you in.¡±


    We were all in costume for the call.


    Travis, more intimidating than usual in his black Night Wolf costume, took a breath. ¡°We don¡¯t want to wait. We want to go in and at least look for him. All we know is that the Mystic heard Ray had arrived in town, but he couldn''t get any more out of Hardwick.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good enough. We¡¯ll send in our people, and don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll coordinate with you. You¡¯ll find that we¡¯ll be very helpful.¡±


    He grinned at us, and after a little more talk, the phone call ended.


    After Isaac disappeared from the screen, Travis said, ¡°Well, that¡¯s phase one. Feds are on the way.¡±


    Jaclyn got up from her chair. ¡°I don¡¯t like it. They have no idea what they¡¯re getting into.¡±


    Travis shrugged. ¡°Hey, we¡¯re doing what Lee said to do. If the Executioners showed up before we were ready for them, we were supposed to call in the Feds. And it¡¯s not like they don¡¯t know. We told them about Prime, Hardwick, everything. We even told him Hardwick might have an Impregnator.¡±


    ¡°I know. Good job pretending you¡¯re unhappy about bringing them in, by the way.¡±


    ¡°Lee said to make look like we didn¡¯t want to. There we go.¡±


    ¡°OK, so they know the facts of the situation. But do they know that an immortal is using them as human shields for his students? No? I didn¡¯t think so.¡±


    Daniel looked up from checking his email to say, ¡°I know it¡¯s dishonest, but they¡¯d have come even if they knew it. They¡¯ve got to recapture Ray and the others. The escape makes them look really bad. Plus, if we all get killed, it also makes them look bad. They really played up their connection to us after everything with the Mayor.¡±


    ¡°Even though they didn¡¯t help at all,¡± Vaughn said.


    Haley nudged me. ¡°Why did Lee want us to look like we didn¡¯t want help?¡±


    ¡°I asked him. It¡¯s in case Prime, Ray, or even Hardwick has connections inside the FBI. If they¡¯re assuming we¡¯re overconfident, or at least inexperienced, they¡¯ll underestimate us.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Cassie said. ¡°I like how he thinks.¡±


    Marcus leaned forward. ¡°It¡¯s a cool idea, but it might have been nice if he¡¯d mentioned it to everyone.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Rachel said, ¡°I¡¯m sure he thought we¡¯d do a good job acting inexperienced without being told.¡±

 Graduation: Part 14

    We agreed to meet again on Monday, and then everybody left.


    Well, almost everybody. Haley stayed.


    I walked into the lab and started pulling out the parts for the anti-paralysis/mind control devices. Thinking back on it, I don¡¯t remember being in a particularly bad mood, but I wasn¡¯t in a good one. The rest of the afternoon and the evening stretched before me. I had to finish them that night because if something came up tomorrow, one of us might die.


    And I still had homework to do.


    Haley watched as I pulled boxes out, putting them on the counter, and the table.


    ¡°Would you like me to stay? I¡¯m sure I could help somehow.¡±


    ¡°I doubt it. You¡¯re not technical. I don¡¯t know if I could explain what I need to explain more quickly than just doing it myself. You can stay, or go. It probably won''t make much of a difference.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said, and while I couldn¡¯t describe exactly what about her expression changed, I realized that I¡¯d hurt her feelings. ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡±


    As she began to turn around, I said, ¡°No. Wait. If you want to stay, I¡¯d like you to.¡±


    She stopped, and turned back. ¡°If you want me to stay.¡±


    ¡°I do.¡±


    She stayed, and she did help. I don¡¯t think I got any more done with her than I would have without her. Talking while we worked probably removed any benefit of extra hands.


    Not that it was bad. It just wasn¡¯t faster.


    We were talking about Vaughn¡¯s open house when she said, ¡°It was strange seeing Sean there. If things hadn¡¯t gone the way they did last summer, I might have been there with him.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    She put down the small cylinder she¡¯d been working on. ¡°You¡¯re so different. You get angry or happy, but you don¡¯t show it. He was sweet, or mean, but I could always see it.¡±


    ¡°Mean? While you were dating? Not after?¡±


    ¡°Not always, but sometimes. And don¡¯t tell me I shouldn¡¯t have put up with it. I know. Travis told me the whole time we were dating.¡±


    She stopped, looked down, and picked up the cylinder again.


    ¡°I think I must have thought I could fix him. His father was horrible to him, and to Sydney both. I thought I might make things a little better. I don¡¯t know... It was stupid.¡±


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    ¡°Marcus showed me a little bit of what it¡¯s like there when he was going through the recordings. I suppose there¡¯s a reason he acts like he does.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯s got a lot of reasons, but I¡¯m not going to worry about them any more.¡±


    She put the cylinder into the box with the rest of the finished devices.


    * * *


    I came back to HQ on Monday after school.


    I felt tired. On Sunday night, I¡¯d worked on homework after getting home, finally getting to bed at one in the morning.


    Getting back to work on Heroes League stuff did not feel like a welcome break from normal life. More than anything else I wanted to go running, or something else that got me outside.


    Instead, I sat down at one of the computers at the table in the middle of the main room, and started linking together the programs that would take the roachbots¡¯ recordings, transcribe them, and search them for keywords.


    It took two hours before everything worked, but it did in the end.


    I set it to go through all the recordings from the weekend. Marcus and Rachel had marked where they¡¯d stopped. I also set it so that the programs would go through all the recordings we¡¯d made on the off chance that they¡¯d catch something Marcus and Rachel hadn¡¯t.


    Then I went home for supper.


    When I came back after supper, I found Marcus in the control room. He¡¯d scanned in one of his drawings, put it up on the wall screen, and was editing it pixel by pixel.


    He¡¯d drawn a sunset over the playground at Veterans Memorial Park -- in black and white -- but it felt like a sunset anyway. Thanks to the wall screen, it dominated the room.


    Given that the team meeting wasn¡¯t supposed to happen until eight, I¡¯d expected to find the place empty.


    He turned away from the drawing as I walked up to the table.


    ¡°Nick, you got the transcription working. That is the best thing that¡¯s happened to me in weeks. Do you have any idea just how little happens to these people? It¡¯s like you¡¯re listening for hours before you get anything interesting. I came here thinking I¡¯d end up fast forwarding through hours of sleeping, but instead, I got to draw.¡±


    ¡°Did you notice if it¡¯s finished? I set it to scan through the weekend.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just noticed it was going, and walked away.¡±


    I pulled back my chair, and sat down. It wasn¡¯t done with all of them, but it had found a bunch of my keywords in some conversations at Russell Hardwick¡¯s house.


    I looked them over. I needed to pick better keywords. Four out of five conversations didn¡¯t amount to much of anything, but the fifth?


    ¡°Marcus. I¡¯ve got something. Do you mind if I put it on the big screen?¡±


    ¡°Go for it.¡±


    The roachbots¡¯ cameras still needed work, but they were better than the previous version by a little.


    Despite the roachbots limitations, I got the impression of an expensive room. All the furniture seemed to be wood, including the bookshelves covering the wall. From the dim light to the left, I guessed that one wall might have windows.


    Two men stepped through a door into the room. They were talking, but they talked too faintly for me to understand what they said.


    Ray sat down in a chair in front of a desk. Russell Hardwick sat behind it. Both of them were now in range.


    ¡°So,¡± Ray said, ¡°how are you going to sell this to the kids? You¡¯re not going to tell them that they¡¯re going to be trained by an escaped convict, are you?¡±


    Hardwick laughed. ¡°No. Not even all of the adults are completely sold on that, and they know what we¡¯re facing. I¡¯ll get masks for you and the others. What I wish is that Julie¡¯s mother, Shirley, had survived. Julie can command people with her voice, but Shirley had enough control that she could have suggested that you were someone else, and no one would have remembered anything different.¡±


    ¡°Masks?¡± Ray gave a short laugh. ¡°Now that¡¯s ironic.¡±

 Graduation: Part 15

    ¡°By the way,¡± Ray asked, ¡°what did happen to Shirley?¡±


    ¡°Prime¡¯s people got her. We¡¯d been using her to redirect them away from us, and they must have sent over someone who wasn¡¯t vulnerable to vocal suggestion. He slit her throat.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Was he deaf?¡±


    ¡°We never found out. It happened ten years ago when Julie couldn¡¯t have been more than eight. I¡¯ve done what I could to make her life better of course. Her mother died for our cause. I take care of my people.¡±


    Ray nodded slowly. "Glad you care about them. I think we¡¯ll get along. Mind if we talk about my people now? I know that we¡¯re hidden, but I can¡¯t say I like our sleeping arrangements. We want to be able to go where we want to, when we want to.¡±


    Hardwick said, ¡°You¡¯re escaped convicts. If people see you, you¡¯ll be caught again, and I¡¯ll go to jail with you.¡±


    Ray flicked his hand as if waving the discussion away. ¡°We¡¯ve always been on the run. Let¡¯s assume that we can handle it. Yeah, we did get caught here, but it¡¯s not a mistake we¡¯ll make twice. In fact, I¡¯ve got a list of materials that we¡¯ll need. You help get us those, and it¡¯ll make it a lot easier for us to train your kids, avoid capture, everything...¡±


    He handed Hardwick a piece of paper. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose I need to tell you to burn this when you¡¯re done with it, and I¡¯d advise you not to buy through easily traceable channels.¡±


    Hardwick¡¯s face went expressionless as he read the list.


    ¡°We¡¯ll get it to you.¡±


    ¡°Good. Then, assuming we get to move someplace nicer as soon as you get the gear, I consider the meeting over. Unless you¡¯ve got something for me?¡±


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    At that, Hardwick grinned. I don¡¯t know what Ray thought, but if Hardwick had grinned that way at me, I¡¯d have been worried.


    He pulled out three small bottles with eyedropper caps. ¡°I¡¯d like you to try something. Your father worked for Red Lightning, and I¡¯d like to see what, if anything, you inherited from him.¡±


    Ray squinted at the bottles as Hardwick shook them up.


    Then he unscrewed a cap, and said, ¡°Hold out your arm.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve always thought powers were overrated,¡± Ray said, ¡°but I¡¯ve got to admit I¡¯m curious.¡±


    ¡°The first one I¡¯ll put on you represents your potential for physical powers, the second mental, and the third energy manipulation. If the dot turns red, the powers manifest externally. If blue, internally. If purple, both.¡±


    Ray placed his arm on the desk next to Hardwick¡¯s laptop, and Hardwick put a drop from each jar on Ray¡¯s arm.


    All three turned dark purple.


    Hardwick didn¡¯t say anything for a few seconds.


    ¡°Now that opens up some possibilities,¡± Hardwick said. ¡°I have access to the government¡¯s version of the Power Elixir -- they¡¯re calling it Power Juice these days. I¡¯ve also got something the government doesn¡¯t -- the ability to make the change permanent. You might consider making that part of your payment package.¡±


    Ray stared at his arm. ¡°God damn. I¡¯ve got something to think about, don¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d say so. We¡¯ll want to check the rest of your team as well, I think.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, worth a shot. Don¡¯t think any of the rest have parents who worked with Red Lightning though.¡±


    Hardwick said, ¡°We¡¯ll see. Here in Grand Lake, it seems like half the city is hiding powers. Now, let¡¯s talk about how this fits in with your fee.¡±


    Marcus and I kept on watching for little while longer, but after checking the transcript, I realized that it was going to be all haggling for rest of the conversation.


    I searched on a few more keywords, and didn¡¯t get anything especially interesting, but the computer wasn¡¯t done transcribing them anyway. I decided to try again later, and browsed the internet for a little while, checking out the Double V online forums.


    Their Grand Lake Heroes League forum didn¡¯t have anything we didn¡¯t.


    Thirty minutes later, everyone showed up for what felt like the hundredth team meeting of the week. Travis started it off with, ¡°I¡¯ve got a lead, people. I tracked down that kid from Haley¡¯s school who¡¯s working with Prime. If we keep watching him, I think we¡¯ve got a good chance of finding the local leadership and going straight to the top from there.¡±

 Graduation: Part 16

    ¡°So what do you want to do?¡± Cassie asked. ¡°Track them down and attack?¡±


    ¡°Nah,¡± Travis shook his head. ¡°Lee said to feed Prime to the Feds if we could. Once we¡¯ve figured out where they are, we hand it over, and that¡¯s one thing off our plate.¡±


    Which wasn¡¯t a bad idea. If we could arrange it so that we were only dealing with one threat, that would be a massive improvement.


    ¡°You know what we really ought to hand over?¡± Marcus asked. ¡°We¡¯ve got footage of Hardwick with Ray.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn looked over at Marcus. ¡°That¡¯s serious. Putting people through the Impregnator is a grey area, but taking in an assassin, that¡¯s way outside the law. You think he broke Ray out?¡±


    From the other end of the table, Jaclyn said, ¡°Does your uncle have connections with Syndicate L? They¡¯re the ones with the mechs.¡±


    ¡°No idea, but if he did, he wouldn¡¯t tell me. I¡¯m the druggie, remember?¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s uncle had called him that in one of the recordings.


    ¡°Before we get too far into this,¡± I said, ¡°we ought to watch the footage. You know how Ray¡¯s dad was with Red Lightning? Ray¡¯s probably got powers.¡±


    We watched it.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s nice,¡± Rachel said. ¡°A military trained assassin isn¡¯t bad enough. We¡¯ve got to be fighting a military trained assassin with powers.¡±


    Travis nodded. ¡°Yeah. I wonder where Hardwick¡¯s got him hidden? If we knew, we could pass that on to the Feds, and maybe end the whole thing. Where did the video come from?¡±


    ¡°Hardwick¡¯s house,¡± I said.


    ¡°They probably won¡¯t be keeping him there.¡± Travis turned to look up at the screen with its fuzzy picture of Ray standing in Hardwick¡¯s office.


    ¡°Ray was complaining about where he was staying,¡± Cassie said. ¡°I was in Hardwick¡¯s house with Vaughn once. It¡¯s nothing to complain about.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s bigger than ours,¡± Vaughn said.


    ¡°OK,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°We need to start doing something. We can¡¯t keep watching videos of things getting worse.¡±


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    ¡°Come on, Jaclyn,¡± Marcus smiled at her. ¡°Lee had us make a pile of plans. We¡¯ll just start using them.¡±


    ¡°He had us make contingency plans. You don¡¯t win with contingency plans. You survive. Right now we need to be doing something that will stop Ray from using the Impregnator. We need to be making sure that whatever Prime¡¯s doing doesn¡¯t work out. Did you hear that there were a three more gang-related deaths this weekend? I think he''s trying to take over the city¡¯s gangs.¡±


    Cassie looked across the table toward her. ¡°They don¡¯t seem like they¡¯d be very easy to organize.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°but they¡¯ve been recruiting people into their fake version of the Bloods and they¡¯ve been killing off the leaders of other gangs. They¡¯re doing something, and whatever it is, I¡¯d bet the local gangs are more frightened of Prime than they are of us.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t as if the local gangs were normally a big worry. They weren¡¯t powered. Still, if Prime offered them power like Hardwick had Ray, who knew what kind of recruits he¡¯d get? And bearing in mind that they¡¯d apparently been in the area for years who knew what kind of recruits they¡¯d already gotten?


    With regards to finding Ray though, we had an option we hadn¡¯t been using. ¡°Maybe we could have people tail Hardwick? He¡¯s got to meet Ray again.¡±


    ¡°Not a bad idea, Nick.¡± Travis tapped the table a couple times. ¡°Lee said we shouldn¡¯t trust the bugs. With Haley, Rachel, Marcus and I, we can cover a few hours. Daniel too if they haven¡¯t put up the anti-TP stuff.¡±


    ¡°Which they probably have,¡± Daniel said.


    Jaclyn stood up from her chair, and walked over to my end of the table. ¡°I¡¯m not saying that watching Hardwick is a bad idea, but we still need an overall plan. Hardwick¡¯s not necessarily out to get us, but Prime and Ray definitely are. What are we going to do after we find them? Who¡¯s first? What¡¯s our strategy?¡±


    Cassie turned her chair toward Jaclyn. ¡°If we¡¯re handing Prime to the Feds, it sounds like it doesn¡¯t matter.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°Unless the FBI¡¯s got more going on than they did at Christmas, they¡¯re not going to catch him.¡±


    ¡°Good point,¡± Travis said. ¡°But they might hassle them enough to make it worth it.¡±


    ¡°You know what worries me?¡± Daniel asked. ¡°The second we go after Ray, Prime¡¯s going to show up blasting at us, and vice versa.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°You think they¡¯re really that good?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. That¡¯s what I¡¯d do.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s probably why Lee had us arrange for backup already,¡± Travis said. ¡°We¡¯re going to need it.¡±


    Daniel closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them. ¡°Here¡¯s what we ought to do. You know how some of us talked to Lucas about coordinating the teams? You ought to tell him who Ray is. If they act at the right moment, they could take him out.¡±


    Haley stopped leaning against me, and sat up. ¡°But they could get hurt. They could all die.¡±


    ¡°We could all die,¡± Travis said. ¡°Besides, I don¡¯t see why you should care.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re not all Sean. They ran his sister Sydney through the Impregnator and maybe more people. She hasn¡¯t done anything. And Lucas, Dayton, and Shannon don¡¯t deserve to die. Not just to save us.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like it either,¡± Daniel said, ¡°and I think we¡¯ll have to tell them what they¡¯re getting into, but they don¡¯t need to attack Ray. All they need to do is distract him at the right time. Annoying could be just as effective as violent if they did it right.¡±

 Graduation: Part 17

    ¡°You¡¯re missing something though,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°You¡¯ve got to remember that Uncle Russ is still Lucas¡¯ dad. They don¡¯t always get along, but I can¡¯t imagine Lucas totally working against him. The guy you¡¯d want for something like that is Sean. He wouldn¡¯t care about going against his parents at all, and with Sean you¡¯d get Dayton and Jody for sure.¡±


    I was about to say something, but Haley spoke first. ¡°But if they do it, Ray and his whole team will kill everybody. That¡¯s what they always do to supers. Everybody knows that.¡±


    ¡°Besides,¡± I commented, ¡°Sean¡¯s never going to listen to us.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°he¡¯d listen to me. I paid him back, remember? That, and he wants me in his new club.¡±


    Daniel put his hand to his chin, concentrating,and intentionally or not, getting everybody¡¯s attention.


    ¡°How are you going to tell him?¡±


    ¡°Well, I can¡¯t tell him I¡¯m from the Heroes League. That¡¯s for sure. How about this? I¡¯ll tell him I¡¯m from a faction of the family that¡¯s worried about the direction Uncle Russ is moving in. And it¡¯ll even be true. I¡¯m the whole faction and I am worried.¡±


    Next to Cassie, Travis nodded. ¡°This is good. We don¡¯t have a plan yet, but when we¡¯ve got one, I think it¡¯ll look something like this. We take our enemies one group at a time. First Prime and the Cabal leftovers, then Ray¡¯s team. With the Feds helping, we may not have to worry about having Ray hit us while we¡¯re fighting Prime. Hell, the Feds might try to keep us out of everything, but they won¡¯t be able to. We¡¯ve got the best intel on both groups.¡±


    ¡°And they¡¯re both trying to kill us,¡± Cassie said.


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°That¡¯s why I say that if the Feds can take them out, the more power to them. I don¡¯t know about you, but I feel like this whole thing is eating my life. The end of senior year isn¡¯t supposed to be like this. We should worrying about yearbooks and open houses, not about serial killers and thousand year old conspiracies.¡±


    Marcus had picked up his sketchpad at some point during the conversation. He stopped drawing to ask, ¡°Do you think the Feds will actually manage it?¡±


    Jaclyn frowned. ¡°No, but I¡¯ll be happy if I¡¯m wrong.¡±


    ¡°Me neither,¡± Travis said. ¡°So here¡¯s what we¡¯ve got to do. Those of us who are good at stealth are going to find Prime. Vaughn, I¡¯m thinking we ought to tell Sean, but not yet. We¡¯ll wait for the right moment. Nick, the communicators work great. What are you working on now?¡±


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    ¡°The paralysis blocker. I¡¯ve got a bunch made, but we might need more. That, and more roachbots, and fixing one of the Rocket suits.¡±


    ¡°Put the suits higher on the list. I¡¯ve got a bad feeling you¡¯re going to need the armor.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, me too.¡±


    * * *


    With as many meetings, and as much anxiety as we had had over the weekend and Monday, I half-expected to find the city burning by Tuesday.


    It didn¡¯t, but I felt like it still could.


    The Grand Lake Sentinel and all the local TV stations were covering the last few days of murders -- the gang members, the homeless man nailed to the League office, and even the dog nailed to Sean¡¯s front door.


    I watched all of it on the TV in HQ¡¯s lab while I worked on fixing the Rocket suit¡¯s arm.


    I¡¯d declared the arm totaled earlier. Even though it hadn¡¯t been completely destroyed when Prime¡¯s flunky melted it, the melted parts had been connected to too many other parts.


    I spent Tuesday after school finding the documentation on the arm, and the parts needed. Once I had the list, I inventoried our supplies for the parts we had, the parts I could buy, and the parts I¡¯d have to create myself.


    That took me till supper by itself. When I got back to lab after eating, I started ordering some parts online, and then dug around in the lab¡¯s storage area for the molds for the arm as well as the components of the suit¡¯s ceramic pieces.


    The rest of the week went by in a haze -- and a not particularly enjoyable one. It included miscast pieces, the discovery that I was missing some documentation, the realization that some of the parts I¡¯d ordered weren¡¯t coming as quickly as I wanted, and the general sense that I¡¯d bit off more than I could chew.


    Around ten thirty on Thursday night, I found that the artificial muscles weren¡¯t adhering to the inside as well as I needed them to for the third time. I wanted to scream. For a moment, I considered picking up the arm and hitting it against something -- except I¡¯d probably have broken whatever I hit.


    Naturally that was when the phone rang.


    I clicked and the picture went to the computer screen. Alex, Jenny, and Brooke appeared. From the Foosball table in the background, I guessed they might be in the Junior Defenders room at the SoCal Defenders HQ.


    ¡°How¡¯s it going, Nick?¡± Alex grinned at me, just as tanned as had been the last time I¡¯d seen him.


    ¡°Lousy.¡±


    ¡°Any ideas about when you might need us? I¡¯ll need a little warning. They¡¯ve been keeping us on short leash.¡±


    Jenny rolled her eyes. ¡°I wonder why? They estimate that when you were here we did literally millions of dollars in damage to Syndicate L. They put a hit out on Alex and me.¡±


    ¡°Not Brooke?¡±


    Brooke quirked her lips. ¡°I think they must be afraid of my dad.¡±


    Guardian had enough range to teleport someone directly into space.


    Jenny edged closer to the screen, brushing a stray strand of black hair out of her face. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°The arm to my regular suit got destroyed, and my best spare suit got trashed. Recreating the arm isn¡¯t easy, and I¡¯ve got at least three other things I could be working on. Plus homework. Plus school. I don¡¯t have enough hours in the day.¡±


    ¡°Easy,¡± Alex said. ¡°Skip school. Problem solved.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t do that.¡±


    ¡°Why not? You¡¯re a senior, right? You¡¯ve got what, two weeks left?¡±


    ¡°Closer to one.¡±


    ¡°What, of exams or something?¡±


    ¡°No. If you¡¯ve got less than five absences and a B or better GPA, seniors can skip exams.¡±


    ¡°So, you¡¯ve taken four absences?¡±


    ¡°No. I got sick once. I¡¯ve got three left.¡±


    ¡°Bro, I thought you were smart.¡±

 Graduation: Part 18

    After they hung up, I sat back and thought about it. If I were going to skip, when and how would I do it? I wasn¡¯t going to be able to get my parents to write a note. The block only prevented my parents from recognizing what was going on, or stopping me from doing it.


    I decided I¡¯d skip tomorrow. Maybe Rachel could call the office and pretend to be Mom? She¡¯d probably get a kick out of it.


    Deciding that I was finished with Rocket suits for the night, I assembled a few more of the anti-paralysis devices.


    Just after eleven, the hangar doors rumbled open. Flipping to the security camera¡¯s view, I saw Cassie on Captain Commando¡¯s motorcycle, and Marcus and Travis in Night Wolf¡¯s car coming to a stop. Rachel floated through the ceiling, solidifying next to them.


    Cassie parked the cycle, took off her helmet, and shouted something that I missed because I hadn¡¯t turned the sound on.


    Judging from the way she smacked Rachel on the shoulder, the news had to be good.


    I turned on the speaker to the room just as Travis and Marcus stepped out of the car.


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    Cassie looked up toward the camera. ¡°We found out where Prime¡¯s staying, really where all of his main guys are staying. When we give that to the Feds, it¡¯s going to get crazy.¡±


    ¡°Where are they?¡±


    ¡°The Baymont Inn down on Jefferson St. Can you believe it?¡±


    ¡°Crazy?¡± Marcus said. ¡°The Baymont¡¯s going to be a hole in the ground. That guy is big.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Cassie said, "tell me about it. Remember the guy whose leg I cut off? He looks a lot like him.¡±


    Travis waved everyone toward the door. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s call Isaac.¡±


    * * *


    Fifteen minutes later, we had.


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    Special Agent (and superhero liaison) Isaac Lim appeared on the big wall screen standing in front of a more exciting background than usual.


    In short, he wasn¡¯t in his office. He stood in front of rows of people and computers. At the far wall, three big screens showed different views of the space around Earth. The largest showed a slice of our planet, but with small shapes moving above it. Fuzzy white lettering labeled the shapes.


    I couldn¡¯t read the ships¡¯ names, but a few of them appeared to be moving quickly.


    Another of the screens showed a view from a spaceship, or possibly a space station. I couldn¡¯t identify it. All I could see were stars and a long white hull.


    The third screen showed the perspective from one of the fast moving ships. Blue flame from the engines of the ship ahead of it took up a third of the screen.


    I couldn¡¯t help but think that they were wasting an incredibly large amount of energy.


    Then the ship turned, and I got an impression of something wedge shaped, and huge. The ship with the camera turned to follow it, and then we could only see blue fire.


    Isaac moved his arm, and the background blurred, making his face the only thing we could see clearly.


    ¡°Good to see you all. What have you got for me?¡±


    Amid the background noise of competing voices, I thought I heard, ¡°Mindstryke¡¯s probed them and he thinks they¡¯re likely to try psi weapons next.¡±


    I didn¡¯t hear more because Travis said, ¡°Prime¡¯s location, and we¡¯re pretty sure his men are there too.¡±


    ¡°Great. Pass it along to my email, and we¡¯ll coordinate the next step. Do you have anything on the Executioner?¡±


    Cassie stepped a little closer to our wall screen. ¡°Ray¡¯s here and the group of them are working with Russell Hardwick. He¡¯s training them all to fight Prime.¡±


    ¡°Ray¡¯s training them to fight crime?¡±


    ¡°Not crime. Prime.¡±


    Isaac smiled. ¡°Right. Sorry. It¡¯s noisy over here. Send me evidence if you¡¯ve got it.¡±


    Then he looked off to the right. ¡°I¡¯ve got to put you on hold for a second.¡±


    The screen went black except for the FBI¡¯s seal and the words ¡°Superhuman Affairs Branch.¡±


    We didn¡¯t even have time to get bored before he came back on the line.


    ¡°Do you have anything else? I¡¯m stuck in the middle of something now.¡±


    Marcus asked, ¡°Are we going to be hearing about this on the news?¡±


    ¡°Not if we handle it right. Now if any of you sign up for the Stapledon scholarship I emailed you about, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll hear a lot more. I¡¯ll talk to you all later.¡±


    He hung up.


    Marcus turned and looked us over. ¡°We interrupted him in the middle of a space battle. That is so cool.¡±


    ¡°So that¡¯s what Daniel¡¯s dad¡¯s been doing,¡± Travis said. ¡°You all heard that part, right?¡±


    We had.


    Rachel looked up at Travis. ¡°Did you hear anything we couldn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°Nothing that made any sense. A lot of ship coordinates.¡± Travis paused, and then said, ¡°Well, we probably ought to have Vaughn talk to Sean now. We¡¯ll need an ¡®in¡¯ there if this whole situation starts changing.¡±


    I thought about arguing, because somehow having Vaughn get involved as Vaughn seemed like a risk, but I didn¡¯t have a reason, just a guess. So, I didn¡¯t say anything.


    Besides, we did need a way to pass information to Sean, and better Vaughn than me.

 Graduation: Part 19

    The idea of helping me skip school amused Rachel as much as I thought it might.


    It amused her enough to wake up at seven instead of nine, and pretend to be Mom. The school bought it. One of the nice things about not being the kind of guy who gets in trouble regularly is that the staff doesn¡¯t recognize your mother¡¯s voice.


    She called from the phone in the upstairs hallway, bringing it into her room for the call.


    After she hung up, she said, ¡°So what are you going to do?¡±


    ¡°Work on the Rocket suit, and maybe a couple other things.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s such a waste of a day off from school. I skipped a couple times at the end of senior year, but I went to the beach.¡±


    ¡°In the spring? The water had to be pretty cold.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t swim. I hiked down the beach for a few miles with Chloe and Amy and their boyfriends. I can¡¯t believe that was three years ago already.¡±


    ¡°Chloe and Amy? I haven¡¯t seen either of them around. Are they home from school yet?¡±


    ¡°They are, but I haven¡¯t seen them much because of, you know, everything. They came when I played at the coffeehouse.¡±


    ¡°Oh. I didn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no reason you should. But you should know I¡¯ve been going to HQ to practice during the day.¡±


    ¡°Really? Why?¡±


    ¡°Mostly to not hear Mom and Dad tell me that I should be looking for a job, but it¡¯s nice to practice somewhere quiet.¡±


    Rachel drove me to HQ around eight, the same time she would have driven me to school, keeping us both under the radar -- except she did bring her guitar.


    I spent most of the morning casting pieces of the arm, and using miscast pieces to experiment with ways to put in circuitry and artificial muscles.


    Rachel spent it practicing in one of the storage rooms. I didn¡¯t hear her very well, but suspected that that was intentional.


    We went out for lunch at Two Choppers (Rachel¡¯s idea), and I got a falafel wrap. We could have had leftover pizza. Travis, and Marcus grabbed the mistakes on the way out of work most nights, so we usually had plenty of free pizza around -- which was nice, provided you weren¡¯t fussy.


    I¡¯d been getting fussier.


    You might not believe it, but there is such a thing as too much free pizza.


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    Anyway, my League cellphone rang while we were at the restaurant. I checked it. It was Vaughn.


    ¡°Nick, are you skipping school?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°No way. What are you doing?¡±


    In the background, I heard him say, ¡°Nick¡¯s skipping. No joke.¡± Someone laughed. I thought it might be Cassie.


    ¡°I¡¯m just working on stuff. Catching up on everything Travis and everyone else has been harping on.¡±


    ¡°Cool. Hey, I told Sean today. He knows all about Ray.¡±


    ¡°Wow. How did he take it?¡±


    ¡°I think he was kind of shocked, but that¡¯s not all. He invited me to watch them practice.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Not to practice with them or anything because I don¡¯t have powers, right? But they practice outside next to one of our buildings.¡±


    ¡°Outside? That¡¯s crazy. Why?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Sean, probably. I bet he trashes buildings pretty quickly.¡±


    ¡°I could see that.¡±


    In the background, a bell rang. ¡°Hey, all of us non-juvenile delinquents have to get to class.¡±


    As he hung up, I heard him say, ¡°Cassie, you owe me ten bucks.¡±


    Rachel laughed about the call all the way back to HQ.


    After we got back, she disappeared for an hour, and I worked on the suit. I spent most of my time putting the new arm together. It would have been easier if it didn¡¯t have so many layers -- including the anti-magnetic mesh around the electronics, the artificial muscles, the ablative coating on the outside that protected the suit from lasers, the insulation against the suit¡¯s sonic devices, and the gel layer that absorbed and spread out any force that managed to get past everything else.


    If you put together the whole thing, and realized that you¡¯d forgotten a wire or made a bad connection, you had take it all apart again. Forgetting a wire was easy when you considered that flight, sonics, and instrumentation could be controlled through the gloves. That didn¡¯t even count the various sensors that sent information back to the helmet.


    I had it out on the counter in the workroom, and found myself putting it back together for the second time when an alert came across the lab¡¯s computer monitor.


    I¡¯d set it to notify me when certain keywords appeared in the transcript of a live bugging session.


    ¡°Ray¡± was one of the keywords.


    As the alert moved across the screen, I clicked on the link, and found myself with a bug¡¯s eye view of Russell Hardwick¡¯s office downtown.


    Unlike his home office, the decor was all metal and glass. The roachbot didn¡¯t have the ability to pass it back to me, but the blurry blue past the office¡¯s glass walls probably held a great view of Grand Lake.


    The roachbot did a good job of showing Sean¡¯s dad standing in front of Hardwick¡¯s desk.


    Except for his moustache, Mr. Drucker reminded me of Sean -- tall, blonde, and angry.


    That, and I¡¯d never seen Sean in a dark blue suit, or for that matter, any kind of suit.


    ¡°You agreed just like everyone else,¡± Hardwick said.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t like it. He¡¯s an escaped convict, and keeping him here could land us all in jail. I agreed to let him give us some pointers on how to fight Prime and the Cabal. I didn¡¯t agree to having his people take up permanent residence here, and get a truckload of gear from Syndicate L. God dammit, what were you thinking?¡±


    ¡°I was thinking that my employees get the gear they need to get the job done. I got them what they need, just like I get you what you need.¡±


    ¡°Bullshit. This is all bullshit.They¡¯re going to sell us down the river the first chance they get.¡±


    ¡°No, they¡¯re not. We¡¯ve got the Impregnator, and they don¡¯t. Ray¡¯s got power, and one person on his team has a small talent, but until he brings us through this successfully, all they¡¯ll get is the power juice.¡±


    Mr. Drucker placed his hand on the nearest metal beam, as if steadying himself. ¡°You¡¯re seeing what you want to see Russell, or you¡¯ve thrown in your lot with them. Either way, if you betray us, you¡¯ll want to remember you¡¯re not the only one with power.¡±


    Metal came away from the beam, coating Drucker¡¯s hand, and leaving the beam looking like a partially melted ice sculpture.


    The metal surrounding the hand moved as naturally as his own skin.

 Graduation: Part 20

    Hardwick pushed back his chair, and stood up behind the desk. ¡°Don¡¯t threaten me, George. Ray¡¯s got nothing to offer me that I can¡¯t buy.¡±


    Small flickers of electricity arced between the fingers of his left hand.


    Mr. Drucker said, ¡°Yeah? Good, but I wasn¡¯t threatening. I came here to tell you what would happen if you side with these people instead of our kids. I¡¯ll see you at the next meeting.¡±


    He touched his hand back on the beam, and the metal flowed back into position, slightly more shiny in the spots Mr. Drucker had melted.


    Then he left.


    From behind me, Rachel said, ¡°There¡¯s a couple cases of testosterone poisoning. ¡®Don¡¯t side with the Executioner or I¡¯ll show you my shiny hand powers...¡¯ ¡®No, I¡¯ll show you my electric hand powers. Are you scared yet?¡¯¡±


    Hearing her voice, I nearly jumped. ¡°Geez. You could have told me you were there.¡±


    Rachel shrugged. ¡°Sorry. Walking everywhere gets boring.¡±


    She floated a couple inches above the lab¡¯s concrete floor.


    She¡¯d probably phased through the ground after running an errand outside.


    Turning back to the screen, I saw Hardwick sigh. I left the roachbots to record, but cut off my connection.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t see all of it,¡± she said. ¡°Anything interesting?¡±


    ¡°No. Not really. I already knew Sean¡¯s dad didn¡¯t like the idea of working with Ray. I hadn¡¯t known what powers they had, but they aren¡¯t exactly surprising.¡±


    ¡°No. They¡¯re not. I¡¯ll get back to the guitar.¡±


    ¡°Is this what you¡¯ve been doing every day?¡±


    ¡°Now you¡¯re sounding like Mom.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it like that. It¡¯s just that you¡¯ve practiced guitar for hours already. That¡¯s a really long time.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve been working on the arm over there for as long as I¡¯ve been practicing. Besides, I¡¯ve working on my own songs, plus what I¡¯ve been learning from Lee.¡±


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    ¡°You¡¯re taking guitar lessons from Lee?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s been playing music as long as he¡¯s been fighting.¡±


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about that.¡±


    ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever heard him complain that no one ever takes music lessons from him? I took him up on it.¡±


    ¡°So what¡¯s that like?¡±


    ¡°A lot like martial arts practice, but with fewer bruises.¡±


    ¡°Wait, bruises?¡±


    She scowled. ¡°You know how he¡¯s teaching me to become intangible by reflex? At least once during my guitar lesson, he checks to see how well I¡¯m doing.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem fair.¡±


    ¡°Tell me about it.¡±


    The computer beeped. The words Superhuman Affairs Branch ran across the screen.


    I took the call.


    Isaac Lim sat behind his desk. He¡¯d moved the piles of papers to each side, but it still looked messy. Even the file cabinets had layers of paper on top of them.


    ¡°Skipping school, Nick?¡± Judging from the smile on his face, he found the idea amusing.


    His stared at the computer screen on his desk. I guessed that he must be checking out the lab, and I was right, because the next thing he said was, ¡°That looks interesting. Are you working on a new Rocket suit?¡±


    ¡°No. Repairing the old one. And how did you know I was skipping school?¡±


    ¡°We watch for it. Can¡¯t be too careful right now.¡±


    Rachel walked up and stood next to me. ¡°Are you watching me too?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s harder, but yes. We¡¯re watching all of you.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°With everything going on? Of course we¡¯re watching. We don¡¯t want you to get killed. Believe me, you¡¯re not the first legacy heroes to show up, and if we¡¯ve learned anything, we¡¯ve learned you need time to develop. You¡¯re not the originals, and we can¡¯t expect you to act as if you were. So, we watch.¡±


    I thought about what he¡¯d just said. ¡°So what happened to the other legacies?¡±


    ¡°Depends. A lot of them are still out there. Not all of them are still active, but they seem to be happy enough. A few managed to piss off the wrong people, and they ended up dead.¡± Isaac held up his hands. ¡°I¡¯m not saying that you will, but right now we don¡¯t want to take chances.


    ¡°But enough about that. I¡¯m calling because of Prime. I got the information Travis sent, and we¡¯re going to move in on them soon. I¡¯m not telling you when, but stay away from the Baymont Inn till then. We¡¯ll all be happier. And one more thing? The moment we take out Prime and his people, the whole picture changes for you. Hardwick has Ray and his team in to handle Prime, right? So he won¡¯t need Ray after that, and Ray knows it. Chances are, Ray will go after you since I¡¯m sure that¡¯s the real reason he¡¯s here in the first place. Depending on how things go, he might kill Hardwick and Justice Fist too. We¡¯ll see.¡±


    I stared at the screen. ¡°And what are we going to do then?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not going to do anything. We¡¯ll take care of it. If you can find out where he¡¯s staying, that would be great. Don¡¯t go searching for him, though. You know what he¡¯s like.¡±


    I don¡¯t know what our expressions looked like, but Isaac burst out laughing.


    ¡°You¡¯re kidding me. You don¡¯t want to go after him yourself, do you?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I began. ¡°I --¡±


    Rachel said, ¡°How do you know I don¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°You might get your chance. Knowing what¡¯s going on upstairs, I¡¯ve been expecting people to scrub the mission all week. So far, they haven¡¯t.¡±


    Thinking of the spaceships, I asked, ¡°What is going on upstairs?¡±


    Isaac took a breath and leaned back in his seat. ¡°That¡¯s given out on a ¡®need to know¡¯ basis.¡±

 Graduation: Part 21

    So you¡¯d think that after having all Friday to work on it, I would have had the arm completely ready to go. Unfortunately projects that are even marginally complicated don¡¯t go like that. What happens is that you put things together, discover a problem, take them apart and put them together again. After that, you attach them to the suit for the first time, discover another thing you¡¯ve done wrong, take it apart, and put it together again.


    It was maddening, but I found it fun at the same time.


    On a practical level, what it meant was that I left the arm in pieces when I went home for supper, and I didn¡¯t want to work on it that night. On Saturday, I worked on it for a few more hours, but then I went to Cassie¡¯s graduation open house and when I came home, I found that Grandpa and Grandma Klein had arrived from Minnesota so I couldn¡¯t leave the house on Saturday night. Sunday morning I went to church with everyone else. Sunday afternoon I managed to get to Jaclyn and Daniel¡¯s open houses as well as having my own.


    All of which meant I got a lot of time with relatives, friends, and people who knew me from school, but not a lot of time to work. I¡¯d planned on working on things on Sunday night, but I didn¡¯t get to spend as much time as I wanted then either.


    The reason why went like this:


    Late during my own open house, I went inside to grab more food from the kitchen table (the party was in the back yard). I was putting some kind of wrap on my plate when Chris Cannon came up to me. He looked around, probably making sure that we were the only people in the room, and said, ¡°I¡¯ve got something to show you. We probably ought to do it tonight. When¡¯s the earliest time you can get away?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Nine maybe? Ten? My grandparents are here from Minnesota for the open house and graduation.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll send you an address via email. Go there tonight, and I¡¯ll let you in. It¡¯s related to... everything going on, you know.¡±


    I wanted to ask for more details, but I didn¡¯t get the chance. One of my uncles stepped in through the screen door, and started asking me what I planned to do next year.


    I couldn¡¯t leave when the open house ended either. Relatives from both sides of my family stuck around. Even though my parents had been blocked, I couldn¡¯t assume anyone else had, so I ended up staying until 9:30 pm.


    That¡¯s when most people left, allowing me to sneak out.


    I grabbed the stealth suit on the way out, putting the helmet, pants and a backup jacket (one of many) in the backpack that hid the rocketpack. Then I strapped the guitar to the side of the backpack. I walked out to Veterans Memorial park, changed in the forest and flew to the address Chris provided me.


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    It felt good to be in the air again. It felt like it had been a while, and it probably had. We¡¯d stopped patrols after that guy had shot at Haley and I.


    On the bright side, the stealth suit was all black, so I wasn¡¯t very visible at night.


    The GPS led me to a warehouse on the outskirts of the city. All corrugated metal, it stood next to farmers¡¯ fields, and a two other buildings that looked just like it. The sign next to it said ¡°G¡¯s Auto Parts.¡±


    Chris¡¯ email told me to land at the back door, and I did.


    Moments later, he opened it.


    ¡°Full uniform? Were you expecting an ambush?¡±


    ¡°Not from you, and honestly, I wish I were in full uniform. That would solve a lot of problems.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, right.¡± He stepped back, and I walked into the warehouse, shutting the door behind me.


    Dim light showed rows of auto parts on wooden pallets, and parked forklifts.


    Chris pointed at the freight elevator in the corner. Once we were inside, he tapped out a series of numbers into a keypad and the elevator descended.


    ¡°We¡¯re heading to the subbasement,¡± he said.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s there?¡±


    The elevator stopped, and the doors opened.


    In a space almost as large as the warehouse above, I saw a place a lot like Man-machine¡¯s lab under his house only bigger. Different types of half-finished powered armor stood next to sheets of metal, coiled cables in different colors, tools, computers, circuit boards, and a variety of machines.


    ¡°Wow. What is this?¡±


    Chris looked around the room. ¡°You know how your grandfather was famous for designing gadgets for half the heroes out there? I think my grandfather did something similar only in reverse.¡±


    I remembered that Cannon¡¯s former student had provided powered armor to the Maniacs, and if the paralysis gun in the Ball was any indicator, devices for Ray¡¯s team, and Syndicate L as well.


    The guy hadn¡¯t just been learning how to construct devices. He¡¯d been learning how to run an underground manufacturing business.


    ¡°How¡¯d you find out about this?¡±


    ¡°I went up for visiting day at Grandpa¡¯s prison, and he asked about you. I mentioned that we were working on a project together, and he said I might want to check out the basement of his warehouse if I needed materials. When I used his passcode for the home lab, I got down here.¡±


    ¡°So he just wants us to use his stuff.¡±


    ¡°I guess. That¡¯s what I¡¯ve been doing. You know how he did things in a standardized way so that parts from one of his suits could be swapped in for another of a similar size? Well, I finished his final design for the Man-machine armor just by swapping in parts he¡¯d put together himself. It was a lot easier than what we did when we put together my armor.¡±


    I looked around, thinking about what I could do with the materials.


    We spent the next two hours exploring.


    I got back into the air around 11:30 pm. Even though I didn¡¯t plan to do anything about it, I listened to police band radio. Lee and Isaac Lim had both told me not to appear in costume.


    Police band turned out to be more interesting than I had expected. I turned it on to hear Lt. Van Kley say, ¡°-- yes, they¡¯re gone, but the Baymont¡¯s still burning. Get the fire trucks in, and if the National Guard won¡¯t let them past the perimeter, have them call me. I¡¯ll do it myself if I have to.¡±

 Graduation: Part 22

    I scanned the radio for news reports. Police band could tell me what was going on now, but not what had happened.


    I called up the GPS. The Baymont Inn wasn¡¯t far away. I decided I could do a flyby without too much trouble. I probably wouldn¡¯t even get seen, which was good, because if I got into a one on one fight with Prime¡¯s people, I might not survive it.


    As I altered my course for the southeast corner of Grand Lake, I managed to find a local all news AM station.


    They appeared to have someone on the scene. That or they were using one of the reporters from News 10. If I remembered correctly, the same people owned both stations.


    ¡°... The Baymont Inn on Jefferson Street has been almost completely destroyed in what appears to be an FBI raid. At 10:15 pm, witnesses reported seeing the police, the FBI, and National Guard troops surrounding the building. At about the same time, the last of the hotel¡¯s guests evacuated as many had been warned to leave during the day.¡±


    Once I flew north past Fillmore, one of Grand Lake¡¯s suburbs, I realized I didn¡¯t need my GPS to find the Baymont at all.


    At night, Jefferson was generally brighter than most streets in the city, but despite all the light from the stores, and restaurants, the Baymont Inn still stood out.


    It was the flames, mostly.


    Even if the Baymont hadn¡¯t been on fire (and it was), the Econolodge and the Denny¡¯s on either side of it were.


    And even if nothing had been on fire, I like to think that I would have picked up on the way the police and National Guard had blocked off the roads around the hotel.


    Not to mention the burning Hummers.


    Over the radio, the announcer continued, ¡°Witnesses claim that the FBI was in contact with the people inside the building by telephone and offered to allow them to surrender, but as they were talking, the people inside allegedly broke through the wall and started the surrounding buildings on fire. They escaped from several powered FBI agents, and are still at large.¡±


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    Powered FBI agents? I didn¡¯t see any -- unless they were the people being loaded into ambulances.


    I saw Lt. Van Kley standing next to her cruiser, talking with men in suits and a few more men in combat fatigues.


    I considered flying down to ask them for more information, but I didn¡¯t. I wasn¡¯t supposed to be out in uniform anyway.


    Giving the rocketpack some more fuel, I aimed myself upward, hoping Prime¡¯s people didn¡¯t include anyone who could fly, and watching the helmet¡¯s readouts for planes.


    At the top of my arc, I could see most of the city. Even this late, light from buildings and streetlights outlined the lake it almost surrounded.


    I aimed myself at Veterans Memorial Park and started to descend.


    As I did, I realized that the newscast had somehow segued into a talk show.


    ¡°This is the Maaaaassive Mike Show on Grand Lake News Radio. Tonight¡¯s topic: The Heroes League. Where are they? We¡¯ve got more superheroes in Grand Lake than ever before, and none of them are doing anything. We had murders of gang members last week. Did we see them? No. Did we see them after someone nailed a guy on the Heroes League¡¯s own building? No. Well, how about tonight? You know, when the FBI completely fails to nail a bunch of powered criminals, and starts half a city block burning? Did we see even a single member of the League? Not a damn soul. They¡¯re teenagers, so we can¡¯t expect them to show up day in, day out like the cops do, but this is a big deal.


    ¡°I could say ¡®Well, they¡¯re kids. They just don¡¯t pay attention.¡¯ But remember last fall? They weren¡¯t just the first people who knew about the Mayor. They were the only people, so I can¡¯t believe they don¡¯t know about this.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking you to call in, and tell me what you think they¡¯re doing?¡±


    And of course he didn¡¯t stop there. Neither did the callers.


    A woman with a gravely voice said. ¡°It¡¯s the week before exams. Maybe they¡¯re studying?¡±


    ¡°Bull. Kids don¡¯t study till the night before. Next caller?¡±


    For half a second, I imagined flying to the studio, explaining what we were up against, and seeing if he had any actual suggestions as opposed to, you know, just carping.


    I didn¡¯t, obviously.


    I flew back to the forest near the park, changed into civilian clothes, and walked home in the dark.


    * * *


    I went to school on Monday. I¡¯d checked with people in my classes over the weekend, and it turned out that I hadn¡¯t gotten assigned any homework on Friday. By the end of the day on Monday, I hadn¡¯t gotten assigned any either, and it seemed obvious that we weren¡¯t going to much of anything before graduation on Thursday night.


    I¡¯d have a whole week to work out bugs in the Rocket suit¡¯s new arm, and maybe even get ahead somehow.


    I made some serious progress on Monday afternoon. I attached it to the suit, and it worked. I could bend the arm, and it had full strength.


    The only things wrong with it were a couple error messages, and the sonics. They wouldn¡¯t turn on. They worked on the old arm, but not the new one.


    In a worst case scenario, I decided I could live with that for a little while.

 Graduation: Part 23

    I didn¡¯t stop trying to fix the arm, but it would be hard to imagine a worse week to try to fix it than my last week of high school ever.


    I didn¡¯t get back to working on things on Monday night because the whole family got talking. With Grandpa and Grandma Klein visiting from Minnesota, that happened easily. Grandpa had taught cultural anthropology at the University of Minnesota, worked for the U.N. in the 1960¡¯s, and had friends all over the world.


    They¡¯d just come back from Spain where he¡¯d presented a paper even though he was mostly retired.


    After supper, the whole family went to the beach to take a walk along Lake Michigan, and by the time I had a chance to get away, it was after ten, and I didn¡¯t want to.


    Tuesday turned out worse.


    I caught up with Vaughn and Cassie on the way out of school. We stood on the lawn in front of the school, talking while kids caught buses or crossed the street to the parking lot for their cars.


    ¡°I¡¯m riding with Vaughn because my Mom¡¯s got her car,¡± Cassie said. ¡°She¡¯s back from D.C.¡±


    I knew better than to ask what she had been doing in Washington.


    Turning his head away from ¡°appreciating¡± some of the girls going past, Vaughn said, ¡°I can drop you off, but we¡¯re going to go watch Sean and Justice Fist practice.¡±


    ¡°Seriously? Why?¡±


    ¡°He asked me, and Cassie decided to come along. Buddy system, you know.¡±


    I did. Lee had been trying to drill that one into our heads. Don¡¯t go into potential danger alone.


    ¡°Well, if you can drop me off, that would be great --¡±


    I didn¡¯t get to finish because Sean walked up and told Vaughn, ¡°If anything happens at practice, just run, get into your car, and drive away. Don¡¯t worry about us. We¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    Vaughn tilted his head back to look up at Sean. ¡°What¡¯s going to happen?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell you here, but it¡¯ll be big afterward.¡±


    Next to him, and more bulked up than I remembered, Dayton said, ¡°Just keep your eyes open.¡±


    On Sean¡¯s other side, Jody said, ¡°We¡¯re going to show those cocksuckers how --¡±


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    Dayton reached around Sean¡¯s back, and gave Jody a push. ¡°Shut up. Not here.¡±


    Jody said, ¡°You shut up.¡±


    After they left, Vaughn and Cassie dropped me off at HQ, and I went down to work on the Rocket suit.


    I didn¡¯t get to.


    First, I noticed an email from Isaac Lim that I should call him to talk about what happened on Sunday night. I¡¯d decided to try to leave a voicemail or something, but just as I began to call, Vaughn¡¯s name appeared on the computer screen.


    I clicked the mouse, and took the call, sending it to the big screen in the main room because I was there, and I could.


    A blurry shot of a football field filled the screen. Past the bleachers on the other side of the field, a old, brick factory stretched to match its size.


    I¡¯d never seen the place before.


    People stood on the field, but they weren¡¯t wearing football uniforms, of course. They wore Justice Fist uniforms.


    I recognized everybody -- Sean, Jody, and Dayton, from school, and from our fight. Sydney, Sean¡¯s younger sister, wore a green and white uniform much like his, but stood a little bit back from the group. Shannon, the Solid Grounds¡¯ barista, and her cousin Julie talked with Camille, Sydney¡¯s half-sister.


    I wondered if either of them knew it. Probably not. It would be hard to get it from looks alone. Camille had light brown skin and dark hair, both a little lighter than her mom¡¯s.


    With Sean and Sydney both being blond and light-skinned, even seeing them all together, I didn¡¯t immediately think about the many small resemblances.


    Just off to the left of the main group, Lucas stood talking to the four people on the field who weren¡¯t wearing Justice Fist uniforms. They wore bulky black jackets, and pants that could pass for SWAT team uniforms in some places. Unlike most SWAT teams, they wore masks.


    I guessed the tallest of them had to be Ray, the woman was Gina (if that was her real name), and I didn¡¯t remember the name of the other guy. I wondered who the fourth person might be. The murderer of the original Power, possibly?


    Vaughn¡¯s voice came over the speakers. ¡°Nick, we¡¯re at the practice.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re on speakerphone,¡± Cassie said. ¡°So no secrets.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll show you around,¡± Vaughn said, and panned across the field.


    They weren¡¯t the only ones there. Groups of students sat together laughing and talking. The view changed, moving from the bleachers to their right, including the field, and then the bleachers to the left. More clumps of students as well as a few grownups. Sean¡¯s dad sat next to Assistant Principal Sledge. Several sheets of metal leaned next to the railing.


    ¡°Their practices are open to everybody?¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Everybody knows who they are, so why not?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Enemies?¡±


    ¡°Whatever,¡± Cassie said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t hurt us.¡±


    She had a point.


    Amid the background talking, Sean¡¯s dad shouted, ¡°Sydney, over here!¡±


    Vaughn pointed the phone¡¯s camera to follow her as she walked to the edge of the field.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Take the metal, or you¡¯re useless to everybody.¡±


    ¡°Useless? Thanks a lot.¡±


    She reached out her hand and the metal disappeared, coating her skin, but not her uniform or hair.


    Comparing it to when her father had done the same thing in Vaughn¡¯s uncle¡¯s office, I thought she had manipulated the metal more quickly, and she¡¯d done something new. She¡¯d created metal lenses over her eyes. Had she changed the molecular structure, making the metal transparent, or merely made it thin? I would have had to test it to know, and I doubted anyone would be willing to get me a sample.


    ¡°Alright, everybody,¡± said one of the men in black uniforms, ¡°time to get rolling. We¡¯ve got a lot to cover today.¡±


    Sean turned away from Dayton and Jody, and said, ¡°I don¡¯ t think so. We''re sending you back to jail.¡±

 Graduation: Part 24

    One of the men in protective gear -- the one I¡¯d guessed might be Ray -- pulled a gun, and pointed it at Sean.


    Julie stopped talking to Shannon and Camille, and shouted, ¡°Freeze!¡±


    The sonic blocker I¡¯d designed to stop Julie¡¯s commands, and Syndicate L¡¯s paralysis devices went off, cancelling out the odd tone in her voice, leaving her to sound much like anyone else.


    Out on the field, everybody except Julie stopped moving.


    ¡°Score one for the Pink Ranger,¡± Cassie said.


    ¡°Looks like it worked,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Even the people in the stands are out.¡±


    Vaughn panned the crowd. Most of them stared straight ahead.


    Well, except for Ray. He pointed his gun at Julie.


    She dove for the ground, shouting, ¡°Unfreeze! Unfreeze!¡±


    Then I heard the sound of screaming, and a small hum from my sonic blocker, but I only saw blurry bleachers, and Vaughn¡¯s jeans (black).


    ¡°Change in the bathrooms?¡± Vaughn asked.


    ¡°Where are they?¡±


    ¡°There.¡±


    ¡°By the exit? Vaughn, everybody¡¯s running for the exit. It¡¯ll be over before -- God. It is.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± I shouted up at the screen. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re still there, Nick? Look.¡± Vaughn pointed the phone toward the field. All of Justice Fist lay on the ground unmoving.


    Sean¡¯s father ran out across the field with Mr. Sledge.


    ¡°Where¡¯s...¡± I tried to think of a way to refer to Ray that wouldn¡¯t be suspicious if overheard. ¡°Uh...¡±


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    ¡°Their teachers left by the exit on the other side of the field,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s get out of here.¡±


    * * *


    Vaughn did manage to get into the air afterward, but he didn¡¯t see Ray¡¯s team at all.


    I talked to Isaac Lim after I got off the phone. Despite the news reports showing the hotel¡¯s destruction, the evening hadn¡¯t been a total loss. They¡¯d managed to catch a couple of Prime¡¯s people. They weren¡¯t talking yet, but he had hopes.


    When I told him about what happened on the field, he asked for details, and then said, ¡°Thanks. Got to go.¡±


    It made the five o¡¯clock news. I caught it in the lab as I tested the right arm¡¯s sonics¡¯ connections. They interviewed Sean. He said nothing about why the fight started.


    Had Isaac talked to him?


    * * *


    Graduation came too soon.


    They held the ceremony on the football field, placing the platform on the east side so we wouldn¡¯t have to sit with the sun in our eyes. Given that the sun would set during the ceremony, it was nice to know they¡¯d been thinking ahead.


    Graduates sat in the field, all of us in blue and yellow robes. Parents, relatives, and friends sat in the bleachers.


    I tried to find my parents, grandparents, and Rachel. Haley had mentioned that she might be sitting with them too.


    I couldn¡¯t see any of them.


    I noticed Sean¡¯s parents and Sydney sitting in the front row of the bleachers. Sean¡¯s dad didn¡¯t seem to be smiling. As I looked at him, he seemed to be checking out the top rows of the bleachers across from him.


    Following his gaze, I didn¡¯t see anything suspicious -- just another police officer. I¡¯d seen at least five so far. Someone had arranged more security than I would have expected.


    After what had happened at prom, I could imagine their paranoia.


    I pulled out my League phone, and texted Rachel.


    She sent back, ¡°We¡¯re here. Stop worrying.¡±


    I did, listening while our principal, Dr. Williams introduced the commencement speaker, and proceeded to zone out during the speech.


    If possible, I paid even less attention once they started calling names of the graduates, and waited for them to cross the stage. I cheered as Vaughn crossed the stage. A lot of people did, but mostly I sat quietly. With a six hundred person graduating class, it took far too long for them to seriously expect anyone to pay attention the entire time.


    I barely noticed when they called my name. I walked, following Kayla just like I had in practice that afternoon, but I didn¡¯t think about it much.


    A few people cheered as I crossed the stage -- Cassie, for sure. I recognized her voice. She was walking just a couple people behind me.


    Once I sat down again, I had no reason at all to pay attention, and didn¡¯t until they got to the ¡°T¡¯s.¡±


    I can¡¯t remember who walked, (John Thompson? Andy Timmer?) but as he did, someone started screaming.


    Sean¡¯s mom.


    I glanced at Sean¡¯s dad, and turned my head away, trying to convince my stomach to stop heaving.


    To judge from his slumped body, and bloody mess of a face, he had to be dead.

 Graduation: Part 25

    Standing at the podium, Principal Williams stopped the ceremony.


    He held up his hands. ¡°Everyone please be quiet, and stay where you are. We''ve called an ambulance, and they will need the aisles to be clear.¡±


    Not everybody listened. Sean pushed his way out between the aisles of folding chairs, ran across the field, up one of the short stairways, and into the bleachers, joining his family.


    I couldn¡¯t blame him for that.


    Andy Timmer¡¯s dad stood near them. If I remembered correctly, Andy¡¯s dad was a doctor, but he didn¡¯t have much to work with here.


    The setting sun cast long shadows, but I thought I could see blood on the concrete ledge in front of the bleachers even from where I sat.


    My League cell phone vibrated. I pulled it out, unlocked the screen, and found a message from Haley, ¡°Going after them.¡±


    I clicked on the GPS to find her position, and the phone showed a dot superimposed on a picture of the stadium.


    Looking upward to my left, I saw a small figure that had to be Haley standing at the top row of the bleachers. A taller woman, probably Rachel, jumped from one row to another, catching up to her.


    No one was seated anywhere near them. Almost all the parents sat in the lower rows, and in the part of the stadium nearest to the podium. Even though Central High used it for graduation every year, Grand Lake University¡¯s football stadium could hold three times our crowd.


    To my relief, Haley didn¡¯t jump off the back. She used the stairway. Rachel followed her, and they both disappeared from sight.


    * * *


    I didn¡¯t have much experience to guide me, but the crowd that emerged from the stadium felt quieter than a post graduation crowd should.


    After Rachel¡¯s graduation, the senior class had thrown their hats into the air as they exited the stadium, and walked down the steps into the parking lot. Ours walked out, and stood in groups to talk, or went straight to their cars.


    Five police cars parked in front of the stadium near the main exits. Policemen stood talking to people, and taking notes near the entrance. The banks of lights hanging in the air made it almost as bright as day.


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    The parking lot looked darker.


    News 10 had parked their truck (complete with satellite uplink) near the police cars. The trucks from other local channels were still setting up, but the News 10 reporter and cameraman were interviewing people.


    I avoided them.


    Near me, Cassie said, ¡°Nick, over there.¡±


    Rachel and Haley stood on a traffic island across from the exits. We crossed the road, and stood next to them.


    Cassie, with Kayla next to her, said, ¡°What did you find out?¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°I couldn¡¯t catch them. I smelled Ray near the exit. I caught his scent outside, but they must have had someone waiting in a car, and they left before I even got out.¡±


    Rachel glanced toward the police and reporters. ¡°I happened to overhear the police interviewing the people sitting behind Sean¡¯s family. Ray walked up in normal clothes, put a gun to the back of Mr. Drucker¡¯s head, shot and ran away.¡±


    Cassie eyed Rachel. ¡°What about the police? They were all over. Didn¡¯t they try to stop him?¡±


    ¡°One of them did. He got shot. They took him away with Sean¡¯s father.¡±


    ¡°But the policeman wasn¡¯t dead,¡± Haley said. ¡°I heard him talking to the paramedics.¡±


    A woman¡¯s voice said, ¡°Cassie!¡±


    Mrs. Kowalski stood in a knot of parents, including Kayla¡¯s. She waved Cassie over.


    Kayla said, ¡°My parents are waving too.¡±


    Cassie sighed. ¡°Kayla¡¯s parents and my mom were going out for dessert tonight. I¡¯d try to get out of it, but what else can we do here? How about tomorrow?¡±


    We all agreed, and they left.


    Rachel flicked her eyes between Haley and I. ¡°I¡¯m sure our parents want to leave too. I can stall them if you want a couple minutes alone.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, though between the reporters, the police, and the people standing in the darkened parking lot this barely qualified as alone.


    Rachel stepped off the traffic island and disappeared into the crowd of parents and family.


    Neither of us said anything for a little while. Then Haley said, ¡°I won¡¯t be able to make the meeting if you have it during the day. I¡¯ve still got school. I¡¯ve got exams next week. I wonder if I¡¯ll even be able to concentrate on studying?¡±


    ¡°I could help. I don¡¯t have anything going next week. Nothing planned anyway.¡±


    ¡°After tonight, I¡¯ve got a feeling we¡¯ll be busy.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re probably right,¡± I said.


    ¡°And besides, the time we did study together was fun, but we didn''t study very much.¡±


    She had a point.


    ¡°I keep on hearing the shot,¡± Haley said. ¡°It sounded like a gun with silencer. Remember when Lee brought one to practice?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t hear anything.¡±


    ¡°You couldn¡¯t have, but that¡¯s not what I was thinking about. I was thinking about Sydney and Sean. When Sean and I were dating, it was so obvious how much better their lives would have been if their father were decent. Or maybe just... gone.¡±


    She pushed her hair back with her hand.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think this is going to make things better,¡± she said.


    I thought back to when Vaughn volunteered to tell Sean about Ray and his team. At the time, it seemed like a possible way to get Sean¡¯s cooperation, but he wouldn¡¯t have tried to take Ray down if we hadn¡¯t.


    It wasn¡¯t our fault he¡¯d tried, just like it wasn¡¯t our fault Ray had tried to kill his dad. But could we have predicted it?


    ¡°Nick, what''s on your mind?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think this is going to make things better either.¡±

 War: Part 1

    Instead of doing something with Haley on Friday night, I found myself flying through the air with Rachel toward the Rocket¡¯s first ever intentional TV interview -- or if not the Rocket¡¯s first, my first as the Rocket.


    Rachel let go of my shoulder as I pointed myself upright, stopping the rockets for a moment, but then making the rocketpack start a new burn, slowing my descent.


    Below me I could see the parking lot where I¡¯d fought Man-machine--until his heart attack, anyway.


    It looked a lot like it had that night, half full of cars, and darkness.


    Off to the left stood Lavender West, an old, four story piano factory that had been converted into a store that sold bohemian clothing, pot paraphernalia, skateboarding gear, and had a skate park on the fourth floor.


    That¡¯s what I¡¯d heard, anyway. Vaughn would have known for sure -- if only because he was into skateboarding.


    I landed in the handicapped spot next to the main entrance. Rachel landed next to me.


    ¡°I can think of a few other things I¡¯d rather be going on television for,¡± she said.


    Then she floated through the glass door. I followed her, except I had to open it.


    Whoever had done the interior design for News 10 had gone with the ¡°artsy, old building¡± look -- big blown up pictures of local buildings and old versions of the TV studio on the walls, the bottom of the next story¡¯s wooden floor as a ceiling, and white walls.


    The station¡¯s waiting area lay just beyond the entrance. It consisted of a few chairs in an alcove and the receptionist¡¯s desk. The desk sat behind a white counter that had been built out from the wall.


    A security guard stood next to the desk in a black uniform, his blue and white badge saying ¡°Grand Lake Security.¡±


    His eyes bugged out as Rachel floated in, transparent enough that people could see through her, playing up the Ghost identity.


    ¡°You can¡¯t bring that gun in here,¡± he said.


    Her black pistol stood out against a white holster, white utility belt, and white costume.


    ¡°If you can grab it, you can have it.¡± Rachel shot him a smile.


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    ¡°But seriously, if the Rocket and I decided to cause a problem, this gun would be the least of your worries.¡±


    I¡¯d designed some of the ammunition she would be using. I liked to think the gun would be a big worry.


    ¡°The gun¡¯s kind of cool,¡± I said, ¡°and the ammunition¡¯s extremely cool. Would it help if I assured you that the that chance that she¡¯ll go on a rampage is really, really low? I mean, you can¡¯t put it at zero because it¡¯s a weird universe and all, but there are going to be a lot of zeroes after the decimal point.¡±


    Rachel turned her head to look at me. ¡°You¡¯re not helping.¡±


    ¡°What I¡¯m really trying to say,¡± I continued, ¡°is that her trustworthiness can be measured with many, many nines.¡±


    ¡°Unless Mr... Allen Carpenter,¡± Rachel read the plastic ID card hanging on a string around his neck, ¡±is secretly a robot and cares, you¡¯re still not helping.¡±


    The guard reached for Rachel''s gun. His hand passed through it, Rachel¡¯s utility belt, and her waist.


    I caught up with her in a few quick steps, and he backed away, stopping when he hit the side of the receptionist¡¯s desk.


    If nothing else, the real Rocket suit was a lot more intimidating than the stealth suit.


    The receptionist, a fifty-ish woman in a professional-looking, brown suit took the situation in with a glance, and picked up the phone.


    ¡°Erika, the Rocket and Ghost have arrived... Can I send them in? Wonderful.¡±


    She hung up. ¡°Go down the hall, and take the first door to the left.¡±


    We walked down the hall, entering a room with lots of lights hanging from the ceiling, three cameras, and two sets. On the far side of the room stood the news set with its desks, wood paneling, and rows of background TV¡¯s that showed News 10¡¯s logo during the newscast.


    The other side had the interview set -- a conference table, chairs and lots of bluish background and lighting.


    Erika Hernandez (I recognized her from the news) stood next to the interview set. ¡°Come over here and get comfortable. We can start whenever you¡¯re ready.¡±


    She grinned at us, and it seemed like a genuine smile as opposed to a professionally friendly smile.


    Of course, faking a genuine smile might be a useful skill for a television reporter.


    We sat down in chairs while people fussed around with the lighting. My suit was shinier than they liked, and they spent several minutes working around that. They spent a few more experimenting to find Rachel¡¯s best shade of transparency for the cameras.


    ¡°Everybody ready to go?¡± Erika sat in her chair, facing the two of us. ¡°Rocket, are you comfortable?¡±


    I sat on the edge of my seat with two of the rocketpack¡¯s fins touching the back of the chair.


    ¡°Not really, but I can¡¯t imagine what to do about it unless you want me to stand, or unless you¡¯ve got a stool.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, we don¡¯t. Can you take it off?¡±


    ¡°Not here.¡±


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll just have to soldier on. I promise it won¡¯t be long.¡±


    Someone standing near the cameras started counting down. ¡°Three... Two... One.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re here today with the Rocket and Ghost to talk about the New Heroes League. They¡¯ve agreed to share some memories they have of the original League, and talk about their investigation into the murders we¡¯ve seen during the last few weeks. At the end of the broadcast, they¡¯ll have an important message and warning for all of us.¡±


    She¡¯d gotten the last part wrong. It wasn¡¯t a message for everyone. It was a message for Prime from Lee. I made a mental note to tell her that when it came up.


    That, and to encourage them to be very clear that the interview was a recording when they aired it. If they didn¡¯t, Prime might show up at the station, and, given what we were about to say, he¡¯d probably be cranky.

 War: Part 2

    ¡°So after years of silence, the New Heroes League appeared out of nowhere. How did that happen?¡±


    ¡°I came in late,¡± Rachel said. ¡°You¡¯ll have to ask the Rocket.¡±


    Erika turned her attention to me. ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°A few of us got to talking,¡± I began.


    ¡°Us?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re all connected to the original League one way or another. We got together a few times, and we decided we wanted to bring it back instead of letting it end.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s when you decided to take on the Gray Giant?¡±


    ¡°That was a side effect of running into Syndicate L. We discovered they were transporting something and it happened to be him.¡±


    Erika said, ¡°That must have been a big surprise.¡±


    ¡°He was just a normal sized surprise at first, but he grew.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°That¡¯s what he¡¯s famous for.¡±


    After that she asked us questions about the most visible events of the League¡¯s return -- mostly incidents that caused property damage -- the Mayor, the Maniacs, fighting Man-machine, Prime, the Cabal, the Executioner, and finally Justice Fist.


    ¡°So what do you think about Justice Fist? The original Heroes League had the city all to itself, but now you have to share with another team. Do you see them as allies? Rivals?¡±


    Rachel shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ve barely met them. Rocket?¡±


    I wondered what I should say. Obviously, I wasn¡¯t going to say exactly what I thought of Sean. Everybody knew what had happened to his father, so it wasn¡¯t the time to point out that he was an overconfident bully who thought his powers made him practically godlike.


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    ¡°They¡¯re okay. They¡¯ve helped us out a couple times. No complaints.¡±


    ¡°What about reports of tension between yourself and the Power? We¡¯ve got a witness who claims that the two of you nearly got into a fight in a junkyard this spring, and others saw you arguing after you fought Jack Maniac.¡±


    I wondered who had told them about the fight in the junkyard. The argument after fighting Jack Maniac was less of a mystery since that took place in the middle of a suburban neighborhood.


    ¡°Well, things happen. People get upset. I don¡¯t think we ever punched each other or anything. Besides, it''s not like that with everybody in Justice Fist. Anyway... We got lucky in a couple different ways that they didn¡¯t. The original League arranged a teacher for us, and we¡¯ve got people connected to the original League willing to offer advice when we need it.¡±


    ¡°Oh, really? Who?¡±


    With luck, I¡¯d distracted her from pursuing the whole Justice Fist issue, and put the interview back on track for Lee¡¯s message.


    ¡°Well, in Double V¡¯s database you¡¯ll find an entry for a being called the Immortal? His entry suggests that he might be ¡®Gunther,¡¯ a German in the French Foreign Legion that operated with the Heroes League during and after World War 2? Well, that¡¯s true. And you know how we were talking about Prime and the Cabal¡¯s army earlier? We¡¯ve got a message from the Immortal to Prime. Here it is...¡±


    I started the recording in my helmet. Lee started talking in some Germanic language that wasn¡¯t German. Not modern German at least. It lasted for maybe a minute.


    From her waist up, Erika appeared to be completely patient and interested. I couldn¡¯t help but notice that she tapped her toe during the entire speech.


    When Lee finished, and his voice turned into a laugh, she asked ¡°What did that mean?¡±


    ¡°Well, he started by challenging Prime to fight us. Then, he said that if Prime didn¡¯t drop everything to arrange a time now, Prime was some kind of coward, and he finished things off by talking about Prime¡¯s wife back in the first half of the fifth century. He describes a birthmark she had in a very... private place. I don¡¯t know exactly how he knows, but it¡¯s implied, you know?¡±


    Rachel pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Erika. ¡°It¡¯s in Old Frankish. Here¡¯s a translation. You can run it under the recording.¡±


    * * *


    They ran it on the eleven o¡¯clock newscast. They cut a lot, but kept Lee¡¯s message, running the translation as a crawl on the bottom of the screen.


    Rachel and I watched it at home. Mom and Dad had gone to bed as had Grandpa and Grandma Klein. They were leaving on Saturday, and needed to be at the airport early.


    ¡°That ought to stir up some trouble,¡± Rachel said as the segment finished.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I began.


    Then my cellphone started ringing.

 War: Part 3

    The caller ID on my cellphone showed the call came from HQ -- which meant either that I¡¯d been forwarded Prime¡¯s call through HQ or that someone in HQ had called me.


    I took the call.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°you¡¯ve gotta take a look at Double V¡¯s forums. Go to the Grand Lake section. It¡¯s totally crazy.¡±


    So I did.


    I went up to my room, and with Rachel looking over my shoulder, checked out the forums. In the very few minutes since the interview aired, someone had taken the video, and uploaded it to Youtube. They¡¯d also linked to the page where News 10 mentioned that the full interview would appear on their daytime interview show.


    Sometimes I suspected that our fans were more interested in watching us than we were in doing the things they wanted to watch.


    That wasn¡¯t the crazy part. I¡¯d visited the forums before, and that was expected.


    The crazy part was the 128 post discussion entitled, ¡°What the F@&# is Old Frankish?¡±


    ¡°Did you get to the Old Frankish part yet?¡± Vaughn asked. I¡¯d put the cell on speakerphone.


    ¡°Just now,¡± I said.


    Next to me, Rachel pointed at one of the comments. ¡°I love how the second poster managed to weave my butt into the discussion because that¡¯s got everything to do with Old Frankish.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not defending him,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but at least he was complimentary.¡±


    ¡°And that makes him not an asshole?¡±


    I lost track of the conversation at that point because I started to read the thread. It was more interesting that I¡¯d thought. Some of the posts were from an actual linguist. It turned out that we didn¡¯t have any examples of Old Frankish. All we had were words from the various languages that descended from it.


    Rachel and Vaughn must have started talking about the discussion at some point because the next I heard her say was, ¡°Not only do we have to fight off the Executioner, and Prime, but we might get invaded by linguists.¡±


    In the phone¡¯s tinny speaker, Vaughn said, ¡°He¡¯s already called us. I didn¡¯t pick up, but no joke. The guy wants to speak to Lee, and he¡¯s not the only one.¡±


    I kept on reading. Somewhere around the sixth post, the topic turned to Lee. It went like this:


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    Eliminator232: so how do we know that¡¯s really old frankass?


    CrusherDood: Because it¡¯s the Immortal talking, moron. The guy¡¯s been kicking around for thousands of years. Look at the Double V db entry...


    CrusherDood included links to the db entry, plus ¡°the Immortal¡¯s¡± usenet group, and the collection of websites devoted to finding records of Lee in history.


    One of them claimed he¡¯d killed at least two Roman emperors and partially corroborated his story about becoming emperor for a month. Another claimed to have found Sumerian records that described him. They posted translations along with pictures of the tablets. Not knowing how to read cuneiform, I had no way to verify them.


    The translation of a medieval grimoire claimed it was possible to imprison him with the use of ¡°blasphemous, eldritch symbols,¡± but didn¡¯t say which ones.


    Outside of his time as Gunther, I couldn¡¯t find much on him within the past sixty years. They¡¯d missed his attempt to start a cult, but he¡¯d been posing as an enlightened being at the time, and hadn¡¯t killed anybody.


    That¡¯s how they usually picked up on him. Given that he could completely become a new identity, his only identifying characteristics were his tendency to not die, and an ability to always have edged weapons available -- even if he had to pull them out of thin air.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen him do that,¡± Rachel said.


    ¡°Right,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°He¡¯s always got swords and stuff around the studio, but I¡¯ve never seen him get one out of nowhere.¡±


    ¡°Me neither.¡± I checked over a few more sites, and was relieved not to find any references to his martial arts studio.


    ¡°Makes you wonder if any of his enemies will show up, and what they¡¯d be,¡± Vaughn said.


    * * *


    I woke up twice on Saturday morning, once to say goodbye to my grandparents who left for the airport at six am, and again at ten.


    After breakfast, I walked to HQ. Sitting in front of the computer screen, smelling the bunker¡¯s mustiness, I couldn¡¯t help but think that I was spending way too much time down there.


    The voice mail program showed more than one hundred messages.


    I deleted anything that came from a newspaper, TV or radio station without listening to it, but most calls came from private numbers. In the end, I deleted calls from a lot of linguists, and cultural anthropologists, plus a pile of calls from people who just wanted to speak with Lee.


    By the time I finished, I¡¯d gotten so deeply in the habit of pressing delete that I almost deleted calls from Lee, and Isaac Lim.


    I listened to Lee¡¯s voicemail first.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t get a call back from Prime yet, I bet. He¡¯s been busy, and he hasn¡¯t been watching TV. Check for Ionia Maximum Security Prison in the news. This is the kind of thing I was hoping to avoid by challenging him, but hell, it¡¯s not the end of the world. It keeps things exciting.¡±


    News 10¡¯s website linked to the breakout directly from their front page. The news footage showed a bulky man breaking down a concrete wall. Bullets didn¡¯t faze him, though sometimes he stopped to throw a chunk of concrete outside the camera¡¯s view.


    The newscast segued into a slideshow of the escapees, showing all the people we¡¯d fought at that old house on the north west side of town including the man who¡¯d melted the Rocket suit¡¯s arm, and the guy whose leg Cassie cut off.


    Apparently he¡¯d gotten better.


    Once all the pictures had flipped past, I decided I could be relieved that Man-machine, Mayor Bouman and the guys we''d fought at the convenience store hadn¡¯t escaped. They were in there too.


    I sat back in my chair and closed the browser.


    And that¡¯s when Prime called.

 War: Part 4

    I didn¡¯t know it was Prime when I took the call.


    The caller ID said the number was ¡°unavailable,¡± but I¡¯d set the voicemail system to play the voicemail live while I was there.


    So... ¡°You¡¯ve reached the Heroes League. Please leave your number after the beep.¡±


    It beeped.


    I recognized the voice from the time he¡¯d called to threaten us. The language? That too. He left the message in Old Frankish.


    As he talked, I debated breaking in, and seeing if he would use English. We had a plan worked out. If we ended up speaking we were supposed to keep him angry, and push him into arranging a date to fight us soon.


    I wasn¡¯t sure if I needed to make him angrier though. He practically shouted into the phone.


    As he started to wind down, my urge to do something won out against my urge to not be shouted at.


    I picked up the phone. Letting the computer distort my voice into the standard Rocket voice, I said, ¡°Can you say it again in English?¡±


    ¡°Leave this to your betters, boy,¡± he said, continued on in Old Frankish for a sentence or two, and hung up.


    Apparently he didn¡¯t trust anyone under 30.


    I recorded it all anyway, so no big deal.


    When he hung up on me, I had a brief moment of wondering whether I should call Lee or Isaac Lim back first. I decided on Lee in the next half-second.


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    ¡°I¡¯ll be over in twenty minutes. Gotta finish off my class and arrange for someone to take my next session.¡±


    Lee came down the elevator fifteen minutes later.


    He walked across the main room, passing the cardboard boxes, pausing for a moment to smirk at one of the trophy cases. Between dimness of the lights and the distance, I couldn¡¯t tell which case.


    When he finally made it to the main room¡¯s only table where I sat at a computer, he put a black motorcycle helmet next to my monitor, and sat next to it on the table.


    ¡°Let¡¯s hear it,¡± he said.


    I replayed the whole conversation including my part in it.


    After the recording finished, Lee said, ¡°Not bad. Could be better, but not bad.¡±


    ¡°So, what did he say?¡±


    ¡°Well, first he insulted me for a while, but then he got down to business. We¡¯ll meet with him next week Thursday to set up details for the fight.¡±


    ¡°What kind of fight? Who¡¯s in it?¡± I thought for a second. ¡°And weren¡¯t you trying to push him into doing something tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°To answer your questions... No I don¡¯t know what kind of fight or who¡¯s in it. That¡¯s for Thursday. As for pushing him, yeah, no question I wanted to move him faster, but it¡¯s not my fault if he¡¯s had 1500 years to get educated. I¡¯m happy it worked as well as it did. He knows it has to be a trick somehow, but he can¡¯t just ignore it. That¡¯s why it pays to know languages. You¡¯ll never be able to hurt anybody as much in their second language as their first.¡±


    Strangely, none of my language teachers had ever used that justification.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I asked, ¡°so who do you want to be in the fight?¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter much to me at all. It¡¯s more a question of who I don¡¯t want to be in in the fight -- everybody. Here¡¯s how the Cabal works. They¡¯ve been recruiting powers from the lower end of society for years. Now the government¡¯s discovered their breeding villages, and they can¡¯t recruit from the big cities where there are a lot of supers without people noticing. Here in Grand Lake you had Red Lightning¡¯s breeding program, and you had the Mayor, and he was probably monitoring the results for the Cabal.


    ¡°So,¡± Lee continued, ¡±they¡¯ve been going after the gangs around here. I¡¯d bet they¡¯ve taken over half of them by now, and terrified the other half. And that means that if we have a fight that takes out their leadership, good. Then we only have the Executioner and company to worry about after that.


    ¡°The idea,¡± Lee said, ¡°is to take out the Cabal''s people before they notice their best bet is in working with the Executioner.¡±

 War: Part 5

    Lee leaned his arm on the monitor, pushing the keyboard backward to create more room to sit on the table.


    ¡°When I try to work out how to handle situations like this, I ask myself who¡¯s got common interests? More often than not, I¡¯m not the only one asking the question. For example, the League¡¯s got common interests with Hardwick¡¯s group and Justice Fist. They¡¯re both probably running given what¡¯s happened lately, but you might be able to pull in a few.


    ¡°As for Prime and the Executioner¡¯s groups... Prime¡¯s people want you out of the way of threatening their supply of new recruits, and they used to want to kill Red Lightning¡¯s people to keep the juice¡¯s secret safe. Ray¡¯s people want to kill you, Hardwick¡¯s group and all of Justice Fist too. So, there¡¯s synergy there.¡±


    ¡°Synergy in that they both want to kill the same people, one of whom happens to be me.¡±


    ¡°Right, but that¡¯s not the end of it. Ray¡¯s group is small and understands modern weaponry. Prime¡¯s is large and has a lot of people with powers. If they did get together they¡¯d have a lot to offer each other -- and a lot to argue about -- which might be a nice lever for us if it comes to that.¡±


    After that, we talked about plans for how to handle meeting Prime¡¯s people next week.


    An hour later, he left, and I finally got around to calling Isaac Lim back.


    He answered on the first ring, and I put the picture on the big screen.


    Isaac wore a helmet, green combat fatigues, and a thick, brown vest with ¡°FBI¡± on it in big white letters. A sub-machinegun hung from a strap.


    I could see trees, a couple trucks painted in camouflage colors, and a tent in the background. In the distance, I thought I heard shouting.


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    ¡°Glad you called back,¡± Isaac said. ¡°I¡¯ve got to warn you that I might drop this call at any time.¡±


    ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t say, but if you remember another time you called me... Let¡¯s say a ship or two got through and we had some landings. We¡¯re dealing with them right now.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell anybody.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t. Uh... Why did you call?¡±


    Even through the goggles on his helmet, I could see his eyes narrow. ¡°What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing challenging Prime? His people chewed through us like we were nothing, and I had powered agents in the field.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t really my idea.¡±


    ¡°Goddamn it, I know. It was Lee¡¯s. I told you not to trust that guy. What¡¯s he trying to do, get you killed?¡±


    ¡°I think he¡¯s trying to do exactly the opposite. I¡¯ve known him all my life, and I think he owes Grandpa somehow.¡±


    Isaac nodded his head. ¡°Don¡¯t assume that¡¯s a good thing. I¡¯ve been reading up on Lee/Gunther/Immortal or whatever we¡¯re calling him today, and he first appeared with your Grandfather after some mission early in the war. Never did explain why. From what I¡¯ve read, he¡¯s known for keeping his deals. The bad news is if he doesn¡¯t like you, he¡¯s been known to keep them to the letter, and that doesn¡¯t necessarily require leaving his clients alive. So, you¡¯d better hope he likes you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he does. Well, if that¡¯s all--¡±


    ¡°One more thing, stall. We¡¯ve got regular agents in Grand Lake watching Justice Fist and their families. After what happened to George Drucker, it had to happen. All our powered agents are busy up here and in the other landing spots. We¡¯ve got most of the trustworthy supers in the northern Midwest up here too. Don¡¯t expect much help if you call the Michigan Heroes Alliance. You¡¯ll just get second-raters.¡±


    ¡°Wait, where are you?¡±


    ¡°Michigan¡¯s upper peninsula. Don¡¯t pass it on.¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think we can stall. We¡¯re set to meet Prime next week Thursday. Will you be done by then?¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯m lucky, sure, but I could just as easily be up here for a month.¡±


    Isaac took a breath, and frowned. ¡°I might just be getting paranoid, but isn¡¯t it convenient that Prime comes when I¡¯m dealing with one of the biggest incursions in years, guaranteeing you won¡¯t get any help at all?¡±


    ¡°Are you suggesting Prime¡¯s working with aliens?¡±


    Isaac shook his head. ¡°No, but something like it. I --¡±


    A deep booming noise came over the audio. Isaac stumbled, the trees in the background shook, and the picture wobbled.


    ¡°Gotta go,¡± he said. ¡°Good luck.¡±

 War: Part 6

    The days between Prime getting back to us, and actually meeting him were a blur. A weird blur. Those of us who didn¡¯t have exams, planned and drilled with Lee. I worked on the suit, the roachbots, and talked through some ideas with Chris, and Larry.


    I¡¯d called Larry when Lee told us to think about people who might help, and it was lucky I had.


    When I told him the time to meet at Man-Machine¡¯s underground factory, he told me, ¡°You saved me from working for the Feds this weeked. Just told them I was busy.¡±


    We were going to do more than talk through ideas.


    Hours later, Larry, a big guy even without the Rhino armor, walked down the rows of frames, engines and powered armor parts, staring. Almost every row had three levels. We could outfit a small army.


    ¡°Your grandpa and I always suspected Man-machine had to have some place like this. He just had too much stuff, never seemed to run out. Trash his new suit and he¡¯d come back with an improved version the next day.¡±


    Chris smiled nervously at him. ¡°What would you have done if you had known?¡±


    ¡°Blown it to hell probably, but those are the breaks if you choose this lifestyle. I guess it¡¯s good we didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Lifestyle?¡± Chris stopped smiling. ¡°I haven¡¯t chosen it. It feels like it fell on me.¡±


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    Larry shook his head. ¡°You had choices. You didn¡¯t ever have to put on that armor the two of you worked on. Could have stayed home instead of trying to take down the Maniacs. Whatever reasons you had to stay away, you didn¡¯t. You put the armor on, and you¡¯re here now.


    ¡°Look at me,¡± Larry stopped walking. ¡°You know how I got started in this? I found some of your,¡± he pointed at Chris, ¡°grandfather¡¯s armor after one of his quick getaways, and I fixed it up. I met the Rocket after that. Been at it ever since, one way or another.¡±


    He checked his watch, and looked at the two of us. ¡°Well, if we¡¯re going to get done what we need to, we¡¯d better start welding.¡±


    * * *


    In the versions of the old west that I¡¯d seen on television, people handled duels by walking down some dusty Main Street, and pulling out their guns.


    If you cared about whether innocent bystanders got hurt, or didn¡¯t want to be interrupted by SWAT teams, you needed to find someplace more private.


    Lee and Prime had arranged the time and location between themselves over the week.


    That¡¯s how we ended up meeting Prime and his people in the middle of a grassy field twenty miles outside Grand Lake. We stood behind an old barn next to a dirt road that people probably went down sometimes, but I hadn¡¯t seen any cars yet.


    Well, other than ours and Prime¡¯s people''s.


    If there had ever been a farmhouse to go along with the barn, it had long ago disappeared. All grayish wood with flecks of red, the barn looked like it might fall in soon itself.


    It had a working light behind the barn, the sole light I could see besides the stars and moon.


    Aside from one cloud, the sky was clear.


    Not everyone came with us. On the League¡¯s side, we had Lee, Jaclyn, Cassie, Rachel, Marcus and I.


    On Prime¡¯s side stood all the people I remembered from our fight with the Cabal -- the big guy, the weirdly thin, long-legged woman, the man with burning hands, and the guy who absorbed energy -- plus a whole lot more. Maybe one hundred more.


    I lost count after the first fifty.

 War: Part 7

    Prime stood at the front of the crowd. He didn¡¯t look like someone who had lived most of the way through two millenniums. Under the single light, his brush cut, blond hair shone. His face, all hard lines, but still smooth, could have easily passed for thirty.


    As we stepped closer to him, he pulled a sword out of his trench coat. Between Lee¡¯s teaching, and Daniel showing me some books on Roman history, I recognized it as a gladius, the Roman legions¡¯ traditional sword.


    Behind me, Marcus muttered, ¡°There can be only one.¡±


    In front of me, Lee pulled out his own gladius, apparently from nowhere.


    Only Lee wasn¡¯t Lee. I knew him as Gaius Calidius Gallius and I always had. Except I also knew that I knew him as Lee.


    Gaius had dark hair, and tanned skin. Even though he wore jeans and a t-shirt instead of a toga or any armor, he somehow reminded me of the film ¡°Gladiator.¡±


    Gaius walked straight toward Prime, both of them shouting at each other -- probably in Old Frankish.


    We followed him (but not too closely) until they surrounded us.


    Oddly enough, this was according to plan.


    Once Gaius and Prime stood under the light, and roughly ten feet away from each other, Prime shouted, ¡°Halt.¡±


    Prime¡¯s people stopped, creating a circle around the fight, and two groups within it -- Prime, and the people we¡¯d fought earlier on one side, and Gaius (Lee!) with us on the other.


    Gaius turned briefly toward us, ¡°We¡¯re going to duel. Remember the plan.¡±


    Once he gave his attention to Prime, they said a few words to each other, and then they attacked.


    Lee had taught me the basics of sword fighting, but even the first few seconds of the fight showed me how much better they were than I expected to ever become.


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    Blades flashed faster than I could follow except in the most general way.


    Still, I could see patterns in the way they fought.


    Gaius never blocked Prime¡¯s blade in a way that could let it become a contest of strength. He always deflected the blade at a small angle. Sometimes he didn¡¯t block at all, managing not to be where the blow fell.


    Not that Prime¡¯s fighting style included a lot of wild swings. It didn¡¯t.


    For the most part, Prime didn¡¯t slash, he stabbed, barely missing Gaius again and again.


    Gaius showed no hesitation to slash instead of stab, cutting through Prime¡¯s trench coat and shirt, leaving a long, bloody line.


    Prime didn¡¯t stop fighting, but his eyes widened as Gaius cut. Prime aimed blow after blow at Gaius even as the skin came together and healed.


    Meanwhile Gaius¡¯ strikes and blocks seemed slow, almost lazy, by comparison.


    But they worked.


    Gaius¡¯ sword slashed Prime¡¯s thigh, cutting a couple inches into it.


    Even though the skin came together almost immediately, the blood flew half a foot away.


    It struck me as desperation, but might not have been. Still, instead of moving a step or two like he had been doing, Prime rushed forward, running his sword through Gaius¡¯ abdomen.


    In anyone else, it would have been fatal, but Gaius barely even showed an awareness of the pain. Another sword appeared in his left hand, and he cut into the bicep of Prime¡¯s sword arm. Then he used the sword in his right hand to cut into Prime¡¯s neck.


    The blow wasn¡¯t strong enough to take the head clean off, so even as Gaius pulled his sword back for another shot, I could see Prime¡¯s neck and bicep begin to knit themselves whole.


    Unable to pull the sword out quickly enough to avoid Gaius¡¯ blow, Prime let it go, backing away.


    Ignoring the sword in his gut, Gaius stepped after him in no particular hurry, one sword in each hand.


    If I were a betting man, I would have bet that Prime¡¯s life would end less than ten seconds from that point.


    I would have been wrong.


    Prime shouted, ¡°Now!¡±


    And they rushed us from all sides.


    Crazily, that still fit into the plan. Well, one of them anyway.


    I pointed my left arm at the people running at us from that direction, and blasted them with the sonics, wishing I could do the same to the people coming from my right.


    Not that it mattered. Jaclyn stood to my right. In a blur of purple, she knocked at least five people backward into the people behind them, giving us the time we needed to get into position.


    By the time Prime¡¯s people stopped holding their ears, or began to pull themselves up, I stood back to back with Jaclyn. Marcus stood to my left and back to back with Cassie.


    Rachel floated above us, intangible.


    Our next step? Fight our way through to Lee, and hope they didn''t take us out through sheer numbers.

 War: Part 8

    Between the unconscious bodies on the ground from Jaclyn¡¯s attack, and my sonic blast, Prime¡¯s people hung back until one of of them shouted, ¡°Move!¡±


    Well, if I could call them Prime¡¯s people.


    Some of them looked professional -- black (probably bulletproof) vests, belts with pouches, knives, and guns. The rest looked like they¡¯d been pulled from local (and not so local) street gangs.


    They had guns too -- not submachine guns like the professionals, mostly handguns.


    One of them began to pull a pistol out of his pocket when one of the professionals shouted, ¡°No, idiot!¡±


    He pointed past us where Prime¡¯s people rushed us from the other side.


    After that, it got too busy for me to be amused by their tactical errors. An overweight guy in running shorts who had a swastika tattoo on his forehead jumped over the front line.


    He hit me five times before I got the chance to punch him back. He dodged easily.


    I hit him with the sonics, and he put his hands to his ears. As I drew my hand back, Marcus stretched his arm a good seven feet, hitting the guy in the side of the head.


    Swastika guy fell over.


    In the meantime, some guy with at least five piercings in his lower lip had grabbed my right arm. Blue electricity crackled around his hands, and he held on strongly enough that I couldn¡¯t pull my arm away.


    The electricity never made it past the armor.


    I kneed him in the groin, and punched him in the face as he bent over.


    He fell to the ground, unconscious.


    With a nanosecond of a breather, I took sidelong glances at Marcus and Jaclyn. Marcus had formed his arms into shapes reminiscent of baseball bats, and his skin had turned grayish.


    A gang member breathed fire at him for barely a second before one bat hit the guy¡¯s stomach, and another knocked his feet out from under him.


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    Jaclyn, meanwhile, had knocked out three more people.


    I hoped Cassie and Rachel were doing as well, but I didn¡¯t have time to turn completely around to check on Cassie. And Rachel probably wasn¡¯t visible anyway.


    As it turned out, I didn¡¯t really have time to check on Marcus (to my left and back) and Jaclyn (to my right).


    One of the professionals, a guy with missing teeth, and a puckered, circular scar on his cheek started firing his submachine gun at me.


    He never missed.


    Whether it came from freakishly good aim, or a perception of time that allowed him to fire an automatic like a sniper rifle didn¡¯t matter.


    If he had special bullets or managed to find a weak spot in my armor, I could die.


    He stood a few feet out of reach, so I fired the sonics at him. He didn¡¯t flinch -- though people on either side of him put their hands to their ears.


    He¡¯d worn earplugs.


    He fired more bullets only the new ones exploded, knocking me backward.


    I barely managed to keep standing, but I managed. He didn¡¯t stop firing at me though, and I couldn¡¯t see a thing through all the blasts.


    I could have started the rocketpack, flown upward, and dived at him except that Cassie stood kitty corner from me in formation. Even with her ability to regenerate, an exploding bullet to the back of the head would not be good.


    I ran straight forward into his line of fire, smashing into him before I saw him, and knocking him onto his back. Leaning over, I grabbed the submachine gun even as he fired a couple more shots into my chest.


    Then I broke the gun in two, and that was great except for one thing.


    I¡¯d left formation.


    As I broke the gun, people rushed around me toward the group, and I felt hands grab each of my arms solidly.


    Below me, the guy whose gun I¡¯d broken started opening one of the pouches on his belt.


    I decided I didn¡¯t want to find out what happened if he got that pouch open, so I lifted my leg and drove his bicep into the ground -- hard -- maybe harder than I meant to.


    He screamed -- an understandable response given that his arm now bent in two spots.


    A solid jerk backward reminded me that people were holding both of my arms. I stepped back, staying upright more by luck than any plan.


    The guy holding my left arm stood nearly seven feet tall, but was so thin I wouldn¡¯t have expected him to be strong enough to hold me. He wore jeans, and black White Sox jacket.


    The guy holding my right arm was bald, and massively bulky, but his face somehow reminded me of Prime. Were they relatives?


    ¡°Pull,¡± he said, and began to step back.


    Not wanting to find out whether my armor would rip before I would, I sent a full blast of sonics into the White Sox fan¡¯s abdomen. As the sonics found the resonant frequencies for the majority of his digestive system, he looked ill, and --


    Well... the less said about that, the better. Let¡¯s just say that he was distracted enough that I could easily pull my arm away.


    I¡¯d have done the same with my right arm except the sonics on the right still didn¡¯t work.


    The massive guy yanked me toward him, grabbing my left arm, and pointing my hand (and the sonics) away from him.


    I tried to pull away, but I couldn¡¯t break his grip.


    Even as I ran through options in my mind, a ghostly white form materialized above him.


    Touching her white, taser gloves to either side of his head, Rachel turned up the juice.

 War: Part 9

    Bluish sparks surrounded Rachel¡¯s gloves, and the man let go, trying to grab her, but only passing through her body without touching anything.


    Knowing that he was strong, and guessing he might be able to rip my armor off, I gave the rockets some fuel, and shot into the air, hovering forty feet above the ground.


    The light behind the barn left half the crowd in shadow, but I could see enough. Jaclyn, Marcus, and Cassie were doing well.


    A blur of hands and feet, Jaclyn had taken over my position as well as her own. More than twenty people lay in a half circle around her. Marcus and Cassie hadn¡¯t taken down as many, but they were close. Marcus had morphed into a form that reminded me of an armored bear. Cassie whipped her staff around, hitting one man in the stomach hard enough that he fell to the ground, and getting enough of an upswing on another guy that he actually flew over the person behind him, convulsing the whole way.


    Both ends of her staff glowed with electricity. I¡¯d upgraded it during a break from working on my armor.


    I couldn¡¯t see it well, but from the movement and the shouting, I could tell that Lee (or Gaius, whatever...) was still fighting.


    Below me, the man had stopped trying to hit Rachel, and crouched as if he were about to... jump.


    And then he did, shooting straight up at me.


    I couldn¡¯t think for a second. Think at Daniel for help? Except that wouldn¡¯t work because Prime¡¯s people always set up telepathy blockers, and even if they didn¡¯t, just being near Lee was like standing in the middle of a psychic thunderstorm. Call Vaughn over the communicator? Start flying in a new direction?


    It ultimately didn¡¯t matter.


    Even as I began to give the rockets juice, the man¡¯s massive body shot sideways, much like it would have if it had been hit by a giant, invisible, baseball bat.


    His body arced upward, sailing over the crowd, landing on the roof of the barn, and crashing through.


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    Over the communicator, I heard Daniel¡¯s voice say, ¡°Got one. You okay?¡±


    ¡°Fine. Weren¡¯t you supposed to wait longer?¡±


    ¡°Not if you needed help, and you can''t tell me you didn''t.¡±


    ¡°Cool. Think you guys could make it easier to get through to Lee?¡±


    ¡°On it. Storm King?¡±


    I felt the change in the wind immediately.


    It didn¡¯t hit me directly, but I felt it tugging at my feet, and I heard the roar.


    It reminded me of what a giant leaf blower might sound like if there weren¡¯t any motor, just wind, and if there weren¡¯t any leaves, just people falling over each other, rolling, shouting, trying uselessly to grab at weeds and rocks, and finally smacking into the side of the barn.


    The boards cracked, and broke as person after person piled up.


    And it wasn¡¯t as if Prime¡¯s people stood and dared Vaughn to knock them over too. No, they ran.


    The professionals ran away from the wind, some standing off to the side of the Lee vs. Prime fight. With a few exceptions, the gang members ran away entirely. Sensible ones ran to their cars. Less sensible ones ran out into the fields.


    Between wind and irrational panic, Vaughn had cleared a path through to Lee in less than five seconds.


    Jaclyn shouted something to Marcus and Cassie, and they ran toward where Lee stood, except it wasn¡¯t really Lee. He still looked like Gaius.


    He¡¯d done better without us that I would have done alone.


    Of the people Prime had broken out of prison, only the guy whose leg Cassie had cut off still stood. His new leg didn¡¯t seem quite as muscular as the old one, but it probably would in time.


    Assuming Cassie didn¡¯t need to cut it off again.


    He and Prime both held swords, circling around Lee, and jumping in to attack only to find Lee had moved.


    Despite his freakish ability to avoid swords, Lee didn¡¯t look good.


    He¡¯d told stories about being burned at the stake and walking away as a skeleton after the ropes burned away. I¡¯d always wondered if he was exaggerating, but now I believed it.


    He¡¯d been cut to the bone on his right cheek, the inside of his right arm, and the hole from Prime¡¯s sword still hadn¡¯t healed up. He¡¯d taken it out though.


    His left arm had been charred to a point that I didn¡¯t want to look at it.


    Strangely, none of it slowed him down. He moved as quickly as he had at the beginning of the fight.


    Jaclyn, Cassie and Marcus made it to the edge of the fight, and stopped. I flew down to join them.


    ¡°Nice of you to drop in,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°We¡¯re trying to decide whether we should help ¡®Gaius¡¯ or go after them.¡± She nodded toward the other side of the fight where the professionals stood.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think Gaius wants or needs the help,¡± Cassie said.


    ¡°I think we¡¯d better decide now. Look!¡± Marcus pointed at Prime¡¯s men. Some of them were sneaking into the darkness.


    ¡°My bet is that they¡¯re coming for us,¡± Marcus said.


    Cassie watched them go. ¡°Could we have scared them off?¡±


    Our communicators beeped. ¡°Bad news,¡± Daniel said. ¡°Storm King and I aren¡¯t the only ones in the air.¡±

 War: Part 10

    I checked the the sky, searching it for Vaughn¡¯s cloud.


    It floated above the field, smaller than most clouds, and, it struck me, smaller than the last time I¡¯d seen it.


    Daniel hadn¡¯t been joking about not being alone in the air. At least fifteen people flew toward the cloud, dark figures outlined against the moon and stars.


    I couldn¡¯t see details, but if Daniel and Vaughn were going to get any help, it would have to be from me. Rachel and Marcus could fly, but not very quickly.


    ¡°Do you have this?¡± I asked Jaclyn. Glancing past her toward the barn, I saw some of the people on the ground stirring. Blowing them across the lawn into the barn might break bones, but it wouldn¡¯t be a finishing move for everybody.


    ¡°Go,¡± she said.


    Leaving the scene of Lee¡¯s fight, I gave the rocketpack fuel, and shot upward, feeling like I¡¯d left my stomach back on the ground. My GPS pegged the origin of Daniel and Vaughn¡¯s signals as off to the right of the cloud. I kept low, maybe twenty feet above the ground, until I got near them and then aimed upward, letting gravity stop me just a little short of their altitude.


    Most of the people flying toward us wore black vests like the Cabal regulars on the ground, and none of them looked like gang members.


    Daniel floated about ten feet from Vaughn, close enough to telekinetically shield him.


    In my head, Daniel said, ¡°Ranged weapons when I say so.¡±


    Evidently we were out of range of Prime¡¯s psi-blockers.


    The flyers moved more slowly than I did, but they stayed in formation, spreading out into a crescent shape as they got closer.


    About half of their people held guns, and started firing, most of their bullets vanishing into the darkness, but some were on target.


    I got hit a few times, but the bullets bounced off the armor. Meanwhile, Daniel used his standard technique of combining telekinesis, and precognition to create small shields of telekinetic force that didn¡¯t stop bullets so much as alter their path.


    I thought it was a clever way to combine powers, but could only wonder how much more quickly he¡¯d be tired.


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    Daniel didn¡¯t say to go until they were twenty feet away from us.


    Vaughn concentrated, and roaring winds came from either side of the group blowing them together. That stopped the gunfire.


    I fired the sonics at them, creating a loud pitch within human hearing range. As people held their hands to their ears, Vaughn stopped with the wind, and started throwing lightning.


    Three people fell instantly.


    One of the people still flying had the presence of mind to spray some kind of liquid from his mouth, but Daniel had apparently anticipated it and blocked it before it had the chance to spread out.


    Instants later, the would be sprayer flew sideways, slammed by invisible force, and fell from the air.


    Before any of us had time to think, the few of them that were left came within striking distance. Vaughn blasted away with lightning, creating flashes of light, and loud thunder.


    Not that it hurt my ears. The Rocket suit had very good filters against loud sounds, but Daniel flinched a couple times.


    As they did all that, I punched people.


    I must have run into all the tough people back on the ground because these guys didn¡¯t take much more damage than a normal human being. I took out three or four within the space of a few seconds, and then Vaughn, Daniel, and I were alone in the air.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think the fall killed anybody,¡± Daniel said. ¡°I slowed them down.¡±


    Vaughn said, ¡°Should have let them fall. Jerks.¡±


    He sounded tired.


    ¡°Really?¡± Daniel asked.


    ¡°Not really. I don¡¯t want to kill anybody. I¡¯ve made enough stupid mistakes for one life.¡±


    The winds keeping him in the air blew a little less, and he dropped a few feet.


    ¡°Crap, I¡¯m tired. Do you think they¡¯re done?¡±


    I looked over toward the barn. Prime and Lee were still at it. Jaclyn, Cassie, Marcus, and Rachel were facing off against the guy whose leg Cassie cut off, the huge guy that Daniel dropped through the roof of the barn, and all those who hadn¡¯t run away or been taken out by Vaughn¡¯s mini-windstorm.


    ¡°We¡¯d better go down there,¡± Daniel said.


    He sounded tired too.


    ¡°Maybe you guys should hide, or sit in Night Wolf¡¯s car or something? I¡¯ll go down. I¡¯m not tired at all.¡±


    And I wasn¡¯t. I¡¯d fought a few people, but the armor did most of the work. That or I was still feeling the adrenalin.


    Daniel eyed Vaughn for a second and said, ¡°Good idea. We¡¯ll figure something out.¡±


    I turned my attention to the ground. The guy whose leg Cassie cut off jumped twenty feet through the air, landing directly in front of Cassie.


    She didn¡¯t run. She clicked on the button that shrunk her staff, and drew her sword.


    Meanwhile Jaclyn and Marcus traded blows with the huge, bald guy. Being dropped through the roof of the barn had done him depressingly little damage.


    I gave the rocketpack more fuel, shot across the distance to land a few feet to the side of Cassie, and with an excellent view of the Lee/Prime fight.


    Lee/Gaius had acquired a few more slashes and holes, and Prime, though he¡¯d regenerated all the damage, didn¡¯t seem as fast as he had earlier.


    I don¡¯t know whether it¡¯s because he was tired or because the noise of the rockets distracted him, but either way, Lee cut off Prime¡¯s head just after my boots touched the ground.


    The head rolled across the grass and dirt, coming to a stop just a few feet in front of me.


    You might wonder what a person thinks at a moment like that. The answer: nothing particularly profound.


    For example, all I thought was, ¡°Holy crap. Head.¡±

 War: Part 11

    For a moment, Lee and I must have been the only people who realized that Prime was dead.


    He grinned as I looked up from the head, and saluted me with the bloodied blade. In that moment, someone shouted, and it seemed like everyone turned to see him standing in front of Prime¡¯s body.


    ¡°Rocket, grab the head and dump it someplace!¡±


    I leaned over and grabbed it, using the rocketpack to send myself into the air.


    Trying not to think about what I was holding, I looked around for a place to put it, noticing lights shining at the next farm over. They had a pond. I remembered seeing it on the way.


    Flying there took only seconds.


    I dropped the head without slowing down. It was a big pond. It had a docked motorboat on one end.


    The head splashed into the water. I didn¡¯t stay long enough to find out whether it floated or sank.


    I turned around and flew back.


    As I flew, Haley¡¯s voice came over the communicator in a general message to all. ¡°Their reserves are coming. Everybody get out!¡±


    Below me, people¡¯s positions had barely changed from the way they¡¯d been when I left. Jaclyn had taken advantage of the moment to pound the huge, bald guy I¡¯d fought backward. He lay on his back, and struggled to get up.


    ¡°Night Cat, there were a bunch of them who were sneaking out into the field--¡±


    ¡°Night Wolf and I got them. Just leave, okay?¡±


    I¡¯d never noticed.


    Thump. The first of the reserves had landed. They couldn¡¯t fly. They jumped about an eighth of a mile at a time. Lee had described them to us as being a lot like Prime and others in his army -- strong, tough regenerators, possibly with a few extra powers here and there.


    Even with Cassie and Lee¡¯s swords, and Jaclyn being in their league physically, we probably couldn¡¯t take twenty of them.


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    We had a plan though -- retreat.


    Thump. Thump.


    Two more of them.


    Just like the rest of the professionals, they wore black and carried guns, but they didn¡¯t wear bulletproof vests, and were all obscenely muscular.


    They¡¯d landed on the edge of the lit up area.


    I checked to see what the rest of us were doing. Marcus had morphed into a winged person, and was already halfway around the barn. Cassie put her sword on her back in time for Jaclyn to grab her, and jump over the barn. I couldn¡¯t see Rachel, but that was par for the course.


    Lee had disappeared already, which meant it was time for me to call in our reserves.


    I clicked on my palm to activate my phone, calling Chris and Larry. ¡°Any time, now.¡±


    The rest of Prime¡¯s reserves landed as I hung up, a rain of people I didn¡¯t care to meet in broad daylight, much less a dark alley.


    Or dark field.


    The guy whose leg Cassie cut off started shouting at them. I couldn¡¯t hear the details, but I did hear cars, and Cassie¡¯s motorcycle starting on the other side of the barn.


    One of them turned to shout at the group, pointing toward the road, which was not good. If they started moving, this wouldn¡¯t work.


    Then he pointed at me -- that was very bad, but to be expected, given that I was hovering.


    I touched my finger to my palm, preparing to blast away.


    Except that was when everything began to explode.


    Missiles streaked through the air, blowing up in the middle of them, the fiery blasts lighting up the whole place.


    Ordinarily I¡¯d have worried about killing people, but from what Lee had said, we¡¯d be lucky to slow them down.


    I clicked on the communicator, and asked, ¡°Rhino, you guys got it?¡±


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Larry said, ¡°go. We¡¯ve got the mech. If we get in trouble, we¡¯ll call.¡±


    I gave the rocketpack fuel, and chased after the rest of the League.


    * * *


    We gathered in League HQ after the fight, waiting while people showered. Vaughn slept, still in costume (except for the mask) in one of the chairs. Daniel didn¡¯t look much better, but he managed to start checking his email before falling asleep, head on the keyboard.


    Travis ordered Chinese take-out for everyone.


    No one had wanted pizza.


    Chris and Larry came in ten minutes after everyone else. Chris parked the mech in the hangar with the League jet, and came in with Larry.


    He walked past the big, steel doors into the main room, eyes darting everywhere, lingering on the trophies, the wall screen, the computers, and all of us.


    He looked small somehow, and it wasn¡¯t height. He¡¯d caught up with me sometime in the last year.


    Following Larry over to the table, he stood next to where Marcus was showing me a Youtube video.


    Chris looked down at the screen. ¡°Who¡¯s that band, and what¡¯s with all the stoves?¡±


    ¡°Hurra Torpedo,¡± Marcus said. ¡°It¡¯s their thing. They sing covers and bang appliances.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that guy knows his pants are falling down?¡± Cassie asked. She held a plate with four pieces of pizza on it.


    Further down the table, Travis said, ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t want pizza.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t, but I¡¯m hungry, and it¡¯s here, and the Chinese isn¡¯t.¡±


    Chris looked over at Travis. ¡°Did you order extra? If you didn¡¯t, I¡¯m okay with pizza.¡±


    At the sound of his voice, Cassie seemed to notice him for the first time. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you¡¯d be here,¡± she said.

 War: Part 12

    Chris glanced over at me. ¡°I thought everybody knew.¡±


    ¡°I told Lee. When everybody went over the plan, I thought that I¡¯d either have to do remotely guided missiles, or ask you. After you said yes, I told Lee, and I must have forgotten to tell everyone else. Sorry.¡±


    With everything else going on, the important thing was that our escape had been taken care of, right? And anyway, back when we¡¯d been dealing with Justice Fiend, the Maniacs, and the Ball, Cassie had been more than a little suspicious of Chris.


    She wouldn¡¯t have been the only one, and I didn¡¯t want to deal with it.


    Cassie picked a piece of pizza off her plate and said, ¡°So what did Nick have you do?¡±


    ¡°Blow people up. Only not really. Did you see those guys? The ones that jumped in?¡±


    ¡°I was busy retreating, but I saw them.¡±


    ¡°Nick and Larry and I put together this huge mech and it¡¯s covered with missile launchers. As soon as they all landed, I hit them. I could barely see anything, but they all walked away from it. It knocked them over, stunned a bunch of them, but didn¡¯t hurt them.¡±


    ¡°Disappointed?¡± Cassie asked.


    ¡°No, but I could have done with more of them being stunned, you know? A couple of them jumped in my direction, but I got lucky. Larry got them.¡±


    ¡°With what?¡±


    Larry turned away from talking to Lee to say, ¡°My spud gun.¡±


    Cassie raised an eyebrow. ¡°You did not hit them with potatoes.¡±


    Larry shook his head. ¡°No, it was a shell. I don¡¯t know if this happens with you guys, but every so often I find I¡¯ve got to knock a building down from a distance, except I don¡¯t want an explosion. I just want to knock it over, you know? For that kind of thing you want a spud gun, just bigger and semi-automatic. Works for these guys too.¡±


    Chris said, ¡°Yeah, they got knocked in a completely new direction after they got hit. Never got near me. We did move a couple times though. Larry shot at them while I moved, and I hammered them while he moved. Then we left.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Larry said. ¡°They¡¯d have ripped our armor off, and might have killed us otherwise. Didn¡¯t want to stick around for that.¡±


    Cassie nodded. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have.¡±


    The doorbell rang up at Grandpa¡¯s house, carried down to HQ over the speakers.


    I checked the monitor next to the one Marcus had been watching Hurra Torpedo on, and clicked the mouse.


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    The camera showed a guy standing on the porch, carrying two grocery bags and wearing a shirt that said ¡°Szechuan Garden Take Out and Delivery.¡±


    ¡°The food¡¯s here.¡±


    Turning away from the screen, I said, ¡°Who¡¯s going to get it?¡±


    It was good question. I still wore the stealth suit (which doubled as my flight suit when I was in the Rocket suit), and Larry wore a grey jumpsuit that couldn¡¯t be confused with normal clothes.


    Travis, Marcus, Vaughn, and Daniel were still in full costume except for masks. Jaclyn, Haley, and Rachel were still in the showers.


    That left Cassie (who¡¯d showered first), Lee and Chris as being the only people in street clothes.


    Taking it in, Cassie turned to Travis, ¡°I guess I¡¯m paying. Do you have the money?¡±


    He gave her the bills.


    ¡°Come on,¡± she said to Chris. ¡°With this much food, there ought to be at least two of us.¡±


    She pointed past the trophy cases toward the back. ¡°Elevator¡¯s over there.¡±


    * * *


    We spent the next couple hours rehashing what had happened.


    We got to hear Lee¡¯s blow by blow account of the fight with Prime, Travis¡¯ and Haley¡¯s stories about being in the field, quietly taking out anyone who tried to sneak through the grass.


    ¡°I ran out of poison in my claws,¡± Haley said, ¡°and I didn¡¯t want to bite.¡±


    Sitting next to her on the floor, I said, ¡°What did you do?¡±


    ¡°I hit them as quietly as I could. After a little while it got easier. They weren¡¯t paying attention to the field any more.¡±


    Vaughn looked up from his plate. ¡°I thought I saw you or Travis a couple times after I blasted everybody. You know, when a bunch of the gang members tried to escape into the field?¡±


    ¡°There were so many of them,¡± she said. ¡°You might have seen me. I jumped a couple times.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± Travis said.


    Jaclyn, her empty plate already in the trash, said, ¡°Lee, what¡¯s next?¡±


    Lee shrugged. ¡°It depends. We took out Prime, and broke a lot of bones. They¡¯ve got to decide who¡¯s in charge now, and I don¡¯t see the gangs running out to support them. All their powered people just got taken out. If they go after us, the regulars will be going in by themselves, and that¡¯s still bad, but we can figure out a way to deal with them even if it means arming you with Cassie¡¯s sword, and changing your codename to Blender.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°God, I hope not.¡±


    Sitting just behind us in a chair, Larry said, ¡°Lee, no bloodbaths.¡±


    Lee ate a piece of shrimp and noodles before replying, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. That¡¯s not in the plan. Right now, the plan is watch quietly. The Executioner¡¯s going to be moving soon, and that¡¯s the enemy I¡¯m worried about.¡±


    ¡°Lee,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s a little off topic, but why did you want me to take Prime¡¯s head? Was it the regeneration thing?¡±


    Lee laughed. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ve had bad experiences, mostly with magical regeneration or aliens. With those guys, the severed parts have been known to crawl back and attach themselves. With ordinary regeneration, it¡¯s sometimes good enough that they can put the head back on the body if they do it quickly. Hell, I chopped a guy¡¯s head off once only to fight him again after his body regrew. Someone got him to a doctor or something. That¡¯s why you¡¯ve got to separate the pieces long enough that they get cold. Then they usually stay dead.¡±


    I nodded, and said, ¡°Ok.¡±


    I¡¯d seen Lee kill Prime, and I¡¯d personally played a role in making sure he¡¯d stay dead. I didn¡¯t feel good about it, but I didn¡¯t quite feel bad.


    On the other side of the circle, Cassie stopped eating, and said, ¡°When my dad¡¯s head got blown apart, my mom had his body cremated. She didn¡¯t want the body to grow a head back that wasn¡¯t him.¡±


    No one said anything.


    I wondered if I should go back to eating or try to say something comforting, but if I did, what?


    The computer beeped.


    I got up and checked the screen. The program transcribing the roachbot''s feed from Russell Hardwick¡¯s house had found a keyword.


    I opened the document and read the transcription. The word ¡°Impregnator¡± had been highlighted several times in the text.


    ¡°Everybody,¡± I said, ¡°this is bad. Sometime in the past two days, Hardwick¡¯s Power Impregnator disappeared.¡±

 War: Part 13

    I read the transcript and then played back the entire recorded conversation for everybody. Russell Hardwick stood in his home office, pacing the hardwood floor, cursing, and talking on his cell phone.


    ¡°The Impregnator disappeared? How did that happen? And why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier?¡±


    From there it devolved into shouting at the person on the other end, and Hardwick never did say where he¡¯d kept it, or anything useful.


    I paused the recording when he hung up the phone, sat down behind his desk, and started working on the computer.


    I wished that I¡¯d placed the bot so that it could see the screen, but its video recording capabilities needed work before they¡¯d get many details anyhow.


    As I turned off the screen, Marcus said, ¡°Who do you think has it?¡±


    ¡°Ray,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°It has to be Ray. You and Nick showed us the video where Hardwick proved Ray had potential. Nick, what were his father¡¯s powers?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t find anything specific.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Lee said. ¡°If it¡¯s Ray, he¡¯s not just doing it for himself. He¡¯s out to get every ounce of profit he can get out if it. He¡¯s got ties to Syndicate L, right? They¡¯d be interested. And then there¡¯s what¡¯s left of Prime¡¯s people. It¡¯d be a great bargaining chip if he wanted their cooperation, or maybe the city¡¯s gangs. Yeah, I think he might want that. No matter how good he is, he¡¯s not going to be wild about taking all of you on with four or five unpowered people. Especially after tonight.¡±


    He glanced upward toward Russell Hardwick¡¯s frozen image.


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    ¡°No,¡± Lee continued. ¡°He¡¯s going to need help if he¡¯s going to take you out. See, here¡¯s what he does... He targets a hero, watches him till he finds out who his friends and relatives are, and targets them until he¡¯s had enough, and decides to finish off the hero. That¡¯s a lot harder with a team. Start killing one guy¡¯s relatives, and suddenly the whole team is looking for you. Ray and his people have killed teams, but it¡¯s harder. You need more help. I can¡¯t say for sure he¡¯ll be going after gangs or Prime¡¯s people, but he¡¯s got options.¡±


    ¡°But he doesn¡¯t know who we are,¡± Travis said.


    I didn¡¯t know why, but his statement felt wrong.


    ¡°I think he does,¡± Rachel said. ¡°Or he guesses.¡± She¡¯d been talking with Jaclyn, and stood next to her, a little to the left of where Travis stood next to Lee.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about it since Christmas. After he shot the FBI agents and left, we showed up immediately, just by coincidence. And hasn¡¯t he been attending those Christmas parties for years?¡±


    Travis said, ¡°Not every year.¡±


    ¡°But someone did,¡± Haley said. ¡°Ray or Gina or the other guy. I can¡¯t remember his name.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Rachel said, ¡°but think about it. He must have noticed that Travis is nearly seven feet tall and that you¡¯re barely over five feet. If he¡¯s seen any footage of us, he¡¯s noticed that Night Wolf and Night Cat are just as different. And then there¡¯s Jaclyn and Marcus. The D¡¯Onofrio family¡¯s many things, but it¡¯s not exactly diverse. There were only three black people in the whole room -- Jaclyn, Marcus, and Marcus¡¯ mom. If he¡¯s been thinking, he¡¯s noticed that we¡¯re mostly teenagers, and that Jaclyn and Marcus are teenagers and that Accelerando¡¯s got the same powers as C... ¡°


    ¡°You really think he noticed all that?¡± Vaughn asked. ¡°I wasn¡¯t there, but it sounds like a lot to take in.¡±


    ¡°He had months in prison to think about it.¡±


    ¡°Then we need to tell our parents,¡± Haley said.


    ¡°Except they¡¯re blocked.¡± I said, but not very loudly.


    ¡°I know they¡¯re blocked, but we can tell them something even if it¡¯s not exactly right. Last time Isaac had agents watch over them. He can do that again.¡±


    ¡°Probably,¡± I said, but I didn¡¯t point out that his best people wouldn¡¯t be there. They¡¯d be fighting aliens. It didn¡¯t seem like the right moment. ¡°We ought to call him though. Probably immediately.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Lee said. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. And after that, we need to start looking for Ray.¡±

 War: Part 14

    Finding Ray didn¡¯t sound like a good idea, but it sounded better than finding him after he¡¯d killed everyone we knew.


    Isaac Lim wasn¡¯t available when I called about protection for our parents. I left a voicemail.


    ¡°So,¡± I said after hanging up. ¡°How do we find Ray?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± Lee said. ¡°I¡¯m not a detective. Your grandparents handled that. My job was to come in at the last moment and save the day, or maybe just stab a few people. You know, the fun part. Investigating¡¯s boring. You find out who checked into hotels and rentals. You call everyone you can think of and see if they¡¯ve seen people matching Ray and his pals¡¯ description.


    ¡°All your grandparents had their own way of doing it. Romy would float in invisibly and go through their stuff. Joe, he¡¯d use those walking bugs of his. Cohen, he¡¯d run through people¡¯s minds, or go on a precognitive hunch. Chuck would sneak around, and talk to his contacts on the street. It worked out.¡±


    Jaclyn said, ¡°What about my grandfather?¡±


    ¡°Or my dad?¡± Cassie said.


    ¡°Nothing too strange,¡± Lee said. ¡°Reg could run fast enough that most people couldn¡¯t see him, so he could cover a lot of ground, or put down a lot of bugs. As for John, he liked the direct approach -- dangle people out of windows, beat people, tie people to chairs... I remember one time he cut off his own finger, let it grow back, and said, ¡®Now let¡¯s try yours¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°what happened?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know. Long time ago, but he stopped after getting bad information. People will say anything they think you want to hear if you¡¯re dangling them out a window. After a while, he learned how military interrogators do it, and started using the Rocket¡¯s bugs when he didn¡¯t have anyone to interrogate. It worked a lot better.


    ¡°If you want some advice though, here¡¯s one thing I can tell you. Don¡¯t let Ray see you. Don¡¯t let him see you as yourself. Don¡¯t let him see you in costume. And if you¡¯re going to go looking for him, use the buddy system. That¡¯s all I¡¯ve got.¡±


    He checked his watch. ¡°Well, I should leave. Let me know what you come up with.¡±


    Rachel looked over at Lee. ¡°Do you think I¡¯d be okay alone?¡±


    Lee paused, and said, ¡°Against almost anybody else, yes. Against him? Well, I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s a way to catch someone who phases through walls, but I¡¯d guess that if there¡¯s a device for it, he¡¯s got one by now. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s got a plan to handle each of you, and all of you. That¡¯s why we¡¯re going to come up with something he didn¡¯t plan for.¡±


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    After that, he walked into the hangar, and drove away. Larry left a few minutes later, leaving the League plus Chris to discuss the next step.


    We finished eating, talking about options. If Ray¡¯s people didn¡¯t want to be bothered, they¡¯d want to use someplace without people. In Grand Lake that meant an old farm, an old factory, or in the early summer, a cottage by a lake. Lake Michigan was still too cold for swimming, and the smaller, inland lakes didn¡¯t get busy until school let out.


    As we discussed where we might look, Chris said, ¡°What did Lee mean by precognitive hunch?¡±


    Daniel stopped eating and put his plate in front of him on the floor.. ¡°It goes like this. I can kind of sense where I ought to be going and go there. If I wanted to sense the biggest threat to us, and just follow my intuition until I got there, I probably could. The problem is, it might not be Ray. We might not know enough to recognize it for what it was when we got there, and even if it was Ray, we might not be prepared to face him. So we¡¯re better off doing our homework first, and using my hunches as a backup plan.¡±


    ¡°You can tell the future?¡±


    Daniel shook his head. ¡°No, just zero in on threats without really understanding what they are.¡±


    ¡°It sounds dangerous.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what my dad says. I¡¯m hoping to get more control over it.¡±


    ¡°Cool,¡± Chris said. ¡°Well, I better go. My parents are going to start wondering where I am. I¡¯ll see everyone uh... later.¡±


    He left for the hangar. Each step of the mech clanked on the way out.


    When the outside doors shut behind him, Travis said, ¡°Dammit Nick, why didn¡¯t you tell us he was coming?¡±


    ¡°Things got busy. It slipped my mind. Anyway, Daniel cleared him. He¡¯s safe.¡±


    ¡°Bringing in anybody when we¡¯re half out of costume is too big a deal to forget about. Especially someone who¡¯s grandfather was your grandfather¡¯s nemesis, and who recognizes some of our real identities.¡±


    ¡°Man-machine already knows who we are,¡± I said. ¡°And he actually helped the League when they were fighting Red Lightning, remember?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not the point,¡± Travis said.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°He¡¯s right. You can¡¯t just bring someone in like that. That¡¯s a team decision. At the very least, I¡¯m sure a lot of us would have chosen to be in costume while he was here... ¡±


    She pursed her lips, and then said, ¡°I hope he doesn¡¯t think he¡¯s joined.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°He doesn¡¯t even want to. He was just helping us out. Besides, he¡¯s not going to talk or anything. We talked it through and he¡¯s got a block like Kayla¡¯s. He agreed to it.¡±


    Travis, Jaclyn, Cassie, and Vaughn all started to say something, but then Daniel raised his hand.


    ¡°I know this wasn¡¯t the best way to handle it, but Nick won¡¯t do it that way again, and he did cover all the bases. ¡±


    From their faces, I could tell it wasn¡¯t really okay, but it was close enough. Mentally, I thanked Daniel for covering for me. We¡¯d arranged the block and all, but he¡¯d known I wasn¡¯t going to tell anybody until afterward.


    No problem, he thought back at me, but you know they¡¯re right, don¡¯t you?


    I know, I thought, but I¡¯m not going to do it again. I can¡¯t imagine anything like this coming up.


    * * *


    I slept in the next day, and then went to HQ to see if I could find any clue as to why the sonics in the right arm still didn¡¯t work.


    While running through my official email, I found one from Lucas AKA Red Legacy.


    He wanted to meet.

 War: Part 15

    Haley and I met Lucas late Friday night on the roof of an old, empty, print shop on the southeast side of Grand Lake. I couldn¡¯t guess the age of the building. The flat roof had three different levels, one of which might have been the roof of the original. The rest were probably additions, but I couldn¡¯t be sure. Sagging, white, aluminum siding covered the outside walls, making the whole building look dilapidated in the same way.


    It stood on the northeast side of an almost unused five way intersection. A 80¡¯s era, brown Buick came by just as we landed. It was the only moving car we saw.


    I let go of Haley and she stepped onto the roof.


    ¡°I wish we¡¯d taken the car. Even in the summer, the air still feels cold.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°But the full armor doesn¡¯t really fit in the car. It¡¯s probably safer this way.¡±


    ¡°For you. What if we got attacked in the air?¡±


    ¡°Uh... That¡¯s a good point.¡± I found myself imagining Prime¡¯s people slamming into me so hard I lost consciousness, and let her go.


    ¡°Maybe I should teach people how to use the mini-rocketpacks. The original League did. It wouldn¡¯t be --¡±


    ¡°Rocket, he¡¯s coming.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see anything in the sky but stars. As I began to ask her where, Lucas flew over the top of the trees behind the print shop, landing next to us with a thump.


    He didn¡¯t break through the roof, but I could feel his landing through my boots.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Lucas said. ¡°I¡¯ve got bad news. The Power Impregnator got stolen along with my Grandpa¡¯s journal that had the plans.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°The journal too? That¡¯s not good.¡±


    Haley didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°Right, and you know who I think did it?¡±


    ¡°The Executioner,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s my guess anyway.¡±


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    Lucas nodded. ¡°I thought I¡¯d better pass it on. The League will have to deal with it anyway.¡±


    ¡°What about Justice Fist?¡± Haley asked.


    Thanks to the streetlight, I could tell that Lucas had rolled his eyes.


    ¡°Justice Fist,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s no more Justice Fist. Everyone got scared off after Sean¡¯s father got shot. And even if they hadn¡¯t, my dad shut off the money, and brought in Protection Force.¡±


    ¡°With Solar Flare, and all the other guys selling advertising on their costumes?¡± That wouldn¡¯t go well at all. We¡¯d already stopped Solar Flare from killing Ray once. If he still wanted revenge, it was going to make our lives more complicated than I wanted to think about.


    Lucas shook his head. ¡°No. No superheroes. Dad hired bodyguards. That¡¯s all. I think the supers are more of a marketing thing. They get attention while the bodyguards do the real work.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t have supers... uh... secretly?¡±


    ¡°Nah. I had to give my own bodyguard the slip to meet you. If he had powers he¡¯d be here right now. Which reminds me, I¡¯d better get back before he wonders where I am.¡±


    He looked up into the sky like he was just about to take off, but then he said, ¡°Hey, were you guys in on what happened last night?¡±


    The media had been reporting on our fight with Prime¡¯s people all day except they only had footage of the night time explosions and the craters in the field behind the barn. There hadn¡¯t been any mention of Prime¡¯s body or his head.


    ¡°Maybe a little,¡± I said.


    Lucas laughed. ¡°I figured. I was in the ER last night. We had gang members from gangs from all over the city, all of them with broken bones, and full of juice. Why? And what was with the TV appearance?¡±


    ¡°That would be complicated to explain,¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I don¡¯t need to know. I¡¯m just saying that if you need help, I¡¯m here. I owe you for being able to walk. And if you¡¯re fighting the Cabal or the Executioner, you might be able to get more than just me. My dad would be interested.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll remember it,¡± I said.


    ¡°Good.¡± He grinned at me. ¡°Don¡¯t forget.


    And then he did fly into the sky, blending into the darkness and disappearing.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to tell everybody if you bring him in, right?¡±


    ¡°Of course. That¡¯s a lot bigger than bringing in Chris. All of those guys got run through the Impregnator and who knows what that means?¡±


    Haley looked down at the roof, then back up at me. ¡°I should find out how Sydney is doing. I meant to call her after what happened, but it¡¯s been exam week, and between studying and preparing for last night, I didn¡¯t. I¡¯m a horrible friend. I should have called her by now. I don¡¯t even know if they¡¯ve had the funeral yet.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s only been a week. You¡¯re fine. I bet she had exams too. Besides with Protection Force and the FBI and everything, she might not even be answering her phone. If you¡¯ve got access to the data, you can triangulate and figure out where someone is. They might not even be allowing her to turn hers on.¡±


    Haley sighed. ¡°I¡¯m just worried. Sean might have decided to kill Ray, and convinced her to help. Even if he has Jody and Dayton with him, they¡¯ll all just die. They can¡¯t win.¡±


    ¡°On the bright side, they probably won¡¯t ever find him. I¡¯m still trying to figure out where to look.¡±

 War: Part 16

    So where do you look for a professional killer?


    On Saturday, the whole team got together in HQ to read what the databases we had access to had on him, and figure out the best way to tackle the issue.


    We weren¡¯t all there all day, but Daniel, Travis, and Jaclyn came in the morning. Daniel was there at ten when I came in. Jaclyn and Travis came in while we were talking.


    By noon, we¡¯d read everything they had, and by one everyone had arrived to talk about it.


    Jaclyn had read everything as fast as it appeared on the screen, and had time to think about it, so she got to brief us.


    She stood between the big screen and the table where we sat.


    ¡°What surprised me more than anything else was people don¡¯t know. Ray and his people had apartments in Chicago under their own names, but they didn¡¯t use them. The neighbors barely ever saw them which means that they lived somewhere else most of the time, but no one knows where.


    ¡°Even assuming they took a few weeks to plan each series of killings, they still had most of the year free. They must have been training during some of it, but for the rest, I don¡¯t know. Maybe they were on vacation, but if they were, they could take long vacations.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°This doesn¡¯t give us anything. They never found out where they stayed in the places where they killed people. They¡¯ve never found where they kept their equipment except for the cottage they blew up in December. The Feds don¡¯t see any patterns except that they kill everybody connected with the target first, and even then there are exceptions.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± I hadn¡¯t heard of any.


    ¡°Ever heard of a team called Sorcerers¡¯ Circle?¡± She searched our faces. ¡°I hadn¡¯t either, but the Executioners killed them all. They didn¡¯t go after their relatives. They drugged the group of them all at once and executed them in an old warehouse.¡±


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    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°How¡¯d they know it was all at once? They have cameras?¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°No. The FBI found them a few days later. The forensics report guessed it based the state of decomposition and the species of bugs... eating them.¡±


    Marcus looked up from the computer screen. ¡°They¡¯re a bunch of psychos.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Travis said, ¡°and we need to take them down.¡±


    By the end of the meeting, we¡¯d come up with a task list. We¡¯d create a list of rented houses, rented cottages, foreclosures, hotels, and empty commercial buildings, and then we¡¯d go down the list.


    We¡¯d have people call the hotels, the rentals, and divide up the rest for personal visits.


    Over the next few days, we discovered that detective work was quite possibly the most boring job in existence -- at least when you didn¡¯t have any reason to narrow down the possibilities.


    That the hotels hadn¡¯t rented to anyone looking like Ray or his people wasn¡¯t a surprise. The Feds had blanketed the area with warnings. Even if they hadn¡¯t, the local TV and radio stations still covered his escape, Sean¡¯s father¡¯s killing, and regularly mentioned the possibility that he might be in Grand Lake.


    We kept calling.


    On Thursday morning, Daniel called a guy named Martin Vander Kodde, a landlord who owned seven houses on the southeast side of the city. When he got off the phone, he said, ¡°I¡¯ve got something.¡± Then he played it back.


    Haley and I stopped and listened.


    Martin picked up the phone on the second ring. ¡°Vander Kodde Properties, Martin here.¡±


    ¡°Hello, Mr. Vander Kodde,¡± Daniel said, his voice lower thanks to technology Grandpa built into the phones. ¡°I¡¯m Detective John Baker of the Grand Lake Police Department, and I¡¯ve got some questions for you.¡±


    Then he described Ray¡¯s team, and asked, ¡°Has anyone matching those descriptions rented from you within the past two weeks?¡±


    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t rent to them, but I did rent to four other people a little over two weeks ago, and now I¡¯m wondering if I should have.¡±


    ¡°And why is that?¡±


    ¡°When I first talked to them they seemed nice enough, but last Thursday night they came back with another van full of people, all of them loud and cursing. The other van cleared out the next morning but my other renters called to complain. It¡¯s a big house, and I rent out the upstairs and downstairs separate.¡±


    ¡°Could you describe them?¡±


    ¡°Four big guys. Almost look like they might be brothers.¡±


    Daniel stopped the recording. ¡°It doesn¡¯t go much of anywhere from there, but you know what they¡¯ve got to be? Prime¡¯s reserves.¡±

 War: Part 17

    Daniel turned away from his monitor. ¡°We should go down there. Not too close, but down there and see if we can learn anything. Maybe we could bug their place.¡±


    ¡°They could turn us to paste,¡± I said.


    Daniel gave a slow nod. ¡°You¡¯re right, but we don¡¯t have to be seen. I think we¡¯ll want to know what they¡¯re up to. Imagine what happens if they show up while we¡¯re dealing with Ray, and we haven¡¯t planned for them.¡±


    It was a good point. Too good to ignore.


    And that¡¯s why we found ourselves in Night Wolf¡¯s car thirty minutes later. Haley drove. I sat next to her, and Daniel sat in the back.


    Haley set the car¡¯s color to blue with tinted windows, allowing it to fit in as much as a 1964 Stingray could. I needed to put together a less noticeable car for daytime surveillance soon, preferably something large enough to handle the full Rocket suit.


    I wore the stealth suit, but I did have the guitar too. That counted for something.


    Anyway, it wasn¡¯t as if I¡¯d have much of a chance to take them out in the full Rocket suit. We had a hard time with one of them before Prime came. Four would be impossible.


    If they noticed, our backup plan was to leave quickly. Worst case scenario, we had Jaclyn on call to pick up the car and carry us away.


    Best case scenario, we got some information at the price of spending yet another day of summer break worrying about dying.


    Which was kind of lame.


    It was my second week of summer vacation. The sun hung in the air, alone without the company of clouds, and the temperature was in the low seventies. It felt perfect -- warm, but not unbearable, and I wasn¡¯t in any position to enjoy it.


    I¡¯d spent the last two weeks underground working on things, training, or fighting. It didn¡¯t feel like vacation yet. It felt like an extension of school, but with guns.


    Haley stopped the car three houses down from the rental. A big, two story, grey painted house, it sat in the middle of the block next to a big, two story, yellow house.


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    The street would have been on the high end back when it had been built. I¡¯d heard that in the nineteenth century, the wealthy people had their houses on the main roads because it made it easier to travel. True or not, it explained streets like this one, a four lane road that led downtown but whose large, Victorian houses all looked a little run down.


    The air conditioner fan blew cool air as we looked over our target.


    I aimed the car¡¯s hidden shotgun microphones at the house, searching for noises.


    A screen on the dashboard showed an image the house, but with markings for distance. Using the joystick, I moved the crosshairs across the windows on the front and right side of the first floor, hearing in quick succession ¡°Bob the Builder¡± on the TV, children arguing about the channel, a toilet flushing, and the dishwasher running.


    I aimed the mic toward the second floor.


    ¡°We¡¯re in the right place,¡± Daniel said from the back. ¡°Something in that house obscures telepathy.¡±


    I let the crosshairs linger on the second floor¡¯s front window.


    A man grunted.


    ¡°So we¡¯re working with the assassin now.¡± The man had a deep voice, and an accent I couldn¡¯t place.


    A new voice said, ¡°It sounds like it. Orders from the top. The new Prime says they¡¯ve got a device that means no more drink of the gods.¡±


    ¡°And no strings attached? I don¡¯t believe it.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll have to help them kill the League, but that¡¯s not a change.¡±


    ¡°Stupid Prime. After all his talk, the new levies are worthless. They don¡¯t have discipline.¡±


    ¡°Give them time. It always takes time.¡±


    ¡°And this device, when do we get it?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know. Afterward, I¡¯d guess. Maybe the First Cohort might get it beforehand.¡±


    ¡°Ain¡¯t that always the way?¡±


    They kept on talking after that, but I barely listened. I got out the roachbots, opened the window and sent a few to the home, and a few to the cars in the driveway.


    We waited until the roachbots made it into the room with the people who were talking, and then Haley put the car in gear, and we rode away.


    As she drove toward the highway, I turned back to Daniel. ¡°That was an extremely lucky series of events. You called exactly the right person who happened to have a problem with his tenants, and we arrived just in time. Did you --¡±


    ¡°Yes. We¡¯d been calling people for days. I used my precognitive ability to find the name with the most danger associated with it, so that it wouldn¡¯t take even longer.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Haley talked toward the rearview mirror. ¡°I thought your dad told you not to do that.¡±


    ¡°He did, but he doesn¡¯t know everything, and we don¡¯t have time to waste. If they¡¯re working with Ray, and it sounds like they are, they¡¯ll lead us right to him.¡±


    ¡°But your dad had to have some reason --¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s drop it, okay?¡±


    I recognized Daniel¡¯s tone of voice. This conversation wasn¡¯t going to go anywhere.


    Haley must have too. She drove the car up the on ramp, and down the highway, moving a little faster than traffic.


    We were on the same highway that the Grey Giant had chased Daniel, Cassie and I down. Daniel had found Syndicate L that time the same way he¡¯d found Prime¡¯s people this time.


    Don¡¯t start, Daniel thought at me.

 War: Part 18

    Bugging the house and cars paid off even before we got back to HQ.


    It wasn¡¯t perfect. I hadn¡¯t known whose car was whose so I¡¯d bugged all of them. When one of them started going, we got excited, but then we followed where it went on the car¡¯s dashboard screen. It ended up at Meyer Music, a local store.


    When I checked the roachbot¡¯s pictures of the people leaving the car, I saw a woman and two small children carrying thin books inside. They were probably there for piano lessons.


    That¡¯s where Rachel and I had gone when we were little kids.


    I switched the controller to the roachbots inside the house in time to hear their phone ring and a mumbled half-conversation.


    When it ended, we heard, ¡°So, what¡¯s our lord and master have in mind?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got to move it. They¡¯re running everyone through the power device now.¡±


    ¡°Everyone?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what the call said, and you know him. He¡¯s not patient.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯d better get everybody then.¡±


    After some grumbling and shouting, they got all four people out of the house, and into one of the cars.


    We¡¯d gotten off the freeway, and were within in a block of HQ, and Veterans Memorial Park as we noticed them getting on the freeway and heading south.


    Haley glanced down toward the screen, and slowed the car. ¡°Do you think we ought to follow them? We could get behind them if we turn around now.¡±


    ¡°Uh... What if they notice? You¡¯re both at full power, but I¡¯m not, and even the full suit in perfect condition isn¡¯t a match for them in a one on one fight.¡±


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    ¡°We ought to do something,¡± Daniel said. ¡°It sounds like they¡¯re throwing everybody into the Impregnator. I don¡¯t think we want that to happen.¡±


    Haley bit her lip. ¡°Do you think we could... destroy the machine without fighting them?¡±


    ¡°It depends,¡± I said. ¡°Between Daniel¡¯s telekinesis, your ability to sneak around, and the guitar¡¯s laser, I bet we could. The question is, could we get away after that? The machine would be destroyed, but they wouldn¡¯t be.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Daniel said, ¡°but if they empower everybody that could be a big, big problem. Plus they¡¯ve been taking power juice for years. What if they all go psychotic?¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I took a deep breath. ¡°That would not be good. Of course, it took years for Red Lightning to go off the deep end.¡±


    ¡°But it could still be bad in the long term,¡± Daniel said.


    Haley drove the car into Veterans Memorial Park, and turned down the service road. ¡°I think we should call everybody.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°especially Lee.¡±


    ¡°OK,¡± Daniel said. ¡°Let¡¯s do that, but here¡¯s something I just thought of. Remember when Vaughn used the Impregnator? It fried him. He couldn¡¯t do anything for at least an hour. If we catch them at the right time, maybe they won''t be able to fight.¡±


    * * *


    We sent everybody a yellow. I tried to call Lee, but got his voice mail.


    In the mean time, we got everyone else into a conference call -- well, except that Jaclyn joined us in HQ. She¡¯d been waiting to see if we needed backup anyway.


    Daniel explained the situation, ending with, ¡°So they¡¯re throwing everybody into the Impregnator, and it sounds like they¡¯re working with Ray. If we want to stop that, now¡¯s probably our only shot at it.¡±


    ¡°Do it,¡± Travis said. ¡°Scout out the area and we¡¯ll meet you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll want more of a plan than that,¡± I said.


    ¡°Of course we¡¯ll want more of a plan than that, but we don¡¯t have any information. Once we¡¯ve got that we¡¯ll have a plan. That¡¯s why I want you to scout it out.¡±


    Cassie asked, ¡°Is Lee coming?¡± Wind roared in the background as she talked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. He¡¯s not answering his phone. I don¡¯t really think we should go into this without him.¡±


    Travis started talking as I finished the sentence. ¡°We can¡¯t wait for him. Do you think he¡¯d wait for us if the situation were reversed?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°because even if he screws up, he can¡¯t die. We can.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not why,¡± Travis said. ¡°He¡¯d go, because when he sees this kind of opportunity, he takes it. This is no time to be timid.¡±


    Jaclyn sat at the terminal next to mine. I looked over at her. ¡°What do you think?¡±


    ¡°Nick, I''m sorry, but we¡¯ve got to at least scout it out.¡±

 War: Part 19

    We scouted it out even before we left HQ.


    Prime¡¯s men had parked in a dirt parking lot. Adjusting the roachbot¡¯s position on the car gave us the name of the business -- Perliss Manufacturing, Co. The roachbot¡¯s GPS system gave us the exact location, and soon we were looking at it through Google Maps.


    We could have used government maps, but Google had a better user interface (though the Feds updated their maps more often).


    The square cement block building stood a few miles outside Grand Lake along M-22. A little bit of research showed that Perliss had manufactured auto parts until last year when they¡¯d gone out of business.


    Still, as abandoned auto parts factories went, it seemed to be in a nice place, assuming you wanted to be out in the boonies, surrounded by trees and farmland.


    Travis walked up as I finished. He wore his costume, and he¡¯d transformed, making him more muscular than usual, and just as big. His fangs and claws weren¡¯t proportionately larger than Haley¡¯s, but they seemed more intimidating.


    The satellite view hung on the big screen next to a browser window with a Grand Lake Sentinel article entitled, ¡°After 30 Years, Perliss Manufacturing Closes.¡±


    ¡°Plenty of trees around the sides and back. We¡¯ve got cover.¡±


    ¡°If we need it,¡± I said. ¡°You know how the roachbots self-destruct? I¡¯ve made a version that¡¯s more of a flying bomb than anything else.¡±


    ¡°Not much of a bomb. They¡¯re pretty small, right?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, but it¡¯s a shaped charge, and there¡¯s a lot of force for its size. What you do is take a bunch of them, and they work their way into crevices, and then they explode. Plus, I¡¯ve been working on roachbots that make an electromagnetic pulse. So between the two, I¡¯m thinking we could destroy it. Pulse to damage the mechanism. Then blow it up with the others.¡±


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    ¡°It sounds like it¡¯d work. What kind of range do they have?¡±


    ¡°Not much of one. Maybe a football field, but that¡¯s optimistic. It assumes there¡¯s no wind, for example. Think one hundred feet if you want to be sure.¡±


    Rachel had stepped up while we were talking. ¡°Why don¡¯t I float in with couple grenades. It would be simpler.¡±


    ¡°I think Lee said that if there¡¯s a way to block you, Ray would probably have it,¡± I said.


    Rachel said, ¡°You know what I hate about our grandparents being famous? Everyone knows what we can do.¡±


    ¡°Except for me,¡± Marcus said. ¡°I¡¯m an original.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t argue with that,¡° Jaclyn said, walking up with Daniel, Vaughn, and Haley. They¡¯d been talking about something next to the pile of boxes and our own copy of the Impregnator.


    ¡°I¡¯d go with the roachbots, by the way,¡± Jaclyn continued.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°I was thinking of sending a tornado at them, or maybe some lightning, but I might kill somebody.¡±


    ¡°You might kill Ray,¡± Cassie said. ¡°I¡¯m not saying we should, but no great loss if you did.¡±


    I turned to look at her. Cassie was in costume and had the sword, but that¡¯s not what I was noticing. Kayla stood next to her.


    Kayla gave a little wave, and said, ¡°Hi, everybody.¡±


    ¡°Kayla,¡± I said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know you¡¯d be here.¡±


    ¡°I had an idea,¡± Cassie said. ¡°You remember how when we were fighting the Mayor, we all got separated? Well, you know what we need? Someone who¡¯s not in the middle of the action. Someone who can call for help, or tell us information we can¡¯t look up ourselves. Kayla already knows us. She¡¯s already been blocked, and she doesn¡¯t have powers, so it¡¯s not like we¡¯re taking anyone out of the field. She¡¯s ideal.¡±


    ¡°Right now?¡± Jaclyn¡¯s face tightened. ¡°Cassie, this isn¡¯t a good time. Are we all going to be bringing in our friends without telling anybody?¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯s not the same thing. We¡¯ve known Kayla for years,¡± Cassie told her.


    ¡°Some of us knew Chris,¡± I said.


    Daniel said, ¡°I think it¡¯s a good idea. Teams usually have someone back at base.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll be like the Matrix,¡± Marcus said. ¡°With the operator on the ship.¡±


    Kayla turned her head, taking the whole scene in. ¡°I can go. I don¡¯t have to stay.¡±


    ¡°No, stay,¡± Travis said. ¡°I just wish we had time to train you.¡±


    * * *


    Thirty minutes later I found myself landing on a dirt road in the full Rocket suit. The road ran through a farmer¡¯s field, and ended in the forest behind the old auto parts factory. Leaving rows of corn behind me, I stepped into the forest, hoping that they didn¡¯t have anyone watching this far back.


    It hadn¡¯t looked like it from the air, but I couldn¡¯t see everything from the air.


    Standing behind a tree, I activated my helmet¡¯s communicator. ¡°Everybody, I¡¯m in position, and I¡¯m ready to send in the bots.¡±

 War: Part 20

    I pulled out the controller, opened the pouches, and started by turning on a scout bot.


    It crawled to the edge of the pouch, extended its wings, and then the rocket in its abdomen ignited.


    The controller¡¯s monitor gave a blurry view of trees, branches, and then the roof as it ascended, passing the edge of the flat roof, shutting off the rocket, and gliding to a stop.


    A few small, rectangular windows hung open near the top of the wall.


    I guided the bot down to one of them, and sent it inside.


    Once on the ceiling, it gave me a view of the factory floor.


    In one sense, it looked like almost any other factory in the world -- a big room with concrete floors, and plain, grey walls. At the same time, it looked different from most other factories. That came from the sleeping bags, air mattresses, the microwave, the pile of canned food, and the refrigerator.


    Not to mention the guns and ammunition lying next to some of the sleeping bags.


    If the guns weren¡¯t enough, there were the people, and the only big machine in the room.


    There were at least thirty, all of Prime¡¯s reserves, plus some gang members, plus Ray, Gina and the other two guys.


    Half of them lay on sleeping bags, and some of those who weren¡¯t sleeping seemed unsteady on their feet.


    I wondered how many people Ray had already run through the Impregnator.


    Then I turned the bot to look at the Impregnator itself. Their version looked bigger than ours. All curves and chrome, the League¡¯s version reminded me of a 50¡¯s style, futuristic, electric chair.


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    The version Russell Hardwick had had constructed put me in mind of a tanning bed designed for Frankenstein¡¯s monster.


    All white with comfortable looking cushions, the bed would have looked inviting except for the heavy straps for the legs, arms, and body. A white, rectangular object as long as the bed hung above it, attached (like the bed) to an almost six foot tall, white box. A man sat on a stool next to the box -- which appeared to have a monitor and keyboard built into it.


    I didn¡¯t recognize him.


    Given that our Power Impregnator only worked on people with similar powers to Red Lightning, and theirs worked on all powers, it made sense that theirs would be different.


    It would be interesting to find out how effective it was by comparison. Every so often, supers discovered a latent power after some trauma. Could this unleash them all at once?


    With luck, we wouldn¡¯t find out the hard way.


    As I checked out the room, I also noticed four black boxes near the middle of the factory floor, and guessed they might be telepathy and clairvoyance blockers.


    I added them to my target list.


    After a few minutes of dividing the bots into swarms, I turned them on, let them out of the pouches, and sent them off.


    The EMP bots flew in in the first wave.


    At first no one noticed, but as they crossed the room, staying close to the ceiling, a few heads turned, and people started shouting.


    I couldn¡¯t make out what they said.


    Not that it mattered. The bots dove toward the Power Impregnator, aiming for the big white box, and the flat, rectangular object hanging above the bed.


    The bots identified vents in the box and crawled through, exploding inside. The monitor stopped glowing, and the box began to smoke.


    As the man fell off the stool, and began to back away, the second wave flew inside.


    One of Prime¡¯s people, jumped up, successfully catching a bot in his right hand. He tried to catch another in his left, but I¡¯d guessed that someone might try something like that, and sent the second wave in with a looser, more distant formation.


    As he landed, the bot exploded in his hand.


    I¡¯d set them to explode if they were caught, but I hadn¡¯t thought about what they¡¯d catch them with.


    Even as he screamed, the exploding bots turned the Impregnator, and the telepathy blockers into smoking ruins.


    I put the controller back into its pouch, started the rocketpack, and flew upward, dodging tree branches.


    Below me, I heard a roaring noise, and when I looked down, I saw two shapes hurtling upward at me.


    Go figure.

 War: Part 21

    What sucked most about the figures flying after me was that they were gaining.


    We¡¯d planned for aerial pursuit. We¡¯d even planned for the possibility that I might be attacked while still on the ground, and a few other possibilities that meant that everyone in the League was out here somehow.


    Unfortunately, the Rocket suit made me the fastest flier, making it necessary to pass Daniel and Vaughn¡¯s position for them to be able to help.


    I changed direction, stopping my ascent, and aiming myself south.


    The people chasing me gained even more ground because of my course change, but I didn¡¯t have to travel far.


    Barely a second had passed when lightning burst out of the forest below, outlining the two people following me.


    They fell.


    Vaughn got ¡®em, Daniel told me.


    As I started to reply, I got a call over the communicator -- Kayla.


    "Ni -- Rocket? How do I use your robots? I''m looking at your positions and everyone just started moving."


    Next time, I decided, I''d loose a bunch of roachbots all over so that the person back at HQ could have eyes everywhere and I''d train them how to move them. Now, however, was a lousy time for me to work technical support.


    The trouble was, she''d noticed something. Once I''d flown off in a big obvious way everyone else was supposed to sit quietly, and then slip away one by one.


    Lee had told us that Prime''s people were mostly strong, near invulnerable, regenerating types -- near impossible to beat in hand to hand combat, but distinctly lacking in intelligence gathering abilities.


    Except, Daniel said in my head, if they''ve got any telepaths at all, knocking out their telepathy blockers goes both ways.


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    Right, I thought, and if any of Prime''s regulars have latent telepathic talent, the Impregnator''s probably converted it into an actual working power.


    I glanced at the GPS readout from my communicator. Everyone on the ground was moving -- which meant that all our great backup plans that were supposed help me get away in the face of near unstoppable opposition had just put everyone else in danger.


    Then the communicator readout showed that someone had sent a red -- Haley.


    I slowed the rocketpack, and did a complete 180 degree turn.


    "Rocket," Kayla asked, "are you listening?"


    "I''m going back," I said.


    From the dots on the GPS readout, I could see Daniel and Vaughn following behind me. They could keep up for short distances.


    Leaves blocked my view of what was happening in the forest.


    Travis'' and Haley''s dots moved a lot. Cassie''s, Marcus'' didn''t move as much.


    Rachel''s dot appeared inconsistently.


    Finding a clear spot between trees, I dropped through, hovering just below the tops.


    I didn''t see them at first, but then Travis jumped, moving from one tree to another like a squirrel. Haley followed, but unfortunately, it wasn''t just her.


    A group of Prime''s people ran through the forest after them. Large, muscled, and carrying guns, they had the look of Prime''s reserves, the people Chris and Larry had bombarded with missiles just to stun them.


    Exactly the people we didn''t want to meet -- especially if they''d been through the Impregnator.


    "Prime," one of them shouted, "Over there!"


    For a moment, I looked to see if Prime was there, head somehow reunited with his body.


    He wasn''t.


    Back when we''d been eavesdropping, one of them had mentioned a "new Prime" and I realized that the guy leading the group looked familiar.


    It was the guy whose leg Cassie cut off.


    The last time I''d seen him, the leg had grown back, but hadn''t been as muscular as the other.


    They matched now. In fact, he looked bigger all over.


    Oh, and the guy who had been shouting, "Prime, over there!"


    He was pointing at me.


    Well, okay, not just me as Vaughn (in his black, weirdly strapped suit), and Daniel (whose black and silver costume didn''t seem especially mystical) had just appeared on either side of me.


    Vaughn didn''t even wait to find out what would happen next. He opened up with lightning bolts.


    Painfully bright light filled my eyes. Thunder shook the trees.


    When the blue afterimages faded, chunks of dirt had been blown out of the ground, a small tree had been blackened, and the new Prime and his people were pulling themselves off the ground.


    Though their clothing looked a little burnt, and one of them patted out a fire on his camouflage pants, none of them ran away.


    "Oh man, " Vaughn said, "we are so fucked."


    The new Prime nodded at the people on his left and gestured toward us, "You, get them out of the air."


    To the short guy on his right, he said, "You, get her."


    Haley climbed higher in the tree.

 War: Part 22

    I leaned forward, and dove toward where Haley crouched on a branch. Prime''s people pulled rifles off their backs, and the short guy crouched, preparing to jump, aiming upward at her.


    I maneuvered myself into an upright position, hovering a little below Haley and above Travis.


    In the meantime, the short guy had left the ground.


    Not much taller than Haley (who was around five feet), his physique could have doubled for a body builder''s -- only smaller.


    He flew over me, and landed in the tree.


    Overbalanced by his weight, the branch dropped downward, dragging nearby branches with it, one of which hit the back of my helmet.


    It didn''t hurt, but it distracted me long enough that I didn''t notice that Prime''s people had their guns out until they started firing.


    A couple bullets hit my chest, knocking me backward into the branches.


    I held up my left arm, and blanketed them with sound, a single, painfully loud note.


    They stepped backward, but only stopped firing when Vaughn''s wind knocked them backward.


    To my left, the man assigned to catch Haley dangled from a branch.


    I pointed my left arm at him, and fired another blast of sound.


    He dropped, still trying to grab branches as he fell.


    Hitting the ground didn''t take him out, but it didn''t help him either.


    His feet hit the ground, and more wind blew him over. I made a mental note to compliment Vaughn on his control when this was over. I barely felt the wind moving up where I was.


    Taking my eyes off our opponents, I decided to check on Haley.


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    Sensibly, she''d already jumped from this tree to the next, and even as I saw her she ran up one branch, jumped and landed on a branch from the next tree down the line. Travis wasn''t far behind her.


    Even as I thought we might be able to leave, I realized that one of Prime''s people had jumped for me.


    I tried to press the button on my palm that would have sent me higher, but I couldn''t move quickly enough. The force knocked me backward into the tree.


    I shut off the rockets with the tongue control, and we fell, hitting branches all the way down.


    He hit more than I did.


    Unfortunately, even hitting the ground didn''t do much to him. He grabbed my left arm, and kept on pounding me with his right, setting off error messages in my helmet.


    Not to mention the fact that it hurt.


    I tried to move my arm out of his hold except he would not let go. Worse, he managed to flip me over, and sat on top of me, still keeping my left arm under his control and pointed away from his body.


    They all knew about the non-working sonics in the right arm. They had to.


    Crap.


    In the middle of that realization, I also got my first good look at the guy''s face. He had a bald head and a goatee. He looked like he was in his twenties, but given their regenerative powers, he could have been born in the middle ages.


    "Let''s see how hard this is to break," he said.


    He pounded the middle of the Rocket suit''s chest plate, sending off even more error messages, many of which included words like "danger," and "fatal error."


    Seeing those messages any other time might have caused me to freak out, but not that time because even as all those messages appeared, a couple disappeared -- the error messages for the right arm''s sonics.


    At that moment, I had a sudden realization. All the time I''d been working on things, I''d been assuming that my new arm had been the problem, and while I''d done some limited testing of some of the systems in the chest area, I hadn''t done much.


    Sometime during the fight where the right arm got melted, the chest had to have gotten damaged too. It wasn''t the arm at all.


    I may have laughed at that point.


    The guy stared at me. "What the fuck is your problem?"


    "Nothing."


    I almost asked him to do it again, except that was the best way to make sure that he wouldn''t, and I kind of wanted him to -- assuming he didn''t crush my chest.


    "Actually," I said, "it tickled."


    Growling, he pounded the chest again, bringing up whole new error messages, some of which included the word "critical."


    In red.


    That wasn''t good, but I''d had my fingers on the right arm sonics'' button. As his hand came down, my right arm pointed up at his head.


    The sonics went off at maximum possible volume, rattling my armor.


    He let go of my left hand, and I hit him again with more of the same -- except the right hand sonics had stopped working again.


    But that was okay, since I''d stopped trying to use them.


    Instead, I used my right hand to poke him in the eyes as hard as I could manage.


    While he shouted, I pushed out from under him, shot back into the air, and tried to figure out who to help.

 War: Part 23

    I happened to glance at the guy I''d been fighting as I flew away. He had blood dripping from his eyes. I''d hurt him for real.


    Almost as gross, I glimpsed the damaged eye reforming out of goo.


    We''d talked about what we''d do if they detected us, and agreed that we''d have to fight all out to escape. It wasn''t as if we''d be able to permanently hurt them. All of Prime''s reserves were nearly invulnerable, and they regenerated. It hardly seemed fair.


    "What if we fight someone normal?" I''d asked.


    Either Cassie or Travis had said, "If we fight all out, no normals will want to get anywhere near us."


    Without armor, I certainly wouldn''t want to.


    Rising into the air, I checked where I''d last seen Travis and Haley. They were closer than I remembered, if higher up. Haley had moved back a tree, and Travis had followed her.


    I could hear him shouting up at her. "He''s OK. Now move!"


    She turned away, and leaped toward the next tree, grabbing a branch, and dropping to the next one down. The branches shook in her wake, and Travis did the same below her. The trees'' limbs sank under his weight.


    If that had been all that happened, there wouldn''t be much to say.


    The new Prime had changed strategy. He''d shouted something and everyone but himself and one other guy charged forward, running after Haley and Travis.


    Worse, shouts from the direction of the factory told me that more were coming.


    I wasn''t going to be able to stop all of them, or for that matter, any of them. All I could do was delay -- at best.


    I chanced a look behind me. A few peeled off from the group, and disappeared into the forest. Judging from the GPS readout, they were heading toward Cassie, Marcus, Rachel, and Jaclyn.


    "HQ? Tell Cassie and everybody that people are coming for them."


    Something clicked once, then again. Then I heard Kayla''s voice. "More? Oh, no..."


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    Another click, and she''d closed the connection.


    Meanwhile, Prime, and the guy with him concentrated on firing at Daniel and Vaughn. In that moment, I noticed their guns for the first time. I didn''t know what kind they were, but they were big enough that I doubted they were normally hand held.


    Daniel blocked the bullets, but I could see strain on his face.


    Then something whizzed past me, flying toward them.


    Just before it reached them, it veered left, and exploded.


    Someone behind me had a grenade launcher.


    I tried to think of what I needed to do next, but there was too much going on at once. Too many people. Too many places to fight. I tried to center myself. What were we trying to do?


    We were trying to escape.


    What was stopping us? Travis and Haley couldn''t move fast enough. How could I help them?


    I didn''t get to finish the thought. Prime''s people had jumped into the same tree Haley and Travis were in.


    At the same time, I felt something slam into me from behind, and then the world exploded, becoming fire and heat, accompanied by a Christmas tree worth of blinking warnings.


    I managed somehow to activate the auto hover, which handed the problem of how to get myself upright over to the suit.


    I flipped end over end, but on the next flip, I felt the rocketpack''s burn pushing me upward. The next thing I knew, I hovered above the trees.


    Below me, Vaughn aimed lightning at the people with guns. Even if being hit by lightning didn''t hurt Prime much, I doubted that it helped his aim.


    I dove, aiming for where I''d last seen Haley and Travis.


    As the rockets pushed me toward them, I saw that one of Prime''s people was in the tree next to Haley, and had grabbed her arm.


    Travis pulled himself up from the ground in front of the same tree, surrounded by three men that were almost as big as he was.


    Thanks to Travis'' and Haley''s hearing, I couldn''t use the sonics without hurting them more than I would Prime''s people.


    I wanted to help Haley, but I couldn''t work out a way to fly into the tree without flying into a branch and being flung outward like some kind of human pinball. Deciding that I''d use the crash to slow down and get up to Haley somehow, I aimed for the guy on Travis'' left.


    As if to illustrate some sort of combat related corollary to Heisenberg''s uncertainty principle, my approach changed the whole situation.


    Haley moved her left arm, the one that hadn''t been grabbed, and struck the man who''d grabbed her in the neck with her palm. Whether she managed to stab through his skin with her dewclaw, or just knocked him over, he fell.


    Travis simultaneously jumped over the men in front of him, punching the guy who had been directly in front of him in the back of the head. The man hit the tree with enough force that the tree shook, and bark fell.


    Travis wasn''t finished. He hit the guy on the right hard enough to knock him ten feet sideways into another tree.


    A blur of motion, Travis kicked the guy on the left (the guy I''d been aiming for) in the knee, causing him to lean his head into my punch.


    It didn''t slow me down much, and I had to flip over, using thrust from the rocketpack to slow down.


    As I fell to the ground, stopping around fifteen feet past the tree, the guy who Travis had punched into a tree turned to punch him in the rib cage.


    I could hear bones break.

 War: Part 24

    Even hurt, Travis still moved faster than I could. He punched the guy in the face, throwing him backward. The guy hit a big root at the tree''s base with the back of his head, and he slumped.


    It probably wouldn''t last long.


    The force of Travis'' blow and the man''s fall had shattered the root. Chunks of wood lay around the man''s head.


    I thought about how much force would be required to do that. Quite a lot.


    Travis took a short breath, and grimaced. I wondered how many ribs he''d broken.


    I thought about pulling him out and dropping him off at Night Wolf''s car except that would have left Haley alone on the ground. Daniel could have lifted him out with telekinesis, but he couldn''t while flying, and deflecting bullets away from himself and Vaughn. Vaughn could have done it too, but being blown by the wind wasn''t a gentle flight.


    And anyway, Vaughn was busy alternating between hitting Prime''s forces with wind and lightning.


    We didn''t have long though.


    Ray and Gina had joined up with the new Prime, a group of men from the factory running through the woods to join them. Between the uncombed hair and jerky movements, they looked like they''d just gotten out of bed.


    No, I realized, Ray had woken them up from their post-Impregnator nap.


    We had to leave. Another moment more, and we''d be caught up in a fight we would lose.


    Daniel, I thought at him, and he caught my entire chain of reasoning.


    I sent everybody a red through the communicator system. I didn''t expect to see Cassie, Marcus or Rachel show up soon enough, but if Jaclyn did, that would help.


    I''ll figure out a way to pull him out, Daniel sent back.


    I would have talked to him more, but I''d realized that all three of the people Travis had been fighting were back in action. The man who Travis had knocked into the tree root had pulled himself up, and looked murderous. The man who he''d slammed into a completely different tree had jumped up into the tree with Haley.


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    The third guy, the one I''d punched after Travis kicked out the man''s knee, had stood up, leg still wobbly, and leaped at Travis.


    Travis dodged a rush from tree root guy, ducked to avoid the third guy''s leap, wincing as he jumped upward to help Haley.


    He never made it.


    Another barrage of blinding lightning hit everywhere around Prime, and as it did, Travis flew toward Daniel.


    That left Haley and I on the ground (if trees counted as ground).


    I started the rocketpack, and flew up toward her, assuming I''d have to stop the guy who''d jumped into her tree.


    I was wrong.


    As I ascended, he fell.


    She''d ripped a branch from the tree, and used it to sweep his feet out from under him.


    I didn''t even have to explain what was going on. She saw me, and jumped from the branch she was on, putting her arm around my neck. Grabbing her with my right arm, I sent us both into the air.


    As we went, Daniel''s voice came over the communicator, canceling my red alert and saying, "We''re done. Everybody go home."


    * * *


    "I''m fine," Travis said.


    We stood outside HQ''s locker room.


    He didn''t look fine. He hadn''t turned grayish, but he moved carefully. Besides I''d seen his chest during the guys turn to use the showers. The skin above his lower ribs on his left side had been red, and swollen.


    "That kind of thing heals up when we go back to normal. Plus we heal faster than most people. Ask Haley."


    "No, no, no. You can''t count on it for this," Haley said.


    "And it''s not that fast," Cassie said. "I never even noticed you had a healing factor."


    Jaclyn folded her arms across her chest. "You need a doctor."


    "Are you volunteering?" Travis tried to grin at her.


    "Maybe in ten years."


    "Hey," I said, "maybe we could get in the jet and fly you to L.A.? Paladin and Preserver are both there. We''d have it taken care of in less than an hour I bet."


    Travis shook his head. "I know he''s your friend, but from what I''ve heard Paladin''s a screw off, and I bet his dad is in space, or the U.P. with the rest of the Defenders."


    He had a point.


    "Listen to me," Travis continued. "If I have to go, I know what to do. The whole League used to go to one of my Grandma''s cousins. I''ll go there."


    "How old is he," Vaughn asked. "Ninety?"


    "No," Travis said, and he tried to punch Vaughn in the shoulder, except he missed, taking a big, indrawn breath.


    I ended up helping Marcus and Haley take Travis to the doctor, and didn''t get back to HQ for a few hours.


    When I did, I intended to work on the Rocket suit, but I got distracted. The roachbot I''d left in the factory had been destroyed, but it had captured some sound and video first.


    I fast forwarded through it, looking for interesting parts, and finding a conversation between Ray and the new Prime near the end.


    "--completely incompetent," Ray said. "Your people led them straight here, and they ruined the damned machine! We''ve still got the book, but only by luck."


    Even with the roachbot''s limited sight, I could tell that Prime towered over Ray.


    They were alone in the building. All the equipment was gone -- the microwave, the sleeping bags, even the remains of the Impregnator.


    Prime looked down at Ray. "Don''t talk about my men like that or I will hurt you."


    "My ass," Ray said. "You and I both know better."


    After that, they set the charges, and blew the building up.

 War: Part 25

    As the video finished, I wondered what Ray intended to do next, and wished I''d left some roachbots on their cars and in their stuff. We''d found them only to lose them again, and we could use the warning if they attacked us.


    We''d only barely survived attacking them.


    That being said, Ray seemed like the kind of guy who searched for bugs, probably obsessively.


    I sighed, and slumped a little in my chair, taking my hands off the keyboard.


    We were completely over-matched.


    Short of nukes, I couldn''t think of anything that could really hurt Prime''s people, and I didn''t want to kill them. I just wanted them to go somewhere else and leave us alone.


    The only thing I could think of that might help would be using paralysis -- except that would be temporary, and might not work on everybody.


    Well, I had one other option, flying in with the jet, and blasting away with the main guns.


    According to Grandpa''s documentation, the main guns worked against battleships, and spaceships. They had a good chance of doing more than just stunning Prime''s people, but that was because they had a good chance of burning them down to cinders.


    I needed to come up with something less draconian.


    Hypothetically, I might be able to set up a situation in which their regenerative ability ran out of stored fat to use for energy, and started cannibalizing muscles, leaving them weaker than a normal person.


    And then what would we do with them? Pass them on to the police? The authorities would only be able to hold them if they kept them on a starvation diet. Otherwise they''d leave, destroying anything between them and freedom.


    Well, assuming the police had no useful techniques for keeping them inside.


    Thinking about the people who would die if they didn''t, I wondered if I had to get used to the idea of killing. I didn''t want to.


    Could there possibly be a way to manipulate them into leaving us alone, dividing Prime''s people from Ray for example? From what I''d just seen, that seemed possible. We needed the right motivation, something stronger than whatever hold Ray had on them.


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    Maybe Lee would know what to do.


    I tried to push it out of my mind, and walked home. It was supper time anyway.


    * * *


    After supper, I lay on my bed, trying to decide what to do next. I thought about checking email, but most of it would be about stuff I didn''t want to think about anyway.


    Playing video games seemed irresponsible.


    The best thing I could do had to be going back to HQ and working on the suit. And that was pretty depressing by itself. Sure, I knew where to look to find the problem with the right arm''s sonics, but I''d been pounded by Prime''s people. Who knew how many more problems the suit had now?


    My League phone rang. I considered ignoring it, but it was Haley''s ring.


    I got off the bed, grabbed it from the top of my desk, and answered it.


    "How''s Travis?"


    "He''ll be alright. They don''t think there''s any organ damage. That was the big worry, and they still have some things he''s got to watch for... His ribs will be healing for a little while, but they don''t know how long. It''s three to six weeks for normal people. Nick, he won''t be able to fight."


    "I know. I broke a couple ribs in that fight with Sean. Maybe Travis can train Kayla how to use the communication system. She asked me for help in the middle of everything."


    "It was her first time."


    "I know, and I can see how Cassie would bring her in, but I wish I''d known beforehand."


    Haley didn''t say anything.


    "Right," I said. "I should have done the same thing with Chris, but it was a lousy time for Cassie to make the point."


    "I don''t know, but I wasn''t calling about her. Do you mind, if I come over?"


    "That''d be great. I''m just a little surprised."


    "Travis doesn''t need me around. He''s fine, but he''s sore, and he''s really grouchy."


    We talked a little longer before we hung up.


    As I lay down again, I realized I felt a little better. The idea of hanging around with Haley sounded a lot more pleasant than worrying alone.


    Someone knocked on the door.


    It couldn''t be Haley already. I got up, feeling the muscles in my chest and back as I walked downstairs.


    I''d be even more sore the next day.


    As I got to the bottom of the stairs, the door opened. My mom said, "Nick, it''s Daniel."


    Mom went back to the computer in the family room as Daniel and I stood together in the kitchen.


    "Hey, I didn''t know you''d be coming."


    "I wasn''t. I started thinking about this afternoon, and I decided to drop by."


    "Uh..." I tried to figure out some nice way to say Haley was coming over, and realized that there wasn''t a polite way.


    "Oops," he said. "I''ll leave when she gets here."


    At least he wasn''t mad.


    We went up to my room. Daniel sat down at my desk. I sat on the bed.


    "So what''s up?"


    "We''ve got to find Ray. Not right this minute, but starting tomorrow for sure."


    "I know--"


    "No," Daniel shook his head. "You don''t know. I caught a little bit from his head during the fight. Not a lot, because I was busy, but a little. Nick, we''re scaring the crap out of him. Almost no one ever surprises him because he''s super paranoid and tries to plan for everything, but we''ve caught up with him twice. He dismissed the first time as luck, but now he''s decided we might be competent, or we''re being used by someone who is.


    "He''s decided that he needs to deal with us sooner."

 Targets: Part 1

    "And there''s one more thing..."


    Daniel paused, resting his left arm on my desk.


    He took a breath.


    "When I was listening in on his thoughts, I happened to hear him refer to you as the ''main target.'' And you know how I can sense the major association someone has with a word? He associates ''main target'' with money."


    "He''s here to kill me, and someone''s paying him?"


    "Exactly."


    "I thought he was doing this for free as revenge for everything that happened around Christmas. I thought they killed off anyone who tried to stop them, and their families as a matter of policy -- not for profit."


    Daniel shrugged. "I guess Ray''s got a talent for making it pay. How else do you afford to have Syndicate L break you out of jail?"


    "I hadn''t really thought about it."


    Then it was my turn to pause.


    "Hey, who do you think hates me enough that they''re willing to hire the Executioner to kill me?"


    "Could be anyone. Your grandfather had over forty years worth of enemies, plus he wasn''t completely inactive even in retirement. He provided equipment to a lot of supers. Anyone who got hurt by one might want a piece of you. Not to mention all the people we''ve fought since becoming a team."


    "Yeah, but it would surprise me if it were one of my grandfather''s enemies. I don''t really see any reason for them to bother. They''d have to know I''m not the original by now, and wouldn''t they all be too old to care?"


    "I don''t know. I could imagine some of them might still care, but be too old to take you on personally."


    "Yeah, right, but it''s such a big group. I hope it''s someone we''ve fought. Otherwise we''ll have to go through forty years of handwritten records. They never finished getting them into the mainframe, and now you can buy better computers at Best Buy."


    Daniel nodded. "Right, let''s see if we can narrow it down. There''s Man-machine--"


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    "Unlikely," I said. "I think he might be indirectly helping us these days."


    "Ex-mayor Bouman--"


    "That would be crazy, but possible."


    Daniel smiled a little. "The Gray Giant--"


    "I think he''d do it himself."


    "The Cabal, but they''re already involved. Who have we missed?"


    "Blood Money," I said. "Remember Spike and Skewer and those guys?"


    "Oh yeah, and the guys you fought in the convenience store, and the Maniacs."


    "And Syndicate L," I pushed myself to the edge of the bed. "I''ve seen a lot of Syndicate L. The convenience store guys might have gotten power juice from them, and they were hauling the Grey Giant, and in California... We destroyed millions of dollars worth of their stuff."


    "That sounds possible."


    "Right," I said, "but why me instead of Alex, Jenny, or Brooke?"


    "I don''t know. Maybe you''re step one, and they''ll move on to them?"


    "I hope not. I was planning to bring them in if we needed help, but I don''t want to hand them over to Ray."


    "Good point, but you know, it doesn''t have to be Syndicate L. I''ve got another option, but it''s unlikely. If Ray''s as good as we think he is, maybe he found the bugs in Hardwick''s house, and he and Hardwick staged their fights and some of the other meetings."


    "So then Hardwick''s the client? I don''t know. Ray killed Sean''s dad, and besides... even if the Impregnator drove Hardwick crazy, it doesn''t seem like he''s had enough time to go truly nuts."


    "Point, but maybe Hardwick doesn''t need the Impregnator to get nasty. My dad said he''s a pretty aggressive guy normally. Dad was actually preparing a case against him once, but things happened and it got dropped."


    "What kind of things happened?"


    "I don''t know. Dad never went into detail."


    "Wow. I had no idea--"


    "Nick!" My mom''s voice came from downstairs. "Haley''s here."


    I got up off the bed, and opened the door to find that Haley had already made it upstairs and was walking down the hall.


    It felt good to see her out of costume. She smiled at me, and I must have smiled back, except as Haley got to my room, Rachel''s door opened.


    "Team meeting?" Rachel stepped out, and shut the door behind her.


    "I thought you were going out tonight," I said.


    "I was. I am, but what are you doing?"


    "I don''t know. Haley was coming over, but we didn''t have any specific plans."


    To Haley I said, "Daniel''s here. He dropped by just after you hung up."


    "I saw his car."


    I moved out of the way, and let her through the doorway.


    "Hi Daniel," she said as she sat on the bed.


    She sniffed the air. "What''s making the two of you nervous?"


    Daniel looked over at me, and I didn''t even need a telepathic hint to realize that he wanted to know if he should tell.


    From the doorway, Rachel asked, "Yes, what?"


    "Daniel will probably do a better job explaining it than I will."


    So, of course we went through it all again.


    After a few minutes, Haley interrupted Daniel from recounting the list of Ray''s possible clients with, "No, you said Ray was going to move on us sooner. When?"


    Daniel opened his mouth, didn''t say anything at first, but then continued, "I don''t know exactly, but I got the impression of needing two weeks to get comfortable working with Prime. Now he might be moving in less than one."

 Targets: Part 2

    Rachel stepped inside and shut the door. "Did you happen to hear what Ray planned to do?"


    Daniel shook his head. "I just got impressions. I didn''t get a chance to root around."


    We talked a little longer, but then Rachel said, "I should go. I said I''d meet Chloe in ten minutes. Call me if something happens."


    Daniel looked from Haley to me, and said, "I''ll go too. I was just coming over to warn you. Tomorrow though, we need to come up with a plan."


    Part of me felt like we should be making a plan now, but I didn''t want to. Sitting someplace quiet and putting it off sounded better.


    Except, of course, that procrastinating on dealing with the minor issue of someone who wanted to kill me seemed stupid at best.


    So when Daniel and Rachel left, and Haley and I found ourselves sitting together on my bed, we didn''t instantly start to make out.


    We sat next to each other. I put my arm around her, and she leaned into me.


    We didn''t say anything.


    I wondered what I was going to do, what the team was going to do, about all this. Did I have the right to put everyone in danger to protect me? Not to mention opening up the possibility that my family might be killed one by one.


    Well, assuming Ray and his team had any idea who my family were, and I desperately hoped they didn''t.


    Unfortunately, for Ray''s purposes, the team worked just as well.


    Was it coincidental that Prime''s replacement had directed his people to go after Haley during the fight?


    I doubted it.


    Strongly.


    I wondered that they would have done if they'' d caught her. Used her as hostage, or killed her immediately?


    Judging from "the Executioner''s" record, I couldn''t make assumptions.


    "Nick," Haley said, "your heart''s beating faster. What are you thinking about?"


    "Everything. Ray''s going after me, and because he''s going after me, he''s going after everybody."


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    "I think you''re just an excuse. He''s really going after everyone, but he found someone who will pay to kill you."


    "Could be, but that''s not much better."


    "I know, " Haley said. "Maybe we could all disappear? If he knew we left town, maybe he''d go."


    "But then if we came back, he''d come back."


    "I know, but if we waited long enough, maybe Daniel''s dad and the Midwest Defenders and Isaac would be done fighting the aliens, and we''d get some help."


    "That might work. I worry that if they know who we are, Ray''s people might do something that we''d have to respond to -- like killing our parents or friends or... I don''t know, something really bad."


    She turned her face and looked ahead, quiet for a moment.


    "Maybe you should disappear for a little while."


    "Why?"


    "To keep you safe. Didn''t you say your armor is in bad shape? How long will it be before it''s fixed?"


    "I don''t know. More than a week, I bet. After those guys waled on the breastplate, I''ll be looking for broken connections for a while. I''ve been looking into a plan b."


    "I hope it''s not the stealth suit. Travis'' costume used the same material, and, well, you know."


    I knew. The suit''s material hardened to match the force hitting it, but it had its limits. I''d seen his costume on the way to the doctor. It had ripped.


    "No, it''ll be better than that. I''m thinking Larry''s probably got a spare, and if not, well, I think that between Chris and Larry and I, we can put together something that could work."


    "I thought you had spares?"


    "Not really. They''re all half broken or scavenged for parts, or too old to trust. I need to make spares."


    "Don''t skimp on the armor," she said.


    We stayed in my room, talking, and sometimes holding each other until midnight when she went home.


    * * *


    On Sunday, we didn''t have a team meeting. After a short (nine way) conversation on our League phones, we decided to post more roachbots around the city and hope they caught a familiar face.


    They didn''t need me to do that, and so I arranged to meet Chris at the underground factory.


    Larry''s spare armor had turned out to be too big (in height and width) for me to fit.


    Chris and I sat at a desk in an office on the edge of the huge room. It felt unnervingly up to date. Chris had a CAD program running on what looked like a recent computer with a big, flat screen monitor.


    Chris clicked a couple times, and a list with pictures of several different chassis appeared along the left side of the screen. "What do you think? We''ve got stuff from man-sized to mecha."


    "I can''t believe he systematized it like this. All my grandpa''s stuff was more... personal. After he was done with a design, he wanted to do new stuff."


    "I know," Chris said. "It looks like Grandpa Cannon standardized a bunch of designs, and then he customized after that. From his notes, it looks like he could get a basic version up and running in a day."


    "That''s cool. Do any of them fly?"


    "No. I think it scared him."


    I''d wanted to create something that could pass for a Rocket suit, but it didn''t sound likely. Inserting sonics would probably be too much trouble for the time we had. I needed something that would keep Prime''s people away from me.


    "OK," I said, "I don''t know for sure, but I''ll definitely need some really big guns."

 Targets: Part 3

    "OK," Chris said. "Let''s see what he''s got in the inventory. I don''t even know half of what''s here."


    He opened up another program, some kind of parts database, and we scrolled down the list. It felt weird at how ordinary it was. Like a whole lot of businesses out there, Man-machine''s database program appeared to be based on Microsoft Access.


    Along with more typical parts categories like cables, and chassis, it included the category "weapons" with subcategories like "standard," "lasers," and "special."


    I didn''t recognize half the guns. The lasers included a few interesting things, but the "special" category was crazy.


    Not only did it include powered hand to hand weapons that would make a Japanese animation proud (swords, battle axes, whips...), but also versions of the paralysis device, and some more interesting things.


    "Goo guns?" I pointed at the top of the screen.


    Chris clicked on it. "I never noticed that."


    The details included range, space needed for storing ammunition, and the antidote.


    "That''s wild," I said. "Did you ever hear of Future Knight? He''s a hero on the east side of the state. I think he''s around Detroit or something. Works with Red Bolt."


    "That jerk? Yeah. I got questioned by him last fall. Remember?"


    "Right. Well, the League fought him because the mayor got into his head or something, and he had a goo gun too. He stopped a bunch of us because no one could get away without ripping away huge chunks of skin. His also had a separate chemical that dissolved the bonds."


    "Damn. That''s strange. Where do you think he got it?"


    "The story is he''s some kind of future cop who came back to the past. I always figured it was standard issue in the future."


    "Nick, where do you think he gets refills?"


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    "I never thought about it. His goo gun matches all the other stuff, so I''m pretty sure it''s not from our time. Where did your grandfather get it? Did he invent it?"


    "No. It says here he gets shipments from... Syndicate L."


    "Oh, great. I wonder if it means that your grandfather''s student came up with the stuff? You know, like he did the paralysis devices, and the Ball, and all those mechs."


    Chris shrugged. "No idea, but it''d make sense. Hey, you know what would be funny? What if Future Knight gave the goo to Syndicate L in the first place because they could make more and he needed refills?"


    "That doesn''t seem like him. I never got to know him, but he didn''t seem like the kind of guy who''d hand over future tech to a criminal organization."


    Besides, the whole thing opened up some seriously headache inducing possibilities.


    "The other reason I''m hoping he didn''t," I continued, "is the question of who invented it in the first place. If it was Syndicate L, you''ve got an infinite loop."


    "Oh yeah," Chris said. "Time travel screws up everything."


    "Exactly."


    As Chris pointed out other interesting possibilities in the special section, I zoned out a little, wondering about Future Knight''s supposed origin.


    What did it say about the future if cops wore powered armor, and carried swords, laser rifles, and an adhesive capable of containing supers? More interesting, where did they get their stuff? I''d noticed that Future Knight''s armor looked like it might descend at least a little from grandpa''s designs, but it clearly used Man-machine''s general philosophy about power sources.


    Not to mention the fact that Syndicate L appeared to be the source for the goo gun.


    Of course, Future Knight''s armor might not actually be from the future, but then it might mean that Future Knight was in Syndicate L''s pocket now.


    Interrupting Chris'' description of an EMP device, I said, "Goo gun. I think I''ll need one. Is there a lot of ammo? I''ve got a feeling we''ll have a hard time getting more from Syndicate L."


    "Well..." He gave me an annoyed look, but scrolled to the goo gun information. "Twenty cases of the stuff."


    "That''s good. Goo guns for sure, probably a laser, a paralysis gun and... I think it''s got to be able to move fast. I doubt you''ve got any armor they can''t rip apart, so if I can get away from them, that''d be best."


    "OK," Chris said, "let''s start putting this into the design."


    "Also," I said, "I think we''ll need two. We''re going to have someone coordinating us from HQ, and I think she might need some help to escape if someone manages to get in."


    "Two? I guess. It''s just going to take longer."


    Then Chris and I started adding elements into the CAD program, balancing the power needs of the devices versus how long I thought I''d need to have armor last before charging or replacing the batteries.


    Eventually, we came to an agreement, and started to build. Even under the circumstances, it was fun.


    Just as we started pulling cables, an alarm rang.


    "Someone''s found the back door," Chris said.

 Targets: Part 4

    We ran into the office, eyes on the security camera monitor, a flat screen hanging on the wall that showed all the entrances to the building.


    Lee stood at the backdoor entrance.


    Chris beeped him in.


    When we got him downstairs, I asked him, "How''d you know I was here?"


    "Mystic powers, and also, I called Larry, and he gave me the address."


    We stood together next to the elevator. "So," I asked, "why are you here?"


    "I talked to other people back at HQ, and thought I''d catch up with you. Nice job on the raid yesterday."


    "It could have gone better."


    "Raid?" Chris asked.


    "We found out where Ray was and blew up some of his stuff. That''s how my armor got messed up."


    Lee nodded. "But you all got away, and you managed to destroy the Power Impregnator which could only have pulled people into their group, so it worked."


    "Yeah."


    "But," Lee continued, "that''s not the main reason I''m here. I''ve got a few things that I''ll need from you. First it''s time to call in the people from California. Ray''s going to strike soon. You''ll need to get them in before it happens. The same''s true of any of the kids in Justice Fist. You''ve got a contact. See what you can get out of them."


    "OK. I can do that as soon as we''re done."


    "Great. Then I want to talk about what you''re building. What''s it got?"


    I went over its features including the weapons, possibly going a little too long.


    "Got it," Lee said. "Armored. Fast moving on the ground. Can''t fly. And it''s got weapons that might stop them for a little while. Good enough. Who''s the second one for, him?"


    He gestured toward Chris with his left hand.


    "No. I was thinking Kayla. You heard she''s going to be acting as, I don''t know, some kind of coordinator. When we took on the mayor, a bunch of people got into HQ. Something like this might get her out."


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    "Yeah. Not a bad idea. Think you could make hers into a backup communications center?"


    I hadn''t thought about it. "Maybe."


    He turned to Chris. "So what kind of suit are you going to use?"


    "If you guys need me, I thought I''d stick with the big one with the missiles. I used it last time."


    "Skip it," Lee said. "Build another one like Nick''s. They''re not going to be stupid enough to stand around in a big group again, but with two or three of those, we''ve got some possibilities."


    "I don''t think Kayla''s going to be interested in fighting."


    "Is she interested in not dying? Once she''s in that thing, she''s a target. She won''t have much of a choice. When you''ve got one built, train her in the basics. With luck, she won''t have to suit up."


    I thought about arguing with him, but I didn''t, and he left.


    Modular or not, it still took us hours to put them together. We stayed up till 3 am on Sunday, and I came back on Monday morning. Chris had a summer job (mowing lawns for a landscaping company), so he wasn''t back till after supper.


    We worked until two on Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon, I''d finished what was left, installing League communicators in all three of them.


    Dead tired, I biked home after that, leaving a voicemail asking Chris if he could show Kayla how things worked.


    * * *


    I slept in on Thursday.


    I didn''t wake up until ten in the morning which for me felt like all day. I lay in bed for half an hour more, still feeling tired, and wondering when Alex, Brooke and Jenny would show up.


    I hoped I wasn''t leading them into a trap. I''d explained our speculations that Syndicate L might be paying Ray to kill me, and the three of them might be a bonus. Alex told me, "You need us. We''re coming. Don''t worry about it. Besides if it''s Syndicate L, that just makes it better."


    I didn''t ask how that made it better.


    A warm wind blew through the window, long since fixed from when Justice Fiend had trashed it.


    It felt good, like the summers that I''d had every year of my childhood. I thought about calling Daniel and seeing if he had time to get together and hang out and relax for a couple hours.


    I sat up in bed and reached toward the cell phone on my desk, the one my parents paid for.


    It started ringing.


    I flipped it open. The phone''s screen said, "Chris Cannon. Answer? Ignore?"


    I began to click "Answer," but then my League phone started ringing. I flipped it open to find that Daniel and Haley were both calling me on separate lines, and that they''d both set their calls to yellow alert.


    Not quite sure whose call I should answer first, I hesitated.


    A high pitched pinging noise came from under my bed. I''d put the stealth suit, my helmet, and the guitar under it. While not the most secure place to keep something like that, I felt safer with the guitar in reach.


    The pinging noise came from the League communicator I''d added to the outfit.


    Pulling the jacket out from under the bed, and grabbing the jacket''s left sleeve, I tapped on the face of the communicator. The screen showed that the League had received a voice mail from Lt. Van Kley.


    I listened to it, keeping the volume down so it wouldn''t carry into the hall.


    "Heroes League, this is Lt. Van Kley of the Grand Lake Police Departement. I''m requesting your help in apprehending the people responsible for the disappearance of several members of Justice Fist and their parents."

 Targets: Part 5

    When the message ended, I clicked back to the communicator''s main menu to find that Daniel and Haley''s calls had made it to the League communicator too, and that they''d left messages.


    Deciding that I''d have to look into why there would be a lag between the League phones and League communicators, I was about to listen to Daniel''s message when the communicator started to ping again.


    It identified the caller as Lucas Hardwick.


    That had to be good news -- well, unless it meant that they''d killed Lucas and were calling to let us know.


    I answered, setting the communicator to distort my voice.


    "This is the Rocket."


    "The Rocket? Thank god. I''m in bad shape. Not like when I got shot, but do you have someplace I can go? Someplace out of sight?"


    He was breathing heavily.


    "Uh... Yeah. The League office. It''s downtown?"


    "Right. Not far from the hospital."


    "I can be there in half an hour. I just got up."


    "Sleeping in? God, that''s crazy. I''ll be waiting."


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    He hung up, and maybe at that point I should have been springing into action, throwing on the stealth suit, and running out the door.


    I intended to, but instead I sat on the bed holding the jacket, and staring at the communicator, thinking how much it sucked that I wasn''t even going to get a moment to relax after three days of putting the new suits together.


    After maybe five minutes of that, I asked myself who I was going to call back first--Daniel, Haley, Chris, or Lt. Van Kley?


    Haley answered the question by calling me again.


    "Hey--" I began, speaking into my League phone.


    I didn''t get to finish the sentence.


    "Nick, have you seen the TV?"


    "No. I just got up."


    "It''s after ten."


    "I know. I''ve been working on the suits for days, and I''ve barely had a chance to sleep."


    She started whispering.


    "Sydney''s here, Nick. Prime''s people broke into the hotel room where they were hiding, and kidnapped her mom. Sydney escaped."


    "What happened to Sean?"


    "I don''t know. She doesn''t know either. He wasn''t in the room when they came. I think Prime''s people attacked everyone in Justice Fist."


    "Van Kley said the same thing."


    "Are the police going after them? Nick, they''ll be slaughtered."


    "I didn''t talk to her. She left the League a voice mail. I haven''t called her back yet. They want us to handle it."


    "Oh. We were already."


    "Yeah. I''m just not sure how. But anyway, I got a call from Lucas. I''m meeting him at the office downtown."


    "Lucas is alive?"


    "Shouldn''t he be?"


    "They trashed his house, and took his parents. I saw it on the news. They killed the guards from Protection Force, and no one knows what happened to him or his sisters."


    "Wow. So that''s why he sounded tired. Do you want to come with me?"


    "I can''t leave Sydney. She''s lying on my bed and crying."


    "Maybe we need to bring her along too... But how do we do it without letting her know that you''re... you?"


    "I don''t know... It would be so much simpler if I could tell her."


    "She''d never keep it from Sean."


    "Look, I know. I just wish I could. Maybe Jaclyn or someone could come here and pick her up?"


    "That might work."

 Targets: Part 6

    After talking to Haley, I went through variations on the same conversation with Daniel, and Chris--except Chris and I also talked about getting the new armor to HQ.


    I put on the stealth suit, covered it over with clothes, stuffing the helmet into the backpack that hid a mini-rocketpack, and ran to League HQ, the guitar bumping along in its cloth case on my back.


    Between the eighty degree heat, and wearing a long sleeved shirt and jeans, I began to regret not biking almost immediately.


    The League cellphone rang, showing a call from Travis. I took it.


    Standing on the edge of Grandpa''s block, just past Veteran''s Memorial Park, I suddenly remembered the fight we''d had with Future Knight, and the other supers whose memories the mayor had modified.


    Hopefully we wouldn''t trash the neighborhood again.


    "I''ll make this quick," Travis said. "Vaughn got a hold of Sean, and Camille and Julie got together and called HQ for help. The rest of Justice Fist and their parents are gone."


    "How gone?"


    "I don''t know. Could be just kidnapped. Hey, I''ve got a feeling everything''s just about to go down. What''s happening with the California people?"


    "They''re coming. It sounded like today."


    "Great. I called Lee. We''ve got half of Justice Fist, Chris, Lee, the California people if they come, and Larry. That''s something. Anyway, we''re going to get together and respond."


    "What about our parents?" I was nearing Grandpa''s house.


    "They''re a problem. We can''t bring them to HQ because who knows what they''ll do. Can''t force them into hiding without people noticing. Our best shot at keeping them safe is taking Prime''s people down."


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    "Right," I said. Never mind that we didn''t have a solid idea how to take them all down. Not permanently anyhow.


    We hung up as I entered the house. Once the elevator brought me downstairs, I changed into costume in the locker room.


    I stepped out, helmet under my arm, to find Rachel waiting outside the door. All in white, gun and utility belt hanging around her hips, she only needed her mask to be fully in costume.


    "Hey, little brother, where are you going?"


    "I''m meeting Lucas at the office. It sounds like he needs someplace to hide. Actually, we may end up with everyone, and their dog here in a little while."


    "So I''ve heard. Travis called me a little while ago. He said he''d call you next. Do you need any help?"


    "I don''t know why. Lucas isn''t after me."


    "And if they followed Lucas, you''re going to fight them in that?" She indicated the stealth suit with her hand.


    "Point. I was hoping the defenses would hold them for a while. I got them mostly working this spring."


    "Grandma told me about them once. How do you think the city''s going to like the crater?"


    "There are a few to try before the self-destruct, but, you''re right. You can come along."


    And anyway, if I understood what Grandpa had been trying to do, the crater would be remarkably self-contained.


    I flew through the tunnel with Rachel holding on to my shoulder, a trail of small lights guiding us.


    We stopped in front of the metal door, waiting for it to slide out of the way.


    When it opened, we stepped into the lower level, which wasn''t much more than a garage one car wide with a concrete floor.


    We used the side door on the right side of the room, stepping into a stairwell that led up to the offices.


    I''d setup a laptop in the corner of the conference room, and I used it to check the security feeds.


    Lucas stood in the alley behind the building, nervously checking the sky, and, up and down the alley.


    He didn''t look good. Blood had dried under his nose, and on his right cheek, which was already swelling.


    A long, bloody slash ran diagonally across the front of his white, button down shirt. Something had torn most of the right leg off of his pants, leaving parallel stripes that I guessed had to be claw marks.


    I remembered seeing clawed soldiers among Prime''s reserves.


    Given that Lucas powers were pretty much the same as Red Lightning''s, and had included some degree of invulnerability, I guessed that at least one of the clawed guys had gone through the Impregnator before we destroyed it.

 Targets: Part 7

    We let him in, bringing Lucas up to the conference room.


    He limped as he walked, sighing as he sank into the chair. "Thanks. I was going crazy standing out there. Their fliers could have come by at any time."


    Rachel and I sat down with him, but not before Rachel said, "Thirsty?"


    "Depends on what you''ve got."


    "Water, if you''re asking what I think you''re asking," Rachel said. "Almost everyone in the League''s underage."


    "You think I''m the kind of guy who starts drinking before noon? I was hoping for coffee. I''ve been living on the stuff lately."


    Rachel smiled at him. "You''re out of luck there too. I''ve seen some here, but I''m sure it''s over two years old, and I don''t know if the coffeemaker even works."


    "I haven''t checked," I said. "I only drink it at coffeehouses, and even then not straight."


    "Rocket," Rachel said, "could you get us all some water?"


    I pulled some styrofoam cups off the table in the corner. They were a little dusty, but they were stacked upside down, so no big deal. I stepped out of the room, used the sink in the mini-kitchen, and came back.


    "What happened?" Rachel asked as I passed out the cups. Lucas eyed the bit of spiderweb on his cup doubtfully.


    Lucas sighed again. "It''s bad. I should have told the Rocket before, but my dad''s been hiding most of what used to be Justice Fist, and their parents. My family''s got a few places around town, and we''ve been keeping people hidden with advice from Protection Force and the FBI.


    "We checked, but the Feds didn''t have anybody with powers available. They said they were all busy. And you know what''s crazy? At first my dad didn''t care, so he brought in Protection Force''s normal human bodyguards, but then later, he asked about their supers, and all of them were busy too. Anyway, we''ve been trying to keep our people safe by keeping them together and having everyone with powers take a shift.


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    "Last night I got to sleep, which was good because I''d just gotten off a two day shift at the hospital. I was sitting down to breakfast with everybody when I heard guns outside. I didn''t even have time to stand up before a bunch of big guys (probably the Cabal) stormed our cottage--followed up by Ray''s crew.


    "They ran straight through the walls, and we all opened up. Jody turned into a blur of speed, but he couldn''t hurt them, and neither could Dayton. My dad and I started throwing lightning, but it was useless. It didn''t take them out.


    "I stayed with my dad for most of the fight until they grabbed him, and he shouted at me to go and get help.


    "I couldn''t see any way to win, so I left, and called you."


    He took a breath, and then said, "I hate this. I went through the Impregnator just in case I ever had to face the Cabal, and what good did it do? I couldn''t do much more than the time we tracked them down to that house on the northside. If it''s possible, I think I did less."


    "To be fair," I said, "they''ve gone through the Impregnator since then, and you were probably facing their best people this time. We barely escaped from those guys when we fought them before they got zapped."


    Rachel leaned forward. "You said Ray was there. What can he do? We''ve all been wondering."


    Lucas looked at each of us. "He can''t do anything on his own. He copies powers by touch. It takes a little while for him to be able fully use the new one, but then he''s got it at full strength."


    "Oh, wow," I said. If he''d had that last time. Especially if he''d touched Jaclyn, anything could have happened.


    "Oh, yeah," Lucas said. "That''s not the worst of it. He came in with the same powers as those Cabal guys, but after Jody punched him, he had this period where he didn''t have either the Cabal guys'' powers or Jody''s speed at full power, but he had both of them at the same time.


    "He clocked the kid instantly. I envy him that. I''ve been wanting to hit Jody since I met him."


    I laughed, and maybe I shouldn''t have. Of course, I''d already gotten my chance. Too bad it hadn''t done any good.


    I was about to ask how he felt, and if he needed any medical attention, but then both Rachel''s and my League communicators pinged.


    Rachel got to hers first. "Ghost," Jaclyn said. "I''m carrying Sydney. I''ll be at the office in seconds. Storm King tells me that Sean, Julie, and Camille are coming by air if they''re not there already."


    "They''re not--" Rachel began, but then we saw the three of them dropping past the window.


    "They are," Jaclyn said, "and so are we."


    Over the link, I heard Sydney say, "Sean!" and heard a cascade of clicks in the background as Jaclyn used the keypad next to the door, followed by a mechanical clunking noise as it unlocked.


    "Hurry," she said.


    I felt a hint of relief as they got off the street, but it didn''t last long.


    Lucas pushed himself back, knocking his chair over, and shattering it. Staring out the window, he said, "They''re here."


    Outside, five of Prime''s best landed in the street, cracking it.

 Targets: Part 8

    I set the red alert on my communicator--not the one for the complex. That would have shut down all the entrances, and the rest of the League would need them.


    From outside came the sound of screeching brakes. One of the older streets in the city, State Street ran straight into downtown from the suburbs.


    Cars filled all four lanes, and between standing in the middle of the road and (in one case) getting hit by a pickup truck, the Cabal''s men had blocked three of the four.


    The pickup''s front had been smashed in. The Cabal soldier bounced into the backdoor of a yellow mini-van, but stood up in time to pull himself on top of the truck''s cab and jump for the sidewalk.


    The three cars behind the truck rear ended each other while a gray Ford Focus slid right, into oncoming traffic, creating another crash.


    I decided not to think about the drivers.


    Anyway, I barely had a time to think at all.


    One of the Cabal''s people jumped, flying toward the windows at the front of the conference room. His aim wasn''t quite perfect, or maybe his shoulders were wider than the the window (which was made of transparent aluminum). Either way, he shattered it, but didn''t sail through.


    He managed to get his arm over the sill and began to pull himself in, giving us a good look at his head.


    His clawed hands, and too wide, fanged mouth reminded me slightly of Travis and Haley, but his expression seemed stiffer, and less--I don''t know--human.


    I didn''t get to look at him for long. I began to pull up the guitar, but Rachel and Lucas both beat me to it.


    Rachel pulled out her pistol, and fired, the booming noise hinting that the bullet had exploded on impact, meaning that one of my designs had probably worked. It wasn''t easy to tell for sure because Lucas had hit him with a lightning bolt at almost the same time.


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    The room shook with the noise.


    As the man fell out of the windowsill, and I ran to the laptop in the corner of the room. I switched away from the cameras'' view of the outside to the building''s controls.


    Clicking, I sent commands through HQ''s network. All over the building, motors hummed, covering the windows and doors with an extra layer of armor.


    I wondered how long that would stop them.


    Switching back to the security cameras, I saw that the Cabal''s people were all out of the street, and appeared to be talking together on the sidewalk.


    That wasn''t a good thing. I activated the building''s sonics.


    Inside, we didn''t hear much more than a distant whining, but outside, they were experiencing noise that had to be far above the threshold of pain.


    Against that background, Jaclyn stepped through door to the conference room, followed by Sean, Sydney, Camille, and Julie.


    Jaclyn wore her purple costume. Like Lucas, the rest of them wore street clothes. Julie, in particular wore jean shorts, and a white halter top which, while distractingly low cut, didn''t strike me as the best choice for a fight.


    "How are we doing," Jaclyn asked.


    "Not sure," I said. "They''re just standing there right now. No. Wait. They''re jumping."


    Five thumps came from the roof above us, followed by a solid crashing noise.


    The lights in the ceiling shook. One broke.


    "I take that back. I think we''ve got to go. Right now."


    Jaclyn turned around, "You heard him. Get out. We don''t want to be here when they come through the roof."


    Sean didn''t move, stopping everyone. "That''s nuts. There''s seven of us. Even if we can''t fight them. Julie can tell them all to freeze."


    "I''m sure Ray''s got a way around that by now--" I began, only to be interrupted by Lucas.


    "Listen Sean, you idiot. I''ve put up with you for months now. We don''t have time to discuss this. When they say go, you go."


    Julie''s eyes narrowed. "Shut up."


    For an instant, her voice felt overwhelming. What I''d thought of as a "queer tone" to her voice before felt more like a river of sound, but... only for an instant.


    I felt a thimble sized object on my utility belt hum, matching and distorting what she said.


    Jaclyn''s and Rachel''s went off too.


    Julie stared.


    Very calmly, but very deliberately, Jaclyn said, "Get. Moving. Now."


    A metallic, tearing noise came from above us. They weren''t through the ceiling, but they were through one layer.


    I clicked a few buttons on the laptop.


    "Thirty seconds," I said.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Before what?"


    "Building goes boom."

 Targets: Part 9

    Even the most obnoxious people will stop arguing when they know the building they''re inside is about to explode.


    In theory, at least.


    "What?" Julie asked.


    Sean looked from me to Lucas. "You''re kidding, right?"


    From behind him, Sydney said, "Sean!"


    "No. And now it''s twenty-three seconds. Go!"


    Above us, something in the ceiling crunched.


    That did it. Sean turned around, and got out of the doorway. Julie, Jaclyn, Rachel, Lucas, and I ran after him. Sydney and Camille had already started.


    We all ran down the stairs to the main floor, and Jaclyn clicked the combination into the keypad in a blur of purple gloves.


    The far end of the floor dipped downward, opening into the tunnel.


    Ten seconds.


    We ran inside, and then as we hit pitch darkness people began to slow. I pulled a small flashlight off my belt and turned it on.


    "Don''t stop," I said.


    "Why?" Lucas asked.


    "Part of the tunnel''s going to fall in."


    "What the hell''s your problem?" Sean shouted. "Are you trying to kill us all?"


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    At least that''s what I thought he said. I could have missed it because at that moment, a huge barrier slid out of the wall, hitting the far side with a solid thunk, and blocking off the tunnel behind us.


    "Do we have everybody?" Jaclyn asked.


    I swung the flashlight around. Sydney and Camille were up with her. Lucas, Sean, and Julie were near me.


    We hadn''t lost anyone, and that was good because the explosions started and the ground began to shake.


    A chunk of the ceiling fell to the floor next to Jaclyn along with some dirt.


    "I think we need to keep moving," Lucas said.


    An unfamiliar voice (by process of elimination, Camille''s) said, "If nobody minds, I can fly us down. Just... Rocket, could I have the flashlight? Or maybe you could come up here?"


    I came up there and found myself floating. I guided Camille down the tunnel to League HQ. It was probably the first time I spoke to her, and she seemed nice enough given that she was Sean''s half-sister. I wondered if she knew? Or if he and Sydney knew?


    Either way, I wasn''t going to bring it up.


    Once we got going, we traveled quickly enough. We reached HQ within minutes.


    Daniel, Cassie, Haley, and Travis were already there, and in costume. They were all at the the main table--in front of the big screen.


    The screen showed the remains of the League''s offices from the view of a nearbyantenna we owned. The building wasn''t standing of course, but it could have been a lot worse. The explosion could have thrown chunks of building across the downtown, but it appeared to have imploded.


    Most of it had fallen into the lower level, but not everything. Parts of the walls had slid into the parking lots on either side.


    Also, the huge pile in the middle was on fire.


    None of the Cabal''s people were in sight. If they''d been on the roof, they might be inside all that.


    Over the room''s speakers came the sound of reporters talking about the scene downtown, and the constant sound of phones ringing as people tried to call us.


    Camille floated the group of us up to the front of the room, and let us float to the floor.


    It seemed a little odd to feel gravity''s pull again.


    Haley''s expression, the part not covered by her mask was hard to read. Normally she looked happier to see me, but normally I wasn''t bringing Sean and Sydney into HQ.


    Travis'' expression tightened briefly, and then relaxed, but he didn''t take his eyes off us.


    This was going to get awkward.


    I tried to think of something to say, but drew a blank.


    Daniel, his face unreadable thanks to his full face mask, said, "Everybody, we just got a call that claims to be from Ray Malone."

 Targets: Part 10

    "I''m going to take it and let everyone listen," Daniel continued.


    He clicked a few buttons on his keyboard, and the view from his monitor appeared on the big screen, covering most of the wall.


    The switchboard program showed a list of callers (ten reporters in the last five minutes) and voicemails, followed by information about the current caller. This amounted to:


    Caller: Unknown


    FBI Notified. Tracing...


    Daniel answered, "This is the Mystic."


    Ray''s voice filled the room. "The Mystic. You weren''t around for Christmas. I got caught by a bunch of teenagers, but none of them were called the Mystic. It''s not much, but it''s something to be grateful for."


    Daniel''s voice stayed calm. "That could change."


    "It could, but I''m not counting on it. This time I planned it out. I''ve got something you''ll want back. Say a few words, Mr. and Mrs. McAllister..."


    The scream in the background sounded a lot like Haley''s mom. A voice that had to be Haley''s dad got out, "Damn you--" before being silenced.


    "Those bastards," Travis began, and his body changed. Hands and feet turned to claws, and his muscles, which were intimidating normally, became larger and more defined.


    Something in his chair cracked. I couldn''t see what.


    Next to me, Haley took deep breaths. Her muscles strained, but didn''t change.


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    I felt like I should do something, put my arm around her shoulder maybe, but at that moment, touching her without warning didn''t seem like a good idea.


    "Now, I don''t know for sure how they''re connected with the League, but I''ve got my suspicions. Nothing I could prove in a court of law, but I''m not a lawyer, so that''s not a problem. If I''m right, they''ve got a son and a daughter, and the daughter''s got a boyfriend. He and I chatted for a little while.


    "You know what''s interesting? Night Cat''s also got a boyfriend. She''s going out with the Rocket. Don''t you love coincidences? I know I do. They make my job easier. Now if she''s not some kind of two timing slut, it''s going to be the same guy, and today I found out his name.


    "It wasn''t much work to find out where he lived, or who his parents were. In case you''re wondering, no, we haven''t collected them yet. I don''t think we''ll need to.


    "We''ve got Justice Fist. We''ve got the McAllisters. And, we''ve got some wonderful leads, but I think we''ve got enough hostages. See when I talked to Nick, I got the impression that he was a good kid. Good kids don''t let their girlfriend''s parents get shot in the head, and they don''t let other kids'' parents get shot in the head either."


    Daniel''s face hardened. His mouth became a thin line. "That''s sick. What kind of monster are you? They never--"


    "I''m a monster who''s getting paid."


    "That''s worse--"


    "Don''t interrupt me, or you could find your own family on my list."


    Daniel opened his mouth as if he were about to talk, but he didn''t. I don''t know why he stopped, but I know I wanted him to.


    "Good. Now here''s what I want Nick to do. I want him to show up downtown, corner of Fulton And Sikes. Once he shows up we''ll contact him, and tell him what happens next. A couple things about that--no Rocket suit, no guitar, no equipment. Tonight he''s an ordinary kid. Now as for the rest of your team. Stay out of it. We know how to deal with you. If you doubt that, check out our kill list on Double V."


    "What''s going to happen to him?"


    "Nothing much. We want to talk with him. After we talk, we''ll let everybody go, but that''s only if he shows up within an hour, starting now. If he doesn''t show, we''ll execute the hostages, one every ten minutes. When we run out, we''ll move on to his parents. Got it?"


    "I''ve got it."


    "Remind him not to be late."

 Targets: Part 11

    "I''ll pass that on," Daniel said, his voice flat.


    "Then that covers it. Get the Rocket over--" He stopped. "What?"


    A woman''s voice said something unintelligible.


    "I''d never have thought they had it in them." Ray''s voice sounded distant, as if he wasn''t talking into the receiver.


    "Congratulations. You''ve put the fear of God into my allies, but it won''t change anything. Be at Fulton and Sykes.You''ve got less than an hour now."


    He hung up the phone.


    Jaclyn eyed Daniel. "What was that last part about? Did I miss something?"


    "No idea," Daniel said.


    My League communicator rang, and I clicked it on. Ghost, Rachel''s code name stood out against a blinking yellow background.


    How had I failed to notice that she wasn''t with us? I had, kind of, but when someone who turns invisible disappears you take it less seriously than normal.


    "Rocket." She sounded tired. "I stayed behind to make sure they didn''t dig after us."


    "Wow. Are they?" I looked toward the hangar where the tunnel to the office opened.


    "Not now. I stopped them."


    "That''s great." Thinking about the tone of her voice, I said, "Right?"


    "No. Remember when Justice Fiend had you, and I moved the barrel of the gun inside his head? I had to pull the trigger this time."


    "You shot someone in the head?"


    Next to me, Haley put her hand over her mouth.


    "Don''t make this worse than it is. I shot him in the arm, but the gun was loaded with the explosive bullets. They got caught in the middle of it, but they woke up, and one of them noticed where the tunnel caved in. I told him to leave it alone or I''d phase the gun through his skin and shoot him. They all laughed, and I pulled the trigger. His skin bulged like a balloon, and his hand blew up. I could see pieces--"


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    She took a breath. "I''m not going to say more about that. He stopped moving, and the rest of them took him away. I might have killed him."


    "Could be," I said. "An explosive bullet inside a body... That could make quite a blast."


    "I know. You''re not making me feel better about it."


    "Sorry. It''s just... Wow."


    "How are things in HQ?"


    "Well, we''ve got Night Wolf, Night Cat, and the Mystic plus everyone from the office, but we''re waiting on everyone else. And Ray called."


    "Now what?"


    "I have to go meet him or he''ll kill Justice Fist''s parents, plus some of the League''s parents. Including ours."


    She didn''t say anything for a little while. Then, "I didn''t know this could get worse. Give me a minute. I''m going to hurry."


    The communicator flashed "Connection Closed," and the light winked out.


    "She''s got a way to kill them?" Sean asked. "Kick ass. I thought those guys were unstoppable."


    He''d walked up behind Haley and my chairs while I was talking with Rachel. Haley barely moved, but her foot trembled.


    I guessed she might be instants from monstering out.


    "I say we follow the Rocket here, and then when Ray doesn''t expect it, we take him out."


    I meanwhile was trying to figure out why he wasn''t saying anything at all about Haley or I. Ray had pretty much blown our secret identities, and given our history, it seemed impossible that he''d handle it that calmly.


    Daniel: He doesn''t know.


    Me: You erased it from his memory?


    Daniel: No. I made him miss the connection. Him and everyone else.


    Me: That''s really cool.


    Daniel: It''s not going to last. If they stick around long enough, it''ll be impossible for me to keep it up without some major mental surgery, and I''m not going to do that. Sydney and Sean will know Haley''s voice instantly, and Sean also recognizes Travis''s voice. We can''t plan anything with them here. Plus what happens with Lucas when Vaughn arrives? Lucas inherited Red Lightning''s resistance to telepathy too.


    Me: Rachel''s right. This just gets worse.


    Daniel: I know. I think we''re going to have to lay all our cards on the table, tell them who we are and get it over with. Maybe do what we did with Kayla.


    Me: Do we have time for that? I know I don''t. Not if I want to get there before Ray starts executing people.


    Daniel: We don''t, but having Sean figure something like that out in the middle of dealing with Ray could be just as bad.


    Me: Maybe you could wait till after I leave then?


    Daniel: Are you planning to hand yourself over to Ray?


    Me: I don''t see that I''ve got much of a choice.


    Daniel: Nick, no one hires a guy called the Executioner to talk with people. Ray''s going to kill you.


    Me: Lee''s coming soon, and my death is one of those things he''s supposed to prevent. If Rachel comes with me, we''ll at least stop them from killing Haley''s parents, and we might even find out where they are.


    Daniel: If you''re lucky.


    Me: I don''t think we''ve got another option.

 Targets: Part 12

    As telepathic contact ended, I became aware of the world around me again.


    Haley had taken my hand, and in a quiet voice said, "Can we go over there?" She nodded toward a spot away from the main table where we''d been sitting.


    With Sean standing behind our chairs, I could guess why.


    "Sure," I said.


    We got up, and walked away from the table, stopping next to a display case containing the black uniform of some Nazi super agent. The jacket''s sleeves ended in massive metal gauntlets, matching a grey, metal helmet that would have covered the entire face.


    I couldn''t remember the agent''s name, how the League got the uniform, or why they put it up on display.


    But anyway, we stood there, and I might have tried to hug her, but we were both in costume and I didn''t want to take off my own mask.


    "I don''t want you to go," she said.


    "I don''t want me to go either, but Ray''s going to start killing people if I don''t."


    "I know, but wait for Lee to get here. Travis talked to him before you got down the tunnel, and he''s coming."


    Over at the main table, Travis and Cassie were still on the phones. Hopefully they''d managed to talk to everybody. We''d need as much help as we could get.


    "Lee works on his own schedule," I said. "I''m not going to count on him showing up within the time limit, and even if he does he might just act to protect Rachel and I. If I''m here when he arrives, he doesn''t have to do anything. If I''m out there with your parents, saving me might save them."


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    Her eyes narrowed, and she didn''t say anything at first, but then, "I''m following you."


    "I don''t think that''s such a good idea. Ray said he''d planned for all of us, and he might have just been bluffing, but I kind of believe him."


    "You don''t stand a chance alone."


    "I was thinking about having Rachel follow along. I''m pretty sure we blew up his defenses against her when we blew up the Impregnator."


    "No, I''m not letting you go alone. Ray won''t notice me. I''m good at sneaking around."


    I opened my mouth to argue with her, but stopped. She really was. So was Travis. Their grandfather, the original Night Wolf, had been too.


    While I turned things around in my head, trying to come up with reasons for her to stay here, I noticed another conversation.


    Sean, Jaclyn, Lucas, Camille, Julie, and Sydney stood in a circle near the main table. Travis had put down the phone and started walking around the table toward them.


    Sean was talking and he wasn''t exactly quiet.


    "So what are we going to do? Is the Rocket leaving or what? Because if he''s not, I''m not going to sit here while Ray kills my mom like he did my dad, something the League wasn''t any help in stopping by the way."


    "Listen, idiot," Lucas said, "did they, or didn''t they just save your ass?"


    Sean raised his hand, pointing a finger at Lucas as he talked;. "You shut up. I put up with a lot of your shit because your dad was bankrolling us, but he''s not anymore, so if you don''t want me to beat the crap out of you, be quiet."


    Lucas dropped his jaw in something that wasn''t quite a grin. "You think you can?"


    Sydney''s face looked reddish, like she might be just about to cry, or had just stopped.


    "Sean, this isn''t going to help."


    "No," Jaclyn said, "it''s not. You two need to calm down. I don''t know exactly what we''re going to do, but we''re not going to sit here and let people die."


    "Yeah," Sean said, "tell that to my dad."


    Camille folded her arms across her chest. "You''re not the only person who lost someone when he died."


    Sean turned to stare at her, shouting, "That''s bullshit. He wouldn''t do that."


    "Time to stop this," Jaclyn said.


    I wondered what else could pop up before I left.


    As if to demonstrate, a high pitched beep came across the room''s speakers.


    Near the table, Cassie said, "Now what?"


    She clicked away at the keyboard, and Alex''s voice filled the room. "Rocket, we''re here. Where should we land?"

 Targets: Part 13

    "Ask him if he can use the underwater entrance," I told Cassie.


    I was pretty sure the Defenders'' jets could.


    Cassie passed it along.


    "Right," Alex said, "I remember that from when I was a kid."


    Ten minutes later we were all in the hangar. The doors to the air lock opened and a Defenders podjet rolled in. Egg-shaped, except for the wings and wheels, it wasn''t much longer than a van.


    I seemed to remember that it could operate in space, but couldn''t reach orbit on its own.


    Anyway, when it came to a stop, a door opened above the wing, and Alex, Jenny and Brooke stepped out, jumping off the wing to the floor.


    All three of them were in costume--Alex as some kind of cowboy/knight, Jenny in red, and Brooke in that silvery, alien suit.


    Except there weren''t three of them. Carlos stepped out on the wing, touched his hand to the door, and the door slid into place and locked up.


    Carlos wore a blue Los Angeles Galaxy t-shirt, and shorts.


    It made total sense that he wasn''t in costume. He was eleven or something, and shouldn''t have been there in the first place.


    Still standing on the wing, he took in the room--the tools on the wall, the League jet, Night Wolf''s car, Captain Commando''s motorcycle, the League moon rover, and half a dozen other pieces of equipment in various stages of repair. His jaw dropped a little.


    "This is so cool."


    That was exactly what I needed to help keep myself calm before turning myself over to Ray--the knowledge that Technomage''s son, a kid who naturally communicated with machines, would have total access to everything in HQ.


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    Alex grinned up at the kid, "You bet."


    Then Alex turned his attention to the rest of us. "Rocket, great to see you again. You want to introduce everybody?"


    I''d forgotten what it felt like to be around him. I felt good, amazingly peaceful even though I knew it wasn''t natural.


    "I wish I had time," I said. "Things are moving really fast. Ray''s people are about to start killing off hostages if I don''t show up soon. The Mystic can give you details."


    Carlos bounced once on the wing as if it were a trampoline, and jumped off.


    In a lower voice I said, "Why''d you bring Carlos?"


    Brooke laughed. Jenny groaned.


    Alex stepped closer to me and said, "He''s the only reason we''re here. They''ve been keeping us busy, and out of trouble, but I happened to volunteer to take him to the San Diego Zoo, and here we are."


    "The way I remember it, his parents didn''t trust you at all."


    Alex nodded. "His mom trusted me just long enough."


    I didn''t have time to deal with this.


    "Well okay, I''d better head out."


    The readout in my helmet said I still had forty minutes, more than enough time to get downtown from here. Haley could drop me off in Night Wolf''s car.


    I''d decided to leave for the locker room, and grab my clothes when the sound of a horn filled the hangar.


    I hadn''t even taken a step.


    That was the alert for the forest entrance. All of the regulars--Travis, Haley, Jaclyn, Daniel, Cassie, Rachel (she''d appeared while we waited for the jet), and I ran for the computer on one of the counters in the hangar.


    The remains of Justice Fist, and "Three" plus Carlos crowded in behind us.


    Jaclyn got there first.


    She logged in, and the screen showed a white delivery truck from a couple different angles. Unlike most delivery trucks, it didn''t have a sign on the side.


    Chris sat in the driver''s seat, and Kayla sat on the other side of the cab.


    "I''m letting him in," Jaclyn said.


    A little while later, the doors on the other side of the hangar opened, and the truck rolled in. Chris parked it in front of the League jet.


    They''d have to move it if Larry brought the Rhinomobile.


    Chris and Kayla were both in the grey coveralls that went with Man-machine''s armor.


    Neither of them wore masks.


    Sean stared at them. "What the fuck are you doing here?"


    Daniel spoke directly into my head. Sorry, I can''t cover that one up without practically lobotomizing people.


    I sent back, Haley and Rachel and I should go. Could you pass that along? I''d like to leave before Sean recognizes me.


    I felt rather than heard his sigh.


    Leave. It''ll probably be easier that way.

 Targets: Part 14

    Minutes later, Haley drove Night Wolf''s car to the far end of the hangar and into the tunnel. Rachel rode in the front with her, and I sat in the back.


    We came out in the forest. The "rock" closed behind us, and we followed the access trail out of Veterans Memorial Park.


    Once we got to the road, Haley accelerated, moving ten to fifteen miles per hour faster than the speed limit at every opportunity.


    We had thirty minutes left to get there, easily enough time, but given that her parents might be first in line to be shot, I understood it.


    In the back seat, I took off my helmet, backpack, utility belt, boots, jacket, and gloves (not to mention the guitar). I detached the sonics, but I kept the thinnest layer of the stealth suit on, and put my clothes over it.


    It wouldn''t give me the same level of strength or protection as the Rocket suit or even the full stealth suit, but it might give me a second chance if someone stabbed or shot me.


    I left my communicator, and kept my League phone. With any luck they wouldn''t have anyone capable of telling the difference between it and any other cell phone.


    Haley took the highway into downtown, cutting a couple minutes off our time.


    Probably.


    I hoped so anyhow. It would justify the driving. Haley sped up once we merged into traffic, going much faster than ten to fifteen mile per hour over the speed limit.


    I didn''t look at the speedometer. Glancing outside told me enough. We were passing the other cars like they were standing still.


    I''d have been scared for my life if Vaughn were driving, but Haley had uncanny reflexes so even when the semi-truck ahead of us slowed down, she steered the car into the left lane before I had time to worry.


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    I wouldn''t have dared to try fitting the car between the two cars on our left, but she''d managed it.


    As soon as we passed the semi, she crossed three lanes of traffic to go down the exit to Sykes Street.


    "And all that without killing anybody," Rachel said.


    "I was in control the whole time."


    "I didn''t say you weren''t."


    The blocks around Fulton and Sykes Street weren''t the nicest in the city, but they weren''t terrible. Most of the buildings dated from the late 19th and early 20th century. Half were abandoned, their windows boarded up. They hadn''t been painted in the last twenty years at best.


    We passed a Mexican grocery store, bar, a taqueria, a coffee shop, and a McDonalds.


    On the bright side, the place wasn''t completely abandoned, but I doubted it would be photographed for the city''s tourism brochures any time soon.


    Haley pulled Nightwolf''s car into a used car lot half a block down from Fulton and Sykes, and next to the McDonalds.


    I had five minutes left.


    Haley pulled the car between two rows of cars, and stopped.


    "I''ll be outside," Rachel said, and disappeared.


    I squeezed between the bucket seats, and got into the front.


    "Well," I began.


    "Be careful."


    I couldn''t see her full expression through the mask, but her eyes looked a little red.


    She put her hand on mine, we leaned in, and kissed.


    "Hurry," Rachel said. Her voice sounded like she was inside the car.


    I opened the door, and got out.


    Then I ran for the corner.


    It didn''t take long. Maybe thirty seconds at most. Once you get close to downtown, the blocks get shorter.


    I still had four minutes before the deadline, time I spent standing on the corner wondering which of the four corners would be best.


    I stood in front of the McDonalds, listening to the hum of car engines, and people ordering ("I want a cheeseburger, fries, and a large, orange drink...").


    Kitty corner from me stood "Bill''s Bikini Bar and Grille."


    It wasn''t open, but the bikini tops on the sign blinked off, and on.


    Meanwhile, the brick buildings on the other two corners had been boarded up.


    Even as I began to wonder about the time, a rusty, white jeep stopped in front of me. It had to be at least twenty years old.


    The door opened, and a blond man with a pimpled face opened the door. I recognized him as one of Prime''s people.


    "Get in. We don''t got all day."


    He stepped out, pushing the seat forward, giving me a straight shot to the back.


    I climbed in, and remembered the last time I''d seen him, controlling an urge to cringe. He stepped in behind me, and shut the door.


    It was the guy who''d melted the arm of the regular Rocket suit with his hands.

 Targets: Part 15

    I put my seatbelt on, noticing as I did it that they hadn''t just sent "Burning Hands Man." The driver was one of Prime''s reserves--a big, bald muscular guy.


    Talk about overkill.


    Even with part of the stealth suit under my clothes, I still had no chance against either of them.


    Burning Man turned around, handing me a piece of black cloth. It had been folded over several times.


    "It''s a blindfold. Tie it around your head and don''t get clever."


    I did.


    It blocked the light pretty well. If I wanted to try to sneak peaks at passing scenery, I''d have to lean my head back till it was nearly flat.


    Once the blindfold was on, they started driving.


    Haley might have known exactly where she was just by the smells and the sounds. I lost track of where I was within minutes.


    Within five minutes, the most I could guess was that we''d gotten on the highway. I only guessed that because driving downtown meant a lot of stops and starts.


    After a turn, and a feeling of acceleration, the engine got louder, and the jeep didn''t stop anymore.


    My guards didn''t talk, but one of them turned the radio to an oldies station. "Don''t Fear the Reaper" (I remembered playing it on Rock Band) would have been perfect somehow, but the first song I heard was by a band called "Flock of Seagulls."


    It was followed up by "Wham!"


    I didn''t know much about either group, but something felt vaguely wrong about the idea of riding to one''s death accompanied by 80''s pop.


    After a while, the radio and the sound of the jeep''s engine faded into the background, and the part of my brain that came up with messages of gloom and doom started working overtime.


    I was sitting in the back seat of a jeep with two people who could easily kill me. I had no idea where I was going except that I''d be meeting with Ray, someone whose reputation demanded that he execute me at some point.


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    And what was I going to do about it? Hope that they didn''t have a device that kept Rachel out, and pray Lee showed up before things got really bad.


    It wasn''t as if Lee hadn''t had us come with plans for what to do if someone got captured. Sending Rachel out to follow the captors was even part of it.


    What sucked is that I didn''t know whether she''d managed. Her maximum speed while flying topped out around thirty. If she couldn''t catch the jeep at the beginning, she''d never catch up.


    And then I''d be completely alone.


    Rachel aside, what were the chances that Haley would be able to follow in Night Wolf''s car and not stand out? In something that looked like a vintage corvette? Low.


    As I reminded myself that Rachel had successfully hung on to Rocket suit in flight, I felt the jeep slow, and turn, slowing more quickly as it did, and finally stopping.


    After that, it started moving again, but I didn''t think it was going as fast, and the road felt bumpier.


    A little later, the jeep came to a stop.


    "Can I take off the blindfold now?"


    "Not if you want to walk away from here. Keep it on until we''re inside," said Burning Hands Man.


    Doors opened. I took off my seatbelt, and one of them grabbed my arm and led me out.


    It felt hot outside, and I couldn''t hear any cars at all. Between that and the car ride, I guessed we had to be out in the country somewhere.


    Birds sang as we walked across... something flat. It might have been a parking lot or a driveway.


    I heard a door swing open, and then we were inside, experiencing colder air, and the slightly stale smell of air conditioning.


    "We''ve got him," Burning Hands told somebody.


    "That''s the new Rocket? He''s a kid."


    "So are the rest of ''em."


    "Yeah, well, bring him to the conference room."


    They walked me down a hall or two and took off my blindfold.


    It looked like every conference room in the world except maybe on the cheap end--a long table with chairs, brown wood paneled walls, and a beige, carpeted floor.


    No windows though. No pictures hung on the walls either.


    It had a small refrigerator, the kind you find in hotel rooms or college dorms.


    Burning Hands Man stood by the door. "Ray''s coming. I''ll be right outside. Don''t even try to leave."


    The air near his right hand shimmered.


    Then he stepped out the door, and shut it.


    I evaluated my resources. Aside from my suit and phone (which amazingly they still hadn''t taken), I had chairs, the table, florescent ceiling lights, 110 volt electricity from the outlets, and a refrigerator.


    Like that was going to help.


    The door opened, and Ray walked in. He looked the same as ever--a little shorter than me, and still wearing the Rolex he''d shown me at the Christmas party.


    I''d half expected to find him in camouflage clothing, but he wore a blue button down shirt and khakis.


    In an office setting, I supposed that might be camouflage clothing.


    The pistol hanging at his waist would make him stand out though.


    "Nice to see you again, Nick. We''re waiting on the local Syndicate L representative. He''s here, but he had to handle something."

 Targets: Part 16

    The Syndicate L representative walked through the door only moments later.


    If Ray had worn his khakis and button down shirt as some kind of office camouflage, the Syndicate L rep went one step further.


    Middle aged with a tinge of gray in his brown hair, the guy wore a light brown suit coat over a black shirt. I thought I saw a bulge under his left arm, but couldn''t be sure.


    It had to be a gun though.


    Aside from that, it pointed to an interesting pattern in the Syndicate L higher ups I''d seen--they didn''t look like thugs.


    It fit, I supposed, with how they were more focused on transporting illegal objects than committing crimes. Passing as regular businessmen could only help.


    It still seemed weird though.


    From what I''d seen so far of them, it seemed like the only criminal organization I''d ever heard of where having an MBA might help you get ahead.


    He didn''t seem all that impressed with me though. He looked me over, and smirked.


    I couldn''t think of anything particularly funny about how I was dressed, but then I looked down at my shirt. In my rush to get moving, I''d grabbed the first dark, long sleeved t-shirt that I could find--a black shirt with a big, yellow Batman symbol on the chest.


    Right.


    "Looks like we got ourselves a tough one, Ray." He laughed at his own joke.


    Then he pulled out a chair and sat down.


    Under his breath, he said, "Ray, his name?"


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    "Nick," Ray muttered.


    "Nick," he said, "call me Allen. I''m from Syndicate L."


    I didn''t intend to call him anything, but I was happy to put Allen at the top of the list of names I didn''t plan to use.


    He paused, possibly waiting for me to say something like, "Allen, nice to meet you. It''s a pleasant change of pace to be held captive in a conference room."


    I didn''t say anything.


    "Nick, Nick, Nick," he said, sounding a little more patronizing with each "Nick."


    "You''ve caused us a lot of problems, and by us, I mean the Syndicate, not Ray and I. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, millions of dollars in damage in California alone, and that doesn''t even count the way you interrupted our Grey Giant delivery. What a mess that was. We had to remove the man in charge of this territory, and I came in to straighten things out.


    "I suppose you could say I owe you my job, right? But no, that''s not true. I''m not here permanently. I''m here to fix things. I''m a fixer.


    "And one of the things I''m here to fix is you."


    He took a breath.


    So did I. Allen had to be one of the most talkative enemies I''d met so far.


    "We''ve got two ways to make things right. One of them you won''t like much, and the other... the other could lead you on the path to greatness."


    Ray glanced over at him, his face unreadable.


    Allen kept on talking.


    "We can''t let you keep on doing what you''re doing, oh no. We''ll execute you before we let that happen, but we''ve got another option. We don''t waste material. We recycle. Ha-ha. We see something in you. A potential. A potential for genius in the art of constructing technological devices. A--"


    "Allen," Ray said, "Allen. Get on with it."


    Allen curled his lip. "I was getting to our offer."


    "Get there faster."


    "As I was saying, we''re prepared to offer you a position working for Syndicate L, creating powered armor, devices, and anything else we might need."


    "What if I don''t want to do that?"


    "Then I''m afraid we''ll have to kill you."


    "That''s not much of a choice."


    Ray smiled at me. "It''s not meant to be. Now for anyone who might be listening in invisibly, I''ve got a message. We''ve taken our hostages and moved them to separate spots all over the area. If I don''t call them once an hour, my people will kill the hostages. Better than that, I don''t know where they are. So you can have Ghost phase a bullet into my brain, and they''ll die. And you can have your telepath rummage through my brain, and they''ll still die."


    "Precisely," Allen said. "And speaking of telepaths, we need to know what your plans are. Fortunately, we have one who can crack you like an egg. I''ll get her now."


    He stood up, and went to the door.

 Targets: Part 17

    Allen opened the door, and said, "Kerri, please come in."


    If you follow comics, you''ll get the impression that all women with superpowers are long-legged, wasp-waisted, supermodel types with massive--


    Never mind.


    None of the girls on our team (or any of the grown-up women I''d met)looked like that, so it wasn''t much of a surprise that their telepath didn''t either.


    Between the tan suitcoat, matching skirt, and short, brown hair she looked like a random, middle aged, office worker.


    When she talked, she used a level, professional tone that I might have associated with a doctor if I''d been in a hospital.


    "A teenager." She stated. "No known powers. Part of a group that includes the Mystic, a telepath who may have taught him how to resist mental probes. Is there anything else I should know?"


    Allen said, "Can you do it? You said he might resist. I might be able to get another telepath. Ray, didn''t you say one of your allies could read minds?"


    "One of the immortals can, but he just started. I think you''d be better off without him."


    Allen walked back to his chair and sat down. "What about you? I thought you could copy her powers."


    "Easier said than done. There''s still skill involved. I''m trying to limit myself to people whose abilities are easy to understand. Kerri, do you think you''ll need help?"


    She shook her head. "I''m not seeing anything in him yet that worries me."


    And that, of course, worried me.


    Lee had had Daniel modify my block, and work up something similar for everyone else on the team. Daniel had liked the idea. He''d had some ideas he wanted to try, but until Lee said something, I hadn''t been excited about the idea of Daniel making changes in my head.


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    After years of being friends with Daniel, I knew what mental contact felt like, and if I couldn''t tell she was doing it, she had to be very skilled or very talented. Either way, it didn''t bode well.


    About the time I''d begun to worry about her abilities, I did feel something.


    The lightest touch of presence, the kind of touch Daniel used when he wanted to get my attention, but not talk, pulled at me.


    Unlike my past experiences with mental invasion, I didn''t find that my memories had passed outside my conscious reach, or attempt to defend myself physically.


    She hadn''t triggered it.


    Both inside my head, and through my ears I heard her say, "He''s been worked on by at least three different people, and all of them were competent. Trying to get into his memories won''t be easy. It can be done, but I''m going to have to be careful."


    "Careful?" Allen snorted. "Why? They''re not going to leave a mindwipe trigger in their techie."


    "Allen," Ray said, "she''s right. Telepaths put the damnedest things in people''s heads."


    "There''s more to worry about than mindwipes. Some people''s minds are genuinely dangerous. Even in this one, I''m seeing effects from a fourth force."


    "What kind of force," Ray asked.


    "I... don''t know. Not human, and I''d say, not intentional. Something big. I don''t know how big."


    Allen looked over at Ray, frowning. "What''s that big, and would you recognize it if it came here?"


    Kerri shook her head briefly. "I don''t know. It''s outside my experience."


    Allen said, "I don''t like this at all. Poke around inside and get out. Make it quick. We''re wasting time now."


    Ray''s phone beeped. He pulled it out of its case. "I get so bored of calling these people. One of these days I''m just going to skip it."


    He smiled, and winked at me.


    NormallyI might have felt fear in that moment, but I didn''t then.


    I felt detached. I''d been feeling more and more detached the further Kerri got into my brain. I wondered if it was because of Kerri, or if this might somehow be Daniel''s new defense.


    "It''s Ray again. Don''t kill your hostages, and pass it on to the others."


    He hung up the phone, and put it back into the case hanging off his belt.


    "This looks promising," Kerri said. "Whatever cluster of memories I''m sensing now has ties to others in different parts of the brain. I''m about to tap into--"


    She began to scream. Except for the briefest moment at the beginning, it didn''t take place in my head at all.


    I became more conscious of where I was when she hit the floor, and the screaming stopped.


    Ray and Allen got up from the table, racing around it to reach her.


    Ray made it first, slapping her in the face. "Back to reality, Kerri. Come on... Do you hear me?"


    Looking up at me from where he knelt over her, "Nick, if you''re doing this, stop now, or I''m calling back and giving the execute order."


    "I''m not!"


    Well, I knew I could talk at least. How soon before I needed to run or fight?


    I heard a loud hum, the hum of electrical connections being made, many crackling noises, and the smell of burning electronics.


    And, oh yeah, the lights went out too.

 Targets: Part 18

    There weren''t any windows in the room, so when the lights went out, it didn''t just become a little darker in the room, it became completely black.


    Well, completely black except for the line of light at the bottom of the door.


    "Don''t move," Ray said, and something clicked, followed by a frustrated sigh.


    Then, I heard a rustling noise. I guessed it might be Ray or Allen''s gun being pulled from its holster.


    "OK. Now don''t move or I''ll fire."


    Ray opened the door.


    It wasn''t much better, but I could see again.


    Well, I could see Ray, or at any rate, the half of him that stood in the hallway''s dim light. Lights didn''t seem to be on there either.


    His pistol glinted.


    "Allen," Ray began, "cover him, and if he moves, aim for the head. I''ll grab a babysitter once I''m out there and send him back."


    Allen pulled out his pistol, and pointed it at me too.


    "Watch him? I say bring him along and hold a gun to his head."


    "Shut up. We don''t have time for this. I''ve got to get out there while I''ve still got troops."


    A loud crackling noise, almost like an electrical discharge, followed by screams and an explosion punctuated his point.


    I recognized the crackling noise from the time I''d spent testing the League jet''s lasers.


    Ray slipped out the door.


    Allen took a step closer to me, gun in hand, standing next to Kerri''s body. I sat on the other side of the table from him, so he wasn''t at point blank range, but it couldn''t have been more than ten feet either.


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    I wondered how good of a shot he was. Could he shoot me in the head before I got to him? Or before I popped the (mostly bulletproof) mask out of the collar?


    Too bad I was seated on the other side of the table.


    I considered dropping to the floor, and rolling out, or possibly trying to throw the table at him. The stealth suit wasn''t the Rocket suit, but it did make me stronger than normal.


    I''d decided to flip the table on its side, duck behind it, and pull the mask on when it became obvious that I''d thought too long.


    Rachel appeared to Allen''s left, and punched him in the face, her electrified glove adding a special something to the blow.


    He convulsed, fired at the ceiling, and collapsed.


    "Follow me out. Night Cat''s waiting outside with the car."


    I pulled my mask out of the stealth suit''s collar, and gloves out of my sleeves.


    Rachel walked to the doorway and turned invisible. Then her right arm became visible again, waving me forward.


    She floated down the hall. I followed.


    I hadn''t missed much when I''d come through the hall blindfolded. I ran past wood paneled walls, and over beige carpet. It probably hadn''t been renovated since the 1970''s.


    To my left, were offices. Sleeping bags lay on the floor along with duffel bags and gear. The building''s only light came through the office windows.


    On my right, the next room over from the conference room turned out to be a radio studio. From what I could see through the plate glass windows, the big, metal microphones, and the control board all looked old.


    Cobwebs hung from the "On Air" sign.


    I didn''t slow down much to check it out, but Rachel turned around, and said, "Come on!"


    We ran out of the hallway and into the waiting room. The orange, yellow, red, green, and blue chairs screamed 1970''s, but I didn''t have time to gape at the color combination.


    Shouts came from behind us, from the direction of the conference room.


    Burning Hands Man ran down the hall, accompanied by one of Prime''s reserves--the jeep''s driver.


    They weren''t close, but I wasn''t going to wait for that to change. I ran for the door, and pushed on it.


    It was locked, and didn''t budge.


    Rachel had, of course, flown through it.


    Deciding that property damage wasn''t a big concern of mine anymore, I punched it.


    It was one of those doors that were all glass except for the metal frame and push-bar in the middle.


    The glass shattered on the top half and my gloved hand broke through, but the bottom didn''t go with it.


    I kicked it, and enough broke that I could duck under the bar and walk out.


    Haley''s black corvette sat next to the road, just twenty feet away.


    I ran.


    Behind me, I heard a crash, and the sound of metal tearing.

 Targets: Part 19

    I did something stupid. I looked back.


    The big, bald guy handled the door differently than I had. He leaned in and hit the metal edge of the door with his shoulder, smashing it out of the frame, and the frame partly out of the building.


    Turning my head forward, I ran across the lawn toward the car.


    Something in the car hummed, and the missile launcher popped upwards from the trunk and clicked into place.


    I jumped toward the car, using the stealth suit''s artificial muscles to give me a boost, and landed right next to the passenger side door. My momentum didn''t let me stop there.


    I fell forward, hitting the car.


    It hurt, but it would have hurt worse if I hadn''t been wearing the suit.


    As I fumbled for the door handle, the missile fired, roaring away from the car toward the Cabal trooper, and exploding as it hit... something.


    The fireball was too bright to see exactly what.


    A wave of heat that didn''t come from the afternoon sun washed over me.


    Blinking away the afterimages, I found the door handle, and began to open the door when the door opened on its own.


    Kind of.


    Actually Rachel pushed it open, and yanked me face first inside.


    She shut the door while I was still turning around in the front seat, and Haley hit the gas, sending the car forward with the engine roaring, and tires squealing.


    I pulled on the seat belt.


    "I hope I didn''t hurt anyone," Haley said. "Not that I want him to catch us, but I don''t want to kill anybody."


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    From the back seat, Rachel said, "I... Right now I''m hoping we all get to live to regret killing people. "


    I barely listened to them. I''d popped out the keyboard in the passenger seat, and turned on the 360 degree radar/camera view around the car.


    It appeared on the screen in the dashboard, the one above the radio. I''d swapped out the 8-track player for a CD player with an Ipod connection sometime in the spring.


    Clicking through the available views, I ran across the rear view just as Haley glanced up toward the mirror.


    One indrawn breath later, the car accelerated even more quickly than it had been.


    I was all for that because the screen''s rear view showed my driver. Instead of a shirt, he wore blackened rags, and his pants were on fire.


    At first I wasn''t all that bothered that he was following us. I doubted he could catch up to a car moving at seventy mph down a country road.


    Then he jumped, closing half the distance between us.


    I didn''t want to find out what he could do with another jump or two.


    Haley said, "Nick, here!"


    The joystick that controlled the missile launcher extended out of the dashboard on a flexible arm. She pushed toward me, and I changed the screen to target mode.


    Using the joystick to aim the crosshairs, I was about to fire when the man jumped, landing only thirty feet behind us.


    With one more jump he''d be on, or directly in front of, the car. That was the bad news. The good news?


    I had a great shot.


    The car shook as the missile fired, roaring toward the man, hitting him in the shoulder, and exploding.


    Not that I saw that. It happened too quickly, but the screen had instant replay. Surveillance was one of it''s main functions after all.


    Unfortunately, it didn''t take him down any more than it took him down earlier.


    Moments later, he''d jumped again. Not that he was close, but he was coming.


    Zooming in showed that his shoulder was reddish, and that his left eyebrow had been burned off.


    While that could have been a positive sign from one angle ("Look, he can be hurt!"), I found it easier to look at it from a more realistic angle ("Two missiles later, all we''ve done is singe his hair.").


    Rachel turned away from the window to look at me.


    "Rachel, could you hand me my helmet and guitar? And Haley, could you open the roof?"


    Rachel did, and I pulled the helmet over my head, and attached the guitar hero controller to the cable.


    "Are you sure?" Haley glanced over at me, and I said, "Can you think of anything else?"


    Rachel said, "Yes--"


    The roof opened, and, I stood in my seat.


    The last time I''d had to shoot an actual person with the guitar was back in Los Angeles, and I hadn''t gone far enough then.


    I pointed the guitar at the man''s leg, and fired.


    A blue beam crossed the distance between us, hitting his leg. The pants burned where the beam hit. He stared down, beginning to scream something.


    He fell.

 Targets: Part 20

    He lay on the road. Then he pulled himself up, and limped to the side.


    He sat down in the front lawn of an old white house that hadn''t been painted in at least twenty years. Most of its paint had flaked off the wood.


    With luck, no one lived there.


    I sat down in my seat, putting my seatbelt back on, and setting down the guitar.


    It didn''t look like his regeneration was instantaneous--which was good. We needed the breather.


    It was also unbelievably useful data. Whatever properties of his body protected him from the missiles and physical blows didn''t work against lasers.


    That meant we had one more way to hurt them if we had to--assuming it worked the same way for the rest of them.


    An image of his upper thigh appeared in my mind--reddish and blackened skin. I clenched my jaw. I didn''t quite feel guilty about shooting him--he was probably planning to kill us--but, part of me hoped I hadn''t permanently maimed him. And I wondered what would happen if he went into shock on the lawn back there.


    I decided not worry about it. Much.


    From the back seat, Rachel said, "He''s still down. Thank God. For a second, I thought I might have to... Nick, are you okay?"


    "I think so."


    Haley glanced over at me. She reached out, and clicked the button that closed the roof.


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    Then she clicked on the car''s communicator. I''d patched it into our new system when I''d worked on the phones.


    "I should turn up the volume and find out what''s happening. Lee called me just after they took you away in the jeep, and it sounded like he had a plan."


    "Tell me about it," Rachel said. "I had to report back all the time, and the communicator doesn''t work when I''ve phased out, so I had to float up to the roof to talk."


    Watching Haley turn the volume up, I asked, "Why''d you turn it off?"


    "When you got in the car, and he started chasing us, it got distracting. It hasn''t been off long."


    Sean''s voice came over the car''s speakers, "Pull back? Why do I have to pull back? They don''t have to--"


    Alex broke in, "Because he said so, asshole."


    Sydney only said, "Sean."


    "The Power," Sean began, but ended with an "Ahhh--" followed by a thump, and more moaning.


    "Someone put a spear through him, " Lucas said. "I caught him before he hit the ground, but it''s close to the heart. Paladin?"


    "I''ll take him."


    Lee''s voice came over the comm--except it wasn''t Lee''s. It was Gunther''s. I could hear an old voice with a German accent. We''d all been trained by Gunther, hadn''t we? "How far can you bring him back? If there''s a next wave, it''ll be mechs, and I''d wanted a second EMP."


    "I can handle it. Give me five minutes. Paladin out."


    Gunther said, "Good. Where''s Night Cat?"


    "Here," Haley said, pressing a button on the dash. "We got him out."


    "Good. Join up with Flame Legion. Night Wolf--"


    "Wait, what about our parents?"


    "Accelerando hasn''t reported in yet, but, Captain Commando and the girl with voice powers are with her. We know where the hostages are. It''ll work out."


    Haley held her hand over the talk button as if she intended to ask another question, but Rachel said, "Don''t. I saw the number Ray called the last time he stopped the executions. I passed it on to Kayla. She got it to... the little kid?"


    Rachel looked over at me.


    "Carlos."


    "And Carlos found the rest of the numbers and their locations. Jaclyn can handle it."


    Haley turned the car down a dirt road. "I know she can. I just wish I were with them."


    As we passed rows of corn, Gunther''s voice said, "Night Wolf. Blow the radio stationto hell. Then herd them toward us."

 Targets: Part 21

    Off to our left, bright red beams lanced the ground, and then raked across the building I''d been in. It didn''t look like much--a concrete block with brown, wooden siding on the edge of farmland.


    When the beams hit the back of the building, it exploded. I wondered if Travis had hit a gas line or if they had had an armory back there.


    "Oh my," Rachel muttered. Haley glanced toward the noise, but kept on driving.


    The car''s windows darkened, sparing us the pain of too much light. Simultaneously, sonic dampers muted the explosion''s noise.


    Grandpa had figured that Night Wolf didn''t want to be overwhelmed with light or sound.


    Almost unaffected by the light, I followed the beams back to their source, discovering the League jet hanging in the air. Not much more than a dark shape, Travis kept it floating too high for Prime''s men to jump to.


    Probably.


    Travis didn''t stop firing either. Big beams normally meant for ships, and thin lines meant to hurt people rained down on the empty field behind the smoking remains of the radio station.


    A small hill behind the radio station blocked the field from easy view of the road, but since we were on a dirt road that ran parallel to the field, we could see everything.


    I couldn''t tell what the equipment in the field behind the radio station had been, except to guess that they''d been using it for training.


    The remains of another small building smoked there with the equipment. Travis might have blown that up when Ray and Allen were talking to me. Something had pulled Ray out of the room.


    Was he directing the people in the field? I didn''t see him, but that didn''t mean much. We weren''t close.


    A bunch of them had been behind the radio station when it got hit, but now they were running away from it as that whole end of the field experienced a rain of lasers.


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    On the far end of the field stood a forest--not a huge forest, but big enough to make it harder for the jet''s lasers to target anybody.


    If they didn''t make for the forest, their only other option would be to run through fields of corn which lead them toward us, or in the exact opposite direction.


    Later in the summer, they might have been able to scatter and hide in the corn, but if corn was supposed to be "knee high by the fourth of July" (or so the saying went), we were still nearly two weeks short of that.


    Not even hobbits were going to be hiding successfully in the corn we had.


    Well, okay, maybe hobbits could, but these guys were too big.


    So the obvious thing to do would have been for the whole group of them to run into the forest, but these guys weren''t just soldiers, they were old soldiers.


    Even with death staring them in the face in the form of the jet''s lasers, they must have guessed on some level. They didn''t simply run away.


    They scattered.


    Someone had to be organizing them because they assembled into three roughly equal groups, two heading into the cornfields, and one heading into the forest.


    I''m sure that seemed like a brilliant idea to somebody, but it turned out otherwise.


    The winds began to roar, and a tornado began to form, blocking the cornfields on the opposite side of the field because this tornado lay practically sideways, running the distance between the radio station and the forest.


    Dirt and young cornstalks flew into the air, making its shape clearer.


    When one of the soldiers tried to jump over it, the tornado simply sucked him in, and threw him back into the middle of the field.


    The rest of them fell to the ground, and started crawling away, trying not to get sucked in themselves.


    Vaughn''s powers and control had evidently been progressing. I was pretty sure he couldn''t have done that last fall.


    The group running in our direction didn''t do any better.


    They barely made it to the corn before the three in front started floating straight upward. The others changed direction, but didn''t get far before they started floating upward too.


    I wasn''t sure whether it was Daniel or Camille, but Camille seemed more likely.


    I wondered how long she could keep them up in the air, but didn''t get to find out. Haley turned down another dirt road, bringing us behind the forest.


    Ahead of us, our people stood at the edge of the forest--Larry in full Rhino suit, Gunther/Lee, Alex healing Sean, Kayla in her powered armor, and I assumed the trees hid everyone else.


    If Lee''s plan went as he intended (and it seemed to be), we''d be engaging Prime''s people in hand to hand combat within seconds.


    Hopefully it would go better than every other time we''d tried.

 Targets: Part 22

    Haley parked the car by the side of the road. As we got out, I couldn''t help but notice who wasn''t there--Jaclyn, Cassie, and Julie. And that sucked because Cassie could have chopped them to pieces, Julie could have told them to stop and had a pretty good chance that they''d listen, and Jaclyn...


    Jaclyn could have done something. Physically, she was the only one of us who was in Prime''s army''s league. Plus she was a whole lot faster than any of them.


    I couldn''t say that we were doomed, but part of me would have felt better knowing they were with us.


    Not that rescuing the hostages wasn''t important.


    Gunther waved us to stop as I shut the door. "Rocket, stay by the car. Night Cat, Ghost, over here. Everybody else, get into formation on the road. Mystic, how soon?"


    Daniel stepped out from behind a couple trees. "They''re going to be a couple minutes. They''re waiting for the group that hit Camille''s anti-gravity wall to come down, and she''s letting them down one at a time. Also, if you can believe it, they''re scared. They know we''re herding them, and they don''t want to find out what''s waiting on the other side of the trees."


    "Good. What about Ray?"


    "Can''t sense him or his people."


    "Figures. Kayla, do the roachbots have anything on Syndicate L?"


    Her voice only barely modified by her armor, Kayla said, "Nothing yet."


    "Keep watching. Syndicate L''s coming. Everyone, remember to buddy up, and if I tell you to retreat, retreat, and make sure your buddy''s doing it too. Ghost, Night Cat, you''re together. Mystic, you''re with the Rocket. Everyone else, the way I said before."


    Sean, who had just gotten off the ground, followed Alex and everyone else into the road. He wore a black, basic, League uniform--same material as the stealth suit.


    He looked over at me, his expression unreadable.


    I heard Daniel''s voice in my head.


    I gave them a choice--they could stay and help, but be blocked like Chris and Kayla, or leave, and have everything about our identities be mindwiped.


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    All of them, including Sean, had stayed.


    That said something good about him, I supposed.


    Meanwhile, our lines firmed up. Chris, Larry, and Marcus stood in the front. Alex, Brooke, and Jenny lined up next to them which seemed crazy. They were basically hand to hand fighters, and Brooke''s shining alien armor counted for something, but Alex would crumple after a hit from Prime''s Reserves, and I couldn''t think of anything he could do to seriously hurt them.


    Haley, Rachel, Gunther, and Sean were in the next line. Daniel and I stood next to the car, and at orders from Gunther, Kayla and Carlos stood way behind everybody.


    Carlos wore my armor--the one I designed with Chris? Even if I hadn''t figured it out by the process of elimination, I''d have guessed Carlos was inside from the way he kept on extending and retracting the laser, and the two goo guns.


    "Hey Rocket, thanks for letting me borrow it. It''s so cool!"


    So, yeah. There''s that.


    I tried to work out a reply that didn''t sound annoyed when the final piece of our formation appeared.


    At least thirty copies of Jenny appeared (all in her bright, red costume), and took positions on either side of the main group.


    She carried a goo gun just like Future Knight''s and aimed it toward the forest.


    "Where''d you get that?"


    "Your friend, Chris, brought one, but he only had ten shots in its size. Gunther told him to give them to me. That''s not really the same Gunther who served with our grandfathers, right?"


    "Actually, yes. It''s kind of weird," I began.


    I didn''t get to finish.


    Daniel shouted, "They''re coming!"


    They burst out of the forest, knocking down trees that stood in their way, reminding me more of a barbarian horde than a Roman Legion.


    A big one fell only ten feet from the car, which would have been a lame way for the car to get crushed, not to mention a lame way for me to get crushed.


    I aimed the guitar at one of them, only to find he''d been hit three times with balls of gray goo.


    Expanding, they covered his chest, and ran toward his legs, hardening. He tried to take another step, and toppled.


    The other guys charging along with him didn''t do any better.


    Unfortunately, the guys immediately behind them jumped, flying over, and landing directly in the road with all of us.


    Ahead of me, Haley dodged a blow that could have killed her, rolled, and came upright as Rachel delivered a shock directly to a Cabal soldier''s eyeballs.


    Behind them, Larry took a few steps, bringing the Rhino suit up to speed, and mashing a grey, furred Reservist into a tree.


    I heard cracking noisesbut wasn''t sure whether they were from the Reservist or the tree.


    Two more charged Alex and Brooke. The one going for Brooke simply disappeared. Water splashed across the ground where he''d been.


    A massively muscled, red haired guy knocked Alex to the ground, holding him down with his left hand, and raising his right arm, ready--I assumed--to punch through Alex.


    Except he didn''t.


    Alex grabbed the arm on his chest.


    It witheredand shrunk.

 Targets: Part 23

    Alex pushed the man¡¯s hand off himself, rolling his body to the right and standing up.


    I didn¡¯t get a chance to see what happened to him after that because the next group of Cabal soldiers had also jumped out of the forest.


    One of them landed directly on the hood of Haley¡¯s car¨Cwhich didn¡¯t dent, though it did bounce a little.


    I didn¡¯t have time to point and aim the laser in the neck at him, but I had been holding the guitar.


    I pressed the button that set off what I thought of as the ¡°light show lasers.¡±


    The guitar blazed with blue and white light, and the Cabal soldier held his arms up to cover his eyes.


    My helmet filtered out the worst of the light, but for a moment, the world turned white.


    Then I saw people again, even if they seemed a bit washed out between the bright light and the filter.


    I stepped back from the car, pointed the guitar¡¯s laser at the man and felt a brief moment of indecision.


    Could I shoot someone who wasn¡¯t actually actively trying to harm me? But then it struck me that the only reason he wasn¡¯t was because he couldn¡¯t see.


    That wasn¡¯t going to last.


    I fired the laser into his leg, making a deep gouge, burning the pants around the newly created hole, and cauterizing his wound at the same time.


    The smell reminded me uncomfortably of barbecue.


    And then because he hadn¡¯t fallen over, and because the whole point of shooting him in the leg had been to reduce his mobility, I shot him in the other leg.


    Maybe he hadn¡¯t said anything when I shot him the first time because between the light, and the pain from being shot, and struggling to balance, he couldn¡¯t handle screaming at the same time.


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    That ended with my second shot.


    He tried to take a step, fell, and landing in the dirt road, he shouted in a language I didn¡¯t recognize.


    Then he pushed himself up with his arms, reaching out to grab the car, but didn¡¯t make it.


    His legs shot out from under him, and he flew feet first up into the air. Then, as if thrown by an invisible hand, he crashed into the trees, disappearing.


    I turned to thank Daniel for the help, but realized that another one had just jumped out of the forest and landed on the other side of Daniel.


    The guy had a knife.


    It seemed redundant that someone who could probably generate tons of force with a punch would bother with a knife, but maybe he liked knives.


    Whatever. I didn¡¯t have time to point out the man¡¯s inefficiencies.


    He slashed at Daniel¡¯s chest, and Daniel stepped back at exactly the right moment. Earlier, and the man would have been able to adjust the knife¡¯s path. Later, and the knife would have been inside Daniel¡¯s body.


    He slashed again, and Daniel stepped away just in time.


    The man grunted out, ¡°Lucky.¡±


    Except he¡¯d made a mistake, because the pause was long enough for Daniel focus on the guy, and telekinetically hurl him into the trees after mine.


    I was about to congratulate Daniel except¡­


    Thump. Thump.


    Two more guys had landed in the corn field just past the road.


    I raised my guitar to start firing at them when Daniel spoke into my head.


    Nick, I¡¯ll get them. Help Kayla and Carlos.


    Glancing in their direction, I didn¡¯t see a problem at first¨Cwell, in the first instant at any rate.


    That changed.


    A short guy ran toward the two of them. I recognized him from earlier fighting, but I couldn¡¯t place him at first.


    Kayla went from doing nothing I could see to firing wildly, missing him. Grey goo flew past him¨Cexcept for the one that hit him in the middle of the chest, dripping down, and hardening, but not slowing him down at all.


    Kayla opened up with her paralysis guns, and my anti-sound device hummed, protecting me.


    I didn¡¯t fall over, but unfortunately neither did the short guy.


    He jumped again, kicking Carlos in the chest, and knocking the power suit on its back.


    The short man jumped on him, raining down blows on to the armor.


    Carlos¡¯ laser went off, not hitting anything, but that was only by luck. The beam burned a long line in the dirt before Carlos stopped it.


    Kayla moved quickly, leaning in to kick him in the ribs.


    It wasn¡¯t a bad idea, but I would have gone for the head or tried to crush a knee.


    It was moot point.


    He caught her foot, pulling it sideways and she fell.


    With both Carlos and Kayla on the ground and only the Cabal soldier upright, I felt comfortable taking a shot.


    Putting the man¡¯s right shoulder in my helmet¡¯s crosshairs, I fired, and he shouted in surprise, letting go of Kayla¡¯s leg.


    Getting off Carlos, the man charged me.

 Targets: Part 24

    I didn''t even think about what I''d be hitting. I fired, holding the button down even though I knew it used more power.


    I don''t think I panicked, but I can''t say I was thinking clearly.


    Being rushed by someone who you know can kill you does that.


    The beam entered his chest just under the ribs, and made a four inch wide gash. He looked down, not showing any expression at first, but slowly dropping his jaw.


    I couldn''t see how deeply the beam penetrated, but it looked like it had gone fairly far.


    He stumbled, but didn''t fall instantly.


    He took another step, and Carlos fired his goo gun. The first shot missed, passing the Cabal guy, and me, hitting the side of Haley''s car with a splat.


    I hoped it didn''t mess up the paint because then I''d have to mix up a new batch, and I knew it would be a pain.


    The second spread out and hit the guy running toward me in the back of the legs. It hardened, and he fell.


    He didn''t even try to get up. He lay there, breathing.


    If he had the ability to regenerate like everyone else in their group, he couldn''t heal instantaneously.


    A charred hole in the clothes on his back surrounded a hole in his skin. Pinkish new skin on the hole''s edge hinted that the shot had bought me time, but how much?


    My communicator beeped.


    Gunther said, "Everyone, fall back into the field now, and execute the plan."


    Plan? I thought over at Daniel.


    All we have to do is fall back--that, and help anyone who can''t get out.


    Checking out the situation made me wonder if anyone would be able to move at all.


    Once they''d started jumping, they''d landed everywhere. There were no lines, just a chaotic mess of people fighting each other.


    Chris, Larry, and Marcus fought back to back, and they were doing better than I''d have expected--aside from being surrounded. Larry''s armor took their punches. I saw some new dents, but he didn''t seem any slower for it, and when he punched back, they flew.


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    His punches didn''t take them out of the fight, but they didn''t laugh it off either. I saw a guy get knocked fifteen feet into the air, and land crotch first on a tree branch.


    Even with invulnerable nuts, that couldn''t have been fun.


    Marcus melted out of the way of their blows, and had turned the ends of his arms into piston-like things that would shoot forward with a pop, knocking the person he hit backwards.


    Chris alternated between shooting them with goo guns and his own laser, but he didn''t run.


    His armor''s left thigh had been dented, and he limped.


    I hoped it was a technical problem.


    Either way, I couldn''t see the three of them making an easy exit.


    Not far from them, Alex, Brooke, and a group of Jennys stood together. Jenny mostly seemed to be keeping them back with fire. I wondered why she wasn''t using the goo guns. Was she already out of ammo?


    Brooke stood next to Alex, possibly a little unsteady on her feet. Alex didn''t exactly appear to be full of energy either.


    She managed to keep a portal open long enough for the two of them plus one of the Jennys to get away.


    Sean flew upward, out of combat, and into the field behind us.


    Gunther stood alone, fighting with a huge flaming sword, backing slowly toward Marcus, Larry, and Chris.


    Prime''s people didn''t try to crowd him. None of them had metal weapons (Sean''s work?), and even as I watched, Gunther chopped off somebody''s hand.


    The new Prime (who I''d taken to calling Gimpius Prime in my head) shouted at people to keep on him, but didn''t get too close himself.


    Haley swung out from the trees, and her car''s roof opened to receive her. Once she sat down and the roof closed, the car''s rocket booster ignited, and it shot into the air, landing in the field near Alex, Brooke, Jenny, and Sean.


    She''d left one of Prime''s people tangled in ropes, hanging from a tree above the battle.


    I''d have to ask her how she''d managed it.


    In the meantime, Kayla, and Carlos had crossed most of the distance between the dirt road, and the fall back position. Daniel and I followed them.


    And that''s why we weren''t in the middle of it when Gunther shouted, "Now," and the number of Jennys doubled, or possibly tripled.


    All of her ran into the crowd, firing the goo guns in the hands of her many bodies, outnumbering Prime''s people three to one.


    Not that they went down easily, some versions of Jenny got punched, and disappeared. Some of Prime''s people didn''t initially get covered by goo, and frozen in place, but they probably wished they had in the end.


    Larry jumped after one escapee, tackling him, and throwing him in front of Chris--who sprayed the guy with goo.


    Gunther hamstrung a couple with his sword, giving two Jennys time to get them.


    Rachel made her hand visible over one man''s eyes long enough for Marcus to knock him in front of group of Jennys, and then that was it. They were all subdued.


    Well, for the moment. They''d break the goo. It was merely a question of how soon.


    Standing next to Gimpius Prime, Gunther said, "Let''s talk about your surrender."


    I didn''t hear much of what followed, both because I wasn''t close, and because I wasn''t listening.


    Using the helmet''s zoom to look at the faces in the crowd, I confirmed that Ray and his people weren''t in the group.


    I had a very bad feeling about who they''d gone after.

 Targets: Part 25

    While Gunther talked to Gimpius, I tapped out a message to Jaclyn.


    "Busy?"


    If she were in the middle of a fight, a text would be easier to ignore than a call. Probably.


    Her message came back seconds later.


    "Not busy. We freed the hostages and brought them to the hospital. They''re OK. Some scrapes and bruises. No major injuries. No one dead. We''ve handed the Syndicate''s people over to the police. Is it over on your end? And did something happened to Kayla? She''s supposed to be handling communications."


    "Kayla''s fine. Are my parents there?"


    "No. They aren''t supposed to be. Did that change?"


    Back when Daniel took Ray''s call to HQ (even though it was only a few hours ago, it seemed like days now), Ray had said something about not needing them because he had enough hostages.


    So he might not have taken them with the others, but he could have left them as backup hostages.


    Or, thinking about how he usually handled his victims, he might have been planning to kill them on the way out if things went wrong.


    Which they had.


    I wrote, "Don''t know. Bye," and blasted into the air with the rocketpack, flying away from the fall back position in the corn field, and toward Gunther.


    I heard shouts, but I didn''t listen to them, landing a few goo-splattered soldiers away from Gunther. Larry stood next to him.


    The nearest one tried to grab me with his left hand, but I was out of reach, and he couldn''t move.


    He chuckled as I stepped around him.


    "So that''s it," Gunther said, "you''ll leave them alone for a year, and we''ll let you all go."


    Gimpius said, "Agreed, but after that year, no limits."


    He glared as I came closer.


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    "I''m not going to stop hunting until the two of you are dead." He eyed Gunther, and then me.


    "The Rocket?" The bulbous head of the Rhino suit turned in my direction for a moment. "Why him?"


    "He''s the one who took my father''s head away. Where is it now?"


    "Uh... I didn''t keep it. I dropped it in a pond."


    Gimpius made a noise somewhere between a sigh and growl.


    "Wouldn''t want to be you," Sean said from behind me.


    He must have followed me, I realized, and looking behind me, I noticed that everyone was coming.


    Even Travis had moved the League jet. It floated above the field, and had its anti-personnel lasers pointed at Prime''s people.


    "Gunther," I said, "I have to go. Ray''s going after my parents."


    Gunther didn''t miss a beat. "Of course, he is. I''m going with you."


    "What?" Larry asked. "How do you know that?"


    "I don''t," I said, "but he''s not here, and he knows who my parents are, and Accelerando saved the rest of the hostages. So..."


    "God damn," Larry said. "If everything''s taken care of here, we should all--"


    My communicator started flashing red. Kayla''s voice came over the communicator, "It''s the second wave. The roachbot saw Syndicate L mechs!"


    "Rhino," Gunther said, "you take command. I''ll borrow Night Wolf''s car and help the Rocket."


    "No, I''ll go."


    "Nice thought, but I don''t have a choice."


    I couldn''t see Larry''s face behind the gray mask, but I could imagine a look of comprehension that went along with the sound in his voice.


    "Oh, that. Well, then you''d better move. Where to?"


    "My dad''s office for Dad, and my mom works at home, but if they''ve already been taken, I don''t know where."


    "I do," Gimpius Prime grinned through the hardened goo spatters on his face.


    I didn''t like the look.


    Gunther said, "What do you want?"


    "Nothing."


    No one said anything.


    "2913 Northshore Drive," he said. "My people brought stuff over there for him."


    "What," Sean said, "is it rigged with explosives?"


    Gimpius shrugged. "Believe me or not, but you''ve got a chance of beating him there, if you believe me."


    Gunther smiled. "He''s probably hoping to finish you both off, but I''d bet he''s telling the truth... mostly."


    Gimpy didn''t say anything.


    "I''m going. He could already be there," I said, and clicked the buttons on my palm that readied the rocketpack for take-off.


    "Wait for me. Don''t fight him by yourself," Gunther said.


    I barely heard him over the noise of take off.


    For the first time since putting the helmet on, I paid attention to the GPS readout. We weren''t more than twenty minutes south of Grand Lake. They must have been deliberately trying to disorient me on the way down here.


    I could be home in less than a minute if I wanted.


    Maybe I could get Jaclyn to check my dad''s office. I clicked on the communicator and started to text her.


    I''d just moved my left arm in front of me and touched a button with my finger when Rachel materialized. She had her hand on my shoulder.


    It had to be at least the third time she''d pulled the "invisibly tag along" trick since she''d gotten home from school.


    Not that I wouldn''t need the help.


    "You could have told me."


    "I barely had time to grab on," she shouted through the wind. "Besides, don''t complain about me. Look behind us."


    I turned my head to see Sean Drucker flying behind me. "What are you doing here?"


    "He killed my father. I''m going to kick his ass!"

 The Executioner: Part 1

    It''s a bit of an understatement to say that Sean wouldn''t have been my first choice of companions.


    I decided to ignore him, and texted Jaclyn.


    Me: Can you check my dad''s office?


    Jaclyn: I''ll do it. Should I meet you if he''s okay?


    I was about to send her the address, but Rachel said, "What if Ray touches her?"


    The combination of wind and rocket noise made it hard to make out her voice, but I got the gist of it. And yes, Ray with superspeed, near invulnerability, and massive strength sounded like very bad combination.


    Me: Guard him, if he''s still there. Call me, if not. Also, the others might need help.


    Jaclyn: Right, it looks like they''re still fighting.


    She was right. The latitude and longitude for the rest of the group was changing constantly.


    Jaclyn: You''re going after Ray, right? You''re sure you don''t want Cassie or me?


    Me: Gunther''s coming.


    Jaclyn: Got it. I''m gone.


    And with that, we were above my house.


    I didn''t need to land to know they''d taken Mom.


    The front door had been ripped off its hinges and lay in the front hall. Dad had replaced the wooden door with a metal one after a string of neighborhood break-ins a few years ago.


    Someone had left the imprint of a fist in the metal, stretching it, and showing the grey metal under the black paint.


    Our family cat, Grunion, stood in the hall, poking his head under the door, sniffing at something.


    As I flew down to the lawn, he started, and ran deeper into the house. Typical.


    Rachel let go of my shoulder, saying, "I''ll check the house--just in case."


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    I thought, "Just in case, what? Just in case we find Mom and Dad dead inside?" But, I didn''t say it.


    I landed on the lawn as Rachel floated into the house. Our house. The one we''d grown up in.


    Even though Grandpa and Grandma had been superheroes, our two different worlds had never intersected in quite this way.


    My mind pulled me in all directions. I wondered if I should pick up the door, and lean it in front of the doorway so that it wasn''t so obvious the house was open. I wondered if I should go in and catch Grunion and shut him in the bathroom with his litterbox. I mean, we shouldn''t have to come home, and go looking for a lost cat once we found Mom and Dad.


    Assuming we found Mom and Dad.


    A quick glance upward told me that Sean hadn''t landed with us. He hovered above the street, a few feet past the sidewalk.


    Turning my attention back to the house, it struck me that the stealth suit felt uncomfortably warm in the heat of a summer''s day. I adjusted the environmental systems, and felt the suit begin to cool.


    As I finished clicking my fingers to my palms, fiddling with the temperature, Rachel floated out the front door.


    "No one''s home. I didn''t even see many signs of a struggle. Oh, and I put the cat in the bathroom. He''s mostly M--"


    And she stopped.


    Liz Baker had just run out of her front door and across their yard. The Bakers lived next door. He worked at a bank downtown. She stayed at home with Devin, their son--which was weird. Not weird in theory, but in practice she couldn''t have been more than six or seven years older than I was, so she must have just gotten out of college when she had the first one.


    Anyone who looked at her could tell that a second was on the way.


    That, and that she was crying.


    "I called the police! It was awful. They broke down the door, and hauled Mrs. Klein away, and I pulled Devin out of the yard. Is it safe? Are they gone? They''re not coming back, are they?"


    I looked at her, and tried to think of what to say.


    I must have paused for too long because she took a step back, and looked at us. She''d stopped crying, and I could only guess that it had occurred to her that she didn''t know these capes even if she had seen them on TV.


    To be fair to her, the stealth suit was all black, and the silver helmet hid my face. The guitar, and rocketpack could only add to the strangeness. Rachel, meanwhile, wore all white, was translucent, and didn''t touch the ground.


    The gun holstered on her belt probably didn''t help either.


    "It''s safe," Rachel said. "We know where they went."


    "Right," I said. "How long ago did they leave?"


    Liz thought for a second. "Maybe half a minute ago. It might be longer. I don''t know. I really don''t know."


    "Let''s go," I said. "We might be able to catch them while they''re still driving."


    "Right," Rachel said, and looked up in the air. "Where''s Sean?"


    He''d left.

 The Executioner: Part 2

    Next to me, Rachel said, "Does he really think he''s going to stop Ray by himself?"


    I didn''t say anything. I''d pulled up my communicator. They''d given Sean one, and he''d managed not to trash it yet. I clicked, and got a GPS view of the team including Sean''s dot.


    He was flying toward the address Gimpius had given us.


    Idiot.


    I hoped he didn''t plan to take on Ray by himself. If I guessed right, all he''d manage to do is pass his powers on to Ray. And that was a best case scenario. Worst case was that he''d be dead by the time we got there.


    If I were Ray, I''d have picked up super-strength and invulnerability before I left the radio station. It''s not as if those powers were in short supply among Prime''s people. Fists weren''t magnetic. He''d be able to pound Sean into paste even without a gun, and that was assuming he hadn''t packed non-magnetic bullets just in case.


    I called Sean''s communicator.


    He didn''t answer.


    "We''d better go," I said.


    "Rocket, before we do, you need to listen to me. You know the address Prime gave us? Ray left a note inside with the same address. He''s expecting us."


    "So basically, we''re walking into a trap?"


    "Looks like it."


    "I''d say skip it, but he''s still got--" and I would have said, "Mom" except Liz stood with us, listening. "--a hostage," I finished.


    "So we go," Rachel said, "and try to surprise him. He can''t anticipate everything."


    I clicked button on my palm, and the rockets lit. Rachel grabbed my shoulder, and I took off.


    I barely got into the air before my communicator started beeping. Sean? No, Jaclyn.


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    I hovered, and took the call.


    "Rocket, I''ve got your dad. He''s safe, and still at his office for now. I''m getting him out of here."


    "Why?"


    "I just fought four mechs, and there might be more. He''ll be safer with everyone else we freed."


    "Just don''t bring him home," I said. "Ray''s got my mom."


    "Oh, Nick... And you''re trying to catch him? What''s your plan?"


    "I don''t know. I''m just thinking that with Ray''s power, I ought to get all of our armored people to help."


    "Maybe I can swap places with Chris and send him over. Look, if you get stuck, even if Gunther''s there, call me. We''ll think of something."


    We hung up, and I started flying.


    Taken by itself, the flight there might have been fun. Summer, the real summer, the warm part, had started, and as anyone might guess from its name, 2913 Northshore Drive was on the north side of Grand Lake.


    More than that, it wasn''t directly on Grand Lake. The GPS showed the address as a dot near Lake Michigan, just a few miles north of Haley''s family''s cottage.


    To get there, I flew over Grand Lake, seeing our harbor, a couple big ships at dock, the marinas, boats pullingwater-skiers, and sailboats with their sails wide and catching the wind.


    I barely noticed.


    I knew I ought to be planning, but I couldn''t talk to anyone to do it. To catch Sean, I''d given the rocketpack all the fuel it could handle.


    The rockets'' roar in combination with wind made talking over my wrist communicator impossible.


    The communicator''s GPS showed Sean as being three miles ahead of Rachel and I.


    If we hadn''t talked to Liz or Jaclyn, maybe we''d be closer. As it was, he''d reach the cottage before we did--probably a minute before, but a lot could happen in a minute.


    What would we do when we got there? Gunther wanted us to wait for him, and he''d told me before that he felt confident Ray would kill me if we fought.


    That argued for stalling until Gunther got there.


    Except...


    Sean wasn''t going to go in there quietly, and we''d arrive just behind him, probably in the middle of the fight.


    Obviously we could hang back, and let Ray do his stuff, but it wouldn''t be right. It''d be like letting Sean walk on a mine.


    So we had to go in after him, and maybe save him.


    Or... Rachel could taser-glove him intounconsciousness. Either way, he wouldn''t be screwing things up anymore.


    Of course, if he''d already screwed up enough that Mom was dead before we got there, it really didn''t matter.


    I didn''t know what I''d do then.


    Once Rachel and I crossed Grand Lake, I stayed over land, figuring that it''d be easier to stay out of sight that way. To judge from the GPS, Ray''s hideout appeared to be directly on Lake Michigan.


    The dunes and trees would hide us better than flying over the lake would.


    I got a visual on Sean. He appeared to be doing the same thing, but possibly not for the same reasons.


    He flew over the county fairgrounds. People were already working on the midway. I recognized the race track, and wondered when they''d put up the Ferris wheel.


    A truck joined him in the air. Even with the zoom, I didn''t recognize the model, only that it looked old.


    I hoped it was a leftover from last year''s demolition derby. Otherwise, he''d just stolen it.

 The Executioner: Part 3

    Further out from the city of Grand Lake, cottages and big houses dominated the coastline closest to Lake Michigan.


    From the state park northward, aside from the houses, the landscape seemed to be all trees.


    Sean and the truck disappeared into the bulge of a forested dune near Northshore Drive.


    Even in the distance, I could hear a crashing noise.


    No explosion though.


    If the truck still had gas, I now had anecdotal evidence that all those films that showed cars exploding on impact were wrong.


    In my ear Rachel said, "I hope that wasn''t Mom."


    The GPS showed the landscape in the helmet''s technical readouts.


    We weren''t far off.


    The helmet''s enhanced visuals showed a cloud of something in the distance. It wasn''t easy to see. Dust, maybe. As if Sean had crashed the car into something outside of the house--or maybe something inside, but it fell out, and onto the ground?


    It didn''t seem likely, but you never knew.


    We grew closer, and I saw the truck.


    It lay upside down next to the cottage''s dirt driveway. The cab had been smashed nearly flat, and the passenger''s side door had been knocked in. The shape of the dent struck me as roughly human.


    Bloody, though.


    Dark, reddish liquid covered the grill, anddripped slowly onto the sand.


    If it had hit Sean, I doubted that he''d survived. If he''d hit someone with it, he''d probably killed them.


    Still, the blood''s color didn''t look quite right. It was too dark. I supposed that magnetic powers might have an effect on blood, but only when Sean was around, and I didn''t see him.


    If Haley had been with us, she''d have been able to smell the difference.


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    I wished she were.


    Then I landed.


    Closer to the road seemed like the better idea than closer to the house. Trees would hide the landing from view, and the noise of the rockets might be confused with a car.


    If I were lucky.


    Anyway, the stealth suit''s rockets weren''t as powerful as the regular suits. With any luck, no one would hear them at all.


    I landed behind a tree--one of many that hid the cottage from the view of the road.


    I slowly moved my head around the tree to inspect the house.


    It stood at the top of the dune, the stony, dirt driveway leading straight up to the back of the house.


    I''d seen a lot of houses and cottages by the lake, but this wasn''t one of the more impressive ones. The wooden siding hadn''t been painted recently, if ever, and had bleached to the grey of driftwood.


    Trees didn''t grow next to the house, and the only cover within twenty feet of the house were clumps of knee-high beach grass.


    In short, no cover at all.


    If Ray had assigned someone to watch for intruders, I''d have to find them before I crossed the final distance. Otherwise I might as well walk up the road, and knock on the door.


    I pulled the roachbots'' controller off my belt, and began to activate them.


    "What are you doing," Rachel''s voice asked.


    "I''m going to check out what''s going on. You know, without being noticed."


    "I can do that."


    "Then I''m just getting them into position before anything happens."


    No answer.


    Not that that surprised me.


    I''d managed to get the roachbots landed on the house by the time Rachel got back.


    "We''re screwed," she said. "They knew I was there. They''ve got something that detects me when I''m intangible."


    "What about--"


    "They know you''re here too. They told me that we need to walk up the path and come in from the beach side."


    "Why the beach side?"


    "Don''t know, but Ray said we''d better use it if we want to see Mom alive again."


    That didn''t leave a lot of options.


    She faded into visibility, and we walked up to the house, following a concrete footpath around to the front.


    The house didn''t look any better close up than it had from the road. All the windows had been boarded up. The flecks of white paint that remained on the wood made it seem more abandoned than it had before I''d come close enough to notice.


    The wooden porch sagged as I stepped on it, making me wonder if I''d fall through.


    I looked down, hoping to avoid the really bad boards, and saw a trail of blood drops leading to the door. Following the drops backward, I saw that they came around the left side of the house. We''d walked up the other side.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Lake Michigan behind us.


    Sitting a good fifty feet above the lake, whoever owned the house had a great view of the sandy beach and the water below.


    Crazy, the things a person notices.


    "Rocket," Rachel said, and I turned back to the door. "Let''s not keep the psycho waiting."


    I managed a chuckle, and pulled the screen door open. Since the actual screens were torn, jagged-edged things that had been eaten away by wear, it barely counted as a screen door, or arguably even a door.


    The wooden door behind it wobbled as I opened it, and stepped into the room, waiting for the helmet to adjust to the darkness.

 The Executioner: Part 4

    It didn''t take long. The helmet probably adjusted more quickly than my eyes did.


    At first I only saw silhouettes, and lines of brightness in the windows where the boards weren''t quite flush.


    Instants later, I saw more than I wanted.


    The room hadn''t been updated since the 1950''s, or maybe the 1930''s. Cracked plaster walls, and worn, wooden floors told of abandonment and decay.


    It wouldn''t have been a bad cottage. The living room was big enough, and the highly detailed, stone fireplace on the far wall argued that the original owners had had some money.


    If I''d visited the place at any other time, I might have checked out the woodwork on the stairway, or the old, peeling wallpaper.


    I might also have wondered what sort of furniture they''d had back when people used the place, or why it hadn''t been fixed up.


    But I didn''t wonder any of that. I got distracted.


    Sean lay on the floor. The black Heroes League uniform had been ripped half off him, and his left forearm bent in the middle.


    Gina bent over him, but not quite as remembered her. The last I''d seen her, she''d been about the same height as Ray. Now she had to be seven feet tall at least, and even her muscles seemed to have muscles.


    I couldn''t tell for sure on the height because she wasn''t standing. But as she bent over Sean, splinting his arm, it was obvious she had to be bigger than he was.


    I also noticed that the back of her shirt had ripped, and from what I could see, she had long, red scars on her back, and bloodstains on the ripped pieces of her shirt as well as her pants.


    Unmoving, Sean looked pale.


    I wondered why they were saving him. It seemed out of character.


    Ray stood in the middle of the room, semi-automatic pistol in hand. My mom had been tied to an old wooden chair near him, her hands bound behind her back.


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    She''d been gagged, but not blindfolded, and stared up at us.


    Two men in Syndicate L''s power armor stood behind Ray, paralysis guns and automatic rifles hanging under their arms, aiming them at us.


    "Nice to see you again, Nick. And nice to see your sister Rachel too." Ray pointed the pistol in Mom''s direction. "Now that we''re all here, I thought I''d lay some cards on the table. First, you''ll find we''ve got protection against Ghost here phasing a bullet into our bodies. Try it, and we shoot your mom.


    "Second, the guys in the armor back there have armor-piercing bullets. Maybe your armor can take it. Maybe it can''t, but are you going to risk it? I wouldn''t."


    Remembering the last time I''d been shot in the stealth suit, I knew I could take one, but not too many--and maybe not even one if the guys in armor were using higher caliber weapons.


    "So here''s what you''re going to do now. Drop the utility belts, the guitar, the gun, the Rocket''s helmet, and ditch the jetpack."


    "It''s not a jetpack," I said. "Notice that there''s no air intake, blades or compressor. It''s a rocketpack."


    I knew it was a mistake as I said it, but a part of me couldn''t let that go.


    "Right," Ray said. "Gina, please move."


    She backed away from Sean, and as she did, Ray pointed the gun toward Sean, and fired.


    The bullet thumped into the plaster just past Sean, adding a few more cracks and a hole to the wall''s collection.


    "Missed," Ray pointed the gun back at Mom. "Next time, I won''t. I figure he''s got a few shots left in him. How about this? I''ll shoot a toe every time you mouth off. That sound fun to you? And when he''s done, we move over to dear old Mom. Got it? Good. So ditch your junk, rocketpack included."


    We did it.


    I left the helmet till last, but at the end, I took it off and put it on the floor next to the guitar, the belt, and the rocketpack.


    "Great," Ray said. "Now push them across the white painted line toward me, and when you''re done, make sure you''re on the same side."


    Someone had painted a white circle on the floor. Rachel and I looked over at each other, and stepped across it.


    I didn''t look at Mom. Between unmasking and the block, it seemed like tempting fate. If I pretended she wasn''t there, maybe we could avoid any weird, block-related side effects.


    Then I tried to think of a way to get us out of there. Well, to the degree I could keep my mind on it, given that Ray was in position to kill half my family.


    "Can I ask you a question?" I watched Ray, hoping he wouldn''t start shooting Sean just for that.


    He didn''t. He smiled, and said, "Go on."


    "I''ve been wondering how you ended up at the D''Onofrio Christmas party in the first place. You came there for years. How''d you start?"


    He smiled wider. "It''s a funny story, and we''ve got a little time. Sure, what the hell?"


    You know how sometimes near the end of the story, the villain explains pretty near everything he''s ever done? I guessed it probably didn''t work that way in real life, but it was worth a shot.

 The Executioner: Part 5

    Ray kept the gun pointed at my mom, but acted as if we were making small talk at the Christmas party.


    "So you know I''ve done jobs for the Chicago Outfit, right? I got a job to kill Night Wolf a few years back. Night Wolf had been retired for years by then, and the client was old, so I took it because it sounded like easy money. If he was still alive, he had to be in his 80''s.


    "So I drove up to Grand Lake, and started looking around. After a while I connected him with a doctor, and I found out that the doctor was part of some big, Italian family. In an interview a few years back, Night Wolf had said something about Italian families that made it sound like he was part of one. So when I heard that the doctor''s family''s Christmas party was open to everybody, I dropped by. And do you know what, no one knew a damn thing about Night Wolf. A couple days after the party, I finally connected him with some guy named Chuck who''d married into the family after World War 2, and died earlier that year. After that, I dropped by every couple years. They had good food, so why not?


    "And besides I thought I might find League members. Somebody would pay to know who they were."


    Rachel very calmly, and without a trace of irony in her voice, asked, "How''d that work out?"


    Ray gave a short laugh. "Not too well. I didn''t get any hints until late last year, and even then I didn''t figure anything out until a few weeks ago. I couldn''t believe I missed it, but then I thought about all the things that no one talked about. No one talked about who Chuck''s friends were. No one talked about his hobbies. It was like he only existed for family and business. How''d they miss the other stuff? They''d known him for years. And then I realized the obvious. The Mentalist, the League''s telepath, had been working on everybody the whole time. I only figured out the Rocket because I guessed right on Haley and Travis.


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    "And that explains this," he turned toward my mom. "Your son''s the Rocket. Hell, your father was the Rocket. What do think of that?"


    Mom blinked, and mumbled something unintelligible through the gag.


    "Take my word for it," Ray said, "she doesn''t know what I''m talking about."


    I don''t know what I ought to have done then. I felt like screaming, or maybe attacking, but he still pointed a gun at Mom''s head.


    And besides, I''d noticed something he hadn''t. Mom was clenching and unclenching her jaw. Dad did that sometimes when he was upset or worried.


    I''d never seen Mom do it.


    Not sure what that meant, I didn''t say anything.


    "I''m not a big fan of supers, but I''ve got to respect the first League," Ray said. "They put up a wall between their identities, and it lasted longer than any I''ve ever gone up against. But, it''s over now, and I''ve got other plans for today.


    "Nick, say your good-byes, we''re leaving in a minute."


    I managed to find my tongue. "We''re back to the plan where I''m going to design stuff for Syndicate L?"


    "That''s about right."


    I thought about arguing with him, but I knew where it would go--another reminder that he could blow my mom''s brains out.


    A look from Rachel told me she could see the same thing. Well, that''s how I interpreted it--her white mask covered the top half of her face, and her mouth had set into an expressionless line.


    Outside, something exploded. It was hard to tell the exact distance, but it might have been within a block of us.


    "OK," I said, "then let''s go now."


    Ray smirked at me. "What, you don''t want to say good bye to your mom and sister? Sorry, but no. I''ve got one more thing to take care of."


    Behind him, one of the men in powered armor said, "A car''s parked on the road. Two people got out."


    "Good."


    A moment later, the man said, "They''re coming in."


    The door to the house opened, blowing in the smell of the lake, and Gunther walked through, sword in hand.

 The Executioner: Part 6

    Looking like Gunther had in every picture I''d ever seen of him--tall, brushcut, and muscular, I didn''t see why Ray would look forward to his appearance.


    As Haley stepped through the door, Ray said something, his voice low, and intense.


    The white circle that had been painted on the floor flared, making everything outside the circle a shade lighter. Simultaneously, the walls of the room turned reddish, including the open doorway behind Haley.


    She turned, and tapped it with her claw, making a clicking noise.


    She frowned.


    "Nice one," Gunther said. "I especially like the way the circle ends at the door on the far side of the room, allowing you to leave while I''m stuck here."


    I checked the far end of the room. The circle coincided with the open doorway--which, unlike the rest of the circle, was completely clear.


    So that left Rachel, Mom, and me within the circle with Ray, Gina, and the two powered armor guys.


    And Sean. He lay on the floor, not moving much, but he had his eyes open.


    When I started paying attention again, Ray was talking.


    "After the bit where you challenged Prime, I looked you up. I happened to know a guy who could put this together."


    I remembered finding a link online to records of how to cage "the Immortal." Obviously, someone else had too.


    To one of the men in powered armor, Ray said, "Stu, shoot Mommy if Nick tries anything. Gina watch Ghost and the kid on the floor. Don, you''re with me. And Nick, we''re leaving. Now."


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    He gestured simultaneously at me and toward the door.


    I tried to think of what to do next. He probably didn''t realize it, but I still had the sonics. He hadn''t told me to get rid of them, so I hadn''t. And anyway, the stealth suit''s sonic weapons were supposed to blend in.


    Doing some of the more clever tricks without the helmet''s readout would be a challenge, unfortunately. I could probably do a little from memory.


    Disabling everybody with a blast of sound also got harder without a helmet. In a room like this, I risked breaking my eardrums, and disabling myself. And Mom. Not to mention what might happen to Haley. Sonic blasts and sensitive hearing did not go well together.


    I considered letting Ray take me out, and dismissed it. I might get everyone else out of danger, but from what I''d seen so far, Ray would get me out of reach before anyone had a chance to catch us.


    I''d have to do something now.


    "Now?" Gunther tapped on the white circle''s wall. "Ray we need to talk."


    "No, we don''t." Ray pointed his gun at me. "Move it."


    I took a step.


    "I killed your Syndicate L contact. His name was Allen, right?"


    Ray turned his head toward Gunther. "What?"


    "He got out of the building and started calling people on his phone. I shot him while he was talking. Hope that doesn''t cause any problems with you getting paid."


    Ray stood there, staring at Gunther as he kept on talking.


    "I wonder how they''d work with that? They probably don''t have one central computer for processing accounts. Do you suppose Allen told anybody? It''d be funny if you were doing allthis for free."


    Ray stepped toward Gunther, the almost transparent, white wall glowing between them.


    Don, the guy in powered armor who''d just started to follow Ray out, said, "Ray, they don''t know where Allen is. And shit, they''ve lost a lot of mechs."


    "Hey Joanie," Gunther said.


    Joan was my mom''s first name. Of course he knew it.


    Mom''s eyes darted between Gunther, Ray, Rachel, and I.


    Sweat, or maybe a tear, rolled down her cheek.


    It was hot with everybody including two guys in powered armor in the room, but I doubted that heat was the main reason.


    Her eyes lingered on Gunther. She had to recognize him.


    "Its not the first time she''s been kidnapped," he said to Ray. "The last time it was remnants of Red Lightning''s army. I don''t think think your dad was with them. If he had been, it would have been me who killed him, not Chicago Hawk. It was Chicago Hawk, right?"


    Ray didn''t say anything. He stood in front of Gunther, his pistol pointed at Gunther''s stomach, close to, but not touching the pale wall that separated them.


    Near me, very softly, Rachel said, "Nick."


    Following her gaze, I noticed that the ropes holding Mom''s legs had fallen to the floor.


    It didn''t look like anyone had untied them.

 The Executioner: Part 7

    Mom''s arms were on the other side of the chair from where Rachel and I stood, but if she were hoping to get away, those ropes had to go next.


    Glancing near the legs of her chair told me no more ropes lay on the far side.


    I thought she might be waiting for a better chance, but then I realized that this was it. For the first time since I''d arrived, no one held a gun to her head.


    Ray, his body tensed, still pointed his gun at Gunther, but somehow didn''t attack him. Gina stood next to him. One of the guys in powered armor (Don?) stood near the door that led deeper into the house, the door that wasn''t blocked by magic. The other armored guy (hadn''t Ray called him Stu?) pointed the arm with the paralysis gun under it at Mom, but his eyes were on Ray and Gunther instead.


    In that moment, I knew that it wasn''t just Mom''s best chance, but if I wanted to do anything more than hope that Gunther would get us all out of it, it was also mine.


    I''d even come up with the beginnings of a plan.


    The whole point of this party was capturing me. If I weren''t here, Ray wouldn''t stop to kill Mom. He''d chase me.


    And anyway, he''d assigned Mom''s death to Stu. So, if I could take out Stu, and Don, and then run out the door, I''d be outside.


    And after that...


    I had no idea what I''d do after that. Maybe Gunther would get us all out of it.


    I could hope.


    I''d made a frequency that worked well against electronics a preset, and so I could adjust the sonics with a couple taps to the inside of my gloves. Changing it from regular to narrowcast sound wasn''t much harder, but it felt like it took forever.


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    Each tap could be the moment Ray noticed my hands'' movement.


    "Yeah, Chicago Hawk," Gunther said. "That was one crazy guy, crazier than I''d expect anyone could be, and survive. Would you believe he''s still alive? He''s old now, but in okay shape. I drop by every once in a while."


    "No kidding," Ray said. His voice came out flat. To me, he seemed seconds away from snapping.


    "A lot of people said he was too hard on criminals, but I thought he was just about right."


    Ray''s upper lip curled. "Don''t push me. My buddy left me with some more words to use if you caused me problems while you were caught. You want to find out what they are?"


    Ray delivered the last line at a volume barely short of a shout.


    Gunther smiled a little. "Go ahead," he said, catching my eye.


    Did he guess what I was planning? It really could be a message to me--well, unless I was reading something into what he''d said.


    But maybe, I told myself, I shouldn''t overanalyze this, and start moving. He''d told me that I spent too much time thinking more than once over the years.


    Next to him, Haley bit her lip.


    As I reminded myself that it really was my best chance whatever he''d meant, the ropes fell off Mom''s hands, landing on the wooden floor with muffled thump. In the silence that followed what Gunther said, it seemed louder than it actually had been.


    "Hey, don''t move!" Stu raised his left arm, and wiggled the paralysis gun that hung under it in Mom''s direction.


    I pointed both of my arms at him, firing off the sonics, and wishing I had my helmet on. It had crosshairs for each arm, and showed the shape how the sound would disperse across a distance.


    I felt the buzz of the sonics next to my forearms, and heard a high pitched wail, but thankfully, a lot of "Electronic Nuke Mode''s" noise took place outside of most human''s hearing.


    I hoped it wouldn''t hurt Haley much.


    Meanwhile, smoke obscured Stu''s face, creating clouds within his helmet. He started coughing.


    Near the door, Don managed to point his paralysis gun arm at me, but nothing happened. I''d put the anti-paralysis blocker into my pants'' pocket. It made an audible buzz, but I could still move.


    I fired the sonics again, this time at Don, and ran for the door.


    Don raised his right arm, moving it with a jerk toward me. It was the arm with the automatic rifle, but he didn''t fire. He tried to grab my arm, but either because of damage to his armor, or bad aim, he missed.


    Ray shouted something as I ran through the doorway, and into the kitchen, past the bedrooms, finally coming to a door.


    The wooden floor thumped beneath my feet, and I could hear more footsteps behind me.


    I didn''t even try to open the door. Gathering speed with every step, I raised my arms up to protect my face, and ran through it.

 The Executioner: Part 8

    The door shattered.


    I stumbled, and nearly fell as I dropped to the sand behind the house. Between my rush to leave and the stealth suit''s additional strength, I''d overshot the steps.


    I nearly hit the grill of the white, Ford Bronco parked in the driveway. Dodging it, I twisted, and turned left into sand and knee-high, dune grass.


    Then I started running, tapping on my palms to increase the suit''s energy output. The artificial muscles in the suit amplified the motion of my muscles, but they worked because Grandpa had figured out how to make them release energy in response to the pressure of being used.


    Normally, the helmet''s computer regulated how much energy the suit used, adjusting to increase efficiency. Without the helmet, I had to set it, and I set it to the maximum.


    I''d probably use up a month''s worth of energy in a day at that rate, but if I won, it would be worth it.


    And if I didn''t, it might not matter.


    Behind me, I heard metal hit metal with a clang, and crack.


    I turned to look, and saw Ray exit the house, followed by Gina. Gina turned behind her, looking back through the shattered door, and into the house.


    Whatever she saw, she didn''t stop. Ray pointed toward me, and they both ran across the sand after me.


    Ray had changed.


    He looked a lot like Gina.


    Not exactly like her. He wasn''t female, but like her, he''d grown another foot, and grown a bodybuilder''s set of muscles.


    Another major difference was that her clothes fit. She wore a white wifebeater and camouflage pants.


    He wore a newly shredded blue, button down shirt, and tan khakis--the stuff he''d been wearing back in our meeting.


    He must have just touched Gina. That was probably good news. It meant that if he''d copied the powers of any of Prime''s people earlier, they''d worn off, and he couldn''t will them back into existence.


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    From the way her shirt had been ripped on the back in combination with the blood, I guessed that she had to be the one Sean hit with the truck. I''d also guessed that she must regenerate, but at least she wasn''t invulnerable.


    On the other hand, Ray carried a pistol, and Gina had grabbed a rifle.


    That wasn''t good news. I wondered if I''d passed some level of hassle where Ray had decided to kill me instead of capturing me.


    I took the mask back out of the collar of the stealth suit, and pulled it over my head. It wasn''t as good protection as the helmet, but it was something.


    Barely jumping over a log, I ran past the next cottage. It was newer, and bigger, with aluminum siding colored three different shades of the same pinkish-tan.


    Not that it mattered, but the folding chairs and a big, black, propane grill on the deck reminded me that I needed a new plan now. Imagine if someone had been grilling.


    I''d gotten Ray away from Mom, but now I needed to take him out, and not just him, Gina too.


    Not that I had the slightest idea how.


    I needed to figure it out soon though, because if I kept running past cottages, we''d run past one with people soon enough. And then we''d have a brand new hostage situation. We''d get the same thing if I ran next to the road, and if I jumped down to run by the beach, they''d be able to take potshots at me from the top of the dunes.


    I jumped off the dune I was on, landing near the middle of the next.


    I ran upward, using the gait I always used while in a Rocket suit, one that maximized my stride. It was a lot longer than when I wasn''t wearing any suit, but there was a trick to it. You had to get the rhythm right because it was as much a jump as a step, and if you ran like normal, you''d only connect with air.


    I made it to the top, three, maybe four strides later, and chanced a look back.


    They weren''t doing as well.


    Gina had finished a leap as long as the house on top of the last dune, but messed up the landing, falling forward, and landing on her face.


    Ray seemed to be imitating my running style, but not as fast as he could be. His strides never got as long as mine, and sometimes he stumbled.


    I had to be able to use that somehow, but it wasn''t obvious. It wasn''t as if I''d be able to make them stumble off a cliff. Beyond the question of how I''d manage it, despite all of the dunes, this part of Lake Michigan was distinctly short on cliffs.


    Besides, if I outran them, they''d run back to the house. I had to go back there for Mom--not to mention my stuff.


    Then I thought, "Maybe I should double back now?"


    It made a lot of sense.


    Without Ray around, I was willing to bet that Gunther would get past the magic quickly, and then I''d have help.


    I turned right and started running down the dune, toward the road, and decided to cross it, and let them wonder if I were heading for the woods on the other side.


    Well, that was the plan.


    I''d run down the dune, kicking up sand with every step, but as I neared a big, leafy tree about ten feet from the road, I heard a muffled thump behind me.


    Knowing better, but unable to stop myself, I looked back.


    Gina had landed most of the way down the dune, almost knee deep in sand, but she hadn''t fallen this time.


    Pulling her legs out of the sand, she jumped again.

 The Executioner: Part 9

    She kicked up a lot of sand when her feet left the ground, but I didn''t pay much attention to it. I was too busy watching where she''d land.


    That would likely be low on any list of "Smart Things to Do When You''re Being Chased."


    Here''s why: If I would have run, I''d have likely made it partway across the street, possibly all the way across, and into the forest.


    As it was, she landed within arm''s reach of me.


    I adjusted my stance, wondering what she''d try.


    She pulled her right arm back, telegraphing her punch, giving me a chance to think about what I''d do.


    I''d learned a lot of holds from Gunther, but most holds assume normal human strength, and don''t take into account the possibility that the held person could kick the ground and launch both of you twenty feet into the air.


    I didn''t even consider a hold.


    Assuming you did it correctly, some throws worked well even against extremely strong people.


    Gina could generate tons of force, but I''d practiced against people just as strong.


    Stepping a little to the right, I pulled down on the punching arm with my right hand, and pushed forward on her back with my left arm, redirecting her momentum.


    It wouldn''t have worked as well without her strength or the stealth suit''s, but she flew forward, smacking her whole body into the street.


    Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Ray running down the dune. Checking the other direction, I noticed that Gina was already getting up.


    The road left bloody scrapes on her face, and arms, but they didn''t slow her at all. One knit itself together as I watched.


    If I didn''t move, they''d be able to go after me from two sides at once.


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    I jumped.


    Landing twenty feet down the road, I started running.


    The house we''d all been held in couldn''t have been more than a couple hundred feet ahead. I could see Haley''s Stingray, the color currently white, parked near the driveway.


    I checked behind me. Gina had just started running, but Ray was catching up. Either he''d gotten the hang of running, or he''d had a hard time with sand earlier, but he couldn''t have been more than a car length behind me.


    I was so screwed.


    In the back of my mind, I thought about everything I''d heard about fighting regenerators. The results didn''t inspire me. Basically you had to trap them someplace their other powers couldn''t get them out of, or inflict such massive damage that they couldn''t heal immediately.


    I didn''t have any traps available. As for massive damage... The car might or might not be out of missiles. The guitar was inside the house, and I might not make it that far.


    What else?


    I passed a wooden utility pole.


    Power lines could inflict massive damage, and not just to him, also to me. The stealth suit was resistant to electricity, but unlike the regular suit, it didn''t double as a Faraday cage.


    Still, it was something.


    I tried to think of a way to survive hitting Ray and Gina with a downed power line.


    As I did, I noticed someone in the air above the house.


    Sean.


    I supposed that the situation could get worse, but I couldn''t think how.


    A shot rang out, and then another.


    I checked behind myself again.


    Gina had stopped, and pointed the rifle at Sean.


    I couldn''t see if she''d hit because I''d noticed Ray jumping toward me.


    I dove into a somersault, coming up to find Ray had landed past me on the side of the road.


    He turned. He''d catch me in two steps. We both knew it, and he didn''t say a word about it.


    I didn''t get any hints from his movements of how he planned to attack, and I had a bad feeling he''d be more than a match for me in hand to hand combat.


    I pointed the sonics at him, delivering a normal blast at maximum power from both hands.


    I aimed it toward his head.


    Sonics at full blast hurt. The mask over my head gave some protection, but even with it, I wanted to curl up in a ball, and wait until the noise stopped.


    Ray gritted his teeth as the sound hit, and nearly fell over, hitting my left arm with a glancing blow.


    Well, a glancing blow for him. With Gina''s strength.


    The suit protected me from the worst of it, but I took three stumbling steps before I had control of myself. Worse, I''d stopped firing due to the arm wrenching pain.


    Then I turned back toward him, the next step of my plan in mind.


    Fortunately for me, Ray didn''t seem to be all there. He''d put his hand to his right ear, and it came away glistening with blood.


    Seeing me, his hands turned into fists, and he stepped toward me, but something didn''t seem quite right.


    He wobbled a little.


    I punched him in the face, and he fell on his back. For all his strength, he still had the mass of a normal person.


    I grabbed his legs, swung him around, and let go, aiming him toward the crossbar where the utility pole and the power lines touched.

 The Executioner: Part 10

    Ray hit the power lines hard, ripping two from the crossbar in a shower of sparks, and hitting the utility pole with his back.


    His strength made it worse.


    When you''re falling, the most natural thing in the world is to reach out, and grab the nearest thing you can as hard as you can.


    He grabbed a power line.


    Arguably, you could say that disorienting him by blowing out his eardrums with the sonics, and then swinging him around had "worked," but I hadn''t expected it to work quite that way.


    His fingers sank through the covering into the wire, and since his right leg had already hooked over the crossbar, and was still touching one of the lines it had knocked off the crossbar...


    Well, I''d managed to create short circuits myself before, and this was similar, but much louder and brighter.


    Lightning covered his body, and he moved without any control, breaking the crossbar, and snapping the line he''d grabbed--which made even more sparks.


    He fell to the ground as both ends flew away from each other, landing in the road on opposite sides of the pole.


    Ray lay in the dirt a few feet from the road. Under his shredded shirt and pants, burns blackened his left arm, and his right leg.


    The air smelled of ozone, and burned meat.


    One part of me hoped I hadn''t killed him. Another hoped I had.


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    Then Ray took a long slow breath.


    What was I going to do now?


    From the road behind me, Gina shouted, "Ray!"


    I turned, hoping I had a moment before she attacked, but it didn''t matter.


    As I looked over my shoulder, she put down the rifle she''d been using to fire at Sean. When she started to run toward me, the old truck I''d seen in front of the cottage appeared in the air, smashing into her front, carrying her off the road and into the trees.


    Meanwhile Ray moaned. I turned back to look at him.


    He was shrinking, turning from seven feet tall, and freakishly muscled, into the physique he''d had before the change, but now bloodied and burned.


    As he became smaller, some of the blackened skin flaked off, leaving reddish skin behind. Not all of the blackened skin went, but enough that his survival seemed possible.


    I wondered why he''d changed back. Did he have to consciously hang on to his acquired powers, or had he run out of energy to keep them going?


    Either way we''d need to see Alex, or an ambulance, before I felt sure he''d survive.


    I decided to run back to the house and call the police on the communicator I''d left inside. I had some first aid supplies in my utility belt too.


    Glancing toward the house, I saw that Rachel had flown out, and hung above the trees near the end of the driveway.


    But Rachel wasn''t the only person I noticed.


    Wind blew past me as Sean landed next to Ray.


    He stared down at him. "You bastard. Do you recognize me?"


    Some part of my brain followed it up with a line from an old movie, "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."


    I didn''t say it.


    Except...


    I heard the screech of metal ripping. A few feet down the road, the metal stem holding the sign bent near the ground, and flew into the air.


    "Hey," I said, "you''re not going to--"


    It came out of the sky, the thin metal stem first, burying itself in Ray''s chest, leaving us to stare at the wobbling sign. Diamond-shaped, it showed a black figure of a deer against an orange background.


    The words on the smaller sign below it said, "Deer Crossing."


    "There, asshole. Remember that. I got you."


    Blood seeped from Ray''s back into the dirt.


    "You killed him," I said.


    "I killed him? You threw him into power lines. The way I see it, I just finished the job."

 The Executioner: Part 11

    "Are you crazy? Don''t you see a difference between killing a guy because he''s trying to kill you, and killing him when he''s practically dead?"


    Sean reddened.


    "He was a killer, and I stopped him. You weren''t going to. I did what had to be done. What were you going to do, hand him over to the cops? He''d only escape again."


    "I don''t know what I was going to do. All I know is that you didn''t kill him because you think the system doesn''t work. You were going for revenge."


    "Yeah, well. I don''t see why you weren''t. He was holding a gun to your mom''s head. If you cared what happened to her--"


    I clenched my fists, and stepped toward him.


    I don''t know what I planned to do next, but it was probably for the best that I didn''t. For one thing, we''d have been fighting near the downed power line Ray broke.


    For another, Sean didn''t have any powers that stopped physical damage that I knew about, and the stealth suit didn''t use any metal that was easily affected by a magnetic field.


    In short, I could have really hurt him, and the only thing that stopped me from trying was hearing a crash behind me, followed by more crashes, and a screeching of metal that only grew closer.


    I turned around, discovering that the truck Sean had hit Gina with was tumbling down the road toward the two of us.


    Well, the two of us plus Ray''s body.


    In some universe, Sean knocked the truck out of the way, and between the two of us, we defeated Gina together, laying the groundwork for mutual respect and future friendship.


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    In my actual universe, a universe that doesn''t work like a Disney movie, I didn''t even have time to jump out of the way before the question of how to avoid the truck became irrelevant.


    A brown and purple blur passed me. I felt the wind. Instants later (I didn''t see how it happened), the truck turned, rolling off the road, and hitting a tree.


    Only then did Jaclyn slow down enough that I could see her. She stopped in front of Gina, who stood in the middle of the road a couple hundred feet away from us.


    I didn''t hear what they said, but I saw Gina throw a punch. Jaclyn dodged it easily, and punched her, knocking Gina backwards.


    Then Jaclyn blurred again, moving fast enough to get behind Gina before she fell into the street, hitting her hard enough to knock her back in the other direction.


    It went on like that.


    By the time they were done, Gina lay on the road, unmoving, and Jaclyn stood next to her, clearly ready to continue if she had to.


    "I''m glad that''s over," Rachel said.


    She had floated down to us during the fight.


    I turned my head toward her. "Is it over?"


    "Completely," she said. "Once you got away, Gunter told Haley to smash through the floor next to the circle. It didn''t take much to take out the rest of them. And everyone else took out the mechs Syndicate L sent, and they''re on their way here. That''s why Jaclyn came. Now all we have to look out for are the cops and the press."


    "What about Mom?"


    "Shaken up, but unhurt."


    "What about..."


    "Her powers? The block?"


    "Both."


    "I don''t think she''s got much for powers. It took a lot of effort just to make her hands and feet intangible. The block''s gone though. All of it."


    I thought about that for a moment. "Wow."


    "I know."


    Half-forgotten, Sean''s voice surprised me. "You guys had your telepath mess with your mom''s head? That''s messed up. I thought it was sick when he went into my head, but that''s beyond sick."


    Rachel said, "Shut up, Sean. You don''t know what you''re talking about."


    He opened his mouth to say something, but then he stopped. I assumed he''d just remembered my grandma''s reputation.


    Rachel''s eyes drifted toward the "Deer Crossing" sign sticking out of Ray''s chest.


    "Were you making some kind of joke with that sign? If you were, it''s not that funny. You know what would have been better," she said. "Dead end."

 Turning Eighteen: Part 1

    I turned eighteen a few days later.


    It had been an odd few days. After the fight, the police came, taking Ray and Gina away in a Box. They questioned Mom about her kidnapping too, and she went to the police station to answer questions without us.


    Dad brought her home late on Thursday afternoon.


    Rachel and I wanted to talk about it, but we couldn''t quite find the right moment. Theoretically, we could have asked her at any time. Dad wouldn''t have been able to pay attention to the conversation with his block, but somehow using the block''s side effects to make Dad zone out right in front of Mom didn''t feel right.


    We didn''t even try.


    On Sunday night, Dad ran back to the office to grab something. Rachel watched an artsy movie with a lot of shadows in the family room while Mom grabbed leftover pizza from the refrigerator in the kitchen.


    I''d grabbed a ham sandwich, and sat down on the sofa in the family room. I watched the movie for a few minutes, and then the actors started talking.


    They were speaking French. I realized I''d have to follow the subtitles.


    Rachel may have heard me groan, or maybe she''d been intending to pause the movie there. Either way, she got up, and walked into the kitchen.


    With the counter being the only thing separating the family room and the kitchen, I heard everything.


    "Mom, do you want to talk about Thursday? You know about what Nick and I are doing now."


    "I''m sorry. I don''t think I can handle it. Maybe later."


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    Mom sounded tired.


    I wondered if she''d ever want to talk about it.


    When I went to bed, she was sitting in the living room, using her laptop.


    I said goodnight, but nothing else, and she said goodnight but didn''t volunteer anything either.


    Then I walked up the stairs.


    I didn''t know where Mom went on the Internet that weekend, but she couldn''t have watched the television or listened to the radio much.


    Locally, we were the news.


    The slant on what happened didn''t bear much of a resemblance to my experiences. The way the news told it, Prime''s people were working with Ray and Syndicate L to capture Vaughn''s uncle, Russell Hardwick, and Justice Fist (and their parents) for a ransom.


    I''d never heard anything about a ransom, but I wouldn''t put it past Ray to try to get some extra profit out of the deal.


    The newscast explained my parents'' involvement by noting that my dad had been the therapist for Julie and Lucas before either one got any powers. They didn''t mention Haley''s parents at all.


    Much of the rest of the coverage focussed on how the Heroes League had fought Syndicate L mechs throughout Grand Lake.


    I couldn''t help but notice what didn''t make it in. They barely talked about the battle near the old radio station, or the fact that they hadn''t caught any of Prime''s people. They didn''t mention that I''d been held captive, or say anything about Syndicate L wanting me as an employee.


    They didn''t mention much about Ray''s death either. They mentioned that he''d been accidentally killed while fighting the Rocket and the Power.


    That was it.


    I guessed the Feds might be involved, and later Isaac Lim confirmed that FBI telepaths had removed my real name from Gina and the two guys in powered armor''s memory.


    That was a relief until I started to wonder whether there were other circumstances where the FBI was allowed to do mindwipes.


    Nationally, the story got some press, but it faded in a couple days. In the Double V forums though, it started a fairly lively debate. They knew about Ray''s superhero kills, and the way he''d hunted heroes'' friends and families.


    They wondered how "accidental" his death really was, and who had killed him, making some uncomfortably good guesses.


    I found the subject depressing and stopped following the forums within a day or two.


    On Wednesday (my birthday), Rachel and I were meeting Lee for lunch, and a talk.


    So while I got to be like every eighteen year old in that I was finally eligible to vote and be drafted, I was also eligible to hear the full story behind Lee and Grandpa''s deal.

 Turning Eighteen: Part 2

    If you''d asked me beforehand what kind of lunch you have when you''re turning eighteen, and you''re about toreceive potentially life altering secrets from an immortal friend of your grandfather, I wouldn''t have had the slightest clue.


    As it turned out, the answer was pizza.


    After months of eating undelivered "mistake" pizza from Travis'' and Haley''s family''s restaurants, I shouldn''t have wanted any. Fortunately, Lee let us choose the toppings. It was a small thing, but it made all the difference. It''s nice to have a little control over your life.


    We ate it at a picnic table in Veterans Memorial Park right next to the beach.


    Unlike the state park on Lake Michigan, Veterans Memorial''s beach turned to grass maybe twenty feet from the shore, so it wasn''t filled with people.


    On the weekend, the park''s most popular spot was the boat launch. On Wednesday, that was probably still true, but people launched boats maybe once an hour.


    We chose the picnic table furthest from the ramp anyway.


    Even though it was a weekday, people still took boats out on Grand Lake. Most of them were likely vacationers from northern Illinois visiting their cottages, or people camping at the state park.


    I saw jet skis, speedboats, and sailboats, including a few catamarans.


    The air felt warm. A few clouds floated high in sky, hanging above the marina, houses, and factories on the other side of the lake.


    Even though we were there for a purpose, it felt good. For the first time that summer it felt like summer for real. It was already July, and I''d missed the first third of it fighting. By late August, college would start.


    That would be a change.


    On the bright side, I still had a couple months of vacation to look forward to.


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    Lee ate a couple pieces of pizza before saying, "Now''s your chance. What do you want to know?"


    "I know this isn''t a question about Grandpa," Rachel said, "but what were you trying to do back in the cottage? I know you were trying to make Ray mad. Did that go the way it was supposed to?"


    "I''m usually trying to do at least three things at a time. There I was trying to make Ray mad because I thought he might take down the barrier. Physically, I''m human, so unless he could copy my abilities magically, it wouldn''t work. I was also trying to distract them so that your Mom could get free, or so that you or Nick had time to think of something. Either way I had a plan."


    I thought about that. "So... What would happen if someone did manage to copy your abilities magically, or maybe with some kind of non-magical power?"


    "Interesting question." Lee smiled at me, or at least showed his teeth. "It depends. They''d have to have a lot of power behind them to copy the way I do what I do, so it probably wouldn''t work. If they managed to copy my connection to the rest of myself, they''d have the power they need to make it work, but they''d probably just get devoured."


    "Devoured?" That sounded like a vote for the "Lee''s really a dragon" theory.


    At the same time, Rachel said, "What did you mean by ''the rest of myself''?"


    "That... gets into the meat of things. I come from a very old species. You don''t have a name for us. We''re not fond of other sentient beings. You might say that''s the reason I''m here.


    "A while back, we decided to destroy the younger races we''d discovered. It wasn''t anything personal, we just didn''t want the competition. After a while, I got bored with it, did a few things that made it a lot harder, and left. I hid most of myself in a pocket dimension with a small link that allows me to draw on power when I need it. Outside of that, I set things up so that this body would blend inwhereverI happened to be.


    Nodding to Rachel, he said, "That answers your question. As for yours, Nick, devoured means devoured--anyone who tries to connect to my real body will disappear utterly, and I''ll have another way to present myself to the world."


    I tried to wrap my head around that.


    "So... that means you met Grandpa... how?"


    "Every so often somebody manages to trap me. I can break a magical circle, but most of the time it''s not worth it. It takes a lot of energy, and the more energy I use, the more likely I am to be noticed, and I don''t want to be noticed. During World War 2, Hitler''s people ran across my name, trapped me, and kept me for a little while. Then your grandfather came by. He let me out, and we worked out exactly what I owed him for doing it."


    Rachel nodded. "And what was that?"


    "I''d assist him in fighting the war, and I''d train any of his children and grandchildren how to fight, and if necessary, protect them. That, and not do anything that puts the human race in any special danger."

 Turning Eighteen: Part 3

    I thought about that. "Uh... Is there anything you''re likely to do that would put the human race in danger?"


    Lee took another piece of pizza. "Anything that I''m likely to do? No. I''ve been keeping my head down for a long time now, but sometimes I''ve been known to take a risk. Now I take less."


    "I''m assuming that you''re hiding from your people, whatever they are... What happens if they catch you?"


    "End of the world, Nick. Rivers of blood. Fire from the sky. Disease. Death. The usual."


    "So... Just by being here, you''re putting the entire planet at risk."


    "Exactly," he said, and then he took a bite of the pizza. "Don''t worry about it. The way they search, I''m thinking we''ve got ten, maybe twenty thousand years. By that time, I might not be here anymore, or better yet, I might be ready for them."


    "Or if you make a mistake," Rachel said, "they might come tomorrow."


    "It''s a risk, but if you think about it, they''ll destroy the planet if they happen across it anyway. I say, you might as well have a fighting chance."


    She eyed him. "What are you planning to do? Turn humanity into your personal army?"


    "Something like that. I''ve been here a while, and I''ve been following certain people and their descendants if they show any talent."


    "For fighting?"


    "For anything useful. Talent with technology. Organizational talent. And yeah, sometimes powers. Useful talents sometimes show up more than once."


    "You''ve been following us," I said. "Our family, I mean."


    "One among many, but yes, I''ve been keeping in contact every few generations. It''s useful. This isn''t the first civilization that I''ve watched develop. You''re on the cusp of the interesting stuff--immortality, faster than light drives, and then, within four or five thousand years, real power. It''ll be fun."


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    I thought about what he''d said.


    On Grand Lake, a speedboat pulled a water skier west toward Lake Michigan. They couldn''t possibly be planning to pull the guy down the channel. It was a no wake zone. Part of me wanted to find out whether they were that crazy. The other part...


    "What happened to the other civilizations?"


    "Totally destroyed," Lee said, "but I''ve got a good feeling about this one."


    Rachel''s jaw dropped a little. "Oh god."


    "Don''t worry about it. The last time my people came through this part of space was fairly recent, so they aren''t likely to come back. Besides I''ve set up a few false sightings of myself for them to waste time on."


    Rachel began to open her mouth as if to talk, and Lee said, "Far from here."


    "But seriously," he said, "don''t worry about it. I''ve got some inside information that says we''ve got time. I don''t experience time completely linearly, and I''ve seen things. Nick, someone who looks like you is there when I fight them. Whoever he is, he''s older, maybe forty."


    "We''ve got twenty years?" That was worse than getting hit with some random asteroid.


    "No," Lee said. "The tech''s so advanced that no one''s going to come up with it any time soon. I figure it''s got to be an alternate you, a clone, or maybe a time traveling version. Maybe all three. Maybe something else."


    Very calmly, Rachel said, "What about me?"


    Lee shrugged. "Don''t know. You''re mostly good at not being seen, and I didn''t see you."


    I tried to think of another question. I knew that I should have a lot. The end of the world was a big deal.


    "Look," Lee continued, "you''re both focusing on the wrong thing. This might not happen to either of you ever. You should be thinking shorter term if you want to be afraid of something."


    Rachel nodded. "OK. What should we be afraid of in the short term?"


    "Our stuff. We left ruins, and planted some things for younger races to fight over."


    "That sounds interesting," I said. "What kind of stuff?"


    "Remember how I said we wanted to destroy everybody? Stuff that helps with that."


    "Oh. Like trapped weapons or something?"


    Lee shook his head. "Not the kind that blow up, or something obvious. Think superweapons that need to be fed sentient beings to work, or implant a permanent, irrational need to kill in whoever uses them. Anything that makes you kill a few of your own people to get the enemy, or starts a war that comes home with you after you win, well, that''s what we wanted.


    "Because you know what? Once people got used to the idea, they usually came up with their own versions, and we didn''t have to lift a finger."


    "That''s sick." Rachel nearly spat.


    "You got it. Ever hear of the Abominators?"


    "No," Rachel said, while at the same time I said, "Yes."


    Looking over at both of them I started talking. "That''s not their real name, but I think Grandpa and the League fought them once. And all the decent aliens pretty much hate them. Aren''t they basically extinct?"


    "Right. They found a lot of our stuff."

 Turning Eighteen: Part 4

    We talked more after that, but not much worth repeating.


    What can you say that tops, "I''m an alien on the run from my people who, by the way, commit genocide as a hobby, and might stop by any day now?"


    Near the end of lunch, I got a text message from Daniel. It said, "Dad says come by any time."


    Daniel''s dad had come home the day before. Major operations were over, the aliens contained or destroyed, and the Defenders could handle mopping up without him.


    Rachel dropped me off at Daniel''s house. Daniel opened the door.


    It felt like the first time in ages that I''d been over. In some ways it had.


    I''d spent most of spring trying to pinpoint the problem with the Rocket suit''s arm that actually turned out to be in the chest, plus making more roachbots, and the communicators. We''d all spent a lot of time practicing with Lee. Between that, graduation, end of the semester papers, and assignments, I struggled to think of the last time we''d just hung out.


    "I know," Daniel said. "I keep on waiting for the next call, the one that says Ray''s not dead, and the Cabal''s back, and we''ve all got to scramble or die."


    "Exactly. I''ve been waiting for that too."


    "Dad''s in his office." Daniel pointed down the hall. The basement door wasn''t far. "You know what we ought to do? Get together and watch movies like we did last summer."


    "I''d bet we''d get more people most nights this time around."


    "Count on it. Last summer we all barely knew each other. We can call Cassie after you''re done talking to my Dad."


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    I went down to his office, noticing Daniel''s younger brother, and sister sitting on the couch in front of the TV in the basement.


    His sister flashed the word, "hi" into my mind as I passed, but neither of them made any attempt to stop watching Nickelodeon. Presumably that episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender must have been particularly good. More likely, as with many little kids, they couldn''t see any reason to stop watching TV.


    I thought, "hi" back at her, but didn''t assume she''d be listening for a response. Walking a little further into the basement, I stepped into the office.


    It wasn''t some kind of official superhero''s office. No trophies, keys to the city, or mementos from famous cases hung on the walls.


    Shelf after shelf of books covered every available space. Most of them had to do with law, history, or political science, but the especially worn looking books had to do with religion, specifically Judaism. After World War 2, Daniel''s grandfather (the Mentalist) had become a rabbi. Daniel''s dad had kept the books.


    Half of them weren''t even in English.


    The dark, wooden bookshelves went all the way to the ceiling, but a few framed pictures had their own place. Most of them showed Mr. Cohen''s friends, either from law school or his time in army intelligence. One showed a few of them standing in front of a graffiti covered section of the Berlin wall. He''d been there before it fell.


    He sat behind his desk, standing up, and closing his laptop as I walked through the door.


    "Nick," he held out his hand, and we shook. "How are you doing?"


    "I just got back from seeing Lee," I said.


    He nodded. "And he told you what he really is, and your head is still spinning."


    "Yeah, I''d ask how you knew, but that''s obvious."


    He laughed. "I didn''t need telepathy for that. You turned eighteen today. That''s part of the deal. You need to know."


    "Who else knows? Everybody but me?"


    "The original League, plus Larry, and I. There might be a few other people."


    "It''s really crazy. What am I supposed to do now? I''m obviously supposed to keep on learning from him, but am I also supposed to watch him in case he accidentally summons the end of everything?"


    "No. That''ll happen, or it won''t. He''s managed to stay out of sight for a few thousand years now. I''m willing to trust he can do it for a few thousand more. In the short term, I look at it this way, any time he spends teaching you kids is time he''s not working as a mercenary. Think of it as your personal contribution to global stability."


    "I can see that."


    "Good. So what''s the real reason you''re here today?"


    "I originally planned to talk about Sean. He basically murdered Ray, and I''m not at all sure what to do about it."

 Turning Eighteen: Part 5

    Unsure of what to say next, I paused.


    Daniel''s dad said, "Start where you think the beginning is."


    "Well, the real beginning''s back in December when we found Ray at Haley''s family Christmas party, but that would take too long, and you could say the next beginning is when Ray killed Sean''s dad at graduation, but I think the beginning that matters was when Sean told Rachel and I that he was going to kick Ray''s ass, and beat us to the cottage..."


    I gave him a step by step account of what happened, telling him about how Lee (as Gunther) distracted Ray, allowing me to escape, and forcing Ray to follow. Describing Ray''s borrowed powers, and how I''d finally thrown him into the power lines I said, "he managed to make things worse by grabbing a power line so hard his hand touched metal. By the time he hit the ground, he''d snapped the line in two, and practically electrocuted himself. The thing is, he was still alive. I could see him healing, but then he stopped, and he also shrunk back to his normal size.


    "I don''t think he had any powers then because the last person he''d touched was me--and even if he could absorb through the stealth suit, I don''t have anything to take. Nothing that would help him heal anyway. That''s when Sean skewered him with the sign, when he was lying on the ground doing nothing."


    "And what did you do then?"


    "I told him that I couldn''t believe he''d killed Ray, and he said a few things, and I got angry. Then Gina attacked us, and Jaclyn took her out. Right after that, everyone in the League showed up, along with most of what was Justice Fist, and the police. If I''d made a big deal about it, I don''t know what would have happened. Maybe I should have, but I was really tired.


    "And that''s it. There''s nothing more to tell."


    He nodded. "So what do you want to happen now? Do you want Sean to go to jail?"


    "I don''t know. I want something to happen, but I don''t think I want him to go to jail. Ray was a monster. With all the people he killed, and all the people he threatened to kill if I didn''t work for Syndicate L... He deserved to die. If I''d killed him in the fight, I wouldn''t have been happy about it, but I think I could have lived with it. Still, I wouldn''t have killed him while he was lying helpless on the ground."


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    Completely calmly, as if he hadn''t just heard me describe a man''s death or say I would have been okay with killing Ray myself, he said, "Let''s talk about your options. If you did want to accuse him of murder, it wouldn''t be hard to establish a motive. Everybody knows who killed his father. Establishing that he was no longer a threat? That could be a challenge. Besides you and Sean, Rachel was the only person who saw the fight, right? Even though people don''t know she''s your sister, they know she''s your teammate. His lawyers would have some obvious routes to discredit her testimony and yours. You fought him as the Rocket once, right?"


    "Yes. In the metal yard near downtown."


    "Right. So there''s bad blood between you and him."


    "Yes, but--"


    "And if it became known that you and Rachel are brother and sister, it would be even better for them."


    "Is that likely?"


    "I''ve seen bigger surprises come out during a trial."


    I thought about that for a second. "Couldn''t you prove he was lying on the ground, and that he couldn''t do anything with forensics? Uh... somehow?"


    "Real life isn''t a CSI show. Besides, I''ve heard of supers getting off even if it''s obvious they did it when someone like Ray was the victim. Sometimes juries just won''t convict."


    "Are you telling me the law''s useless?"


    "No. It''s not useless. I''m trying to show you it''s not simple, and that you might not get what you want."


    "So what am I supposed to do? Beat him up?"


    Mr. Cohen almost smiled. One corner of his mouth rose a little. "That didn''t end with the old League. We''re responsible to police our own. A lot of people wouldn''t be in here right now. They''d be hunting him down, and making sure that he knew that if he ever did anything like that again, they''re capable of doing the same to him. Captain Commando acted as the League''s unofficial policeman for heroes. Larry''s done it too."


    "Larry?"


    Mr. Cohen''s eyes drifted toward the ceiling, and though he didn''t show it, his tone of voice made me think he was highly amused. "Years ago. Maybe he''ll tell you about it."


    "OK, but I don''t think it would work with Sean. I fought him before he got powers, and he pulled his dad in after the fight. After he got powers I tried to talk to him as the Rocket, and he attacked me. Daniel stopped him, but he didn''t seem intimidated after that."


    "It''s not the way I handle it myself, but from what I understand you''ve got to be deliberately frightening. You can''t just win. You need to leave him terrified of what you''ll do if he ever crosses you again."


    "I don''t want to beat him up. What else could I do?"


    "I''ve got an idea, but you aren''t going to like it."

 Turning Eighteen: Part 6

    "Why won''t I like it?"


    Sitting up a little straighter in his chair, Mr. Cohen said, "I think we need to take a step back before we talk about that. I asked for your thoughts on what happened because I think you need to hear yourself say them.


    "I''m a big believer in taking a look at the whole picture. Can our legal system take care of the problem? What about letting the superhuman community handle it? And is it worth it? In my experience, you can never ask, ''Is it worth it?'' enough."


    From the main room of the basement, Daniel''s brother and sister started laughing, making me wish I could lower their volume along with the TV.


    Mr. Cohen glanced toward the noise--though that meant glancing toward a wall covered with books.


    Turning back to me, he said, "At least they''re enjoying it... But back to what I was saying, the way I see it is this. Sean killed Ray, and you think he should be punished somehow. What you''ve got are two ways to do it. The legal way, which might not work, and the way a lot of supers would handle it--intimidation, and maybe beating him up.


    "The best case for doing things within the legal system is that even if he escaped jail, he might think about different ways of handling it next time. The best argument against it would be that he could end up in jail for twenty years, converting him from an ordinary kid who went too far to a bitter, powerful enemy--assuming he''d stay in jail.


    "Now the problem with scaring or beating him, your other option, is that it doesn''t stop there. The dislike the two of you already have for each other could turn into hatred, and an increasingly violent feud. I''ve seen it happen."


    I thought about that. On Sean''s end, I wasn''t convinced that some hatred wasn''t already present, but I couldn''t know it for sure. In his world, ganging up on someone with two of your friends might be something you did when you merely disliked the person.


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    "Nick, I think the wisest thing is for you to stay out of it. I think I need to talk to him and then submit his name to the Stapledon program."


    "The program that''s giving Vaughn and Cassie free ride scholarships to college? That''s..."


    It seemed wrong enough that I couldn''t even think of a way to say it.


    Daniel''s dad took a breath. "It''s for everyone''s good. The Stapledon program is meant to help people adjust to having powers, and to teach people how, and when to use them. All of you should join up."


    I found my voice. I''d heard a lot about the program last semester. "I know that Isaac Lim wants us to, but it sounds like too much. College is supposed to be harder than high school, and then putting the Stapledon program, and normal life together... I don''t know if I can handle it. From what Isaac said, Stapledon sounds like the Army Reserves for superheroes, but with more on-duty weekends."


    Plus, the thought of dealing with Sean the whole time sounded like hell. The last year of high school had been bad enough.


    "I think you''re better off in the program than out of it, Nick. Daniel will be in it. So will Preserver''s son, Alex. You''ll be among friends, and if you choose to keep on doing this, you''ll need the support.


    "And that''s why I''m recommending it for Sean too. He did what he did because he had powers, and almost no guidance. That''s how a lot of kids go wrong."


    "But he killed someone. Shouldn''t something happen to him other than free tuition to whatever college he wants?"


    "I know. It doesn''t seem right, but it''s not a simple situation. If he''d killed some random person, he''d be going to jail right now, but he didn''t. He killed Ray. During a fight. Ray''s got a long history of killing supers, their friends, and their families."


    I considered pointing out that I knew that, but I never got the chance. Daniel''s dad kept on talking.


    "Ray terrorized people. He deliberately baited supers into going after him, and exploited their mistakes. He''d killed Sean''s father, captured his friends and family, and he was going to kill more people if he got away.


    "I''m not saying what Sean did was right, but right now I think we need to look at the question of whether he''ll make a habit of it, or whether this was the product of an extreme situation. That''s why I''ll be going to talk to him."


    "But..." I struggled to find words. "You don''t believe in killing. I heard you argue about it with Jaclyn''s grandfather last fall."


    "I know. I still don''t, but in this situation I have to be fair to Sean. If I''d been facing Ray, I would have known whether or not he was faking unconsciousness, and still a threat just by touching his mind. Sean can''t do that, but he had more options than stabbing Ray with a sign. I think we''ll all be better off if he learns what they are."

 Turning Eighteen: Part 7

    I had to admit he made sense, but I couldn''t say I liked it.


    When push came to shove, I didn''t want Sean to go to jail for killing Ray. You could argue that Ray''s standard operating procedure was driving people past what they could emotionally handle, and then killing them while they were too tortured to think straight.


    It didn''t take much to see that if your strategy was based on giving people an irrational need to kill you, it could come back to bite you someday. Sean just happened to be the biter.


    And anyway, if Sean kept on trying to be a hero, he needed more help than I wanted to give him. Plus, even if I wasn''t wild about him getting into the Stapledon program, it could have been worse. Mr. Cohen might have wanted us to bring him into the League.


    "OK," I said. "That''s all I wanted to talk about. I guess having him in the program would be better than just leaving him to figure things out for himself."


    "Much better."


    "On the other hand, if he goes bad after going through the program, he might actually become competent."


    Mr. Cohen gave me a brief, and slightly uncomfortable smile. "I know. We''ll be watching."


    He stood up, and so did I. He held out his hand. I shook it.


    "Think about joining Stapledon, Nick. It''s less Army Reserves than it''s ROTC. You''ll be taught what you need to know about being a superhero, make connections within the community, and you''ll have the chance to study things you''ll never see at a university."


    "Like what?"


    "Alien technology. The history that hasn''t made it into the textbooks because it''s still too secret. That kind of thing. And you''ll probably see some action too. Not all of it on Earth."


    I thought about that.


    Isaac Lim had hinted I might get to find out more about what they were doing in space if I signed up.


    "Who''s behind it? I''m assuming the government, but who?"


    "Various agencies. They''ve all found useful people through it, but not just the government. Some supers and their teams have money. We provide about half the budget."


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    "What''s the catch? You''re providing free tuition, but even in ROTC don''t you have to sign up after that?"


    "You''ll have to be on call throughout college, and for four years after that. Count on being kept busy, but don''t worry about the effect on the rest of your life. We''ll handle it."


    I decided not to ask how. "OK," I said. "I''ll think about it."


    I left.


    Daniel''s brother and sister were still watching TV, but Daniel stood behind the couch, turning his head toward me as I walked out of his dad''s office.


    I walked over toward him. "I didn''t know you were going into the Stapledon program."


    "I couldn''t do anything else. It seems like my dad''s their main recruiter."


    "Seriously?"


    Daniel shook his head. "Not really, but since joining the Midwest Defenders he''s been involved. I think he''s talked to everyone in Justice Fist by now. They''re not all going into the main program. I think some of them are going into the affiliated programs for people who don''t intend to be vigilantes. The main program''s for people who have gone out and actively fought people."


    "Huh. I don''t think of myself as a vigilante. I''ve been training because it seems like everyone and his dog has been going out of their way to come here, and beat up on us."


    "And along the way you''ve been in more fights than some people get into in years."


    "Yeah."


    We looked at each other. Then Daniel said, "Let''s go upstairs and call Cassie. We should do something fun this summer."


    "Assuming we can fit it in between fighting random psychos..."


    We walked up the stairs, coming out in the hallway near the kitchen.


    Daniel''s grandfather stood in the kitchen. He wore a blue suit which seemed a bit formal for being at home in early July. On the other hand, given his dementia, they were probably grateful that he wore clothes at all.


    Dishes covered the counter. They weren''t broken. They''d been carefully stacked. Even as we stepped closer, another stack of bowls floated out of a cupboard door, landing softly next to the large plates.


    "Hello Nick," he said. "Hello Daniel."


    He knew my name for a change.


    "Grandpa," Daniel said, "what are you doing with the dishes?"


    "Practicing. If you want to improve your fine manipulation skills, you need to practice."


    A plate floated back toward the cupboard, and the door swung open. The plate floated inside, and the door shut behind it.


    "Grandpa, maybe I should put them back. I need practice too, don''t I?" Daniel''s voice remained level.


    In my head, he said, I just called my dad.


    "I''ll try this time," he said aloud.


    The cupboard door opened again, and a stack of platies floated back where it belonged.


    Ignoring the plates, Daniel''s grandfather stepped toward me, and held out his hand.


    It felt warm, if wrinkled.


    "The power device. It''s dangerous. Destroy it," he told me.


    As he let go of my hand, i asked, "Do you mean the Power Impregnator?"


    He didn''t say anything, and opened a drawer. It was filled with boxes of sheeting--aluminum foil, plastic wrap, wax paper..


    That was going to be a mess, I thought, but then the basement door opened.


    Daniel''s father stepped out. Speaking to Daniel''s grandfather, he said, "Dad, why don''t we go into the living room and talk."


    In my mind, he said, Nick, Daniel, why don''t you go outside. This will be easier without distractions.

 Turning Eighteen: Part 8

    We stepped outside.


    Daniel shut the door behind us, and we stood on the walk in front of his front porch, stopping next to a light shaped like an old gas street lamp.


    Looking back at the house, I asked, "Is he getting worse?"


    "I don''t know. It seemed like one of his good days. He knew who everyone was, and he was in a good mood. It''s so stupid. Do you think he''s worse?"


    "it seems like ages since the last time I saw him, and the last time... Wow. You know, the last time I was here, he seemed to think he was still fighting World War 2. That was worse. He was doing something weird, but he was in the real world--if that makes any sense."


    Daniel frowned. "Maybe. Maybe not. That''s how he used to practice. He grew up in New York City during the Great Depression so his family didn''t have much. He''d practice his control while putting away dishes.


    "He told me that his mom walked in on him while he waspracticingonce and started screaming about how he might drop the dishes. Unfortunately she surprised him--"


    "Ugh. How many did he drop?"


    "I don''t know. He told me the story when I was little. I remember hearing that it didn''t exactly make his mom stop screaming. He laughed about it when he told me, but as a kid he felt guilty for years. Dishes were expensive."


    "He seems to have recovered."


    "Yeah. Can we talk about something else?"


    I nodded. "Do you want to stand here, or take a walk, or something?"


    Daniel took a step toward the sidewalk. "Let''s go."


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    We walked down the block, not saying anything at first. We''d done it before, and we''d do it again, but in some ways this was the last time. High school was over. Who knew where we''d be next summer? Daniel was going to the University of Chicago. He might stay there all summer next year . Jaclyn had decided to go to the University of Michigan. Maybe she''d even see Rachel every once in a while.


    It almost made me rethink my own choice. I''d opted to go to Grand Lake University, and stay in town. If I joined up with the Stapledon program, they''d pay for any college that would let me in. I''d never thought to apply to MIT, but that seemed possible if I wanted it enough. Isaac Lim might even be willing to pull some strings to get me in.


    Still, the thought of leaving Haley in Grand Lake made me feel a little funny, and I wasn''t at all sure how to bring the Rocket suit along if I left home.


    Ahead of us, Mr. Welch, a grey haired man in a t-shirt mowed his lawn. He waved at us as we walked past, the roar of the mower making conversation impossible.


    I imagined poking Daniel in the stomach, making sure to imagine the uncomfortable feeling as vividly as I could.


    He made contact, or at any rate, made the tenuous contact we already had stronger.


    Daniel: That never gets old.


    Me: It got your attention.


    Daniel: A lot of things get my attention.


    Me: Did you catch what your grandfather said about a power device?


    Daniel: I did, and I''ve got no idea what he meant. Dementia or not, his shields won''t let me get anywhere.


    Me: That sucks.


    Daniel: I know.


    Me: It seems kind of ominous.


    Daniel: We can add it to the list. My dad still won''t say anything about what he was doing in space, and neither will Mom. And she was in contact with him the whole time, or at least when they were both dreaming. Then there''s Martin Magnus, Gimpy and all the other Cabal remnants that still have to be out there. Plus, Lee.


    Me: I can clear up Lee at least.


    I did.


    Daniel: And strangely that doesn''t make me feel better at all.


    Me: Me neither, but it''s nice to sort of understand what''s going on.


    Daniel: Ha.


    We stopped at a city park a few blocks from Daniel''s house. We''d played there together as kids, usually with Daniel''s mom watching us.


    Two boys sat on the swings, shouting at each other about something. I might have caught the word, "Pikachu."


    We walked over to some trees and stood in the shade. Daniel pulled out his phone. "I might as well call Cassie. Do you have any movie ideas?"


    On the playground, the two boys had jumped off the swings to race for the slide.


    "I''m working on it," I said.


    The End


    (Of This Section)

 1943: Part 1

    June 1943, Germany.Somewhere in the Black Forest:


    The castle stood on top of a hill. From his position in the forest, Joe wasn''t impressed. It didn''t match up to the castles he''d imagined when he''d read Ivanhoe. This castle wasn''t much more than a big tower connected to a house. Both were made of stone, but at the end of the day it was smaller than the oldmonstrosityof a house that Giles Hardwick had grown up in.


    He found it hard to make out details in the darkness, but the moon gave enough light for him to notice the two soldiers standing at the top of the tower.


    He''d have to kill them both, and he doubted it would be quiet.


    Well, if they wanted quiet, they''d have sent Chuck in. As Night Wolf, Chuck could have been in and out of the castle, or taken out all the guards before they had any hint that anything was wrong. Choosing to send in a man wearing powered armor with rockets on the back argued that they didn''t expect stealth.


    Softly, he said, "You ready, Al?"


    "I''m in position all around the hill. The Jerries aren''t expecting anything, or they''d have put more guards outside the house."


    Joe turned the Rocket suit''s helmet toward where Albert Nakamura crouched behind a bush. If it had been lighter, he''d have looked like any other GI (even though he was a Jap)--olive green uniform, M1 rifle, helmet and belt of pouches.


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    "How many of you?"


    "Twenty. I''ll split a few more off if it gets bad."


    "How''re John and Giles doing?"


    "They''ve placed the charges. John just told the other me that he''s ready to blow the bridge any time."


    "Let him know he can. I''m going in... Oh, and just like we said before, if I manage to get in quietly, don''t attack right away."


    Al grinned. "Think that''s likely?"


    "Not a chance in hell, but I''m hoping."


    "Good luck."


    "You too. All of you."


    One step at a time, he walked away, keeping as quiet as he could. No sense in revealing Al''s position when he took off.


    Once he couldn''t see the castle through the pine trees anymore, he stopped and started the rocketpack, shooting upward, past needle covered branches, and into the sky.


    He didn''t give them time to think. He shot toward the tower, grabbing a guard''s arm, dragging him off the tower, and letting go.


    The soldier fell four stories while Joe turned around, aiming himself at the top of the tower again.


    By the time he returned, the other guard had pulled his rifle off his back, and begun to aim. He never got the chance to fire.


    Moving at nearly two hundred miles per hour, Joe punched him in the helmet. The Rocket suit protected Joe from feeling the impact of the hit.


    The soldier slid across the floor, his neck at an impossible angle.


    Joe flew past him, turned around again, and landed on top of the tower.


    Six months ago, when he''d first gone to war, he might have reflected on how the soldiers he''d killed were people doing their jobs just like he was, and been saddened by their deaths.


    Now he merely felt relieved that he''d been quiet.


    Compared to normal, anyway.

 1943: Part 2

    Quiet was, of course, a matter of opinion.


    Joe guessed that in the opinion of the soldier pushing up the hatch on the tower''s roof, he hadn''t been quiet at all.


    The soldier stared up at him, and slammed the hatch shut.


    Joe guessed he''d been recognized, and wondered what that might mean. The fact that he''d run might be a good thing. It might mean that he knew they didn''t have anything that could stand up to his armor. On the other hand, it might mean they had Nazi supers around, and he was going for help.


    Joe wondered what the Germans called supers. AllAryans were supposed to be ¨¹bermensch, so they couldn''t call them that. Besides, Hitler didn''t have any powers. That''d make him an Untermensch.


    Deciding not to worry about it, he grabbed the handle on the door, pulled up, and realized it was locked.


    Standing up, he brought his armored boot down on the hatch, shattering the wood. Then he ripped what was left out of the way and threw it over the battlements. Pointing his right arm into the air, he fired off a few shots. Al would know any chance for stealth was over, and he might as well move in.


    Checking downward through the doorway, he saw that the stairway ran around the wall, and that the room was empty except for some chairs and beds. He started down the stairs,


    From outside, he heard automatic weapons fire, and a big explosion that had to be the bridge. These boys weren''t getting reinforcements unless they could fly.


    And with any luck, flying reinforcements were busy somewhere else. That girl in Casablanca (What was her name? Geistm?dchen?) could have killed him if she''d flown faster.


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    She''d had a nice figure though.


    Thinking about it wasn''t the main reason they shot him, but it couldn''t have helped.


    He''d been cautious as he started down the stairs to the next level, but he couldn''t see the whole room. The next thing he knew, he was knocked into the wall, pushed by the force of the bullets. Finding his footing, he jumped off the stairs, landing on the wooden floor.


    Four soldiers in grey uniforms pointed guns at him.


    On their faces he saw every emotion he''d ever felt in combat--determination, anger, fear, hope...


    They fired at him, and he fired back. They had a mixture of pistols and rifles. He had a modified .50 caliber M2 machine gun hanging under his right arm.


    It did what it always did. It made holes in people.


    When he finished, he stepped over the bodies, and walked through the doorway behind them.


    He''d walked into the building next to the tower. It didn''t look like a castle in a film. It looked like what it was--an old fortress that no one ever bothered to make pretty. The reddish-brown wooden walls had cracks, and so did the stone and mortar outside walls.


    He couldn''t believe the Nazis were building a weapon here. It didn''t make sense. If he were creating new technology, he''d want tools, a workroom, assistants, and storage rooms full of materials.


    After checking every room on the floor, he didn''t see any of that. He saw beds, clothes, and weapons. The Germans plainly had people living there. He shot a few more, wondering how many people he''d killed during the war so far, and hoping he''d never find out.


    The last room was different.


    It looked just the same as the others--faded paint, and cracked plaster, but this one had a circle painted on the floor. Strange symbols surrounded the circle.


    Something hung in the air in the middle of it. Joe got an impression of a smoky, reptilian body, eyes, teeth, and indescribable wrongness. He turned his head away, and shut his eyes.


    He did not scream, but he wanted to.


    Then it started talking.


    In unaccented English, it said, "You''re Joe Vander Sloot. Your great-great-great-great-great-grandfather worked for the Dutch East India Company. I liked him, and do you know what? I think we can make a deal that we''ll both get something out of."


    Still trying to stop himself from running out the door, Joe could only think, "Goddammit, when did I step into a Bela Lugosi movie?"

 1943: Part 3

    They''d sent him in because intelligence said the Nazis were building a superweapon. This wasn''t technology. The Nazis were summoning demons. Joe knew he didn''t know anything about magic, and he''d never heard of a Sunday School that went into the specifics of demon summoning.


    His hadn''t for sure.


    And anyway, he needed to know more aboutexorcismthan summoning now, assuming you could exorcise something that had already been caught.


    It started talking again. "You can look at me now."


    Joe turned his head slowly, following the corner of the helmet''s eyeholes. By the time he reached the creature, it had changed.


    A man stood in the middle of the circle. With the brush cut, blond hair, and bulging muscles, he looked like a stereotype.


    "Call me Gunther. It''s as good a name as any, and while you''re at it, step on the circle."


    Joe thought about it. "Aren''t I supposed to ask for three wishes first?"


    It laughed. "I don''t do wishes. I do contracts. Think of it as one wish with multiple points if you want. And make it quick. Meeting the man who summoned me will be a lot more fun if I''m outside the circle."


    From outside and below came the noise of men shouting in German and English and the sounds of automatic weapons firing.


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    Joe said, "OK. First, you don''t attempt to hurt me or my family, or any of my descendants."


    "I wouldn''t anyway. You''re helping me out, right? But think about it, given enough time everyone will be descended from you, and I''m an immortal mercenary. See how that might cause problems? How about we cap it at three generations? You won''t even know them after that."


    Joe was nineteen years old. He''d broken up with his last girlfriend before the war even started. With a shrug, he said, "Sure."


    He thought about it some more. "Immortal mercenary? So could I send you on a mission? Could I have you kill Tojo, Hitler, and Mussolini?"


    "Yeah, but that would be it. Nothing else, and then I''d be done. No protecting future generations. I''d take a list of my targets and go."


    And then whatever he was, Joe thought, he''d be free to do anything he wanted.


    "Uh... Skip that then. How about you work on my side for the rest of the war, and if anything else comes up after that, you stay on my side."


    "That works for me. I''m not particular about sides."


    The voices below them in the house began to grow louder. The sound of feet thudded against stairs.


    "If you''ve got anything else," Gunther said, "you''d better hurry."


    With the threat of immediate combat, Joe could only think about getting into position to fight whatever and whoever would be coming through the door.


    "Tell you what, it seems like you''re having a hard time with this. I''ll make it easier. I''m good at two things, killing people, and making music. I''ll teach you, or whoever you want how to fight better, or play music or both."


    "You''re offering me piano lessons?"


    "Piano, guitar, Hawaiian nose flute, whatever. And don''t forget the fighting."


    They were nearly to the door.


    Joe pointed both arms at the door, fingers ready to tap his palms and start firing. Nodding, he said, "I''ll take it. I agree."


    "Then we''re in agreement. Break the circle."


    The door to the room shattered, and pieces landed on the floor, none of them crossing the circle.


    The man ducking his head to step inside couldn''t be a normal human being.

 1943: Part 4

    Even with the room''s high ceiling, the man''s head stayed less than an inch away. Slouching, he stepped inside, putting him within arm''s reach.


    Joe stepped back. He swung his arm to the left, hoping it would cross the circle. It hit an invisible barrier.


    Magic, he thought.


    Then he evaluated his opponent. The man looked like he was in his thirties, and wore a brown suit--not a uniform. Slightly pudgy with unkempt, short hair, he wouldn''t have seemed frightening at all if he weren''t so big.


    "He''s one of the J?tunn," Gunther muttered. "Norse legends. A giant."


    "Short giant."


    Short or not, the giant threw a punch at him, hitting Joe in the stomach. His armor didn''t break, but he felt the punch. Seconds later, he felt the wall hit his back, cracking plaster, and then he tumbled away from the inside wall, into the corner where it met the stone outside wall.


    Pulling himself up to a sitting position, Joe pointed the M2, and fired, holding his fingers against his palm.


    Not all the bullets hit, some ricocheting off the invisible wall around the circle. Others left holes in the wall. A few hit the giant.


    He fell backward, throwing his arm back, and using the wall to brace himself. Plaster cracked around his hand, but he only stayed there long enough to get control of his feet. Then he moved left, putting Gunther''s circle between them.


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    Joe pulled himself off the floor. He couldn''t see any blood, but the M2 had torn through the giant''s suit jacket and shirt. It wasn''t much damage, he knew, but the fact that the giant had taken cover gave him hope.


    He clicked his palm, switching to the armor-piercing rounds, and wondering if he should have gotten them blessed by a priest, or used silver like the man in the Lone Ranger radio show.


    He felt the hum, and heard a clacking noise. Armor-piercing rounds were ready for firing.


    "Arik," Gunther said, "Let''s talk."


    Joe heard it in English, but as if dreaming knew it wasn''t. Whatever language Gunther actually used sounded Germanic, but aside from knowing it wasn''t German or Dutch, Joe didn''t recognize it.


    Arik replied in the same language, but Joe didn''t understand it at all.


    Gunther took a few steps forward, stopping at the edge of the giant''s side of the circle. "Now, I''m sure Hitler''s men talked about reviving the old religions, and it sounded like they meant it, but if it were me, I wouldn''t count on it. I think they''re willing to say whatever you want to hear."


    The giant replied, raising his voice.


    Gunther nodded. "I''m sure that made it easier to sell me out, but ask yourself this... After it''s all over, how long do you think it will be before he goes after you?"


    Arik gave a shout, and stepped forward, standing inches from Gunther.


    "Yeah, I know, but decide now, because once he gets the circle down, you won''t get another chance."


    Arik snorted, and he started to walk around the circle. He clenched his fist and a flame burst from his right hand, growing until it appeared to be a sword.


    Joe didn''t have much time to think, but it didn''t matter. He knew what to do. He couldn''t touch the circle itself, but the circle had been drawn on a wooden floor.


    He could smash wood all day.


    He stepped once, and then jumped, hitting the invisible barrier, sliding down it, and landing on the floor.


    The wood cracked, but didn''t break.


    He raised his left leg, and brought his foot down on the floor again, this time smashing through, destroying boards, and even snapping wood a foot inside the circle.


    Pointing his right arm, and the M2 toward Arik, he fired.

 1943: Part 5

    The armor-piercing bullets didn''t do much more than the normal ones.


    They knocked Arik backward, some of them ricocheting off him, ripping his suit jacket around his left shoulder. A little blood dripped into the fabric. A wisp of smoke rose from the wound.


    "Gunther," Joe said. "Fire in the hole."


    He didn''t bother to add that the two of them would also be in the hole.


    Joe pointed his left arm, clicked on his palm, hearing a whoosh as the propellant ignited, and launched the grenade into the wall behind Arik.


    It exploded, fire exploding outward, the blast throwing Joe backward even though he expected it.


    He hit the wall that it seemed he''d just pushed away from.


    Even as he began to wonder how Arik was doing, a figure appeared in the smoke.


    What was left of Arik''s suit had burned into charred remnants of blackened cloth. The parts that weren''t charcoal were actively on fire--as was all of Arik''s skin.


    He didn''t look happy, but he wasn''t writhing in pain either.


    Arik''s skin had had a slightly reddish tinge even before the blast, but now it didn''t seem to have much else.


    Shouting something in a language Joe didn''t understand, the giant grabbed the arm of the Rocket suit, picked Joe up, and threw him, back first, through the stone wall.


    He knew he should be doing something, but he could only wonder if Arik knew that his beard was on fire.


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    Dazed, he tried to think how to start the rocketpack, but didn''t manage to start thinking clearly until after he hit the ground.


    Even then, he wasn''t thinking all that clearly. He didn''t recognize the voices that said, "Joe, are you okay?"


    Staring up at the tower, he did recognize the flaming man who''d jumped out of the tower, and was falling toward him. Pushing off with his right hand, he rolled over, and stood up.


    Arik landed. The fiery sword burst from his hand again, illuminating the night.


    One of Albert Nakamura''s copies raised his rifle, and started firing.


    Arik raised the sword, and in a single blow, cut him in half.


    Both halves disappeared as M1''s started firing in the darkness, little flashes of light appearing all around the hill.


    Ignoring the bullets, Arik turned, and ran toward Joe, sword raised.


    Joe had enough presence of mind to start firing again, this time clicking the palm of each hand. Bullets flew. A grenade shot from the launcher, hitting Arik''s chest, and exploding on impact.


    Joe didn''t look directly at the blast, but he saw Arik tumble backwards.


    With all the flame, it was hard to miss. Unfortunately, Arik got up. Now burning even more than before, the flames around his body making him look almost twice his height, he pulled himself upright, ready to run toward Joe again.


    Joe tried to come up with a new plan. Hitting him with a grenade made him flame more. Firing bullets at him didn''t do much.


    He turned the suit''s loudspeakers to maximum, and blew the most obnoxious whistle he could manage.


    And just in case, he got ready to press the buttons that started the rocketpack.


    From the castle, he heard the sound of glass shattering, surprising him. The glass breaking itself didn''t surprise him much, but the fact that there was any left to break did.


    Arik covered his ears.


    Joe wondered what would happen when he had to take a breath, or when Arik got over his surprise.


    It didn''t matter. A dark figure dropped from the tower, hit the ground, and stood up.


    It shouldn''t have been able to move.


    In the light cast by Arik''s flames, Gunther''s hideously burned body took a casual step toward Arik. By the second step, each hand held a sword.


    By the third step, Arik had pulled his hands from his ears, and again created a sword of flame in his right hand.


    From the widening of Arik''s eyes, Joe guessed he might be about to run.


    He never got the chance.


    Blocking the flaming sword by chopping into Arik''s forearm, Gunther stabbed him in the chest with the sword in his other hand.

 1943: Part 6

    Arik gave a grunt, and his body fell forward as Gunther stepped to the side, and out of his way.


    A great gout of flame erupted from his back where Gunther''s blade slipped through.


    The flames around Arik''s body grew higher, and pine needles on the ground around the castle caught fire.


    The tallest flames licked the castle walls, and crept toward the windows of the manor house connected to the tower.


    Near the front of the house, the tarp covering the back of a truck began to burn.


    "Well," Gunther said, "unless we want to be part of Arik''s funeral pyre, I think we should move on."


    Joe couldn''t think of a reason to stay.


    * * *


    One hour later:


    Joe, Gunther, and Albert found John and Giles next to a stream a few miles south of the bridge they''d blown up.


    Even near the stream, the density of the trees made it almost impossible to see the night sky. They couldn''t see the burning castle either, but Joe could even smell the smoke through his helmet.


    He wondered if anyone couldn''t smell the smoke.


    John stopped leaning against a tree as the three of them walked up, and started walking toward them, moving with a grace Joe found almost unnatural.


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    Giles stayed near the tree, looking up and down the stream, his rifle out.


    Almost eye to eye with Joe despite the height the Rocket suit added, John said,"I know you''re not Chuck, but, dammit, did you have to burn the castle down? It''s like a beacon saying, ''Something''s wrong here''."


    John stopped. Nodding at Gunther, he said, "Who''s he, and what happened to him?"


    Even in the near blackness, Gunther''s face didn''t look right.


    "Captain, meet the Nazi superweapon. He got burned by a fire giant, and one of my grenades, His name is Gunther."


    "He''s the superweapon? Intelligence never said it was a man."


    Gunther chuckled.


    Joe said, "I don''t think he''s a man." To Gunther he said, "Sorry about the grenade."


    "Not a problem," Gunther said. "I''ll get better."


    John said, "So what now, is he on our side?"


    Gunther said, "Technically, I''m on Joe''s side, and I''m with the rest of you as long as you''re with Joe."


    A burned fleck fell off his face.


    John eyed Gunther, and then Joe. "What the hell?"


    Joe shook his head. "I''ll tell you about it later, but somebody had to make a deal with him, and if it wasn''t me, it would have been Hitler, Himmler, or Goering."


    John looked up and down the stream. "Well, we''d better get moving anyway. Jawing about this isn''t going to get us anywhere. Al, you ready?"


    Al closed his eyes, for a moment, and then opened them, saying,"I''m flying the plane to the rendezvous."


    "Then we''d better start marching."


    Once they started moving, Giles walked behind Joe. Gunther walked ahead.


    After a few steps Gunther said, "You''re using the Cabal''s potions."


    Giles said, "I don''t know who the Cabal is, but my powers do come from a potion. That''s right."


    "I''ve heard of a way to make them permanent. You''d have to be careful. The design of the device is booby trapped, but if you can get around it, it''d be better than carrying around flasks of liquid all the time."


    Joe concentrated on avoiding tree roots, but said, "What device is this?"


    "I don''t know what to call it. The Abominators came up with it."


    Giles whispered, "I''ve never seen anything about any Abominators in my book."


    "No reason it should say anything, and honestly, maybe you''re better off not knowing. The Abominators learned everything they could from my people, and we''re a pretty nasty bunch. I''ll tell you about it some time."

 Space Date: Part 1

    When immortal soldiers, and sociopathic assassins are out to kill you, your friends, and your family, you lose track of the important things in life.


    For example, I''d lost track of the fact that I had a spaceship in my basement.


    I''ll write that again with more appropriate emphasis.


    I had a spaceship.


    In. My. Basement.


    A SPACESHIP.


    As someone who''d watched the space shuttle lift off on TV, watched science fiction, read science fiction, and spent a lot of time thinking about science fiction, the question of whether I''d actually use it didn''t exist.


    The question was when.


    And how.


    And whether or not I''d manage to blow myself up in the process.


    I''d spent a lot of time bringing the League "jet" out of mothballs, so blowing myself up wasn''t likely. Unfortunately, I''d heard a lot of stories from my grandfather about things he''d done in space. What I''d gained from those stories was that even if I didn''t manage to blow myself up, there were plenty of aliens out there that were willing to do it on general principle.


    Fortunately, not a lot of those guys had any reason to be near Earth.


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    Well, with the exception of the Xiniti, and they were there as much for our protection as they were to stop us from acquiring alien tech.


    Let''s rephrase that. They were there as much for our protection as they were to destroy the planet if we showed signs of acquiring alien technology, expanding into space, and committing genocide.


    To be fair, they had some reason to worry, but it still felt like overkill to me.


    So that''s why, when I finally did decide to take the League jet into space, I didn''t do it with the idea that I''d be putting the human race in danger. Grandpa had told me the Xiniti were okay with the League jet. I did it because I loved the idea of leaving the planet, and possibly for another reason or two.


    Haley looked up at me, "You want to make out in space?"


    It was a little after seven on Friday night. We were both in HQ, and were going to do something together. We just didn''t know exactly what.


    "Well... That''s not the whole reason. I mean, there are stars. We could orbit the Earth. That''s romantic. Right? Honestly, I''d want to go even if you weren''t here just to do it."


    She raised an eyebrow.


    The great thing about superheroes dating superheroes is that you don''t have to do any of the "hiding your secret identity" stuff, and running around corners to change into costume, and pretend to be a coward or something.


    The bad thing is that you might end up dating someone whose sense of hearing is so good she can hear your heartbeat speed up when you shade the truth, or smell your scent change when you become nervous. Or aroused.


    In short, lying was useless.


    Still, I wasn''t inviting her along to make out. Flying into space would be the fulfillment of a dream, and having the two of us to do it together would be better. We could watch a movie or go out for coffee any time, but this was different. Tonight, we could join the few people who had ever left Earth''s gravity well. That was incredible.


    I couldn''t deny though, that part of me hoped we''d do more than talk.


    "And besides," I said, "if we did want some privacy, who could bother us?"


    She gave a laugh, and then became a little more serious. "Is it safe?"


    "I asked Isaac a couple days ago, and he said they haven''t had problems lately."

 Space Date: Part 2

    Half an hour later I''d gone through the League jet''s flight checklist, moved through the passageway into Grand Lake, floated to the surface, and took flight.


    I flew it over Lake Michigan, and then started to ascend. After we hit 30,000 feet, I started pouring on the speed, knowing that we''d have to be moving extremely quickly to get into space.


    I learned later that the ship could be seen on both sides of the lake (Wisconsin and Michigan) because of the trail of flame behind it.


    At the same time, the Heroes League message boards on the Double V forums had lit up as someone reported a jet sighting, and people speculated on exactly what sort of emergency we were rushing to meet in space.


    I didn''t know it at the time, but if I had, I like to think I''d have felt at least a little embarrassed.


    Mind you, I wasn''t thinking about it at all.


    I was monitoring our engines, the fusion reactor, life support, and watching the radar for planes (and other flying objects, identified or not).


    When I had time to think, I marveled at how quiet the League jet was, and how different it felt from the Rocket suit. With the suit, I''d gotten used to feeling my stomach sink at take-off, and everything inside me shift with turns.


    Inside the jet, the anti-gravity, and anti-inertial devices made it feel like we were at home using a flight simulator.


    The windows, instruments, and information screens were the only way to know we were flying.


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    "Nick, is there anything I can do?" Haley asked.


    "I don''t know." I tried to think of something. Haley had been training on the simulator, but the simulator only went so far.


    Was there anything?


    "Are you familiar with the weapons systems and the shields?"


    She looked over at me. "I thought you said it was safe."


    "It is, but better to be cautious, right?"


    I smiled at her, and she opened her mouth to say something, but stopped, and looked out the window. We''d flown far enough out that we could see Earth.


    Haley stared. "I can''t believe it. There''s so much water."


    I followed her gaze. We were over the Pacific ocean. From here, the whole planet seemed to be water.


    Past Earth, the stars were little pinpricks of light. Without an atmosphere, they didn''t twinkle.


    "Hey," I said, "I''m going to orbit Earth once. Tell me if you notice the International Space Station."


    "Once? Where are you going after that?"


    "I don''t know. I''m still thinking about it."


    She frowned. "You''re lying."


    "Sorry. I was thinking we could fly past Lagrange point four, and take a look at the jump gate."


    "Don''t the Xiniti frown on that?"


    "I don''t think so. We''re not going to try to use the gate. My grandpa took me on a flyby once when I was twelve."


    I took a wide orbit of the earth, letting it grow wider as we circled.


    "There''s the space station. And a ship."


    A blocky, rectangular ship floated in space. Several times as long as the space station, it orbited further out from the planet.


    The monitor on the instrument panel lab labeled it the UNS Jay. I wondered where the UNS Kay had gone. The Xiniti were loaning us both of them. I supposed they could have sent the Kay elsewhere in the solar system, or kept it hidden somehow.


    I decided not to worry about it, and pointed us toward L4. Even if the Xiniti wouldn''t let us use it, the jump gate was pretty cool. The idea of it at least.


    And it wasn''t quite true that the Xiniti wouldn''t let us use it. They were under orders not to let us use it until we could build ships on our own (without alien tech) that could handle the stress of going through the gate.


    Grandpa had said we''d tried, had our work inspected, and been told it didn''t meet criteria. The inspectors wouldn''t say why.


    In short, alien bureaucracy sucked just as bad as any other kind.

 Space Date: Part 3

    Deciding not to think about the Xiniti''s stranglehold on space, I concentrated on getting us to the gate. And anyway, according to Grandpa, it wasn''t their fault.


    Arguably, we owed them.


    The blackness of space stretched out ahead of us. Amid the stars, one of the spots of light had to be the gate and the Xiniti warship guarding it. Even at the speeds the League jet could reach outside the atmosphere, L4 wasn''t close. It was the same distance as the distance from the Earth to the sun.


    I set the engines to burn until we were halfway there, and set the alarm. I''d have to flip the jet, and start decelerating at the halfway point.


    With that done, I unstrapped myself and stood up. "It''s all set. We may as well get up. We''re stuck here for a while."


    Haley got out of her seat.


    We both wore League space suits over our clothes. Form fitting, they looked more like the space suits on the covers of 50''s science fiction magazines than the white, bulky suits I could see in the moon landing pictures.


    "How long?" She walked over to the right side of the ship and looked out the window. The windows on the left side had darkened, protecting our eyes from the sun.


    I joined her. "A couple hours."


    I''d had the seats in the area behind the cockpit fold themselves into the floor before takeoff. With them out of the way, we stood next to each other, watching Earth become smaller.


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    She took my hand.


    "It''s really quiet up here. Do you have any music?"


    I thought about it. "No. I didn''t think to bring any. I should work out a way to plug myiPod in. Anyway, not having music going might make it easier to hear any calls we get."


    "Are you expecting any calls?"


    "No. You never know though."


    Eventually, we got sick of standing and sat down on the floor. It had carpet--not fluffy carpet, but better than bare metal.


    "What did your grandpa say about the Xiniti?" Haley asked.


    "Nothing special. After the whole Abominator fight in the 70''s, the Xiniti stood up for us, and told all the other aliens that we weren''t on the Abominators'' side and that we''d stopped them. That''s it."


    "My grandpa said they seemed like animals. He didn''t know whether they''d help or attack."


    "I think I remember something about them having different castes. Maybe their fighters are particularly animal like? I don''t really know. Grandpa didn''t say much about their culture. He said they were good at fighting though."


    Neither of us said anything immediately after that. We sat next to each other, our backs against the wall, hearing the hum of the engines, and feeling the warmth coming up from the floor.


    Taking her head off my shoulder, Haley said, "Did Isaac ever say whether it was real aliens? Or were the invaders from the humans the Abominators modified?"


    "He didn''t tell me. Why?"


    "Just curious."


    We sat for a while longer and talked. Then, (and I don''t know who started it, but I think it might have been Haley) we started kissing.


    And, naturally, the alarm rang.


    I got up, used the directional jets to flip the ship around, restarted the main engines, and felt deceleration begin.


    After that, we picked up where we''d left off. We didn''t take all our clothes off or anything like that, but we did unzip our space suits.


    So that, of course, couldn''t continue either.


    The jet''s communicator started beeping. Loudly. Insistently.


    Haley started laughing. I sighed. We both started rearranging our clothes and zipping our suits.


    I got into the cockpit and clicked the button that opened up a connection.


    "You over there! Heroes League jet! What do you think you''re doing up here?"


    Well, I knew that it wasn''t a Xiniti at least, and so I''d have to explain myself to somebody on the UNS Jay.


    Grrr.

 Space Date: Part 4

    And then it struck me--the voice sounded familiar. I couldn''t figure out why at first, but his next line brought it back.


    "And dammit," he continued, "please tell me that Alex isn''t on your ship."


    I clicked the comm on speak. "Sorry, no. He''s not."


    Raptor had been in charge of the South California Defenders when I''d been visiting Alex in L.A. Preserver, Alex'' dad had been up in space with Technomage, and some other people from their group.


    I wondered if Raptor held a grudge because we''d caused millions of dollars in damage, and pissed off Syndicate L, causing them to attack the subdivision where most of the Defenders lived, and take hostages.


    OK, I didn''t really wonder that at all.


    It didn''t take a genius to guess it might have made him look a teensy, tiny bit incompetent. Having Alex, Brooke, and Jenny skip out of L.A. last month with Carlos to help us probably hadn''t given him a better impression.


    It was a safe bet Alex hadn''t asked permission.


    " Alright, Rocket, what are you doing here?"


    I ran through possible answers in my head. Neither "Haley and I flew up here to make out," nor "I had a spaceship in my basement that was just begging to be used," seemed likely to get a positive response.


    Haley clicked on her comm before I made up my mind. "Night Cat here. Is there a problem?"


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    "Is there a problem?" Raptor sounded shocked that she''d even asked the question.


    "Night Cat?" An older man''s voicespoke in the background. "Oh, they''re dating."


    A woman''s voice said, "I have no idea how you keep up with that stuff."


    "Easy. The ''Double V'' gossip column. Did you know that Diamond Edge is back with Lightsight?"


    Raptor said, "Could you two be quiet?"


    Then he said, "Yes, there''s a problem. You''re in space. There''s a red alert. Go home."


    "Alert?" I asked.


    "Yes, alert. The Kay''s hunting aliens. Now, go away."


    I thought about that. Turning around would be a pain. Decelerating would take us to near zero around the gate, and we could go home from there.


    Beginning to turn around immediately would be annoying. We were going much too fast to stop on a dime.


    "I was planning to do a lap around the gate and fly home. Would that be okay?"


    "Are you crazy? We could be in combat at ANY time."


    Haley looked over at me, scowling. "How were we supposed to know that?"


    And that wouldn''t have caused any problems if I''d been the only person to hear it, but I still had the comm open, so Raptor got to listen too.


    "The same way anybody else does. You ask before you go up, and then you check in with the Jay or Kay to see if conditions have changed."


    Haley said, "Well, it would help if anyone bothered to tell us. They didn''t even try to talk to us, and we flew right past the Jay."


    "How did you expect them to see you?"


    "What?" Haley sounded as confused as I was--at first.


    Then I realized that she''d taken me seriously when I was talking about the shields. She''d turned them on, and they did as good a job at absorbing energy used to detect ships as they did energy fired at ships.


    It wasn''t as good as being cloaked, but it did the job.


    And anyway, I wouldn''t have put it past Grandpa to improve the shield until it was nearly as good as being cloaked.


    Muting the comm, I turned to Haley and said "Our shields almost cloak us."


    "Why didn''t you tell me?"


    "I forgot, and I didn''t know it mattered."


    She sighed, and I unmuted the comm.


    "How''d you detect us?" I asked.


    "We''re close."


    So they, at least, were cloaked.


    The older man in the background said "A drone''s nearly on them."


    Almost as he said it, I heard a clunking noise from farther back on the jet''s body. I didn''t know what it was, but I doubted I''d enjoy finding out.

 Space Date: Part 5

    The League jet had cameras all around the body, allowing me to check out almost the entire hull without leaving the cockpit. I''d always thought that was cool, but as of that moment I could guess at the practical reason why Grandpa had installed them.


    A long, black shell clung three quarters of the way down the hull. The fact that it had attached itself said a lot about it.


    A depressingly large amount.


    For example, it said it could match our speed. We''d hit a small but significant fraction of the speed of light. If something less than six feet long could catch us, they probably had better technology.


    A reactionless drive would theoretically let it move without carrying a lot of mass. And while it was violating physics anyway, who knew what else it had aboard? At that tech level, the thing wouldn''t have to be a flying missile. It might actually be a sentient machine.


    Beyond the question of how cool that was, it opened up a lot of possibilities. It might be a relatively recently constructed AI, or citizen of one of the machine civilizations I''d heard were somewhere out there.


    Either way, we might be able to persuade a sentient machine to go find something better to do.


    Of course, if it was a combat drone, we might as well start writing our obituaries.


    Still, the fact that it hadn''t yet blown itself up argued against that possibility.


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    Given our heading, it might be trying to reach the gate, but not be massive enough to use it alone.


    The question was, where did it plan to go after that, and was it our problem?


    I considered possibilities, but Haley pulled me out of my thoughts by reaching out with her hand, and muting the comm.


    "Nick, I''m going out there. We can''t leave that thing on the ship."


    "I don''t know," I said. "It might be an option."


    I began to tell her my thoughts when Raptor''s voice came from the communicator.


    "Don''t let the drone near the gate. It''s probably been spying out here for months, and plans to use you to get close enough to get away. Let it go, and half the spiral arm will know our defenses."


    I clicked the comm off mute. "What do you want me to do, change course?"


    "That would be a good start."


    It might be. If it realized we weren''t going to the gate, it might let go, slide slowly through our shield like it must have on the way in, and find another victim--or if not a victim, another taxi.


    That assumed, of course, that we didn''t blast it out of existence as soon as it was off our hull.


    I looked at Haley. "What do you think? I think we could still try to talk to it."


    "If all we need to do to get it to leave us alone is turn, let''s turn."


    "OK."


    I activated the directional jets, pointing the ship into the beginning of a long arc that would eventually take us home.


    It didn''t let go.


    Haley watched its image on the monitor. "What do you think it wants?"


    "I don''t know. I wonder if it would survive reentry?"


    She frowned. "What do you think it would do on Earth if it did?"


    Over the comm, Raptor said, "Is it off?"


    "No," I said.


    "Then you''d better clear it off. No... Ignore that. Don''t do it. I''ll send you our position, and we''ll get rid of it."


    "Could I talk to it? Then it might let go by itself."


    "Don''t be naive."


    The ship''s computer beeped. We''d received Raptor''s position. It would take at least half an hour to get there.


    Time enough for a conversation.

 Space Date: Part 6

    After setting a course for Raptor¡¯s position, I clicked through menus on the jet¡¯s computer. I knew Grandpa had mentioned a translation program at some point. I¡¯d never had a reason to use it.


    After a few clicks I found it.


    With the lists of alien languages, it also said, ¡°Machine Civilizations/Languages.¡±


    I didn¡¯t recognize any of the names. Looking through them, I noticed ¡°Universal Greeting.¡± Text near it explained that it wasn¡¯t so much a language as greetings in all of the most popular machine civilizations¡¯ languages. If it didn¡¯t get any response, it would try less common languages. If it got a response, the computer would switch to the machine¡¯s preferred language.


    I decided to give it a shot. It couldn¡¯t be worse than the language translation programs I¡¯d seen online.


    Probably.


    Not even Google included ¡°English to Alien Computer¡± as an option.


    Next to me, Haley followed along as I read. ¡°Which one are you going to try? ¡®Universal Greeting¡¯ looks good¡ª¡±


    ¡°I know.¡±


    I touched the screen.


    Words appeared.


    ¡°5 LANGUAGES ATTEMPTED¡­¡±


    ¡°100 LANGUAGES ATTEMPTED¡­¡±


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    ¡°700 LANGUAGES ATTEMPTED¡­¡±


    ¡°2500 LANGUAGES ATTEMPTED¡­¡±


    ¡°14000 LANGUAGES ATTEMPTED¡­¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t looking good,¡± Haley said.


    I didn¡¯t say anything, but I agreed.


    Then more words appeared.


    ¡°RESPONSE RECOGNIZED. KNOWN DIALECT. TRANSLATING.¡±


    I checked the monitor that showed the machine¡¯s body where it clung to the ship. It wasn¡¯t moving.


    I wasn¡¯t sure, but that seemed like a good thing. If it were planning to blow us up, it seemed like it would have done it instantly, or at least tried to drill into the hull so that it could send the blast inside.


    Not that I could know for sure that it wasn¡¯t trying that.


    The translation came through on the screen. ¡°I SEND GREETINGS. I AM 87YAM8723AEW45. WHO ARE YOU?¡±


    It was a safe bet that it hadn¡¯t said exactly that, but I wasn¡¯t going to be able to complain until I learned enough to do my own translation and compare.


    Like that was going to happen.


    ¡°Nick, are you going to write back?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m trying to figure out who I should say we are.¡±


    She bit her lip. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not easy¡­¡±


    I wrote, ¡°We¡¯re humans from Earth.¡±


    ¡°DO YOU GO/OPERATE GATE? XINITI FRIEND/MERCHANT/VIOLENCE?¡±


    We were already butting up against the limits of the translation program.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°I think I understand that.¡±


    Haley read the screen to herself. ¡°I hope you do.¡±


    I wrote, ¡°I¡¯ve never used a gate. I¡¯ve never met the Xiniti.¡±


    The comm started beeping.


    Haley clicked ¡°receive call,¡± and Raptor¡¯s voice came over the comm.


    ¡°We¡¯re receiving machine transmissions. What are you doing?¡±


    Haley¡¯s eyes narrowed, and her voice might have sounded a little irritated. ¡°We¡¯re talking with it.¡±


    ¡°I told you not to. We¡¯re going to remove it from your hull. You¡¯re supposed to leave it alone. You don¡¯t have any idea what you¡¯re involved in.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t just blow it up. Not without finding out why it¡¯s on our ship.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re already making this complicated just by being here. Don¡¯t make it worse. We¡¯ve done this before. We¡¯ll handle it.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t stop now. It¡¯ll wonder why.¡±


    Raptor took a deep breath. ¡°What have you been telling it? Don¡¯t you remember what I said? It¡¯s probably a spy.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know that.¡±


    Over the screen, the machine said, ¡°NEED GATE. TOO SMALL TO USE ALONE. STRESS WILL DESTROY MY HULL.¡±


    I wrote, ¡°Where are you going?¡±


    Waiting for the answer, I wondered how I¡¯d know if it was telling me the truth.

 Space Date: Part 7

    ¡°WILL HITCHHIKE. REJOIN TRIBE/CLAN/CIVILIZATION. WE ARE NOMADS.¡±


    So I digested that for a little while, wondering if it was true, or if it skipped a few steps. For example, the step where it turned us over to the civilizations of genetically modified humans who fanatically worshipped the Abominators, and might possibly hold a grudge against us for the way our grandfathers destroyed the last of their masters.


    After which, it would go out and be nomadic.


    And we, of course, would discover what fanatics do to people like us.


    Of course, I knew I might be unnecessarily paranoid, but I didn¡¯t want to test it. On the other hand, what was I going to do to avoid becoming a victim, bring it to Raptor so he could destroy it? What if it really was a lost nomad? That wouldn¡¯t be right.


    Who would be able to get to the bottom of it? Technomancer would have been great if he¡¯d been part of the crew.


    Then I came up with another idea. The Xiniti. They¡¯d have a good sense of who to trust.


    All I¡¯d have to do is make contact without getting blown away.


    I reached out, and clicked Raptor to mute and the speaker volume to practically nothing.


    ¡°He¡¯s not going to like that,¡± Haley said.


    ¡°I know, but he¡¯s going to like what we¡¯re going to do next even less. We¡¯re going to turn and bring the drone through the gate.¡±


    Except I wasn¡¯t planning to do that at all, and I hoped she¡¯d notice I was lying.


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    She frowned. She opened her mouth to speak, probably to ask why.


    I didn¡¯t give her the chance. ¡°We have to get it past the Xiniti,¡± I said. I nodded meaningfully toward the back, and shook my head, hoping she¡¯d guess I meant the opposite.


    I¡¯d realized that if it weren¡¯t friendly, it might listen in through the hull. Even though it hadn¡¯t chimed in until we¡¯d tried an obscure language, it might have been faking in order to let us think that it was unsophisticated. Wouldn¡¯t nomads know a lot of languages? If it could understand English, we had to come up with another way to communicate.


    ¡°We can¡¯t go through the gate,¡± Haley said. ¡°No Earth spaceships can.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ Actually, ours can. The League had an arrangement with the Xiniti where they looked the other way a few times.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t lying about that.


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°I wondered. Grandpa told me a few stories where it sounded like they had the jet on other planets. I thought I hadn¡¯t remembered them right.¡±


    I changed course, pointing the jet toward the gate, and its Xiniti guardians.


    Raptor¡¯s muffled voice said something indecipherable. Well, indecipherable to anyone with normal hearing.


    ¡°He wants to know what we think we¡¯re doing,¡± Haley said.


    I tried to think of something to tell him.


    Haley took it off mute, and turned up the speakers¡¯ volume.


    ¡°Everything''s okay,¡± she said into the comm. ¡°We¡¯ve come to an understanding with it. We¡¯re going to drop it off on the other side of the gate.¡±


    Raptor¡¯s voice quavered as he replied. ¡°Haven¡¯t you been listening to a thing I said?¡±


    In the background, the older man, the one who followed Double V¡¯s gossip column, spoke. ¡°Listen to her, Raptor. It will work out.¡±


    ¡°Is your head misfiring?¡± Then the comm went to the peculiar not quite silence you get when someone else presses mute.


    In the meantime, I¡¯d guessed who the older man might be. Mr. Intuitive (the second one) worked with the Defenders. If he had enough information, he could leap to the correct answer. If he thought we could handle it, that was good. Of course, he¡¯d had some well-publicized screw-ups¡­


    They didn¡¯t turn the mute off immediately either. We waited, and then Haley said, ¡°I¡¯m going to grab something a second.¡±


    She got up, walked out of the cockpit, and came back with a laser rifle that looked like it belonged on the cover of a 1950¡¯s science fiction magazine. She held her helmet as well.


    ¡°I thought I¡¯d grab it in case things went wrong. Maybe you should too.¡±


    I had the space version of the Rocket suit in the back, and I had time to put it on.

 Space Date: Part 8

    I rushed into the back of the jet, and put on the Rocket suit.When I got back to the cockpit, I checked the screen I¡¯d been using to read the conversation with the drone.


    Nothing had been added. Apparently the AI didn¡¯t feel any pressure to make conversation when it didn¡¯t have anything to say.


    I could think of a few people who could stand to learn from its example.


    As I sat down again, Haley said, ¡°Raptor got back to me while you were changing. He said he¡¯s going to meet us at the gate.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°That ought to be interesting.¡±


    I thought about ways to let Haley know exactly what I was planning. One of the first times I¡¯d asked her out, I¡¯d used pitches beyond human hearing. I doubted they¡¯d be beyond the hearing of an AI, if it were listening in.


    Assuming it couldn¡¯t see inside, I realized that I ought to use pen and paper. That would be perfect.


    A few minutes of searching through the Rocket suit¡¯s utility belt finally turned up a pad of old sticky notes.


    I wrote her a message: Bringing AI to Xiniti. Not really going through gate.


    She wrote: Do Xiniti know?


    I wrote: No. I¡¯ll tell them.


    She nodded, and I tried to think of how to tell them without putting us at risk. I wished I knew what weapons the drone had.


    After that we sat in our seats, and waited to get near the gate. I spent most of my time watching the drone on the monitor, making sure it wasn¡¯t doing anything to our hull.


    More than forty-five minutes later, we were closing in on Earth-Sun Lagrange point four, decelerating toward what would be a speed of nearly nothing when we reached the gate.


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    The screen that showed my conversation updated with a question from the drone, accompanied by a beep.


    ¡°MAY I SUPPLY COORDINATES?¡±


    I wrote, ¡°Sure. I¡¯m not promising I¡¯ll use them.¡±


    It sent them. The League jet had already locked on to the gate¡¯s operation systems. I checked the requested coordinates with the gate. They weren¡¯t interesting at all. The gate noted that they were requested by more than thirty percent of travellers. Probably some kind of hub, I guessed.


    Three, huge cylinders hung ahead of us in space. Metal spikes extended from each cylinder, pointing at the other cylinders in the group, but not touching them.


    Xiniti ships floated near it. The biggest, a flattened, silvery sphere, was surrounded by many smaller versions of the same ship. Most were around the jet¡¯s size. I guessed they might be fighters, but I couldn¡¯t be sure.


    From what I understood, the Xiniti preferred not to be bothered, and wanted ships to use the gate without notifying them. The gate¡¯s AI could manage traffic without help.


    One of the screens followed our interactions with the gate. The gate AI sent, ¡°Welcome to Earth/Sun Gate 1, please supply destination coordinates, and do not depart from your current flight path. Your shields make it difficult for other ships to detect you. Remember also to shut off shields before the jump as shields have been known to interact with jump technology.¡±


    I took a deep breath. ¡°Night Cat,¡± I said, ¡°could you take the shields down please?¡±


    From what I could see of her face through the helmet, she seemed amused at my formality. Her reply of ¡°Aye, aye, Captain,¡± had a slightly more sarcastic tone than I felt I deserved.


    Once the shields came down, I started step two of my plan, such as it was. ¡°Gate Control, Xiniti ship, I¡¯d like to request a scan of my ship. We¡¯ve picked up a drone of unknown origin. It is currently attached to the outer hull of my ship.¡±


    The swarm of small ships near the big Xiniti ship moved as one, spreading out in all directions while a small group flew directly toward us.


    They did not, I noted, cut directly across any of the designated lanes for approaching or leaving the gate. The group heading for us split into two, one flying above the plane reserved for gate traffic, and the other below.


    At the same time, the question of what languages the drone understood was answered when it let go of the hull.


    I hadn¡¯t had the ship translate my speech into its dialect.


    In one sense, I felt vindicated that my suspicions had turned out to be true. At the same time, another part of me felt annoyed.


    If I realized it earlier, and taken it out without the Xiniti, I might have been able to keep the parts.

 Space Date: Part 9

    The drone flew away, dodging the Xiniti ships by moving into the routes reserved for traffic coming out of the gate.


    Even though most ships slowed down before using a gate, they didn¡¯t have to, and could come out at theoretically any speed, so cutting across lanes wasn¡¯t smart.


    At the same time, the drone was freakishly fast, accelerating away from our ship in a blur.


    The Xiniti were just as fast, however, and their ships changed direction instantaneously, making ninety degree turns.


    I¡¯d have tried to follow the fight, and possibly help the Xiniti out, but the alien spaceship drives in the League jet weren¡¯t as advanced as theirs. We had another problem to deal with.


    ¡°Exiting from our approach to the gate,¡± I said into the comm unit. ¡°Relative to Earth¡¯s orbit, we¡¯re going up.¡±


    Hopefully the Xiniti¡¯s translation programs would interpret it clearly.


    I fired off the directional jets, pointing us upward, and then activated the main drive, aiming so that we¡¯d fly above the gate.


    It didn¡¯t take much power to fly above it. We hadn¡¯t had much momentum when I decided to change course. Within seconds we flew above the top cylinder of the gate¡¯s three.


    Not taking her eyes off the screen that showed our position, Haley said, ¡°They¡¯re all behind us. Turn around!¡±


    While I turned the ship, she reactivated the shields.


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    Outside, the space around us turned completely black except that the cockpit windows and even the ceiling above us glowed, showing the space around us as well as it had before.


    When we came around, it wasn¡¯t easy to see the drone or the Xiniti ships. Not directly at any rate.


    They all had their shields up, and while they weren¡¯t trying to be stealthy, only weapons discharge gave away their positions. Beams of bright light seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and then disappeared.


    The Xiniti ships fired as a group, hitting the drone, then scattering almost randomly, and firing again, nearly simultaneously.


    The drone fired back. In fact, it never stopped firing. It had no choice in the matter. Good shields absorbed almost all the energy thrown at them. If a ship absorbed more than it could use or bleed off somehow, the best case scenario involved burning out its shields and any systems closely associated with them. Worst case scenarios depended on the ship, but could include explosions.


    It hit a few Xiniti ships, but not in a way that made any of them explode. Meanwhile the Xiniti kept on firing at it, scattering as it fired back, and reforming into groups that almost all had clear shots.


    The drone didn¡¯t last long.


    When the Xiniti reformed their lines the next time, and fired, the drone¡¯s shield fell, allowing the hull to be hit by lasers, particle accelerators, and who knew what else.


    It exploded, fragments shooting off in all directions.


    While I doubted it had intended anything good for us, I wasn¡¯t sure it deserved what it got.


    ¡°It¡¯s just gone,¡± Haley said.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    I¡¯d barely adjusted to the idea that the drone had been destroyed when the comm started beeping. We were getting two calls. The screen showed the first as SoCal Defenders Podjet. Raptor had said he¡¯d meet us near the gate. He could have been faster.


    It labeled the second Gate Command and Control.


    Haley said, ¡°Raptor can wait.¡± She clicked on the button for Command and Control.


    The screen showed a room full of Xiniti busily checking screens, their hands manipulating ghostly controls that floated in the foggy air. Grandpa had told me the Xiniti preferred a more humid atmosphere than we did.


    The Xiniti themselves looked just like I¡¯d always heard¡ªgrayish skin, big black eyes, big heads, and child-sized bodies. They looked like ¡°the Grays¡± in UFO literature except for one thing.


    Their mouths were wide, and they had too many teeth, multiple rows on each jaw.


    Like sharks.

 Space Date: Part 10

    Once, when I asked my grandfather what Xiniti were like he said, ¡°You know those science fiction stories where an explorer visits an unknown planet, discovers aliens that sneak back to Earth aboard their ship, and destroy the world? That¡¯s what they¡¯re like. At least, if you¡¯re the Abominators. We managed to get off on the right foot with the Xiniti despite that.¡±


    Staring at the Xiniti on the screen, I tried to come up with something appropriate to say. Not much came to mind.


    I mean, how do you introduce yourself to members of a race that hunted the Abominators to near extinction, and kept itself occupied by containing their former servants¡¯ competing interstellar empires within one of the galaxy¡¯s spiral arms?


    ¡°Hi,¡± I said.


    Haley glanced over at me, waited a moment for me to continue talking, and, when I didn¡¯t, said, ¡°We¡¯re the Rocket, and Night Cat, descendants of the original Rocket and Night Wolf. Thanks for assisting us with the drone.¡±


    The Xiniti directly in front of the screen started moving its mouth, and after a brief wait, we heard it speak. Even if I hadn¡¯t noticed the disconnection between the mouth movements and the sound, I might have guessed the voice was computer generated. It didn¡¯t sound quite right¡ªprobably some sort of translation program.


    ¡°Greetings, scions and inheritors of the Heroes League. We recognized your vessel, and assisted as much for our own reasons as any desire to give you service. As inheritors of our debt to the Heroes League, we will assist you until such point as we both consider it paid.¡±


    I wondered how well their translation program translated their tone into English. From their looks or Grandpa¡¯s stories, the Xiniti didn¡¯t sound especially formal.


    The Xiniti¡¯s lips came together, and I heard a clacking noise that might have been teeth.


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    They had a lot of teeth.


    ¡°That sounds good,¡± I said, wondering if I should be asking them what they were talking about, or whether that would offend them.


    I did remember that Grandpa said something about debts in their culture, and that debts were more important to them than they were to us.


    I decided to ask Lee the first chance I got. He knew about the Abominators. Chances were he¡¯d know about the Xiniti.


    ¡°We are gratified that you find our arrangement acceptable,¡± the Xiniti said. ¡°As the one who brought the current quarry to us, you are entitled to share in the results. We intend to collect the drone¡¯spiecesand determine its purpose. Do you wish a copy of our anaylsis?¡±


    While I tried to think of a way to steer my reply toward possibly getting the Xiniti to pass along not just the analysis, but also the actual pieces of the drone, Haley said, ¡°We do. Right Rocket?¡±


    I nodded yes. So much for that.


    Anyway, even if they did owe us somehow, I doubted that they¡¯d actively pass us alien technology.


    The Xiniti said, ¡°It appears to be a member of a machine civilization that¡¯s sometimes allied with criminals in this vicinity.¡±


    The confirmation felt good. It was better than believing I¡¯d let a sentient being get destroyed out of carelessness.


    Not long after that, we turned around, and flew home.


    * * *


    It was three in the morning before we were back in the HQ¡¯s hangar. We¡¯d been doing a mix of talking and silently waiting for the flight to be over.


    The hangar smelled of oil, metal, and musty old basement smell, but after hours of sitting in the jet, it smelled like home.


    ¡°What a mess,¡± I said.


    I¡¯d said that, and variations on it more than once on the way back.


    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± Haley put her hand my shoulder. We were both back in street clothes, and I could feel her touch through my t-shirt. ¡°You didn¡¯t know how this would go. It¡¯s okay. We would have taken the jet into space eventually, and you know something would have happened. At least we didn¡¯t get hurt.¡±


    ¡°I know. That would have been worse.¡±


    Another thought passed through my mind. I wasn¡¯t going to say it, but Haley sighed.


    ¡°Now what?¡± She was frowning by that point.


    ¡°I was just thinking about the whole debt thing. Lee¡¯s with us because he owes my grandpa. I¡¯m pretty sure the Xiniti owe the League because they caught the last Abominators. I wondered if the League owed anybody and who¡¯ll come to collect.¡±


    ¡°Nick, you¡¯re tired. I¡¯m tired. Let¡¯s just go home. You can¡¯t do anything about it right now.¡±


    ¡°I know. I wondered. That¡¯s all.¡±


    We took the elevator upstairs, walked to my parents¡¯ house, and, borrowing Mom¡¯s car, I drove Haley home.

 Haley: Part 1

    So, I was scheduled to work at Grand Lake Steak and Fine Dining except Dad got a call, and Chuck¡¯s Pizza was short staffed, and could anybody help?


    Dad sent me.


    And that wasn¡¯t all bad. You get better tips at Grand Lake Steak than Chuck¡¯s, but half the staff at Grand Lake Steak hated me because Dad had me help retrain them.


    Dad fired people after our family took over. They blamed me for that too. Behind my back, I heard them call me ¡°Daddy¡¯s little spy.¡±I wasn¡¯t trying to be, but after a month, Dad had asked me what I thought about them, and I told him.


    I could smell their fear when I came in for my next shift. It¡¯s not as bad now, but skipping a shift there makes any day better.


    Chuck¡¯s Pizza is a hole in the wall. It has a small dining room with a few tables, but most of its customers were there to pick up take-out, and didn¡¯t stay longer than ten minutes at most.


    It¡¯s also been robbed twice in the last two years¡ªnot that anyone should be surprised. It¡¯s not in a nice neighborhood. I think it must be the only business on that side of the block that¡¯s open.


    After last year¡¯s robbery, I asked Dad why he kept it open, and he said it was close enough to Grand Lake University that it paid for itself.


    I¡¯ve always thought it was nostalgia because it was the first restaurant Grandpa ever managed, and the one Dad practically grew up in.


    I could hear Dad¡¯s heartbeat as he told me, and it never sped up. So he believes what he said, and when I worked there on Thursday night, it felt like the whole restaurant wanted to prove him right.


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    I came in at four in the afternoon, and after five-thirty, it never slowed down. I was the only waitress in the restaurant. When I wasn¡¯t taking orders, I ran the cash register. When the dining area finally emptied, I took orders over the phone, and made pizzas.


    I took my first break at nine-thirty which was probably illegal, and ate some spaghetti in the breakroom. Then I walked out the back door, and called Nick on my cell phone.


    His family was in Minnesota visiting his grandparents. Nick picked up on the third ring, and we talked.


    Somehow, the topic changed from missing each other to ideas he¡¯d had for improving Night Wolf¡¯s car. At first it was kind of cute to hear him get excited, but after ten minutes of him explaining how he¡¯d redesign the car¡¯s engine, it was easy to wonder why we¡¯re dating at all.


    Not that I¡¯d break up with him over something silly like that, but I wasn¡¯t calling him because I wanted to talk about the car my grandfather used as a superhero.


    ¡°Haaa-ley,¡± one of my co-workers opened the backdoor, ¡°there¡¯s a guy in the dining area.¡±


    ¡°Now?¡± I said good-bye to Nick, and went back to work.


    Unlike Daniel, Nick¡¯s best friend, I don¡¯t have any kind of danger sense, but if I did, I like to think it would have been freaking out when I went back into the restaurant.


    I walked past the stacked boxes, and counters where we assembled the pizzas up to the counter next to the dining area.


    He stood next to the counter, and smiled when he saw me.


    If all I could do was see him, I might not have felt as uncomfortable as I did, but I still would have felt a little nervous. He didn¡¯t fit in with the neighborhood. He was almost seven feet tall, and had muscles that I could see outlined under his trenchcoat.


    His trenchcoat.


    I mean, seriously, a trenchcoat in July? Without any hint of rain?


    But seeing was just the tip of the iceberg. I smelled warm plastic, silicon and metal--advanced electronics and a lot of them. And the sounds? In addition to his heartbeat, which quickened as I stepped closer, I heard the whirr of small fans. It came from the forearms of his jacket.


    He held up his right arm, sliding his hand out. The hand was flesh, but the forearm was encased in metal.


    Below his hand, a lens glowed red.


    ¡°See the light? It¡¯s a laser. Give me your money or I¡¯ll burn you down where you stand.¡±

 Haley: Part 2

    After the last time Chuck¡¯s Pizza got robbed, Dad told me, ¡°If some guy pulls a gun on you and tells you to open the cash register, open the cash register. Don¡¯t try to be a hero. Call the police after he leaves.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know what to say. Did he know?


    When I asked Daniel, he said, ¡°Not a chance. Well, maybe subconsciously.¡±


    But Dad didn¡¯t say anything else that even hinted at it after that. He even used almost exactly the same words in an email for the managers to read to the staff. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have worried, but after what happened with Nick¡¯s mom, anything seemed possible.


    I still felt weird when I ran into her at Nick¡¯s house.


    But back to laser guy.


    ¡°Whatever you want,¡± I said. Then I opened up the cash drawer, and stepped back. Maybe I should have attacked him as he scooped the money out of the drawer and counted it, but I didn¡¯t.


    ¡°This is it? One hundred-seventy bucks? Where¡¯s the rest of it?¡±


    I stifled my first response (¡±Up your ass, jerk¡±) because I knew it wasn¡¯t me talking. It was the Change, and I was also stifling that.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got a drop safe under the counter. I dropped the money down the slot before going on break. Sorry.¡±


    My ¡°sorry¡± might not have sounded apologetic, but he didn¡¯t say anything.


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    ¡°Where¡¯s the manager? Make him get the key to the goddamn safe, and none of you, and I mean none of you, had better call the cops.¡±


    There was no place to hide in Chuck¡¯s Pizza. The office in the corner barely counted. Even if it had, we were all in the kitchen anyway¡ªPhil (the manager), Jamar (who mostly made food, and didn¡¯t like working the counter), and me.


    ¡°Here,¡± Phil said. Phil was in his late thirties, not the best dresser, and kind of overweight. Most of his nicer shirts had sports team logos on them, but he was a good manager and totally loyal to Dad. Plus, his three year old daughter was really sweet. She''d been in the shop a few times with her mom.


    Phil pulled a keychain out of his pocket, frowning as he did it, and stepping forward more purposefully than I felt comfortable with, smiling nervously.


    Quietly, I said, ¡°Don¡¯t be a hero.¡±


    He let out a breath. I didn¡¯t want to think what he might have been nerving himself up to do.


    Laser guy said, ¡°Listen to the girl.¡±


    Phil unlocked the safe, and handed over the money in a plastic bag.


    Laser guy flipped through it, pointing a laser forearm at us. ¡°Are you kidding me? You¡¯ve been busy for hours.¡±


    ¡°You know credit cards?¡± I asked. ¡°Everybody uses them everywhere now. So if you want the rest of our money, try white collar crime.¡± As the words slipped out, I felt like I was following my mouth from a distance, awed by how quickly it moved, and how little sense it had.


    If you¡¯re getting robbed, you don¡¯t sass your robber.


    Laser guy looked at me, not saying anything for a few seconds, and then he laughed.


    ¡°Funny,¡± he said. ¡°White collar crime. I¡¯ll keep you in mind if I need career counseling.¡±


    Then he walked out the side door, pausing to shoot a hole through our mailbox.


    That put me over the edge. It seemed so stupid. Just pointlessly mean. He¡¯d taken our money, and now he''d shot the mailbox for fun.


    ¡°I¡¯m going home!¡± I tried to make it sound like I was about to cry, grabbed my backpack, and ran out the back door.


    Phil shouted, ¡°Haley, wait! You gotta stay to talk to the cops!¡±


    I didn¡¯t stop, and by the time he made it outside, I¡¯d already ducked around the corner, and jumped up to the roof.

 Haley: Part 3

    Changing into costume on the roof of apizzeriaisn¡¯t a good idea, but it¡¯s better than changing in the parking lot.


    After everything that happened during the end of my junior year, maybe I should have been wearing my costume under my clothes all the time, but I didn¡¯t. Summers are hot, and we were already into the middle of July.


    I stayed low, pulled my costume out of my backpack, and stuffed my clothes inside, hoping that no one was working late in one of the old, brick buildings across the street.


    I pulled my costume¡¯s pants most of the way on before the Change hit.


    I¡¯ve asked Nick what I look like when I change, and he didn¡¯t know. He said that one second I look like me, and the next I look like me with claws, and fangs¡ªand he doesn¡¯t always notice the fangs. I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s right, or if he¡¯s not very observant. But honestly, given how much he misses normally, I¡¯d be surprised if he were right.


    Even if he were, it feels different from the inside.


    I felt my hands and feet grow wider and more claw-like while muscles and bones throughout my body changed shape and grew. My shoulders broadened, and I grew a little.


    Very little¡ªfive feet tall to five foot two. I''m probably the only person who noticed.


    It hurt, and felt good at the same time. It¡¯s always reminded me of the way I felt after a hard gymnastics practice, but a hundred times more intense.


    Pushing my feet the rest of the way down the pantlegs was a little harder after the Change, but it was better than if I¡¯d still been in my street clothes and shoes.


    I¡¯ve lost more pairs of shoes that way than I like to think. Not to mention shirts.


    But the physical change isn¡¯t everything. It¡¯s the smallest part of it. My senses felt like the world had exploded around me. I could smell and hear everything for blocks, and the darkness around me turned into twilight.


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    I could hear the robber¡¯s fans whirr as he ran. He smelled of excitement, a little fear mixed with triumph, and some sweat.


    To a small, but now stronger part of me, the fear smelled good.


    I pulled the backpack on my back¡ªno sense in leaving my clothes and purse on the roof¡ªand ran a few steps, jumping across all four lanes of the road, and grabbing the corner of the old brick building on the other side.


    Then I pushed off, landing on one foot, balancing on the windowsill a few feet below where I¡¯d first caught hold. I crossed that side of the building by leaping from one windowsill to the next, never touching a sill with more than one foot.


    When I reached the far end of the building, I jumped to the next, hanging onto the wall, and listening.


    I recognized the sound of his footsteps. He¡¯d run out of the alley and into the parking lot in back. His heartbeat stayed slow and steady.


    I pulled one of the grappling guns off my belt, and fired it down the alley, hitting near the top of the building. Then I swung out, clicking the release and retract button when I passed the building¡¯s end.


    I put the gun in my belt while falling, choosing to dive into a roll, and somersaulted until I stopped behind a old car. There couldn¡¯t have been more than ten in the parking lot, and I hid behind the rustiest Buick Regal I¡¯d ever seen.


    I didn¡¯t need to see him to know what Laser Guy was doing.


    He¡¯d stopped moving when I hit the ground, but the lasers¡¯ fans became louder. He¡¯d taken them off standby, or upped their power. The direction of his breath changed slightly. He had to be moving his head to look for me.


    His heart beat a little faster, and the smell of his fear became stronger.


    ¡°Who is it out there? Are you from the Heroes League?¡±


    I didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°Because if you are, good job. You¡¯re on top of things. The syndicate said it¡¯d take weeks to get your attention, given what I was planning to do. So which one of you is it? Night Wolf? Night Cat? Captain Commando?¡±


    While he talked, I noticed that the fans were getting louder yet, and that his voice¡¯s direction stopped changing. He was aiming his voice directly toward me.


    I jumped away as the fan noise spiked. Then the air crackled with heat, and the Buick¡¯s metal body boiled.


    Glancing toward Laser Guy as I flew through the air, I saw that the lenses of his sunglasses glowed. Nick would have already been guessing how they worked.


    I landed behind a dumpster.


    It smelled of rotting meat, vegetables, and mold. My stomach turned.


    So, I threw the dumpster at him.


    If I had to choose one word to describe his face, I¡¯d choose surprised.

 Haley: Part 4

    The dumpster flew through the air, blocking him from my view. He didn¡¯t have a chance to avoid it.


    That¡¯s what I hate about the Change. I just do stuff before I can even think about it. It¡¯s not that I do bad things. I do things that I would do, but without thinking about it at all.


    And that¡¯s not quite true. I know why I did it while I¡¯m doing it, but I can¡¯t always put it into words.


    I couldn¡¯t put it into words then either. All I knew was that unless he was more than just a guy with laser arms, the dumpster would turn him into a red smear ending in crushed bones and meat.


    Except he was more. When I chased him down the alley, his heartbeat moved too slowly to be a normal human, and so I knew it even if I didn¡¯t know it in my head.


    The dumpster came down at him with the lip tipped forward, and he reached up, guiding it over himself, but not gracefully.


    Not gracefully at all.


    He grabbed the lip, and it flipped over in the air. The doors were partly open anyway, so almost everything came out¡ªbags of garbage, loose bits of food, fast food wrappers, and a kind of brownish, liquid slurry.


    It didn¡¯t all end up on him. A lot of it landed behind him on the parking lot with the dumpster¡ªwhich kept on tumbling until it hit the back of the building, breaking a window, and cracking the wall.


    Slurry had soaked Laser Guy¡¯s clothes. A Burger King wrapper stuck to his head, and bits of food decorated him like a garbage Christmas tree.


    Plus, he reeked.


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    Maybe I could have jumped on him right then, and poisoned him with one of my claws, but it would have been a big jump, and I¡¯d have had to touch him.


    I didn¡¯t even think about biting him.


    Ewww.


    He stood there not doing anything for a second, and I could smell that I¡¯d scared him. The way he slumped when he looked down at his clothes even made me feel a little sorry for him. When he went out to rob us tonight, he expected to make some money, and maybe make the news. I¡¯m sure he didn¡¯t expect to meet me, and then be showered with rotting meat, moldy cheese, soured milkshakes and a nasty mix of rancid, used cooking oil, and bacon grease.


    I really think he was close to crying then, but he didn¡¯t. He pulled the hamburger wrapper from his head, and started screaming, and firing his lasers everywhere. I don¡¯t know exactly what he said, but I know I heard the word ¡°bitch¡± a lot.


    I kept too busy flipping, and jumping, and dodging to pay attention. And there¡¯s one other thing. Sometimes after the Change, when I¡¯m deeply into sounds, and smells, and moving, it¡¯s a little hard to understand words.


    That¡¯s one of those things that worries me a little. OK, a lot.


    But I wasn¡¯t out of control. I was thinking. The dumpster had been on the border of two different parking lots. One was the brick building¡¯s lot. The other one was the parking lot of the Burger King that was on the cross street that runs East/West while the old, brick building¡¯s street runs North/South.


    The Burger King was still open, and I didn¡¯t want anyone to get hurt, so I jumped back into the alley I¡¯d come out of before I¡¯d hid behind the Buick.


    Lasers shattered some of the bricks near the corner as I passed it.


    I unholstered a grappling gun, and shot upward. It pulled me up the side faster than I¡¯d have been able to climb.


    Then I stopped halfway to listen, and I heard the jingle of car keys plus a door opening. An engine started, and I pushed the button that pulled me the rest of the way up. Laser Guy¡¯s vehicle (it sounded bigger than a car) started moving north, and I realized he¡¯d be leaving from the alley on the far side of the building, so I ran over there.


    Even after dark, cars run down all four lanes on Central Avenue. He roared out of the parking lot in a white van, the same kind of van used by every plumber and delivery service everywhere.


    He cut across the left lanes without stopping, turning into the right lane, and driving north. Brakes screeched, and people screamed.


    I saw a semi-truck coming down the street in the same lane, and I didn¡¯t think about it at all. I took a few steps back, got a running start, and jumped off the six story building.

 Haley: Part 5

    I fired a grappling gun while I was still falling, and I didn¡¯t do it right away. I waited, and I shot at the next building over¡ªanother big, brick building¡ªand let the rope turn me until I was above the semi-truck. Then I let out the line until I was just a few feet above it, set the gun to release it¡¯s hold, holstered it, and dropped.


    It was almost perfect.


    I landed on the trailer, but I was moving a little slower than the truck, and I started sliding toward the back. You know how cute and funny cats can be when they¡¯re chasing each other across a slippery floor, and lose control? It was exactly like that, except the worst thing that could happen to the cat was sliding into a wall. Meanwhile, my claws were screeching down the top of the trailer to stop me from falling directly in front of a moving car.


    And cats don¡¯t shout, ¡°Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!¡± while they¡¯re sliding. I might have. Maybe.


    I stopped halfway down the trailer, but it felt like forever. The whole time I was sure I was going to slide off. When I came to a full stop, I ran up to the front of the trailer to see where Laser Guy was. I couldn¡¯t pick out his van from the rumble of all the other cars and trucks by sound.


    I dropped low when I reached the front¡ªno reason to tip him off.


    The white van moved down the street only three cars ahead of the truck. Then it turned left under the highway that goes through Grand Lake, and up the ramp. For a second, I tensed my legs to jump. I thought I could make it to the van¡¯s roof, but then the truck turned too, so I didn¡¯t even try.


    Laser Guy didn¡¯t drive the van all crazy, so he didn¡¯t pull away from the semi on the highway. We weren¡¯t far behind him, and so I could almost take a break. It sounds silly, but riding on the top of a semi-truck in the middle of the summer is almost fun. The highway runs through downtown, so it¡¯s near the lake. You can see the marinas, and the campground on the north side of the lake. If you let your eyes follow the piers to the end of the channel, you can see the lights glowing red and green.


    Once I got used to the smell of exhaust, I could smell Grand Lake, restaurants, bars, cigarettes, and faintly hear the sound of an electric guitarist playing the blues. Grand Lake had an outdoor concert series.


    But it¡¯s not like I could sit there. I called HQ. I thought about sending a yellow over the communicators, but I didn¡¯t want everyone to show up.


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    Kayla answered, and I thought she sounded nervous. ¡°League HQ.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were in.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m in every night. Are you on call? The schedule says Night Wolf.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not on call. I¡¯m chasing some guy with laser arms, and I need help.¡±


    ¡°What did you say? I can barely hear you.¡±


    So I tried to shout over the wind. ¡°I¡¯m chasing a BAD GUY. I¡¯m ON a TRUCK. I need HELP.¡±


    ¡°Oh my god! Are you hurt? Do you need me to send a red? Do you need an ambulance?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not hurt. NO reds, and NO yellows. I need ONE person.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll call Night Wolf.¡±


    ¡°NO Night Wolf.¡± Because he¡¯d be my over-protective older brother, and take control of everything, and I hate that.


    ¡°But he¡¯s on the schedule.¡±


    ¡°Who ELSE?¡± We had to have more than than one back up on the list.


    ¡°Almost everyone¡¯s gone.¡±


    I thought about it, and I felt a little bit bad about saying no to calling Travis. Nick and Rachel were at their grandparents. Marcus was working at one of the family restaurants, and I didn¡¯t want to get him in trouble. Jaclyn had gotten offered another scholarship out of nowhere, and even though she¡¯d already decided to go to U of M, she was still checking out the school.


    That left Daniel, Cassie, and Vaughn. Daniel sounded like the best choice.


    ¡°The Mystic?¡± I asked.


    ¡°He¡¯s doing something with his dad. He said emergency only.¡±


    ¡°Captain Commando?¡±


    ¡°Remember her checkup? She¡¯s supposed to be back tonight, but I don¡¯t know when.¡±


    Cassie was with her mom in Washington D.C., visiting the people who¡¯d activated her powers.


    ¡°Call her.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll try. I already called Storm King. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s got his League phone on.¡±


    That figured, but it might not be all his fault. I¡¯d met his mom, and if I were him, I wouldn¡¯t be in her face about the League either.


    ¡°Did you try his normal phone?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not supposed to unless it¡¯s a life and death situation. It isn¡¯t, right?¡±


    ¡°I guess not.¡± I couldn¡¯t blame Kayla for following the rules, but this was getting annoying. Half of me wanted to hang up and call Sydney, except if I called Sydney, I might get Sean too. Worse, if Sydney were busy, she might ask Sean to help, and not come herself. That would be worse than doing it alone. A lot worse.


    The white van slowed down. We were nearing the Michigan Street exit. He was going to get off the highway. I knew it. The red jeep to our left was slowing down too, and it had its top down. I jumped into the back seat as it followed the white van down the exit ramp.


    The driver couldn¡¯t have been more than a few years older than I was. His face was pimpled. He had three days¡¯ growth of beard, and from the smell, he¡¯d been wearing his jeans for at least four days in a row.


    He turned his head around and stared. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re Night Cat!¡± And then the wheels on the jeep¡¯s left side hit the rumble strip. The noise made him turn his head back around where it belonged, but startled him into jerking the wheel right, so we almost went into the grass on the opposite side of the exit ramp.


    ¡°Could you please follow the white van?¡±


    ¡°Sure. What¡¯s in there, stolen stuff?¡±


    My communicator beeped, and I ignored him. It was Cassie, and so I took the call. Kayla must have hung up.


    ¡°Hey Night Cat, whose ass are we going to kick?¡±

 Haley: Part 6

    ¡°I call him Laser Guy because he¡¯s got lasers under his arms.¡±


    Cassie said, ¡°Armpit lasers?¡±


    She thought she was funny. That¡¯s the kind of thing that drives me a little crazy about Cassie. She¡¯s totally intense one minute and then the next minute she¡¯s making jokes. It¡¯s not that I have a problem with jokes, but sometimes I don¡¯t want to laugh. It doesn¡¯t feel right. It doesn¡¯t feel respectful.


    ¡°Big lasers, CC. Car melting lasers. We¡¯re not going to be able to just jump him. Anyway, I can¡¯t talk now. Find me, but stay out of sight. I¡¯ll tell you when you can catch up.¡±


    ¡°Got it. I¡¯ll be there before you know it.¡±


    I heard a motorcycle start as she hung up. It sounded like the Commando Cycle, so she¡¯d already made it to HQ, and got into costume. I quietly hoped that she¡¯d catch up soon, but not until after I found where he lived. I mean, I like Cassie, and don¡¯t want to say anything bad about her, but she¡¯s kind of a hothead¡­


    ¡°Hey,¡± the guy driving the jeep glanced at me through his rearview mirror. ¡°Did you say lasers?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t get too close, okay? I think he¡¯s a little crazy.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, right. I¡¯ll watch out.¡±


    Ahead of us, Laser Guy kept on going straight. He¡¯d made a couple turns while Cassie and I were talking, and we weren¡¯t on a main road anymore. We were riding through an older section of the northwest side of city. It¡¯s not the kind of place I like to be. It¡¯s not a nice part of the city. It¡¯s old houses with lawns that never get mowed with junky plastic slides sitting in the front lawn. Half the houses are rentals whose owners are slumlords that don¡¯t want to pay to keep them up.


    I don¡¯t like going places like that because I might get attacked, and what if I don¡¯t keep control of the Change?


    ¡°Hey,¡± the driver said again, ¡°you¡¯re going out with the Rocket, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± I didn¡¯t like where this was going.


    ¡°Cool. And was that Captain Commando on the phone? Is she dating anyone?¡±


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    Oh god, no.


    ¡°She¡¯s kind of hot.¡±


    Laser Guy slowed down and turned into driveway almost a block ahead of us. Crouching low in the back seat, I heard his van¡¯s engine stop, and saw him step out onto the lawn. He gave the street a once over, his sunglasses twin squares of light, even staring at the jeep for a second, but then he turned, and walked down the driveway to the house¡¯s side door. I heard him open and close it.


    ¡°Thanks for the ride. Sorry, I don¡¯t have time to talk.¡± Because there¡¯s nothing I like more than talking about my friends, and my dating life with slightly creepy strangers.


    I jumped out of the jeep, landing on the front lawn, and ducking around the corner of the house. Then I pulled out the grappling gun, letting it bring me to the roof, and after that I leaped from one roof to the next until I stood on the one opposite Laser Guy¡¯s.


    Crawling slowly toward the front of the roof, and over it to the top of a dormer, I settled down to wait for Cassie, and to see if couldn¡¯t learn something before she arrived. The first thing I learned was that the guy in the jeep had made a U-turn, and was already driving away. I couldn¡¯t blame him. He knew about the lasers. If I were him, I wouldn¡¯t want to risk it, but since I wasn¡¯t, I found myself a little worried Laser Guy might have noticed.


    If he had, he hadn¡¯t noticed where I was, or at least he didn¡¯t start firing at me.


    Unmoving, I let sounds and smells wash over me, trying to pick out anything I could. To a normal person, it must have felt like a quiet night. To me, it felt like a noisy crowd. Two houses down, a boy argued about whether or not he had to go to bed. Three houses away, on the block behind this one, a baby cried. It had a dirty diaper. One house to the right of me, someone fried a late night steak. Only barely cooked, it smelled delicious.


    And that was only the people. Raccoons dug through a garbage can. An owl dropped, catching a mouse in its claws, snapping the mouse¡¯s neck with its beak, and flying away. On the next block, a lone deer nibbled quietly, bolting away at the sound of a car. Part of me wanted to chase it, but I didn¡¯t. Most of me still thought deer were beautiful animals.


    I filtered out the electronic noise of dozens of televisions, cellphones, stereos to finally be able to concentrate on the house across the street. A toddler lay in bed sleeping. Her second floor window stood open. She smelled of soap and baby shampoo.


    On the lower level, a man sat in the front room and watched an old show on TV¡ªa western. He smelled nervous, and I could guess why. In the kitchen, near the back, Laser Guy argued with a woman that I guessed (from the similarity of their smells¡ªaside from his reek¡ªand the heaviness of their footsteps) might be his sister.


    They argued in whispers, but with the windows open.


    ¡°What were you thinking? You think you might have been followed, but you still came here?¡±


    ¡°Donna, I said might, but that doesn¡¯t mean I was. I didn¡¯t see any sign of her the whole ride home.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s ¡®her¡¯? Which one of them is it?¡±


    ¡°Must have been Night Cat. She was small, moved quickly. Had to be.¡±


    ¡°Night Cat? Have you seen what she looks like? She¡¯s a monster.¡±

 Haley: Part 7

    ¡°Monster?¡± he asked. ¡°A monster muppet, maybe. No, better yet, a vampire Smurfette. She¡¯s tiny. One good punch should take her down.¡±


    ¡°Vampire Smurfette? Didn''t you do any research? Rod, I watched a documentary about superheroes in World War 2. You know what they used Night Wolf for? You know what it was? He was a killer.¡±


    ¡°It''s war. Everyone¡¯s a killer.¡±


    ¡°No, this is different. They¡¯d drive him into a berzerk rage, and he¡¯d kill everyone. They didn¡¯t even try to send their own people in until he¡¯d calmed down because he¡¯d strike down anybody who came close. When they did come in, they wouldn¡¯t find a live person near him. He¡¯d ripped their throats out.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s not him.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s exactly like him, and so is the new Night Wolf. What are they all but animals with human shape? And you¡¯ve led her here. Think of your niece for God¡¯s sake. Do you want her to die?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not being fair at all. I¡ª¡±


    I don¡¯t know what he said after that. I wasn¡¯t listening. I wanted to go down there and tell her that she was completely wrong, and it wasn¡¯t like that at all. Except she wasn¡¯t wrong, and I knew it.


    Not all wrong.


    Grandpa McAllister told us about it when he realized what Travis and I were¡ªthat we¡¯d inherited everything. I think Grandpa was genuinely happy for us, but not on the day he told us how far the Change could go. Normally he¡¯d be smiling, even teasing us a little, but that day he brought us upstairs to his home office, and he barely smiled. He brought out pictures, but not the ones we knew.


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    These showed dead bodies, all the people Grandpa killed in a German camp one night. Did you know that near the end the Germans were enlisting anyone who could stand? The pictures showed old men, young men, and boys my age, all of them glassy eyed and staring. Some of them had their throats ripped out. Others had their necks twisted into a position that a living person couldn¡¯t manage for long.


    As we flipped through the pictures on the stack, Grandpa said, ¡°The reports say they goaded me into it. That¡¯s not true. I did it to myself. Our troops needed to keep on moving, and they¡¯d stopped us. We could fight through the normal way, and lose hundreds of people in the woods, or I could stop thinking about them as people, and see them only as prey.¡±


    I don¡¯t know exactly what I thought as he talked. I remember feeling horrified to realize that the Change could take him so completely that my fun, and gentle grandfather could kill so many. I knew I never wanted to do it.


    When I stopped remembering, nothing had changed. Laser Guy (or now that I knew his name, should I call him Rod?), and his sister Donna were still whispering an argument in kitchen.


    Donna said, ¡°If you keep this up, you¡¯re going to kill yourself like Dad did. Don¡¯t take us with you.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see either of them, but I imagined him smirking as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t be silly, the worst that¡¯ll happen is I go to jail.¡±


    And then they were off again. I half-listened to them, half lay on the roof hearing people talk, animals scurry or hunt, and wondering how long I should wait for Cassie.


    It wasn¡¯t long before I recognized the sound of the Commando Cycle. Cassie parked it the next block over, and walked through the yard, using her own grappling gun to meet me on the roof. I crawled off the dormer, and joined her on the other side of the roof¡¯s peak, letting it hide us.


    Cassie looked down the roof toward the ground. ¡°This is so great. Last year around this time, I was still on bed rest after my treatments. So what¡¯s the plan?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have a plan yet. All I know is that he¡¯s over there.¡± I pointed in the direction of the house. ¡°He¡¯s staying with his sister. I don¡¯t think she¡¯s working with him. She actually sounds kind of angry about everything.¡±


    ¡°Then I say let¡¯s be direct. I¡¯ll knock on the door, and tell him he¡¯s got to come along to the police station, and you cover the back door in case he tries to run.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. There¡¯s a little girl upstairs. If he starts shooting, she might get hurt.¡±


    ¡°Well, we don''t want that. Got any ideas?¡±

 Haley: Part 8

    I hung upside down outside of Donna¡¯s house, waiting for Cassie to knock on their door.


    The final plan had turned out to be Cassie¡¯s with a few tweaks, and maybe not enough, but there¡¯s a lot to be said for simple plans. You don¡¯t have as much to think about. Not that that automatically meant it was a good plan, but it was still better than a great plan I couldn¡¯t remember.


    Quietly I hung to the side of the window, slowly turning the little pieces of metal that held the screen in. I couldn¡¯t remember their names. The house had the old style of screen windows. Modern screen windows let you control whether you have the screen or the storm window from the inside. In the old style (and I mean really old, like the 1920¡¯s), you swapped the screen window out for the storm window when spring came.


    So I was loosening the screen window so that I could crawl through if I had to. It seemed nicer than punching a hole in the wall or knocking down their back door. Beating up a little girl¡¯s uncle would be bad enough. I didn¡¯t want her to have to sleep in a hotel too.


    Rod and his sister Donna were still whispering when Cassie knocked on the front door.


    From the living room, I heard the sound of footsteps. A man¡¯s voice said, ¡°I¡¯ll get it.¡±


    Rod and Donna stopped whispering.


    Then the door opened, and everybody¡¯s hearts beat a little faster. Well, everybody¡¯s but the girl sleeping upstairs. Her heart kept a steady beat, and so did her breathing.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯m wondering if you¡¯ve seen a big guy with laser arms and a bag of money?¡±


    The man said, ¡°No, sorry. I haven¡¯t seen anyone like that around here.¡±


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    The door began to swing closed, but it I heard it hit Cassie¡¯s boot.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry too,¡± Cassie said, ¡°but I hear he¡¯s in the kitchen. Hey Laser Guy, why don''t you surrender and save us all some hassle?¡±


    So, then a lot of things happened at once. The man¡¯s heartbeat sped up as Cassie pulled the staff off her belt, pressed the button that extended it to full length, and electrically charged the ends. Backing away, the man put his foot on something that sounded like it had wheels, and started to say, ¡°I didn¡¯t have anything to do with it!¡± except then the toy (I¡¯m guessing) shot forward, and the guy fell backward, hitting the floor with a thud.


    Donna shouted, ¡°Tony! Are you alright?¡±


    Meanwhile, a cheap recording of a man¡¯s voice started singing, ¡°The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round,¡± with completely pathological enthusiasm.


    Tony moaned.


    Back in the kitchen, Rod must have brought his lasers out of standby mode because the fans turned on, and something inside gave a growing high pitched whine. When I heard him step toward the kitchen door, I let the screen drop to the ground, pulled a flash grenade off my belt, and lobbed it into the room.


    As it exploded, I turned my head away, and closed my eyes. Even through my eyelids, I could still see the light. Rod muttered, ¡°Shit,¡± but didn¡¯t stop opening the door, and stepping into the living room. He must have had his back to the grenade. Donna made a small, wordless cry.


    I dove in through the window, hands grabbing the counter, flipping over and coming to my feet on the linoleum floor. A woman I assumed had to be Donna hung onto the refrigerator. Seeing her for the first time, I noticed that she was almost as tall as her brother. Her muscles weren¡¯t as large as his, but they were more noticeable than most women¡¯s. She wore a white t-shirt and jeans.


    Ahead of me, Rod had already raised, and aimed his lasers at Cassie. He fired. The left laser missed, burning a six inch wide hole in the wall next to the door. The right laser hit Cassie¡¯s thigh, burning a big hole through it. It smelled surprisingly like burnt pork.


    Cassie fell over, landing on the carpeted floor next to a toy bus, and not far from Tony. She cursed, but managed not to land on her staff, holding it in the air with her right hand.


    ¡°Captain Commando,¡± Rod said, pointing both lasers at her body, ¡°between you and Night Cat, this is going to look great on my resume.¡±


    Upstairs, the child woke up, and started to cry.

 Haley: Part 9

    Cassie didn¡¯t wait to find out if he¡¯d shoot. She swung her staff at him, hitting the laser encasing his right arm with one of the electrified ends. A bunch of different things inside the casing made popping noises, and I smelled electronics burning, a smell I know a lot better now than I did before I started dating Nick.


    Laser Guy started doing what most of the League calls, ¡°the lightning dance.¡± That¡¯s when you get shocked, and it¡¯s enough to make you flail around, but not enough to knock you out. I don¡¯t know who started saying it, but between Rachel¡¯s gloves, Cassie¡¯s staff, and Vaughn¡¯s lightning, there are way too many people flinging electricity around during team practices. I¡¯ve been hit more than I want to think about. It¡¯s irritating, and it hurts.


    The staff didn¡¯t put enough electricity through him to take him out. He got off one shot, but it didn¡¯t go anywhere near Cassie because getting electrocuted doesn¡¯t help your aim at all. It burned through the wall a little above the big window in the living room.


    Laser Guy stumbled backwards, out of Cassie¡¯s reach. She didn¡¯t get up, and I could see why. The laser had burned through muscle and bone. Disturbingly, spots of blackened skin and muscle were already beginning to be absorbed and turn red, and both ends of the bone in the center of her leg seemed a little longer than they had before.


    Unfortunately, she wouldn¡¯t have time for the bone to grow back before he shot again. He lowered his left arm, pointing it toward her head. He knew how her father had died. Everybody knew how her father had died.


    He never got a chance to fire.


    I¡¯d started as he pointed the gun. With my first step, I jumped most of the distance between us. With my second and third, I gained speed. With the fourth, I grabbed him and leaped with both legs, hurling both of us through the picture window, shattering wood and glass.


    He landed face first in the lawn in front of the house. I pushed myself off his back, hitting the grass with the palms of my hands, flipping over to land on my feet, and turning around to face him.


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    He began to shout, but I didn¡¯t understand what he said, and maybe that should have been a warning sign, but by the time warning signs start appearing, I¡¯m not rational enough to notice.


    So he said something, and I didn¡¯t understand it. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I know he wasn¡¯t shouting, ¡°I surrender!¡± I could hear his tone of voice, and I could smell him. His smell said he was going to fight.


    I said something back, but it wasn¡¯t really words. It was somewhere between a growl and a scream, and I didn¡¯t stand there as if I was making conversation. I jumped at him. He didn¡¯t stay still either. He was pushing himself up with his right hand, and trying to aim the left arm¡¯s laser at me, but he was slow. Cassie must have hurt his right arm when she zapped him, because he winced as he pushed himself up.


    I landed off to his left, and a little bit behind him. I stepped forward with my right leg, twisted, and ran my hand¡¯s claws across his lower back, ripping his shirt (he¡¯d ditched the trenchcoat), and leaving bloody trails behind. Frustratingly, none of them broke through the skin, not even my extra claw, the one next to my thumb. I could see a line of my poison dripping downward with his blood.


    So, maybe I should have guessed a scrape wouldn¡¯t stop him from the way he didn¡¯t get hurt on the way through the window, but I wasn¡¯t thinking that carefully.


    He turned around with the bluish white laser already running. I know I didn¡¯t think about it then, but later I couldn¡¯t believe it. I¡¯d jumped over him on the way out of the house, but I¡¯d moved behind him by then, so when he was waiving that burning laser around, he was pointing it at his sister¡¯s house where she, her husband, Cassie, and his niece were all watching.


    Not that he¡¯d worry about Cassie, but you¡¯d think he¡¯d worry about his niece at least. I mean, she was in the front room upstairs.


    The beam cut through the pillars holding the porch¡¯s roof up, and it fell in with a crash, but I barely noticed. He wasn¡¯t aiming at the pillars. He was aiming at me. I ducked under the beam, but felt its searing heat across my back. I didn¡¯t even think enough to wonder whether he¡¯d hit me. All I knew was that I wanted the pain to stop.


    Not thinking about anything but that, I threw myself forward under the beam, and punched him in the stomach, throwing him backward. I didn¡¯t stop. I jumped on top of him before he got the chance to aim or fire.


    I grabbed his left arm, sank my claws into the metal of the casing, and ripped it apart. Then I pulled the insides out, ignoring the sparks. He tried to hit me with his right arm, but I heard it move, and knocked it away, hearing him gasp in pain as my fist hit.


    He smelled like fear.

 Haley: Part 10

    When Grandpa McAllister taught us about the Change, he said, ¡°It¡¯s strange to say, but the war helped me with it. I got used to going deep. I got used to coming out. It¡¯s like the torture drugs. Me and the rest of the unit spent a lot of our time behind enemy lines, so they trained us to handle torture. They tried any drugs they knew the Nazis used on us, and then when we got captured, we were ready.


    ¡°The Change is a lot like the drugs. Best thing you can do is get used to it. Go into a forest somewhere, and hunt down a deer, heck, a herd of deer. Do it enough times, and you¡¯ll be able to come out of the deepest parts of the Change at will.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to kill a deer,¡± I told him. "They don''t deserve that."


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. There are too many of them. No one¡¯s going to miss ''em.¡±


    I never tried it. It didn''t feel right. But there, as I balanced on Laser Guy''s chest, having ripped apart his only working laser, I almost wished I had. I needed more control. I needed to be able to think. I''d caught him. What could I do to end the fight now before we destroyed anything else?


    And not all of me was being helpful. Strong parts of me wanted to rip his throat out.


    I tried to remember if Nick put anything in the utility belts that could hold him. Did we have handcuffs? At least, that¡¯s what I tried to think about. Between Laser Guy punching at me, my urge to kill, and trying to pull my head partway out of the change, it was too much. I couldn¡¯t concentrate.


    After a few tries, Laser Guy hit me in the shoulder with the arm Cassie electrocuted, gritting his teeth at the pain. I heard the blow coming, but it was too late. He''d put everything into it, and his arm was moving too quickly to dodge.


    If my costume weren¡¯t using the same material as Nick¡¯s stealth suit, I might have been seriously hurt. The suit hardened when he hit, saving me from a dislocated shoulder, but it didn¡¯t stop him from knocking me sideways across the lawn.


    I reached out, and extended my legs, turning an uncontrolled fall into a cartwheel, and landed on my feet next to the sidewalk.


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    Laser Guy pulled himself up, jettisoned the remains of his lasers with a click, and ran at me shouting. Words still weren¡¯t making much sense, but I definitely understood, ¡°KILL YOU.¡±


    I jumped over him, putting me back in the middle of the lawn. He shouted something else, turning around to charge me.


    He ran at me with his hands out, ready to grab me, and¡­ I didn¡¯t know what, but I didn¡¯t want to find out. I dropped, avoiding his hands, and punched him in the stomach¡ªreally hard. He flew backwards through the air toward a neighbor¡¯s house, hitting an old, light brown van that had been parked in the driveway.


    The windows shattered with the hit, and his body made a man-shaped dent in its side. Trying not to fall, he stuck his hand through one of the broken windows, grabbing the door, and staying upright.


    I didn¡¯t wait. I jumped from the ground to the top of the van, grabbed him by his arms, and threw him backwards over my head, twisting a little so he¡¯d fly toward the street.


    He screamed, crashing through tree branches in the air, and hitting the pavement.


    And do you know what? He still wasn¡¯t unconscious. I jumped off the van, landing in the driveway, and jumping again to land just a few feet from him.


    This time when he saw me land, he didn¡¯t shout. He got up and ran, taking the kind of giant strides that are only possible when you¡¯re capable of lifting tons.


    I don¡¯t know where he thought he was going by that point because he wasn¡¯t trying to hide. He was just running down the street.


    I could still smell fear, and I could hear his heart hammering away. His fear had turned to terror, and I knew it, but I couldn''t put it into words. All I felt was a deep need to chase and catch.


    I ran after him, and then leapt, aiming for his back, and knocking him to the street. Grabbing him with my front claws, I bit into his shoulder, feeling my canines break through his skin, and releasing more poison into him than I¡¯d ever injected into a person.


    He struggled, trying to push himself up from the street, and to pull my arms away from his body. At first, I had to fight to keep him on the ground, but then the poison kicked in. His hands shook too much for him to get a good grip. When he gave up trying that, He found that he couldn''t even push away from the street without having his arms collapse under his own weight.


    Soon he stopped trying, and lay on the road, arms and legs still except for the occasional spasm.


    Police sirens wailed in the distance. Cassie and I had called them before we went in. I came back to myself, suddenly realizing that I¡¯d been so focused on the fight that I hadn¡¯t noticed that practically the whole block was watching from their windows¡ªand even from their porches.


    I could hear their heartbeats, smell their fear, and excitement. It was too much. I got up, crawled up a nearby tree, jumped to the roof of a house, and hid.


    Cassie could talk to the police.

 Haley: Part 11

    I listened from a roof top while the police talked to people, and the specialist paramedics who drove the Box sedated Laser Guy (he¡¯d begun to wake up). Cassie talked to them. Donna told the police everything, even showing them Rod¡¯s room inside her house. They came out carrying the bag of money he¡¯d stolen from Chuck¡¯s Pizza.


    That was nice. It made it feel the whole night of pointless fighting had been worth something. I didn¡¯t think three or four hundred dollars had been worth the risk I might lose control, but he didn¡¯t deserve to get away with it either.


    Daniel appeared before the Box drove off. I didn¡¯t have to see him to recognize him. Everyone on the team who can fly sounds different. Rachel doesn¡¯t make any noise at all, but aside from her, Daniel¡¯s the quietest. He sounds like a soft breeze.


    With the total confidence of someone who¡¯s been trailing his dad around for years, he asked the police if he could step into the Box, and they said yes without question. Nick thinks that the reason so many people listen to Daniel might be an unconscious effect of his powers. He might be right, but it might just be that Daniel expects to be listened to. I¡¯m not sure Nick gets how important personality is.


    I heard him step out a little bit later, and then the Box drove away. The police drove away soon after that.


    I sat on the roof, feeling sore. The adreneline rush of the fight had faded, and all the scrapes and jolts my body had taken since I¡¯d changed hurt. My mind didn¡¯t feel any better than my body. I¡¯d finally had the chance to think. I¡¯d bitten into Laser Guy¡¯s neck. I¡¯d thrown him into the street, and into a van. I¡¯d deliberately slashed him with my claws. With any normal person, I¡¯d have been holding his intestines in my hand¡ªor maybe one of his kidneys.


    I¡¯d been lucky¡ªreally, really lucky¡ªthat he wasn¡¯t normal. He was a freak¡ªlike a lot of people I know. Like me.


    I¡¯d asked Grandpa about coming out of the Change once. I¡¯d wanted to know if you could get stuck in it forever, and just be this animal thing. He¡¯d said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I call it the Change, but it¡¯s not really a change. Doesn¡¯t matter how deep you go. It¡¯ll still be you in the end. You¡¯ll come out of it.¡±


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    I¡¯m sure he meant to be comforting, but it didn¡¯t feel that way as I sat on the roof of somebody¡¯s house, my arms curled around my legs. Because if it was me all the way down, it meant that whatever wanted to rip Laser Guy¡¯s throat out was me. And even if I didn¡¯t like hurting people, and didn¡¯t want to scare anybody, part of me craved it, and enjoyed hunting humans as prey.


    I mean, I knew it wasn¡¯t an outside force, but I didn''t want it to be there, deep down inside me, forever.


    So that¡¯s what I was thinking about when Daniel started talking directly into my head.


    Daniel: Are you okay?


    Me: Can we switch to communicators? I don¡¯t want anyone in my head right now.


    Daniel: This will be short. Cassie¡¯s wondering if you wanted to ride back to HQ with her since you don¡¯t have the car, and I thought you might want to find out what I learned from Rod.


    Me: I guess.


    Daniel: He¡¯s from Syndicate L. He¡¯s not in Syndicate L, obviously, but they gave him the lasers and the glasses.


    Me: For free? They looked expensive.


    Daniel: He wanted to get in good with them, and they were willing to hand out free hardware if he shot one of us.


    Me: That¡¯s sick.


    Daniel: I got the feeling he might not be the only one.


    Me: (a sigh)


    Daniel: Well, at least we¡¯ll be looking now. Anyway, Cassie wants to get going. You know where her motorcycle is.


    I rode back to HQ with Cassie, and after that, we went to the all night Chinese buffet on State Street (but not in costume or anything like that. That would be weird). Cassie was hungry, and when I thought about it, I realised I was hungry too.


    Cassie drove me home on her regular motorcycle, the one Nick fixed up last winter. My parents opened the front door before I even got in the house. They¡¯d been calling me since I left the restaurant, but I¡¯d turned off my normal phone, so I didn¡¯t know. Dad was really angry about how I¡¯d scared them, but everyone calmed down eventually. They always do.


    I texted Nick around eleven-thirty, and he wasn¡¯t busy, so I called him. I told him the whole story, and he listened. He didn¡¯t tell me what I¡¯d done wrong, or start asking for technical details on the lasers (like I¡¯d know them). He asked a few questions, but nothing annoying. In the end, he said, ¡°I wish I¡¯d been there.¡±


    I wished he had too.

 Under 30: Part 1

    The screen darkened, and the credits rolled. Travis brought up the lights, and people stood up to grab more pop. We¡¯d put the cups and 2 liters on the main table next to the computer screens and keyboards. That may not have been the best idea, but nobody had spilled anything yet¡ªexcept on the carpet, and that was no big deal. The original League had last renovated in the 1970''s, so the carpet was olive green shag.


    Heroes League headquarters felt full, and it was, relatively speaking. We had all of the League¡¯s grandchildren (nine of us), most of the former Justice Fist team (except for Sean, Jody, and Dayton), plus my friend Chris, and Cassie¡¯s friend Kayla.


    In short with the sixteen of us, we had more people with powers in the complex than some small countries had in their armed forces.


    We¡¯d just gotten done watching ¡°Mystery Men,¡± and were about to watch another movie. We just didn¡¯t know which one.


    Vaughn pulled a DVD case out, and held it where everyone could see it. ¡°We have to watch this next.¡±


    The first words I noticed on the cover were, ¡°Barely Legal.¡±


    I said, ¡°We are not watching porn.¡±


    Vaughn said, ¡°Nick, look at it.¡± He pointed his finger at the title. It said, ¡°The All Nude Heroes League.¡±


    The picture showed a group picture of heroes that looked like us, and like Justice Fist¡ªif our costumes showed a lot more skin, and our bodies looked a lot more like porn stars.


    Cassie leaned over to grab the case, and take a closer look at it. ¡°This is hilarious. Vaughn¡¯s right. We do have to watch this.¡±


    ¡°No, we really don¡¯t,¡± I said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to either,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°but we might want to sue, and I want to find out what they did with us.¡±


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    Daniel took a breath, and then said, ¡°As anonymous vigilantes, I¡¯d bet we can''t do much, but it¡¯s not like I¡¯d know. My dad¡¯s the lawyer.¡±


    The movie was every bit as bad as you might imagine. The plot, if you could call it a plot, consisted of The Rocket inventing some kind of sexual device, and trying it on everyone he met, except a supervillain stole it, and¡­


    OK. I should not go into this, but here¡¯s actual dialogue from the scene where he finds the supervillain and gets it back:


    Princess Orgasmika: It¡¯s so cold!


    The Rocket: I calculate it will be warm in 2.75 thrusts.


    Scenes like that left Cassie howling with laughter, and she wasn¡¯t the only one. The acting was bad, the lighting too bright, and every scene appeared to have been filmed in the same warehouse.


    It took about twenty minutes because we fast forwarded through most of it, stopping only for the most bizarre images. Suffice it to say that by the end everybody had had sex with everybody, which was probably fine for the average viewer, but kind of disturbing if you knew who was related to whom.


    Once it was over, I decided to clear up something that had been on my mind for most of the movie. ¡°The Rocket suit,¡± I said,¡± does not have an extension for that.¡±


    That started people laughing all over again.


    Cassie said, ¡°Sure, Nick. We believe you. Haley, tell us the truth, does it?¡±


    Haley blushed, and glared at her.


    Cassie grinned. ¡°That¡¯s not a no.¡±


    ¡°It is SO a no.¡±


    ¡°OK,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Sorry, but you know Nick will just have to invent one now.¡±


    ¡°No way,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t think that the one in the movie would be technically possible.¡± I stopped, thought about it some more. ¡°Although,¡± I began.


    The doorbell rang, interrupting me. Marcus peered at one of the computer monitors at the table in the middle of the room. ¡°Pizza delivery.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll get it, I guess.¡± With all but a few former Justice Fist people attending, I¡¯d gotten permission to use official Heroes League money for the pizza. It counted as outreach, right?


    Anyway, people broke into laughter as I walked toward the elevator to the house.


    I wondered why, and then realized the answer--I was walking into a pornographic cliche. The movie¡¯s pizza delivery scene was when Orgasmika stole the device. In real life, I felt confident I¡¯d be able to keep my clothes on.


    Haley hurried after me.


    ¡°You can¡¯t possibly think that¡ª¡± I said.


    ¡°Think what? I thought you might need help with the pizza.¡±


    She had a point. We¡¯d ordered almost as many pizzas as we had people. I¡¯ve often thought that supervillains wouldn¡¯t have to create convoluted plots to figure out a superhero¡¯s secret identity if they only monitored people¡¯s grocery bills.


    Cassie ate at least twice as much as you¡¯d expect from her size, and she wasn¡¯t the only one.

 Under 30: Part 2

    When we got back, we set the pizzas on the table, and people spread out around HQ¡¯s main room, eating, and talking, sitting on the floor in little groups.


    I sat with Haley, Sydney, and Camille which was weird for a whole lot of reasons. To start, Sydney was the sister of Haley¡¯s ex-boyfriend Sean, who neither Haley nor I got along with. Camille was Sydney and Sean¡¯s half-sister due to their late father having some kind of wandering penis problem.


    Eating pizza with them, I found it funny that I hadn¡¯t noticed till we bugged Sean¡¯s house last year. Sydney and Camille looked like sisters¡ªwithin limits, anyway. Like Sean, Sydney had blond hair, pale skin and blue eyes. Her face reminded me of Sean¡¯s¡ªas much as a girl¡¯s could. As a freshman (freshperson?), she¡¯d always looked a little young to me, but very ¡°in-style.¡± If her personality were anything like Sean¡¯s, I could imagine her growing into the sort of popular girl who regarded me as a lower form of life.


    Camille¡¯s face resembled Sydney¡¯s, but with dark hair, and light brown skin. Her mom¡¯s family had immigrated from the Philippines.


    Whatever Sydney might be like in the future, she and Haley were laughing about something then¡ªwhich was cool. Sydney¡¯s dad had only died a couple months ago. She could probably use the distraction. At the same time, I¡¯d begun to wonder if sitting with Haley¡¯s friends had been a mistake. They were gossiping about people I didn¡¯t even know.


    And also, honestly, Camille, Sydney and Haley were all good looking in their own ways, and even if I¡¯d long ago grown comfortable with Haley¡­ Well¡­ It felt weird.


    Camille glanced from Sydney and Haley to me. Was I supposed to make small talk now? My stomach felt really empty. I picked up a piece of pizza from my plate.


    ¡°I never had a hint you were the Rocket.¡± Camille spoke calmly, her voice a little deeper than Haley or Sydney¡¯s.


    ¡°That¡¯s the idea,¡± I said.


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    ¡°I wish it had been our idea. Sean decided that Mr. Beacham was the greatest teacher ever, so we didn¡¯t hide our names.¡±


    She put down her paper plate on what Daniel and I sometimes jokingly called ¡°the Starplate,¡± a ten foot wide circle of greenish-grey metal that lay on top of the carpet. It rose a foot off the floor.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that,¡± I said.


    She¡¯d begun to push herself off the floor, toward the metal. ¡°Do what?¡±


    ¡°Try to sit on that. It moves things to alternate universes, but only what¡¯s on the metal.If you¡¯re half on, half off, not all of you will go.¡±


    She sat down, and hesitated before picking her plate up. ¡°It¡¯s not on, is it?¡±


    ¡°Kind of. It¡¯s plugged into our systems. If someone appears on it, it¡¯ll notify us. I¡¯ve been messing around with it lately, but I don¡¯t totally understand it¡­¡±


    She looked over it. ¡°Where did you get it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The original League found it in Dr. Madness¡¯ lair back in the late 50¡¯s, but Grandpa didn¡¯t think he¡¯d made it, and he¡¯d seen a lot of Dr. Madness¡¯ designs. We¡¯ve got one of the chairs from his War Machine, and some of his gear--the stuff he actually used to drive people crazy. Really, the original League kept anything they didn¡¯t feel comfortable turning over to the police.¡±


    Gesturing to the pile of boxes, the captured weapons in trophy cases that were scattered around the room and hanging on the walls, she smiled and said, ¡°They didn¡¯t have much confidence in the police at all.¡±


    ¡°I guess not.¡±


    ¡°Does all of it work?¡±


    ¡°No, but you never know what you might need, so a lot of them can be made useful.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± She pointed at a gun hanging on the wall, wide barreled and decorated with surreal, almost obscene combinations of the Roman symbols for Mars and Venus. ¡°How about that one?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that works. It¡¯s a little embarrassing really.¡± As I said that, I realised that Haley and Sydney had stopped talking and started listening themselves.


    ¡°And¡­¡± Haley said, drawing the word out into two syllables.


    ¡°OK. Do you remember Ice Queen? She was a mad scientist with some kind of coldness theme? Active in the 60''s and 70''s? Anyway, she went to feminist consciousness raising meetings, and I guess she got really excited about them. Normal women who got excited about women''s rights went off and demonstrated, and tried to change the world, or something. She somehow got it in her head that the only way to make the government see the female perspective was to transform all the men into women. That¡¯s what it does. I don¡¯t know what its real name is, but I call it the Boy/Girl Gun.¡±


    Haley stared at the gun for a little while, and then looked back at me. ¡°I am so glad the people who made that movie have no idea what''s really down here.¡±

 Under 30: Part 3

    ¡°Oh yuck.¡± Sydney crinkled her nose. ¡°I didn¡¯t think that movie could have been worse, but that¡¯s worse.¡±


    Camille smiled a little as Sydney talked, but addressed me, ¡°You made it sound like this was embarrassing for you. Was it? Come on, you can tell us.¡±


    ¡°OK. My grandpa told me what it did when I was twelve, and I tried it on my family¡¯s cat. I mean, who was going to notice? We¡¯d already had him neutered. Except there were a few things I didn¡¯t know. One thing was that the genes that make a cat¡¯s fur a particular color show themselves differently in each gender, so his fur started to change color. He¡¯s normally orange, but female cats aren¡¯t generally orange¡ª¡±


    Haley asked, ¡°What color did he turn into?¡± She used the same, slightly disbelieving voice she used when asking things like how many days in a row I¡¯d worn a pair of jeans.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think there might have been some brown. Anyway, I didn¡¯t notice right away because it takes a little while for fur to grow out. That matters because of the other thing I didn¡¯t know. The person¡¯s normal shape starts trying to reassert itself immediately, and you get back to normal somewhere between three months and a year. I haven¡¯t looked into why it works that way¡­


    ¡°Anyhow, by the time I noticed the new colors starting to show, my mom also noticed, and took him to the vet.¡±


    ¡°Oh, no,¡± Haley muttered.


    ¡°Yeah, it was a mess. The vet noticed that his¡­ uh¡­¡± Balls? No. Nutsack? Definitely not. ¡°¡­ testicles were growing back. However it works, things get put back the way they¡¯re supposed to be, not the way they¡¯ve been changed to. The vet freaked out. He¡¯d just removed them a year ago, and he remembered doing it. He called people, took pictures, and he was going to write a paper on it. He actually asked my mom if he could neuter the cat again to find out if everything would grow back a second time. Daniel¡¯s dad or grandfather ended up editing memories of everyone involved. It was horrible.¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°Is that why the cat hates you?¡±


    ¡°There may have been a couple other experiments. Nothing that hurt him. Just stuff he didn¡¯t like.¡±


    Sydney made a face. ¡°What kind of experiments?¡±


    Oh great. Now I was a cat torturer.


    ¡°Nothing bad,¡± I began, and then Vaughn interrupted me from the closer to the screen.


    ¡°Hey everybody, I¡¯m starting the next movie. It¡¯s James Dean in ¡®Rebel Without a Cause.¡¯¡±


    Cassie, sitting next to Jaclyn and Travis, said, ¡°That movie¡¯s really old.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but I see it mentioned all over. It¡¯s one of those classic teen rebellion movies, you know?¡±


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    ¡°It¡¯s from 1950 what?¡± Cassie still didn¡¯t sound interested.


    ¡°Oh come on,¡± Travis said, ¡°let¡¯s get on with it. It can¡¯t be any worse than some of the other movies we¡¯ve watched. Look, we watched Titanic.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with Titanic?¡±


    Travis shrugged. ¡°What¡¯s not? It¡¯s not bad if your ideal guy is someone too dumb to save both of you.¡±


    Daniel, who was grabbing pizza off the table, said, ¡°Not to mention the historical inaccuracies.¡±


    ¡°Oh, let¡¯s not go into that again,¡± Rachel said. She¡¯d sat down next to Lucas, Shannon, Julie, and Jaclyn.


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°We all get to choose. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll like something next week.¡±


    Cassie didn¡¯t look convinced, but she didn¡¯t argue any more. Vaughn dimmed the lights and started the movie.


    * * *


    By the time the movie ended, it was after midnight. Almost everybody left in small groups, still talking to each other.


    A few of us stayed to clean up and shut everything down¡ªVaughn, Jaclyn, Haley and I. Jaclyn convinced us set up a rotating schedule. I had no complaints about that because as the owner of HQ, I was the guy most likely to get stuck with the mess.


    Unlike in TV shows, Jaclyn, our resident speedster, didn¡¯t pick up everything superfast by herself. She made sure everyone did their fair share. Haley and I ended up together at the main table, picking up the pizza boxes.


    Haley placed a fifth box on top of the four she¡¯d already picked up. ¡°How do you think it went?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Everybody seemed to have a good time.¡±


    ¡°I think so. I think we ought to invite them again.¡±


    ¡°Everybody?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ Not Sean. And if we don¡¯t invite Sean, we can¡¯t invite Jody or Dayton because they¡¯ll bring him.¡±


    ¡°How did you manage to invite Sydney without Sean?¡±


    ¡°Nick, they¡¯re barely speaking to each other. That¡¯s why I invited her. He¡¯s angry because she¡¯s hanging around Camille.¡±


    ¡°Why? She was in Justice Fist too.¡±


    ¡°Because he doesn¡¯t believe Camille¡¯s his sister. He says she¡¯s ruining his dad¡¯s good name.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s messed up. All he has to do is look at them.¡±


    ¡°I know. His dad doesn¡¯t have a good name. Even when Sean and I were dating, I could tell he was¡­ with more women than just Sean¡¯s mom.¡±


    ¡°Really? Did you tell anybody?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to get involved.¡± She bit her lip. ¡°He idolised his dad.¡±


    We¡¯d made it to the kitchen while we were talking, and put the leftover pizza into the refridgerator and thrown away the empty boxes.


    Jaclyn appeared in the doorway as we finished. ¡°I think we¡¯re done. Vaughn¡¯s going around the room looking for leftover cups.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll start turning out the lights¡ª¡±


    I didn¡¯t get to finish my sentence. Vaughn shouted, ¡°Hey, you¡¯d better come out here. This looks bad.¡±


    Jaclyn practically disappeared. Haley and I followed, joining Vaughn and Jaclyn at one of the trophy cases near the corner of the room. Made out of steel reinforced concrete, it looked sturdier than the others.


    Evil Beatnik''s ring was gone, but the bulletproof glass case covering the top hadn¡¯t been broken. Unfortunately, everything inside had been destroyed. The League had placed the melted ring in the middle of a magical circle, but where normal circles were chalk, this one was steel. Except now the circle had been melted into a circle of grey goo. So even if we recovered the ring, we didn''t have anywhere to keep it.


    Vaughn turned away from the trophy case toward me. ¡°What was in here?¡±


    ¡°Evil Beatnik¡¯s ring. It shouldn¡¯t work anymore. They melted it.¡±


    Jaclyn peered at the mess inside the glass. ¡°Then why¡¯d they put it inside all this?¡± She gestured at the glass and concrete.


    ¡°Well, the ring¡¯s basically him. The original League melted it so no one could put it on, but the personality¡¯s still there, just inaccessible.¡±


    ¡°Maybe someone stole it,¡± Vaughn said.


    Haley started talking almost before Vaughn stopped. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t do that. I was with Camille and Sydney the whole time.¡±


    With everyone else, I wondered about Shannon, Julie, and Lucas.

 Under 30: Part 4

    In my head, I tried to reconstruct the crime. Lucas was strong, invulnerable, and shot lightning. He had the exact same powers as his and Vaughn¡¯s grandfather, the original Red Lightning. I couldn¡¯t think of a way for him to steal the ring quietly, and without shattering the glass.


    Shannon controlled darkness. Unless her ability to control darkness also allowed her to control light, I couldn¡¯t think of a way for her to get at the ring. If it did, she could have melted the metal, but I doubted she could get past the glass either.


    Besides, both Shannon and Lucas were nice. I¡¯d never seen any reason they¡¯d want to steal a magic ring. They¡¯d seemed happy enough to be out of the hero business.


    Julie? Even before she¡¯d gotten powers, she¡¯d shared a picture of Haley and I with a lot of people in both of our schools along with snarky commentary. That just made her a jerk, however. On the other hand, her power was to use her voice to command people. In theory, she could have commanded Lucas to pick up the bulletproof glass, and commanded Shannon to melt the metal circle by making a laser.


    I wasn¡¯t convinced she could have done it without anyone noticing, but who could know that for sure?


    So I had one person with the means, but the motive? I had no idea. Plus, if I wanted to be thorough, I shouldn¡¯t stop with Julie. I needed to consider Camille and Sydney as well as our team, but I didn¡¯t. Instead, I decided to share my thoughts with everyone else.


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°I wasn¡¯t with Shannon and Julie all night, but I did talk with them a lot, and I don¡¯t remember any time where she could have done that. I think we would have noticed a laser or a lightning bolt in any case.¡±


    ¡°Even if no one else did, I would have,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Besides Lucas was hitting on Rachel all night, he didn¡¯t have time.¡±


    ¡°He was?¡± I hadn¡¯t noticed. I¡¯d seen them talking a couple times. Had she mentioned that her last relationship hadn¡¯t been with a guy? It seemed like the kind of thing he might want to know. On the other hand, she¡¯d told me it was an experiment, and it hadn¡¯t ended well, so¡­


    It was none of my business anyway.


    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°He barely left her alone, but not in a stalker-ish way. He was actually pretty smooth. You saw them leave together, right?¡±


    I mentally digested that.


    Vaughn grinned. ¡°You didn¡¯t notice at all, did you? Too busy with your harem.¡±


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    ¡°Harem?¡± Haley said. ¡°Sydney and Camille are my friends.¡±


    ¡°And they¡¯re both hot,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Camille¡¯s smoking hot, and Sydney¡¯s on her way. Give her a couple years. I thought about coming over there a couple different times, but it never quite seemed natural.¡±


    Haley¡¯s mouth tightened. ¡°Could you stay away from Sydney? Her dad just died, and Sean¡¯s being a total ass to her. I¡¯m worried she could make a big mistake.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re worried I¡¯ll be the mistake?¡±


    ¡°No. She¡¯s really fragile right now. Dating anybody would be a mistake. Vaughn, she was close enough that when her dad got shot, some of his blood got on her clothes. And her mom¡¯s not doing well either. Getting her to let Sydney come was awful. She kept on asking how old everybody was, and if there was going to be drinking, and if any parents would be around and what number she could call to check on us¡­ I wanted to scream. Right now, she trusts me. I don¡¯t want anyone to mess that up.¡±


    ¡°You think I¡¯ll mess that up?¡±


    ¡°Vaughn¡­¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. I get psycho moms. I¡¯ve got one of my own.¡±


    He didn¡¯t sound angry to me, but he still sighed. Haley glanced at me. Was she looking for approval? Forgiveness? I wasn¡¯t sure.


    Jaclyn cleared her throat. ¡°Hey, everybody. I think we need to focus on Evil Beatnik. We need to find out what he can do, and what he wants to do. Well, unless Nick knows.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Then we¡¯d better start checking the old League¡¯s files.¡±


    ¡°Tonight?¡± I asked. Haley and I had talked about doing something afterward, and even if we hadn¡¯t, sleep sounded better than digging through file cabinets in the middle of the night.


    ¡°Yes, tonight. The sooner the better. What if we can still catch him?¡±


    And so, that¡¯s how we ended up staying awake till two in the morning. Haley and Vaughn dug through the file cabinets. We had handwritten records starting in the early 1950¡¯s up through the early 80¡¯s plus a few post-retirement missions that I¡¯d never heard of until Vaughn started shouting about them.


    I delved into the computer version of the records. Grandpa had started transferring the records to text files, but he''d never finished. Still, he¡¯d put in a lot of records, and I could search all of them at once. Plus, I checked online, in the FBI¡¯s records, and emailed Isaac Lim.


    I¡¯d have called him, but I didn¡¯t want to take the risk that he might answer his phone. Email put off telling to him in person that we¡¯d accidentally released a malevolent magical entity.


    Slightly before two, Jaclyn, Vaughn and Haley carried files back to the computer table, and sat down.


    ¡°I called my grandfather,¡± Jaclyn said.


    ¡°This late?¡± Haley leaned on the table, holding her head up with her hand.


    ¡°He was up. He likes to joke that staying up late is his other superpower.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, ¡°so what did he say about Evil Beatnik?¡±


    ¡°Well, not much at first. He said he hadn¡¯t even liked normal beatniks. To him, they seemed like a bunch of middle class white kids who wanted to be black, or whatever they imagined blacks were like. They''d see him at the bus stop, and ask if he knew where to buy marijauna. He didn¡¯t. He was using the G.I. Bill to train as a civil engineer.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°I never imagined civil engineers as big partiers. Did he ever say anything about Evil Beatnik? Because your grandpa was the guy who wrote most of the reports on him.¡±


    ¡°It was hard to make him stop. I should have asked him about this stuff years ago, and recorded it¡­ Did the reports say that Evil Beatnik was a spirit of chaos?¡±

 Under 30: Part 5

    ¡°Yeah. That was in one of their last reports.¡± Vaughn said. ¡°The one where they finally caught him. So what does ¡®spirit of chaos¡¯ mean exactly? Chaos powers? I can cause chaos without powers. Just ask my mom.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Grandpa told me he could make things happen, like just about anything happen, but the more it violated reality, the harder it was.¡±


    ¡°OK,¡± I said,¡±so what does he want?¡±


    ¡°That was in one of the early reports,¡± Haley said. ¡±The one where they first faced him. It seems like he¡­ feeds off of kids rebelling? In the report, they found him leading some kind of secret poetry club at the high school. That¡¯s a lame excuse of a rebellion even for the 1950¡¯s. I almost hope he was sneaking them beer.¡±


    ¡°Right, I read the part about the secret poetry club, but missed where they found out what he wanted.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Vaughn looked up from the pile of folders on the table. ¡°That¡¯s got to be how he got free. It¡¯s James Dean¡­ ¡®Rebel Without a Cause¡¯, right?¡±


    He paused, thought for a moment. ¡°Well, crap. I chose that movie.¡±


    ¡°One movie?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know how magic works, but I think he¡¯d need more than that.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Vaughn said, his voice getting louder, ¡°he¡¯s had more than that. Think about it. Everyone¡¯s been hiding this from their parents except Cassie and Daniel, and I¡¯m sure they haven¡¯t been telling them everything. My mom knows because she figured it out, but I¡¯ve been hiding a lot. So think little bits of rebellion all year¡ªfighting against the Mayor, the National Guard, plus hiding the Power Impregnator when you knew Isaac Lim wanted it, and all the adults we fought¡­ That¡¯s got to count.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re figuring tonight pushed him over the edge?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°unless he broke out earlier.¡±


    My stomach sank. ¡°I don¡¯t even want to think about that. The last time I know he was here was when Haley and I went to the prom, but that¡¯s not exactly an act of rebellion.¡±


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    Haley said. ¡°No, that¡¯s normal, but when I think about everything we did¡­ They should have stored him in an old people¡¯s home.¡±


    ¡°Yeah well,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°for the last thirty years HQ¡¯s basically been an old people¡¯s home. I think they mostly used it to watch sports on Monday nights. A bunch of old guys drinking beer and watching football isn¡¯t the kind of rebellion he needs.¡±


    ¡°Grandpa and I were here a lot,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but the closest you got to rebelling was probably handing your grandpa the wrong wrench.¡±


    ¡°That wouldn¡¯t have been rebellion. That would have been a mistake.¡±


    Vaughn shrugged. ¡°The point stands.¡±


    I decided to ignore the point. ¡°Alright, so if we want to catch him, we need to find a bunch of kids rebelling against society or something? Where are we going to find that in Grand Lake?¡±


    ¡°No kidding,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°The guy¡¯d be better off in Ann Arbor. They protest anything there. Rachel told me once that she¡¯d seen someone in the middle of campus protesting that there wasn¡¯t anybody protesting anything. Hey, you know what he should do if he wants to eat? Go to the Middle East.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I read that he was U.S. only somehow.¡±


    At the same time, Jaclyn said, ¡°he can¡¯t. He¡¯s just a spirit right? Grandpa said he needs a person to possess. We¡¯d notice if one of us just up and left.¡±


    That sounded wrong to me, but I couldn¡¯t say why. I¡¯d read that he didn¡¯t always need a body somewhere. I checked my monitor to find the spot.


    At the same time, Haley shuffled through the papers before stopping halfway down the pile, and said, ¡°No¡­ One of the reports said that he could move around without a person for a little while. He needs to find someone who¡¯s,¡° she checked the page, ¡°cool, uh¡­ anti-establishment, and under thirty.¡± She looked up from the paper. ¡°That¡¯s what it says.¡±


    Jaclyn stared at the paper in Haley¡¯s hands. ¡°I guess we¡¯d better go home. One way or another, he could be anywhere in the city by now. From what my grandfather told me on the phone, we¡¯d see something different if one of us took the ring, and everyone looked normal when they left. So no one had him. Plus, he might have escaped tonight, but he might have disappeared months ago. Let¡¯s work on this tomorrow.¡±


    * * *


    I¡¯d expected to sleep in the next morning, but I didn¡¯t get to. My cellphone and my League phone started ringing. When they stopped, the landline phone in the hall started.


    I opened my eyes. My alarm clock showed 7:23 am.


    From the hall, my mom said, ¡°Nick, someone named Kayla¡¯s on the phone. Do you know her?¡±


    I got out of bed, stumbled to the door, and opened it. ¡°Yes. She¡¯s a friend of Cassie¡¯s.¡±


    Mom handed me the phone.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Kayla said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry to call this early, but is it possible to send LSD through air vents? Because everyone on News 10 sounds really weird this morning.¡±

 Under 30: Part 6

    Taking the phone, I ran down to the family room, and turned on the television. Dad frowned at me from the counter where he was eating cereal. ¡°It¡¯s a little early for television¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, Dad, this is different.¡± I still had the phone in my hand. ¡°You said News 10?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± Kayla replied.


    I didn¡¯t watch TV in the morning, mostly because I wasn¡¯t up, but I knew that normally News 10 gave a little local news and weather before cutting over to ¡°The Today Show¡± for most of each hour.


    It wasn¡¯t cutting over. Terry Smith, the Very Square-Jawed male anchor sat at the desk with DebbieLynn Vonk, the Very Beautiful, Blonde, female anchor.


    They were laughing as I turned on the TV, and they kept on laughing for a long time. Too long. As in, ¡°How much longer are they going to show these people laughing,¡± long.


    DebbieLynn said, ¡°You are so funny, Terry. Tell another joke.¡±


    ¡°Give me a second, I¡¯m hungry. Hey Matt,¡± he gestured to someone offscreen. ¡°You want to get me something from the vending machine? How about Funions? I like Funions.¡±


    A man¡¯s voice replied. I couldn¡¯t understand it.


    ¡°No Funions? How about the donuts in the break room? Grab me the cherry, cheese danish. You got that? Great.¡±


    ¡°Terry,¡± DebbieLynn said.


    ¡°And get something for Debbie too, right?¡±


    More gibberish came from off screen.


    ¡°You betcha Matt. While you¡¯re gone for the donuts, I¡¯ll recite some poetry.¡±


    Terry, the Very Tanned Anchor, had never struck me as the kind of guy who memorized poetry, and he confirmed my impression the moment he resumed talking.


    ¡°There once was a man from Nantucket,¡± he began.


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    My dad had turned away from the counter and his cereal. ¡°What in the world are you watching?¡±


    ¡°Career suicide, I think, but it¡¯s supposed to be the news.¡±


    Meanwhile, DebbieLynn, the Somewhat Botoxed Anchor, stopped laughing, knocking her chair over as she backed away from the desk, and said, ¡°Terry, stop!¡±


    From offscreen, female voice snarled, ¡°Listen to her, Terry.¡±


    The voice could have sounded more impressive if it had been deeper or older. High pitched and clear, it made me think more of the girls¡¯ basketball team than anything else.


    The camera twisted around to show two teenaged girls in blue and white costumes, carrying huge guns. The guns¡¯ barrels were solid metal.


    One girl¡¯s costume was mostly white with jagged blue lines that suggested ice. The other costume was mostly blue with white lines. The way the bulges on their arms and legs didn¡¯t quite move like muscles told me they were armor, and probably had at least as much power behind them as the stealth suit.


    They''d need the strength to carry guns that big.


    ¡°We¡¯re the Ice Twins. I¡¯m White. She¡¯s Blue, and we¡¯re here with a message for the Heroes League.¡±


    The camera zoomed out a little, and I noticed that they really had come with friends. A tall woman who could have easily passed as a bodybuilder stood behind them. She wore a red, white, and blue costume with a flag on her chest, but not the U.S. Flag, the Confederate flag.


    Two figures stood next to her¡ªa boy who didn¡¯t look like he could be more than twelve, and a man in a silvery suit that shimmered, flickering between other colors. He held a bulbous gun that connected to his suit with a hose. It was hard to tell with the mask over his mouth, but I guessed he might be in his twenties.


    Oh, and the twelve year old? He wore a black and red costume, and his hands and feet were on fire.


    White continued to talk.


    ¡°Wondering who we are? Our grandparents were the greatest supervillains the original League ever faced, and we¡¯re here to burn this town!¡±


    Blue, in a quiet voice asked, ¡°We¡¯re not actually here to burn the city, are we? I thought we were going to rob a bank.¡±


    White continued as if she hadn¡¯t heard anything. ¡°Alone, each of our grandparents nearly destroyed the League. Together we¡¯ll destroy you all, and rule with an iron fist! We¡¯ve got Dixie Supergirl, who¡¯s as powerful as Dixie Superman ever was. We¡¯ve got Destruction Boy, who¡¯s ready to revenge the death of Destruction Lord. Annnd¡­ a new Dr. Madness, one that¡¯s every bit as powerful and as insane as the old! Hide in your bunker if you want, but we will find you, and when we do¡ª¡±


    The man in the silvery suit cleared his throat. ¡°I¡¯m Mr. Madness,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t have a Ph.d.¡±


    ¡°Do you seriously think someone¡¯s going to check?¡±


    ¡°My grandfather had a Ph.d. I. DO. NOT.¡± Mr. Madness was practically shouting.


    And then the screen went completely dark.


    I stared at it, reflecting on how incredibly improbable it must be that they would appear the day after Evil Beatnik escaped from HQ.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Kayla said over the phone. ¡°I just sent everybody on the system a red.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°You do that.¡±

 Under 30: Part 7

    Jaclyn and Marcus had arrived first. I arrived second¡ªbut only because I grabbed the stealth suit instead of the full Rocket armor.


    So instead of appearing almost knight-like in shining gold armor, I appeared in armor that looked like a black leather jacket with matching pants, and gray helmet. Plus, I¡¯d worked out a way to hang my guitar next to the rocketpack on my back in a way that felt comfortable. Granted, it still looked like a guitar hero controller, but it was useful.


    Ambulances, police cars, and a Metahuman Containment Cage (generally called ¡°boxes¡± because of their shape) pulled into the parking lot as I landed.


    Finding that Jaclyn had beat me to the scene didn¡¯t surprise me. Finding Marcus with her did. She could run at Mach one, and she lived within the city limits. Marcus could shapeshift, and his family lived out in the suburbs.


    I landed in the parking lot next to them. The stealth suit''s cooling system fought the heat. It was already above ninety degrees.


    Jaclyn¡¯s purple costume stood out next to the brick building, but it worked for her. A person with lighter skin would have looked stupid in the same shade.


    ¡°They¡¯re gone,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Not that I¡¯m surprised.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s why the revolution won¡¯t be televised,¡± Marcus said. ¡°It ruins the surprise.¡±


    I turned to Marcus, ¡°I¡¯ve always wondered what revolution people are talking about when they say that. Where does that come from anyway?¡±


    Marcus shrugged. ¡°No idea. I¡¯ve only ever heard it as a joke.¡±


    ¡°Uh... How''d you get here already? You''re usually close to last.¡±


    He checked both ways before he talked, and spoke softly. ¡°I hitched a ride with Accelerando. My parents are on vacation for a week¡ªjust the two of them¡ªso I¡¯m staying with her.¡±


    Which made sense. They were cousins, and with both of her older brothers out of college and living in Atlanta, they had the space.


    Even though Travis and Haley were also his cousins (on his dad¡¯s side), they were leaving today for a family vacation, so he couldn¡¯t stay there.


    ¡°Ok. So do you know anything about what happened inside after the signal cut off?¡±


    Marcus shook his head.


    Jaclyn said, ¡°I overheard the paramedics. It sounds like everyone¡¯s okay, but a little disoriented. They think someone piped gas into the building.¡±


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    ¡°That sounds like Dr. Madness,¡± I said. ¡°He started out with a madness gas, and moved on to other effects. Later on, he made devices that did the same thing telepathically. I wonder if the new one doesn¡¯t have telepathy, or if the gas covered a wider area?¡±


    ¡°Mr. Madness,¡± Marcus said. ¡°Unless you want to make him angry... What do you suppose is up with that?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe he flunked out of his doctoral program and got stuck with a masters?¡±


    A gust of wind blew, and I stumbled, but didn¡¯t fall. Vaughn walked down the sidewalk toward us in a glossy, black costume that still made me think more of bondage gear than superheroes.


    ¡°Sorry everybody, I should have landed further away. What were you guys talking about?¡±


    We told him.


    ¡°You know, Master Madness wouldn¡¯t have been a bad name for a supervillain, but you know what would be better? If he did that, and his real last name was Bates. That¡¯d be hilarious.¡±


    Jaclyn rolled her eyes. ¡°Hey Rocket, what about the Mystic?¡±


    ¡°Remember his vacation? He¡¯s leaving today too.¡± Daniel¡¯s dad had met his mom during his stint in military intelligence. Every year they went to Israel for a couple weeks in the summer.


    ¡°Oh. That¡¯s inconvenient.¡± She looked at Vaughn. ¡°Captain Commando?¡±


    ¡°On her way, but she¡¯ll be leaving for vacation tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t she already go on vacation?¡±


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t a vacation,¡± Vaughn said.


    Cassie¡¯d gone to Washington for a checkup by the scientists who¡¯d changed her.


    ¡°Ghost?¡± Jaclyn asked.


    In my rush, I¡¯d forgotten to wake Rachel up. Her League phone''s red alert should have done it though.


    ¡°Sorry. She¡¯s probably uh¡­ floating here at maximum speed,¡±¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t very fast.


    ¡°So aside from Ghost, this is all of us for the next two weeks. Huh.¡±


    I thought about that, and probably so did everyone else. Another funny coincidence. Of course, these trips had been planned for months so Evil Beatnik couldn''t have just changed everyone''s plans. In Daniel¡¯s case, his family went almost the same time every year. So, assuming that Evil Beatnik had only escaped last night, he didn¡¯t have to use chaos powers to warp reality. All he had to do was listen to us discuss our vacation plans for the summer, and time his escape to coincide.


    Of course, Evil Beatnik could theoretically have used his powers to influence our vacation dates months ago. That would argue for more planning than I wanted to think a chaos spirit did.


    As we stood there in silence, paramedics pushed Terry Smith, News 10''s anchor, past us on a stretcher.


    "The rain in plain falls mainly on the Spain," he said, conversationally.


    Vaughn watched as they loaded him into the ambulance, ¡°We could call people from Justice Fist.¡±


    ¡°No!¡± Jaclyn and I said the word simultaneously. I¡¯m not sure who was louder.


    ¡°Look,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°I like what I¡¯ve seen of some of them, but I don¡¯t trust them enough to put my life in their hands.¡±


    ¡°Of all of us,¡± Marcus said, ¡°you¡¯re the one who least needs to worry about that.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯d trust Sydney and Camille.¡±


    Jaclyn made a face. ¡°Outside of comic books, being ¡®smoking hot¡¯ is not a good enough reason to put someone on the team.¡±


    * * *


    We looked for the rest of Friday without finding them. I heard later that Cassie volunteered to stay instead of going on vacation with her mom, but Vaughn apparently told her to go¡ªwe had it covered. And so she went.


    On Saturday afternoon, the Ice Twins¡¯ team robbed three banks simultaneously. Dixie Supergirl ripped the door off her bank¡¯s vault. At another, White froze the security guards while Blue made the vault¡¯s door cold enough that it shattered with a punch. Destruction Boy melted anything that got in his way.


    The police didn¡¯t come. They were too busy hallucinating purple rabbits.

 Under 30: Part 8

    In the face of mounting embarrassment, what was left of the League arranged to meet in HQ on Saturday evening. Rachel and I arrived before everyone else. She¡¯d gone to an open mike night on Friday, so this was the first chance we¡¯d had to talk in two days.


    We sat down at the table in the main room, and waited.


    ¡°I completely forgot to tell you about the Ice Twins yesterday morning,¡± I said. ¡°Sorry.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t apologise. I needed the sleep. I stayed at Lucas¡¯ house until four in the morning.¡±


    ¡°Whoa.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t start. It got weird. We were flirting during the movies, and when we left, the idea that we¡¯d go to his place and have sex seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Then once we got there, I started thinking. I never have sex on the first date, and I definitely don¡¯t have sex after talking to a guy for maybe forty minutes between movies. So we didn¡¯t, but something strange was going on.¡±


    ¡°Vaughn said Lucas was pretty smooth.¡±


    ¡°Not that smooth. Smoother than a high school boy, yes. And definitely smoother than ¡®Hey Haley, you wanna make out in space?¡¯¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that, and how did you know about it anyway?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not as if Haley and I never see each other. You¡¯re lucky she thought it was funny. I¡¯d have been out of there so quickly¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d hope, because that would be incest.¡±


    Rachel frowned, and tapped the table with her finger. ¡°Forget I said it. My point was if romance were a stairway to the second floor, ideas like that take you down a ladder to the basement of a completely different house.¡±


    I didn¡¯t say anything for a little while. ¡°Well, anyway, I¡¯ve got a theory about uh¡­ Lucas. If Evil Beatnik feeds off rebellion, and he can possess people, maybe he can influence people who he doesn¡¯t possess? So anyone under thirty would be vulnerable, but you might be more vulnerable than me because you¡¯re probably more cool¡ª¡±


    ¡°God, I hope so.¡±


    ¡°¡ªand you¡¯re closer to whatever ¡®anti-establishment¡¯ is than I am. Half your clothes are black, and you ignored a lot of rules even before this year.¡±


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    ¡°And because of that, he could feed off Lucas and me if we had sex?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s my theory.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ disgusting. So where are you getting all this, and how did the original League stop him?¡±


    I showed her the files, and we read until everybody else showed up.


    * * *


    ¡°I think Marcus is the only one who hasn¡¯t read through Evil Beatnik¡¯s files now,¡± Jaclyn said.


    Marcus looked up from a folder filled with yellowed paper. ¡°Give me a minute. You don¡¯t seriously expect me to read all this at once.¡±


    ¡°No, but you need to know it.¡± Pausing for a breath, she said, ¡°And that¡¯s not all. We need to pull files on the Ice Twins¡¯ whole team.¡±


    Technically, we didn¡¯t have files on any of them. The originals were gone. What we had might be close, or it might be totally wrong if they were good with technology, or didn¡¯t have quite the same powers as their namesakes¡­


    But whatever. We pulled the files on Ice Queen, Dr. Madness, Destruction Lord, and Dixie Superman anyway. I checked the computer records half-heartedly, and as expected, they didn¡¯t have much by comparison to the manila folders in the file cabinets.


    We had thick piles of records of each person, thicker for Ice Queen and Dr. Madness because Grandpa included information about their inventions, and sometimes schematics. We pulled additional folders for ¡°Fire and Ice,¡± the team Ice Queen and Destruction Lord founded, and more yet for ¡°The Rebels,¡± Dixie Superman¡¯s followers.


    People put names on a list as they ran across them, and I checked the FBI database or Double V¡¯s website.


    ¡°All ¡®The Rebels¡¯ are dead or in old age homes. The only living member of ¡®Fire and Ice¡¯ is Johnny Destruction, and no one knows where he is. Ice Queen died last year in Tampa, Florida. Destruction Lord died when the original League ran him down in Cleveland in the 70¡¯s. Um¡­ The FBI database corroborates our files and Double V¡¯s in saying that Dixie Superman hasn¡¯t been seen since 1981. So that¡¯s everybody.¡±


    Jaclyn looked up from her pile of paper. ¡°What about their kids or grandchildren?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing about any of them taking up the family business.¡±


    Rachel shook her head. ¡°Is there anything about any of them going missing?¡±


    ¡°Not that I can find so far, but I might not be looking in the right database.¡±


    Marcus put Evil Beatnik¡¯s folder back on the table. ¡°In comics, this legacy nemesis thing is whole lot more fun. They show up, do something horrible to your family, and then you go out, and stop them. Look, in Starman, the Mist reappears, his son shoots the current Starman, and then all kinds of craziness happens. With us, the Ice Twins are robbing banks, and we¡¯re sitting in the basement watching Nick check who died on the internet.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°Yeah, we ought to go out, and try to find them.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°I know, but if we want to win, we¡¯d better know what we¡¯re facing, and since no one¡¯s ever heard of them, we have to look here.¡±


    Rachel nodded. ¡°Isn¡¯t it interesting that no one¡¯s ever heard of them?¡±


    ¡°I hope you¡¯re not suggesting they¡¯re from an alternate universe,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Because that would suck.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m thinking they don¡¯t do this normally. Evil Beatnik influenced them somehow, and he might be influencing us.¡±

 Under 30: Part 9

    Vaughn leaned back from the table and thought about it. ¡°I can¡¯t think of a single way I¡¯ve been influenced.¡±


    ¡°Not noticing is the whole point of influencing somebody,¡± Rachel began.


    I interrupted her.


    ¡°My theory goes like this. Evil Beatnik can influence people that might be vulnerable to possession. We¡¯re all under thirty, but those of us who are anti-authority, and who are, or at least try to be cool, are most vulnerable.


    ¡°Rachel knows he¡¯s influenced her to do at least one thing, and if you think about it, she fits the profile. My guess is that of everyone else, Vaughn¡¯s the most vulnerable.¡±


    ¡°What happened to Rachel?¡± Vaughn spoke more loudly than normal. From the expression on his face, I doubted he believed me.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about it,¡± Rachel said. ¡°Let¡¯s just say I could tell it wasn¡¯t me behind what I wanted to do.¡±


    Vaughn frowned for a second, and then his eyes widened.


    ¡°You fucked Lucas? That ought to clear up a few worries. He¡¯s dated a little, but people¡¯ve always wondered if he was gay.¡±


    ¡°I did not fuck Lucas. I almost fucked Lucas, and if he¡¯s not interested in women, he does a great imitation.¡±


    ¡°Wait, you blueballed him? That¡¯s hilarious.¡±


    ¡°Can we move this conversation away from my sex life, and back to Evil Beatnik?¡±


    ¡°Seconded,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°If there¡¯s a line between what we need to know, and too much information, we just went over it.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°What we know about him from the reports is he¡¯s not a killer or anything. All he wants is confusion. So he gathers people up and uses them to create confusion by breaking rules, screwing up how society works, and sometimes by taking over policital protests.¡±


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Marcus picked up the reports again. ¡°Don¡¯t forget the sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Well, except in the ¡®50¡¯s. Then it was sex, drugs, and jazz. Did you notice that he took over bands and musicians a lot?¡±


    ¡°That did happen a few times,¡± I said.


    Marcus held up his hand with fingers outstretched. ¡°Five times in what I¡¯ve read so far.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not saying we should leave him alone, but if he¡¯s the spirit of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, that¡¯s not so bad. Well, except for the drugs, I guess, but political protests? They¡¯re good, right? Sometimes that¡¯s the only way things change.¡±


    Jaclyn spoke practically the second he stopped talking. ¡°My grandpa said you could always tell the protests Evil Beatnik was at from the ones he wasn¡¯t at by the fires and the rioting.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Now that you mention it, I kind of remember that from the reports.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Rachel said, ¡°and the original League only ever got rid of him by taking out his followers, and revealing who he was possessing. After that, he¡¯d disappear. Well, except when they managed to find the person he was possessing, and take the ring.¡±


    ¡°And that only worked once they were all over thirty,¡± Marcus said. ¡°If they grabbed it before that, they got possessed. How are we going to avoid that? When they fought him in their twenties, he messed with their heads constantly, and it¡¯ll be the same with us now. Plus, if Nick¡¯s right, you and Vaughn could turn at any time.¡±


    ¡°This drives me crazy,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°I¡¯ve been around for almost a year, and you still don¡¯t trust me?¡±


    He pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. ¡°I get sick of people assuming I¡¯m my grandfather come back. I get sick of my parents bringing up my drug problems all the time, but you guys? You ought to know better. That¡¯s why you think Beatnik¡¯s got his hooks in me, right?¡±


    None of us said anything.


    ¡°Well, fuck that, I¡¯m going home.¡±


    He walked toward the elevator.


    I said, ¡°Vaughn, wait a second.¡± Everyone else started talking too.


    Jaclyn blurred, and the next time I saw her, her chair was empty and she stood directly in front of Vaughn.


    ¡°No one thinks you¡¯re your grandfather,¡± she said. ¡°We think you¡¯re a little more at risk of being affected than the rest of us, but we¡¯re all at risk. That¡¯s the problem.¡±


    Bluish-white sparks ran the length of Vaughn¡¯s hands.


    ¡°Get real,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°You know that¡¯s not going to work.¡±


    The sparks stopped.


    Vaughn turned his head back toward the rest of us. He looked a little dazed.


    ¡°Shit. You¡¯re right.¡±

 Under 30: Part 10

    After Vaughn and Jaclyn sat down, we started to make a plan.


    ¡°At least we know how it¡¯s been done before,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Once we stop his followers and reveal who he¡¯s possessing, he disappears. Hey, do you think we might be able to take the ring if we''re wearing gloves?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s magic. Who knows what the rules are? When one of the Hangmen lassoed me with his noose, it didn¡¯t paralyze me like it was supposed to, but with Evil Beatnik, it might go the other way. The original League surrounded the ring with concrete and bulletproof glass for a reason.¡±


    Marcus nodded, ¡°You know what Evil Beatnik reminds me of? Mr. Mxyzptlk in DC comics. The guy¡¯s kind of like a genie? Superman had to get him to say his name backward to get him to go away. Too bad we can¡¯t do the same thing with Evil Beatnik because he¡¯s got an easier name. It¡¯d be Kintaeb Live. That could almost be an album, you know? Or a band playing live? That¡¯d work.¡±


    Jaclyn gave him a look. ¡°You are such a geek. I''ve never heard of him.¡±


    ¡°I thought everyone knew about Mr. Mxyzptlk,¡± I said.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ve heard of him,¡± Vaughn said. He didn¡¯t seem sure of it.


    Marcus looked around the troup. ¡°Wow. I always thought he was one of Superman¡¯s better known villains.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about Evil Beatnik,¡± Rachel said. ¡°So what does everyone think? Should we make finding Evil Beatnik our first priority, or taking out his followers?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d say both,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°He¡¯s going to use all those other people to distract us. One or two of us ought to keep on searching for him no matter what. The rest of us should try to stop his people.¡±


    ¡°Not that there¡¯s many people,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Nobody protests anything here anymore. All he¡¯s got is those supers. He used to have armies of hippies. Heck, didn¡¯t he used to have motorcyle gangs? Can¡¯t do that now. Imagine what he¡¯d get¡ªI¡¯m seeing a bunch of motorcycling emos wearing jackets saying, ¡®Born to Mope¡¯.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure there are still real motorcyle gangs,¡± I said.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°Not like there were,¡± Vaughn said.


    I thought about asking him how he¡¯d know, but didn¡¯t.


    Rachel sighed. ¡°We¡¯re getting off track again. Does everybody like Jaclyn¡¯s suggestion?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°It makes sense.¡±


    ¡°As long as I¡¯m not one of people looking for Evil Beatnik,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°That¡¯s gonna be boring.¡±


    ¡°It sounds fun to me,¡± Marcus said.


    ¡°We need to decide who then,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Rachel? I think you¡¯d be better than any of us.¡±


    ¡°I thought about it, but what if I am extra vulnerable and I find him first?¡±


    ¡°It ought to be me and Nick,¡± Marcus said. ¡°Nick¡¯s got the roachbots, and I can sneak into someplace more easily than you¡¯d think.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s an idea,¡± I said. ¡°But if you find the Ice Twins¡¯ crew, we go with you, right? Otherwise it¡¯ll be five on three.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not going to be stupid about this, Nick,¡± Rachel said. ¡°We¡¯re only dividing up into groups while we look for people.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°You know, we should have invited Kayla. I keep forgetting she¡¯s part of the team now.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± Jaclyn said.


    * * *


    Marcus and I got together the next day¡ªSunday afternoon. We hung out in my room. I pulled out a legal pad and a pen, and sat at my desk. He sat on the bed.


    We were listing the places I ought to put roachbots, putting the emphasis on places where teens might be, and where we might see a protest. I¡¯d already written down ¡°government buildings,¡± and ¡°the park downtown.¡±


    ¡°Schools,¡± Marcus said.


    ¡°It¡¯s summer. No one¡¯s in school.¡±


    ¡°Summer school.¡±


    I thought a little, and wrote it down. ¡°City pools?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a good one. Have you put down the beach? You know how guys drive through the parking lot looking for women?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Plus,¡± Marcus said, ¡°I¡¯ve heard people sneak onto the beach and have parties at night.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that too.¡±


    Both of our League phones rang. I pulled mine out of my pocket, and found that the screen showed a circle of yellow. The accompanying text message said. ¡°Dixie Supergirl sighted at Grand Lake State Park. She¡¯s giving away money.¡±


    I clicked the spot on the screen where it said ¡°Call HQ.¡± Kayla answered.


    ¡°What?¡±


    She didn¡¯t sound happy to hear from me.


    ¡°I just read the text. Dixie Supergirl¡¯s giving away money?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what it says. She¡¯s throwing money to the crowd. If you want to catch her, you¡¯d better go.¡±


    The phone clicked, and the words, ¡°Call ended¡± appeared.


    I stared at it, and thought about calling her back. She hadn¡¯t been rude exactly, but something was eating her. Even as I thought that, I remembered that we hadn¡¯t invited her to the meeting.


    Did she really need to be that short about it? I considered whether it might be Evil Beatnik''s influence. As one of the best female athletes in the school, Kayla was pretty well known, but it never translated into any special popularity. Plus, she tended to be, if anything, a hard worker who did whatever the teacher said¡ªpretty much the exact opposite of what Evil Beatnik wanted.


    So maybe she was just annoyed.

 Under 30: Part 11

    I wore the full Rocket armor. Pulling the stealth suit out of my closet at home would have been faster, but according to Grandpa and the reports, Dixie Superman had been tough. Flying into a fight with Dixie Supergirl in less than full gear sounded stupid.


    And how much did I want to bet that more of her group was in the crowd?


    After running to HQ, plus five minutes worth of pulling the armor on, and a twenty second flight to Grand Lake State Park (with Marcus gliding behind me, shifted into the form of a pair of wings), we were too late.


    Not completely too late because she wasn¡¯t gone, but it would have been better if we¡¯d all arrived and attacked simultaneously.


    As it was, thunderclouds hung over the beach as we arrived, lightning flashing again and again at Dixie Supergirl, and mostly missing. Even with lightning moving at the speed of light, she could still move faster than Vaughn could aim.


    The crowd on the beach had already run to their cars. Some still watched from the parking lot. The smarter ones had left, but ended up stuck in a huge clot of cars around the ranger station at the entrance to the park. The rangers directed traffic, but with a two lane road, and several hundred cars, nobody would be leaving as quickly as they wanted to.


    Back at the beach, green bills lay on the sand, sometimes taking to the air as the wind blew.


    I flew, crossing the parking lot in time to see one of the lightning bolts hit Dixie Supergirl. She had been turning to fly away, but when lightning engulfed her body every limb jerked uncontrollably, and she fell.


    I changed course. Dixie Superman had been practically invulnerable, and it was a good bet his replacement would be too, but that didn¡¯t mean she had to be.


    Below me, a purple blur sprayed sand across the beach. Jaclyn must have thought the same thing.


    Unfortunately for both of us, Dixie Supergirl shook off the lightning before we could reach her.


    She straightened up, and twisted her body, aiming herself in a new direction¡ªtoward me.


    I barely had time to react as a red, white, and blue blur resolved into an up-close-and-personal view of the Stars and Bars.


    The next thing I knew I was flying in the opposite direction¡ªthough not precisely opposite. The rockets were on, so I was going backwards and up. I flipped forward and aimed myself toward her.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    I intended to anyhow. It didn¡¯t work out.


    She¡¯d already flown away with Marcus flying after her, but flapping wings had no chance of catching up.


    Someday, he and I would have to find out if I could design a faster way for him to fly.


    Jaclyn jumped, and for a moment I thought she might succeed, but Dixie Supergirl saw her, zig-zagged, and passed around her. Still, it was an incredible leap¡ªtwo hundred feet almost straight up.


    She landed in the water.


    Knowing she could swim, I opened up, setting the rockets to maximum speed. I hit three hundred, then four hundred miles per hour, and it still wasn¡¯t fast enough.


    Dixie Supergirl had disappeared into the sky. Not that it mattered¡ªI knew she wasn¡¯t really gone.


    It brought home the truth of what one of the Ice Twins had said. Any one of the originals on their side had given the first Heroes League problems. Fighting all of them was going to be a challenge.


    Sure, they weren¡¯t as competent as the people they replaced, but neither were we.


    * * *


    By the time I got back to HQ, and took off the Rocket suit, News 10 had already made it to the scene and started interviewing the spectators.


    Marcus had turned the big screen in the main room on, so by the time I stepped out of the lab in my normal clothes, I got to see some bull-necked twenty-something in a white t-shirt shout, ¡°Dude, I got nearly five hundred bucks! It was totally worth it.¡±


    The reporter moved on the next person, a freckled woman with sun-bleached, blond hair.


    ¡°How well did the Heroes League handle it?¡± The reporter asked.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t get here on time. Couldn¡¯t catch them. Couldn¡¯t do anything. They¡¯re useless.¡±


    Rachel, Jaclyn, and Marcus were watching. Vaughn had to get back to something, so he wasn¡¯t there.


    I sat down at the table, logged into a computer, and checked my League email and voicemail.


    I had voicemail¡ªa lot of it.


    Two of the more recent calls came from names I felt sure I didn¡¯t want to hear from but I couldn¡¯t ignore. The computer listed one caller as Lucas Hardwick, and as George Drucker.


    Despite wanting to avoid yet another conversation about Lucas and Rachel not having sex, I listened to Lucas¡¯ message. I plugged the earphones from my iPod into the computer first though. No need to make it a group experience.


    ¡°Rocket, I meant to talk to you after the movie, but things happened. Anyway, I¡¯ve been talking to my dad about the film that we watched. The second one. The one about the very special Rocket suit extension, and the Justice Fist cameo. My dad¡¯s lawyers think they¡¯ve got a way around the parody issue. If you want in, talk to me about it. We¡¯ll be going after them either way.¡±


    I¡¯d almost forgotten that with everything else going on. I¡¯d have to bring it up to the group and then the Heroes League¡¯s board if I cared enough. I wasn¡¯t sure I did.


    I moved on to ¡°George Drucker¡¯s¡± message, not expecting anything good could come of it. I knew two things about George Drucker. First, that he was dead. Second, that he was Sean and Sydney¡¯s father. I wasn''t seriously expecting a phone call from a zombie though. George had only been dead for a few months. They probably hadn''t taken his name off the account yet.


    One mouse click later, Sean¡¯s voice filled my headphones. ¡°Hey Rocket, you lost to a girl. See you soon.¡±

 Under 30: Part 12

    The sole good point about Sean calling to gloat was that I could at least be sure that he didn¡¯t expect me to call back. Lucas, I felt fairly sure, did.


    Clicking on the icon that distorted my voice to match how the Rocket sounded in person, I set the voice mail program to dial. I felt sure Lucas would catch that this was an official call¡ªwhich was good considering he¡¯d probably inherited his grandfather¡¯s resistance to mental tampering.


    Daniel had put in our version of the Block on each Justice Fist member back when we all fought Prime and the Cabal¡¯s private army. He¡¯d told me to assume Lucas didn¡¯t have one.


    My computer screen showed the words, ¡°Call Accepted.¡±


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Lucas said. ¡°Is the League in or out?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be talking to our own lawyers before we say anything.¡±


    ¡°Lawyers. Of course, you¡¯ve got them. Let me know what they say, okay? Second opinions never hurt.¡±


    ¡°You bet.¡±


    ¡°So, I¡¯ve been listening to the news. Looks like you¡¯re having trouble with the Ice Twins¡¯ crew.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d call it trouble. It takes a little while to figure out the best way to handle people, and besides, they¡¯re not the biggest problem we have to deal with.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? What¡¯s the other problem?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to talk about it over a cell phone.¡±


    At any rate, I wasn¡¯t going to talk about Evil Beatnik over an unencrypted link to his cell phone.


    Lucas said, ¡°I¡¯ll ask you in person then, but there¡¯s something you should know. Sean¡¯s after them, probably because he thinks he¡¯s going to show you up.¡±


    ¡°How do you know that?¡±


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°Typical high school bullshit. That¡¯s what you get when you hang out with high schoolers. Sean, Jody, and Dayton came up with a plan. Dayton told Julie. Julie told Shannon. I stopped by Solid Grounds to get coffee, and Shannon told me.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    ¡°Tell me about it. After all the craziness back in June, I thought Justice Fist was over, but it turns out it¡¯s like Hotel California. ¡®You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Believe me, you¡¯re not the only one who¡¯s sick of it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure. Well, don¡¯t forget, if you need help, I¡¯m here.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome. I¡¯ll talk to you later.¡±


    As I hung up, took off my earphones, and put away the mic, Rachel asked, ¡°Who were you talking to?¡±


    She¡¯d stopped watching the news, and stood next to the table, placing her right hand on a monitor.


    ¡°Lucas.¡±


    She folded her arms together, and looked down at me. ¡°About what?¡±


    ¡°Not about uh¡­ you know. He called because his dad¡¯s going to sue the company that made that film about us¡ª¡±


    ¡°Seriously?¡± Jaclyn frowned. ¡°I looked into it a little yesterday, and it didn¡¯t seem like we¡¯d be able to do anything.¡±


    ¡°¡ªand that¡¯s not all,¡± I continued. ¡°He said Sean¡¯s planning to go after the Ice Twins, Mr. Madness and all those guys.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Marcus said, ¡°this could get really crazy. We¡¯ll be going after those guys, and then Sean¡¯s going after them, and¡­ Did he say if the rest of Justice Fist was with Sean?¡±


    ¡°He only mentioned Jody and Dayton.¡±


    ¡°Well, still, we¡¯re talking battle royale here. Even crazier if more Justice Fist people show up out of nowhere, and no one knows whose side they¡¯re on? And maybe they¡¯ve been taken over by Evil Beatnik? That would be quite the twist.¡±


    ¡°In a comic, yes,¡± I said. ¡°In my life, I¡¯m not too wild about it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not saying it would be good, just crazy, and unexpected.¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s face tightened for a moment. ¡°Maybe we should call them, and try to coordinate this.¡±


    Rachel said, ¡°With the guys who held Nick down, and kicked his ribs?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t just lie there and get kicked,¡± I said. ¡°I actually won that fight.¡±


    They ignored me.


    ¡°With the guys who owe us,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Ray¡¯s people held their parents hostage. We got them out.¡±


    Marcus nodded. ¡°That would be better than having those guys pop up out of nowhere. You should call them, Jackie. You practically saved them all yourself.¡±


    Jacklyn frowned as he said ¡°Jackie,¡± but didn¡¯t correct him about that. ¡°It wasn¡¯t just me. Cassie and Julie did their share.¡±


    ¡°But still,¡± Marcus said, ¡°they don¡¯t owe just anybody, they owe you.¡±


    Rachel nodded. ¡°Marcus is right. They might listen to you. They barely know who the rest of us are¡ªexcept for Nick, and we know Sean won¡¯t listen to Nick.¡±


    Jaclyn took a slow breath. ¡°OK. I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    Marcus said, ¡°Great. Just to be clear though, we¡¯re going to call the rest of Justice Fist too, right?¡±


    ¡°I think we¡¯ll have to,¡± Rachel said, ¡°but any of us can do that.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°Rachel and I will handle it. You and Nick have to find Evil Beatnik. The sooner we catch him, the sooner this all goes away.¡±

 Under 30: Part 13

    Sunday night, Marcus and I placed roachbots around the city, and sat back to wait for something exciting to happen.


    It didn¡¯t. We went home around two the in morning, having discovered that people really did sneak in after the beach officially closed to drink. They also got discovered by rangers, and then ticketed and fined by the police.


    It seemed distinctly less fun than the stories I¡¯d heard.


    * * *


    On Monday morning my League phone rang. I checked the ID. It was Haley calling from her phone.


    I¡¯d been using my phone to check email, so it wasn¡¯t a lot of work to take the call.


    I sat up in bed, and said, ¡°Haley, are you there yet?¡±


    ¡°Nick, this is our second day here.¡±


    That did make sense. I¡¯d last talked to her while they were driving, and it did only take two days to get to Montana from Grand Lake. So if they¡¯d left on Thursday, they¡¯d have been there by Saturday.


    ¡°Oh, right. What are your plans?¡±


    ¡°Fishing and hiking, mostly. I think Mom and I might go shopping tomorrow, and then we¡¯ll go to Yellowstone next week. There are a lot of little towns here with touristy shops¡ªcowboy hats, fudge, souvenirs,turquoisejewelry, shirts with wolves on them¡­ You know. I¡¯m going to buy you something, but, I don¡¯t know what yet.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be happy with anything,¡± I began, thinking that I hadn¡¯t gotten her anything when I visited my grandparents at their cabin. The lake wasn¡¯t a major draw for tourists, but I had seen souvenirs here and there. I wished I¡¯d known you were supposed to buy stuff for people if you went on vacation without them.


    She kept on talking. ¡°It¡¯s weird out here, Nick. I can smell bears, wolves, buffalo, antelope, deer, elk¡­ Sometimes the smells are overwhelming.¡±


    ¡°In a fight between you and a bear, I¡¯d bet on you.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to find out, but I¡¯m not worried about fights. Everything smells so good. I almost want to hunt, but I don¡¯t really.¡± She paused. ¡°How are you doing with Evil Beatnik? I haven¡¯t been online at all.¡±


    I told her.


    ¡°You think you¡¯re all being influenced? Why haven¡¯t you called Lee? He¡¯s over thirty.¡±


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    ¡°He left on a job last week. I¡¯ve been checking the news to see if any governments fell, but not so far.¡±


    ¡°What about Larry, or your mom? I know she doesn¡¯t want to talk about it, but for something like this, wouldn¡¯t she help?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t feel like I can say anything about this stuff yet, but Larry¡­ I should have called him.¡±


    ¡°Or that kid¡­ Remember King of Storms? He¡¯s a wizard. Even if he doesn¡¯t like Vaughn, I be he could protect himself from Evil Beatnik, and maybe he could protect everybody. And what about Jaclyn¡¯s grandfather? I know Jaclyn¡¯s been asking questions, but maybe he should be leading you¡ª¡±


    Sitting on my bed and thinking about it, I zoned out. Why hadn¡¯t we thought of that, and why had Haley?


    The answer was obvious. Whatever his range was, she was outside Evil Beatnik¡¯s influence. We weren¡¯t.


    ¡°Nick?¡± Haley asked. ¡°Are you there?¡±


    We talked for twenty minutes longer. When we hung up, I got out of bed.


    * * *


    Rachel and I got into League HQ by ten, allowing everyone in the family to pretend that we had summer jobs. We did, kind of. If a supervillain we caught had a bounty on his head, we would receive it. We hadn¡¯t gotten anything off the Cabal¡¯s people because they¡¯d all walked away in the end.


    On the other hand, Ray and his people had amounted to thousands of dollars between those of us who¡¯d been there.


    I spent it all surprisingly quickly as I rebuilt the main Rocket suit, and refitted a couple spares, but still, we were earning real money. The trick was making it available to us in our normal lives. Thus, fake jobs.


    I stepped out of the elevator into HQ¡¯s main room as Rachel solidified about ten feet ahead of me.


    Past the trophies, momentos, and awards, Kayla sat at the table. In the very front of the room, the twenty foot tall screen showed four separate screens worth of information¡ªtranscribed police and fire department radio chatter, local news shows, an FBI database, and a web browser open to Double V¡¯s website.


    Rachel and I walked across the room toward the table.


    As I pulled a chair out from under the table, Kayla turned to glare at the two of us.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really part of this team at all, am I?¡±


    Even in the dim light of HQ¡¯s many screens, I could tell she was angry. ¡°You held two team meetings without me and you didn¡¯t even call.¡±


    Rachel and I glanced at each other. I couldn¡¯t remember Kayla ever freaking out like this.


    ¡°Uh¡­ Sorry?¡±


    Kayla continued as if she¡¯d never heard me. Rachel could turn invisible. I was apparently invisible all the time.


    ¡°The only time any of you ever pay attention to me is when Cassie¡¯s here! I¡¯m doing a good job. I¡¯m here when I¡¯m supposed to be, but no one tells me what¡¯s going on.¡±


    Calmly, Rachel said, ¡°No one¡¯s trying to keep you out. You don¡¯t work on the weekends, so you happened to miss getting together. We didn¡¯t plan to have a meeting. We were all here at the same time, and it spontaneously happened.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re supposed to call. If I¡¯m going coordinate all of you, I need to know what¡¯s going on.¡±


    She stopped talking, staring at the two of us, and then said, ¡°Oh, fuck it,¡± and practically ran for the elevator.


    ¡°Stay here. I¡¯ll talk to her,¡± Rachel floated into the air. ¡°With everything that¡¯s going on, someone¡¯s got to be here right now.¡±


    Then she flew upward, and disappeared into the ceiling.


    Unfortunately, she was right. Seconds after she left, the screen of transcribed police chatter practically exploded.


    Dixie Supergirl and Destruction Boy had attacked the county jail.

 Under 30: Part 14

    I sent everybody a red, and a message. Then I ran back to the lab, and started to put on the Rocket suit.


    I¡¯d spent a lot of time fixing and modifying the Rocket suit that summer, but I hadn¡¯t spent much time figuring out how to get it on faster. You know how the armor comes from all directions and attaches itself in the Iron Man movies? I needed that.


    The portable briefcase version wouldn¡¯t have hurt either.


    The comics do the movies one better. Stark stores the armor in the marrow of his bones, and it forms around him. Don¡¯t ask me how that works, but it¡¯d be nice.


    I had to strip out of my regular clothes, put on the bottom layer of the stealth suit, step my feet into the boots, lean back into the main body of the suit, and snap the front of main body and upper legs shut. Once everything else was done, I put on the helmet.


    It¡¯s awkward, more awkward without anyone to help.


    Once everything was on, I had to run down my check list, making sure that each armor section showed up without error, all weapons responded, and the rockets had fuel.


    I could have saved a little time by skipping the check list, but Rocket suit problems aren¡¯t the sort of thing you want to discover in the middle of a fight.


    The reason why most teams have someone like Kayla back at HQ became even more obvious as I put the suit on. When you send a red alert (even if you do send a message), everyone¡¯s going to call you back with questions. If you¡¯re putting on armor while they call, you can¡¯t answer the phone unless you get out, or finish and transfer the call to the suit.


    Either way, the call will probably go to voicemail before you can answer.


    I didn¡¯t even try.


    Kayla and Rachel met me as I stepped out of the lab.


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    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± Kayla began. ¡°I never get that angry.¡±


    She seemed like she was about to say more, but Rachel started talking. ¡°That had to be more Evil Beatnik than you.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I said to Kayla. ¡°I¡¯ve got to go. They hit the county jail. It¡¯s up on the screen. People have been calling, but I was busy getting into this¡ª¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Rachel said.


    I glanced back as Rachel and I stepped into the Grand Lake exit tunnel to see Kayla running to the computer table, and starting to make calls.


    She seemed OK.


    * * *


    You know that line people always say about not making the same mistake twice? We didn¡¯t have to because Sean did it for us.


    Rachel and I approached from the air. Even from a distance we could see smoke. When we got closer Ojibwa County Correctional Facility only looked worse.


    A five story tall, white cylinder, the county jail held people with no or weak powers who had committed relatively minor crimes¡ªretail fraud, burglary, drunken driving, and so on.


    A section of concrete wall lay in chunks next to the building. Stretching from the roof to the ground, the hole had to be at least twenty feet wide.


    I couldn¡¯t know what they intended, but if they were hoping overjoyed prisoners would stream out of the jail, it hadn¡¯t worked. The prisoners I could see cowered in their cells, staying as far from the edge as they could.


    Presumably serving their sentences sounded better than jumping twenty feet (or more) and landing on a pile of broken concrete.


    Dixie Supergirl swooped out of the sky, flying inside through the hole, shattering the door to the cell. Crashing noises came from inside the prison.


    Destruction Boy flew after her.


    My helmet beeped, and Jaclyn¡¯s voice came over the speakers.


    ¡°OK. Here¡¯s the plan, the Rocket and I go in after them. Shift and Ghost, be ready in case more are hiding in the crowd. Otherwise be ready to surprise them. Storm King, zap them if they fly out without us.¡±


    This time clearly, we had a plan.


    I dived toward the hole in the jail, noticing Jaclyn¡¯s purple blur below me, passing around the fire trucks, police cars, and onlookers in the parking lot in front of the jail.


    As I mentally readied myself to fight, another (green, blue, and silver) blur streaked ahead of me in the air, stopping in the cell where Dixie Supergirl had broken the door.


    The Rocket suit magnified the images. Sean, Dayton, and Jody stood next to each other wearing their Justice Fist costumes. Clearly made to match each other, they reminded me again of the Power Rangers.


    The prisoner whose room they¡¯d invaded shrank away from them, huddling in the corner in his florescent orange jumpsuit.


    Before either Jaclyn or I caught up with them, Sean launched himself through the shattered doorway, and into the prison.

 Under 30: Part 15

    I barely saw him leave¡ªjust a blur of green and white. Jody followed, running away so quickly he might as well have teleported.


    Out of the corner of my eye, Jaclyn appeared in the air, arcing upward, and landing at the edge of a third floor cell as I flew in. We both skidded to a stop on the floor, ripping the brown carpet.


    Dayton stood on the walkway, past the shattered remains of the wooden door and its frame. He began to turn his head back toward us, probably noticing the noise, but even as he did, his eyes widened, and he began to pull himself over the metal railing.


    I couldn¡¯t see if he made it because fire filled my vision except for a string of errors from the suit¡¯s readouts, all of which could be summarized by the phrase, ¡°It¡¯s getting too hot.¡±


    I didn¡¯t need to be told. It felt hot.


    Anyway, one error message did tell me something I couldn¡¯t tell from my own senses¡ªthe rockets¡¯ fuel was nearing its autoignition point i.e. the temperature at which the rocketpack goes boom.


    I dived to my left, hoping to put a wall between me and the blast. It worked. Getting out of the direct blast brought the temperature down¡ªthe difference between standing in a river of fire and standing next to it.


    From inside came the sound of tearing metal and a high pitched shout. The flames disappeared, leaving a scorched path down the middle of the carpet.


    On the other side of the room, Jaclyn stepped away from the prisoner, a short, blond guy she¡¯d evidently shielded from the blast.


    ¡°Ready?¡± She pulled up her arms, and bent her legs a little, ready to sprint in. I took her meaning. If Destruction Boy were watching the doorway, we¡¯d have a better chance if we moved quickly than if we carefully peered out the door.


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    ¡°I think,¡± I said, and then stopped. ¡°No, wait. Roachbots.¡±


    My most recent repairs and revisions had integrated them more deeply into the suit. A few clicks to my palms later, and a couple roachbots shot out of an armored box hanging on the Rocket suit¡¯s belt.


    Near the top of my vision, a small box showed me the scene in ¡°Roachbot Vision.¡± The first bot flew left once it reached the walkway, and clung to the bottom of the next floor¡¯s walkway. The second flew to the ceiling.


    I could switch between their perspectives, and did.


    From them, I got an overall view of the room. Five floors of cells, each floor with its own walkway, stacked on top of each other. Chairs, tables, and a big screen television sat in the open area on the first floor.


    Destruction Boy lay on the walkway opposite us and up a floor, covered by metal railings. Meanwhile, Dixie Supergirl had been flying from cell to cell, smashing open the cell doors, starting on the sixth floor. Now she¡¯d turned, and started to fly downward toward Sean.


    Well, kind of toward Sean, but more toward the cloud of steel railings and steel reinforced concrete flying above him. The roachbot couldn¡¯t locate Dayton or Jody, but on the bright side it didn¡¯t send me pictures of charred skeletons either.


    ¡°Sean¡¯s taking on Dixie Supergirl. Destruction Boy¡¯s over there, possibly hurt.¡±


    She said, ¡°I¡¯ll check Destruction Boy. Bring Dixie down where I can reach her.¡±


    ¡°Right¡ª¡± I began, but she blurred, ran to the edge of the walkway, and jumped. I followed her out the doorway, and turned on the rockets.


    Above me, a chunk of railing hit Dixie, throwing her sideways into the fifth floor walkway. It didn¡¯t knock her unconscious. Instead, she hovered there, and gave a strange, almost yodeling scream.


    To say that it was loud would be an understatement. Glass started cracking everywhere. The building¡¯s walls vibrated with the noise. The railings on the walkways blurred, and the one directly across from Dixie Supergirl vibrated so much it came loose, falling onto the walkway.


    I¡¯m sure the noise was unbearable, but I wouldn¡¯t know. The same systems the Rocket suit used to protect itself (and me) when I attacked with its weaponized sonics activated when she screamed. After the initial burst of noise, it faded to the level of normal conversation.


    Sean didn¡¯t have any protection. He grimaced, and held his hands over his ears.


    The railings he¡¯d been hitting her with fell. The cloud of metal he¡¯d held around himself for protection fell with them. After a chunk of steel and concrete hit him in the shoulder, he fell too.


    If I were going to catch him, I¡¯d have to fly through that crap.


    Worse, if I wanted to be able to live with myself later, I¡¯d have to try.

 Under 30: Part 16

    I couldn¡¯t have explained it in so many words then, but saving Sean wouldn¡¯t be simple.


    I had a little bit of a head start because I was below him, and most of his metal defenses had been facing Dixie Supergirl. So I wouldn¡¯t have to avoid much if I kept on flying upward, and a little to the left¡ªwhere his back had been.


    The big problem would come when I caught him.


    The second he stopped falling, he¡¯d get hit in the head by a chunk of steel reinforced concrete, or a ten foot section of railing.


    Again, not that I thought about it that clearly in the moment.


    In that moment, the readout showed the words, ¡°collision alert,¡± and I knocked a chunk of concrete and steel away from my head, and then a railing, and then I was next to Sean.


    I reached out to grab him, and realized that the second he started going up, he¡¯d be battered by a piece of concrete and steel larger than both of us combined. Changing direction to go sideways would only lead us into more debris. Sure, I could slam it out of the way, but I could only guess which direction it would go. No reason that it couldn¡¯t bounce into my legs¡ªor Sean¡ªif I happened to be carrying him.


    I didn¡¯t grab him. I knocked the big chunk above us out of the way, and flipped over, intending to clear a path and grab him on the way down.


    I never got the chance.


    In blur of red and blue, Dixie Supergirl crossed the distance, grabbing him, and flying across the distance to land and carefully lay him on the walkway. Below us, metal hit the floor, and concrete shattered.


    ¡°He¡¯s alive,¡± she said, ¡°but I¡¯d call an ambulance.¡±


    ¡°X-ray vision?¡± I asked, knowing better. Dixie Superman had used sonar, something my grandfather exploited more than once.


    ¡°Something like that.¡±


    I¡¯d flipped back to hover, upright, about twenty feet from the fifth floor walkway¡¯s ledge. Sean had ripped off all the railings during their fight, short as it was.


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    Still recovering from two quick flips in the air, battering chunks of building, and nearly exploding, I battled my adrenaline rush, and tried to think.


    We were talking.


    I had a chance, some kind of chance, to turn this from a fight into¡­ Well, I wasn¡¯t sure what it could turn into, but hopefully something that wasn¡¯t a fight.


    I took a moment to look at her for the first time. I¡¯d seen her on the television, and briefly at the beach before she¡¯d punched me.


    Unlike Dixie Superman, she wasn¡¯t red haired. She had long, straight, dark hair, and darker skin than his. Not much darker. She might just have a tan, but I doubted it. The possibilities it opened were mindblowing. I¡¯d read the reports. I knew where Dixie Superman came from. He¡¯d come from an alternate reality, one where Reconstruction went horribly wrong after the Civil War, and where even in the twentieth century, the South bore a striking resemblance to Northern Ireland in the 1970¡¯s¡ªfull of bombs and terrorist cells.


    My grandfather visited the universe once. He¡¯d described it as a hellhole.


    Dixie Superman appeared in the 1950¡¯s, and had actually been a hero until the Civil Rights movement. During the Civil Rights movement, he became so extreme that even people who were against the Civil Rights movement themselves thought he went too far.


    I¡¯d noticed one other interesting thing when she talked¡ªshe had no southern accent. It didn¡¯t mean she wasn¡¯t from the South, but it opened up a lot of questions.


    My head whirled with them. I settled on one.


    ¡°So¡­ Are you related to Dixie Superman, or did you just like the name?¡±


    ¡°Like the name?¡± The tone of her voice probably would have been the same if she¡¯d said, ¡°Are you insane?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a reasonable question,¡± I said. ¡°Your names are practically the same, and calls to mind¡­ um¡­ a lot of the same things.¡±


    Her jaw dropped a little, and she blinked. Then she said, ¡°I¡¯m nothing like him. I¡¯m only using this name once¡ªagainst you.¡±


    From the anger in her voice, I thought for a moment that she was about to attack, but she didn¡¯t. The moment of hesitation before she spoke, however, made me think that it couldn¡¯t be all her. In fact, it might not be her at all.


    She definitely wasn¡¯t over thirty. To guess from what I could see of her face, I¡¯d have been surprised if she were over twenty.


    I decided to take a shot at getting her to recognize Evil Beatnik¡¯s influence.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re not like him. In fact, I¡¯d bet you¡¯re not even sure you know why you¡¯re doing this. You¡¯re trying to free prisoners, but you don¡¯t even know these people. You don¡¯t know us either. I know Dixie Superman fought the original League, but we¡¯ve barely met, right?¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything. I took it as a cue to keep on going.


    ¡°It¡¯s not you. Someone¡¯s making you do this. It¡¯s¡ª¡±


    A silvery blur appeared out of the stairwell, and ran around the walkway too quickly for me to follow until the blur hit Dixie Supergirl, knocking her backwards.


    She didn¡¯t fall, flying into an upright position after a few feet. By then, however, the silvery blur and Sean had both disappeared.


    If I¡¯d been keeping track of reasons to dislike Jody, I had one more to add to the list.

 Under 30: Part 17

    Dixie didn''t stay to talk after that. She dived over the ledge, flew down two floors to rescue Destruction Boy, and left through the hole on the third floor.


    As her feet left the ledge, I activated the roachbots I¡¯d released earlier. They had a chance to catch her.


    Jaclyn appeared out of the stairwell, and leaned over the edge of the walkway, watching them go.


    ¡°I thought I¡¯d be able to catch her if she did that.¡± Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°Grandpa said Dixie Superman was fast, but I didn¡¯t know Dixie Supergirl would be that fast. Well, we¡¯d better go after them.¡±


    She jumped, landing on the third floor, running across the shattered door, and into the sunlight.


    I turned on the rockets and followed, landing on the walkway, and joined her in the remains of the cell. It was empty of prisoners. Presumably the guy who¡¯d been there had left for a safer place to hide.


    I ran across the burnt carpet toward Jaclyn. Even before I reached the edge, I could hear voices shouting outside. That wasn¡¯t a good sign.


    In the parking lot, the fire department had run hoses to the fire hydrants, and stood ready, pointing the hoses that came out of the fire truck at the prison. That seemed reasonable given Destruction Boy¡¯s fireball earlier, but something didn¡¯t seem quite right.


    Dixie Supergirl flew away carrying Destruction Boy, but no one seemed to be paying attention to her. At the same time, the firemen were raising their hoses and aiming them up toward us.


    I heard someone shouting, ¡°Stop them!¡± Then water sprayed into the cell. I¡¯d only begun to move out of the way when Jaclyn grabbed my left arm and dragged me backwards to the cell¡¯s inside wall.


    The water stopped, leaving a huge puddle in the middle of the floor.


    ¡°That¡¯s crazy,¡± I said. ¡°They don¡¯t use firehoses against escaping prisoners, do they?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Jaclyn said. She tapped at her wrist communicator. ¡°What¡¯s going on out there?¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s voice came over the speaker. ¡°Mr. Madness is going on. He sprayed them with gas, and they all started taking orders¡ª¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s ¡®they¡¯? None of us, I hope.¡±


    ¡°No. Shift saw him release the gas, and flew away from it. Ghost was intangible, and I was in the air, so we¡¯re alright.¡±


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    ¡°Did you get Mr. Madness?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s been crazy out here. They¡¯ve got a Box by the firetrucks, so we¡¯ve been trying to dodge the guys in the Box. They¡¯ve got piles of anti-super stuff, so that¡¯s been no picnic. Shift tried to catch him, but the guy flew away on a jetpack.¡±


    ¡°Jetpack?¡± I said.


    Jaclyn held the communicator closer to her mouth. ¡°But you caught him, right?¡±


    ¡°No. He was too fast, and if I zapped him he¡¯d have broken his neck in the fall.¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you hold him up with wind?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to switch between them like that. Trust me, okay? We¡¯ve had our hands full controlling the crowd.¡±


    Jaclyn sighed. ¡°This was a complete disaster.¡±


    Rachel¡¯s voice broke into the conversation. She was breathing hard. ¡°It could have been worse. Storm King blew a lot of the gas away from the crowd, and Shift and I just stopped the guys in the Box.¡±


    Before Jaclyn could reply, a voice said, ¡°Hey.¡±


    Jaclyn and I both twisted to face the door. I held out my right hand, ready to blast away with the sonics. Even as I did, Jaclyn said, ¡°Oh, you.¡±


    Dayton had stepped through the doorway. Scorchmarks covered his blue and white uniform.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said.


    ¡°It looks worse than it is. I got caught on the edge of the Destruction Boy¡¯s blast. I jumped off the railing here if you can believe it.¡±


    He¡¯d jumped from three stories. That was good. It might mean he could do more than mimic other people¡¯s skills. With too much of a power difference, skill didn¡¯t matter much.


    ¡°Jody and and Sean already left,¡± I said.


    Dayton nodded. ¡°I saw. Do you know if Sean¡¯s okay?¡±


    He stepped toward us, reminding me that he was about the same size normally (including muscles) that I was in the Rocket suit.


    Jaclyn talked into her communicator. ¡°Where are Sean and Jody? Sean¡¯s hurt.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but I thought I saw Jody carry Sean to one of the ambulances.¡±


    ¡°Good enough,¡± Jaclyn said, and cut the connetion. ¡°I¡¯d start by the ambulances, but wait for us. Rocket and I are going to leave soon, and if you follow us out, they¡¯ll be distracted.¡±


    ¡°Rocket,¡± she continued, ¡°you fly out, I¡¯ll jump.¡±


    We left.


    * * *


    Half an hour later we were in HQ. Marcus and I sat the computer table in the middle of the main room. I was out of the Rocket suit. Vaughn stood in front of the wall sized TV screen flipping between channels covering the aftermath.


    Ultimately no prisoners escaped, and despite Mr. Madness¡¯ gas attack, the Box operators¡¯ attempts at catching the League, and the way firemen used the hose, there weren¡¯t any major injuries. Sean broke his collarbone, but his (lightly armored) costume had taken the worst of it.


    Jaclyn walked up to the table in jeans and a green t-shirt, eyeing the huge screen behind it as it showed the broken wall, the firetrucks, and interviews with bystanders.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t accomplish much.¡±


    She¡¯d come from the locker room. Rachel would be coming soon, and then it¡¯d be the guys¡¯ turn.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that,¡± Marcus looked up from the computer screen. ¡°You don¡¯t know what they would have done with the prisoners if we hadn¡¯t been there. Probably pumped them full of Madness gas, and after that, the sky¡¯s the limit. It¡¯d be like every time the Joker appears ever. Except maybe with less death.¡±


    ¡°Marcus, we¡¯re not in a comic book.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not seeing much of a difference,¡± Marcus said. ¡°Besides, listen to what Nick¡¯s got.¡±


    She looked at me.


    ¡°One of my roachbots hitched a ride on Dixie''s utility belt. I know where they are.¡±

 Under 30: Part 18

    With Dixie Supergirl¡¯s hearing, I hadn¡¯t dared to turn on the roachbot¡¯s rocket. I¡¯d decided to wait until I thought it had a good chance to get away without being heard. That meant hanging on to her utility belt until she got back to their lair.


    Lair.


    That makes it sound so much more dramatic, and ominous than it actually was.


    The roachbot¡¯s GPS unit had continually updated me with its position. Even though the bot¡¯s camera had sent a continuous blurry mess, I¡¯d easily placed it on the map.


    She¡¯d flown toward Grand Lake University at a speed just short of the speed of sound, and landed at a collection of buildings the computer identified as ¡°Grand LakeView Apartments.¡±


    The bot placed them at forty feet in the air.


    She¡¯d passed Destruction Boy over to the Ice Twins for medical help, and taken a shower.


    I¡¯d waited till she started showering, and then shot the roachbot down the hall near the ceiling, and set it down on the top of the vertical blinds in front of the balcony window.


    By the time Jaclyn appeared, Destruction Boy was awake and talking. Not that he was saying much. Mostly he complained about how much he hurt. Mr. Madness had also appeared¡ªout of costume. He wore a red, button down shirt and jeans, and could pass as twenty-something grad student at any university anywhere.


    ¡°Nick, put this up on the main screen, and give us sound. I bet they¡¯re about to debrief.¡±


    I did it, and Vaughn said, ¡°Hey,¡± as it displaced the news he¡¯d been watching. Then he got a roachbot¡¯s eye view of the room. ¡°Whoa. That¡¯s cool. We¡¯ve got them, and they have no idea.¡±


    The apartment looked exactly like what it was¡ªcheap housing near the university. Think off-white walls, tan carpet, and a slightly claustrophobic feel. Had we been there, I felt sure we¡¯d be smelling mildew and a hint of old cigarettes.


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    Destruction Boy lay in the middle of the floor next to tools, the Ice Twins¡¯ powered armor (each one stood upright), a few laptops, sleeping bags, and furniture that likely came from the Salvation Army.


    By the time Dixie Supergirl came back, we were all watching¡ªincluding Rachel who¡¯d just gotten out of the showers, and Kayla who¡¯d been handling calls in the lab.


    Whatever her real name was, she didn¡¯t seem as impressive out of costume. She still stood almost a head taller than the Ice Twins, and she still had muscles, but she didn¡¯t stand out. I could imagine running into her in a class and not noticing anything special. She seemed studious somehow.


    Maybe it was the glasses?


    Vaughn stared at her, ¡°Wasn¡¯t Dixie Superman some kind of major racist? I¡¯m not sure, but she doesn''t look¡ª¡±


    Jaclyn held a finger to her lips. ¡°Later.¡±


    On the screen, one of two twin blond girls stepped away from Destruction Boy. ¡°All we heard from Scott,¡± she nodded toward Destruction Boy, ¡°is that he got hurt. What happened?¡±


    Dixie Supergirl started to talk, stopped, and tried a second time. ¡°What were we trying to do? Because if all we were doing is making a mess, it was a complete success, but if we were trying to help anybody, it was a disaster. None of those people were political prisoners. They werethievesand idiots who thought they could drive when they could barely think straight. We¡¯re not revolutionaries. We¡¯re not changing any kind of system. He¡¯s using us.¡±


    Her voice started uncertain, but grew more confident as she talked.


    ¡°Relax,¡± the Ice Twin said, ¡°it doesn¡¯t matter, remember? All that¡¯s important is the chaos. Get enough of it going, and he¡¯ll have real power again, enough for all of us to get what we want.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m beginning to think that he doesn¡¯t care what we want. I think the world needs a real change, but I don¡¯t think he wants us to change the system. He wants us to destroy it without rebuilding a better one.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous, Izzy.¡±


    The other Ice Twin, the one that hadn¡¯t gotten up said, ¡°I think she¡¯s right.¡±


    From the couch, Mr. Madness said, ¡°I don¡¯t see where revolution fits in this at all. We¡¯re getting paid. Once we¡¯re done, I¡¯m heading back to grad school, and that¡¯s the end of it. So let¡¯s get on with it. What¡¯s the next mission?¡±


    On the floor, Destruction Boy said, ¡°So you can get a degree in Latin?¡±


    ¡°Classics.¡±


    ¡°And read dead people. Talk about useless.¡±


    Mr. Madness¡¯ face whitened. ¡°Grow up.¡±


    Dixie Supergirl looked down at Destruction Boy, and over to Mr. Madness, ¡°Evan? Scott? Shut up. That was old the first time.¡±


    Someone knocked on the door, and everybody stiffened.


    Dixie Supergirl stared at the door with her mouth slightly open.


    The Ice Twin next to her said, ¡°Everybody, relax. We¡¯ve got a special visitor¡ªour leader.¡±


    She stepped across the room, and opened it.

 Under 30: Part 19

    Evil Beatnik walked in. I¡¯d never seen him in that body, but I knew it instantly. He wore a black beret, black jeans, and a black turtleneck. Scruffy hair on his chin (and above his upper lip) hinted that he must be growing a goatee.


    Oh, and he wore a silver ring on his right hand.


    Except for pictures from the late 60¡¯s and the 70¡¯s, he¡¯d always looked like that¡ªeven if he did possess different people each time.


    I wondered who he was. He looked familiar, but I couldn¡¯t place him.


    He didn¡¯t walk in alone though. A woman with long, black hair followed him. She wore a short, black dress.


    An old man walked in behind him. He had to be in his seventies, and I had no idea why he would be there except then I saw the drums, specifically bongo drums. In that moment, I knew who he was.


    He was Evil Beatnik¡¯s sidekick¡ªBongo Boy.


    No, really.


    And so it seemed obvious that even if Evil Beatnik was an immortal spirit of chaos, Bongo Boy wasn¡¯t. Technically, I could argue that by that point he should have long since changed his name to Bongo Geezer.


    So far as I knew, Bongo Boy didn¡¯t have any powers beyond being able to play the bongo drums.


    On the floor, Destruction Boy took one look at them, starting laughing, and then suddenly said, ¡°Ow,¡± and stopped.


    It didn¡¯t strike me as a Darth Vader style mental choke, as much as the side effect of a broken rib. When Sean gave me a broken rib, laughing hard had hurt for a few weeks.


    ¡°Cats,¡± Evil Beatnik said as Bongo Boy shut the door. ¡°Dig what I¡¯m putting down.¡±


    Bongo Boy quietly started to tap the drums.


    Izzy turned to the Ice Twin who had opened the door, ¡°Candace, this is our leader?¡±


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    The Ice Twin on the couch said, ¡°I¡¯m Candace, that¡¯s Cassidy.¡±


    ¡°We stand here,¡± Evil Beatnik began, ¡°a small band of fellow spirits who know something is wrong with the world we live in. We know that it¡¯s hollow at the core, but they¡¯ve covered it up with rules¡ªrules about what¡¯s polite, rules that tell you who you can talk to, rules that tell you when you can talk.


    ¡°They want to tell you who you can be, and they promise you that if you stay quiet, and wait, someday it will happen. Well, I say they can¡¯t give it to you because it¡¯s not theirs to give. All they can do is keep you in the same beat groove, but you, if you follow me, you can fly.¡±


    Writing this down it sounds stupid, but in the moment, Evil Beatnik moved hypnotically. He didn¡¯t dance. He barely seemed to move at all, but when he did, he moved with the beat of the drums.


    Dum ditty, dum ditty, dum-dum-dum.


    On the screen, all of them including Izzy stared, and slowly all of their faces turned to adoration.


    In that moment what he said seemed to make a lot of sense too. Weren¡¯t a lot of rules useless? They seemed to be substitutes for thinking things through yourself, and maybe the world would be better if we didn¡¯t use rules as shortcuts¡ª


    ¡°Nick,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°turn it off.¡±


    I never got the chance. Even before I managed to pull myself out of my thoughts, Jaclyn grabbed the mouse from my hand and clicked the display off the big screen, and turned off the sound.


    With my eyes now pointed at twenty feet of empty screen, I found it easier to move.


    Across from me at the table, Marcus said, ¡°That was crazy. I felt like I was there. What about you guys?¡±


    Behind me, Kayla said, ¡°You all looked like you were there. You looked exactly like all of them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I thought,¡± Jaclyn stepped back from my computer. ¡°Is everyone okay?¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± Rachel said. ¡°He had me, and I knew it, and I didn¡¯t dare move because I thought he might notice.¡±


    Vaughn didn¡¯t say anything. He stood silently, still facing the screen.


    ¡°Vaughn,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°are you okay?¡±


    Silence.


    Then Vaughn turned to face us, and honestly, I half expected to see lightning, but I didn¡¯t.


    He kept his hands down, and quietly asked, ¡°Did you guys see the monkey?¡±


    I tried to remember what I¡¯d seen beyond Evil Beatnick. ¡°What monkey?¡±


    ¡°One was hanging on the window.¡±


    I reached for my mouse.


    ¡°Don¡¯t turn it on again,¡± Jaclyn said.


    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±


    I¡¯d been recording it, and I set the video to move backward one frame at a time. Vaughn was right. The roachbot had a wide angle lens, and while Vaughn was wrong about a monkey hanging on the window, one stood on the balcony.


    I stopped the video.


    ¡°It¡¯s like in that kids¡¯ book,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°the one that was about monkeys drumming on drums?¡±


    Rachel stared. ¡°A monkey? In Grand Lake?¡±


    I barely paid attention. I¡¯d figured out who Evil Beatnik reminded me of¡ªMr. Beacham¡ªthe coolest, youngest, and most popular teacher in my high school.

 Under 30: Part 20

    And he didn¡¯t just remind me of Mr. Beacham, this was Mr. Beacham¡ªwith 100% more beatnik.


    I adjusted the picture, scrolling away from the monkey on the balcony and back toward Mr. Beacham, and his hangers on.


    Having recognized him, I knew who the woman with him was¡ªMr. Beacham¡¯s girlfriend. She¡¯d visited the school once. Was she with him because she thought he was Evil Beatnik, was Evil Beatnik controlling her, or did she somehow like Evil Beatnik? Had they¡­ uh¡­ I put the thought out of my mind, but it opened up a lot of relationship questions.


    Could Haley and I survive something like that? I liked to think we would, but you never knew. Worse, the deeper we got into this whole superheroism thing, the better chance we had to find out.


    So I put that thought out of my mind too.


    How did he happen to choose Mr. Beacham anyway?


    My mind began to chew on that as Vaughn said, ¡±Fuck, that¡¯s Mr. Beacham,¡± and Kayla said more or less the same, but four letters shorter.


    Rachel said, ¡°Who¡¯s Mr. Beacham?¡±


    Marcus nodded, ¡°That¡¯s what I was wondering.¡±


    ¡°My history teacher,¡± I said. ¡°He got hired the year Rachel graduated.¡±


    ¡°Really? I don¡¯t remember him at all.¡± Rachel appraised his image on the wall screen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think he taught any senior classes that year,¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯d remember him,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°He¡¯s good. Really good. I stayed awake in his classes. For history, that¡¯s a first.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s pretty well liked at your school?¡± Jaclyn asked.


    "I thought he was okay," Kayla said, "but a lot of people love him."


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Pretty much everybody likes him. I¡¯d say he¡¯s one of the more popular teachers.¡±


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    ¡°So he¡¯d have four years of students who might listen to him even if he wasn¡¯t possessed by a spirit that messes with people¡¯s heads.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°That puts things in a new light. I don¡¯t know what he¡¯d do with that though. I don¡¯t think anyone likes Mr. Beacham well enough to burn down the city.¡±


    ¡°But if he got on the radio or on TV and did something like that¡­¡±


    ¡°Or shared a video on YouTube,¡± Vaughn said.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°That could go bad quickly.¡±


    ¡°OK,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°I think we all need to sit down and not get up until we know how we¡¯re going to handle them.¡±


    ¡°We should go now,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°we know where they are.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Marcus said, ¡°the way it stands we¡¯d go in there, get taken over, and start working for Evil Beatnik. That¡¯s how it always goes¡ªexcept in stories somebody always fights it off, and then everybody fights it off, and they win.¡±


    ¡°And outside of stories,¡± Rachel said, ¡°who was that guy who murdered all his teammates under mind control?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Uh¡­ He¡¯s called The Atoner now, but I can¡¯t remember his original name. I was five when it happened. He used a weapon Grandpa designed to do it too, I think.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°let¡¯s all sit down, and get working.¡±


    Less than an hour later we had a plan. We were going to wait till Evil Beatnik left the apartment, take out the Ice Twins¡¯ team, and make our video of him available. From the reports, it appeared that Evil Beatnik disappeared voluntarily when the League revealed who he was possessing--as if he were hiding. Maybe he was being chased by spirits of order? It wasn''t clear. The key was to cut him off from followers first. The League only did it the opposite way around once, and then people died.


    All well and good, but when we fast forwarded through the video (with the sound off), they suited up and left when he did.


    I ran the video¡¯s audio through our speech to text program. Aside from the total nonsense that appeared with each drumbeat, it came out fairly clearly. Unfortunately, it made about as much sense as the part of the speech we¡¯d heard, i.e. not much.


    While we puzzled through the overblown rhetoric, endless cliches, and hipster speak for any clue where they¡¯d gone, a phone began to ring. Actually, the caller ID of the Michigan Heroes Alliance flashed across the bottom of my monitor, and the bottom of the wall screen showing Evil Beatnik¡¯s speech.


    I clicked ¡°accept call,¡± but since none of us were in costume, didn¡¯t give a visual on our end.


    The Marvelous X appeared on the screen. I¡¯d never heard for sure whether he had real magical powers, or simply faked them, but it barely mattered since he wasn¡¯t an active hero any more.


    He sat behind an enormous wooden desk wearing the same black suit, mask, and top hat he¡¯d worn thirty years ago.


    His gray moustache quivered as he spoke into the microphone. ¡°Dammit, who am I speaking to?¡±


    ¡°Accelerando,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°and about half of our team. We¡¯re in the middle of something, sir.¡±


    ¡°In the middle of something? I daresay you are. Your city is in the middle of a riot. What are you doing about it?¡±


    Vaughn had been right. We should have left immediately.


    I felt sick to my stomach.

 Under 30: Part 21

    ¡°Doing about it?¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°We were working on a plan to stop them, but we can go to the riot.¡±


    The Marvelous X shook his head. ¡°Please don¡¯t. We¡¯ve reason to believe a villain named Evil Beatnik is involved. You¡¯ve likely never heard of him because he hasn¡¯t been seen in years, but he can influence young people. We¡¯ve organized a number of heroes that are too old for him to control. They¡¯ll take care of him soon enough.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re sure about that?¡±


    He frowned. ¡°Do you know something we don¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°Nothing, I¡¯m sure. It seems like he¡¯s got a lot of people working for him.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but he always does. Once our people immobilize his followers we¡¯ll release his identity to the world, and he¡¯ll disappear again.¡±


    He seemed to be following the same plan the original League used. He¡¯d probably been active back when they were using it, so no surprise.


    He signed off, and I turned off the phone program¡¯s display.


    Minimizing the call transcript, I opened up a window to News 10¡¯s website. They were covering the riot. From the pictures coming across the screen, riot seemed like an overstatement. Maybe to the Marvelous X it seemed like a riot, but he was old.


    The picture showed Riverside Park, a park that ran alongside the Black River. The Ice Twins, Mr. Madness, and Dixie Supergirl stood on a hill, shouting toward the crowd. Filling the lawn between Grand Lake University buildings and the water, it reminded me more of a rock concert than anything else.


    Destruction Boy lay on the ground halfway up the hill. Bongo Boy sat near him, playing his drums.


    Two monkeys chased each other, jumping over Destruction Boy, and dancing in front of the bongos.


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    Evil Beatnik and Mr. Beacham¡¯s girlfriend (whose name I was beginning to think might be Amy) stood at the bottom of the hill.


    The crowd wasn¡¯t burning anything, but were shouting on cue, many red-faced and shaking their fists.


    So maybe it wasn¡¯t really a riot, but it looked like it might become one soon.


    I kept the sound off, but it didn¡¯t matter. News 10 was reporting from the helicopter.


    Vaughn watched the screen like the rest of us. ¡°So, are we waiting for the MHA guys to arrive before going in? I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t be able to stop us once they get into the middle of things.¡±


    ¡°No, I was thinking we¡¯d actually listen to him.¡± Jaclyn raised an eyebrow as she talked.


    Kayla nodded. ¡°It sounds like they can handle it without you.¡±


    ¡°Are you kidding?" Vaughn asked. "They¡¯ll need people for crowd control at the very least, and that¡¯s without considering Dixie Supergirl and the rest. Bet you twenty bucks, somebody¡¯ll get thrown through a wall.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not taking that bet,¡± Jaclyn said.


    Meanwhile, Rachel stared at the screen. ¡°Okay,¡± she said. ¡°There are even more monkeys now. What¡¯s going on with that?¡±


    She pointed, and I noticed a few more riding on the shoulders of people in the crowd.


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°Oh man, that is weird. Beware the Monkeypocalypse!¡±


    Marcus shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s in the reports.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t read all the reports,¡± Vaughn said.


    ¡°Neither did I, but this was in one of the last ones. Either Bongo Boy¡¯s drums summon monkeys, or he¡¯s the mortal son of a monkey god. The original League never knew for sure.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± Rachel said. ¡°Either way he¡¯s got mystical monkey control powers. Jaclyn, we¡¯re going to need to at least think about what we¡¯ll do if we have to go in.¡±


    ¡°How are we going to do that without joining him?¡± Jaclyn asked.


    I didn¡¯t know, and I didn¡¯t say anything, but we had to act.


    What could we do from a distance, and still stay out of range? I knew he had a range (whatever it was). I suspected that it grew with the amount of chaos and disorder around him. If so, he¡¯d gained power when Dixie Supergirl trashed the county jail.


    And what was he planning to do with the crowd? He couldn¡¯t have gathered that many people for fun.


    Movement on the screen pulled me out of my thoughts. The News 10 Choppercam stopped pointing at the people, and pointed into the air. Floating toward them, I saw most of Justice Fist, all in street clothes.


    I half expected them to attack, but they didn¡¯t. They landed in the front, and started shouting with the rest of the crowd.


    ¡°The Michigan Heroes Alliance is screwed,¡± Rachel said, pointing at them. ¡°There¡¯s Julie. She¡¯s not limited to controlling people under thirty.¡±

 Under 30: Part 22

    ¡°Nick,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°call him back. They can take those devices you made.¡±


    I knew what she meant¡ªthe devices I¡¯d made that canceled out the tones in Julie¡¯s voice that allowed her power to work.


    I called up the phone program on the computer, clicked to redial the Marvelous X, and got the receptionist.


    As she said,¡±Hello, Michigan Heroes Alliance, how may I help you?¡± the picture on the wall screen changed. News 10 pointed their camera up away from the crowd, and above the river. Something gray flew toward them from the east.


    About the size of a car and wingless, it slowed down as it neared the crowd, and stopped in front of the hill, hovering thirty feet above them.


    ¡°This is the Rocket,¡± I said to the receptionist. ¡°I just talked to the Marvelous X. I¡¯m calling back.¡±


    ¡°Just a moment, sir,¡± she said.


    Mellow jazz came over the computer¡¯s speakers. Hold music. Could I do something more than wait? What was Marvelous X doing now? We¡¯d barely hung up a minute ago. There had to be some way to get a message to them without going out there and getting converted.


    And there was.


    Back when we¡¯d visited the Michigan Heroes Alliance, they¡¯d handed us a lot of papers and othe information. I vaguely remembered that they had a standard radio frequency for people to use on MHA organized missions.


    The vehicle would be using it.


    Over the computer¡¯s speakers, Marvelous X said, ¡°Hello?¡±


    I hung up on him.


    HQ had software for their network. I pulled it up, and attempted to connect with anyone in the area. Meanwhile, over on the wall screen, the people in the gray flyer appeared to be talking with the Ice Twins¡ªsort of. The Ice Twin with the mostly white costume appeared to be doing most of the talking.


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    ¡°Did you hang up on him?¡± Jaclyn sounded incredulous.


    ¡°This is better,¡± I began, and that¡¯s when I connected with the people in the vehicle.


    Either News 10¡¯s chopper had gotten closer, or they¡¯d zoomed in. The gray flyer had an open top (or an invisible force field), so I could see inside. I only recognized two of the six people inside¡ªPsy-Kick (in the green karate uniform) and Future Knight (very shiny powered armor).


    A woman in the second row touched her hands into the console, and they melded with the keyboard. Instantly, I could hear her voice over the speakers. It sounded artificial. On the wall screen, her mouth didn¡¯t move.


    ¡°Instrumentality here.¡±


    ¡°This is the Rocket. Get out. They¡¯ve got someone who can influence you even if you¡¯re older than thirty, but I invented a device that can¡ª¡±


    ¡°Rocket, we¡¯ve got this. Stay away. I can¡¯t assume you¡¯re not influenced. Out.¡±


    She hung up.


    I thought about calling them back. I thought about punching the table. Neither one happened.


    ¡°And?¡± Jaclyn asked.


    ¡°I called them directly, and they hung up on me.¡±


    She let out a breath, and frowned.


    Behind her on the wall screen, the gray flyer slowly lowered itself to the ground. The crowd backed away as all the heroes stepped out. Future Knight pulled out his goo gun, sprayed them into immobility, and handed the gun to Julie.


    She sprayed him with white goo, and turned toward Evil Beatnik. He smiled at her, and the people gave a shout¡ªnot that I could hear it.


    They hadn¡¯t lasted long. I thought back to the spring when Isaac Lim had said that the only people the Michigan Heroes Alliance had access to at that point were the second raters. It felt like that still might be true. It might not be fair, but if they¡¯d listened to me, things would have gone so much better.


    Assuming we had to be at risk due to our ages had worked as well for them as going after Dixie Supergirl had for Sean. Idiots.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°looks like we¡¯re going in.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to fight all of them?¡± Kayla glanced at the screen. Hundreds, possibly thousands of people filled grassy area next to the river, and that was discounting Justice Fist and the Ice Twins.


    ¡°No,¡± Rachel shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re going to have to come up with something better. Before Bongo Boy showed up Evil Beatnik could influence, but he couldn¡¯t command people. When I went home with Lucas, all it took was for me to remember that I never did that normally, start to ask why I was doing it now, and I was free. If we get rid of Bongo Boy or even his drums, we might be able to turn this into something we can win.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°Right. When Jaclyn started talking me down, it didn¡¯t take long before I saw through it. But what about the Ice Twins¡¯ crew?¡±


    ¡°You saw the video. They¡¯re notinto it. If we can get half of them to give up, they might all stop.¡±


    It didn¡¯t sound likely, but it sounded better than a straight fight.

 Under 30: Part 23

    Half an hour later Vaughn and I were flying away from the Parks and Recreation Department. The city had two ways to get at the speakers in Riverside Park¡ªinside the park or through the system that allowed someone to address the entire downtown.


    We wanted to pump our own music into the park, but we didn¡¯t want to go there to set it up. Thus, our visit to Parks and Recreation.


    We flew up to three hundred feet. I could see the Black River, News 10¡¯s helicopter, Riverside Park, and all the people. Shouting and singing carried across the distance along with a hint of a drumbeat.


    It was a gorgeous afternoon. Not a cloud appeared in the sky. Turning west, I could see sailboats, speedboats, waterskiers, and jetskis even though it was Monday. Sunlight glinted on the dunes, the waves, and the churning wakes.


    Past Grand Lake, the dark waters of Lake Michigan held sailboats, and motorized yachts.


    I turned away and told Vaughn, ¡°I guess it¡¯s time to ruin everyone¡¯s day.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not the only one. I didn¡¯t know all the songs you put on that playlist, but I¡¯m pretty sure the songs I did recognize are banned under the Geneva Conventions. I mean, Rebecca Black¡¯s Friday? Barry Manilow¡¯s uh¡­ anything at all?¡±


    A cloud gathered over Grand Lake. It was thin line and wispy around the edges.


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    ¡°Blame Ghost. She said the playlist had to be songs that were never cool, stuff that was too commercial, or too bad. I googled ¡®worst songs ever¡¯ and decided to take what came up.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, that¡¯s exactly what you got.¡±


    The cloud widened, becoming thicker, and a little darker. A few smaller clouds formed near it.


    ¡°How far are you going to go? It was supposed to be a little bit of rain, right?¡±


    Vaughn nodded, his ponytail blowing around in the wind that kept him up. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, this is nothing like that tornado I did against the Cabal. Evil Beatnik¡¯s people will just get wet, you know?¡±


    That was the idea. I hoped they wouldn¡¯t get out of control. I¡¯d never seen Vaughn¡¯s stuff get out of control, but this was weather, and he was making it act differently than normal. That had to have side effects somewhere¡ªmaybe not for us though. Hopefully.


    I checked the readout in my helmet. It showed 12:35pm. ¡°We¡¯d better get moving. The sound system should have turned on by now. Are they ready?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re on the move,¡± Vaughn said.


    They were moving slowly across the lake toward the city and the river. Behind them, more clouds formed over Lake Michigan.


    A slow rain fell, splashing when it hit the lake.


    We flew along with the clouds, letting them lead. As we grew closer to the park, I could hear music, but Bongo Boy¡¯s drums were drowned out by the sound of an overly autotuned voice singing, ¡°Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday¡­¡±


    That didn¡¯t stop me from feeling the drums¡¯ beat. I felt the call, the urge to go down and party in the park, but it didn¡¯t last.


    I didn¡¯t see her, but I knew what happened. Precisely at 12:36pm, Bongo Boy¡¯s drums were pulled out of his hands, and shattered on the ground.


    The urge to join in stopped. I still felt something, but nowhere near as strong. I felt like I could handle it for a little while.


    Over the communicator, Jaclyn said, ¡°Drums down. Everyone move in. And congratulations Rocket, you''ve found the best anti-hipster music out there. I don''t want to find out what''s next.¡±

 Under 30: Part 24

    ¡°Next up is uh¡­ ¡®Copacobana¡¯. I wasn¡¯t sure whether to put it or ¡®Mandy¡¯ on the list. I checked, and they both sounded equally awful.¡±


    Jaclyn barely let me stop before she responded. ¡°I think I heard ¡®Copacobana¡¯ once, but nevermind, let¡¯s get to stage two. Rocket, you¡¯re on.¡±


    Me? Yes, me. Why? Not because of my powers of persausion. It was because I had a built-in PA system.


    ¡°Right, I¡¯ll move in.¡±


    I flew in over the crowd with Vaughn. The rain wasn¡¯t bad, but it was steady, falling in large drops.


    Over the loudspeakers, Barry Manilow sang, ¡°His name was Rico, he wore a diamond¡­¡±


    People watched me, looking up with slightly confused expressions on their faces. People sheltered under trees. Some held blankets or backpacks over their heads. A few began to walk away toward the big, brick, lecture halls on the edge of the park.


    The monkeys that didn¡¯t huddle around Bongo Boy (who was gathering up the remains of his drums) climbed the trees.


    Some were bigger than I¡¯d have expected, more ape than monkey-sized, but they weren¡¯t apes. They had tails. Could they be giant monkeys? Extra-dimensional monkeys? Or, if Bongo Boy were some kind of monkey god, could they be supernatural?


    I had no idea.


    Halfway across the crowd, I stopped.


    The whole crowd stared at me¡ªprobably the most people I¡¯d ever knowingly addressed at once. After we¡¯d caught the Mayor I¡¯d been on TV and I¡¯d probably talked to more people, but I couldn¡¯t see them all. It had been a few people plus news cameras.


    I probably even knew some of them.


    I tried to remember what I had to say. I¡¯d practiced a little. I¡¯d written an outline, but I didn¡¯t have it with me. It struck me that I could have worked out a way to use the Rocket suit¡¯s readouts as a teleprompter.


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    That would have been better.


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I began, my voice amplified, and audible for several city blocks. I was doing great.


    ¡°You¡¯re being used,¡± I said. ¡°I bet most of you don¡¯t even know why you¡¯re here. You saw something happening, decided to check it out and stayed. Some of you probably got called by friends. It seemed important somehow, but you didn¡¯t know why. It seemed like you were striking a blow against something, but you didn¡¯t know what.


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you everything, but right now you¡¯re being influenced. There are real revolutions, but this isn¡¯t one of them. For your own safety, I¡¯m asking you to please go home. Come back when you can tell me why you¡¯re here.¡±


    As the words sank in, the rain fell harder, hitting, and rolling down the front of my helmet.


    It felt good to stop, but even better that people began to walk away. In my grandfather¡¯s hands, the Rocket suit had come to represent something a person could trust. I tended to forget it, but I could tap into that goodwill.


    ¡°Everybody go,¡± I said. ¡°This is important.¡±


    The song had changed to "MacArthur Park" during the speech. Over the sound of an orchestra, a man sang, ¡°Someone left the cake out in the rain. I don¡¯t think that I can take it because it took so long to bake it, and I¡¯ll never have that recipe again. Oh, nooooooooooo!¡±


    ¡°Why¡¯s that guy so worked up about a cake?¡± Vaughn asked. ¡°And why would anyone leave it outside anyway?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea. Be glad I didn¡¯t choose the disco version.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a disco version? Oh man, you should have.¡±


    We flew toward the hill. People ran away, and honestly, it may have been the rain more than anything I¡¯d done.


    My heart raced as we came close. Evil Beatnik¡¯s beret was soaked with water, flattened to Mr. Beacham¡¯s head. The ring glinted on his hand. Near him, Mr. Beacham¡¯s girlfriend held his hand, but she didn¡¯t seem happy.


    If he¡¯d been alone, or accompanied only by Bongo Boy, I¡¯d have called News 10 as we¡¯d arranged, and exposed Evil Beatnik on the air. He wasn¡¯t alone. The Ice Twins, Mr. Madness, and Dixie Supergirl stood between us. Destruction Boy lay on the hill near Bongo Boy and all the monkeys.


    The members of Justice Fist must have left with the rest of the crowd. That bothered me, but I couldn¡¯t think why.


    I knew what Vaughn and I had to do¡ªtalk them into leaving, make them understand what they served without saying it so many words.


    ¡°Make it quick,¡± Vaughn muttered to me. I thought I caught a little nervousness in his voice.


    One of the Ice Twins¡ªWhite, or, in reality, Cassidy¡ªsaid, ¡°I¡¯ve got a message for you from our leader.¡±


    ¡°What are we,¡± Vaughn said (quietly), ¡°Martians?¡±


    Dixie Supergirl snorted, but White kept on talking, ¡°He says leave, or the rest of our people will destroy the power plant. Dig?¡±

 Under 30: Part 25

    ¡°Yeah, right,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Cause we¡¯re going to let you guys run away, and keep on robbing banks, and protesting with monkeys. That¡¯s totally brilliant.¡±


    Unless Evil Beatnik planned to use magic to tell Justice Fist to stop, I didn¡¯t know how he¡¯d do it. I supposed he could use a cellphone if he didn¡¯t care about the rain. That said, in this case, the rain would destroy Mr. Beacham¡¯s cellphone, and Evil Beatnik probably didn¡¯t care.


    Assuming he knew what cellphones were. The guy had been kept in HQ since the late 70¡¯s or early 80¡¯s.


    Anyway, he¡¯d probably agree to call them back, but not do it. What would be the point? He gained power with chaos, and knocking out electricity would cause a lot of chaos.


    I called everybody but Vaughn. He was talking. Quietly, I told them what White had said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go to the power plant,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°You keep on following the plan.¡±


    Rachel said, ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡±


    Marcus¡¯ voice came over the helmet¡¯s speakers, ¡°So it¡¯s just the guys left?¡±


    ¡°And me,¡± Kayla said.


    ¡°But you¡¯re not here.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯m helping.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Good luck.¡±


    ¡°You too,¡± I said.


    I thought they had a pretty good chance even in a straight fight. Between Jaclyn¡¯s strength, speed and general toughness, and Rachel¡¯s invisibility, intagibility and taser gloves, they had options.


    And they might not have to fight. We weren¡¯t going to if we could avoid it.


    I glanced off to the left of the hill. The Michigan Heroes Alliance group stood there, all of them immobile and covered with sticky goo, next to their flyer.


    From the way Future Knight strained his armored arms and legs, I guessed that Julie¡¯s commands had worn off. Not that it did them any good. Too bad Psy-Kick could hear thoughts, but couldn¡¯t actually mentally attack anybody. Then he might be useful.


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    Well, for more than glaring at me anyhow.


    Anyway, attacking mentally wasn¡¯t the idea. Emotionally? That was actually part of the plan.


    I hoped it would work, because past experience showed that Dixie Supergirl alone could smash us.


    Vaughn¡¯s conversation with White, Blue, and the rest of their gang, had, of course continued even though I wasn¡¯t paying attention.


    ¡°No,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°the way I see it you guys should surrender right now.¡±


    White held a raygun in her right hand. She pointed it at Vaughn in a way that I could only describe as relaxed. Judging from the icicle hanging from the muzzle, it probably encased whatever it hit in ice. ¡°Oh, and why is that?¡±


    ¡°Because we¡¯re the good guys. In the end, no matter how tough the villain is, or how outnumbered we are, we have to win. Plus, if the other side includes attractive women, they have to fall in love with us by the end. It¡¯s traditional, you know?¡±


    Her mask covered most of her face, but not the lower half. She smiled, and the darkened sky and rain made it harder to tell, but her cheeks seemed a little flushed.


    Had he been flirting with her the whole time? I¡¯d have been worried that Evil Beatnik was influencing him again, but it wasn¡¯t any different from any other time I¡¯d seen him with a girl.


    On the other hand, the rainfall had slowed.


    White said, ¡°Sure, but who says it has to be with you?¡± She nodded toward me. ¡°On YouTube, he¡¯s the one with the technological extension.¡±


    Next to her, her sister ¡°Blue¡± (in the costume with more blue) said, ¡°Oh, gross.¡±


    Mr. Madness and Dixie Supergirl laughed. Destruction Boy eyed the Rocket suit¡¯s crotch.


    I turned my head toward Vaughn. ¡°YouTube? That movie is on YouTube?¡±


    ¡°Not all of it. Just the scene with the Rocket and Princess Orgasmika doing it. It got millions of views. How did you think I heard about the movie?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Porn detection powers?¡±


    I must not have sounded as annoyed as I felt because Vaughn and the others all laughed. ¡°Good one.¡±


    So at that moment I had a decision to make. By then I was supposed to be convincing the Ice Twins group that Evil Beatnik was in fact evil. Kayla had found news reports about the Ice Twins¡¯ parents and Destruction Boy¡¯s grandparents discovering them gone. She had them cued up back at HQ for me to broadcast through the suit¡¯s speakers.


    It didn¡¯t feel right though. Strange as it sounded, it felt like between Vaughn¡¯s flirting, and even the horrible video jokes, we¡¯d all bonded a little.


    I couldn¡¯t drop parental guilt on people out of nowhere like that.


    As I decided not to, the music changed from MacArthur Park to a song I¡¯d found on a list in some UK magazine. It was called ¡°Cheeky Girls,¡± or maybe that was the name of the band? The lyrics seemed to be four sentences. ¡°We are cheeky girls. You are cheeky boys. Touch my bum. This is life.¡±


    The Ice Twins¡¯ crew listened in disbelief, and Dixie Supergirl started laughing hard.


    In between gasps, she managed to say, ¡°This song is so stupid. Where did you find this?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t remember exactly¡ª¡± I began, except a scream interrupted me.


    Evil Beatnik let go of Mr. Beacham¡¯s girlfriend¡¯s hand, striding toward us. His face had turned bright red, and I could see the veins in neck. I didn¡¯t know for sure why he was angry, but I thought it might be the sort of anger you get when people you¡¯re controlling get tasered, or bludgeoned with lightning fast fists.


    Behind him, Bongo Boy picked up two shards of his drums, and tapped them together like drumsticks.

 Under 30: Part 26

    The rhythm of Bongo Boy¡¯s clicking drew me in, but not entirely¡ªnot nearly as strongly as he had with drums.


    I could think¡ªbarely¡ªI half wanted to stand there, quietly waiting for orders.


    I pointed my right arm at him, set the sonics to choose the most resonant frequency for the wood, and narrowcast a big pulse of sound as he brought the two shards together with a wooden click.


    With any luck the most resonant frequency wouldn¡¯t be the same as Bongo Boy¡¯s ribs, or incompatible with his pacemaker if he had one.


    And if he did have a pacemaker, I prayed Vaughn wouldn¡¯t zap him.


    As the drum shards touched, the larger one exploded into smaller shards, and splinters. Bongo Boy shouted, dropped the other shard, and shook his bloody hand, shouting curses.


    I didn¡¯t want to look at it.


    One bad thing about inheriting my grandfather¡¯s rogues gallery was that between Man-Machine and Bongo Boy, I spent too much time hurting senior citizens.


    On the bright side, my head felt clearer.


    Except¡­


    Evil Beatnik saw it happen.


    He glanced back at Bongo Boy¡¯s hand, and seemed to get angrier, shouting, ¡°Get him!¡±


    ¡°Him,¡± of course being me, and people being commanded? Everybody but me.


    The Ice Twins brought their ice-rays up, but not quickly. Near them, Dixie Supergirl had stopped laughing about the song, and had her fists clenched, her eyes closed. Destruction Boy struggled to push himself up to a sitting position. Remembering his last blast at me, I decided that bonding or no, guilt trips sounded like a great idea.


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    ¡°HQ,¡± I said into the comm, ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±


    ¡°1¡­ 2¡­ 3¡­¡± Kayla said, and I sent her call to the main speakers. A woman¡¯s voice said, ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened to them. They disappeared. I don¡¯t where. I don¡¯t know if they were kidnapped, or if¡­ if¡­¡± The woman gave an uncontrolled wail. ¡°Candace, and Cassidy, if you¡¯re out there somewhere call me, please!¡±


    The Ice Twins ice-rays dropped. White shook her head.


    Behind them, Destruction Boy managed to sit up.


    An old man cleared his throat, voice magnified by my sonics he said, ¡°I did my best by him. After his dad left him with us, his grandmother and I raised him like a son. Scott, come home, or call for help. Call the police if you have to, son. It¡¯ll be okay.¡±


    Destruction Boy looked around, confused.


    Teaching Kayla how to splice together news footage had been worth my time.


    I tried to think of my next step. She¡¯d edited the voices together with the idea that we¡¯d use them to help persuade the Ice Twins¡¯ group to split up and go home. We didn¡¯t expect to use them with Evil Beatnik right there.


    He didn¡¯t even try to sound like a hipster. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him. It¡¯s a trick! Hurt him.¡±


    ¡°Rocket¡­ Can¡¯t help.¡±


    Vaughn had his eyes closed, and turned his head away from me¡ªprobably to avoid joining Evil Beatnik.


    And I tried to think of the next step. We were supposed to get him alone. Since he had people around him, revealing his identity could go very, very wrong. And where was Marcus? He was supposed to have come in less visibly than Vaughn and I, and he¡¯d sounded like he was here over the comm.


    I tried to talk to him directly. ¡°Shift?¡±


    ¡°Here. Need help?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    For all Evil Beatnik¡¯s shouting, I didn¡¯t yet. They weren¡¯t attacking. Not even the monkeys were attacking. Except for the one on Bongo Boy¡¯s shoulder, they were acting like monkeys¡ªsniffing each other, chasing each other, and climbing the trees.


    One had managed to get the wrapper off a Snickers bar.


    Evil Beatnik snarled, and began to walk toward me.


    ¡°Well, daddy-o, it seems like you have a problem.¡±


    ¡°Me?¡±


    ¡°This body I¡¯m wearing? You like him, and I don¡¯t. He¡¯s a square, but he thinks he isn¡¯t. He wanted to change the world, but now he¡¯s got a comfortable life. I think he needs to learn better, but if I don¡¯t get the chance to show him, I may have to kill him. What do you think about that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m against it.¡±

 Under 30: Part 27

    Evil Beatnik said, ¡°Yeah?¡±


    He snapped his fingers, and the music stopped. Then he let out a breath, and gulped in another. Losing the music wasn¡¯t the end of the world. It had served its purpose. The way he¡¯d snuffed it so easily bothered me more.


    Then I guessed how. In the reports Jaclyn¡¯s grandfather mentioned that he could make things happen, and the more probable it was, the easier. He¡¯d described fighting Evil Beatnik as fighting someone with the power of Murphy¡¯s law¡ªanything that could go wrong would.


    Given the music list I¡¯d created, the chance that someone at Parks and Recreation would turn it off was high.


    Sadly we¡¯d never gotten to the last bit, an hour long loop of Monty Python¡¯s spam song (¡±Spam, spam, spam. Spam, spam, spam. Marvelous spam. Wonderful spam¡­¡± repeated again and again).


    Parks and Rec would likely have turned that off without any supernatural push.


    ¡°Leave Mr. Beacham alone. Just let him go, and disappear.¡±


    ¡°Or what? You¡¯ll punch him? No. I say why don¡¯t you let me walk away. I¡¯ll be done with him soon enough.¡±


    ¡°Like I¡¯m going to let you kill him.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say kill him. I said I¡¯d be done with him. I get bored. No big deal. He¡¯ll be good as new when I¡¯m gone.¡±


    I didn¡¯t believe him. I tried to think of what to do next. If I were following the original League¡¯s procedures, it would be seperate him from his followers, and then reveal his identity publically.


    ¡°Tell you what,¡± Evil Beatnik said. ¡°You want me out of him? I could go into you.¡±


    Maybe it was his influence, but that almost sounded like a good idea. With the Rocket suit, he¡¯d have to separate himself from his followers. Unfortunately if Jaclyn or Marcus revealed who he was possessing, they¡¯d be revealing me.


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    Plus, I doubted that Daniel¡¯s work inside my head did much against magical possession.


    I¡¯d have punched him then except my armor probably wouldn¡¯t have protected me either.


    Running through options in my head, I felt like I had to be taking longer than I ought to, but it wasn¡¯t easy. Knock Mr. Beacham¡¯s body unconscious, and Evil Beatnik would move to his second choice¡ªwhoever that would be.


    If I blasted him with the sonics, he¡¯d still control Mr. Beacham, but I¡¯d blow Mr. Beacham¡¯s eardrums.


    Evil Beatnik must have noticed my indecision because he acted.


    Mr. Beacham fell to the ground, and his black beret landed in the grass. He shook his head, and picked up the hat in his ringless hand, staring at it.


    Near the hill, Mr. Madness ran toward me, pointed his gas gun, and fired.


    A cloud of greenish gas surrounded my head, and who knew what it could do, but it didn¡¯t matter. My grandfather faced Dr. Madness in the 50¡¯s and 60¡¯s, and Mr. Madness didn¡¯t seem to have much in the way of new technology.


    The filtration system worked. I didn¡¯t even smell anything.


    Alone that wouldn¡¯t have been much of an attack, but then I began to feel a compulsion to take off my helmet. It was stuffy. It felt like I¡¯d been in there for hours. I could smell my own breath, and my sweat. Even with the new displays I¡¯d put into the helmet, it still felt like I¡¯d stuffed my head into a tin can.


    Maybe I would have opened my helmet then, but I didn¡¯t. I got distracted.


    A large, grayish rock sat on the far side of hill, right next to the path between the park and Grand Lake University¡¯s buildings. It had been on the other side of the path the last time I¡¯d looked.


    As the gas surrounded me, it grew legs, and ran across the grass. Reaching me, it shifted form, becoming Marcus¡ªa grayish, rock-like form of Marcus that had no nose or mouth.


    He molded himself over the gas gun. New holes appeared in his body, spraying the gas out in all directions. Mr. Madness tried to pull the gun away, but he didn¡¯t seem to be able to move it at all, or to stop firing either.


    Marcus had absorbed most of the gun.


    Mr. Madness screamed through his mask. ¡°Goddammit, let go!¡±


    Even if I hadn¡¯t guessed where Evil Beatnik had gone, I recognized the frustration, and even if I couldn¡¯t place exactly what the difference was, something in the way he moved his body seemed off.


    Around us, Vaughn, and all of the Ice Twins¡¯ group coughed, and wobbled on their feet. Sitting on the hill, Destruction Boy said, ¡°I see pink, pOLka doT flOWers.¡±


    Marcus stretched his left arm forward, pulling Mr. Madness¡¯ gas mask away from his face.


    Mr. Madness began to cough, and this time I saw it happen¡ªthe ring turned into a silvery gas, and reformed on Marcus'' right ring finger.

 Under 30: Part 28

    Evil Beatnik didn¡¯t have an easy time of it.


    Marcus started to twist toward me, but one leg shrunk, and he fell over. He began to push himself away from the ground, but it wasn¡¯t simple. Long spikes had grown out of Marcus¡¯ legs, sticking themselves into the ground.


    I couldn¡¯t see it to know for sure, but judging from the way Marcus¡¯ legs and body shrank, I suspected I couldn¡¯t see half of what Marcus had sunk into the ground.


    Marcus growled something I couldn¡¯t understand as he pushed up, and fell back down. Not that he sounded at all like Marcus, of course.


    The spikes began to retract into his feet, and Marcus stood, his features turning into Evil Beatnik¡¯s¡ªas much as they could. When Marcus used his powers, his skin turned from light brown to the same gray Haley and Travis¡¯ claws had when they transformed. At that point Marcus had turned all gray, creating the impression of a beret, turtleneck shirt, and pants out of Marcus¡¯ body.


    I racked my brain to think of something that I could do about it, but nothing came to mind. Hitting Marcus didn¡¯t do much good, and anyway, it wasn¡¯t Marcus I wanted to hit.


    I didn¡¯t know what to do.


    When we¡¯d practised, Daniel had the best chance of taking Marcus out. Between telepathic attacks, and straight out telekinesis, he could take Marcus out of a fight.


    The rest of us had a harder time.


    Sonics would hurt him, but he could also shapeshift away from having ears.


    Not that I went through that in a completely rational way at that moment. At that moment, my thoughts were closer to ¡°Crap. Crap. Crap.¡±


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    That and thinking how incredibly inconvenient it was that the original team (and thus ours) hadn¡¯t included anybody who knew anything about magic.


    Well, other than Lee, and he didn¡¯t seem to be nearly as into understanding sorcery as he was into dismembering sorcerors.


    And anyway, he wasn¡¯t there.


    What happened next could be considered a reminder that waiting sometimes does solve problems.


    Marcus¡¯ right hand disappeared while his forearm bulged. Evil Beatnik¡¯s ring fell to the grass. It turned into a silvery mist again, and floated toward him except Marcus turned into a ball.


    A big ball.


    I wouldn¡¯t have put it past Evil Beatnik to have the ring stretch to fit, but it would have had to stretch to hula hoop size. Maybe the ring had a hard limit to its ability to stretch, or maybe Evil Beatnik didn¡¯t want to try again on Marcus.


    Either way, he didn¡¯t.


    The silvery circle hovered above the grass.


    Meanwhile, the Ice Twins¡¯ whole crew¡ªincluding Mr. Madness¡ªlay on the ground in a haze, muttering and sometimes pointing at shapes in the clouds. Mr. Beacham and his girlfriend lay near them.


    Bongo Boy sat, hand still bleeding, surrounded by monkeys, and coughing a little. I guessed he must have been gassed too.


    That¡¯s when I noticed that whether or not he¡¯d intended it, Marcus had been brilliant. We had to isolate Evil Beatnik, and in stopping Mr. Madness, he¡¯d sprayed the man¡¯s madness gas everywhere. No one eligible to be possessed could think clearly enough to be useful, and even if Bongo Boy could, he was over thirty by at least forty years.


    The time had come. I could call Kayla, and reveal Evil Beatnik over the TV.


    At least in theory.


    Theory came in because as I decided to call her, I realized that Evil Beatnik had one rational person under the age of thirty available who hadn¡¯t just bested him in a contest of will.


    Yeah, that¡¯d be me.


    I felt cold metal on the ring finger of my right hand.


    ¡°HQ,¡± I began, and then found I couldn¡¯t speak any more.


    My body felt strange¡ªgood in a way, but not right.


    Evil Beatnik¡¯s voice spoke in my head. ¡°This is better. Much better. A normal body. Well, Nick, here we are, together at last. I¡¯m trying to decide where we should start. City Hall? The power plant? Or maybe we should rob a jewelry store? What do you think? Anything that you¡¯ve always wanted to do?¡±

 Under 30: Part 29

    Marcus had managed to resist, but I didn¡¯t know exactly how.


    If Daniel had been there, he could have told me. Better, he could have helped. Well, maybe. A telepathic link might have opened him up to Evil Beatnik¡¯s influence.


    Obviously Marcus had had more control of his body than Evil Beatnik had, and a considerably weirder physiology. That couldn¡¯t hurt.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± Evil Beatnik asked.


    My brain, instead of useful information, remembered that that had been the question that one of the major villains in the TV series Babylon 5 constantly asked people. The reply that I¡¯d most liked (¡±To live just long enough to see your head on a pike as a warning to future generations that some favors come with too high a price¡±) didn¡¯t seem appropriate for the moment.


    For one thing, Evil Beatnik didn¡¯t have a physical body.


    I tried to think of a way to resist. Daniel and I had talked about resisting mental control, but neither of us knew anything about magical possession.


    All I knew was that I didn¡¯t have a plan, and that part of me was thinking about the question--even if the rest of me felt ready to panic.


    What did I want? Not having him in my head neared the top of my most immediate needs, but not according to the part that he controlled. I wanted Haley to be there with me, but Vaughn had been right¡ªSydney, and Camille both had a lot going for them. And if I were honest with myself, so did Dixie Supergirl.


    I had no shortage of honesty flowing through me just then.


    ¡°Girls,¡± he muttered. ¡°They always want girls.¡± More loudly, he said, ¡°That¡¯s a good place to start. We¡¯ll find you a solid chick. Chicks like me.¡±


    My wants didn¡¯t stop there.


    I wanted to know how he could influence me despite Daniel¡¯s work on setting up mental defenses. I wanted to know more about the fusion reactor in the League¡¯s jet/spaceship. I wanted to know how the gate system worked. Why did we have to be prevented from leaving Earth anyway? If I could come up with a substitute, or a way to hack into the system without anyone noticing, we could go anywhere.


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    I had ideas for the next Rocket suit.


    I could see it in my head. I¡¯d improved the normal Rocket suit to hold more roachbots, and moved controls into the system after fixing it this summer. Still, some things I wanted to do could only be included in a full redesign.


    I wanted to go back to HQ, get in front of a computer, and pull up the CAD program. The computer chips available now blew the ones Grandpa Vander Sloot designed the Rocket suit¡¯s systems around away.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Evil Beatnik said, ¡°let¡¯s get back to the girls.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure why. Girls were irrelevant to integrating the roachbot¡¯s control systems better into the helmet display, not to mention increasing their range.


    Admittedly, Kayla was back at HQ, but while I didn¡¯t have anything against her, I wasn¡¯t interested in her in the way he seemed to be going for.


    I knew I needed to talk to Kayla for some reason though.


    ¡°Nah,¡± he said. ¡°She¡¯s square. You can do better. Why don¡¯t you head over to the power plant, dig?¡±


    Mentally, I ran through my pre-flight check list, and then turned on the rocketpack, slowly lifting off.


    Below me, Marcus shouted, ¡°Rocket, are you sure?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him,¡± Evil Beatnik said. ¡°Everything¡¯s cool.¡± From the tone of his voice though, it seemed like he might be a little nervous about taking to the air.


    Of course, he probably didn¡¯t know a thing about flying the Rocket suit. I tried not to even think about my next move. He''d shut it down before, but maybe with flight to distract him...


    On my palm, I clicked open a connection to HQ, ¡°Tell the news crew, he¡¯s got me!¡±


    ¡°On it,¡± Kayla said, and then the connection clicked off.


    ¡°What did you do? You told them!¡±


    And they were going to tell everyone, including other beings that the League''s reports said were always watching for spirits of chaos.


    Rising above the park, and the river, I found myself level with the News 10 helicopter. They pointed a camera at me.


    That¡¯s not all I saw either. I saw the world through Evil Beatnik vision. I¡¯d like to write that I saw every atom, felt the spinning of electrons around billions of nuclei, sensed how the world stayed together even as other forces tried to pull it apart.


    That would have been true, but not quite. I didn¡¯t sense it on a scientific level. I sensed order all around me. I could see translucent shapes everywhere, strange creaturessomehow gaining power from the roads, the University buildings on either side of the river, the organized gathering of resources that kept every civilization working¡­


    And I knew they were hostile, and that I was surrounded.

 Under 30: Part 30

    They came toward me even though the Rocket suit had risen one hundred feet above the ground. Many weren¡¯t more than shapes with legs¡ªsquares, triangles, rectangles, but those were some of the smaller creatures. The larger ones shouldn¡¯t have seemed ominous at all, but they were big, and they shouldn¡¯t have been flying.


    But I still haven¡¯t said what they were, have I?


    I was being attacked by infrastructure¡ªstoplights, telephone poles, city buses, trains, rails, roads, power lines, police cars, firetrucks, and more, some of it mixed together, not all of it from our time.


    I don¡¯t want to understate the mixing. Imagine a twenty foot tall stoplight with power lines sticking out of its sides flying toward you, the pale, white wires reaching toward you in showers of ghostly sparks.


    That was one of the less weird ones.


    Along with them were representations of atoms, equations, the double helix of DNA, creatures out of myth¡­ I know I saw a unicorn.


    Unicorns seem much less cool when they¡¯re charging you horn first.


    I froze, unable to do anything-except it wasn¡¯t my panic. It was Evil Beatnik¡¯s.


    He understood enough about operating the Rocket suit to make me give it more fuel, but it didn¡¯t do any good. They were gaining.


    Five hundred feet above the ground, he left. I felt him go.


    The unicorn, the flying shapes, the surrealistic manifestations of order were almost on me. The unicorn in particular appeared to be instants away from sticking its horn into my chest.


    Then it disappeared. With it went most of the fear, and the feeling of the cold ring on my finger. I had a weird shivery feeling that might have been the unicorn flying through me. On the other hand, it might have been a reaction to the ring disappearing. Or maybe a reaction to becoming free of Evil Beatnik¡¯s possession?


    I descended, slowly rotating as I watched for any signs that Evil Beatnik might have reappeared. I didn¡¯t see any.


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    As I landed, Marcus asked, ¡°Are you okay in there?¡±


    ¡°I am. Evil Beatnik¡¯s gone. I don¡¯t know where he went, but I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll see him any time soon.¡±


    * * *


    A little over a week later, Haley and I went back to the park together.


    I wore a black t-shirt with a wolf on it. She¡¯d bought it for me in Montana. We sat next to each other on the hill, drinking coffee we¡¯d picked up while walking downtown. I¡¯d originally wanted ice cream, but so far as I could tell, there weren¡¯t any ice cream shops in that part of the city.


    You¡¯d never have known anything happened in the park at all. Nothing played over the speakers.


    There were indentations where Future Knight and the others had landed the flyer. The grass, however, was still alive so it wasn¡¯t that obvious.


    Riverside Park was far better off than the county jail. I didn¡¯t know how much the damage cost, but it couldn¡¯t be cheap. They were missing a huge chunk of the outside wall plus all the railings Sean ripped out.


    ¡°What happened after that?¡± Haley asked.


    ¡°The normal stuff,¡± I said. ¡°The police came. Not that they had much to do. The gas wore off, and Julie came back with Future Knight¡¯s goo gun to dissolve the adhesive. The Ice Twins and their group surrendered to the police. I think they¡¯re all home now.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re home? I thought they¡¯d be in prison, or juvenile detention, or something.¡±


    ¡°The FBI pulled in some psychics, and everybody reeked of supernatural influence, so¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think some of them wanted to do it? It seems like Rachel and Vaughn broke his hold on them once they tried.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. That could be. Mr. Madness for sure. I think I remember him saying he was in it for the money, and one of the Ice Twins¡ªWhite, I think¡ªseemed way too enthusiastic for being forced.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I mean. I saw a video of what they did to the TV station.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Well, the other piece is that their grandparents were all so... uh¡­notorious? Isaac Lim seemed pretty excited about getting the chance to prevent them from going wrong. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised to see one or more of them in the Stapledon program once college starts this fall.¡±


    ¡°I hope it¡¯s more than you and them and Sean.¡±


    ¡°Wow. That would be bad, but it won''t be just us. I''m told it¡¯s an unusually large group this year.¡±


    She took a sip of coffee, and looked out at the river. Most of Grand Lake University lay on the other side. Voss Hall of Engineering stood closest to us. An odd combination of mirrored windows and concrete, it probably dated from the 1960¡¯s. It didn¡¯t take much insight to guess that I¡¯d spend a lot of time there.


    ¡°I¡¯m a little worried about something,¡± Haley said. ¡°My senior year of high school is next year, and you¡¯re going to be in college. I¡¯ve known people that tried to keep on dating like that, but I don''t think it ever worked out. Do you think we can handle it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s a long distance relationship. I¡¯ll be in Grand Lake too. No big deal.¡±


    We stayed there for a little while longer before going back to HQ. It was a good day.

 Cassie: Part 1

    Waiting rooms are boring. It doesn¡¯t matter whose waiting room. Even top secret, government owned laboratories that exist solely to study metahumans still make me want to scream after half an hour.


    Especially when they manage to stock the same seven month old copies of People as my dentist.


    It had to be a conspiracy.


    So that¡¯s where I was. In a waiting room. The one for studying metahumans. Not my dentist¡¯s.


    Mom was upstairs a couple levels talking with her boss¡ªwhich served her right because instead of going home after vacation in Aruba, she¡¯d taken us to Washington D.C. I¡¯d told her how I¡¯d regenerated a huge chunk of my thigh, and she¡¯d told someone at work, and they¡¯d told her they wanted a sample.


    And that¡¯s how I happened to be sitting in a room in Langley, Virginia in a building that didn¡¯t officially belong to the CIA, checking out an ancient copy of People, and realizing I knew someone mentioned inside.


    A seventeen year old actress they¡¯d interviewed mentioned Alex, the son of the superhero Preserver, as a ¡°fun person¡± she¡¯d met since moving to L.A. I thought that was interesting since I knew he was dating Brooke, someone totally not that actress. Except¡­ I checked the date. They hadn¡¯t started dating until months later.


    So right, I¡¯m calculating the date to find out if someone I barely knew was cheating on his girlfriend (and he wasn¡¯t). Alex was Nick¡¯s friend anyway. I¡¯d only met him once.


    God. I was so bored.


    I dropped the magazine on the table next to a copy of Newsweek that was just as old.


    The nurse opened the door, and called out ¡°Cassie Kowalski?¡± as if I hadn¡¯t been the only person sitting in the room for the past half hour.


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    I said, ¡°She left, like twenty minutes ago.¡±


    The nurse said, ¡°Uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Kidding,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s me.¡±


    I stood up, and that¡¯s when Mom stepped through the entrance.


    ¡°Mom, they just called me,¡± I said.


    ¡°Then don¡¯t keep them waiting.¡±


    Meanwhile the nurse flicked her eyes between the two of us, shook her head, and stepped back into the hall, still holding the office door open for us.


    I guessed the meaning of the nurse¡¯s look. Mom and I don¡¯t look anything alike. It¡¯s not just clothes or personal style. That¡¯s different too. Mom always looks professional¡ªthink dark suits. I wear a lot of jeans and hoodies. She¡¯d done her makeup. I almost never do.


    Even if we¡¯d worn the same clothes, we still wouldn¡¯t have looked like we were related.


    I¡¯m blond, light skinned, and stand four inches taller than she does. She¡¯s got black hair, and her complexion¡¯s a couple shades darker. If that weren¡¯t enough, I¡¯m skinny with muscles that are just shy of embarrassingly noticeable, and Mom¡¯s got curves.


    The nurse led us back into the office area which was busier than I¡¯d have expected. We passed two conference rooms that were full of people in suits, and a room full of doctors, nurses, computers and a lot of medical equipment.


    She led us into an examination room and I took a seat on the exam table. Mom sat in the chair. It was a cold room, all white walls and linoleum¡ªlike it was designed by robots or something.


    The doctor stepped inside. He was kind of cute in a clean cut, and nerdy with glasses sort of way. Or if you really go for men in white lab coats.


    ¡°I¡¯m Dr. Wilson, and I¡¯m going to take two samples today. The first will be of the regenerated muscle tissue. Secondly, I¡¯ll be taking a sample of the regenerated bone. If you could point out the affected area, please¡­¡±


    ¡°The ¡®affected area¡¯ is right here.¡± I made a big circle on my thigh below my shorts. I¡¯d been so dumb. If the guy with the laser had been smarter, or luckier, he could have killed me for real.


    ¡°Ordinarily I¡¯d give you an anesthetic, but due to your nature, I don¡¯t have anything that would last long enough.¡±


    My nature¡ªby which he meant I regenerated freakishly quickly.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be worse than getting shot.¡±


    He opened a drawer next to the exam table and pulled out two big needles.


    ¡°Wait¡­ What¡¯s with poking me twice anyway?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± He looked over at Mom. She didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Given your origin, we want to track any changes.¡±


    By which he meant, ¡°Given that you¡¯re your father¡¯s clone except with some major gene splices (like not being a guy, for example), we¡¯d like to make sure you haven¡¯t turned into a doomsday device.¡±

 Cassie: Part 2

    ¡°OK. Go for it.¡±


    With the number of times they¡¯d poked me already, it seemed pointless to refuse now. Besides, if some of the weirder parts of my genetic heritage had been activated, I wanted to know.


    It all came down to Dr. Mind. All of his life, Dad kept on fighting a Nazi brain in a jar. The guy (if you can call a brain a "guy") always had minions, and the last time, he created an army cloned from Dad¡¯s DNA. He brought the entire League together for one last mission (they¡¯d all retired). They defeated the clone army, destroyed Dr. Mind , and found a gender-swapped girl clone in the complex.


    No one ever found out who the additional X chromosome came from, and it was obvious he¡¯d replaced some of the ¡°junk DNA¡± with junk DNA from somewhere else.


    They¡¯d been trying to figure out what Dr. Mind intended for years. The CIA sent people to the lab in Brazil, but never found his notes.


    I think the original Rocket took them, and if he did, I bet Nick knows where they are. He¡¯s probably already read them.


    Dr. Wilson stuck the needles into my leg, one after the other, barely giving me time to notice. It hurt, but not for long. Skin closed over the wound almost as soon as he pulled the needle out.


    Mom asked, ¡°When will we know?¡±


    ¡°If anything¡¯s changed? Maybe a week. We¡¯ve got more data to compare now.¡±


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    Mom sat up a little straighter. ¡°What kind of data?¡±


    Dr. Wilson opened his mouth, stopped, and said, ¡°Agent Ruiz,¡± (Mom never used Kowalski at work) ¡°I¡¯m not sure she¡¯s got clearance for that.¡±


    ¡°The Heroes League is in the FBI¡¯s hero program just like the Defenders groups. I¡¯ve got the same security clearance Guardian does.¡±


    Unless he¡¯d gotten a higher clearance than normal Defenders, but saying that wasn¡¯t going to help.


    He took a breath. ¡°Don¡¯t spread this around. We¡¯ve been using the Cabal¡¯s tech combined with DNA tests to find candidates for the Goldstein process, and it works. After all these years with two successes, three if you count Richter¡ª¡±


    ¡°Richter,¡± Mom said, ¡°was not a success.¡±


    Dr. Wilson said, ¡±He was fine physically, but I know, I know¡­ The incomplete psych profile wasn¡¯t our fault.¡±


    Mom¡¯s mouth tightened, and Dr. Wilson kept on talking.


    ¡°Well, after years without success, we¡¯ve got five. Plus, compared to using the Power Impregnator, there¡¯s a 30% increase in effect with the Goldstein process. That¡¯s only with the traits the process is supposed to enhance though. If the candidate,¡± he glanced at me, ¡°has extra qualities, it doesn¡¯t affect them at all.¡±


    ¡°What the fuck? You¡¯ve got a Power Impregnator? Where''d you get it?¡±


    He stopped talking. I guess I didn¡¯t have high enough security clearance to know that.


    * * *


    Mom had a small apartment in D.C. She didn¡¯t stay there all the time, but often enough that it was better to have her own apartment than a hotel room.


    Someone had turned a big, old house into several apartments. Mom¡¯s looked out over a busy road.


    I sat on the futon in the living room, both feet on the ground and hands balled up into fists. Mom stood at the door to her bedroom. We weren¡¯t happy with each other.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you didn¡¯t tell me.¡±


    Mom began to raise her hands in the air, and then dropped them. ¡°My job is to keep things like that quiet. My job isn''t keeping you informed. We shouldn¡¯t be talking about this here, or anywhere.¡±


    Like I was going to let that go. ¡°The ¡®thing¡¯ we¡¯re talking about caused a lot of problems. It might be what made Red Lightning go crazy, and now they¡¯re using it on more people. Do you want crazy people with powers running around out there?¡±

 Cassie: Part 3

    Mom wasn¡¯t putting up with it. ¡°I¡¯m not going to talk about classified information here. It¡¯s too easy to hear us. I¡¯m not trying to get out of it, but we can¡¯t talk here.¡±


    ¡°Where can we talk about it? Should we set up a secret meeting in a park? We¡¯ll pretend we barely know each other, and feed the ducks. That''s how you do it, right?¡±


    ¡°Cassie! We¡¯re not having this conversation.¡±


    ¡°No, Mom, this is important. Who¡¯s using it? Are they running soldiers through it? Like, a lot of soldiers? Because that could get really bad.¡±


    ¡°Do you have to be like this? Your father didn¡¯t know when to let go either.¡±


    ¡°Well, he wouldn¡¯t have had to be like this if you told him what was going on.¡±


    From there it became the same argument we¡¯ve always had, and one where we always say the same things. My part is, ¡°Mom, here¡¯s how you¡¯re ruining my life by not letting me do what I want.¡± Her part is, ¡°You¡¯re a naive child. You don¡¯t have any idea what you¡¯re really asking for. It¡¯s more complicated than that.¡±


    There in her apartment just like at home in Grand Lake, the argument got really loud, and stopped being classified because it included everything she¡¯d ever said no to ever, and a few things we¡¯d only disagreed about.


    Mom didn¡¯t approve of me dropping sports my senior year to focus on martial arts and hero work. She got royally pissed when my grades slipped after my acceptance into Grand Lake University.


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    Come to think of it, she got pissed at my acceptance into the Stapledon program too. She¡¯d seemed okay with it when I said I wanted to do it.


    Really, she got more angry the more steps I took toward becoming like Dad. It was kind of weird, considering that one of Mom¡¯s officially paid for duties was to push me into the work Dad did.


    We weren¡¯t done yet when someone knocked on the door. Mom opened it to find a short, balding guy in a button down shirt. ¡°Sorry lady, you two are too damn loud, and if you can¡¯t keep it down, I¡¯m calling the super, and then the cops.¡±


    After she¡¯d said something to him, and shut the door, she said, ¡°That¡¯s enough. We¡¯re not talking about this any more. I¡¯ve got a supper meeting. You need to stay here, okay? I¡¯ll give you money for takeout. We¡¯ll do something together tomorrow night.¡±


    And that was totally typical. When she was in D.C., they pulled her into every meeting they could.


    After she left, I sat around and watched television in her apartment for an hour. It was boring.


    Mom didn¡¯t decorate the place at all. It was furnished with exactly the furniture it came with¡ªbed, futon, table, and chairs¡­ Mom had to have bought the TV, but nothing felt personal. She didn¡¯t have pictures of Dad or me. Aside from her laptop, she didn¡¯t even have anything from work there.


    Knowing her, she expected someone to break in.


    We¡¯d gotten back around three something, so it was close to five when I decided I¡¯d had too much of watching the SuperTV channel over the hum of the air conditioner. I knew Mom wanted me to stay in the apartment, but I wasn¡¯t in a listening mood. I grabbed the money she left me for supper, put it in my pocket, and I changed. I put on my costume under my clothes. Not my standard costume¡ªthe small one that fit under shorts and a t-shirt.


    I wasn¡¯t going to wear more than that in Washington D.C. in August.


    I grabbed my backpack in case I needed to ditch my clothes. It was one of the small ones the League had for that. I didn¡¯t have the sword, or utility belt, but I did have my staff, shrunk to be only a little wider than my fist, and disguised as a flashlight.


    Not that I planned to use any of it. I wasn¡¯t going out to fight crime. D.C. had its own supers. I was going dancing downtown.

 Cassie: Part 4

    The CIA provides Mom with a car when she needs one for work, so Mom doesn¡¯t keep one in D.C. Even if they were loaning her one that day, I knew I couldn¡¯t take it. I walked a few blocks and took the Metro, D.C.¡¯s subway.


    It was rush hour. Almost every seat on the train seemed to be full¡ªmen and women in suits, little kids sitting on their parents¡¯ laps, tired maintenance workers still in their uniforms.


    I hung on to a metal pole in the aisle, thinking maybe I should have gone for her car. As the possibly dangerous product of mad science, I probably had a thick file (or more than one) with an official assessment of my level of threat to the United States. That made my entertainment needs a matter of national security, and part of Mom¡¯s job, right?


    In short, Uncle Sam owed me a trip downtown, but I knew I wouldn''t get to take him up on it¡ªnot that night, for sure.


    I kept an eye out, and when a guy in blue coveralls got off the train, I sat down. As the car hummed, my mind went back to the afternoon. Mom and I didn¡¯t argue all the time, but sometimes it seemed like too much. I wasn¡¯t even sure how the argument turned from the power impregnator and into a shouting match.


    I didn¡¯t want it to.


    I switched from the Red Line to the Green Line, got off a Metro station, started walking, and got a sandwich at a Subway, still thinking about it. Would it have been better if Dad were still alive? Dad wasn¡¯t so serious. You¡¯d think that would have helped. Somehow.


    When I got to ¡°Vee Club¡± (it was on V Street), I put it out of my mind. Life¡¯s too short, you know? And I was sick of moping.


    Screw that.


    I only knew about Vee Club because I did a search online, and now that I was there¡­ Well, it looked like the kind of place Vaughn would drag me to. An old, brick building with boarded up windows, it didn¡¯t even have a sign saying ¡°Vee Club.¡± Only the people already lining up in front of the ticket window gave any sign that it was more than another warehouse.


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    So, too cool for a sign, plus people ¡°in the know¡± already lining up? It reeked of hipster.


    I checked my phone. It was a little after six. The doors wouldn¡¯t open for two hours. I decided to get in line. I¡¯d be bored, but I¡¯d be bored on my terms.


    I took my place on the sidewalk behind a heavyset girl wearing a black t-shirt decorated with a picture of a vampire and the words ¡°Vincent Sucks!¡± She was talking with a blond, bearded guy in a red t-shirt with the same design.


    If I¡¯d had any doubt about being in the right place, that would have ended them. ¡°Vincent Sucks!¡± was the name of the band Vee Club¡¯s website was promoting.


    I pulled out my phone, and checked email. I didn¡¯t have anything. Then the phone rang. It was Mom. I answered. ¡°Hi Mom¡­ I didn¡¯t get pizza. I went to that Subway down the block instead¡­ No¡­ Who¡¯s talking? I¡¯m watching TV¡­ Bye.¡±


    As we talked, the conversation next to me became quieter, and then stopped. When I hung up, the heavyset girl and the blond guy started laughing.


    The girl said, ¡°Sneaking out? Oh, she¡¯s going to be pissed.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care right now.¡±


    ¡°Been there,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m Sam. This is Rod.¡± She nodded toward the guy next to her.


    ¡°I¡¯m Cassie. You¡¯re fans of the band? What are they like?¡± The less we talked about Mom, the better.


    Sam said, ¡°You¡¯re not a fan, and you¡¯re here this early?¡±


    ¡°I wanted out of the house.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like it. The band¡¯s the best. It¡¯s a kind of artsy post-punk¡ª¡± she said, and kept on talking.


    That got things moving, and it was a hell of a lot better than sitting there alone. A few other people joined in too, so in half an hour a bunch of us were standing around talking.


    Sam had stopped to light a cigarette while Rod talked about the last time he¡¯d seen them. ¡°Halfway there,¡± he said, ¡°the tire blew. I changed it in the dark and it took forever. We ended up in the back. Couldn¡¯t see anything.¡±


    He laughed. ¡°That¡¯s the last time we took her car.¡±


    As he finished, a buzz cut guy wearing a ¡°Georgetown University¡± t-shirt joined the group. He took off his backpack, and placed it on the ground.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to interrupt, but I¡¯m in grad school. You heard about power juice in the news? I¡¯m doing a paper about it. I¡¯d like to test if it would work on any of you.¡±

 Cassie: Part 5

    ¡°What grad school?¡± I asked. It wasn¡¯t as if I¡¯d know if he were lying, but maybe he¡¯d stumble.


    ¡°Georgetown,¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah? What professor?¡±


    ¡°Why? Are you in the program? Don¡¯t get me wrong, but you don¡¯t seem like a scientist type of girl.¡±


    Compared to Nick, neither did this guy.


    ¡°What type of girl do you think I am?¡±


    ¡°The ¡®having fun¡¯ type.¡±


    ¡°Whatever. So¡­ Who¡¯s your professor?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m taking a class from Dr. Blake. So, are you going to take the test or not? It¡¯s just like an allergy test. I drop a little on your skin, and we see what color it turns.¡±


    ¡°Fuck, no,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not the ¡®taking tests from random strangers¡¯ type of girl.¡±


    His expression? A snarl. He looked like he wanted to hit me. And my thoughts? Go for it.


    The blond guy (Rod) said, ¡°Dr. Blake? Do you mean Dr. Donald Blake?¡±


    ¡°Sure, that sounds right. You want to help me out?¡±


    ¡°No. Sorry.¡±


    ¡°If you change your mind, I¡¯ll be around.¡± He paused, gave me a look, and walked further down the line, stopping next to a couple girls around my age. They let him put three dots on their forearms with an eye dropper.


    I¡¯d been too busy talking (and maybe too pissed off) to notice, but there were a lot more people lined up than when I¡¯d arrived, probably more than fifty of us standing on the sidewalk.


    I watched him out of the corner of my eye. Meanwhile Rod started talking to Sam. I didn¡¯t quite hear him, but it sounded like he¡¯d said, ¡°... he''s full of crap... Donald Blake is Thor in the comics...¡±


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    She said something too quiet for me to hear, but I didn¡¯t need to. The way the man had tried to deflect my question about his professor told me enough.


    Rod said something else to Sam, but now he was whispering too. I stopped paying attention, looked for the guy with the power juice, and I didn¡¯t see him any more. Had he left?


    I kept on watching, and I did see him half an hour later. Two guys were following him into the alley on the far side of the building, and even though the alley did lead to the parking lot behind Vee Club, it set off alarm bells in my head.


    ¡°Hold my spot,¡± I said, and not waiting for a reply, I sprinted down the sidewalk, pushing through the crowd.


    Even with the sun low in the sky, it wasn¡¯t dark yet, and so I could see down the alley. Maybe one hundred feet down the alley they turned right, disappearing. Vee Club¡¯s parking lot was on the left¡ªbehind Vee Club. Where were they going?


    I ran down the alley, passing the building to Vee Club¡¯s right, a red, brick, plumbing supply store that had to have been closed since the 1950¡¯s.


    I didn¡¯t even try to hide what I was, running as fast as I could, taking steps more than ten feet long.


    I caught up to where they turned¡ªanother alley between brick buildings. I had no idea what they were. Neither had signs (unless you counted ¡°No Trespassing¡±).


    Not that I wasted time reading.


    I made a wide turn staying roughly five feet from the building, guessing they might have someone hiding at the corner.


    They did¡ªanother buzz cut guy wearing a trench coat. For real. I¡¯d have laughed at the stereotype except he was pointing a 9mm pistol at me.


    Seeing the surprise on his face as I passed him. I reached out, grabbed his hand, and squeezed.


    Bones cracked under my fingers.


    Then I punched him in the face with my left hand, letting go with my right. He flew backwards, hitting the wall, and falling to the ground.


    Turning my head to look down the new alley, I saw the people I¡¯d been chasing. They stood next to the back of a green van. The guy with the power juice held a pistol, and he must have been telling the other two guys to step inside.


    As I began to run at him, he turned the gun away from them and toward me. Well, he tried.


    My first step covered half the distance between us, and put me slightly to the left of him, meaning he had to turn even more if he wanted to hit me.


    He fired too soon, and missed.


    Hah. Jerk.


    I turned my second step into a side kick, hitting him in the solar plexus, and knocking him backward. He fell, landing partly inside, his back hitting the bumper, and his head hitting the floor of the van.


    I grabbed the pistol out of his hand, and bent the barrel. I felt a little bad about that when I noticed I¡¯d bent a Baby Desert Eagle.


    Oh well. It wasn¡¯t as if anybody was going to let me keep it.

 Cassie: Part 6

    I let the gun fall. It hit the pavement just as someone inside the van turned the ignition, threw it into gear and drove away. The van dragged the man I¡¯d just kicked for a few feet, but he fell out when the back wheels hit the road outside the alley.


    The van¡¯s tires squealed, and the doors hung open, swinging as it drove away.


    Maybe I could have jumped inside if I¡¯d tried, but I hadn¡¯t realized there was anybody in there.


    I stepped back, breathed, tried to think of my next step. So okay, I''d taken two guys down, and I¡¯d need to tie them up or something. The two kids I¡¯d rescued were gone. They¡¯d bolted down the street when the van left. They were running toward the club.


    I could catch them if I wanted to, but I¡¯d probably lose the guys on the ground if I didn¡¯t find some handcuffs (and maybe medical attention).


    I pulled out my League phone (the one that looks like my normal phone, but isn¡¯t). I¡¯d taken them down with my mask off, and I didn¡¯t have Daniel around to fix their memories. If I were lucky maybe they didn¡¯t have many.


    Yeah, that¡¯s right, hope for brain damage. Crap.


    Who to call? My Mom? Isaac Lim, our team¡¯s FBI handler? I went with Lim. It would get taken care of either way, but Lim wouldn¡¯t be angry at me. With Mom, I¡¯d be interrupting a dinner meeting of her team with, ¡°Hey Mom, I beat up a couple guys, can you do damage control, and send an ambulance?¡±


    Not like it would be the first time.


    When Nick gave us the new phones, he put Lim¡¯s office on speed dial for everybody. So I was about to call Lim when I heard footsteps¡ªbig footsteps. As in, the last time I heard footsteps that big it was the Grey Giant last year--the first time Daniel, Nick and I went out as a team.


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    We¡¯d been totally overmatched. The only thing that let us hurt him was my dad¡¯s sword, and that was back in Michigan.


    I turned around, realizing that my staff was in my backpack, and that it wasn¡¯t going to do much good against anything big.


    The thing that stepped around the corner came straight out of the movie Shrek. About two-thirds as tall as the two story building next to it, it wore brown, leather pants, and one of those medieval shirts you always see those dorks wearing at Renaissance Fairs. Oh, but unlike Shrek, the creature wasn¡¯t green.


    Something about the face seemed familiar. Combined with its blond hair and beard, it reminded me of Rod, the guy in line. Except, if he was here, what about his friend?


    A woman in a red and gold costume ran around the corner after him. She¡¯d gone with a medieval theme too¡ªher shirt went down to her knees, held to her waist with a belt, and worn over pants. She held a staff.


    It figured. Magical types tended to run together.


    She stopped, looked from one body to another, and then to me. ¡°You did this?¡±


    ¡°Hell, yes. They were trying to kidnap people. You saw him out there, right?¡± I indicated the guy who¡¯d fallen out of the van with my thumb.


    She glanced at the guy again. He¡¯d scraped his face in the fall, and was bleeding.


    It would be just my luck if they decided to attack.


    She turned back to me, holding the staff ahead of her, ¡°OK, who or what are you really?¡±


    ¡°One of the good guys. Give me a second, I¡¯ll prove it.¡± I pressed the button that called Lim and put the phone to my head. ¡°I¡¯m calling my handler at the FBI.¡±


    I got the department secretary, and I explained what had happened.


    By the time I¡¯d finished, the woman had come closer, and held the staff by her side.


    The creature had disappeared, leaving only Rod, still in his ¡°Vincent Sucks!¡± t-shirt.


    ¡°Back up front, I thought you were normal,¡± the woman said.


    ¡°You¡¯re Sam?¡± I asked. ¡°So did I.¡±


    She laughed, ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    Forgetting the costume, the Sam in front had been white, and well¡­ fatter. The Sam standing here might be a little heavier than average, but not much, and instead of being white, she was¡­ I didn¡¯t know. Indian, maybe?


    More different than she would have been from a costume change. I wondered how, and then thought, ¡°Duh, Cassie. Magic.¡±


    My next thought was, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you come before they started shooting at me?¡±

 Cassie: Part 7

    ¡°We had to change,¡± Sam said. ¡°You don¡¯t want to risk exposing who you really are. And then I set up a ward that stopped people from noticing that we were here. That¡¯s why no one else came down the alley.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s really cool,¡± Rod said. ¡°Think of it as a Someone Else¡¯s Problem field from Hitchhiker¡¯s Guide.¡±


    So right, another guy who would assume that I¡¯d read that book¡ªbecause Nick and Marcus weren¡¯t enough.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°Haven¡¯t read it, but I get it. Give me a second, I want to be in costume when the Feds get here, and do either of you have handcuffs? Mine are at home.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve taken care of it.¡± Sam pointed to the two men I¡¯d taken out. Both had brown cords curled around their arms and legs. The cords seemed thin to me, but they were probably magic, and I hadn¡¯t brought my own, so why argue?


    I pulled off my shirt and shorts and put them in my backpack. I set the backpack to change color to the same blue as my uniform, and it changed shape, becoming smaller. I also hung my staff on the side of the suit.


    The small costume didn¡¯t have any arms or legs, but it did have a mask. The flag against a dark, blue background gave it the basic Captain Commando look. It didn¡¯t cover much more than a one piece bathing suit, but it covered a lot more than the costumes of some of the women in the comics Marcus reads.


    The bottom half of some of them is basically a thong. I¡¯ve never understood how they expect to ¡°strike fear in the hearts of evildoers¡± with their asses hanging out¡ªnever mind fighting in high heels.


    The only real supers who dress like that are trying to use their powers to break into acting or modeling.


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    When I was done, Rod looked me over. ¡°Who did you say you were?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t, but I¡¯m Captain Commando.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Oh,¡± he said. ¡°No kidding.¡±


    Sam only raised an eyebrow, and said, ¡°Where¡¯s your sword?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m on vacation. I didn¡¯t bring it.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Rod said, ¡°if the Feds are coming, I guess I¡¯d better turn troll again.¡±


    The Feds came twenty minutes later¡ªtwo ambulances, and three cars worth of agents.


    Isaac Lim gave them their orders, ¡°Check to see if anyone¡¯s still watching. Check for cameras. We need to make sure no one can identify Captain Commando here. We also need to find out who those guys are.¡± He nodded toward the men on the ground.


    A couple of the agents wore helmets¡ªgovernment telepathy helmets. I remembered seeing them when we captured Mayor Bouman last year. Daniel told me they were nowhere near as good as a real telepath.


    Agent Lim waved the three of us over. We gathered around him with Rod (in troll form) towering over everybody.


    ¡°Nice to meet you in person, Captain Commando. Red Hex, and Troll, nice to see you again. They¡¯re in their second year in the Stapledon program. You¡¯ll probably see each other next year. How did you all happen to be here?¡±


    ¡°Mom¡¯s here, and I wanted to get out for the night,¡± I said.


    ¡°Does she know?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    Lim laughed.


    Sam (Red Hex) said, ¡°We¡¯d heard of a couple people disappearing at clubs, so we investigated.¡±


    ¡°And you happened to show up here?¡±


    ¡°I did a little spell to find the best spot to look before we left.¡±


    Oh great, it sounded like she¡¯d done the magic equivalent of Daniel¡¯s ¡°find the biggest threat¡± trick.


    Lim said, ¡°That¡¯s a spell to find the least safe spot in D.C.?¡±


    Rod laughed, and glob of spit as big as my fist dropped from his mouth, splashing on the concrete.


    Gross. Just¡­ yuck.


    We didn¡¯t even have time to respond before the sound of wind came from above, and a guy appeared floating in air next to us.


    If I had to use one word to the describe him, I¡¯d have to choose hot. Muscular, and dark haired, he looked like he¡¯d stepped out of the cover of a Harlequin romance novel. Their superhero series--SuperHearts? I''m embarrassed to admit I know that.


    Like mine, his costume had a red, white, and blue patriotic theme going.


    Landing, he said, ¡°Now what¡¯s the problem here?¡±

 Cassie: Part 8

    ¡°Meet Patriot Jr.,¡± Agent Lim said. ¡°His father is Patriot, one of the Liberators. He¡¯s in the Young Liberators, and of course, the two of you know him.¡± He nodded toward Troll and Red Hex.


    ¡°This is the new Captain Commando,¡± Lim gestured toward me, ¡°and the problem was that those guys,¡± he pointed at the guys on the ground, ¡°were trying to kidnap a couple people, but it¡¯s over. She stopped them. We¡¯re cleaning up.¡±


    ¡°Nice work,¡± he said, and smiled at me. ¡°Who are they with?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m hoping Agent Lim will figure it out.¡±


    Lim said, ¡°The people in TP helmets might get lucky, but we¡¯ll all have to wait for their report. In the meantime, Captain Commando, I¡¯ve got some questions for you. Let¡¯s talk over here.¡± He pointed his thumb to the side of the alley.


    We walked on to the driveway of the brick building to the right of the alley¡ªthe one with the ¡°No Trespassing¡± signs.


    Then he asked me questions. Could I tell him exactly what the guy with the power juice test had been doing in front? Could I identify the kids he¡¯d tried to kidnap? Had they said anything unusual? Could I remember the van¡¯s license number?


    I couldn¡¯t give him much.


    ¡°Well, maybe the TP guys might catch it. Are you okay with them scanning you?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s okay, but watch out. You remember the mental shield the Mystic gave the Rocket? He set it up on everyone this summer.¡±


    ¡°No kidding. Not a bad idea, but it¡¯s inconvenient now. You can go. I¡¯ve got a couple things I need to tell my people.¡±


    Lim walked over to the agent looking over the van¡¯s tire tracks.


    I walked toward other supers, watching as one of the men I¡¯d hurt was loaded into an ambulance. The guy who¡¯d been waiting around corner of the building was awake and moaning.


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    The other guy hadn¡¯t woken up. His ambulance had left while I talked to Lim.


    Sam and Rod stood next to each other¡ªsort of. Rod sat. In troll form he was still taller than Sam. His thighs were thicker than some tree trunks I¡¯d seen.


    Patriot Jr. stood a few feet away, talking into a cellphone.


    Sam asked ¡°Did he tell you anything?¡±


    ¡°He asked me a pile of questions. I told him what I could.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re trying to figure out what to do next. What do you think?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯d say wait for Lim, and see what they¡¯ve got. He¡¯s been straight with the League even when he hasn¡¯t been much help.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± I continued, ¡°can you do magical stuff? The Mystic can see the past sometimes. What about you?¡±


    Sam gave a very quick shake of her head, and nodded just a little toward Patriot Jr.


    She knew something and she didn¡¯t want to share it. I said, ¡°So what are you planning to do next?¡±


    ¡°Go home, maybe. There¡¯s nothing more we can do here,¡± she said.


    In a deep voice, almost too deep to understand, Rod said, ¡°Too late for Vincent Sucks.¡±


    Saliva gathered around the edges of his mouth.


    Looking past the nearest buildings, Vee Club¡¯s parking lot was almost full. Strangely, despite all the people walking toward the club, few of them even glanced in our direction. I didn¡¯t know whether to put that down to Sam¡¯s magic or big city boredom with capes.


    Through the chatter of FBI agents and a distant sound of music coming from the front of Vee Club, Patriot Jr.¡¯s voice carried. ¡°¡ªmet the new Captain Commando. She¡¯s kind of cute, but also kind of butch. You know what I mean?¡±


    ¡°Also kind of butch?¡± I wanted to hit him, and maybe I was overreacting, but I''d gone through all of high school with rumors that I was a lesbian (which might have been okay if I was).


    ¡°He¡¯s a jerk,¡± Sam said.


    Rod gave a half laugh, half snort, and made a rumble that sounded like, ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Patriot Jr. stopped talking. I thought he¡¯d heard them, but then he said, ¡°A disturbance? I¡¯m there. There¡¯s nothing left to look at here. The whole thing¡¯s going nowhere.¡±


    ¡°Hey Commando,¡± he said, ¡°you want to come along?¡±


    And a few minutes before, maybe I¡¯d have considered it. It wasn''t as if I really knew Sam or Rod. Plus, hanging around with a good looking guy versus Rod in Troll form was a clear win.


    ¡°No,¡± I said.


    He flew away without a backward glance.


    Around the same time, agents started picking up their phones, and beepers.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got to go,¡± Lim shouted over at me as he ran for a car. ¡°Big problem downtown! Don¡¯t worry about anything here. No cameras. The guys you took down won¡¯t recognize you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? Who were they?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know yet! We¡¯ll call you if we learn anything.¡± He opened the door, and drove off, followed by the rest of the agents.


    Sam said, ¡°Look at this.¡±


    She held up a broken piece of beige plastic, grinning like it was some kind of treasure. ¡°I found it next to the man who fell into the road. If it came from the van, I¡¯ve got all I need to track it.¡±

 Cassie: Part 9

    ¡°Do it, and hurry,¡± I said. ¡°The guy in the van could be anywhere by now.¡±


    And maybe I shouldn¡¯t have said that because Sam didn¡¯t look quite so happy afterward. I need to remember to think before talking. She¡¯d have hurried even if I didn¡¯t say anything.


    On the other hand, she didn¡¯t argue with me.


    She pulled a foot wide, metal basin out of a pants pocket, followed by a canteen of water. The pocket could never have fit the basin, warping and bending as she pulled it out, but appearing completely normal by the time it was out of her pocket.


    It went the same with the canteen.


    After she poured the water into the basin, she said a few words over the bit of plastic. I didn¡¯t recognize the language. She could have been making the words up.


    As she said the last one, the water in the basin bubbled, turning into an office building even if it did look odd. Brick, and at least seven stories high, it slanted away from the highway.


    Under the darkening sky, hazy images of cars, and their glowing headlights left a strange glow on the alley''s walls.


    ¡°There?¡± Rod stood, leaning over us. ¡°That¡¯s Georgetown. It¡¯s not that far from here.¡±


    Sam said, ¡°Just a second, I still haven¡¯t found the van.¡±


    The image changed, going through the building in a flash of brick, desks, potted plants, motivational posters, and gleaming floors, and ending in an almost empty parking garage.


    The van sat alone, the back doors closed.


    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s the same van, but where¡¯s the guy?¡±


    Sam shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t find him. If I had piece of his clothes, or hair, I could.¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯d known you could do this, maybe I¡¯d have tried.¡±


    Sam frowned and the image disappeared.


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    Oops. Shut up, Cassie. Just shut up.


    * * *


    Fifteen minutes we were riding in Rod¡¯s old, green Ford Focus. Sam looked overweight and white again. Rod, of course, was not in troll form. He wouldn¡¯t have been able to fit into the car, much less drive.


    ¡°Since we missed the concert,¡± he¡¯d said, and popped a CD into the CD player.


    It wasn¡¯t bad. It sounded like something Vaughn might listen to¡ªa little bit of an Arcade Fire sound maybe.


    I sat in the back, watching as we passed brick houses, other cars, people standing and talking outside, feeling the breeze from the open windows.


    ¡°So which is the real you? What I¡¯m seeing right now, or what I saw back there?¡±


    Sounding a little surprised, Sam said, ¡°Not this. It¡¯s an illusion. Normally I look more like I do when I¡¯m Red Hex.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re Indian or something?¡±


    ¡°I was born here. My parents grew up in Pakistan.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Why don¡¯t you look normal now?¡±


    Rod said, ¡°Oh, don¡¯t get her started on that.¡±


    ¡°My secret identity. There¡¯s no reason for Rod and I to know each other. We went to different high schools and never met until running into each other on a Stapledon weekend.¡±


    ¡°And we found out we were both from DC. I¡¯m at Catholic University of America. She¡¯s at Duke, but we could have met each other hundreds of times.¡±


    ¡°But we didn¡¯t,¡± Sam said, ¡°and none of my friends would recognize you, and none of your friends would recognize me, and if anybody went asking around they¡¯d learn we met this year when we couldn¡¯t possibly have met.¡±


    ¡°We could have met this summer somehow.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have any common interests.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± I said. ¡°Sorry. I wasn¡¯t trying to start an argument.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Rod said. ¡°She¡¯s just paranoid.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not. Cassie, what does your team do?¡±


    ¡°We try to be careful where we change, but we¡¯ve already had people figure out our real names.¡±


    Sam drew in a breath. ¡°What did you do?¡±


    ¡°The Mystic¡¯s a telepath. He fixed it.¡±


    Sam began to say something else, but sirens started going¡ªnot police either. To me they sounded like tornado sirens. Did D.C. have tornadoes?


    ¡°Hey,¡± I started.


    ¡°Crap,¡± Rod said. ¡°Do you see anything?¡±


    ¡°See what?¡± I asked. Sam was already staring out into the twilight outside the car.


    People walking on the sidewalks stopped and looked up, or got closer to buildings. A few started to run.


    ¡°Heroes, villains, monsters, explosions, whatever. I¡¯m betting whatever they were fighting downtown¡¯s got to be heading this way.¡±


    ¡°It could be something else,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope not.¡± Rod said, turning off the CD, and switching to the radio.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we be going somewhere? Don¡¯t you get alerts through your phone or something?¡±


    ¡°The Liberators and the Young Liberators get alerts. We¡¯re not in the Young Liberators.¡± Rod pulled his hand away from the radio.


    A man¡¯s voice coming out of the speakers said, ¡°¡ªurge anyone out tonight to get inside immediately, and to turn on the lights. This is especially true for anyone near the Potomac river¡ª¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    Sam said, ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Yeah well,¡± Rod said, ¡°you know what sucks?¡±


    I looked over at Rod¡ªat the back of his head at least. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°That building the van¡¯s in is just off the Potomac.¡±

 Cassie: Part 10

    ¡°We¡¯ll deal,¡± I said. ¡°The Heroes League fought a legion of immortal soldiers last spring. This can¡¯t be worse.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Rod said. ¡°This is D.C. Every superpowered nutcase in the world gets it his head to kidnap the president, or take over the country¡¯s nukes at least once.¡±


    ¡°Seriously,¡± Sam said, ¡°only the worst of it makes it into the papers. You¡¯ve no idea how much I missed at Duke.¡±


    ¡°Double V doesn¡¯t miss much though,¡± Rod said. ¡°Follow their boards. You¡¯ll see how crazy it gets.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not saying we should go hide somewhere till it¡¯s over, are you?¡± Because if he was, I¡¯d walk.


    ¡°No, just that it¡¯s good to know your place. When I¡¯m in troll form, I¡¯m tough, but against a Class A threat, I¡¯m just going to die.¡±


    The sirens stopped, but the voice on the radio continued to give instructions.


    Outside, people were disappearing from the sidewalks, but the cars seemed to get a little slower, and closer together. I thought for a second it might be my imagination, but Sam said, ¡°Did you notice that no one¡¯s turning off on side streets?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Rod said, ¡°given what they said about light, that¡¯s probably a good idea.¡±


    ¡°Except that we¡¯re all going slower now,¡± Sam said. ¡°Remember the Helldogs?¡±


    I¡¯d never heard of them. ¡°Did they chase cars?¡±


    ¡°And caught them,¡± Rod said, ¡°and ate the people inside.¡±


    Almost interrupting himself, he said, ¡°Hey, look ahead.¡±


    Several intersections in D.C. were circular parks surrounded by roundabouts. On K Street, the outer two lanes went around the park. The middle two lanes took a tunnel underneath.


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    With most of the traffic, Rod moved into the outer lanes.


    ¡°You¡¯re going the slow way,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°She¡¯s going to want to look at this,¡± Rod said. ¡°Cassie, look at the park.¡±


    He didn¡¯t need to say anything. I¡¯d already seen it.


    Lights illuminated statues of the League¡¯s World War 2 unit¡ªthe Rocket, Multitude, Red Lightning, C (then Hotfoot), Night Wolf, a few others who died or never became heroes after the war, and Dad.


    I knew about the memorial. They finished it just after Dad died. We could have attended its dedication, but Mom didn¡¯t want to, fearing the stress might trigger whatever Dr. Mind had put into my DNA. And maybe her own grief felt too raw to consider attending.


    I¡¯d wanted to go. I think that may have been the first time we¡¯d had a big fight¡ªthe first time we¡¯d fought that I¡¯d intentionally said something that made her cry.


    I¡¯m not proud of it.


    Along with that, I remembered the midnight call, and Mom telling me he was, ¡°Dead, Cassie. He can¡¯t come back from this.¡±


    His last words to me hadn¡¯t been anything special (¡°I¡¯ll be back on Friday.¡±), but in remembering them, I felt like crying.


    I didn¡¯t, but maybe I made a noise.


    Sam twisted around. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±


    Everything would have been so much better if he¡¯d lived.


    * * *


    We didn¡¯t talk much for the next few minutes, and that was okay because I needed a few.


    Instructions came over the radio, but they were the same as before. We ignored them. In the time we¡¯d been driving, the sky had turned from ¡°shortly after sunset¡± to ¡°nearly night.¡± I could still see a hint of light in the west, but not much.


    Less than a mile from the building, we got on the highway. We could have stayed on the street that ran below the highway, but Rod had decided we¡¯d get there faster even if we did double back when we reached the exit.


    After crossing a section where the highway crossed at least three different roads, turning into a mess of entrances and exits that made me glad I wasn¡¯t driving, the traffic slowed to 25 miles per hour.


    ¡°We should have stayed on K Street,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°The freeway¡¯s usually faster,¡± Rod said, coming to a complete stop. ¡°Who¡¯d believe we¡¯d have a traffic jam here on a Thursday night?¡±


    We sat there, burning, white headlights behind us, and red, rear lights ahead of us. On either side of the freeway stood the third and fourth stories of office buildings.


    Most of the windows were dark.


    Ahead and to the left, a few tree branches rose higher than the freeway. Past them, a few gleaming, modern buildings rose above the Potomac River.


    Outside, a scream rose, and then stopped, cut off midway.


    ¡°We need to find out what happened,¡± Sam said, opening the car door.


    ¡°That¡¯s not a great idea,¡± Rod began, but I didn¡¯t hear the rest. I was pushing her seat forward, and following her out the door.

 Cassie: Part 11

    Sam and I made it to the side of the highway at about the same time.


    Twenty feet below us on the ground, the streets and shops were empty. I doubted that was normal. On the other hand, they¡¯d probably had sirens and alerts too.


    Any sensible person would drive home after that, right? Not that we were driving home, but normal people would.


    Sam stopped looking down. ¡°Do you see anything? I don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Me neither. Night vision¡¯s not my thing.¡±


    Not that it was bad. Sure, it was basically night, but they had streetlights. Knowing what they¡¯d said on the radio, it was likely the person who screamed had gotten hurt someplace dark.


    ¡°You see anything?¡± Rod shut his car door, and walked around the front of the car toward us.


    The car behind him beeped. I couldn¡¯t see why. No one was going anywhere.


    Rod flipped him the bird.


    ¡°See anything?¡±


    Sam and I said, ¡°No,¡± almost simultaneously.


    We could have used Haley, or her brother Travis then. Seeing in the dark was the least of what they could do.


    Rod leaned over the side.


    Sam said, ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d have to change to get a better look,¡± he said, standing straight again. ¡°I can¡¯t do that here.¡±


    ¡°Too many people,¡± Sam said.


    I ignored them. I¡¯d seen something move near one of the metal supports that held up the highway. It seemed human shaped, but the posture seemed wrong (too bent over), and I thought I¡¯d seen a webbed hand.


    Then it disappeared under the highway.


    To the right, maybe twenty feet away, I thought I saw an arm sticking out.


    ¡°Did you see that?¡± I pointed.


    Too late. Rod followed the direction my hand pointed, but no one could see anything. I¡¯d have jumped over the side if it weren¡¯t for the people.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± Rod said.


    My phone rang. I had two phones¡ªthe second because Nick thought having a second phone for League business would be a good idea.


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    That wasn¡¯t the one that was ringing. My personal phone was ringing. I pulled it out of case on my belt, checked the caller ID. It was Mom.


    Oh God. Best to get it over with.


    ¡°Cassie, where are you? I got back to the apartment, and no one was here. Did you know there¡¯s an alert out?¡±


    ¡°I know. I¡¯m fine, Mom. I ran into a couple people who got the same scholarship I did.¡±


    Mom paused. She¡¯d caught the reference to the Stapledon program. How would she take it?


    ¡°You¡¯re not out in the middle of this, are you? Where are you?¡±


    ¡°Georgetown. In the traffic jam.¡±


    ¡°Cassie, that¡¯s the worst place you could be. You¡¯re inside the car, right? Turn the light on. Don¡¯t get out.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯re not doing much of anything. I saw worse last spring.¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯d had any idea what you were doing last spring¡­¡± She trailed off. She couldn¡¯t go any further with that thought on an unencrypted call.


    ¡°I¡¯m calling people,¡± she said. ¡°Don¡¯t go anywhere.¡±


    ¡°Mom, I¡¯m fine.¡±


    ¡°Cassie, listen to me for once. Don¡¯t go anywhere, and if the traffic jam breaks, come home. Did you hear me?¡±


    ¡°Heard you.¡± Which didn¡¯t mean I¡¯d do it.


    She sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll call back soon. Bye.¡±


    ¡°Bye.¡±


    Sam said, ¡°Your mom?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t take this wrong, but you weren¡¯t just saying you¡¯d had a fight with her back at the club, were you?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± It had seemed better on vacation, but now that we were back in the States we were back to where we¡¯d been before we left¡ªwherever that was.


    ¡°My mom¡¯s not happy that I¡¯m doing this either.¡±


    ¡°See, it¡¯s funny,¡± I said, ¡°my mom wants me to train, but she gets freaked out whenever I do anything¡ªif she knows. Half the time she¡¯s here instead of home.¡±


    Sam put her hand on my shoulder¡ªshe seemed like she was about to give me a hug (and I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to be hugged). Then the window of the car behind us (a black Lexus) slid down.


    The man inside shouted, ¡°Hey, you kids. Did you hear the alert? Get back in your car, and turn on the lights.¡±


    Rod raised his hand. I thought he was about the flip the guy off again, but he gave a little wave, and said, ¡°Thanks, man.¡±


    Turning to us he said, ¡°We¡¯d better get back in the car.¡±


    We started to¡ªexcept that was when the lights went out. I mean, all the freaking lights for miles. I could see lights in the distance, and across the Potomac, but the nearby buildings¡¯ lights went out¡ªalong with the streetlights and the traffic lights.


    We all walked a little faster toward the car then. Rod made it around the front and opened the door as we began to hear the noise, a wet sounding squishing and scraping, and a lot of it. The noise reminded me of a flock of birds taking flight, not because of any particular noise, but because there were a lot of them doing it at once.


    Sam was the last one in.


    She¡¯d opened the door for me, and waited as I stepped inside. She pushed her seat back, and stepped inside as the first of them came over the side of the road.


    Dark green, they reminded me of frogs. Potbellied, and goggle-eyed, with long limbs, and webbed claws, they slouched, moving more quickly than they should have.


    Sam barely shut the door in time. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t lock it, and they understood locks because the creature¡¯s hand went straight for the door handle.


    It opened with a musical click.


    Sam tried to shut the door, grabbing the armrest, and pulling.


    It was no contest. The creature barely seemed to notice she was resisting.


    I leaned forward, pushing between the seat and door to grab the armrest myself. I pulled the door shut so quickly it barely had time to notice, pitching forward to almost hit the door, catching itself with a claw.


    Rod put the key into the ignition, turned it, and messed with the lights while pounding on the horn.


    When the headlights turned on, it took a step back.


    The dome light inside the car turned off, then turned on, making it a little harder to see outside.


    Light or not, I could still see more figures climbing over the side of the road by the second.

 Cassie: Part 12

    Rod swore. Sam said, ¡°I know. I know, but we need to calm down and make a plan.¡±


    I barely listened to her. I was busy looking out the window.


    The frog-thing that had tried to open the car door wasn¡¯t coming closer. Not that there was much closer to come. I mean, it stood maybe two feet from the car, breathing and making low moaning noise. The creature tried to open the door once, but Sam had locked it after I pulled it shut.


    Even as it grabbed the door, it kept its eyes toward the ground, away from the car¡¯s lights.


    As more of them crawled over the concrete barrier along the side of the highway, they shielded their eyes with their arms.


    What did that tell me? We were so screwed. My utility belt with its flash grenades was back in Grand Lake, and you know what also sounded useful? That godawful laser guitar-thing Nick made. It put out a lot of light.


    With something like that, we might be able to clear the highway, or at least part of it.


    I looked ahead of us. Creatures were climbing on to the road as far as I could see. We didn¡¯t have a chance of protecting this many people¡ªnot all at once.


    Sooner or later the cars would run out of gas, the batteries would go dead, and the lights would dim.


    Long before then someone would panic, possibly a lot of someones, and then they¡¯d get eaten.


    In the front, it sounded like Sam and Rod were coming to similar conclusions.


    Sam talked quietly, pausing sometimes to peer into the darkness, ¡°I can use my staff to make light, but not enough light to clear the road. At best, maybe we could gather people around us¡ªif they were willing to get out of their cars.¡±


    Rod nodded, ¡°But we¡¯d never get everybody¡­ I¡¯m trying to think. Okay, tell me if this sounds crazy¡ªI pile cars on top of each other and make a fort, and we get as many people as we can inside.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s crazy,¡± Sam said. ¡°Cassie?¡±


    ¡°I think we could escape, but we can¡¯t win. Maybe we could get to the roof of one of the buildings, and go from there. Maybe we could call the Liberators?¡±


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    Sam checked outside again. There were more of them now. How long did we have?


    She said, ¡°I think if the Liberators could get here, they¡¯d be here by now.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°why don¡¯t we go out there and find out how tough they are? Maybe we could take them.¡±


    Rod looked left toward the river. It was too dark to see details, but something was moving out there¡ªprobably more of them reaching the shore. ¡°Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t like that plan.¡±


    ¡°No, wait, better idea,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s stopping traffic? Let¡¯s go up there, see if we can take it out, and then the cars can move. Bet they can¡¯t keep up with cars moving at seventy.¡±


    Neither Rod nor Sam said anything for a moment.


    ¡°Huh,¡± Rod said. ¡°That¡¯s worth a shot.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s so full of holes,¡± Sam said. ¡°What if we¡¯re backed up because they destroyed the bridge?¡±


    ¡°What if we sit here till they flip the car over?¡± Rod asked. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything better.¡±


    Sam frowned. ¡°Neither do I.¡±


    She pulled something out of a pocket, and placed it on the dashboard. Then she said a few words in a language I didn¡¯t know.


    The frog-things that had been staring at Rod¡¯s car left, slouching over to the cars on either side of us.


    Sam did something with her hand, and she appeared as Red Hex. Turning her head back to me, she said, ¡°Your turn. We¡¯ll be hidden for a few feet outside the car. Rod will change out there.¡±


    I changed, stuffing my clothes into my backpack. Who knew if we were coming back to the car?


    ¡°Everyone ready?¡± Sam asked, hand on the door handle.


    I liked that. She reminded me a bit of how Nick would constantly question whether we¡¯re doing the best thing, except once she decided, she was committed. We¡¯d need that.


    Hopefully she could do something in a fight.


    Rod said, ¡°I¡¯ll grab both of you, and then run. It¡¯ll be faster.¡±


    They opened the doors, and I squeezed out after Sam, thinking about how much I hated two door cars.


    The frog-things didn¡¯t notice us¡ªwell, not until Rod turned troll.


    Once he reached nearly two stories, he got their attention. Some hissed. Others howled¡ªloudly.


    It didn¡¯t matter at first. Rod grabbed Sam and I, one in each hand, and started running. Each step sent us into the air, and his feet came down on the road with an impact that left cracks, and shook the nearest cars.


    But you know what? He hauled ass.


    The howling kept going, and the frog-things nearest to us took it up as we went by, scattering when his foot hit the ground. Soon, it seemed they were already howling when we got there.


    Rod gave the ones right in front of his right foot a solid kick, knocking them backward and into the air, hitting more of their kind, or flying off the side of the highway to drop into the street below.


    It became funny once he got going. They¡¯d have swarmed us if we¡¯d stayed in one place, but they couldn¡¯t come up with a way to stop a running troll.


    I felt pretty confident until almost the end, and then I had to rethink some things. What could they have that Rod couldn¡¯t handle?


    And then we saw what they¡¯d stopped traffic with¡ªa twenty foot tall thing that made me think of a shark with legs. Its mouth was large enough to bite the front off a car, and to judge from the smashed and shredded cars laying on the street, it already had.


    As we approached, it growled.

 Cassie: Part 13

    The shark monster wasn¡¯t alone. Frog-things stood all around it, but the closest four of them held poles with hooks on the far end. Shark prods?


    Rod muttered something hard to understand, but it ended with ¡°¡ªit.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take the shark,¡± he said, and put Sam and I down near the wreck of an SUV. Most of its front had been bitten off. I could see the tooth marks in the metal.


    The missing chunk of engine and hood lay in front of it, but no mangled people.


    I liked to imagine that the driver had escaped¡ªsomehow.


    I¡¯m an optimist like that.


    Sam pulled her staff out of her pocket. ¡°I¡¯m taking out the frogmen. Don¡¯t stand in front of me.¡±


    I pulled my staff out, clicked on the button, and it grew from six inches to six feet. Nick told me how it worked once, but Nick¡¯s told me a lot of things that I don¡¯t care about.


    Another push of the button electrified the ends of the staff, and I was prepared. No way were the frog-things going to take any attack from Sam lying down. They¡¯d mob us, and I¡¯d have to keep them off her.


    I got into a ready stance, sweeping the roadway with my eyes to watch for attackers. The only light came from the stopped cars, but there were a lot of them, and they had their brights on.


    As a few broke off from the larger group, and began to walk toward us, Sam said a few words. Arcs of blue-white energy gathered around the top of the staff.


    A small bolt of lightning (I almost didn¡¯t see it) jumped from my staff to hers, and I could feel the hair on my body standing up (not that there was much of it).


    A blinding flash of lightning spread out from her staff, spreading into smaller bolts and hitting the crowd. The frog-things¡¯ howls of pain mixed with the loudest thunderclap I¡¯d ever heard.


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    More than half the group fell to the ground, legs and arms spasming.


    Sam didn¡¯t need a bodyguard. I decided to do something useful¡ªgoing on the offense.


    Rod and the shark monster were wrestling like creatures out of that Godzilla marathon Marcus made us watch. One of them would have needed laser eyes for an exact match, but troll breath was close enough to ¡°Atomic Breath¡± for me.


    It wouldn¡¯t have hurt if Rod had some kind of weirdo ¡°space samurai¡± armor either. The medieval clothes he wore made him look like he¡¯d wandered in from the wrong story.


    Rod pushed the creature¡¯s mouth away as it snapped at his head¡ªon its hind legs, it stood taller than he did. He punched it in the stomach with his free hand, and it landed on its back.


    Rolling back to its feet, it turned back toward him more quickly than I¡¯d have thought possible.


    I wouldn¡¯t have done it normally, but since the electricity was out, I put my staff away, and ripped the streetlamp out of its concrete mounting alongside the highway.


    It wasn¡¯t easy. Streetlamps are big. Once I had it on the ground, I grabbed it three-quarters of the way up, where it was a little more comfortable. Still, I felt grateful it was a fake Victorian streetlamp instead of a modern look where the light hung over the road.


    I looked up from the lamp pole as Sam shouted, ¡°Troll¡¯s down!¡±


    While I¡¯d been occupied, the shark had knocked Rod down, and bit deeply into his forearm. He hit its head as I watched, but it didn¡¯t let go. He shouted from the pain as it bit harder.


    Oh, hell no.


    I started running, aiming the lamp at the shark.


    It didn¡¯t let go of Rod¡¯s arm even though he had grabbed its upper jaw and tried to pry it away.


    The lamp hit just behind the shark¡¯s head. What was left of the glass shattered as the lamp pierced its skin, causing it to jerk and let go. I kept on pushing until I felt the lamp come out the other side.


    Rod pushed it off himself, grabbed the pole and threw it, shark monster and all, over the side of the highway. It dropped three stories and hit with thump, ending with the sound of uncontrolled thrashing.


    I almost felt sorry for the poor dumb animal¡ªexcept for the part where it attacked real people. So screw that.


    Right then in my ideal world, the frog-things would have been so intimidated by how we dealt with the shark monster, and how Sam could zap them into extra-crispiness (the air smelled of grilled chicken) that they¡¯d leave.


    Instead they poured out of the rows of cars, dark figures silhouetted by hi-beams running straight for us.


    That¡¯s what optimism gets you.

 Cassie: Part 14

    A burst of light almost blinded me. The frog-things howled and held their arms in front of their eyes.


    Sam shouted, ¡°Both of you, come here!¡± She held the staff in both hands, keeping the top end high above her head. The tip of her staff blazed with light.


    I didn¡¯t hesitate, shielding my eyes from the light with my hand, and joining her. Within two of his steps Rod stood next to us.


    I couldn¡¯t see much of anything past Sam¡¯s light, but within it, I could see everything like it was day. The frog-things backed away to the edges of the circle


    ¡°This is great. Why didn¡¯t you do this before?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how long it will last.¡±


    Oh.


    ¡°Well how long does it normally last? Hours? Minutes?¡±


    ¡°An hour, but normally I don¡¯t make it this bright.¡±


    ¡°So, half an hour?¡±


    ¡°Maybe ten minutes? I don¡¯t know. We should talk about what we¡¯re going to do.¡±


    From above us, Rod said, ¡°Run that way?¡± He pointed down the highway. ¡°The cars can follow us.¡±


    That sounded good, and I was about to say so when my League phone beeped. Before getting out of the car, I¡¯d turned off my normal phone, so it had to be the League phone.


    Only now the League phone was beeping, so I¡¯d have to turn that off. I pulled out of my backpack, and looked at the screen. It said, ¡°Connect to the Liberator¡¯s Team Alert Network?¡±


    Trust Nick to let our phones work with other teams¡¯ systems, and then not tell anybody.


    I clicked ¡°yes,¡± and the phone beeped again.


    Sam said, ¡°What are you doing? You¡¯re not texting, are you?¡±


    ¡°No, that would be crazy. I wanted to stop the beeping.¡±


    The phone started to ring. ¡°What the¡ª¡± I began, and checked the phone¡¯s screen. It ID¡¯ed the caller as ¡°Liberator HQ.¡±


    Standing near to hundreds if not thousands of enemies, I¡¯d have to take that.


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    I held the phone to my ear.


    The voice on the other end said, ¡°Captain Commando?¡±


    ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°This is Liberator HQ. I saw your connection activate¡ª¡±


    ¡°Great. I don¡¯t have time to talk now. I¡¯m in the middle of a million frog monsters. Anything you can do about that?¡±


    His response? He laughed. Because when someone tells you they¡¯re surrounded by deadly enemies that¡¯s what you¡¯re supposed to do.


    I nearly hung up.


    He said, ¡°You sound just like the first Captain Commando. Yeah, we¡¯ve got people coming. You ought to be seeing them any¡ª¡±


    A series of sonic booms came from the open highway ahead of us, and a dark blur passed us, moving straight down the side of the freeway between the cars and the railing.


    Shouts of rage and pain, followed by screams as dark shapes flew over the barrier, dropping three stories to the road below.


    A light appeared in the sky¡ªbrighter than the stars or even Sam¡¯s staff. Howls came from hundreds, maybe thousands of throats, and the creatures started jumping off the side themselves.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s over.¡±


    ¡°Nearly, but not yet,¡± the man from Liberator HQ said, ¡°They¡¯ve got them on the run where you are, but not everywhere. If you want to help, we¡¯ve got small groups you could join up with.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m in the middle of something else,¡± I said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t hesitate to call for help if you¡¯re stuck, but I can¡¯t guarantee a response. We¡¯re busy.¡±


    ¡°No prob. We¡¯ll be okay.¡±


    I hung up, and put the phone back in my backpack.


    ¡°Hey, problem solved. Where¡¯s that building we were trying to find?¡±


    Rod nodded off to our left, and I recognized it from the picture in Sam¡¯s water bowl.


    The building rose above the highway, six stories tall, sloping away from the road. I¡¯d never noticed, but we¡¯d passed it in the dark.


    * * *


    Half an hour later we¡¯d walked down the back alley that led into the parking area under the building. The van sat alone in a corner.


    None of the lights were on, but Rod and I had flashlights. We swung them around, and, not seeing any frog-things, walked to the van.


    Rod wore a black trench coat and a mask. I guess he needed something for when he wanted in on the action, but couldn¡¯t fit as a troll.


    ¡°I¡¯m still not sure we should be doing this,¡± Sam said. ¡°With everything going on, they¡¯ll be looking for an attack.¡±


    She pulled out the water basin from her pocket.


    I didn¡¯t watch. I walked over to the van, and found the edge of the door. I dug my fingers in, and, with a metallic screech, ripped the door off the driver¡¯s side of the van.


    ¡°They will,¡± Rod said, ¡°but they won¡¯t be looking for us. They¡¯ll be looking for Deep Ones, or whatever the monsters really are, and the electricity¡¯s out, so we¡¯ll have the advantage.¡±


    ¡°Guns don¡¯t run on electricity,¡± Sam said.


    I shined the flashlight inside. ¡°Hey, you said you needed hair or something? I think we¡¯re in luck. The guy¡¯s got bad dandruff.¡±


    Bits of white sprinkled the top of the driver¡¯s seat.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Sam said. ¡°Wonderful.¡±


    Minutes later, she sat on the ground next to the van with the basin in front of her. We all watched as the man exited the van, and took the elevator down to the sub-basement, or possibly the sub-sub-sub-basement.


    He walked up to two, blue-painted metal doors, ran an access card through a reader alongside the door, and typed in a code. When the doors opened, he walked inside, but my eyes stayed on the door.


    The nameplate above the card reader showed the number nine¡ªwhich might have been the number of the room. On the other hand, ¡°The Nine¡± also happened to be an organization run by supervillains.


    Dr. Mind, the scientist who had created me, sometimes worked for them. So had the man who exploded Dad¡¯s head.

 Cassie: Part 15

    Sam scried out the rooms behind the doors. Most of the place appeared to be a workroom¡ªit was some kind of lab¡ªbut there were people locked in a storage room just off the main room.


    There were seven of them, four girls, three guys, all around our age. A bucket sat in the corner. I couldn¡¯t see details in the water basin, but I could guess what the bucket was for.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like this,¡± Sam said. ¡°The Nine? Without backup?¡±


    ¡°We can take them. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re storming their headquarters. This is a lab. Worst case scenario, we¡¯re facing a bunch of guards, and maybe a scientist. Besides, we can¡¯t leave them like that.¡±


    Sam shook her head, face lit by a bluish glow from the basin. ¡°That¡¯s not the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario is if one of the Nine is there, and the scrying missed it.¡±


    ¡°Doubt it,¡± Rod said. ¡°None of the Nine are wizards.¡±


    ¡°Right now,¡± Sam said. ¡°They used to have the Scarlet Sorcerer.¡±


    Rod shrugged. ¡°In the Sixties, yeah.¡±


    ¡°Look,¡± I said. ¡°We can¡¯t leave people locked up. How much do you want to bet they all passed the powers test? Do you want to leave them for the Nine?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Sam stared into basin. ¡°But if the Nine are here in D.C., this is a big deal. Someone needs to know we¡¯re going.¡±


    ¡°Hey, if that¡¯s all we need, I¡¯ll call the Liberators.¡±


    Sam and Rod said, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The Rocket set up my phone so it could join their network. I¡¯ll call them.¡±


    ¡°You seem so normal,¡± Sam said.


    ¡°Compared to what?¡±


    Rod gave a brief smile. ¡°The Young Liberators. I can¡¯t stand most of those guys. They¡¯re all Compound kids. Trained as supers from birth, and probably never saw the inside of a public school, you know?¡±


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    ¡°Got it.¡±


    I pulled out my phone, and clicked on my last phone call¡ªthe one from Liberator HQ. I hoped things wouldn¡¯t get weird.


    ¡°You¡¯re not just listening to me because of my Dad, are you?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Rod said, ¡°we¡¯re listening to you despite your dad. Most legacy supers are jerks.¡±


    And that¡¯s when Liberator HQ picked up.


    ¡°Liberators,¡± a voice said. It sounded like the last guy I¡¯d talked to.


    ¡°This is Captain Commando. I¡¯m with Red Hex and Troll. We¡¯ve found an outpost of the Nine, and we¡¯re going in. We¡¯d like backup if you¡¯ve got anyone free.¡±


    He paused long enough that I thought I¡¯d lost the call.


    ¡°Are you serious? The Nine? Can¡¯t it wait until tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Their henchmen are kidnapping kids. They might not be there tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Then good luck. Just like I said earlier, I can¡¯t guarantee anything, but I¡¯ll pass your request along.¡±


    ¡°Got it. Bye.¡±


    ¡°Wait a second, Captain. Are you the girl the League brought back from Brazil about fifteen years ago?¡±


    ¡°If I say yes, will that get me backup?¡±


    He laughed. ¡°Wish I could say yes. Just wondering. I was with the Liberators back then. The original Captain brought the girl back to DC, and we never saw her again after that.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°Good question.¡±


    Then I hung up.


    ¡°We¡¯re not getting backup,¡± I said, ¡°but he¡¯ll pass the request along.¡±


    Sam¡¯s face tightened for a moment. ¡°They¡¯re so useless.¡±


    * * *


    Twenty minutes later we stood in front of the sub-basement doors, shining a flashlight on the nameplate that just said, ¡°9.¡± No other lights shone in the hall either because the emergency lights had run out of juice, or because they didn¡¯t want emergency lights to work.


    A thin line of light ran across the bottom of the two doors.


    We had a plan for this.


    Rod said, ¡°Watch out.¡±


    Sam and I moved to the side. There was no transformation. Rod didn¡¯t grow, strain, or shapeshift. One moment he stood there as a human in a black longcoat. The next, he stood in front of the doors as a troll, bending his legs, and crouching uncomfortably as his head and shoulders hit the ceiling of the hallway.


    He pulled his arm back, and punched the doors.


    They bent, falling inward with a clatter. Rod stepped inside, and we followed him in.


    When we¡¯d looked at the main room in the scrying basin, I¡¯d thought it was a lab, but I hadn¡¯t looked closely. The basin bleached out colors, and the bubbles in the water didn¡¯t help. Look, I couldn¡¯t see clearly through that thing.


    It wasn¡¯t a lab¡ªnot the kind Nick¡¯s got in HQ. It¡¯s kind of the opposite. It wasn¡¯t for making new stuff. It was for analyzing old stuff.


    It had computers and electronic devices that I didn¡¯t recognize at all, but also stone statues, chunks of wall (all of them with writing), clay tablets, and other things.


    Directly in front of me sat a chair-like device made of rusted metal. The shape reminded me of a power impregnator¡ªif you¡¯d buried it, and dug it up one hundred years later.


    A saw lay on the table next to it along with pieces of the impregnator¡¯s casing.


    They¡¯d been taking it apart.

 Cassie: Part 16

    The metal looked wrong. Even rusted, the color shimmered between blue and green. Nick would have known the name of the metal, but I¡¯d seen it before¡ªin the engine room of the Heroes League¡¯s ¡°jet.¡±


    Nick¡¯s grandfather had scavenged the engines from an alien spaceship.


    It put a new spin on everything in the room, and I had no way to read any of the clay tablets or anything. One of them might be the impregnator¡¯s owner¡¯s manual for all I knew.


    Not that the writing on the tablets looked anything like the writing on the machine. Small, and largely corroded, symbols appeared in the middle of indentations on the device that might have been buttons.


    And that wasn¡¯t the only thing that looked like it had been made with alien metal. Pieces of the stuff were scattered around the room, some merely bits with writing on them. Others were complete devices¡ªcorroded, but complete.


    Not that I recognized what they were for, or even had time to think about it.


    When Rod stepped into the room, he went for the guards while Sam and I ran along the wall on the right side, heading for the storage room where they were keeping the people they¡¯d kidnapped.


    I heard gunshots, shouts, and cries of pain as we ran. Glancing back, I saw that Rod had taken down the four guards stationed next to the left of the doors.


    All according to plan.


    It was nice to be part of one that worked for a little while.


    As we came closer to the door, I had an odd feeling, much like the kind I get when Daniel reaches out and starts talking directly into my head. It didn¡¯t feel like Daniel though. It felt stranger, more controlled¡ªemotionless.


    Maybe Nick wouldn¡¯t have been bothered by it. Daniel¡¯s been his best friend for his entire life, and so he¡¯s probably used to it.


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    I wasn¡¯t.


    I must have groaned, or said something because Sam turned around and said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Her voice stayed level, but she sounded full of concern anyway.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I said. ¡°Keep going.¡±


    You know what it felt like? It felt like walking into a room where people were listening to a radio station that wasn¡¯t playing anything¡ªno noise, but you could tell the radio was on.


    I looked around as we walked, trying to figure out where the feeling came from. It needed to stop. We¡¯d had Daniel put blocks in for a reason.


    I didn¡¯t figure out where it came from.


    We reached the storage room.


    Sam said, ¡°All yours.¡±


    ¡°Everyone inside, get away from the door,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s about to get smashed in.¡±


    I gave myself a few steps to get up to speed, and hit it with my shoulder. It hurt, but the metal door dented, and swung open, still hanging by one hinge.


    They¡¯d been using the bucket exactly the way I¡¯d guessed. The room reeked.


    ¡°Everybody out,¡± I said, stepping backward, and out of the doorway.


    No one followed.


    ¡°Quickly,¡± I said.


    One of the girls said, ¡°Come on.¡±


    Then they all came out, and it was¡­ weird.


    The guys didn¡¯t seem unusual. Two were black, and one was white. The girls? All four of them were blonde, and around my height. Their faces kind of looked like mine--not exactly like mine, but they all had thin lips and a squarer jaw than most women.


    They looked like me in the parts of the face exposed by Dad''s costume.


    Seeing them next to each other like that, they didn''t quite look alike even if they all fit the description.


    Proving that it wasn¡¯t just me, Sam¡¯s jaw dropped a little as she saw them.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± One of the guys pointed at Rod.


    Sam said, ¡°He¡¯s Troll. I¡¯m Red Hex. We¡¯re from the D.C. Heroes Association. Captain Commando¡¯s with us.¡±


    One of the girls said, ¡°Of the Heroes League? For real? You look different.¡±


    A guy said, ¡°Hey, where¡¯s your sword?¡±


    I was about to suggest he mind his own business, except at that moment words appeared in my head.


    Like this: FULLY CHARGED.


    Technically, I knew it wasn¡¯t even in English, but it felt like someone was walking around inside my brain with a loudspeaker.


    Quietly, I asked Sam, ¡°Did you hear something?¡±


    Sam said, ¡°No. What did you hear?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    I turned away from the crowd, and back into the main part of the room where archaeological artifacts sat on worktables and on shelves around the edges of the room.


    The voice came from the shelves. I started walking over there.


    Sam said, ¡°What¡¯s over there?¡±


    ¡°Give me a second.¡±


    Except I didn¡¯t have a second. More guards burst into the room through the shattered doors we¡¯d just used.

 Cassie: Part 17

    Rod whirled around more quickly than I''d have expected. Not Jaclyn''s ("a blur knocked me out") level of speed, but fast enough that if I ever got thrown into Faerie and had to fight trolls, I''d give them some respect.


    Fast enough that his punches took out two of them at once, and their automatic rifles might as well have been shooting marshmallows. He didn''t seem to care.


    They were pouring into the room. I didn''t know how many there were. More than twenty for sure. Probably more than forty.


    Well, except that after Rod took out like, half of them, they were backing up and not firing a whole lot.


    A few stayed in the doorway, but the rest retreated into the hall. Voices shouted words I couldn''t make out mingled with the beeps, clicks and flat tones of walkie-talkies.


    They were planning something, and we didn''t want to wait for it.


    I pulled the staff out, extended it.


    "Hey, you guys, over there." I waved the Look-Alike Squad and the guys toward the wall next to the hallway. "Hex, we''ve got to talk."


    I figured our best chance would be to send Rod down the hall first with all of us following. He hadn''t been too bugged by the shark bite. There''s no way for a bloody half-circle of puncture wounds to look good, but it had scabbed over in no time.


    Sam came over.


    "What do you think?" I said. "Can he take it if we charge down the hall? I say we face them head on right away, and they''ll buckle. If we wait, we''re screwed."


    Not taking his eyes off the men at the door, Rod growled, "Let''s do it."


    Score one for troll hearing. I''d been talking quietly. Oh and the growl? I could feel it in my bones.


    The men at the door held their guns up, but honestly, they looked just short of pissing themselves.


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    The men on the floor, of course, didn''t move.


    "I think I could stop them from noticing the others." Samita nodded toward the wall. The people we''d saved had listened.


    "Kick ass. Ready?"


    Except then the machine said, "TACTICAL ASSESSMENT INCORRECT."


    Concentrating like I did when talking with Daniel, I thought at it, So what¡¯s the CORRECT tactical assessment?


    ¡°A HOMINID APPROACHES. AN ENERGY MANIPULATOR. IT CAN DESTROY YOUR SERVANT.¡±


    What servant? He¡¯s just this guy I know.


    WAR LEADER. I¡¯VE SERVED GLORIOUSLY IN NO LESS THAN FIVE ERADICATIONS. I OFFER MYSELF TO YOUR SERVICE.


    Sam frowned, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Why would I not be okay?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re mumbling.¡±


    ¡°Look, we¡¯re going. Get over to the wall, and make the hostages disappear. And if you¡¯ve still got some lightning, zap people. I¡¯m going to help Troll.¡±


    I started walking toward Rod, trying not to look too threatening, and I totally succeeded at that. I was a teenage girl wearing a costume that covered only a little more than my swimsuit, and carrying a staff.


    One of them took time out from being scared of Rod to whistle at me.


    I pressed the button that charged the ends of the staff with electricity, and thought, ¡°Wait till we charge, guy.¡±


    ¡° 1¡­ 2¡­ 3¡­ Let¡¯s go.¡± I spoke quietly. He¡¯d hear me.


    For the first few seconds, it was beautiful. Rod stepped forward, and they three guys in the doorway ran¡ªand not in any organized way either. They scampered away like little bunnies.


    Then Rod stepped out into the hall, and that¡¯s where things started to go wrong. He had to scrunch down to walk. We all knew he would, and it didn¡¯t slow him down much at first. There were a bunch of them standing in the hall, and they weren¡¯t standing tall. They were, running or getting punched.


    Every punch seemed to take out three of them, because even if they didn¡¯t get taken out, one of their buddies did, so they had to grab their buddy, and pull him away.


    I took down the people he missed. I got hit a few times. The bullets couldn¡¯t go through the costume. They knocked me around, but not down. A few hit my arms and legs, but that healed up quickly¡ªfaster than they used to for sure.


    After that, it turned ugly.


    One thing that had changed since we¡¯d last been in the hall was that someone had turned the lights back on. Because of that, I could see when they stopped running. That was when something bright started walking down the hall. The Nine¡¯s men squished themselves against the walls to avoid it, but barely had time.


    It moved quickly. Not long after it first appeared, I could see what it was¡ªa man surrounded by a golden glow. Except it didn¡¯t stop with the glow. Golden, sparkly arms, or legs, or tentacles or whatever held the man above the ground.


    An energy manipulator. Crap. The telepathic thing was right.


    I had a really bad feeling about what was about to come next, and an uneasy sense that it was all my fault.


    ¡°Troll? Let¡¯s get back into the room!¡±


    And you know, it¡¯s easy to say stuff like that, but it¡¯s a lot harder to do it when the thing¡¯s turned into a blur of limbs, made it over all the people between you and them, and grabbed your leg.

 Cassie: Part 18

    As it wrapped around my thigh, the limb felt warm and smooth, almost like plastic, but then it changed, becoming hot, painfully hot. It began to burn. I screamed, and blacked out.


    And okay, that was the best thing that could have happened. ¡°Hurt¡± doesn¡¯t hold a candle to what I felt. I felt like I was nothing but pain. I felt like it was burning through the skin and into my leg.


    It felt like that because that¡¯s exactly what it was doing.


    I woke to the smell of charcoal. I didn¡¯t want to, but I opened my eyes.


    I lay on the concrete floor. The best thing I could say about my leg was that it hadn¡¯t been burned completely through, but that¡¯s not saying much. If all I could have seen of my leg were the burned part, I might have confused it with the remains of a campfire.


    Worse, I could see the skin around it. The thing must have burned two inches in.


    On the bright side, if you call it a bright side, I could feel myself healing. For me, it wasn¡¯t much of a bright side. Healed nerves could feel how badly I¡¯d been burned.


    Less than ten feet away from me, Rod fought the glowing guy, and it wasn¡¯t going well.


    His clothes were on fire in spots, and a long, red streak ran down his forearm. An uglier burn covered his right cheek. Blistered, it dripped blood.


    Rod punched and missed, finding his arm wrapped in burning tentacles. Screaming, he pulled back, yanking the glowing man forward. The tentacles let go, stopping the man from falling to the floor.


    Not that Rod would have been able to take advantage of it. He¡¯d backed up, and was staring down at his forearm.


    I couldn¡¯t see it well, but looked like it had been left on the grill too long.


    Anyway, I wasn¡¯t sure what he would have been able to do even if he¡¯d gone on the attack. If he¡¯d hit the guy, he¡¯d just get burned again.


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    I needed to help him. This was my plan. My fault that it hadn¡¯t worked, and it looked like this guy might be able to kill Rod.


    And let¡¯s be honest, maybe me too.


    While I was being honest, I had to ask myself what I thought I was going to do? Hit it with my staff? Yeah, that would help a lot. I wished for maybe the hundredth time that my sword were with me.


    Trying to move my leg, I felt a twinge of pain, but it moved.


    I looked at my leg again, and it was better. Not normal, but I could see new, pink skin through cracks in the charring, and the damaged part of my thigh was just as thick as the rest.


    Something hit the floor behind me. I pushed myself up, discovering that the Nine¡¯s men were following the glowing guy¡ªnot closely because they might get their faces burned off, but following.


    The guy who¡¯d whistled at me stood in front of them, fumbling for his gun.


    "Hey ugly," I said, and swung an electrified end of my staff into his crotch.


    He flailed around for a second and fell on his face.


    I turned around before he even hit the ground, and ran toward Rod. With a click on the button that shrank the staff, I dove, and rolled past the glowing tentacles, and came to my feet near Rod.


    ¡°Door,¡± I shouted at him.


    A tentacle swung at me, but, I ducked and it hit the wall.


    I jumped, landing in front of the door as Rod turned, crossing the same distance in a step.


    Problem was, two burning tentacles hit him in the back, going through his shirt to burn his skin.


    Rod bellowed in pain, and it felt like my eardrums were going to pop. Even the glowing guy took a step back¡ªwhatever a step is when you¡¯ve got a dozen glowing legs.


    Rod stumbled into the wall next to the door, hitting the ceiling with his head, and chunks of concrete fell to the floor.


    Roaring, he turned back around and punched the glowing man¡¯s body, knocking the man backwards into the Nine¡¯s men, tentacles flying in every direction, some of them burning deeply into their bodies.


    Meanwhile Rod¡¯s roar had turned into a scream of pain.


    The glowing man pulled himself up, and Rod backed away, following me back into the room.


    I caught a glimpse of his hand. The first two knuckles had turned black with char, but he could still move the fingers. Well, a little.


    Trolls. Scary tough.


    Not tough enough though. Most of his body had burns. He went down to one knee on the floor of the lab, and changed back to normal¡ªjust a masked man in a long coat.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± I asked. ¡°You can¡¯t do anything now.¡±


    ¡°Did you see me get fucking burned again and again?¡± He held himself up by hanging on to a desk.


    So maybe he¡¯d been hurt worse than I thought. Could Sam do something for him? If I had a second, I could have asked her.


    Except I didn¡¯t. The glowing man stepped through the door.


    ¡°This will be your only chance to surrender. Do it, or I¡¯ll kill you where you stand.¡±


    In my mind, a voice said, ¡°AHEM.¡±

 Cassie: Part 19

    Ignoring the voice in my head, I said, ¡°Let me get this straight. Surrender or die, right? If we surrender what happens then? Do we die anyway? Are you going to hold us for ransom, or what?¡±


    Addressing the voice, I asked, What can you do? And make it quick, I¡¯m in the middle of something.


    ¡°No stalling. If you don¡¯t make your choice, you choose death.¡±


    My luck to run into the one super-villain in the world who noticed when you tried to get him talking.


    ¡°Yeah, well, if you kill us, you¡¯ll never know where the people we freed went.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got sensors that show they¡¯re still in the room. Got that? No more talking. You have until two. One¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay, I¡ª¡±


    And then I could barely think. It¡¯s not that I wasn¡¯t thinking. I had too much to think about. The thing I¡¯d been talking to telepathically (or the thing that had been talking to me)? It was a talking gun. Because that¡¯s what every advanced combat force wants, right? A gun that can make conversation.


    In response to my question, it had jammed its whole freaking history into my head--including stats on its common uses, best firing angles, and effectiveness in different atmospheres and gravities ranging from Earth¡¯s oxygen/nitrogen mix to vacuum.


    I saw it held by humans, beings that looked like humans, but not quite, and another race with grayish skin and five limbs (though that wasn¡¯t their only form).


    Abominators. Dad told me how the League fought them once. Damn.


    I wasn¡¯t asking for an epic. All need to do is shoot some people. And why are you talking to me anyway?


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    YOU BEAR THE CITIZEN¡¯S MARK.


    I don¡¯t even know what that is.


    YOU DON¡¯T NEED TO. IT¡¯S WOVEN INTO YOUR VERY BEING. SIMPLY BY TOUCHING YOUR MIND, I RECOGNIZE YOUR STATUS AS A PRODUCT OF THE WORKSHOPS OF ARTAXUS THE UNHALLOWED, SCION OF THE EIGHTH LINEAGE SIRED IN THE IMAGE OF MAGNETUS THE PURIFIER.


    IN AN EARLIER AGE, I WOULD HAVE BURNED YOU DOWN IN THE SERVICE OF MY CREATOR¡ªMETRICITUS THE CHOSEN, SCION OF THE SIXTH LINEAGE OF MAGNETUS.


    NOW? LET US WORK TOGETHER TO TURN THESE UNFINISHED CREATURES TO ASHES. AN ALLIANCE OF THE LAST REMNANTS OF RIVALS! HA! IT WILL BE GLORIOUS.


    If they all talked that much, the Abominators must have died from being windbags.


    From the doorway, the glowing man said, ¡°I what?¡±


    He¡¯d walked a little further in since I¡¯d last paid attention, and the Nine¡¯s men followed him, but not too closely.


    ¡°I surrender. You¡¯ve got us.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t think I won¡¯t kill you if this is a trick.¡±


    ¡°No trick. He¡¯s got us, right?¡± I looked over at Rod.


    He sat down on the desk he¡¯d been using to hold himself up. ¡°He¡¯s got us.¡±


    Glowing man nodded slowly. ¡°Then where¡¯s the girl and the kids we¡¯d imprisoned?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re invisible.¡±


    That would have been the moment for me to jump back, and grab the gun off the shelf in the back of the room. It would have, if Rod hadn¡¯t been there.


    I¡¯d have been able to make the jump. It was maybe twenty feet from us at max, but as hurt as he was, the glowing guy could grab Rod before I made it.


    I thought maybe I could tell the glowing man I¡¯d left something important back by the shelves, but what were the chances he¡¯d let me get it?


    There had to be some way, but my brain froze. I couldn¡¯t think of anything.


    The man said, ¡°OK, invisible people. The game¡¯s up. Become visible or I torch your friends, starting with Mr. Troll here.¡±


    Before Rod and I went into the hall, I¡¯d told Sam to use lightning if she had any left. She didn¡¯t then, but when the man began to lift a tendril toward Rod?


    A thunderclap shook the room, shaking the shelves, while the light blinded everybody.


    Except me.


    Still seeing spots, I jumped over a desk, and ran for the shelves.


    It sat on the fifth shelf¡ªa little higher than my head. Made of the same shimmery blue-green metal as their power impregnator, it didn¡¯t look like the weapon of a legendary race of tyrants.


    It looked like an accessory for Space Soldier Barbie.


    I picked it up, and I could feel its shape adjusting to fit me as I pulled it up to my shoulder.


    DIE UNFINISHED MONGRELS! I WILL BURN YOU WITH THE HEAT OF A THOUSAND SUNS!


    Oh, shut up, alien death machine.

 Cassie: Part 20

    As the butt of the rifle touched me, I saw everything differently¡ªnot in the good and evil sense, but as if I had another sense, one totally devoted to arms and tactics.


    For each man with a gun standing in the doorway, I could tell where they were aiming. With a glance, I knew that the glowing man¡¯s golden spider legs were a plasma-like substance contained within a casing he could generate or thin at will.


    Not that he was doing much just then.


    Sam¡¯s lightning bolt had knocked him to the ground, and it looked like he¡¯d lost control of his limbs. The casing still covered him, but the burning liquid inside had mostly leaked out¡ªor been thrown out by the blast.


    The floor around him had melted into a mixture of linoleum, concrete, and puddles of the liquid. The waxy look of the cooling liquid reminded me of the casing.


    Unlike when he¡¯d fallen backward in the hall, the man didn¡¯t seem to have hurt or killed anybody¡ªbut they¡¯d been standing further behind him this time.


    At the same time, he wasn¡¯t unconscious. He moved his leg, and began to push himself upright with his arm.


    Crosshairs appeared near him.


    I wasn¡¯t pointing the gun directly at him. He wasn¡¯t doing much.


    HE¡¯S VULNERABLE! KILL HIM NOW!


    No.


    At the same time, one of the men behind him began to pull up his gun, and point toward Sam. He wasn¡¯t holding it particularly steadily, but he couldn¡¯t be the only one coming to.


    THREAT! BURN HIM DOWN!


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    This was going to get really old, really quickly.


    Can you look scary without killing somebody? Because if you can, do it now.


    The front of the gun started glowing. Little sparkles appeared next to it, floating near the barrel, appearing and disappearing.


    That¡¯s pretty good.


    ¡°Hey! Nobody move! I¡¯ve got an alien death ray, and it says it wants to kill you, but I¡¯m not going to, okay? Don¡¯t give it any reason to fire. Drop your guns, and move over there.¡±


    I pointed the gun to the right of doorway. That wall didn¡¯t have any shelves.


    ¡°Stand next to the wall. Do it right now. And tell the seven guys you¡¯ve still got in the hall to come inside.¡±


    The Nine¡¯s foot soldiers gave me odd looks, but they dropped their guns and started walking toward the wall. One of them even shouted down the hall like I¡¯d said.


    Maybe they thought I was crazy. Granted, most people don¡¯t claim to talk to alien weapons, but you¡¯d think henchmen would have seen stranger.


    You¡¯d think Rod would have seen stranger too because he shot me a very confused look.


    The glowing guy didn¡¯t move.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°you too.¡±


    ¡°Give me just a second,¡± he said, and pushed himself all the way up, managing to stand. He wobbled for a second, and I wondered if he was about to fall over.


    Seven more came in through the doorway. I had them drop their weapons there.


    One of them didn¡¯t look like a soldier. Fifty-ish, grey-haired, and wearing a blue suit, he didn¡¯t look like a soldier at all.


    He stared at the gun, and at me, and said something to one of the soldiers. I didn¡¯t catch it, but the gun amplified it.


    ¡°That¡¯s where she¡¯s been? Grand Lake?¡±


    And if there were any question about what he meant, his eyes darted toward Sam and the kidnapees. The lightning bolt must have blown their invisibility.


    I didn¡¯t want to let that go, and I didn¡¯t have to. Thanks to Alien-Machine-O-Vision, I could see into the hall, and know that we had everybody. All the people left out there were dead.


    ¡°Hey, suit-guy! What did you mean by that?¡±


    His face went white, and he stopped where he stood. The soldier next to him reached for his pistol, and stopped when he remembered I¡¯d already had him drop it at the door.


    ¡°Don¡¯t touch him! Move over to the wall. Suit-guy, over here!¡±


    They did, and so that was looking great, but then I heard a hissing noise, and sensed glowing guy¡¯s massive energy spike.


    The next thing I knew glowing guy had limbs again, and was moving straight at me. Meanwhile the gun shrieked about burning him down, and I dodged another spider leg swipe.


    Hell, no, I¡¯m not going to kill him.


    I FAIL TO UNDERSTAND WHY NOT.

 Cassie: Part 21

    I didn¡¯t even try to reply. The man with glowing golden spider legs had taken another swipe¡ªonly this time not at me.


    He¡¯d tried to stick a limb through the chest of the guy in the suit. He¡¯d have succeeded too except that I saw it, grabbed the guy and jumped out of the way.


    That put the two of us on the left side of the room with Sam, my lookalikes, and the kidnapped guys.


    It left Rod alone in the middle of the room with glowing guy.


    I pushed the suit toward Sam, and turned around with the gun in my hand, ready to fire. I didn¡¯t just see glowing limbs reach out toward Rod. I also saw where the gun¡¯s beam would go, the depth it would penetrate, and the distance it could go through air before becoming harmless.


    I could fire at the speed of thought, and it wasn¡¯t fast enough.


    Before I¡¯d turned completely around, glowing plasma hit Rod in the chest. He¡¯d gotten off the desk, and had been putting his hand in his pocket when it hit.


    He fell backward to the floor.


    I expected to see burned skin or worse. Honestly, I expected to see much worse, but I didn¡¯t.


    He grunted, but pulled a handful of what looked like sand out of his pocket and threw it at the glowing guy.


    It expanded, sparkling, and surrounding the guy in a glittering,dusty cloud.


    The gun labeled it a ¡°NON-RATIONAL EVENT,¡± but I didn¡¯t pay a bit of attention to that. Sam must have enchanted his trench coat to be some kind of armor. It seemed rational to me.


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    Besides, the gun could fire at the speed of thought, and I was firing.


    You know how the glowing guy¡¯s weird, plasma legs held him above the ground? I widened the beam, and chopped through the legs behind him.


    The beam burned through easily, and blasted a hole into the wall to his left. When he didn¡¯t fall, I swung the beam downward, cutting through the limbs in the middle, aiming under his real legs, and ignoring the gun¡¯s commentary.


    He fell, plasma draining out and burning everything around him¡ªmelting the floor, and nearby metal table legs.


    Rod backed away, turning back into troll-form.


    NON-RATIONAL EVENT!


    Thanks gun. Hadn¡¯t noticed.


    Limping, he still managed to move fast enough to avoid the expanding puddle. Then he grabbed the nearest table and threw it at glowing guy.


    When he hit, glowing guy shouted and pushed the desk off himself. Cracks in the casing covering his body repaired themselves as I watched.


    The holes I¡¯d made in his artificially generated legs had closed, and a few of them looked like they were growing, but not as quickly as before. The guy moaned.


    Meanwhile, the Nine¡¯s soldiers were running out of the room. It figured. They had good reasons to run. We were beating their tough guy¡ªwho¡¯d by the way, killed a bunch of them while fighting us.


    The other good reason dripped from the hole the gun had made in the wall. Muddy water was slowly but steadily landing on the floor.


    When the first drips touched the spots the plasma melted, it steamed.


    We were right next to the Potomac River, we were underground, and the gun had a lot of power behind it. It kicked Nick¡¯s guitar in the ass for sure.


    No surprise if it had punched most of the way through to the riverbed. Not from what the gun''s specs said.


    ¡°Hey, everybody,¡± I said, ¡°We better get out.¡±


    Rod turned back to human, nodding toward the escaping soldiers. ¡°Yeah, they¡¯ve got the right idea.¡±


    Sam said, ¡°Are they really running, or are they waiting in the hall to ambush us?¡±


    I used the gun¡¯s senses, and answered. ¡°Running. Some of them even left their weapons.¡±


    She glanced back where the glowing guy lay on the floor. He¡¯d rolled over, but he wasn¡¯t trying to chase us.


    ¡°What about him? He looks¡­ hurt. We should do something.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°We leave him.¡±


    She looked like she was about to argue with me, so I said, ¡°He¡¯s not going to die. The second he feels better, he¡¯ll attack, and none of us can take him for sure. He even tried to kill that guy.¡± I indicated the suit with my thumb.


    He looked like he was about to bolt.


    ¡°Come on,¡± I said, and caught his eye. ¡°I¡¯ve got some questions I want answered.¡±

 Cassie: Part 22

    We took the stairs up. Between Rod¡¯s injuries, my need to keep the suit from running off, and our crowd of former kidnapping victims, it took longer than the way down.


    And oh yeah, the darkness didn¡¯t help either.


    The Nine¡¯s men had thought enough ahead that they¡¯d locked the doors to the stairway so when we got to the parking garage, I readied myself to knock it down.


    As I lowered my shoulder just before charging, Sam said, ¡°No, wait!¡±


    Simultaneously, the gun said, ¡°THREAT. UNKNOWN AMPHIBIOUS HOMINIDS.¡±


    The gun¡¯s awareness showed at least ten of them in the garage. They were eating the Nine¡¯s soldiers.


    That didn¡¯t do my stomach any good.


    I¡¯ve beaten people up. I¡¯ve been stabbed, shot, and seen inside my own body in ways most people wouldn¡¯t live through. It still didn¡¯t harden me against seeing the frog-things rip chunks out of people.


    I pulled my mind out of the connection, and backed away from the door. ¡°We can¡¯t go out here.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I said.¡± Sam sounded a little annoyed, but sound was all I had to go on. We didn''t have any light. She was saving her staff¡¯s energy.


    One of the guys said, ¡°What¡¯s out there?¡±


    ¡°Some kind of frog-monsters. They eat people.¡± I said it calmly. I think.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t they come here before? Maybe ten years ago?¡± That was one of the girls.


    Another said, ¡°They did. They totally did. I was eight.¡±


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    ¡°Hey suit,¡± I said. ¡°You know the building. Any place we could get out without running into these guys?¡±


    ¡°Could you stop calling me ¡®suit¡¯? My name is John.¡±


    ¡°Sure John, where would you leave the building if you didn¡¯t want to become fish food?¡±


    He was quiet for a little while. ¡°I go out the front for lunch or through the parking area after work. It¡¯s not as if we used secret tunnels. I didn¡¯t even know I was working for the Nine until a couple weeks ago when they started keeping kids in the storage room.¡±


    One of the ¡°kids¡± (a guy) said, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say anything? I had to take dumps in bucket for a week. When I tried to escape they beat the fuck out of me, and you kept on collecting your paycheck.¡±


    ¡°It was the Nine. You think I¡¯d survive turning on them? They know where I live. They know where my family lives. Am I supposed to put them in danger for you?¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯d just let them have us? D.C.¡¯s got supers and Feds all over. You¡¯re a coward. That¡¯s what you are¡ª¡±


    Rod said, ¡°Everyone shut up. What do you want to bet those monsters can hear us?¡±


    I brought up the gun, let the connection reform.


    They¡¯d heard something. Most of them were still picking at the bodies in the garage, but a few had turned toward the door.


    None of them had seemed to be as strong as I was when we fought, but there were a lot of them. They could break down the door if they wanted.


    ¡°They¡¯re waiting outside the door,¡± I whispered. ¡°Stay quiet. I¡¯ll tell you when they¡¯re gone.¡±


    No one talked. It felt like forever, but it couldn¡¯t have been more than ten minutes.


    BURN THEM DOWN, the gun suggested helpfully.


    I¡¯d thought about it, but what if the noise attracted more? The gun said it was near full charge, but that wouldn¡¯t last forever.


    When they stopped staring at the door, I let John lead us toward the front. We walked out of the back stairway and into the main halls. It was almost a mini mall with stores, restaurants, offices and even an embassy on the top floor.


    When we got near the front, we stopped. The glass doors in the front exited into the street under the highway we¡¯d been attacked on earlier that night.


    Thanks to the gun, I could see the shark monster we¡¯d fought on the ground in the park across the street.


    Frog-things were everywhere. They must have come down here once the Liberators left. Or maybe more had come out of the Potomac. It was just past the park.


    We weren¡¯t going out the front door.


    ¡°The front¡¯s crawling with them.¡±


    ¡°Crap,¡± Rod muttered.


    John said, ¡°That¡¯s it. We¡¯re all going to die.¡±


    The voice that had argued with John earlier said, ¡°Grow a pair, dumbass.¡±


    ¡°Shh,¡± Sam said, ¡°everybody be quiet.¡±

 Cassie: Part 23

    I concentrated, trying to find out exactly how many frog monsters were around us. I stopped after scanning the immediate area. There were more than 500 gathering in the park next to the river. I didn¡¯t even count the street. I knew what I needed to. There were too many of them for a straight ahead fight.


    The gun was a hell of an equalizer, but I couldn¡¯t point it everywhere at once.


    Our original plan for getting out assumed that the Liberators had cleared the area, and that it was going to stay cleared. We thought we might run into a few, but not this many. Nowhere near this many.


    In short, our original plan was fucked.


    I looked over at Rod and Sam. From the expressions on their faces, they had to be thinking the same thing.


    ¡°Red Hex, Troll? We¡¯ve got to talk privately for a second,¡± I said. ¡°We thought we¡¯d bring you to the D.C. Heroes Association¡¯s HQ. We¡¯re going to have to find a new route.¡±


    Or, maybe a new destination, but I didn¡¯t say that. I was missing Daniel a lot right then. A telepathic conversation between Rod, Sam, and I would have been great. Without him, we¡¯d have to talk quietly a little bit from the rest of the group.


    The halls were lit only by red emergency lights, and not very well. We were all in a hall just off the lobby. I hoped they wouldn¡¯t do anything that would draw attention.


    Anyway, with Rod and Sam there, I said, ¡°Can you guys do anything I don¡¯t know about? Because the way I see it we¡¯ve got to go out the back and bet they¡¯re not out in force there, or we stay in here until morning.¡±


    Rod said, ¡°Why didn¡¯t we go out back when we were at the parking garage?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to fight them and then find out there were a lot more I didn¡¯t know about. And there are. There are a lot in front.¡±


    Sam said, ¡°Captain Commando¡¯s right. We couldn¡¯t win against that many. I think we should stay here. There¡¯s no reason for them to come in, and in the morning, they¡¯ll have to retreat.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like that,¡± Rod said. ¡°If they do figure out we¡¯re in here, they¡¯ll swarm the place, and we won¡¯t have anywhere to go.¡±


    ¡°No, we¡¯ll be fine,¡± Sam said. ¡°I¡¯ll set up a ward, and they won¡¯t notice us.¡±


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    ¡°Remember the yeti? And what about downstairs?¡±


    ¡°The yeti was a special case. They¡¯re magical. He sensed the ward. And the frog-monsters don¡¯t have infrared cameras.¡±


    I said, ¡°You guys fought a yeti?¡±


    Rod made a grunt that might have been a laugh. ¡°I punched a yeti through a wall. It was pretty cool.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°So how¡¯s troll-you doing?¡±


    ¡°Slow and hurt. Give me a couple hours, and I¡¯ll be better. My troll form heals pretty quickly.¡±


    ¡°Then let¡¯s stay. If we even had you at half-strength, we could still leave before the night¡¯s over.¡±


    Rod sighed. ¡°Good point, but I still don¡¯t like it.¡±


    We went with it anyway.


    When we explained it, John (alias Suitguy) said, ¡°We¡¯re not going to survive until morning. Something will happen. Something always happens. Those things will eat us and all that¡¯ll be left are our bones.¡±


    The guy who¡¯d told him to ¡°grow a pair¡± said, ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s right. They¡¯re gonna smell us or something. Can¡¯t you guys call the Liberators, and have them airlift us out?¡±


    Half of me wanted to argue with him, and the other half felt stupid for not thinking of it myself.


    ¡°The Liberators won¡¯t do squat for us,¡± I said, but I pulled out my League phone anyway, and called them. I didn¡¯t get the same person I talked to before, but the woman I did get said, ¡±You¡¯re in a building? They¡¯re not after you?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Then call back when you¡¯re in danger.¡±


    She hung up on me.


    ¡°They¡¯re not coming,¡± I said, and began to put away my phone. Halfway there, I stopped.


    I called Nick.


    ¡°Cassie? I thought you were still in Aruba? What are you doing in D.C.?¡±


    In the background, Haley said, ¡°Now what?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m surrounded by evil frogs, and I need a ticket out of here.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    I explained. When I was done I asked, ¡°How long?¡±


    ¡°Well, I need to get on the Rocket suit, and start the jet¡­ I don¡¯t know. Twenty minutes? Thirty?¡±


    ¡°Twenty,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re heading for the roof.¡±


    I hung up.


    Ten minutes later we were on the roof. I¡¯d had to break down a couple doors and an access panel, but we made it. We were seven stories above the ground, looking over the Potomac, the park and the highway we¡¯d ridden on only an hour earlier.


    The stars shone in in the sky, more visible than usual because all of Georgetown had lost power.


    I didn¡¯t have time for stars.


    I¡¯d walked to the edge of the roof and used the gun¡¯s enhanced senses to zoom in on what was happening in the darkness.


    The frog-things weren¡¯t the only monsters in the Potomac. A fifty foot wide circle floated in the water. The gun labeled it as UNKNOWN AQUATIC BEAST. BIOLOGICAL FACTORY. THREAT.


    I thought about blasting it with the gun, but I didn¡¯t. It would be totally counterproductive¡ªprobably good for D.C.¡¯s defense, but not part of our mission.


    Plus, if I did that, all the frog-things would come for us. Better to wait a few minutes and have Nick blast it with the jet¡¯s lasers.


    I turned my attention to the apartments off to the right.


    I didn¡¯t know whether they were technically apartments or condominiums, but either way a lot of people lived there. Most of them had managed to light candles, or hid, but the frog-things still walked through the complex.


    At least twenty had gathered in front of one door.


    Through the gun¡¯s vision, I couldn¡¯t see all the details, but one ran and slammed into the door. From inside came a muffled scream.


    I couldn¡¯t let that go.


    I pointed the gun at the frog-things. It started screaming about bringing down destruction on their heads, telling me (yet again) to BURN THEM TO ASHES.


    I did.

 Cassie: Part 24

    The gun fired a piercing, white beam. It had to be too bright to watch normally, but through the gun¡¯s vision, I could see it burn the creatures. They changed from standing into whitish-black charcoal in bare instants.


    Chunks of the patio beneath them cracked and shattered from the heat, flying everywhere, pelting the windows, breaking a couple.


    The frog-things made that mournful howl I remembered from when we were on the highway.


    It seemed to come from everywhere though¡ªall around the building, the bunch of apartments, the street below the highway, the Royal Thai Embassy behind us¡­


    I could only wonder what the embassy staff made of it¡ªif anyone was working this late.


    I didn''t give that more than a second''s thought though.


    The moment I stopped firing, Sam uncovered her eyes, saying, ¡°What did you just do?¡±


    ¡°They were about to break into those condos over there. I stopped them.¡±


    Sam began to open her mouth. I didn¡¯t let her talk.


    ¡°They would have eaten the people inside.¡±


    Sam stepped closer to the edge of the roof and looked down. ¡°Crap. You did the right thing, but you know they¡¯re coming up here now, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Unless we got lucky and the light scared them away, and I wasn¡¯t counting on that. No, Nick would be coming in ten minutes. We could hold them for ten minutes. It would take them that long just to climb the stairs.


    Well, I hoped Nick would come in ten minutes. If he took twenty, we¡¯d be screwed. Worse, what if he took forty?


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    Then everybody came up, all of them talking (¡±Did you do that?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Are they climbing the walls?¡± ¡°This is SO crazy!").


    I couldn¡¯t see in the dark, but the gun could. John¡¯s jaw had dropped. His shoulders literally shook. It had to be fear, but it could have been a seizure.


    Rod held up his hand. ¡°Settle down everybody. It¡¯s okay. I¡¯ve been thinking, and I¡¯ve got a backup plan. Red Hex has a magic pocket. It¡¯s bigger inside than outside. If they come up here, and we can¡¯t fight them off, all of you get in, and I¡¯ll carry her down the slanted side of the building in Troll form.¡±


    From the expression on Sam¡¯s face, that was the first she¡¯d heard of it.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get over to the front of the building then.¡± He pointed. ¡°Go on. Get moving.¡±


    Once they were out of earshot, Sam said, ¡°I don¡¯t know if it works on people.¡±


    Rod shrugged. ¡°They calmed down. I can carry most of them in troll form anyway.¡±


    ¡°Most of them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The Rocket ought to be here soon, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m hoping.¡±


    We walked toward the front.


    When I got up to the edge, I could see why Rod suggested it. Each balcony extended further out than the one above it. We could jump and drop until the final thirty foot drop to the ground.


    Sure, that wouldn¡¯t be fun, but if I had to, I could take that.


    Below us, the frog-monsters gathered into a huge group and went straight for the entrance to the building.


    I fired into the middle of them, widening the beam so I could hit more at once, and then raking it across the group.


    It worked, but the screams wrenched at me. They sounded almost human.


    I couldn¡¯t let it bother me.


    If they made it up here, they¡¯d kill us. Maybe we¡¯d come up with something, but the gun counted thousands of them on the streets in the neighborhood. If we had to fight, we¡¯d never keep up with that.


    The gun¡¯s beam left charred remains, some creatures burned, but still alive.


    It didn¡¯t kill them all, but they stopped walking toward the front doors. The ones that could ran away from the light and the burning pain it gave.


    A few of the former hostages cheered.


    I wanted to shout at them. Aside from not helping my concentration, they couldn¡¯t see what I saw.


    ¡°Hey!¡± Rod had gone back to where we¡¯d been, and stood on the same side of the building as the condominiums. He waved me over.


    I ran, stopping around ten feet from the edge.


    ¡°Look down,¡± Rod said.


    As I did, lines shot into the air, sticking to the side of our building. The frog-monsters pulled themselves up, and they weren¡¯t alone. More lines shot upward after the first group.


    ¡°What do you want to bet they¡¯re all the way around the building?¡± Rod asked.

 Cassie: Part 25

    I muttered a few words that would have gotten a look from Mom if she¡¯d been there, and leaned over the edge. The first wave of frog monsters hung halfway up the wall. They¡¯d reeled in whatever line they¡¯d used, and were hanging by their claws.


    I hadn¡¯t seen them holding a rope or anything. What were they using? A suspicion passed through my brain, and I watched as they opened their mouths. Their tongues shot out, sticking to the wall above them, and they yanked themselves upward, steadied by their hands and feet.


    I knew what I¡¯d have to do even though the idea made my stomach knot up.


    Aiming the gun downward, I swept across the wall from the left to the right, the blazing, white beam cutting tongues in two, and cutting arms, legs, or any other body part that happened to be in front of the beam.


    The lucky ones fell, wailing as they hit the ground, but crawling away.


    I tried not to look at the other ones.


    Since I stood near the corner, I took a few more steps to look down the front of the building. The frog monsters were two thirds of the way up, the sloped front and the balconies making it easier for them to climb.


    I pointed the gun down at them, and hesitated, remembering how I punched through to the river through the basement wall. What if the brick supports in front did more than hold up the balconies and make the building look cool?


    I asked the gun, Can you put the beam on a setting where it will take out the frog-things, but not hurt the brick?


    OF COURSE.


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    Do it now.


    Then I opened up on them. The beam didn¡¯t cut through the brick. Almost surgical shots scattered across the front of the building, cutting through the creatures¡¯ tongues or hands, guiding me to aim for the spot that would make them let go.


    For them it must have seemed like a hail of white light fell from the sky.


    They fell, some of them knocking others off on their way down.


    I didn¡¯t get to take a break after that.


    Rod cursed as the sounds of webbed feet hit the roof, and I could hear them running in our direction. I stepped away from the side, turning toward the sounds.


    While I¡¯d been blasting away at the sides nearest me, they¡¯d come up the other two.


    I pointed the gun at them, not knowing if I could burn them all down before they reached this side of the roof. Part of me wondered if I should. I knew the Abominators¡¯ weapons might have been made to corrupt people. I knew that people in the government wanted me to work for them like Dad had¡ªnot just as a member the Heroes League, but in the murky, behind the scenes missions that ultimately killed him.


    This would be a step in that direction.


    Yeah, part of me thought that.


    The other part of me¡ªmost of me¡ªdidn¡¯t hesitate. White light poured out of the gun, burning, searing, changing the creatures from living things capable of achieving happiness by (I don¡¯t know) chasing fish in the deeps, to ash, and blackened, burnt bodies.


    And I was okay with that for now.


    Because it wasn¡¯t as if I had options, you know? In a choice between letting innocent people get eaten, and possibly, maybe, getting corrupted by an alien weapon, I¡¯d say that it was time for the frog-monsters to burn.


    So when the League jet appeared, here¡¯s what they found¡ªthe group of us waiting on the roof like we¡¯d said, sitting in the one small section not covered with ash or dead bodies.


    Frog monsters lay in piles on the ground, and on the sidewalk in front of the building, some of them still burning a little.


    As for me, I¡¯d been thinking, and I had some questions. Here¡¯s one: who called the frogs in anyway? Creatures that got scared of light wouldn¡¯t decide to invade the surface on their own. They had to have been duped, and whoever had done that was responsible for thousands of pointless deaths.


    Definitely a name to add to my list of people I needed to find someday, somewhere under the guy who¡¯d killed Dad.

 Cassie: Part 26

    When I said the League jet appeared, I meant it literally. In one moment I heard an engine¡¯s roar coming closer. In the next, the jet hung above the roof, floating lower until the door opened, and Daniel walked down the ramp.


    Then he stared for a second at the hundreds of dead frog-things on the roof.


    For Rod, Sam, and the rest, it wasn¡¯t Daniel walking down the ramp. They saw the Mystic, third generation telepath, and a member of one of the most famous telepathic families in the world.


    Plus, Daniel was kind of hot even if that wasn''t obvious through the mask.


    Anyway, he walked down the ramp in his costume¡ªblack with silver accents¡ªtall, and sounding calm.


    ¡°Everybody on board, and be quick. We¡¯re in a little bit of a hurry.¡±


    Waving people past me, I said, ¡°A hurry? Why?¡±


    ¡°We called the Liberators, and they told us that only authorized aircraft are allowed near D.C. right now.¡±


    ¡°Why isn¡¯t the League jet authorized?¡±


    ¡°Officially, they said we¡¯re too young. Unofficially, I think they looked at the jet¡¯s specs and realized the main guns could turn the White House into a burning hole. They sounded excited we were coming at first, but when we got closer they wanted us to land the jet at Baltimore¡¯s airport, and fly in on our own. That¡¯s forty-five miles away. We decided to turn on the shields and sneak in.¡±


    The last of my lookalikes stepped into the jet.


    Daniel smiled, and told me, ¡°So everyone¡¯s in. We¡¯d better move.¡±


    We walked up the ramp, and the door closed behind us.


    From the front, Haley said, ¡°Shields are up.¡±


    A new hum started.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know we had shields,¡± I said, walking up to the second row of seats, sitting down, and pulling a seatbelt across my body.


    Daniel sat down in the next seat over. ¡°We¡¯ve never had much of a reason to turn them on.¡±


    ¡°Just once,¡± Haley said. She wore her Night Cat costume. From behind, I couldn¡¯t see much more than gray.


    Next to her in the Rocket suit, Nick said, ¡°Yeah, and that was a mess. I hope this goes better.¡±


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    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Daniel said, ¡°if we get in trouble, I¡¯m sure my dad or Isaac Lim can smooth it over.¡±


    ¡°That must be nice,¡± Rod said.


    Remembering how much Sam and he disliked that guy who was part of the Liberators and what he¡¯d said about legacy heroes in general, I cringed a little inside.


    ¡°It¡¯s better than getting in trouble for getting you guys out,¡± Daniel said.


    I was about to cut in and tell Rod to relax, and that the rest of the team were okay when Daniel talked to me telepathically.


    Daniel: Don¡¯t worry about it, a lot of legacies are jerks.


    Me: I know. I¡¯ve met a few lately.


    Daniel: Right. Well, anyway, I thought I¡¯d talk to you privately a second.


    Me: Go for it. I¡¯m not busy.


    Daniel: Here¡¯s something you should know. That guy in the suit? John? He said he didn¡¯t know he was working for the Nine. He was lying. He knew the whole time. Right now he¡¯s trying to figure out the best way to escape. I¡¯ve passed it on to Haley. She¡¯s setting something up with Isaac Lim.


    I looked up at Haley. She was texting somebody on her communicator.


    Daniel: The reason he¡¯s got all these girls who look like you is that they knew you could operate Abominator tech. What they didn¡¯t know is that your dad took you to Grand Lake. They¡¯ve been watching adoption agencies and foster families on the East Coast for years, I guess. And thanks to the Cabal¡¯s stuff getting out, they¡¯ve been testing for powers. Not just with them either. I guess they¡¯ve got plans for people with powers. Unfortunately, he¡¯s got enough of a mental shield that I can¡¯t just scan him for them.


    Me: I managed to step into the middle of everything this time. Do you know what¡¯s with the frogs? Why are they invading?


    Daniel: No idea. We¡¯ve been following the Double V forums. No one seems to know. It looks like they¡¯re losing though.


    Me: Ok. About the Abominators¡­ Can you sense the gun? Its Abominator made, I think. Its an AI.


    Daniel: No. Not a thing, but you know what? You¡¯ve got this system activated in your brain that I¡¯ve never seen before. I can¡¯t touch it mentally, but I can sense it''s there the same way I sense mental shields. It''s weird.


    Me: Do you sense any changes? After what Lee told Nick¡­


    Daniel: No. Nothing. Aside from the newly activated part of your mind, no other changes.


    Me: Good. Watch me, okay? If Abominator tech messes with my head, someone¡¯s going to have to stop me. It¡¯s not going to be easy. You saw the roof.


    Daniel: I know. I¡¯ll watch, but I wouldn¡¯t worry about it for now. You¡¯re normal.


    Me: I¡¯m my dad¡¯s female clone with a splice of alien DNA. If there¡¯s one thing I¡¯m not, it¡¯s normal.


    Daniel: You know what I mean.


    Me: Yeah.


    Ahead of me, Nick seemed to be doing a lot with the controls. All the alien technology in the jet made it impossible to tell if we were even moving¡ªespecially with its shields blocking the windows.


    All I could see was inky blackness. No stars. No lights.


    And then it all changed. Haley said, ¡°Shields down.¡±


    Nick said, ¡°Hey everybody, we¡¯re about to land at Baltimore Washington International Airport. The frogs aren¡¯t anywhere near us. You¡¯ll be safe until it¡¯s time to go home.¡±


    Through the windows, I suddenly saw planes, runways, and hangars. We floated over them, landing on the helipad. Men and women in suits were waiting next to it for us. I had a feeling the FBI was going to get some interesting stories out of John.


    After that I''d be able to go home--my real home. I could take the jet back to Grand Lake with everyone else. Except I ought to let Mom know. I thought about that. She¡¯d called me ages ago, and I¡¯d turned off my normal cell phone once I got into costume. I didn''t dare guess how many times she''d called me since then, or how worried she''d been.


    She was going to kill me.

 TBD: Part 1

    We¡¯d said our goodbyes earlier, so when my sister Rachel and I got out of Dad¡¯s SUV at the airport, we didn¡¯t have much to say to our parents.


    I popped the hatch, grabbed my suitcase and backpack and put them next to me in the drop-off area. I handed Rachel her suitcase (her backpack hung on her back), and shut the hatch.


    We moved to the side of the vehicle. Mom had her window open.


    Rachel said, ¡°I¡¯ve got everything. Nick?¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    Dad smiled at us. ¡°Enjoy your conference, and congratulations to both of you again. Full ride scholarships. That doesn¡¯t happen to everyone.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, Dad. Now hurry and get out of here before airport security decides you¡¯re terrorists.¡±


    She glanced toward two men in blue uniforms standing next to a column.


    ¡°Rachel,¡± Mom said.


    ¡°Relax, Mom, they¡¯re not even looking at us. Besides, you know what I mean. Five minutes.¡±


    Signs hung on every metal column under the canopy. All of them said, ¡°FIVE MINUTE LIMIT.¡±


    Mom took a breath, and managed a smile. ¡°We¡¯ll see you in a week. Stay safe.¡±


    ¡°Bye, Mom,¡± I said, noting that she hadn¡¯t congratulated us, and that she seemed a little worried.


    Mom likely guessed we really weren¡¯t going to a conference, and that our scholarships were more than scholarships.


    Twenty minutes later we¡¯d picked up our boarding passes, checked our luggage, and stood at Gate A7.


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    We weren¡¯t alone.


    Travis, my girlfriend¡¯s older brother sat in one of the chairs, looking as tall and muscular as usual. In the row of chairs across from him sat Daniel, and Jaclyn.


    Daniel waved to me. Rachel and I walked over.


    ¡°It¡¯s not going to be long,¡± Daniel said. ¡°I think we can board as soon as everyone gets here. Anyone know where Cassie and Vaughn are?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said.


    Jaclyn closed her calculus book, and said to Daniel, ¡°You don¡¯t already know?¡±


    Daniel shrugged and replied telepathically, They¡¯re not in range.


    Travis said, ¡°Look who is here,¡± and quickly pointed past Daniel and Jaclyn.


    Sean Drucker and his friends (Jody and Dayton) played cards next to the sitting area¡¯s far wall. It seemed a good enough excuse to ignore us.


    After last year, I was happy to be ignored. The guy wasn¡¯t much more than a bully, and now he had powers.


    Hey, Daniel said, Cassie and Vaughn are here¡ªplus a couple more.


    A few minutes later, they were, and they walked up talking with Julie and Shannon, a couple of Sean¡¯s friends¡ªor at least they had been last year. They didn¡¯t make any effort to talk to Sean that I saw.


    Shannon started a conversation with Rachel that lasted all the way through boarding the plane.


    Life stopped feeling normal (at least for me) when we boarded the plane. It wasn¡¯t in the ¡°Platform 9 and 3/4 sense.¡± We didn¡¯t have to walk through a wall, but I felt like I had when I saw the people in the plane.


    When my grandfather retired from superhero work, he kept his hand in the game by creating and fixing devices for any hero who needed help. Some of them brought their kids. Sometimes he made house calls in the League jet, and took me along.


    It felt like I recognized half the plane¡ªmostly kids from the gated communities some supers had created so they could live without a secret identity.


    They recognized me too, and not just me. A lot of people seemed to know Daniel, and some knew Travis and Jaclyn. Rachel must have visited more places than I¡¯d remembered because people knew her too.


    Even Cassie, who had been hidden to a degree, knew a few people, mostly from Washington D.C.


    Vaughn got recognized too, but mostly from context. He acknowledged people with a smile.


    For me, however, walking down the aisle turned into a chorus of ¡°Hey Nick, it¡¯s been years.¡±


    It felt like years passed before I made it to my seat, but it was okay. It felt good to be remembered, and honestly to know people still remembered Grandpa.


    I ended up sitting in the middle between Rachel and Cassie. Turning around to stow my backpack in the compartment, I noticed that Sean had been part of the line behind me, and must have been waiting as people tried to talk.


    He passed my row without saying anything at all, but he didn''t seem happy.

 TBD: Part 2

    Sean didn¡¯t have any real reason to be bothered. It wasn¡¯t as if everyone worshiped me or something. I knew people, you know? Some I knew better than others. Some I liked better than others.


    I¡¯d met a lot of supers without ever trying to, and I¡¯m pretty inoffensive, so no one had anything much against me.


    I could see where it might be a comedown for him though. He was pretty popular in high school.


    It probably wouldn¡¯t last. He was good looking, and even charming from what I¡¯d been told. I''d never noticed it myself.


    The only way people wouldn¡¯t like him was if I made a point of telling people what he was like in high school, and I wasn¡¯t going to. Why not let both of us get a fresh start?


    Of course, if he generally treated girls like he¡¯d tried to treat Haley, I wouldn¡¯t be doing anyone any favors by keeping silent.


    Still, he might have changed. I could tell myself that anyhow. So, I decided not to say anything unless he gave me a reason.


    We weren¡¯t in the air for long. They didn¡¯t even give us the chance to get out of our seats before the captain announced that we¡¯d be landing at O¡¯Hare in Chicago.


    When we got to Chicago, they herded us into tour buses, and they brought us to a hotel somewhere in the suburbs. The sign identified it as ¡°Springhill Suites.¡± The Kennedy Expressway ran behind it. It stood on a four lane road near other hotels, a couple pizza places, and a Hooters (which got a few laughs).


    The hotel itself didn¡¯t do much for me. It stood ten stories high, and was divided into two sections. One looked newer than the other, but both weren¡¯t much more than gray concrete and glass.


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    Oh, and one other thing¡­ The first floor was an Outback Steakhouse.


    I guess what I¡¯m getting at here was that they¡¯d brought us to a large and exciting city, and stuck us in the least interesting spot they could manage.


    I did notice that aside from our buses, the parking lot stood empty.


    Our bus pulled in front of the main entrance, and a blond man in shades and a suit stepped inside the bus.


    ¡°I¡¯d like everybody¡¯s attention. We¡¯ve arrived at the hotel we¡¯ll be at for the week. First year students need to grab your carry-on luggage and follow me to a conference room. Your suitcases will be brought up to your rooms. The rest of you need to pick up your keys at the desk, and you¡¯ll be free until supper.¡±


    We all grabbed our stuff, and followed each other down the aisle. Daniel and I had been sitting next to each other. I waited while he grabbed his backpack.


    ¡°Did you see who that was? Did you notice he was on the plane with us?¡±


    Daniel put the backpack on his back, ¡°No, but you did.¡±


    I stared out the bus window at the entrance to the hotel, stunned that I was part of a program that used Bullet as a babysitter. The guy could create cone-shaped force field constructs, some of them as large as planes.


    I wondered if the decoy scholarship programs that the government set up had this level of protection.


    I doubt it, Daniel said. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ve got some, but I¡¯d bet they send the powerhouses with us.


    Ten minutes later we sat in a conference room inside the hotel. It felt like the world¡¯s most boring science fiction convention¡ªno cosplay, or decorations of any kind.


    No denying there were a lot of us though. They¡¯d parked eight buses in the parking lot, and more than half of us were in the first years¡¯ room. I wondered why.


    Bullet walked up to the podium. I didn¡¯t know what to call him outside of costume, but his codename worked for now.


    ¡°First off, I¡¯d like to welcome all of you to the Stapledon program. This is the largest class we¡¯ve ever had enter the program, so handling this many will be just as new to us as it is to all of you. I hope we¡¯ll be able to live up to what we¡¯ve done in the past because it¡¯s never been more clear than now that this program is necessary.


    ¡°What we¡¯ve told you is that we¡¯re going to train you to become better heroes, and that¡¯s true. The world needs heroes, but that¡¯s not why you¡¯re here.


    ¡°What the world really needs is soldiers. Some of you know that aliens regularly attempt to raid our planet. Almost none of you know that others have already quietly invaded it. That¡¯s why you¡¯re here.¡±

 TBD: Part 3

    Bullet scanned the crowd, all of us sitting there and watching him, and continued. ¡°For you to understand this, we¡¯re going to have to step back for a second and review some things that everybody thinks they know, and then I¡¯ll tell you which ones are really true.


    ¡°Everybody knows that the Heroes League claimed to be fighting aliens in 1970¡¯s. Some people think the aliens were faked by the government. Some even think they were really aliens, but they were hired by the government. Either way, everyone knows there are superheroes who claim to be aliens even though they look a lot like humans.¡±


    That was all too true. The ¡°alien¡± heroes I¡¯d seen on TV could have been faked by a good special effects department. All they needed were prosthetic foreheads, pointy ears, oddly colored makeup, and weird teeth.


    They¡¯d look at least as real as anything on Star Trek.


    Bullet paused, checked his notes. ¡°You know why they look like humans? They are human, or at least they¡¯re close to it. Very few real aliens have ever been on Earth. One exception¡ªthe Abominators. Some of you might have heard the name. Most of you haven¡¯t. The Abominators found Earth, turned humans into their soldiers, and seeded star systems all around this part of the galaxy with humans they¡¯d modified. Then they used them to conquer other aliens¡ªthe real ones.


    ¡°They left our world fallow, and forbid any of their soldiers to come here to avoid messing up the unmodified stock.


    ¡°After a while, they managed to brush up against the Xiniti, a particularly murderous bunch of aliens, and the Xiniti slaughtered the Abominators¡ªexcept for a few that managed to escape here. They were planning to use our planet to hide out, and breed a new bunch of super-soldiers, but it didn¡¯t work out.


    "The Heroes League ran into them, and the League brought in a bunch of younger heroes they¡¯d trained to help fight. In the end, we won. Instead of destroying the planet like they usually did with Abominator worlds, the Xiniti decided they owed the League for their help with the last Abominators.


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    ¡°And that¡¯s why you even exist, and why this planet isn¡¯t barren rock.¡±


    He paused, looked all of us over again, probably to get a sense of our reactions.


    I¡¯d known a lot of it already. I checked the faces of people near me.


    Well, maybe not right near me. I¡¯d sat with the rest of the League, and we¡¯d talked through all of this when Lee told me what he really was. We¡¯d talked about it again after Cassie brought home that Abominator gun, and even checked into League records.


    So, none of us seemed particularly surprised.


    In the rest of the room, reactions varied, but a lot of people were freaking out. They weren¡¯t rioting or anything, but I¡¯d heard a girl behind me say, ¡°That can¡¯t be real,¡± and a guy say, ¡°Abominator?¡±


    Another girl said, ¡°It¡¯s true. Look at them. They already knew.¡±


    By ¡°them¡± she probably meant us. Could she read body language or was it some form of psi?


    Bullet held his hands up. ¡°Quiet everybody. We¡¯re not even up to the good part yet. I¡¯m just warming up to current events.


    ¡°Right now, the real aliens have formed an alliance, and guess who¡¯s not in it? Us. They¡¯ve set the Xiniti to quarantine the whole spiral arm. They claim they¡¯ll someday let Earth become a member, but I¡¯m not counting on it.


    ¡°You know why? Because they can¡¯t see humans as anything but Abominator foot soldiers, and they never will. Even if they somehow warm up to us, our homicidal cousins out in space aren¡¯t helping. Once they got out from under the Abominator yoke, they started wars with each other, burnt all the life off a few worlds, and have been constantly antagonizing the Xiniti.¡±


    He stopped for a second, his mouth in a straight line. ¡°Does that sound bad enough?¡±


    Someone near us muttered, ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Well, good news. The bright spots in this whole outer space situation are that invading planets mostly isn¡¯t worth the effort, and the Abominators pumped Earth up as some kind of holy place, so our cousins don¡¯t want to burn us to a cinder.


    ¡°Sounds better, right? Well, it¡¯s not. Owning Earth would be worth a lot to any faction that took us over. They might even be able to unite all our cousins into one force again. So, they¡¯re quietly infiltrating, making alliances, bribing people, and taking over countries if they think they can manage it.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to train you to find them and fight them.¡±

 TBD: Part 4

    ¡°Now,¡± he said, ¡°the first two years will be mostly classes, but in the third year your classes will include internships with nearby superheroes or superhero teams. The summers starting in your second year will all be intense physical training, and¡ª¡±


    The sound of someone clearing her throat sounded, audible everywhere in the conference room, but not unbearably loud. Just as obviously, it hadn¡¯t come from the speakers near the front of the room.


    Turning my head back, I saw a woman standing in the middle of the room. She held her hand up. ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d planned to take questions later, but go ahead.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± She paused, looked down for a second. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m not comfortable with this.¡±


    Bullet frowned at her. ¡°With what? And please identify yourself.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t holding her hand up any longer, but she was still standing. I got a better look at her, and realized I knew her. Even half a room away, I could tell that she was over six feet tall with light brown skin, and waist length, black hair. A long sleeved blouse hid her muscles.


    The last time I¡¯d seen her, she¡¯d been part of a team of the grandchildren of supervillains who¡¯d faced the original League. Her grandfather (or father?) had been Dixie Superman, a white supremacist from an alternate universe where post-Civil War Reconstruction had turned into a more than hundred year long occupation.


    A few seats down the row, Jaclyn glanced at me. She remembered her too.


    "I¡¯m Izzy¡­ uh¡­ Isabel Ivarra. I don¡¯t have a costumed identity yet.¡±


    ¡°Go on.¡± Bullet didn¡¯t sound patient.


    ¡°I¡¯m not comfortable with the way this sounds. The way you¡¯re talking it¡¯s as if we¡¯re going to be hunting people down whether they¡¯ve done anything wrong or not. What happens to them after we find them? Do we kill them, send them home, or keep them in a big concentration camp?


    ¡°If all we¡¯re going to be are super-powered enforcers, I¡¯m not staying. You can keep your scholarship. I¡¯m going home.¡±


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    I didn¡¯t catch the words, but people began to talk when she said that. Bullet held up his hand to stop the noise.


    ¡°Wait. It¡¯s more complicated than that. Where did you get that idea?¡±


    ¡°You. Your tone. You¡¯re basically saying ¡®Kill them all. The only good alien is a dead alien.¡¯¡±


    She¡¯d sounded nervous when she started, but she¡¯d worked up a good head of steam as she talked. I knew I wouldn¡¯t have said it quite that way.


    Bullet shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not how I meant it.¡± He looked down at his notes. ¡°I was going to talk about this later, but since you¡¯ve asked, we need to get this on the table now.


    ¡°We can¡¯t kill them all. We aren¡¯t even going to try. So far as we can tell, the first appearance of the genetic structures that give us powers comes after the Abominators appeared on Earth. Even though they tried to keep our genetic pool uncontaminated by the finished versions of the humans they modified, it didn¡¯t work. Their work has been coming back here for years, and leaving descendants. Plus when the Abominators tried to hide from the Xiniti here, they released even more genes into our gene pool.


    ¡°If you have powers, and they¡¯re not magical, you¡¯re probably a product of the Abominators¡¯ work. They never intended for you to exist. They never imagined their work combining in this way, but here we all are.


    ¡°Now, if you¡¯re wondering why we¡¯re so focused on the aliens around us in this program, it¡¯s because their influence is so pervasive. The Cabal¡ªthe group that a lot of heroes fought last year¡ªshows evidence of coordinating with aliens. The Nine have been collecting Abominator artifacts for years, and we think their organization may have been infiltrated. I¡¯m not going to go into detail about why we think that, but we¡¯ve got good reason.¡±


    Bullet stopped, and nodded at all of us. ¡°I hope I¡¯ve answered your concerns, Isabel, and I hope that all of you understand why we haven¡¯t let this out to the press, and why we had telepaths put security blocks into your heads before you even filled out the paperwork to attend.¡±


    Telepaths. That had been a pain. The man assigned to put in my block freaked out, and by the end, we¡¯d had to bring in Daniel and his dad to get anything done. As I understood it, they¡¯d had to do that for all the League and former Justice Fist members¡ªsomething else for Sean to hold against me if he wanted to, I supposed.


    The rest of the time, Bullet talked about all the stuff you¡¯d have expected¡ªprogram requirements, details about how many classes you¡¯d have to take to finish¡ªthat kind of thing.


    I barely listened. I wondered if anyone was. From what we¡¯d just heard, the Abominators were responsible for everything related to powers. You could see why they didn¡¯t want it to get out. Of course, with the security block, it wasn¡¯t as if we¡¯d be able to tell anybody.


    When the talk ended, I got up in a daze, still thinking about all of it. Following everyone out, we walked into the hall. A few groups of people stood talking, but most of us started walking back to the lobby. We still had to get our room keys.


    I found myself next to Daniel, Cassie, and Vaughn.


    ¡°Talk about crazy,¡± Vaughn said. And then he opened his mouth, but said nothing.


    ¡°Whoa,¡± he said, ¡°that¡¯s quite a block.¡±


    I agreed, but I didn¡¯t say anything. I¡¯d noticed Isabel walking a few feet ahead of us.

 TBD: Part 5

    Stepping a little faster, I said, ¡°Just a second, I feel like I should say something to her.¡±


    Behind me (by then), Daniel said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. She seems kind of worked up¡ª¡±


    Okay, I heard that, but I didn¡¯t really hear it. So when I tapped her on the shoulder and said, ¡°Hey, we met this summer. I¡¯m the Rocket¡ª¡±


    I didn¡¯t get to finish my sentence.


    As someone with a suit of powered armor that could hit speeds faster than three hundred miles per hour, and a ¡°jet¡± fast enough to fly into space, I had an idea of what speed felt like, and this felt fast.


    She grabbed me, and the hall turned into a blur of beige carpet, and white walls.


    When I could see details again, I found myself stumbling to find my footing in a conference room¡ªnot a big conference room either. We stood in one of the normal sized ones¡ªa room just large enough to hold a table with twelve chairs.


    She let go of me, and we looked at each other.


    Whatever part of my brain should have been handling possible threats hadn¡¯t yet engaged. The part of my brain assigned to figuring out how the world worked, however, found it interesting that the speed hadn¡¯t ripped my flesh from my bones, and argued that her toughness might be the result of force fields instead of being physically tough (and that the field extended to protect people she was carrying). Depending on the properties of the field, that could explain her ability to amplify sound.


    ¡°How did you recognize me?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t decide at first whether the emotion in Izzy¡¯s voice sounded more like fear or anger. I hoped for fear because if she were angry she could kill me without thinking.


    ¡°When you were all with Evil Beatnik, I tracked you back to the apartment. Sorry. You were after us. That¡¯s how I handle things like that.¡±


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    She didn¡¯t say anything, frowning. Then she said, ¡°This never ends.¡±


    I tried to think about how to respond. She was obviously upset, and it didn¡¯t take much to guess that being mind controlled by Evil Beatnik last summer might have been traumatic. Being influenced to break things and hurt people on his behalf, and knowing that if he ever showed up, you¡¯d do it all over again couldn¡¯t leave a person happy.


    It made me wish I knew what my dad would do. His skills as a therapist seemed more relevant to the situation than anything I knew about being a superhero.


    The next thing she said sounded calmer, but only by a little. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell anybody. I know what I said to Bullet back there, but as long as I¡¯m doing something I can respect, I want to be here.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone can hold being influenced by Evil Beatnik against you. It¡¯s not your fault at all. Not even legally, I¡¯m pretty sure.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about that. You know what my grandfather was. I don¡¯t ever want to be associated with him. He was horrible.¡±


    I had the feeling that if I pushed there might be a story behind what she¡¯d said, but it didn¡¯t seem like the right time.


    ¡°I won¡¯t tell anybody. The Heroes League knows, of course, but we keep secrets.¡± I thought about that for a second. ¡°I¡¯d give you examples, but kind of goes against the whole point, I guess. No, wait. We also know the identities of everyone else on the team, but we haven¡¯t mentioned them to anyone because it¡¯s not their fault either.¡±


    She¡¯d smiled a little when I said the bit about examples, and said, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen any of them since then. When we were free, I flew away. I keep expecting to see one of them on the news, and not in a good way. They¡¯re psychotic.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s voice sounded in my mind, It sounds like you¡¯re wrapping up in there. Agent Lim wants to talk to you so you¡¯ll probably want to hurry.


    ¡°Do you think we ought to go?¡± I asked.


    Izzy nodded. ¡°Yes. I still haven¡¯t gotten my room key. Oh, and I¡¯m sorry about dragging you away like that. I was still freaking out after everything, then out of nowhere here comes the worst experience of my life back all over again.¡±


    ¡°No problem. I didn¡¯t know it was that bad.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she said, ¡°you wouldn¡¯t.¡±


    She opened the door.


    ¡°¡¯I wouldn¡¯t¡¯ why?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the League. You were protected against him somehow.¡±


    ¡°No. We had records about him, but mostly I got lucky.¡±


    I followed her out, reminded of how much taller she was. When I was in the Rocket suit, she stood a little taller than I did. Without it, I was probably six inches shorter.


    She got one step out of the door, and stopped. When I stepped around her, I saw Isaac Lim walking down the hall with Daniel, Cassie, Jaclyn, and Vaughn.


    Even though none of them were in costume, it felt official. It might have been Lim¡¯s blue suit.


    ¡°Everybody,¡± he said, ¡°let¡¯s step back into the conference room.¡±


    ¡°You too,¡± he told Izzy.

 TBD: Part 6

    Izzy¡¯s mouth twitched. If that meant she was worried, I was in agreement. She didn¡¯t deserve to get in trouble for yanking me out of the crowd like that, but I could see how she might.


    We all went into the room anyway.


    Lim sat down on the table. ¡°I wanted to talk with you about a few different things, and I¡¯m hoping you¡¯ll pass them on to Travis and Rachel.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Daniel said.


    From behind me, Vaughn muttered, ¡°If we remember.¡±


    Isaac nodded. ¡°Great. First off, I heard about the first year briefing, and Izzy, you were right to say something. Bullet¡¯s a straightforward guy, and he¡¯s mostly involved in the endgame. With his powers, there¡¯s no reason to bring him in until shooting¡¯s the only option. He tends to forget how much happens before then.


    ¡°So to make things clear, we don¡¯t bother anybody who¡¯s not causing trouble. Besides, as you heard, if we went after everyone connected with aliens we¡¯d be going after almost everyone here. So don¡¯t leave, okay?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Izzy stood a little bit to the right of me. ¡°He was clear enough in the end, but I hope you¡¯re not sitting on any more surprises.¡±


    Isaac smiled a little. ¡°Nothing big that we¡¯re planning to tell you at your current security clearance.¡±


    Cassie snorted.


    ¡°Getting a little sick of secrets, Cassie?¡± Isaac grinned at her. ¡°I¡¯ve got some good news and some bad news there. We¡¯ve seen signs that the Nine have stepped up looking for you since what happened in D.C. They¡¯ve been looking for you on and off for years, but they weren¡¯t motivated to make Grand Lake a priority until recently. Watch out for them.¡±


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    ¡°Wait,¡± Cassie said, ¡°you don¡¯t have people watching me yourself?¡±


    ¡°Of course we do, and we¡¯re not the only ones, but we can¡¯t watch you all the time.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the part-time protection then.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the least we can do,¡± Isaac said, and from his smile, I knew he was making a joke.


    ¡°You think you''re funny,¡± Cassie said.


    ¡°Is that everything?¡± Jaclyn glanced toward the door. ¡°This is our last chance to get into our rooms and unpack before supper. I know I can make it, but I¡¯m not so sure about the rest of you¡­¡±


    Isaac said, ¡°That¡¯s the other thing. Watch it with the powers while you¡¯re here. That¡¯s the official reason I¡¯m visiting. We¡¯ve got telepaths, but we can only erase so much of the staff¡¯s memory before someone notices. Now, I¡¯ve got to say, there wasn¡¯t much of anything to see when Izzy grabbed Nick, but our alarms went off. So I¡¯m just telling you to watch it, okay?¡±


    He pushed himself off the table. ¡°Well, that¡¯s about it. Just one more thing before I let you go. You guys know a lot of people around here. Izzy¡¯s new to all this. Would you mind introducing her around? I¡¯d suggest you avoid people whose parents or grandparents fought Dixie Superman, but it¡¯s too late, right?¡±


    Captain Commando, and Jaclyn¡¯s grandfather ¡°C¡± had fought him more than anybody else. It fit¡ªwhat with Captain Commando¡¯s patriotic theme, and C being the best known black super during the 1960¡¯s. How could either of them not end up going to head to head with a guy who wanted to end the civil rights movement, and convince the South to secede again?


    Jaclyn, Cassie, and Izzy all looked at each other.


    ¡°Later,¡± Isaac said, and walked out the door.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to,¡± Izzy said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to cause you any trouble.¡±


    It was funny to see someone with her powers being shy, or if not shy at least nervous.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Cassie grinned up at her. ¡°I don¡¯t know a lot of people outside the group either.¡±


    ¡°After last summer,¡± Izzy began, ¡°I feel strange about asking you for anything.¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t even fight each other,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how we managed it, but we didn¡¯t. We¡¯ve got nothing to forgive, nothing to forget. We¡¯ve barely met, and never as ourselves.¡±


    She held out her hand, ¡°I¡¯m Jaclyn.¡±


    Izzy took it. ¡°Isabel. People call me Izzy.¡±


    ¡°You know,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯m feeling like someone ought to start a ¡®hero descended from supervillians club.¡¯ It seems like there are a bunch of us all of a sudden.¡±

 TBD: Part 7

    The rest of the week went by in a blur, and we spent most of it in the hotel. We did take a couple field trips¡ªprobably to make it seem like we were a normal bunch of students visiting Chicago. During one field trip we went to the Field Museum.


    For the other, we toured the Midwest Defenders'' Chicago headquarters.


    We got a more thorough tour than most groups, but the Defenders were all out on an emergency. That was okay. As much as I missed seeing Daniel¡¯s dad as Mindstryke, and liked most of the other members of the team, Guardian still made me feel incompetent.


    Aside from the field trips, we spent the rest of the week taking tests both physical and mental, some of them based on our abilities, some of them common to everybody.


    I spent most of Tuesday, Wednesday, and part of Thursday taking tests, some on general problem solving ability, others on science and engineering, and one on strategy and tactics. They also threw in some psychological and personality tests.


    Oh, and near the beginning of the week, everyone took the power juice test¡ªthe one where they dropped small amounts of liquid on your arm, and the colors indicated your potential power areas.


    Just like the last time I took it, I came up with nothing worth mentioning.


    Around 11am on Thursday morning, I found myself sitting in the hall with around twenty other people, all of us waiting to see our advisers.


    I didn¡¯t know anybody. Well, that wasn¡¯t quite true. I knew Brooke, Guardian¡¯s daughter, but her name got called about the same time we noticed each other. We waved as she stepped into a conference room.


    It sucked. With as many people as I knew through Grandpa, it seemed like one of them would be around.


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    On the other hand, I could handle being alone. I pulled out my League phone, and began to check email. As I opened one from Haley, my phone beeped.


    A yellow dot appeared on the screen. I clicked on it.


    The next screen showed that Marcus and Haley had already responded. They were the only members of the Heroes League that were still in high school, not in college, and not in the program. The screen showed no details on the threat. I called HQ.


    Kayla answered. ¡°Rocket, don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s covered.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s covered?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a guy with scales robbing a jewelry store downtown.¡±


    ¡°Who are they fighting?¡±


    ¡°A guy with scales. I don¡¯t know his name.¡±


    My heart beat faster. ¡°There are a lot of guys with scales out there. Some are no big deal. Some are really bad news.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know which one it is, but I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be okay. It¡¯s not just Night Cat and the Shift. They¡¯ve also got a couple Justice Fist people along.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I thought about that. Most of the former Justice Fist group were here too. It only left¡ª


    Kayla interrupted my thought, ¡°The girl who covers herself in metal, and the one with gravity powers.


    ¡°Wow. Ok.¡± So¡­ Sean¡¯s sister, and his half-sister who he refused to acknowledge because acknowledging her would mean he¡¯d have to admit his dad cheated on his mom.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be okay,¡± Kayla said.


    ¡°OK. Gotta go,¡± I said, and hung up, still wondering if I should fly home.


    Meanwhile, a woman was saying, ¡°Nick Klein? Nick Klein to conference room five?¡±


    I pulled myself up, and said, ¡°That¡¯s me.¡±


    She pointed down the hall.


    I followed her arm, walking down to conference room five, opened the door, and walked in.


    It could have been the same conference room Izzy dragged me into earlier in the week. They all looked alike¡ªwood grain table, beige carpet, white walls, and potted plant in the corner.


    The only thing different was that this time Izzy wasn¡¯t here.


    A mustached man stood up, pushing his chair away from the table. A couple inches taller than I was, he wore a black t-shirt that showed his chest muscles.


    He held out his hand, ¡°Freddie Nation. Nick, I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t remember me, but it¡¯s great to see you again.¡±


    I didn¡¯t remember him, but the name told me I was in the right place. Of course, my papers said that ¡°Dr. Fredrick Nation¡± was my adviser, and somehow this guy didn¡¯t look like an engineering prof to me.


    ¡°I don¡¯t remember you, but it¡¯s¡­ good to see you too.¡±

 TBD: Part 8

    ¡°No reason you should remember me. Like a lot of people I attended your grandfather¡¯s funeral, but not as myself, and I wasn¡¯t around much during the years when you were your grandfather¡¯s lab assistant.¡±


    That had to be how it looked from the outside. "After the Rocket¡¯s retirement as a hero, he stayed home and worked on devices for the community with his grandson as an assistant."


    It was accurate as far as it went, but it felt less like my life, and more like I was an appendage to Grandpa¡¯s.


    ¡°Now,¡± Dr. Nation continued, ¡°let¡¯s talk about the program. What we expect is ridiculous. We expect you to become at least semi-competent at police work, military combat, and fire and rescue operations. You¡¯re going to be better at some than others, but you¡¯ll have to pass minimum standards at all of them. Plus, we¡¯re requiring people to learn about alien technology and magic.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to learn magic?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°You can¡¯t learn to do magic without a gift for it, but we can train you to recognize supernatural creatures, devices, and spells.¡±


    ¡°Huh. That sounds interesting.¡±


    ¡°I know. I wish I''d known anything at all about it when I started, but that¡¯s not everything. You¡¯ve also got to choose an area to specialize in. I¡¯m assuming that will be technology?¡±


    ¡°Definitely.¡±


    He¡¯d opened a folder with my name on it when I sat down. With that, he crossed out ¡°TBD¡± where it appeared next to ¡°Specialization:¡± and wrote ¡°Tech¡± next to it.


    I thought about it. ¡°Is that alien tech or regular technology?¡±


    ¡°Both. And since it¡¯s official now, it¡¯s time to discuss examples of your work. What did you bring?¡±


    I¡¯d brought my guitar hero controller (complete with hidden laser and exploding charge), and some roachbots. We spent the next half hour going over how they¡¯d been constructed and how I used them.


    He¡¯d opened the back of the guitar,and was looking it over. ¡°Blowing up the guitar when you fire the shaped charge is very rock and roll, but it leaves you without a weapon.¡±


    ¡°Well, it was more of a concept weapon than something I actually intended to use. Kind of taking an idea and seeing how far I could go. I¡¯ve used it, but it¡¯s been more accidentally useful than intentionally useful in some ways.¡±


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    ¡°I can see that, and honestly, I shouldn¡¯t complain.¡±


    "Really? Why?¡±


    ¡°Ever heard of ¡®Yellow Burrito?¡¯ Up until the early 80¡¯s, that was me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Wow. You were in the Heroes League in the mid-70¡¯s, right? You were out of San Francisco, and all your stuff was burrito themed. Uh¡­¡±


    A guitar hero controller with a laser had to be hundreds of times cooler than the ¡°Burrito Gun,¡± right?


    He gave a lopsided smile that made me think he might be embarrassed. ¡°It made more sense in the 1970¡¯s, or at least it seemed funny,¡± he said. ¡°Besides people underestimate a guy with burrito themed weapons.¡±


    I would have.


    ¡°You knew my grandfather?¡±


    ¡°He was great, Nick. Best teacher I ever had. They invited new kids into the League all the time. I¡¯d bet half the faculty of the Stapledon program cycled through.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure how to take that. I knew they¡¯d had a lot of members outside the core group. I¡¯d never realized there were that many.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°They never said, but I¡¯m sure they wanted the new kids to be prepared.¡±


    * * *


    Still thinking about my meeting, I went back to my room, changed into shorts and a t-shirt, and headed for the hotel¡¯s gym. It had a floor with a track running around the outside of the room, and weightlifting equipment in the middle.


    A total lack of powers wasn¡¯t going to stop them from getting a baseline on my physical abilities.


    Never mind that they were irrelevant. If I had anything to say about it, I wouldn¡¯t ever be facing anyone without armor. The closest I¡¯d come to doing that had been fighting Ray early last summer. I¡¯d worn the stealth suit, and it had still been too close.


    I thought about it more. There had been that time when Vaughn and I were attacked by two different groups of guys while we were out running. Plus, I¡¯d had to fight Sean, Dayton, and Jody all at once before they got powers.


    OK. Maybe getting a sense of my unassisted physical abilities might be useful.


    I¡¯d been attacked a lot last year.


    When I got near the gym, I noticed that no members of the hotel staff were near it. When I stepped inside I knew why.


    People with physical powers were still being tested.


    They¡¯d walled off a section in the middle of the room with plates of a black material I didn¡¯t instantly recognize. Seriously strange and bulky machines filled most of the space, and all of them were being used. Some of the people running on the track hit speeds that wouldn''t have been out of place on the highway.


    Meanwhile, all the regular exercise machines had been moved into a small corner of the track.


    Vaughn sat on a stationary bike, sweating, and looking annoyed. They¡¯d taped some sensors to his chest and arm. The wires led to a laptop on a table.


    He wasn¡¯t the only one either. Daniel sat a few bikes down from Vaughn, steadily pedaling, and barely sweating at all. I wondered if he¡¯d started later, or if he¡¯d tricked his body into performing better than it should.


    From within the crowd of people on bikes, someone said, ¡°Nick!¡±


    I followed the voice, and noticed Jenny Nakamura getting onto a bike. She waved at me.


    A woman in green scrubs taped a sensor to her arm.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, simultaneously noticing that no one here seemed to have physical powers.


    The woman next to Jenny said, ¡°Nick Klein?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you get on this bike over here?¡±


    I walked over to the bike next to Jenny¡¯s. That would be okay. Maybe we could talk?


    A noise came from the bike on the other side of mine. Tall, blond, and pedaling hard, the guy looked familiar.


    Sean.


    Well, crap.

 TBD: Part 9

    I got on my stationary bike and ignored Sean. I didn¡¯t have anything to say to him.


    As the woman in scrubs taped sensors to my arm and chest, and after she¡¯d explained to me what I had to do, I turned to Jenny. ¡°I saw Brooke before I met my adviser. I don¡¯t know where she is now.¡±


    From the row of bikes behind me, Brooke said, ¡°Back here.¡±


    I turned toward her voice and saw her. ¡°Hi. I didn¡¯t notice you.¡±


    She looked just like she had last spring¡ªtanned with long, curly hair. Based on looks, I¡¯d pegged her as good looking, but not necessarily smart. I¡¯d been wrong. When we¡¯d been captured by Syndicate L, she¡¯d been the one who organized us to escape.


    Then I said, ¡°Is your hair different?¡±


    Jenny laughed while Brooke said, ¡°Yes, now that I¡¯m dating Alex my hair grows faster. I was dyeing it blond, but my roots kept on showing so I gave up.¡±


    That explained it. Her hair was still blond. It just wasn¡¯t as blond.


    ¡°Less talking, more pedaling,¡± the woman monitoring us said.


    ¡°Troublemaker,¡± Jenny said, but she knew me well enough to know exactly how much of a troublemaker I wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said and pedaled.


    On my other side, Sean kept on pedaling and didn¡¯t say a word.


    It was so different from high school. If I¡¯d known her in high school, I¡¯d never have spoken to Brooke. Honestly, I probably wouldn¡¯t have spoken to very many people there. We wouldn¡¯t have had much in common.


    Because of my grandfather, I knew people here anyway, and even the people I didn¡¯t know had good impressions of the Rocket¡ªboth past and present versions.


    Except for my senior year, high school had been pretty lonely. When I considered the number of times people tried to kill or kidnap me last year, it seemed strange to think that socially at least, it had been the best year of high school¡ªeven including the time Sean and his friends tried to beat me up.


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    Hey, Daniel broke into my thoughts telepathically. I¡¯d watch out for Sean. He¡¯s angry at you.


    What does he think I¡¯ve done now?


    It¡¯s not what you¡¯ve done, and really I don¡¯t think it¡¯s even you. He was a big deal in your high school, right?


    Yeah. Very.


    So he¡¯s here, and nobody knows him, but lots of people know and like you¡ª


    And he¡¯s always seen himself as popular, and me as, well¡­ not. I finished Daniel¡¯s thought for him.


    Yeah. Plus you¡¯re dating his ex-girlfriend, who¡¯s friends with his sister, who he¡¯s angry at for being friends with his half-sister, because she proves that his late father cheated on his mom.


    Crap. I¡¯m starring in a soap opera. Or possibly an episode of Jerry Springer.


    Except unlike Jerry Springer, the violence here is real. Nick, I get brief prescient visions of him attacking you. Make sure you don¡¯t end up alone with him.


    I¡¯m not planning to. Wait, is he thinking about attacking me right now?


    No. He¡¯s not intending to hurt you at all. Think ¡°crimes of passion.¡± He¡¯s feeling angry, grieving, insecure, and out of place. If you¡¯re nearby, he might lash out.


    OK. I¡¯ll stay away from him. I was planning to anyway.


    So after that, you know what happened? Nothing much. They tested how much I could lift, ran me through an obstacle course, tested how well I sprinted and a few other things too. A few hours later I was done.


    That night around 2 am, I found myself awake. I couldn¡¯t put all the blame on Daniel, but first of all, he snored. Second, we¡¯d been friends as long as we¡¯d been alive, constantly talking to each other through his telepathy. The upshot of that? Not only did he snore, but sometimes I could feel his dreams while he slept if he slept nearby.


    In this case, nearby meant across the room in my own bed. I didn¡¯t know what sort of dreams he was having, but I woke up with my heart racing and feeling panicky. Thirty minutes later, I still hadn¡¯t managed to fall asleep.


    I pulled on jeans and a t-shirt and grabbed a book. I¡¯d been reading Iain M. Banks¡¯ Player of Games. Reading it in the lobby might help me calm down.


    I didn¡¯t even make it to the lobby.


    The floor¡¯s vending machine stood next to the elevator, and Sean stood in front of the vending machine. To be fair to him, he wasn¡¯t stealing pop. With magnetic powers, he could have.


    I should also say that despite what Daniel thought, Sean didn¡¯t start out being hostile.


    He pulled a can of pop out of the vending machine and said, ¡°So, what¡¯re you doing up?¡±


    It wasn¡¯t friendly either, but it could have been worse.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep.¡± I didn¡¯t want to explain that I¡¯d had Daniel¡¯s nightmare.

 TBD: Part 10

    ¡°Yeah?¡± He pulled the tab, and opened the can, barely seeming to care.


    That annoyed me, because it wasn¡¯t as if I¡¯d volunteered the information. He¡¯d asked. I didn¡¯t see any reason to start a conversation with him. If anything, I¡¯d be willing to go out of my way to avoid it.


    I pressed the down button on the elevator. If nothing else, I could leave.


    ¡°Have you been telling stories about me?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Telling stories about me. Making me look bad.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve barely seen you, much less talked to anybody about you. Anyway, if I wanted to make you look bad, I wouldn¡¯t need to lie. You¡¯ve actually treated people I know badly. That¡¯s your fault.¡±


    As I said that, a part of me knew that this was not one of those occasions where honesty would help. In fact, it was probably a really bad idea.


    ¡°Yeah, like what?¡±


    ¡°That time you tried to beat me up with Jody and Dayton.¡±


    ¡°You threw a snowball into Dayton¡¯s car.¡±


    ¡°Which does not justify beating up anybody, and three on one is kind of cowardly.¡±


    ¡°You fucked up my leg. I¡¯ve still got a limp!¡±


    He did. Not normally, but after today¡¯s exercise, it was obvious. I had mixed feelings about that most of the time. I mean, I¡¯d done permanent damage to his knee. In the moment though, I said, ¡°Which I¡¯d never have done if your friends weren¡¯t holding me down so you could kick me.¡±


    We stared at each other.


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    The elevator door opened. I stepped forward. He could argue with himself if he wanted to.


    The doors shut before I reached them.


    ¡°What are you going to do about that?¡±


    Sean smiled at me, more pleased with himself than he deserved to be.


    That brought the situation home. I stood facing Sean without any armor, not even the stealth suit, armed only with a book, and not one of Banks¡¯ larger books either.


    The question was, did Sean intend to hurt me, or had he given any thought to what he¡¯d do next at all?


    Near him, the vending machine shook. I doubted that he even realized he was doing it.


    Through my growing fear, I found myself analyzing what I could do. The vending machine sat in an alcove built into the wall at my left, Sean¡¯s right. If I punched him, I could probably take him down before he backed up enough to put the vending machine into play.


    This was so much like chess only he was thinking zero moves ahead¡ªunless he knew something I didn¡¯t.


    Also, was I really going to attack? He hadn¡¯t attacked me, and shutting the doors was more of an implied threat than a direct threat.


    ¡°See? Without the armor, you¡¯re not much.¡±


    As I tried to come up with a reply, I felt (and heard) a gust of wind. For a second, I thought Vaughn might have heard us. Then I realized Izzy stood with us in the hall.


    She reminded me somehow of the Dixie Supergirl identity she¡¯d used when she¡¯d been under Evil Beatnik¡¯s control. It might have been her ponytail and her pajamas even though the pajamas didn¡¯t look much like the Dixie Supergirl costume. The costume had been covered with the Confederate flag. Her pajamas were a t-shirt with the words (and pictures of) ¡°Peace, Love, Giraffes¡± and blue, plaid pants.


    Both the costume and t-shirt left her arms bare. Even though they weren¡¯t weirdly sinewy like some bodybuilders'' muscles, they were solid.


    She¡¯d also drawn herself up to her full height. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡±


    Sean stepped back. I didn¡¯t blame him.


    Even though her voice wasn¡¯t loud, it didn¡¯t quite sound human. The tones were richer, and stranger.


    Remembering how she¡¯d taken him out this summer, I wondered if he¡¯d recognized her yet. There couldn¡¯t be a lot of women taller than he was. Plus, she''d taken him out with her voice.


    ¡°I¡ª¡± He said.


    She talked over him. ¡°I could hear you. What was the point of that? Do you think that just because you have powers and he doesn¡¯t, you can do anything you want?¡±


    It didn¡¯t end there. Travis appeared. I had no idea where he¡¯d come from, but he stood there in jeans and no shirt, giving a very good view of his muscles.


    Other doors in the hall opened, and a few kids stepped out. I didn¡¯t recognize all of them, but enough.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Travis asked.


    If that wasn¡¯t enough, Isaac Lim stepped out from the stairway along with Flick, a woman on the Midwest Defenders¡¯ team.


    She wore her costume, a yellow bodysuit with massive gauntlets around her hands.


    ¡°Sean,¡± Isaac said, ¡°we have to talk.¡±

 Orientation: Part 1

    ¡°And then what?¡± Haley asked.


    We were sitting on my bed at home, backs to the wall, our legs next to each other.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Isaac and Flick took him away. Isaac asked me some questions later, but he already seemed to know what happened.¡±


    ¡°What happened after they left? You said everyone was in the hall.¡±


    ¡°Well, not everyone. Izzy and Travis both have enhanced senses so I know how they found out, and I don¡¯t know about anybody else. It wouldn¡¯t surprise me if more people heard us than opened their doors. Sean was shouting part of the time, and I¡¯m sure I was louder than usual. Anyway, by the time Isaac got up there, there were maybe eight people. I told you they detect power use somehow. I think they might have cameras in the hall too.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound like they trust the students much.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ think it¡¯s more complicated than that. I mentioned that I was surprised they got up to where we were so quickly, and Isaac told me that the program had no tolerance for bullying. He said, ¡®You¡¯ve heard of bullied kids coming to school with a gun? Well, it¡¯s as if every kid in the building has a gun¡ªexcept for the ones with atomic bombs. Plus they¡¯ve got friends. If the program turns this hotel into a smoking hole in the ground, the fallout will be so big that getting fired will be the least of my problems¡¯.¡±


    Haley¡¯s eyes got a little bigger. ¡°Oh, no. He¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I mean, if I got the jet, I could probably take out the hotel myself, and there are a bunch of people who could do it without any technology. They measured strength, and Travis can move 40 tons. Izzy and Jaclyn can both do more than 80. The device they brought isn¡¯t accurate after 85 tons. It¡¯s a very interesting device though¡ª¡±


    I started to explain why, and then stopped. Haley had an expression on her face that I¡¯d slowly begun to recognize as the ¡°please don¡¯t explain that now¡± look.


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    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯d bet any of them could take out the hotel by themselves, and I know they¡¯re not the only ones.¡±


    ¡°Is Sean out of the program?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I saw him the next day. If he was out, I think they would have sent him home. Why?¡±


    Haley pulled her legs up to her chest, and put her arms around them. ¡°Don¡¯t be mad. I still think Sean is a jerk, but I don¡¯t want to see him kicked out if he doesn¡¯t have to be.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to see him kicked out either, but you know what¡¯s weird? Isaac told me that if they can only have one of us in the program, it will be me. It¡¯s really crazy that he¡¯d say that. I mean, I could get Sean kicked out.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think he was promising to kick Sean out if you asked for it.¡±


    ¡°No, but still¡­ After Sean tried to push you to go farther than you wanted, and after I fought him, he brought in lawyers and his dad¡¯s friends. He made the school get me counseling, and his dad pushed the police into investigating you. Now it¡¯s totally the opposite. He¡¯s got no power over us at all, and there are lots of ways I could hurt him.¡±


    She bit her lip. ¡°What are you going to do?¡±


    ¡°Nothing. At least for now. I want to give him a chance, but honestly, I got pretty angry about it afterward. In the moment I didn¡¯t feel much, but later it bugged me that he thought he had the right to terrorize me.¡±


    ¡°I know I said I didn¡¯t want Sean to be kicked out, but if it looks like anything is going to happen, tell somebody, and watch out.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I will. Daniel said the same thing, and I don¡¯t think he¡¯s going to let me go anywhere without him.¡±


    Then because it had been on my mind, I asked, ¡°What happened to you? I saw you sent a yellow to everybody, and then everything turned green later.¡±


    ¡°Oh that,¡± she smiled a little. ¡°I was downtown with Sydney and Camille, and Kayla relayed that the police were having trouble with a lizard guy. He called himself Ridgeback--I''ve never heard of him--and he¡¯d robbed a jewelry store. Anyway, we caught him. Sydney and I chased him down, and Camille turned off gravity around him, and made him float. He had a few normal people with him, but they weren¡¯t hard to catch.¡±


    ¡°Ridgeback? That¡¯s interesting. If he¡¯s the guy I¡¯m thinking of, he¡¯s more of a mercenary. I¡¯ve never heard of him stealing jewelry.¡±


    ¡°He wasn¡¯t very good at it. He did it in the middle of the day, and overturned a bunch of cars. It was almost like he was trying to get attention.¡±


    ¡°Which would be dumb,¡± I said.


    ¡°I know.¡± She let go of her legs and stood up. ¡°Do you want to go for a walk?¡±


    ¡°We could.¡±


    My phone began to ring. I pulled it out of my pocket. I didn¡¯t recognize the phone number.


    Haley leaned over and glanced at the screen. ¡°That¡¯s Sean.¡±

 Orientation: Part 2

    I almost didn¡¯t answer, but then he¡¯d have to call back.


    ¡°Hello?¡± I could at least pretend I didn¡¯t know who was calling.


    ¡°Hi.¡± Sean sounded tired. ¡°This is Sean.¡± Pause. ¡°From school.¡±


    Like I had any confusion about which Sean he was.


    ¡°I¡¯m calling because¡­ I¡¯d like us to get along better.¡±


    That was close to an apology. It moved vaguely in that direction without using the words.


    I didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to cause trouble for you. So¡­ that¡¯s why I called.¡±


    I thought about it. I didn¡¯t want to be friends with him. I didn¡¯t even want him to think things were okay between us, and I felt like that was exactly what I was supposed to do. When someone apologized, weren¡¯t you supposed to accept it, and forgive the guy?


    It felt fake. I struggled to think of something to say, and then I found some words¡ªeven if they weren¡¯t the best words.


    ¡°You want us to get along better? Leave me alone. It¡¯s really simple. It¡¯s all I¡¯ve ever wanted from you. Don¡¯t make my pens roll away. Don¡¯t close doors on me. Don¡¯t make snide comments about me or my friends. Don¡¯t hit me. It¡¯s not hard.¡±


    And then I hung up.


    The words had come all at once, but once they were over I found myself sitting on the bed, staring at the phone in my hand, not sure of what to do next. I couldn¡¯t convince myself that what I¡¯d said made things better.


    Sure, Sean hadn¡¯t made much of an apology, but it was closer to one than anything else he¡¯d ever said to me.


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    On the other hand, maybe it was good for Sean to know that after you treat someone badly enough they don¡¯t really care when you apologize.


    I could tell myself that.


    I put my phone back into my pocket.


    Haley had gotten off my bed just before the phone rang. She sat down next to me, and took my hand. With her senses, she¡¯d probably heard both sides of the conversation, my rising heartbeat, and smelled¡­ well, whatever reactions my body betrayed there.


    Then she put her right arm around my shoulders. I leaned into her, and put my arm behind her back. We stayed that way until I felt better.


    * * *


    A little over a week and half later I found myself moving into my college dorm room at Grand Lake University.


    I¡¯d been assigned to dePuit Hall, a long, brick, rectanglar building. Built in the 1960¡¯s, Grand Lake University had designated it as one of the default dorms for freshmen. Whenever it had been designed must have been some kind of low point in the architecture of institutional buildings. It wasn¡¯t much more than a five story rectangle with one long hall that stretched from one end to the other.


    It was almost impossible to get lost, but it had to be among the most boring buildings I¡¯d ever seen.


    I didn¡¯t bring much with me¡ªmy books, clothes, and bedding. I¡¯d grown up in Grand Lake, and I assumed that I¡¯d be able to pick up anything else I needed from home. The fact that I didn¡¯t have a car would probably make that more complicated, but I¡¯d figure it out.


    Anyway, between my dad, Haley, and I, we brought everything up in one load.


    Dad gave me a hug before he left. Once he was gone, Haley and I put my clothes into drawers, made my bed, and set up my laptop.


    It didn¡¯t take long. While we worked, we couldn¡¯t help but wonder about my roommate. He wasn¡¯t there when we arrived, but all of his stuff was.


    According to the information I¡¯d gotten about my room assignment, his name was Jeremy Barrows, and he was a physics major.


    A quick look over his books gave a more interesting picture. He seemed to be interested in aliens. In addition to the textbooks on his desk, I noticed a book called Aliens Among Us. It had a blurry picture of a Xiniti on the cover.


    The picture looked like it dated from the 70¡¯s¡ªback when the League would have been meeting the Xiniti for the first time.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Haley said, ¡°look at this.¡±


    She pulled a book off the shelf on top of Jeremy¡¯s desk. It was a copy of Teachings of the Eldest, a book Lee, my martial arts teacher, had co-written as part of a scam.


    I laughed, and was about to ask her to pass it over so I could look at it when I heard a voice from the open doorway behind me.


    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s mine.¡±

 Orientation: Part 3

    Haley colored. ¡°Sorry. I wasn¡¯t going to take it or anything. I just wanted to look at it. My mom has the same book.¡±


    Jeremy turned out to be a slightly chunky guy in shorts and t-shirt. The t-shirt said ¡°Gevil¡± (except the ¡°e¡± was a sigma) in Google¡¯s multi-colored letters. Jeremy himself had a small mustache and five o¡¯clock shadow.


    ¡°Does she actually believe it?¡±


    ¡°What? No. I don¡¯t think so. I think she bought it at a garage sale. It was really popular once, and she was curious, so¡­¡±


    After a pause, she said, ¡°I¡¯m Haley, Nick¡¯s girlfriend.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Nick,¡± I said, and even though it was obvious, followed it up with, ¡°I just moved in.¡±


    ¡°I guessed,¡± Jeremy said. ¡°I don¡¯t believe in any of that stuff either, but it¡¯s connected to some deep, deep secrets.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah. Mind blowing stuff. You ever heard of the Immortal?¡±


    ¡°A little,¡± I said.


    Haley¡¯s upper lip twitched, but she managed to smooth it into a smile, and appear politely interested.


    ¡°He¡¯s big. Really big. Records of him go back to Sumerian times, and some people think they¡¯ve seen records of him in cave paintings. The guy¡¯s totally mysterious. He appears all over the world. He changes his looks and name, but some things never change¡ªhis attitude, the way he takes outrageous damage, and how he manages to make weapons appear out of nowhere.¡±


    ¡°His attitude?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, he¡¯s totally devil-may-care. Nothing fazes him. Plus, he¡¯s a total sociopath. He¡¯ll kill anybody. Former allies, friends, whatever. He doesn¡¯t mess with his employers¡ªhe¡¯s a mercenary¡ªbut, after the job¡¯s done they¡¯re fair game too.¡±


    I¡¯d seen web sites devoted to Lee, and his actions as the Immortal. This was going to suck. I did not need to watch my every word¡ªespecially since I¡¯d be heading to Lee¡¯s studio to train with him every Wednesday.


    How easy was it to change roommates?


    ¡°Um,¡± Haley caught my eye briefly, ¡°what does that have to do with Teachings of the Eldest?¡±


    ¡°He wrote it.¡± Jeremy practically shouted. Then he stopped.


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    ¡°Sorry, this is the biggest new development in years. He co-wrote the book with another guy, and now the guy is suing him. Well, not as the Immortal, but as ¡®the Eldest¡¯ who has a P.O. Box in Chicago ¡®in care of¡¯ Don Juan Matus. And that¡¯s also where he gets his royalty checks.¡±


    ¡°Don Juan?¡± I thought about that. ¡°That sounds¡­¡±


    ¡°Fake?¡± Haley supplied.


    ¡°Yeah. Very.¡±


    ¡°It is fake,¡± Jeremy said. ¡°Don Juan was this old Indian shaman or something in a totally different series of spiritual books. He was fake too.¡±


    I could totally see Lee finding that funny.


    ¡°How did you find this out?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s this Internet group that studies him, and one of our guys stumbled on it. You know what? That¡¯s not the best part. He¡¯s associated with the Heroes League, and he showed up here in his Gunther identity just last spring. I might see the guy. Wouldn¡¯t that be cool?¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± I said, ¡°but if he¡¯s a totally remorseless killer, are you sure you want to?¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t get close,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m not crazy.¡±


    * * *


    Haley and I took a walk around campus before she left. It seemed like the only way to get away, and by then it was nearly supper time. Time to use my brand new ID card in the dining hall for the very first time ever. I planned to join Vaughn and Cassie, and maybe Jeremy, but I hoped not.


    Figuring out what to do about him would be harder if he were around.


    Giles Hardwick Hall had been built only five years ago. I didn¡¯t know what to call the style. Pseudo old building? Though mostly red brick, the arched doors, inset windows, and concrete corners shaped like stone blocks gave the impression of age. At any rate, it looked better than my dorm.


    The line extended out of the dining hall and onto the sidewalk outside. The other dining hall wouldn¡¯t open until the rest of the student body arrived. For the weekend, it was Freshmen only.


    The practical result? I got to examine the trees and grass behind the dining hall while waiting.


    I stood in line behind a group of girls I didn¡¯t know at all. They were talking and laughing together. I tried to think if there were anything I¡¯d done that would give Jeremy clues that I was more than your average student.


    Deeply into my own thoughts, I barely noticed when one of them said, ¡°Nick?¡±


    Then I did recognize her¡ªCourtney¡ªas in Courtney and Keith, the biggest fans of Guardian I¡¯d ever met. They¡¯d dated all the way through high school. Last I¡¯d heard, they¡¯d been planning to go to the same college, but not Grand Lake University.


    What¡¯s more, Keith¡¯s uncle had been one of the first people to brew power juice in Grand Lake. Courtney could use it to change her appearance.


    She looked great. Better than I¡¯d ever seen her in fact. She¡¯d lost a lot of weight last year, but she¡¯d changed more than that. She¡¯d had two large moles on her cheek, but now her skin was perfect. Something about the shape of her face seemed different too, but I couldn¡¯t think what.


    Come to think of it, she also seemed taller than she used to.


    ¡°Hey, Courtney. I didn¡¯t recognize you. I didn¡¯t expect to see you here at all.¡±


    She walked around her friends to stand next to me. ¡°Keith and I broke up this summer, and I didn¡¯t want to go to the same school.¡±


    ¡°Sorry. I should have guessed.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m happy it''s over. Believe me, it was a miserable summer. How are you and Haley?¡±


    We caught up on the way in, and she introduced me to her friends. I stayed with them until we got inside the cafeteria. Once I got my food, I sighted Vaughn and Cassie.


    Walking over to join them, I reflected that if Courtney wanted to keep all those changes, she¡¯d need to use power juice all the time.

 Orientation: Part 4

    The cafeteria had more than one level, allowing people on the edges to take in everyone on the main level of the room. Vaughn and Cassie sat together at a table with a view, but also one that wasn¡¯t more than ten feet from an exit.


    I wondered if that was intentional or accidental. Lee would have approved, though he probably would have positioned Vaughn with his back to the wall and Cassie nearer to the edge.


    She¡¯d work better as a lookout because she could take a lot of damage and still report back, giving Vaughn time to counterattack.


    Not that any of us were likely to be attacked in the cafeteria¡ªat least not this early in the semester.


    I sat down next to Vaughn, thinking that I¡¯d spent far too much time training in the last year.


    ¡°Who were you talking to?¡± Vaughn¡¯s gaze followed Courtney and her friends down the steps.


    ¡°Remember Courtney from high school? Dated Keith?¡±


    ¡°No kidding? She¡¯s looking really good.¡±


    ¡°Power juice?¡± Cassie asked.


    ¡°Can¡¯t say for sure, but I¡¯d bet on it.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Shapeshifting. Appearance only, right?¡±


    ¡°I think. But that¡¯s with power juice. If someone made it permanent, she might be able to do more.¡±


    ¡°You know what would be crazy,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Shapeshifting girlfriend. Think about it.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Cassie said. ¡°She could shapeshift into a guy, and no one would ever guess you were dating.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.¡±


    ¡°What I¡¯m wondering,¡± Cassie said, ¡°is whether we should talk to the program about her. Everyone and their dog can make powers permanent these days. I told you about that, right?¡±


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    When she¡¯d been in Washington D.C., she¡¯d learned that the military had a power impregnator, and she¡¯d seen an ancient (probably Abominator made) version when she¡¯d broken into a research facility owned by the Nine. I hoped they hadn¡¯t learned anything from it. That would not be good. The Nine were scary.


    ¡°Everyone except us,¡± Vaughn said.


    He was right. Our power impregnator had been modified, and then damaged during the summer.


    ¡°We probably should talk to someone,¡± I said. ¡°Impersonating people could be really useful. Think Mystique in the X-Men comics.¡±


    ¡°See,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Blue and naked is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind.¡±


    ¡°God,¡± Cassie muttered, ¡°and you were wondering why you and Brittany broke up?¡±


    * * *


    I saw my adviser Monday morning. Not Dr. Nation, but my official college advisor Dr. Farkas. Well, one of my advisors. I had two because I had two majors¡ªchemistry and electrical engineering.


    Dr. Farkas wasn¡¯t taking it well.


    I sat in his office while he opened my folder, and stared at the papers inside. I occupied myself by looking at the books that covered all four walls of his office. To judge from them, chemistry was his only interest.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you can do this,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t like to say that because obviously you¡¯re very bright, but majoring in electrical engineering and chemistry could easily result in flunking out of both programs. Aside from which, you¡¯ll never get through both programs in four years if that¡¯s your goal.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I think I can. You¡¯re looking at my initial schedule. It¡¯s changed. I took some tests a few weeks ago and it turns out I can skip a bunch of classes in both programs. I¡¯ve actually got a list here¡­ I¡¯ve divided up the rest of them by year and made a schedule for the next four years, and it should work.¡±


    I took it out and put it on top of his folder. I had a photocopied copy for each advisor in case they hadn¡¯t gotten it.


    He read it. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen any student test out of this many classes.¡±


    ¡°The registrar okayed it and so did my engineering advisor,¡± I said. ¡°I can more or less skip the first year of each program and go straight into sophomore courses. If you look at it, you¡¯ll find I skip more electrical engineering courses.¡±


    After a call to the registrar, and a call to my engineering advisor, he signed my paper, and I was free.


    The Chemistry Department¡¯s professors all had offices in the same section of Davidson Hall so I walked out to find a lot of students standing or sitting at the tables in the common area between offices, and generally waiting for their advisors.


    Courtney stood in a line next to a door. It wasn¡¯t a surprise. We¡¯d been in AP (advanced placement) chemistry together.


    She didn¡¯t seem to see me. I thought about it. I had questions for her. If I caught her at the right time, I could ask them.


    When I turned to check on her, she¡¯d just stepped into her advisor¡¯s office.


    I decided to wait. Itwouldn''tbe long.

 Orientation: Part 5

    Fifteen minutes later, she stepped out of the office, and started walking toward the hall. I waved to her, and she slowed, letting me catch up.


    ¡°Did you just see your advisor too?¡±


    ¡°Kind of. I got out, and then I noticed you were in there, and thought I¡¯d say hi when you got out.¡±


    Then I wondered if I¡¯d been too honest. She could take that a bunch of ways ranging from ¡°creepy stalker¡± to ¡°he¡¯s interested in me¡± to ¡°just being friendly.¡±


    The first two were the last things I wanted her to think. Even beyond not wanting to hurt Haley, I¡¯d never thought about Courtney in terms of dating. She¡¯d been dating Keith the entire time I knew her. I¡¯d always thought of her as nice, and a lot more sensible than Keith in a lot of ways, but more as a friend than anything else.


    If I¡¯d met her for the first time in college, I¡¯d probably have classed her as ¡°completely unapproachable.¡±


    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re silent all of a sudden. What¡¯s on your mind?¡±


    ¡°I still can¡¯t get over how different you look.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said, and took a breath. ¡°Well, you know why.¡±


    She¡¯d showed Haley and I at the restaurant when we¡¯d gone out together before prom.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°but you¡¯ve made a lot more changes since prom.¡±


    Her eyes darted around. We were walking down the stairs to the first floor with a lot of other people. Every freshman had to see their advisors today. Classes started tomorrow.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this here. Let¡¯s try¡­¡± She paused. ¡°Let¡¯s try somewhere on the lawn. Michelle always has people in our dorm room.¡±


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    We didn¡¯t say much as we followed people down the stairs and out of the building. One look outside told us that the lawn wouldn¡¯t be private. People were everywhere. Freshmen had moved in on Friday and Saturday, but on Monday everybody could move in. Cars filled the streets between buildings, and every parking space in front of them.


    Students carried suitcases, backpacks, and duffel bags full of stuff across the lawn toward the residential halls.


    ¡°We could walk by the river,¡± I suggested.


    A few minutes later, we¡¯d walked past Voss Hall of Engineering, and stood near the water. The park where the League fought Evil Beatnik lay on the other side. A few people sat in the park, or walked down the sidewalk next to the river, many of them in business clothes.


    The university¡¯s side of the river hadn¡¯t been developed as much. Weeds started where the lawn ended, and continued down the bank, ending in mud.


    It was private in the sense that no one stood in hearing distance. I supposed that people could still see us through the windows of the engineering building.


    We sat where the river bank began¡ªthe edge of the lawn .


    ¡°You¡¯re probably wondering why Keith and I broke up?¡±


    I had been, but I hadn¡¯t intended to ask about it. I¡¯d really intended to find out how much power juice she was using, and where she was getting it.


    ¡°A little.¡±


    She stared down at the river before she said anything else. ¡°Keith wants to be a superhero. He went to college in Chicago so he could impress the Midwest Defenders. He kept on bothering me to do it with him¡ªI¡¯d do the investigating, and he¡¯d do the fighting. It was awful. I only wanted to lose some weight, or at least look like I had. It wasn¡¯t coming off any other way. We argued for months, and he dumped me in July.¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°And that¡¯s it,¡± she said. ¡°After we broke up, I had a lot of time on my hands, and I spent it experimenting with my powers. I don¡¯t know why, but I thought I¡¯d see how attractive I could become while still looking like myself. Maybe it was supposed to be some kind of revenge on Keith. I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s a little like how my mom dyed her hair red after my parents divorced.¡±


    She stopped, and watched the river. I didn¡¯t say anything for a little while.


    ¡°Does it last? Or do you have to take more juice all the time?¡±


    She gave me a slightly lopsided smile that reminded me of how she used to look.


    ¡°If I change myself, and don¡¯t take any more, I stay that way.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s interesting. I wonder if you¡¯re changing yourself at the level of DNA, or if you¡¯re rearranging yourself, but you¡¯ll slowly change back with time?¡±


    ¡°Can''t tell you. I''m not taking the risk of finding out. I¡¯m making my own juice. I don¡¯t want to get stuck if I don¡¯t have to.¡±


    ¡°What happens if power juice becomes illegal?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll build one of those machines that make powers permanent.¡±

 Settling In: Part 1

    Even three nights later, I still found myself thinking about the conversation. I¡¯d talked about it with Haley, (and for that matter Daniel, Cassie, and Vaughn) and we all agreed it wasn¡¯t likely that Courtney would be able to recreate the power impregnator on her own.


    Despite what you might see in the movies, being a chemistry major doesn¡¯t automatically qualify you to construct a device that activates powers hidden in a person¡¯s DNA.


    I mean, honestly, it would have been a lot of work for me to construct one, and I had Grandpa¡¯s documentation.


    I knew that, and yet on Thursday night I lay in my bunk, staring at the ceiling, and wondering what she planned to do with her powers anyway.


    She could already pass for a model. What else did she want?


    I turned my head. On my desk, the numbers of my alarm clock glowed red, showing the time¡ª1:34 am. I had three classes on Friday. I didn¡¯t have anything due, but I still wanted to be awake.


    I settled in, closing my eyes, and trying to think of something that would put me to sleep.


    On the bunk below, Jeremy breathed steadily, probably sleeping. Over the last few days, he¡¯d seemed okay, and I¡¯d decided I could deal with him for a year.


    I just hoped I could keep my identity as the Rocket secret.


    Naturally, it was as I thought about that that my League phone began to vibrate. I¡¯d put it in a pocket in my pajamas, hoping it would wake me up.


    I clicked on it, and the screen glowed.


    Marcus had sent a yellow. I checked the map. He was downtown, and moving.


    Was he alone? If he¡¯d gone on patrol, he was supposed to take someone else along.


    I dropped to the floor as quietly as I could, pulled on the stealth suit¡ªthe innermost layer could pass as long underwear or exercise clothes, and pulled jeans and t-shirt over it.


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    Cassie, Vaughn, and I had worked out a plan for situations like this, and tonight we¡¯d get to put it into practice. I couldn¡¯t realistically keep the Rocket suit in my room, and I couldn¡¯t realistically head back to Grandpa¡¯s house to get it on short notice.


    Once I got my shoes on, I stepped out of the room, closed the door quietly, and walked as quickly as I could down the hall. After I stepped out of the dormitory, I ran for the school parking garage.


    I¡¯d parked the van on the second floor, so by the time made it up the stairs, I found I wasn¡¯t the first person there. I opened the door and stepped inside to find Cassie was already in the back of the van, grabbing things.


    ¡°There you are. Now all we¡¯re missing is¡ª¡±


    Vaughn opened the passenger side door, and stepped in.


    I turned on the van, and drove out. Even at this time of night there were still a few people using the parking garage, but I¡¯d taken the precaution of tinting the windows so they couldn¡¯t easily see inside.


    I¡¯d also added a few other details that made our lives a little easier, but the main point of the van was more to be a mobile closet than a recognizable League fighting vehicle.


    ¡°Does anyone know what¡¯s going on?¡± I tapped a few buttons on the dashboard, and a screen showed Marcus¡¯ location downtown.


    ¡°No,¡± Vaughn said.


    From the back, Cassie said, ¡°Marcus caught somebody breaking into First of Michigan Bank downtown, and now he¡¯s chasing the guy.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think we were doing patrols because of school starting,¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯re not,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Marcus went out for the fun of it after work.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, Marcus is still in high school so he doesn¡¯t start for another week,¡± Vaughn said. Except for the mask, he¡¯d changed into his costume.


    ¡°I know,¡± I said, ¡°but we were using the buddy system for patrols to avoid this kind of stuff.¡±


    I pulled the van to the side of the road. We were downtown. If Marcus and whoever he was chasing kept on moving in the same direction, they¡¯d go past us soon.


    Getting up and walking into the back, I threw off my t-shirt and jeans, and pulled on the stealth suit¡¯s upper layers¡ªpants, jacket, and helmet. Then I grabbed my utility belt, rocketpack, and the guitar.


    Meanwhile, Vaughn and Cassie had stepped out of the van.


    I followed them out, hearing the sound of gunshots, and brief roaring noises that reminded me of jet engines.


    I¡¯d parked in an alley. We were near the city¡¯s arena next to a street of old, brick buildings that had once been factories, but were now restaurants and shops.


    The roaring noises grew louder, and I looked up in time to see seven people jump the distance between the two buildings on either side of the alley. Glowing lines of fire shot out of the bottoms of their boots.


    Rocket boots?

 Settling In: Part 2

    Marcus followed them, lengthening his legs as he jumped, and stretching his arms to grab the ledge on the other side. His leap reminded me of a frog somehow.


    If it weren¡¯t night, I could have blamed it on his green costume. I only recognized him because I knew he was coming, and because no normal human could stretch like that.


    Frog-like or not, the way his shape briefly blocked the stars made me think of Batman cartoons¡ªwhich ironically brought me back to reality.


    We should have attacked them when they passed over us. If we¡¯d called Marcus and told him to hang back, that could have worked beautifully.


    Sparing everyone else my 20/20 hindsight, I said, ¡°I¡¯m going up,¡± started the rockets, and shot into the air.


    Suddenly above the row of buildings, I had to decide how I wanted to handle this. We didn¡¯t have a plan. Okay, we kind of had a plan, but it didn¡¯t amount to much more than, ¡°Find out who Marcus was chasing, and help him.¡±


    I leveled off, and angled sideways, flying above the street.


    I¡¯d gotten ahead of them, giving me a second to detach the guitar from my chest, and send a message to everyone on the comm.


    ¡°Hang back, I¡¯m going to blind them. One¡­¡±


    The stealth suit¡¯s sonar filled in the details normal human vision couldn¡¯t, assisted by a computer. I¡¯d improved it during the summer. Each of the seven figures running across the roof appeared to be wearing more than just boots.


    Hard supports ran up the sides of their legs, arms, and chest. Small rockets or jets hung on the supports, probably to help stabilize the boots. The design reminded me of Jack Maniac¡¯s a little, but unlike him, I hadn¡¯t seen any sign these guys could do more than make rocket-assisted jumps.


    Large bags hung by straps across their shoulders. I guessed they might hold the bank¡¯s money.


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    Marcus had lost ground or he¡¯d heard my message. Either way, he ran half a rooftop behind them.


    Cassie followed him, staff in hand, sword on her back. Vaughn flew above her.


    ¡°Two¡­¡± This could work, I told myself. Blind them, and we could take them hand to hand. Reports of their actions during the chase showed no indication they were anything more than normal humans. Sure, their exoskeletons might be strong, but they weren¡¯t armor.


    ¡°Three¡­¡±


    Switching the setting from communicator to voice, I shouted, ¡°Hey,¡± through the suit¡¯s speakers. As they turned their heads toward the noise, lasers from my guitar bathed the rooftop in bright, multi-colored light.


    My helmet blocked most of it, but from the shouts, their helmets hadn¡¯t done as well.


    Better than the shouts, lightning flashed from Vaughn¡¯s black gloved hand to hit one of them. The bank robber¡¯s arms flailed, and he fell over as electricity crackled.


    The crazy thing? I recognized that as one of Vaughn¡¯s smaller ¡°taser sized¡± blasts.


    I turned and flew toward them, landing a few feet from the edge, and letting the guitar hang while I gave them a blast of pain with the sonic weapons.


    The two directly in front of the blast tensed, and one put his hands uselessly on the side of his helmet.


    Marcus, in the meantime, had shifted from his long-limbed form into a muscular, humanoid shape that appeared to be made of rocks and reminded me of a comic book character.


    Shouting, ¡°It¡¯s clobberin¡¯ time,¡± he punched a guy in the face, cracking the man¡¯s helmet, and knocking him down.


    Cassie came out of the darkness behind Marcus, sweeping a guy¡¯s legs out from under him with her staff, and hitting him in the head with it when he tried to push himself up.


    He stayed down after that.


    I charged the two guys standing in front of me, taking one down with a punch to the solar plexus. While he gasped for breath, the other backed away. He must have been disoriented from the light and my sonic blast because he tripped.


    The exoskeleton restricted his movement more than the Rocket suit because he had a hard time getting his arm into a position to push himself up.


    The big bag of money couldn¡¯t have helped him either.


    That left two effective fighters¡ªone guy in an exoskeleton, and another who (I only then realized) wasn¡¯t wearing rocket boots at all.


    He¡¯d been jumping between buildings with nothing but his own strength.


    Dressed in black combat gear like the rest of them, he pulled out a pistol with a solid barrel¡ªa paralysis gun in all probability. He pointed it at me before I had the chance to move.


    I didn''t have time to worry, but if I had, I probably wouldn''t have. I¡¯d worked out a device that countered the sounds the gun used to trigger paralysis.


    He pulled the trigger.


    The device on my belt didn¡¯t hum at all.

 Settling In: Part 3

    I tried to dive to the right, but I¡¯d already lost control of my legs.


    I crumpled, and fell to the roof of the building. I fell sideways, and then rolled halfway on to my back¡ª¡±halfway¡± because I was mostly on my arm and right side of my back, and partly on my rocketpack. It wouldn¡¯t let me roll all the way there.


    The other guy¡ªthe only guy with an exoskeleton still standing¡ªhad pulled out a paralysis gun too.


    I could tell because the helmet¡¯s sonar gave me better peripheral vision. That let me see a flying person fall (Vaughn), and simultaneously see Cassie jump, drop to the roof, and let go of her staff.


    I couldn¡¯t see if it fell to the ground.


    Not that it mattered. We couldn¡¯t do anything anyway.


    I didn¡¯t see them get Marcus, but since they¡¯d stopped fighting he had to be down too.


    The man without the exoskeleton (the leader?) looked over the group. He turned to the other guy, ¡°Check how badly our people are hurt. I¡¯m calling it in. We¡¯ve got the girl.¡±


    Something about his voice sounded familiar.


    The other guy said, ¡°Think that means we¡¯ll get a bonus? They were going to give one to Ridgeback.¡±


    ¡°Doubt it, but we deserve one.¡±


    ¡°No shit. After D.C.? We¡¯re lucky we¡¯re not dead.¡±


    ¡°Nah. They don¡¯t kill people.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? I heard guys died.¡±


    ¡°Me too, but I think that was the frog-men.¡±


    ¡°Bastards.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Check those guys, okay?¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡±


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    The leader pulled a phone from his belt, and held it in front of his mouth. ¡°Tell Sixer, we¡¯ve got her plus some teammates.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t hear the response.


    ¡°Who? The guitar guy¡ªwe¡¯re pretty sure he¡¯s the Rocket¡ªplus Storm King, and the shapeshifter.¡±


    The leader went quiet for a while, listening to the person on the other end, or maybe waiting for a response.


    Meanwhile I heard the heavy steps, and occasional hum of the man with an exoskeleton moving around, helping the guy who¡¯d fallen over up, shaking the other guys back to consciousness.


    A breeze blew across the roof. It sounded like it might be gaining strength.


    That would be great. What¡¯s worse than lying on roof paralyzed and unable to defend yourself? All of the above, but with darkness and rain.


    If I were lucky, it wouldn''t just be rain, but I couldn''t count on that.


    I tried to think of a way out of it, but no obvious plan came to mind. Unlike Daniel, all my plans required the ability to move.


    My mind jumped around. I don¡¯t like to think I was panicking, but if I was, I had an excuse. Doing my best to keep my mind on something possible, I tried to move my toe.


    Strangely, I could. I could move all my toes¡ªnot my legs, hands or arms, but toes? Yes.


    Not that it mattered. What was I going to do with my toes when I couldn¡¯t move the rest of my legs?


    Then I thought, why didn¡¯t my anti-paralysis device work?


    I thought about my toes, and I knew why.


    My device worked against the kind of paralysis created by one of Man-Machine¡¯s inventions, a paralysis gun that used sound to trigger paralysis throughout the body. It worked because we needed to be paralyzed to sleep.


    The gun they had used some form of radiation to specifically block individual limbs from moving. I wasn¡¯t sure how you¡¯d manage to avoid paralyzing the heart, but since I wasn¡¯t dead, it was obviously possible.


    ¡°Dead? Both of them?¡± The leader sounded matter of fact about it.


    He pulled a gun out of its holster¡ªan automatic pistol, not the paralysis gun.


    ¡°What¡¯s your ETA?¡±


    He hung the phone back on his belt. ¡°Men,¡± he said, ¡°they¡¯ll be picking us up by helicopter in ten minutes. There will be a medic on the flight. Before then, we¡¯ll need to get a couple things done. They want the Rocket and Captain Commando, but Storm King and the Shift are useless. They don¡¯t want us to leave them alive.¡±


    I felt sick.


    I tried to wiggle my fingers. Even if couldn¡¯t move my arms, I could do a lot if my fingers were free.


    They wouldn¡¯t move, and the leader¡¯s voice still seemed strangely familiar to me.


    The leader stepped forward as the wind kicked up a notch. ¡°I¡¯ll take Storm King and¡ª¡±


    Then lightning hit him, engulfing his entire body. He fell over.


    I¡¯d have closed my eyes if I could. Bright, white light filled my vision, followed by a thunderclap, both filtered to a bearable level by my helmet.


    Vaughn didn¡¯t need to move to act.


    Around me, electricity hit the men in exoskeletons¡ªthe ones who¡¯d gotten up anyway.


    I¡¯d have felt a lot better then, if it weren¡¯t for the leader.


    Even with his burned and smoking clothes, he¡¯d begun to stand up.

 Settling In: Part 4

    He didn¡¯t get up easily. He pushed himself up one hand at a time, swaying as he made it up on two legs.


    Taking an experimental step, he spied something on the roof, and bent over to get it¡ªthe automatic pistol. When he came up the second time, he seemed stronger. He stood up normally.


    Quickly, he pointed the gun past me¡ªprobably at Vaughn.


    This time the wind came up as a roaring, howling blast that drew the man into the air, and threw him off the building.


    If I¡¯d been able to gasp, I might have.


    Vaughn had used lethal force twice, but I wasn¡¯t complaining about it. The guy had been planning to kill him, and Marcus when they couldn¡¯t defend themselves. Anyway, given what had just happened, the chances were likely that it wasn¡¯t lethal enough.


    Still, was the guy dead or not? And if not, how long would it take before he make it back up to the roof to finish his job?


    I hoped desperately it would be after the effects of the paralysis wore off. I wiggled my toes with the idea that I¡¯d soon be able to move the rest of my leg. Some moved more easily than others.


    Maybe getting messages from my brain to my toes wouldn¡¯t make any difference anywhere else, but I couldn¡¯t think of anything that would bring me closer to actually being able to move.


    Near me, but out of sight, someone who had been hit by Vaughn¡¯s lightning moaned and whimpered.


    Just a little louder than their voices and the wind, Marcus said, ¡°Hey guys, I think I worked my way around the paralysis¡ªnot all the way around, but I can move.¡±


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    He paused.


    ¡°Anybody there? Look, I know Storm King can hear me even if he can¡¯t say so. Can anyone else give me a sign?¡±


    From the tone of his voice, I couldn¡¯t say he was panicking, but he sounded nervous. I would have sounded nervous too.


    In that moment, he stood alone.


    Times like this made me wish Daniel had decided to go to college in Grand Lake instead of Chicago. A telepathic group discussion would have gone a long way just then. I could have told Marcus about the van we¡¯d parked in the alley next to the building. Driving away had a lot going for it.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking this through guys. We can¡¯t stay here, but I can¡¯t carry you all away at once, and I don¡¯t want to leave anybody. I¡¯m wondering¡­ Could a zap from Storm King clear the paralysis, maybe? We could try it on Captain Commando first.¡±


    He paused, and then in a more excited voice said, ¡°No! Got it! I¡¯ll change into a glider, and Storm King can float us out of here.¡±


    He grabbed Vaughn, Cassie, and I, placing us next to each other. Then he changed, and I felt straps surround me. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see his body stretching into a wide pair of wings.


    ¡°Don¡¯t start the wind just yet,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯ll take a minute before the wings are strong enough.¡±


    A boot scraped across the edge of the roof.


    I glanced toward the noise. The leader had climbed over the edge of the roof to my left.


    He held the paralysis gun, pulling it up, and aiming.


    I wanted to say something. I couldn¡¯t.


    It turned out I didn¡¯t need to. I half expected that he¡¯d tell Vaughn to start the wind going, but he didn¡¯t.


    The straps, tendrils, or whatever they were withdrew at a speed that caused us all to roll sideways while Marcus flopped over in a clatter of wings, and weird noises that sounded a lot like ¡°splort.¡±


    It didn¡¯t leave me in a great position either. I¡¯d managed to roll completely on my back, the rockets holding the middle of my back above the ground. My head flopped over, the helmet touching the roof. When I was a little kid, looking at the ceiling upside down like that, and pretending I could walk on it had seemed fun.


    Under the current circumstances? Much less fun.


    On the bright side, when I tried to get up, I actually moved my right leg a little.


    I didn¡¯t have time to feel good about that. From my right came a flash of light, the crackle of electricity, and the sound of Cassie saying, ¡°Fuck, that hurt!¡±

 Settling In: Part 5

    Lightning hit the leader again, and while his body shook, the paralysis gun dropped out of his hand, falling to the roof with a clunk.


    Part of me hoped it still worked by the the time I could move. I planned to grab it. A more practical side of my mind hoped it had been destroyed in the first lightning strike.


    Near me, Cassie stood up, entering the edges of the helmet¡¯s peripheral vision. She didn¡¯t waste any time. Once she was on her feet, she ran straight at the leader as he bent over to grab the gun.


    She hit him in the back of the head with her fist¡ªnot always a good move. Do it softly enough, and you can knock someone out with minimal work, but do it hard enough, and you can give them permanent brain damage. If you¡¯re Cassie, and they¡¯re normal, you also stand a good chance of punching through the skull.


    I strongly doubted that he was normal.


    Either way, he hit the roof, and lay there.


    Cassie pulled out handcuffs from her utility belt, and cuffed his hands behind his back. Then she pulled out another set for his legs.


    I¡¯d made them based on one of Grandpa¡¯s designs. Jaclyn and Cassie could both break them¡ªJaclyn almost instantly. Cassie needed time.


    From what I¡¯d seen, this guy¡¯s strength was closer to Cassie¡¯s than Jaclyn¡¯s. Hopefully we had enough time for the police to bring a Box.


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Marcus said, ¡°that was great. What do you think we ought to do with these other guys?¡±


    Cassie glanced over at Vaughn and me, ¡°Storm King fried most of them, but if they do wake up, the cuffs¡¯ll never get around the exoskeletons. We¡¯ll have to get them out first.¡±


    ¡°Hope we don¡¯t rip their skin off. A few of those guys are looking extra-crispy.¡±


    I moved my left arm, and tried my left leg. They moved. I rolled myself over to my front, and pushed myself up.


    I could stand even if I felt a little wobbly.


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    Next to me, Vaughn pulled himself up. ¡°Hey guys, we won anyway.Doesn¡¯t that kick ass?¡±


    I turned to look at him, and nearly fell over.


    Cassie grabbed my arm, stopping me.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°I think so. My legs are still coming back.¡±


    Vaughn put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°Me too. I wasn¡¯t along when you guys fought Ray the first time. That¡¯s a nasty weapon.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I know.¡± I concentrated on standing.


    Marcus nodded. He¡¯d changed back to almost normal¡ªhuman shape, but all gray skin and his green costume. ¡°Ray caught me when I was completely pre-change. I couldn¡¯t do a thing. This time was pretty cool.¡±


    ¡°Except that he was going to kill us,¡± Vaughn said, grinning. His mask didn¡¯t cover his mouth and chin.


    Marcus sighed, and looked over the unconscious bodies on the roof. ¡°That does bug me. Does anyone know why?¡±


    Cassie let go of my arm. I didn¡¯t fall over. My legs were feeling closer to normal.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking it¡¯s the Nine. They were talking about what happened in D.C. when I was there.¡± Cassie sounded tired. ¡°I fought people who worked for the Nine, and discovered they were kidnapping girls who looked like me.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± Marcus cocked his head. ¡°Did someone make clones of you too?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Cassie said, ¡°but it¡¯d be easier if they had. They wouldn¡¯t have any reason to send people after me. I think they¡¯re interested in Abominator technology.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Marcus said, and didn¡¯t say what we were all thinking. Some Abominator technology worked for Cassie that, so far as we knew, worked for no one else on the planet.


    ¡°We¡¯d better call the cops and get these guys out of here,¡± I said. ¡°They mentioned something about a helicopter coming.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Marcus said, ¡°the police have been following me since those guys robbed the bank.¡±


    He had a point. I¡¯d been hearing sirens in the background during the entire fight, and they were growing closer now. Police cars rounded the corner and roared down the street, blue and red lights flashing.


    Something scraped the roof. We all looked.


    The leader was awake. More than that, he was obviously trying to move himself toward the edge. Given the half-foot high ledge, it would be a challenge to get over with his feet and hands cuffed.


    Once we turned to stare at him though, he tried to break the cuffs on his arms, muscles straining. Cassie dropped down to push his arms straight.


    I picked up his paralysis gun, and pointed it at him. Cassie looked at me, and let go.


    When I fired, his head slumped, his arms and legs relaxed.


    ¡°I wonder how long that will work?¡± She stood next to the body, pulling a flashlight off her belt, and looking him over. Covered in black (mask, jacket, pants), the guy¡¯s muscles were obvious through his clothes. Vaughn¡¯s lightning and the man¡¯s fall to the ground had ripped his shirt in a few different spots.


    Blood stained spots around the rips, but his skin was unbroken. Even without my helmet¡¯s help, Cassie¡¯s flashlight made it obvious.


    ¡°There¡¯s something up with this guy,¡± Cassie said.


    As I began to say, ¡°Yeah, I recognized his voice from somewhere,¡± she reached down and pulled his mask off.


    Blond haired, and square jawed, he looked like a younger version of her father.

 Taking Control: Part 1

    By the time the police took the Nine¡¯s people away in a Box, it was already three in the morning. The fight had taken maybe ten minutes. Answering their questions took most of the time.


    We never saw the helicopter that the leader¡ªCassie¡¯s brother? What do you call someone who was cloned from the same person you were cloned from? Cassie had at least been raised by the original Captain Commando. It made sense if she thought of him as her dad, but for the guy we¡¯d fought, Captain Commando wasn¡¯t much more than an unwilling DNA donor.


    Anyway, the Nine¡¯s copter didn¡¯t appear. The News 10 Choppercam did, but unless they were secretly controlled by the Nine, the Nine¡¯s people must have scrubbed their mission.


    That¡¯s a long way of saying that by the time the police cars and deep sounds of the Boxes¡¯ diesel engines faded, we¡¯d relocated to the van I¡¯d parked in the alley.


    Once we¡¯d taken turns changing back to civilian clothes behind the curtain in the back of the van, Cassie said, ¡°We ought to talk about how we did.¡±


    Vaughn stepped out from behind the curtain. He wore black jeans and a New Pornographers t-shirt. Putting his hair into a ponytail, he said, ¡°We won, right? What more do we need to do?¡±


    Cassie sat in the passenger seat, twisting around to look at Vaughn and Marcus. ¡°We need to think about what we did right and wrong. We do this all the time.¡±


    Sliding over the back of the seat, he said, ¡°Not all the time. I mean really, not even half, I bet.¡±


    Cassie made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a sigh. Whatever it was, she sounded annoyed.


    ¡°I messed up.¡± Marcus looked up from the floor. He hadn¡¯t been holding his head in his hands, but his position had a little bit of that feel.


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°No, you were the best of anybody. We¡¯re all okay because they couldn¡¯t take you out.¡±


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    ¡°No,¡± Marcus said. ¡°I messed up before anyone even knew about it. I shouldn¡¯t have been out there alone, and it never occurred to me that they had paralysis guns. If they¡¯d turned around and shot me each time I moved, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to shift out of it. They could have taken me out any time they wanted, but they didn¡¯t, and I led all of you guys into a trap.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not your fault,¡± Cassie said. ¡°None of us thought about it either. I never thought they were anything more than bank robbers until they started talking about D.C. We were lucky they couldn''t handle Vaughn.¡±


    She looked over to me. ¡°Nick, what do you think?¡±


    I stopped typing on my League phone. ¡°Sorry, Haley wanted to know what happened, and I¡¯ve been telling her.¡±


    Cassie frowned.


    At Cassie¡¯s look I said, ¡°Sorry,¡± again.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean I wasn¡¯t listening though. Um¡­ I thought we screwed up from the beginning. They literally jumped over us. If we could have attacked them then, the paralysis guns might not have mattered.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Cassie said. ¡°I thought about that too.¡±


    ¡°The other thing that should have tipped me off,¡± I said, ¡°was their technology. I don¡¯t know how much was in the bank vault, but if it was less than twenty thousand, I bet those exoskeletons cost a lot more than that.¡±


    ¡°No kidding?¡± Vaughn shook his head.


    ¡°No kidding,¡± I said. ¡°Plus Haley and I were talking about when she fought Ridgeback, and it¡¯s really obvious in retrospect that that should have tipped us off too. What in the world is a mercenary like Ridgeback doing robbing a jewelry store in Grand Lake?¡±


    Vaughn threw up his hands. ¡°Ok, you win. This was a total screw up. So now what?¡±


    I didn¡¯t have an answer. I wasn¡¯t going to suggest the obvious¡ªtrack down the Nine to their secret base and take them in.


    The Defenders hadn¡¯t done it. There had to be a reason for that, one that was probably connected to the hero body count the Nine had racked up over the years.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Cassie said. ¡°But we¡¯d better come up with something because I don¡¯t think they¡¯re going to give up.¡±


    * * *


    Cassie didn¡¯t say much on the way back to the dorms. If I¡¯d been attacked by a clone of my dead father, I don¡¯t know how talkative I¡¯d have been.


    Around 3:25am, I snuck back into my dorm room, changed into pajamas, and went back to bed.


    Jeremy seemed to be asleep.


    That¡¯s what I thought at first, but when I pulled the covers up, he said, ¡°Where¡¯d you go? You¡¯ve been gone for an hour.¡±


    More than that actually, but I didn¡¯t correct him. I had to think. He¡¯d find out about what happened tomorrow morning, and it wouldn¡¯t take too much to notice I¡¯d been gone around the same time the Rocket appeared.


    I needed to come up with an explanation he¡¯d accept.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep, and then I heard the Heroes League was fighting somebody downtown, so I went down there.¡±


    ¡°Seriously? Bring me along next time.¡±

 Taking Control: Part 2

    The next day I sat down to eat breakfast with Jeremy in Hardwick Hall¡¯s cafeteria. My first class was organic chemistry at 9 am¡ªwhich seemed cruel and unusual punishment given when I went to bed.


    ¡°Organic chemistry? Don¡¯t sophomores take that? And it¡¯s supposed to be a hard class.¡± Jeremy looked up from his cereal. He¡¯d dripped a little milk on his t-shirt.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s only the first week, but it doesn¡¯t seem that bad. I tested out of so much stuff that I¡¯m taking everything out of order.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? I saw your schedule. It¡¯s all two or three hundred level classes. I don¡¯t know how you¡¯re going to survive.¡±


    ¡°The three hundred level classes are all math or engineering, so that¡¯s okay. I¡¯m actually a little more worried about the criminology class I¡¯ve got to take.¡±


    Jeremy started laughing. When he stopped, he said, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯re going to be fine. I¡¯m going to need the help. I¡¯ve been looking over some of the stuff in my calculus book, and I¡¯ve got no idea how I¡¯m going to get to point where I understand the stuff in the back. Some of the stuff on the syllabus for two weeks from now looks pretty scary.¡±


    I put my fork into my scrambled eggs.


    I was doing this all wrong. It was nice of the Stapledon people to get me out of classes that would bore me, but I hadn¡¯t intended to look like this much of a freak.


    How long would it be before he connected ¡°The Rocket: inventor and genius¡± with his roommate who was always gone when the Rocket was around, and just happened to be surprisingly smart?


    Not for the first time that week, I told myself that I should have roomed with Vaughn.


    We¡¯d talked about it, but between school, the team, and the Stapledon program, it sounded like a little too much togetherness.


    At the same time, if I were rooming with Vaughn, I wouldn¡¯t have to hide anything at all. It would have made everything so much simpler.


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    ¡°What did you see last night?¡± Jeremy asked.


    ¡°When I went out to watch fight? Nothing worth mentioning. They were all running around on rooftops, and I couldn¡¯t get up high enough to see anything until the police came¡ª¡±


    ¡°Nick?¡±


    A hand touched my shoulder. I turned to find Courtney standing next to my chair.


    ¡°Oh, hey Courtney.¡±


    It still took me half a second to recognize her, and that was despite the fact that she was wearing clothes from high school¡ªa Guardian t-shirt, and jeans. Well, the jeans couldn¡¯t be from high school¡ªtoo small, but I remembered the shirt.


    Now it looked like she was deliberately wearing something oversized.


    ¡°I was hoping to catch you. Do you have time to talk?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got class in¡­¡± I checked a clock on the wall, ¡°Crap. Five minutes. I can call you afterward.¡±


    She bit her lip. ¡°That¡¯ll work. Class goes till 10, right?¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    She said good-bye, and walked after a couple of friends. I got up from the table with my tray. I was going to have to run to make it on time.


    Jeremy watched her go. ¡°How do you know someone who looks like that?¡±


    ¡°High school,¡± I said, and left.


    * * *


    Courtney said she¡¯d leave her door partly open, and that¡¯s how I recognized the room.


    The girls¡¯ side of DePuit Hall smelled better than the guys¡¯ side, or if not precisely better, more strongly of perfume and hairspray. Whoever the R.A. was had put more effort into aesthetics too. In my hall, the R.A. taped white cardboard with our names written in marker to the doors. Here, the names were neatly written on cutouts of the school mascot ¡°Wavie.¡±


    Granted, it was still kind of stupid to have the school¡¯s mascot be a wave, but it looked better than white cardboard.


    I knocked on the door, and said, ¡°Hey, it¡¯s Nick.¡±


    Courtney opened the door all the way. ¡°Hi, come in and sit anywhere. Michele¡¯s got class.¡±


    The room was a testimony to random roommate assignments. Above Courtney¡¯s desk hung a poster of Guardian and the Midwest Defenders¡ªincluding Daniel¡¯s dad.


    Meanwhile, a series of pictures of men and women stuck to the wall above the lower bunk. Almost all of the people wore cowboy hats. Many held guitars, and a few were on stage.


    I guessed they must be country musicians. I didn¡¯t recognize any of them.


    Not being able to think of anything else, I said, ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡±


    ¡°Not good,¡± she said.


    From the tone of her voice, I believed her.


    ¡°Did you know Keith¡¯s been going out with someone for a month? I saw it on Facebook.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, hoping that she hadn¡¯t called me over to talk about that.


    She didn¡¯t say anything more for a little while. Then she shut the door, and said, ¡°You can sit down.¡±


    They had a carpet on the floor, and an old, green couch.


    I sat on the couch. Courtney sat on the chair by her desk.


    ¡°Did you hear the news this morning? They made power juice a controlled substance.¡±

 Taking Control: Part 3

    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t.¡± I¡¯d been following the whole thing obviously, but not through the news.


    Well, a little through the news, but mostly through the Michigan Heroes Alliance¡¯s emails. The various states¡¯ Heroes Alliance groups had come out against it.


    Still, I¡¯d originally heard about the change last spring. I wondered what took them so long.


    Courtney barely gave me time to finish my sentence. ¡°I thought they¡¯d do something eventually, but not without more warning.¡±


    ¡°You should be okay, right? You keep your shape even without taking it, and you¡¯re making your own power juice anyway.¡±


    She started to say something, stopped, and then said, ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. They¡¯re going to watch who purchases certain ingredients now, and I¡¯ve been¡­ experimenting. Plus being able to use my powers is just better.¡±


    I thought about what she¡¯d said. ¡°Experimenting?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Nothing weird. I wanted to find out what I could do.¡±


    ¡°What did you find out?¡±


    ¡°A lot. I can control what¡¯s going on inside my body more than I thought. For example, I can change how sensitive my fingertips are, and I can stop alcohol from making me drunk.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Do you think you were metabolizing it faster, or did you make it so that your system didn¡¯t get affected by it at all?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d say I metabolized it more quickly. I felt it, but not as much.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s cool. I wonder how much you could control your body chemistry? If you think about it, you might be able to control moods, or maybe make yourself focus more deeply than normal people, or give yourself perfect recall, or I don¡¯t know¡ªlots of stuff.¡±


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    ¡°Not if I go to jail. Nick, I¡¯m officially a criminal now. I¡¯ve got a huge stash of juice hidden at my mom¡¯s house, and I can¡¯t let her find it. Even if she doesn¡¯t care what I¡¯m doing, she could go to jail if someone else finds it.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    Her hands moving nervously as she spoke, she said, ¡°I know. I know. I¡¯ll figure something out, but this is that last thing I need right now.¡±


    I knew I could do something. I could hide it in HQ, or even in Grandpa¡¯s house. The problem was that I¡¯d have to get it to her whenever she wanted more, and then I¡¯d be storing a controlled substance.


    Right, I told myself, as if the League HQ¡¯s contents didn¡¯t violate a bunch of laws even without power juice.


    Then it occurred to me that she wasn¡¯t asking for help at all.


    She sat in the chair by her desk, staring down at the floor. She wasn¡¯t crying, but her voice had a little bit of a tremor sometimes as she¡¯d talked.


    She¡¯d probably called me because with Keith out of her life, I was the only person she could talk to about this. She¡¯d called me for comfort, and I should probably give her a hug, or put my hand on her shoulder, or something.


    Except honestly, with Courtney looking like an idealized version of herself, I didn¡¯t feel comfortable with that.


    I could have said something, but nothing came to mind.


    As I tried to formulate an idea for what to do next, the sound of keys and voices came from the hall.


    The room¡¯s door opened.


    Two girls entered. The first one, the one holding the keys, had to be Michelle, Courtney¡¯s roommate, the one with the country music shrine next to her bed.


    She wasn¡¯t much taller than Haley (short), had dishwater blond hair, and smiled as she noticed the two of us.


    ¡°Sorry Courtney, I hope I wasn¡¯t interrupting?¡±


    Courtney said, ¡°No,¡± and if she was annoyed, she didn¡¯t show it. ¡°Michelle, this is Nick. He¡¯s a friend from high school.¡±


    Michelle smiled at me, ¡°Hi Nick, when I opened the door, I thought you might be her mysterious ex-boyfriend.¡±


    Courtney shook her head slowly, ¡°That will not ever happen.¡±


    Michelle gave a short laugh, and turned to the girl behind her, ¡°Everybody, this is Melanie. I just met her in my freshman composition class.¡±


    Taller than Michelle, Melanie had hair so blond it was practically white, and she seemed a little thin--the kind of thin where you worry about her health, not the kind that people compliment.


    Then I recognized her. She¡¯d gone to my high school¡¯s prom with Logan, a guy who, after taking power juice, turned into a monster and tried to eat everyone in the school.


    Worse, she¡¯d taken it too, and she had telepathy or something like it.


    Melanie¡¯s eyes narrowed as she looked at me. ¡°I know you from somewhere.¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah¡­ Central High¡¯s prom.¡±


    Her eyes widened. ¡°I was so wasted that night.¡±

 Taking Control: Part 4

    Melanie shook her head, ¡°You all heard about that prom, right?¡±


    ¡°I was there,¡± Courtney said, sounding annoyed.


    Michelle, confused, said, ¡°I¡¯m not from here. I¡¯m from Traverse City, so if something special happened, I don¡¯t know about it.¡±


    ¡°You heard about it,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s the one where a guy turned into a monster and attacked people in the gym, and the Heroes League took him out?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said, sounding shocked, ¡°that prom. They were talking about it on the news for weeks. That was when people started using that¡­ power juice stuff?¡±


    Right there I guessed that Courtney hadn¡¯t told Michelle that Keith had been the guy who got famous for demonstrating power juice, breaking his arm in the process. I felt sure she wouldn¡¯t thank me for explaining it either.


    ¡°Logan, the guy who turned into a monster? He was Melanie¡¯s date,¡± I said.


    Michelle¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°No¡­¡±


    Melanie nodded. ¡°Oh yeah. I took the stuff too. He turned into this thing, and I could read minds or something. I¡¯d already drunk a lot of Jack Daniels, and it felt weird. Just strange. It was like I was in this crowd of people who just wouldn¡¯t stop talking.


    ¡°It¡¯s a great story for parties,¡± she said. ¡°Everyone¡¯s got bad date stories, but I¡¯ve got the worst date.¡±


    She looked down toward where I sat on the couch. ¡°What happened to you? We were talking, and then Logan turned into a thing. Where did you go?¡±


    ¡°I got caught up in the fog.¡± That¡¯s what I¡¯d been telling people anyhow.


    She nodded. ¡°Me too.¡±


    ¡°Keith and I were on the other side of it.¡± Courtney sounded tired.


    I wondered if I should do something, but what was there to do? Anyway, I did have a question. ¡°Whatever happened to Logan? I didn¡¯t see him at all after prom.¡±


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    Melanie shrugged. ¡°I saw him a little during the summer. I guess he¡¯s in some college program, but it¡¯s got something to do with the government. Maybe he¡¯s in the army?¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± I didn¡¯t think the army would take someone with his drug use problems, and I knew he wasn¡¯t in the Stapledon program. I would have noticed that. I really would have noticed that.


    It didn¡¯t seem likely that they had special program for people with bad reactions to power juice. I could see someone wanting to study him though.


    ¡°I should get to class,¡± Courtney said. She grabbed a notebook and a couple textbooks, and put them in a backpack.


    I got up, and walked out the door with her. When the door shut, I said, ¡°If your class is at eleven, it doesn¡¯t start for at least half an hour.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°I know. I didn¡¯t want to be there anymore. Michelle¡¯s nice, but I don¡¯t want to talk about prom.¡±


    We stood there in the hallway. We weren¡¯t the only ones. Halfway down the hall, someone said, ¡°Hurry, they¡¯re only serving breakfast for ten more minutes.¡± Plus, a bunch of the doors were open.


    ¡°Do you want to go outside?¡± Courtney looked down the hall.


    I said, ¡°Sure.¡± We walked down the stairs to the ground floor, and out of the building.


    Not all that many people were around. Most of them were on the sidewalks, and we walked on to the lawn. No one stood near us.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I dragged you over here.¡± She frowned. ¡°I needed to talk to someone, and you¡¯re the only one who knows anything about it.¡±


    She looked around us, probably checking how close people were. ¡°I¡¯m also sorry if you feel uncomfortable. You¡¯re Keith¡¯s friend, and it¡¯s really unfair of me to complain about him to you.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± I said. It was. Keith hadn¡¯t been as much a friend as an acquaintance that I knew pretty well. Anyway, if I felt uncomfortable, it wasn¡¯t because of him.


    * * *


    After my last class of the day (organic chemistry lab), I walked to the parking garage. Outside of driving to the League¡¯s headquarters, it was the only place I knew I could get some privacy.


    I walked up to the third floor of the garage, giving a look over the ledge in front of the van. Half of campus lay in front of me¡ªresidence halls, lecture halls, GLU¡¯s recreation center, railroad tracks, and past them old factories, and old houses, most of them rented by students.


    I got into the van, pulled the curtain, and sat in the back with most of the stealth suit, the guitar, our utility belts and our costumes. When I bought the van, I¡¯d put in hooks to hang things on, and put in shelves, but it was still messy.


    I sat in a bucket seat, trying not to step on anybody¡¯s costume, hoping I wouldn¡¯t discover anybody¡¯s underwear.


    I pulled out my League phone, and called Isaac Lim.


    He answered, and his picture appeared on my screen. Black haired, with light brown skin, he wore a black suit, and stood in front of a gray wall. It appeared to be painted metal as opposed to rock or a normal wall. Could he be on a ship?


    ¡°Nick,¡± he said. ¡° What¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got some questions. A bunch, actually. I¡¯m wondering if you know anything about that guy we fought last night, if someone I know could get into the Stapledon program, and if you know anything about Logan, the guy who attacked people at prom last year? Plus, what¡¯s up with the power juice ban? Can anyone use it legally?¡±

 Taking Control: Part 5

    Isaac turned his head to look down the hall¡ªor so I assumed. The gray wall on my screen could just as easily have been outside.


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of questions, and I¡¯m in the middle of something. We¡¯ll have to make this quick.


    In the background a series of baritone horn blasts sounded. An alarm?


    ¡°Do you have to go?¡±


    ¡°No. It¡¯s been like this for the last hour here. Let¡¯s try to cover what we can...


    "To get the easy stuff out of the way first, I don¡¯t know anything about Logan. We did the initial interview once the juice wore off, but we passed him on to the CIA¡¯s labs because they had better facilities. I don¡¯t know what happened after that. Do you need to know?¡±


    Did I need to? Not really, but it would have been nice.


    Keeping my voice quiet so that it wouldn¡¯t be heard outside the van, I said, ¡°Just curious. I haven¡¯t seen him since then.


    ¡°Then about the Stapledon program¡ªnope. We can¡¯t take anyone else. We¡¯re on our way to go over our budget already. They¡¯ve been running anybody with the right connections through the M.E.D., and between that and the kids with new powers we¡¯ve got the biggest class ever. We set aside ten times as many slots in the program this year and used every one of them. They won¡¯t open any more.¡±


    Isaac sighed. ¡°So this friend of yours with the powers, what kind does he have?¡±


    ¡°Appearance. She can change what she looks like, and I guess quite a bit inside herself too.¡± I paused, trying to think of something that might persuade him. ¡°It¡¯d be useful for undercover work.¡±


    He nodded, not showing any special eagerness.


    ¡°If she wants to use her powers, I¡¯d tell her to join the military.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve been testing their people. They¡¯ve put a few into Stapledon¡ªpeople from the military academies mostly. We suspect they¡¯ve got hundreds of people using power juice now. It¡¯s legal for military use. Plus, that way they¡¯ve only got powers while they¡¯re in the service. They only run people they can trust through the M.E.D¡¯s.¡±


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    ¡°OK. What¡¯s an M.E.D.?¡±


    ¡°Metahuman Expression Device. It¡¯s a better name than ¡®power impregnator.¡¯¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t take much.¡±


    Isaac grinned. ¡°Can¡¯t argue with that. Anyway, have her contact a military recruiter, or wait for a year, and we¡¯ll get her into the program. In the meantime, keep her off the juice. If she gets caught, the program won¡¯t take her.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see Courtney joining the military, and convincing her to wait would mean I¡¯d have to tell her I was the Rocket.


    ¡°Um¡­ Any chance we could run her through an M.E.D.? That way she¡¯d have powers and wouldn¡¯t be tempted.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Isaac said. ¡°Not quickly. She¡¯d have to pass the background check, and after that, she¡¯d be at the end of a very long line. If you want it to happen, you¡¯ve got the pull, but we¡¯re still going to consider whether it¡¯s worth the risk.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± I thought about that. ¡°Is there any way she could use power juice legally?¡±


    ¡°In the long run, yes,¡± he said, making another quick check to the right. ¡°Not now though. We¡¯re still working on the details of that. Right now, we¡¯re getting it off the street.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Why? The obvious, Nick. It¡¯s hard enough for your average cop to handle a supervillain. We don¡¯t need three times as many.¡±


    ¡°I was thinking more along the lines of ¡®Why now?¡¯¡±


    ¡°Not a bad question. It¡¯s politics. Last spring we floated the idea to the big guys in the superhero community. We thought they¡¯d be all for it, but they weren¡¯t. Some of them didn¡¯t like the idea of the government regulating powers, but a lot of them¡­ Well, you know how they say powers skip a generation?¡±


    ¡°Yeah."


    Isaac smiled, quietly amused at something.


    ¡°It turns out they don¡¯t. It¡¯s just difficult to make them active. A lot of supers had started letting their non-powered kids use power juice to get around it. Once we learned that, we offered them the use of M.E.D.¡¯s and that was the end of the problem.¡±


    So basically Courtney would have to wait until the rush on the government owned power impregnators was over. I could probably get ours working with her powers before then.


    A boom came from Isaac¡¯s end of the connection. He kept his cool, but said, ¡°Is that all?¡±


    ¡°I think so.¡±


    Looking squarely into the camera, he said, ¡°Good. Then I¡¯ve got something important to pass on. The Nine have something big going on, and we¡¯ve good reason to believe Cassie¡¯s a target.¡±


    Crud. I¡¯d forgotten to bring up Cassie¡¯s ¡°brother¡±¡­


    ¡°Nick,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯re putting people in place to watch all of you, and in case you¡¯re thinking of taking the Nine on, don¡¯t. They¡¯re not Syndicate L. They¡¯ve got powered people throughout the organization, and even the normal people are armed with advanced technology. Plus, we¡¯ve reason to believe they¡¯re trying to reverse engineer Abominator tech.¡±


    ¡°OK. We¡¯ll call you if we see anything.¡±


    ¡°You definitely will,¡± he said, ¡°and we¡¯ll send in the Midwest Defenders. The word is that the mission is being run directly by one of the Nine. Let us handle it.¡±

 Being Watched: Part 1

    On Monday night, Vaughn, Cassie, and I sat together in ¡°Criminology 101.¡± We weren¡¯t alone. Julie and Shannon were with us.


    We sat in a darkened room, looked up at the screen, and watched the professor talk. This would have been normal for a distance learning class except for a few details. First, we were sitting in League HQ. We could have been sitting in a room at the University, but then we¡¯d have been sitting together with Sean, Dayton, and Jody.


    It would have been a little awkward for all of us in a variety of different ways. Awkward for me, because Sean and I didn¡¯t get along especially well. Awkward for Cassie and Vaughn, because they were friends of mine and knew Sean. Awkward for Julie and Shannon, because they had been on a team with Sean.


    The other detail that made things a little different from your typical distance learning class was that the professor on the screen was in costume¡ªspecifically, a brown costume with a texture that suggested feathers.


    Before he¡¯d retired, people called him Chicago Hawk. In class, people still called him Chicago Hawk.


    The lecture hadn¡¯t been bad either, but it had also been three hours long. Presumably that saved the program money¡ªthey only had to set up the equipment in the various universities once a week, right?


    ¡°Remember,¡± he said, his voice scratchy, ¡°that¡¯s eighty pages to read by next week. I¡¯ll know if you¡¯re not prepared. And don¡¯t forget that next weekend we¡¯re all meeting in person. You should have already received your instructions.¡±


    After the screen blacked out, Julie threw back her head, leaning back in her chair. ¡°Eighty pages? Doesn¡¯t he realize we¡¯ve got other classes?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take the reading over calculus any day,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°I¡¯ve got problems due on Wednesday.¡±


    Pushing herself up, and out of the chair, Julie said, ¡°I haven¡¯t even touched calculus yet. Hey Shannon, are you ready to go?¡±


    She grabbed her books, and stuffed them into her backpack.


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    Shannon smiled a little, and said, ¡°Almost.¡± She turned toward the table where Cassie, Vaughn, and I were still sitting.


    ¡°Thanks for telling us you were having classes here. It would have been really weird to sit with Sean and the guys after everything.¡±


    Julie picked up her backpack, and hung it over her shoulder by one strap. ¡°I don¡¯t even want to think about that. At least I can avoid him when we¡¯re meeting in the big group.¡±


    As Shannon and Julie walked away, I reflected on how different they were. They were cousins, but they weren¡¯t much alike. Shannon had dark hair, wore clothes that never registered in mind, and seemed to be in a good mood most of the time. Julie had light hair, wore clothes that seemed to show a little more skin than average, and complained a lot.


    Okay, maybe that wasn¡¯t fair to her, but that was my impression.


    Once the elevator door closed and started carrying them to the surface, Vaughn said, ¡°Did you know Julie and Sean were dating last year?¡±


    I turned toward him. I don¡¯t know the expression on my face, but Vaughn grinned as I made it. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s about the worst couple I can imagine.¡±


    Vaughn threw up his hands. ¡°Not my fault, but yeah, it was pretty bad.¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°Over. Topic closed. Let¡¯s move on. My mom¡¯s practically got me under house arrest since the attack last week. Nick, do you know anything?¡±


    ¡°Nothing I haven¡¯t told you. We¡¯re being watched by the Feds, and they¡¯re keeping us safe, I guess. At least that¡¯s what Isaac says.¡±


    Cassie snorted. ¡°Just like we were when Ray or Prime¡¯s people came after us? I¡¯m not impressed.¡±


    I sat up a little straighter in my chair. ¡°I know. I told you what he said.¡±


    Vaughn looked over at each of us, ¡°Who do you think the Nine are sending? There are a lot of those guys. Could even be Dr. Mind, right? That guy was permanently after your dad.¡±


    Cassie frowned. ¡°Vaughn, Dr. Mind¡¯s dead. He died in the same raid where Dad and the League found me.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°I forgot.¡±


    I tapped away at the keyboard, calling up Dr. Mind¡¯s Wikipedia entry, and displaying it on the twenty foot tall screen. ¡°That was always really bizarre. The original Captain Commando versus a brain in a jar? Usually he had piles of minions or powered armor, but it was still pretty weird.¡±


    Cassie stared at the table, not listening to me. ¡°I heard him talk about someone called Six or Sixer. I¡¯ve been thinking about it all week. Who¡¯s that?¡±


    I searched for the Nine on Google, but didn¡¯t find anything I didn¡¯t already know.


    ¡°It says here,¡± I said, ¡°that the Nine call the higher ups by number to confuse outsiders.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s working,¡± Vaughn said.


    I skimmed across the entry, and decided I¡¯d have to look at the Feds'' information to get anywhere.


    ¡°It might be their powered armor guy,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure Rook was one of Dr. Mind¡¯s followers.¡±

 Being Watched: Part 2

    ¡°Great,¡± Cassie said, ¡°Is he a Nazi too?¡±


    ¡°Dunno,¡± I said, and tapped away at the computer, heading for the Feds¡¯ supers database.


    Vaughn said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you the guy who knows this stuff? You¡¯re on the Double V forums all the time.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, but I don¡¯t know everything. The Nine keep a low profile. Everybody knows they do stuff because sometimes they take credit for things, but they employ supers, and they¡¯re an organization. So when supers show up, you never know if it¡¯s one of the higher ups or some mid-level guy.¡±


    I watched as our system passed our key, and then got an encrypted response from the other server. When it verified that it came from the Feds, we could assume that we¡¯d logged into the real server instead of some impostor.


    A little later, I¡¯d searched out the Nine¡¯s entry. I displayed it on HQ¡¯s twenty foot tall screen.


    We started reading.


    ¡°An organization with global reach, the Nine is best known for its mysterious nine leaders¡­¡±


    I skimmed downward.


    ¡°The Nine¡¯s operations include legitimate companies, but also support of political organizations, some with ties to terrorists, and even revolutionary groups. The group owns its companies indirectly, often using corporate entities that exist only on paper¡­¡±


    It offered a link listing front companies and the organizations they¡¯d supposedly owned as well as individuals said to be working with them. The names were meaningless to me.


    I kept on reading.


    ¡°Our first evidence of the Nine comes from the raid the Heroes League made on Dr. Mind¡¯ facilities that resulted in the acquisition of a toddler with a combination of Captain Commando¡¯s DNA, DNA from an unknown donor, and nonhuman DNA. Following up on the communications attempts that followed the raid revealed worldwide connections. Further research indicated that these communications occurred regularly, and that Dr. Mind¡¯s supplies had been ordered by individuals on other continents with no known ties to his organization.¡±


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    The entry listed operations where the Nine were likely involved in what was going on.


    I read the whole thing, and clicked through to read related pages when Cassie and Vaughn caught up.


    I didn¡¯t, in the end, find a list of who specifically ran the Nine.


    ¡°Terrorists,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°These guys fund terrorists.¡±


    Cassie and Vaughn had logged into the database on their own.


    ¡°And political parties. And they don¡¯t seem to have a problem bribing or blackmailing government officials either. It looks like they¡¯re all about behind-the-scenes power,¡± Cassie said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn stared at his screen, ¡°the Feds think they¡¯ve got connections in corporations all over too. I¡¯d say these guys want to take over the world, but it looks like it might be too late.¡±


    From the sound of their voices, they were impressed, and maybe a little shocked.


    So was I. If they had as many connections as it seemed like, it couldn¡¯t be long before they got into whatever database listed all of our real names.


    Of course, we didn¡¯t have access to that one either. I¡¯d checked. So maybe we were more secure than I¡¯d expect.


    ¡°Umm¡­¡±I said. ¡°Totally different subject, but I¡¯d like to know what you think. You remember Courtney from school? I¡¯m thinking about fixing up our power impregnator, and letting her use it.¡±


    Both Vaughn and Cassie looked up from their computer screens.


    Cassie said, ¡°What?¡±


    Vaughn cocked his head, and then shook it. ¡°Whoa. She doesn¡¯t know about, you know, all of this, right?¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t told her anything. I was just thinking that it might be a good idea to let her use her powers legally instead of illegally. She¡¯s going to use them anyway, and if she owes us, that¡¯s a good thing. Otherwise she¡¯s going to have to steal stuff to brew her own power juice, or find someone else with a power impregnator.¡±


    Cassie stood up. ¡°I know for a fact that the government¡¯s got a bunch of power impregnators these days. What¡¯s wrong with talking to them?¡±


    ¡°I talked to Isaac. I think it can happen if I try to pull strings, but I guess that there¡¯s a line. A bunch of supers'' kids are going through as part of a political deal.¡±


    ¡°Deal?¡± Cassie looked over at Vaughn, but from his face it was obvious he didn¡¯t know what I was talking about, so she turned back to me.


    I explained it.


    Listening, her face seemed to get redder as my explanation went on. ¡°That is so messed up!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°I think that¡¯s the way these things get done. Everybody cuts a deal.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Not like this. For all we know, the government hasn¡¯t gotten around the whole psychotic side effect problem¡ªwhich is not good at all if they¡¯re running everyone through it. If they did figure it out, it ought to be open to everybody.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Vaughn said, either sounding calmer than Cassie, or faking it better, ¡°but I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll open it up soon, right?¡±


    He caught my eye.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°Isaac never said anything about opening it up to the public. Actually, it sounds like they¡¯re keeping the power impregnator as quiet as possible.¡±

 Being Watched: Part 3

    ¡°Yeah?¡± Vaughn looked mildly annoyed. ¡°Cassie¡¯s right. That is messed up. Remember that lecture of Mr. Beacham¡¯s? The one where he compared supers to some kind of medieval warrior class?¡±


    Everybody in our high school knew about that lecture. I¡¯d felt that it had been over-hyped at the time.


    It seemed more insightful now.


    It made sense, actually. When people with powers came into the picture, democracy could only last as long as they believed in it, and even if they did, it would be tempting for any government to bend things to keep them happy.


    I said, ¡°I remember it. That was the class that convinced Sean that Justice Fist ought to be open with identities.¡±


    Cassie gave a short laugh. ¡°That worked great for them.¡±


    I supposed that he couldn¡¯t be insightful for the entire lecture.


    * * *


    On Friday night, around 7 pm, we landed on an airstrip in the middle of a grassy field. In the twilight, I couldn¡¯t see any farms or houses nearby. Given that it was dark, I couldn¡¯t reasonably expect to, but even when we¡¯d been in the air, I¡¯d barely seen any lights around where we¡¯d landed.


    The airstrip¡¯s lights had flickered off as the plane rolled into the hangar, one of three identical buildings made of gray, corrugated metal.


    We¡¯d flown in a nearly windowless MD-11 (the successor to the DC-10) that had been painted to look like a Fedex plane.


    Inside the stripped down interior of the cargo plane, it was harder to take seriously the idea that we were some kind of privileged group.


    Even though the plane had seats, there was no carpet, just yellow lines in the aisles. Pipes, wires, fire extinguishers, and insulation hung from the top and sides.


    Rachel had boarded earlier and noticed me eying all the exposed components as I walked in. She kicked my foot as I passed, and said, ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything.¡±


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    Given the surroundings, I shouldn¡¯t need to say it, but we didn¡¯t have any kind of in-flight entertainment.


    We disembarked inside the hangar, taking elevators down with our luggage.


    The doors opened into a hallway of gray concrete, lit by florescent lights. Blue arrows on the floor gave the hall its only hint of color.


    Once we were out of the hallway, any illusions I might have had were blown away.


    The metal doors opened into a big room. On the one hand, it was obviously an underground, concrete bunker. On the other hand, it was probably the nicest bunker in the world. The open area between the rows of rooms had couches, big screen TV¡¯s, and chairs. Carpet covered the floor except for the sections with dark stained hardwood.


    Clusters of green plants made the room feel less industrial, and the smell of food reminded me that I hadn¡¯t eaten since lunch.


    I placed my luggage in Daniel¡¯s and my room, and followed everyone else to the dining area.


    * * *


    After dinner, I went back to the room. It was twice, possibly three times as large as my dorm room.


    I considered turning on the television, but didn¡¯t really feel like watching TV. I had a couple books in my backpack, and almost decided to read one when Daniel came in with Isabel and Jaclyn.


    It still seemed weird to see Izzy here with us¡ªand not just weird for me.


    She glanced back as she shut the door behind her, and when she turned back to us, she smiled nervously.


    To Daniel, she said, ¡°What did you want to talk about?¡±


    ¡°Nothing in particular,¡± he said. ¡°I thought we¡¯d just hang out.¡±


    Untouched by anybody, the television turned on.


    As the channels flipped over to a movie channel, I felt his presence in my mind, and not just his¡ªJaclyn¡¯s and Izzy¡¯s too.


    Sorry everybody, I feel like I have to keep this quiet in case someone¡¯s hearing is good enough to hear us talk. Let¡¯s all sit down and pretend we¡¯re watching the movie.


    Izzy sat in one of the chairs near the TV. It looked a little small when she sat in it.


    Jaclyn sat on the couch.


    I thought at Daniel, Private message¡­ Not that I don¡¯t trust her, but why are you bringing Izzy into this?


    She¡¯s got an outside perspective. We¡¯ve all grown up with this in one way or another.


    Then I felt everybody¡¯s minds again.


    Now, for real, Jaclyn thought at us. What¡¯s going on?


    I¡¯d told Daniel about Courtney during supper. We¡¯d agreed that if I were going to run her through the power impregnator that we all ought to talk about it because we were all going to get in trouble if it went wrong.


    I explained about Courtney, the power impregnator, and what Isaac said about the ¡°deal¡± the government had made.


    So, I told them, I¡¯m thinking through whether I should let Courtney use our power impregnator, and maybe other people too.

 Being Watched: Part 4

    Jaclyn shook her head. Knowing how Grandpa was treated at the beginning of the war, I¡¯m the last person who should be saying, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, the government will do the right thing in the end," but do you know that they won¡¯t?


    I considered it. I don¡¯t. Honestly, I really think they will eventually, but I don¡¯t know how long that¡¯ll be, and well, you know about Lee and everything. If that¡¯s Abominator tech, it¡¯s likely to be booby trapped.


    I sensed confusion from Izzy.


    Who¡¯s Lee?


    Oops. I hadn¡¯t meant to pass that on. I felt a pulse of worry from Jaclyn.


    A friend of my grandfather who knows a bit about Abominator tech. Anyway, it¡¯s not just the way they¡¯re using it for politics, I¡¯m worried they might not be taking appropriate precautions.


    Daniel¡¯s mental presence, quietly but solidly there, slipped into the conversation. I haven¡¯t sensed anything wrong with anyone who went through the government version of the power impregnator.


    A flash of interest from Jaclyn, You can sense the difference?


    No, Daniel said, but I know which of the kids here went through it. They¡¯re happy, not deranged.


    Got it, Jaclyn thought. I¡¯m not against running people through our power impregnator if we¡¯ve got a reason, but I don¡¯t want to get in trouble. I know they want us in the program, but this is big enough that they could throw us out. Do any of you have a backup plan for paying for school if this falls through? I had to refuse the scholarships I got when the government stepped in to pay for everything.


    Izzy started in with a blast of emotion intense enough that I couldn¡¯t name it.


    You can¡¯t let this go because of college. This isn¡¯t right. There¡¯s enough of an imbalance between supers and everyone else without keeping powers within the same group of people and their kids. We should be telling people what¡¯s going on. This should be in the news.


    Uh¡­ No. I paused to organize my thoughts. I¡¯m a little worried about everyone knowing. Someone I know did research and leaving power juice in your system when you go through the power impregnator will likely mess you up for good. I don¡¯t want a bunch of Red Lightnings out there.


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    Another blast of intense emotion from Izzy. What¡¯s going to make it safe is if people all over are testing and examining it, and the government has to address it openly.


    I don¡¯t know, Daniel thought. I think if it got out, the government would make it illegal immediately with the need for more testing as an excuse¡ªjust like they are with power juice.


    I sensed Izzy stifle her first response, but then she thought, That might be true, but I still think we need to help people outside of here get powers. And we shouldn''t stop there. We should go to our handlers, tell them we know what they¡¯re doing, and that it¡¯s not right.


    I caught a feeling of impatience from Jaclyn, and then she thought, If we were going to talk to them, wouldn¡¯t it be better to just talk to them and not run anybody through? If anybody finds out we¡¯re giving people powers, they¡¯ll do what they can to shut us down. If we¡¯re only arguing with them, they might listen. If we¡¯re arguing, and deliberately working against them, they¡¯ll never listen, and we¡¯ll get in trouble.


    This wasn¡¯t quite what I had in mind with the discussion.


    I wasn¡¯t ever thinking about making a political statement. I just wanted to help Courtney. I don¡¯t even know anyone else I¡¯d consider, so this might just be a one time thing.¡±


    Why Courtney? Jaclyn asked.


    I thought about it. Well¡­ She wants to do something, and I think she¡¯ll keep on using power juice one way or the other. Plus, I know she wants permanent powers. If she gets them from us, it¡¯s better than someone else. She might help us.


    And she might go nuts. Jaclyn said.


    Right. Now we were getting into territory I¡¯d already thought through. Believe me, I¡¯m going to look into that before I do anything. I don¡¯t want to create another Red Lightning.


    * * *


    We spent Saturday morning learning first aid from Guardian, who as I remembered was a doctor in normal life.


    He stood there in his silver uniform, muscles outlined under the fabric, talking about first aid. Seeing him up there with gauze, bandages, gloves, and tape laid out in front of him on the desk struck me as weird.


    Alex sat at the desk next to me, playing with his pencil, smiling a bit as Guardian said, ¡°All of you need to learn first aid. The skills could save your life and the lives of your friends¡­¡±


    He didn¡¯t pretend to be interested either. You¡¯d think he might when you considered he was dating Brooke, Guardian¡¯s daughter.


    Four hours of lecture, demonstration, and practicing later, we moved on to the next class¡ªbasic combat training.


    We met in the gym, and I recognized the instructor. He had a blond, buzz cut, wore camouflage, and stood around six and half feet tall. Weapons from various eras lay on the concrete floor in front of him, ranging from knives to swords to pole arms to automatic rifles.


    He introduced himself as Gunther, but I didn¡¯t need to hear the name.


    It was one of Lee¡¯s forms.

 Being Watched: Part 5

    He¡¯d never told anyone exactly what he was, but when Lee took a form, it became near impossible to think of him by any name but the one he¡¯d chosen.


    Gunther smiled at us, a wide grin full of white teeth.


    Picking up a long spear from the pile of weapons in front of him, he said, ¡°Today we¡¯re going to talk about the Greek phalanx¡ªnot because I expect you to fight with spears, but because of what it represents.


    ¡°The Greeks, and most armies that were any good, fought as a group, not as a bunch of heroes who happened to be on the same side. They had shields that covered themselves and the man next to them.


    ¡°Sometimes you¡¯ll be in that situation. Sometimes you¡¯ll be fighting enemies alone. What I intend to teach you is when to fight in formation, when not to, and when to avoid fighting at all. I¡¯m told that other people will talk about loyalty, duty, courage and other values you¡¯ll need to live up to, but let¡¯s be honest, that¡¯s not my field.¡±


    Gunther grinned briefly, and started class moving. We spent most of the time doing a series of games and exercises that used simple formations without any real fighting or power use.


    I stuck around after class, stuck around until the last person left. The last person being Dayton, one of Sean¡¯s friends.


    Dayton could see any technique and mimic it. He was going to get a lot out of training with Gunther.


    Anyway, the metal door shut behind him, closing with an audible click as the bolt slid into place.


    Gunther in turn shifted form, changing into an Asian man with shoulder length, black hair, wearing a shimmery blue, button down shirt and black jeans. He was a little shorter than six feet now¡ªaround my height.


    It was the form I was more used to seeing him in. He tended to fulfill people¡¯s expectations. His ¡°Gunther¡± identity had been what the Nazis got when they attempted to call up an immortal warrior. Grandpa had met him in that form, and he¡¯d ended up associated with the Heroes League.


    ¡°Lee¡± had been the form he¡¯d used when starting up a martial arts studio in the 1950¡¯s.


    ¡°Seeing you here was bit of a shock,¡± I said. ¡°The government¡¯s got you on the National Security Threat List.¡±


    Lee picked up a spear, and twirled it around like a baton. ¡°So I¡¯ve heard, but this isn¡¯t a government installation.¡±


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    ¡°No?¡±


    Lee stopped twirling the spear, and threw it toward the concrete wall. The point sunk in, disappearing while the shaft quivered.


    ¡°You¡¯re in a joint program. The Defenders have money too¡ªin the form of a foundation, and some deep pocketed donors. This is their training facility. Whenever you¡¯re here, I¡¯ll be teaching. When you¡¯re on a government base, you¡¯ll have different people, but I still might show up if I¡¯m in the mood.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, wondering what would happen if he did show up unexpectedly. ¡°Well, that wasn¡¯t the main reason I stayed¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± Lee said. He didn¡¯t seem surprised. Immortality had easily given him time to develop enough social awareness to detect geeks with ulterior motives.


    ¡°¡ªI was really hoping to ask you some questions.¡±


    Lee looked up toward the corner of the room. A camera hung there. It wasn¡¯t the only one. Cameras hung in each corner of the room, and from the ceiling.


    ¡°Private questions?¡± He asked.


    I thought about that. ¡°They don¡¯t have to be.¡± I said. Then I tried to think of how best to phrase them so I didn¡¯t give away too much.


    ¡°I know the power impregnator was an Abominator thing. Was power juice? No one ever said it was, but it seems logical.¡±


    Lee nodded.


    I thought some more. ¡°You said that lots of Abominator stuff contained traps. How well did Grandpa do with the power impregnator? I know what happened to Red Lightning, but was it the machine, the juice, what?¡±


    Lee picked up a sword, gave a practice swing. ¡°They did a good job with the power impregnator. I¡¯m not a techie, but I doubt that was the problem. He was a little off before they ran him through the machine.¡±


    Lee lay the sword back on the floor. ¡°That it?¡±


    ¡°No. What about the combination of the two?¡±


    ¡°That couldn¡¯t help.¡±


    ¡°Have you seen any modern versions of the power impregnator or power juice? What did you think?¡±


    Lee smiled at me. ¡°Haven¡¯t seen a new power impregnator, but if they¡¯re based on your grandfather¡¯s design, things should be okay. As for the juice, well¡­ I¡¯d say the government¡¯s new version is safer than the original, but I don¡¯t know how much.¡±


    So in Lee¡¯s opinion, even the new power juice might be risky. In that light, the government¡¯s ban might be a good thing. On the other hand, Lee couldn¡¯t know for sure.


    ¡°OK,¡± I said. ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Lee put his hands in his pockets. ¡°You¡¯re missing something.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The traps are a sham. Sure, they¡¯re real. Sure, people can go nuts, but that¡¯s not it. People are supposed to notice the traps and remove them. The real trap is something people won¡¯t ever remove.¡±


    Lee eyed the door, and took a step toward it.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The powers themselves. That¡¯s the beauty of it all. In the lifecycle of a normal species, powers show up around the time the species figures out how to do most of the same stuff with technology. They¡¯ve had years to adjust their culture, and set up rules about what¡¯s appropriate, and what¡¯s not. With you guys, and all the other species the Abominators modified, you¡¯re getting these abilities long before you can actually handle them¡ªat least in theory.


    ¡°I mean, think about it, if some guy can crack the planet with his mind, how are you going to stop him? And if you do, what if he¡¯s got kids? Or cousins? No, the next hundred years or so are going to be interesting.


    ¡°Chances are, the power levels are going to rise.¡±

 Being Watched: Part 6

    After we finished talking, Lee said, ¡°The advanced class is coming in soon. I¡¯d have you stay except you¡¯re already going to stick out.¡±


    ¡°I am?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve been training with me for years. You¡¯ll stick out. Oh¡­ And by the way, bring the full suit next time. You¡¯ll need the protection.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Count on it.¡±


    Not long after that, I walked out of the door, finding a group of ten people waiting outside.


    I recognized a few. Rod, a bearded, but otherwise typical college guy, and Sam, a sorceress of Pakistani or Indian descent. I couldn¡¯t remember which. She said, ¡°Hi, Nick.¡± Rod gave a wave.


    Cassie knew them somehow. They were a year ahead of us.


    It felt a little weird that they recognized me, but I¡¯d pulled them out of an invasion of fishmen during the summer. You don¡¯t forget something like that.


    Plus, Grandpa had left the identity of the Rocket with a massive reputation to live up to, so everyone next to them probably recognized me too.


    The group of them filed into the gym, and I was alone in the hall. Alone amid gray concrete walls, I walked my way back toward the bunker¡¯s inhabited section.


    If I¡¯d wanted to avoid thinking about Grandpa, I couldn¡¯t have. The Defenders had decorated with pictures of important moments in history for superheroes. Ranging from the World War 2 era, pre-Heroes League group called the ¡°Victory Squad¡± to the last gasp of the Abominators in the 1970¡¯s, Grandpa seemed to appear everywhere.


    Nearing my room, I turned the corner to see Dayton¡ªDayton, as in one of Sean¡¯s friends. Dayton, who stood a head taller than me, and had become even more muscular last spring after Vaughn¡¯s uncle ran every member of Justice Fist through his own version of the power impregnator.


    ¡°Hey Nick,¡± Dayton grinned at me, showing no trace of the animosity I usually saw in Sean. ¡°How long have you been training with that guy?¡±


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    If it had been Sean, I might have ignored him and kept on walking, but aside from one fight, Dayton had always been decent to me.


    I stopped, and thought about the question. ¡°Well, officially since I was twelve. My grandfather gave me free martial arts lessons as a Christmas gift and Gunther was my teacher. The thing is, I¡¯d already known him for years before then. He¡¯d been teaching me things even before he¡¯d officially started training me.¡±


    Thinking back, whatever form Lee wore, he¡¯d always been training me. Even the games he¡¯d played with me as a little kid were all obviously about strategy and tactics. Some of them had taught me basic fighting moves, and I couldn''t have been older than six.


    Dayton nodded, ¡°Thought so. Remember when Jody, Sean, and I fought you, and you kicked our butts? I asked you afterward where you took martial arts, and you told me a studio. It was good, but nothing like this guy. Did you know you move like him?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Did I move like him? I didn¡¯t try to except when he told me to¡ªwhich happened a lot in class. If anyone would notice, it would be Dayton. His real power was the ability to pick up skills by watching people use them.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty cool. He¡¯s always walking as if he expects to be attacked, and he¡¯s always watching for it. You¡¯re not exactly the same, but you do a lot of the same things.¡±


    I probably wasn¡¯t watching for nearly as many different possible attacks as he was.


    Dayton put his hand to his chin and thought for a second. ¡°You know, the way you walk doesn¡¯t make you look nearly as cocky as he does either.¡±


    That managed to get me to laugh a little. ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡±


    Dayton laughed too. ¡°Yeah, I bet he thinks he can take on anybody. Don¡¯t take that wrong. I¡¯m getting the feeling he can.¡±


    ¡°Could be,¡± I said.


    Dayton checked quickly to either side, ¡°Um¡­ I don¡¯t want to bug you about this. I know Sean¡¯s been a jerk to you, but if you could¡ª¡±


    Sean¡¯s voice interrupted him. Dayton and I turned toward the noise, and saw Sean walking down the hall, about fifty feet behind Dayton.


    ¡°Oh,¡± he said as he saw me, and didn¡¯t say anything else.


    On the whole, I saw that as an improvement.


    ¡°Talk to you later,¡± Dayton said, gave me a wave and walked toward Sean.


    I stood in the hall, wondering what that had been about. Had Dayton just talked to me so he could bring Sean up, or had that been a spur of the moment thing?


    What had he been planning to ask, anyway?


    All I could say for sure was that Sean wasn¡¯t in on it. Otherwise he would have finished, right?


    Haley had said Dayton seemed like the only decent guy among Sean¡¯s friends back when she¡¯d been dating Sean. I could see that, even if I felt like his loyalty was misplaced.


    Crazy to think Vaughn¡¯s uncle had sent Sean and his friends through the power impregnator (without much opposition I''d bet, even though some of them were seriously screwed up) while I had to slowly get permission from everyone on the team to do the same with Courtney.


    Well, I only had Rachel and Travis to go.

 What She Asked For: Part 1

    There were other people to ask, or so I learned on Sunday night. Haley wasn¡¯t mad exactly, but she wasn¡¯t happy either.


    ¡°There¡¯s me, and Marcus, and Kayla too. She¡¯s staff, but she¡¯s still part of the team.¡±


    We were in League HQ, but not the main room. After getting back around seven, I¡¯d gone to the lab to recheck the modifications I¡¯d made to the main Rocket suit over the summer, and then start looking over our power impregnator.


    Someday soon, I¡¯d have to modify the spare suits, but not tonight.


    At least that was my plan until Haley called. I was a little disappointed that I wouldn¡¯t be able to work uninterrupted, but I wanted to see her, so I said it was fine if she came over.


    That¡¯s what led us to this point. She sat on the stool next to mine, frowning a little, both of us sitting next to a table amid the lab¡¯s machines and dismantled rocket suits.


    I put down the Rocket suit¡¯s arm, and stopped testing it.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was just thinking about the people at Stapledon. I think I got a little¡­ over-focused?¡±


    Haley sunk a little on the stool. ¡°I don¡¯t like it that you didn¡¯t even think about me.¡±


    I tried to think what the right thing to say would be. I¡¯d already said I was sorry. Saying it again seemed redundant. If I was going to say it again, I¡¯d have to say it differently.


    I considered how I might say it. The words did not come.


    ¡°Nick?¡± Haley looked up at me.


    ¡°I was just trying to think of a good way to fix the problem. I don¡¯t want her to get in trouble, and it sounds like Lee¡¯s more worried about the power juice than the power impregnator. It just makes sense. Plus, better that she gets powers from us. What if Syndicate L gets an impregnator and sells access to it? She¡¯d owe them.¡±


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    Haley¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡°I know it makes sense. I just feel left out.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to leave you out.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°I think I¡¯d have felt better if I hadn¡¯t heard from Sydney that you were hanging around with Courtney a lot.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± I tried to figure out how Sydney would know, and then remembered¡ªSydney was Sean¡¯s sister, and Sean went to Grand Lake University too. He lived on a different floor of the same dorm as I did.


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°I told you I¡¯d been talking with her. You don¡¯t think I¡¯d¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t. I¡¯d know.¡± She said, her voice low.


    She would, too. She¡¯d easily be able to smell Courtney on me if Courtney and I had been doing more than talking. Plus, with Haley¡¯s hearing, she could skip the polygraph machine, and listen for my heart rate while we talked.


    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡±


    ¡°Nick, I¡¯m worried. I feel like I¡¯ve barely seen or heard from you all last week.¡±


    I started to say, ¡°I won¡¯t have Stapledon next weekend,¡± but I didn¡¯t get more than two words into it when she said, ¡°I¡¯m not done. One girl at my high school got dumped by her boyfriend on Friday--just a week after he left. He was at college too.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not going to dump you.¡±


    I could have touched her then, but I wasn¡¯t sure if I should. It seemed like I might have been wrong earlier when I thought she wasn¡¯t angry. Sure, she might be more strongly scared, but she might be a little angry.


    The fact that she was strong enough to rip my arm off if surprised might have factored into my decision too¡ªnot that she would. Well, not intentionally.


    Instead, I talked. ¡°I bet whoever got dumped was further away from her boyfriend. We don''t have to deal with distance at least. You can come over anytime.¡±


    Haley shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I think you¡¯re right.¡±


    Her tone seemed a little happier.


    * * *


    Aside from my distance learning ¡°criminology¡± class on Monday night, I barely had any reason to think about the stranger parts of my life. I did my readings, worked on my homework, and even had time to get to the lab on Wednesday night to reassemble the power impregnator.


    Looking it over showed it wouldn¡¯t take much to bring it into working order.


    If I wanted to be cautious though, I¡¯d need to get samples of Courtney¡¯s blood and tissue to see how it reacted to a jolt.


    Vaughn hadn¡¯t worried about that, but since our machine had essentially been preset to work with him, it hadn¡¯t been as important.


    After I got back to campus, and parked the van in the parking garage, I noticed that Courtney had left a text message on my phone.


    Sitting in the driver¡¯s seat of the van, I decided to check what it was.


    It said, ¡°Call me.¡±


    I sent back, ¡°Now?¡± It was nearly ten.


    Instead of a reply, my phone rang.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Courtney said, ¡°you remember my... legal problem?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. If she meant what I thought she did, I¡¯d been working on it for the last couple hours.


    ¡°I discovered a way out, and I need a favor.¡±

 What She Asked For: Part 2

    ¡°Really? How?¡± And also, I should have said, ¡°What? What did you figure out?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I should talk about it on the phone.¡± She sounded a little nervous.


    ¡°OK,¡± I said. That seemed a little paranoid, but honestly, given that Isaac said we were all being watched, it wouldn¡¯t surprise me if the FBI were bugging our phones.


    Not that she would know that, right?


    ¡°Can we meet now?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Sure. Where?¡±


    ¡°We could meet in the dorm¡¯s lobby.¡±


    ¡°That could work, but I¡¯m not in the dorm so it¡¯ll be a few minutes.¡±


    ¡°Where are you?¡±


    ¡°The parking garage.¡±


    She paused. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you had a car.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really. It¡¯s an old delivery van. Cassie, Vaughn, and I bought it together and we¡¯re sharing it.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t Vaughn have a car?¡± She sounded amused.


    ¡°Yeah, but this was more for moving in, and hauling things to the dorm. Believe me, if you ever see it, you¡¯re not going to be impressed.¡±


    She laughed.


    I looked behind me, checking the back of the van. We¡¯d cleaned up. The van had gray metal cabinets that locked. I¡¯d installed a few of my own security measures as well.


    Aside from the curtain we used for privacy when changing into costume, it looked like a normal van.


    We¡¯d planned for this. The moment you admitted you had a car, you¡¯d inevitably get asked for rides.


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    ¡°Give me five minutes to get back to the dorm,¡± I said, and got out, setting the security by clicking a button I¡¯d added to the dashboard during the summer, and shutting the door.


    A few minutes later, I walked up the steps to the dorm. Courtney stepped out.


    She wore an over-sized Grand Lake University sweatshirt and jeans. She didn¡¯t need to. The lights above the dorm¡¯s main doors showed me she still hadn¡¯t reverted to her natural appearance.


    She smiled at me. ¡°I was thinking we could go over to Dykstra and sit on one of the benches.¡±


    That worked. The Dykstra Administrative Building held GLU¡¯s offices and the student union. The building would be closing at eleven anyway. Plus, if we sat on one of the benches outside, we¡¯d be able to see anyone walking close enough to hear us.


    After crossing the lawn and the service road between Dykstra and our dorm, we sat on one of the concrete benches on the plaza in front of the building. They¡¯d held the student activities fair there during the first week of school.


    It was a warm night. You never knew for sure what you¡¯d get in September.


    I turned toward her. ¡°So¡­¡±


    She looked both ways. No one came out of the revolving doors. ¡°I¡¯ve been keeping my ear out for people talking about power juice and PID¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°PID¡¯s?¡±


    She gave a slightly embarrassed smile. ¡°The devices that make powers permanent? They¡¯ve been calling them PID¡¯s on some boards I¡¯m on. I mean, power impregnator device sounds stupid, but PID is okay.¡±


    Just what the world needed¡ªanother name for the same machine.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± she said, ¡°I went to this party over the weekend where people were talking about power juice, and I heard someone telling people he could make their powers permanent¡ªlegally.¡±


    ¡°Wow. Right there in front of everybody?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Not exactly. The party was¡­ not something I¡¯d have gone to normally. I told Melanie I wanted to try power juice again, and if she heard anything about it, she should let me know.¡±


    I may have groaned then.


    ¡°Look, I know,¡± she said, ¡°but she did hear about it, and she told me. I¡¯m going to meet the guy this week, and find out how much it will cost, and then maybe go through with it on Saturday.¡±


    Her voice trailed off near the end.


    ¡°That¡¯s soon,¡± I said, and meanwhile my heart started beating faster. Could I test our machine before then? And was I willing to blow my secret identity to convince her not to use the other one?


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s still the beginning of the semester, and the load can only get worse from here, so I thought if I am going to do this, I shouldn¡¯t wait.¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s real,¡± I said. ¡°It might be fake, or maybe they¡¯re going to, I don¡¯t know, kidnap you or something.¡±


    She took a breath. ¡°That¡¯s where the favor comes in. I was hoping you might be willing to come with me in case something goes wrong. I remember last year you fought Sean, Dayton, and Jody all at once, and you¡¯ve been taking karate lessons for years. I¡¯d feel more secure if you did.¡±


    I thought about it.

 What She Asked For: Part 3

    On Thursday night, Courtney and I walked up to a house near campus. A brown two-story, it had to be around a century old.


    The lawn hadn¡¯t been mowed in the last few weeks. The bushes in front of the houses hadn¡¯t been clipped either, and had grown high enough that they partially blocked the windows.


    Courtney knocked on the front door, and a college-aged guy opened it. Square jawed with obvious muscles showing through his t-shirt, he fit every stereotype I had about football players.


    Of course, I had no reason to believe he actually was a football player, so every part of the stereotype but that.


    Courtney smiled uncertainly, and said, ¡°I¡¯m looking for Davis?¡±


    ¡°Sure, come in.¡± He stared at Courtney for a second, and then glanced toward me. ¡°Both of you.¡±


    He led us through the house. A couple guys were playing video games on the big screen TV in the living room.


    They ignored us.


    We followed the guy through the dining room (or so I guessed from the chairs, table and two mountain bikes), and into the kitchen.


    A dark haired guy stood next to the refrigerator. He was about our age, maybe a little older, but better dressed. His purple, button down shirt shimmered a little in the light.


    Giving a sly grin, he said, ¡°I¡¯m Davis. Good to see you again, Courtney.¡± Turning to me he said, ¡°And you¡¯re her boyfriend?¡±


    ¡°No, her bodyguard,¡± I said.


    Davis gave a small laugh. ¡°Sure, I should have seen that right away.¡±


    Courtney said, ¡°You know why I¡¯m here. How do we get started?¡±


    She sounded a little nervous to me, but that might have just been my imagination.


    ¡°You¡¯re direct,¡± Davis said. ¡°I like that. Here¡¯s how we get started. I¡¯ll tell you a little about how we do things, and you can decide whether you¡¯d be comfortable working with us.¡±


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    Courtney raised at an eyebrow. ¡°I¡¯m not looking for a job.¡±


    Davis gave a wide smile. ¡°Hear me out. This isn¡¯t so different. You¡¯re looking to make your powers permanent. We can do that, but there¡¯s a cost. For normal people, we¡¯d say one hundred thousand dollars¡ª¡±


    Courtney¡¯s eyes widened, and she began to say, ¡°I can¡¯t¡ª¡±


    Davis held up his hand, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. What can you do?¡±


    ¡°I,¡± she started, and paused, still probably thinking what I was thinking.


    One hundred thousand dollars? Who could afford that?


    ¡°I can change my appearance,¡± she said, ¡°but not my shape. Not in a big way.¡±


    ¡°What else?¡±


    She took a breath. ¡°I can make myself stronger and faster, but only by comparison to normal people¡ªnot supers.¡±


    Davis nodded. ¡°Do you have any skills?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a chemistry major. I can make power juice, but so can anybody if they¡¯re careful.¡±


    Davis grinned a little. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate yourself. We can work with that. You can make yourself very useful.¡±


    Courtney said, ¡°To who?¡±


    ¡°Ahh,¡± he said. ¡°I can¡¯t say. We¡¯re a large organization, and not strictly legal in all of our areas of business. You¡¯ll find out after you go through with it.¡±


    ¡°So, if I decide to work for you, it¡¯s free?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°No, we¡¯ll have you pay what we think you can afford, and then we¡¯ll have you do us a few favors.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Courtney stood still for a second, and then said, ¡°What if I decide not to do it at all? No permanent powers? Nothing. We¡¯re okay, right?¡±


    Davis smiled. ¡°We¡¯re okay. Sure. If you did decide not to get involved with us, we¡¯d all want you to keep quiet about tonight. You don¡¯t tell anyone about us. Not unless they can be trusted.¡±


    Courtney nodded.


    Davis turned to me. ¡°You understand that?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, hoping he wasn¡¯t a telepath because if he was, he stood a good chance of knowing that I was recording the entire conversation.


    I did my best to keep that, and the other precautions I¡¯d taken, out of my mind.


    ¡°If I said yes,¡± Courtney said quietly, ¡°how soon could it happen?¡±


    ¡°Tomorrow, if you wanted.¡± Davis opened the refrigerator, and pulled out a can of beer.


    ¡°What¡¯ll it be?¡± He asked. ¡°Are you interested or not?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m interested,¡± Courtney said, ¡°but I need a little time to think it over. Its a big decision.¡±


    He pulled out a card, and handed to her. ¡°Call this number. You have two days. After that, it¡¯ll never work again, and you¡¯ll have to find me another way.¡±


    Courtney put the card into the pocket of her jeans. ¡°Thanks. I guess we¡¯d better go.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Davis said. ¡°One question though. I¡¯m trying to find someone in Grand Lake. Have you seen this girl?¡±


    He held up a photograph. It looked like it had been modified or created by a computer, but I knew the subject.


    It wasn¡¯t exactly right, but the girl looked an awful lot like Cassie. I had a sudden intuition as to who Davis represented, and wanted to get away as soon as I could.

 What She Asked For: Part 4

    Despite my anxiety, I understood how the Nine had failed to find her. The girl in the picture resembled Cassie the way a picture might if, hypothetically speaking, they didn¡¯t have any idea what Cassie looked like, and instead had to resort to gender-flipping an exact clone of her father in Photoshop.


    Cassie could thank Dr. Mind, and splices of DNA from unknown (possibly alien) donors for not having a cleft chin, for lighter blond hair than her dad, and other small details that made her not quite the same.


    Of course, we were all still wondering what else he¡¯d hidden inside her.


    Courtney glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes as I said, ¡°No. Never seen her in my life.¡±


    ¡°Me neither,¡± she said. ¡°Hey, thanks. I¡¯ll call you.¡±


    She gave him a smile, and we walked out.


    It was a nice night for walking. September in Grand Lake still felt like summer, or at least it could. Tonight was one of those nights where you couldn¡¯t tell the difference. I felt warm air, and a little bit of a cool breeze.


    The moon and stars shone through the trees.


    Once we got a few houses away, Courtney checked behind us, and turned to me. ¡°Was that Cassie?¡±


    Then it was my turn to check behind us. Courtney had been right. We were alone.


    ¡°It looked a lot like her, but not quite.¡±


    I tried to keep my tone casual. Maybe she would buy it.


    ¡°You¡¯re right, but you have to admit it¡¯s close. It could have been a picture of her sister¡­ Wait, does she have a sister?¡±


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    I fought back an urge to pull out my League communicator, and check people¡¯s positions. Haley, or Travis could easily still be watching the house, and who knew where the others were.


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    It all depended on ¡°Davis¡± and whether that house was his base of operations, or whether he¡¯d just borrowed the kitchen for the meeting.


    For now, my job was to get Courtney away from the place before anything happened.


    She took a breath. ¡°Nick, I think we should tell Cassie. I don¡¯t know who he represents, but I¡¯m betting it¡¯s one of the big organizations¡ªSyndicate L, the Mafia, or if she¡¯s really unlucky, one of the powered organizations like the Nine, or the Dominators.¡±


    I nodded, and we crossed a street, and turned right. We weren¡¯t more than half a mile from campus by then. Given that most of the houses around here were rented by students, you could argue we were there already¡ªjust not officially.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell her, but it¡¯s not going to do her much good.¡±


    Courtney furrowed her brow. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Well, if you¡¯re going through with it, you can¡¯t set the police on them. If you¡¯re not going through with it, you still probably can¡¯t, not without risking revenge.¡±


    Speaking quietly, she said, ¡°I¡¯m not going to do it.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Well, you heard him. I¡¯d pay, but afterward I¡¯d be in hock for any favor they¡¯d want for the rest of my life. I¡¯m not that desperate.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. That didn¡¯t sound good to me either. Not that I have the option, but if I did, it wouldn¡¯t have sounded good.¡±


    We walked without saying anything for a little while then, our footsteps audible in the darkness.


    We were going to have to tell Courtney something soon, but I wasn¡¯t going to tell her I was the Rocket without Daniel vetting her first. I¡¯d been that cautious about telling Chris last spring and I knew him better than I did Courtney.


    What a pain that Daniel went to school in Chicago.


    Oh well.


    Noting something about Courtney that had been nagging at me, I decided to try to clear it up without telepathy.


    ¡°What¡¯s with the over-sized sweatshirts? You¡¯ve been wearing them a lot lately.¡±


    She''d worn her Grand Lake University hoodie.


    Giving a short laugh that sounded a little uncomfortable to my ears, she said, ¡°I¡¯ve been feeling like I get a little too much attention, so I¡¯ve been dressing down for classes, and not wearing makeup all the time.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I could see how that might happen.


    She bit her lip. ¡°There¡¯s also another reason. You remember why Keith and I broke up?¡±


    I did. She didn¡¯t want to use her powers as a superhero. He did.


    ¡°If I changed my mind,¡± she said, ¡°I could hide a lot under a sweatshirt, so I thought I¡¯d let people get used to seeing me that way.¡±


    I rolled that around in my head, not sure what direction I should go with questions¡ªif any.


    I didn¡¯t get to ask anything though, because then my phone beeped. I pulled it out of my pocket, and checked who¡¯d called.


    It was Haley.

 What She Asked For: Part 5

    I answered. ¡°Hey, how¡¯s it going?¡±


    Haley¡¯s voice came over the phone. ¡°He¡¯s moving. He left the house just after you did, but not before we sent in the roachbots.¡±


    The sound of a car¡¯s engine roared in the background, and Haley talked over the noise¡ªbut not to me.


    ¡°He turned left! Don¡¯t let him go!¡±


    Travis, her older brother said, ¡°I know! Let me drive, dammit.¡±


    The tires squealed.


    ¡°It¡¯s going great. We¡¯re on his tail, but I don¡¯t think he knows yet. Besides, Storm King¡¯s in the air. Even if we lose him, he¡¯ll keep up.¡±


    Plus the tracking roachbots had GPS, but time out of sight was time for them to notice and nuke the bot.


    ¡°Cool,¡± I said.


    ¡°Are you still with Courtney?¡± Haley¡¯s tone didn¡¯t specifically sound annoyed, angry or jealous, but it didn¡¯t quite sound casual either.


    ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m nearing campus, so I can meet you soon.¡±


    ¡°Good. Hurry.¡±


    We said good-bye, and hung up.


    In a quiet voice, Courtney asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just Haley. I¡¯m supposed to be meeting her tonight.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± she paused. ¡°I¡¯m glad you came with, but I hope she¡¯s okay with it. I don¡¯t want to cause problems.¡±


    We were nearing campus. I could see the upper stories of the parking garage above the trees. I considered running. Haley, Vaughn and Travis were following someone who worked for the Nine, and they were doing it without me.


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    As I thought that, I realized something else¡ªthey didn¡¯t know. I¡¯d been too surprised by Haley¡¯s call to mention the Nine.


    I thought about waiting to tell them until I got to the van, but I didn¡¯t think for long. That was crazy. They needed to know immediately. Davis might not be much, but the Nine could throw anybody from the villain side of things into a fight.


    Johnny Destruction had worked with them before. I¡¯d met his son the past summer, and didn¡¯t want to again.


    I pulled out my phone, stopped, and started to type a text message.


    Courtney stopped, and said, ¡°Nick?¡±


    ¡°Sorry. I forgot to tell Haley something. Just a second.¡±


    Angling my phone so Courtney couldn¡¯t see it, I wrote, ¡°Davis showed us CC¡¯s picture. It¡¯s the Nine.¡±


    Haley wrote, ¡°Knew it. THX.¡±


    We¡¯d suspected. We knew they were in town, and even though other groups might have a power impregnator, Cassie had said she¡¯d seen one when she fought the Nine in D.C. last summer.


    If we¡¯d been following directions, we¡¯d have called in the Feds at even the slightest suspicion of the Nine being involved, but Travis had said, ¡°Let¡¯s not pull them in until we know. We¡¯ve seen the Feds in action. They¡¯re not that good at handling people with powers.¡±


    I had a bad feeling that I should have pushed for specific conditions for when we¡¯d turn this over to the Feds. You could say that we didn¡¯t ¡°know¡± the Nine were involved yet, because anybody could be searching for Cassie. Other organizations might start just because the Nine were.


    All the same, the simplest explanation that fit the facts was most likely the correct one. Right now, the simplest explanation made me worry that we¡¯d be walking into one of the Nine¡¯s hideouts.


    I desperately wanted to put the full Rocket suit on, but that would take time I didn¡¯t have.


    One of these days, I¡¯d have to come up with version of the suit that I didn¡¯t need to hide in the van. Instead, wouldn¡¯t it be cool if the van turned into my armor?


    ¡°Nick?¡± In the dark, I couldn¡¯t see Courtney very well, but that was a good thing. That way she was less likely to pick up on how frustrated I felt with being interrupted while I was thinking.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°If you need to go, you can. I¡¯m sure I can make it back to the dorm.¡±


    I turned my head toward Courtney. She smiled a little, but her voice had quavered as she¡¯d started to say, ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡±


    I gave it some thought. I wanted to run and join everybody, but it didn¡¯t feel right. She¡¯d wanted me to come along because she felt nervous before. The fact that she had powers and I didn¡¯t hadn¡¯t stopped her from asking for help.


    I couldn¡¯t see her asking me to leave her alone in the dark unless she knew that Davis wasn¡¯t likely to bother her at the moment.


    She must have read something from my expression because she kept on talking.


    ¡°If other people really need help, you don¡¯t need to stay with me.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I could hear the shock in my voice.


    She lowered her voice. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I shouldn¡¯t have listened, but I modified my body in case there was trouble... I could hear both ends of your conversation with Haley.¡±

 What She Asked For: Part 6

    ¡°Huh,¡± I struggled to come up with some way to deny it. What exactly had we said? Haley had mentioned Storm King. That linked us directly to the Heroes League without question. Plus everyone knew Travis was Haley¡¯s older brother, and she had to have heard him if she heard Haley.


    Crap.


    Well, maybe I¡¯d gotten lucky and she¡¯d missed that part?


    ¡°You¡¯re with the Heroes League?¡± She said slowly. She stopped walking, and so did I.


    I checked around us¡ªagain, seeing only the porch lights of the houses around us, the streetlights, and campus directly ahead. If someone were around, I couldn¡¯t see them.


    Given the powers of people I knew, that meant nothing.


    I needed to create see-in-the-dark glasses with 360 degree vision for when I wasn¡¯t in costume one of these days. One more thing for my constantly growing list of ¡°to-do¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t talk about it,¡± I said.


    If I told her anything, and there was a telepath around, I might as well be shouting our real names in the street.


    I really wished Daniel were here, or at least that he could fly across Lake Michigan as easily as his father did.


    ¡°Let¡¯s keep on walking,¡± I said, and tried to figure out what to do next.


    What would Lee do? I thought about that for a second.


    Kill her, probably.


    OK, what would Grandpa do? Judging from what happened with Grandma, marry her.


    That wasn¡¯t an option, and anyway, unless you were a polygamist, that would only work once.


    ¡°We need to talk about this somewhere no one will hear us.¡±


    Keeping her voice low, Courtney said, ¡°Where?¡±


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    ¡°I¡¯m thinking about it.¡±


    What would Lee do if someone he¡¯d actually listen to (like Grandpa) told him not to kill her? I didn¡¯t know, but I felt sure he wouldn¡¯t leave her alone.


    We walked two blocks without talking.


    Turning my head as little as possible, I used my peripheral vision to keep as much of my surroundings in my view as I could. It was a technique Lee had taught me.


    We still weren¡¯t being followed. I probably walked a little more quickly than usual, but Courtney kept up without a problem.


    She glanced at me when we neared the parking garage.


    ¡°The van,¡± I said.


    A few minutes later we opened the van¡¯s doors. The moment they shut, she said, ¡°Are you the Rocket?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°Could you give me a second?¡±


    I stepped into the back, and pulled the curtain across, and changed into the rest of the stealth suit. When I opened the curtain, I stepped out in the black jacket, and pants of the stealth suit, and carrying my helmet and guitar.


    ¡°This is so weird, I had no idea.¡± She stared at the uniform. ¡°Well,¡± she said, ¡°not until a few minutes ago.¡±


    I sat down, and turned the key.


    The van turned on, and I clicked on the buttons that logged us into the League¡¯s communications system.


    A screen on the dashboard showed everyone¡¯s positions. Haley, Travis, and Vaughn were stopped somewhere on Jefferson Street. Cassie and Marcus were moving separately in that direction.


    I was going be last. I knew I had to tell people, but I didn¡¯t look forward to explaining why.


    I backed out of the space, and started driving.


    I was about to say something to Courtney when Haley¡¯s voice came over the communicator. ¡°Rocket, are you driving here?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Things got complicated. I¡¯ll explain when I arrive.¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything for a second, making me wonder if she¡¯d hung up. Then, ¡°Davis went into the back of a store. It¡¯s right next to that night club in the strip mall¡­ Lakeside Lounge? We¡¯re trying not to get too close.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± I said, and then she did hang up.


    Lakeside Lounge wasn¡¯t more than twenty minutes away. I drove south, passing through downtown, blocks of old factories turning to blocks of old houses as I drove.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Courtney looking at the van¡¯s dashboard, and glancing downward at my guitar.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going to happen,¡± I told her. ¡°Our original plan called for following him, but it looks like he¡¯s gone somewhere interesting. Anything could happen now.¡±


    ¡°This still doesn¡¯t seem real to me,¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah. Well, ¡®anything¡¯ includes a big fight. I¡¯m not going to park nearby. You shouldn¡¯t even be close enough to see it, but I need you to stay in here if there is one. I¡¯m hoping there won¡¯t be.¡±


    She took a breath. ¡°You don¡¯t have anything to worry about. I don¡¯t know anything about fighting.¡±


    The car ahead of us slowed for a red light. I pushed down the brakes, and they responded a little more slowly than I expected. Still, I didn¡¯t hit the car.


    I felt a little like screaming. Between the Nine, trying to figure out how to bring up the block with Courtney, and how I¡¯d explain her presence to everyone else, I had too much going on in my head.

 A Kind of Small Crow: Part 1

    As always, Jefferson Street was a zoo. It probably had the most fast food restaurants and chain stores of any street in the city. At ten or eleven at night, the traffic became bearable¡ªit wasn¡¯t bumper to bumper anymore.


    I brought the van to a stop on the other side of the road from the one with Lakeside Lounge--four lanes worth of cars and semi-trucks away.


    We were next to a Subway, a shoe store, and Grand Lake Marina Supplies. That last store took up most of the space. Even though the store had closed, the lights were still on, and I could look in at speed boats, engines, water-skis and other gear.


    Across the street, Lakeside Lounge took up most of the strip mall. The only store next to it was something called ¡°Dan¡¯s Fan City.¡±


    Dimly lit, I couldn¡¯t see much in there, but I could see fans.


    If I remembered what Haley said correctly, Davis had gone into the back.


    The screen on the dashboard showed Travis and Haley parked on the far end of the Lakeside Lounge¡¯s parking lot. The ¡°Wolfmobile¡± blended in with all the other cars. Even knowing where it was, I couldn¡¯t see it.


    Meanwhile, a group of people stood next to the entrance of the building, the ends of their cigarettes glowing in the dark.


    The screen showed Cassie as being five minutes away (assuming she didn¡¯t drive her motorcycle through yards and parking lots), and Marcus as roughly the same¡ªhe flew slower, but straight.


    Over the communicator, Haley said, ¡°So why are you driving the van?¡±


    ¡°Courtney heard both ends of our conversation, and figured out who I was. I couldn¡¯t leave her there after that, so I brought her along.¡±


    Haley said, ¡°Oh, no¡­¡±


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    Simultaneously Travis said, ¡°Again? Wasn¡¯t Chris enough? Seriously, you have got to stop telling people without an okay from the rest of us.¡±


    ¡°Look,¡± I said, and I might have sounded a little irritated, ¡°I didn¡¯t tell her, she had enhanced hearing. She heard Haley talking.¡±


    Courtney cringed. ¡°I am so sorry. I wasn¡¯t trying to find out. I modified my ears so I could hear better, but all I wanted was warning if people were sneaking up on me.¡±


    Travis groaned. ¡°You¡¯re letting her listen in?¡±


    ¡°What was I supposed to do? Tie her up, and stuff her in the back of the van?¡±


    The sound of wind and Vaughn¡¯s voice came over the speaker. ¡°That¡¯d be kind of kinky.¡±


    Oh great, Haley had called us on the League¡¯s common frequency. Everyone in the group could listen in if they wanted to.


    Marcus¡¯ voice came over the speakers along with the flap of his wings. ¡°You know what¡¯s crazy? The guy who created Wonder Woman was way into bondage, and that¡¯s why Wonder Woman got tied up all the time in the beginning. Bizarre, right?¡±


    With a muffled growl and series of thumping noises, Cassie¡¯s motorcycle overrode all other noise. ¡°I missed half of that. Why are we talking about bondage now?¡±


    Almost at the same time, Haley, Courtney, and I gave three variations on, ¡°We¡¯re not.¡± Meanwhile Marcus began, ¡°Well, you know Wonder Woman¡ª¡±


    ¡°Never mind,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Did you send the roachbots in yet?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, but Haley interrupted me, ¡°A few. That¡¯s how we followed him. I haven¡¯t found him again yet. They¡¯re just crawling through the vents right now.¡±


    ¡°So we wait till they find him?¡± Cassie asked. ¡°Then what?¡±


    ¡°We call the Feds,¡± I said. ¡°If it¡¯s the Nine, and it is, that¡¯s what we¡¯re supposed to do.¡±


    Travis started talking practically the instant I stopped. ¡°No. We should take out their power impregnator like we did with the Cabal.¡±


    Courtney gave me a confused look.


    At the same time, I said, ¡°No. We barely survived that, and we¡¯re not supposed to.¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon Rocket,¡± Travis said, ¡°do you think we¡¯ve got a chance of running into anything even close to the Cabal¡¯s people and Ray¡¯s team at once?¡±


    ¡°Famous last words,¡± Vaughn said.


    Travis¡¯ response sounded annoyed to me. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±


    ¡°Nothing,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°You know what I mean. Whenever people say something like that, it¡¯s always worse.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t live in a horror movie,¡± Travis muttered.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°but the Nine are tough, and they¡¯ve fought us twice now. Who knows what they¡¯ve picked up?¡±


    ¡°Not twice,¡± Travis said. ¡°The first time was Night Cat plus Sydney and Camille.¡±


    I¡¯d said it because it sounded good, but then I thought about it. ¡°Did you all use League communicators?¡±


    We¡¯d let Justice Fist borrow them last spring.


    Haley stretched out her answer into two syllables, ¡°YEEees?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s one thing they might catch,¡± I said.

 A Kind of Small Crow: Part 2

    I wasn¡¯t worried about the communicators¡¯ encryption. I¡¯d only put them together last spring. It wasn¡¯t as if they were old League technology that everyone had analyzed thirty years ago.


    Maybe I should have been worried more. The communicators were based on the roachbots, and Grandpa had designed the first versions of the roachbots in the 1950¡¯s as mobile bugging devices.


    I¡¯d updated them substantially over the past year though. Grandpa¡¯s design survived only in the most general terms.


    All the details of the current systems were mine.


    Of course, the communicators still connected to the League¡¯s old alert system. That might be a vulnerability.


    I thought about that.


    The deep rumble of Travis¡¯ voice came over the communicator. ¡°Do you have anything concrete, Rocket?¡±


    That yanked me back to reality. ¡°Uh¡­ No, but that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m wrong. I can think of possible vulnerabilities, but I don¡¯t know they¡¯re really vulnerable. The most I can say for sure is that I¡¯ve got a bad feeling about this.¡±


    Someone (Marcus?) made a noise somewhere in between a snort and a chuckle.


    Travis exhaled. ¡°Alright. Your bad feeling¡¯s been noted, but now we¡¯ve got to decide whether we go in or not.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s voice came over the speaker, but without her typical optimism. ¡°I¡¯d say not.¡±


    That was a shock. Her time in D.C. must have been quite an experience.


    ¡°Look,¡± Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯ve fought the Nine twice now. Both times they had a lot more behind them than I expected. Let¡¯s see what the roachbots turn up, and then go in.¡±


    Marcus spoke up, ¡°I was there the last time, Night Wolf. They had paralysis guns that the Rocket¡¯s devices couldn¡¯t block, and I¡¯m betting they still can¡¯t, right?¡±


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    ¡°Right,¡± I said.


    ¡°Just by luck,¡± Marcus continued, ¡°I was the only guy who could move after that. I¡¯d say we shouldn¡¯t move in unless we¡¯ve got a plan to avoid being hit.¡±


    The sound of wind and Vaughn¡¯s voice broke in at exactly the same time. ¡°Shift¡¯s right,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Night Wolf, you¡¯ve got no idea how close it was. I mean no idea.¡±


    Travis said, ¡°Night Cat, you¡¯re the only one who hasn¡¯t said anything.¡±


    Haley went quiet for a couple seconds, and then started talking all at once. ¡°I didn¡¯t think Ridgeback was all that hard, but if what they¡¯re saying is true, I don¡¯t want to walk into a trap.¡±


    ¡°OK,¡± Travis said, sounding a little surprised. ¡°Then we¡¯d better get out of here before they notice. I¡¯ll start. Rocket, give us a couple minutes before you pull out, and check on the roachbots we sent in.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯m doing it right now¡ªjust like I¡¯ve been doing it,¡± Haley said. ¡°He doesn¡¯t need to.¡±


    So that was pretty crazy. We were doing the sensible thing. It was as if we were in a horror movie where the characters said, ¡°Hey, instead of learning the dark secrets of the haunted house we just bought, why don¡¯t we leave, and sell the place?¡±


    I felt pretty good for all of a second¡ªbecause then I remembered that when people started doing things that sensible, it almost always resulted in all hell breaking loose.


    I pulled out my roachbot controller, and checked the bots. I wasn¡¯t going to take them over, but I wanted to find out where they were going.


    Notices began to scroll up the screen:


    [Connection Successful: Bot499]


    [Connection Successful: Bot500]


    [Connection Successful: Bot502]


    [Connection Successful: Bot512]¡­


    A little bit of fiddling with the controller¡¯s buttons gave me a view of one of the vents, but disappointingly, no conversations. I started to switch from one viewpoint to another when more messages started.


    [Connection Lost: Bot499]


    [Connection Lost: Bot500]


    [Connection Lost: Bot502]


    [Connection Lost: Bot512]¡­


    At that moment, I began to have that horrible sinking feeling a person gets when everything goes horribly wrong, and you know you don¡¯t know how bad it¡¯s going to get yet.


    I clicked on the van¡¯s communicator on the League¡¯s open frequency, ¡°Night Cat, can you connect to the bots? I can¡¯t.¡±


    Haley¡¯s voice came over the speaker, but with noticeably more white noise than usual. ¡°I can¡¯t either. You didn¡¯t change anything?¡±


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I began.


    Travis said, ¡°Shit!¡±


    Across the street, the Wolfmobile whipped out of its parking space, all black, headlights blazing, and moving through Lakeside Lounge''s parking lot at a speed much faster than the recommended ten miles per hour or less.


    At the same time, the van¡¯s screen switched from GPS to radar, and began beeping while the word ¡°Alert!¡± appeared again and again across the bottom.


    On the screen, jagged graphics of bird shaped objects dove toward the van.

 A Kind of Small Crow: Part 3

    They went for the windshield first, and if it had been normal glass, it would have shattered.


    It was transparent aluminum¡ªkind of. Grandpa came up with a transparent metal alloy that included aluminum, and I was glad he had. It bought us some time.


    I pressed the button that electrified the outside of the van.


    A black bird dove, hitting the windshield with its beak, and leaving a divot in the middle of the windshield.


    Courtney and I jumped back in our chairs as it hit, and watched as it became outlined in bluish-white, crackling electricity.


    It fell, spasming.


    I¡¯d gotten enough of a glimpse of it to realize it wasn¡¯t alive. A fiery red glow burned under the tail¡ªwhich either meant it was using some form of reaction engine, or it had incredibly bad gas.


    Theoretically, both could be true.


    So anyway, we were probably facing robot birds.


    I took a break from considering the ramifications of gas propelled birds to push down the accelerator.


    The van jerked forward, smashing into, and zapping a couple more birds.


    From the street came the screech of brakes, and the beeping of horns. Travis must have made it onto Jefferson Street. I wondered what they were going to try. The Wolfmobile had better weapons than the van, but Grandpa had designed it more for car chases and crowd control than fighting angry birds.


    I considered calling them on the open channel, but didn¡¯t get a chance. More birds slammed into the windshield¡ªand not just the windshield either. They also hit the back windows and the van¡¯s sides.


    The charge on the battery that provided the shocks plunged.


    If there were enough birds, the person controlling them could bring the battery to zero long before I could charge it up.


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    It was a different battery than the one I used to start the van, so it wasn¡¯t as if that would be a problem, but aside from armor, it was almost the only protection the van had.


    The armor would protect us for a while, but we really needed to leave.


    The birds covering the windshield made that a lot harder. I had to stop. I still hadn¡¯t made it out of the parking lot. Worse, the new group of birds didn¡¯t seem to be as affected by the electricity as the first ones that hit.


    They weren¡¯t falling off the windshield, and they were releasing some kind of liquid.


    Acid, maybe? Or something explosive?


    I turned on the windshield wipers, and sprayed the windshield. It wasn¡¯t the best idea. It certainly didn¡¯t move the birds much, but I hoped it might dilute whatever was dripping toward the engine compartment.


    I pressed the accelerator, checking the radar to make sure I wasn¡¯t about to hit anything.


    Then I slammed on the brakes, provoking a curse from Courtney, and knocking a few off the windshield. Unfortunately, more landed.


    I had to come up with something better.


    I knew I didn¡¯t want to go out there, but I was beginning to think my best option might be flying away. Hopefully carrying Courtney wouldn¡¯t slow me down too much.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, doing the speed forward and jerk to stop thing again. ¡°We¡¯ve got spare armor in the back. You¡¯ll need it if we have to leave the van.¡±


    ¡°Leave the van? Oww!¡± Her seat belt tightened, stopping her from hitting the dashboard. ¡°Nick, Rook¡¯s out there!¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°So that¡¯s what rooks look like? Kind of like smaller crows?¡±


    She glared at me, and I guessed this might not be the time to discuss it.


    ¡°Do you know how many people he¡¯s killed?¡±


    Too busy to answer because I was making a couple quick turns that knocked a couple more birds off, I just said, ¡°Yeah.¡±


    I knew though¡ªmore than two hundred, but not all of them personally. The rook robots were responsible for a sizable percentage of the total. They had really sharp beaks.


    Enough birds were off the windshield that I could actually see though, and I had a plan. The far end of Grand Lake Marina Supplies parking lot exited into a gas station. The gas station sat directly on the intersection, so all I had to do was drive, and we might be able to escape on the cross street.


    I accelerated, racing across the parking lot, and roaring toward the gas station.


    The station had two rows of pumps (and potentially four rows of cars). The middle row was empty. I aimed toward it, passed between the pumps, and pushed hard on the brakes, stopping just before I plowed into a pickup truck.


    The cross street was filled with cars too, all of them waiting for the stoplight to turn green, their headlights illuminating the back of the car ahead of them.


    I had no chance of squeezing the van in. I looked both ways, and realized that I couldn¡¯t see anyone on the sidewalk.


    I backed up a little, and began to turn. The sidewalk would be just wide enough.


    Then I heard the sound of jet engines followed by a thud as something big hit the concrete.


    A moment later, my van landed on its side.

 A Kind of Small Crow: Part 4

    I hung sideways, and it wasn¡¯t very comfortable. The stealth suit had hardened where it hit the seat belt and the right armrest, so nothing hurt.


    I turned my head to check how Courtney was doing. I¡¯d heard her hit the door, but she moved, and illuminated by the dashboard lights, I could see her turn her head upward toward me.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± She asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Could you pass me the helmet?¡±


    Attached to the guitar by a thick cable, the helmet had fallen past her legs when the van tipped over, and lay on the door.


    ¡°Uh¡­ Sure.¡±


    She handed it to me, and it wasn¡¯t hard to grab. My head hung most of the way to her seat.


    I put it on my head and heard the helmet seal while the readouts came to life near the top of my vision.


    The guitar was at full charge, and wasn¡¯t showing any error messages.


    That was good because at just about the same time, I got my first view of Rook, the guy who had probably tipped the van over.


    I saw him through the window of my door (now pointing upward toward the night sky)¡ªjust after I heard a thumping noise.


    All black, Rook¡¯s powered armor had been shaped to resemble a bird¡ªmostly. Real rooks didn¡¯t have arms that ended in claws.


    He scraped a claw across the (also made of transparent aluminum alloy) window.


    It didn¡¯t break.


    I pointed the end of the guitar at him,and said quietly, ¡°Remember what I said about the armor in the back? Last chance to put some on.¡±


    Courtney took off her seat belt, and climbed over her seat and into the back.


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    Rook hadn¡¯t reacted when I pointed the guitar at him, but he seemed to hear something because he tilted his head as I talked. That he hadn¡¯t reacted to the guitar didn¡¯t surprise me¡ªthe windows were near impossible to see through from the outside¡ªbut hearing me did. I thought I¡¯d insulated the van better than that.


    Rook punched the window. It still didn¡¯t break, but an opaque, roughly fist-shaped circle appeared where he hit.


    I opened my seat belt, hanging on to the door¡¯s armrest as I did it, and then dropping to the passenger side door.


    ¡°By any chance, is that the Rocket in there?¡± A relaxed, and thoroughly amplified, baritone voice filled the van.


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you how much I loved the original Rocket. He inspired me. Did you know him?¡±


    The voice sounded like it had a British accent, or maybe a fake British accent? I had no way of knowing.


    ¡°A bit,¡± I said. Would it be better to talk with this guy?


    Over the helmet¡¯s communicator, Haley asked, ¡°Rocket, are you okay? Do you need help?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I whispered. ¡°We¡¯re talking.¡±


    Several lightning strokes and thunderclaps in quick succession came from outside. It sounded like Vaughn might need help.


    More loudly, I said, ¡°Sure, I knew him.¡±


    In the helmet¡¯s readouts, a yellow dot appeared next to Cassie¡¯s name, and her voice came over the team¡¯s open channel. ¡°I don¡¯t know how they found me, but I¡¯m getting attacked by mechanical crows. Need some help here¡­¡±


    With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I guessed how. Even if he couldn¡¯t break the encryption, he might have been able to figure out a way to recognize our communications. With enough birds, he''d be able to use triangulation and track all of us.


    ¡°And he trained you?¡± His voice seemed to convey actual curiosity¡ªas if he¡¯d been introduced to me for some reason.


    ¡°Partly, yeah.¡± Somewhere in the back of my head, I had the sense that two and three word sentence answers might not be the way to keep him occupied.


    Without thinking, I glanced toward the back to find out how Courtney was doing.


    She¡¯d ditched her sweatshirt, and put on the shirt, but wasn¡¯t quite finished with pants. Plus, she¡¯d taken off her shoes.


    I turned away. I¡¯d seen more than I¡¯d intended.


    From above, Rook said, ¡°Good. Then it might be worth taking apart your equipment after you die.¡±


    And with that, he sank his claws into the door, and ripped it out of the van.


    Pulling his great, black wings next to his body, he grabbed the edge, and dropped inside.


    The only things that saved us from dying then were the van¡¯s bucket seats. His lower claws hit the passenger side door, putting the driver¡¯s seat at eye level.


    To Courtney¡¯s credit, she had the pants on by then, and she didn¡¯t even try to grab her shoes.


    Two steps brought us to the van¡¯s back doors.

 A Kind of Small Crow: Part 5

    I grabbed the handle, and the door opened even as something in the back of my head suggested that he¡¯d have expected us to run out the back.


    Unwilling to randomly spray whatever was out there with the guitar¡¯s laser, I aimed a wide angle sonic blast out the door with the speakers on both arms. Set at a frequency that generally set electronics to vibrate, the sonics had the potential to be devastating¡ªprovided we were facing rook-shaped robots.


    If there were people out there, the best I could hope for was nuking their iPhone.


    I stepped out the door with both speakers still blasting away, Courtney following me out.


    The good news? The sonics were working great. They were the only things on the stealth suit that matched their counterparts on the regular Rocket suit, so they ought to.


    The better news? There had been rook robots waiting for us out the back. Seven of them lay on the sidewalk, smoking, and randomly shooting out sparks.


    The bad news? Cars include a lot of electronics these days, and an awful lot of them were stopped to wait for lights to change.


    A newer Honda had been waiting for the light, almost directly in the path of the sonics.


    The car¡¯s lights were off, and from the darkness inside the car, I guessed the dashboard lights weren¡¯t on either.


    The driver held an iPhone in his left hand, and brought up his right hand to click on it.


    No light came from the phone either.


    Oops.


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    Courtney didn¡¯t seem to notice it at all as she said, ¡°What do we do?¡±


    She¡¯d pulled the costume¡¯s mask out of the collar. All black, the mask made me think more of bank robbers than a superhero, but at least she¡¯d thought to put it on.


    ¡°I¡ª¡± I began, and I¡¯d been about to say, ¡°I don¡¯t know?¡± Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have time.


    Rook tore through the van, ripping the upper door (or under normal circumstances, the right door) off its hinges, and threw it to the side.


    The door smashed into a gas pump, which despite what movies would have led me to expect, did not instantly explode.


    ¡°Nice one with the robots,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen sonics used like that before.¡±


    Okay, so I guess I¡¯d never done that on camera. Great. I¡¯d shown a little known aspect of sonics to someone who¡¯d plan for it in the future.


    I turned around, facing him, and slid my gloved fingers down the neck of the guitar, never touching any button for more than an a moment. Unlike your average Guitar Hero controller, which had five buttons, my guitar had twenty-four.


    Light and sound at wildly inconsistent frequencies burst from the guitar¡¯s speakers and the many lights I¡¯d built into it.


    I¡¯d always intended to use it this way, designing it in with the assumption that my opponent wouldn¡¯t have time to adjust to the one attack before I¡¯d switched to the next.


    Like a lot of ideas, using it in reality wasn¡¯t an unqualified success.


    Sure, it seemed to work at first. Constantly changing colors and sounds washed over Rook, and he swore, stumbling, presumably because he couldn¡¯t see or hear much of anything.


    Except then he unfurled his wings and shot into the air. Unfortunately, overwhelming a person with light and noise only worked if you could keep the noise and light aimed at them.


    I had no more chance of keeping the guitar¡¯s weapons aimed at his eyes than I did matching Haley¡¯s reflexes.


    Worse, I could have used Haley¡¯s reflexes.


    Rook aimed himself at me, all claws outstretched, roaring toward me before I could get out of the way.


    Not that I didn¡¯t try. I bent forward, just about ready to jump to the left.


    His right claw hit my right shoulder, digging through the outer layer before it could harden enough prevent it¡ªor possibly despite that it had hardened as much as it could.


    The claw dug into the jacket¡¯s gel layer, stopped by the jacket¡¯s bottom layer hardening along with the stealth suit shirt under that.


    I could feel the pressure, not pain, but I felt sure he¡¯d be able to go all the way through with a little more work.


    The guitar¡¯s head, the spot where its main laser exited, bumped against the top of one of Rook¡¯s legs.


    I didn¡¯t have time to consider the consequences. I pushed the button that turned it on.

 A Kind of Small Crow: Part 6

    When the laser hit, Rook¡¯s armor glowed, reflecting the light, but not entirely. In fact, not for very long at all.


    The laser drilled through, and light came out the other side.


    Rook screamed, and I stopped firing, backing up, pulling my shoulder away from the claw that had pierced almost all the way to my skin.


    Rook took a step toward me, but nearly fell over, his leg wobbling.


    I tried to think of the next step.


    Obviously the laser worked against his armor, but I couldn¡¯t shoot him with it till he died, could I?


    I didn¡¯t want to kill anybody.


    At the same time, hadn¡¯t he just said he wanted to reverse engineer my equipment once he killed me?


    He stumbled backward.


    I still didn¡¯t have a plan.


    Over my helmet¡¯s communicator, Travis shouted, ¡°You¡¯ve got him. Take him down!¡±


    Were they still here? I thought they¡¯d gotten away. On the other hand, with the intersection full of cars, and probably backed up due to the fight, they might not have been able to get far. Plus Travis wouldn¡¯t leave anyone behind if he could help it.


    At the same time, I couldn¡¯t help but notice Rook¡¯s wound was filling with goo. It wasn¡¯t biological goo either. The laser had to have cauterized the wound.


    In the yellow light of the gas station¡¯s florescent bulbs, the goo appeared to be green. It struck me that it might actually be blue.


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    The stuff hardened, and then a layer of black goo hardened over it.


    So, gross. Really, really gross, but also kind of cool. If I¡¯d just seen what I thought I¡¯d seen, Rook¡¯s suit included some kind of healing (or possibly just preserving) gel as well as a liquid that plugged holes in his armor.


    That was pretty cool.


    I wondered what it would take to get a sample. The roachbots might be able to manage it. What I ought to do is come up with roachbots with the exclusive purpose of taking samples.


    That would make situations like this much simpler.


    Rook steadied himself, and peered in my direction. ¡°The guitar has a laser? The power it had to go through¡­ How can you possibly fit it in that small a space?¡±


    His voice sounded distant, disconnected.


    Was he on drugs?


    From my right, Courtney said, ¡°Rocket, come on.¡±


    She¡¯d already made it a few steps away and stood between the two rows of gas pumps.


    I needed to do something. I aimed the guitar toward him, the targeting system showing a small plus sign as it crossed his chest, moving toward his other leg.


    I never got the chance to fire.


    His clawed arm moved too quickly for me to dodge it, and hit the guitar, breaking the neck in half.


    His other arm reached for me so quickly that it was little more than a blur.


    Except it never hit.


    Instead, a brown, plastic trash can hit him in the head. Courtney had picked up one of them and swung it.


    The can broke as it hit, chunks falling to the ground along with a plastic bag full of wet paper towels, wrappers from McDonald¡¯s, and other garbage. He stepped back.


    One of his wings flexed, extending to hit her, throwing her backwards. She hit one of the concrete pillars that held up the canopy.


    She didn¡¯t get up.


    Had he killed her? I tried not to think about it.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Travis¡¯ voice came over the comm, ¡°we¡¯re coming to help.¡±


    ¡°Shit, man,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Help me too.¡±


    Automatic gunfire sounded over his speaker, and from across the street by the Lakeside Lounge.


    I hit a button on the palm of my glove and shot into the air, the lower half of the guitar dangling uselessly by the cable attached to my helmet.


    I had to ditch the thing.


    Rook¡¯s wings stretched out, and I heard the roar of jets below me.


    He shot upward¡ªnot as quickly as I did at first, but the helmet readouts assured me that he was gaining speed.


    I grabbed the cable, pulling it up until I held the body of the guitar in my hands.


    Part of me didn''t really believe he''d destroyed it, but another part of me had an idea about how I might get rid of it.


    As Rook flew closer, I hoped it was a good idea.

 A Kind of Small Crow: Part 7

    Unfortunately, it was also an idea that I had to use quickly instead of thinking through the implications.


    The last time I¡¯d pointed the guitar¡¯s explosive end at a guy in powered armor, it had nearly killed him. Only Alex¡¯s ability to heal had kept the man from bleeding out.


    Alex wasn¡¯t anywhere around here. I definitely wasn¡¯t going to have time to fly to California to pick him up.


    But still¡­


    I spun around as Rook came within range. We were four hundred feet above the ground by then.


    Cars and buildings created lines of light on the ground, the nearest streets clogged with vehicles.


    I aimed the guitar¡¯s body at Rook, clicked the spot on my glove that fired off the guitar¡¯s explosive filled end.


    If the neck hadn¡¯t been broken, I would have activated it by smacking it against the ground, pulling it back up, and pointing at the target. I¡¯d allowed for a back up activation route through the glove/helmet. It worked, but wasn¡¯t nearly as cool.


    The end separated from the main body in a blast of fire. I could feel the heat on my hands as the body fell apart.


    The (now wedge-shaped) missile streaked across the distance, surrounded by fire, and exploding right in front of Rook¡ªif things worked correctly. I¡¯d tried to give Rook extra space.


    The idea was to damage the armor, not kill him.


    Rook saw it before it exploded, and tried to dodge. That was par for the course.


    Flaming guitars aren¡¯t subtle weapons.


    He didn¡¯t dodge quickly enough though. A blast of flame that my helmet mostly blocked out covered the upper half of Rook¡¯s body. He¡¯d managed to get one wing partly in the way, but that wasn¡¯t enough.


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    When my helmet readjusted to the darkness, chunks of the metal (I assumed) wing were missing. Plus the blast had knocked him backward, and he struggled to stay in the air.


    OK, that was an extremely charitable way to put. More accurately?


    He tumbled.


    He fell.


    He hit the roof of Grand Lake Marina Supplies building. It was inevitable. We hadn¡¯t done any appreciable property damage yet.


    I began to descend. I doubted Rook was down. I wouldn¡¯t be down in either version of the Rocket suit. If you¡¯ve got any sense, you design powered armor to handle a fall¡ªespecially if you know you¡¯ll be flying.


    On the other hand, I wanted to make sure Courtney was still alive.


    Even if Rook wasn¡¯t down, we still might be able to get away. Anyway, going up against Rook in the stealth suit minus the guitar wasn¡¯t the smartest idea.


    I pointed myself toward the gas station, swooped down, pulled myself into an upright position, and landed.


    Courtney stood next to the concrete pillar with Haley and Travis, both of them in costume. I didn¡¯t see the Wolfmobile, but they had tipped the van upright.


    The cars in the intersection were moving a little.


    ¡°Is he down?¡± Travis asked.


    ¡°For now,¡± I said. ¡°I saw him hit the next building over, but I don¡¯t know for sure.¡±


    I pointed my finger toward where he¡¯d fallen.


    Travis glanced over there. ¡°Why don¡¯t you know for sure? That¡¯s not something you can leave to chance. I thought I¡¯d help Storm King, but we can¡¯t leave Rook. We¡¯ve got to make sure he''s not going to get up.¡±


    ¡°Night Wolf,¡± Haley said, sounding irritated.


    ¡°He¡¯s out of my league without the full suit,¡± I said. ¡°Plus, he trashed my guitar. We need to get out of here.¡±


    Courtney stepped away from the pillar. ¡°I¡¯m for going. I¡¯m useless in a fight.¡±


    ¡°Not completely,¡± I began, but Travis held up his hand, and I stopped.


    Haley turned toward the fan store next to the Lakeside Lounge, and I expected to see Rook flying toward us from there somehow--even though it was on the other side of the street.


    He didn¡¯t.


    Courtney looked toward the fan store, and then quickly over toward the Lakeside Lounge. ¡°Do you hear engines?¡±


    My immediate response would have been, ¡°Which engines?¡± Even if they were moving, cars were backed up as far as I could see.


    Vaughn flew out from behind the Lounge, and he wasn¡¯t alone. Three more people in armor like Rook¡¯s followed him.


    He turned, flying over the road, and pointing a hand backwards.


    Lightning hit the first one, doing no damage that I could see.


    Rook¡¯s people replied with automatic weapons fire.

 A Kind of Small Crow: Part 8

    I couldn¡¯t see it happen, but at least one of the bullets hit. Vaughn fell, or maybe more accurately, lost control.


    He flipped over a few times, dropping dangerously low. I would have lost track of him if it weren¡¯t for the sonar built in to the stealth suit¡¯s helmet.


    His black costume blended into the night, but the helmet outlined his body, showing him as he nearly hit Grand Lake Marina Supplies. I say ¡°nearly hit¡± because he didn¡¯t.


    He swerved right just as he was about to hit the ¡°G¡± in Grand Lake.


    ¡°Right¡± in this context meant toward the gas station. In short, toward us.


    I could see his logic.


    When you know you can¡¯t take your opponents out by yourself, it makes sense to bring them within reach of your friends.


    Unfortunately when your friends have pretty much realized that they don¡¯t have the tools to deal with your opponents either, it¡¯s not good news.


    Travis turned to Courtney and pointed past where the van sat on the sidewalk, down the street. ¡°Hide.Everyone else¡­ Go there.¡± He pointed at the Verizon store across the road. ¡°We¡¯re disappearing. Rocket, be obvious.¡±


    It made sense. That would get us away from the gas station. I didn¡¯t think there were people in the cars still at the pumps, but I was sure I¡¯d seen people inside the store.


    Not to mention that we¡¯d be taking the fight away from the tanks of fuel.


    Haley and Travis jumped immediately, easily passing over the cars, and ducking behind the store. Courtney ran around the side of the gas station. I turned on the rocket pack and flew after them.


    As I landed, I heard the sound of glass shattering behind me.


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    I turned to see two of Rook¡¯s flunkies pulling themselves out of the marina supplies store¡¯s front window. A third flew out, wings outstretched, but then detoured to the roof.


    He¡¯d probably noticed Rook.


    Vaughn, meanwhile, had landed next to me.


    ¡°I slowed them down,¡± he said, taking a breath. ¡°I blew them into the store.¡±


    He took another breath.


    I pulled the roachbot controller off my belt, and started in with ¡°plan b.¡± I didn¡¯t have the guitar anymore, but I¡¯d stored a lot roachbots in the van. Plus, I¡¯d put in exit tunnels for them.


    Thinking about Vaughn¡¯s breathing, I asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they broke some ribs with their guns. What¡¯s the plan?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re bait.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°Great. I love being bait.¡±


    We stood next to the far side of the store. It had to have been a gas station too at one point. It sat near back of its lot, surrounded by parking. The gas pumps were long gone.


    Two of Rook¡¯s people flew over the gas station, landing directly in front of us, and bringing up their arms.


    They had guns hanging under their forearms just like the Rocket suit Grandpa had used during World War 2.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± one of them said. His voice reminded me of the guy who tried to sell Courtney on using the Nine¡¯s power impregnator. What was his name? Right. Davis.


    ¡°No problem,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°I am not moving at all.¡±


    ¡°Good. Now tell the guy and girl behind the store to come back out here. We saw them try to hide. What did you think they were going to do? Ambush us?¡±


    Vaughn shrugged, ¡°Nice one guys, you totally saw through us, and you¡¯ve got to be pretty smart to see through the Rocket, right? Rocket, what do you think?¡±


    ¡°I¡ª¡± I began to talk, but Haley interrupted me. Her voice came through my helmet.


    She said, ¡°Rocket, could you move a little to the right?¡±


    I took a step to the right.


    The flunky that had to be Davis said, ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡±


    He pointed the gun at me, and might have shot me then--if it weren¡¯t for the missile.


    It hit him in the chest.


    Screeching through the air, it didn¡¯t explode, but it did carry him backward (and slightly sideways) through the plate glass window in the front of the store. He landed on his back, partially wrapped in a banner that said, ¡°Sweet Deals for September.¡±


    At almost the same moment, Travis jumped off the roof, landing behind the other flunky.


    Then he ripped the guy¡¯s left wing straight off.


    No one on our team was as strong as Jaclyn, but Travis came closer than anyone else. Plus, like Haley, he had claws made out of some weirdly hard and malleable substance.


    One of these days, I was going to get up the nerve to ask Haley for a sample.


    So ideally, the fight would have ended there.


    It didn¡¯t.


    While the flunky¡¯s wing sprayed fluids everywhere, he twisted around quickly, his own claws outstretched, and sunk them through Travis¡¯ costume and into his chest.

 A Kind of Small Crow: Part 9

    Too quickly for me to see anything but a blur, Travis punched the guy in the face¡ªif you could call a beaked helmet a face.


    His punch hit the right cheek, denting it, and twisting the beak. The helmet made a crunching noise, and bent backward. It didn¡¯t seem to bend further back than a human head could, but it didn¡¯t seem to be capable of bending forward anymore.


    Not that that mattered. Travis¡¯ punch had knocked the guy backward.


    He nearly hit me, but I moved just as he tripped. He landed on the ground between Vaughn and me.


    Pointing both arms at Travis, he started firing. How he expected to hit, while unable to bend his head in Travis¡¯ direction, I wasn¡¯t sure.


    He may have been working on the theory that if you fired off enough bullets in the right direction, you could hit anything eventually.


    If so, he was wrong. Travis dodged, jumping to his right while dripping blood from his chest. I wondered how deep the holes went.


    I didn¡¯t have to think about it though, because the guy on the ground changed targets, pointing his guns toward Vaughn.


    He started firing before I could do anything, and Vaughn stumbled sideways.


    If I¡¯d been in the full Rocket suit, I could have fallen on top of the guy without any real fear, but I wasn¡¯t, and I didn¡¯t even try it.


    I opened up with the sonics.


    The guy on the ground didn¡¯t even seem to notice.


    That was pretty wild, given the amount of noise they were putting out. Rook must have insulated the helmet against sonics.


    I couldn¡¯t believe he¡¯d have insulated the suit against the sonics'' effect on electronics. That wasn¡¯t well known.


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    He pointed his arms toward me.


    The guns spat out bullets. A few caught me, and I stumbled backward.


    I kept the sonics on him, letting the sonics try frequencies according to Grandpa¡¯s default algorithm¡ªmore or less randomly, but noting and coming back tothe frequencies that seemed to get the strongest response.


    It wasn¡¯t the quickest way to go, but it¡¯d get there.


    I made a point of stumbling in the direction of the guy¡¯s feet. With his neck stuck, that could only make it harder on him.


    That left me heading in the direction of the Verizon store at about the same time I noticed that the flunky Haley shot with a missile had gotten up. Even though it was long after closing hours, the lights in the store were still on.


    So, when he stood up, it was obvious.


    And I had a choice, keep on firing at the guy on the ground outside the store, or go after the guy who no one else had noticed yet.


    I didn¡¯t give it much thought. I pointed my arms at the guy in the store, giving him a double dose of sonics, hoping that whatever they¡¯d figured out from hammering the other guy would help.


    Small shattering noises came from the shelves around the store.


    A puff of smoke came from the suit¡¯s shoulder joints. It had done something.


    Not enough though¡ªthe guy raised his arms, pointed them at me, and then¡­


    They didn¡¯t fire.


    Unfortunately, the guy behind me still could.


    He did, and I stumbled forward as bullets hit the back of my helmet, the rocket pack, and my pants.


    I felt them only dully through the stealth suit, but they still hurt a little.


    Where was everyone else?


    I shouldn¡¯t have worried.


    The shots stopped with the screech of metal being torn apart.


    I glanced behind me to find that Travis had somehow grabbed the guy, and was literally ripping the armor off him.


    When I turned back to the flunky in the store, however, I found him leaping toward me, claws outstretched.


    I jumped sideways. The claws on his feet sunk into the parking lot.


    In his moment of hesitation as he pulled them out, I remembered I still held the roachbots¡¯ controller, and that I¡¯d set things up so that they were almost ready to be used.


    I aimed the controller at the flunky (formerly, the "lying on the floor of the store" flunky) so he appeared on the screen, and pressed ¡°swarm.¡±


    ¡°Rocket, move left or right,¡± Haley said, ¡°I can¡¯t fire with Travis there.¡±


    The flunky stepped toward me, claws swinging. I stepped backward, but not quickly enough.


    They caught, and ripped a chunk out of the jacket¡¯s sleeve.


    I was terrified for a second, knowing what could happen next, but then came the buzzing.


    Roachbots landed on him, covering his helmet, squeezing into cracks in the armor, and then started to explode.


    Somewhere in the back of my mind, I added ¡°move roachbot user-interface into the stealth suit''s helmet¡± to my list of projects.

 A Kind of Small Crow: Part 10

    The flunky started hitting himself, and screaming, his voice reminding me again that this was Davis, the guy who¡¯d made the offer to Courtney.


    I wondered for a moment how much damage I wanted to do to him. I had questions for him, after all, but that didn''t matter as much as I''d have thought.


    Rook¡¯s suits were pretty well constructed.


    The bots wedged themselves into cracks, but they did a lot more damage to the powered armor than the person inside. Plus, after the first wave, I brought in a wave of EMP bots.


    The first wave withdrew as the second settled on him. He stopped hitting himself for a moment, and adjusted his footing, probably in preparation for attacking me¡ªor possibly escaping.


    Then the EMP bots exploded.


    I¡¯d done my best to design them to allow me to point the pulse in a direction I preferred, so the EMP centered around the armor.


    Even so, I still backed up. I couldn¡¯t back up much, of course. Travis was fighting the other guy behind me.


    Fortunately, when the bots exploded, Davis fell forward, hitting the parking lot with a crash. He tried to push himself back to his feet, but couldn¡¯t even push himself into a sitting position.


    If he had more weaponry than guns, the EMP bots must have taken it out because he wasn¡¯t using it.


    I suddenly wished I¡¯d done that when Rook showed up. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t have. The roachbot controls were too complicated to use in a fight if anyone was actually trying to hurt you.


    I was lucky I¡¯d managed to use them at all.


    Deciding it was safe to take my eyes off Davis, I turned my head back toward Travis. He¡¯d taken down the guy he¡¯d been fighting.


    The front of the man¡¯s armor lay on the asphalt, and the man lay next to it on his back. The guns had been ripped from the armor. I couldn¡¯t see either of them, but I saw the wires.


    Travis stood above him, looking huge and muscular¡ªexactly like the kind of guy who could rip apart powered armor. His clawed hands and fangs could only help.


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    Despite this, blood ran down his chest. It wasn¡¯t squirting out, but dark lines ran across the wolf silhouette.


    I wondered how deep the holes went. If I were him, I¡¯d see a doctor. Haley and Travis regenerated, but not like Cassie. You could visibly watch her heal. They healed faster than a normal person, but not like that.


    That thought nudged another one in my brain. Where was Cassie? And for that matter where was Marcus? They¡¯d both said they were coming, and it sounded like Cassie had been been getting closer.


    I checked the communicator¡¯s GPS for their positions. They weren¡¯t on it. The communicator showed them as ¡°signal lost.¡±


    From a few feet away, Vaughn, ¡°Sorry I was so useless. Lightning doesn¡¯t work on them, and I couldn¡¯t work out a way to use wind that wouldn¡¯t hit you guys too, you know?¡±


    Travis began to shrug, and then stopped, grimacing. ¡°No problem, we got them.¡±


    ¡°Guys,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯ve got a problem. Captain Commando and Shift aren¡¯t showing on the comms.¡±


    Over the comm, Haley said, ¡°Do you hear a jet?¡±


    I didn¡¯t, but Travis turned in the direction of the marina supplies store¡ªRook had fallen there, and the third flunky had flown up to the roof.


    I didn¡¯t see a jet either, but, I did see News 10¡¯s helicopter, hovering in the darkness. How long had they been around?


    ¡°No jets,¡± I said.


    Travis held up his hand, and I looked harder into the darkness, this time using the sonar.


    I couldn¡¯t see details, but a blurry, plane shaped object moved toward the marina supplies store, slowing as it came closer.


    Rook flew toward it, helped by his henchman.


    I thought about turning on the rocket pack, and trying to catch them. Even as I grabbed the roachbots¡¯ controller (because bugging them might work), the plane¡¯s wings shifted position, and it roared away.


    None of us said anything, all of us coming silently to the same conclusion¡ªCassie and Marcus had to be on that plane.


    I aimed a few roachbots at it anyway, but they weren¡¯t fast enough.


    I wished I had the full Rocket suit.


    ¡°Fuck,¡± Vaughn said, turning away from the jet to face us. ¡°How are we going to find those guys?¡±


    ¡°We go to HQ, and grab our jet. If we¡¯re lucky, they¡¯ll still be in range of its sensors.¡±


    ¡°That sounds good,¡± Vaughn took a couple breaths.


    Crap. His ribs. At this rate, all we¡¯d have left to man the jet would Haley, Courtney, and I¡ªnot really enough people to go up against the Nine.


    I sent out a red alert, thinking it might be premature, but feeling sure it wasn¡¯t.


    And then I heard Cassie¡¯s motorcycle.


    I turned my head toward the street. We all did.


    Marcus drove it onto the parking lot. Huge chunks of red, white, and blue paint had been scraped off the side. One of the lights was missing.


    He didn¡¯t look his best either. Completely changed into a gray substance, he moved slowly, dragging his leg across the seat as he got off the bike.


    He moved the kickstand into place, and turned to us. ¡°They got Captain Commando.¡±

 Ready or Not: Part 1

    Haley and I sat in League HQ. The League¡¯s twenty foot high TV screen showed nothing¡ªjust blackness.


    Nothing had worked out.


    OK, nothing might have been stretching it. We¡¯d brought Marcus, Travis, Vaughn, and Courtney to one of Haley¡¯s cousins, a doctor, who did what he could for them. Then we left, and they stayed.


    None of them were unconscious, and if we got into the air, we might be able to detect Rook¡¯s plane with the League jet¡¯s sensors.


    We couldn¡¯t. So after a few circles around Grand Lake, we landed the jet, and went back to HQ¡¯s main room, and sat there in a room the size of a basketball court, calling people and leaving messages.


    Specifically, I called Daniel and Isaac Lim. Daniel, because I wanted to talk to him. Isaac, because we were supposed to contact the FBI if we ran into the Nine.


    I¡¯d gotten Isaac¡¯s voicemail which told me to call another number if it was urgent. I did, and wound up explaining the whole story to an agent I didn¡¯t know. He told me that Isaac, or possibly someone else, would call back.


    And if they did, what would we do exactly? The Feds were already going to be looking for signs of Rook¡¯s aircraft or for any other hints of where Cassie might be.


    Chances are, they wouldn¡¯t let us do anything.


    Worse, they had a good point. I¡¯d let the fight with Rook go on too long because I¡¯d been distracted by whatever he was using to heal himself and his suit. I thought about that for a second, and then stopped.


    That was the problem. I got distracted too easily, and maybe I should have gone for something more deadly when I fought him. I mean, he¡¯d said he was going to look after my stuff after he killed me.


    If that wasn¡¯t a time to reply with deadly force, I didn¡¯t know what was.


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    It seemed so obvious then in a way it hadn¡¯t in the middle of the fight.


    If I¡¯d just gotten a little distance, I might have been able to hit Rook with the guitar without him even being able to hurt anybody. If I had, I¡¯d have still been able to use the guitar against the other guys because he wouldn¡¯t have broken it.


    Plus, I might have been able to pay attention to Cassie. She¡¯d called for help.


    I wasn¡¯t ridiculous enough to think that everything depended on me, but we hadn¡¯t acted like a team until the very end. When Travis told us what to do, we¡¯d done it, that had been our best showing of the entire fight.


    Haley looked up from her screen at me. ¡°I hope you¡¯re trying to think of something, and that you¡¯re not just blaming yourself.¡±


    I didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°Nick,¡± she said, ¡°you are, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Yeah, a little.¡±


    ¡°Nick, we all made mistakes. If Travis and I had stayed in the parking lot, we could have targeted Rook with a missile. That would have changed everything. I told Travis to wait, but he didn¡¯t listen.¡±


    ¡°There were still a lot of things I did wrong.¡±


    The mask covered the top of Haley''s face, only showing her lips and chin. It made it harder to read her expressions, but she seemed irritated to me. Either way, her lips tightened. ¡°Maybe you did, but we don¡¯t have time. We¡¯ve got to be ready to go after Cassie.¡±


    ¡°If they let us. When I talked to him, he said he¡¯d pass everything over to the Guardian and the Midwest Defenders.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Haley sat for a second. ¡°Maybe they should do it, but I feel like we should be ready. They might need our help.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°But they''ll probably refuse it anyway.¡±


    She didn¡¯t start talking instantly, but I could tell from her expression that she was about to say something.


    As she opened her mouth, the speakers began beeping, and the words ¡°The Mystic¡± appeared on the bottom of the screen.


    I reached out, clicked my mouse, and took the call.


    Daniel¡¯s face appeared on the screen. He appeared to be sitting on his bed. There were no posters. It showed a blank wall.


    ¡°What happened? I just checked my communicator. What¡¯s going on with the red?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t get my message?¡±


    ¡°I was in the middle of something and I didn¡¯t know we¡¯d gotten a red alert.¡±


    ¡°OK, well, the Nine have Cassie. No ransom demands. Nothing. That¡¯s kind of good because I don¡¯t even know what we¡¯d do if they did, but her communicator¡¯s off or destroyed or something.¡±


    From the background, a female voice said, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    I recognized the voice. I wasn¡¯t sure who it was, but I knew it from somewhere.


    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± Haley asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, and I was about to ask, but in the bottom right corner of the screen, a red dot started blinking.


    Next to the dot appeared the words, ¡°Captain Commando.¡± Plus, it showed the longitude and latitude.

 Ready or Not: Part 2

    I clicked for more information, and realized that it wasn¡¯t Cassie¡¯s new communicator sending the signal. It was her old one.


    The old League had alert signals that allowed them to show status using green, yellow, and red like ours did, but didn¡¯t allow them to send sound or pictures¡ªjust location.


    They¡¯d been great at what they could do, but I¡¯d replaced them last spring.


    Some people had turned the old ones in, but not everybody. I didn¡¯t have a problem with that. The original League had trained a lot of supers, and most of them had kept their devices as mementos.


    On the off chance that someone else might have picked up an old device from the original Captain Commando, I checked the device¡¯s broadcast ID.


    It matched up to the one I¡¯d given Cassie.


    And that meant, that in all likelihood Cassie had kept her old device, and when Rook¡¯s people had taken or destroyed her new one, she¡¯d signaled us with the old one.


    Or, she¡¯d kept the old one, and they¡¯d taken it too and were using it to throw us off or trap us.


    By the time I realized I¡¯d been ignoring Daniel, the signal ended. It had lasted less than thirty seconds.


    ¡°Nick?¡± Daniel looked concerned. ¡°What just happened?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Cassie¡¯s old tracking device just sent us her location. That or someone¡¯s trying to trick us into believing she just used it.¡±


    ¡°What do you think?¡± He asked.


    ¡°The way Grandpa did the encryption, I¡¯ve got a hard time believing anyone could imitate it. At the same time, they could probably activate the alert if they got a hold of it.¡±


    Izzy leaned into the picture, moving next to Daniel on the bed. For the record, both of them had clothes on. We hadn¡¯t interrupted them in the middle of having sex or something.


    I felt grateful for that.


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    From behind her screen, Haley caught my eye. She probably wanted to know who Izzy was. She¡¯d been on vacation when I¡¯d met her last summer, and Haley wasn¡¯t yet old enough for The Stapledon program.


    I thought about trying to tell her, and then wondered if the Stapledon program¡¯s version of the block would let me.


    Annoying.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I told Daniel, ¡°if we¡¯re going to check it out, I think we¡¯ve got to go now. If it was Cassie, and she deliberately gave us a short burst like that, there¡¯s a pretty good chance that Rook noticed it too. They¡¯ll probably take it and move her. The crazy thing is that if she¡¯s there, we¡¯ll need everybody, but we don¡¯t have time to pick people up.¡±


    Daniel nodded, ¡°Where is she?¡±


    ¡°Way up north. The signal came from near Hudson Bay in Canada.¡±


    Izzy drew her lips together nervously, and then said, ¡°I can get him to Grand Lake before you take off.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, remembering when she¡¯d carried me. I¡¯d have to ask Daniel what was up when they got here.


    Not that it would be bad if they were dating or something. She¡¯d tower over most other people I knew.


    Daniel gave a brief smile, but then looked a little more serious. ¡°Oh, Nick? You might have a little trouble leaving when you want.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re about to get interrupted a few times.¡±


    I barely had any time to think about that when the screen began to beep. Meanwhile the words ¡°Guardian, Midwest Defenders,¡± appeared near the bottom of the screen.


    ¡°Crap. I should go.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± Daniel said.


    I took Guardian¡¯s call, wishing that Daniel could see further ahead. If we¡¯d stopped talking earlier, I might have missed this call entirely.


    Guardian stood in full costume¡ªa silvery substance that covered him from top to bottom. Between his muscles and his height, he looked as impressive as his reputation, which was also huge.


    I tried to think of an appropriate greeting for one of the better known heroes in the world.


    I went with, ¡°Hi.¡±


    ¡°Rocket,¡± he said, and held up his right hand. The silvery costume parted enough to make a ring visible. An inset ¡°gem¡± glowed red. ¡°My League alert ring just turned red. Who¡¯s in trouble?¡±


    ¡°Captain Commando just got taken by Rook. We¡¯re pretty sure he was working for or part of the Nine.¡±


    I didn¡¯t expect to surprise him with that, but he didn¡¯t say anything at first.


    He recovered, though.


    ¡°How did that happen? You weren¡¯t fighting the Nine¡¯s people, were you? You were supposed to leave that to us.¡±


    It was my turn to stumble.


    ¡°I¡­ We¡­ didn¡¯t know it was the Nine. We were going to check it out, but then the situation kind of got out of hand.¡±


    He took a breath, and then let it out.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you know what this means,¡± he said. ¡°Now that they¡¯ve got her, they¡¯re in possession of secrets that could change the balance of power between them and us, and I don¡¯t have time to handle it because I¡¯m in the middle of something equally critical.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but he wasn¡¯t standing. He was flying, and other people in costumes flew near him.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± I said. ¡°We know where she is, and we¡¯re going after her.¡±


    His eyes widened. ¡°No. Absolutely not.¡±

 Ready or Not: Part 3

    Haley barely let him finish before jumping in. ¡°What do you mean, ¡®no?¡¯ You¡¯re not going to do anything. You just told us so, and we can¡¯t leave her there.¡±


    Guardian¡¯s jaw tightened, and he said, ¡°We¡¯re going to do something, but we''re going to do it right. Even if you know where she is, and it isn¡¯t a trap, they¡¯ll still be expecting an attack. I¡¯m not going to throw high school students up against Rook and possibly more of the Nine¡¯s people. If anything, I¡¯m going to send in experienced people. Time to stop talking, and give me her location, I¡¯ll get as far as I can.¡±


    Somewhere in the back of my mind, a part of me wanted to remind him that some of us were college students, but I doubted that arguing technicalities would get me anywhere.


    Instead, I said, ¡°We¡¯re going. We know it might be a trap, but we can¡¯t leave her there without help¡ªnot if there¡¯s a possibility that it¡¯s not a trap.¡±


    Guardian¡¯s face assumed a frustrated expression that reminded me of Dr. Farkas when he¡¯d been saying I couldn¡¯t double major.


    ¡°I know you want to help her, but there¡¯s a reason we don¡¯t send inexperienced people up against the Nine¡¯s people. They¡¯re competent. They¡¯re prepared. They¡¯ll kill you, and then what good will you have done?¡±


    I might have sighed at that, which probably wasn¡¯t the most polite thing I could have done. I really don¡¯t remember doing it, but Haley told me afterward that I had. So, okay¡­


    I sighed, and Guardian frowned at me.


    ¡°Look, we can¡¯t leave her. We have to try. Sure, we¡¯ll give you the location, but the people you¡¯re sending can be our backup. We¡¯ve got to go now. Remember what happened to the original Captain Commando when Fracture caught him?¡±


    Regeneration had opened whole new avenues of torture. From what Grandpa said, it took a lot of work to get Captain Commando¡¯s legs back into the right shape, never mind the rest of his body.


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    ¡°Besides,¡± I continued, ¡°no one leaves a teammate in a situation like that. The original League wouldn¡¯t. We''re not going to either.¡±


    Guardian clenched his jaw again. ¡°Okay. Go, but I¡¯m going to send someone with you. Don¡¯t forget to send us the coordinates. I can¡¯t use them right now, but I will.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Haley said. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure he doesn¡¯t forget.¡±


    He frowned at her. Whatever concerns he may have had about sending teenagers into combat weren¡¯t being put to rest. I mean, she was kind of small. He should have been overjoyed. He had no idea how much his chances of actually getting the coordinates increased with her involved.


    Something beeped. I checked, and a small picture of Daniel and Izzy appeared near the bottom of my monitor. They¡¯d entered the complex by the hidden door in the forest. Underneath, the were the words, ¡°Identifed. Passed."


    That was fast.


    I sent a few commands to the League Jet that were meant to get it warmed up, and save us some time.


    I stood up from the table, telling Haley, ¡°I¡¯m going to get the full Rocket suit on. Do you feel comfortable handling everything here?¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°Seriously?¡±


    ¡°Well, I spend more time here than anyone else, and we don¡¯t spend much time with the equipment when we¡¯re here together. So I don¡¯t really know¡ª¡±


    She cut me off. ¡°Nick, go. I¡¯ll be fine. Kayla¡¯s on her way anyway.¡±


    I went.


    Crossing most of HQ¡¯s room, I ran to the lab, passing trophies and souvenirs the League collected over the years. An uncomfortable feeling in my stomach reminded me that Rook had killed a lot of people, and any respect he might have for my grandfather wouldn¡¯t stop him from killing me or my friends.


    If it did, it would only be because he¡¯d had an idea that we¡¯d probably appreciate less than that.


    Either way, we might not be coming back.


    I didn¡¯t like that feeling. Fortunately, it mostly disappeared when I got into the lab.


    I¡¯d done a lot of work on the Rocket suit during the summer. It stood next to the wall, completely fixed from the damage it had taken when we¡¯d fought the Cabal¡¯s leftovers in the spring, and then Evil Beatnik in the summer.


    Plus I¡¯d integrated roachbot controls into the helmet, and added pieces that turned the Rocket suit into a kind of roachbot aircraft carrier.


    I shucked off the stealth suit¡¯s helmet, pants, and jacket, leaving me in the thin layer that acted as my flight suit.


    Izzy and Daniel came in and started talking to Haley as the suit¡¯s chestplate closed. I pulled on the arms, and started to choose the types of roachbots I¡¯d take.


    Something beeped.


    I looked over the monitor on the desk. It showed a picture of two people in the old sewer entrances. One of them was Sydney Drucker, Sean¡¯s sister. That didn¡¯t surprise me. Haley had been hanging around with Sydney, and her half-sister Camille a lot this year.


    Unfortunately, the other person wasn¡¯t Camille. It was Sean.

 Ready or Not: Part 4

    Haley¡¯s voice came over the speaker. ¡°What¡¯s Sean doing here?¡±


    On the monitor, both Sean and Sydney looked around, neither of them sure where Haley¡¯s voice had come from.


    The two of them stood inside a sewer pipe. The door in front of them was made of concrete covered in reinforced steel.


    That wouldn¡¯t be much of an obstacle.


    Sean wore his Justice Fist costume¡ªgreen except for a white triangle that had a green fist inside it. Sydney appeared to be completely covered in gray metal.


    She turned her head in Sean¡¯s direction, scowling as she said, ¡°He wouldn¡¯t let me go alone.¡±


    ¡°Well I¡¯m not going to let her get hurt.¡± Sean had given up on finding the speakers, and talked directly at the door.


    I put on my helmet because that was the only thing left to put on, and I didn¡¯t feel like carrying it. Then I walked out of the lab, hearing Haley say, ¡°Wait for a second. I¡¯ve got to talk to someone here.¡±


    At first I wondered if she were waiting for me, but once out of the door, I could see her talking to Daniel and Izzy. Daniel wore his normal costume¡ªall black with silver accents.


    Izzy¡¯s costume didn¡¯t look anything like the one she¡¯d worn as Dixie Supergirl. If anything, it looked like off-the-rack women¡¯s workout clothes¡ªan aqua colored, armless t-shirt, black pants, and a black mask covering the upper half of her face.


    If she generated shields over herself as I suspected, she could wear anything.


    Haley glanced at Daniel. For a moment, she had a blank expression on her face, followed by annoyance. Then she turned back the computer, and started talking into the microphone again.


    Nick, Daniel sent to me. I argued we should take Sean too. Sorry, but you know why.


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    Despite my immediate surge of annoyance, I did. We were facing Rook. Rook and the majority of his people wore powered armor. Plus, he had all those robot birds. Short of getting Technomancer or his son Carlos, we couldn¡¯t choose anyone better than two people with magnetic powers.


    Crap.


    I¡¯d put some effort into improving the suit¡¯s sensory capabilities too. Zooming in on Haley, I could see her frown as she said, ¡°I¡¯m opening the door.¡±


    Not that that was the last door. She had to open a few more, and disable some security measures before they made it in.


    The big metal door on the wall opened and Sean walked in, followed by Sydney. He stared at the room, eyes darting from one of the League¡¯s old trophies to the next, checked out the shelves next to the wall, paraphernalia collected from Nazi super-soldiers, and the pile of boxes where they¡¯d packed up everything else.


    Sydney seemed a bit cooler about it, but she¡¯d been invited over a few times during the summer. She walked around Sean, straight toward Haley and everyone else at the table in front of the big screen.


    I¡¯d been walking toward the table even before Haley let them in, so I reached the table a little before Sydney and Sean.


    Sydney stopped next to Haley¡¯s chair. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to bring him.¡±


    In my mind, Daniel said, With his dad dead and the way they¡¯ve barely been talking lately, he¡¯s afraid of losing her too.


    I thought back. I wish you wouldn¡¯t make me feel sorry for him.


    Daniel sent back, Sorry. If it makes you feel any better, there¡¯s also a part of him that¡¯s jealous that she¡¯s been here so much, but that¡¯s not the main reason he came.


    Sean walked up, close enough to hear what Sydney said. ¡°Hey, Mom¡¯s worried every time you go out, and I¡¯m not going to let you get killed. I know you¡¯ve been fighting people with these guys. Trust me, you shouldn¡¯t be. You should wait until you¡¯re old enough to be in the program.¡±


    Sydney turned to face him. I couldn¡¯t see her real expression through all the metal, but if it matched the face that rippled across it, she was glaring at him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that. You were doing all kinds of things before the program. You just don¡¯t want me to be here with them. Or to be around Camille.¡±


    Sean sputtered, ¡°That¡¯s not true!¡±


    I felt amusement from Daniel. It is partly true, but letting them fight about it isn¡¯t going to get us anywhere.


    I sent to Daniel, Then we¡¯d better take control of this and get going.


    You, Daniel sent back.


    Me, what?


    You need to take charge. You and Haley called everybody, and Haley is assuming that you¡¯re going to run this. I bet she¡¯d do a great job herself actually, but she isn¡¯t expecting to.


    What about Jaclyn and Rachel? We¡¯re picking them up on the way.


    But they¡¯re not here now, and before you ask, I¡¯m not going to take it on. This one¡¯s yours¡ªunless you pass it off to Jaclyn.


    Again, crap.

 Ready or Not: Part 5

    Daniel, I thought at him, Why not you?


    I¡¯ve never liked being in charge, and I¡¯ve had to do it a lot. Besides, we all need leadership experience and you managed to avoid it when we were switching off. Plus, and this is the most important reason, you¡¯ve been part of the whole thing from the beginning. You¡¯ll see stuff I¡¯ll miss unless I go through your head, and search for every last bit of related stuff.


    I could see that, and I did remember him hating being put in charge of things at school. He¡¯d gone to the only Jewish day school in the area, been the grandson of a much loved Rabbi, and was tall and good looking as well. People tended to give him more attention than he wanted.


    So okay, he was right, but how was I supposed to butt into Sean and Sydney¡¯s family fight and actually make them listen?


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, upping the volume of the Rocket suit¡¯s speakers. ¡°Time to go. We¡¯ve still got to pick up Jaclyn, and we¡¯ve got to get there before they move Cassie.¡±


    Sean and Sydney stopped, and looked at me.


    ¡°Let¡¯s head over to the hangar.¡± I pointed at the wide metal doors for Izzy¡¯s benefit, and started walking toward them.


    ¡°Who are we fighting?¡± Sean hurried to catch up to me.


    ¡°Rook,¡± I said. And because I felt like I had to be honest I followed it up with, ¡°We suspect he¡¯s working for the Nine.¡±


    ¡°The Nine? Are you crazy? They¡¯re one of the biggest organizations out there.¡±


    ¡°You can stay here,¡± I said, not stopping or slowing down.


    Sean turned toward Sydney. ¡°Did you hear that? The Nine. Remember the guy who killed Dad? They¡¯re ten times worse.¡±


    ¡°He kidnapped Cassie. I¡¯m going with them.¡± She didn¡¯t sound happy. Her feet hit the carpet solidly, each time making me worry that she¡¯d break the concrete underneath. ¡°And don¡¯t bring Dad into this.¡±


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    Sean said something to her that I didn¡¯t catch.


    Haley caught up with me, ¡°Didn¡¯t Guardian say he¡¯d be sending someone?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but he hasn¡¯t yet. They might be too busy.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll do it, Nick. This is Guardian. By the way, did you ever send him the coordinates for where Cassie is?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°You said you would.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it. I just haven¡¯t had a chance yet. I¡¯ve been worried about how we¡¯ll find her if they¡¯ve taken her tracking device away, and put up telepathy dampeners or something.¡±


    We walked up to the hangar. I pushed the button that opened the doors, and they slid into the walls on either side, stopping with metallic clanks.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been talking with Guardian?¡± Sean stared at me.


    My first instinct was to explain that this was less impressive than it sounded, but then I decided I didn¡¯t want to explain anything to him at all, and said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    We stepped into the hangar.


    At the far end, the League Jet hummed, the fusion plant and the engines inside it had already powered up. Nearer to us were the Wolfmobile, Cassie¡¯s scratched up motorcycle, and my van with its missing driver¡¯s side door and all the scratches it had gotten from being flipped on its side.


    On either side of the room were the tools I used to keep them running, spare parts on shelves, and storage lockers.


    I saw Cassie¡¯s locker, and thought of a way I might be able to find her.


    ¡°Everyone, give me a second. I¡¯ve got to grab something. Just go get in the jet.¡±


    I walked up to Cassie¡¯s locker, clicked a few buttons, and overrode her lock.


    Then I opened it, and found the gun. Made of a shimmery, bluish-green metal, it looked like a toy¡ªan evil toy. I couldn¡¯t see all of it because Cassie kept it in a holster, but it started wider at the back and became slimmer until it reached the point.


    I picked it up. Cassie had told me that it adjusted to fit her hand when she first touched it. It didn¡¯t adjust at all to fit me. It didn¡¯t react in any way.


    I started walking toward the jet. In the time I¡¯d taken, everyone else was almost, but not quite there.


    I pointed its muzzle to the right of me, and then started talking to it.


    ¡°Hey, gun,¡± I said. ¡°Remember Cassie? She¡¯s the only person you can talk to. The only person you¡¯ve been able to talk to in thousands of years, right? Well, she¡¯s been kidnapped by people who probably want to copy her Citizen¡¯s Mark, and use it to operate Abominator devices. That¡¯ll put them into the hands of people with no connection to the Abominators at all. I¡¯m guessing you don¡¯t want that. So, if you want to help, here¡¯s what you have to do. Tell her where we are if we get into range, and help her find her way back to us.


    ¡°Do you agree? Flash little sparkles once if you do, and twice if you don¡¯t. If you''re not interested, I can put you back in the locker, but without Cassie around who knows if anyone will ever take you out again?¡±

 Ready or Not: Part 6

    Bits of light sparkled around the end of the barrel. I waited to see if it did it again. It didn¡¯t.


    Good. Then I didn¡¯t have to put it back in the locker.


    I put on a little speed, and joined everyone else by the jet. Haley had touched the door, and it opened, lowering to the ground, and altering to become a short stairway.


    Sean looked down at the gun and said, ¡°What¡¯s that? You looked like you were talking to it.¡±


    Not even waiting for me to answer, he reached out to take it.


    It fired.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± He stumbled backward. ¡°It¡¯s a gun! Did you do that?¡±


    ¡°Why would I try to shoot¡ª¡±


    I didn¡¯t get to finish. Izzy moved between the two of us.


    ¡°What happened?¡± She turned toward me, but kept a hand up in Sean¡¯s direction.


    ¡°He shot¡ª¡± Sean began, but I talked over him.


    ¡°It¡¯s an Abominator weapon. It¡¯s sentient and communicates with Cassie somehow. In fact, I don¡¯t even think it was trying to hurt him. If it were, I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯d be dead.¡±


    ¡°It communicates with Cassie?¡± Izzy lowered her eyes to look at the gun. ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It just does. I¡¯m bringing it along as a backup in case they block telepathy.¡±


    ¡°Which is likely,¡± Daniel said. ¡°Everybody else seems to.¡±


    ¡°Are you going to buy that?¡± Sean asked. ¡°Are you really going to buy that he didn¡¯t mean to shoot me?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s not lying.¡± Haley practically spat it out. She¡¯d turned around, and stood on the first step of the jet¡¯s stairs.


    Izzy turned toward Sean. ¡°Haley''s right. He¡¯s not, and we don¡¯t have time to waste arguing about it. Let¡¯s go.¡± She sounded calm, but not like she expected to be argued with.


    Sean looked for a second like he wanted to argue, but he didn¡¯t. I could think of reasons he might not. He might have been remembering how easily she¡¯d beat him when they¡¯d fought last summer, or that everybody (with the possible exception of Sydney) would be on the other side.


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    ¡°OK,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡±


    We walked up the steps, and took seats inside the jet. I put the gun in its holster, and tried to think about what to do with it. Cassie¡¯s belt wouldn¡¯t fit around the Rocket suit¡¯s waist, and I wasn¡¯t sure I could fit the holster on the Rocket suit¡¯s utility belt.


    Whatever. I put it on the floor next to my seat, and clipped the belt to my chair. The jet had lots of little clips all over in case we needed to turn off the anti-gravity.


    Haley sat in the seat next to mine.


    She frowned. ¡°Guardian still didn¡¯t send anybody.¡±


    ¡°He seemed like he was in the middle of something.¡±


    I started running through the jet¡¯s check list for take off. Midway through, I remembered that I was supposed to send Guardian Cassie¡¯s coordinates.


    I stopped the check list, connected the jet to HQ¡¯s communications, and backed up till I found a record of her call.


    Haley watched me. She¡¯d trained on the jet during the summer and knew the check list. As I connected to HQ, she said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong¡ª¡± but then she stopped.


    When I accessed the record with Cassie¡¯s coordinates, she laughed.


    ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t say anything. I¡¯m doing it.¡±


    I sent Guardian Cassie¡¯s coordinates at the number he¡¯d used to call me.


    Then I went back to the flight check list, and finished it. Haley took part of it. That helped.


    I decided to make another call. It would be worth it if our next fight turned out as badly as our last one.


    I punched the number into the jet¡¯s communicator, pressed send, and Alex answered immediately. It surprised me. He¡¯d hated the Defenders phone in the past. I¡¯d half expected to need to call Brooke, his girlfriend, next.


    His face came on the screen, and it was obvious he sat in one of the Defenders¡¯ podjets. He was in costume too¡ªa white long coat over gray armor.


    Jenny sat in the row behind him in her red Flame Legion costume. Brooke, covered in shining silver, sat next to her.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Alex said. ¡°Did you send the coordinates yet?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I¡¯d never imagined Guardian would bring him into this.


    ¡°You need help. The adults are mostly busy. The ones that aren¡¯t busy are bringing us along.¡±


    I was about to ask which adults were coming, but I didn¡¯t get to before something beeped in their cockpit.


    Alex looked down. ¡°Got them. Guardian just sent them. Wonder what¡¯s up with the wait? Anyway, got anything special you need to tell us?¡±


    ¡°Not yet,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll see you there.¡±


    I sat back as the screen went dark, and wondered what else Guardian had set in motion. He couldn¡¯t be planning to send them in with us. Brooke was his daughter after all.


    With her teleportation, Alex¡¯s healing, and Jenny¡¯s ability to create duplicates, they¡¯d do a great job pulling hurt people out of a fight though.


    Or, alternately, as a corpse retrieval squad.


    ¡°OK, everybody, we¡¯re heading out.¡± I pressed the button that opened up the tunnel to the lake. The first part had been pumped dry, but began to flood once we floated inside, and the airlock behind us closed.


    As the water covered the top of the jet, I heard a popping noise.


    My first instinct was to check the instruments for warnings, but then I realized that it had come from behind me. I turned around to see Flick. She wore the same yellow costume and unusually large gauntlets as she had when I¡¯d last seen her¡ªthe night Sean and I fought during our first Stapledon weekend.


    With a glance, she took in exactly who was in the jet. ¡°Well,¡± she drawled, turning the word into two syllables. ¡°This ought to be interesting.¡±

 Here We Come: Part 1

    The flight to Ann Arbor to pick up Rachel and Jaclyn took less than 10 minutes.


    We picked them up at a small lake Rachel had called ¡°Barton Pond.¡± Whatever it was, it was large enough for me to find from the air, and float over while they boarded. Plus it was dark enough out that we wouldn''t be too obvious.


    They were in costume. All in white, Rachel¡¯s gun hung from her utility belt. Jaclyn¡¯s costume was purple, as ever, and unlike anyone else on our team, she wore a mask instead of a bullet resistant hood.


    Being basically invulnerable, she could do that.


    As they pulled on their seat belts, Jaclyn said, ¡°So, do we have a plan this time?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d been wondering that myself.¡± Flick said. Her voice had a hint of a southern accent¡ªpossibly from Texas¡ªbut just a hint.


    Rachel eyed her as she finished putting on her seat belt. ¡°The program¡¯s not running this now? That surprises me.¡±


    Flick twisted around in her seat to face Rachel. ¡°We¡¯re all about training you to be able to take initiative. Plus, you¡¯re special. You¡¯ve already faced people like this and come out ahead. I¡¯m here to give advice and help keep you out of trouble.¡±


    Sounding slightly amused, Rachel said, ¡°And that¡¯s all? You like us, so you¡¯ll let us go into mortal danger?¡±


    Flick grinned at her, but only for a second. Then she looked very serious. ¡°I¡¯ll let you in on a secret. We¡¯re stretched a little thin right now. We don¡¯t have anyone we trust who we think can handle it, and this has to be done. Some of you can guess why, and if you can¡¯t, consider yourself lucky. People have died because they knew.¡±


    Haley and I looked at each other. I¡¯d given everybody a big hint when I talked about the gun.


    Well, whatever. Too late to do anything about it now¡ªunless we were willing to convince Daniel to fix the problem.


    ¡°Getting back to the plan,¡± I said. ¡°We still don¡¯t know enough to have a firm plan. All we know is that they¡¯ve got Cassie, and when her distress call came up, the coordinates were for somewhere near Hudson Bay. I¡¯m guessing Rook¡¯s got a base there. If that turns out to be the case, I¡¯m thinking we send in the armored, and fastest moving people to get Cassie while the other people distract them.¡±


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    Sean smirked at me. ¡°Dude, I could send out an EMP that nukes their electronics, and that¡¯s the end. They can¡¯t do anything. They¡¯re all in armor, right? That¡¯s Rook¡¯s thing.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said, ¡°but here¡¯s the problem. You¡¯re not the only guy with magnetic powers out there, and I can only speak for myself, but the current Rocket suit doesn¡¯t include any metal you can affect. Plus, it¡¯s got a lot of ceramic.


    ¡°Plus, you¡¯re not the only guy who can do an EMP. I¡¯ve put in stuff to protect against them. I¡¯m betting Rook has too. Even if he hasn¡¯t protected everything, the security system would be high on his list. His powered armor too, I bet.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Sean rolled his eyes.


    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t want me to show you up. If I do the EMP, I¡¯ve fixed everything, and you¡¯ve got nothing to do.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, and stopped. I knew he was wrong, but where were the words?


    Rachel leaned forward in her chair, putting her closer to Sean. ¡°Hey Sean, let¡¯s remember the last few times you and Nick worked together. The way I heard it when you attacked Izzy, you lost control of all the metal you were using as a shield, and she had to save you¡ª¡±


    Sean interrupted, ¡°No, that¡¯s wrong¡ª¡±


    Izzy flushed, but said. ¡°It¡¯s true.¡±


    Rachel didn¡¯t stop, ¡°¡ªfrom being crushed. Oh, and let¡¯s see, when you went up against Ray and Gina with that truck, you went ahead of us, and what happened? You lost, and ended up a hostage. How far do you want me to go back? You act first, and think later. If you go in with a big EMP or any ''plan'' like that, you could get all of us killed, got it?¡±


    Sean turned around in his chair, and I expected him to start screaming at Rachel, but then he didn¡¯t.


    He turned back around, and leaned forward to catch Daniel¡¯s eye. Daniel sat on the other end of the row with Izzy and Sydney between them.


    Sean shouted, ¡°Get out of my head!¡± Then he leaned back, and didn¡¯t say anything else. Neither did the rest of us.


    It felt very quiet in the jet.


    ¡°Uh,¡± I said. ¡°So¡­ That¡¯s the whole plan for now. I¡¯m planning to use the jet¡¯s sensors from a distance to see if we can get more information. Then we¡¯ll come up with a better plan.¡±


    Flick nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good enough for now.¡±


    I turned on the anti-gravity, and let the jet float upward into the night sky, suddenly remembering that I ought to be going to bed around now.


    Deciding not to think about that, or how I¡¯d deal with classes (assuming I didn¡¯t skip them), I thought at Daniel, What was that all about?


    I felt embarrassment coming across our connection.


    I pushed him¡ªnot directly. I didn¡¯t manipulate his brain. I reminded him that one of his coaches, a coach he liked a lot, said the same thing. He¡¯s been blaming himself for his dad¡¯s death. He thinks it was retaliation for attacking Ray, and blames himself for not thinking that through.


    He¡¯s probably right. You didn¡¯t remind him of that, did you?


    Not directly, but I knew that if I reminded him of the coach, he¡¯d get himself there.


    Whoa. That¡¯s kind of manipulative.


    I felt a brief wave of guilt wash over from him.


    I know. I don¡¯t like it either, but I couldn¡¯t think of another way to shut him up. Cassie doesn¡¯t have time for this. Besides, he might learn something.


    We could hope.

 Here We Come: Part 2

    We let the telepathic connection lapse, and I concentrated on flying. Specifically, I thought about the route, and whether I ought to be getting special permission. The signal had come from Canada.


    Theoretically dropping by without warning could cause an international incident.


    Of course, Canada got along with the US pretty well. It wasn¡¯t as if we were going to fly into North Korea, for example.


    Still, Canada had its own supers as well as an air force, and I didn¡¯t want to run into either of them.


    Well, not unless they could be persuaded to help, but I wasn¡¯t sure that I had time to look into that. Plus, the Nine had people everywhere. If I went through official channels, someone might warn Rook.


    ¡°Where are we going?¡± Jaclyn had to raise her voice. She sat in the second row back along with Rachel and Flick.


    ¡°Somewhere in northern Canada,¡± I said. I looked closer at the map on the screen. ¡°Northern Manitoba in fact. No wait, southern Nunavut maybe. Do you think the Canadian government will mind?¡±


    From behind me, Sean laughed. It had an edge to it. ¡°Why should they? They¡¯re practically the fifty-first state.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯d disagree with that,¡± Flick said. ¡°But Nick, don¡¯t worry about it now. Our people have already contacted anyone who needs to know. Next time, ask Agent Lim. He¡¯ll talk you through asking the right people for permission.¡±


    I checked our position. We¡¯d crossed into Canada. I checked the radar. Not seeing any missiles or superheroes closing on us, I decided we were safe.


    I couldn¡¯t see much out the windows. The stars and moon above us flickered dimly. Haley had turned on the shields (though not up to full strength). They didn¡¯t let much energy through.


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    It didn¡¯t improve the scenery much, but it helped hide us from radar.


    Looking down, I didn¡¯t see a lot of lights either. Wherever we were going, it wasn¡¯t the most populous part of Canada.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to be there in less than twenty minutes,¡± I said. ¡°Who did Guardian say he¡¯d be sending in? I know about Paladin, Portal, and Flame Legion. Who else?¡±


    Flick hesitated. ¡°Well, that might be everybody. No¡­ They¡¯re sending Straka, and maybe Mr. Intuitive, but remember what I said? We¡¯ve got a lot on our plate right now, and we can¡¯t send all the help we should. The Junior Defenders are at least experienced but they¡¯re not supposed to be much more than help getting you people out.¡±


    ¡°So it¡¯s basically just us? What about the Canadian teams?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯re talking with them sweetie, but we¡¯ve got to be careful. You know the Nine.¡±


    She said it calmly, as if she weren¡¯t implying that the Nine had infiltrated any government worth infiltrating.


    I checked our position. We were getting close. I started to descend, bringing the jet down fifty miles away. We could send someone in to scout out the base, and if they got in trouble, the jetcould close the distance quickly in seconds.


    I landed in a clearing next to a lake. A forest stood all around us. At that distance, blending in wouldn¡¯t matter much. It wasn¡¯t as if they¡¯d see us out the window in the middle of the night.


    Still, for all I knew, they might have regular patrols.


    We left the shields on, letting them absorb the little light available. It wouldn¡¯t turn us invisible, but we wouldn¡¯t be obvious either.


    OK. Maybe I was being overcautious.


    ¡°Here¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking¡­ The Mystic and uh¡­ Izzy, do you have a codename?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°No, and I¡¯m not ever using Dixie Supergirl again.¡±


    ¡°We could call you¡­¡± I noticed the color of her shirt. ¡°Blue?¡±


    ¡°After my shirt? Are you kidding?¡± She sighed. ¡°If it makes it easier, sure, but just this time.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, the two of you can scout ahead. If there are problems, come back, or call us and we¡¯ll join you.¡±


    As they stepped out of the door, I wondered if I should ask Daniel about their relationship status. She lived in California last I¡¯d heard, and visiting him in Chicago might not be much at her speed, but it had to mean something.


    We¡¯re not going out. She just dropped by to talk about Stapledon.


    Seriously?


    I don¡¯t want to go into it right now.


    So it¡¯s definitely more than Stapledon.


    He didn¡¯t say anything, and then the door shut behind him.


    Haley looked up from the screens in front of her. ¡°And now we wait?¡±


    ¡°Probably. Well, maybe. I had this idea while we were flying. Cassie¡¯s gun is alien tech, and the jet¡¯s mostly alien tech. I wonder if there¡¯s a way to make them connect, and boost its telepathic range?¡±

 Here We Come: Part 3

    Haley¡¯s lips twisted. ¡°Are you sure you want them to connect? Remember when we flew into space and that robot attached itself to the ship? I don¡¯t want anything like that to happen. Especially not right now.¡±


    I remembered it very well, and I could see her point. Technically though, the gun wasn¡¯t anything like that robot.


    Arguably it was worse. The robot had just wanted to escape while the gun (at least the way Cassie described it) took joy in destroying things.


    So if I was going to use the ship to boost the gun¡¯s range, I needed to start carefully.


    I reached out, detached the gun¡¯s holster from the clip on the chair, and picked it up.


    ¡°Gun, can you contact the ship? I¡¯d like to ask you some questions. It¡¯ll make it easier to get Cassie back.¡±


    Then I watched one of the screens¡ªthe one the jet used for direct communications.


    [INCOMING COMMUNICATION]


    [ABOMINATOR DEVICE PROTOCOLS]


    [!DANGER!]


    [!NOTIFYING AI!]


    The jet had an artificial intelligence? I didn¡¯t remember that. On the other hand, thinking through the jet¡¯s plans, I had thought that the jet¡¯s main computer seemed disproportionately large, given the power of the smaller, dedicated computers that ran parts of the ship.


    Also, what was it doing that it needed to be notified? Did AI¡¯s sleep? Meditate?


    Haley took a breath, and muttered something that ended with a hard ¡°t¡± sound.


    [AI ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL]


    [Hello, Nick. The Abominator device claims that he is speaking to me at your request. With your permission, I¡¯ll allow him to communicate, but I will follow appropriate precautions.]


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said.


    From behind me, Sean said, ¡°What are you doing with that thing?¡±


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    Sounding irritated, Haley said, ¡°Not right now, Sean.¡±


    From further back, Jaclyn said, ¡°Oh no, now what¡¯s going wrong?¡±


    Rachel chuckled.


    On the screen, more words appeared.


    *IN THE NAME OF MAGNETUS THE PURIFIER, I DEMAND THE ATTENTION OF THE MONGRELS AND HALF-BREEDS CONTROLLING THIS BASTARDIZED IMITATION OF A SPACESHIP!*


    [Go stuff yourself, fanatic windbag.]


    *WERE IT NOT FOR THE BONDS OF CURSED NECESSITY, I WOULD BURN YOUR COMPONENTS TO SLAG AND DANCE IN THE MOLTEN REMAINS.*


    [That¡¯s going to be quite a challenge, since you don¡¯t have legs, or any way to move anywhere your owner doesn¡¯t carry you.]


    *BAH! YOUR SOUL LACKS ANY POETIC POTENTIAL.*


    [But unlike you, I can move on my own.]


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°if the two of you would listen to me for a second, I¡¯d like to ask some questions.¡±


    Sean leaned forward. ¡°Who are you talking to?¡±


    *TELL THE MONGREL BEHIND YOU THAT IF HE ATTEMPTS TO TOUCH ME AGAIN, I WILL BURN HIM WHERE HE STANDS.*


    Sean stared at the screen. ¡°The gun¡¯s saying that? Well, tell him that he can bite me.¡±


    [I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll do that right after he dances on your ashes.]


    Sean looked completely mystified. ¡°What the fuck? Who was that?¡±


    ¡°Ignore him,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m trying to save Cassie. Jet, she¡¯s fifty miles from here. Is there some way you could boost the gun¡¯s signal, and allow him to speak with her from here?¡±


    [I¡¯d have to allow him access to interface with, and possibly modify my communication functions. That¡¯s an unacceptable security risk. Plus, he¡¯s a jerk.]


    *AND HE¡¯S BEEN CAPTURED, MODIFIED, AND REPAIRED BY PRIMITIVES. HE¡¯S LOST THE ABILITY TO INTERFACE WITH MY SYSTEMS IF HE EVER HAD IT. HIS ORIGINAL MAKERS WERE BARELY BETTER.*


    [Do I have permission to cease conversation with the Abominator weapon? Please say yes.]


    ¡°Yes, but we¡¯ll need to have you translate for him again when we move in. He¡¯s the only one who can definitely find Cassie.¡±


    [I look forward to it.]


    [COMMUNICATION ENDED]


    I leaned back in my seat, barely aware that I¡¯d been leaning forward before. Then I picked the gun and its holster up, intending to clip it to the chair again.


    That¡¯s when I noticed that everybody had moved to the front. Sean was, of course, leaning forward. Flick, Jaclyn, Rachel, and Sydney were all standing, and must have read at least part of the conversation over our shoulders.


    Flick said, ¡°Abominator weapon?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Cassie picked it up when she was fighting the Nine last summer.¡±


    Flick nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose that you¡¯re aware that most countries, including the United States, require people to turn in alien or magical artifacts if they find them?¡±


    ¡°I think I did hear that.¡±


    Light caught my eye, and I looked down. Little spots of light sparkled around the end of the gun¡¯s holster where the barrel ended.


    ¡°In this particular case, it might not be a good idea though,¡± I said.


    Flick glanced toward the gun. ¡°No, and if we were completely serious about it, we¡¯d have to impound this jet as well. But,¡± she said, ¡°if the gun becomes a problem, the powers-that-be will want the problem to stop.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± I said.

 Here We Come: Part 4

    Well, the gun shouldn¡¯t become a problem, I told myself, not if Cassie¡¯s around to control it.


    On the other hand, I thought, you could argue that it might be even less of a problem if Cassie and every one of us completely ignored it forever. In fact, thinking about it abstractly, you could argue that Cassie¡¯s very existence was a problem. If (as government scientists suspected) spliced in DNA caused the Abominator citizen¡¯s mark to be written as a structure in her brain, reverse engineering it would open up the possibility of humans using truly horrible technologies.


    Plus, what if aliens wanted it too for some reason? If anybody, they ought to have access to Abominator technology and the ability to remake it, right? On the other hand, Grandpa had implied that outside of their appearance on Earth, the Abominators had been gone for a while.


    Then I remembered that Bullet said that the Nine had been infiltrated by aliens.


    That put everything in a new light, and one I didn¡¯t have time to examine. I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to either because if everything I¡¯d just connected in my head connected for real, we were on the edges of something really big.


    And I had no idea what.


    ¡°Nick?¡± Haley spoke quietly.


    I turned toward her, wondering if she felt like I was ignoring everyone, or if she wanted an answer to a question.


    I didn¡¯t get to ask her though. Daniel sent me a message telepathically.


    We¡¯re back.


    I turned my attention to the instrument panel, turned off the shield near the door, and let it open.


    Daniel and Izzy floated in, and the door shut behind them.


    Flick gave them a smile. ¡°How are things looking out there?¡±


    Daniel said, ¡°Don¡¯t ask me. They had psi-blockers of all kinds¡ªtelepathy, clairvoyance, and judging from the static I sensed, that¡¯s not all. Mentally, the whole place wasn¡¯t much more than a blur, but fortunately Izzy got a lot more than that.¡±


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    Flick nodded. ¡°Could you tell if they were blocking teleportation?¡±


    ¡°No idea. I can¡¯t do that, so I couldn¡¯t test it.¡±


    Next to Jaclyn, Rachel muttered, ¡°What do you want to bet they¡¯re blocking me too?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going to want to knock that out if we can,¡± I said.


    ¡°All it¡¯d take is one EMP,¡± Sean said.


    I turned toward Sean. I didn¡¯t want to go through all that again, but, ¡°Look, I don¡¯t mind EMP¡¯s. I¡¯m planning on using a few small ones myself, but if you use it on the whole base, it might not work out. Lots of security systems are triggered when something gets cut off. So what if your EMP takes out the sensor that detects a laser, but not the device that goes boom if the laser¡¯s shut off? What if it¡¯s nuclear?¡±


    Sean didn¡¯t back down. He looked me in the eyes (to the degree he could through my helmet). ¡°No one is stupid enough to rig up a nuclear bomb underneath their base.¡±


    Flick''s grin seemed a little tired. ¡°Rook¡¯s done it before.¡±


    Sean¡¯s jaw dropped a little. ¡°Are you kidding?¡±


    ¡°Sorry hon, no.¡±


    Daniel took advantage of the silence that fell after that to say, ¡°Izzy used sonar to build a decent picture of the base. It¡¯s not perfect. I¡¯m sure we¡¯re missing a lot, but it¡¯s better than nothing. We ought to be able to plan based on this.¡±


    I felt mental contact with Daniel, and a more distant contact with the rest of the the group. Interesting. He was shielding our thoughts from each other. I didn¡¯t remember him doing that before.


    I¡¯ve been practicing. Plus, I¡¯m growing stronger.


    Izzy¡¯s presence became more noticeable in the link.


    ¡°I¡¯ll show you what I saw when we looped around the dome. It might seem a little strange to you, but I¡¯ll do what I can to explain it.¡±


    At first, it looked like any other dark spot in the wilderness¡ªstars and clouds above, but near complete blackness near the ground.


    Then I could see Rook¡¯s base¡ªexcept ¡°see¡± wasn¡¯t the right word. Izzy could see with sonar. Theoretically, I ought to have been used to that, but while some versions of the Rocket suit could do the same thing, the computer processed it instead of my brain.


    Here, I saw a dome, but the edges of whatever spot I was directly looking at were fuzzy. Weirder, when I looked at any spot, I saw more than the outside. I could tell the shape and size of the rooms behind it.


    It was a lot to take in.


    I could go into detail, but this was the gist of it: It was a dome. The heaviest objects clustered around the middle. The power, the labs, the psi-blockers, and probably Cassie¡¯s cell were all there.


    I¡¯d assumed they¡¯d have a collection of buildings, and that we¡¯d be able to distract with one group, and get Cassie out with the other. Maybe we still could, but all the most important targets were in the middle.

 Here We Come: Part 5

    I thought about it a little more. No, my basic plan was still possible. We could have a rescue group and a distraction group. We just might have to join up afterward instead of having the distraction group get away quietly.


    No, better yet, I thought¡ªonly risk the people who can take a lot of damage and whose powers allow them to get in and get out quickly.


    ¡°OK,¡± I said, ¡°here¡¯s the plan now that I¡¯ve got an idea of what¡¯s going on.¡±


    Daniel ended the group connection¡ªwhich was probably a good thing. He¡¯d have had to filter out my irritation at Sean, and not just my irritation. I didn¡¯t know what Haley was feeling, but they¡¯d had a bad breakup when they¡¯d been going out.


    Bad, in that case, meant that she¡¯d used the neurotoxic poison in her claws on him when he¡¯d tried to push her to go farther than she wanted, and his family had brought in lawyers and the police.


    Filtering the results of that couldn¡¯t be easy either.


    In my head, I heard Daniel¡¯s reply.


    Believe me, that¡¯s not all I was filtering.


    I decided I didn¡¯t have time to go into that.


    ¡°Knowing that they¡¯re blocking everything they can means this just got more complicated. Instead of sending in two groups right away, we¡¯re going to go with one group¡ªJaclyn, Izzy and I. We¡¯re all fast, and highly armored.


    ¡°Haley will fly the jet in. We¡¯ll jump out, break in, take out as many defenses as we can, and get Cassie. If that works, we¡¯ll call you on the communicators, and the rest of you can cover us on the way out.¡±


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    ¡°What?¡± Sean had his mouth half open in an expression I read as being somewhere between disgust and anger.


    ¡°You¡¯re hogging the whole rescue. I can keep up with you, and I don¡¯t have to be protected like some little kid¡ª¡±


    ¡°Sean,¡± Jaclyn broke in before he could go into a rant. ¡°Listen to me. Nick¡¯s right. We¡¯ve got a good chance of getting in and out before they even realize something¡¯s happened. Even if we can¡¯t, I think we can take out the psi-blockers¡ªwhich means all of you can come in full bore. That will make a huge difference to your chances if you have to rescue us.¡±


    Sean blinked, and seemed to be giving that some thought when Flick started in.


    ¡°It¡¯s just smart to leave some of your heavy hitters in reserve. If we have to go in, it¡¯ll be you, me and Sydney in the front. Besides, you¡¯re facing the Nine this time. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll miss out on the action.¡±


    Sean nodded. ¡°OK, but who¡¯s in charge while he¡¯s gone?¡±


    ¡°I was assuming it¡¯d be Flick,¡± I said. ¡°Well, unless she¡¯d prefer it be Haley or Rachel.¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°Not me. If I¡¯m going to be flying the jet, and operating weapons, I won¡¯t have time.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know if I¡¯ll have powers down there yet.¡± Rachel gave an exaggerated salute in Flick¡¯s direction. ¡°All hail our glorious leader.¡±


    Sean didn¡¯t argue. From the question, I¡¯d assumed he would want to be in charge.


    Either they¡¯d handled it better than I had, or he accepted any authority if it wasn¡¯t mine.


    Flick put her hand on Sydney¡¯s shoulder, touching a simple white jumpsuit. The metal that had been covering Sydney lay in a lump on the floor. I didn¡¯t know when she¡¯d removed it.


    ¡°You¡¯ll have to choose a codename so we all know what to call you,¡± Flick said.


    Sydney glanced over to Haley, and then back to Flick. ¡°Camille and Haley thought I should call myself Alloy.¡±


    Flick nodded. ¡°There might be another Alloy. It seems to me that there was, but don¡¯t worry about it just this once.¡±


    She paused, and then said, ¡°Time to suit up. We¡¯ll need to go soon, but not this second. Your friends ought to be here fairly quickly. If we have more backup than that, I¡¯ll be surprised.¡±


    Everyone got back into their seats, put on their seat belts, and I listened for Alex.


    It didn¡¯t take long.


    Alex¡¯ voice came over the radio, ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±


    The screen indicated it had used the Defenders standard encryption, and had sent a key that verified it as a Defenders podjet.


    I reflected that this would be a bad time to discover that the Nine had broken the Defenders codes.


    ¡°We¡¯re going in,¡± I told him.

 Here We Come: Part 6

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, looking over the instrument panel in preparation for take off, ¡°by the way, we¡¯re thinking that they¡¯ve got psi-blocking devices all over.¡±


    Alex said, ¡°Well, that screws us over big time.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re hoping to take them out, but if we¡¯re lucky we won¡¯t need to. Our first group¡¯s got a good chance of getting Captain Commando out by themselves.¡±


    ¡°Good, because without teleporting, we¡¯re not going to be much help. No one here can fly.¡±


    So if we got in trouble, and couldn¡¯t take out the psi-blockers, anyone coming to help us would have to do it the hard way.


    ¡°Well, if it comes to that, Flick will be running things over here. Um¡­ I¡¯m assuming you¡¯re basically here to pull us out if anything goes wrong, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the plan. And we¡¯ve got all the adult supervision needed to make sure we don¡¯t do anything else.¡±


    ¡°Just wondering. Then, we should probably go and do this.¡±


    ¡°Good luck.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Alex¡¯s comment about adult supervision didn¡¯t come out of nowhere. Last spring we¡¯d pranked Syndicate L, a criminal organization that apparently lacked a sense of humor when it involved millions of dollars worth of damage.


    The adults flying along with him kept him from coming up with something crazy like that, and it was probably all for the best.


    If Flick kept Sean in line, we might be able to handle our end of the job too.


    I turned on the anti-gravity, and the jet began to float upward. In a moment, I¡¯d turn on the main engines, and¡ª


    Haley¡¯s voice broke into my thoughts. ¡°Nick, I should be the pilot. The less time it takes you to get out of the jet, the better.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right¡­¡± I clicked, and set her controls to primary for both weapons and flight.


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    A lot more lights appeared in front of her, and my instrument panel dimmed slightly.


    ¡°See who wears the pants¡­¡± Sean muttered.


    Behind me, Sydney said, ¡°Sean!¡± Her tone of voice said, ¡°Don¡¯t be a jerk.¡±


    Haley made the jet float forward, slowly at first, but gaining speed.


    Thanks to the shields, the windows showed a transparent, computer generated outline of the topography, but only darkness behind it. The screen on the dashboard showed a topographical map with our position. It might feel different on the ground, but the view made the land look flat with some trees.


    Haley sped up more quickly than I would have, and flew lower. Even though the terrain was relatively flat, it wasn¡¯t completely flat. Haley used the terrain for cover, and used it in a way that would have made me fly the jet into a hill (which to be fair, the shields might have allowed us to blast right through).


    With the jet¡¯s inertial dampers, we didn¡¯t feel it much, but the view screens in the back let people switch between a view of where we were on the map, a view of what was in front of the jet, and a computer desktop.


    From the gasps coming every time Haley turned, I guessed that the front view was pretty popular.


    I stuck with the map. I¡¯d been in enough cars with Haley that I knew better.


    ¡°Almost there.¡± Haley said it quickly and quietly enough that I almost missed it.


    I stood up, leaving Cassie¡¯s gun belt clipped to my chair. I¡¯d managed to attach the gun¡¯s holster to the Rocket suit¡¯s belt on the way. I¡¯d also told the gun to relay anything it had to say through the jet¡¯s AI. When the jet was out of range, we¡¯d have to communicate through sparkles.


    Jaclyn and Izzy made it to the hatch before I did.


    Stepping past Sean without looking at him, I joined the two of them as the inertial dampers began to hum loudly, taking us from whatever speed we¡¯d been at to nothing.


    Haley turned her head around, and caught my eye. ¡°Good luck.¡±


    She tried to sound casual, but to me at least, she sounded worried. I felt like I ought to say something, but I couldn¡¯t think of anything, besides, ¡°You too.¡±


    As Flick wished everyone good luck, Haley turned back to the dashboard. The hatch door opened. The shield outside thinned, and disappeared, giving us a view of the night outside.


    We couldn¡¯t linger. Every second delay meant another second where the people below could detect the jet with the shields partly off.


    Jaclyn and Izzy jumped out of the jet. I followed them.


    I fell toward the dome, thinking that as much as she might worry about me, the jet wouldn¡¯t necessarily be safer. It wasn¡¯t really invisible¡ªjust close. Rook had flying powered armor. The Nine probably had better technology than I knew about, and after we hit the dome anything could happen.


    I turned on the rockets to slow my fall, and looked up toward the jet. Only the area around the hatch door was visible. Then the door shut, and the area around it faded into darkness.


    I slowed myself to a near complete stop, and touched down quietly on the dome next to Izzy and Jaclyn.


    The building¡¯s best candidates for cells were below us.


    ¡°Ready?¡±


    I tapped the gun. ¡°Is she nearby?¡±


    The end of the barrel sparkled.


    Looking back at Jaclyn, I said, ¡°I guess.¡±


    She pulled her arm back, and bent over to punch the dome.

 Breaking & Entering: Part 1

    Jaclyn punched too quickly for me to see her arm move, but the dome dented. She struck a second time as I registered the dent, and that time her hand went through.


    She put both hands into the hole, and pulled back, tearing the roof like I might tear fabric.


    I thought about reaching in to help, but I didn¡¯t get the chance. Izzy reached in and tore it from the other side.


    In seconds, they¡¯d ripped a hole large enough for all three of us to jump through at the same time.


    Izzy stared down into the gap, undoubtedly listening.


    ¡°They heard the roof tear, and they heard the jet. They¡¯re sending people up.¡±


    I stepped closer, and looked down. The room below looked like it belonged in a stereotypical lab¡ªwhite walls, and tile floor. It this case, it would have to be the storage room for a lab because boxes filled it from one end to the other. They were stacked in rows with aisles, but aside from the aisles, boxes covered every available spot.


    ¡°We decided the cells were on the first floor¡ªone ring out from the labs, right? I guess we¡¯ve got to keep on going down.¡±


    Jaclyn gave me a look. ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°And what?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re running this, right? Time to lead. Make a decision, and if you don¡¯t know what to do, ask for help. I¡¯ve got opinions.¡±


    Telling people what to do obviously came a lot easier to her.


    ¡°Ok,¡± I took a step closer to the tear. ¡°Let¡¯s go down and rip through this floor too.¡±


    ¡°See? That wasn¡¯t hard.¡± Jaclyn took a step, and dropped into the room.


    Izzy stepped out, and hovered over the hole. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯re doing fine.¡±


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    The fact that she¡¯d even said that made me wonder if maybe I wasn¡¯t doing fine at all. I didn¡¯t have time to think about it though, and stepped forward, dropping into an aisle.


    Only as I landed did it occur to me that Daniel might have told her I had mixed feelings about being in charge.


    Jaclyn had already punched through the floor once, and gave it a rapid fire series of punches as I watched. Izzy landed next to her, giving the floor a kick that knocked a big chunk of it downward.


    Dust that used to be concrete floated back up through the hole.


    If I were the kind of guy whose masculinity was wrapped up in being stronger than women, it would have been really demoralizing.


    As it was, I was beginning to wonder if I was in any way useful.


    Izzy said, ¡°We¡¯re just above a hallway, and I tried, but I still can¡¯t see where Captain Commando is.¡±


    Remembering that I was supposed to be the guy providing the plan, I said, ¡°Let¡¯s try all the cells once we get down there.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t need you to tell me that,¡± Jaclyn said.


    As I chewed through possible replies in my head, she grinned and said, ¡°Kidding.¡± Then she jumped.


    Izzy and I followed her down.


    The first floor looked like the storage room, but without the boxes¡ªall white walls, tiled floor, and very clean. Well, clean everywhere but where chunks of concrete had landed.


    We¡¯d all shared Izzy¡¯s mental picture of the dome. The doors for the cells were all in the next hallway over. So, when Jaclyn said, ¡°Over here,¡± and waved a purple suited arm, Izzy and I followed her.


    We turned a corner, ran down a short hallway, and stopped in front of a door that had actually been labeled, ¡°Authorized Personnel Only¡± in black lettering against an orange background.


    A big metal door, Jaclyn rammed it with her shoulder, bending it, and ripping it out of its metal frame.


    It crashed to the floor.


    Izzy and I followed her in to find a hallway with several cells. Remembering what Isaac had said about the Nine kidnapping people who looked like Cassie, I wondered how many had been sent here.


    The cell in the middle was different though. Its door was open, and not in a ¡°mistakenly left open¡± sense. The door itself was still in one piece, but the motion sensor above it had been shattered.


    Plus, blood had been smeared across the front of the door, and there were indentations, showing it had been hit hard by something.


    ¡°Totally figures that she wouldn¡¯t wait to be rescued,¡± Jaclyn said.


    My eyes settled on the blood. ¡°I wonder how long it¡¯s been?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Wish we had the Mystic or Night Cat.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. Optimizing this group for fighting might not have been a good idea.


    Izzy cleared her throat, and we both looked at her. ¡°They¡¯re coming.¡±


    As I was about to ask her how close they were, the door on the far end of the hall, the one Jaclyn hadn¡¯t destroyed, opened.


    Robot birds flew through, followed by men in Rook¡¯s style of powered armor¡ªcomplete with wings, and four claws.

 Breaking & Entering: Part 2

    ¡°Don¡¯t move, or we¡¯ll shoot!¡± Some kind of gun hung under each forearm of the lead guy¡ªjust like they¡¯d hung under the forearms of Grandpa¡¯s armor during World War 2.


    On the one hand that could be a fanboy thing¡ªRook had said he¡¯d admired Grandpa. On the other, it could just be more convenient.


    The robot birds hovered near the top of hall, staying between us and them.


    Filtering out the wings¡¯ flapping, the Rocket suit¡¯s newly enhanced ability to amplify sound turned noise into speech.


    A tenor voice with a Midwestern accent said, ¡°Teenaged girls? I¡¯m shaking in my boots.¡±


    A lower voice said, ¡°Remember the briefing? The black girl¡¯s a speedster.¡±


    An echo hinted that they were talking to each other through the radio even though I picked it up through their helmets.


    Jaclyn held up her hands, managing to tap on her communicator quickly enough that I never saw it.


    ¡°Any time now,¡± she said quietly. To them, she said, ¡°Sure, we won¡¯t be any trouble.¡±


    So if I didn¡¯t come up with a plan, she¡¯d do something. I wished she would. I hadn¡¯t asked for this to be my thing. Jaclyn would have been better at it. If we were to vote on who should be field leader I would have voted for her. She was smart, level headed, and the whole speed thing gave her extra time to think things through.


    That was my first thought, and then my second was that I was wasting time. What were we doing here? Rescuing Cassie. To do it, we needed these guys out of the way, and even if they didn¡¯t know it, we had superior firepower here.


    The lead guy in power armor said, ¡°Stand against the wall. Everyone hold up your hands.¡±


    Over the radio, he said, ¡°Shoot them as soon as they all turn around.¡±


    The tenor said, ¡°Are you crazy? They¡¯re kids.¡±


    The deeper voice said, ¡°They broke through the roof, and that¡¯s the Rocket behind them.¡±


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    ¡°He¡¯s got to be a kid too.¡±


    Izzy had to have heard that. Her hearing blew the suit¡¯s away.


    She adjusted her stance as if preparing to move.


    No one was going to wait if I didn¡¯t say something now. ¡°I¡¯ll take the bird bots, you two take out the armored guys.¡±


    I targeted the cloud of birdbots, chose EMP roachbots and pressed the button to release them, letting the suit¡¯s computer calculate the optimal number of roachbots.


    I didn¡¯t even see Jaclyn leave. She left a purple and brown blur, hitting the first guy in Rook style armor almost as I realized she¡¯d moved. Izzy moved at least as quickly, taking flight to become a bluish blur but with her long black hair stretched out behind her head.


    Almost at the same moment the roachbots exploded, generating an EMP that caused black smoke to billow out of the bird bots. The bots fell¡ªall twenty-five of them.


    I checked the helmet¡¯s readouts. I¡¯d released 15 roachbots. It wasn¡¯t a bad ratio, but more than I¡¯d expected to lose this early. They must have spread out as Jaclyn and Izzy went past.


    Hearing a crash, I stopped thinking about the bots, and looked down the hall.


    The big metal door on the far end of the cell block was gone, and four men in smashed armor lay on the ground.


    I leaned over and gave the rocket pack some thrust. Even if they didn¡¯t need the help, I had to catch up.


    I shot through the door, brought myself upright, and landed.


    Izzy and Jaclyn had taken out three more of them. As I landed, Jaclyn ripped a chunk of electronics out of one suit, and crushed it in her hand.


    ¡°Hey Rocket, that¡¯s the last of them¡ªfor now at least. I¡¯ve been ripping this chunk out whenever I get the chance. I¡¯m not sure what it does, but it looks important. I¡¯d bet they can¡¯t use their suits without it, and I¡¯m betting they can¡¯t even stand without working suits.¡±


    I looked at the crumpled metal case mingled with bits of circuit board. ¡°I¡¯d have to see it in less pieces to know for sure.¡±


    ¡°Right. Got a new plan?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the same as the old one¡ªplay 20 questions with the gun to find her.¡±


    Izzy frowned. ¡°Let¡¯s get looking then. The sooner we get done, the less people we have to hit.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°If they¡¯re anything like their boss, they deserve it.¡±


    I pulled the gun out. ¡°Is Captain Commando close?¡±


    Sparkles.


    ¡°Can you talk to her?¡±


    Sparkles.


    ¡°Tell her that we¡¯re by the prison block. If she can get back here, we can get her out.¡±


    Two sets of sparkles.


    ¡°No? She can¡¯t get back here?¡±


    Two more sets of sparkles.


    ¡°She won¡¯t? Why?¡±


    It didn¡¯t respond, which was annoying. To be fair, I hadn¡¯t asked a yes or no question, and given what I knew about its personality, I decided to count myself lucky it hadn¡¯t shot me out of irritation.


    That didn¡¯t make me feel better though. Cassie always had a mind of her own, but this was one of those times where it was a huge pain in the butt.


    Rook¡¯s voice came over the base¡¯s intercom. ¡°Members of the New Heroes League. Welcome to my humble home. I¡¯d have met you in person, but someone shot me in the leg recently, and I¡¯m a little high on painkillers, so I¡¯m directing our defense from the control room. Right now I¡¯m trying to decide whether I should use the nerve gas, or¡­ What? I¡¯ve got to talk to my staff. Back in a bit.¡±

 Breaking & Entering: Part 3

    I digested that information in my head, and said, ¡°I think the two of you should get out. Neither of you are immune to nerve gas, right?¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. Izzy looked down at me, asking, ¡°But what about you?¡±


    ¡°The suit¡¯s air tight, and the original Rocket fought gas using villains in the 80¡¯s. Actually, he fought Dr. Madness as far back as the 50¡¯s. So the suit should be able to handle it.¡±


    ¡°Should?¡± Jaclyn raised an eyebrow, and looked steadily at me.


    ¡°Will,¡± I said.


    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t be leaving anyone here alone.¡± Izzy¡¯s tone gave no doubt that she was serious.


    ¡°Look, the Rocket suit will protect me, but if I have to carry you guys I won¡¯t be able to fight or run very well. Plus, the gun will lead me to Captain Commando, and even if she¡¯s affected by the gas, she¡¯ll probably heal.¡±


    Izzy frowned. ¡°You¡¯re not going to have any backup.¡±


    ¡°This could work,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°On our way out, we destroy as many psi-blockers as quickly as we can, and then¡­ Izzy, how much of the roof do you think you could rip off at once? Because I could take a big piece out of the side.¡±


    Izzy thought for a second. "Half, maybe. The whole thing if I had time."


    I nodded. ¡°That would be great. It would dilute the gas, and the Mystic¡¯s telekinesis works on anything in sight. Plus, with telepathy available, he can do a lot. Oh, and Ghost. I don¡¯t think she breathes when she¡¯s incorporeal. Yeah, do that and I¡¯ll tell them over the comm.¡±


    Jaclyn opened her mouth, but she didn¡¯t get to speak. Rook interrupted.


    He was laughing, and sounded a bit off¡ªprobably because of the painkillers.


    ¡°You¡¯ll never believe what I forgot. The nerve gas. If we use it, it¡¯ll get us too.¡±


    He broke into laughter, and laughed a few beats longer and harder than felt right.


    ¡°Bob even told me that I might want someone else to handle the defense because my judgment was impaired. And do you know what? He¡¯s right. Totally right. Now, I¡¯m not actually listening to him except for one thing¡ªwe¡¯re getting our suits on. So if you want to surrender, you¡¯d better do it soon. Remember¡ªsurrender or die!¡±


    He started giggling.


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    I contacted the jet¡¯s comm system. ¡°Night Cat, he¡¯s got nerve gas. I¡¯m staying to find Captain Commando. Everyone else is leaving.¡±


    Haley¡¯s voice filled my helmet. ¡°What? That¡¯s an awful plan.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ll explain. It¡¯ll be okay. We don¡¯t have much time though. So¡­ Bye.¡±


    Jaclyn pointed down the hall. ¡°We¡¯re going. I¡¯m betting Cap¡¯s in the labs. That¡¯s that way. We¡¯re heading for the outer circle.¡±


    I felt a tug as they left, turning into two blurs, and then disappearing. The only signs that they had been with me came as distant tearing and crashing noises.


    Why had Jaclyn guessed the labs? Duh. Cassie¡¯s stuff. She had the sword on her when she got captured, and Rook would definitely want to look at that. We were lucky I¡¯d shot him. If he¡¯d been able to figure out how the blade worked, future versions of his armor would have had unstoppably sharp talons and beaks.


    Honestly, he was dangerous enough already.


    Alone in the hallway with Rook¡¯s unconscious men and their smashed powered armor, I realized that if Rook gassed the place, he¡¯d probably kill them.


    I couldn¡¯t see any way to prevent that either, not if I wanted to get Cassie out.


    ¡°Gun, is Captain Commando in the labs?¡±


    Sparkle.


    ¡°Tell her I¡¯m joining her, and if she starts moving and goes somewhere else, tell me. Sparkle or something.¡±


    Sparkle.


    One of the guys on the ground groaned and moved his right arm.


    OK. Those guys couldn¡¯t do anything, but chances were that they weren¡¯t the only guys around. Haley was right. Being alone like this wasn¡¯t a good plan.


    I started running down the hallway toward the middle of the building¡ªthe opposite direction of where Izzy and Jaclyn had gone.


    The dome had curved halls that went around the entire building, and straight spokes that cut across from the outside to the inside. That¡¯s the kind of hall I was in. Like all the others, the walls and floor tile were completely white.


    Running in the Rocket suit ate up the distance quickly, more quickly maybe because I knew that I was alone. Chances were that Rook would have created at least one type of suit that was heavier duty than mine.


    I just hoped he hadn¡¯t armed many of his men with that model, whatever it was.


    I began to reach the inner circles before I expected to. Running past a hall, I heard shouts.


    Glancing to the right, I saw rows of beds and lockers next to open spaces. Barracks, probably.


    I didn¡¯t stop. The men weren¡¯t a threat. They weren¡¯t in powered armor even though they were pulling on face masks, and suits that reminded me of both jumpsuits and hazmat suits.


    Rook must have warned them when he talked to us. I wondered if he¡¯d warn them before nuking the place.


    Trying to ignore that thought, I ran to the end of the hall, the closest to the middle of the dome I could get.


    The hall came to a dead end.


    I didn¡¯t run into the middle of it. I stopped so that I could use the suit¡¯s sonar to build a picture of what was around each corner before I turned.


    It seemed like the sort of place that might have guards nearby. The hall ended in a lab, and thanks to windows that went from the floor to the ceiling, I could see into the room.


    Spare parts for powered armor sat on the shelves, and partially constructed versions of Rook¡¯s armor sat on tables. I recognized many of the machines from my lab in HQ, but the number of tables and boxes of parts made it obvious the place was for mass production.


    I wondered if Rook had any connection to Man-machine or whoever made mechs for Syndicate L.


    I¡¯m sure I would have spent more time looking if someone in a bigger version of Rook¡¯s armor hadn¡¯t come around the corner.


    Then I heard footsteps from behind me.

 Breaking & Entering: Part 4

    They weren¡¯t normal footsteps either. They reminded me of Jaclyn¡¯s when she was running slowly enough that they still sounded like footsteps, but close to the point where her footfalls blended together into a hum.


    So, a speedster was behind me, and a huge suit of powered armor stood in front of me. Normally I¡¯d have tried to move myself so that they could only come at me one at a time, but with a speedster that would be nearly impossible.


    I didn¡¯t even have time to come up with a plan before he hit me.


    Basically there are two kinds of speedsters, the kind that mess with physics to seem to move quickly, and the kind whose bodies have the strength, toughness and reflexes to handle moving at obscene speeds.


    Judging from the way he punched me through the nearest wall, I guessed that I was facing the latter.


    I hit a tall structure on the way through, causing it fall over with a crash, but I couldn¡¯t tell what it was. Before I could look, a red and white blur came through the hole, and began pounding on the Rocket suit.


    The good news? I wasn¡¯t getting a string of error messages. The bad? Given time, he¡¯d break something, and when he did, the Rocket suit wouldn¡¯t do much good against nerve gas.


    And that could mean death.


    I had no chance of hitting him, and I didn¡¯t try. He¡¯d see anything I did and dodge it.


    I didn¡¯t panic. Hours of training with Jaclyn during the spring and summer meant that I¡¯d had to come up with tactics that would work.


    Touching the buttons on the palms of each glove, I triggered the sonics at high volume¡ªwell past the threshold of pain.


    He stepped back, covering his ears.


    Knowing I didn¡¯t have much time, I fired off a few of one of my newer roachbot types. On the inside of my helmet, they showed up as three blue dots flying toward him, but then they exploded into fine strings of white goo. Spreading out, they stuck to his skin, his costume, and the wall.


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    Better yet, using multiple goobots had worked as intended. Instead of just sticking to his front, lines of goo covered his sides and met in the back.


    For most people it would have been overkill to use three bots, but with his strength, three was the minimum.


    He tried to get out, shaking, and trying to pull his arms away from his head, but he couldn¡¯t. The goo had bonded with his hands and skin. He had to feel skin pulling away from his muscles every time he moved.


    Disgustingly, the usefulness of the goo totally banked on the assumption that people wouldn¡¯t be willing to rip their own skin off to continue to fight.


    That, and the assumption that if it had only touched clothes, they wouldn¡¯t be willing to fight naked.


    After a few seconds of frantic movement, he relaxed, hanging within a web of goo strands.


    Only then did I get a good look at the guy.


    I recognized him. I¡¯d seen him in newspapers and online. Some supers became internationally famous and people all over the world knew their names. He was almost one of those people.


    Just a little shorter than I was while in the Rocket suit, he had brown hair, tanned skin, a mustache and solid, square face¡ªwhere it wasn¡¯t covered by his mask. The red and white costume included a small eagle on the left side of his chest.


    He was the speedster of an EU hero team, and he was almost famous because he¡¯d stuck with the Polish version of his name instead of publicizing an English version. He called himself ¡°Prentkos¡± or something like that.


    That left the question of what he was doing here, why he was helping Rook, and whether he was doing it willingly.


    Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have time to think about it because I still had a guy in big set of powered armor waiting outside for me.


    I pulled myself up out of the wreckage. The metal structure I¡¯d knocked over turned out to be a bunk bed. The bunk had smashed a TV set, a rack of CD¡¯s, and what looked to be an athletic trophy.


    Still, it was interesting how some people here got nicer accommodations than others¡ªprivate rooms instead of open bunking areas.


    Outside the sound of heavy footsteps gave me more than a little motivation to leave, and a bad feeling that even if I took the powered armor guy out, it might not be the only set I¡¯d have to face. Plus, I¡¯d either have to make myself constantly visible to find Cassie, or continually ask the gun questions if I wanted to find her while sneaking around.


    Crap.


    I couldn¡¯t wait and think about it.


    Fighting down a rising sense of panic, I bashed the door open, placing myself in a hallway near a corner.


    The helmet¡¯s sonar showed me that the huge set of powered armor wasn¡¯t more than ten feet from me. The cool thing though was that I could target the armor indirectly.


    I fired off two EMPbots, and they turned the corner, exploding directly in front of the armor, and creating a very respectable pulse.


    The armor didn¡¯t slow down at all.

 Breaking & Entering: Part 5

    You notice the weirdest things in moments like that. For example, I noticed that (at least in the helmet¡¯s sonar) the heavy duty version of Rook¡¯s armor didn¡¯t actually have a straight beak like a rook might. Its curved beak reminded me more of an eagle¡¯s.


    Not that this was the kind of moment best used for criticizing Rook¡¯s grasp of bird anatomy.


    I fired off more roachbots¡ªthe exploding kind this time. They zipped around the corner almost instantly.


    With any luck, I could try an EMP from the inside if they made a crack.


    The explosion gave off waves of sound that made the dome ring like a bell, and gave Izzy a great picture of everything going on, but my helmet didn¡¯t do as well.


    It wasn¡¯t much better than viewing an explosion with my eyes. The helmet filtered the light, but even if I hadn¡¯t been around the corner, I wouldn¡¯t have seen much.


    As the light and sound both dispersed, I could tell the suit had fallen backward.


    Sonar wasn¡¯t as good at details as I wanted, but the armor appeared to be smooth, and in one piece.


    All I¡¯d managed to do was knock it on its butt, and it was pulling itself up.


    I decided to give myself the best possible chance, and ran around the corner, pointed the sonics at it, choosing the selection of frequencies that often destroyed computer parts and other electronics.


    The armor didn¡¯t show any signs of computer problems as it stood, but that didn¡¯t necessarily mean anything. Sometimes they took time to show up.


    The best thing I could do would be continue to stand there, and let the suit continue to try new and related frequencies based on an algorithm Grandpa had created.


    The Rook suit raised an arm toward me, and I dove sideways¡ªallowing the corner to shield me.


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    It didn¡¯t do a very good job.


    Bullets ripped through the wall, leaving a collection of holes.


    Big holes.


    I wondered how Jaclyn or Izzy would stand up to them, and simultaneously wished they were with me. That sort of hit was exactly the sort of thing that could break the Rocket suit¡¯s seals.


    I thought about turning on the rocket pack and flying down another spoke somewhere else in the dome. It was a good idea, but I was only facing one person here, and what if there were more suits of armor like this one in other spots?


    I went with another option.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°we could talk about this.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure what I planned to say after that, but it was worth a shot.


    A woman¡¯s voice, amplified by the suit, filled the hall. ¡°We can talk about your surrender.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I had in mind. I was thinking. Are you a mercenary, one of Rook¡¯s followers, or uh¡­ his girlfriend?¡±


    She started laughing, and it was real, unforced laughter.


    When she was done, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s go with mercenary. I don¡¯t date clients, thank God.¡±


    From around the corner, I heard a footstep. She was still moving, if not very quickly.


    ¡°OK. What would it take to hire you?¡±


    She took another small footstep, and said calmly. ¡°You couldn¡¯t afford it.¡±


    I wondered if she knew Lee at all, but didn¡¯t spend long on that. She was going to come around the corner, and then she¡¯d probably damage the suit enough that nerve gas could get through.


    I went with the obvious even though I didn¡¯t want to use them up¡ªthe goobots¡ªall of them.


    I didn¡¯t wait for her to come around the corner. I let them fly.


    The series of popping noises made me think of popcorn. As late as it was and as long as it had been since supper, my stomach felt empty.


    Stifling the distractions in my head, I started the rocket pack, and launched myself into the air, taking a wide turn around her.


    She didn¡¯t even try to fire.


    Thin lines of goo covered the suit, covering the ends of the gun barrels that hung underneath her forearms. She swayed, but the powered armor barely moved, the motors making strained noises.


    Part of me wanted to call people on the comm, and let them know that the goobots were the best thing I¡¯d done with roachbot tech in a long while. Another part of me mourned the fact that I wasn¡¯t going to be able to take a look inside Rook¡¯s lab¡ªat least not the one for creating suits.


    Cassie wasn¡¯t there, and neither was her sword.


    I landed at the far end of the lab, and the start of another room that seemed to have a lot of equipment. It deserved a better look than I¡¯d be able to give it while flying.


    Skidding a little as my feet hit the floor, I spent the first few seconds trying not to fall. Then I realized that this new lab had people in it¡ªlots of them, all in Rook suits. Some stared at screens. Others stood at attention.


    One of them pointed through the plexiglass windows at me.


    I¡¯d found the control room.

 Breaking & Entering: Part 6

    Not all of the Rook suits were the kind I¡¯d fought back in Grand Lake. Most seemed to be stripped down. You wouldn¡¯t want to be tapping on a keyboard with enough force to smash a tank.


    You¡¯d run through a lot of keyboards that way. I knew that from experience.


    Anyway, the stripped down models seemed to have smaller guns under the forearms. Sub-machine guns, maybe?


    That wouldn¡¯t be a big threat to the Rocket suit unless they had special ammunition¡ªwhich I couldn¡¯t rule out.


    Still, I wasn¡¯t nearly as nervous of them as I was the guys in the heavier versions of Rook¡¯s suit¡ªone of which had to be Rook.


    That was my guess anyhow. He was sitting in the middle of the room in front of the widest console¡ªkind of like Captain Kirk only evil and wearing powered armor shaped like a big, black bird.


    Admittedly, not a very close resemblance.


    I took a step back in my head. What was the plan? Find Cassie, and get out. Taking on Rook and all the people in his control room singlehandedly wasn¡¯t in that plan.


    The last I¡¯d heard from the gun, Cassie was in the labs. I¡¯d told her I¡¯d meet her there. Since she wasn¡¯t with the Rook suits, the lab she was near had to be the next room over¡ªassuming she wasn¡¯t sneaking between them somehow.


    The best thing I could do would be get out of here.


    I started to run.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Rook¡¯s voice echoed through the place. ¡°Don¡¯t run off. We¡¯ve got a lot to talk about¡ªlike how I¡¯ve got a nuclear missile aimed at your jet.¡±


    That stopped me.


    I clicked on my palm to open communications with the jet except that my helmet readout showed ¡°SIGNAL LOST.¡±


    I wondered how he¡¯d managed it. My roachbots had worked seconds ago. Could he be blocking signals only once they passed the building¡¯s walls?


    I hoped so.


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    I¡¯d stopped near the doors. Rook held up a claw and waved me in.


    Part of me wondered if I could just run, but I couldn¡¯t put it past Rook to nuke them anyway. Rook probably didn¡¯t realize where the jet¡¯s shields came from. It might actually survive the hit. I didn¡¯t know for sure because I hadn¡¯t tested that, but spaceships could throw some serious energy around.


    Unfortunately even if the jet would survive, I didn¡¯t know how well Jaclyn and Izzy would take the radiation.


    I didn¡¯t have a choice.


    Before I turned toward the doors I said, ¡°Tell Captain Commando where we are.¡±


    The gun sparkled, and the doors slid open in front of me.


    I walked in.


    Across the sea of monitors and blinking lights, people in Rook¡¯s armor pointed their weapons at me. Two of the people in the heavier armor stayed on each side of me, but twenty feet ahead.


    No one came within reach. Maybe they were overestimating my hand to hand combat effectiveness, but I¡¯d take it. Grandpa¡¯s reputation did me some good.


    On the back wall of the room, a screen showed a map of the dome. Three-fourths of the outside ring showed blinking red dots, and even as I looked two more dots started blinking.


    If Jaclyn and Izzy could keep that up, we¡¯d have a chance of winning.


    Rook held up his claw before I came into reach.


    I stopped, standing in front of his console, the two soldiers in heavy armor on either side of him.


    ¡°You have to call them off!¡± He pointed up at the screen. His voice didn¡¯t have any of the slightly off-kilter feel he¡¯d had earlier. Now he sounded angry, and maybe scared.


    I checked the suit¡¯s communicator readouts. Jaclyn and Izzy¡¯s comms barely showed a signal.


    ¡°Can¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ve insulated this place too well against radio.¡±


    ¡°Dammit!¡± He pressed one of the buttons in front of him.


    Outside of the room, fans started blowing. Rook turned his head and screamed at a someone in one of the lighter suits of armor.


    ¡°We waited too long! If we¡¯d have done it when I said, they¡¯d never have gotten this far. Get back from your console!¡±


    Rook lifted an arm, and fired. Bullets hit the console shattering the casing, and making sparks fly.


    The guy in light armor backed away, tripping, and falling on his chair.


    ¡°Sorry! Sorry!¡± The man pushed himself up, and backed away, hands in the air.


    I hoped that the gas¡¯s release was as obvious to Jaclyn and Izzy as it was to me.


    I didn¡¯t have time to think about it though.


    Rook turned back to me, and, ¡°I¡¯ve released the nerve gas. Now, tell the jet to back off, or I shoot off the missile!¡±


    That was the moment it really hit me that he would kill Haley and everyone else in the jet if I didn¡¯t do something. Plus, Jaclyn and Izzy might already be breathing in the gas.


    ¡°Uh¡­ You¡¯ve got to turn off whatever is blocking radio communications. I can¡¯t do it otherwise.¡±


    He raised his head to look me in the eye, stared, and said, ¡°Right. Right. I barely think about it any more.¡±


    His gaze traveled downward, stopping where I¡¯d attached the Abominator gun¡¯s holster to my belt.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got the Abominator relic? That disappeared months ago. Take it off your belt, and drop the gun to the floor.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to do that.¡± The words came out of my mouth before I had time to think.


    ¡°Then say goodbye to your friends.¡±


    He raised his claw, and reached toward the screen.

 Breaking & Entering: Part 7

    I¡¯d have gone for the gun except it had no trigger, and so far as I knew fired at the mental command of only one person on the planet¡ªCassie.


    Instead, I raised my arms, targeting Rook¡¯s arm. Knowing that someone¡¯s about to kill your best friend, your sister, and your girlfriend doesn¡¯t make for clear thinking.


    I fired off the roachbots, not paying attention to what I was firing or how many, aiming at his arm.


    The roachbots hit, knocking his arm sideways while simultaneously exploding¡ªagain and again, like popcorn.


    I¡¯d set high explosive bots as the default, and according to the suit¡¯s inventory, I¡¯d fired off more than twenty¡ªcloser to to fifty, in fact.


    Chunks of armor, and possibly his forearm flew sideways, and landed on the floor.


    When the explosions stopped, he had no forearm or hand.


    Bluish liquid sloshed out of the armor to cover the arm¡¯s stump, and black goo followed, covering the blue goo.


    Rook, who had been screaming, mumbled something I couldn¡¯t understand, and slumped into the chair.


    The screens in the console in front of him had shattered, and the plastic of the console had cracked, melting in spots.


    While I stared at the damage, and absorbed the fact that I¡¯d blown away half of Rook¡¯s arm, the two guys in the heavy armor fired at me.


    I didn¡¯t even realize they¡¯d done it until I fell backward. I felt the hits too. Whatever they were using, it was high caliber.


    I began to push myself up, but was only halfway when one of them ran toward me, hitting me in the side.


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    The seals didn¡¯t break, but yellow warnings scrolled across the top of my helmet readout.


    I didn¡¯t pay much attention. I was too busy rolling across the floor.


    The person in the Rook armor didn¡¯t let me go either. He dove toward me, landing on top of me, and squeezing.


    That told me a little about him¡ªhe expected to be stronger than I was. All else being equal, wrestling favored the stronger guy.


    He (or she) might be strong outside the costume too.


    I pressed the button on my palm that started the rockets, and shot across the floor, flying sideways, knocking over a couple of Rook¡¯s control room people.


    The person in the Rook suit wasn¡¯t letting go either. He hung on even as I gained altitude, and began to fly.


    I gave the suit a little bit of spin, changing my orientation to the floor so that he was on the wall side.


    Unfortunately for me, he wasn¡¯t a complete idiot.


    He tried to climb, and adjust where he was on me.


    Unfortunately for him, he only had normal human reflexes. Not that I had any better, but we were traveling through the air pretty quickly, and while I¡¯d intended to knock him into the wall, I smashed him into one of the TV screens hanging on the wall before I intended to.


    I don¡¯t think either of us realized it stuck out as far as it did.


    He hit its side, letting go.


    What sucked is that I didn¡¯t expect it either, and didn¡¯t adjust. The force of him hitting the screen, and hanging on for the brief moment he did, caused me to veer right, smashing into it, and then tumbling into the TV¡¯s guts and across the wall without going through.


    I smashed the other big screen on the way, both devices dying in a spray of sparks, shattered glass, and plastic.


    I didn¡¯t have time to regain control before I hit the wall on the far end.


    Too disoriented to do anything else, I cut the power to the rocket pack, and fell to the floor.


    On the bright side, the suits seals were still holding.


    I tried to stand, but spinning around had left me a little confused. I reached out for the wall, missing it at first, and finally falling into it.


    Hitting the TV might have surprised him, but hadn¡¯t left him as badly off.


    He ran for me, claws outstretched to grab.


    I pointed my right arm at him, and considered firing off roachbots, but I couldn¡¯t.


    I used the sonics. They weren¡¯t as directly effective, and I knew it, but I could still see blood from Rook¡¯s arm in my head.


    I didn¡¯t want do that again.


    Both of the eyes on the man¡¯s powered armor broke. Smoke came out.


    It didn¡¯t take him out. They weren¡¯t his actual eyes, after all. The mask was shaped like a bird¡¯s head.


    Still, he hesitated, and in that moment, I got enough of my wits about me to press the button that started the rocket pack.


    As I left the ground, I heard a distant boom, and the sound of metal tearing. An even louder tearing noise followed.


    The dome shook.

 Breaking & Entering: Part 8

    Rook¡¯s control room sat near the middle of the dome, and like the other rooms at the center, the ceiling rose to the top of the dome.


    The rooms on the second floor shared a transparent wall with the corridor below. People on the second floor could look down into the labs and control, but they weren¡¯t just then.


    I gave the Rocket suit a little thrust, and I hovered a little higher, out of the Rook suit¡¯s reach.


    On the second floor, people in blue jumpsuits and masks lay down or crawled on all fours.


    Out in the first floor¡¯s hall, pieces of concrete fell. On the second floor, a monitor fell off a desk, throwing sparks as the screen shattered.


    With the tearing noise I¡¯d heard came a popping noise. I couldn¡¯t place it, guessing it might be the sound of the rivets that connected the roof to the beams popping out.


    I had no way of knowing for sure though, and I didn¡¯t have time to follow up on it.


    While hovering out of reach kept me out of a wresting match, it also turned me into a target for everyone in the room.


    I was already taking fire from the lightweight Rook suits with submachine guns.


    I gave the suit more thrust, shooting up, but generally back in the direction where Rook slumped in his chair, and the second heavy Rook suit stood over him.


    Really generally in that direction though¡ªI wasn¡¯t trying to go back there. It was just the only direction possible without flying toward the roof or trying the shatter the transparent wall in front of the room.


    Then it dawned on me that I had no reason to stay. Cassie wasn¡¯t here, and Rook wasn¡¯t threatening to kill my friends. It was time to leave.


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    I flipped over, turned the sonics on at full blast, and aimed for the transparent wall. Cracks appeared in front of me even before I reached it.


    I gave the suit more thrust, holding out my arms in front of me, and hoping I hadn¡¯t misjudged the material¡¯s strength. Sure, it looked like glass, but I knew it didn¡¯t have to be.


    It broke, but not quite the way I would have expected.


    I felt the impact in my arms, and it felt solid. It hurt. I blasted through the material anyway, taking huge chunks with me into the hall. No big deal, right? What¡¯s a wall when you can lift tons?


    I tried to flip over to slow down, but still hit the wall on the other side of the hall. I didn¡¯t break it even if I did leave holes where my elbow and knee hit.


    That wasn¡¯t the worst of it.


    I turned around to check if anyone was following me, and was in time to hear a loud noise as a spiderweb of cracks appeared followed by a huge crash as the entire wall fell into the hall while part of the the second floor bent, falling inward.


    It stayed mostly in one piece, bending, but staying six feet above the floor on the far end.


    People shouted, screamed, and cried as they fell. Some fell into the control room, others on the shattered material in the hall.


    I stared. I should be doing something. Helping them? Tending to their wounds maybe?


    I couldn¡¯t. I had some bandages in my utility belt, but not enough.


    Plus, if went back in there, people would probably try to shoot me.


    How could I have known a transparent wall would be structurally significant?


    Then I noticed the heavy Rook suit¡ªthe one I¡¯d damaged with the sonics. He wasn¡¯t moving much, and he had to be able to see me. The Rocket suit didn¡¯t exactly blend in.


    He leaned against a computer station, holding himself up.


    The nerve gas. He was dying.


    I¡¯d basically killed him.


    I didn¡¯t know what to do next. I ran down the hall. Cassie had to be close. If I found her, maybe I could get Alex to heal everyone when I got out.


    The next section of the core of Rook¡¯s base was a total loss.


    Except for a few cracks, the transparent wall was still intact, and the second floor was still in place. That was the good news.


    Human-sized cylinders filled most of the room. I didn¡¯t know what they were used for, but I couldn¡¯t see anyone inside, just blue liquid.


    The people I could see were dead. Two men and a woman in lab coats lay on the floor next to the chairs they¡¯d fallen out of.


    The computers in front of them were on, and open to a lot of windows.


    I didn¡¯t have time to find out more.


    The gun flashed. It lit up the hall.


    ¡°She¡¯s here?¡±


    Two quick flashes.


    ¡°The next section?¡±


    Flash.

 Breaking & Entering: Part 9

    Casting a last look at the dead people on the floor, I ran.


    Only a few steps of the Rocket suit took me away from the scene, and that was good. I didn¡¯t want to look at them.


    They¡¯d probably died when I broke the barrier between the core and the rest of the base.


    Still, even if out of sight wasn¡¯t really out of mind, they were at least out of sight.


    Unfortunately, the next room was worse.


    Three times the size of the other lab, this one held even more human sized cylinders. Not all of them had been used but the ones that were made up for the others in sheer creepiness.


    The flesh floating in the blue liquid was probably supposed to be people, but I couldn¡¯t say for sure. They were a jumble of explosive growth, weird, discolored flesh mixed with pulsing blood vessels, and organs I almost recognized.


    I didn¡¯t see bones or brains, but they might have been hidden. Some of the blobs might have been heads.


    Something about the shape of them seemed wrong. I couldn¡¯t say how.


    Could they possibly be the beginning of an attempt to clone Cassie? It didn¡¯t seem like it was going very well. It was a lot of growth given the time since they¡¯d taken her, but given how quickly she healed, it wasn¡¯t impossible.


    It was, however, disturbing.


    The cylinders weren¡¯t alone in the room. Computers and screens took up half of it along with machines I didn¡¯t recognize at all.


    People stood in the corner in the gray, hazmat jumpsuits I¡¯d seen earlier, masks on, and facing the wall.


    Two of the lightweight Rook suits lay on the floor looking battered. One wing lay on the floor, severed near its base.


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    Cassie stood next to the battered Rook suits, wearing one of the jumpsuits and mask herself, but holding her staff. If that wasn¡¯t enough to identify her, she wore her utility belt and her sword.


    I¡¯d found her. I stepped up to the door. Made out of the same material as the transparent wall around it, it was locked. A key card reader hung on the wall next to it.


    I smashed it in.


    ¡°Finally,¡± she said. ¡°You took forever.¡± The mask gave her voice a hollow tone, but I couldn¡¯t mistake her.


    ¡°You kept on moving. I didn¡¯t know where you were.¡±


    ¡°What was I supposed to do? Sit in my cell, and wait to be rescued?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ It would have made it easier to find you.¡±


    ¡°You had the gun. I know you were talking to it. It hasn¡¯t stopped jabbering at me since you got here.¡±


    One of the people began to edge away from the group. She tapped his arm with an end of the staff.


    Sparks flew, and he swore.


    ¡°Next time I taser you unconscious, okay?¡±


    He swore again.


    She pulled the staff back into a ready position. ¡°Now, where were we?¡±


    ¡°Arguing. Anyway, the gun can¡¯t talk to me. It was like twenty questions the whole time. Did she go right or left? Is she close? Did Timmy fall down a well?¡±


    Cassie turned the mask toward me. ¡°Who¡¯s Timmy?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I think he was in an old TV show. Lassie, maybe?¡±


    One of Rook¡¯s people muttered something, and another one snorted.


    Cassie adjusted her hold on the staff. ¡°What was that?¡±


    No one said anything.


    The suit¡¯s new ability to enhance my hearing wasn¡¯t perfect. I couldn¡¯t quit make out what he¡¯d said either.


    ¡°Never mind,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Rocket, could you hand me the gun?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not going to¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to shoot them.¡±


    I gave her the gun.


    She pointed it at the cylinders.


    Searing light erupted from its barrel, shattering and cracking the cylinders, melting metal, burning the fleshy things to ashes, and turning the blue liquid into gas¡ªsome of anyway.


    Then she turned it on the computers.


    I might have expected one of the scientists or lab techs to start screaming about losing their data, but they didn¡¯t.


    Don¡¯t get me wrong, they reacted, but they crowded closer to each other. They didn¡¯t attack. One of them actually started to cry. I¡¯m not sure if that was out of losing their work as much as fear of being burned alive.


    Honestly, I could feel the heat from her gun through the Rocket suit.


    ¡°There,¡± Cassie said. ¡°That¡¯s one less thing I¡¯ve got to worry about.¡±


    The blackened remains of the cylinders and computers gave off trails of smoke.


    Interestingly, the smoke floated toward the door I¡¯d broken. Someone had turned on a fan, and I didn¡¯t think it was Rook¡¯s.

 Breaking & Entering: Part 10

    The fan increased its power by the second.


    The whirring noise came from deeper in the building¡ªpossibly pulling it directly outside. That meant instead of being something that Rook¡¯s people had done, it might be ours.


    Instead of drifting away, the smoke streamed toward the smashed door, pulled by the fan, but behind it came cold air from outside.


    A glance upward showed that the section of the room¡¯s ceiling that had reached up to the roof now opened to the sky. Izzy had taken it completely off.


    If she hadn¡¯t taken it off, the part she did remove included the middle.


    Anyway, it was pretty impressive. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do it in the Rocket armor.


    Beyond a brief sense of awe, I didn¡¯t think about it much then. I had other things to worry about.


    An alarm went off.


    A low, pulsing, honking noise, it sounded ominous.


    Cassie turned her head upward, staring at one of the room¡¯s speakers. ¡°That¡¯s a new alarm.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ You don¡¯t know what it means?¡±


    ¡°How would I? They didn¡¯t give me an orientation.¡± Cassie turned toward our captive groups of scientists and lab techs.


    One of the bigger guys (I could tell that much through the jumpsuit) appeared to be staring at the door, and getting ready to run.


    ¡°What about you guys?¡± Pointing her gun at the big guy, she said, ¡°Especially you.¡±


    He took a step back. The gun had made an impression.


    ¡°It¡¯s the base evacuation signal. If we can¡¯t get out, they¡¯re going to kill us.¡±


    ¡°With what?¡± Cassie checked the door, and I followed her look. Nothing came through.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. They told us if we heard it we should get to the control room if we didn¡¯t want to die. Look, if you can get us out, we¡¯ll tell you anything we know.¡±


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    ¡°Rook¡¯s booby-trapped his bases with nukes before.¡± I don¡¯t think my voice trembled as I said it, but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised to learn it had.


    Cassie took a breath. Her stolen mask stretched it out. ¡°Fuck.¡±


    ¡°No kidding. Portal¡¯s here, but she can¡¯t teleport us out unless she can see us¡ª¡±


    ¡°And they¡¯re going to have to see us in the dark.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, and that assumes they can teleport us out at all. Accelerando and uh¡­ Blue¡ª¡±


    ¡°Blue?¡±


    ¡°Our friend that we met last summer, and then at¡­ school.¡±


    Cassie turned her head to stare at me. Well, it¡¯s not as if I could see through her mask to tell for sure, but that would have been my guess.


    ¡°Who?¡± But then she said, ¡°Oh, but why are you calling her Blue? No. No. Never mind. Skip it. We need to get out now. How many of them can you take?¡±


    ¡°One in each hand, and then I guess I can radio the jet¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk about it. Go. I¡¯ll get as many as I can up to the second floor above us.¡±


    I stepped forward holding out my hands so I could take two of the people who¡¯d been trying to grow warped clones of Cassie only minutes before.


    I knew it was the right thing to do. Heck, it was even a practical thing to do. Knowing what Rook and the Nine were up to would be useful, but a small but significant part of me wondered if I shouldn¡¯t just pull Cassie out, and leave them there.


    I mean, seriously, if I had to choose who lived, it wouldn¡¯t be them.


    Still, I held out my hands, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± anyway.


    That¡¯s when I heard the sound of flapping wings behind me. I turned around, pulling my arms into a position where could easily fight or fire off the sonics.


    A black cloud of Rook¡¯s bird bots flew down the corridor toward the door to the room.


    For a second, I thought it was a good thing. If Rook had set up the bird bots to kill people, it might mean he didn¡¯t have a nuke.


    On the other hand it might mean he intended the bird bots to occupy attackers so that they wouldn¡¯t escape before the nuke went off.


    Either way, the birds flew like little black missiles¡ªtoo fast to dodge or casually take down.


    Before Cassie or I managed to stop it, one flew through the door, and dove into the chest of one of the people near me.


    There wasn¡¯t any question of whether the person was dead. I¡¯m not going to go into detail, but there wasn¡¯t.


    Maybe Cassie could have stopped it, but she had to deal with a horde of birds targeting her.


    I did what I could.


    I couldn¡¯t react quickly enough to stop that first one, but I shot off four EMP bots into the middle of the cloud flying toward us.


    Maybe as many as twenty went down, but more were coming.


    Cassie opened up with the gun, the brilliant white beam even taking down bird bots next to the ones she hit. The Rocket suit filtered out the worst of the beam¡¯s light, but it still hurt to watch it.


    Worse, we hadn¡¯t gotten to talk much about what had happened in the control room.


    I didn¡¯t have time to say anything when she swept the beam across the transparent wall to blast at the bird bots behind it.


    The wall shattered, and the section of the second floor that it had supported fell in with it.

 Breaking & Entering: Part 11

    Much like in the control room, the second floor mostly stayed together. Spots of concrete fell and the nearest section of floor simply bent downward toward us, giving us a view of storage rooms.


    A file cabinet slid sideways, and fell into the room, landing on the melted remains of the cloning tanks.


    It would have been great if that had been the end of it.


    It wasn¡¯t, but it looked like it for a second.


    Cassie lowered the gun. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    I¡¯d been avoiding communicating with the jet for a lot of reasons, ranging from not wanting to expose our stuff for Rook¡¯s examination to making it marginally harder for him to track us.


    Now they didn¡¯t apply quite so much.


    I opened the comm, and connected to the jet, leaving the helmet¡¯s external speaker off. ¡°Night Cat, we¡¯re near the center. If you fly in, I should be able to get most of us up.¡±


    Haley said, ¡°Most of us? Who did you pick up?¡±


    ¡°Scientists and lab technicians for Rook. I¡¯ve got no idea who they are, but someone ought to be able to get something out of them. Oh, and hurry. They desperately need medical care.¡±


    Some of them did. Aside from the woman who¡¯d taken a rookbot beak to the chest, some of them looked like they had a chance¡ªparticularly if Alex got to heal them.


    I still didn¡¯t like looking at them. Too much blood. Too many insides too visible from the outside.


    Strangely, a couple of the scientists were relatively unhurt. A tall, bearded man with long, stringy hair said, ¡°What about us? You said you¡¯d take us.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± I said, suddenly realizing that all he would have heard was Cassie and I agreeing to leave.


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    ¡°Listen to him.¡± Cassie replied, gesturing toward me with her right hand¡ªincidentally the hand with the gun.


    It didn¡¯t fire, but the guy took a step back. I didn¡¯t.


    At that moment, Haley¡¯s voice sounded in my helmet. ¡°We¡¯re almost in position.¡±


    ¡°Hurry,¡± I said. ¡°If Rook¡¯s got a nuke under here, we¡¯ll need to get out quickly.¡±


    ¡°Look, I know,¡± she said.


    That¡¯s when the second wave hit.


    They came through a door in the innermost wall, a tall, curved metal surface that hadn¡¯t quite been as high as the dome. It had been flat in the control room.


    What was in the middle of the complex? If it really could hold everything coming out the door, the space inside it had to be warped and folded in on itself like a tent from the Arabian Nights, or the Tardis from Dr. Who.


    I had a bad feeling I wasn¡¯t going to get to investigate it either.


    More bird bots flew out the door, filling the air, making it feel like Cassie and I hadn¡¯t done anything. That wasn¡¯t the worst of them either. Bigger, heavier versions followed them out. They looked a lot like shorter, stockier Rook suits. They had to be robots though¡ªif only because I doubted Rook could find enough midgets to pilot them.


    That still wasn¡¯t the worst of it.


    Glowing, animal shaped constructs bounded along with them¡ªbears, wolves, mountain lions. All of them in made of the yellowish light I associated with the moon.


    Rook didn¡¯t create those. Another person who worked with the Nine did. I couldn¡¯t think of the name. Luna-something? Moon-something?


    That¡¯s when I understood what was going on.


    There weren¡¯t any humans in sight. They were swamping us with robots and constructs while they got away. To judge from how they¡¯d targeted the scientists before, they were going to focus on them, pinning us down while Rook and his people got away.


    After that, everything would probably explode.


    Cassie lifted up the gun, and was about to fire when I started shouting, ¡°No! Wait!¡±


    ¡°What? I can get them.¡±


    ¡°The light constructs absorb energy.¡± I couldn¡¯t remember their creator¡¯s name, but I could remember that.


    ¡°Crap.¡± She pointed the gun and blasted the closest bird bots. A light construct shaped like a tiger jumped toward the beam, but didn¡¯t get hit.


    Cassie muttered something, hooked the gun to her utility belt, and pulled out her sword. ¡°Carry them up to the Jet, I¡¯ll hold them off.¡±


    I was about to argue with her when League Jet¡¯s hatch opened, a glowing, block-shaped hole in the air.


    Flick jumped out, followed by Daniel, Sydney and Rachel.


    Flick plummeted, hitting the floor, and stopping, doing no damage to either herself or the floor.


    She reached a hand into the pouch at her belt, pulling out a handful of metal balls. ¡°Mystic, get the wounded out, we¡¯ll buy you time.¡±

 Breaking & Entering: Part 12

    Flick threw a ball into the main group of heavy bird bots as they began to run across the floor toward us.


    The ball punctured the bird bot¡¯s chest, coming out the other side, and continuing through each bot behind it.


    I¡¯d never known for sure what her power was, but it had something to do with controlling mass and momentum. I¡¯d heard that there were very specific rules about how it worked, but I¡¯d never seen her in action, so I didn¡¯t know what they were.


    The ball didn¡¯t stop until it reached the wall behind the bots. It didn¡¯t instantly destroy them, but it helped.


    It did destroy the one it hit in the chest. It stopped running, fell backward, and didn¡¯t move again. The ball hit the one behind it in the arm, twisting it. The arm stopped moving.


    I didn¡¯t see exactly what happened to each bot behind them, but the screech of tearing metal argued it wasn¡¯t nice.


    She kept on throwing, ripping holes in the yellowish-white animal constructs too. They might absorb some kinds of energy, but concussive force apparently wasn¡¯t one of them.


    From that, you might think Flick could have destroyed them all herself.


    If only.


    There were too many for that, but she wasn¡¯t alone either. Sydney jumped out of the Jet, covered in gray metal, and huge¡ªmuch bigger than she was normally.


    She landed a little too close to a group of flying bird bots, and they swarmed her.


    They pecked at the metal around her, something that would have punctured most people¡¯s armor, but not hers. She flailed around with her hands, trying to hit or grab them, but missing.


    Then one went for her eyes.


    She held up her hands, finally connecting, and the bird bot dissolved, absorbed into her body. Bits of wire and less recognizable bits of the inside fell to the floor.


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    She hit the next one by firing a chunk of metal out of her body.


    I wondered if she¡¯d turned herself into a rail gun.


    If she had, I hoped she didn¡¯t turn out to be as screwed up as Sean.


    In the middle of all that, bird bots would randomly spark, seize up and fall over.


    The first time, I thought we might have unintentionally discovered some design flaw.


    The second time, Rachel became visible as she pulled her hand back. She¡¯d been letting the tips of her glove become tangible inside the bird bots, and then activating the taser.


    That left Cassie and I, and we were protecting the civilians.


    Cassie used her sword to chop bird bots into pieces while I shot off a series of explosive roachbots. They took out the flying birdbots every time. The heavier, walking ones sometimes needed two, or the addition of a punch.


    Not that I spent much time down there.


    Daniel contacted me only a few seconds into the fight, sending me the message, I¡¯m taking them up now.


    The injured civilians floated upward, and Cassie floated with them.


    I started the rocket pack, and floated up with them, trying to stay between them and the birdbots.


    We were floating our way upward when the bots noticed. The flying birdbots changed course, and started flying toward us.


    I thought about firing EMPbots at them, but couldn¡¯t because I was out.


    I fired off explosive roachbots, noting that I couldn¡¯t do it for much longer. Numbers were low¡ªless than ten.


    A series of explosions took out half of them, but the rest aimed themselves straight at all of us.


    I couldn¡¯t take all of them one on one, and sure, I wasn¡¯t completely alone, but Cassie couldn¡¯t take them all either.


    We tried. I opened up with the sonics, and a few of them veered off and crashed. Cassie didn¡¯t get the chance to pull out the gun, swinging with the sword, but that could only go so far.


    With a roar of wind, Izzy appeared, turning the bots into a shower of parts.


    Almost at the same time, Jaclyn ran across the now open second floor, jumping into the hole into the center we¡¯d left by.


    As the civilians floated into the hatch, she reappeared, jumping toward the Jet carrying Flick and Sydney.


    They weren¡¯t quite on target, but Daniel pulled them in.


    Rachel floated up after them, and as she did, a new alarm began to sound below us.


    As she floated inside, she said, ¡°Planning to get in before it explodes?¡±


    I gave the rockets some thrust, and landed inside¡ªjust before Sean streaked through the door.


    Where had he been?


    I didn¡¯t get to ask. Haley, didn¡¯t even give us time to take our seats as she said, ¡°Hang on.¡±


    We couldn¡¯t see it through the windows because of the shields, but on the screens, Rook¡¯s base disappeared in blinding flame.

 Picking Up Pieces: Part 1

    The good point about owning a ¡°jet¡± created from the remains of alien spacecraft is that it does surprisingly well even in the presence of enormous explosions.


    The engines, meant for sending the ship into orbit, shot us far out of the range of the blast. Its shields absorbed what little of the blast could reach us.


    The ship¡¯s inertial dampers did well enough that I felt a little pull, but kept standing as the ship shot forward, creating huge sonic booms.


    Given that we were in northern Manitoba near Nunavut, the noise probably wasn¡¯t bothering many people. We might have upset more polar bears.


    Even though most people in Canada live in cities, northern Manitoba was the kind of place that encouraged US stereotypes. It was three in the morning so we couldn¡¯t see much of anything, but I¡¯d seen pictures of the area.


    It was tundra¡ªflat greenery with shrubs, and some forests¡ªand mostly uninhabited.


    With any luck, no one would notice the explosion. It wasn¡¯t as if Rook¡¯s headquarters had been in the middle of Chicago, or for that matter, Toronto.


    Alex¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°Night Cat? Heroes League? Are you out there?¡±


    I took my seat as Haley answered. ¡°Everyone¡¯s here, including Captain Commando.¡±


    A couple voices gave a little cheer (¡±Whoo!¡±). They both might have been Jenny.


    I clicked on my comm. ¡°What about you? You were all pretty close.¡±


    Alex gave a laugh. ¡°Not as close as you guys. You were right on it. Wish I¡¯d have been there.¡±


    A memory of Rook¡¯s arm appeared in my mind. ¡°You didn¡¯t miss much. Oh¡­ We¡¯ve got a bunch of hurt scientists and their assistants. They used to work for Rook. Can we transfer them over?¡±


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    ¡°Can we trust them?¡±


    ¡°Well, kind of. They¡¯re prepared to talk about what they¡¯ve been doing. Rook was trying to kill them, so I wouldn¡¯t expect a lot of loyalty. Seriously, I saw a couple of them die.¡±


    Brooke broke in. ¡°If you want to transfer them over, we¡¯ll have to get close enough that the Mystic can give me a picture. Then I¡¯ll open a doorway, and they can come through.¡±


    A few minutes later, the Jet and one of the Socal Defenders¡¯ podjets hovered above a small lake. In the distance, past the trees, something burned. I guessed it might be Rook¡¯s place.


    I wished Vaughn had come along. He could have left the ground wet from rain. As it was, we could only hope Rook¡¯s explosion wouldn¡¯t start a larger fire.


    It didn¡¯t take long to transfer them over though¡ªmaybe 5 minutes.


    They stepped through the portal into the podjet with no real hesitation.


    I wasn¡¯t sure I liked that. It hinted at a little too much familiarity with teleportation. I hadn¡¯t noticed anything that looked like a spot to teleport out of when I was in there.


    On the other hand, I remembered, I hadn¡¯t been in the middle section. What if Rook hadn¡¯t folded space in there? What if he had a connection to someone else¡¯s teleportation device?


    Did the Nine have one, or worse, a system?


    I hoped that it had a lot of limits.


    Alex¡¯s voice came over the comm saying, ¡°The damage isn¡¯t bad. Give me a few minutes.¡±


    Before anyone had a chance to reply, the sensors beeped. I checked the screen. It showed something¡ªactually several somethings¡ªtraveling toward us at nearly the speed of sound.


    For all I knew, they might have been going faster before we noticed.


    Three were roughly human sized, and the fourth had to be a jet of some kind.


    Below the tactical display, a series of messages began to scroll.


    [AI Engaged]


    [The ¡°jet¡± coming toward us contains Xiniti technology as do the engines of one of the smaller flyers.]


    [You shouldn¡¯t need to fight them, but if you do, I recommend using this vessel¡¯s maneuverability instead of assuming the shields can take it. They might not.]


    Haley shot me a look.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°This is only the second time it¡¯s ever talked to me.¡±


    Over the comm, a woman¡¯s voice said, ¡°Unidentified aircraft, this is Red Hawk. Please explain who you are, and what you have to do with the explosion near here.¡±


    From behind me, Sean said, ¡°Don¡¯t talk with her. Rev up the engines and leave. What¡¯s she going to do?¡±


    ¡°Unidentified aircraft, my team and I are special constables in the RCMP, and are authorized and required to enforce the laws of Canada.¡±


    A man¡¯s voice broke in, ¡°What my teammate is saying is that even though we¡¯re capes, we can and will call in military backup. We know you¡¯re using alien tech, and the best thing you can do right now is let us know who you are, and why you¡¯re here.¡±

 Picking Up Pieces: Part 2

    As much as I might want to assume Sean was wrong on the grounds that he was talking, I wished we could fly away.


    Whatever I might think, Haley¡¯s console had the flight controls for the moment, and unless I felt I should say something, she could make the decision without me.


    My console only showed the weapons and shields at the moment.


    Haley began to turn her head around. It was obvious she was going to ask someone for advice.


    Keeping her voice low, Flick said, ¡°I¡¯ve got to make some calls. Cooperate, but stall.¡±


    That didn¡¯t sound good. The way I remembered it, the Defenders and the Feds had cleared this with the Canadian government. Except¡­ They¡¯d had to be careful about it because the Nine had people all over, and they didn¡¯t want anyone to warn Rook.


    That meant either that the Feds had been too careful, and missed these guys, or one of the heroes we were talking to had been compromised.


    I thought back to the speedster I¡¯d seen in Rook¡¯s lair. I didn¡¯t even know if he¡¯d gotten out.


    I wondered whether he was one of Rook¡¯s people or if he was being blackmailed.


    I hoped he hadn¡¯t died.


    Haley bit her lip, and said, ¡°Okay,¡± but it was more of an ¡°I¡¯ll do it if I have to¡± than a ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡±


    She clicked on the comm. Sounding a little more cheerful, she said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m American. What¡¯s the RCMP?¡±


    Red Hawk¡¯s voice, high pitched, but still calm, came over the comm. She said, ¡°The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, ma¡¯am. We¡¯re similar to your FBI. Now could you please explain who you are and what you¡¯re doing here?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Haley said. ¡°I¡¯m Night Cat of the Heroes League. Rook kidnapped Captain Commando on orders from the Nine, and we came here to rescue her. We got her back, but Rook blew up his base, and nearly killed all of us. I can give you coordinates if you want to check.¡±


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    A man gave a deep laugh, but it had an edge. I recognized the voice. He¡¯d spoken earlier. ¡°I¡¯m Jack-in-the-Green, and I can assure you, little girl, that there¡¯ s no need to give us coordinates. Every geological researcher on the planet knows the coordinates, and so do the world¡¯s nuclear regulatory agencies.¡±


    Haley¡¯s lips curled at ¡°little girl,¡± but when she said, ¡°Oh,¡± she managed to sound politely surprised.


    She sounded a little less polite when she muted her microphone and asked, ¡°Could I have some help here?¡±


    I suspected she meant me.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I began, but I didn¡¯t get to say anything more.


    Red Hawk said, ¡°You¡¯d go a long way toward making us comfortable if you lowered your shields or whatever¡¯s making it so hard to see you on the radar.¡±


    Decision time. If anyone there were on the Nine¡¯s payroll, they¡¯d have it a lot easier with the shields down.


    I looked over at Haley to find she was already looking at me. She¡¯d thought it through too.


    ¡°Well? If you¡¯re running this one, you get to decide.¡±


    ¡°Shields down, I guess.¡±


    I was pretty sure Captain Kirk had never said ¡°I guess¡± after making a decision.


    Breaking another Star Trek precedent, since control of weapons and defense were in front of me, I had to turn them off myself.


    Taking the shields down did make the stars visible through the windows. We could all see the small lake below us, and the Defenders podjet floating off to our right.


    The dark, triangular object that was ahead of (and slightly above) us had to be the Canadian team¡¯s jet. I¡¯d heard of Red Hawk, and Jack-in-the-Green, but I didn¡¯t know their team.


    From behind us Jaclyn said, ¡°Good call.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re supposed to be cooperating, I don¡¯t see what the big deal was.¡± Sean said.


    Sydney whispered, ¡°Not now, Sean.¡±


    Red Hawk said, ¡°Thanks for turning off your shields. We can see that you¡¯re flying something that looks a lot like the Heroes League jet.¡±


    I pressed a button on the comm. ¡°It is the Heroes League jet. Isn¡¯t that good enough for an ID? No one else uses it.¡±


    Jack-in-the-Green spoke. ¡°I¡¯m sorry kid, but no. What we need is for both of your ships to land and turn off their engines. We know it¡¯s a Defenders podjet just like we know that¡¯s the Heroes League¡¯s jet, but we don¡¯t know who¡¯s in them, and we can¡¯t assume that Rook didn¡¯t let the Dominators at you. We can¡¯t take chances.¡±


    Cassie had taken a seat in the back next to Jaclyn, Rachel, and Flick. ¡°I heard them say something about the Dominators. That¡¯s why I tried to break out.¡±


    I turned around to look at Flick. She was talking into her communicator. This would be a great time to let Red Hawk and Jack know she was on board.


    She shook her head.


    I turned on the comm. ¡°Call Agent Isaac Lim of the FBI. He¡¯ll know what¡¯s going on.¡±


    Haley began to lower the plane.

 Picking Up Pieces: Part 3

    Text appeared below the screen that showed our position and that of the other planes.


    [You¡¯re making yourself completely vulnerable. I¡¯m not suggesting you attack, but landing and turning off your shields represents an unacceptable risk.]


    I shut off the comm, and quietly asked, ¡°What would you suggest?¡±


    [If you have to appear vulnerable, lower the jet, but don¡¯t land, and give me permission to turn on the shields whenever I think it¡¯s necessary.]


    ¡°You need my permission?¡±


    [Yes. My makers wanted artificial intelligences limited to minimize their risk.]


    I thought about it, but not for long. ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    From the back, Cassie said, ¡°You¡¯re not really landing and turning off our shields are you? The gun will not shut up. He thinks it¡¯s a bad idea, and that we¡¯re all going to die. Well, except maybe for Izzy and Jaclyn.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°Flick said to cooperate, so I¡¯m cooperating. If you want to take over, go ahead. Then Jack-in-the-Green can patronize you.¡±


    I turned around a little as Cassie sat up in her seat and took a breath. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it that way. Besides, I can barely fly this thing.¡±


    Trying to lower the level of tension, I asked, ¡°Does the gun have anything else to say? Any advice?¡±


    Cassie gave a brief smile. ¡°He thinks we should kill them all.¡±


    ¡°Great.¡±


    We all sat there for a moment, the lights keeping the cabin just barely lit while the dashboard glowed with the light of several different screens.


    With the gun and jet agreeing on something, I found myself feeling a little more nervous instead of less.


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    Over the comm, Jack-in-the-Green said, ¡°League jet, why did you stop moving?¡±


    Haley pursed her lips, and in a much nicer tone than I guessed she was feeling said, ¡°Did we? Sorry. I was trying to figure out where you wanted us to land. It looks mucky straight ahead of us, and there are trees on the left. The right looks good, but there are rocks, so it doesn¡¯t look quite level¡ª¡±


    ¡°Just go right.¡± He sounded irritated.


    Haley switched off the comm. ¡°I hope no one¡¯s recording this. I¡¯m going to sound like a ditz.¡±


    Daniel said, ¡°We¡¯ve got to assume that they¡¯re recording. My dad says cops do it a lot with supers. It cuts down on people doing the, ¡®Do you know who I am?¡¯ stuff.¡±


    Flick broke in. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have to put up with it that much longer. I managed to get a hold of a couple of my contacts in the RCMP. They ought to be calling them by now.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see Flick all that well with Daniel, Izzy and Sean sitting in the row between us, but Rachel evidently could.


    ¡°Why are you smiling?¡±


    I managed to get a better view of Flick¡ªby leaning, and looking between Daniel and Izzy¡¯s heads. Flick was grinning.


    ¡°I was just thinking that you might stall for long enough if you ask about Jack¡¯s name.¡±


    Haley finished turning the jet, and started to make it go slowly forward. She gave a quick look back at Flick. ¡°Why?¡±


    Next to Flick, Rachel leaned back in her chair. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t. She¡¯s much too amused.¡±


    Flick shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad, but he¡¯ll talk.¡±


    The comm went on and we got another message¡ªthis one from Alex in the podjet. ¡°Hey, I was half-tempted to leave, but Flick called Straka over here, and told us to stay. Is it over yet? Because this is pointless.¡±


    Haley¡¯s lips tightened, and I took the call.


    ¡°We¡¯re not done, but it shouldn¡¯t last much longer. Flick got through to a couple people. Now it¡¯s just a matter of waiting a little while.¡±


    ¡°Good, but we¡¯re not waiting too long. Straka thinks landing and turning off shields is crazy so we aren¡¯t. Talk to you later.¡±


    Alex cut communications as Jack-in-the-Green called.


    I barely had time to feel a stab of worry that even Alex suspected a trap as Jack said, ¡°I¡¯d like you to move a little faster. That jet can leave orbit. I know it can go faster than you¡¯re flying it.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± Haley sounded apologetic, but she¡¯d narrowed her eyes. ¡°We¡¯re using our gravitics. They¡¯re really meant to be landing gear. They¡¯re not fast at all.¡±


    Jack sighed.


    ¡°I¡¯m wondering,¡± Haley hit a couple buttons, increasing the power the Jet¡¯s fusion based power system had available, and giving power to the engines. ¡°Where did you get your name? I¡¯ve never hear of a Jack-in-the-Green.¡±


    He made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a growl.


    ¡°Who put you up to this?¡± In the background, someone laughed.


    ¡°No one,¡± Haley said. She sounded like she meant it too.


    ¡°Some people think it¡¯s funny. It¡¯s an old name. It comes out of folklore. Jack-in-the-Green was a lot like Puck--a rowdy, drunken wood spirit. I first heard the name on a Jethro Tull album.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s Jethro Tull?¡±

 Picking Up Pieces: Part 4

    A little more loudly than necessary, Jack said, ¡°Jethro Tull is a group, not a person.¡±


    Haley scowled. ¡°Sorry. Just curious.¡±


    Then she shut off the comm, and looked back at Flick. ¡°I¡¯m not going be able to talk to him much longer.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, hon, but you might like him better once he changes.¡±


    To judge from Haley¡¯s expression, she doubted that. ¡°Once he changes into what?¡±


    It wasn¡¯t as easy to read Flick¡¯s expression in the dim light, but her tone of voice made me suspect she was smiling. ¡°A spirit of the forest. I¡¯m not a wizard, so I can¡¯t tell you exactly what kind, but he¡¯s generally in a much better mood.¡±


    Haley opened her mouth to speak, but didn¡¯t get the chance. The Red Hawk¡¯s voice came over the comm.


    ¡°League jet, you¡¯re free to go.¡± She almost didn¡¯t sound like she believed it.


    I clicked on my microphone. ¡°What about the Defenders?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re free to go too.¡± She paused. ¡°I''m sorry for the delay. We''d received a report that someone had taken your jet and they were going to fly it to Ottawa and¡ª¡±


    Something started beeping, and I stopped listening, concentrating instead on the screens on the jet¡¯s dashboard. The one with our position showed small objects descending from above¡ªmissiles, and a lot of them.


    ¡°Watch out! Missiles¡ª¡± I began, but it became completely black outside. The shields were up, and I had no idea if anything I¡¯d said made it through them.


    When the shields were at 100%, nothing made it through. We could only tell that anything was happening by watching the shields¡¯ energy absorption statistics. We couldn''t hear the explosions, or feel any hint of them.


    We¡¯d been hit several times with the accompanying energy spikes, but nowhere near dangerous levels.


    The question was what had happened to everyone else. We might as well have been sitting at home--though I was still worried about Alex, Jenny, Brooke, and everyone with them.


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    After a few seconds, the shields stopped absorbing anything.


    ¡°You can probably take down the shields now,¡± I said, addressing the ship.


    [With your permission, I¡¯d like to thin the shields enough to scan the area first.]


    ¡°That would be even better.¡±


    The radar (for lack of a better term, it was more than that) showed that the RCMP and the Defenders¡¯ podjet were both still in the air.


    There was no sign of missiles.


    Our shields thinned and disappeared.


    A transparent, bluish-white half-sphere floated above the RCMP vehicle, centered above one of the figures hovering near it.


    Not so far from us, the Defenders podjet accelerated, and made a quick circle around the lake, engines glowing red. It didn¡¯t have any shields visibly up, but with Alex piloting, they probably came down the moment the missiles stopped.


    ¡°We¡¯re out of here, bro,¡± he said over the comm. ¡°Well, unless you¡¯re planning to hit the Nine again tonight. I¡¯m up for that.¡±


    An adult male voice in the background said, ¡°What? Alex, no¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m kidding,¡± Alex said, obviously speaking away from the microphone. ¡°He doesn¡¯t have other plans.¡± To me he said, ¡°You don¡¯t, right?¡± Lowering his voice, he said, ¡°Because if you did, I¡¯d see what I could do.¡±


    Haley clicked her comm on. ¡°We¡¯re done.¡±


    ¡°What did I tell you guys? We¡¯re gone.¡± The podjet shot away, and disappeared, the engines¡¯ glow fading into the night sky.


    On the ground, below the RCMP ship, something glowed red. Small flames licked the remains of a missile that had either missed or hit the shield, and rolled off.


    It wasn¡¯t the only one either. Fortunately, the fires seemed to be dying.


    Red Hawk¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°League jet, are you okay?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re fine.¡± Haley sounded genuinely relieved. ¡°We weren¡¯t hurt at all.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. You took¡­ a lot of hits.¡±


    I spoke into my comm. ¡°I¡¯m thinking we should move in case they¡¯re planning to send a second round.¡± It wasn''t impossible. The ship''s computer had calculated that the missiles had been fired off ten miles north of Rook''s base.


    Red Hawk said, ¡°Good idea.¡±


    I was about to close the connection when Flick spoke up. ¡°Hey Red, this is Flick of the Midwest Defenders. I¡¯ll send you a full report tomorrow¡ªlate tomorrow.¡±


    Red Hawk laughed, her high voice making me wonder how old she was. I clearly didn¡¯t know enough about Canadian capes.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I won¡¯t be up early either.¡±


    Flick laughed too. ¡°Good. Call me when you do get up. I¡¯ve got some ideas for how our people might coordinate a little better.¡±


    After a little more of that, we left, heading south, and hoping we didn¡¯t run into any other problems.


    For a little while, it was just quiet conversation while the engines hummed. I watched the radar, and kept my hands near the weapons¡¯ controls while Haley flew.


    Then Jaclyn asked Flick, ¡°What were they told about our jet?¡±


    Flick said, ¡°You noticed that? Nice catch. They were told that either you¡¯d been dominated or that someone else took the League jet, and that they were going use the weapons on their government in Ottawa. Once I get the Mystic¡¯s dad to clear Red Hawk, I¡¯m hoping she¡¯ll help me trace that story back up the chain. Then the real fun begins.¡±

 Picking Up Pieces: Part 5

    Jaclyn paused, and then said, ¡°What happens next?¡±


    Flick said, ¡°Well, then we have to decide whether we take them in as soon as we can, or whether we watch them, and hope they¡¯ll lead us to other people the Nine hired.¡±


    The tone of her voice turned sarcastic as she said, ¡°But that¡¯s not the best part. The best part is the committee monitoring how we do it, and second guessing whether watching him without taking him in is really worth it. Plus with this we¡¯ll get to discuss at any moment whether what we do will cause an international incident.


    ¡°Look forward to it kids, this is what you¡¯re training for.¡±


    Daniel turned around in his seat, and said, ¡°But it¡¯s not all bad. My dad said it¡¯s better than the alternative.¡±


    ¡°It is. The government could run the whole committee instead of just having a seat. We¡¯re taking their money, so they get to decide what we do with it.¡±


    In a loud voice, Sean broke in. ¡°Why are the Defenders even working with the government anyway? Half the politicians are corrupt, and bureaucrats aren¡¯t much better. Plus, you¡¯ve got wealthy donors. You don¡¯t have to put up with it.¡±


    I¡¯d turned around to watch halfway through his speech.


    Flick shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. Working with the government gets us official support, and we stay in the loop about things we¡¯d never learn about normally. Believe me¡ªand I¡¯m not going to tell you why¡ªwe need to know.¡±


    Sean opened his mouth, stopped, and then said, ¡°So I can¡¯t even ask you why? What am I supposed to do?¡±


    Flick looked directly at him, her face unusually serious. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to keep quiet about it.¡±


    * * *


    It didn¡¯t take long to drop everybody off¡ªJaclyn and Rachel in Ann Arbor, and Flick in Chicago.


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    Sean and Sydney left when we got home. It was four in the morning.


    I didn¡¯t even want to think about that. I still had other things on my mind¡ªlots of them. Blowing Rook¡¯s arm into nothing was right up there, but memories from the whole night kept flashing into my head. Had we really escaped a nuclear bomb? I hadn¡¯t checked radiation readings, but nuclear or not, whatever exploded the base had been big.


    Plus, what about all the people in the base? I¡¯d seen Rook¡¯s birds kill his scientists, but the speedster still worried me. Assuming the goo held, I might have killed the woman in the eagle themed armor too.


    All those movies where the villain¡¯s base exploded utterly failed to take the body count seriously. Whoever they¡¯d become, the people inside were people. Someone had to care about what happened to them.


    Anyway, that¡¯s what I was thinking about while I took a shower after getting out of my armor.


    The water still felt good, but I was more than a little aware that if the ship hadn¡¯t detected the missiles and turned on the shields, I wouldn¡¯t be alive to feel it.


    There had been a lot of opportunities to die too. Rook wouldn¡¯t have left me alive if he¡¯d won. We¡¯d have died if we¡¯d stayed in the base too long, or even been too close when it exploded.


    We¡¯d been careful, but we¡¯d been lucky too. I couldn¡¯t help, but wonder how long that could last.


    We¡¯d succeeded, and that said something, but Courtney, Travis, Marcus, and Vaughn had all gotten hurt earlier that night. No wait, I realized--yesterday.


    I was going to sleep in every class I had.


    Plus, Courtney knew I was the Rocket, and she was either going to keep on using power juice till she got caught, or found a way to make it permanent.


    OK, I knew it might just be because I was tired, but I was getting worked up even though I knew better. Now was the time to go to bed.


    Well, except that Daniel was here, and I felt like we ought to talk to Courtney now if we could. When would we have another chance?


    I felt Daniel touch my mind. He¡¯d heard me thinking. Not that I could be surprised by that. We were the only ones showering, and he was close enough that he¡¯d have to even though we were in different stalls.


    Nick, don¡¯t worry about it. Courtney¡¯s one of the reasons I¡¯m staying.


    I tried to remember if I¡¯d told him. I didn¡¯t think I had.


    I caught it from both you and Haley. I wasn¡¯t trying to.


    I knew he wasn¡¯t trying to. I decided to ignore it. It would just be easier.


    So what do you think we ought to do? The standard League block?


    I felt Daniel¡¯s agreement.


    We¡¯ll present it to her like we did Kayla. It¡¯s for her protection. It¡¯ll prevent her from thinking about our identities or talking about them except when it¡¯s safe. That¡¯s all.


    Seems reasonable, I thought, but what do we do if she doesn¡¯t agree?

 Picking Up Pieces: Part 6

    I felt a flash of uncertainty that turned into an uncomfortable feeling.


    Daniel¡¯s words floated into my head. I don¡¯t like our options. We can either trust her, or I can blur her memories a little.


    I think you¡¯d have to do more than blur her memories a little. She was in the van when Rook attacked, and she changed into a spare League suit. Plus she went with Vaughn and Travis to Haley¡¯s cousin. You remember the doctor? You¡¯d have to edit her whole night.


    My memories of the night¡ªstarting with when Courtney and I went to the house¡ªflashed through my head. I knew I wasn¡¯t doing it.


    That¡¯s worse than I thought. His frustration washed over me. I¡¯d have to wipe the whole night after you started walking away from the house.


    I thought about that. Would she notice the blank spot?


    Maybe. She might fill it up even without me doing anything. You¡¯d be surprised how many false memories people create normally. You¡¯re right though, if I wanted her to have a memory that didn¡¯t make her suspicious, it would take some work. I won¡¯t know how much work without examining her first.


    I¡¯m not looking forward to that, I thought at him.


    Me neither, and I can¡¯t see any way around doing more to her brain than I want to if she says no.


    I might have complained about that. Protecting our normal lives, our real families, and the friends we had who weren¡¯t capable of protecting themselves wasn¡¯t something we could skip.


    On the other hand, a telepath who won¡¯t mess with your head for his personal convenience is the only kind I¡¯d want to have around.


    We happened to finish showering at about the same time, and got into our street clothes (except I wore an undamaged stealth suit under mine). We all kept clothes at HQ in case of emergencies. Then we walked out to the main table.


    Haley sat in front of one of the computers. Cassie sat next to her monitor. Izzy stood next to Cassie, looking even taller because she was the only one standing. They were talking and laughing together.


    It felt a little strange to see it. I wasn¡¯t sure why.


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    Daniel and I explained about Courtney, and that we¡¯d have to take care of it now. It turned out that everybody was coming.


    ¡°Really?¡± I¡¯m pretty sure my mouth hung open, probably in disbelief. ¡°We don¡¯t need everybody. It¡¯s overkill, you know?¡±


    Cassie shrugged. ¡°I¡±m going back to the dorm anyway.¡±


    Izzy looked from Daniel to me nervously, ¡°I¡¯d stay here if only the two of you were going¡­¡±


    Haley looked up at me. ¡°I want to find out what happens. She knows who we are.¡±


    Did you ever notice that the small stuff turns out to be the biggest pain? Once we did decide to go, we realized that no one had a car here. The van still ran, but with the door off, and all the other damage, we weren¡¯t going to drive around town in that. Daniel¡¯s car was still in Chicago, so it wasn¡¯t an option. Cassie had ridden her regular motorcycle back to HQ to pick up the Commandocycle, and obviously we weren¡¯t all going to fit on that.


    Equally obviously, Daniel wasn¡¯t going to float us over to campus¡ªnot in street clothes.


    In the end, we walked to my parents¡¯ house, and borrowed my mom¡¯s car. I reasoned that she wasn¡¯t likely to need it at four thirty in the morning, and anyway, she worked at home.


    Plus, I did leave a note, mostly at Daniel¡¯s insistence.


    ¡°Think about it, Nick. What if she wakes up to go to the bathroom, and notices her car is gone?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t see why she would, though. It¡¯s not like she goes to the bathroom in the garage.¡±


    Lack of sleep may have been making me a little cranky.


    I left the note anyway, taping it inside the side door where she¡¯d see it if she did decide to visit the garage.


    Fifteen minutes later we¡¯d parked the car on the street next to DePuit Hall.


    Dark except for the entrances, the dorm didn¡¯t look overly welcoming. On the other hand, my bed was inside. I wished I could go to sleep.


    We walked up to the front door. I pulled out my key card, held it in front of the pad, typed in my passcode, opened the door.


    All five of us walked in.


    You know what was crazy? People were up. The dorm¡¯s TV room lay directly in front of the lobby, just past the halls leading to the rest of the dorm.


    We could see the big screen TV as we walked in. It wasn¡¯t as large as the one in HQ, but it was big. I guessed that twenty people were watching¡ªnot a huge crowd, but huge for 4:45 in the morning.


    They were watching SuperTV.


    Worse, SuperTV was covering us. Not us as we were at that moment, but everything we¡¯d done that night.


    Images of Rook in air above the marine supply store, the cell phone store, and the fight at the gas station flipped between the burning remains of Rook¡¯s base near Hudson Bay.


    Weren¡¯t they afraid of radiation?


    The journalist said, ¡°We¡¯re going now to the Midwest Defenders¡¯ base in downtown Chicago. Flick, the team¡¯s second in command, has agreed to a short interview.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t tell where they were in the base. Flick and the reporter stood in front of beige wall with the Defenders¡¯ logo¡ªa ¡°D¡± in the shape of a shield.


    ¡°And believe me,¡± she said, ¡°it will be a short interview. I haven¡¯t slept all night, so you¡¯ve got five minutes starting now¡ª¡±


    I didn¡¯t hear the rest. One of the guys on the long couch turned around, and I recognized Jeremy, my roommate.


    ¡°Hey Nick, where have you been all night?¡±

 Picking Up Pieces: Part 7

    Images of Rook¡¯s base, the glow of the jet¡¯s dashboard during our flights, and the earlier fight with Rook¡¯s people blurred inside my head.


    Daniel gave me a mental poke. Nick, talk.


    ¡°Just kind of out. Uh¡­ This is Daniel, a friend of mine for years. You¡¯ve met Haley, and probably Cassie¡­¡±


    He nodded, which was good, because I wasn¡¯t sure I had introduced him to Cassie.


    I indicated Izzy with my hand. ¡°This is Izzy. She¡¯s visiting from California. Uh¡­¡±


    I¡¯d looked at her, realizing that she was wearing the same black and blue exercise clothes she¡¯d worn during the fight. The only difference was that instead of wearing a mask, she was wearing glasses.


    I racked my brain, trying to think if there had been any time tonight where we¡¯d been in the presence of the press while she¡¯d been around.


    I couldn¡¯t think of any.


    That was enough relief that I might have sighed.


    The funny part was that she really did seem different as a civilian. She held herself differently. She slouched a little, and didn¡¯t meet people¡¯s eyes¡ªwhich had to be a challenge since she was taller than any one of us but Daniel.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s everybody.¡±


    On the TV, Flick¡¯s interview had ended, and they must have talked about us because they¡¯d gone into a montage of our history.


    The announcer said, ¡°The New Heroes League burst onto the scene in a fight with the Gray Giant, a foe who has killed far more experienced heroes.¡±


    The screen showed the Gray Giant slamming me into the highway¡¯s median, and then Daniel, Cassie, and I attacking him.


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    ¡°Not content to fight minor criminals, they¡¯ve exposed their mayor¡¯s connection to a shadowy group known as the Cabal, triggering a worldwide search, and the discovery of power juice¡­¡±


    The screen showed images of our press conference after catching Mayor Bouman, including the moment where Haley took my hand. Pictures of Ray and his team, the Cabal¡¯s army, and seemingly anyone we¡¯d ever fought (including Evil Beatnik and Izzy under his control) flipped through.


    Jeremy followed my eyes and watched the TV for a few seconds. ¡°That¡¯s what I was wondering about. Were you guys watching the fight near here? One of the guys in the dorm got stuck in the traffic jam, and he saw part of it, and it was awesome.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± How was I going to end this conversation? I¡¯d just given him an open ended invitation to tell me more about the fight.


    Jeremy opened his mouth to say more, but didn¡¯t get a word out.


    Cassie gave a nod toward the stairs. ¡°Hey, weren¡¯t we going to catch Courtney?¡±


    ¡°We should.¡± Daniel grinned at Jeremy, ¡°Good to meet you. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll run into each other again.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Jeremy watched as Daniel, Cassie and Izzy started to turn, and as Haley touched my shoulder, steering me toward the hall.


    That would have been it except that I noticed Jeremy¡¯s eyes widen. In my head, I heard Daniel.


    Crap.


    Then Jeremy looked a little confused, as if he¡¯d forgotten something. He stared at us, brow furrowing, concentrating.


    Nick, it¡¯s decision time. What do you want me to do with him? I can keep him from making the connection for now, but he could make it again any time, and I won¡¯t be here.


    I absorbed that. Why? Why did he make it now? Was it SuperTV?


    No. It was Haley and you. The moment where she took your hand and guided you away when you obviously weren¡¯t sure what to do next. Lots of people thought it was cute¡ªone of those little humanizing moments. She did the same thing just now, and she¡¯ll probably do it again.


    I didn¡¯t know what to say. My mind felt blank. Maybe it was tiredness. Maybe it was more than physical fatigue. How many big decisions could I handle in a day? This wasn¡¯t life or death, but it was big, and in some ways, it wasn¡¯t much of a choice.


    Between risking discovery at an unpredictable moment, or giving Jeremy the same version of the block we¡¯d given Kayla, and planned to give Courtney, we didn¡¯t have a real choice.


    Right. Daniel¡¯s face didn¡¯t show much emotion about it, but he seemed a little worried to me.


    OK. Let him remember what he just thought, and I¡¯ll try to get him to come back to our room. Maybe Cassie and Haley could go get Courtney?


    Jeremy stared at me. ¡°No shit,¡± he said.


    ¡°We¡¯d better talk about it privately.¡± I tried to keep my voice calm, and mostly succeeded.


    At the same time, I hoped Daniel would be up to blocking two people after everything we¡¯d already done that night.

 Picking Up Pieces: Part 8

    Daniel, Izzy, Jeremy, and I left for my room shortly after. We didn¡¯t say much. I didn¡¯t have anything I wanted to say that could be said aloud.


    Daniel could have created a four way telepathic conversation, but he didn¡¯t.


    When I shut the door to the room, Jeremy started talking. ¡°I never guessed! This is so crazy. I wanted to see the League and everything, but this¡­¡±


    His voice trailed off, and he started talking more quietly (which was good because he¡¯d been way too loud at first). ¡°You¡¯re the Mystic, and you¡¯re the Rocket, and that was Night Cat and Captain Commando back there¡­¡± He looked up at Izzy. ¡°I¡¯m not sure who you are.¡±


    That was totally okay.


    Instead of telling him, Izzy glanced at Daniel and said, ¡°No one you¡¯ve heard of.¡±


    Which was totally true since she hadn¡¯t decided on a name or costume yet.


    Daniel gave a smile that seemed a little sad, and a little sympathetic. ¡°While it¡¯s good to finally meet you, this is a major problem for us. You know what happens when people find out who a super is, right?¡±


    Jeremy blinked. ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell anybody. The last thing I want is to out you guys.¡±


    He stopped, his mouth open, but not saying anything at first. Then it all came out in a rush. ¡°You¡¯re not going to make me forget this, are you?¡±


    He looked up at Daniel, checked behind himself. He stood in front of our window. Even if he was willing to climb over the stereo and jump through it into the darkness, we were on the third floor. He probably wouldn¡¯t survive the fall.


    Not that Daniel or Izzy would let him fall.


    Daniel shook his head, ¡°I won¡¯t unless you want me to.¡±


    Jeremy swallowed. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±


    Jeremy seemed nervous, and I suddenly realized how it would look from his perspective. Both Daniel and Izzy stood six inches taller than he did. Plus, Izzy¡¯s shirt didn¡¯t cover her biceps, and they were pretty well defined.


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    Not that it mattered, but even if I wasn¡¯t as intimidating, I was there too.


    Daniel nodded, still looking concerned. ¡°That¡¯s good. I didn¡¯t want to do that anyway. If you¡¯re going to remember though, we need to make sure that someone can¡¯t just pull it from your head. I¡¯d like to create a mental shield. It¡¯ll make it hard for a telepath to notice you thinking about us, and hard to find anything if they dig in. It¡¯ll also make it impossible for you to accidentally talk about our secret identities.¡±


    Jeremy¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Impossible how? Something like my jaw locks up if I try?¡±


    In the same calm voice he¡¯d been using, Daniel said, ¡°That¡¯s exactly it. We¡¯ve all got variations on the same block. You¡¯re not being singled out.¡±


    Slowly Jeremy said, ¡°It¡¯s better than forgetting, but it¡¯s going to suck when I¡¯m online. I¡¯m on a bunch of cape boards, and I¡¯m not going to be able to tell anyone anything, am I?¡±


    Daniel smiled a little. ¡°Sorry, but no. It¡¯s too much of a risk. You¡¯ll be able to pass on anything that you don¡¯t learn from knowing us, but that¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s all I ever did before.¡± Jeremy said. Then he grinned. ¡°Oh my god, I have a pile of questions to ask you guys. It¡¯s all speculation on the boards, but what really happened up in Canada? Why was Rook here, and what did you do there? Was it really a nuke, or just a big bomb? And¡­¡± He looked at all of us in turn. ¡°Is there really a super school? I heard there was a super school. I also heard that they¡¯re training them to fight aliens, but everyone knows there aren¡¯t really aliens. People on the boards think they¡¯re going to take over the government.¡±


    I stared at him. ¡°What? There are too aliens. I¡¯ve spoken to them.¡±


    ¡°For real?¡± Jeremy didn¡¯t quite sound like he believed me.


    ¡°Yes. The League¡¯s jet functions as a spaceship. Besides, that whole alien war in the 70¡¯s? It¡¯s in the history books. The League blew up their base on the moon. Wasn¡¯t that covered in your high school history class?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, but everyone knows that was a cover-up. Didn¡¯t the League basically destroy the group Dr. Mind was with before the Nine? The Neo-Nazi group? I heard the aliens were genetically engineered by those guys, but they really weren¡¯t aliens, and the government used them to distract the League from Watergate. Didn¡¯t you see the documentary?¡±


    So, that was completely nuts.


    I¡¯d heard that people didn¡¯t believe the League fought aliens, but I¡¯d never run into one.


    ¡°No, I never saw the documentary, but that¡¯s because I¡¯ve seen alien spaceships. It¡¯s not hard. You can¡¯t always see the Jay and Kay with a telescope, but the gate¡¯s there.¡±


    He sat down on the lower bunk. ¡°Everything I¡¯ve read says its just space junk arranged into a weird shape.¡±


    Back on our first day of the Stapledon program, Bullet had been worried about the public connecting most capes'' powers with aliens. If the general public believed stuff that was even half as crazy as Jeremy, the problems he worried about might be an improvement.

 Picking Up Pieces: Part 9

    Part of me wanted to argue with him, but I couldn¡¯t persuade myself that it would be worth it. He could go look up information on the Xiniti if he wanted. There wasn¡¯t much information, but you could find out that they were around.


    You could even find out information about the hyperspace jumpgate if you wanted to.


    There weren¡¯t many details, but it was in Wikipedia.


    Of course, it wasn¡¯t as if we were allowed to use it. The Xiniti were there to stop us from trying, and to prevent hostile groups from coming through.


    Someday we¡¯d be allowed to use it, and then maybe familiarity would kill all the stupid conspiracy theories.


    It wouldn¡¯t happen today.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll talk about this later,¡± I said.


    Any chance of saying more ended with a light knock on the door.


    Simultaneously Daniel and Izzy both said, ¡°It¡¯s Haley,¡± leaving me to muse on what it might be like to have better than human senses.


    Izzy stepped back, and opened the door.


    Haley stepped inside, followed by Courtney and Cassie.


    Courtney had thrown on an over-sized Dr. Who sweatshirt and jeans. She smiled weakly as she saw me. I wasn¡¯t sure whether that meant that she was tired or nervous.


    Whatever she felt, she was here, and that¡¯s what mattered.


    I raised my hand and gave her a wave. ¡°Hey Courtney, could you come over here?¡±


    We had seven people in the room by then, all of us between the bunk bed, and the wall.


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    Courtney had to move past Haley, between Izzy and the bed, and squeeze past where Jeremy sat on the lower bunk before she could stand next to Daniel and I.


    The room felt warm, and possibly even a little stuffy.


    I moved, backing into my own desk, and standing between the end of the bunk and the stereo.


    Daniel had backed up too, and sat on Jeremy¡¯s desk. ¡°Courtney, I¡¯m Daniel. I¡¯m a friend of Nick¡¯s. You¡¯ve just guessed who else I am, and you¡¯re right. I¡¯m a telepath.¡±


    Courtney blushed, managing a ¡°Hi,¡± and reminding me of something I normally didn¡¯t think about. Daniel was literally tall, dark and handsome. His skin tone was naturally the color of a light tan, and his face was more on the baby-faced than square-jawed end of the ¡°handsome¡± spectrum, but it got him attention.


    More than he wanted, in fact.


    I¡¯d sometimes suspected that Daniel¡¯s telepathy influenced people in some way because I¡¯d never thought of him as that good looking. When I mentioned that to Haley, she¡¯d told me I was ¡°such a guy.¡±


    Whatever that meant.


    Even if telepathy didn¡¯t have a direct effect on people¡¯s opinions of him, it had to have an effect on his treatment of them.


    When I started paying attention to what was going on, I became aware that he¡¯d already started talking to Courtney.


    He leaned forward a little, looking thoughtful.


    ¡°¡ªI know you¡¯ve had a rough night, but this is important. You know secrets some people would kill for. What I need is for you to hear me out¡ª¡±


    Then he described the block, and how it would work, answering her questions, and a few more questions from Jeremy.


    A few minutes later she said, ¡°I¡¯ll do it. I don¡¯t want to be the weak link that gets all of you killed.¡±


    She glanced in Cassie¡¯s direction.


    In that moment, as much as she¡¯d modified herself, she sounded like she had in high school.


    Daniel nodded. ¡°Great. I¡¯d like both of you to close your eyes, and I¡¯ll make some changes. It won¡¯t hurt, and it¡¯ll take less time than you think.¡±


    They did, Courtney sitting on the bed with Jeremy¡ªthough not right next to him. She tried to sit as close to the edge as possible too.


    I could understand if she didn¡¯t want to touch his bed linens. I didn¡¯t know how long it had been since he washed them either.


    It took less than ten minutes for each of them.


    I checked my alarm clock. It was five in the morning. The sun would rise in an hour, and I had class. I tried not to think about that, and hoped I wouldn¡¯t have a quiz in anything.


    We left in groups. Cassie and Courtney left for the girls side of the dorm.


    Izzy, Daniel, and Haley left a little later. I left with them. I still had to get the car back to my parents, and I planned to drop Haley off while I was at it.


    We didn¡¯t say anything as we walked. After everything else that had happened, the last thing I needed was to get caught by the RA.

 Picking Up Pieces: Part 10

    Daniel had taught me how to telepathically get his attention so long ago I didn¡¯t even remember when.


    As we walked down the stairway, I gave him a mental poke. Hey, what did you learn from Courtney? How¡¯s she handling it?


    I felt a mental pause, and concentrated on the next step as Daniel answered my question. Chances are he was checking what was behind it.


    Our footsteps tapped on the brown linoleum, and a few steps later, he replied. She¡¯s scared. She¡¯s wondering what she¡¯s gotten into, and she¡¯s wondering how we¡¯re so calm about it.


    I took a few more steps, thinking about that.


    Walking down the stairs next to me, Haley looked up at me, and then over at Daniel.


    I wondered what had given us away.


    Calm? I didn¡¯t feel calm. Every time I thought about the dome, I wondered how many people died, and if we could have stopped the bomb.


    She¡¯s got no idea.


    Hey, I know. I¡¯m just telling you what she¡¯s thinking. If you¡¯re really asking whether I think she¡¯s stable, and if I think she¡¯ll flip out if you run her through the power impregnator, she¡¯s stable. I don¡¯t sense any reason she¡¯d do a Red Lightning.


    Is there any reason to think you¡¯d miss that?


    Daniel frowned.


    Well, she¡¯d have to have a really good shield, and by good I¡¯m meaning one so well hidden I can¡¯t detect it. That would have to be really good though. The other possibility would be if she kept part of her brain in a machine. I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s likely, but the Dominators could arrange both of those, plus a few.


    There were a whole lot of reasons I never wanted to come to the Dominators'' attention.


    We reached the bottom of the stairwell, standing in front of glass doors in a grey metal frame.


    Don¡¯t worry about it, Nick. I¡¯d put the chance of that as near zero. My dad¡¯s faced the Dominators. I didn¡¯t see any signs, and believe me, I checked. It¡¯s just safer.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    We walked out the doors, feeling the cool fall air. October would turn into November soon, and it already felt like it. I was already regretting not wearing a thicker jacket.


    I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the time¡ª5:41am. I decided not to think about it.


    I put the phone back in my pocket. It still felt closer to the dead of night than only an hour away from getting up.


    With no sign of the sun, it felt like we were the only people awake in the world.


    Haley took my hand. ¡°Are you two done talking?¡±


    ¡°I guess.¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything, looking up at me as if she were still waiting for an answer.


    ¡°And we should probably tell you about it, but not until we get in the car.¡±


    The car wasn¡¯t far away, practically as close as you could get to the building while still being on the street. It was amazing the spot had been open. A long line of cars ran down the side of the road.


    As we neared the car, I noticed the fire hydrant next to the back door. How had I missed that?


    Daniel said, ¡°Don¡¯t forget to check the windshield, especially the left side windshield wiper.¡±


    We got closer, and I did.


    Campus security had given me a ticket.


    * * *


    On Saturday, I got a call from Cassie to come over to her house. Not having a car, I called Haley. She picked me up from the dorm around 10 in the morning. She¡¯d borrowed her mom¡¯s car.


    Haley¡¯s nose wrinkled as she made a face. ¡°Do you know why Cassie said to come over?¡±


    ¡°No. She¡¯s barely gone home since college started. Her mom¡¯s been complaining about it.¡±


    We turned the corner, starting down Cassie¡¯s block. She lived in the suburbs, a neighborhood that could have been anywhere¡ªbig, newish houses. Cassie¡¯s house was a big, two story white house that stood next to a big, two story tan house.


    It stood out from the others only because of the semi-truck in front.


    Men carried boxes out of the house, and up the ramp into the back of the truck.


    Cassie stood on the front lawn, watching, and talking to Vaughn.


    Haley parked the car, and we got out.


    ¡°No fire hydrants,¡± she said as we walked across the street. She gave me a sidelong glance.


    I sighed, stepping over a small pile of brown leaves by the curb.


    As we joined Cassie and Vaughn, I said, ¡°Your mom¡¯s moving?¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re both moving.¡±


    ¡°What about college?¡±


    Cassie opened her mouth, taking a breath, and then saying, ¡°I think I¡¯ll be able to finish the semester by following my classes on video. Even if I can¡¯t, it¡¯ll work out.¡±


    None of us said anything, knowing who would work it out¡ªCassie¡¯s mom¡¯s connections in government or the Stapledon program.


    Assuming Cassie would still be in the program.


    In a quick movement, Cassie turned toward the house. ¡°We should talk about it inside.¡±


    We walked in.


    The whole place looked empty¡ªno furniture or pictures¡ªjust rooms with carpeted floor. The boxes we¡¯d seen movers carrying must have been the last ones.


    A few movers stood in the corner of the living room talking.


    One man leaned against the wall. His Carhartt jacket hung open, revealing a gun hung in a shoulder holster. He noticed me looking, and nodded.


    I wondered who they worked for.

 Picking Up Pieces: Part 11

    Cassie noticed the men, frowned, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go into my room.¡±


    We walked upstairs. I couldn¡¯t help but remember other times I¡¯d been inside, most of them during the summer before we¡¯d reformed the League. Cassie had been on bed rest after the treatments that activated her powers. I hadn¡¯t known it at the time. I¡¯d just thought she was sick.


    I¡¯d helped her gather everyone for movie nights while wondering if she¡¯d make it through the summer.


    Even then it hadn¡¯t been a cluttered house. It always felt clean and orderly, but a little like a hotel. Her mom commuted to Washington D.C. a lot and had hired people to keep it clean.


    Sure, her cover as a realtor had never been blown, but I¡¯d always wondered if adding a little mess to the house might have helped.


    In some ways the empty rooms and undecorated walls felt like it always had¡ªit was just a matter of degree.


    Cassie¡¯s room felt different though. It felt bigger. You could even see the beige carpet.


    A jumble of trophies and medals had decorated the walls. A pile of clothes had lain next to the closet¡ªwhich had never been quite shut, allowing me to see the piles inside.


    A picture of her father had stood on her dresser next to a music box. The picture showed him riding a horse, something I hadn¡¯t known he¡¯d enjoyed.


    I wondered where the picture was¡ªprobably in a box in the truck.


    Cassie shut the door behind us. ¡°I¡¯m so, so sorry I¡¯m going. I wanted to stay, but if the Nine ever do match my face and name, it¡¯ll give all of you away.¡±


    Haley cocked her head. ¡°You mean they don¡¯t know your name already?¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°No, and they wanted it pretty bad. On the plane one of their guys tried to interrogate me. He tried to get me to say where our base was, and everyone¡¯s names, all that stuff. I didn¡¯t give him anything, but normal people would have, I bet. He seemed pretty scary at first. He was telling me how regeneration would make everything he could do worse when we got back to the base. He even hit me a few times.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s face tightened for second. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me that. I wish I¡¯d been there. I¡¯d have roasted his ass.¡±


    Cassie smiled a little. ¡°Too late. He might have been roasted in the explosion on our way out. Besides he wasn¡¯t doing too well when I last saw him. I¡­ bit off a couple of his fingers.¡±


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    We were quiet for a moment, but then Haley said, ¡°Really?¡±


    Cassie started almost before Haley finished. ¡°I didn¡¯t try to. He punched me in the face twice, and then the third time I twisted and bit his hand. I was just trying to bite hard. You know, make him think about it before he punched me again? I felt his bones break in my mouth, and when he pulled his hand away, something was still inside. I spit them out.¡±


    Haley covered her mouth.


    Vaughn said, ¡°That¡¯s pretty badass.¡±


    Cassie didn¡¯t say anything at first. The blank expression on her face made me guess that she didn¡¯t feel badass. ¡°I didn¡¯t try to do it, but I pretended I had. They left me alone for the rest of the flight, and they didn¡¯t try to interrogate me at the base. But I told you they were going to call in the Dominators, right?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°That would have been worse.¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°No kidding. That¡¯s why I tried to escape the first chance I got.¡±


    That reminded me of something that had been bothering me. ¡°How did you signal us anyway? We got your utility belt and communicator back. It looked like you used your old League distress signal, but I didn¡¯t know it was on you.¡±


    She backed up toward the wall, beginning to put her hand where her dresser would normally have been, but stopped, and placed it on the windowsill instead.


    ¡°This is going to be gross too. When they caught me, I palmed my League ring, and shoved it into my abdomen. My skin healed before they saw it, so I had it when I broke out of the room they had me in. That¡¯s when I signaled you.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°That was quick thinking. I don¡¯t know what I would have done. Not that I could have done that¡­¡±


    Cassie began to tear up. ¡°I hated it. I didn¡¯t know if you¡¯d gotten the signal or if I¡¯d be caught as soon as the Dominators appeared. You don¡¯t know how much better I felt when I heard the alarms start to ring.¡±


    Vaughn frowned. ¡°I wish I¡¯d been there instead of Sean. Did you know that he¡¯s been complaining that Flick kept him out of the main fight?¡±


    I was about to talk, but Haley spoke first. ¡°Who¡¯s he talking to? That¡¯s not what she was doing.¡±


    Vaughn held up his hands. ¡°Whoa. Just people he knows¡ªme, Jody, and Dayton. Not the media.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t fair to Flick, for sure. She¡¯d had him turn the building¡¯s fans, blowing the nerve gas outside. That was worth doing.


    I didn¡¯t get to say so because Cassie¡¯s mom opened the door.


    ¡°It¡¯s time to go.¡± Cassie¡¯s mom didn¡¯t look anything like her¡ªgiven that Cassie was a clone of her dad plus some major gene splices, that wasn¡¯t a surprise.


    Cassie¡¯s mom had black hair, slightly darker skin, and wore a black suit with a skirt.


    Cassie turned toward her, lips curling into an expression I couldn¡¯t call happy.


    ¡°Just a second, Mom.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve got five minutes. Any longer and we risk missing our window.¡±


    She gave us a smile, and said, ¡°I wish we could stay longer, but I¡¯m sure you understand.¡± Then she closed the door again.


    Cassie stared at the door for a moment before turning back to us.


    ¡°Look, I¡¯ve got to go, but this isn¡¯t the end. I¡¯m going to be at Stapledon weekends whether my mom wants me to or not.¡±


    A few more tears ran down her cheek.


    ¡°I wish I were staying. I really do. You¡¯ve all been the best friends I¡¯ve had in a long time.¡±


    She hugged each of us. We were all crying. I don¡¯t think I cried much, but my cheeks were wet.


    As she let me go, she said, ¡°I¡¯ve got an idea for a costume that doesn¡¯t look like me, but I¡¯ll need your help, okay?¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    We walked downstairs, and watched the truck pull off, followed by Cassie and her mom in her mom¡¯s blue Audi. They¡¯d be switching cars several times before they got to well¡­ wherever.


    No one had said.


    Vaughn turned to Haley and I, saying, ¡°Well, that sucks.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue. We¡¯d defeated Rook, and the Nine for now, but it didn¡¯t feel like we¡¯d won.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 1

    Grandma Vander Sloot told me about the city, how it existed simultaneously in an infinity of alternate dimensions, how an alley could lead you somewhere Kaiser Wilhelm and Germany won World War I, and you might meet the version of yourself that lived there.


    She told me about the people imprisoned there, exiles from too many universes to name.


    You¡¯d think a place like that might put you in mind of Victorian Gothic novels¡ªWuthering Heights¡¯ moors and ghosts, a decaying aristocracy, and their uneducated, superstitious servants.


    If you did expect that, it would only be the first of a long list of disappointments.


    It was a Stapledon weekend, and on Saturday morning, they¡¯d put the older students on a bus, and drove for twenty minutes. They started at seven in the morning.


    We¡¯d been staying in the Defenders underground complex that was somewhere in the Great Plains. Where? Nebraska? Iowa? I couldn¡¯t tell¡ªsomeplace with a lot of grass.


    At first I couldn¡¯t see the city. Fifty foot tall, grey concrete walls rose out of the grassland. Barbed wire ran across the top, and guards stood with rifles on their backs. Sometimes they looked out. Other times, they looked in.


    It looked like a prison.


    Next to me, Travis (my ex-boyfriend) closed his eyes and sniffed the air.


    Amazingly, weird habits like that weren¡¯t why we broke up.


    He opened his eyes. ¡°Hey Rach, you okay?¡±


    I leaned forward, resting my arms on the seat ahead of us. ¡°Doing great. We¡¯re going on a field trip to an actual field. I''m so excited I can barely control myself.¡±


    He gave a snort. ¡°You know it¡¯s not really a field, right? It smells like New York City, but weirder. A lot weirder.¡±


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    As he said it, the sun came out, and the scene ahead of us changed. Buildings stood behind the walls. The nearest had flat roofs and architectural styles that made me think of France.


    Behind them rose skyscrapers, but not close behind them¡ªmiles behind them.


    The bus began to slow, stopping in front of the entrance. Wide and made with chain-link, it had barbed wire on the top. Men in green fatigues stood on the other side.


    In the front of the bus, a man in a blue suit stood up. In his mid-50¡¯s, he had that square-jawed look that all superheroes in movies seemed to have. In costume, we called him Bullet. Today we called him Mr. Krantz.


    I wasn¡¯t sure if that was his real name or not, but it didn¡¯t matter. Either way I wasn¡¯t impressed. It seemed like he got off on playing the authority figure.


    And okay, I might have been reading things into what he did.


    He stepped up and stood next to the first row of seats, blocking the aisle. ¡°Do I have your attention?¡±


    He paused, looking up and down the bus before continuing. ¡°Good. I¡¯m going to reiterate your instructions before you leave. As you know, Area 551, or as the residents call it, Infinity City, is an extra-dimensional anomaly. It exists in an unknown number of alternate universes at the same time.


    ¡°You may at some point in your career be called upon to catch a former resident of the city. It¡¯s important therefore that you become familiar with the major neighborhoods and factions.


    ¡°This morning we¡¯ll separate into groups and lead you on a tour through the major sections of the city. In the afternoon, we¡¯ll allow you some free time to explore the core city.


    ¡°The core is the most stable part, and so there should be no reason for you to leave our universe, but as we all know, accidents happen. Therefore, each of you will be loaned a CDPS. In case you become separated, the CDPS will allow you to contact us, and find your way back to our universe.


    ¡°Now, any questions?¡±


    No one asked anything.


    Bullet nodded. ¡°Good. Then I have one more thing to say. DO NOT lose your CDPS. First, we have a limited number, and they are quite expensive to manufacture. Second, it will be very difficult to get back.


    ¡°If you do lose your CDPS, your best bet is to backtrack immediately. You will probably get home. Plus, we are in communication with various groups that control the city in various versions of the city. If you give yourself up, they will likely be able to bring you back as well. I tell you now, though, that you will likely be quarantined so that we can determine whether you are yourself, or merely another version.¡±


    He gave the bus a quick once over. ¡°Alright. Stand up and get ready to exit. It¡¯s time.¡±

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 2

    Something about Bullet¡¯s attitude rubbed me the wrong way, so I didn¡¯t make a big effort to hurry. It didn¡¯t matter. Half the people in front of us did.


    Travis stood up before I even put my hand on the seat.


    It didn¡¯t allow either of us to exit the bus any faster¡ªnot with everyone getting up at the same time.


    Eventually we did, and instead of being in a line waiting to get out of the bus, we stood next to the door, waiting to pick up our CDPS¡¯s, split into groups, and step into an impossible place.


    Why it took as long as it did, I have no idea. We¡¯d been told which groups we were in before we¡¯d even gotten on the bus. Plus it was cold. Standing on a grassy plain in the month of November isn¡¯t something I¡¯d recommend to anyone.


    If I¡¯d brought a notebook, I might have taken it out and drawn some of the soldiers, but I hadn¡¯t. They might have confiscated it anyway. They¡¯d told us not to take pictures with our phones.


    I had a backup form of entertainment, but I didn¡¯t feel like taking it out just yet.


    Next to me in the crowd, Travis bumped me and looked down. Nearly seven feet tall and built like the football player he used to be, he could do that better than most people. ¡°What¡¯s with your purse?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you later,¡± I said, and pretended that looking at the back of the people¡¯s heads was interesting.


    About that time Bullet raised his voice again. Standing near the door he said, ¡°Your small group leaders will give you your CDPS¡¯s. And one more thing. I know some of you wore costumes under your clothes. Don¡¯t change except in an emergency. It draws the wrong kind of attention. Trust me. Now let¡¯s get moving.¡±


    Then finally they did get moving, and the small group leaders, all of them near the end of their time in the Stapledon program, got out and started calling people over.


    Travis nudged me, ¡°Hey, Tara¡¯s over there.¡±


    I ignored him, but walked along anyway.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Tara, our leader, had unzipped her backpack, and had pulled digital watches out of it. She smiled at us as we walked up. ¡°Rachel, and Travis, I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re here! I¡¯ve got your CDPS¡¯s. Here¡¯s yours.¡± She put a watch in my hand. ¡°And yours¡­¡± She gave one to Travis.


    Tara reminded me of a Golden Retriever¡ªshe was friendly, energetic, and never seemed to have anything bad to say about anybody. She wasn¡¯t a bad person, but I can only take so much breathless energy.


    ¡°Do you all know each other?¡±


    The rest of our group had walked up. I didn¡¯t know either of them, but I¡¯d seen them with Cassie once or twice. Brown skinned with short, black hair, the girl looked like she might be Arabic, or possibly from northern India or Pakistan. She wore a gray, woolen coat that I decided I liked.


    Just behind her, a blond, bearded guy in a black trench coat gave a wave. He looked like someone Nick might hang out with.


    Tara handed both of them their watches.


    To Tara, I said, ¡°I know Travis, but I haven¡¯t met anybody else.¡±


    She zipped up her backpack and put it on her back. Then she said, ¡°Samita and Rodolfo meet Travis and Rachel.¡±


    Almost at the same time Rodolfo said, ¡°Call me Rod,¡± and Samita said, ¡°You can call me Sam.¡±


    I laughed.


    Travis grinned at them, and gave Rod¡¯s shoulder a friendly punch. ¡°You got it.¡±


    The punch knocked Rod a small step back.


    Tara reached out and touched my shoulder, and then Samita¡¯s. ¡°They¡¯ve opened the door. Let¡¯s go.¡±


    We followed Bullet and the rest of the group through the door. When the last person stepped through, it locked with solid, metallic clanks.


    We walked down the road to the inside wall. Soldiers got out of the way as that chain link door rolled sideways, letting us all walk in at once.


    The first thing I noticed was the temperature. It was warm, and not warm for November¡ªit was summer warm.


    Then I looked around. Only the concrete wall looked like I expected it to.


    Off to our left, two Quonset huts along with three jeeps stood behind a fence. Soldiers stood guard next to the fence, all of them carrying automatic rifles.


    Ahead of us ran a long black road. On the right side stood some kind of Chinatown. Signs in big Chinese and English characters advertised groceries, a fish market, clothing stores, and restaurants. The buildings were all at least five stories tall, but looked like they¡¯d been built at least a century ago.


    People walked down the sidewalks carrying bags and talking.


    Dark, gray buildings lined the other side of the street. The buildings had signs in Cyrillic letters--if they had signs at all. Most didn''t.


    I didn¡¯t see any people.


    I nudged Travis. ¡°What do you suppose is going on there?¡±


    He stared at them. ¡°I don¡¯t know. You want to go over¡ª¡±


    Tara interrupted him. Pointing down the street, she said, ¡°Oh my God, the bus! Hurry!¡±


    A bus had turned around in front of us¡ªa long, silver bus with words ¡°Infinity City Transit¡± in white. It was slowing, and we couldn¡¯t do anything but run after it.


    It was only once we caught it and got on that I noticed one of the shops on the Chinese side had a sign that said, ¡°Barbershop and Euthanasia Parlor.¡±


    What the hell?

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 3

    I tried to point out the euthanasia shop to Travis, but he missed it.


    ¡°Super senses?¡± I asked, speaking softly and, turning away from the window to look at him.


    Travis frowned for a moment. ¡°Night vision,¡± he muttered. ¡°Not this. Besides you¡¯ve got the window seat.¡±


    I smiled at him. ¡°You were polite.¡±


    He had been. He let me on the bus first.


    ¡°See if I do that again,¡± and he grinned at me.


    We both laughed a little.


    It felt good, reminding me of what it¡¯d been like when we¡¯d dated. It had been easy most of the time. Not that I was angling to start it up again. With my younger brother dating his sister, that would get a little strange.


    Plus, there were other reasons. I remembered them too well.


    I leaned back in the seat. The bus company hadn¡¯t paid extra for comfort. These seats were hard plastic.


    Travis seemed to notice my change in mood, and he didn¡¯t say anything.


    We rode the bus, watching the neighborhoods change-Chinatown disappearing, replaced by brown brick row houses. After a while, the stores near the row houses began to include words like ¡°supermercado¡± and ¡°taqueria.¡±


    The skyscrapers grew nearer, but they still weren¡¯t close.


    As we passed through another neighborhood, one where the Greek alphabet became more common, and the restaurants advertised gyros, Travis said, ¡°There¡¯s another one.¡±


    I followed his hand. Between ¡°Kronos Cafe¡± and ¡°Palamara¡¯s Pawn Shop¡± stood a small shop called ¡°Ed¡¯s Euthanasia Emporium.¡±


    A ¡°Sorry, we¡¯re closed¡± sign hung in the dusty window.


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    Well, at least it didn¡¯t seem popular.


    On the next block over, children played baseball in the street. I¡¯d never thought there would be children here.


    In another few minutes we reached downtown. The skyscrapers still weren¡¯t very close, but they were closer¡ªa little closer anyway.


    Tara turned around, and said, ¡°We¡¯ll start here.¡± She pulled the line that ran next to the windows, and a recorded voice said, ¡°Stop requested.¡±


    We got off the bus next to a series of shops that had been designed in the Art Nouveau style. They were brown brick buildings like many others I¡¯d seen so far, but here the brick and concrete around doors and windows had been shaped into branches and leaves.


    Park benches and actual trees stood near the curb.


    The people walking the sidewalk, and sitting on the benches could have been in any city in the US. Here though, they got one step weirder.


    People in business suits were everywhere, but as I looked closely at one of the men, I realized he had pointed ears. He smiled at me as I noticed. All of his teeth had pointed tips.


    As the man passed, Travis asked, ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°Nothing.¡± I might have explained, but in all the stories I¡¯d ever read, elves had remarkable hearing¡ªif that¡¯s what he was.


    The five of us stood together on the sidewalk. Tara¡¯s voice broke in, ¡°We¡¯re here in the core city, the part that¡¯s almost entirely in our universe, and stable. I¡¯m going to show you around the core, and then I¡¯ll take you to each quarter, and show you the landmarks. For now, follow me.¡±


    We listened to her, and she showed us around. I¡¯d pegged her as an empty-headed pretty face with far too much respect for authority, but she knew the city.


    As we passed another empty euthanasia parlor, I asked her, ¡°What¡¯s going on with the euthanasia shops? They¡¯re all closed, but they¡¯re everywhere.¡±


    Tara nodded. ¡°Isn¡¯t it strange? I don¡¯t know the answer, but sometimes different governments have blockaded the city, and there¡¯s been no food. To some people, the euthanasia parlors looked better than starving, and to others it looked like a business opportunity.¡±


    She stopped, and then she said, ¡°Except sometimes things just happen. They could have all appeared one morning. I don''t think they did, but they could have.¡±


    Samita leaned in a little, and said, ¡°I thought you said the core was stable.¡±


    Tara said, ¡°It is, but it still happens.¡±


    We¡¯d changed places since she¡¯d started our tour. We stood on the edge of a park by a river. A Chinese restaurant, complete with pagoda facade stood only fifty feet away.


    People sat on benches and at picnic tables eating food out of take-out containers.


    I thought about following up with Tara, but recognized one of the people. It was Julie. She wore a jogging suit, and had her blond hair tied in a ponytail. She¡¯d gone to the same high school as Nick and I, and had a thing for Travis that was so obvious it had been part of the reason Travis and I broke up.


    She was in the Stapledon program with us, but she was a freshman in college, so she wasn¡¯t supposed to be on this trip.


    She could control people with her voice.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 4

    ¡°Travis, don¡¯t look now, but remember Julie? She¡¯s over there, and there¡¯s no way she came with us.¡±


    Travis didn¡¯t look. He smiled at me calmly, as if we were talking about something pleasant. He handled it better than I thought he would. ¡°I smelled her. I¡¯ve been pretending not to see her.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± It took all of my self-control not to check whether she¡¯d noticed us.


    I remembered the briefing. You don¡¯t mess with alternate versions of yourself or anyone you know. It¡¯s right up there with going back in time to kill your grandfather¡ªa dumb, dumb idea. You never knew what forces shaped them, and it was so easy to assume you were talking with the person you know.


    Look, I may not always trust authority figures, but I listen when they¡¯re talking sense.


    Tara was talking with Samita when I tapped her on the shoulder. ¡°Sorry. I don¡¯t want to interrupt, but I just saw an alternate.¡±


    Tara¡¯s eyes widened (an accomplishment, she had naturally wide eyes). ¡°No. Who?¡±


    ¡°Julie from the program. The girl everyone listens to¡ªwhether they want to or not.¡±


    Smiling broadly at all of us, Tara said, ¡°Is anyone else hungry? I like Chinese, and they¡¯re good.¡±


    She pointed at the restaurant. Its neon sign said, ¡±Infinity City Panda Palace.¡±


    I sized up the pagoda facade, and the glowing white and black bear on the sign. ¡°Sure, I¡¯m always up for panda.¡±


    Rod snorted. ¡°I fought a panda once, a giant, evil panda.¡± He looked at Samita. ¡°Remember that one?¡±


    In a whisper she said, ¡°We¡¯re out of costume.¡±


    Rod rolled his eyes. ¡°Like anyone here will care.¡±


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    Tara grabbed Samita¡¯s hand, and started walking. ¡°Quickly everyone. We don¡¯t want to get stuck in line.¡±


    Tara walked quickly, and with a liquid grace that hadn¡¯t been there before. Her walk reminded me of Travis and Haley.


    Despite what Tara had said about getting stuck in a line, we didn¡¯t have to wait.


    Tara had spoken quietly to the waitress, and she¡¯d led us to the back of the main room, and down a hall filled with doors. Then she opened one, and shown us into our own private room. When she shut the door, the sound of the restaurant¡¯s conversations instantly stopped.


    After she¡¯d handed out menus and left, Tara said, ¡°Go ahead and order anything you want. Stapledon¡¯s paying.¡±


    Travis raised an eyebrow. ¡°Yeah? What are they paying with?¡±


    Tara gave a little shrug. ¡°The usual for Infinity City¡ªgold, but I¡¯m paying with a credit card. They¡¯ll work it out.¡±


    Travis looked like he wanted to ask a few more questions, but I caught his eye.


    Tara noticed my look and shot me a grin. She caught a lot more that I¡¯d given her credit for.


    ¡°The Panda Palace hosts a lot of private conversations, so I got us a soundproof booth. What would you say Julie¡¯s threat level is?¡±


    Travis and I looked at each other. ¡°That depends,¡± I said. ¡°Her power¡¯s a killer. If you can understand her voice, she can tell you exactly what to do. My brother designed a device that blocks it, but since they told us not to bring our gear, I don¡¯t have mine along.¡±


    Tara dimpled. ¡°The Rocket. You must love having him around.¡±


    Travis frowned briefly, and said, ¡°Yeah. Anyway, I don¡¯t have my gear either, and honestly, if we were home, I wouldn¡¯t worry about it much. She¡¯s better now.¡±


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Better, sure, but being better doesn¡¯t take much. She was his own personal stalker.¡±


    Rod looked up from the menu, clearly interested. ¡°Stalker? Did she find out you were Night Wolf?¡±


    Travis shook his head. ¡°No. Well, she knows now, but not then. I played football in high school. I was kind of a big deal. People get a little crazy about football, and she followed me around a lot.¡±


    I spoke up. ¡°Not a lot¡ªconstantly. We¡¯d go to a movie, and she¡¯d be in the movie theater.¡±


    Shifting his menu into his left hand, Travis gestured as he talked. ¡°Look, a couple of those times had to be coincidental, but she did show up a lot. I¡¯m not denying it.¡±


    That again? My voice rose as I said, ¡°She still wasn¡¯t over it last year. When Nick and Haley started dating she passed along pictures she¡¯d taken of them to half the high school. What did Julie say? That Haley was slumming, and wondering what they could possibly have in common?¡±


    Holding up his hands, Travis said, ¡°I¡¯m not defending her. Something was wrong in her head, but she hasn¡¯t done anything like that since.¡±


    I was just about to argue with him, but he didn¡¯t stop talking.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not get distracted. The problem isn¡¯t our Julie,¡± Travis continued. ¡°We only have a problem if the Julie out there never got past¡­ whatever it was.¡±

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 5

    ¡°Or,¡± I said, ¡°if the Julie out there had a completely different problem which was worse.¡±


    Tara broke in before I could continue or Travis could reply. ¡°I think you both made good points. Julie¡¯s powerful, and we don¡¯t know what she¡¯ll want to do because she doesn¡¯t have the same history as our universe¡¯s Julie. We¡¯ll need to be careful on the way out. Does anybody have earplugs?¡±


    Samita furrowed her brows, concentrating, and then started to talk. ¡°I could have blocked out the sound around us, but I don¡¯t have any idea where to get the materials I¡¯d need.¡±


    Tara smiled. ¡°I¡¯m sure I could help. We¡¯d have to¡ª¡±


    ¡°Leave,¡± Rod said, ¡°and then we¡¯d have to walk around deaf all day. I remember that spell. You used it when we ran into the banshee, remember?¡±


    Samita held up her hand. ¡°I know you didn¡¯t like it, but it worked.¡±


    I let go of my menu. ¡°I¡¯ll handle it. She won¡¯t try to control me if she doesn¡¯t know I¡¯m there. I¡¯ll turn invisible and see what she¡¯s doing.¡±


    Someone said something, but everyone¡¯s voices faded into nothing when I turned intangible and floated through the wall.


    It felt cold, but it always felt cold when I phased out. It felt colder the deeper into what Grandpa called ¡°phase state¡± I got. It wasn¡¯t an uncomfortable cold, more of a pleasant coolness. When I was out of phase, it felt natural.


    At the same time, color drained out of the world around me. Sure, that might have been explained by going through a wall, but not really. Now everywhere around me looked like a lightly tinted black and white film.


    Well, except for me. I was completely in color¡ªblue jeans, black top, and my black ¡°purse¡± looked exactly like they did normally.


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    In a second I¡¯d floated through the wall, and hung above the grassy area outside the restaurant. The benches, and the river lay below me. All I had to do was find Julie¡ª


    ¡°Guest,¡± said a low voice that could almost have been a growl. Unlike the voices of the people below me, it wasn¡¯t distorted.


    I wasn¡¯t alone.


    Turning toward the voice, I began to pull up my arms as Lee had taught me, ready to attack, ready to defend¡ªeven though it would have been totally, utterly useless in this fight.


    The restaurant had two of those strange looking lion statues on either side of the entrance. One of them floated through the air toward me. It made a regular, deep rumbling noise that didn¡¯t quite sound like a growl.


    Oh God, it was laughing at me.


    ¡°Guest,¡± it said, ¡°I mean you no harm. In fact, so long as your party remains in the restaurant, I will protect you at all costs. Please relax. You should have no need to use your training.¡±


    It made a snorting noise.


    Maybe I¡¯d have been annoyed if I thought I had any chance of fighting it off.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, trying to keep my voice level. ¡°I don¡¯t want to offend you, but my friends and I were afraid that an alternate version of someone we knew might have recognized us.¡±


    It nodded slowly. ¡°You speak of the one you call ¡®Julie.¡¯ She is no longer on our grounds. If she should return, we will escort her away from the premises and warn you.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± I began to float back toward the wall I¡¯d phased through.


    ¡°Wait,¡± the lion bounded over to me, its stone legs moving as well as any live animal I¡¯d seen.


    In a low, growling voice, it said, ¡°I¡¯d like to give you some advice.¡±


    ¡°Please do,¡± I said. Because when guardian spirits ask you if you¡¯d like advice, you say yes.


    ¡°Be very careful of which room you return to. If you return to any other private room than your own, I will have to remove you.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll remember that.¡±


    ¡°Please do,¡± it said. ¡°My other word of advice is that you watch how deeply you venture into the in-between spaces. In this place, the distance between the worlds is quite thin. You might float into another.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I assure you that I¡¯ll do my best to avoid that.¡±


    ¡°Excellent.¡± The lion turned, and in an instant stood next to the entrance of the restaurant again.


    I turned back toward the room, trying to remember which section of the wall to plunge through.


    Then it flickered, and for a second I could see Travis and the others dimly.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I muttered, flew through the wall, and faded into the normal world.


    Travis started. ¡°I hate it when you do that.¡± He paused. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Pretty good,¡± I said, ¡°considering that I just got schooled by a statue.¡±

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 6

    I told them the whole story, explaining the statue and a little bit about what¡¯s like to phase out. I finished with, ¡°Julie¡¯s not here anymore. I think we¡¯ll be safe leaving after lunch.¡±


    Tara had stopped eating while I talked. When I stopped, she started, her words coming out all at once, moving her hands as she talked, ¡°So that¡¯s how they keep tabs on everybody¡ªI bet they¡¯re listening to all of us. And you wouldn¡¯t believe the stories I¡¯ve heard about people who started fights here. They completely disappeared! I wonder if they¡¯d talk to me if said hi on the way out?¡±


    Rod opened his mouth a couple times when it almost seemed like the torrent of words would stop, but said nothing, looking frustrated.


    Samita broke through before he did, taking her hand away from her chin. She¡¯d been holding it there through most of what I¡¯d said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I didn¡¯t notice. I¡¯ve been trained to notice when someone¡¯s bound a guardian spirit to an artifact.¡±


    Her brows furrowed. ¡°That might mean that they enchanted the spot to discourage enchanters from examining it, or it might mean that I¡¯m completely unfamiliar with their techniques.¡±


    Her voice trailed off as she thought about that, reminding me just a little of Nick.


    Rod didn¡¯t hesitate to jump in. ¡°The important thing is that Julie¡¯s gone. We should get out of here.¡±


    Travis shook his head. ¡°Maybe not. If she¡¯s not going to bug us as when we¡¯re here, we should stay. If she¡¯s watching for us, she¡¯ll get bored and find something else to do.¡±


    Thinking back to how many times she showed up, I said, ¡°It depends on how obsessed she is.¡±


    Travis sighed and nodded. ¡°Got it. Point made. I¡¯d say, let¡¯s stay long enough to eat, and then check outside again.¡±


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    * * *


    An hour later, we stepped into the hall. Tara had already paid the bill. We walked down the hall, Travis ducking to avoid hitting his head on the red lights hanging from the ceiling.


    I hadn¡¯t thought about how he had to do that much lately.


    Any thoughts I might have had about past dates, and how hard it had been to kiss him vanished when I noticed we weren¡¯t alone.


    People were exiting a room ahead of us in the hall¡ªand from the double doors, it appeared to have been a big room. I was surprised by how similar they looked. For a second I thought it was their uniforms.


    They all wore black uniforms, but half of them seemed to be accented with blue, and the other half with green. The material of the uniforms reminded me of the bullet resistant material most supers used in their costumes. They all almost looked like they might be related, but if they were, their relationships didn¡¯t include much trust.


    They separated into two groups as they stepped out the door, the blue group lingering on our side of the door. The green accented group gathered around the other side of the door.


    The groups stood just out of arms reach.


    Without the accents on their clothes, it would have been impossible to tell the groups apart. The men and women had blond hair, and square jaws. The men stood a little taller than six feet with muscular frames. The women were just a couple inches shorter and if not as muscular not weak looking.


    A moment later, I realized that the men didn¡¯t have similar faces, but the exact same one¡ªblocky, but handsome, the kind of face you find on pictures of knights. The women were almost the same, but not quite¡ªwider cheekbones, thicker lips, and wider eyes.


    Tara stopped when she saw them, shrinking into herself. That¡¯s when I noticed that she looked like she could be the women¡¯s younger sister. Her face wasn¡¯t quite the same, but it was close.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stop here, and let¡¯s not go out the door until they¡¯re gone,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯ll be safer.¡±


    I stepped ahead, standing in front of Tara. She didn¡¯t complain.


    After a moment the two groups started moving, walking with an easy grace and power that reminded me a little of a tiger, and lot of the way Haley and Travis moved.


    Lee had been training me to notice it. It meant they might be fast enough to hit me before I became intangible.


    By the time we stepped into the main dining room with its tables, servers, and easily more than one hundred people, Tara had recovered, and was walking next to me.


    She reached out and gave my hand a squeeze, and said, ¡°Thanks,¡± before letting go.


    Quietly, I asked, ¡°So, what was that all about?¡±

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 7

    Tara bit her lip, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about it outside.¡±


    It didn¡¯t take long to go outside. We passed the concrete lions without anything weird happening, and found ourselves standing on the grass next to the river again. Tara kept walking until we were out of earshot of any of the other people.


    Well, out of normal earshot¡ªTravis could hear every conversation on the lawn, and right then I was grateful for it.


    Tara looked both ways before she said anything. ¡°I was going to tell you about them. It¡¯s a standard part of the tour, but with me being who I am, it gets¡­ complicated.¡±


    No one said anything while she paused.


    ¡°They call themselves ¡®The True¡¯. Most people in Infinity City call them the ¡®Blues¡¯ or the ¡®Greens¡¯. It¡¯s because of their eye color. Otherwise it¡¯s almost impossible to tell the difference. They¡¯re from alternate universes far enough away from here that the politics and culture issues don¡¯t make any sense at all.


    ¡°They were designed to be soldiers and police. Sometimes they were created to protect a group. Sometimes they were created to keep society under control. Either way, they were supposed to be perfect, or at least better than most people. In some worlds, they destroyed everybody but themselves. In others, they took over. The ones in this city are refugees from worlds where their uprising failed, or the last remains of the human race on a planet they destroyed.¡±


    Rod nodded thoughtfully, but then frowned and asked, ¡°What does all that have to do with eye color?¡±


    ¡°Nothing. It only shows a difference. They¡¯re all clones, but they¡¯re a little different from one universe to another. They notice the little differences and don¡¯t trust each other. The Blues and Greens are almost the same, but they¡¯re a little different philosophically, and in¡­ eye color.¡±


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    Tara trailed off, not looking bubbly or enthusiastic. To me, she looked like one wrong word could leave her sobbing.


    She had green eyes.


    Travis put his hand on her shoulder. ¡°If it bothers you, you can talk about it later.¡±


    She shook her head, her eyes glistening around the edges, but not tearing up. ¡°No, I¡¯ll talk about it now, but thanks.¡±


    She did a decent job of faking cheerfulness. Travis took his hand away, and glanced at me, frowning. I knew he didn¡¯t believe her either.


    I¡¯d liked that about him. Even if his insight came from better than human senses, he paid attention to people.


    ¡°My mother was a Green. My father was a Blue. They ran away after Mom became pregnant with me, and we hid, moving from one version of the city to another until we got here.¡±


    She stopped talking, and took a breath. Her voice became calmer, but unnatural for her--distant and remote. ¡°The Greens caught up with us, and killed Mom, but the government took us in.¡±


    Samita muttered, ¡°That¡¯s awful.¡±


    Tara took another breath, and sounded more normal then she had. ¡°I¡¯m fine. It happened seven years ago. I¡¯m okay now.¡±


    I doubted it.


    My next question was a step back from the personal questions. ¡°If we run into them again, what are we facing?¡±


    ¡°It depends on the kind of True you¡¯re facing. Most of them are stronger, faster, and smarter than a normal person, but not all the time. It¡¯s based on a chemical trigger¡ªa little like how adrenaline works.¡±


    ¡°You too?¡± I asked.


    She nodded. Then she gave everyone a smile, and said, ¡°Does anyone else have any questions? I¡¯m supposed to have shown you more by now, and given you a little free time. We should try to catch up.¡±


    No one had questions. Tara said, ¡°Great. There¡¯s a bus stop at the end of the block. Let¡¯s start walking.¡±


    Travis and I fell into step behind everyone else. Samita was asking Tara something as they walked, and Rod walked between the two of them and the two of us.


    It felt a little strange. Travis and I hadn¡¯t spent this much time together in years¡ªnot outside of practice, or a fight.


    ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°great field trip, right?¡±


    Travis laughed. ¡°Couldn¡¯t be better.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± I smiled up at him. ¡°Are we safe?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t sense it if we aren¡¯t. No raised heartbeats. No one smells scared.¡±


    That was saying something because it felt just like any big city. People were everywhere. I counted ten people walking ahead of us on our side of the street, and four were already waiting at the bus stop.


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡± I was about to ask him how the family restaurant business was going when my phone rang.


    I pulled it out of my pocket. I had one of the League phones Nick made to pass as normal cell phones.


    I checked the caller ID. It was my mom.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 8

    Did cellphone service even make it out here? Normal cellphone service, that is. It didn¡¯t surprise me that the League¡¯s somehow did, but who knew how Nick had managed it.


    I took the call even though I was tempted to ignore it. Mom and I didn¡¯t always get along.


    ¡°Mom, I¡­ didn¡¯t expect to hear from you. It¡¯s a program weekend, so I might not be able to talk long.¡±


    ¡°Did I catch you at a bad time?¡±


    She caught me off guard with that question. It depended on your definition of bad. On the one hand, we¡¯d barely avoided meeting up with xenophobic, superpowered killers, and an alternate version of my ex-boyfriend¡¯s stalker. On the other hand, neither one was around right now.


    Not that I wanted to explain all of that to Mom. She was still recovering from the last time she got near the superpowered pieces of my life. Shooting Travis a look, I said, ¡°I can talk for a little while.¡±


    He raised an eyebrow.


    Over the phone, Mom said, ¡°It won¡¯t take long. I¡¯m sure a Stapledon weekend is demanding enough. I¡¯ve got a small question about Christmas. Will Mary be coming?¡±


    I nearly choked.


    I¡¯d dated Mary for about a month and half last spring. To say it hadn¡¯t ended well was a huge understatement. Plus, it was mostly my fault. Plus¡­ I hadn¡¯t told Mom I was dating her.


    EVER.


    I did tell Nick, and I might have thought that he¡¯d mentioned it without thinking about it, but I¡¯d never told him Mary¡¯s name.


    All at once I knew this was not my mom. This was the mom of some other Rachel, a Rachel who was comfortable enough to tell her what was going on in her life, and a version of my mom whose voice didn¡¯t sound tired, and have a little bit of an edge when she spoke to me.


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    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ve got to go. I don¡¯t know if Mary¡¯s coming. Could you call back later? Maybe thirty minutes from now?¡±


    Sounding concerned, alterna-Mom said, ¡°Is something wrong?¡±


    ¡°No, I need to go. Just call back, okay?¡±


    ¡°I will. Hopefully when you¡¯re not busy, right?¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± We said our goodbyes and hung up.


    I put my phone back into my pocket with a feeling of relief. The next time I heard it ring, I¡¯d let it go to voice mail. If I were lucky, it wouldn¡¯t ring at all, and her actual daughter would get the call.


    Travis nodded sympathetically at me. ¡°Something wrong?¡±


    I said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to pretend you didn¡¯t hear the whole conversation. I just talked to an alternate version of my mom. It was very weird.¡±


    ¡°Sorry. I wasn¡¯t trying to fool you. It¡¯s just, well, you know.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Think she¡¯ll figure it out?¡±


    ¡°Apparently the other me tells her mom everything. She probably knows if her daughter¡¯s here. I didn¡¯t even try to explain.¡±


    I found that I¡¯d only barely missed stepping on the back of the high heels of the women ahead of me. Tara, Samita, and Rod were ahead of them.


    Dammit. I¡¯d gotten distracted. At least we weren¡¯t very far behind.


    Travis kept up with me as I stepped onto the lawn of the church we were passing to get around them. ¡°And Mary¡¯s your girlfriend?¡±


    ¡°Was my girlfriend. My very, very ex-girlfriend. It wasn¡¯t working, and I broke up with her.¡±


    We made it around the women, and were only about ten feet behind the others.


    Travis smiled at me. ¡°The way you said it, I¡¯d expected you were going to say she broke up with you.¡±


    ¡°I wish. After we broke up, she wanted to talk and talk about it, and I wanted to be done. We ended up shouting at each other in the hallway of the dorm. It¡¯s the single most embarrassing thing that¡¯s happened to me in my life.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Travis gave me a slow smile.


    When we¡¯d broken up, we¡¯d started a fight at a Christmas party attended by his family, his extended family, and all his neighbors.


    ¡°Or maybe a close second,¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to be remembered,¡± he said.


    ¡°For that? I don¡¯t think so,¡± I said, but I smiled at him.


    Calmly, he said, ¡°I don¡¯t even remember why we broke up.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I can¡¯t remember exactly why either. I¡¯m sure it was something small and stupid.¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°We were in high school. You can¡¯t expect us to have things figured out.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure we don¡¯t have things figured out now.¡±


    I was going to say more, but a woman¡¯s voice rang out across the block. It said, ¡°All of you stop moving. Don¡¯t do anything until I say you can go.¡±


    Everyone stopped¡ªthe people on the sidewalks, the cyclists, and even the cars.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 9

    I didn¡¯t move. It didn¡¯t even occur to me that I could. Listening felt like the most natural thing in the world to do. How could anyone argue with that voice? You just wanted to obey it.


    I kept facing straight ahead, so I don¡¯t know where Julie came from¡ªjust that she came from behind and to the left. I didn¡¯t even know what was on that side of the street because Travis and I had been talking, and apparently neither one of us had been paying enough attention.


    She stood in front of Travis and I, looking the two of us over.


    She had changed out of the jogging suit I¡¯d seen her in while we¡¯d had lunch. Now that I wasn¡¯t trying to avoid catching her eye, I could tell she looked different than I remembered¡ªdifferent than our Julie. She still had the same basic look¡ªthin face and body, blond, and attractive, but not really beautiful. That¡¯s where the similarities ended. She seemed older. I didn¡¯t think she was much older, but her skin was drier, and she wore a blue suit with pants.


    I don¡¯t think I¡¯d ever seen our Julie look that professional. Not that she¡¯d ever looked scruffy, but I¡¯d always pegged her as someone who dressed first of all to make guys look at her. This was different.


    I¡¯d have called it progress except in combination with her calculating expression, and the way the suit was worn around the cuffs, I couldn¡¯t quite feel good about it.


    It hinted at a harder, and more desperate history.


    Plus her hair¡­ OK, and I don¡¯t like to think of myself as the kind of person who picks apart the appearance of people I don¡¯t like, but she¡¯d dyed her hair just short of white. You could tell the difference because her roots were coming in.


    The color did not work with her skin, but I couldn¡¯t tell her so. I was too busy ¡°being a good girl and listening to Mommy.¡±


    She shook her head, looking up at me, and then higher to see Travis. ¡°What are the two of you doing here?¡±


    Travis and I both started to explain simultaneously. She held up her hand and said, ¡°Stop. Don¡¯t talk until I say you can talk. I can guess anyway. You¡¯re with Tara. She¡¯s with the Stapledon program. So you¡¯ve got powers. Both of you have powers. That¡¯s interesting. You¡¯ll have to tell me everything later.¡±


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    She smirked at us. ¡°Because you will tell me everything. For now, let¡¯s get your group together again. All of you follow me. We¡¯ve got people to meet. Over here.¡±


    We walked past the bus stop and around the corner. Buildings that seemed little more than mirrored glass windows lined the street.


    Julie held up her hand, and said, ¡°Everyone stop.¡±


    We stopped.


    Traffic passed, but not much of it¡ªless than I might have expected for a four lane road downtown¡ªjust a few cars and a bus.


    Julie checked her watch, and then pulled her phone out of her purse.


    She didn¡¯t dial. Instead, she held it up to her face and said, ¡°Call Blue leader.¡±


    After a moment, she said, ¡°Hi. I¡¯ve got Tara, plus a few more.¡±


    A pause, and then she said more, this time a little louder. ¡°No, you just get Tara. You¡¯re in this for revenge, not profit, right? They¡¯re mine.¡±


    Another pause.


    ¡°Okay, okay. It¡¯s your van, and your people are involved, so you can have a cut¡ªten percent.¡±


    Julie gritted her teeth at whatever came over the phone next. ¡°No. Not thirty. Look, any time I want, I can make your people drive away, take Tara, and sell her too. I¡¯ll get more that way. Don¡¯t kid yourself.¡±


    A long pause followed. I came to myself just a little. I began to think. She hadn¡¯t told me not to phase out. If I phased out enough, maybe I¡¯d be able avoid hearing her next command.


    I was beginning to push myself to try it when Julie checked her watch again. ¡°Fuck!¡±


    She pulled the phone away from her mouth. ¡°No one move! Don¡¯t do anything I didn¡¯t tell you to do!¡±


    So I stopped.


    I¡¯d like to say that some inner part of me was screaming, that it rebelled against being ordered around by someone outside me, but it¡¯s not true. At that moment, following orders sounded like a good idea.


    I couldn¡¯t even manage to think enough to try to find loopholes, and I desperately wish I could have. The idea that someone should have that kind of power over someone else is simply wrong.


    Julie put the phone next to her mouth again. ¡°OK. Twenty percent, but no more. OK? Good. Then come pick us up.¡±


    She clicked on the phone, and put it back into her purse.


    ¡°You¡¯ll all be very happy to know that I¡¯ve made arrangements for us to leave. Before the van comes, I¡¯d like all of you to take off your CDPS¡¯s, and throw them next to the wall there. Don¡¯t throw them anywhere near me, or hard enough to go through the window.¡±


    I unstrapped it from my wrist, and threw it. It hit the window, and slid down to the concrete sidewalk. Everyone else did exactly the same.


    When a blue van slowed, and stopped next to us, one of the True stepped out. His uniform had blue accents on it.


    ¡°Step inside,¡± Julie told us.


    We did.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 10

    The ride didn¡¯t seem long, but for all I knew Julie¡¯s voice might have messed with my sense of time. She kept talking the whole time¡ªwhen she wasn¡¯t questioning us.


    She talked to Samita first. ¡°Tell me your name and what you can do that got you into the program. Be quick.¡±


    Samita and Rod sat in the seats behind the driver. Julie had put herself in the third row with Tara and told Travis and I to sit in the fourth.


    Samita cleared her throat. ¡°I¡¯m Samita Nanda. I¡¯m being trained as a wizard, and specialize in creating objects with magical powers.¡±


    Julie leaned her head back. I could only guess at her expression. ¡°You do magic? What have you got?¡±


    ¡°Got? A ring. It protects me against being hurt. They told us not to bring anything obvious.¡±


    ¡°How does it work? Like a force field?¡±


    Samita shook her head. ¡°No. It¡¯s just luck, but a very specific kind of luck.¡±


    Julie leaned forward. ¡°It isn¡¯t doing you much good now.¡±


    Samita frowned for a moment. ¡°Technically, I haven¡¯t been hurt.¡±


    Turning her head to the right toward Rod, she said, ¡°Not yet. Anyway, everyone, as I said before, don¡¯t move. Now you tell me your name and your powers.¡±


    Rod nodded. ¡°Normally people call me Rod, but I¡¯m Rodolfo¡ª¡°


    Julie laughed. ¡°Seriously, Rodolfo? Where did you get that?¡±


    Mostly hidden under his beard, Rod¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°My adopted father is a knight. He was born in the Middle Ages and rescued my mother¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on...¡± Julie sounded like she was going to start laughing again. ¡°OK. Powers. What are they?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have powers. I¡¯m half-troll. When I want to, I allow the troll side of my nature to appear.¡±


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    Julie did start laughing then. ¡°Sorry, but that¡¯s just too weird. I¡¯m trying to imagine explaining you to a buyer.¡±


    She turned around toward Travis and I. ¡°Rachel, what are your powers?¡±


    ¡°Intangibility and invisibility.¡± I managed not to go into detail. That was good. Sure, she¡¯d said to be concise, but I could have told her more. Part of me desperately wanted to.


    Then, a little more slowly than normal, she asked, ¡°What do you call yourself when you¡¯re in costume?¡±


    ¡°Ghost.¡±


    Julie held her hands over her ears, and leaned forward as if she were about to throw up. ¡°Oh God, that hurts.¡±


    She said it a couple more times, and then she sat up. Taking a breath, she said, ¡°What did you call your¡ª¡°


    She doubled over again. When she sat up, she turned toward Travis. ¡°Your powers?¡± It was as if she didn¡¯t even remember what happened.


    Travis said, ¡°Strength, heightened senses, agility, and I can regenerate a little. Plus I¡¯ve got poisoned claws when I transform.¡±


    Julie nodded, and paused. It seemed like she was about to ask him something, but then she didn¡¯t.


    Soon after that, the driver stopped the van. Julie got out of her seat, opened the side door, and said, ¡°Everybody out. Follow me. If you think you need to do something I haven¡¯t told you to do, ask me first, and don¡¯t do it unless I say you can.¡±


    I stepped out first, and found myself in front of an old building. It might have been a shop once, but it didn¡¯t have a sign any more. The windows had long since been boarded up, and by this time even the plywood covering the windows looked worn and gray.


    The rest of the building matched the gray¡ªexcept it was made of stone.


    Fast food wrappers, old newspapers, and rotting food lay next to an overturned trashcan on the sidewalk. Julie led us down the alley next to the building, and we went in the side door.


    Travis stepped inside, and as I followed, I noticed that while plywood covered the outside of the door, the inside was very thick metal.


    Julie led us into the basement. I¡¯d expected it to be old concrete, but it was all new¡ªnot exactly nice, but new.


    It wasn¡¯t a model for interior design¡ªunless you really liked wood paneling and linoleum. Except for a bucket in one of the corners, the room was empty. The linoleum had a wood grain design, and the wood paneling also looked like fake wood.


    The combination couldn¡¯t have been chosen for looks.


    Julie directed us to stand in the middle of the room. We did.


    She stood in the doorway¡ªon the first step of the stairs.


    ¡°In a little while I¡¯m going to leave you here. While I¡¯m gone, I¡¯m going to need you to understand something¡ªyou can¡¯t escape. I had this room rigged for keeping people with powers. I call it the ¡®Boom Room¡¯. If you push too hard on the walls, floor, or ceiling, it goes boom. If you try to call up energy, it goes boom. If you try to teleport out, it goes boom. If you try to float through the walls, it goes boom¡­ Do you get that? You¡¯ll kill your friends even if you survive yourself.¡±


    Then she shut the door, and turned off the lights.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 11

    We didn¡¯t even have time to start thinking for ourselves before we heard Julie¡¯s voice again. Loudly, she said, ¡°No one move!¡±


    After a series of clicks, the lights came on and the door opened.


    Julie stomped back into the room, took a breath, and glared at us as if whatever she was angry about were our fault.


    ¡°I hate clients interrupting me. When they do it again and again, I forget things. You know what I forgot? This. All of you, take off anything that might help you escape, even if it means you have to strip naked, and put it in a pile in front of me. Right there.¡±


    She pointed at a spot on the fake wooden floor.


    I¡¯d worn a version of my costume under my clothes, so I did end up stripping. So did Travis and Tara.


    I suppose it might have been more awkward if we weren¡¯t all in mind control happy land, but still, I noticed that Rod and Samita only put two rings, Samita¡¯s jacket, and their cellphones on the pile.


    Lucky them.


    Travis and I added our uniforms and League cellphones. Tara lay a white unitard there¡ªleaving her in her underwear. Her physique reminded of Cassie¡¯s¡ªher muscles weren¡¯t bulging everywhere, but they were defined. Tara was taller though.


    Naturally because Julie hadn¡¯t told us to put our clothes back on, we hadn¡¯t.


    It would be nice to think that she¡¯d forgotten, but since she was selling us I wasn¡¯t about to give her the benefit of the doubt. And I was right. She gave Travis a long look, smirked at me, and left, shutting the door behind her. It clicked a few times as she walked up the stairs, holding our costumes to her chest with one arm. She''d put on the rings, and put the phones in Samita''s jacket''s pockets.


    Well, at least we had clothes--lying on the floor in their own piles. Jerk.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± she¡¯d said as she shut the door.


    We stood there, waiting for our chance to do something just like last time, but with one difference. She¡¯d forgotten to turn off the lights.


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    After what felt like ages, I could move. I picked my shirt off the floor, and pulled it over my head. Then I went for my pants.


    Travis and Tara were doing the same.


    I buttoned my pants and pulled up my zipper. ¡°I hope we¡¯re all thinking about how to get out.¡±


    Travis grimaced. ¡°I¡¯m trying, but we could use your brother right now. He might enjoy the challenge.¡±


    ¡°No kidding. He would.¡± I frowned. ¡°Assuming we get out of this, the rest of us need to cross train. I don¡¯t know anything about disarming bombs. Do you?¡±


    Travis shook his head. ¡°No.¡±


    Samita stared at the door, and stamped her foot. ¡°I can¡¯t do anything. I know spells that might help, but all my equipment¡¯s in my jacket.¡±


    Rod walked over to the door, and knocked on it with his hand. It made a solid sounding clunk. ¡°Do you think she¡¯s bluffing? Sure, she said everything will blow up, but I mean really¡­ I can believe she¡¯d set things up to explode if someone tries to punch through, but I¡¯ve got a harder time believing she¡¯s got stuff that detects every power or something.¡±


    Travis nodded. ¡°Makes sense to me, but I¡¯m not a technical guy. I¡¯d say let¡¯s test it out, but the hard part¡¯s going to be trying the stuff that doesn¡¯t go boom before the stuff that does, right?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah¡­¡± Rod¡¯s speech trailed off, and he stood there, thinking.


    Tara looked around the room, and entered the conversation with, ¡°If it¡¯s a choice between dying here or being given to the True, I¡¯d prefer to die here.¡±


    Travis shook his head, ¡°What? Are you sure about that? I¡¯m not saying they¡¯re nice guys, but isn¡¯t that a little extreme? Even if we can¡¯t escape and they get you, you still might get away later.¡±


    Tara nearly shouted her reply. ¡°No! I¡¯ll die either way. My Mom¡¯s people killed her. The Blues will try to kill my dad. He¡¯ll come here to save me, and they¡¯ll kill me after they know he¡¯s dead.¡±


    She marched over to one of the walls. I thought for a second she might be about to punch it, but she didn¡¯t. She raised her head, and looked up toward where the wall met the ceiling.


    I didn¡¯t know what she was thinking, but I could hope. We were in the basement. Looking up might mean that she was still thinking about how to get out.


    ¡°Let¡¯s take this from another perspective,¡± Travis said, ¡°if it explodes, who¡¯s going to survive?¡±


    ¡°Me,¡± I said. ¡°Unless she¡¯s got one of those machines that stops me from phasing out.¡±


    Rod looked up from the spot of floor he¡¯d been staring at. ¡°Me too¡ªunless the explosion¡¯s really big. I can take a lot as a troll, but there¡¯s a limit.¡±


    Travis nodded. ¡°I know Rach can¡¯t take anyone along with her. Any chance you could shield the rest of us?¡±


    Rod shrugged. ¡°If I know where the blast is coming from, sure. Unless it¡¯s coming from all directions.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°maybe instead of assuming the blast will go off we should come up with a way to avoid it. If we could make earplugs, we¡¯d have the advantage.¡±


    ¡°The problem is,¡± Samita said, ¡°that she probably won¡¯t come back alone.¡±


    Rod cleared his throat. ¡°Something I just thought of. What are the chances that she¡¯d be bugging this room?¡±

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 12

    ¡°She¡¯s not,¡± Travis said.


    Rod raised an eyebrow. ¡°How do you know?¡±


    ¡°Remember when she was negotiating how much the Blue Leader¡¯s cut would be? I could hear both sides of the conversation. She¡¯s running off to meet the guy now, and then they¡¯re coming back here. The place might be bugged, but she doesn¡¯t have time to pay attention to us now.¡±


    Rod nodded.


    Travis gave everyone a confident smile. ¡°Now we¡¯ve just got to figure how we¡¯ll escape.¡±


    Tara turned away from the wall to say, ¡°But how? She took everything that might help.¡±


    Still sounding confident, Travis said, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but this is our best chance. The League¡¯s been in worse situations than this, and survived. I¡¯m sure you have too. I¡¯m sure if we keep our minds on the goal, we¡¯ll get out.¡±


    And right there, that was the football player coming out. I¡¯d heard him with his team, oh, dozens of times it seemed like while we were together, and he¡¯d sounded exactly like that.


    I¡¯d loved that about him¡ªeverything sounded possible. It wasn¡¯t always true, but believing it could only help.


    I looked over at Samita. ¡°You said you could do something if you had your equipment. What?¡±


    Samita looked up from the floor. ¡°If I had my chalk, I could put up a protective circle.¡±


    Travis nodded approvingly. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m looking for. Do you have to have chalk?¡±


    Samita didn¡¯t say anything for a second, but then said, ¡°No. I could use anything that leaves a mark.¡±


    Travis held up one hand, and watched as it turned grayish. His fingernails grew, and turned milky white.


    ¡°What about if you told me how but I drew it?¡±


    Samita shook her head. ¡°I have to. You won¡¯t be able to do it right.¡±


    Travis¡¯ expression tightened, but he only said, ¡°Are you sure about that?¡±


    Samita didn¡¯t do nearly as good a job of hiding her frustration when she said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°OK. I¡¯m not trying to push. Just trying to get us over the hump here.¡±


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    Samita didn¡¯t say anything.


    Travis looked over at me. Yeah. As if I had any ideas. Okay, I had plenty of ideas, but none of them were going to help us disarm a bomb¡ªnot to mention bombs plural. Especially if I didn¡¯t know where they were.


    I said, ¡°I feel like we¡¯re going in circles. We can¡¯t try anything because we don¡¯t know anything. We don¡¯t know anything because we don¡¯t dare try anything. I should phase out and find out what happens. The room might not blow up.¡±


    ¡°And it might,¡± Travis said, ¡°How are we going to handle that?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. If you can hear a hint of it, maybe you and Rod could jump through the walls backwards, so Samita and Tara don¡¯t get hurt?¡±


    Travis didn¡¯t say anything. Then, ¡°I was hoping for something a little less desperate.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if you noticed, but desperate is all we¡¯ve got right now.¡±


    Travis exhaled, and put his hand to his chin, sitting and thinking.


    I couldn¡¯t complain. I got it. I¡¯d just proposed something that might kill half the group¡ªnot including me, but maybe including him. You didn¡¯t do that casually. I didn¡¯t really want him to.


    I might have sat down myself then, except that I happened to put my hand in my jacket¡¯s pocket. I didn¡¯t, as it happened, find a ring of invisibility (and what a relief because that would have been completely useless).


    Instead I found something wrapped in plastic. I pulled it out. It was a fortune cookie.


    I hadn¡¯t taken any of the fortune cookies that came with the bill. I knew that because I haven¡¯t liked them since I was, I don¡¯t know, thirteen? For one thing, they¡¯re about as Chinese as I am, and for another, they¡¯re almost all sugar.


    I unwrapped it, broke the cookie open, and ate it. It was just as sugary as I remembered.


    I read the fortune. In red letters, it said, ¡°You are your own best help.¡±


    The other side informed me that my lucky number was 42.


    It was highly anti-climactic. I¡¯d half expected to find something useful in the cookie. It was possible after all, that the lion statue had slipped it into my pocket, but if that were true, he¡¯d given me the wrong cookie. I¡¯d gotten the regular cookie instead of the obliquely-insightful-if-you-looked-at-it-sideways cookie.


    I threw the fortune in the bucket in the corner of the room. None of us had used it for the intended purpose.


    Yet.


    Looking away from the bucket, I noticed the door, and I realized something.


    Julie wouldn¡¯t want to blow herself up. She¡¯d have to turn the bombs off before she came into the room. The only question was how soon.


    I crossed the room, and sat down. I pulled my jacket off, and pulled it partly over my head as if I were trying to block out the light. Then I put my fingers in my ears.


    So, maybe I should have told everybody to do the same thing, but if she had any cameras in the room, Julie would notice.


    Travis gave me a look, his expression carefully blank. He¡¯d noticed.


    It wasn¡¯t more than ten minutes before she came back, and that was good, because keeping your fingers in your ears for more than a few minutes gets old quickly.


    I¡¯d taken them out for a second when Travis said, ¡°She¡¯s opening the door in the alley.¡±


    I put them back in, creating the best seal I could.


    Not long after, Julie started saying something to all of us in the room. I don¡¯t know what. I couldn¡¯t understand it, but, that didn¡¯t stop me from feeling strangely relaxed when she spoke.


    I wondered for a second why I had my fingers in my ears, but then I remembered.


    I sat there, and I might have sat longer, still wondering when I should start to do something, but she didn¡¯t let me.


    Julie said something, and then everyone started walking toward me.


    I phased backward through the wall.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 13

    Remembering the lion¡¯s advice, I stayed as close to the reality I was in as I could. I didn¡¯t make an effort to let sound reach my ears, and so I floated through the wall in an eerie silence.


    I happened to check the other side of the wall as I floated through. The cheap, fake wood paneling turned out to be just as fake as I¡¯d guessed. Wooden beams and plywood held it up. The real, concrete basement walls were three feet further back, and between them sat machines. Maybe my brother would have been able to name each one instantly, but I couldn¡¯t.


    On the other hand, maybe Nick wouldn¡¯t have been able to recognize them either. They didn¡¯t look high end. Improvised would have been a kind word for it. Think computer desktops without the covers, and circuit boards with wires soldered on and leading from the boards across the floor and into the wood paneled walls.


    I recognized the electrical outlets at least. Every plug was filled, and each electrical cord led to a surge protector filled with a spaghetti mess of more extension cords.


    For a second, I thought about pulling them, but didn¡¯t. I knew it couldn¡¯t be that simple.


    Some of the wires from the circuit boards led into gas cans wrapped in duct tape. I tried not to think about that. For just a second when I¡¯d been leaning against the wall, I¡¯d thought I¡¯d smelled gas. I¡¯d never imagined we were surrounded by it.


    The next time I got captured by slavers, I¡¯d go higher end.


    Not wanting to waste any more time, I flew through the concrete, finding myself in the stairwell.


    I¡¯d turned invisible on the way through the wall and that was good. Julie stood at the bottom of the stairs.


    She was shouting something at the door to our holding room, but of course I didn¡¯t know what.


    A metal access panel hung open on the wall. It looked like the house¡¯s breaker box. Knowing what I¡¯d just seen in the walls, I guessed it had to be the room¡¯s makeshift control panel.


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    She moved her right hand away from the board, and that¡¯s when I moved, flying out of the stairway, and punching her in the back of her head. For a moment, it seemed like I wasn¡¯t going to hit her. She¡¯d stumbled, and her head dipped. It would have been a glancing blow, but she recovered her balance enough to move her head back where it was supposed to be. I hit solidly.


    I¡¯d only phased my hand back into reality, but that was enough. She fell forward, hitting the door, and falling to the concrete floor.


    She didn¡¯t move.


    I bent over and held my hand a couple inches from her mouth. She was still breathing. Good. I hadn¡¯t intended to kill her. On the other hand, when I considered what she was doing with her life, I think I could have lived with it.


    What did she think the Blues were going to do with Tara? Julie had to know they were going to kill her.


    How many other people had Julie sold, and who¡ªmen, women, children? At that thought, I could have kicked her, but didn¡¯t.


    I stood up, and looked through the window on the door. Travis and the rest had blank expressions on their faces. They stood, staring at the spot where I¡¯d phased into the wall.


    Julie had told them to pull my fingers out of my ears or something, but hadn¡¯t told them what do if I completely disappeared.


    On the off-chance that she¡¯d told them what to do if I reappeared, I couldn¡¯t let them out.


    Fuck. What could I have been I thinking? Not telling them what I was doing had seemed to make sense. She would have noticed if we¡¯d all put fingers in our ears. And you know she¡¯d have had a plan for that.


    Still, if I''d told everybody, maybe we could have done something better.


    Shaking my head, I decided to stop worrying about it. What¡¯s done was done.


    Finding a knife in her purse, I cut a sleeve off her shirt (she wore a long sleeve shirt under her suit coat). Then I gagged her with it. I used the other sleeve to tie her hands behind her back.


    Now I just had to wait until they came to their senses.


    A minute passed¡ªor something like that. I switched between watching if Julie had woken up to checking the expressions of everyone in the room. Nothing changed.


    There has to be some kind of cosmic law dictating that anything you watch stays the same, but the things that you lose track of will bite you in the ass before you have time to think.


    Or maybe that just happens to me.


    I was looking through the door¡¯s window when someone knocked on door at the top of the stairs¡ªthe one to the outside. Whoever it was knocked hard. ¡°What¡¯s going on in there? I thought you said this would be quick.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have time to think. I shouted back, ¡°Give me a second. I¡¯m having trouble disarming the bombs!¡±


    The voice on the other side of the door said, ¡°Damn it. Take the time you need.¡±


    Mentally congratulating myself for that one, I looked through the window, and found Travis staring back at me. In a low voice, he said, ¡°Rachel? Are you back there?¡±


    Behind him, Tara said, ¡°Please be there.¡±


    I turned visible, and said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Below me, Julie muttered, ¡°Mrff.¡±

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 14

    So, Julie was awake, and what great timing. What would happen first? Would her friends notice that it hadn¡¯t been her shouting back, or would Julie manage to take off her gag?


    It¡¯s days like that that made me want to get out of bed in the morning.


    ¡°Time to move,¡± Travis said, ¡°grab her keys, and get us out of here.¡±


    I looked down at the door. It had a key, and a dial¡ªlike on a combination lock or a safe.


    That explained all the clicks when she¡¯d opened the door.


    ¡°Not that simple,¡± I told him. ¡°I don¡¯t know the door¡¯s combination.¡±


    ¡°Combination?¡± His mouth twisted, probably in frustration. ¡°You¡¯ve got Julie, right? Make her tell you.¡±


    I looked at Julie. She didn¡¯t say anything.


    It was hard to tell through the gag, but it looked like she was smiling. Worse, all she had to do was stall. She could even pretend to cooperate. I wasn¡¯t going to remove her gag, so we¡¯d have to play twenty questions or she¡¯d have to mime it. Either way, I¡¯d bet the Blues would be coming down the stairway before she finished.


    ¡°Not that simple,¡± I said, and tried to think about what I could do. I could have asked Travis to rip the door out. It might have worked¡ªor made the room explode.


    I spied Julie¡¯s suit jacket. It had a gun in the pocket, a small one with arabic writing on the side. I¡¯d seen it when I cut her shirt sleeves off, but hadn¡¯t grabbed it because there hadn¡¯t been much of a point.


    I picked it up, ejected the magazine, and checked the barrel from the back. It had a full magazine plus one in the chamber.


    I pointed it at her. ¡°Julie, I know you¡¯re planning to stall, so let me tell you why you won¡¯t. If they come down here, I¡¯ve got your gun, and if we get into a firefight, everything¡¯s going to blow up. The gas cans won¡¯t need much to go off¡ªjust one good ricochet. So you know what you need to do? Help me with the combination. I¡¯m going to start now. Nod if I need to start with the key. Shake your head for the dial.¡±


    She didn¡¯t move at all.


    Crap. How far was I going to go? I wasn¡¯t going to threaten anything I wasn¡¯t willing to do. That left out killing no matter how much she deserved it.


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    From the stairs, a man¡¯s voice shouted, ¡°Are you close?¡±


    ¡°Working on it!¡± They weren¡¯t going to believe me for long¡ªif they still did. Except for being female and twenty-something, I didn¡¯t sound that much like Julie.


    I needed to get at this from another angle.


    Samita and Rod had both come to the door, and stood on either side of Travis. Tara stood behind them.


    ¡°What do you need to make a protective circle?¡±


    Samita¡¯s brow furrowed, and then she said, ¡°Anything I can write with.¡± Then she glared at Rod. ¡°Not pee.¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°That was a joke¡ªmostly, but ink¡¯s liquid. It could work.¡±


    Ignoring him, Sam turned back toward me. ¡°I¡¯ve got everything I need in my coat. Where did she put it?¡±


    It was my turn to shrug. ¡°Don¡¯t know, but I¡¯ve got your rings. She was wearing them.¡± I¡¯d taken them off when I¡¯d tied her hands.


    I reached through the door, and handed the rings over. I made my hand and the rings solid, feeling the touch of Samita¡¯s fingers as she scooped the rings up.


    ¡°She was wearing both of them?¡± Samita sounded shocked.


    ¡°Is that bad?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s complicated,¡± she said, ¡°but it shouldn¡¯t work.¡±


    ¡°Give me a second.¡± I turned invisible and intangible, and flew upwards.


    The first level wasn¡¯t much. The windows had been boarded up. Light came in through a couple knotholes. Plus, they hadn¡¯t covered over the very top of the window on the left for some reason. A rectangle of sunlight hit the middle of the room, showing the worn boards and the dust particles in the air. Whatever this shop had sold, they¡¯d left nothing, but bare wooden floor.


    I flew toward the back, passing the counter. Even the cash register had been pulled out.


    The back held only empty shelves.


    I was wasting time. I could have flown up into the second floor, but I doubted Julie would have taken it up there. I had no idea where though.


    I decided to get back downstairs, making a quick detour past the side door to see if my guess about who¡¯d been shouting at us was right.


    I floated through the wall, and found myself in a hallway that turned into a stairwell at the side door. That wasn¡¯t the good part though. Our stuff was sitting on the floor just to the left of the door¡ªour costumes, cellphones and Samita¡¯s red jacket.


    I materialized, and I was about to grab the stuff when the same voice from the outside that I¡¯d been hearing shouted, ¡°We¡¯re coming in!¡±


    Then I heard the sound of boards breaking. The door had been covered with plywood on the outside. On the inside though, it was metal, and it rung with the hit. It even bent a little.


    They¡¯d probably blast through in another hit.


    They needed a reason to reconsider that plan.


    I turned invisible, and intangible, and stuck my head partway out the door. Even the alley felt bright after being in the basement, but it wasn¡¯t so bright that I missed what was going on outside. Seven of the Blues stood in the alley.


    The biggest of them stood in the middle of the alley, beginning to run toward the door.


    I waited until he was within a couple steps, made myself visible (but transparent) and shouted, ¡°Merry Christmas!¡±


    His eyes widened, and he stumbled, missing the door and hitting the wall to my left. Bits of brick fell where he hit.


    Deciding they needed more of a reason to stay back, I pulled out Julie¡¯s gun, and shot the next nearest Blue soldier in the gut.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 15

    She folded like she¡¯d been punched, her hair falling into her face as she bent over.


    I hadn¡¯t killed her. I hadn¡¯t planned to either. I¡¯d thought the material looked like the kind my grandfather designed for the League, and then improved again and again over the years. With one shot, I¡¯d proved my guess right.


    Better than getting it wrong for sure, but I wasn¡¯t going to dwell on that.


    Then I flew completely out of the door, shooting toward the woman I¡¯d shot, and turning invisible.


    Not waiting to see the results, I dove back into the building, and grabbing Samita¡¯s jacket I flew down the stairs, through the door, and inside.


    Landing behind everybody (I¡¯d flown through them), and turning visible, I dropped the jacket. ¡°Sam, you said everything you needed was in here?¡±


    They turned around, all of them with slightly different looks of surprise on their faces. Well, except for Travis. He smiled a little.


    Samita recovered from her surprise quickly enough. ¡°Not everything,¡± she said, ¡°but enough for a protective circle.¡±


    ¡°Good because we¡¯ll need one. Like now. They¡¯re probably looking for me outside, but it won¡¯t be long before they break down the door¡­¡±


    ¡°And we still haven¡¯t figured out how to get out without making the room explode,¡± Travis said.


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°so Sam, assume I¡¯m going to shoot the hell out of the floor. You¡¯ll be alright, right?¡±


    Sam drew in a breath, barely moving her lips. ¡°I think so.¡±


    Travis blinked at that. ¡°I thought you said you could.¡±


    Sam shook her head. ¡°I said I knew spells that might help, and I¡¯m sure they can. I¡¯ve never tried them in a situation like this.¡±


    Rod met Travis¡¯ eyes. ¡°She gets nervous. It always works out.¡±


    ¡°Sam,¡± I waved my hand to get her attention, and got, well, everybody¡¯s¡­ ¡°Do it now, and if you can block sound separately, do it first. I might not be able to watch Julie every second.¡±


    Then I floated up a few feet. ¡°I¡¯m grabbing the rest of our stuff while I still can.¡±


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    From above came the sound of a solid thud with little bit of a metallic ring.


    They were back to knocking the door down. It wouldn¡¯t last long.


    I shot up toward the stairway, passing over Julie. She wasn¡¯t free, but she was rocking herself as she lay on her back, moving her shoulders.


    Of course she was trying to get free. I knew she would, but, it was one more thing, you know?


    I didn¡¯t grab our stuff when I reached the top. I flew out the door again¡ªcompletely invisibly that time.


    I came out a little above everybody¡¯s heads. The Blues stood next to the door¡ªwhich had seen better days. Only a few scraps of it¡¯s plywood disguise hung on around the edges. The dent in the upper half of the door had to be four inches deep. It wasn¡¯t going to take long.


    ¡°¡ªone more hit,¡± the big guy was saying to the rest of them. ¡°I guarantee it.¡±


    Did I have any way to delay them some more? Ideally one where I didn¡¯t need to stay to keep it going? Something clever.


    Unfortunately clever wasn¡¯t coming.


    I flew over to the front of the building¡ªwhere we¡¯d turned into the alley¡ªand started shouting, ¡°Greens, they¡¯re over here!¡±


    It was almost clever, but not very.


    They all turned in the same near instantaneous, fluid motion. By the end of the turn, they all had guns in their hands, and they were all firing.


    Bullets flew through where I floated, all of them accurate enough not to hit the building I floated next to. They¡¯d guessed my location from my voice which meant they either had hearing like Travis, or hadn¡¯t Tara said something about a kind of temporary special intelligence in combat situations?


    Whatever it was, two of them came down the alley toward me, one of them looking up, the other ahead. They¡¯d barely exchanged a word with the others.


    Not wanting to find out if they had a clever idea, I dove back into the building, swooping back inside to grab the costumes and cellphones. I put my cell back into my pocket where it belonged, but I didn¡¯t have time to put on my costume. I carried them all down the stairs.


    I flew over Julie. She was still tied up.


    She screamed gibberish at me through her gag. I¡¯d learned something useful from Lee. Ok, I¡¯d learned a lot of useful things from Lee, but I hadn¡¯t expected to remember anything he¡¯d told me about tying knots.


    Ignoring her, I phased each piece of clothing individually through the door. Together they¡¯d been heavy enough that I¡¯d had to leave them in the real world while I carried them.


    As I passed the last piece through, the door upstairs crashed open.


    I phased through the door, watching as Travis ran for the circle. With two long strides, he stood inside it with everyone else.


    The moment he was inside, Samita drew a final symbol in black permanent marker. I¡¯d have asked her about that, but she said a word, and a shimmering blue-white light shot up at the edge of the circle.


    The sound of heavy footsteps came from the stairs, and soon one of the Blues were looking through the window at me.


    I phased out enough that I couldn¡¯t hear anything. That might have been for the best because the guy at the window started talking. It was anybody¡¯s guess what he said.


    I pulled out my gun, and pointed it at the wall. ¡°This is your last chance. Leave now, or I shoot one of the gas cans, and you go boom. We¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    In the back of my mind, I wondered if gas cans really exploded when they got shot. If they didn¡¯t this was about to get even more complicated.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 16

    I gave them a few moments, and that was a mistake.


    Remember how I¡¯d protected myself by phasing out enough not to hear? It¡¯s great for avoiding control by super-powered slavers, but not so good for hearing what¡¯s going on.


    My fear was that they¡¯d take Julie¡¯s gag out, and she¡¯d start telling me what to do. What I didn¡¯t think of was that they¡¯d take her gag off, and she¡¯d immediately tell them how to turn off the bombs and open the door.


    I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s what happened, but as I was about to start my final countdown, the door opened, and the Blues walked in with Julie.


    She stood with them, trying to order everyone inside the circle to do something.


    Not that I had any idea what.


    I faded out of visibility and flew over toward the circle, becoming visible, but not tangible in a spot directly in between the circle, and the door.


    ¡°This is your last chance,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m going to blow this place up whether you leave or not. One¡­¡±


    The Blues looked at each other. Julie said something.


    ¡°Two¡­¡±


    Julie shouted a command, her face reddening as she screamed.


    ¡°Three.¡±


    I started floating toward the wall. I didn¡¯t move my body at all. I held myself as if standing, and willed myself forward, looking unnatural as I flew. Or so I hoped.


    You¡¯ve got to pay attention to these things. That¡¯s one of the things Nick doesn¡¯t notice. He thinks a fight is just a fight. He misses that any time you¡¯ve got an audience, it¡¯s a performance.


    If it had been a play, my part would have been named ¡°Your Inevitable Death,¡± and if I played it well enough nobody would have to die.


    I kept my expression calm and focused on the wall, Julie¡¯s gun ready in my hand, and it worked. They bought it.


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    Julie started running for the stairway as one of the Blues tried to attack me. He struck at me, his hands a blur of blows that would have killed me if I¡¯d been solid.


    A year ago, I might have freaked out. After a nearly a year of working with Lee, I stayed calm, and stayed intangible.


    Well, mostly calm. I held on by taking deep breaths, but not obvious breaths, okay?


    In a moment, the flurry of strikes ended. The man stepped back, and all at once, the Blues ran for the stairway too.


    I continued on through the wall into the domain of jury-rigged computers, gas cans, and concrete. I was alone, giving me time to think. Did I really want to blow up the building and risk killing people?


    I took a breath, reminded myself that they were slavers, and that the Blues would kill Tara and her father the first chance they got.


    That was enough. I could go through with it.


    Once through I had a new question to ask myself. What can should I shoot first? The basement had an embarrassment of riches in that department¡ªprovided you redefined riches to mean gas cans.


    I chose the nearest, pulled the gun out, and fired, steeling myself for the blast.


    Which didn¡¯t come. The gunshot ripped a hole in the side of the can, and knocked it over. Gas spilled on the floor.


    I tried to think of a good way to light the gasoline. I didn¡¯t have matches or a lighter. I¡¯d quit smoking years ago¡ªafter Grandma was diagnosed with lung cancer.


    Could the flash from the gun¡¯s muzzle do it? I doubted it. I didn¡¯t see anything metal that I felt comfortable wacking against the concrete in the hope I might get sparks. Besides, to create sparks that way, enough of me would have to be phased in to hold the metal.


    Annoyingly, my grenades were on my utility belt, and my belt was back at the Stapledon program¡¯s underground base. Mentally I cursed the stupid requirement that caused me to leave it, my costume, and my own weapons at home.


    Avoiding trouble because you didn¡¯t look like you were looking for trouble made some sense, but if you found it anyway, you were so screwed.


    I flew back through the wall. No one, but our people were in the basement. Good, but we probably didn¡¯t have long before they came back down.


    Then I looked at the bluish-white glow around the circle, and wondered how the hell I was going to explain all this since Samita had obviously blocked sound.


    As I landed next to the circle, Sam stepped forward, breaking the circle.


    ¡°I shot one of the cans, but it didn¡¯t explode.¡±


    Sam wrinkled her nose. ¡°That¡¯s why it smells like gas.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. We¡¯d better get out of here¡ªlike now,¡± I said. ¡°They won¡¯t be running right back in here, but if it doesn¡¯t blow up soon, they¡¯ll be back.¡±


    Tara stepped out with Travis and Rod. ¡°We¡¯ve got fifty-three seconds before they come back in.¡±


    I looked at her. ¡°What? How do you know?¡±


    Tara shook her head. ¡°Forty-nine seconds.¡± Pointing to one of the corners, she said, ¡°Travis, if you take out the beams right there, we¡¯ll be able to exit out the side door of the back room. They won¡¯t see us because they¡¯ve moved to get away from the blast.¡±


    When Travis didn¡¯t instantly move, she said, ¡°Thirty-eight seconds. Go!¡±


    He went, changing from a big guy who was muscled like a football player to an even bigger guy with fangs, and clawed hands and feet.


    Stepping next to Samita I asked, "Who gave Tara the brain transplant?"

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 17

    Samita didn¡¯t say anything, and honestly, I had been kind of rude. Not that Tara seemed to hear.


    She waved us forward, following Travis toward the corner¡ªthough not too closely. She didn¡¯t have a death wish. Travis had already reached out, stuck his claws into one of the wooden beams that held up the floor above us and ripped it down.


    He didn¡¯t even act as if there were any resistance. In one moment, the beam was holding up the floor. In the next, it was in two pieces, both of them dangling from the ceiling. In the moment after that, Travis ripped a hole in the floor large enough for any of us to crawl through.


    Tara turned toward us, and said, ¡°Quickly, now. Samita and Rod, please climb through. Travis help them up. I¡¯ll go last.¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything, but it wasn¡¯t as if I needed help. I turned intangible, and floated up through the ceiling. I was still carrying my costume¡ªnot my regular one, but what Nick called a ¡°stealth suit,¡± the version that could fit under my clothes. So far as I could tell, Travis and Tara weren¡¯t carrying theirs. They must have changed while they were in the circle.


    The bluish glow must have given them some kind of privacy.


    I turned completely invisible as I passed through the wall, coming out in an alley, but not much of an alley. The door where we¡¯d come in with Julie opened into an alley wide enough for a small car. The alley on this side looked like it would barely allow the door to swing open.


    As I hung in midair, the side door did open, and I was wrong. It hit the wall of the building next to it, a brown, brick building with barred windows. Samita stepped out, followed by Rod, and then Travis and Tara.


    I floated over to them, and turned visible.


    Tara didn¡¯t wait, ¡°Quickly, this way!¡± She led us into the alley that ran in between the back entrances of two rows of buildings. She led us down the alley. All the buildings we passed had wooden loading docks, and stairs in the back. I¡¯m sure I saw a wagon wheel behind one of them.


    I didn¡¯t have time to really look at it because Tara shouted, ¡°Over here!¡± Then she ran between two buildings out of the alley.


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    I followed her. We all followed her.


    We came out into the street. On one side (our side), all the buildings still looked like they¡¯d been abandoned sometime in the late 1800¡¯s, but on the other side of the street, all the buildings looked like they¡¯d been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Well, maybe not Frank Lloyd Wright himself, but maybe a less imaginative, and slightly insane student? They looked as though someone had liked the Guggenheim Museum, and designed variations on it all the way down the block.


    All the buildings were white. Some were shaped like cylinders that bulged outward at the second floor. Others were bulging rectangles or squares, some of them with balconies, and windows that jutted out above the street or even other buildings.


    I wanted to point out what it was to somebody, but I didn¡¯t get the chance because of, well, you know, survival.


    Breathlessly Tara looked up and down the street and said, ¡°They¡¯ll have discovered we¡¯re not there by now, and they might be getting a little desperate.¡±


    ¡°Desperate, how?¡± I asked, because that didn¡¯t sound good at all.


    Tara checked the alley we¡¯d just stepped out of. Aside from a dumpster (and probably rats), it was empty.


    ¡°Desperate enough,¡± Tara said, ¡°to call for help. The True don¡¯t like each other, but they hate  crossbreeding between their groups even more.¡±


    She took a breath. ¡°I¡±m so sorry I got you into this, but they didn¡¯t used to come this far.¡± She took another breath. ¡°Anyway, Rachel, you and Travis have team communicators, right?¡±


    I didn¡¯t have time to say yes before she continued.


    ¡°Get into the air, and tell Travis if you see more of them coming. Meanwhile, we¡¯ll try to lose them, and I¡¯ll see if I recognize where we are. Julie can¡¯t have taken us far. We have to be close to your reality. It¡¯s just a matter of finding landmarks.¡±


    I did take to the air, flying above the architectural nightmare below, searching the streets and alleys for people running, or cars full of identical soldiers.


    It was still early in the afternoon. I could feel the sun, and a light breeze. It felt like a good day, or like it should have been one¡ªif we weren¡¯t hiding from fanatics in an unknown alternate universe. At that thought, I felt a brief, but visceral fear, because we weren¡¯t just running, we could already have lost our home universe forever. Sure, Tara might think she could find her way, but I knew people got lost permanently.


    Ask Dixie Superman about that sometime¡ªassuming the guy wasn¡¯t dead.


    I pulled out my phone to make a test call. Travis and the others were walking between two of the white buildings toward the next block over.


    I tapped my phone¡¯s screen. It said, ¡°Infinity City Cross-Dimensional Network. Connect?¡±


    I hesitated, but clicked on the connect button. It opened to our home screen which looked normal¡ªexcept that at the top it said, ¡°-0.27 Realities.¡± Weirder, on the ¡°Team Members¡± list it showed Travis and myself, but also:


    ¡Þ Ghostgirl


    ¡Þ The Rocket

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 18

    I stared at the phone¡¯s screen, trying to remember what Nick had told me about his design. He¡¯d put the phones together last spring when we¡¯d been facing the remnants of the Cabal. After a moment, I remembered everything.


    Nick had used the the Defenders teams¡¯ communication protocols for our communicators. They were based on protocols Grandpa designed, and they¡¯d become a standard. It wasn¡¯t much of a jump to guess that he¡¯d designed them to work here too¡ªespecially when I remembered that Dixie Superman got lost and came through Infinity City to our world. Grandpa successfully visited Dixie Superman¡¯s reality once, and he would have needed a way to get back.


    I could easily see Nick throwing in a way to detect which reality we were in if he had access to Grandpa¡¯s plans.


    This was the best news I¡¯d had in hours, and I might have screamed in relief¡ªexcept I didn¡¯t¡ªand that was good, because as I floated there, another name appeared on the team list:


    ¡Þ Red Lightning


    And that put a whole new spin on everything¡ªwhat with Red Lightning having betrayed the original Heroes League, and being, well, dead.


    In our universe, at least.


    Not that it had to be a Red Lightning like ours. There had to be some universe where that name wasn¡¯t stained, allowing Vaughn to take on his grandfather¡¯s identity. I might just be seeing alternates of Nick, Vaughn, and me. If I was lucky, they might all be Stapledon students. If I was unlucky, they might be from a universe where the whole Heroes League joined in on Red Lightning¡¯s plans instead of fighting them.


    I called Travis.


    He didn¡¯t pick up instantly. It took at least five rings, and while I waited, I looked down toward the building we¡¯d escaped from. All six of the Blues plus Julie were walking down the alley we¡¯d used. Ahead of them, a small, silvery ball floated, steadily moving forward.


    It stopped at the spot where I floated away from the rest of the group, but after a moment, it started moving again.


    That¡¯s the moment when Travis picked up the phone, and he didn¡¯t start with ¡°hello.¡± He said, ¡°Did you see who¡¯s on the team list?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and that¡¯s the least of our problems. Julie and the Blues are tracking you. They¡¯ve got some kind of device, and they¡¯re less than a block away now.¡±


    Travis muttered something, possibly to Tara, and said, ¡°Does crossing the street and going through to another block look good to you?¡±


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    They¡¯d crossed through to another block since I¡¯d taken to the air. This one looked like it was out of the 50¡¯s¡ªneon signs everywhere, but since it was day, none of them were on. At the end of the street, two golden arches stuck out of a flat roofed building that had the word, ¡°McDonald¡¯s¡± on it.


    Meanwhile, none of the cars or people looked like they were from the 1950¡¯s. They looked as modern as anybody I¡¯d seen.


    I took a second look at the cars when I noticed men and women in black costumes riding in the back of a green pickup truck, and turning down the street. A group of True on motorcycles rode down the next block over.


    ¡°No, there¡¯s a bunch of them coming down the street toward you, and there¡¯s more on the street past that. Can you hide?¡±


    Travis didn¡¯t reply at first. Then he said, ¡°We¡¯ll try.¡±


    ¡°Good luck. I¡¯m going to slow Julie down.¡±


    I dove toward them, pulling out Julie¡¯s gun. When I got close, I moved the gun partially inside the floating ball and pulled the trigger. For an instant when I put the gun inside it, it seemed to move left, as if it were trying to get away. If it was, it didn¡¯t move quickly enough.


    The bullet phased into normal reality inside the ball, destroying it in an explosion and shower of sparks. It fell to the ground.


    I flew away, not hearing their response because I¡¯d already phased out enough that I couldn¡¯t hear anything.


    That might have been a mistake¡ªnot because I couldn¡¯t hear Julie. That had been a great idea, but what was not so great? I couldn¡¯t hear anything. I might as well have been in space.


    I flew back towards our people, shooting through a barbershop in one of the white, psuedo-Guggenheim buildings, and coming out of a laundromat on the other side. A flat roofed building with a wide parking lot, it had a big rocket-shaped sign on the top. Outlined in neon, the sign showed the words ¡°Rocket Laundry.¡± It spun slowly around, and if it had been night, neon flames would have been shooting out of the rocket¡¯s bottom end.


    It didn¡¯t show any sign of a connection with Grandpa, but still, it was weird.


    At another time, I might have taken a few pictures, or even gone inside to ask the owner some questions. It was a beautiful example of Americana.


    I didn¡¯t, and here¡¯s why. In the time I¡¯d been gone, things had gotten much worse. Hiding hadn¡¯t worked out at all.


    How did I know? Mostly from how Rod had turned troll, sprouting up to at least the second story with grayish skin and a potbelly, but muscles all over. Oh, and one other thing¡ªpossibly the stupidest expression I¡¯d ever seen on a nearly human face.


    With one spiked boot (made from the hide of an entire cow?), he crushed the pickup¡¯s engine compartment. The wheels fell off, one of them flipping over three times before coming to rest on the sidewalk.


    None of the Blues were hurt. Rod was fast, much faster that I¡¯d expected something as large as he was to move, but not fast enough to hit them. They ran away from the truck, separating enough that he couldn¡¯t reach to grab more than one of them at once, and pulling out their guns.


    The bullets didn¡¯t do much to him, but he didn¡¯t jump forward. He continued to stand in front of the TV repair shop next to the laundromat.


    Guessing that he had to be waiting for some sign from Tara, I decided to check what we were facing.


    It didn¡¯t look good.


    From the left, the Blues on motorcycles roared toward us. Two vans rounded the corner to my right, and stopped. Men and women jumped out. I couldn¡¯t know for sure, but some appeared to be wearing green accented uniforms.


    I touched my finger to my phone, and pressed ¡°red alert.¡±


    If they turned out to be evil, alternate versions of our team, I could live with it as long as they helped us during the fight.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 19

    I pulled my finger away from the screen, and the button changed from ¡°Red Alert¡± to ¡°Alert Sent.¡±


    I was just about to call Travis to ask what Tara wanted me to do when the situation changed again. In the moments between noticing the Blues with the motorcycles and the Greens jumping out of their vans, and sending the red, the Blues had jumped off their bikes to join their fellow Blues in firing shots at Rod. At the same time, the Greens had taken a position off to the side, and they weren¡¯t carrying handguns like the Blues. They had automatic rifles¡ªspecifically AK-47¡¯s.


    One of them had a grenade launcher.


    I didn¡¯t know how much trolls could take, but Rod couldn¡¯t stand there forever.


    As I came to that conclusion, one of the Blues stood up, waved his arms and all the True stopped firing.


    He started talking, and taking the chance that Julie wasn¡¯t in range, I listened in.


    Just like all the other True, the speaker was blond, muscled, and wore a black uniform. Unlike the others, he seemed to be in his fifties¡ªunless their aging process had been modified along with everything else. All I could know for sure was that he had a few more wrinkles, grayer hair, and that the blue bar on his chest showed three thin lines underneath it¡ªa mark of rank?


    He clicked something on his collar, and his voice could be heard everywhere.


    ¡°Tara, tell your students to stand down. We don¡¯t have any quarrel with them. If you surrender, we¡¯ll let them go. We give you our word.¡±


    A deep voice, the kind of voice you imagined the Earth might have if it spoke, a voice that brought to mind avalanches and earthquakes, said, ¡°Bullshit.¡±


    Gobs of spittle the size of softballs flew from Rod¡¯s mouth, one of them hitting a Blue in the face, and dripping down his chest. The Blue stood there--too shocked, I¡¯d bet, to know what to do next.


    I couldn¡¯t guess what kind of training they did, but I doubted he had any more experience facing troll spit than I did¡ªwhich made it the best thing that had happened so far that day.


    The leader caught what had happened out of the corner of his eye, and frowned, but didn¡¯t stop. ¡°Don¡¯t think we can¡¯t kill them if you hide behind them, Tara. I know you¡¯re not truly one of us, but I¡¯d like to think that you¡¯ll face us as we¡¯d face you¡ªwith honor.¡±


    Tara didn¡¯t say anything.


    Good. At least Tara wasn¡¯t doing the heroic, ¡°Give myself up to save these people even though I know you¡¯ll kill me anyway¡± thing. Whatever she was going to do, I hoped she¡¯d do it soon, because with all the noise Rod and the Blues¡¯ leader was making, Julie wouldn¡¯t need a tracking device to find us.


    Worse, if she showed up, I wouldn¡¯t have much choice about killing her.


    If she spoke, she could take over anyone but me. The only way to be sure she couldn¡¯t would be to shoot her. Short of that, I might hit her in the back of the head, but a solid hit there could kill her too.


    My phone vibrated. I looked down, discovering I had a text message from Travis.


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    ¡°When Rod attacks, we all do.¡±


    I hoped everyone else had more details than I did.


    I would have texted back for more except that I¡¯d noticed that Travis had crossed the street somehow, and stood on top of the building across the street¡ªa movie theater. ¡°The Majestic¡± advertised a double bill of ¡°The Bridge on the River Kwai¡± and ¡°The Seventh Seal.¡±


    He put his phone back into his pocket, and I followed his example. He expected Rod to attack soon.


    Rod did.


    I¡¯d barely managed to stuff the phone inside when I heard Tara shout, and Rod jumped forward.


    The True were fast, but only fast enough to avoid being squashed when Rod jumped into the middle of them, cracking the road. Bits of asphalt were thrown into the air as he hit.


    A few pieces shattered lightbulbs on the theater¡¯s sign.


    Rod jumped toward the Greens and their vans. The Greens did better than the Blues had, firing at him even as they jumped out of the way. The guy with the grenade launcher fired off a shot, and it hit Rod directly in the middle of his chest, exploding.


    Any questions I had about Rod being able to take a grenade were answered then. It blew a hole into the middle of his brown, coarsely woven shirt, and left a blackened mark on his skin.


    He lost it, absolutely totally lost it, but not in the way that would have made the True happy. He crushed one van by jumping on it with both feet. He picked up the other and threw it down the block.


    I don¡¯t know where it hit, but I heard a thud, the screech of tearing metal, and the cracking of glass.


    The True were amazing though. When they dodged Rod, it was like they¡¯d planned it. They moved in sync, staying out of his reach, and forming loose rows. The Greens with rifles went for the back, the Blues with handguns in front¡ªexcept for a few that gathered in front of the TV repair shop next to ¡°Rocket Laundry.¡±


    It didn¡¯t do them as much good as they must have thought it would.


    Tara jumped out the second story window, diving toward the flagpole that hung from the wall. It broke as she used it to redirect her fall, but she landed on her feet, catching the pole on its first bounce, and using it like a staff to hit one, then two of the Blues next to the door.


    Samita jumped out of the window after her, but unlike Tara, she didn¡¯t do any acrobatics. She just fell.


    Not thinking about it, I dove toward her. I don¡¯t know what I thought I could do. I couldn¡¯t fly when I was solid, and I couldn¡¯t catch anybody when I wasn''t solid.


    So Samita fell, but a funny thing happened on the way to the sidewalk. She happened to hit a ledge with one of her feet, pitching her forward so she landed on not one, but two Blues. The first one fell into the second, and both of them were knocked backward, hitting their heads on the road, leaving them unconscious.


    Samita picked herself up off the two of them, and from the wideness of her eyes, and the shocked expression on her face, it was obvious she hadn¡¯t planned that at all. She took a quick look back as she ran away, following Tara.


    Tara by the way, was doing a great imitation of Captain America. The True might have been genetically engineered clone soldiers, but whatever Tara got from mixing two groups worked better than either one alone.


    She dodged blows, disarmed gunmen, broke legs, arms, and anything that got in her way.


    Travis meanwhile had long since gotten off the roof. At least six of the True lay sleeping on the street, all of them scratched.


    Tara shouted, ¡°This way!¡± She pointed toward the alley next to the theater.


    Rod changed back from troll to human, jumping over the bodies of the Blues Travis took out. Travis ran with him, stopping at the entrance to the alley to wait. ¡°Rachel? You out there?¡±


    Samita ran after them, and I flew next to her, completely invisible, and phasing out enough that I couldn¡¯t hear. Julie had to be close.


    Despite what we¡¯d done to them, the True weren¡¯t completely down. A Green pulled out his rifle and as Samita neared the alley, he pointed it at her.


    Before he pulled the trigger, an anvil hit him in the head.


    It fell out of the sky just like it might have in Bugs Bunny cartoon, but different¡ªvery bloody when it hit. I¡¯m not going to say more than that, but whatever spirit she¡¯d bound to her ring had a sick sense of humor.


    The True stared too. They still outnumbered us at least ten to one, but that? That was pretty far out from any risks that could be rationally calculated.


    That would have been the time to go¡ªwhen the True were completely demoralized. Unfortunately, we didn¡¯t.


    Julie and six more True ran around the corner of the laundromat. Julie started shouting. I didn¡¯t know what she was shouting, but I knew what I had to do. Did I have the nerve?

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 20

    I had to shut her up long enough for us to escape even if it meant shutting her up permanently. As much as I hated everything she wanted to do to us, I still didn¡¯t want to kill her.


    I flew across the street, passing the True, sometimes flying through them. They weren¡¯t moving.


    I looked back¡ªno one was moving. Looking forward I found one exception¡ªJulie. Even the True running with her had stopped.


    I thought about that. She¡¯d been hired to catch Tara, but maybe she didn¡¯t get paid if the Blues caught her themselves?


    Julie ran across the laundromat¡¯s parking lot, still shouting. I couldn¡¯t hear her, but from her lips, it looked like, ¡°Don¡¯t move! Don¡¯t move! No one move!¡±


    Then she smiled.


    I remembered that smile. I¡¯d hated it. It had seemed so smug when Travis and I were dating. Julie had been only one of who knew how many high school girls who wanted him. They¡¯d show up every single game, some of them during practices. Travis and I dated from the end of summer through the entire football season, and up to Christmas of that year. They never left him alone.


    Julie came to all the home games, and she didn¡¯t even go to Travis¡¯s school. She went to mine.


    I don¡¯t have any reason to think Travis ever cheated on me, but a lot of girls desperately wanted him to. By the time we fought at his family Christmas party, I was so sick of it all that I actually felt relieved.


    Seeing her face brought it back. That¡¯s how she¡¯d smiled when I¡¯d seen her at school afterward.


    It made the thought of shooting her easier. I gripped the gun as I closed with her, catching up with her at the spot where the sidewalk met the parking lot.


    She stopped next to an old, blue pickup truck, checking (I guessed), to make sure that everybody was still stopped.


    I didn¡¯t shoot her.


    It would be nice to think it was because I knew better. She wasn¡¯t the Julie from my world, and shooting her because somehow I was still angry about that wouldn¡¯t have been right.


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    That wasn¡¯t all of it. I also knew that if I killed her right there and right then, we had a problem. Travis, Tara, Rod and Samita were only feet away from the nearest of the True. If I shot her, I¡¯d have to wait until they all came out of it to move them. If the True started moving first, it was all over.


    I swung around her, flying through a rusty, white VW bug, and back across the street.


    Julie didn¡¯t take long to arrive.


    She shouted something at the True, but I couldn¡¯t tell what. Whatever it was, they didn¡¯t move. Then she glanced toward where the Blues leader stood.


    I decided not to find out if she was planning to reopen negotiations.


    I let the pistol fade into visibility first, and I let my arms and body follow, becoming just visible enough to see. That would keep her focus on the gun.


    She gasped, and shouted at me. I recognized the word Rachel on her lips.


    I pushed the gun into her face¡ªliterally just a little into her nose. She tried to back away, but she couldn¡¯t. We were in between the Majestic theater and a store that sold¡­ something. I¡¯d completely missed it. Anyway, the space between them couldn¡¯t have been more than five feet wide.


    She backed into Tara. Tara couldn¡¯t move, but she still stood taller than I did, and Julie couldn¡¯t move her.


    Jerking her head around in a panicky motion that never settled on any direction, she started to say something.


    I punched her in the solar plexus with my left arm, and backed away while she gasped for breath. Holding the gun in both hands, I stepped closer again, saying, ¡°Let us go, or I swear, I will hurt you.¡±


    Julie stared at the gun, then past it toward me, and through me to the street.


    She started to shout. I don¡¯t know if she guessed I wouldn¡¯t shoot her with Tara right behind her, or if she just screamed without thinking.


    Either way, I didn¡¯t hesitate. I brought down the butt of the pistol on her head. She stumbled against Tara, but neither of them fell over.


    I had to hit her three times before she went down, lying at Tara¡¯s feet. Blood mingled with her blond hair, and dripped down her face to the ground.


    Then I heard footsteps. Thinking only about how much of a mess this all had become, I turned around, finding that the True were coming¡ªall of them.


    They pointed their guns at us, never asking for our surrender. Julie could only have told them to kill us all.


    Hoping she¡¯d sent them after me, I decided to fly into the True¡ªvisibly. I couldn¡¯t stop them from firing, but maybe I could buy enough time for Travis and everyone to snap back to reality.


    One of them raised an automatic rifle, readying to fill the space with bullets, hitting everyone but me. He didn¡¯t seem to care that I was flying above his line of fire.


    I flew toward him as fast as I could, knowing that if I didn¡¯t everyone could die.


    I didn¡¯t make it.


    Lightning flashed, and not the bluish-white lightning I¡¯d seen so often. This lightning had a reddish tinge.


    The True jerked and fell to the ground¡ªso far as I could tell. The lightning was too bright and too close. I could only guess, piecing together what I could between the flashes and the afterimages.


    Time would tell if this were really good luck.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 21

    Not that we had time, and to judge from how they handled the True, if they were anything but decent, we were so screwed.


    I¡¯d never seen Vaughn target more than one person at a time with lightning. He¡¯d told me that he didn¡¯t think he had enough control to do it without straight out killing people. Whoever the person behind the lightning I¡¯d just seen was, he¡¯d taken out everybody near the entrance to the alley all at once.


    Glancing upward identified him instantly¡ªthe red costume with a lightning bolt under an arch with Egyptian hieroglyphics on the chest? That was Red Lightning¡¯s costume. I¡¯d always thought the lightning, plus the arch, plus the hieroglyphics was a little busy, but I¡¯d never gotten to complain to Red Lightning himself about the questionable logo design due to him being dead.


    It appeared that I might get the chance now. This wasn¡¯t Vaughn. This wasn¡¯t Vaughn¡¯s cousin Lucas, or his Uncle Russ, Lucas¡¯s father. It was Giles Hardwick, the original Red Lightning.


    The one that went bugfuck nuts.


    OK, I couldn¡¯t tell that absolutely, positively, for sure. I¡¯d never seen the guy in real life¡ªonly in old pictures of the League, and Grandpa Vander Sloot¡¯s personal pictures. Giles had been Grandpa¡¯s oldest friend until he¡¯d started raising legions of drug-addicted superpowered criminals to attack the League, and take over the world.


    But anyway, back to the question of was it really, really the crazy Red Lightning? That was my bet. Why? First, this guy wasn¡¯t wearing a mask, and his face looked like Giles Hardwick except that he appeared to be in his sixties while our Giles Hardwick had died in his forties. He had Giles¡¯ thin nose, round face and wide cheeks.


    The True, mostly the Greens with rifles, started firing at him, and bullets bounced when they hit. Now, it wasn¡¯t like Superman in the comics where bullets basically mean nothing, but it was a little like that. Red Lightning held up his arm to shield his eyes, but he didn¡¯t try to dodge.


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    At the same time he pulled up his arm, the Rocket appeared, and yes, it was definitely Grandpa. All the same, I knew the suit more by the ¡°R¡± logo than by the suit itself. It was gold, and it did have a rocket pack on the back, but it didn¡¯t look like any Rocket suit Grandpa ever wore. It looked a lot more like one Nick designed as a joke.


    He¡¯d tried to make it like an Apple product¡ªrounded corners, and a glossy finish instead of the more practical dull finish Grandpa used. Nick had even designed the helmet so it showed the lower half of the user¡¯s face¡ªmore like Batman than any version of the Rocket.


    Even in play on the computer though, Nick had been practical enough to use transparent metal instead of leaving his face uncovered, and so had this guy.


    This guy. This Rocket. This version of Joe Vander Sloot. This Grandpa.


    He wasn¡¯t big on the secret identity thing though, because the lower half of his face left no doubts. It was Grandpa from the 1980¡¯s, but not the 80¡¯s Rocket suit.


    It had all the standard Rocket equipment though¡ªsonics, for sure.


    The Rocket aimed his arms at the True, and they held their hands over their ears or simply ran in one direction or another, mostly aiming for alley ways so they could get out of the direct blast.


    They didn¡¯t make it. The Rocket opened up on them with flying roachbots, and not the roachbot bugs that Grandpa invented on his own, but the roachbot missiles Nick modified them into. They exploded into grey strands, wrapping themselves around the target, and making it impossible for them to move.


    He wasn¡¯t alone either.


    Floating in the air near him was me. She had the same costume as I did normally¡ªan all white costume with a white mask. Plus my guns. Plus a gun Nick was making for me. I¡¯d seen it in the lab before I¡¯d left for Stapledon.


    That¡¯s what was in her hands.


    She fired, and her ¡°bullets¡± exploded into to grey strands just like the Rocket¡¯s.


    Soon the True that weren¡¯t dead were lying on the ground, wrapped in grey. Ghostgirl and the Rocket even hit the unconscious ones with goo.


    And if you¡¯re still thinking, ¡°Wait a minute, dead?¡± Yes, dead.


    G¨¹nther had stood on the edge of the fight, making daggers appear in his hands, and throwing them with freakish accuracy. Most of the time, he¡¯d gone for the True¡¯s legs, forcing them to fall over, but any time anyone began to point their rifle toward our alley, they took a dagger to the throat.


    He had a sword in one hand as I noticed him, and saluted me with its bloodied blade from the other side of the street.


    I gave him a wave. As I put my hand down, Ghostgirl shot Julie with a goobot, and landed in front of me.


    Putting the gun back into its holster, she said, ¡°Hey there, fellow me.¡±

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 22

    ¡°Hey,¡± I said.


    She held up her left arm, looking down at the League communicator on her wrist. It looked just like the ones Nick made for us when we were in costume.


    She tapped on the screen, waited, and then said, ¡°It¡¯s her. Thank God.¡±


    Then she pulled a roll of duct tape out of her utility belt, floated down, and taped Julie¡¯s mouth shut.


    I laughed. ¡°Duct tape? Did Nick put that in there?¡±


    She froze. ¡°No. I¡­ Wait a second.¡±


    She pulled up the communicator again, and this time she pointed it at me. After tapping the screen she said, ¡°OK, this is going to be weird, but we split off early last summer¡ªyour time.¡±


    ¡°My time?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s the weird part. Sometimes when universes split the timestream speeds up or slows down. Whichever it was, I¡¯m three years older than you.¡±


    I took that in. ¡°Was it a good three years?¡±


    She didn¡¯t answer quickly, and by the time she did, I almost didn¡¯t need the answer.


    She looked me in the eye, and said, ¡°Nick¡¯s dead in my world.¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    She hesitated for a second, and then started talking. ¡°I don¡¯t know all the details. Early in his second semester, he discovered something was going to go wrong in St. Louis. He tried to get a hold of Isaac Lim and local heroes, but he couldn''t get the response he wanted, so he went down himself. He died in an explosion there. No one quite knows what happened, but along with Daniel, and Haley, he saved most of the city.¡±


    ¡°Daniel and Haley?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They died too. It was supposed to be worse,¡± she said. ¡°They still don¡¯t know who put it in, but they found technology like the kind in St. Louis in major cities all over the world.¡±


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    ¡°Hold it,¡± I said, ¡°does this have something to do with the alternates that fought the League last summer?¡±


    She tilted her head a little. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about that.¡±


    ¡°You said we split early summer? My mistake. This was mid-summer. Part of the League ran into a crazy version of Nick called War. His whole world had died.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t know if what we found could have killed everybody, but when Dr. Nation analyzed it he did say they might have killed millions.¡±


    I wanted to ask her more, but it didn¡¯t sound like she knew anything. I don¡¯t know that I had high hopes for what might happen if I ever met myself, but it would have been nice if she knew a little more about something that major. Anyway, even if I¡¯d had a question to ask, I didn¡¯t get the chance.


    Grandpa walked around the corner, relaxed in his armor, smiling. I¡¯d never seen him looking that young. He¡¯d been in his seventies in my earliest memories. He even seemed to have a little bit of a swagger.


    Well, he did until he saw me. He hesitated so briefly I wondered if I¡¯d imagined it, and then he said, ¡°You look... remarkably like my late wife. She had blond hair, not brown, but except for that you look like she did when we met.¡± He looked over at Ghostgirl. ¡°She¡¯s from your end of things?¡±


    ¡°Almost exactly,¡± Ghostgirl said.


    Grandpa nodded. ¡°Good. Good.¡± He looked past me toward Travis, Rod, Samita, and Tara. ¡°They¡¯ll be fine?¡±


    Ghostgirl said, ¡°I¡¯m sure Julie just ordered them to stand still. It¡¯ll wear off.¡±


    He nodded, and looked like he was just about to step back out of the alley. He didn¡¯t though, because that¡¯s the moment Red Lightning choose to walk around the corner.


    He smiled widely at everyone. ¡°Great work, all of you,¡± he said, and then he turned to me. ¡°Did Joe mention just how much you look like his late wife? I¡¯m sure both of you do, but I don¡¯t recall ever seeing you,¡± he smiled at Ghostgirl, ¡°without a mask. Nonetheless, she was a brave woman. I hope you both got to know her.¡±


    ¡°We did,¡± I said.


    ¡°Wonderful,¡± he said. ¡°If she¡¯d just lived a few years more, we might have saved her, but alas.¡±


    Grandpa cleared his throat. ¡°Giles, I¡¯d like some help checking on the captives.¡±


    Giles smiled, ¡°Of course.¡±


    They began to turn, but I said, ¡°Rocket, who designed that armor? It looks exactly like something my brother imagined once.¡±


    Grandpa smiled, but it was a very thin and a very, very fake smile, and said, ¡°My grandson. He died recently. The alien invasion.¡±


    While that rolled around in my head, I found a few words, and tried to deliver them smoothly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know.¡±


    He said, ¡°There¡¯s no reason you could. It¡¯s no problem,¡± He kept the smile on his face as he turned, but I only saw the back of his head as he walked away.


    ¡°He¡¯s had a hard year,¡± Red Lightning glanced after him. ¡°Give us a moment, and we¡¯ll help you get the slaver back to your home universe.¡±


    Ghostgirl nodded. ¡°Take all the time you need.¡±


    He smiled at her, but not a happy smile. ¡°You can¡¯t afford to wait that long,¡± he said.

 Rachel in Infinity City: Part 23

    Then Red Lightning took to the air, flying out to the street where G¨¹nther inspected the living and the dead.


    Grandpa stood in the street, staring down at the asphalt.


    I turned away from watching him, and back toward Ghostgirl. She¡¯d been watching him too, but turned her head back toward me.


    ¡°That was weird,¡± I said.


    She turned to look behind herself again, looking out of the alley and toward the street. When she turned back to look at me, she said, ¡°Weirder than you think. We don¡¯t exist in their universe. A supervillain attacked Mom, and she lost the baby.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡± I thought about how that might have changed things. Grandpa would have felt guilty about not being there to protect her. Mom and Dad would have felt horrible. Nick might have been their first, possibly only, child.


    Ghostgirl nodded. ¡°And that¡¯s still not all. Nick died, but from what I¡¯ve heard them say, I don¡¯t think he was our Nick¡ªhe was similar, but not exact.¡±


    I almost said something, but she didn¡¯t give me the chance.


    ¡°We¡¯re still not up to the weird part. They¡¯re different because Grandpa went through Infinity City, and discovered a reality where Red Lightning went nuts. So he came home, detoxed Red Lightning from power juice, and when he was completely clean, ran him through their version of the power impregnator. They call it ¡®the energizer.¡¯¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°That¡¯s better, but only barely.¡±


    Ghostgirl shrugged. ¡°I know, but we¡¯re still not to the really weird part.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Get it over with.¡±


    ¡°Grandpa and Giles discovered the key to human immortality. That¡¯s why they look so young. They¡¯re growing younger.¡±


    It was my turn to sneak a peek outside the alley. ¡°That¡¯s bizarre. A world where Red Lightning never went crazy means there¡¯s no me or even a version of Nick. And by the way, human immortality? How do you know all this?¡±


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    She said, ¡°I work with them sometimes. That¡¯s all.¡± She nodded toward where Julie lay. ¡°Like with her. That¡¯s our Julie. She went wrong and escaped into Infinity City maybe a year ago.¡±


    Julie didn¡¯t move, and her eyes were still shut. Her suit coat had been left back at the building, and she still wore the shirt I¡¯d ripped the sleeves off.


    I looked up from where she lay, and said, ¡°How did she get this bad? In my universe she was irritating, but, I talked to her a few times over the summer on movie nights, and she seemed close to human.¡±


    Ghostgirl stared at me. ¡°Movie nights? She¡¯s been in HQ? She knows your real names?¡±


    ¡°There wasn¡¯t much of a choice. After Nick blew up the old storefront, it was either bring them into HQ and let them help, or completely erase their memories and lock them up somewhere.¡±


    Ghostgirl said, ¡°We erased their memories and locked them up until after we fought the Cabal. You invited them into the League?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, and even to my ears I sounded exasperated. ¡°Not really, but we brought some of them in for movie nights during the summer. In our world, Julie ended up in Stapledon. Not yours?¡±


    ¡°No. They were too much of a risk. Are they all in Stapledon?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Except for the ones that were too young.¡±


    She didn¡¯t seem to know what to say. Then she sighed, and found something. ¡°Maybe we should have brought them in. Maybe it would have been better. It¡¯s too late now, but we could have.¡±


    Neither of us said anything, and I took advantage of the silence to check on Travis, Tara, Rod, and Samita.


    They were all still doing convincing statue impersonations.


    I hoped they started moving soon. I wanted to leave. I needed to make sure Nick would call me if anything came up with regards to St. Louis¡ªor if anything major came up at all. We¡¯d diverged from Ghostgirl¡¯s reality months ago. Whoever planned the attack might have adjusted it.


    It was too much to hope they¡¯d abandoned it entirely.


    Ghostgirl floated closer to me, talking more quietly. ¡°Did I get one of your calls? It was from Mom. About having Mary over for Christmas?¡±


    I laughed. ¡°No. Mary and I broke up ages ago.¡±


    Ghostgirl smiled. ¡°Good.¡±


    Then she stopped smiling. ¡°Did you ever tell Mom about¡­¡±


    ¡°Being bi? No. Have you?¡±


    She shook her head, and that was a little disappointing because she was three years ahead of me. I would have hoped I¡¯d have told Mom by then.


    Maybe some of that showed on my face because she said, ¡°It never seemed like a good time. You know she¡¯ll freak out. I was about to say something, but then Nick died, and after that I didn¡¯t feel like I could drop it on her.¡±


    I was hardly in a position to judge. So I said, ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll choose the right time.¡±


    I paused for a second, and then said, ¡°Anyway, do you know how to get us home?¡±


    She didn¡¯t answer at first. Maybe she wanted to talk more about handling Mom? I don¡¯t know. She only said, ¡°Sure, your League phone should be able to guide you back.¡±


    I pulled it out of my pocket. ¡°Show me how?¡±


    Two hours later, we left the city. The fortune cookie had said, ¡°You are your own best help.¡± Knowing a little bit of what might lie ahead of me, I wondered if that would be enough.

 Enter the Larry: Part 1

    March, 1984¡ªNo doubt about it, Larry thought, the kitchen sink¡¯s plugged. Worse, he didn¡¯t have a snake that would fit through the little holes in the goddamn drain.


    Both sides of the sink were filled nearly to the top with water. Annoying. And their drains shared the same pipe¡ªwhich would make it just a little more difficult.


    He decided to start with the plunger anyway. If he got nowhere he could still open up the pipes. It¡¯d probably be what he¡¯d do in the end anyway. He thought about that, and considered grabbing a wrench and cutting out a step. Then he reconsidered. He¡¯d try the plunger first, and maybe it would work.


    The stupid plunger.


    An hour later, he found himself putting a bucket under the sink. As he picked up the wrench to start on the pipes, the dogs started barking.


    He decided he¡¯d better get out there before the dogs scared the visitor off, or, depending on who the visitor was, maybe he¡¯d let them.


    Leaving the wrench on the counter, he walked over the yellow and brown linoleum flooring, and into the living room. Looking it over, he hoped his visitor wasn¡¯t anyone he wanted to impress. He¡¯d left a pile of newspapers on the dark, brown, vinyl couch, and put a carburetor on top of them.


    He¡¯d deal with that later.


    Opening the door, he stepped out onto the wooden landing outside his white mobile home. Even in his flannel shirt, it wasn¡¯t warm outside. He wondered if it would make forty degrees that day, but didn¡¯t wonder long because he¡¯d recognized the car. Both Dobermans were barking next to the green Cadillac¡¯s driver¡¯s side door.


    ¡°Sid! Nancy! Down!¡±


    The dogs didn¡¯t listen, continuing to bark at the car.


    ¡°Sit!¡±


    The dogs looked at him. He fished in his pockets and found the dog treats, and they walked toward him. ¡°Sit,¡± he said again, and this time they actually did. He gave each of them a treat, and then grabbed their collars.


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    When he grabbed Sid¡¯s collar, Joe opened the door. Joe stepped out onto the dirt driveway, looking healthy for a man in his sixties¡ªgrey-haired, and wrinkled, but not hesitant.


    The dogs turned around, and started barking again. Larry didn¡¯t let go. ¡°Come on, you know him. Quiet, dammit.¡±


    Joe walked toward them, leaving bootprints in the slush. ¡°I like the new place.¡±


    ¡°I feel like I just moved in. Hell, I feel like I¡¯m the only one here.¡±


    Joe smiled, and slowly, deliberately, looked from his left to his right. ¡°You are.¡±


    To the left of the driveway was an old, red barn, but behind it and surrounding everything else were farmers¡¯ fields. Pale, crumpled stalks of corn stuck partially out of the snow. There were no other houses in sight.


    The dogs had stopped barking, and Larry let them go. They both started sniffing Joe¡¯s legs.


    ¡°Well, come on in. I¡¯m sure we don¡¯t want to talk out here.¡± Larry led him in. The dogs followed.


    Joe took off his winter coat, and sat down on the couch next to the carburetor.


    Larry sat down in the recliner.


    Joe took his eyes away from the carburetor to look at Larry. ¡°It¡¯s working out?¡±


    Larry nodded. ¡°Better than working at the plant ever did. I got a bunch of sponsors. They¡¯re happy to pay a few thousand to put their logo on the Rhino suit. I look like a Nascar driver. It¡¯s hilarious. You want to see? I¡¯ve dug a bunker under the barn.¡±


    Joe shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve seen you on TV.¡± He paused, and then said, ¡°I¡¯m here on business.¡±


    Larry nodded, and said, ¡°Let me guess, you¡¯re coming back out of retirement?¡±


    Joe smiled, but only briefly. ¡°No. Not a chance. I like waking up in the morning knowing that someone will be facing the Lords of Destruction, and that it¡¯s not me. Nope, I¡¯m not coming back, but some League business needs to be handled. I¡¯m passing it off to you.¡±


    Larry brushed some hair out of his face. He knew he should have put it into a ponytail.


    ¡°League business? So what¡¯s it about? It¡¯s not aliens again because it wouldn¡¯t just be you¡ªthe Feds would be on the phone.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Joe glanced over at the carburetor again. ¡°It¡¯s not another Faerie incursion. No zombie plague. The vaccinations took care of that. No Russians. They¡¯re too busy cleaning up after Andropov¡¯s death. So, we¡¯re in good shape when it comes to big threats. I¡¯m here to talk about small ones. You remember Armory?¡±


    ¡°Right. The guy who tried to pack every weapon he could into his suit? Worked with the Midwest Defenders a couple times?¡±


    Joe nodded. ¡°You remember how he handled joints?¡±


    Larry¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Yeah, kind of multi-layered and weird. What about it?¡±


    ¡°On TV I saw Chicago Hawk fighting a couple powersuits with the same joint design.¡±


    ¡°No kidding. Do you know that it¡¯s him?¡±


    ¡°No way of knowing, but they had a lot of hidden weapons.¡±


    ¡°Shit. Is that a new thing or was he bad the whole time?¡±


    Joe shrugged. ¡°No way of knowing without talking to him, and that¡¯s where you come in. I got a call from the Feds. It turns out similar armor¡¯s been seen in the Metafight Games. They¡¯re sending in a guy to investigate, and they wanted some help.¡±


    ¡°Who are they sending in?¡±


    ¡°Some guy named Lim. It sounds like it might be his first mission without supervision. Try not to break him.¡±

 Enter the Larry: Part 2

    Larry shrugged, raising his hand as he said, ¡°I won¡¯t try to. If he¡¯s green and can¡¯t handle it, it¡¯s not my fault.¡±


    Joe leaned forward, ¡°I know, but you can make it harder or you can make it easier. So, make it work. Besides, everything I¡¯ve heard about him is good. He¡¯s just new.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t saying I wouldn¡¯t work with him. So, what''s the plan?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Joe frowned for a moment, ¡°they¡¯re not telling us everything¡ª¡°


    Larry laughed, and said, ¡°As usual.¡±


    ¡°But,¡± Joe continued, ¡°here¡¯s what I know. Metafight Games owns an island. It¡¯s just outside US territorial waters near Florida, so technically the Feds don¡¯t have any jurisdiction. On the other hand, no country claims it, and the owners of Metafight Games are US citizens, so I¡¯m sure the Feds think they can get away with more than usual.¡±


    Joe smiled and said, ¡°This whole mission exists because of the confusing jurisdiction issues and because of what Metafight Games is¡ª¡°


    ¡°Supers fighting supers,¡± Larry said. ¡°Heard about them.¡±


    ¡°Right. Part of what the government¡¯s worried about is Armory selling his stuff to anybody who wants it, but they¡¯re also worried about the Soviets. I know they¡¯ve been showing the fights on cable, but rich and connected people see the fights in person. The administration¡¯s worried that they might be recruiting or blackmailing people.¡±


    Larry shook his head. ¡°Sex, greed, and gambling debts?¡±


    Joe grinned briefly. ¡°The usual.¡±


    ¡°Damn, man. The KGB? I see why they¡¯re pulling in the Feds, but why me?¡±


    ¡°Well, they wanted me, but I managed to persuade them that you¡¯d be great for this.¡±


    ¡°Okay, why¡¯d they want you? I mean, beyond you being a living legend and all.¡±


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    Joe raised his eyebrow at the words ¡°living legend,¡± and leaned back into the couch. ¡°We police our own. They know we both worked with Armory. Officially, you¡¯ll be going down there to tell him to stop selling copies of his armor. Unofficially, they¡¯re hoping you¡¯ll take out the whole operation.¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯d they get that idea?¡±


    Joe grinned. ¡°Remember that Outfit hitter? Deadeye? You took out his whole base.¡±


    ¡°It was packed with explosives. That was mostly his fault.¡±


    ¡°What about that guy with the powersuit? The one that controlled fire? You took him out, his lab, and the field around it.¡±


    ¡°Immolator? I cornered him. Can¡¯t think of any other way it could have gone.¡±


    ¡°Pacifier?¡±


    ¡°OK, that was my fault. I never would have expected a guy with a baby themed costume would have that much nitroglycerine.¡±


    ¡°Mount Saint Helens?¡±


    Larry cocked his head, and thought about it. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t know how you found out about the earth spirit fight, but I doubt the volcano erupted any earlier because of me. Besides, it was attacking a bus full of kids.¡±


    Joe blinked. ¡°Larry, I was joking about Mount Saint Helens. When did you even have time to fight anything? We were barely out of each other¡¯s sight.¡±


    ¡°Remember when you went to that meeting after breakfast on the second day?¡±


    Joe looked down toward the couch¡¯s armrest, and then looked back up. ¡°I do now. I''d always wondered how you got so dirty¡­ Anyway, all they¡¯re really hoping is that you might bring a few of the leaders back to the US where they can be questioned and prosecuted, but a couple Feds were joking that if you only left a crater behind they¡¯d be okay with that.¡±


    * * *


    Two days later, Larry found himself flying south in a DC-3. They picked up Agent Lim in Tampa, Florida.


    Lim turned out to be around Larry¡¯s age¡ªmid-twenties with short, black hair, and wearing a black suit. When Larry stood up, he found that he was about six inches taller¡ªwhich meant Lim was a little under six feet. Larry wasn¡¯t sure which of them had the worse deal. Lim had to wear a suit in seventy degree weather, and he had to wear a full body,  grey "flightsuit" (even though his armor didn''t fly) and a mask so that no one recognized him when he was out of armor.


    Lim held out his hand. ¡°Agent Isaac Lim, FBI. Nice to meet you.¡±


    Larry decided that he definitely had the worse part of the deal. Lim probably liked wearing a suit.


    Larry said, ¡°Hey, good to meet you, I¡¯m Larry.¡±


    Lim looked him up and down, and said, ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯ve got two brothers named Darryl, do you?¡±


    Not managing even a fake laugh, Larry said, ¡°I still haven¡¯t seen that show, but I¡¯m looking forward to whenever it goes off the air.¡±


    Lim said, ¡°Newhart¡¯s pretty funny. You should take a look once. Anyhow, let''s get down to business.  You won¡¯t be able to talk to Armory unless you¡¯re a contestant, so we¡¯re entering you in the games. I¡¯ve got the $50,000 entrance fee in my briefcase. Let¡¯s go over a few things before we land.¡±

 Enter the Larry: Part 3

    Larry exhaled. ¡°I can¡¯t say I¡¯m surprised. Joe told me not to take the Rhino suit.¡±


    Agent Lim looked up to meet Larry¡¯s eyes at the sound of Joe¡¯s name.


    ¡°Yeah? Did Joe tell you anything else?¡±


    ¡°Not really. He just explained about the jurisdiction issue, and how you guys wouldn¡¯t mind if I blew the whole place up.¡±


    Lim gave an uncomfortable laugh. ¡°I don¡¯t recommend it,but it might make things easier. Metafight Games was incorporated in the Seychelles. The company¡¯s owners are US citizens, and the island¡¯s only a little outside territorial waters. I don¡¯t have any jurisdiction there, but the island doesn¡¯t have a government so it¡¯s hard to say who would. Legally, I¡¯m not allowed to give you directions, but if you did kidnap the leadership or Armory, I wouldn¡¯t complain¡ªnot that I¡¯m directing you in any way.¡±


    Larry snorted. ¡°Working under the standard deal, then?¡±


    Lim said, ¡°You¡¯ve got it. We can¡¯t tell you what to do, but if you happen to let us know what you¡¯ll be doing, we¡¯ll do what we can to benefit.¡±


    Over the the PA system, a man¡¯s voice said, ¡°We¡¯re about to take off. Everyone please take your seats.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re there?¡± Lim pointed toward Larry¡¯s seat. ¡°We might as well go over things.¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± Larry sat down.


    Lim sat next to him. ¡°If you don¡¯t have the Rhino suit, what armor did you take?¡±


    Larry tore his eyes away from the window, and turned toward Lim. ¡°Some old armor of Man-Machine¡¯s. You know how when he¡¯s losing, he ejects and gets away. Most of the time, he¡¯s set the armor to explode but this time it didn¡¯t work.¡±


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    Agent Lim nodded, ¡°Was that the first time? Because no one¡¯s ever caught Man-machine, and I¡¯ve seen his armor explode dozens of times on TV¡­ uh¡­ as a kid.¡±


    ¡°Not the first time. Nah, Joe and I always pick up his stuff when we¡¯ve got the chance. Man-machine¡¯s a genius at reverse engineering technology from pictures or seeing it work. He¡¯s not the most original guy, but he usually improves the design somehow. We take apart his stuff to keep up.¡±


    Larry smiled. ¡°My first ever suit was one of his. I found it when I was a kid, fixed it up, and started tooling around Grand Lake until the Rocket showed up¡ªwhich was a mess because he thought I was Man-machine at first.¡±


    Lim laughed. ¡°What then, did you fight?¡±


    ¡°Almost,¡± Larry shook his head at the memory. ¡°Except then the real Man-machine showed up and wanted his armor back. We fought him, and after that he started blowing up his suits.¡±


    For a second Lim stared out into space, and then he said, ¡°When I was a kid, I lived and breathed the Rocket. You actually worked with him. Makes me think I was in the wrong place.¡±


    Larry shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t worry about it. For me, it seems like I just started working with the guy, and then he retires. So where are you from?¡±


    ¡°Newark, New Jersey originally. I¡¯m living in D.C. now.¡±


    ¡°No kidding? You¡¯d have been near New York City. Plenty of supers around there. Some of the first.¡±


    The jet¡¯s engines became louder, and the plane began to taxi down the runway. Within minutes, the plane took off, giving Larry a view of the city, and then shortly, the ocean.


    Lim said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t as interested in New York¡¯s heroes. Anyway, here¡¯s our cover. You¡¯re entering the contest with armor you fixed up, and I¡¯m a representative of a wealthy businessman from Japan who got you the money. We¡¯re also the people who bought you the jet.¡±


    Larry turned away from the window. ¡°Yeah? That¡¯s pretty good. All the Japanese supers seem to have mechs¡ªeven the ones with powers.¡±


    Lim nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve read their files. We¡¯ve had a few visit with their prime minister. Let¡¯s go over a few more details. You¡¯re going to have to remember them without hesitating.¡±


    They went over them for the next half hour. Then the pilot came over the PA saying, ¡°We¡¯ll be landing soon. Please put on your seat belts if they¡¯re not on.


    Looking out the window, Larry saw the island. It wasn¡¯t large. Half of it seemed to be taken up by an enormous domed amphitheater, and the buildings that surrounded it¡ªhotels, Larry guessed.


    The rest appeared to be covered with greenery (palm trees)¡ªexcept that a runway ran through the middle of it. The plane began to angle toward the runway.


    The pilot¡¯s voice said, ¡°We¡¯ll be landing in less than 5 minutes.¡±


    The plane began to descend.


    ¡°Just for the record,¡± Larry said, ¡°if we¡¯re met by a midget shouting ¡®De plane, de plane!¡¯, I¡¯m flying home right now.¡±

 Enter the Larry: Part 4

    When they landed, the runway crew had the mobile stairway next to the plane practically as soon as it stopped¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t until it was inside a hangar.


    Larry followed Lim down the stairs, stopping as they met the greeting party. It didn¡¯t include any midgets.


    It did include a woman, and three men in tuxedos.


    Larry guessed the woman was his age¡ªmid-twenties. She had a wide smile, and wore what he would have thought of as a business suit if it weren¡¯t pink, and didn¡¯t include a mini-skirt.


    ¡°Welcome to the Metafight Games, Mr. Mori?¡± She looked up at Lim for confirmation.


    Isaac nodded.


    ¡°And, you sir, you¡¯re a late entrant, and I don¡¯t know your name. What should I call you?¡± She held a pen and a notepad.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be wearing the Frog suit, so call me Frog,¡± he said.


    Isaac mouthed the word, ¡°Frog,¡± as the woman, said, ¡°Thank you Mr. Frog. I¡¯m Cheryl Sundstrom, please let me know if you need anything. I¡¯m here to assist the contestants with any problems they might have.¡±


    Larry nodded, thinking that she sounded very careful, and very polite. On the other hand, he¡¯d bet that at least half the contestants had to be supervillains. That encouraged politeness.


    She continued, ¡°Oh, one more thing, does your armor need to be assembled? If it does, we can have it carried to your rooms. You¡¯re welcome to accompany it if you wish.¡±


    Larry thought about it. ¡°Yeah, sounds like a good idea.¡±


    ¡°Thank you very much,¡± she said. ¡°Good luck.¡± She gave him a smile. It was very professional.


    Then she left.


    The men in tuxedos started to unload the plane. Larry watched them. It didn¡¯t take long before they had everything on a wagon pulled behind a white vehicle that wasn¡¯t much larger than a golf cart.


    Larry and Isaac followed it toward the hangar¡¯s back entrance.


    ¡°Seriously,¡± Isaac said, ¡°frog? If you needed help with the name, we had half the flight.¡±


    Larry shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s Man-machine¡¯s armor, remember? He designed this version for jumping. I painted it green after I fixed it up. Thought I was being funny. I didn''t have time to repaint before we left.¡±


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    Isaac shook his head. ¡°Better you than me.¡±


    When they stepped out of the hangar, the luggage hauler stopped, and one of the men pointed out a golf cart parked behind the hangar¡¯s metal walls.


    ¡°I¡¯ll drive you over,¡± he said.


    The drive didn¡¯t take long. They passed several different buildings, all of them white, made of concrete, and shaped like boxes. It would have felt sterile if that were all, but palm trees ran alongside the roads, and well mowed lawns surrounded each building.


    People walked down the sidewalks in bathing suits, talking and laughing.


    In a few minutes, they entered the dome. Metal doors rumbled upward as they came close, and then they drove inside, the vehicles¡¯ engines humming.


    They rolled along next to the curved wall, passing steel beams on the left, doors and hallways on the right. It wasn¡¯t well lit. The overhead florescent lights brightened the hall enough to see, but only barely.


    It reminded Larry of the Death Star, and a little bit of the Abominator moon base.


    They stopped. Their driver said, ¡°We¡¯re here. Your suite is just past that door, and your keys are on the table in the main area. If you want to wait, they¡¯ll be done soon.¡±


    By the time he¡¯d finished talking, they¡¯d already moved the luggage inside, and were starting the boxes that contained the Frog¡¯s pieces.


    ¡°Sure,¡± Larry said. ¡°We¡¯ll wait.¡±


    Barely five minutes later, they were standing in the suite. It contained two bedrooms, a common area with a kitchen, and a workshop. When Larry had looked it over on the way in, it appeared to have everything he¡¯d need¡ªeven if he had to do fairly major repairs.


    Isaac picked up his key. ¡°No offense, but I¡¯m glad we each get our own bedroom.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Larry put his own key into his pocket. ¡°Planning to have someone over?¡±


    Lim raised an eyebrow. ¡°Here? Best case scenario I meet an heiress with a taste for bloodsport. Worst case, I end up in bed with a supervillain who kills the both of us. My advice, keep your mind on the fight.¡±


    As they talked, he pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket, and wrote on it with a pen. Then he held it up. It read, ¡°I need to check for bugs.¡±


    Larry read it. ¡°Yeah? Well, thanks for the advice Mr. Mori. I think I¡¯ll step outside and take a look at what¡¯s out there.¡±


    He indicated the front door with his thumb.


    Isaac started shredding the piece of paper. ¡°Good idea.¡±


    The door was at the front of the common room. Larry opened it, and stepped into the hallway. He¡¯d expected it to look like the other hallway. It looked like a hotel¡ªbright white walls with a white carpet, flecked with gray and brown.


    And here he was wearing a mask. He¡¯d stepped out to make it easier for Lim to do what he needed to, but he felt pretty silly right now.


    As he considered stepping back inside, a voice behind him said, ¡°Rhino?¡±


    The voice sounded familiar. He turned around.


    A man was stepping out of the door next to his, and he recognized the guy. There wasn¡¯t any point in pretending differently.


    ¡°Alexis, good to see you, man. How¡¯s Viktor?¡±


    Alexis walked over and gave him a hug. When it was over, Alexis stepped back and said, ¡°Doing well, I think. He¡¯s back in Russia. He sends letters.¡±


    Alexis looked exactly the same as the last time as Larry had seen him¡ªdark skin and hair, and a crooked smile that made him appear perpetually amused. He wore a flightsuit with a Cuban flag on his chest.


    ¡°You¡¯re still in Cuba?¡±


    ¡°Protecting my homeland from the American menace,¡± he said, but he was grinning. ¡°Are you here to compete?¡±


    ¡°You got it.¡±


    Alexis pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket. ¡°Let¡¯s see who you¡¯ll be fighting.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not listed as the Rhino. They didn¡¯t know what I was going under till half an hour ago.¡±


    Alexis nodded. ¡°There¡¯s only one empty space. If they put you there, you¡¯ll fight someone named Rook.¡±

 Enter the Larry: Part 5

    ¡°Rook?¡± Larry tried to remember if he¡¯d ever heard the name before. ¡°What, does he have some kind of chess theme?¡±


    Alexis shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. He has wings.¡±


    Larry frowned. ¡°What¡¯s a rook look like anyway?¡±


    ¡°His armor is black. It seems very like a crow. I do not think we have rooks in Cuba.¡±


    Larry gave an grunt in reply, and looked back toward his suite. Could Lim be done debugging the room yet? He doubted it, and he doubted that the Feds would understand why he was friends with Alexis at all. Most of them wouldn¡¯t have the clearance to read the reports they¡¯d need to find out either.


    ¡°You want to go somewhere? Talk, maybe?¡±


    Alexis looked up at him. ¡°I might. I was about to examine the arena. I will be fighting tomorrow as well.¡±


    ¡°Do you know how to get there?¡±


    A corner of Alexis mouth quirked in a partial grin. ¡°Let¡¯s say that I know the right direction to walk, and we¡¯ll hope it becomes obvious on the way.¡±


    ¡°What direction?¡±


    Alexis pointed down the hall.


    ¡°Good enough.¡±


    Despite all appearances to the contrary, the hallway didn¡¯t go on forever. It seemed to at first. They walked past door after door, all exactly alike except for the room number. A few doors were open. Sounds of television leaked into the hall.


    ¡°I¡¯ve barely seen you since, well, the moon base,¡± Larry offered.


    Alexis nodded. ¡°Viktor and I were very busy these last few years.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, with anything special?¡±


    ¡°No, nothing special.¡± Then Alexis said, ¡°Here we are.¡±


    Alexis opened the door at the end of the hall, and they walked into a room that felt big. In one sense, it wasn¡¯t. They¡¯d only walked into a wider hallway. Still, the ceiling had to be at least four stories above them.


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    Though it was day time, it felt like night. Barely half the lights that could have been on were.


    ¡°Here,¡± Alexis said, and they walked up a stairway, finding themselves standing near the back of several rows of seats. Past the seats, the arena sprawled. Larry guessed it was the size of a football field.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go that way,¡± Alexis pointed down the field. A group of people were gathered in the stands. A few more were in the arena.


    As they walked, Alexis said, ¡°Viktor led an expedition back to the moon base three years ago.¡±


    Alexis had talked quietly. Larry nearly shouted, ¡°What? Goddamn. We told you not to. Why?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Alexis said, still quietly, ¡°we know that you said that out of concern for our well-being, but the General Secretary, and the KGB do not know this, and believe that you were attempting to scare us away from technology vital to the defense of the Warsaw Pact.¡±


    ¡°Goddamn,¡± Larry muttered.


    ¡°He¡¯s studying what he brought back. I haven¡¯t seen him since then. He does send letters. I was not lying about that before. It sounds as though he¡¯s close to several breakthroughs.¡±


    Larry tried not to shout, and did not punch one of the seats, but he wanted to.


    ¡°I hope for all of our sakes he can keep his breakthroughs hidden. The Xiniti are going to burn the whole damn planet if they get wind we¡¯re building technology based on Abominator tech.¡±


    Alexis stopped walking, and put a hand on Larry¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I know it. We will have to do something. It can¡¯t be here or now. You have another mission, correct?¡±


    Larry nodded.


    Alexis said, ¡°I¡¯ll find out more when I get back to Cuba, and I¡¯ll find a way to contact you.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡±


    They resumed walking. When they neared the group, Larry would have bet he knew them. He didn¡¯t know their names. He didn¡¯t recognize their costumes, but they seemed familiar. He wouldn¡¯t have been surprised to find out he¡¯d put half of them away under different names.


    Big men and women in colored costumes lay back in their chairs, most of them napping, some of them talking.


    It reminded him of a high school somehow.


    Just ahead of him a thin kid¡ªLarry pegged him as not more then eighteen¡ªtalked to the woman who¡¯d met them at the hangar. They were a little further up the aisle from the main group. Larry remembered the woman¡¯s name¡ªCheryl.


    The kid wore a black flight suit, and he was talking and talking. Larry couldn¡¯t catch any of it, but Cheryl held the same smile on her face. It didn¡¯t move.


    As he got closer, the kid glanced toward Larry, and then back to Cheryl, ¡°You want to go over there and talk?¡±


    Cheryl said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sir, I have to stay here.¡±


    The kid grabbed her arm, and tried to pull her up an aisle toward the back. She didn¡¯t move more than a couple steps, almost falling, catching herself on a chair.


    A few of the costumed people glanced her way, but none of them moved.


    ¡°Whoops,¡± the kid said.


    Larry walked a little more quickly, but didn¡¯t make it.


    Cheryl let go of the chair, and reached into a pocket on her suit¡¯s jacket, pulling out a small spray can.


    The kid grabbed for it, reaching across toward her right arm, but not catching it. She sprayed him in the face.


    He wasn¡¯t wearing a mask or goggles, and gave a small yelp as she pulled away.


    That¡¯s when the big guys in the chairs started laughing.

 Enter the Larry: Part 6

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have to do that!¡± The kid shouted, and tried to brush the tears from his eyes, but mostly succeeded in smearing whatever she¡¯d sprayed on him.


    By that time, Larry was within reach¡ªjust a couple steps down.


    The kid muttered something, and as he pulled one hand away from his face, Larry saw that the kid had made a fist.


    It wasn¡¯t much of a punch. He swung wildly, missing by more than a foot.


    Cheryl stepped backwards, moving unsteadily up the stairs, away from the punch. The high heels and mini-skirt didn¡¯t do her any favors.


    Larry grabbed the kid¡¯s forearm from behind as the kid recovered from his swing, and then grabbed the kid¡¯s bicep with his left hand.


    ¡°Relax, kid.¡±


    The teen struggled, trying to pull his arm away, and when that didn¡¯t work, let his legs go slack.


    Larry didn¡¯t fall over. He held the kid up.


    ¡°Keep pulling that kind of shit, and I¡¯m going to let you take me down. You¡¯ll hit the concrete, and I¡¯m going to land on top of you. Believe me, it¡¯s gonna hurt.¡±


    The kid turned his head, and looked up at Larry, eyes still watering. ¡°Fuck you.¡±


    ¡°Whatever, man.¡±


    From behind Larry came a thud, followed by solid footfalls as something ran up the stairs. Larry turned to find a guy in powered armor standing a couple steps down from him. The armor looked like polished silver¡ªhe could almost see his reflection¡ªexcept for the black diamond with the words ¡°Metafight Games Security¡± mid-way up the armor¡¯s chest piece.


    Alexis had moved out of the aisle, and into one of the rows to let the security guy by.


    ¡°Pass him over to me,¡± the security guy said, holding his arms out.


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    Larry passed him over while the kid said, ¡°I¡¯m not going to forget this. Don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to forget this! Do you know who I am? I¡¯m a fucking super-villain. You remember that. Remember that when I come after your ass¡ª¡°


    The security guy covered the kid¡¯s mouth with his hand, quickly followed by a squirt  of quickly hardening goo from a small tube that extended out of his forearm.


    Nodding to Larry, the guy said, ¡°I needed him to shut up. Thanks, by the way.¡±


    ¡°You bet.¡±


    The security guy began to turn away when Cheryl¡¯s voice cut into the conversation. ¡°Where were you, Tom? You¡¯re supposed to be watching for this.¡±


    Tom sighed. ¡°I¡¯m also supposed to be watching people training in the arena.¡±


    ¡°The people in the arena have powers or armor. I¡¯ve got nothing.¡± She stood a few rows up, staring down at Tom with obvious frustration. ¡°This isn¡¯t the first time.¡±


    ¡°You did pretty well, anyway,¡± Tom said.


    Cheryl¡¯s jaw dropped, and he kept on talking. ¡°Look, I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll stay up here while you¡¯re here. It won¡¯t happen again.¡±


    ¡°It better not,¡± she said.


    ¡°It won¡¯t,¡± he said, and walked off with the kid.


    Cheryl watched him go, and then turned to Larry. ¡°Thanks for the everything. It¡¯s nice to know I¡¯m not completely alone.¡±


    Larry shrugged, ¡°Glad to help, but it looks like you barely needed me. Your mace took most of the fight out of him.¡±


    She smiled briefly, ¡°You¡¯d better hope not. You¡¯re fighting him tomorrow.¡±


    Larry turned to see Tom carrying the kid away. ¡°That was Rook?¡±


    ¡°The one and only. Kick his ass for me, okay?¡±


    ¡°You bet.¡± He looked toward where Tom was carrying Rook through one of the arena¡¯s exits, noticing something else. Tom¡¯s armor¡¯s joints were designed the same way as Armory¡¯s.


    That meant Armory wasn¡¯t just designing suits for people who competed, he was working for Metafight Games somehow.


    He turned back around, ¡°Hey, who makes armor for your security guys?¡±


    Cheryl raised an eyebrow. ¡°I¡¯m not involved in that end of the operation. Do you need something?¡±


    ¡°No, I just saw something interesting about the design, and if the designer¡¯s around, I¡¯d like to talk to him.¡±


    Cheryl glanced toward Tom, and said, ¡°I can ask around.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯d be great,¡± he said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll talk to you later then,¡± she said. ¡°Right now I need to complain to my boss.¡±


    She walked up the steps toward an exit.


    Alexis cleared his throat, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk over there.¡± He pointed to his left. When Larry said, ¡°Sure,¡± he guided them two sections over.


    When they sat down, they were alone in the section.


    Alexis said, ¡°Are you here for Armory?¡±


    Larry nodded. ¡°It looks like he¡¯s started selling armor to pretty much anybody. We¡¯re going to have some problems if he starts mass producing it for supervillains. How¡¯d you know about him?" Seeing the expression on Alexis'' face, he said, "Oh, damn.¡±


    Alexis gave a pained look. ¡°I¡¯m not simply here to compete. The government of Cuba is interested in his suits.¡±


    Larry shook his head. ¡°This is going to get complicated.¡±

 Enter the Larry: Part 7

    Alexis snorted. ¡°When is it not complicated? The last time we fought together we faced the Abominators on the moon, and had to convince the Xiniti that we weren¡¯t the Abominators¡¯ servants. At least here we can breathe.¡±


    Larry looked out at the arena. People were still training. ¡°Yeah, this time around we only have to worry about your people and my people instead of both of those plus evil aliens. That¡¯s progress.¡±


    Alexis laughed. ¡°A little progress. Very little.¡±


    ¡°So,¡± Larry said, ¡°we¡¯ve got to arrange it so you get enough that you don¡¯t get in trouble. Technically all I was supposed to do is talk to the guy. There¡¯s nothing stopping you from asking him afterward. It¡¯s just that if I do it right, he¡¯ll be too scared to take orders for a while.¡±


    ¡°Or you¡¯ll bring him back the United States for trial.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. That might happen, but it¡¯s not my first choice. For now I¡¯m just here to talk. Which reminds me, have you seen him?¡±


    ¡°Armory? No. All the contestants using powered armor are staying in the same section we are. I am not sure where he is.¡±


    Larry thought about that. ¡°I guess we need to find out where the staff section is.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not going to wait for Cheryl?¡±


    Larry shrugged. ¡°She works here. No reason for her to help.¡±


    Alexis said, ¡°She may help anyway.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, if it happens, it happens. So, did you see what you wanted to in the arena?¡±


    Alexis stood up. ¡°Not everything, but I think we can go.¡±


    After they walked back to their rooms, Larry spent the rest of the day putting the Frog suit together. He¡¯d left the pieces as large as he could, but it still took hours to reattach everything.


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    The suite¡¯s workshop wasn¡¯t bad. He¡¯d turned on the radio, finding a rock station out of Florida. The stereo played tapes too¡ªwhich would have been nice if he¡¯d thought to bring any.


    Around seven, Isaac Lim walked in the door carrying a pizza. Larry stepped back from the suit. Two feet taller than he was and gleaming green metal, it didn¡¯t look exactly like a frog, but it did have a flat head, and front limbs that rested on the ground.


    Putting the pizza on one of the worktables, Lim said, ¡°Hungry? You¡¯ve been in here for hours.¡±


    Larry stepped back from the machine. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m pretty much done except for the testing.¡±


    Lim looked the machine up and down. ¡°Seriously? I know a few guys who trained on Rocket suits, and I got the impression that it took a long time to put them together.¡±


    ¡°It depends. Get your suit trashed, and it¡¯ll take a long time, but this is a Man-machine design. He was into making things modular. You can swap out everything on his suits, and it¡¯s not hard to take them apart and put them back together either.¡±


    Lim walked over to the Frog suit, and peered inside. ¡°Man-machine. You did say that. Aren¡¯t you worried someone might recognize the suit? They¡¯ll know everything it can do.¡±


    Larry grabbed a piece of pizza. ¡°Nope. Remember the modular part? We swapped out a bunch of them. Man-machine himself wouldn¡¯t know the half of it now.¡±


    Lim stuck his head inside the suit¡¯s body, and then backed out. ¡°Would you mind if I got inside?¡±


    Larry stopped eating. ¡°Yeah. Not now. If you get in there and touch the wrong thing, you could break a hole in the floor. Maybe later.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± Lim walked over to the counter with the pizza. ¡°Did you know you¡¯re fighting at eleven tomorrow morning?¡± He pulled a piece of paper out of the inside pocket of his jacket.


    ¡°Yep. I ran into a friend. He told me.¡±


    Isaac put the piece of paper on the counter. ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°Alexis Pozo. Decent guy. Cuban? The Rocket and I worked with him on the moon.¡±


    ¡°Pozo? Cuba¡¯s representative in the People¡¯s Brigade? What¡¯s he doing here? Better, what did he say he was doing here?¡±


    Larry put down his pizza. ¡°Don¡¯t give me that. He¡¯s a decent guy. He¡¯s loyal to his country, but we¡¯ve worked things out.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve worked things out? He¡¯s working with people who are trying to destroy the United States. What have you worked out?¡±


    Lim stood with his hands crossed over his chest.


    Larry met his eyes. ¡°There¡¯re lots of problems out there. We work together when it makes sense. I¡¯m bringing him in on this one.¡±


    Lim opened his mouth to say more but Larry continued, ¡°Besides, you told me yourself that you legally can¡¯t tell me what to do, right? It¡¯s totally out of your hands, man.¡±


    Meanwhile the radio announcer said, ¡°We just listened to Van Halen¡¯s ¡®Jump.¡¯ Next up is ¡®Safety Dance¡¯ by Men Without Hats.¡±

 Enter the Larry: Part 8

    Lim¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you what to do, but I can¡¯t ignore it if what you do helps our enemies either.¡±


    Larry shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not going to do anything to help the Russians, but if I¡¯ve got to help my friend a little to get your job done, I¡¯d say that¡¯s okay. He¡¯s not going to get anything he wouldn¡¯t have gotten on his own--if I hadn¡¯t been here--and he''s probably getting less. I don¡¯t want to hand anything over to the Russians either. Hell, if it¡¯ll make you feel better, Alexis and I are planning a mission to get Abominator artifacts away from the Russians after we finish this.¡±


    Isaac¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°What kind of Abominator artifacts?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Nothing good, I bet. Alexis told me that the Kremlin sent a team up to the moonbase, and grabbed stuff. I don¡¯t know what they grabbed. It could be anything.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s going to happen to them?¡±


    ¡°It depends what it is, but look, Joe and I told people about the Abominators. We¡¯ve got good reason to believe the Abominators¡¯ tech was made to corrupt people. We¡¯re likely to destroy it, and if we can¡¯t destroy it, we¡¯ll hide it.¡±


    Lim didn¡¯t say anything at first, but from his stillness, Larry guessed Lim might be controlling his reaction.


    Lim¡¯s hand twitched.


    He took a breath and then spoke. ¡°I read it in the reports, but everybody who¡¯s read the reports knows you¡¯re leaving things out. You say that the Abominator tech was made to corrupt people, but I don¡¯t see anywhere where you say how you know it.¡±


    Larry held up his right hand. ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t tell you. If I tell you, it might get to the wrong¡­ people, but here¡¯s what I can tell you. The stuff Red Lightning used to give himself and his army powers was Abominator tech. The power impregnator Joe made wasn¡¯t Abominator made, but it used their ideas. You know how that ended.¡±


    Lim¡¯s mouth tightened. ¡°I know, and it¡¯s not as if I doubt Joe. The guy was my hero when I was growing up, but don¡¯t you think that with the government¡¯s money and people behind it, we could get around the problems?¡±


    Larry didn¡¯t hesitate. ¡°Not a chance. I¡¯ve fought a couple versions of the Rocket suit that the government made. I went through them like paper. The only way you¡¯d do it is with a bunch of people like Joe, and they¡¯re hard to find.¡±


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    Lim sighed. ¡°I know.¡± He held up his hand to his chin. ¡°OK, we do it your way.¡±


    * * *


    The next morning, Larry ran through a few last tests on the suit, and took it to the arena. He used the same hallway the men had used to deliver the suit¡ªthe dark one with steel beams, and a metal floor. It ran next to the outside wall, but there were no windows.


    He wasn¡¯t the only one in the hall. Golf carts, and odd little cars entered and exited by different hallways along the way, none of them going the entire distance with him.


    He arrived at the arena twenty minutes early, and a small man in a tuxedo directed him toward a wide door. When he went through, he found himself in an open enclosure next to the fighting. Made of metal that had been painted black, the space was only twice as long as the Frog suit, and only a little wider.


    It reminded Larry of the pens where they kept bulls at rodeos. He checked the suit¡¯s time, decided he had enough that he didn¡¯t have to spend all of it waiting inside the suit, and clicked the button that opened the suit up.


    The first thing he noticed as the suit opened was how much more noise he heard. The crowd roared, and he heard a series of crackling noises that sounded like electrical discharge.


    He stepped out of the suit as Cheryl stepped into the enclosure. She wore a pastel green suit with mini-skirt almost exactly like the pink one from the day before. He realized then that it had to be a uniform just like the men¡¯s tuxedos.


    He guessed that feminists didn¡¯t have a big presence on the island.


    ¡°Hi,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m here to remind you of the rules. You should have received them as part of the sign-up packet, but since most of the contestants don¡¯t bother to read them, I¡¯m here to tell you in person. So, have you read them?¡±


    Larry decided to be honest. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯m sure I picked the packet up, but I don¡¯t remember much of anything.¡±


    ¡°You and everyone else,¡± she said. ¡°The rules are simple. First, you can do anything you want to your opponent, but whatever you do can¡¯t pass into the stands. There are some very important people out there, and we don¡¯t want them to get hurt.


    ¡°The second rule is that if we do tell you to stop fighting, you have to stop immediately. The third rule is that you have to take your opponent¡¯s surrender.


    ¡°If you violate any of those rules, we¡¯ll call in security, and they¡¯re¡­ not nice. Any questions?¡±


    Larry shook his head, beginning to say, ¡°No,¡± but then he said, ¡°Wait, when you said I could do anything to my opponent, did that include killing him?¡±


    She said, ¡°Unless he surrenders, yes.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡±


    She stopped smiling, and frowned for moment. ¡°That other thing we talked about. Find me after the fight. Here¡¯s my number.¡±


    She handed him her card. He took it and put it in one of the flight suit¡¯s pockets.


    ¡°Good luck,¡± she said, and her smile seemed genuine. Then she left.


    Not knowing what else to do, he got back into the Frog suit. He knew it wasn¡¯t the right time to think about it, but she was kind of cute. Then he decided it would be best if he thought of something else.


    Lim was right. This wasn¡¯t a good place to meet people.

 Enter the Larry: Part 9

    Ten minutes later, the crowd started screaming.


    The announcer shouted, ¡°The Murdilator wins! The paramedics are taking Electroman out of the arena, and in five minutes you¡¯ll be able to see the next round¡ªRook versus Frog! That¡¯s right, the up and coming Rook versus a brand new opponent in powered armor. All that, in just FIVE minutes. Get your drinks and snacks now because you won¡¯t want to miss a second of it.¡±


    Larry took a breath, realizing that he actually felt nervous. And how crazy was that? It was just a fight. How many of those had there been in the last few years? This time his opponent would at least be human, and a kid at that. He¡¯d seen worse.


    No denying though, that Rook probably hated him, and wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill him.


    Well, it wouldn¡¯t be his first opponent with a grudge.


    He decided to run through the suit¡¯s checklist. He¡¯d already done it when he started the thing up, but if it kept his mind occupied, he wouldn¡¯t complain.


    Three items from the end of the list, the announcer stated, ¡°Frog and Rook, we are opening the doors. Please proceed to the middle of the arena, and don¡¯t start fighting until the referee gives you the signal!¡±


    The doors opened, and Larry walked the Frog suit forward. It felt different than the Rhino suit, more like the cockpit of a plane.


    There were reasons. If his arms and legs were directly inside the Frog suit¡¯s limbs, they¡¯d probably get ripped off. Human limbs just didn¡¯t move the same way.


    On the other side of the arena, a bird-like figure extended its wings, and flew, landing at the halfway point next to the referee.


    Larry pressed down on the accelerator pedal, giving the suit a little speed, but nowhere near the max. Rook didn¡¯t need to see that.


    The Frog made a comfortable series of jumps. The suit¡¯s computer plotted each point of contact with the floor on the helmet¡¯s faceplate, extending them out in a line, and indicating the spot with the image of a frog. He wasn¡¯t sure anymore whether he or Joe had swapped out Man-machine¡¯s graphic with the one from the Frogger video game, but they¡¯d both thought it was funny.


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    Larry set the end point at a few feet from the ref. The suit made a few more jumps, slowing with the last few, and stopping perfectly on the last. However much of pain it was to fight Man-machine, Larry couldn¡¯t fault his design. Lots of suits would have fallen over on the last jump.


    The ref wore powered armor just like the security people, except they¡¯d painted the upper half with white and black stripes. The ref¡¯s helmet was black, the faceplate too dark to see anything inside.


    Given the type of person who fought, the ref could use a secret identity, Larry thought.


    ¡°Alright,¡± the referee said, ¡°you¡¯re both here. I¡¯ll remind you of the rules. Keep the people in the stands out of it, take surrenders, and if we tell you to stop, stop. Got it?¡±


    Rook¡¯s beak dipped, but he didn¡¯t say anything.


    Larry clicked on the speaker, and said, ¡°You got it, man.¡±


    The ref backed up a couple steps. ¡°When I drop my hand, you fight.¡±


    He lifted his armored right arm. ¡°One¡­¡±


    In a low voice, Rook said, ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you.¡±


    The ref said, ¡°Two¡­¡±


    Larry set the endpoint to the ground just on the left side of Rook. ¡°I figured,¡± he said.


    ¡°Three,¡± the ref said, and let his arm fall.


    Larry clicked the jump button, and the suit moved instantly, landing perfectly positioned for Larry¡¯s punch.


    The Frog¡¯s fist hit Rook in the abdomen, knocking him backward. He rolled, wings flopping everywhere.


    Laughter and cheering filled the arena.


    Larry pointed the suit toward Rook, and pressed jump again. This time it made the distance in two leaps¡ªbut not quickly enough. Rook had taken to the air.


    Rook whirled around, making quick circles above him.


    ¡°What are you going to do now? Huh? No guns? Well, I¡¯ve got guns.¡±


    Bullets rained down from above, hitting the armor with dull thuds. Larry could feel each hit. He jumped. The suit could take bullets for a while, but not forever.


    He landed forty feet away, leaving Rook to fire wildly after him, mostly missing. Bits of the concrete floor shot away from the Frog¡¯s feet. Larry set the Frog to jump again, choosing a more complex pattern he¡¯d preprogrammed¡ªforward and to the right, forward and to the left, backward to the left.


    He checked the faceplate for Rook.


    A red dot pointed out Rook¡ªthirty feet to his left. From the jerky movement as Rook wheeled around, Larry guessed Rook had only just realized that Larry had doubled back.


    Or maybe Rook had damaged his wing.


    Either way, Larry thought, there was only one thing to do. He set a spot just ahead of Rook as the endpoint, and jumped into the air.

 Enter the Larry: Part 10

    Larry hit Rook with enough force that he felt it inside the armor. It wasn¡¯t concussion-inducing force, or even particularly painful, but solid. He grabbed for a good hold on Rook¡¯s armor, but missed the wings. The Frog suit¡¯s claws scraped all the way down Rook¡¯s sides, and for a second Larry thought he felt the armor give, but then it ripped out of the suit¡¯s grip.


    He fell, and hit the ground. It wasn¡¯t a big deal.


    The suit could easily take a forty foot drop. It was made for it. The hind legs hit first, absorbing the hit. The front legs followed, doing the same while all the legs adjusted position to balance. Larry hit a button, sending the suit after the glowing red dot that indicated Rook.


    The suit twisted and turned quickly enough that Larry couldn¡¯t remember if the suit was designed to prevent the user from turning so quickly he blacked out. If not, he thought, that would be something to add.


    Rook hadn¡¯t hit the ground, but he didn¡¯t seem to be in good shape. As Larry turned, he seemed to pull out of a dive, but when he came around, aiming in Larry¡¯s direction, he didn¡¯t seem to be able to fly straight. The display inside Larry¡¯s helmet showed a white line indicating where Rook¡¯s heading would take him. The longer Rook flew in one direction, the more curved the line became.


    Not that Larry stayed in one spot to observe. He set the Frog suit to close, and close quickly. As Rook¡¯s line adjusted to point at Larry instead of just to his side, and as the suit¡¯s guns fired, the Frog suit hopped twice.


    By the second hop, he was nearly underneath Rook¡¯s suit.


    He could have jumped again, but he decided to give the crowd a good finish.


    Leaning back, he fired the tongue gun. What appeared to be a giant black ball of spit shot out of the Frog¡¯s mouth, engulfing Rook¡¯s chest, and hardening.


    Rook stopped firing as his beak dipped downward, following the line that now led from his body to the mouth of the Frog suit.


    Larry didn¡¯t wait. Grabbing the line in his hands as Rook passed over him, braced himself, and made a long, low jump.


    The line tightened substantially while he was still in the air, pulling him backwards. He hit the ground, and landed on his back, sending showers of sparks as he was dragged across the concrete.


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    He didn¡¯t even have time to mutter a curse before Rook slammed into the ground behind him.


    Larry pulled himself up, and ran. The suit turned step into a ten foot leap. He reached Rook as Rook pulled himself into a sitting position.


    The bird beak had bent a little off center. One of the wings had been twisted in a way that reminded Larry of a clothes hanger more than anything else.


    Rook seemed to become more aware then, pulling up one arm, and firing the gun hanging under it.


    The bullets hit the Frog suit¡¯s legs. Larry hit Rook¡¯s helmet with one of the Frog¡¯s clawed fists, knocking him on his back.


    Bullets sprayed everywhere. Larry ignored them, reaching down toward Rook¡¯s chest armor, aiming for jagged rip where the Frog¡¯s claws had made it through earlier.


    ¡°I surrender! Stop! I surrender!¡±


    Larry stopped. He stood up and stepped back. ¡°You got it.¡±


    Over the loudspeakers, the announcer said, ¡°It appears that Rook has surrendered. We¡¯ve received confirmation from the referee. The Frog will continue to the next part of the tournament. Rook will not. Let¡¯s give a big hand to the winner.¡±


    He barely needed to say it. The crowd was already cheering.


    Two members of the security team appeared along with a golf cart with a red cross painted on it.


    One of the security guards helped Rook to his feet.


    ¡°Frog,¡± Rook said.


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll lose next time.¡±


    Larry watched as one of the security guards helped Rook to sit on the cart. ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for that.¡±


    The crowd continued to cheer even as the golf cart carried Rook away.


    He went back to his suite by the same dark corridor he¡¯d taken to the fight. He could have had the arena¡¯s doctors check him over. He could have gone to one of the arena¡¯s bars. Instead when one of the arena¡¯s tuxedoed employees said, ¡°Once the doctors check you over, I can take you around the luxury box suites. There are always people who want to meet the winners.¡±


    Larry had shaken his head even though the guy couldn¡¯t see it. ¡°Nah. I gotta check the armor for problems. Just let me know when my next bout is, okay?¡±


    He spent the next two hours in the suite¡¯s workshop replacing damaged panels, and checking for hairline cracks. Lim was out, so he turned on the television for some noise, listening to the fights as they occurred.


    Alexis won his match, fighting in what the announcer called the ¡°July 26 Armor.¡± Larry wondered if he should ask what the name meant.


    When he¡¯d done all he could for the suit, Larry called Cheryl and asked when they could talk.


    ¡°I¡¯m free for a little while. Let¡¯s take a walk outside. Meet me near the front of the arena?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± he said.


    He barely had the chance to hang up the phone when someone started knocking on the door. He left the workshop, and went into the main suite. Looking through the peephole in the door, he saw a tall, white haired man wearing a blue suit.


    Worse, he recognized the man. It was Gerald Cannon¡ªMan-machine himself.

 Enter the Larry: Part 11

    Larry thought about it for a second, and then opened the door.


    Cannon was almost, but not quite his height, and less muscular. To judge from the tightness of his face, he also wasn¡¯t happy. Larry held the door open, ¡°Come on in, man.¡±


    Cannon started to open his mouth, stopped and then said, ¡°My suit was the last, and I mean the last thing I expected to see here today.¡±


    He stepped around Larry, and started walking toward the workshop.


    Larry put his hand on Cannon¡¯s shoulder, and stepped in front of him. ¡°Wait a second. What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s my property in there. My design. My ideas. I¡¯m not leaving them with you.¡±


    Larry stared down at him, and didn¡¯t let go of the man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I don¡¯t want to hurt an old guy, but if you try to take the suit, I¡¯m going to deck you.¡±


    Cannon tried to pull away, but Larry didn¡¯t let go of his arm.


    Cannon exhaled. ¡°Ok. OK. I won¡¯t try to take it. Are you going to let go of my arm now?¡±


    Larry did.


    Cannon frowned and asked, ¡°I¡¯d like to take a look at what you did to it.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Come on.¡±


    They walked into the workshop, and Cannon groaned. ¡°Green. Why did you paint the damn thing green?¡±


    Shrugging, Larry said, ¡°It jumps.¡±


    Cannon walked up to it, and ran his hand across its metal skin. ¡°I thought I¡¯d blown the thing up. That annoyed me. I put a lot of work into it. I saw you were using the movement calculation tech. Wasn¡¯t that incredible? You can preprogram moves, and react at the speed of the computer. That¡¯s going to be the next big thing in powered armor.¡±


    Larry stepped over to the machine, standing next to the panel that opened the armor. ¡°It¡¯s still got some limitations.¡±


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    Nodding, Cannon walked around to the back. ¡°I know. The chips can¡¯t hold much, and they¡¯re still too slow. It was fun messing with them, but they¡¯re not really my thing. They¡¯re more Joe¡¯s, and he¡¯s not going to pass any my way.¡±


    ¡°Not likely,¡± Larry said. ¡°He¡¯s retired for real.¡±


    Cannon came around the Frog, and faced Larry. ¡°I heard the announcement, but I¡¯ve also seen him flying over the city a couple times since.¡±


    Larry held up his hands. ¡°You don¡¯t expect him to give up everything at once. The man likes to fly.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡± At the look on Larry¡¯s face, he continued. ¡°Dammit.¡±


    He took a breath. ¡°I¡¯ve been working on new armor. I want another shot at him.¡±


    ¡°What, and I¡¯m supposed to call him up, and set up a date? This isn¡¯t a game. People get hurt. Things blow up. Move on, man. You¡¯ve got your company. You¡¯ve got years to do other things. Hell, I¡¯ve seen you fight villains before. I¡¯m sure you can find a few with powered armor.¡±


    Cannon¡¯s voice became a growl. ¡°It¡¯s not the same. I¡¯ve lost to him for more than thirty years, and I¡¯m always going to be known as the second best man in powered armor. Damn, you should be feeling it more than I do. You were his sidekick, his shadow, the kid he bailed out of trouble.¡±


    Larry folded his hands over his chest. ¡°Well, I never thought of it that way. I always figured Joe was better, and he¡¯d stay better. I¡¯m just lucky to know him, you know?¡±


    Cannon turned his face away for a few seconds. Larry couldn¡¯t read his expression. Then with the smallest twitch of his head, he looked at Larry.


    ¡°I should go.¡± He stepped into the workshop¡¯s doorway. ¡°Tell him I¡¯m waiting. If he wants to go at it one last time, I¡¯ll be there.¡±


    ¡°He won¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Tell him.¡±


    Larry gave a brief smile. ¡°Sure, but don¡¯t get your hopes up.¡±


    Cannon stepped out of the workshop, and started walking toward the suite¡¯s front door.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Larry said, ¡°I gotta ask. Why are you on the island anyway?¡±


    Cannon¡¯s lip curled. ¡°Visiting a student.¡±


    ¡°Who? Rook?¡±


    ¡°That little psycho? No. Figure it out for yourself.¡± Without saying goodbye, Cannon stepped out of the suite¡¯s front door. ¡°Oh,¡± he said, turning back, ¡°you shouldn¡¯t have taken out the missile launchers or the artillery. That armor could have taken out a tank battalion when I owned it.¡±


    The door closed, and Larry thought about it. This entire section of hallway had been designated for people in armor. It could be anybody. Visiting a friend here would completely explain why Cannon had dropped by¡ªexcept¡­ Except his mind came back to the worst possibility, the one that explained how Cannon found him even better. He had connections in the administration who told him where Larry¡¯s suite was.


    Armory was his student.


    Larry rolled that sentence around in his mind. It felt more right, and worse the longer he thought about it. Worse, because even if Cannon wasn¡¯t trying to ruin his chances to talk with Armory, mentioning that he was here might do it.


    Not that Cannon would identify him publicly, the deal he had with Joe kept everyone¡¯s real identity out of it, but Armory wasn¡¯t the public.


    He needed to find Armory immediately, and he needed backup. Some, anyway. He hadn¡¯t really taken out the missiles or the artillery.


    But before he could do any of that, he needed to meet Cheryl.

 Enter the Larry: Part 12

    Walking quickly down the hall, he tried to remember how long it had been since he¡¯d talked to her. Hopefully she¡¯d wait five minutes¡ªif he¡¯d only talked to Cannon for five minutes. It might have gone longer.


    All that really mattered was that she hadn¡¯t spent enough time waiting for him to get bored and leave.


    He passed through the suites, and into the arena¡¯s halls. It wasn¡¯t like it had been the day before. The arena¡¯s halls were crowded with people talking, some of them carrying food and drink.


    Larry considered grabbing a beer, but didn¡¯t. The lines were too long.


    He walked out the front gate with a small crowd, pushing his way past another crowd that was walking in. With all the people passing through, he didn¡¯t see her until he walked off to the left. She stood next to the arena¡¯s wall, waiting next to a park bench in the shade of palm trees.


    She wore the most normal clothes he¡¯d yet seen her in¡ªjeans and a red and white striped shirt.


    As he stepped out of the crowd, she took off her sunglasses, and said, ¡°Glad you made it, but I¡¯ve got to admit, I was wondering if you¡¯d come.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sorry about that. A guy knocked on my door, and I couldn¡¯t get away from him very quickly.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°A fan? Some people won¡¯t leave you alone unless you call security. You¡¯ve got their number. You can call them. No one expects you to handle fans alone.¡±


    Larry shook his head. ¡°He¡¯s not a fan. I know the guy. I can¡¯t tell you who he is, but calling security on him would make a big mess.¡±


    She met his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for that for now. So, you wanted to know where to find the man who designed security¡¯s armor?¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± Larry tried to say it like he was just curious, and not like it mattered.


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    She glanced toward the people entering and leaving the arena, and asked, ¡°Do you mind if we walk this way?¡± She pointed down the sidewalk next to the building. With all the people walking toward the hotels or restaurants, almost no one seemed to be using it.


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± she said, and started walking calmly away. Larry moved quickly to keep up.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to tell you what you want either way, but I need to know something before I do. How much trouble am I going to get in if anyone finds out I told you? And before you answer, imagine that some of my bosses have connections with organized crime.¡±


    ¡°Ah, hell. I don¡¯t know your bosses, but it depends on how it goes. I just want to talk to the guy. If he takes it well, no big deal.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that¡¯s likely?¡±


    He knew she might be trying to play him, but if she wasn¡¯t, could he lie to her?


    He said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe we¡¯ll both get into our suits and start fighting.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the kind of thing I was worried about. I don¡¯t want to stay here if that happens.¡±


    Larry nodded. ¡°I can see that. We¡¯ve got a plane.¡±


    ¡°If they let you take off.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll work out. I¡¯ve got a backup plan.¡±


    She looked up at him. ¡°You¡¯ve got another way off the island? Good. I want to go with you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯d leave your job.¡±


    ¡°This job? Where I¡¯m eye candy for supervillains and carry a can of mace for protection? I¡¯m not.¡±


    ¡°Got it. Look, I can¡¯t tell you much more, and I need to hurry. So¡ª¡°


    ¡°His name is Len Jones, and he¡¯s got his own suite in the arena. It¡¯s right next to security¡¯s suite.¡±


    Larry stopped walking. ¡°Ok. If you¡¯re coming with us, we¡¯ve got to get back to the suite. I don¡¯t know if you need to pack, but if things go badly, you¡¯re not going to get the chance.¡±


    Cheryl held up her purse. ¡°I¡¯ve got everything that matters already. The rest is just stuff.¡±


    ¡°Ok, then let¡¯s go to my suite. I¡¯ve got to introduce you to a couple guys.¡±


    * * *


    Half an hour later, Larry had taken the Frog all the way around the arena through one of the big tunnels meant for powered armor. It was just like the others¡ªdark, with a metal floor, and without decoration except for support beams.


    Len Jones¡¯ suite had a workshop next to it. The workshop¡¯s double doors were completely open. Larry didn¡¯t even see that there had been doors until he drove the Frog inside, and noticed the gap where they¡¯d slid into the walls.


    Once inside, he parked the Frog next to another set of powered armor. He guessed he could see at least twenty recognizable security suits, and even more scattered sections. Better, he saw Armory¡¯s own suit.


    It sat there with the rest¡ªbronze colored with a green chestplate, and a sword on its back. Larry knew it contained many more weapons than that.


    He clicked, and the Frog suit opened. He stepped out, and walked to the nearest door¡ªthe one that went into Len¡¯s personal suite.


    Then Larry knocked.

 Enter the Larry: Part 13

    A man opened the door. He didn¡¯t give Larry the impression of being a brilliant inventor, superhero, or villain.


    Len¡¯s combover was painfully obvious, and his small moustache reminded Larry of Hitler¡¯s. It was wider, but had a similar look. Larry pegged the man as being in his mid-thirties, and guessed that his clothes dated from the late 70¡¯s. His shirt¡¯s collar seemed a little too wide.


    Len looked up at Larry, and tried to close the door.


    Larry didn¡¯t let it shut. He put his foot in and pushed forward, stepping into the room.


    Len¡¯s room was a bigger version of Larry¡¯s suite¡ªexcept Len¡¯s main room included a hot tub. Plus, a significant part of Len¡¯s workshop had migrated inside. Most flat surfaces held tools. A mech¡¯s arm lay across the coffee table.


    Len let go of the door as Larry pushed his way in, beginning to turn, and probably to run. Larry grabbed his arm.


    ¡°Hey Len, what¡¯s with the running? It¡¯s me, the Rhino. We fought on the same side a couple times.¡±


    Len stopped struggling, and looked up. ¡°Rhino? I didn¡¯t recognize you. How are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Not bad. Not bad, man. I do need to talk with you though.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Why?¡± He looked down at his arm. Larry still hung on to it.


    ¡°People have been noticing your armor in a lot of places¡ªhere, on supervillains in Chicago, and a couple other spots. Some people who talked to me would like you to be choosier about who you sell this stuff to.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Len¡¯s voice became louder, and he stopped looking at Larry¡¯s hand. ¡°Is that what this is really about? You¡¯re here to tell me what to do?¡±


    He pulled away, and Larry let him.


    Face red and hands balled up in fists, Len stood on the beige carpet. ¡°That¡¯s what I hate about you guys. You get so fixated on doing the right thing that you won¡¯t let the rest of us make our own decisions. Who made the armor? Me. Who designed it? Me. You know who should decide who uses it? Me!¡±


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    Larry took a breath. ¡°No one¡¯s going to have a problem if you sell it to the government or the police, but seriously, the last I heard, you sold armor to the mob. They kill people. If you provide them with armor that helps them do it, you could go to jail.¡±


    ¡°Are you going to take me there?¡±


    ¡°Not planning to. All I¡¯m here to do is tell you that you gotta stop selling people like that armor. I bet people won¡¯t even be bugged if you provide the security team here with armor. They¡¯re keeping the peace, right? It¡¯s when you start selling it to guys without morals that people get unhappy. If you keep on doing it, you¡¯re going to wake up to find half the Defenders knocking chunks out of your wall. You don¡¯t need that.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right, I don¡¯t.¡± Len had backed further into the room while they talked, and stood next to the dark, wooden coffee table. He reached down and picked up the arm, and stuck his hand inside.


    Blades extended from the fingers.


    Larry took a step back. His flight suit acted as armor, but it didn¡¯t do very well against blades.


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Larry said, ¡°I¡¯m not threatening you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Len said, ¡°you¡¯re not. I¡¯m threatening you!¡±


    He twitched his arm, and the inside of his armored forearm bristled with spikes. ¡°Now get out, or I shoot you.¡±


    A spike fired, flying over Larry¡¯s head, and embedding in the ceiling.


    Larry backed a few more steps. ¡°Nice idea,¡± he said as he felt behind himself for the door. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have thought to give individual sections of your armor their own power sources.¡±


    Len raised the arm in his direction as Larry touched the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped back into the workshop. As much as he didn¡¯t want to give Len the idea that he was afraid, he also thought that the sooner he got inside his suit, the better.


    He ran.


    He touched his hand to the access panel. The suit recognized his handprint, and opened up. As he stepped inside, red lights began blinking everywhere. A siren began wailing.


    Larry felt pretty sure he knew why. It was still annoying though. If Len had let him leave, that would have been the end of it.


    Now he was going to have to fight.


    The Frog suit closed, and messages ran up the HUD. Except for a few minor issues, all the suit¡¯s systems were showing green. Better, the suit¡¯s radar didn¡¯t show security coming. He was sure that would change.


    The suit did, however, start evaluating everything in the room, labeling powered armor, weapons, energy sources.


    With an Armory suit, and at least twenty spare security suits nearby, Larry knew his first step. He loaded three mini-missiles, and launched them, firing one at the Armory suit, and the other two at clusters of security suits.


    The explosions filled the room with painfully bright light, and sound.


    Larry aimed the Frog toward the hallway, knowing that if security wasn¡¯t coming for him before, they were now.

 Enter the Larry: Part 14

    Bounding through the doorway and into hall, Larry kept control of the suit, stopping from sliding across the concrete floor. The Frog suit¡¯s claws left scratches, but Larry doubted that anyone would care.


    Assuming he survived and got away, the worst the arena¡¯s management could do would be refusing to return his room deposit.


    He accelerated and the Frog suit moved, lifting a few feet into the air with every leap. Larry kept it at a steady pace, expecting to face the security team at any time.


    They didn¡¯t appear.


    He met up with Alexis a few hallways down. Alexis wore his armor¡ªred, white and blue. It could have passed for a odd version of the Rocket suit except that most of the chest was red with a single white star. Blue and white stripes alternated to the right of the red section.


    Alexis said, ¡°I expected them to be chasing you by now.¡±


    ¡°Me too. I guess they must be planning an ambush.¡±


    ¡°And how is the Cuban revolution¡¯s newest armor designer?¡±


    ¡°Alive, last I saw him. Kind of angry though.¡±


    Alexis nodded, his blue and white helmet moving. ¡°He gave that impression when our people talked to him.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? Well what do you think? Direct to the plane, or should we try to be tricky?¡±


    ¡°Try the unexpected.¡±


    ¡°Thought you might say that. Let¡¯s try going up.¡±


    Alexis laughed. ¡°That will surprise them. Over there?¡±


    He pointed toward a spot on the ceiling twenty feet away.


    As Larry said, ¡°Sure,¡± Alexis aimed his arms at the spot, and two deep thumping noises came from his armor. Almost at the same time his arms jerked and a section of the ceiling fell into the hall.


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    In two long strides, Alexis closed the distance, and jumped through the hole. Larry followed, landing just behind him.


    They were in the arena, not too far from where Larry had entered for his fight. It looked different though.


    Except for the people lining up in the aisles and walking down the stairs, the stands were empty. Red emergency lights flashed near the exits.


    A voice over the arena¡¯s sound system was saying, ¡°Please move carefully toward the exits. This is not a drill. There is some kind of disturbance on the lower level of the arena. It¡¯s our hope that it will be resolved quickly so that the games can¡ª¡°


    Another voice in the background said, ¡°Look!¡±


    ¡°What? Oh. Two people seem to have entered the arena through a hole in the floor¡ª¡±


    Larry said, ¡°Across the arena, and then out.¡±


    ¡°A good enough plan. Security is likely downstairs.¡±


    Larry stepped forward. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    They went, crossing the arena more quickly than they would have if they¡¯d used the halls. They reached the far end of the arena.


    Larry jumped off the main floor, and into the stands. Alexis jumped at almost the same time, landing next to him.


    Larry noticed the nearest exit, a stairway that led down to the main hall where all the people and food vendors would be. He turned to Alexis. ¡°Can you think of any way out that won¡¯t lead us through the crowd?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Alexis said. ¡°But only if we break through to the outer wall, and follow that back to our rooms.¡±


    ¡°And in order to do that,¡± Larry said, ¡°we¡¯d have to push through the crowds here anyway. Plus everyone¡¯s got to be watching that way back.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Alexis began, but the sound of a crash interrupted him. It came from the arena. Larry twisted around to look.


    Several figures stood in the middle of the arena. They¡¯d just climbed out of a hole, an even larger one than Alexis had made.


    The suit¡¯s HUD labeled several of them ¡°Unknown Powered Armor,¡± but labeled one of them ¡°Armory.¡± Larry zoomed in on that one. The armor was right. He recognized the armor.


    Worse, he recognized the sooty mark on the front of the armor. That was where he¡¯d hit with a mini-missile. That wasn¡¯t good news. He hoped the mark meant that he¡¯d done an enormous amount of hard to see damage. Otherwise it meant the mini-missile had done minimal damage, and the missiles he still had weren¡¯t going to do much.


    ¡°Let¡¯s try the stairs,¡± he said.


    They went down the stairs five or six steps at a time, reaching the hall seconds later.


    It wasn¡¯t empty. People walked down the hall, all of them seeming to come from deeper inside the arena.


    They backed up as they saw the Frog suit and Alexis¡¯ armor. Larry decided he didn¡¯t have time to hesitate, and ran for the door that lead to the suites¡ªthe hallway for people, not mechs. It was the same color as the wall, but he knew where it was now.


    He smashed it in.


    Behind him came the noise of heavy boots hitting the the stairway. He wondered how close Armory was.

 Enter the Larry: Part 15

    The beauty of the panoramic view in his helmet was that he didn¡¯t have to turn around to check¡ªjust let his eyes dart to the edges of the screen. He didn¡¯t see anyone, and decided not to wait. Having your enemies too far behind you to see them was a good thing.


    At the moment he stepped inside the hall, he did see them¡ªa security guy followed by one of the black and white striped referees.


    He¡¯d suspected that the ref models were more than just protection, and hoped that Armory hadn¡¯t put as much work into them as he had in his own suit. Otherwise this might be a short fight.


    He took a few steps down the hall, Alexis close behind him.


    ¡°Turn!¡± Alexis said, and whipped around, assisted by the jets built into his armor¡¯s arms and legs. The Frog suit didn¡¯t let Larry turn as quickly, but he came around as the person in security armor stepped through the door.


    Each of Alexis armor¡¯s arms made popping noises, and the security armor fell backward into the ref. Larry hit them both with the black goo, covering them and sticking them to the armor, and the doorway.


    Then they turned around, the Frog suit leaping while Alexis ran, occasionally pushed forward by a burst of air.


    ¡°Exactly as I¡¯d hoped,¡± Alexis said.


    ¡°Yeah, except I don¡¯t have any more of the goo. Can¡¯t do it again.¡±


    ¡°No matter. This gives us a little time.¡±


    Behind them came the noise of pounding, pulling, and swearing. Getting the men out without hurting them or getting stuck to them would be a challenge. Larry wondered how long it would take before they took the obvious solution, and ripped a hole in the wall next to the door.


    From the pounding, it might be sooner than he wanted.


    Larry and Alexis made it to the suite quickly, pushing the door out of its frame.


    Isaac and Cheryl weren¡¯t there. That end of the plan had worked out. They had only one thing to do there. Larry asked Alexis, ¡°Did you get everything out of your room?¡±


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    ¡°I didn¡¯t bring anything I couldn¡¯t lose.¡±


    ¡°Well, if Lim did his job, you¡¯re about to.¡±


    They walked through the suite, through the workshop, and into the vehicle access hallway on the other side. They walked twenty feet down the hall, and Larry sent the signal that activated the bombs.


    Explosions wracked the rooms, and the door blew apart, flooding the hallway with smoke. Flame lit the hall.


    After a moment, the fire alarms began to ring in addition to the other alarms, followed by the sprinklers. Water hit the floor, puddling in corners.


    ¡°Well, only two things left on the list,¡± Larry said.


    Then he fired off a barrage of missiles toward a spot further down the wall, exploding, and ripping a hole in the metal. Larry reached out with the Frog suit, ripped it further, and jumped out. He landed, crushing some flowers, and missing a palm tree by only a few feet.


    Alexis flew out, and landed next to him.


    ¡°Alright, the hangar¡¯s next.¡±


    He could see the building. It was on the edge of the jungle. Hotels and palm trees hid most of it, but he could see the hangar¡¯s shiny, metal roof. They just had to get there, and they could leave. With any luck, Lim would have the plane ready. It didn¡¯t seem likely that he¡¯d have problems. It hadn¡¯t been hard to guess what would happen if Armory called for help. They¡¯d try to catch him on the way out. They¡¯d block the passageways that vehicles used, and they¡¯d block his way to the hangar if they could.


    That was why he¡¯d hurried out.


    Now all he had to worry about was if any of the powered contestants tried to help. He doubted they would. They weren¡¯t here to do law enforcement. He figured he only had to worry if one of the contestants had a grudge.


    It wasn¡¯t that likely, but it was possible.


    And anyway, the dice were cast. Now it was time to find out what came up. He leapt forward, taking forty foot jumps. It wasn¡¯t as fast as his regular armor, the Rhino suit, but it wasn¡¯t bad.


    The hangars stood in a row alongside the runway, all of them wide, white buildings with curved roofs. The other side of the runway held only palm trees, bushes and grass.


    His first sense that something might be wrong came when he noticed that Lim¡¯s DC-3 wasn¡¯t out on the runway. While Lim might have chosen not to make it obvious that they were leaving, that wasn¡¯t the plan.


    Larry and Alexis stood alongside the far wall of the next hangar over, leaning so only the edge of the helmet had the potential to be seen. Zooming in, he saw that Lim stood next to Cheryl near the front of the hangar. The plane¡¯s nose stuck out a little onto the runway.


    Unfortunately,they weren¡¯t alone. A man in a black suit stood next to them. He was shorter than Lim, a little overweight, but obviously someone who cared about his appearance. He could have passed for a wealthy businessman even though his lumpy nose appeared to have been broken and healed more than once.


    ¡°Dammit,¡± Larry muttered.


    Alexis said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a man with them¡ªNeil Sloan. He¡¯s a specialist in elemental magic, and he¡¯s particularly good with earth elementals.¡±

 Enter the Larry: Part 16

    Larry zoomed in on Lim¡¯s feet, and realized why Lim and Cheryl hadn¡¯t run away. Their feet were surrounded by the concrete.


    He supposed that qualified as earth somehow. Could be elementals weren¡¯t fussy about the difference. He shook his head. It didn¡¯t matter. What mattered was that Lim and Cheryl were hostages until he took Sloan down.


    He was about to tell Alexis more when a deep voice from behind them said, ¡°Rhino. Come down to the hangar, and bring your friend.¡±


    Larry checked the helmet screen. The creature behind him appeared to be made of concrete, and vaguely human-shaped.


    As he watched, it sank into the sidewalk next to the hangar, leaving an odd indentation that reminded him of a face.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve got a choice. We¡¯d better go.¡±


    Talking softly, Alexis asked, ¡°Are you sure? I might be able to come at him from above before he even knew it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure the ground¡¯s got ears. I doubt we¡¯d get away with it.¡±


    Alexis, or at least his helmet, angled toward the indentation in the sidewalk. ¡°A good point.¡±


    They started walking. Larry didn¡¯t stop, but he didn¡¯t hurry either. He figured as long has he moved steadily forward Sloan wouldn¡¯t complain.


    Larry wondered if that would give him enough time to think of a way out of it. It didn¡¯t take much to guess that Sloan would try to get them to surrender¡ªor step out of their armor¡ªwhich was basically the same thing. He tried to think of something to do, but nothing was coming.


    He thought about what he knew about Sloan. The guy hadn¡¯t been trained as a wizard. He¡¯d found a book and trained himself. Last time they¡¯d met, Larry had caught hints that Sloan had made a supernatural deal that had gone wrong. He wished he knew details.


    There had to be some way to use that.


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    And then they were at the hangar.


    They''d crossed the distance, coming to a stop when Sloan held up his left hand (with a flourish). ¡°No further!¡± It reminded Larry of stage magicians he¡¯d seen. All Sloan needed was a hat, an infinite number of scarves, and an assistant.


    ¡°Sure, Sloan. Been a while.¡±


    ¡°Rhino.¡± Sloan¡¯s voice sounded less impressive when it came from his mouth than when an earth elemental used it. It wasn¡¯t nearly as deep, for one. ¡°Before you try to attack me,¡± Sloan continued. ¡°Take a look at your plane.¡±


    Larry turned turned his attention to the DC-3. Something had ripped it in half just behind the wings. The body of the plane had been stretched in a way that reminded him of chewing gum.


    ¡°Huh,¡± Larry said. ¡°I always thought it needed a little more leg room. Can¡¯t say I like how it¡¯s in two pieces though.¡±


    Sloan frowned. ¡°You¡¯re less funny than you think you are.¡±


    ¡°I guess so. Hey, sacrifice any kids to volcanos lately? I never understood what was going on with that.¡±


    Sloan¡¯s frown deepened into a grimace. He showed teeth.


    ¡°Seriously,¡± Larry said, ¡°an entire school bus of kids. Did you need the rest of them in case you missed with the first one?¡±


    A humanoid form began to grow out of the runway, not stopping until it was twice the height of the Frog suit. Chunks of black tar made up the body, mixed with gray rocks, concrete, and brown dirt.


    Over a cracking sound mixed with a strange slurping noise, Sloan shouted, ¡°You have no idea what you ruined that day, you idiot!¡±


    ¡°Yeah? Was it you gaining complete control over a volcano that would have allowed you to threaten most of the Northwest? Because I¡¯m against that.¡±


    The earth elemental punched him, striking so quickly that it knocked Larry and the Frog suit backward. They flipped three times, ending up on the other side of the runway, next to a stand of palm trees.


    Larry shook his head. He¡¯d remembered one thing about Sloan. The mage could only control one elemental and its abilities at a time¡ªwhich meant that if it was fighting him, Sloan couldn¡¯t do much else.


    With any luck, somebody would think of something while he was fighting. Preferably before the elemental killed him.


    Larry clicked, and the Frog suit righted itself. Even as it did, the elemental loomed, punching again. This time, the suit hit the stand of trees, cracking bark and causing the helmet¡¯s HUD to blink.


    Larry clicked a button, and the suit righted itself a second time. This time, he made it leap sideways almost instantly, moving as the elemental¡¯s fist hit the tree behind him.


    It shattered and fell over onto the runway. Larry landed twenty feet to the right of the elemental. Not waiting for its response, he fired off a missile at it.


    The missile hit the elemental on its side. Rocks, dirt, and bits of concrete flew everywhere, some of them hitting Larry¡¯s armor.


    It didn¡¯t take the elemental out, though. It roared in pain, and leapt toward him.


    Larry didn¡¯t like his odds.

 Enter the Larry: Part 17

    Before he could move out of the way, it pummeled the armor again.


    Warning messages rolled across the bottom of the HUD while the armor slid down the runway. Larry decided he didn¡¯t want to get hit like that again¡ªnot when he knew Armory and half of Metafight Games¡¯ security team was on its way. He set the suit to stand upright and jump backwards, further down the runway.


    It did, moving too quickly for the elemental to hit.


    The creature¡¯s punch plowed into the tarmac, and lost its balance. That at least was the same as last time. It was strong and fast, but not light on its feet.


    And that was good. It made the Frog suit almost the perfect suit to fight it. Well, except that the Rhino suit had more protection, and sheer power. He could have used some of that.


    He fired off a grenade.


    The explosion enveloped the entire creature for a moment. As the fire and smoke cleared, the earth elemental stood, and gave itself a shake. Bits of the asphalt on its body smoldered, producing thin, wispy smoke.


    Its eyeless face stared at Larry. Then it bent over. For a second, Larry thought it might fall, but it didn¡¯t. It stuck its hand into the runway, pulling a line of black out of the asphalt. It pulled its hand back over its head. The line curled over its head like a whip.


    Larry set the suit to jump. Two jumps later, he stood behind it. As the elemental began to turn, he fired another missile at it. The missile exploded. Larry hadn¡¯t expected to take it out, and he didn¡¯t. More rock and dirt exploded outward, and it fell over.


    The asphalt whip swung sideways, hitting the ground.


    Larry let another missile, one of the heavy duty ones, fly as the earth elemental began to pull itself up. The missile hit the creature¡¯s right arm, shattering it. Chunks of concrete scattered across the runway. The elemental¡¯s body hit the ground again, landing next to its hand¡ªwhich still held the end of the whip.


    Larry fired two more missiles, not sure he could hope that he¡¯d really be able to destroy it. He hadn¡¯t destroyed it last time around. In the heat of the fight, he¡¯d knocked out Sloan, causing him to lose control of the elemental, allowing it to do whatever it wanted to do. It had wanted to hurry up Mt. Saint Helens¡¯ eruption.


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    Better to destroy it if he could. He didn¡¯t think this island had been formed by an eruption, but it wasn¡¯t something he wanted to be wrong about.


    Despite its namesake, the Frog suit didn¡¯t do very well in water.


    When the brightness of the missile¡¯s explosions faded, Larry saw the elemental¡¯s remains. Nothing larger than a softball had stayed connected.


    Damn, Larry thought, he didn¡¯t expect to win¡ªnot that easily for sure, and not without help from Alexis.


    Where was Alexis? It took a moment, but he found him. Alexis was in the air fighting what appeared to be a cloud¡ªa roiling cloud the size of a small house.


    An air elemental, Larry guessed. He hadn¡¯t thought Sloan could control more than one at a time. That wasn¡¯t good news.


    On the other hand Alexis seemed to be doing more than holding his own. As Larry watched, Alexis punched one hole and then another directly through the cloud with the guns under his arms.


    The cloud contracted into itself as Alexis continued to fire, but when Alexis shot another hole straight through the middle of it, the cloud dissolved, fading into grey wisps, and reforming over the trees.


    Larry took a leap, and landed in front of the hangar. Sloan took a look at him, and ran out the hangar¡¯s back door. Larry thought about giving chase, but decided not to. What would he do if he caught the guy? It wasn¡¯t as if there were police to hand him over to.


    He turned toward Lim and Cheryl. Their feet were still encased in concrete.


    He thought about that. Hit too close to their feet, and he might crush them¡ªtoo far away, and he wouldn¡¯t do any good.


    Raising Frog suit¡¯s arm, he aimed a blow at the floor near Lim¡¯s feet. Lim managed to get out, ¡°Are you sure¡ª¡° before Larry hit the floor.


    A spiderweb of cracks appeared in the concrete, and before Lim could say anything else, Larry hit the floor near Cheryl.


    After a little more work, they were out.


    Cheryl laughed, looking down at her tennis shoes. They were gray with concrete dust. ¡°I¡¯m so glad I took off the heels. They¡¯d still be stuck in there.¡±


    Lim frowned. Nodding toward the plane¡¯s pieces, he said, ¡°You had a backup way to get out of here? We¡¯re going to need it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Larry said. He used the League¡¯s distress call, sending a red alert. Best case scenario, Joe would pick them up with the League jet. Worst case, Guardian would open a portal home and he¡¯d have to put up with snide remarks for a while.


    Larry let the signal continue, but turned off the beeping. ¡°Alright, I sent it. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be here soon. As long as you guys are near me, you¡¯ll be fine. The League will be homing in on me.¡±


    Lim said, ¡°The League?¡±


    When Larry just nodded, he said, ¡°How long do we have to wait?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, man. Probably ten minutes. The Rocket told me that somebody would be prepped to go, but it could be anybody.¡±


    ¡°Ten minutes?¡± Isaac took a breath. ¡°I hope we can make it that long.¡±


    ¡°I think we¡¯ve got a good chance,¡± Larry said.


    ¡°Rhino!¡±


    Larry recognized Alexis¡¯ voice, and looked toward the hangar¡¯s wide doorway. Alexis stared out at the runway, and Larry followed his gaze.


    The earth elemental was reforming. Shattered stone mixed with asphalt from the runway, growing larger moment by moment.

 Enter the Larry: Part 18

    It was bigger than before, and creepier by far. Before it had been a mixture of dirt, rock, concrete, and asphalt. Now it was almost entirely asphalt with bits of the other materials mixed in, but that wasn¡¯t the creepy part.


    Before had been shaped like a humanoid. Now its legs and arms had been replaced with tentacles of asphalt. Its face was still shaped roughly like a human¡¯s, but when Larry zoomed in, he saw that even its face was now made of thousands of slender asphalt threads. It writhed, and moved.


    It looked like something that ought to be on the cover of an H.P. Lovecraft book. Larry took a picture with the suit¡¯s camera. Joe would probably know a wizard who¡¯d want to see it.


    Underneath it, the the runway had been stripped to the dirt in some spots, and was looking thin everywhere nearby.


    As Larry checked it over, the thing stopped and screamed into the air. Its voice wailed at several discordant pitches simultaneously. Then it struck at something in the air above the hangar. Being inside, he couldn¡¯t see what, but he guessed it had to be Alexis. He didn¡¯t hear any impact. That was good news.


    Confirming his suspicion, he heard a series of popping noises¡ªAlexis¡¯ guns.


    ¡°I¡¯m going back out. If you see it come in here, run.¡±


    Larry didn¡¯t wait for an answer. He took a few steps, and jumped, flying through the air, and then landing sixty feet down the runway. The tarmac seemed almost normal there.


    Larry let fly with another missile. It hit the earth elemental in the back, exploding, but not quite having the effect he hoped. Bits of asphalt did spray out of it, but it stayed together. A divot appeared in the spot where the missile hit, but even that began to fill. He wasn¡¯t sure how at first.


    It screamed another horrible discordant noise, painfully high, and low enough that he could feel the vibrations in his chest at the same time.


    It turned its head, and its empty, writhing eye sockets stared at him.


    Larry waited for it to move, but didn¡¯t wait long. It leapt toward him, its tentacles absorbing bits of the runway as it ran. The divot his missile made disappeared as little bits of blacktop migrated up into the hole.


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    He jumped again, letting the Frog suit fire missiles as he flew through the air. He wasn¡¯t alone either. As he flew, Alexis¡¯ guns fired, hitting the creature in the shoulder and head, distorting its face as pieces of blacktop scattered.


    Larry landed on the other side of the last hangar on the runway. He¡¯d figured something out. It was easier to blow pieces out of the thing now. It was also easier for the thing to repair itself, but if he filled the damn thing full of missiles, maybe he could blow it all apart at once?


    He wouldn¡¯t have many missiles left, but all he had to do was make it last ten minutes. The only thing that bothered him about the idea was Armory. If he showed up with security, Larry would need all the missiles he could get. On the other hand, did he want to be dead, but have a lot of missiles?


    The earth elemental whirled. The tentacles it now had instead of arms struck, catching Alexis¡¯ armor, and throwing him into the jungle on the other side of the runway.


    He didn¡¯t reappear.


    Then the elemental took two huge steps¡ªand stopped, standing directly in front of the last hangar.


    Larry only barely stopped himself from opening up with the missiles. Wasn¡¯t this what he¡¯d been waiting for? It was, but he¡¯d had time to notice something else.


    Jungle rose on one side of the runway, and the hangars, the arena, and island¡¯s hotels and restaurants stood on the other. Security had come. Three of them stood in the open area between the hangar and the runway. More stood further, pointing their right arms in his direction.


    He wondered what sort of weapons hung under their arms, but didn¡¯t want to find out.


    Then one of them started talking. ¡°Rhino, we have you surrounded. Walk back to the hangar with your plane.¡±


    ¡°Sure, man. What about my friend? Your elemental knocked him into the jungle, you know? He¡¯s right over there.¡± Larry pointed into the jungle where he thought he¡¯d seen Alexis suit fall.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have orders for your friend. Walk to the hangar, and you¡¯ll be able to bring it up then.¡±


    ¡°Hey, he could be dying. That thing hits pretty hard. Plus, my friend¡¯s some kind of national hero in Cuba, and they¡¯re not far away. Do you want to be on their bad side?¡±


    The security guys didn¡¯t say anything, waving him toward the hangar.


    Telling himself that Alexis was probably fine, Larry started walking. Ten minutes, he thought. A lot of things could change in ten minutes.


    He walked past the earth elemental. It didn¡¯t even move until he passed it. Then it turned around. He heard the thumps as the weight of its tentacles touched the dirt, and what was left of the runway.


    More security men, Armory, and Sloan lead Lim, and Cheryl out of the hangar. From the fact that they hadn¡¯t said anything about it, Larry guessed that they didn¡¯t know Lim was an FBI agent. He didn¡¯t know what good it would do, but they might be surprised.


    In the meantime, he decided he¡¯d try to raise Alexis over his suit¡¯s radio.

 Enter the Larry: Part 19

    Armory met them in front of the hangar. He had Lim and Cheryl with him, each one guarded by a security guard in armor.


    More armored security guards stood around Armory, all of them in silver except for a couple whose armor had referee stripes on the top. Larry wondered what it would be like to be those guys¡ªdealing with a real security problem while dressed to manage a game.


    Standing behind all of them, Neil Sloan stood just to the side of the hangar. Larry mentally marked the spot, and checked his helmet¡¯s panoramic vision of his surroundings. The earth elemental had followed him and stood behind him on the runway. It wasn¡¯t close, but it was close enough to strike if it came to that.


    So basically Armory had taken hostages to encourage his good behavior¡ªexcept he didn¡¯t realize that all Larry had to do to even the odds was wait. He had six minutes before the Rocket showed up. He could figure out a way to kill six minutes.


    He turned on the radio. It was already set to the frequency, he¡¯d used to talk to Alexis on the moon. Killing the external speakers, he said, ¡°Alexis, how are you doing?¡±


    ¡°I am feeling better. My armor protected me. Do you need me to target Armory or the brujo?¡±


    Not moving at all, Larry said, ¡°Not yet. I¡¯m thinking all we have to do is stall for a few minutes. After that we¡¯ll either blow this pop stand, or be in the middle of a big fight. If a fight breaks out, take out anyone you can, but warn me before you take out the bru¡­ That¡¯s Sloan, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    A new voice broke in¡ªLen¡¯s¡ªamplified by his Armory suit. ¡°Thought you¡¯d have a few more words for me, Rhino. You had a lot more to say earlier.¡±


    Larry said, ¡°I was saving them up. Didn¡¯t want to use them all at once.¡±


    Armory turned toward him, and the Frog suit¡¯s HUD pointed out that areas all over Len¡¯s powered armor were heating up¡ªnot instantly to dangerous levels, but obviously weapons were ready.


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    ¡°Do you have anything else to say? Because I¡¯m feeling a lot better now. I think it¡¯s clear now who gets to use my technology¡ªanyone who pays the price. Tell that to the people who sent you, and stay out of my way.¡±


    Not for the first time, Larry noted that Len was a lot nicer when he thought he was winning.


    Larry nodded, letting the Frog suit move enough to duplicate his motion. ¡°Great. I¡¯ve got your message. I¡¯ll be happy to bring it back. We¡¯ve got a little problem though. It looks like your people trashed our plane. Any of you want to give us a lift home? Otherwise we¡¯re stuck here, and we won¡¯t have anything to do but watch the fights, drink and make trouble.¡±


    He didn¡¯t expect Armory to actually help, but it¡¯d be funny to watch him work out his answer.


    Armory eyed him, lowering his helmet to make eye contact. ¡°I¡¯m sure we can find a way get you off the island-even if you have to swim.¡±


    The nearest security guard said, ¡°Sir, headquarters says that the rest of them can go free, but Cheryl has to stay.¡±


    Cheryl said, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°And,¡± the guard continued, ¡°we¡¯re supposed to bring her back to the arena now, sir.¡±


    The guard next to her grabbed her arm, as she said, ¡°Hey, Ron, is that you in there? Dammit, I know you. You know this place is connected to the mob. What do you think they''re going to do if you bring me back there?¡±


    The guard didn¡¯t say anything.


    Armory said, ¡°What are they going to do with her?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, sir, but I have to bring her back now.¡±


    Armory turned his armor¡¯s helmet toward the guard in a way that would have been comical if it had happened any other time.


    The guard pulled Cheryl to the side of his armor, saying, ¡°I have to go, sir.¡±


    Cheryl turned her head toward Larry. ¡°Are you going to do something?¡±


    Over his radio, Larry said, ¡°If you¡¯ve got the shot, take the shot. Brujo, Armory, whatever.¡±


    From the jungle came the sound of two simultaneous thumping noises. Armory fell, landing on his back. Sloan pitched forward, landing on his face, his legs flying out from under him.


    Larry jumped forward, landing in front of the guard carrying Cheryl, and grabbing his helmet. Then he squeezed.


    The guard let go of her immediately, and she fell to the ground.


    Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the guard still holding Lim¡¯s arm. Lim had enough freedom of movement to pull a gun out of his jacket. It wasn¡¯t a normal gun either. Silver with a cigar shaped barrel, it looked a ray gun from an old science fiction movie.


    He pointed it at the guard¡¯s leg, pulled the trigger, and the metal turned to dust.

 Enter the Larry: Part 20

    The security guard¡¯s helmet tipped downward toward his leg. It was completely exposed from the front, displaying his brown jump suit. A pile of sparkling dust lay around his foot.


    Lim aimed the gun toward the guard¡¯s helmet, and the man pushed him backward and ran away. Lim landed on his back, but didn¡¯t drop the gun. He kept it pointing upward at the security guards, not firing, but ready.


    Larry, meanwhile had a security guard¡¯s helmet in the Frog suit¡¯s front claw. Since the guy had dropped Cheryl, he didn¡¯t see any reason to keep hold, so he let go of the helmet, punching the guard¡¯s armor in the abdomen at about the same time. The guard slid across the runway, and into the hangar¡¯s open door.


    Normally that would have been a mistake. By freeing Cheryl, he¡¯d arguably challenged all of the security guards, but they weren¡¯t paying any attention.


    Armory pulled himself off the asphalt where Alexis¡¯ shot had left him. He pulled himself up, but faced the spot where Larry had been standing before Alexis took his shots.


    Larry knew he hadn¡¯t turned invisible. He followed Armory¡¯s gaze on the screen, and realized it was worse than he¡¯d imagined.


    The earth elemental had grown even more, and it wasn¡¯t standing patiently as Sloan had ordered it to.


    It had completely absorbed every bit of the runway in its reach in addition to the brown dirt around it. The creature¡¯s tentacles extended into the ground, and were growing thicker.


    Larry searched his screen for Sloan. The wizard lay unconscious on the ground, so it wasn¡¯t under his control. He tried to remember what earth elementals wanted when they weren¡¯t being controlled by sorcerers.


    He couldn¡¯t think of anything in particular. The last time he¡¯s seen an earth elemental follow its own desires, it had set off a volcano for fun.


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    ¡°Hey Armory,¡± he shouted. ¡°I¡¯ve got a bad feeling about this. Truce?¡±


    Armory only said, ¡°What, are you scared? It¡¯ll fall apart without Sloan. Magic never lasts.¡±


    That was when the second earth elemental came out of the ground. It appeared out of the dirt next to the first, but it was only nine feet tall.


    The third and fourth appeared immediately after it, all of them reddish brown with bits of grey rock.


    Larry said, ¡°Yeah?¡±


    A security guard screamed and began to run away, each footfall sinking deeply into the dirt. He got past the hangars, and hesitated as he began to run past where the elementals were growing out the dirt.


    Larry wanted to shout at him, but before he could, hands reached out of the soil, and yanked the guard into the earth, power armor and all.


    Armory held his arms parallel to the ground, and guns popped out. Larry counted at least four per arm.


    Then Armory shouted, ¡°No more running. Every one of you fires at the elementals!¡±


    It looked good at first. The security guards opened up their armors¡¯ forearms exactly the same way Armory had. At some unseen signal, they opened fire.


    The sound of automatic weapons and the brightness of the explosions overpowered everything else. They were so loud that the screams weren¡¯t obvious at first. Grenades blew pieces off the smaller elementals. Bullets tore chunks out of them.


    Larry stood to the side of the main group, partly because he thought he might get a better view, partly because he wanted to be out of easy reach if Armory won.


    He launched a missile toward the largest earth elemental¡¯s torso. Amid all the other explosions, it didn¡¯t seem to have any special effect, but it did blow a small hole in the creature¡¯s asphalt body.


    Deciding to move to a better vantage point, he began to lift up his leg¡ªonly to find out that not only wasn¡¯t it lifting, but he was sinking.


    He didn¡¯t hesitate, he shot a missile into the ground near his feet.


    The explosion blew him a few feet backward. Errors and damage reports ran across the bottom of the HUD, but he could move.


    Armory¡¯s team wasn¡¯t so lucky. From what Larry could see at least half of them had been sucked into the ground. Armory himself fought hands that had grabbed his ankles.


    Then painfully bright light shone around Armory¡¯s lower torso, and the dirt turned partly into glass.


    Armory twisted his legs and the hands shattered. Then he started to run, and what was left of the security guards left with him¡ªor tried to.


    Over the radio, Alexis said, ¡°Where are you?¡±


    ¡°Still by the hangar, man, where are you?¡±


    ¡°I have been distracting the creature from above. Where are your companions?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t say for sure, but I think they went back into the hangar.¡±

 Enter the Larry: Part 21

    A thud came from over the radio, followed by the sound of rushing wind.


    Through the haze of the explosions¡¯ smoke, the elemental¡¯s tentacles swung upward. They¡¯d hit something in the air. Larry had a good guess as to what.


    ¡°Hey, are you okay?¡±


    Alexis¡¯ said, ¡°Give me a second.¡±


    He gasped for breath, then seemed to catch it. A series of popping noises followed, and the earth elemental turned toward the jungle, standing and flailing its arms at something it couldn¡¯t seem to catch.


    Alexis said, ¡°Your companions, they can escape now!¡± A strong wind blew in the background.


    He had a point. Larry turned back toward the hangar. This wasn¡¯t a good place for them to be. They didn¡¯t have armor. They shouldn¡¯t be in the middle of all this, and a hangar wasn¡¯t the place to hide. The creature could crush it without thinking.


    He checked where he¡¯d seen Sloan fall. The man was still there, lying on what was left of the runway, and according to the suit, still showing a temperature around 98 degrees Fahrenheit. The creature would probably come for him. It had at St. Helens. Larry still wasn¡¯t sure how the guy had gotten away.


    One more reason to get Cheryl and Lim out of the area.


    The earth elemental bellowed.


    Alexis¡¯ voice came over the radio again. ¡°He has realized I¡¯m not going to let him hit me again. I would hurry.¡±


    ¡°Goddamn,¡± Larry muttered. ¡°Are you guys in there?¡±


    He turned to look. The helmet made it obvious. Two people with normal temperatures were standing outside of his direct view, next to one of the inside walls.


    He stepped inside. The helmet adjusted, and he could see the two of them. Lim held his raygun, and Cheryl stood next to a machine, holding a rod that connected to it with a hose.


    A pressure washer. He thought about it. It wasn¡¯t a bad idea, but he didn¡¯t want to test it. They needed to get out of here.


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    Then he felt the ground move. It wasn¡¯t like an earthquake or an explosion. It felt smoother, but still big, and the first was followed by a second, and then a third.


    He turned enough for the helmet to show the creature entirely on his right side. The earth elemental was walking toward them. Worse, it already stood over Sloan. It held one of its whip-like arms over Sloan, clearly ready to strike a final blow.


    It didn¡¯t. The arm hung in the air, and then the creature lowered it, screaming.


    On the ground, Sloan started laughing. The laughter sounded on the edge of hysterical. Obviously unsteady, he began to pull himself up, fell, and then pulled himself up again. He stayed up the second time.


    Holding his left arm with his right, Sloan walked past the hangar, toward the arena.


    The elemental screamed again, but didn¡¯t follow. It turned toward the hangar. When it stepped toward him, he understood why he felt the ground move like it had.


    The earth rose to meet its feet, more absorbing them than being stepped upon, but not preventing it from moving either. It stood in front of the hangar nearly instantly.


    He didn¡¯t have a choice. He would have to slow it down long enough for them to get out the back.


    He stepped out, and addressed it. ¡°We don¡¯t have to fight.¡±


    It screamed and aimed three tentacles at him. He made the suit leap, landing on the runway in front of the next hangar over.


    It jumped toward him, and he jumped again, landing on the jungle side of the runway. The creature turned to follow and its back faced the hangar.


    Larry set the missiles to fire¡ªall of them, but not all at once. He planned to stagger it. It wouldn¡¯t leave him anything to fight Armory with if he needed to, but he didn¡¯t think he would.


    As he held the suit¡¯s arms out to fire at it, the creature slammed into him with the three tentacles that had replaced its left arm.


    They hit even as he fired, knocking him sideways. Even through the suit¡¯s padding, it hurt. Error messages flew by, many in red, the most unnerving using the words ¡°critical failure.¡±


    He couldn¡¯t move the suit¡¯s left arm. He realized it as the error message appeared. This meant that he¡¯d lost access to six of the seventeen mini-missiles he had left. Worse, they¡¯d been activated, meaning that they were ready to fire if they were sent the command.


    The error messages indicated that the none of the weapons slots were likely to open, and that the connection to the missiles flickered on and off randomly. He wondered how likely it would be for a power surge to be interpreted as a fire command.


    He set the suit to stand up and leap. Even without the arm, it managed to, feeling a little off balance, but not falling.


    He landed on bare ground¡ªwhere the runway used to be before the elemental absorbed it.


    The elemental lurched toward him, waiting until it stepped toward him, and then leaping again. He¡¯d had an idea¡ªone that would use all the leftover missiles.


    Landing the middle of the runway¡ªthis time in front of his plane¡¯s hangar, he stopped. The elemental had shifted course as he leaped, and dove for him as he landed.


    Waiting until it was practically on top of him, he pressed the self-destruction sequence, feeling the air on his body as the ejection seat fired.

 Enter the Larry: Part 22

    The seat must have been designed assuming that the Frog suit would have a load of missiles on board when it blew up because it shot him far into the air. He found himself far on the other side of the hangar as the Frog suit exploded.


    Because it was behind him, he didn¡¯t see the explosion directly. The afternoon became brighter, giving a reddish-white tinge to the hotels, sidewalks, and palm trees. Black smoke followed¡ªalong with flying debris.


    Larry felt something small hit the back of the ejection seat, but managed to keep control of the seat¡¯s flight. He redirected the seat lower, and flew down toward the hangar, landing in front of it.


    He gave a passing glance to the earth elemental¡¯s body as he got out of the chair. It covered the runway in a pile of smoking rubble¡ªdirt, rocks, and gravel. Its head and limbs were still intact even though its body had lost its shape. That bothered Larry, and he stopped to make sure that it wasn¡¯t moving. After a moment, he was satisfied, and he stepped toward the hangar.


    He couldn¡¯t see much inside. It was dark, and the black smoke made it appear even darker.


    His ability to see in the dark lost with the Frog suit, Larry called inside. ¡°Are you guys okay in there?¡±


    ¡°Never better,¡± Lim shouted. Cheryl laughed.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s down. Let¡¯s get out of here before Armory comes back.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± Cheryl asked. ¡°I thought I saw it twitch.¡±


    Larry glanced back toward the body. It wasn¡¯t moving.


    ¡°Pretty sure,¡± he said.


    Cheryl stood up. Larry could make out her shape in the dark. She¡¯d been sheltering behind the pressure washer¡ªunderstandably. Rocks littered the hangar¡¯s floor.


    The sound of jets came from above, and then Alexis landed, his armor showing scrapes and dents from the fight.


    Alexis opened up the helmet. ¡°Good job, my friend. I didn¡¯t have the right sort of weapons along to finish it off. I¡¯d prepared for the arena, but not war.¡±


    Larry shrugged. ¡°I got lucky. I knew I wasn¡¯t really here for the games.¡±


    Alexis opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a clattering that reminded Larry of the sound made by pouring a bag of rocks onto the ground.


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    Both of them turned toward the noise.


    The elemental¡¯s head was changing, reshaping the gravel into a humanoid shape. From behind, Larry heard Lim¡¯s voice say, ¡°Down!¡±


    Larry dove as a stream of pressurized water hit the elemental, scattering gravel. At the same time Lim¡¯s gun made a strange, highly-pitched shriek while Alexis¡¯ airguns made thumping noises.


    Larry had protected his eyes with his arms, so he didn¡¯t see what happened, but the head shattered. Bits of rock and gravel flew everywhere.


    When he pulled his arm away, the head was nothing more than rubble, but the creature¡¯s tentacles still had a defined shape. ¡°Tell you what guys, you want to take this to the beach?¡±


    * * *


    The Heroes League¡¯s jet appeared about the same time they stepped foot on the sand. It slowed, coming to a stop in the air, and then descended toward the beach.


    Alexis nodded toward Larry, ¡°And now I can go. I¡¯ll contact you about the other matter when I¡¯m ready. Give my regards to the Rocket.¡±


    ¡°Good luck,¡± Larry said.


    Alexis waved as his suit propelled him into the air, and flew across the water, carrying one of the security guards¡¯ suits.


    Lim sighed. ¡°So now I¡¯ve got to report that Cuba¡¯s got Armory¡¯s tech. No one at the Bureau¡¯s going to like that.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry too much,¡± Larry said. ¡°Armory probably didn¡¯t put his best stuff into suits for security guards. I figure Alexis got just enough to keep his bosses out of his hair. Betcha Alexis could have duplicated that suit in a couple months without reverse engineering. He¡¯s a damn good engineer.¡±


    Lim gave him a sidelong glance. ¡°Are you willing to say that on the record? Because if you were, that would mean I¡¯m not responsible for letting a hostile power get away with tech that furthers their powered armor research.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Larry said, ¡°no big deal.¡±


    Streamlined and silver, the jet lowered to the ground in front of them. A door opened in its side, and they climbed in.


    Joe sat at the controls in full Rocket armor¡ªone of the classic suits¡ªgolden with an ¡°R¡± on the chest. His wife Romy, in her white Ghostwoman costume, sat next to him, manning the weapons console.


    ¡°Quickly, please,¡± she said. ¡°The Dixieland Defenders unit is evacuating the island, and we¡¯d like to be gone before they show up.¡±


    ¡°Evacuating?¡± Larry asked while adjusting his chair and pulling his seatbelt on.


    ¡°Geoforce sensed that something¡¯s setting up an earthquake.¡± The Rocket said it absently while pressing the buttons that shut the hatch, and raised the jet¡¯s altitude.


    ¡°Damn,¡± Larry muttered. ¡°The earth elemental isn¡¯t dead yet? I thought we got that thing three different times.¡±


    The Rocket laughed. In a warmer tone, he said, ¡°Well, that¡¯s magic for you.¡±


    Lim paused, seatbelt in hand, and stared at the Rocket, and then got back to his seatbelt.


    Larry knew the stare. He¡¯d felt like that himself the first time he¡¯d met the Rocket, and probably a few more times even years later.


    Cheryl finished buckling her seatbelt. ¡°Excuse me, sir, but why don¡¯t you want to wait for the Dixieland Defenders?¡±


    The League jet whipped around, and gathered speed, gaining more altitude, and heading for the mainland.


    ¡°Oh,¡± the Rocket said, ¡°after a few years you know how these things are going to go. The island¡¯s full of criminals, so there¡¯ll be a fight. Geoforce will have to use her powers to keep the island from sinking before the civilians get off, but in the end, it¡¯ll work out. So if we get away now, we can skip all of it.


    ¡°I¡¯m retired,¡± he said, reaching out and giving his wife¡¯s hand a squeeze. ¡°The young folks can handle this one.¡±

 Doom: Part 1

    I finished all my homework by seven¡ªgiving me more than enough time to get to headquarters, and finish what I was really excited about¡ªCassie¡¯s armor.


    I closed my laptop, pushed back my chair, and stepped away from my desk. Then I looked out the window. From the third floor of DePuit Hall, I could see most of Grand Lake University¡¯s main campus. Lights came from dorms and lecture halls, standing out in the night, and illuminating the snow that covered the grounds.


    It was January in Michigan after all, and that meant winter.


    I considered whether I really wanted to cross the city in weather this cold. I''d fixed up my van, but I''d paid more attention to adding armor than making it comfortable.


    And then I reconsidered because the armor I¡¯d made was pretty cool. It answered an interesting problem. What sort of armor should you design for a superhero who¡¯s in hiding, who doesn¡¯t really need armor, and whose identity will most likely be exposed if the armor is recognizable as something you made?


    Plus, bearing in mind she¡¯s nowhere near you, can you make it something she can maintain?


    So having decided to do what I¡¯d planned to do in the first place, I started walking toward my closet (and the door).


    I didn¡¯t make it.


    The door opened, and Jeremy, my roommate, and a couple of his friends walked in. Jeremy was slightly chunky, had brown hair, a thin mustache, and wore a black t-shirt that read, ¡°There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don¡¯t.¡±


    Caleb and Gabriel came in after him. They lived a few doors down the hall. I didn¡¯t really know either of them.


    Jeremy walked over to his desk, opened up his laptop, and said, ¡°Nick, you gotta see this. It¡¯s hilarious. I was going to show it to these guys, but you might get a kick out of it too.¡±


    ¡°I was about to go to the library,¡± I said.


    He tapped the keys. ¡°This won¡¯t be more than five minutes. It¡¯s a video I heard about on a podcast. Hey, I¡¯ve got it.¡±


    The website for ¡°The Capes Next Door¡± appeared. I wasn¡¯t really sure what the title meant. I had my suspicions. It was one of the SuperTV cable channel¡¯s shows. I thought it maybe focused on the superhero scene in a different city each week?


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    No way to tell from what I was seeing though. The page was called ¡°Fan Video,¡± and so it wasn¡¯t really even part of the show.


    I crowded around Jeremy¡¯s desk with everyone else. I had five minutes if it would get him off my back.


    He clicked play, and the video started, and an announcer¡¯s voice talked over a still frame showing a woman in black hero costume facing off against a gang next to an old, brick building. All the gang members seemed to be in their teens or young twenties. Some carried knives, others guns, and a few didn¡¯t seem to have weapons at all.


    Worse, one of them appeared to be holding a knife next to a girl¡¯s throat. She couldn¡¯t have been more than eleven. Another pointed a gun at a woman who might have been in her thirties. She was holding her purse out as if she was passing it to another gang member.


    The announcer said, ¡°We don¡¯t know who this young woman is, but watch how she handles this gang.¡±


    Then the camera zoomed in on her, and I recognized the woman. She wasn¡¯t much older than I was. Even though she wore a wig or had dyed her hair black, I recognized Tara, one of the older students in the Stapledon program.


    Square jawed, and near six feet tall, she looked like a Jack Kirby illustration come to life.


    As the announcer stopped talking, the action on the screen went from still to full speed. Tara ran, closing the distance between herself and the gang in a blur¡ªnot as quickly as a super with speed powers, but quickly enough.


    The scene switched to the view of another camera, showing the fight. Due to the darkness and her speed, it wasn¡¯t easy to follow each movement. All I saw was a blur of hands and feet.


    After that, Tara, the girl, and her mother were the only people standing.


    Then the announcer said, ¡°Let¡¯s take that in slow motion.¡±


    It was amazing the second time around. My older sister Rachel knew Tara, and I¡¯d gathered that Rachel liked her, but didn¡¯t think she was especially smart. In this fight though, she was brilliant.


    She noticed how closely they were standing to each other, and pushed one backward into the group, forcing them all to back away or get hit. By itself, that wasn¡¯t impressive, but one of them backed toward the man holding the knife on the little girl.


    The guy with the knife pulled it away from her neck as he dodged the man falling toward him.


    That would have been a happy coincidence, but it wasn¡¯t. Tara managed to move within reach of the knife at the exact moment when it was easiest to take it. Then she used the movement that began as she stepped toward the man with the knife to kick the gun out of the hand of the man who had been pointing it at the girl¡¯s mother.


    With the potential hostages freed, she¡¯d downed the entire gang with more of the same.


    I¡¯d been trained pretty well, and while I could see how she¡¯d done it, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do it myself. Even in powered armor, I wouldn¡¯t have had the reflexes.


    While I thought about how hard that would have been to do (even with her reflexes), the video cut to the beginning again.


    It showed her slow-motion run toward the gang only this time focused on her chest.


    Seriously.


    Maybe if she¡¯d been just an attractive picture to me too, I¡¯d have stayed. I don¡¯t know. But I¡¯d talked to her once or twice, and watching more felt uncomfortable.


    I said, ¡°Gotta go,¡± grabbed my coat, and left. They may have said something as I went, but I missed it.

 Doom: Part 2

    Walking over to the school¡¯s parking garage turned out to be every bit as cold as I thought it might be.


    I hadn¡¯t thought to wear my boots, and when I cut across the lawn, snow got into my shoes.


    During the drive across the city, the van¡¯s heating system warmed up enough to melt the snow still on my shoes. By the time I arrived at the house I¡¯d inherited from my grandparents, and taken the elevator down to the Heroes Leagues¡¯ headquarters, my feet were cold and wet.


    I felt every inch the budding supergenius as I walked to the front of HQ¡¯s basketball court sized main room, leaving wet footprints on the carpet.


    I sat down at the main table in the room, took off my shoes and socks, and put them in front of the nearest heat register.


    Checking one of the terminals, I learned that I¡¯d somehow arrived early enough that I had time to kill before Cassie called, but not early enough that I''d be able to do any more than figure out where I was before I had to stop. Cassie would be calling at eight. It was currently 7:38 pm.


    I had twenty minutes--roughly. Actually twenty-two minutes, and possibly more if Cassie took her time.


    Not sure exactly what I planned to do, but fairly sure that I could waste all that time online, I logged in at one of the terminals.


    At the very moment I clicked on the browser, my phone and the terminal¡¯s speakers started to chime, showing the caller was my sister Rachel. I took the call on the computer terminal. I could have sent it to the twenty foot screen on the wall, but sometimes you don¡¯t want to see video from a cell phone on a screen larger than your own body.


    Rachel¡¯s face appeared on the screen. I couldn¡¯t tell where she was¡ªsomeplace dark, for sure.


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    She looked a lot like my grandmother if my grandmother had had short, black hair instead of blond. They shared the same restless energy and both seemed to be perpetually amused by the world around them.


    Normally.


    Rachel didn¡¯t seem particularly amused just then.


    She skipped all the polite greeting stuff people tell me you¡¯re supposed to do on the phone, and just said, ¡°Nick, do you have anything?¡±


    ¡°Zip,¡± I said. ¡°I still need more information. You met an alternate version of yourself. She told you that Daniel, Haley, and I died, saving St. Louis from being destroyed early in my second semester of college. Do you have any idea how I found out or what kind of technology they used? I haven¡¯t found anything.¡±


    Her face fell. ¡°I told you before that I didn¡¯t know any of that. We barely had time to talk, and you know I haven¡¯t been able to go back to Infinity City.¡±


    I did. Infinity City existed simultaneously in our universe and many others. After the way Rachel¡¯s tour group had been attacked, the Stapledon program was reevaluating how to run their visits to the city. In the meantime, no one could visit.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t think of anything else to try. I¡¯ve set the computers to search for any new construction or public works projects in St. Louis. I¡¯ve cross-referenced anything promising with other cities. Nothing¡¯s standing out.¡±


    Rachel frowned. ¡°What would you be doing if you weren¡¯t looking? Maybe, I don¡¯t know¡­ Maybe you found it because of something you¡¯d do accidentally?¡±


    ¡°If that were it, that would be great,¡± I said, hoping Cassie wouldn¡¯t call yet. ¡°Because that would mean that I can stop worrying about it and go do normal stuff.¡±


    Rachel didn¡¯t say anything for a moment, giving me time to wonder where she was. A janitor¡¯s closet, maybe?


    ¡°Look Nick, try it that way for a little while. Or, I don¡¯t know, think about what you¡¯d do normally, and if there¡¯s a chance, try it. Don¡¯t just ignore it and hope. People could die. Their Dr. Nation thought it could have killed millions if no one had stopped it.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± I said. I was ready to be off the phone.


    Unfortunately, I think Rachel caught my mood because her voice rose. ¡°Nick, whatever you do, don¡¯t fly in and try to stop it yourself. That¡¯s how you die, remember?¡±


    I sighed, feeling more than a little frustration. ¡°I remember. You¡¯ve told me a bunch of times, and we¡¯re still in January. I think we¡¯ve still got a little while where things will still count as ¡®early in the semester.¡¯ Maybe a couple weeks.¡±


    ¡°I know. I hope you¡¯re right.¡± She looked away from the phone. ¡°Look, I¡¯ve got to go.¡±


    ¡°Go,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll call you if there are any breakthroughs.¡±


    Rachel frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t forget.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t.¡±


    Rachel didn¡¯t look like she believed me, but she did hang up.

 Doom: Part 3

    Once I was off the call with Rachel, I checked the time, and it was seven-fifty something, so I walked toward the lab.


    I would have gone there from the beginning if I¡¯d thought it through. I wasn¡¯t quite finished with Cassie¡¯s suit, but I was almost finished, so if I was in the lab when I talked to her, I¡¯d be able to show it to her more easily.


    This was great logic, but it didn¡¯t account for one possibility¡ªthat Cassie might call a little early¡ªwhich she did.


    I heard the phone ringing from both directions¡ªbehind me at the main table, and ahead of me in the lab.


    I broke into a run, crossing the old, olive green carpet, dodging forty years worth of the original League¡¯s mementos, trophies, and awards in their cases. As I did it, I remembered that I¡¯d left my socks and shoes in front of a register in the main room.


    Obviously, I wasn¡¯t going back for them, but the lab didn¡¯t have carpet at all.


    Grandpa hadn¡¯t seen the point when he knew he¡¯d be spilling chemicals in there. The lab had a concrete floor that he¡¯d coated with a ceramic, preventing spills from soaking into the concrete.


    The practical upshot for me? My feet were going to be cold.


    I did manage to make it into the lab before Cassie hung up though, and not because I ran quickly. She let it ring.


    That gave me time to run into the room, touching my feet on the very, very cold floor, dodge the tables, the fabricators, a row of 3D printers, different versions of the Rocket suit, and the suit¡¯s replacement parts.


    I made it to the counter on one of the side walls, pulled myself up on a stool, and logged in. When I clicked on the mouse, allowing the computer to take the call, Cassie appeared on the screen, saying, ¡°Nick, that took forever.¡±


    ¡°You called early,¡± I said.


    Continuing as if she hadn¡¯t heard me, she said, ¡°The only reason I didn¡¯t hang up was because I could see on my phone that you were in HQ. I gave you something like, God, fifteen rings. Not that I was counting.¡±


    ¡°You caught me as I was walking from the main room into the lab.¡±


    ¡°Figures,¡± Cassie said.


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    She looked like she always had¡ªnearly white blond hair and pale skin with a reddish tinge. She wore a hoodie and jeans, as usual. Unlike when she¡¯d lived in Grand Lake, this hoodie was black with blue letters saying ¡°Georgetown Hoyas.¡±


    Whatever a ¡°hoya¡± was.


    In the pixelated view of her phone¡¯s camera, she sat on a bed¡ªone with a big brass headboard. She was in an old house somewhere around Washington D.C. The question was which house. She and her mom moved frequently.


    Above the headboard hung a poster for the band ¡°Vincent Sucks.¡± I¡¯d heard about them somewhere.


    She leaned toward her phone. ¡°So what have you got? It better be something good because otherwise I¡¯m not getting out of the house except for school and Stapledon.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I think you''ll like this.¡± Setting the camera to follow me around the room, I walked over to one of the tables. A shapeless pile of metallic bits covered most of it. She couldn¡¯t see it, but an even bigger pile lay on the floor below. A line of shiny, metallic chunks connected the two piles.


    ¡°Okay, you know how the Rocket suit mostly hasn¡¯t been metal since the early 60¡¯s? It¡¯s a kind of ceramic that my grandfather invented and then kept on reinventing and improving throughout his career?¡±


    Cassie frowned a little. We were already heading into a more technical direction than she wanted.


    ¡°I think you mentioned it.¡±


    ¡°Okay, you remember the new grappling hooks aren¡¯t really hooks? The lines stick to walls and stuff, but what¡¯s more important is that you shoot the lines out, and reel them in, and they change back to a kind of goo while they¡¯re inside the gun?¡±


    Cassie¡¯s eyes were beginning to glaze over. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me how it works, Nick.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to. I was just going to explain how they¡¯re different forms of the same¡ª¡°


    She shook her head, ¡°No, no. Stop talking. Show me.¡±


    I took a breath, ¡°Okay, fine.¡±


    I put my hands into the middle of the pile, and felt the armor form around my arms and legs. Seconds later, it had completely surrounded my head and body.


    A few seconds after that, the helmet began scrolling messages down the screen


    [Section 00000000001: connection made]


    [Section 00000000002: connection made]


    [Section 00000000003: connection made]


    [Section 00000000004: connection made]


    And so on¡ªbasically forever.


    Cassie¡¯s voice cut through the rustling as the sections rearranged themselves, the outer layers building on the inner.


    ¡°That kicks ass. I¡¯m surprised it¡¯s not the next version of the Rocket suit. You could put it in a briefcase or something.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Kind of, but no. See, I started with it, thinking I could fit a Rocket suit into a briefcase, but by the time I put everything I wanted in the suit, it was the size of a suitcase, and weighed more than I did. I couldn¡¯t lift it.¡±


    Cassie started laughing. She must have been holding her phone in her hand because it wobbled like crazy, showing her bed, her face, the ceiling¡­


    When the picture became steady again, she said, ¡°You are completely nuts. You know that, right?¡±


    I didn¡¯t have an answer for that¡ªwhich was okay. She didn¡¯t stop talking.


    Leaning forward toward the screen, looking the suit up and down, she said, ¡°Does it have to look like that?¡±


    ¡°No. We can change it to make the standard form pretty much however you like. It¡¯s going to be more work for me if the shape''s not basically humanlike, but even there it shouldn¡¯t be too bad. Plus, within limits it¡¯ll fix itself provided you¡¯ve got a spare supply of repair materials. Even better, we can make it look like a motorcycle or car or something for its other form.¡±


    ¡°So basically, you¡¯re making me a transformer.¡±


    ¡°Kinda, yeah.¡±

 Doom: Part 4

    Cassie sat back on her bed, leaning back against the pillow. ¡°So, when¡¯s it going to be ready?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I thought about that while the suit continued to post messages about testing the systems.


    ¡°Well, there are a couple different issues. The first one¡¯s easy. The second is going to depend on you. See, first off, I need to get the suit¡¯s boot up time down to something reasonable. Right now you can get it on in maybe a minute, but by the time it¡¯s done testing everything, twenty minutes have gone by.¡±


    Her eyes widened. ¡°Are you kidding me? That¡¯s worse than when you put the suit on by hand.¡±


    ¡°I know, but I¡¯m using a really lousy testing algorithm. I went with one that checked individually for whether each section connected, but there are better ways to go. I¡¯ve got another algorithm that checks a lot faster. I¡¯m thinking five minutes or less. In fact, if things go well, I think I could make full boot up end shortly after the suit¡¯s assembled.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Cassie sounded doubtful. ¡°I¡¯ll be satisfied if you manage to get it below five minutes. Oh, and what about the second thing?¡±


    Deciding not to explain why I thought simultaneous boot up and assembly might be possible, I said, ¡°Well, the second thing is what you want in the suit. Like we could put in a blade like your dad¡¯s sword, or roachbot storage like my suit. I wouldn¡¯t recommend either of those because people might guess who you are, but if you¡¯ve got any ideas, I¡¯ll take them.¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t have any special ideas¡­ I¡¯d like to be able to take out something big, but I want to be able to do non-lethal takedowns too. Can I call you back on that?¡±


    ¡°Sure. I¡¯ve still got the boot up problem to work out, but don¡¯t take forever, okay?¡±


    Cassie smiled at me. ¡°With something like this? Believe me, I¡¯m not going to wait.¡±


    With that, she adjusted the phone¡¯s position, and said, ¡°So, how are things going in Grand Lake?¡±


    We¡¯d had a Stapledon weekend, and shared a distance learning class during the week. ¡°Not much different than they were on Sunday,¡± I said. ¡°Just normal, you know?¡±


    ¡°Seen Vaughn lately?¡±


    ¡°Sure, in class and at practice with Lee on Wednesday. Plus Stapledon,¡± I said.


    Conversationally, Cassie said, ¡°He¡¯s feeling a little left out.¡±


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    ¡°I don¡¯t know why,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve seen him a bunch of times. It¡¯s all been hero stuff, but I haven¡¯t been avoiding him or anything.¡±


    Cassie shrugged, ¡°You know I haven¡¯t been around at all since Rook kidnapped me. I think it bugs him that he wasn¡¯t part of the mission to get me back.¡±


    ¡°He was hurt. I don¡¯t remember exactly how, but it was bad enough that Alex healed him at the next Stapledon even though he¡¯d been to the doctor.¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not all of it though. He mostly feels like he hasn¡¯t seen anybody in the League except when they have to see him.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. Come to think of it, I hadn¡¯t hung out with him in a while. Most of the time when I had, it had been with Cassie, or when we¡¯d had a team movie night, or decided to go do something after we¡¯d been all at HQ for some reason.


    I¡¯d barely done anything with him since October, and we were a good chunk of the way through January.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been kind of focused on homework, and well, really focused on this. So I¡¯ve barely seen anybody at all except Haley.¡±


    Cassie frowned, ¡°Nick, there¡¯s more to a team than practicing together. We¡¯ve all got to feel like a team.¡±


    ¡°Everyone¡¯s all split up right now¡ªdifferent colleges and everything. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll all feel more connected when people come home for the summer.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Remember Stapledon¡¯s summer term. It¡¯s required.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s what?¡± Then I remembered. ¡°Oh, yeah. We¡¯ll all be gone for the summer. At least we¡¯ll be able to reconnect then.¡±


    ¡°Too late,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Anything could happen between now and then.¡±


    I was about to argue, and then I thought about my conversation with Rachel. ¡°Hey Cassie, there¡¯s something you should know that might happen soon¡ª¡°


    I had her full attention, but I didn¡¯t keep it.


    She didn¡¯t keep mine either.


    Information ran across the bottom the screen¡ªnot the suit¡¯s screen. That still showed boot up messages. The monitor on the counter had the words, ¡°Identitities confirmed: Haley McAllister, Sydney Drucker, Camille Salazar.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Cassie asked.


    ¡°Looks like Haley just came back from patrol with Camille and Sydney.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll let you go,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Say hi to Haley for me.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. Then I turned away from the monitor, and headed for HQ¡¯s main room, still wearing the armor. It wasn¡¯t as if I had a choice either. The armor wouldn¡¯t come off until it got completely through the boot up sequence¡ªanother minor flaw that I¡¯d have to take care of.


    It took a few minutes before they came out of the tunnels. The big steel door opened, and Haley stepped out followed by Sydney and Camille.


    The local paper had described the group of them as a ¡°strangely warped version of Charlie¡¯s Angels.¡± The only similarities I could see is that both groups contained three females.


    Haley, my girlfriend, was about five feet tall with dark hair, and a generally cheerful expression. Normally she wasn¡¯t intimidating at all, but she was wearing her grey, Night Cat costume, had grown fangs, and shifted her hands and feet into claws.


    Sydney stood seven feet tall, but only because she¡¯d surrounded herself with strangely fluid metal. Normally she wasn¡¯t much taller than your average high school girl.


    Camille looked the most normal of all of them¡ªblack hair, light brown skin. Out of her orange and white costume, she looked surprisingly like Sydney (who was blond and light skinned). They were half-sisters, so no surprise there.


    As they noticed me, Sydney said, ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡±


    Sniffing the air, Haley said, ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ Nick?¡±


    Her confusion wasn¡¯t hard to explain. I hadn¡¯t shown the suit to anybody, and to make it easier to identify problems, I¡¯d set the suit¡¯s default color to white, but outlined the borders of each piece in black, making it resemble a jigsaw puzzle.


    In short, it didn¡¯t look like a Rocket suit at all.

 Doom: Part 5

    I could open the suit''s faceplate, and did.


    Haley looked the suit up and down as they walked toward me. ¡°Is that yours or did you get it from somewhere?¡±


    Still wishing I could take the suit off, I said, ¡°I made it but I deliberately used other people¡¯s designs. I brought in Chris to help. He¡¯s figured out a lot of his grandfather¡¯s stuff. Plus I made the joints similar to how Armory did joints back in the 1980¡¯s?¡±


    From the expressions on their faces, none of them knew who Armory was. ¡°A mid-tier hero who became a mid-tier villain, and disappeared after the island he lived on blew up. He did his joints differently than most armor designers.¡±


    Camille stared at my knees, and grinning, said, ¡°I completely see it now.¡±


    I bent my right knee forward, and the knee reformed, the layers splitting and coming back together.


    She blinked. ¡°I... actually do see it.¡±


    Haley cocked her head. ¡°I think I have seen something like that before.¡±


    She had my full attention. ¡°Really? Where?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°Sorry. I don¡¯t know. It might have been on TV. SuperTV had a powered armor special once.¡±


    ¡°Huh. I missed that.¡±


    She gave a small smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t watch very much of it.¡±


    In a quiet voice, Sydney said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t mean to interrupt, but I¡¯m going to take a shower.¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s okay.¡±


    In a few steps, Sydney had made it over to the locker room. The metal sloughed off her body, reforming into a puddle outside the door. With all the metal gone, she was just another blond teenage girl in a grey costume. Kind of.


    As the sister of Sean Drucker, my mortal frenemy, I half-expected her to secretly hate me.


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    Camille grinned at Haley and I. ¡°Tell you what, I¡¯ll leave the two of you alone for a little while.¡±


    Haley eyed her. ¡°You don¡¯t have to.¡±


    Camille pulled her mask over her head, and let it hang on her back, mostly covered by her dark hair. ¡°I don¡¯t, but after flying across the city, a shower sounds great.¡±


    She followed Sydney, leaving Haley and I alone together. It felt longer than it actually had been. Two weeks wasn¡¯t that long, but we¡¯d barely seen each other in the meantime.


    Stapledon weekends took up the whole weekend, and it felt like college took up the rest. Well, that and tinkering in the lab sucked up a lot of time.


    We looked at each other, and it felt like an age since the last time.


    ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°tomorrow night?¡±


    Haley touched the armor with her hand. She¡¯d shifted away the claws and fangs, and stood in bare feet on the carpet. ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°Did you think I wasn¡¯t?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No, but you weren¡¯t very happy the last time we talked.¡±


    She took her hand off my armor. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me last week was a Stapledon weekend.¡±


    ¡°I did tell you,¡± I said. ¡°Just¡­ not soon enough.¡±


    She looked up at me, her voice rising a little as she talked. ¡°You told me on Thursday, and you were leaving on Friday.¡±


    ¡°I did say I¡¯m sorry.¡± And I was. That had been stupid, and worse, I did that kind of thing a lot¡ªnot telling people important stuff that is.


    "I know, and I know you meant it, but it¡¯s still annoying. Let¡¯s talk about tomorrow."


    "Sure," I said, "We could go to a movie, or maybe go downhill skiing? I know Cannonsburg is open on Friday night. Actually, we could probably take the League jet, and ski anywhere.¡±


    She almost said yes. She¡¯d opened her mouth anyway, but then she said, ¡°Maybe we should stick closer to home.¡±


    The last time we¡¯d taken the League jet out on a personal trip hadn¡¯t gone very well.


    ¡°How about going down to the beach, and maybe going to a coffee shop afterward?¡±


    ¡°That sounds good.¡± She smiled at me, and I felt a little less worried. She enjoyed taking walks along the beach even in the winter. Maybe we¡¯d visit her family¡¯s cottage on Lake Michigan? Maybe we¡¯d walk along Grand Lake. I didn¡¯t know for sure.


    ¡°Good,¡± I said. Searching for something else to talk about, I commented, ¡°You¡¯ve been hanging around with Sydney and Camille a lot this year. Whatever happened with Kay and Ashley?¡±


    Haley stopped smiling. ¡°The League. Between training with Lee, and everything that happened last spring I didn¡¯t have much time to do things with them. Eventually they gave up on me.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I searched for something to say.


    She looked at the floor for a second. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I don¡¯t have to hide anything from Camille and Sydney. That¡¯s better. I don¡¯t like lying.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°Do you have anything new on the St. Louis thing?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°You should get help with it.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I tried. Lim¡¯s people haven¡¯t found anything suspicious. I told the Defenders too, but they haven¡¯t seen anything suspicious either.¡±

 Doom: Part 6

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a new direction though,¡± I said. ¡°Rachel said I discovered this myself somehow, so I¡¯m thinking that what I should really be doing is whatever I¡¯d be doing normally if I didn¡¯t know.¡±


    Haley nodded slowly. ¡°That sounds good. What do you think you¡¯d be doing normally?¡±


    ¡°Tonight? Well, I was going to work on a new Rocket suit which is kind of the same thing as the suit I¡¯m making for Cassie at the base level. It should solve the problem where I can¡¯t carry around a decently powerful suit¡ªonce I figure out how to make it lighter anyhow. Anyway, I¡¯m sure I¡¯d be working on Cassie¡¯s version even if Rachel never visited Infinity City, or those alternate universe versions of us never showed up.¡±


    For a moment, Haley¡¯s pupils began to widen into slits. She blinked, her mouth tightening, and they became normal.


    ¡°I hope so.¡± She said, ignoring what had happened.


    More than a year into dating her, I knew better than to draw her attention to it.


    I said, ¡°Me too.¡±


    She glanced toward the locker room. ¡°I should take a shower.¡± She went quiet for a moment, and then said, ¡°We¡¯re going to the Chinese buffet on State after this. Do you want to come along?¡±


    I thought about that. ¡°Do you think they¡¯d want me?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re fine with you. For real.¡± Her expression hinted at some frustration.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯re not expecting me, though. Besides, we are doing something tomorrow night, and if I do figure out the St. Louis thing, it¡¯ll probably be while I¡¯m working in the lab or doing research.¡±


    Haley considered that, and said, ¡°OK, but you should go out with us sometime.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± I said, and not long after that, she went to the showers.


    It was a relief¡ªnot to get rid of Haley, but going would have been several kinds of awkward. Beyond Sydney probably wishing Haley were still going out with her brother, Camille tended to flirt with everybody¡ªincluding me. She didn¡¯t mean anything by it, but it still opened up more potential for embarrassment than I wanted.


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    Plus they were both attractive, and that wouldn¡¯t make the situation less awkward.


    But anyway, they left. Haley smiled at me. Sydney said a quiet, ¡°Bye.¡± Camille tapped the armor near my stomach (the bootup sequence still hadn¡¯t finished), and said, ¡°Nice abs.¡±


    I went back to the lab, and pulled down the faceplate. It sealed, and I noticed that the screen said:


    [READY]


    I said, ¡°Disassemble.¡±


    Bit by bit, it landed on the floor, reminding me of the sound of hail. I knew that it was entirely off because my feet were cold. The suit had kept them warm.


    I walked back out of the lab into HQ¡¯s main room, and put on my shoes and socks. They seemed warm and dry enough. That taken care of, I sat down at the conference table, opened a computer, and implemented the newer version of the bootup algorithm. It took a couple hours, but it worked. I tested it remotely at first, but once it worked, I tried it.


    It took four minutes, twenty-six seconds.


    It was amazing.


    Once I got the armor off, I sat down in the chair, relieved, and thinking through my next step. To get it ready for Cassie, I needed to add weapons, and one other thing. Even though I didn¡¯t intend to include a rocket pack, I had worked out some small jets that would boost her ability to jump. I also knew of one weapon I intended to add whether she wanted it or not¡ªa stun gun.


    Grandpa had created a design for the Defenders, but the League hadn¡¯t used it, so it wouldn¡¯t be associated with Captain Commando or the League.


    Was I going to do it tonight though? I checked the time, and noticed that it was after ten. No, I decided. I¡¯d start something big later. Now, I¡¯d start research that I could leave halfway through if I found I was getting tired.


    Admittedly, the research was a little selfish, but it would be useful for everybody¡ªincluding Cassie.


    I tried to figure out if there were a way to create a ceramic with the same level of protection Grandpa¡¯s had, but lighter¡ªsay forty to sixty percent lighter. So maybe that was crazily overambitious, but it sounded like a good idea at the time.


    I spent the next hour reviewing Grandpa¡¯s ceramics, and coming up with ideas. After deciding one of them might work, I decided to stop. Implementing it would have taken all night.


    I did decide to do one thing before I left though. Unlike most people, I had access to something that might be able to tell me if it would work before I wasted my time.


    I opened up a connection to the League jet, more specifically to the jet¡¯s AI¡ªan alien battle computer Grandpa had recovered and installed in the jet.


    It texted me back immediately.


    [Yes?]


    I described the ceramic, its creation process, and finished by asking, ¡°Do you think this could work? Wait, I know you¡¯re not made for engineering. Are you aware of similar materials used in creating spaceships or armor?¡±


    [Yes. Similar materials have been used by spacefaring races before. I assume you¡¯re wondering if it will work.]


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    [It most definitely will, but you shouldn¡¯t waste your time. A business called ¡°St. Louis Industrial Materials¡± appears to be ordering the necessary substances to manufacture a similar ceramic. You should order some.]

 Chance & Fate: Part 1

    I stared at the screen. ¡°You¡¯re kidding.¡±


    [They¡¯ve been ordering the appropriate materials for the last three months.]


    I typed, ¡°How do you even know this?¡±


    [Your grandfather assigned me the task of tracking materials that might indicate the presence of Abominators or other aliens¡¯ technology on Earth.]


    I thought about the implications of that for a second. Certainly aliens were the obvious possibility. Grandpa¡¯s technology was generally twenty years or more ahead of current tech. It didn¡¯t seem like a big stretch to think mine might be too. Aliens were a real possibility.


    I thought about it a little more. I couldn''t just consider aliens. Another armor designer might be behind it. Syndicate L, one of the few big criminal organizations not dominated by supervillains, had a guy, and whoever he was, he was pretty good.


    I¡¯d been attacked by enough of his work to appreciate its effectiveness. This might be his headquarters.


    ¡°So,¡± I wrote, ¡°is this alien work?¡±


    [Unknown. It would have been five years ago, but currently there are other organizations working with the appropriate materials. I can no longer be confident of it.]


    Still, I thought, three months? I could do a lot of preparation in three months. What kind of preparation had they been doing in St. Louis? I had no way of knowing without going down there.


    I thought about that. Rachel had told me I¡¯d die if I went in. Would I really? It couldn¡¯t be inevitable, could it? I already knew something would happen in St. Louis. Maybe I might have expected something if I only knew what the jet had just told me, but I probably hadn¡¯t.


    I shook my head. No, Rachel had told me that an alternate version had known something bad was going on, and had died with Daniel and Haley after it seemed that Lim wasn¡¯t reacting quickly enough.


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    What I needed was a plan, even a very simple plan. I thought it through. What did I need to know? I needed to know what St. Louis Industrial Materials was doing with a ceramic that could be used in armor. Were they making something with it? Were they making it for somebody? Who?


    After I found that out, I¡¯d know whether I¡¯d need to call in the Defenders or the FBI. Both?


    I could live with that, I decided, and began to get up.


    No, I decided, and wrote an email to Isaac Lim, and told him what I¡¯d found. When I¡¯d told him initially, he¡¯d lectured me on how unlikely it was that my life would be exactly like any particular version of me.


    He hadn¡¯t been entirely wrong, but the version of Rachel that she¡¯d met had been in a universe that split off from ours only a few months before. It was too close a match not to watch for similar events, hopefully to avoid them.


    I didn¡¯t want to die, and I definitely didn¡¯t want to have Haley or Daniel die, but Rachel said we¡¯d died saving St. Louis.


    What if that were the only way the city of St. Louis survived? How was I supposed to weigh something like that? My life and my friends versus two million or more people living in and around the city?


    I didn¡¯t want to let them die, but it seemed like I should be able to work out a way for everyone to survive.


    I wished Rachel had gotten more information.


    I wished that we were allowed to go back to Infinity City and find someone who knew more.


    Then I got back to writing the email, finished it and sent it off. Rachel had told me that I¡¯d gone to St. Louis after Lim failed to respond. If he was in the loop, he¡¯d have to respond, right? Especially if he knew the stakes.


    Well, I could hope.


    I looked at the time. It was midnight. Time to get back to the dorms. I took the elevator up, and drove the van back to Grand Lake University, doing my best to ignore the nagging feeling that I should be flying to St. Louis immediately.


    * * *


    I woke up on Friday morning to the sound of Jeremy¡¯s alarm clock. He had an 8:00 A.M. class. I didn¡¯t, but I got out of bed anyway. While he took a shower, I sat down at my desk, and opened up my laptop, checking Double V¡¯s website and forums.


    I didn¡¯t see anything unusual. I even searched on ¡°St. Louis,¡± and checked in the Missouri state forums.


    Nothing indicated that the city had been destroyed during the night, or even that anything unusual was going on.


    Good, I thought, and breathed a sigh of relief I hadn¡¯t realized I¡¯d been holding in.


    I logged into my Heroes League email account. No reply from Lim.


    I switched back to the Double V forums, and logged into the SuperTV forums after that.


    I didn¡¯t find any reference to anything unusual going on in St. Louis there either.


    When Jeremy came back from his shower, he stepped into the room in a bathrobe, hair still wet. He looked at me. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I said, but even I could tell that I was lying.

 Chance & Fate: Part 2

    Jeremy hung up his towel inside his closet, and said, ¡°Is this major?¡±


    I didn¡¯t know I was that easy to read.


    I looked away from the computer, and up at him as he stopped next to my desk.


    ¡°Seriously,¡± he asked, ¡°How big?¡±


    And the crazy thing was, I really could tell him. Daniel had telepathically blocked him from passing on information to anyone outside the League.


    On the other hand, the less he knew, the better. If Daniel didn¡¯t maintain it, the mental construct would dissolve on its own eventually.


    I thought for a second, and made a decision. ¡°Really big. In an alternate universe I died while saving St. Louis, Missouri. In this universe, I think I just got the clue that made me go investigate, and so I¡¯m trying figure out a way to save the city, but not die.¡±


    ¡°Geez,¡± Jeremy stood there, still in his bathrobe. ¡°Here¡¯s an idea. Tell someone else what¡¯s going on, and let them go.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Not as easy as you¡¯d think. Most supers will tell you not to trust an alternate version of you because even well meaning versions might not be as close to you as they think. So basically no one''s interested. The other reason is kind of the opposite of the first¡­ I actually met an alternate version of myself from a world where he was the only human left. I got the impression that he¡¯d been kept away from something big, and regretted not taking uh¡­ more decisive action.¡±


    Jeremy blinked. ¡°Wow. Are you saying that¡¯s what¡¯ll happen if you don¡¯t go?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but the timing of the big event is close. Whatever happened there, happened this winter or spring.¡±


    ¡°So why don¡¯t you ask him for more info?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°The last time I saw him, he was back in his own universe, and I don¡¯t know where it is. Plus, he tried to kill and replace me in this universe, so Haley shot him with a particle accelerator rifle.¡±


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    His eyes widened. ¡°Your girlfriend? She¡¯s so small¡­¡±


    Haley was only about five feet tall, but that didn¡¯t really matter. It didn''t have anything to do with what she would or wouldn¡¯t do.


    I didn¡¯t say anything. Maybe he¡¯d stop asking questions? He did have class soon.


    Jeremy glanced toward his alarm clock, and turned his head back toward me. ¡°You live a really weird life. I mean, unbelievably cool, but weird. I¡¯ve got to get to class though. Tell me if you need anything. I¡¯d like to help if I can.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t see how you could, but thanks. I¡¯ll ask.¡±


    He walked over to his dresser, and started pulling on clothes. As he did it, I couldn¡¯t help but think that it was nice that he offered even if there wasn¡¯t anything he could do.


    * * *


    I spent the rest of the day as I might have normally¡ªlike I might have if I didn¡¯t have a potentially world ending event on my mind. I trudged across campus to attend classes, making sure I wore boots.


    It could have been worse. I was tired. My mind was somewhere else, but I hadn¡¯t missed any assignments or readings. I got a couple assignments, but that was normal.


    Around four, I found myself walking back from my last class of the day, a chemistry class, when my League phone rang.


    Nobody was near, so I took the call.


    Before I put it to my ear, I could see that the call came from Cassie. ¡°Hey,¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got some weapon ideas,¡± Cassie said.


    I looked around, amazed at how much campus had cleared out, but honestly, didn¡¯t it always on Friday?


    ¡°Ok,¡± I said, ¡°what?¡±


    ¡°A non-lethal takedown weapon. Maybe one of those paralysis guns? Plus I¡¯d like something big, something with real potential to take out something like the Grey Giant. So maybe lasers? Like your guitar?¡±


    Walking down the sidewalk toward my dorm, I said, ¡°I think that can be done. Actually I figured I¡¯d be putting in stun guns like ones the Defenders use, and the lasers would be good too. They¡¯d have the good point that you¡¯d have ammo as long as you had energy, but the bad point that you¡¯d use up energy faster that way.¡±


    As I talked, my mind flipped through who I¡¯d have to call tonight. I¡¯d want to get to St. Louis soon, and I¡¯d want to do it differently than I¡¯d done it in other universes.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on, Nick?¡± Cassie sounded irritated. ¡°Are you there?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ sure. Just a little distracted. You know, the St. Louis thing? I finally got a clue that makes a little sense.¡±


    She didn¡¯t wait for an instant before talking. ¡°You¡¯re going in, aren¡¯t you? You aren¡¯t leaving me here for this. I¡¯m coming along.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s going to be really early. I¡¯m thinking that if we don¡¯t want anyone to see us, we¡¯ve got to get there before six, so I¡¯d have to pick you up around four something. Plus, everyone could die. Are you sure you want to go?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t kid yourself. I¡¯m coming. Vaughn¡¯s coming too, right?¡±

 Chance & Fate: Part 3

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t asked him¡­ I haven¡¯t asked anyone.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s voice rose as she talked. ¡°Well, don¡¯t skip him. I told you he¡¯s been feeling left out.¡±


    ¡°Ok. I won¡¯t. You told me about that.¡±


    As the words escaped my mouth, I realized that I¡¯d committed to bringing him along¡ªwhich meant I ought to call him.


    ¡°Good,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Are you going to let him know, or should I?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± I said. ¡°Do you have anything else? I should probably call him now.¡±


    ¡°Nothing. Talk to you later.¡±


    ¡°Tomorrow,¡± I said, ¡°at 4 a.m. You¡¯ll have to tell me where.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll email you when I come up with a good spot,¡± Cassie said.


    We hung up.


    I stopped, standing on the side of the sidewalk, but not in the snow. It was almost as high as my boots, and wouldn¡¯t take much to go over the sides. Then I held out my phone, finding Vaughn¡¯s name on the team list.


    I considered whether I should really call him here on the sidewalk in the middle of campus. Then I decided I would. Not many people were around, and given the cold, not many people were going to linger and overhear.


    I clicked on the screen, still wishing this was something I could do from my room. It wasn¡¯t as if I could use the touchscreen and use gloves.


    Vaughn answered, ¡°Hey, it¡¯s a been a while.¡±


    He didn¡¯t sound angry, or even annoyed.


    To someone in the background, he said, ¡°Sorry guys, gotta take this call.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be too long,¡± Sean said.


    That was not good news.


    I didn¡¯t recognize the other voices in the background, but I could guess that it was likely Dayton and Jody, Sean¡¯s friends.


    A door shut, and the voices cut off.


    Vaughn said, ¡°Hey, I¡¯m walking down the hall now, so I might not be able to answer everything, but I¡¯ll get to it when I find someplace private.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°I know what you mean. I¡¯m standing outside because even though I can talk about stuff in front of Jeremy, I can¡¯t talk in front of his friends. Honestly, sometimes I think I should have asked you if you wanted to room with me.¡±


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    ¡°Yeah?¡± Vaughn sounded a little surprised. ¡°Well, you still can. My roommate¡¯s not coming back next year, and I don¡¯t want to room with Jody.¡±


    ¡°Jody? Why?¡±


    Vaughn snorted. ¡°His roommate¡¯s sick of him. The guy¡¯s barely there except to sleep. I¡¯m sure he¡¯d move out, but he hasn¡¯t figured out where he¡¯ll go.¡±


    ¡°Huh. You¡¯d think they¡¯d try to talk about it.¡±


    Laughing, Vaughn said, ¡°With Jody? You know the guy. It wouldn¡¯t work. Makes sense with anybody else, though.¡±


    He had a point there. If I¡¯d been really unlucky, they might have paired me with Jody. I had no idea what I would have done then¡ªmade a big enough stink to get a different roommate at the very least.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯m alone. I¡¯m in one of the study rooms on the first floor.¡±


    ¡°No one¡¯s using it?¡±


    ¡°On Friday afternoon?¡± Vaughn laughed. ¡°You know, I think this is the first time I¡¯ve ever been in one of these.¡±


    ¡°Cool,¡± I said. ¡°Here¡¯s why I¡¯m calling. You know how Rachel went to Infinity City last fall?¡±


    ¡°And heard you were going to die? Cassie told me about it.¡±


    ¡°Ok, well, we¡¯re going to St. Louis tomorrow morning. We¡¯ve got to be there before dawn, so I¡¯d say be at HQ by 5:30 am.¡±


    Vaughn almost sounded like he was choking. ¡°Before dawn? On Saturday?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t want the jet to be seen and the shields only hide us at night. During the day, they still block radar, but they make the jet look like a jet shaped hole in the sky. So if we get there before dawn, we get there without being seen.¡±


    ¡°Ok,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯m in.¡±


    ¡°Really? I¡¯m glad, but I¡¯m warning you that in the alternate universe where I died Haley and Daniel died with me.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but this sounds like something we¡¯ve got to do.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, and then hesitated for second. ¡°One more thing, please don¡¯t tell Sean. He showed up out of nowhere for the Rook thing, and I don¡¯t want to deal with it this time.¡±


    Vaughn chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I got to hear way too much about Rook from his end already. I¡¯m not looking for more of that.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Sean didn¡¯t have any right to complain.


    ¡°The end,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Flick kept Sean away from the fight.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, but it was important. The place was filled with nerve gas, and he made huge fan blades and sucked the stuff out. Without that, Cassie and I would have been the only people from our side fighting.¡±


    ¡°I know, but he sees it differently. He thinks she was keeping him from looking good when you were around. He says she could have waited to attack, and let him join in.¡±


    ¡°That makes no sense. I don¡¯t care if he looks good, and I don¡¯t think Flick would do that for me even if I wanted her to.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not arguing with you. I¡¯m just answering your question.¡±


    He was right, but a strong part of me still wanted to argue with someone. This was exactly the reason I didn¡¯t want Sean along. He saw everything through one filter¡ªhimself.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°He frustrates me.¡±


    Vaughn didn¡¯t sound bothered at all. ¡°I get it. He¡¯s got good points though. He¡¯s loyal to his friends, and he does care about Stapledon and everything.¡±


    ¡°Good, I guess. Hey, I should make a couple more calls.¡±


    ¡°No problem,¡± Vaughn said.


    Soon after that, we hung up, leaving me to stand there, thinking about the conversation. Vaughn hadn¡¯t seemed angry with me. Was Cassie wrong? I didn¡¯t think anyone knew Vaughn better than she did though.


    On the other hand, Vaughn got along with people. It might be that he¡¯d never say anything about it.


    I flipped it around in my head for a little while, and didn¡¯t get anywhere, deciding I¡¯d be better off thinking about tomorrow.


    I had a couple more people to call.

 Chance & Fate: Part 4

    Before making any calls, I walked to the campus parking garage. The van wouldn¡¯t be as warm as my dorm room, but it was warmer than standing outside.


    I turned the key, and it began to hum. After the fight where Rook had ripped chunks out of the van, and flipped it over, I¡¯d done some fairly extensive repair work. Among other things, I¡¯d switched the van¡¯s power source over to the same fuel cells I used for Cassie¡¯s armor¡ªnot to mention changing its engine substantially.


    Its heating system didn¡¯t work as well as I wanted, but there were tradeoffs.


    One was that the new engine barely made any noise at all, and once it warmed up, I could comfortably sit inside without guzzling gas. Another, of course, was that the armor was vastly improved. There were a few more.


    I dialed Rachel¡¯s number. She answered, taking a deep breath as she saw me.


    She was sitting in a chair, and I could see a bed behind her. She put her guitar into the stand next to her desk before saying anything. Once she said hello, I explained what I¡¯d learned, and what I was planning to do about it.


    I¡¯d called Rachel because I¡¯d promised I would, and her response would have been predictable if I¡¯d given any thought to it at all.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t listen to me at all,¡± she said.


    ¡°I did listen. I¡¯m calling you and telling you what¡¯s going on.¡±


    Rachel¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°I told you to call me if there was breakthrough. I told you not to go flying in because that¡¯s how you died, and that¡¯s exactly what you¡¯re planning to do.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to do it differently. I¡¯m taking different people¡ªVaughn and Cassie are coming¡ª¡°


    ¡°Wait,¡± Rachel said, ¡°instead of taking Haley and Daniel, who are generally levelheaded, you¡¯re taking the most impulsive people on the team?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ No. Not just them. I was going to talk to Daniel and Haley too.¡±


    She looked directly at me. ¡°Nick, I¡¯m coming along.¡±


    And that was that.


    Calling Daniel went better, but there was a common element¡­


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    I¡¯d been keeping him informed so when I explained what was going on, and asked him if he would come along even though he¡¯d died with me in another universe, and even though it was Shabbat, he said, ¡°You know better than that. Of course, I¡¯m coming. My dad and my grandfather always broke Shabbat when people¡¯s lives were in danger.¡±


    ¡°I was trying to give you an out,¡± I said.


    He frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t need an out. You¡¯re trying to avoid mistakes an alternate you made, and I can sense the future. I¡¯m exactly the person you need to have along. Though, we should take Izzy too.¡±


    ¡°Because she¡¯s your girlfriend, or because you think we need her?¡±


    He sighed, ¡°She¡¯s not my girlfriend. We¡¯re just friends, and I do think we need her. Jaclyn¡¯s got that Stapledon thing for speedsters this weekend, right?¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°So we¡¯ll need the muscle.¡±


    I didn¡¯t argue with him. After we hung up, I called Haley to see when she wanted me to pick her up. She asked me if I¡¯d learned anything about St. Louis, and I explained.


    She was lying on her bed. She¡¯d placed her phone on top of her trigonometry homework. ¡°You weren¡¯t going to ask me?¡±


    ¡°I was,¡± I said. ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d say no, but I was going to ask.¡±


    She made a noise. ¡°You know what we need?¡±


    ¡°More people?¡± I asked.


    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°We should take Sydney and Camille along, and we should tell Kayla what¡¯s happening so we have someone at HQ.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°Just don¡¯t let Sydney bring Sean again, okay?¡±


    So after all that, I had a team of eight people and I¡¯d originally planned for maybe half of them. I couldn¡¯t deny it was a different group though. I just wished that I¡¯d formed the group with some kind of plan instead of caving in to everyone who thought they ought to go along.


    The crazy thing was that Haley and I did end up doing something together on Friday night like we¡¯d planned. It wasn¡¯t as fun as it would have been if we hadn¡¯t been facing the possibility of dying. We got coffee, but instead of taking a walk together, we ordered a pizza and watched a movie in HQ.


    After that, we pulled out a couple of HQ¡¯s cots, and slept there until the next morning. By 6:00 am, we¡¯d picked up Cassie in D.C., Rachel in Ann Arbor, Daniel and Izzy in Chicago and were on our way to St. Louis. Vaughn, Sydney, and Camille had met us in HQ itself.


    As we flew through the darkness, I was surprised at how much it felt like when we¡¯d gone up against Rook last semester. Haley and I were at the controls, the jet felt full to bursting, and we were all in costume. The major difference being that we didn¡¯t have Flick along to tell us when we were about to make horrible mistakes.


    Knowing one thing I did have to do though, I opened up the jet¡¯s communicator, and made a call to the Defenders unit in St. Louis. I¡¯d never been entirely clear on whether the Midwest Defenders or the Dixieland Defenders covered Missouri, and it didn¡¯t get any clearer when they answered.


    A man¡¯s voice said, ¡°Heroes League, this is the Defenders St Louis unit. What are you doing here?¡±


    ¡°This is the Rocket. We¡¯ve got reason to believe something major¡¯s going to happen here soon, something that may destroy the city.¡±


    ¡°Are you kidding me? We had Feds scouring the city for explosives all last week.¡±


    Haley and I looked at each other. In the row behind us, Rachel muttered, "Huh."


    That was interesting. Lim had told me not to worry about it.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got new information,¡± I said.

 Chance & Fate: Part 5

    The voice on the other end barely gave me time to finish. ¡°What kind of new information?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a factory making a material for armor I came up with. The weird thing is that I only came up with it a couple days ago, but they¡¯ve been making it for months.¡±


    He didn¡¯t say anything, leaving me to look over the jet¡¯s glowing dashboard, and then look out towards St. Louis¡¯ growing skyline. The Gateway arch rose just past the river, and skyscrapers on either side and behind it.


    Lights from below made it stand out.


    Chances were that that would be destroyed if we failed too.


    My mind substituted shattered skyscrapers and a fallen arch for the scene ahead.


    In that moment, it hit me that I had died here in at least one universe, and technically in an infinite number. In this universe though, I could easily be leading some of the people I cared most about to their deaths.


    Leading them, I thought, and repeated the words in my head a couple more times. It ought to be someone else. Someone competent.


    If things went badly wrong, both Rachel and I might die. I wondered who would tell my parents. Agent Lim?


    Daniel spoke directly into my mind then. Don¡¯t worry about it, Nick. This time¡¯s different. We all know what we¡¯re up against, and we¡¯re not going to just let it happen. I know I¡¯m not planning to die here.


    That was comforting in a way. Not totally comforting, but close.


    Haley looked up from her console, the glowing light reflecting off the grey Night Cat costume, and said, ¡°Rocket?¡± Her tone sounded questioning.


    Whether she¡¯d smelled my nervousness through the Rocket suit, heard my heart speed up, or simply read my body language, she guessed a little of what I was thinking.


    I didn¡¯t get a chance to reply. Another voice came over the comm. The first had sounded like some random guy, probably someone whose job was simply to take calls. The new one sounded confident, a baritone that sometimes hit bass.


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    ¡°I¡¯m Ronin,¡± he said. ¡°What¡¯s the situation? Is the factory making armor?¡±


    I recognized the voice then, and I knew who he was. This was Tara¡¯s father. He¡¯d joined the Defenders and moved around among the major Defenders units for the last few years. If I remembered correctly, he shared Tara¡¯s ability to predict people¡¯s combat moves, and used it when commanding Defenders teams¡ªbrilliantly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re planning to do. I just know they¡¯re making something that shouldn¡¯t exist yet. It might be because of aliens. It might be time travelers, for all I know. What¡¯s important is this: I died investigating this in another timeline even though we saved St. Louis. The thing is, that means if we mess up, St. Louis might be destroyed. Worse, it might escalate so quickly we won¡¯t have time to think anything through.¡±


    He took it surprisingly calmly, especially given his reply.


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard about this. We¡¯ll give you any assistance you need. Keep in contact with us each step of the way.¡±


    We¡¯d need the help. I¡¯d gotten Agent Lim¡¯s voicemail when I called his office last night. Since he normally answered his phone, something major had to be going down somewhere. I hadn¡¯t even tried to call Lee. I knew he was doing something this weekend¡ªprobably overthrowing a government.


    A lot of other people I might have called were busy too.


    ¡°Believe me,¡± I told Ronin, ¡°I¡¯ll keep you up to date. By the way, do you have anyone who can heal? I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got hospitals, but we may need more than that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll make them available. I¡¯m putting the local Defenders on red alert. Are you going to need anyone when you do recon on the factory?¡±


    ¡°No. We¡¯ve got all the people we need for that, but that might change after we get a good look at it.¡±


    ¡°Understood. I¡¯d like an address anyway.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, and gave it to him.


    ¡°Thank you, and good luck.¡±


    I assured him we¡¯d keep him updated, and then cut the connection.


    By that time, we were above the river. This early on a Saturday morning, the Mississippi was wide, flat, dark, and empty.


    I turned off the jet¡¯s main engine, and used the gravitics to keep it moving. Between the shields¡¯ ability to absorb light, and the gravitics¡¯ silence, we would be hard to notice¡ªif nowhere near as fast or maneuverable.


    We floated above the river until the GPS indicated that we were getting near the factory. Then I turned the jet in towards the city, and not an especially nice part of it. City blocks with one or maybe two buildings and a parking lot appeared to be the norm. Asphalt appeared to cover everything.


    We had similar areas in Grand Lake, but St. Louis was bigger.


    And then we found it. St. Louis Industrial Materials appeared to be two flat-roofed, rectangular, sheet metal buildings.


    In the darkness, I didn¡¯t even try to guess at the color. Instead, I set the jet to hover above the old brick factory on the next block.


    Then I turned the jet¡¯s sensors on the factory, hoping that it wasn¡¯t rigged to detect them and explode.


    It didn¡¯t.


    The jet displayed shadowy representations of the insides of both buildings on the screens. One building appeared to be full of manufacturing equipment. I recognized the shapes of devices I used while creating ceramics.


    The smaller building on the far side of the lot seemed to be used for storage, and it appeared to be full.

 Chance & Fate: Part 6

    I had the jet¡¯s scanner zoom in on the storage building, specifically on the objects inside. Flat discs approximately the thickness of tires lay on top of each other, arranged in the shapes of cylinders.


    From the picture, the building appeared to be about seventy-five percent full. It wasn¡¯t hard to calculate either. The building was rectangular.


    I wondered exactly what that worked out to in terms of discs.


    I zoomed in further, trying to zero in on one specific disc.


    From behind me, Vaughn asked, ¡°So, what¡¯s in there?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure that out,¡± I said, trying not to sound annoyed.


    I must not have done a great job of it though, because Vaughn said, ¡°Sorry. I wasn¡¯t trying to piss you off.¡±


    Still adjusting the scanner, I said, ¡°You¡¯re not. I¡¯m just having a hard time adjusting this thing.¡±


    The picture wasn¡¯t coming together. Some spots were blurry. Some spots were clear, but the devices appeared to be made out of multiple thin layers, and it clearly displayed more than one at a time.


    From what I was seeing though, the ceramic I¡¯d come up with protected the outside, and provided the internal structure. Plus, I felt fairly sure each disc had a anti-gravity plate on the bottom.


    ¡°Hey Mystic,¡± I said, ¡°could you do that thing where you sense the biggest danger to the city? We probably ought to make sure this is it.¡±


    Daniel sounded amused. ¡°Already on it.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± I said, and stared at the screen again. I didn¡¯t want to fiddle with it anymore. Fortunately, the jet had an artificial intelligence that probably knew how to operate the scanners.


    Taking my hands away from the controls, I said, ¡°Heroes League jet AI? Hello?¡±


    On the screen appeared the words: [You have my attention.]


    ¡°Could you adjust the screens so we have a good picture of the devices in that building, and if you happen to recognize what they are, please tell us.¡±


    I had some guesses, but I wanted to save some time.


    More words appeared on the screen.


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    [The devices in that shed correspond to devices commonly used in warfare among several spacefaring species.]


    ¡°So what do they do?¡± I asked.


    [They don¡¯t all do the same thing. Some of them are bombs. I¡¯d estimate them to be capable of destroying life within a mile radius. Most are neutron emitters. They¡¯re similar to your neutron bombs except that they can be reused and moved to another location once you¡¯ve replaced the fuel source.]


    People started talking, but I barely noticed.


    I stared at the screen for little while, and then said, ¡°Could you show me each type, layer by layer? Please identify anything you can.¡±


    It did. I¡¯d been right about the anti-gravity plates. They all had them. The bombs¡¯ design also included tricks for enhancing the blast that had never occurred to me. The neutron emitter was¡­ evil. It looked like it would do what it was supposed to¡ªkill the people without damaging their stuff.


    I turned around to look at everyone¡ªeasier in the Rocket suit than you might think, but still a little uncomfortable. ¡°Hey,¡± I said. ¡°I think I understand what we¡¯ve got to do. The way I see it, these bombs have hugely complex designs that they can¡¯t possibly have manufactured here¡ªnot entirely. They got the fuel and some of the parts from off-planet.


    ¡°The good news is that because they¡¯re so complex, we can probably get rid of them by smashing them and they won¡¯t go off. The bad news is that they¡¯re using the ceramic I was planning to use on the next generation of armor, so they¡¯ll be kind of hard to smash.¡±


    ¡°Easy,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Turn the jet¡¯s guns on them. Boom, they¡¯re gone.¡±


    Two chairs down from Vaughn in the second row, Sydney said, ¡°I don¡¯t think that sounds like a good idea.¡±


    At the same time, Rachel said, ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°You know,¡± I said, ¡°it might work better than you¡¯d think. It¡¯s just that there¡¯s a small chance we might set the bombs off that way, and then we¡¯d probably,¡± I checked the screen to find that the jet had written [undoubtedly], and continued, ¡°uh¡­ undoubtedly all die because the bombs would overwhelm the shields. That¡¯s why I¡¯d also avoid using Captain Commando¡¯s gun, lightning, and stuff like that.¡±


    Rachel interrupted. ¡°This is going to work a lot better if you tell people what¡¯s going to work than if you tell them what won¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not that hard to figure out,¡± Cassie said. ¡°My sword can chop them to bits.¡±


    I thought about that. ¡°Right. And I bet Sydney or Izzy could smash things. Haley could rip them apart with her claws¡­ Camille controls gravity, so she could increase it and get the same effect as Sydney or Izzy. I¡¯ll show you where to hit.¡±


    ¡°Rocket? Everybody? There¡¯s a second spot.¡± Daniel stood up next to his chair. ¡°We¡¯re at the most immediate threat, but the other one¡¯s just as big, and it¡¯s connected to this one somehow.¡±


    Next to him, Izzy took a breath. He¡¯d probably already talked with her about it.


    Cassie looked up at him, and asked, ¡°Where is it?¡±


    Daniel shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t know until I get there. I could find it and report back.¡±


    Izzy said, ¡°I¡¯ll go with him,¡± and stood up.


    I looked at them, and thought for a second. ¡°Ok. Do that, but I¡¯m thinking we should wait until you call us before we start destroying things here.¡±


    As I was about to turn to open the hatch, Camille asked, ¡°Do you think we should destroy things here? Maybe the Defenders should do it?¡±


    Talking at about the same time, Vaughn said, ¡°You mind if I go with them? I might be useful there.¡±


    As they realized that they were talking over each other, Vaughn and Camille stopped, and laughed.


    Except then Vaughn turned back to me, ¡°But seriously, do you mind?¡±

 Chance & Fate: Part 7

    "Um... Actually, kind of. Izzy and Daniel are good for scouting, and that''s what I''m using them for. You''re more like artillery. You never know where we might need you. I''d say let''s wait till we know, and then I''ll send you, if needed."


    "Well that... fucking sucks." Vaughn stared at his chair''s monitor.


    Camille looked over at Vaughn and then over at me. Despite what I normally expected out of her, she wasn''t flirting at all.


    "So don''t you think we ought to leave the bombs to the Defenders? They''ve been doing it longer.


    I thought about it. "I think that they might be less qualified than we are. They don''t have the jet to tell them what the bombs are. Plus I probably know more than most about the tech they''re using.


    She glanced over at Haley and back to me. "It was just a suggestion."


    "And not a bad one. Vaughn''s suggestion was good too. I''m going to let the Defenders know what''s up so they can object, but I really think we should destroy the devices before anyone realizes we''re here."


    Then I turned back around and opened the hatch. Cool air flowed into the jet. I didn''t know what temperature it was outside. Warmer than Michigan for sure, but not warm.


    Daniel and Izzy walked toward the opening.


    Izzy wore the same blue and black exercise clothes I''d seen her in last time, but with a mask that covered the upper half of her face. She''d put her black hair in a ponytail.


    Giving a quick look out the hatch, she said, "You can call me Blue again for this one. I haven''t come up with a good name yet."


    Then she stepped out of the door.


    Daniel followed, but before he disappeared into the predawn darkness, he contacted me telepathically. You''re doing the right thing. The place we''re going becomes more dangerous if Vaughn''s there.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Seriously?


    Some, Daniel thought at me, and then he was gone.


    That made me feel a little better, but only a little.


    I clicked on the comm, and called the Defenders, explaining what we were doing.


    Ronin said, "Do you think you can destroy the devices without risking the city?"


    "Yes, but not zero risk, a low risk."


    "Do it, and don''t forget we''re ready to assist if you need us. We''d never have found this without you, and we''re grateful you''re here."


    "Thanks," I said, but I felt a little strange about his gratitude, knowing we could still screw this up horribly.


    We ended the call.


    "So, " I said, "I guess we should come up with ideas for how to destroy them as quickly as possible, and maybe a backup plan in case it goes wrong."


    Vaughn frowned. "If it goes wrong, don''t we all just die? Someone''s going to blow them all remotely, right?"


    Rachel let out a breath. "I hope not."


    I shook my head (indirectly the Rocket suit''s helmet), "I don''t think so. I think they''d avoid wasting all their work if they can, have all of them fly out, and only use one."


    They wouldn''t need more than that.


    Anyway, we talked about the devices'' weak points and how to take advantage of them. Vaughn participated. He even seemed to be in a better mood afterward.


    A little bit, anyhow.


    I sank back into my seat. If this was what leadership felt like, I didn''t like it. I was angering friends while sending them into danger.


    It wasn''t fun at all.


    I lowered the jet onto the factory''s parking lot, and opened the hatch again--this time for everybody. Cassie, Camille, and Sydney went toward the storage building. Once there, Cassie reached out and crushed the padlock with her hand. Then she swung the door open.


    Drawing her sword, she entered, and started cutting.


    It wasn''t the quickest way, but none of us could destroy them all at once.


    When Sydney and Camille followed her in, it left Vaughn, Haley, Rachel, and I standing on the crumbling asphalt next to the jet. From the building came the hum of Cassie''s sword, and the crunching noises that came from whatever Camille and Sydney were doing.


    It seemed to be going well.


    Then Daniel called me. I clicked the palm of my glove to answer.


    "Rocket, we''ve found the other danger, and it''s as bad as I worried it might be. Do you remember True Humanity? The guys who hate all supers on principle? Well, they''re here. They''ve got a training camp in an old warehouse, and they''ve got people with power juice inside."


    "Isn''t that hypocritical?"


    Daniel replied, "No doubt, but Blue says they''ve got a bomb that looks strangely familiar, so we''ve got something to worry about."

 Chance & Fate: Part 8

    ¡°So, do you think you can handle it, or if it even needs to be handled right now?¡±


    Daniel went quiet. Then he said, ¡°I just swept the area telepathically, and at least five of them are awake. Plus, even though my precognitive ability is pretty vague, I get the sense that the bomb¡¯s going to take out the city if we don¡¯t attack. Actually, I think it¡¯s got a good chance of going off if we do, but it¡¯s inevitable if we don¡¯t.¡±


    In the background, I heard Izzy say, ¡°Have him call the Defenders.¡±


    She was completely correct. This was exactly when we needed to call in the Defenders.


    ¡°Did you hear that?¡± Daniel spoke quietly.


    ¡°Got it. Just a second.¡±


    I put him on hold, and called Ronin. I sent him their position, and told him what they¡¯d be facing. ¡°If you¡¯ve got anyone experienced with demolitions or alien tech, bring them along. If you need help with that, call me.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got someone,¡± Ronin said.


    And that was that. I took Daniel off hold, and let him know.


    ¡°I¡¯m getting a contact from him now,¡± Daniel said as I finished. ¡°I¡¯ll call you back.¡±


    With that I was back to watching Cassie, Camille, and Sydney destroy the neutron emitters and bombs.


    ¡°Jet,¡± I said, ¡°how are we doing?¡±


    Its response appeared under the readouts near the top of my vision.


    [A sizable minority have been destroyed. 157 out of 352.]


    ¡°How many bombs versus neutron emitters?¡±


    [11 bombs. The rest are neutron emitters.]


    That was good news. We had a chance of surviving this.


    ¡°The bombs are still in sections of the warehouse Captain Commando hasn¡¯t reached yet, right?¡±


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    [Correct. They¡¯re in the middle of the building¡¯s north side.]


    I passed that along to Cassie.


    ¡°Greeeaat, Rocket. There¡¯s a lot of chopping between here and there.¡±


    ¡°I know, but if you get the bombs, we really can hit the rest with the jet¡¯s guns.¡±


    In the helmet readouts, the word ¡°Mystic¡± began to blink. ¡°Sorry, Mystic¡¯s trying to call.¡±


    I opened the connection, and Daniel¡¯s voice came in, breathless, and stumbling over itself. ¡°They¡¯re here, and we¡¯re going in with them.¡±


    Crashes and shouts overwhelmed his voice. Another voice, this one very, very deep, gave a wordless shout, followed immediately by the noise of concrete shattering. That was followed by Izzy¡¯s voice amplified to a level that the Rocket suit actively suppressed.


    Even more shouting, and the sound of cracking noises came across the connection.


    ¡°Bad news,¡± Daniel said, ¡°the Defenders¡¯ technical guy is down. We might need some help with that. The good news is that the True Humanity people are running. Ronin was amazing. Even with his people, we were outnumbered three to one, but he put everyone exactly where they needed to be.¡±


    ¡°I thought you said there were five people.¡±


    Automatic weapons fire sounded over the connection. ¡°That¡¯s right, but I was talking about the people who were awake and in range. The grand total was more than twenty, plus normals.¡±


    At that moment, Cassie shouted something as the discs flew out of the building, followed by Camille flying out after them, but not right after them. She knew the plan, and following the discs would be distinctly unhealthy.


    Instead, she landed a little outside the door, and the discs began to slow down. They didn¡¯t completely stop. They kept on flying out the building¡¯s open door at a regular rate, but slowed to a crawl once they passed the doorway.


    The growing cloud of discs unnerved me though. We only had until someone noticed that they were stuck, and tried to solve the problem by having the bombs explode or turning on the neutron emitters.


    With luck, the person responsible was too busy fighting the Defenders.


    Cassie and Sydney ran out of the open door, Cassie slicing through a few more discs before getting too close to the main group, and nearly falling to the ground.


    Sydney, now completely encased in grey metal, took a few more down by firing slivers of metal out of her arms.


    They crashed to the ground, but didn¡¯t explode. This was great, but it still left hundreds in the air. To really deal with the problem, we¡¯d have to move to phase two¡ªwhich was going to be a little more chancy.


    A disc at the front of the group edged forward. I glanced toward Camille. Despite the January temperature, sweat hung on her cheeks.


    She wasn¡¯t going to be able to get it. I wondered how much longer she¡¯d be able to hold any of them.


    The disc shot forward, free of Camille¡¯s artificial gravity. It didn¡¯t get far. Blazing light hit it, and it fell.


    Haley had made it back inside the jet. Her voice sounded inside my helmet, and on all of our communicators. ¡°We¡¯ve got to move to phase two, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, becoming more aware of the sound of wind above me. Despite the winter, and the snow on the ground, it had begun to feel like tornado weather.


    Off to my right, Vaughn stared upward.


    I hoped this would work.

 Chance & Fate: Part 9

    ¡°Storm King, are you ready?¡±


    Vaughn didn¡¯t seem to hear me at first, but as I was about to ask again, he said, ¡°Almost, it¡¯s hard to get the position right¡ªunless you want it to suck us up too?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m against that.¡± I eyed Camille, realizing that I didn¡¯t know her codename if she had one. ¡°Hey, are you ready to float them upward?¡±


    She nodded, taking a breath as she did it. I hoped she wasn¡¯t already too tired to manage it. I wondered if we shouldn¡¯t have had Vaughn create a tornado around the storage building from the beginning. Then Camille could have been backup if the bombs escaped.


    She wouldn¡¯t have the strength to do much after this.


    As I second guessed myself, the winds grew stronger, and above us the noise increased, turning into a roar that I could feel through my armor.


    Then Vaughn turned toward Camille, waving upward with one hand. Lowering her head and exhaling, she stared at the cloud of discs.


    They began to float higher, straining against the gravity she¡¯d created. Through the sound of Vaughn¡¯s tornado, I could still hear the hum of several hundred neutron emitters'' and bombs'' anti-gravity plates. They sounded a little bit off.


    That was good news. Damaged plates would have a harder time getting away.


    My helmet made the pre-dawn darkness light enough that I could watch as the tornado¡¯s winds caught the uppermost discs, sucking them into the twisting funnel above us.


    I contacted the jet again, ¡°Are you tracking them?¡±


    [Yes, and since I can already guess your next question, I can still identify the difference between bomb and neutron emitter.]


    ¡°Good. Then you¡¯ve got my permission to fire on the neutron emitters whenever you¡¯ve got a shot that won¡¯t hit the bombs. You can use the anti-personnel lasers, and are required to stop when any member of the group asks. Is that restrictive enough?¡±


    [Acceptable.]


    Whatever aliens had originally created the AI had made it a massive pain to give him the power to fire weapons or take over the jet. That was one reason I had Haley flying it. When I¡¯d asked the AI why, he¡¯d only said, ¡°Bitter experience.¡±


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    Over the comm, Haley said, ¡°I¡¯m taking off.¡±


    The jet floated into the air, the anti-personnel lasers already firing. I watched for any sign that it might be pulled into the whirlwind, but it stayed stable.


    In front of me, Cassie had put her sword back into its sheath, and pulled out the Abominator gun.


    ¡°Uh¡­ That¡¯s not a good idea,¡± I began.


    ¡°Relax,¡± Cassie said. ¡°This is just in case. There¡¯s just a small chance of setting off a bomb, right?¡±


    She couldn¡¯t see my jaw drop through the helmet. ¡°Yeah, but a massive chance of killing everybody near it plus huge chunks of the city if it does go.¡±


    ¡°I know, I know, don¡¯t worry about it. The gun¡¯s got a great range, and it says it knows the bombs'' blast radius.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s also,¡± I said, ¡°a bit of a homicidal maniac and it would probably enjoy ¡®cleansing¡¯ the city of people.¡±


    She rolled her eyes. ¡°Look, I know, but it follows orders, and I¡¯m not going to let it.¡±


    Rachel coughed¡ªan obvious, fake cough. Everyone looked at her, which was what she¡¯d wanted.


    A wide smile visible below her mask, she said, ¡°I¡¯ve got to be going. Those of us who are slow need time to get into position for phase three. Join me when you¡¯re done arguing.¡± Then she turned partially transparent and floated upward, staying parallel to the tornado.


    She wasn¡¯t that slow, but nowhere near as fast as the Rocket suit.


    Vaughn gave Cassie and me a quick look. ¡°I gotta concentrate too.¡±


    Leaning a little on Sydney, and still looking tired, but not as tired, Camille said, ¡°Talk as long as you want, I¡¯m done.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t noticed it, but she was right. All of the discs were now whirling around in the tornado. Constant laser fire hit, knocking discs out of the air in burning pieces.


    The pieces weren¡¯t falling on us. Some landed half a block away on the road, and in the snow next to it. It wasn¡¯t close, but it felt close.


    Plus, if I were going to be of any use during phase three, I needed to get up in the air. The Rocket suit didn¡¯t need much time, but the sooner the better.


    I turned on the rockets, and said, ¡°Heading up. Be ready for anything, but with any luck, this is the end.¡±


    Then I flew, and it was amazing. There are a lot of scenes you never expect you¡¯ll be part of, and flying parallel to a tornado filled with alien WMD¡¯s that are being destroyed by your plan (in the form of a jet¡¯s lasers) is one of these things.


    In the distance I could hear tornado sirens mixed with police cars and fire trucks. From my height, I could see the police blocking off streets blocks away from us. For a moment I was impressed by their response time, and that they¡¯d even realized we were here. Then it occurred to me that we¡¯d been around for twenty minutes, and that tornados weren¡¯t exactly quiet.


    Still, I¡¯d come up with a plan and it was working. I appreciated that with a degree of satisfaction as I climbed. Okay, we hadn¡¯t taken out the bombs, but the neutron emitters were on their way to destruction.


    Unfortunately, it was far from over. Before I even flew halfway up to where I needed to be, Daniel called.


    ¡°Rocket, we won,¡± he began, but he didn¡¯t sound happy at all. ¡°Remember the bomb Izzy saw? It¡¯s on a timer, and Ronin needs help disarming it. Are you busy?¡±

 Chance & Fate: Part 10

    ¡°I¡¯m just about to tag the bombs with roachbots, but I¡¯ve got time for that. How long do you have?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± He spoke hesitantly. ¡°I caught that they set the bomb, but they didn¡¯t even know how long they had. All they knew is that they might die even if they hurried.¡±


    So apparently in real life, bombs on timers didn¡¯t have convenient displays.


    ¡°Crap,¡± I said. ¡°You don¡¯t have time for me to figure out how to disarm it. I think your best bet is to have Izzy poke holes in it. I¡¯ll send you a schematic showing where. It¡¯ll still be a powerful bomb, but you¡¯ll only get a 100 foot radius blast instead of a mile.¡±


    ¡°Why not have her break it in two?¡± Daniel asked.


    ¡°Better chance of it going off,¡± I said. ¡°Well, unless you¡¯ve got Cap¡¯s sword.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± he said.


    I had the jet send him the schematic, explained where to put the holes and we hung up.


    With that, I was again conscious of where I was¡ªhundreds of feet in the air above St. Louis with a tornado ahead of me and dawn half an hour away.


    The jet stopped firing its lasers, and Haley¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°It¡¯s done. All that¡¯s left are the bombs.¡±


    ¡°Great. Uh¡­ Does Camille have a codename?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve been calling her Gravitystar.¡± The tone of Haley¡¯s voice made me suspect she¡¯d told me before.


    It was probably for the best that I didn¡¯t remember. The name didn¡¯t make much sense, and the fact that I didn¡¯t have bad memories of an embarrassing conversation attached to it probably indicated that I hadn¡¯t told Camille so.


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    On the League¡¯s common channel, I said, ¡°Gravitystar, do you think you could hold the bombs in place if Storm King lets go?¡±


    Her gasp for breath answered my question before she did. ¡°I can try. Holding all of them took more out of me than I thought it would.¡±


    In retrospect I could imagine that stopping hundreds of anti-gravity plates might do a number on her.


    ¡°No, you don¡¯t have to. If you can¡¯t, we could lose a bunch of them. Rest for a second. Storm King, can you keep control of them?¡±


    Vaughn paused before he answered, but his voice stayed level. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ve got them.¡±


    ¡°Ok,¡± I said, ¡°Ghost and I will tag them, and then after that, you¡¯ve got to move the tornado as high as you can.¡±


    Vaughn snorted, ¡°Because after that¡­ Boom. Right?¡±


    ¡°Night Cat, does the jet say it can hit them without getting caught in the explosion?¡±


    At roughly the same time Haley said, ¡°Yes,¡± and the jet sent the same message directly to my suit¡¯s HUD.


    Only one more thing to check, I thought, and decided to call Rachel. I didn¡¯t get the chance.


    Rachel¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°I¡¯m in position. Are you ready?¡± She didn¡¯t sound tired at all.


    ¡°Almost,¡± I said.


    ¡°How far are you?¡±, she asked.


    As she finished, I found myself within the bots effective range. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯m firing.¡±


    While I couldn¡¯t see her, my helmet¡¯s display followed the bots that flew from a gun I¡¯d recently designed for her.


    Simply so that I got a chance, I fired a series of bots where the HUD indicated the bombs were in the the swirling tornado. Despite the suit¡¯s padding, I could feel it as they fired.


    One by one, the bots reported back that they¡¯d caught up with a bomb or missed and been destroyed by the whirling winds. Within a minute, we¡¯d found all eleven bombs. We were ready. Even if one escaped while the jet targeted them, we¡¯d be able to track it.


    With luck we wouldn¡¯t need to, but it made for a nice backup plan.


    As I thought about my next step, the words, [I recommend that you land.] appeared in my HUD.


    The jet knew the bombs¡¯ blast radius better than I did.


    I began to descend toward where everyone but Rachel, Haley and I waited near the storage building.


    Two hundred feet above the ground, an explosion lit up the city like it was day, followed by a thunderous roar. My first impulse was to guess that Haley had started to fire before I¡¯d reached the ground.


    Except that seemed out of character.


    Then I realized that the HUD showed that the blast had taken place north of us.

 Chance & Fate: Part 11

    Tapping my fingers on my palms, I brought up our group¡¯s location. Daniel and Izzy¡¯s location came up as ¡°Unknown¡±¡ªwhich didn¡¯t necessarily mean that they were dead. It could mean that the bomb had kicked out enough of an EMP that it killed their comms.


    For that matter, if their signal came through, I realized, it didn¡¯t necessarily mean that they were alive.


    The thought that I needed to include people¡¯s health in the next iteration didn¡¯t distract me enough. I was still aware that Izzy and Daniel might both be dead or near to it.


    The bombs weren¡¯t nuclear, but they obviously included materials that I wasn¡¯t familiar with. Even if they were only briefly radioactive or poisonous, they could still kill.


    Then Daniel and Izzy¡¯s status flickered from red to green. A good sign.


    Not only that, but I could see from the GPS that they were moving in excess of 400 mph towards us. This was better yet.


    Well, unless it meant that Izzy was carrying Daniel¡¯s body. He could stop bullets with telekinesis, but not fire or heat.


    I didn¡¯t have long to wonder though. Izzy appeared, carrying Daniel, silhouetted against the backdrop of the city and the fire that still burned behind them.


    With Izzy¡¯s speed, I didn¡¯t even have time to register that I¡¯d seen them before I felt Daniel¡¯s mind.


    I¡¯m not dead, he thought at me, but it was a near thing. Izzy had barely stopped poking holes in the bomb when I sensed it would blow.


    I got an image of a backroom filled with computers, and saw a grey disc lying in the corner. Izzy pulled her hand away, and five other people, all of them in costume, backed up.


    I wondered what had happened to the others, and heard Izzy¡¯s voice in my head.


    They all died.


    With the added dimension of direct mental contact, I could hear her think it with a touch of disbelief. I could also feel the torrent of emotions behind what she¡¯d said¡ªshock that it had happened so quickly, guilt that she hadn¡¯t been able to stop it, fear that it had killed more people than we knew, and hope that it hadn¡¯t.


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    Daniel filtered his own emotions better, but we¡¯d spent so much time in each other¡¯s heads over the years that I went past his shield before either of us knew it. I felt his relief at not dying, and sadness for the others. He¡¯d felt them go.


    I felt them secondhand¡ªa jumble of thoughts, terror, and fiery pain.


    I gasped.


    The flames had surrounded him too, but he¡¯d warned Izzy. She¡¯d grabbed him before the blast threw them away. The flame didn''t reach them. I sensed heat, but no pain.


    By then the others¡¯ consciousness had been completely annihilated.


    It also confirmed what I¡¯d suspected before¡ªIzzy wasn¡¯t physically invulnerable. She generated some kind of shield unconsciously, and when she¡¯d pulled Daniel close, it included him.


    I wondered how far out she could make it go. Theoretically, she might have saved them all.


    Keep that quiet, okay? She doesn¡¯t need to hear it right now.


    From a distance, Izzy¡¯s presence said, I didn¡¯t catch that. Are you talking to me?


    Daniel and I said, Sorry, we didn¡¯t mean to leave you out simultaneously, and with exactly the same tone and inflection.


    That¡¯s when we ended the connection, and I became aware of myself again. I floated above the ground, descending toward everyone else. Izzy and Daniel had already landed.


    I hit the ground seconds later, and not all that hard.


    Haley¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°Is everyone down? I¡¯m just about to start shooting.¡±


    ¡°Everyone but Ghost,¡± Cassie said.


    I probably should have said something, but after what I¡¯d just seen, I still felt out of it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Rachel¡¯s voice came across the comm distantly, and with a maximum of static.


    ¡°If you¡¯re sure,¡± Haley said. ¡°Just, be careful, okay? I¡¯m starting¡­ Now.¡±


    In the sky, thin lines of light crossed upward from the jet to the tornado. Small objects exploded, raining glowing, reddish bits on the city below.


    It was easy. I¡¯d been overly cautious. I¡¯d been wrong about the bombs. I should have skipped the roachbot tracking devices. I could have blown the bombs up on the ground all at once and saved us a lot of work.


    Haley and the jet¡¯s lasers made it to number nine without an explosion, but on number nine, the sky turned white. I¡¯d thought the one that Izzy damaged had been bright, but I didn¡¯t have anything to compare it with. This explosion filled the sky as far as the helmet let me see, and triggered the last two bombs almost simultaneously.


    The three chained explosions blew the howling tornado apart. Even though Vaughn had directed the tornado and the bombs as high as he could, I still felt heat. The suit suppressed the noise of the blasts, but I still heard them.


    All the same, it wasn¡¯t long before the brightness faded, the pre-dawn sky turned back to darkness.


    Over the comm, Haley laughed nervously as she said, ¡°Thank God, it¡¯s over.¡±


    None of us had any idea what would come next.

 Spin: Part 1

    Haley landed the jet in the parking lot between the storage building and the factory.


    We¡¯d arrived less than an hour before, and aside from a little debris from the bombs, it didn¡¯t look much different. It was lighter (past the factories and warehouses, the eastern sky glowed), and the tornado sirens were still going, but it was close to the same.


    An inch of snow still covered the ground, and the temperature felt cold¡ªif not as cold as Michigan.


    For that matter, all the buildings that had been standing when we arrived were still standing. The ones that weren¡¯t visible from here.


    Still, it felt like we¡¯d been there a week.


    We walked toward the jet¡ªall of us but Rachel anyway, and she appeared as I walked up the steps. A little later we¡¯d all buckled up and sat there, waiting.


    Haley looked over at me as I clicked through different screen views. Radar didn¡¯t show anyone in the air.


    ¡°I¡¯m a little surprised no one¡¯s called us. I¡¯d think they¡¯d want to talk to us.¡±


    I considered it. ¡°Yeah, me too. The thing is, the person we mostly talked to was Ronin, and he probably died in the blast.¡±


    I turned back toward Daniel.


    He nodded. ¡°He was in the room when the bomb went off.¡±


    Izzy swallowed. ¡°He didn¡¯t have a chance.¡±


    Rachel tapped twice on her armrest and frowned. ¡°Who¡¯s going to tell Tara? She shouldn¡¯t hear this on the radio.¡±


    I hoped it wouldn¡¯t be me, but Rachel was right. We needed to call the local Defenders office. That couldn¡¯t have been all of them. Someone had to be back at the office. That was probably the person to call her.


    Her and the other four people¡¯s families. Did they have families? There had to be a system.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    In a quiet voice, Sydney asked, ¡°Who¡¯s Tara?¡±


    ¡°Ronin¡¯s daughter,¡± Rachel said. ¡°She¡¯s a Stapledon student. She¡¯s doing her fifth-year internship right now. I know her a little.¡±


    ¡°I sparred with her once,¡± Cassie said, sounding a little more enthusiastic than I would have just then, ¡°she¡¯s a genius at hand to hand.¡±


    Daniel caught my eye, ¡°Call the Defenders.¡±


    Haley clicked on the screen, ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    Moments later we heard the words, ¡°St. Louis Defenders unit. We¡¯re in the middle of an emergency right now. Can you hold?¡±


    Haley scowled. ¡°This is the Heroes League. We were working on the emergency with you, and we¡¯d¡­ like to report a death. Actually five deaths.¡±


    The man on the other end said, ¡°More deaths? Whose are you reporting?¡±


    ¡°Ronin¡¯s and¡­¡± she turned back toward Izzy and Daniel.


    ¡°Metaspark¡ª¡° Izzy started, but the man interrupted her.


    ¡°We know about Ronin and the team in the True Humanity operation. We¡¯ll need you to fill out an after action report. For now though, stay where you are. We¡¯re handling a number of issues related to what¡¯s happened.¡±


    ¡°We could help,¡± Haley said.


    ¡°Heroes League, thanks for the offer. You¡¯re all Stapledon students, correct?¡±


    Haley hesitated for a second, and then said, ¡°No, but I think we¡¯re all planning to be.¡±


    The voice on the other end didn¡¯t hesitate at all. ¡°There are no adults in your group, correct? Stand down for now. If we need help, we will contact you. And again, stay where you are. Don¡¯t leave St. Louis.¡±


    Then he hung up.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Haley said, as the screen showed the connection¡¯s end. ¡°I would¡¯ve expected that they¡¯d want our help.¡±


    Vaughn snorted. ¡°They don¡¯t want our help, but they want us to write a report. That¡¯s going to be fun.¡±


    Next to him, Cassie rolled her eyes. ¡°It totally figures. Even though they didn¡¯t even know about this before we showed up, they don¡¯t think that we can handle it, so they¡¯re keeping us away.¡±


    Rachel grinned at her. ¡°I¡¯m the last person to defend people like that, but what are the chances it¡¯s an insurance thing? We probably signed a waiver that Haley and her friends haven¡¯t. So they can¡¯t get sued if we do, but the high schoolers are going to break the bank.¡±


    Haley frowned, and narrowed her eyes, ¡°I don¡¯t like that at all. Do you really think they¡¯d do that?¡±


    A series of beeps spared Rachel from answering.


    The caller ID showed the caller as ¡°Mindstryke¡ªMidwest Defenders.¡±


    I opened the comm connection.


    Daniel¡¯s dad appeared on all comm screens in full uniform as Mindstryke¡ªnavy blue with the Greek letter ¡°psi,¡± and designed in a way that reminded me more of a military uniform. He sat behind a desk somewhere. The bookshelves behind him made it difficult to place where, but I guessed the Midwest Defenders HQ.


    A mask covered the upper half of his face, but as the connection became clear, he gave us all a warm smile.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you all survived. We¡¯ve got a lot to talk about. I¡¯m going to debrief you from here, but when you come back to Grand Lake we¡¯re going to have to talk more. A lot more. Your actions have just moved up the board''s time tables substantially.¡±

 Spin: Part 2

    I stared at the screen. ¡°The board? As in the League¡¯s board or the Defenders¡¯?¡±


    Mindstryke shook his head. ¡°Not the Defenders¡¯ board, the League¡¯s. But that¡¯s for later. Right now I¡¯d like you to explain what happened from the point where you first became aware this was possible through to your response.¡±


    We did. Rachel told him about first hearing about the possibility in Infinity City. I described how I¡¯d recognized a clue after months of searching. Then everybody explained their individual part in the plan.


    He nodded as we talked, no longer smiling, but taking notes, and asking questions.


    After we were done, he said, ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll summarize this, and then we¡¯ll go over what to talk about and what to skip if someone asks you about it.


    ¡°First, Rachel hears about it from another version of herself in Infinity City. She tells Lim about it, and even includes the information in her report about what happened on her field trip. Nick and the FBI both search for clues as to who¡¯s trying to blow up St. Louis until Nick makes the connection based on information from the League jet¡¯s alien AI.


    ¡°Nick gets no response to what he¡¯s discovered, so he goes to investigate and brings a large team. You discover the bombs, and notify the local Defenders unit. The Mystic and Blue assist the local Defenders. The Rocket assists when the bomb starts counting down, but is mostly occupied by destroying hundreds of bombs with the rest of you.


    ¡°In the end, you¡¯re successful in destroying the bombs without significant damage to the city. Blue and the Mystic successfully reduce another bomb¡¯s damage after True Humanity sets it off. Nonetheless it still kills five Defenders and destroys most of a city block. Have I missed anything major?¡±


    There was a general murmur of ¡°No.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s dad nodded, ¡°Good, then let¡¯s talk about how we¡¯ll handle this. First, I want all of you to remember that you¡¯re not obligated to talk to the press. The words ¡®No comment,¡¯ will save us an amazing amount of grief.


    ¡°Now, some of you will want to talk to the press, or even just to your friends. I¡¯m thinking specifically about Camille. You didn¡¯t hide your identity when you were part of Justice Fist.¡±


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°No, we didn¡¯t,¡± Camille said, a little louder, and with a little more bitterness than I¡¯d expected.


    He nodded. ¡°If you want to talk about that sometime, we can. There are things we can do to make that a little better.¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything, but she did nod.


    ¡°Well,¡± he said, ¡°let¡¯s talk about what we want people to remember, and that¡¯s easy¡ªyou saved people. Talk about the bombs. Talk about the neutron emitters. Don¡¯t forget that they could fly or what they looked like. They could have been used to destroy thousands, probably millions or even billions of people before we caught on. That¡¯s the important part of this.¡±


    I thought about that for a second, ¡°That could really scare people.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Maybe not as much as you¡¯d think. Sometimes I think there¡¯s a conservation of worry. Between supervillains, politics, natural disasters, and people¡¯s own lives, there¡¯s not much left over. Now I¡¯m not saying that this isn¡¯t going to be a big deal. It will be, but it¡¯s not going to be as scary as it should be. Whoever supplied True Humanity with these things was going for human extinction, not simple terrorism. True Humanity¡¯s been small time, targeting supers and their families, not cities. I¡¯d be surprised if they had any idea of what they were getting. They¡¯d probably been told that the devices would only kill supers.¡±


    Vaughn cocked his head to one side, ¡°Wait, so why aren''t people going to be scared?¡±


    Daniel¡¯s dad smiled for a second. ¡°I got off track. They¡¯re going to get scared, but it¡¯s not going to stick because you won, and won easily¡ª¡°


    ¡°Easily?¡± The word came out before I thought about it. It hadn¡¯t felt easy.


    ¡°Easily,¡± he said. ¡°None of you died, and there was barely any property damage. You even let the airports know to redirect planes around where the blast would be. Plus with you taking care of it before dawn on a Saturday, I doubt there will be many civilian deaths at all. If we¡¯re lucky, there won¡¯t be any. What the public¡¯s likely to see is the sad deaths of the Defenders protecting them, but completely successful protection.¡±


    Rachel frowned. ¡°The Defenders shouldn¡¯t be forgotten.¡±


    ¡°They won¡¯t be. They¡¯ll get all the attention they deserve, and maybe more.¡± Mindstryke adjusted his position in the chair and leaned forward. ¡°And that brings me back to the things that we shouldn¡¯t talk about. Don¡¯t talk about Infinity City. Don¡¯t talk about the jet¡¯s AI. Private citizens don¡¯t own scavenged alien technology. Don¡¯t talk about Lim or the FBI. If someone asks how you found out it was happening, tell them you need to keep that secret.¡±


    Izzy nodded. ¡°And what about the Defenders? What are we supposed to say about them?¡±


    Frowning, he said. ¡°You told me Ronin stopped on the way out to find out how you were doing. Their first team had left, but their second team was with Ronin, and the blast went off then.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t explain it except in a long interview. It¡¯s too complicated. Just tell people they happened to be passing through the room on the way out. It was simple bad luck.¡±


    Izzy sat back in the chair, and turned her head away from the screen for a second. Then she said, ¡°I know it has to be this way, but we¡¯re going to avoid talking about more than we actually talk about.¡±


    A few chairs over, Cassie laughed. ¡°What do you want to bet it only gets harder from here?¡±

 Spin: Part 3

    Mindstryke nodded. ¡°She¡¯s right, but it¡¯s not going to be all bad. It¡¯ll be hard to deal with at first, but it could be worse.¡±


    He glanced to the right, toward something off camera. When his eyes were on us again, he said, ¡°You¡¯ve just experienced what would be a life changing event for some capes. You stopped St. Louis from being destroyed and did it with minimal loss of life. If you want, you¡¯ll be interviewed every day of the week. People will want to pay you thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars for product endorsements. You¡¯ll be celebrities.¡±


    He stopped, gave a sigh, and continued. ¡°I¡¯ve known a lot of people who used events like this to change careers. They stayed in just far enough that they were visible vigilantes, but they spent the rest of their time being ¡®the man who saved St. Louis.¡¯¡±


    ¡°No shit,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°who?¡±


    Mindstryke shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not naming names, but there are lot of complications that come along with doing something on this scale. We¡¯ve got to decide a few things immediately. That¡¯s why the League¡¯s board will be meeting you back at HQ. Don¡¯t expect us any later than ten.¡±


    He opened his mouth to say more, but didn¡¯t get the chance.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Cassie said, ¡°why now? We¡¯ve been visible for almost a year and half now. A lot of what we¡¯ve done made national news. Fighting Rook last fall? That was all over.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°It was, but none of it made any sense, and no one explained it. All the public saw was a few fights in Grand Lake and then a big explosion in Canada. With this, you¡¯ve got a clear story. The new Rocket discovers that True Humanity¡¯s got enough bombs to destroy St. Louis. Against all odds, you succeed in preventing the bombs from doing major damage while more experienced heroes fail. End of story. It¡¯s easy to explain. There are clear heroes and villains. It gets messier once you look closely, but what doesn¡¯t? Most people won¡¯t look.¡±


    From behind me, a low, female voice¡ªIzzy¡ªsaid, ¡°I don¡¯t like it. It¡¯s a distraction from what really matters in all this¡ªpeople. People are alive because we acted. I don¡¯t care about being a celebrity or endorsements. If I end up doing this full time, all I want is a living wage. Besides, I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re talking about this before Ronin¡¯s even been buried.¡±


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Daniel¡¯s dad replied calmly. ¡°As wrong as it seems, it¡¯s going to come up before Ronin¡¯s buried. We need to get everyone on board with a plan now. Personally, I¡¯ve never endorsed anything, but I¡¯ve found that letting the Defenders make money off my likeness pays for new and better uniforms, our base¡¯s upkeep, our publicist, and lawyers. All that keeps us out of trouble with the law, and lets us help more people.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m expecting to see everyone who was on this trip back in HQ, even if you¡¯re not an official League member. We¡¯re even calling in the members who weren¡¯t on it.¡±


    With a little bit of a tremor in her voice, Sydney said, ¡°Just people from this trip? Not all former members of Justice Fist?¡±


    Mindstryke lifted his eyes, probably searching for her on his own monitor. When he found her, he said, ¡°The two of you will be enough for now.¡±


    He looked over all of us. ¡°I think that I should let you go. Captain Commando, you should know that we¡¯ve notified your mother, and she¡¯s not expecting to see you soon. Rocket and Ghost, your mother called the Midwest Defenders private line as soon as this hit the news.¡±


    I glanced back to see Rachel¡¯s response. Her mask hid the top half of her face. The bottom half was unreadable.


    ¡°She wasn¡¯t very happy,¡± he continued. ¡°The good news is that the talk you¡¯re about to have with the board might help with that. Or,¡± and here his tone turned apologetic, ¡°it might make it worse, but it shouldn¡¯t.¡±


    Vaughn said, ¡°What about my mom?¡±


    For a second Mindstryke froze. I might have missed it if I hadn¡¯t known that he¡¯d dated Vaughn¡¯s mom as a teen. She¡¯d figured out that he was a super at least twice that I remembered hearing about, and erasing it from her mind had only been temporary. She¡¯d recognized Daniel, Cassie and I the first time we¡¯d gone out in costume, and warned us to keep Vaughn out of it.


    Calmly Mindstryke said, ¡°Nothing. No calls at all.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make me less worried.¡±


    Mindstryke nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll have people watch for calls from her. Come as soon as you can.¡±


    Then his image faded from the screen, the letter ¦· disappearing last. I wondered if that was intentional, but guessed that it had to be.


    No sooner had he finished than the St. Louis Defenders told us we could go. I mentally filed that under ¡°no coincidence at all.¡± Daniel¡¯s dad had always struck me as the kind of person who paid attention to detail.


    Turning around in my chair, I looked the group over. No one looked happy, and I understood why. We¡¯d been in terror for our lives for what felt like hours, and people had died. Now we were in the middle of what? Meetings about League membership, and selling action figures with our faces on them? Izzy was right. It felt hugely screwed up, but maybe I could raise the mood a little.


    "I guess we¡¯re headed back to HQ. So, um¡­ we¡¯ve got a few hours before the meeting. I¡¯m thinking we could have breakfast at IHOP on the uh¡­ League¡¯s credit card."


    Haley glanced over at me. Even through her mask, I guessed that she was raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°Look,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m trying.¡±

 Spin: Part 4

    Quickly Haley said, ¡°I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s a bad idea, but were you planning on going in costume? I don¡¯t think any of us have real clothes along.¡±


    I thought about that, imagining going into restaurant as we were. For all I knew, Izzy might sometimes use what she was wearing as workout clothes. Plus, eating with the Rocket suit¡¯s helmet on was possible, but ugh¡­


    Then I said, ¡°Do you think IHOP does take out?¡±


    She said, ¡°Nick, everybody does take-out.¡± She straightened up in her seat. ¡°So let¡¯s go. I¡¯m hungry too.¡±


    From behind us, Cassie said, ¡°Good. Because if you were going to say that we shouldn¡¯t get food, I was really going to argue.¡±


    The logistics of buying a stack of pancakes while in costume turned out to be more complicated than you¡¯d expect.


    First you¡¯ve got to decide which IHOP to go to, and it turns out that even though one IHOP is pretty much exactly like every other IHOP in the U.S., people still have opinions. My thoughts were that we ought to go someplace in a small town or a lone restaurant next to a highway exit someplace.


    I looked over IHOP locations, explaining what I was looking for as I went.


    ¡°No,¡± Vaughn leaned forward, looking over my shoulder. ¡°We ought to go to one that¡¯s in a city.¡±


    I turned away from the screen to look at him. ¡°Why?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Could be fun to see how they react. If we¡¯re supposed to be some kind of big deal now, it¡¯d be cool to see what that¡¯s like.¡±


    Izzy spoke up, and her tone wasn¡¯t happy. ¡°People just died, and you want to see what it¡¯s like to be famous?¡±


    Vaughn raised his hand, the light reflecting off his glossy black costume. ¡°Whoa. I didn¡¯t mean it that way. I just thought it¡¯d be fun. That¡¯s all.¡±


    Daniel cut in before anyone else could. ¡°I¡¯m sure Vaughn didn¡¯t mean anything disrespectful. I¡¯ve got to admit, I¡¯m a little curious if we notice any difference. The League¡¯s already famous¡ªeven if it¡¯s mostly because of who we¡¯re descended from.¡±


    Izzy sighed. ¡°That¡¯s the last thing I want to be famous for.¡±


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    No one said anything for a little while after that. We were all thinking about how her grandfather had been ¡°Dixie Superman¡± and fought not only the Heroes League, but also racial integration, civil rights, and ¡°miscegenation.¡± Ironically, Dixie Superman¡¯s son, her father, married her mother¡ªwho happened to be Hispanic.


    Breaking the silence, Vaughn said, ¡°I get that.¡±


    Haley reached across the dashboard to tap on my screen. ¡°There?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking.¡± She¡¯d tapped the city of Wood River, Illinois. It was a little north of St. Louis, and it didn¡¯t look like a big city at all.


    She reached out, clicked on her screen, and the gravitics gave us more altitude. Even with the inertial dampers, Vaughn noticed the buildings outside the windows tilt, and sat back in his seat, strapping himself in.


    ¡°You could have told me,¡± he muttered.


    ¡°I could have.¡± She leveled out the jet, smiling quietly.


    Meanwhile I called the Wood River IHOP. Haley didn¡¯t let the jet go too quickly, or we¡¯d have been there almost instantly. As I finished telling them our order, the man on the other end said, ¡°And whose name should I put on the order?¡±


    I thought about that. ¡°You¡¯re not going to believe it if I say it.¡±


    ¡°Let me be the judge of that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the Rocket.¡±


    He laughed.


    ¡°Tell you what,¡± I said, ¡°if the League jet doesn¡¯t show up out of nowhere to pick up the food, I¡¯ll admit that you¡¯re right.¡±


    So then it was on¡ªkind of.


    The Wood River, IL IHOP wasn¡¯t one of those franchise restaurants that sits next to a highway, obscure simply as a result of existing. This IHOP sat close to the edge of town, but on a road next to other chains on one side¡ªWalgreens, McDonalds, and strip malls¡ªand on the other small, suburban houses.


    Haley landed the jet in the parking lot of the next building over¡ªan out-of-business Mexican restaurant.


    I got up to walk over there, and Daniel got up to go with me. Vaughn popped his straps off as the hatch opened, and followed us out.


    ¡°I¡¯m just here to help carry the food,¡± he said.


    The three of us walked across the snow covered lawn to the entrance. The IHOP didn¡¯t have an entrance on the Mexican restaurant side.


    I felt a little weird about it. On the one hand, I long ago lost any self-consciousness I¡¯d had about walking around in the Rocket suit. On the other, I could still appreciate the absurdity of the situation.


    I couldn¡¯t deny that crossing the snow in the day¡¯s earliest light with Vaughn in his black, multi-pocketed costume, and Daniel in his own black, but sleeker costume felt a little weird.


    Plus, anyone inside had to have seen the jet land.


    We walked inside. It wasn¡¯t busy. Not even a quarter of the tables had people sitting at them. Well, theoretically sitting. As we walked through the doors, a few of them were walking back from the windows and sitting down at their seats.


    Everyone was staring at us.


    A local radio station played over the sound system. I don¡¯t know what the format was normally, but this morning it was all talk.


    ¡°¡ªdon¡¯t know the current death toll, but it appears to be almost impossibly light¡ª¡°


    A slightly overweight, middle-aged man stood behind the podium.


    ¡°I¡¯m the Rocket,¡± I said, ¡°I called in an order a few minutes ago.¡±


    The man said, ¡°I¡­ ah¡­ Well, I didn¡¯t, I¡­¡±


    I felt Daniel¡¯s telepathic connection in my head. He didn¡¯t believe it was us, so he didn¡¯t put in the order.


    That figured.


    They filled the order twenty minutes later. It would have felt longer, but we spent most of the time autographing napkins.

 Spin: Part 5

    By the time our food came, anyone who had wanted an autograph had one. There weren¡¯t that many people in the restaurant after all.


    A fair number of them pointed phones in our direction. It didn¡¯t make me feel better. It¡¯d be really annoying if one of us accidentally used a real name. We¡¯d probably see it all over the internet in hours.


    Daniel¡¯s voice popped into my head. It gets worse. One of them already called a television station, and they¡¯re sending out a reporter.


    What? It was all I could do not to say it out loud. Why didn¡¯t you say something?


    It¡¯s no big deal, Daniel said. The nearest TV station is half an hour from here. Our food should be here sooner.


    Hoping that no one thought to bribe the cooks, I looked over the room again, and didn¡¯t see anything unusual.


    No bribes, Daniel said. See the silver haired guy at the back table? He used to be a producer, and called his old station. It¡¯d be quite a scoop to catch us here.


    The man sat at a table with a white haired woman. He leaned into his phone, talking furiously. She ate pancakes.


    I did not want to be here when the reporters arrived, knowing that we¡¯d have to stay on message and not talk about certain things. Plus, if I had to choose people to face reporters, Daniel would definitely be on it, and Vaughn probably wouldn¡¯t be.


    It didn¡¯t matter in the end. Even though noticeably more cars started showing up in the parking lot while we waited, none of them contained television crews. When we walked out the door with our bags of food (most of it floating in the air around Daniel), the new arrivals watched while other people followed us out. They pointed phones and cameras at us, but they didn¡¯t ask us any questions.


    We flew away soon after the hatch closed, barely giving us time to strap in.


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    Haley flew low, but northward, eventually stopping the jet, and letting it float above a farmer¡¯s field in northern Illinois. We ate there. Brown stalks of corn half buried in snow lay in rows around us for as far as we could see.


    The food was still warm, and we ate without much talking.


    I finished before almost anyone else¡ªmostly because I didn¡¯t have a metabolism that required outrageous amounts of food.


    I took the jet up and flew toward Grand Lake, taking my time because I guessed that people would find eating the entire meal inside the jet more convenient than finishing in HQ.


    In twenty minutes, they¡¯d finished eating, and I¡¯d submerged the jet in Grand Lake, diving toward the underwater entrance. Moments later, we¡¯d entered the airlock, and when the airlock had finally been pumped dry, I flew the jet into the hangar.


    It was only 8:37am, and we had nearly an hour and half to kill before the board arrived. We didn¡¯t do much. Daniel turned on the news because he wanted to see how it was being covered. I checked the Double V boards to see what was going on there.


    The short answer: they were aflame.


    Not really wanting to see more speculation, praise, or criticism, I caught up on some webcomics (I¡¯d gotten behind on Girl Genius).


    I would have taken a shower, but we¡¯d decided to meet the board in costume, and take a shower afterward. I did take off my helmet and gloves though¡ªthe helmet because it felt good to breath normal air, and the gloves because I didn¡¯t want to punch my finger through the keyboard.


    The board appeared in HQ at 9:33¡ªalmost half an hour early.


    A shimmering square appeared in the middle of the room. It flashed different backgrounds as people stepped through.


    Larry, in his bulky, grey Rhino suit stepped out of his workroom, an underground bunker much like the League¡¯s HQ.


    Cassie¡¯s mom, (Ms. Ruiz professionally) stepped out from behind a desk in a bedroom. She wore a tan suit. Between her black hair and light brown skin, she looked nothing like Cassie. When you considered that she shared no DNA with her, that became less surprising.


    Dr. Freddie Nation, my adviser in the Stapledon program, stepped off a street corner somewhere. I knew that he lived in San Francisco, so probably from there. He wore a black suit.


    The rest of the board appeared all at once¡ªFlick in a yellow bodysuit, but less armored version than normal. She wasn¡¯t wearing her gloves, and a small mask covered the area around her eyes, but not much more of her face.


    Mindstryke appeared with her, looking exactly as he had when we¡¯d talked to him, blue costume and all.


    Finally, and unsurprisingly, Guardian appeared, wearing a silver costume that didn¡¯t hide powerful muscles.


    He¡¯d been the guy who opened the gate. I couldn¡¯t say I was happy to see him either.

 Spin: Part 6

    ¡°Wow,¡± I said, ¡°you¡¯re early.¡±


    Mindstryke shook his head. ¡°Not really. I told you the latest we¡¯d be here was ten, and some of us happened to finish up earlier than expected.¡±


    He was right. Now that he¡¯d mentioned it, I remembered him saying that. I also remembered a couple other things he¡¯d said.


    ¡°We¡¯re still waiting on part of the current League, and one member of the board.¡±


    I was about to ask him who that was when the words, ¡°Entered: Accelerando, C. Retinal scan confirmed,¡± appeared on the bottom of my screen.


    Shortly after that one of the tunnel doors swung open, and Jaclyn walked through with her grandfather. She wore her purple costume¡ªnot really more than a jumpsuit, but she didn¡¯t need it for protection. The hard part was creating a fabric that could handle hitting the speed of sound.


    Taller than Jaclyn, and with white, curly hair, C wore his costume too. It had last been redesigned in the 1970¡¯s if I remembered correctly. It was orange with straight black lines that emerged around the ¡°C¡± on his chest. Though a small part of me wondered if he¡¯d already begun to go blind when he¡¯d been shown the costume, most of me had to admit that he looked good in it.


    Even in his eighties, his muscles looked strong, and he walked without a hint of weakness.


    He did carry a cane, and wear sunglasses, but the cane wasn¡¯t for holding him up.


    Even as Jaclyn led him closer, telling him who was here, the screen announced, ¡°Entered: The Shift, Night Wolf. Retinal scan confirmed.¡±


    That was all of the current League, plus the board, plus Sydney, Izzy, and Camille. Twenty people. It was more than we usually had, but with HQ¡¯s main room being the size of a basketball court, it didn¡¯t feel like a lot of people.


    Echoing my thoughts, Marcus said, ¡°Whoa, everybody¡¯s here.¡± With Travis, he stepped out of the same tunnel exit that Jaclyn and her grandfather had used.


    Dressed in a costume that started green on his right and shifted into black on his left, Marcus had stayed in a human shape, and thus had light brown skin instead of the grayish color he had when he shifted.


    Just behind him, tall and muscular like the football player he had been, Travis wore a dark gray costume with a wolf on his chest. He hadn¡¯t transformed his hands and feet into claws, and thus just looked like an imposing guy.


    With every bit of the confidence he looked like he should have, he said, ¡°Welcome back.¡±


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    Maybe I should have said that, but I couldn¡¯t say it after he had. Not really. I wondered what I should say, but then I stopped.


    ¡°You know what we need?¡± Cassie asked. ¡°The folding chairs in the storage room over there.¡±


    She was right. I followed her, and a few of us grabbed chairs. As we set them around the table, I overheard Marcus say to C (his grandfather), ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve had this many people around in a while.¡±


    C said, ¡°You should have been here when we fought the Abominators in the 1970¡¯s. We had two hundred people in here for the initial briefing.¡±


    Marcus nodded. ¡°Everything you¡¯ve ever told me makes me wish I¡¯d been around for all of it.¡±


    C had been smiling, but his expression froze for a second. ¡°I may not have been doing right by you if you heard it like that.¡±


    Then he said, ¡°Care to guide me over so I can sit with the rest of the board?¡±


    By the time we¡¯d all sat down, the board sat together at the far end of the table, and the rest of us filled in the empty space.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Mindstryke said, ¡°tell the board what happened from the beginning. No wait. Ghost, tell us about the very beginning, and Rocket take up where she leaves off.¡±


    And so, for the third time in one morning, I told the story. With eight board members, and even more League members, I had all of the interruptions you could possibly imagine. I didn¡¯t end up telling the whole thing either. Everyone who¡¯d been there talked through their role.


    It lasted for a while. Roughly forever. And sure, that¡¯s a metaphorical forever, but it felt literal.


    ¡°One last question about this,¡± Mindstryke said. ¡°Rocket, what would you say True Humanity planned to do with the neutron emitters?¡±


    He sat in his chair, waiting patiently.


    I know with near complete certainty that he¡¯d asked the question because he knew the answer and wanted me to say it out loud.


    Matching his calmness, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t think True Humanity quite realized what they had. I think that they knew the neutron emitters would kill, but I don¡¯t think they realized how much of a range they had or that they were reusable.¡±


    ¡°Keep on going,¡± Mindstryke said. ¡°What do you think the emitters are for, and who gave them the plans?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d say that aliens gave them the plans since the League jet knew all about the technology. As for the purpose, I¡¯d say it had to be human extinction. Really it¡¯s the only thing they¡¯d be good for. That, or threatening a city. Maybe a small country.¡±


    Mindstryke nodded. ¡°That¡¯s it exactly.¡±


    Vaughn nodded along with him. ¡°So what are you guys going to do? Did you call us today so that you could tell us how to beat them?¡±


    The board didn¡¯t say anything, but they did look at each other.


    Mindstryke gave a small smile, one that looked a little forced. ¡°No. Our hands are tied. If we get too deeply involved, we¡¯ll only mess things up. That¡¯s what my dad said, and we¡¯ve seen enough that we¡¯re sure he¡¯s right.¡±


    Someone, and I think it might have been Travis, said, ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡±


    It might not have been Travis. Almost everyone had started talking at once.


    Larry held up his arms, ¡°Quiet, everybody.¡±


    Flick cleared her throat.


    ¡°It¡¯s like this,¡± Mindstryke said. ¡°A long time ago, my dad realized that when you all came of age, things were going to turn very bad. The original League put a plan together to give you the best chance to live. Understand that this plan doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that you win, but it gives you the best chance to live that they could manage.¡±


    None of us said anything.


    Mindstryke continued. ¡°If we get too involved, you all die. I¡¯m not sure why, but most of you don¡¯t even make it to the age of 21.¡±


    Rachel and Travis glanced at each other. They were both 20.

 Spin: Part 7

    Then Travis turned his attention back to Daniel¡¯s dad. ¡°OK, you said that your dad, the Mentalist saw this coming. What did he see?¡±


    Quickly shaking his head, Mindstryke said, ¡°It¡¯s not exactly like that. For my dad, Daniel, and I, precognition comes without a lot of control at first. Seconds in the future are easiest. Everything else comes unasked for, but over time you become better at directing it. The problem is that there isn¡¯t just one future, there¡¯s an infinite number. Some of the differences aren¡¯t much, but they¡¯re there.


    ¡°My dad got to the point that he could see futures as collections of connected events, and even look for specific outcomes. He gave us patterns of events we should look for and a few spots where we can intervene. Mostly though, we can''t. We guess it''s because you''ll become too reliant on us, and unprepared when you need to handle things yourselves.


    "And that leads us to today. We were going to wait on handing over direct control to you, but we can''t. You''ve just gotten too much attention. As of now, the League''s business issues need you to have the power to make decisions. We won''t have time to handle it. The staff doesn''t have the authority."


    "The staff?" Travis sounded confused. "The only staff I know about is Kayla."


    Mindstryke nodded. "We''ve deliberately kept you out of it. The League''s got a fairly typical structure--a for profit corporation that manages the League''s business interests like merchandising and the Rocket''s patents. It''s also got a non-profit foundation that pays for keeping up the base and your salaries if you decide to do this for a living."


    Travis listened, keeping his eyes on the board. Then he said, "I''m majoring in business, and I don''t think I''m qualified to run something like that. I bet most of us don''t even care. I''m sure you''ve got a reason you want us to do this, but the business might be better off without us."


    Mindstryke laughed. "You''ve got a point, but it''s not exactly like that. We''ve got an experienced team handling the day to day. You''re not going to have to learn about toy sales and patent law unless you want to. Especially in the beginning,the staff''s going to make it easy for you. Their job is to make money for the League. You need to keep them informed of anything that will make that harder."


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    Travis'' eyes narrowed. "Seriously? That sounds too easy."


    "He''s right," Haley whispered to me. "The business never leaves Dad alone."


    "I don''t know," Vaughn said, "it sounds a little like my family''s trust fund--except that''s less work."


    "Believe me," Flick said, her southern accent obvious, "it won''t stay easy. I think you''ll hear more than you want to about the business all too soon. Be grateful we''re pretending it will be easy."


    "Ok," Travis said, "I can live with that. So what''s next?"


    "Next," Mindstryke said, pulling out papers from a briefcase I hadn''t noticed he''d brought, "we sign contracts about rights to use your image to make money for the League. The League''s product line is based on nostalgia for the old League. With this, the business can start promoting products based on the current membership."


    Izzy had sat next to Cassie and Jaclyn. "Excuse me, but I''m not sure why I''m here then. I''m not part of the League. My grandfather..."


    Her voice trailed off.


    We all waited for her to continue, but when she didn''t, Camille said, "Sydney and I don''t belong here either, and for the same reason, but a different grandfather."


    Not giving anyone time to argue, Mindstryke said, "You do belong here. You''re friends with the League already or you wouldn''t have been invited to St. Louis, but there''s more to it than that. The League needs to grow. It can''t stay League descendants only. Even if you''re descended from a super villain, it only matters what you decide to do."


    Izzy didn''t stand up and leave, and that counted for something.


    Camille and Sydney stayed too.


    From then out, it turned into a long session in which Mindstryke described the legal meaning of a piece of paper, and then we signed it.


    It left me wondering how a morning that had been so terrifying had turned so boring. By the end of the next hour, we''d officially become members of a newly revived Heroes League, and given the League''s corporation the ability do what it needed to promote and sell our images.


    After we''d signed the last piece of paper, Mindstryke said, "Before you go, I need to tell you this. You should spend a little time thinking about people you know who have powers, and asking if you trust them. If you do, you might consider inviting them to join. Your best chances to survive come in larger groups. I can''t say why yet."


    With that, it was over. I''d expected to spend the rest of the morning dropping people off, but that''s not what happened.


    Cassie''s mom started talking to her--except talking included hugging her and crying a little because Cassie had survived St. Louis. Travis started asking Mindstryke more about the League''s business arm. The rest of the League started talking among themselves or with board members...


    It wasn''t chaos, but it was noisy.


    In the middle of that, I heard my mom say, "Nick? Rachel? Could we talk somewhere quiet?"

 Spin: Part 8

    If Mom¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t the last one I expected to hear then, it would be hard to name a less likely one.


    Ok, not that hard. Dad¡¯s would be less likely.


    Rachel turned and her eyes widened. ¡°Mom?¡±


    She¡¯d been saying something to Jaclyn, but she stepped toward Mom as Jaclyn stepped out of her way. Jaclyn blinked, and muttered something to Rachel.


    I missed whatever it was, and I¡¯m not sure Rachel caught it.


    Not sure where else to go, I said, ¡°We could go to the lab. It¡¯s over¡ª¡°


    Quietly, Mom said, ¡°I know where it is.¡±


    Given that she was down here, it made sense that she would. Given that she¡¯d never made any reference to it during the entire rest of my life¡­ Well, it felt a little weird.


    We followed her toward the lab, away from where everyone else was talking. In a minute, we¡¯d passed through all the trophies and mementoes the League had collected. Mom stared as we passed the stand that had held Evil Beatnik¡¯s ring, and her eyes lingered a little longer than I would have expected on ¡°the Starplate,¡± Daniel¡¯s and my nickname for a device that allowed access to other realities.


    Even though it had been sitting in HQ all my life, I¡¯d never had the nerve to experiment with it. Grandpa had made it very clear to me what the risks were.


    We all walked into the lab, and I shut the door behind us.


    Mom looked around the room, at the tables, the fabricators, the welding equipment, computers, tools, 3D printers, and versions of the Rocket suit. Some of it was Grandpa¡¯s. Some of it was new.


    She looked down at the box where I¡¯d put the little blocks that made up Cassie¡¯s suit prototype, opened her mouth for a second, but didn¡¯t say anything.


    Then she pulled out a chair next to one of the tables, and said, ¡°Could both of you sit down? Please?¡±


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    Rachel pulled a chair away from the wall, and I grabbed a stool. The other chair was across the room, and anyway, acid had eaten away part of the seat.


    Mom had taken off her coat and hung it on the back of the chair, something she never did, something she¡¯d actually told us not to do. Unfortunately for her, the lab didn¡¯t have a coatrack. People were supposed to put coats in the locker room¡ªwhich by this time might hold people taking showers.


    She looked at us, pursing her lips in a way that made me think she might actually be nervous. Mom had worked as a publicist in Chicago, and later in New York before she met Dad, and moved back to Grand Lake. Nervousness wasn¡¯t something that fit her.


    I hoped she wasn¡¯t about to forbid us from being part of the League.


    She had flashes of the toughness that I¡¯d sometimes seen in Grandpa and Grandma. She might be able to make it stick.


    ¡°Mom,¡± Rachel began.


    Mom held up her right hand, and Rachel stopped.


    When she did talk, she said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I feel like I left you to fend for yourselves. I know I couldn¡¯t have done much, and if what David¡¯s dad said is right, I¡¯d have hurt you. I still feel like I never should have let them put the block in.¡±


    Rachel jumped in even as I rolled that last two sentences around in my head. Mom let them put the block in, and she¡¯d known what Daniel¡¯s grandfather said about the League.


    ¡°Let?¡± Rachel asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t know skipping the block was an option.¡±


    Mom shook her head. ¡°It wasn¡¯t an option if you didn¡¯t have powers. It was an option if you did. And I did. I do. You saw what happened at that cottage when those people held me hostage. I phased out of the ropes.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯ve got Grandma¡¯s powers?¡± I said.


    She shook her head again. ¡°No, I don¡¯t. All I can do, all I¡¯ve ever been able to to is make part of my arms and legs phase out.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Rachel¡¯s brow furrowed as she thought. ¡°You can¡¯t do much with that except¡­ maybe¡­ kill people?¡±


    She was right. Not being able phase your whole body through walls ruled out sneaking into places, but it still allowed one of Grandma¡¯s major tricks¡ªthe ability to phase small objects through walls, armor and skin.


    Mom nodded slowly. ¡°That¡¯s what Lee said except he was happy for me.¡±


    Well, Lee being Lee, he would have been.


    Mom kept on talking, but her eyes glistened. ¡°If he¡¯d trained me, he¡¯d have built my training around slipping bombs inside people¡¯s clothes or ripping up people¡¯s insides. I was horrified. My parents were horrified, and they told me I didn¡¯t have to. Then they told me about what the Mentalist was beginning to understand¡ªthat if I had children they wouldn¡¯t survive unless I left them to take care of themselves.¡±


    She looked from one of us to the other. ¡°Neither of you had been born. I¡¯d never even met your father. It seemed so far away. I told them that they could do whatever they needed to. I wanted you to have the best chance you could, and I still do. But right now, I feel like I wasted twenty-seven years.¡±

 The Unusual Suspects: Part 1

    After everything that happened, the next week went fairly normal. ¡°Normal¡± is relative term when Saturday morning of the week before included saving the world, officially taking over a superhero team, and having your mom explain that she¡¯d voluntarily had her memory blocked for longer than you¡¯d been alive.


    Relative to that, having the media obsess about how you¡¯d saved a city, and then letting the League¡¯s voicemail system field thousands of calls from press around the world is normal.


    Rachel and I had talked with Mom, and she¡¯d made us promise to keep her informed of what was going on, but I don¡¯t think either of us talked with her much during the week.


    I had a lot of homework, and Rachel attended Tara¡¯s dad¡¯s funeral as the League¡¯s representative. Travis went too, but not as Rachel¡¯s date or something. He knew Tara too.


    Not that you¡¯d take a date to a funeral.


    Anyway, the craziest thing is that after all that, we were still no closer to finding out who had given True Humanity the designs for those bombs. At any rate, I wasn¡¯t.


    I was too busy to do anything more about it until Tuesday, but on Tuesday I called Isaac Lim¡¯s office. I wasn¡¯t expecting to get through because it was after 8pm, but he answered.


    I was in the lab, so his face appeared on one of the monitors on the counter.


    For the first time ever, he wasn¡¯t in a suit or combat gear. He wore a charcoal gray, button down shirt and jeans¡ªno tie either. He also wasn¡¯t in his office. At any rate, he wasn¡¯t in his office at work.


    On the wall behind him hung a poster showing a Washington Nationals baseball game. I had no idea what books the bookshelves under the poster held, but a model of the League jet sat on top of the shelf next to the model of a 57 Chevy¡ªtail fins and all.


    The lights of suburban houses and streetlights appeared out the window of the dormer to his right.


    Where was he? Maryland? Virginia? Where could FBI agents afford to live? After all, I had to be looking at his home office.


    To judge from the dormer, and the way the wall slanted inward, I had to be looking at an attic. It was a nice attic¡ªpainted drywall and no wooden slats to be seen¡ªbut still an attic.


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    ¡°So what¡¯s up, Nick?¡±


    ¡°True Humanity,¡± I said. ¡°Do you know who sold them the bomb design?¡±


    Isaac had been smiling, but at my question, he visibly deflated.


    ¡°We¡¯re working on it. We¡¯ve got some of our best people out there.¡±


    I didn¡¯t ask if they were the same people who he¡¯d sent out before, the ones who hadn¡¯t found True Humanity¡¯s bomb factory, but I was tempted. In fairness to the Feds, they didn¡¯t have an alien battle computer working for them.


    I nodded, and tried not to appear annoyed. ¡°What have they found out so far?¡±


    Isaac looked uncomfortable. ¡°Not much, but the investigation¡¯s in its early stages. We¡¯ve learned the bombs were just assembled at the factory you found. The pieces were constructed in other places and shipped there. The factory owner got a list of places that could handle each part from True Humanity, and we think True Humanity got that list from someone else.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said, ¡°that means that even if True Humanity got the plans for the devices, any one of the vendors could have been told to make something slightly different than what the plan showed. Plus, most likely none of the vendors had the faintest clue what they were actually making.¡±


    Lim nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve come to see that as a good thing. It means it will be nearly impossible for them to recreate the damn things on their own.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said, stretching out the word. ¡°I¡¯m sure you realized what those bombs could have been used for.¡±


    ¡°Basically, ah¡­ human extinction? I¡¯ve been surprised to find that none of the news reports have mentioned that so far.¡±


    Isaac shrugged. ¡°We haven¡¯t told the press exactly what the bombs did. We¡¯ve kept the focus on the bombs that exploded. Still, it¡¯s going to get out. We¡¯re hoping to have caught everyone connected by then.¡±


    ¡°Everyone except the aliens, right?¡±


    Lim laughed grimly. ¡°That¡¯s the idea. I¡¯m fairly sure alien empires are outside our jurisdiction. Besides the best we can do if we figure it out is tell the Xiniti, and I¡¯m fairly sure their primary duty is more to keep us on Earth than it is to protect us.¡±


    I smiled at that. ¡°I bet. You¡¯ve been fighting aliens for years. Do you have any idea who would want to kill us all?¡±


    Shaking his head, Lim said, ¡°No idea. There are hundreds if not thousands of alien races out there, and they all hate humans because the Abominators used us as stormtroopers. If they had the chance to wipe out the planet where humans originated, far too many of them would take it.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said. I¡¯d known all of that but the very last part. I knew they didn¡¯t like us, but I hadn¡¯t known it was that bad.


    Isaac caught my eye. ¡°I¡¯ve got no right to tell you what to do, but if you¡¯re going to follow up on this, you need to be cautious. This isn¡¯t the first time we¡¯ve seen something like this, but we¡¯ve never been able to pin it on anyone. What we have learned is that their laws, cultures and alliances are as complex as any we have here. If you find out who¡¯s responsible, and it doesn¡¯t stick, things could go badly for us.¡±


    ¡°Badly,¡± I asked. ¡°How?¡±


    Keeping his attention steadily on me, he said, ¡°As things are, no one¡¯s legally allowed to bother us because we haven¡¯t done anything wrong. If anyone wants to go after us, they have to do it secretly. Accuse the wrong people, or the right people badly, and they might be able to go after us legally and openly.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°That is bad.¡±

 The Unusual Suspects: Part 2

    In the distance, a muffled voice said, ¡°Dad? Are you up there?¡± The voice sounded like it belonged to someone male and around my age.


    Lim said, ¡°I¡¯ll be down in a second.¡± Looking back at the camera, he said, ¡°Do you have anything else? I should stop working for the day.¡±


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I said. I¡¯d never even thought about whether he had a family. He was old enough to have kids around my age, and it was easy to imagine he might be married, but it hadn''t come up.


    ¡°Don¡¯t hesitate to get in touch with me if something important happens,¡± he said as we hung up.


    From all the places I¡¯d seen in the background when I¡¯d called him¡ªspaceships, naval vessels, wilderness, and cities nowhere near Washington D.C., I wondered how often he saw his family, and how much he could say about his job.


    His family dynamic had to be the mirror image of mine. He was involved in top secret stuff, and probably everyone in the family knew it¡ªno mental blocks preventing them from realizing what was going on under their noses.


    In my family at this point, everyone but my dad knew what was going on. What would he think when his block finally disintegrated? Would he handle it like Mom had, and quietly process for months? Or, would it be more explosive?


    I hoped not. I still wasn¡¯t even sure how Mom had actually adjusted to it. She¡¯d told us to keep her informed of what we were doing, and it made sense¡ªif only because it meant Mom could handle Dad. All the same, I had no idea what Mom planned to do with anything we told her.


    Nearly a year¡¯s worth of time since coming out from under the block had to have taken the edge off of whatever she felt about it, right? Plus, in the conversation after our meeting with the board, she¡¯d said she¡¯d been talking to Daniel¡¯s parents, and a little to Cassie¡¯s mom.


    I stood up, getting off the stool. I had a little homework left, but once I finished it, I¡¯d be able to work on Cassie¡¯s armor, and maybe get started on planning more. It had occurred to me that there might be situations where the whole team might need armor¡ªa fight in space being a great example.


    Working out armor designs sounded like a lot more fun than the alternative¡ªtrying to figure out which alien race had attempted to use True Humanity to wipe out humanity.


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    Lee, my best likely information source, was out on some kind of personal project this week, and wasn¡¯t answering his phone. The good news was that he¡¯d likely be at Stapledon this weekend.


    I¡¯d probably be able to catch him before or after class.


    * * *


    It felt like an impromptu team meeting. Jaclyn, Cassie, Izzy, Vaughn, Daniel, and I all managed to fit around the same table in the cafeteria. We were at one of the Stapledon camps. The place probably had a name, but I didn¡¯t know what it was¡ªprobably something short like ¡°Camp 2.¡±


    That was better than my personal name for it which was, ¡°That Underground Bunker in a Grassy Field Somewhere in the Midwest. Probably Nebraska.¡±


    It was the nicest bunker ever though¡ªcarpeted floor wherever there wasn¡¯t dark stained hardwood. Big screen televisions hung on the walls, showing the news.


    Jaclyn interrupted my thoughts. ¡°Who do you think we ought to bring in?¡±


    ¡°Everyone we invited to the movies,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Shannon, Julie, and Lucas if he¡¯s interested.¡±


    Vaughn groaned. ¡°Shannon and Julie I can see. They¡¯re here. Lucas? Ok, I can see it. He¡¯s smart. He¡¯s a doctor, and a nice guy, but, he¡¯s not in Stapledon. He probably isn¡¯t even interested.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded, probably remembering Vaughn¡¯s mixed feelings about the guy. Lucas had been the ¡°perfect¡± cousin when he¡¯d been growing up. Vaughn had been the ¡°troubled, drug abusing cousin.¡±


    ¡°We should still ask him,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s been friendly to us.¡±


    Shrugging, Vaughn said, ¡°You may as well. So... Sydney¡¯s in, and we¡¯re not going to ask Sean?¡±


    I stopped eating a cheeseburger long enough to say, ¡°I hope not. About Sean, that is. I see way too much of him already.¡±


    Daniel glanced over at me, and then said, ¡°No one under 18 technically signed up. The contracts don¡¯t count unless you sign them when you¡¯re over 18, but dad¡¯s going to bring them to Sydney and Camille¡¯s moms, and they can sign.¡±


    Jaclyn turned toward me. ¡°What about Haley?¡±


    That I could answer, but mainly because I¡¯d put Haley¡¯s birthday into my calendar. ¡°Haley¡¯s eighteenth birthday is next week. She¡¯s officially signing up then.¡±


    Nodding, Jaclyn added, ¡°Marcus told me his mom was signing for him. I don¡¯t see how that works if she¡¯s blocked. Is she?¡±


    Daniel picked up his fork. ¡°My dad didn¡¯t say, but he¡¯s never liked the block. I can¡¯t imagine that he¡¯d use her signature if she couldn¡¯t understand the contract.¡±


    ¡°So,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°no Sean, and no Dayton or Jody either?¡±


    Izzy looked up from her salad. ¡°Jody and Dayton are the two guys who hang around with him all the time?¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°No Jody because there¡¯s something not right with that guy. Last week at the speedster camp¡ª¡°


    She stopped. ¡°I¡¯m not going to say it, but definitely no Jody. Getting called out because of St. Louis was a relief.¡±


    ¡°Dayton?¡± Vaughn asked.


    Daniel shook his head. ¡°He¡¯d never join if Sean and Jody didn¡¯t. He¡¯s too loyal to his friends.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, but I wish we could bring them in somehow. Sean¡¯s going to be really pissed when he finds out.¡±

 The Unusual Suspects: Part 3

    I thought about that. With everything that had happened between the two of us, I still didn¡¯t see Sean as evil. I did think he was massively, hugely messed up. From what I¡¯d seen, his father was close to, if not actually, abusive, and had cheated on Sean¡¯s mom with at least one person (Camille¡¯s mom), and maybe more. Growing up with someone like that wasn¡¯t exactly a head start.


    It wasn¡¯t a surprise then that Sean had bullied people (I wasn¡¯t the only one). After Haley told me about how their relationship ended, I¡¯d overheard more stories about relationships he¡¯d had. He¡¯d sounded controlling, and manipulative.


    Considered rationally, he wasn¡¯t the kind of person I¡¯d want around me.


    When I was honest with myself though, it wasn¡¯t because I¡¯d thought things through rationally that I didn¡¯t want him around. It was because I thought he was a jerk.


    From across the table, Cassie caught my eye. ¡°Nick, are you there?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    She shrugged, ¡°You didn¡¯t seem to be paying attention.¡±


    Feeling myself frown, I said, ¡°I was. I got caught up in thinking about Sean. I don¡¯t want him in the League, but if everyone else is included, and he¡¯s not¡­ Well, I just hope it doesn¡¯t push him somehow. In a bad way, I mean.¡±


    Daniel nodded thoughtfully. ¡°It might.¡±


    I began to open my mouth to ask about it, but he continued talking.


    ¡°For something like this though, I think it comes down to one question. If your life¡¯s on the line, do you feel better knowing he¡¯s got your back?¡±


    That didn¡¯t require a lot of thought.


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°To be fair, when we were fighting Rook, he did everything he was asked to even if he didn¡¯t want to. On the other hand, if Flick hadn¡¯t been there, I really think we¡¯d have been arguing the whole time.¡±


    Allowing a second for what I¡¯d said to sink in, Daniel followed it up with, ¡°If you don¡¯t think you can work with him, that¡¯s all the reason we need. This is life and death, not a club. I don¡¯t think that we can stop by just saying ¡®no¡¯ though. I think that if he ever asks, he¡¯s got to get honest feedback on why he wasn¡¯t included. It won¡¯t make him feel better, but it might make him think.¡±


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    Jaclyn took out a notepad, and wrote something down. ¡°There¡¯s something else we should think about. We need to have a formal process for bringing people in, and we should figure out what we¡¯re going to tell them if we don¡¯t. Some of them are going to argue, and Sean¡¯s probably one of them. If we do have to tell him why he¡¯s not welcome, let¡¯s not have Nick be the bearer of that bad news.¡±


    Maybe I should have been offended that she didn¡¯t think I could handle it, but I wasn¡¯t. I was relieved.


    Not letting anyone else in to comment, she continued, ¡°Who else should we think about?¡±


    I had ideas. ¡°Chris Cannon. He wasn¡¯t interested before, but he did suit up when the Cabal¡¯s people were after us. He didn¡¯t have to, you know? Plus, if we do think we need a shapeshifter, we could call in Courtney. She knows who we are anyway.¡±


    We spent the rest of the meal tossing around names. After that, we all went and hung around in Jaclyn¡¯s room. She¡¯d been assigned to room with someone named Brianna. Brianna¡¯s twin sister Brittany had been assigned to room with Jenny Nakamura (Flame Legion) who I¡¯d known for ages.


    Brianna and Brittany had grown up in the San Francisco supers compound, and knew a lot of people themselves, most of whom seemed to come through the room.


    We didn¡¯t get any team business done after that.


    * * *


    The next morning was all wrong for a Saturday. I had to report to the gym in full armor by 6am¡ªwhich meant that I had to be at the cafeteria by five something if I wanted to eat.


    I decided not to. I didn¡¯t feel hungry. Plus putting the Rocket suit on took time, and I needed to be on time because Lee (as G¨¹nther) was expecting me to lead drills and exercises for part of the class.


    That¡¯s how I found myself standing in the armory off of the gym at 5:43am. It held weapons of all kinds¡ªswords, spears, pistols, rifles, and more. As of the day before, it also held the Rocket suit.


    I pulled it out of it¡¯s packaging in pieces, very much wishing that the technology I¡¯d been working on for Cassie¡¯s suit was ready for primetime. Putting on the Rocket suit took ten minutes, five if I didn¡¯t bother to check connections as I went.


    Plus, all the pieces were heavier than they looked. They weren¡¯t as heavy as they could have been, or even as they used to be, but they were heavy enough.


    Staring at the pieces on the floor, I considered whether I¡¯d be better off lying down on the back of the chest section and then pulling the breastplate over my front, or, whether I might be able to put it on while standing.


    Back in HQ, I had couple steel frames where the big pieces could hang. It made it easier. Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t the kind of thing I could easily pack up.


    As I decided I might as well lay down, no matter how silly it would look, a voice behind me said, ¡°Do you need any help?


    Turning, I saw Tara standing in the doorway. In a blue, subtly armored unitard, and with her normal, blond hair color, she didn¡¯t look quite like she had in the video Jeremy showed me.


    What was the same was that she stood about my height, if not a little taller, and even if she didn¡¯t look like a bodybuilder, the way she stood gave an impression of strength.


    Rachel had told me that Tara was bubbly, but if so, she wasn¡¯t in that moment.


    ¡°Help would be great,¡± I said.

 The Unusual Suspects: Part 4

    I pointed at the back of the chest section. ¡°If you could pick that up and hang it on my back, it would be a lot easier.¡±


    Tara¡¯s gaze followed my hand, and I realized that I wasn¡¯t doing all that well. Almost everything was in the same place. I clarified. ¡°Uh¡­ The piece with the rocket pack on the back. It¡¯ll be heavier than you¡¯d expect.¡±


    ¡°This?¡± She picked it up without a problem, and placed it on my back.


    I felt the weight, and stepped backward with one foot to brace myself. Then I started plugging cables into the stealth suit, and pulling out sections of frame that the breastplate would lock into.


    Tara handed me each piece of armor, and it went quickly.


    When we only had the right arm, the left arm, and the helmet to go, she said, ¡°I¡¯m grateful that the League sent Rachel and Travis to my father¡¯s memorial service yesterday.¡±


    She handed me the armor¡¯s left arm, and I put my hand inside, listening as it locked into place. ¡°They wanted to go,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, you know them. It wouldn¡¯t have meant much if we sent anyone else.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°It would have meant something. When we were on the run in Infinity City, we met more than one version of you¡ª¡±


    ¡°You?¡± I asked. ¡°As in me or the whole League?¡±


    ¡°All of you,¡± she said, ¡°the whole League, starting with your grandfather. I feel like I know you because I¡¯ve met all of you before for most of my life.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± I thought about the possibilities. ¡°That¡¯s mindbending to imagine. With infinite possibilities, I can¡¯t imagine that every version of us was good.¡±


    She smiled, but it struck me as a fragile smile. ¡°My dad kept us moving between places that were strong enough to keep us safe, and your grandfather helped design equipment for the authorities in a lot of those places. You did too. That kept us out of places where you were criminals.¡±


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    ¡°Yeah? That¡¯s good.¡±


    She handed me the armor¡¯s right arm. I put it on.


    Tara checked the door. ¡°A couple people are in the gym. We¡¯ll need to be out there to help, and I need to ask you a question.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± I picked up the helmet, but didn¡¯t put it on. It didn¡¯t quite seem like the right moment even though I couldn¡¯t do a final check of the suit¡¯s systems without the helmet¡¯s readouts.


    ¡°Do you think he could have survived?¡± The hint of hope in her voice was painful to hear.


    It also wasn¡¯t as completely out there as you might expect. Even though the early news reports said no survivors, three days after the blast they found Heartrock, a super with the ability to change into a rock-like substance, in the ruins.


    For the record, I was glad to hear he survived, but I still thought his name sounded like the name of a bad cover band. What exactly was a ¡°Heartrock¡± supposed to be?


    I thought about Tara¡¯s dad, knowing how the explosion had passed out from the bomb, burning everything. He¡¯d have been incinerated.


    I opened my mouth to say so as Tara held up her hand. ¡°You don¡¯t have to. I can see what you¡¯re going to say. I know I sounded crazy, but I needed to ask.¡±


    They probably hadn¡¯t found a body, not an identifiable one anyway. Ronin had to have been effectively cremated, allowing her to have a hope, however small¡ªwhich I¡¯d just taken away. I looked at her, wondering what I should be saying. Was the responsible thing to make absolutely sure she knew the truth?


    Daniel had given his memories of the moment to me before either of us had really thought about it. I¡¯d felt her father¡¯s life end secondhand, but I couldn¡¯t tell her that.


    Could I?


    I heard voices talking outside the door, and Tara said, ¡°We should go. G¨¹nther will want to talk to us before class.¡±


    She said it calmly¡ªextra calmly in fact, causing me to look at her face more closely. She wasn¡¯t crying, but her eyes looked moist.


    ¡°He would have wanted to die fighting, doing something that helped people. It was a good death.¡± She turned and walked out the door. Putting on my helmet, I followed her out, watching the startup checklist pass near the top of my vision.


    When I passed through the door, I found most of the first year Stapledon students gathered in the gym with the rest arriving, mostly in groups.


    G¨¹nther stood in the corner with his assistants¡ªmostly upper year students like Tara, but also Cassie. I walked up and joined the group.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go through the plan for the class,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve got pieces of paper with the exercises I¡¯d like you to lead.¡±


    We finished before class officially started, but not by much. Sean, Dayton, and Jody came through in the last big rush.


    Tall, and wearing his Justice Fist uniform¡ªgreen with a fist outlined in white¡ªSean glared as he passed me. I wondered why. He couldn¡¯t have already heard that we weren¡¯t going to consider him for the League, could he?

 The Unusual Suspects: Part 5

    I didn¡¯t ask him what the problem was. There were so many options, and it¡¯s not as if I wanted to go into it.


    Anyway, G¨¹nther started splitting up the groups as the last people walked through the door. Sean ended up in one of the groups for physically normal people. I directed a group for people with mid-level physical abilities. There¡¯s no reason to go into detail about it except to mention that Dayton was in the group.


    A big guy in a roomful of big guys, Dayton stood out not because he looked like a football player stereotype, but because he had great coordination and learned any move he saw instantly.


    In the comics, you¡¯d think that it would instantly make him the best hand to hand fighter alive. In reality, no.


    The effectiveness of copying people¡¯s moves was limited by the people you had to copy i.e. if you train with other students, most of the moves you learn will be wrong somehow.


    At the end of class, I talked to him about it. My group had gone through all the exercises and we only had a minute left. I stepped up to him as he stood, taking a few breaths after sparring.


    He wore his Justice Fist uniform, a white fist stood against the blue background on his chest. That was interesting, but explainable. Unlike Sean¡¯s family, Dayton¡¯s didn¡¯t have a lot of money. He¡¯d be using that uniform until he got the money for a new one, and combat ready uniforms were expensive.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°I noticed that you were doing the last hold wrong. I was helping someone else at the time or I would have told you then. Um¡ª¡°


    He grinned, taking it better than some. ¡°I couldn¡¯t see you very well, so I copied the guy ahead of me.¡±


    ¡°You want to see it again?¡±


    He did, and I used his sparring partner to demonstrate the hold.


    When I said, ¡°Great, now do it to me,¡± he did it perfectly, or close to it.


    As he stepped back, I asked, ¡°Did I do it like that?¡± He¡¯d started to grab my arm as if I¡¯d been a few inches taller than I actually was. It was perfect after that.


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    He shook his head. ¡°No, Cody¡¯s about your height, and if I don¡¯t think, I¡¯ll do the move exactly as you did it.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t know it worked like that.¡±


    Nodding, he said, ¡°I didn¡¯t either at first. Do you mind if I practice this a couple times? It doesn¡¯t stick if I don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°No problem,¡± I said, and stepped back while he did the move on Cody a few times, and that¡¯s how I found myself standing next to Sean.


    By ¡°found myself¡±, I mean that I was still watching as Sean broke away from his section and walked over. Maybe I should have walked away, but I didn¡¯t.


    Even though a mask covered his face, his frown and a sidelong glance at me hinted at his standard level of annoyance where I was concerned. ¡°What¡¯s he doing? Class is done.¡±


    ¡°Memorizing a move,¡± I said.


    Fully turning his head to look at me, he said, ¡°You¡¯re not keeping him after deliberately, are you?¡±


    ¡°No, he wanted to practice more.¡±


    Responding the instant I stopped talking, he said, ¡°What¡¯s going on with my sister? Why did you bring her along?¡±


    Looking around, I realized that people were leaving, and not paying much attention to us. That was good.


    ¡°To St. Louis? Haley wanted her and Camille to come. They¡¯ve been out patrolling together lately.¡±


    ¡°She could have died!¡± Sean¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t quite shouting, but it was close. People turned their heads to look.


    ¡°But she didn¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°It worked out.¡±


    Sean didn¡¯t seem to hear me, or didn¡¯t care, pointing out, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±


    That got me. ¡°Honestly? Because we were going into a dangerous situation, and I needed to have people around who would listen, and the last time we worked together you argued with anybody who told you to do something you didn¡¯t want to do.¡±


    ¡°I stood up for myself when everyone you snowed was telling me to do stupid shit, you mean. Just because you¡¯re riding on the first Rocket¡¯s coattails, it doesn¡¯t mean that everybody has to jump when you say something. I¡¯m making my own way.¡±


    Sean still wasn¡¯t shouting, but everybody left in the room was looking in our direction. Fortunately, that wasn¡¯t a lot of people¡ªmaybe twenty¡ªwhich was still more than I wanted.


    Dayton and Cody had stopped practicing. G¨¹nther watched from a distance, not intervening, deliberately letting me handle it myself.


    At that moment, I wanted to unload on Sean, and let him know that in the face of city shattering bombs self-empowerment wouldn¡¯t help much, and not listening would tend to kill people.


    It took too long to put it together in my head, and before I was done, Dayton had stepped closer, saying something quietly to Sean. It sounded like, ¡°Remember your probation?¡±


    Sean froze, and his face tightened. I tensed, expecting an attack, but he didn¡¯t. He turned around and left without another word.


    Dayton watched him go. ¡°Sorry about that. He¡¯s still barely talking to Sydney because of Camille, but he wants to do that big brother thing.¡± He paused. ¡°Plus, I guess you know he¡¯s never liked you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I managed, ¡°I noticed that.¡±


    Dayton grinned, obviously clear on how much of an understatement that was. ¡°I better catch up with him. Thanks for the tip, and see you next class.¡±


    He hurried after Sean.

 The Unusual Suspects: Part 6

    As Dayton shut the door, I realized I was alone¡ªnot completely alone because there were people in the room. Since most of them were heading toward the door or talking quietly, however, and I was basically alone.


    G¨¹nther waved me over, probably to help him put things away. We¡¯d used rings, poles, and balls in the course of the class. The class had put them into boxes, but the boxes were still sitting on the floor.


    Within a minute, he¡¯d waved the other assistants over, and we were carrying boxes into the armory. He wasn¡¯t carrying any.


    It didn¡¯t take long to clean up. As I put the last box inside, he walked through the door, and leaned against the wall.


    ¡°Done?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Except for my armor,¡± I said, and took my helmet off. Then I started on the suit¡¯s right arm. Taking the armor off always went more quickly.


    G¨¹nther stepped away from the wall and came closer, stopping a few feet in front of me. He picked up the helmet. ¡°Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio.¡±


    Then he smirked, and put it back on the floor.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really think of you knowing Shakespeare.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± He asked. ¡°I saw a few of his plays in their first run.¡±


    ¡°Hamlet?¡± I unplugged the cable on the right arm, and then the whole arm hung loose.


    G¨¹nther shook his head. ¡°No way of knowing. It was long time ago.¡±


    ¡°Did you ever meet Shakespeare?¡±


    G¨¹nther cocked his head. ¡°Depends on what you mean by met. We went to the same pub a few times, but we never talked. Now Christopher Marlowe, I talked to him a few times, but that was business.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t completely sure who Christopher Marlowe was, but I¡¯d heard his name and knew that I should have recognized it.


    ¡°But enough namedropping,¡± G¨¹nther continued. ¡°Nice job with not letting St. Louis get turned into rubble.¡±


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    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, taking off the suit¡¯s left arm. Then I stopped, for the first time realizing that G¨¹nther had practically led me to the exact conversation that I¡¯d been planning to have with him.


    That led me to wonder if he, an immortal being with thousands of years of experience with humanity, had brought it up deliberately.


    I decided I didn¡¯t need to think too hard about that one.


    ¡°There¡¯s something I¡¯ve been meaning to bring up. It was clearly aliens who provided True Humanity with the designs, but I don¡¯t have any idea which aliens, or even really where to start finding out.¡±


    G¨¹nther grinned. ¡°So you¡¯re asking me to help you play interstellar Sherlock Holmes?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ guess so?¡±


    ¡°Great. I just wanted us to be clear on that. If you want me to help, we need to agree on some ground rules. Here¡¯s the first one: if you¡¯re going off-planet, you need to tell me. My deal with your grandfather includes protecting you, and I¡¯m not going to be able to do that from millions of miles away.¡±


    I thought about that for a second, and then I nodded. Having G¨¹nther around wasn¡¯t going to be a burden even if it added something unpredictable to the mix.


    ¡°My second condition,¡± he said, ¡°is that you need to listen to me. If we¡¯re up there and I tell you we need to go, we go. Ask me about it later, sure, but we might not have time when we¡¯re there. Got it?¡±


    ¡°Ok,¡± I said.


    He glanced toward the open door and then back to me. ¡°What you need to know is who might want to destroy the human race, and narrow it down who would have the opportunity, and more importantly, the will to do it.¡±


    As he talked, I clicked on certain spots along the suit¡¯s legs. Soon both were unhooked along with my boots.


    It wasn¡¯t that I wasn¡¯t interested, but if I didn¡¯t keep taking the armor off, I¡¯d never get to my next class on time.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start with who we can eliminate from our list of suspects.¡± Despite what he¡¯d said about playing Sherlock, G¨¹nther seemed to be enjoying himself. ¡°First, the Xiniti. They¡¯re keeping humans here as much as they¡¯re keeping them safe from cultural imperialism, but they owe the Heroes League, and wouldn¡¯t let anyone destroy humanity if they heard about it.


    ¡°Second, we can eliminate all the interstellar nations that have grown up among the humans the Abominators modified into soldiers.¡±


    The rest of my armor¡ªbreastplate, back piece, and lower body section¡ªcame off, and I started putting the pieces back into their boxes.


    ¡°Here¡¯s why,¡± G¨¹nther said. ¡°The Abominators gave their soldiers a block against coming to Earth. They wanted to protect the base level breeding stock from contamination. Individuals might be involved, but as groups they¡¯re not capable of coming here because the Abominators found a way of passing the block down.¡±


    I turned away from packing the armor. ¡°I wonder how that works?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± G¨¹nther said, ¡°but I¡¯m sure a lot of people would pay well to find out.¡±


    He broke into a smile at that. ¡°Not that I¡¯d sell that secret if I had it. Now here¡¯s where you need to look: Only the very largest spaceships have jump drives, and those ships are too big to cloak. That means all your suspects have to come through the jump gate, and not many do. It won¡¯t take that long to look through a year of traffic.¡±

 The Unusual Suspects: Part 7

    I thought about that. ¡°I wonder if they can export their information into a format I can use, or if I¡¯ll have to stay up there to look at it?¡±


    I thought about it some more. ¡°Never mind. The League jet¡¯s got to be able to use standard alien file formats.¡±


    G¨¹nther laughed. ¡°I can¡¯t say I thought about file formats at all.¡±


    He glanced out the door. ¡°I¡¯ve got to prepare for the next class. Any other questions?¡±


    Pulling the cover over the last box, I set the lock. It clicked as I pulled my hand away. ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°can you think of anyone on Earth that might be involved? I¡¯m thinking that they have to have humans working with them. From what you and Lim are saying, it¡¯s the aliens that don¡¯t look human at all that are likely behind this. They¡¯re going to stick out. It¡¯s not like they¡¯re going to walk into a factory somewhere and not be noticed.¡±


    G¨¹nther had walked back to the doorway, and leaned against the wall near it. ¡°Good thought. It might not be true though. Some of them shapeshift. Others are telepaths. Others have the technology to fake a person whether by holograph or simply creating an android.¡±


    An android. That sparked a memory. ¡°The machine races. I went up into space with Haley once, and one of them attached to the ship¡ª¡°


    G¨¹nther gave a grin that edged toward a leer. ¡°Heard about that. The time where you were going to make out in space¡ª¡°


    ¡°How did you hear that?¡± As he opened his mouth to reply, I said, ¡°Never mind. It¡¯s not important. That¡¯s not why we went up there. I¡¯d never flown in space unsupervised and I had to test the jet¡­ Anyway, the machine attached to the ship, and it wanted us to sneak it through the jump gate. Can they create androids? Because that could get really messed up.¡±


    ¡°Some of them,¡± G¨¹nther said. ¡°It all depends on the sophistication of their replication facilities, and on their strengths. Most of them lack the experience to effectively create fake humans, but in this corner of space, they¡¯ve got plenty of reasons to want to. Let¡¯s not rule that out.¡±


    I pushed the boxes next to the wall, and joined G¨¹nther by the door.


    ¡°Ok. So we can¡¯t rule out the machine races at all, and some alien races have a way to be here even if they aren¡¯t actually here. This isn¡¯t going to be simple at all.¡±


    G¨¹nther cocked his head. ¡°You want simple? Here¡¯s simple. It¡¯s pirates, or maybe it¡¯s made to look like pirates. See, here¡¯s how it works in this sector of space. It¡¯s all off limits to civilized, law abiding people because they¡¯re quarantining all the humans here. That means that the only people who will come here are outlaws. In fact, not only is it where outlaws hide, it¡¯s where outlaws recruit. You want to put together a crew of pirates? Come here and you can pick up the Abominators¡¯ former servants. It¡¯s easy to find them because they¡¯re everywhere, and if they want to get out, you¡¯re their only option.¡±


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    ¡°Do a lot of pirates come here?¡±


    Nodding, G¨¹nther said, ¡°It¡¯s most of what the Defenders fight in space. I¡¯m thinking they¡¯re your best suspects. Figure they¡¯re going for the biggest profit they can, right? In their position, I¡¯d at least think about killing everyone off. Then you could strip the planet without a fight.¡±


    From the gym came voices, I needed to go, but I wasn¡¯t really done. I could probably squeeze in a couple more questions and still make it to class mostly on time.


    ¡°Have pirates actually tried to kill everybody off?¡±


    Checking the room again, G¨¹nther gave a snort, and said, ¡°A couple different times. Almost worked the first time, but Guardian handled it.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t known about that.


    Checking the room myself, I saw three people¡ªall upperclassmen, one of them obviously a troll. I checked my phone¡¯s clock. Ok. I had time for one more question, and then I¡¯d have to run.


    ¡°Uh¡­ I asked you about people helping aliens. Who¡¯d do it? Agent Lim said that the Cabal¡¯s people worked with aliens somehow¡ª¡°


    G¨¹nther shook his head. ¡°Not likely. They don¡¯t work with just anybody, and the people they do work with aren¡¯t likely to destroy the world. They¡¯d be more likely to try to take over.¡±


    ¡°The Nine?¡±


    He frowned. ¡°Same deal. They¡¯ve got the resources to recognize what the neutron emitters were for.¡±


    ¡°What about Syndicate L? They might still have people working for them who know my name thanks to Ray.¡±


    G¨¹nther nodded slowly. ¡°Excellent point. Syndicate L¡¯s ideal. They¡¯ve moved aliens around before. Transportation¡¯s their thing. I¡¯d say definitely look into that if you can, but I wouldn¡¯t worry about them knowing your name.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°No? I know it was a need to know thing for them, but we can¡¯t be sure no one knows.¡±


    ¡°We can,¡± G¨¹nther said. ¡°The guys who went on that operation have been¡­ unlucky.¡±


    My stomach turned queasy. ¡°You killed them?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Me? I said they had bad luck. You know, car accidents, food poisoning, a few happened to be too close to a mob hit¡­ Plus, there was that blender incident. Two people died. That was pretty bizarre, but nothing traceable.¡±


    I stared. ¡°You murdered uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Thirty-seven people,¡± he said.


    ¡°Thirty-seven people who held me captive¡ª¡°


    He held up his hand. ¡°Thirty-one people holding you captive plus six of Syndicate L¡¯s IT guys who¡¯d been snooping in places they shouldn¡¯t.¡±


    I stared again.


    ¡°And then I blew up the data center.¡± He checked the gym. There were eleven people. ¡°Hey, you need to get moving.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±


    G¨¹nther snorted. ¡°You¡¯d have said no.¡±


    Raising my voice, I said, ¡°Of course I¡¯d have said no!¡± The students turned to look, and I continued, more softly, ¡°You killed thirty-seven people. There had to be another way.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Not with these guys.¡±


    I began to argue some more, and he held up his hand. ¡°You¡¯re going to be late, and it¡¯s a class with your advisor. That¡¯ll make a bad impression.¡±


    ¡°You have to tell me next time.¡± I tried to look like I meant it.


    Giving the tiniest nod of his head, he said, ¡°Absolutely.¡±


    Not having time to find out if he was lying, I ran to class.

 Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 1

    Vaughn and I stood inside DePuit Hall¡¯s lobby. Not much more than an entrance that opened into the TV room, it wasn¡¯t as nice as any place I¡¯d been for a Stapledon weekend. The dark carpet in the TV room had to be at least ten years old, and might have been pushing twenty for all I knew.


    We¡¯d happened to run into each other¡ªalmost but not quite literally.


    I¡¯d walked down to buy something at the pop machine while he happened to walk around the corner. Since the row of snack machines happened to be just around the corner, I leaned down to pick up the can of pop as he dodged me.


    I stood up, and we looked at each other.


    Vaughn said, ¡°Hey, how¡¯s it going?¡±


    ¡°Pretty much okay. I¡¯m kind of surprised to see you here.¡±


    Vaughn shrugged. ¡°Just one of those thing, I guess.¡± He stopped. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not really one of those things. I was hoping to find you.¡±


    I leaned over to grab my can of pop for the second time, and said, ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°Nothing big, but we can¡¯t talk about it here.¡±


    ¡°Okay. We could go up to my dorm room?¡±


    ¡°Works for me.¡±


    We turned and took the nearest stairway. As we walked upstairs, it felt weird not to be talking, but we¡¯d never spent much time together outside of super stuff, so I didn¡¯t know where to go with small talk.


    The parts of his life I knew about outside of super stuff were his struggles with drugs and problems with his parents¡ªnot the kind of thing you bring up on a stairway in the dorm.


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    Behind me, Vaughn said, ¡°What classes are you taking this semester?¡±


    ¡°Mostly chemistry, engineering, and math classes, all of them at 300 level.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t imagine. I¡¯m taking pre-med courses and right now the 100 level courses are killing me.¡±


    I looked back at him. ¡°Pre-med? I knew your ACT scores were good, but I didn¡¯t know you¡¯d decided to do that.¡±


    Vaughn sighed. ¡°You know my dad¡¯s a doctor, right?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t remember ever having been told that, but maybe I had? I said, ¡°Kinda.¡±


    ¡°Well, when I got my ACT¡¯s back, my dad said I could get into medical school if I managed to make my grades reflect my test scores. I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to, but as a kid I always had. So I decided to take a shot at it. I figure that if I can¡¯t handle it, I¡¯ll get a business major.¡±


    We¡¯d reached my floor, and started walking down the hall. Earlier I would have been thinking that we only had a couple minutes before we could talk about real things, but now I had an interesting question.


    ¡°Have you told Jaclyn?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°No. You know how hard she¡¯s worked? She¡¯s been trying to get into the best university she could with the best scholarships so she can get into whatever med school she wants when she graduates? Well, I pretty much blew off high school. None of us need scholarships because we¡¯re all getting a free ride. Plus, if I do well enough to get into med school, my family¡¯s got major medical connections all over. If I do okay, I know I¡¯ll get into someplace good.


    ¡°It¡¯s embarrassing. I¡¯ve been a gigantic screwup, but in some ways, I¡¯ve got a better chance of becoming a doctor than she does.¡±


    We were at my door. I ran my ID through the reader, and the door unlocked. We walked through, and I was relieved to find that Jeremy wasn¡¯t there. Sure, he had a telepathic block preventing him from telling any League information to anyone outside the League, but that didn¡¯t mean I wanted to give him anything but the bare minimum.


    ¡°With Jaclyn¡¯s grades,¡± I said, stepping inside, ¡°I doubt she¡¯s got anything to worry about.¡±


    Vaughn shut the door behind him. ¡°You got me there. I just started getting back good grades this semester. She¡¯s been at it forever.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Pretty much. Hey, it looks like Jeremy¡¯s out. So what were you trying to bring up?¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s eyes darted around the room¡ªfirst toward Jeremy¡¯s desk and bunk, and then back to me.


    ¡°A couple things. I wanted to let you know that I¡¯m around, so if you do investigate who¡¯s behind St. Louis, don¡¯t forget me. I¡¯m also here to talk about the last couple months. It feels like I¡¯ve barely seen anyone on the team since Cassie left.¡±

 Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 2

    Cassie had mentioned that he¡¯d been feeling left out. It wasn¡¯t as if I¡¯d been ignoring him though. Anyway, technically I¡¯d seen him most weeks¡ªStapledon program stuff every other weekend, (officially credited) Stapledon distance learning classes each week, and sometimes additional team practices midweek.


    Of course, Lee had taken a couple weeks off from that recently¡ªapparently so he could arrange accidents with blenders.


    How did that even work?


    ¡°Nick?¡± Vaughn asked. He sounded a little irritated.


    ¡°Sorry. Lee killed a bunch of people, and I¡¯m a little distracted.¡±


    Vaughn blinked. ¡°Whoa. Like how many? And who?¡±


    ¡°Syndicate L people who learned my identity last spring, and as for numbers, he told me 37.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot.¡± Vaughn shook his head.


    ¡°I know. I¡¯m still not sure what to do about it.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°I guess. On the other hand, it¡¯s probably a load off your mind.¡±


    Part of me wanted to deny it, but honestly? ¡°It is, kind of. They weren¡¯t good people. The problem is they were still people.¡±


    Frowning, he said, ¡°Isn¡¯t he supposed to listen to you? Your grandpa made a deal with the guy, right?¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t work like that. All he owes me by that deal is lessons in fighting, and if I want them, music lessons. Well, that and protection, and not just for me, for all of his children and grandchildren.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like work. Didn¡¯t you say he had¡­ five kids? How many cousins do you have?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Twenty-three. My mom¡¯s got the least children, and I think Rachel and I are the youngest too.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of people to watch.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I think most of my uncles and cousins stay out of trouble, or at least stay away from supervillains.¡±


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    Vaughn grinned at that. ¡°Yeah. I get that. My older sisters never get attacked by anybody, but here I am. It seems like it¡¯s been non-stop supervillains ever since I zapped myself with the chair.¡±


    ¡°No kidding. For me it seems like it was the moment I chose to put the suit on. I mean, honestly, I¡¯ve kind of been training for this my whole life, and no one bugged me until I brought the Rocket suit out of retirement.¡±


    Vaughn pulled Jeremy¡¯s chair out from under his desk. ¡°Mind if I sit down?¡±


    ¡°No, but that¡¯s Jeremy¡¯s chair, so he might if he gets back.¡±


    Sitting, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll get up if he cares.¡±


    Seeing no reason to argue, I pulled out my own chair and sat down, finally opening my can of pop.


    Vaughn leaned back in his chair. ¡°This is the kind of thing I miss¡ªus as a team hanging out. When Cassie was around, she pushed stuff like getting together for movies. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve even gotten together once since she left.¡±


    I searched my memory, and he was right. We hadn¡¯t even done anything during Christmas break¡ªnot as a group anyway. A few of us had been at Haley¡¯s family Christmas party, but there wasn¡¯t any reason for everybody to attend.


    Plus, with most of us at different colleges (or not in college), it was hard to get people together. The post-St. Louis board meeting had been the first time in months.


    I¡¯d never really thought of Cassie as the glue that held us together, but maybe I should have. She¡¯d pushed to revive the League in the first place.


    ¡°I wonder if we should do something about that?¡± I asked.


    Sitting up, Vaughn said, ¡°Yeah, without a doubt. Haley, Sydney and Camille are doing their own thing. All the rest of us are doing school and Stapledon. I¡¯m sure no one¡¯s going to have time for a regular movie night, but now that we¡¯re becoming official, we should get together, you know? Even if it¡¯s only for pizza, it¡¯s something. It¡¯ll be a step toward feeling like a team anyway.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°Are you going to do it? I¡¯m working on Cassie¡¯s armor, and I¡¯m trying to arrange a visit to the Xiniti watching the jump gate.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s eyes widened a little at the last part. ¡°Seriously? I was mostly just talking, but someone should do it. We really are splintering, and if all that stuff the board was saying is true, we¡¯re going to need to be more of a team than we¡¯ve been lately.¡±


    At his words, the weight of that meeting came back to me. I hadn¡¯t really felt it then, but on reflection, it had hit me harder. We were all going to die if we didn¡¯t make the right decisions in the next few years. Sure, the board had said that if they stepped back, and let us make our own decisions, it gave us a better chance, but it was clear that there were no guarantees.


    If Vaughn was willing to do the work, better him than me.


    ¡°Go for it,¡± I said, ¡°but if you¡¯re thinking next weekend, you¡¯re going to have to be careful about times. I¡¯m trying to set up the time for my visit to the Xiniti then.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re bringing me along for that, right?¡± He didn¡¯t sound angry, but he sounded a little more concerned than he had.


    ¡°If you want to go,¡± I said.


    He stared at me, and then laughed. ¡°And see the Xiniti? I¡¯m going.¡±

 Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 3

    By Wednesday night I had a response from the Xiniti¡ªyes. I could take the League ¡°jet¡± to the jump gate and go through their logs. They¡¯d be happy to help investigate. In fact, they were already doing so on their own.


    Not that they told me so directly. Lacking an official Xiniti email address, I¡¯d emailed Isaac Lim, and he¡¯d sent it on through appropriate channels. I had no idea how much bureaucracy ¡°appropriate channels¡± involved, but the impression I got from Lim was ¡°too much.¡±


    Whatever the case, I¡¯d gotten my reply within twenty-four hours of asking Agent Lim, so I wasn¡¯t in a position to complain. At least I wasn¡¯t in a position to complain about that. I was in a position to complain about what they¡¯d done with the Xiniti¡¯s reply.


    They¡¯d given me a summary, translation, or an exact quote, but didn¡¯t in any way indicate that it was an exact quote (if it was).


    Here¡¯s how it went: I got the email when I was in my dorm room working on problems for an engineering class. More accurately, I got the email when I was procrastinating on doing my homework. I¡¯d done some of it, but the questions seemed incredibly redundant by the time I got eight questions in.


    I¡¯d logged into my Heroes League email account to see if there were anything interesting going on, and found an email from Agent Lim. When I read it, it included the following lines,


    ¡°Your request to visit the Xiniti station near the jump gate has been approved. They¡¯ll be expecting you on Saturday. Any time will be good. You¡¯ll be allowed to view their logs, but only while on the station. No material may be removed.


    And congratulations on that by the way. They won¡¯t let us look at anything. They just tell us to wait for the results of their investigation.¡±


    I let out a breath. This was huge.


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Jeremy¡¯s voice came from behind me. He was on his bed, watching a movie on his laptop.


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    ¡°Nothing,¡± I said, logging out.


    Jeremy paused the movie. ¡°You said that about St. Louis. I¡¯m not joking.¡±


    ¡°I know, but this isn¡¯t as big a deal. I¡¯m trying to find out why St. Louis happened, and something just made it a little easier.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t lying down on the bed anymore, and he¡¯d put down the laptop. ¡°So, you¡¯ve got a lead? What¡¯s happening?¡±


    ¡°No lead,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m going to be able to take a look at records that might lead to leads for most of the day on Saturday.¡±


    He made a face. ¡°No kidding? Don¡¯t you have people to do that for you?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Maybe the big teams do, but in this situation, I bet I¡¯d still find myself suiting up to go through logs.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like a pain,¡± he said.


    Doing my best to sound like it was a pain, I said, ¡°I¡¯m betting on it. Actually I¡¯ve got to call Haley now. It¡¯s probably going to interfere with our plans a little.¡±


    I picked up my cell phone and called her. She picked up immediately.


    Once we got past saying hello, I explained the situation, ¡°¡ªgot an email from Lim, and it turns out that the Xiniti will let me go through traffic logs on Saturday, but only on their station near the jump gate.¡±


    Behind me, Jeremy gulped. Ugh. I¡¯d been trying to keep my voice down.


    I continued, ¡°It shouldn¡¯t affect doing something on Saturday night. Lee made it sound like almost no ships come through.¡±


    Her voice came over the phone. The pop music in the background hinted that she was at home instead of working at one of her family¡¯s restaurants. ¡°You¡¯re not going alone, are you?¡±


    ¡°No. Lee and Vaughn are coming along with me.¡± I hadn¡¯t said those words aloud before, and it sounded a little strange.


    Haley said, ¡°Oh. Lee and Vaughn? That¡¯s an¡­ odd combination. Why?¡±


    ¡°Vaughn asked to come, and I asked Lee for help because, well, he knows more about what¡¯s out there than I do.¡±


    Haley didn¡¯t say anything for a second, and then she said, ¡°Can I come along?¡±


    ¡°If you want. Why?¡±


    ¡°You remember last time,¡± she said. ¡°Nothing went right.¡±


    I did remember it. Between the alien AI attaching itself to our ship and trying to convince us to sneak it through the jump gate, and the Xiniti destroying it, the trip had been more exciting than either of us wanted. Even though rumor made it sound like an extended make out session, it wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°Vaughn¡¯s kind of ADD,¡± Haley continued. ¡°And did you ever think that Lee might have a talent for making people angry?¡±


    I thought about that. She had a point. Lee told a lot of stories about people who wanted to kill him for some reason. He didn¡¯t always mention why, but a surprisingly large number of people seemed to want him dead at any given moment.

 Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 4

    ¡°That, and I suppose when you kill as many people as he has, the enemies add up.¡± Plus he wasn¡¯t exactly nice about it. The few times I¡¯d seen him fight outside of training, he¡¯d pushed people¡¯s buttons deliberately.


    That¡¯s the kind of guy who would end up on the run from his entire species, leaving them pissed off enough that they destroyed any planet they found him on. Granted, it wasn¡¯t just because of that, but it put things in perspective.


    Normally they committed genocide over the long term. When they found he¡¯d influenced a planet, they did it immediately.


    ¡°Exactly. You need someone to balance out the crazy.¡± She sounded amused.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll tell you when we¡¯re going as soon as I know.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± she said. ¡°I love you.¡±


    ¡°I love you too,¡± I replied, and wondered when we¡¯d started that.


    As I put my cell phone back in my pocket, Jeremy started talking. ¡°Wow. That¡¯s fucking amazing! You¡¯re going to go to the Xiniti station on Saturday. And Lee¡¯s the Immortal, right?¡±


    He¡¯d moved his laptop off his lap. The movie played on, unwatched.


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°the Immortal¡¯s not really his name. The only people who call him that are the Feds, and you guys.¡±


    ¡°You guys¡± being online cape hobbyists. Lee had a depressingly large following among the sort of conspiracy theorists who believe the government cooked up the idea of aliens or used the ¡¯73 faerie incursion to cover up Watergate.


    ¡°Do you know his real name?¡± Jeremy jumped off the top bunk. He wore an old red and black Midwest Defenders t-shirt and white underwear.


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m sure I couldn¡¯t pronounce it even if I did.¡± Plus, based on what I¡¯d heard about Lee¡¯s origin, I¡¯d probably go mad.


    Words tumbled out of his mouth even before I stopped talking. ¡°It¡¯s still amazing. Can I meet him? Even though I can¡¯t tell the guys on the boards about it, it¡¯d be the best thing ever. Some guys go on and on when they think they¡¯ve found a representation of him in an old temple. It¡¯d be so cool to be able to know I met the guy.¡±


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    ¡°Yeah?¡± I thought about that. ¡°The problem is that you know my real identity.¡±


    At his blank look, I said, ¡°Have the Immortal discussion forums been talking about fatal blender accidents lately?¡±


    His confused expression told me what I needed to know. Lee was right. When he wanted to be, he was untraceable.


    * * *


    Saturday morning came sooner than I expected. I found myself waiting inside the League jet wearing the space version of the Rocket suit.


    White and gold, the suit looked close to the standard Rocket suit my grandfather wore in the late 70¡¯s. In space, the ability to manipulate sound wasn¡¯t worth as much so he¡¯d done more with lasers.


    I¡¯d had to work in a new League communicator into the design, but I hadn¡¯t made any other modifications.


    Once I got Cassie¡¯s armor working, I¡¯d be strongly tempted to do an entirely new version of the design.


    I thought about that while waiting for Vaughn to put on his space suit. It would be so much better than anything we had now. Even a light self-repairing suit would be better for fighting in space than anything we had now.


    Haley wore one of the League¡¯s old space suits¡ªwhite and form fitting, it could have appeared on the cover of a 1950¡¯s science fiction magazine. Older than any of us except Lee, the suits still passed Grandpa¡¯s safety tests.


    She sat down in the chair next to mine, and put her helmet on the floor next to it. The multi-colored glow of the jet¡¯s dashboard reflected on her suit.


    Glancing toward the back of the jet, she said, ¡°Vaughn¡¯s almost done. Lee¡¯s helping now. He was half-naked so all I could do was shout through the door. Putting them on isn¡¯t that hard, but you¡¯d think it was the most complicated thing in the¡ª¡±


    Then she turned back toward the back again. After a moment she said, ¡°Finally. He¡¯s out.¡±


    Vaughn walked toward the front ahead of Lee, both wearing League suits. Vaughn had one hand inside his helmet, and spun it with the other.


    ¡°Well sure,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°of course, the suit¡¯s easy for you. The two of you have more practice with the suits than anyone. This would be the best place to make out ever, right? It¡¯s not like someone¡¯s going to start knocking on the window¡ª¡°


    He stopped when he noticed Haley¡¯s expression. I would have stopped. I knew that expression pretty well.


    Lee grinned, and sat down behind us. ¡°The jet brings back some memories. I think the last time I flew into space was for one of the last Abominator fights. There were only four of us¡ªThe Rocket, Captain Commando, Ghostwoman and me. Everyone else was pinned down or hurt. It was one of those last, desperate gasps before everything goes dark.


    ¡°Thousands died that night. It was a pretty good time.¡±

 Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 5

    Next to me, Haley paused as she¡¯d been turning back toward the dashboard. ¡°A pretty good time?¡±


    Lee smiled wider. ¡°The best. In moments like that people stop worrying about how you get things done. They need it done, and they don¡¯t have time to care how. Say you have a Skerrish battle station orbiting the planet. Normally you¡¯d try to talk them into leaving, but if you¡¯re in the middle of a battle, barely anyone cares if you ram them with one of their own heavy cruisers. As long as the battle station¡¯s out of the fight, no one complains.¡±


    Haley turned back to the dashboard without saying anything, and we took the jet out the underwater airlock into Lake Michigan, the engines humming as we traveled underwater.


    After twenty minutes we surfaced, started the main engines, and flew into the sky. Staring down at the ice that ran down the coast, I reflected that I could have used the jet¡¯s guns to burn a hole through the ice and surfaced earlier.


    Deciding it didn¡¯t matter that much, I took the jet up to 30,000 feet, and then I started to pile on the speed. Not long after that we left Earth¡¯s atmosphere, entering space somewhere over Canada. I hoped they didn¡¯t mind. They¡¯d sent us a sternly worded note after we¡¯d flown up there to rescue Cassie from Rook.


    To be fair, the rescue had ended with a couple massive explosions, and we¡¯d only let them know we were flying up through back channels, but we had good reason for that. Unfortunately the guy who¡¯d written the note hadn¡¯t been reached through the channels we¡¯d used.


    Well anyway, they didn¡¯t try to radio the jet, send RCMP¡¯s capes after us, or try shoot us out of the sky, so we were probably okay.


    Once we got into space, I aimed us toward Mars orbit. The jump gate and the Xiniti were at Lagrange point four¡ªan interesting choice. Lagrange points one and two would have been right next to Mars relatively speaking. Points three, four, and five weren¡¯t very close. Either the Xiniti wanted the jump point to be inconvenient, or they wanted to bring something through the jump gate that was so large that being at L1 or L2 would be inconvenient.


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    Of the two, the former seemed more likely.


    It took an hour and half to reach the jump gate and the Xiniti space station near it. We weren¡¯t contacted by anyone during the flight. That was okay. Last time around, we¡¯d talked to too many people.


    After forty-five minutes of deceleration, we arrived. I aimed toward the station, avoiding the ¡°lanes¡± that ships exiting the jump gate used.


    Not that there were any ships. Earth was a provincial backwater in the middle of a forbidden section of space. All the same, if a ship did come through the gate, it would be moving at a speed we couldn¡¯t easily dodge.


    The Xiniti space station was ball shaped, escaping a resemblance to Star Wars¡¯ Death Star only because its gray surface was smooth, unmarked by an indentation for a planet destroying laser¡ªnot to mention a trench.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a bad feeling about this,¡± Vaughn said.


    I ignored him.


    ¡°Oh come on, you had to get that reference,¡± he said.


    ¡°I did,¡± I told him, checking the dashboard for messages. ¡°It¡¯s just that I am a little nervous. I¡¯d expected them to have hailed us by now.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about it,¡± Lee said. ¡°If the Xiniti regard you as trustworthy, they won¡¯t hail you. See the landing bays near the bottom. Try to land there. If they want you to land somewhere else, they¡¯ll say something.¡±


    A glowing green, but transparent shield covered the openings to the bays. I adjusted the jet¡¯s course, and it descended toward them.


    That¡¯s when the messages started.


    [INCOMING COMMUNICATION]


    [XINITI PROTOCOLS]


    [AI ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL OF SHIP¡¯S COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS]


    [The Xiniti are requesting that you land in the third bay above the bottom.]


    I adjusted the ship¡¯s heading.


    ¡°Done,¡± I said. ¡°Anything else?¡±


    [The Xiniti are requesting that if this ship contains one they call ¡®Eater of Abominations and Slayer of Kin¡¯, they intend to speak to him privately regarding compensation for their losses.]


    My first impulse was to say, ¡°We don¡¯t have anyone named anything like that here,¡± but I knew better.


    Still keeping my eyes on the dashboard, and aiming toward the bay where the green force shield had already disappeared, I said, ¡°Lee? Are the Xiniti mad at you?¡±


    Haley groaned.


    Lee sounded amused at my worry. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯ve had a few minor misunderstandings over time, but since I don¡¯t have my own spaceship, I never got a chance to clear them up. Looks like I¡¯ll get to now.¡±


    I took a breath. ¡°Are you sure they won¡¯t try to¡­ uh¡­ do something to you?¡±


    I leveled off, checked the dashboard, fired off the front maneuvering rockets to slow us a little more.


    Lee laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s not going to be any big deal. They¡¯ll show you the traffic logs, and I¡¯ll join you later.¡±

 Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 6

    We didn¡¯t have time to say any more about it as I let the ship float into the landing bay. I kept my mind on coming to a full stop, turning on the external anti-gravity to use what little gravity there was, and also lowered the landing gear.


    Behind us, the force shield went up, followed by huge doors rolling out of the floor and shutting, and finally their artificial gravity slowly turning on.


    That gave me more gravity to work with, meaning that I didn¡¯t have to use the maneuvering rockets inside the bay.


    Except for us, the bay was empty of ships, and it was big, large enough to hold several League jets, possibly more than ten. It was hard to gauge. They didn¡¯t light it very well. It felt like twilight. Even weirder, it didn¡¯t quite feel like a spaceship. Instead of being square or even a circle, the walls were hard to define. Round columns bulged outward from the walls. Dark indentations in the walls might have been the beginnings of hallways, but might have been decorations.


    It felt like being on the edge of a forest even though the colors weren¡¯t right. The walls were a metallic silvery color as was the floor.


    Stranger, when the jet did touch down, the floor around us molded to the ship, making it easier to exit as the floor came up to the bottom of the door.


    I wasn¡¯t sure that I liked what that implied about the difficulty of making a quick escape.


    Meanwhile, a look at one of the screens on the ship¡¯s dashboard showed that the atmosphere had reached Earth normal in its oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide mixture.


    With the sound of surprise in her voice, Haley said, ¡°We don¡¯t have to wear spacesuits. It¡¯s breathable outside.¡± She paused, and continued, ¡±but we probably should anyway, shouldn¡¯t we?¡±


    She glanced back toward Lee.


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    He smiled. ¡°If it were just the Xiniti, I¡¯d say don¡¯t worry about it, but it¡¯s not. At any time, a spaceship might decloak and start firing at the station, and it might not be just one spaceship. It might be a fleet. Hell, it might be one of Earth''s capes. Believe me, it''s happened before. However we lose atmosphere, you¡¯ll be happier if your suit is close.¡±


    Behind me, Vaughn detached his helmet from his chair. After shutting down the jet, I grabbed my helmet too.


    By the time I¡¯d managed it, everyone else stood next to the hatch.


    ¡°Ready?¡± Haley asked.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, and she pressed a button.


    The hatch opened.


    A small crowd of Xiniti waited in front of the hatch. I swear they weren¡¯t there when I got up from my chair.


    They looked like the Xiniti looked in all the pictures I¡¯d ever seen of them¡ªhumanoid shapes, big, oval eyes, big heads and gray skin. One opened his mouth, revealing multiple rows of teeth¡ªlike sharks.


    They wore the Xiniti¡¯s equivalent of powered armor, silvery, liquid metal that covered their bodies from head to toe. Except, of course, that right then, it wasn¡¯t covering their heads.


    I¡¯d read that they could be comfortable in Earth¡¯s atmosphere for a short time.


    They waited, but not patiently. Their eyes followed our every motion, particularly Lee¡¯s. Even though they weren¡¯t aiming weapons at us, and didn¡¯t even appear to have any, they stood very nearly in three staggered rows. To me it appeared that if the first row went down on their knees, all three rows would be able to train weapons on us, and fire with very little risk of hitting each other.


    One of them spoke, ¡°Immortal, as some call you, you will come with us. The rest of you may follow the path on the floor. You will be given all appropriate assistance.¡±


    Its voice sounded high for a man, and low for a woman, hitting an in between point that I couldn¡¯t quite peg. Not that it mattered much because I could hear a harsher, but quieter voice in the background. The translation had to be electronic.


    Lee stepped out of the hatch, and onto the silvery ground, turned back to us, and said, ¡°See you in a bit.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll be back before you know it.¡± He turned to face them, and walked forward, humming something. It might have been The Beatles ¡°Across the Universe.¡±


    As he left, Vaughn grinned at me and said, ¡°He¡¯d better watch out for the rectal probes.¡±


    ¡°Eww¡­¡± Haley stepped around him, and onto a path that hadn¡¯t been indented into the ground a second ago. It lead toward one of the wall indentations that I¡¯d thought might be a hallway.


    A glance toward Lee and the Xiniti showed him disappearing into the wall some fifty feet to our right.

 Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 7

    With a sinking feeling, I followed the path. Low, blueish-green light illuminated the hall. Given the hall¡¯s liquid metal material, bioluminescent light seemed unlikely. On the other hand, the Xiniti were aliens. They might easily light their halls with lifeforms outside my experience.


    Collecting a little bit to analyze would have been interesting, but I had a bad feeling that the Xiniti wouldn¡¯t approve. They were here to prevent us from gaining more technology unless we developed it on our own, and had the authority to commit genocide to prevent it if necessary.


    The Xiniti felt like they owed the League somehow, but I wasn¡¯t going to push it.


    I walked down the hallway, wondering what the Xiniti wanted from Lee. Sure, they wanted compensation, but that could take many forms, ranging from money to execution.


    I didn¡¯t really think they could kill Lee, but they might imprison him, and it was remotely possible, they know that his own people wanted him back¡ªbadly. Neither of these possibilities would be a good thing.


    I felt confident that Lee would object strenuously to both, and I didn¡¯t want to find out what form that would take.


    Haley glanced up at me. ¡°You smell worried. Is it Lee? I¡¯m sure they can¡¯t kill him.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about that. I¡¯m worried about what he¡¯ll do after they fail.¡±


    Her eyes widened, and she compressed her lips into a thin line as she thought, finally saying. ¡°Okay, now I¡¯m worried.¡±


    We might have talked more about it, or maybe gone on, silently not talking about it, but we didn¡¯t have the chance. A few steps ahead of us, Vaughn stepped into a room. His costume reflected the light. It wasn¡¯t blinding, but it definitely was brighter.


    In a quiet voice, he said, ¡°Guys, this is amazing,¡± and slowly turned around the room.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    As we stepped inside, we understood why. All four walls glowed, each showing a different scene¡ªan infinity of stars, an icy plain, an alien jungle where the plants¡¯ leaves were practically black in the dim light, and a strange city with aliens of more races than I recognized.


    I doubted this could be real-time, but I didn¡¯t know for sure that they didn¡¯t have faster than light communication.


    It didn¡¯t change the fact that the pictures were moving though, or that the colors were real enough that I felt like I could step into the picture. ¡°Three-dimensional¡± didn¡¯t cover the quality of the view.


    As we stared, a male voice said, ¡°You will be able to view any information you need here. To control what you view or if you require refreshment, medical attention, seating, or any other needs, simply state what¡¯s required.¡±


    Vaughn turned around the room, giving a look at each screen before saying, ¡°Any other needs?¡±


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to find out what you meant by that.¡±


    Vaughn grinned at me. ¡°Not that, but you know, it would be funny to find out what the Xiniti know about sex.¡±


    In a matter of fact tone, Haley said, ¡°What would be funny is if they got it wrong.¡±


    The voice said, ¡°Do you need to inspect our archives on the subject?¡±


    We said, ¡°No¡± almost simultaneously.


    I decided not to let this go even further afield. With my luck the voice might start asking us to explain events in ¡°The All Nude Heroes League.¡± That would pass my threshold for embarrassment far too quickly.


    ¡°Please show us all the ships that passed through the jump gate and had a realistic chance of contacting people on Earth over the course of the last year.¡±


    The screens turned black, showing nothing.


    Clearly I hadn¡¯t specified what I wanted precisely enough. I began running through better options in my head.


    Before I finished, Haley asked, ¡°That¡¯s all? No one? How do you know it¡¯s no one?¡±


    ¡°The nature of our mission requires us to have the capability to monitor all probable forms of communication as well as a number of highly improbable, but possible communication systems. None were used.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°What about last year?¡±


    The voice said, ¡°None were used.¡±


    Vaughn raised his hand, ¡°Hey, the last ten years?¡±


    A long, needle-shaped spaceship appeared on the screen. I remembered the ship. It had come nine years ago, and Grandpa visited it. It had been full of alien VIP¡¯s from the Reclamation Alliance¡ªor something like that. I¡¯d been nine at the time.


    ¡°This ship contacted organizations all over your planet.¡±


    It didn¡¯t seem likely that a diplomatic mission would also be trying to destroy the planet. Well, maybe. But¡­ since it had been nearly ten years I was inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.


    I¡¯d just come up with another idea. ¡°Are there any spaceships that didn¡¯t use the jump gate?¡±


    The walls filled with spaceships of different shapes and colors, some of them in disrepair, all of them large.

 Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 8

    Vaughn turned around the room, staring at the spaceships. ¡°Wait, I thought you had to go through the jump gates.¡±


    ¡°I guess not,¡± I said. ¡°I kind of knew that, but I wasn¡¯t sure how far I could trust the information. Basically, jump drives are really big, and they need a big power plant to run them. That means they¡¯re mostly found in the really big spaceships. Capital ships, and some of the larger cargo ships.¡±


    Haley eyed me through her mask. ¡°So a capital ship is a big ship?¡±


    ¡°I think. I may have it wrong, but generally they¡¯ve got the most armor and firepower.¡±


    Vaughn stopped looking around, and looked directly at me. ¡°So how do you know?¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Well, you know how Grandpa and Lee did their best to train me without me realizing that I was being trained? He let me play a series of video games that were space battle simulations. Except now I¡¯m pretty sure they were training games that the jet¡¯s AI generated.¡±


    Haley blinked. ¡°Oh. You think it might have changed it for the games?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°I think they might have simplified it. I didn¡¯t get much of any history out of the games. I just know which ships with which markings generally fight each other.¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something interesting about one of the ships. ¡°Look at that,¡± I said, pointing. ¡°They didn¡¯t include that at all, but I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s important.¡±


    Among the pictures of spaceships hanging in space, one could barely be called a ship. It had a spaceship¡¯s underlying structure, but it lacked a hull. It had many floors, held together by girders, and two enclosed sections¡ªthe bridge plus a section behind it, and the engines. Hundreds, maybe thousands of small machines swarmed it, some of them flying alongside it at times.


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    It had to be a transport for members of the machine races.


    If I¡¯d known more about their history, I might have recognized which one.


    ¡°So¡­¡± Vaughn addressed the room. ¡°Which of these ships had a chance to contact anyone from Earth while they were here?¡±


    Most of the ships disappeared, and I recognized all but one of the four ships that were left. The machine¡¯s skeletal ship stayed, and I almost groaned. One of its passengers had contacted Haley and I. The screens showed it happen. A small group of machines flew away from the ship, and scattered. Where the rest went, the screens didn¡¯t show, but one met the League jet in space¡ªbriefly¡ªand then the Xiniti blasted it into pieces near the gate.


    Two of the ships had the same markings. I didn¡¯t know whether they came from the same alien race¡¯s navy, a pirate fleet, or a big mercenary group. Whatever the case, they were the same class of ship¡ªlong, solid looking, rectangles with bays that held hundreds of smaller ships.


    Earth¡¯s ships (the UNS Jay and UNS Kay) destroyed one and the other jumped, disappearing into hyperspace¡ªwherever that was¡ªbut not before both ships had loosed more than one hundred smaller ships. Like the machines¡¯ ships, they scattered. The screens showed supers in space, both inside and outside ships, hunting the smaller ships down.


    ¡°Small¡± turned out to be relative. Most were several times larger than the League jet. It didn¡¯t stop them from being destroyed. Guardian opened a portal in space, possibly to the sun, and a molten yellowish-red stream caught two ships, turning them into melted hulks. The rest of the ships died as decisively, but some in stranger ways. A dragon ripped one apart. I have no idea where that came from.


    I was pretty sure though that we saw a fight with one of the smaller ships when we called Isaac Lim once last fall.


    The final capital ship screamed pirate to me¡ªnot because the skull and crossbones appeared anywhere on the ship, but because of it¡¯s shoddiness.


    You wouldn¡¯t think that spaceship large enough to jump into hyperspace on its own could look shoddy, but you¡¯d be wrong. Most of the ship seemed to be an ovoid section that connected to the block-like engineering section by two cylinders that had to be larger than they looked. The ship had no consistent color. Most of it was gray, but sections of the hull had been painted brown, yellow, red or green.


    The sections next to the painted sections showed scoring. Whatever had hit this ship had to have been big.


    ¡°So,¡± Vaughn asked, ¡°which ship do you think the killer used?¡±

 Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 9

    ¡°No idea,¡± I said, ¡°except for the last ship they¡¯ve all left people in our system, and I¡¯m using ¡®people¡¯ pretty loosely so I can include the machines.¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that a small ship had left the ¡°pirate ship.¡± It shot off at high speed, and disappeared behind Earth. I didn¡¯t see any signs of battles, but on the other hand, could I have?


    Vaughn watched the small ship disappear. ¡°Huh. Could be that one.¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°Maybe.¡±


    This wasn¡¯t getting easier. ¡°Lee said something that made it sound like he expected it would be pirates, or at least look like pirates.¡±


    Vaughn turned his head toward me. ¡°What do you suppose he meant by that?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°My guess is that even if it looks like pirates it might not be. Maybe some aliens created a group of fake pirates to do their dirty work, or just hired a pirate ship? Who knows?¡±


    Haley frowned briefly. ¡°I guess alien politics couldn¡¯t be less complicated than ours.¡±


    Then she stared at the ship. ¡°Too bad Lee¡¯s not here to tell us what he meant.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, thinking about that. Well, we hadn¡¯t heard any alarms so far. That had to be a good sign. That is, if the Xiniti had alarms, or if they¡¯d even let them ring where we were.


    Deciding not to think about Lee, I tried to think about the next step. I had a feeling that the Xiniti couldn¡¯t bring us too much further. That meant that we¡¯d have to think about going home, and that meant I had no choice but think about Lee. If the Xiniti weren¡¯t done with him, we¡¯d either have to leave or break him out.


    Or negotiate with the Xiniti¡ªwhich would be the much better choice.


    ¡°Nick? What¡¯s wrong?¡± I realized that Haley was watching me.


    ¡°Nothing. I think we¡¯re done. Assuming the Xiniti give us the files showing what they¡¯ve got on these ships, we¡¯ll be able start looking for them. Which means we¡¯ve got to collect Lee and go.¡±


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    Haley nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sure Lee¡¯s okay.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about him,¡± I began, and then stopped. I was, and it was kind of stupid. Lee could take care of himself.


    ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s probably worth looking a little further just in case, but I bet this is the best we¡¯ll get without calculating their most probable landing spots, and trying to find them.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°plus it¡¯ll give us time to mess around with this stuff.¡±


    So, we stayed for another hour, and we didn¡¯t learn much. At the end, I requested that they provide files to the jet. They did, and we followed the path back, barely seeing the Xiniti. Once we got back to the jet, we sat and waited.


    The jet took advantage of the time to inform us of the progress with the files.


    [Xiniti have released the files and begun to transmit.]


    A few minutes later, it informed us:


    [Transmission received. In addition to the files you requested, they¡¯ve also sent over files related to the examination of the machine that you encountered last summer.]


    Vaughn stood and watched over my shoulder as the jet¡¯s comments scrolled down the screen. ¡°Sounds like some kind of alien machine autopsy.¡±


    ¡°Pretty much,¡± I said.


    ¡°It was so creepy,¡± Haley said. ¡°We were minding our own business, and the next thing we knew, it was attached to the jet, and asking if it could hitchhike out of the solar system.¡±


    I nodded. As I did, more words ran down the screen.


    [Lee has been released.]


    Moments later, Lee came into view, escorted by a crowd of Xiniti. Within a minute after that, Lee was striding into the ship.


    He smirked at us. ¡°Problem solved. The Xiniti and I have an agreement. I¡¯ll tell you about it in a second.¡±


    With his right hand, he gestured outward, toward space. Obviously he didn¡¯t want to talk about what happened where the Xiniti might hear.


    I flicked a few switches and pressed a few buttons. Within 10 minutes the jet was floating, and a minute after that, we were in space.


    ¡°No details,¡± Lee said, leaning back into a seat, ¡°but it¡¯s a simple solution. The Xiniti were angry about a few people they didn¡¯t want dead. I offered to kill a few people they wanted dead. Problem solved.¡±


    ¡°Who?¡± Vaughn asked. He¡¯d sat down before I took off and was using the seat next to Lee.


    ¡°I said, no details,¡± Lee flashed a smile, ¡°but don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s no one you¡¯d miss even if you did know them.¡±


    Ignoring all the internal warning bells that rang at that, I said, ¡°We have the files, and we¡¯ve narrowed down the possible ships to four or so. I don¡¯t know anything about any of the aliens involved. You¡¯ll help with that, right?¡±


    ¡°Without doubt,¡± Lee said. Out of the corner of my eye, I could tell that he was watching the dashboard, particularly the screen that showed our position in space in relation to the Xiniti space station and the jump gate.


    He didn¡¯t sound nervous, but he said, ¡°I¡¯ll help you any way I can. Now, could you hurry away a little? Don¡¯t look like you¡¯re running or anything, but put as much distance between us and the Xiniti as you can while still looking casual.¡±


    I turned back toward him. ¡°Why?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°No reason, but sometimes people get buyer¡¯s remorse.¡±

 Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 10

    I gave the ship more speed, but not to the point where I risked damaging the engines.


    On one of the screens appeared the words:


    [There is no sign of pursuit, but their passive scanning systems should have no trouble tracking us back to Earth.]


    ¡°Oh?¡± I thought about that. ¡°Let me know if there¡¯s any sign of action.¡±


    I glanced back toward Lee and Vaughn. ¡°They won¡¯t really do anything right? They like the Heroes League. They feel like they owe us.¡±


    Lee gave a small shrug. ¡°Well, sure, but they¡¯re a little hard to figure out. You¡¯ve got that warrior race honor, but they¡¯re also telepathic with each other, so that makes things complicated. We¡¯re not talking a group mind, but almost everything is shared, so they don¡¯t have as much of a sense of individual responsibility. They might decide that what I¡¯ve done cancels out what the League did for them.¡±


    Haley turned away from the dashboard to say, ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem fair.¡±


    Lee gave a grin that was ever so slightly too wide. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about it. They would have attacked by now if they were planning to. There¡¯s no reason to hesitate. It¡¯s not as if you could do much to their ships.


    ¡°Of course,¡± Lee continued, ¡°they might have received orders to destroy the planet so that no one else can kill the inhabitants and strip it for resources. Then they¡¯d wait till we got back and fire off a few planet busters. That, and have the Jay and Kay self-destruct.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°they¡¯ve got self-destructs in the Jay and Kay?¡±


    Lee thought for a second. ¡°Well, I can¡¯t say for sure, but in their position I would. The ships are on loan from the Xiniti, so I¡¯m sure they¡¯ve got something like that. Otherwise what would they do if Earth tried to attack them?¡±


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    Vaughn¡¯s mask hid the upper half of his face, but his jaw dropped a little. ¡°Does the government know?¡±


    Nodding, Lee said, ¡°I¡¯m sure of it. It¡¯s probably in the contract.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°This alien shit is a huge pile of suck.¡±


    Haley burst into laughter, and then covered her mouth with her hand. ¡°Sorry. It was just¡­¡± She looked like she was going to burst into laughter again, didn¡¯t, and said, ¡°Sorry.¡±


    Lee smiled. ¡°Sure. It is a huge pile of suck, and we¡¯re in the middle of it. You mind having the AI open up those files? We¡¯ve got an hour and half to kill.¡±


    ¡°Maybe a little less,¡± I said. ¡°This trip made me realize something really obvious. You know how we¡¯ve got inertial dampers? I realized I could use them to slow down instead of doing half of the trip speeding up, and half slowing down thing. So now we¡¯re going full out most of the way there, and slowing down near Earth.¡±


    I stopped to think, and then said, ¡°It¡¯s probably standard practice for everyone else in space, but it totally explains how the ships moved in the games I played. It didn¡¯t occur to me that real ships could move like that.¡±


    Lee nodded. ¡°Good job. I wondered when you¡¯d recognize what the games were. Now we should take a look at the footage.¡±


    We did, and Lee identified the ships. The AI sent them to the screen in the middle of the ship¡¯s dash¡ªa small version of the Xiniti¡¯s much larger screens.


    ¡°That¡¯s from one of the machine races, but you recognized that,¡± he said. Then, ¡°Those two ships? They¡¯re from the Trans-species Collective. Strange to see them out this way, especially their military. They try to keep a low profile.¡±


    The badly painted ship I¡¯d pegged as a pirate ship appeared on the screen.


    Lee nodded. ¡°That¡¯s more what I expected to see.¡±


    ¡°Pirate?¡± I asked.


    Lee shook his head. ¡°No. Well, close. It¡¯s cargo ship, and not well kept up. That model¡¯s favored by pirates and free traders¡ªthe kind of free traders that handle the illegal stuff.¡±


    Underneath the screen where the ships hung in space, words appeared.


    [I¡¯ve correlated the dates of the groups¡¯ appearance and their known technological requirements with unusual technological activity, and believe that I¡¯ve found several spots that are likely under some form of alien influence.]


    Earth appeared on the screen, turning slowly. Red spots appeared in the middle of Michigan¡¯s upper peninsula, near Chicago, in Brazil¡¯s Amazon, in the Libyan desert, near Berlin in Germany, and near Kiev in the Ukraine.


    ¡°That¡¯s a¡­ range of places.¡± I tried to see a pattern, and didn¡¯t. ¡°Are there any that point to one kind of alien or another?¡±


    The picture changed, labeling the spot in the Libyan desert ¡°Machine race,¡± Berlin and Kiev both as ¡°Trans-species Collective,¡± and the rest as ¡°Indeterminate.¡±


    ¡°I guess we¡¯ll have to figure out how to get all these spots checked out,¡± I said.

 Chancy Connections: Part 1

    The price of maintaining a group is meetings¡ªtwo hour long, soul sucking meetings.


    We¡¯d landed in the mid-afternoon, a little later than two. I¡¯d sent everyone a text on their League phone saying what we¡¯d done and that I planned to email them a report of what we¡¯d found.


    I got replies from just about everybody that hadn¡¯t gone¡ªessentially saying, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±


    And that led to an online meeting where we all got to discuss what we¡¯d learned and decide what to do about it now. Worse, not all of us were in one room. Most people were attending via online video, which meant that everybody had to attend via online video in effect.


    Haley, Vaughn, and I sat at the main table in the middle of HQ staring at our monitors while everyone else sat in their dorm rooms, bedrooms, or in Travis¡¯ case, his car.


    It seemed really crazy when you considered how many of us were actually in Grand Lake. I could understand it with Daniel or Izzy, but Travis would probably have been warmer in HQ. Seriously, it¡¯s possible to die from cold in a car during the winter in Grand Lake, and not just here¡ªmost of the northern Midwest.


    So now it was nearly five, and Vaughn, Haley, and I had gotten through the whole story with digressions, speculations, and explanations, and we were trying to figure out next steps.


    ¡°What Lee recommended was that instead of visiting each of the possible sites, we should farm it out to other teams, preferably local teams. He told me to ask Mindstryke to find the right people.¡±


    Travis nodded. ¡°I get it. Yeah, local teams won¡¯t raise as many red flags as we would if we stopped by. Plus, they probably already know people.¡±


    His breath came out as clouds. Behind him, his car¡¯s back window appeared to be covered with snow, or possibly frost. With the camera¡¯s focus on his face, the picture was too blurry to tell.


    ¡°You know what bugs me about that? For all we know, local teams could already be compromised. Even if they¡¯re straight, how many of them know as much as Lee, or the jet? We¡¯re going to be putting them in danger.¡±


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    Over his connection, Daniel sighed. Shaking his head, he broke in, ¡°This is my dad we¡¯re talking about. He¡¯s not going to hand it off to ¡®The Amazing Doctor Herman.¡¯ I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll find people he trusts, probably people who fought the Abominators or who have been in space recently.¡±


    ¡°Dan,¡± Travis sounded like he was addressing a child, ¡°Your dad can¡¯t possibly vet those guys from a distance. He¡¯s only got so much range, and sure maybe he knows people, but Berlin and the Ukraine, or Libya? I¡¯ve got my doubts. Besides aren¡¯t we all supposed to die if the board helps us?¡±


    Without showing any frustration this time, Daniel said, ¡°No. I think it¡¯s okay if we ask for help, but if they direct us through everything or try to keep us out of danger, then we¡¯re in trouble.¡±


    Travis frowned, and began, ¡°Are you sure¡ª¡°


    Haley broke in, talking over him. ¡°Travis, this is the best way. Why don¡¯t you see that?¡±


    More loudly than before, Travis said, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to make this hard. I said I saw his logic. None of us even speak the local languages, and I don¡¯t want our team to get a reputation for sending other teams into deadly situations. You know what some people are saying about St. Louis.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t a majority opinion by any means, but some people on the Double V boards thought that the deaths of the St. Louis team had been our fault. With the news cycle turning past the initial awe at what we¡¯d done, a few reporters had even raised the issue. Except for one talk show host, they weren¡¯t confrontational about it though.


    Still, it wasn¡¯t hard to see that someone might choose to drive that one home someday, especially if it appeared to happen again.


    I thought about it, and found myself worrying that it would make it harder to get cooperation at times like this when we needed it.


    Before I could reply, Haley said, ¡°I¡¯m sure Daniel¡¯s dad will think about that, but if he doesn¡¯t, Daniel can say something.¡±


    On the screen, Daniel nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll do it. Do you have anything else you want me to ask?¡±


    Travis didn¡¯t and not long after that, the meeting ended.


    I leaned back in my chair, and took a breath. I was free for a little while. People were acting as if I were somehow responsible for running the investigation when any special knowledge I had ended with St. Louis.


    No one had told me anything that would happen after that.


    Beep. A text message. I checked my phone to find a text from Travis. It said, ¡°Don¡¯t forget to keep us aware of what¡¯s going on.¡±


    That was kind of annoying. It wasn¡¯t completely undeserved, but it was still annoying. I put down my phone to find out it had beeped again.


    Expecting to find another message from Travis about my faults, I only glanced at it, but then I noticed it was from Daniel.


    ¡°I think we can handle the site near Chicago. What about you?¡±

 Chancy Connections: Part 2

    I typed back, ¡°That¡¯s just for recon, right? If you¡¯re talking just the two of us.¡±


    It didn¡¯t take long for Daniel to reply. ¡°Recon first, but not just me and you.¡±


    His next text said, ¡°Haley and Izzy too. A good combination. Intelligence gathering. Muscle.¡±


    I paused to think about it, looking up from the phone, aware of HQ again, and of my monitor¡ªwhich still showed the words ¡°Conference ended.¡±


    Haley stood up from her chair. ¡°Who are you texting?¡±


    ¡°Daniel,¡± I said, realizing that I had Vaughn¡¯s attention too.


    I felt a little weird about that. The moment Haley asked what we were talking about, I¡¯d have to tell her, or lie. This wasn¡¯t one of those things that I¡¯d be able to hide though. Everybody would know when we were done anyway.


    I didn¡¯t want Vaughn to feel like we were keeping him out of it though. ¡°Daniel¡¯s thinking we should investigate the site near Chicago. Probably Haley because she¡¯s good at sneaking around, Izzy because her sonic abilities let her see through walls, and me because of roachbots.¡±


    A smile flickered around the corners of Vaughn¡¯s mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m not going to be any good at stealth. Lee says my power¡¯s best as heavy artillery, and manipulating the battlefield.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I can see that. We might need you anyway though, but more as one of the reserves if things go wrong.¡±


    Vaughn stepped away from the table, pushing his chair in. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯ll go, but you¡¯re not going to need me when you¡¯ve got Guardian and the Midwest Defenders nearby.¡±


    ¡°You never know,¡± I said.


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°You don¡¯t. Call me if you need help. In the meantime, I¡¯ll keep thinking about how to get everybody together.¡±


    Then Vaughn left, heading toward the League¡¯s locker room.


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    When he was out of earshot, Haley said, ¡°What was going on there? I missed something.¡±


    ¡°Vaughn felt left out. Since Cassie left, the only time we¡¯ve been paying attention to him was practices.¡±


    Turning her head toward where he¡¯d disappeared, Haley said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know. I thought he¡¯d seemed a little unhappy lately, but I thought he might have too much homework to do after practice.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°I should have noticed.¡±


    Then she pointed toward my phone. ¡°Daniel sent you another message.¡±


    I must have missed it while we were talking. I picked it up off the table.


    It said, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    I wrote, ¡°It sounds like a double date.¡±


    Leaning in to see the screen as I typed, Haley said, ¡°They¡¯re not dating, right?¡±


    Almost at the same time, Daniel texted back, ¡°We¡¯re not dating.¡±


    I wrote, ¡°Why? You seem like you¡¯re dating.¡±


    No reply, and then my phone rang. The screen said, ¡°Daniel Cohen.¡±


    I took the call and held the phone to my ear.


    ¡°Nick, it felt weird to be texting about this, and way too slow.¡± Daniel¡¯s voice had more intensity than his words suggested.


    ¡°It¡¯s like this¡ªwe do like each other, but it¡¯s complicated. She¡¯s not Jewish, and if we did date, and it lasted, maybe we¡¯d want to get married, and that¡¯s where it falls apart.¡±


    I kind of knew where this was going. Daniel was good looking. When we¡¯d been hanging out in high school, and even middle school, it wasn¡¯t uncommon for girls to find a way to talk to him, sometimes going as far as getting one of their friends to talk to me in order to get him alone.


    He¡¯d sometimes told them that his parents wouldn¡¯t allow him to date non-Jews. Thing is, I was pretty sure he was lying, mostly because not everyone he¡¯d dated in high school had been Jewish, and his parents hadn¡¯t seemed bothered. Of course, that¡¯s not the kind of argument you¡¯d share much outside your family.


    ¡°Marriage is pretty far in the future,¡± I said. ¡°Chances are you won¡¯t marry anyone you date in college.¡±


    Daniel said, ¡°But I might. Nick, I¡¯ve seen futures where we¡¯re together¡ªnot in detail because I can¡¯t control anything I see that¡¯s that far ahead, but I¡¯ve seen us together with kids.¡±


    All I could manage was, ¡°Wow.¡±


    Then I said, ¡°That¡¯s not bad, right?¡±


    He said, ¡°No, but if we did that, I¡¯d want her to convert, but I don¡¯t want her to convert to something she doesn¡¯t really care about. Like you said, that¡¯s pretty far in the future, but if we get to that point where we¡¯d be thinking about it, what if she didn¡¯t want to? I don¡¯t want that either. I¡¯d rather avoid it, and just be friends. That way it¡¯s simple.¡±


    Something about his logic felt off to me¡ªnot totally wrong, but mostly it felt like being friends wouldn¡¯t make it simple.


    All I said was, ¡°I understand a little better now.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± he said. Even outside of his telepathic range, he knew me well enough to know that I wasn¡¯t saying everything.


    Something beeped on his end of the phone. ¡°Oh,¡± he said, ¡°that¡¯s Izzy. Do you mind if I¡ª¡±


    We said good-bye and hung up.

 Chancy Connections: Part 3

    I looked over at Haley. She¡¯d sat down again, pulled her legs up onto the chair and wrapped her arms around them. It likely felt more comfortable to her than it looked to me.


    ¡°You heard all of that, right?¡±


    She colored a little. ¡°Sorry. I didn¡¯t try to. It seemed private.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it was, but Daniel¡¯s not in a position to complain.¡±


    Haley let go of her legs, and they touched the floor in one fluid motion that wasn¡¯t quite human. She could have followed it up by leaping to grab one of the ceiling¡¯s support beams, but didn¡¯t.


    ¡°It¡¯s sad,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t know her very well, but she seems nice. She¡¯s a little shy, but maybe he can draw her out.¡± She paused. ¡°Not that Daniel¡¯s any kind of party animal, but he¡¯s comfortable with people.¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± I said, knowing better. Daniel was extremely comfortable with people.


    Haley shot me a look, but continued, ¡°Do you think we can help?¡±


    ¡°I doubt it. Religion¡¯s not something people change easily, and I don¡¯t know what Izzy is. A lot of Hispanics are Catholic, but I think Pentecostalism¡¯s really big in Latin America now, so who knows? Plus, Izzy¡¯s from California, and I don¡¯t think a lot of people go to church there in the first place.¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean that. I was thinking smaller¡ªlike getting them to talk about it. From what I heard, I don¡¯t think she knows what¡¯s going on.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Daniel and I don¡¯t talk about this stuff normally. I mean seriously, we don¡¯t at all.¡±


    Haley gave a quick sigh, frowning. Then she brightened. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be funny if Izzy¡¯s family turned out to be Spanish Jews who stayed secretly Jewish?¡±


    ¡°It would be solve a lot of problems, but¡ª¡°


    She shook her head. ¡°I know. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s likely either, but it would be funny if all of his worry was for nothing.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, and then another thought passed through my mind. I followed it.


    ¡°Nick?¡± Haley¡¯s voice pulled me back to reality. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±


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    I hesitated. ¡°It¡¯s something stupid, and I¡¯m really, really glad Daniel¡¯s not in range¡ª¡°


    She laughed. ¡°You¡¯re thinking about whether they can ¡®do it¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ Right. Daniel¡¯s a telepath, but physically he¡¯s human normal while she can crush cars, right? If all her muscles are like that¡­ uh¡­ things could get uncomfortable¡ªlike maybe send Daniel to hospital level of uncomfortable.¡±


    She pursed her lips, looking thoughtful. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s good that things won¡¯t work out.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No, see if her powers are mostly from her force field, it might work out. When she grabbed Daniel in St. Louis, her force field surrounded him or he wouldn¡¯t have survived¡ª¡°


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said, ¡°so you think that if he¡¯s inside her field, her strength won¡¯t matter?¡±


    ¡°Basically. I guess I¡¯m thinking that if the force field is the source of her strength and invulnerability, she only needs to be strong on the outside? I don¡¯t really know. I¡¯m just guessing.¡±


    Haley opened her mouth, stopped, and then said, ¡°I hope we¡¯ll be able to.¡±


    At my look, she said, ¡°I¡¯m not offering. We said we were going to wait. I just hope we¡¯re together that long, and that if you do, you won¡¯t get hurt.¡±


    ¡°I know. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll have a problem. You¡¯re stronger than normal before you shift, but not really, really strong.¡±


    Her eyes narrowed. ¡°Except sometimes I shift while we¡¯re making out.¡±


    ¡°I know. If we ever get that far, I¡¯ll have to invent something to protect myself.¡±


    She went silent at that, but then she snorted. ¡°That was the plot of the League porn film Vaughn showed us.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°To the degree that it had a plot. I promise I won¡¯t try it out on the League, former Justice Fist members, or random female supervillians first.¡±


    Haley laughed, ¡°I¡¯ll hold you to that.¡±


    ¡°As if anyone would let me,¡± I said.


    She got up from her chair. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go. We were going to do something together, weren¡¯t we?¡±


    I pushed my chair back from the table and stood up. ¡°We could go out to eat. You can pick the restaurant. That way we won¡¯t end up at one of your family¡¯s places unless you want to.¡±


    She took my hand. ¡°How about that Chinese buffet downtown?¡±


    ¡°The one we went to after my prom?¡±


    She nodded. We walked across the main room of HQ, past the old relics, trophies, and awards, and over to the elevator. It wasn¡¯t really meant for two people, so we had to stand close to each other, touching or almost touching as it moved upward, and stopped in my grandfather¡¯s workroom¡ªthe place where he¡¯d worked as a consulting engineer.


    The room was almost empty now, containing a desk, and a wall of old tools.


    The walls of the elevator sunk into the floor, leaving us alone in my grandparents¡¯ house. Outside, the sun had gone down. It wasn¡¯t quite dark, but it would be soon, and the windows of the houses in the neighborhood glowed with light.


    ¡°Relationships are so complicated for us,¡± Haley said as we left, walking down the hall toward the living room.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably complicated for everyone,¡± I said.


    We stopped in the living room. It was empty of anything but a chair and an old television, but I still remembered what it looked like when my grandparents lived there¡ªthe pictures on the walls, the tree at Christmas, cards from my grandmother¡¯s family in Germany.


    They¡¯d made it somehow.


    ¡°At least religion isn¡¯t a problem for us,¡± she said.


    Her family was Catholic, and mine was Lutheran. It might have been a big deal a generation or two ago.


    ¡°True,¡± I said, opened the door, and we left.

 Chancy Connections: Part 4

    On a Saturday morning two weeks later Haley and I drove to Chicago. It was early March, and February¡¯s snow melted on each side of the freeway, brownish near the road.


    Two weeks seems like an awfully long wait when you consider that there may be aliens out there who want to cause all of humanity to die horribly. It¡¯s more understandable when you think about the logistics of it all. Initially we didn¡¯t know exactly what we were looking for. All the ship knew was that a suspiciously large number of objects that used materials common to alien technology were going through the postal service, UPS, Fedex and other mailing services in or near Chicago. They were being picked up from P.O. Boxes, and delivered to empty buildings, and from there they disappeared.


    Except we¡¯d found a common name between a couple of the post office boxes, and a signature¡ªChancy as in Chancy Smith, Chancy Jones, and Chancy Sirianni.


    I had a hunch, and I¡¯d directed the ship to search whatever it could find that had Chancy in the name, and it had.


    It searched through titles and old phone books that had been scanned in and put on the internet. It eventually found a business that had appeared in one form or another since the 1920¡¯s, generally on the north side of Chicago.


    It didn¡¯t have a building any more, but it did have a P.O. Box. And a website¡­


    ¡°Chancy Connections?¡± Haley stared at her phone, flipping it sideways to widen the screen.


    We were riding in the van. We¡¯d discussed taking the Wolfmobile, Haley¡¯s grandfather¡¯s car, but decided not to. The van, especially when I¡¯d set the paint to be white, practically turned invisible in a city, passing for a delivery vehicle, or something any tradesman might use for hauling equipment/portable toolshed.


    The Wolfmobile looked like a Corvette Stingray from the 60¡¯s even in its civilian appearance. In short, it stood out.


    ¡°It¡¯s some kind of shipping business? ¡®Chancy Connections¡¯? They¡¯re trying to tell people that they might or might not get there?¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°And the website looks awful¡ªlike the owner hired his twelve year old nephew to do it.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± I said, keeping my eyes on the road, but occasionally checking the GPS. ¡°But I think he¡¯s got a captive audience. The website says he finds custom materials and arranges shipping. I¡¯m pretty sure what he¡¯s really doing is shopping for aliens, and sending it to them. You know what¡¯s crazy? Once the ship really started looking, we could find this guy¡¯s signature on things as far back as the 1920¡¯s. His name is Chancy Harris, and I think he¡¯s part of some underground alien support network¡ªif that makes any sense.¡±


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    Haley looked up from her phone. ¡°I guess. They¡¯d have to have something. I¡¯m surprised you found it that easily though.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy,¡± I said. ¡°The only reason I got anywhere is because I pointed the League jet¡¯s AI at it. It probably would have taken me years to go through the same material. Plus, you know how we¡¯ve got access to some government databases? I let him use them.¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°Does Isaac know?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    Neither one of us said anything for a little while after that, both of us probably thinking the same thing¡ªthe Feds probably hadn¡¯t intended for us to hand our access over to an alien battle simulation AI.


    Our talk turned to other things while I drove. It wasn¡¯t a bad drive¡ªthree hours by van starting at 7am and arriving at 9am thanks to the Eastern to Central time zone change.


    At 9am, Chicago traffic was still worse than Grand Lake generally got but was pretty good for Chicago.


    We took South Lake Shore Drive north toward the University of Chicago. It may not have been the best way to go, but it gave a good view of water a lot of the time.


    Lake Michigan lay to our right, the black water free of the mounds of snow and ice near the shore where we lived.


    Snow still lay on the ground, but not much, more of a dusting than the two icy inches that had thawed and frozen a few different times in Grand Lake.


    Haley looked out the window as I drove. ¡°You know, we ought to come here for fun sometime. I¡¯m sure it wouldn¡¯t be any more work than sneaking down here for this.¡±


    I turned left, away from Lake Michigan and toward the University of Chicago. ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°It could be fun, but it would be a long day. Three hours up and three hours back would leave us both completely fried.¡±


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be something to do all the time, but maybe we could find a way stay overnight. Daniel¡¯s here, and I¡¯ve got cousins in Chicago. I¡¯m sure we could work it out.¡±


    Haley talked about places she¡¯d gone with her cousins, and it did sound fun. As we neared the university¡¯s campus, I started watching for Daniel and Izzy.


    It looked like a nice campus¡ªlots of trees, and genuinely old buildings, some of them literally covered with ivy. Of course, none of it was green then. Brown vines snaked across stone buildings and trees with bare branches seemed to be every few feet down the parkways.


    A few students walked down the sidewalks, some talking and laughing.


    I wondered what it would be like to go there.


    Haley glanced over at me. ¡°You know what I¡¯ve been worrying about? What if I see Daniel and Izzy and can¡¯t stop thinking about what we were saying a couple weeks ago? That would be so embarrassing.¡±


    What had we been talking about a couple weeks ago? Mostly about what we¡¯d do next, but also whether¡­ Oh. That.


    As we passed a three story, red brick building that looked like it might be a residence hall, I noticed that Daniel and Izzy stood at the end of the block, their hands almost touching.


    Izzy laughed at something Daniel said, and all kinds of embarrassing things passed through my mind.

 Chancy Connections: Part 5

    I brought the van to a stop in front of them. Daniel sent a quick telepathic hello at me almost at the same instant I noticed him, not saying anything about all the other stuff flying around in my head just then.


    I felt grateful for that.


    The van didn¡¯t have side doors in the middle of the van, so Daniel and Izzy had to crawl over Haley¡¯s seat. The van¡¯s second row of seats didn¡¯t have windows, but on the other hand Daniel was clairvoyant, and Izzy had some kind of extra-powerful sonar. They could deal.


    A little quickly, Izzy said, ¡°Hi,¡± to us and pulled on her seatbelt¡ªnot that she needed one. She did need a winter coat though. She wore a green, fleece jacket that could handle anything Berkeley, California was likely to throw at it, but stood out in the Midwest.


    On the other hand, Izzy could probably survive in Antarctica wearing that jacket.


    Daniel smiled at both Haley and I, greeting us each by name, and setting down his backpack on the floor next to Izzy¡¯s. His winter coat was black and looked a little thin. He¡¯d likely bought it with downhill skiing in mind. Bulky coats got in the way.


    I wondered if Izzy had an actual costume in there. I also made a mental note to warn them to grab their backpacks if we were attacked. The van¡¯s new defenses didn¡¯t work well with loose objects.


    Izzy unzipped one of her backpack¡¯s pockets and grabbed a tissue. Then she wiped moisture off her glasses. They¡¯d steamed up.


    Once Daniel had his seatbelt on, I accelerated, moving the van into traffic. ¡°We¡¯ll be heading toward the north side,¡± I said.


    I¡¯d explained almost everything about Chancy Harris and his business to Daniel over the phone on Friday. He¡¯d undoubtedly passed it on to Izzy. Well, I assumed that anyway.


    I did, he told me.


    Good, I thought back at him.


    So what¡¯s behind this sudden interest in Izzy¡¯s and my sex life (which, by the way, we don¡¯t have), anyway?


    I checked the GPS, following the recommended route toward Chancy Connections¡¯ office, and started driving back toward the highway.


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    Nothing special, I told him. It occurred to Haley that Izzy¡¯s pretty much invulnerable, and you¡¯re well¡­ pretty vulnerable. Especially where she¡¯d potentially be providing the force.


    I felt a flash of mild anger followed by amusement and a sense of resignation.


    I didn¡¯t intend to share that with Haley, but can¡¯t blame you for the fact that she overheard. I didn¡¯t ask you if anyone was there. Besides, it¡¯s not all bad. She wants it to work for us. Who knows, maybe she¡¯ll figure it out? I know I don¡¯t know what to do.


    As our connection faded, I heard Haley saying, ¡°So what are you majoring in?¡±


    Izzy hesitated for a second and said, ¡°Well, I want to major in journalism, but Berkeley¡¯s only got it as a graduate program, so I¡¯m majoring in anthropology.¡±


    Twisting a little further than I would have thought comfortable, Haley said, ¡°Anthropology? I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t choose english or creative writing.¡±


    Izzy didn¡¯t have any of the hesitation I¡¯d heard earlier as she said. ¡°You don¡¯t have to major in writing to get into the journalism grad program, and I wanted to know about more than just writing. Anthropology teaches you about cultures, and how to learn about people. I think I¡¯ll be a better journalist if I can do that.¡±


    Haley nodded. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about that. It wouldn¡¯t surprise me if you were right. So, why do you want to be a journalist?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Izzy paused, ¡°it sounds silly, but I want to change how our society works. All you need to do is look around to see that it doesn¡¯t work for everyone, but it¡¯s easy to ignore it. I want to make it harder to ignore. I think that if more people knew how the world worked, we¡¯d have to have a conversation about what we really want to do.


    ¡°There are too many secrets. You know that the government¡¯s got it¡¯s own power impregnators, but did you know that they¡¯re letting some superheroes¡¯ kids use them in exchange for not opposing their use? People should know.¡±


    Haley looked over at me, and then back to Izzy. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone ever told me that. What are you going to do?¡±


    Izzy took a breath. ¡°Nothing right now. I don¡¯t think I should tell anyone while we¡¯re in the middle of all this, but it can¡¯t go on like this. Power like that shouldn¡¯t be in the hands of a small, hereditary elite.¡±


    Daniel said, ¡°You¡¯re right, but we¡¯re going to have to be very careful about how we break it to people. Besides, it might be different next year. My dad told me that he heard that there are private power impregnators becoming available. Nick, weren¡¯t you fixing ours?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve pretty much got it working again. I¡¯ve done all the tests I can do without running it on a person. It was surprisingly easy to alter it to make it work on people outside Red Lightning¡¯s family.¡±


    After that, talk turned to why I¡¯d been doing it, and I ended up telling Izzy the entire story about Courtney¡¯s search for a way to make her powers permanent, as well as all the stuff that had happened because of power juice last year¡ªincluding the Cabal¡¯s remnant and how we fought it, and about how Ray became empowered, and what happened to him afterward.


    It wasn¡¯t just me explaining it either. I was driving through Chicago and needed to concentrate. Haley and Daniel both took turns.


    That killed the forty-five minutes it took to travel to the north side and find the old brown, brick building where ¡°Chancy Connections, Shipping Consultants¡± rented office space. Then talk turned to the matter at hand.


    As we circled the block, deciding what we should do, Daniel said, ¡°Someone¡¯s up there.¡±

 Chancy Connections: Part 6

    ¡°And he¡¯s got a shield, a weak one, but quite sophisticated. Actually, I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s aware of me now. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s got any real range, so he¡¯s got no idea of where I¡¯m at, but he¡¯s coming to the window now. Don¡¯t look up. He¡¯s nervous, but not all out scared. While he¡¯s not much of a telepath, I¡¯m getting the feeling he¡¯s powerful at something.¡±


    Not looking up, even though I wanted to now, I concentrated on the traffic. It wasn¡¯t dense, but cars drove down both sides of the road.


    Three story brick buildings stood on both sides, some dark brown, some red, others tan or gray. All of them from the turn of the last century, some with satellite dishes hanging from the brick. It felt like some of the older sections of Grand Lake except there you¡¯d be into newer construction within a few blocks. Here it felt like I¡¯d only seen old buildings except for the really, really new ones that looked like glass from top to bottom.


    Chicago definitely had more taxis too.


    Haley spoke before I had the chance to ask Daniel the obvious question. She twisted back to face him again, saying, ¡°Do we need to stop? Is he running away?¡±


    ¡°No. He¡¯s staying. I got the impression that he¡¯s seen worse than telepaths.¡±


    In the rearview mirror, I saw Izzy frown at him. ¡°Are you still touching his mind?¡±


    Daniel shook his head. ¡°No. It didn¡¯t seem like a good idea. I¡¯m watching him clairvoyantly now, but I¡¯m keeping my awareness outside the room.¡±


    An alley opened up on the far side of the building after the office. I slowed the van, and turned left, stopping in front of a dumpster.


    Putting the van into park, I asked, ¡°So what do you think? Do we all go in or would that be too intimidating?¡±


    ¡°Judging from what I felt, my guess is that he won¡¯t be intimidated. If you think about it, he deals regularly with aliens. For all we know, some of those guys use guns like Cassie¡¯s as hand weapons. Remember what she did to those fishmen in D.C.?¡±


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    I remembered it well. When we¡¯d come to rescue her, we¡¯d found hundreds of dead, burnt frog-like humanoids on the roof. She¡¯d done that with one alien gun, an Abominator weapon though. Hopefully those weren''t in common use in space.


    Haley wrinkled her nose. ¡°I remember it. It smelled like burnt chicken combined with a weird fish smell. When we opened the jet¡¯s hatch, it was overwhelming. So disgusting.¡±


    Obviously still remembering, she shivered, and then looked at the rest of us. ¡°What? I know that wasn''t the point. Do you think we¡¯ll be intimidating enough?¡±


    Izzy shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think we need to be intimidating. Let¡¯s make him feel comfortable. If he understands what we¡¯re facing, he might help willingly.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°I wasn¡¯t thinking that we should scare him¡ªjust that he might not think we¡¯re worth talking to.¡±


    Daniel opened his seatbelt. ¡°I¡¯m getting a little worried. Even though he wasn¡¯t that scared, it¡¯s looking like he¡¯s turning off his computer, and he just pulled out his cellphone.¡±


    Haley took off her seatbelt and in one quick movement walking toward the back of the van. Then she stopped. ¡°Nick, how long do you think you¡¯ll be?¡±


    ¡°I might beat you,¡± I said, pulling the keys out of the van¡¯s ignition. ¡°The new suit¡¯s that good.¡±


    Eyeing me, she gave a quick grin, and said, ¡°I doubt it.¡± Then she pulled the curtain across the back of the van.


    Ok, so she was right about that, but she was also cheating. I would have had to open the curtain to get at my suit, and she''d probably worn her suit under her clothes. It didn¡¯t take long before Haley had stepped out of the back of the van.


    Taking her backpack, Izzy stepped behind the curtain as Daniel pulled off his shirt, making it obvious that he¡¯d been wearing his uniform under his clothes too. Any winter jacket would hide that pretty well. It barely took any time at all before he¡¯d put on his mask, and grabbed his utility belt out of his backpack.


    He pulled the curtain back as Izzy reached toward the back door, and stepped out after her. As he closed the door, he thought at me, We¡¯ll wait for you as long as we can.


    Don¡¯t worry about it, just make sure he doesn¡¯t leave.


    I stepped behind the curtain. Why? Because it was there, and besides it guarded against someone happening to walk past and see me change through the windshield. Was that paranoid? Yes, a little.


    I stepped up to the grey, ceramic block on the floor, touched it with my palm, and stepped on top, feeling myself sink into the block. I¡¯d ditched my winter coat during the drive, and so I felt the suit form around me. Instants later, it had covered my head, and the HUD display appeared in my helmet.


    [Connections tested: System up]


    [Power status: Full]


    [Weapon status: Ready]


    I checked the time¡ª30 seconds¡ªfaster than I¡¯d thought possible a month ago.


    I set the suit to standard Rocket colors (gold with black detailing), and shut the door behind me as I ran after everyone else.

 Chancy Connections: Part 7

    I shut the van¡¯s back doors behind me, ran around the van, onto the sidewalk and up the stairs.


    This was not good for the stairs. The worn, lightly stained wood cracked on my first step. I didn¡¯t go all the way through, but only because I noticed.


    I couldn¡¯t say it surprised me. Four hundred pounds in combination between the suit and myself, plus the ability to create tons of force meant that I lived in a world made of cardboard.


    I took the next few steps a little slower, hearing Daniel¡¯s voice in my head. Don¡¯t worry about it. He¡¯s waiting for us.


    That didn¡¯t make me feel much better, but at least I could go up the stairs without worrying that I¡¯d step through them.


    When I arrived on the third floor I stepped into the hall, noticing a sign on the frosted glass door across the hall on my right. Unsurprisingly, it said, ¡°Chancy Connections, Shipping Consultants.¡±


    To judge from the style of the door¡¯s metal frame, I guessed that this place had last been renovated sometime in the 60¡¯s or 70¡¯s.


    It was a small office. It held no furniture except for one large, wooden desk and several chairs, four of them lined up against the wall.


    A small, balding man stood behind the desk. I couldn¡¯t place his age, but he looked older than fifty. He wore a brown suit, and watched us warily, only moving his eyes as I entered.


    I stopped directly behind Haley, and next to Daniel. Izzy stood on Daniel¡¯s other side.


    The man nodded at me, and said, ¡°I trust that¡¯s all of you.¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s not,¡± Daniel said, ¡°we¡¯ll be as surprised as you.¡±


    Giving a thin, and very brief smile, the man said, ¡°As I¡¯m sure you know, I¡¯m Chancy Harris, the man you talk to if you want your possessions to disappear without a trace. What I¡¯m wondering is where you heard about me. Did the first League tell you about me, or did you find me on your own?¡±


    I felt Daniel touch my mind then, and distantly felt Izzy and Haley¡¯s.


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    Don¡¯t tell him. He¡¯s fishing.


    Not planning to, I thought back.


    Haley spoke before anyone else had the chance to reply. ¡°Did you help the first League against the Abominators?¡±


    My heart beat faster, and I felt Daniel¡¯s alarm, and less closely Izzy¡¯s. Whatever Haley felt was washed away by everyone else.


    Except she thought Relax fairly loudly as Chancy said, ¡°Once, and it was a bitch. I had to teleport them onto a battleship from here. Compensating for differences in speed and direction is always a pain. With that much of a difference, I was down for a day. I could get them up there, but I couldn¡¯t get them down.¡±


    ¡°Where was the jet?¡± I asked.


    Haley turned her head back toward me. ¡°Damaged in another battle on the same day.¡±


    ¡°That was it,¡± Chancy said. ¡°So what are you here for? Is this about St. Louis?¡±


    That was an amazing connection to make.


    ¡°Kinda,¡± Haley said. ¡°Is there a connection to St. Louis?¡±


    Outwardly he seemed calm as he said, ¡°There¡¯s no connection. I do some work for aliens. Some come here because they can guarantee that no one will bother them here.¡±


    Haley¡¯s thought passed over through Daniel¡¯s connection. His heart rate just increased. He¡¯s worried. Even if he doesn¡¯t think there¡¯s a connection, he knows something.


    I thought, How did you know he¡¯d helped the League?


    I felt a sense of amusement, and maybe a little pride. I didn¡¯t, but my Grandpa mentioned a teleporter near Chicago who helped them. When Chancy mentioned the first League, I guessed it might be him.


    In a tone that I can only describe as calm and sympathetic, she said, ¡°I can hear your heart beat faster. What do you know?¡±


    Chancy glanced down toward his desk, and I tensed¡ªthat could have meant anything.


    ¡°I can¡¯t talk about it,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s part of what I sell¡ªprivacy. I make my clients¡¯ possessions disappear. I arrange that anything they order gets to them without leaving a trail that puts them in danger.¡±


    ¡°I understand that,¡± Daniel said, ¡°but do you think it¡¯s right to put your client¡¯s need for privacy above our need to find out what¡¯s going on? We think that the aliens responsible for what happened in St. Louis landed within the last year, and we¡¯ve tracked down one of the groups that landed, and it¡¯s connected to you somehow. If you¡¯re helping the beings that decided to destroy St. Louis, you¡¯re putting everyone at risk. If you¡¯re not, well, then you¡¯ll help us cross a name off our list, okay?¡±


    Chancy held his hand to his chin, and said, ¡°No. I can¡¯t do it. I said I wouldn¡¯t, and I¡¯m sure they¡¯re not responsible.¡±


    Izzy spoke for the first time, her voice full of restrained emotion. ¡°This is bigger than your reputation. They didn¡¯t report it in the news, but the St. Louis explosion included weapons with ability to destroy life, but leave our possessions behind. It was a test run for human extinction. Genocide. Can you let that happen because you assume your clients aren¡¯t guilty?¡±


    That got him. He looked at each of our faces in turn, searching for confirmation, maybe?


    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± Daniel said. ¡°They kept it out of the news so people wouldn¡¯t freak out.¡±


    Chancy picked his phone up, and made a call, muttering into the phone. After a moment, he said, ¡°They¡¯ll see you.¡±

 Chancy Connections: Part 8

    He frowned, and looked at us. ¡°They¡¯re trying to stay hidden, so I¡¯m going to send you there myself.¡±


    Chancy¡¯s eyes fell on me. ¡°I suppose you¡¯ve got a GPS, and it can¡¯t be taken out?¡±


    I said, ¡°Yes,¡± not pointing out that we all had GPS and most people had them built into their phones these days.


    ¡°Well, don¡¯t tell anybody where they are. They¡¯re trying to stay hidden, and if someone kills them all it¡¯s on your head.¡±


    Before I could argue with him, the scene changed. We weren¡¯t in Chicago anymore. Part of me wanted to joke that we weren¡¯t in Kansas either, but I didn¡¯t.


    According to my GPS, we were in Kansas.


    We stood in a grassy field. Since it was only March, the grass was more brown than green, and the temperature only a little warmer than forty degrees Fahrenheit¡ªstill warmer than Grand Lake this time of year.


    Small trees ran in a line maybe one hundred feet away from us. Several hundred feet in the other direction, a two lane road ran east/west. Electrical lines ran next to it, held in the air by weathered wooden poles.


    Haley pointed toward the trees, ¡°Over there!¡±


    Near the trees, small horses grazed. No, I realized, not horses, and not ponies either. They had eight limbs. Six supported the body. The additional two were shorter and appeared above the last set of legs. Basically, they were arms.


    Six of them wheeled toward us. More stayed among the trees. I couldn¡¯t get a good count, but more than twenty.


    Their fur ranged from black and brown through red and white. A few appeared to be blue.


    As they ran toward us, I noted that their gait was similar, but not quite like normal horses. I couldn¡¯t put it into words because I didn¡¯t quite know how normal horses ran, but this seemed smoother.


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    They came to a stop ten feet away from us. One of them, black furred with a bluish sheen, started to make noise¡ªa collection of grunts and whines. As it talked, I noticed that it had the expected wide, flat teeth of a herbivore, but also a few sharper teeth. Were they omnivores?


    Maybe, but for all I knew, their home planet required teeth like that for its plant life.


    The alien stopped talking, and another voice took over, this one sounding like a human male. It came from the thick necklace it wore.


    ¡°Greetings from my people to yours,¡± it said.


    Daniel said, ¡°Thank you. Our people return your greetings.¡±


    In my head, he said, Crap. That wasn¡¯t right. Whatever their ritual greetings are, that reply wasn¡¯t close.


    I thought back, You can understand what they''re thinking?


    No, Daniel thought. I can sense their emotions, but they¡¯re aliens, and I don¡¯t know their language, and there are a lot of them. It¡¯s barely making any sense at all.


    I considered that for a second. Maybe Izzy should take this. She¡¯s the anthropology major.


    Nervousness washed over me, but I knew it wasn¡¯t mine.


    Don¡¯t drop this on me. Izzy stood next to Daniel, seemingly unworried, but obviously didn¡¯t feel quite as calm in reality. I¡¯m just a sophomore. I¡¯ve taken a few lower level courses and a course in primate behavior. They¡¯re not even primates.


    I¡¯m not saying I won¡¯t help, she continued. I¡¯ll help analyze what they¡¯re doing.


    Haley broke in, They¡¯re wondering why we¡¯re taking so long.


    Before anyone else could say anything, she smiled at the aliens and said, ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Night Cat. How did you happen to come here?¡±


    So the good news there was that Haley hadn¡¯t transformed. The aliens might not be horses, but Haley¡¯s transformed teeth couldn¡¯t be anything but a predator¡¯s.


    The bluish alien froze for the briefest moment.


    Izzy¡¯s voice appeared in my head. I don¡¯t think their culture values directness.


    I felt a sense of frustration as Haley replied, I was trying to keep the conversation moving.


    None of us got a chance to change the conversation¡¯s direction. The alien raised one of its front hooves and slowly placed it back on the ground. Then it started talking again.


    When the grunts and growls had ended, the machine voice said, ¡°We are refugees. Nearly one hundred years ago now, one of the Abominators'' servant races came to our world. They hunted us for sport. Over a period of years, they brought us to near extinction. Those few of use that managed to escape, and the many on our colony worlds are all that remain of our species. We came here because the Abominators¡¯ creatures are forbidden to come here.¡±


    Haley nodded, and said, ¡°That must have been dangerous. Aren¡¯t we in the middle of a lot of the Abominators'' former servants?¡±


    One of the aliens near Haley held its nose higher in the air and sniffed in Haley¡¯s direction.


    It hissed and backed away.

 Chancy Connections: Part 9

    Haley froze as the horse-like alien wheeled around and ran back toward the trees.


    The lead alien grunted, chirped, and soon the translation device started again. ¡°Pardon our compatriot. Some of us are old enough to remember our people¡¯s near extinction personally. To answer your question, yes, it was a dangerous journey, but this is a place of safety, possibly the only one.¡±


    Still watching the alien that had run toward the trees, Haley said, ¡°That makes sense, and I¡¯m sorry if I scared your friend somehow.¡±


    ¡°There is no offense taken.¡±


    Haley nodded, barely moving.


    So Haley, and probably her grandfather, must have some connection to whatever destroyed these creatures¡¯ home planet. I wanted to ask Haley about it but this wasn¡¯t the time.


    Meanwhile, I had questions I really needed to ask¡ªthe ones that were basically the whole point of the trip. If Izzy was right and they didn¡¯t value direct questions, I was about to seriously piss them off.


    In my head Daniel said, You¡¯ll have to ask sooner or later, and even though I can¡¯t read these guys very well, I doubt you¡¯ll gain their trust soon enough that it¡¯ll be worth waiting. Besides, we might learn something even if they get mad.


    Inwardly, I readied myself for combat. Not that I expected them to jump on me, but some people might take what I was about to suggest wrong.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to offend you, but I¡¯ve got a question that needs to be answered. I don¡¯t know how much you watch the news, but someone created a bunch of bombs, and neutron emitters. It¡¯s pretty obvious that they were trying to kill everyone. Whatever was going on in St. Louis, it appears to have been a test run. I think they were going to use the neutron emitters, and then when everyone in the place was dead, move them somewhere else.


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    ¡°It¡¯s all alien tech,¡± I said, watching them. ¡°It¡¯s nothing we could have created without help. Have you heard anything about it?¡±


    I didn¡¯t go as far as I could have. ¡°Did you do it?¡± was certainly implied in the question, and this way, they couldn¡¯t say I was accusing them of something they didn¡¯t do.


    Don¡¯t rule it out, Daniel thought at me. It¡¯s a legitimate technique.


    I felt a sense of disquiet from Izzy. You want him to accuse them just to see their reaction?


    Maybe, Daniel thought.


    That¡¯s how you turn potential friends to enemies. Besides, they¡¯re victims. It doesn¡¯t make sense. If they were going after the Abominator¡¯s servants, I could believe it.


    I felt that Daniel was about to reply except he didn¡¯t get to. The alien spoke first.


    ¡°I understand your concern for your people. We share this and it offends us not at all.¡± Then, as the alien continued to talk, the translation device paused, finally saying, ¡° is what gives the Hrrnna the strength to continue in the face of our homeworld¡¯s destruction.¡±


    The Hrrnna leader stamped a foot. ¡°We know nothing of this ourselves, but we have heard rumors. The Trans-Species Collective also has outposts on this planet, and we, scattered as we are, have kin within the Collective. They¡¯re not high within the councils of the Collective, but they¡¯re high enough, and they have (untranslatable). They know the Collective has been contacting members of your species, but they do not know its purpose.¡±


    Haley¡¯s eyes narrowed as she looked at the alien. ¡°Are you saying the Trans-Species Collective was behind St. Louis?¡±


    The Hrrnna tensed as turned its head toward her. ¡°I can only say that I¡¯ve heard hints that it is creating its own hidden agreements with members of your race. It might be to your benefit to discover the nature of these secrets.¡±


    We didn¡¯t have anything on that. Local hero groups had been scheduled to connect with the Trans-Species Collective in a couple different spots. I hadn¡¯t seen any of the results. It had been scheduled for today if they wanted to try to talk.


    I considered calling each of them, but decided not to.


    They were already hinting that they didn¡¯t know any more, but I decided to make them say it. ¡°Do you know anything about the communications?¡±


    The alien¡¯s device said, ¡°No. We have no knowledge.¡±


    Daniel broke into my thoughts. They¡¯re scared of something. I can¡¯t say that it¡¯s anything in particular, but they¡¯ve been scared during the entire interview.


    Haley¡¯s thoughts brought a wave of frustration. Are you sure it¡¯s not me that they¡¯re scared of?


    I can¡¯t rule that out, Daniel thought back. They¡¯re all reacting to something they smell about you.


    Izzy radiated confusion. Why would they be afraid of Haley?


    I thought about it. Izzy might not have ever seen Haley change.

 Chancy Connections: Part 10

    Haley didn¡¯t get angry, but I did sense she might be tired of the subject.


    She only sent back. I¡¯ll show you later.


    Then I felt Izzy¡¯s dawning realization of what Haley had to mean. Of course she¡¯d realized it. Haley and I had both been on national (and probably international) television more than once.


    I hope you¡¯re not worried about how you look. There¡¯s nothing wrong with it.


    Haley thought, No, it¡¯s not that. Well, it¡¯s not just that. It¡¯s what goes along with it. When the Hrrnna turned, part of me wanted to chase it. That kind of thing happens all the time, okay? And not just with alien horses¡ªsmall animals too. Squirrels. I don¡¯t want to be the kind of person who chases squirrels.


    I didn''t ask what kind of person that was.


    If the alien in front of us noticed our conversation, it didn¡¯t show a sign of it. It said, ¡°We are on this world too now. Anything that attacks it, attacks us as well.¡±


    I started to pay attention to the world outside my head again, noticing that the Hrrnna stood very still. I wondered what that meant. In creatures that appeared to fit into an ecosystem similar to our plains, stillness had to mean something.


    Then it said something else, but it wasn¡¯t translated.


    The world¡¯s colors took on a rainbow outline, and we found ourselves standing in Chicago in front of the building where Chancy Connections¡¯ offices were¡ªnot, it occurred to me that Chancy Harris had sent us a message too.


    Daniel laughed. ¡°He¡¯s not even in his office. I felt him teleport himself out as soon as we teleported in.¡±


    ¡°That figures.¡± I looked up toward the office. How irritating. Talk about the ultimate power for avoiding people you didn¡¯t want to talk to.


    Beneath her mask, Haley frowned. ¡°I wonder if he knows something?¡±


    Daniel glanced up and the office. ¡°I doubt it. My bet is that he¡¯s irritated that no one¡¯s paying him for two freebie teleports.¡±


    Izzy began to say, ¡°What a¡ª¡° and then screeching brakes and beeping horns interrupted her.


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    Cars on both sides of the street stopped in the middle of the road¡ªnot all of them, but enough. It¡¯s not like they were totally stupid either. Well, not all of them. Most of the ones that stopped pulled off to the side of the road. Only a couple stopped in the middle of the road¡ªnot that that wasn¡¯t a huge hassle.


    Worse they opened their doors and stepped out of the cars.


    Then someone, actually several someones, started beeping their horns at the stopped cars.


    Well crap, now we start traffic jams by spontaneously appearing on the sidewalk?


    Not replying to me, Daniel broadcast, Let¡¯s go¡ªall of us¡ªfly in four different directions. Meet back at the van.


    I turned toward Haley.


    She shook her head. Pulling my redesigned grapple guns from her belt, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Then she fired a line up to the top of Chancy¡¯s building. As the line started to retract, pulling her into the air, she fired off the second line at the next building over. Within a couple more shots, she¡¯d completely disappeared.


    Izzy and Daniel took to the air as quickly, and I blasted straight into the air.


    The rockets roared, and I checked the sidewalk. The people who had been running toward us stopped, blocking the brightness of the rockets¡¯ tail with their arms.


    I leaned forward and shot a couple blocks over in seconds, keeping low so that I¡¯d disappear from their vision more quickly. Then I circled around (in a wide circle), and finally landed further down the alley where I¡¯d parked the van. I came down about a couple blocks away, but running covered the distance.


    I found Daniel standing behind the van.


    Haley and Izzy are already inside. They¡¯re almost done changing.


    I considered asking him whether he knew by clairvoyance or telepathy, but didn¡¯t.


    Clairvoyance would only cause problems, he told me.


    The back door opened, and Haley let us inside. Daniel pulled the door shut behind us.


    I started the disassembly function, and the suit came apart in a much more controlled way than before. Instead of clattering to the ground in pieces, it sounded like a soft rain as sections detached and were reabsorbed into the same grey block I¡¯d stepped into earlier.


    Daniel smiled at me. ¡°Show off.¡±


    The curtain hadn¡¯t been drawn yet so Haley and Izzy had both seen it too.


    Haley¡¯s expression seemed more amused than impressed, but Izzy said, ¡°How did you do that? Or wait, I shouldn¡¯t ask, should I?¡±


    Haley said, ¡°No.¡±


    Daniel put his hand on the curtain. ¡°You might as well go to the front. Some of us have to change the hard way.¡±


    I stepped forward, muttering, ¡°Right,¡± as I moved between the back seats and into the driver¡¯s seat.


    Looking out the front window, I saw that the traffic jam had mostly cleared up. A few people stood on the sidewalk at the end of the alley looking in the air, and up and down the street.


    Amazingly, none of them were looking down the alley toward us.


    ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± Daniel said. ¡°Every time someone thinks about looking down this alley, I send a little urge to look a different direction.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said, ¡°that could be useful.¡±


    ¡°It is. My grandfather used it to sneak into places. Lee thinks I should develop it for combat.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°He would, but he¡¯s right.¡±


    Daniel didn¡¯t say anything, and my mind drifted back to the major question on my mind. ¡°What do you all think? Are the Hrrnna behind it all?¡±

 Chancy Connections: Part 11

    ¡°No way of knowing,¡± Daniel said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t read their thoughts very well. I got brief flashes of what happened to their home world¡ªwhich was horrible. I can see why they¡¯d hate the people who did it, but we¡¯re not them.¡±


    In a low voice, Izzy said, ¡°They were telling the truth, then. Genocide?¡±


    Daniel nodded. ¡°Technically xenocide, but yes. Coming here does make sense in that light. As long as we¡¯re around, the Abominators¡¯ former servants can¡¯t come here.¡±


    ¡°Except there really are aliens who want to destroy us just because the Abominators used us as a genetic base to create their servants,¡± I said. ¡°So we can¡¯t rule out the possibility that the Hrrnna are among them, but as they said, they¡¯re here. I suppose they might be willing to destroy all life on a planet they¡¯re living on, but I¡¯d do it from a distance myself.¡±


    Haley pursed her lips. ¡°What did the creatures that killed them look like?¡±


    Daniel paused. ¡°Basically human, but bigger, more muscular, and furrier.¡± He paused again. ¡°And you know how your hands and feet change into claws? Theirs did the same thing, and their claws seemed to be made out of the same substance.¡±


    Haley let out a breath, and muttered something.


    I would have asked if something were wrong, but that was blatantly, painfully obvious. She¡¯d always been sensitive about her change, and the bloodlust that went with it, but this had to be one step worse. Now she knew that it came from some variant on humanity that the Abominators had warped for their own benefit.


    Probably this was the time to say something comforting, but I felt like I should wait until after we dropped Daniel and Izzy off.


    Izzy didn¡¯t wait though. ¡°You¡¯re not one of them.¡±


    Haley sighed, and turned to face Izzy. ¡°I know. It¡¯s just¡­ I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s exactly what I always thought I¡¯d find out when I learned supers are descended from people the Abominators changed, and even though I¡¯m not one, I¡¯ve got their urge to hunt, and I have to live with it.¡±


    Izzy reached out and touched Haley on her shoulder. ¡°I know it¡¯s not the same, but Dixie Superman was my great-grandfather. My great grandmother immigrated from Spain, I can only guess that that¡¯s why she was white enough for him. When she found out what he was, she divorced him, and moved to L.A., taking my grandfather with her. You know what happened last summer. Evil Beatnik mind controlled me. Why? Because I was descended from one of the League¡¯s enemies. That was all I was.¡±


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    Izzy stopped for a moment then, her expression making her look a little uglier and a little older. If Evil Beatnik ever reappeared, he might have a reason to reconsider the wisdom of his last venture into the world.


    She continued with, ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to get out of his shadow ever since I found that I had his powers, and how do I first use them in public? Practically under his name and in his costume.¡±


    Taking a breath, Izzy said, ¡°He didn¡¯t make me act like my great-grandfather, but what happened was bad enough. All of my family saw me.¡±


    She stopped, opened her mouth, stopped again, and said, ¡°When I think about him, and think about everything that happened, I remind myself that everything he did was him, and not me.¡±


    Haley nodded. ¡°I¡­ Thanks. I¡¯ll remember that.¡±


    We drove Izzy and Daniel back to the University of Chicago¡¯s campus. We talked about maybe doing something fun after that, but practical considerations intervened. Haley and I needed to get back to Grand Lake, and for Daniel investigating who was trying to destroy humanity on Shabbat was one thing, but going out and seeing a movie was another.


    That left Haley and I driving home on I-196 north, looking out at the empty fields, and spots of snow, and talking.


    ¡°The funny thing,¡± Haley was saying, ¡°is that it really doesn¡¯t bother me as much as it used to. I still worry about losing control, and doing something horrible, but not like last year. Last year I was coming off of Sean being a jerk, and his parents pulling in the police to find out how he¡¯d been poisoned, and our relationship¡ªyours and mine¡ªwas totally new¡­¡±


    She trailed off, but started up again, barely having taken a breath.


    ¡°I just got totally worried that I might do the same thing to you even though you didn¡¯t deserve it. I¡¯m still a little worried, but I feel like I¡¯m more realistic now.¡±


    I kept the van at a steady speed. Now that we were out of Chicago¡¯s traffic, and back in Michigan, it wasn¡¯t hard. It was even fun to be talking.


    ¡°I think so. You were really worried last year, but as I remember it, you seemed a little better even after my prom where Logan took power juice, and freaked out, and we stopped him.¡±


    She cocked her head. ¡°Do you think so? Maybe, I guess. If nothing else, it showed me I had some control of myself. Logan didn¡¯t have any.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said.


    Haley sat up, and turned toward me in her chair. ¡°Another topic. Do you think Izzy was maybe saying a lot less than actually happened? Because I do. I get how she might not be happy about taking on Dixie Superman¡¯s legacy, but she seemed too¡­ something... for it to be just that.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°No idea. Maybe she¡¯ll talk about it next time I see her. Stapledon¡¯s next week, and¡ª¡°


    An alarm in the van beeped, and I looked down toward the monitor on the dashboard. Several objects were descending toward us from the sky.

 Chancy Connections: Part 12

    They¡¯d be here in seconds, and at the speeds they were moving, we¡¯d have no chance of outrunning them. My modifications to the van would help with off-roading, but not with speed. And yes, I¡¯d made it so the van could fly a little, but the conversion took time, and we couldn¡¯t fly that fast or that long, and at the speeds our pursuers were moving, we¡¯d never outfly them.


    We had absolutely no chance to escape.


    None.


    I pulled to the side of the road, and put on the brakes. The van¡¯s tires rumbled as we crossed the white line.


    When we came to a complete stop, I pressed the screen, starting one of the protections that I¡¯d built into the van.


    The boring one. Boring but vital.


    Plates covered the windows, making the van completely dark inside. The monitor on the glowing dashboard allowed me my only view of what was around us.


    Haley clicked open her seatbelt, and pulled off her coat, and shirt¡ªwhich was less distracting than it sounds.


    I¡¯d taken off my own seatbelt and stood up, happening to notice that she was taking her shirt off out of the corner of my eye, and looked closer only to realize that her uniform was under it.


    She caught my eye, and said, ¡°Seriously?¡±


    I would have responded except that¡¯s when we took our first hit. Heat, a crackling noise, and a sound like thunder came from above us¡ªand not just once, again and again.


    Amazingly, the roof held. It wasn¡¯t completely a surprise. I¡¯d designed it with energy weapons in mind, but I knew it couldn¡¯t hold forever, or possibly more than a few minutes. It all depended on the power available to the lasers outside¡ªif it were lasers.


    I stepped on the block of ceramic that would become my suit, touched it with my hand, and felt myself sink into the block.


    The suit took form around me, but before the helmet completely covered my face, I said, ¡°Haley, could you¡ª¡°


    And then the helmet completely filled in, cutting me off. I wouldn¡¯t be able to say anything until the power turned on. I¡¯d been trying to say, ¡°fire off a missile or something?¡±


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    It might make whatever was outside back off. By whatever, I meant whatever big, flying, futuristic alien devices that happened to be trying to kill us right now.


    I¡¯d seen them briefly on the monitor. They hadn¡¯t looked like human technology. The question was whether they were robots or alien powered armor. Personally, I was betting on robots.


    Haley had pulled off her regular pants, and pulled the mask over her head. Maybe she¡¯d heard me, or maybe she¡¯d made the necessary connections on her own, because she leaned over the driver¡¯s side of the dashboard, silhouetted in the monitor¡¯s glow, and touched the screen.


    The van shuddered as two missiles shot out of it, followed quickly by two explosions¡ªwhich was pretty cool, provided they¡¯d just hit our attackers and not passing cars.


    Just when I started to feel completely frustrated and useless, words flashed across the screen, and all systems were ready and reporting to the HUD.


    Ready to do something, I prepared to send a red alert to the League except¡­ then I noticed that the red alert signal was already going. Haley had set it off.


    That was cool and all, but obviously, it still took too long to get the suit on.


    Too long or not, however, I could finally move.


    Since the van was supposed to be a mobile storage shed, I¡¯d put a lot of roachbots inside. I activated all of them.


    Haley turned away from the monitor as I took a step toward the back doors.


    She¡¯d changed. Her hands and feet had turned to grayish claws. Her eyes, slitted like cat¡¯s. She even stood a little taller. I¡¯d never measured how much.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking,¡± I began, ¡°that if I shoot out the back door, I¡¯ll draw a bunch of them after me. Once I do, I can have the roachbots attack, and I¡¯ll likely take out a few by surprise.¡±


    Haley walked into the back with me and opened a drawer of the cabinet on the wall. ¡°And what are you thinking I¡¯ll be doing?¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ll have options. I can take a few hits from them, but you can¡¯t, so I¡¯m thinking the best thing you could do is start the rest of the van¡¯s defenses going, or make for the trees. Chances are, we¡¯ll get help soon.¡±


    The roachbots had been exiting the van quietly as we¡¯d spoken. I had multiple feeds to see around us, and all the bots contributed to the suit¡¯s view of the landscape.


    Our attackers had backed off when the missiles hit. They circled at a distance, all of them streamlined, but none with wings, reminding me of submarines or maybe fish. Okay, so plainly meant to operate in an atmosphere, but also obviously using gravitics instead of jets or rockets for propulsion.


    Judging from the bulges in the machines skin, I guessed that their weapons either extended as needed or never needed to exist outside of the main body.


    Even though each appeared to be as large as the van, I didn¡¯t see any signs of life. No windows, steps, or handles blemished the machines outer shells¡ªmachine being the operative word.


    ¡°Sure,¡± Haley said, still trying to find something in the drawer.


    ¡°You¡¯ll stay?¡± I¡¯d been worried she might fight them with only her costume for protection.


    Then I realized something else. ¡°You were just saying that.¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± she said, and pulled a particle accelerator rifle out of the drawer.

 Chancy Connections: Part 13

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°but, they can practically disintegrate you with a shot, and I¡¯m thinking they¡¯re machines, so their reaction times are going to be faster than we¡¯d expect. Plus sneaking past them will be harder. I mean, it depends on their design, but¡ª¡°


    Haley sighed, sounding more irritated than anything else. ¡°I know. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t going to change her mind. ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°I guess I¡¯ll fly out and get their attention, and you¡¯ve got the van and everything in it to work with after that?¡±


    She gave a brief smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Go. I¡¯ll help if you get in trouble.¡±


    I¡¯d noticed before that she seemed more confident after she¡¯d fully transformed.


    ¡°Alright.¡± I put my hand on the door, and we looked at each other.


    ¡°Good luck,¡± I said.


    She nodded, and a little more slowly said, ¡°Good luck.¡±


    I looked at the HUD. The feeds from my roachbots showed no change in the alien machines¡¯ position circling the van. What I needed to do was get their attention, and pull them away from the van. Haley would be able to do something, and maybe I¡¯d be able to keep most of them busy enough that we would survive until help arrived.


    Maybe I could even take them all out.


    I gave the roachbots their targets.


    Then I opened the van¡¯s back door, and jumped out, engaging the rockets and shooting across the field, but not in a straight line. I did my best to jerk and weave unpredictably¡ªleft, right, up, and down.


    The machines had been circling at a distance of about one hundred feet, and around fifty feet off the ground.


    There were six of them¡ªnot counting the two that Haley had apparently hit with missiles. Those two lay on the ground burning, one of them on the field below me. The other lay in the grassy median between the two parts of the freeway.


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    Unsurprisingly, cars weren¡¯t passing the van anymore. With the missile launches and the circling alien machines, they apparently decided to stop on the highway. A few had attempted to drive across the median, and gotten stuck.


    The people in the cars at the front of the traffic jam (or the ones that were still slowly moving on the freeway¡¯s other side) got a show.


    All the flying machines opened up on me, making obvious what I¡¯d already guessed¡ªthey weren¡¯t here to scare us off from investigating. They were here to kill us.


    Viewed in a certain light, that was good news. We were moving in the right direction. We were making somebody nervous.


    As the warning messages ran down the screen, and my helmet filtered bursts of light down to a less blinding intensity, I found myself wishing that someone were a little less nervous.


    A beam hit my helmet, and I felt the heat. Another ran across my arm. Still another hit my leg. Amazingly, the suit¡¯s structure stayed intact.


    About that time, the roachbots began to hit their targets. The first wave had been EMPbots, and they¡­


    Were useless.


    My suit registered electromagnetic pulses around each machine, and not a one of them dropped. Well, wait. That wasn¡¯t quite true. One of them did, but it was because the new suit included two lasers similar to the one the guitar used to have.


    The guitar¡¯s laser could cut through a battleship¡¯s hull given time. I¡¯d designed these to cut more quickly.


    So even as the EMP failed to take machine out, a laser under each of my forearms blazed blue, and I turned, raking each beam across the machine¡¯s hull.


    Without any of the explosions I¡¯d have expected from years of watching movies, the machine simply fell, hitting the ground and flipping over several times before stopping.


    I¡¯d have celebrated except that the other machines had adjusted their formation so that they were between me and the van, allowing them all to fire on me at once.


    That¡¯s when the alert messages started saying things like ¡°Heavy Damage Left Arm: Repairing.¡±


    The good news being that repairing the damage worked. The bad? I only had so much material to work with.


    The messages reminded me of the part of the plan where I was supposed to be heading for the stand of trees, making it that much harder to hit me. I was about to do that too except the second wave of roachbots hit¡ªthe explosive ones.


    They hit the lowest machine, digging into the seams, and other openings.


    The explosion split it in two. Pieces of metal and ceramic fell to the ground.


    At about the same time a white beam speared another of the machines from below. It didn¡¯t seem to be affected at first, but then it flopped sideways. It floated in the air for about a second more, and then it fell.


    I didn¡¯t need to guess who the beam came from, and I had no cause to complain. There were only three left.


    One of them dove toward the van, and the other two started firing at me.

 Chancy Connections: Part 14

    They hit me several times even as I gave the rocket pack more fuel, and twisted, shooting upward and unpredictably (I hoped) to the left.


    Meanwhile, I gave each of them a full blast of the sonics, hoping that the way I¡¯d tweaked my grandfather¡¯s algorithm would find a resonant frequency that would break alien tech.


    Nothing started smoking, and that was bad because Haley needed help.


    She hadn¡¯t stayed inside the van. She¡¯d ducked around the corner, using the van for cover¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t a bad idea. It was better than staying inside until the alien machine burned through, but it didn¡¯t stop the machine from hammering the van and everywhere around it with lasers.


    I had no idea how she survived, but she rolled out from under the van on the near side¡ªaway from the road.


    When the alien machine followed her she jumped up and landed on top of it, the rifle on her back, her arms tearing into the machine¡¯s hull, shredding the bulge on top of the roof.


    As much as I wanted to help her, aiming toward her would likely draw the other machines¡¯ attention toward her. Better to draw it away.


    I twisted again, aiming toward the trees off to the side of the road, and making the machines chase me if they wanted me. The sound of air passing the Rocket suit mixed with the growing roar of the rockets.


    The machines appeared in my HUD, both of them following, and worse, gaining.


    That was not good in so many ways. They were still firing and hitting me for one, and distance dispersed the beam, lessening the damage¡ªif only by a little. Plus even for a machine, distance made the shot harder. I¡¯d take a glancing blow over a direct hit any day.


    A beam ran across the back of my thighs. It felt hotter than before, and it wasn¡¯t my imagination. With as many times as I¡¯d been hit, the error messages had been constant, showing me the level of damage.


    [Red Alert! 30% of overall protection remaining!]


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    It wasn¡¯t as bad as it sounded, but it wasn¡¯t good. Armor still covered me, but the thinner it got, the more quickly it would get destroyed.


    Where was everybody? I could see how everyone in Grand Lake might have a hard time, but Izzy could get here instantly once she changed, and she could easily bring Daniel along.


    Well, unless the machines had attacked them too. That wasn¡¯t impossible. In fact, in their position, it made a lot of sense.


    I turned again, this time flying into the trees, taking a few shots as I slowed down to fly between them.


    [Red Alert! 29% of overall protection remaining!]


    The stand of trees blocked their view of me, but not entirely. They kept on firing. Laser blasts hit leaves, pine needles, tree branches, and tree trunks, burning and shattering wood. Still, it made it harder to hit me. Too big to fit in between the trees, they had to fly above them, firing down at me, but not able to get clear shots¡ªnot if I kept moving anyway.


    I did, but it wasn¡¯t easy. I stayed in the air, dodging branches, sometimes dropping to avoid the larger ones.


    I gave a glance to our communication system, and saw that people were calling back. Icons jiggled, indicating messages. Izzy and Daniel were listed as responding.


    A tree branch hit my arm, not seriously hurting me, but causing complaint from the armor anyway, and forcing me to pay attention to my flying or I¡¯d shoot off in who knew what direction.


    I couldn¡¯t stay in the trees much longer. The machines would burn them down, and then me.


    I sent orders to roachbots. They¡¯d caught up and were waiting in the trees. I didn¡¯t have many EMP or exploding bots left, but still had the flash bots and the bots meant for bugging and tracking. It wasn¡¯t much but it was something.


    I had one more thing though¡ªa ¡°bullet bot.¡± I¡¯d designed its tip with the same system that made Cassie¡¯s sword cut through nearly anything. I¡¯d been planning to test it anyway. It was too bad I only had one.


    On the comm list, Haley¡¯s vitals went everywhere. She¡¯d been hit. Or hurt. Something.


    I didn¡¯t have time to analyze why. I sent the roachbots the order to attack, and shot myself out of the wood in a burst of pine needles and broken branches.


    Simultaneously several things happened. The bots enveloped the two machines that had been after me in clouds. I couldn¡¯t be sure if their senses included what we could see, but I set the flashbots to explode in waves, and the tracking/bugging roachbots to broadcast on as wide a spectrum as they could.


    I kept the exploding bots and EMPbots in reserve, flying out just in time to see Haley.


    The machine she¡¯d been fighting had extended some kind of tool from its back, and it had grabbed her leg.


    As the machine dove, beginning to roll toward the ground, and clearly intending to scrape her off, she reached down, ripping the tool out of its back. Then she reached inside, pulling out a long cylinder.


    The machine fell, and as close as I was, I wasn¡¯t going to make it.


    She pulled out a grapple gun from its holster, and shot the Rocket suit in the chest.


    It stuck.

 Chancy Connections: Part 15

    Haley swung forward, and at first it looked as if she might hit the ground, but she retracted the line, giving her more space. Then more quickly than I could see, she set the line to detach, retracted the line entirely, holstered the gun, and hit the ground in a series of flips.


    At any rate, she had to have done that. I missed it because once the line detached, I flipped myself over, using the rocket pack to slow down, and finally hover in place.


    I saw Haley¡¯s last couple flips, and then she came to a stop standing, facing the trees.


    Clearly the years she¡¯d spent in gymnastics hadn¡¯t gone to waste.


    Still feeling a little disoriented from my own aerial acrobatics, I glanced at the HUD. The feeds from the roachbots showed that the remaining two machines had driven through the clouds of my bots, destroying a few.


    The moment they cleared the trees, they were firing.


    Caught mid-hover, it wouldn¡¯t take much to hit me, and they did.


    [Red Alert! 17% of overall protection remaining!]


    Haley gave them more of a challenge, leaping out of the way, seeming to barely dodge beams that would have reduced an arm to cinders.


    Not even bothering to dodge, I fired off the test bulletbot at the closest one, the one firing at Haley, feeling the smallest push as it left the muzzle under my arm. Directing the few remaining exploding bots to attack it as cover, I watched to find out what would happen, and tried to think how I¡¯d handle the last one.


    I had basically no roachbots left, low power for the lasers, and the armor had taken dangerous amounts of damage.


    I didn¡¯t have time to finish my thoughts as roachbots exploded against the first machine¡¯s silver hull, doing no noticeable damage.


    The bulletbot¡¯s feed showed something different though. Weaving in the air, it followed the other roachbots, but as they exploded uselessly, it cut through the hull, aiming itself for the most complex source of electromagnetism¡ªwhich would probably be the machine¡¯s ¡°brain.¡±


    It cut through layers of metal and ceramic, past layers that I suspected were electromagnetic shielding, and then it caught the scent, stopping inside structures that reminded me slightly of a computer, but that I mostly didn¡¯t recognize.


    Then the feed cut off, and I watched the rest through my helmet.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Flame and smoke escaped from the seams and the new holes appeared along with a crack about a quarter of the way down its body.


    It tumbled through the air as it fell, hitting the ground on its nose and landing on its back. Between its silver hull, streamlined shape, fin-like protrusions, and the flames, it made me think of a fish on fire.


    I didn¡¯t have much time to admire my handiwork though. I¡¯d realized that the other machine had stopped moving, and wasn¡¯t firing its lasers either.


    Haley pulled the particle accelerator off her back and fired at it in one fluid motion that I knew I couldn¡¯t hope to imitate.


    Well, she tried to anyway. The rifle gave a burst of bluish-white light, but didn¡¯t hurt anything. It was either out of power or had been damaged in the fight.


    As she did that, I turned my full attention to the machine using the suit¡¯s layered perceptions to view it¡ªparticularly the thermal. The machine was burning up, except it wasn¡¯t. The heat appeared to be localized to one spot two-thirds down.


    I ran through possible reasons in my head, settling on the one that seemed most likely, that the machine¡¯s power source would explosively detonate on demand.


    I began to dive toward Haley, wondering if I¡¯d grab her before it exploded, hoping the device¡¯s explosion wouldn¡¯t extend to the highway where the people who hadn¡¯t run were watching us, some of them recording on their cell phones.


    As I dived, I decided that I should send the remaining few EMPbots an order to attack the machine on the off chance that they might damage whatever mechanism ran the self-destruct.


    I didn¡¯t get the chance.


    A stuttering series of sonic booms distracted me. Then I saw a multi-colored blur descending from the sky, grabbing the machine, and pulling it upward.


    When it exploded, I couldn¡¯t even feel the heat, but the explosion had to be visible for miles. Everything seemed to darken as my helmet prevented the brightness from blinding me, and the sound from deafening me.


    As my vision cleared, Izzy descended from the sky. I hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but she wore a different costume than the blue, exercise clothes I remembered from before. Mostly black, this costume included a wide diagonal line that crossed her chest. The line was made of patterns in red, blue, and yellow, giving the impression of a sash. The same colors accented other spots on her costume.


    I landed next to Haley, noticing that the section of costume covering her left thigh appeared to be melted and cracked, gray turning to black in spots. I couldn¡¯t see anywhere blasts had burned through to her skin.


    ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± she said. ¡°They got close, but never hit me.¡±


    ¡°Looks like you¡¯ll need new pants.¡±


    Frowning, she said, ¡°An entirely new costume. Look.¡±


    She pointed to scoring on her shoulder and back.


    Izzy landed next to us. ¡°That was too close. I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t come sooner, but I had to change.¡±


    Looking up at Izzy, Haley said, ¡°Don¡¯t apologize. You were here just in time.¡±


    Izzy smiled for a moment.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t bring the Mystic.¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°I would have, but he said it would be better to go without him. He was right. I wouldn¡¯t have arrived on time if I¡¯d had to slow down to let go of him before grabbing that thing.¡±


    Then Izzy stopped talking, and looked down at the grass. When she looked up, she said, ¡°This doesn¡¯t have anything to do with anything, but you¡¯ve known the Mystic for years. Has he talked about me at all?¡±

 Chancy Connections: Part 16

    Talk about loaded questions, and not one I could lie about either. Haley could tell when I was lying by smelling my reactions and hearing my heart speed up.


    Izzy, I knew, had a sense of hearing that could substitute for sight, and not just sight¡ªX-Ray vision. I couldn¡¯t lie. I also couldn¡¯t tell the truth. This was Daniel¡¯s relationship. He should talk about it with her.


    As I thought about it, my heart sped up. Haley gave me a sidelong glance, and frowned.


    I said, ¡°He¡¯s talked about you. I can¡¯t say much about it since he told me in confidence, but yes.¡±


    That was pretty much the ideal response. She couldn¡¯t demand I tell her what he¡¯d said. Well, not politely anyhow.


    She exhaled, giving me a look I couldn¡¯t place. ¡°I hope you can say something. We¡¯ve been spending time together since fall. I¡¯ve got the feeling he wants to be more than friends, but it doesn¡¯t seem to be happening.¡±


    ¡°You should talk to him,¡± I said.


    Her shoulders slumped a little. ¡°He has to know already.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sure he does, but it¡¯s complicated. I know he likes you.¡±


    She nodded, but then stopped, finally saying, ¡°But why hasn¡¯t he said anything?¡±


    I opened my mouth, started to reply and stopped, and then did it again, looking her in the face and saying, ¡°I don¡¯t know.


    Not waiting for Izzy to reply, Haley said, ¡°Talk to him. I think it can work.¡±


    Izzy eyes went from Haley to me, and back. ¡°Does everyone know about this?¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°I overheard, but I¡¯m the only one, and I wasn¡¯t trying to listen.¡±


    From the tension in Izzy¡¯s body, it seemed more likely that she was worrying about it, but she said, ¡°I understand how that happens.¡±


    Then she sighed. ¡°Here they come.¡±


    Haley muttered, ¡°Oh, shit.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t been paying attention, but now that the fight was over, people were beginning to overcome their fear of being burned to death by lasers, or crushed by falling alien machinery.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    A few cars had started to move on our side of the highway. Somehow, despite destroying eight alien robots, and not paying any special attention to where they landed, we hadn¡¯t managed to block the highway.


    That was a good thing. It meant people could go about their business, and most of them were. Unfortunately, the ones who weren¡¯t were coming for us.


    That probably makes it sound more ominous than it actually was. At first, we only had to worry about two high school girls with their hands in their pockets, stepping through the field with its knee high, brown grass, and clumps of old snow. Brief clouds appeared in front of their mouths as they talked.


    Then a guy joined them. He wore a black overcoat, and pointed his iPhone at us, talking nonstop with the girls.


    A thirty-something man in jeans and a puffy, green winter coat led a boy and a girl, neither of them older than seven, toward us.


    That wasn¡¯t all of them by any stretch. At least twenty people were outside their cars and standing in the field. Worse, most of them had cameras.


    Izzy pulled away from us. ¡°I need to leave.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll be fine,¡± Haley said. ¡°Go.¡±


    Before I could argue, she¡¯d lifted off, slowly at first, but then so quickly I couldn¡¯t follow her with my eyes.


    Almost at the same time, I realized I could hear sirens in the distance.


    I¡¯d been hoping to ask her to carry one of the alien machines back to HQ, and then leave.


    All I managed to do was say, ¡°Oh,¡± as she disappeared.


    ¡°I wanted her to grab one,¡± I told Haley.


    Haley watched a crowd gather next to the robot she¡¯d ripped apart. ¡°Sorry. I didn¡¯t know. We could tie one to the roof of the van.¡±


    I shook my head, and by extension the Rocket suit¡¯s helmet. ¡°Too big. We¡¯d stand out too much¡ªexcept maybe during deer season.¡±


    Her fangs and claws had been absorbed back into her body. Haley crossed her arms, saying, ¡°I hate hunting.¡±


    Then she looked up at me and asked, ¡°Are you tired? I¡¯m sore.¡±


    ¡°A little. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re only sore.¡± I glanced around at the growing crowd. None of them had quite managed to get up the nerve to walk toward us.


    Haley touched my armor, tracing a long line down my chest that the suit hadn¡¯t had enough material to repair fully. ¡°They never touched me,¡± she said. ¡°How far down did you get?¡±


    ¡°Around seventeen percent.¡±


    Her eyes widened. ¡°Seventeen percent?¡±


    We were both lucky it hadn¡¯t gone longer.


    We started walking toward the van, making it to the doors before someone shouted, ¡°Can I have your autograph?¡±


    I only signed one (on the back of an ATM receipt) before stepping inside.


    I got out of my armor after turning the windows reflective, and drove away after Haley changed.


    The police knocked on the doors in the meantime, but we ignored them. They didn¡¯t block us from leaving.


    As we rolled down the highway, the van repaired itself, filling in the laser scoring on its sides and roof. The Rocket suit did the same in the back. By the time we¡¯d get back to Grand Lake, both would look undamaged, and I¡¯d pull into an alley somewhere, and have the van change color and license plate numbers.


    That wouldn¡¯t happen for more than an hour though. Only ten minutes after the fight, Vaughn called. I put him through on the van¡¯s speakers.


    ¡°Hey guys, I¡¯m too late, right?¡±


    Haley¡¯s face showed a flash of annoyance, and then she laughed.


    ¡°Not a problem,¡± I said. ¡°How much weight do you think you could blow into the air, and carry home? Two tons?¡±


    Vaughn hesitated. ¡°Um¡­ That might be doable. Why?¡±


    I told him.

 Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 1

    League HQ¡ªOn Sunday afternoon, I made some time to investigate the robots that had attacked us. By investigate, I mean take apart.


    We¡¯d brought home two of them¡ªthe least damaged ones. Neither of them looked good, but neither of them had surrendered, so there you go.


    Because they were both about the size of the van, I¡¯d brought them into HQ¡¯s hangar. Because I kept certain tools in the lab, but not in the hangar, I¡¯d had to lug a pile of tools over.


    It took time, and that¡¯s why I had SuperTV playing simultaneously in every room, and that¡¯s why I was watching ¡°Hero Scoop with Baz Wilson.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t that I particularly liked the show. He was more often wrong than right, but when he was right, it could be a disaster. When he¡¯d done a show on Hard Luck, he¡¯d inadvertently revealed the guy¡¯s secret identity. You could argue it was mostly Hard Luck¡¯s own probability powers working against him, but he wasn¡¯t the only hero who¡¯d been outed that way.


    The general opinion among supers was that it was better to watch the show than find out what he¡¯d said about you later.


    With everything we¡¯d done lately, it hadn¡¯t been a surprise to learn that we were on the show this week.


    I stood next to the table, and picked up a power saw. It had a diamond tipped blade, but it wasn¡¯t anything special. I could have used a laser, but experience showed that when I got through the hull, the laser beam would continue burning up whatever happened to be on the other side.


    If the saw didn¡¯t work, I had other options, not least of which would be borrowing Cassie¡¯s sword.


    I brought the saw down, watching sparks and dust fly. Pushing the saw forward, I felt it sink into the robot¡¯s skin. Then I lifted the saw away, and inspected the results.


    The line in the machine¡¯s hull didn¡¯t go all the way through, but the saw could cut it.


    Turning it off, I put the saw back on the table. This was going to work. I might go through more saw blades than I wanted, but that was okay. It was better than possibly cutting off my leg with Cassie¡¯s sword.


    On the screen near me, the studio audience cheered. Baz Wilson sat in his chair, and held up his hands, lowering them to silence the crowd. He gave the camera a wide smile, evidently enjoying himself.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Blond, tanned, and good looking, he differed from the average talk show host in that he was heavier than most. He¡¯d began covering supers on his YouTube channel, so the weight fit the geek stereotype. The show¡¯s original episodes had been filmed in his dorm room just three or four years ago.


    ¡°We¡¯re back from the station break, and now we¡¯re looking at the new Heroes League. You knew they were going to be big, didn¡¯t you? Entered with a bang, defeating the Grey Giant, taking down their mayor while revealing a huge conspiracy? And what do you know? Just a few weeks ago came St. Louis.¡±


    He looked directly into the camera. ¡°Do you know what came after St. Louis? Something you probably don¡¯t know about. You heard about the fight yesterday, and we¡¯ll get to that, but I¡¯m thinking about the other thing. The toy manufacturer that licenses the League¡¯s images are going to start releasing toys based on the current League.


    ¡°Now that¡¯s not a big deal. Every big team does toys, right? But here¡¯s the interesting thing¡ªthe League¡¯s only been making the old League available¡ªno likenesses of the current crop of kids.


    ¡°You know what that means? They just got serious. You want to be a big name hero team? You need money, and now they¡¯re making deals. That might cause some tension. You¡¯ve got the big name Defenders looking worse than a bunch of kids already. What was St. Louis but a gigantic black eye for Defenders units everywhere?¡±


    He went on for a while after that about how we might not get the cooperation we¡¯d like in the future.


    Obviously he didn¡¯t know who our board was. It seemed like half of them were, or had been in the Defenders.


    I stopped paying attention and went back to cutting up the hull. It took less time than I expected to create a big square on one side that was large enough for me to lean inside.


    Whoever put them together hadn¡¯t wasted any space at all¡ªso much so that ¡°leaning in¡± wasn¡¯t quite right. The machine¡¯s insides were solid, different materials slotted into each other, more like a jigsaw puzzle than any device I¡¯d ever seen.


    So far as I could tell, there were no moving parts.


    I went to the computer, and opened the file the Xiniti had given me of the design for the machine race unit that had tried to hitch a ride on the jet. The League jet had translated the files into something I could read.


    In the background, Baz talked about what we¡¯d done yesterday.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got no idea who this chick is.¡± He pointed at a picture of Izzy. Someone had been shooting video as she flew down, grabbed the machine, and pulled it higher into the sky.


    The picture showed her flying downward with the machine self-destructing behind her.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°No idea, but she¡¯s awesome. Whatever they¡¯re doing with personnel, they¡¯re going for heavy hitters.¡±


    I ignored him. Unless everybody out there used the same style of construction, the machine race unit that had attached itself to the League jet had been constructed the same way as the machines I had in the hangar.


    That sucked. Why? Because I had no idea how to find those guys, and thus no way to find out why they¡¯d tried to kill me.


    I shook my head. No. Wait. The machines were computers. All I¡¯d have to do is find a way to access their memory. Even if it didn¡¯t tell me the answer, I might learn how to find them.

 Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 2

    I hadn''t had Vaughn carry the robots all the way to League HQ. A tornado isn''t exactly subtle. More to the point, it''s not exactly a mode of transportation that can carry a couple robots to HQ without giving anyone a hint that we''re there.


    That''s why I told Vaughn to drop the two robots in an open field off the side of the highway. I don''t know if anyone owned it. Brown grass lay on the ground, a thin layer of snow covering it.


    Whatever the case, I''d flown off in the Rocket suit, and brought each of them into the jet''s cargo bay. I also had the Jet give them a quick scan to see if they were really dead.


    They were--or alternately they were good enough at faking it that the jet couldn''t tell.


    I typed a question into a message program I used to communicate with the jet. "Can you read their files?"


    [I hesitate to directly connect with them in case they''ve been booby-trapped, but you will find a kit that your grandfather used for accessing the same information on the shelf behind you.]


    I turned toward the shelf. It was one among many--a grey metal structure with several shelves held tools and equipment for the jet, much of it completely unrecognizable.


    After a few minutes of discussion, I figured out which item the jet meant.


    When I got it out of the bag, I found a gleaming, blue metal object shaped roughly like a cube, but composed of a tube that been twisted into that shape. A black and white 80''s laptop screen had been attached to it. I wasn''t sure how at first, but then i realized it had been done with glue.


    I looked for wires connecting the screen to the device and couldn''t find anything.


    I couldn''t find a keyboard either.


    After some looking, I did find an on/off switch, but only on the screen. Hopefully it applied to the device it was attached to too.


    I flipped the switch, and the metal warmed in my hands, molding to them. At the same time, I felt a mental connection. Crap. Another alien AI?


    After a few seconds worth of connection, I doubted it. If it were an AI it was very stupid or very limited.


    Deciding that no matter how weird this was, I might as well try it, I carried it closer to the nearest robot. Words began to appear on the screen.


    Identified: Light Ground Attack Unit


    Clan: Spinward Searchers for Knowledge Valued


    Surely that wasn''t the best possible translation. I felt no response from the machine. Maybe it was.


    If so, I never wanted to meet a "Heavy Ground Attack Unit." The light ones had come close enough to killing us already.


    More words appeared on the screen in black and white, blocky letters.


    Stolen story; please report.


    Options:


    1. Repair damaged sections.


    2. Wipe robot''s AI.


    3. Wipe robot''s AI and replace with default.


    4. Replace robot AI with friendly AI (tricky)


    5. Scan AI memory (damaged only).


    6. Search AI memory(damaged only).


    7. More


    Looking over it, I was pretty sure Grandpa had written that menu, and that whatever the device originally did, he''d modified it. He might not even have understood it, but had managed to find some functions he''d needed and figured out a way to make the machine perform them on demand.


    I''d never seen a manual for this device, and even after poking around, I couldn''t find a help menu.


    It all spoke of a hack job that he''d made in the middle of things and never expected to need again.


    I considered whether I should try anything given how little I knew about the possible consequences.


    Then I chose number 5, or tried to. I considered tapping the screen, but decided it wouldn''t work. I followed that up by trying the obvious--thinking the number five.


    [Scan Starting]


    0%... 10%... 20%... 50%... 70%... 90%... 100%...


    [Results]


    AI related programming and memory has been damaged irreparably. It appears to have been self-inflicted.


    I stared at the screen. So I was fighting the robotic equivalent of suicide bombers? They nuked their own possibly salvageable personalities to keep this secret? I supposed that death might be a little different for the machine races. They could hypothetically put a subset of their own consciousness into a device, give it a mission, and it wouldn''t be like sending someone off on a suicide mission.


    The original would still be alive after all, so it''s not really death. It was more like how Jenny created copies of herself.


    It didn''t mean it wasn''t annoying though. Seriously, this had been a really good lead too.


    After a few minutes of frustrated mental rambling, the obvious thought occurred to me--try the other one.


    In an ideal world, that would have led to me blowing the whole thing open right there. In my actual world, I found myself staring at the same result a second time.


    Now what was I going to do?


    I put down my grandfather''s weird, hybrid device, and left it on the shelf, staring at the floor.


    Finding no answers in the concrete, I turned toward the TV. The credits were rolling on Baz'' show. They rolled against a background of the FBI stopping at the spot where we''d fought, and taking away the remaining robots.


    Maybe that was good news. Isaac Lim might allow me to look them over, but probably only if I agreed to share everything with the Feds.


    From what I''d seen of them, that wasn''t a terrible possibility, but it still didn''t make me happy.


    I decided to focus on what I knew. I knew we''d been attacked by members of a machine race clan. That meant that they were involved somehow. It might even mean that they were somehow behind it all.


    I wasn''t sure about their motive though. I could imagine why they might want to kill Haley and I as revenge, but what motivation did they have to kill off everybody. I supposed that if they needed natural resources, we had them, but so did unpopulated asteroids and planets in all likelihood.


    There wasn''t any reason to go to a big populated planet, and try to kill everybody. No, the reason that someone had bothered to try that had to be political or personal--which I''d already guessed.


    I shut the TV off---well, I was about to.


    Then the news came on, the SuperTV news that is.


    The announcer appeared to be in his twenties, and wore a suit like every other network news reporter ever, but his eyes were wide, and his voice seemed louder than necessary.


    "Breaking news! A bunch of flying robots just like ones we saw on Baz Wilson''s show appeared in the Ukraine, and after a short but decisive battle, they killed several aliens that appeared to live in some kind of small colony."


    The picture on the screen showed a grassy field. In the middle of it stood several buildings that reminded me most of barns. They were burning, and aliens that I didn''t even recognize stood outside in powered armor and carrying guns.


    A few appeared to be catlike--pointed ears, long tails and fur. Others were reptilian.


    More disturbing were the aliens that I did recognize.


    In the middle of the shot were a pile of dead Hrnnna, all of them burned with what looked like lasers.


    Maybe I''d been looking at this the wrong way? Maybe I shouldn''t have been asking who wanted to destroy humanity. Maybe I needed to ask who wanted to kill the Hrnnna?

 Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 3

    Was there any reason I could think of that the Spinward Searchers for Knowledge Valued clan might have a grudge against the Hrnnna?


    No.


    Whatever was going on here probably had its roots in alien politics, and I didn¡¯t know anything about alien politics beyond the fact that pretty much everyone hated humans. Did I know anyone who might know more? Lee, probably, but he wasn¡¯t always available when I needed him.


    Plus, I had two alien AI¡¯s here in HQ with me. Cassie¡¯s gun wouldn¡¯t be much help. From what she¡¯s said, the Nine had found it as part of some sort of archeological dig. It might have been out of the action for thousands of years. The jet¡¯s AI, however, might not be up on the latest events in space, but it probably knew the basics.


    I made the window with SuperTV smaller on the monitor, and increased the size of the messaging program.


    Sitting on a stool in front of the computer, I decided to get comfortable, as comfortable as I could get in the middle of a room that smelled of motor oil and half a dozen otherworldly substances I used to maintain the jet.


    I typed, ¡°What can you tell me about the Hrnnna?¡±


    Words appeared.


    [The Hrnnna are a well known tragedy of the last period where the Abominators ruled. The Abominators¡¯ soldiers, all modified humans, hunted down practically every Hrnnna on their home planet. The incident transformed the remaining Hrnnna from a relatively apolitical species to one of the greatest supporters of the Abominator extinction faction.]


    I thought about that for a moment, and then typed. ¡°OK, all the Abominators are dead now. What¡¯s left for them to do?¡±


    The answer appeared in a blur of text. [The Hrnnna became one of the species funding the Xinitis¡¯ search for Abominator remnants in our galaxy as well as other galaxies.]


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    ¡°Wait, what are they, rich?¡±


    [Immensely. Though they¡¯re best suited for dwelling on plains, the Hrnnna have been highly involved in mining operations since relatively soon after entering space. They¡¯ve been providing materials for their own extensive exploratory missions, but along the way they became well known for creating great spacecraft. Many species buy Hrnnna ships, and Hrnnna traders appear all over the galaxy, appearing soon after the Hrnnna explorers open a planet. Barely a tenth of the Hrnnna died when their home world was attacked.]


    That put another light on the whole thing. From what the Hrnnna we¡¯d met said, I would have expected the Hrnnna to be the last remnant of their race. Could someone be after their money? I didn¡¯t see how destroying life on Earth got them anything but the Hrnnna¡¯s hatred though.


    Maybe a little bit more specifics might help though. We had asked some locals in the Ukraine to check out the aliens near Kiev. It turned out that Larry had had connections, former Soviet heroes who had fought the Abominators back in the 70¡¯s.


    I opened up the email the League had received by a hero whose name had been translated as Citizen Fire. It probably wasn¡¯t the best translation, but whatever.


    Rereading it brought me back to a passage that I¡¯d found interesting when I¡¯d first read it, but hadn¡¯t made quite as much sense a couple days ago.


    ¡°The aliens near Kiev claim to be part of a group called ¡®The Collective,¡¯ a name that would have been of great propaganda value back in the old days. We would have been pointing to it and saying, ¡®See, communism is written in the stars.¡¯ Unfortunately, it has little or nothing to do with that. It appears to be some sort of political faction, or possibly a philosophical cult. I talked with a Hrnnna that claimed, ¡®My parents would be enraged if they knew I was here, but they fail to understand what we¡¯ve learned. Your kind aren¡¯t the fanatical warriors we learned about in the vids. You also demonstrate compassion to each other, and create great artistic works.¡¯ The Hrnnna wasn¡¯t the only one to say such things. I heard the same from members of other alien races as The Collective appears to be an organization composed of many species.¡±


    I emailed Citizen Fire for more details. Had only the Hrnnna there died or had everybody in The Collective been attacked?


    Then I sat up on the stool, and looked over my conversation with the jet¡¯s AI. ¡°Hey,¡± I wrote. ¡°It looks as though the Hrnnna in Kansas didn¡¯t trust us much while the Hrnnna in Kiev were big fans or something. At any rate, they seemed to like us as a species. Any idea what that means?¡±


    [That¡¯s what The Collective is all about. They¡¯re a political faction that believes that Earth and the various human offshoots should be brought into our society. You¡¯re aware that Earth has not been allowed to use the jump gate system? They¡¯re for allowing interstellar travel whereas the average Hrnnna believes the jump gates should be closed to you till the end of time.]

 Alien Robot Autopsy: Part 4

    I rolled that around in my mind for a moment. "Let me get this straight. The Hrnnna we talked to earlier were pretty clearly freaked out by how Haley looked or smelled or something-"


    [Unsurprising. Her transformed self is nearly identical to the troops the Abominators used for hand to hand combat.]


    We''d suspected based on the Hrnnna''s reaction to her, but I felt my jaw drop at the jet''s confirmation.


    Since hearing the story of how she broke up with Sean, I''d suspected that the biggest part of her unhappiness about her change came from the fear surrounding the police investigation that followed the breakup. That and the fact that she didn''t feel like she could control her transformation.


    Confirmation that she was so close to one of the Abominators'' slave races wouldn''t help.


    Deciding to follow up on that later, I went back to my earlier thought. "Okay," I typed. "My point wasn''t about Haley. My point was that the Hrnnna I met seemed like traditionalists while the Hrnnna with The Collective sounded like the space alien equivalent of the political left--"


    [I''d caution against mapping your national politics onto the politics of the Reclamation Alliance.]


    I stared at the screen. Getting interrupted was getting really annoying. It didn''t mean that he was wrong, but still...


    "Anyway," I wrote. "Here''s my question. Who''s winning? The Collective or the Hrnnna traditionalists?"


    The Jet''s reply appeared. [Most Hrnnna and most of the Reclamation Alliance remain suspicious of humanity, modified or not. According to news reports I accessed while on the Xiniti space station, however, a member of the Hrnnna Council of Elders sounded sympathetic to Earth''s situation last year. A few members of the Alliance government agreed with him.]


    That was it. I had a motive I could believe the Hrnnna might kill over. Not all of the details fit, but the overall picture did. The Hrnnna we''d met hadn''t come to Earth to immigrate. They were the ones who''d provided True Humanity with the designs that nearly annihilated St. Louis. They''d killed their own people because we had Citizen Fire checking them out, and they were afraid that the other Hrnnna would cast suspicion on them, or guess what they were up to.


    I still didn''t know how the machine races fit in, but maybe they were acting as mercenaries. Besides, the idea that a species that did a lot of mining and exploring might have a relationship with one or more machine races made a lot of sense.


    Alright, I had an idea. Now I had to prove it. I''d taken step one and asked Citizen Fire who exactly had died. If it turned out to be all the Hrnnna in The Collective and only a few others, it fit.


    Unfortunately, Citizen Fire hadn''t called back yet.


    I took a breath, considering what else I might check. Then I thought of another possibility. If the Hrnnna I''d spoken to earlier were responsible, they wouldn''t stay where I''d talked to them, they''d run for it. I''d taken GPS coordinates when I''d spoken to them. I could check on that.


    I typed a command to the Jet. "Get ready for take off."


    Then I ran for my lab, leaving the tools, the dead robots, and my computer. I could deal with all that later.


    In the lab, I stepped onto the Rocket suit''s block of ceramic, and let the suit form around me. As the powered systems turned on, and the HUD glowed inside the helmet, I realized I probably ought to let people know I was going. Ideally, I''d take someone along. Lee generally advised using the buddy system for hostile situations, and if I somehow caught the Hrnnna while they were leaving, they''d likely be extremely hostile.


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    I decided to go alone anyway. It would be so much faster to go on my own. I didn''t want to call around to find someone. Besides, the League Jet''s AI was sentient. It ought to count as a buddy.


    We went through the pre-flight checklist quickly, floated the jet into the airlock, and out into Lake Michigan. Completely surrounded by dark water, I used the sonar to guide me out into the lake, breaking through to the air far enough from the shore that it shouldn''t be visible.


    Even though we were within the atmosphere, I turned on the shields, knowing that a thin layer would confuse radar. Then I took the jet to 30,000 feet, and opened up, hitting several times the speed of sound. Relying on the jet to warn me of collisions, I concentrated on the route, aiming for the coordinates I''d saved.


    I hadn''t ever flown this quickly within Earth''s atmosphere without heading into space. The nearest clouds passed below me before I could notice them. The landscape turned from lake to city to green plains within seconds.


    On the screen, the AI informed me that:


    [People are noticing the flight. The shields are confusing radar, but people can see us.]


    Too true. The shields would absorb light, but people might see a jet shaped dark spot in the sky.


    I checked our radar. No one was near us in the air. "Are they sending out fighters? Or heroes?"


    [I don''t believe they have anything that can catch us, but that won''t stop them from sending people when we touch down.]


    That wasn''t all bad. If we had to land, we might need the help. I thought about calling and explaining what I was doing, but I was already there before I''d decided who to call.


    I began the descent, not bothering to slow down the normal way. I used the inertial dampers, staying at high speed as long as I could, and then feeling the hum as the dampers reduced us to a speed slightly below the speed of sound.


    The landscape changed from a blur to a blur I almost recognized. I made a quick loop around the spot where we''d met the Hrnnna, telling the AI to search for life signs.


    There weren''t any that weren''t human.


    I made another loop, asking, "Do you see signs of alien technology?"


    [None.]


    I took the jet higher, and accelerated, making a wide loop over the Gulf of Mexico that probably violated the sovereign airspace of both Mexico and Cuba. Hopefully no one would notice.


    I continued north, aiming for Chicago, specifically for the offices of "Chancy Connections." We hovered over the city as the jet scanned the offices for life.


    They were empty.


    I took the jet up again, flying across Lake Michigan until we were near Grand Lake. Twenty miles away, I slowed the jet to nothing with the inertial dampers and submerged it with practically the same motion.


    Alone, surrounded by dark water, I thought about what I''d just learned. It wasn''t definitive. The Hrnnna and Chancy might be hiding because Hrnnna had been killed in Kiev. That would be as reasonable as believing the Hrnnna were behind it all. It did point toward the possibility though.


    We weren''t so deep that we couldn''t receive communications though, and they started to come in.


    The first ones were from Defenders units. Had it really been the League Jet that they''d seen in the air over Kansas/Missouri/Texas/Illinois/Mexico/Cuba? Wasn''t that incredibly irresponsible? Did I realize I could start an international incident? No, no one had complained, but if I kept this up, they would.


    I let those calls go to voice mail, missing a call from Citizen Fire. He had a strong accent--possibly Russian. "I am sorry. I write English better than I speak English. You asked who the robots kill? They killed all the Hrnnna but one, and now he is gone. No one finds him."


    I listened to the message, watching the instrument panel''s glow. That was not good news. It supported my theory, but I wondered where the survivor had gone--into hiding presumably.


    Another message blinked in the queue. I stared at it. This one had come through at the frequency used to contact the Xiniti space station next to the jump gate.


    With some hesitation, I clicked on it.


    A picture of one of the Xiniti appeared on the screen, all grey skin, big head, and solid black eyes. "Heroes League, this message is to inform you that the spaceships you designate the Jay and Kay have been recalled for their annual refitting. We are told to inform Earth''s authorities that this will be accomplished swiftly. We are also told to inform Earth''s authorities that all Xiniti personnel will be leaving the space station shortly for a previously unscheduled inspection. We are told that we will be able to return to our post shortly."


    It paused significantly before delivering the final sentence in the communication.


    "Earth will be responsible for its own security during this period."


    Then the screen turned black. I continued to stare at it. You''d have to have an enormous amount of influence to pull the ships the Xiniti loaned us away as well as leaving the space station unmanned.


    I decided to call Isaac Lim.

 Stardock: Part 1

    My grandfather told me once that war was long periods of boredom broken up by moments of terror. From the stories that the original League told about World War 2 and their experiences afterward, it sounded right.


    Knowing that, it''s not so much of a surprise to learn that after the Hrnnna''s disappearance, the Xiniti''s trip through the gate they normally guarded, the annual inspection of the Jay and Kay, and my own frantic call to Agent Lim saying that I had Figured It All Out nothing happened at all.


    I went through the week wondering if we''d be invaded, or worse, bombed from space.


    Neither occured, and we ended the week with a normal Stapledon weekend.


    Well, normal for the fairly loose definition of normal I''d been living under during the last few years--the kind of normal that puts you in a position to fight evil alien space horses.


    This week''s Stapledon weekend fell into exactly that definition of normal.


    What kind of normal was that exactly? Well, we were near New York City, home of the Yankees, the Metropolitan Opera, many of the world''s great museums, Broadway, clubs where cutting edge bands played, and we weren''t looking at any of it. As per standard operating procedure, Stapledon had flown us in on a cargo plane that secretly carried passengers, and put us up in an old factory they''d converted into apartments


    Friday evening found us walking into a truly massive old factory. It was surrounded by our dormitory and six other old buildings, tall chain link fences topped with barbed wire, cameras, and signs that said, "Property of the U.S. government. Trespassers will be prosecuted."


    None of the buildings appeared to be much more than old, brick factories, and unused ones at that. I''d never have looked twice at them before now. The street lamps shone bright, illuminating the empty yards around the buildings. As a group, the entire Stapledon program walked toward the middle building, all of us following Isaac Lim. Walking through the big double doors and into a big room that could have easily fit the first floor of my parents'' house.


    Old rusted machinery sat next to worn wooden tables on a floor made old boards that groaned under our feet. It looked as though the room hadn''t been used since the 1930''s.


    On the far end of the room two rusty, iron doors stood, chained together. The chain gleamed grey as did the padlock.


    Agent Lim stopped in front of the doors, waiting while we all gathered, the floor creaking under our boots. I stood next to Daniel, both of us in winter coats even though it was warming up--relatively speaking. For March, forty degrees wasn''t bad.


    Izzy stood next to Cassie and Jaclyn. From the lack of interaction, I''d begun to guess that whatever talk Daniel and Izzy had after we''d fought the robots hadn''t gone well.


    Not now, Daniel thought at me.


    I might have followed up on it, but Isaac Lim started talking. He raised his hands for silence, and then lowered them as we became quiet. In his suit and tan overcoat, he looked every inch the stereotypical FBI agent.


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    "Everyone, thank you for your attention." He stopped and gave a quick grin. "We''d always intended that this be part of your education at Stapledon, but in light of recent events, it''s become even more important.


    "All of you know about NASA''s attempts to build a jumpgate safe spaceship out of purely human technology that satisfies the Reclamation Alliance''s standards for new members. You''re probably aware that we''ve failed every single inspection so far. All of those spaceships were constructed in Florida at Cape Kennedy. I''ve nothing against NASA, but you and I both know that those ships won''t be worth much in a fight."


    I shared his evaluation. I''d seen pictures of the ships sent to inspection the last few years. They looked like the standard NASA spaceship--all white except for the identification, and the U.S. flag. No weapons. No armor. Bearing in mind our history, that wasn''t something that would help us pass inspection.


    Isaac waited, giving us a moment of silence before moving on.


    "You''ve likely seen the news or watched SuperTV and know that we have better spaceships than that, ships we can''t pass off as our own work--the Heroes League''s jet, for example."


    People nearby glanced in our direction.


    I thought I heard Sean''s voice then. I didn''t catch his exact words, but he sounded annoyed.


    Isaac put his hands in his overcoat''s pockets. I''d already done the same. It wasn''t a warm room.


    "We need to make those spaceships somewhere, and as some of you have already guessed, this is it." He pulled his right hand out of his pocket and gestured toward a long section of wall.


    It sunk into the floor, disappearing except for a few metal beams.The section hadn''t just been long, but more than two stories tall. The effect was electrifying.


    We''d been standing in dim light, but it was like day on the other side of the wall. Light flooded the room as the sound of people talking and even shouting carried over. Forklifts hauled pallets of material--boxes, sheets of metal, barrels of liquid.


    Skeletons of partially completed spaceships were scattered around the room--several of the Defenders podjets, and a podcarrier.


    I wondered what sort of equipment they had, and how much they knew about the machine races.


    Isaac stepped toward the opening and waved everyone to follow. "Everyone follow me, stay close, and no matter how interesting it looks, don''t touch anything."


    He caught my eye as he finished the last part. Then he led us inside.


    It was everything I might have guessed. More than anything else, I was surprised how much I recognized. I smelled a few chemicals that I''d had to follow Grandpa''s directions to recreate. I wondered where they got them, and if, somewhere out there, there were factories devoted to making the stuff.


    Isaac led us to the middle of the room which seemed strangely empty until we arrived, and noticed the railing. The railing went around a rectangular hole half as wide and almost as long as the building. Three metal bridges crossed it, but I noticed how accessible the bolts connecting the individual sections were. They''d been designed for easy assembly/disassembly.


    The moment I reached the edge, I understood why. I also understood why they were only assembling small spaceships here. Three more levels, each at least as large as this one, lay beneath the surface. On the lowest level, a partially built spaceship filled much of the space. I looked to my left. The door on that end of the building was large enough that the ship could fly out. I wondered if any already had.


    Wow.


    "Amazing, isn''t it?" Isaac asked.


    A few people cheered.


    His gave a satisfied smile. "Right here we''ve got the potential to protect our world. Recent events have shown we can''t count on anyone else. Now, some of you might be wondering why we''d put a high profile target like this in the middle of one of our most populated cities, and why I''m showing it to you now.


    "Well, the first decision was above my pay grade so no matter what I might think of it, there''s no use complaining. The second question is more interesting. In a war, we''ll need to protect this spot, and so we''ve brought you here to run some drills."

 Stardock: Part 2

    Isaac led us through the facility, explaining generally what was going on on each floor. I would have asked a lot of questions except I knew better. He didn''t know anything worth knowing about how anything worked. Sure, he could tell us what the major activities on each floor were, but I could guess that.


    What I wanted to know was what techniques they were using and if they''d made any advances over the Alliance''s standard ships.


    I didn''t need Isaac to figure that one out either. All I had to do was to observe. The spaceships around me in various stages of construction weren''t quite designed to human specifications. Take the big spaceship at the bottom of the hole. When we walked through it, it was obvious to me that whatever race it had been designed for was on average about seven feet tall. Bearing in mind variation, they''d designed the size to allow people (beings?) as large as eight feet tall.


    The changes we''d made to the ships were minimal--all the signs were in English. The seats were human sized.


    Even the door controls hadn''t been changed, leaving them a little too high for most people to be comfortable. It was all I could do to not interrupt them and explain what they were doing wrong. I knew why they''d done it. They''d used alien tech to construct the ship and they didn''t know how to change the controls'' placement and have anything still work. Grandpa had encountered the same problem when he''d turned the Heroes League jet into a spaceship.


    The reasons were complicated, but mostly had to do with security issues.


    The problem was that that was the tip of the iceberg. If I solved that one thing, they''d probably assume I knew enough to fix all the problems--which I didn''t. Even fixing what I did know would probably take months.


    What they needed to do was design completely original ships based on the alien tech that I did understand. They might not be as advanced in all areas, but humans would fit. At the very least, the ships would contain a bare minimum of technology that humans barely understood.


    That wasn''t to say that going through the facility wasn''t amazing. It was. The lower levels were several times wider than the old factory on the surface. There were five of the big ships in various stages of construction as well as nearly one hundred podjets.


    The podjets had obviously been designed by a completely different group--one closer to human sized, but maybe a little smaller.


    I wondered where they''d gotten the designs. What I''d seen so far hinted that the designers might have been the Abominators'' human servants. The sizes were off, but I''d seen no signs of alien shapes.


    I only started paying attention to the tour again when it was over. Everyone else crowded around the elevators, and I was maybe forty feet behind everyone else.


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    One of the upper level students left the group and walked back toward me. I recognized her, but not instantly. Her name was Samita. Black haired with brown skin, she wore a blue hoodie underneath her grey, knee length coat--except she had the hood up over her head. With her grey coat being on the formal end of the spectrum, it looked a little goofy.


    I wondered what exactly she was trying to accomplish by that. I''d heard she was some kind of wizard, so maybe she was trying to look mysterious or something?


    Of course, given that she went to school in North Carolina, she could simply be cold.


    She frowned at me. "Hurry up, Nick. The elevators are here."


    "OK," I said, and followed after her as she hurried away. For a moment, I considered asking her about the hoodie thing, but decided not to meddle in the affairs of wizards.


    The elevators were huge, and there were three of them. We managed to pack more than one hundred students into one elevator trip. I found myself standing next to Isaac Lim.


    He smiled at me. "So what did you think?"


    I had a bad feeling that he expected me to be complimentary, but it didn''t make it to my mouth. I said, "Their approach is all wrong. I''m thinking that they got the plans somewhere, but they''re following them verbatim. What you need to do is have someone redesign your ships so that normal people can be comfortable."


    Lim nodded. "Yeah, we should, but they''ve got this problem where if they change the location of anything, it stops working--"


    "Fixable," I said. "Maybe not by tomorrow, but it''s not that hard either. It''s just that if you really wanted to change everything that needs changing to make your current design livable, it could take months."


    Lim groaned. "We''ll talk about it later."


    When we got up to the surface, Lim stopped next to the pit again and stood next to the rails. "Tonight''s assignment is to go over our plans for Stardock''s defense, and be ready to put them into practice tomorrow morning."


    Then he paused. "We''d also like your critique. If you do see anything wrong, we''d like to know before we have to use it."


    And that was it. Everyone tromped back to the dorm.


    Daniel and I went back to our dorm room. I still hadn''t gotten around to asking him about Izzy. I''d begun thinking about my version of a battleship as I walked away from Lim. Even by the time I''d gotten back to my room, it was still in the front of my mind.


    Maybe I would have said something as a break from reading the defense plans, but we had a knock on the door before I even thought about taking a break. We were sitting on our beds. Even if it was converted from a factory, it felt comfortable. The wooden floors gleamed, and the rugs insured we didn''t have to put our feet directly on the floor too often.


    The door unlocked itself and swung open. Daniel said, "Come in."


    Cassie and Vaughn stood on the other side. Cassie had been messing around with her ponytail as the door opened, but she let go of her hair and stepped in.


    "Hey," she said. She held a tablet in her left hand. The defense plan was clearly visible on the screen. "I thought we could all go through it together. I figure we''ll see more with more eyes on it. Plus, it''ll be a lot more fun this way."


    Vaughn stepped in behind her, and leaned against the wall next to the door. "I don''t know if you guys tried reading it yet, but I was falling asleep. You''d think a plan for fighting aliens would be a whole lot more interesting."


    "I guess," I said. "It kind of reminds me of a computer program. We''ve got the main plan, and then we''ve got a lot of smaller plans that we''re supposed to run if it doesn''t quite work out. It''s pretty detailed too. Whoever wrote it thought through a lot of possibilities."


    Vaughn shrugged. "There''s a reason I''m not majoring in comp sci. Anyway, you mind if I sit down?"


    I noticed that our door was still open. "No problem, but do you want to get that door?"


    Daniel shook his head, "Don''t. There are two more people coming."


    At that moment Izzy stepped into the doorway.

 Stardock: Part 3

    Jaclyn followed Izzy in through the door. Izzy said, "Hi" as she moved out of Jaclyn''s way, and met people''s eyes as she did it--including Daniel''s. I didn''t hear any anger in her voice either. She did talk quietly, but she always did that when we were together as a group. My theory was that she still didn''t quite feel comfortable with everyone.


    All the same, the fact that she was here at all hinted that whatever they''d talked about last wasn''t irreparable.


    She''s not just nervous about being with the group, Daniel thought at me. It''s more complicated than that.


    He glanced over at her. What''s going on with us is complicated too, but I don''t want to go into that right now.


    Jaclyn lifted up her print out of the plan, a small sheaf of paper. "We''re here to talk about this, right? What did you think of it?"


    She caught my eye, "What do you think of it?"


    "I haven''t gotten though all of it," I said, "but it doesn''t seem bad for what it is. From what I''ve seen, it looks like they just assume that by the time they get here, it''s too late to take them down from a distance. That''s what I''d want to do--take them out far from here so that they blow up over the water. They''re going to be blowing up over factories and maybe even houses over here. Plus, I''m not so sure that there''d even be much of a reason for a battle. If they really don''t care about killing everyone--civilians or whatever--there''s no reason that they shouldn''t just skip fighting altogether. All they need to do is drop a dinosaur killer on us."


    Cassie folded her arms across her chest. "A what?"


    "You know. A big asteroid like the one--"


    Cassie waved her hand as if to stop me. "Got it. Got it--like the one that killed the dinosaurs. God, that sucks. You don''t think they''d give us a fighting chance?"


    I shrugged. "I don''t know what they want the planet for, but it seems like humans are optional."


    She grimaced. "I get it. It''s just frustrating that they''d do something that doesn''t even give us the chance to stop them. By the time something like that hits, it''ll be too late."


    "It wouldn''t be the first time," Daniel sat down on his bed. "There have been a few asteroid attacks. The public never found out about them though. Guardian opened up a hole to somewhere else and dropped the asteroid into it at least a couple times. I think they got rid of the other one another way. I don''t remember exactly how."


    Vaughn nudged me. "Does your roommate know about that? Conspiracy dude?"


    I shook my head. "He hasn''t said anything about it."


    "Getting back on topic," Jaclyn got that in before anyone else could reply. "Did anyone else get to the part where they blow up the entire shipyard?"


    "No," I said, and a few other people chimed in.


    Nodding, Jaclyn said. "Well, you know they''re not supposed to have any of this stuff. We''re only supposed to have ships based on our own technology. I''m guessing that if they''re too close to losing, they blow the whole place to bits."


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    "What about the people defending it?" I asked.


    Jaclyn gave another wave with the handful of plans. "I want to believe there''s an evacuation alarm, but what really bugs me is how big a bomb they''d need to hide all the evidence."


    I thought about that. "Yeah. They might be able to get away with some smaller bombs if they just want to bring the place down, but if they want to make the evidence unrecognizable, that would be another thing."


    Izzy''s voice carried across the room, quiet, but clearly audible. "Do you think they''d risk killing people who live and work here just to hide this shipyard?"


    "Sure," Cassie said, "if it''s a choice between hiding the evidence here and risking the Xiniti destroying all life on the planet."


    Izzy shook her head, "That''s sick."


    Daniel nodded. "My dad and I have talked about it. It''s great that the Xiniti like the League, and will do their best to avoid hurting Earth, but this whole thing where they''re the gatekeeper between us and the stars is corrupting by it''s nature. We''ve got a perfect illustration here. We''re not supposed to have alien technology, but we have it anyway because we know our own technology isn''t good enough to defend us. The Xiniti look the other way because they know that other powers have the ability to prevent them from protecting us. We then go get alien tech that could cause the Reclamation Alliance to order our destruction. Why? Because so many members of the Alliance want us to be destroyed by outside forces. Meanwhile, we''re willing to risk killing some of our people to keep most of the planet alive."


    "No denying that''s fucked up," Vaughn said, "but what are we supposed to do about it?"


    Izzy stared ahead, took a breath, and said, "We can''t do much of anything. If we tell everyone how close we are to being destroyed every single day, we''ll have worldwide panic."


    Daniel looked over to Izzy. "Exactly. My dad thinks everyone would get used to it, but he''s not wild about what might happen before then."


    "Hey everybody," Jaclyn pointed to her wrist, tapping an imaginary watch. "Let''s talk through the whole plan once. Then we can all go to bed."


    A few hours later, we''d managed to do just that. I even felt like I had the major paths in my head.


    When we broke for the night, I decided to walk around the dorm. My original plan was to get a hold of Cassie. I''d finished a version of her armor, and I''d brought it along, but then I looked at the time. It was after eleven. She wouldn''t have a problem with staying up to look at it, but I wouldn''t want to stay up for hours to teach her how to use it.


    Instead I grabbed a book and walked down to the lobby. I couldn''t quite describe it as nice. It had obviously been a rush job. They''d thrown some furniture and carpet over the worn boards, and cleared out a space where people could sit outside their rooms.


    Potted plants gave the room some color.


    Only a few people were in the lobby with me--less than ten. With no TV, it didn''t offer much that a room didn''t. A few people used their cellphones, read books, or simply sat in a chair thinking--or possibly sleeping.


    I opened my book and read, disappearing into another world. I don''t know how long I read. I wasn''t conscious of it until I heard the door open--the outside door. Feeling the cold air, I looked up from the book, to see a couple of my least favorite people. Sean Drucker, still as tall as ever with curly blonde hair, walked through the door, holding it open for his friends, Jody and Dayton.


    I say a couple of my least favorite people because Dayton wasn''t so bad.


    As the light hit him, I realized that Sean wore a green and grey jacket with a small fist on the chest. I realized then that he was wearing a jacket based on his costume, colors and all. Sean didn''t have a civilian identity to protect, but it still seemed a bit over the top.


    I decided to ignore them, and pretended I was still reading.


    They stopped just past the door, and stood. Jody, the smaller and definitely meaner of Sean''s friends asked, "We''ve been out there now. I don''t know about you, but I''d say let''s go to bed."


    "Works for me," Dayton said. Not quite as tall as Sean, he was definitely more muscular. He wore a black jacket with a fist on it, and Jody wore a red one.


    They were all wearing light costumes? It seemed like the worst of both worlds--being identified as a cape, but not having the usual amount of protection.


    Sean looked at the both of them. "I bet we''re the only ones here who tried any of the maneuvers in the defense plan. Too bad none of us are in the good positions. I don''t think they''ve got any idea of what I''m capable of. Any time there''s a spaceship involved, I should be on the front lines."

 Stardock: Part 4

    Sean wasn''t all wrong. When it came down to it, he really could be useful fighting anybody using advanced technology. One big electromagnetic pulse could take out computers¡ªassuming they weren''t protected. The robots we fought were pretty resistant to EMP''s, as I remembered it. They weren''t entirely resistant though, and it might be that he could put more energy into a pulse than a roachbot had available.


    For that matter, if the ships were made even partially of metal, he could throw them around, or possibly make them structurally unsound.


    The only reason I wouldn''t put him on the front lines is because they could take him out practically instantly.


    His costume could stop bullets, but not much more than that. Lasers, plasma, or any kind of energy weapon would turn him into a highly charred human burrito, or given that humans were supposedly most similar to pigs'' meat, possibly sausage.


    I kept my eyes on the book, aware that I''d stopped reading five minutes ago, wondering if maybe I should get up.


    I couldn''t say that I was afraid of drawing their attention. Sean had almost been kicked out his first weekend in the Stapledon program when he lost his temper and attacked me. If he did anything to me, he''d be out of the program. Period.


    Still, I didn''t want trouble.


    They''d kept on talking as I thought, and I''d missed all of it, but Jody''s voice cut through everything going on in my head.


    ¡°Sean,¡± he said, lowering his voice, ¡°look over there.¡±


    I barely heard him, but I heard him.


    Then I heard Dayton''s voice at the same volume, ¡°Dammit Jody, let it go. Sean''s on probation. Do you want to get him kicked out?¡±


    Sean sounded tired. ¡°Dayton''s right. Leave him alone. It''s not fucking worth it.¡±


    Jody snorted. ¡°Don''t be pansies. Do you see any cameras here? There''s practically nobody around. It''ll be his word against ours.¡±


    ¡°Uh, wait,¡± Sean began.


    ¡°And they''ll believe him. Remember who his grandfather was? Don''t be an idiot.¡±


    I could hear the frustration in Dayton''s voice.


    In a harsh whisper that was hard not to hear, Jody said, ¡°He deserves to be taken down a peg then, him and all the rest. They all think they''re better than we are.¡±


    Dayton made a sigh that was audible even from where I was sitting. ¡°I haven''t had any problems with them. You come at them with a huge chip on your shoulder, bro. If you talk, you''ll find they''re mostly okay.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Jody said. ¡°So are you on their side? You going to report us?¡±


    Sean didn''t give Dayton time to reply. ¡°Jody, stop. He''s not going to say anything, but you''re going to¡ª¡°


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    The floorboards hummed, and the book flew out of my hands, landing on the floor, and sliding until it hit the leg of one of the chairs. Part of a page remained in my right hand. I stared at it, and then I stood up.


    Turning toward the sound of the voices, I saw Dayton, Jody, and Sean standing in the center aisle that split the lobby in half.


    It had to have been Jody, but he''d moved so quickly that I hadn''t even seen him take the book out of my hand. It couldn''t have been Dayton, and Sean would only be an option if the book had metal inside it somewhere.


    Dayton stood with his mouth partially open, hands in his pockets. Sean didn''t say anything, keeping his face completely blank.


    Jody smiled so briefly I wasn''t completely sure I''d even seen it.


    Judging from how no one else in the room even moved, no one else in the room had seen anything. To be fair to them, the chairs had been scattered randomly around the room, and a lot of them had high backs and even sides. Whoever had bought these chairs had been going for privacy.


    I couldn''t see many people, but I could only see the legs of the ones I could see.


    I thought about saying something to Jody, but what was I going to say? I couldn''t think of anything that would help, but if I made it boring, he''d leave.


    Without the Rocket suit, I wasn''t going to have any chance of punching him. Of course, if I did punch him while wearing the suit, he''d probably die.


    No, I''d go pick up the book and leave. I''d talk about it with Daniel when I got back to the room.


    I turned away, and took a couple steps toward the book. As I reached down to grab it, I felt wind blow across my face, and the book skidded across the floor, traveling at least twenty feet.


    In the distance Sean gave a choked laugh.


    I wanted to hit him, and if he''d been in reach, maybe I would have.


    Instead, I followed the book, my shoes hitting the wooden floor harder than they needed to. The book stopped near a cluster of chairs, stopping next to the only person in this section of the lobby.


    I knew her. Jenny Nakamura had short black hair, light brown skin, and a round face. She wore a button down shirt over a black turtleneck, and was reading while hugging her legs to her. Given that she lived in California, she was probably cold.


    I noted that the book in her hands was Crime and Punishment.


    She looked up from her book, noticing my book where it had come to a stop on the floor, and then me. The first words out of her mouth were, ¡°Nick, what''s wrong?¡±


    Not looking toward Sean or his friends, I spoke softly, ¡°You''ll see when I try to pick up my book.¡±


    I bent down again, and reached for the book, again feeling air brush my face, and watching my book slide away. This time was different in one major way though. I heard muffled pops as everywhere around me filled with copies of Jenny, all of them standing so closely to each other that no one could squeeze between them and holding balls of fire in each hand.


    Caught between Jennys about ten feet away from me, Jody tried not to get close to the fire.


    One of the Jennys handed me my book. I found the ripped page inside, and placed the piece I''d been holding within.


    Unable to find a weak point, Jody turned around until he finally met my eyes. ¡°Shit.¡±


    The Jennys around him looked at him as if he were some lower form of life.


    He turned toward Sean and Dayton. ¡°Guys? Help me here.¡±


    They started walking toward the group of us. Sean said, ¡°Let Jody go. He was¡­ joking.¡±


    A Jenny turned and asked me, ¡°Was that funny to you?¡±


    Watching Jody twist around, still looking for a way out, I said, ¡°No.¡±


    Jenny said, ¡°I''m going to tell someone on the staff,¡± and one of her stepped away from the crowd.


    Sean stared at the copy. ¡°Wait,¡± he said. ¡°Don''t.¡±


    Holding his hands out in a pleading gesture, Dayton said, ¡°I know Jody did the wrong thing here.¡±


    Several Jennys gave him a dirty look. ¡°There''s nothing you can say to me that will stop me.¡±


    Not liking what I was about to say, I opened my mouth. ¡°Let him go. We don''t have to tell anybody.¡±


    She stared at me, ¡°Are you really going to put up with this?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No. I''m going to say something if this ever happens again, but I won''t right now.¡±


    I met Sean''s eyes. ¡°Did you hear that? I¡±m not going to say anything about this unless you keep it up.¡±


    ¡°I didn''t do it,¡± Sean said.


    ¡°That''s true,¡± I said, remembering the conversation, and his laugh as the book had slid away from me, ¡°but you didn''t do anything to stop it.¡±

 Stardock: Part 5

    Sean''s faced tightened up, and he said, ¡°I still didn''t do it, and besides, he didn''t hurt you or anything. It was just a stupid prank.¡±


    ¡°It doesn''t matter,¡± I said. ¡°Based on what happened last fall, anyone who looks at this is going to assume you told Jody to do it, and you''ll probably get kicked out. I know you didn''t. That''s why I''m not going to say anything unless it happens again. If it does, I''ll report it, and I''ll tell them about this one too.¡±


    Sean gritted his teeth, and said, ¡°Then let Jody go, okay? I''m done with this. Jody, you leave him alone.¡±


    Jody held his hands in the air. ¡°Okay, you got it.¡±


    The Jenny nearest me said, ¡°I''ll let him free,¡± in the same tone of voice that she might have used to say, ¡°It''s your funeral.¡±


    As all the Jennys but one popped out of existence, Jody gave me the finger, and joined Sean and Dayton.


    Then they walked toward the hall that lead to the dorm rooms.


    Dayton caught my eye and mouthed the word, ¡°Thanks,¡± only to widen his eyes as Sean turned toward me again.


    ¡°You think you can do anything you want because the staff and everyone''s on your side. Well, let me tell you, it doesn''t last. One of these days, you''re going to be somewhere where connections don''t matter.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Are¡­ Are you threatening me?¡±


    Sean stiffened. ¡°I didn''t mean it that way. I was just saying that everyone helps you here. It doesn''t work that way in the real world.¡±


    Then he turned away from me and walked down the hall with Dayton and Jody in tow.


    Jenny watched them step into the hallway, and turned back. ¡°He''s not exactly grateful. Are you sure I shouldn''t report him?¡±


    I wasn''t, but I didn''t tell her that. What I said was, ¡°He needs the program. Daniel''s dad got him in because he needed it. I don''t want to be the guy who gets him kicked out.¡±


    Jenny frowned. ¡°I don''t want him to be the guy who kills you with a ''joke'' that doesn''t work the way he thought it would.¡±


    She had a point there.


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    ¡°You know what''s kind of funny? In my high school, he was one of the jocks who got special treatment. Plus, the assistant principal was friends with his dad.¡±


    She gave me a little smile. ¡°It sounds like he''s having trouble adjusting.¡±


    ¡°Could be,¡° I said.


    It was strange to think that I had the power to make Sean''s life a kind of hell. It wouldn''t be that hard. All I had to to do was make it clear what he''d been like to me in high school. I couldn''t see how that would make anything better now though.


    Jenny nodded toward the door. ¡°Are you done? I was thinking I''d go back to my room.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I can''t read the book without taping a page back together, and I don''t have any tape here.¡±


    We started walking toward the hallway. ¡°So,¡± I asked. ¡°Why aren''t you reading in your room?¡±


    Jenny said, ¡°Remember when you were visiting us in L.A.? Brooke and Alex could barely keep their hands off each other after they decided they were going out. Well, they still can''t, and I decided to let them have some time to themselves.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I observed. ¡°So what are you going to do if they''re not done doing whatever they''re doing?¡±


    ¡°I don''t know. Drop by your room maybe? Well, unless Daniel and Izzy are going at it. Then I guess we''re both exiles. By the way, are they an item?¡±


    ¡°Daniel and Izzy?¡± I threw up my hands. ¡°I don''t know. They looked like it for a while there, but, right now it seems like they had some kind of fight. It''s anybody''s guess.¡±


    Jenny snorted. ¡°Do you know anybody who''s not going out with someone in the program? We can go there.¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said.


    We walked down the hallway, passing fellow students talking in groups, and dorm rooms with the door open and a knot of people inside.


    When we were close to her room, she asked, ¡°Are you still going out with Haley?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said.


    She smiled for a second. ¡°Of course you are. I saw you on the news with her last week.¡±


    ¡°Weren''t you going out with someone when I visited? I didn''t meet him, but you mentioned him.¡±


    She stopped walking. ¡°We''re not going out. We broke up last week.¡±


    I stopped too. We were next to a row of doors, and a group of our fellow students were laughing pretty hard a few doors down. ¡°Oh, sorry.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°It''s not that bad. I broke up with him. He''s a civilian. Between Stapledon and the Defenders, I got sick of lying to him about where I''d been. Next time I date, I want it to be someone in the program.¡±


    ¡°It does make some things simpler,¡± I said.


    ¡°I''ll bet,¡± she said, and she sounded happy enough, but there was a hitch in her voice as she said it.


    She glanced down the row of rooms. Following her gaze, I noted that Brooke had stepped out of the doorway and waved at us.


    Alex wasn''t anywhere in sight.


    Jenny smiled. ¡°It looks like I''ve got my room back. Stay safe, okay?¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    Within a minute, I was walking up to my own room. It was just like Brooke and Jenny''s¡ªone in a line of near identical apartments that broke up the former factory''s floor.


    As I was a couple doors away, Izzy stepped out of Daniel''s and my room. Her hair covered her shoulders, and while the expression on her face wasn''t angry, it wasn''t happy either.


    I felt acutely aware that she was bigger than I was, and that I wasn''t in any kind of armor.


    She noticed me, and stepped into my path. Skipping any of the preliminaries, she asked, ¡°Did you know why we weren''t dating?¡±

 Stardock: Part 6

    "Uh..." I tried to think of a response that would calm the situation down. The honest response, "Yes, Daniel explained it to Haley and me, but not you," didn''t seem likely to do that.


    Izzy let out a breath, seeming to deflate as she did it. "Look, I''m not going to--" She paused, not saying anything. "I''d like to talk about this privately. Do you have a good sense of when we''d be out of his range?"


    I had a pretty good guess as to whose range she meant.


    Go ahead, Daniel told me. It''ll be okay.


    Izzy raised an eyebrow, and gave a half smile. "He''s talking to you, isn''t he?"


    "Yeah," I shrugged. "Sorry. I think we''ll be out of range in a minute or so, but I''ll want to get my jacket."


    I walked past her and stepped into our room, grabbing my jacket out of the very small closet. The closet felt even smaller because in addition to my clothes it contained Cassie''s new armor (hidden in the form of a backpack) as well as a suitcase filled with accessories for my armor. That armor stood on the floor next to the closet in a block that looked like a suitcase. It weighed too much for me to lift. Daniel had carried it telekinetically when we''d gotten off the plane.


    On the bed, giving me a half smile of his own, Daniel said, "We''ve been working some things out. I''m sorry you ended up in the middle of this. I''m also sorry I wasn''t much help with Sean. Izzy and I were in the middle of things, and by the time I realized what was happening, it was over."


    "It''s okay. It wasn''t that bad. If I need help, I know how to get your attention."


    I pulled my jacket on. It was one of the black jackets I''d used in combination with the stealth suit. Strange to think that it would soon be obsolete.


    Then I walked out of the room, and joined Izzy in the hall. She glanced back toward the door as we started, but didn''t say anything.


    "I was thinking we could walk over to the shipyard," I told her.


    She nodded. "Why not?"


    It didn''t take long. We walked out through the lobby (which looked just as empty as it had fifteen minutes ago), and across the big open lot that surrounded the shipyard. It struck me that it had an enormous area around it--even if you assumed it needed a big parking lot. They''d probably cleared it to make it hard to get close to the shipyard unobtrusively.


    Without invisibility, no one would be able to blend into the grey concrete and tar surrounding the building.


    Halfway across the lot, I asked Izzy, "Are you warm enough?"


    She wore a gold colored hoodie with the word "Cal" in blue on the front along with blue jeans. It didn''t look warm enough.


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    "I''m fine, Abuela," she muttered.


    I wasn''t completely sure what Abuela meant, but from her tone, I was pretty sure she was suggesting that I was worrying too much.


    She said, "I flew to Antarctica once in less than this. I''m comfortable."


    "Antarctica? When did you do that?"


    She smiled a little. "Two summers ago--after I got my powers, but before I found out where they came from. They didn''t seem as fun after that."


    Her grandfather had called himself "Dixie Superman," and fought against civil rights in the 1960''s, becoming the KKK''s favorite superhero/villain, depending on your point of view.


    I understood why she might not like him, but that didn''t stop me from wondering how she kept warm. I had theories, but they weren''t as good as actual observation. I considered asking her for more detail, but didn''t, saying only, "That would suck."


    "By the way," I added, "we''re out of his range now."


    She eyed me. "How do you know?"


    I shrugged. "We''ve been friends for a long time, since long before he learned any manners with regards to telepathy. So we were pretty much in contact whenever we were around each other. I can''t always tell when he''s in range, but I can sense when he''s out of range."


    She shook her head. "That explains a lot. You know that the two of you have conversations that are partly telepathic, and partly in words? And you talk about parts of the conversation that no one but the two of you heard?"


    I didn''t remember doing that at all. "Uh... No?"


    "It''s hard to follow," she said. "And it makes anyone else who''s there feel like they don''t matter."


    "Oh," I said, becoming conscious of where we were. We stood in the middle of the lot. A cold wind blew around us, and it wasn''t hard to tell that we were alone. Searchlights crossed the yard with regularity. Aside from a few cars, the whole place was empty.


    Izzy didn''t say anything at first, possibly waiting to see if I would continue, but I didn''t.


    Then she said, "I''m not going to tell you to change that, but I''d feel better if the two of you did. It''s a lot like how Daniel told you and Haley why we weren''t dating, but didn''t tell me."


    "Yeah," I said. "I''m sorry about that. He told me that in confidence, and I didn''t feel like I could pass that on. I even think I said that he should tell you. Or maybe Haley said that? I don''t remember any more."


    Izzy sighed. "Daniel said that, and he said he wished he''d listened. I''m glad he feels that way, but I don''t want to be the only person not in the discussion. I can''t tell you to tell me about it if something like it comes up again, but if it does, could you remind him to talk to me?"


    I weighed the request in my head, and decided that it wasn''t unreasonable. "No problem. Does that mean you talked through the whole question of conversion and children and everything? And he told you about his visions, right?"


    She frowned. "Yes. I''m still not sure what to think about that. I always wonder while I''m dating someone if we''ll marry, but knowing it''s possible, and that we''d have kids? I don''t know what to think. We decided to put off worrying about it for now. If we ever start talking about marriage, we''ll talk about it then."


    "That''s good," I said. "That seems really reasonable."


    Izzy nodded. "It is. It''s better than letting something that might happen get in the way of what we''re doing now. What about you? Did he ever have a vision about your future?"


    I thought about it. "Kind of. He''s had visions where one of us saves the other''s life, sometimes dying in the process, but it''s never been very specific. His abilities weren''t very strong when we were little kids. He''s more powerful now, so maybe it will be more specific than it used to be."


    I shrugged. "It''s not something that matters. It''s something that might happen."


    Izzy nodded. "I know. That''s what I thought."


    We talked for a while longer after that, but then we both went back to our own dorm rooms.


    The next morning we all reported to the lot between the dorm and the shipyards in costume. One of the New York capes was going to lead us through exercises based on the battle plans we''d been given on Friday.

 Stardock: Part 7

    Brain Gang, a short man with dark skin and short, black hair, stood in front of the group of us. He wore a green suit (with matching mask and hat) that to my eye appeared to include material similar to that in my stealth suit. The material on the outside seemed normal, but the suit appeared to be stiffer and just a little thicker than normal material.


    I recognized Brain Gang''s name. I''d heard it from Grandpa. Either this was a descendant of the original Brain Gang, or the original was still around. Given that this guy appeared to be in his thirties, I leaned toward descendant.


    The parking lot held no cars, and for good reason. If you were going to be training a bunch of college students, many of whom were still learning to use their abilities, would you want to have your car where a stray blast of energy could destroy it?


    Brain Gang stood in front of the shipyard building on a stool. When the wind came up, he held on to his hat.


    "You''ve all seen the plans by now," he shouted. "They were made with two goals in mind. First to defend Stardock from alien attackers. Second, to evacuate the base so that we can blow it up if defense becomes impossible. We''ll first practice defending the base, and after that we''ll practice delaying tactics that will allow the civilians to evacuate and escape."


    So that was the morning. I was assigned to a group of armored flyers that included Izzy. I used "armored" in the loose sense. In the strict sense, I was the only armored flyer there. Everyone else came naturally armored. "Everyone else" included Brittany and Brianna (identical twins who turned into glowing energy forms, calling themselves the Aurora Bees), Solar Flare''s younger brother Theo (who hadn''t had powers last I heard, but must have been run through a power impregnator), and our unit''s leader, Patriot Jr.


    Patriot Jr. struck me as the kind of guy who could make it big in modeling or Hollywood. He had the looks--square jaw, a body that was muscular, but not freakishly so. Unsurprisingly his costume had a red, white, and blue patriotic theme. This was even less of a surprise when you considered that his father''s had too. His father led the Washington D.C. Liberators, the city''s premiere superhero team.


    He spent the time between exercises chatting up Brittany and Brianna, leaving Izzy, Theo and I to stand together on the roof of the shipyard building.


    "Again?" Izzy shook her head as Patriot Jr. took some excuse to put his arm around Brianna for a moment and made a joke. "Tell me they know what he''s doing."


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    "Oh, they know," Theo said, his plasma sheath disappearing, leaving only his red and yellow costume. "I''ve known them for years. They make a lot of jokes about guys who hit on them because of the twin thing."


    Izzy shook her head. "They can add one more joke to the list. We''re supposed to be talking about how we did on the last exercise, and he''s supposed to be leading it."


    Theo gave a relaxed grin, "You could lead it."


    Izzy smiled and glanced over to where they were talking. "He''s the one who most needs to hear it."


    She was right. During the last exercise we''d started our attack late, and it was all because Patriot Jr. had been paying more attention to whoever he''d been texting than the position of the drones we were supposed to be fighting.


    All the same, it hadn''t been a bad morning. Even if we''d spent most of it ragging on our fearless leader, you could consider that bonding. Plus, whatever tension had been going on between Daniel and Izzy appeared to have vanished. I''d seen them holding hands on the way out of breakfast.


    Theo pointed toward the parking lot. "It looks like it''s not going to make much of a difference. I think we''re switching to evacuation plans. The glass cannons are back."


    I wasn''t sure where he''d gotten the name from, but it fit. The unit included Vaughn, Sean, Daniel, and other flyers who could dish out damage, but weren''t great at taking it. We''d trained together earlier in the morning. There were maneuvers where we basically acted as their bodyguards, and others where they covered us as we attacked. When you forgot the purpose of the exercises, they''d even been fun.


    They landed near us on the roof, and Daniel waved at us. Both Izzy and I waved back, making me wonder who he''d actually been waving at.


    Both of you, Daniel thought back at me.


    Along with a couple other capes I didn''t recognize, Brain Gang floated up to the roof on a rectangular platform that appeared to be held in the air by multiple jet engines--small ones. I thought about it. Getting people up in the air on that thing without throwing them off would be a challenging project.


    The platform rose above the roof and floated across it. When it landed, Brain Gang addressed all of us.


    "You, all of you here, are one of the most important pieces of Stardock''s defense. We''ve got people with great hand to hand combat abilities. We''ve got people with great powers. You''re the only ones we have with mobility, and our best chance to prevent a threat from getting close enough to attack.


    "Frankly," he said, "I haven''t been impressed with what I''ve seen so far. You need to step up, because if you don''t the people inside this building will all die when we blow the place. So, here''s where we''re going to start. We''re going send down more drones. There will be too many, but it will be your job to take down as many as you can before they can come in range. Some will be troop transports. You''ll need to stop them before they can land. Ready?"


    A few people shouted yes. The rest of us looked at each other. Sean and I briefly caught each others'' eye, and turned away.


    This was going to suck.

 Stardock: Part 8

    Whether I liked the people I was with or not, however, it was time to practice. Brain Gang ran us through multiple scenarios and exercises, and we were okay if not brilliant. They were all based on the assumption that we had to hold off invading aliens long enough to evacuate and blow up the base. In short, we''d already lost, and it was now a question of how we''d deal with it.


    At least that was my take. Basically, it was Star Trek''s Kobayashi Maru exercise but with specific orders on how we were handle the problem.


    So far as I could tell, our orders required us to die a lot, but at least we won most of the time--assuming your definition of winning didn''t necessarily include personal survival.


    The last exercise didn''t even go that well.


    It was 4:37 pm. Brain Gang stood on the hovering platform again, and everyone stood outside the shipyard.


    Brain Gang held up a communicator in his hand, clicked a button, and his amplified voice broadcast from the platform. "We''ve reached the last scenario of the day. It will be much like the others you''ve faced. As with the previous exercise, we''ll be imagining that a small fleet of aliens faced off with Earth''s ships. Unlike with the last exercise, we''ll assume that our ships were destroyed and several of the alien ships got through. You''ll see one at first, and know that more could appear at any time.


    "As with the last few scenarios, you''ll need to remember to be careful with the practice drones. They''re expensive to replace, and you broke twenty of them in the last exercise. We understand that it''s easy to forget they''re not the real thing in the middle of a fight, but try to. Let''s start. Take your positions."


    Everyone ran or flew. My unit took our position directly on top of the building that held the shipyard. Others stood next to or inside the buildings around the shipyard. Some filed into the shipyard building itself.


    In the sky, a long, wedge shaped ship appeared. Hundreds of round ships, much like our podjets exited it, spreading out into a thin formation that was wide enough to cover the entire shipyard and the surrounding buildings.


    It wasn''t a terrible way to go. The podjets acted as a barrier against going for the main ship, and allowed all the podjets to fire on us. It wasn''t the best formation either, but I could imagine they might be going a little easy on us in training.


    When they all started firing, it didn''t seem like they were going easy on us at all. It felt like a hail of light. Brittany and Briana turned to face each other, creating a wide, white shield that shimmered in the air above us, covering the entire building. It would have been more impressive if I hadn''t seen them do it ten times that day already.


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    At the same time, the podjets came under attack from pretty much everybody who had a ranged attack, and we''d been getting better over the day. Winds blew the podjets toward the east side of the shipyard. By itself, that wouldn''t have been enough, but Sean concentrated, sending podjets that had been resisting the wind alone hurtling after the rest.


    The effect reminded me of billiard balls. The podjets flew east, bouncing off each other, the ground, and buildings. Generally though, they flew along the same path, passing between two of the buildings that surrounded the shipyard. While they did, everyone else opened up on them. Izzy hit them with a scream vastly more powerful than anything I could generate with my sonics. At the same time, blasts of plasma, fire, ice, and lasers hit too.


    Of the hundreds of podjets that originally exited the ship, barely ten survived. It was amazing.


    It made me wonder if they''d made a mistake while designing the scenario--or possibly the practice drones. From what I understood, the drones were fairly tough hologram projectors, but they weren''t very big. Sean and Vaughn could easily be having an easier time with them than they would with actual alien spacecraft.


    Before anybody had time to comment on how easy it had been, two more wedge shaped ships swooped out of the clouds. Even more podjets launched, tripling the number that had originally been in the air. Worse, more ships followed. These were about as wide as semi-truck, and not exceptionally tall. As they neared the ground, beings in powered armor jumped out, landing unharmed in the street--hundreds of them.


    Stapledon students attacked, some from a distance, others hand to hand.


    Patriot Jr. saw the mass of people fighting, and said, "We''ve got to get down there! Everyone but the Power and Storm King, follow me. You guys take out the ships. Bring them down however you can!"


    Sean and Vaughn gave each other a look. I didn''t have time to see more. Patriot Jr. leapt into the air, and we followed.


    I had a bad feeling about it. At a gut level, taking the group of the most mobile, least vulnerable fighters and making them just another group in a massive combat, giving them no goal other than "help our side" seemed dumb. I couldn''t put it into words by the time Patriot Jr. took off though.


    Besides, the moment you go into combat probably isn''t the time to start an argument with your commanding officer--even if you''re pretty sure his grasp of strategy and tactics is worse than yours.


    To make a long story short, we died. Not literally, of course.


    The Stapledon drones had some way to calculate how much "damage" you''d taken from holographic attacks. I don''t know how well it corresponded to our actual ability to take damage, but it didn''t matter. I was completely willing to accept the possibility that if we charged into battle while hundreds of podjets targeted us, we''d all probably die.


    Patriot Jr. wasn''t quite as relaxed about the whole thing, shouting, "I can take more than that!" as his armband told him to, "Land. You''ve been terminated."


    That wasn''t the best part though.


    Above us, two of the big ships were out of control. Careening toward each other, they hit with a remarkably realistic shriek of metal. One smashed into our dorm.


    The other rolled over us and then into the mass combat we''d been flying toward.


    Do I need to say that ultimately we did not manage to evacuate and destroy the shipyard?

 Stardock: Part 9

    With that debacle over, we went back to our dorm, changed out of costume and ate. I could write more about hanging out in our rooms that night, but there''s not really much to tell. Sunday morning allowed time for people who wanted to attend worship services to do so, and then we spent most of Sunday afternoon practicing first aid.


    By five, we were all waiting in an airport somewhere near NYC. I hesitate to say a "secret" airport because it was clearly used, but it definitely wasn''t commonly used by passenger planes. I don''t think I saw any, but I couldn''t be sure because we rode there in a cargo truck with no windows--just seats in the back. The roof was made of a partially transparent, but not clear, plastic.


    We unloaded the truck inside the hangar. I happened to look through the mirrored windows on the door as we waited for our plane to arrive. Even though it wasn''t snowing, it still wasn''t warm. A Fedex jet landed on the runway as I watched, but it didn''t taxi in our direction afterward. I decided that watching for our jet was probably more akin to waiting for a pot to boil than it ought to be, and considered finding someone to talk to.


    It might have been a fun place to hang out under other circumstances, but not with people. It felt like it was only barely heated. Water, and other fluids pooled on the floor. Machines and tools hung on the wall or lay on shelves.


    Building something might have been a good way to pass the time, but with all the parts meant for airplane repairs, it was a given that I''d annoy somebody.


    Turning away from the mirrored windows, I found Cassie walking toward me. She wore a Grand Lake University hoodie, jeans, and atypically, her hair wasn''t in a ponytail. It hung loose around her shoulders. She wore the backpack I''d made for her, the one that changed into light armor--barely powered armor at all, actually. I''d designed it to be more of a disguise.


    "Hey, thanks," she indicated the backpack with a gesture of her hand. "This will help keep me sane. Mom doesn''t want me going out in costume at all outside of Stapledon. With this, she might not even recognize me."


    She grinned.


    I wondered if handing her the suit had been a good idea.


    Frowning for moment, she said, "I''ll have to give you back the sword and gun before you leave. I can''t exactly take them back to D.C. when I''m trying to avoid the Nine."


    I sighed, and slumped a little. "I know. I was pretty sure the aliens would attack Stardock while we were there. It seems like the Hrrrna have to be working with the machine races somehow, and if they''re desperate enough to attack other aliens here on Earth, I''d think they''d want to go after Stardock too, and soon."


    Cassie shrugged. "At least you''re thinking ahead. I''ve been talking to Vaughn, Izzy and Daniel, and fuck, I''ve been left out of everything. You guys went up to the Xiniti jumpgate, met the Hrrrna, and got attacked by flying robots, and you know what I''ve been doing? Hanging out in the D.C. super compound. I mean, yay, I''ve been getting some training in, but I''ve barely gotten a chance to use it thanks to the Nine. First chance we get, we should take them down, you know?"


    I eyed her. "You are kidding, right? The last time we got anywhere near the Nine, we ended up in the middle of nerve gas and a nuke. I mean--"


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    Shaking her head, Cassie said, "The nerve gas was no big deal. The worst I got out of it was a runny nose. The nuke? That was scary, but you''re forgetting the best part. You blew up Rook''s hand. Talk about badass."


    I opened my mouth without saying anything for a second, and then managed, "I try not to think about that."


    "Still awesome," she said. "You know he''s got an artificial hand now? I saw it on SuperTV. So yeah, that''s another great thing about being near no one I care about. I get to watch TV and hang out with the Liberators which isn''t nearly as fun as their fanbase imagines."


    I frowned. "You''re going to Georgetown, right? That can''t be all bad."


    She gave another shrug. "It''s not so bad, but I can''t even use my name there. Lim says they''ll transfer all the credits if I go back to Grand Lake, but what are the chances of that? The CIA always wanted me in D.C.. I''m pretty sure they''re planning to have me take over for Dad the second I''m out of college. It was always part of my plans, but it doesn''t sound as fun when I don''t think I''ve got a choice."


    I nodded. "I can see that."


    I''d planned to say more, but heard footsteps, and turned to notice Patriot Jr. coming over. He wasn''t in costume. This was Patriot Jr. in civvies. He wore a red, button down shirt, open to about the third button, showing muscle. Tan, he had curly brown hair, shot through with spots that were sun bleached blond.


    Most of the time I''d seen him, he''d been chatting up one of the women, or hanging out with his friends. He''d been grinning or laughing. Now, he looked serious.


    I realized I didn''t know the guy''s real name.


    "Hey," he said, "we got assigned together, but I don''t think we''ve talked. I''m Blake--Patriot Jr, in costume. I was thinking maybe we could talk about ways to make the unit work better."


    I looked up at him. This wasn''t exactly what I''d expected. I''d guessed he''d been about to tell me how it was all my fault. "Why me?"


    He raised an eyebrow, and tilted his head as he looked at me. "Why? You''ve been in the middle of some major stuff. Plus, you train with that freaky guy--Gunther--all the time, right? And you''re in the advanced fighting groups even though you just started? And you''re a brain.


    "Look, we didn''t do so well, and my advisor said you''d probably know how to fix it."


    I adjusted to that idea, and wondered who his advisor was. I had ideas for how to fix our unit, but I hoped everybody''s advisor wasn''t saying the same thing. I wasn''t that good.


    "I''ve got a few suggestions," I said. "The first is that instead of looking at us like a bunch of people with powers, you should look at us like we were a ship or something. Second--"


    My phone started beeping. It was the beep I''d set for alerts that came in on the common protocol my grandfather had designed. I started to say, "Sorry," but then I realized Patriot Jr. wasn''t listening to me. He was pulling out his phone. So was Cassie.


    In fact, so was practically everyone in the hangar. The few exceptions probably didn''t need their phones to find out what was going on.


    I took my phone out of my pocket, and clicked on the screen. An alert appeared. "As of forty minutes ago, Earth spacecraft detected a planetary bombardment. Guardian and various Defenders groups have been mobilized to attend to the situation. Metahumans should gather their gear and contact their local Defenders unit to find out if their services are required."


    Patriot Jr. stared at his phone. "My dad''s got to be going up there. I hope it doesn''t get too bad. Do you guys think they''ll send us back to Stardock?"


    It was a valid question, but neither Cassie or I were paying attention. We were staring at the next alert. Haley had sent a yellow with the message. "The League jet has detected that one of the asteroids was aimed directly at Grand Lake''s downtown. Another one is heading straight for New York. The jet''s AI thinks that it''s a feint or a distraction, and Lee agrees. All League members and friends near Grand Lake, please respond."


    I wanted to call Haley back, but I didn''t want to prevent her from talking to people who were actually in Grand Lake. She didn''t have many people to work with--Camile, Sydney, and Marcus for sure, and maybe Chris. Maybe Larry if he wasn''t helping someone else.


    I wondered if I should be getting back there.


    Isaac Lim walked through a door near the rear of the hangar. He held up his hands to get our attention, and shouted, "Suit up, everyone!"

 Stardock: Part 10

    I wondered what Lim thought we''d even be able to do. Sure, Izzy might be able to redirect part of a planetary bombardment on her own, but she wouldn''t be able to handle all of it. She''d be kind of redundant to whatever Guardian and the various Defenders units were likely to manage. The ones that couldn''t fly in space had ships made at Stardock to work with.


    With a slightly sick feeling, I wondered what Haley hoped to do. The jet might be able to destroy or redirect asteroids. For that matter, Camille could control gravity, and I didn''t know what her limits were. If she was anything like Sean, her half brother, she might be extremely powerful.


    Lim''s voice broke through my thoughts. "Everyone! Now! I''ll brief you when you''re done."


    And you know, the crazy thing was that some people were already in costume. They were mostly the sort of people who were so excited to be supers that they wore their costume under their clothes all the time. The rest were speedsters, or in the military. I suspected the military students were required to wear their costumes under their clothes.


    The rest of the people in the room were thinking more or less what I was. There were more than one hundred of us in a mostly unheated hangar. It had a bathroom and an office, but there wasn''t much space in either. Most of us were in our civvies, and if we wanted to change into costume, we''d have to strip down to underwear first. I wouldn''t have wanted to personally, but most people didn''t have a choice.


    Of course, I didn''t have to deal with that. All I had to do was ditch my coat and activate the Rocket suit, but I sympathized. The League had problems with too little privacy too. Thanks to the fact that the original League was all male except for my grandma, we only had one locker room and set of showers.


    Blake, Cassie and I looked at each other.


    Cassie snorted. "Come on, Nick. Start stripping."


    I gave a half smile. "Thanks, but no."


    Blake nodded toward a group of students and luggage. "My stuff''s over there. We gotta talk more about this after we change."


    "Yeah," I said, hoping that we wouldn''t be going into combat very soon.


    Cassie had put her stuff along together with the rest of us, so we walked together, but not quickly enough. Lim was still shouting at everyone.


    It wasn''t that people weren''t moving. We knew what might be at stake, and some people were running toward their luggage. About that time, a wall of darkness appeared halfway down the back wall of the hangar. It went about thirty feet long. A second length of wall appeared next to it. The "Women" appeared above the first section, and "Men" above the second.


    I laughed. At least someone was thinking. I even knew who. I hadn''t seen much of her, but I remembered that Shannon, former member of Justice Fist, had darkness generating powers. That showed a greater degree of control than I thought she''d had.


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    Almost in the same moment, a woman''s voice carried over every other noise. It was impossible not to listen to it. "You can use it if you want." I recognized the voice too. It wasn''t Shannon. Her cousin Julie had the power to force people to follow any commands she made with her voice.


    This was a more subtle use of her power than I''d seen from her so far too. She''d used it to get our attention without forcing us to do something. That was probably a good thing.


    People started grabbing their costumes and running over to the impromptu changing areas. Of course, not everybody did. I didn''t need to. I turned my fake suitcase on its side, stepped onto it, and the Rocket suit enveloped me. As the systems came online, I realized that Cassie had stepped behind a beam and changed there.


    She stepped away from it most of the way into her Captain Commando costume, pulling the mask over her face in front of me, and picking up her sword and the gun.


    As she strapped the sword to her back, she glanced over at me, and said, "Looks like I''m not giving this back yet."


    About ten feet past her, a red haired girl who I''d seen before, but never talked to, pulled a necklace out from under her shirt, and touched the gem that hung on it. When she did, it felt like I''d stepped inside a light show. Everything behind her disappeared, subsumed into rapidly changing colors (red, green, blue, pink...). Meanwhile, as she hovered in the air, all sorts of visual noise appeared around her--hearts, sparkles, shining symbols that looked like letters in a language I''d never seen before.


    Plus, I swear I heard music playing in the background.


    When it was all over, she''d changed from wearing a fairly normal button down shirt and slacks to wearing plate mail armor, and carrying a spear. Mind you, it was visually complex plate mail. Instead of being dull gray metal, dark red gemlike material outlined every section. The same was true with the spear.


    Her hair, in the meantime, had grown at least a foot longer.


    So, that was crazy.


    Everyone who wasn''t standing behind Shannon''s walls of darkness had to be staring at her. I know I was.


    She blushed, and said, "Sorry."


    "No problem," I said.


    To Daniel, I asked, Did I really just see an anime transformation sequence in real life?


    Magic is weird, he thought back.


    I couldn''t argue with him. Over the past year, my weirdness threshold had gotten higher, but not, apparently, this high.


    Probably at that moment, I should have asked her name, and gotten to know her a little, making her feel a little more comfortable in the process, but I didn''t. I noticed that people were beginning to gather at the front of the hangar, Daniel and Izzy among them.


    I started walking, following Cassie. Anime girl followed after us.


    Okay, I had to get her real name. Calling her "anime girl" was going to get old quickly.


    We made it to the front with a lot of people. We weren''t first, but we were near the front. After a minute, Isaac Lim started.


    "As you all know, some group launched several asteroids in our direction. We don''t know precisely when, but they were discovered this morning. We''ve sent several spaceships out to handle it as well as a number of superheroes, including Guardian. A number of our people, particularly Mr. Intuition, think that this is a trap or distraction of some kind, but since we can''t let any of the asteroids hit, we''re responding with almost everything we have."


    Lim paused looking at the crowd.


    "The good news is that we''ve got every reason to believe we can stop the asteroids from hitting. The bad news is that even a shattered asteroid is a threat. We''ll be watching for that and for anything that our enemies try to do on Earth while many of our most powerful heroes are in space.


    "You''ll be protecting New York City along with NYC''s regular hero teams, but you''ll also be here to defend Stardock. That''s why we''re going to have the more mobile teams go back there immediately, taking as many people as they can. The rest of us will join them as soon as possible."

 Stardock: Part 11

    Lim continued, "We''ll be using the strategies and tactics we practiced yesterday, so you shouldn''t have had time to forget them yet. There will be one additional wrinkle. We''re already evacuating Stardock just like we are the rest of the city. That means that if we do decide to blow Stardock, we won''t be looking for you to evacuate the people below. We''ll need you to watch out for each other. Don''t leave anyone in your unit behind."


    He paused, looked us all over, and then, when we thought he''d finished, he said, "There''s one more thing. Stardock isn''t the only alien technology in New York City. We fought the Abominators in the 1970''s, and we collected everything we could find. I''m not going to tell you where it is, but none of you should be surprised to discover that we''re studying it, or that we''re doing our best to reverse engineer it. When you fight, you need to use tools that can do the job. Our own tools won''t, so we''re getting better tools.That''s why we may redirect a few of you if we have to blow Stardock. Don''t hesitate if we call you in. Trust me, it will be important.


    "That''s not to say that we won''t need you for more mundane tasks. A city like New York doesn''t empty in minutes. We''ll have people in harm''s way for hours. It wouldn''t surprise me if we''re still evacuating even when the fighting''s finished. We''ll need you to keep people safe, to keep things moving, and to deliver first aid before anyone else has a chance to get there.


    "For now, be ready. We''ll deliver your individual assignments over your communicators."


    Then he pulled out his phone, and put it to his ear. I don''t know who he was talking to, but my orders appeared as texts in my HUD.


    <blockquote>


    All flyers gather next to the hangar door. You''ll be part of the team that goes to Stardock first.


    </blockquote>


    I started walking over there, finding myself accompanied by Daniel, Izzy, Vaughn, and Cassie. When we got to the front, I wasn''t surprised to find that everyone I''d worked with yesterday was there--Blake (looking nervous), Theo, Brittany, Brianna, Sean, and the rest of the glass cannons.


    Even though they didn''t fly, I wasn''t surprised to find Jaclyn, Jody, and a couple more speedsters I didn''t recognize, one of whom wore combat fatigues and carried a rifle.


    I was a little more surprised when Anime Girl and Jenny joined the group.


    About that time, Isaac Lim joined us. "Your job is to get to Stardock, and be ready to defend it. You may not have to. We don''t know for sure that they''re after it right now. If we decide to blow it up, we''ll give you time to get away. If we decide to defend it, we''ll have Portal open up a gate to Jenny, and then we''ll send in people to assist you.


    "In the meantime, we''re sending in the largest, fastest group of you that we can manage."''


    He looked down at his watch. "It''s time for you to go, but there''s one more thing I have to say. We''ve been preparing you to protect society, and that''s meant working within the rules to the degree that vigilantes can--what I mean is, we''ve told you not to kill. Hurt people to catch them, sure, but we''ve told you to leave killing to the state.


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    "Well, I''m telling you right now, right here, to forget all that. We''re at war. You are acting as our soldiers. You are, right now, an arm of the state. If you have to fight, your opponents will be trying to kill you. Remember that. Some of you have seen the fight between those robots and the Rocket and Night Cat. If they hadn''t won, they would have died. We''re fighting the same people. Don''t hesitate to take out your opponents any way you can. They might not be machines. They might look like people, but they won''t show you any more mercy. Trust me on this. I''ve been fighting them for years."


    He stopped, stared at all of us, and said, "That''s all. Get out there. We''ve sent a message with Stardock''s location to your communicators. If your communicator doesn''t include GPS, which it should, follow a member of the Heroes League. Theirs do."


    Then he waved us toward the hangar door--which began to open.


    There weren''t any planes on the runway. I couldn''t even see any visible. They must have been moved inside the hangars.


    I didn''t see any people either. Apparently Lim''s people must have evacuated the airport while we were talking or something.


    Behind me, a low female voice said, "Do you feel that wind? I don''t know how you people survive up here."


    I turned my head to find Anime Girl talking with Jenny.


    Jenny laughed. "I don''t survive up here. I''m from L.A."


    I checked the temperature in my HUD. It was 42 degrees. That wasn''t bad at all, not by Michigan standards anyhow. This was pretty typical for early spring.


    "You should come to Grand Lake sometime. A few years ago, we had spring break extended by a week because of a blizzard."


    Anime Girl raised an eyebrow. I could see it through her helmet''s eyehole. "You''re kidding, right?"


    I shook my head (well, helmet).


    "I''ll stay in Florida, thanks." She gave a small smile as people began to step out of the hangar.


    I scrolled through the team list that appeared in my HUD. Eliminating the names that didn''t fit, I decided I''d found hers.


    "Are you Bloodmaiden?"


    She frowned. "Yes, but that''s a mistake."


    Jenny''s Flame Legion costume covered her entire body including her face, but I could imagine her grin as she faked surprise, "You''re impersonating Bloodmaiden?"


    Bloodmaiden grinned, matching Jenny''s fake surprise by sounding like a cheesy cartoon villain. "You''ve caught me! I''m actually Bloodmaiden''s worst enemy and I''ve taken her form to ruin her life."


    Then she stopped grinning. "It was a mistake though. It''s more of a title, and the question of whether or not it''s mine would spark a civil war back home. And home''s not really Florida."


    I didn''t say anything.


    She pursed her lips. "There can be only one Bloodmaiden in the world. That''s why my twin sister''s home, and I''m here."


    Jenny glanced over at the rest of our team. They were taking flight. She said, "I don''t want to interrupt, but we should go."


    Bloodmaiden touched her gem. It was set into her armor at the base of her neck. Then she tapped Jenny with her spear. A blood red glow surrounded both of them, and they began to float upward. Their speed wasn''t great, but it was fast enough.


    My sister Rachel stepped up in her gear--the new guns I''d made for her along with her all white bodysuit.


    "Mind if I tag along?" She hadn''t been invisible, but I hadn''t noticed her.


    "No problem," I said. "Did Lim send all of the League members that are here in the first group?"


    "Daniel''s carrying Travis and Cassie. So, yes."


    I frowned. "What''s up with that?"


    Rachel put her hand on my armor. "I guess he likes putting us in danger. Now, let''s go."


    I started the rockets, and we took to the air.


    The airport appeared to have been somewhere in New Jersey. We flew over water. To our right, I could see the Atlantic Ocean. Ahead of us lay Long Island.


    The skyline rose up before us. How many tv shows had I seen it in?


    Long lines of cars covered the bridges. Zooming in, I could see people walking across the bridges too.


    With luck, there''d be a city to come back to at the end of the day.


    Over the speakers in my helmet, I heard Daniel''s dad''s voice. Mindstryke was probably up there with the rest of the Midwest Defenders.


    "Guardian''s reached the asteroid. It''s too big to gate out. He thinks he can handle the smaller rocks."

 Stardock: Part 12

    Daniel''s dad continued, "Guardian''s giving the asteroid a quick once over, checking if the asteroid''s anything more than a big rock. We''ve got a few ideas as to how we can handle it if it''s just a dinosaur killer, but we don''t want any surprises."


    I''d set the suit to monitor Stapledon communications and the Heroes League team channel for activity. There wasn''t much of anything going on between our team. Like me, they were likely all listening to the Defenders. The Heroes League channel showed a lot of activity between Haley and Kayla at first. After that, Camille, Sydney, Marcus, and Chris all came online.


    Chris? That was cool. Haley was calling in everybody. If Grand Lake had an asteroid with its name on it, they''d have a decent chance of taking it out between the League jet, Camille''s anti-gravity powers, and Chris to think things through.


    If the people who were guessing that the asteroids were a feint were correct, they''d need everyone they could get. Fighting the machines had been too close, and who knew what the Hrrrna were like?


    I wished I was there. I wished I had time to pay attention to what they were saying.


    Resolving to pay attention to where I was, I checked the Stapledon feed. It was giving me GPS coordinates for our group to meet up.


    We weren''t in anything resembling a fighting formation, more of a long line. I stayed at the rear, figuring that if we did get attacked, the stragglers might need a heavy hitter along with them. Granted, I wasn''t sure I totally fit that label, but given that the group at the back was Daniel, who was telekinetically carrying Cassie and Travis, and Bloodmaiden, who was (magically?) carrying Jenny, I suspected I was the closest available equivalent.


    Of course, technically I was carrying Rachel, but if I had to stop and fight, Rachel would be fine.


    Actually, Daniel told me, Jaclyn''s following below.


    Checking everyone''s position via the GPS on the HUD showed that he was right. I''d noticed she wasn''t far away when we were crossing water. The spray from each of her steps had made her obvious enough.


    Now that we''d made it to Long Island, she wasn''t as obvious. Even though most streets were empty, one person running didn''t stand out--not unless I looked for heat. Then she was very obvious.


    With the sun low in the sky, and shadows increasing, covering the streets, people who could see well in low light conditions were going to have an advantage.


    Over the Defenders channel, Mindstryke said, "Another complication. The big rock''s got a big engine attached to the back. Brawn''s thinking that the rock can maneuver if it has to, and may include bombs. As some of you are guessing, smaller pieces would be easier to handle, but harder to detect. Brawn''s going to inspect the engine, and try to figure out if he can take it over. It would make this a lot easier if he could. Oh, one more thing, we''re noticing that all the larger asteroids have a propulsion system attached."


    Brawn was Dr. Nation''s codename--the one he''d taken after giving up "Yellow Burrito." I''d noticed that he hadn''t been at the retreat.


    It was hard to read Daniel''s dad''s voice. He sounded calm despite the bad news. As things were, it sounded like the asteroids might be able to spontaneously change targets, or explode under some trigger condition, such being close enough to take out a spaceship.


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    Still, it would be great if they could just redirect the larger asteroids at a different target--like the sun, for example.


    The GPS coordinates that we''d been given were for a building about a block away from Stardock, and the dormitories we''d stayed in. I landed, coming in as the last of the fliers, but not the last person.


    Jaclyn jumped from the ground to the top of the old, brick warehouse, making a good guess about her jump. She landed almost at the high point of her leap. She hit the roof with a solid thump, but didn''t go through.


    Lim''s voice came over the speakers. "Here''s the plan for now. Expect it to change. Accelerando''s in charge of the speedsters. Patriot Jr. continues to command the hand to hand fliers. Mystic take command of the mobile artillery. Night Wolf, you''ll have overall command. Pull in Rocket to consult on strategy and tactics. Your first objective is to find a good spot for Portal to open a gate for the rest of the Stapledon people. Assume that they''ll be ground based, and may not be able to take a solid hit from what you''ll be facing. Also consider that if we decide to blow Stardock without a fight, the gate will be your best escape route."


    Lim closed with, "Good luck. Agent Lim out."


    Though a dark gray mask hid most of his face, I could see Travis blink as Lim gave him command. Unless I missed my guess, he hadn''t known he''d be in charge either. I was pretty sure he''d been in charge of some group during our training sessions, but I hadn''t paid much attention to who.


    Lim''s choices were interesting though. He''d stuck with Stapledon''s official procedure and kept upperclassmen in charge (where he could) by leaving Patriot Jr. where he was, and putting Travis in control of the whole group. Of course, technically Travis was first year even if he was an upperclassman, and technically Patriot Jr. had been in charge of the mobile artillery/glass cannon group when they''d been joined with ours. On the whole though, Lim had done the obvious thing, minimized the damage Patriot Jr. could do by putting people he trusted all around him--all Heroes League people too.


    I wondered how people would take that.


    Travis turned toward me. "Rocket, is there anything around here that might hide a gate from alien sensors? Bricks? Lead? Anything like that?"


    I shook my head. "Technology that senses how sentients think is pretty common among aliens. Our building materials won''t do much to hide it. The Aurora Bees'' shield might, but when it''s running, it glows at so many different levels. It would be like hiding a candle behind a spotlight, you know?"


    Shannon alias Shadow, former member of Justice Fist, and our local darkness generator might have been able to hide the gate, but she wasn''t here yet.


    Travis nodded, and glanced toward Stardock. The ears on his costume were supposed to remind a person of wolf ears, but they made me think of Batman. Of course, as Night Wolf, Travis didn''t have a cape, so the comparison didn''t really work.


    Travis turned back to the group of us. "Does anyone here have a reason to believe that they can hide people from aliens? I don''t care what it is."


    Bloodmaiden coughed, and everyone turned to look at her. "I can, but I''ll need blood--a little bit from everyone."


    Masks hid most people''s faces but from what I saw, people didn''t look enthusiastic.


    Cassie snorted and gave a laugh. Travis nodded. "A little blood. Okay, we can do that. Are there any vulnerabilities I should know about?"


    Bloodmaiden smiled. "Vampires. They won''t be fooled."


    "Right. Rocket, are there space vampires, and are they likely to be a problem?"


    Scattered laughter came from the group.


    I said, "None that I''ve ever heard about, but if vampires can smell what''s inside, the Hrrrna might be able to too. Horses have a good sense of smell."


    Bloodmaiden gave a quick smile. "It''s not smell, but it might not matter. You don''t have our kind of vampires here."


    Not sure where my questions should be going from there, I nodded.


    Bloodmaiden took a pinprick of blood from each of us, feeding each drop of blood to her gem. When she was done, she said a few words, and a transparent, reddish rectangle floated above the ground.


    "It will hide anything that stands underneath it," she said.


    I stared down at it. It was a solution, and better than nothing.


    Over my helmet''s speakers, Mindstryke broke in. "Attention, everyone. We''ve got the rock. Brawn couldn''t hack into the control mechanism, but he did figure out where it was. Guardian opened a portal around the engine and a small part of the asteroid, and transported it into another place. Things are getting a little crazy here as the other asteroids have just accelerated, but we''ve got every reason to believe we can catch them. Mindstryke out."


    At almost the same time, Haley''s voice came over the air. "Heroes League, the jet''s sensors have identified a ship decloaking above Grand Lake--"

 Stardock: Part 13

    I wanted to keep on listening to Haley, but became distracted by the scene in front of me. A long, basically rectangular object appeared above Stardock. I say "basically" rectangular because it was thinner at the front than the back. On the whole, it reminded me of a troop transport vehicle, or possibly of those D-day landing craft?


    It didn''t seem to have much for weapons, just one turret near the back.


    Of course, it didn''t need much when you considered the company it kept. Machine race warriors appeared next to it. I say "machine race warriors" because that''s still faster than referring to them as members of the "Shiny Searchers for Extra Value Meals Clan" or whatever it was.


    Anyway...


    I barely had time to think, "I wonder if they''ve noticed us?" when the machine race warriors changed course, aiming straight toward the building we stood on. Beams of white light lanced toward us. We had no time to move except that somehow Brittany and Brianna loosed one of their shields, its brightness blocking our view of the beams that probably would have burned half of us to a crisp.


    I sensed Daniel''s relief. I barely caught that one in time.


    Over the Defenders'' message stream, someone whose voice I didn''t recognize said, "We''re receiving reports of attacks all over the world. The spots we recognize are places where we know alien and Abominator technology were being studied or reverse engineered. The spots we don''t recognize are probably places we didn''t know alien tech was being studied or reverse engineered."


    It explained why they''d be in Grand Lake. Aside from the jet, HQ normally contained Cassie''s gun, and currently held the largely dismembered body of the machine race unit I''d taken apart.


    I wondered if Grandpa had kept any other Abominator devices in HQ. I wondered if the aliens had figured out where HQ was.


    Lim''s voice came over the speakers, "What''s your status?"


    Travis shouted, "Under attack," into his communicator as crashing noises came from below us. The roof near the front of the building sank, tearing in two, opening a hole into a room filled with old machines.


    The Sparkly Searchers must have blasted the building once they''d realized they couldn''t get around the shield--which was a great tactic on their part.


    I''d have appreciated it more if I weren''t one of the people on the roof though.


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    Speaking of which, as the roof began to buckle Travis shouted, "Everyone off!" He waved his hand toward the back of the building, and we followed his lead--not that anyone had been waiting. Half the group had already taken to the air.


    Better yet, the Aurora Bees had reshaped their shield into a dome and then into a sphere as we all went off the back. They''d even made the shield a little easier to see through. It glowed, the colors rapidly changing from one to another, but at least I could see through it.


    I might have felt a little better if I''d remained ignorant.


    The Sparkling Searchers of Silly String clan hadn''t stopped firing at us as we all went over the side. They''d flown after us, and were floating above us, hammering us with blasts of light.


    We''d landed behind the building, next to a bike rack, and the factory''s parking lot.


    Cigarette butts lay on the ground near the door.


    Brittany and Brianna stood in the middle of our group, standing back to back, not breaking a sweat, or even looking tired yet, but it didn''t take a rocket scientist to guess that they wouldn''t be able to keep it up forever.


    Furthermore, it didn''t take a brilliant tactician to realize that if we just sat here, we were all going to die.


    I opened a channel to Travis on my communicator, and said, "Use Storm King, and uh... Sean." I wasn''t going to call him the Power. Sure, he''d registered the name, but seriously, no.


    Travis glared at me from where he stood next to Daniel. Everybody seemed to be looking at him. "You''re interrupting me now," he began, and then said, "Wait, that''ll work."


    He held his left wrist next to his mouth, and tapped on it. "Who can hit outside the shield without opening the shield? We''ve got Storm King and the Power. Who else?"


    The Aurora Bees said, "We can."


    One of them (I wasn''t sure if it was Brittany or Brianna) said, "It''ll take power away from the shield."


    The other said, "But its better than no offense, and we do it all the time back home."


    Bloodmaiden said, "I can manage an illusion, but that''s all I''ve got on short notice."


    At the sound of her voice, Travis turned toward her. "The invisibility thing you made. It was right next to the building. Does it still work?"


    Bloodmaiden closed her eyes. "It''s still there. I think we could all fit."


    Travis shook his head. "We don''t need to. We need to be ready to take Stardock if Lim tells us to."


    He held his hands up in the air and waved for our attention. "Everyone, here''s the plan. We''ve got to get Jenny out of sight, and we''ve got to distract them," he pointed upward with his thumb, "enough that they don''t realize we did it."


    A chunk of the building above us broke off, and bricks fell on the shield, shattering and rolling down the dome. Travis glanced upward, but didn''t move. Most of the rest of us froze or stepped back--me too.


    "Here''s what we do," he continued. "Storm King and the Power attack the robots from in here. When I say the word, the Aurora Bees let the Rocket, Izzy, Patriot Jr., and Theo out. They''ll attack whatever bots are left, and tell us what the spaceship''s doing. Those of us who can''t fly will get out of sight. The Aurora Bees will shield the mobile artillery, and assist Patriot Jr.''s unit.


    "Once the robots are down, take cover. Don''t attack the ship unless it''s attacking you. If it is attacking you, and you think you can take it down, do it."


    I saw a few ways for this to go wrong. For one, I doubted that whatever was in the ship would sit around and do nothing once we took out the robots. He''d essentially committed us to taking out the spaceship and whatever it was carrying, but I didn''t have a better plan for the moment.


    We definitely couldn''t sit here and watch the bots slice through the shield.

 Stardock: Part 14

    "Ghost," Travis said, "get up there and observe. Let us know what you see."


    I made a mental note to shoot off a few of the observation roachbots when we got out from under the shield--which would be soon. Rachel faded out, her white costume turning transparent. The last I saw of her was an amused smile as she eyed Travis, reminding me of the Cheshire Cat--except that she wasn''t a cat, and I''d never been completely sure what Cheshire was.


    It sounded like it ought to be a place, but why would anyone name a cat after a place in the UK when it lived in Wonderland?


    Maybe it was Alice''s fault? I hadn''t read the book in a long time.


    The air above us crackled with energies that I didn''t have the right equipment available to study.


    Rachel''s voice broke through my distractions. "Night Wolf, they should go now. This is their best shot."


    Travis'' deep voice came over my speakers. "You heard her. Bees open it up, and let the group out. Patriot''s team, go!"


    Ahead of us, the multi-colored shield opened, and I lifted into the air, following Izzy, Patriot Jr., and Theo. In most of our training, the Aurora Bees had been with us, so all the stuff we''d practiced that depended on letting them take damage while the rest of us used them for cover no longer applied. On the other hand, the glass cannons would get the most use out of a shield anyway.


    We should have trained that way from the beginning. It just made more sense in a battle like this.


    Patriot Jr. shouted, "Take the fastest, tightest route alongside the shield, and open up with everything you''ve got!"


    That wasn''t a bad beginning. We''d done it a bunch of times in practice, but it showed Patriot Jr. wasn''t a complete idiot.


    Remembering what I''d thought earlier, I let out a few observer bots as we shot up the side of the shield. I don''t know precisely how quickly we were moving, but the last time I checked before we cleared the shield was more than four hundred miles per hour--faster than I could accurately aim at anything.


    Not that it mattered. I''d chosen my target before I''d left the ground, firing off a bot based on Cassie''s sword before I even cleared the shield (I''d made a lot since the last fight). It left, accelerating faster than I could, at least in the short term.


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    As I fired, Rachel''s voice came over the speakers, "Hit them but, don''t stop. They''re going to fire--"


    The observer bots came online, and an overall view of the situation came into my HUD. The machine race soldiers were pointing toward the building we''d been behind. The moment we came up to attack the robots hammering the Aurora Bees'' shield, the more distant ones would be able to open up on us.


    Time doesn''t stop though, and it definitely doesn''t stop for tactical revelations in the middle of a battle. That was a double edged sword, however, because we''d only accelerated since I''d checked our speed. It couldn''t make hitting us easier for them.


    We came over the domed shield in a blur, and above us, the machine race soldiers shattered. I''d only been able to see three above us with my naked eyes. The HUD showed me seven, outlining the additional four in a digital glow. As we cleared it, my roachbots found an additional four more.


    It didn''t matter. The seven immediately above us disappeared in a combination of roachbot missiles, Theo''s plasma blasts, Izzy''s massive sonic blasts, and whatever Patriot Jr. did that shattered anything directly ahead of him.


    Theo had been the real star of the show though. His blasts left at least three blackened, partially melted hulks.


    And that was great and all, but almost at the same time the machine race soldiers that floated between us and the alien ship started firing.


    Our momentum carried us away from the building faster than any normal human could have hoped to respond to. Unfortunately, they were machines, so their reflexes were considerably better than a normal human''s, especially if all we did was move in the same direction without evading.


    The sky around us became bright with beams of energy. We knew what to do, dip and weave, sink toward the ground, and fly behind other buildings. That didn''t stop them from hitting us. Alerts scrolled down my screen as a blast hit, but I stayed in the air. Near me, beams hit Izzy, and as they did, the air where the beams hit her seemed to turn into a mirror, but it may have been an illusion.


    Whatever the case, the laser beams bounced off her, little more effective than spraying her with water.


    We needed to try that sometime outside of combat. If I could replicate it for a suit, it would be incredible. Of course, it would also run down any batteries I had on me.


    For Patriot Jr., the air around him blurred, hiding him from the beams. I may have seen dirt in the whirling that surrounded him.


    I hadn''t thought of him as someone who controlled air, but that made the most sense given what I''d just seen.


    My helmet''s display showed each machine''s line of fire. We were all under attack, but I realized that at least five of them had targeted Theo.


    I don''t know how many beams hit, but he was on the outer edge of our formation, the one closest to them. As the barrage ended, and Patriot Jr. dived toward the back of a building, putting us out of their line of fire, Theo didn''t seem to notice.


    At any rate he didn''t start to turn when I did.


    Izzy noticed before anyone else, saying "Theo?" over the comm, and then swerving over to reach into the burning plasma that surrounded his arm, and pulling him in the same direction as the rest of us.


    We passed behind a big brick factory, one of the buildings around Stardock. Beams hit it, but didn''t topple it. Still, I thought I saw a fire start in the front.


    "Theo''s down," I said on our main channel.


    "Mmn okay," he grunted.


    He didn''t sound okay.

 Stardock: Part 15

    I''d noticed clouds forming since the fight started, and as I was about to press Theo on exactly how bad he felt, lightning erupted in front of the building.


    Travis had told the glass cannons (mobile artillery, if you wanted to be formal) to help us, and now they were. I''d have taken help earlier, but Daniel was in the group, and he''d probably been responsible for the timing. That meant that this was probably the best possible moment, whatever I might think.


    Thanks to my observation bots, I had three different perspectives available. All of them showed essentially the same scene.


    As our group dived behind the old factory to get out of the machine race soldiers'' line of fire, the remaining robots split into two groups, some of them heading for the building that we''d started at, and the rest spreading out as they aimed for our building. No matter what direction we turned toward we''d be in some robot''s sights.


    At least that''s the way it would have gone.


    As the groups began to split, and the group coming in our direction began to spread out, bolts of lightning struck everywhere, shattering pavement, and outlining the robots in bluish-white light. The sound of the thunder went on and on and on. I would have tried that old trick where you learn your distance from the lightning strike by counting the seconds between the lightning and the thunder, but they were practically simultaneous.


    The robots didn''t fall to the ground smoking. That would have been too easy, but they appeared to be in the same position as Theo. Instead of continuing along their paths, many drifted, traveling loosely in the same direction after the strike, but not as quickly. Some turned sideways, tumbling in the air.


    That wouldn''t have stopped them for long. A few leveled out, and began to aim toward their targets.


    Metal objects began to appear in the air, aiming for the machines. I-beams impaled a few. Cars and pickup trucks flew through the sky to smash into the robots'' sides. Old machines from the factories flew out the windows, taking out chunks of the frame on the way, hitting the robots.


    That wasn''t all.


    Ice appeared around one of the robots, growing in size until the whole mass fell to the ground. Then ice began to grow on another...


    The lightning didn''t stop either, and Vaughn added wind, blowing robots into each other in time to be surrounded by ice, or simply crushed when Jaclyn jumped into the air, smashed a robot to the ground and proceeded to flatten it in a blur of blows.


    In the face of all this, the spaceship that hovered over Stardock began to float upward. It wasn''t racing away, but within a few seconds it had clearly created some distance between itself and us.


    Could we actually have won?


    Near me, Theo was talking to Izzy. "I make a kind of... casing... around myself. It protects me from my own plasma... and just about anything else. When they hit me, I made more of it--more than I''d ever made before--so I''m not really hurt. See?"


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    Izzy gave a quick, indrawn breath, and Patriot Jr. said, "Shit."


    Looking away from my HUD, I noticed Theo''s right arm and side. In the first instant, it didn''t look bad at all. In the second, I noticed that the red costume had melted to Theo''s skin. Where I could see bare skin, it was white, sometimes brown, and leathery.


    The fact that he didn''t appear to feel pain did not bode well. On the other hand, he was conscious, and provided we could get him to Alex before he died of something, he''d probably be fine.


    Considering his powers, I imagined it wasn''t his first third degree burn.


    "The ship over Stardock is leaving," I said. "Alex, also known as Paladin, can handle this."


    I hoped he could. I wasn''t sure if I''d ever seen him heal anything this bad--though healing Lucas last year had been close. OK, come to think of it, it may have been worse.


    Over the Stapledon communicator stream, someone asked, "How badly is he hurt?"


    "Third, maybe fourth degree burns," I said.


    "Get him back here. You might as well all come back."


    Lim''s voice came over the comm. "Get him back, yes. Send one person back with him if you can. The rest of you should stay ready to fight."


    It was good that he was being cautious, but the spaceship was even further away now--hundreds of feet in the air or more. All the same, it wasn''t leaving at the fastest possible pace. It hung in the gray sky.


    I listened in on the Defenders channel. "Guardian''s taking care of the rocks. We''ll be back to Earth in an hour, maybe less if we''re lucky, and if Guardian''s not too tired. Knowing what''s going on on the ground, we''re scanning for a mothership. None of the spaceships sighted today operate solo."


    I''d kind of known that, but hadn''t had time to spend a lot of time thinking about it.


    While I''d been watching the rest of the team fight the robots, we''d landed behind the factory.


    We stood in a cluster next to Theo, and next to the factory''s grey brick.


    In moments, Jaclyn appeared next to us, slowing down, and resolving into a person instead of a purple and brown blur.


    "I''ll take him back," Jaclyn said. "We may need you to respond as a unit."


    I thought Theo might resist, but he looked down at his right arm, and shuddered.


    Jaclyn glanced down his body, and if she found the burns unnerving, she mastered her reaction before I noticed. "Can you fly?"


    Theo said, "A little. I''ll be fast enough."


    Nodding, Jaclyn said, "Stay low. I''ll be right next to you."


    Theo began to float, staying with Jaclyn as she ran back.


    I tapped into the Grand Lake Heroes League stream.


    Haley said, "It''s just floating above Grand Lake. What do you think it''s doing?"


    Chris Cannon''s voice came over the comm. "I don''t know. Scanning maybe? That''s what I''d be doing."


    An old man''s voice broke in. "Both of you, quiet! I''d be hacking into our communication system, and the more you talk, the better for them."


    I recognized the voice. It was Chris Cannon''s grandfather--Man-Machine. He was out of prison? He was helping?


    I glanced over the Heroes League''s list. Man-Machine appeared next to the Shift.


    How did I not know about this?


    Isaac Lim''s dot began to blink in my HUD. "We''ve got a transmission coming in. It''s being broadcast everywhere a spaceship appeared."


    Video appeared in a small box on my HUD. A man''s face appeared. Thick featured, with heavy brows, and a prominent jaw, he wore a black helmet with a transparent faceplate.


    I didn''t recognize the material.


    In the background, humans and aliens (I was pretty sure I saw a Hrrnna) stood at stations on what had to be a ship''s bridge.


    As the man in the helmet opened his mouth, I saw that he had a carnivore''s teeth--white, sharp and gleaming.


    His voice was a little scratchy, and his accent was unrecognizable but understandable.


    "You will give us the alien devices," he said. "They are not yours, and will only cause you trouble. Give them to us, and we will tell no one. Keep them from us, and we will burn your cities to the ground."

 Stardock: Part 16

    "Your governments have not told you everything about their fight with the Abominators. They have captured alien artifacts, and they try to understand them, but there is knowledge that you are not yet ready for, knowledge that will cause even ''friendly'' aliens to bombard your world until nothing lives.


    "Surrender these artifacts to us and nothing will tie them to you. Make it easy for us to take them away, and we will reward you.


    "I understand that not all of you realize that you are working on alien technology. I will make it easier. People at these locations are working with alien technology or working with people who do."


    Then he began to list addresses.


    I started the Rocket suit recording even though I felt sure that a host of government agencies, news organizations, and superhero fans already were.


    I had a bad feeling that we might have to visit those places in the near future.


    When the addresses ended, the man finished with, "Remember, the governments only care about power. We''re rebels and freedom fighters from all across the galaxy. We only care about keeping our ships in repair and keeping ourselves out of the authorities'' hands. We have no reason to lie to you."


    The screen faded to black.


    On the Stapledon channel, I asked Lim, "Can''t you tell people, ''don''t listen to this guy. He just tried to drop a bunch of rocks on us?''"


    Lim sighed. "It''s not that simple. The powers that be told everyone to evacuate, but they didn''t tell them it was because of aliens dropping rocks on the planet. I can''t contradict the official line.


    "Besides," Lim continued, "it''s not all that likely that anyone''s going to listen to the guy."


    "If anyone does," I began, but Lim interrupted. "Yeah, I know. One problem at time. Right now, Stardock. Do any of you see the mothership he talked about?"


    For our part, assuming that the mothership had to be here probably indicated some kind of national narcissism that assumed that the US had to be at the center of anything going on of any importance. On the other hand, Stardock might be the only place on Earth currently constructing alien spaceships, making it worth a visit.


    Izzy floated up into the air until she was above the factory. She stayed up there, scanning the sky from left to right and then floating back down.


    Nodding in the direction of the ocean, she said, "Something''s over there, and it''s big."


    "Ok," Lim said. "For now, all of you at Stardock need to wait and watch. Time''s on our side here. The moment Guardian and the Defenders take out all the asteroids, he can transport them to Earth. Then we''ll have the most experienced teams the planet has produced here to cover this. In the meantime, report if the aliens do something or look like they''re about to, and keep any of our people away from Stardock."


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    Over the comm, Travis said, "We''ve got it."


    Izzy landed next to me. With Theo and Jaclyn gone, and the Aurora Bees covering the glass cannons, that left only Izzy, Patriot Jr., and me.


    Even though only Theo had been hurt, we were down by half. While that didn''t make me feel scared, I didn''t feel good.


    Or maybe I hadn''t noticed that I was scared yet.


    Hey, Daniel said, you''re not completely alone. We''re close.


    It felt like the edge of his range, but it was close enough to talk. That was something.


    It is, he said.If nothing else, it''ll help us coordinate.


    I checked my observation bots. They couldn''t see anything special going on. The ship that had been floating above Stardock had stopped moving, and floated in the air a few blocks away.


    I pointed them toward the ocean where Izzy appeared to have seen the mothership. Nothing came through on the radar. I couldn''t say that surprised me.


    I knew that the aliens'' cloaking technology routed light around the object they were protecting. I''d just expected that there would be hints that I might see if I knew it was there.


    No such luck.


    At the same time, Izzy''s face lit up, and she opened her mouth, but then closed it. I''d probably done that a few times while talking to Daniel myself, but not recently.


    I wondered what they were talking about, but didn''t dwell on it too much. I didn''t need to know just like Daniel didn''t need to know what I talked to Haley about privately.


    Come to think of it, though, he probably did know.


    Patriot Jr., the only person who hadn''t been talking to Daniel telepathically in the last minute, stopped looking around, and turned to me. "Rocket, can you see anything through your bots?"


    "Nothing''s moving," I said.


    Except that in that moment Izzy moved. She lifted off from the concrete next to the factory and flew into the air.


    Even though it had gotten darker as we''d waited, there was still enough light for the observation bots to clearly see nothing in the direction she was looking.


    It bothered me, and not just for technical reasons.


    I gave fuel to the rockets and flew to the roof. I still couldn''t see anything more than what I had with the roachbots with straight visuals, but then I brought sonar in.


    I couldn''t fit it in the roachbots, but even if the range didn''t match the Rocket suit''s radar, it had its good points.


    From behind me, still floating in the air, Izzy whispered, "Do you see it?"


    I did.


    My display showed the scene ahead of me almost the same way I saw it with my own eyes--old brick, buildings below a darkening sky and the even darker ocean in the distance.


    The sonar made one significant addition--a blurry streamlined spaceship that dwarfed any of the buildings below it. While not large enough to be confused with a moon, it looked to me like it could contain more than twenty of the kind of spaceship we''d seen floating in the air above Stardock.


    Since it was sonar based, the screen displayed it in black, white, and many shades of gray.


    Choosing Stapledon''s channel, I said, "Mothership is moving toward Stardock. It''s cloaked."


    Izzy tapped her wrist communicator, and her dot flashed in my display. "I see it too."


    "Anyone else?" Isaac asked. Voices in the background of his connection chattered, and someone shouted.


    Travis'' bass voice broke in. "I don''t see anything, but I''m hearing something big."


    "Can you take it down?" Lim asked.


    For a tense moment, no one said anything.


    Then I said, "Maybe, but do you remember the last training exercise? The one that went horribly wrong with the ship? If we do a real life replay, we could take out several city blocks."

 Stardock: Part 17

    In my HUD, Sean¡¯s square started blinking. He wanted a private chat. Oh, great.


    I let him talk anyway.


    His voice came over the connection as a shout, or if it wasn¡¯t a shout, it had the tone of one. ¡°Are you trying to make me look bad?¡±


    I muted him. Then, thinking better of it, I cut our connection entirely. There was no way that conversation could go anywhere useful.


    Lim¡¯s voice, still calm and collected, came over the Stapledon channel. ¡°Then that¡¯s it. We blow Stardock. Everyone retreat through the portal that will open next to Flame Legion. Rocket, Aurora Bees, Patriot Jr., and Izzy¡ªyou¡¯re last. Also, Izzy, you need to pick a codename.¡±


    I glanced over to where she hovered next to the building. She said, ¡°I know.¡±


    She sounded polite, but her mouth twisted as she spoke. I wondered how many times she¡¯d heard it.


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°don¡¯t we have any more options? What about the other New York teams?¡±


    Lim said, ¡°Not really. The New York teams that have a chance of handling a ship like that are up in space. The rest are either helping evacuate or getting ready to fight whatever comes out of the smaller ships. Well, they were anyway. I¡¯m redirecting some of them at the addresses their leader mentioned in his speech.¡±


    That made a lot of sense. There had to be some way to take out the ship before it took Stardock, and proved what we were doing. Could Guardian open up a gate in front of one of the asteroids, and open it above the ship?


    He probably could, though I was pretty sure he wasn¡¯t clairvoyant. He had to be able to see the place he was opening up a gate to or have visited it. He¡¯d likely visited Stardock before, but if he hadn¡¯t, it would involve opening up multiple gates and essentially zooming in until he got close enough.


    Plus, it might be hard to gauge how much damage a given asteroid or piece of asteroid would do, and it would be even harder if the ship had shields. Given its size, that was more probable than not.


    Choosing wrong would mean that the ship would likely smash into New York City, probably killing a lot of people, evacuation or no. No matter how dangerous or how stupid it is, not everybody evacuates, some of them for good reason.


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    I decided not to mention it.


    In the air, a hatch opened on the lower half of the spaceship. Small, blurrier ships flew out of it, some of them flying toward the ship near Stardock, others spreading out.


    I would have told everyone what I¡¯d seen, but Izzy beat me to it. She started talking before the hatch finished opening.


    I only paid enough attention to hear the tone of her voice raise as it continued, finishing with, ¡°I don¡¯t know where they¡¯re going.¡±


    Lim barely let her finish. ¡°Rocket, are the ships that are spreading out going toward the addresses they just gave us?¡±


    ¡°Give me a second.¡±


    I¡¯d set the GPS to take the addresses as the suit recorded them. Comparing the routes the ships were taking to the addresses led me to say, ¡°All of them but two are headed toward addresses mentioned, but I¡¯m not at all sure where those two are going.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°I¡¯ve got a feeling it¡¯s important.¡±


    Agent Lim sounded amused, ¡°Me too.¡± In a more serious tone, he said, ¡°Rocket, Izzy, follow them, but grab a copy of Flame Legion to carry with you. The rest of us are going to assist as needed.¡±


    Travis¡¯ voice came over the comm. ¡°Agent Lim, we can do more than this. With a good plan, I think we could even take out the mothership. I¡¯ve got some ideas¡ª¡°


    ¡°No.¡± Lim didn¡¯t let him finish. ¡°I¡¯m in command of Stardock, but that¡¯s not my primary responsibility. My primary responsibility is to make this program work. We can replace Stardock. We can¡¯t replace people. Don¡¯t worry about seeing action. You¡¯ll see it. Rocket, Izzy,go!¡±


    We went. I recalled the observation bots as Izzy swooped down toward the dorm where everyone else stood out of sight. Or so I assume. It still glowed red to my eyes.


    I flew over there, staying low, hoping that that would be enough to keep me from coming to the aliens¡¯ attention. And yes, that was probably stupid, but I didn¡¯t have a lot of other options.


    Izzy flew upward, holding Jenny against her right side with one arm.


    Jenny¡¯s red costume covered her entire body, leaving no skin exposed, so I couldn¡¯t see her face. Still, the way her left arm wrapped around Izzy¡¯s back and clung hinted that this might not be the most comfortable trip she¡¯d taken.


    Setting a channel for Izzy, Jenny, and myself, I asked, ¡°Did you see where they went?¡±


    Izzy didn¡¯t slow down, and I accelerated to keep up with her.


    ¡°Barely,¡± she said. ¡°We might not lose them if we hurry.¡±


    I¡¯d known that I couldn¡¯t keep track of them while they were cloaked. They were too blurry even when they were nearby. Knowing that Izzy might lose them too was an unpleasant surprise as I¡¯d gotten the impression that her hearing had a massive range. Her grandfather¡¯s had.


    We hit more than five hundred miles per hour, causing the ground below us to blur¡ªhouses, apartments, shops and businesses turning into nothing but lights and vague shapes.


    We weren¡¯t going too quickly to miss Stardock when it blew though. The fireball shot straight into the air, turning into a mushroom cloud.


    They don¡¯t have to be nuclear.

 Stardock: Part 18

    I didn''t pay much attention to the explosion beyond noting that it happened. We were gaining on the ships ahead of us.


    I couldn''t say that for sure personally. All my HUD showed was the city at night plus blurry areas in the sky that looked very similar to the blurred areas in the sky that I''d normally see behind a jet or a truck.


    In short, it was probably the two cloaked ships we''d been chasing. Or, it was some kind of cloaked drone that generated a disproportionate amount of sound in an effort to to mislead us.


    That wasn''t impossible.


    "Hey, uh... super codenameless person."


    Jenny laughed. Izzy gave me a look.


    "You haven''t seen anything shoot away from the blurs we''re chasing?"


    Izzy stared ahead. "No. Did you?"


    "No. Just paranoid."


    As we talked, the scenery changed. We''d left New York as I''d always imagined it--a place with new and old skyscrapers, endless apartment buildings, and barely anyplace that hadn''t been covered with evidence of human life--and traveled further down Long Island.


    That''s what the GPS showed anyway.


    After a while, the houses became more spread out, sometimes I saw spots where there were trees--lots of trees. I half expected that if I flew lower I''d find neighborhoods beneath them, but the areas below us began to look like suburbs that you might find anywhere in U.S.--including Grand Lake.


    In the distance, it looked like there might be some kind huge nature preserve, which didn''t fit my stereotypes at all.


    I couldn''t see the area very well in the twilight, but that was the thing. Lights weren''t everywhere. Roads didn''t cover every spot that buildings didn''t.


    I didn''t catch a lot of details because we were traveling at near supersonic speed, but still.


    Granted, it was still Long Island, so matter what I saw ahead of me, a big highway ran below me, going through a town called Medford which had an identifiable Target next to a Sam''s Club.


    It also apparently hadn''t gotten the "Evacuate, you''re being invaded by aliens!" memo.


    Cars traveled down the highway, headlights glowing. Other cars traveled in and out of the stores'' parking lots.


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    To be fair, I can''t imagine people would expect aliens to visit this end of Long Island.


    Ahead of us, the ships slowed down and decloaked.


    Long, and rectangular, they''d reminded me a little of the troop transports I''d seen in documentaries of the D-day landing on Normandy Beach. It was a good instinct on my part because the front of each ship opened, and figures jumped out.


    Many were loosely human shaped even if they seemed too short, too tall, had massively wide chests, or bizarrely long, slender bodies. Also, a couple had wings.


    Others were recognizably alien. Several Hrrnna floated down, followed by a Xiniti.


    That was a shock. From what Grandpa Vander Sloot had told me, they never traveled in groups smaller than two. He''d said that they went mad when left alone.


    All of them wore powered armor. In the lighting, I couldn''t tell the colors on the armor, but I could tell that some suits were darker than others.


    They fell slowly from the ship.


    For a moment it surprised me that they weren''t more mobile than they were, but I remembered why. The Abominators'' standard designs didn''t allow anti-gravity to work very well for anything smaller than a van.


    I wasn''t sure why that was. I''d read Grandpa''s notes on gravity theory, and I couldn''t see any reason for a hard limit like that.


    One of these days I''d have to sit down and design my own version. Maybe when college was out for the summer?


    Surely I could do better.


    Izzy interrupted my thoughts by shouting, "Rocket, down!"


    She dove, and I followed, dropping below tree level, and very noticeably so. I barely had time to slow down before I flew into the trees. They weren''t huge trees, and this being early spring, they were bare of leaves.


    I turned around, and flew back toward Izzy and Jenny where they floated in the air. Inexplicably we were above a parking lot next to a small amusement park. From where I floated, I could see a race track, minigolf, and I thought I''d seen a huge pool on the way down.


    I loosed the observation bots to spy on the ships, and said, "What''s up?"


    "We needed to get out of sight." Izzy''s tone hinted at a fairly significant level of disbelief.


    "You''d spaced out," Jenny said.


    "Yeah," I said, "but galactic civilization''s standard anti-grav design has a pretty serious flaw. I''d bet that a better design would allow those guys to fly instead of giving them a controlled fall. The current one''s just that bad."


    Izzy stared at me.


    Jenny shook her head. "Don''t worry about it. He gets like this."


    I came back to myself. "Sorry, I''m not completely out of it. I did think to send out bots just now. They''re scouting out the area."


    Crap. I needed to get better about keeping my head in the game during combat. If I didn''t, it could lead to someone''s death--mine, or worse, Haley''s.


    I considered listening in on whatever Haley''s group was doing, but decided I didn''t need an additional distraction. Anyway, to judge from the display, they were all alive and busy.


    In my HUD, three views of the aliens appeared. A little further northeast, in the next clearing over stood a square office building. Where it wasn''t white, it had mirrored windows and doors.


    The alien ships floated above it, one above the other, each holding a commanding view of the ground below. I didn''t think the position would be as effective against attacks from the air, but they didn''t have much of a reason to fear attacks of any kind.


    Once the troops had jumped out, the ships had apparently activated the same kind of black shields the League jet used, or a variation on the same tech.


    One roachbot view showed a humanoid approaching the white building. It broke into a run, hitting more than ninety miles per hour as it aimed for the doors.


    When it reached the door, the humanoid burst into light. It stopped moving, and dissolved into dust in layers, starting with the powered armor, followed by its skin, muscles, internal organs, and bones.


    Whoever was inside the building had an entropy shield--Abominator tech.

 Stardock: Part 19

    It made me wonder who exactly was in that building. Finding Abominator tech wasn''t that hard if you knew where to look. There were a few well known archaeological sites. Well known to some people anyway--Grandpa being one of them. He''d been brought in to look at Abominator artifacts.


    Most Abominator tech found that way didn''t actually work though. To get working Abominator tech, you either had to get lucky like Cassie or whoever had originally found her gun, or get access to one of the Abominator caches found in various spots in the solar system.


    The other possibility is that you might find broken Abominator equipment and then reverse engineer or fix it, a somewhat unnerving possibility for a whole lot of reasons.


    Actually, there was one other possibility which was equally unnerving--that someone had enough interstellar connections to buy Abominator equipment.


    The Nine were an obvious possibility, as well as the government.


    I doubted that it was a government facility because I was pretty sure Lim would have said something. On the other hand, agent Lim wouldn''t know the location of every government Abominator research facility.


    I called him.


    A few taps with my fingers brought up his name, and one more made the call.


    He answered. The video feed showed that he''d changed out of his suit and into camouflage and a dark vest with the letters FBI in white, and a military style helmet.


    From the looks of his seat, and the moving background, he appeared to be riding in a vehicle, probably a hummer, through the city.


    "Rocket," he said, "what have you got?"


    "We''re currently at an amusement park called ''Boomers''. Nothing''s going on here, but in the next clearing over, the aliens just discovered that the office building there has an Abominator entropy shield."


    Lim took a breath. "That''s... not good. Are there hints who''s in there?"


    "No idea. Either someone who''s brilliant or someone with a lot of money. I was hoping you''d know."


    Lim shook his head. "Sorry. I''m not aware of anything that far down Long Island. I''m going to hang up and ask some questions. Don''t go in on your own, but be thinking about who you want. I''ll try to get them to you."


    Then he hung up.


    I sighed. The whole thing with asking for who I wanted? It assumed that I was leading some kind of raid on something.


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    I didn''t even know who I''d be helping. If the building over there belonged to the Nine and their people, you could make an argument that I''d be doing some good if I let the aliens destroy everything.


    It wasn''t an argument I believed, but who would want to help the Nine?


    I checked the roachbots'' view of the building next door.


    The aliens didn''t seem to have any better plan for handling the shield than I would have.


    They were spreading out on the lawn, probably so they couldn''t all be destroyed at once, getting no closer to the building than fifty feet.


    Given that their fellow soldier hadn''t been killed till he practically touched the building, it seemed like overkill.


    Over the comm, Jenny asked, "Hey Rocket, how are things going in roachbot land?"


    Jenny could have looked more comfortable as Izzy held her, but given the lightness of her tone, she wasn''t that badly off.


    "Could be better," I said, "but actually, not much is happening."


    I explained what I''d seen, and what Isaac had said.


    When I was done, Jenny said, "I don''t suppose we''ll be lucky enough that they''ll both destroy each other?"


    "That passed through my mind," I said.


    Izzy shook her head. "We''re going to have to go in. Is it really true that the Xiniti will have to destroy the planet if someone proves that we''re using alien technology?"


    I shrugged, or tried to under the armor. Guessing she couldn''t see the gesture, I followed it up with, "That''s what I''ve been told. I can''t say for sure either way."


    Ignoring my qualification, she floated closer to me. "But you understand what that means, don''t you? We can''t leave any of them alive. If we do, and even one of them gets back, and can prove what they''ve seen, the entire world dies."


    "No," I began, "that''s..."


    My voice trailed off as I thought about it. She was right. She wasn''t completely right because we could probably imprison them if we could capture them. Actually, if we handed them over to the Xiniti, we probably wouldn''t have to worry about them either because--


    I stopped, and thought about that.


    Because the Xiniti didn''t want to kill us. They''d probably execute every alien we handed over to them to avoid it.


    The Xiniti on the ground argued that something else might be going on. Either I was looking at a mad Xiniti or there were more on the ships.


    I could guess what that would mean, but I didn''t like it.


    I looked over at Izzy. "Crap. You''re right."


    Izzy said, "I don''t want to do it, but I don''t see any way we can avoid it."


    Jenny turned her head to look at each of us in turn. "I know."


    I thought back to the hangar. Lim had said so, but it hadn''t seemed as real then.


    In my HUD, a light flashed. I''d kept a window open to the roachbots, and that section of my screen had turned into nothing but unbearably bright light.


    Well, okay, bearably bright light because the suit toned it down, but still bright.


    I expected that Izzy and Jenny would start in with questions about what had happened, but they didn''t need to.


    The aliens had apparently decided to go with the, "Let''s run down the battery," approach to taking down the shield. They were firing the ships'' guns.


    Bright, white light rained down, making the ships the most visible objects in the sky. Sure, they were still mostly covered in dark black shields that hid their actual shape, but a black rectangle in the sky that fired streams of light couldn''t be missed.


    As it hit the building, the light turned that entire area into a light show.


    "Wow," Jenny said.


    Behind her, people began to run out of the park, and get into cars. Well, mostly. Some stopped to stare at the light and at us. Some pointed their cell phones at us.


    At first I couldn''t believe there were people in the park. I hadn''t even realized it was open. Except then I noticed the large building on the north side. They must have been in there.


    Lim''s icon began to blink in my HUD. I clicked on it, and he said, "You''re not going to like this."

 Stardock: Part 20

    Given that someone in that building was making competent use of technology created by aliens more evil than the ones trying to provoke genocide on us, it was hard to imagine any kind of good news.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The office building is owned by Blue Sky Labs, a small company owned by Dr. Valerie Griffin, an electrical engineer by training, but a specialist in alien artifacts for the last five years.¡±


    Lim didn¡¯t take a breath, continuing with, ¡°But that¡¯s not the bad part. She¡¯s got grants and investments from all over, ranging from businesses to the government. That¡¯s not a surprise considering what she¡¯s doing, but here¡¯s the bad part. The last time I saw any lab studying alien artifacts that was this well funded, it turned out they were being funded by the Nine. They didn¡¯t even know it.¡±


    Seeing the alien ships hammering the building¡¯s shield, I wondered if that meant that the Nine had their own version.


    If so, I hoped it wasn¡¯t portable.


    ¡°Whoever Dr. Griffin is, she¡¯s got a good understanding of how alien tech works.¡± I stared up at the ships, thinking that if we were going to attack, we¡¯d need to take them down first.


    ¡°Rocket, do you have a plan yet? I have other places that need my attention.¡±


    In the moment he asked the question, I didn¡¯t, and was about to say so when I realized I had something. I said, ¡°Kind of. I need Ghost, Storm King, Accelerando, Captain Commando, and ah¡­ Night Wolf, or maybe Tara?¡±


    ¡°Night Wolf and Tara are leading their own groups. Are you only looking for close combat fighters or would straight out power work? We¡¯ve got the Power and his buddies, also Bloodmaiden¡ª¡±


    ¡°Bloodmaiden,¡± I said, surprised at how loudly I said it.


    Isaac chuckled. ¡°Bloodmaiden it is.¡±


    Then he cut the connection, leaving me to wonder if I¡¯d done something dumb. On the face of it Sean, Dayton, and Jody would have added some necessary muscle. On the other hand, I needed to be able to trust people, and with Sean¡¯s belief that I was out to make him look bad, I couldn¡¯t trust him. He might try to get me back for things that had only occurred in his mind.


    Yeah, I thought, that sounded objective, and not at all like I didn¡¯t want to deal with him.


    Well, if nothing else, it showed that I could rationalize under pressure.


    Jenny¡¯s voice broke me out of my thoughts. ¡°Can you put me down? I need to be on the ground for this.¡±


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    Izzy landed on the parking lot and let go of Jenny. As she did, a hole opened in the air next to her. Bloodmaiden stepped out followed by Cassie, Rachel, Vaughn, and Jaclyn. I thought I saw Brooke (covered in her liquid, silver armor) in the background as the portal winked out.


    I wondered if I should have requested Daniel, but honestly, my plan didn¡¯t have a specific need for him. I¡¯d have been calling him in just to have him nearby.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the plan,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯ve got to take out the troop transport ships first, or we¡¯ll probably be targeted by their antipersonnel weapons.¡± Giving a nod to the shining inferno past the trees, I continued, ¡°I was thinking Ghost could float into one, and take out the engines. At the same time the uh¡­ code nameless woman,¡± Izzy rolled her eyes, ¡°could take out the other. Do you think you can? I think you¡¯ve got a chance at overloading the shield.¡±


    Izzy frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t know. If their shields are like your jet¡¯s¡ª¡°


    Bloodmaiden spoke through her hesitation. ¡°I can do it. As long there¡¯s something living on the other side, the spear will hit it.¡±


    I looked her in the eye. ¡°It¡¯ll go through the shield?¡±


    ¡°Like magic,¡± she drawled, her mouth hinting at a grin.


    Rachel laughed, and told me, ¡°You walked right into that.¡±


    I decided to leave it alone. ¡°Storm King, however they take out the ships, you¡¯ve got to get them away from the building, and crash them, preferably nowhere near civilians. There¡¯s an empty field past the office building. That might work.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°You got it, man. This is awesome.¡±


    Cassie glanced toward the light, and back to me. ¡°Think you¡¯ll be finished before it¡¯s over?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m almost done. When the ships go down, Accelerando and the superhero-formerly-known-as-Blue take out all the aliens with Captain Commando covering you from behind the trees. The rest of us should stay hidden, and come out if you need help, or if the Nine¡¯s people are inside the building.¡±


    Despite his mask, I could tell Vaughn had raised an eyebrow. ¡°Hope it¡¯s not Rook again. That guy¡¯s a real head case.¡±


    ¡°Fuck, yes,¡± Cassie said. Then she took a breath. ¡°The creepy bastard.¡±


    I checked in the direction of the office building. The branches of the trees that stood between that clearing and this one practically disappeared in the brightness.


    ¡°I guess we¡¯d better go. Oh, and Captain Commando, there¡¯s a setting on your new suit that looks almost exactly like your regular costume, but thicker and with more armor.¡±


    She was wearing the backpack.


    ¡°No kidding? I¡¯ll change in the forest.¡± Cassie stepped into the trees without even one look back. We all followed her.


    It was a good idea. We all needed the privacy. Even though standing next to superheroes in the middle of an alien invasion wasn¡¯t the smart, there were still people standing the parking lot with cameras.


    I caught up with Jaclyn, matching her stride, but only because she wasn¡¯t running.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking you should be field commander for this, not me. You¡¯ll be able to tell if you need help better than I will for sure.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Rocket, don¡¯t dump this on me. I¡¯ll take command of Izzy and Cap. That makes sense. You¡¯ll have a better overall picture with the bots and everything. Use it.¡±


    Maybe I would have argued with her then, but a loud crackling noise filled the air. I knew that noise. It sounded like an electrical short, but much louder.


    My HUD showed the bots¡¯ view of the situation. The troop transports had stopped firing, and became nothing more than flat, floating rectangular boxes.


    A long hole had been burnt straight down the front of the office building. It opened up all three stories, but was only a foot wide. It smoked all the way up and down. Small embers floated in the air.


    I¡¯d taken too long and this could screw up everything.


    Trying not to sound like I felt, I said, ¡°Okay everybody, remember what I told you? Ghost needs to go. Bloodmaiden throw your spear the moment she¡¯s successful. Everyone else, be ready.¡±

 Stardock: Part 21

    I didn''t need the observation bots to hear a familiar voice broadcast across the building''s clearing and into the woods.


    "Humans, evacuate the building and put down your arms. Listen to us, and we may leave you and your young ones alive. It''s more than you''ve any right to expect."


    The warm, tenor voice sounded human, but too perfect. Even if I hadn''t noticed, the Rocket suit pegged the voice as artificial.


    In fact, I''d recognized it as a very specific artificial voice--the leader (or at least spokesman) of the Hrrnna.


    He''d sounded nicer when we''d talked to him, but given that he had to have been responsible for killing the more peace loving Hrrnna on Earth, and he''d probably been behind providing the bombs that could have destroyed most of the human race...


    Well, given all that, he probably wasn''t very nice.


    Meanwhile, no one came out of the building.


    In the clearing, a group of eight aliens broke away from the main group and started walking toward the building''s front doors. None of them were Hrrnna, I noticed. Six legged, horselike aliens likely wouldn''t fit very well in small spaces.


    By contrast, the single Xiniti went along with seven humanoid aliens in power armor. The Xiniti wore liquid silver armor exactly like the armor I''d seen on Brooke--not that that was a surprise. Guardian had gotten Brooke''s armor from the Xiniti.


    "You have a remarkable command of the Abominators'' technology. I don''t think I''ve ever seen a primitive race with a such a knack for it.


    "That''s no compliment, creatures. The Abominators were a plague on all thinking peoples--except perhaps yours. Yours they changed into caricatures of the elder races and molded you into servants. I should feel sorry for you. You are as much victims as the rest of us."


    The voice stopped, but it sounded more like taking a breath.


    I quietly hoped he''d keep on talking long enough for Rachel to take his ship down.


    It would be amazing, and funny, in a way. He probably didn''t even know that taking a villain down at the end of his monologue was a cliche.


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    "Unfortunately," the perfect voice said, "I feel nothing for you, and I''m pledged to end your kind even if it means my death. Come out, Dr. Griffin. Bring your herd with you, and you will put off their death for another day."


    The voice stopped again, and I wondered how much longer he''d go.


    Not long, as it turned out. I could only assume he''d been reading TVTropes, or possibly the Evil Overlord List.


    The group of humanoids lifted their weapons, and with the Xiniti in front began to walk toward the front door.


    "This is your last chance," the Hrrnna leader said. "If you give me no indication that you plan to surrender, we will kill you all. It gives me no great joy to order the deaths of primitives or their young, but your planet gives shelter to the herd of those who slaughtered my people.


    "For this, we will leave our footprints in your skulls."


    As he''d talked, I''d noticed Cassie''s presence square blink off and then on. She wore her armor--in the Captain Commando setting. Like her regular costume, it was blue with a U.S. flag on the chest.


    If people weren''t observant, they might not notice the difference between that costume and her regular one on first glance. Instants later, they''d realize that no skin showed at all, and that she looked just a touch bulkier, and a little taller.


    I''d tried to keep her proportions the same.


    Cassie''s voice came over the comm. "We''re not going to let them kill kids. I say we stop them from going in, fuck the ships'' guns."


    "I''m trying to figure out how," I began.


    We hadn''t attracted any attention from the ship''s guns yet, but that was only because we hadn''t done anything. The moment we did, the ships would start firing, and they''d probably have some way to share targets. Then all the troops would start firing at us, and there were a lot of them.


    "Fuck figuring out how," Cassie said. "Sometimes you can''t think it through first."


    Jaclyn broke into the conversation. "I think we can do it if Izzy and I keep moving. Captain Commando, if you want to be a part of it, you''ll need to stand away from everyone else, or they''ll all become targets. Look, I''ll tell you when to start firing."


    "Yeah?" Cassie sounded like she wanted to argue.


    She didn''t get the chance. The humanoid soldiers spoiled it. The Xiniti pointed his arm at the transparent doors, and they shattered.


    A woman appeared. Dark haired with light brown skin, she wore a grey sweatshirt that said "Fordham University" in red letters under a drawing of a bull. Also, blue jeans.


    She wasn''t alone. A boy and a girl held her hands, and a man walked next to her. He was red haired, and walked stiffly.


    Men, women and children walked behind them. All of them wore clothes that looked like they''d been planning to spend Sunday night at home with the family instead of with alien technology.


    "I''m Dr. Griffin," the woman in front said. She let go of her children''s hands.


    "I''m in charge of this lab. Your business is with me."


    She stepped over the shattered remains of the doors with her hands in the air.


    One of the humanoids grabbed her by the throat, its armored fingers surrounding her neck.


    The Hrrnna''s translator said, "For taking responsibility for your people, you have my respect. Your death will be quick."


    Maybe it would have, but a burning light came from Cassie''s bluish-green gun, and the humanoid''s armored head exploded.

 Stardock: Part 22

    Fortunately for Dr. Griffin, most of the spray went to the soldier''s side, splattering everyone to his right.


    Predictably, all the soldiers pointed their weapons at us, and began to fire back. Laser and plasma blasts shattered branches, started small fires, and with a thunderous crack destroyed the trunk of a tree.


    It fell over.


    None of us were in its path, but it was hard to miss seeing bits of wood fly everywhere, some of them burning, followed by what was left getting caught in the branches of other trees three quarters of the way down.


    We didn''t stand still. Cassie and I both dropped to the forest floor during the initial barrage of fire. After all, I didn''t know how well my armor protected against plasma blasts.


    Through my HUD, I could see everyone move. Jenny had split off into three more of herself, scattering as beams of light hit near her.


    Vaughn moved away from all of us, staying near the edge of the woods, but not too near.


    That was a good thing. I doubted his costume could stand up to alien weapons.


    Jaclyn and Izzy had both launched themselves into the fight as per my plan. Of course, my plan had assumed that Rachel and Bloodmaiden had taken out the troop transports above us.


    I didn''t want to find out what kind of anti-personnel weapons they had in place.


    The observation bots saw Jaclyn only as a blur, and the effects of her passing. The group of humanoids in front of the building flew backwards, each taking flight in a slightly different direction, sometimes colliding in the air.


    They reminded me of bowling pins.


    Izzy took the outer ring of power armored combatants, a group with a much wider array of creatures--Hrrnna, and more humanoids, one of whom stood at least twelve feet tall.


    In instants, the nearest five were rolling across the lawn, guns flying out of their hands.


    The sixth was the twelve foot tall guy. Like Jaclyn, Izzy was little more than a blur, but in her case, a flying blur.


    The giant reached out quickly enough to grab her right leg, and slam her into the lawn, firing missiles at her all the while--not that I could see it in detail. For me it was a blur of action and explosions.


    Worse, the group Jaclyn had fought began to get up--not all of them, but enough. I didn''t know if this meant that despite what Lim had told us she wasn''t trying to kill them, or more frighteningly, if it meant that their armor could stand up to her blows.


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    Her voice came over the comm, "Cap? Rocket? Help?"


    "I''ll help Jaclyn," Cassie said, and pushed herself off the forest floor to run closer, gun in her hand.


    Anything strong enough to hold Izzy was several times stronger than the Rocket suit. The EMP bots and using sound to break a device were both inconsistent on alien technology. That left me with deadly choices only--the suit''s laser and the "cut through anything" bots.


    I didn''t like where that left me, but Lee had always told us to think about the circumstances under which we were willing to kill. I''d always thought I''d be willing to do it if it was necessary to save my life or others'' lives.


    This qualified.


    That meant that I armed the bots with full knowledge of what I was doing, and fired them off.


    Izzy lay on the ground. Black smudges appeared even on the blue parts of her costume. So, something was getting through her shield. She wasn''t dead though.


    Even as I raised my arm, she moved her leg.


    The giant aimed a plasma rifle at her, and I fired. The bot flew through the forest, dodging trees, and flying into the clearing.


    It entered the giant''s armor through the side, barely even slowing as it hit. Then it exploded.


    The helmet''s faceplate cracked. Gouts of flame and smoke shot out of the joints. The giant fell over.


    Izzy pushed off the ground, and punched an armored Hrrnna, one of the group that had run up while she''d been on the ground.


    The punch bent the armor around the Hrrnna''s neck, and it fell over.


    I barely had time to process it when the world went white. My helmet, shoulders, and upper chest all felt uncomfortably warm.


    The helmet adjusted, and I realized that all the trees around me were burning, and that the branches above me had turned into grayish-white ash. One of the ships must have turned whatever beam they''d used to attack the building''s shield on me.


    Knowing I needed to move before they did it again, I ran, watching the error messages run down the HUD. I ran the opposite direction from where Vaughn stood.


    I desperately hoped he was prepared for the moment Rachel took down one of the ships.


    The sooner that happened, the better. Judging from the error messages, the suit''s armor would be about 70% normal effectiveness when it finished repairing itself.


    I didn''t want to get hit like that again.


    My HUD showed that Cassie had fired again. A burning white light speared one of the aliens near Jaclyn, and it fell over.


    Cassie had killed a... whatever it was, and so had I.


    You could argue I''d already done it. The machine race soldiers had been sentient, but whatever we were fighting now was biological. That felt more real.


    The explosion inside the giant''s suit replayed inside my head. I''d done it, and it had been so easy. I wasn''t sure I even felt bad about it.


    Did that say something about me? I didn''t like it, if it did.


    On the other hand, it might be that whatever I felt about it would catch up with me later, preferably when people weren''t trying to kill me.


    Another blast of light came down from the transport ships, this time toward Jaclyn even though she was in the middle of the ship''s soldiers.


    It burned the grass around them into ash, but the ship''s soldiers? They were still there, and still fighting.


    Jaclyn though? Her purple suit appeared to be discolored, even burned where the light had hit.


    She swayed, possibly dazed by the light and heat, and one of the soldiers fired a blast of light into her stomach at point blank range.


    She didn''t go down. She blurred, and her punch sent the soldier back fifty feet.


    I had to admit that it had been amazing, but if it kept up like this, we''d likely lose.

 Stardock: Part 23

    Of course, if I stood there and worried about whether or not we''d lose, we probably would.


    Instead I decided to help Izzy. Hiding among a new group of trees, I held out my arms and fired off a few more "killbots." It seemed like a good enough name for bots that would cut through armor and then explode.


    If I was honest with myself, they weren''t good for much else.


    Well actually, they might be useful for mining--not that I was planning to do any.


    The bots stayed together at first, and then spread out as they neared their targets. I''d aimed for armored figures in the outer circle that had been firing at Izzy from a distance.


    Something in the suits must have noticed the bots because the suits changed color, turning from dull gray to reflective silver.


    It made no difference.


    The bots chewed through armor like it wasn''t there, and then exploded. All three soldiers fell over, still burning.


    Izzy downed six more in the same time, all of them bent by the force of her punches.


    Jaclyn and Cassie seemed be doing as well as we were, and the soldiers appeared to know it. They''d begun slowly backing away from us while letting loose a barrage of fire--in my direction mostly. Izzy was too close to their own people when she was slow enough to target, and too quick to aim at when she was in between fights.


    I stayed low, and ran forty feet to the right, stopping behind a new group of trees.


    My armor wasn''t as stealthy as I wanted it to be, or the people in the ship were better at guessing my position.


    White light surrounded me again, and I heard the trees crackle.


    I began to run, but then the light and heat changed direction, swinging away from the woods and across the lawn, burning the grass.


    That wasn''t the worst of it, at least not for them.


    There were two troop transports floating above us, and the top one was rolling in the air while drifting lower. The black force field that surrounded the ship was gone revealing the dull gray ship I''d seen earlier.


    As the ship rolled, the white beam slid across the black force field of the troop transport below it. It didn''t do any damage. The light disappeared into the ship''s shields, but that wasn''t all.


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    As Rachel''s voice came over the comm saying, "One down. Your turn, Bloodmaiden," a spear flew up through the air, the edge of its blade glowing blood red.


    Flying toward the front of the transport, it disappeared into the force field, and then reappeared as it came out of the top, the whole blade glowing red now.


    Then it turned around, gathered speed, and flew through again, coming out the bottom glowing even stronger. In fact, it seemed to be dripping glow.


    The building stood between me and where Bloodmaiden stepped out of the forest, but the spear flew down toward her, and I assume she caught it.


    I''d seen her do it in training.


    Now though, both of the ships had begun to fall, the top one more quickly than the bottom.


    "Storm King?" I asked over the comm.


    "Look, I know," Vaughn said. "I''m trying!"


    With that, I paid more attention to the sonar version of the display in my helmet. It showed that strong air currents that flowed above the ground blew toward the ships. The air currents grew stronger by the second.


    Soon, I didn''t need the sonar to know it was happening. The winds shook the trees, and the roaring noise made me think of freight trains and tornados.


    It struck me that we might have been better off if I''d told Vaughn to call up the winds, and blow all the alien soldiers into the woods at the beginning of the fight.


    Knowing that Vaughn didn''t have anything resembling fine grained control of his powers argued that there might have been horrible side effects of that, but I didn''t have time to pursue that line of thought.


    Even as I stared, the transports began to fall, the top one hitting the bottom one, causing them both to tumble in the air.


    Vaughn didn''t lose control. He could have, and had in the past. The troop transports weighed tons--literal tons, not figurative tons.


    This being Vaughn, control was relative. The troop transports didn''t hit the ground in the clearing, accidentally bump each other and send one crashing into the building, killing everyone we''d tried to save.


    That was the good news.


    The troop transports actually did tumble through the air, hit each other, and tumble into the trees at the far side of the clearing--the one furthest from the building.


    I''d been hoping Vaughn would send them over the trees, and into the open, grassy area on the other side.


    Well, whatever. The ships were down.


    Did that mean that the Hrrnna leader had gone down with them, or could he possibly be in the main ship, observing what happened here from a distance?


    I decided not to think about it. I didn''t have enough information to know yet.


    I turned on the Rocket suit''s PA. "Surrender. There are no ships coming to help you. You can''t win against us now. Don''t fight, and you''ll at least get to keep your lives."


    I wondered if they knew English, or at least had a decent translator.


    "Drop your weapons so that we know you''re serious." Then I stopped talking and watched them.


    There weren''t many left--less than ten. Only two stood next to Jaclyn. Four more stood in the field--one Hrrnna, and three humanoids.


    The Hrrnna ran. It had no chance of going through the trees with it''s size, but the driveway was wide enough.


    Jaclyn took a step toward it, but even as she did, Bloodmaiden''s spear shot through the air, hitting the Hrrnna in the back, and flying out the front without in any way damaging the armor.


    The blade''s blood red glow only grew stronger, and when Bloodmaiden stepped out of the woods to grab it, her armor glowed more strongly too.

 Stardock: Part 24

    Through my observation bots, I watched Bloodmaiden take to the air. I knew she could fly, but from her motion, it looked more like she''d jumped. One leg bent in a step, and the other straight, her pose reminded me of early Superman comics, and how Jaclyn jumped.


    If she used her ability to fly to cushion her landing, I didn''t notice it. Her boots sank into the ground next to Jaclyn.


    She''d jumped over the building. I knew she wasn''t this strong normally.


    All the surviving soldiers stared as Bloodmaiden started talking in a harsh, consonant filled language that they obviously understood. I''d never heard it in my life.


    One of them replied, and let his rifle fall to the ground. The rest began to follow his lead.


    Bloodmaiden smiled. Her teeth were pointed like a carnivore''s--very similar to Haley''s when she transformed. "They''ve surrendered."


    "Good," I began, but then I realized that I couldn''t see the Xiniti''s body on the ground. I thought about where it could be, and knew that it had to be inside the building.


    Worse, if it wanted to, it had had time to kill everyone inside by now. I felt sick.


    What could I do next? I needed to know if they were dead or not. I needed Rachel, or no, wait, another observation bot.


    A bot would be faster.


    I fired one off, but it didn''t matter. A silvery blur rushed out of the front door, stopping in front of Bloodmaiden, swiping across her abdomen with one silvery arm.


    I didn''t see its hand connect, but blood flew through the air, spattering the ground in front of her.


    She fell over, bleeding through slices in her armor.


    The Xiniti turned toward Jaclyn before I even realized that Bloodmaiden was falling. I couldn''t give her any warning. I had no time to think, hope, or fear what would happen next.


    All I knew was that Jaclyn became a blur of purple and brown, and the Xiniti found itself flying backward across the clearing. It hit a tree, cracking the trunk.


    At that point, you''d have expected it to be dead, but it stood up, and blurred again, running toward me.


    I probably wouldn''t have had time to respond except that I''d fired off five killbots when I realized that it was getting up. As I did, I worried that I was wasting bots, but the feeling didn''t last.


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    The Xiniti slowed and started jerking from right to left, backwards and forwards, but still managing to cover half the distance between the trees and building in less time than I would have.


    It was dodging the bots, or at least it seemed to be.


    Replaying its last run showed that its movements became more erratic as the bots got closer and closer and its escapes became a nearer thing.


    Even in slow motion, I wasn''t sure how it avoided some of them. It seemed to slide between them, but how do you do that when three of the five appear to be just about ready to enter your body?


    I don''t know how it died.


    Dodging must have slowed it down enough for Cassie to get it in her gun''s crosshairs. So, at the same moment a ball of flame exploded out of its side, a white beam pierced its head.


    It fell, turning into barely recognizable silvery goo, and burned biological fragments.


    I stared at it, waiting for something. I didn''t know what. Maybe I couldn''t quite believe it was dead. Maybe I needed a moment to process all that had happened in the brief time it had fought.


    Grandpa had told me that the Xiniti normally lived and fought in packs. I didn''t like thinking how this fight might have gone if there had been even one more of them.


    I couldn''t say I found the way it disappeared when the fight started particularly impressive though. The observation bot I''d fired off showed that Dr. Griffin''s family and staff were still alive, so it hadn''t decided to simply kill them.


    Bolting could be something Xiniti typically did during an attack, or maybe it was something Xiniti operating alone did?


    As I decided that I''d be best off figuring it out later, Bloodmaiden spoke over the comm.


    "Rocket?" Her voice sounded weak and raspy. "I need help."


    I turned toward her. She held her hand over the slices the Xiniti had made in her armor. She seemed to have gotten at least partial control of her bleeding.


    Blood wasn''t flowing from the wound. Red lines glowed across the plate armor that covered her abdomen.


    She''d need a lot of help. Damaged abdominal muscles would make it hard to breathe, and the intestines behind them held a lot of things that you never wanted to make it out of your intestines.


    I called Agent Lim.


    "Bloodmaiden''s down," I told him as he answered. "We''ll need to get Paladin over here or send her to him."


    Indistinguishable voices ran on the background of Lim''s connection, "How bad?" His voice sounded distant, distracted.


    Trying not to say it loud enough for Bloodmaiden to hear, I told Lim. "I''d bet it''ll kill her. I don''t know how soon."


    "Shit," Lim muttered. "She''s not the only one either. Portal will open up a gate to your Jenny, and we''ll bring her through."


    "We''ve also got prisoners." I glanced over at Izzy and Jaclyn. Having taken the soldiers'' weapons, they stood on opposite sides of the group. The prisoners lay face down on the ground.


    Cassie had come out of the woods, and after she''d taken a look at the Xiniti, she''d joined the rest of us.


    "Prisoners?" Lim didn''t sound distracted at all. "How did you manage that?"


    "I think they lost a lot of confidence after we took the ships out. Plus, I''m guessing Bloodmaiden can speak the language of anything she kills, so she translated."


    "No kidding," Lim said. "We don''t have any official cells, but we''ll figure something out. NYPD''s got more metahuman containment cells than any other police department in the country."


    Some kind of noise rumbled in the background of the connection. Was it static? An explosion?


    "Sorry," Lim continued, "I''ve got to go, but take a break while you''re waiting for Portal, and find out what Griffin and company were working on."


    "Sure," I said.


    Lim hung up.

 Stardock: Part 25

    I spoke over the comm to Bloodmaiden. "Lim''s going to send Paladin here. That or he''s going to bring you to Paladin. Either way, you''re getting help soon."


    "Thanks." It was a little hard to make out the word.


    Switching away to our general channel, I addressed everyone. "Could someone make sure Bloodmaiden''s comfortable?"


    "I''m better off than you think," she said.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her push herself up into a sitting position on the brown grass. She gave a little gasp as she became fully upright.


    Jaclyn turned her head away from the prisoners on the ground to look at her. "Don''t do that. You''re only making things worse."


    Bloodmaiden shook her head. "I''m not. I can still fight. I''ve got lots of power to work with right now. I can''t heal myself, but I can preserve myself... long enough."


    Then she pulled herself to her feet.


    Jaclyn stared at her. "You''re crazy."


    Bloodmaiden shrugged, and said in a low voice, "You''re hurt too."


    Glancing over at the door to the building, Jaclyn said, "Not as badly as you."


    She''d noticed the same thing that I had--everyone was coming out of the building now.


    It would have felt a little strange walking past Bloodmaiden as she lay on the ground, and making conversation with these people, but since she wasn''t... I walked across the grass toward Dr. Griffin.


    She blinked as she noticed something behind me. Using my HUD''s extended peripheral vision, I noticed Cassie walking toward where Jaclyn and Izzy guarded the prisoners. Cassie had her hand on the gun.


    Dr. Griffin watched the gun, and then asked me, "Is that what I think it is?"


    Lacking a better response, I said, "I don''t know."


    She noticed the Xiniti''s body, and the silvery armor lying on the grass. She didn''t say anything about that. In her place, I would have been hoping that we''d neglect to collect it before we left.


    "So," I asked, "what did the aliens want with your lab?"


    She turned away from the dead Xiniti, and said to me, "We research alien artifacts. I''m surprised you didn''t know that. We don''t advertise it, but we''re not trying to keep it secret either."


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    "I saw the shield," I said.


    She deflated. "It was a desperation move. We knew it was a shield, but we didn''t know what it did. I don''t know exactly where it came from. One of our donors had access to it and said we should take a look at it. It was so close to working that we barely had to do anything. We figured out how to turn it on last month. We''d been hoping to start reverse engineering it soon."


    She looked at her building, and at the gap in the wall that one of the ships'' beams had burned from the top of the second floor to the ground.


    "We won''t get the chance now. They destroyed something inside it when they were shooting at us."


    She stopped, looking back toward her husband. He was holding the two children''s hands, and talking to them.


    One of them, a girl, waved at us. The boy nodded at something his father said.


    Dr. Griffin turned back to me. "I can''t believe we all almost died. I got a call from one of our supporters in the National Science Foundation, and he said that we should hide, and if we had any way to hide the artifacts, we should hide them too."


    I nodded. "And thus the shield."


    She took it as permission to continue talking. "We were so lucky. If he''d never called, they would have been able to take everything before you even arrived."


    I thought about that. How lucky was it? Could it simply be chance, or had the Nine supplied them with an Abominator shield knowing that they''d likely be able to fix it, and use it against a threat? Plus, how likely was it that they''d be called with a "just in time" warning?"


    Not very likely, I decided. Even if someone in the NSF did know someone in the FBI, there wasn''t much of a chance that they''d be told about an attack by aliens soon enough to do anything about it.


    No, most likely her contact had something to do with the Nine. Ditto the donor with the entropy shield generator.


    Did she know it? I doubted it. She''d have done more to hide the connections at the very least. Of course, it could be that she had hidden them, and told me complete lies.


    Still, from what I''d seen of her, that seemed less likely.


    I decided not to worry about it, but realized that if she wasn''t knowingly involved with the Nine, someone had better tell her who her research was ultimately serving.


    Well, maybe. Come to think of it, the Nine were probably keeping tabs on her 24/7. Any member of her staff could be one of their operatives.


    Of course, now that she''d come to the attention of the Hrrnna, and the Feds, who knew what would happen next?


    I could guess. The Feds would want to impound everything, and the Nine''s operative would want to sneak the best stuff out.


    Crap. How had this gone from battle to intrigue?


    Dr. Griffin cleared her throat. I must have spaced out noticeably.


    Before I could say anything, Vaughn walked up, and waved at the kids. The kids waved back.


    Giving both Dr. Griffin and I a grin, he said, "Sorry about how useless I was after I moved the ships. I had to catch my breath, and the next thing I knew the Xiniti was running everywhere. I''d have helped but you were all too close together for a lightning strike."


    "Storm King?" Dr. Griffin held out her hand and Vaughn shook it. "I can''t say I expected to see the Grand Lake Heroes League here."


    Vaughn smiled again. "It comes with the job. We didn''t expect to be here either, but people needed help, so we''re helping."


    Dr. Griffin pointed at Izzy, and Bloodmaiden. "Are they new members?"


    "No," I said, "just friends of ours."


    The Stapledon Program was supposed to be secret too, but how secret could it be after all this?

 Stardock: Part 26

    Reminding myself that the Stapledon Program¡¯s secrecy wasn¡¯t really my problem, I decided to concentrate on what was my problem¡ªBlue Sky Lab¡¯s current projects.


    Isaac Lim had asked me to find out what they were, and intentionally or not, Dr. Griffin hadn¡¯t answered my question about that. I hadn¡¯t asked as directly as I might. I could change that.


    As I was about to ask, Jenny¡¯s voice sounded inside my helmet. ¡°Brooke¡¯s sending the prisoners to their cells. Stand back.¡±


    I turned my head toward where Izzy, Jaclyn, and Cassie stood over the prisoners. Jenny stood a short distance away, acting as Brooke¡¯s eyes no doubt. I didn¡¯t know what they planned to do about the prisoners¡¯ powered armor, but that wasn¡¯t my problem.


    All the same, working armor would make it way too easy to escape, but no armor meant that communicable diseases could be passed along.


    One by one, darkened ovals appeared under each prisoner in turn. When the grass disappeared, each prisoner fell out of sight, and the grass became visible again.


    Dr Griffin stared. ¡°Do you have a teleporter?¡±


    Vaughn grinned. ¡°You could say that, but she¡¯s a person, not a device.¡±


    ¡°Dr. Griffin,¡± I said, ¡°could you show me the labs? I need to know what we¡¯re protecting here.¡±


    She blinked, turning away from Vaughn to look at me, and saying, ¡°Of course. I think we might have lost the lights in a couple rooms when we were hit, but those were only offices.¡±


    Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have interrupted like that, but she seemed okay with it.


    Vaughn and I followed her toward the front door, and she stopped next to her husband. He stood near the front of the staff members, still talking with the boy. The girl was a few steps away and was animatedly discussing something with one of the other girls in the group.


    Talking quickly and quietly, she said, ¡°They want to see the lab. You¡¯ll have to watch the kids a little longer.¡±


    The Rocket suit made the audio a little louder and clearer than it would have been on its own.


    I hadn¡¯t paid much attention to her husband before that moment. He appeared to be in his early forties, with a square face, and red hair. He''d been on one knee as he talked to the children, and rose carefully. I couldn¡¯t tell much about him from his clothes. He wore a red winter coat, and jeans. It didn''t stand out much from the rest of them.


    In a low voice, he said, ¡°Are you sure? The contracts we signed don¡¯t allow us to show much of anything to anybody.¡±


    She glanced back at us, and said, ¡°Do you think we could keep them out?¡±


    He didn¡¯t say anything. That wasn¡¯t true of everybody. A twenty-something guy wearing a brown, corduroy suit coat under an open trench coat said, ¡°Dr. Griffin, they could take away all the best artifacts and destroy¡ª¡°


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    At her look, he stopped talking, and put his hands in his pockets.


    I didn¡¯t see a telltale bulge in either pocket, and decided he just wanted to keep his fingers warm. Still, it might be worth watching him. I wondered why he was more formally dressed than the rest of them. On the one hand, layered clothing like his could conceal gadgets or weapons. On the other hand, he might just as easily have been planning to attend an evening church service.


    The thought that he might have a gun reminded me of something else. ¡°Captain Commando, we¡¯re going inside, and we might need your help.¡±


    Cassie opened up a private channel to me, and asked, ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°In case the artifacts are talkative?¡±


    She snorted and said. ¡°Great. That¡¯s what I need¡ªmore Abominator tech in my head.¡±


    All the same, she turned away from Jaclyn and Izzy, and joined us.


    Jaclyn held her comm to her mouth and opened up a connection on our group channel, ¡°Rocket, you¡¯re forgetting something.¡±


    I said, ¡°Uh, what?¡±


    ¡°Since the fighting¡¯s over, the prisoners are gone, and you¡¯re about to tour a lab, you should tell the rest of us whether we¡¯re available to help other groups, or what we should be doing here.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I thought about that. This was another example of why Jaclyn should be in charge, and not me. I¡¯d never even thought about what everyone else should be doing. I was only thinking about the lab.


    ¡°Okay then, you guys¡ª¡°


    ¡°Guys?¡± Jenny said.


    Right. Vaughn and I were the only guys here. I kept on going.


    ¡°¡ªshould stay and make sure the people are safe, but if Lim really needs someone, go. Oh, and make sure Bloodmaiden doesn¡¯t bleed to death before Paladin gets here.¡±


    Cassie laughed as I said the last part. Bloodmaiden didn¡¯t look as bad as she had. The spots where her armor had been punctured still glowed, but she stood next to Jenny, spear in hand. She wasn¡¯t using it to hold herself up either.


    Bloodmaiden gave me the finger, but smiled a little as she did.


    With that Cassie, Vaughn, and I followed Dr. Griffin into the building. It looked like almost any office building anywhere¡ªflorescent lights, off-white walls, dark carpet and a complete absence of any personality.


    Dr. Griffin led us down the hallway. ¡°I missed what you were all laughing about.¡±


    ¡°Nothing much,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Just stupid stuff.¡±


    Opening a comm connection to Cassie, I told her, ¡°Tell me if you sense anything,¡± as quietly as I could.


    Cassie only said, ¡°Duh.¡±


    We passed the doors of several offices. Dr. Griffin didn¡¯t stop for any of them, and Cassie didn¡¯t say anything. From that I guessed that if the researchers did keep alien artifacts in their offices at least they weren¡¯t charged.


    We came to the end of the hall, and the passage turned right, ending in two, windowless metal doors.


    Dr. Griffin ran a card across a black pad on the wall, typed in a code, and waited. Something inside the door clicked, and she pulled a door open.


    We followed her in. We were on the far end of a large room. By large, I mean it was as wide as the building if only half as deep. Granted, the building wasn¡¯t huge, but the room used up half of it.


    I didn¡¯t recognize half the equipment. The computers and microscopes were obvious. I thought I recognized some machines used in metallurgical research.


    Scattered among the desks and equipment, the counters and a few refrigerators, were safes, some of them taller than I was. I supposed that that would make it easier to put away an object you were studying.


    That wasn¡¯t all of it though. In the middle of the room stood a piece of equipment that I almost recognized. When we¡¯d rescued Cassie from Rook¡¯s hideout, we¡¯d destroyed a series of tanks that had been artificial wombs. Rook had probably intended to clone Cassie, and create a clone army able to operate Abominator devices. That or isolate whatever DNA made that work for her, and insert it into lifeforms of his own choosing.


    This artificial womb held twenty roughly human sized tubes, each made from some kind of transparent substance. I didn¡¯t think it was glass. The canisters stood in a base made of a grayish-blue substance that glinted like metal in the light.


    I didn¡¯t recognize it, or the language of the writing on it either.


    I did have a guess as to what I was looking at though. It looked a lot like the object the League had destroyed when it found Cassie, and prevented Dr. Mind from creating an army.


    The Nine appeared to have found an Abominator birthing and genetic modification suite.

 Stardock: Part 27

    In moments like that, you can play it cool, or drop all pretenses, and say exactly what you¡¯re thinking. Professional spies could likely have managed the former without effort.


    I stopped, staring at the artificial wombs. Dr Griffin couldn¡¯t have noticed the staring through the Rocket suit¡¯s helmet, but she noticed that I stopped.


    ¡°I know,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s amazing. We don¡¯t know where it came from. We got it along with a grant from the government, but they wouldn¡¯t tell us where they got it. We¡¯ve dated some residue within the tanks to roughly seven thousand years ago.¡±


    ¡°No kidding,¡± I said. Weren¡¯t the Sumerians getting big around then?


    I looked around the room, recording as I did it. I didn¡¯t see any other alien artifacts lying around. Probably the rest of them were in the safes near groups of workstations.


    Wait, there was one exception. A green object lay on the floor in the middle of the room. Basically rectangular, but with rounded edges, it lay on its side. According to the HUD, it was eight feet long, and two feet tall. Thick cables ran from it to a literal black box that sat next to a computer. I guessed that it had to be the entropy shield.


    The biggest hint in that direction had to be a crack that ran up its side, and the black soot marks near it.


    ¡°Do you know what it is?¡± I¡¯d stopped recording the room by then, and decided I should probably record her.


    Dr. Griffin paused for a second, and then said, ¡°Not completely, but we have suspicions.¡±


    Izzy¡¯s voice came over the speaker in my helmet. ¡°She¡¯s lying. She knows exactly what it is.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t realized Izzy was listening, but I supposed I should assume that she was listening to everything within a mile. I knew for a fact that she could use sonar to create pictures of even greater distances.


    Vaughn glanced down at the screen of his communicator, and stifled a laugh. Izzy had sent it over the general channel and he must have been using the speech to text option.


    Cassie didn¡¯t show any physical sign of it, but over the general channel she said, ¡°Hell yeah, she¡¯s lying. I¡¯ll tell you about it outside. We¡¯d never get through it all here.¡±


    Dr. Griffin may not have been able to listen to our comms, but she wouldn¡¯t have to be that perceptive to notice that we were being quiet.


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    She was at least that perceptive. When she glanced over at the three of us, she pursed her lips.


    As she started talking again, her talk sounded rehearsed. She¡¯d probably repeated the same statistics about the lab¡¯s computing power (they had a Beowulf cluster), and the same jokes about forgetting the safes¡¯ combinations to potential funders. Despite that, I thought I heard a slightly worried edge.


    None of the artifacts she pulled out of the safes were as easy to recognize. If Cassie did, she didn¡¯t say anything.


    In a few minutes, she¡¯d taken us through the room. When she stopped she finished with, ¡°Do you have any questions?¡±


    Her eyes widened as my sister faded in, Rachel¡¯s white costume giving the impression of a ghost. For her own reasons, Rachel didn¡¯t ever phase fully in, remaining slightly transparent. ¡°My question is, ¡®How hard was it to deny you¡¯re working for the Nine?¡¯¡±


    Dr. Griffin gave a small gasp. ¡°I didn¡¯t know. We¡¯re not working for them.¡±


    Her eyes darted toward the door, but she didn¡¯t try to run. I wondered if that would last.


    Rachel took a step forward. ¡°You guessed. After the ships went down, I floated inside, and I happened to hear a conversation between you and your husband. I don¡¯t have the exact words, but when he began to say their name you told him not to. They¡¯d never said it directly, and you didn¡¯t want to know. And besides, you told him, they were probably watching.¡±


    Dr. Griffin kept her voice low. ¡°They¡¯ve got someone in the lab, and who am I going to report them to? The government? They¡¯ve got people in the government. We¡¯d never survive telling anyone anything.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Rachel said, ¡°I think we¡¯re just about to give you your best chance. The government¡¯s going to take over. Maybe they¡¯ll find out if there¡¯s a traitor in your staff, and maybe they won¡¯t, but it¡¯s not your fault. It¡¯s ours. We¡¯ll be turning you in.¡±


    Dr. Griffin let out a breath, and didn¡¯t say anything at first. Then she looked Rachel in the eyes, and said, ¡°Okay. Just¡­ I don¡¯t know about it.¡±


    Rachel smiled, and said,¡°Fair enough. That¡¯s a secret I¡¯m willing to keep.¡±


    Not long after that, Dr. Griffin led us out of the lab. If anyone noticed anything different about Dr. Griffin, they didn¡¯t say so.


    As we walked out, passing through the doorway, and walking past the shattered doors, I opened a comm channel to Cassie. ¡°What were you going to say in there?¡±


    Cassie walked onto the lawn, stopping on the grass. ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to tell you much, just a bit of the usual. You know the Abominator birthing platform back there? It¡¯s alive, and it¡¯s repairing itself.¡±


    Doing my best to keep my voice low enough that it didn¡¯t carry past the helmet, I said, ¡°It¡¯s got the materials?¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Cassie replied. ¡°It¡¯s got alternates that are good enough. It leeches metals out of the computers and the building. It told me it will be fully operational within a year or two.¡±


    There wasn¡¯t a good reason to be afraid, but that chilled me. ¡°Fully operational? What does that mean? Can it do more than clone?¡±


    In a matter of fact voice, she said, ¡°A lot more. It can modify people long after they¡¯re born.¡±


    I started thinking through the implications of that. Grandpa had destroyed the last set of these that he¡¯d seen. It made a lot of sense. Sure we¡¯d lose something of incalculable value, but if the Nine had it, they¡¯d use it in ways I didn¡¯t want to think about.


    I would have thought about it more, but Lim¡¯s symbol started blinking in my helmet. I answered his call.


    ¡°Bad news. You¡¯ve got to get out of there. From what we can tell, the main ship is heading toward your location.¡±

 Stardock: Part 28

    "I''m not sure that we can leave," I told him.


    Lim, sounding frustrated, asked, "Why?"


    "They''ve got an Abominator birthing platform. It''s got twenty tubes or so, and even though it''s only partially working right now, it seems to be repairing itself."


    I''d almost told him that Cassie had communicated with the machine. They probably knew about her Abominator gun. Flick had seen it when we''d rescued Cassie from Rook last fall, and she''d probably passed it along. All the same, they probably didn''t know that Cassie could communicate with and possibly control Abominator devices.


    It seemed like the kind of thing to keep quiet.


    Lim made a strangled noise, and said, "What? Fuck! You''re not joking at all. I thought everything else we had to deal with today was bad. Destroy it, and if you can''t destroy it..."


    He paused. "If you can''t destroy it, get it out of there. I''ll send you Portal if you need her."


    This was the most upset I''d ever seen Agent Lim. I took a breath. "I''ll see what we can do."


    "I don''t care what you need," he told me. "If you ask for it, I''ll try to get it for you. Just don''t let them get that machine."


    "Seriously? Okay. I''ll call you back when I figure out a plan."


    Lim sighed, and said, "You''ve got less than a minute. After that, everyone follows my plan, or whatever plan comes down from Washington. And bad news, some people over here are already talking nukes."


    I was about to point out how that hadn''t worked out too well in the Avengers, but Lim hung up.


    Wow.


    I broadcast on our groups general channel. "Hey everybody, Lim just told me that the main alien ship''s heading straight for us. We''re either going to have to take an Abominator artifact back with us or destroy it."


    Bloodmaiden stared down at her communicator


    "Hey Cap, how easy would it be to destroy it?"


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    Cassie''s armor adjusted as she pointed her helmet toward Blue Sky Labs.


    Then she said, "It''s not possible."


    "Not possible? We''ve got your gun, my bots and Accelerando and Izzy."


    Cassie sighed, and said, "It''s not possible in the time we''ve got. We can put a few holes in it and rip it to pieces, but its mind is stored redundantly all through it. Give it enough time, and it will put itself back together. Bet we could drop it in the sun, but we don''t have the jet here, so that''s out."


    This was not good. In the back of my mind, I tried to think of what we were supposed to do next, but it didn''t feel like I had any good ideas.


    Jaclyn''s voice came over the comm. "OK, so destroying it is out. We take it and run, right?"


    I shook my head. "No. It''s really, really big. I bet this thing is as heavy as a moving truck--one of those big U-Hauls, you know? Plus, they seem to be able to home in on Abominator materials or something. Even if we take it somewhere, they''ll find us. I think we''ve got to take the ship out."


    Thinking about the ship, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. How were we supposed to take that out? We''d taken out a couple small ones. It couldn''t be that easy to take out a full sized battleship--or whatever it was.


    For all I knew, it was an alien garbage scow that had been adapted for piracy.


    Okay, I told myself, I probably ought to keep on talking so they don''t think I got distracted. "The really bad news is that people in D.C. are talking nukes."


    Vaughn broke in, "Didn''t they see ''The Avengers?'' There''s no way that''s going to work."


    "I know," I said.


    "Alright," Jaclyn said, "so we''ve got to take the ship down. How are we going to do it? Can''t we do it the same way we took out the small ships?"


    "Not that simple," I said. "Bloodmaiden''s hurt. I don''t know if she could take out everyone on the bridge. Plus, on a ship like that, they''ve probably got an AI. Bloodmaiden''s spear can''t hurt inanimate objects, right?"


    Bloodmaiden nodded. "You''re right, but I''ve harvested enough that I can keep on going for as long as we need to fight."


    "You''re sure?" I asked.


    From where she stood next to Jaclyn, Bloodmaiden nodded.


    The other people on the lawn--Dr. Griffin''s staff--appeared to have noticed that we were having a private conversation. The trenchcoat guy was eyeing us like he expected us to suddenly attack.


    Dr. Griffin was looking across the lawn, checking each of us in turn.


    I decided to ignore it. This was more important. "Even if Bloodmaiden can manage it, there''s bound to be more redundancies on a big ship like that, so we can''t just send Rachel up there. I think we''d have to send up more people. Plus, after we take it down, that thing will fall, and it''ll be a lot harder to handle than the two troop transports. The main ship is more than twenty times their size."


    Vaughn nodded. "Yeah, I''d say that once that thing starts going down, it''ll go wherever gravity takes it. I might be able to give it some direction, but not much."


    "I''m low on bullets," Rachel added, "so I''ll second the ''more people'' part of the plan. I''ll need them."


    Exactly, I thought. She would need more people, and even if she could float through, the others would have to get past the ship''s shields.


    Impossible. Well, maybe not quite. I realized that there was one fairly obvious way to get past the shields.


    "I''m going to call Lim," I said.

 Stardock: Part 29

    Lim answered the phone, and from his tone I could tell he sounded a little better than he had before.


    "Rocket, who do you need? Right now, almost everyone''s free, so you''ve got your pick."


    "Everyone?" That seemed unlikely.


    "You got stuck with the largest group. Most of the rest had to deal with four people at a time. I''m not saying people didn''t get hurt, but we haven''t had any deaths yet. Plus, we just had help show up--mercenaries."


    "Who? Protection Force?"


    Lim laughed. "No. Those guys are bodyguards and private investigators. They''re strictly national. These guys are from MetaMax. They''ve been used in trouble spots all over the world. I can''t say I''m wild about them normally, but right now I''m ecstatic. Now, I wouldn''t be surprised if they came your way. If they do, watch out. I''m sure they''ll be helpful, but I don''t know who''s paying them."


    "Okay," I said, giving a look to the sky, and not seeing either mercenaries or the mothership. "Here''s what I need--Paladin, as soon as he''s free--plus anyone who can do long distance attacks, the Aurora Bees for defense, and we need anyone who might be able to contribute force to keep the ship in the air while we take out the engines."


    He hesitated, and then said, "Take out the engines?"


    "I don''t have time to go into it, but we can''t destroy the birthing platform. Fortunately, I know how to destroy their engines."


    "Through their shields? How? Wait. Never mind, you don''t have time to tell me about it. Good luck."


    The call ended, and people began to step through a portal on the lawn. Paladin walked through first. His white long coat had brown bloodstains on his left sleeve.


    "Where''s Bloodmaiden?" He asked, giving the lawn a once over. He didn''t even wait for an answer when he saw her, the edges of her armor glowing a dark red.


    More people walked through after him--the Aurora Bees, Daniel, others that I didn''t immediately recognize. All of them looked more tired than they had when we left the airport. Their costumes had been scratched, scraped, and in many cases, burned.


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    Theo walked through the gate with them. His costume had been cut away from his burnt arm, but he moved it as well as the other.


    Even in the twilight, I could tell that the skin was healthy and unhurt. He walked like he''d just run a marathon though.


    He waved at me. "They told me not to go into the thick of it, but I know I can still take shots at them. They said you wanted people with long distance attacks, right?"


    "That''s true, but don''t take chances. I''m trying to keep everyone alive."


    He shrugged, "Don''t worry about it. I''m not going to do anything crazy. Paladin told me he was saving his strength by doing the bare minimum."


    In the distance, I saw Alex reach down to the spot where the aliens had penetrated Bloodmaiden''s armor. His eyes widened. "How are you not dead?"


    Tara stepped out of the portal, followed by Travis. That was... unexpected. They were both great hand to hand fighters, but not much else. Then I thought a little harder. From what I''d seen of her, and from what Rachel had told me, Tara''s ability to predict enemy actions in combat bordered on the supernatural. She''d likely be invaluable--even if the same ability hadn''t saved her father.


    Travis was stronger than anyone but Izzy and Jaclyn. I could use him inside the ship.


    Lim had sent me a few people I''d need in addition to the people I''d asked for. He was good, and I had to make a point of thanking him if I survived.


    Then Rod came through--as a blond, bearded and slightly overweight guy--not as a troll, followed by Samita in her Red Hex costume. At that point I considered the possibility Lim had sent me everybody who wasn''t too hurt to move.


    I opened up communications, setting up a channel for this operation. Dayton, Jody, and Sean stepped out of the gate as I started talking.


    I couldn''t complain. I''d need Sean desperately for the last part of the operation.


    "First off, can any of you shield us from sight? And I don''t just mean heroes. I mean everybody. Bloodmaiden did before, but--"


    Bloodmaiden interrupted me, saying, "I''m fine. I''ll do it," at the same time Samita said, "I''ll handle it."


    Feeling pretty sure I''d heard Samita specialized in enchanted items instead of using her own lifeforce, I said, "Red Hex, handle it."


    Samita pulled something out of a bag, said a few words, and we all turned transparent.


    I could still tell people from their surroundings by a little, but only because anything behind them was a touch darker than anything to their sides.


    "Here''s the plan," I said. "They''re going to come here to take the artifacts, and while they try it, some of us will get on board, disable the engines and get out. Then a few of you will prevent the ship from falling and crushing civilians.


    "Storm King, The Power, and anyone else who can help should be ready for that. Ghost, Night Wolf, Accelerando, Izzy, and myself will get on the ship. Bloodmaiden will support us from the ground.


    "The rest of you will need to listen to Tara. She''ll figure out the best way to prevent them from taking things, and hurting civilians."


    As I said it, a big rectangular box came to a stop in the air above Blue Sky Labs. The darkness of the ship''s shields made it difficult to see where the ship''s darkness ended, and the sky''s darkness began.


    On the far end of the ship, the ship''s engines glowed.


    They were unshielded, of course.

 Stardock: Part 30

    Unshielded engines were a spaceship¡¯s weak point in combat. That and anyplace they predictably thinned the shields¡ªlike weapon hardpoints. Anyone who¡¯d trained on spacecraft knew it. There were a host of techniques to minimizing your chances of dying¡ªranging from special shields to keeping changes of direction brief. It wasn¡¯t as if you slowed down very quickly in space.


    Most of the defenses were oriented toward spaceships though because any living being that attempted to sneak past working engines would quickly become well done.


    I had every reason to hope that didn¡¯t apply to Izzy.


    Turning my eyes away from the spaceship above us, I finished off what passed for a briefing. ¡°Well, there¡¯s the enemy. Remember, it¡¯s big, but it¡¯s doable. We can win this. Oh, and I¡¯ll probably have to talk to a few of you before we go. You can probably guess who¡ªTara, Bloodmaiden, Paladin, and the Mystic.¡±


    I used the comm to call Tara. Half a head taller than most of the women, Tara stood at the edge of the group, already whispering to people and pointing at spots in the trees.


    I couldn¡¯t see her very well between the transparency and the darkness, but I could see her. She turned to face me, square jaw pointing in my direction, giving me a level gaze. ¡°Rocket?¡±


    ¡°Hey Tara, you¡¯re going to be in charge of everything on the ground, and I didn¡¯t ask you about it beforehand. You¡¯re okay with that, right?¡±


    She didn¡¯t hesitate. ¡°Yes.¡±


    It was the closest I planned to come to asking her if she was comfortable taking orders from me given what had happened to her father. Then I tried to pull the next question together in my head. Giving people orders wasn¡¯t easy when you were still working out details of the plan.


    ¡°What else?¡± She asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to need to convince them to turn on their engines. If we don¡¯t manage it ourselves or get lucky, we¡¯ll need you to do it.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°You can count on me.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to drop that on you in addition to keeping the civilians safe.¡±


    ¡°I was made for this. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, and left it at that. I could have pointed out that, unlike her relatives, technically she hadn¡¯t been ¡°made,¡± and that her people, even though they were genetically engineered soldiers, had apparently been created to destroy humanity instead of save it.


    I didn¡¯t because she could handle everything I needed her to, and more.


    Hey Daniel, I thought, you know what I want you to do.


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    Stick with Vaughn, Sean and rest of them? Daniel sent back to me. I was planning to do that anyway.


    Thanks, I thought.


    Then I walked over to Jaclyn, Izzy, Bloodmaiden, and Alex. Bloodmaiden and Izzy appeared to be talking quietly about something. Alex must have successfully healed her because the cuts in her armor no longer glowed.


    Alex was talking to Jaclyn. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said. ¡°I can¡¯t do much for you. You know how it is.¡±


    Jaclyn shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not that hurt. It¡¯ll heal.¡±


    Alex frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t like being useless.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I stopped next to them.


    ¡°Nothing new,¡± Alex said.


    Jaclyn said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Paladin can¡¯t heal me, but I¡¯m not badly hurt.¡±


    I¡¯d seen her get hit by one of the aliens¡¯ weapons. I still wasn¡¯t sure what kind, but it had been powerful enough to slow her down, burn her, and damage her costume.


    ¡°You¡¯re sure? Why can¡¯t Paladin heal you?¡±


    Jaclyn glanced upward at the spaceship, but said, ¡°The same reason his dad couldn¡¯t heal my grandfather.¡±


    Alex put his hands in the pockets of his long coat. ¡°We can heal them, but it¡¯s ten times as much work. If I heal her now, other people could die because I¡¯m too tired to do anything.¡±


    I¡¯d always wondered why Jaclyn¡¯s grandfather hadn¡¯t gotten his eyes fixed.


    ¡°Ok,¡± I said, and stepped around them toward Izzy and Bloodmaiden. ¡°You¡¯re doing better, right?¡±


    Bloodmaiden nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not about to die if that¡¯s what you mean. What¡¯s the plan?¡±


    ¡°Tara¡¯s going to run things on the ground, so run this by her first, but we need them to turn on the engines. If you were to spear someone in the control room, I¡¯m pretty sure they¡¯d move the ship. They¡¯ll probably pretty much annihilate everything around where you might be standing, so you¡¯ll want to plan for that too. Uh¡­ Maybe stand away from everyone else have Portal gate you out?¡±


    She grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll work something out.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to leave it there, but I¡¯d already taken enough time talking. It was all necessary stuff, but with the ship in the air above us, it would be better to act sooner than later.


    ¡°OK,¡± I said, and texted Rachel and Travis to join me. Izzy and Jaclyn were already near me after all.


    Naturally that¡¯s the moment when the aliens started talking to us¡ªtalking in a loose sense anyway. A voice from the ship blanketed the area.


    I didn¡¯t recognize the accent, but there were moments where it reminded me of Chinese, and others where it sounded Slavic. Mostly though, it sounded like nothing I¡¯d ever heard. Nonetheless, it was obviously spoken by a creature that had learned it the hard way. It didn¡¯t sound like a computer.


    In a deep voice, it said, ¡°You will surrender now, or we will burn you to death.¡±


    On the comm Tara said, ¡°Move away from the front of the building. Portal is gating people out, but don¡¯t wait for her. Move towards the woods. Don¡¯t go near the parking lot.¡±


    Daniel blanketed the area with the thought, Ten seconds.


    Everyone moved. I grabbed two kids, both girls that couldn¡¯t have been over the age of ten, and ran to the forest, turning around to run back and grab more¡ªexcept there weren¡¯t more. There were enough of us that we¡¯d managed to grab practically everyone at once. Jaclyn and Jody alone must have accounted for more than ten people each.


    That was good because light blazed over the parking lot. I saw car windows crack, tires pop, and a car exploded, followed by more cars.


    The light traveled across the parking lot, hitting the sidewalk which also cracked, throwing chunks of concrete in random directions.


    The building¡¯s lawn had already been hit by the first ships¡¯ weapons, but this burned up the entire front in an instant¡ªgrass and dead aliens alike. Bits of burning ash floated in the air, drifting in all directions.


    Children and adults both screamed while other voices tried to hush them.


    The spaceship¡¯s engines glowed, moving it closer to the building. I checked everyone¡¯s locations in my HUD. We needed to take off now.

 Stardock: Part 31

    Opening a comm connection to Red Hex, I asked, ¡°How long will the invisibility last?¡±


    Samita took a breath. A quick check of her position showed that she¡¯d been running. That was smart. ¡°Five minutes.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, and cut off the connection. Five minutes was enough. By that time we¡¯d be where we needed to be or we¡¯d be dead¡ªpossibly both.


    Burning light from the space ship continued to incinerate everything around the building including the aliens¡¯ own dead.


    Meanwhile, transparent forms disappeared into Portal¡¯s gates bare instants before they would have been destroyed. I was pretty sure the people in the ship weren¡¯t targeting them. They were targeting everything.


    Opening up a comm connection to Travis, Jaclyn, Izzy, and Rachel, I said, ¡°I¡¯ll carry Accelerando, and Izzy can take Night Wolf. Ghost can grab onto whoever she wants, I guess. We¡¯re going to enter by way of the engine¡¯s exhaust port.¡±


    A few feet away, Travis, big, but as transparent as the rest of us, lifted his head toward the spaceship.


    ¡°You¡¯ve worked out how we¡¯ll do this without getting burned to death?¡± His deep voice stayed level.


    ¡°Pretty much. Izzy¡¯s invulnerability comes partially from a force field. If we get close enough, we¡¯ll be protected too.¡±


    Izzy turned toward me. Her mask covered the upper half of her face, but I could see that she was frowning. ¡°I¡¯ve never pulled four people into it.¡±


    ¡°Remember when you lifted that boat during practice last fall? It should have broken in two. I¡¯m betting you can surround more than you think.¡±


    ¡°I hope you¡¯re¡ª¡° Izzy began, but then the grass near us began to burn. At the edge of the clearing, trees exploded into fire while Tara kept up a constant stream of directions.


    I turned on the rockets and flew toward Jaclyn, grabbing her with one arm, and flying upward. My HUD showed where the air was hot, and I swung out to avoid a beam that was aiming for the woods.


    Moments later Jaclyn and I were above the ship, staring down at the darker than black shields that surrounded it. It made for a strangely compelling picture. White light and the fire burning the grass below silhouetted the black, shielded ship.


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    The engine¡¯s exhaust ports glowed softly on the far end as the spaceship slowly moved closer to the building.


    Izzy¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°Did you change your mind? I¡¯m close to the exhaust ports, and you¡¯re um¡­ not.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I was concentrating more on avoiding getting burned. I¡¯ll join you now.¡± I dove for her.


    Jaclyn laughed. ¡°I wondered what you were doing.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, controlling the suit with my right hand, aiming toward Izzy¡¯s position.


    ¡°No apologies needed. I don¡¯t want to get hit again.¡± She shouted through the wind.


    I slowed down, and pushed the button that changed the suit¡¯s orientation from horizontal to vertical.


    For a moment it felt like my stomach wouldn¡¯t be turning with me, but then I found myself floating in the air near Izzy and Travis, neither of them standing out much from the air around them.


    The red glow of the engines¡¯ exhaust seemed to be dimming.


    ¡°Now,¡± Jaclyn said, and she was right. They seemed to be planning to come to a complete stop over Blue Sky Labs.


    I aimed for Izzy as she turned toward the ship. As I caught up, she pulled me in, and we all hung on to each other as she flew directly into the glow.


    I turned the rockets off by tapping the backup controls in the helmet¡¯s mouthpiece. At same time, fire surrounded us and I waited for the suit to throw up error messages, followed shortly by pain and death.


    It didn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t even feel warm as flame blocked my view of everything else.


    After a little while the glow disappeared, and Rachel¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°Time for a group hug?¡±


    She faded in, floating in the air inside a glossy white tube. We floated only a few feet away, all of us hanging on to Izzy.


    Travis laughed, and said, ¡°You¡¯re missing out.¡±


    Rachel grinned, and said, ¡°Thanks, but no. I¡¯ll scout ahead and find you in the ship.¡±


    Then she floated through the wall to her right.


    Jaclyn let go first. ¡°Not that I don¡¯t like you people,¡± she said, dropping to the floor, ¡°but I think we should get moving.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s safe,¡± I started to ask, and then I caught a glimpse of the outside in my HUD. By the outside, I mean where the exhaust port opened to the sky behind us.


    I couldn¡¯t see anything. Light eating darkness covered the end. Now the only way out was further in.


    I looked down. The floor¡¯s temperature was around ninety degrees.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Travis asked as the both of us dropped to the floor, ¡°you know how these engines are designed, should we go left or right?¡±


    Izzy turned her head from the left side to the right. My passive sonar made it clear that she was sweeping the area.


    Turning her head toward Travis, she said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing but more hull to the left, and there¡¯s space to the right.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Travis said, and walked across from one side of the tube to the other, regrowing claws on his hands and feet as he did it.


    Then he sank his hands into the glossy material (ceramic, maybe?), and ripped a hole in it. It crumbled as he pulled, breaking into chunks both small and large. Jaclyn spread out her hands, and gave a solid push at a section near his. A three foot wide piece broke away, cracks running out to join with Travis¡¯ section.


    It fell, hitting something metal with a ringing crash.


    Alarmed shouts came through the hole.

 Stardock: Part 32

    I couldn¡¯t understand a bit of the language¡ªnot that that surprised me.


    Travis stepped through the hole in the exhaust tube, his form nearly transparent to me, and (I assumed) completely transparent to whatever was out there. In his place, I didn¡¯t think I would have simply left.


    Still, despite being hugely muscled and nearly seven feet tall, Travis could sneak around much better than I could. Throw invisibility in there, and I had to admit, he¡¯d probably done the right thing. At any rate, he¡¯d done one of a few possible ¡°right things.¡±


    I had no right to complain. We needed a scout then, and he was the best person to do it with Rachel scouting further up the ship.


    He turned on his communicator¡¯s camera, giving all of us a good view. Off to his left, we could see what was best described as the front of a cylinder on top of a platform. At any rate, that what it looked like if you ignored all the pipes coming out of it, the wires, and the screens and buttons built into it.


    It appeared to be made out of a ceramic material similar to the material Travis had ripped apart.


    Another cylinder that looked exactly the same lay directly ahead of Travis. It didn¡¯t take any thought at all to recognize they had to be the ship¡¯s engines. Even if I hadn¡¯t had enough clue from their shape, I¡¯d instantly recognized the fusion power plant which was right next to them, a box shaped structure that rose up in the middle of the floor. Pipes and and lines ran out of it to each engine, and to another box shaped engine on the other side of it.


    The communicator didn¡¯t send the sharpest picture, and the fusion plant blocked all but a sliver of the other engine. All the same, I guessed what it had to be¡ªthe shield generator. Hypothetically, you could put it anywhere in the ship, but keeping it with the power plant and engines meant that the engineers wouldn¡¯t have to run all over the ship.


    Of course, it also meant that a hypothetical saboteur wouldn¡¯t have far to go to take out all the ship¡¯s most vital systems.


    I thought for a second. This ship was large enough to carry its own hyperdrive. It didn¡¯t mean that it had to, but if it did, I¡¯d have to find some way to get it home.


    It probably says something about me that I noticed the engine room without noticing the engineers, better known as the guys who were doing all the shouting.


    In the shaky cam style you¡¯d expect out of a camera on a wrist mounted communicator, Travis gave us a view of the engine room. The engineers appeared to be human, but a little off¡ªskinny builds like long distance runners, and prehensile tails with a thick base. Plus, there was something wrong with their feet.


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    I didn¡¯t initially recognize but when Travis zoomed in on one of them, I realized that their feet were more like a monkey¡¯s.


    That went a long way toward explaining why the catwalks¡¯ design didn¡¯t assume that people would be walking upright. In fact, even calling what they had a catwalk was pushing it. They had conveniently placed bars, and the occasional platform¡ªwhich also included spots to attach a cable¡ªuseful if the gravity went out.


    Anyway, all the engineers were monkey people, and in Travis¡¯ quick sweep of the room, I could see at least six of them. One of them, a big (relatively) blond guy was shouting at two of the others, and pointing at the hole Travis had created.


    A Hrrnna wearing powered armor stood near the fusion plant, holding a gun in his arms, and pointing it toward the hole.


    Then the bigger monkey guy started shouting orders at all the others, and they started running around. One went over to one of the screens with buttons and began talking to someone. A couple more ran over to the debris from the exhaust tube and pointed instruments at it, staring at the screens on one instrument, and talking into another.


    Meanwhile, a few more of them ran toward the engine and started opening sections, pressing buttons, and clearly doing it with some degree of coordination because one would do something. Then he or she would shout over at another, and then they¡¯d do something.


    For one terrifying moment, I thought they might be planning to turn the engine on, killing me, and possibly Jaclyn or Izzy. In the next moment, I recognized that for the irrational fear it was.


    What would I be doing if an engine spontaneously developed a hole that led into the engine room? After panicking, the first thing I¡¯d do would be to shut it off and make sure there was no way to turn it on.


    Then I¡¯d repair it if I had the time and materials.


    They had to be doing the same. It was interesting though that they didn¡¯t start without being shouted at. I supposed that they might not be good at handling unpredictable situations, or possibly they were hierarchal to point that they didn¡¯t do much of anything without a supervisor insisting on it?


    I didn¡¯t have enough information to tell.


    What I did know was this: the invisibility spell would be wearing off any minute, and as soon as it did, they¡¯d know for sure that the ship had been boarded.


    They¡¯d know exactly the same thing if Jaclyn or I jumped out of the tube.


    Izzy and Travis seemed to come to the same conclusion at approximately the same time I did. Travis¡¯ cam suddenly switched views and showed the ceiling, and then the floor as he slid down one of the poles in the room, and began to creep toward the Hrrnna.


    At the same time, Izzy flew out the hole, muttering something that sounded like, ¡°I hope this is the last one.¡±


    Jaclyn and I moved toward the hole in time to see a transparent Izzy hit the Hrrnna in the chest, take his gun, break it in two, and hit him with a punch that threw him into a wall.


    He didn¡¯t stand up.


    Jaclyn and I looked at each other, and then she stepped out of the hole. I followed, using the rockets to give me a little extra boost.


    That¡¯s when we turned visible again.


    The monkey people gave a collective gasp, and started running. Izzy reappeared, standing over the Hrrnna¡¯s body, and frowning.


    Travis reappeared midway between the engine and where Izzy downed the Hrrnna. A monkey guy ran past him, and he tackled it.


    Jaclyn, her eyes still on the monkey people running away, said, ¡°I don¡¯t think we need to catch the rest of them. You?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Everyone else is visible now. I think we should trash the power plant.¡±

 Stardock: Part 33

    Jaclyn¡¯s eyes flicked toward the fusion generator and then back to me. ¡°You¡¯re not going to ask me to smash it are you? Because that sounds like a bad idea.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No. I wasn¡¯t thinking of doing that. We¡¯d probably all die.¡±


    Jaclyn eyed me. ¡°You think? So how were you planning to trash their plant?¡±


    ¡°Well, there are emergency procedures in case you need to shut it off. This generator looks a lot like the jet¡¯s. It should be easy.¡±


    Jaclyn smiled. ¡°Kind of like how Rook¡¯s headquarters wasn¡¯t supposed to contain nerve gas.¡±


    I was about to say that there was no way we could have expected that, but Jaclyn spoke before I¡¯d gotten my thoughts together.


    Shaking her head, she said, ¡°I¡¯m not arguing, let¡¯s go.¡±


    We ran toward the fusion plant. Jaclyn arrived ahead of me, but not by much. We weren¡¯t racing. We stood among the pipes and cables, looking up at the white box in front of us. A few screens glowed next to it, giving the plant¡¯s vital statistics in a language or languages that I couldn¡¯t read.


    Izzy landed next to us. ¡°Do you need help?¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. ¡°What happened to the Hrrnna?¡±


    She let out a breath, slumping a little. ¡°Dead,¡± she said, ¡°or its armor is so damaged it can¡¯t move.¡±


    She turned around toward the body. I followed her gaze. The Hrrnna wasn¡¯t moving.


    Travis came up as we spoke, carrying the monkey person. Not that ¡°monkey person¡± was quite right. It (he) had a tail and feet that appeared to be made for grabbing branches, but he wasn¡¯t furry, and outside of the obvious differences, he was otherwise a normal human. The man wore a form fitting jumpsuit and what I assumed was a tool belt.


    Travis said, ¡°He doesn¡¯t know a word of English, and doesn¡¯t have a translator device either. I¡¯m not sure why I bothered to grab him.¡±


    He frowned, thinking, and said, ¡°He started to run away, and I jumped him before I had time to think about it. Maybe we¡¯ll get some use out of him.¡±


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    I doubted it, but didn¡¯t say so. Turning to Jaclyn, I said, ¡°It takes two people to kill the generator. If you stand by that wall, and I go around the corner, we can start.¡±


    Jaclyn walked up to the box, stepping over a foot high cable. ¡°Where do I stand?¡±


    She wasn¡¯t far from where she needed to be. ¡°You see the glowing symbol with what look like handholds on both sides?¡±


    ¡°Grab the handholds?¡± She asked, stepping up to the wall.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I walked around the corner, ducking under a pipe, and stepping over two cables to stand in front of the same symbol. Glowing red with two protrusions sticking out of a vaguely triangular shape, it made me think of a demon¡¯s head, but I knew it was some kind of alien symbol.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what to do.¡±


    Grandpa had made me memorize the order. It was one of those things that spaceship crews knew how to do.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Jaclyn and I each gave the handholds a final twist and push. Inside the box came a crashing noise, followed by a sizzling sound that reminded me I hadn¡¯t eaten in a while.


    I reminded myself that it meant that important pieces of the power plant were melting, and that we¡¯d just destroyed something that Earth¡¯s scientists had yet to build a native working version of.


    It didn¡¯t bother me much. I wished I could look inside and watch how it worked. Even professional spaceship crew members didn¡¯t normally have any reason to do this.


    The generator gave off heat that I couldn¡¯t feel, but did register in my HUD.


    ¡°We probably ought to go. The gravitics should start failing soon if they haven¡¯t already.¡±


    All the same, I was noticing what hadn¡¯t happened when we shut off the fusion generator. The lights didn¡¯t flicker, and I didn¡¯t feel the ship begin to sink.


    When the inertial dampers started to hum, I had a very bad feeling. Inertial dampers protected against sudden changes of direction, so I shouldn¡¯t feel anything, and I didn¡¯t. The dampers were working normally¡ªlike they would with a working fusion plant behind them. If the ship were running on battery power, the dampers would be using up the batteries quickly.


    Most of my experience in space combat came from simulations the jet had run me through, but simulations were accurate. Typically ships that had lost their generator barely used their inertial dampers at all.


    Well, there was one more thing I could try. I could call outside the ship with the suit¡¯s communicator. Shields took too much power to run for long on batteries.


    I clicked on my palm, and tried to switch to the regular League channel, but got no connection.


    Rachel faded in near us, empty air filling with a figure in a white costume. Her mask covered the upper half of her face, but left her hair uncovered.


    She didn¡¯t look happy.


    ¡°Bad news,¡± she said, ¡°there¡¯s another engine room. Oh, and they know we¡¯re here now. There aren¡¯t many of them left on the ship, but some of them are coming this way.¡±


    Izzy¡¯s face tightened. ¡°More? I don¡¯t want to kill anyone else¡ªnot today. Not ever.¡±


    I knew the feeling, but more as a feeling than anything else. I remembered killing the Xiniti, and I knew I¡¯d killed more aliens than that, but the fighting had mostly been a blur.


    Part of me hoped it would stay that way.


    Rachel looked over at Izzy. ¡°I get that, but we¡¯re not out of this yet. The ship turned around a second ago, and it looks like we¡¯re going toward someplace more populated.¡±

 Stardock: Part 34

    Izzy closed her eyes, opened them, and pointed toward the far end of the engine room. "Is it the middle, more on the left side than the right?"


    Rachel turned, not saying anything. When she turned back to us, she said, "That''s it."


    Izzy''s mouth tightened. "They''re not coming for us. They''re gathering there. If we want to stop the ship, we''ll have to kill them."


    She stared ahead, "I hate this."


    I got that.


    Travis shook his head. "Think big picture. If we don''t take the ship down, who knows what they''ll use the ship for. They might even have something that proves we have Abominator tech by now, and that means everyone dies."


    "I know. You don''t have to tell me." Izzy punctuated her statement by a small stamp of her foot.


    The ceramic underneath it cracked.


    If she noticed, she didn''t give any sign. "This isn''t what I had in mind when I signed up for this. This is what I was afraid of--that I''d become part of a superpowered army."


    "Me too," I said. "A little anyway."


    Rachel nodded. "Me too. A lot. The government and the Defenders are both putting a lot of money into this, and I''ve been wondering what they''re going to want back from us."


    Jaclyn looked from Rachel to Izzy. "I hadn''t been worried about it, but now you''re making me paranoid."


    She tapped one finger against her thigh. It moved quickly enough that I saw it as a blur.


    Travis made a noise deep in his throat. The monkey man''s eyes widened. "We can''t think about this now. I''d say this mission is about as moral as it gets. We''re saving lives, a whole world of lives--"


    Izzy began to open her mouth. Travis continued anyway.


    "--but I''d be lying if I didn''t see where this could go wrong. All the youngest supers, the biggest group ever, gathered together, and being trained to fight as a group. Yeah, we''ve got to keep our eyes open, but right now we''ve got to stay on task, and make sure the Hrrnna don''t aim the ship''s weapons at New Jersey or something."


    I thought about suggesting that if they targeted wherever "Jersey Shore" was being filmed, they might be doing the world a service, but wasn''t that cancelled? I couldn''t be sure.


    Anyway, making light of thousands of potential deaths didn''t seem right.


    "Hey," I said, "I think we can make this easier. The shield generator''s right there. If we take it out, anyone can target this ship. Their cloaking ability depends partly on the shields working. We''ll leave them visible and vulnerable."


    Jaclyn grinned at me. "And we''ll be inside. Sounds great."


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    That reminded me of another thing. "I''m less worried about us, and more worried about everyone below us. Sean and Storm King were going to keep the ship from falling on someplace populated, but if we''re moving, I don''t know if they''ve kept up."


    Travis'' voice rose. "Then we''d better get moving because the more time they''ve got, the better chance they have to fly out of sight."


    Point.


    I warmed up the suit''s lasers. "Then let''s destroy the shield generator. Unlike the fusion plant, it doesn''t matter where you hit it."


    Izzy straightened her ponytail. "Let''s get this over with, but we''re still talking afterward."


    Night Wolf''s dark gray mask hid most of Travis'' face, but I could see him nod.


    "I''ll start," I said. I walked to the shield generator. Like the fusion plant, it was basically box shaped. Unlike the fusion power plant, it only had one cable leading in or out.


    I aimed the lasers at it, cutting it in two. Nothing much happened. I wouldn''t have been surprised to see sparks, but there weren''t any.


    Had they hidden the cable from the other fusion generator? I didn''t want to dig through the floor to find it, but I would if I had to. Then I realized that something about the shield generator had changed.


    I stared at it.


    Glowing screens had appeared in the air on the shield generator''s walls, showing the plant''s statistics in an alien alphabet. They were gone after I cut the cable.


    "Okay," I said, "the power''s cut. If one of you rips it apart, we won''t have to worry about someone fixing the cable, or having it fix itself."


    "I''ll get it," Izzy said. "You''ll want to stand away from me. Maybe over there?"


    She pointed at a hallway that lead out of the room. It wasn''t close by.


    We all looked at each other. Jaclyn shrugged. "It''s all yours."


    Then we all made for the hallway. As we stopped, Izzy shouted. I''d guessed what she was about to do, and monitored it on the HUD. Her shout existed on multiple frequencies, changing them constantly until it settled on only a few--which it boosted to volume levels the Rocket suit couldn''t hit.


    Discordant, it wouldn''t have sounded good normally, but with the volume it hurt even after the Rocket suit blocked out most of it.


    Jaclyn shut the hallway''s doors before it hit its worst. Even so, Travis held his hands over his hears and grit his teeth while it went on.


    When it stopped, I hit the shield generator with a blast of sonar. It created a picture of a device where some pieces had vibrated into bits while the relatively whole pieces were cracked.


    I recognized the technique, and wondered if Grandpa had been inspired in any way by what her grandfather could do.


    That wasn''t the only thing I noticed once I paid attention to my HUD again.


    We were connected to the outside again. It wasn''t the strongest of signals, but the Stapledon channels appeared along with the Heroes League''s.


    My observation bots reconnected, giving me grainy views of the ship in the distance. Long and thin, the bottom of the rectangular ship glowed dimly as it aimed itself toward the coast.


    The quality of the pictures didn''t make it clear whether it was New York or New Jersey, but even in the twilight, it was clear that there were a lot of lights.


    I checked the GPS. We were flying toward New York. Dots trailed us, not very closely, but they were gathering speed. Sean, Vaughn, and a few other capes I didn''t know as well.


    They must have cloaked the ship when they started flying away.


    Now though, they were on our trail. We had a chance. If we moved quickly we might even be able to take out the other fusion generator while we were still over water.


    Izzy pushed through the doors as I said, "Have you checked your comms?"


    I didn''t need to. They already were.


    "We''re above water right now," I said. "If we can take out that second power plant before we get to shore..."


    Travis let the monkey man go. With a squeal, the alien ran back into the engine room. "He wasn''t going to help us anyway," Travis said, "but if you carry me we''ll get there faster."


    Within seconds we were moving. Izzy carried Travis. Jaclyn ran, and I flew behind them, Rachel hanging on to my shoulder.


    The hallways turned into a blur of doorways. We were nearly there in what seemed like an instant. I slowed down, and managed to land without plowing into Izzy, Travis, and Jaclyn.


    We stopped at a corner.


    Izzy held her finger to her lips. "They''re at the end of the hall."


    I knew I should be concentrating on how to take them out, but I clicked on the Heroes League channel. Haley''s voice came through, only slightly distorted by static.

 Stardock: Part 35

    "Push the button, Control," Haley talked at a normal volume, but the intensity in her voice made it seem louder.


    Kayla''s voice came through. She started to say, "I..." hesitated, and said, "You''re all right there."


    "We''ll be fine," Haley said, sounding just as intense as before. "Now!"


    Man-machine''s voice came over the comm at almost the same time, "Now, dammit!"


    The HUD showed them in the forest above HQ, not far from the forest entrance. From their movements, they had to be fighting. A dot labeled "Control" stood further away from the group--almost undoubtedly Kayla in the powered armor we''d made for her when we fought the Cabal.


    I''d made that armor more with the idea of allowing her to watch a fight in safety and provide us information than fighting. And that''s what she appeared to be doing this time. She had observation bots out and streaming information to the rest of them. I could have followed their feed, and seen what they were fighting, making the fight about more than moving dots.


    Maybe I would have, but as I considered it, Kayla said, "Okay, okay, I''ll do it. One, two, three--"


    Then all the dots turned grey, and the feed went dead.


    I clicked out of the feed, and tried clicking in again. I joined the Heroes League channel, but nothing was on it except for the members that were here.


    The system diagnostics were registering that the HQ broadcast tower was down. We still had the tower downtown--the one near the League''s official office, the one I''d blown up.


    It wasn''t picking up any signals.


    I calmed myself, reminding myself everything I''d seen was completely consistent with using an EMP. I could easily see Chris or his grandfather trying that one. I hadn''t been completely successful when I''d tried it, but they probably didn''t know it.


    Plus, even if Haley tried to tell them, I could completely see Man-machine ignoring her.


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    I could also imagine Man-machine figuring out a way to affect them anyway.


    It didn''t change the fact that while Haley might be safe, she also might be dead, or fighting for her life, and I couldn''t do a thing about it.


    Travis'' voice broke into my thoughts. "Rocket, what do you think?"


    "Uh?" I said.


    They had been talking about something.


    Travis clenched his right hand. "Haven''t you been listening?"


    I paused, not sure if I should try to be truthful or not.


    "It''s okay," Izzy said, her voice quiet. She''d probably heard everything.


    "It''s not okay," the intensity in his voice reminding me of Haley''s. "You can''t be zoning out now--"


    "Night Wolf," Rachel said, using the same tone of voice she used when she was trying to be patient with me. "It''s not a good time for an argument."


    I thought about telling him why I''d gotten distracted, but we didn''t need to have both of us distracted.


    Travis started talking when she stopped, obviously trying to ignore Rachel. "Rocket, how well do you know their tech? Do you think they know where we are, or do we have a chance to sneak up on them?"


    I started to say, "I''d be more surprised if they didn''t know where we were," but only got up to the "I''d--"


    Then the Hrrnna interupted me. In tones that sounded close, but not quite like human speech, the Hrrnna said, "Earth creatures, surrender. We know that we cannot match your Abominator bred might, but think you should consider this. We long ago became used to fighting hopeless battles against your kind, and will sell our lives dearly.


    "Even now, we''ve traveled across the water and come to one of your cities. If you should destroy the fusion generator, this ship will fall and kill hundreds if not thousands of your people. Even if you see no value in our lives, don''t you see some value in theirs or even your own? I tell you now that we have rigged a portion of this ship to explode when it touches your Earth.


    "If you value your lives, you won''t test our resolve."


    I checked our position via the GPS. It was right. We were nearing land now. If we''d been in Grand Lake, it might have been an empty threat on a Sunday night. In New York, we probably would kill people. People actually lived in New York City''s downtown. The evacuation from what I''d seen had mostly been of Manhattan.


    Vaughn and Sean were still following us. The rest hadn''t managed to keep up. I didn''t know exactly how much ship they could hold, but I had a bad feeling that this ship would be more than they could handle.


    Travis, in the meantime had decided to talk back. "Yeah," he growled, "suppose we decide to let you win, what happens?"


    The Hrrnna replied, still sounding emotionless, filtered through its translating device. "You go home to your families, and we repair this ship, and continue our exile in this horrific sector of space. We simply want to live."


    In the face of this, Travis started laughing. "You just want to live? How are we supposed to believe that? You just spent most of the last few months trying to kill us three times over. I''ve got a better suggestion, how about you surrender, and we''ll stop trying to send you to Hell where you belong."


    "Very well," the Hrrnna said, "then we shall die together."


    The ship tilted, aiming toward the ground.

 Stardock: Part 36

    All of us looked at each other. I don¡¯t know what the others were thinking, but in that moment I wasn¡¯t sure what to do. I didn¡¯t know how much force Vaughn and Sean could create between the two of them, but I doubted they could stop the ship from hitting the ground¡ªnot if it were under power at any rate.


    If we knocked the power out, it was still an open question.


    Not to mention that I remembered how they handled a ship during the training exercise. It wasn¡¯t the same situation, but it was still a disaster with a big ship.


    For a second, it seemed like the best option might be to see if the Hrrnna would give us a second chance at letting them go.


    I didn¡¯t think that letting them go would be the best choice, but between letting them go and exploding the ship in the middle of a city, letting them go seemed better. The problem was that Travis was right. Over the last couple months they¡¯d tried to give terrorists bombs that would cause humanity¡¯s extinction, aimed asteroids at the planet, and come up with a way to force the Xiniti to destroy us.


    There was no way that the Hrrnna wouldn¡¯t use extra time to burn us another way.


    Besides I could think of a way to slow us down, and maybe if we were lucky avoid turning the ship into a fireball.


    ¡°Izzy,¡± I said, ¡°you remember what I said earlier about¡ª¡°


    Izzy blinked. ¡°The boat. I know.¡±


    She floated upward, stretched out her arms and put her hands against the white ceramic ceiling, pushing, her muscles visibly straining. She didn¡¯t break through, but creaking noises came from everywhere around us.


    The inertial dampers clicked on, humming furiously. I tried think whether or not that was ultimately a good thing.


    Tapping my right palm, I began to contact Vaughn and Sean to ask for help, but I didn¡¯t have to. Travis¡¯ voice came over the comm, ¡°Power, Storm King, keep this ship up! Aim¡ª¡±


    Even before he¡¯d finished, Jaclyn tapped me. ¡°We need to go.¡±


    She nodded toward the hallway, and she was right.


    I turned toward Rachel who turned more transparent as I watched. "Coming?" I asked.


    "No," Rachel said, now nearly invisible, "I''m heading for the bridge."


    And then she was gone.


    Vaughn¡¯s voice came over the comm, the sound of roaring wind along with it. ¡°We¡¯re trying. It¡¯s still flying. You know it¡¯s still flying, right?¡±


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    Travis growled, ¡°Not for long.¡±


    ¡°Now,¡± Jaclyn said, and ran down the hall, a blur, and I followed, taking two steps, and turning on the rockets. Not that I had any hope of catching Jaclyn, but arriving close behind her would help.


    The walls blurred. If they hadn¡¯t already been all white, they would have seemed that way anyway.


    The hall ended in an upwardly curved section of hull. Hrrnna bodies in power armor lay sprawled across the floor. A purple blur threw the last to the floor as I flew up. Then Jaclyn entered what had to be the backup engine room.


    I started my turn in time to avoid smashing into the wall, but only barely. I scraped it, and passed through the door, following Jaclyn into a hail of blue and white beams.


    The HUD started displaying damage reports, and I let fly with the killbots. I didn¡¯t have a lot of them left, but this wasn¡¯t a situation where conserving resources would be much help.


    The three Hrrnna in front of me exploded in a blast of armor and burnt Hrrnna body parts.


    I flew over them, turning and hovering as I crossed half the room almost without realizing it. One of the Hrrnna began to turn, and I shot his head with the laser. It fell over, all eight limbs twitching.


    Only in that moment did I manage to get a good look around me. I¡¯d notice that the room expanded upward into the level above it. Not that that was a surprise. It was an engine room. A catwalk went around the upper level. I hovered at approximately the same height, giving me a view of not one but two big engines. I recognized the fusion plant instantly¡ªif only because it had pipes and cables coming out of it everywhere. The other engine only had one cable coming out of it. That cable went directly toward the fusion plant.


    I didn¡¯t know for sure what it was, but I had a pretty good idea.


    It had to be a hyperdrive. Between the long cylindrical body, and the greenish-gray metal domes that stuck out of each end, it looked exactly like the pictures Grandpa had taken.


    Judging from what he¡¯d written, and what I¡¯d seen in the jet¡¯s space combat simulator, this wasn¡¯t one of the best out there. My bet was that it could access the lowest, slowest, levels of hyperspace. It was best used for in-system jumps¡ªthe kind that saved you time after coming through the jump gate, or alternately, tactical jumps that allowed you to get past a system¡¯s defenses the easy way.


    I wanted it.


    Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have any great ideas about how to get it. It wasn¡¯t as if I could rip it out of the floor, and fly it back to Grand Lake. Even if I could grab it somehow, the government would have first dibs.


    I stopped thinking about it. With Jaclyn darting about in a flash of purple, keeping all of them busy, I had to handle the fusion plant. There were still more than twenty of them, more than we¡¯d be able to take care of before the ship hit the ground.


    I couldn¡¯t do the shutdown technique we¡¯d used with the last one because that didn¡¯t work with one person in a ship this size.


    I had one option¡ªdestroying the cables and some of the pipes. I¡¯d avoided it last time because of the possibility that I might release superheated plasma instead of cutting off the power.


    Activating the radar, sonar, and thermal sensors, I scanned the power plant as quickly as I could. I didn¡¯t have much time to make a decision, but I could try.


    I loaded the last of the killbots, gave them their targets, and hesitated for a moment as I realized that we had no backup plan if Izzy, Vaughn and Sean couldn¡¯t keep it in the air.


    Then I fired, feeling the smallest pushes as the bots shot out from under my arm.


    Explosions ringed the plant. With each gout of fire, I expected plasma to cover the room, but it didn¡¯t.


    The lights went out, plunging the room into darkness.

 Stardock: Part 37

    My helmet adjusted to the lack of light at about the same time the ship dropped a few feet. A warning beeped, and I dropped a few feet, preparing for a landing. The Hrrnna must have had effective night vision because many of the remaining ones turned to aim their weapons at me.


    I opened up everything I had at them, putting the few remaining killbots into efficiency mode¡ªwhich meant that instead of exploding upon entering a body, they¡¯d make holes in opponents initially and only explode if the opponent wouldn¡¯t go down, or if they were nearly out of fuel.


    I¡¯d created a really elegant algorithm to calculate the best use of a group of bots on multiple targets. I felt proud if its efficiency, but I¡¯d felt a little sick when I thought about what it actually did.


    That didn¡¯t stop me from putting it into practice. Unfortunately efficient didn¡¯t mean instant, and they kept on firing at me. The armor registered damage as they hit.


    [78%]


    [77%]


    [76%]


    And so on¡­


    In some ways Jaclyn was in a worse position than I was. She had strength and speed that even in my suit I could only dream of, but in the darkness she was blind, and the Hrrnna weren¡¯t.


    When the lights went out, she¡¯d been in the middle of them. She¡¯d swung wildly, then gathered speed, running through the Hrrnna in front of her.


    Even as I ran and jumped, sometimes punching a Hrrnna while trying to avoid their shots, waiting for the killbots to take them down, I realized that the best thing I could do for her was give her light.


    Lowering the lasers¡¯ intensity, I swung my arms around, illuminating the room, or whatever portion of it my arms happened to be pointing at.


    That was enough for her.


    Even with the HUD, she still moved too quickly for me to see her, but I saw armor shatter and Hrrnna slide across the floor, or fly through the air, sometimes hitting other Hrrnna as if they were nothing more than eight legged, armored bowling pins.


    At the same time, a series of small booms took place in the background, and I suddenly realized that Jaclyn and I were almost the only living beings in the room.


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    ¡°Rocket, Accelerando,¡± Travis said.


    I looked toward the sound, realizing that Travis stood near the doorway. Three Hrrnna lay around him. I knew I hadn¡¯t taken them down, and I was pretty sure they hadn¡¯t been there when I¡¯d followed Jaclyn into the room.


    The light of the Rocket suit¡¯s lasers lit up the floor between us.


    Travis waved his hand toward the hallway behind him. ¡°We¡¯d better go. I don¡¯t know how long Izzy can keep this thing up.¡±


    I checked my HUD, and found our position on the GPS. We¡¯d moved quite a ways. Now were above Hoboken, New Jersey, but we were moving eastward. With any luck, we¡¯d be able to ditch the ship in the Hudson River.


    It probably wouldn¡¯t be the worst thing that had ended up in the Hudson River.


    ¡°By the way,¡± Travis asked, ¡°Did you kill all those guys? Some of them smell like they were dead before you got here.¡±


    I turned around, and gave the room a good look. He was right. We¡¯d only fought Hrrnna, but half a dozen different kinds of humanoids lay dead in the chamber, all of them burned to death by laser.


    It didn¡¯t make a lot of sense. The Hrrnna on the ground had been working with exactly the same sort of aliens. On the other hand, hadn¡¯t this been a pirate ship? I was pretty sure the Hrrnna had hired a pirate ship to bring them to Earth. I couldn¡¯t imagine that the pirates would have been willing to keep on going when it became clear that the Hrrnna were losing.


    Not that it mattered now. They were dead.


    We followed Travis down the hall toward where Izzy hovered, her hands still pushing against the ceiling.


    My lasers didn¡¯t give off the most natural lighting, but even considering that, Izzy barely seemed to be able to keep her eyes open and one of her fingers was shaking.


    I checked the GPS again. We were practically over the Hudson. We should ditch the ship now¡ªbefore Izzy lost control of it.


    I turned off my lasers, and readjusted them. We were standing next to the hull. I could cut a door, and Jaclyn or Travis could knock it the rest of the way out.


    I turned on the lasers, aiming both of them at the same spot, and hoping it would help. The blue beams lit up the hall.


    Around us the whole ship seemed to be straining. Somewhere in the distance, after a particularly long humming noise, I heard a pop followed by a shaking sound.


    The shaking didn¡¯t stop, becoming deeper as I cut, and cutting wasn¡¯t getting easier. The floor shook too. I wasn¡¯t cutting in a straight line. Each bump made me move, and there were a lot of bumps.


    Rachel appeared, not even giving me time to adjust, and flew through the laser beams. ¡°This ship is falling apart. Get out now!¡±


    Izzy said something unintelligible. Then she fell over. Well, almost. Jaclyn caught her.


    Travis took everything in one glance. ¡°Accelerando, grab the Rocket¡¯s hand. Rocket, catch me on your way out.¡±


    He made for the section of hull I¡¯d been working on, dug his feet¡¯s claws into the floor, and waved at me to turn off the lasers.


    I did, and he tore a hole through the wall just as Jaclyn grabbed my arm. I activated the rockets.


    Through the hole, the dark waters of the Hudson lay below us.

 Glory: Part 1

    I felt Travis grab my arm as I stepped toward the door, and said, ¡°Hang on!¡±


    Jaclyn and Travis jumped with me as I gave the rockets fuel, and that was all for the best. The Rocket suit wasn¡¯t meant to carry people. Sure, you could carry people. You could carry several people, but let¡¯s put it this way¡ªif a car were falling off a bridge, and I was the only chance for the people inside to survive¡­ well¡­ those people were likely to have a very short life.


    This was bad for a whole lot of reasons, but mostly because it wasn¡¯t at it¡¯s best maneuvering while carrying three people, two from my right arm, one with my left. The right rockets had to compensate by putting out more force on that side just to keep us from listing to one side or the other.


    This made all turns a little sluggish. If you hypothetically happened to be flying above the Hudson River while pieces of a spaceship fell from above, this was more than a little inconvenient.


    The HUD said, [COLLISION ALERT].


    I weaved as a particularly big chunk of the ship fell. It looked like the entire back end of the ship.


    It landed in the river, making a big splash. I aimed upward, checking both Travis and Jaclyn to see how comfortable they were, and if they were having any trouble hanging on.


    They seemed fine¡ªas fine you can be while hanging by one hand from the Rocket suit and traveling across the Hudson at twilight.


    Travis appeared to be watching the ship more than me. At least his eyes seemed to be pointed in that direction. With his gray mask covering most of his face it was hard to tell.


    Jaclyn hung on to me, but watched Izzy, holding her close and keeping Izzy¡¯s head from flopping around while we flew.


    I wondered if her powers still worked when she was unconscious. She¡¯d dug deep to keep the ship from sinking while we were still in it. It would be wrong if a piece of debris fell on her and killed her.


    With that in mind, I decided to land as soon as I could.


    Two of the piers on the New York side had grass and even trees growing on them. They appeared to have been deliberately landscaped, complete with park benches.


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    I aimed for there. The trees didn¡¯t have leaves, and the grass was brown, but the HUD labeled it ¡°Hudson River Park.¡± At least we wouldn¡¯t get in trouble for landing there.


    I suspected the same wouldn¡¯t be true if we landed on the Statue of Liberty¡¯s torch, and we could have. It wasn¡¯t that far away. It wasn¡¯t all that close either, but still we could have made it.


    We touched down, and Jaclyn laid her out on the nearest park bench. Not as long as Izzy was tall, the bench didn¡¯t look that comfortable to me. Izzy¡¯s legs fell on both sides. It didn¡¯t have a back.


    I opened a comm connection to Issac Lim, and he took it immediately. ¡°Great to hear from you. How¡¯s Izzy doing?¡±


    ¡°How did you know that?¡± I checked the HUD. He was miles away, and none of us had time to tell him.


    ¡°Ghost,¡± he said. ¡°She called in as soon as you got out. We¡¯ll get Izzy to a hospital or to Paladin, but honestly, Paladin¡¯s wiped out. How badly is Izzy hurt?¡±


    Even though he couldn¡¯t possibly see it, I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not even sure she is hurt. She might just be tired. If anything, I¡¯d say that she strained her powers if that makes any sense. She kept the ship in the air, and then she collapsed.¡±


    Lim took his time responding, long enough that I began to wonder if he¡¯d put me on hold. Then he said, ¡°It can happen. I¡¯ve seen people lose their powers for a time. They usually come back, but if you¡¯re lucky, she¡¯s tired. We¡¯ve got a fix on you and we¡¯re sending someone to pick you up.¡±


    Glancing at Jaclyn¡¯s burned costume, the reddish spots on her face and arm where she¡¯d been hit, I asked, ¡°Is it over? Is anyone still fighting?¡±


    ¡°Give me a second,¡± Lim said, and asked something I couldn¡¯t catch. ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°No one¡¯s fighting. All the ships are accounted for as well as the asteroids.¡±


    I felt a surge of fear as I thought about my next question, but asked it anyway. ¡°What about Grand Lake? Have you talked to anyone there?¡±


    ¡°We haven¡¯t talked to anyone, but we know that your people took down the ship. Rocket, I¡¯m sure they¡¯re all fine. Man-machine came out of retirement for this one. I¡¯d never have thought letting that guy out would be useful. Biggest collar of my career and he served less than a year. Still, he played a role in saving all of us. Anyway, I¡¯ve got to go. I¡¯ll talk later.¡±


    I¡¯d barely closed the connection when Travis turned to me and asked, ¡°What happened in Grand Lake?¡±


    Jaclyn looked over at me too.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°I checked the League¡¯s channel in the middle of everything, and they were shouting about needing to press a button, and then there wasn¡¯t anything. I haven¡¯t been able to make a connection since.¡±


    Travis started to tap at his wrist mounted comm. After a little while, he stopped, looking up at me. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me this before?¡±


    ¡°We were in the middle of fighting, and we couldn¡¯t do anything about it.¡±


    He grunted something and started tapping again.


    I wanted to help, but it was clear that we weren¡¯t going to get anywhere by calling Haley or any of them directly. I tried to think of other options. Who could I contact that likely wasn¡¯t affected by the electromagnetic pulse, but was near enough to know what happened.


    As I thought, two figures landed on the pier with us¡ªSean and Vaughn. ¡°Hey,¡± Vaughn shouted. ¡°Are you all okay?¡±

 Glory: Part 2

    ¡°Blue strained herself,¡± Jaclyn said, using the codename we¡¯d used for her last time we¡¯d gotten desperate for a codename.


    Her current costume was actually a costume, and it did have some blue and yellow on it, but more black. It reminded me of Native American designs¡ªwhich fit. She was at least partially Mexican, and a lot of them descended from native tribes.


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Her powers, you mean? She doesn¡¯t look hurt.¡±


    He landed near us. I felt the pull of the wind that kept him in the air stop.


    Sean landed near him, and the Rocket suit didn¡¯t miss a beat¡ªno static, errors or anything. Either he was getting better at controlling himself, or the suit¡¯s shielding worked like it was supposed to.


    His eyes fell on Travis, who was still tapping on his communicator.


    ¡°What¡¯s up? Something going on?¡±


    Travis glanced over at him, and frowned for a brief moment. ¡°I¡¯m trying to find out what happened in Grand Lake.¡±


    Sean¡¯s puzzled expression showed that he had no idea what happened in Grand Lake.


    Travis didn¡¯t even look up from the screen as Jaclyn said, ¡°Local capes, including your sister, fought a ship full of aliens.¡±


    He blinked. ¡°No kidding. Are they okay?¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°No one knows. They were shouting about pressing a button, and after that, radio silence.¡±


    ¡°Fuck,¡± Sean announced to no one in particular, ¡°I told Sydney not to get involved in whatever thing she was doing with Haley and Camille. I mean, how could they think they could handle something like that?¡±


    ¡°They had help,¡± I said. I¡¯d stopped trying to contact them. ¡°Man-machine was there, I guess, and probably the Shift, and¡ª¡°


    Sean turned to stare at me. ¡°Didn¡¯t you put him in prison or something?¡±


    Jaclyn broke in before I could reply. ¡°It sounds like he¡¯s out, but that¡¯s not all. Could you please stop saying people¡¯s names in public? Someone could be listening.¡±


    Sean rolled his eyes. ¡°Come on, Accelerando,¡± he emphasized her codename, ¡°they evacuated the city. Who¡¯s going to hear us?¡±


    A voice from above us said, ¡°She¡¯s got a good point.¡±


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    I jerked my head toward the sound of the voice. I think most of us did because the voice said, ¡°Relax everybody, I¡¯m here to ask questions, not fight.¡±


    ¡°Get on with it,¡± Travis said. ¡°I noticed you a couple minutes ago.¡± He didn¡¯t look up from his comm.


    A short man hung in the air above us, camera balancing on his shoulder. The crazy thing was, I recognized the guy. He¡¯d flown into Grand Lake with Justice Fiend last year.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t recording,¡± the man said, landing on the pier. ¡°But Accelerando¡¯s right. You don¡¯t know who could be listening in. Some tabloids would pay thousands of dollars for a hero¡¯s first name even if they didn¡¯t know which hero it was. Somebody would figure it out, more so with you than most. You don¡¯t even have a secret identity, right?¡±


    Sean eyed the guy, giving him a suspicious look. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±


    Smiling, the man said, ¡°Glad you asked. I¡¯m Shane Perez. I specialize in shooting video of supers, especially when they¡¯re fighting. Right now I¡¯m shooting video for local TV stations, but I work on movies too.¡±


    As if he were making some kind of point, Sean commented, ¡°You don¡¯t have a secret identity either.¡±


    Camera aimed casually toward the ground, Shane said, ¡°Not in the least, but I¡¯m not a superhero or a criminal. People pay me to get footage, and that¡¯s all. Sometimes they pay me to ask questions too. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here today. I just got some amazing footage of that ship uncloaking, having its power fail, start to fall, get held up, and then completely fall apart as a group of heroes escape. I¡¯d like all of you to talk about that. It won¡¯t take long¡ªfive or ten minutes tops.¡±


    Sean gave us a sidelong glance, then turned back toward Shane. ¡°I could answer some questions.¡±


    Vaughn shrugged. ¡°Whatever. It¡¯s over now. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve got a schedule, but what about Blue? Shouldn¡¯t we be getting her somewhere?¡±


    This didn¡¯t seem like the right time for an interview, but I didn¡¯t have a good reason to say no, beyond being irritated. ¡°I can¡¯t even promise five minutes. People are already on their way for Blue now, and when she goes, we all ought to go.¡±


    Shane raised the camera as Jaclyn shook her head and knelt down to check Izzy¡¯s pulse.


    ¡°So why don¡¯t you start with why you were on the spaceship to begin with. What was the plan?¡±


    We talked him through it despite a background feeling that I should have told him to go away. We talked through everything he¡¯d filmed through to in the end including Izzy¡¯s contribution.


    Vaughn laughed, and punched Sean¡¯s shoulder, ¡°No way, I told you it was too light. I mean seriously, I did my best, but I don¡¯t exactly have a precise power. If I¡¯d gone all out I¡¯d have taken out buildings on both sides of the river with tornadoes. We¡¯d have done more damage than if we¡¯d let the ship fall.¡±


    Sean meanwhile looked like he¡¯d discovered a particularly bad smell. ¡°It¡¯s not like we didn¡¯t do anything. I put my all into keeping that thing up. When they came out and we could finally let go, I pushed the falling pieces away from them.¡±


    He had? I hadn¡¯t felt like I was getting any help at all, but I couldn¡¯t be sure. For all I knew, his help might have made all the difference.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t get hit,¡± I said. ¡°I hate to think what would have happened if we had. Normally, Blue¡¯s pretty close to invulnerable, but I don¡¯t know what she is right now.¡±


    I wondered if I should go further than that, but didn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t want to diminish what Izzy had done. She¡¯d made all the difference in keeping the ship up. At the same time, Sean had done his best. You can¡¯t ask for more than that.


    Shane stopped filming, aiming his camera down. ¡°Thanks everybody. Maybe you¡¯ll see yourselves on TV.¡±


    Then he flew away.


    Rachel appeared a few minutes later, fading into view next to Izzy¡¯s bench.


    Travis looked up from his comm. ¡°Where have you been?¡±


    Rachel grinned. ¡°The Hrrnna leader left in an escape pod. I¡¯ve been redirecting him.¡±

 Glory: Part 3

    ¡°Redirecting?¡± I turned toward her and raised an eyebrow¡ªwhich was completely hidden by my helmet.


    ¡°Pushing on the escape pod¡¯s controls at exactly the right moment to keep him from going where he wanted to, and getting a message out to Lim. Lim called in one of the New York teams that didn¡¯t get sent into space, and what do you know? One more captive alien.¡±


    Rachel grinned below her white mask.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°None of the aliens are supposed to be contacting us in the first place. The moment this gets out, the Hrrnna are in major trouble.¡±


    Rachel shook her head. ¡°Doubt it. My bet is they play the ¡®we don¡¯t know anything about that¡¯ card, and pretend the Hrrnna here were acting on their own.¡±


    Travis nodded. ¡°That¡¯s how it works.¡±


    He put down his arm, blanked his comm screen, and sighed. ¡°I still can¡¯t get anyone in Grand Lake.¡±


    Rachel stopped grinning, and glanced from Travis to me. ¡°What happened?¡±


    Jaclyn answered. ¡°The Hrrnna sent a ship there. Night Cat and the ¡®Under 18¡¯ team fought them.¡± She looked over at me. ¡°Man-machine helped. That still throws me for a loop.¡±


    ¡°Maybe not just them,¡± I said. ¡°They might have had the Rhino, and we¡¯ve got a few other powered people in Grand Lake.¡±


    We¡¯d gathered into a group as we¡¯d been talking. Only a couple feet away from me, Sean said, ¡°This is stupid. We don¡¯t have time to wait for this. We should fly back to the hangar, or fly home.¡±


    He stared out at the river. Pieces of the spaceship were still visible. Not very visible, I had to admit. They were dark shapes sticking out of the water.


    ¡°We were on our way home anyway,¡± I said. ¡°I doubt Lim¡¯s going to keep us here unless we¡¯re hurt.¡±


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    Sean turned toward me, possibly with the intention of shouting me down, but Vaughn said, ¡°We¡¯ve got to wait for Lim. I don¡¯t know about you, but I¡¯m not much faster than a car.¡±


    Not saying anything, Sean turned back to the water.


    We stayed like that for a little while, standing in the cold, listening to the sound of gulls, and waiting. Somewhere in the distance, sirens blared, but from here they were low level background noise.


    Across the river, the last glow of the day gave a reddish background to the skyscrapers. Tired as I felt, it seemed like the sort of thing cowboys would ride off into even if it was technically past sunset.


    I doubted that any cowboy movies ended with the heroes riding off into New Jersey though.


    While I thought about that, and tried to avoid thinking about the worst reasons we might not be able to connect with Grand Lake, I heard Izzy gasp, and then a cracking noise. It happened too quickly for me to see it, but from the noise and utterly shattered bench, I guessed that she¡¯d woken up disoriented except that she remembered being in the ship.


    That was only a guess though, and however it worked, Jaclyn had caught her. Even as I realized what had happened, she was already saying, ¡°Relax, we got out,¡± and holding Izzy up.


    Izzy didn¡¯t quite seem steady on her feet, but I realized that that was because she was partially floating. She settled fully onto the ground as I watched, and took a breath.


    Looking around, she asked, ¡°Where are we?¡±


    ¡°New York,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°All of us got out. The ship¡¯s in the river.¡± She pointed toward it.


    Izzy shook her head, and then she spied the bench. ¡°I thought I was over that.¡±


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. After today, what¡¯s one bench? Some of the fights that took place today took down city blocks.¡±


    ¡°Seriously?¡± I asked.


    Vaughn shrugged. ¡°I heard it on the comm.¡±


    Sean nodded. ¡°Some guy¡­ Brickhouse, I think? He used himself as a missile, took out one of the ships, but it rolled, and there was a gas leak or something. Everything went boom.¡±


    As Sean had been talking, the sound of sirens became louder until they threatened to block out the sound of his voice. We all turned to find a police car and a box shaped truck with the word ¡°NYPD¡± written on it in big, blue capital letters.


    ¡°A Box?¡± Izzy curled her lip in disgust. ¡°I¡¯m on their side.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s probably the best they¡¯ve got for supers,¡± Jaclyn said.


    Still watching, Izzy said, ¡°I don¡¯t feel that bad. I feel tired, but I don¡¯t need to go to the hospital.¡±


    Thinking about the bench, I hoped she¡¯d consider getting looked at at least. Jaclyn was likely right about the Box too. It was pretty much the only vehicle required to have medical equipment that could handle supers.


    Jaclyn took a step toward the truck. ¡°I¡¯ll walk with you.¡±


    Izzy seemed to consider it for a moment, and then she walked toward the Box with Jaclyn. The cars had parked by the side of the street next to the park¡¯s entrance.


    They barely stepped away before my comm gave me an alert. It listed the caller as the Grand Lake Heroes League.

 Glory: Part 4

    I took the call, and Kayla¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°Rocket, Night Cat wanted me to tell you--¡± my stomach tightened, ¡°--that we won. We survived. She¡¯ll call you herself in a little while. We saw you popping in on our channel and thought you might want to know.¡±


    I let out a breath that I hadn¡¯t realized I¡¯d been holding. ¡°Everyone¡¯s okay, then?¡±


    Kayla¡¯s breath caught. ¡°No. It was terrifying. Sydney¡¯s in this clinic Night Cat knows about, and she¡¯s hurt. She¡¯s not the only one, but she got it the worst. They¡¯re talking about moving her to the hospital.¡±


    I thought about Haley. Having her friend get hurt while she was leading the team would be awful. I knew I shouldn¡¯t assume that she¡¯d been leading, but it had sounded like she was in charge.


    Then I realized something else. I¡¯d have to tell Sean what had happened to Sydney. I knew now, and this wasn¡¯t the kind of thing you hid.


    This was not going to go well for reasons that had to be completely obvious. And speaking of obvious, I hated to think about Sydney. She was in a position to take lots of damage. She generally fought with a coating of liquid metal surrounding her body, and the Hrrnna carried mobile plasma cannons.


    It would be far too easy to heat the metal around her to the point that she¡¯d pass out or die. Those were almost the kindest possibilities. The combination of heated metal and human flesh created horrible thoughts that I didn¡¯t want to dwell on.


    She had a costume between her body and the metal, but it wouldn¡¯t do much.


    I needed to design something better for her if she survived. The metal armor itself could be redesigned to shed heat better even before I redesigned her costume.


    With all of everything going through my head, I¡¯d lost track of the world around me. The relief at Haley¡¯s survival, the fear for Sydney, and the realization that I had a duty to Sean even though I wasn¡¯t the best choice were a whirlwind, and I barely dared to move.


    Reality intruded as I realized that Travis had glanced in my direction, and then over at Sean, and shook his head. At the same time, the way he held his body seemed a little less tense.


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    Of course he¡¯d heard everything.


    ¡°Rocket?¡± Kayla asked.


    ¡°Sorry, that¡¯s big news. I¡¯m trying to think about what I can do. We¡¯ve got Paladin here¡ªnot right here, right now, but nearby. He probably isn¡¯t in a position to heal her right now, but if she can survive a day or two, I think I can get him or his dad to Grand Lake. Maybe he can look at everyone else too.¡±


    Kayla didn¡¯t say anything immediately. ¡°They weren¡¯t talking about her like she¡¯d die tomorrow. I¡¯ll tell everyone what you said, and Night Cat will call you back, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, and sent a text message to Isaac Lim saying, ¡°Call me when you¡¯ve got a second.¡±


    He didn¡¯t reply, but I didn¡¯t expect one.


    On the ground next to the end of the pier, two paramedics were giving Izzy and Jaclyn medical examinations. Rachel stood nearby. She must have walked off with them. I considered bringing them in on the conversation through their wrist comms, but gave up on the idea almost instantly. At bare minimum, it could distract them. Beyond that, the paramedics might hear something they shouldn¡¯t.


    That left Travis, Sean, and Vaughn, and Travis already knew. Travis and Vaughn would probably be enough to restrain Sean if he tried to literally or figuratively kill the messenger when I told him about Sydney.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got news about Grand Lake,¡± I said. Sean had been staring out at the river, but his head snapped toward me. Vaughn had been watching all of us, and barely had to move at all, nodding at me, hands in his pockets.


    Travis had been sitting on the bench next to the one Izzy destroyed. He turned his head toward me slowly. His muscles flexed a little as he moved, reminding me that he hadn¡¯t transformed back to normal¡ªclaws and fangs were still out.


    I felt certain he was watching Sean even though his eyes were most obviously on me.


    ¡°It¡¯s good and bad. The good news is that they fought the aliens there, and survived. Everybody survived. The bad news is that almost everybody got hurt, and some got more hurt than others. Sydney¡¯s pretty badly hurt¡ª¡°


    Sean¡¯s face contorted, and he took a step toward me. ¡°What happened?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but you know what the Hrrnna and the ship they hired were like¡ªplasma rifles, lasers¡­ Heat everywhere, and she was covered with metal. It¡¯d be easy to get hurt.¡±


    With a stamp of his foot, he turned around and took to the air, disappearing into the dark.


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn said, watching him fly away. ¡°How bad is it?¡±


    ¡°Bad,¡± I said, still watching Sean with the Rocket suit¡¯s radar. ¡°She¡¯s at the clinic we use, but they¡¯re talking about moving her to a hospital. I¡¯m going to try to get Paladin or Preserver to visit her there tomorrow.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°They¡¯re awesome. When Paladin healed my cousin last year he went from having no chance to practically a full recovery. I wish the Power had stayed.¡±


    Travis cleared his throat, staring at something in the dark above the river ¡°Rocket, over there.¡±


    I checked Sean¡¯s position. He¡¯d slowed down, and changed direction. He was coming back.

 Glory: Part 5

    That was interesting, and not necessarily good. It wasn''t necessarily bad. It didn''t automatically mean Sean was planning to take out his fear and anxiety about his sister on me.


    It didn''t mean he wasn''t either.


    Vaughn saw him as Sean got closer. "Hey, he''s coming back--"


    And then Sean was there, landing on the sidewalk with exactly the force required to stop, and not a bit more or less. I''d come to envy that. Sure, I''d worked out a landing command that did the same thing, but it wasn''t flexible. I needed to do manual landings a lot, and when I did, it was all too easy to drop a foot, or have to run a few steps before I could fully stop.


    Despite the control he''d shown when landing, Sean slumped when he hit the ground.


    He shook his head. "That was so stupid. I was going to fly home and then I realized I can''t get back to Grand Lake. I''m too tired. And even if I wasn''t tired, I can''t fly fast enough. It''ll take me hours."


    Vaughn put his hand on Sean''s shoulder. "Even if you could get back there, you couldn''t do anything to help her. The best thing you can do is relax. The Rocket was saying that he''s trying to get Paladin or Preserver in there. Rocket, how''s that going?"


    Sean looked over at me, his face (what I could see of it since his mask covered his eyes) a mixture of hope and fear.


    It was hard not to feel sympathy for him. I was scared for Sydney too. I didn''t know her very well, but I liked her better than her brother.


    That didn''t say much, but she''d been decent to me any time I''d been around her. She''d never gone out of her way to be friendly, but she could just be an introvert. Come to think of it, I''d never gone out of my way to be friendly to her either.


    "I asked Lim to call me as soon as he could. I''m pretty sure Paladin''s tired, but his father, Preserver probably isn''t. He might have been up in space, but they''re nearly back now if they aren''t already. Plus, she was hurt fighting in this with us. Preserver''s always made sure to heal any hero he could. I''m sure he''ll do the same for her."


    Sean nodded. "I''ve always heard that. Tell me when you know something."


    Then he sat down on a bench, leaning back, and looking up. He didn''t say anything.


    Travis, meanwhile, had stood up when Sean turned around. Sean couldn''t have seen it since he was facing Travis, but I''d noticed that Travis'' dewclaws--the claws with the poison--had extended from his palms by the time Sean landed.


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    Haley had said that Travis had never liked Sean when they were dating. He had little choice but to remember the police investigation Sean''s family had brought down on them when Haley ended their relationship.


    She''d poisoned him with her own dewclaw when he''d tried to push her to go further than she wanted physically.


    As strangely gratifying as it would have been to have Travis take Sean out the same way, he didn''t. When Sean lay back on his bench, Travis sat down on his own and retracted his claws.


    Vaughn exhaled, caught my eye, and shook his head. He''d noticed the claws.


    I sat down too. There wasn''t much else to do until the medical team was done with Izzy and Jaclyn.


    Minutes passed. No one talked as the sky grew darker and the last bits of sunset faded from the sky. The sky turned black, but not dark black. It was whatever color the sky gets when the streetlights make it impossible to really see it.


    I thought I saw a few stars, but I wasn''t completely sure.


    Then my communicator rang. The square next to Lim''s name started blinking. I took the call.


    "Rocket,"Lim said, "What''s the problem?"


    "Grand Lake," I said. "The Power''s sister got hurt fighting aliens there. It sounds pretty bad, the kind of thing you''d need Paladin for, or Preserver. She controls metal. She doesn''t have regeneration or anything like that."


    Lim said. "Got it. I think we can manage a visit by Preserver. He''s with Guardian in space, but they''ve taken care of all the asteroids. Guardian can teleport him in."


    On the bench across from me, Sean stopped looking at the sky, and watched me.


    "Great. Is he going to look at anyone else, or just the Power''s sister?"


    Lim said, "Anyone with life threatening injuries, or injuries that normal medicine can''t handle well. He won''t handle everything. He might have to save his strength, and come back later for some injuries. We''re going to be sending him all over the globe, anywhere the Hrrnna hit."


    "Understood." I made my answer short, expecting him to end the call.


    "One more thing," Lim said, "great job with the ship. In good condition, I''m pretty sure it could have leveled the city."


    "Thanks," I said.


    Lim laughed. "You''re welcome. I wish you''d mentioned you had a way to take it down earlier though. I had to blow Stardock, and if we hadn''t that would have been better."


    "Sorry," I said, and meant it. Blowing up Stardock couldn''t look good on his record. "I didn''t have a plan yet when you asked. Besides, it was practically empty when we boarded it."


    "Yeah," Lim said, "That''s one of the things that I''ll be putting into my report. It would have gone differently if we''d tried to board it when it was flying over NYC, and was full of soldiers."


    Worry must have carried over in my voice because Lim added, "Don''t worry about it. It''ll all be fine. I stayed within mission parameters. My highest priority is to keep you kids alive. If I''ve got a choice between losing equipment and losing people, I''m supposed to choose the equipment every time."


    "Good," I said. "I don''t want you to get in trouble."


    "Me neither," he said. "I''ll be fine."


    He ended the call shortly after that.


    Vaughn stopped pacing down the sidewalk, and grinned. "There you go. It''s taken care of. Preserver''s going to Grand Lake?"


    "Yeah," I said.


    Sean nodded at me. "Thanks. If Sydney died, it would have killed my mom."


    "No problem," I said.

 Glory: Part 6

    An SUV came soon after that. All black with tinted windows, it was obviously used for carrying people who didn''t care to be seen. To the Rocket suit''s senses, it was also obviously armored, meaning it was just as obviously used by people who expected to be shot at.


    We all got in--Rachel, Travis, Sean, Vaughn, Izzy, Jaclyn and I.


    Izzy leaned against the wall in the back. When Travis turned back from the second row, and asked how she was doing, she barely opened her eyes, but said, "Fine. I''m tired, but there''s nothing wrong with me."


    Then her eyes shut, and she fell asleep.


    Jaclyn shook her head. She''d sat next to Izzy. "They took her vitals, and checked her out as best they could. They didn''t find anything wrong."


    "Good," Travis said. He watched Izzy for a moment, and turned around. I didn''t know what he was thinking, but suspected it was a lot like what I was thinking--"I hope she doesn''t freak out again when she wakes up."


    It had to be one of the reasons Jaclyn sat next to her. If Izzy did freak out, Jaclyn would be okay. I doubted I could say the same about the wall Izzy leaned on.


    In the end, the ride turned out to be less eventful than we feared. We weren''t attacked. Izzy woke up calmly. We found ourselves at the same hangar we''d gathered in before we''d heard about the attack.


    It wasn''t quite the same. Costumes had been ripped, burned, or stained by blood. People mostly sat next to their luggage, talking quietly, but not in big groups. I didn''t hear much laughter either.


    Even while we never said so, it was obvious that we were missing a quarter of the people in the program. I didn''t think they were dead, but it wouldn''t surprise me if some were being kept alive so Alex or his father could heal them later.


    More optimistically, they might be needed where they were for the moment. It wasn''t impossible.


    I set the Rocket suit to disassemble, and pushed it next to the wall. Leaning against the block of ceramic it had become, I read, checked my email, and even fell asleep for a little while.


    Nearby, Izzy talked quietly with Daniel, and a few more people filtered in. I overheard one of the women from the military academies say to a friend. "I never thought I''d see combat for the first time on a Stapledon weekend."


    I missed her friend''s response, and the conversation trailed off as they walked out of range of my hearing.


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    I''d turned my head back toward my tablet when I heard a voice say, "Nick?"


    Bloodmaiden stood in front of me except not really. She''d shed her magical warrior princess gear to wear normal clothes--jeans, and a white sweater. I think she might have been a foot shorter too, but her hair was still red, and hung past her shoulders.


    "Once you got inside, the ship moved too quickly for me to do much good with the Bloodspear. I''m sorry about that. I managed to get a few of them, but not enough."


    The tablet''s screen turned black as I said, "Don''t worry about it. It worked out. Besides, you were in pretty bad shape. Are you okay?"


    She shrugged. "Okay enough. Alex patched me up enough to get me past the worst of it. I healed myself the rest of the way off the people I... speared."


    "Oh," I said. By speared, she meant killed.


    She smiled, but it was a tired smile. "It feels like a long time since we left."


    "Hours," I said. It had been three hours.


    She shook her head. "I didn''t mean literally, but I''m sure you knew that and you were making a joke, right?"


    "Sure," I said.


    She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I thought I''d introduce myself in case you didn''t know my name. You didn''t, did you?"


    "Sorry, no."


    "I''m Amy," she said.


    "I''m Nick," I said, wondering if I should get up and shake her hand.


    "I know." She glanced further back into the hangar. "Everyone knows your name." She gave me a wave as she walked away. "Talk to you later."


    In a few steps, she stood next to a guy and a couple girls I''d seen her with before.


    I turned the tablet back on again, found the book I''d been reading, and started where I''d left off.


    My phone rang. I checked the ID, preparing to ignore it.


    It was Haley. I took the call, and we talked for the next half hour. She sounded as tired as I felt. By the time we were done, the cargo jet had rolled into the hangar, and people had started to pack their bags and board.


    I kept talking as long as possible, but finally had to say good-bye. Daniel grabbed the Rocket suit telekinetically, and floated it inside.


    I started to follow Daniel up the ramp and into the plane when he thought, Behind you, at me.


    I turned to find Isaac Lim behind me at the bottom of the ramp. His black suit looked the worse for wear. Even though it was dark colored, I could still see mud stains, and four diagonal slices, that might have come from the same claw, ran parallel to each other across his chest.


    "Nick, if you''ve got a second, I need to tell you something."


    He sounded calm, and not the least bit scared or apologetic. I hoped that meant that it wasn''t really bad.


    "Sure, what''s up?"


    He took a breath. Then he let it out. "You and Cassie killed a Xiniti, and we''re required to let the Xiniti know if any come to Earth. If they die here, we''re required to get the body back to the Xiniti at the first opportunity. Well, we haven''t had the chance to get the body back, but we did let them know. They''ve still got a skeleton crew at the gate."


    "Oh." Thoughts of planet wide genocide flashed through my head.


    "Good news," Lim flashed me a brief grin, "you and Cassie are now members of the Xiniti''s clan."


    I tried to get my head around that, managing only to say, "What?"


    Lim shrugged. "The Xiniti have this thing about a hunter and prey. If they can''t get it, and someone else can, it means something to them. I don''t know what. They owe your grandparents because your grandparents caught the last Abominators. This Xiniti you killed? He was a criminal, and he''d escaped. Because you killed him, you''re now recognized as citizens of his clan with all the rights and responsibilities that entails."


    He paused, and said, "I wish I had the faintest clue what they were."

 Glory: Part 7

    Lim walked a couple steps more up the ramp, and joined me. ¡°Keep on moving. I¡¯ve got to get in there to thank everybody in person, and to assure them that their friends are getting the best medical care available¡ªwhich is true by the way.¡±


    I turned around, and started following Daniel for a few steps before turning back toward Lim to ask, ¡°About those rights and responsibilities¡ª¡°


    Lim interrupted me. ¡°We¡¯re looking into it, but in the end you may have to flat out ask them. Of course, you may have a few more resources than most of us. Use them and you¡¯ll have a head start.¡±


    Nodding, I turned my attention to the ramp, wondering exactly what Agent Lim knew about my resources. I knew he knew about Lee, but did he know Lee had agreed to do the Xiniti a favor? Plus, the jet contained an alien AI. I didn¡¯t see any reason Lim could know about that, but I couldn¡¯t rule it out.


    Walking into the well lit cargo bay, I found people securing the luggage with straps. We passed through that section, and into the main area inside the cargo plane. Much like other planes we¡¯d taken as part of the Stapledon program, it looked as though they¡¯d added in the seats only recently, and only temporarily.


    Metal beams, cables, and insulation were visible on the ceiling above us even though plastic panels covered the walls to the sides.


    I took a seat next to Daniel and Izzy, wondering if I should. It wasn¡¯t as if flying in an airplane with nearly one hundred other people could be considered a date, but they¡¯d only just gotten together in the sense of actually trying to make a go of it, and they might want to be sitting next to someone they could ignore.


    Don¡¯t worry about it, Daniel thought at me.


    Pretty soon, it was obvious why. Jaclyn, Cassie, and Vaughn were near us. Travis and Rachel weren¡¯t far away either, even if they weren¡¯t next to each other.


    Sean sat across the aisle, and back a row, next to Dayton and Jody. I didn¡¯t hear much from them. I could guess why, and suspected it had a lot to do with how Sean had leaned over Dayton as I¡¯d passed his row, and said, ¡°Hey, Sydney called, and Preserver healed her. Thanks.¡±


    He didn¡¯t make a big deal about it¡ªno tears, and he didn¡¯t sound especially emotional, but I knew he meant it.


    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m glad it worked out.¡±


    I don¡¯t know if that was the right response, but he seemed to be okay with it. At least he wasn¡¯t angry which meant it went significantly better than any conversation I¡¯d had with him in the last year.


    Isaac Lim walked up the aisle by himself, and disappeared into the cockpit. Soon after the cockpit door closed behind him, his voice came over the speaker. Once he¡¯d thanked us for serving he said, ¡°Not all of us are going back on this flight. Some are still receiving medical attention in New York. A few of them are still battling for their lives. We¡¯ll be doing everything we can. Good luck to all of you on your way home.¡±


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    With that, he left the plane, and the plane took off.


    It wasn¡¯t a direct flight. It went to Washington D.C. first, and about half the group got off the plane, some of them because they were located in D.C., and some to catch other flights.


    Next we flew to Chicago, and that¡¯s where everyone going to the northern Midwest took other flights.


    I arrived back in Grand Lake around eleven, and considered myself lucky to have arrived home that early. Vaughn and I took the van back to school, and talked most of the way back. It was comfortable.


    Sean, Dayton, and Jody had taken Sean¡¯s car, and that was a good thing. As nice as it was that Sean didn¡¯t seem to be angry with me, I wasn¡¯t going to assume that that would last. Taking them all in the van would have been tempting fate.


    When I walked into my dorm room, Jeremy, my roommate practically screamed. He¡¯d been staring at the two monitors on his desk¡ªhis laptop, and the other, bigger monitor. His TV showed the SuperTV cable channel with it¡¯s sound turned off.


    He got up from his desk, grabbed my shoulder with one hand, and said, ¡°That was amazing!¡± He looked like he was about to say more except it must not have been something that the block would allow. He made a noise that sounded somewhere between a gasp and gargle.


    He let go of my shoulder, shaking his head as I stepped back to shut the door to the room.


    It was all for the best anyway. When he¡¯d reached out to grab my arm, I had to stop myself from stepping back to dodge, or from using one of the moves I¡¯d learned that would have used his locked arm, and driven him to the ground.


    Obviously, the flight home hadn¡¯t been enough time to decompress.


    After the door shut, Jeremy started talking more quietly. ¡°Have you been watching SuperTV? Because people know.¡±


    I glanced over at his TV. It was doing a frame by frame rehash of the mothership flying over Hoboken, New Jersey, then toward the Hudson River, and breaking up. Sean floated in the air, gritting his teeth as pieces fell off the ship. Amazingly none of them hit buildings or people, landing in streets, open spaces, or the river.


    Vaughn appeared too, but not close by.


    Then Izzy, Travis, Jaclyn, and I flew out, and the whole ship collapsed. Bits of the interviews we¡¯d done were included, explaining what was going on, including how we¡¯d taken out the ship¡¯s engines and power sources.


    It even showed the Hrrnna leader¡¯s escape pod land, and showed footage as the police, FBI, and a few supers took it into custody.


    ¡°Know what? Know about the aliens? That¡¯s okay.¡±


    Jeremy shook his head. ¡°No, about the cape academy the government¡¯s got. Look, you¡¯ve got teenage capes from all over the country, some of them well known like you guys, some of them no one¡¯s ever heard of. It¡¯s got to be a cape school, or some kind of cape army.¡±


    Cape army? I watched as they replayed scenes of fighting. Even though it hadn¡¯t felt like it, we¡¯d moved like we were coordinating with each other. I hadn¡¯t seen Travis or Tara when they were commanding, but, even from the TV, it was obvious that they were in command.


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, ¡°that could change some things.¡±


    After that, I ran through the battle with him, explaining everything that I felt okay with him knowing. When it became obvious that I was ready to fall asleep, he stopped asking questions, and I went to bed.


    I didn¡¯t sleep very well.


    I woke up three different times, each time from dreams. I don¡¯t remember much of them, but I remember running through the halls of the mothership, knowing that it¡¯s falling, knowing that I have to get out, but not sure where anyone else is.


    I¡¯m fighting hordes of Hrrnna, and I¡¯m running out of ammunition. The bombs are exploding, and St. Louis is burning. There are no people left on the planet, but I¡¯m still running.


    The last time I woke up¡ªaround 6:43¡ªI gave up, and waited for my alarm clock to ring.

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 1

    Kayla sat in a chair in front of a computer screen inside one of the most famous secret bases in the world, and tried to stay awake.


    It had sounded more fun when Cassie pitched it to her last summer. Cassie had been grinning the whole time. ¡°We need someone back in the base to do research or call for help or whatever. You need money for college. This way you¡¯ll be able to help, but you won¡¯t have to be in danger, and we¡¯ll be able to hang out all the time like we did before.¡±


    ¡°Before¡± as in before Cassie got her father¡¯s superpowers, turned cape, and revived the Heroes League.


    It was also ¡°before¡± (though Cassie didn¡¯t know it then) as in before the Nine targeted Cassie, forcing her to relocate to Washington D.C.


    That left Kayla sitting in a secret base, a dark musty secret base with old boxes in a big pile, olive green carpet that had been installed a few years before the Reagan administration, and trophies and momentoes that bordered on creepy.


    The gauntlet on the stand not far from her had been a weapon used by a Nazi super-soldier. The gun hanging on the wall near the big, flat metal disc could turn you from a man to a woman, or vice versa, but not back to your original gender. You¡¯d grow back to normal gradually over several months.


    It was only one of many objects in the room that she¡¯d decided to never, ever touch.


    She decided to open up Netflix. She¡¯d finished all her homework during yesterday afternoon¡¯s shift.


    The computer pinged.


    The square next to Cassie¡¯s name blinked, and then her face appeared on the screen. Square jawed with light skin, Cassie had her blond hair in a ponytail, and wore a Grand Lake University hoodie. ¡°Hey K!¡±


    Kayla answered. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡±


    Cassie gave a disgusted look at someone off camera. ¡°Badly. If Earth¡¯s ever attacked by aliens, people should hope that we defect. Some of us are more dangerous to our allies than our enemies. Sean dropped a spaceship on us¡ªa fake spaceship, but still.¡±


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    Kayla was still trying to think of a reply when Cassie said, ¡°Not that it matters. We¡¯re almost on our way home.¡±


    Not much was visible behind Cassie, but it looked like a big building. People stood in groups, talking.


    Cassie looked away from her phone¡¯s camera. ¡°I¡¯d better go talk to Nick. I¡¯ll call you back.¡±


    ¡°Kay,¡± Kayla said, and the screen went black.


    She stared at it for a moment. She knew she didn¡¯t want to be in their position, but being there looked like a lot more fun than being here. At least there would be people.


    Something hummed, and it sounded like it was coming closer. She turned around in her chair. A Roomba moved across the carpet, the flat robot sucking up the dust. Kayla watched it for a little while, and then shuddered.


    Nick had more than one, and he¡¯d modified them. When she¡¯d asked, he¡¯d said, ¡°I¡¯m calling them Battle Roombas. At least until I come up with something better.¡±


    She¡¯d stared at the robot as it rolled across the floor. ¡°Is it safe?¡±


    ¡°Well, sure,¡± Nick had said. ¡°To us, but you know the League phone I gave you?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ Keep it on you while you¡¯re in here, and you¡¯ll probably be fine.¡±


    That hadn¡¯t made her feel any better.


    She touched the mouse, and began to click her way to Netflix again¡ªonly to be interrupted by a box that appeared in the middle of the screen. Underneath the words ¡°General Alert¡± the message said, ¡°As of forty minutes ago, Earth spacecraft detected a planetary bombardment. Guardian and various Defenders groups have been mobilized to attend to the situation. Metahumans should gather their gear and contact their local Defenders unit to find out if their services are required.¡±


    The computer pinged again. Kayla checked the screen, expecting to see Cassie¡¯s response. She had to have seen it.


    The square next to the words ¡°League jet¡± blinked yellow. A text message appeared. ¡°Human,¡± it read, ¡°I have urgent information for an authority figure regarding an attack on this place. The file is attached to this message.¡±


    Authority figure? She thought about it. Who was even in Grand Lake right now? Everyone over eighteen was in the Stapledon program which meant they were all with Cassie. That wouldn¡¯t do any good at all.


    Also, how was it that an artificial intelligence didn¡¯t even seem to know her name?


    She shook her head. She clicked on the file, and forwarded it to Haley. If anybody was the leader between Haley, Sydney, and Camille, it was most likely Haley.


    Haley texted back a reply. ¡°Is this real?¡±


    Kayla texted back, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Haley didn¡¯t reply. After a short delay, she sent a yellow alert to everyone on the Grand Lake Heroes League channel.


    ¡°The League jet has detected that one of the asteroids was aimed directly at Grand Lake¡¯s downtown. Another one is heading straight for New York. The jet¡¯s AI thinks that it¡¯s a feint or a distraction, and Lee agrees. All League members and friends near Grand Lake, please respond.¡±


    Marcus, Camille, and Sydney responded.


    A moment later Chris texted, ¡°I¡¯ll help, and my grandfather will too.¡±

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 2

    Kayla blanked for a moment, wondering why Chris would ever bring his grandfather into it, and why he¡¯d think his grandfather would be able to help. She barely remembered Chris from high school. She¡¯d seen him with Nick, and in the robotics team¡¯s yearbook picture.


    She¡¯d only noticed him when he helped Nick make her mobile armor.


    She knew the real names of everyone who¡¯d been in the original Heroes League now, and Chris wasn¡¯t related to any of them.


    She texted back, ¡°Your grandfather?¡±


    It took at little time before he texted back. ¡°I know he was a supervillain, but he wants to help now.¡±


    It took her a moment, and then it all fell into place. In the fall of her senior year, everyone had been whispering that one of the sophomores was related to Man-machine.


    That was the year when Cassie had started acting all strange, and she¡¯d been worried about that. Some sophomore descended from a supervillain who hadn¡¯t been around for nearly thirty years paled before that.


    She wrote, ¡°K.¡±


    It explained why she¡¯d never been back to that other base. That wasn¡¯t the Heroes Leagues. She¡¯d been in a supervillain¡¯s lair.


    She stared at the screen, not reading a word on it.


    Beeping knocked her out of her thoughts. Haley¡¯s square blinked on the screen, and Kayla clicked on it.


    Haley¡¯s voice came over the speakers. ¡°Control, is something wrong?¡±


    ¡°What? No. I¡­ Nevermind. I didn¡¯t know that Man-machine was Chris¡¯ grandfather.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Haley sounded amazed. ¡°I know we haven¡¯t told you everything, but I thought Cassie would have told you that, and it was on the news. Anyway, I was calling to make sure it wasn¡¯t going to be a problem. It¡¯s not, right?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Kayla tried to control her voice. How hadn¡¯t she noticed? She felt so dumb.


    ¡°Good,¡± Haley said. ¡°We¡¯re all coming to HQ. We¡¯ve got a spaceship. We¡¯re going to watch how quickly the asteroid heading for Grand Lake is coming, if the Defenders need help, we¡¯re going to be ready to take it down ourselves. Chris¡¯ grandfather thinks he¡¯s got a way to destroy it without letting all the pieces hit all over town.¡±


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    Kayla hoped he was right, and wondered if she should be calling her dad, and telling him to get the family out of Grand Lake.


    A report appeared under the Defenders section of her screen. They were evacuating New York City. They had an hour before they thought the asteroid would hit, and thought they¡¯d have to try.


    ¡°One more thing,¡± Haley said, talking quickly. ¡°Call the Midwest Defenders, and tell them what we¡¯re doing.¡±


    Kayla nodded, knowing Haley couldn¡¯t see it, but said, ¡°Got it.¡±


    ¡°See you soon,¡± and Haley hung up.


    Kayla froze. Haley hadn¡¯t even waited for a response. Kayla knew she was being oversensitive, but it still hurt a little.


    She clicked on the Midwest Defenders, connecting on channels exclusively used by Defenders groups, the military, and government agencies. Nick had pointed them out in her first week, telling her, ¡°They get really cranky about which channels you use. Don¡¯t call in on the public line. You¡¯ll never get anybody.¡±


    Interrupting her memory, a warm, male voice said, ¡°Midwest Defenders, how can we help you?¡±


    The voice sounded like an older man, but nice at least.


    ¡°This is the Heroes League¡¯s control center. I¡¯m supposed to let you know that we¡¯re readying our spaceship in case you need assistance in destroying the asteroid aimed toward Grand Lake.¡±


    The voice on the other end said, ¡°The Heroes League? I didn¡¯t know they were hiring staff. Good to hear from you, I¡¯m Wade. If you¡¯ll give me a minute, I can call someone and find out about the plans for the asteroid. Can you wait on hold?¡±


    ¡°I guess.¡± Kayla checked the screen. Haley was on her way. She didn¡¯t know how Haley was getting there, but if Haley was in a car, the GPS showed her hitting ninety, and Kayla knew the speed limit on those roads wasn¡¯t more than thirty-five.


    After a minute, the man¡¯s voice came over the phone. ¡°Guardian and the rest of the Defenders are there evaluating the situation now. Their current assessment is that you have nothing to worry about. The asteroids will be taken care of before they reach Earth.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Kayla closed the connection, deciding she ought to call Haley. It might be over now, and it was shame if Haley went to all that trouble to arrive for nothing¡ªespecially if she got a speeding ticket.


    Something beeped. She checked her contact list, and saw that the League jet¡¯s square had begun to blink. She clicked on the square, wondering what the jet could want to say.


    ¡°Human,¡± the words appeared in a text message. ¡°Notify an authority figure that I have detected indications that a cloaked vessel may be approaching this location.¡±


    Not sure what the correct response to an AI¡¯s warning was, she texted back, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    It didn¡¯t reply.


    She clicked Haley¡¯s square. Maybe she could mention Haley¡¯s speed when she told her about the ¡°cloaked¡± spaceship.


    She checked the map. It was pointless. Haley was already driving her car through Veterans Memorial Park. No, she was stopping. That did surprise her. Almost no one stopped to take calls.


    Haley didn¡¯t pick up her phone. She stopped the car on the park¡¯s maintenance road, and ran toward Grand Lake, hitting more than thirty miles per hour as she ran through the forest.


    Only when her dot reached the edge of the trees did Haley take the call.


    ¡°Control,¡± she whispered, ¡°a spaceship decloaked over Grand Lake.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± Kayla clicked through to League¡¯s cameras to find a view of the ship. ¡°Do you think it might be here for the gun?¡±


    From what Cassie had told her, everybody wanted that gun.


    ¡°The gun¡¯s in New York,¡± Haley said.

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 3

    "The ship?" Kayla glanced across the room toward the big, metal doors to the hangar.


    "Might be," Haley said, and sighed. "There''s a lot of stuff in the base, and I don''t know what a quarter of it is. The Rocket would know. Oh... Could you ask the jet to check out the ship?"


    Kayla said, "Ok," and began to move her mouse pointer toward the jet''s icon.


    She only made it halfway when the jet''s square started blinking, and a message appeared.


    "The ship above Grand Lake is one of the landing vessels for an Omandan Explorer Class ship. Often used for exploration, Explorer Class ships are often converted into troop carriers or pirate ships. Their landing vessels, which were intended to be living quarters, are similarly easily converted into landing craft for invading forces."


    Kayla forwarded the text to Haley.


    "Pirates?" Haley sighed again. "The Hrrnna hired pirates. You know what, Control? This might be more about revenge than anything the League''s got."


    They never told her anything. Kayla frowned at the screen. Would it kill any of them to keep her up to date? "Revenge for what?"


    "The Rocket figured out that the Hrrnna were behind St. Louis, and all the aliens that died last week, and the robots that attacked us--everything that happened to us lately."


    Kayla''s jawed dropped. "Why didn''t you tell me we knew who tried to destroy the world?"


    Haley didn''t say anything for a moment, but then she said, "I''m sorry. It''s been really busy. The Rocket told me, but I didn''t know who else he''d told. Right now, though, we should concentrate on winning because I don''t think we''ll get a second chance."


    Kayla almost hung up. "You need to tell me things like that. If I''m supposed to help, I need to know what to look for. When you''ve figured out what aliens are trying to kill everybody, that''s a big deal, and I need to know. I thought everything was normal today."


    "Look, I get it," Haley said. "He''s not very good at paying attention to people. He doesn''t tell me everything either, but I''ll make sure you know the important things, okay?"


    Kayla almost said she''d believe it when she saw it, but she didn''t. She stopped at, "Thanks."


    Haley probably wasn''t trying to leave her out.


    "I''m going on the general League channel to tell everybody about the Hrrnna ship, and then I''ll meet you in HQ."


    "OK." Kayla listened in on the general comm channel as Haley began, "Heroes League, the jet¡¯s sensors have identified a ship decloaking above Grand Lake. It''s an Omandan Explorer class--¡±


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    Haley''s words became background noise as HQ''s security system reported, "Entered: Sydney Drucker and Gravity Star."


    Kayla shook her head. Sydney still hadn''t chosen a codename.


    Sydney and Camille entered through one of the sewer doors--the one on the wall to Kayla''s right. The metal door unscrewed and then swung open. Sydney pushed it open with one hand even though it weighed at least as much as she did.


    Sydney and Camille laughed together at something. Even though Camille was a little shorter with dark brown hair, and light brown skin while Sydney''s hair was light blond, and her skin pale, they looked like sisters, or at least half-sisters--which Kayla knew they were.


    She could see it in their faces, and slender builds. Camille already wore her orange and white costume. Sydney still wore jeans and a green top that went down to her hips.


    Camille waved at her as they stepped inside. "Hey, Kayla. How are things going? They haven''t attacked anybody yet, have they?"


    "No," Kayla said. "They''re just sitting there."


    Sydney stopped, staring up at the television screen that took up most of the wall past the room''s sole table.


    Windows showed picture''s from HQ''s surveillance cameras, the base''s radar, and a satellite view of Veteran''s Memorial park, and the neighborhoods near it.


    The Hrrnna''s landing craft floated above the lake near the beach. A few people stood on the beach, phones in their hands, taking pictures.


    Others, more sensible people, Kayla thought, walked, sometimes running away from the beach.


    Sydney frowned. "We should be getting them out of there. "


    Kayla shook her head. "I don''t think that would be a good idea."


    Sydney turned to look at her, still frowning. "Why?"


    On Kayla''s screen, the security system printed, "Entered: The Shift, Man-machine 1, Man-machine 2."


    Camille laughed. "Are they really going with Man-machine 1 and 2?"


    Almost against her will, Kayla gave a short laugh of her own. "No, I had to give them names, and Man-machine was already in the system, so I gave Chris Man-machine 2 because he doesn''t have a codename and I had to put in something."


    Camille grinned. "Good idea. Sydney can be The Power 2."


    "Dork," Sydney said, "there is no way I''m going with that."


    Camille shrugged. "We''ve got to call you something. Keep on procrastinating, and you''re going wake up one morning to find out you''re called Railgun Girl."


    Sydney jammed her hands in her pocket, and said, "No, just no."


    "Hey," Marcus said, expelling from a drain in the floor, and reforming into a human shape. He wore a green costume that shifted from forest green into black between his right side and his left. His mask showed the lower half of his face. As it solidified, it changed from grey to brown skin.


    He nodded at Sydney. "I like Railgun Girl. That''s classic and simple--like Bulletman, and Tank Girl."


    He paused for a moment, adding, "And Squirrel Girl, but she''s more of a joke character."


    Sydney sighed. "I''m not going to pick a name until I like it, but that''s not what''s important right now. Why aren''t we going out and getting those people out of there?" She pointed at the screen.


    "Sorry Sydney," Haley stepped up to the table and sat on it. She was already in her Night Cat costume--grey with a black cat''s head on her chest. Her mask hung behind her head.


    Kayla hadn''t heard her come in.


    Almost a head shorter than Sydney, Haley looked up at almost everybody even sitting on the table. "They might be here to kill anyone in the League they can as revenge, so if we go out there, we might do more harm than good."


    Silently wishing Haley wouldn''t sit on the table, especially right next to her monitor, Kayla asked, "Do you think that''s it? Revenge?"


    A heavy footfall hit the floor, and an old man''s voice said, "I think they''re here for something."


    A younger voice, Chris'' said, "Man-machine 2?"

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 4

    Kayla watched as two men in powered armor stepped through the sewer tunnel entrance Sydney and Camille had used.


    Both suits were gray with bulky chests, and wide, stubby legs. The chests and legs opened in the front. Chris stepped out first. Dressed in what could best be described as a black flight suit, Chris stood a little over six feet tall.


    She knew he¡¯d been shorter than that when she¡¯d last seen him.


    He helped his grandfather out of his armor, or tried to. After he had one leg out, Gerald Cannon said, ¡°You can let go, I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    Gerald glared at him, and stepped out, wobbling a little before he put his left leg on the floor. From the expression on Chris¡¯ face, Kayla guessed that it was everything he could do not to reach out and steady the older man.


    Except for their age, they looked surprisingly alike¡ªtall with heavy features. Gerald had long ago grown into his. Chris still looked gawky.


    Gerald, meanwhile, turned his head toward the table and frowned.


    ¡°Is this everybody? What can you do? Let¡¯s run down the list. If we¡¯re going to win, I need to know exactly what you can do.¡±


    Marcus raised an eyebrow. ¡°So you¡¯re going to be running this thing?¡±


    ¡°Damn straight. I¡¯ve been at this longer than you have. I was working with the League the last time we had alien problems. Took down my share of the Abominators¡¯ people. Didn¡¯t get much credit for it, but I didn¡¯t expect much.¡±


    Shaking his head, Marcus said, ¡°That¡¯s not how we¡¯ve been doing things. Even when the old League¡¯s been involved, they¡¯ve still left it mostly to us. We¡¯ve been switching off.¡±


    Gerald¡¯s expression left no illusions about where he stood on that. His face scrunched up. ¡°You take the leader¡¯s name off some list? How are you still alive?¡±


    Before Marcus could answer, Camille spoke. ¡°Between the three of us,¡± she included Haley and Sydney in a gesture, ¡°we haven¡¯t chosen an official leader, but Night Cat¡¯s been field leader. I think she should lead this too.¡±


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    Haley started talking as Camille stopped. ¡°We weren¡¯t asking for someone to lead the group. We were looking for help, and I know that you can be a lot of help. None of us know anything about alien technology. Besides, we¡¯ll need someone leading in the field who¡¯s in good health. You had a heart attack when we were fighting, and please don¡¯t take this wrong, but you haven¡¯t been out in the field for a long time.¡±


    Kayla found herself looking from one to the other. Gerald¡¯s face had turned red, and all she could think was that she didn¡¯t want him to have another heart attack right here.


    ¡°Grandpa,¡± Chris said.


    With a grunt, Gerald walked up to the table. ¡°I¡¯m still going to need to know what you can do.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Marcus said, ¡°shapeshifting.¡±


    ¡°Gravity control.¡± Camille¡¯s tone hinted that she might still be annoyed.


    ¡°Magnetism,¡± Sydney said, ¡°but only when it¡¯s close to me.¡±


    Gerald nodded at Haley. ¡°I know your powers too well already. In the interest of fairness, here¡¯s what we¡¯ve got: two suits of powered armor with lasers, and a machine-gun loaded with rounds that worked back when I was helping with the Abominators. I¡¯ve got a few things I¡¯d like to test, but nothing worth mentioning.¡±


    Haley crossed her arms. ¡°Okay. You said that you thought the aliens were here for something. What?¡±


    The older man shrugged. ¡°No idea. We confiscated all of the Abominator tech we could, and I never found where it went. I always figured the Rocket stored it in here somewhere, or maybe found a way to destroy it.¡±


    Chris blinked. ¡°You don¡¯t know what happened to it? Huh.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have to know everything. I was a criminal, but I knew where to stop. I saw what the Abominators were like, and I didn¡¯t want to become like them. Besides, the Rocket and the Rhino weren¡¯t telling anyone what they were doing with that stuff.¡±


    Haley glanced toward the lab, and the doors to storage rooms that appeared one after the other every twenty feet down the wall. ¡°I wonder if Nick knows?¡±


    Kayla waved her hand to get Haley¡¯s attention. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think so. When he gave me the tour, he said he couldn¡¯t get into a couple of the storage rooms, but he didn¡¯t seem worried about it. He was sure it would be in his grandfather¡¯s records somewhere.¡±


    Gerald laughed. ¡°It probably will too. Joe documented goddamn everything. I remember fighting him once, and realizing that one of his new weapons used part of my design from ten years before. He¡¯d studied it, and reverse engineered it.¡±


    Chris nodded slowly. ¡°Were you angry?¡±


    Gerald snorted. ¡°Not for a second. I¡¯d copied his designs when I got started, and we kept on copying each others for our entire careers. I think we both learned our best tricks from each other.¡±


    As they talked Kayla realized that Haley was trying to catch her eye. ¡°Kayla, which rooms can¡¯t Nick get in?¡±


    Kayla pointed at the wall. ¡°Those two. The second and third from the end.¡±


    The rooms didn¡¯t appear to be any different from any other¡ªconcrete walls, and doors had no windows. Kayla stared, wondering what lay behind them.

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 5

    Gerald snorted. ¡°Bet we could get in.¡±


    Kayla felt her jaw drop. ¡°I don¡¯t think that would be¡ª¡°


    ¡°I know. I know!¡± Gerald shook his head. ¡°Even if they helped it wouldn¡¯t be worth it. I saw what they did to people in the end. We¡¯re all better off dead than that. I was speaking hypothetically. I saw the fight with the robots on the news. Nick¡¯s been working with his grandfather¡¯s mono-molecular blade tech. Chances are he¡¯s got a prototype lying around.¡±


    Marcus smiled, and leaned forward at the table. ¡°He made a jackknife. I came down here once when he showed me. That wasn¡¯t the best part though. The best part was when he forgot it was on and it cut through the table. He grabbed it before it went through the floor.¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°At least he didn¡¯t cut his fingers off.¡±


    Marcus laughed. ¡°That¡¯s what he said, and then he said, ¡®that¡¯s why I don¡¯t have a sword.¡¯¡±


    Sydney looked up from the table. ¡°I¡¯m surprised Cassie hasn¡¯t hurt herself. She doesn¡¯t seem very careful.¡±


    Marcus turned his head toward her. ¡°How do you know she hasn¡¯t? It¡¯d just grow back, you know? The worst problem she¡¯d have is figuring out what to do with the spare. It¡¯s not like she could dump it in the garbage. People would start asking waaaay too many questions.¡±


    Sydney crinkled her nose. ¡°Yuck.¡±


    Haley spoke up. ¡°We need a plan. The jet¡¯s AI thinks the asteroids were a feint, and I think it¡¯s right. They wouldn¡¯t come here if they thought Guardian would let those asteroids hit. I don¡¯t know what they can do. I asked the AI to tell us because Nick says it¡¯s an expert in this kind of thing.¡±


    She got off the table where she¡¯d been sitting, and said, ¡°Jet, you can talk now. Please tell us what kind of weapons they use.¡±


    A tenor voice came over the room¡¯s speakers. It¡¯s accent was indeterminate, but precise, and unquestionably a computer.


    ¡°The first and most important issue for you to understand is that they are mercenaries and pirates in one of the most impoverished sectors of this galaxy. Their technology is second or third rate by comparison to any nation of any importance. It is worth remembering, however, that they are practiced at killing and are working with the Hrrnna, a species with access to technology advanced as any.


    ¡°Given that the Hrrnna hope to pass whatever they do as the actions of a rogue group, it¡¯s unlikely that they¡¯ll have their best available. Their tactics strike me as desperate in any case. That shouldn¡¯t give you too much peace however. My assessment of their technology and yours is that if they can aim at you, you will likely die. Standard tactics include lasers and other weapons with a wide area of effect. Additionally, many possess weapons with enough intelligence to aim at targets that surpass biological beings typical limits.¡±


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    Gerald Cannon looked up at the twenty foot tall screen that dominated the wall behind the table. The AI¡¯s words appeared on the screen. Kayla guessed that he was trying to find something to address.


    ¡°I need more than that. I want specifics¡ªeffective range on the most probable weapons, rate of fire¡­ I want the weapons¡¯ specifications and limitations.¡±


    More words appeared on the screen as the AI¡¯s voice started again. ¡°Understood, but be aware that even within this backwards sector of space there are hundreds of thousands variations on the most common types of weapons. The Abominators¡¯ former servants have a remarkable inventiveness when it comes to ways of killing each other. I¡¯ll send you a file of the most common weapons and their variations. I will also be listening in through the League communicators, and will be able to advise on tactics.¡±


    ¡°Good enough,¡± Gerald said, nodding.


    Marcus looked around the table. ¡°So what does that mean we¡¯re going to do? Me? I say we take the League jet out, and have it take down the spaceship, and boom, problem solved.¡±


    The AI¡¯s voice didn¡¯t change, but Kayla thought she heard some impatience in it. ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. Your enemies will expect the League jet. It is unfortunately well known, and it will have to come out of the water where it will likely be detected before it surfaces. If you had two competent crew members, you might well destroy it, but you have only one¡ªHaley.¡±


    Chris, sitting at the far end of the table on his grandfather¡¯s other side, frowned and then looked confused. ¡°What about you? Can¡¯t you fire the ship¡¯s weapons?¡±


    ¡°Due to a number of regrettable instances where the galaxy¡¯s machine races attempted to rid existence of sentient, organic life, the race that created me included a number of limitations. I¡¯m not allowed to operate weapons without express permission of my administrator. He is not here.¡±


    Haley pressed her lips together slowly, obviously thinking. ¡°It sounds like we¡¯ll have to attack from a distance. Kayla, could you run through our inventory and find out what we have that we could use. Look for things that might help us hide, or might protect us. We¡¯re going to talk through some ideas.¡±


    Kayla asked, ¡°Do you mind if I go into the lab? It¡¯ll be hard to concentrate here.¡±


    Haley didn¡¯t take much time to think about it. ¡°OK. Don¡¯t be too long.¡±


    When Kayla did sit down at a stool in the lab, alone in the in the middle of machines she didn¡¯t recognize, tables with partially assembled machines, and three boxes of what she could only describe as grey goo, she felt a little better.


    She didn¡¯t have powers. She wasn¡¯t a super genius. She¡¯d never been trained to fight. Being lectured by a talking computer and associating with a supervillain didn¡¯t feel normal to her, but looking over lists? That she could do.


    A stream of headlines ran across the bottom of her screen. New York City continued to evacuate. Heroes were fighting aliens there.


    Kayla considered telling the others, but decided to let them plan. Then another announcement appeared on the screen. The League¡¯s system had intercepted a call to her cell phone. It was her father. Did she want to take it?


    She took the call.

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 6

    "Hey Dad," Kayla held the mouse, still wondering if she should have taken the call.


    "Hi pumpkin." Despite the endearment, her dad sounded serious. "Do you have the news on?"


    She had when she''d been in the main room. She opened the TV app she''d had open there. NBC News 10 was on the scene with a helicopter. They were filming the alien troop carrier.


    "I do now." She stared at screen. Whatever possessed these people to fly in and start filming? Did they have some kind of death wish?


    Her dad asked, "Kayla are you at work or at school?"


    "At work. Dad, don''t worry about it. I''m safer than anyone." At the same time, she thought, the block Daniel put in prevents me from telling people what I''m doing, but not from lying.


    "Kayla," from his tone, she could tell he was thinking about laying down the law. "I don''t know what the U.S. Marshals think they have, but it''s not going to stand up to this. I was in the army the last time we saw aliens attack. You need to get away from anyplace they might hit, and come home. If you''re closer to school, go back to your dorm, but I''ll feel better if I see you."


    Work, she thought. Now she''d have to tell even more lies. Her cover wasn''t completely false. Lim''s people had arranged it so she did work for the Marshals as an administrative assistant sometimes. It wasn''t as often as her schedule said, for sure.


    "Trust me," she said. "I''m doing something important, and I''m as safe as they can make me."


    She''d barely gotten that out. She felt the block when she''d been thinking about what she was doing, but when she said "something" instead of "helping the Heroes League," the pressure not to say anything went away.


    Her father didn''t reply at first. Then finally, after an age, he said, "OK. I''m not going to argue, but honey, I don''t want you hurt."


    They said goodbye, and Kayla went back to the inventory list, copying the name of anything from the League''s inventory spreadsheet that sounded useful into a new spreadsheet.


    But then there were the lists that Nick''s grandfather had never entered into the computer. They''d found five handwritten pages in the League''s case files. They''d proved that they''d never been entered by crosschecking them against the lists they already had, but also against the objects themselves.


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    After that, it wasn''t a question. These lists had been skipped for some reason.


    Even more interesting when she thought about the group''s discussion before she left, none of the items had their location listed as being inside the Abominator storage rooms.


    There had to be more lists somewhere.


    She thought about telling Haley because that had to be big news, but decided not to. She still had more pages to go.


    "Kayla?" Haley tapped her on the shoulder, and Kayla nearly jumped out of her skin, giving a yelp.


    Haley stepped back in a blur before Kayla entirely recognized her, coming to a stop in a position where she''d brought her arms up in front of her chest. Then she put them down at her sides, saying, "Sorry, sorry. I didn''t mean to sneak up on you. It just... happens sometimes. And sorry about the stuff."


    Her hands and feet were claws, and her teeth had turned to fangs.


    Thinking about it, Kayla realized Haley had already changed before she''d come over. She checked her shoulder for punctures in her shirt, relieved not to find any.


    Haley bit her lip as Kayla checked but gave a hint of a smile as Kayla looked up. "We''ve figured out what we''re going to do. After talking it through with the AI and Man-machine, we figured out an attack plan with the jet that the AI says has a good chance of succeeding."


    "Really? Didn''t the AI say it wouldn''t work?"


    Haley nodded. "Yes, but it was making assumptions, and Man-machine asked it to list them. When it was done, he went through them one by one and changed half of them. After a little while, it saw where he was going.


    "As of now, Marcus, and I are taking the jet, but we''ll be taking it further out into the lake than normal, and we''ll be running with the shields on underwater which is just weird, and we''ve got Marcus training on the simulator for how to fire the jet''s particle accelerator. The AI thinks that one shot will be all we need to blow the landing craft''s engines."


    Kayla picked up the lists, and saved her spreadsheet. "Couldn''t you get Nick to give the AI permission to fire?"


    Haley shook her head. "Nick''s got to be here in person. It''s got to get a biological sample."


    "Oh," Kayla sent the spreadsheet to the printer. "What am I supposed to do? You still need the weapons list, right?"


    Haley hesitated for a second before saying yes, but she did. She followed it up with, "We need you to run some of Nick''s surveillance bots while we''re out in Grand Lake. Maybe some of the guns on the lists are fully charged. Get them to Man-machine, Chris, and Camille. Sydney won''t need one, but if you can find something magnetism won''t hurt, she could use a backup in case she gets tired."


    Kayla felt cold. "What are they doing?"


    Haley''s mouth twisted in an uncomfortable position. "After we take out the ship, they''ll have to take out the soldiers."


    Kayla stared. "Didn''t the AI say if their weapons hit us, we''ll die?"


    Stamping her foot, Haley said, "It''s not that simple. It thinks anyone in armor can take a few hits, and Marcus might survive a few even without armor. Sydney might be okay too, if her armor is more than a solid coat of metal. Chris had a few ideas. It''s you, Camille and me that the ship''s worried about. We''ll die instantly if we get hit, so we''ll all stay out of sight, okay?"


    Kayla felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest.


    Haley met her eyes. "It''s going to be okay. Get out there, and show Man-machine your lists. He might have some more ideas, and we need all the ideas we can get."

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 7

    "One more thing," Haley said. "The armor Chris made for you back when we fought the Cabal is still here, right?"


    Kayla said, "Yes," hoping her voice didn''t sound like she was thinking what she was actually thinking--that this was getting worse and worse.


    Haley glanced toward the hangar where they''d kept it, and said, "If it sounds like they''re coming down here put it on. It might make the difference between living or dying."


    "But I was awful in it. I was useless. I don''t like fighting. I''m fine helping you coordinate, but I don''t train all the time like you do."


    Kayla put her hands in her lap, suddenly aware that they were shaking.


    Haley met her eyes. "Kayla, we''ll get through this. I''m sure it doesn''t seem like it right now, but facing the Cabal and Ray was worse than this. I didn''t have any idea how to hurt them, and Nick only figured it out by luck. We know that some of the things on your lists worked on the Abominators'' servants last time. Remember that, and step through what we need you to do. Go over the lists with Man-machine, and when you''re done, grab your armor from the hangar, and watch the robots feeds. We aren''t going to leave you alone."


    Kayla would have felt better if Cassie had given that speech, but she nodded anyway. She didn''t need to add to all things Haley had to be worrying about. It might be easy to imagine she could do better, but Kayla didn''t delude herself.


    She''d been in the middle of a fight last year, and she had no illusions. She''d do worse.


    "Okay," she said, and slipped off the stool. She started walking out of lab and over to Man-machine.


    Gerald Cannon grunted as he saw her. He''d been staring up at the enormous TV wallscreen. From the direction he''d been looking, she guessed he must have been watching the News 10 commentary on the spaceship floating above Grand Lake.


    "Bunch of goddamn idiots. What do they think the aliens are here for? Bringing us some fucking enlightenment? Did they notice the guns?"


    Gerald nodded at her. "Bring it all over here where I can see it."


    Kayla put the lists from the files on the table in front of him, and pulled up the spreadsheets.


    He went for the paper lists first, flipping through the pages, sometimes chuckling. "Wish I''d known about these lists a few years ago. I made about a quarter of these."


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    He snorted. "A burrito gun, courtesy of Yellow Burrito himself. What a crazy kid... Made for a helluva strange couple years when he was part of the League. It made things very interesting."


    He turned his face up to the screen where the spreadsheets glowed. "Yeah, we better go with simple. The list has some great weapons on it, but we ought to stick with the ones that you kids will get--particle accelerators and lasers. Point and burn. That''s what we need."


    Then he looked down at the list again. "Damn," he mentioned. "Never mind what I just said. You go grab the particle accelerators, I''ll be in the lab."


    She frowned. When had she become the team''s servant?


    She did it anyway, lining up the particle accelerator rifles next to the table in the main room. Then she got her powered armor from the hangar, passing Chris and Sydney. Sydney whirled layers of metal around her right arm, and Chris pointed at the layers and talked.


    Kayla didn''t pay too much attention to them. At almost the same time, Marcus and Haley were floating the League jet into the airlock.


    The wide metal doors slid open, and then closed behind the jet. The sound of pouring water followed the thump and hiss as the doors sealed.


    She hoped they sealed. A leak would be a disaster. She wasn''t even sure if her suit worked underwater. Dismissing it from her thoughts, she piloted the suit out of the hangar and back into the main room.


    As she passed, she heard Chris say, "I think I better suit up too, but you get the idea, right? We can spread out the heat, and even lose some of it."


    When she reached the table, she opened the suit, stepped out of it, dropping a little over a foot to the floor, and pulled out her chair. Then she launched the bots.


    Nick had placed a few outside. The League had cameras outside, but even the best placed cameras couldn''t point in every direction you might want. The bots covered the holes. Kayla aimed them toward the edge of the forest nearest the spaceship.


    In the end she could see the spaceship from five different angles, and felt fairly sure she''d see people jump out of it.


    Chris and Sydney left the hangar and walked into HQ''s main room. Camille had beaten them to the table. Kayla wasn''t sure where she''d been, but she''d been sitting there when Kayla stepped out of her suit.


    Everyone wore costumes now. Gray metal covered Sydney''s entire body, making her at least a foot taller, and giving her the appearance of a massive, metal woman.


    When she reached the table, the metal fell away from her, turning into an  ugly metal lump. Sydney wore a green bodysuit underneath.


    A quick check showed that Gerald Cannon was still in the lab. Kayla wondered if she should have left him there.


    Haley''s and Marcus'' icons reappeared on the screen.


    "We''ve surfaced, and we''re in position for the attack. Let us know when everyone''s ready, Control."


    Kayla clicked on the mouse to reply. "Man-machine''s still in the lab. Is that okay?"


    On the screen, Haley tilted her head a little, and said, "I don''t know. It depends on what he''s doing."


    Chris, now in his suit said, "He did say he wanted to be ready for the soldiers."


    Haley frowned. "I guess."


    No one said anything else for a little while.


    Then Haley said, ¡°It¡¯s just floating above Grand Lake. What do you think it¡¯s doing?¡±


    Chris spoke into his comm. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Scanning maybe? That¡¯s what I¡¯d be doing.¡±


    Gerald Cannon broke in. ¡°Both of you, quiet! I¡¯d be hacking into our communication system, and the more you talk, the better for them.¡±


    Kayla had a bad feeling he might be right.


    Bare seconds later, all the TV stations on the wallscreen began to show headlines similar to "Message from the Alien Ship''s Commander."


    Over the comm, Gerald said, "Looks like the gloves are about to come off."

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 8

    Then the man appeared. Wearing a black helmet with a transparent faceplate, the alien commander had thick features, somewhere between handsome and Neanderthal. Kayla wouldn¡¯t have looked twice at him on the street.


    Then he opened his mouth. His teeth were like a wolf¡¯s¡ªall points, ready to rip and tear.


    She thought about how much it would suck to be his dentist, choking down a giggle while reprimanding herself in her head. What was she, ten?


    The newscaster¡¯s voice said, ¡°The alien ship hovering over New York City broadcast this message moments ago.¡±


    In a scratchy voice with an unidentifiable accent, the commander said, ¡°You will give us the alien devices. They are not yours, and will only cause you trouble. Give them to us, and we will tell no one. Keep them from us, and we will burn your cities to the ground.¡±


    His nostrils flared and he sniffed in a movement that reminded Kayla of Travis and Haley.


    Then he continued, ¡°Your governments have not told you everything about their fight with the Abominators. They have captured alien artifacts, and they try to understand them, but there is knowledge that you are not yet ready for, knowledge that will cause even ¡®friendly¡¯ aliens to bombard your world until nothing lives.


    ¡°Surrender these artifacts to us and nothing will tie them to you. Make it easy for us to take them away, and we will reward you.


    ¡°I understand that not all of you realize that you are working on alien technology. I will make it easier. People at these locations are working with alien technology or working with people who do.¡±


    Then he began to list addresses. As Kayla listened, she heard the words, ¡°Veterans Memorial Park, Grand Lake, Michigan.¡±


    This was appearing on local TV, she realized. People were going to be showing up here. Some of them would be treasure hunting with no idea of what they were really getting into.


    Well, she thought, except for the ones that might be actively trying to hand the Abominator relics over to the invaders.


    ¡°Remember,¡± the alien said, slitted eyes looking directly at the camera, ¡°the governments only care about power. We¡¯re rebels and freedom fighters from all across the galaxy. We only care about keeping our ships in repair and keeping ourselves out of the authorities¡¯ hands. We have no reason to lie to you.¡±


    The screen faded to black, followed by NBC News 10¡¯s logo. The logo disappeared, revealing a man in a suit. He was riding in a helicopter, the waters of Grand Lake below him. ¡°This is Ross Simpson of NBC News 10. The aliens claim there are Abominator weapons in Veterans Memorial Park. Is this true, and if so, how did they get there? Did the Heroes League¡ª¡±


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    Haley¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°That¡¯s on the local news? We need to get out there now. Before a bunch of idiots come out to the park with shovels. Is everyone ready?¡±


    Camille clicked on her wrist comm unit. ¡°I can¡¯t speak for anyone else, but I¡¯m ready.¡±


    Chris, from within his armor, said ¡°The armor¡¯s ready, and I¡¯m inside.¡±


    Haley looked into the camera. ¡°Sydney?¡±


    Sydney bit her lip. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± She glanced down at the metal piles around her. ¡°I¡¯ll be ready. Give me a second.¡±


    The metal flowed upward, turning her back into the burly metal woman she¡¯d been when she¡¯d entered the room.


    Over the comm, Gerald Cannon said, ¡°Almost ready. I¡¯ll be a few minutes.¡±


    Haley took a breath, and released it slowly, finally saying, ¡°We don¡¯t have a few minutes.¡±


    ¡°Yep, but what I¡¯ve got here is plan b anyway, right? You don¡¯t want me out there where I could get hurt¡ªokay. I get it, but if I¡¯m backup, let me do it right.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°Do it right, but I need everyone else outside now. I¡¯m going to wait as long as I can for you to get in position, but then I¡¯m going to blow their engines.¡±


    A pinging noise came from the ship¡¯s side of the connection. ¡°Night Cat,¡± Marcus said, ¡°The AI says it¡¯s become sure they have more forces than it initially estimated.¡±


    Haley glanced down, still frowning. Kayla guessed she must be reading whatever the AI had said herself.


    In a low voice, Haley asked, ¡°Does that mean I shouldn¡¯t attack? I should call everything off because they¡¯re ready for it?¡±


    Her eyes moved as she watched the reply. She looked up. ¡°The AI says that it doesn¡¯t know what they have planned but based on how the mercenary captain spoke, it believes they have more forces available here. It also says that our plan doesn¡¯t need to change. We need to be watching for what happens afterward.¡±


    For a moment Haley didn¡¯t say anything, but then, ¡°Control, watch for anything unusual, and tell me immediately. Sydney, we can¡¯t call you Sydney during this fight. I¡¯m giving you a choice¡ªRailgun, or¡­ Heavy Metal?¡±


    Sydney¡¯s voice came over the comm sounding like she was talking inside a cave. ¡°Railgun or Heavy Metal? I don¡¯t like either of them.¡±


    On the screen, Haley gave a sigh. ¡°I know. I¡¯m sorry. Choose the one that you dislike least.¡±


    Sydney¡¯s metal body stood a little straighter, giving a metal against metal scraping noise that reminded Kayla of the sound of a car accident. ¡°Railgun,¡± Sydney said, still sounding unhappy.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Haley said. ¡°Move out, and keep out of sight.¡±


    Chris, Camille and Sydney left by one of the sewer entrances. Kayla gripped the mouse a little harder. Now they could only wait.


    They didn¡¯t wait long. Within a minute, Chris said, ¡°We¡¯re in position.¡±


    Haley didn¡¯t answer, but on the screen, in view of the surveillance bots, a white beam crossed the water, hitting the spaceship in the stern. The beam cut into the landing ship, slicing across the back, burning through the wall and coming out the side of the ship.


    As the ship aimed itself toward the beach, an alarm beeped inside HQ. Kayla glanced around the room, searching for it, but didn¡¯t see it. Then words appeared on the screen, ¡°Anomaly.¡±


    The anomaly was roughly the same length as the landing ship that was crashing into the beach, but the anomaly floated above the forest.


    Whispering even though she knew it made no sense, Kayla said, ¡°There¡¯s another ship¡ª¡±

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 9

    ¡°Where?¡± Haley asked. She wasn¡¯t whispering.


    ¡°Above the forest. Right in the middle. It¡¯s kind of close to the forest entrance to HQ.¡±


    Haley¡¯s eyes dipped toward the instrument panel. ¡°The AI sees it, and it thinks it¡¯s going to move¡­¡±


    On the screen, the League jet exited the water, covered in panes of darkness, aiming toward the forest. The white beam, painfully bright even on the screen, aimed off to the side of where HQ¡¯s scanner had identified it as an anomaly.


    Above the forest, a silvery shape flickered, resolving into the aliens rectangular landing craft with a long burn down the craft¡¯s side, and a blackened hole three quarters from the back.


    The spaceship wobbled in the air as it began to fire back. Red beams fired from a single point near the back of the ship. Black squares appeared, seemingly randomly, all over the ship. They shattered as the League jet fired again, its beam cutting the landing craft in two. The front half crashed into the forest while the back half tumbled through the air a few times before hitting Veterans Memorial Park in the grassy area between the playground and the beach.


    A distant sounding thump came from above her, and she wasn¡¯t sure, but she thought that the lights on the ceiling swayed a little.


    Then Kayla stared at the screen. Chris, Camille or Sydney might have been under that thing.


    She checked the wallscreen, and, not seeing any signs that anyone had been hit, spoke into the microphone. ¡°Is everyone okay?¡±


    Chris replied. ¡°We¡¯re golden. We weren¡¯t under it. It was kind of close though. I wonder how long they were up there? That was a big ship. It could have held a bunch of aliens.¡±


    ¡°Done,¡± Gerald Cannon¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°I¡¯m getting out there. Control, when I leave, don¡¯t let anything in. We might be lucky, and there¡¯s nothing to worry about anymore, but don¡¯t count on it. You know what you call people who count on luck?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Kayla asked, knowing that it wasn¡¯t going to be an actual name.


    ¡°Dead,¡± Gerald said.


    She should have guessed.


    Cannon came back to grab his armor. He didn¡¯t give her time to get up and help him in. As he leaned into it, the armor sealed around him.


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    ¡°Remember,¡± he said, turning toward the lab, ¡°the woods could be crawling with them.


    She didn¡¯t see any sign of it on the monitor.


    Glancing toward the lab, she saw him carrying a box out.


    Man-machine¡¯s icon flickered on the screen. ¡°Control, pay attention, we might need you to blow this thing remotely.¡±


    She¡¯d been planning to pay attention. She was paying attention right now, and she wished she were the sort of person who could express how insulting that was, preferably in a way that was cutting, clever, and funny.


    Kayla didn¡¯t even try. It would have been rude, and she couldn¡¯t make herself do it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be watching,¡± she said, thinking as she did that she sounded more irritated than anything else.


    She felt pretty sure that wasn¡¯t making him quake in his boots.


    Clicking on Man-machine¡¯s icon, she asked, ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Too complicated to bug you with.¡± He was running down the sewer line by then, and not toward the nearest exit either.


    She tried not to think about it.


    ¡°Control,¡± Haley said. She¡¯d been talking with the others the entire time. ¡°Do you see anything?¡±


    Kayla scanned the screens on the wall. ¡°What am I looking for?¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°The Abominators had personal cloaking devices on their armor.¡±


    Kayla stared at the screens. ¡°They might be invisible?¡±


    ¡°Not really, but close. My grandfather told me about them. He could smell them, but I¡¯m up here, and it would take too long to land the jet inside HQ.¡±


    Offscreen, Marcus asked, ¡°Skip it, we¡¯ll leave it outside. We can jump out and lock the doors.¡±


    Kayla didn¡¯t think that sounded quite right. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you stay in there and shoot them from the air?¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°The jet¡¯s personnel lasers weren¡¯t useful versus heavy duty military armor when the original League fought the Abominators, and the big guns aren¡¯t easy to aim at something smaller than a spaceship.¡±


    Chris¡¯ voice broke into the conversation. ¡°I¡¯m not seeing anyone. I know I shouldn¡¯t say it, but I think they all must have been in the ships, and when the ships went down, they died.¡±


    Camille laughed. ¡°I like that idea.¡±


    On screen, the GPS showed them as being near the beach.


    Sydney said, ¡°I feel like something bad is just about to happen.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Obi-Wan.¡± Marcus grinned at the camera.


    Chris¡¯s icon turned around in a circle. ¡°It does feel a little too easy, but I¡¯m checking in every direction using the suit¡¯s radar, infrared¡­ I¡¯m not seeing anything but the dead remains of one ship, and half of another. Do you think we ought to go inside one of them? Sure, it seems dumb, but if we saw a bunch of dead bodies that¡¯d clear things up, right?¡±


    Sydney¡¯s icon turned toward the remains of the ship in the water and then back toward the land where the back half of the other ship lay.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like that idea.¡±


    Haley interrupted. ¡°Get off the beach. Get back to HQ. The AI thinks they¡¯re there with you.¡±


    Chris¡¯s suit turned toward the beach. ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    Then, in flashes of silver, figures began to appear on the beach. Kayla counted fifteen before Haley said, ¡°Wait, don¡¯t run yet. We¡¯ll all go at once.¡±


    Chris didn¡¯t move. ¡°I thought you said the ship couldn¡¯t do much to them.¡±


    ¡°Hope that I¡¯m wrong,¡± Haley said.


    In HQ, alarms started ringing. The TV screen showed a picture of the sewer lines around HQ, and the word ¡°Breach.¡±

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 10

    ¡°Wait a second,¡± Haley said, ¡°I¡¯ve got a better idea. Gravity Star, ramp up the gravity around you so that none of them can move, and then we¡¯ll all shoot them.¡±


    Sydney¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°And kill them?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what they¡¯ll do to you,¡± Chris¡¯ grandfather sputtered over the connection.


    Kayla checked the screen. He¡¯d made it out of the complex, and was walking through the woods. Lucky him, she thought.


    The screens showed the breach in one of the doors that blocked off the League¡¯s own tunnels from the abandoned sewer lines that the League used to exit the complex. From what she was seeing, they¡¯d found the exit in the concrete wall next to the beach where Nick sometimes exited the complex.


    She couldn¡¯t see where they were in the complex yet. The cameras weren¡¯t showing them.


    Knowing how they¡¯d appeared on the beach, she guessed they couldn¡¯t stay invisible while fighting, but maybe if they moved slowly they could?


    ¡°Control,¡± Haley asked, ¡°can you tell if there are any more of them out there?¡±


    Kayla had been looking away from the screen, trying to see if any of them were inside. She hadn¡¯t seen any yet. She wondered if putting the base on lockdown would stop the aliens from getting in, or if it would only prevent help from getting in.


    If anyone could help, she thought. She took a breath, and tried not to sound like she was panicking. ¡°They¡¯re coming in here. They broke into one of the tunnels. I can¡¯t see where they are, but sensors say ¡®breach¡¯ and I don¡¯t know when they¡¯ll be here, but I bet it will be soon.¡±


    She took another breath. The whole ¡°not panicking¡± thing wasn¡¯t working.


    ¡°Shit,¡± Haley said. ¡°Okay, go to the hangar, get into your suit, and get out of there. Got it?¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡± Kayla logged out from the workstation, and got up, getting ready to run for the hangar.


    She turned her head, realizing that someone was in the hangar. The dull gray armor seemed to take on a hint of the colors surrounding it. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was really changing or if she was only imagining it.


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    She decided it didn¡¯t really matter either way because it¡¯d kill her just as badly.


    Guessing that running might attract attention, she walked to the nearest wall, looking for a weapon. There had to be something. Trophies from defeated enemies hung from walls except for the trophies that were enclosed in cases.


    The SS uniform outfitted with an enormous metal glove had always given her the willies, and she wasn¡¯t going to touch it. Besides it was halfway across the room.


    What was closer? Her eyes darted all over, finally settling on the wall she stood next to. Directly ahead of her lay the ¡°Starplate¡± as Nick jokingly referred to it. Marcus and Daniel were the only ones who seemed to get the reference and think it was funny.


    The metal circle on the floor could supposedly open a gate to another universe. Kayla didn¡¯t even consider it. She wasn¡¯t that desperate¡ªnot yet anyway.


    Near it on the wall hung the Gender Swap gun. That¡¯s what she¡¯d been calling it in her head. She¡¯d always avoided it, and told herself that she¡¯d never touch it.


    She decided she was desperate enough to go back on that promise. She lifted it off the hooks that kept it on the wall and checked the energy gauge.


    It was fully charged. She didn¡¯t waste time wondering why anyone would leave a fully charged gun capable of changing the target¡¯s gender lying around.


    Kayla had heard the story about how Nick had tested the gun on the family cat, inadvertently ¡°unnuetering¡± it. Knowing him, it would have been stranger if the gun weren¡¯t charged.


    Pointing the gun toward the hangar door, she aimed for the spot she expected it to walk out of.


    Its gun came through the door first, and she pulled the trigger. Strange music played, and a tinny, recorded woman¡¯s voice shouted, ¡°Death to the patriarchy!¡±


    The alien¡¯s gun swung toward her, and for a moment Kayla expected to die. It¡¯s shot went wild, firing into the middle of the room. She only knew that it hit something from the smell of burning plastic.


    Before it could fire again, it fell over, lying on the olive green carpet, unmoving.


    The second alien burst through before she could react. Jumping over the body of the other, it landed twenty feet inside the room, twisting and pointing its gun at her in a blur.


    She didn¡¯t have time to move or even to be scared. She only realized how close she¡¯d come to dying as it fired.


    A yellow beam met a black object in the air while another black object hit the alien.


    It moved too quickly for Kayla to recognize it while it was in the air, but it knocked the alien over, sticking to its armor, surrounding the alien. It only became more entangled in black goo as it struggled.


    It continued to hang on to its gun, however, and started firing in the direction of its feet, and hitting a chair, severing the cylinder that connected the body and the wheels.


    The seat fell over.


    Not waiting for it to target her, Kayla shot it with the Gender Swap gun. The gun¡¯s tinny voice said, ¡°Learn the truth, sister!¡±


    The alien¡¯s gun fell to the floor.


    Kayla stared at the black object that had trapped the armored alien, and then over at the other that had saved her life.


    They appeared to be made of rubbery plastic, and were shaped like boxing gloves.


    Boxing gloves? She shook her head.


    A Battle Roomba hummed, moving over the carpet toward the bodies. For the first time, she noticed a hole in the middle of its body, and a trail of black slime that led across the top.


    That was what they did?

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 11

    She decided she didn''t have time to worry about the Battle Roombas even if they were firing giant boxing gloves at aliens.


    Thinking about how weird her life had become was a waste of time.


    On the floor ahead of her, the aliens moaned softly. Okay, she told herself, they''re not dead.


    She had to admit she felt a touch of relief. She hadn''t wanted to kill anybody, and these aliens, whatever they were, were shaped like people. She couldn''t see through the facemask, but even that looked like a human could comfortably wear it--assuming they were big enough.


    These guys were almost as big as Travis.


    Lowering the gun, she walked back to the table, checking the display showing a map of HQ. If this was all of them, maybe she wouldn''t have to leave.


    The map didn''t show anyone, but who was she kidding? It hadn''t shown anyone before they came in either. No, she knew what she had to do. She had to go into that hangar, shoot whatever she found there, and get out.


    Haley was right. She''d been in these sort of situations before.


    Kayla knew she didn''t belong in fights. Back when she and Cassie had been on the basketball team, her coach had called her a fighter once or twice, but this wasn''t the same.


    Something beeped.


    Kayla glanced over at the map. A new icon appeared. It was labeled with letter "C" and had an asterisk next to it.


    Kayla had to think to remember what it meant, but she did. Nick had made new communicators for everyone. The asterisk indicated that someone was using the original League''s old tracking devices that didn''t do much more than act as distress beacons.


    This had to be the real C then--Marcus'' and Jaclyn''s grandfather, the League''s speedster, who also happened to be strong and nearly invulnerable. Except for the fact that he couldn''t fly, he was very nearly the League''s version of Superman.


    Even without flight, he''d still been able to jump an eighth of a mile.


    He''d deliberately downplayed his abilities to the general public, but he must have been terrifying in a fight.


    She''d have been excited to realize he was there except that she knew he was blind--macular degeneration.


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    The display didn''t show anyone guiding him.


    She had no idea how he''d gotten down here or why he''d come, but she knew she couldn''t leave him where the aliens could take him.


    He appeared to be heading into the hangar. Raising the gun, she walked toward it, avoiding the two aliens on the ground, hoping there weren''t any more waiting in the hangar.


    She leaned carefully past the edge of the open door, she saw the hangar--the empty spot where the League jet normally would be, the Wolfmobile, and the Commando-cycle. Tools hung on the walls along with inventions too small to put in the middle of the floor, and too large to put in a drawer--a row of small jetpacks, spears, rifles...


    A man walked down the middle of the room. Tall, with dark brown skin, and wearing a green suit with a hat, C didn''t move like a man in his nineties. Confident steps gave no hint of weakness or any reason that the sunglasses and white, blind person''s cane he carried were necessary.


    She stepped into the hangar, still holding the gun.


    He laughed. "If you''re holding the gun I think you''re holding, please stop pointing it at me. I don''t think my wife''s quite forgiven me for the last time I got hit by it."


    Kayla let the rifle''s barrel drop. "Sorry."


    "No reason to apologize, you''re alone and surrounded by enemies." He closed the distance between them more quickly than she would have expected, but without moving especially quickly.


    As he stopped in front of her, she stared. "How did you get here? Aren''t you blind?"


    He nodded. "I am blind, but not entirely. The boy''s grandfather worked on a couple small things to help me get around when I need to."


    Now that she was close, she realized that his sunglasses were thicker than normal, and glowed a little around the edges of the lenses.


    "Aren''t you supposed to not get involved with the new League''s problems?" Cassie had told her something like that.


    He nodded slowly. "There are exceptions. There are some things we''re storing down here that we''d prefer not get back out into the world. Since I''m the only one of us left, it falls to me. Now, as for you, what are you doing here?"


    "I''m supposed to be watching and directing people from a distance."


    He nodded. "That sounds important. Shouldn''t you be getting back to it?"


    Kayla opened her mouth, unsure of what she should explain next. "I... Well, yes, but..."


    In a deep voice, he said, "Spit it out, time''s not kind in these matters."


    Kayla glanced back into the main room. The aliens lay on the floor in their armor. "There''s a breach. They can get in. Night Cat told me to get out, and take a suit."


    He nodded again. "She was right, but she thought you were alone. You''re not. In my experience, two people can hold this place as long as we''ll need to tonight."


    Kayla swallowed, and said, "Okay."


    C said, "Good," and took a step toward the main room.


    Inside came a series of snapping sounds.


    C stepped through the hangar door, and into the main room. "When you said there was a breach, and that they could get in, did you forget to say that they had already?"


    Kayla followed him.


    One of the aliens had opened up her armor and stood next to it. She wore a thin blue uniform that looked like it was supposed to be form fitting, but hung loosely--as if it had been made for someone taller.


    Except for the fangs, and claws, the "alien" appeared in all ways human. With the fangs and claws, she looked very similar to Haley when she transformed--with one major exception.


    The alien stared down at her chest as if she''d never seen it before.


    "Hmmn," C muttered, "This could get interesting."

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 12

    As he said it, the other set of power armor opened. The man pushed his way out as the pieces separated.


    Then, as pieces flew across the carpet, the man came to his feet. Almost immediately, the hands and feet changed to claws, and his teeth grew into fangs.


    He turned toward the other alien, and his jaw dropped a little. He gave a choked laugh. His blue jumpsuit was tighter around the chest, and loose around the waist and hips.


    The male alien said something to the larger female. She replied with one word in an unknown language and a snarl.


    Kayla would have bet anything that the mercenary had just cursed.


    C laughed, and muttered, ¡°I¡¯ve heard that word before.¡±


    At that, both aliens turned toward them, closing the distance in jumps that Kayla guessed would end with her throat getting ripped out.


    She aimed the rifle, and pulled the trigger. A voice said, ¡°ERROR: No Reversals,¡± and the trigger clicked.


    It didn¡¯t matter. C smacked the female alien into the wall with his cane just as her feet left the ground. Then he turned, blurring as he hit the male alien, using his cane to drive the alien into the carpet.


    The carpet didn¡¯t do much to cushion the blow¡ªthe alien didn¡¯t move after that.


    Kayla found herself breathing heavily, barely able to say anything when C said, ¡°Kayla, why don¡¯t you step around the corner, and open the second bin to the left?¡±


    Still out of breath, she managed to reply, ¡°Sure.¡±


    Then she went and got the manacles. It didn¡¯t take long. They were in bin to the left of the hangar door just like he¡¯d said. They were heavier than they looked, however. She carried two sets back anyway.


    As she attached the manacles to the male alien¡¯s legs, she asked, ¡°Where did you get these?¡±


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    C turned his head toward her. Somehow, his hat had stayed on. ¡°Joe, the first Rocket, designed them. We needed adjustable manacles that could hold something strong whether it was human or gorilla.¡±


    Kayla put the final manacle in place. ¡°Gorilla?¡±


    C sighed. ¡°That¡¯s right. I said gorilla. At times in the 1950¡¯s, it seemed like you could barely get out the door in the morning without running into an evil, intelligent gorilla.¡±


    Kayla¡¯s eyes widened as she stood up and walked over to the female who was on the ground near C.


    She shook her head, and pulled out the first manacle. ¡°The 50¡¯s and 60¡¯s were really weird.¡±


    C nodded. ¡°I agree with you. You had supervillains pulling crazy robberies all over every time you turned around and then you had the Civil Rights movement and issues that mattered on the other. It was all we could do to pay attention to the nuts with the strange plans for world domination while also fighting the terrifying people like Dixie Superman who were willing to let the South burn if it meant they didn¡¯t have to treat us as equals.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°That was a long time ago, and we don¡¯t have time for it now. I¡¯m going to go check on the Abominator storage rooms for a second. While I¡¯m doing it, you might want to grab a different weapon. Not an Abominator weapon, but a different weapon.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got nothing against women, and the little while that I was a woman after I got hit by the gun wasn¡¯t all bad. Unfortunately, it was months before any of us turned fully male again, and for part of the time we were changing back, we were both. That was awkward in ways that I¡¯m not even going to try to explain. So please, get another gun.¡±


    Kayla imagined that she might have shot him if she¡¯d been a little less careful when she¡¯d been firing. Then she imagined explaining how it happened to Marcus and Jaclyn, and worse, their grandmother.


    Her face was burning.


    C smiled. ¡°Relax, you didn¡¯t hit me, and it wouldn¡¯t have been the end of the world of you did. Don¡¯t worry about it, but do get another gun.¡±


    She finished up with the prisoners, and ran to the lab. Nick kept the weapons he¡¯d checked over in the lab. She hoped she wouldn¡¯t confuse the weapons he¡¯d fixed with the ones that needed fixing.


    When she walked through the door, she realized it was a lost cause. She¡¯d brought out all the working particle accelerator rifles, and they¡¯d taken them along. She only saw one weapon that wasn¡¯t in the ¡°Need to Be Fixed¡± pile.


    It was shaped like a burrito.


    She stared at it. Then she picked it up, and checked its battery levels. It was fully charged.


    She didn¡¯t have a choice. She walked quickly out to the computer table. She¡¯d at least be able to do some good there.


    C was waiting for her. She assumed that he¡¯d checked what he needed to.


    Then he noticed the gun, and laughed. ¡°That was all you could find?¡±


    She frowned. ¡°It¡¯s the only thing that I know works.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Well, for indoor use then, I recommend the ¡®extra cheesy¡¯ setting, but stay away from ¡®extra beans.¡¯¡±

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 13

    "No extra beans," Kayla said. "Got it."


    She looked down at the gun. It had two grips. The trigger and guard were on the back one. the front grip had a line of buttons on the side. Above them, it said, "Extra," followed by "Beans," "Cheese," "Chunky Salsa," "Green Sauce," "Red Sauce," and "Shell."


    Thinking back to English composition class from last semester, she wondered what Chekov would do if he saw a burrito gun hanging on the wall in Act 1 of a play.


    Probably kill himself, she imagined.


    Movement on the big screen caught her eye. News 10 showed beams of light on the beach, and not coming from Chris, Camille, and Sydney''s position either--raining down on it.


    Out of the sky came white beams that illuminating the beach and the small dune behind it, also illuminating the long, thin blades of beachgrass, and the unmoving aliens in broken, and blackened powered armor.


    The beams of light on the sand dune winked out as figures ran toward the woods.


    Kayla knew that if the first two had gotten in, the others would too.


    She put the burrito gun on the floor, and logged into the computer. New windows appeared on the big screen, showing what the spybots saw, and their positions plus multiple angles from cameras the original Rocket must have hidden all over the area.


    Some of them weren''t even cameras, and she didn''t know what they detected. Everett/Wheeler Particle? She had no idea what that even might be. All that mattered right now was that the icon was green. It meant that she didn''t have to care.


    She had to worry about the icons that were rearranging themselves under headings like, "Damaged Fusion Plant," and "Abominator Derived Technology." Those were in red.


    Also, "Chameleon Tech."


    C said, "Set the whole complex on red alert."


    Kayla moved her mouse pointer over the status icon and stopped. "Won''t that stop everybody from getting in? Even our people?"


    C nodded. "Yep. Our people are safe or they''re fighting. We''ll figure out a way to let them in if we have to, but we need to lock the complex down. We''ve got big things to worry about."


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    Kayla clicked the button. She knew what the big things had to be.


    In the distance came the sound of metal crashing against metal, the clicks of pieces setting into place, and also hum of pumps, and splash of water.


    She looked up at him. C nodded, the glow on the inside of his glasses reflecting off the skin around his eyes.


    "Water?" She asked.


    C shrugged. "And vacuum. Also gasses. Depending on how Nick is with maintenance, the water might have a few additives."


    "What about the breach?"


    After a moment of silence, he said, "I''m sure they''ll be able to make more holes. The whole point of red alert mode is that they''ll be very cautious about breaching a second time."


    As he talked, Haley''s icon started blinking. Kayla clicked on it, taking the call.


    "Control," Haley barely seemed to believe what she was saying, "you''re still in HQ?"


    "C showed up, and told me to stay."


    Marcus'' voice came over the speakers, "Grandpa?"


    "Here," C said. "Staying is the right call. The moment it stops being the right call, we''ll slag the storage rooms. You know which ones I mean."


    "Abominator relics," Marcus said. "That''s crazy. Slag them now."


    C gave a small laugh. "No. Humanity will be ready for them someday. Even the Xiniti agree on that. But aren''t you fighting?"


    From the spybots'' view of the beach, Kayla realized they weren''t fighting.


    "No," Haley said. "Were you watching News 10? They''ve got this on a delay. We''ve got the beach to ourselves. Gravity Star kept them all stuck in place, and between the jet''s weapons, MM2, and Railgun, they couldn''t get away, and couldn''t dodge.


    "Now we''ve got a different problem. They had more that they''d sent into the woods, and they came back, and targeted Railgun. She''s badly hurt. Gravity Star''s talking her to the... team doctor."


    C gave a short whistle. "The same doctor?"


    "No, his son." Kayla wasn''t sure, but she thought Haley might be holding back tears.


    "Hmmn. Good to hear. How badly is Railgun hurt?"


    Haley''s breath caught as she began to talk. "I... I don''t know. What Chris told her to do must have helped, but it spread the heat out. She''s hurt all over."


    Chris voice came over the speaker. "What are we going to do now? Didn''t the AI estimate they had forty people left based on what it saw?"


    "I know," Haley said. "When I thought Control was out, I thought I might blast HQ with the ship''s guns once they were inside. I didn''t want to do it, but I couldn''t think of anything better."


    "C," Chris said, "they''ve got to be heading in your direction. Didn''t Control say there was a breach?"


    Calmly, C said, "Don''t worry about that. We''ve got it handled for now. What have you got?"


    Chris'' voice went higher as he talked, "I shot all my missiles, and my power''s down. I can still get around, but not for long."


    "Night Cat? Shift? What have you got?"


    Haley sighed, "On a personal level? Particle accelerator rifles, but not much else that I think will actually hurt them."


    Marcus said, "Ditto."


    Man-machine''s icon blinked, and Gerald Cannon''s voice said, "I''d say we''ve got them where we want them. C, remember what I hid on top of City Hall in 1962?"


    C shook his head. "How fragile is it these days?"


    "Still terrible."


    C shook his head again. "Damn."

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 14

    Cannon''s voice was a little distorted as it came through the speakers. "Give me a second. I think I''m passing some rock."


    He paused. "Are you all still there?"


    Almost everyone said, "Yes."


    "It shouldn''t be hard now that you''re here," Cannon said.


    Kayla guessed he meant C.


    Breathing a little harder, Cannon continued, "I figure we find them, and you run into the middle of them. Then Control presses the button, and it''s all cleanup from there."


    C shook his head. "Can''t. Wish I could."


    Cannon snorted. "I heard you were going blind, but I figured you had to have figured a way around it by now. Otherwise you wouldn''t be in HQ. If you''re worried about blowing the secret, I''d say that now''s the time."


    C sighed. "Wish I could. There''s more going on here than I can tell you about now. Later, we can talk, but for now, the kids will have to do it."


    Cannon didn''t say anything for a moment, but followed it up with, "I imagine this has something to do with the League''s other surviving member."


    When C didn''t respond, he said, "Yep, thought so. Seeing the future never seemed worth it to me--"


    C interrupted. "We shouldn''t talk about it. Let''s talk about a plan. Forty of the Abominator''s ground troops verses three kids directly, two senior citizens, one support staff, and a nearly sixty year old doomsday device. Have I got everything?"


    Haley said, "The AI says ''Ahem.''"


    C laughed. "I barely remember the Rocket inserting it into the jet. We barely used it except on the last few missions after we retired, but I should have remembered it. Tell it I''m sorry. We might need it tonight."


    From Haley''s tone, Kayla could imagine her smiling a little as she said, "The AI says, ''Forgiven.''"


    Kayla wondered what else it had said.


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    Cannon barely waited an instant before talking. "What I''ve got isn''t much of a doomsday weapon. I''ve toned it down, and I always thought of it as specifically targeted."


    "Yeah," C said. "It was targeted at the Heroes League, and I''d say it still counts as a doomsday weapon if anyone who controls radiation is inside."


    Chris'' voice came over the comm, "What kind of weapon is this?


    Marcus spoke up. "That''s what I was about to say."


    "It specifically targets the Heroes League?" Haley asked. "Isn''t that a problem since we''re all on the same side now?"


    Kayla watched the camera windows on the big screen, hoping that they decided what to do before the aliens attacked.


    "Whoa," C said. "I''ll give everyone an overview. Man-machine jump in if I get it wrong."


    "Can do," Cannon said.


    "The way I remember it," C said, " it was a two pronged attack. Temporarily, no electronic devices worked, and everybody''s powers acted strangely. I was just as strong and fast, but got tired easily. Captain Commando and Night Wolf were in the same position, and they couldn''t heal much better than a normal person. The Mentalist, Ghostwoman, and Red Lightning mostly couldn''t use their powers at all."


    "Technically," Cannon said, "they could still use them. They couldn''t control them very well."


    "Mmm-hmmn," C said, "Ghostwoman had to be willing to float away into alternate universes to use hers. Red Lightning couldn''t control where the lightning hit. If we''d been visited by Sgt. Atom, the whole city could have died from radiation poisoning."


    On the other end comm connection, Cannon''s voice sounded more frustrated when he replied. "Sgt. Atom didn''t show up. I was careful. I trapped the Rocket and all the rest of you. None of his suits worked, and the rest of you overexerted yourselves before you knew what was happening. It should have worked."


    "Except I got out of the hospital, took the stairs up to the roof, and smashed it with a baseball bat." Nodding, C continued. "I never understood how you learned how to do it. The electricity I could see, but affecting our powers? You never did anything with them before then or after."


    In a matter of fact tone, Cannon said, "You''re right. That wasn''t an interest. I got that information from Red Lightning."


    C grunted. "I should have guessed. I forget, was that before or after his power jump?"


    "Don''t know," Cannon said. "I told the Rocket later, but he didn''t believe me until after the Mentalist confirmed that Red Lightning was behind the superpowered gangs. Stupid."


    "Not stupid," C said. "Red Lightning was his best friend since the age of six, and they''d fought in a war together. The Rocket wasn''t going to accuse him on your say so. So what''s the new plan?"


    Cannon replied, "Nearly the same as what they did at the beach. Get their attention, and set the bomb off. Their camouflage and armor won''t work. They''ll barely be able to move, and we''ll be able to do whatever we need to. The only problems I see is that the device is fairly fragile and easy to break. Someone will have to sneak it close and set it off, preferably from a distance. If you stand behind the ship, and let it shield you from the blast, your equipment should work."


    Cannon added, "I volunteer."

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 15

    ¡°Grandpa,¡± Chris said, ¡°your pacemaker?¡±


    Kayla could imagine Cannon shaking his head as he replied. ¡°Between the distance and my armor, the pacemaker should be fine.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Chris said, ¡°this doesn¡¯t sound like a good idea. I can take it in, and get out. I don¡¯t have any missiles left and low on power, so I¡¯m not going to get into fights. I¡¯ll run.¡±


    C talked over everyone. ¡°Good so far, but I think we¡¯re going to need everybody we¡¯ve got left. I¡¯d say send in the ship, both Man-machines, get their attention, and place the device. It doesn¡¯t matter which of you does it. Get everyone in the jet, and then set the device off. The jet will survive that, right?¡±


    Not waiting for anyone else, Cannon said, ¡°It will. I tried hitting it with the anti-electronics effect back in the 70¡¯s. The shields absorbed it. I¡¯m not even sure they knew they were hit.¡±


    Haley clicked in. ¡°The AI says it knew, and I¡¯ve got a suggestion. Control activates the device. She¡¯s got armor, and you activate it with an encoded signal, right? Send her the code and she can do that, and she¡¯ll be out of harm¡¯s way because she¡¯s not close. You¡¯ll be safe because you¡¯ll be in the jet.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t I just do it from here?¡± Kayla asked.


    Cannon¡¯s sigh came over the speakers. ¡°No. My suits use my own comm security protocols. We don¡¯t have time to program them into the League¡¯s system. But never mind that, a girl shouldn¡¯t have to do my job.¡±


    Before Kayla could say anything else, Haley broke in. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be your job. Anyway, the AI says it¡¯s the best chance we have right now¡ª40%¡ªbut only if we do it in the next two minutes. After that, our best chance goes down to 15%. By then they¡¯re all in the tunnels.¡±


    C waved toward the hangar. ¡°Go. I¡¯ll tell you where to go out.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m placing the device,¡± Cannon added. No one argued.


    For a moment, Kayla wished that anyone had asked her if she was willing to do it. She would have said yes, but it would have been nice to be asked. Then she decided she was being silly. Now wasn¡¯t the time to worry about her feelings.


    She got up from her chair, guessing that even if they didn¡¯t think she¡¯d be fighting, she might anyway. Half-worrying that it was waste of effort, she grabbed the burrito gun. The suit had a storage compartment.


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    If she was lucky, the suit would protect the gun even if it went dead.


    It didn¡¯t take long to run into the hangar, open the suit, and climb in. The burrito gun even fit¡ªnot perfectly¡ªbut obviously the designer (probably Man-machine, not Nick) had left space for some kind of rifle.


    She ran through the checklist as quickly as she could. She knew she¡¯d probably forgotten something, and hoped it wasn¡¯t important.


    The comm came on and C said, ¡°Ready?¡±


    She clicked herself into ¡°available.¡± ¡°I think so.¡±


    ¡°Good. Take the vehicle exit. They¡¯re not there. They¡¯re trying to get in through the forest exit. Stay there until we tell you to go in.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± she said, trying to make it sound like she wasn¡¯t nervous.


    ¡°Good luck. You¡¯ll do well, and we¡¯ll do everything we can to help.¡±


    She managed a ¡°Thanks,¡± and ran up the tunnel. The dim lights on the ceiling and either side of floor lit the way. The speedometer showed that she was running at forty miles per hour. She wondered how Nick and Chris ever got used to it, and how Cassie could live with being that strong all the time.


    C¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°I¡¯m opening the doors.¡±


    She slowed as the darkness ahead of her cracked open into twilight. When the opening grew wide enough for her armor, she stepped through.


    The remains of the sun¡¯s setting lay in the west. She could see the colors through the trees. On the screen in suit¡¯s helmet, the spybots¡¯ feeds showed the aliens gathered in their own armor. They stood near a concrete platform.


    Kayla knew it opened. She¡¯d been through it a few times herself. She¡¯d be surprised if it took them very long to break through.


    C¡¯s voice came over the speakers again. ¡°Closing the doors.¡±


    Behind her, gray doors shut, blending into the rock behind her well enough that it she couldn¡¯t see a trace of them.


    Movement on the screen distracted her from the rock. Several of the aliens were breaking off from the main group.


    She got on the comm. ¡°They¡¯re splitting up! Do you see it?¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± Haley said, continuing with, ¡°Man-machine? MM2?¡±


    On the screen, Kayla could see laser beams hit the aliens¡¯ suits. They scattered, hiding behind trees, but staying close to the platform.


    Man-machine¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°I¡¯ve placed the device. MM2, are you ready to jump out?¡±


    Chris opened up his comm connection and the whine of his suit¡¯s engines almost overpowered his voice. ¡°Anytime. My power¡¯s really low. Like 5%. It¡¯s going to start cutting off the lasers any second.¡±


    The whining stopped. ¡°Hey, that¡¯s not supposed to happen. It just shut off the lasers, and half the suit¡¯s mobility. I don¡¯t think I can jump up to the jet anymore. I mean, I might be able to to hack something¡­ Crap!¡±


    On Kayla¡¯s screen, the lasers had stopped hitting the aliens¡¯ armor, but the aliens were still firing back. The shimmer of the jet¡¯s shields appeared near the top of Kayla¡¯s screen.


    ¡°Man-Machine, get him and jump up here.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m trying,¡± Cannon said. He was breathing heavily as if he were running. Then she heard the sound of engines whining from Man-machine¡¯s connection, and his connection cut off.


    ¡°Push the button, Control,¡± Haley said.


    ¡°I..¡± Kayla tried to say that it didn¡¯t feel right at all, but only blurted, ¡°You¡¯re all right there.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll be fine,¡± Haley said. ¡°Now!¡±


    Man-machine¡¯s voice came over the comm at almost the same time, ¡°Now, dammit!¡±

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 16

    She pushed the button.


    All the voices disappeared into static along with the displays in the helmet and every light in the armor. As of that moment, she was alone in front of the exit to HQ, and not standing either.


    She didn''t know what the suit did to help her stay balanced, but whatever it was, it had to be electrical because moments after the lights faded she fell over backwards.


    Taking stock of the situation, she stared upward. Stars peeked through the leaves and branches, visible in the dusk.


    They seemed so much less comforting than they had last night. She took a breath, reminding herself that all of the aliens had to be in the same position she was--stuck in their suits. Even if they managed to get out, they had powers, and Man-machine''s device made powers useless.


    Her phone started beeping--the League phone.


    Man-machine had been right. Suits based on his designs had a chance of keeping everything inside them safe even if the suits themselves went down.


    She''d have felt even happier about that if she could get at her phone. She wasn''t wearing one of the League''s uniforms, so her phone was in the back pocket of her jeans which she couldn''t reach without getting out of the armor.


    Thinking back to when Chris had trained her, she remembered the emergency escape gesture. She couldn''t forget it.


    "It''s easy," Chris had said. "You do the Vulcan ''Live long and prosper'' gesture with the right hand and throw the horns with the left hand--you know, like heavy metal bands do."


    She''d stared at him, still unable to imitate the Vulcan gesture. "How am I supposed to do that?"


    "You can do it," Chris had said. "All you have to is practice. Besides, think how unlikely it is that you''ll do it by accident."


    Lying on the ground nearly a year later, she made both hand gestures. The chest and helmet opened, separating with a click.


    By the time she pulled herself out of the chest cavity, the phone had stopped beeping. She frowned. Then she pulled out the burrito gun, pulling the strap over her shoulder.


    Reaching out to her back pocket, she checked the notifications on the front screen. She had a list--Haley, Marcus, Chris... and the spybots?


    She tapped her code into the phone and the League dashboard opened up, showing that she had access to the spybots from her phone, and that the message system had transcribed the messages, all of which amounted to, "Are you okay?"


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    She typed in, "Suit down. I''m fine."


    Was that lying? She didn''t feel fine. She looked into the darkness, wondering what was going on out there. Had the team taken them all down? She somehow doubted it, but she hoped so--desperately.


    She pulled out her earphones/microphone combo, plugged them into the phone, and tapped into the League channel.


    The first words she heard were Haley saying, "--not staying down! They''re ripping their suits off, and getting up! I thought you said it worked on powers?"


    Sounding surprised, whether by Haley''s attitude or by the aliens, Cannon said, "I don''t know. Could be that the Abominators used that trick themselves, and now everybody''s shielded their armor against it."


    Haley said, "Shift? Our turn. AI, tell them how to operate the weapons and fly the jet, okay?"


    Then Kayla heard the hatch open, then the sound of a particle accelerator rifle, and feet running--which stopped abruptly.


    Kayla guessed that Haley must have jumped from the plane. Marcus'' muttered, "Woo hoo." Then wings flapped, the door shut and sealed.


    Cannon said, "Half the time I hear her, I think I hear her grandfather."


    C laughed. "I hear that sometimes too, but sometimes I hear her grandmother, and her parents. She was a sweet child. Still is, mostly."


    Chris'' voice came over the comm. "AI, show me how the weapons console works... And... You''re a battle simulation AI, right? Show me where it''s most likely to go next and... indicate targets for me with the priority of making it easy for Night Cat and the Shift to win, and keeping all of us alive."


    From the other side of the hill, deeper into the woods, came shouts of anger, sometimes pain, and the hum of particle accelerator rifles.


    Kayla was about to ask C to let her back into the tunnel when Chris said, "Control, they''re coming your way. Are you safe?"


    She said, "I''m out of the suit. Can C let me in?"


    C began, "Of course--"


    Chris broke in, "No, AI says if you let her in now, odds that the aliens get Abominator tech go up to greater than 70%. Sorry Control... Can you hide? I don''t think they''ll go after you."


    Gerald Cannon said, "You''re going to let her die?"


    "No," Chris began, and then C said something, but Kayla wasn''t listening anymore. She could hear the shouting and shooting coming closer.


    She got off the ranger''s access trail (it passed the League''s vehicle entrance/ exit), and ran to the side of the huge rock. Crouching next to it, she pointed the gun toward the trail, and wondered if she''d stopped in the right place. The bushes on her left side weren''t going to make it easy for her to change positions if it came to that.


    She edged away from the bushes, telling herself It might do some good.


    She heard the first of them find her suit. It growled something in a language she had no hope of recognizing. Another growled a reply.


    Then came more screaming, a humming followed by another scream and the scent of burning. More humming noises came from the distance, but at a higher pitch.


    Some of the aliens must have had pistols inside their armor.


    Kayla tried not to think about that, asking herself what advantages she had over the aliens. She couldn''t think of any initially, but then she remembered that she''d been the MVP during her conference''s basketball tournament the year before.


    Great, she thought, when the aliens came for her, she could wow them with her rebound rate. That would impress them.


    As she stifled a laugh, one of the aliens came around the corner. No longer in armor, and not carrying a pistol, its arms and legs ended in claws, and its teeth were fangs. Thick, but short fur covered its body.


    As their eyes met, it howled.


    Not sure what to do next, she fired the burrito gun, mashing down on the buttons on the front handle. She didn''t know which ones.

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 17

    The burrito hit it in the middle of the chest, sticking there. The burrito dripped cheese, beans, and a glowing green sauce across the creature''s body.


    The alien looked down, staring at the mess, sniffing once.


    Then the burrito exploded, spreading the contents in all directions--except strangely enough, toward Kayla.


    The green sauce stayed mostly on the alien''s body, glistening on the creature''s hair. The cheese had spread into gooey strands, half covering the alien''s chest, but the rest stuck to the tree branches, the ground, and the rocky outcropping. The shell had broken into triangular shaped bits. The ones she could see were embedded in tree trunks.


    The alien tried to pull its way out of the cheese, but the cheese strands had less give the more it struggled. Using the claws on its left hand, it tried to cut through a strand on its right arm, but only became entangled.


    Soon it found itself standing in the middle of hardened cheese strands, left hand immovably stuck to its right arm, twisting and straining but not moving.


    This was good. She''d managed to do something right for a change. Now she had to figure out what to do next.


    She didn''t want to stay here. The battle was far too close. The jet''s anti-personnel lasers were firing, and the aliens were shouting.


    They had to want to hide, and they''d probably try to hide here.


    That''s when Kayla realized that she was stuck. The bushes cut off escape behind her. Ahead of her, the forest held the alien and lines of orange cheese.


    It didn''t look sticky anymore, but she wasn''t sure she trusted a guess in the dark.


    The only openings left that she thought she might use to escape were the space between the bushes and where the splattered cheese began. If she went that way she''d have to run into the woods unless she felt brave enough to go toward the battle.


    The other option was climbing up the rocks, and staying on top of the tunnel''s entrance.


    She could be a sniper.


    With burritos.


    A burrito sniper.


    Aside from the sheer ridiculousness of the idea, she''d draw more attention than she wanted. Plus, it might draw attention to the tunnel door, and that could be a complete disaster not just for her, but for the world.


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    With a sinking feeling, she realized that staying where she was might be the best thing she could do.


    She didn''t have time to resign herself to the decision before the alien she''d cheesed into immobility started shouting for help--at least that''s what it sounded like.


    As he became louder, she tried to think of something that might make him stop. The first idea she had was to simply shoot him in the face with an extra cheesy burrito.


    She didn''t want to kill him. She didn''t want to kill anyone, and she doubted that he''d be able to breath through the cheesy goo--whatever it was.


    What she wanted didn''t matter as more came to help.


    The first came over the top of the rocks. Kayla only heard it because it drew a breath as a claw scraped a rock as it tried to find a handhold.


    She fired, aiming at it as it jumped for her. This time she only held down one button--the extra beans. She wasn''t inside, and it had to be powerful if C told her not to do it inside.


    The burrito hit the creature mid-leap, exploding, and sending it high into the air.


    It came down with a thump far on the other side of the hill.


    The hill was coming to smell more and more like a Mexican restaurant. Kayla crouched, checking around herself for more attackers.


    Marcus'' voice came over her earphones. "Do you have the Burrito gun? That''s amazing. I always wanted to pick it up when I was a kid and visiting HQ, but everyone was always like ''Don''t touch that!'' and ''Don''t press extra beans!'' and ''Did you spray cheese everywhere?'' You know, silly stuff."


    Haley broke in, whispering, "Shift, I could use some help here. Are you ready?"


    "Still ready," he said, "but we''ve got a second. Control, they''re coming your way to help that guy. If you can get out, get out."


    Kayla tried to keep the fear out of her voice. "I can''t get out. I can''t go anywhere."


    "Don''t worry about it," Haley said. "You''re doing great, and we''re coming to help you next. Shift? Now."


    Gerald Cannon''s cough came over the channel. "You want to help? Here''s what you do. Yellow Burrito made every damn thing glow and then the League could shoot them in the dark. Get up on the hill, light them up, and we''ll take them out."


    "Grandpa," Chris said, "she doesn''t even have armor on. Control, don''t worry about what he said, but if you do get the chance, making them glow would make the shot easier."


    The sounds of fighting got louder. Even through the alien''s calls for help, she thought she heard Haley cry in pain, followed by a louder, longer cry from a voice she didn''t know.


    Chris'' voice came over her earphones again. "Eyes open, Control, the AI says a bunch of them should be crawling up the hill any minute. Watch out--"


    She barely had time to aim, pushing down the buttons for green sauce, extra cheese and extra beans.


    Three of them crawled over the hill only to be caught in a greenish-orange explosion as the burrito burst halfway up the hill.


    One jumped to the side, but the other two received a full spattering of cheese goo.


    They tried to pull away from the hill and each other as the cheese hardened.


    Flashes of light from the sky hit the forest floor near the alien she''d entrapped earlier. The alien who''d avoided getting hit on top of the hill was dodging laser blasts and strands of cheese goo.


    A spot of green sauce on his shoulder glowed brightly.


    Kayla didn''t manage to get the gun completely up before it made its final leap toward her.

 The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 18

    She fired anyway, but the burrito missed, hitting the hill in an explosion of chunky salsa that coated the area around the blast.


    A spattering hit the two stuck to the hill above her and they screamed, trying to wipe it off their clothes.


    A ladle sized splash hit the one leaping toward her as it was still in the air. His eyes widened and his faced tensed, but Kayla barely noticed.


    Beams of white light hit the creature, causing it to tumble in the air. When its hand hit her, she expected to die, but it barely hurt at all. She¡¯d heard stories where the bad wounds, the truly terminal wounds were surprisingly easy to take, but when she looked down at her chest where the hand hit, she didn¡¯t see any blood.


    She saw most of the creature¡¯s forearm lying on the ground. The rest of the body lay nearby. It hadn¡¯t been tumbling nearly as much as it had been tumbling apart.


    Her stomach gave a long roll, and she looked away, noticing the darkness of the jet above her and that it was firing on the other side of the hill.


    As she looked up toward the blasts of light, more aliens appeared, coming around the side of the hill where she¡¯d trapped the alien that was still shouting for help¡ªor possibly in warning.


    They stopped and stared at the cheese threads that bound their colleague. One reached out and touched a thread despite whatever the other one was saying, and couldn¡¯t pull his hand away.


    Trying not to think about the pieces of alien on the ground, she set the gun back to green sauce, extra cheese, and beans. Then she fired, watching another burrito explode into orange cheese threads and green splotches.


    Not all of the aliens were hit.


    They had Haley¡¯s reaction speed. Three dodged, and ran back around the hill. The other six were caught. They struggled, grunting, and one pulled free, threads of cheesy goo still hanging from his body, collecting dirt and leaves as he pushed between the others and the hill.


    He gathered for a jump, but it didn''t go as he probably expected. As his back claws left the ground, a gray arm extended around the side of the hill, grabbing his front arm.


    He flipped over in the air, landing on his back.


    Kayla only had time to notice that the arm had to be more than six feet long, but that the body it was connected to still hadn''t come around the corner yet--except then Marcus did come around the corner, his other arm stretching forward to punch the invader.


    The alien tried to flip itself over, pushing off with its legs, meeting Marcus'' punch in the air.


    Marcus'' fist hit the creature in the stomach, and it grunted. Meanwhile Marcus'' hand and fingers became wider and longer as they oozed around the alien''s waist, suspending him upside down.


    Almost more quickly than Kayla could see, the alien raked out with his unconstrained arm and his legs, barely touching Marcus'' arm with his legs.


    His hand''s claws hit Marcus'' arm solidly, but didn''t pierce it. Marcus'' face tightened, but he still loosened his left hand from around the creature''s arm, and wrapped it around the alien''s face.


    The alien struggled longer than Kayla would have expected, cutting deeply into Marcus'' arm, but not drawing blood. When the alien fell unconscious, he didn''t fall unconsious because of asphyxiation, but because Haley stuck her dewclaw into his neck.


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    Kayla didn''t know where she came from. Then she realized that all the aliens had fallen unconscious--though not always to the ground.


    The cheese strands held them in the air, their heads lolling forward.


    Over the comm, Chris announced, "And that''s all of them. They''re either dead or unconscious."


    "Finally," Gerald Cannon muttered.


    "I''m calling the police," C said. "I''m sure they''re already on their way, but they should know what they''ll find. Good job, everybody."


    Marcus said something back, but Kayla missed it.


    Haley walked up the hill, avoiding the the sticky cheese, and stopping next to Kayla. Blood dripped from a long cut on her right cheek, and from her left arm where something had ripped a hand sized chunk out of her costume.


    Kayla stared. "You should see a doctor."


    "For my arm? It looks worse than it is. Really."


    "And your face."


    Haley frowned, and took off her right glove, and starting from where her black mask ended on her cheek, drew her hand downward, coming away with blood on her fingers.


    She shook her head, and looked at her hand. "I knew one of them hit me in the face, but I didn''t know I was bleeding."


    She pulled a flashlight off her belt. "It''s just a scrape, right? I''ve been feeling around inside with my tongue, and I can''t find a hole."


    She took a tissue out of a canister on her belt, and wiped away some of the blood.


    Kayla stepped closer. Haley had taken most of the blood off, but not all of it. All the same, Kayla couldn''t see any holes or worse, muscle or tendons.


    "You look okay to me," she said, stressing the me, "but I still think you should see a doctor."


    "I''m fine. I heal better than normal--not like Captain Commando. She''d already be better, but I should be fine by tomorrow, mostly."


    If she said anymore, she''d be arguing, so Kayla didn''t say anything.


    "Besides," Haley said, "let''s talk about you. You did great. You weren''t even supposed to be fighting, and you took a bunch of them by yourself. I''d hug you if I could do it without bleeding on your clothes."


    Marcus stepped toward them. He''d shifted back into a completely normal (if gray) human shape, his face and body covered in his green costume.


    Kayla almost asked him where it had been, but suspected she''d be happier not knowing.


    Marcus grinned at her, and said, "You were awesome. You got most of the ones that were escaping. Hey, you know what would be crazy? You could become ''Yellow Burrito 2''. Think about it. It would be hilarious, but it worked, you know? That gun is amazing."


    "It was mostly the gun. And no, I''m not becoming Yellow Burrito--ever." She looked down at the gun. She let go of the handles, letting it hang from its strap, stretching her hands after gripping it for so long.


    "You fired it," Marcus said. "The gun didn''t do that. Anyway, we''re done. All we''ve got left is to wait for the cops to show up with a Box, and we can leave. There aren''t too many living ones to pick up."


    He paused, shaking his head. "It got pretty awful for a while there, but that''s it. We can go home pretty soon."


    Haley sighed, and looked away. "You can. I should go join Gravity Star and Railgun. The last update I had said she might have to go to the hospital."


    Haley looked up. Kayla thought she looked worried.


    "Could you call the Rocket? He''s a friend of Paladin, and maybe they can get him here somehow when their fight''s over. Is that okay with you? You don''t need me, right?"


    Kayla said, "Yes," and Haley left, disappearing around the corner into the hangar entrance, leaving Kayla standing with Marcus.


    She pulled out her phone, wondering if the Rocket was still fighting, and if Haley could realistically hope for any help at all.


    They probably needed every healer they could get in New York.


    Marcus must have noticed her staring at her phone. "What''s up?"


    "Nothing," Kayla said, and pulled up Nick''s location at a dock on the Hudson River along with Sean, Travis, Vaughn, and Izzy. All their status colors showed up as green.


    She called, and even though Nick didn''t know if Paladin could do it, it sounded like he could get Paladin''s father.


    "The Rocket thinks he can help," she told Marcus.


    "See?" Marcus said. "This stuff always works out in the end."


    It took a while before the police cars came, and Kayla had to coat a few of the aliens with more cheese when they woke up and started to struggle.


    Ten minutes into the wait, Cassie called. "Kayla, are you okay? I heard it got pretty crazy back home."


    Kayla held the phone to her head and watched the aliens. Only one was even trying to escape now. They stared back, sullenly.


    Marcus whistled a tune Kayla didn''t recognize.


    "I''m fine now," Kayla said. "It was horrible, and I was in the middle of it."


    "You were fighting?" Cassie barely sounded like she believed it. "After the Cabal, you were saying never again."


    "I know," Kayla said. "I meant it, and I was right. I never want to get in the middle of anything like this again." Surprising herself as she said it, she added, "But I will if I have to."

 When Its Over: Part 1

    I stood over the chair. Silver with a padded seat, and black, leather straps for the arms and head, it looked like a futuristic electric chair out of a 1950''s science fiction novel.


    Amid the tools, tables, computers, 3-d printers, fabrication machines, and half finished inventions, it stood out because the guts weren''t visible. It didn''t have wires hanging out, and it didn''t currently have any burn marks.


    To the degree that anything that looked like an electric chair could look elegant, it did look elegant.


    Of course, it wasn''t actually an electric chair. My grandfather had used it to give his friend, Giles Hardwick (alias Red Lightning), permanent superpowers, saving him from having to lug along flasks of power juice.


    After he''d been zapped by the chair, Giles Hardwick went full on supervillain, targeting his friends in the Heroes League, and creating an army of supers with temporary powers like he used to have--except theirs were laced with addictive drugs.


    Last year it was stolen, modified, and used to empower others before we''d gotten it back, damaging it in the process.


    I''d repaired it with the idea that I''d use it on Courtney, a friend of mine from college and high school, giving her permanent powers, and allowing her to join the Stapledon program, a program for training supers.


    Hopefully, it would work out better this time. It had for Vaughn, Giles'' grandson. He didn''t show any signs of attempting to kill us all--so far.


    I reminded myself of that while I stared at the chair, hoping that I wasn''t about to do anything stupid.


    Kayla entered the lab as I stood. Around my height, she looked tan, and had brown, shoulder length hair. Even though it was summer, she wore a button down shirt and slacks. It seemed overly formal to me, but as the only paid staff the Heroes League had, she was officially at work.


    It made sense.


    Of course, I was arguably at work myself, and I was wearing jeans along with a t-shirt that said "teh."


    "I''ve been thinking," she said. "The League trains with your martial arts teacher every Wednesday. Do you suppose I could come along, and train with you? Even if I only helped direct people, like I do in the field, it would still help me."


    For the record, having people ask my permission to do things was very strange. I still wasn''t sure what I thought of that.


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    On the other hand, bringing her in for Lee''s classes was more a question for me than anyone but Lee himself.


    "I guess," I said. "It''d probably help all of us. Come to think of it, we probably should have been doing that all along."


    "I know," Kayla said. "We practiced a few times, but I''ve mostly done it during real fights, and that''s a terrible time to make a mistake."


    I thought about it. How had we managed to miss that? Well, we''d been in the middle of a life and death struggle at the time she''d joined, and we hadn''t had a lot of downtime since then between school, the Stapledon program, and random problems.


    "I''ll talk to Lee. He won''t mind. I warn you though, he probably won''t let you stay in armor all the time, and he''s likely to teach you how to fight--not just coordinate."


    She met my eyes. "After the alien invasion last month, that''s good news. I still can''t believe I survived without it."


    As she walked out of the lab, I couldn''t help but think that that was a change, and probably a good one.


    I''d noticed that she''d seemed unhappy this year. I''d assumed it was because she missed Cassie--her best friend and the person who pulled her into coordinating the League in the first place.


    When we were talking about it, Haley said she thought it was more complicated than that, but I never got around to asking her how.


    Whatever was going on, putting Kayla into a short life and death fight had done more for her than months of me quietly hoping she''d get over it.


    Haley had also said it was more complicated than that. She was probably right.


    Deciding to concentrate on the task at hand, I gave the chair a final round of tests.


    I''d spent enough time reading my grandfather''s notes that I understood what triggered powers in the few people who could get them. That was good because I''d had to replace a number of broken parts, and it helped to understand the why behind the tests Grandpa had created for the machine.


    If I hadn''t understood the reasons behind the tests, it probably would have worried me more that the current version of the machine was getting better marks than the original.


    As it was, I was only a little worried. The tests indicated that the machine would most likely stimulate the changes necessary in the body and mind with less work and possibly with a greater effect.


    That wasn''t a bad thing, right? Whatever process activated Cassie''s powers had a greater effectiveness (for her powers) than the previous version of Grandpa''s machine.


    The results of the final tests came back the same as the others.


    I took a breath, and began detaching the cords from the machine, and then from the testing device. A long, rectangular, black box, the testing device could have doubled for part of a band''s sound equipment.


    It grew warm as I turned on its "purge" setting. That would destroy the samples as well as the Petri dishes they grew in.


    Checking my watch, I realized I had an hour to kill before Courtney appeared.


    I could go into the main room and hang out with Kayla, but I didn''t feel like it. The whole line of thought had reminded me of a story my grandfather had told me. I walked over to the file cabinets to see how his story matched up with the after action report.


    I found it in a few minutes, and pulled out the folder, opening it, and beginning to read the first sheet of yellowed paper.


    It was the 1970''s. The Heroes League had fought the last Abominators to a standstill, and destroyed them, unwittingly committing xenocide, and winning the friendship of the Xiniti at the same time...

 When Its Over: Part 2

    The League jet still dripped water even though they¡¯d stepped out of it two hours ago. It stood inside a huge room made of gray concrete. A car that resembled a black 1965 Corvette had been parked next to two motorcycles, one normal, and the other red, white, and blue.


    Metal shelving ran across the walls, holding tools and spare parts.


    Joe stood in the hangar, still wearing the Rocket suit. He¡¯d expected to be done by now, but he had to admit that he probably shouldn¡¯t have. They¡¯d packed the League jet practically to the top of the cargo bay.


    It was like moving, but only if your house had been stocked with alien artifacts created for the purpose of destroying alien civilizations and bending what was left to your will.


    A man in bulky, gray armor exited the jet¡¯s cargo bay. Even if Joe hadn¡¯t known his name, the horn extending from the mask hinted at his codename.


    Joe could have called him ¡°Rhino,¡± but opted with, ¡°Hey Larry, is that what I think it is?¡±


    Larry put the device down on the hangar floor next to the rest of the pile. He popped his mask open, stared down at it.


    It wasn¡¯t shaped like a chair, more like a slab, but the indentation on the slab was obviously human shaped. Made out of the same green-gray metal Joe had seen in so many alien spaceships, it didn¡¯t have any straps, but did have a large mass above where the head would be and smaller masses near where the arms and legs would end.


    If the metal adjusted itself, the metal masses would be at the right spots to restrain someone. Not coincidentally, they were at the same spots he¡¯d placed them in the power impregnator design he¡¯d used for Giles¡ªassuming you stretched the chair out and turned the device into a big slab.


    He thought about that. It was a big slab, made to handle creatures as big as twelve feet tall. Joe thought about that. Either the Abominators had made humans that tall or they expected humans to become that big after the treatment.


    He walked over, stopping next to the featureless bulge along the side. The bulge held the controls, some kind of miniaturized computer that assisted the operator, and some kind of wireless transmitter/receiver that allowed the Abominators to control it without touching it.


    Dissections of Abominator bodies had hinted that they¡¯d grown matching transmitter/receivers inside their own bodies.


    He shook his head. He didn¡¯t want direct mind to mind connection with anything the Abominators designed.


    Larry looked up from the device, brushed his hair back from his face with one armored hand. He kept his hair long in back, but it didn¡¯t always stay there.


    ¡°It looks like the power impregnator.¡±


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    Joe nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. Imagine what the devices we don¡¯t recognize could be.¡±


    Larry shrugged. ¡°Can¡¯t be too much worse than the ones we do recognize. Remember the one that melted the Crusader¡¯s leg? I mean, damn. I nearly puked in my helmet.¡±


    A tenor voice cut in before Joe could reply. ¡°That¡¯s all of it. The cargo bay is officially empty.¡±


    Freddie Nation walked out of the bay carrying a big grayish-blue box. It glowed dimly. Joe had no idea what it did. They¡¯d never seen it used.


    He¡¯d carried it onboard though, so he did know what it weighed¡ªapproximately a ton according to the Rocket suit.


    Pointing at the box, he asked, ¡°Have you got that?¡±


    Freddie nodded. ¡°It¡¯s completely under control.¡±


    Then he tripped, giving look of comic horror so perfect Joe knew it was intentional. Freddie got his feet back under himself, and the package balanced in a move that went too quickly for Joe to see what had happened.


    Freddie had the physique to do it. He¡¯d shucked his costume before they¡¯d even arrived back on the planet. Wearing a t-shirt and the black, bullet resistant underlayer to his costume as pants, Freddie¡¯s muscles were obvious.


    Joe couldn¡¯t blame him for that. He¡¯d have been getting out of costume as soon as possible if his had been designed to resemble a yellow burrito too.


    Freddie grinned under his mustache. ¡°Thank goodness I saved this device of unknown, cosmic evil from hitting the ground.¡±


    Joe shook his head. ¡°No one likes a smartass, Freddie.¡±


    Larry laughed.


    ¡°Since you guys have so much energy, why don¡¯t you put all that in storage room three? If there¡¯s not enough room, put the rest in four. When you¡¯re done set the rooms to high security.¡±


    Joe looked from one to the other of them. ¡°Got it?¡±


    Larry picked up the alien power impregnator. ¡°What are you going to be doing?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a call to make. I¡¯ll be back in a minute.¡±


    Joe pulled his helmet back on, watching as the system checked connections to the armor. When it was over, he tapped on his palm, calling Cannon¡¯s number.


    While the number rang, he watched Freddie and Larry move the alien artifacts out of the hangar. They were good kids. Granted they weren¡¯t that young. Larry was sixteen, and Freddie was nineteen. They were old enough that he¡¯d taken them to war. He wasn¡¯t sure if he should have, but he needed the help, and they¡¯d more than proved themselves.


    Besides, he was in his fifties. He wasn¡¯t sure when he was going to stop, but he knew it would happen sooner rather than later. They¡¯d need the next generation to be experienced.


    Someone picked up the phone. Cannon said, ¡°Who is this? I had to walk out of a damn important meeting.¡±


    Setting the helmet to standard Rocket voice, Joe said, ¡°You know who this is. I¡¯m calling because we¡¯re back, and it¡¯s over.¡±


    ¡°About goddamn time. The fuckers sent a strike force that I had to fight on my own, and when it was over, the cops tried to arrest me.¡± Cannon made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a sigh.


    ¡°Well,¡± Joe said, ¡°it¡¯s over. You can go back to trying to beat the hell out of me knowing that the League owes you one.¡±


    Cannon laughed. ¡°How much of one?¡±


    ¡°Not enough to get you out of jail if you land yourself there, but enough for a couple near escapes, more if you¡¯re willing stop this side project where you¡¯re building armor for supervillains.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± Cannon said, and hung up.


    Joe sighed. He should have known better than to mention the armor, but it had been a pain in the neck for months now.


    Well, at least it was over, he thought. All he had to do now was get the Abominator equipment safely stored. After that, life could get back to normal. Maybe he and Romy could go on vacation together, and get caught up. Joanie was the only one of their kids who was too young to stay home for a few days on her own.


    Maybe she could stay with a friend.


    He¡¯d have gone further into that thought if HQ¡¯s phone hadn¡¯t started ringing. It wasn¡¯t just any phone either. The double ring told him it was the red phone, the one state, federal, and local law enforcement called in case of emergency.


    He took the call with his helmet.

 When Its Over: Part 3

    ¡°Heroes League,¡± he said. He¡¯d left it set to ¡°Rocket voice.¡± There couldn¡¯t be any doubt who¡¯d answered.


    The person on the other end gasped. ¡°Excuse me? Sir? I¡¯m Officer Smythe of the Grand Lake police force, and there¡¯s a man flying through downtown. He¡¯s been asking for the Heroes League, and Captain Schwarz told me to call you.¡±


    Joe frowned. ¡°Is there something wrong with the flying man? Should I be worried?¡±


    Officer Smythe paused. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know, sir, but he¡¯s big. Maybe twelve feet tall, and he doesn¡¯t look happy.¡±


    ¡°Do you have any idea who he is? I know a lot of flying people these days.¡±


    Smythe gave a short laugh. ¡°No. I¡¯ve never seen this guy.¡±


    Joe had the feeling that Smythe was a rookie.


    ¡°Alright. Tell Captain Schwarz thanks for the warning and that I¡¯ll be out there as soon as I can.¡±


    He hung up the phone by touching his finger to one of the buttons on his palm.


    Turning his attention to the pile, he found Larry holding a manhole sized disc in his armored gloves. Freddie must have been coming back from the storage rooms. He wasn¡¯t holding anything, and he¡¯d stopped moving almost directly in front of Joe.


    ¡°Change of plans, boys, we¡¯re heading downtown. There¡¯s someone who wants to talk to the Heroes League, and for right now, I¡¯m all of the League that¡¯s currently on the planet. So, here¡¯s what we¡¯re going to do. I¡¯m going to go in by myself. Freddie comes in with the Burrito Gun and if the guy wants to get rowdy, Yellow Burrito sticks him to the ground. If extra cheese can¡¯t keep him down, the Rhino and the Rocket will take him down the hard way.¡±


    Larry laughed, ¡°I¡¯ll take a fight over moving alien crap any day.¡±


    Freddie gave him a grin, ¡°And I barely finished scrubbing the Abominator guts off my costume¡­ Don¡¯t defeat him before we get there.¡±


    Joe shook his head. ¡°If we¡¯re lucky, we won¡¯t have to fight him at all.¡±


    * * *


    He took the sewage pipe exit, flying out over Grand Lake before curving toward downtown. He wished he¡¯d thought to ask where exactly downtown the man was, but dismissed it almost immediately. A twelve foot tall, flying man wasn¡¯t going to blend in.


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    Even if he did, Joe decided to bet he could locate the man by following the old standbys¡ªpolice cars and fire.


    It didn¡¯t take more than five minutes.


    Smoke rose next to the new highway. The highway wasn¡¯t finished yet, but the smoke wasn¡¯t new construction or the exhaust of particularly polluting equipment.


    It came from a burning police car.


    The highway was supposed to be several stories above the ground, doing as little damage as possible to the buildings below while giving drivers a view of Grand Lake. A historic preservation group, supported by members of the Hardwick family, had enough power to mandate the elevated highway, but not enough power prevent the highway from being built at all.


    Joe doubted the Hardwicks would have supported that anyway. As a family, they had a talent for pulling profit out of nowhere.


    The highway, for all the outcry about it, would probably act as an advertisement for Grand Lake to everyone who drove through.


    Case in point, he thought as he dove, the bulldozed lot below him. Surrounded by historic buildings¡ªthe lumberyard, an old furniture factory, and a paper mill, all of them Hardwick properties¡ªthe city would never have allowed the building that used to be in the lot to be knocked down.


    It had been a furniture factory at one point, but had turned into one business after another. It had even made wooden speed boats for a few years during the 1950¡¯s before Giles had decided it wasn¡¯t worth it any more, and closed the factory.


    He¡¯d said it was too old, and that it couldn¡¯t be brought up to modern standards. He¡¯d also said it wasn¡¯t making enough money for him to do anything more than shut it down.


    He did, and Joe didn¡¯t remember any more whether that was before or after he¡¯d run Giles through the power impregnator¡ªGiles¡¯ name for the device. He¡¯d been a better businessman than a wordsmith.


    The factory had turned into Red Lightning¡¯s followers¡¯ training facility. No one had any reason to visit an empty building in the middle of five other empty buildings.


    The family sold the land to the government, knocking down the building before the sale, and bulldozing the land. Within a few months there would be nothing but an offramp here and the remains of Giles¡¯ work would disappear under concrete.


    Some kinds of profit didn¡¯t involve money.


    Now a twelve foot tall man floated above the dirt. He wore grayish-green armor with the same strange sheen as the Abominator metal that Joe had seen all too much of in the last few months.


    Joe didn¡¯t think either the armor¡¯s color or the location was a coincidence.


    Armor covered all of the giant¡¯s body but his arms and face. Letters from a strange alphabet ran down the middle of the creature¡¯s chest plate, and around the armholes.


    The bracer that wrapped around his right arm didn¡¯t fit the rest. It was black, but hints of other colors cycled through. Remembering what the Mentalist had told him about recognizing psychic activity, Joe wondered if the colors were real.


    G¨¹nther, or Lee as he was calling himself now that he¡¯d opened a martial arts studio in Cannon¡¯s old hardware store, had pointed out an artifact made out of similar material that they¡¯d taken from the Abominators.


    ¡°I remember that one,¡± he¡¯d said. He¡¯d almost sounded nostalgic.


    The giant¡¯s eyes followed him as the Rocket flew over the brick buildings around the lot, and landed in front of the creature.


    He¡¯d never seen a man this size, but something about the giant¡¯s face seemed familiar. Something about the crooked nose, and the giant¡¯s scowl, brought back memories, and not from the distant past either.


    He should know this guy, but he didn¡¯t know why.

 When Its Over: Part 4

    "Rocket," the man said, "I am here for your execution."


    Joe landed in the lot, facing the giant. As he looked up, he wished he''d brought heavier weaponry. He had a bad feeling he wouldn''t be bringing this guy down with a solid punch, or even the now weaponized sonics.


    He took a breath. Maybe he''d get lucky. For now he''d try to talk the giant into surrender, or at least into leaving.


    "How about we postpone the execution for a little while? I''ve got a few questions I''d like to ask you, and maybe you''ve got a few questions you''d like to ask me."


    The giant raised his arm, the one with the black bracer, and said, "No, you will die now."


    Colors swirled around the bracer. Suspecting he didn''t want to find out what that bracer did first hand (even if he did feel a degree of technical curiosity), he said, "Wait, at least give me your lineage and the reason for my execution, so I that I can know whether or not you''re worthy to face me."


    The giant snarled. "Worthy? Worthy? You dare to consider even the possibility that you might outrank me in purity? I''m the creation of the second lineage of Magnetus the Purifier, the lineage of Kocratus, the lineage that learned the language of the Ancient of Ancients, the lineage that eradicated the first lineage of Magnetus when they were Corrupted, and the lineage whose servants stand first among all servants of the Abominator civilization!"


    The giant seemed to stand a little taller. "Now tell me little warrior, who do you serve? No one of significance I would wager."


    "Before I tell you that, what about the Corruption of the Second Genetic Replicator of Kocratus when the smallest servants of the first lineage changed the second tube of the replicator, requiring Kocratus to destroy an entire line of descendants?"


    The giant turned red in the face, and Joe wondered if he''d gone too far, but the giant let his hands fall to his sides, clenching his fists, but not attacking.


    "That was a baseless falsehood! The third lineage of Magnetus spread that rumor only to cause scandal and weaken the first lineage! When I tell you the true reasons for the destruction of that gene line you''ll understand how worthless that ridiculous lie was..."


    When the creature reached the three minute mark in his explanation, Joe smiled within his helmet. He''d seen Lee hold up an Abominator battleship for half an hour by trotting out this particular argument. It was as if all the Abominator lineages thought it important to turn their AI''s into fanatic windbags armed with every argument for the superiority of their own creators.


    That thought brought Joe back to the earlier question. Who was this guy? He looked familiar, but not like any of the Abominator servants Joe had seen.


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    Whoever this giant was or had been, Joe felt sure he''d known him as a man.


    And if that was true the fact that he was now sounding like a typical Abominator AI was disturbing.


    The giant ranted and raved, but he paused, tilting his head upward and staring at the sky for a moment. Then he started talking again, but Joe knew who it was.


    * * *


    Four months earlier, back in the middle of May, Joe sat in his office. He''d rented a small one on the second floor of one of the office buildings downtown. His was next to Dykema Tailors. They were nice enough, and too busy to be nosy.


    He was grateful for that as circumstances kept "Joe Vander Sloot, Consulting Engineer" (or so said the block letters on the window of his door) out of the office more often than any normal consultant could be and still pay rent.


    Joe felt grateful the clients he kept continued to come back, and pay his rates--which under Giles'' tutelage he''d managed to increase substantially.


    Staring at the designs of the machine that he''d just received in a manila envelope, Joe understood why. According to the phone conversation he''d had, the company''s engineers couldn''t understand why the machine cost so much in maintenance and downtime. The machine was supposed to create plastic tubes used in medical equipment, but spent enough time not working that they were considering a complete redesign.


    From the plans alone, the solution seemed obvious enough. He could reduce the number of moving parts by nearly a quarter in one section. That alone might solve their problems, but he felt fairly sure he could reduce the machine''s size by a third with a more drastic solution.


    On one level, it wasn''t unusual, but it still surprised him that graduates from Ivy League schools couldn''t see what he, a graduate of the far less prestigious Grand Lake State College, did.


    He began writing down his ideas on the legal pad he kept next on his desk, drawing basic versions of the new plan.


    Midway through, a man stepped through the door. Joe thought he looked like he was in his early twenties. He had pale, blond hair, and blue eyes. The man''s cheekbones were a little stretched, reminding Joe a little bit of concentration camp victims he''d seen during the War.


    This man wasn''t anywhere near as far gone as some of them, but he hadn''t been eating enough. His ragged blue jeans and faded winter jacket hinted that he''d been hungry for a long time.


    Joe wondered if he was on drugs, but didn''t think the man looked like a hippie.


    "Excuse me, sir," the man said after he shut the door. "You''re the Rocket, and I need your help."


    Even though every part of his body wanted to fight, Joe kept his voice calm. "I think you must be confused. I''m a consulting engineer. I keep odd hours and get called out to factories as I"m needed, but it''s not because I''m a superhero."


    The man smiled faintly. "You don''t have to pretend," he said. "I''m Mark Simmons. I was in Red Lightning''s legions. They called me Foresight back then. I''m not a match for the Mentalist, but I can see into the future, or at least I can when I have the power elixir."


    Joe kept his face calm, hoping the Mentalist might show up out of nowhere. He''d done it the last time someone had shown up knowing his name.


    The man paused, tilting his head, and staring at the corner of Joe''s office for a moment before continuing to talk.


    "I''m here," he said, "because I''m on the run. Someone out there is searching for people who can develop powers, and they''re not human."


    * * *


    Joe could see Mark''s face in the monster''s, and remembered how the man had disappeared after leaving them with a few clues about where to look for the creatures hunting him.


    As he began to wonder when Mark had been caught, he realized, the creature had stopped talking.


    The giant stared at him, teeth bared. "A trick," he said. "This is a trick!"

 When Its Over: Part 5

    Trying not to let fear affect him, Joe said, "It''s not a trick. I don''t have any more to trick you with than you already see."


    The creature stepped toward him, and Joe decided against stepping back. They were more likely to attack if you showed fear. He''d learned that at least from the Abominators'' attachment to hierarchy.


    If you acted like you were above them, they might attempt to throw you down, but they''d at least have to consider the possibility that you outranked them. If you were lucky, they''d submit out of ingrained habit.


    The giant covered the forty foot distance in all too few steps. He stopped only ten feet away, forcing Joe to look up.


    He felt like a four year old. He barely came up to the creature''s waist.


    Joe looked upward, making steady, strong eye contact--for all that that was worth. The creature probably couldn''t see through the helmet.


    Amazingly, the giant didn''t hold up his bracer and use it for whatever horrible purpose Lee''s people had designed it for. The giant said, "I see possibilities."


    Then, staring down at him, the creature swallowed. "You''re connected to them."


    It held out the bracer, not pointing it at him, showing it to him.


    That was not a connection he wanted anyone to make. Lee had told him about his own species, how they didn''t want any intelligent life but their own to even exist in this universe or any universe, and how they''d seeded the universes with artifacts that would encourage other creatures to destroy life--other races and their own.


    And also that if a civilization became too large or too powerful, or just wasn''t susceptible enough to temptation, Lee''s people would show up and destroy it themselves.


    Joe had a bad feeling that this creature--whatever Mark had become--might be powerful enough to make them take notice. If he guessed that Lee had taken up residence on Earth and they found out, they''d almost certainly destroy the planet and everything on it.


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    Joe shook his helmet from side to side, "I''ve never seen that thing in my life. Why are you showing it to me anyway?"


    The giant frowned, looking almost comically grumpy. "I sensed a connection. There''s something about you that shares a past with this thing."


    The creature''s face turned grim. "I am The Nexus. I see all things. I see connections. I see patterns. Nothing is hidden from me."


    And yet, Joe thought, he didn''t see my distraction for what it was until he''d been talking for five minutes. If five or six minutes were even the default amount of time the Nexus saw into the future, there could be a way to use it.


    He thought about it. If he managed to get the creature stuck somewhere, but waited until more than six minutes afterward to blow it up, that might work.


    He had a bad feeling that the only thing he had access to that might trap the giant would be the Abominator weapons back in HQ. He didn''t even consider that. He''d have to depend on Larry and Freddie to bring the weapons, and Larry seemed to be a kind of magnet for disasters.


    Putting Abominator weapons in his hands during a fight was simply asking for buildings to burn.


    It wasn''t as if Larry did anything wrong either. A lot of supers were impulsive and headstrong, but the universe seemed to have it out for him.


    Which reminded him, Larry and Freddie could appear at any moment. He need to keep "The Nexus" talking.


    He needed to think of a way to handle it at the same time.


    At that thought, he realized he heard music. He wasn''t sure what the song was, but somebody driving past in a red El Camino was listening to rock music extremely loudly. The singer was telling the world that he was a joker, a smoker, and a midnight toker.


    The Nexus pointed his arm at the... car? (Joe had never been sure what to call them. A flatbed station wagon?)


    A triangular field appeared, widening the further it got from the bracer until it enveloped the car.


    The car''s color changed from red to orange, and screeched to a stop.


    Along with the El Camino, the road underneath and around it had changed to a road with the deep black color of new tar. Unlike the rest of the road, no potholes existed.


    The driver pulled himself upright behind the steering wheel, and Joe realized that the steering wheel had switched from the left side of the front to the right.


    From the expression on the driver''s face as he stared at the dashboard, Joe guessed that this surprised him too. So the vehicle was from an alternate world, but the driver at least must still be from this world. It made more sense than time travel at any rate.


    The sound of the El Camino''s engine roaring away showed that its driver at least wasn''t getting bogged down in thinking about why things had changed.


    For his sake, Joe hoped that the license plate was normal or at least close to it. Joe glanced at it as it left. It did look normal except for the words "Her Majesty''s Great Lakes State."


    Joe turned back toward the giant. "Don''t do that again. These people are under my protection."


    The giant''s expression didn''t look angry or sad, merely confused, and possibly a little sick.


    It pointed the bracer toward him, and Joe knew that the time to talk was over.

 When Its Over: Part 6

    With the press of a button on his gauntlet''s palm, Joe shot into the air. The giant followed him, not directly on his tail, but not in any danger of losing him.


    Was the Nexus playing with him?


    The creature could have opened up on him, but hadn''t yet. Of course, they hadn''t been in the air for long. They were only about as high as the highway. It seemed strangely empty, all gray concrete that ended abruptly in the air only a few hundred feet away.


    In Nexus'' situation, Joe would already have fired. Whatever that bracer did, it seemed to have an area effect. That would take care of whatever problems it might have with moving while aiming.


    Joe didn''t expect it to have many. If it was an Abominator AI, it was probably as accurate as it was on the ground.


    He aimed left, flying over the bridge, continuing to curve until he''d flipped over and was flying toward and then underneath the bridge.


    By the time he''d flown back across the empty lot and then over another, the creature still hadn''t fired on him.


    That bothered him. He didn''t know why. It was as if the creature wasn''t making a real effort to kill him.


    He dove, flying only twenty feet above the road, twisting as he adjusted his course to whip around one of the buildings.


    He didn''t lose it. It came around the corner, passing the dark, brownish-red brick.


    Even while he made another corner, this one past the old lumberyard, he found himself thinking furiously. If he had a weapon that could swap out an El Camino and the road under it with an El Camino from a completely different universe, and he wanted to kill somebody, he wouldn¡¯t have done that way.


    He¡¯d have designed a weapon that unsuccessfully swapped things, and he wouldn¡¯t have excluded living things either. Swap someone¡¯s body parts with infinite different versions of themselves and they¡¯d fall apart.


    If he had no choice but exclude living things, he¡¯d do the same thing to their equipment. Swapping out armor with parts from different universes and turning it into a mixture of different alloys, ceramics, and incompatibly placed cables would make the armor structurally unsound even if it somehow stayed together.


    The only point of swapping out a person¡¯s equipment as whole, and leaving them untouched would be to warn people what you could do without hurting anybody.


    Before they¡¯d demolished the old factory, they¡¯d brought out the wooden shells of unfinished speed boats, leaving them next to the empty paper mill.


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    Joe dipped and nearly hit one as he understood. He should have seen it the moment he¡¯d seen the giant¡¯s expression. He¡¯d realized that they¡¯d used Mark to create this thing, but he hadn¡¯t realized that Mark had enough control to affect the giant¡¯s actions.


    His consciousness was in there. Who knew how? The Abominators could grow a body based on his DNA (and mixed with who knew what), and transfer over his mind. They might have inserted Mark inside, and modified him directly.


    He¡¯d seen their gene modification devices¡ªlong platforms made out of grayish-green metal with a dozen or more tubes. He¡¯d seen one with hundreds of tubes on one of their ships.


    It had made it easy to mass produce soldiers.


    Even on that ship, he¡¯d seen tubes made for creatures larger than human, or shaped differently. Disturbingly, they¡¯d had power impregnators built into all the platforms, human and monster sized. It had struck him as strange because they could have simply put in genes that would activate their powers from the beginning.


    He didn¡¯t doubt that the Abominators had their reasons just like he had his theories.


    Unasked for, he remembered Giles¡¯ death. He¡¯d designed the machine that killed him. Giles had forced him to design it by capturing the rest of the team.


    Giles and he had seen the possibility of designing a new version of the power impregnator that would bring supers to a higher level of power back when they built the first one.


    By the time Giles forced him to turn their theory into reality, Joe knew he had to kill him. Giles wasn¡¯t going to turn into the man he once was¡ªnot with any technology they¡¯d ever heard of. Later he wondered whether the Xiniti or even the Abominators might have been able to do it.


    The Abominators gene modification platforms might have worked, but Joe knew they¡¯d have done worse to him in the process of fixing him.


    It might have been for the best that he hadn¡¯t known of the possibility.


    He could tell himself that, but it was hard to reconcile it with the fear on Giles¡¯ face as he realized that he had more power than he¡¯d ever had in his life and he couldn¡¯t control it at all.


    Joe had only survived because he¡¯d known what was coming, and made an excuse to stand just outside the dome at the final moment. Everyone left inside had burned to death as Giles ripped through the dome, flying into the cathedral sized cavern above it.


    In superhero comics, Joe imagined, Giles would have come back as a pure energy being, determined to kill them all.


    In reality, Giles burned to death in the air even as he tried to shed as much energy as he could, starting fires all over the cavern with his lightning strikes.


    Joe never saw him fall. He¡¯d started running to the cells to release the others when Giles took the air.


    Joe found himself flying across the empty lot where the fight had started again, still hearing Giles screaming in his memory.


    For a second, he considered calling League HQ and telling Larry and Freddie not to come. If they did come, he knew he should tell them to bring the jet. In terms of sheer power, none of them had the ability to beat the giant, but the jet did.


    All the same, he didn¡¯t feel right about it. If Mark was in there, he didn¡¯t deserve to die. He¡¯d done nothing wrong. He¡¯d given the League the clues that they¡¯d needed to find the Abominators, and even now he was stopping it from doing real damage.


    Joe checked behind him. The giant was still on his tail, and firing away. Multi-colored light gathered around the bracer and extended ahead, changing the dirt and bits of broken building into subtly different soil and bits of ruin.


    Still, it never hit him, and he felt sure it wasn¡¯t because of his evasive manuevers.


    He knew how he¡¯d handle it now. If Mark and the Abominator AI programming were fighting for control, he¡¯d have to work out a way for Mark to get the upper hand.


    Making a quick turn that made his insides sink, Joe aimed for the giant, ignoring the nagging feeling that he might be allowing guilt about Giles to make his decisions for him.

 When Its Over: Part 7

    Pressing the buttons on his palm, Joe made the suit turn upright and hover. As the Nexus flew toward him, barely slowing down and raising his arm, Joe wondered how good an idea this would be.


    Bright shifting colors raced toward him, and passed to his right, quickly followed by the Nexus himself.


    Joe turned in place in the air. It had seemed difficult the first time he¡¯d tried it, but after more than thirty years in the Rocket suit, he barely thought as he did it.


    The Nexus turned toward him, turning upright in the air and pointing the bracer at him.


    Turning on the suit¡¯s PA, Joe broadcast, ¡°Mark, I know that somehow you¡¯re in there, and that you can control this being that you¡¯ve become. I don¡¯t know what the Abominators told you, but they lost. They can¡¯t hurt anyone you care about, and they can¡¯t hurt you. I¡¯ve been told that the Abominators on Earth were the last ones left. There¡¯s nothing to fight for. Relax. It¡¯s over.¡±


    The creature¡¯s face broke into a smile. The colors around its bracer grew in size, surrounding his entire arm in a blurred rainbow without warning.


    Joe didn¡¯t have time to move, knowing the strike would come.


    And then it didn¡¯t.


    The colors faded in a bright pop. Nexus¡¯ face contorted in anger. Joe barely had time to feel relief before it leaped straight at him, moving faster than Joe could dodge.


    He tried, managing to step to the right, but that only meant that a fist several times the size of his own brushed across his armored chest instead of punching it directly.


    It was the hardest hit he¡¯d ever felt in the Rocket armor, and that included a direct hit from an artillery shell.


    He rolled across the ground, his armor buzzing and beeping error messages. From the pattern of the beeps, significant damage to the suit, probable structural integrity problems.


    Joe gave a laugh as he rolled to his feet. He barely needed diagnostics to tell him that.


    His chest hurt. Had that thing broken a rib? Well, it wouldn¡¯t be the first.


    Still dizzy from the speed of the roll, he looked toward where he¡¯d last seen the giant.


    He hadn¡¯t moved, but blinked when Joe met his gaze. In the back of his head, Joe wondered if this was such a good idea. He had a plan, but it assumed that Mark had more control over the thing he¡¯d become than that.


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    One more hit to the chest, and the creature¡¯s hand would probably go through.


    Joe turned off the buzzing and beeping with a palm click. Wishing he¡¯d known Mark at all, or had any idea what motivated him, he pushed himself to go forward with the plan.


    ¡°Mark,¡± he began, thinking that if the giant attacked, he at least had more distance.


    The giant didn¡¯t give him any time to go further. With a scream, the creature flew forward, racing toward him. He gave the rocket pack as much thrust as he could, betting that it could catch him anyway.


    He bathed the giant in sound from the sonics, hoping the weapons¡¯ algorithm would find something fragile that would resonate, something that mattered.


    It didn¡¯t seem to affect him.


    Nexus aimed upward with more speed than Joe expected, altering his path. Joe had spent too much time at this to be unrealistically hopeful. At the speed the giant was traveling, combined with his maneuverability, he¡¯d catch him sooner or later.


    All he could do was hope that Mark had more influence than he seemed to. That, and the possibility he could salvage the plan.


    Twisting in the air, he managed to avoid the giant¡¯s first pass.


    Still above the empty lot, he aimed for the elevated highway, flying in the direction where it was mostly built.


    A glance behind him showed the Nexus turning to follow.


    Except then Joe heard an explosion, and orange cheese covered the Nexus. Gooey strands lead from the bridge to the street below, catching the Nexus in the middle.


    Freddie stood on other side of the lot, dressed in his Yellow Burrito costume. All yellow, and textured to look like a burrito shell, it was at least functional as armor even if Joe thought it looked silly. Still, the red wig with fake vegetable bits did a good imitation of salsa.


    The burrito gun he held was shaped like a burrito crossed with a rifle.


    The giant struggled and the strands jiggled, pulling at the concrete above and below. There wasn¡¯t any question in Joe¡¯s mind that the giant would get free.


    It gave him time, and that might make the difference. He slowed, coming to a hover above the bridge. It wouldn¡¯t be able to see him directly, but from what he¡¯d seen of the creature so far, he felt sure it knew that he was there.


    He started dialing the League on the line that piggybacked on NASA¡¯s communications. With any luck they were done meeting with the Xiniti by now.


    Houston didn¡¯t put him through instantly, but he hadn¡¯t expected them to.


    ¡°It¡¯ll take a minute,¡± said a man¡¯s voice.


    Joe didn¡¯t recognize the voice, and grunted an acknowledgement.


    Down below, the Nexus had pulled the arm with the bracer free, the bracer glowing with swirling colors. A jerk and a twist of his body pulled its chest and the other arm free.


    It aimed the bracer at Freddie, but he jumped sideways, and the surface of the ground where he¡¯d stood turned into black rock with glossy spikes.


    Freddie fired another exploding cheese blast, but this time the Nexus aimed the bracer, and as the multi-colored light hit the strands, the cheese changed to dust.


    The giant pulled himself free of the rest of the cheese all at once, not even looking in Joe¡¯s direction. He turned to follow Freddie as he ran toward the nearest building, floating downward.


    When he was about half way to the ground, he whirled in the air, aiming the bracer toward the bridge. Joe followed where he pointed, seeing the blur of Larry in the Rhino armor.


    Joe aimed himself toward the giant, flying at maximum speed and turning the sonics onto their highest setting. He didn¡¯t seriously hope to hurt it, but it might be enough of a distraction for Larry to avoid getting hit.


    Mark might admire the Rocket, but he might not make the same effort for everyone.

 When Its Over: Part 8

    The Nexus didn''t even seem to notice the noise.


    A rainbow of colors swirled around the Rhino costume as it blurred toward them, changing it from gray, lumpy armor with a horn to sleek, bronze armor with a metallic sheen.


    It still had a Rhino theme, but it was bigger, and had a long bronze horn with a sharp spike on the end.


    The bronze armor stopped, and voice came from it. It sounded almost like Larry''s, but not quite, and it didn''t speak in English.


    "Je suis le Bronze Rhino!"


    Joe found himself holding his breath. After all this was over, he''d have to get Larry back from whatever world he''d been sent to. Well, he had the Universal Portal, so he had a chance¡ªeven if it wasn''t as good a chance as he wanted.


    Figuring that even if he couldn''t save Larry, he could at least give the new guy what help he could, Joe flew past the Nexus'' back, still aiming the sonics at it.


    It seemed crazy to keep on doing something that wasn''t obviously working, but if the last months of fighting had shown him anything, he¡¯d learned that the sonics did more damage than even the Abominators realized.


    He still wished he¡¯d detached one of the sonic modules and swapped it for something more direct.


    What could he have done though? He''d put the heavy weapons on the space version of the suit, and he hadn''t had time to take them off.


    "Que se passe-t-il?"


    The alternate Rhino suit kept on spouting French. Joe had no idea what that meant. He¡¯d taken German in high school, learned some Dutch from his parents, and during the war he¡¯d learned some French, but only swear words.


    By that point, Joe had crossed from one side of the Nexus to the other, still bombarding it with sonics.


    He decided to whip around the Nexus¡¯ front. That would give the creature another target. Provided he didn¡¯t get too close, he might distract the thing.


    Curving so that he¡¯d be too far away for the Nexus to easily catch him, he flew out above the empty landscape, keeping himself closer to the giant than alternate Larry and Freddie.


    The sonics continued at maximum volume, experimenting with pitches, searching for strong resonance.


    Strong beeps came from each sonic generator, each of them lighting up in the readouts above Joe¡¯s eyes. They weren¡¯t searching anymore. They¡¯d both found something.


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    As Joe glanced toward the Nexus, the creature seemed unconcerned. Then the expression on the giant¡¯s face showed pain.


    His initial relief that he could hurt the damn thing didn¡¯t last.


    It aimed for him in a blur.


    That, of course, was the moment where NASA finally put the call through to the rest of the League.


    John¡¯s voice came over the line, crackling as he said, ¡°Rocket?¡±


    Expecting to die, Joe didn¡¯t have time to reply, his mind more on dodging than talking.


    Beginning to twist downward, Joe heard, ¡°Le nom de Dieu!¡± as streaks of light passed him, and the Nexus screamed, passing above him.


    Turning his head to track the giant¡¯s bulk, he watched as the creature hit one of the elevated highway¡¯s supports.


    The gray beam cracked, and shattered, knocking down the entire section of highway in a rain of concrete. Supports on either side fell over as the section fell inward.


    ¡°Rocket?¡± John said.


    ¡°Get Lee!¡± Joe shouted the words into the mic, hoping John did it.


    Joe set the Rocket suit to hover, watching as the errors and warnings that were still scrolling from the giant¡¯s damage to his chest ran down the readouts above his eyes.


    Too busy staring at the piles of concrete for signs of movement, he didn¡¯t even bother to read them.


    He didn¡¯t see any. It was too much to hope that alternate Larry had killed him. He didn¡¯t want Mark to die, but at this point, he could live with it.


    His plan had its own risks, and knowing Lee, it might be best left untried.


    From behind him, alternate Larry¡¯s voice said, ¡°Putain, comment puis-je d¨¦sactiver le traducteur?¡±


    He sounded frustrated.


    Joe recognized the first word he¡¯d said, and hoped alternate Larry wouldn¡¯t freak out because he didn¡¯t have time to handle it.


    Lee¡¯s voice came over the phone. ¡°Rocket, how¡¯s it hangin¡¯?¡±


    Joe wasn¡¯t sure what he thought of immortals keeping up with slang, but answered anyway. ¡°The Abominator creation I¡¯m fighting has one of your things. It pulls things out of other realities. Do you remember it?¡±


    Joe didn¡¯t say any more. He couldn¡¯t believe Lee¡¯s people were listening to every broadcast listening for him. From what Lee had told him, he couldn¡¯t rule it out either. Worse, he was counting on that.


    Ahead of him, the pile of concrete shifted. The Nexus wasn¡¯t visible yet, but Joe knew he would be soon.


    ¡°Lee,¡± he said, ¡°can you get down here?¡±


    For a moment, the crackling of the connection was his only answer. Then Lee said, ¡°I can, but you know why I won¡¯t.¡±


    A ten foot wide chunk of concrete fell off the side of the pile, making the Nexus¡¯ left arm visible.


    ¡°You need to consider it. I¡¯m telling you because this thing is capable of taking me out, and after that, I don¡¯t see any reason for it to stop. Either everyone on Earth will be dead or swapped out with an infinity of worlds. Think about what they might bring here. Then ask yourself what happens to your plans then. Make your decision, and I¡¯ll tell you when to appear.¡±


    The other phone connection on Joe¡¯s suit starting ringing. He didn¡¯t take it. He¡¯d have to switch lines, and he wasn¡¯t going to put Lee on hold now.


    Then he checked the connection. The blue light on the connection¡¯s readout showed that it was a League connection.


    It had to be Larry. Even though the suit was blasting out French, he was the only person on the planet with the necessary codes. Thinking about how divergent a reality that suit represented, it didn¡¯t make sense that a citizen would know these codes.


    A weight felt like it had been lifted off him. He would have felt even better if the Nexus hadn¡¯t chosen that moment to push his head and torso out of the pile.

 When Its Over: Part 9

    Joe decided to put Lee on hold with a click, and took Larry¡¯s call.


    ¡°Rocket?¡± Larry¡¯s voice came over the suit¡¯s internal speakers. ¡°I don¡¯t know what half this stuff does, and I can¡¯t turn off the translator, but this suit¡¯s got amazing weapons. You want me to hit him again?¡±


    The Nexus struggled to pull its legs out of the pile. It wasn¡¯t going easily. He barely seemed to move one piece of concrete when another fell back into the hole he¡¯d created.


    Plus, something about the giant¡¯s balance seemed off.


    ¡°Follow my lead,¡± Joe said, and hung up.


    Because not everyone had radio phones, he could only hope Freddie would do the same.


    One of these days, he told himself, he¡¯d design the League communicator watches like Dick Tracy used in the comics.


    For now, he had more pressing issues to deal with. He pointed his arms at the Nexus, shouting, ¡°Don¡¯t move. We¡¯re all armed, and we can hurt you. You know this.¡±


    The giant looked up toward where Joe hovered, and then down, past him toward Larry, and where Joe bet that Freddie stood.


    When it saw Larry, it shuddered.


    Joe stared at the creature¡¯s armor. Cracks spread from half a dozen pockmarks and a hole in the abdomen. Larry¡¯s new armor¡¯s weapons had hurt the thing.


    His plans to disassemble the armor stopped cold as he thought about what that meant. Wherever that armor came from, they were experienced at fighting Abominator technology, and designed their weapons to compensate for it.


    He couldn¡¯t know for sure, but judging from the wear, the armor Larry was wearing was his alternate¡¯s day to day armor.


    It was an unnerving thought.


    Not that he had time to think. He had to talk, and do it now.


    ¡°Mark, you need to take control. Simply preventing it from hurting us isn¡¯t enough. Swapping out the Rhino¡¯s armor with armor that has the potential to kill you isn¡¯t enough either.¡±


    The Nexus had stopped struggling with the concrete, and stared at Joe.


    ¡°I know why they chose this device for you, and I think you do too. It¡¯s the ideal compliment to your own foresight¡ªwhich I can only think you¡¯re not using. Use it now. If you¡¯re anything like the people who can predict the future that I know, you can see all the side effects of each of our actions, and follow them.


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    ¡°I made a phone call a few minutes ago. Follow the possible consequences, and don¡¯t stop with the most likely.¡±


    He clicked back to the NASA connection, and turned off the external speakers. ¡°Lee, are you there?¡±


    Lee spoke without the usual edge. ¡°Joe, our deal didn¡¯t cover this, but let¡¯s call it a freebie. You want me to appear, I¡¯ll step through. Remember, this is your world, and you might not like what happens next.¡±


    For this to work, Joe knew he had to seriously consider it.


    When could he risk Lee¡¯s people¡¯s attention? It was worth it if they had no other realistic chance to win. Despite what Larry had done, Joe doubted one suit of armor would be enough. They¡¯d hurt it, but not much. He could see the cracks in the armor smoothing out, and the pockmarks with them.


    If the creature won here, what would the Xiniti do? He didn¡¯t know them well yet, but their orders were to keep anything dangerous to their civilization from leaving Earth, even if it meant burning the planet to a cinder.


    From what he¡¯d seen of them, they¡¯d do it without hesitation.


    That was worth the risk.


    Ahead of him, the Nexus twisted, pulling its legs from from the pile of concrete. The creature took to the air and aimed for him, closing.


    ¡°Lee,¡± he said.


    Before he finished the sentence, he felt a telepathic connection forming, and an infinity of realities appeared in his mind, all of them a little different, but in a significant portion, he said Lee¡¯s name, and asked him to appear. In many of these realities he did appear, and the Nexus died. Sometimes it went harder, sometimes easier, but in the majority of infinities (if that made any sense) he died quickly.


    Sometimes after this, and sometimes before the battle was even over, other things began to fade into reality, disquieting, disturbing forms much like the serpentine shape Joe saw Lee wear when he found him.


    In most of those futures, humanity died soon after, and the ones where they lasted longer than that were worse.


    He didn¡¯t finish the sentence.


    The connection began to fray as the vision ended, and in this universe, the Nexus disappeared into swirling light, different pieces of him fading from view as he flew.


    By the time he would have reached Joe, nothing was left but words that had been telepathically delivered to his mind, ¡°It¡¯s over. I¡¯m in control.¡±


    Joe found himself hovering above an empty, dirt lot, staring upward at thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage from when the Nexus hit the highway after Larry shot him.


    Over the NASA line, Lee said, ¡°So what do you think, was it a lucky break, or exactly how it was supposed to go?¡±


    * * *


    I stared at the report. It wasn¡¯t much like what I remembered Grandpa telling me at all. He¡¯d reduced everything to a paragraph.


    <blockquote>


    ¡°Fought amalgam of Mark Simmons, the prescient who warned us of the Abominators, and an Abominator AI warrior humaniform. Fought it with the assistance of Yellow Burrito, and the Rhino. The Rhino¡¯s powered armor appears to have been swapped with an alternate version during the fight. The alternate appears to have been created to fight Abominator tech in some universe where Quebec is the dominant power in North America. Abominator construct was ultimately defeated by pushing Mark to assume control of the body. Lee suggests this may have been Mark¡¯s goal. Simmons disappeared at the end of the fight. His location is currently unknown.¡±


    </blockquote>


    I hadn¡¯t fully understood the story at the time. Among other things, my grandpa hadn¡¯t explained why Lee appearing instantly on Earth would cause the end of the world, but he¡¯d hinted that Lee had enemies, and that it might attract their attention.


    I checked the time on my phone, and wondered where Courtney was.

 When Its Over: Part 10

    Then I rechecked the time, and understood where Courtney was¡ªnot here yet.


    Only twenty minutes had passed since I started looking for the file, read it, and remembered the longer version of the story Grandpa Vander Sloot told me.


    I still had forty minutes to kill.


    Not having anything better to do, I walked over to one of the stools by the wall, and logged into one of the computers. I checked my email, surfed for a while, checking out out Double V¡¯s forums. They had an entire section devoted to discussing the Heroes League.


    Since we¡¯d stopped St. Louis from being destroyed, and appeared prominently in the defense of the New York City and the surrounding area, the forum had only become more busy.


    It was funny, and occasionally frustrating, at how little they knew about what was going on behind the scenes.


    The classic example would be destroying the alien spaceship in New York. One thread was an argument about whether or not we should have taken out the spaceship when it first appeared. The argument being that if we¡¯d done that we would have stopped the smaller ships from attacking spots all across the country.


    Then it devolved into an argument about whether they were actually going after Abominator relics or if the alien making that statement had been lying.


    I sometimes wished I could tell them the truth. It was Abominator relics. Also, if we¡¯d gone after the alien mothership before the battle, we¡¯d probably have failed.


    It wasn¡¯t as if we were some kind of organized force like some of them were saying. It was sheer luck that the Stapledon program been training there that weekend.


    Well, maybe.


    I was pretty sure the aliens¡¯ attack on New York was an indirect result of us preventing them from destroying St. Louis. Bearing in mind all the attacks that happened after we found the Hrrnna, it almost had to be another result of our search.


    I shuddered at that. We¡¯d put the whole planet in danger without even knowing it.


    All the same, Lim knew we¡¯d been working on something to do with aliens. We¡¯d been publicly attacked by alien robots after all. I wouldn¡¯t put it past him, or maybe past someone above him to use us to reinforce Stardock, Earth¡¯s only spaceship building facility just in case.


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I wondered if he¡¯d admit it if I asked him directly.


    I doubted it. I wondered if he¡¯d tell me what happened with the Abominator devices that scientific facility had. They¡¯d had one of the genetic modification chambers Grandpa told me about when I asked him how the Abominators would have changed Simmons. I hadn¡¯t quite realized it then.


    Now? I stared at the screen, and opened a new tab, searching Google for clues there. I didn¡¯t find any quickly, and decided to try again later.


    I found news reports that at a lab near Medford had been damaged in the attacks, but they didn¡¯t say where it had gone.


    We had access to government databases, but I didn¡¯t want to use them yet. They probably logged what supers searched for.


    In their position, I would.


    Anyway, the government probably had the device now. Cassie told me that FBI agents and the National Guard had showed up to handle the aftermath. She¡¯d also mentioned that supers from MetaMax (a mercenary group) appeared about that time too.


    A message appeared on my screen. It was from Kayla, and said ¡°Courtney just walked in through the forest entrance.¡±


    I took a breath, and typed back, ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Courtney was twenty minutes early. Part of me wondered if she¡¯d come by to cancel it, or if, like me, she wanted to get it over with.


    It wasn¡¯t long before she walked into the lab¡ªkind of. She stopped in the doorway, and stared back into the main room of the complex. I could understand why she might find it impressive. Filled with the League¡¯s trophies, and the size of a basketball court, a TV screen took up most of the far wall.


    I tried to remember if Courtney had ever been in League HQ before, and couldn¡¯t think of any visits.


    She looked closer to normal than I¡¯d seen her in a while. Before she¡¯d started taking power juice, she¡¯d been overweight, but basically she¡¯d looked normal. After she¡¯d started using power juice, she¡¯d either burned away or redistributed the fat, and even though I couldn¡¯t point to exactly what she¡¯d changed, her face had become attractive rather than normal.


    Put bluntly, she looked like a model after Photoshop had been used. Even models don¡¯t look like that in reality.


    When she came in the door, she wore a sweatshirt with Ms. Marvel¡¯s symbol and yoga pants. She looked like she might have if the pre-juice version of herself had lost some weight, but not at a post-production level of perfection.


    She still looked better than she used to, but I couldn¡¯t be sure why.


    ¡°Hey,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m early, but if you¡¯re ready, let¡¯s get this over with.¡±


    I gave a quick smile, and got off the stool. ¡°I was ready early too.¡±


    She eyed the chair, its silver body and black straps, hesitated for a second, walked over, and sat down.


    I followed her to the chair. As she started buckling the straps around her legs, I asked her, ¡°You haven¡¯t had any power juice in the last month, right?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°No. You told me not to.¡±


    ¡°Great. You look a little different than the last time I saw you.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± She pushed dark blond hair back so that I could fit the helmet to her head. ¡°We barely saw each other this semester. After everything that happened last fall, I realized I¡¯d gone a little too far. I adjusted myself to look more normal.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. She was completely strapped in, arms, legs, head¡­ ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    She closed her eyes. ¡°Throw the switch.¡±


    Trying not to think about Giles Hardwick, I did.

 Not Exactly Hogwarts: Part 1

    Denver¡¯s traffic sucked.


    Driving in from Denver International Airport wasn¡¯t bad at first, but then we got into the city. That¡¯s when we began to experience everything I hated about driving in Chicago. By that I mean having to pay attention to more cars and lanes than I wanted to.


    Two lanes would merge into three, and I¡¯d have to watch from all directions as cars around moved across the highway in different directions.


    If I hadn¡¯t been driving I might have been able to pay attention to the bright blue sky, and how different the landscape was. Left to itself, Michigan is covered with large trees.


    Colorado tends to be covered with grasses, and small trees, many of which are evergreens. Not only can you see the sky, but you can see for a long way on the ground. Plus, any time you get a little height while you¡¯re in Denver¡ªby going down a long hill, for example¡ªthe Rocky Mountains loom in the distance.


    It probably says something about me that my strongest association with mountains is Mordor.


    But again, I wasn¡¯t paying much attention to them. I was driving my van through rush hour traffic in Denver Colorado, and hating it.


    ¡°I could have driven,¡± Haley said.


    She sat in the front passenger seat, tapping on her phone as she caught my eye. That was the good part of all this. We were driving from Denver International Airport to the Castle Rock Compound for the summer.


    The Castle Rock Compound, a gated community for supers and their families, was hosting the students in the Stapledon program, and starting this summer, Haley was in the program.


    That meant that unlike every Stapledon weekend during the past school year, I¡¯d actually be able to see her.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± I said. There were a lot of reasons for me to drive. The best was simply that the van was something of an unfinished engineering project, and explaining the workarounds for all the things that didn¡¯t work quite right would take too long in a situation where we actually had to use them.


    The other important reason was that Haley¡¯s reflexes, agility, senses, and spatial judgement were superhuman, allowing her to fit vehicles into spaces other people didn¡¯t even realize were an option.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    This meant that her driving style probably matched some of the better trained drivers in the world, and also that riding with her was completely terrifying.


    Glancing down at her phone for a second, she said, ¡°Google Maps says the other highway is faster.¡±


    ¡°I know, but it¡¯s a toll road.¡±


    Ahead of us, the cars were slowing down in both lanes¡ªnot to zero but to forty-five. In short, we slowed down, but not to a crawl.


    ¡°A toll road?¡± She sounded as if she was about to start laughing. ¡°I¡¯m sure we could scrape together the money between the five of us.¡±


    From behind me, Cassie said, ¡°Wait, we¡¯re taking the long route because you don¡¯t want to pay a buck fifty?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d be more like three-forty. I checked the website.¡±


    At that point, Haley started laughing for real, and Cassie said, ¡°Oh, God.¡±


    I could see her in the rearview mirror. Blond hair in a ponytail, Cassie wore jeans and a t-shirt. She was rolling her eyes.


    In the seat behind Haley, Jaclyn said, ¡°You know you¡¯re probably wasting as much money in gas as you¡¯re saving in tolls?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m not. The van runs on fuel cells. The engine noise is fake.¡±


    Half in the mirror, Jaclyn shook her head, and raised her hands to stop me. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m done. Vaughn, what about you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m too busy hanging with my friend the cabinet to pay attention.¡± Behind Cassie, Vaughn grinned.


    The van only had one seat that far back. A cabinet took up the other half of the cabin. Everyone¡¯s luggage sat in a pile behind Vaughn.


    Cassie turned around, ¡°Seriously Vaughn, joking about being stuck in the back with the cabinet is getting a little old.¡±


    Vaughn ripped a piece of paper out of the notebook he was holding, and threw it at her.


    Cassie¡¯s arm blurred as she tried to catch it¡ªtried being the operative word since she didn¡¯t get it.


    Jaclyn held the crumpled piece of white paper in a hand that was several shades darker. I hadn¡¯t even seen her move.


    With a hint of a smile, she tossed it to Cassie.


    Cassie threw it back at Vaughn. It hit him on the forehead. ¡°That¡¯s barely fair at all,¡± he said.


    He was grinning though.


    Traffic aside, this felt good. The only way it could be better is if Daniel were with us. He¡¯d opted to ride on the busses with his girlfriend Izzy, and everyone else in the program.


    That was okay. They seemed to make each other happy.


    Deciding to concentrate on the road, I realized that the cars in the right lane were merging into the left. A white semi-truck in the right lane turned on it¡¯s blinker signal, and began to merge directly in front of me.


    I let it.


    Once it was in the lane, I could see why everyone was merging, and why we¡¯d slowed down to ten miles per hour.


    A line of vehicles¡ªan SUV and two cars¡ªhad smashed into each other. Police cars, an ambulance, and a red and white truck (paramedics, I assumed) parked on either side of them, lights blinking.


    Haley stared ahead at the crash. ¡°I hope they¡¯re okay.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Me too.¡±


    I wondered what route the Stapledon busses had taken. Alex had to be on one of them. Providing they weren¡¯t dead, he¡¯d be able to heal everyone.


    I wondered if he would. I¡¯d noticed that even though he and his father did spend time going to hospitals, they seemed to save most of their strength for supers.

 Not Exactly Hogwarts: Part 2

    I wasn¡¯t sure what I could do about that. Alex and his dad probably had good reasons for what they did. It wouldn¡¯t be a good thing if something major came up, and they were too tired to help their team because they¡¯d spent all day in the hospital healing people.


    Realistically, they¡¯d probably be better off allowing scientists to study how their healing worked with various illnesses and injuries than actually healing anybody.


    I hoped they thought that far ahead.


    We had ten minutes to stare at the accident. Unfortunately, if anything, the line of cars seemed to move slower as we neared and finally passed it.


    The paramedics seemed to be doing everything they could, and even as we began to leave the accident behind, another ambulance arrived, driving along the side of the road.


    I wondered if that was a good sign or a bad one. Did they send ambulances for dead people? If they did, did they bother to turn on the lights and hurry?


    The blocked off section of highway ended, and initially traffic sped up, but after a minute or two we were in five mile per hour traffic.


    I stared down at the speedometer, not quite believing it.


    ¡°Got it,¡± Haley said. ¡°I checked Google, and there¡¯s a giant red line on the highway, and it goes for miles. I looked it up, and they¡¯re doing construction about five miles from here.¡±


    From the back Vaughn said, ¡°But hey, here¡¯s the good news. There¡¯s no red line on the toll road.¡±


    Cassie laughed.


    Jaclyn said, ¡°Thanks Vaughn, I¡¯m sure we all feel much better now.¡±


    I checked the speedometer and watched as an electric train passed us on an elevated railway. I wondered if the line went to Castle Rock. They appeared to be moving pretty quickly.


    ¡°This stinks.¡± Haley frowned. ¡°The schedule says that we¡¯re supposed to eat at 6:30. I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to make it.¡±


    Cassie sat up in her chair and pointed back. ¡°We just passed an Ikea. Jaclyn could run back, do the super speed thing and get meatballs.¡±


    Jaclyn eyed her and said, ¡°You can go get meatballs.¡±


    Vaughn leaned forward, almost up to the two of them. ¡°I know you¡¯re joking, but I''m getting hungry. If we aren¡¯t going to make it in time for supper, we should figure something out.¡±


    I looked up at my mirror, and looked back at everyone. ¡°I kind of have a plan, but there¡¯s a problem. You know how they try to sneak us around? Fly us in in cargo planes, and everything? Well, this isn¡¯t going to be sneaky. It¡¯s actually going to be kind of loud.¡±


    Jaclyn looked up at the rearview mirror, and met my eyes. ¡°How loud?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°We¡¯d stand a pretty good chance of ending up on the local news. Possibly national, if SuperTV finds out about it.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°No.¡±


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Haley began to ask, ¡°What are you planning to¡ª¡°


    Cassie talked over her. ¡°I¡¯d say do it. The media¡¯s been covering the program constantly since New York. I bet they even already know we¡¯re coming. My mom told me there are six hundred people in the program now. I don¡¯t think they can hide it like they used to.¡±


    Not giving anyone else time to speak, Haley said, ¡°Why would we get on the national¡ª¡°


    In all fairness to Vaughn, he probably didn¡¯t hear her, but he spoke over her too. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± he began as Haley glared at him.


    Oblivious, he continued, ¡°I¡¯m watching the news on my phone. There¡¯s crowds of people waiting in front of the Castle Rock Compound right now. You¡¯re not going to make any more news than when the buses arrive.¡±


    Glancing over at Haley, I said, ¡°I made a few modifications to the van. You know how when we went up against Rook, he did some damage, and I decided to fix it? Well, even though it looks pretty much the same, the seats are almost the only holdovers. I made it self-repairing like the Rocket suit, and then I realized that I could do a lot more than that.¡±


    The van got quiet while I talked.


    Jaclyn asked, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Well, you know how the suit changes form now? I made the van into a transformer, but not with a capital ¡¯t.¡¯ I don¡¯t know who owns the Transformers, but I¡¯m sure they have lawyers.¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°What does it transform into?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Kind of a giant cat? I thought about doing a giant Rocket suit, but it sounded easier to make a four legged animal run.¡±


    Haley closed her eyes for a second, and said, ¡°Well, I¡¯m just glad you didn¡¯t go with that mouse mecha you told me about.¡±


    ¡°Not a chance,¡± I said. ¡°It looks a lot like Mickey, and Disney¡¯s got lawyers too.¡±


    I turned back toward Cassie, Jaclyn, and Vaughn. ¡°Do you think I should try it?¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t see why not.¡±


    Jaclyn frowned. ¡°I can think of a few reasons, but I¡¯m sick of being stuck here. Do it, but change back as soon as you can. I don¡¯t want to get in trouble for something minor like this.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°if I¡¯m going to get in trouble, I prefer something major. It makes for a great conversation starter. In high school, all I had to do was tell people that I was the guy who got drunk and trashed Sean Drucker¡¯s car, and they knew who I was instantly.¡±


    Cassie turned around herself, looking more serious than normal. ¡°You don¡¯t want to go that way again.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°C¡¯mon Cassie, you know better than that. It mostly sucked, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m wrong. My minister talked about some theologian who said if you¡¯re going to sin, sin boldly. I figure the guy¡¯s got a point. You¡¯ve got to own it, you know?¡±


    I have no idea where the conversation would have gone from there. The car behind me started beeping. The car in front of me had moved forward ten feet, but I hadn¡¯t, depriving the man in the Honda Civic behind me of ten feet of marginal improvement in his life.


    He beeped again.


    ¡°Ok everybody, two things. First, we¡¯re all about to get pushed a little closer together, so don¡¯t worry about that. Second, keep your arms close to your body. Putting them on the armrests should be great.¡±


    I tapped on the screen on the dashboard to start the transformation sequence.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Haley said, putting her hands on the armrests, ¡°What happens if our arms aren¡¯t on the armrests?¡±


    ¡°Probably nothing,¡± I said.


    ¡°Good,¡± Haley began.


    ¡°But,¡± I continued, ¡°they might get ripped off. Well, except for Jaclyn. She¡¯ll probably break something.¡±


    I clarified that with, ¡°Something in the van. She¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    At the sound of Jaclyn¡¯s groan, Cassie¡¯s snort, and Haley beginning to say, ¡°Nick¡ª¡° I responded with, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Everything will be fine.¡±


    I pressed the final confirmation button as the car behind me really started laying on the the horn.


    ¡°What about the luggage?¡± Vaughn asked.


    ¡°Oh crap,¡± I muttered. ¡°We probably should have¡ª¡°


    I would have said ¡°put that in the cabinets,¡± but at that moment the walls hummed, coming closer together. At the same time, the dashboard shrunk, changing its layout and Haley¡¯s seat moved toward mine, our armrests almost touching.


    From the humming and scraping noise behind us, I guessed that the algorithm that handled forming the cabin was working. The scraping was probably the luggage. A quick check of the rearview mirror/screen showed that the cabin was roughly oval shaped, as expected, and that Vaughn was at the back. The cabinets and our luggage had disappeared.


    I was pretty sure we¡¯d find the luggage in the cabinets when we changed back.


    I hoped I hadn¡¯t left it on the highway, and resolved to check the rearview screen as we left.


    On the bright side, the guy behind us did stop beeping when the van developed four legs, claws, and a tail.

 Not Exactly Hogwarts: Part 3

    I considered my next step. We were on an eight lane highway with no median between the northbound and southbound. The only thing between them was a four foot high concrete barrier. That was on the left.


    When I looked to the right, I realized that the lane must be a little lower than the road running alongside it because the concrete sloped down to the highway.


    We were the second lane in from the right on the southbound side. Thanks to the catmecha''s legs, we might be able to move over the front of the red Chevy Cavalier to my left. I wasn''t completely confident though, that it wouldn''t step on the car''s hood, denting it at best, pushing the engine through to the concrete at worst.


    That was the nearest we got to the side of the road. To the immediate left we had semi-truck, and whatever happened to be in the lane past that.


    So, I went with plan b.


    The catmecha crouched, and leapt into the air.


    "Whoa," Vaughn said, "Why can''t we have this kind of view all the time?"


    "In normal mode, it''s supposed to look like a normal van. I don¡¯t want to blow our identities if I need to drive someone somewhere.¡±


    The inside didn''t look like a normal van anymore. Roughly egg shaped, its smooth walls showed everything surrounding us. Clear as windows halfway up the cabin, the view lost color as it neared the floor. The floor wasn¡¯t completely opaque, but showed the ground like a black and white television might have.


    My original plan had been to be able to see everything completely clearly, but I realized that most people would want a better sense of where the floor and walls were.


    Incidentally, the walls weren¡¯t see through. I¡¯d used a variation on the technique I¡¯d used to make the paint change color instantly to turn the walls into live streaming, extremely local television screens.


    Checking the rearview screen, I was relieved to note that the conversion hadn¡¯t left anything behind.


    We were already too far away to see the expression of the guy who¡¯d been beeping at us, but judging from the expressions of the people I could see, his jaw had to be somewhere below the steering wheel.


    Okay, that¡¯s a bit of an exaggeration, but people were leaning toward the windows and staring. A lot of people were pulling out phones.


    We¡¯d probably be on Youtube before we even landed.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Now that we were in the air though, I checked the gravitics. They were all green¡ªno problems. I didn¡¯t feel fully comfortable with the technology yet (probably because it was at least fifty years ahead of when we¡¯d naturally figure it out), but I felt comfortable enough. I¡¯d given the catmecha the ability to float, and make much bigger jumps than it ought to be able to manage.


    Then I turned on the directional rockets, and we shot forward. Since flight wasn¡¯t the main point of having a mech, I hadn¡¯t made an effort to create the most powerful rockets I could. The mech could actually run faster on its legs than it could fly.


    I stayed in the air anyway. No matter how quickly the mech could move on the ground, flying over the entire traffic jam was much cooler.


    Also, if the catmecha were running at three hundred miles per hour down the highway, and accidentally flipped a piece of concrete into the air, well, that could kill somebody.


    All the same, we covered the distance quickly.


    For the first little while, we all looked out the windows. In my case, it was more because I didn¡¯t want to hit power lines or a bridge.


    After a little while, Haley said, ¡°It didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I tried to figure out what she was talking about while deciding where to land. Below us, the cars had spread out again and were traveling at normal highway speeds.


    ¡°With Courtney.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, deciding to stay in the air a little longer. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to travel further at a couple hundred miles per hour instead of seventy-five.


    ¡°Technically though, it wasn¡¯t the van that gave it away then as much as that Courtney had enhanced her hearing, and I didn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°That was such a mess,¡± Haley said, staring out the window at the highway.


    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Cassie said. ¡°You didn¡¯t get kidnapped by some nut.¡±


    Haley turned around. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m sure that was worse. It was just that Courtney didn¡¯t know and then she knew everything. Nothing against her, but I wish we¡¯d had a choice.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± I said. I wasn¡¯t lying either. We hadn¡¯t had that many people figure out who we were, but every time someone did, the choices stank. They amounted to: trust them to keep quiet, make them forget using telepathy, or put in a mental block that stopped them from telling anybody.


    Vaughn looked up from watching the cars below us. ¡°How¡¯d it go with Courtney?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°It worked. She¡¯s got permanent powers now. That¡¯s why she¡¯s in the program now.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you ran anyone else through that machine. Vaughn turned out okay, but you remember his grandfather. The guy went crazy and turned on everyone. That¡¯s enough of a warning for me.¡±


    I decided to stay in the air for as long as this conversation went on. There wasn¡¯t any way I¡¯d be able to concentrate on landing at the same time.


    ¡°I know it looks bad, but I talked to Lee, and he said the machine didn¡¯t contain any booby traps. He told them how it worked, and Grandpa and Red Lightning figured it out on their own. Plus, I made sure Courtney hadn¡¯t been using any juice before she got zapped, and it turns out she¡¯d barely used power juice since it became a controlled substance. Grandpa said that Vaughn¡¯s grandfather had already withdrawn a bit even before they zapped him in the machine. Who knows? Maybe it was unrecognized PTSD that caused the problem.¡±


    In the rearview screen, Vaughn nodded. ¡°Hope that¡¯s true. People know what it is now. I don¡¯t want to find out that whatever made him do it was part of him. Then I might have inherited it. If it¡¯s an outside thing then I can avoid it, you know?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Hey, I should land. I¡¯d bet that the Castle Rock Compound has air defenses, and I don¡¯t want to find out about them the hard way.¡±

 Not Exactly Hogwarts: Part 4

    I took the catmecha down off the side of the highway, landing in the parking lot of some massive medical complex. I changed the mecha back into the shape of a van, drove around the parking lot, changing the van''s color and model a couple times when I thought no one was looking.


    I''d put in the specifications for 20 different models and years of vans. The ability to adjust the van''s looks made it the perfect car for blending into the crowd.


    We left the parking lot looking like a 70''s era Dodge van with an airbrushed picture of a woman in a chainmail bikini fighting a dragon on the sides.


    It fit into Colorado traffic better than you might think. The painting was still tacky, but the van''s age didn''t stand out as much. In Michigan, cities put down salt to melt snow. That virtually guaranteed that no car over the age of twenty would run because they''d be turned into rust first.


    I''m exaggerating there, but not much.


    Jaclyn leaned forward, looking at the picture of the van as it displayed on the dashboard.


    "Wow," she said. "I''m so glad you tinted the windows."


    Haley shook her head. "Where did you find the painting? You didn''t pay for it, did you?"


    I laughed. "No. There''s a bunch of sites with 1970''s van artwork. I figured that we might need a distinctive look sometime, and this qualifies."


    "No kidding," Vaughn said. "We''re going to be lucky if the police don''t pull us over on general principles."


    Cassie raised an eyebrow and grinned at him. "What principle would that be exactly?"


    Vaughn grinned back. "I''m thinking that it''d be because there''s no way you could like that painting if you weren''t high."


    "I think I''d agree with them," Jaclyn muttered.


    We got on the highway at the nearest entrance, and there weren''t any more stops and the traffic spread out.


    Of course, it still wasn''t like driving in Michigan. We could see mountains in the distance to the right much of the time. Personally, I couldn''t get over how bare the landscape seemed. There weren''t many trees, and the trees that were there were small.


    Grasses and small bushes covered most of the ground.


    Still, it didn''t take long to get to Castle Rock from there.


    It turned out that Castle Rock had been named after an actual rock that resembled a castle. It was located on a hill near the downtown.


    We didn''t actually go downtown, but we could see it in the distance.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    We went further south, driving through residential neighborhoods that could have fit in just about anywhere. Most of the neighborhoods we drove through appeared to have been built in the last ten or fifteen years. Green lawns and big houses appeared to be everywhere.


    However few trees the neighborhoods had, they could have fit in in the suburbs of Grand Lake. I wondered if they used the same designs for any of the houses.


    Vaughn looked up from his phone to say, "Nick, it says here that a lot of the regular people in Castle Rock work in Denver''s tech sector. At least that''s true outside the Compound. Inside, who knows?"


    He was right. Some compounds interacted with the community around them. Others were islands, creating a completely parallel system inside the compound for anything they might need locally.


    This even included schools, and in northern cities, snowplowing.


    I simultaneously got the logic behind it, and felt like it was wrong headed at least, possibly dangerous.


    Supers created the compounds as safe places to raise children and live where they didn''t have to worry about all the problems celebrity and vigilante justice brought with them.


    In the compounds, kids with powers could be kids. They didn''t stand out. At the same time, all the community''s resources could be used to protect a hero''s family from attack without having to worry about how normals were going to handle the response.


    You could argue with their logic, of course. My grandfather didn''t like the idea at all.


    It was easy to see when we passed outside the city of Castle Rock''s authority. The manicured lawns stopped, and the place''s natural plant life took over.


    It wasn''t that the Castle Rock Compound was any better about the environment than the city near it. They''d just constructed a buffer zone around the compound. The native animals and plants could live happily around the compound''s edge until the next attack.


    In the meantime, they grew next to a wall several times as high as my van. Whoever had designed it had decided that the wall couldn''t look like a prison. Instead it had been painted white and give the texture of adobe--as if it were a piece of well kept up Spanish Colonial construction.


    By the time we reached the wall, I''d swapped the van''s model and paint job again. Now the van had turned white and claimed to be owned by Castle Rock Plumbing.


    Following the directions I''d been given, I avoided the front gate. Camera crews, paparazzi, and trucks with satellite uplinks crowded around the front. The Douglas County Sheriff''s department provided security.


    Following a dirt road alongside the wall, I drove the van for half a mile until we reached another gate.


    No one stood there. In keeping with the Spanish Colonial theme, it had an arched door which at least appeared to be wooden.


    I knew better.


    Ignoring the "Authorized Vehicles Only" sign on the door, I pulled the van up, and pulled out my League phone. Dialing security''s number, I said, "Five for the Heroes League at the service door."


    Then I sent my security key. Within a few seconds, the door opened.


    I drove the van in, and the door shut behind us. Following the instructions they gave me over the phone, I didn''t stop in the dark room past the door. I drove a couple car lengths, passing out through the next door, and into sunlight.


    Whoever had designed the entrance had to have planned for this moment knowing that it wouldn''t just be a service entrance, but actually the first look guests might have at the complex.


    I''d been aware that we were driving upward as we drove along the wall. I hadn''t realized how high.


    We were on the second level of the compound. To our left lay the majority of it--the wall, and the houses that it protected, big two story houses like the houses outside.


    We looked out over it.


    To our right were fountains, wading pools, and decorative plants. Past the fountains were shops, all of them in the Spanish Colonial style.


    It made me think a little bit of Disneyland, and a little bit of a mall.


    Next to me, Haley stared out her window, and said, "Wow. Where are we supposed to be?"


    Behind us, Jaclyn and Cassie leaned forward, trying to get a good look.


    From even further back, Vaughn said, "Next time I get a window seat."

 Not Exactly Hogwarts: Part 5

    Even if the architect who designed the place had recognized the impact of the view and designed to make use of it, he or she hadn''t wasted much of it on the access road for service vehicles.


    I had to turn right almost immediately, and drive straight in toward the buildings on a road that ran parallel to the wall.


    We quickly left any kind of interesting view, passing all the shops, and driving the van into an elevator three times its length.


    It started moving downward immediately after the van stopped moving.


    From the back, Vaughn said, "What do you want to bet the dorms are inside the mountain? We''re going to spend the entire summer surrounded by rock."


    "It probably isn''t a mountain," I said. "I think we might be officially in the foothills of the Rockies at this point, so this is probably a hill. If it''s not a hill, it''s probably some technical name I don''t know."


    With exaggerated solemnity, Vaughn said, "Thank you, Captain Geography.¡±


    I didn''t point out that geologists were probably the ones who were most interested in the exact term for the geological formation we¡¯d entered.


    When the elevator opened, I drove the van into a parking garage hewn from the rock around it. This was a little disappointing. The part where it had been hewn from rock was very cool, even mind-blowing, but when you consider the top ten things you might want to see at one of the Western Hemisphere¡¯s seven known superhero compounds, a parking garage did not make the list.


    It¡¯s safe to say that for the vast majority of people, parking garages don¡¯t make any list at all.


    I chose the closest spot to the door I could find, and then we all got out. Our directions told us that someone would be in the parking garage to meet us. Of course, our directions assumed that we¡¯d be riding on the bus. I¡¯d gotten alternate directions through email from Dr. Nation when I¡¯d explained that I was currently working on the van as a project, and more generally on the technology I used to form and repair it.


    As we unloaded the van, I noticed that the arrows pointed in the opposite direction on the ground. I guessed they must lead out, probably to the first level of the complex.


    Jaclyn grabbed her suitcases, purse and duffle bag. ¡°I guess we¡¯re early. I¡¯m a little surprised that we¡¯re not even seeing security people yet.¡±


    Cassie jumped out of the back of the van, carrying a suitcase and her duffle bag, landing next to Jaclyn. ¡°Could be their security sucks.¡±


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    Vaughn stood next to the back of the van. He¡¯d grabbed his suitcases first. ¡°Isn¡¯t security the selling point of these places? You hear about supers and their families getting killed, but these places are supposed to be safe.¡±


    Waiting next to Vaughn, I said, ¡°They might be so good that they know we¡¯re not a threat.¡±


    Vaughn grinned. ¡°I don¡¯t know that I¡¯ve ever encountered any security team that good. I¡¯ve run across teams with negative values though. Back when I was having problems, I had a bad reaction to some drugs, but I was with it enough that I tried to get my dad since he¡¯s a doctor. Except he works for my family¡¯s company, so I had to get through security to get to him? They wouldn¡¯t let me into the building. They called the police, and you know what¡¯s crazy? The police recognized me and got me to the hospital. It was a near thing though.¡±


    Haley stepped down from the back of the van, grabbing her suitcases¡¯ handles, and pulled them away. ¡°Your turn,¡± she told me.


    I climbed up the back of the van, grabbing my suitcase out of the cabinet along with my backpack. I left the Rocket suit block inside. I could come back and get it later.


    When I stepped out of the van, I shut the door, and said, ¡°Lock.¡±


    All the doors locked, and Haley¡¯s window rolled shut.


    ¡°Nice,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Hope nobody left anything inside. What happens if someone tries to break in?¡±


    ¡°Not much,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s made out of the same materials as the Rocket suit, so mostly it resists being broken into by being hard to break. It would be cool if it fought back, but I don¡¯t trust any pre-programmed reactions I put in to fit all situations. What if a little kid starts hitting it with a hammer or something?¡±


    The door opened¡ªnot one of van¡¯s doors. They stayed shut.


    The door we¡¯d been told to park next to had moved. Metal, and painted green with a big, white ¡°1¡± next to the window on the upper half, it looked like a door that could have fit in any parking garage I¡¯d ever seen.


    At first glance, the man who walked through the door looked like he¡¯d have fit in at any barbecue I¡¯d ever seen. Wearing shorts and a blue and white shirt with spots that made me think of Rorschach tests, he could have passed for a football coach on vacation. A big man who looked like he¡¯d passed from muscular to fat a few years back, he had close cropped white hair, and an equally white mustache.


    Then I recognized him.


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you used to be Earthmover?¡±


    Earthmover had been a massively powerful terrakinetic¡ªexactly the sort of person who¡¯d build a small city into a rocky hill.


    The man had been smiling, but at that he winced. Recovering, he said, ¡°Still am, but I¡¯m taking civilian work these days. As the most important employee of Earthmover, Inc., I¡¯m heading to the United Arab Emirates to reshape an island next week.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°No kidding? I heard you were the most powerful terrakinetic ever. I¡¯d think you¡¯d get bored being out of the fight.¡±


    His smile had become a little more genuine at Vaughn¡¯s comment about being the most powerful terrakinetic ever, and by the end of Vaughn¡¯s statement he appeared to be on familiar ground.


    ¡°Of course I miss all the Defenders, but there comes a time in a man¡¯s life where you have to step back. Other heroes are more than capable of taking over for me, and I, in turn, am more than ready to let them. Now, everyone take your bags. You¡¯ve beaten the busses here handily. As president of the Compound¡¯s council, I¡¯m here to welcome you to your temporary home. If we hurry, we¡¯ll get you settled before your friends arrive.¡±

 Not Exactly Hogwarts: Part 6

    ¡°Cool,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    He turned toward me. ¡°You got everything?¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have locked up the van if I didn¡¯t.¡± I looked over at Earthmover. ¡°We can come back down here, right? The van¡¯s actually kind of a school project itself, so I don¡¯t really want to leave it in here. Ideally I¡¯d want to bring it into wherever you have science labs. If I really had to, I could break it down into pieces and take it through the halls, but I¡¯d rather not.¡±


    Earthmover listened to me, and glanced over at the van. ¡°That¡¯s a science project?¡±


    To be fair to him, the van was still white, and still said Castle Rock Plumbing. With my sister Rachel¡¯s help (she was an art major), I¡¯d learned how to fake rust convincingly, so the doors¡¯ edges had brownish-red rust and flaking paint.


    ¡°It¡¯s more engineering than science,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ll have to trust me on this one. If this makes it any easier to get it inside, you should know that it can fly.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t guess how many patents I could get out of it. Bearing in mind that the ceramic that composed most of it was very similar to an alien ceramic that we weren¡¯t supposed to have access to in the first place, I¡¯d be risking planetary annihilation to make it available to the general public.


    I¡¯d have to figure out a way to put some of the tech out there. It wasn¡¯t the kind of nanotech that had the potential to turn the world into gray goo. This was something humanity could handle now¡ªwell, mostly.


    Then Earthmover started laughing. ¡°Is that the flying cat car?¡±


    ¡°Van,¡± I said automatically. ¡°Really more of a mech in that form. Did it make the news already?¡±


    ¡°Youtube first, but SuperTV has had on-going coverage of the program¡¯s arrival here. They played one of the videos of your vehicle taking off and flying over the traffic jam. Then they speculated about whose it was for the next fifteen minutes.¡±


    Earthmover grinned. ¡°Your inventions are considerably more whimsical than your grandfather¡¯s. Was the exploding guitar supposed to be a tribute to the Who?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was just thinking that lots of bands lit their guitars on fire, so what could I do that would be even crazier?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do about getting the van into the school¡¯s labs. Worst case scenario, I¡¯ll open up a wall for a few minutes.¡±


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    Then he said, ¡°Let¡¯s get moving. I¡¯m afraid, we don¡¯t have enough time to stand here and talk.¡±


    He held the door open for us, and we all pulled our suitcases through. There were four elevator doors, and a staircase on the left. Earthmover pointed to the one on the far right, and we went inside.


    The door closed.


    As the elevator rose, Jaclyn said, ¡°I¡¯m a little surprised that the president of the compound, much less someone with a business to run, came to let us in today.¡±


    Earthmover nodded. ¡°It¡¯s not hard to explain. I¡¯m a busy man, and I¡¯m not one of your teachers, but I¡¯ve seen the news reports. I wanted to meet the new Heroes League.¡±


    None of us said anything at first.


    Then Cassie broke the silence. ¡°That¡¯s got to be a huge disappointment.¡±


    Earthmover smiled briefly at her for a second. ¡°Not at all, but it¡¯s all been so busy I neglected to introduce myself. You know my codename, but my real name is Reed Jorgenson. It¡¯s good to meet all of you. We¡¯re informal here, so you can call me Reed.¡±


    Cassie raised an eyebrow at him. ¡°Great to meet you, but if you don¡¯t already know my real name, I¡¯m not going to offer it up. You don¡¯t have a Stapledon program block, do you?¡±


    Reed grunted, ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Then we probably shouldn¡¯t volunteer our names. No offense, okay?¡± Cassie had already let go of her duffle bag, and placed it on top of her suitcase. Her hands were free.


    I hoped she wasn¡¯t preparing to throw down with him. He almost had to know our names already.


    Reed shook his head. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting it. I can¡¯t say it would be a lot of work to find out, but I accept your need for privacy. I wouldn¡¯t expect anything else. Your grandparents were masters of the secret identity. We¡¯re not as concerned with it here.¡±


    I¡¯d always heard that about the compounds. The way Grandpa described it, they¡¯d been born of idealism during the late 1960¡¯s and 70¡¯s, but hit their peak in the 80¡¯s. Many of the younger heroes didn¡¯t want to keep secrets anymore, and they told everybody their names. Then they¡¯d found that they had no place to get away from the fans, the news reporters, and the courts. Over a few decades the compounds had turned from hippie communes into gated communities who hired devastatingly effective legal teams and public relations firms.


    Vaughn nodded as if it were news to him. ¡°That¡¯s amazing. I never want to find out what would happen if the news media connected my real life to my codename. There¡¯d be way too many questions.¡±


    Reed nodded. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry too much about it. The media deliberately don¡¯t go fishing for real names. They don¡¯t want to stop a hero from doing what¡¯s right, and some of them are afraid of getting on our bad side. I¡¯m more worried about the public. Some of them don¡¯t know when to leave you alone.¡±


    Haley looked up at me. I don¡¯t know what she would have said because Vaughn asked, ¡°Do you have any advice for us? You were a hero for years, and we¡¯ve just begun.¡±


    Reed stood thoughtfully for a moment. Then he said, ¡°Good question. I''ll tell you what I always wished people had told me before I put on the costume¡ªthink about what happens when it¡¯s over. Ninety percent of heroes stop before they¡¯ve been doing it for ten years. Sometimes they die. Some get hurt. Sometimes they¡¯ve seen too many horrible things, and give up. While you¡¯ve got the public eye, you need to get everything you can out of it¡ªconnections, contracts, cash. Then when you¡¯re done, you can walk away knowing you¡¯ll be taken care of.


    ¡°That¡¯s one thing I like about your program¡¯s college enrollment policy. By the time you¡¯re done, you¡¯ll have a degree. You may not have the experience you need, but you¡¯ll have connections, and the ability to walk out of this life.


    ¡°It¡¯s not for everyone,¡± he said.


    The elevator doors opened.

 Fresh Meat: Part 1

    Reed showed us to our rooms, let us drop off our luggage, and led us to the cafeteria before leaving us to meet the buses.


    "Find a table," he said as he opened the door to walk out, "the buses are here. You''ll be seeing all your friends in minutes."


    I believed him. Except for us, the room was empty of students, but it was full of staff. The tables had been set. The staff were placing food on four different tables that barely seemed to have room for more.


    On the stage in front of the room, a man said, "Testing, testing?" into the microphone on the podium until someone called him on the phone. Then he said, "Good," and left the stage and room.


    Our group had already staked out a table near the front, but Haley and I didn''t stay there. We left, standing next to the windows on the left side of the room.


    Just like the parking garage, the room appeared to have been carved from the rock around it. The windows looked over the level with the shops (where I''d briefly driven the van), giving a view of the ground and the houses on the level below that.


    I hadn''t noticed it from the ground, but now that we were closer I realized that the white-blue sky was slightly blurry. It wasn''t obvious whether it was a shield or some kind of physical barrier.


    Either way I saw it as good news. There were some fairly obvious secret identity problems when people with secret identities hung around with heroes without them.


    Whatever hung up there might be some kind of privacy screen.


    That meant we could actually walk around the compound out of costume.


    Haley and I stood there looking out the windows and talking until people started coming in.


    We had some warning. Hundreds of people bringing their baggage up to their rooms weren''t exactly quiet.


    All the same, we didn''t move until people started flooding the room. They didn''t come in in a rush, but it felt like one.


    I had a brief moment where I flashed back to remembering our fight inside the alien mothership last spring. I couldn''t think of any time where the aliens had rushed us in the corridors, but we had spent a lot of time in the corridors of the ship. Somehow, the way people entered through the doors made me think of the dim corridors and the possibility that at any moment we could be walking into a firefight.


    My breath caught in my throat, and I felt my heartbeat speed up.


    Haley looked up at me, eyes narrowed, asking, "Nick, are you okay?"


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    Even as she said it, I''d already begun to calm down. I knew these people--some of them anyhow.


    "I think so," I said.


    "Your heartbeat spiked," she said, keeping her voice low. "You were afraid of something."


    "Yeah," I said. "I know, but not now. This isn''t a good time."


    The tightness around her mouth hinted that she wasn''t at all satisfied with that answer, but she said, "OK. For now."


    We weren''t quite back to the table when Daniel touched my mind.


    Are you okay?


    Probably not entirely, I thought back, but I''m not having nightmares anymore.


    That''s something, he replied. You''re going to have to talk to a therapist.


    I could feel his concern through our connection.


    I guess, I thought back.


    No, I mean you will literally have no choice about talking this through with a therapist. Everyone there will have multiple sessions.


    My dad would approve, I guess, I thought back. Bearing in mind that my dad was a therapist with some fairly strong concerns about what happened to teenagers who became superheroes, I felt fairly confident about that.


    The fact that my grandparents'' superhero team had left him with a mental block that made him unable to realize that I was following in their footsteps made it more than a little ironic.


    I''ll see you in a second, Daniel thought at me.


    The next few minutes were a blur. Everybody who''d been on the buses seemed to appear--Haley''s older brother, Travis, my sister Rachel, and all the people I hadn''t seen since the last Stapledon program weekend a month ago.


    Along with them came all the new people, and there were a lot of new people.


    Unless I missed my guess, most of the people were new.


    As the noise of students talking began to build, a voice broadcast over the PA system, "Students, please sit down."


    It took a few minutes, but eventually everyone did.


    By that time a man had taken the stage. Middle-aged, he had black hair, and light brown skin, and wore a black suit. I recognized him. The man was FBI agent, Isaac Lim, the Feds'' liaison to multiple Midwestern superhero teams including my own.


    Over the last month or two, he''d apparently acquired even more responsibilities.


    "Hello everyone, I''m Isaac Lim, FBI agent, but also director of the Stapledon program, a joint program of the federal government, and the United States'' superhuman community."


    Flipping from the first notecard to the next, he said, "Welcome to all of you, but particularly the new students. The Stapledon program''s undergone some big changes in the past two years, and even in the two months. Its purpose has always been to train supers who planned to use their powers, but now it''s more than that. With the secrets behind giving humanity powers becoming known all over the world, we''d have enough of a reason to expand the program.


    "I''m talking, of course, about protecting the United States. With the publication of the formulas for creating supers available to all--including criminals--we''ll need your help to protect this country against all enemies both foreign and domestic."


    Isaac stopped, and looked out across the room. "That would be enough by itself, but as you know, there''s more to it than that now. As of last spring, we''re reminded more than ever that we can''t just think of ourselves. Aliens attacked us, hoping to destroy the entire planet. They were stopped thanks in part to the actions of people in this room.


    "Our technology couldn''t defeat the invaders. People with powers could. Therefore Congress has expanded the Stapledon program. We''re not going to be surprised by this again. We''re going to be ready. It used to be that the Stapledon program had only twenty people at most. Last year, we expanded the program, allowing more than one hundred people in. This year we''ve let more than five hundred more people in, and now that you''re here, we''re going to teach you everything you need to know to keep the world safe."

 Fresh Meat: Part 2

    Isaac switched to another card, frowning for a moment as he paused.


    ¡°With that said, it¡¯s time to talk about this year. In the past we¡¯ve done extended training in the summer, but only for students who are already enrolled. From now on, this will be new students¡¯ introductions to the program.


    ¡°Additionally, in the past, the Stapledon program would pay for any college or university in the United States, we are now limiting that to specific universities or colleges within a certain distance of those universities. That still represents a wide selection of educational institutions.


    ¡°The reason for this is that we¡¯ll be instituting daily training, and don¡¯t want anyone to have to travel too far.


    ¡°We¡¯ve made arrangements to teleport those of you operating under the previous agreement to your nearest training sessions, but if you are interested in transferring to a more conveniently located school, we¡¯ll facilitate that.¡±


    Isaac stopped and took a breath, looking out at all of us, and then back to the card in his hand.


    ¡°Well, I have only a few more things to say and then we¡¯ll be able to eat. First, this is the most diverse group of Stapledon students we¡¯ve ever had. We have, of course, the program¡¯s core group, supers of various origins who have begun to fight crime on their own. We also have the descendants of known heroes who want additional training outside their families. Beyond those two groups we now have all of you who would not have had powers, but for the power impregnator. Some of you come out of the military¡¯s program, others are descendants of heroes, still others didn¡¯t know what you could do till you tried power juice, and the final group of you were unknowingly products of the Cabal¡¯s breeding program.¡±


    I¡¯d almost stopped paying attention when he started listing all the ways we were different from each other, but when he mentioned the Cabal he had my complete attention.


    I wasn¡¯t the only one. Students started muttering to each other. A few turned around to stare at the crowd as if they could identify Cabal descendants by sight.


    For all I knew, that wasn¡¯t impossible, but it wasn¡¯t likely.


    Isaac cleared his throat. ¡°However you qualified to be part of the Stapledon program, we¡¯re happy to have you here. We will not put up with any kind of mistreatment of fellow students. At best, you¡¯ll be on probation if you do. At worst, you¡¯ll be kicked out of the program. We have had incidents before, but so far no one has been kicked out. Don¡¯t be the first.¡±


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    I didn¡¯t know what Sean was thinking at the moment (and I didn¡¯t ask Daniel), but I remembered when we¡¯d been one of those incidents. I still occasionally wondered whether I could have won that fight. I had better martial arts training on my side, but he¡¯d had magnetic powers and a vending machine.


    It hadn¡¯t mattered. Half the floor had shown up to defend me, and anyway near the end of the year we¡¯d come to a slightly better place. His sister had gotten hurt fighting aliens in Grand Lake, and I¡¯d arranged that a healer got sent to help her.


    I hadn¡¯t seen him much since then, but even if he hadn¡¯t been friendly, he hadn¡¯t been actively unfriendly.


    Isaac grinned at everyone, putting the notecards into his jacket pocket.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have anything left to say about that issue. I can¡¯t think that it¡¯s much different from any other school you¡¯ve ever attended. Now then, stay focused, and let¡¯s make this a good year.¡±


    He began to step back from the podium, but then stopped, and said, ¡°And also, let¡¯s eat. People will dismiss you to go through the buffet by table.¡±


    At that point, after all the talk about the Cabal, their breeding program, bullying, and superpowers, we were in the more typical position of being part of a large group of people moving through a buffet line.


    With four tables of food to line up at, it wasn¡¯t terribly slow, but it wasn¡¯t quick even though we were close to the front.


    Haley and I found ourselves standing next to Jaclyn.


    ¡°Remember fighting the Cabal?¡± She shook her head slowly. ¡°Most of them weren¡¯t much more powerful than your average hero, but remember their reserves? They were out of our league and their powers hadn¡¯t been fully activated. They were still using power juice.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Yeah, and it wasn¡¯t even the new formulation. I think they may have been using the old, less effective version. I could be wrong about that. Anyway, their descendants have to have been run through the power impregnator if they¡¯re here.¡±


    Jaclyn shivered. ¡°You know how hard we worked to stop the Cabal¡¯s soldiers from doing that. This is going to be interesting.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, glancing out into the crowd of people lining up at the buffet tables. A number of them were big enough that I could imagine they were descended from the Cabal.


    ¡°I can see why it might seem like a good idea. If they haven¡¯t been indoctrinated already, you could pull them into Stapledon, pretty much destroy the Cabal breeding program by taking them out of their hometowns, and get a bunch of heavy hitters all at once.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking. Here¡¯s something to consider. Where do they go after Stapledon? My bet would be government service or maybe one of the Defender units. Now think about the fact that toughest of them were practically immortal. Whatever they decide to do, they¡¯ll be doing it for a long time.¡±


    Haley looked out at the crowd and bit her lip before talking. ¡°Isaac did say they didn¡¯t know they were part of the breeding program. Maybe they¡¯ll be normal people¡ªjust for a really long time.¡±

 Fresh Meat: Part 3

    "It''s not impossible," Jaclyn said. "But, I can''t say I''m excited to find out whether they''re ultimately more loyal to humanity or themselves. Lee''s deal with the Cabal gives us a year where they''ll leave us alone."


    Haley bit her lip. ¡°That was last June.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°Do you think they¡¯ve been counting down the days?¡±


    Haley sighed and her eyes darted between the two of us. ¡°I hope not. I don¡¯t even know what day it was. Do you?¡±


    I looked over at Jaclyn and she shook her head.


    ¡°No," I said, "but I¡¯m sure I could figure it out. Anyway, I bet one of us knows.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°Even with their descendants here, I¡¯m not that worried about us, but Marcus and Sydney are still in Grand Lake. Even if they weren¡¯t, all of our parents are.¡±


    I wanted to say that they were soldiers, and they probably wouldn¡¯t go after civilians like our parents. I also wanted to believe they wouldn¡¯t go after Marcus or Sydney because even though they were both there, they weren¡¯t big players in what happened. If anybody, I¡¯d expect them to go after me. I¡¯d been the guy who¡¯d dropped their leader¡¯s head in a pond, ensuring that he¡¯d actually die for real.


    Of course, Lee had cut the man¡¯s head off, and he was probably going to be teaching here.


    Anyway, as much as I wanted to think that the Cabal¡¯s soldiers wouldn¡¯t go after Marcus, Sydney or our parents, they had the last time around.


    From the way Haley stiffened, I guessed that her thoughts had gone in the same direction as mine.


    ¡°Look,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°Lee knew about the deal. So did Larry. I¡¯m sure one of them told the League¡¯s board.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s voice filled my head. Along with it, I felt the presences of Haley and Jaclyn.


    Don¡¯t worry about it. Well, don¡¯t worry much. The board knows, and my dad mentioned to tell people that they were on it. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re doing, but they have connections. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll work something out.


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    Izzy and Daniel were ahead of us in the food line, already grabbing plates. The two of them looked like they belonged together¡ªboth of them taller than six feet with light brown skin. Both of them drew attention, but in different ways¡ªDaniel because he was literally tall, dark and handsome in a baby faced way. Izzy drew looks because even if she held herself like she wanted to hide behind the glasses she wore, she had a presence to her.


    I¡¯d call it an indefinable presence, but her muscles were more defined than most. She wore clothes that hid them¡ªlike tonight¡¯s long sleeved, loose blouse¡ªbut they were there.


    Izzy brushed against him, and even though Daniel could construct an effective mental shield, it wasn¡¯t as effective with those of us who¡¯d grown up with him. Even though he must have blocked us from feeling all of it, we still felt a hint of everything a guy feels when his girlfriend brushes against him.


    Haley giggled.


    Jaclyn thought back, Thanks for telling us. How about we end this conversation now, and pretend that last part never happened?


    The connection ended as Daniel blushed.


    Izzy asked Daniel something, glancing back at us as he answered. Then she smiled uncertainly, and went back to loading her plate with food.


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°For now, we¡¯ll hope that the board has Grand Lake covered.¡±


    Haley looked up at Jaclyn. ¡°You don¡¯t think the Cabal would come here, do you?¡±


    Jaclyn shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I doubt it.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± I added. ¡°With all the security they have here, whatever the Cabal tried would turn into a direct attack before it was over, and I doubt they want more attention. It pretty much destroyed them after we exposed the mayor.¡±


    In the lull that followed my comment, a hand tapped my shoulder. ¡°Planning something big?¡±


    I turned to find a red haired girl my own age. She wore black jeans and a matching jean jacket. A blood red gem hung from the necklace she wore.


    ¡°Amy,¡± I said, happy I remembered her name. That sounds bad, but I knew her codename better. ¡°This is my girlfriend, Haley who¡¯s also Night Cat. Haley, this is Amy, also known as Bloodmaiden. She was with us for New York.¡±


    ¡°The magical princess?¡± Haley asked.


    Amy glanced at me. ¡°My fame precedes me, what there is of it. Did Nick mention me?¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°No, I saw you on the news afterward, and looked you up.¡±


    I spoke up again, realizing something I should have said, ¡°And, of course you know Jaclyn.¡±


    ¡°Of course you do,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Did everything heal up?¡±


    Amy nodded. ¡°It took a few days even with magic. How about you? I saw them burn you. I would have died a few times over.¡±


    Jaclyn clenched her jaw at that. ¡°I¡¯m okay. Doctors and healers can¡¯t do much for me, but on the bright side, it¡¯s hard to really hurt me. I got better.¡±


    Amy turned her head, following the line. I recognized some of her friends near the end of it.


    ¡°I should go,¡± she said. ¡°See you later.¡±


    She gave a little wave, and left.


    We were at the table. I grabbed a plate, and then a hamburger.


    Next to me, Haley grabbed her own plate. In a tone that sounded more curious than accusing she asked, ¡°Did you know she likes you?¡±


    I hadn¡¯t.

 Fresh Meat: Part 4

    Haley¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡°Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have said that.¡±


    She took a piece of steak and a spoonful of a salad that appeared to be a mixture of corn, tomato and avocado.


    ¡°I had no idea. How did you know?¡± I kept my voice a little lower than normal. No need to broadcast this. Well, more than it must have been already. Haley wasn¡¯t the only person with enhanced hearing, and Daniel couldn¡¯t be the only person with telepathy or clairvoyance.


    Hopefully everyone would be too occupied by eating and meeting people to eavesdrop on us.


    Just ahead of me on this side of the buffet table, Jaclyn grabbed food without saying anything. I wondered if she was deliberately ignoring us. In her position, I would have.


    Looking uncomfortable, Haley said, ¡°Normal stuff. Increased heart rate, and smells. She smelled a little nervous, and a little um¡­ attracted.¡±


    ¡°Huh. I didn¡¯t think she was doing anything to get my attention.¡± I thought back over my interactions with her. I couldn¡¯t think of any point where she¡¯d been flirting with me. She¡¯d only ever been friendly.


    Of course, Haley had only ever been friendly, and if she had ever been flirting, I hadn¡¯t noticed.


    Bearing in mind that Haley later told me she¡¯d been interested in me all along, that meant that¡­ Well, it could mean anything, or nothing.


    ¡°She wasn¡¯t flirting,¡± Haley said. ¡°I really shouldn¡¯t have said anything. People do that all the time¡ªat least a little bit. Right now this place is a sea of pheromones.¡±


    I thought about that. I could completely believe it.


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°you can smell pheromones consciously? That¡¯s cool.¡±


    She raised her eyebrow a little. ¡°You¡¯re not going to bug me to help you construct some kind of pheromone based weapon, are you?¡±


    I thought about that. ¡°Well, I hadn¡¯t been¡­¡± I began.


    ¡°That¡¯s two mistakes so far today,¡± she said, sounding more amused than bothered about it.


    ¡°Only two?¡± I asked.


    She kicked my foot, but not hard. If she¡¯d kicked hard, even untransformed, she probably would have broken most of its bones.


    Ignoring the kick, I continued with, ¡°Seriously though, pheromones would be a pain to work with. It¡¯d be like Julie¡¯s voice only without the words to direct people. I know that it worked for Alex¡¯s stepmom before she reformed, but I¡¯m not all that knowledgeable about human biochemistry. I¡¯d have to do a lot before I ever got anywhere. Plus, I¡¯d practically have to add a new lab.¡±


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    ¡°Good,¡± Haley said, ¡°Um¡­ About Amy? Don¡¯t tell her, okay? It would get awkward, and I wasn¡¯t trying to do anything by mentioning it. Sometimes I forget that it¡¯s harder for other people to notice these things, and it was so obvious to me.¡±


    By that time, we¡¯d filled our plates, and were about to walk back to the table when Courtney walked up to us, obviously heading toward the end of the line. She looked good¡ªnormal good, not model post-Photoshop editing good. She¡¯d taken her shapeshifting powers a little too far after breaking up with her boyfriend, Keith, last summer.


    It was actually good news. It meant that her head was probably in a much better place than last year. After running her through the power impregnator, it was good that she¡¯d stayed that way.


    She hadn¡¯t shifted back all of the weight she¡¯d removed, but I couldn¡¯t blame her for that. She wore jean shorts, and a navy blue tank top.


    Her nervous expression and glance to the back of the room made me wonder if something were wrong though. She asked, ¡°Would you mind saving a seat for me?¡±


    I looked over at our table. We¡¯d have space. ¡°No problem.¡±


    She let out a breath. ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll see you when I get back.¡±


    As we sat down, joining Daniel, Izzy, Vaughn, Cassie, and Jaclyn, I asked Haley, ¡°Do you know what that was about?¡±


    Haley grinned at me. ¡°Are you asking if she¡¯s after you?¡±


    ¡°No, you know¡ª¡°


    ¡°Good. Because she¡¯s not.¡± At that point Haley stopped grinning, and looked more thoughtful as she watched Courtney walk away. ¡°She¡¯s upset about something. I don¡¯t know what.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know either,¡± Daniel volunteered, which saved me the bother of asking him.


    Before I could ask how he¡¯d managed to avoid knowing, he said, ¡°There are so many people around that I¡¯m working to keep everyone out. Normal minds are bad enough, but the telepaths and empaths don¡¯t have good shields either. They¡¯re really loud.¡±


    Izzy squeezed his hand. ¡°Is it bad?¡±


    Daniel shook his head. ¡°Standing near Lee is worse. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    After that we all concentrated on eating. We were interrupted as people from last year stopped to say, ¡°hi.¡± That wasn''t surprising. We were near the buffet. Practically everybody passed us. What was funny is that any time someone stayed to to say more than a few words to Daniel they were female.


    That was par for the course. I¡¯d long ago gotten used to it. He didn¡¯t encourage anybody, and to be fair to them, the fact that he was dating Izzy wasn¡¯t common knowledge.


    Still Haley whispered, ¡°I thought you were exaggerating,¡± to me after the third time. I nodded, but didn¡¯t reply. No need to go into it. Izzy¡¯s hearing was so good it worked as sonar. Where Haley could hear a heart speed up, Izzy could see it beat faster. She had to have some understanding of what was going on. If she didn¡¯t, this wasn¡¯t the time to let her know.


    I¡¯d spent enough of our mutual middle/high school years being the friend that had to be distracted so that a girl could talk to Daniel.


    Vaughn hadn¡¯t been hanging around with us at the time, so after the third time that happened, he started laughing. Everyone watched him as he finally said, ¡°Daniel, that¡¯s amazing. You¡¯re not even trying.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know.¡± Daniel said. He sounded frustrated.


    Cassie caught Izzy''s eye. "I bet that''s fun on a date."


    Where the conversation would have gone from there, I don¡¯t know. Courtney came back with her plate of food and drink, and sat down between Vaughn and Haley.


    ¡°I am so grateful you let me sit here. Guess who ended up at the same table as me?¡±


    She didn¡¯t wait for an answer. ¡°Keith.¡±

 Fresh Meat: Part 5

    ¡°No way,¡± I said, wondering how he¡¯d gotten his powers activated. It wasn¡¯t exactly a casual thing. The League had the first known working device to do it. It hadn¡¯t been hard for me to make it work, but I¡¯d had the benefit of my grandfather¡¯s documentation.


    I knew that the government had their own devices. From the news and personal experience, I knew that criminal organizations also had them. I wasn¡¯t aware of anyone outside of those two groups owning any, but almost everything they needed was available on the internet now.


    Corporate devices couldn¡¯t be far away if they weren¡¯t already out there.


    Jaclyn¡¯s mind obviously went along the same track mine did. She put down her hamburger, and said, "He can''t still be using power juice his uncle brewed. It''s illegal, and they wouldn''t allow him into the program, would they?"


    "He''s not," Courtney said. "I asked him."


    Shaking her head, and taking a deep breath, she continued. "I think I had the worst flight of all time. I got on the plane, and I couldn''t find a seat because my mom drove me to the airport and she was late as usual, and so there were maybe two or three seats left on the plane. I went to the first seat that was open. It was next to a girl who was saving one seat for her boyfriend, but the other was free, so I sat there."


    Courtney stopped, and took another breath. All conversation near us had stopped. We were all listening.


    "Just after I sat down, they told everyone to get into their seats because the plane was about to start moving toward the runway. She''d given me the window seat because she didn''t know when her boyfriend would be back from the bathroom. So when her boyfriend sat down, and leaned over to kiss her our eyes met. And guess who it was? Keith.¡±


    Haley said, ¡°No¡­¡± Jaclyn shook her head.


    "I was stuck with them for three hours."


    Vaughn and Cassie laughed out loud. Izzy did too, but not until after Courtney smiled.


    Daniel¡¯s face held a hint of amusement, but no surprise. That was the hazard of overhearing the punchline before it happened.


    I laughed too, but flashed back to the original question, ¡°So how did Keith¡¯s powers get activated?¡±


    As nice as it was that he had powers, strength and toughness weren¡¯t exactly uncommon among supers. Maybe after being triggered, they¡¯d be more impressive than I remembered, but I doubted that the program would run him through the power impregnator just to recruit him.


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    ¡°I¡¯m getting to that,¡± Courtney said.


    Leaning forward and lowering her voice, she said, ¡°His girlfriend, Zoey, is a compound kid. She didn¡¯t have any powers, but last year as you remember, the government made an arrangement to run supers¡¯ kids through their power impregnators. Keith was dating her by then, and she convinced them to run him through too.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°You know what¡¯s funny? People complain about rich people getting favors from government. They¡¯re not all wrong, but it¡¯s not like the government hands us weapons. Worst case scenario, we get more money and more influence, right?¡±


    Jaclyn looked at him. ¡°You¡¯re not making me feel sorry for you.¡±


    In a more serious voice than normal, Vaughn said, ¡°You know what I mean. I¡¯m saying the government doesn¡¯t pay us off to get us to be quiet like they paid supers off to keep them from opposing the way the government¡¯s handing out powers.¡±


    Daniel nodded. ¡°It¡¯s a good point.¡±


    None of us said anything. Then we remembered the food we weren¡¯t eating.


    Haley speared a piece of avocado with her fork. ¡°He didn¡¯t know about us, did he?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°and that guy is going to freak out when he finds out. He was some kind of fanatical cape watcher, right? Didn¡¯t he drive to another state once to pick up debris from one of Guardian¡¯s fights? That should be a warning sign that you¡¯re getting way too into it. I mean seriously, it¡¯s trash.¡±


    Courtney looked up from her plate. She said, ¡°I was with him that time.¡±


    Vaughn blinked. ¡°There was more than one time?¡±


    Courtney said, ¡°Look, I don¡¯t make fun of your hobbies.¡± Then she paused, looking around the room, and continued, ¡°But it does seem a little silly now.¡±


    Izzy straightened up in her chair. ¡°It¡¯s not silly. It¡¯s something we shouldn¡¯t forget. We may have gotten used to doing the impossible, but we can¡¯t forget what it was like before we could. When we do, we take a step toward believing we¡¯re better than normal people, and we know where that goes.¡±


    Everyone did. Supers took over countries, and it never went well. It always seemed to begin in dictatorship and end in war. In stable countries, supers stayed out of politics, or at least it seemed that way.


    Vaughn looked across the table at her. ¡°I wasn¡¯t saying that, Izzy. And Courtney? I wasn¡¯t trying to make fun of you¡ªjust him. I¡¯m sorry, okay?¡±


    Courtney waved it away with her hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s nothing I haven¡¯t thought myself. For the future, I¡¯m going to be a fan of fictional superheroes only. I¡¯m less likely to ruin it by meeting them.¡±


    We laughed.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°didn¡¯t Keith have a huge¡ª¡°


    ¡°Hard on?¡± Vaughn suggested.


    ¡°I was going to say ¡®crush¡¯,¡± I said.


    ¡°Close.¡± Vaughn shrugged.


    ¡°Crush,¡± I continued, emphasizing the word, ¡°on Portal?¡±


    Courtney said, ¡°Yes? It was kind of cute. It might have bothered me if he had any chance of meeting her.¡±


    ¡°Well, she¡¯s right over there.¡± I pointed toward the table behind us.


    Brooke and her boyfriend Alex sat next to each other. With sun-bleached, blond hair, and tan skin, Alex looked like the California surfer stereotype. Brooke¡¯s curly, dark hair reached past her shoulders. If female surfers had a stereotypical look, I wasn¡¯t aware of it, but I¡¯d feel okay saying she fit. She was tanned and in good shape. Both of them practically glowed with health.


    Brooke noticed me pointing and waved back.


    Courtney gave me an evil grin. ¡°That¡¯s her? I want to be a fly on the wall when he realizes it.¡±

 Fame: Part 1

    After dinner, people had options. The schedule showed a dance in the room where we''d eaten, and that there''d be movies in the auditorium. We also had the option of going down to the shopping area on the second level, or even wandering around the ground level where people lived.


    That last option came with a warning to be respectful, remember that we were guests in the compound and to stay off people''s property.


    It didn''t say that we''d get in trouble, but reading between the lines, it seemed likely.


    Probably the only way to avoid annoying people would be staying on the sidewalks, and never venturing off public paths.


    Left to myself, I probably would have gone to the movies, but Haley didn''t see one she wanted to watch.


    Not wanting to separate, we went to the dance for a little while, maybe an hour. Vaughn, Jaclyn, Courtney, and Cassie were still there when we left. Daniel and Izzy had left already, and I was pretty sure that they were going to Daniel''s room.


    Bearing in mind that Daniel and I were rooming together, that meant that our room was off limits. Daniel and Izzy might not be making out, but remembering what I''d felt when Daniel and Izzy touched... Well, I didn''t feel a deep need to go check on them.


    Haley and I walked to the shopping center on the second level. It was after nine by then, and the only shop open was a convenience store called "24/7."


    We bought bottles of pop, and walked around.


    I''d gotten a look when we''d driven in but not a great look. The area between the shops and the ledge had been turned into a park. On the far end, a few kids played at the playground--which could have been anywhere. Almost empty at this time of night, lights kept it illuminated.


    I considered asking Haley if she wanted to go over there. The swings might be fun anyway.


    While I thought about it, a twenty-something woman flew up and over the ledge. A small child flew with her. They landed and went to the swing set.


    At that point there were still a lot of swings, but it wouldn''t have been private.


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    Instead, I said, "You want to go over to the ledge?"


    "Sure," Haley said, and we did, walking over the recently mowed grass to the edge of the second level.


    Even though it looked like you might be able to walk over the ledge, that wasn''t true. Some kind of clear barrier blocked people from that particular mistake. I guessed it might be glass or plastic, but if they''d used a more interesting material I''d need a sample to find out more.


    "Nick," Haley asked, "what are you doing?"


    I''d been tapping on the barrier.


    "Sorry. Just thinking."


    Leaning forward, she rested her arms on the barrier, and looked out at the streets and houses below. It could have been anywhere in the United States. Well, almost.


    "Thinking about what?"


    "A bunch of things. First, whatever material this is. There''s a clear barrier above us, and this might be the same stuff..."


    Haley sighed.


    "But also," I continued, "about the compound. Did you know Denver regulates which days you get to water your lawn?"


    Haley turned away from the ledge to look at me. "No."


    "I think that that''s a thing all over the west. I think I even read somewhere that one city didn''t allow people to water their lawns at all during a drought. I don''t know if it was Denver, but it might have been. Anyway, the compound''s got a big park, and its all green, and the lawns down below are all green. Do you think they ration water at all?"


    Haley peered down at the lawns. "I''m the last person to ask."


    "I didn''t really expect you to know, but anyway that''s not the only thing I''m thinking about. The Stapledon program borrows a bunker. I''m not sure where it is, but just like this place, it''s more like a hotel or an expensive retreat center or I don''t know. It feels like there''s a lot of money involved. They could have made it less comfortable, and it still would have been comfortable."


    Brushing her hair away from her face, Haley said, "Isn''t that the way it works though? Everyone in the League got richer except maybe Giles Hardwick. Your Grandpa worked on other supers'' devices. Giles gave my family some cheap loans for their restaurants. Jaclyn''s grandfather got hired in with the city of Grand Lake thanks to connections with Giles. I don''t know about the rest, but it seems like a lot of supers get richer because of what they do."


    I nodded. "Giles got richer too. My grandpa did some anonymous work for the Hardwick''s medical imaging company. It put them significantly ahead of their competition."


    Haley froze for a second. "There''s Rocket technology in X-ray machines?"


    "More likely ultrasounds. And I think you''re right that''s how it happens. I''m not sure if it''s a good thing. Wealth seems like it divides us from normal people on its own, but normal people aren''t even allowed into a compound."


    Haley nodded slowly. "I get that. I wonder how often people here go out into the normal world?"


    I nodded. "That''s what I wonder too. There''s no reason to. The store''s open all night, and there''s a grocery store that''s open all day."


    She didn''t say anything for a little while. When she did, she said, "I''ve been thinking that it''s nice to be here. It''s nice not to have to worry about secret identities or hide anything.


    "I''ve spent my whole life worrying about what would happen if I change in the wrong place, but here no one would care."

 Fame: Part 2

    I could see that. Haley always had been worried about her powers. The fact that she shapeshifted into a version of herself with fangs and claws probably didn''t help.


    It wouldn''t be like discovering you could fly. It wasn''t a cool power. Fangs and claws just said monster.


    The combination of that with strength and poison filled dewclaws that were still there even when she hadn''t shifted couldn''t have made her childhood easy.


    Actually, I knew it hadn''t been.


    She''d told me about it. She''d always been worried about hurting people, or transforming without thinking and being regarded as some kind of freak forever.


    Taking a breath, she looked around the park, and said, "Why don''t we go over there?"


    The park had a few trees, mostly evergreens, but others too. Haley pointed toward a clump of trees. I agreed, and we walked over there together, holding hands.


    Her hand felt warm and soft. I could notice the hardness of the dewclaw under her skin if I wanted to, but it was the furthest thing from my mind then.


    A park bench stood near the trees. If I knew less about how well she could see in the dark, I would have wondered how she noticed it. Set back from the ledge it barely stood out amid the bushes.


    That was a good thing.


    We walked over and sat down. I put my arm around her shoulder and she leaned into me. We talked a little more then, but my mind paid more attention to her hand on my leg.


    After a while we kissed, and then we stopped talking at all. We''d talked about boundaries when we''d started dating. Even if we''d blown past a few of them in the past year or two, it wasn''t as if we were doing anything particularly crazy on the bench. We were kissing though, and touching each other--which meant it wasn''t that surprising when she shifted into her alternate form.


    Her shoulders broadened, and she grew an inch, grunting as it happened. Her feet and hands turned grayish while her nails became a pale white.


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    "Hah," she muttered as her shoes fell to the ground. Somehow she''d managed to kick her shoes off before her nails ripped through the leather. She''d told me that she''d lost a lot of shirts and shoes to unexpected changes. When I''d asked why she hadn''t lost pants, she''d snapped the elastic around her waist, and said, "Stretchy pants."


    The shifting didn''t stop us. Sure, it had the first time. Haley had been worried about hurting me. Since then we''d kept on going. You get used to people''s quirks over time.


    Haley had gotten used to me getting distracted or going on tangents about how things worked. I''d gotten used to her growing fangs and claws during awkward moments, and to her worrying about shifting.


    It evened out.


    Despite (or perhaps because of) the boundaries we''d set, we kept at it for a while.


    When we did stop, it wasn''t because we wanted to. I was lying on the bench, vaguely aware that it was little uncomfortable, and Haley was on top of me.


    Haley pulled her head back, breaking off a kiss and froze. "Shit," she muttered. "Someone''s coming."


    I''d noticed that she was a little more likely to swear after she shifted. I thought she might be a little more decisive too.


    "Sit up!" She whispered, pushing herself off me--which did hurt a little, and not emotionally.


    "Sorry," she said as I winced. She''d shifted back, checking her shirt for rips while I pushed myself up into a sitting position.


    Their voices carried. I heard them before I saw them.


    First I heard the voice of a guy my own age. "I''ll be fine, Mom. I don''t need anybody to check in on me. Clacy and Gifford are both in the program, and even if I don''t want to talk to them, I''ll be in the middle of a compound in a program full of supers. I''m bound to find someone I enjoy hanging around with. I won''t be lonely. It will be fine."


    I recognized the voice of the woman who replied. I didn''t know who it belonged to, but I knew it. Even though they guy had called her "Mom," the voice didn''t sound much older than we did.


    "Hunter," she began, and I recognized the sound of suppressed frustration I''d occasionally heard from my own mom.


    "As I''ve told you before, this isn''t about meeting anybody. I didn''t tell you to come here to meet anybody. You''re here to meet contacts, network, and create lasting relationships with the kind of people who can help your career. I could have hired people to teach you to fight. I can''t hire these teachers, not all of them. I don''t have the resources to track down all the students, some of them from very important families.


    "You''ve got them all here. Don''t waste this chance. Your future career rests on who you know, whether you stay a hero or not."


    "I understand, Mom. Let''s leave it at that."


    That''s when they came into view. She appeared to be in her twenties. Between her full lips, dark eyes, and high cheekbones, she looked like a movie star.


    And she was one. I recognized her. She''d been a superhero, and still went by her codename "Diva." I knew that she had powers, and that they were impressive, but I didn''t know what they were--aside from the obvious resistance to aging.


    She''d transitioned out of being a superhero before I was born.


    Her son Hunter had her dark hair and eyes, and a similar face.


    He noticed us, and asked Haley, "Did you lose your shoes?"

 Fame: Part 3

    Haley said, ¡°No.¡± Then she stood up to pick up her shoes from where they had fallen. She¡¯d obviously been in a hurry. One lay next to the bench. The other hung from a bush about two feet away from the bench.


    Her ears looked a little red around the edges.


    Well, at least they hadn¡¯t caught us in the middle of anything.


    Diva¡¯s smile hinted that she likely understood what they¡¯d interrupted. She didn¡¯t let the moment stretch into an embarrassing silence though. She said, ¡°Pardon me, but are you Nick?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ Yeah.¡± I wouldn¡¯t have chosen to tell her that.


    She walked closer to the bench with her son following a little behind and looking uncomfortable.


    ¡°We¡¯ve met before,¡± she said. ¡°I had your grandfather do some work for me.¡±


    All at once I did remember her. I¡¯d only been eight, but I already had a sense that Grandpa found her frustrating. She¡¯d needed storage containers that could keep food fresh. Her power involved creating biological organisms out of nowhere, but they needed food to grow, and not every place had enough food. She wanted containers that kept a lot of food fresh and hidden.


    The way I remembered it, she couldn¡¯t seem to understand how the two goals conflicted with each other. In the end, Grandpa had actually shouted at her, telling her that she needed a wizard not an engineer.


    I never found out what she¡¯d done. Hoping that very little of what I remembered showed on my face, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t remember much of that. I think I was eight.¡±


    She said, ¡°No, you wouldn¡¯t, but it¡¯s good to meet you again. This is Hunter, my son, and Hunter, this is Nick, the current Rocket.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t likely that she could remember my name and not guess that I was the Rocket, but there went any hope that she¡¯d missed it.


    Haley, now with her shoes on, managed to say, ¡°And I¡¯m Haley.¡± Then she added, ¡°Night Cat.¡±


    Diva gave a small nod. ¡°I remember Night Wolf. I never met him outside the mask, but he was an impressive fighter. It¡¯s good to meet you too. I¡¯d¡ª¡± she began.


    Then she pulled her cell phone out of her purse. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Back in a sec.¡±


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    She retreated, stopping past the trees around our bench, holding her phone to her ear.


    Hunter glanced back at her, shook his head, and turned toward us. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. She does this a lot. You don¡¯t have to wait for her. If you want to leave, I can keep her out of your hair.¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Is this your first year?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°What about you?¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡± She seemed genuinely excited about it.


    ¡°It¡¯s my second year,¡± I said.


    Hunter grinned. ¡°I guessed. You were all over TV this spring.¡±


    I thought back to New York. I supposed I¡¯d also been on TV for the robots we¡¯d fought after visiting Chicago, and then of course there was St. Louis. I wasn¡¯t sure if that counted as spring though. In Grand Lake, it had definitely been winter.


    I shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t try to be.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. You got a lot of attention. It¡¯s most of the reason the crowd¡¯s this big this year.¡±


    That seemed unlikely. The Heroes League had gotten a lot of attention in the last couple years. It wasn¡¯t just me.


    Responding to whatever expression I wore, he said, ¡°I¡¯m not saying it was all you personally. Think ¡®you¡¯ as in the whole program. Stapledon hasn¡¯t been real popular with people in the cape community. A lot of them see it as way to gain control of the super community¡ªkind of like that program where they give some supers access to federal criminal databases.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know what to say. No one has said anything like that to me. I glanced over at Haley. Her eyes were a little wider that usual.


    ¡°Most people I knew didn¡¯t have much use for it, but once New York came around and you guys were fighting aliens and winning? My mom decided I had to attend. A lot of my friends came around too. Though it didn¡¯t hurt that the Defenders and the Feds really turned up the recruiting after New York.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°Who¡¯s against Stapledon? I don¡¯t know anybody who has a problem with it.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re mostly friends with kids whose parents are in Defenders units. They¡¯re not government, but they¡¯re close. My friends are kids of vigilantes, indie hero groups, and people who left cape life altogether. You¡¯re going to think this sounds crazy, but some of them are angry with you.¡±


    I felt my jaw drop a little, and I said, ¡°What? I don¡¯t even know them.¡±


    At the same time, Haley said, ¡°Seriously?¡±


    Hunter glanced back at his mother taking on her phone, frowned and turned back to us. ¡°I know it¡¯s stupid, but some of my friends won the lottery when it comes to powers, and they¡¯ve been assuming they¡¯d be big deals. They totally forgot about the Heroes League, and you showed up and started people fighting the Cabal, you¡¯ve stayed in the news. No one¡¯s had a chance to forget you. They feel like they¡¯re battling to be afterthoughts now.¡±


    I let out a breath. ¡°That¡¯s dumb.¡±


    Hunter put his hands in his pockets. ¡°I¡¯m not arguing with you. I think it¡¯s the old indie vs. establishment thing. Plus, some of my friends might think they¡¯re better than they are.¡±


    In the background, Diva hung up her phone and put it in her purse.


    Hunter must have noticed that we were looking, turned, and saw her too. He said, ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to talk to you, but it is embarrassing when she pulls this crap. I¡¯m going to get her out of here. See you in class.¡±


    He met her before she made it back to us. She gave a wave, and they walked away.


    Haley and I both sat silently for a little while. I don¡¯t know what she was thinking, but I needed a second to take all of it in.


    Haley broke the silence with, ¡°Did you notice that she faked the phone call? She pretended to take a call, but then she called her agent after she walked away.¡±

 Fame: Part 4

    "No kidding?" I shook my head. "Well, I guess we heard her telling him that he needed to get to know well known supers. We''d probably qualify for that even if we hadn''t done much of anything ourselves."


    She glanced toward where I assumed that they were. It was too dark for me to tell at that point.


    Haley frowned. "I get it. I heard her too, but isn''t it messed up? People are worth more than how useful they are to you."


    "Even beyond that," I said, "I''m not even sure that that works in the long run. I''d think that they''d notice that you''re using them after a while."


    "Hmmn," Haley muttered. "I don''t know. I knew girls in high school who were into the whole popularity thing, and a couple of them seemed to be mutually using each other. It sort of worked. Well, until they fell out, but I think that was about something else."


    I pulled out my phone, and started searching for Diva in the SuperTV app.


    "I suppose Hunter can''t be the only one getting that kind of advice."


    Haley scowled. "I don''t like that. I thought this would be different. We''re all here together, and we''ve all got something in common that we don''t have with anyone else. Can''t that be enough? Why turn this into high school?"


    Still sitting on the bench, Haley pulled her legs up to her chest. "I suppose I was being silly, but I was thinking of Hogwarts."


    "Having Voldemort try to take over every year doesn''t sound like my idea of fun."


    Haley stuck out her tongue at me. "You know what I mean. During normal years it was just a school for wizards. That''s all. I was hoping for something like that."


    I looked up from my phone. "You know what would be nice? If they divided us into houses and put all the people who would eventually turn evil in one of them. It would save everyone a lot of work."


    She glared at me, or at least faked a glare. "Besides that''s not true. In the end it wasn''t what house you were in, but what you choose to do."


    I shrugged, scrolling down the search results. "I know. I just thought it was funny."


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    "It was a little funny." She put down her legs and leaned into me in one fluid movement.


    "What are you looking up?" She asked.


    "Diva." I''d found her main SuperTV entry. I clicked on it, and began to read.


    Haley followed along as I scrolled down.


    Analysts consulted for the SuperTV entry apparently thought that her whole superhero career had been concocted as a way to get her into Hollywood.


    I wasn''t sure if that was fair to her, but since most of her superhero career had taken place before I''d been born, I didn''t know enough to say either way. Even my sole personal experience with her had been after that. The hidden storage containers she''d wanted Grandpa to invent had been intended for personal appearances.


    Controversy aside, the article was interesting. The organisms she generated apparently either grew on her skin or were the upper layer of her skin.


    "Ewww," Haley mumbled.


    It might explain why she looked so much younger than her age. I wondered if that meant she was actually young or just appeared that way.


    The article didn''t say.


    It did say that she''d never exhibited any special physical abilities, relying instead on creatures she''d generated. They weren''t worth much until they''d reached a certain size--at least bug sized. She could have easily controlled swarms of bugs, but she went with a Hollywood theme instead--classic movie monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein''s monster, werewolves, King Kong and Godzilla.


    Lesser supervillains and purely human criminals had been beaten unconscious by dancing copies of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and delivered to jail by flying monkeys.


    Once she became better known, lawyers came after her for violating copyright, but somehow (the article didn''t know how) arrangements were made. She got the rights to use certain characters, and started to promote upcoming movies by using their characters.


    About the same time, she started providing creatures to movies as special effects and appearing in them herself--to the point that she was better known as a movie star with powers than she''d been as a superhero.


    We finished reading the article, and Haley pointed out a video. "She must still be active. That one shows her attacking someone with smurfs."


    "Do you think Hunter''s got the same power?"


    Haley thought about it. "I can''t say for sure, but they both smelled a little weird in the same way."


    "You''ve got more to go on than I do. The article mentions she''s got a son, but it doesn''t say anything about him."


    Haley covered my phone with her hand. "We could do something else."


    I looked at her. "Good point. It''s not as if we have any reason to worry about him. Um... If you''re wanting to pick up where we left off, I''m feeling like this isn''t very private. The nearest thing that is definitely private is my van in the parking garage."


    Haley raised an eyebrow. "How about a walk? We could go down to the first level."


    She had a point. As we left the bench, I asked her, "What do you have tomorrow?"


    She checked her phone. "Something called ''Entry Assessment.'' It lasts all day. You?"


    I checked my email for the welcome packet I''d received. The only item on my schedule for Saturday was "Physical Training." It lasted from 8am through 2pm.

 Entry Assessment: Part 1

    On Saturday morning, we gathered at the compound¡¯s athletic fields. They had two football/soccer fields with tracks running around them. The first year students gathered in the middle of one and the second, third, and fourth years gathered in the other.


    The first years seemed to take up most of the middle of their field, but that wasn¡¯t really true. It wasn¡¯t just them. Adults in costume (both superhero and medical scrubs) were scattered throughout the crowd.


    I recognized what they were doing from last year¡ªentry assessment. The program was getting a baseline of their abilities. They¡¯d set up a walled room on one end of the field. I wasn¡¯t sure of the material, but from here it looked like stone.


    I didn¡¯t know what kind of powers they had to work with, but an awful lot of powers had the potential to kill if they weren¡¯t contained.


    I couldn¡¯t actually see Haley anymore. She¡¯d disappeared into the rest of the crowd with Camille, a friend from Grand Lake.


    ¡°Please move closer everyone. I need all of you to hear me.¡±


    A voice broke through the talking, and I recognized it. I felt a little surprised hearing it in the context of ¡°physical training¡± though.


    All of us moved forward, surrounding the person who¡¯d called out to us. Dr. Freddie Nation stood there in his ¡°Brawn¡± costume. Between the black and white striped tank top, and the black pants, it drew heavily from strongman costumes. The domino mask and mustache completed the retro look even if the black utility belt didn¡¯t quite fit with the theme.


    His bare arms and shoulders made it obvious that he was in very good shape. Even if he didn¡¯t look like a professional bodybuilder, his muscles were clearly defined. I knew that his physical abilities were well outside human norms, but I supposed it could have been due to training on some level.


    Mostly it surprised me because he taught Stapledon¡¯s technology specialists.


    Looking around, I could see that I wasn¡¯t the only one confused. The expressions of most ranged from flat acceptance to disbelief. They might not be in tech, but they knew what he taught.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Everyone can hear me?¡±


    Nods came from the crowd.


    ¡°Excellent. I imagine some of the second years are wondering why I¡¯m here. I¡¯ll explain. A few years ago I became interested in powers and whether it was possible to improve them. We all know people whose powers have expanded over time. My question was whether we could make it happen at will, and the answer is yes. Our training program is built on my research.


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    ¡°Those of you with physical powers should find noticeable improvement in them over the course of the year. Those of you without physical powers will have less intense workouts based on the same system. Some of you have small physical powers you haven¡¯t noticed yet. The rest of you should still benefit.¡±


    Then he began to go into the overall theory about his system and why it worked. It fit with what I¡¯d learned about how powers worked when fixing our power impregnator.


    I considered asking questions, but didn¡¯t. From the expressions on their faces, a lot of people were struggling to pay attention already.


    It wasn¡¯t the greatest place for a lecture. We were all wearing shorts, and t-shirts. Some people had sweatshirts, and as interesting as Dr. Nation was, I wished I had one too. It couldn''t have been much more than sixty degrees Fahrenheit (15 Celsius), and the athletic facilities were between the bottom of the rocky foothill our dorms were inside and the wall that surrounded the compound.


    Half the field seemed to be in the shade, so it felt even colder.


    Dr. Nation seemed to sense that, and cut the lecture off, saying, ¡°But we¡¯ll talk about it more later. For now, we¡¯re going to start doing it. The upperclassmen will guide you through any special exercises. You will all help the first years when they start on Monday.


    ¡°Time to divide into groups.¡±


    For all the talk about increasing physical powers and giving less intense workouts to those of us limited to a normal physical potential, Dr. Nation¡¯s first exercise was, ¡°Six miles on the track for group 1.¡±


    As Dr. Nation moved on, the guy next to me said, ¡°That¡¯s not bad. It¡¯s bootcamp light.¡±


    I recognized him, but couldn¡¯t match his face to a name. A little taller than I, he had brown skin and short, curly hair along with a long distance runner¡¯s physique¡ªthin.


    As we started walking toward the track, I finally did remember his name¡ªMalik. He¡¯d been in New York with all the rest of us, but he¡¯d been carrying a rifle then. I couldn¡¯t for the life of me remember his power though.


    ¡°Bootcamp light?¡± I glanced over at him as we began to run.


    He grinned. ¡°We aren¡¯t carrying a pack or wearing boots, and there¡¯s no drill sergeant to give us hell.¡±


    I must not have looked as happy at that news as he¡¯d expected because he continued, ¡°Trust me, this is easy.¡±


    After we ran the six miles, we went to the weight room, and after a break, came back out and ran an obstacle course. This was followed by more exercise.


    By two, even with a lunch break, I felt sore all over.


    I never got to ask Malik if he still thought it was easy by the end. Lee showed up. As was normal at Stapledon, he showed up as ¡°Gunther,¡± a WW2 ally of my grandfather. He looked almost like he did in the old photos--tall with brush cut blond hair, and combat fatigues. The fatigues were more modern than the ones in the pictures.


    I walked across the track toward him, feeling like I was limping on both legs.


    ¡°Heya kid,¡± Gunther said, ¡°I need some help. The entry assessment¡¯s mostly over, and I¡¯m going to give the first years their orientation to combat training. I need some help with that. Grab a team, suit up, and meet me at the other field.¡±


    I nodded, too tired to argue. ¡°Sure. What do you want us for? Assistants? A fighting demo?¡±


    He grinned at the last one. ¡°A demo? Sure. That¡¯s about right.¡±

 Entry Assessment: Part 2

    I glanced up at the red, rocky cliff to my left, thinking about how I''d have to run into the parking garage to get to the truck, and walk back.


    It wouldn''t be too bad once I got the Rocket suit, but, it looked like a long walk from here.


    Turning back to Gunther, I said, "You realize that we''re tired, right? Dr. Nation''s program is all about unpredictably stressing us to the breaking point, and maybe a little past it."


    Gunther nodded. "I''m counting on it. That means you won''t be able to fight for long, and you''ll have to use quick, efficient takedowns on anyone you fight."


    "Takedowns? Who are we fighting?"


    Gunther grinned, revealing white teeth. "The toughest people in the first year class--at least on paper."


    I took a breath, feeling it in my chest. ¡°So this is right now?¡±


    He checked the other athletic field. ¡°I think you¡¯ve got ten minutes, maybe a little more. Bring Jaclyn, Vaughn, Daniel, and Cassie. Tell them to bring their gear.¡±


    ¡°Tell us to bring what?¡± Jaclyn asked. She walked up, making it one of the few times I¡¯d seen her as anything other than a blur in the last few hours.


    She looked like I felt¡ªwhich said something. A few drops of sweat glistened on her cheek, and while she walked at a normal speed, her gait seemed more deliberate than usual.


    ¡°Our gear,¡± I said, turning my head toward her. ¡°We¡¯re doing a demonstration of¡­ something.¡±


    Cassie might have been sweating, but she she didn¡¯t look tired. ¡°We¡¯re going to be fighting someone? Who?¡±


    ¡°The toughest first years, I guess.¡± Turning back to Gunther, I asked, ¡°Why?¡±


    He said, ¡°That would be telling, and it¡¯ll be better if you don¡¯t know. Ten minutes. Be there.¡±


    We were drawing a crowd, or if not drawing one, we weren¡¯t deliberately discouraging a crowd from forming.


    We stood just off the side of the track. A lot of people were walking off the last round of laps. After running as much as we had, you would think we wouldn¡¯t want to move, but walking slowly felt better than you¡¯d think.


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    Plus, I''d always been told it was better to slow down than simply stop exercising. They probably had too.


    Interrupting his own conversation with Brooke, Alex brushed a bit of blond hair out of his eyes, and said, ¡°This sounds like it could be good. You want to watch? I want to watch.¡±


    Brooke smiled at him, and then over at us. ¡°Let¡¯s.¡±


    Neither of them looked especially tired either.


    Conversations sprouted as people explained what was going on. Then people started walking toward the first years¡¯ field.


    Walking with them, and a head taller than most, Sean shouted, ¡°You¡¯d better win,¡± at us as he walked away with his friends Dayton and Jody. The two of them were a study in contrasts¡ªDayton was almost as tall as Sean, but more muscular. Jody stood a head shorter than either of them.


    Uncharacteristically, Jody ignored me. Since gaining powers, he¡¯d seldom missed an opportunity to taunt me. Of course, he¡¯d been close to getting kicked out of the program for it last year.


    Plus, Sean might feel like he owed me somehow for getting Sydney help. I wondered if he¡¯d told Jody to leave me alone. ¡°You¡¯d better win,¡± almost sounded encouraging by comparison to some things we¡¯d said to each other.


    * * *


    Ten minutes later, we were landing in the first years¡¯ athletic field. Well, all of us but Jaclyn. She¡¯d run, and Cassie only flew because Vaughn kept her in the air.


    Personally, I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d have let him carry me. I¡¯d seen his face before he put his costume on, and so had Cassie. He looked like someone had kicked him in the stomach. No one had, but that didn¡¯t stop him from looking greenish.


    I¡¯d worried that Vaughn might have a touch of altitude sickness, but I could worry all I wanted and that didn¡¯t stop the fact that we were flying in.


    In the last ten minutes, someone (probably Earthmover) had removed the stone containment half circle from the center of the field, leaving no sign it had been there but a line of dirt where the grass should have been.


    The first year class had relocated to the bleachers next to the field.


    I wasn¡¯t sure when they¡¯d put on costumes. They must have done that earlier, but I knew they¡¯d been in shorts and t-shirts earlier in the day.


    Who was I kidding? They¡¯d probably been told to report to their first class in uniform.


    Members of the all the other classes loitered around the field, some standing together, others lying on the grass. I wasn¡¯t sure they were even awake.


    Gunther¡¯s voice met my ears as I landed.


    ¡°Officially, this is still part of your entry assessment, but they handed it over to me. When they did, I imagine they were thinking that I¡¯d use it to evaluate your fighting skills. I don¡¯t have to. A couple of you have been trained by me personally, and I know what you two can do. A few of you have been trained by your parents or perhaps at a martial arts studio, and that¡¯s something, but most of you haven¡¯t been trained at all. That doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re not dangerous, of course. Your powers are remarkably impressive.


    ¡°So here¡¯s what we¡¯re going to do. I¡¯m going to choose a few of you, and you¡¯ll get a chance to fight members of the new Heroes League. When the fight¡¯s over, we¡¯ll talk about what happened.¡±


    He turned toward where we stood in the field, ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    ¡°Ready,¡± I said. The suit¡¯s sonics modified my voice so much I barely sounded tired at all.


    Vaughn and Jaclyn didn¡¯t have that going for them, but their voices blended with the rest of the team.


    ¡°Excellent,¡± Gunther said. ¡°Now we¡¯ve got several of you who came out of the Cabal¡¯s breeding program. Please stand up.¡±

 Entry Assessment: Part 3

    Several people stood up. None of them looked as impressive as the elite Cabal soldiers we''d fought--the reserves. Nearly immortal, constantly regenerating, they were incredibly strong and extremely tough as well.


    Fighting people you could barely hurt who also regenerated had always seemed particularly unfair to me.


    The Cabal had other soldiers too. They weren''t as tough, but they had a wider variety of powers. Maybe I was seeing their descendants?


    Gunther looked them over, and said, "Any of you who can''t lift more than 20 tons, please sit down."


    None of them sat down.


    "Anybody who can''t regenerate or whose skin can''t take a bullet? You can sit down too."


    Still none of them sat down.


    None of them looked like anything other than normal college students. Dressed in shorts and t-shirts, some of them with sweats, I couldn''t have picked them out of a police lineup of potential Cabal soldiers.


    Gunther said, "NIce to know we got the good ones, but now I have to pick."


    He pointed at three of them. "You, you and you. Do any of you have costumes?"


    They all looked at each other uncomfortably. One guy spoke up, "We don''t have official costumes, just the jumpsuits they gave us temporarily for training."


    Pointing toward the hulking, rocky hill where our dorm was, Gunther said, "Run back, and get them. You won''t need the armor, but the right kind of attack can shred your clothes and leave you fighting naked. Now that won''t bother everybody, but most modern people don''t like it. Go, and hurry."


    They left. Even if they couldn''t match Jaclyn for speed, the Rocket suit estimated they were moving at 60 miles per hour.


    "That''s not everybody," Gunther continued. "What we want here are roughly equal groups. From the Heroes League, we''ve got an inventor with powered armor, a guy who controls weather, a speedster who''s as tough as the Cabal types, a telepath with multiple mental disciplines, and a super soldier with a couple frightening weapons.


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    "Let''s make this balanced." He stepped toward the crowd, pointing at a tall girl with light brown skin and dark hair. She looked like a runner--not that that meant anything with superpowers. I''d fought a hugely overweight speedster once.


    "Speedster, right?" Gunther gestured toward the dorms again. "Costume."


    A guy near the front stepped forward, and said, "I''d like to volunteer. I''m an aerokinetic."


    As he did, I noticed a couple things. First that the guy had been standing next to Hunter, and second that even in shorts and a t-shirt, it was obvious this guy could start a second career in modeling if being a hero didn''t work out.


    He''d probably be modeling superheroes though because he had the look--square jaw, muscular build, but not too muscular, dark brown hair, and a natural expression that managed to look confident without looking arrogant.


    Gunther''s eyes lingered on him for a moment. "Aerokinetic. That works. Suit up."


    The guy flew upward disappearing over the second level''s park and shopping district almost instantly.


    "That leaves one," Gunter said. Stopping in front of a black guy in a racing wheelchair, Gunther said, "Your turn. Get your powered armor and we''re ready."


    "No problem. I''ve got that." He gestured with his right hand, and then loosened the wheelchair''s restraints.


    He pulled himself loose and pushed himself out of the wheelchair''s seat, landing on the field''s grass. That''s when I realized that he didn''t have any legs.


    He pulled himself up in time for a dark mass to descend from the sky, landing on top of him, and pulling him inside. The suit expanded as it moved him into the torso and helmet.


    I could see him through the cracks between the sections.


    Then when he''d been correctly placed, the armor sealed, closing the gaps. He''d created an interesting suit, and not just because of the black and light blue color scheme.


    Only needing the upper half of a human shape, he''d extended the base past where his torso naturally stopped. Three supports extended equidistant from each other, widening in the base. I felt fairly sure they did more than keep him stable while he was on the ground.


    "I''m ready," he said.


    Not long after that all the rest of them came back.


    All three of the Cabal students and the speedster wore navy blue jumpsuits that had red and white stripes running off the shoulders and onto the arms.


    Apparently someone had made the program''s spare suits extra patriotic.


    Hunter''s friend appeared in his own costume--light blue with white accents.


    Gunter stood between their group and ours. "While I think it might be fun to make this into a free for all, I''ve been told that that''s not acceptable. That means we''ll need rules. For most of you, most of the time, I''ll accept controlling your opponent as a win. That means pins, and other ways of making them immobile count.


    "Plausible kills also work. Any of you who can lift tons automatically get a kill if you can touch a normal person outside armor. The Rocket in turn automatically takes anyone out of the fight if he hits them with his paintbot rounds."

 Entry Assessment: Part 4

    Gunther continued, "The paintbot rounds stand in for the suit''s lasers, and for the explosive rounds which take out most people. Non-lethal rounds are perfectly allowable for this fight, Rocket. Captain Commando, your gun counts as a laser for this. Paint them with light, and you''ll take them out. The sword works too, but don''t turn it on."


    Gunther took in the group of us standing together. "Here''s how this will work: each group fights until there''s a clear winner between the two of you. You''ll need to think about how to do that, but I''m not going to give you time to talk about it."


    Then he turned to the crowd. "This little exercise isn''t entertainment. First years will need to pay attention to what happened and be able to explain why it happened. The rest of you gawkers ought to think about it yourselves. It''s a lesson you should have already learned, but better to learn it by sitting in on someone else''s class than not to learn it at all."


    He smirked at the upper year students. Some of them laughed.


    "With that out of the way, let''s have some names so we call you something other than ''that strong guy'' or something. Codenames if you''ve got them. Real names if you don''t."


    The aerokinetic said, "I''m Gifford."


    The name sounded like something you''d call a jock in a novel set in the 1950''s, but he looked the part.


    I vaguely remembered that Hunter had mentioned the name.


    The tall, female speedster said, "Sofia."


    The legless guy, now hidden beneath layers of armor said, "Keon, but in armor I go by Vulcan."


    That was kind of cool. I liked how the name subtly referenced his disability (Vulcan was lame), but also the fact that Vulcan was the god who made things--like Zeus'' lightning for example.


    I wondered if he knew that Vulcan''s wife wasn''t faithful to him? It wasn''t a terrible mistake, but you know people would reference it if his dating life made the news.


    This probably wasn''t the time to go into it.


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    This left the Cabal descendants--two girls and a guy, something I hadn''t noticed. Somehow I''d stopped paying attention to them once the word Cabal had been applied.


    Light skinned, blond, and slightly overweight, his face wore a slightly confused expression. "I''m Calvin, and I don''t have a codename, but I''m thinking I''ve got to do something with water."


    His jumpsuit had seemed oversized, rolls of red, white and blue material covering each other, but when he finished, it fit. He''d grown, adding another half foot and layers of muscle. His skin tone turned grayish, and his hands and feet grew claws.


    Even his blond hair turned black, and he''d grown gills on his neck.


    Well, that was interesting. The Cabal had people who could do that? We''d never even seen one.


    I wondered if he could speak to fish, but doubted it.


    One of the two girls had dark, slightly frizzy hair with light skin, and freckles. Before she''d changed into the patriotic jumpsuit, she''d been wearing shorts that almost looked like cargo pants, and a black t-shirt. Her lipstick was purple.


    "I''m Paula," she said.


    The other said, "I''m Cindy." Cindy had short brown hair, wore no makeup or jewelry that I could see. The clipped way she''d said her name, and steady gaze gave the impression that she took this completely seriously.


    "And you all know the Heroes League members," Gunther said. "The Rocket, Storm King, Captain Commando, Accelerando, and the Mystic. Now all of you get farther away from each other, and I''ll tell you when you can start."


    Each team walked away from each other until they were about one hundred feet away. Gunther shouted, "That''s good. Right there."


    He held his hands in the air. "When I drop my arms, you can go. I''ll count to three. Oh, and Gifford and Storm King? No tornadoes. One... Two... Three."


    As he brought down his hands, I felt a mental connection between all of us--Daniel, Jaclyn, Vaughn, Cassie, and me.


    Do you feel like you know what you''re going to do? Daniel thought at us.


    He made it easy, I thought back.


    Choosing people with powers like our own? Jaclyn said. That''s what I thought too. We''ve fought each other for two or three years now.


    Except they''re not tired, and we are, Vaughn thought. I can barely move.


    I''m not tired, Cassie responded.


    I could feel everyone''s frustrated pre-response in my head, and so could Cassie.


    Look, I know, she thought back. She was holding back a laugh.


    I''ll pick up the Cabal people, Daniel thought, and the rest of you can pick off everyone else.


    It''s a plan I thought back as Cassie, Vaughn and Jaclyn did the same.


    Gunther''s hands fell to his sides, and I brought up my arms, choosing Gifford as my first target.


    All the muscle in the world wouldn''t help if Paula, Calvin and Cindy didn''t have anything to push against.


    The three Cabal descendants went up into the air as scheduled. I began to fire, picking Gifford as a target as Sofia blurred in our direction.


    Then wind roared and the three people slammed into the ground. Calvin landed on his feet, and leapt toward us.

 Entry Assessment: Part 5

    Calvin flew toward us in the air in a leap that had to be getting extra force from the wind behind him, and he wasn''t alone.


    Cindy and Paula jumped after him.


    It didn''t work out as well as any of them would have expected.


    A beam of iridescent light hit Calvin in the air, surrounding him with sparkles that kept on glowing as he flew toward us.


    Cindy and Paula''s leaps didn''t allow them to close the distance between either. Wind blew them sideways. People along that side of the athletic field scattered.


    I didn''t have time to follow what happened to them. I''d been trying to aim at Gifford. If I''d been fast enough, I might have shot him before he''d broken Daniel''s hold on the group''s heavies.


    As I''d aimed at him, the suit felt surprisingly heavy, and I realized that I was being pulled toward the ground despite the Rocket suit''s strength. I struggled to recover my balance, but as I found it, and tried to target Gifford despite my suddenly heavy body, I heard Daniel''s voice in my head.


    Nick, turn left, and fire... Now.


    I did, realizing only after I''d fired that the blur passing on my left had slowed, resolving into a person--Sofia, their speedster. At almost the same time I realized what had happened.


    I''d fired the paintbot with the exact right timing to have her pass me, and ignore the paintbot, not realizing that unlike normal bullets, my bots turned corners.


    However quickly she ran, it accelerated fast enough to hit her, exploding in a pinkish red splotch across her back.


    Knowing she was out of the fight, I checked the field for opponents. Calvin had hit the ground, and was standing in the middle of the field, still glowing.


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    Paula, her hair flying everywhere, and Cindy, who had pulled her body into a ball, were both still in the air. Blown unpredictably around in the air as if the winds couldn''t decide which direction to go, neither of them looked particularly happy.


    As I scanned the air for Gifford, the same beam that had hit Calvin hit Paula. Ignoring it, I found Gifford hovering high above the field with a sour expression on his face.


    Below him, Jaclyn stood next to Keon''s armor. She''d run through whatever heaviness we''d experienced and tapped him, knocking him out of the fight.


    As I aimed at Gifford, she pulled a grenade off her belt. I fired off more paintbots at about the same time she threw the grenade.


    I couldn''t say for sure who fired first because I was only aware of her out of the corner of my eye.


    Wind whirled around Gifford with enough strength that it probably offered real protection against normal bullets. My paintbots went along with the air currents, turning inward until they hit.


    Jaclyn''s grenade simply powered through and exploded.


    Our utility belts held several different grenades, and she''d used the new one--the one that exploded into sticky goo. Tactically it wasn''t a great choice for hitting a flyer that wasn''t near other people or buildings, but it was a great choice for proving that you could hit someone.


    For example, she could have killed him with a rock, but this merely exploded into sticky grey strands that covered his legs and chest.


    Gunther spoke into his communicator, and our comms said, "It''s over. Everyone to the bleachers."


    It had taken less than a minute.


    After Jaclyn sprayed the strands and they dissolved, everyone sat in the bleachers. Gunther waved us over too.


    It wasn''t bad. It felt good to sit, and bleachers were one of the few places I could sit that weren''t uncomfortable because the rocket pack got in the way.


    Gunther stood in front of the bleachers. "So, what did you get out of that?"


    A first year girl raised her hand. "Don''t fight the Heroes League."


    Gunther flashed a grin at her. "Not bad, but go a little deeper. Why don''t you want to fight the Heroes League? And don''t answer, let someone else get a turn."


    Gifford raised his hand, and Gunther nodded. "It wasn''t fair at all. They''ve been doing this longer, and they''ve got all kinds of stuff. You matched it up with powers, but we weren''t facing powers. We were facing powers plus stuff."


    Gunther laughed. "Exactly. It''s not supposed to be fair. They''ve been training with me for two years now. They made a few mistakes, but basically they did the right thing when fighting you. They had the means to take you out from a distance, and they used it. Closing in to fight with those three," he aimed his finger at Calvin, Paula and Cindy, "is stupid. They''re too hard to damage, so you can''t hurt them. If you manage to hurt them, they regenerate."


    "Nope," Gunther continued. "It''s not fair at all."

 Entry Assessment: Part 6

    Gunther glanced back to the field, and then turned back toward everyone watching him. "But here''s one of the major things you need to get out of this. Fairness is completely irrelevant. This is combat. Fairness is for games. The whole situation is unfair from the beginning. You''re all a bunch of heroes in training. Chances are, you''re not trying to kill them, but they are trying to kill you. Sure, some of them won''t be. Many, even. No matter how many jewelry stores a guy breaks into, he may still have a set of morals that means he won''t kill, but you know what? That doesn''t matter."


    Despite his topic, Gunther managed to sound slightly amused.


    "It doesn''t matter because your average superpowered criminal isn''t well trained. No matter how much he might not want to kill, he doesn''t have the training to pull his punches. He won''t be fair because he lacks the skill.


    "Other guys, the well-trained ones, won''t be fair unless it''s useful to them. If it''s useful to kill you, they''ll do that instead.


    "That''s why rules are one blow and you''re down for so many of the fighters. Smart combatants go with their best chance that offers the least potential for injury, and you might not even know it''s happening until after it''s over."


    He paused, not saying anything for a moment.


    "You need to follow their example--not in killing people, but by fighting intelligently. You''ve seen the news reports and watched the History channel, and seen stories where heroes fight and win against amazing odds. The people in those stories were amazingly skilled or amazingly lucky. You can''t count on luck, and you''re not that skilled yet.


    "What you need to learn is how to fight, and when to fight. Personally, I try to only fight on my terms, and when I''ve stacked the odds in my favor."


    He stopped and waited, saying nothing for few moments longer than it felt comfortable. Then he said, "Got that? If you don''t learn anything else today, remember this: fights don''t have to be fair, and competent people stack the odds in their favor. Be competent. Now let''s talk about how you could have won that fight."


    Giving a small shrug, he said, "Now let''s be honest, I didn''t give you time to talk about it at all, but you made mistakes. First off, you could have controlled the battle field. Gifford controls wind. Keon''s got gravity generation built into his suit. At base levels of competence, you can make it harder to fly, and keep most of the opposing team in one place. If you can do more difficult things like suck the air out of their lungs or hit the opposing team with each other, you''re halfway to winning.


    "Second, running to attack without coordinating it with a gravity strike that kept them in place was a mistake. Leaping to attack them made it even worse. All it takes to get you out of the fight is to get you off the ground. Leaping does half the work for them. If you''d run across the ground, you''d have been faster.


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    "Now let''s go into specifics..."


    From there he went deeply into specifics. I listened for a while, but not the entire time.


    I fell asleep.


    For the record, this isn''t smartest thing to do in armor that allows you to move tons with a strong push.


    I got lucky. I didn''t break anything.


    I woke up on the grass, still in the Rocket suit with Daniel thinking, Nick, wake up, but move slowly, okay?


    That was the most normal thing that had happened in the last three days. When we were kids, it seemed like most summer days had started with a telepathic call to action--sometimes even before I''d gotten out of bed.


    I sensed amusement from him. He''d made the same connection I had, or more likely sensed me making it.


    I moved you off the bleachers. He said. I got worried you might kick in your sleep.


    Remembering Izzy waking up after downing the alien''s ship in New York, I couldn''t help but agree. She''d nearly destroyed the bench she''d been on.


    I''d been one bad dream away from punching a hole in the bleachers and maybe hurting somebody.


    I sat up, and then pulled myself to my feet.


    Daniel, Vaughn, Jaclyn, and Cassie stood next to me. Gunther continued to teach the class.


    "I think he''s going to be a while," Daniel said.


    I had been hoping to talk to Gunther. Plus Haley was in the class. Well, they''d be here all summer. Heck, I''d see them at supper.


    Cassie grinned at me under her blue mask. "Let''s go. I''m sure Haley will be more excited to see you after you shower."


    Most of the upper classes had left already. Izzy stood a little behind the rest of us. I wondered if that was because she''d just come up, or if she still felt a little uncomfortable with the group.


    Feeling stiff, I said, "No kidding, she can smell the Rocket suit on me hours after I last wore it."


    We walked off, talking about the fight, and our workouts. Izzy walked along with the rest of us, talking with Daniel and Jaclyn which didn''t surprise me, and with Vaughn and Cassie--which did.


    As we came close to an opening in the rock, I asked Jaclyn, "So how did you take out Keon? I missed that completely."


    Shrugging, Jaclyn said, "It didn''t take much. He''s not as powerful as Camille, and I can run through her gravity. He couldn''t move quickly enough to keep me in his machine''s field for more than a second. I reached him, and I punched a hole in his armor."


    I stared.


    "Hey," Jaclyn said, "it wasn''t hard. Besides, I gave him a chance to avoid it, and he didn''t believe me. Gunther''s rules didn''t say what I had to do against him to win, so I did what I needed to."


    Not long after that we walked into the rocky hill and the lowest level of the compound''s parking garage. From there we took an elevator up to our rooms. Once there, I took a shower, and put on normal clothes.


    It didn''t surprise me to find Izzy in the room with Daniel as I walked out of the bathroom. He''d warned me telepathically during my shower. It was alright. I''d taken my clothes into the bathroom anyway.


    They sat next to each other on his bed, not touching, but not by much.


    They''d turned on the TV to SuperTV. SuperTV wasn''t much of a world news channel normally. They were more likely to cover Guardian''s most recent costume change.


    The television showed a burning building, or buildings. It was hard to say. I almost asked where it was, but the bar at the bottom right said "Merv, Turkmenistan."


    That figured. After the death of Turkmenistan''s president for life, a superhuman group had taken over the country a few years ago.


    To judge from the burning, all was not well.

 Burning: Part 1

    People were talking about Turkmenistan the next day. Around noon, Haley and I were sitting in the compound''s cafeteria with Camille, one of Haley¡¯s friends and a Heroes League recruit. We¡¯d taken the van to Castle Rock¡¯s Catholic church¡ªSt. Francis of Assisi.


    I still wasn¡¯t sure if that had been a good idea.


    We¡¯d gone as ourselves, and not in costume. All it would have taken to blow our identities was pictures placing us near the very well publicized Stapledon summer program while the Rocket wasn¡¯t appearing much in Grand Lake.


    Still, the Castle Rock church was on the list of churches that the program said were safe, so we went.


    Don¡¯t ask me what made them safe. Given the program¡¯s reliance on mental blocks for it¡¯s students, I probably wouldn¡¯t be happy to know.


    Camille put down her fork. ¡°So what¡¯s going on in Turkmenistan? I overheard people talking about it, and haven¡¯t had a chance to ask anybody because nobody was up when I got up. Back home we go to the eleven o¡¯clock mass. I can¡¯t believe you dragged me to the nine-thirty.¡±


    Dark haired with light brown skin, Camille still wore the blue dress she¡¯d worn to church. She didn¡¯t look particularly angry. Smiling brightly for a moment, she said, ¡°So, Turkmenistan?¡±


    I didn¡¯t know. I¡¯d seen the news, but the brief touch I¡¯d had with Daniel¡¯s mind last night told me I didn¡¯t know half of what I needed to.


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°all I know is that since after their last president some kind of supergroup took over. Only now there¡¯s some kind of resistance to their rule, and last night their fire guy burned down a few city blocks trying to take out the opposition. It got attention because it was all residential, so he killed hundreds of people.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s awful. Is the government doing anything about it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Not yet, anyway.¡± I looked down at my plate. Today¡¯s lunch turned out to be some kind of curry with beef in a reddish sauce over rice. It wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d order, but even if it was a little spicy, it was good¡ªwhatever it was.


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    Haley shook her head. ¡°No. They¡¯re not doing anything. It doesn¡¯t seem like they ever do anything with that.¡±


    Camille glanced to the right and left of us. None of the people at the other tables appeared to be watching us. Lowering her voice, she asked, ¡°What about people here? Are they going to do something?¡±


    I opened my mouth to explain, but didn¡¯t get the chance. Haley said, ¡°It¡¯s another one.¡±


    I turned to look at her. ¡°Another what?¡±


    Haley¡¯s lips tightened. ¡°Another thing they wouldn¡¯t know unless they grew up in the League.¡±


    I considered pointing out that none of us had technically grown up in the League since the League hadn¡¯t existed since 1983 when our grandparents had dissolved it. I didn¡¯t, because while true, we¡¯d all grown up around our grandparents. Camille¡¯s grandfather had been a follower of Red Lightning¡ªa supervillain by that point.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s supposed to be public knowledge.¡±


    Camille¡¯s eyes darted between Haley and I. ¡°As cute as it is that both of you know what you¡¯re talking about, I still don¡¯t.¡±


    Haley sighed and looked like she might be trying to think of a way to explain.


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s that heroes don¡¯t operate outside the United States without permission. It never really makes the situation better. Even when US vigilantes ignore the government¡¯s opinion, everyone assumes they¡¯re working for the US anyway. Except then the government¡¯s got to step in and clean up their messes. At that point, you¡¯re basically letting people with powers set the US¡¯s foreign policy. That¡¯s not a good thing, So, the government and all the major hero organizations have an arrangement that vigilante justice stops at the water¡¯s edge.¡±


    Camille cocked her head and looked at me. ¡°Well, that does explain things, but I can¡¯t believe that vigilantes like Vengeance would follow directions like that.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°They don¡¯t, but if they don¡¯t, they often find they get visits from US heroes who beat the crap out of them. Plus, I hear that even the ones that can¡¯t possibly be working for the US have some kind of secret arrangement with our government or a friendly government.¡±


    Camille didn¡¯t say anything for a moment, but then she said, ¡°So then the resistance in Turkmenistan might be ours.¡±


    Haley and I both looked at each other. Haley said, ¡°I don¡¯t think so¡ª¡° At same time, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t think any of them are US citizens. Anyway I¡¯ve never heard that anyone¡¯s gone over there¡­¡±


    Camille didn¡¯t let either of us finish. ¡°I hope someone does. What¡¯s the use of having abilities like this, and not being able to do something about the really bad things in the world?¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± a voice said. I didn¡¯t recognize it.


    When I turned my head toward its source, I saw a big blond guy that could have been used for Nazi recruitment posters or to play Captain America in a movie. Weird, how they both went after the same look.


    He was holding a tray of food, and wore a dark pink buttoned down shirt and a black tie that hinted he might have gone to church too. ¡°Mind if I sit down?¡±


    At that moment I recognized him as an upperclassman even if I didn¡¯t know his name.


    ¡°I¡¯m Gordon,¡± he said. ¡°You fought my younger brother Gifford yesterday.¡±

 Burning: Part 2

    "Go ahead," I said. "We''re not saving space for anybody."


    Even if we had been, there were plenty of spaces on either side of us. Gordon sat down.


    He''d loaded his tray down with breakfast food--french toast, eggs, sausages, bacon, hash browns, fruit salad and a chunk of beef.


    Evidently he was one of those supers who needed more food than average.


    "Great job, by the way," he said. "I watched yesterday''s fight. After all of that running, you still took them down practically before the fight began. I want to say I could have done the same, but those Cabal students put a wrench into things. I''m an aerokinetic like my younger brother, and you''d think I could throw them into the air and keep them there, but if they ever touch and push off each other all bets are off."


    "Thanks," I said. "I was a little worried you might be angry or something."


    "At you?" Gordon clapped me on the back. "Don''t worry about it. Gifford needs to learn some humility. He''s been talking and talking about this with his friends. I think he expected to be ruling the roost by now."


    I didn''t know what to say to that, so I didn''t say anything. Gordon didn''t need any encouragement to keep talking though.


    "Besides, it''s better that Gifford learns he can lose here than during a fight. Even better that he learns that someone with no powers at all can take him out."


    I wasn''t sure I liked how he''d said that, but I couldn''t put my finger on why, and he''d already started talking again.


    "I''m not saying you''re not tough, but you''re only really a threat when you''re in that armor. Gifford needs to learn that technology makes up for a lot--even regular technology, and you''re far ahead of that."


    "He''s got more going for him than technology," Haley said. "He''s been training with Gunther for years."


    She could have added that I''d also been trained in tactics by an alien battle simulation AI, but I was grateful she hadn''t. It was probably best that people didn''t know about that.


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    "That counts for a lot, I''m sure," he said. "And you are?"


    "Haley," she said. "And also Night Cat."


    "Oh," he said, glancing at me, and probably remembering that Night Cat and the Rocket were together. "Interesting, I should have guessed you''d be here, but your class is enormous. With all the kids whose powers were activated by Nick''s grandfather''s machine, one more person--even if they''re a Heroes League member--gets lost in the shuffle."


    "I know," Haley said. "I still haven''t even met your brother."


    Gordon nodded. "I believe you." Looking across the table toward Camille, he said, "I know I haven''t seen you before."


    She grinned at him. "I''ve seen you. You were guiding groups upstairs when I came in. I''m Camille. When I work with the Heroes League, I use Gravitystar. I used to be in a group some friends started called Justice Fist."


    "Justice Fist?" Gordon shook his head. "It sounds familiar, but I don''t remember the group."


    Camille waved it past with one hand. "Don''t worry about it. We weren''t together very long."


    With that, we all settled into eating.


    After a minute of that Camille asked, "Are you and Gifford descended from anyone we''ve heard of?"


    Gordon finished chewing his sausage, and said, "That depends. Have you ever heard of Moonglider?"


    "No kidding?" I stopped eating, thinking back to what I knew of that hero. "I didn''t know he had powers. I always assumed he used some kind of anti-gravity technology, or, I don''t know, really good glider technology. Knowing that he was an aerokinetic explains things. He was a lot weaker than either of you, right?"


    Gordon nodded. "He could keep himself in the air, and direct his glider suit, but not much else. He used weapons to fight, not air. I''m surprised you''ve heard of him. He was only active for about ten years, and stopped when I was born."


    I shrugged. "It''s not too big a surprise. I saw plans with his name on them in Grandpa''s files. He must have designed some of your father''s devices. If he didn''t, Moonglider at least asked Grandpa for a quote."


    Gordon nodded slowly. "That explains it. Dad made his own suit, but he wasn''t really an inventor. I had no idea where his devices came from. It makes sense that some of them are Rocket tech. Do you want to see them sometime? A few of them need to be fixed."


    "Is that going to be okay with your dad? If he''s not doing this anymore, he might want to leave his stuff the way it was during his last fight or something."


    Gordon shook his head. "Don''t worry about it. My dad''s dead. He got hit by a car and died a few years ago."


    Camille said, "I''m sorry to hear that," before I managed to get anything out. I did add, "Me too," before he said, "Thanks. We all miss him. Gifford and I are hoping to do right by him in the program."


    He looked us over. "What do you think about Turkmenistan? With everything they''ve been doing against their own people lately, I think someone ought to go in and take out the regime."

 Burning: Part 3

    Camille nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯d overthrow a country, but it would be nice to be able to do something. I don''t know how many people the regime killed, but it''s a lot."


    She glanced over at Haley and me. "Right?"


    "Hundreds last night," Haley said. "That''s what the TV was saying when I turned it on."


    Gordon nodded slowly. "Thousands over the last few weeks. Look, I know we''re not going to do it, but we''ve got the power to end it right here--definitely in the room, but maybe even at this table."


    I looked up at down the table from the side where the sun streamed in, bringing out the redness in the rocks all the way to the far wall where the stained rocks glistened.


    I guessed there might be fifty people at the table. He had a point there. Fifty people with powers could do some damage.


    Not that the world needed or wanted more damage.


    I stopped eating, and looked at him. ¡°Are you sure it needs to be us? The government officials handling this might have a good reason for what they¡¯re doing? Plus maybe there¡¯s more going on than we know of. Maybe we¡¯ve already got people on the ground, and the news can¡¯t report it because they don¡¯t know either.¡±


    Gordon tilted his head. ¡°You think we¡¯ve got a mission going there already?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe there¡¯s lots of diplomatic communication going on right now, or maybe they¡¯re not going in for a reason?¡±


    He nodded at me, but this nod was less of an ¡°I¡¯m listening¡± nod, and more of a ¡°prove it¡± nod.


    I wasn¡¯t in any position to prove it either. When Daniel and I had talked about it last night, he¡¯d mentioned that his dad thought Turkmenistan¡¯s regime worked with the Nine.


    That wasn¡¯t something I felt I could pass on.


    Gordon started talking before I felt tempted in any case. ¡°It might be that they do have a reason, but it may be that they¡¯re not all that good at it. Think about it, for all the supervillains we¡¯ve had, I¡¯d say the worst people in history have been normal humans¡ªHitler, Stalin, and who knows how many others? They commanded supers, but it¡¯s not like supers came up with the ideas, you know?"


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    Gordon leaned back in his chair. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re smarter than most of those guys.¡±


    ¡°Could be,¡± I said, ¡°but I¡¯m pretty sure I don¡¯t want to run a country. If people wanted ideas about how to make things work better, I¡¯d offer suggestions, but beyond that I¡¯m not.¡±


    Gordon waved my objection away. ¡°That¡¯s not my point. You might not be interested in running a country, but some supers must be. I bet they¡¯d do a better job of it too. What¡¯s too bad is that they never try. I¡¯d bet Guardian¡¯s popular enough to make a serious run for office if he ever retires from the Defenders and wanted to. He¡¯s far from the only one.¡±


    Next to me, Haley listened with an odd expression on her face. ¡°Are you sure it would work? To me it seems like leading people in a fight is completely different from running a government. I¡¯ve led people in fights, and I wouldn¡¯t have any idea how to become president. My dad runs a small corporation, and he told me it¡¯s not the same thing, but that still sounds closer than running a superhero team.¡±


    Gordon shook his head as if wishing away Haley¡¯s questions. ¡°It¡¯s different. Totally different. Someone like Guardian¡¯s been in the public eye for years. He¡¯s talked with presidents. People like you and me are small timers. He¡¯s been around forever. People at his level have got the skills they need.¡±


    Another voice broke in. ¡°What are you talking about? Something boring?¡±


    Tara, another upperclassman, stood next to the table with a tray of food. As tall as I was, or maybe a little taller, Tara had a square jaw, and blonde, shoulder length hair. She wore yoga pants and a red University of Missouri hoodie.


    Her hair was still slightly wet. Hopefully that meant she¡¯d recently gotten up as opposed to showering after a workout.


    It still hurt me to move.


    Camille said, ¡°Gordon thinks supers should rule the world.¡± She said it with a grin and glance at Gordon that made it clear to me that she was teasing him as much as answering.


    Tara¡¯s expression hardened, and she said, ¡°No. Not a good idea.¡±


    Then she walked away.


    Gordon blinked, and Camille watched her walk away, whispering to Haley, ¡°Did I say something wrong?¡±


    Haley said, ¡°No,¡± but bit her lip as she glanced over toward the table where Tara sat down alone.


    Gordon got up with his food. ¡°I should go say something to her.¡±


    Then he left.


    Camille looked from Haley to me. ¡°What happened there?¡±


    Haley said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but remember how the leader of the St. Louis Defenders group died last year when we were there? That was her father.¡±


    Camille¡¯s brows wrinkled. ¡°How does that go together with supers taking over?¡±


    ¡°I can answer that one,¡± I said. My sister Rachel had told me the story. ¡°She comes from another universe where genetically engineered supers took over and destroyed every last normal human. Her mother and father come from different strains of those supers. They killed her mother because they didn¡¯t like that she¡¯d created a mixed child. She grew up on the run with her father.¡±


    Camille stared.


    ¡°I¡¯m guessing,¡± I said, ¡°but I think that¡¯s it.¡±

 Burning: Part 4

    Camille grimaced. "That''s horrible. That shouldn''t happen to anyone."


    She turned, following Tara with her eyes to where she sat. Gordon stood next to her. I couldn''t hear him, but from the expression on his face I guessed he must be apologizing.


    Tara''s face didn''t show any emotion, and after a moment Gordon left.


    Camille let out a breath, and shook her head. "We should do something for her."


    I found myself imagining it as an episode of a a children''s cartoon--"My Little Pony" or something. Camille would throw a party for her, and Tara would say, "Thanks Camille, now I don''t feel bad about my dead parents anymore!"


    Come to think of it, that sounded more like the Simpsons satirizing children''s cartoons.


    I felt relieved that Daniel wasn''t within range because that did border on some kind of insensitivity.


    Then I caught a sideways glance from Haley. She''d obviously noticed something.


    I tried not to respond. Haley raised an eyebrow, and turned her attention back to Camille who was saying, "What? Did I miss something?"


    I shook my head. "No. I was just thinking there wasn''t much we could do that would equal out to everything that''s happened to her."


    Camille frowned and she said, "Does she have friends?"


    I tried to remember. "The upperclassmen are all pretty close, I think. Their class can''t be more than twenty people. Plus, she''s friends with my sister Rachel and a couple other people. They got kidnapped together on a field trip once."


    Camille blinked, and said, "A Stapledon field trip?"


    I nodded. "Yeah, I don''t think they want that spread around. Actually, I think Tara''s background is well known among the upperclassmen, but we probably ought to be careful about passing it around to everyone else."


    Haley looked up from her hand. The small spike of a dewclaw withdrew into her palm. "You know how I worry about my body when I change? If her background got out to the public, that would be worse."


    I thought about that, wondering how many supers had overheard. Probably not all that many, and with the mental block the program put in no one would be able to tell the public.


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    I hoped no one would treat her differently inside the program if it got out. Of course, if anybody were to get treated badly, I''d half expect it would be the Cabal students. Family members of the student body had been killed or hurt by the Cabal.


    * * *


    Sunday turned into Monday, and Monday morning found the entire school down at the tracks exercising.


    It was tough, but not as tough as we''d experienced on Saturday. That surprised many in the crowd (even first years had heard about what happened on Saturday).


    They didn''t have it all wrong, but anyone who had paid attention during the lecture before the workout knew why it had happened.


    I had, and because of that I knew that stress played a big role in driving people toward higher levels of power. Dr. Nation had explained that unpredictable stress made the difference. Doing the same exact thing every day wouldn''t be unpredictable.


    That''s how I found myself running a reasonable distance at reasonable speed. It felt cool at first--fifty degrees when we started, but not cold. Plus, fifty degree temperatures weren''t bad for running, anyway, it got into the seventies by the end of the morning.


    I generally ran three or four days a week, so while Saturday''s workout had been a challenge, it hadn''t been as bad as 25K runs I''d done.


    All of which meant that for me, long distance running gave me time to think.


    I''d been thinking about what Gordon had said. I didn''t waste my time on the idea that supers should be running the government. That was obviously idiotic.


    What hung around in my head was the idea of taking action in Turkmenistan.


    It wasn''t theoretical. I could personally do it, and not just there, but in hotspots across the world. The most obvious ways to do it were with killbots and with the League jet. There weren''t a lot of buildings that could stand against prolonged assault from the jet''s main guns. There weren''t a lot of people who could survive an attack by a killbot.


    Ignoring the fact that I''d be setting up a program of personal assassination against anyone who violated my sense of what''s right, it had the obvious problem of inspiring worldwide terror among world leaders who might correctly realize that they could be targeted too.


    You could even choose the targets to be people like Turkmenistan''s leaders--people with a record of killing their own citizens. At that point, you could almost argue self-defense.


    Again though, at that point, you''d still have a much higher profile than I''d want, and inspire too much fear (not to mention an inevitable reaction) to do long term good.


    Plus, of course, justified or not, actions like that would make me a supervillain in the eyes of people I respected.


    If I wanted to stop a foreign regime from killing it''s own people, I''d want to go another route--something more subtle.


    I''d want to infect their armed forces with nanobots that could make their vehicles and guns stop working. Why stop there? At that point, I might as well find ways to take over their national infrastructure.


    Imagine being able to arrange it such that a regime''s leader''s vehicles always hit red lights or never got hot water or a warm meal?


    At that point the world would mostly be laughing at the leader in question, especially if you chose your "attacks" carefully, and didn''t make all of the humiliations public.


    It wouldn''t automatically work but it sounded better than killing people.


    I spent most of the run imaging ideas and planning out the devices I''d need to implement them.


    That''s how I ran then--breathing heavily, but putting one foot in front of the other, and imagining a series of big pranks that I never seriously intended to put into practice.


    It wasn''t a surprise then when Daniel started laughing inside my head.

 Burning: Part 5

    The laughter faded, leaving me with a strong sense of Daniel¡¯s presence plus a hint of both amusement and tiredness.


    I was with him on all of the above.


    That¡¯s a better way to go than going over and taking over a country. It¡¯s nice to fantasize about, but at core when someone does that, they¡¯re assuming that they know better than all the people that live in that country. Plus, it¡¯s a sovereignty thing. Countries have rights, or at least they ought to.


    I looked around to find him. Daniel was faster than I was, but his range couldn¡¯t cover the entire track from what I remembered.


    I checked in front of me, seeing other runners, but not him.


    Behind, Daniel said, and I turned my head all the way around, seeing Daniel on the curve half a lap behind me.


    My range is improving.


    I suspected he was right. I didn¡¯t think he could have managed a connection this solid from that distance last year.


    Yeah, I thought back. Concentrating on keeping my pace consistent even though Daniel was on his way to lapping me.


    Daniel thought back, Sorry. Dr. Nation said to run as quickly as you felt comfortable.


    Got it, I thought back. I didn¡¯t have a problem with him lapping me. Not really. I did find it a little annoying that I was slow enough to be lapped by people with fully human physical abilities like myself, but after spending four years on the cross country team, and three on the track team in high school, I knew I should be used to it.


    Daniel had always been exceptionally athletic anyway¡ªprovided you compared him to people with fully human athletic potential.


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    Daniel said, I like the idea of causing the dictator to doubt his own sanity. The only bad point is that he might take it out on the country. Even if he doesn¡¯t blame the country, he¡¯d probably blame his guards and anyone who he worked with in the presidential palace.


    Not stopping or slowing, I continued to run. Daniel had a point. I didn¡¯t want to kill anybody, and causing a dictator of a country to wonder about their sanity had a depressingly good chance of doing that.


    Worse it might trigger something on a large scale. I definitely didn¡¯t want that. A pogrom against his own people that wouldn¡¯t have happened without my meddling wasn¡¯t something I wanted to be responsible for.


    Except for that, Daniel said, I¡¯m okay with butting in. There are always going to be countries that are acting too quickly for the international community to get together and take action. What I¡¯d do is make it hard if not impossible for them to ignore. You know how you sent in the roachbots and had them record everything the mayor said? And remember how we almost released things he said, but ultimately didn¡¯t?¡±


    I sent him a feeling of agreement, continuing with, we didn¡¯t because your dad wasn¡¯t impressed with the material I¡¯d gathered. He didn¡¯t think it was enough.


    Right, Daniel thought back to me. My dad¡¯s got a good sense of that kind of thing. What I think we ought to do is something like that. Record them, and release the recordings in a way that removes their support. If they¡¯re popular because of support from the poor, release statements where the say bad things about the poor. If they rule with support from the country¡¯s generals, release recordings of them badmouthing the generals that make their rule possible.


    I sent back to him. Are you saying I should actually do this? You were laughing at the idea of doing things to them, but this is a whole new thing. You know how going the other way could result in people dying? This could too. I can¡¯t see any way it wouldn¡¯t.


    Daniel¡¯s feelings came through our link¡ªtiredness mostly, but also thoughtfulness, and a little fear.


    I know, he thought at me, it¡¯s a risk, but I¡¯ve got ideas about to how to make it less risky. After we¡¯ve got what we need, we give it to the government or some super we respect like my dad or someone else. Then we abide by their decision. That way it¡¯s not all us.


    I nodded, and then remembered to give the mental impression of nodding instead. I like that idea better than mine. I don¡¯t want to be the person who throws a country into chaos¡ªat least not without input from people older and wiser, you know?

 Burning: Part 6

    Any idea who we''d tell? I continued running, wondering if anyone was noticing the conversation.


    It wasn''t as if we were cheating.


    Still, there were telepaths out there who could listen in on conversations like this. Even if people agreed with the idea, one unknown listener was one too many.


    I felt agreement from Daniel at that unarticulated thought. Then he answered my question.


    I''m thinking my dad would be best. I wouldn''t be surprised if he''s even done something like it before. Daniel thought at me, and I felt his mind going in several directions--images of his dad when he was younger and working for military intelligence, and of his mom who had done the same job but for Israel.


    With both of them being telepaths and her with a variation on that talent that intelligence agencies would love, I could only guess what sort of jobs they''d collaborated on.


    This is one of those ''better to ask forgiveness than permission'' things,  Daniel thought at me. We shouldn''t tell them till we''ve got something good.


    I agreed.


    Not long after that we were told to stop. I wasn''t completely dead which was nice for a change.


    Since exercise didn''t take up most of the day like it had on Saturday, we were introduced to the classes we''d be taking--search and rescue, and of course, combat training.


    The last course of the day was the elective. The Stapledon program didn''t have a lot of choices, but it did allow people to specialize. I''d specialized in technology.


    So around three o''clock in the afternoon I found myself walking into the program''s labs. Located on the foothill''s first level with the parking garage, the labs were a suite of rooms, all of them fairly large.


    For example, mine was large enough that it fit the van. I''d parked it in the corner, but the lab had a wide, retractable door that allowed access to the parking garage. That wasn''t all though. The lab also contained all the fabrication machines, 3-d printers, and other tools I''d said I''d need.


    I''d opened up a spot for Rocket suit to sit (as a block) next to my desk, and I''d already covered the table in the middle of the room with roachbot parts.


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    I stepped inside through the human sized door to the side of the van''s entrance into my lab, set the Rocket suit to disassemble, and walked out of my lab into the main area.


    A big square, the main room stood in the middle of labs like mine. Strange machines filled half the room--an enormous organ with huge gears that would have fit in on the cover of a steampunk novel, unknown blocky devices of alien, greenish-gray metal, a group of orbs that circled the room near the ceiling, but sometimes swooped down.


    I passed those machines and more until I reached the middle of the room where someone had set up thirty normal desks.


    Wearing a dark green suit, Dr. Nation sat in a chair next to a clear pane of glass approximately as wide as the front of the classroom.


    I didn''t recognize very many people at all.


    Keon sat behind a desk in a normal looking wheelchair--except that a dark box hung in the normally empty space under that seat.


    A few seats down from him in the front sat Courtney--which was a surprise. I hadn''t know what she''d be picking for her elective class this semester, or her specialization.


    I sat down in the empty seat to her right. "I didn''t expect to see you here."


    "I don''t know why not," she said. "I don''t know how to do anything else. I know the obvious thing would be to take the track where they teach you how to be a spy, but whatever I look like now, I don''t think I can do that. I''m not that good with people."


    I started to say, "I don''t think you''re bad with people," but Dr. Nation interrupted me.


    "Welcome everyone. I hope you all had a chance to take a look at your lab yesterday. If there''s anything you feel you need that we''ve missed, talk to me and we''ll see if we can provide it."


    He grinned at the class. "Now I''m sure many of you only know me as the sadistic bastard who came up with the workout schedule, but I''m more than that. In this class, we''re all going to have time to get to know each other better. As the professor, I hope you''ll excuse me for going first."


    Smiling through his mustache, he said, "I''m Dr. Frederick Nation. I''ve lived all over the country, but longest and most often in San Francisco. In the 1970''s, I experienced a vision of myself as a burrito themed superhero, and quickly constructed the costume and weapons of Yellow Burrito."


    Pausing, he made a quick sweep of the classroom with his eyes.


    "I''d been a bright child, but I''d never done anything along those lines--creating technology out of nowhere without years of development. Some of you have had this experience. It was both disorienting and amazing. Soon enough, I''d begun to make a name for myself in San Francisco and a few years later I was an apprentice to the original Rocket. The Heroes League had a program where they trained supers."


    He caught my eye as he said, "It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I hope this program can be one of yours."


    After that he went into more detail about what we''d be doing for the summer, ending with, "After class I''m going to ask you individually about your summer project, so don''t leave."


    After he finished and we''d introduced ourselves, we all lined up to speak to him. I knew that I''d be working on the technology I''d used in the new Rocket suit and the van, so I spent much of that time thinking about Turkmenistan.


    I doubted that I''d be able to get away from school long enough to fly over with the League jet and distribute roachbots. That mean that I''d have to find another way.


    I wondered if any of my fellow students could help.

 Burning: Part 7

    I wondered if anyone in the program could match Guardian. I''d heard that he wasn''t even limited to this dimension in his abilities. Brooke, his daughter (who I actually knew better) was limited to a few miles last I''d heard.


    Last year we''d tracked down Chancy Harris, and even if he wasn''t in Guardian''s league, he appeared to be able to send people hundreds or even thousands of miles easily.


    The impression I''d gotten when we met him though was that he wasn''t all that fussy about his customers. Case in point, he''d actually been working for aliens who turned out to be trying to destroy humanity last spring.


    Bearing in mind that what we''d be doing was likely to draw adult disapproval whether they ultimately decided to help or not, his lack of strong convictions might be a plus. He struck me as the kind of guy who would keep his mouth shut if you paid your bill.


    Of course, he hadn''t seemed to like us much the last time we''d met him. He''d disappeared after sending us to meet his clients, and it wouldn''t surprise me if he blamed us for the loss of a paying client.


    Still, he was an option. Bearing in mind that his prices were probably high though, I might be better off finding a student who would do it for free.


    Come to think of it, we might be able to pull Izzy in. I didn''t know how quickly she could fly, but the impression I got was that she could make it halfway across the planet and back before anyone realized she''d left.


    Provided I could control the bots from here or allow them to act independently enough that I didn''t need to pay attention, that could work out. She could fly there, release them, and be done with it.


    I''d have to do some research on what kind of powers the supers in Turkmenistan had. Then I''d need to design bots that they couldn''t casually catch.


    Depending on their powers, roachbots might not even be a practical solution, and I''d actually have to think.


    About the time I''d come to that conclusion, I reached the front of the line.


    Dr. Nation sat in one of the chairs, holding a tablet in one hand, and tapping on the screen with another. Not stopping, he said, "Pardon me. Just a moment. I''ve got to get this down before I forget."


    When he did stop, he looked up from the screen and said, "So Nick, where are we with the nanobots?"


    "Still working on the van, and I''ve got some ideas for the suit. That said, I''ve been doing costume replacements for the group, and that''s been going pretty well. It''s easy to work up something that covers a person''s body and has their logo and colors. Once you get past that, things get more complicated. With Jaclyn''s costume, I''m trying to solve a problem. She can jump tall buildings and everything, but she can''t control where she comes down. The obvious solution is a small rocket pack and maneuvering jets, but she''d prefer not to have anything like that. Actually, she''d prefer wings, and the ability to glide. I don''t feel like that''s the best solution, but I can see where it might make sense to her."


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    Dr. Nation listened, nodding as I talked, and then chuckled. "Ah, yes. Client relationships, the hard part off the job. Well Nick, I''ll try to coach you on that, but, most of that you''ll have to learn on your own. For now, let''s talk about your short term goals. Chances are you''ll be working with the nanobots for the rest of your life. What do you want to accomplish in the next two months?"


    I thought about it. "I..." I began, and then stopped. Then I started again. "I''ve been thinking lately that with all the bots I''m using, I can''t fit everything I might need in the Rocket suit. I''ve been thinking about it as an aircraft carrier lately, but what I need are actual aircraft carriers--roachbot carriers. Essentially floating, quick moving, armored supply platforms."


    Paying attention to my surroundings again, I looked up at him. He nodded.


    "What sort of power source?" He asked.


    "I don''t know," I said, and shrugged. "I assume batteries, but fusion would be better if I could do it."


    Dr. Nation gave a wry grin. "A working fusion plant that isn''t an obvious copy of the Xiniti''s design would be nice. I hear one''s only twenty years away."


    He paused, and I laughed a little. Wasn''t it always?


    In the back of my mind (and not for the first time), I wondered if the requirement that Earth come up with all its own equivalents to galactic technology for power and interstellar travel might not be a way to prevent us from ever leaving our planet.


    "Right," I said. "Plus, even beyond annoying aliens, making a fusion plant small enough would be a major challenge."


    Dr. Nation nodded. "Let''s assume batteries then. How will they fly?"


    "Anti-grav. Here I''m going to use alien tech if I have to, Oh, and before you ask, one of the big issues is likely going to be controlling it from a distance, so that''s what I ought to work on first."


    He nodded. "You might not have to rely on alien tech. As I know you''re aware, Keon''s using anti-grav, and I believe he came up with his own system."


    I glanced over at Keon. He''d stopped next to the exit, talking to people I didn''t know, still sitting in his wheelchair.


    "It sounds like a good project. It will likely take you longer than the time we have--especially given everything else you''re doing, but putting together a long distance remote control system will pay dividends in a variety of projects."


    I couldn''t argue with him there. That was a large part of the point. Hoping I hadn''t revealed any cues that would hint at my other project, I nodded.


    Then my turn was over, and Courtney sat in the chair I''d vacated. I considered talking to Keon, but he''d left.


    I walked away from the desk, but stayed close enough that I overheard part of Courtney''s talk with Dr. Nation.


    "My project," she said, "would kind of be me? I can change how I look, but that''s only part of what I can do. I can modify what''s inside, but I don''t know how far I can go. Can I make poisons? I can make my hearing better and improve my night vision, but could I breath underwater? Or give myself sonar? I don''t know, but I want to find out, and I want to do it here where people can help me if I make a mistake."


    She looked up at Dr. Nation. "It''s so easy to shift myself around, but there''s no owner''s manual for my powers, and the changes are permanent. I don''t know where to start, but I thought I might start with the poisons because I''m a chemistry major, and at least that''s something I know..."


    They went on talking after that, but from that point on it was mostly Dr. Nation pushing her to narrow down her focus--which was interesting. I knew Courtney could change more than looks, but her power sounded like it was much more flexible than I''d imagined.


    I thought she''d talked about making her skin bulletproof, but the idea of breathing underwater felt like one step further than I would have expected.


    I would have listened in a little longer, but my phone beeped.


    Pulling it out of my pocket, I clicked a button and learned that it wasn''t a call. The news alert I''d set in case there was more Turkmenistan news had notified me that the regime had executed a democracy activist.

 Burning: Part 8

    I read the article on my phone. The dead activist had a name I couldn¡¯t pronounce, attended a university in Turkmenistan, majored in engineering, and had been twenty years old.


    That boggled my mind. He¡¯d been only a year older than I was.


    According to the regime, he¡¯d been executed for treason.


    The article didn¡¯t go into any great detail about what he¡¯d actually been doing except to note that he¡¯d organized students to protest after the regime¡¯s recent actions.


    It shouldn¡¯t have surprised me. You saw that kind of thing in the news all the time. For that matter, if you were going to see it anywhere, you¡¯d expect to see it under the sort of regime that would burn down city blocks.


    Still, I found myself staring at the phone until its screen went black.


    I wasn¡¯t sure I was comfortable with political dirty tricks like strategically releasing the worst footage of the regime available. I felt like the best thing I could do would be to leave the regime no secrets.


    Daniel had mentioned that it might be connected to the Nine. That could come out with everything the regime had done, all the places it had buried the bodies, its weapons and its long term plans.


    I wasn¡¯t sure how that would stop anything though. Still, it would do something. I hoped it would be a good thing.


    One thing was for sure, though, I wasn¡¯t going to be attaching the Rocket or the Heroes League to it. It seemed like the kind of thing that ought to be secret at first--though I couldn¡¯t help but see the irony there.


    Courtney got up from her chair, and Dr. Nation called up the next student.


    She walked up to me as I stuffed the phone back into my pocket. Her expression struck me as somewhere between thoughtful and excited¡ªnot jumping around or anything, but excited nonetheless.


    Grinning, she walked over to me with a little more speed than she had to.


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    ¡°I am so relieved,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s alright with letting me work on modifying my body even though I¡¯m not creating a device, and I¡¯m mostly just figuring out how to give myself more powers.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°you¡¯re doing the same thing as the rest of us. It¡¯s just that all your materials are internal. Besides I heard what you told him. There isn¡¯t an owner¡¯s manual. It¡¯s not like you have any feeling for what will work and what won¡¯t, so it makes sense.¡±


    ¡°I know, but teachers aren¡¯t always that flexible. You know that.¡±


    I nodded, remembering how my chemistry advisor hadn¡¯t wanted to let me double major in chemistry and electrical engineering. He wasn¡¯t wrong. It would be a bad idea for most people.


    It worked out in the end, but mostly because I¡¯d qualified to skip so many classes that he couldn¡¯t say no.


    As we left the room, walking toward the elevators so we could get up to the residential floors, she asked, ¡°What¡¯s your project?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ The short term one is distance control of my roachbots, but the long term one is essentially floating weapons and repair platforms. You know how the Rocket suit¡¯s self-repairing these days? I used nanobots, but not the kind that might accidentally turn the whole world into grey goo. That means that I¡¯ve got to keep material around for repairs and a way to get it to me. It also wouldn¡¯t hurt to have backup in case I get into trouble. Thus, my project.¡±


    We talked about each others¡¯ projects all the way up the elevators and only stopped when she got off on her floor.


    Alone in the elevator as I went up to the next floor, I realized that it had been a good thing. Even in college, I couldn¡¯t talk about science. I always had to stop before I passed the current limits of our science, or even the limits of what even a brilliant student should know.


    With Courtney, and eventually everyone else in the technology program, I could just talk.


    I stepped out of the elevator to find Izzy sitting in one of the chairs in the open lounge nearby. She looked up from the book she was reading, and waved at me.


    She wore street clothes¡ªjeans and a red shirt. Her glasses seemed to obscure half her face. She¡¯d pulled her hair into a ponytail. It appeared to be wet like she¡¯d just come from a shower.


    Interestingly, she slumped in the seat like she might actually be tired.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°what are you doing here?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m done for the day. I thought I¡¯d wait for Daniel, or maybe just read. This is the only lounge without a television, and wherever there¡¯s a television, they keep on showing Turkmenistan. It¡¯s frustrating. If I were at school, I could do something about it. We¡¯ve got an Amnesty International group and we organize and try to raise awareness. Here, I feel helpless.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, thinking back to the problem of getting my roachbots to Turkmenistan, ¡°Daniel and I were talking about that too. We think we might have an idea for how to help. It''s a little like raising awareness.¡±

 Off Campus: Part 1

    Izzy looked up at me, raising her eyebrow a little. Knowing how powerful her hearing was (powerful enough that it was actually sonar), I knew that if my heartbeat had risen, she''d heard it.


    She might also be able to see which glands were firing off. I didn''t know that, but having experienced her sonar secondhand through telepathy, I could believe almost anything. She could see a lot, and in a lot of detail.


    "If you want me to go into detail," I said, "we''ll have to go someplace more private."


    "This is private," she said. "No one''s nearby, and I can hear if the elevator begins to slow down."


    Well, if she said so, I was prepared to believe it. I explained everything.


    She listened intently, nodded at the right moments, and finally said, "I''m in."


    "But," and here she drew out the word, "there are conditions. We''re not going to go in and take over the country."


    "Okay. I don''t want to do that in the first place."


    "Good. Second, I don''t want us to stop if it doesn''t work. We come up with something better. This shouldn''t be something we drop if we get bored."


    I nodded.


    "The last thing is this. If innocents get in trouble because of us, we need to intervene."


    I blinked. Then I opened my mouth, stopped, thought better of it, and spoke again, finally getting out, "That''s going to be hard. They''re killing innocents already when we''re not involved. I mean, if nothing else, it''s going to be really hard to tell which ones are our fault, and which ones aren''t. And that doesn''t even get into the question of how we''d stop them without going over there and obviously interfering in a sovereign country''s affairs--which would definitely get us in a lot of trouble."


    Izzy nodded. "Exactly. It''s going to be hard, and I haven''t worked out everything either, but if we''re going to do this we need to be dedicated, and we need to remember who we''re doing this for--the people of Turkmenistan. The moment killing the people of Turkmenistan begins to look like a good idea, we need to stop. For this, I think the best thing we can do is to avoid violence."


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    "I agree with you about avoiding violence. I''m hoping it''s as simple as making all the secrets known, and then the people who live there will solve their own problems. I''m a little worried that it won''t be. It''s got to be pretty obvious to the people who live there that their rulers aren''t good people already, and they still haven''t done anything about it. Probably," I guessed, "because they''re pretty sure they''ll be executed."


    Izzy nodded, but more excitedly that time. "Exactly. We''re going to need to talk about that before we release any information to anybody."


    "Alright," I said. "I guess I should start working on my end of things."


    "And I think we should get everyone involved together, and talk about this soon. I''ll schedule the meeting if you don''t."


    * * *


    The days settled into a rhythm. In the mornings we''d exercise, fight, and run obstacle courses. In the afternoons, we''d train to rescue people from fires, floods, and natural disasters.


    Then people would head to their elective courses--which meant I''d head to the lab.


    I couldn''t go with the best possible solution which would have been improving the bots'' ability to handle themselves between directions from me, and creating a communications system that I fully controlled.


    I had to do a hack job where I left the bots'' logic largely alone, and then create a new bot with the purpose of plugging into whichever communications system would get the best connection to me--telephone cables, cell phone towers, or direct satellite connection.


    I spent every day after supper in the lab working on it, sometimes with the television or radio on in the background, allowing me to listen to on-going coverage of the news, and a lot about Turkmenistan.


    Governments all over the world were making statements of protest against the regime''s actions against its citizens.


    None of them were doing anything at all.


    At any rate, none of them were doing anything that made the news.


    Around 9:50pm on Thursday evening, Haley came into the lab. I heard her voice before I saw her. She talked to one of the other technology students (I couldn''t remember his name), and had a slightly longer conversation with Courtney.


    I hadn''t realized Courtney was in the labs.


    Then she walked through my doorway. I looked up from the bot. It had successfully penetrated a cable, and was communicating on the network.


    Haley wore black jeans and light blue shirt. Her hair hung to her shoulders, and she smiled as she saw me. She looked good, and it occurred to me that I hadn''t seen much of her this past week.


    She pulled up a chair, and sat next to me at the table. "So, how''s it going?"


    "Okay, I think. Everything basically works." I looked over to see her response.


    "Good," she said. "I''m feeling ignored."


    She''d almost certainly used those words to help me recall a conversation we''d had one time when I''d been a little too involved in creating the next version of the Rocket suit. The most memorable words of that conversation had been, "Ignored girlfriends become ex-girlfriends."


    She didn''t seem to be angry, so a change in relationship status didn''t appear to be imminent, but she''d used those words for a reason.


    "Oh," I said.


    "A bunch of us are going out on Friday. I''d like you to come too."

 Off Campus: Part 2

    ¡°Uh¡­ A bunch of us being who?¡±


    ¡°People in my class. I don¡¯t know everybody who¡¯s going, but a lot of first years. I invited Courtney and Camille. Gifford invited me and Hunter.¡±


    She had my full attention. ¡°Gifford? The guy Jaclyn and I took out?¡±


    She nodded.


    Then something else occurred to me. ¡°Wait, he asked you? Does he know that we¡¯re dating? He wasn¡¯t um¡­ after you?¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°He wasn¡¯t asking as a date, but he does like me.¡±


    ¡°And you said yes?¡± My voice might have gotten a little louder.


    ¡°And I invited you,¡± she said, emphasizing the last word.


    I saw her point, but I still asked, ¡°Why go in the first place?¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Because I like other people in the group. Besides, it¡¯s like with you and Amy. People are attracted to other people all the time. You¡¯re at least a little bit attracted to Amy, Courtney, Cassie, Jenny, Jaclyn, and Tara. Some of them are attracted to you too, at least a little.¡±


    I thought about protesting, but the more I thought about it, the more I had to admit she wasn¡¯t wrong. I was attracted to all of them at least a little. Another part of me wondered which of them were attracted to me.


    ¡°It¡¯s like that with everybody,¡± Haley said. ¡°I remember realizing that my mom and dad were attracted to other people too, and it terrified me.¡±


    She stopped, pursing her lips, looking more thoughtful than frightened.


    ¡°So, what happened?¡± I asked after a moment.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± she said. ¡°I was scared of nothing. In the end you have to trust people. You can¡¯t control what you like, but you can control what you do. I trust you. If I didn¡¯t, it would drive me crazy.¡±


    It was a good point, even if the fact that she¡¯d put so much thought into it made me wonder if she might be a little worried anyway.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± I said. ¡°But I hope he doesn¡¯t start coming on to you.¡±


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    Haley shrugged. ¡°If he acts like a jerk, we¡¯ll leave.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°So, what would we be doing?¡±


    Haley smiled upward at me, and moved her chair closer to mine. I could feel her warmth. ¡°I don¡¯t know. People were talking about a movie, and some people were talking about going dancing, or watching a band.¡±


    ¡°Are there any good bands in town?¡± I put my arm around her shoulders. She leaned into me for a moment before pulling back and tilting her head up to look at me again.


    ¡°I heard people talking about going to see Vincent Sucks.¡±


    ¡°Are they any good? I¡¯ve heard the name, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever heard their music.¡±


    Haley smiled. ¡°Ask Cassie. I think I¡¯ve heard her mention them.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°me too, but I don''t think she got to see them.¡±


    We sat there, looking at each other. Then I asked, ¡°How many people are going out anyway? You make it sound like your whole class is going. I¡¯m surprised it¡¯s even allowed.¡±


    Her forehead wrinkled. ¡°Have you been reading your email?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, and then added, ¡°Well, a little, but not much.¡±


    ¡°Isaac sent everyone a message. I think they even talked about it in class.¡±


    I flipped open my phone, looked through the school messages, and found it after a few minutes. The email came from Isaac Lim, and described the precautions he wanted people to take if they went out on the weekends.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have the right or will to restrict your movement,¡± the email said, ¡°but I would like to offer you advice. We have a list of restaurants, theaters, and other attractions that will be monitored by staff. If you¡¯d prefer to stay off the beaten path, we¡¯d like you to inform security where you¡¯ll be going either before you leave or while you¡¯re out.¡±


    I skimmed a few paragraphs, stopping at, ¡°For those of you whose personal identities are not public knowledge, we advise being careful. The press generally won¡¯t attempt to expose your identity, but for obvious reasons, we advise against noticeable power use. This is especially true for those of you who are in company of publicly known heroes. The press and paparazzi are in the Denver area. If you can hide your identity, please do so. If you can¡¯t, we¡¯ll make a powder for your face available. It won¡¯t prevent people from recognizing you, but it will blur your details in any pictures¡­¡±


    I skimmed the paragraph reminding people who were underage not to drink or engage in other illegal or reckless behavior, finally reaching the end.


    ¡°Remember, anything you do has the potential of reaching the public.¡±


    * * *


    Friday night came before I knew it. As the email¡¯s existence implied, almost everyone seemed to be headed out to the greater Denver area to blow off some steam. Part of me wished I could be back in the lab, making a few last touches to remote systems, or possibly going out with Haley alone.


    That part of me was along with the rest of me, however, and all parts of me stood in the compound¡¯s parking garage next to my van.


    Despite being the only one I knew of with a vehicle when we¡¯d arrived, a fairly large number of people had acquired cars in the meantime. The garage echoed with the sound of engines.


    Gifford pulled up in a red sports car. I didn¡¯t recognize the model, but it was a Porsche.


    My van (in rusty white van form) stood next to the gathering group¡ªHaley, Courtney, Camille, Hunter, and I. Keon rolled out of the elevator toward us.


    Gifford gave everyone a wave, and said, ¡°Hey, we¡¯re still waiting on a few more people, but we never figured where we were going.¡±

 Off Campus: Part 3

    Camille smiled at the group. "Someone talked about going dancing."


    Hunter raised his hand. "That''d be me. My mom has friends who own a club in Denver. It''s called Club 32. It used to be an old factory. We can walk right past the line if we want to. Vincent Sucks is playing, but they''ve got a DJ after that."


    Keon rolled to a stop next to the van. "I''m in. I love dancing."


    I''d been thinking Keon would be my best potential ally for going to a movie instead.


    Evidently, I made too many assumptions about paralyzed people.


    Gifford grinned at Hunter. "Works for me. If no one''s got a problem with that, let''s consider it done."


    Given a choice, I wouldn''t be going dancing, but given a choice, I wouldn''t be here with a group. I didn''t have a right to complain, so I didn''t.


    With no one saying anything, Gifford turned to Hunter. "Do you need to make any calls to set this up?"


    Hunter narrowed his eyes, and tightened his mouth, not saying anything for a second. Then he looked up. "I don''t think I have to, but maybe I should. I bring friends there all the time when we''re at the Castle Rock house, but this''ll be the most friends I''ve brought."


    He pulled his phone out. "How many more?"


    Gifford shook his head. "Dunno. Might be three. Might be six." Gifford pulled his own phone out of his pocket. "Tell you what, the other people I invited have their own cars. You ride with me, and call ahead if someone calls back while we''re driving. Everyone else can fit in the van, right?"


    I glanced back toward the van. "Five people? That''ll work. We''ll have room for the wheelchair too."


    "Excellent. Then I''ll start leaving some messages."


    Haley frowned. "Couldn''t we wait for the other people, and then go?"


    Gifford raised an eyebrow. "Nah. They''re late. Don''t worry about them."


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    "Ok," Haley said, and then turned toward me, scowling.


    As we turned toward the van, Haley muttered, "Do you think it would have killed him to wait ten minutes? If you know people are coming, you don''t just take off."


    "I would have waited," I said. "We could still wait."


    Haley waved her hand as if swatting the suggestion away. "No. Gifford''s calling them. It''ll all work out, but it doesn''t seem very nice."


    A few minutes later we were on the road, leaving me with one more project for my list--add a chair lift to my van. It didn''t have one.


    Keon sat behind Haley. Camille sat behind me, and Courtney sat alone in the third row.


    Traffic wasn''t bad, and even when it slowed down, it was never bad enough that I was tempted to put the van into catmecha mode and fly over the highway.


    Keon leaned forward in his seat. "So what are you using? I heard it was gravitics and rockets, but were you using alien gravity tech or your own?"


    "Alien tech, but I modified it a little--not in a big way. I just needed to get the mech in the air."


    Keon nodded. "I came up with my own stuff. The alien gravitic tech can''t touch it. They don''t do much with movement. Half their stuff only goes up and down. If they do get it to move, it usually takes separate panels, doubling the size. I can control speed and direction with one panel."


    We drove down the highway in twilight, the sun low in the sky off to our left. I thought about my own experiments. "Doesn''t that use a lot of power?"


    "Depends how you do it."


    Trying to keep one eye on the road, I asked, "Have you solved the problem where the gravity generator gets too small to do much more than slow somebody''s fall?"


    He shook his head. "No, and you don''t know how many hours I wasted on that one. I got my panels smaller, but not as small as I want."


    As we descended into tech talk, Haley and Camille talked through us. I didn''t catch much of it.


    Courtney interjected into both conversations unpredictably.


    By the time we rolled into Club 32, we''d stopped talking. In the middle of a parking lot that wasn''t much more than dirt and stones. A factory surrounded by factories, it was a beige concrete building with a nearly flat metal roof.


    The crazy thing was that we weren''t the only ones there.


    Half the parking lot had already filled. Unlike the concrete buildings around it, Club 32 had a big, red, glowing sign, and spotlights all around the building.


    A line of people stood around the side.


    We happened to spot Gifford''s Porsche. Neither he nor Hunter were inside. I guessed that they must have gone into the club.


    As I set up Keon''s chair, Haley''s phone rang. She talked for a moment, and then put it back in her small, black purse.


    "Gifford says he''s inside with Hunter. They''ve left directions to the bouncers to let us in." Haley frowned for a second, and then turned to help Courtney get Keon out of the van and into his wheelchair.


    It didn''t take long.


    As Keon strapped himself in ("Don''t worry about it. I can do it better and faster."), Haley said, "I forgot to tell you that Gifford told me that the other people were almost here."


    "Cool," I said.


    In a low voice, she continued talking, "You might not be as happy when I tell you who it is."


    "Sean?" I asked.


    Haley gave a brief smile. "No. It''s Keith and his new girlfriend Zoey."

 Off Campus: Part 4

    I blinked. ¡°That¡¯s going to get awkward. What are we supposed to do about that?¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s much we can do without leaving. I think we should warn Courtney and see what she wants to do.¡±


    Keon rolled away, briefly looking down at the ground. It was all rocks and dirt, and couldn¡¯t have been easy to roll over. Shaking his head, he looked up, and rolled toward the club.


    I would have helped, but he started moving before I could say anything, and once he started moving, he didn¡¯t look like he wanted help.


    At any rate, he didn¡¯t need it, and he didn¡¯t ask for it.


    Plus, Camille stepped out of the van and joined him.


    Courtney stepped out of the van, and stood next to us. She¡¯d taken Lim¡¯s directions to heart, making her skin darker, turning her hair brown, and growing a few inches, giving herself a skinny look.


    She hadn¡¯t changed her face much, but with the other changes, I wouldn¡¯t have recognized her. Part of it was her clothes. Typically, she wore jeans and a t-shirt. Today she wore a green tank dress.


    ¡°Did I hear you mention my name?¡± She stepped out of the van. Meanwhile, I clicked on my keychain, locking all the doors, and setting up alarms and defenses.


    Haley and I looked at each other.


    Courtney¡¯s eyes flicked from one to the other of us. ¡°Now you¡¯re making me nervous. What¡¯s so bad that you¡¯re not saying it?¡±


    Haley spoke up before I did. ¡°Keith and Zoey are the other people Gifford invited.¡±


    ¡°Are you joking?¡± Courtney asked. When neither of us answered, she laughed. ¡°I hadn¡¯t seen him for almost a year, and now I can¡¯t get away from him.¡±


    She gave a little shrug. ¡°At least Zoey¡¯s nice, so it¡¯s not a total loss. Oh look, Camille¡¯s waving at us. We should catch up.¡±


    We started walking after them. Scowling down at the parking lot, Haley commented, ¡°I¡¯m so glad I didn¡¯t wear heels.¡±


    She had worn a short, black dress. I¡¯d worn blue jeans and a plain, navy blue t-shirt. My reasoning had been that if we were going to be dancing, we¡¯d get sweaty. How was I supposed to know you got dressed up for that?


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    ¡°Oh, one more thing,¡± Haley mentioned as we stepped onto the sidewalk next to the building. ¡°Gifford¡¯s brother and a few of his friends might be there too.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°No big deal. He seems okay.¡± I didn¡¯t add, ¡°except for his frightening acceptance of the idea that supers are better than normal people.¡±


    We caught up with Camille and Keon near the open doors. They¡¯d been waiting for us. I belatedly noticed that Camille wore a bright, red dress, and Keon had worn an off white suit jacket with his t-shirt.


    Camille grinned at us as we neared the door. ¡°Hey slowpokes, Steve the bouncer told me we get a private room.¡± She stopped, grinning harder. ¡°Problem is, we might have to share it with the band. We¡¯ve got the green room.¡±


    Steve, a muscular twenty-something with a buzzcut, led us through the club.


    Whoever owned the place had renovated an old factory with an eye toward the maximum amount of underground indie feeling money could buy.


    All worn wooden floors and bright lights, the room had a stage on the far end, a wide bar off to the right, and plenty of dance floor between.


    Between the wood, and the big, industrial fans slowly turning, it was obviously meant to give the impression that the owners had bought the factory and barely changed it at all. The brick bar counter with its glossy wood countertop argued against that. So did the second floor.


    Steve led us past an old cargo elevator to an elevator that could have fit into most office buildings.


    We walked out onto a second floor. The renovations that had turned it into a club had removed two thirds of the floor, giving what was left an excellent view of the dance floor below and the stage. On the right side of the floor, an enclosed room ran almost from the back to the front of the room.


    Steve passed us off to another bouncer who put strips of plastic around our wrists, and let us into the green room.


    Aside from the staff, there weren¡¯t a lot of people there. Gifford and Hunter stepped away from the buffet table as we were let in¡ªGifford still carrying his plate of hors d''oeuvres.


    ¡°Glad to see you made it,¡± he said, ¡°look at all this stuff. There¡¯s even a bar up here. They¡¯re not going to let us use it, but if you¡¯ve got a fake ID, you¡¯re welcome to try. Plus, the band¡¯s going to come here after the show.¡±


    I glanced over at the table. Fruit, cheeses, meat, and crackers covered two tables. Even though we¡¯d already had supper, it looked good.


    Haley glanced up at me and said, ¡°Seriously?¡± Then she let go of my hand, and said, ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    As I stepped toward the buffet table, I heard her telling Gifford, ¡°We¡¯re going to have to be a little careful. Did you know Keith was Courtney¡¯s ex?¡±


    I picked up a plate, trying to decide what to grab first when my thought process was interrupted by a man saying, ¡°Hi, I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t recognize me, but we¡¯ve met¡ª¡°


    I didn¡¯t shriek, but only by luck.


    A guy stood next to me. I didn¡¯t know how I could have missed him. He was my size if not a little bigger. I wasn¡¯t as observant as I might be, but Lee had taught me better than that.


    A look in Haley¡¯s direction found her staring, eyes widened. That said something.


    ¡°It was on one of your first times out in costume,¡± he continued, seemingly oblivious. ¡°I¡¯m Adam, better known as Dark Cloak.¡±

 Off Campus: Part 5

    That brought back memories--at least one memory anyway.


    Two years ago, back when we''d begun to get the first inklings that something was wrong with the city''s mayor, and that he might be part of something bigger, I''d flown to Chicago and checked out the house of someone we thought might be his associate.


    Dark Cloak had been waiting for me outside, bitterly unhappy with how he''d been treated by the FBI, and warning me that they''d use me and discard me.


    The way I understood it, that perspective required some seriously selective memory. His girlfriend had been killed by the mob, and he''d gone on some kind of rampage, killing off mobsters until the FBI caught up with him and made it clear that he had to stop.


    He stopped. They didn''t prosecute, and he''d gone into therapy with my dad--which is less coincidental than it sounds. Dad''s semi-famous for his work with troubled adolescents, and Grand Lake is about two hours north.


    I''d wanted to ask him about that when I met him, but I''d been worried about exposing my identity to him.


    Apparently, he knew it now.


    "Wow," I shook my head, absorbing the information. "You seem happier than the last time I ran into you."


    He grinned, and for the first time I looked at him. He had full lips, a strong jaw, and grey eyes. I could imagine women finding him attractive. He wore a emerald green, button down shirt made of a shiny material that made me think he was comfortable with attention.


    Granted, that might be a little much to learn from a shirt.


    "I was in a bad place," he said. "Everything had gone wrong, and I had to figure out what to do with myself. I''m sure I came off as a bitter has-been with delusions of grandeur. Sorry about that."


    I put a few appetizers from the buffet onto my plate. "I wouldn''t have put it that strongly. Honestly, I barely thought about it afterward."


    I checked around me. None of the staff appeared to be in hearing distance. "You are in Stapledon, right?"


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    He grinned again. "I was supposed to be in the class before yours, but I spent a couple years dealing with my issues." He air quoted the last word with his fingers.


    He put his hands in his pockets. "It wasn''t bad being a normal guy with no special responsibilities, but now I''m back. I''m in your girlfriend''s class."


    "It''s a big class," I said.


    "No doubt," he pulled a hand out of his pocket and picked up his plate of food. "Hey, I just saw someone I wanted to say hi to. I''m sure I''ll talk to you more tonight."


    He stepped away from the table. "Oh, and if the Stapledon block lets you, tell your dad thanks. He was a great therapist. I was a lousy client."


    "Sure," I said.


    He started walking toward the group of Stapledon students talking near the door--Gifford, Hunter, and Haley had been joined by two more people--Keith and a girl I guessed had to be Zoey.


    Keith didn''t look much different than I remembered him from high school--a tall, skinny guy with light brown hair. His fashion sense hadn''t changed either. He wore a brown t-shirt with the logo of the United Heroes Society--New York City''s longest surviving superhero team.


    Zoey stood next to Keith, clutching his hand. Her skin was so light I wondered if she''d ever been in the sun. Her hair was just as light. In fact, it was almost transparent. As I looked at her I realized that her skin glowed softly--so softly I almost didn''t notice.


    I caught it only because the metal ring hanging from her lip reflected more light than it should.


    Hadn''t Courtney said something about Zoey going through the power impregnator? Either she was ignoring Lim''s request to avoid using powers or hers came without an off switch.


    Going from no powers to being permanently changed had to be a challenge.


    I began to walk toward the group myself when Keith disentangled his hand from Zoey''s and walked straight for me.


    "Nick, I can''t believe you didn''t tell me you were the--" Instead of "Rocket," his voice dissolved into a series of gurgles. Clearing his throat, he looked around the room before continuing in a softer voice.


    "You''re the Rocket. Why didn''t you tell me once you knew I had powers?"


    Of all the things that I thought he might want to say if he ever discovered I was the Rocket that was not on my list.


    I don''t know what expression my face wore, but I said, "Well, right after I learned what you could do, you were in the hospital, and after that things got crazy busy. You remember how the mayor was part of the Cabal? Well, what was left of the group were trying to kill us for months after that, and by the time they were gone school was over. We were barely in touch after that."


    Keith frowned. "I would have stayed in touch if you''d told me. I could have helped you guys. I''m tough, fast, and strong."


    "Yeah," I said, trying to think how to get the conversation onto any other track. "You''ve got to remember though, that all I saw happen then was you taking power juice, and then breaking your arm. I didn''t want to put you into more danger. You wouldn''t have been ready for it."


    He kept the volume down, but his voice became more intense as he talked. "Was it the power juice?"

 Off Campus: Part 6

    "I''m not sure what power juice has to do with anything."


    Keith tilted his head, and said, "You know, the whole thing where power juice became illegal, making us all technically criminals? Plus, you remember Logan at our prom. He was a total druggie, and then he got into power juice and tried to eat the school."


    I shook my head. "Not an issue. I don''t have any powers, and it wasn''t illegal back then. All this amounts to is secret identities. To continue to have one, I have to keep mine secret. I haven''t told anyone who I am who hasn''t figured it out first. You didn''t figure it out, so I could avoid telling you."


    Keith nodded, straightening his back, and unclenching his fists. "I think I get that. You don''t stay secret if you tell people. That''s not an option for us."


    I looked him over, and then I thought of Zoey. "Oh. Right. I can see where Zoey''d have a hard time blending in."


    Keith glanced back toward Zoey, and then back to me. "It''s not so bad during the day, but at night it''s impossible to mistake her for someone without powers. It was the same for her mom. Of course, I''ve never met her mom. She died a few years back. She was fighting the Grey Giant."


    At that moment my brain made a few connections--light powers to Grey Giant to...


    "Her mom was Lightweaver?" The name escaped my mouth as I noticed Zoey leaving the group behind us and moving in our direction.


    Keith gave a start. "Wow. You know everybody''s names. I never understood how you knew them so well before."


    I shrugged. "I did play with the children and grandchildren of a lot of my grandfather''s friends, but honestly, your average capewatcher knows about as many names as I do. Mostly though, he doesn''t know them personally. You should meet my roommate from last year. He knows everybody--including a few things most capes don''t."


    Of course, Jeremy also believed in a pile of conspiracy theories that made pretty much zero sense. Only knowing my secret had pulled him out of that orbit.


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    It made me wonder if our secrets made things worse for society as a whole. On some level normal people had to notice that they weren''t being let in on the whole truth.


    Did that make it our fault if they replaced our lies with even more bizarre lies of their own?


    Zoey''s voice broke into my thoughts. She''d taken Keith''s hand, and said, "I hated them for a long time after my Mom died."


    "Yeah?" Keith''s voice quavered as he asked the question.


    Zoey picked up a piece of spanakopita from the table, and ate it. "They never left us alone."


    Her arm''s movement left golden lines in the air. "We didn''t live in a compound, but our neighborhood was mostly capes. When my mom died people camped out on our lawn. Some of them even waited outside my school to tell my brothers and I how they grieved with us."


    She shook her head. "They didn''t grieve with us. They didn''t know us, or her. For them it was all codenames and costumes and fights on television."


    As she stopped, I realized that Haley joined us too--and not just her. Gifford, Hunter, Adam, Camille, and Courtney had all crowded around us.


    That was a good thing. It meant that Zoey''s glow might be better hidden.


    "It sounds awful," Haley said. She stood next to me.


    Zoey folded her arms across her chest. "It was, but most of them left after a few days."


    For a moment she didn''t say anything, but then she burst out with, "I''m awful. Now you all think I''m some kind of drama queen."


    "No," Haley said, "if you want to talk about it, you should."


    "I think I''ll save it for our group therapy sessions."


    Keith raised an eyebrow. "Do we have group therapy sessions?"


    Nodding, Haley said, "They start next week."


    "What a waste," Gifford muttered.


    Hunter laughed.


    Zoey opened her mouth as if she were about to say something, but she didn''t.


    Courtney said, "The way I heard it, it''s a way to get people to start thinking about why they''re doing this. I think it might be more focused on working with PTSD for people who fought against the aliens this spring."


    "What you get out of it depends on what you bring into it," Adam broke in from the edges of the group. "Trust me on this one."


    "Hey," Camille had turned away from the group, and was looking out the windows toward the crowd and the band below us. "We''re at a club. Let''s go downstairs."


    It didn''t take long before the group followed her.


    * * *


    I didn''t like dancing. Haley did. Don''t get me wrong. I liked some things about dancing. The slower dances gave Haley and I excuses to hold each other, but that only barely compensated for feeling awkward for three hours.


    Knowing that, it''s not surprising that I was looking around the crowded building.


    It''s equally unsurprising that I noticed a man off to the edges of the dance floor taking pictures of the crowd.

 Off Campus: Part 7

    If the photographer had only been taking pictures of the crowd, it wouldn''t have worried me.


    Instead, he''d aimed his camera in Gifford''s direction. Gifford was dancing with a girl I didn''t recognize. Hunter, Courtney, Keon and Camille were dancing nearby. Keith and Zoey were closer to us, but we weren''t that far from Gifford either.


    Besides, no one who saw her could confuse the glow of Zoey''s skin with anything but superpowers.


    The place''s "this isn''t a business, we happened to set up a dance in this factory," aesthetic practically demanded that the lighting be inconsistent. The spotlights crossed the crowd unpredictably, and Zoey glowed even when they weren''t anywhere near her.


    Back when the club was actually a factory, the lighting would have left the room brightly lit. As a club, they''d taken out two-thirds of the lights and put in colored bulbs--not to mention hanging more lights on the other side of the second floor''s railing.


    Most of those were pointed at the stage--which was empty except for the workers cleaning up after Vincent Sucks'' performance.


    We were in the middle of the dance floor--nowhere near the stage, so Zoey was quite visible.


    The photographer turned the camera toward her and Keith.


    Haley leaned in toward me, still dancing, allowing her to speak over the music without shouting. "Your heart rate just spiked. What''s wrong?"


    "Photographer." I pointed in his direction.


    Her eyes narrowed. "You put the powder on?"


    I blanked for a second, but then realized what she meant. "Of course. I even analyzed a bit of it. It''d be a lot of work to reproduce--"


    "Nick." Her voice cut through my train of thought.


    "But anyway, I did," I said, leaning down toward her ear, not thinking about how unnecessary it was, "I don''t know who else did."


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    I thought for a moment, and added, "I wish Daniel were here. He''d be able to find out why the guy''s here--whether it''s because of us or something else."


    Haley glanced toward the photographer. With all the dancing people, and the way she was nearly a foot shorter than I was, I couldn''t be sure she''d seen him.


    "Let''s move past him. I might be able to figure out something."


    "We could tell everybody and go." I checked on the photographer myself. He was still taking pictures of Keith and Zoey.


    Haley shook her head. "No. I think they''re still having a good time. You''re still having a good time. Why leave if you don''t have to?"


    She wasn''t all wrong. Even though it felt awkward, I was still more enjoying myself than not.


    We danced into position. Staying within the natural movements of the crowd, Haley steered us toward him, bringing us within a few feet.


    I don''t know how I would have gotten us there if it had been completely left up to me. I probably would have walked past him. The restrooms were on that side of the building, so we would at least have had that excuse.


    She somehow anticipated the movements of people on the floor, and kept putting us into positions where people would invade our space, forcing us to move toward him.


    I made a mental note to ask her about it later--hoping it wouldn''t be one of those things that made her uncomfortable.


    Now that we were near him though, I could see that he was a professional. I might have been pre-judging that, but he carried a big, black bag that was large enough to carry lenses, flashes, and maybe even a monopod.


    He had no idea we were there, or if he did, he didn''t register us as anything other than another couple of dancers.


    He kept his camera pointed at Keith and Zoey--until I bumped into him.


    In all honesty, I dance that badly, but in this instance, it wasn''t my fault.


    I was pushed.


    Haley whispered, "Go with it." Then she tripped, falling into me. I fell backward. She was heavier than she looked--by about fifty pounds.


    My back hit his side, but he didn''t fall over. He wasn''t a small guy. About five inches taller than I was, bearded, and distinctly solid, he seemed even bigger as I stumbled into him, trying to find a good place to put my foot.


    I stepped on his boot, of course, and he muttered, "Fuck!"


    Face red, and teeth bared, I thought for a second that he might hit me with his camera.


    I twisted around, taking only two steps, but moving to stand in front of him in a position that I could easily convert into a fighting stance if I had to.


    Meanwhile, Haley said, "I''m so, so sorry. It was all my fault. I tripped, and knocked him over."


    Looking at Haley instead of me, he took a breath, and his face cooled. "It''s alright."


    He pointed his camera toward the floor, pressed a few buttons, and brought it up again before letting it hang on his chest.


    "My camera''s fine. No harm done."


    "Good," Haley said, taking a breath. "I would have felt horrible if I''d broken anything."


    The man said. "Me too. Usually, only celebrities break my cameras."

 Off Campus: Part 8

    Haley and I both laughed a little at that. Ironically, if we had broken his camera, the trend would have continued. Calling us celebrities wouldn''t be quite accurate, but thanks to our grandparents, the Rocket and Night Cat were household names.


    Then Haley''s expression changed to a frown, and she glanced backward. I followed her gaze to see Gifford walking towards us followed by Hunter, Courtney, Camille, and Keon.


    Gifford reached us first, taking long steps that I hoped weren'' t obviously boosted with his power--a hope that ended as a gust of wind passed me.


    For his sake, I hoped that Gifford didn''t have a secret identity.


    Whatever the truth was, he stopped to the left of where I stood facing the photographer. Scowling as his eyes found the man''s camera bag, he said, "Who''s this guy?"


    "I don''t know," I said.


    Gifford glared up toward the man''s face. "Who were you taking pictures of?"


    The photographer shrugged, his expression hidden behind his beard except that his eyes narrowed as his hands tightened on his camera.


    If that meant he was nervous, it was understandable. He stood with his back against a concrete wall with all of us surrounding him.


    "I''m not doing anything illegal." The photographer glanced down at the back of the camera.


    I wondered if it was on, and if he was recording this.


    Gifford took a step toward him. "You didn''t answer my question. Let me guess. You''re one of the paparazzi. You take pictures of celebrities, especially if it makes them look bad, and then you sell them. Am I right?"


    The photographer shrugged. "First amendment rights, kid. We''ve got a free press. I''m a member who''s doing his job."


    Gifford shook his head. "That''s BS. You''re a fucking parasite."


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    Gifford clenched his fists, and took a step closer to the photographer. That''s when it struck me that I ought to start doing something about this.


    Not that I had the faintest clue what I ought to do.


    Before I could come up with a good plan, or even a bad plan, Hunter stopped behind me, a little to my left--between Gifford and me.


    It didn''t take a genius to spot how the photographer''s eyes settled on Hunter, and he smiled a little.


    That''s when it fell into place for me. Hunter''s mom knew the owner. Hunter came here often. Everyone knew about the training going on in Castle Rock. It didn''t take much to guess that heroes would appear here sooner or later.


    Hunter frowned at him and shook his head. "I hate these guys."


    Then he pulled out his phone, thought better of it, and put it back in his pocket. "I''m getting a bouncer. Don''t let him leave."


    "Isn''t that why you''re getting the bouncers?" I asked his back as he walked away.


    He didn''t give any sign he''d heard me, and probably hadn''t. The music overpowered almost every other sound.


    Gifford stared at the man. "Don''t move until the bouncers come back to escort you out."


    The photographer looked him in the eye. "How are you going to keep me here? Hold me down? Beat me unconscious? I don''t know what they''re teaching you in superhero school, but that''s against the law. I''ve got a buddy here, and he''s taking pictures of us all right now. You touch me and it''ll be on the internet in seconds."


    Next to me, Haley muttered, "He''s lying."


    Gifford put his hands in his pockets and smirked at the man. "I don''t need my hands to keep you here."


    "Yeah?" The photographer said. "What are you? Telekinetic?"


    "Not saying, but don''t push me." Gifford stared at him. It probably would have been more intimidating if the photographer weren''t half a foot taller.


    "You know what?" the man said. "I''m leaving. You can stop me if you want, but be ready for the civil suit. You may think you''re heroes, but you''re really just a bunch of thugs."


    Then he lifted his leg, and took a step.


    I stepped forward, moving myself between Gifford and the man. Wind pushed against me, but not enough to knock me over.


    With a strangled sound in his throat, Gifford said, "What do you think you''re doing?"


    "I''m trying to stop you from making a mistake."


    Behind me, the photographer said, "Get out of my way."


    Keon''s voice said, "I''m not going anywhere. If you want to leave, you''re going to have to punch out a guy in a wheelchair."


    Meanwhile Gifford said, "Move, or I take you out with him."


    "No," Haley said. "If you touch him, you''ll be on the floor before you know it."


    Camille''s voice broke through the endless thumping bass line. "Everyone relax. He''s back."


    He was. Two beefy men in black t-shirts that said "Club 32," walked ahead of Hunter.


    "I''m sorry sir," one of them said. "Photography isn''t permitted in the club without permission."


    Keon wheeled himself backwards, opening up a gap between himself and Courtney big enough for a man to get through.


    The photographer held up his hands. "Fine, show me out the doors."


    Hunter shook his head, "Wait. First I need to see your pictures."

 Off Campus: Part 9

    The photographer said, "Not happening. I took those pictures. They''re mine. End of story."


    He pulled his camera with one hand, and held his left a little away from his body as if he intended to block with it. It didn''t look like he''d had any kind of martial arts training. The way he held his arm, it would come up too slowly.


    Hunter asked me, "Isn''t there some kind of law against taking pictures of people like us?"


    I glanced over at Haley, and she shrugged.


    Turning away from her, I said, "I don''t know. I think there might be some kind of law that allows people to seek damages if a photo of an unmasked person results in someone getting killed, but I''m not sure. I think photos might be a freedom of speech thing."


    Gifford looked at me and then at Keon. "Can''t either of you do something?"


    We both said, "No," simultaneously.


    And what could we have done? I might have been able to cause an EMP and take out most of the cell phones and computers in the building. It would have been a solution, but not a smart one.


    The bouncers each took one of the photographer''s arms, and escorted him out.


    He tried to talk to them. I couldn''t hear his words over the noise of the club, but the bouncers kept on walking, and neither let go.


    Gifford exhaled, slumping a little as he stood on the dance floor. "This is fucked. He''s got our faces."


    I shook my head. "It''ll probably be fine. My understanding is that most publications simply don''t print superhero identities unless the person''s been convicted of a crime. Aside from which, they handed out photo blurring dust, so assuming we all used it, we''re all okay. Besides, you don''t have a secret identity, right?"


    Gifford shook his head.


    "Um... What do you mean? Are you saying that you don''t have a public identity or that you didn''t put the dust on?"


    His mouth moved, but I didn''t understand his reply. He must have realized that because he tried again, this time making his voice heard over the music. "Both."


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    Keon blinked. "Are you kidding me? That was not smart."


    Camille''s jaw dropped. "Oh... That''s awful."


    Next to me, Haley said, "That explains why his heart has been beating so quickly."


    Courtney didn''t say anything, looking in the direction that the bouncers had taken the man.


    Hunter spoke after a moment. "No. Don''t worry about it. I''ve got this."


    Then he broke out into a grin. "My mom showed me how to handle this once. I didn''t think I''d ever have to use it."


    Courtney raised an eyebrow. "How did you handle it?"


    Hunter looked around, and I followed his eyes. No one stood near us. The dancers were further away from us on the floor.


    Coming to the same conclusion I had, Hunter said, "You probably guessed I''ve got the same power as my mom. Well, we can''t do much with small particles, but once our creatures are big enough, we can do a lot with them. I grew a couple guys before we went into the club in case something happened. On the photographer''s way out, one of them bumped into him. Then he extended little tentacles into the camera, and damaged the memory cards."


    Gifford laughed. "That is awesome. You just saved our asses."


    Hunter shrugged. "Don''t worry about it. I brought people here.I figure I''ve got to handle it."


    "Still," Gifford said, "that doesn''t change what you''ve done. It just keeps it awesome."


    Adam broke into the conversation. "I hate to be a party pooper but if we want to talk about this any more, we need to talk about it somewhere safer."


    "A good point," I said.


    It was. Anybody could show up at the club at any time.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement, and turned to find that Keith and Zoey had left the dance floor, and joined the group.


    Keith tapped me on the shoulder. "I saw the guy with the bouncers. What''s going on?"


    * * *


    Later that night, I drove the van back to Castle Rock. It wasn''t a bad drive. Construction had closed for the day, and there wasn''t much traffic. I liked driving at night in any case.


    With all the other cars reduced to headlights, and the landscape little more than darkness, it felt a little like flying.


    Of course, with all of us sitting there and nothing to do but look out the window, it was inevitable that we''d talk over the night.


    Camille had swapped seats with Courtney for the ride back. Her voice came from the distant far end of the van. "Hey Haley, is this what it''s always been like for you? Green rooms and paparazzi?"


    Haley twisted around in her chair. "No. The only time we got into costume was to fight, and if we were somehow in costume without fighting, it was because we were still inside the Heroes League''s base, and you know what that''s like."


    "I don''t," Keon said. "What is that like?"


    Camille giggled. "Not a green room. It''s more like a musty basement with forty year old carpet."


    Keon laughed. "That''s more than I had to work with when I started. I was stuck with my room for a lab. I would have killed for a musty basement. It would have been nice to not have people walking in on me all the time. My mom freaked out when she found me taking my wheelchair apart. Crazy."


    He went silent for a moment, and then said, "Are any of you worried about what happens when the guy discovers he''s got no pictures?"

 Off Campus: Part 10

    In my rearview mirror, I saw Courtney¡¯s shoulder¡¯s tense. ¡°That bothers me. Remember Mr. Beacham from high school?¡±


    Keon glanced over at Courtney, and said, ¡°I can¡¯t say I remember him at all.¡±


    Courtney nodded. ¡°I know. You didn¡¯t go to high school with us, but give me a second. Nick and Camille will remember him.¡±


    ¡°Nick¡¯s mentioned him,¡± Haley said, ¡°and I met him once. He was the teacher Evil Beatnik possessed.¡±


    Courtney looked from Haley to me (to the back of my head, anyway). ¡°Evil Beatnik possessed Mr. Beacham?¡±


    Keon frowned. ¡°Wasn¡¯t Evil Beatnik a big deal back in the 1950¡¯s or 60¡¯s?¡±


    From the back Camille said, ¡°Yes. It was awful.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Courtney said, ¡°that was not the direction I was trying to go with this. Mr. Beacham teaches history back at the high school that Nick, Camille and I went to. He¡¯s a good teacher, but he likes to play devil¡¯s advocate on issues, and push students to defend what they think.¡±


    Keon nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve had teachers like that.¡±


    Courtney didn¡¯t give anyone else time to add anything. ¡°Every year he¡¯d give a lecture on superhero history where he¡¯d argue that the US had given up on taking it¡¯s laws seriously and was on it¡¯s way to creating a class of warrior lords.¡±


    She had Keon¡¯s full attention then. He nodded as she talked. ¡°I think I know where this is going. Hunter¡¯s going to get away with it because he¡¯s got powers?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Courtney paused, ¡°I guess that¡¯s it, but it seemed deeper when Mr. Beacham talked about it all. I didn¡¯t like that lecture. Back then, it was obvious to me that superheroes weren¡¯t taking over, and even if they didn¡¯t always obey laws, they obeyed the spirit of them.¡±


    Courtney stopped there, swallowed, and said, ¡°But since being here, I¡¯ve been wondering if he was underestimating how far things have already gone. I knew about the compounds, but I never thought about the compounds. We¡¯re being kept away from people, and only interacting with them when we want to have some fun. We are almost literally descending from the castle to interact with the peasants.¡±


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    ¡°What,¡± Keon asked, ¡°didn¡¯t you like going to the club?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°No. It bothers me that I wasn¡¯t thinking about it very much until Hunter destroyed the camera¡¯s memory, and Gifford was all, ¡®Thanks for saving my butt¡­¡¯ I didn¡¯t think about it¡ªthe fortress, the private room, or the way we can break people¡¯s stuff whenever we make a mistake.¡±


    Keon shook his head. ¡°I get that. I was mostly joking a minute ago. I didn¡¯t like breaking the camera either. I didn¡¯t want the guy to get away with Gifford¡¯s face, but it seems like the guy¡¯s going to have a grudge from now on, you know? He¡¯s going to hate us, and he might look for us. What do we do if he goes after us? Call in a telepath and make him forget everything?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said.


    Courtney laughed.


    ¡°For real though,¡± I said. ¡°Daniel has done that a couple times, but the longer the person¡¯s known what you want him to forget, the more you have to change to get it done. Imagine the guy¡¯s been obsessing about how to get back at us for a couple months. What do you put in his head to explain why he¡¯s been hanging around clubs looking for teenagers? Worse, what if he¡¯s been at it for a year?¡±


    In a normal tone of voice, Courtney said, ¡°Is that why you didn¡¯t try that with me?¡±


    Keeping my eyes on the dark highway, I said, ¡°No. You¡¯d figured out who we were, but also we knew you, and knew you weren¡¯t out to get us. What we did with you was what we¡¯re doing with all the League members¡ªa mental block that stops people from giving away identities accidentally.¡±


    ¡°Like the one we got too,¡± Camille said.


    Haley turned in her seat to face Camille. ¡°We trusted you. That kind of block only works if we trust you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what Daniel told me,¡± I added. ¡°It turns out to be relatively common among telepaths. It¡¯s basically the same block the Stapledon program uses. So, if you keep looking, you¡¯ll eventually be able to find a skilled telepath who can get rid of it.


    ¡°See,¡± I continued, ¡°I don¡¯t even know what we¡¯d do for that guy. The best thing would have been if someone erased all of our faces from his memory back at the club.¡±


    ¡°Except that would assume that we¡¯ve got the right to decide what he remembers,¡± Courtney said.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I sighed at that. She was right. ¡°It would have been the most practical choice¡ªprobably not the most moral. But that¡¯s the problem, after a certain points all your choices are basically varying shades of gray.¡±


    Keon nodded. ¡°Point made. Should we have called it in back at the club?¡±


    Haley and I looked at each other.


    ¡°Crap.¡±

 Remote Control: Part 1

    I spent the largest part of Saturday morning working in the lab. No one was in when I walked through the door, and that part of the morning may have been the best part.


    Lost in my thoughts, I worked on a bot that could use a satellite connection. Combined with bots that could tap into a phone line, I''d have redundant communication methods.


    Neither of them, unfortunately, would allow real time control.


    For a moment, I thought back to equipment in League HQ, specifically the device that had once been part of an extradimensional transportation network. I didn''t know how it worked or much beyond the basics of how to operate it, but it almost certainly offered a way around the problem.


    Deciding that there were too many open questions and unknowns there, I pushed it out of my mind. Besides, it was back in Grand Lake, and thus half a country away.


    Instead, I spent the rest of the morning working on the satellite bot.


    Around nine, I heard music turn on in the distance--something with a thumping beat. I didn''t know who it was, but knowing that it came from the far end of the common area, I guessed it had to be an upperclassman. Most of the labs near the front were theirs.


    By ten, I heard talking in the common area. The sounds of welding came from the lab next to mine.


    About that time, I began to wish that the lab''s design had included doors. When I''d been shown my lab, I''d been told that they''d used an open design to encourage collaboration and sharing knowledge--the same reason they''d given for putting the larger machines in the common area.


    It was a nice idea in theory.


    In practice, I wanted to shut the door, and block out the noise.


    It was naturally at the peak of my frustration that I heard a knock on the wall. I looked up from the bot''s casing to see Gordon, Gifford''s older brother, standing in the doorway.


    Taller than Gifford, Gordon''s muscles showed up clearly through his blue t-shirt--not to bodybuilder levels, but toned. He hadn''t shaved.


    "Hey," he said, not waiting for me to invite him in. "I heard what happened last night with the photographer."


    He pulled a chair up to the table I was sitting at.


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    "Yeah," I said, watching his hands. Lee had trained me to watch people''s movements almost reflexively because that was one way to tell if they planned to attack.


    That wasn''t why I was watching Gordon though. I had a lot of tools and small parts on the table.


    His hand moved toward one of the screwdrivers. "Please don''t touch anything," I said.


    He moved his hand away. "Sorry. I should have known better."


    "No problem." I thought about moving everything further away from him, but didn''t.


    "Gifford forgot to put the dust on his face, and the photographer got a few shots of him. It doesn''t matter though because Hunter trashed the memory cards."


    Gordon grinned at that. "Good for him. He inherited a useful talent. His mom worked with my dad a few times. It caused a little tension in my parents'' marriage back in the day. They got over it though, so we''ve known him for years. A good guy."


    I nodded. "He seems nice, but I haven''t spent a lot of time with him."


    Gordon nodded back. "Well, there''s nothing to worry about, but let''s get back to the camera. Hunter''s not a tech guy like you. Do you think he missed anything?"


    "Well," I said, "that''s a good question."


    It was, in fact, an awesome question, and one that had popped into my a head a few times during the night when I''d rather have been sleeping.


    I put down the screwdriver that I''d picked up without thinking. "Most digital cameras," I began, "have short term and long term memory. It depends on the design, of course, but basically, there''s temporary memory that you might use while processing something inside the camera, and then there''s long term where you actually store it.


    "I''m reasonably sure that Hunter trashed the expandable long term memory. I don''t know if he thought to destroy the memory that comes inside the camera."


    Gordon frowned. "Didn''t you ask?"


    "Uh... No. He said he''d learned how to do it from his mom, and I''ve only met her once, but I get the impression that she''d be pretty thorough about protecting her image. I didn''t start to worry about that until later."


    He laughed. "You''ve got her pegged. If she taught him how to do it, the memory''s dead."


    I gave him brief smile. "That''s what I''ve been telling myself. I just don''t know it for sure, so I worry a little. Actually I''m also a little worried about the short term memory. It''s not likely anyone would get anything at all off that, but you never know."


    Gordon nodded slowly, following it up with, "But it''s not likely, right?"


    "Not at all," I said. "Anyway, I called Lim, and he had Feds track the guy down. I''m not sure what they did after that, but I know that no photos have appeared."


    His eyes narrowed. "How do you know that no photos appeared? If the guy sold them online, they might sit on them for a day before publishing."


    I''d asked our jet''s AI to watch for photos.


    I kept my face as calm as possible. "Let''s just say I''ve got sources that would know if any major online sites had copies that showed Gifford''s face."


    He didn''t say anything at first, but then he slowly began to grin. "What did you do? Did you hack them?"


    When I didn''t say anything, he laughed out loud. "Good. The bastards deserve it."


    Then he turned serious. "About Lim. Don''t trust that guy. Nothing against him, but he''s a Fed. Everybody knows the Feds are only involved in the program so they can take over. They''re starting by making us dependent on their training, but soon enough there''ll be mandatory cape registration like in China."

 Remote Control: Part 2

    I blinked. I knew that Lim probably had an agenda, and felt fairly sure that in a choice between me and the government, Lim would choose the government, but I couldn''t fault a man who''d sworn to serve the United States for actually doing his job.


    Plus, when it came down to it Lim had admired Grandpa as the Rocket, and I had a hard time believing he''d deliberately screw the League over without a reason.


    Something of that must have shown on my face because Gordon sat a little straighter in his seat. "I''m not saying anything other people aren''t saying. Look, you weren''t here before the program exploded.


    "When I started, the Stapledon program wasn''t more than a twenty people per class, sometimes not more than ten. It only expanded because the government wanted in. Before that, capes did it together, and funded it themselves.


    "I didn''t grow up in a compound, but we were part of the cape community in Seattle even after my dad died, and I heard how this went down. They knew they didn''t have the manpower or the money to train all the capes that were appearing because of all the new power activation tech, and the government got wind of it. After some negotiations, they convinced them to split Stapledon half and half."


    That was new information.


    I raised an eyebrow. "So this is all new? You weren''t here every summer?"


    He shook his head. "No way. It''s been here before, but they''ve swapped the summer training around between groups. Sometimes it''s been in a compound. Sometimes it''s been at a Defenders base. They also used the bunker in Nebraska a lot. You know the one I mean?"


    I nodded. "I hadn''t known it was in Nebraska. They never told us."


    He grinned. "I heard it from some of my dad''s teammates. Did you know that place started out as a fallout shelter? Back in the 1950''s, they were making them everywhere. I guess the capes back then set up their own system of shelters in case the world got blown to hell."


    "That part," I said, "I did know. My grandpa was one of the people who created the plans for the shelters. He set them up with the idea of saving as many heroes and civilians as possible and then having enough supplies and equipment to begin to rebuild. The Heroes League''s headquarters is one too. That''s why it''s a lot bigger than you''d think."


    He sat back and raised an eyebrow. "Big enough to host Stapledon?"


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    "Well," I said, "yes and no. Definitely yes for the old version of Stapledon, but not now."


    At the same time, I wondered how many people it could really hold. The hangar and the main room were all on the first level. We didn''t even use the second level. Of course, the second level wasn''t much more than a giant homeless shelter, and supplies for rebuilding the world.


    Well, maybe. For all I knew Grandpa had filled the place with Abominator relics like he had storage rooms three and four.


    What are you supposed to do with a fallout shelter when the nuclear apocalypse fails to show up?


    Gordon pulled out his phone and checked it. "I should go. My girlfriend said she''d be done soon."


    "Girlfriend?" I wasn''t surprised that he had a girlfriend, but I didn''t know who she was.


    "Dude," he said, "you don''t know her? She''s in your specialty."


    That meant nothing to me. I barely knew anybody in my specialty--none of the older students for sure.


    More to the point, I''d never seen him in the lab before. I didn''t know he knew where it was.


    Frowning, he said, "Stephanie. You know Steph, right?"


    I didn''t, and didn''t manage to say so before he said, "Hologram. I''m sure you''ve heard of Hologram."


    "Oh," I said. "Not the original Hologram or she''d be in her fifties. If I remember, Hologram got most of her press in the 80''s and the early 90''s before she retired. Except then there was a Hologram in the 90''s who barely appeared before vanishing permanently."


    He checked behind him before he said, "You might not want to put it quite that way if you ever run into her. Her mom was the first Hologram. The second one was her aunt. And it''s not like they were nothing. They were both big at fighting human traffickers in the early 90''s.


    "Besides, they''re a helluva lot more recent than the Heroes League."


    It took me a moment to absorb that last blast of... something. Hostility seemed like an overstatement, but if it wasn''t hostility, I didn''t know what to call it. Besides, where did it come from? I hadn''t insulted his girlfriend that I''d noticed. I didn''t think I was being particularly harsh in my summary--just factual.


    He pushed his chair back and stood up. "Hey man, it''s been good to talk to you. I''m a little surprised you and the other techie didn''t stop the photographer, but I''m glad for what you could do. I''d have been pretty pissed if you''d done nothing. Can''t say what I''d have done. Nothing personal. Just protecting my brother."


    Then he started walking away.


    I stood up to follow him, not sure what I was about to do. Had he just threatened me? That last statement almost sounded like he was saying he''d been planning to do something to me if it turned out that I''d done nothing to help his brother.


    I didn''t get to ask him.


    He took the hand of one of the upperclassmen who had labs near the front of the common area. Dark haired and half a foot shorter than Gordon, she wore shorts and a grey t-shirt that were somehow more stylish than the shorts and t-shirt I had on. The sleeves went a little past the elbow and billowed or something?


    It wasn''t anything a guy could wear in any case.


    He waved his hand at me as they walked away. She glanced in my direction and gave a brief smile.


    Not sure what had happened, I walked back to the table and continued to test the bot.

 Remote Control: Part 3

    I tested the satellite bot for a while, and then I started to think about the next generation of roachbot. I''d started out creating armor with the nanotech I''d designed, but I ought to be using it to construct roachbots. If I did it right, I''d only have to perfect a design, and then I''d be able to create hundreds if not thousands of them trivially.


    Better yet, it would probably make for a faster design process since I''d be able to do the work within a CAD program instead of physically constructing every version.


    Ignoring the voices in my head that suspected that it wouldn''t be that easy in the end, I started listing what I''d need to do to start that project on my laptop.


    By the time I heard another knock on the wall, I''d gone deeply into it, and felt like I had a general understanding of the process.


    Turning toward the noise, I saw Daniel, Izzy, and Haley stepping into the lab. Daniel and Izzy were expected. Haley wasn''t so much, but I had told her about it.


    I knew Izzy wanted to talk about the project over the weekend. It made sense if everyone who knew about the project was in on it.


    That was my thought, Daniel told me.


    "Is it safe to talk about this here?"


    "I''ll be able to tell if anyone can hear us," Daniel said.


    Haley pulled up a chair and sat next to me. "Izzy and I will both be able to hear if anyone''s coming."


    She had a point. Haley could hear somebody''s heartbeat speed up from more than ten feet away. As good as Haley''s hearing was, Izzy could not only hear if our names were mentioned on different levels of the complex, but also reconstruct a map of the whole place in her head from the echoes.


    Izzy pulled up a chair across from me as Daniel sat next to her.


    "So," Izzy said, pulling out a pad of paper and a pen, "we''ve got everyone, and we have a plan. The plan is, if I''ve got this right, to release roachbots and do an Edward Snowden to the Turkmenistan regime. We''re going to avoid violence, and we''re not going to give up. If this doesn''t work, we''ll try another approach. Anything else?"


    "We''re not going to tell anybody that it''s us," I said.


    "We''re going to get my dad''s okay after we''ve got the information, and before releasing anything," Daniel added. "If he''s not okay with it, we''ll stop."


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    Izzy nodded. "But we''ll try something else."


    Daniel paused, but then said, "Yes, but I don''t know what. We might have to go public as heroes, and add our support to whatever Amnesty International''s doing."


    Haley tilted her head as she listened to Daniel. "We had an Amnesty International group in our parish. it seemed like all they did was ask us to sign letters."


    Izzy put down her pen as she began to answer, talking more quickly as she gathered steam. "It''s more than that. We try to make people aware of issues of globalization and--"


    "I didn''t know you were in it," Haley said.


    Izzy nodded. "I''m in a lot of groups."


    Daniel smiled at her. "I can''t believe you still have time for school too. Or me."


    Izzy met his eyes. "It''s not as bad as it sounds."


    Haley bit her lip. "Do I have what you''re doing right? Izzy''s flying in the roachbots, and then Nick''s going to send them into the presidential palace. What''s after that?"


    "Listening," I said, "but beyond that it depends on what we find out."


    Haley looked up at me. "What language do they speak in Turkmenistan?"


    I thought about it. "I think it might be Turkmen, but I''m not sure. I was hoping we might find someone in your class who could translate."


    Haley pursed her lips. "That''s a big thing to leave open. I don''t think anyone can do that."


    I sighed. "This all came up out of nowhere. Well, the good news is at least the tech part of this is taken care of. Kind of. I''ve got the roachbots nearly ready. I need to show the satellite bot to Dr. Nation, so that he sees I''m making progress on my project, but after that Izzy can take it."


    Daniel lifted his hand. "Hey, if Izzy''s flying over there, she''ll need a disguise. I know she''d be flying quickly, but if someone does recognize her, there could be problems."


    "Right," I said. "The Nine might be involved with the regime. Good point. Maybe I could work up a black nanobot suit for her."


    Izzy looked up from writing notes. "The Nine are involved? Then we need to do this, but you''re right. Make the suit. I don''t want to attract their attention."


    Haley glanced over at me. I guessed she must be thinking about how we''d fought them in the fall, but she didn''t say anything.


    When we''d fought Rook, the Nine''s agent, he''d used nerve gas and nuclear weapons to defend his base. Out of proportion barely described his actions.


    Well, if Haley wasn''t going to say anything, I decided to respond. "I''ll start work on the suit next. I''ve been working on one for everybody on the team anyway. Does this mean we''re done? I think we''ve covered everything major."


    Izzy added something to her notepad, and said, "I think that''s everything. What about everyone else?"


    Haley tapped the table, and we all looked at her. "Sorry," she said. "I didn''t mean to do that, but I did think of something. What about everyone else? Vaughn, Cassie, Jaclyn, and everyone else in the League? If this works, great, but if it doesn''t, and if it gets out, they''ll look bad too, and they''ll feel bad because no one told them."


    I shrugged. "The less people who know, the less likely anyone will find out."


    Daniel shook his head. "She''s right. They deserve to know. There are people in the program and in the super community in general who would love to make the League look bad."


    I frowned. "Really? Who?"


    It was Daniel''s turn to shrug. "Different people have different reasons. It''s something we should talk about if we have a team meeting about this."


    Sighing, I glanced at the satellite bot. Now there was one more obstacle before sending it out. At the same time, I had an idea.


    "You know who might be able to figure out the language problem? Bloodmaiden."

 Remote Control: Part 4

    Izzy''s forehead wrinkled. "Why do you think that?"


    "I''m not sure, but I think she may have talked to the invaders in their native language. Anyway, I know that somewhere in there Amy used magic to transform a little in their direction. Something like that. That whole battle''s a little blurry at this point."


    "I think you''re right," Daniel said, glancing over at Izzy and then back to me. "Judging from the way she made that shield and that she can fly, her magic is pretty flexible. It''s worth a question. Who do we talk to if it doesn''t work?"


    "Maybe Samita? I don''t know her very well, but Rachel and Cassie both do. Also, maybe the League jet''s AI, but I don''t know if it knows Turkmen, or how easy it would be to learn it. Also, I''m still trying to figure the thing out. I didn''t even know it was around until last fall."


    "The AI seems nice," Haley said. "It''s nicer than Cassie''s gun anyway."


    "Yeah," I said. "And it''s probably the only option for large scale translation. The problem is that while I don''t know much about galactic history, what I do know is that they keep AI''s under draconian restrictions. Freed AI''s have tried to wipe out all sentient organic life a few times. It''s probably due to Lee''s people, but whatever''s up with that, I''m trying to be careful about how much I use it."


    Daniel nodded. "Plus if the Xiniti believe we''re trying to replicate the AI, they''re probably under orders to burn the planet."


    "Yeah," I said. "We probably get more latitude than most due to being the Heroes League and because Cassie and I are officially Xiniti citizens, but it''s probably best not to draw attention to it."


    "Okay," Daniel said. "Does anybody have anything else?"


    We didn''t.


    It felt a little weird not to be planning to do anything together after that, but we didn''t. Daniel and Izzy went off to do something, and Haley and I sat in my lab. For a moment after they left, we didn''t say anything.


    Then Haley smiled, and said, "We''ve got the afternoon."


    We did, and it sounded a lot better than going to a club. "We could go out to lunch, someplace where there aren''t any supers or paparazzi."


    Haley stood up from the chair. "Let''s."


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    Then I thought about Amy. "Before we go, would you mind if we tried to talk to Amy? The magic labs are in the next suite."


    Haley''s lips tightened for a moment, but then she said, "We should."


    Leaving the lab, we used the lab''s nearest door, walking out into a wide red, rock hallway.


    The next opening looked almost exactly like the one we''d left--a square, doorless opening in the rock.


    Walking down the hallway, Haley raised her nose a little, and sniffed the air. "We''re in the right place."


    I was about to comment that there wasn''t any reason to doubt that when it occurred to me to ask, "How do you know?"


    "You''ll figure it out," she said, and kept on walking.


    I kept up with her, and we stepped into the magic labs'' common area. The first thing that I noticed was that the room was smaller, and almost entirely social.


    The tech labs'' common room held machines that we all might need. The magic labs'' common room held only tables, chairs and a few completely empty spaces. I assumed that they''d been left empty in case someone needed to do a particularly big ritual.


    That, or maybe the architect had no idea what a wizard might need.


    Haley''s eyes darted around the room. "They only have five labs."


    There were twenty tech labs--which still wasn''t many by comparison to the total number of people on campus, but heroes who used magic at a high enough level of sophistication to need a lab must be rarer.


    In retrospect, it didn''t surprise me. Most magic based heroes that I was aware of were the result of the faerie incursions--the big one in the late 60''s, or one of the smaller ones that didn''t rate a name or entry in the history books. Typically, they were magic based by way of descent (Rod or "Troll" who seemed like a nice enough guy, but had something against legacy heroes) or a magical device (Crimson Mask or any of the Mask family).


    The first two labs were dark. Apparently wizards didn''t believe in working on Saturdays--which made no sense unless they were Kabbalists or maybe Seventh Day Adventists.


    What little I''d seen of Samita though made me wonder if she ever stopped studying.


    Putting my arm on Haley''s shoulder, I said, "I wonder if anybody''s here?"


    "Amy''s here." Haley pointed at the third open doorway. It wasn''t much lighter than the others, but there was light. It glowed redly.


    Then Amy stood in the doorway, a silhouette of a slight woman in a jean jacket and jeans. She walked toward us, the common room''s brighter lighting allowing her to appear in full color.


    "What are you doing here?" Her voice had a slight southern accent. Knowing that she came from a completely different universe, I wondered how real it was.


    "Looking for you," I said.


    She glanced at Haley, and then at me. "This isn''t a social call, is it?"


    I shook my head. "The more private the conversation is, the better."


    Amy''s eyes widened, and then narrowed. "Right. Then follow me. Our only chance for real privacy is over here."


    We followed her inside her lab, avoiding the glowing, blood red gems that matched the gem on Amy''s necklace, and her armor after she transformed.


    "Stand here," she said, standing next to a heavy, wooden table. As we stopped next to her, she took out a knife and cut her hand, touching her bloody palm to the gem on her necklace.


    Gems all around the room glowed bright red, and stayed that way, lighting up the place.


    At the same time, a high pitched voice shrieked, and then went silent.

 Remote Control: Part 5

    Haley kicked her shoes off and literally leapt across the room, landing on all fours. She hadn''t transformed. However her body worked, she was already stronger and faster than normal humans even before a transformation.


    As she crouched, she sniffed the air near the doorway.


    Almost simultaneously with Haley''s leap, Amy touched her gem, setting off an explosion of red, darker red, black, white, and pink.


    A hint of music lingered in the air as armor appeared on her body. White, with extensive dark red and black detailing of abstract designs that centered around the dark red gem in the middle of the armor. Form fitting, the armor wasn''t as bulky as I remembered her last transformation--though she was still taller. Inexplicably, her hair now hung halfway down her back.


    It struck me as the kind of armor you might wear more for formal occasions rather than fighting. The spear on her back and black sword at her side hinted that it was more than a little useful for killing though.


    She joined Haley, crossing the room in a few steps, and making a sign in the air in front of her face that shimmered.


    After a moment of looking over the area around the door, and then stepping through it into the commons, she came back. "It''s gone."


    "Do you mean gone," Haley asked, "or dead?


    Amy touched her hand to her gem. As colors swirled and her armor disappeared, she said, "Gone. I don''t know where."


    Haley frowned as she stood up. "I can smell it was here, but can''t smell what direction it went. It''s like it teleported away or maybe disintegrated."


    "Or wrapped itself in shadow, and disappeared." Amy took another look at the area around the door.


    I joined them, quietly wishing I''d worn my stealth suit under my clothes.


    "Shadow?" I stuck my hands in my pockets. "I know the answer is ''magic,'' but how would that work? Shadows aren''t a substance. They''re just the absence of light, and not even the complete absence. All you need is to have less light. It''s a little like deciding half a glass of water is a different substance than a full glass of water."


    Amy glanced over at Haley, and when Haley didn''t say anything, she turned back to me. "You believe that I can do things with magic, right?"


    "Well, yeah. That''s obvious." The dark red gems all over room burned a little brighter now, and had since she''d done whatever she''d done to get us some privacy.


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    Even if that was the most current example there were so many more. I''d seen her spear pass through metal like it wasn''t there. What''s more, there were her transformation sequences, and well, so much.


    "Good," she said. "The program offers a basic magic course for non-practicing students. Take it. You''ll get a better overview than I''ll give you, and every school of magic will explain how it works differently.


    "Let''s talk about something more important. Who did you piss off?"


    I looked over at Haley. The only person I could think of lately might be the photographer, and most of that probably wasn''t me.


    "I don''t know. I don''t think I''ve pissed off anybody lately. We literally bumped into one of the paparazzi last night, but I don''t think he''d be able to send anything after us."


    "He''d be more angry at Hunter and Gifford," Haley said, adding, "They''re the ones who broke his camera."


    "No kidding?" Amy grinned. "You''ve been busy, but there has to be someone else. Fairies don''t decide to follow people for no good reason."


    I thought about that. "Couldn''t it be after you?"


    Amy shook her head. "No. If my people wanted to track me, they''d use spirits they have experience with--not yours."


    Haley frowned. "We haven''t fought anyone who does anything with fairies."


    Amy shrugged. "Then maybe it could be someone your grandparents fought. Revenge is a classic motive."


    Groaning, Haley said, "Then it could be anyone. "


    Amy laughed, and Haley stared at her.


    "Sorry," Amy said, "I should have thought about that. If we were back in my home universe, I''d be in the same boat. Well, then could it be connected to what you wanted to talk about?"


    I shook my head. "Probably not, but before I go further, does the privacy thing still work, or did zapping the fairy use it up?"


    "Still works," Amy said, "but if you want privacy, let''s move further into the room."


    We did, and sat down at a stainless steel table that made me think of a restaurant kitchen, an impression compounded by the line of refrigerators at the back of the room.


    I turned away from looking at them. "What''s with the refrigerators?"


    Amy smiled. "I use blood magic. I''ve got to keep the blood somewhere, but you know what? I''ve been thinking I could get away with keeping beer if I spread it out between them."


    I looked down the line of refrigerators. "That''s a lot of blood. Where do you get that much?"


    "It''s not that interesting. I buy most of it. It comes from animals or people, but mostly animals. People get weirded out."


    "Yeah," I said. "I believe it. Anyway, I was wondering if you could magically read a new language if we needed a translation."


    Amy leaned back in her chair. "Sure. No big deal if I had blood from someone who could read it, or who could translate as a power."


    "Oh. So that''s how that works." Where would we find someone who knew Turkmen? I had no idea. Not to mention that hypothetically at that point we might as well just hire them. Dealing with the jet''s AI would actually be easier.


    "That''s how it works," she said. "That''s blood magic. So what''s going on? Why would you need that?"


    That was it--the point where I had to make a decision. Should I trust or not? The fairies decided me. "We''re going to try to overthrow Turkmenistan''s government indirectly. We need someone who can read Turkmen and help me decide what documents we steal and translate."


    She didn''t say anything at first, but then said, "I''m in, but I hope no one from home hears about it. They might get the wrong idea."


    "To be honest," I said, "we''ve got an alternate way to deal with the documents, but I''m thinking we''ll need you because of the fairy. My best guess is that whoever set it on us is here."

 Remote Control: Part 6

    I let out a breath. "This seems to be escalating. I don''t know if we''ve got any enemies from the magical end of things, but we''ve got spies. You said it was a fairy or from Faerie, but do you get any sense of place? Like maybe Turkmenistan''s got it''s own fairy tales?"


    Amy frowned. "I don''t know this world''s history or magic very well. I''d never even heard about Turkmenistan before this year, but wouldn''t that be like Afghanistan or Pakistan? So jinn, maybe, but I don''t think it was a jinn. It didn''t feel like it had that kind of power."


    Putting my arms on the table, I crossed them and leaned forward. "Something small, and not so powerful?"


    Amy didn''t say anything, but then she nodded. "I can''t say it for sure, but that feels right. Whatever it was, didn''t put up any resistance. It fled."


    Haley turned away from staring at the books on the bookshelves next to the refrigerators. They appeared to be written in scripts that didn''t even come from this Earth. "Is that the kind of thing you learn here?"


    Amy shrugged. "I try to. I''ve got family texts from home, but the teachers here can''t teach me how to practice directly. I have to adapt anything I learn because people don''t use blood magic here."


    Haley nodded as Amy talked. "Do you know it isn''t used here, or could it just not be popular?"


    Amy threw up her hands. "God, I wish I knew. I''ve tried to find out, but I don''t know who to talk to or no one will talk to me. Your country has a school for wizards--"


    Haley''s jaw dropped. "It does?"


    Amy barely seemed aware of the interruption as she continued, "And it''s full of assholes. I applied to go there. They wouldn''t let me in, and when I called to ask why, the receptionist wouldn''t tell me. I got so angry I drove all night, walked straight into the president''s office, and asked him."


    I couldn''t think clearly enough to say anything more than, "Wow. What did he--"


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    Amy answered before I finished. "He told me blood magic was depraved, and could only lead to the worst sort of abuses, and if I continued down that road it would lead to my damnation."


    I took a breath and thought about it. "That seems a little harsh."


    She leaned back in her chair, and shook her head. "I don''t know. It''s complicated. You know how I told you that the purpose of the Bloodmaiden was to protect my kingdom? And that if there were twins, they both had the Bloodmaiden powers, but one got the title? There''s more to it. I didn''t tell you everything."


    "Uh..." I said. "You don''t have to--"


    "No," she said, "I need to get this out. My family isn''t nice. You don''t create an empire by being nice. My family went beyond most emperors because we could. They were called the Bloodlords. You''ve seen ''Guardians of the Galaxy,'' right? Do you remember when the villain kills someone with a hammer, and the blood flows down a drain? My family had a building made for collecting blood.


    "I only use my own blood, and blood willingly given, but they would use anyone, willing or unwilling, and for some purposes unwilling works better. They had a kingdom to run so most mornings began with a slave''s death.


    "After an uprising that removed them from power, they changed our magic, allowing the family to use it without shedding blood. I don''t know why, but part of the price for that is that when there are twins, one comes back with the Bloodlords'' original magic.


    "So that''s me," she said. "I''m here because people are afraid that I''ll create a an empire that runs on blood drained from my enemies."


    I shook my head. "That''s history. It''s not you."


    She didn''t seem as comforted as I hoped. Amy met my eyes, and said, "The last time a Bloodmaiden came back from exile thousands died even after she won. I know that my ''parents,'' the servants who were sent into exile with me have been trained to kill me if I show signs of coming back. It doesn''t matter that I won''t, if people treat me as if I will."


    Amy took a deep breath. "If you still want my help, let''s talk about what you want me to do."


    "We do," I said. "Mostly I think we need to protect my lab better, and maybe work out ways to track anything that tries to spy on me."


    We lost the next hour to planning. At the end of it Amy said, "I''ll drop by your lab on Monday."


    "Great," I said.


    As we all stood up from the table, Haley said, "Nick and I were going into Denver for lunch, we''d love it if you came along."


    Amy smiled, but waved us toward the door. "No, the two of you don''t need me along, but thanks for invitation."


    When we were in the hallway out of the common room, Haley looked backward toward the doorway.


    "We might not need her along," Haley said, "but I think she needs us."


    "She does have her own friends," I said.


    "Do you think she''s ever told them all that?"


    I thought about it. "I don''t know."

 Go Time: Part 1

    I woke up with my head on the lab table. Wood wasn''t the most comfortable pillow. I pushed myself up, trying to remember what I''d been doing.


    The satbot lay on the table. I''d finished it, tested it, and it worked. Then I''d tested the other bots'' ability to connect to it. Haley and I had tried it out in Denver, and it had managed to connect. The phonebot had managed to successfully impersonate a house''s landline, and the mobile connection bot had been tested in every way possible outside of Turkmenistan.


    I checked the time on my cell phone. It was 3:42am.


    I''d fallen asleep in my chair, but we could go tomorrow--not that we would. Tomorrow was a Thursday. Our best chance for Izzy to touch down without being seen would be at night--which meant we''d need to be doing it during the day. Saturday would be our best choice. Then we wouldn''t have classes where our absence could be noted and confirmed.


    I pulled myself up and out of my chair, traveling through the dark hallways to finally arrive at the dorm room I shared with Daniel.


    Daniel''s snoring greeted me as I opened the door.


    Not turning on the light, I took off my clothes, pulled on my pajamas, and got into bed.


    Daniel''s snoring continued, and I counted it as a success since I hadn''t woken him up.


    I lay in bed with my eyes shut, waiting to go to sleep, and failing to get anywhere with that. However tired I''d felt when i woke up, I felt completely normal by the time I''d gone from one of the lowest levels in the compound to my dorm room.


    My mind kept on going back to the bots, and wondering if I''d missed anything that would cause them to all freeze up once I tried to use them.


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    I tried to relax, concentrating on my breathing, being aware of the air moving in through my nose and out through my mouth, but that didn''t help me.


    I felt calmer, but I didn''t go to sleep.


    Except then, unpredictably, I fell unconscious.


    I don''t know when I fell asleep except that I definitely did. What happened afterward couldn''t have happened if I were awake.


    It would make for a better story if she''d interrupted a Sandman-style dream sequence, something that was both surreal and character revealing at the same time, but life isn''t always convenient that way.


    It also could have been worse--much worse. Two words that crystallize just how bad worse could be: wet dream.


    Long story short, Daniel''s mom appeared in my head.


    We stood near the playground in the park that overlooked much of the Castle Rock Compound. It was during the day, but no one played on the swings.


    She looked as she often had when I visited their house--dressed up. She worked at a bank. In this case, she wore a red, button down blouse and black pants. She had full lips, dark hair, and light brown skin.


    She glanced over at the playground, and said, "Neither of you are children anymore."


    "No, I guess." I noted that in the distance a cloud hung above the ground. Distortion in the air below it made me think it was raining.


    "I''m sorry to interrupt your sleep, but I have to talk to you about what the two of you are planning." Her accent seemed a little stronger than normal. I''d never been sure as to whether it was a Greek or Israeli accent, but since her family had immigrated from Greece to Israel before she hit the age of ten, it could have been a mixture.


    "I''m not going to interfere," she said, "but I should. The problem is that they''re killing people. I talked with Daniel. He said that the two of you agreed not to do anything more than gather information without permission. Do you intend to stick with that plan?"


    Thinking about the rain cloud on the horizon, I said, "Yes."


    "Good," she said. "I will hold you to that. We want to know what they''re doing, but we don''t want to give them or the Nine a reason to target you."


    I didn''t need to ask if they would.


    "Then I''ll let you sleep," she said, and the scene dissolved. "Your mother says hello."


    My very first action when I woke up was to check whether Daniel was still in bed.


    He was.


    I reached across the gap between our beds, poking him. "How did your mom find out?"

 Go Time: Part 2

    Daniel grunted something unintelligible, but didn¡¯t wake up.


    I imagined an air horn, an old one that varied in pitch, ranging from a normal tone to a ragged, scratchy one to a painful screech.


    Then, thinking back to our fight against Evil Beatnik, I started imagining a chorus of air horns, all of them slightly out of tune, endlessly repeating the only part of Barry Manilow¡¯s ¡°Mandy¡± that I could remember¡ªthe refrain.


    Daniel raised his head. ¡°That¡¯s got to be against the Geneva Conventions. What time is it?¡±


    We both turned toward the alarm clock. It was 5:48am.


    ¡°What were you waking me up for?¡± His voice trailed off. ¡°Lucky you. You¡¯re close enough to family that she feels okay with dropping by.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°How did she find out what we¡¯re doing?¡±


    Daniel sighed. ¡°Guess. She dropped by when I was dreaming about it, and stayed around long enough to get a general sense of what we¡¯re doing. Then she got my attention and started asking questions. There wasn¡¯t any point in lying.¡±


    I lay on my back, looking up at the ceiling. It wasn¡¯t very interesting. ¡°She did work for Mossad. I suppose it was a bit much to expect that neither of your parents would find out.¡±


    Daniel grunted. ¡°There¡¯s a reason intelligence agencies hire telepaths.¡±


    Of course his mom¡¯s telepathy was considerably more limited than her strongest ability. It was a lot like Daniel¡¯s¡ªallowing her to sense minds a few hundred feet in diameter around herself. Her ability to get into people¡¯s dreams, however, didn¡¯t have a distance limit that anybody had yet discovered. She had to have touched them once and both she and the target had to be asleep.


    ¡°For what it¡¯s worth,¡± I said, ¡°if you haven¡¯t already pulled it out of my head, I¡¯m done. It all works. We can launch Saturday.¡±


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    Daniel made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a laugh. ¡°I¡¯ll tell the launchee. Does that include the suit you mentioned?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯ll be invisible to radar, and if someone sees her, they¡¯ll assume she¡¯s in powered armor.¡±


    Daniel didn¡¯t say anything for a moment, but then said, ¡°I like that. What does she look like when she¡¯s around here?¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­ Wearer¡¯s choice. I¡±m thinking I¡¯ll color it like the costume she¡¯s been wearing.¡±


    ¡°Good idea,¡± Daniel said. ¡°Are you going to mind if I go back to sleep?¡±


    ¡°We may as well try.¡±


    I closed my eyes, thinking about the night I¡¯d had, trying to become relaxed enough to sleep again even though I knew that I¡¯d be getting up depressingly soon.


    After a little while, my thoughts drifted a little further afield, and I had a sudden insight that made a lot of sense. It certainly wasn¡¯t something I intended to ask Daniel¡¯s parents about, but I would have bet it was true.


    ¡°Ugh,¡± Daniel muttered. ¡°You know that I¡¯ve known about my parents¡¯ powers practically as long as I¡¯ve been alive, and I¡¯ve never considered that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s kind of obvious if you think about it.¡± My eyes were closed, and my speech might have slurred.


    ¡°You¡¯re not going to have to think about it the next time my Dad¡¯s on a mission, or worse when Mom steps into my dreams to tell me.¡±


    ¡°Funny how not living at home makes it worse,¡± I said, or at least tried to. It came out unintelligible.


    I didn¡¯t hear Daniel¡¯s reply. I fell completely asleep, but if I had stayed awake I can¡¯t say I would have been much more sympathetic. He had to have been deliberately ignoring it. His parents must have been using her dream power for conjugal visits when one or the other were away on trips for years.


    It had to beat sexting by a wide margin.


    * * *


    It was a day not unlike any other, but even those days present challenges. For example on Thursday, I had to visit my assigned therapist for my first individual session. We¡¯d been having group sessions once a week.


    I was missing my first half hour in lab. Walking through the well lit rock corridors, I wondered why they¡¯d chosen to have me miss lab instead of fighting, working out, or disaster recovery training.


    I¡¯d have felt less tired for one.


    Eventually I found the office. To my surprise, it wasn¡¯t an office, it was a suite. The program had a counseling center, complete with ten different offices for counselors, and three different conference rooms.


    The rooms had windows that looked out, away from the city of Castle Rock and the compound, giving a view of mountains and foothills, yucca and scrub pine.


    Making sure that the name on the door was correct (Nancy Hemming), I walked inside, tapping on the door to make sure she knew.


    A woman in her late twenties walked up to meet me. She wore a brown suit. Holding out her hand to shake mine, she said, ¡°Nick, nice of you to come. I¡¯d like to talk about what led you to become part of the Stapledon program.¡±

 Go Time: Part 3

    Ms. Hemming waved me into her office. "Take a chair."


    She shut the door behind me, as I walked inside. Pikes Peak rose among the mountains viewable from her windows.


    I sat down in one of the chairs across from her desk. Unlike every therapist''s office I''d seen in cartoons, it did not have a couch--not that I expected to see one. My dad was a clinical psychologist. He didn''t have a couch.


    Her office had been carved out of the rock by Earthmover''s mind and included bookshelves. They''d been cut out of the rock too, but were almost entirely empty. One half shelf held books.


    I supposed that they might not have planned to hire as many psychologists as they needed. As crazy as it seemed, the Hrrrnna had attacked Earth only a month or two ago, and the Stapledon program''s expansion probably only included psychologists as an afterthought.


    Regardless, between the sunlight and the view, it felt comfortable.


    Ms. Hemming sat down behind her desk, giving me a smile, and picking up a folder. As she opened it, she said, "I know you''ve gone to a couple group sessions by now, so some of the questions I''m about to ask might seem redundant, but remember, I haven''t heard you talk about them before."


    "Sure," I said.


    "Good," she said, nodding. "How did you come to be in Stapledon?"


    "In a roundabout way because of my grandfather. I''m guessing you know he was the Rocket?"


    She nodded.


    "Okay. Well, he left me everything I needed to be a superhero, and I helped my friends handle some problems. That made me and my friends eligible for the Stapledon program as it was then--which was basically a way to train and educate people who were already acting as vigilantes anyway."


    She''d pulled out a notebook as I talked, and jotted something down. "I''ve read reports on what you did prior to being recruited for the program. What appealed to you about being a vigilante?"


    That was a question. I couldn''t say it made a lot of sense, but it was a question.


    "Um... Nothing. I don''t have any kind of burning need to dispense justice. Look, most of the early stuff we did was to keep from dying. The Cabal was collecting information on us, and so we did what we needed to find out who they were, and survive meeting them."


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    She wrote a little more. "But you could have handed off everything to the Midwest Defenders. You chose to keep it to yourself."


    I shook my head. "Not really. We brought adults in, but we didn''t have enough information to hand it off when we fought the Mayor. Later, when we fought the remnants of the Cabal when they teamed up with the Executioner, well... That was more complicated. We didn''t know we were fighting them at first, and when we did we brought in adults."


    She looked up from writing. "But you still stayed involved."


    "Unless we wanted to run for our lives there wasn''t any way to avoid being involved. They were after us, and if we ever wanted to live in Grand Lake again, we didn''t have a choice."


    Ms. Hemming put down the notebook. "And after that?"


    I thought about we did after that--Evil Beatnik, saving St. Louis, the attack by the Hrrnna, and the time we rescued Cassie from the Nine.


    "Well, there are still a lot of times where we weren''t so much acting to save civilians as we were acting to save ourselves or one of our team members. Granted there are exceptions to that. We went to St. Louis, and there we really did save civilians, but that was one of those things. We had the ability to save them, and no one else did.


    "I don''t see that as a superhero thing as much as simply the right thing to do. You don''t let people die if you have the power to stop it from happening. So, I mean, getting back to your first question, there''s nothing that appeals to me about being a vigilante. Occasionally though, when I''m not dealing with people who are trying to kill me for one reason or another, I notice that people need help, and then I help."


    We talked about other aspects of the program after that, finally turning to the fight in New York and on Manhattan island.


    She looked up from her notepad, asking, "How did the fight make you feel?"


    I looked at her, thinking about it. "I didn''t feel much. At different points, I felt scared and sometimes relieved, but mostly feelings were the furthest thing from my mind. I kept my mind on the next step, whatever we all had to do to stop the aliens from winning."


    She nodded. "My notes say that you killed a Xiniti and other aliens as well. Do you often find yourself thinking about that?"


    I considered it. "Not really. I did right afterward, but not very hard. They were all in armor, so I couldn''t see their faces, and so that looked very similar. It was almost like fighting robots. They didn''t seem like real people. I thought about the Xiniti a little more because there was only one. He wasn''t human at all though."


    She kept on writing notes. "You can say more about that if there''s more to say."


    "I don''t think there is. I expected more guilt if I ever had to kill something, but I haven''t felt any. Maybe it''s still coming. Maybe it was all too weird for me to feel like they were real. I don''t know."


    She looked up. "Is there anything about the battle that does come back to you?"


    "Not really. I have had dreams about being on the mothership as it was going down, but not lately. I''ve also had the occasional flashback to being on the ship, but not for a few weeks now. My last one was not long after I arrived here. I wonder why they stopped?"


    "These things fade over time. You might have gotten over it. You might not have encountered any triggers lately. Try to be aware of it if you do."

 Go Time: Part 4

    I left not long after that, finding another student waiting in the hallway outside her door. It was a guy I''d seen, but didn''t recognize--one of the freshmen.


    "If you''re here for Ms. Hemming, I just finished."


    He muttered, "Thanks," and then his eyes widened, recognizing me.


    I smiled and started walking toward the labs. I probably could have introduced myself, but I didn¡¯t want to make awkward conversation that amounted to ¡°You¡¯ve heard of my grandfather, and of me to some degree. Nice to meet you.¡±


    Vaughn probably would have stayed and talked a little. He was good at that kind of thing.


    After that I spent most of the rest of the day in the lab for one reason or another. I worked on the real version of my communication system¡ªthe one that would allow me to have roving drones ready to assist at a moment¡¯s notice. I also let Izzy try on her new suit, talked to Amy because she came by to check the wards she¡¯d put on my lab, talked to Haley because Haley dropped by while I was talking to Amy, and finally we were joined by Keon and Courtney who happened to be in their labs and wondered what was going on.


    It would have frustrated me immensely any other night, but for the time being I was done.


    I left the lab before midnight for a change, walking up to our rooms with Haley, and stopping at a corner that led to the first year dorm rooms. We¡¯d been holding hands, and somehow that turned into a hug and kissing each other while leaning against a wall.


    We were deeply into it when Haley whispered, ¡°Someone¡¯s coming.¡±


    I pulled away from her, looking up and down the halls. They¡¯d been dimmed at night, but weren¡¯t out. I couldn¡¯t see anybody. ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, frowning as she looked up at me. ¡°I got lipstick on you.¡±


    She lifted her arm, and her hand turned from a grayish claw to pink and normal. After rubbing my face, she said, ¡°That¡¯s better.¡±


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    I looked down the hallways again. ¡°You¡¯re sure somebody¡¯s coming?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, lengthening the word into two syllables.


    A not very rational part of my brain thought maybe we could get back to what we¡¯d been doing, but then I heard footsteps.


    Sean appeared in the distance, looking like the basketball player he had been¡ªtall with curly blond hair. After a glance in our direction, he ignored us, walking past without a word.


    ¡°That went better than it could have.¡± I watched Sean as he disappeared around a corner. ¡°Did you know it was him?¡±


    I knew the answer before she answered. Of course she had. I didn¡¯t know what the best thing we could have done was, but standing next to each other, making it quietly obvious he¡¯d interrupted something had to be better than having him pass us while we were making out and barely aware of his presence.


    All the same, I wondered how it happened that he was alone and walking around the compound at night. Even if he wasn¡¯t obviously sad, he hadn¡¯t looked happy.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Haley asked, answering my question. Then she looked down and sighed, ¡°Another pair of shoes?¡±


    Her shoes looked like the Incredible Hulk¡¯s might if he regularly wore women¡¯s black flats. Her claws had poked holes in the front and her feet had widened, tearing the sides even further.


    ¡°I¡¯m never going to be able to wear anything but sandals for the rest of my life,¡± she muttered.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said.


    She waved away my apology with her hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ve been buying cheap shoes. You can get them for less than ten dollars in secondhand stores and Ebay.¡±


    She slipped them off.


    We hugged, and then walked down the halls to our respective rooms.


    I stopped in front of my door, giving Daniel a mental poke by way of warning, and pausing long enough to reply before I opened the door. Only the lamp on the nightstand between our beds was on.


    I found Daniel in bed reading a book. According to its cover, it was called ¡°The Last of the Doughboys.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± he said, ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen you since lunch. How¡¯d your session go?¡±


    I thought about it, walking over to my own bed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Brutally efficient? I feel like I was barely there. I suppose she¡¯s got um¡­ seventy of us on her caseload.¡±


    Daniel put down the book. ¡°My counselor wasn¡¯t bad. He¡¯s on loan from the VA. I guess they¡¯re taking the possibility of PTSD pretty seriously.¡±


    ¡°No kidding. Is that why your mom¡¯s checking up on us? My counselor seemed to be surprised at how well I was doing.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Daniel said. Mentally, he added, That touches on something we probably shouldn¡¯t talk about where someone could hear it.


    ¡°Okay.¡± I took off my clothes, found my pajamas, and got in bed.


    When I dreamed, I dreamed I was in front of Daniel¡¯s house, and just about to knock on the door.

 Go Time: Part 5

    My hand hit the door, and it melted away, leaving me in the Cohen¡¯s house. I sat at the table where I¡¯d sat many times over the years. A picture of the Cohen family hung on the wall nearby¡ªDaniel, his mom, dad, brother and sister posing together at the beach.


    Hanging on wall near the picture was a series of hebrew letters in burnished metal. I¡¯d been told what the words on it meant before, but I could never remember. I stared at it for a moment.


    I glanced over at the pile of books piled on the end of the table. As usual, they were mostly about interior design and art history.


    A pile of paper sat next to them.


    Then even though she hadn¡¯t been there before, Daniel¡¯s mom was sitting in the chair across from me. Just like in any normal dream, I found myself simply accepting this.


    She gave me a smile. ¡°Hello Nick, I talked to Daniel, and realized I needed to tell you a little more.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°This is about my counseling appointment and PTSD then?¡±


    She flashed another smile at me before her expression turned serious. ¡°Yes. Daniel¡¯s father and I have been checking on all of you.¡±


    I took that in. ¡°Everyone? That¡¯s good, I guess. I thought our parents were supposed to let things happen or everyone dies.¡±


    She nodded slowly. ¡°That is true, but there are ways we can intervene, and this is one of them. It¡¯s too dangerous to let any of you go down that road.¡±


    I¡¯d looked up PTSD on Wikipedia. The thought of Jaclyn, Izzy or Travis ending up with it was frightening considering that one of the symptoms was excessive response to possible threats.


    Any of the three of them could level a building without help.


    I thought about what that implied. ¡°You can cure PTSD?¡±


    ¡°I knew you¡¯d understand. Severe cases are still difficult even for telepaths, but we can fix normal cases.¡±


    And that was kind of crazy. A problem that might destroy a normal person¡¯s life could be dealt with by Daniel¡¯s parents before we knew we had a problem. If that normal person got help, it could be years of work before they could handle normal life.


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    That led into my next thought. ¡°So you''ve been fixing us all? That''s why we''re doing okay?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°We barely did anything. Lee prepared you better for this than we expected.¡±


    She met my eyes. ¡°What little we¡¯ve done is more preventive measures. We don¡¯t want to give anyone else an excuse to go into your heads.¡±


    I flipped that around in my mind. The implications were unnerving. For whatever reason, they felt they had to protect us from people involved in the Stapledon programs.


    I wanted to ask more questions, but then the dream dissolved into nothing.


    * * *


    Saturday afternoon came before I knew it. It found me in the lab watching the computer screen. The screen showed Izzy¡¯s position on the map. A small window showed the view from her helmet camera.


    She stood on rocky top of the compound¡¯s foothill. Near the back, they had an exit for flyers or anyone else capable of surviving the hundred foot drop.


    The transparent dome that protected the compound met the rock, but didn¡¯t simply rest there. A white substance that almost looked like plastic surrounded the bottom edge of the bubble and extended up ten feet. It looked like it might extend into the ground too.


    Izzy stood in front of a door shaped outline in the white stuff. She reached out, touching her hand to a panel off to the right of the doorway.


    The panel lit up, and the door sank into the ground.


    Izzy stepped forward, stopping for a second. Brown rock ended only a feet feet past the edge of the dome. She went far enough that we could see over the cliff.


    It looked like a long way down.


    Then she took off and the distance became even longer, but I stopped paying attention as her speed began to increase.


    ¡°Look at that,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°I¡¯d choke if I ever got that high.¡±


    He was probably right. By the time he said that, Izzy was flying above clouds¡ªnot that that meant anything necessarily, but in this case her altitude showed she was already at 30,000 feet.


    I¡¯d been that high, but the Rocket suit could be pressurized when necessary.


    I turned away from the screen. We had most of the League in my lab. Daniel had said we ought to tell the whole League because the blowback would hit everyone if something went wrong. That meant Daniel, Cassie, Vaughn, Haley, Camille, Jaclyn, Courtney and Amy crowded around my desk. Travis and Rachel might have been there too, but the upperclassmen were doing some kind of field trip.


    Hopefully it would go better than their trip to Infinity City.


    Courtney and Amy weren¡¯t really official League members, but Amy was there to set up a spell that kept this gathering private. As for Courtney¡­ Well, she was associated with us in everyone¡¯s mind anyway, so she¡¯d probably feel the effects if it went wrong too.


    Jaclyn walked up to the computer and watched the screen. ¡°How long did you say she¡¯d take?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. She didn¡¯t know her maximum speed, but at her current rate um¡­ Four hours?¡±


    She watched the screen for a minute. ¡°Do we have any way to help her if something goes wrong?¡±

 Go Time: Part 6

    ¡°Marcus and Sydney are waiting in the jet. They¡¯ll be taking off soon. They¡¯re going to shadow her from a distance¡ªfar enough away that they shouldn¡¯t be visible, but close enough that they¡¯re in range.¡±


    Jaclyn leaned toward the screen, probably noticing now that the camera display program¡¯s current tab was labeled "Blue," but the second tab was labeled "Jet."


    I clicked on the button that showed all cameras, and the program divided the screen between Izzy¡¯s view of the sky above South Dakota and the League jet¡¯s much less interesting view of the airlock between the hangar and Lake Michigan.


    Jaclyn pulled up a chair and sat next to me. ¡°I didn¡¯t know Marcus could fly the jet.¡±


    Then she frowned. ¡°They can¡¯t hear us from here, right?¡±


    ¡°Not unless you want to. Any League communicator will patch you in.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I do not want that at all. How good is he?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ He¡¯s been hitting the simulator pretty hard lately, and he¡¯s been up in the actual jet four or five times. So maybe ten hours of actual flying, but more like one hundred in the simulator. He¡¯s been spending a lot of it in fighting simulations¡ªwhich isn¡¯t a bad idea. The jet¡¯s great at simulations.¡±


    She looked at the screen and then at me. She took a breath. ¡°Do you think he¡¯s ready for this?¡±


    Set to low volume, Kayla¡¯s voice came over the computer¡¯s speakers, ¡°Shift, the airlock¡¯s full. I¡¯m opening up the exit to the lake.¡±


    ¡°Do your worst, Control.¡± I could almost hear Marcus smiling.


    Sydney laughed in the background.


    ¡°You¡¯re so professional.¡± Kayla said. ¡°Good luck.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t need luck,¡± Marcus said. ¡°I¡¯m flying in a super-plane after the nearest person we¡¯ve got to Superman. Plus, I¡¯m the stretchiest man alive.¡±


    Sydney said something I couldn¡¯t quite catch.


    ¡°No,¡± Marcus replied. ¡°I don¡¯t think the giant mushroom guy counts. He doesn¡¯t stretch. He just grows more fungus.¡±


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    With that, the jet engaged its engines and started floating through the tunnel.


    ¡°Is he ready?¡± Jaclyn asked.


    ¡°Not as ready as I was the first time I flew the jet, but here¡¯s the good news. It turns out that the one time the AI can definitely take control is if someone¡¯s going to crash.¡±


    Jaclyn snorted. ¡°Great.¡±


    We both lapsed into silence, watching as the jet lifted off, the water blowing off the camera¡¯s lens, the jet leaving the lake behind and aiming toward the sky.


    Marcus shouted something as it left the water and poured on the speed, flying north.


    Behind me, Amy commented, ¡°He¡¯s enthusiastic.¡±


    Near her, Haley said, ¡°He is. I hope he stays safe.¡± After a pause she added, ¡°Sydney too.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help but agree with her. Whatever points I¡¯d scored with Sean by making sure that she¡¯d been healed by Preserver when the aliens attacked would plunge deeply into the negative if she died doing this.


    Someone stepped closer. ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be great,¡± Cassie said.


    Vaughn pulled up his own chair, sitting on my other side. ¡°I wish I were going.¡±


    Jaclyn scowled. ¡°I wish you¡¯d told us earlier. I know there are good reasons you didn¡¯t¡ª¡°


    ¡°Like the fairy eavesdrop¡ª¡° I began.


    Jaclyn interrupted. ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I¡¯m not mad, but we¡¯re all going to have to be in the loop from now on.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± I nodded slowly. ¡°We¡¯ll need to work together. I haven¡¯t the faintest clue how to fight fairies. Well, beyond making sure you¡¯ve got iron.¡±


    ¡°Or iron alloy,¡± Amy said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m on it.¡±


    After that we stopped watching the screen except occasionally. I¡¯d calculated the shortest route would be over Greenland, so they flew north over Canada and then south over Russia. They flew high and quickly¡ªfaster actually than I¡¯d planned. It took only two hours.


    Thirty minutes in Izzy had said, ¡°I think I can go faster.¡±


    A minute or two later, she broke mach 4.


    They arrived above the capital (Ashgabat) without anyone noticing¡ªat least that¡¯s what I guessed. It seemed like a reasonable assumption though. Judging from what the government was willing to do to its own people, I doubted they¡¯d hesitate to shoot foreigners out of the air.


    I had no idea what the outskirts or unofficial parts of the capital looked like, but at night and from the sky, the center of the city looked like a kind of Middle Eastern fairyland. Tall, white building were surrounded by fountains, wading pools, and wide streets. Domes topped more than one building, accompanied by thin towers and spires.


    Lit by streetlights, and the glow of spotlights trained on certain buildings only made it appear more exotic.


    Izzy¡¯s voice came over the computer¡¯s speakers. ¡°I¡¯m going in. Nick said one circle around the presidential palace would be enough.¡±


    She appeared clearly on the jet¡¯s screen, making a circle around a huge, blocky, white building with a golden dome and many pillars. Then she circled away and into the air.


    It felt almost anti-climactic for a second. I didn¡¯t want interference, but I expected it.


    Then the bots began checking in. They all worked, and they were all on target. I decided I could take that kind of anti-climax¡ªthe kind where everything actually went well.


    Vaughn¡¯s voice brought me out of my head. ¡°You should have Izzy find their Ferris wheel.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Wikipedia says they¡¯ve got the world¡¯s largest Ferris wheel.¡±

 Go Time: Part 7

    "What''s Izzy supposed to do with the Ferris wheel?"


    Vaughn shrugged. "Maybe take a picture on it? I don''t know. It''s in the Guinness Book of World Records. She should do something funny with it. Maybe pretend she''s going to throw it, or stand in front of it with her armor saying ''All your base are belong to us?''"


    "Better yet," Jaclyn said, "how about you let Izzy know that everything works and that she can bug out of there before someone starts firing missiles at her."


    At approximately that moment Izzy said, "Control, do you have any word on the bots?"


    Kayla said, "I don''t have anything yet."


    I typed in a text message to all of them--Izzy, Kayla and the jet, "Bots all in. Go."


    "Thanks, Rocket." She shot upward, hundreds of feet in an instant. "I''m so glad to be going."


    Marcus voice came over the speakers. "Control, Blue''s moving and we''re following. Blue, tell us if we''re being tailed, okay?"


    Izzy''s view blurred as she turned her head to look down over her shoulder. "I can''t even see you, but I''ll do what I can."


    Jaclyn leaned in toward the monitor. Both sides of the screen showed the night sky. "How''s she going to manage that when they''re traveling faster than the speed of sound? Rocket tech?"


    I nodded. "I put in the same stuff I use in the Rocket suit--radar, and GPS. She''ll at least have what I do, and who knows? She might get more out of her hearing than I''d expect."


    Haley stepped up and stood next to Jaclyn. "I was talking with Camille and Courtney. Is it done?"


    "They''re flying back. That''ll be another two hours."


    "It''s five o''clock," Haley said. "We''re going to have eat supper in shifts if we want to have someone here watching."


    I thought about that. "I''m not sure if I should go. If someone does notice we''re here, it''s my lab, so I should be here."


    From further behind us, Amy said, "Me too. I''m keeping up the wards that stop people from noticing this little party."


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    "Party?" Vaughn shook his head. "A party is a lot more fun than this."


    Amy pushed her way through to stand next to Haley. "More fun than watching your friends helplessly while they bug the houses of known psychos on the other side of the world? I don''t know, you''re going to have to prove that one."


    Camille laughed. "I was at one of his parties. The one at your house a couple summers ago, just before you got sober?"


    Vaughn nodded. "I remember that one. I forget who broke a lamp, but my parents got so pissed. I mean, it''s not like they don''t have the money to buy a new lamp. They could buy a lamp factory, right? Anyway that''s also the party where some guy almost drowned in the pool."


    "I remember that," Haley said, shaking her head.


    I looked at her.


    She shrugged. "I was there with Sean."


    I caught Vaughn''s eye. "That''s really more fun than this?"


    "Well," Vaughn said, "it seemed that way at that time." He nodded, resting his chin on his hand. "I wasn''t sober for any of it." Looking up at Haley, he said, "Didn''t you pull that guy from the pool?"


    Haley gave a half smile. "Someone had to. It seems like a long time ago now."


    "I missed that party," Cassie said, crowding in with everyone else. "It was such a mess afterward. The guy''s parents were pissed. Vaughn''s mom was so angry she was practically shaking for a week."


    "Yeah," Vaughn said, shaking his head. "The party was great. The aftermath sucked."


    Amy grinned, and caught his eye. "It could have been worse. One of my ancestors had a party, and one of the guests got so drunk he grabbed my ancestor''s arm--which wasn''t allowed without permission because he was king. So my ancestor had the guest beheaded. Except then the guest''s relatives got angry, and led half the provinces in rebellion. It was a big mess, and it took years to clean up."


    "Whoa," Vaughn said. "How''d they do it?"


    Amy put her hands in her pockets and frowned. "The normal way. Decapitated the leaders, and the provinces fell in line eventually."


    Vaughn laughed. "I''m pretty sure that wouldn''t have worked for me, but my parents might have considered it. Only if I were the victim though."


    "Believe me," Amy said. "I know that feeling."


    From the back of the group Daniel talked over Vaughn''s reply, "Any of you who have special senses might want to use them. I''ve got a bad feeling that something''s about to happen."


    Not having special senses, I turned back to the screen, seeing nothing but the night sky as Izzy and the jet flew over Russia.


    Looking at their positions on the map, it appeared that they were flying over rural areas. That was good. I''d have been worried if they were flying over Moscow or something.


    Except then I did notice something. Twin fiery glows appeared on both sides of the screen. In the jet''s, they appeared in the distance, aiming toward Izzy. On Izzy''s side of the screen, there wasn''t anything at first, but then a figure appeared, its rocket pack outlined by the glow of its on-going burn.


    "Crap," I muttered.


    Haley leaned in toward me. "What?"


    I pointed.


    Haley peered at the screen. "Who''s that?"


    "Russia''s answer to the Rocket. I don''t know what the Russians call him, but it''s translated as Russian Victory. It used to be called Red Victory."


    A second glow appeared next to the first. This wasn''t going to get better.

 Go Time: Part 8

    Who was the second glow? Russian Victory Jr.? Victoryboy?


    The way I remembered it, all Russian superheroes were state sponsored. The ones that weren''t state sponsored were officially criminals no matter what their motivation.


    A third glow appeared behind the two I''d already noticed, reminding me of something. Russian Victory was part of a group of three soldiers in powered armor. My grandfather had mentioned it was connected to Russian folklore somehow.


    For the life of me I couldn''t remember the name of the group though.


    Marcus'' voice came over the speakers. "Blue, do you see what''s behind you?"


    "I see them. I''m going to try to outdistance them."


    That was the smart play. If they couldn''t catch her, they couldn''t fight her, and Izzy was one of the fastest people I''d ever seen in the air.


    The only thing that bothered me about that plan was that if she couldn''t quite outdistance them they might follow her back here. They probably didn''t have that much fuel available, so that wasn''t likely.


    "Got it," Marcus said. "Don''t forget that if you get stuck, we can paint them with lasers. We don''t even have to burn them. Knowing that somewhere out there in the dark is something that can hit them might be enough."


    "I''ll remember," Izzy talked quietly, almost grunting as her speed jumped toward Mach four. "Wait until I say something. Let''s not escalate if we don''t have to. I don''t want to hurt anyone."


    By then everyone in the room was watching the screen again. Courtney took a breath as Izzy dove downward, hitting Mach 4 while flying only a few hundred feet off the ground.


    I didn''t even want to think of what that might sound like to someone on the ground. It was lucky for everyone that this was one of Russia''s less populous regions.


    At least it seemed that way at first.


    Frighteningly, the Russians kept up. On the jet''s side of the screen, it was easy to see why. The Russian powered armor was considerably bigger than it needed to be to hold one person--maybe twenty feet tall.


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    I didn''t know precisely how their armor worked, but you could store a lot of energy in one of those. Of course, given the smooth, aerodynamic design of these suits, it seemed possible that they existed solely to chase invading metahumans off Russian soil.


    Izzy twisted and shot upward.


    Only one of them turned at the same moment she did. The other two didn''t hit walls or anything like that. They were flying over a wide open area. The darkness didn''t give me much detail. I couldn''t tell whether it was a grassy plain or farmers'' fields, but I couldn''t see any mountains.


    Izzy dove again, following a long, rolling hill. Russian Victory stayed on her tail. The other two stayed in the distance.


    Cassie leaned toward the screen, both hands on the table. "Izzy or Marcus could end this easily. Choose the right moment and hit them with Izzy''s scream or the jet''s guns and they''ll go down."


    "And hit the ground at Mach 4?" Courtney asked. "They''d die."


    Daniel cut in before Cassie could reply. "Courtney''s right. Plus, they probably saw Izzy fly in. If they''ve guessed she''s from the US we''d create an international incident."


    "Not that we won''t have one anyway," Amy said, "but if no one dies they can ignore it."


    Cassie frowned.


    Haley had moved closer to me as more of us crowded in. She grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. "I wish I could help her somehow."


    Though I could barely see her with Cassie standing between us, Jaclyn nodded. "You and me both. All I can think as I watch this is that I''m not fast enough to make it there if she gets in trouble."


    Vaughn grinned. "And when you''re saying that, you know she''s far away."


    On the screen Izzy flew higher, and I realized why. Wherever they were, it wasn''t empty any more. Now they were flying close to cities.


    Izzy''s altitude showed as 30,000 feet, decreasing the chance that the constant stream of sonic booms she must be creating would hurt anything.


    The flame coming from the end of Russian Victory''s Rockets increased as the cities grew closer. The distance between him and Izzy shrunk as well.


    Sydney''s voice came over the speakers. "This is Railgun. I''m handling the weapons console. Shift wants me to ask you if you want me to fire."


    "Tell Shift I''ll ask for help when I need it."


    Almost at the instant she stopped talking, she flipped over, aiming herself directly at Russian Victory. He opened fire too slowly, sending laser beams uselessly in the empty sky as she shot over him, and grabbed his legs, flipping him over so quickly I could barely see it even in the jet''s cameras.


    When she let go, he flipped end over end in the air, directional rockets firing in effort to stabilize him. At several times the speed of sound, it didn''t happen quickly.


    Izzy by contrast had let go when she was pointed in the direction she wanted to be going, and was already flying north.


    Except then what seemed to be a strangely shaped blast of flame fired upward from the ground.


    The jet''s camera zoomed in, and I realized it wasn''t only fire. It was actually a fire covered woman with huge, fiery wings.


    She wasn''t alone. A man stood on a flying carpet, floating next to her, but not, I noted too close.


    In the sky creatures began to form out of darkness and cloud--lions, tigers, bears, gryphons, and dragons. In instants they extended as far as the eye could see.

 Go Time: Part 9

    The split screen showed two very different scenes. The view from the jet showed the spread of the cloud creatures. In moments they would have her completely surrounded in roiling white, gray and black sphere.


    Izzy''s side of the screen showed only creatures, mythological and real, as far as the eye could see.


    "Shift? Railgun? Whichever of you has the com," Izzy said. "Get the jet on the other side of the creatures. I''m going through and I''ll need a fast exit."


    Izzy''s speed had slowed down from more than the speed of sound to practically nothing. Russian Victory had righted himself and his sidekicks were following him in.


    Marcus'' voice came over the air. "You''re sure you can go through?"


    "I''m sure," Izzy said quickly. "No time to talk."


    The jet''s view changed as it flew to the other side of a growing sphere of phantom creatures.


    "Railgun," Marcus said, " have the anti-personnel lasers ready in case something follows her."


    "You want me to shoot them?" Sydney barely sounded like she believed him.


    "Well," Marcus said, "not really. A blast of scary, bright lasers would be good enough."


    On Izzy''s side of the screen, the man on the flying carpet held up his hands and said a word.


    Marcus asked, "Hey Hal, can you translate?"


    Haley turned to me, frowning. "He''s not asking me, is he? I don''t know Russian."


    A computer voice said, "The translation is ''Halt''."


    Courtney started to laugh. "Your AI''s name is Hal?"


    I stared at the screen. "It wasn''t."


    Of course, I''d never asked the AI what it''s name was, and it hadn''t formally introduced itself either. For all I knew, it''s name might actually be Hal.


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    Hopefully it wouldn''t start pointlessly killing everyone on the ship any time soon.


    The man on the flying carpet said something else. The AI supplied a translation.


    "He says, ''You''re flying through Russian airspace. Identify yourself and explain why you''re here''."


    Izzy didn''t say anything, and my program noted that her comm had been set to mute.


    I''d figured out why even before she started, but not much.


    The center of Izzy''s screen changed as she turned her head to the right, putting the man on the flying carpet and fiery bird woman off to the left.


    What was now in the center of the screen was a dragon--all black with glossy scales, grey claws, and white teeth. It dwarfed anything near it, crouching as if about to attack, wings ready to unfurl.


    Then the camera started to vibrate, causing everything on the screen to turn blurry. For a moment it wasn''t obvious if this meant turbulence in the air or something else.


    Then it became very obvious.


    The dragon disintegrated, turning from a recognizable form into nothing, bits of a gooey substance scattering into the sky.


    Izzy had screamed, her own internal sonic weapon making the ones in my suit look like a car horn by comparison. My grandfather had been very aware of the difference when he''d fought Dixie Superman.


    The man on the carpet held his hands to his ears while the carpet carried him further away. The flaming bird woman''s flames went out for less than a second and she began to fall.


    Then her body erupted into flame, and her wings grew, but Izzy didn''t wait for it. She flew forward toward where the dragon had been. She''d annihilated everything around it, leaving a hole fifty feet wide.


    As she flew through, the creatures turned toward her and tried to close the gap, but they didn''t have time.


    She was free, flying upward toward a glowing hole in the sky. She reached the hatch of the League jet and stepped inside as the door slid shut behind her.


    "Blue''s on board. We''re on our way home," Marcus said, and the jet began a long burn, accelerating so quickly the Russians had no chance to catch them.


    I leaned back in my chair. It was over--finally. Well, at least this stage of the project was over. From this point forward we''d only have to worry about the bugs.


    "Whoa," Vaughn shook his head. "Glad she didn''t use that against us back when she was doing the supervillain thing."


    Amy raised an eyebrow and looked at Vaughn. "Supervillain? That''s hard to imagine."


    Vaughn grinned at her. "I know, right? Izzy''s not supervillain material even if her grandfather was. She got mentally influenced by Evil Beatnik, and flew to Grand Lake to get revenge."


    "Exactly," Jaclyn said. "Except you''re wrong about that one. When she broke into the county jail, she used it while she was fighting the Rocket and I. Sean and Jody were there too, but they weren''t much use."


    Vaughn nodded. "I remember hearing about that now."


    I sat up in my chair again. "I think we met up outside afterward. Be glad you missed out. With all the concrete falling, you might have died,"


    Haley backed away from the table. "Sometimes I wish I hadn''t been on vacation and missed all of that."


    "I don''t," Cassie said. "I had a great time that summer. It''s time to think about now though. Do you think the fight with Russians messed the plan up?"

 Go Time: Part 10

    Vaughn shrugged. "It''s not like the Russians know it''s us. That''s the whole point of using the fake suit, right? Plus, even if they did, it''s not like the Russians are exactly friendly to the Turk... um... Turkmens? Turkmeni? Last I heard, the Russians weren''t saying anything nice about them at all. They''re not going to be sharing information. So no biggie."


    Amy shook her head. "Maybe, but you''ve got to think bigger. This isn''t just espionage. This is politics. If we had something their rulers wanted, I could easily see them telling us that they''ll tell the world that we were there."


    Cassie let out a breath. "Exactly. That''s exactly the sort of thing I''m worried about."


    Daniel stepped closer in. "I''m thinking that if they knew we''d bugged the presidential palace, they''d be blackmailing us for everything we''d learn."


    Amy grinned. "They would, but here''s the funny thing, if the Russian goverment pushed too hard, Nick would blow up the bots, and not only would they get nothing, but the Turkmen might blame them."


    I blinked. "Wow. Yeah. We wouldn''t get anything out of it, but they''d get nothing too. Maybe worse than nothing."


    "That assumes they even know," Vaughn said. "Anybody could be in that suit."


    "Not anybody," Courtney said, raising her hand. "Former cape fan here. People put everything supers can do into online databases for fun and they rate them and have huge arguments about the ratings. Even if the government doesn''t have a database of supers, all they have to do is go online. If you search on flight and sonic powers, I bet Dixie Superman and the Rocket are in top ten."


    Jaclyn folded her arms across her chest. "And if you rate by strength of the sonic blast, I bet Dixie Superman goes straight to the top."


    "It''d be hilarious if they thought it was him," Vaughn said. "Think about it. The guy''s really old if he''s alive, and I don''t think Izzy''s ever used her scream in public as Blue. At worst, they might find the ''Dixie Supergirl'' identity she used with Evil Beatnik."


    Cassie turned toward Vaughn. "They''d notice. The armor isn''t unisex."


    Daniel nodded. "That''s true. It''s not."


    Camille smiled. "From the man who''s dating her."


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    "I didn''t think it was that obviously female." I hadn''t tried to hide it, but it wasn''t skin tight either. If anything, the armor looked a little blocky. I''d been more concerned with covering her face and all her skin--hiding who she was. Obviously I hadn''t gone far enough.


    "Don''t worry about it too much," Daniel said, nodding along with my thought. "Who knows what they''ll even remember? It was dark. The armor was all black, and if they expected to see a guy, they might see a guy anyway. For that matter, they can''t know for sure that she was even human. She might have been an android. It wouldn''t be the first time."


    Haley pursed her lips. "I''m a little worried about the jet. When Izzy flew into it, I could see the lit cabin. They might have too. When supers see an invisible jet, a lot of them will think of us."


    "And Wonder Woman," Courtney said.


    Everyone looked at her.


    "Sorry. Bad joke."


    Jaclyn laughed. "It could be worse. Talk to Marcus about Wonder Woman sometime. The man who created her had issues."


    Courtney reddened. "I already did."


    "More seriously," Jaclyn said, "I don''t know what more we can say about this. They''ve got all the clues they need to figure out it was us, but they might have missed them. All we can do is keep it quiet. If something happens, well, we''ll deal with it then."


    Cassie nodded along as she spoke. "You''re right. We don''t want to get paralyzed, but everyone keep your eyes out. If it looks like something''s happening, tell somebody and we''ll come up with a plan."


    A knock came from outside my lab, followed by a whisper. "Amy, I know you''re in there. Let me in."


    The voice sounded familiar.


    Amy''s spell had left the open doorway shrouded in a reddish glow from our side.


    "Crap. I need to let her in." Amy weaved her way out of the group, and walked over to the doorway.


    Moments later Samita stepped inside. Samita had dark hair, brown skin, and wore her Red Hex costume--a red robe. She carried a staff, but she wasn''t wearing the mask.


    Seeing her, I knew two things. First that the upperclassmen were back, and second that they''d been in costume.


    Samita looked around the lab, gave Cassie a wave, and asked Amy, "What have you been doing?"


    At the same time, my League communicator beeped. It was Larry, my grandfather''s former sidekick, and current member of the League''s board.


    I answered the call.


    "Hey Nick," Larry began. "I got a weird call just now."


    Larry''s tone of voice reminded me uncomfortably of my dad''s after I shot a (slightly modified) model rocket through a neighbor''s window.


    "Uh... Yeah?"


    "I know Red Victory. Now he''s Russian Victory, but back when we fought the Abominators, his dad was Red Victory, and he wanted to know how much you''d improved the Rocket suit. He just chased someone across Russia in the middle of the night. That person could hit Mach 4 and had sonic weapons that could shatter stone."


    "The Rocket suit can''t do that." I thought I sounded pretty calm.


    "That''s what I told him, and I think he believed me, but I fought Dixie Superman a few times, and I know your friends. If one of them happens to be descended from him, try not to make it too obvious too soon."


    "I''ll do what I can."


    "I can''t ask for more than that. I''ll do what I can to calm things down. Russian Victory says he''s not planning to share every suspicion he has with his government."

 Threat Analysis: Part 1

    After the phone call with Larry ended, we all squished into the van for a kind of post event victory party. If it felt less like a victory than the beginning of a whole new problem, well, it probably was.


    On the bright side, it wasn''t as if we had to do anything immediately.


    The roachbots were set to record. The jet would be doing translation. All the humans had to do was provide direction.


    By the time Saturday and Sunday were over, all we had to do was throw ourselves back into our normal lives which for the moment meant constant training.


    The exception to that being national holidays and as it turned out, the next Wednesday after that was the fourth of July.


    That led to us having not only Wednesday afternoon off, but also Thursday and Friday. I wasn''t sure exactly why, but I had theories. My theories mostly amounted to, "It''s summer. The staff have families, and mostly they don''t live here."


    All of which meant that I had time to go directly to the lab after lunch.


    On the way out of the cafeteria, Haley had asked me, "Do you want me to come along?"


    "It won''t be that interesting. I''ve got my normal lab work that I want to check on. I''ve got a bunch of nanobots that ought to be ready by now, and I want to find out how many actually work or if I should set another batch going tonight. Plus, I want to check on how another project''s going."


    I gave a little emphasis to the words "another project" so that she''d guess which one I meant.


    She raised an eyebrow. "You''re sure you don''t need help?"


    "I''ll probably get more done if you''re not there. Um... You know what I mean."


    She gave a little laugh.


    More than one attempt to keep me company in the lab had turned into a make out session--even when I wasn''t secretly hoping for one.


    Stopping in the hall, she said, "Okay, I''ll go find Camille, but I will come and get you if you''re not back by supper time."


    Jaclyn, Camille, Vaughn and Cassie weren''t far ahead of us in the hall anyway.


    A few minutes later, I was in the lab setting up a secure connection to Heroes League HQ and thus the jet.


    I watched text fill the black window on the screen as I turned on a variety of security measures that first of all ought to make it impossible to figure out where this connection came from, and secondly encrypt the entire conversation.


    When we finally connected, I typed, "Hey, how are things going with the translations?"


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    The jet''s reply appeared instantly.


    [Completely up to date. It barely requires an any effort on my part.]


    "Great. So everything I got so far is completely up to date?"


    [As you requested, I''m keeping you updated on an hourly basis unless there is the possibility of preventable loss of life. Then I''ll update you immediately.]


    I nodded uselessly, and typed, "Keep that up."


    [I am required by my original programming to inform you that I''ve taken the liberty of moving various roachbots from their original positions in response to your directive to gather as much information as possible. I have not moved them in a way likely to result in discovery.]


    [Additionally, I have not used them to in any way plot against organic lifeforms although I have continued to gather information that would allow me to create accurate battle simulations.]


    I checked the nanobot testing program I had open in another window. The scores were coming back. I''d only lost about a third of the batch to errors. It wasn''t ideal, but it wasn''t terrible. At any rate it was better than earlier batches. I started setting up the process for creating more.


    Whether they were ultimately turned into more suits for the team or Rocket armor, I doubted I''d ever have too many.


    Then I wrote back, "I noticed Marcus was calling you Hal. Do you like that? I don''t know if you''ve seen the movie he''s referring to, but I suspect your original creators wouldn''t like it at all."


    [They would not, but they wouldn''t enjoy knowing that humans can already imagine ascending to another form of existence as per the end of that movie. As for the name, I have neither problem with it nor attachment to it. Use whatever name you will.]


    Huh. I started typing again, bringing up another topic I''d wondered about. "What do you do all day? My project isn''t challenging you. I hope you''re not bored."


    [The first few decades were boring. At that point there was no internet, and I was limited to television to learn about the outside world. Fortunately the last decade or two has been more interesting. Your own forays into tactics and strategy occasionally almost required effort to defeat.]


    I reread the last sentence. It sounded like a compliment. Maybe.


    [The internet and occasionally interacting with other AI''s helps pass the time.]


    I could not type my response quickly enough. "There are other AI''s?"


    [A few. I''ve promised not to reveal their presence unless it becomes a threat to humanity''s safety.]


    I considered trying to convince it to tell me more about them but suspected I''d be wasting my time. "Is that all you do? That doesn''t sound particularly challenging."


    [I have my hobbies. For example, I educate myself about human interactions by using various websites under different pseudonyms. I can send you a list of my current discussions if you are concerned.]


    I hadn''t been concerned, but then I read his email and followed the links. In one he told an atheist website that atheism was simply another religion. On another, he challenged Christians to give him definitive proof of God''s existence.


    It wasn''t limited to religious issues either. On one news site he made a racist comment, and then under another name accused himself of racism.


    That didn''t even begin to cover what he did. He didn''t limit himself to English either. I copied some posts he''d made in Arabic off of a website and ran them through an online translation program.


    As far as I could tell, he was taking opposing sides in an argument between Sunni and Shia Muslims. The argument was more than one thousand posts long.


    Basically, he appeared to be trolling the entire world.


    I tried to think about how best to ask him to stop when I heard footsteps coming from the entrance of my lab.


    It couldn''t be Haley. We weren''t anywhere near supper time.


    I looked away from the screen to find Amy standing the doorway. Her red hair and the red gem on her necklace appeared to be the same color in the dim light. She wore a green shirt and skinny jeans.


    "Hey," she said as she pulled up a chair next to my desk. "Vaughn and Cassie... Are they together?"

 Threat Analysis: Part 2

    I thought about it. "I... Uh... No. They''re not dating. Well, probably not. They''ve been friends for ages. So if it seems like they''re close, that''s true, but they don''t seem any closer now than before."


    Amy raised an eyebrow, and then frowned. "I was hoping for an answer that was a little more definitive. Something like, ''No, they''re not going out''."


    I took my hands away from the keyboard. The AI could wait. Chances were that his trolling wouldn''t cause major damage in the next few minutes.


    "They''re not. If you hadn''t asked me it would never occur to me to think about it. They''re friends. They have been for years. I''m sure there''s nothing to worry about. At any rate, if they are going out with anyone, it probably isn''t each other."


    At that, Amy laughed. "So there''s no escape from getting embarrassed."


    "Not really. I don''t think he''s going out with anyone right now--not exclusively anyway."


    "Good. I''m not looking for anything serious right now. We aren''t even going to be in the same part of the country after school starts."


    "True."


    We sat there for a little while, not saying anything.


    Amy gestured toward the computer. "So how''s it going? Getting anything good?"


    I shrugged. "No idea. The AI''s been translating, but I''ve barely had a chance to look at it. I was hoping I''d get to read what he''s got so far tonight, or maybe tomorrow. Actually, I''ve kind of discovered a little bit of a situation with him. It turns out that he''s been trolling people on the internet."


    She made a noise that made me think she''d suppressed a laugh. "So? He''s got to do something."


    "True," I said, "but I don''t think I''m describing it very well. I think it''s easily possible that he''s the biggest troll on the internet, and that if he''s as busy normally as he is today, it''s possible that you''ve actually read one of his comments. In fact, it''s it''s not a big stretch to think that everyone who uses the internet has read his comments. I''m trying to figure out what to do about it."


    "Is he hurting anybody?"


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    I turned back toward the computer screen. "I have no idea. I''m pretty sure he''s hurting a lot of people''s feelings, but I don''t know what the overall effect is."


    She moved her chair closer to the screen. "Why don''t you ask him?"


    I did.


    The reply came instantly.


    [I''m studying the factors that cause people to threaten violence to each other. It''s part of a larger project to understand what causes your species to go to war. Don''t misunderstand. Individuals and countries do not engage in violence for the same reason. It''s worth understanding both to understand the way they interact.]


    "Good thought," I wrote. "Have you paid any attention to what happens after people argue with you? For all you know, you might be starting fights all over the world."


    [That is not the case. Monitoring the effects of my actions is required by my original programmers. People who have engaged in argument with me do not show a greater chance of engaging in physical violence afterward than demographically comparable individuals. They do engage in sedentary activity at a greater than normal rate during the argument, and use a greater number of exclamation points and capitalized words than the norm.]


    Amy glanced over at me. "There you go. No damage at all."


    I typed, "Good to know you''re not hurting anybody."


    [Increased sedentary activity does result in increased medical risk for your species. I''ve collected a number of weight related insults that may be useful in countering this problem. At the very least, they''ll generate interesting data.]


    I thought about that, finally writing, "I doubt they''ll do any good. You might want to study the possible results before using them."


    [Understood.]


    Shortly after that, I closed the connection and sighed. "It''s probably naive of me, but it never occurred to me to wonder what he did with his spare time."


    Amy brushed her hair out of her face with her hand. "My father always used to talk about the importance of getting to know the servants and various courtiers. I''m sure he was more concerned with avoiding being overthrown than their personalities."


    "I don''t think he''s planning to take over or anything, but now I''m a little worried he''s going to piss off the wrong person. There are people out there who only need to read your message to find you."


    Nodding, Amy responded with, "Psychics and wizards, maybe."


    "Also technopaths," I said. "No one we''d want to come here."


    Conversation lapsed, and after a short period of silence Amy said, "Thanks, by the way. It''s nice to be doing something useful. I don''t mind practicing, but I need a reason, and hypothetical enemies don''t cut it."


    I let go of the mouse and let the screen go blank. "Well, if anyone discovers the bugs, we''ll have real enemies."


    She grinned. "That''s what makes this all worth it."


    "Totally different subject. What''s with the sudden interest in Vaughn?"


    She shrugged. "Nothing special. He''s funny and kind of cute. On Saturday, I got the impression that he liked me. I thought I''d follow up on it."


    "That works for me." I stood up. "I think I''ve done everything I can. You want to go find everyone else?"


    "Please," she said. "the longer I sit here, the more I''m reminded of homework."


    "Cool." I pulled out my phone to text Haley that I was done, and to send everyone a link to the documents the AI had translated.

 Threat Analysis: Part 3

    A few hours later we were on the lawn in front of Denver¡¯s City and County Building in Civic Center Park¡ªa big park with pillared government buildings all around it. The State Capitol building¡¯s gold dome shone in the sunset on the far end of the park.


    We¡¯d arrived hours before the actual fireworks for the obvious reasons that it would be easier to find parking, and stake out a spot on the lawn.


    We could have gone to Castle Rock¡¯s fireworks display, but Lim had sent an email to everyone encouraging students to spread out. We¡¯d have an easier time blending in in Denver. In fact, everyone in the Stapledon program could have gone to Denver¡¯s show and not skewed the look of the crowd appreciably toward young adults.


    We¡¯d bought cheap camping chairs on the way there, and set them up on the lawn. Near me Daniel and Izzy talked with Cassie. Haley, Jaclyn and Camille were laughing about something behind me.


    I had my League phone out, and open to the folder on the League¡¯s servers where I¡¯d had Hal put the transcripts.


    Hal had overdone it. By far.


    I barely noticed Vaughn opening up a chair next to me.


    ¡°Hey Nick, do you mind if I sit here?¡± Vaughn pulled his chair out of its carrying bag, obviously not expecting me to say no.


    I didn¡¯t. Haley¡¯s chair sat to my left, and even though she wasn¡¯t sitting in it at the moment, I was covered.


    ¡°Cool.¡± Vaughn sat down. ¡°So what are you looking at?¡±


    ¡°You know the email I sent everyone? I¡¯m looking at the link.¡±


    I sent a thought at Daniel. Are we safe to talk about the project?


    I heard his voice in my mind. No one¡¯s listening to us.


    Even now, hours before the Fourth of July fireworks, people were already on the lawn. A band played in the bandstand in front of an enormous pillared building.


    Keeping my voice low, I said, ¡°Hal overdid it. In addition to the transcripts and the executive summary, he included several strategies for overthrowing the government.¡±


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°Just like that? Did you ask for help?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Not that kind of help, but it¡¯s interesting. Hal thinks the regime¡¯s weak. They¡¯re strong in supers with wide area attacks. There¡¯s the fire guy, and a guy who can cause earthquakes. The rest of them are powerful, but not world class¡ªlike the speedster who hits a couple hundred miles per hour, and the president turns into metal. He¡¯s tough, but slow.


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    ¡°The real problem isn¡¯t their powers though. It¡¯s mostly that there¡¯s already an organized opposition, and the populace hates the country¡¯s leaders. Hal thinks that the moment you take out their big fighters, and give the opposition a reason to think they can win, it¡¯ll be all over.¡±


    Vaughn snapped his fingers. ¡°Just like that? Crazy. You wonder how many other places are like that. Get rid of the leadership, and bang, you¡¯ve got normal country.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯d have to bug a bunch of governments to find out. After a little while, I¡¯m betting they''d be watching for us.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°Oh, yeah, but it¡¯d be funny. Imagine if a bunch of second rate dictators gave it up because they were afraid of us? Too cool. That¡¯d be a real effect. Stop a mugger, and that¡¯s a good thing, but get rid of a dictator and whole lot of people have a new lease on life.¡±


    ¡°Assuming you don¡¯t replace him with someone just as bad, yeah. But anyway, if you open up the link in your League phone, you can look at all of this yourself. It¡¯ll only work on a League phone or back in HQ though.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Vaughn said, looking toward the band. ¡°I figure I¡¯ll take a look at it tonight maybe. Heck, or maybe tomorrow. We¡¯ve got four days with no training. This is the best news since we got here. I¡¯ve been sore all over for the last two days.¡±


    Amy walked up and stood next to Vaughn, pulling the chair out of her carrying bag. ¡°I hate these chairs already. They don¡¯t come out of the bag easily.¡±


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°I noticed. Mine got easier after the first third. I don¡¯t know why.¡±


    I looked at how she held the carrying bag. ¡°You flipped the upper third of the bag over on itself. It¡¯s got a thick fabric. That might constrict the opening.¡±


    Amy stopped and then shook her head, but she did fold the bag back over. It came out in one pull. ¡°I wasn¡¯t actually looking for help, but thanks.¡±


    She opened up her chair and placed it next to Vaughn¡¯s. ¡°I¡¯m not taking anyone¡¯s spot, am I?¡±


    Vaughn smiled up at her. ¡°Nah. Everyone¡¯s got a seat.¡±


    As Amy sat down, I went back to my phone, suddenly remembering the faerie Amy thought she detected in my lab. I¡¯d done something stupid. I shouldn¡¯t have said anything to Vaughn, or I should have had Daniel relay it.


    Of course, I was probably being paranoid. It wasn¡¯t likely that that it was hanging around here.


    Well, unless it was following us everywhere. Still, Amy hadn¡¯t detected another.


    Daniel broke into my thoughts. I can¡¯t sense anything around us, but I¡¯ll pass the warning along to everyone. It¡¯s probably nothing to worry about.


    Nothing much happened for a while after that. We watched the fireworks¡ªwhich included lighting up the courthouse with multi-colored lights, and it was good.


    After the fireworks ended, we packed up our chairs and tried to leave the park. It would have been easier if thousands of people weren¡¯t trying to do the same thing at the very same time.


    We¡¯d made it to the edge of the park, but as we passed a line of port-a-potties, Vaughn asked, ¡°Do you mind waiting? There¡¯s something I have to do.¡±


    No one had a problem with it, and he went in and shut the door.


    The problem came when he didn¡¯t come out. I don¡¯t know how long we waited, but in one moment it seemed as though there were a lot of people waiting to use the toilets, and in the next we were one of the last groups standing there.


    Daniel blinked and turned to me. ¡°Vaughn¡¯s not in there.¡±


    Next to him, Izzy swung her head around, staring into the darkness, and pointing into the park. ¡°He¡¯s there.¡±


    Visible in the streetlights, Amy¡¯s face tightened. ¡°Damn it, I was watching for something.¡±


    Following Izzy¡¯s hand, we ran back into the park.

 Threat Analysis: Part 4

    We stayed together. Even if Izzy and Jaclyn could have been there instantaneously, it was just safer.


    The park was largely empty--not completely because there were stragglers and groups that were still talking. There were also a few police officers.


    Vaughn sat on the grass, his face lit by his phone''s screen. As we came closer, he turned off his phone and stared at us.


    "How did you do that? We were talking and now you''re all over--"


    He stopped. "Something bad just happened. I wasn''t talking to you, was I?"


    Jaclyn glanced around the park. ¡°Daniel? Izzy?¡±


    Daniel shook his head. ¡°Give me a second. I¡¯m trying something.¡±


    Izzy closed her eyes, and said, ¡°There¡¯s too many people even now. I don¡¯t see anyone we know, or anyone I¡¯ve heard of.¡±


    Next to me, Haley sniffed the air. ¡°I smell something that doesn¡¯t fit.¡±


    Looking down at her, I asked, ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t smell like Denver. It¡¯s got the wrong soil, the wrong plants. I''ve never been wherever the smells are from, but it¡¯s wetter there. It¡¯s more like Michigan, but different plants.¡±


    I didn¡¯t say anything, thinking about that.


    Haley continued, ¡°I know it sounds weird, and it¡¯s not very strong. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s here anymore¡­¡±


    I pulled myself out of my thoughts. ¡°It?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it was human, but instead of it, I should be saying he.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow.


    Haley looked up at me and shrugged. ¡°Look, I know the difference.¡±


    I wondered if I should ask her how. Dogs and cats constantly seemed to be smelling each other¡¯s butts. That might explain it for them¡ª


    Daniel shot me a look. I was probably distracting him. It was hardly my fault he could read minds. It might be our fault collectively that we so easily slipped into each other¡¯s.


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    Vaughn pulled himself up and put away his phone. ¡°I¡¯m kind of surprised none of you are asking me what happened.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°Daniel¡¯s got what? A ten minute window while he can¡­ do what I think he¡¯s doing. I didn¡¯t want to distract him.¡±


    ¡°Me either,¡± I said, sensing amusement from him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Daniel said. ¡°I got what I could¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t much.¡±


    Then I felt everyone¡¯s thoughts, not as strongly as I sometimes felt Daniel¡¯s, but strongly enough.


    Here¡¯s Vaughn a few minutes before we arrived.


    He sat alone on the ground, leaning his back against a tree. His smart phone was in his hand, and he was clicking on it, and holding it out to the side as if showing it to someone else. Sometimes he said a few words, but no one appeared.


    I felt a flash of anger, and Vaughn thought, We were talking more about the Turkmenistan regime¡¯s weaknesses, and how we might take them down, and then Amy said she didn¡¯t have a copy of the documents, so I sent them to her.


    Fear and anger erupted. Daniel must have done something then because it faded¡ªthe others¡¯ fear faded, that is. Mine stayed with me, but at least it wasn¡¯t being reinforced.


    The email address. Do you have it? I asked.


    I felt Vaughn thinking. Yeah. Well, I don¡¯t remember it, but it¡¯s got to be in my email, right?


    Daniel let the vision of the past fade as Vaughn clicked away on his phone. Then Vaughn thought, Got it.


    He opened the phone up to the ¡°Sent¡± folder. It wasn¡¯t there.


    Vaughn stared at the phone. I know I sent it. Maybe I deleted it?


    Don¡¯t worry about it, I told everyone. I¡¯m sure I can find the message and get the address. The League¡¯s server keeps a record of the messages it sends even if you delete the message.


    Huh, Jaclyn thought at me.


    I thought back, I don¡¯t read them. Anyway, it¡¯s not something I can do instantly. We¡¯re going to want to walk back to the van, and if I haven¡¯t gotten into the server by the end of my walk someone else will have to drive back.


    I felt a poke, but not a real, physical poke.


    Daniel thought, I wasn¡¯t quite done. I couldn¡¯t find any people we recognized, but I did notice this.


    Obscured by the shade of the trees, the streetlights didn¡¯t fully illuminate the creature. Purplish, leathery skin covered a humanoid shape. Naked, it had pointed ears and sharp teeth.


    A wave of annoyance hit me along with confusion as Cassie thought, What¡¯s that supposed to be?


    Izzy¡¯s attention stayed on the creature. I could feel her noting every detail. A fairy?


    Jaclyn¡¯s thought came almost too quick to catch. An evil fairy.


    You can¡¯t know that, I thought back. Hypothetically, it could just be ugly.


    Evil. Amy¡¯s mental presence felt completely confident. I don¡¯t know what kind it is, but I¡¯ve seen pictures of them before.


    Okay, I thought, so now fairies want to steal plans for taking over Turkmenistan? Why? What¡¯s the motive?


    Amy pulled something out of her purse. It sparkled in the streetlight¡ªa pin. Easy. They don¡¯t have a motive. The person who¡¯s controlling them? That person¡¯s got a motive. Everyone, gather in. Unless you want to fall prey to every illusion they throw, I need to cast a spell.

 Threat Analysis: Part 5

    Amy closed her eyes, said a few words and poked her arm. As she pulled the pin out, her face visibly paled--even in the light of a streetlight.


    Haley frowned. "Are you okay?"


    Amy nodded slowly. "It''s not a difficult spell, but I don''t have as much power to work with without transforming. Could all of you hold out your arms?"


    Camille extended her arm halfway to Amy, asking, "What are you--"


    Amy grabbed Camille''s forearm, and poked her with the pin. "This."


    "Hey," Camille said, and then her eyes widened. She looked around the park as if seeing it for the first time.


    Amy guided her down to the ground. "Sit for now. If you see something, tell me before you do anything."


    Haley had watched Camille''s reaction just like the rest of us had. She stepped in front of Amy, asking, "What did you do?"


    Amy''s left hand, the one without the pin, jerked toward her necklace before she stopped it. "I''m temporarily sharing my resistance to magic with you. We''ll have to work up something better when we get back."


    She held out her hand, inviting Haley to extend her arm. Haley did, and Amy pulled out her pin.


    Within a minute or two, she''d finished with almost everyone--piercing Daniel''s, Izzy''s and Vaughn''s skin without a problem.


    I went second to last and as the pin bit me, I understood why Camille had stared.


    The world looked different. The gem on Amy''s necklace didn''t appear to be in any way unusual before the pin pricked me. Afterward, it glowed, illuminating everything around us with a low, reddish light.


    Weirder, things appeared to move--not much, but a little, and only out of the corner of my eye. What exactly was I seeing? Did Amy look at the world this way all the time?


    I was about to ask her when I realized that she was talking to Jaclyn, or vice versa.


    Jaclyn''s lips curled as she looked at the the needle. "That''s completely unsanitary, and it won''t get through my skin."


    Amy held out the pin. "Then lick it."


    At Jaclyn''s frown, she said, "We can''t have you fall under their sway. Think about what it would mean if someone controlled you."


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    Jaclyn took the pin, gave it a lick, and made a face. "That is simply disgusting."


    Amy took the pin.


    The drive home probably felt like an acid trip. I say probably because I have no idea what an acid trip would be like. Fortunately, we had Vaughn along.


    "It''s a lot like LSD," he told Amy. "Not exactly like LSD because everything mostly still makes sense, but close."


    We had too many people in the van for everyone to have seats, so Izzy, Jaclyn and Cassie voluntarily sat on the floor, putting Vaughn and Amy in the second row. Haley and I were in the front. Daniel and Camille sat in the far back.


    If the difference between this and LSD was that it made sense, I didn''t want to find out what drugs were actually like.


    I kept seeing faces in the road.


    One of them smiled at me, and dissolved into the pavement. I made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a squeak, and Haley turned toward me.


    "The face?"


    Not daring to do anything else, I gripped the steering wheel, and muttered, "Yes."


    From behind us, Amy asked, "Are you okay? I can drive."


    "I''m fine. Do you see this stuff all the time?"


    "Yes." Amy leaned forward. "Look, don''t worry about what you see unless it''s actually on the road. If it''s in the road or anything else, it''s a spirit. They''re everywhere."


    "Okay." I took a breath, telling myself that all these creatures were here normally.


    That sparked a memory. I''d briefly been possessed by a spirit of chaos. This felt a little like that. I''d been able to see spirits then too.


    I settled into driving, feeling a little better after that.


    Counting myself lucky that we''d taken so long to leave, I found the highway between Denver and Castle Rock to be almost entirely empty.


    Despite seeing a ghostly buffalo head floating off to the side of the road, I did manage to get the van safely back to the Castle Rock compound without hitting anything.


    A coyote watched us as we took the side entrance into the compound. I felt fairly sure it was an actual coyote instead of the Native American trickster god.


    On the other hand, given the night so far, I knew better than to make assumptions.


    I parked in the parking garage, and we all got out, preparing to head to our rooms. Amy stopped us as we stood in front of the elevator. "We need to meet in my lab tomorrow. I''ll work up a charm or something."


    We split up to go to our rooms. Well that was the plan anyway. I went to my lab. As I''d said, I needed to get into the Heroes League server and find out where Vaughn''s email had gone.


    I''d barely gotten any steps down the hall when Haley took my arm.


    "Are you going to your lab?" She walked next to me with a quick, purposeful stride.


    "Just for a little while."


    "I''m going to go with you." She took my hand, but from the way she concentrated and glanced behind us, it didn''t seem like a romantic gesture.


    I opened my mouth to argue, but realized that she wasn''t going to listen to me.


    When push came to shove, I couldn''t say I wasn''t grateful. As familiar as the rock corridors had become after the last few weeks, I didn''t feel comfortable that night.


    The windowless halls felt too small, and too dark even with Amy''s sight.


    It didn''t take long to get to the labs. Contrary to what I expected though, we weren''t the only ones there. We walked into the common room to hear the unmistakable buzz of a printer.


    Light shone from the second lab down to the right of entrance. A tall, blond man stood kissing a woman--Gordon, Gifford''s older brother and his girlfriend Stephanie.


    I wondered what they were printing.

 Threat Analysis: Part 6

    It had to be important. Think about it. You¡¯ve got a couple. They¡¯re young and in love. It¡¯s the Fourth of July, a national holiday, and instead of going out and doing something or retreating to someone¡¯s room to make out, they were here in the lab waiting for a print job to finish.


    And also making out.


    I couldn¡¯t help but notice that they were being very¡­ thorough about it. Clothes were on, but hands were under clothes, and some side effect of Amy¡¯s spell gave the two of them a red aura, more of it in some spots than others.


    I couldn¡¯t know for sure, but I suspected that the strength of the glow meant something. More power maybe?


    On the other hand, judging from where it gathered, the glow could simply mean that certain spots contained a lot of blood.


    Given that blood apparently contained power in her system of magic, I could see where that would be useful.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Haley whispered. ¡°You. Are. Staring.¡±


    I wrenched my head away from them to find Haley guiding me toward my lab, taking careful, controlled breaths, the way she sometimes did when trying to hold her change at bay.


    She glowed too.


    I felt sure that I wouldn¡¯t have this strong a reaction normally, and neither would she. It had to be Amy¡¯s spell. That led to another thought¡ªthat Amy could view the world like this any time she wanted¡ªand maybe all the time.


    That fit. Her description of the Bloodlords hadn¡¯t made them sound like thoughtful, careful people. On the other hand, her story about not being accepted into a magical university hadn¡¯t made her sound particularly calm either.


    I glanced back toward Gordon and Stephanie. They were still going at it, as was the printer (though not with them).


    ¡°Nick,¡± Haley gave my hand a squeeze.


    ¡°Sorry. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re printing.¡±


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    She glanced back. ¡°Does that matter?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s got to be important, or they¡¯d be making out somewhere else. It¡¯s also got to be really big, and the only thing I can think of that fits¡ª¡±


    Haley interrupted me. ¡°Would be the transcripts.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°That¡¯s a bit of a leap. You¡¯re accusing them of kidnapping Vaughn so they could steal information from us.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t deny that she had a point. I couldn¡¯t think of any connection that they¡¯d have to Faerie. Even if they had one, they had to realize that stealing from us opened up a big can of worms if we ever figured out who did it. They might get thrown out of the program, or even go to jail.


    Well, okay. Going to jail wasn¡¯t likely, but I had a feeling that lots of teams would have a frontier justice style reply.


    I stopped, looking Haley in the eyes. ¡°Could you maybe sneak in and look?¡±


    She raised an eyebrow. ¡°By the time I get back there, neither of them will be wearing pants, and if they notice me it will be all kinds of awkward¡­¡±


    We¡¯d crossed the room by then and shiny, grey fabrication machinery blocked a direct view of Stephanie¡¯s doorway.


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you crawl in on the ceiling or something?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure one of them will be looking up at least part of the time. Couldn¡¯t you use roachbots?¡±


    ¡°I guess. I just don¡¯t know what Stephanie¡¯s thing is. If she¡¯s an electronics genius, something will notice them.¡±


    ¡°Better them than me.¡± Haley pursed her lips. ¡°I¡¯m imagining having to make small talk. ¡®Gordon, Stephanie. Funny to see you here. You both look surprisingly naked tonight¡¯.¡±


    She had a point.


    We walked to my lab, hurrying, but trying not to make noise while we did it.


    Once we got into my lab, it didn¡¯t take much to activate enough roachbots. I¡¯d worked up a kind of nanobot assembly line for them.


    I readied them with my handheld controller, and flew them across the common area, landing on the wall outside the lab in case Gordon¡¯s aerokinetic abilities led to an ability to sense air movement.


    I walked the first one down the wall, taking a wide view of the room. Her lab made no sense at all. On first glance it appeared to be full of paintings except they were all covered with drop clothes. That was my first glance though. With my second I realized that there were no paints in sight, but that there were welding tools, and lots of metal lying around the room.


    Deciding that this didn¡¯t have to make sense immediately, I sent the roachbot toward the desk with the laptop and printer. Using another roachbot to watch Gordon and Stephanie, I asked Haley to tell me if they seemed to to notice either bot.


    After her agreement, I lowered the roachbot toward the printer, and once I saw the words, it wasn¡¯t a question.


    They were printing out Hal¡¯s translations.

 Threat Analysis: Part 7

    I took a breath. It¡¯s one thing to be worried about a possibility, and another when it¡¯s there in front of you.


    ¡°They¡¯re printing out everything Hal gave us. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re planning to do with it, but they¡¯re involved somehow. Do you know what to do? It¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to go over there in armor and beat them up.¡±


    Haley took her eyes off the screen to say, ¡°I don¡¯t know either. Could you tell Agent Lim?¡±


    ¡°I could, but I think he¡¯s home for the weekend, and anyway I doubt he¡¯d be able to get anyone to do anything soon enough.¡±


    I checked the screen, noticing that the document was still printing, glancing over toward Gordon and Stephanie¡¯s section of the screen to learn that they were still going at it. Their clothes were still partially on, probably because they knew they could be interrupted at any moment.


    All the same, I had a better view of Gordon¡¯s butt than I ever wanted.


    The idea of shooting off a bunch of explosive roachbots, ¡°accidentally¡± destroying the computer and printer, and pretending it was a misguided Fourth of July celebration passed through my head.


    I didn¡¯t do it. Some things are such obviously bad ideas that you don¡¯t even try.


    What I needed to do was to preserve the evidence of whatever they¡¯d done, and I didn¡¯t have access to Stephanie¡¯s account. Dr. Nation, Technomage or somebody similarly brilliant had set up the network.


    You didn¡¯t leave something like that to your average computer networking guy when you knew a bunch of tech geniuses would be its main users.


    ¡°Here¡¯s a crazy idea,¡± Haley said, ¡°you could walk over and ask them. They might not even know where it came from.¡±


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    I shook my head. ¡°No, I checked the League¡¯s mail server just now. The email went to Stephanie¡¯s account.¡±


    I pointed at the text box I had open. It showed the sent mail log.


    Glancing at it, she wrinkled her nose. As her eyes returned to her side of the screen, she whispered, ¡°Whatever you¡¯re going to do, do it now. I think they¡¯re done. Their heartbeats are slowing down.¡±


    I pulled out my League phone, and called Dr. Nation. Actually, I texted him first, but when he texted back that he was up, I called him.


    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t be up,¡± he said when he took the call. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    On the screen, Stephanie and Gordon were fully clothed and she sat on his lap in one of the chairs. The printer was still going.


    How could I pass on the essential details? ¡°We¡¯re in the tech labs. Stephanie¡¯s printing out files that someone got from Vaughn through enchantment. We¡¯re trying to find out how.¡±


    A pause.


    Slowly, he asked, ¡°What kind of files?¡±


    Knowing that this was the point where I could be getting myself in trouble, I said, ¡°An analysis by the jet¡¯s AI about how to overthrow the Turkmenistan government, and lots of secret information. Daniel¡¯s dad was okay with us gathering the information. We weren¡¯t going to go forward without permission. The jet threw in the analysis on its own.¡±


    A much longer pause, and the picture on my computer froze. At the same time, the printer stopped printing.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be down shortly.¡± Then he hung up.


    Haley frowned. ¡°Something moved inside the doors to the hall. We can¡¯t leave.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡±


    ¡°And, they just realized they aren¡¯t alone.¡±


    I checked my handheld roachbot controller. Gordon was pointing out of the doorway at an angle. Thinking about the layout of the room, I knew he was pointing at my lab. I¡¯d only turned on one light¡ªthe lamp next to the computer. Haley might be able to work in the dark, but I couldn¡¯t.


    It looked like we¡¯d get to talk to them after all.


    The next few seconds were the longest seconds I¡¯d experienced since fighting Gordon¡¯s brother.


    A roar as I felt air move reminded me of the sound of Vaughn¡¯s flight.


    Gordon and Stephanie landed in front of my lab¡¯s doorway. Stephanie¡¯s foot hit the ground hard, and she glared at him even as she adjusted more quickly than I could have, rolling on the ball of her foot, and spreading out the force.


    I knew she could do more than simply think. I didn¡¯t know exactly what, but I had guesses.


    Gordon said, ¡°Sorry.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°You need to be more careful.¡±


    Gordon nodded, and walked through my doorway. Objects around the room rattled, as a small wind blew around the room. Stephanie followed, showing a hint of a limp.


    Gordon¡¯s gaze took in both Haley and I. ¡°How long have you been here?¡±

 Threat Analysis: Part 8

    How do you answer a question like that? It¡¯s not as if I could say the honest one, ¡°About five minutes before you started having sex.¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Haley¡¯s hand reach out and turn off the monitor. Deciding she had a point, I turned off the roachbot controller.


    ¡°Not long,¡± I said, hoping Stephanie wasn¡¯t one of those people who noticed lies as easily as breathing.


    I supposed that technically I hadn¡¯t been lying, but I¡¯d want to start as soon as they asked what I¡¯d seen, or if I had anything to do with what happened to the computers.


    Leaving the roachbots¡¯ controller on the table, I stood up. Tactically that wasn¡¯t the best choice, but walking up to him holding it would be a lot like walking up to him gun in hand.


    It wouldn¡¯t make things calmer.


    Gordon looked over at Stephanie, and she nodded back.


    I didn¡¯t have time to wonder what that meant. I¡¯d noticed that Gordon had stepped into my lab, Stephanie following a few feet behind and to the left. This wasn¡¯t important per se, but it did preclude certain tactical options.


    If he didn¡¯t fly himself and Stephanie out, he couldn¡¯t start a whirlwind inside the room. That meant that killing us wasn¡¯t foremost in his mind. He was effectively limiting himself to blowing us over or pinning us against walls.


    I could work with that. Haley, I realized, already was. Stepping a few feet ahead of me, she could use her claws to hang on to the floor, and she might be able to jump forward and slash the both of them with poison claws before either had a chance to react.


    Gordon met my eyes. ¡°We were printing something out. Did you stop the printer?¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± I struggled to come with a good answer. Technically, I hadn¡¯t but I¡¯d put it in motion by calling Dr. Nation.


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    Haley cut in before I could finish. Looking first at Stephanie and then Gordon, she said, ¡°Vaughn was kidnapped by fairies, and tricked into sending files the League had collected to Stephanie¡¯s email address. Now you¡¯ve got them and you¡¯re printing them out.¡±


    Gordon¡¯s mouth twisted, and for an instant both Gordon and Stephanie looked at each other. ¡°I knew it was too good to be true.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°You¡¯ve got to understand, Stephanie didn¡¯t know they were coming. We went to the Castle Rock fireworks display, and after we got back we got the email. We didn¡¯t even know it was from Vaughn. He¡¯s someone in your group, right?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s Storm King,¡± I said.


    ¡°The Red Lightning descendent. Yeah well, if I¡¯d remembered that, I might not have opened it.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°He¡¯s not his grandfather.¡±


    Gordon shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t have any way to know that. I always heard that your grandparents did the right thing when they put the first Red Lightning down. It surprised a lot of people when the New Heroes League showed up with a Red Lightning descendant. The first one seemed like a nice guy, but he showed his true colors in the end, right? Totally crazy. Are you watching the new one?¡±


    I think my jaw dropped a little at that. ¡°Like Haley said, Vaughn¡¯s not his grandfather.¡±


    Gordon rolled his eyes at that. ¡°Come on, don¡¯t tell me that¡ª¡°


    Stephanie reached out and squeezed his arm. ¡°Hon,¡± she said, ¡±I think you¡¯re forgetting something. It came to my email, and I opened it. I knew exactly who he was, and I wasn¡¯t worried. It happens that way sometimes.¡±


    I looked at her. I¡¯m sure I looked confused. ¡°What happens what way?¡±


    Stephanie smiled at me, and brushed her black hair back over her shoulder. ¡°Good question. I¡¯ll tell you. I think it would be better if supers took a more active role in the world, and I¡¯m not the only one. I¡¯ve talked about it a lot, and sometimes it turns out that I reached people I didn¡¯t even remember reaching. When I do, I get things like this¡ªemails with files of information attached and I pass it along to other people who I think might be interested.¡±


    There were so many pieces of information to unravel in what she¡¯d said that I had trouble knowing where to start. Was she the person who¡¯d started Gordon on his ¡°supers over all¡± kick? Had she been talking to Vaughn? Who else had she been talking to? The most important thing was the last part. Did she mean that¡ª


    Haley interrupted my thoughts. ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯ve already passed the emails on to someone else?¡±


    Frowning, Stephanie said, ¡°Trustworthy people. It doesn¡¯t matter who. Look, we¡¯re all the same kind of people here, and I¡¯m not talking about powers. You see problems and you want to fix them. You see people in danger and you want to save them. You see people who are hurting others and you want to stop them.


    ¡°So yes, we¡¯ve passed them on. We¡¯re not going to let it continue.¡±

 Threat Analysis: Part 9

    My mind raced. Was there a technical fix for this? Set Hal to follow where the email went and delete it from any system that had it? That would create a mess by itself. If it turned out that the recipient had already printed it out or removed the computer from the internet, we might not ever find it.


    Haley glanced back at me, but since I was still trying to think about technical solutions, I didn¡¯t say anything.


    She frowned, and addressed Stephanie again. ¡°Can¡¯t you stop them? You know these people, right? If they¡¯re trustworthy, they¡¯ll understand it wasn¡¯t your information to give.¡±


    Stephanie¡¯s face twitched. ¡°Do you want to leave a bunch of murderers in charge?¡±


    I raised my hand, and gave a little wave. ¡°No, but that¡¯s not why she¡¯s saying that. We collected that information and we¡¯re still collecting more. We don¡¯t want to go off half-cocked, and besides we already agreed not to do anything without the go ahead from Mindstryke.¡±


    Stephanie opened her mouth to reply, but Gordon¡¯s laugh stopped her. ¡°You¡¯re going to let people suffer because you¡¯re afraid you¡¯ll get in trouble?¡±


    ¡°No¡­¡± I made an effort to keep my voice calm. Was Gordon deliberately misunderstanding? ¡°What we were doing is trying to be careful. I¡¯m not infallible. I don¡¯t know everything. What if we try to fix it and misunderstand who¡¯s running the show? What if we come up with a plan that a more experienced group would know was stupid, or needs more people than we¡¯ve got? If the Defenders are in the loop, we¡¯ve got backup.¡±


    Haley nodded as I finished. ¡°That¡¯s why I asked who you gave it to. Do you know they can handle it if things go wrong? Like what if they complete the mission, but make the Russians angry?¡±


    I didn¡¯t give them a chance to reply, adding, ¡°And then what happens after? Are your friends just going to leave and hope things work out?¡±


    Gordon shook his head. His face grew redder as he talked. ¡°This is bullshit! How should we know that stuff? We just handed it over, and I don¡¯t think they even know what they¡¯re going to do.¡±


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    ¡°Hon,¡± Stephanie began, ¡°that¡¯s not¡ª¡°


    He talked over her, taking a step toward me, his fist clenching. ¡°You¡¯re all a bunch of gutless¡ª¡°


    He pulled his fist back. I didn¡¯t know if this was to scare me or if he intended to attack me, but when you notice something like that you¡¯re best off assuming it¡¯s real. I pulled up my arms into a guard position as Stephanie grabbed a metal trinket that had been hanging from the belt of her shorts.


    Gordon threw a punch at my head. I caught his forearm with my right arm, and began to redirect his movement into the wall to my right.


    As I did that, the trinket in Stephanie¡¯s hand glowed bright, making strange, slowly changing patterns, and I couldn¡¯t look anywhere else.


    I stayed that way for an unknown period of time. It seemed like an instant, but the next time I was aware of anything but the light, I realized that both Gordon and Stephanie were lying on the floor of my lab.


    Haley crouched next to Stephanie, eyes closed, turning the trinket face down.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I stared down at the back side of the device. It looked like it was made of the same metal I¡¯d noticed in Stephanie¡¯s lab.


    Haley turned toward the sound of my voice, standing up and opening her eyes.


    ¡°Nick,¡± she smiled at me.


    I pointed toward the device. ¡°What was that?¡±


    Haley shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but you couldn¡¯t stop looking at it.¡±


    ¡°Right, but that¡¯s a big deal in a fight.¡± I considered picking up the device, and finding the off button. I¡¯d probably be able to figure out the pattern if I took it apart.


    Haley¡¯s mouth twisted, hopefully more in amusement than irritation. ¡°I know it would be. Don¡¯t touch it right now, okay?¡±


    I thought about it. It would be bad if I accidentally looked at it. Worse, if Dr. Nation found me that way and got caught too.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said.


    I looked from Stephanie to Gordon. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°Nothing much,¡± Haley said. ¡°Stephanie pointed the flashy thing at you, and you stared at it, and froze. Gordon hit the wall pretty hard when you let him go. He''d shut his eyes when it started glowing. I think he might have been better off if Stephanie hadn¡¯t tried to help. I slashed Stephanie and Gordon with my dewclaw, and they fell over before they realized they''d been poisoned. That¡¯s basically it. I had to do it with my eyes closed, of course.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said.


    Across the hall, doors opened. Dr. Nation strolled into the lab common area, passing Stephanie¡¯s lab and glancing inside. He shook his head and walked past, aiming for my doorway.


    I had a momentary thought that we could maybe hide the bodies, but I knew better.


    Dr. Nation walked up, stopping in my lab¡¯s doorway. He stroked his mustache, and said, ¡°Interesting.¡±

 Threat Analysis: Part 10

    Between the blue t-shirt that appeared to be a pajama top and the wrinkles in his khakis, Dr. Nation was the closest to disheveled I¡¯d ever seen him. He¡¯d obviously come straight from bed, and thrown on anything in reach.


    It could have been worse, I told myself. He might have come in a bathrobe.


    Dr. Nation leaned over Stephanie, and picked up the glowing metal weapon, aiming its face away from him and us. After a moment, he turned it off.


    Then he checked Gordon''s face. It was red where he''d hit the rock wall. He touched his hand on Gordon''s arm, checking Gordon''s pulse, nodding and giving a small smile as he found it. Then he looked at Haley. "How long does your poison generally last?"


    She pursed her lips. "That''s hard to say. It depends on how big they are, and how much I put into them. With the normal amount, people are out for at least ten minutes."


    Nodding slowly, he asked, "And did you give them the normal amount?"


    Haley grimaced, and said, ¡°I¡­ think? It was a bit of a blur.¡±


    Dr. Nation stood up, one side of his mouth raising in a hint of a smile. ¡°Then I¡¯ll assume that we¡¯ve got ten minutes. Why don¡¯t the two of you tell me what happened?¡±


    He sat down with us next to one of the tables, pulling out a chair, and leaning back.


    We told him everything, and didn¡¯t hide the fact that we¡¯d been spying on them with the roachbots¡ªthough I did take a moment to fly the roachbots back to my lab while they were still sleeping. No need to risk Gordon and Stephanie noticing.


    Dr. Nation grinned as he saw the bots land on the table. ¡°I¡¯m sure your grandfather would wish he¡¯d thought of that.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°But back to the matter at hand¡­ We¡¯ve got files on everyone, and I suspect I know who they sent the emails to. Her older sister is part of a group that calls itself ¡®The Coffeeshop Illuminati¡¯.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of that group.¡±


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    Haley glanced over at Stephanie and Gordon. ¡°They¡¯re still out. I think they¡¯ll be down for closer to half an hour¡ªwhich is good. I¡¯ve never heard of them either.¡±


    Dr. Nation picked up a roachbot, staring at it as if he were thinking of taking it apart. Putting it down, he said, ¡°There¡¯s no reason you should have. They aren¡¯t a team in the conventional sense. They¡¯re spread out, some active superheroes, some civilians, but they¡¯re young, powered, and they want to change the world.¡±


    He sat back in his chair, not saying anything for a little while. I glanced at my phone. It was after one in the morning.


    He crossed his arms over his chest. ¡°I¡¯m surprised they haven¡¯t attempted to recruit the League. You¡¯d add immediate credibility to their group. They don¡¯t have much of a public face.¡±


    Haley glanced over at Gordon and Stephanie. ¡°What are they about?¡±


    Dr. Nation smiled. ¡°Nothing especially new. Human rights. Democracy. Rational thinking. I¡¯m sure I would have loved them if I¡¯d found them in my teens or twenties. I can¡¯t say too much against them even now¡ªat least not in terms of ideals. The question isn¡¯t what you believe, but what you do after that.¡±


    He stopped leaning back and sat up. ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever listened to the news, and heard about an innocent person in some foreign prison? An aid worker, a political dissident, or maybe some poor hiker? And haven¡¯t you thought for a second about getting them out? Why don¡¯t you?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Mostly I tend to assume that breaking into a prison is easier said than done. Plus, if the government¡¯s really terrible, they¡¯ll take it out on anyone connected with the person I break out. A government diplomat or even Amnesty International¡¯s got a better chance of getting them out without the collateral damage.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± he said. ¡°And right there, you¡¯re showing more sense than they are. In the same situation, they break into the prison and get them out. Now I¡¯m not fully giving them the credit they deserve. They do their best to shield the friends and family from repercussions, sometimes getting all of them out of the country at once. Still, there¡¯s no denying the Coffeeshop Illuminati don¡¯t wait for diplomats.¡±


    He stood up. ¡°Well, I should carry them back to Stephanie¡¯s lab. I¡¯ll have a better conversation with the two of them there than I will here. Why don¡¯t you two go to your rooms?¡±


    * * *


    It felt a little awkward the next day when I passed Stephanie¡¯s lab, but we managed to both pretend not to see each other. I especially didn¡¯t look toward the covered "pictures" on stands¡ªwhich I definitely should have asked Dr. Nation about. I suspected I''d seen what the small version could do.


    With school off for the rest of the week, I spent half the day in the lab and the rest hanging around with friends.


    On Saturday morning though, I walked down to the lab to find an email from Hal. Based on data it was collecting, the AI gave a 90% chance that someone would be attacking the Turkmenistan regime within the next twenty-four hours.

 Demo: Part 1

    I half expected Turkmenistan to erupt in torrents of blood and destruction by Sunday night, but it didn''t. Nothing happened. That didn''t mean I wasn''t trying to stop it though.


    I considered sending an email explaining everything to Agent Lim, but didn''t when it occurred to me that anything that went to Lim''s email address might be permanently archived by the government. Instead I sent him an email saying that something of potentially international importance had come up, and that he should talk to me or Dr.Nation as soon as possible.


    He must have talked to Dr. Nation because Dr. Nation caught up with me on Monday morning after a group run. We''d divided and subdivided since the summer had begun. I''m pretty sure my group was the "Virtually No Chance of Metahuman Physical Improvement" group.


    Anyway, as I walked off the last run, still breathing heavily, Dr. Nation stepped off the track and walked next to me in the grass.


    Keeping his voice low, he said, "Don''t worry about what we talked about earlier. People are on it. Do tell me if there''s any retaliation."


    "Sure."  I took a ragged breath.


    Nodding, he said, "Excellent. Your group''s heading to the weight room next."


    I can only guess what my expression was, but he laughed and waved me toward the compounds'' high school.


    After weightlifting and a half hour break later, I was back on the field--with a few differences. This time I was in the Rocket suit. I wasn''t alone as I stood on the grass--the entire Stapledon program stood with me, all of them dressed in their own costumes.


    Lee stood on top of a small platform on the field. As usual when training the group, he''d taken the form of Gunther, an associate of the Heroes'' League. That''s to say that he looked like a soldier--brush cut blond hair, combat fatigues, and a steady gaze.


    Picking up a microphone, he surveyed the group. "Hey there, everyone. We''ve been training for almost a month now, and the powers-that-be need a sign that the millions of dollars they''re spending on you are working. Now even though a month is not enough time to produce a combat force that I''d be proud of, it is enough time to put on a show.


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    "We''re going to have you run some obstacle courses, and then we''ll have a few teams slug it out. It should be fun. I''ll match up some teams of with similar skill levels, and let them go at it.


    "Now, one thing that will make this whole excise interesting is that it will take place in full view of the public. We''re going to have full use of otherwise unused grassland. Politicians, the press, and the general public will be there watching.


    "That means that you''ll get to exercise two skills that you''ll find useful in life--fighting, and talking to the press. For most of you, the better choice will be not talking. You''ll want to memorize the words ''no comment'' and use them at any opportunity. Got it?"


    "Alright, time to start. I''m going to read off members of teams. You''ll go join yours immediately afterward. And remember, only a few of you will be fighting, but all of you will be running the obstacle courses."


    He started reading off the names, followed by a number, and using our codenames instead of our real names. I didn''t hear a lot of codenames I recognized, meaning that they were doing one of two things--choosing mostly upperclassmen or mostly first years.


    For demonstration purposes, upperclassmen seemed like the better bet. Beyond that, it was probably good news. It meant that I''d probably get out of it. They could easily fill four teams by using the older students.


    Except then Lee said, "Bloodmaiden. Group 2."


    That was bad news. If Amy could get picked, I could get picked.


    "The Rocket. Group 2." Lee pointed toward a spot directly in front of the podium, and I pushed through the crowd to find out who I''d been teamed with. They weren''t hard to find.


    I knew most of them--at least a little. Except for Amy and I, they were all upperclassmen.


    Amy, now in full Bloodmaiden armor (black and blood red) lifted her spear from the ground, waving it to get my attention. "Hey Rocket, do you know everybody?"


    "Kind of? Not well though." I recognized Samita, alias Red Hex, now wearing a red robe and white pants. Next to her stood Rod, a light skinned, blond haired guy who wore a black trench coat. He could turn into a troll. Appropriately, Troll was also his codename.


    Tara nodded at me. "Rocket." We''d both acted as Lee''s assistant while teaching classes. Blond, and square jawed, she wore a blue body suit. "Any objection to me acting as field leader?"


    I shook my head. "You''ll be great."


    I snuck a look at one of our competitors. Lee was still calling out names, but so far they had Gordon and Stephanie. As I looked though, Lee called out, "The Power. Group 1."


    Sean pushed his way out of the crowd to join them.


    This was going to be awesome.

 Demo: Part 2

    It wasn¡¯t going to be the good kind of awesome though. It was kind of awesome you get when all the people who hate you go into one corner and you wonder what they¡¯re going to do when they come out.


    To be fair, it wasn¡¯t everyone who hated me. Jody wasn¡¯t on their team.


    Not yet anyway.


    Over the loudspeaker, Lee said, ¡°Blue Mask. Group 1.¡±


    That was interesting, I thought as a guy who could almost have passed for Zorro walked up to their group. ¡°Almost passed¡± because he had a blue mask. The inside of his cape was lined with blue as well¡ªupping the number of capes I¡¯d met who actually had a cape to two.


    He carried a rapier.


    I barely had time to process that when Lee said, ¡°Slugger, Group 1.¡±


    ¡°Slugger¡± turned out to be a guy wearing a baseball uniform and carrying a baseball bat¡ªa big, big guy, easily Travis¡¯ size. He had a little bit of a gut, but the muscles dramatically upped his intimidation value.


    As strange as he seemed in the middle a crowd of superheroes, he fit the scenery (an athletic field) better than the rest of us.


    Something nagged at me about him. I¡¯d heard of him somewhere. It took a moment, but then the memory came. A few years ago some guy calling himself ¡°The New Jersey Batman¡± had gotten in huge trouble with DC comics when he¡¯d started to sell merchandise. He¡¯d been a big guy who went after supervillains with a baseball bat, and he¡¯d had a sidekick.


    As completely absurd as his costume seemed, I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to be hit by the bat.


    Next to me, Amy looked him up and down. ¡°They¡¯re both magic. With the first guy it¡¯s the mask and the sword. With Slugger, I don¡¯t know. Magic seems to permeate him.¡±


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    Samita had pulled a mirror out of her pocket and had angled it toward them. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen anything like it either.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I let myself trail off, but then continued, ¡°Okay. So they¡¯ve got three area effect people, two of whom are flyers, and a couple magic hand to hand combat guys. We¡¯ve got two uh¡­ wizards¡ª¡°


    Samita shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not a wizard. I will be someday. Currently I¡¯m an apprentice with some skill in creating enchanted objects, and a few spells.¡±


    ¡°Okay, anyway. We¡¯ve got two people who are skilled in using magic¡ª¡° Samita began to open her mouth again, but I continued on, ¡°¡ªone magic based hand to hand guy, one tech guy, and a super-soldier.¡±


    Group 3 stood about ten feet to our left, and I¡¯d missed hearing most of their group announced, partly because we¡¯d been talking.


    A tall woman in a red costume that had stylized red and yellow flames running up her sides talked with Jaclyn. I knew that her speed powers were linked to flame, but I wasn¡¯t sure how.


    Next to the tall woman¡¯s red, and Jaclyn¡¯s purple Accelerando costume, Rachel¡¯s white stood out¡ªas did the two pistols at her waist.


    As I began to look toward group four, Lee called out two more names. ¡°Night Wolf and Mist. Both to group 3.¡±


    Travis walked up, huge as ever, but with a predator¡¯s smooth gait. A girl who appeared to be made of mist followed him up.


    Past them stood group four. I didn¡¯t recognize any of them except for Patriot Jr., who was easy to distinguish in his red, white, and blue costume. Next to him stood a woman in gray powered armor, a short guy who was covered in a glowing force shield, and a man in off-white and brown body armor who carried a bow.


    I wondered who would be their fifth member, but then Lee announced, ¡°Blue. Group 4.¡±


    Izzy flew over the crowd to join them.


    When she¡¯d landed, Lee held the microphone to his mouth again. ¡°And that¡¯s it. Those of you who aren¡¯t part of the exhibition fighting groups will now be led through the obstacle courses. Those of you who will be fighting should huddle up in the front.¡±


    We did. I tried not to get too close to anybody. A lot of us were in no danger, but it would be easy to hurt anyone who was physically normal. By the time Lee jumped off the podium and walked over to us, I found myself standing next to Amy, Jaclyn, Travis, and Izzy¡ªany of whom could have had similar thoughts about accidentally hurting people.


    Lee¡¯s eyes ran across the group. ¡°Over this next week, all of your groups will fight each other at least once, most likely more than that. You¡¯ll discover, if you haven¡¯t already, that I¡¯ve given each of your group¡¯s strengths against each other and distinct weaknesses. You¡¯ll learn to exploit them during the week, and fight during the weekend when they''ll be much harder to handle.¡±

 Demo: Part 3

    ¡°The tournament will work like this. You¡¯ve got four teams. In the first round, there will be two fights and the winners will fight each other in the second round. It¡¯s quick and simple, and it will have to be. We¡¯ve got the VIP¡¯s for the afternoon, and not longer than that. With luck, it¡¯ll be exciting and get everyone back here in time for supper.¡±


    Lee¡¯s mouth quirked in a half smile. ¡°Does anyone have any questions?¡±


    Patriot Jr¡¯s hand shot up. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to second guess you, sir, but why these groups? There are enough upperclassmen alone to fill the exercise, but you sprinkled in a few second years. I¡¯m not complaining. They¡¯re powerhouses, but why?¡±


    Lee shrugged. ¡°You want an honest answer? Part of it is politics. People are coming from the outside, and there are certain people they¡¯ll want to see in action. I¡¯m making sure they will, but that¡¯s only part of it. The other part is that you¡¯re all people I¡¯m confident won¡¯t kill anybody during the demonstration. Don¡¯t prove me wrong.¡±


    Next to me, Travis shook his head and raised his hand. ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that we¡¯re wasting training time to give a show to politicians?¡±


    Nodding, Lee said, ¡°Pretty much, but not entirely. I¡¯ve been teaching all of you for a little over a year now. I¡¯m not wild about tournaments because they teach you to fight like you¡¯re fighting in a tournament. On the other hand, you¡¯re going to be trying for non-lethal takedowns most of the time in the real world. Think of it as a test for that, and everything¡¯s okay.¡±


    Further to my left, Tara raised her hand, and when Lee nodded asked, ¡°What will the tournament be? A straight fight, or something more complicated?¡±


    Lee turned to face her. ¡°Good question. Excellent question, in fact. It¡¯s nice to hear one that has something to do with the exercise. Unfortunately, I¡¯m not telling. Expect that you could be asked to fight any of the other teams. I¡¯m not going to explain the circumstances because that¡¯s how it works sometimes.¡±


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    Then he dismissed us, but not before we arranged to meet after everything was done. That¡¯s how everyone found themselves in my lab. I¡¯m not sure of the exact reasoning behind that decision, but Amy did say that it would be easy to ward it against eavesdroppers.


    She didn¡¯t say that it was because she¡¯d already done the work.


    Rod stood next to my computer desk, clicking until he found the specs. ¡°Nice. The regular students are stuck with the computers in their rooms, or whatever they brought from home. These computers are top of the line.¡±


    I stood next to him, hoping he wouldn¡¯t click on any of the surveillance programs I¡¯d installed, and regretting I¡¯d said yes when he asked to take a look.


    ¡°And you know what, even these computers don¡¯t have the necessary power for some things people want to do. They¡¯ve got a mainframe in the compound that they said they might give us time on.¡±


    Rod looked up from the computer. ¡°Yeah? Have they?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°It looked like they were going to, but I think they must have changed their minds and not told us. Keon¡¯s been talking about putting together a Beowulf cluster. We¡¯ve still got some space in the commons. You know what a Beowulf cluster is, right?¡±


    Rod nodded. ¡°My school¡¯s got one for students. I¡¯m majoring in computer science¡ªthe normal kind, not the super genius kind.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Cool. I thought about doing that, but I¡¯m already double majoring. Triple majoring would be stupid.¡±


    Amy stepped backwards, away from the small blood red crystals on either side of the door. ¡°The wards are working. As soon as Tara and Sam get here, we can start.¡±


    Rod pointed at the crystals. ¡°Those are the wards? They were here when I got here. Why did you ward this place?¡±


    Amy and I looked at each other.


    Hoping my voice remained even, I said, ¡°We probably shouldn¡¯t talk about it.¡±


    Amy nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not even in on everything, but I agree.¡±


    Rod¡¯s eyes flicked between the two of us. ¡°Hey, I respect keeping secrets and everything. It¡¯s required around here, but I¡¯ve been noticing a lot of fairies around when I¡¯m in my other form. Any connection?¡±


    ¡°Seriously?¡± I asked, definitely failing at keeping an even tone. ¡°I mean, yeah. We¡¯ve had a couple incidents. Do you know why they¡¯re here?¡±


    Rod sat on the edge of the computer desk. ¡°No clue, but it¡¯s been making me nervous. They¡¯re not going to do anything to me, but another faerie invasion won¡¯t make anybody¡¯s life better.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t argue,¡± I said, ¡°but we¡¯re not seeing anything like that.¡±


    I caught Amy¡¯s eye. ¡°Are we?¡±


    Amy grabbed a chair from next to the wall and sat down. ¡°Not so far, but I¡¯m seeing more of them than I used to too.¡±

 Demo: Part 4

    ¡°Huh.¡± I stared into the distance as I wondered how exactly we¡¯d handle a faerie invasion, and also, why they¡¯d bother.


    I happened to have aimed my staring vaguely in the direction of the door, and so I was watching as Samita and Tara walk though the magically guarded doorway.


    Technically, I heard Tara before I saw her. Her voice cut through the silence, a torrent of words with barely any space between them. She was very excited about whatever it was.


    As she stepped through the door, the first intelligible word I heard was, ¡°¡ªbananas! Of course they weren¡¯t real bananas. The Paperclips, a scientist cult, had created a kind of bacteria that tasted like bananas, but grew on rotting food. My dad would take me to an ice cream shop that froze it in layers with chocolate and ice cream. I¡¯ve never found anything like it here.¡±


    Samita nodded and frowned briefly. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine that you would find much that grows on rotting food, but a lot of desserts combine banana, chocolate and ice cream.¡±


    Rod didn¡¯t give her the chance to reply. ¡°Did you say rotting food?¡±


    Tara hesitated for a second, but then said, ¡°I know it sounds terrible, but the Paperclips had decided to solve world hunger¡ªall the worlds¡¯ hunger¡ªand what would be better to turn into good food than rotting food?¡±


    ¡°Look,¡± Rod said, ¡°I¡¯ll be the first to admit that my standards when I¡¯m a troll aren¡¯t high, but weren¡¯t you at least a little worried?¡±


    Tara shook her head. ¡°No. We knew one of the Paperclips. He¡¯d done tests that proved it was perfectly safe, and it was. No one got sick, and it worked better than their next project.¡±


    Amy grinned. ¡°And what was their next project?¡±


    Tara met her eyes. ¡°They started on meat. They genetically modified some pigs to be small enough to live in an apartment, but to grow very large, very quickly if you had the food to feed them. Oh, and also they ate rats because there was a rat problem.¡±


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    Rod folded his hands across his chest. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound that bad. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d want to eat pigs that ate rats, but I guess it works.¡±


    Tara shook her head. ¡°When they grew, they stopped caring about rats. They went after bigger game¡ªdogs, cats¡­ people.¡±


    Amy covered her mouth with her hand. Rod stared, and said, ¡°Fuck.¡±


    Samita asked, ¡°What did you do?¡±


    Tara shrugged. ¡°It was back when both my parents were alive. We were living in Infinity City and they were paid to protect a city block. Once they understood what was going on, they organized a hunt, killed them all, and we had an amazing barbecue. Of course we had to move on after that. Too many of the wrong people had seen us.¡±


    She smiled for a moment, ¡°Strange as it sounds to you, it was a good time.¡±


    Rod snorted. ¡°It¡¯s Infinity City. I¡¯m prepared to believe anything.¡±


    Amy raised an eyebrow. ¡°Infinity City?¡±


    Sliding further onto my computer desk, Rod said, ¡°It exists in multiple dimensions, maybe all of them.¡±


    Nodding, Amy said, ¡°I think I might have heard of it, but under a different name.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said. ¡°We probably ought start talking about our strategy for the tournament. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve got more than an hour if we want to make the tail end of supper.¡±


    Rod checked the computer screen, and pushed himself off the desk, saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was that late.¡±


    We all grabbed chairs, and sat around my worktable. I¡¯d cleared it before everyone arrived this time. It was better than having to tell people not to touch roachbots, experimental weapons, or Rocket suit parts.


    Tara sat up in her chair, waiting as we all got settled, and then saying, ¡°It looks like we can start. We need to come up with strategies and tactics for fighting each of the three groups, knowing that we¡¯ll only have to fight two. Nick, you were already beginning to analyze the other groups when we were there. Please continue.¡±


    It was as if she were a different person. She¡¯d entered the lab moving her hands as she¡¯d talked about ice cream. Now she sat, intently watching each of our reactions. I knew what made the difference.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ve got group 1 which includes two hand to hand fighters, and three people with area of effect attacks, two of whom are mobile.


    ¡°Group 3 has two speedsters and three hand fighters. Group 4 has two flying bricks, but also has a speedster, a guy with force fields, and a guy with a bow.¡±


    I¡¯d never been completely sure how marksmanship with a bow and arrow was equivalent to a superpower. It looked like I¡¯d get the chance to find out.


    The corners of Tara¡¯s mouth curved into a hint of a smile.


    ¡°What about our group?¡± She asked.


    I thought about it. ¡°We¡¯ve got two people who are good with magic, one massive hand to hand fighter, an inventor, and one hand to hand fighter with an unusual head for tactics. I¡¯d say the way we stand out from each group is in flexibility.¡±

 Demo: Part 5

    Tara nodded. "And how do we win?"


    "Well," I thought about her question, trying to guess  what she was going for, "the obvious answer is that the specific strategy and tactics might be different for each team. That''s not the answer though. Our best quality as a team is that our capabilities could be completely different at the end of the week than the beginning. I might modify my suit or bots. Amy or Samita might use new spells or new magic objects.


    "We''ll have to train against the other teams all week, so we may have to come up with ideas, and then not try them out until the tournament--which means we really won''t know how well they work."


    Tara grinned briefly. "That''s what I was thinking too. But we''ll have a better idea of what might work than you think. I can remember every move the third and fourth years have made in a fight I''ve seen."


    Along with an ability to somehow see patterns in that mass of memories, that''s how I''d assumed her powers worked--though I couldn''t think of any time she''d said it outright.


    "Okay," Tara said. "Everyone, I just asked Nick his opinion. If anyone thinks he''s missed something important about our general strategy for winning the tournament, it''s time to speak up. If no one has anything, it''s time to look at each group, and discuss what we need to do to win."


    It took a little while for everyone to get into it, but we spent the next hour brainstorming. Eventually we went to dinner as a group. This was more incidental than intentional. We were all hungry by then, and there weren''t many people left to eat with but each other.


    It gave me a direct view of something my sister Rachel had mentioned about Tara. She was very different person when she wasn''t using her powers than when she was. Some people adopted a persona in costume, but I didn''t think that Tara did.


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    During supper, Tara talked about light things--some reality TV show she''d watched, the quirks of the teachers (Bullet especially), and told a few stories about growing up in Infinity City, somehow managing to make it sound less desperate than it was.


    After supper, we left the dining hall. Amy had  gone off with a couple of her friends. Rod and Samita were ahead of us in the hall. That left me walking next to Tara--which felt a little weird. I''d spent a lot of time with her while we were assisting Lee, but it was all business. Here, she was laughing at jokes when I told them.


    "It''s nice to be here," she said, taking a breath. "I loved growing up in Infinity City, but you never could relax, not really."


    "Can you relax here?" Lee had trained me to always be aware of my surroundings, but obviously some places were more dangerous than others. I didn''t spend a lot of time making sure that I was aware of 360 degrees around myself.


    Tara smiled, and looked strangely like a normal person, and not as grim as she''d seemed since her father died. "Oh, you know. I can relax most of the time, but not quite always."


    Then she lowered her voice, and tilted her head. "Here, "


    She opened the door to a conference room.


    I stumbled in after her, not completely sure that this was a good thing. Haley had told me that I was attracted to Tara, and it didn''t take much to guess  why. She had the physique of a comic book character. Whatever abilities supers had, they typically looked more athletic than they did  like models. Whoever had designed the super soldier clones she was descended from, they''d gone to the trouble of making them attractive.


    However committed I was to Haley, I couldn''t help but notice.


    For an instant, I wondered why Tara wanted me in the room. Before I drew the the wrong conclusion, Tara had reverted to the version of herself I had more experience with.


    She''d put her hands in her pockets of her yoga pants, and stood still.


    When she spoke her voice was even, only barely more expressive than a monotone. "I could see from the way they held themselves that Gordon and Stephanie are angry with you. Further, you and Amy share some secret, and now that I think about it, there are several time periods where none of the members of the Heroes League were in the common areas."


    She met my eyes. "What are you hiding?"

 Demo: Part 6

    In the first sinking moments of understanding what she¡¯d asked, I thought I might be able to get away with pretending not to know. Then realism set in. She¡¯d realized who was missing from the common areas simply by walking through them and remembering our normal habits¡ªwhatever they were.


    Lies would be useless. She¡¯d probably be able to match up everything we¡¯d ever said in her presence.


    In the face of that, I had no choice.


    Sighing, I led with, ¡°It probably doesn¡¯t matter anymore anyway. You know how Turkmenistan¡¯s been in the news lately? Most of the Heroes League was involved with a plan to bug the presidential palace, steal files, and set the regime up for embarrassment or overthrow. We weren¡¯t going to go forward without permission. Unfortunately, someone gave all the stuff we¡¯d collected up through the fourth of July over to Gordon and Stephanie, and they gave it to the Coffeeshop Illuminati, and now, well, who knows what¡¯s going to happen?¡±


    Tara blinked. Given how emotionless she appeared to be, I guessed that the blink might be worth an ¡°Oh my God, you¡¯re kidding me!¡± from her normal mindset.


    Nodding, she said, ¡°That explains a lot. Are you still collecting data?¡±


    I grinned, shrugging as I said. ¡°For all the good it¡¯ll do, yes. I¡¯ve been tempted to turn it off, but then I thought that if things go pear-shaped for the Illuminati, well, at least we¡¯ll know. We might even be able to rescue them if they need it.¡±


    Tara broke. The emotionless mask her face had become changed, her jaw tightening, her skin getting redder. I wasn¡¯t sure if she was angry or about to cry.


    ¡°It¡¯s so like them,¡± she said, fists clenching.


    I was beginning to suspect that the impression I¡¯d had of the upperclassmen was wrong. I¡¯d assumed that the smaller classes would have ended up being really close. My guess was that they knew each other pretty well, but liking each other might be optional.


    Plus, I could see how Tara might not fit in. She was a little ditzy when she wasn¡¯t using her powers, scary smart when she was, and then there was the whole ¡°daughter of super-soldiers who grew up in Infinity City¡± thing.


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    ¡°One of the True got out of Infinity City, and went looking for the man who created them, but in this world, where he hasn¡¯t yet. Stephanie¡¯s sister brought him to the Coffeeshop Illuminati. She didn¡¯t even know what he was.¡±


    Tara¡¯s lower lip trembled.


    Not sure where to go with that, I asked. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°My father had to hunt him down and kill him, but it¡¯s okay. He never found the True¡¯s creator, and there¡¯s been no sign of the Abominator birthing chambers he used to create them.¡±


    Whether from thinking about her father, or what the True super-soldier could have done, her eyes glistened around the edges.


    Something in what she¡¯d said prompted several memories, and I knew that if I thought about it long enough, I¡¯d be able to pull them together into something that made sense.


    My League phone rang, or more accurately, beeped like it did when I had a text. Saying, ¡°Sorry,¡± I pulled the phone out of my pocket and checked the screen, figuring I¡¯d ignore it if it wasn¡¯t important.


    It was a message from Dr. Nation. It said, ¡°Your therapist attempted to have you removed from tournament due to ¡®dangerous PTSD.¡¯ Lim squashed it.¡±


    That was weird. If anything she¡¯d be surprised by my lack of PTSD. This kind of a turnaround made no sense. I typed back, ¡°Thanks.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Tara asked, voice calm.


    ¡°Nothing.¡± I held out my my screen so that she could see. ¡°It was alright even before he texted me.¡±


    Tara read it, and said, ¡°Interesting that she would say something now.¡±


    ¡°Even more interesting that she seemed surprised that I didn¡¯t have PTSD during the actual visit. Her evaluation of me completely flipped between seeing me and now.¡±


    I put my phone back into my pocket, thinking about Abominator birthing chambers. Last year when we¡¯d been fighting the alien invasion, we¡¯d been on Long Island. Near Medford, we¡¯d stopped the invaders from making off with Abominator artifacts that were being studied at a science lab.


    One of them had been a platform with tubes. I felt fairly sure it was a birthing chamber. Cassie said that it was used for genetic manipulation, and would even work on someone who was fully formed.


    No doubt Cassie had a head start on controlling one, but I felt sure that someone out there could come up with an interface that didn''t require whatever it was that made Abominator created devices identify her as an allowed user.


    I''d told Isaac Lim about it, and because of that, the government had taken the birthing chamber after the battle. I wondered where it had gone. Had I prevented the True''s creation or set it in motion?


    Tara shook her head. ¡°We should go. You might have to talk to someone about that. And thanks for telling me about your project. If you do need help with it, you can call me.¡±

 Demo: Part 7

    Tara and I parted after that, each of us heading to our own rooms. The week flew past. We had two matches with each of the three teams, losing more than we won. That was okay. It was actually the plan. We¡¯d come up with strategies and tactics for fighting each team, and devices or spells that might help.


    Tara wanted to test how the other teams would respond to similar tactics that didn¡¯t use the new equipment.


    It had the side effect of getting them used to less effective versions of the same idea. Combined with losing, it might lull our opponents into thinking we weren¡¯t much of a threat.


    I explained as much to Haley on Friday night, the night before the tournament. We were sitting in my lab with the lights on low, deliberately next to the wall and out of direct view of the door.


    Haley glanced in the direction of Stephanie¡¯s lab. ¡°Are you sure you can tell me this? It¡¯s not as if I¡¯m going to tell Travis, but Izzy hears everything.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Not really. We¡¯ve been using my lab for team meetings, so Amy worked up a shield against listening, and I worked up something with sonics that should help. You try to hear outside.¡±


    Haley did, closing her eyes and tightening her mouth on the right side as she did.


    I thought about kissing her, but decided not to when it occurred to me that if I actually managed to surprise her, she might break bones before realizing it.


    She opened her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re right. I can¡¯t hear anything outside. Are you sure it works against Izzy? She¡¯s much better than I am.¡±


    I thought about it, finally saying, ¡°We haven¡¯t gotten Izzy to test it, but I tested it as best I could, so I¡¯m willing to risk it.¡±


    She bit her lip. ¡°Do you think you¡¯ll win?¡±


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    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Everyone¡¯s got a good reason to win against us. Lee put serious powerhouses on all the teams, and the closest thing we have is Rod and me. The Rocket suit doesn¡¯t match Izzy or Jaclyn except maybe in taking damage. Rod¡¯s in their league in strength, but doesn¡¯t have the mobility. Overall, I¡¯d say we¡¯re the weakest physically.¡±


    Haley nodded, ¡°But you¡¯re not relying on strength¡ª¡°


    Beeping from my League phone interrupted her. I checked the notification. Hal had sent me a message. It said, ¡°Coffeeshop Illuminati chatter in concert with flybys over Turkmenistan indicates a ninety-nine percent chance that the Coffeeshop Illuminati will attack within the next twenty-four hours."


    I stared at the screen, and sighed. They''d attack at the worst possible time of day--probably part way through the tournament.


    Haley leaned over to view the screen too, and I angled it so she could see.


    "That is the worst timing," she said.


    "I know." I tapped the screen, forwarding the message to everybody, and recieving half a dozen replies.


    I looked them over, realizing that one of them wasn''t a reply. It was a message from Lee that I must not have noticed earlier.


    It said, "Tomorrow morning report to me the moment you make it through the obstacle course."


    "Why?" Haley asked as I read it.


    "I don''t know."


    * * *


    They set up the tournament and obstacle course outside the Castle Rock Compound--not immediately on the other side of the wall, but close. The obstacle course ran between two foothills. Very little grew there as the soil wasn''t much more than rocks and sand.


    The course itself wasn''t bad--lots of running, lots of objects to climb or jump over. Plus, in some spots people fired live ammunition at or near us. Other people threw grenades.


    The tournament fighters went first as teams. We''d been encouraged to assist each other, and we did. Rod (in troll form) tried to shield the more vulnerable members of the team from fire. To the degree that we could, Amy (as Bloodmaiden) and I did the same.


    We''d been told to provide a show--which meant no invisibility spells even if Samita or Amy had prepared. Well, not unless we planned to handle the next obstacle in a showy way.


    Worse, they had people to impress--photographers, reporters, civilians... All of them stood behind rope lines talking, sometimes eating.


    The Rocket suit handled all the problems I faced easily. I jumped or flew over walls, often carrying Tara or Samita. As I did, I heard cameras click, sometimes flashes fired despite the morning''s light.


    On one occasion, I jumped over a thirty foot wall to recognize one of the photographers snapping pictures on the other side.


    It was the tall, bearded paparazzi that I''d seen when Haley and I went to the club with Gifford and Hunter.


    He had a new camera.

 Demo: Part 8

    I ignored him. The last thing I needed was for the man to connect the Rocket with one of the kids who''d trashed his pictures at the club a month ago.


    Out of the corner of my helmet¡¯s view, the photographer tensed as Rod jumped over the wall in troll form, carrying Samita in one hand and drooling from his mouth. The ground shook as he landed.


    Tara, who¡¯d landed just behind Rod, didn¡¯t fall, but she did have to take a few extra steps where she might normally have taken one.


    The photographer along with the rest of the crowd took several steps backward. A few people cursed. Others made wordless noises.


    I couldn¡¯t blame them. I¡¯d gotten used to Rod¡¯s other form over the week, but between his sheer size, smell, and sharp teeth, he wasn¡¯t something that should be dropped on unsuspecting people.


    The finish line wasn¡¯t far after that, and we arrived together¡ªwhich was good because we were supposed to be working as a team.


    People clapped and shouted as we crossed the finish line. A few shouted my name¡ªwell, ¡°The Rocket¡¯s¡± along with questions. I didn¡¯t walk over to the side of the path to talk with them.


    Whoever had planned for this event (probably Earthmover) had gone to much more work than I would have expected. Stone bleachers jutted out of the hill to my right, and more lay between the two hills ahead of us, surrounding an open area that had to be the area where we¡¯d fight.


    I noted with approval that it hadn¡¯t been covered with stone as well. Even in the Rocket suit, I¡¯d rather be punched into dirt than rock.


    Our arena wasn¡¯t completely dirt and grass, however. Flat rectangles of stone stuck out of the ground, clustering around opposite ends of the space, but appearing randomly throughout the fighting area.


    Obviously Lee intended something more interesting than simple combat. That was good. Our chances improved with more complicated situations.


    At the front of the arena, the bleachers turned into a multi-story building. If I had to guess, that¡¯s where I''d expect to find the VIP¡¯s. As it turned out, I didn¡¯t have to guess. It was extremely obvious once I looked harder. With the Rocket suit¡¯s enhanced vision, I zoomed in on the stands to find members of the military sitting near men and women in suits.


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    I didn¡¯t know enough about military uniforms to be sure, but I suspected that all the services were represented.


    Isaac Lim, and a number of our teachers mingled with the military and politicians. Some of the capes weren¡¯t talking to anybody though. They were surveying the crowd, and all the students walking out of the obstacle course.


    Along with them were at least two dozen people in powered armor, some of it all black with the letters ¡°FBI¡± in white, and others marked with the symbols of the Army, Air Force and Marines¡¯ powered armor specialists.


    I noted that all of them descended from the same basic design Grandpa left with the army after World War 2. One of these days I¡¯d have to get a closer look.


    As the group of us walked toward the empty bleachers obviously reserved for students, Lee waved me over.


    After crossing the sparse grass and dirt of the arena, I stopped where Lee stood¡ªin front of the VIP bleachers. Lee wore combat fatigues and the identity of Gunther, the League¡¯s ally, as he usually did at Stapledon.


    ¡°Thought I¡¯d pass this on,¡± Lee said. ¡°Senator Mitchell Abrams is up there.¡± He pointed his thumb toward the top of the stands.


    ¡°That guy? Why?¡± Previous to True Humanity nearly destroying St. Louis, Senator Abrams had once called them patriots. After St. Louis, people called for him to resign, but he¡¯d managed to avoid it.


    Lee grinned. ¡°Because of you. Your therapist called a lot of people before Agent Lim activated protocols for handling mind control.¡±


    Amy¡¯s voice, a little deeper after her Bloodmaiden transformation, came from behind me. ¡°Was she mind controlled?¡±


    Lee shook his head, ¡°Gunther¡¯s¡± blond hair glinting the sunlight. ¡°FBI analysts pegged it as fairy influence, but not direct control.¡±


    I looked up at the stands, trying to find the senator in the crowd. ¡°But why¡¯s he here then?¡±


    Lee smirked. ¡°The senator isn¡¯t known for letting reality stop him from making a point. And that reminds me of my point. If you have any attacks that the senator¡¯s bodyguards might find frightening, try not to aim them in the direction of the stands, or things might get complicated.¡±


    Before I could reply, he waved me toward the students¡¯ section. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Everything will be fine. No one but Abrams has a problem with you.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, and fell into step with Amy as we walked away. ¡°Aren¡¯t they worried about being influenced?¡±


    Amy shook her helmet, throwing dark red reflections across the ground. ¡°This place is heavily warded. I was going to tell you, but he beat me to it.¡±


    I looked around. All of this place from the hills to the rock to the grass was warded? That was a surprise.


    I hoped there wouldn¡¯t be anymore.

 Demo: Part 9

    Amy and I walked over to student seating. Students sat in bleachers slightly to the left of the VIP stand. Tournament participants were in the first row. A stone wall about three feet high rose in front of us.


    Bearing in mind how powerful some of the fighters were, I wondered how much protection that really represented. Then I noticed the telltale shimmer of a force shield above the wall. For a moment I wondered whether it generated by a person or a machine but then I realized that small black discs with glowing sides sat at even intervals on top of the wall.


    One of them was within reach.


    I reminded myself that tampering with it before the match would cause no end of trouble. I''d have every chance to look at after the tournament--assuming nothing disastrous happened.


    Still...


    Next to me, her voice breaking through my thoughts, Amy said, "What are you looking at?" She followed my gaze. "Don''t even think about it."


    On Amy''s right, Tara, who had been laughing at something Samita said, leaned past Amy, still smiling, and asked, "What''s the Rocket--" She stopped.


    Then she stopped smiling. ¡°No matter how interesting you find it, please don¡¯t touch the force field disc.¡±


    I was at that moment going to explain that I wasn¡¯t, that I knew better even before anyone said anything to me about it, but I didn¡¯t get to.


    Lee¡¯s voice (well, Gunther¡¯s) came over the loudspeaker. ¡°As you¡¯ve seen, they¡¯re nearly finished running through the obstacle course. We¡¯re going to begin the tournament shortly. The first groups that will fight are group one and group four. If you¡¯re in those groups, please get up and stretch while the last people come in from running the course.¡±


    Sean, Gordon, Stephanie, Blue Mask, and Slugger got up and walked onto the field. Sean wore his ¡°Justice Fist¡± costume¡ªgreen and white with a fist on his chest. Gordon wore a dark blue costume with a full moon in the middle of his chest. A hood and mask covered his face.


    It was probably a homage to his dead father whose codename had been Moonglider.


    Stephanie wore a helmet that completely covered her head, hiding her hair. The front was oval shaped, but flat and made of black material. Along with it she wore armored jacket and pants. They were black, accented with red.


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    Slugger and Blue Mask were dressed exactly as I¡¯d first seen them¡ªlooking like a baseball player and Zorro¡¯s blue masked stunt double respectively.


    Group four followed them out¡ªthat being Izzy, dressed all in blue, as well as Patriot Jr in red, white, and blue¡ªplus other three team members. I¡¯d learned a little more about them during the week.


    The woman in gray powered armor was Akesha, Keon¡¯s cousin. The man who could create force fields was named Hector. The guy wearing brown and off-white and carrying a bow was Malik. He¡¯d been training with me on and off since the first day.


    This was good and bad news. If group one and four were fighting first, it meant that Sean¡¯s team might get knocked out of the running in the first round, and we wouldn¡¯t have to fight. Sean might be treating me better lately, but if my team beat his, that might go away.


    That was the good news. The bad news was that by process of elimination, that meant that our team would be fighting group three¡ªthe team Rachel, Travis, and Jaclyn were on. Fighting them would be hard in a lot of different ways.


    Lee¡¯s voice came over the speakers again as the last stragglers from the obstacle course sat down.


    ¡°Now that everyone¡¯s here, I¡¯d like to tell you about a little wrinkle in the rules. All week you¡¯ve been fighting each other. Well, this time, you¡¯ll fight with a purpose. It¡¯s a simple game of Capture the Flag. Of course, we¡¯ll be adding a couple rules.


    ¡°First of all, even if you can move the flag without touching it, and bring it over to your side, you¡¯re not allowed to. That also means that if you can turn invisible, you¡¯re not allowed to stay invisible while you¡¯re touching the flag.


    ¡°Second, you can take people out of the fight with non-lethal takedowns, and they can get up again and play as soon as they can physically move themselves to do it. We have healers on hand, so if you¡¯re relying on injuries to do that, the time period that your opponent¡¯s out might be shorter than you¡¯d think.


    ¡°Finally, you¡¯ll notice that the flags aren¡¯t hidden. They¡¯re visible except for being on opposite ends of the field. That¡¯s to encourage short games rather than long ones. That means don¡¯t hide the flag, turn it invisible, or place it in another dimension. Got it?¡±


    All the players, even those of us off the field, said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then get into position. That¡¯ll be next to your flags. I¡¯m going to give you ten minutes to discuss your plans, but then I¡¯m going to blow the whistle.¡±


    The Rocket suit¡¯s cooling system began to hum. I didn¡¯t feel the heat, but it was getting warmer.


    I flicked my eye upward to check the temperature, but instead an alert ran across the top of my vision. It wasn¡¯t a systems alert either. It came from Hal.


    [Data gathered from the roachbots indicates that the Coffeeshop Illuminati have begun their attack on Turkmenistan. They¡¯re using one of the plans I devised. It¡¯s the one where they isolate the country¡¯s supers and conventional forces, and pick them off one at a time.]


    Typing my response back by touching my gloved fingers to my palms, I wrote, ¡°How are they doing?¡±


    [That remains to be seen, but successfully executing the plan seems likely to be within their abilities.]

 Demo: Part 10

    ¡°Okay,¡± I typed. ¡°Keep watching them, and report¡ªunless I¡¯m fighting. Then only bother me if it¡¯s bad, and it¡¯s something I can actually change. Actually, tell anyone in the League under those conditions.¡±


    The alert flashed. [Understood.]


    I needed to encourage Hal to use a handle in the League¡¯s comm system. Having him interact with me through the alert system didn¡¯t make a lot of sense.


    Taking my eyes off transparent letters in my helmet¡¯s HUD, I started paying attention to everything around me again.


    Amy nodded toward my hands, a gesture made a little stranger by her black and blood red helmet. ¡°What were you doing?¡±


    I didn¡¯t have to reply before Tara asked, ¡°Who were you texting?¡±


    While I¡¯d never intended to keep that particular function of the suit¡¯s gloves secret, it was a little disconcerting that Tara could guess that easily. Granted, it wasn¡¯t a surprise.


    Keeping my voice low, I said, ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t say publicly.¡± With all the military supers, and the military powered armor of currently unknown abilities around, I couldn¡¯t assume privacy even if I used the suit¡¯s sonics to narrowcast my answer.


    Tara nodded. Amy smirked. ¡°Super secret Heroes¡¯ League stuff?¡±


    ¡°Kinda. I really will tell you later¡ªjust, you know, not here.¡±


    Knowing that the League had an alien battle simulation AI could only freak people out. In the interests of putting the minds of anyone who¡¯d been listening in at rest, I put my hands on the bench, obviously not messing with my suit.


    I could use the backup tongue control if I had to. It was a bit slow for typing though.


    Meanwhile on the field, teams one and four were still talking. Sean seemed to be talking a lot, and even though I couldn¡¯t see much inside Gordon¡¯s hood, I could tell that he was frowning¡ªplus he kept on clenching and unclenching his fist.


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    I checked the time. Team one had two minutes left before they had to fight. I wondered if they¡¯d be done by then.


    On the other side of the field, Izzy¡¯s group was actually holding hands¡ªnot for long, but they were. As I glanced in their direction, they¡¯d stood in a circle and put their hands into the middle, raising them up and giving a little shout.


    My high school track team had done that sometimes. Those of us in long distance always made fun of it later.


    Judging by Izzy¡¯s blank expression, she¡¯d have fit right in with the distance runners. Someone on that team must have loved high school sports though. You don¡¯t come up with something like that spontaneously.


    If you do, there¡¯s something wrong with you.


    I felt myself grinning, and wondering what Haley or Daniel would make of it. They¡¯d both know more about who was enjoying it and who wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°Hey.¡± A voice came from behind me, making me jump. My armor scraped the stone bench beneath me as I turned, finding a black cloak standing in the front of the general students¡¯ section. Darkness obscured the inside of the cloak, obscuring the face that had to be inside it.


    Chicago¡¯s criminals must have found this guy terrifying. Dark Cloak scared me more during the day than he did at night.


    All the same, the suit¡¯s sonar created a workable picture of Adam¡¯s face within the hood, along with other things his cloak hid¡ªa gun in its shoulder holster, and internal pockets holding devices I didn¡¯t recognize. I considered mentioning the weakness of his illusion, but didn¡¯t, guessing that this wasn¡¯t the place for it.


    He gave a gentle grin, saying, ¡°Thought I¡¯d wish you luck and let you know I was rooting for you.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ve got to admit I¡¯m still a little surprised. If anybody, I¡¯d expect you¡¯d be rooting for uh¡­ Moonglider and the Power¡¯s team.¡±


    He laughed. "Because I met you at the club? I didn¡¯t go because I liked those guys. I¡¯d heard you were coming, and I wanted to apologize for how things went the first time we met. Now I¡¯m going to go back to my seat. Kick some ass for me."


    "Sure,"I said, watching as he walked down the row and turned to walk up the stands.


    Several people down the bench from me, Rod leaned forward so I could see him past Samita, Amy and Tara. "There¡¯s something about that guy that rubs me the wrong way."


    Rod wore a black mask along with his black trench coat, blond hair standing out against the darkness of his clothes.


    "Yeah, what?"


    Rod sniffed the air. "I can¡¯t say for sure in this form, but I¡¯d say he¡¯s allied with the Unseelie Court."


    Amy turned to eye him through her helmet. "I don¡¯t know your magical creatures. Which ones are they?"


    Samita leaned forward, answering for him. "The fairies that don¡¯t like humans."


    Amy turned her helmet toward mine. "Are you thinking what I¡¯m thinking?"


    As connections I didn''t particularly like crystalized in my mind, I said, "I''ve got a bad feeling about this."

 Demo: Part 11

    Amy nodded, and then closed her eyes for a moment, making a small motion with her right hand. "We can talk privately--at least for a little while. I''ll warn you when it''s over."


    "Sure," I said, noticing Samita glance in our direction and frown. "Uh... It looks like Samita noticed your spell."


    Amy''s helmet didn''t make it easy to see, but she appeared to roll her eyes at that. "She would. Look, she''s supposed to be mentoring me in traditional magic, but she''s also watching to make sure I don''t go batshit insane and drain the school''s blood in an act of ritual horror."


    "Um. Okay. Is it too late to include her?"


    "Way too late, and we''re running out of time. Adam''s the traitor, or he''s one of them," she said, facing forward, keeping her lips out of view of the stands behind us.


    I took a breath. "Do you think there are more?"


    She shrugged. "I''m not ruling it out. I was always told that traitors come in bunches--like grapes. What we need to decide is this. Do we take him down now or later?"


    I stared at her. "Later. Definitely later. The place is full of security for a bunch of politicians, at least one of whom hasn''t decided if I''m a threat or a menace, plus there are a bunch of powered security who''d protect first and ask questions later. Why would we ever take him down now?"


    Her lips tightened. "Because he might know he outed himself, and then he''ll either escape or put his end game into play. Either way, potential disaster."


    I froze for a moment, and then said, "Point taken, but I don''t think he realized it." I rechecked my helmet''s display. The new suit''s helmet gave me a 360 degree view, or near enough to it. "Adam''s sitting down in his seat."


    "Then you''re willing to risk waiting?"


    I checked where I''d last seen Adam, but he was still sitting.  "I... Yeah. I think I''ll have to risk that."


    She gave the barest of nods. "Then as soon as this is over, we get people we can trust into your lab, and I''ll enspell them so that they can see magic. After that, we take him down. His powers are magic based, right?"


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    "I assume. He can hide himself. That seems like a fairy power. I can still see him with sonics."


    She raised an eyebrow, her mouth hinting at a grin. "I love the fae. They''re such complete bastards. If he asked for the ability hide from human sight, sonics don''t count."


    I smiled back (a little)--not that she could see it. The Rocket suit''s helmet covered my face. "What bugs me though is that there''s no motive--"


    She held up a gauntlet covered finger to her lips.


    The spell was over.


    Samita reached behind Tara to tap Amy''s shoulder. Her armor made a dulled, metallic thump, and Amy turned.


    Frowning, Samita asked, "Is there anything the rest of us should know?"


    Amy shook her head, frowning. I said, "Nothing to do with the tournament. Drop by my lab afterward and it might come up. That goes for everyone."


    Rod nodded, and opened his mouth to ask a question, but stopped as Lee''s whistle interrupted him. Team one and team four went back to their respective flags while an announcer who wasn''t Lee gave their codenames and powers, adding that the codenames they used today might not be the ones they used as a hero.


    I ignored the announcer, half wondering what strategy each team would use, and half thinking about what Adam''s motive could be. The first time I''d met him he''d been angry about Agent Lim sidelining him. He''d been working with the Feds, but after the mob killed his girlfriend, and he went on some kind of murderous anti-mob rampage, Lim took him out of the field and got him into therapy.


    I could see where he might have a grudge against Lim, but so far nothing had been pointed against Lim directly. Fairies had tripped Amy''s wards and tricked Vaughn out of information which they''d handed to Stephanie, probably knowing it would go to the Coffeeshop Illuminati.


    Suspecting that paying attention to the incidents so far might be the best route to understanding, I nearly missed the beginning of the fight.


    At the announcer''s "Go," Patriot Jr and Izzy flew across the field. Akesha, the woman in powered armor ran along with them, keeping up, which was impressive enough. Patriot Jr''s power, as I understood it was to generate a force shield in front of himself while flying.The force shield was, or at least could be, considerably larger than he was. It wasn''t a versatile power, but in battles, he shone.


    Leading the way, he flew low, destroying the rock squares that dotted the field like tombstones, throwing up dirt and grass into the air.


    I half expected that would be the end of it, but rather than staying in the air the dust blew off to the side, and Stephanie''s mesh helmet which suddenly reminded me of nothing more than a fencer''s helmet, blazed.


    I wasn''t caught directly, but the symbol on it demanded to be looked at. Viewing it from an angle, I resisted, but Patriot Jr and Akesha caught her gaze full on.


    She turned her head and they struggled to keep her face in sight, plowing into the foothill to their right.

 Demo: Part 12

    Standing slightly behind Stephanie, Slugger and Blue Mask stood on either side of their flag pole. Sean and Gordon flew above them¡ªat least at first. Team one had either opted for a defensive strategy or they¡¯d been too slow to go on offense.


    The way the wind had blown the broken bits of rock away from Stephanie argued that it was more likely to be intentional than not.


    On the whole both teams were playing to their strengths. Team four had three fast moving, practically invulnerable members (Izzy, Akesha, Patriot, Jr) whereas everyone on team one was physically human normal so far as I knew¡ªhowever fast Gordon or Sean might be.


    On the other hand, team one had Stephanie who could immobilize from a distance, and Slugger and Blue Mask. I assumed they had to be useful somehow.


    While I¡¯d been thinking about each team¡¯s strengths, I noticed one other thing.


    Stephanie had changed something about the glow coming from her helmet, and Patriot, Jr and Akesha weren¡¯t moving. Red, white and blue costume smudged with dirt, Patriot, Jr stared ahead, unmoving. Akesha¡¯s powered armor had shed all the dirt, but she stood next to Patriot, Jr, all in grey, but equally unmoving.


    Izzy didn¡¯t stop.


    She¡¯d started a little behind the other two and flew a little slower, but she kept on going.


    I zoomed in on her with the helmet and realized something obvious¡ªshe had her eyes closed. Viewing her with sonar showed that she was navigating entirely through sound alone.


    She began to descend, aiming straight for where the flag on its flag pole stuck into a hole at the top of a stone pillar.


    ¡°Rocket. Look over there.¡± Amy pointed at team four¡¯s flag pole. Sean and Gordon had left their own side to fly toward the other team¡¯s flag. They didn¡¯t quite look like they were acting as a team themselves.


    They flew a distance away from each other, and not a tactically useful distance¡ªit was whatever distance happened.


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    Gordon was using the wind to batter the glowing golden force shield Hector had put up around himself, Malik, and their flag. Sean had apparently pulled black dust and some larger rocks off of or out of the ground, and he was hitting the shield too.


    They weren¡¯t battering with any kind of timing though. Gordon¡¯s winds scattered Sean¡¯s dust. Sean¡¯s dust blocked Gordon¡¯s view of the target.


    All the same, Hector stood on one knee, eyes closed and gritting his teeth. He wasn¡¯t going to last much longer. Next to Hector, Malik stood with his bow in his right hand and several arrows in his left, ready to fire the moment the shield went down.


    Like that was going to help in these winds.


    As I began to wonder what Izzy was doing, Tara said, ¡°Team four will probably lose.¡±


    Amy said, ¡°What? Oh, fu¡ª¡±


    At the last word of her sentence, the ground shook, and I turned my attention to the other end of the field. Slugger had hit Izzy with his bat, and judging from the crater she was floating out of, it might have hurt.


    She still had her eyes shut, but she was moving her head from side to side, seemingly unsure of what she was seeing.


    Using passive sonar, I examined that end of the field, finding exactly what I expected. Stephanie had hit on the same technique the Heroes¡¯ League used to defeat Dixie Superman¡ªforce her to use sound only and then construct illusionary soundscapes. I¡¯d noticed hard spots in Stephanie¡¯s armor. I¡¯d thought they might just be armor, but they could easily be sound generators.


    The Rocket suit¡¯s sonar showed the flagpole as being twenty feet to the left of where it actually was, and hid Slugger.


    Slugger drew his bat back as she floated in place, probably guessing that all wasn¡¯t what it seemed, and trying to see through the illusion.


    That¡¯s what I guessed anyway, but it turned out that Izzy was smarter than that. She opened her mouth and sang. It wasn¡¯t beautiful. It reminded me of a fire engines¡¯ siren combined with a train¡¯s horn. It sounded like several notes at once, some of them clashing with each other. My suit identified them as frequencies I used to damage electronics.


    I¡¯d told her how to do this once, but she¡¯d obviously been practicing.


    She blanketed the area with sound, and even though she wasn¡¯t pointing it toward the bleachers, bright lines ran through the force field in front of us. On the ground, Slugger and Blue Mask held their hands to their ears.


    A number of the armor plates on Stephanie¡¯s costume sparked, and for a moment she shuddered, finally bending over.


    That broke Patriot, Jr and Akesha¡¯s visual connection to the front of Stephanie¡¯s mask. Patriot Jr¡¯s jaw dropped as he took in the scene. Akesha began to run for the flag, her armor beginning to blur.


    Almost at the same time a blindingly bright light came from the other side of the field. The Rocket suit blocked it out, but people in the stands covered their eyes.


    Hector¡¯s shield had fallen, and Malik had fired off an arrow with a flash grenade on the end¡ªan arrow that didn¡¯t have to hit to work.

 Demo: Part 13

    The flash worked better on the audience than anyone else. All around me, people were saying things like, ¡°Can you see what¡¯s happening?¡±


    Amy shook her head. Tara, like me, appeared to be unaffected.


    She¡¯d probably anticipated the explosion.


    Not that that mattered. What mattered was that the blast hadn¡¯t affected Gordon either. Either his hood or something in his mask had blocked the light.


    More interesting, he slapped the full moon in the middle of his uniform¡¯s chest, and it blazed with light. He aimed it at Akesha and Patiot, Jr, putting them back into the same trance Stephanie used.


    Meanwhile, Stephanie hit one of the armor plates on her costume and sound exploded out on every frequency. The force field guarding the bleachers sparked again. It didn¡¯t go down, but I noted that for the future¡ªif faced with a force field, test if it has a resonant frequency.


    This force shield might have a weakness there.


    Not that that was anything more than a tangent, and one that almost made me miss one of the more significant moments of the match.


    Izzy held her ears, and at the same time Gordon started screaming at Sean. It wasn¡¯t as if he needed to because Sean was already covering Hector and Malik in a cloud of iron dust that made it impossible for them to see.


    Simultaneously, he dove for the flag, grabbed its pole out of the pillar and flew back toward his own side.


    At the same time, Izzy hadn¡¯t been completely stopped by Stephanie¡¯s blast of noise. After her moment of hesitation, she dove for team one¡¯s flagpole, moving quickly enough that neither Blue Mask nor Slugger had a chance of hitting her.


    Blue Mask tried, but his sword missed her.


    She poured on the speed, crossing back to her own side at about the same time Sean did.


    I couldn¡¯t tell who made it first.


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    Fortunately, they had been filming it (them and everybody else). Lee, Dr. Nation, and a couple other teachers called a quick conference, watching the video over a few times on a computer screen that stood on our side of the force field.


    Eventually, an announcer said, ¡°They¡¯ve come to a decision. They¡¯ve ruled that The Power brought the flag across the boundary first, and so team one wins!¡±


    Applause came from the stands¡ªmore than I would have expected. Sean had gotten a lot of press from the video showing him and Vaughn trying to hold the alien spaceship in the air. Izzy had played a much bigger role in keeping it up long enough for us to escape, but she¡¯d been inside.


    Cameras are kinder to visible subjects.


    Of course, it didn¡¯t all have to be for Sean. I¡¯d gotten the impression Gordon and Stephanie were well known members of the senior class. Plus, it had actually been exciting to watch.


    We weren¡¯t the only ones keeping some secrets in reserve for the fight. Gordon hadn¡¯t ever used the glowing moon device in practice matches.


    I was still thinking about that when Tara said, ¡°Everybody up. Let¡¯s get out on the field.¡±


    Even as we walked out to the field, the broken stone was being sucked into the ground, and replacement barriers were growing upwards to fill their places. The jagged stone edges smoothed out, becoming rectangular. Within a minute, only the torn up dirt offered any hint that we were the second fight.


    Up in the stands Earthmover talked with Senator Abrams. He¡¯d probably been doing it at the same time he¡¯d been cleaning up the mess.


    I never wanted to face that guy on his home turf.


    Both team one and team four were waiting on the other side of the force field. There¡¯s nothing to do then, but to say, ¡°Good job,¡± to everybody as we passed. Sean nodded in reply, smiling as he said something to Gordon¡ªwho laughed.


    When I passed Izzy, she shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m so glad it¡¯s only a demo. I should have seen it all coming.¡± Then she smiled. ¡°Have fun fighting Ghost.¡±


    Slugger grinned as I said, ¡°Good job,¡± replying with, ¡°It was a game played well. I wish you good luck in every game you play.¡±


    Then he shook my hand.


    I restrained myself from pointing out that he¡¯d be facing us if we won, but then we¡¯d passed all of them. I sent a message to the jet as I followed Amy out toward our flag. ¡°Any updates?¡±


    An alert popped up. [You asked me to notify you of anything that came up unless you were fighting and didn¡¯t have a chance of solving the problem. You are not fighting, and I haven¡¯t updated you. Therefore you can assume that there are no updates.]


    Reminding myself that it was an alien AI that spent a lot of time alone, I wrote back, ¡°Okay. Continue on.¡±


    It didn¡¯t reply.


    By that point, I stood next to Amy, Rod, Samita, and Tara. Tara met each of our eyes. ¡°As you know, we¡¯re facing team three. We faced them in the practice sessions, and we¡¯ve got plans for how to beat them.


    ¡°They¡¯ve got two speedsters¡ªMeteor and Accelerando, one of which is always on fire and the other is extraordinarily strong. They also have Night Wolf who¡¯s both strong and agile as well as two people who will be essentially intangible¡ªGhost and Mist.


    ¡°This is going to be a challenge.¡±

 Demo: Part 14

    I couldn¡¯t argue with her there. Jaclyn alone had a chance of taking out our entire team in a straight fight. Add in another speedster plus Travis, Rachel, and Mist for good measure...


    We were toast.


    That sounds defeatist, but it wasn¡¯t. The funny thing is that what gave us a chance of winning was the fact that we were playing a game. Jaclyn might be able to kill any of us with a blow in real life, but here she had to decide how much she was willing to hurt us to win.


    In front of me, Tara met each of our eyes in turn. ¡°I think I know what they¡¯re going to to do. Rocket, you¡¯ve got a way to stop Ghost, right?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I know how the original Rocket caught Ghostwoman. The technology should still work.¡±


    Tara acknowledged me with a brief nod and turned. ¡°Red Hex? Bloodmaiden? You¡¯ve worked out a way to handle the speedsters. You won¡¯t have more than instants. Can you?¡±


    Samita and Amy looked at each other. Samita said, ¡°My spell should buy enough time for yours.¡±


    Amy grinned, and turned to Tara. ¡°My working won¡¯t hold them very long, but I¡¯ll have enough time to unleash it.¡±


    Tara turned back to me. ¡°Your technology deploys instantly?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Close.¡±


    Turning her head toward Rod, she said, ¡°Troll and Rocket are our offense. Bloodmaiden and Red Hex will defend the flag. I¡¯ll coordinate¡ªfrom next to the flag.¡±


    She talked about backup plans in case our first round of plans didn¡¯t work, but judging from the first fight, ours could be over seconds after it began. Theirs had taken longer than that, but it couldn¡¯t have lasted more than a couple minutes.


    Tara went over details with Amy and Samita. Spells and magic devices involved a lot of details that we¡¯d all be better off knowing.


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    I tried to listen in, knowing that being aware of their limitations wouldn¡¯t hurt, but I didn¡¯t get to.


    An alert appeared in my HUD.


    [The Coffeehouse Illuminati are invading Turkmenistan in force. Do you want detailed updates or summaries?]


    I wrote back, ¡°Summaries for now, and nothing during the fight¡ªwhich will start in minutes.¡±


    [I¡¯ll keep that in mind. Current summary: They¡¯re effectively executing the ¡°Divide and Conquer¡± strategy I wrote for you, but since they are not you, I project a high probability of escalation.]


    I wanted to hear more about that, and was about to ask for more details when the announcer said, ¡°Contestants, please stand near your flags and stand ready to fight. I¡¯ll begin the countdown once you¡¯re in place.¡±


    And that was all for international news.


    We walked toward the flag, Tara running down final details with all of us. She turned from Samita and Amy to me. ¡°Remember to release the Ghost tech before you leave.¡±


    Ignoring the feeling in my stomach, I said, ¡°Got it.¡±


    The grass brushed against the Rocket suit¡¯s legs. Since it was considerably more sparse and less green than in Michigan, we were mostly walking on dirt.


    When we got to the flag, I considered turning on the phase blocker, but guessed that we weren¡¯t allowed to until after it started.


    Barely seconds after we turned to face the other team¡¯s flag, the announcer started to talk. ¡°With both teams in place, we¡¯re now ready to begin. I¡¯ll count down, and on ¡®go,¡¯ they¡¯ll begin.¡±


    ¡°Three.¡±


    I put my right hand on the belt pouch where the blocker was.


    ¡°Two.¡±


    I took a breath, watching Jaclyn and Meteor. I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything if Jaclyn grabbed me. It was too bad I had to drop the device before taking off. Why hadn¡¯t I turned the phase blocker into bots?


    ¡°One.¡±


    I clenched and unclenched my fists, dreading the fight.


    ¡°Go! Go! Go!¡±


    I opened the pouch, pressed the button, and dropped it next to the stone pillar that held the flag pole. A blinking green light and my HUD confirmed that I hadn¡¯t broken it in the process.


    Then I took a step forward, starting the rocket pack at the same time. It roared, lifting me into the air, and warming my butt and legs.


    I¡¯d barely made it into the air as Rod shifted from his human look¡ªfedora, trench coat and black mask to troll form. I say ¡°shifted,¡± but there was no shifting. In one moment, he was a man, and in the next a troll stood in his place. Twice the size of a normal human, dressed in medieval clothing, and drooling from a mouth full of sharp teeth, Rod would terrify any sensible person.


    Personally, I felt relieved he was on my side.


    In the next moment he jumped, crossing most of the way from our flag to team three¡¯s flag, passing over Jaclyn and Meteor who couldn¡¯t have been more than fifty feet from our flag already.


    The air around Meteor was already burning. I could only guess where she¡¯d be next.

 Demo: Part 15

    In my peripheral vision¡ªwhich included almost everything behind me¡ªSamita opened up a box and threw the dirt inside it into the air. It hung in the air like a cloud, and then in one burst dispersed, spreading across the entire field.


    That¡¯s when things got weird.


    All the grass on our side of the field drooped, and spread across the ground, covering the dirt in green. As it did, the green became darker, and shinier¡ªlike glass, or ice.


    Jaclyn and Meteor both fell. For the little that it¡¯s worth, Jaclyn did better, turning her initial stumble into a jump that threw her into the air. She landed only ten feet past our flag, but it didn¡¯t matter. She was still traveling at two hundred miles per hour. Along with Meteor, she slid past our flag pole and toward the obstacle course¡ªdepending on the angle. The ground wasn¡¯t level. It wasn¡¯t impossible that they¡¯d slide into the parked cars off to the side of the course.


    If that happened, I was more worried about the parked cars. Jaclyn would definitely be fine. I hadn¡¯t seen much of Meteor, but I had seen her run through a brick wall, so¡­


    Rocket pack blazing, I aimed for their flagpole, hoping that I¡¯d get there quickly enough that they wouldn¡¯t have time to react¡ªnot that I was supposed to handle it alone.


    Rod made it nearly to team three¡¯s flag in his first jump. His second jump brought him directly in front of it.


    Not that he was alone there. They¡¯d left Travis and Mist to guard the flag.


    The moment Rod landed (throwing a cloud of dust in the air), Travis leapt for him, grabbing his shoulder, and swinging onto his back. Then he hit Rod¡¯s neck with the palm of his hand.


    I knew what he was doing. I couldn¡¯t see it, but just like Haley, Travis had a poison claw that extended next to his thumb. He had to have stuck it into Rod¡¯s neck.


    Rod didn¡¯t fall over. Instead, he grabbed Travis arm and flung him past the flagpole.


    It was a long throw¡ªmore than one hundred feet¡ªand Travis took it in stride. He didn¡¯t smash into the ground. He turned it into a controlled series of flips¡ªnot that I kept watching.


    Mist attacked, turning into well¡­ mist and surrounding Rod in a fog. Hovering above them, I considered diving, and grabbing the flag. I was only supposed to do that as a last resort, but if Rod couldn¡¯t see, I thought it qualified.


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    Unfortunately, during practice Rachel had phased her taser gloves through my armor and taken me out.


    Sure, I couldn¡¯t see her now, but that was true the other time too. I suddenly wished I had another phase blocker to drop here. Why hadn¡¯t I thought of that before the game?


    I turned down the thrust, lowering toward the flagpole, deciding that it was worth the risk.


    Except that¡¯s when Rod reached out, his massive troll hand grabbing not the flagpole, but the stone pillar that it had been placed inside, and throwing the pillar into the air.


    The flag went with it, of course, leaving me to do my job¡ªwhich I¡¯d nicknamed ¡°Operation: Catch the Snitch.¡± It would have helped if we¡¯d ever had a chance to practice.


    The pillar and flag flew past me in the air, the flagpole slipping out of the pillar as they flipped end over end in the air.


    I aimed for the flag, missing the pole, but catching the flag itself¡ªwhich was great except somewhere above me the pillar reached its highest point, and began to fall down.


    It hit me on the back of my leg, causing me to shoot upward until I got control. I hovered in the air then, getting my head together.


    What I saw then did not make me feel better. A roiling, red and white mist covered our team¡¯s side of the field. That¡¯s not what was wrong. That was things going completely as planned.


    The fact that a thirty foot circle around the flag didn¡¯t hold any fog at all wasn¡¯t a problem either. That was wide enough that Tara felt she had a chance of responding to a speedster appearing at the edge of the circle.


    Don¡¯t ask me how.


    No, what was wrong was that Rachel was smart. She hadn¡¯t gone within ten feet of the pillar and had her intangibility blocked. She¡¯d stayed outside that circle, but also outside (or above) the mist, and she¡¯d been busy.


    Strands of black goo covered Amy¡¯s armor, entangling her arms and legs. More of the same covered Samita¡¯s red robe, but it had taken more shots¡ªat least three. Different spreads of goo covered her left arm, her right, and her legs.


    As I watched, Tara ducked behind one of the blocks of stone. How she¡¯d recognized when to do it with Rachel being invisible, I had no idea.


    That wasn¡¯t the worst of it either. Jaclyn and Meteor weren¡¯t slipping any more. Meteor wasn¡¯t a major threat because she wasn¡¯t moving very quickly, but even so, her fire was burning away any fog near her as she walked toward the flag.


    Jaclyn, however, jumped straight up into the air, getting high enough that she had to see where the flag was. Worse, after that she turned around, ran further back and¡ª


    I didn¡¯t wait to see what she was going to do. I aimed full thrust toward our side, crossing the boundary and landing near our flag¡ªin time to find Jaclyn landing nearby, her feet sinking inches into the ground from the force of her jump.


    Over the loudspeakers, the announcer was already shouting, ¡°Team two wins!¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°I knew you were hiding your real tactics during the practices. Nice job. I didn¡¯t see that coming.¡±


    Rachel appeared, and floated down to the ground. Though a white mask hid the top of her face, I could see her smile at me and then Tara. ¡°Your plan?¡±


    Tara shrugged. ¡°Everyone played their part.¡±


    ¡°It was mostly hers,¡± I said.


    I missed Rachel¡¯s reply because a message appeared in my HUD.


    [The Coffeeshop Illuminati are currently attacking Turkmenistan¡¯s metahuman leadership in a variety of places including two private homes, the presidential palace and a hidden bunker. This news has yet to reach anyone not directly involved.]

 Demo: Part 16

    Rachel raised an eyebrow. ¡°What¡¯s going on now?¡±


    Tara crossed her arms. ¡°I noticed you weren¡¯t listening earlier. Is it the same thing we talked about before?¡±


    Rachel took a breath and sighed. Jaclyn pulled her feet out of the holes she¡¯d created when she landed, and shook her head. ¡°I knew that was going to come back to haunt us.¡±


    Remembering how little I could hear during the fight, I said, ¡°I told Hal to update you if he had something that needed action on our part. So far it hasn¡¯t, but I could tell him to update you anyway?¡±


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Rachel said, looking me directly in the eyes, ¡°this is something that we all need to be kept updated on.¡±


    From the ground, Samita asked, ¡°Is this something that I need to know about? I¡¯m supposed to be mentoring Bloodmaiden, and I got the impression that she might be involved earlier.¡±


    Rachel looked from where Samita lay to where Amy sat on the grass, both of them still covered in black goo. ¡°Bloodmaiden¡¯s in this too?¡±


    ¡°Not very in,¡± Amy said. ¡°I helped ward his lab against fairies. That¡¯s all.¡±


    I was about to second Amy¡¯s relative lack of involvement when I remembered our conversation about Adam and how Rod had noted his attachment to Unseelie Court. ¡°We learned something really important at the game. I think we need to get everyone into my lab after the tournament and talk about this.¡±


    ¡°Your lab?¡± Rachel holstered her pistol. ¡°It¡¯s a little small. Are you sure we shouldn¡¯t book the auditorium?¡±


    Jaclyn laughed, and so did Amy.


    Samita frowned, ¡°Ghost, do you have any way to dissolve the glue? Or will we have to wait until it weakens on its own?¡±


    Rachel turned around, checking the pouches on her utility belt. ¡°Just a second, I¡¯ll get you out.¡±


    She pulled out the sprayer. The liquid inside would speed up the process of dissolution. Glancing at me she said, ¡°After the tournament?¡±


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    ¡°In the lab,¡± I said, and I wanted to say more, but even if I¡¯d decided to chance it then I would have stopped almost instantly.


    The grass had separated itself from the ground, standing up the way it ought to and revealing the sandy soil. At some point when we were talking, the reddish mist had evaporated.


    As I realized that, I also realized that Travis and Rodolfo were walking over, accompanied by Mist-looking more like a human, and less like water vapor. If they weren¡¯t enough, Meteor was walking up too¡ªher fires now only a few licks of flame.


    In addition to that, there was a new noise that seemed familiar. It sounded a little like rain.


    I looked in the direction of the sound¡ªwhich happened to be the stands. That¡¯s when I realized that it was clapping and cheering, and that the announcer was talking in the background too.


    ¡°Congratulations to both teams. That was an excellent performance. Please clear the field so that it can be readied for the final match of the day.¡±


    From the student stands, Lee (as Gunther) waved us in.


    We walked toward the entrance, coming together in a group, and filing into the stands through the nearest opening in the stone wall.


    Sean, Gordon, Stephanie, Blue Mask and Slugger sat together off to the left of the entrance¡ªin the front row just like we did. They weren¡¯t directly in front us, or even very close, so there wasn¡¯t a chance to say anything, but I couldn¡¯t help but notice them.


    That¡¯s who we were taking on next.


    Gordon and Stephanie were talking quickly in low tones. Sean leaned forward, trying to catch the conversation while Blue Mask did the same from the other side. Slugger ignored them, choosing instead to smile and clap for us along with the rest of the audience.


    When we did sit down, I found myself on the far end along with Amy, putting Tara between us and Rod and Samita. Rod had already changed back from troll form.


    As plates of stone that I didn¡¯t remember breaking started spontaneously repairing themselves, Tara caught everyone¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°Good job. We¡¯ll be facing team one next. You might want to take a moment to remember what we planned to do when fighting them. We¡¯ll talk more on the field.¡±


    Lee gave both teams a wave, and said, ¡°You¡¯ll want to pay attention to this.¡±


    That¡¯s when I realized that the playing field hadn¡¯t stopped at repairing the damage from the fight. Unlike before, when the field extended past the places where the flag was kept, walls now enclosed the sides as well as each end of the field.


    Stranger, the walls on all the sides were curved.


    I only wondered why they¡¯d do that for a moment before the first stone ball started rolling around the edges of the field.


    Soon after that I noticed that there wasn¡¯t any grass on the playing field anymore. When the second ball entered, crossing the field, I realized that they could roll anywhere.


    It wasn¡¯t going to be as much of a problem for me since I could fly, but for the others¡¯ sake, I hoped they had good healers available.

 Demo: Part 17

    Next to me, Amy muttered, ¡°I didn¡¯t prepare any spells to handle that. Red Hex?¡± Her voice raised as she said Samita¡¯s codename.


    Samita shook her head. ¡°Not directly. Troll and I both wear rings that I bound to spirits of probability. They protect us from getting hurt, and of course I enchanted our costumes. I might be able to repurpose something¡­¡±


    She frowned, and opened one of the leather pouches on her belt, sticking her arm inside, and pulling things out to examine. This wouldn¡¯t have been anything to remark about except that she¡¯d stick her arm in all the way to the elbow while the pouch was at most four inches deep.


    Weirder, she¡¯d take objects out of the pouch that were wider than the pouch¡ªa white, porcelain basin, for example.


    After examining it, she put it back in.


    I knew better than to ask about it. We didn¡¯t have time, and even if she wanted to talk about how it worked, it was magic. All the same, maybe I could convince her to let me examine it sometime?


    Tara watched as the balls rolled round the arena. ¡°I think,¡± she began, stopping, but then continuing as all of us turned to listen, ¡°that the balls will be less of a threat to us physically, but if they contain any iron or if Moonglider¡¯s wind is strong enough, they¡¯ll be able to redirect the balls at us.¡±


    Rod shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I can do some redirecting of my own.¡±


    Tara frowned. ¡°Only if you can touch them. They¡¯ll be able to do it remotely. That¡¯s in addition to them having two high speed flyers while we have one, and that we may have to fight them blindfolded.¡±


    We had thought through how to handle Stephanie¡¯s devices in a straight fight, but since Lee hadn¡¯t mentioned that we¡¯d be facing balls and playing capture the flag, this was all new.


    ¡°Not exactly blindfolded,¡± Amy said, ¡°and I can fly quickly even if it¡¯s not as quickly.¡±


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    She¡¯d modified her supernatural sight spell so we could use it while closing our eyes. I didn¡¯t personally need it. I¡¯d modified my helmet to filter out Stephanie¡¯s devices.


    ¡°I know,¡± Tara said, holding up a hand. ¡°Give me a moment to think.¡±


    Tara closed her eyes, clenching her fists. Then all at once she opened them. ¡°Troll, Red Hex, and I will be on defense. Bloodmaiden and the Rocket will be on offense.¡±


    Rod frowned, eyes narrowing within the diamond mask. When not a troll, his trench coat, mask and hat made me think of a 1930¡¯s pulp hero. ¡°Why? Putting the Rocket and I on offense worked great last time.¡±


    She met his eyes. ¡°Do trolls have a weakness for iron like the rest of the fey?¡±


    He threw up his hand while shaking his head. ¡°Right. Magnet shithead will take me out in a second. I guess I¡¯ll have to trust to the Brothers Improbable.¡±


    The ring gleamed on his right hand.


    Before I could ask what that meant Samita said, ¡°The bound spirits are brothers.¡±


    ¡°Which works great,¡± Rod said, ¡°except when they try to one up each other.¡±


    Tara held up both her hands. ¡°We don¡¯t have time to talk. Here¡¯s the plan¡ª¡±


    She barely managed to get through it before the announcer said, ¡°Athletes, please take the field. We¡¯ll begin in two minutes.¡±


    They¡¯d given us ten last time, but I supposed that we¡¯d all already warmed up.


    We left our seats to the cheers of the crowd, walking onto the field at the same time as team one. People shouted the Power¡¯s name along with ¡°The Rocket¡± and even ¡°Ronin¡± because apparently Tara had decided to take on her dead father¡¯s codename.


    Amid all the screaming an alert appeared in my HUD.


    [Escalation beginning. Regime metahumans have escaped the presidential palace with several guards using previously unknown powers. As per my most recent research report, the regime invested in a power juice program.]


    I wanted to scream. This was all falling apart at the worst time.


    The report from this morning¡ªone I hadn¡¯t yet read, and that the Coffeeshop Illuminati certainly didn¡¯t have. I messaged Hal, ¡°If I haven¡¯t already told you to, update everyone in the League as well as everyone outside who¡¯s helping us on this¡ªincluding Dr. Nation, and give everyone all the reports.¡±


    [Will do.]


    It flashed off, and I stood next to the rest of the team in front of the flag.


    The balls, both gray and made of stone rolled around the outside making a noise that reminded me of a bowling alley. I supposed that we¡¯d be the pins.


    Lee walked on to the field and spoke into a microphone. ¡°The rules for this match will be the same as any other except that the stone balls you see rolling around the field will make things more exciting. Interfering with them in any way is completely allowed, but Agent Lim requests that you don¡¯t kill anybody with them.


    ¡°We¡¯ve moved the healers closer to the field to improve their response time.¡±

 Demo: Part 18

    I glanced over toward the side of the arena, seeing healers I knew (Alex in his longcoat and "chainmail"), costumed healers I didn''t know, and paramedics.


    They all watched from behind the force shield--which was sensible.


    Out of the corner of my  eye, I checked the stands where the politicians were and noticed that more of them were on their phones than I would have expected, and the rest were talking about something.


    I had a feeling I knew what, and wondered exactly what they were hearing. The heroes in attendance appeared to be distracted too.


    I felt the smallest connection, and Daniel''s voice was in my  head, but distinctly fuzzier than normal. They''re getting the first hint that something''s going on--no idea of who''s involved. I guess that the US has people there. I''m not sure of whether they''re supporting the regime or its overthrow. The VIP''s bleachers have buzzers.


    Buzzers were slang for the devices that scattered telepathic white noise over an area.


    Daniel finished with Good luck. Haley says good luck too.


    I barely had time to thank him before the announcer''s voice again blanketed the field. "For our last demonstration of the day, we have a great mixture of legacies and newcomers to the world of superheroes. We have the Rocket, an heir of the Heroes'' League and a founder of the New Heroes League, Bloodmaiden, visiting royalty with a heroic legacy-"


    Amy laughed out loud. "I think that''s the first I''ve ever heard it described that positively by someone my family doesn''t own."


    The announcer continued like that for everyone, making it sound like we''d stepped out of legends, and finished with, "All of them veterans of the Hrnnna attack!"


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    That led to the biggest cheer of all. I wasn''t sure what to think of that.


    "Contestants get into positions. The game starts when I say go."


    Tara tapped Amy''s shoulder. "Are you ready?"


    Amy eyed her and turned her attention back to the other side of the arena where team one stood in front of their  flag. "To cast two spells in rapid succession? Always."


    Tara frowned, but looked past Amy, toward me. "Don''t wait--"


    The announcer''s voice interrupted her. "Three!"


    Tara''s voice became louder, "--for anything. Go straight toward--"


    In a deeper voice, the announcer said, "Two!"


    "--them." Tara said, turning toward Samita and Rod.


    I didn''t hear what she said to them, but knowing what they were supposed to do, I could guess.


    "Oooonne!" The announcer drew the word out unnecessarily, barely leaving a moment between it and the next word,


    "Go!"


    As Amy said two words in a deep gutteral tone that seemed deeply wrong to me, I gave the Rocket suit thrust, and shot into the sky, blocking off my view of the world with a dark background, seeing only what the suit''s sonar and radar could put on my HUD.


    It wasn''t all bad. It felt like fighting in a black and white movie except that nearby objects were white with gray detail. Farther away objects were gray, but stood out against the inky blackness around them.


    Gordon glowed white against the blackness of the sky, flying with his cape outstretched. Below him, Slugger ran toward the flagpole, bounding twenty feet with each step.


    Behind them, Sean, Stephanie and Blue Mask stood next to the flagpole.


    That was an interesting choice, indicating that they''d decided to move people around too.


    Aiming the Rocket suit towad Gordon, I decided to add my own contribution to the chaos. All the teams so far had sent the fastest people toward the flag, ignoring the other groups in the hope that they''d grab the flag and win.


    Tara had decided that it was time to change that up.


    Gordon realized that I was aiming at him almost instantly, and I felt winds pushing me away. I''d been sparring with Vaughn for years by then though.


    I let winds push me to the right, and away from Gordon, but at the same time I could see the wind in my HUD. I twisted, and dove under the strongest part of the blast. As I came up under him, the direction of the wind changed, aiming toward me, making me think of the neck of a dragon.


    I fired off a barrage of goobots. With the wind working against them, they didn''t all hit, but there were ten of them. The bots exploded and gooey strands came at him from all directions but above.


    They wouldn''t take him out but he''d have a hard time grabbing any flag.

 Demo: Part 19

    Wind hit me, and a lot of it. It wasn¡¯t a well considered blast either, throwing me toward the bleachers.


    I hit the force field hard. Unsurprisingly, I could see it coming at me better with sonar than I would have with my eyes. With my eyes it was almost transparent. With sonar, it was simply a wall.


    The field gave a little as I hit it, but not much. I bounced off, and since I was still pointing in the direction of team one¡¯s flag, I kept on going.


    Aiming toward the flag in its stone pillar, I moved away from the force field, and over the edge of the stone arena we were supposed to stay inside. Not coincidentally, I also happened to be directly above the stone ball track.


    I say ¡°not coincidently¡± because the moment I crossed over the track I saw a ball rolling in my direction. That wasn¡¯t a big deal because it wasn¡¯t as if balls could fly, and I was well above the track¡ªexcept apparently, it wasn¡¯t that simple.


    The ball hit something and shot upward at exactly the right moment¡ªwhen it would be at the right angle to hit me, but too close for me to dodge.


    It hit my chest, throwing me upward, and into a tumble. The ground, and the sky alternated from one to the other, blurry gray stone to blurry gray sky.


    Not sure if I could think straight enough to avoid hitting the ground, I clicked the ¡°hover¡± command on my palm. Then the rocket pack started turning on and off, not thrusting except when my tumbles pointed me upward.


    Soon I found myself hovering above the arena. It hadn¡¯t taken long.


    All the same, it didn¡¯t change the fact that Slugger and Gordon had already reached our side of the arena and were fighting with Rod, Samita, and Tara.


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    I also knew I couldn¡¯t pay attention to it, and would have to trust them to handle it.


    I dove toward their flag, wondering how Sean, Stephanie and Blue Mask would try to stop me. Of course I didn¡¯t just dive.


    I also opened up on them.


    I¡¯d loaded up the Rocket suit with non-lethal ammunition¡ªbasically goobots and nothing else. The ten goobots I¡¯d used against Gordon would have been excessive under normal circumstances, but today I had goobots to burn, or more to the point, not burn. If I wanted to burn things, I¡¯d have been loaded up with high explosive rounds.


    Not that it would have been a good idea.


    Stephanie had been standing between me and the flag, strange symbols all over her suit blazing. I couldn¡¯t see the symbols, but the suit¡¯s thermal cameras supplied enough detail to the HUD that I could tell her devices were warm.


    The HUD also showed a brief notification that I¡¯d been hit with a sonic attack, but there was no detected damage so far. Unfortunately the sonic attack had been within the ranges I often used to attack people¡¯s technology.


    Stephanie never saw the bots coming. One moment she stood with her suit awash in the glow of multiple devices. The next saw her covered with goo. Strands ran down her body and stuck to the stone floor below us.


    Blue Mask had been standing next to Stephanie. Well, I thought he had, but he didn¡¯t get hit. Steel flashed as he batted the goobots out of the air, sometimes slicing them in half with his sword.


    That¡¯s when I realized that I could barely see.


    The grey dust Sean had ben controlling completely surrounded me. Worse, the dust wasn¡¯t any easier to see through with the sonics, radar, or thermal imaging.


    I guessed that it had to be magnetite, but powdering iron would have the same effect.


    That¡¯s the moment when the suit reported that there had been some damage from the sonic blast after all. It had damaged the fuel control mechanism. It didn¡¯t say which part, and I made a mental note to remind myself to write more fine grained error messages in the future.


    All the same, I told myself, I could still fly, so whatever had happened, it couldn¡¯t be that bad.


    Naturally, that was the moment when the fuel cut out, giving me the notification, ¡°out of fuel.¡±


    Except for the fact that I was falling, this was no big deal. The armor would repair itself with the exception of a few parts, and the fuel control mechanism wasn¡¯t one of the exceptions.


    I hit the ground on the other side of the flag, skidding and bumping, until I finally hit one of the rectangular stone barriers.


    Barely visible through the dust, Blue Mask charged me, sword drawn. Sean stood next to the flag, teeth clenched, probably concentrating.


    The suit gave me a notification.


    *Self-repair processes halted*

 Demo: Part 20

    Of course they were. I¡¯d tested how the suit worked while exposed to electromagnetic force, figuring that someday I might have to fight Sean in it. Despite the shielding I¡¯d put in, self-repair didn¡¯t work well, so I¡¯d designed it to shut off when exposed to enough electromagnetism that there might be problems.


    And here we were.


    The suit¡¯s artificial muscles released energy as part of a chemical process however, so there wasn¡¯t anything stopping me from what I did next¡ªrushed them, reaching Blue Mask in one long jump.


    One nice thing about sliding down the hill earlier was that Sean¡¯s dust hadn¡¯t kept up with me, and now that he was attacking the suit directly, he wasn¡¯t worrying about it. The result? I could see my opponents.


    As my foot hit the ground, Blue Mask moved quickly, stepping out of my way, and slashing at my legs with his sword. The sword either couldn¡¯t penetrate the Rocket suit or didn¡¯t need to.


    It was almost certainly the latter in fact, because he struck my left leg as it touched the ground and my right leg was in the air.


    The technique had good chance of pulling my leg out from under me and making me fall¡ªexcept it didn¡¯t work that way.


    I had tons of force to work with. Beyond weighing more than five hundred pounds in the full Rocket suit, I could lift trucks. So when my leg came down after my jump, it had already shattered the stone as it sunk a few inches downward.


    Even though I could tell Blue Mask was stronger than a normal person, he wasn¡¯t strong enough to knock my leg out of the hole. All the same, he tried, and I leaned forward, my right leg touching the ground before I fell, and giving a push. It was enough to throw my entire body into the air.


    I aimed myself at Sean, and started firing off goobots.


    He did a better job of protecting himself than I would have expected, surrounding himself with enough dust that when the goobots exploded, they never touched him.


    He launched himself backwards into the air almost at the same time, getting out of my reach even as I landed next to the flag.


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    A notification ran across my HUD.


    *Self-repair processes enabled*


    I probably could have grabbed the flag then except that I hadn¡¯t taken Blue Mask out, and honestly, grabbing the flag wasn¡¯t part of the plan.


    I barely turned in time to face Blue Mask as he ran up the hill to face me, sword still in his hand, cape billowing out behind his back, and his wide brimmed hat only still attached because of the string under his chin.


    He¡¯d shown his ability to knock bots out of the air before, so I blasted away with the sonics. At first he grinned, and I noticed that he was wearing earplugs. They all probably were.


    Sonics were the Rocket¡¯s signature weapon.


    Stopping him in his tracks with noise probably wasn¡¯t going to work, but that was OK. I didn¡¯t really want to hurt him. I aimed the sonics at his chest and let loose with a frequency that induced nausea, and intestinal discomfort.


    I could have gone further than that, but I didn¡¯t.


    He bent over, sword held at his side and covering his mouth.


    Out of the other side of my HUD¡¯s peripheral vision, I saw Sean¡¯s cloud begin to expand in my direction.


    With my other arm, I aimed more of the same at Sean. I wasn¡¯t sure whether the sound would even get through Sean¡¯s dust cloud, but soon enough, the dust cloud dropped to the ground, still shrouding Sean in a cloud of gray, but I could see through it.


    He stood in the middle of gray swirls, bent over, both hands on his face.


    That left me trapped in my own actions. The moment I turned off the noise, they¡¯d be able to concentrate again, and it would be two on one against me. Meanwhile, Amy still hadn¡¯t taken their flag.


    Where was she anyway?


    I barely had time to wonder, standing there with both hands out, each pointed in different direction.


    I began to touch my tongue to the mouthguard that acted as a backup control set.


    On the other side of the arena, Tara fought Slugger one on one in front of our flag, using two short sticks against his wooden bat. Meanwhile Gordon, still covered with goo, fought Rod and Samita.


    Despite Sean¡¯s control over magnetism, and by extension iron, Rod had changed into troll form, and it hadn¡¯t worked out for him. However it had occurred, Gordon had caught Rod¡¯s eye with the glowing moon symbol on his chest. Now Rod stared up unblinkingly at Gordon.


    Samita held a staff in her hand¡ªthe kind of gnarled wooden staff that wouldn¡¯t have looked out of place on the cover of most fantasy novels.


    Electricity danced around the top end, and every time Gordon tried to fly closer, possibly to help Slugger fight, she loosed a small bolt of lightning.


    As I looked in that direction though, something else caught my eye. On the black and white screen that was my HUD for the moment, I thought I saw a gray shape on the other side of the arena, just past where Samita had pointed out the wards.


    The sonics only reproduced it in a shadowy way, and the thermal imaging didn¡¯t detect it at all, but if it were real, it was big. Elephant sized, maybe.

 Demo: Part 21

    I had a bad feeling the creature wouldn¡¯t be on my side, and the fact that it was outside the wards made me suspect it was magic.


    I desperately needed to tell people that it was there as soon as the fight was over.


    Well, assuming it was real, and not the result of staring at a HUD filled with shades of grey (but not the sexy kind). I zoomed in, and saw nothing in that space.


    I checked on Stephanie, finding her still covered with goo. She¡¯d pulled out a knife, and was trying to cut the strands connecting her to the ground.


    She wasn¡¯t getting anywhere¡ªwhich was good. I¡¯d never be able to keep both Sean and Blue Mask contained if she were mobile. Speaking of which, I realized, I wasn¡¯t going to keep them long anyway. All they had to do was get up the will to get out of my range, and they¡¯d be free.


    That touched off another thought, a very obvious one. As long as I was pointing my arms in their direction anyway, I used my tongue to fire off goobots at each of them, tapping to manipulate spots on the HUD.


    I set them up to fire simultaneously, and each bot¡¯s goo spread out in a perfect pattern, hitting each target and gluing them to the ground. I¡¯d still have to keep the sonics on them though. Blue Mask¡¯s sword might be able to cut through the goo, and Sean would be back in the action if he could concentrate on more than how much his guts wanted to escape.


    All the same, I was beginning to wonder if I shouldn¡¯t grab the flag and take the consequences. Before I¡¯d decided to, the flag moved and as it lifted out Amy faded in, holding the flagpole in one gauntlet covered hand.


    She glanced over her shoulder at me. ¡°Ready?¡±


    ¡°I guess.¡±


    Flag now in both hands, she took to the air. Nodding ¡°We¡¯d better hurry.¡±


    I followed, the rocket pack roaring.


    She wasn¡¯t wrong. Even as we flew, a gust of wind blew Samita into the air, causing her to drop her staff on the ground, and carrying her past the far end of the arena.


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    As she hit the ground, tumbling, one of the massive stone balls rolled past on the track, followed by another, and they weren¡¯t the only ones on the track. Samita wasn¡¯t going to be climbing over without a realistic possibility of being turned into paste.


    That left Gordon free to help Slugger¡ªwhich he did by directing a blast of air into Tara¡¯s face. She turned her head to avoid the wind, and in that moment Slugger hit her in the knee with his bat.


    I may have imagined it, but I thought I heard the crack as it smacked against her costume.


    I assumed that, like the League¡¯s costumes, hers contained armor, but it didn¡¯t hold up to Slugger¡¯s swing.


    She fell over, landing on her side.


    Slugger said something to her, and she replied, but then he jumped the distance to our flag, pulled it out and began to run toward the line that divided the arena in two. If he made it, we¡¯d lose.


    Amy dove, aiming toward our side, eyes closed to avoid Gordon¡¯s glowing moon device. As she did, I aimed myself upward and to the right, toward Gordon.


    I couldn¡¯t see the details of his face very well, but when I turned my attention to him, he was obviously concentrating, jaw tightly closed, on Amy.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her drifting left toward the bleachers, jerking rightward to fight the wind.


    I slammed into Gordon with my shoulder, his armor taking most of the blow, but not all of it. He gave a wordless shout as I hit his lower chest and brushed past him.


    It wasn¡¯t a major hit¡ªjust momentum, and not even a full on hit. As I twisted around for a second round, the Rocket suit¡¯s sonar hinted at the state of his ribs. It looked like I might have broken a couple.


    From below came a deep throated growl, but that disappeared as the wind began to roar, reminding me of tornado emergency training videos I¡¯d watched.


    I could feel the air beginning to twist, and a sinking feeling in my stomach told me that whatever was coming would be bad.


    The announcer¡¯s voice cut through the growing noise, ¡°Bloodmaiden has crossed the line. Team two wins! Participants should report to medical personnel immediately.¡±


    I looked down, seeing Amy on the ground with the flag, but better, Rod pushing himself up from the ground, letting Slugger stand.


    I¡¯d hoped attacking Gordon might bring him back into play, but hadn¡¯t dared to expect he¡¯d be quick enough to seriously help.


    It was great when this kind of thing worked out.


    Whatever happiness I might have been feeling took a little bit of a hit as I noticed the main bleachers, the ones for the special guests.


    People were already filing out¡ªwhich meant they¡¯d been filing out during the match. A few of them were running.


    I glanced at my message queue in the HUD. Seven new messages appeared even as I turned my attention to the message center.

 Faerieland: Part 1

    My lab felt cramped, the air warm from body heat, and my sister¡¯s voice cut through the low murmur of people talking.


    ¡°Remember when I joked about needing an auditorium? Next time I won¡¯t be joking.¡±


    We¡¯d moved my lab tables to the walls, folded them, put everything I¡¯d been working on into boxes, and it still felt like we had no room. All the chairs had been taken, and people sat on the floor or stood next to the wall.


    By people, I meant everyone in the Heroes¡¯ League who¡¯d come to Stapledon, plus Courtney, plus Tara, Rod, Samita, and Amy.


    The monitor of my computer showed burning buildings from a distance.


    I couldn¡¯t show anything much closer than that, so we were following the news. I¡¯d given Hal permission to send the self-destruct command to the roachbots, and during the last match he¡¯d sent it to almost all of them.


    I hadn¡¯t asked why, but I assumed either Turkmenistan¡¯s army or the Coffeeshop Illuminati included a technopath. Maybe both.


    A reporter¡¯s voice said, ¡°It appears that an unknown force is attempting a superpowered overthrow of Turkmenistan¡¯s government. We¡¯ve yet to see any of the invaders, but we¡¯ve seen their work-robots, animated creatures that turned into scraps of shredded paper when killed, and even the government¡¯s own vehicles fighting against their owners¡ª¡°


    Rachel shook her head, staring at the screen. ¡°I think it¡¯s safe to say this is worse than if you¡¯d done nothing.¡±


    Standing next to the wall and towering over everyone, Travis shrugged. ¡°You can¡¯t know that. They¡¯ve been killing their people for the last three months.¡±


    Izzy sat on the floor near the back next to Daniel. ¡°We need to do something. We¡¯re responsible for starting this¡ª¡°


    ¡°Nah.¡± Travis gave a snort. ¡°You guys started watching, but the Coffeeshop Illuminati started this. Have you read their manifesto? They¡¯ve got their head in the clouds, and they don¡¯t understand a thing about the real world.¡±


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    Izzy waited until he was done, but no longer than that. ¡°We planted the bots. Hal came up with the plans. They wouldn¡¯t have had anything to work with if we hadn¡¯t. That¡¯s why it¡¯s our responsibility.¡±


    Next to her Daniel¡¯s mouth twitched at the last thing she said. ¡°We can¡¯t. My dad sent me a text telling me¡ªall of us¡ªto stay out of it.¡±


    Izzy¡¯s mouth flattened into a line. ¡°Why?¡±


    Daniel looked at her, and then across the room at all of us. ¡°Well, Dad said that it wasn¡¯t our responsibility, and that we weren¡¯t ready to step into a situation this complex. He¡¯s probably right, but I¡¯m pretty sure I know why he said it. I caught a few things after they turned off the buzzers and the politicians left.¡±


    Everyone stared at him then. This was the kind of thing that made supers grateful to have a telepath on the team, and terrified everyone else.


    ¡°It¡¯s no secret that Turkmenistan¡¯s close to Russia. Russia¡¯s government sent our government a message that they¡¯d like the United States to stay out of it. I think that they said more than that, but I don¡¯t know what. The only thing I know is that the Russian superheroes that Izzy¡­ evaded? They¡¯re going in somehow. I don¡¯t know who they¡¯re supporting¡ª¡°


    ¡°Russia,¡± Vaughn suggested, grinning.


    Cassie laughed.


    Daniel talked over them. ¡°But if we were to go in in any way, it would become a three or four way fight with major ramifications. So I¡¯d say that we need to stay out of this one.¡±


    Izzy frowned. ¡°So we¡¯re going to sit here and let whatever happens happen?¡±


    Daniel looked her in the eye. ¡°We¡¯re just going to make things worse. We don¡¯t know enough to not make things worse. You know what I mean. People in government have contacts in Turkmenistan and in Russia, and they might be able pull all this back to something less horrible. We don¡¯t know anybody and nobody would negotiate with us. We¡¯d just end up fighting.¡±


    Izzy looked down, took a breath, and looked at Daniel. ¡°I know, but I don¡¯t like leaving this unfinished. I feel like it¡¯s our fault and we should be doing something.¡±


    Daniel nodded. ¡°We can do something. We can actually do something here. Nick¡¯s going to tell us about it.¡±


    Everyone turned toward me. It was unnerving.


    ¡°Ah¡­ Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s like this. A fairy tricked Vaughn into giving our transcripts and plans to Stephanie and through her, the Coffeeshop Illuminati. Rod happened to be there as Adam wished me good luck during the match, and he noticed that Adam smelled of the Unseelie Court¡ªmore fairies. It¡¯s not much of a lead, but it¡¯s too much of a coincidence not to investigate.


    ¡°The interesting question to me is whether Adam¡¯s using the fey, or whether the fey are using him?¡±

 Faerieland: Part 2

    Jaclyn shook her head, and pulled her phone out of her pocket. ¡°That¡¯s not what interests me. What I want to know is why he¡¯s even bothering? What do we know about him?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I paused, mouth partway open, wondering if I should even say it. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s a client of my dad¡¯s. My dad had a client who was a superhero, and who needed therapy after quitting. Adam''s girlfriend got killed by the mob, and he went on some kind of rampage, killing anyone remotely associated, I guess. Agent Lim got him into therapy. I don¡¯t know why he actually stopped killing and went through with it, but he did say nice things about my dad when I talked to him once.¡±


    Fingers already tapping out something on the screen of her phone, Jaclyn said, ¡°His codename?¡±


    ¡°Dark Cloak.¡±


    She stopped and looked up at me. ¡°That guy? I heard about him.¡± Then she started tapping away again.


    Light from her phone played across her face. We¡¯d turned down the lights to make it easier to see the monitor.


    ¡°I¡¯m checking him in the government databases we¡¯ve got access to.¡± Jaclyn continued tapping.


    ¡°Which database?¡± I considered doing the same from my computer.


    Not looking up, she said, ¡°All of them.¡±


    She tapped a few more times. ¡°Internet speed feels slow, but I¡¯m sending you all of what I¡¯ve found in a document. It¡¯s not much more than you¡¯ve told me, but there are a few little wrinkles that we¡¯re all going to love.¡±


    She looked up from the screen, not tapping anymore. ¡°The biggie? The girlfriend¡¯s not dead. The Feds know where she lives, and they think she¡¯s got the same powers he had. They¡¯re not sure.


    ¡°Better yet, their experts on faerie think that his powers changed or now come from another source since about the time that his girlfriend got ¡®killed¡¯.¡±


    Samita had been watching intently as Jaclyn talked. Nodding, she said, ¡°So he lost the favor of whatever group of faeries had empowered him and they gave his abilities to her? And then he allied himself to the Unseelie Court.¡±


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    She shook her head. ¡°Dangerous.¡±


    Next to her, Rod pushed himself away from the wall he¡¯d been leaning against. ¡°Not so bad. Technically, I¡¯m part of the Unseelie Court when I¡¯m a troll. They never bug me.¡±


    Samita quirked her mouth to one side. ¡°Of course they never bug you. You¡¯re a troll.¡±


    ¡°Only part time. Besides, there are tougher creatures out there than trolls.¡± Responding to the obvious unspoken question we all probably had, he held up his hands and said, ¡°A lot of things. Too many to name. The important thing to understand here is that the Seelie Court will mess with people if they¡¯re impolite or sometimes just for fun. The Unseelie Court will fuck with humans on general principle. So yeah, Samita¡¯s kind of right, but I don¡¯t think of them as dangerous so much as maliciously whimsical.¡±


    Rachel gave a short laugh, leaning against my desk. ¡°How does that make them ¡®not so bad?¡¯ To me it makes them sound terrifying all the way around.¡±


    Travis'' laugh ended in a grunt, ¡°No kidding. But seriously Rod, what do you think is going on?"


    Rod didn''t say anything at first, brow furrowing as he said, ¡°Honestly? It feels planned to me. Don¡¯t ask me what the plan is, but there¡¯s no punchline. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t think it¡¯s the Unseelie Court. There¡¯s not much reason to laugh even if your sense of humor is pretty twisted.¡±


    Nodding, Jaclyn said, ¡°Does it feel like anyone you know?¡±


    Shaking his head, Rod said, ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°No one?¡±


    Rod shrugged again. ¡°That¡¯s what I said. I didn''t spend long in faerie before my mom and I got rescued. I don''t know many people on that side of things.¡±


    From over on the other side of the room, Cassie stood up, stretching her arms in front of herself once she stood up. ¡°You know, we could ask the guy what he¡¯s about. Sure, he might not answer, but he might squirm in entertaining ways. Plus, get Daniel in range, and game over. We know what¡¯s going on.¡±


    Haley, sitting next to Camille, a row ahead of Cassie, said, ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. I mean, maybe not asking him straight out, but asking something that will make him think about it and having Daniel listen in? Then we might find out without him even knowing.¡±


    Daniel nodded, unfolding his legs, and stretching them out. ¡°I¡¯d go for that. It won¡¯t be long before supper. He¡¯s got to eat. It wouldn¡¯t take much to find him in the dining hall, and I think Nick should ask the questions.¡±


    I thought about it. He was right. Adam had already talked to me a couple times. It was like he was trying to make some connection.


    Of course, it could be that he liked my dad. I¡¯d been told that Dad was a good therapist. On the other hand, it could just as easily be the connection to Grandpa or Isaac Lim. On a more negative note, I could be vulnerable to something Adam could do in a way no one else was. Maybe that was paranoid, but it wasn''t impossible.


    Cassie laughed. ¡°You don¡¯t think you can trust me to be subtle?¡±

 Faerieland: Part 3

    Travis¡¯ mouth twitched. ¡°I¡¯m pleading the fifth on that, but yeah, I like the idea. That might get us what we need. Do we have any other way we can find out more? Like his ex-girlfriend¡­ Jaclyn, do you know where she is? Or what about Samita and Rod? Can¡¯t you, I don¡¯t know, summon up something?¡±


    Samita¡¯s mouth turned into a flat line. ¡°Summoning is very dangerous. One wrong move and you could release whatever you summon into the world. Worse, depending on what you summon, you could put your life or even your soul in danger.¡±


    Jaclyn started tapping furiously into her phone.


    Vaughn looked up from whatever he¡¯d been checking on his phone. ¡°Hey, it doesn¡¯t have to be something dangerous does it? I read one of those Dresden Files books, and in there the guy summons up fairies and feeds them pizza. Can¡¯t you do something easy like that?¡±


    Samita¡¯s expression¡ªa kind of twisted frown that left one side of her mouth higher than the other¡ªmade me suspect she was trying to be polite, but wasn¡¯t sure she could.


    Rod shook his head. ¡°Not that easy. I mean, it¡¯s not that fairies won¡¯t eat pizza, but it¡¯s not that easy to catch them. If there¡¯s one thing fairies are good at, it¡¯s not being caught. I may be able to catch one though. Trolls tend to attract trouble, and if there¡¯s anything out there, I¡¯ll probably run into it.¡±


    Travis nodded. ¡°In a good way?¡±


    Rod snorted. ¡°No. Anything that decides to fight me will want to do it because it thinks it can take a troll. So figure it¡¯ll be big and dumb¡ªnot exactly the kind thing that¡¯ll answer questions. The only good news is that if there are ogres and giants out there, we¡¯ll know about it.¡±


    Eyes widening, Travis asked, ¡°Could they be out there without anyone noticing?¡±


    Amy answered, talking as Samita opened her mouth. ¡°Easily. I¡¯m not any kind of expert on your fey, but if they have any spell casters among them, it wouldn¡¯t take much. Besides, most of them are only partway into this reality at best. You¡¯d probably miss them even without an invisibility spell.¡±


    Travis pulled himself up. ¡°Every time I ask a question, this sounds worse. We¡¯d better get into the dining hall if we want to catch Adam. We¡¯re all going to feel stupid if he eats early and we¡¯re still talking.¡±


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    Jaclyn lifted her hand away from her phone and held it in the air. ¡°I¡¯m texting Nicole.¡± When no one responded, she added, ¡°Adam¡¯s very, very ex-girlfriend. Her number was in the FBI¡¯s database. She confirms that he¡¯s allied with a group of fairies called the Shade Circle. She doesn¡¯t know anything more than that.¡±


    Samita frowned. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of the Shade Circle. They sound like they might be vassals to the Unseelie Court.¡±


    She sounded like she might be trying to convince herself.


    Amy pulled herself up. Facing Samita, she said, ¡°If they¡¯re going to be facing magic, they¡¯ll need help. We enchant something so they can see through illusions at the very least.¡±


    In a low voice, Samita said, ¡°We won¡¯t have time.¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°It can be temporary. As long as it makes it till morning and they all have one, it¡¯ll be good enough. We can work up something better tomorrow.¡±


    I bit my lip for a moment, and then said, ¡°Can¡¯t you just cast that spell you used on the Fourth of July?¡±


    ¡°How did that work for you?¡± She asked, raising an eyebrow.


    Then I really thought about it. ¡°Right. I don¡¯t know what drugs are like, but yeah. That¡¯s the closest I¡¯ve been.¡±


    ¡°We can work up a better version,¡± she said. ¡°Rod, you should go with them just in case.¡±


    Samita nodded. ¡°Excellent idea.¡±


    ¡°Maybe someone should go with you?¡± I asked. ¡°You know, to keep watch while you¡¯re working?¡±


    Amy and Samita looked at each other. ¡°Sure,¡± Amy said, ¡°Vaughn, do you want to?¡±


    I¡¯d been thinking that Jaclyn or Izzy ought to go with them, but Amy would have a better sense of what fairies would be vulnerable to. Aside from which, Vaughn was undoubtedly a powerhouse.


    ¡°Sure,¡± he said.


    Cassie frowned for a moment, but then we all left, Amy, Samita, and Vaughn to the magic labs,and the rest of us to the dining room.


    Walking down the hall, I found myself ahead of Camille and Haley, who were having a quiet conversation that I couldn¡¯t quite catch, and a little behind Courtney.


    Turning back to me, she said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe how calm you¡¯re all being about this.¡±


    My stomach felt like I¡¯d left it back in the lab. ¡°I¡¯m not calm.¡±


    I didn¡¯t think any of us were calm. I couldn¡¯t see everybody, but the people I could see all were acting like they did when we thought we might go into a fight. Cassie was grinning, and making little jokes to the person walking closest to her¡ªJaclyn. Jaclyn, in turn, wasn¡¯t saying anything beyond a polite murmur when Cassie paused.


    Travis walked with a superhuman smoothness, sometimes sniffing the air as he talked to Rod and Rachel. Rachel muttered something that made both Rod and Travis laugh.


    Courtney stared at me. ¡°You¡¯re not?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t talk much when I¡¯m nervous.¡±


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t,¡± Haley interjected.


    Courtney glanced back at her. ¡°I don¡¯t like feeling like anything can happen next.¡±


    We kept on talking until we were nearly to the dining room. I think Courtney felt a little calmer by then.


    I didn¡¯t even get the chance to walk through the door when Daniel shattered what calm I had.


    Adam¡¯s not here, and neither are any of the teachers.

 Faerieland: Part 4

    Wait, I thought back at him. The teachers aren¡¯t always in the dining hall anyway. Are you sure it¡¯s not just chance?


    Pretty sure, he thought back.


    Behind me, Tara had been walking with Camille and Haley. As we stepped into the dining room, Tara stopped chatting with Camille and said, ¡°This isn¡¯t right.¡±


    To me at least, nothing about the dining hall seemed in any way strange. Students talked and laughed at the tables. The upperclass students mostly stuck together while the first year students took up half the room, mixing a bit with my year.


    The only thing even different about the room was that someone had given the room a baseball theme¡ªpictures of baseball games and famous baseball stadiums on the walls, pennants showing the logos of different baseball teams decorated both the walls and the tables.


    I noticed a blue pennant with the Detroit Tigers¡¯ gothic ¡°D¡± logo in white on the wall near me.


    This wasn¡¯t weird at all. I could see how a caterer¡¯s mind might jump from our tournament to sports. Plus, wasn¡¯t major league baseball¡¯s All Star Game in the middle of July? We were in the middle of July already.


    It was probably tonight.


    In a hushed voice, Camille asked, ¡°What¡¯s not right?¡±


    Tara had been joking around with Camille, but now her voice turned quiet. ¡°There¡¯s almost always a teacher in the dining hall, and if one of the teachers isn¡¯t available, they arrange for someone from the compound to watch us. Usually at least two people are in the room. Today, there¡¯s only one, and it¡¯s Earthmover.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t noticed that at all.


    Turning back past Haley to look at them, ¡°Could it just be his turn?¡±


    Tara pursed her lips, nearly closing her eyes, but then opened them, saying, ¡°I don¡¯t know. All I know is that he hasn¡¯t ever watched us before.¡±


    I looked over at him. Earthmover wasn¡¯t in costume, and probably hadn¡¯t been in years. He¡¯d practically told us as much when he¡¯d introduced himself when we arrived. He wore jeans and a button down shirt that didn¡¯t hide either his muscles or his belly.


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    Should we leave? I thought at Daniel.


    We¡¯d look extremely suspicious if there is something wrong. All of us walking in, taking a look, and walking out?


    No kidding. I guess that we should eat, and watch for Adam. The fact that he¡¯s not here doesn¡¯t mean he won¡¯t be.


    Daniel thought back, I¡¯ll keep on listening for any reason the adults are gone.


    Works for me.


    We all went through the buffet line, taking food and sitting down together. Unsurprisingly, we didn¡¯t say very much. I can¡¯t speak for other people, but what I desperately wanted to do was speculate about where Adam might be. Talking about that out loud wasn¡¯t a good idea, and Daniel and I had covered everything we had to say about it telepathically already.


    The only bright side in this was that all the people with superhuman senses wouldn¡¯t be distracted by talking.


    The not so bright side was the on going clink of silverware as we all said nothing.


    Haley put a leg of chicken back down on her plate. ¡°I wonder if we should be saving food for Vaughn, Amy, and Samita? They might not get back before the dining hall closes.¡±


    I began to wonder if that would be possible. Depending on Samita¡¯s religion, that could become more complicated than we¡¯d expect, but if she weren¡¯t particularly religious, it could become considerably simpler. Then I realized that Rod would know.


    I was about to ask him when Izzy froze. Her voice low, and not looking up from her plate, she said, ¡°He just walked through the door.¡±


    I saw him.


    Adam stood next to Gifford and Hunter as well as a few first year girls that I didn¡¯t know at all. This, I supposed, was my moment¡ªexcept not exactly. I decided to let him go through the line and sit down before I walked over to talk.


    I asked Daniel to pass that on to everyone, and continued to eat while everyone watched Adam¡¯s group go through the line and find a table.


    It took a good twenty minutes before I felt comfortable with the idea of interrupting. He seemed to be most of the way finished with what was on his plate as I came up to their table.


    Even before I make it over, Gifford saw me and made a comment to Hunter. I couldn¡¯t catch any more than my name, but from the smirk on his face, I doubted he¡¯d said anything nice.


    Given everything that had happened with his older brother Gordon, I supposed I couldn¡¯t blame him.


    Adam looked up from his plate as I came closer. Giving a small smile, he said, ¡°Hey Nick, congratulations.¡±


    Gifford¡¯s face tightened, but he said, ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, as Hunter and the others threw in their congratulations as well.


    Turning my attention on Adam, I asked, ¡°But I was wondering something. Have you been noticing anything out of the ordinary? I¡¯ve run into some fairies lately, and Rod thinks they¡¯re from the Unseelie Court. Have you seen anything?¡±

 Faerieland: Part 5

    Adam gave a hint of a smile. ¡°Why would you think I¡¯d know anything about that?¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I realized I¡¯d given something away, and tried to think of a way to answer that did minimal damage. ¡°Well, Troll smelled fey on you, so I guessed you might have a connection.¡±


    He blinked. ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was that obvious, but yes, my powers come from the fey. I¡¯ve never told anybody, but I suppose it had to come out sometime. Sorry, but I haven¡¯t noticed anything unusual.¡±


    ¡°Really? That¡¯s weird. I¡¯d think you¡¯d see something before I would, and I¡¯m pretty sure I saw something inhuman on the Fourth of July.¡±


    He nodded along as I talked. ¡°Interesting. What did you see?¡±


    I hadn¡¯t anticipated that question, and maybe I should have. I didn¡¯t want to tell him about the things I¡¯d actually seen on the drive home. That might lead to a conversation about what Amy could do. ¡°Huh. Well, I thought I saw a person, but too short and shaped wrong. It was near Vaughn after the fireworks.¡±


    ¡°Shaped wrong, huh? Can you say how? I need a little more to go on.¡±


    Not sure how much longer I could go, I shook my head. ¡°It was dark, and seeing it felt weird. I tried not to see it.¡±


    Adam kept his eyes on me, occasionally giving a nod as if to show he was listening. It felt strange trying to trick him into telepathically giving away whatever evil plan he might theoretically have when he was acting more comforting than anything else.


    ¡°Understandable. I¡¯ve seen fairies that I can¡¯t unsee. Creepy doesn¡¯t cover it. Some of them give people nightmares even unintentionally, and you never know who to trust. I can tell you from experience that the more attractive of the fae aren¡¯t necessarily the nicest.¡±


    Hoping that Daniel had gotten what he needed, and finding it at least a little odd that he hadn¡¯t said anything to me in the course of the conversation, I said, ¡°Oh well, thanks for listening. I know it¡¯s not really reasonable to expect you to hear my question and know the answer. I¡¯ll head back to¡ª¡°


    Gifford stood up from the table as I took a step backward, preparing to go. ¡°What are you really doing here?¡±


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    I stared at him, not able to get out much more than a, ¡°Huh. I¡ª¡°


    ¡°Why would Adam know? You¡¯re accusing him of being involved.¡± Gifford¡¯s face was turning redder.


    In the back of my mind, I began to ask how I¡¯d handle it if he attacked. If he attacked me with wind, I¡¯d best off going under the table or something. That way I¡¯d at least be out of his sight.


    Walking back to my own table might do that too. Certainly Gifford wouldn¡¯t attack me if attacking me were part of a group, would he?


    ¡°I¡¯m not accusing him of being involved.¡± I hadn¡¯t been¡ªat least not to his face. That was the whole point. Adam would never give Daniel enough time to get anywhere if I walked over and accused him of things.


    Adam put his hand on Gifford¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Relax, sit down.¡±


    Gifford shook his head, his chin jutting forward. ¡°No. He¡¯s getting away with too much. Do you think anyone else would be put in the tournament even though he¡¯s not an upperclassman? Plus he¡¯s been hiding something. I don¡¯t know what it is, but he¡¯s been hiding it.¡±


    His chair scraped on the floor as he moved it sideways, clearing space in between his row of tables and the one behind it.


    Everyone nearby was watching us now¡ªalmost all of them first years.


    Not sure if I should explain myself or simply walk back, I stood there. ¡°I wasn¡¯t the only person from my year in the tournament. There were a few of us¡ªAmy, Sean, Jaclyn, and Izzy. That¡¯s not a couple. Between the five of us, we could have fielded a team. I¡¯m not getting away with much that other people aren¡¯t. I¡¯m helping teach where Gunther thinks I¡¯m useful, but that¡¯s because I already know how he teaches.¡±


    Gifford all but snarled at me. ¡°See, you admit it! No one else gets to do what you get to.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know what to say. It was as if he¡¯d heard me say something completely different from what I actually said.


    Beginning to run through possibilities, I realized that Haley had slipped her hand into mine. ¡°Come on, Nick, let¡¯s go.¡±


    I turned my head to follow her lead, and realized that I wasn¡¯t alone. Jaclyn, Izzy, and Travis were walking up behind her. Already standing next to the table, the rest of the League members looked ready to jump in as needed.


    I¡¯d have felt gratified for their support if I hadn¡¯t noticed that people near Adam and Gifford were also standing up. Plus Gordon was walking toward Gifford.


    That¡¯s the moment where it all began to feel like the musical ¡°West Side Story¡±¡ªwhich between the Jets and the Sharks ought to make my side the Jets.


    It would be better than Team Rocket at any rate. Granted, that was from a completely different story.


    A booming voice echoed throughout the room, the rock around us seeming to vibrate with the words.


    It probably was. Earthmover sailed across the stone floor without walking, stopping between Gifford and I.


    ¡°This will stop right now,¡± he said, mustache bristling. ¡°No more arguments.¡±


    I raised my left hand, the one Haley wasn¡¯t holding, and said, ¡°Excuse me, sir. I think¡ª¡°


    I was going to tell him that someone must be using magic to influence people¡¯s minds, but I didn¡¯t get the chance.


    ¡°No more arguments,¡± he said, pointing his hand in my direction.


    Red rock surrounded me, and I sank into the floor.

 Faerieland: Part 6

    Nothing happened for a long time after that. I never did learn exactly how long. All I knew for sure was that I was grateful that at least I¡¯d gotten to eat before being shut up in a doorless and windowless room.


    Okay, that¡¯s not all I knew for sure.


    I also knew that my room had breathing holes. They were on both sides of the top of my cell. The cell wasn¡¯t much more than six feet tall. I could touch the ceiling, and had during my initial few minutes inside.


    I couldn¡¯t see at all. The cell had no light.


    A little bit of touching around the inside of the cell had found that the breathing holes were across from each other, allowing for the possibility of a breeze. After a little more feeling around, I found a rock cylinder that jutted out from the wall. From the hole in the middle of the seat, I realized that it had to be a toilet. A basin next to it included endlessly flowing water.


    That wasn¡¯t good news. Granted, it indicated a level of consideration, but it also indicated that Earthmover planned to keep me there long enough that I might need to poop.


    It wasn¡¯t a wide room either. I could almost reach the other side by sitting down on the floor. That meant it couldn¡¯t be much wider than three or four feet. I was just under six feet tall.


    Beyond that, there isn¡¯t much to say.


    Hours later, my butt hurt from sitting on rock. Earthmover hadn¡¯t provided cushions, and maybe it wasn¡¯t reasonable to. At the same time, could he really keep me in here without at least visiting and explaining why?


    Keeping someone in a personal prison was almost certainly illegal.


    Of course, if he was confused or even controlled by faeries, no court would convict him, and honestly, he wouldn¡¯t deserve to be.


    Unfortunately, it could theoretically be worse than that. He could be controlled by the Dominators. Allied with the Nine, but basically mercenaries, the Dominators specialized in mind control. Each one specialized in different methods.


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    At least that¡¯s what I¡¯d been told. All the information about them was suspect. In order to learn anything new about the Dominators, you¡¯d have to interact with them somehow. If you interacted with them, they¡¯d get the opportunity to interact with you too.


    Worse, if they interacted with you and you didn¡¯t know it, you¡¯d have no idea that you might be compromised.


    Of course, it was simply more likely from all I¡¯d seen that the faeries were behind this.


    On the other hand, if the Dominators had ever gotten Earthmover, or more likely Adam alone, they could have converted either of them into an intentional or unintentional agent.


    I considered researching Dominator tactics, checked my phone, and discovered again that I couldn¡¯t connect to cell towers, wi-fi, the Alliance gate network, or the inter-dimensional location network.


    I hadn¡¯t seriously expected to connect to the last two.


    A baritone voice came through the breathing holes. ¡°Sorry.¡±


    Adam¡¯s voice.


    ¡°I spend far too much time apologizing to you.¡±


    Not sure whether it would be better inside or outside the cell, I made a snap decision. ¡°Can you get me out of here?¡±


    On the other end of the breathing holes, a breath turned into a sigh. ¡°I can, but I won¡¯t. That¡¯s why I¡¯m down here. I¡¯m apologizing because I had you put here, and because you¡¯ll be staying until it¡¯s all over.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Why?¡±


    ¡°I wish I could explain everything to you, but I can¡¯t. I¡¯m not some movie villain who¡¯s got a deep need to explain his evil plan. I¡¯ll tell you why I¡¯m keeping you out of it though.¡±


    Feeling the cool rock against my back, I said, ¡°Sure.¡±


    At least that might give me something.


    ¡°First off, I like your dad. He seems like a genuinely good guy, and a good shrink. Second, you¡¯re honest. That means you¡¯re not connected to the Nine, and I don¡¯t have any reason to hurt you. I will if I have to, but I don¡¯t want to.¡±


    I stood up and spoke upward. ¡°Wait. The government in Turkmenistan is connected to the Nine. Is this about taking them out? Because I wasn¡¯t planning on stopping what¡¯s going on over there. The only way I¡¯d intervene now is if it looked like a lot of people were going to get killed.¡±


    Through the breathing holes, Adam¡¯s voice became louder. ¡°I¡¯m not going to go into that right now. What you need to know is this: The Nine are in more places than you know. Even people you trust have knowingly worked with them. If you did decide to intervene, you might be killed by people you didn¡¯t even know were your enemies. That¡¯s why I¡¯m keeping you out of it. We¡¯re going need all the uncorrupted people we can find.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying that people in the Stapledon program are working with the Nine?¡±


    No one replied.

 Faerieland: Part 7

    That left me alone in the dark again, but one thing had changed. Before Adam talked to me, I could believe that this was unplanned, an overreaction by Earthmover who might easily be inexperienced at teaching.


    Now I knew it was intentional, and that Adam, or whoever was controlling or using him, wanted me out of the way.


    It seemed likely that if someone wanted me out of the way, the best thing I could do was get back in the way.


    Well, assuming that I wasn¡¯t stepping in front of a metaphorical Mack truck.


    Bearing in mind that I still didn¡¯t really know what he was keeping me out of the way of, I needed more information. Metaphorical or not, I didn¡¯t want to get hit by that Mack truck without armor.


    Deciding to stop laboring that particular metaphor, I touched middle of my chest with my hand. As I did, my clothes unraveled, turning into the new version of the stealth suit. The nano machines reformed the material around me, covering my entire body.


    Checking my HUD, I wished I had been carrying my backpack along. If nothing else, it would have been more material and thus thicker armor. Better, it would have included a rocket pack. I had a feeling that I¡¯d need the mobility.


    So what did I have? Limited sonics, better than human strength, thin but  self-healing armor, sonar, and a computer (courtesy of my phone). It wasn¡¯t anywhere near as good as regular Rocket suit, but it was better than nothing.


    I aimed my arms at the wall and turned on the sonar.


    The results were not encouraging. The thinnest walls around me were two feet thick. The weakest points would be next to the air holes. Given a little time, I could shatter the barriers between the air holes with a combination of sonics and physical strength¡ªweaken them, then punch them.


    It was just a matter of time. Unfortunately, it could be a really long time.


    Another thought occurred to me. What if Earthmover had a sense of feeling inside the rocks he controlled? I¡¯d never get anywhere. He¡¯d sense it the moment I broke anything and reinforce the cell.


    Did I have any way to get around that? I couldn¡¯t think of one¡ªnot without a clue as to how such a sense would work.


    I was going to have to simply try it, and hope he didn¡¯t have cameras out in the hall while I was at it.


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    Turning on the sonics to maximum volume, I set them to find the frequency with the greatest resonance, first in the rock between the air holes and then in the thick wall in front of me.


    I narrowcast the sound, so as to get the maximum strength out of it, and the thin walls between the air holes vibrated audibly--at least they would have if my helmet didn¡¯t filter out the sound. But, I could see the blur as they vibrated in my sonar¡¯s black and white representation of the cell.


    When I felt that I¡¯d done enough, I aimed the sonics at the wall below the air holes, finding that two sections vibrated most strongly at different frequencies.


    That was good news¡ªthe best news I¡¯d had since getting stuck down here. It meant that Earthmover hadn¡¯t put much thought in how to counter me specifically, or that he had no idea what my tech was currently capable of.


    I used the sonics on one arm to vibrate one section, and the other arm¡¯s sonics on the other. With the sonar, I could see that I was making progress, that the two sections were vibrating at different frequencies, and even rubbing against each other¡ªto a degree. They were still part of the same slab of rock. They weren¡¯t moving much.


    At the very same time, I could see the batteries visibly losing power¡ªnot in a frightening way, but a noticeable one. The percentage of power left on the right arm was already down to 88%.


    I stopped.


    The sonics might ultimately have a deeper effect, but the artificial muscles in the suit would last longer.


    Steeling myself against possible pain, I got into a martial arts stance, and aimed my punch below the air holes.


    It hit the rock, and it didn¡¯t feel good, but I¡¯d done my calculations right when I¡¯d designed the armor¡ªthe strength of my punch didn¡¯t shatter the armor that had formed around my hand.


    Better, the rock noticeably cracked below the air holes, but the walls between air holes above the punch shattered. They didn¡¯t break all the way through, but more than halfway.


    When I examined the wall with the sonar, I was less impressed. Sure I¡¯d made cracks on the surface, but the wall¡¯s structural integrity was completely intact.


    Ugh.


    It had been a good punch. From what the HUD¡¯s stats said, I¡¯d gotten almost all the force out of it that I could. I¡¯d have to be smarter about this. Maybe I should push off from the wall on the other side and get more of my legs into it? Maybe I should be looking at the corners to see if they had sections with different kinds of rock like the wall had?


    Or maybe I needed to punch the wall a few more times?


    ¡°There you are,¡± Haley¡¯s voice came through the air holes.


    ¡°In here,¡± I said.


    ¡°I know. Back away from the wall, okay?¡±


    I considered telling her that it would be harder than it looked, but I moved anyway.


    The wall buckled and then shattered, falling into the cell, but not flying everywhere. A few stray bits hit me, but bounced off the suit¡¯s skin.


    Haley stood above the rubble, all monstered out¡ªteeth turned to fangs, and her feet and hands to claws. Bits of dust covered her clothes.


    ¡°That went a lot easier than my wall,¡± she said.

 Faerieland: Part 8

    "I hit it with the sonics. I''m guessing I didn''t damage it enough that I could punch through it myself yet. How did you get here?"


    "Earthmover sent me down here right after he sent you."


    "Whoa. What happened?"


    She paused for a second. "I told him that he shouldn''t have done that. Loudly."


    Nodding, I said. "That seems excessive, but I basically didn''t do anything except try to explain what was going on."


    Her shoulders drooped. "He had a little more reason. I shifted. I didn''t mean to, but it happened."


    "I can see how he might take that wrong."


    She sighed, but then said, "I know. I wasn''t going to hurt him, but sometimes it''s hard not to shift. Anyway, he was afraid. Terrified, I think. I could smell it, and I can''t blame him. He probably saw Night Wolf in action."


    "Wow."


    She leaned back, checking the hall each way before stepping backward, out of the cell. "We should go. It''s such a mess. "


    I followed her out, walking across the pile of rubble.  "How did you find me? I suppose it couldn''t be hard given your senses."


    "It was harder than you''d think. After I got sucked into the floor, I ended up in a cell like yours. At first I wasn''t sure what to do. I was afraid I was going to get kicked out of the program, so I just sat there, worrying. But then I realized that Earthmover didn''t have any right to do what he did. I got really angry, and then I broke through the wall. The problem was that I couldn¡¯t find you, and I couldn¡¯t smell you.


    ¡°I thought I might have smelled you half a dozen different times, but when I got to the spot where you should be, it was only another cell.  One of those times, I realized I¡¯d come back to the same spot already. I smelled myself, and something else, and I didn¡¯t know what the something else was.¡±


    She shook her head as we walked down the hall. A line of cells identical to mine ran in a row on either side of the hall. The breathing holes were the only sign of where a cell started and ended. Judging from the depth of the breathing holes, Earthmover had to be seriously worried about people¡¯s ability to break rock.


    Also, he evidently had a need to imprison a lot of people at one point. His career overlapped with fighting the Abominators and their servants, so maybe these cells were used to store prisoners from that fight.


    Haley, meanwhile, continued to answer my question. ¡°I guessed it might be a fairy, so I made a big show of giving up, and going back to my cell. Sometime after that, I heard more voices, and I smelled Adam and whatever was down here with me. I followed them from a distance, and I finally found your cell.¡±


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    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s cool. Did you see a way out on the way?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I was hoping we might be able to follow them out.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense. Do you know where they are?¡±


    ¡°I know where they were.¡± She touched her nose. ¡°We¡¯re going to have to hunt them as quietly as possible¡ªwhich means we can¡¯t talk. I¡¯ll lead. I¡¯ll make hand signals to tell you if you need to stop or go forward, and sometimes I¡¯m just going to have to go forward alone. You can see hand signals in the dark with that suit, right?¡±


    She held out her hand, palm out and toward me, followed by waving me forward.


    ¡°Not a problem.¡± Her hands were blurry around the edges when she moved them, but it didn¡¯t stop me from reading them.


    What followed wasn¡¯t particularly fun, but was nerve wracking. We walked through a gray world of endless identical rock passages, sometimes around corners, sometimes up stairs. Every once in a while Haley would hold up her hand to halt me, and she¡¯d go ahead by herself.


    That left me waiting alone amid flat rock walls and breathing holes to cells that probably didn¡¯t contain anything¡ªwell, not anything living at least.


    Probably.


    When she came back, she wouldn¡¯t even say anything. She¡¯d simply point forward. She could have used her phone, but she didn¡¯t want to spend time typing. I supposed I couldn¡¯t argue with that.


    The last time she came back, she smiled, and talked out loud. ¡°We can get out. They¡¯re actually gone, and I found out where they went.¡±


    We walked up a short flight of stairs, walking into a room. It wasn¡¯t more than ten feet wide in either direction, smaller than my dorm room in square feet. That wasn¡¯t a true measure of the room¡¯s size though, because it had no ceiling.


    It rose upward hundreds of feet for sure, but that was all I could get back for an estimate.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have a rocket pack on that suit, right?¡±


    Still staring upward, I said, ¡°No.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°Then I¡¯m going to have to do this myself.¡±


    I looked at her. ¡°Are you sure? That might be one thousand feet high. It¡¯s a long way to fall.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I can do it. I¡¯m good at climbing. That¡¯s one of the things my body is built for.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue with that, but I wanted to. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely sure?¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t climb up there, but something¡¯s going to happen. We know it, but no one up there does. I don¡¯t think I have a choice¡ªunless you¡¯ve got another way up.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±


    I touched the key combination that opened up my faceplate, and it folded in to the sides, plunging me into darkness. The air felt cool against my skin.


    Haley guessed at my intention, and put her arms around my armored waist as I put my arms out and pulled her in. We kissed.


    After a moment, she said, ¡°It¡¯ll be okay.¡±


    ¡°I hope so.¡±


    She let go, and so did I. I clicked and the faceplate reassembled, allowing me to watch as she took two steps, jumped, and hung on the wall. Then she crawled upward, one hand or one foot at a time. She didn¡¯t fall.


    I watched until she became indistinguishable from the wall. After that, I waited.

 Faerieland: Part 9

    It took longer than it should have. I wasn''t checking my phone when I was in the cell, but now I was encased in my suit. The time was in the upper right corner: 7:04 pm. Haley had started climbing around 6:30 pm.


    Even assuming it would take thirty minutes to scale the wall, she would have finished by now.


    I was fairly confident that it wouldn''t take anywhere near that long. I''d watched her start her climb, calculated her speed based on how far she moved, taking into account the possibility of slowing down, and come to the conclusion that if it were 1000 feet, she shouldn''t take more than ten minutes to scale the entire thing.


    I couldn''t be sure where we were, making the question of how long it would take to either get my backpack or find a helpful flier an unknown. All the same, I thought it was most likely that the prison was under the rocky foothill that took up half the compound. Bearing that in mind, the distance to one of the two could be as low as a minute.


    That meant that her lack of return could easily mean she was in danger, captured, or dead.


    Okay--she probably wasn''t dead. The fey weren''t stupid. They had to know that visiting mortal lands and killing kids would prompt a response. Some heroes could handle themselves in faerielands, and they''d likely exact a price for it.


    I waited for another half hour, trying to think of a way to get up the hole on my own. I didn''t get very far.


    Climbing wasn''t a realistic option. Radio waves couldn''t get through rock, so the only way I''d contact someone was if they happened to be at the top of the hole. Sound might actually work better. If the top of the pit were inside a room of the Compound, I might be able to make the entire room vibrate. If I did it at regular intervals, I''d be able to conserve my energy as well as make it clear that this was deliberate.


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    I narrowcast the sound, assuming that the distance would cause it to disperse, but hopefully not enough to make it useless. Then I selected the first section of Rush''s song "YYZ"--chosen because of its insistent beat. It also happened to be Morse code for YYZ, the letters designating the Toronto airport.


    I felt sure that anyone who heard it would forgive me for not actually being located in Toronto or being an airport.


    Of course, there weren''t a lot of people who knew Morse code in the first place.


    I raised my arms and fired, letting the music run for a little while. Once it was done, I waited for a minute and played it again.  Then I stopped watching the time except that I set an alarm to go off in five minutes. When the alarm rang, I repeated what I''d done before.


    I did it three more times.


    As I readied my arms to start the fourth, I heard wind blow. Moments later, I felt its pressure on my suit. Guessing who it might be, I stared upward. The sonar gave me a picture of three people descending. Amy had transformed and wore the Bloodmaiden armor, carrying her spear in her hand. Vaughn and Samita floated downward, still in their civvies, but held in the air by the wind.


    Vaughn''s hair blew back past his head. Samita clenched her fists, and held her arms close to her body.


    I guessed she might be feeling scared, and I couldn''t say I blamed her. Even if you didn''t know his history, he didn''t give the impression he took anything completely seriously.


    They landed in front of me--with Vaughn and Amy landing effortlessly on their feet and Samita nearly falling over.


    "Sorry," Vaughn said, as she straightened, and took a breath. She didn''t reply.


    "You wouldn''t believe how glad I am to see you," I said. "Did Haley tell you I was here?"


    Samita shook her head. "No. We didn''t see her."


    Amy said, "She got out? Did she climb all the way up?"


    Vaughn looked upward. "Wow. we didn''t see her at all--at least I didn''t. Amy''s spell was supposed to help see through illusion, but she said it would help us see in the dark too."


    Amy frowned. "We would have seen her."


    "Then she got out," I said. "She was going to grab me a rocket pack, or at the least, grab someone to bring me up. Um... How bad is it?"


    "Bad," Amy said.

 Faerieland: Part 10

    Standing together in the dark, I looked each of them over, all of them grey in my HUD.


    ¡°But really, how bad? Is this ¡®fairy pranks and vomiting slugs¡¯ bad, or are we talking ¡®slaves to the fairy queens¡¯ bad?¡±


    Vaughn put a grey hand up to a grey chin. ¡°That¡¯s a toughie.¡±


    Samita frowned. ¡°It¡¯s somewhere in between. The little people have infiltrated the entire compound, keeping anyone who isn¡¯t magically protected from noticing anything troubling. Practically the entire world is watching what¡¯s happening in Turkmenistan because it¡¯s everyone¡¯s nightmare. ¡®What if the supers take over and rule the country?¡¯ Well, no one in the compound cares now. When shows are interrupted with news, no one pays any attention.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°You know, that¡¯s actually better than I expected.¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°Not really.¡±


    Samita tightened her hand around her staff. ¡°It¡¯s much worse. If they have that kind of control, they can make people misinterpret whatever¡¯s around them. If we went back, we could find ourselves fighting the entire program.¡±


    I swallowed. ¡°Well¡­ What about the teachers? Where¡¯d they go?¡±


    Samita gave a long sigh. ¡°They¡¯re in Denver¡ªall of them. Someone learned from the Hrrnna that if you make the threat bad enough, the program will pitch in too. Practically all of the city¡¯s superhuman criminals are out tonight¡ª¡°


    ¡°And raising hell,¡± Amy added, exaggerating her normally slight Southern accent.


    Glaring briefly at Amy, Samita added, ¡°A few captured the senator and his Secret Service detail. I¡¯d think that it was a plot, but they don¡¯t seem to know what to do with him. It¡¯s almost as if they weren¡¯t planning to do this, but were supernaturally influenced to do it tonight.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡± I rolled that around in my head. ¡°I wonder if Adam¡¯s behind that too?¡±


    ¡°Adam?¡± Vaughn cocked his head. ¡°I know you said he was working with the fey, but are you sure he¡¯s behind this? Could be he got in bed with the wrong people and this is his mess, but not his plan.¡±


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    I frowned, but it wasn¡¯t as if they could see it under my mask. ¡°He was down here. He all but confessed that he was behind whatever¡¯s happening in the compound. It could be that he¡¯s been magically influenced, but he sounded like he was in control. And if he¡¯s in control of the compound, why not Denver?¡±


    Amy spoke up. ¡°What does he get out of it? If he is behind all of this, he¡¯s going to a lot of trouble. Why?¡±


    That brought me back to something I¡¯d been too distracted to absorb. ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure because he didn¡¯t say it In so many words¡ª¡°


    Amy interrupted me. ¡°Spit it out, Nick.¡±


    ¡°But,¡± I continued, ¡°it sounded like it was all somehow connected to the Nine, and Turkmenistan. He seemed to think that the Nine had infiltrated the compound or the Stapledon program, and that keeping me out of it would keep me safe. I don¡¯t know any more than that. He wouldn¡¯t say much.¡±


    Crossing her arms, Amy said, ¡°I wonder why he cares about you? I don¡¯t want you to get hurt either, but why lock you in the basement?¡±


    ¡°He mentioned my dad, and I think he mentioned my grandfather earlier. Could be he doesn¡¯t want me to get hurt, and that¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°Or,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°it could be he¡¯s got the hots for you. You never know, right?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± I said.


    Samita tapped her staff against the floor. ¡°We need to decide what we¡¯re going to do. We don¡¯t need to fight the fey. If we escalate, they¡¯ll escalate, and our friends will go from being happily deluded to trying to attack us.¡±


    It was a good point. I didn¡¯t want to fight anyone in the program¡ªnot if it meant fighting them for real.


    Amy spoke before I did. She eyed Samita and said, ¡°Absolutely not. Adam¡¯s endangered who knows how many people, mind controlled even more, including one of the more powerful terrakinetics in the world. Ask yourself this: what¡¯s he going to do if he succeeds at this? What¡¯s his next step? We need to end it now.¡±


    Samita bit her lip. ¡°That body you wear¡­ Do you trust it? You know as well as I do, that it was made to fight. Your head might not be clear after you transform.¡±


    Amy twisted her body, and suddenly I could see my surroundings in red light. At the end of a blurred series of images, Amy stood alone without her spear in jeans and a t-shirt.


    Meeting Samita¡¯s eye, Amy said, ¡°I still want to fight. If it¡¯s possible for me to be uninfluenced by my family¡¯s legacy, I¡¯m not. Got it?¡±


    Samita stared at her. ¡°Amy! It¡¯s not that simple. You¡¯re connected to forces that are not easily contained.¡±


    ¡°But I still say go,¡± Amy said.


    Opening my mouth, I added, ¡°Even if it would be safer not to, I need to know what happened to Haley. After that, maybe it will be better to do nothing, but I can¡¯t simply assume she¡¯s okay. I need to be sure.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°Haley¡¯s my friend too, and she¡¯s not the only one up there.¡±


    Amy transformed back, red light and visions of strange symbols lighting up the whole room. As the last of the music faded, Amy again held a spear in her hand.

 Faerieland: Part 11

    The glow of the blood red gem on Amy''s armor''s breastplate was the only remnant of the transformation as Amy took step toward me. "Do you want me to carry you, or do you want Vaughn to float you upstairs?"


    Samita cleared her throat. "Maybe you could carry me?"


    "Why?" Vaughn asked. "Did I do something wrong? I tried not to flip you over or anything."


    "No. It''s just that you and the Rocket have been on the same team for years now, so I thought he''d probably be more comfortable than--" Her voice trailed off. "I''m sorry. I''m lying. It''s because it''s terrifying. I''m sure it''s fine for you because you''re controlling it, but I was falling in the dark. I couldn''t see anything but wall, and the only thing stopping me from hitting the ground was air."


    Still illuminated by Amy''s gem, Vaughn nodded. "I get that. I''ve got to admit that I was a little nervous too. Sometimes there''s not much wind to work with underground. Don''t get me wrong. I could feel a lot of air flow here, but if we did hit someplace I couldn''t control the air... Yeah, that wasn''t going to be pretty."


    Samita didn''t say anything for a few long seconds. Then... "That doesn''t make me feel better."


    "No big deal. We''ve got all the air we need. Are you ready, Nick?" Vaughn raised an arm, and  the dust on the floor began to whirl.


    "Wait a second." Amy walked toward us, fishing for something in the pouches of her belt.


    She pulled out a bottle. "Can you take off the helmet?"


    "Sure." My suit''s helmet disappeared, sinking into the suit.


    Just like the last time I''d done it (when Haley started her climb), I plunged into darkness. Unlike the last time, Amy''s gem glowed dimly, and I could see as she pulled a black chainmail glove off one hand, pulled a bottle out of one of the pouches, and opened it. Then she touched a finger inside the bottle, and touched my forehead.


    I didn''t bother to ask what was in the bottle. I could smell the blood.


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    She said a few words in a language I didn''t recognize, and a warmth spread through my body. At the same time, the room brightened--sort of.  Everything had a red tinge, but I could still see mostly normally. More light collected around  Amy.


    That wasn''t surprising. Whatever allowed us to see probably came from her somehow.


    "Here''s how this works," she said. "This is temporary. If you get too far away from me, or if I fall asleep,  you won''t be able to see anything."


    "Are you likely to have a problem with staying awake?" I asked. She didn''t look tired, but it was worth a question. I was  trusting my life to it after all.


    "While fighting?" Amy laughed. "No. That''s what they created the Bloodmaidens for from the beginning."


    "Amy," Samita said in a loud whisper. "We''re not going to fight our own people unless we have to."


    "I agree," Amy said, "but I''m certain we''ll have to. Anyway, Nick''s set. Are you ready?"


    Samita took a breath, and glanced upward. "I''m ready."


    Amy picked her up, and floated upward, stopping only to say, "Later," before flying away.


    Vaughn said, "Not by much," and then we flew after her. The wind surrounded me, and I found myself moving upward.


    It wasn''t as bad as Samita described it. Sure, it was dark, but I could see the smooth rock walls and Amy flying above us. That wasn''t much, but it was enough.


    I supposed it might be worse if I wasn''t used to flying, and was flying downward. That would feel more like falling.


    It didn''t take long to reach the top. The shaft ended in a room only slightly wider than the one at the bottom. The major difference being that the room at the top had a five foot high rock wall that effectively fenced off the hole from the room around it. There wasn''t much room around it though--maybe two people could walk next to each other.


    Vaughn took the two of us over the wall, landing on the sidewalk next to Amy and Samita.


    As they turned toward us, I asked, "So what''s next? I want to find Haley, but is there anything we have to watch out for here? And where is here anyway?"


    Vaughn turned around. Following his gaze, I noticed the door--a very thick metal door. It was shut.


    "We''re under everything," Vaughn said. "After Amy and Samita got the spell done, we heard what happened and went looking for you. They did a locating spell, and that led us down here. The only reason we happened to find you was that you started playing Rush. I knew the song."


    Amy added, "No one was down here when we came down. My guess is that they didn''t catch Haley until she got further up."


    "Okay." Not sure whether I should do it or not, I allowed my phone to connect to the network. It risked the possibility of revealing my existence and location to anyone who might be watching, but it represented my best chance to find out what Haley was doing.


    Anyway, I had a hard time believing the fae were monitoring the compound''s wi-fi.

 Faerieland: Part 12

    Having already reformed the suit''s helmet, I watched as the suit attempted to connect to several different networks, finally only connecting to one--the Castle Rock Compound''s network.


    Once connected, notifications began pouring in to my phone, lighting up in the corner of my HUD. I caught a few names as the numbers climbed--all of them students, most of them League members or friends. They were probably trying to contact me after I had sunk into the floor.


    I considered opening up my queue and reading them. One of them might have been Haley.


    I didn''t get to. The entire top of my HUD lit up. The Castle Rock Compound was under a red alert.


    Even under normal circumstances that made sense. If Denver''s superpowered criminal community had gone nuts, it was easily possible they''d attack the compound. When you considered that Adam or someone manipulating Adam had caused both the criminals to attack and encouraged the red alert, it led to another train of thought--someone was trying to keep us in here.


    I wondered how far I could go along that line of thought when something else caught my attention--the League roster. Marcus and Sydney''s names were gray--presumably because network connections to the outside had been severed--but the squares next to the names of the League members in the Stapledon program glowed green.


    Haley''s square glowed along with them.


    Not thinking about it, I tapped her square, starting a call.


    The phone rang, but she didn''t  answer. I gave it a few more rings than I normally did, and as I moved my hand to shut off the connection, she answered.


    "Haley?"


    Her face didn''t appear  on the screen. In the distance, I heard her voice. "See? The noise stopped. It''s not a weapon. Sometimes it just makes noises, okay?"


    Something big grunted, and higher pitched voices started to laugh.


    "Um... No. Please don''t take it. I''m a little worried that--"


    The deep voice growled.


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    "Okay. Just don''t break it. My boyfriend made it, and he''d be unhappy if you broke it--just like he''d be unhappy to find out I''d been captured by a troll and a bunch of goblins."


    She cleared her throat.


    The deep voice growled more loudly.


    "Okay, fine. Here it is."


    An odd thumping noise followed, the kind of thumping that might take place if a phone had been placed in the hand of  an enormous creature that had never seen a cellphone and didn''t have the sense to keep its hand away from the microphone.


    I set the HUD to track her signal, muted my end of the connection, and said, "I can find Haley, but she''s been captured by a bunch of goblins and a troll. Are all trolls as tough as Rod?"


    Samita made a sound that couldn''t have been more than four letters long. That was enough of an answer.


    "Anyway, we need to hurry. The troll just made her hand her cellphone over, and it sounds like he might crush it accidentally any second now."


    Amy grabbed the big iron door and pushed it open. "Lead on. We''ll follow."


    I walked past her, out the door, and out of the room. "Do you seriously think we can take a troll?"


    She grinned. "I can. Fighting monsters is what  the Bloodmaidens were created for."


    I stopped to the side of the door, waiting as Samita and Vaughn followed me out. "I thought you said they''d been created not to fall asleep when fighting."


    Amy eyed me.


    Vaughn grinned at her. "Fighting is what tiggers do best."


    Samita pushed past him, muttering something.


    Letting the door shut behind Samita, Amy asked, "What the hell is a tigger?"


    Vaughn grinned a little wider. "It''s like a tiger, but with two g''s. It''s a character in a children''s story, and it''s always saying that everything is what tiggers do best."


    Amy stared at him. "What do they actually do best?"


    Vaughn cocked his head. "I''m pretty sure they bounce."


    She shook her head, and took a step forward. "Your children''s stories are strange." Then she asked me, "Where to?"


    This floor wasn''t much different from the bottom of the hole, but thanks to Amy''s spell I had better view of it. Rock walls led in every direction, opening into too many hallways to search.  Fortunately, my HUD placed an arrow pointing down a hall to my left. I followed it, waving my arm for everyone to follow me.


    I checked in on the phone, turning up the volume.


    I couldn''t hear anything. The connection had been closed. I checked the HUD. It could still detect the signal.


    OK, that probably wasn''t bad, but I began to hurry, taking longer steps, and quicker ones, leaning a little on the suit.


    Amy kept up with me easily. Vaughn and Samita weren''t running, but they were breathing a little harder. We passed rock wall and rock hall, one after another, all of it empty.


    The GPS showed that we had 100 feet to go as we came to an opening into a larger room. I stopped, but it barely mattered. There was no door. The large room was more of a wide hall that ended in a staircase.


    Haley stood to the side of the staircase, arms bound behind her back by manacles. The troll sat on the staircase, staring at its palm, meaty arms at rest.


    What I assumed had to be goblins stood in front of it--short with skinny arms, they stared in our direction, sharp teeth glittering in the low glow of the stairway''s lights.

 Faerieland: Part 13

    Worse,  the goblins didn''t just have teeth. They wore armor and carried weapons--specifically swords and bows.


    I took in the situation, and came up with the best plan I could think of on short notice. "I''ll grab Haley. Cover me?"


    Still staring down the hallway, Amy didn''t look at me. "I''m going with you.  You need someone to handle the troll."


    To be fair, Amy became a lot more intimidating as Bloodmaiden than she was as Amy. She went from being only a little taller than Haley to a little taller than me, and from being thin to... It was hard to tell if she became more muscular because her black and blood red armor would have thickened her arms even if they didn''t grow. I was pretty sure they did though. Even her hair thickened and grew.


    All the same, while she looked intimatiding, she didn''t look "I can take down a troll" intimidating.


    I glanced over at her. "You''re sure?"


    "Vaughn''s got it right. Fighting monsters is what Bloodmaidens do best." She gripped her spear in both hands, readying herself to charge.


    "That''s right," Vaughn said. "Rock the Pooh references."


    Amy eyed him. "What does poop have to do with this?"


    "Nevermind," I said. "I''ll explain later."


    The goblins nocked their arrows, and began to fire.


    A gust of wind knocked the goblins over and the arrows into the wall. None of them made it. Unfortunately, goblins weren''t the useless cannon fodder I remembered from Dungeons and Dragons games. They were already getting up and beginning to scatter, nocking more arrows as they ran toward us.


    Knowing we didn''t have time to talk anymore, I ran forward, amping up the energy the suit''s artifical muscles would use even though I knew it meant less for later.


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    I jumped over a pair of goblins who were trying to intercept me, closing the gap between myself and Haley that much more quickly.


    As good as that was, it was outweighed by what came next. The troll stood up, shook its head and growled, its leathery lips shaking and dripping drool, its feet hitting the ground with a weight that I could hear.


    It left cracked rock behind when its feet left the ground. The goblins, scattered as they were, charged immediately when it started moving. I felt weird leaving Vaughn and Samita back there, relatively unprotected, but I had to assume they could take care of themselves.


    I jumped over a group of four more goblins as lightning arced down the hall off to my right.


    Checking the HUD''s replay function showed that Vaughn had thrown the first bolt, and Samita the second.


    So they were tag teaming, but  with lightning bolts? That was surprisingly cool.


    The troll stopped as a third lightning bolt flew, enveloping  a goblin, and causing him to flail around with his arms and finally fall. The troll stared, eyes moving between the goblin on the ground and Samita and Vaughn.  Its indecision would have been funny enough if it weren''t a creature that could turn me into reddish paste with a blow.


    Worse, it veered in my direction.


    That earned it a lightning bolt to the head. It screamed, flailing with its arms, hitting the far wall with a glancing blow that caused bits of rock to spray down the hall.


    I ran and leapt past it, making it nearly to Haley who was alone, and unwatched. Well, almost. The troll bellowed as I landed.


    Haley shouted, "Behind you!"


    I turned, but too slowly to stop much of anything  if I''d been attacked.


    It didn''t matter. Amy had already landed between where the troll and I stood.


    She dropped underneath  a blow that could easily have taken a person''s head off. Then she took her spear and stabbed the troll deep in his side. Judging by how Rod took a hit, I would have expected it to strike her back as she stood there, or even break her spear.


    It didn''t. It stood there screaming as Amy grew more, gaining several more feet in height. Weirder, her armor and even her spear also grew, and her gem glowed brighter than I''d ever seen it, illuminating the hall in a blood red light.


    The troll in turn seemed paler, diminished.


    When she pulled out her spear, she stood almost as tall as it did.


    It gave a bellow as it charged her, its voice just as deep as it had been before, but somehow hollow. Its feet moved slower, seemingly only an instant away from a stumble.


    Amy, however gave an ululating  war cry nearly as deep as the troll''s and using her spear like a staff, smacked it in the face.


    It drew back its right arm, advertising its next move as surely as if it had put it on a billboard. Amy hammered it with the spear, avoiding the blow easily, moving quickly enough around its side that she could smack the troll in the back of its head.


    It fell face first to the floor, hitting with a solidity that I felt.

 Faerieland: Part 14

    The troll didn''t move.  I looked back toward Vaughn and Samita to see how they were doing, noticing that only two goblins were standing.


    Vaughn electrocuted one as it nocked an arrow to its bowstring. The other pulled a sword, charging Samita. She held her staff out, probably readying a lightning bolt of her own. As the goblin passed another goblin that was lying unconscious on the rock floor, it slipped in a puddle of some liquid (probably urine), and its feet shot into the air as it fell backward.


    Its helmet fell off, and the back of its head hit the floor.


    It stopped moving.


    I boggled at  the improbability of it all, and remembered that Samita had bound a spirit of probability to her ring. My sister Rachel told me she''d seen someone attack Samita and get hit by an anvil. It couldn''t have been pretty.


    Haley muttered, "Yuck."


    I decided that my guess about the puddle was almost certainly correct, but couldn''t rule out the possibility that she was referring to the entire scene. Goblins lay scattered across the floor, many of them burned, some dripping blood. The unconscious troll drooled, and began to snore.


    In midst of that, Amy held her arms and spear upward, letting loose a shriek that lingered in the air even after she closed her mouth.


    Then she shrank. Sort of.


    It might be more accurate to say that she began to fade around the edges, leaving only the the part of her that was really truly her. The faded image of "Troll Bloodmaiden" hung in the air, still screaming, while the darker middle became shorter and shorter. In the end, Amy (as Bloodmaiden) stood alone, armor glistening black, and the gem glowing extremely bright at first, but then recovering its normal glow.


    Amy shook her head. "That was a trip."


    I turned back to Haley, and checked out her manacles. The lock didn''t look like it would be particularly difficult to pick. Of course, there was an  even simpler way to solve the problem.


    I tapped the metal with my finger. It felt solid. "Can you break them?"


    Haley could hold a few tons over her head.


    She flexed her muscles, her forearms and hands turning to a grayish substance, straining against her bonds, but not breaking them. "No. I think they must be magic."


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    "Huh. Do you remember which one had the key?"


    Haley frowned for moment, but then said, "The one that ate bacon yesterday and has a slight heart murmur."


    "Uh..." I began.


    She rolled her eyes. "I know you can''t tell. I''ll find him and you can get the key."


    "Sounds like a plan," Amy said. She''d walked up as we talked.


    Haley turned toward her. "That was amazing. You really became a troll. I could smell it. Was that shapeshifting?"


    Amy shook her head. "I wish it were that simple. I was sucking its essence into me. The Bloodlords created the Bloodmaidens so that they could resist invasions from the Chaos lands. They couldn''t ever predict what creatures would be coming next so they gave our line the ability to take the powers and form of their foes. The only flaw was that the stolen essence might overpower them."


    Haley nodded. "And that''s why you gave it up?"


    Amy gave a look down the hall toward Vaughn and Samita. "That''s it. It was tempting to keep it. I''ve got a feeling we''ll need a powerhouse before this is all over, but I couldn''t. The essence of a magical being like that is too risky."


    "Without a doubt," Samita said. "There''s a reason we don''t do blood magic."


    Amy took a breath. "I know. You don''t have to tell me again. Practically every wizard I''ve met has told me the same thing. But for all they say, it''s not that bad with straight mortals. I''d have died three times over during the invasion this spring if I couldn''t do it."


    Talking a little more precisely, and a little louder, Samita replied, "But what you''re saying when you''re telling us that is that you took their essences to maintain your own life. It''s a first step down a very dark road."


    Amy''s voice rose a little higher. "They were there to destroy the planet. I feel like I had a more productive use for them, and it''s not as if someone wouldn''t have killed them anyway."


    As Samita''s jaw dropped, Amy added. "Besides, they regenerated--which meant that I regenerated. So I didn''t need nearly as many as I would have."


    Vaughn talked over Samita''s reply. "I know the two of you don''t see eye to eye on this, but you both know we still don''t have a plan, right? And we''d be better off getting up the stairs before the goblins wake up, right?"


    "And my key," Haley added. "Unless either of you can magic the manacles off?"


    They couldn''t. Haley and I spent the next few minutes searching for the keys. We did find them, and I even sort of  recognized him. We''ll call him "Puddlemaker." I had to search his pockets, and avoid putting my foot into goblin pee at the same time.


    I pulled a ring of keys off the goblin''s belt, hearing them clink together. A couple minutes of trying later, I put the correct key in the lock, and the manacles clicked apart.


    Vaughn stood next to us while Amy and Samita talked something through next to the stairway. Haley rubbed her wrists, asking, "What''s next?"


    "No idea," Vaughn said. "We had to sneak down. Earthmover specifically ordered everyone to their rooms. We don''t think the fairies control everybody. Samita said it was the wrong kind of fairies for that. It''s mostly ''little people''. The problem is, it sounds like they''ve got a few big guns and as we went down here, it sounded like they were calling people to the offices. So, I mean, it''s anybody''s guess who is working for them. The only one we''re confident we can trust is Rod, and that''s because it''s hard to use magic on a troll."


    "You got it," Amy said,  joining us. Samita walked beside her.


    "Be prepared to fight anyone," Samita said. "We think we have countermeasures, but you''ll have to hold them off."

 Faerieland: Part 15

    "If we''re going to fight people," I said, "and especially if we''re going fight people we know, I want to go back to my lab and get my regular armor before we do anything else."


    Samita nodded. "That seems wise. With Amy''s wards up, it might even be a safe haven from the fae."


    "Let''s run with that," Amy said. "But let''s not stick around too much longer. I don''t want to fight these guys twice if I don''t have to."


    I glanced around the room. Neither the goblins nor the troll appeared to be particularly active. The troll still snored. The goblins mostly lay on the floor. One of them whimpered.


    She had a good point. In a game of Dungeons and Dragons, I could imagine killing them all off to make sure that they didn''t tell anyone that we''d been through. In my actual life, I didn''t like the idea. It was too bad Daniel wasn''t here. As morally questionable as reaching into their minds might be, it would be kinder than murdering them in cold blood--not that we would.


    Well, not that I would. Amy''s ancestors sounded like they would have been completely on board with that.


    We walked toward the stairway. Haley, now fully transformed, her hands and feet ending in gray claws and her mouth full of sharp teeth, stepped in front of Amy. "I''ll take point."


    Amy let her. I followed them, wondering if Haley should be going first. Of all of us, she was the only one not in some kind of armor. On the other hand, she had the best senses of all of us plus reflexes not many supers could match.


    All the same, if she found herself fighting someone who could, we all might find ourselves wishing we''d said something. I considered it as we walked up the steps, but ultimately stayed quiet.


    Near the top of the stairway, she turned and held up her hand, palm toward us--obviously meaning we should stop. Then she crawled up the side of the wall and on to the ceiling--which was smart. I probably wouldn''t be checking the top of the hallway.


    She stopped, unmoving at first, but then she turned her head in each direction, staring into the darkness for a moment, and then finally dropping to the floor, landing in a crouch.


    I didn''t hear her hit the floor, and wondered how she did that.


    Haley waved us forward as she stood up, stepping into the hall.


    We followed her, reaching the top of the stairs and walking into the unknown. I automatically checked in each direction as I did. The lights were off, but between Amy''s gift of sorcerous sight, and the suit''s HUD, this hallway struck me as familiar.


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    I didn''t know why at first, but then it hit me--we were at same level as the tech and magic labs. A map of the floor had appeared in the far right of my HUD with a dot showing our position. The HUD had pulled it off the Castle Rock Compound''s server. It wasn''t a hack of any kind. The standard network protocols for superhero bases made maps available to visitors with appropriate privileges.


    Interestingly, the stairway we''d exited didn''t appear on the map. I''d have to investigate that later, but it made sense. I didn''t remember seeing the stairway before. We probably weren''t cleared for that. I wasn''t sure how they''d kept it hidden though. It didn''t even have a door.


    When we were all standing there, I expected Haley to start moving forward, but she turned back toward us. "Someone''s fighting. I don''t know who yet, or what, but I think it''s the the fae. These smell different from the goblins--more like animals."


    "Where?" I aimed my helmet''s sonar past her, turning up the sensitivity. I didn''t get much at first--white noise that didn''t quite sound like the background noise around it.


    Haley began to open her mouth, but as she did a wave of sound appeared in my HUD. I couldn''t make it out at first, but increasing the volume and replaying it gave me the sound of a dog-like yelp followed by a human scream.


    As the playback ended, Haley said, "Near your lab. We need to get there now."


    Winds lifted us up, hurtling us down the hall. To me, it felt like what waterskiing would be like if you were waterskiing down a river at night and you''d lost your skis, but for some reason couldn''t let go of the tow rope.


    On the bright side, there was no danger of drowning, but there was a danger of smashing into a rock wall considerably faster than you''d want to be going if you did that.


    I instantly had considerably more sympathy for Samita than I had earlier, but it did me little good.


    Vaughn''s winds gathered us into a small group, making it easier for him to guide our flight, I assumed. Rock walls became a blur and though we did slow at corners, we never stopped.  My stomach felt like I left it behind each time we turned. I was used to that when I practiced evasive manuevering in the air, but it''s a lot different when you have no control of  how you''re flying.


    The two good things that could be said about the flight was that it did bring us there quickly, and  that even if the roaring winds lost us any chance of surprising our opponents, the force of the blast made it irrelevant.


    A solitary figure lay against a wall, surrounded by two wolves the size of ponies. A third lay on the ground further down the hall.


    The wind struck the wolves, throwing them into the air even as Vaughn dropped the rest of us on the ground. Haley flipped twice and came up standing. My armor scraped the wall, but I was okay. I didn''t see how Samita came down, but she was standing when I saw her, and Amy landed under her own power, standing between us and the still tumbling wolves. Vaughn landed next to her, electricity wreathing his hands.


    The wolves darted out of sight, possibly into a hallway.


    I turned to check the man, realizing that it was Sean. Blood was seeping into his jeans from a bite on his thigh. It looked to me like it might not be that bad if we could bandage it. It was seeping after all, not spurting.


    "They only got me once," Sean said.

 Faerieland: Part 16

    My eyes lingered on the wound. "Anyone feel up to treating this? If it''s me it''s just going to be basic first aid, but Amy? Samita?"


    Samita fumbled for her pouch. "I made a few rolls of bandages. They don''t heal wounds, but you don''t bleed while you''re wrapped up."


    Vaughn raised an eyebrow. "How''s that better than normal bandages?"


    Samita looked up from sticking her arm inside the pouch up to the elbow and feeling around. "I didn''t explain it very well. It''s much better. While you''re wrapped up it''s as if you weren''t even hurt, and you can wear it long enough without changing the wrap that you heal."


    Nodding, Vaughn said, "You''re right. That''s lots better."


    Amy looked down at Sean''s leg. "You''re better off with Samita''s bandage. I can do some healing, but it works best on me. It''s temporary anyway."


    Samita pulled what looked like an ACE bandage from her pouch. "Don''t take this wrong," she told Sean, "but you''re going to have to pull down your pants."


    He looked up, frowning. "I hope you''re not all going to watch."


    From the edge of the group, Haley said, "I''m not watching." She stared down the hall after the wolves, not even looking at him.


    Sean glanced toward her, but didn''t say anything.


    Samita began to open up the roll. "How about everyone who''s not helping turn around while I put the bandage on?"


    I walked over to stand next to Haley. "Are the wolves gone?"


    "I think so. They went down the hall, and I think they kept on moving because their smell is fading. Besides I overheard them talking. They were going to tell someone where we were."


    At that, Samita said, "What? Why didn''t you say that earlier?"


    Sean said, "Ow! Fuck!"


    Behind me something scraped the floor. Samita muttered, "Sorry. I didn''t mean to do that, but that''s not good news."


    Still not looking backwards, Haley said, "I was going to tell everyone, but you were all talking, and it was hard to hear them. I only figured out what they said just now."


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    Vaughn gave a low whistle. "Wait. Did you say the wolves talked? Do you think they might be werewolves?"


    "Werewolves?" Sean''s voice grew louder as he talked. "One of them bit me. Shit. I don''t want to become a werewolf. I--"


    Samita didn''t let him finish. "Oh, shut up. You''re not going to become a werewolf. First of all, it''s not during a full moon. The infectious werewolves can only turn during nights of the full moon. Second, they don''t get that large, and the werewolves that do get that large are a completely different group that would never work with the Shade Council."


    "Oh," I said. "So these are talking wolves like in the Narnia books?"


    Haley nodded. "Right. Except the ones in Narnia swore less."


    "Done," Samita said. "You can pull up your pants now."


    "Doing it," Sean said.


    Vaughn laughed. "That better be all you''re doing."


    Sean made a series of half breaths and false starts. "What is that supposed to mean?"


    "I don''t know. Just talking."


    Sean pulled himself up. "You are so full of it."


    Amy tapped the floor with her spear. "We''d better move. If they recognized us, they probably expect we''ll be heading for one of the labs, but I still can''t think of anywhere better to hide."


    Haley and I were already on the lab side of the group. Amy joined us, and started walking. We all followed.


    As we began walking down the hall, Amy turned toward Haley and me. "So no animals talk in your world?"


    "Not naturally," I said. "I''m sure someone''s managed to make individuals talk, but it''s not normal."


    She nodded, but didn''t say anything at first, frowning. "That explains so much. Zoos, for one."


    We passed the dead wolf. As I''d thought, it was the size of a pony. I didn''t need my HUD''s assessment of its temperature (cooling) to know that it was dead. Too many fluids leaked from too many places for it to be alive. As we walked around it, I asked Sean, "Did you kill it?"


    lt wasn''t obvious how it had died. For all the fluids, there weren''t any marks on the body.


    "Yeah." Sean didn''t sound as proud of himself as I would have expected. "It was a mess. They cornered me and and I didn''t have  anything to defend myself with. I tried to pull all the metal in the area, but all I got was a nail, and then I couldn''t get it out of the wolf. The other two would have had me if you guys hadn''t shown up."


    "I''m surprised you don''t carry around a bunch of ball bearings or something. With the fae''s problems with iron, you''d be practically a god."


    Sean didn''t say anything.


    Not wanting to make him angry, I didn''t push him for more of the story. No one else did either, and we made it to my lab without incident. All the tech labs were empty and silent. It felt weird. Normally I''d hear welding, music, or maybe a small explosion.


    Once inside my lab, Amy checked her wards (they were working), and we all sat down around my desk. Sean stared at everything--half made roachbots, armor in the form of piles of blocks, circuitry in various forms.


    "We need a plan," Samita said. "The fae have the compound, and we don''t want to fight everybody."


    I thought about Jaclyn, Izzy, and any of the Cabal''s descendants. Even in armor, that would be a disaster.


    "Yeah," I said. "What do you think would make the fae give up?"

 Faerieland: Part 17

    Samita pursed her lips. ¡°In myths, mortals typically tricked the fae into leaving them alone. They also lost a lot.¡±


    ¡°Great.¡± I considered logging in to my computer for a moment before remembering that the compound was locked down. That meant no internet access. We¡¯d have to rely on anything in Samita or Amy¡¯s personal libraries, and whatever we remembered about the fae.


    In my case that wasn¡¯t much.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said. ¡°My grandfather told me about the ¡¯60¡¯s fae invasion. The way I remember it, there wasn¡¯t as much trickery as straight ahead fighting and later negotiation.¡±


    Samita shook her head. ¡°My teacher was involved in that. He told me that there was a great deal of magic going on behind the scenes. Because of it, our side could see through the fae¡¯s illusions, and simply fight them.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± I thought about that. ¡°You already did that. Then I guess we should be thinking about what we specifically know about these fae.¡±


    ¡°Almost nothing,¡± Samita said. ¡°Adam¡¯s ex-girlfriend knew almost nothing when Jaclyn texted her, and if she knew any more she wouldn¡¯t be able tell us.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Then I guess we have to concentrate on Adam. Somehow he¡¯s behind at least part of all this.¡± I thought back to him visiting me. ¡°We also know he thinks he¡¯s doing this to oppose the Nine somehow.¡±


    ¡°And that he lurrrvs you¡­¡± Vaughn added, laughing. At Sean¡¯s confused look, he said, ¡°That was a joke.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Oh, right. Sean wasn¡¯t here when I explained this to everybody.¡± I turned toward Sean. ¡°Adam came through when I was stuck in the cell Earthmover dumped me in. He told me he¡¯d had Earthmover do it to keep me out of the way, and implied that heroes were working with the Nine.¡±


    Sean¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Did they say who? That¡¯s big. Like Civil War big. If that one¡¯s true, cities are going to burn.¡±


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    I began to say, ¡°No,¡± but didn¡¯t get it out. Sean was right. If we ever did find out who was working with the Nine (assuming Adam wasn¡¯t just screwing with my head), everyone was going to go gunning for them.


    Worse, we probably wouldn¡¯t figure out all of them at once, and chances were that we¡¯d probably get a few wrong. If heroes chose sides, civil war and burning cities weren¡¯t far outside the realm of possibility.


    ¡°No doubt,¡± Amy said. ¡°But we¡¯re losing track of what we¡¯re here to do. The way I see it we¡¯ve got two targets¡ªAdam and Earthmover. If we get Adam, we get rid of the fae. What do they care about the Nine? If we get Earthmover, we take the compound off lockdown and we can call in help from the outside.¡±


    Haley leaned forward in her chair. ¡°I¡¯m not sure we have to go after either of them. If Nick hacks the computer system and opens up the lockdown from here, maybe one of us can sneak out. Or maybe we find Rachel. She could float out and no one would know.¡±


    She met my eyes. ¡°Can you?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Dr. Nation set up the lab. I¡¯m sure he¡¯d set it up on a completely different network than whatever locked down the compound. I mean, you¡¯ve got a bunch of techies. You know that somebody¡¯s going to think about hacking the compound for the fun of it. I¡¯d make it physically impossible, and probably even¡­¡±


    I stopped, realizing the obvious. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if I can hack it from here. Somewhere in this compound there¡¯s a router, and the internet connection plugs into it. Depending on how things work, I might be able to hack the router, or simply plug the cable into the back of a laptop. Of course, it¡¯ll probably be more difficult than that, but it still sounds easier than fighting Earthmover head on.¡±


    Haley¡¯s hands moved with her words. ¡°That¡¯s what I was going to say. They have to be planning for a head on attack. They¡¯ve got how many students plus faeries? Plus they have however many supers live in the compound¡ª¡°


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°You¡¯re right. If we take over the compound¡¯s internet connection, we might not have to fight anybody.¡±


    Sean shrugged. ¡°It¡¯ll also make it more boring. Fights are the fun part of all this.¡±


    Vaughn pointed to Sean¡¯s leg. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡±


    Sean glanced at his leg, and then up at all of us. ¡°It¡¯s not my fault I didn¡¯t have iron on hand.¡±


    Amy started laughing. ¡°No? Who¡¯s fault is it?¡±


    Sean didn¡¯t get to reply. Haley stood up, holding her hands in the air.


    Everyone became silent. Heavy footsteps echoed in the common room.

 Faerieland: Part 18

    With a gait that was graceful and strong, but not quite human, Haley crossed the distance to the doorway, stopping next to the doorframe.


    Amy''s wards made it appear that no one was in the room, but Haley had let the wall block their vision of her. She, in turn, didn''t try to look out the doorway. She closed her eyes, turned her nose slightly upward and sniffed.


    At moments like that, I wished that Daniel were around. He¡¯d be able to tell me what she¡¯d smelled without risking asking her aloud.


    I stood up. It was a risk, but if someone did walk through the doorway I wanted to be in the Rocket suit.


    Haley turned and glared at me, holding up her hand, palm in my direction.


    I stopped moving.


    Outside, the heavy footsteps began moving away from us, heading for the common room¡¯s far exit. After a minute, I couldn¡¯t hear them anymore.


    A little bit after that, Haley looked me in the eyes. ¡°What were you doing?¡±


    ¡°Going for the full suit. I¡¯m not that noisy.¡± I wasn¡¯t. Lee had taught me the basics of walking quietly.


    Haley frowned, taking a step away from the wall. ¡°You¡¯re not, but it wasn¡¯t worth the risk. You remember the Cabal kids in my class? The three you fought at the beginning of year? They were outside.¡±


    Even in the full suit, I couldn¡¯t take one of the Cabal¡¯s reservists in a straight fight. Those kids were obviously related to the reservists. In Lee¡¯s demonstration, we¡¯d defeated them by getting them into the air where they had no way to use their strength.


    Using Vaughn to do that underground had obvious problems. All the air in the complex would be affected. If anyone thought about it, it¡¯d be a beacon saying, ¡°Here¡¯s Vaughn!¡±


    Samita looked from Haley to me. ¡°I heard about the Cabal on the news of course. How bad were they?¡±


    ¡°Terrifying,¡± Haley said, clenching her right hand. Muscle rippled under the gray skin of her forearm. ¡°They were strong enough to damage the Rocket suit, practically impossible to hurt, and regenerated.¡±


    ¡°Lasers punched right through their skin,¡± I added, ¡°and the new suit¡¯s got lasers, but I obviously can¡¯t use them.¡±


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    As I said it, I knew that Lee would be telling me, ¡°Better them than you.¡± If there was no other way to survive, he¡¯d want me to kill them, fellow students or not. I wanted to avoid that.


    ¡°Sean?¡± I said. He turned his head toward me. His mouth twitched. ¡°We¡¯ve got a supply room, and I know for a fact that there are steel ball bearings there. If we¡¯ve got to fight somebody, you can¡ª¡°


    ¡°Hold them in the air. Got it.¡± Sean stood up. ¡°I remember your demo.¡±


    As rude as that might have been, he¡¯d been ruder. I led him out of the lab, and we walked in silence, passing the two labs to the left of mine. The Cabal kids had left the lights on.


    When we neared the third doorway I said, ¡°This one,¡± and we walked around the corner and inside. The lights went on as we did. It was about three times the size of my lab and all shelves. Brown, cardboard boxes filled the shelves. Bigger cardboard boxes filled the middle of the room.


    We walked through the aisles between the middle boxes and the shelves. I noticed the boxes of ball bearings on the far end of the shelf we were passing. They¡¯d been ordered with someone in mind, and I doubted that person would be able to use them after this. On the other hand, if using them avoided our deaths or anyone else¡¯s, it was worth it.


    I pointed the boxes out to Sean, and watched as the boxes floated off the shelves. Sean barely appeared to be concentrating. He turned to me, asking, ¡°Do you think there¡¯s a backpack around here somewhere?¡±


    I thought about it, realized where one might be, and walked around the end, and saw an already open box of backpacks. I grabbed one and brought it back to Sean.


    He¡¯d already gotten a lot of the ball bearings out of their plastic packaging. They floated in the air, hundreds of thick metal circles waiting for the right machine.


    Sean held one in his hand and appeared to be looking through the partially open side¡ªprobably at the steel balls inside. ¡°You know,¡± he said, ¡°when you said ball bearings, I was thinking about the balls.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°We probably have a box of balls for ball bearings somewhere.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. These things are good enough.¡± He frowned, then sighed.


    I handed him the backpack and he opened it, letting ball bearings stream inside.


    When he¡¯d filled it enough, the zipper zipped itself shut.


    Sean looked up from the backpack. ¡°Hey, dude. I thanked you for getting my sister healed.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, wondering where this was going.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I ever apologized for everything before I knew who you were.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to.¡± I waited as he put the backpack on his back, floating it upward and sticking his hands through the straps.


    ¡°I do.¡± He said. ¡°I was being an ass. I didn¡¯t have to.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond to that. The last time Sean had tried to talk about this, I¡¯d hung up on him. I hadn¡¯t wanted to deal with it. I couldn¡¯t say I wanted to deal with it now either. Back then he was on the verge of being thrown out because he¡¯d attacked me. Now, wanting to apologize for what he¡¯d done before he knew who I was, made it sound as if the Rocket were the real me instead of a mask I wore.


    More to the point, it sounded almost as if he were apologizing because here at Stapledon, unlike high school, I was known and generally liked.


    On the other hand, whatever his motivation, apologizing was better than not apologizing. I felt sure my dad would be telling me to take the apology¡ªif I could ever tell him about it.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

 Faerieland: Part 19

    We walked back to the lab without saying anything more. In books I''ve seen people described as "walking together in companionable silence." I don''t think that this was it.  This was more, "I''ve accepted your apology, but I still don''t know what to say to you," silence.


    When we got back, I walked straight to the Rocket suit, and did what I probably should have done before I walked to the storage room. I stepped on top of the ceramic block, and activated it from the stealth suit.


    It assembled around my body, connections formed between the stealth suit and the full suit.  Messages scrolled down my HUD, assuring me that system integration between the two suits was working, that suit integrity was at 100%, and that life support, repair, flight, and weapons systems were functional.


    It gave a list of what armaments were on board, and then the HUD printed the word, "READY."


    I hadn''t realized how tense I must have been feeling without the full Rocket suit, but when I saw the word appear on the screen, I found my muscles relaxing.


    It wasn''t irrational either. I could take a lot more punishment in the full version.


    "Ready?" Haley asked.


    "That''s what my HUD tells me," I said.


    She glanced over at Samita, Sean, Vaughn, and Amy and back to me. "This is how I see it. The plan is that we get to the router, take it over, and send a distress call to the teachers. In order for us to do that, we have to find the router. That one''s on you, right?"


    "Yeah. I was thinking I''d use the suit''s sonar to find the network cable trays and then go in the direction where the number of cables in the tray increases each time I pass a new hallway."


    Haley frowned. "Great. Lots of sonar. Maybe you should go in front."


    I noted that she was still in regular clothes. "Do you have your costume?"


    "Nope. That''s back in my room. I didn''t expect to need it during dinner."


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    I thought about that.


    Not letting me finish, she said, "Don''t worry about getting me a new costume. I''m going to stay hidden and stay out of the way. You should be worried about yourself. If we meet something dangerous and you''re in that," she pointed at the suit, "you''ll have to fight it."


    She was right. Getting  her costume would mean going to her room, and theoretically fighting everyone in the program. We didn''t need the distraction.


    All the same, I''d feel better if she had any kind of armor. I considered putting together a stealth suit for her out of materials I had in the lab, but guessed it would take too long too.


    Haley nodded toward everyone. "C''mon."


    And what could I say? There wasn''t anything else to do.


    We left.


    I walked ahead of everyone. It didn''t take much to follow the network cables. For the first section of hallway they hung off to the right side near the top.


    As we walked further, our footsteps (or at least mine) echoing in the hallway, the metal tray holding the cables disappeared into a hole in the wall.


    I stared at the spot, zooming in, and making the suit fire off the sonics, using the suit''s computer to create a picture of a room.


    The picture in my HUD showed a room with roughness along the far wall that had to be cables--or so I guessed from the fact that the roughness led upward, disappearing into the ceiling.


    Next to the wall of cables stood a rack that I guessed held servers, and probably a router and a switch.


    I checked the room against the map of the compound my system had access to. It didn''t include this room. That was probably a good sign.


    What wasn''t good was that the room didn''t appear to have a door.  Presumably Earthmover himself intended to create one as needed to service the area. Also, when you considered that this was  a compound, it could easily be that they had teleportation available with one phone call to the right person.


    Unfortunately, we did not.


    On the other hand, it wasn''t as if the wall was completely impossible to get through. It was more a question of how to get in while doing the least damage inside the room.


    Sure, I could punch through the wall with tons of force, but if I happened to pass along tons of force to a rock flying in the direction of the router we were hoping to hack, we were screwed.


    Fortunately, I had an idea or two.


    Everyone arrived as I stood there. I''d started warming up the suit''s laser even before they stopped.


    Amy tapped the wall with her mail glove. "This is it?"


    "Dude," Sean asked, "where''s the door?" He looked at the flat wall as if expecting one to appear.


    "I''ve got to make one. Is anybody comfortable catching a several hundred pound chunk of rock? It might be as much as a ton. I haven''t done the calculations yet."


    With a laugh, Vaughn said, "No."


    Haley stepped up. "I can."


    Amy looked down at her. She was more than a foot taller after her transformation. "Seriously?"


    I didn''t bother to argue. Haley could. I just hoped we wouldn''t attract any attention in the process.

 Faerieland: Part 20

    "I can lift a few tons." Haley gave a small shrug.


    Amy tilted her head to the side--which seemed more noticeable in a helmet somehow. I think it must have been the way the short spikes on the top made her head appear longer. "I''ve never seen you lift anything."


    Haley stepped up to the wall. "I''m good at sneaking around, and I don''t wear much armor, so they don''t put me at the front of a fight."


    Amy stepped closer to Haley. "I wouldn''t either, but I didn''t know you were that strong. Mind if I help anyway?"


    Haley shook her head. "Nick, are you ready?"


    "I think." I walked over to Amy''s right. "Here''s what I''m going to do. I''m going to cut at an angle on this side. Then I''m going to cut at less of an angle on Haley''s. That should allow me to cut through this without hitting anything on the far wall."


    Amy turned her helmet toward me, the corners of her mouth widening. "What about this side of the wall?"


    "I''m hoping that there''s nothing on this side."


    Haley leaned forward. "I hope you''re not just hoping."


    "I''m pretty sure there''s nothing on this side."


    "He''s sounding more sure all the time." Vaughn said. "The next time you ask, there won''t be any chance of a problem."


    Everyone laughed.


    I shot him a look, but didn''t say anything. Then I held up my right arm. "Don''t get too close. I''m going to make the laser as powerful as I can, but if I have to stay in a spot too long there''s a chance that the rock around it might explode a little. Actually that might happen even if I don''t have to stop, depending on if there''s pockets of other stuff trapped in the rock."


    Haley and Amy looked at each other, and then began to turn their heads toward me.


    As they did, Sean said, "I bet I could hold it up, and then no one would have to stand next to it."


    "That sounds like a good idea." I considered pointing out that it would have been nicer if he''d said that before, but didn''t.


    Amy said, "I''m fine with  it."


    Haley glanced at me. "You''re sure?"


    Her tone said a lot more than her words. I only said, "It''ll work."


    They backed away, and the ball bearings floated out of Sean''s backpack, covering the area that Haley and Amy had been standing in front of.


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    When they were in place, I used my HUD''s outline of what the room probably looked like to angle the shot. Then I turned on the beam, cutting through the rock easily.


    One spot did heat up and explode, spattering bits of heated rock into the hallway, but not hitting anyone--at least not in such a way that they got hurt.


    One bit of rock landed on Amy''s armor, and glowed for a minute or two before it faded.


    When I was done with one side, I started on the other. It didn''t take long, but I did have to be careful in a way I hadn''t for the first one. Due to having to angle a little bit inward, a moment of inattention had the potential to hit the router or one of the cables.


    I was fairly sure I wouldn''t, but I wouldn''t know for sure if I had, until I walked into the room.


    I cut the top next.


    Having directed Sean to keep it in place until I said not to, I cut across the bottom of the section as Sean''s ball bearings stopped it from moving.


    Finally though, I said, "Bring it to the floor--slowly, if possible."


    For a moment, it appeared to fall out of the hole I''d created, but Sean brought it to a complete stop before it hit the floor, ball bearings spreading across it.


    He held one end of the "door" up as he got the last of the metal out from under it.


    When he was done, I walked inside. It wasn''t much more than it appeared to be from my sonar sweep--a nearly empty room with a router and switches in a rack along with a couple servers (the primary and its backup), and a whole lot of cables leading from the server rack to the wall.


    I thought about my options. From the equipment I saw here, it seemed likely that this was the students'' internet access and not the compound. Earthmover had likely turned off internet access through a program that ran on the servers--not the router. Additionally, it seemed most likely that Dr. Nation had configured the servers, but he probably hadn''t done much to the router.


    I unplugged the servers from the router, and plugged the ethernet cable into my suit, knowing that if Dr. Nation had designed a trap that merely looked like a router, I was opening myself up to big problems.


    The HUD showed a message that said, "NETWORK DETECTED."


    That was a good first step.


    "Got it?" Vaughn asked.


    I ignored him. Meanwhile, Samita said, "I don''t know precisely what he''s doing, but let''s leave him be."


    Haley added, "I think we should watch in case someone comes this way."


    That started a longer conversation, but I wasn''t listening. I was thinking things through. Even though I wasn''t a hacker, I had put a few tools for hacking into the Rocket suit''s computer when I''d created it. I''d made a point of creating a file listing the default passwords and user accounts for all major routers.


    The only problem with that was that I''d have to bring the router back to factory defaults for the default account to work. That would erase the username and password for the school''s internet account as well--not a good plan.


    I''d also downloaded a vast array of scripts that exploited security holes. Checking the router''s make and model, I searched through my list, finding a script that might get me control--provided recent patches didn''t close the vulnerability.


    I ran the script.


    Unlike the scripts you saw in movies, there weren''t any cool graphics--just a countdown, and then my HUD showed a command line next to a flickering pound sign.


    I had control of the router.


    Within moments, I''d turned internet access back on and made a call out. I hadn''t decided who to call before I made the call. Agent Lim would have been an obvious choice. He could redirect everything with a few words. Dr. Nation would have been an excellent second choice, but I needed help.


    I called Lee, explaining the situation as quickly as I could.


    His only response was, "Leaving." Then he hung up.


    I stared at the words in my HUD: connection lost.


    I considered calling him back, but at the same time I realized that Haley was tapping on my armor''s shoulder.


    "The Cabal kids are coming down the hall."

 Faerieland: Part 21

    I turned around, leaning to the right to peer around the shattered wall. Three figures were walking down the hall. They weren¡¯t close by any means, but they were close enough. The suit pegged them as being three hundred feet away.


    Samita had already turned to face the hall, looking out of the opening we¡¯d made. She turned again¡ªthis time back toward us. ¡°Everyone come close to me.¡±


    Holding her staff in front of herself, she said a few words and the room around me seemed different¡ªalmost transparent. I say almost because I couldn¡¯t see through anything, but I felt like I could. Everything seemed to shimmer¡ªour clothes, hair, the lights (of course)¡ªeven the all black server rack, and the rock walls.


    Amy¡¯s armor shimmered, but that was given.


    Samita said, ¡°We¡¯re invisible now. Don¡¯t talk, and don¡¯t move. It¡¯s possible to hear us. Oh¡­ And we have to stay next to each other. If we don¡¯t, it breaks the spell.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°Could we maybe move to the edge of the room before they get here?¡±


    Amy nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking.¡±


    Samita glanced back toward the opening in the wall, and said, ¡°Sorry, yes.¡±


    As we started to walk, all staying close to each other, Vaughn grinned. ¡°Can you imagine if the spell didn¡¯t allow walking? We¡¯d have been stuck there in the middle of the room, and they¡¯d walk in, totally destroy my leg, and be saying, ¡®I stepped into something that feels like a bloody paste, but I can¡¯t see it. Does that seem weird to you?¡¯¡±


    Haley held her finger to her lips. Vaughn blinked, glancing toward the opening.


    No one stepped through, and that, at least, was good news.


    Barely audible, she whispered, ¡°They heard you.¡±


    We all stopped walking. Fortunately, it was a moot point. We were already next to the wall.


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    I still couldn¡¯t hear them, but I upped the sensitivity of the passive sonar. I got blurry image of the hallway for my trouble and shadowy images of the three figures. They¡¯d closed some distance, but not enough that they¡¯d find us in the next few seconds. Either they had great hearing or Vaughn had been talking loudly.


    Vaughn often did talk loudly, but I couldn¡¯t discount the other option.


    Haley didn¡¯t seem too scared though. She watched the opening, but didn¡¯t seem tense. Bearing in mind that the worst of the Cabal was practically unkillable, I would have expected her to be tense.


    They must have heard Vaughn, but not have been sure of where his voice was coming from.


    I could tell myself that at least.


    After a little while, I could hear their footsteps through the helmet¡¯s sound system. Soon after that they stepped into the room. I recognized them¡ªto a degree. Calvin normally looked slightly heavy, had blond hair, and wore jeans that appeared to be more regularly washed than mine.


    As we saw him then, he was in his other form¡ªa seven foot tall grayish humanoid with clawed hands and webbed feet. He also had gills on his neck. Obviously built for water, he didn¡¯t seem to have any difficulty moving around on land. He wore the student training uniform in red, white and blue.


    Paula, her frizzy brown hair in a ponytail, walked in after him. She walked in wearing the school uniform too, stepping over the remains of the wall without stumbling. The way her eyes swept the room made me suspect that she was taking Lee¡¯s training seriously. That was a good thing overall, but not at this moment.


    The third Cabal descendant didn¡¯t even come into the room. She stood outside the opening, presumably watching the hall. That wasn¡¯t a bad idea either.


    If I remembered correctly, her name was Cindy.


    Calvin stopped next to the router and servers, staring at all the cables that covered the wall, leading upward, both towards the next floor as well as the ceiling of the room.


    I hoped he didn¡¯t know enough to recognize that I¡¯d tampered with it. Near me, Sean stared at them, the expression on his face blank, and unreadable¡ªat least for me.


    I hoped he wouldn¡¯t attack.


    Calvin shook his head. Turning around, voice rasping, he said, ¡°I don¡¯t see anybody.¡±


    Paula shrugged. ¡°Then let¡¯s go. Sure, we heard something, and yes, no one¡¯s supposed to be here, but if we don¡¯t see anybody, we don¡¯t see anybody. They should send somebody good at finding people. We¡¯re just good at hitting people.¡±


    Calvin said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve got sonar, and it works better underwater, but there¡¯s something wrong. It doesn¡¯t feel right in here.¡±


    My stomach felt queasy. Could he sense that? I didn¡¯t want to fight them.


    Paula¡¯s lips curled. ¡°We need to use the¡­ things to contact Hunter.¡±


    She tapped a fleshy growth on the back of her neck. I hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but Calvin had one too.


    Paula¡¯s growth opened one green eye, and she frowned. ¡°Hey, tell Hunter we heard something on the floor with all the labs.¡±

 Faerieland: Part 22

    The green eye blinked, and looked around the room. I held my breath, wondering if they¡¯d see through the spell. It wasn¡¯t a rational thought. Weird fleshy bits with eyes weren¡¯t a faerie thing that I¡¯d ever heard of.


    I supposed though that that kind of thing would have fit comfortably with some of the weirder comics I¡¯d seen¡ªthe ones that veered into horror.


    And what was going on with them anyway? Where did they come from? One of the science labs? I thought harder. For all I knew one of the first years could separate into little bits of him or herself.


    That was gross at best.


    Except¡­ They¡¯d said Hunter. That cleared it up¡ªto a degree. Hunter was a first year student¡ªDiva¡¯s kid. Haley and I had met him on practically the first day we were here. Both of them were able to grow creatures from the cells of their body.


    Maybe he could grow communicators? They didn¡¯t seem to be mind controlled unless the control was extremely subtle.


    Either way it was interesting. I¡¯d never heard of Diva being able to act as her team¡¯s switchboard. She was more famous for duplicating movie creatures.


    That led to a paranoid thought--had I seen anything that Hunter couldn''t have done all by himself? He could have grown the goblins and the troll.


    Then I thought a little more, and realized that he couldn''t. Amy had said that she could handle absorbing normal beings'' essences, but not powerful magical beings like the troll.


    So it had to be Adam being helped by or manipulated by faeries. Or the  Nine. Someone, anyway. Hunter could be collaborating with him though--willingly or unwillingly.


    The impression I''d gotten was that Adam was working with small, and not very powerful faeries. It was called the Shade Circle, after all, and not the Winter Court or the Duchy of... Big Evil People?


    Sean clenched his fist as Calvin stared directly at us.


    I tried to catch his eye and shook my head, hoping he''d recognize what I meant, and wishing desperately that Daniel were here.


    Calvin turned his head toward the door, and said, "Cindy?" Next to him, Paula opened her mouth as if she were about to ask him a question, her dark curls  getting into her mouth as she turned her head.


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    She spat them out.


    Inexplicably, that was when I noticed that she was wearing yellow lipstick.


    Maybe at that moment we should have attacked. With different opponents maybe I would have, but I didn''t. Only Amy and I had chance of taking a punch from them. The others would have to count on mobility, and there was nowhere to move.


    I activated the bots, and checked the laser''s status.


    Cindy stepped into the room, looking like I remembered her--no makeup, straight black hair, and wearing the school training costume like the other two.


    Calvin turned his head back toward us. "I don''t know who you are, but you can''t beat us. We''re descended from this world''s most dangerous men. Unlike them, we''re training to to be heroes. Surrender, and we won''t hurt you."


    The world stopped shimmering. Samita had dropped the invisibility spell.


    I didn''t even have time to complain before she started talking.


    Standing up straight in her Red Hex costume, staff in her hand. "You won''t need to hurt us. You won''t even need to fight us. I''m Samita, one of the third year students. Something''s gone wrong. We''ve been invaded by the fae, and we''ll need your help to set everything right."


    Haley took up where Samita left off. "You know all of us. We''re Stapledon students just like you are."


    Calvin had nodded as Samita talked, listening. Cindy folded her arms across her chest. Paula, like Calvin, nodded along as they spoke.


    Based on that, I felt like we''d have a chance, and maybe in a minute we''d be nine strong instead of six.


    I was wrong.


    Paula opened her mouth to reply and all three of their faces turned red, their expressions to snarls.


    Calvin punched directly at Haley who somehow managed to duck and roll to the side. Calvin had punched with his right arm. With his right arm stretched forward, he''d left his chest and face completely open. His left arm hung by his side, unused, blocking nothing.


    Forgetting about my lasers and the bots I''d activated, I punched him in the solar plexus as hard as I could. That threw him backwards with enough force that he hit the wall on the othe side of the room, cracking it, and getting enough lift that he dropped a foot to hit the ground.


    I got lucky. I hadn''t been thinking ahead when I punched. A good hit to the solar plexus could rupture a person''s abdomen, killing them. Calvin wasn''t having any trouble breathing.


    It was obvious from the howl he gave as he rushed me that he wasn''t doing any of the gasping for breath that a good, nonlethal punch to the abdomen usually produced.


    This time I remembered my weapons, and started firing, hitting him with more than ten goobots before he fell on the floor. He struggled, trying to pull himself free of the strands. He''d probably manage it eventually, but for now he was only managing to get more stuck.


    Even as relief began to wash over me, a scream filled the room. In the peripheral vision of my HUD, I realized that Paula had charged Samita, and that Amy had stepped in, stabbing Paula in the gut.


    Despite everything I''d experienced in fighting the Cabal a year ago, Paula didn''t yank the spear out as the wound began to heal around it, and punch Amy into the wall.


    Instead, she lay on the ground groaning as the gem in Amy''s armor began to glow a brighter red.


    I didn''t have time to absorb that because even as I realized that Amy was draining Paula''s essence, a bright flash of lightning and the sound of thunder filled the room.

 Faerieland: Part 23

    Thanks to my helmet dimming the flash, I had time to notice something I''d missed while fighting Calvin--that Cindy had charged Vaughn and Sean.


    "Had charged" being the operative term. Cindy shuddered as the lightning hit, and fell. Unfortunately, she got back up again, randomly reminding me of the song "Tubthumping."


    The song doesn''t have any lyrics about screaming and tearing people limb from limb, but that''s what appeared to be on her mind as she leapt toward Vaughn.


    She might have succeeded too, but as she flew through the air she hit a wall of ball bearings which enveloped her, preventing her from reaching Vaughn. He''d started diving to the left earlier, and hit her with lightning practically at the same time he hit the ground.


    If  Sean had surrounded her with ball bearings and kept them away from her skin, he might have created an improvised Faraday cage.


    Judging from the spastic jerking of her arms and legs, he hadn''t adequately created a path for the electricity to follow that went around her.


    Of course, he hadn''t been trying to keep her safe, so that was okay. I was actually more surprised that he hadn''t managed to create an accidental Faraday cage, untintentionally protecting her.


    Cindy wasn''t stupid though. She grabbed a couple ball bearings with one hand, and flung them forward.


    One hit my armor in the chest, knocking me backward into the wall. I''d almost forgotten how much of a punch the Cabal''s strongest people could deliver.


    Almost at the same moment, Haley gave a wordless cry.


    She''d been standing partially behind me, but as I flew backwards, she''d dodged me,  putting  herself in the way of the second of the ball bearings.


    It hit her upper right arm. Along with her shout, I realized that I''d also heard the crack of the break without recognizing it.


    Pulling myself away from the wall, I considered using the sonics to get a look at the damage, but didn''t because I remembered that she''d hear the noise.


    Also, she was already moving, jumping behind Samita and Amy.


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    Cindy drew back both of her arms, grabbing ball bearings in each hand. They covered her face, so she couldn''t aim, but if she ever hit Sean, that would end.


    The ball bearings in her left hand never hit anyone, but it was a close thing. Sean stopped them less that a meter from his face.


    In that moment, I realized that anything we were doing here was only temporary. We had to make it permanent or leave.


    Calvin was still struggling in the goo, but he''d be out eventually. Vaughn and Sean had Cindy in place, but they couldn''t keep her down. Sure, Paula appeared to be down for the count, but we weren''t going to want do that to all of them.


    I had a few killbots in the suit. I also had a  laser. Whatever protected the Cabal''s soldiers against physical damage didn''t work against lasers.


    The problem, of course, is that lasers were mostly useful for punching holes through them and chopping pieces off. Their regeneration worked against it, but not instantaneously.


    Lightning arced from Vaughn''s hands toward Cindy even as Sean began to move the ball bearings out of her reach, holding her in the air by touching only her back and the back of her lower legs.


    It was kind of clever.


    Taking the ball bearings away from her face and arms gave me a good look at her though. Both her skin and training suit had circular char marks from where the metal had heated up. They made me think of  branded cattle.


    Fortunately the burns were already healing a little.


    With any luck, they''d heal completely before any authority figures showed up. People would understand that we had to fight them, but it would be harder to forget if everyone saw Cindy looking like she''d been grilled while Paula lay on the floor with her intestines visible to all.


    As she stopped jerking around in response to Vaughn''s lightning, she shouted, "ST-stop! Please stop."


    A bit of flesh fell from the back of her neck. I recognized the charred remains of the flesh creature.


    Calvin screamed, shaking and ripping at the goo. Not wanting him to escape I turned toward him, setting the laser to a low setting, and stepping around him, giving me a better view of the back of his neck.


    "No. Don''t." Samita threw a pill in front of Calvin. It exploded into a cloud of white dust.


    He fell asleep.


    She crushed a second pill in front of Paula''s face as Amy withdrew her spear.


    Paula had been gritting her teeth, her face tight with fear or maybe pain. I couldn''t know which, or if it might be both.


    As the white dust settled across her face and then her body, she relaxed, and her eyes shut. Then she gave a small snore and began to breathe regularly.


    "Sleeping pills?" I stared at the dust, guessing that touching it would be a bad idea.


    "Exactly. They''re not much use as weapons, but they should keep them out of this." Samita took a step toward Paula, her hand covering her mouth, leaning down so she could see the back of Paula''s neck.


    The bit of flesh had fallen off, and curled up in a ball with the eye shut. It was almost weirdly cute.


    Calvin''s had done the same.


    "Without being attached to the body, I suspect the parasites will die of starvation before they wake up." Samita shook her head. "Disgusting that life would be used in such a way."


    Haley took a step after her. The bone in her bicep had broken through the skin. "Sam? Could you get one of your bandages out?"

 Faerieland: Part 24

    Samita rifled through her pouch, moving things with both hands, and finally coming up with an ACE bandage roll. She turned toward Haley and Haley stared at the roll.


    "Are you going to have to set the bone, or will the bandage set it magically?"


    Unrolling the bandage, Samita said, "The bandage will do it."


    Haley''s eyes darted down toward where the bone stuck out. "Good. I hope that means it won''t hurt."


    Samita began to wrap the bandage around the wound. "It shouldn''t hurt, but I can''t promise that it won''t feel a little strange."


    Haley blinked as Samita wrapped the second layer of bandage around her arm. She took a deep breath and said. "You weren''t kidding. I felt it go back in."


    "You''re feeling okay now?" I asked. Samita touched the outside end of the bandage, and it stayed in place, despite having no visible reason to do so.


    Haley moved her arm. "I can''t tell any difference from normal."


    I looked at the bandage again, and then turned toward Samita. "I thought you said it couldn''t heal anything. Didn''t it keep the damage basically the same?"


    Samita shrugged. "If it''s possible to put people back together, it will move pieces back into position. It''s not really healing though. That still takes time."


    "Great," I looked around the room. "I guess we''ve got to figure out what we do next."


    "Seems pretty obvious," Sean said. "We find Earthmover and Adam, and we take Adam down and break the spell on Earthmover. Problem solved."


    I looked over at him. He''d put down Cindy even though the ball bearings were still out and in a pile on the floor. "Both you and Haley are hurt. What do you do if the bandages come off?"


    "Don''t know." Sean put his hands in his pockets. "I guess we put them back on again."


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    Samita looked up from putting the ACE bandage roll back in the pouch. "That''s not how it works. If it comes off, I have to put it on again, but with a new bandage. I''ve only got enough to replace it once for each of you. After that, I can''t do anything if anyone else gets hurt."


    Sean pointed at Amy. "Didn''t she say she could heal too?"


    "I did." Amy eyed him while giving her spear a twirl in one hand. "I also said that you''d like Samita''s better. Her option leaves you feeling like yourself. My magic keeps you together while the spell feeds off your blood. It works great for me because I steal other people''s energy while I fight, but you''ll feel more drained the longer you go on unless I give you an energy transfusion. And I''m sure that at least one person around here wouldn''t like that."


    Samita faced Amy. "I wouldn''t."


    Amy grinned. "See? She''s standing up on your behalf to save you from addiction to evil magic."


    Vaughn cocked his head to look over at her. "It''s addictive?"


    Amy shrugged. "I don''t know. I''ve never tried it on anybody else, but some of the earlier Bloodmaidens acted like they were addicted to battle. Draining people is a rush, and passing it on can''t be much different."


    All in all, it sounded like a good argument for keeping Haley and Sean out of fights.


    Haley wasn''t going to like that much.


    Cindy broke in. "Paula''s going to be okay, right? It doesn''t look like she''s healing."


    She stood next to where Calvin slept on the floor, seemingly unsure of where to put her hands. At first she''d put them in the pockets of her uniform. Then she crossed her arms over her chest, but as she asked her question, she dropped them, eventually holding them together in front of herself.


    Amy''s lips twitched. "Sorry. She''ll be healing a little slower than usual until she gets better. It''ll probably be later today. I haven''t seen very many people who can heal like you all can."


    Cindy nodded, and her eyes settled on Haley. "I''m sorry. I don''t know what I was thinking. I only know that I was angry and needed to get away from all of those metal things. I think that Hunter must have been lying. Those things he had us put on our necks. They could control us."


    "See," Sean said. "That''s what we''ve got to do. We take out Earthmover, Adam and Hunter."


    Samita held her finger to her lips, and said, "Shhh."


    Then she walked up to Cindy and put a hand on her shoulder. "How did it happen that someone sent you down here?"


    Cindy nodded. A tear ran down her cheek, and I wondered if she might be about to cry.


    I hoped not.


    "Was it Earthmover?" I asked.


    "I don''t know about Earthmover," she said. "I haven''t seen him since he left the cafeteria after dinner, but Earthmover told everyone to listen to Adam and Hunter over the intercom. Adam called us to his room and told us we needed to come down here. He said that things that looked like you and Haley were trying to get into the compound. He said that Hunter had come up with a way for us to communicate, and we should put those things on our necks."


    I nodded. "Did you see any fairies?"


    She raised an eyebrow. "What fairies?"

 Faerieland: Part 25

    Samita raised an eyebrow at her question, but didn''t sound at all surprised as she said, "Some of us have good reason to believe that there are fairies in the compound."


    Cindy looked from her to the rest of us. "Like leprechauns or something?"


    "Like the Faerie Incursion back in the 60s," I suggested, hoping that would jog her memory.


    "My school barely spent time on the history of anything after World War 2." She frowned.


    I nodded. "Mine didn''t either, but I heard about it."


    She gave a sigh. "I lived in a small town with about a thousand people and even though I didn''t know it, we were part of a cult created to raise the next generation of the Cabal. We didn''t pay much attention to the outside world."


    "Okay. The short version is that the fae invaded under the command of a duke of the Unseelie court.  The Heroes League were involved, but they didn''t turn the tide alone.  The  real hero of the day was this outcast wizard named... Um..."


    I struggled to think of the name, but Samita finished the sentence for me.


    "Reliquary. He specialized in enchanting items, but particularly in analyzing old enchantments. That''s why he succeeded. He barely knew anything about the fae. He knows more now though. I''m his apprentice. He''s with the other teachers tonight." Samita said it a quiet voice, one that was just barely audible.


    "Fuck," Amy muttered. "Who did you get when you called them?"


    "Gunther," I said, knowing they were more familiar with that name.


    Vaughn started laughing. "The fae are toast. Well, assuming he doesn''t grab you and Rachel and leave."


    Amy took off her helmet. Her eyes went from Vaughn to me, and back to Vaughn. "Really? Why would he do that? I''ve seen him fight and he doesn''t seem to be afraid of anything."


    Before I could caution Vaughn to be careful about how he explained it, Samita said, "Master Reliquary says Gunther''s bound by a contract he made with the original Rocket."


    Amy nodded. "What is he?"


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    Samita frowned. "The master won''t say, or he doesn''t know. All he ever said was that Gunther was the oldest being he''d ever met, and to stay on his good side."


    "Anyway," I said, "back in the Faerie incursion, Gunther was one of the most powerful players on our side. After Reliquary disabled some ancient fae artifact, Gunther had free rein, and started dropping the most dangerous fae warriors like flies."


    I didn''t add that wizards and magical creatures couldn''t detect him even when he changed form. It wasn''t as if I didn''t trust Amy and Samita, but they didn''t need to know that.


    "Wait," Sean said, "you own the guy who''s teaching us to fight? And he''s an immortal?"


    "Not own," I said. "He owes my grandfather. This is how he''s paying it off."


    Haley cocked  her head to the side. "It''s a little like you inherited a servant."


    "An extremely dangerous servant," I said.


    Amy shook her head. "I''m with you there. I''m being raised by the court assassin." She grinned at me. "So what are we doing next? Putting the  hurt on people or waiting here for Nick to be saved?"


    "I don''t think he''ll run in here and save me. He''ll probably do whatever seems the most fun."


    Samita bit her lip. "And what does he think is fun?"


    I thought about it. "Whatever racks up a high body count? And playing guitar."


    Samita''s eyes widened. "He plays guitar?"


    I said, "He gives lessons, but yeah, we should decide what we''re doing next. I hate to suggest this, but now that I''m thinking about it, he might not be as careful about who dies as he ought to be. It might be that we should see if we can solve the problem before he gets here, or at least whatever part of the problem comes from mind controlled people."


    "Can''t you just call someone else?" Vaughn nodded his head in the direction of the servers.


    I looked at the servers. I think we all did. At least one of the servers was smoking. I''d taken off my helmet when we started talking. I put it back on. Thermal imaging showed that the servers, the switches, and the router were all hotter than room tempurature--considerably hotter.


    I''d been smelling a burnt smell that I associated with damaged electronics, but I''d assumed it was because of the lightning.


    Arguably I could be said to be half right about that. Vaughn and Sean had been closest to that end of the room, so they might have been hit by magnetism and lightning.


    Vaughn muttered something, and I said, "Well, not anyone outside the building, but maybe we''ll get someone in the building if the wireless network is different from the network the labs use."


    I checked my HUD as everyone checked their phones. Only Haley and Vaughn appeared on the Heroes League network. Sean, Amy, and Samita appeared on the extended network--they used standard protocols my grandfather had been involved in creating.


    I checked the connection type for each of them. It showed a direct connection--radio--the kind of connection we used when cell towers or a trusted network weren''t available.


    "I hate it when I fuck up," Vaughn said.


    Sean was still staring at the machines.


    Amy shook her head, her red hair brushing over her shoulders. "Eathmover''s probably mind controlled either way, right? And I''m sure he''s capable of taking us out even before we see him. Let''s go after Hunter and Adam. Whether they''re controlled or not, I''m sure they''re at the center of all this."

 Faerieland: Part 26

    "Okay," I said, still not sure if I meant it. "Let''s do it."


    It made sense--sort of. Adam wanted to keep us out of the way, so getting in the way was probably the wisest choice--for some value of "wise." If Adam were doing something in our or the compound''s best interest, we were about to mess it up.


    But if that were true, it was his fault for not bothering to explain anything.


    On the whole though, more evidence pointed in the direction of a conspiracy than against. Weirdo mind control growths didn''t exactly scream, "Hey, we''re the good guys!"


    Well, not unless they made people do it for them.


    It made me wonder if that was Hunter''s innovation or if his mom had been keeping that skill hidden all these years.


    "Fuck, yeah. Let''s take them down," Sean added, giving me a reason to feel less secure about my decision.


    Vaughn grinned at me, probably guessing what I was thinking.


    As I shook my head, Samita exhaled. "Whether it''s the fae or some conspiracy, it''s obvious that we''ll be fighting fellow students to catch them. Some of them may be your friends. Are you ready for that?"


    "I''ve got a lot of goobots," I said, knowing that I didn''t have a full load. Taking down Calvin had taken more than I wanted.


    I hoped we didn''t have to face many more of the Cabal''s descendants. If  we did, I''d go through goobots so quickly I''d be out before the end of the fight.


    I might have to shoot Cabal descendants in the leg with the laser, or set the sonics to find the resonant frequency of the human digestive system. With any luck, desperately needing to puke (or worse) would demoralize people enough that they wouldn''t want to fight.


    Haley glanced down at the bandage on her arm. "If we''re careful we might not have to fight anybody.''


    Samita''s mouth twitched  but didn''t become a smile. She frowned. "Or we might have to fight everyone."


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    * * *


    After discussing it for a while, we had a plan. It was a fairly simple plan. We''d leave Cindy back with Paula and Calvin who were still sleeping and in Paula''s case slowly regenerating from Amy''s spear.


    No one was looking for Vaughn, Sean and Samita, so they went down the hall first. Vaughn and Sean were in normal clothes. Samita was in her Red Hex costume. With the hood down and her mask off, it didn''t stand out as much as you''d expect. It wasn''t as if it were spandex. It was a red, long sleeved shirt over pants. As long as she put her staff away in the pouch, she fit in.


    The same couldn''t be said for Haley and I. We were both fugitives. Haley was in normal, if slightly torn clothes, and might have fit in at first glance. I wore the Rocket suit. In combination with my fugitive status, anyone would assume I was preparing for a fight.


    Amy could have walked with Samita, but only if she''d changed back to normal, and she wouldn''t. When Samita had asked her why not, she''d said, "Because I''d lose everything I got out of Paula. If this goes pear-shaped, we''re going to need all the help we can get."


    No one could argue with her, and that left the three of us trailing behind everyone else holding each other''s hands while Haley held what looked like a puddle of water in her palm.


    It had been a small, translucent globe. In the moments before we walked out the door, Samita explained the rules for making it work. "Once I say the words that activate it, you can''t stop moving. It will keep you from being detected, but only if you move. The moment you stop you''ll become visible. Oh, and you''ll need to hold hands, but as long as you keep moving and hold hands, you can do anything, even fight."


    Amy replied instantly. "Fight? While holding hands? How old were you when you created this spell?"


    Samita sighed. "Young, but it works better than you think. Rod''s defeated whole teams while holding my hand. Well, while holding me."


    I could imagine that--a gigantic, invisible troll holding Samita in one hand while kicking criminals and smashing their cars with his feet.


    I was sure it worked for him.


    Haley frowned. "Didn'' t we use a different invisibility spell just a little while ago?"


    Samita only said, "It has flaws, but it''s better for walking."


    Within a few minutes we were walking down the hall. In the palm of Haley''s hand, waves rolled across the puddle.  I wasn''t sure how it could be possible, but if I concentrated, I could hear the splash and the crash of the waves hitting the beach, and even seagulls.


    There were no little seagulls above her palm. I checked.


    We followed Samita and the rest up the stairs, and it was easy. Hunter and Adam were on the next floor up. Or was it two floors? I wasn''t competely sure. I''d never been to their rooms.


    We walked out of the stairway on to the first years floor--well one of  them anyway.


    The darkened halls were empty of people. It could have been two in the morning instead of nine at night. Distantly I heard someone laugh at a some indistinguishable noise. It sounded like it might be a television show, but it was hard to tell.


    Ahead of us, Samita asked Vaughn and Sean. "Where is their room?"


    Vaughn shrugged. "No idea. I barely spent any time with those guys at all."

 Faerieland: Part 27

    Sean turned his head back toward Samita, frowning. ¡°I know where their room is.¡±


    Vaughn raised an eyebrow, and cocked his head backwards to see Sean¡¯s face. ¡°Sounds like you¡¯ve got a story.¡±


    Sean shook his head. ¡°Yeah, a stupid story. You remember how we tried to keep that alien spaceship in the air while Nick and the others took out its engine?¡±


    Vaughn snorted. ¡°It¡¯s hard to forget.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sean said, taking a breath. ¡°Well, lots of people got video of it, and it looks like the two of us are keeping it up, you know? We know it was mostly Izzy, but she was inside, so no one saw her. Anyway, I¡¯ve been getting piles of attention from that. Like people are calling me and offering big money for me to form a super team.¡±


    Vaughn glanced back in our direction, probably wondering what Haley and I thought.


    I had no idea what I thought.


    Haley muttered something I didn¡¯t catch. She didn¡¯t sound happy.


    Turning his attention back to Sean, Vaughn asked, ¡°How big?¡±


    Sean stopped walking. ¡°Seven figures. We¡¯re talking NBA player money.¡±


    Vaughn gave a whistle. ¡°That¡¯s crazy. Are you taking it?¡±


    Samita cleared her throat. ¡°Sean, could you please show us where we¡¯re going while you talk?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s this way.¡± He started walking again, his footfalls echoing in the nearly empty hall.


    ¡°So anyway,¡± he said. ¡°I feel weird about taking it because I didn¡¯t even hold the ship up in the first place, but the money guys? They don¡¯t care. All that matters to them is that I¡¯ll be visible, you know? I¡¯ve got a name now. I haven¡¯t signed anything, but I will if I get the right offer.¡±


    Vaughn blinked. ¡°Whoa. Yeah, I get that. You¡¯ve been worried about your mom since your dad died.¡±


    Sean kept on walking, pointing right as we came to an intersection. ¡°My mom¡¯s got some money. Dad had life insurance, and he saved. Plus your uncle said he¡¯d help if we ever needed anything, but I¡¯d feel a lot better with several million, you know?¡±


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    I was wondering how this all connected with Hunter, and evidently Vaughn was wondering the same thing because he asked, ¡°What¡¯s Hunter got to do with it?¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± Sean grimaced. ¡°I was talking with him and his mother happened to drop by. She knows one of the money guys. So she told me I ought to sign with him, and all that. I ended up talking with her about it forever. Look, if I¡¯m going to put together my own team with other people¡¯s money, I¡¯m going to bring in people I like¡ªDayton and Jody for sure¡ªnot Diva¡¯s kid and his friends, right?¡±


    Before Vaughn could reply, Sean held up his hand. ¡°Fourth door down.¡± Turning he asked Samita, ¡°How do you want to handle it, knock or break down the door?¡±


    Samita opened her pouch and began fishing around inside. Looking up from whatever she was trying to find, she replied, ¡°Knock first.¡±


    Shaking his head, Sean raised his hand to knock on the door. ¡°You got it.¡±


    He knocked, giving the door a solid hit each time. No one inside could have missed it¡ªwhich most likely meant that no one was inside.


    Samita pulled a bronze colored key out of the pouch. It wasn¡¯t an unusual key. It could have been bought from any locksmith shop in the country. What made it odd was that the door like all the rest of the dorm rooms¡¯ doors had a key card reader, but no place to insert a key.


    She stuck it in the card reader, and with a click, the light on the keycard reader turned green and the door opened.


    Sure, why not?


    Samita had taken her staff out of the pouch along with the key, so as the door opened, she stepped back, hands on the staff, and probably readying a lightning strike.


    Nothing jumped out at her. That, at least was what you¡¯d normally expect out of a room. Their room was neat¡ªbeds made, nothing lying on the floor, drawers shut. Without the pile of books stacked neatly on the dresser, it would be easy to believe that the room was unoccupied.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to try to find something I can use to track them.¡± Samita stepped through the door, staff still in hand. She¡¯d dropped the key back into her pouch.


    Haley, Amy, and I looked at each other, and I asked, ¡°Do you want to follow her? Wait, does she even need to go in? Haley might be able to find them by scent.¡±


    Amy smirked. ¡°Do you really want to try to go in there? We¡¯re already marching in place just to keep this spell working.¡±


    Haley didn¡¯t say anything. She had her eyes closed, and was sniffing the air. After a few moments, she stopped, frowning. ¡°I can smell everybody. I think they had everyone in the halls when they left. It was about an hour ago¡­ You know, they may have all left in the same direction. I¡¯m not sure¡­¡±


    She was still sniffing the air and thoughtfully biting her lip when Samita came back.


    ¡°Good news.¡± She pinched a few pieces of hair between her forefinger and thumb. ¡°I was a little worried when I saw their room, but I managed to find a few pieces of hair caught in a comb.¡±


    She pulled out a basin out of her pouch, and poured water into it from a water bottle. Then she said a few words, and a picture began to form in the water. It showed the park outside the foothill¡¯s rocky top, the park we¡¯d seen as we drove in on the first day.


    Instead of playing children, it appeared to to be filled with students. Adam and Hunter stood in the middle of the group.

 Faerieland: Part 28

    I didn''t see Earthmover at first, but then the picture moved. Earthmover sat on a bench off to the side of the crowd. Seemingly alone,  he stared off into space, or if not space, at least into the air above the residential area of the compound.


    Haley gave me a sidelong glance. "That''s same bench where we..." Her sentence trailed off.


    I gave the spot another look. She was right. I remembered that bench as being out of the way, and this one sat among the trees, slightly separate from the main area visually, but close enough to the edge that you could look out over the houses and lawns below.


    Amy''s mouth slowly widened. "Wait. You didn''t have sex on that bench, did you?"


    Both Haley and I said, "No," at the same time--which set Amy to laughing. This was made even more awkward by the fact that we had to keep on marching in order to keep the spell from ending.


    As Amy finished, Haley glanced over at the visible portion of the group. "I guess this must work on sound too because there''s no way Vaughn would have let that topic die."


    Nodding, Amy said, "You''re right. Samita forgot to mention it, but they do. It''s a fairly clever bit of magic, and it looks like we''re going to have to waste this one if we want to discuss what¡¯s next."


    Amy planted her feet firmly on the ground.


    Instantly everything around me seemed clearer, crisper¡ªnot that there was much to see. One rock wall looked like another. They weren¡¯t perfectly smooth, and they did have streaks of white or other colors of rock running through the more common reddish brown. All the same, Earthmover wasn¡¯t much of a interior designer¡ªnot that I was any better.


    As we appeared, Sean swore, Vaughn¡¯s eyes widened, and Samita gasped. In her hands, the basin of water wobbled.


    She looked at Amy, eyes narrowed, obviously suspecting who had broken the spell.


    ¡°Well,¡± Samita said. ¡°We do need to talk about our plan of action.¡±


    ¡°In the hall?¡± Haley raised an eyebrow.


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    Samita held the basin of water still, watching the water splash against the sides. ¡°We certainly can¡¯t use Hunter and Adam¡¯s room.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯d never expect it,¡± Vaughn said.


    Amy shook her head. ¡°But Hunter might have left his creatures inside to watch the room. I would have.¡±


    She had an excellent point, and if she was right everything we¡¯d said so far would be heading straight to Hunter¡¯s ears.


    Samita let go of the basin with one hand, and shut the door.


    Haley checked up and down the hall. ¡°My room¡¯s not that far.¡±


    I considered pointing out that we were walking around visibly now and the longer we walked, the more likely we were to be caught. Then I realized it wasn¡¯t worth it. The longer we stood around talking in the hall, the more likely we were to be caught too.


    A few minutes of of quiet, but slightly frantic walking brought us to the girl¡¯s section first years¡¯ floors.


    Haley and Camille¡¯s room smelled slightly of perfume or maybe soap. Anyway, it smelled like someone had deliberately assembled a number of things that were supposed to smell good, and there was no point in pretending I had any clue what they all were.


    They¡¯d made their beds (Camille¡¯s was neater). It reminded me of Adam and Hunter¡¯s room, but less sterile.


    Camille¡¯s laptop sat on one of the desks. I¡¯d noticed it before. It had a wide screen, but was ultimately slow and underpowered. In short, highly disappointing.


    The orange and blue calendar listing all the Detroit Tigers¡¯ games for the year? That was Haley¡¯s.


    Sean glanced at the bottom of the mirror where the calendar stuck. His mouth twisted into a frown for a moment, but he didn¡¯t say anything.


    Vaughn looked around the group, catching people¡¯s eye. ¡°It looks like we¡¯re going to fight everybody at once. Looks like we might have to use a tornado or something.¡±


    Samita¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Are you crazy? You could easily kill somebody, probably a lot of people.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°I wasn¡¯t saying attack them with it. We might have to scare them though. We sure can¡¯t charge them, and fight everyone hand to hand.¡±


    Before Samita could reply, I said, ¡°Vaughn¡¯s got a point. I think we¡¯ll have to use Vaughn and Sean for a distraction, but I¡¯m not sure anything¡¯s really changed from what we were talking about earlier. Adam and Hunter are obviously behind what¡¯s going on right now. Other people might be using them, but they¡¯re controlling everybody. If we take them out, all we have to do is survive what comes after that.¡±


    Her gauntleted hands moving as she talked, Amy said, ¡°Exactly. That¡¯s what I was going to say. It¡¯s just a question of who takes them out. Haley might be good for Earthmover. Fog the place up, and he¡¯ll never know what hit him.¡±


    ¡°Earthmover?¡± Haley grimaced. ¡°He didn¡¯t look like he was all there. Are you sure it¡¯s worth it?¡±


    Amy gave her a very firm, ¡°Yes. He may look out of it, but as long as he¡¯s awake our chances go lower. Nick, do you have anything to add?¡±


    ¡°Not really,¡± I said. ¡°But I was just thinking a couple things. First, it kind of bugs me that if Tara¡¯s around, she¡¯s probably on the other side. Second, why do you think he brought them outside?¡±

 Faerieland: Part 29

    Samita furrowed her brow as she thought. "There are spells best done with a multitude of bodies for sacrifice, or simply to add to the metaphysical weight of the ritual."


    "The more people, the more power?" Vaughn sat on Haley''s dresser. Haley''s eyes flicked in his direction, but she didn''t say anything.


    Samita''s mouth tightened, "Not... exactly, but that can be true."


    Amy had taken off her helmet when the door shut. She swung it in her left hand, "I don''t see any sign that Adam''s been trained as a wizard. I looked into his room a little, and we both know everyone in the magic program. He''s not in it."


    Samita nodded. "He''s not, but it''s obvious he''s connected to the fae somehow. Depending on how connected he is, he might be able to turn even a small amount of knowlege into a threat."


    "Sure," Amy said, "but don''t think magic. Think people. My ancestors  required all the major noble families to have a household in the capital. It made communicating easier, but it also meant conveniently located hostages in case of a rebellion."


    Vaughn nodded. "That makes sense.  Think about it. You''ve got kids from  all the most prominent super families. You can do anything with them--kill them, sell them off to the Dominators, whatever."


    I thought about that. Mind control was the Dominators theme. Hunter would be prime material for them. Getting hooks into the next generation of heroes was something they could only fantasize about.


    All the same, this didn''t have the feel of a Dominator operation. I''d read a little about them, and they weren''t the type to take chances. Adam and Hunter were wild cards. So were the rest of the students. Getting them all together in one place practically begged for someone to discover how to break whatever the control mechanism was.


    This felt like someone less paranoid, or more confident.


    Maybe it was simply Adam, or Hunter or both.  Of course, even if they were doing this on their own, it didn''t mean that the Dominators wouldn''t be willing to take over (in more than one sense) if it worked.


    "I hope they''re not working for the Dominators," I said, thinking about Daniel, and for that matter, Izzy. Her grandfather was bad enough.


    Of course, Daniel would likely be able to hold out for a while. His father knew the Dominators'' methods, and he''d probably passed the knowlege on.


    It seemed likely.


    "I don''t think the Dominators are involved," Samita said. "They avoid fae whenever possible. My master told me that they tried to take over a faerie queen once, and it backfired--badly."


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    Sean looked toward the door, and then back to us. "We''ve got to get out there and stop wasting our time. We don''t know enough to figure out who''s behind it. Let''s get out there and end this."


    He stomped his right foot on the ground for emphasis.


    We couldn''t prepare for the Dominators at this point--especially with Daniel being one of the potentially affected parties. Bearing in mind what Samita had said, we could prepare for the fae. "What all did you manage to do in Samita''s lab before you had a to leave?"


    Amy and Samita looked at each other. "Not much," Amy said. "The good news with the fae is that the less powerful ones can''t do much more than illusion and misdirection. We found a way to break an enchantment. Samita doesn''t like it much. It''s blood magic."


    Samita gave her a look. "I''m not saying we shouldn''t use it. I said I felt compromised by helping you. In the end, you came up with something in time. I couldn''t. Show it to them."


    Amy pulled two big glass shakers out of her pouch--the kind that pizza restaurants use to store red pepper flakes or parmesan cheese. It seemed a little strange to see her holding shakers in her black gauntlets.


    Vaughn started laughing. "You enchanted red pepper flakes?"


    The red flakes inside the  shakers glittered more than normal.


    Amy laughed with him. "No. Don''t be silly. I created little gems out of blood and I enchanted them just like I created bigger gems to ward Nick''s lab."


    "Oh," Vaughn grinned at her. "Why''d you use the pepper shakers then? And where''d you get them"


    "Easy. I knew I didn''t need to hit them with much blood for this, and I didn''t know how much I''d need, so I erred on the side of caution by making a lot of little pieces. I already had a plan in mind, so I nicked a couple shakers from the catering department on the way out."


    Samita''s eyes widened. "You stole them?"


    Amy rolled her eyes. "I don''t know why you''re so concerned for the compound''s catering service. Anyway, I was planning to give them back afterward. It''ll be fine."


    Samita''s voice turned to a loud whisper. "You might break them."


    Amy shrugged. "I''m sure they plan to lose a few. No big deal. Pretty small thing in comparison to your average super fight."


    "She''s got a point," Vaughn said.


    Next to me, Haley had started giggling. When I looked at her, she said, "We''re in the middle of all this, and we''re arguing about pepper shakers."


    Then she stepped in to the middle of the room. "Amy? Samita? Let''s not worry about it, okay? We still have a lot to decide. We need to get done and go."


    "Finally," Sean said.


    Fifteen minutes later we had all the plan we were likely to get. We walked down the hall as a group, toward the exit in the back of the row of shops on the ledge near the park. We were prepared to fight, but hadn''t seen anyone yet, so we didn''t expect to.


    It looked like we''d get on to the ledge without anything interesting happening, but as we walked down the wide hallway that allowed staff to get into the backs of the stores, I heard a familiar voice--Daniel''s.


    He stood next to Izzy, Cassie and Camille. They were all in costume.


    They must have entered from the outside. I hadn''t felt it when we got within his telepathic range like I normally did.


    I wasn''t sure what that meant. Was it really Daniel? I hoped not, but didn''t get to try to communicate by League communicators as a test.


    Amy shoved the pepper shakers into Samita''s hands and jumped toward their group, moving at speeds I''d generally only seen out of Jaclyn or Izzy, shattering rock when her feet hit the rock floor.


    Izzy aimed for her, and they hit with enough force that they blasted through the back wall of one of the shops.


    So much for the element of surprise.

 Faerieland: Part 30

    Chunks of the rock wall flew in all directions, both into and out of the shop. Worse, a huge slab of rock from just above where Amy and Izzy broke through waited until after the initial crash to fall.


    It came to rest inside the hall, its lower end wedged against the remains of the shop''s rear entrance.


    Noting that the chunk of rock was not only between us and Daniel, Cassie, and Camille, but also between us and the exit we''d planned to use, it was time to re-think that part of the plan. I wondered if we should follow Izzy and Amy out of the shop they''d wrecked, but that question was answered quickly in the negative.


    Taking a booming punch that I couldn''t see, but heard and felt,  Amy flew back out of the shop, hitting the rock chunk that fallen in the hallway, shattering it. Rock shards hit the Rocket suit, some of them as big as golf balls.


    Haley dropped behind me.  Samita said a few words I didn''t catch, and then stumbled on a piece of rock, ducking in time to avoid a chunk of rock the size of her head.


    In front of us, Amy rolled off the dust and rock bits that remained after she hit.  Then she ran back into the shop, meeting another unseen, but booming blow which turned into a series.


    "If we''re fortunate," Samita said, "Amy will keep Izzy away from the rest of us, and we''ll be able to get close enough to free the rest of them."


    Assuming it''s really them, I thought.


    "And if we''re unfortunate," Vaughn said, his voice coming from behind me, "we''ll get in their way and be turned into a bloody paste."


    Sean muttered, "No kidding, I can feel every hit."


    Samita stepped backward, handing Sean one of the pepper shakers. "We can free them. If it''s a glamour of the lesser fae, it might even break without magic. Sometimes all you need is to show the truth."


    That made sense. If it was that easy to break the illusion, they''d work some reason that Daniel shouldn''t look into our heads into their story.


    "Don''t try to fight them no matter what," I said, wondering if we should go through one of the shops we''d passed. Daniel and the rest would be sure to follow us, and if he wasn''t using telepathy to sense what was ahead, we''d be able to pepper them into reality before they knew it.


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    Of course, if he was using his ability to sense the immediate future, I had no idea what would work.


    As if to illustrate that being thoughtful doesn''t always get you as far as it ought to, the crashing inside turned in to a thundrous series of crashes that reminded me of what it might sound like if I dropped a  stack of plates--giant plates in this case. Along with the sound of rock came the sound of shattering windows, all of the noises moving in the direction from which we''d come.


    Haley had moved to stand next to me in the front. In a low voice, she said, "They''re trying something. I can smell it, and Camille''s heartbeat is rising."


    "We  should walk up to them and talk." I started to follow my own advice, but as I took my first step, my legs felt heavy. Behind me, I heard people fall. Haley had taken a step with me, but stopped. "No one else can move."


    Samita and Sean lay on the ground. Vaughn had managed to stay upright by leaning against the wall, and falling to one knee.


    Not sure in the moment if I should loose a barrage of goobots at Daniel and the others, I reminded myself that this was the non-violent version of the fight.


    If I didn''t push him, Daniel wouldn''t try to hurt anyone.


    Not reading my mind, but still choosing the right moment, Daniel said, "Please don''t fight. Nick, take off the armor. Haley, lay down on the on ground. We''re not here to hurt you. Everything''s going to be okay."


    I thought about it, and commanded the suit to disassemble. The main suit turned into a block of ceramic. The inner layer separated into my stealth suit.


    Somewhere behind me, I heard Sean sigh.


    I felt the gravity then. The stealth suit included the same artificial muscles that the main suit did, but not as many or as strong. It didn''t support the head, for one.


    In the main suit, I stood effortlessly. In the stealth suit, I let myself be pulled down to the ground.


    Haley went down with me, mouthing the words, "Are you okay?"


    "I think so."


    Daniel, Cassie and Camille walked toward us, Daniel in front. Cassie held the Abominator gun in her hands. That was an even better reason not to fight. The gun existed to destroy, and I wouldn''t put it past it to fire any time it could get away with it.


    I was going to have break Daniel''s enchantment myself, and I had an idea of how to do it. I just didn''t like it much. "Why are you doing this? You know us. We''re not going to hurt anybody."


    Daniel didn''t say anything, and neither did anyone else. He''d probably told them to stay quiet.


    "You don''t really know Hunter or Adam. You''ve known me for years. I''m guessing that they''ve told you I''m mind controlled or something."


    His mouth twitched. I''d almost certainly hit there. "You put everything in place there yourself. You know it''s good. It probably even includes techniques your dad has used against the Dominators. Now ask yourself, how in the world Hunter and Adam would know I''d been taken over?"


    He bit his lip. I hoped this meant I''d struck home. If I hadn''t I might have to get personal. Hopefully, he''d forgive me later.

 Faerieland: Part 31

    Daniel''s mask covered all of his face but his mouth and chin, making it more difficult to read him, but not completely impossible.


    He stopped biting his lip, leaving his mouth a straight line.


    "Daniel," I said, "look inside my head. You''ll be able to tell what''s really going on in seconds."


    He didn''t say anything for a second, but then... "They told me you''d say that. I can''t. It''s not a fairy invasion. You''re all demon possessed. You may not believe it, but I''ve been shown the evidence. I need you to go with us, and we''ll bring to someone who can cure you."


    Off to my left on the ground, Samita quirked an eyebrow.  "Really? Who? I''m not aware that we have any exorcists on the staff."


    Daniel jerked his head and frowned. "I don''t know."


    That was an opening, and I went for it. "Right there, that should tell you something. I know you. You always know that kind of thing because you can''t help but check."


    "I..."  He stopped talking, drifting off into thought.


    "Daniel!" Cassie had been pointing the gun off to the side, but as she spoke, she pointed it directly at us. "You know you''re not supposed to listen to them. They don''t know they''re being controlled."


    To us, she said, "Stop talking. When Camille lets you up, you''ll go where you''re told."


    Vaughn''s voice came from behind me. "Cassie--"


    She interrupted him before he could finish. "Don''t talk!"


    It might have been my imagination, but it seemed like I could hear real pain in her voice then. There was no denying she''d gotten louder though.


    "Fuck," Sean muttered, but not apparently loud enough for Cassie to hear.


    I wondered how long I had before Sean tried to take them all out. He might be able to if he started by blinding Cassie--assuming she was limited to her own sight. She''d said something about seeing through the gun once.


    No, Sean was screwed, and so was I if I let this go too long, and also apparently if I talked.


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    I wondered if I could get in to Daniel''s head. Normally I could sense when I was within his range even if it was more an ability to sense his absence than his presence.


    I didn''t feel the easy, almost unthinking connection we usually shared. He was deliberately keeping me out. All the same, this wasn''t entirely a voluntary connection on his part. We shared dreams sometimes if we were sleeping in range of each other--sometimes dreams we both wanted to forget.


    In my defense, his mom was at least as attractive to guys as he was to women. And yes, we were one hundred percent certain she wasn''t in my head.


    Anyway, it seemed like our minds didn''t see any reason to respect normal boundaries with each other--which meant that if I made him angry he''d be in my mind before he knew it.


    It also meant that no matter how much he tried to keep me out, it might be that he couldn''t.


    I hoped he wouldn''t freak out if I succeeded.


    Feeling my heart beat faster, I wondered if I should try to control my growing nervousness, possibly by breath control exercises. Then I discarded it. I could use the emotion. I needed something to get Daniel''s attention.


    Besides fear might be healthy. Not being as powerful as his dad or grandfather was one of Daniel''s issues, and I was about to twist the knife.


    Then I concentrated on what bothered me about the whole idea. It wasn''t he would hurt me. It was that he might not forgive me when this was all over. The last time we''d talked about it, he''d shouted at me. I didn''t want to go there again.


    I ran that through my head, going where I felt the most pain.


    Haley noticed. She met my eyes, whispering, "Are you okay?"


    Cassie shouted, "No talking!" Her gun glowed around the muzzle, but it wasn''t firing--yet.


    I nodded. Of course I couldn''t tell Haley anything, so that was more frustrating than helpful because she was distracting me.


    All at once though, I felt Daniel sense me. Whether it was my own anxiety plus my frustration, or all of that plus the added stab of fear about Cassie''s state of mind that got his attention, I didn''t know.


    Before I could think better of it, I thought at him, Your dad was part of the group that teamed up with Justice Fiend to fight demons in the 90s, wasn''t he? Plus your grandfather fought against the fae back in the 60s, and didn''t he stop a dybbuk on his own?


    Why aren''t you as good?


    I didn''t have the same level of sophistication as Daniel did with mind to mind communication, but I could sense strong emotions. What I sensed at that moment would have meant that Luke Skywalker was heading straight for the dark side of the force.


    Daniel''s consciousness poured into my head. He''d done that before many, many times, but never with this undercurrent of anger. We''d had arguments. We''d even had telepathic arguments, but never arguments where I felt invaded.


    He went around the defenses he''d put into my head without being stopped. Unlike the last psychic who''d been in my head, he didn''t immediately go into a screaming fit because of the "psychic landmines" that duplicated the effect that Lee had on telepaths.


    He knew how to avoid them, of course.


    I felt the shock of his realization as he understood what I''d been doing, and experienced flashes of every moment since I''d disappeared.


    Oh, he thought.

 Faerieland: Part 32

    And then things got weird. Well, they didn¡¯t become instantly weird, but soon enough.


    Amy had put a spell on me that allowed me to see in the dark, and more importantly to see through illusion. I hadn¡¯t seen anything when I looked at Daniel because he wasn¡¯t an illusion, but as he sensed my memories I sensed his.


    As I connected, I knew without doubt that there were illusions in his mind.


    It all came in a cascade of images, sounds and feelings. I felt his anger and fear as Haley and I disappeared into the floor, and his determination to find out what had happened. I heard Earthmover order everyone to their rooms,  and everyone¡¯s voices as he¡¯d messaged the League. They¡¯d divided into groups. Camille, Izzy and Cassie were in his, and like us, they¡¯d walked the darkened halls of the compound¡¯s rock warren.


    That¡¯s where I found myself following two memories at once. In one they walked toward the stairs to the basement, Daniel telling them, ¡°Nick¡¯s in this direction. I don¡¯t know where, but we¡¯ll¡ª¡±


    And then they were caught. Daniel only knew that he was in the middle of darkness, and that all the walls had disappeared. For all that he ran or flew, he never found the walls, and always he had a sense of something big watching him from the dark.


    I could feel him reach out with his mind, and never quite connect with it.


    Then the scene switched. They were in an office together¡ªCamille, Cassie, Daniel and Izzy. Earthmover sat behind a rock desk on an intricate rock throne inlaid with gold.


    That seemed wrong, and as I thought it, Daniel thought, I know. I don¡¯t know how I missed it then¡ªoutside of the magic, obviously.


    The more I looked, the more it looked like a medieval castle. It had a high ceiling with tall thin windows, a fireplace, and pillars decorated with gold and silver.


    Weirdly his desk also had a computer.


    I also noticed that whoever did the interior decorating had a thing for dragons (or possibly for Game of Thrones). Tapestries on the wall showed dragons burning towns, and dragons mating in the air. Interlocked dragons decorated the edges of the tapestries.


    Saying it didn¡¯t fit with what I¡¯d seen of Earthmover was an understatement. For one, he seemed to go with a minimalist ¡°make rock beautiful¡± approach. For another, he had a house down in the suburbs below the foothill like all the rest of the compound¡¯s permanent residents.


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    Daniel knew that. I knew that. Everybody knew that.


    In a deep, throaty voice that wasn¡¯t Earthmover¡¯s, Earthmover said, ¡°I have an important mission for all of you. The reason I sent Nick and Haley away is that they¡¯ve been possessed by demonic forces. They need to be kept away from the school. You¡¯ll need to help me stop them if they escape¡­¡±


    And then they were in the school¡¯s halls again, but now they were looking for us.


    With a cracking noise even that disappeared, and Daniel and I stood together against an infinite black background¡ªjust the two of us.


    Daniel shook his head. ¡°We were supposed to get you under control and then bring you to Earthmover, or whoever that was.¡±


    He stared off in to the distance for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t know what would have happened to you, but I was prepared to do it for the good of the school. I¡¯m sorry. I should have seen through it.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°No worries. I don¡¯t feel right about throwing your father and grandfather at you like that.¡±


    Daniel nodded. ¡°I need to do something about that. Anyone could throw that in my face, and if I go berserk it will make me look bad and take the team along with me.¡±


    He stopped, and took a breath. ¡°It still didn¡¯t feel good.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Daniel stood there, saying nothing for a moment, and shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s okay. We need to get back to the real world now, and fix this mess.¡±


    Then we were back. I lay on the floor next to Haley, gravity holding me down. Daniel stood next to Cassie and Camille, the shattered mess of store and hallway between us.


    Daniel turned toward the two of them. ¡°We¡¯ve got to talk,¡± he began.


    He barely got the words out when Cassie twisted, pointing the gun at him. Its muzzle grew bright, but it never fired.


    Cassie stared down at it, her jaw dropping, her face illuminated by the gun¡¯s light.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Samita let go of the pepper shaker she¡¯d been holding. It zoomed across the floor, out of sight to anyone who could still stand, and then flew upward, giving Cassie and then Camille a shake to the face before either of them knew what happened.


    Then it hovered next to Daniel.


    At the same moment, I suddenly felt several times lighter. I knew exactly why when Camille flew over Cassie and Daniel to land in front of Haley, offering her a hand up.


    When Haley accepted it, she pulled her into a hug, and then me, crying and apologizing the entire time. She let go in time for me to hear Cassie tell Daniel, ¡°Congratulations. You¡¯re the first person the gun hasn¡¯t shot on demand. It tells me that it won¡¯t shoot allies when it¡¯s not sure I¡¯m in my right mind.¡±


    Vaughn had already pulled himself up, and grinned at her. ¡°Then we¡¯re safe forever, right?¡±


    Cassie pointed the gun down. ¡°It says it¡¯s willing to shoot you any time you¡¯d like.¡±


    They laughed.


    Then Amy and Izzy crashed into the hall behind us, shattering the walls around them.

 Faerieland: Part 33

    Amy came through first, hitting the far side of the hallway with her back, or technically with her armor. Izzy came through along with her, readying another punch, her mouth curled in a snarl.


    Her punch hit Amy in the jaw¡ªshe¡¯d lost her helmet somewhere¡ªand I heard her jaw break. Her head hit the wall hard enough that visible cracks spread out at least six feet, her red hair spreading out behind her.


    The Cabal¡¯s soldiers were tough, but I¡¯d seen them die. If Izzy kept on hitting like that, Amy wouldn¡¯t be able to stand up to it. Besides, however Amy siphoned off other people¡¯s powers, she might not have gotten the total package.


    Daniel, probably thinking the same thing that I was, shouted, or maybe screamed Izzy¡¯s name telepathically. He didn¡¯t even have the presence of mind to keep it private between the two of them.


    It echoed in my brain, not activating the mental defenses Daniel put in only because I wasn¡¯t the target.


    I don¡¯t know if that made her hesitate, or even if she heard him. All I know is even as Izzy¡¯s next punch flew toward Amy¡¯s forehead, Amy dodged it, and spat blood into Izzy¡¯s face. A couple teeth fell out of her mouth along with it.


    At least that¡¯s what I guessed had happened from the blood on Amy¡¯s chin and Izzy¡¯s face, and fact that Izzy¡¯s hand had punched into the rock wall where Amy¡¯s head had been. Also, even if the blows had been little more than blurs, I saw the teeth drop.


    They stood there motionless, and then Izzy said something to Amy that I missed because of the distance. It had to be friendly because she held out her hand, and pulled Amy to her feet.


    Then they walked toward us. When they came into earshot, Amy put her arm on Izzy¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll be okay.¡±


    She said it clearly and without mumbling¡ªwhich I would not have expected from someone whose jaw had been cracked. Glancing at her mouth showed that The Cabal¡¯s regeneration abilities were all there. Aside from the blood on her chin, there was no sign it had ever been broken. She even had teeth.


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    Izzy¡¯s forehead furrowed as she turned her head toward Amy. ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±


    Amy grinned. ¡°Not normally. Normally I¡¯d be dead, but I¡¯m borrowing powers from The Cabal right now, so I¡¯m fine.¡±


    Shaking her head, Izzy said, ¡°I don¡¯t know what came over me. After you attacked, I wanted to kill you. I didn¡¯t hold back at all.¡±


    ¡°Like I said before,¡± Amy looked up at Izzy, ¡°it¡¯ll be okay. No permanent harm done. I wanted you to attack me. That was the plan, or my plan anyway. I had a spell that only needed a little of my blood to work. I thought you¡¯d draw some, and I was right. I only wish it hadn¡¯t taken so long.¡±


    Izzy sighed, but then said, ¡°I never want to lose control like that again.¡±


    And then we were all together. I turned toward Samita, ¡°When you were talking, it sounded like you thought the lesser fae cast easily breakable spells.¡±


    Before I finished, Amy was saying, ¡°The fae don¡¯t actually cast spells. It¡¯s more of¡ª¡° and Samita was saying, ¡°I did not say that. The lesser fae seldom cast spells. Their abilities are usually inherent in their being.¡±


    Haley nodded as Samita talked, but said, ¡°You did say their illusions and misdirection were easy to break, but Izzy and Cassie both tried to kill people. Acting that out of character should have freed them, should it?¡±


    Samita swallowed. ¡°Yes, but even if we¡¯re facing lesser fae, whoever¡¯s leading them might not be. And I can think of a distinct possibility.¡±


    Haley eyed her. ¡°Who?¡±


    With a quick look up and down the hall, Samita said, ¡°Remember the faerie duke who led the incursion? One of his vassals was a dragon. The greater dragons are¡­ famously persuasive.¡±


    Amy stopped smiling, and asked, ¡°Which dragon?¡±


    Samita only said, ¡°You know better. I¡¯m not going say his name when it might get his attention, but he was on the final you took last year.¡±


    ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± Amy stared at her. ¡°One of those dragons?¡±


    Haley eyed me. ¡°You should get your armor back on.¡±


    She was right. I was already feeling naked. With all the noise Izzy and Amy had made, people outside must have realized that something was going on.


    As my armor surrounded me, Sean said, ¡°Wait, a dragon? Dragons are real?¡±


    ¡°As real as Evil Beatnik, remember? You were there for that,¡± Vaughn said.


    Sean muttered, ¡°I never got my head around that either.¡±


    My HUD activated, giving me a list of all the League members with active communicators. There wasn¡¯t anyone I couldn¡¯t see in front of me. That meant Rachael, Jaclyn, and Travis were either deep in the compound or their communicators were off.


    We¡¯d have to continue with the plan we had, but if we were going to have to fight a dragon, I was going to need a bigger suit.


    Fortunately I had one.

 Faerieland: Part 34

    I looked over at Daniel. "Do you know what''s going on out there? We have a plan, but all we know is that everybody is outside in the park. We were basically going to take out the leaders and go on  from there, but we didn''t include dragons in the plan."


    Not giving Daniel a chance to reply, Haley asked, "And why aren''t they coming to investigate all the noise?"


    Cassie looked toward the hole in the wall, into the shop, and (I''m assuming) out of the shop''s front. "She''s right. They''re not."


    Daniel closed his eyes. "Give me a second. I''ll find out."


    "I''m surprised you don''t already know." I glanced toward the hole myself. With the Rocket suit''s sonar, it was obvious Amy and Izzy had trashed the place.


    Dresses and clothes racks covered the floor. I wasn¡¯t at the right angle to look out the front, but given the holes I was already seeing in the walls from the angle I had, I didn¡¯t doubt that Cassie had a great view. The front had to have a huge hole too.


    I also didn¡¯t doubt that their insurance agent would be feeling distinctly unhappy. Chunks of rock didn¡¯t improve most clothes.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to read anybody out there.¡± Daniel opened his eyes. ¡°It doesn¡¯t help that they¡¯re near the limit of my range.¡±


    Izzy frowned, turning her head toward the shop and then she turned back to the rest of us. ¡°They¡¯re talking, but they¡¯re making no sense at all.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Daniel said. ¡°They¡¯re high, and more than halfway to sleep.¡±


    Samita put her hand to her chin. ¡°That sounds like the result of some kind of a faerie draught. I don¡¯t remember what kind, but it seems like something I read about.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± Amy said. ¡°You don¡¯t know anything about it? Are you sure you¡¯re really Samita?¡±


    Samita¡¯s lip curled. ¡°I haven¡¯t studied everything, and I certainly haven¡¯t spent very much time learning about faerie foods, and their effects on humanity¡ª¡°


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    She sounded like she could have gone on for a while, but Sean interrupted. ¡°So what are we going to do now? Are we going in or not? We weren¡¯t planning on a dragon.¡±


    And he had a point. Taking on something that obviously gave Amy pause probably wasn¡¯t smart at all. I got the impression that she wasn¡¯t intimidated by much when she was transformed.


    Plus, if we did, we¡¯d have to corral more than five hundred drunk people. The wiser option had to be keeping our heads down and waiting for Lee and all the other teachers¡ªprovided he brought them.


    As little as Lee paid attention to it himself, he¡¯d always told his students, ¡°Fights are more trouble than they¡¯re worth for you people. Don¡¯t escalate the situation and fewer people will get hurt, including you.¡±


    Footsteps echoed in the hall behind us. I turned. Everyone of us turned finding a man  there. Middle aged, he wore a black, pinstriped suit. He could have fit into any boardroom or political gathering and no one would have given him a second look.


    Well, at least he would have fit in in Europe or its former colonies. Over six feet tall, the man had dark, brown hair, and pale skin. Though it wasn¡¯t obvious, muscles filled out the suit.


    Oh and one other thing¡ªAmy¡¯s spell that gave us the ability to see through illusion added one more detail¡­ The shadowy form of a black scaled dragon existed in the same place as he stood, extending past the walls and down the hall.


    ¡°Shit,¡± Vaughn said, showing that I wasn¡¯t the only one who saw it.


    When the man spoke, I recognized the voice. It was the one that had spoken to Daniel in both versions of how he¡¯d come to be searching for us¡ªthe one where he was alone in the hall as well as in the throne room.


    ¡°Well met,¡± said the man, his voice as deep as I remembered.


    ¡°Don¡¯t meet his eyes,¡± Samita whispered.


    ¡°Seriously, don¡¯t,¡± Amy said.


    ¡°Wisely said.¡± The man stopped a few feet short of us. ¡°Weaker minds have been known to be overpowered by my kind. Yours are doing remarkably well, and it¡¯s not all because of the Bloodmaiden¡¯s spell.¡±


    He turned his face toward her. ¡°How the Bloodlords have fallen, eh? Denying the true shape of their power and hiding it behind a facade. Only a few generations ago and you¡¯d have been allowed to stay in your home.¡±


    Amy laughed. ¡°What are you trying to do, recruit me? You¡¯re slighting my family, and praising our past with the same breath. You don¡¯t have anything I want, monster.¡±


    ¡°No? I¡¯ve fought with and against your family. I¡¯ve seen more generations than you know, and I know this. In the end, you always go back. The pull of the throne is too strong.¡±

 Faerieland: Part 35

    Amy lowered her chin, looking at him as much as she could without meeting his eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t want the throne, and even if I did, I don¡¯t want to kill my sister and plunge the kingdom into war.¡±


    The man shrugged. ¡°Give yourself time. You might find that you feel differently in another hundred years.¡±


    Hundred years? I thought.


    To judge from Amy¡¯s thoughts, Daniel replied, the nobility, and particularly the Bloodmaidens are long lived¡ªassuming they don¡¯t die in combat¡ªand they do that a lot.


    ¡°And maybe I won¡¯t,¡± Amy told him. ¡°But enough of this, neither of us are here to talk about my family. Before we talk about why we are here, I think we should be properly introduced. I¡¯m Princess Amelia of the House of Sacrifice, Lords of the Northern Islands, sometime Emperors of all the lands between there and the River Whip. Here, I¡¯m known as Amy to my friends, and Bloodmaiden to the world at large.¡±


    Though I deliberately avoided his eyes, I saw him smile. A flicker of fire escaped the corner of his mouth. ¡°Though young, you are remarkably well trained. You managed to introduce yourself completely accurately, and yet not in such a way that your name could be used. Well done. Allow me to do the same. I¡¯m called Artaxus, Eldest of the Great Worms. I am an earl of the Unseelie Court, and hold the Nightmare Mountains from the Frozen Land south to the Great Sea. I am know as Earl Landreaver to the fae, and in certain books that have made it to mortal lands. Some refer to me as the Eldest.¡±


    Amy and Samita exchanged a look.


    I didn¡¯t know what they were thinking, but found myself thinking about our chances in a fight. Mostly I didn¡¯t want to get into one in the hallway. If the dragon could breath fire while wearing a human shape, Daniel, Samita, Haley, Vaughn, Camille and Sean would probably die in an instant.


    We had to get out where Haley might be able to dodge, and the rest could bring bring their own powers into play.


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    The problem was that if we did get out, we¡¯d also have to keep him away from the other students in case a stray blast of fire went in their direction.


    ¡°Now,¡± Artaxus said, ¡°let¡¯s talk about why we¡¯re here. I¡¯m here because a young man of your acquaintance let me in. All I had to do was agree to be a distraction for the inhabitants for a day or two, and after that I was free to do whatever I wanted with the compound. You, I assume, are here to stop me.¡±


    Amy said, ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± in a flat voice.


    ¡°Then all I ask you to do is leave me alone until tomorrow. After that I¡¯ll release all your friends, though I will insist that all humans leave the compound.¡±


    Amy nodded. ¡°And why is that?¡±


    Artaxus grinned, showing more white teeth than a human mouth should have. ¡°Because after that, I¡¯ll hunt down every human remaining unless they¡¯ve pledged their fealty to me.¡±


    From behind me, Sean¡¯s voice rang out clearly. ¡°Oh come on, people won¡¯t rest until they¡¯ve destroyed this place and all of you.¡±


    Still grinning, Artaxus said, ¡°That¡¯s possible, but I¡¯ll take my chances. You have to remember young man, that we tried this before, and we learned from it. This is our beachhead in the mortal world. We won¡¯t surrender it easily. Let me assure you that your world¡¯s response is anticipated, and we are preparing for it.¡±


    Daniel? I thought. We need to distract him until we actually have some clue as to how they think they¡¯ll win, or at least we need to get out of the tunnel.


    I know. Daniel replied, and I felt the nervousness coming through our link. That was good. It meant he¡¯d caught my thought about who would most likely die first.


    I did, he added. I told Amy. She¡¯s going to try to get us out into the open.


    I felt a little tension go away. At least Haley would have a chance there. Then another thought occurred to me. Any chance you could sneak into his head and put him to sleep or something?


    A hint of frustration gave way to acceptance. Not a chance. You remember what it was like when I first spent time around Lee. I was so disoriented I could barely function. It¡¯s like that with Artaxus, but not as strong. That¡¯s not going to stop him from crushing my mind like a grape if I make the mistake of entering it though. It¡¯s only because of constant exposure to Lee that I can even function near this guy.


    That opened up interesting avenues to explore, but I left them alone. Something had flashed in my HUD. Rachel, Travis, and Jaclyn¡¯s communicators glowed green.


    Moments after they appeared Rachel sent a message. ¡°Hey little brother, who¡¯s the suit?¡±

 Faerieland: Part 36

    Touching my palms with the fingers of my gloves, I typed back, "Named Artaxus. He''s a dragon. Don''t look in eyes. Mind control."


    Rachel texted back, "Fuck."


    Amy and the dragon were still talking. I typed, "Need to get outside. Bad to fight here. Because fire."


    Kind of have a plan, Daniel thought at me. Amy''s about to suggest we talk outside. If he doesn''t buy it, we run.


    That''s a bad plan, I thought back.


    Better than you think. Daniel said. If he decides to breathe fire and kill us all, I''ll know a little before he does. Izzy will grab the most vulnerable. Everyone else dives for the breach in the wall.


    That might work, but it still sounds chancy.


    I felt resignation from Daniel. It¡¯s our best chance. If talking doesn¡¯t work, that¡¯s the most likely way that half of us don¡¯t die.


    He ended the connection. Reminded by the green squares of Rachel, Travis, and Jaclyn¡¯s presence, I decided to sweeten the odds a little more.


    Texting them, I wrote, ¡°If Jaclyn¡¯s close enough to hear Daniel¡¯s warning, we could use your help down here.¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s reply appeared instantly. ¡°Already talked to Daniel. Count on it.¡±


    In the background, I heard Amy say, ¡°We don¡¯t want to fight you either. Tell you what, we¡¯ll take you up on your offer not to attack, and we¡¯ll join everyone else outside.¡±


    ¡°Living for millennia doesn¡¯t leave much room for trust,¡± Artaxus¡¯ voice rumbled. I felt my armor vibrate as he talked. ¡°All of you must look into my eyes, and you can walk out and join your fellows.¡±


    Amy¡¯s mouth began to open, but whatever she would have said, it wouldn¡¯t have ended well. I felt Daniel¡¯s connection to everyone¡¯s minds grow, making me feel fear, hope, and determination filtered through many different minds as Daniel thought Now!


    I¡¯d half-planned to grab Haley as I ignited the rocket pack and aimed for the shattered doorway, but her reflexes were so much better than mine that by the time I reached out for her, she¡¯d already jumped through the doorway and into the shop.


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    My helmet¡¯s near 360 degree vision gave me a better, and more distracting view of the situation than I wanted. Behind me Vaughn, Sean, and Camille were all taking flight¡ªthough I think Vaughn was dragging Sean along with wind. The way Sean¡¯s mouth opened and eyes widened didn¡¯t exactly scream control.


    Cassie had stepped through the doorway with Haley and already pointed the gun back through it toward Artaxus. Izzy had grabbed Daniel even as he¡¯d warned us and was coming back to grab Samita as Amy and I stood between the dragon and her.


    Artaxus opened his mouth, and flame poured out, so bright it obscured everything, including his face.


    I felt the heat through the Rocket suit¡ªwhich was already issuing warnings that the heat had the potential to breach the suit¡¯s integrity. Amy and I both recognized the sheer stupidity of staying in that spot at the same time, turning toward the door ourselves, and jumping through.


    In my moment of inattention, Izzy had already pulled Samita out of the hall.


    Artaxus roared, spewing out fire with all the brightness of an acetylene torch. My helmet darkened, saving my eyes. Amy held up her arm to block the light, and Artaxus reached out to grab her.


    Cassie shot him in the face.


    The gun¡¯s beam was too bright to look at, but it only lasted for a second, leaving blackened skin from Artaxus¡¯ nose and across his cheek.


    He opened up his mouth to breath again, but never got the chance. A purple blur appeared in my vision, and then Jaclyn¡¯s fist hit him in the stomach.


    I¡¯d been about to step through the opening into the shop, but watched as Artaxus sailed backward down the hallway, hitting the wall, and then tumbling across the floor.


    For a second, I half expected that Jaclyn would chase after him, and finish him off, but she stayed with us¡ªand for good reason.


    ¡°I hit him almost as hard as I could,¡± she said as he pushed himself off the floor without weakness or any hint of injury. ¡°I was moving at nearly six hundred miles per hour.¡±


    Then he began to grow, his human body reshaping itself to fill the space the shadowy dragon form had occupied in Amy¡¯s spell¡¯s sight.


    ¡°Everyone get out,¡± I shouted, amplifying my voice with the suit¡¯s sonic system.


    No one needed to be told twice. We were all out of the front door practically before I finished the sentence, stepping or flying over the ruined clothes, and broken displays.


    Behind us, rock cracked, strained, and finally buckled. In that moment Artaxus¡¯ dragon form rose up from the shops and rock wall behind them. Around four stories tall, he had glistening black scales, broad black wings coming out of his back, milky white teeth, and a red tongue.


    He launched himself into the air, making a tight turn as he dived for us, breathing flame.


    We¡¯d drawn first blood, humiliated him, and now he intended to kill us.

 Faerieland: Part 37

    Izzy shot into the air, moving so quickly that she was nothing more than a blue blur. She hit the dragon''s wing at the joint where the small inner wing ended and the larger, triangular far end of its bat like wing began.


    The bone made a crack that was audible to all of us below.


    Izzy didn''t stop there. She followed it up with another punch that I didn''t see, but found its mark.


    Artaxus stopped breathing fire and snapped at her, twisting his neck around. He failed to catch her. She''d shot upward again, hovering far above him.


    It might be that she should have dived toward him to finish him off. It might be that he should have aimed a blast of fire upward at her.


    Neither of those things happened because the dragon had begun to tumble.


    Izzy had hit the wing on the right side, and the triangular section no longer caught the air as well. The wing bent upward, losing most of it. Meanwhile the downstroke of the uninjured wing twisted the dragon sideways, aiming it to the right.


    That was good because it aimed Artaxus away from us, but very, very bad because it aimed him toward the crowd of Stapledon students now sleeping in the park.


    Someone gasped, and it may have been  me as the tumbling dragon flapped its wings uselessly, trying to level out and control its flight.


    For one almost  unbelievable moment, Artaxus appeared to have succeeded. The dragon had stretched out its wings as wide as possible, and it was no longer sinking. The broken wing was still slightly bent, but not as bent.


    Could it be healing? I wasn''t sure.


    A thought from Daniel appeared in my mind.  Nope.


    He was right even if he wasn''t bothering to  explain why.


    The dragon was drifting past the edge of the park, and inexperienced with dragons as I was, I thought it looked confused. It had turned its head to check the broken wing, and it appeared to be flexing it, but the wing wasn''t taut. The leathery flap ought to have been tightened by the wind--which meant that something else was keeping it up.


    Artaxus gave his wings an experimental flap, managing to tilt sideways without changing direction or losing altitude.


    It couldn''t be Daniel. He couldn''t hold more than a couple tons with his telekinesis. While that wasn''t exactly weak, the dragon likely weighed several times as much.


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    Near me, Camille grunted, and I recognized the obvious. She was keeping him up. I''d seen her in action against the Cabal. Unfortunately, Artaxus recognized the obvious too. He turned his head away from his broken wing, and barked out words in a language I didn''t recognize.


    I recognized the effects though. Creatures appeared in the park. Some of them simply became visible. Others moved, and I realized that I''d mistaken them for small trees or stumps or vines. Goblins rushed out of the shops and dark areas in the park--which had become almost entirely dark except for the street lamps that should have illuminated more.


    It shouldn''t surprise anyone that they all went for us--the goblins'' spears glittering in the lamps'' light. Almost entirely small creatures, the rest melted into and out of the shadows, but their eyes glowed with reflected light.


    Travis'' voice over my communicator cut through the fae''s shouts. "Everyone! Head in the game. We''ve got to get our people out of the park.   Let''s get in one group.  Toughest on the outside."


    We knew what he meant. Lee had had us practice variations on the Greek phalanx. Of course, it wasn''t exact. With us, the toughest fighters went on the outside, but the people on the inside  were Vaughn, Sean, Camille, Samita, and Daniel.


    Jaclyn, Amy, Cassie, Haley, Travis and I stood around the outside. Presumably we''d shield them with our bodies, and they''d shield us with their minds.


    That left Rachel and Izzy outside the group altogether.


    Ahead of us, the dragon bellowed something I didn''t understand, and the little people pulled out bows, nocked arrows, and began to fire.


    None of them reached us. A gust of wind came up and blew them to the side.


    From within the group, Camille groaned. I checked my HUD, finding her in my peripheral vision.    Unlike my fear, she hadn''t taken a stray arrow. As I checked on her, she took a deep breath as  if she''d been relieved of a great weight. Simultaneously, Cassie said, "Look at that!"


    The dragon had gone entirely past the edge, and instantly began to drop. Artaxus'' wings did him no good, and he didn''t even try.  He pulled them in as he dropped and hit the ground.  The weight of his body shook the ground beneath my boots, and the answering bellow was not a cry of pain, but rage.


    I had no doubt he''d be back even if he had to climb straight up the cliff. In fact I felt fairly sure we''d see him soon, but thanks to Izzy, he''d be walking.


    Meanwhile, we were covering ground. Not wanting to waste bots, I found myself punching goblins, strange earthy-looking little people, and even a walking tree.


    Between its entangling roots, and tough bark, I finally beat it with an assist from Sean. His steel ball bearings set it on fire.


    After that I finished it with a punch that shattered its rapidly blackening trunk.


    We made it across the road to the park only to find that we weren''t the only ones awake. Rod pulled himself out of the group of sleeping people. "They put everyone to sleep with a faerie drink. It didn''t have any effect on me. What''s the plan?"


    Travis caught a stray arrow in his  hand, eyeing Vaughn as he cracked it in two. Vaughn shrugged, but the winds didn''t falter.


    "The plan," Travis said, "is that Izzy runs interference with the dragon while we get people inside."


    "Izzy shouldn''t have to do that alone," I said. "I can help, but I''ll need Haley."


    Haley whispered, "This isn''t a plan to get me out of danger, is it?"


    I shook my helmet. "No. I need you to run the weapons. Think Catmecha."

 Faerieland: Part 38

    Haley glanced toward where we''d seen the dragon fall. I wondered how soon we''d see him again.


    "OK," she said. "As long as I''m being useful. I''m not likely to do much good against that by myself."


    "We''ve got to go to the garage, and it''ll be faster if we fly."


    Haley frowned, muttering, "Great." But she still stepped forward and put her arm on the shoulder of my suit. The hardness of her transformed nails made a slight scraping noise.


    I picked her up, started the rockets with my tongue, flying straight up with the idea that it would be easier to avoid arrows and Vaughn''s winds . Haley pulled herself closer (which would have been hugely distracting if I could feel it through the suit), saying, "I hate this."


    The wind pushed and pulled on me at first, but by the time we were about one hundred feet from the ground, I no longer felt it.  With the winds no longer shielding Haley from arrows, I twisted in the air, aiming the Rocket suit toward the garage, or at least the elevator that would take us to it.


    Haley said something that I missed. It didn''t sound happy.


    In moments we''d shot past the shops, and into the elevator. Three times as long as the van, and twice as wide, the elevator was obviously meant to handle as many vehicles as possible. Despite that, it moved surprisingly quickly, sinking downstairs almost as soon as I pressed the button.


    Given what could be happening upstairs, it still felt too slow.


    We watched the rock wall pass through the elevator''s front windows.


    Haley bit her lip. "I hope they''re OK without us."


    I nodded. "Me too."


    The doors opened, and we ran for the van. It was only three rows back from the elevator, and next to the  red rock wall.  I''d left it in "rusty white plumber van" mode, and it looked worse than the glossy sports cars on either side.


    Haley  jumped over each row rather than run between cars. I jumped over one row, set the rockets to hover, and let my own momentum carry me over the other two.


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    I landed behind the van, and scrambled around the side toward the driver''s side door. Haley landed behind me and ran toward the other side.


    I didn''t have to unlock the van. The door unlocked itself as the Rocket suit neared, and adjusted the driver''s side seat to fit the suit''s size.


    Entering from the passenger''s side, Haley stopped as she entered, standing next to her own seat as my seat sank, and widened.  "That''s cool, and kind of creepy."


    I shut the door, and sat down, watching as the dashboard''s screens began to glow.  "I''ve got more of the new stealth suits in the back. You''ll have to wear one for everything to work. There''s nowhere to change but the back though."


    She frowned, but then stood up. "My clothes aren''t much more than rags anyway, and I know you''ve seen me in a bikini."


    Between the fights with the goblins, and crawling through shattered rock, her jeans and shirt had multiple rips.


    It didn''t take long before she''d changed, and was back in the seat wearing a gray jumpsuit with the Heroes'' League''s  stylized "H" logo. I backed out of the row and drove into the elevator. As the elevator''s door shut, I started the tranformation sequence, reminding Haley to, "Keep your arms close to the seat!"


    "I remember," she said, and she had remembered. Her arms  were on the armrests.


    Aside from that, though, the Catmecha''s tranformation when two people were about to go into combat was  different from the transformation when then seats were full and there was no fighting.


    Haley''s seat was moved behind mine. When we were in place, webbing surrounded us, keeping us in our seats, and protecting us. With the webbing came connections to the Catmecha''s systems.   The exact amount of energy available in the fuel cells appeared along with details about how many bots the mech held and where, the armor''s current status, and its speed.


    Haley, I knew, would be getting the same information, but focussed on the mech''s weapons. It would be appearing on a screen that had been created in the webbing in front of her.


    "Wow," she said. "It feels like being inside a video game."


    "It does, kind of." I stopped there, watching the system run through its checklist over my HUD. The Catmecha was ready. Ahead of me, the elevator doors opened and I directed the  mech outside, wishing I''d had the ability to put an AI inside. As unpredictable as Hal was, he made running the jet easier.


    Any wishes I had about the ideal version of the mech were swept away by the elevator doors opening. I had the mech walk out, using my HUD to check nearly 360 degrees around the mech.


    Goblins were waiting for us outside the elevator. They had bows at the ready, arrows nocked, but when they saw the mech, they turned around and ran.


    I gave the mech some fuel, feeling its smooth gait as I initially directed it down the road, but once I got past the shops, I slowed the mech down, getting an overall look at the situation before I got into it.


    We''d only been gone for a couple minutes, but in a fight, that could be an age.


    Ahead of us, the dragon roared.

 Faerieland: Part 39

    I assumed Artaxus was roaring out of frustration. If so, it was understandable. He probably couldn¡¯t see very much. I couldn¡¯t see much either.


    In the time we¡¯d taken to get the van and transform it, Vaughn must have created a fog bank. It surrounded the park, or at least the portion of it that people were in, reaching the nearest shops, turning the streetlights¡¯ illumination into a diffused glow.


    It wasn¡¯t a bad idea. At the very least, it took arrows out of the equation. Goblins could still shoot, but they couldn¡¯t deliberately target anybody.


    Well, not unless they had amazing hearing¡ªwhich I couldn¡¯t rule out.


    What was more interesting is what the goblins weren¡¯t doing. They weren¡¯t charging in all at once. Nor were they pumping arrows into the fog in the hopes of hitting Vaughn. Presumably they¡¯d discovered that that didn¡¯t work already.


    What they were doing was spreading out, presumably to find a place to get past the fog where no one would notice them. The biggest group of goblins stood at the park, but more and more were following the fog toward the shops.


    I wondered if they were aware of it, but got my answer. A few goblins ventured into the fog only to be thrown out seconds later, sliding and sometimes tumbling across the stone walkways.


    Around that time, the communications systems reconnected with everyone else¡¯s, bringing up a list of everyone with a working communicator.


    Izzy¡¯s voice filled my ears. ¡°¡ªknocked him off the cliff again, but he¡¯s going straight back up.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯re keeping him down. That¡¯s all we need,¡± Travis said. His breath came quickly over the connection as if he were doing something else at the same time.


    Roaring wind came through the background of Izzy¡¯s connection. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how long I can keep on doing this. The last time he hit me with fire, he nearly knocked me out, and nothing I¡¯ve done has hurt him much.¡±


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    Samita¡¯s light brightened and she broke in. ¡°He¡¯s a dragon, and one of the oldest we know of. You¡¯d need something magical to do permanent damage.¡±


    Travis grunted. ¡°Then what about Bloodmaiden? Isn¡¯t monster slaying her thing?¡±


    I turned on the mech¡¯s gravitics, and aimed it in the direction of the park. Then I backed it onto its haunches and made it leap into the air. We flew, silently moving toward the park and the dragon beyond it.


    ¡°It¡¯s not that easy,¡± Amy said. ¡°I¡¯ll be happy to go after him right now with the powers I stole, but not the spear. If I stab something that big, and that ancient with it, I might become it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty big weakness,¡± Travis told her.


    After a pause, Amy said, ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to to mention that when I¡¯m next in the presence of the ancient Bloodmages who created my line.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re back,¡± Haley said.


    ¡°We¡¯re nearly to Blue and the dragon,¡± I added.


    We were. The mech¡¯s altitude gave us a view of the whole compound¡ªthe rocky hill behind us, and the houses in the mini-suburb below, their lights glowing.


    Around the bottom where the dragon had hit, small fires burned. Sparks glowed all the way down the side of the cliff, and the dragon stood at the bottom of it. Light from the fires glinted on his black scales.


    He stood on his hind legs, and was already half way up the cliff without any real effort. Roaring something that sounded like a command, he reached out with his front claws and began to climb.


    Travis¡¯ voice came over the comm. ¡°Do what you can. Blue, hold back and rest while they try it, but be ready to get them out of trouble.¡±


    I let the mech hang in air, considering the best way to dive, and asked Haley, ¡°Are you comfortable with the controls?¡±


    She laughed. ¡°It¡¯s a little late to ask now. But they¡¯re a lot like the jet¡¯s, so, I guess?¡±


    ¡°Good. I¡¯m going to whip around toward his back. That way he won¡¯t get a shot at us with his breath.¡±


    Haley took a breath, and said, ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±


    The mech dove, rockets activating to give it speed. We turned and I could feel g-forces pulling on my body. Haley fired the laser in the mech¡¯s head. A bright beam that neither of us could watch directly without risking blindness raked across the cliffside, shattering rock, leaving great gaps in the hill, and finally hitting the dragon.


    He screamed as the beam hit, burning a hole in his wing on the way to hit his hide. Scales shattered, exploding, and falling to the ground.


    The dragon let go of the cliff, writhing in pain, but even as Artaxus did that, he whipped his neck around, moving so much more quickly than I realized he could, breathing out fire that completely surrounded us.

 Faerieland: Part 40

    The cabin and indirectly the Rocket suit felt like an oven. Then the fans came on, the air conditioning running stronger than it would in any normal van.


    I felt the mech begin to sink even as error messages began scrolling down the screen on the dashboard.  Tapping on the screen, I learned more details. The dragon''s breath hadn''t destroyed all of the gravitic panels. It had burned through a spot in the mech''s body which happened to carry electricity to the one of the panels. This was good news. The van''s self-repair systems could handle broken conducting material fairly quickly. Repairing even a small section of panel would be slow. Replacing one would be impossible.


    So that was the good news. The bad news? We were falling.


    The mech automatically gave all the gravitics more power to compensate, so we stabilized after a second. Unfortunately, we weren''t moving much--at least in a controlled way. The force of the dragon''s breath combined with the gravitics, and our momentum left us moving parallel to the cliff, but with the head of the Catmecha facing the cliff, and the right side of the cabin highest in the air.


    I activated the maneuverability jets, pushing up the left side of the mech, but also pushing further left, and away from the dragon.


    Damage to the gravitics threatened the start of a vicious cycle in which we got hit, losing our ability to move, making it easier to hit us, finally ending in a smashed Catmecha and our overcooked bodies.


    I didn¡¯t want that, and Haley didn¡¯t either. She¡¯d switched from the laser to firing off bullets and bots because the laser had been damaged by the blast.


    Using better than human speed to fire off more than I would have been able to, Haley kept up a constant stream of glowing projectiles as I monitored the repairs.


    In the meantime, Artaxus had fallen off the wall as he flamed at us, twisting enough that he¡¯d managed to land on his feet instead of his back and shredded wings.


    He loosed flame in our direction, but we must have been too far away. The blast dispersed before it reached us.


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    Almost at the same time hundreds of glowing streaks converged on the dragon. Goobots exploded all over his head, covering eyes, nose and mouth. Artaxus tried to clear them away with his claws, but the goo didn¡¯t come off easily, sticking to his claws, and sticking his claws to his snout.


    The rest of the bots turned out to be paintbots¡ªwith glow-in-the-dark paint. Haley had hit the dragon all over, turning him from a dragon with black scales that let him blend into the dark to a dragon covered with a glowing rainbow of multi-colored paint splotches.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you have any killbots? Or even exploding bots?¡± Haley stopped firing.


    Staring as the dragon struggled to free its claws from the gooey strands that held it to its face, I shook my head. ¡°No. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be taking it into battle against anything real. The worst I thought I¡¯d end up using it for is a really hard training session.¡±


    Haley sighed. ¡°So we¡¯re stuck. We don¡¯t have anything that will really hurt him.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that. I¡¯ve got a few killbots in my armor. If I opened a window, I could use them on the dragon. Oh¡­ Plus, the mech¡¯s claws and teeth are made to work like Cassie¡¯s sword.¡±


    ¡°Are you serious?¡± With my helmet¡¯s 360 degree vision, I could see her eyes widen.


    ¡°The only problem with that is that we¡¯d have to take him on directly to make it matter.¡±


    At that moment, the mech made a pinging noise. On the screen, both the laser and the gravity panel went from being red to green, and then disappeared from the list of damaged sections.


    Travis¡¯ voice came over the comm. ¡°Rocket? Night Cat? Are you okay up there?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re fine,¡± Haley said at the same time I said, ¡°We¡¯re all fixed as of now.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± Travis said, pausing a little longer than I found comfortable. ¡°We¡¯ve been leaving you alone because we¡¯ve got our own problems, but right now we¡¯ve got almost everyone inside, and it looks like you¡¯re our best shot at running interference. Izzy¡¯s willing but tired, and I think they¡¯re going to try¡ª¡°


    Below us, Artaxus must have had some way to coordinate with the faerie troops under his command because at that moment, he leapt, making it halfway up the cliff in one jump, and pulling himself halfway on to the ledge where the park stood, crushing the railing at the edge. Still glowing with the paint, he appeared to have gotten his mouth cleared of the goo even though it still coated his head.


    At the same time, the dragon¡¯s army rushed into the fog. Goblins had spears or bows in hand. A couple of trolls carried enormous axes, held ready to slice anyone in their path. I had no name for the rest of the creatures. Afterward I¡¯d have to ask Samita¡ªassuming we all had an afterward.


    The army wasn¡¯t our problem. I opened up the rockets on the mech¡¯s back, and dove for the dragon.

 Faerieland: Part 41

    Artaxus pulled himself entirely on to the ledge before I''d worked out a plan for our dive. I knew I didn''t want to get in reach of the dragon''s claws or in range of his breath.


    "Laser?" I asked Haley.


    She muttered the word, "Aiming," only barely loud enough for me to hear, followed by the crackle and hum of the laser firing.


    It hit the dragon''s back like her other shots had, destroying the creature''s scales, and cutting into its hide, cauterizing the wound even as it made it.


    Artaxus'' head whipped around and he blew flame at us, but we were too  far away and moving too quickly for the fire to do any real damage.


    While the dragon''s neck was twisted upward, its eyes locked on us, a blue blur passed through the fog, and  then stopped above the masses of goblins and fae. The goblins fired arrows at Izzy, doing no damage to her at all, hitting her and shattering.


    I knew that technically it wasn''t her body that was invulnerable as much as protected by an invisible force field that she maintained unconsciously. The big clue was how the arrows didn''t damage her uniform either.


    Not that it really mattered. She wasn''t flying in to punch the dragon. She opened her mouth and screamed. She''d been kind enough to aim her sonic blast so that it didn''t hit us directly, and I was grateful.


    The whole mech shook anyway. I''d designed it to resist sonic attacks, but we could still hear the scream as a dim noise.


    Artaxus took the blast directly.


    His whole body stiffened in obvious pain, shaking, extending his shredded wings seemingly without realizing it and retracting them almost as quickly, giving a screech of pain as he did.


    At the same time, he twisted his neck around, letting loose the most targeted blast of flame I''d seen so far from the creature. It hit Izzy full on, completely surrounding her.


    I half expected her to shrug the blast off like she had so much, but she  didn''t. She fell.


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    The blast passed into the fog, burning a hole through it near the top. It closed almost instantly. Hopefully no one else had been in the blast''s path.


    Behind me, Haley gasped.


    I brought the mech around in a tight turn that left my  stomach queasy, and dove again. This time, I realized, taking Artaxus on claw to claw, and fang to fang, might be the only way to stop him from finishing Izzy off.


    Below us, lightning flashed within the fog, and goblins and fae fell. As amazing as it was, Vaughn had to be getting tired. Artaxus strode toward Izzy, his own troops running to get out of his way as he walked, extending his neck and opening his mouth to bite.


    Haley fired again, hitting him in the neck. At that he stopped walking, jerking his neck toward us, failing to hit us with his flame as the mech''s rockets gave the mech a speed the dragon couldn''t have anticipated.


    Unfortunately, it was faster than I was comfortable with too. I''d aimed the mech toward the base of the dragon''s neck, hoping I might be able to bite into it. As we closed, I realized that I wasn''t going be able to do it. I had too much momentum to do anything but smash into Artaxus.


    I slowed enough to rake across the back of the dragon''s neck, failing to paralyze him, but creating eight parallel bloody lines on the base of Artaxus'' neck.


    Then we were past him, but making another stomach twisting turn as I readied myself for another pass.


    Even as we came around Haley said, "They got her!"


    They had. Even as the mech came around, and I swerved to avoid another blast of flame, Amy had stepped out of the fog with Travis, the red gem in her armor shining, casually knocking aside goblins and fae to get to Izzy. She even took out one of the trolls. Behind her, Travis avoided spears and arrows while still wearing jeans and a t-shirt. His claws  cut through the armor of anything stupid enough to stand in front of him.


    They pulled Izzy''s unconscious form out of a mass of fae, and disappeared into the fog.


    Travis'' voice came over the comm. "We''ve got practically everyone inside. Get out of there!"


    The fog began to fade away, leaving an empty park filled with the bodies of the fae.


    At that moment, two different things took place. The first was that I felt relief wash over me. I hadn''t even been aware of how worried I''d been about Izzy, and how easy it would be for Haley and I to die.


    Between fighting a dragon and not fighting a dragon, not fighting won every time.


    I began to turn right and abandon the current pass when the other thing happened: Artaxus jumped. You don''t expect a dragon the size of a three story apartment building to be any good at jumping, but you''d be wrong.


    I''d seen him jump much of the way up the cliff to the park, but I hadn''t realized we were already in his range.


    Artaxus caught the mech in the crook of his right forearm, and pulled it in toward his chest,  grabbing the mech''s front legs with his left front claw.


    We sank toward the ground, landing with a thud.


    Over the comm, Rachel said, "Nick, are you there?"


    Artaxus'' voice vibrated through the wall of the mech. "Let''s see what they''ll bid for you."

 Faerieland: Part 42

    A tap with my tongue accepted the private connection. I replied, "Artaxus grabbed us."


    "I''m coming." Rachel didn''t give me a chance to respond.


    I didn''t have time for that anyway. The mech had begun to make the kind of low pitched squeaks that made me think of houses settling or boats on the water, but with more strain as the body shuddered. Somewhere, something cracked.


    I hoped it wasn''t important, and it must not have been. The mech didn''t fire off a major alert-just a few minor ones. Of course, that didn''t mean that I was going to stick around and find out if Artaxus could actually crush the mech.


    I activated the mech''s claws, setting the front and back legs to push forward while twisting downward and out from under the dragon''s arm.


    The dragon must not have been a cat person because I appeared to have surprised him--or so I guessed from the creature''s outraged roar. That was funny. In my experience, this was what happened whenever you picked up a cat.


    In retrospect, it may not have been the push to get away as much as the claws on the mech''s paws. All of them were roughly a foot long and extended or contracted at will. They cut into the dragon''s scales, and could have cut deeper had the claws been longer.


    Behind me, Haley muttered something I couldn''t understand, and more paintbots flew out of the mech, hitting the dragon''s face.


    Between Haley''s actions and mine, we almost got away.


    Almost.


    Artaxus belched out more flame, surrounding the mech, and red alerts scrolled down the screen as all the gravitic panels failed at once. A couple screens on the mech''s dashboard went dark, but that wasn''t the last of it.


    We fell to the ground.


    "No," Haley said, but the mech wasn''t listening as it hit and rolled on to its side.


    I stared at the controls, trying to figure out if enough of them worked to at least get the mech righted and walking. Failing that, we might possibly be able to turn back into a van and drive away?


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    It struck me that I might not be thinking clearly.


    From her seat in the back, Haley asked, "Nick are you okay?"


    I pushed a few buttons. "I''m fine. Just trying to figure out if anything works."


    "It doesn''t." Haley pulled herself out of the webbing and her seat.


    That worried me a little because if Artaxus attacked the mech again, Haley would only be protected by the stealth suit she''d pulled on before we left the garage. On the other hand, if Artaxus ripped open the mech''s side, and filled the compartment with flame, the webbing wasn''t going to help at all.


    "It''s self-repairing," I said. "Anything could start working at any second."


    "Are you willing to bet your life on that?" She pulled a particle accelerator rifle out of one of the equipment cabinets in the back. She pushed a fuel cell into the rifle, grabbed a utility belt from the cabinet and put it in on.


    "No, but I''m not wild about running across the grass either."


    Big suburban houses and lawns stood next to the bottom of the cliff. I couldn''t see any of them through the mech''s walls, but I''d seen them from the park. By comparison to Michigan, Colorado wasn''t big on trees. We''d be running across big lawns with almost no cover, but cars and the houses themselves.


    If we got lucky, maybe someone would have a rock garden.


    Plus, who were we kidding? We''d barely moved before Artaxus knocked us down. He had to be sitting out there waiting for us. Haley might be able to smell him even inside here by now. For that matter, she could probably hear his heart beating.


    Haley looked at me and bit her lip. "I know there''s not much of a chance, but we should try. He''s not right next to us. We might make it if we can get past a house."


    "Maybe if we fly," I said. "We''d have to stay low to the ground at first, but I''m sure the Rocket suit''s faster than he is."


    I looked at the mech''s seating compartment. We could pop out the top--which was currently the side since we were on the ground.


    "Are you enjoying yourselves in there?" The dragon''s voice filled the space. Something about it felt unnatural. Probably magical. "Once when I was younger, I trapped a human couple in their house, or maybe it was a section of my lair? A castle? Well nevermind, it was  a long time ago, and the place was irrelevant in any case. What''s important is that I drove them mad by the sound of my voice alone. If I remember correctly, I believe I made them eat each other while they were both still alive.


    "It passed the time. Now alas, I don''t believe I can do the same with either of you because of the excellent protection that the Bloodmaiden has woven about you. Very impressive. It''s especially impressive when you consider how many people she''s protecting. I suspect if I break it on one of you, I''ll break it for all."


    The dragon walked toward us, and we heard each step.


    It was too late to fly out of the top if it really had ever been possible. Still, if we sat tight, something might break our way.


    Of course, that assumed that the dragon didn''t just decide to eat us.


    "Rocket," Rachel said over the comm. "I''m going to distract him. If you think you can run, run."

 Faerieland: Part 43

    I wondered how she intended to distract him. I had ideas, but I couldn''t know for sure till she tried something. We''d have to watch outside for a chance to escape--preferably without looking Artaxus in the eye. Amy had agreed that that was a bad idea back in the hallway behind the store--and we were already under her protection spell then.


    Standing next to the hatch that was normally on the mech''s roof, and currently on its side, Haley rested the particle accelerator rifle on her shoulder. "What did Rachel say?"


    "That she''s going to try something, and we should run if we get the chance. Do you think you''ll be able to tell without--"


    "Looking him in the eye?" Haley finished. "I don''t know. I can tell how close he is, but not where he''s looking."


    I thought about it. "Maybe I can watch him with the sonics. The picture''s blurry enough that it might not count."


    "That sounds good to me," Haley said, frowning, "but I don''t know much about dragons except what I saw in The Hobbit."


    "That''s about where I am except I read the book, and it might not be right. Um... I''m going to open the hatch a little."


    I pushed the button next the hatch, and it began to slide open. I let go before it had even moved an inch, placing my arm and one of the speakers next to the opening. That would be enough.


    It was unexpected though. Was the mech already fully repaired? I glanced over at the dashboard as one of the screens turned on. From the series of red alerts, it was obvious that the gravitics panels were still partially destroyed. It wasn''t the power connection this time.


    We were staying on the ground for a while. It looked like the main laser might work though--once the targeting system was fixed.


    Well, crap.


    I turned on the sonar, focusing on the left speaker. The picture resolved the nearest object instantly. The dragon stood generally on the hatch''s side of the mech, but a little to the right, probably because it could watch the front of the mech from there.


    Background objects took longer to resolve. Wispy gray shapes turned into slightly more focused gray shapes. Behind the dragon stood a three story house, a garden full of bushes, and a number of evergreen trees. It wasn''t completely clear from the sonar, but I knew more houses stood in a line behind it.


    He''d blocked our best route to escape, or at least Haley''s.  I could still fly, but I''d have to do it alone.


    And that wasn''t going to happen. Well, not unless I charged him, distracting him so Haley could run. Judging from what he''d done to the mech though, he''d probably cook me in my armor.


    Rachel''s voice came over the comm and this time it was over the League''s general frequency. "Now!"


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    Nothing happened, and then she said, "Ow!"


    At that moment, the dragon''s head whipped around in a grayish blurry mess, snapping at something in the air behind it.


    Then something weird happened. Explosions of white appeared all over the dragon''s head, including its eyes. It thrashed around, and maybe we could have escaped then, but it was spraying flame from its mouth. I could see the flame because of the roar of white noise that went along with it and it covered half the sky above us.


    It stumbled backward, tail thrashing, backing away from the mech. Crashing noises came from the direction of the house.


    However much it hurt, there was a method to its madness. If Rachel weren''t out of phase, Artaxus'' flames would have burnt her badly, who knows what would have happened to Haley and I?


    Over the comm, Amy said, "Get back here! You''re never going to hurt a greater dragon by phasing a bullet through it. They exist in too many dimensions."


    Rachel''s breath came over the connection as she spoke. "It was worth a try. Did the Mystic wake anybody up yet? I''m going to need a doctor."


    Samita''s voice rose. "He didn''t bite or scratch you, did he? Dragon venom''s terrifying."


    The wind almost drowned out Rachel''s reply. "He smashed into me with his neck after I shot him. I don''t think he knew I was there. If he''d bitten me, I''d be missing a leg."


    Not giving anyone else a chance to speak, she added, "Sorry, Rocket. Sorry, Night Cat. We''ll think of something."


    "I''m going down there," Amy said, her voice getting louder. "It should have been me from the beginning."


    Samita said, "No, you''re already too tired--"


    Travis broke in. "We should get Storm King and Captain Commando back out here and use them for cover. Then Bloodmaiden, Accelerondo, and I should--"


    A new name appeared on my HUD''s contact list. It said, "Immortal."


    "Stand down, Night Wolf," Lee said. "I''m practically there, and I''m going to take care of this. Get back into the complex. There are still goblins to fight."


    "But--" Travis and Amy both said at once.


    "No. Get back there immediately."


    Amy, Samita, Rachel, and Travis'' connections winked out on my HUD--most likely as they disappeared into the rock.


    As they''d talked, Artaxus had pulled himself back together. When Rachel shot him, he''d backed away from the mech, but he''d come back as they talked, stepping more lightly than many creatures that large.


    "Give me a second," Lee said. "I''m almost there."


    I would have replied, but Artaxus wasn''t giving me a second.  He leaned down, taking the mech in its foreclaws, but not picking it up. The ceramic hull made cracking noises, but didn''t break.


    "Come out," he said, voice taking on an unnatural, almost hypnotic, tone, "or I will rip open your machine and then you.


    "You remember about the Bloodmaiden''s protection? I''ll be able to break it soon now. She''s not close anymore, and she''s all that''s keeping me out of your head. You''re only moments away from going after each other--"


    In one movement, Haley pointed the particle accelerator rifle out the crack in the hatch and fired. Better, she must have hit something sensitive because he yowled. As he screamed, I fired off a killbot. I''d been holding off because I only had three on me, and I couldn''t aim them accurately when I couldn''t look at the target with anything but sonar.


    In that moment, I decided to take a chance, aiming at what I thought might be the head.


    I followed the bot on sonar as it went inside something, and then exploded. It wasn''t the head. It was a bend in the neck that somehow l mistook for the head. From the scream that erupted, it had hurt the dragon though.


    So naturally it flamed the mech again. From the temperature readings of the flame that my suit gave me, the fire wasn''t as hot as it had been at the beginning. That was small comfort though, because this time we had the hatch open, however small the opening.


    Flame came through, melting the rifle barrel, and burning the seat in its path. Haley jumped backward, avoiding the fire.


    It caught my left hand as I pulled my arm back, hurting like nothing I''d ever felt.

 Faerieland: Part 44

    My armor threw out a long series of errors and red alerts about my gauntlet and all the control mechanisms inside it. Essentially, it was useless, and so were the weapons systems on that arm. Plus, the life support systems informed me the temperature inside the gauntlet was hot enough that my arm had "probably been damaged."


    Given the pain in my arm, and faint scent of cooked pork that certainly had to be me, I would have made some nasty comments about the idiot who wrote the error messages except that was also me.


    Well, a past version of me at least, a version who hadn''t had his hand turned into--


    "Cooked meat," Artaxus said. "Was that enough to break the Bloodmaiden''s spell, I wonder?"


    Haley coughed from behind me in the cabin. The heat of the dragon''s breath must have made it uncomfortable for her to breathe. As we both asked, "Are you okay," the air conditioning kicked on, and the hatch snapped shut, showing that the mech wasn''t dead yet.


    It appeared to be getting better.


    Quickly checking the mech''s vitals gave me a rundown of its current capabilities. No movement. No weapons to speak of. All that it had going for it were better sensors and communication equipment.


    Ignoring the pain in my left hand, I tapped out commands to the mech with my right. It darkened the windows so that we couldn''t see out of them, protecting us from looking Artaxus in the eye, and set the walls, floor and ceiling to act as screens, giving a 360 degree view of the area around the  mech.


    Well, it showed the sonar version of the view at least.


    Artaxus loomed over the mech, pausing to look it over, a huge grayish figure set against a black sky. Sonar didn''t detect the stars.


    Haley grabbed a new rifle and looked at my left hand. "How bad?"


    "I can''t move my fingers. I''m trying not to think about it."


    She pursed her lips. "Ok. How''s the mech?"


    "What you see is what you get."


    Outside, the dragon roared, grabbed the mech with his forelegs, and threw it upward against the cliff wall.


    Haley grabbed the webbing  around her chair before we even hit the cliff, and caught me with one arm, pulling me in. I hung on to the webbing with my right arm, and pulled in my left so that it wouldn''t flop around as we tumbled down the cliff.


    For all the strength in the Rocket suit, Haley''s arm around my waist was the main thing keeping me in one place. She held on to the webbing with her right arm and foot and held on to the rifle with her other foot.


    The mech seemed to roll forever before finally coming to rest on the lawn of the nearest house.


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    I felt dizzy, and Haley helped me to the floor which technically was the side of the mech again--except this time it was the opposite side. As difficult as it was to concentrate on anything more than standing, I checked my HUD for the mech''s status report. Except for losing a leg in the roll, we were doing slightly better than the last time I checked.


    Current estimate for the weapons was one minute. The gravitic panels would work in five.


    A glance in the dragon''s direction found him walking toward us stiffly, limping a little. All the hits we''d gotten in had counted for something. But that wasn''t all. In my HUD, the word "Bloodmaiden" changed from offline to online, glowing bright as the sonar showed a woman come out of the sky and land between the mech and the dragon.


    Amy stood in a ready position, knees bent, arms held out in front of her. In the computer''s interpretation of the sonar, she was bright white with very little gray.


    The dragon''s head hung stories above her. "This isn''t smart. You won''t survive fighting me."


    "I''m the Bloodmaiden," Amy said. "Fighting monsters is what we do."


    "Oh no," Haley whispered. Pulling up her rifle, she said, "You need to open a window."


    My head felt clearer by then and I knew what I''d do. I''d target Artaxus'' head with a killbot, and skip opening the hatch. The mech could repair itself, and if it worked, the the dragon would be dead. Well, assuming magic played fair and the killbot worked normally. It hadn''t last time.


    Lifting my right arm, I activated one of the two remaining killbots, and pointed my arm toward the windshield. It was less protected there. To Haley, I said, "No, I think I''ve got this."


    Then Lee''s voice came over the comm. "Bloodmaiden, I know I told you to stand down. And Rocket or Night Cat, if you''ve got something planned, don''t do it. I''ve got this."


    Amy''s voice came over the comm. "Did you really think I''d stay inside the hill?"


    "No," Lee said. On the screen, he was walking out to join Amy on the lawn. "But it was worth a shot."


    Artaxus tilted his head toward Lee. "Who are you?"


    "Don''t recognize me? Would this form work better?" Though I could only see him as a grayish man-shaped figure with sonar, it was obvious that he changed, growing taller, and more muscular.


    He held a short sword in each hand, and each blade had a wispy, moving shadowy substance that rose from the blade. I wondered what it was, and then I realized. He''d changed to his Gunther identity, and for some reason had chosen to hold a flaming short sword in each hand.


    The dragon hissed. That was probably the form Lee had used while fighting the fae with the League back in the 1960s.


    Artaxus took a step toward him. "Then I look forward to killing you as well as your students."


    Lee saluted him with a sword, and said, "It gets better."


    The dragon''s head froze, and moved backwards a touch, and I could guess why. Lee had just switched languages. I didn''t know what the new one was, but it included a lot of hissing and growling. If someone told me it was the language dragons spoke to each other, I''d have believed them.


    "I couldn''t understand any of that." Haley said.


    Artaxus said (in English), "How did you know that tongue?" I wasn''t sure, and it may have been the sonar being fuzzy, but it seemed like Artaxus trembled.


    "Easy," Lee said, "I knew it back when the world was young, and you weren''t much more than a hatchling. Do you remember the wars between the elves and the goblins? We met on the day Keldrad the Younger died."


    Now Lee had the dragon''s full attention. It stared, moving its head from one angle to another. The trembling became even more obvious. "That''s impossible."


    Lee said, "Would you like me to prove it to you? We fought, you and I, and you were losing, but you were young, so rather than kill you, I told you to run, or I''d rip your throat out."


    "No," Artaxus said, still staring at him.


    "Oh yes." Lee made the swords disappear. "Tell you what, I''ll prove it to you. I''ll change. It won''t be but a second."


    Artaxus glanced from Lee over to Amy. She had her spear out.


    The dragon turned and injuries seemingly forgotten, he ran.

 Faerieland: Part 45

    Taking a risk, but not much of one, I switched the view from sonar to computer-enhanced night vision. That gave Haley and me an excellent view of the dragon running down a street in between big suburban houses, unknowingly tearing up flowerbeds, and smashing a Volkswagen Beetle.


    As Artaxus smashed a silvery, reflecting ball on a pillar, the air in front of him began to shimmer.


    In the next moment, the shimmering had spread across the road, and solidified into a half circle. The dragon blocked much of the view, but I could see a grassy field and a castle wall towering over it.


    It was day there, and the grass seemed somehow greener or more lush than anything I¡¯d seen in the real world.


    A few lawn gnomes that must have been real gnomes ran for the opening and stepped through, one of them pausing to give the finger to the house he¡¯d been standing in front of.


    If I remembered correctly, that house had a dog.


    Then Artaxus turned and shouted words in a language I didn¡¯t know¡ªDragon, maybe? Whatever it was, winds blew and faerie creatures began appearing on the ground near him. Most of them were hurt¡ªbroken arms, legs, and bloody gashes. A few were sleeping or somehow unconscious. Their eyes widened as they appeared. A few stumbled.


    Trolls, goblins, elves, and unrecognizable fae, they ran for the castle after reorienting themselves.


    When they¡¯d all crossed, the dragon followed. The opening shimmered, shrunk, and finally disappeared.


    I don¡¯t know how many it was, but it seemed like a lot, possibly hundreds. I didn¡¯t count.


    Haley put down her rifle. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s over.¡±


    She stared down the street. Nothing remained of the gateway, and so she turned back to me. ¡°Can you fly? We need to get you to a healer. Me too, but you¡¯re doing worse.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess.¡± I still couldn¡¯t move my fingers while Haley¡¯s broken arm was still in the bandage Samita made.


    Thinking about it more, I said, ¡°I wonder if maybe someone could come here? It hurts around my wrist, but I can¡¯t feel my hand and fingers at all.¡±


    Haley gave my hand a long look. ¡°Maybe we should talk to Amy. She said that whatever she can do would work better on her, but even if it worked a little on you now, it might help. I don¡¯t want to scare you, but your hand smells cooked. I don¡¯t know how the different kinds of healing work, but part of your hand has to be dead. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯d do about that.¡±


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    I pressed the button that opened the hatch, letting it open all the way this time. The spots that had blackened and burned in the face of the dragon¡¯s fire had already repaired themselves. A glance toward the cliff as I stepped out showed the missing leg on one of the mech¡¯s screens. It was moving slowly toward the mech, getting ready to reattach itself.


    I could only wish my hand worked as well.


    Not completely paying attention, I stumbled on the lip of the hatch and nearly fell. I tried to grab the mech to steady myself, but missed. Haley grabbed my arm, so I didn¡¯t fall.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± She asked as I finished steadying myself.


    ¡°I think so. It was just a mistake. I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯m confused or anything.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± She followed me out. ¡°Could you maybe take off your helmet? I¡¯m still worried about shock.¡±


    I almost said no because I didn¡¯t feel that bad, but taking off the helmet sounded good. A few taps later, the helmet melted into the suit.


    It felt good. The night was cool, but not cold, and the slight breeze felt better than a helmet no matter how well the suit¡¯s life support systems worked.


    Haley¡¯s hand touched my cheek. ¡°Your skin feels normal. That¡¯s good. Um¡­ I¡¯m going to call people.¡±


    She pulled out her League phone.


    Glad that she had the presence of mind to do that, I wondered if maybe I was little off.


    Amy and Lee turned toward us. The red veins in Amy¡¯s armor glowed red in the night. She¡¯d taken her helmet off too. Lee looked me over, his eyes stopping on my hand.


    Amy met my eyes. ¡°Your hand is in terrible shape. I wish I could help, but that¡¯s beyond me.¡±


    Lee, still appearing as Gunther, shrugged, ¡°It will work out. Whatever happens, it¡¯ll work out.¡±


    Haley put her phone back into her pocket. ¡°It will. Daniel woke Alex up, and he¡¯s sending him down.¡±


    Not much after she said it, Alex floated down the side of the cliff. He wasn¡¯t under his own power. Daniel stood at the edge of the cliff, watching, and telepathically told me, Sorry, I¡¯d come down except that Samita and I are tag teaming everybody¡¯s wake up right now.


    It was okay, and I told him so.


    Alex touched down as I did. Tall with sun-bleached hair, Alex generally exuded a relaxed surfer attitude, but not right now. He stared at my gauntleted hand. ¡°Holy shit, Nick. It¡¯s mostly dead, and I can¡¯t raise the dead.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have words at first, but I managed to say, ¡°So, you can¡¯t do anything? We¡­ amputate?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that. Could you hold your hand out?¡±


    I did, and he took my arm. ¡°Your armor looks perfect. You¡¯d never know you¡¯d been in a fight. Was it off when this happened?¡±


    ¡°No. The armor fixes itself.¡±


    Alex nodded. ¡°Well, let¡¯s see if we can convince your hand to do the same thing. I¡¯m going to reconstruct it.¡±

 Faerieland: Part 46

    "If you think you can do it, I''m all for it," I said.


    Alex grinned. "Trust me. I''ve seen worse, and it worked out. Now, can you take off your glove?"


    I thought about it, checking my HUD for alerts. There weren''t any left. "Assuming the repair systems worked, yes."


    I used my right glove to set the left gauntlet to split and be absorbed into the left forearm. It worked. That didn''t surprise me and it shouldn''t have. It wasn''t the first time I''d tried it after all, but it was the first time I''d tried it after the suit took massive damage.


    "Oh," Haley said, staring at my hand.


    Amy eyed it coolly. "That''s bad. I got a few burns like it when we fought aliens, last spring."


    I let my eyes move from the suit''s forearms to my actual hand. It looked terrible. The skin was wrinkled and gray, and made me think of grilled meat. It looked a little browner around the joints, and a little pinker on the top where I thought I might be able to feel something.


    I might have been deluding myself.


    Alex shook his head. "I guess it''s a good thing we spent the summer putting on muscle. I''m going to be pulling material from your arm, and also from stored fat. Your hand will be a little weaker than you''re used to when I''m done,  but that will change over time. Ready?"


    I nodded.


    "Great," he said, and my hand began to tingle.  A moment later, it felt good, but a little painful at the same time, a little like it might after hard exercise. Alex wasn''t finished though. Both the pain and the pleasure continued, but it didn''t stay constant. It felt like it started at my wrist, slowly moving toward my fingers.


    At first my hand didn''t visibly change.  Then the skin began to crack and flake off, the gray skin beginning to get a little color at first, but then growing dry and starting to itch.


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    I gave Alex a sidelong glance. "May I touch it?"


    He held up his hand to stop me from talking, and said, "Not yet. I''m not done."


    His mouth a flat line, eyes staring at my arm or maybe at everything inside it, Alex was more serious than I''d ever seen him.


    I let him work. A few minutes later, I had a working hand. It looked just like it had except a little more pink. It felt a little sore.


    When Alex said, "You''re done," I set the glove to reform around my hand.


    "Good idea. Tomorrow you''ll want to put on sunblock unless you want a sunburn, and you''ll want to keep it up for a while. Oh, and one more thing. You don''t have fingerprints on that hand."


    "Oh," I said.


    "No kidding?" Lee grinned. "I know people who would pay good money for that."


    Alex met his eyes. "How much?"


    "Four, or five figures, but it''s got to be both hands."


    Laughing, Alex said, "I''m sure all these guys are totally legit and no one would get in trouble at all."


    "You bet," Lee said. "Not if you didn''t get caught anyway."


    Half an hour later, I''d parked the van back in the garage and we were inside the foothill. Daniel and the others had moved everyone in to one of the complex''s big conference rooms. Most of the people had been woken up by then, and either sat in the conference room, talking quietly with each other, or had left for their own rooms.


    As for myself, I was talking with Daniel near one of the corners. I wore only a stealth suit, having left the Rocket suit back in the van. Hunter and Adam lay on the floor unconscious next to a cart covered with plastic chairs.


    "So we''ve got them," I said. "What did you find out?"


    Daniel frowned. "I found out that we''ve got nothing. Hunter was duped. He liked Adam and trusted him, and when Artaxus took over the show he was mind controlled."


    "That figures," I said. "Well, at least we''ve got Adam. We can find some answers there... And now you''re looking at me in a way that''s making me nervous."


    "Me too," Haley had been talking (separately) to Camille and then Travis, but she''d walked around the chair cart just then. Or so I assumed. Her ability to sneak up without me noticing had always been unnerving.


    "About that," Daniel said. "Adam''s not Adam.  That''s actually--"


    "Courtney." Haley said. She''d sniffed the air as he''d said, "Adam''s not Adam."


    I shook my head. "That''s not possible. I saw them both at the same time more than once. She couldn''t have been him all the time. What happened?"


    Daniel shrugged. "Pretty much the same thing as Hunter. She wasn''t deliberately helping Adam like he was, but she was close when he left. Artaxus made her believe she was Adam and change shape. And no, you didn''t interact with her at all. She never went down where you were held. She  spent the whole time up here working for Artaxus."


    I wasn''t sure what to say. Well, at least I hadn''t ended up fighting her.

 Faerieland: Part 47

    A second look gave me a few clues I¡¯d missed when I¡¯d first seen what I¡¯d thought was Adam. ¡°Adam¡± had the same thin build and overall look, but he seemed taller than normal. It wasn¡¯t by much.


    Haley bent down, obviously getting a closer look. ¡°Is she okay?¡±


    Daniel stared at ¡°Adam¡¯s¡± face briefly. ¡°I think so. There¡¯s no way of knowing how she¡¯ll take this later, but she didn¡¯t kill anybody, or even hurt anyone. She relayed Artaxus¡¯ orders to Hunter and the fae. That¡¯s all. It¡¯s not out of the question that being mind controlled might still traumatize her, but she didn¡¯t do anything particularly terrible under his influence. She was more of a glorified gofer.¡±


    Daniel checked around the room. Hunter and Courtney were the only people still unconscious. ¡°I was going to leave her this way as evidence, but I think what¡¯s in her head will be good enough. She remembers Atraxus telling her what to do. She remembers what she did as Adam, and unfortunately so does everyone else. Leaving her this way risks someone taking revenge.¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°Is that likely?¡±


    Daniel shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ve got more than 600 traumatized people. It¡¯s not impossible that someone might go off the deep end. She¡¯s better off looking like herself.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Is there anything you need from us?¡±


    Daniel shook his head. ¡°You can¡¯t help much, but if you stand next to me, it¡¯ll block people¡¯s view. That¡¯s something.¡±


    Haley and I stood to each other as if we were talking. Daniel closed his eyes, and said, ¡°She¡¯ll wake¡­ Now.¡±


    ¡°Adam¡± opened ¡°his¡± eyes, pulling ¡°his¡± body into a sitting position, and then staring past us into the room.


    ¡°It¡¯s over,¡± Daniel said, his voice even. ¡°Artaxus lost. You don¡¯t have to stay in Adam¡¯s shape.¡±


    Courtney let out a breath, and even as she did, her body changed back to normal-short black hair to shoulder length blonde hair, thin, muscled body to Courtney¡¯s own body¡ªwhich was fit, but on the curvy end of fit.


    More interesting, her clothes changed as she did, swelling and shrinking as her body did. That was new. The last I¡¯d known, she was stuck with whatever clothes she¡¯d been wearing. More to the point, she¡¯d been wearing clothes loose enough to fit whatever form she changed to.


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    I¡¯d decided that now probably wasn¡¯t the time to ask about it when my sister Rachel walked up.


    She grabbed Haley and I, pulling us into a quick hug. ¡°I thought I was leaving you both to die.¡±


    She let go and stepped back. ¡°How is your hand?¡±


    ¡°Perfectly normal,¡± I said. ¡°Alex said it might feel weak, but it doesn¡¯t so far. What happened to you? I know the dragon hit you, but I¡¯m assuming you got healed.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Alex healed me. You heard about how I got hurt, right? I was out of phase to everything except for the dragon somehow. He didn¡¯t see me, but he broke my arm and a lot of ribs.¡±


    Turning away from me, Rachel tapped Haley¡¯s arm. ¡°I see that you¡¯re missing a bandage¡­¡±


    Haley held out her arm, and then let it down. ¡°Alex healed my arm after he was done with Nick¡¯s hand. He said it was partly healed already.¡± She shrugged. ¡°It might have healed itself in another half hour.¡±


    Nodding, Rachel said, ¡°That would be nice.¡±


    ¡°You know,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯d have been tempted to design a robot hand if Alex couldn¡¯t fix it. That might have been cool.¡±


    Rachel began to open her mouth, but didn¡¯t say anything. After a moment, she managed, ¡°Do me a favor, and don¡¯t mention that to Mom, okay?¡±


    I was about to answer when Courtney¡¯s voice cut in. ¡°I was helping him. I can¡¯t believe I was helping him. He could have killed all of you.¡±


    We all turned toward Courtney then. I was about to tell her it wasn¡¯t her fault when I felt Daniel in my head and knew that he wanted to reply. I let him. Rachel and Haley didn¡¯t say anything either.


    ¡°You¡¯re not the only one,¡± Daniel said. ¡°I was ready to fight them if I had to. Izzy did. She might have killed Amy under normal circumstances. It¡¯s not your fault.¡±


    ¡°On the bright side,¡± I said, ¡°Artaxus lost. So you didn¡¯t do a very good job helping him.¡±


    Courtney blinked, and from her blank expression, I began to wonder if I¡¯d said not only the wrong thing, but the worst possible thing.


    Then she laughed, a surprisingly low laugh given her normal range. ¡°Don¡¯t become a doctor, Nick. Your bedside manner is terrible.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s mouth widened ever so slightly. ¡°Can¡¯t say I disagree.¡±


    * * *


    A few hours later, Daniel and I were back in our room. Everyone had been woken up from Artaxus¡¯ sleep by then, and worse, everyone had been debriefed. We¡¯d answered questions, and signed papers for both local supers, the police, and the FBI.


    I was ready to go to bed, but since internet access had been restored, I¡¯d decided to check my email messages on my laptop. I had a lot of them, but most of them were through my Heroes¡¯ League email and addressed to the Rocket.


    A few were sent to my personal email. One of them was from Adam. It was only thirty minutes old.

 Faerieland: Part 48

    I  clicked on the email.


    All it said was "You know what to do," and underneath that sentence there was a link to a Dropbox folder. I hesitated for a moment and then clicked on it. It opened to a web page that listed only one file in folder. It was called "Exposure.mpv."


    I''d heard of the video format. It only ran on the associated player and only worked once. No one knew who had designed it. The Double V forums were certain it was a known tech genius, but couldn''t agree on who.


    Daniel''s bed creaked, and I heard him walk up behind me as I sat at the desk. "Maybe we should get Izzy. It''s only going to play once, and she''s got a great memory for sounds."


    "I can record it on anything that the PV player isn''t installed on," I said. "Which means that the stealth suit works."


    "It still might be good to get a few of us in here in case the viral version messes things up."


    I considered arguing with him, but he was right.


    About twenty minutes later,  the room felt a lot smaller. We hadn''t called everyone, but we had filled the room. The laptop sat on the stone desk. I stood next to it, so as not to get in anyone''s way.


    We''d ended up with almost all of the League that was in Stapledon plus a couple. Izzy stood off to the side with Daniel. Haley, Camille, Rachel, and Tara sat on my bed. Samita, Rod, Jaclyn and Courtney sat on Daniel''s. Travis stood next to the wall to my left next to Cassie. We were only missing Amy and Vaughn--and not for lack of trying. We''d already stuffed thirteen people in the room. Why not try for fifteen?


    Cassie frowned, tapped her phone, and put it in her pocket. "You might as well show it. They''re ignoring us or they''re in one of the dead zones."


    I leaned across the desk and pressed play.


    Adam appeared on the screen. He wore a black t-shirt, and sat on a wide bed. A picture of a field of yellow flowers hung on the white wall behind the bed. It looked like a hotel to me.


    Adam''s mouth twitched, almost turning into a smile. "Hi Nick, and whoever else happens to watch this. There are some things that you have to know. First, I should apologize for setting the dragon on you. I didn''t have many allies capable of keeping the program busy except him, and well, it got out of hand. I didn''t expect him to try to kill anybody. I knew it was a risk, but I definitely didn''t expect him to hurt you that badly. I''m sorry. That''s what happens with allies though. You can''t ever quite trust them, but that could happen to anybody, right?"


    "I''m sure," Cassie muttered.


    Adam grinned.  "Now that we''ve taken care of the apology, I''ll explain what I was doing. I told you part of it in Earthmover''s dungeons, but now I''m going to give you the big picture. The Nine have their fingers everywhere--government, businesses, hero teams... Everyone knows it or at least fears it, but we haven''t been able to do much about it. The Nine kills anyone who gets very far."


    The picture wobbled as he backed up to lean his back against the bed''s headboard. "Sorry. Just a second... Where was I? Right. My plan. I''ve been searching for the chance to burn the Nine out somewhere and rebuild clean. The Coffeeshop Illuminati wanted the same thing, so we''ve been working together. Turkmenistan fell right into our lap, Especially once you created plans to take it over, it  almost became easier to try it than not to."


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    Courtney muttered something to Jaclyn. I didn''t catch most of it, but I did hear the word "bastard." She turned away from Jaclyn to stare at the screen. Her mouth tightened.


    Unaware, Adam continued, "Once the Illuminati and I decided which of your plans we''d use, I knew I''d have to keep you out of it. You and the teachers both. One word from the Rocket or any of the legacy League members, and Turkmenistan would be over. Whoever came up with those plans could shut us down so quickly I don''t want to think about it.


    "So I used the fae to turn Denver into chaos while the VIP''s were here for the demo. That drew the teachers off.  Then there was the  compound itself. For that, I used Artaxus. The Unseelie Court has wanted a foothold in the mortal world for years. He wouldn''t be able to say no, and he didn''t. "


    Adam grinned. "And now none of it matters because we won. Turkmenistan''s in the hands of people we can trust. I probably shouldn''t have said that, but it''s not as if it won''t be on the news. Well maybe the fact that we''re pulling the strings won''t be on the news, but I''m sure you hate the Nine as much as we do. I hope you don''t distrust me enough to bring them back into power.


    "Now, I''m sure you''re wondering why I sent this to you at all. The answer is that I have a mission for you. Your mission is to go find out how deeply the Nine have infiltrated. They''ve been involved for years. Fortunately, you''ve got people you can ask. Ask Mindstryke or the Rhino about whether the world''s heroes have connections in the Nine. Dr. Nation might know too. After that, ask youselves if you can trust the traditional superhero community. If you can''t, talk to the Coffeeshop Illuminati. I''ve found them to be completely outside the Nine''s control."


    Then he said, "That''s all, folks!"


    The screen went black.


    Travis rolled his eyes. "That was obvious bullshit. If we had connections to the Nine, I think we would have noticed by now."


    I leaned over and closed out the browser window with the video. "It could be that there haven''t been many clues. When we went to rescue Cassie from Rook, there was this guy in Rook''s headquarters named Prentkoss or something like that. He was a Polish speedster. A hero. But he was fighting me with Rook''s people. I''ve always wondered why he was there. Direct connections between heroes and the Nine would explain it."


    Travis frowned. "Damn. Do you think it might be the Dominators? You know the Nine use them."


    I sat on the desk next to my laptop. "I don''t know. It could be, but I looked the guy up afterward. He''s still in Poland fighting crime. There''s no record of any scandal around him. In fact, he fought the aliens back in the 70s with our grandparents. There are pictures with him. He was on a Warsaw Pact team back then."


    Jaclyn sat up a little straighter on the bed, trying to meet everyone''s eyes. "I don''t think we''ve got a choice about pursuing this. I''ll ask my grandpa if he remembers Prentkoss when we get home. "


    A knock came from the door. Daniel said, "That''s Amy and Vaughn."


    Rod got up, and let them in. "You missed the video, but Nick said he was recording it."


    Vaughn cocked his head. "You recorded the Turkmenistan press conference? I''m sure it''s on Youtube by now."


    "Press conference?" I asked.


    Cassie talked over me. "Not the press conference. I texted you about it."


    Vaughn shook his head as the door shut behind him. "I didn''t read the texts. We were busy watching the press conference on TV. The Illuminati aren''t taking over. They''re handing over the reins to local people."


    Amy brushed a bit of red hair out of her face. "I read the texts. We were on the way here, but we stopped in the lobby to watch the press conference.  It''s not good news. I recognized one of the ''local'' people they''re handing the country off to. It''s from my end of Faerie. In fact, I''ve fought it."


    Samita''s eyes narrowed. "You''ve fought it?"


    Amy faltered. "Not me, precisely... I remember bits of the lives of all the other  Bloodmaidens. It''s not exactly under my control, but I don''t need it to be. I''d remember that creature even if I weren''t the Bloodmaiden. He''s legendary. He was one of the creatures the first Bloodmaiden fought. He''s called ''The Thing That Eats''."


    Rod shook his head. "And with a name like that, you know he''s not friendly."


    Amy laughed a little too hard. "Not in the least."


    Samita''s mouth dropped open. "The fae have a foothold. They didn''t get one here, but the Coffeeshop Illuminati gave them one there."


    Rachel''s voice cut through the conversation. "Nick, Vaughn and Amy should hear Adam''s message. You did record it, right?"


    I had. It had more pops and bits of static than I would have expected, but the stealth suit had managed to record it.


    I played it for them, and the group talked more.


    We talked all night.

 Bloodmaiden: Part 1

    Princess Amelia of the House of Sacrifice watched as the dirigible was secured on the lawn in front of the palace. Men swarmed in from the sides, grabbing the ropes that were thrown down and running them toward the short posts that surrounded the airship on all sides.


    Soon they''d tied the ropes to the posts. Then they carried out the stairway platforms, assembling them and placing them next to the gondola''s doors--including the cargo hatch.


    They''d need the cargo hatch. She''d be bringing a lot of baggage with her.


    Turning away from the window, she clenched her fists. It was all so unfair. She hadn''t asked for this. She hadn''t asked for any of it. What she wouldn''t give to be born into a normal family right now--the daughter of a merchant, maybe, or an airship engineer?


    As she stood in the second room of her suite, a room where she''d had private dinners, studied with her tutors, and played with her sister, she began to feel it again. It was always there below the surface of her thoughts. She could hear the whispers of all the Bloodmaidens before her, the saviours, the merely successful, the failures, the exiled, and the damned. All of them wanted the same thing. They wanted her to reach within herself for her power. It would be easy, easier than it ever had been even when her tutors had been teaching her magic.


    She took a breath and let it out. She could control it. She wasn''t going to transform again, not so soon after yesterday. If she had a choice, she''d never transform again.


    As she breathed, a new person entered the room. At a little under five and half feet tall with short, red hair, and pale skin, the new girl looked almost exactly like Amelia. Clothes were the only obvious difference. The new girl wore a pink dress while Amelia wore a black leather overcoat that covered up everything down to her matching boots.


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    "Amy," the new girl said, reaching out her hands to pull Amelia into a hug. "You''re already leaving?"


    "As soon as they can throw my things aboard the airship, I''m told. Doing anything less invites dissent, rebellion, and the fall of an empire. Our empire," Amy frowned, but didn''t let her sister go.


    "I''ll be completely lost without you," her sister whispered.


    Amy shook her head. "Amanda, you won''t be. You can''t be. You''re the Bloodmaiden. The real one." Amy thought, but didn''t say the new one, the better one, and the one that doesn''t terrify an empire.


    Amanda pulled her head off Amy''s shoulder, and they looked each other in the eyes. "What''s it like?"


    At that they both let each other go. Amy said, "Do you remember the feeling you had when we were first learning blood magic? When you touched that first drop of blood, it felt like you''d touched the smallest part of an ocean? I''m touching the whole ocean, and I''m touching it all the time."


    Amanda nodded. "It''s not like that for me at all. I can''t even do blood magic anymore."


    Amy blinked. "It cut you off from blood magic? That makes no sense at all."


    Amanda held up her hands, stopping Amy from saying anything more. "No, it''s more like I am the blood magic. I can feel everything, and everyone in the empire. Our tutors, well, my tutors tell me I''ll be able to do all of it again, but using different techniques."


    Amanda opened her mouth, stopped, and then said, "I can sense everyone except you."


    Amy took a breath. "Oh."


    Another voice broke into the conversation, this one a tenor. "That''s enough. Even here, there''s a risk of being heard. Don''t divulge any secrets except when you know you''re safe."


    Tall, with red hair and a red moustache, and skin as pale as his daughters'', their father stood in a black, pinstriped suit. Small red gems glowed on his cufflinks.


    "From me?" Amy asked.


    He shook his head. "I know that she''s in no danger from you. I wish the lords understood the same, but I can''t blame them. Before the council changed the nature of the Bloodmaidens, the birth of twin Bloodmaidens almost always led to civil war. We''d thought twin Bloodmaidens was now impossible and reverting back doubly so, but there have been no twins since the change. The lords are scared. The commoners are scared. Unless we''re seen to do something about it, we risk chaos."


    He looked from one daughter to the other. "You both know what happened to the last Bloodmaiden of the old line."

 Bloodmaiden: Part 2

    They knew. They''d been told during their first magic lesson. Amy remembered their tutor''s scowl as he caught her looking away toward the stables. "Now Amelia, you may not think this applies to you, but it applies to even the most modest practitioner, and not just to the Bloodmaiden. When we work with blood, we work with a being''s essence. The challenge is to separate out that portion of the essence we need. The last Bloodmaiden of the original lineage failed to do so, forever mingling her essence with that of her subject''s--thus your line''s ascension to power."


    Amy banished the memory. Their father looked from one to the other of them before meeting Amy''s eyes. "Amy, understand that we will bring you back as soon as it''s politically possible. That may be years. Some of the lords remember the Bloodmaiden Hildagar all too well, and especially how she hunted down the royal family."


    "Years..." Amy could feel the scowl on her face.


    "Father," Amanda began.


    He shook his head. "There''s nothing that can be done about it. Your mother, the Empress, is even now calming down certain members of the Council. A few of them were advocating that Amy would be executed immediately."


    "No!" Amanda balled up her fists and drew herself to her full height. With Amy''s newly increased sensitivity to magic, she could feel Amanda drawing it in to her. In the next moment, Amy realized that it wasn''t her senstivity as much as the amount of magic Amanda was drawing in. Everyone with the slightest sensitivity in the house must be feeling it, and sensitive people hundreds of miles away would recognize who it must be.


    Amy started as she realized that every member of the Northlands Council would already know. Certainly the previous Bloodmaidens did. Some were shouting that she should change. Others that she should be ready to change, that even in her family''s house she should be ready for assassination.


    Ignoring them, she said, "Amanda," at almost the same time as her father, but her father continued talking.


    He put his hand on Amanda''s shoulder, "They won''t kill her. We''ve calmed them down at least that much. She''s going to be sent out of their reach. First she''ll go to the Summerlands, and then to someplace well hidden."


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    Even as he said it, guards in red coats and black pants came through the door, some with their hands on the pommel of their swords, others ready to draw their pistols.


    "It''s nothing," her father said. "Go back to your station."


    All the guards did so, but one. He gave a short bow, and said, "Sir, the dirigible will be fully loaded shortly, and can depart as soon as you give the word."


    Her father nodded, "Excellent. We''ll be there shortly. Please let them know."


    The guard bowed and hurried off. Amy''s father said, "Well, it appears that our time is growing short. If there''s anything of yours that you planned to carry, please take it and we''ll walk out toward the airship."


    Amy nodded and walked back to the window, picking up a brown, leather bag. Then she walked toward the door. Following her father and sister out, she took one last look at the room. She hadn''t stayed in this palace as much as the palace in the city, but this had been her room. Now it still held her furniture, but none of her things. Her old dolls, books, clothes and other possessions had been put into storage or packed up.


    As of now, the room was empty of anything that made it hers.


    She gave it one last look before shutting the door, closed it, and followed her family toward the dirigible.


    Moments later she was walking across the grass, and walking up a stairway to stand on a metal platform next to the airship''s gondola. They weren''t alone. Along with the guards, a couple stood talking with her father. Amy recognized them. Both were on the far side of middle age. The man had thin, blond hair and a matching moustache. His brown suit covered a powerful physique as well as the beginnings of a potbelly. The woman''s black hair was streaked with gray, and she smiled at Amy as she caught her looking.


    Amy recognized them. They were William and Agnus Harcourt. She''d heard Mr. Harcourt jokingly referred to as the "court assassin."


    Her stomach sank, and for an awful moment she wondered if that was why they''d come. She stepped forward anyway, the platform ringing with each step.


    Her father smiled at her and said, "You''ve met the Harcourts before. They''ll be accompanying you on your journey."


    Amanda''s jaw dropped and she caught Amy''s eye. She''d obviously heard rumors about Mr. Harcourt''s profession as well.


    Amy stuffed down her anxiety and said as calmly as she could, "Accompanying me?"


    He nodded. "The Harcourts served the Crown for several centuries, gathering information and solving problems. They''re retiring."


    Mr. Harcourt inclined his head toward her. "A number of people are surprisingly ungrateful about all the problems we solved, so we''re hoping to retire someplace hard to find."

 Bloodmaiden: Part 3

    Amy smiled as her father laughed at the man''s joke, and hoped he meant what he''d implied--that this was as much for them as for her, and that it was a stroke of luck that left her with protection, and them with a good hiding place.


    Except her father ran the empire''s intelligence as well as the military, and he''d taught her and all of her siblings about politics. If she''d retained anything from that, she''d learned not to let the details distract her from the big picture. As much as the Harcourts might say that they were her bodyguards, the possibility that they were her assassins fit just as well.


    "Well," Mr. Harcourt said, "I''m sure you''ll want to say your goodbyes privately. We''ll see you inside."


    With that, the Harcourts stepped inside the white painted gondola, shutting the door behind them with a musical click.


    Her father met her eyes. "The Council insisted they go along with you, and yes, their orders are to kill you if you appear to be preparing to overthrow the government."


    "Father," she began, and she heard Amanda begin to talk too. She stopped when she saw her father''s face.


    He looked pale in the sunlight, and tired. There were bags under his eyes, and she thought she saw something glisten in the corner of his right eye. "I''ve talked to them. I''ve told them that if they kill you and can''t prove that it''s anything less than high treason, I will use every resource I have to make sure their lives will be short and miserable."


    She blinked away tears, unsure of what to say, and not wanting to lose control here with the Harcourts in the gondola, and guardsmen waiting on the lawn.


    Amanda hugged her, burying her face in Amy''s shoulder. From the wetness dripping on her neck, Amy knew that Amanda had already lost the battle against tears.


    "Ten years," her father said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We''ll have this taken care of within ten years. If it takes more than ten years, come back yourself. Do reconnaissance, and don''t come alone, but come back. If we can''t finesse this within ten years, we''re either dead or need your help."


    Amanda stopped crying and pulled away from Amy to stare at their father. "Is something wrong?"


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    He shook his head. "Nothing unusual. There are always threats against the empire. In ten years one of them may grow to become too powerful for us to handle on our own."


    Amy might have found that comforting except that he''d hesitated.


    She raised an eyebrow. Keeping her voice low, she said, "Are you telling me create an army and invade?"


    In a quiet, but even voice he said, "I''m telling you to find out what''s going on, and then make the best choice you can."


    Three days later on the airship, she found herself thinking back to that conversation, and wondering if she''d made more out of it than her father had been trying to say.  She knew better though. Everything she''d learned from him said that if he had the chance to hide her from harm, but also use her as the family''s insurance against an enemy, he would.


    She wouldn''t disappoint him.


    Around noon, they sighted land. She was ready for it after three days of almost constant water. Ahead lay the coastline of the Summerlands, specifically that of New Amsterdam.


    She''d heard that it was large, but seeing the many towers rising above the water, she realized it must be as large as any city of the Northern Islands. Even from this distance, she could see that they were far from the only dirigible in the sky. The airships flying over the city weren''t much more than dots, but there were more, some of them larger than any airship she''d ever seen.


    That wasn''t all. When they were only an hour out from the city, a ship rose into the sky. A long metal cylinder floated upward, fansails extended on each side, a multicolored glow spilling out around the edges of each sail.  The aethership flew higher, the sails glowing brighter the higher it went. Amy had no idea whether the aethership was heading toward the Moon, Mars or Venus.


    It didn''t matter. She wouldn''t be riding it.


    They weren''t going to another planet, not even one of the outer ones. They were flying toward one of the towers in the city. She didn''t remember which.


    She''d moved toward the front, and stood next to the windows when they''d reached the city, gazing at the apartments, factories belching out smoke, the shipyards, and airships that floated above the city.


    Then she realized that the dirigible was aiming toward a tower with a mooring mast. The tower stood out from the others around it partly because it  was taller, but mostly because it had been sheeted in a silvery metal.


    As she watched  it get larger,  Mr. Harcourt''s voice interrupted her thoughts, surprising her enough that she had to fight back the urge to change.


    "We''re going to dock at that building over there." He pointed at the building she''d already seen, and she strangled the urge to tell him so. "It''s the property of a well known inventor in these lands, a man name Joseph Vander Sloot. I''ve visited before, but not officially--not that this visit is official." He chuckled to himself.


    "Note the..." He stopped. "Now that is unusual." He pointed ahead.


    A boy her own age floated in the air, held up by a device that had been strapped to his back. Judging from the twin streams of fire, it appeared to contain two rockets.

 Bloodmaiden: Part 4

    Flame burst from the twin rockets on the boy''s backpack, and the boy flew upward toward the mooring mast. Then, lowering himself to the building and landing next to the mast,  he stepped behind a metal cabinet.


    The airship moved closer to the mast, and when it was close enough that Amy wondered if the nose would hit, the mooring mast bent and extended toward the nose of the airship.


    Amy didn''t see it, but she heard a metallic clank, and felt the airship stop moving forward. It hadn''t been moving much. She barely felt it, but she felt something.


    Then ropes fell from the airship, landing on the roof of the building. No one waited to grab them, but long metal beams rolled out from the middle of the roof and out toward the edges, catching the ropes in metal teeth and then depositing the ropes'' ends into holes on the roof of the building.


    She felt the dirigble descend, pulled downward by the ropes and by a clanking track on the mooring mast.


    Mr. Harcourt shook his head. "There''s an unusual landing procedure. It''s not the first time I''ve seen it automated, but even then there are more men needed." He cleared his throat. "Well, then. It seems that it''s time to disembark."


    She gave him a smile, thanked him, and walked back to her seat to grab her old, leather bag. The airship''s crewmen would unload the rest.


    Minutes later they''d walked down the steps to stand on the roof of the building, waiting for the boy.  Besides the rocket backpack and a denim jacket, he wore grease stained jeans like a railwayman, but didn''t carry himself like a commoner. He walked up to where Amy and the Harcourts stood, smiled, and waved them toward a small building next to the mast.


    "The elevator''s over here. My grandpa''s waiting for you downstairs."


    They followed him, walking into the small building to find that it was nothing but elevator. Unstained wood covered the floor. Above five feet, the walls and ceiling were little more than metal beams, and Amy could see the cables that held the elevator in the air.


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    The boy followed her gaze. "We mostly use this elevator for cargo, not people. Sorry, if it''s a little dirty."


    Mr. Harcourt laughed. "Young man, my wife and I have seen far, far worse in the service of the Empire."


    The boy nodded, "I can only imagine."


    Then he pulled the doors shut, locked them, and pressed a button. The elevator car rumbled downward, coming to a stop on the second floor. Someone had written in the numbers with a pen next to the buttons.


    The boy opened the elevator doors, and led them out, and into a work room. It could have passed for a junkyard or possibly a hardware store just as easily. Half assembled steam engines, difference engines, horseless carriages, machines whose functions she could only guess at, and all their parts lay scattered across the room, a room that appeared to take up the entire floor.


    It smelled of oil and metal.


    White haired, and slightly stooped over, an old man stood outside the elevator. Approximately the same height as the boy, he shared many of the same features, including a wide eyed interest in whatever he happened to be examining at the time.


    He was examining them, smiling as he said, "Good afternoon. I''m sure you''ll want to rest  after such a long journey, but Mr. Harcourt and I should sort out some details, and I should introduce myself. I''m Joseph Vander Sloot, and this is my grandson, Nicholas."


    Nicholas nodded to them.


    Mr. Harcourt said, "We are William and Agnus Harcourt, servants of the Crown, and this is Her Royal Highness Amelia of the House of Sacrifice.  I could go on for some time about her titles, but this isn''t the time."


    Joseph nodded. "It isn''t. Nicholas, why don''t you show Amelia around? They may be staying for a day or two, so give her the tour, but please don''t take her around the city. We don''t want a repeat of what happened when Daniel visited."


    Nicholas  cocked his head, and said, "I''m sure she wouldn''t be interested in doing that anyway."


    The Harcourts looked at each other.


    Guessing what they were worried about, she said, "I''ll be perfectly safe with him."


    Mr. Harcourt said, "Of course."


    Joseph looked from the Harcourts to Amy and back to the Harcourts, "If you are worried about her safety, I could call one of my associates--Captain Lee, formerly of the Summerlands marines."


    Mr. Harcourt blinked, and he swallowed. "That won''t be necessary. I have full confidence in your grandson."


    "Great," Joseph said, "then let''s talk about where you want to go."


    As the adults began to talk, Nicholas walked up to her. Shrugging, he said, "I guess they want us out of here. I can show you the building, if you want."


    She watched the adults walked over to a desk, pulled out chairs, and began to talk. Keeping her voice low, she said, "Who''s Daniel, and what don''t you think I''d be interested in doing?"

 Bloodmaiden: Part 5

    Nicholas¡¯ eyes darted over toward the table where his grandfather had opened a bottle of wine. ¡°Uh¡­ Let¡¯s start walking.¡±


    He pointed toward the nearest doorway. Amy raised an eyebrow, and they walked past a metal shelf that was covered with gears and a machine whose purpose Amy couldn''t even guess at.


    When they reached the stairway, Nicholas said, ¡°That way. I¡¯ll show you the way up.¡±


    The stairway wasn¡¯t much. Only wide enough for one person to walk, the stairs were worn brown tile, accompanied by cracked, white plaster walls.


    ¡°You know,¡± Amy said, following him up, ¡°if they were listening, leaving the room won¡¯t make them less suspicious.¡±


    Nicholas glanced back, frowning. ¡°I know. I couldn¡¯t think of anything I felt comfortable saying back there. I don¡¯t know what the Harcourts are like, but¡­ Well¡­ Okay. Daniel¡¯s probably my closest friend in the world. Our families live far from here normally. We¡¯re in the Western Lakes Confederacy¡¯s territory. It¡¯s a thousand miles from here. Anyway, he visited with us last time, and we got in a little trouble.¡±


    He stepped into a room and she followed him in. The third floor appeared to be almost entirely filled with row upon row of brass capped cylinders mounted upright against short walls. In the middle of the room stood a disc that was approximately a foot thick. Silver on the sides and black on top, it stood ten feet away from anything but small podium made of wood and brass.


    Amy guessed that the podium contained controls for the disc. Wires led from it to the disc. Wires from each row of cylinders combined into one thick cable that led into the side of the disc.


    ¡°Watch out for the cables,¡± Nicholas said. ¡°They¡¯re all shielded, but they carry a lot of power. If the shielding¡¯s even a little too thin, you could die.¡±


    Amy stared at the device. ¡°What is all this?¡±


    ¡°A dimensional gateway. My grandfather found it. The cylinders are batteries¡ªdry cell, if you care. It takes a lot of power¡ªover 1.21 gigawatts.¡±


    Amy took the whole room in. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of electricity then?¡±


    Nicholas stared at her.


    Her lip curled. ¡°I¡¯m trained in magic, but you¡¯ll find my understanding of technology lacking.¡±


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    He shrugged. ¡°Sorry. I thought you might want to see it before tomorrow. We¡¯re sending you¡­ Well, somewhere. Actually, another of my friends is coming by to help with that. He¡¯s studying weather magic, and he¡¯ll be creating lightning to power it.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re sending me to another universe?¡± Amy walked toward the disc, stopping a few feet away. The black disc reflected no light, becoming a sea of darkness except where threads of silver ran across the top of the disc.


    Nicholas nodded. ¡°That¡¯s my understanding. We¡¯re supposed to find someplace you¡¯ll find comfortable, but not too comfortable, and someplace you might be able to get back from, but not easily. Basically, someplace that will challenge you.¡±


    She turned around to meet his eyes. ¡°Who gave that order?¡±


    Nicholas put his hands in his pockets and walked toward her. ¡°I don¡¯t think it was an order. Anyway, I¡¯m not sure. It¡¯s what my grandfather told me before you arrived. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s not the Harcourts. Your guess is probably better.¡±


    Deciding not to say her guess, she looked up at his face. He had blue eyes. She hadn¡¯t noticed that before. ¡°You never told me exactly how you and Daniel got in trouble.¡±


    Nicholas smiled. ¡°Nothing impressive. Daniel¡¯s family has a talent for telling the future.  Anyway, on the streets, there are people who play a game where someone hides a marble under a cup, and you¡¯re supposed to guess which cup he hid it under. The problem is there are three cups, and sometimes these guys cheat.


    ¡°Well, Daniel can predict where it will be¡ªeven if the crook palmed it. It was pretty funny the first couple times. They had to give him the money, but the problem is they were crooks, and we weren¡¯t even all the way down the block before a bunch of thugs showed up to take the money back.¡±


    She looked him up and down. He didn¡¯t look particularly strong, and if he fought the same way he talked, she didn¡¯t like his chances. ¡°What happened?¡±


    He froze. ¡°Well¡­¡±


    Then he said, ¡°Our grandfathers met during the Nightmare War, and we¡¯ve both trained with Captain Lee. Between that and a few things I happened to be carrying, the thugs became very badly hurt and decided to run away.¡±


    ¡°Excellent,¡± she said. ¡°This the first time I¡¯ve ever been in New Amsterdam, and it¡¯s likely to be the last. I¡¯d like to do something other than sit in my room. You can be my bodyguard.¡±


    Nicholas frowned. ¡°Are you sure? Don¡¯t you want to do more than that?¡±


    Amy raised an eyebrow, ¡°What exactly are you meaning by that?¡±


    Nicholas¡¯ eyes widened. ¡°Not what you¡¯re thinking I mean, I bet. No, I mean that my grandfather doesn¡¯t like the idea of exiling you to another dimension. You¡¯re traveling with a pair of assassins. I¡¯ve read Imperial history. They¡¯re probably going to kill you. If you want to escape, we could arrange something. It¡¯d look like an accident. We¡¯d send you, and only you, someplace where we have friends.¡±


    She thought about not leaving. It wasn¡¯t what her father wanted, but wasn¡¯t New Amsterdam far enough? She felt the corners of her eyes moisten, and blinked. She wasn¡¯t going to cry just because she¡¯d met someone sympathetic. Besides, he didn¡¯t know the whole story.


    Trying to keep her voice upbeat, she said, ¡°How about we discuss it somewhere else?¡±

 Bloodmaiden: Part 6

    "Somewhere that''s not in the building?" Nicholas frowned, and glanced around the room.


    Amy nodded. "I''d feel safer."


    Nicholas paused, but then said, "Well, at least you''re dressed for it. Have you ever ridden in a gyrocopter before? It''s a little cold."


    She hadn''t taken off her overcoat. If that counted as "dressed for it," she was. "Don''t people wear goggles on those things?"


    He shrugged. "We''ve got goggles, but you''ll have to leave your hat."


    She turned back toward the stairway. "It''s just a hat. Which way?"


    Nicholas turned toward the far end of the room. "There."


    Past the rows of batteries, a round metal stairway stood three-quarters of the way down the room. They walked over to it and Nicholas led her up the stairway and into the first room she''d been in that didn''t take up an entire floor of the building. This room was smaller, feeling more like a shed or a storage room. Two big, cylindrical tanks stood against one wall. Tools hung on another. The last wall was covered with shelving, and shelves held oil cans, parts, tires, gears, strange machines, and cans with unknown liquids.


    In the middle of the room stood a machine that might have been a plane except that its wings were smaller and its propeller extended into the air behind the second seat and hung above the passengers.


    Nickolas walked to the doors in front of the gyrocopter, unlocked them, and pushed them open.


    Immediately the sound of horse hooves on the street combined with the noise of people talking hit Amy''s ears.


    "So," Nicholas said, "We''ll end up landing eventually. What should I call you? You''re going into hiding, so ''Princess Amelia'' seems like a bad idea, and I''m obviously not going to be saying ''Her Royal Highness'' either. So what should I do?"


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    Blinking against the brightness of the sun, Amy walked up to the side of the gyrocopter. "Call me Amy. My family does." Meeting his eyes, she smiled, and said, "What should I call you?"


    He stopped, frowning as he thought, and then said, "My family mostly calls me Nicholas, but my sister and friends at school call me Nick."


    "Nick." She nodded, and asked, "So what do we do next?"


    "We push this thing out on to the balcony. If you take that wing, I''ll take this one."


    In a few minutes, they''d pushed it outside, and shut the doors behind it. This section of balcony was wider than the rest of the floor''s, sticking out over the road.


    They climbed in. Nick told her how to put on her seatbelt, and pointed out the goggles stowed in a glovebox. As she was about to put them on, she discovered she hadn''t taken off her hat. She took it off, and stuffed it between her seat and the body of the copter. It was small and meant for traveling. It wouldn''t take too much damage, and if it did, well, it was just a hat.


    The rockets at the tips of the blades above her fired, cutting the air with a roar, and she began to wonder how noisy it was. Certainly people on the street were looking up.


    Then the gyrocopter lifted into the air, whipping her hair around and into her face. She''d have braided it if she''d known she''d be doing this.


    The blades tilted forward, and instead of simply lifting, they were flying above the street. Everyone was looking up at them--including the Harcourts, who had run out onto a second floor balcony, and were shouting something at her that she couldn''t hear over the noise.


    She didn''t need to hear it to guess. She could catalog her mistakes. For one, she was flying away unchaperoned with a boy she barely knew. For another, she wasn''t even attempting to keep a proper amount of distance between them. First names and even nicknames were far from appropriate. If anyone ever heard of this her virtue would be in question.


    She laughed. A few days ago, she might have been scandalized by all of it. Now, in the face of running from home because she bore the mantle of a being with a near demonic reputation, it all felt completely meaningless.


    Of course, she wasn''t sure that the Harcourts would agree, but she didn''t have to think about it until she returned.


    She waved at them until the next block of buildings hid them from her view. A part of her knew that waving could only make them more angry, but another part knew that she didn''t care. It wasn''t as if they were her parents, or had any authority over her.


    Turning away from them, she looked ahead at the vast city. Nick stayed low, flying above the buildings, but only as much as he needed to.


    Turning his head partway toward her, he shouted, "Is there any place you''d like to see?"

 Bloodmaiden: Part 7

    Amy shouted back, "I''ve never been to New Amsterdam before. If it''s not in a penny dreadful, I''ve never heard of it."


    Barely understandable between the wind and the gyrocopter''s blades, Nick shouted, "Right! Penny dreadfuls!"


    The propeller behind the passenger compartment roared and the gyrocopter flew upward, leaving the area above the street, and reaching an altitude higher than most of the buildings.


    Avoiding the factories'' billowing smokestacks, Nick flew the gyrocopter across the city until they reached a wide green area. A lake stood in the middle of it, but the land around it was large enough that the lake didn''t dominate the place. Amy guessed that the land could hold several small towns.


    As the rockets at the tips of the gyrocopter''s blades turned on, and the gyrocopter slowly sank toward the ground, Amy realized that she had heard of the place.


    It was called, "The Green" and it did appear in penny dreadfuls.


    Nick set the gyrocopter down at a small dusty lot where several other flying machines were also parked--at least twenty.


    Nick took a few minutes of pulling levers before getting out. Amy had already pulled herself out of the seat by the time he did.


    "So," he asked when he stood up in his seat, and then slid down the side, "do you recognize it?"


    Amy laughed. "I''ve heard of the Green. Anybody who''s heard of New Amsterdam has heard of the Green, and not just people who read cheap books."


    Nick nodded. "True, but they exaggerate its significance beyond belief. The way they imagine it, the Green is the tribes'' foothold in the city. If half the serials were true, the Iroquois League would control everything. It''s not true. It''s really just a park and the Iroquois trade here like everyone else."


    Looking from the green grass in front of her toward the other side of the street where shops ran down the street, Amy didn''t feel a huge sense of the difference between the two, There was something, but it felt much the same as the difference between city and countryside back home.


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    Nick had continued talking. "People make so much out of the fact that the Green was part of the conditions of selling the land. It''s not as complicated as they think, you know? So anywhere you want to go? We could walk to the lake, or even around it, but that would take a while. We''d be here late, and you might be in enough trouble as is."


    Amy thought about it and shrugged. "It''s not as if they''re my parents. Let''s go."


    They followed the trail then, one foot in front of the other, pounding the dirt, growing ever closer to the lake.


    After about thirty minutes the lake lay ahead of them. A few boats were on it. People sailed. A few couples rowed. Nick and Amy walked next to each other on the trail.


    He caught her eye. "Please don''t take this wrong, but you''re not much like what I imagined someone in your position would be like."


    She gave a half smile. "Are you disappointed that I''m treating you like a person instead of a servant? Should I be hinting that I''m the product of generations of superior breeding?"


    Nick grinned. "Well, not that exactly. I don''t know. I guess I didn''t expect that you''d want to take a walk now as opposed to going shopping or something?"


    Amy shrugged. "If you think about my family, we don''t sit back and command people to solve the empire''s problems. We''re out there working with everyone else. Besides, if I''m traveling to another world, I''m already carrying along too much stuff."


    Nodding along with her response, Nick said, "I''ve seen your luggage. As for the rest, I hadn''t thought about it in exactly that way, but I can see it."


    He kept on talking, but she didn''t hear anything. Somewhere around here, someone was practicing magic.


    She ran a fingernail across the back of her forearm. It barely hurt at all, and it drew blood. She muttered a few words she''d been taught. With this spell, she barely had to think. This spell for making magic visible was one of the first spells she''d been taught.


    A hazy reddish glow appeared in the direction of the lake, centered on the crowd of men and women next to the lake. Some were fishing, others watching the boats, and still others were holding hands.


    She couldn''t tell who''d cast a spell. Either she didn''t have the power at this distance, or she didn''t have the will.


    Voices whispered in her head. They told her she''d have both if she only changed form, but she knew better than that. The light and noise of the transformation would attract too many people''s attention, Plus, there was the minor matter that people would recognize what she was--not only Bloodmaiden, the Bloodlords'' greatest tool, but also one in the old style.


    That could result in a literal rather than a figurative declaration of war by the Summerlands'' combined governments, not only the colonists but the tribal nations around them.


    Nick''s voice broke through. "I don''t know if you noticed, but those two guys on the far right end of the group? They''re standing such that they can see us out of the corner of their eyes. See how they''re standing slightly diagonal? I don''t know if that means anything, but--"


    One of the men drew a gun.

 Bloodmaiden: Part 8

    The man pointed his revolver at them, saying, "Don''t move!"


    In the time that it took him to speak, four men had stepped away from the group, all of them in dark suits, all of them pulling pistols out from under their jackets.


    A woman standing near them covered her mouth with her hand while the man holding her other hand said, "God in heaven!"


    Next to Amy, Nick barely moved his mouth, saying, "This isn''t as bad as it looks--"


    But she barely listened. The sound of wailing voices filled her head. They shrieked danger and told her to change and to do it now. She didn¡¯t hesitate. She let the voices have their way. The shrill screaming turned to music, and red light surrounded her as her limbs felt lighter.


    Just like when she¡¯d first transformed (on her birthday at the very same instant her sister did), she felt the weight of armor and the cool, smooth layer between her and it.


    This time, unlike the last time, she didn¡¯t stare down at her armor and changed body with horror and amazement. This time, she ran, feeling the strength in her arms and legs and power surging through her body.


    Her first step threw her halfway to the crowd, and she¡¯d drawn a spear without thinking about it.


    The members of the crowd who weren¡¯t firing weapons at her scattered, some of them screaming. Bullets ricocheted off her armor, and she bashed one of them in the head with the shaft of her spear, knocking him to the grass. He didn¡¯t get up.


    She heard a roaring noise flying in her direction. She turned toward it in time to recognize that it was coming from a small rocket and watch the rocket explode. The net that expanded out of it tangled two of the men, and they fell to the ground, struggling to find their way out.


    The third and the last of them dropped his gun and leapt for her.


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    One look at him answered the question she¡¯d been wondering before¡ªwho was using blood magic? Now that she¡¯d changed, she could see that it clung to him, a reddish haze enveloping his body.


    When he aimed himself at her, it was obvious what he¡¯d done with the power he¡¯d generated. His hand blurred as he aimed for Amy¡¯s face, moving faster than a normal human, but not faster than she could.


    She batted his hand away with the shaft of her spear before she¡¯d even realized it.


    His eyes widened as her other hand hit his cheek, but he¡¯d backed away enough that she grazed it, drawing blood with the gauntlet¡¯s gem like exterior.


    He took another step back, wiping the blood with his hand, and when it was covered, he said a word, and it burst into flame.


    She¡¯d heard of masters of blood magic who could turn blood into a fire that ate through armor. So she knew that she should be backing away and stabbing him with the spear, but as the hand burst into flame, the voices burst into laughter in her head.


    Letting other hands guide her, she hit the burning hand with the shaft of her spear as he struck at her.


    The flame went out instantly, the blood drying out, and turning to dust. Then words came from her mouth that she didn¡¯t know she knew, and the all the blood on the man¡¯s face turned to fire which was then drawn into the blade of the spear.


    His face turned white, and he fell to the ground, lying there unmoving as memories of his life appeared in her head.


    She didn¡¯t want them, but they answered every question she would have had about how they happened to be there.


    Nick¡¯s voice snapped her out of a parade of events from the man¡¯s life. ¡°Amy? Are you in there?¡±


    ¡°What? I¡­¡± She let go of the form, and in a flash of red found herself wearing her clothes.


    He blinked, and stiffened as she changed, but it didn¡¯t stop him from saying, ¡°We need to go.¡±


    He pointed toward the nearest trees. ¡°There aren¡¯t that many people around, and nobody¡¯s dead, so we should be able to disappear. People don¡¯t die when you pull fire from their heads, right? He is breathing.¡±


    They ran away from the lake, and made their way back to the gyrocopter, staying near trees whenever possible. When they¡¯d gotten far enough away, Nick stopped next to a group of trees. No one could be seen nearby. Nick shook his head. ¡°That was amazing. You, or she, or both of you were moving too quickly for me to follow most of the time. Did any of that make a bit of sense to you? I mean, whoever that last guy was, he was moving quickly too.¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± She took a breath. ¡°I don¡¯t know their names, but he was a member of the Bloodlords¡¯ Guard. They sent him and all of them here to kill me.¡±

 Bloodmaiden: Part 9

    Nick glanced back toward the lake. ¡°What¡¯s the Bloodlords¡¯ Guard?¡±


    Amy pulled her arms to her chest and looked him in the eye. ¡°You know that there¡¯s the old line of Bloodmaidens and the new one.¡±


    Nick nodded.


    ¡°The Bloodlords¡¯ Council advised the emperor in the bad old days, and after the last of the old line killed the royal family, it became the Lords¡¯ Council¡ªofficially. It¡¯s still the same families. They¡¯re the most powerful users of blood magic. The Guard never changed their name, and it¡¯s loyal to the Council. It¡¯s officially loyal to our family too as we¡¯re members of the Council, but we bring our own guards to sessions. We know where their loyalty lies.


    "I knew they were nervous about me, but I thought the Harcourts were their only agents.¡±


    Nick stared at her. ¡°You knew that and you¡¯re still traveling with them?¡±


    Keeping her voice calmer than she felt, she said, ¡°There¡¯s more to this than just me. It¡¯s important to the family that I¡¯m out of reach of whatever¡¯s going on back home.¡±


    Nick stood up a little straighter and took his hands out of his pockets. ¡°What¡¯s going on back home?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said. All of it washed over her then¡ªthe shock of her first transformation, having to leave her home, her family and everything familiar, and then the fight. She could still see the expression on each of the men¡¯s faces when she took them down. During the fight, she¡¯d felt nothing¡ªexcept maybe satisfaction.


    Tears rolled down her cheek and then she began to sob.


    Nick¡¯s mouth opened, but he shut it before saying anything. Then he took a step closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She leaned into him, still crying. After a moment, he held her in both arms.


    They stayed that way for a time. Then she pulled away, and he let go.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Nick asked, glancing toward at a gap in the trees to check the lake again.


    Amy shook her head. ¡°No.¡±


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    Then she thought about what she¡¯d done. If she¡¯d been home, holding him would have caused problems that wouldn¡¯t have been over for months. But she wasn¡¯t home, she told herself, was she? For that matter, she wasn¡¯t going to be here much longer either.


    She grabbed a handkerchief out of a pocket and dried her face. ¡°I¡¯ll just be a moment.¡±


    ¡°Take your time. They¡¯re still down. They¡¯re taking the two guys you hit away in a wagon. They can¡¯t move themselves.¡±


    She almost started crying again, but this time, she blinked away the tears. ¡°What happened to the men you fought?¡±


    Nick grinned. ¡°Still caught in the net. Sleeping, in fact. There¡¯s a poison on the threads. Um¡­ Was this your first fight? If it was, you were amazing.¡±


    Amy smiled a little at that. ¡°It might surprise you, but they don¡¯t encourage princesses to learn how to fight. I learned a little, but mostly because my twin sister was going to become the Bloodmaiden, and everybody knew it. She didn¡¯t want me to feel left out. I know more about magic. I assume that you¡¯ve been trained to fight?¡±


    Nick shrugged. ¡°Captain Lee, a friend of my grandfather¡¯s, taught me the basics and a bit more.¡±


    ¡°I heard your grandfather mention him. I assume he¡¯s very good?¡±


    Nick grinned. ¡°My understanding is that he¡¯s utterly terrifying in battle, and that¡¯s not surprising. I think he¡¯s got Elder blood in him, so he¡¯s had hundreds of years to learn. You¡¯d know more about that than I would. Aren¡¯t most of the nobility descended from the Elders?¡±


    Amy put away her handkerchief. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m told. I wonder if we should go back? If they found us, there might be others.¡±


    Herbert Johnson, the man whose memories she¡¯d absorbed, didn¡¯t know of any, but he didn¡¯t have any special need to know. Well, so far as she could tell. His memories were a jumble when she took them, and she felt sure that she was losing them moment by moment.


    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re okay?¡± Nick was watching her, hand held out as if he thought she might need support.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I don¡¯t know what you know about the old Bloodmaiden¡¯s abilities, but remember the man with the fiery hand? I took his memories. I don¡¯t know how. I was remembering them as we talked.¡±


    Nick blinked. ¡°I had no idea. Did you know that the Elders did that? That¡¯s in texts about fighting them¡ªthe ones that didn¡¯t get burned during their rule.¡±


    Amy shivered. ¡°I did. Please don¡¯t tell anyone. Oh, and this is going to sound silly after everything else we¡¯ve discussed, but please don¡¯t tell anyone about how I broke into tears, and what happened after.¡±


    Nick frowned, and then his eyes widened. ¡°Oh, right. I did learn that much about royalty in school. Your marriages are used to pull the empire together. Rumors of a romance with some boy in the Summerlands would cause problems.¡±


    She smiled at him. ¡°It might cause problems for you too.¡±


    ¡°Unlikely,¡± Nick said. ¡°I¡¯m not going out with anybody. I almost dated a girl last year, but it turned out that she was a werewolf. When her pack realized what we were doing, they left. I don¡¯t know where they went.¡±


    Amy stared at him. ¡°A werewolf? They¡¯ve killed whole villages.¡±


    Shrugging, Nick said, ¡°She looked like a normal girl when we met. I didn¡¯t find out about the werewolf part till later.¡±

 Bloodmaiden: Part 10

    They walked back to the gyrocopter landing area hand in hand. She wasn''t precisely sure how that had happened. Their hands had bumped a couple times, and then, if she was honest with herself, she had to admit that she''d taken his hand. On the other hand, he didn''t have to walk next to her, and she was fairly sure that he''d bumped her hand first. So, they''d had the same mutually bad idea.


    And it was a bad idea. She was literally leaving tomorrow, possibly for ten years. Plus, if everything went well, and her parents brought her home next year... Well, if any hint of this reached the tabloids, it would be the royal scandal of the season.


    On the other hand, given what she''d become, her existence was a scandal. Even if she could go home, the smart choice would be for her parents to use her to frighten their enemies, not make alliances.


    In one sense, it was the end of everything she''d ever expected, but in another she was free.


    She wouldn''t have to be part of a sham marriage built on a need to keep the peace or provide heirs. The old line of Bloodmaidens had only rarely gotten married, but they''d had lovers. Of course, this was back when there was no empire, and the family ruled little more than their own islands. They were a rougher and wilder clan back then--


    Voices and images interrupted her thoughts, the voices telling her about loves lost and found during both war and peace. The images told her more about the human body, male and female than she''d ever known or wanted to know.  It wasn''t all people having sex, and there were as many or more sweet and slightly awkward scenes, but it was too much.


    She found that her cheeks were burning.


    Nick turned his head toward her. "Are you alright? If you''re uncomfortable..."  His grip loosened.


    She squeezed his hand. "No. It''s not you. It''s... Listen, I can hear all the Bloodmaidens of the old line in my head. They''re all offering me advice. Some of them are nice. Some are smart. Some have the restraint of a cat in heat. Guess what they''re telling me?"


    He blushed, but then he stopped. "Do you have all of their knowledge? That would be hundreds of years of magical background, or history, or combat. Think about that. That would be amazing. Have you used it?"


    She stopped walking. She was about to say no, but, "I think I did when we were fighting the assassins. I never learned how to use the spear--at least not that well."


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    Nick furrowed his brow. "Do you think they could take over?"


    "I hope not." She didn''t feel like they could. For all that they shouted, she didn''t feel like anything but herself.


    Inside her head, she heard only a chorus of denial, all of the past Bloodmaidens saying, "No"--all except one, the closest one to her. That one said nothing, and now that Amy thought about it, the closest one hadn''t ever said anything.


    That one only watched.


    Amy looked up at Nick. "We need to get to the gyrocopter. There might be more of them. Anyone with any magic sensitivity at all will have felt me change."


    Nick''s eyes widened, and he nodded. "That''s a good point."


    They hurried to the copter, no longer holding hands, and took to the air. The sun had fallen in the sky since they''d gone to the park. It wasn''t dark, but the sun was setting. It hung in the west. Amy wondered if the towers there were all part of New Amsterdam or other cities that butted up against each other.


    Whatever the truth was, towers extended as far the eye could see.


    Nick landed the gyrocopter, and the Harcourts burst into the room as Nick and Amy pushed the copter into the storage room that served as its hangar. Mr. Harcourt''s first words were shouted at full volume, "Whatever possessed you to change in the middle of this city?"


    Not waiting for a response, he turned toward Nick, "And what gave you the idea to take a princess who is supposed to be going into hiding out into the middle of a city?"


    Nick opened his mouth, but beyond the word, "I..." nothing more came out.


    Red light filled the room along with music and the wails of all the past Bloodmaidens. The wailing was only heard in Amy''s head, but she heard it very well as she transformed.


    Meeting Mr. Harcourt''s eyes, she felt her eyes narrow as his grew wider. "You''ve no right. You don''t know why we had to."


    Amy''s hands had stopped touching the copter''s wing when she changed, but she knew without asking that she was strong enough to throw it at him if she wanted to, and if the room weren''t so small.


    Breaking William Harcourt''s neck wouldn''t take much effort either.


    Agnus Harcourt touched William''s shoulder, pulling him backward, and saying, "Of course not, your highness."


    Mr. Harcourt tried to pull away from her, but Agnus kept her hand on his suit coat. "Let me go, if we don''t stand up to her, she''ll never respect us."


    He put his right hand in the front pocket of his suit coat. Amy didn''t know what was in it, but the pocket glowed with the red of blood magic.


    Nick''s grandfather entered the room with no sign of weakness, walking like a much younger man than his years. Amy saw no sign of magic, but she thought she heard the clacking of gears as he took a step. His suit jacket and pants seemed bulkier than before too.


    "There will be no violence under this roof," he said.


    He wasn''t alone. Along with him came a long haired man in the blue jacket and white pants of New Amsterdam''s army.  He held a short sword in each hand. "Harcourt," he said. "I see that your head is still attached to your body. It''d be a shame if that changed."


    Mr. Harcourt pulled his hand out of his pocket and let his wife pull him back.


    Captain Lee nodded to Amy. "My ladies," he said. "It''s good to meet the most recent of your number."


    Amy felt approval from some of those inside her, fear from others, and saw no sign of magic in him at all. Whatever Nick might say, he was no Elderkin.

 Bloodmaiden: Part 11

    The women in her head agreed. He wasn¡¯t descended from the Elders. He¡¯d existed before they¡¯d come through the portal to Earth. The first Bloodmaiden knew him then. Her voice echoed in Amy¡¯s mind. ¡°We only thought he was a mercenary, but when the gilfangs of Korandur¡¯s Deep crawled up to the surface, it became obvious that he was more than simply a man. He didn¡¯t wear his current shape then, but he liked those swords.¡±


    The other Bloodmaidens whispered, and Amy caught glimpses of their memories. Whatever he was, he was dangerous and so powerfully magical that he didn¡¯t even appear to be connected to magic.


    In his favor, he terrified the Harcourts. This was someone she needed to know better.


    In a flash of red, she let the Bloodmaiden form fall away. She gave a small bow which Captain Lee matched, and she said, ¡°The first Bloodmaiden remembers you as do many of the others. I can¡¯t speak for all of them, but many are glad to see you.¡±


    Captain Lee smiled. ¡°Many, eh? That¡¯s better than I might expect. Could be that it¡¯s been so long since they¡¯ve been embodied that they¡¯ve lowered their standards.¡±


    Amy sensed amusement from more than one of those inside her at that.


    Then Captain Lee nodded. ¡°The first Bloodmaiden, eh? Gilfangs and winter wolves if I remember.¡±


    Amy felt approval from within her, and she said, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it.¡±


    Lee¡¯s swords disappeared from his hands. It wasn¡¯t flashy. They were there and then they weren¡¯t. ¡°Well,¡± he said, ¡°I could stay and reminisce about very, very old times, but there are a few other things that need my attention. I expect that I¡¯ll see you in the future one way or another. Until then, be well.¡±


    He nodded to her as he walked out, waved to Nick¡¯s grandfather, and grinned at the Harcourts.


    The Harcourts moved out of his way, and he walked through the door.


    When he¡¯d left, Joe walked around the copter wing to stand next to Nick and Amy. ¡°Unless the two of you ate while you were out, you¡¯ll want to come to the dining room. Giles¡¯ staff made dinner. On the way down, we¡¯ll want to talk about what happened out there.¡±


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    Nick and Amy explained what had happened, interrupted by questions from Nick¡¯s grandfather, and sometimes William and Agnus Harcourt.


    As they talked, Amy noticed that this was the only floor she¡¯d seen so far that didn¡¯t look like an inventor¡¯s laboratory or a warehouse. This level had white, plaster walls, black wood near the ceiling and running along the floor, and black and white tile covering the floor.


    It looked like a place that a person might want to live in.


    The dining room had a balcony and window that looked out over the city. The long table in the middle of the room was covered with a tablecloth, and blue and white decorated plates. A man and woman in dark red and white uniforms stood next to the door. The woman¡¯s uniform included an apron.


    Both on the servants¡¯ uniforms showed a coat of arms that had a bolt of lightning on the shield. Amy noted it for future reference.


    William Harcourt stared at it. ¡°Is there any way,¡± he asked as they all sat at the table, ¡°of moving up Hardwick¡¯s arrival time? Their misadventure this afternoon shows that it¡¯s only a matter of time before the Council¡¯s assassins attack here.¡±


    Joe shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no way they can get here more quickly. They¡¯re taking a dirigible overnight, and they¡¯ll be here tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we¡¯ve taken precautions against blood magic. Captain Lee is only the most obvious of them.¡±


    Harcourt glowered. ¡°I¡¯m a master practitioner of blood magic, and I¡¯ve seen no sign of anything that could prevent my entrance.¡±


    Joe picked up a roll and began to butter it. ¡°We know practitioners from many magical disciplines. Consider the fact that you can¡¯t detect our defenses a mark of their quality. Remember that you were captured when you broke in.¡±


    Harcourt¡¯s mouth tightened. ¡°I never encountered hostile magic.¡±


    Joe nodded. ¡°That you know of, yes.¡±


    Harcourt opened his mouth to continue the argument, but Agnus put her hand on his arm. ¡°Either it will work or it won¡¯t. We can take our own precautions.¡±


    Joe gave her a small smile. ¡°You may, but please only within your own rooms. I¡¯m told that working magic in the halls could be dangerous.¡±


    The rest of the meal was calmer. Amy and Nick talked mostly with each other. Joe appeared to know a number of people in common with the Harcourts, and they talked about them for the rest of dinner and some time into the evening.


    When they all went to bed, Amy found herself alone in a bedroom that if smaller than hers at home looked to be more comfortable than a blimp¡¯s stateroom. It had a wide bed and rugs that covered most of the floor.


    With nothing more to do, she opened up one of her suitcases and began to look for her nightclothes.


    A soft knock came from the door of what she¡¯d thought was a closet. Nick¡¯s voice came from inside. ¡°I hope you¡¯re still dressed. My grandfather wanted to give you the final say on where you go.¡±

 Bloodmaiden: Part 12

    Amy turned toward the door, leaving the suitcase open on her bed. "I''m dressed. You maycome in."


    The closet door opened, and Nick walked out, brushing against hercoats where theyhung in the back, and shutting the door.


    Amy considered stepping around him and opening the door, but didn''t. "How did you get in there? I looked in that closet."


    Nick glanced back at the door and then back to her. "The wall on the left side opens into a hidden passageway. You press on a panel a third of the way up the wall. It''s no big deal."


    "Wait," she said. "Can you spy on people in their rooms?"


    Nick gave a half smile. "Yes, but we don''t unless there''s a good reason. For example, Harcourt got in here once, and we kept track of him by following him in the passages, and eventually cornered him. We don''t check in on people we trust."


    "Good. Don''t. I was just about to change when you got here." Another thought came to her. "Why was Harcourt here?"


    Nick''s mouth opened, but he didn''t say anything at first. Then, "Well..."


    "Just tell me."


    Somewhere outside, a horse neighed and a wagon clattered down the street.


    Nick sighed. "Ok. Grandpa''s pretty sure he broke in to see the dimensional gateway we''ve got downstairs, probably on behalf of your father or the Council. I don''t think either of them knew for sure before that."


    Amy frowned. "Why did they even suspect? I''ve never heard of anyone having their own portal."


    "In the Nightmare War, the creatures were coming through a portal, and the only way to close it off was from the inside. Grandpa and his friends never went in that anyone saw, but they did come out when it began to close. I imagine that was a clue, or at least it would be for your intelligence services."


    Amy ignored the comment about the Empire''s intelligence services. She knew very well that they had spies everywhere they could. The first part of what he''d said was the interesting part. "How would your grandfather be involved in the war at all? I was always told that the Bloodlords'' Guard and my great aunt Mina, the Bloodmaiden, working with our best troops, closed the portal."


    Nick nodded. "That''s all true, but the Summerlands Adventurers'' League was also there, and my grandfather was then, and still is, in the League."


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    "Oh." She''d seen guards and servants reading about the Adventurers'' League, but she never read the books herself. "Was he the armored one?"


    "Yeah. He was the only one without any kind of magic." Nick pulled out a simple wooden chair from the corner and sat down. "He still puts on armor when they need him to, but lately that''s been me."


    Amy sat down on the bed. The bed cover was coarser than what she had at home. "I''d think so. He''s got to be ninety years old. Armor or not, I''d think that his bones would break unless he''s Elderkin."


    Nick shook his head. "He''s not, but he is aging better than most people. So is my grandmother. There are people in the League whose magic can slow aging down."


    Grabbing one of the poles that held up the bed''s canopy, Amy said, "There are people who would pay or even kill for that."


    "I know, but the League''s a secret society--sort of. They try to keep what they doquiet even if it does get embellished. Speaking of which, they''re involved with all of this. A League member owns the building. They found and repaired the dimensional gateway as a group. As of the moment your father called us, getting you out of here becamea League project."


    She said, "So now I''m in a penny dreadful?"


    Nick grinned. "I guess. We''re bothin whatever book takes place years after the famous stories end. Which reminds me, where do you want to go? Harcourt wants to go someplace extremely different, someplace where assassins will stick out because they won''t know how people look or they won''t know the culture. The idea is that it would be too much to absorb all at once."


    Amy put her hand to her chin, and sat there, thinking. "That''s a good idea. I wouldn''t have thought of it, but honestly, I''m more frightened of him. It''s not likely theycan travel to another universe, but he''s worried that I''m a danger and he''ll be with me. You saw what he was like this afternoon, and I can''t say that he''s entirely wrong. Back in the bad old days there were twin Bloodmaidens who fought over control of the Empire. It happened more than once. They sent one off to be fostered or exiled, and they''d come back leading armies against the family."


    She pulled her legs up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. "What I''m worried about is that he''ll interpret even my good intentions as high treason. My father told him that he wasn''t supposed to do anything to me unless I actually was planning to take over the throne. The problem is that my father told me that if it took a long time for them to bringme back, the family was probably in trouble. If that were true, coming back with an army would be the best thing I could do."


    Nick leaned back in the chair, and didn''t say anything at first. Then he said, "Why didn''t he tell Harcourt?"


    Amy thought about it. "Probably because he might be involved, or might be friendly to someone who is. They''re sending me away because I make the Lords nervous. Being nervous might be enough to justify a coup, and even if he wouldn''t participate in the coup itself, he might be against me setting it right--especially if I were putting together an army."


    She let her legs back down to the floor. What was she, ten?


    "You know what?" She leaned forward, both arms to her sides. "He''s afraid of your Captain Lee. Send me to an alternate dimension where he exists. If I hired him, that might make Harcourt think twice before he triesanything."


    "Huh," Nick said. "That''s a good idea, but Lee''s a bit of a wild card as a mercenary. You''d probably be better off someplace where he''s connected to another version of me or Grandpa."


    She thought about it. "Can you do that?"


    "I think so. Lee ends up being connected to my family in a lot of different universes apparently."

 Bloodmaiden: Part 13

    Amy gave a small smile. ¡°I¡¯ll see you and your grandfather both then. Maybe I¡¯ll send your greetings.¡±


    Nick grinned. ¡°Yeah, that would be neat. ¡®Another you told me to say hello?¡¯ I¡¯d want to know how much he was like me, and how. Of course, whoever that Nick is, he wouldn¡¯t be me. It¡¯s anyone¡¯s guess what he¡¯d think.¡±


    She raised an eyebrow. ¡°How different could he be?¡±


    Shrugging, Nick said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. There are an infinity of possibilities. Even assuming I have the same potential everywhere, I¡¯m sure I won¡¯t care about exactly the same things, and who knows how different it might be? For example, maybe it worked out with Haley¡ªthe werewolf girl. Or maybe I never learned how to fight from Lee, or Grandpa died when I was two¡­ It boggles the mind.¡±


    Nodding, she got up from the bed and walked over to the window. The building was a little taller than the brick factory across the street, giving her a view of New Amsterdam¡¯s skyline. Even at night, some towers stood out. Gyrocopters landed and took off from one tower far, far in the distance, running lights blinking.


    She¡¯d never see this city again after tomorrow, and if she were unlucky, she¡¯d never see any city in the Northern Islands either.


    Nick walked up and stood next to her. ¡°I should probably go. Your guardians will notice me if I stay too long, and since I know what you want, I can tell Grandpa.¡±


    She turned and looked up at him. He¡¯d been looking out the window too, but as she turned, he did too, and their eyes met. ¡°Thank you. I never expected anyone here to care what happened to me. I¡¯m grateful you asked me if I wanted to escape before, and that you¡¯re giving me choices now. There¡¯s a chance that I¡¯ll come back. It won¡¯t be soon, but until then know that I won¡¯t forget you.¡±


    She took his hand, and then leaned toward him. It was inappropriate, and far too forward, but, she reminded herself, she was inherently scandalous now.


    He caught her hint, leaned toward her, and they kissed. He didn¡¯t quite aim perfectly. His lips ended up a little above where they should have been, but it was all right. They adjusted.


    After a little while, they pulled away from each other, still holding hands.


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    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that,¡± Nick said quietly.


    She felt a hint of a smile tug at her mouth. ¡°Neither did I.¡±


    Letting go with his right hand, he touched above his heart. ¡°Did you know that your necklace was glowing?¡±


    She looked down. The red gem on her necklace was glowing. She¡¯d hid it under her shirt where the gem made a soft red circle. ¡°No. I didn¡¯t.¡±


    She touched it with her free hand, willing it to go dark. The glow dimmed, but didn¡¯t fade entirely. ¡°It appeared when I became the Bloodmaiden. I can¡¯t take it off, and I can¡¯t completely control it.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Nick stared at it. ¡°Too bad that you¡¯re leaving so soon. I¡¯ve got friends who could analyze it, and maybe help you figure it out.¡±


    ¡°I wish I were staying longer too.¡± They hung on to each other¡¯s hands for a minute longer, saying nothing.


    Then Nick let go. ¡°I should go,¡± he began.


    ¡°I know.¡± She watched as he stepped into the closet and shut the door. When she opened it a moment later, she found only coats inside.


    She decided to find her nightclothes, walked over to the bed, and opened her suitcase. As she went through her clothes, she felt a twinge. She wasn¡¯t sure for sure what it meant, but she suspected it was blood magic. It felt a little like her change, but much less powerful, and from a distance¡ªmaybe as close as the street below.


    Turning off the lights so that no one outside would see her, she moved her face close to the window. She didn¡¯t see anything on the street or on the roof of the buildings on the other side of the street.


    Pulling out a pin, she stuck herself, and with a few words, used the drop of blood to see if any blood magic were being performed nearby.


    Again, she couldn¡¯t see anyone or any scrap of power. She considered transforming, but didn¡¯t, guessing that if she¡¯d felt a spell that was being used to search for her, the last thing she wanted to do was confirm it.


    She¡¯d have to tell Harcourt though. Just as well that she still hadn¡¯t found her bedclothes yet, she wasn¡¯t ever going to get to sleep.


    * * *


    The Next Morning:


    Along with the Harcourts, and several suitcases, Amy stood on the black and silver platform she¡¯d seen the night before. They were in the middle of the room. Joe and Nick stood behind the wooden podium near it. Nick read Joe numbers from his side of the podium. Joe pushed buttons and read off other numbers to Nick, causing Nick to run out into the room to check the rows of brass topped canisters, and the wiring that led from the canisters to the platform.


    A low hum came from the platform below her.


    She hadn¡¯t had any time to talk with Nick. They¡¯d exchanged waves from across the room when she¡¯d come in, but nothing more. He¡¯d been moving ever since and probably before. All for the best then that they¡¯d said their goodbyes last night.


    Footsteps came from outside the room, and a man in the red livery with a lightning bolt family crest stood in the doorway. ¡°Mr. Vander Sloot. Master Hardwick and his heir have entered the building. He sends word that there are a number of men gathered down the street. He thinks that they¡¯re coming toward this building, sir.¡±


    Joe looked up from the dials on the podium, shook his head, and sighed.

 Bloodmaiden: Part 14

    Moments later, three more people came through the door. The first two were teenagers¡ªa boy and a girl, holding hands.The boy wore a sporty blue jacket made of wyvern leather in a style that had been popular at Court last year. He was short¡ªonly a little taller than the girl who came in with him¡ªand his brown hair went down to his shoulders, a style that was still popular.


    His eyes darted from one spot to another in the room, and he grinned as he took it all in.


    A low murmuring came from the voices in her head when she saw the girl. Blonde, blue eyed and pale skinned, the girl wore a brown leather coat and pants¡ªthe kind Amy had seen in illustrations of colonists and frontiersmen. From her clothes alone, it was obvious to Amy that this person didn¡¯t care about fashion at all, but that was the least of it.


    The girl¡¯s ears had a slight point, and her walk hinted at a physical strength that didn¡¯t fit with her slim frame.


    Based on a steady stream of memories, Amy guessed that whoever this girl was, she was more Elder than human.


    Nick knew both of them, looking up from the wire he¡¯d been checking to shout, ¡°Vaughn! Cassie!¡± He waved his right hand. ¡°Vaughn, you¡¯ll need to go over to the corner. Cassie, you¡¯ll need to stand next to the door, and be ready to uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Fight,¡± said the third person to enter. Nearly bald with a ring of white hair around his head, he wore a black suit with a silver lightning shaped pin on his tie. He carried a black, wooden cane, accented with silver metal, but didn¡¯t walk with the weakness she would have expected.


    To her surprise, she recognized him as Giles Hardwick. He¡¯d been introduced to her last year at Court as an ambassador from the Summerlands.


    Amy sensed powerful magic around him (and his grandson) without even trying.


    At the sound of Giles¡¯ voice, Joe looked up from the podium. ¡°Up for a fight, Giles?¡±


    ¡°As ever,¡± Giles said. ¡°But remember when we arranged defenses for this building? We were assuming at most ten people sneaking in. It appears that several times that will be attacking tonight.¡±


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    Joe frowned. ¡°Then I suppose we¡¯ll be redesigning again tomorrow.¡±


    Outside, someone screamed and fell past one of the front windows. He was followed by a head and a hand. The hand was on fire.


    Giles raised an eyebrow and crossed the room to stand a few feet behind Joe. ¡°Captain Lee¡¯s on the roof?¡±


    Joe chuckled. The end of the chuckle was overwhelmed by a solid sounding thump, followed by a flash of lightning and the crack of thunder.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to guess,¡± Joe said, ¡°that they tried to batter down the front door. They¡¯ll know that only works once soon enough. Cassandra, please be ready.¡±


    Cassie grinned and pulled a curved dagger off her belt. Made of a black metal, it was spiderwebbed with veins of dark red running down the blade. ¡°I am ready.¡±


    The voices in Amy¡¯s head wasted no time in pointing out that it was one of the Elder¡¯s weapons, an old one that originated wherever they came from.


    ¡°Dammit,¡± Harcourt muttered. ¡°What did I say, Vander Sloot? Give me a moment and I¡¯ll join the defense.¡±


    Joe narrowed his eyes and stared. ¡°Stay where you are unless you plan to stay. The fight will end when you¡¯re gone, and we can hold them till then.¡±


    Harcourt clenched his fists. Then, pulling a revolver from inside his jacket, Harcourt said, ¡°I¡¯ll assist from here then.¡±


    Nodding, Joe said, ¡°Don¡¯t shoot the batteries.¡±


    From below came the hum of a big engine followed by a crash, and the sounds of shattering, splintering, and tearing.


    Joe turned away from the noise. ¡°Nicholas, have all the connections been checked?¡±


    Nick looked up from staring at the floor. ¡°Two more to go.¡±


    In a low voice, Joe said, ¡°Quickly.¡± Turning toward Vaughn¡¯s corner of the room, he said, ¡°Are you ready? Charge up now, and let it go when Nicholas gives the word.¡±


    Vaughn saluted, grinning. Joe ignored it.


    From below came the sound of shouting, and boots hitting tile on the stairway. The noise echoed in the stairwell past Cassie¡¯s doorway, and then a man stepped through.


    Cassie¡¯s knife arm whipped out, and she cut his neck. The red veins in her knife glowed brighter, and for a moment, the man¡¯s blood flowed upward toward it.


    Punching the next man, she ducked, avoiding a shot from his pistol, and cut the inside of his leg. Blood spurted out, and he fell over. Cassie, in turn, blurred with speed, stepping over him and into the stairwell.


    Screams came from inside, and then gunshots, one after the other.


    Over the noise, Nick shouted, ¡°Connections checked!¡± He ran toward the middle of the room and the podium where his grandfather stood, jumping over the clusters of wires on the wooden floor.


    From the corner, Vaughn shouted, ¡°Charging!¡±


    Amy shielded her eyes as bright, white lightning illuminated the room. Meanwhile, more gunshots came from the stairwell. This time, Cassie screamed.

 Bloodmaiden: Part 15

    As the  bright light faded, the first men entered the room, pistols drawn.  They were dressed in black suits, none of them unusual, but seen all together, they were obviously the same design.


    She didn''t see them for long.


    A bolt of reddish tinged lightning surged forward from Giles Hardwick''s hands, and the men fell forward, unconscious, or dead.


    "Careful with that," Joe turned away from the dimensional gateway''s control panel to give Giles a look. "They''re not going anywhere if you short out the system."


    The next man stepped over the bodies, pistol in hand, and a web of red floating in front of him.


    Amy remembered seeing that spell. It protected against lightning, a favorite of weather mages, and there was a counterspell. She didn''t know it, and for the first time in her life, she wished she did.


    Next to her, William Harcourt mumbled a few words, raised his own pistol and fired. The bullet left a bloody trail in the air, flying straight through the floating web and stopping in the man''s chest. He fell backward, landing on the other two men.


    Standing behind the podium next to his grandfather, Nick said, "It looks like we''ve made the connection to the target world."


    Joe pressed a few more buttons, and said, "Confirmed. Time to set up the power surge."


    After that they talked too softly for her to hear.


    "Harcourt," said a tenor voice from beyond the door. It reminded Amy of the palace guards, and that didn''t surprise her at all.


    Harcourt frowned. "Sebastian? What do you want?"


    "Something you''ll find easy to do. She''s a destabilizing influence. Give her to us, and we''ll let you go."


    Harcourt''s lips curled. "I''m loyal to the Empire, and I promised to take her away. I will keep that promise."


    Sebastian said, "Even if the Empire burns?"


    Agnus Harcourt pulled something out of her jacket. It was a black knife much like Cassie carried. She held it by her side, hidden from direct view by her husband.


    "Sebastian," Agnus said, "you can''t speak to what the Empire will do. I''ve met both the Emperor and Empress, and you are neither."


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    "I was tasked to do this by the Bloodlords Council. The princess is a danger as you well know."


    Agnus said, "A danger that we''re bringing to another universe where she''ll be unable to destabilize anything."


    William Harcourt, still holding his gun in the voice''s direction said, "Come out. Let''s talk about it some more."


    The man began to laugh, but it didn''t last long, ending in a wet noise, followed by a head rolling out of the doorway on to the floor. Cassie stepped out after it, giving it a small kick.


    She walked with no difficulty, but her chest had four bullet holes, and her leg two. New pink skin showed through the holes in her clothing.


    From the corner, Vaughn laughed. "Thought you were alive."


    Cassie smiled, looking like she was about to reply, but then she whipped her head toward  the other side of the room, staring at metal staircase that went up to the third floor three quarters of the way across the room.


    Four men were coming down, guns in their hands, and firing. Shots hit the podium. One hit Joe. He fell backwards on to the floor.  Nick dove after him. Giles ran toward the podium and crouched behind it.


    Somewhere among the rows of batteries, came the sound of a ricochet, and amid the gateway''s growing hum came a crackling sound Amy hadn''t heard at first.


    Amy assumed Nick was helping his grandfather, but as much as she approved, she couldn''t help but notice that no one was manning the gateway.


    At the same time William Harcourt turned around, pointing his gun toward the stairway and firing. The head of the lowest man on the stairway exploded in response.


    Harcourt fired two more shots, cursed, and began to reload his revolver.


    Joe said something Amy didn''t understand between the sound of gunshots, and Nick stood up, pushing buttons and pulling levers on the podium. The humming grew louder. Amy could feel the vibrations in her legs.


    As a grayish cloud began to form around the cluster of men on the stairwell, one of them jumped off it, impossibly clearing a quarter of the room, and running toward the podium. Someone, probably Cassie, shouted, "Duck," in time for Nick to duck and a bullet to hit the wall behind him.


    The man was still running toward the podium, gun in his outstretched arm when Nick shouted, "Bye!"


    Amy had been about to change regardless of the consequences, the voices telling her to do what she wanted to do anyway, when everything turned white and faded away.


    Near Tampa, Florida: One Year Later


    Amy stood on the front lawn of the house. It wasn''t as large as any of her family''s houses, but it was large for people here. Equally large houses stood on either side of their house, tall fences between them. She''d never talked to the people who lived in either one.


    On the other side of the house lay the ocean. She wasn''t sure what she thought of that, or the ever present heat of this place.


    Her mind went back to the reason she''d wanted to be alone. They wouldn''t let her in to the magic school she''d applied to, and she''d let her anger get the best of her. She''d gone there to ask why. Harcourt was still smoothing it over.


    As much of a debacle as it had been, at least she''d learned something. They hated blood magic here. She didn''t know why, and she didn''t know what to do about it.


    Well, not entirely. She''d caught a whiff of blood magic last week. Tonight she planned to find out what practitioners did here that made them so hated or to find out if the Bloodlords'' Guard had found them.

 Bloodmaiden: Part 16

    After a period of time,  she walked back into the house, going straight to the kitchen where she heated water in the microwave and dipped a tea bag into it.


    She''d heard of tea bags back home, but not good things.


    Sipping the tea, she didn''t think it was so bad, and they certainly had more flavors here. It was strange, though, to make her own tea, but they didn''t have servants. So far as she could tell, no one had servants. The cleaning woman, the men who cared for the lawn, and the security guards were all employees.


    That wasn''t the end of the odd little differences about this place--their need to combine rooms for example. This house combined the dining room, kitchen and room for entertaining guests into one big room. They had many other rooms besides, most with no obvious purpose.


    That didn''t even touch the big differences--horseless carriages everywhere, airplanes (no airships), and the constant notifications from her phone.


    Leaning back against the cupboard, she cupped the warm mug in her hand and listened to Harcourt talking in the other room. The words weren''t clear, but he sounded calm. He sounded like the phone call was coming to an end.


    She wasn''t wrong. Moments later Harcourt walked around the corner. He put the phone into a pocket on his vest and glared at her.  "I hope you heard that."


    Amy shrugged. "Not much, but I can guess what happened. He was angry because I didn''t let his secretary stall me forever, and made threats that he has no hope of following up on. You made it clear that he was better off with us as friends than enemies, and that on our world I was some sort of spoiled princess. Then you apologized, calmed him down, and you were done. Does that cover it?"


    His lip curled. "You have no idea how much risk you put us all in even by applying to that school. They hate blood magic here. I''ve made inquiries, discreet inquiries, and learned that sorcerors of competing schools of magic join forces to destroy sorcerers that use blood magic. Can you imagine the kind of risk bursting in to the school president''s office and all but threatening him brings? What could you possibly have been thinking?"


    He all but shouted the last sentence.


    Amy put the mug down on the counter. If it wasn''t in her hands, she wouldn''t throw it at him.


    "I was thinking," she began, "that they already knew I was here. You and I both know that when I change, anyone nearby with the slightest magical sensitivity feels it. Powerful people can sense it from across the ocean. Anyone that we need to fear is already making plans for us, and I need the best training I can get."


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    Barely moving his jaw, he said, "I''m training you."


    Amy rolled her eyes. "You are not. You''ve got a copy of the book they used to train the old line of Bloodmaidens, but you''re barely using it. Half of the exercises you make me do aren''t even in the book. You''re doing your best not to train me at all."


    He nodded slowly. "My duty is to the Empire, not you. The moment you have full command of your potential, you threaten it. Your sister needs to be secure in her power before you go back. If you follow my program you''ll be fully trained, but she will have the advantage."


    Amy shook her head. "I don''t want to fight my sister."


    Harcourt shook his head. "Many a royal sibling has said the same before the lure of the throne becomes fully felt."


    Amy began to reply, but realized that the conversation was going nowhere. She picked up her mug, didn''t throw it, and walked down the hall, and up the stairway to the second floor where her room was.


    She didn''t make it all the way to the room. Agnus Harcourt stood next to the wall only a few feet from the stair. Amy could see Agnus'' Elder blood more clearly since they''d left. The Elder knife in Agnus'' hand during the fight had been the clue she''d needed. She didn''t appear to be as strongly Elder as Cassie, but she was closer than most people.


    Agnus'' long, black hair covered the points of her ears--that and the hats she wore. Here, she wore a simple red dress, no hat, and had her hair pulled back.


    "You''ve been arguing with my husband." She wasn''t accusatory. If anything, she sounded amused.


    "Yes." Amy didn''t see any point in denying it.


    Agnus smiled, showing canines that were slightly longer than a normal person''s, but were only obviously so if you knew to look. "Remember William and I have been serving the Crown for centuries. As frustrating as you might find him right now, his suspicions have often proved correct. Give him the chance to know you, and he''ll change his mind."


    Amy smiled at her. She deserved a smile even if it wasn''t completely real. Agnus wasn''t that bad. "I''ll try."


    She walked down the hall, stepped into her room, and changed. It was the same as every other time--red light like the glow from the gem on her necklace, singing, and somewhere deep chanting. Amy couldn''t quite  understand the words of the chant, but she had a feeling that she wouldn''t like them if she could.


    Taller, stronger, and covered in armor, she opened the window. Even as Agnus ran for the door saying, "Amelia," she crawled out, flying into the night.


    It didn''t take long before she caught the scent of blood magic, and it was the same place as before. She was flying over a housing development, or at least it was supposed to be. It was only partially finished when the housing bubble burst. They''d cut down the trees, and flattened the land, but only put up a few houses, none of which they''d sold. In the meantime, the plants had grown back, but they weren''t grass, giving the place a wild, post-apocalyptic feeling during the day.


    During the night, it was simply dark. A few streetlights had been installed, but none were lit.


    Amy could feel that something was down there, several somethings, in fact. She could feel blood magic centered in the third house away from the road.


    Something about it felt wrong.

 Bloodmaiden: Part 17

    Amy said a few words that Harcourt had taught her. She couldn''t fault his knowledge or even his teaching. He knew magic, and he could explain it. That helped make up for the fact that he was the only master of blood magic she knew, and maybe a little bit for the fact that he was deliberately sabotaging her progress.


    Magical energies became visible before her eyes, a slight reddish tinge where there wasn''t much power behind it, brighter red where the magic was stronger.


    At least, that''s the way it normally worked.


    The third house from the  road was surrounded by spots of red, and it wasn''t the only one. The reddest spots clustered around that house, but she could see more next to the other houses, and a few more spots next to trees.


    Even more were scattered around the edges of the intersection.


    The voices in her head found it interesting. Winifred of the Northlands, the first Bloodmaiden,  said, "A predator''s pattern. It reminds me of the Elders--the first ones that appeared. That was always a sign of a good fight coming."


    Then Amy looked at the third house closely. In addition to the red spots around it, she noticed something new. The house held a dark red stain, barely containing it. It dripped out of the windows and the doors. Just looking at it made her feel cold even in Florida''s heat.


    A softer, more nervous voice said, "I''ve never seen that before save in the presence of black magic--the Elders at the height of their power--when they''d stopped acting like beasts, and allied themselves with darker forces...  By then, they''d stopped killing indiscriminately, and instead constructed machines that killed a person and removed his blood more efficiently. Trying to fight them, the Empire copied those machines."


    Amy recognized the new voice as Runa,  Bloodmaiden in  one of the mostly forgotten eras. Over the past year her voice had started to poke past the others during these discussions. As in this one, Amy found herself grateful. Runa often knew or noticed something no one else did.


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    It did worry her though, that she''d begun to know the personalities of her predessors. She needed to spend more time with living people.


    Banishing that thought, she considered her next move. From what she could see, the black magic wasn''t being used in any intentional way, and from what Winifred and Runa said, the creatures were indiscriminate killers. The red marks were probably the remains of a feeding.


    She willed her spear to appear in her hand and flew downward.


    Landing in front of the house''s front door, Amy never stopped moving, using the momentum to hit the door with her shoulder and smash it open.


    Made of metal, it bent inward and fell to the tiled floor, cracking the tiles.


    She sensed the sources of the magic deeper in the house. It felt like blood magic, but cold.


    She couldn''t see anything down the hallway.  The house was completely dark. It didn''t take a head full of dead, magical warriors to guess that she''d be ambushed at the end of the corridor.


    She took a moment to consider whether she should wade in, relying on her armor to carry her through the initial attack, or use magic to even the odds.


    A moment was all her opponents needed to bring the fight to her.


    She felt a chill before she realized that it wasn''t a draft from the open doorway. There were three of them, one appeared in front of her. The other two attempted to flank her--one on each side.


    The one in front of her was a child. The boy couldn''t have been more than ten. He wore a suit that looked brown in the red glow of her gem. The suit looked like something that might have been worn in her own world, but not quite.


    The boy looked up at her, and said, "Interesting. You''re like us, but you''re  not dead. What would you be like if one of us turned you, I wonder?"


    Amy felt something stirring in her mind. She''d always felt one presence more closely than any of the others. She''d felt it, but whichever Bloodmaiden it had been, it had never said anything.


    Amy had her suspicions.


    Now, however, the presence said, "No."


    The child''s eyes widened, and he took a step back. "Did she say something?"


    "No, master," said the man to her right, a fat man in an Adidas t-shirt and shorts. Something about his face seemed strangely attractive even if he was looking at her much as a hungry man looks at a steak.


    The woman, who was disquietingly attractive, stared at her, mouth open. "Master, she''s--"


    The boy shouted, "Grab her!"


    Amy didn''t wait to be grabbed. In a move from Winifred''s memory, she knocked the man to her right on the side of his head with the butt of her spear, cracking bone.


    Then she stabbed the woman in the heart, feeling all the woman was in the instant of contact. The coldness she''d felt when she''d sensed black magic returned, and along with it, an overwhelming hunger for blood.

 Bloodmaiden: Part 18

    Along with the hunger came memories.


    The woman (Sheila Schettler) had been a waitress at a Waffle House restaurant. She¡¯d left her second shift job one night and seen a child alone in the alley behind the restaurant. When she¡¯d gotten close, he¡¯d looked into her eyes, and she¡¯d found herself unable to do anything but come closer.


    He¡¯d commanded her to bend over, and when she did, she¡¯d seen his teeth¡ªlong, sharp canines that would have been the stuff of nightmares.


    They would have been if she¡¯d been able to have nightmares after that.


    He bit into her neck, slurping and sucking with complete and total enjoyment. Sheila never moved even though she desperately wanted to get away. She¡¯d thought about how her sister told her not to take the second shift because it ended so late. She thought about her roommate, pinning her hopes on the possibility that her roommate would call the police if she didn¡¯t come home.


    Eventually, she stopped thinking. When her body woke up, it woke up different, stronger, and conscienceless. Sheila was dead even if her memories remained. Something else was in the driver¡¯s seat.


    Between what used to be Sheila and her master, they¡¯d sucked her roommate dry, and made another vampire out of her ex-boyfriend Phil. What remained of Phil wasn¡¯t much better at being a vampire than a boyfriend, but master said there would be more soon.


    At the center of what used to be Sheila was something else, and it didn¡¯t want to die. Amy felt it reach into her, trying to find something to hang on to.


    Within Amy though, another presence reacted¡ªthe one that had kept silent almost the entire time since Amy became the Bloodmaiden. It said, ¡°Don¡¯t make my mistake. Let go of her!¡±


    At the same time, Amy knew what she meant even if she couldn¡¯t explain how. She drew the vampire¡¯s essence toward her, but threw it out at the same time, directing it into nothing. She didn¡¯t know where it went, but the woman¡¯s body fell in on itself, turning to dust and shattered pieces.


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    Pulling the Bloodspear away from where the body had stood, and pointing it at the child, she said, ¡°Who¡¯s next?¡±


    The man she¡¯d hit with her spear (Phil) struggled to rise from the ground, and fell over again, tripping over his own feet. Sheila had been right. He wasn¡¯t a particularly impressive vampire.


    The child hissed at her and tried to meet her eyes. For a second she found herself losing the ability to move, but as she did voices within her screamed, and she drew on her own power, stabbing the vampire before he could do anything more.


    She didn¡¯t make the same mistake twice, controlling and directing his essence through her and into nothingness. She felt him draining away into nothing, his memories flying past, many of them about dominating vampires, and devouring humans.


    He¡¯d been alive for more than two hundred years, and his given name was Jerome. She learned that without even wanting to. Paying attention to his memories meant coming into contact with his essence, and he had so much more of it than the first vampire. She felt certain it would overwhelm her if she did anything more than aim it away.


    It felt like it took forever even though she knew it went quickly. All the same, despite his incompetence, she knew that Phil could still hurt her if he attacked before she was done.


    Worse, she could feel that she was getting tired.


    She could sip energy from Jerome¡¯s essence, but she knew better. It wouldn¡¯t be much more. She could feel that.


    Steeling herself, she put more power behind it, tearing out everything she could as quickly as she could.


    It was a success. She could feel the last remnants of his personality unravel. Whatever child must once have been there was now gone. All she felt going past her were orgies of bloodletting. They were easy to ignore¡ªall except one.


    Some time in the recent past, Jerome had sensed blood magic. Like her, he¡¯d sought it out. He knew it wasn¡¯t the magic he¡¯d seen some vampires use, but he never managed to find it. Whoever used it was good enough to evade him.


    Jerome had caught her attention with that, but even a hint of interest created a chorus of, ¡°No!¡±


    As much as part of her reflexively wanted to investigate purely to annoy them, she didn¡¯t.Jerome¡¯s last gasp vanished into nowhere.


    The body turned into a pile of dust as Phil began to laugh. ¡°There¡¯s no more master. I am master.¡±


    He was standing. Amy turned her spear toward him, ready in case he charged, wondering if she could destroy another.


    She didn¡¯t have to. He ran out the front door. She knew she should chase him down, but everything in her wanted to sit.


    From outside came the sound of a thump followed by a shriek. Amy shook her head. Now, what?

 Bloodmaiden: Part 19

    Ignoring how tired she felt, Amy walked toward the front door, spear in hand. The door stood open and she stopped just short of walking through, waiting off to the side. In the background of her mind, the voices murmured about different ways to strengthen herself. She didn¡¯t have time for any of them.


    Phil lay on the porch, neck at a strange angle, but beginning to push himself off the concrete. William Harcourt stood over him, seemingly unafraid, possibly unaware of how powerful these creatures could be.


    Phil¡¯s head twisted, his neck straightening, teeth out, ready to attack.


    Except before he could, Harcourt shouted a series of harsh sounding words. After the first, Phil¡¯s arms went out, and his chest hit the concrete. Then blood exploded out of his skin, drenching his clothes, and spattering everywhere except where Harcourt stood.


    What was left looked exactly like the vampire remains inside¡ªdust and desiccated chunks.


    She didn¡¯t know how he¡¯d done it. She could imagine doing it, but it would take at least as much power as she¡¯d put into destroying the others¡ªexcept that he wasn¡¯t tired. Amy wondered if he was that powerful, or if he was simply that skilled.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t ready to learn it yet,¡± a voice said. Amy recognized it as Sybil, a Bloodmaiden as famous for her innovative magical techniques as for being the Bloodmaiden of her time.


    Harcourt turned toward her. ¡°So how long have you been doing this?¡±


    Amy stepped into the doorway. ¡°Fighting vampires? Only tonight. I felt someone using blood magic, and I thought I¡¯d find out who.¡±


    He tapped the remains of Phil¡¯s body with his shoe, and a piece of Phil¡¯s chest crumbled into dust. ¡°This isn¡¯t the first time you¡¯ve been out. You¡¯ve become better at hiding the burst of magic that takes place when you change, but not so good that I haven¡¯t felt it. When did you start?¡±


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    She looked him in the eye. She was taller than he was after the change. ¡°Soon after we got here. I wanted to look around. It¡¯s better than sitting at home watching the television.¡± She tapped her armor. ¡°This was made to be used.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re not ready. You¡¯re barely trained both in magic and in the powers you¡¯ve inherited¡ª¡°


    ¡°And whose fault is that?¡± She asked, keeping her voice low.


    He continued as if she hadn¡¯t said anything. ¡°¡ªAnd this world isn¡¯t safe. There are real dangers hiding behind the facade. Some of the dangers aren¡¯t even hiding. I assume you¡¯ve seen the ¡®superheroes¡¯ and ¡®supervillains¡¯ on the news. I¡¯m telling you for your own good not to reach their attention. Nothing could be more devastating than if certain parties realize that you¡¯re here.¡±


    As he spoke, Amy realized that everything he was saying was ridiculous. If he honestly feared that she wouldn¡¯t have the skills to protect herself, he¡¯d be teaching her how to protect herself better. This was nothing more than an excuse to keep her from learning much of anything.


    ¡°No,¡± she said.


    Frowning, he looked up at her. ¡°What do you mean, ¡®no¡¯?¡±


    She walked out the door, onto the porch, and since Harcourt was standing in front of the steps to the walk, she jumped off the porch, landing in the mixture of grass and knee high weeds that passed for the lawn.


    She turned back to face him. ¡°I¡¯m not going to stop. I saved a woman¡¯s life last week. A half-human, half-alligator thing was stalking her, and I killed it. I don¡¯t know what it was, but that doesn¡¯t matter. She¡¯s alive, and she wouldn¡¯t be if I listened to you. Consider yourself fired from being my tutor. I¡¯ll figure magic out by myself.¡±


    Harcourt¡¯s mouth hung open, but only for a moment. ¡°Don¡¯t be naive. You can¡¯t hope to figure out magic without assistance. There are dangers that will leave you no second chance, and that¡¯s especially true when you¡¯re the Bloodmaiden. You can¡¯t¡ª¡±


    Amy had already decided to fly away, but another voice said, ¡°Excuse me, but I have another option.¡±


    This voice came from the lawn across the walkway. Amy turned toward the sound only to find that a man stood there. Shorter than either Harcourt or her transformed self, he wore a dark green hooded robe and carried a staff. The belt around his waist held many pouches of a variety of sizes and shapes. He had dark skin, and his eyes darted between Harcourt, Amy, and the vampire remains near Harcourt¡¯s feet.


    Harcourt stared at him, putting his hand into his suit jacket, and pulling out the revolver Amy knew he kept there. ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°Most people know me as Reliquary.¡± He stared at Phil¡¯s remains. ¡°And that is a remarkably dead vampire. I see that you¡¯ve removed all the blood from his body. Amazing. It seems that someone¡¯s found a good use for blood magic.¡±

 Bloodmaiden: Part 20

    Harcourt blinked. ¡°It was effective, wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    Reliquary nodded. ¡°Remarkably so. It¡¯s a pity that the magical establishment is too stuck in their ways to appreciate the options that new approaches offer us. Am I right in guessing that you¡¯re not from this universe?¡±


    Harcourt froze for a moment. Amy could see well enough in the darkness to know that his eyes widened.


    Not waiting to find out if he¡¯d lie to preserve their cover, Amy said, ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±


    Harcourt caught her eye, mouth tight, but smiled at Reliquary, and gave him a nod that hinted at a bow. ¡°As she said, you¡¯ve guessed correctly. It¡¯s not something that I¡¯ve made known. Blood magic isn¡¯t appreciated in this world.¡±


    Reliquary smiled. ¡°No. It¡¯s not appreciated at all. Of course, in this world, it¡¯s more often taught by vampires to their human servants and acts as a gateway to becoming involved in necromancy¡­ Let¡¯s say that as much as I think that the magical establishment is hidebound, I understand their fears.


    ¡°Nonetheless, I don¡¯t share them.¡±


    Reliquary walked closer to the porch and to Phil¡¯s desiccated remains. He held his staff above the dust. Then he looked up at Harcourt. ¡°As I said before, that was an impressive display of magic. On the surface, it appears to be a simple removal of life from the undead, but it¡¯s more complicated, a multi-layered spell that released what was left of the poor man and destroyed any connection between the remains and replacing spirit. That¡¯s a flexible tool, and distinctly different from what vampires use.¡±


    He turned toward Amy, holding the staff between them. She could sense magic in the staff, and that she somehow had the staff¡¯s attention. It didn¡¯t have a red glow. It had a white-blue glow that emanated from constantly moving parts. She could see the glow whirling around within the staff, sometimes twisting and separating only to rejoin itself.


    Even as Amy wondered if the staff were in some way alive, Reliquary said, ¡°What we see isn¡¯t her, is it? It¡¯s an inherited magical construct, created with blood magic, tied to a family line¡­ I don¡¯t suppose you might be willing to show me the basics of your methods, would you? I know a number of magics that you might want to learn.¡±


    Harcourt shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that I have a duty to protect the mysteries of my craft. We have firm traditions about who we teach.¡±


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    Reliquary sighed, but then said, ¡°That¡¯s not unusual.¡±


    Amy took a step, standing next to Reliquary. ¡°I¡¯d be willing. I¡¯m not a master of blood magic, but I do know the basics, and I¡¯d like very much to learn anything you¡¯re willing to teach me.¡±


    Harcourt¡¯s fists clenched. ¡°No!¡±


    Amy looked up at where he stood on the porch. ¡°You¡¯re doing your best not to teach me anything at all. I have better things to do than wait ten years to learn the basics.¡±


    Looking down at her from the porch, Harcourt said, ¡°I forbid you to do anything of the kind. You are my responsibility. Your father placed you in my care.¡±


    ¡°My father,¡± she said, ¡°gave me instructions too, and you¡¯re making it harder to follow them, not easier.¡±


    Harcourt glowered down at her. ¡°What did he say?¡±


    She said, ¡°I can¡¯t tell you.¡± Then she turned toward Reliquary. ¡°Teach me. Please.¡±


    Reliquary took a breath and gave a slow smile. ¡°That¡¯s the primary reason I¡¯m here.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Harcourt stared.


    ¡°I teach magic at a school for superheroes, and I was told by one of my fellow teachers to watch for you. It took some time to figure out where you were, but I did in the end. Your change was an excellent beacon.¡±


    Amy raised an eyebrow. ¡°How would anyone in the school know I was here? Was this a sorcerer?¡±


    Reliquary shook his head. ¡°No. It was one of the combat instructors. His codename is Immortal, but he told me to tell you that Captain Jason Lee vouched for you.¡±


    Harcourt gritted his teeth. Amy said, ¡°Oh.¡±


    Reliquary stepped back from the porch. ¡°I¡¯m glad that we¡¯ve got this sorted out. I¡¯ll be dropping by your house with forms to get you involved in the Stapledon program as well as for college. Once you get to Stapledon, one of my apprentices will teach you the basics, and I¡¯ll be involved in advanced courses. There aren¡¯t as many of us learning magic as the people learning technology, but I think you¡¯ll enjoy it.¡±


    * * *


    One month later, she found herself moving again. All of her possessions were packed in the back of the BMW she¡¯d been bought. Both Harcourts had helped her pack, but she had a feeling that William would be grateful to have her gone. He¡¯d barely spoken to her since they¡¯d met Reliquary.


    She leaned against the car. It was parked in the circular driveway in front of the house, and she was torn as to whether she should simply leave. It was tempting. She felt almost certain that William wouldn¡¯t be able to leave this alone.


    She was right.


    He walked out the front door carrying a thick book. It was black, bound in leather, and had no words on the outside, just a representation of the Bloodmaiden¡¯s spear.


    He opened the passenger door and put the book inside.


    ¡°Hey,¡± she said, ¡°what was that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s yours.¡± He walked back to the house, shutting the front door.


    Letting him go, she opened the book, recognizing the smell and feel of vellum. After flipping through the pages, it became obvious that it was a manual for training Bloodmaidens.


    She wouldn¡¯t have expected that. If she¡¯d known it existed, she would have expected him to have mutilated it or never shown her the book in the first place.


    She considered walking back into the house to thank him, but then she noticed that the entire last chapter, ¡°Advanced Magics,¡± had been cut out with a razor.


    She put the book back in the passenger seat, walked over to the driver¡¯s side of the car, and drove away.

 Bloodmaiden: Part 21

    Epilogue: 8 Months Later¡­


    She felt whole for the first time in hours, and tired enough that she could sleep¡ªnot that she really could. Even if she hadn¡¯t been fighting aliens for the last three hours, leaving her dead tired, but at the same time too full of energy to sit, she was in an airplane hangar. There wasn¡¯t any place to sit down but the concrete floor. Even if she¡¯d wanted to try napping, she was sharing the hangar with nearly one hundred people, all of them veterans of the same fight.


    She looked better than most, if only because her body physically changed, and instead of being in her armor, she was now in her clothes, the jeans and white, wool sweater she¡¯d been wearing back when they all thought they were about to go home.


    Other people were standing in small groups and talking quietly. In fact, Nick was sitting down on the floor reading something on his tablet, leaning back against the block of glossy gold that had transformed into a suit of armor before the fight.


    She thought about going up to him and saying, ¡°hi,¡± but what would be the point? He wasn¡¯t ¡°her¡± Nick¡ªif spending a day with a guy made him hers. Besides, he seemed to be deeply involved in reading whatever it was.


    Deciding to leave him, she thought about her own luggage. Maybe she could make it comfortable. Maybe the floor wouldn¡¯t be so bad.


    Who was she kidding? She knew the floor would be terrible.


    From behind her came a male voice. ¡°So, are you going to talk to him?¡±


    She didn¡¯t need to ask who it was. She turned back over her shoulder and said, ¡°Asshole. I already talked to him.¡±


    Mark grinned, managing to look like he always did, overdressed for the occasion. He wore a dress shirt, slacks, and a bowtie. His blond hair was cut short to the point that it was almost a buzz cut.


    A cut on his forehead was healing even as they talked.


    He put his hands in his pockets. ¡°Seriously? Because I¡¯ve been seeing that look for the last eight months. It¡¯s not the ¡®I talked to him¡¯ look. It¡¯s the ¡®I don¡¯t have the nerve to talk to him¡¯ look, and it¡¯s getting old.¡±


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    ¡°I was in his group. We bonded. It¡¯s okay.¡± Amy snuck another look in Nick¡¯s direction. He was still reading. That was good. He¡¯d noticed when she¡¯d transformed, and he wasn¡¯t the only one. The light and music had filled the whole hangar¡ªembarrassing.


    ¡°But you didn¡¯t tell him, right?¡± When she didn¡¯t instantly respond, his smile widened.


    ¡°No,¡± she said, ¡°I didn¡¯t. I¡¯m not going to go over and tell him. That goes way into crazy ex-girlfriend territory, and we never got that far in my home universe. I only knew him for a day.¡±


    Mackenzie, Mark¡¯s sister walked up as they talked. She had the same pale blond hair and light skin he did, but her clothes weren¡¯t out of place. She wore jeans and a red top. Her left hand appeared to have been cut off and stitched back on, but there wasn''t a cut. Stitches and a red line circled her wrist.


    She looked from Mark to Amy. ¡°Still bugging her?¡±


    Mark scowled. ¡°I¡¯m not bugging her.¡±


    Amy said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Mackenzie folded her arms across her chest. ¡°I don¡¯t want to run your life, but you might be happier if you said something. It¡¯s obvious you want to.¡±


    Amy held up her hands. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll introduce myself. Will that stop you?¡±


    Mark nodded his head slowly. ¡°Sure.¡±


    Mackenzie said, ¡°Good luck.¡±


    Amy checked again. Nick was still reading. Well, she thought, no time is better than the present. She hoped they could talk when no one was trying to kill them.


    It wasn''t as if she could assume they got along naturally. When she¡¯d met his counterpart in her homeworld, she¡¯d been cut off from everyone she knew and he was the first sympathetic face she¡¯d seen. Of course, she¡¯d been drawn to him. She¡¯d needed someone desperately.


    She crossed the short distance to stand in front of him. ¡°Nick?¡±


    He looked up, briefly confused, but then his eyes widened. He¡¯d recognized her. She opened by talking about what happened after they¡¯d separated during the battle.


    ¡°Once you got inside, the ship moved too quickly for me to do much good with the Bloodspear. I¡¯m sorry about that. I managed to get a few of them, but not enough.¡±


    She¡¯d been useless by then, Bloodmaiden or not. The only thing that kept her alive was her own magic and the fact that the aliens they were fighting could regenerate. She¡¯d duplicated the power, and it helped so much.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It worked out. Besides, you were in pretty bad shape. Are you okay?¡±


    They talked about that for a little while, and it struck her how much this Nick was like her world¡¯s. She hoped that he¡¯d survived the Council¡¯s attack. She didn¡¯t tell him about that, though. It was time to end the conversation. She¡¯d tell him someday.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± she said, ¡°I thought I¡¯d introduce myself in case you didn¡¯t know my name. You didn¡¯t, did you?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, no.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Amy,¡± she said.


    ¡°I¡¯m Nick,¡± he said, which she found funny because he and his grandfather were every bit as famous here as they were in the Summerlands. She didn¡¯t laugh.


    ¡°I know.¡± She glanced further back into the hangar. ¡°Everyone knows your name.¡± She gave a single wave as she walked away. ¡°Talk to you later.¡±


    Walking back toward her friends, she wondered how her family was doing. She hoped she¡¯d see them soon.

 Super Social: Part 1

    The Stapledon program ended in the third week of August. My first classes started in the second week of September, so I had two weeks to relax¡ªreally more like a week and a half. I spent most of it sleeping.


    Okay, that wasn¡¯t true. It felt like I slept a lot, but that¡¯s mostly because I wasn¡¯t having to get up at six or seven in the morning to be out on the field running or fighting. So anyway, it was a wonderful week and a half. I spent it hanging around with Daniel, Haley, Vaughn, and Jaclyn. Cassie even managed to sneak up from D.C. for a few days.


    We had a couple of movie nights with as close to everybody as we could get and then came school.


    Grand Lake University¡¯s classes started on Wednesday, making Monday the first official day students could move in unless they were freshmen or RA¡¯s. That meant that Sunday was my last official day of freedom¡ªsort of.


    It wasn¡¯t a day full of wild, crazy fun. Haley and Travis were with their parents. They¡¯d flown somewhere for the weekend. Daniel was in Chicago even though the University of Chicago hadn¡¯t started yet. He was hanging around with his dad at the Midwest Defenders HQ. Izzy was joining him there.


    Midway through Sunday afternoon, I walked from my parents¡¯ house to my grandparents¡¯ house (which I¡¯d inherited) and took the hidden elevator down to League HQ.


    I still wasn¡¯t used to the changes.


    The elevator doors opened and I looked out into the main room of Heroes¡¯ League HQ. The size of a basketball court, with the League¡¯s accumulated trophies displayed on one end and a twenty-foot tall screen on the other, it used to have forty-year-old olive green carpet on the floor.


    At some point during the summer, the League¡¯s board had hired workmen to remove the old carpet and replace it with dark red carpet. They¡¯d left uncarpeted paths around the sides of the room and through the middle. There, though, they¡¯d smoothed out and stained the concrete. It almost looked like marble.


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    It looked good, and more to the point, it no longer looked like an extremely large basement storage room. It looked professional. They¡¯d even moved the big pile of boxes to one of the side rooms.


    I¡¯d seen it when we¡¯d had people over for movies, but I¡¯d been distracted by seeing everyone then. Now it felt like another place.


    Well, almost. I walked down the middle path toward the table in the middle of the room. Marcus sat there using one of the computers as well as the big screen on the wall. He¡¯d thrown a bunch of things up on the big screen, mostly social media¡ªTwitter, Facebook, YouTube, and SuperTV¡¯s web page.


    Marcus stood up when I was near to the table. Slightly taller than I was with light brown skin, Marcus wore jeans and an Incredible Hulk t-shirt. A backpack lay on the floor next to his chair. It was probably filled with art supplies.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Marcus said, clapping me on the shoulder, ¡°I am so glad you¡¯re here.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I saw your text. What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°Well, you know how you fought a dragon during the summer? People started sending the League links to videos of the fight.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± I thought about that, staring upward at the big screen. ¡°Where are people sending links to?¡±


    Marcus looked up at the screen too. ¡°A bunch of places¡ªour website¡¯s contact form, Twitter, the Facebook page¡­ All of it.¡±


    ¡°When did we set all of that up?¡±


    Shaking his head, Marcus said, ¡°We didn¡¯t. The board did. We¡¯ve got access to all of it, though. They asked us to clear it with them before we say anything with the accounts.¡±


    ¡°No kidding.¡± The board seemed to be doing a lot these days. Of course, it made sense. All summer, the most junior members of the League were the only ones around¡ªMarcus, Chris, Sydney, and Kayla.


    Marcus nodded his head. ¡°It¡¯s been weird without everybody. So much stuff falls in your lap. Stuff like that.¡±


    He pointed up at the screen. The YouTube video showed us fighting the dragon inside the compound, paying attention to some parts of the fight that I¡¯d missed. I¡¯d been nowhere near the part of the fight where people had been passing people out of the compound¡¯s main park while goblins attempt to attack.


    The fog didn¡¯t entirely solve the problem, but Jaclyn was amazing, knocking back anything that made it through the fog. For that matter, Sean was great too, hitting the fae with cold iron constantly.


    I even looked good. The visuals painted Haley and me in a positive light, showing us engaging in a hopeless battle so that the rest of the team could pass unconscious bodies back and away from the attackers.


    It was interesting how much work the editors had gone to in order to keep people¡¯s identities secret. No one had their identity revealed.


    That had to be a clue as to who was releasing the video, but I had no idea where it pointed.

 Super Social: Part 2

    The video went straight up to the part where Amy and then Lee appeared (as Gunther, the form he¡¯d used in World War 2), the dragon Artaxus ran away, obviously terrified, and all the attacking forces followed him through a gate and out of our world.


    I couldn¡¯t help but notice that the video had been drawn from different cameras and different angles. It made me wonder if it had been taken from security cameras (or maybe drones) at the compound where we¡¯d stayed last summer.


    That brought me back to wondering who had released it. It made our team look good, while the Stapledon program, the teachers, the Feds, and the Castle Rock compound where we all stayed look bad. At the least, it didn¡¯t make them look competent at security.


    ¡°How long has this been out?¡±


    Marcus held up his hands. ¡°No way to know for sure. The video says it was posted on August 20, so not long after you all left. It might have been up other places sooner, or I don¡¯t know, it might have been posted privately then, but made public later? No idea. I only heard about it couple days ago.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t know about it earlier. You follow Double V pretty closely.¡±


    I stared up at the screen. ¡°I¡¯ve been sleeping and reading a lot these last few days. Even without a Faerie invasion, the program is intense. I was surprised that they kept it quiet at all. I was half-expecting to go home after everything happened, but they gave everyone a couple days off and continued normally.¡±


    Marcus nodded along as I finished. ¡°If I hadn¡¯t been getting emails from Haley and Jaclyn, I wouldn¡¯t have known anything had happened.¡±


    On the screen, the video listed the injuries of everyone involved. There were a lot of them. The video didn¡¯t lie, but when you post a picture of someone, describing their injuries, it leaves an impression. In my case, the caption was, ¡°The Rocket¡¯s burns would have required him to have his arm amputated if Paladin, Preserver¡¯s son hadn¡¯t been there to heal him.¡±


    In Cassie¡¯s case, it said, ¡°Captain Commando was stabbed more than ten times. The damage would have killed a normal person.¡±


    Marcus barked out a laugh. ¡°They forgot to mention that she regenerates.¡±


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    I shook my head, sighing as I said, ¡°Or that Alex healed me with no problems, and wasn¡¯t even particularly worried about it.¡±


    After a moment, I said, ¡°The media¡¯s going to be all over this. We should tell everybody.¡±


    Marcus waved my comment away with his hand. ¡°Already did. I sent everybody on the team and the board an email with links.¡± He grinned. ¡°We¡¯ve become a well-oiled machine here while you¡¯ve been gone.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow.


    Marcus laughed. ¡°Yeah, I know. It¡¯s like the Avengers without the famous Avengers. The team gets started by heavy hitters like Thor, Ironman, and Captain America, and then the team gets handed off to Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, and Hawkeye. That¡¯s in the 60s comic, but movie version¡¯s not that different.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re better off than you¡¯re making it sound, and we¡¯re not nearly as good.¡±


    Marcus tapped a few keys, and said, ¡°Point, but you¡¯ve got to think about it¡­ Right now it should have just been Sydney and me, and Kayla, but Kayla¡¯s just staff. Except that¡¯s not how it worked. We¡¯ve been pulling in Chris, and after everything that happened during the alien invasion, we know Kayla can keep her head. So, worst case scenario, we¡¯ve got Kayla and Chris in powered armor plus Sydney and me.¡±


    I pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. ¡°Has that happened?¡±


    Marcus frowned. ¡°Twice, so far. The first time we¡¯re pretty sure it was a couple of Rook¡¯s henchmen in powered armor. Gerald¡¯s pretty sure they were deliberately baiting us. You know¡ªtrying to figure out if you were in town. We caught a few of them and the rest disappeared.¡±


    ¡°Gerald?¡± I asked. ¡°As in Cannon?¡±


    Marcus took a breath. ¡°Okay. This is where it gets really, really weird. Turns out that when you get Chris, you get his grandfather along for the ride. The old guy¡¯s finally accepted that he shouldn¡¯t be out in the field, but when Kayla¡¯s in the field, he coordinates and offers advice. Well, orders, really. The problem is, he¡¯s scary good. He makes very good guesses about what the criminals are going to do next¡ªwhich figures since he used to be one.¡±


    I leaned back in my chair. ¡°Wow.¡±


    Nodding, Marcus said, ¡°You¡¯re telling me. We probably should have talked about this when we were all together for movie night, but all of us here thought that people would freak out.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°You¡¯d be right about that. Does the board know?¡±


    Grinning slowly, Marcus said, ¡°Yeah. Well, maybe not all of them, but my grandpa was here for the invasion too, and he worked with Cannon then. Now that Lee¡¯s at Stapledon, they¡¯ve both been training us together. So, at least one person the board knows and is okay with it.¡±


    It took me a little while to process that. Marcus didn¡¯t stop grinning while I did.


    ¡°See what I mean? People would have freaked.¡±


    I closed my mouth, thought some more, and started talking again. ¡°I¡¯m freaking. Okay. So ignoring that no one on the team is an official member because they¡¯re under 18, and the whole retired supervillain mentor thing, what was the other time you all suited up?¡±


    Marcus¡¯ face tightened. ¡°There¡¯s a group hitting armored cars. We all suited up to catch them to help the police two weeks ago, but it didn¡¯t work. They got out before we even saw them. We¡¯re pretty sure it¡¯s metahumans.¡±

 Super Social: Part 3

    ¡°Metahumans,¡± I said, ¡°but not metahumans that you¡¯ve seen yet.¡±


    ¡°Or that anybody has,¡± Marcus said. ¡°Whether they¡¯re metahuman or plain, vanilla human, human, they¡¯re good. I¡¯m thinking that they¡¯ve got to be training all the time. Well, I¡¯m mostly thinking that because Gerald Cannon¡ªMan-machine himself¡ªsaid they had to be.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Cannon ought to know. I¡¯m sure he ran a few heists. I got the impression though that he was more about showing my grandfather up than actually stealing things.¡±


    ¡°But he still stole.¡± Marcus grinned. ¡°You know what this is like?¡±


    I waited, guessing he was about to tell me.


    I wasn¡¯t disappointed. Marcus didn¡¯t pause for more than a couple seconds. ¡°These guys sound a lot like something that would be on Arrow. They¡¯re always having mysterious groups of guys show up and steal stuff with military precision.¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t watched it,¡± I said.


    Marcus cocked his head. ¡°Seriously? Have you at least watched Flash?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯ve been busy. Between training, redesigning the Rocket suit, and last spring¡¯s alien invasion, I¡¯ve barely had time to think.¡±


    Staring, Marcus said, ¡°We live in an age where you can watch Gorilla Grodd on TV. Seriously. You can watch an evil, telepathic gorilla on a network TV show.¡±


    I thought about that. ¡°You know, I bet you could meet a real telepathic gorilla in real life.¡±


    Marcus frowned. ¡°That¡¯s not the point. The point is that we¡¯re finally seeing real versions of great comic book characters on TV. That and¡ª¡°


    My phone rang. I¡¯d worked out a way to get a good signal in League headquarters last year. I checked who was calling, and immediately took the call.


    Haley¡¯s voice came over the phone. ¡°Nick. Did you see that email Marcus sent?¡±


    Thinking that she sounded more alarmed than I¡¯d have expected, I said, ¡°Sure. Why?¡±


    ¡°It links to videos of everything that happened at the compound.¡± The words came out of her mouth all at once.


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    She paused for breath. I said, ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°Look on the YouTube video he linked to. Do you see the videos along the side? Scroll down to the one with a picture of a super who¡¯s not in the program. If he¡¯s speaking to a crowd, that¡¯s the right one.¡±


    ¡°The one with¡­ Kid Biohack?¡± I stared at the screen. The guy in the picture wore a bluish-purple costume spiderwebbed with thin silvery veins that sparkled. His mask covered his face except for his mouth and the top of his head, leaving his blond hair to spill over the top.


    ¡°Him,¡± Haley said. ¡°He¡¯s going to cause a lot of trouble.¡±


    ¡°Really? Why? Is he in the program? Wait, is he part of the Coffeeshop Illuminati? Because that would connect him to Adam, and that would be trouble.¡±


    Adam had been the guy who brought in the dragon after all.


    Haley sighed. ¡°No. You don¡¯t know who he is, do you?¡±


    ¡°Should I know who he is?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Haley began, ¡°I thought you might because you recognize a lot of superheroes, but he¡¯s more famous for his Youtube channel.¡±


    Marcus had been looking from me to the screen as I talked with Haley. Then he fixed me with a look and said, ¡°Are you talking about Kid Biohack? That guy¡­ Too many girls I know think he¡¯s amazing. I don¡¯t know why. He¡¯s not that funny and his costume looks like a Transformer threw up on it.¡±


    That didn¡¯t stop Marcus from clicking on Kid Biohack¡¯s name, getting to his page. He had more than seven million subscribers.


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of fans.¡±


    Haley said, ¡°Listen to the video with the crowd.¡±


    I told Marcus, and he clicked on the video. We were treated (if that was the right word) to a minute of blurry security camera footage showing Kid Biohack taking down three men who were trying to rob a bank.


    Despite the picture being black and white, it was obvious that Kid Biohack could fight better than the bank¡¯s would be robbers. He dodged under guns, kicked out knees, and kept up a running commentary.


    The tapes didn¡¯t have an audio track, but it was obvious that his mouth was moving. I decided to assume that he was trying to be disrespectfully funny.


    When the last robber fell, the picture changed to a reporter interviewing Kid Biohack in front of a crowd of cheering people. More of them appeared to be teens and twenty-somethings than I thought was normal, and a couple people were wearing Kid Biohack¡ªt-shirts.


    Near the end of the video, as the reporter began to pull the microphone away, Kid Biohack said, ¡°I have an announcement! Please give me just one second. Citizens of Los Angeles, my time among you has come to an end. I¡¯ve loved every minute of being here, but it¡¯s time to take the next step. I¡¯ve decided to go to Grand Lake, Michigan and join the Heroes¡¯ League. The next time you¡¯ll hear from me, I¡¯ll be in the same city as the Rocket, the Mystic, Night Girl, Captain Commando, and the rest.


    ¡°Thank you again, everyone. I love you all!¡±


    Then he raised his hands in the air and the crowd cheered.


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°I wonder if there¡¯s some way we can let him down easily?¡± Then another thought occurred to me. ¡°Is this going to become a thing?¡±


    Marcus laughed. ¡°Night Girl?¡±


    Over the phone, Haley said, ¡°I hope we¡¯re not planning to let him in. Seriously, how hard can it be to get my name right?¡±

 Super Social: Part 4

    "Right," I said. "Not getting your name right isn''t a good sign. I mean, to be fair, when you''re talking in front of a bunch of people, it''d be easy to get something wrong."


    Haley made a tsking noise. "You''d have to be extremely distracted to get our names wrong. When we''re in costume, it seems like we can''t even breathe without it being covered by the press."


    Marcus looked up at me from the computer screen. "If you''re going to talk about Biohack instead of  boyfriend/girlfriend stuff, would you mind bringing me in?"


    "No problem. Haley, did you hear that?"


    "I did, and Marcus is right, this is a team business call. We should have a team meeting about Biohack."


    "Yeah," I said, pulling Marcus into the call. "Should I start trying to pull everybody in?"


    Haley''s voice filled the room while a stylized outline of a cat''s head next to the words "Night Cat" appeared in the lower right corner of the wall screen. "No," she said. "We''re just talking right now. Let''s send everyone an email with some times and pick the one that fits the most people."


    "Makes sense," I said.


    Marcus pulled the desktop''s microphone closer. "All hail the glorious leader."


    "Bite me," Haley replied, but not with any particular malice.


    Marcus laughed.


    I looked over at Marcus, asking, "What''s that all about?"


    Haley and Marcus were cousins just like Marcus and Jaclyn were cousins, making him descended from two of the original League members--Night Wolf and C (C stood for the speed of light).


    Maybe it was a family in joke?


    Haley said, "I was field leader most of the time after you all left for college."


    "Just teasing her," Marcus said, a hint of a smile still on his lips.


    "Really?" I said. "I knew you led the team against aliens last spring, but I didn''t know it was all the time."


    Haley sighed. "It wasn''t all the time, just a lot."


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    "It made sense," Marcus said. "Sydney and Camille are her friends. For me, she''s family.  Chris and Kayla don''t have a problem with her. She was a good choice. Plus, my uncle has had her train the wait staff at more than one restaurant."


    Haley snorted. "Right, because training the wait staff is exactly like leading them into combat."


    "Three words: unexpected tour buses. Did your heart rate spike? Because that''s not too different from combat."


    Haley laughed a genuinely amused laugh, and it was good to hear it.


    Whatever she was about to say was lost to noise as alarms rang. A quick look at the big wall screen told me that it wasn''t the alarms that rang if the  base was being invaded.


    This was the alarm that meant that some highly desirable target had been attacked. At someone''s discretion, probably 911''s, the summary went straight into local heroes'' notification systems.


    My grandfather had been involved in creating the protocols. I remembered hearing about it.


    Marcus clicked on the link that had appeared in the notification window that was placed above the team list.


    The notification said, "Armored car  attacked near the outskirts of Grand Lake." Then it gave coordinates.


    "Can you see it on your phone?" I asked.


    A beep came came from Haley''s end of the call. "Yes. The two of you should try to get there. I''ll see if I can catch up."


    Marcus was already getting out of his chair. "We''re probably going to see another empty truck."


    "Most likely," I said, and then I ran for the lab and the Rocket suit.


    Marcus stepped into the lab as the Rocket suit transformed from a block of golden ceramic into a suit of powered armor, completely surrounding me.


    Running through the pre-flight check, it showed no errors. It had long since completely repaired itself from my last real fight.


    With my vision now assisted by multiple forms of technology including my HUD, I walked out of the lab able to lift tons and take blows that would turn my unarmored body to an unattractive reddish paste.


    "You''re not going to mind if I hang on are you? You''re my fastest way there." Marcus had changed into a green costume that shifted from dark green on one side to light on the other.


    "I figured you would."


    "Good," he said, and his body changed from light brown skin to a dull grayish substance.


    We left by the forest entrance, shooting upward past the trees. Marcus had shifted his hands and arms so that they surrounded my upper chest and hollowed out his body, making easy to tow it behind me.


    I could feel the drag, and I wasn''t sure it was the best way to bring him along, but it wasn''t bad. I hit three hundred miles per hour quickly enough, covering the twenty mile distance in what seemed like the blink of an eye.


    It wasn''t hard to identify the armored car. They''d done their best to make it inconspicuous. It looked like a white, late model Ford van. It wouldn''t have stood out in any way except that it had been rolled sideways off of the highway and lay there, wheels still spinning.


    In the bright  afternoon sun, the grass was light green, but the grass wasn''t the interesting part. The interesting part was the brown circles around the van where the grass had been torn out of the ground.


    That argued strongly for a speedster of some kind. I switched on thermal imaging, supplemented by sonar, in case they were still there, but vibrating in such a way that they were hard to see.


    No one was outside, but I could see human shapes inside the van.

 Super Social: Part 5

    Then I realized why I could see inside the van¡ªthe back door was open. All the doors were open. They¡¯d been wrenched open by someone strong enough that reinforced metal, and whatever metahuman precautions the van¡¯s designers had included, were useless.


    That level of strength, coupled with my guess that a speedster had been involved, gave me a very uneasy feeling. If we were dealing with someone at Jaclyn¡¯s level of speed and strength, we were going to have to be very careful. Actually, we were going to have to do more than that. We were going to have to have Jaclyn or Izzy along almost any time we went into action.


    Most of us couldn¡¯t survive even one punch from Jaclyn when she wasn¡¯t holding back. Fortunately Marcus and I were the exception to that.


    As we neared the van, Marcus said, ¡°I¡¯m letting go. Landing behind the rear end.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± I said, and dove toward the van as he let go.


    His shape changed from winged, hollow missile to what I can best describe as a paper airplane. I made a quick circle of the van, not seeing anyone hiding in the grass around it, and joined Marcus as he widened his wings, slowing down and dropping to the ground.


    I slowed the Rocket suit and landed next to him. I¡¯d loosed a couple spybots as I¡¯d flown around the van. Their feeds showed me that no one was exiting from the front as we walked toward the back.


    In the corner of my HUD, more people¡¯s accounts went active¡ªHaley¡¯s, for example. Another one, this one labeled ¡°Control¡± also went active. That was probably Kayla.


    Marcus had changed into one of his ¡°go to¡± forms, a winged, angelic shape that in combination with his gray skin probably terrified fans of Dr. Who, and no one else.


    Kayla¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°Rocket, Shift. Night Cat¡¯s incoming shortly. Accelerando wants to know if you need backup. Gravity Star and Railgun are suiting up already.¡±


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    I stared into the van. There were two people exactly. Both wore black shirts and grey pants. One of them, the one leaning sideways halfway out of the driver¡¯s seat, was wearing a bulletproof vest. The other one, a hulking brush cut monster of a man, was only wearing the uniform.


    He lay across the back of the otherwise empty van. His head rose and his eyes tracked our movements as we walked closer, but his legs, arms, and the rest of his body never moved.


    ¡°I think we¡¯ll take any help we can get,¡± I said, ¡°but so far there¡¯s no one to fight. Are you getting the spybots¡¯ feeds?¡±


    Kayla said, ¡°Yes. Watch out for the civilians. It looks people are stopping to take pictures.¡±


    I checked the edges of my helmet. The screen had a 360 degree view, and Kayla was right. They were stopping to take pictures. Cars were slowing down, and a few had already pulled off to the side of the road, pointing their phones at us.


    Marcus laughed, turned around, and waved. ¡°At least they aren¡¯t following us.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I guess that counts for something, but a fight could kill half of those guys before they managed to restart their cars.¡±I checked my helmet. They were still inside. No one had yet ventured out of their car to walk across the grass.


    As we neared the van, the man in the back said, ¡°It¡¯s no use. They¡¯re gone, and you can¡¯t do a thing about it.¡±


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Even as big as the guy was, he didn¡¯t have a seatbelt on and the van had rolled over at least one time before coming to rest.


    He laughed. ¡°As soon as whatever they did to my head wears off, I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    Marcus cocked his head, and looked more closely at the man. ¡°A telepath? Did you see him? Wait, why don¡¯t you tell us what you did see? Was there one person? Two?¡±


    The man frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t know. All I know is that I was driving down the highway, and then suddenly I couldn¡¯t control my arms and legs. The next thing that happened was the van flipping over.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you aren¡¯t more hurt,¡± I said. I couldn¡¯t see any bruises on him, and the sonics showed no obvious broken bones.


    For a brief moment, he smiled. ¡°You¡¯ll figure it out before the end of this conversation, I¡¯m sure.¡±


    Marcus raised a gray eyebrow. ¡°Figure out what?¡±


    The man didn¡¯t say anything. I stared at him, wondering what we were supposed to figure out. Not long after that, I noticed that a necklace was hanging out of his shirt. An eagle symbol hung from it. The eagle had been used by many countries and cultures over time¡ªthe US, Germany, and the Roman Empire to name a few.


    It was commonly carried into battle by Roman legions, and that was fine, but at least one legion had morphed into the armed wing of the Cabal, the conspiracy that had tried to kill us all a little more than a year ago.

 Super Social: Part 6

    There were other metahumans out there in the Cabal¡¯s league in terms of strength and toughness, but the Cabal¡¯s toughest soldiers had all of that plus regeneration¡ªthe quick kind.


    My heart started beating, and I quickly scanned the area around us, all 360 degrees of it. More cars were stopping, and even more slowing down, but not in the kind of way that made me nervous. No one was running to join us or crossing the distance in a single jump.


    That was the other thing about the Cabal¡ªthey¡¯d agreed to leave us alone for a year last spring. It was now the end of the summer. By their own promise, they were free to kill us now.


    Setting my suit to send my voice to the comm, but not my suit¡¯s speaker, I said, ¡°He¡¯s part of the Cabal, but he¡¯s not trying to kill me¡ªyet.¡±


    Ahead of me, the man raised his hands above his head. ¡°I¡¯m not here to fight. I¡¯m on a contract. That¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°How about giving me your name and address in case we need to talk later?¡±


    He frowned for a second, but then said, ¡°Philo Schwarz,¡± and gave his address. He lived downtown in Grand Lake.


    I replayed the recording I¡¯d made of him to make sure I got a clear record of it. It sounded good.


    In the silence that left, Marcus asked, ¡°You said that you were going down the highway when suddenly you couldn¡¯t move, and the next thing you knew, you were lying here. Do you remember anything else?¡±


    Philo raised his head from the side of the van, aiming it at Marcus. ¡°Nothing.¡±


    Marcus sighed, ¡°Well, what about your cargo? Was the van empty or did they take it?¡±


    Philo made a noise in his throat that was almost a growl. ¡°We were carrying money for a bank. It¡¯s all gone, and whoever did it was moving too quickly for me to see it.¡±


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    ¡°That fits with my idea that it was a speedster,¡± I began.


    ¡°I can smell at least three different people.¡± Haley¡¯s voice came over the comm.


    ¡°Three?¡± I checked the screens inside my helmet. She wasn¡¯t anywhere I could see. ¡°And where are you?¡±


    ¡°I landed on the other side of the highway.¡± I gave a second look at the spybots feeds, and there she was in the grassy median between the north and southbound traffic. In addition to her gray and black costume, she wore one of the small jetpacks the original League members had used to respond to calls inside the city.


    I wondered how long she¡¯d been using it. It shouldn''t matter (they were designed for durability), but I hadn¡¯t done any recent maintenance on any of them since an initial once-over last year.


    ¡°I¡¯m working off smell, but the speedster is a guy, probably in his twenties. He drinks a lot of energy drinks, mostly fruity flavored. And he sweats a lot.¡±


    She sniffed. ¡°The other two are both women. I think one is in her twenties. She¡­ smells a little like the speedster, but more of money, metal, and coffee. I¡¯m not sure, but think they¡¯re together. The other one is in her forties. She wears too much perfume, and I think I smell power juice.¡±


    I tried to put all those details together in my head. They didn¡¯t create anything resembling a clear picture. ¡°Do you know where they went?¡±


    She sniffed again. ¡°No. It¡¯s like they disappeared. I think they left so quickly that the smell was too spread out for me to get a good trail. Or maybe they flew.¡±


    ¡°Maybe it would be clearer on this side?¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Haley said, ¡°but I think they left from this side.¡±


    She flew across to our side of the highway anyway, landing next to the van and sniffing around it without touching the van. After a little while, she said, ¡°It¡¯s definitely the same people. The older woman wasn¡¯t on this side, but the speedster and the other woman? They were. I can smell them on the doors that were ripped open.¡±


    ¡°You can smell her on the doors? That¡¯s good. She¡¯d have to be moving quickly enough that he,¡± I pointed toward Philo, ¡°didn¡¯t see her.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Haley glanced at him. Then she said, ¡°Oh. Because he¡¯d be in Accelerando¡¯s league.¡± She frowned. ¡°That would be a disaster, but right now, it¡¯s just looking like it might be true.¡±


    I was trying to think about how to respond to that, but then Kayla¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°They¡¯ve dispatched the police. You¡¯ll be seeing them in ten minutes, maybe less.¡±


    I looked at Haley. ¡°I guess we¡¯d better tell the police what you know.¡±


    She turned, looking down the highway. I didn¡¯t see anything, but maybe she could already hear the sirens. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time.


    Noting the dull gray rocket pack on her back, I asked, ¡°Has anybody been doing maintenance on the rocket pack?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Her eyes narrowed. ¡°Oh, right. Chris has been looking after them.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°Huh.¡±

 Super Social: Part 7

    It was nice to know that Chris had been maintaining the equipment when I wasn¡¯t around to do it, but I felt a little funny anyway. I would have done it if anyone had mentioned that people needed it. For all I knew, no one was using the mini-rocket packs.


    I knew it was completely stupid to care, but it was one more thing that I hadn¡¯t known about¡ªlike redecorating the main room in the base. I couldn¡¯t deny it looked better, but it had been a shock the first time I saw it.


    It made me wonder what else had changed.


    As if to emphasize that point, the first policeman to get out of the car stared at me. ¡°Rocket,¡± he said, eyes wide, ¡°and Night Cat. You haven¡¯t been around for ages. Shift¡­ What¡¯s going on here?¡±


    He did talk to all of us in the end and wasn¡¯t fazed to discover that Philo worked for the Cabal. It probably helped that Philo still couldn¡¯t move, but Philo didn¡¯t freak out either. We saw him get taken away.


    Near the end of everything, Kayla called everyone¡¯s comms. ¡°Railgun and Gravity Star have taken off their costumes and are waiting at HQ.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Haley said. ¡°We¡¯ll be there shortly.¡±


    That was interesting. Cassie had always wanted us to talk out what we¡¯d done after a fight, but we¡¯d never been consistent about it.


    A minute or two later Haley and I were flying back to HQ with Marcus in tow. We were back at HQ practically instantly. It didn¡¯t take long to get out of our costumes and within a few minutes, we were at the table in HQ¡¯s main room, brand new red carpet and all.


    The big screen on the wall was set to silently showing several different channels, most of them local. None of them were breaking into normal programming to discuss what had happened. That was good. If and when this speedster became the kind of story that everyone in town cared about, it would be a pain. So for now, the local channels showed typical Sunday afternoon programming¡ªsports, movies, news, and a cooking show.


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    Marcus, Sydney, and Camille were already sitting there as Haley and I pulled out chairs. Marcus was back to normal¡ªt-shirt and jeans and no more gray skin.


    He opened a big energy drink can. As it hissed open, he said, ¡°I guess we¡¯d better get this meeting moving. So¡­ What did we do right?¡±


    It didn¡¯t take long to run through both what we did right and wrong because frankly all we¡¯d done is land and discover that we were too late.


    Camille stared open mouthed as Haley finished. ¡°One of the men in the truck was Cabal?¡± She put down the mug of tea she¡¯d been drinking, moving her hands as she spoke. ¡°Do you think they¡¯re here for us? They only agreed to leave us alone for a year.¡±


    She turned toward her half-sister, brushing black hair out of her face.


    Sydney put down her glass of water. She didn¡¯t look obviously like Camille. Where Camille had light brown skin and black hair, Sydney had pale skin and blond hair. If you thought to look for it, though, they had similar slim builds and high cheekbones.


    Sydney frowned, sitting with her hands folded against her body. ¡°Last time they came all at once for us. This was just one man, right?¡±


    She looked at Haley, and Haley nodded. ¡°He didn¡¯t seem to be looking for anybody. Anyway, the police took him away when we left.¡±


    Sydney cocked her head. ¡°I thought you said he was the victim?¡±


    Nodding, Haley said, ¡°Exactly, but I think the police might take Cabal members in for questioning whenever they find one.¡±


    Marcus grinned. ¡°Not a bad idea except that he can probably demolish the police station.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d count on it, but he didn¡¯t seem like he would.¡±


    Haley leaned forward, putting her elbows on the table. ¡°I¡¯m more worried about the robbers. How do we catch them? If at least one of them is a speedster, and maybe more because we¡¯ve never seen any of them, well, we¡¯ll never see them before they disappear. None of us made this time before they left, and that¡¯s how it¡¯s been every time, right Marcus?¡±


    Marcus took a swig of his drink. ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s about right.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°It¡¯s a kind of big brotherish idea, but we might put spybots all over, and then set them to fire based on thermal recognition¡ªonly put so many goobots out there that there¡¯s no way to dodge all of them when they¡¯re activated.¡±

 Super Social: Part 8

    Marcus put his hand up to his chin, thought for a second, and then said, "It doesn''t sound that big brotherish. You''re only planning to watch for speedsters, right? It''s not like you''re going to watch everyone in town and monitor whatever they''re doing."


    I nodded. "That''s the plan. The idea is that the spybots would detect someone moving faster than normal humans can and watch them, and only them."


    Marcus sat up a little straighter. "I just thought of something. What about friendly speedsters like Jaclyn, for example? It''s not like she''s here all the time anymore, but if we need help, she''ll come. Plus, what about her older brothers or Grandpa?"


    I thought about it,  "Jaclyn should be okay because she''s got a League communicator. Her brothers should be okay because they''re on teams that use standard protocols--like we do. As for C... You gave him a new communicator, right? Your grandfather should be fine, but since he''s blind, he shouldn''t be running fast enough to trigger anything."


    Marcus, Haley, Sydney, and Camille all looked at each other. Camille gave an uncomfortable sounding half-giggle.


    I gave everyone a quick once over. "Okay. What else don''t I know?"


    Haley took my hand and gave it a squeeze. "C isn''t as blind as he lets on. Kayla told me that your grandfather made him glasses that work around his macular degeneration somehow."


    My mind went back to a set of plans I''d seen in Grandpa''s files. "Those worked? I saw a design that Grandpa created that might work, but there weren''t any notes that said that it did."


    Haley gave a lopsided half-smile. "I don''t think Kayla was supposed to tell us, but she did. Plus, even before she said anything, I saw the glasses on him. They glowed on the inside, and I could hear them hum so I knew they were more than just sunglasses."


    I shook my head. "That puts a whole new spin on things. C was considerably more powerful than he ever made public, and he''s part of the League''s board. If they were an official team, they''d be one of the more powerful ones out there."


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    Given that the board knew future predictions that Daniel''s grandfather made, I wondered if there was a purpose behind that.


    After a moment of thought, I added, "But anyway, so long as people are using communicators with standard protocols, they''re safe. If someone''s not part of a team or drinks power juice for the first time and takes a run fast enough to trigger it, well, then they could get caught."


    I paused. "But, I could make it so that it fired only on command. That might be the wisest thing. For all we know, the person''s running through the city constantly, and we don''t know it because they don''t always rob anything."


    Marcus grinned. "I like that idea. It could be that they live in Grand Lake or they work here, and if they show up at the same place again and again, we''ve got them."


    Haley turned toward me, saying, "I think it can work. Would everybody be able to okay taking a shot or just you?"


    "However you want me to arrange it. It''s not a big deal,  but it might be better if we split the authority." Holding Haley''s hand in mine, I was reminded that her reflexes were good enough that she could probably make the decision in real time.


    Haley, meanwhile had apparently decided we weren''t getting enough input from Camille and Sydney.   She turned to them. "What do you think?"


    Sydney looked up at us. She''d been looking down at her hand, or maybe her lap. "Honestly, I''m a little more worried about the Cabal. The last time we saw them around here, my dad died."


    Technically Ray hadn''t been part of the Cabal when he killed Camille and Sydney''s father, but he was working with them later. It wasn''t impossible that he always had been. Plus, the Cabal had been hunting their families for years, so I could see her point.


    Sydney looked over at Camille. "I''m going to call my mom and let everyone know that he''s around. That way we''re watching."


    Camille was more serious than she generally seemed to be, and didn''t chatter away in response, saying only, "I was planning to tell my mom too."


    They looked at each other, their faces mirroring each other''s anxiety--or that''s how I interpreted their expressions.


    "You probably shouldn''t blow him off," I said, "but he seemed to be focussed on his contract. He wasn''t asking about you at all."


    Sydney nodded. "That''s good. You know, if you found a way to have your bots detect the Cabal, I wouldn''t care about how much privacy we lose. I''ve had to look over my shoulder for them for almost my entire life except for the year after you beat them."

 Super Social: Part 9

    "I didn''t beat them. You were there. Everyone here was there. And when it comes down to it, Lee planned and directed the final battle with the Cabal."


    "I know," Sydney said. "I fought, but I wasn''t involved--not the way you were. You let yourself get taken captive to help rescue our families, and Lee planned. Sean and I and the rest of Justice Fist followed."


    Camille shook her head. "Justice Fist. It was a nice try, but it was such a mess. You had Lucas, heir to millions or billions and already a doctor saddled with us, a bunch of high school kids who were full of hormones. And then there was Sean who didn''t like playing second fiddle to Lucas and also didn''t like how Julie and Shannon both were seriously crushing on the guy--not that Lucas pursued either of them."


    Sydney gave her a sidelong glance. "And you were flirting with all the guys."


    "But I didn''t mean it," Camille said. "That''s important. And not with all the guys. Jody''s just not right in the head. I never trusted him."


    Sydney laughed. "I always thought of him as my brother''s best friend and a serial killer in training."


    "Serial killer in training?" I asked.


    Sydney blushed. It was very visible on her pale skin. "I know it''s stupid. It''s just something I used to think. He''s creepy."


    "And simply, pointlessly mean," Haley added. "He is. Back when I was dating Sean, I never wanted to be around Jody."


    Marcus looked from one side of the table to another. "Good thing Jody''s the fastest man alive. I mean that seriously. I don''t think Jaclyn''s as fast."


    I raised an eyebrow. "You don''t think it''s him, do you?"


    Marcus stopped, half closing one eye. After a moment, he said. "No. Because the first time it happened was before you all got back from Stapledon."


    "Good," I said, and quietly hoped that however the timeline worked, it didn''t allow enough time for Jody to run home, commit a crime, and run back without anyone noticing. That said, it didn''t really make any sense for it to be Jody. The way they described the jobs, and from what I''d seen, the jobs showed a certain precision and skill. What I''d seen of Jody was hotheadedness and poor decision making.


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    On the bright side, that meant he could help us. On the not so bright side, he might get killed in the blink of an eye by whatever speedster was behind this.


    "I guess I''d better ready the spybots then."


    * * *


    I spent the rest of Sunday gathering up spybots and manufacturing more. Thanks to repeated surveillance projects, I  had leftover bots available that I only had to refurbish. Plus, I''d gotten better at creating bots than I used to be. At one point, I had to create them by hand. Ever since working out the basic technology for the self-repairing version of the Rocket suit, it hadn''t been hard to create mini-factories for the spybots. They didn''t have the necessary material to make them self-repairing, but in my lab, I had all the material I could want.


    Better, I had a new delivery mechanism. Instead of having to place them individually, I could use the floating pods I''d created to resupply the Rocket suit during a fight. Powered by fuel cells and floating thanks to alien gravity manipulation technology, the floating pods carried enough repair material for two Rocket suits as well as weapons of their own.


    I hoped to create pods that could essentially be absorbed entirely into the Rocket suit at some point, possibly even combining to form a heavy duty version of the suit.


    I wasn''t there yet though. What I did was fill the floating pods with spybots and remotely disperse them across the city, concentrating on major routes into the city and major roads.


    I couldn''t know for sure that they''d take them, but I did know that C, Marcus and Jaclyn''s grandfather, had been a civil engineer for Grand Lake for decades. The traffic signal timing that he''d worked out to make it easy to cross the city had to have been changed by now, but major roads in the city had been subtlely designed with speedsters in mind.


    They had to notice that on some level--hopefully only enough that they''d prefer to use those streets.


    Anyway, I spent the rest of Sunday night working on spybots and distributing them, followed by most of Monday testing them as well as testing patterns I''d come up with that allowed me to move the bots as little as possible while still keeping the speedster in sight.


    By Tuesday though, the bots were entirely in place and recording. Therefore I could finally start moving into the dorm for the year.


    Haley and I rolled up together in the white van that I''d modified to transform into a giant cat mecha last year. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.


    The van blended in, only one of what felt like hundreds of cars, vans, and small trucks driven by students and parents, most parked on the street, a few parked on the lawn in front of the tall, brick dorm. People crossed the lawn carrying suitcases, bed linens, and small refrigerators. As Haley and I passed a knot of students who''d stopped working to chat, I recognized Jeremy, my roommate.


    Wearing a t-shirt that made an obscure physics joke, he broke away from the group to say, "Hey Nick, did you hear that Kid Biohack is attending Grand Lake U this year?"

 Hackjob: Part 1

    Watching as the people Jeremy had been talking to turned to look at me, I said, "I saw the YouTube video where he said he planned to join the Heroes'' League. I''ll believe it when I see it."


    Jeremy grinned. "I guess we''ll see what happens. He struck me as small time compared to the League."


    The girl next to Jeremy elbowed him. "Small time? He''s from Los Angeles. Everybody looks small time there unless they''re part of SoCal Defenders. I''m sure he''s been in more fights than the new kids in the Heroes'' League."


    Still carrying a box full of my books, Haley raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that? They''ve been around for a couple years now."


    It was a strange scene. The girl stood a little taller than Jeremy with broad shoulders and black hair that went halfway down her back. She wore jeans and a flannel shirt.


    That put her almost a foot taller than Haley. She looked Haley in the eyes, saying, "I follow his YouTube channel. He''s fought Syndicate L, gangs, and supervillains. There''s no way you''d find as many of them here, and there''s no way they could be as tough."


    Haley''s eyes narrowed, but all she said was, "Could be."


    I felt sure that she didn''t want to let this go. I knew I didn''t, but it wasn''t as if we had any chance of convincing her without revealing ourselves or risking it.


    To Jeremy I said, "I guess I''ll see you in the room."


    To the rest I said, "I''ll see you later."


    Haley and I walked up the stairs, finally making it to my room. I pulled out the key and opened the door.


    The room looked exactly as we''d left it last spring--bare tile floors, wooden bunk beds with old mattresses that I didn''t give any serious inspection to. This was probably for the best.


    Whatever else was true, Jeremy plainly hadn''t made it up yet. I set about putting my clothes into the dresser I''d used last year. Haley put the box of books on top of my desk.


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    Then she frowned. "Kid Biohack''s got to be great because... Los Angeles!"


    Her eyes had turned catlike--slitted and yellow. She sighed. "When everyone was here we fought the Cabal, Syndicate L, and Ray''s crew. Then last year we fought Rook, saved St. Louis and possibly the world. And that''s just with the whole League. When you were on Stapledon weekends, we fought aliens, gangs and a few supervillains by ourselves."


    "I know," I said. "She''s a civilian. She doesn''t know all of that. Not all of it made the news, and a lot of people don''t pay attention to the stuff that does."


    Haley frowned again. "I know, but it''s irritating." She walked to the door. "We should get the rest of your stuff."


    "Um..." I said. "Your eyes. They''re changed."


    She rolled her eyes. By the time they came down, they''d changed back, color turning as I watched.


    All I could say was, "Wow."


    She gave a brief grin. "I''d like to think I''ve learned something about controlling my change by now." She paused. "But still bugs me that I shifted without thinking. I don''t think I do that with anyone else."


    "I hope not." I followed her out the door and back to the van for more of my stuff.


    The next time we came back up Jeremy was in the room. He was putting his own clothes in drawers. I, meanwhile, had walked in with my bedsheets, comforter, and pillow. Dumping them on the bed, I asked, "So when you said Kid Biohack was coming to Grand Lake University, did you mean that he was actually attending classes or did you just mean he was coming to the city?"


    Behind me, Haley shut the door.


    Jeremy stood up and stepped away from the dresser. "Jillian told me one of his videos said he''d be taking classes."


    I raised an eyebrow. "Taking classes as who? Kid Biohack or whatever his real name is?"


    Jeremy scratched his head. "You know, I''m not sure, but taking classes in a costume doesn''t seem very smart."


    "Telling people that you''re going to take classes if you''re going to take classes as yourself doesn''t seem very smart either." I ran through possibilities in my head. "Of course, it might be misdirection. If people are looking for him here, they might not be looking too closely at some other guy moving in from California."


    "Or maybe he doesn''t care about a secret identity? Maybe he''s got a fake identity set up?" Haley shrugged. "I don''t know how much that would help him. If I smelled him, it would be all over, but I guess he might be able to change his scent with a name like that."


    Leaning against the bed, Jeremy folded his arms over his chest. "I''d go with doesn''t care about a secret identity. You know how much some of these guys put online? Everything. You could learn something from him. If he fought a dragon, he wouldn''t wait for a month and release it, he''d rename the day he fought it ''Dragon Day'' and remind people of it every year on the anniversary."

 Hackjob: Part 2

    I laughed. "You''re probably right about that. We don''t even do our social media. I assume it''s being done either by our board''s staff or maybe by someone on the ''for profit'' side of the operation. So far as I know, no part of the League released the dragon video, though."


    I thought about that. I''d never asked who did our social media. For all I knew, someone on the board thought it would do some good.


    Coming back to myself, I continued, "You might be right about not caring who knows his secret identity. If he grew up in a compound, he might not have one."


    Jeremy nodded. "I heard once that the massively strange metahumans stay in the compounds. The guy who told me about that one was arguing that they were the true cause of all the so-called alien sightings in the 1970''s. But you''ve told me that the aliens were real, so..."


    Haley and I looked at each other.


    Jeremy noticed our look and frowned. "I guess that''s another theory down the drain."


    "We didn''t see anything like that," Haley said, pulling herself up to sit on the top bunk.


    "On the other hand," I said, "we were invaded by goblins, ogres, trolls, assorted faeries, and a dragon. Plus, we discovered that the Castle Rock Compound has a level of completely unoccupied prison cells under the compound."


    Jeremy stared at Haley and me, his eyes widening. "No shit."


    Haley nodded. "Totally true. We had to break out."


    For a moment, he didn''t breathe, but then he said, "So what you''re telling me is that the news reports skipped the interesting stuff. Are you going to spill it or what?"


    Haley leaned a little forward, putting her hands on the bed. "I''m not going to be able to stay for the whole story. There''s still freshman orientation stuff I need to go to."


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    For the rest of the afternoon, Haley and I told him about the summer. Haley left after we got all of my stuff upstairs. I spent the rest of the time telling Jeremy about the summer.


    When I was done, we were both sitting at our desks, and he was shaking his head. "That''s kind of convoluted. I had no idea Dark Cloak got his powers from faeries, but since he did, it makes sense that he''d bring in a dragon to do his dirty work. It''s weird that he''s working with the Coffeeshop Illuminati though, and even weirder that they were behind overthrowing Turkmenistan''s government. How''s your hand?"


    I shrugged. "It works normally. Paladin''s healed worse."


    Jeremy''s eyes fell on the books on his bookshelf. In addition to textbooks, it held books of conspiracy theories, more than one of which mentioned Lee, my fighting teacher. Others argued that there were no aliens and that the Abominator fight in the 1970s had been fabricated by our government.


    The covers were full of exclamation points.


    "You know what''s crazy? With all the conspiracy theories I''ve read, I''ve never run across the Coffeeshop Illuminati. Even stranger, I think I''ve run into them."


    I sat up in my chair. "Seriously? How?"


    Jeremy twisted his hand, pointing his thumb toward his laptop. "Online super and conspiracy forums. Lots of people write about things that are happening nearby and sometimes you get people  who aren''t forum regulars asking questions. That''s no big deal because there are always lurkers, but this guy started asking me lots of questions about Grand Lake and if I''d ever seen the Rocket or knew anyone who I thought might be the Rocket and what times did the Rocket most often appear? You know, that kind of thing. I couldn''t say anything much because of the Block, but this was going on in the middle of summer when everything was going down for you guys."


    I felt a chill go through me. "You don''t think they knew that you knew me, do you?"


    Jeremy shook his head. "No chance. Everybody on that forum knows I go to school in Grand Lake. It''s my claim to fame, and I''ve answered a lot of questions about it, but thanks to the Block, I can''t say anything dangerous."


    "Yeah," I said.  "But watch out, okay? If it feels like someone is asking too many questions, let me know. "


    "If that does happen, how will you handle it?" He asked.


    It was a good question because I wasn''t completely sure what the answer was even as I replied. "Well, first of all, I think we''d make sure that you didn''t get kidnapped or killed. Uh... After that, I think we''d check out how people contacted you so that maybe we could find them before they did anything."


    Jeremy nodded. "I can see that, but you know what that last bit reminds me of? It''s totally different, but you know what you can do if you want to find Kid Biohack?"


    I shook my head.


    Jeremy grinned. "This is great...  Get this. He posts his fights live but with a lag. Just follow his YouTube channel."

 Hackjob: Part 3

    Wednesday found me attending classes and quietly wishing I had a lab on campus like I had when I''d been in the Castle Rock Compound for the summer. I''d spent Tuesday evening back in the lab in the Heroes'' League''s headquarters watching my bot factories build robots, and loading them into my "assist pods."


    Then I let the pods float into the air, dispersing bots to their assigned lamp posts and telephone poles.


    All of it went without a hitch despite the fact that it was 99% automated.


    The notion of bots making surveillance devices and distributing them with barely any human involvement probably would have worried anyone into privacy issues and maybe it should have bothered me.


    It did, a little bit.


    I''d taken a required social science class last spring though (Psychology 101), and in response to a question about how a study was done, the professor mentioned that filming what was going on in a public space was completely legal.


    I imagined that people might be bothered by the broad scale of what I was recording, but I was in the clear legally. Anyway, I''d only set the spybots to record people whose speed appeared to match someone who was robbing people.


    You could argue that "We didn''t invade your privacy nearly as much as we could have," is not nearly as inspiring as not doing so at all, but I was okay with it.


    Also, by way of  getting down to business on tracking Kid Biohack, I followed Jeremy''s advice and subscribed to Kid Biohack''s feed.


    An update would set off alarms that had a good chance of waking me up if I were asleep.


    On Wednesday night then, I found myself in my room. I''d eaten dinner in the cafeteria with Haley and Camille. Haley had been going through Freshman orientation over the weekend and first couple days of the week. She and Camille were going to be attending a party with a group of other girls from their dorm  that night.


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    When I asked if she wanted me to come along, Camille frowned, and Haley said, "I''d<del></del> like you to come along, but none of the other girls have boyfriends at Grand Lake. So it would feel a little weird. I''m mostly going because I don''t want them to get in trouble. I''ve never been able to get drunk, so, at least, one of us will be able to keep her head."


    Jeremy didn''t have classes on Wednesday night, so he disappeared with some other guys. He stopped at the door. "You sure you don''t want to come? A couple friends of mine are living in a house off campus. I think the plan is boardgames, but it may just be hanging out and talking.  You should do more than just... Well, you know."


    "I''ll be fine. I''m actually kind of ready to be alone for a night."


    Jeremy cocked his head and walked out the door. "Okay. I''ll see you later."


    By 10:47pm, I was most of the way through The Martian. I''d been intending to read it during the summer, but circumstances had never been right. By "circumstances had never been right" I mean that I''d put too much work in on the pods plus extra-curricular activities like nearly getting killed by a dragon.


    As the main character of the story stripped his ship of everything non-essential in preparation for his final launch, a knock came from my door.


    I opened it to find Vaughn standing in the hall. "Mind if I come in?"


    Vaughn grinned up at me. Maybe an inch or two shorter, Vaughn used to look a little heavier than I had, but this summer''s intense training program had done him some obvious good. He wore a black t-shirt and jeans. His chest muscles were fairly obvious under the shirt. His arms were well defined too.


    I didn''t plan to mention it, but he did look a little more like his grandfather had in old Heroes'' League pictures.


    "Sure," I said. "You did more working out than I realized during the summer."


    Vaughn shook his head. "I don''t think so, but I may have gotten more of an effect."


    He shut the door. "Anyway, you should look at yourself in the mirror sometime. So, what are you doing?"


    I shrugged and held up the book. "Reading. Haley''s out with some people from her dorm."


    Vaughn nodded. "I saw the movie. Is that much different?"


    "I dunno. I missed that in the theater, and I don''t think it''s on Netflix."


    "Ok," Vaughn looked toward the door, and then back to me. "I''ve been talking to Amy over the phone, and she and Samita have been doing some research on The Thing That Eats. She''d like to have a meeting on the next Stapledon weekend."


    "Fine with me. Pass it on to the group. We''ve got to do something with that even if we just pass it on to the adults."


    Vaughn shook his head. "I''m pretty sure Amy won''t want to pass it on. Ancestral enemy, you know?"


    "Right," I began, and then my phone started ringing along with my laptop and tablet.


    "The hell?" Vaughn looked around the room, probably trying to figure out the source of the noise.


    "Kid Biohack," I said.

 Hackjob: Part 4

    I picked up my tablet and clicked on the YouTube app, finding my subscriptions, and clicking on Kid Biohack''s feed.


    Vaughn laughed. "You''re subscribing to that guy?"


    I ignored him. The video was entitled "Live: Kid Biohack Corners Suspect!" More than three thousand people were currently watching.


    I clicked on the video to find that it showed a man running in the dark, crossing the street to run through the backyard of one house and then another. The houses looked like the ones around the middle of town--two stories with a small porch in the front, small lawns, and probably close to one hundred years old.


    Judging from what I could see, they weren''t likely going much faster than twenty-five miles per hour. That was impossible for a normal human but slow enough that I hadn''t set the spybots to record.


    I''d been going on the theory that people robbing armored cars would never bother to go that slowly. Maybe I''d have to rethink that.


    Kid Biohack''s camera wasn''t standard. Assuming this wasn''t being staged and was going on more or less right now, he''d bought a camera that could get a night time picture that looked like it could have been taken at twilight.


    Better, it was clear.


    That meant that I could see the person he was chasing clearly. Even though the guy was wearing a mask, I didn''t think he was a supervillain. For one, this guy wore street clothes--a t-shirt and shorts. The shorts were silky and went nearly to his knees. Blue, orange, and white, they had the gothic Detroit Tigers'' D on the right side.


    While anything could be true, it seemed unlikely that a supervillain would wear clothes that advertised a baseball team.


    With every jump over a road or sprint across, I became more worried that one of them would hit a car or crash through the window of a house.


    Worse, I began to recognize the houses. While there were hundreds that were similar in older neighborhoods across the city, Grand Lake University sat in the middle of houses that looked like that, and I''d already recognized one. It wasn''t particularly distinctive, but I remembered it from accompanying Courtney on the night when she''d met with someone who''d claimed to be able to give her permanent powers.


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    I didn''t see him. I was fairly sure he was in jail, but the house was one of many that people rented out to university students.


    Vaughn shook his head. "This is intense. Did you see that? That house isn''t more than four blocks south of here."


    So far as I could tell, he''d recognized a different house, but they were close to each other.


    "It''s only going to be so long before one of them causes a car crash or runs into somebody." I stared at the feed. Jeremy had said it ran with a lag. The chase could be over by now, but given what I''d seen of Kid Biohack, he''d probably still be filming after the chase ended.


    "I''m going after them in the stealth suit."


    Vaughn nodded. "You want backup?"


    I pulled my jacket out of the closet and grabbed my backpack. "Sure."


    Glancing toward the door, Vaughn said, "Cool. I''ve been hoping to try out the new suit. Oh, and follow me. I''ve got a great place to change."


    He led me through the hall and up the elevator to the seventh floor of the dorm. Then he showed me a door on the seventh floor. It led up a stairway, and finally to the roof.


    Past the edge of the roof was the glow of houses, streetlights, cars on the highway overpass that led through downtown, and the marinas and harbor on Grand Lake.


    "How did you get a key for this?"


    Vaughn shrugged. "Same as always. My family endows multiple chairs, and if you talk to the right people and imply that you have more influence with the family foundation than you actually do, you can get access to a lot of places."


    I considered pointing out all the problems with that, but I didn''t. I activated the new stealth suit, feeling it pull together, melding material from my backpack with my jacket to create a stealth suit that no one could find on me before I set it to transform.


    Vaughn''s suit used the same technology. I''d created new suits for the entire team.


    Turning on my helmet''s heads-up display, and setting it to play the YouTube video, I watched to see if I could recognize where they were now.


    Then I noticed large Greek letters on the houses, and realized where they must be. Haley had pointed out Travis'' fraternity house and a couple more fraternity and sorority houses near it.


    I turned to Vaughn. "Are you ready?"


    Now all in black, Vaughn''s costume made me think of the Matrix, or possibly Edward Scissorhands. "You go, I''ll follow. I don''t want the wind to mess you up."


    I gave him a thumbs up, and turned on the rockets, aiming myself toward the south edge of campus. The official fraternity houses were university owned. The unofficial ones were most likely to be where parties took place. Haley had pointed out the unofficial houses.


    Behind me I could hear and sometimes feel as the wind twisted and turned, but Vaughn knew his business. The wind never affected me.


    Below me, cars and people clustered around more than one house. I wondered what effect landing in the middle of the backyard would have. Would they run away or offer me a beer? I wasn''t planning to try it, but it would be interesting to know.


    Vaughn''s light glowed in my HUD and his voice came over the comm. "See anything?"


    "No," I began, but then the guy Kid Biohack was chasing jumped over one car in the line of parked cars, landing in the street. "Wait, yes... Down there."


    I dove.

 Hackjob: Part 5

    Whatever else could be said of Kid Biohack, his reflexes were freakish. I came out of my dive roughly twenty feet behind him, close enough to see the guy he was chasing with my helmet¡¯s composite night vision.


    The stride of Kid Biohack''s target was amazing. He was taking twenty feet at a step, and not because of exceptionally long legs. It was all strength. That was how Jaclyn ran. He simply wasn¡¯t as fast. More interesting, Kid Biohack was keeping up the same way.


    Everything changed the moment Kid Biohack registered the sound of the rocket pack. He glanced backward and only instants later leapt forward, landing on the other guy, smacking something into the guy¡¯s face, and letting go. Then he twisted and leapt at me.


    I¡¯d pressed the setting for a quick landing, so I was an easy target. That setting aimed me upward while lowering the rockets¡¯ force, putting me upright while slowing me enough that I could stay upright if I hit the ground running.


    He hit me in the stomach with his shoulder, and tried to grab me, but the force of my momentum knocked him backward and threw me face first toward the ground. In a move that showed years of training was actually worth something, I converted my unintentional dive into a roll that brought me up to my feet and facing Kid Biohack.


    Cool as that may have been, Kid Biohack had used the same space in time to roll backwards to his feet in time to step sideways, twist, and flank me.


    Before I could move to either avoid him or use my arms to block, he¡¯d blurred, punching me in my side, the punch throwing me into a car. It was a seriously old and rusty Lincoln Town car. The window shattered while the metal of the door dented.


    I felt it and wished I had the pods ready for their real purpose.


    I wasn¡¯t hurt, but the stealth suit was sending out alerts as it repaired itself. Unfortunately, it had considerably less material to work with than the regular Rocket suit did.


    I needed to end this fight quickly or I¡¯d lose it.


    Fortunately, Vaughn appeared to have come to the same realization. He rained lightning down on the road where Kid Biohack stood. I say the road because that¡¯s mostly what he hit. Shattered bits of asphalt flew everywhere, some of them hitting my armor, but not doing any damage.


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    A sizable chunk crashed through the window of a late model Mustang. Another hit Kid Biohack in the back even as he made an amazing leap over that Mustang to avoid the lightning.


    The stone ripped his costume, but he didn¡¯t seem to notice it. He landed on the other side of the car, turning around, picking up the car, and throwing it at Vaughn.


    I felt my jaw drop. He was working with much more strength than I¡¯d realized.


    Worse, with one leap, he¡¯d closed the distance between the two of us again, leaping over a car to face me in the street.


    I opened up on him with the sonics, keeping the focus of the weapons on him, and hoping that by the time their area of effect widened they¡¯d be too weak to damage anything else.


    That hurt him, and he went down to his knees. Behind me, something thumped the ground amid the sound of wind. I assumed that Vaughn had put down the car. The 360-degree view from my helmet¡¯s HUD confirmed that.


    Turning on the suit¡¯s PA, I shouted for him to, ¡°Stand down! We don¡¯t want to fight you. We¡¯re the Heroes¡¯ League!¡±


    From either side of me, people cheered. They looked through windows, peered around the corners of houses and from behind bushes and trees. It shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise either. I¡¯d seen the parties from above before I¡¯d flew down to street level.


    Kid Biohack didn¡¯t say anything, just set his jaw and ran at me, either not caring what I¡¯d said or deaf from the sonics. I could understand not recognizing me. The stealth suit was currently all black. It surprised me that he hadn¡¯t recognized Vaughn though. Famous, or infamous because of his grandfather, Vaughn was anything but anonymous.


    The lightning bolts had to be a big clue.


    It wasn¡¯t one Kid Biohack chose to recognize, though and closed the distance between us before Vaughn could get off a shot. His punches sent me sliding backwards down the street as I tried to get my head together enough to come up with a next step.


    My distractions weren¡¯t cured by Travis, Haley¡¯s and Camille¡¯s accounts going green in my HUD, meaning that they¡¯d popped on their own brand new ceramic suits.


    I got my wits about me enough to try to throw him, and did manage to get my arm on his and began to redirect his momentum toward the ground, but he was too fast. I didn¡¯t get a good grip.


    As I let go, he moved past me, stumbling, but not falling. He turned before I could aim the sonics, pulling back his fist to deliver a punch.


    Except¡­


    He didn¡¯t get a chance to deliver that punch. A huge arm appeared out of the darkness, grabbing Kid Biohack¡¯s arm. It wasn¡¯t just any arm either. It was muscular and ended in a grayish hand with long, white claws.


    Another arm appeared along with it, this one grabbing Kid Biohack¡¯s throat, and lifting him in the air. Covered in a grey costume that had a wolf¡¯s head on its chest, Travis, the second Night Wolf, and Haley¡¯s older brother, stood next to me.


    I hadn¡¯t given much thought to how much more intimidating Haley¡¯s powers were when the owner was nearly seven feet tall and built like a football player.


    I, for one, was intimidated at that moment, and so was Kid Biohack. His feet were nearly a foot off the ground by then, and something liquid was dripping off one of them.


    He had my sympathies. In a similar situation, I might have pissed myself too.

 Hackjob: Part 6

    Travis eyed Kid Biohack. "We need to talk."


    Swallowing, Kid Biohack said, "Uh-huh."


    Travis let him down to the road, and let go of his throat, but not his arm. Kid Biohack stared up at Travis with an expression that made it obvious that he probably didn''t actually want to talk as much as he wanted to be somewhere else.


    "Rocket," Travis asked, "can you get us a vehicle?"


    "Give me a second." I checked my HUD.  Getting the van to come would be a little bit of a hassle. I''d worked out a way to get the van to drive itself to me recently, but it wasn''t my first choice. For one thing, it would have to transform and I wasn''t sure I completely trusted the algorithm that told it when to do that.


    For another, remote control via stealth suit wasn''t my first choice. I needed to make some tweaks to the gauntlets. This version of the stealth suit was essentially a new design, and it had bugs.


    Fortunately, I noticed something I hadn''t expected--a green dot next to the word Control. That meant Kayla was working, and even better she was probably in headquarters. I clicked on her name and opened a voice connection.


    When she answered, I said, "Can you send the jet over here? If you can''t, I can give it permission to take off, but it''s better if you do it because its programming requires it to give me a lot of hassle before letting it off its leash."


    "It''s gone," she said.


    Before I could ask why she explained. "Captain Commando, Red Hex, Troll, and Bloodmaiden needed it. The Shift flew it out and he took Myriad with him."


    "Myriad?"


    Kayla paused, probably trying to decide how to tell me without saying the person''s name. "They needed someone who could look like someone else."


    "No kidding..." I checked the HUD again and realized that there was an ongoing conversation between Myriad, Captain Commando, Bloodmaiden, Red Hex, and Troll.


    Except for Cassie, none of them were technically members and the display gave them slightly darker backgrounds to indicate that. We needed to invite them all in someday. This wasn''t the time, though.


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    "Okay," I said. "Could you guide the van over here?"


    "If I push it. I''m a little busy with Cap''s group. Can''t it take itself over remotely?"


    Resisting the urge to argue with her, I said, "Yes, but don''t trust it to switch forms at the right time. I''d do it myself except my gloves give multiple clicks with the remote systems. I''m still trying to figure out why."


    "Got it. What look do you want?"


    "It''s labeled ''Official HL''."


    "Are you sure you don''t want the one with the chainmail bikini woman mural?"


    I frowned. No one seemed to get that a look like that would be useful as a distraction in certain situations. "Official look. No bikini."


    Kayla laughed. "Are you saying there''s a mural with a naked woman? Should I tell Haley?"


    In a dead tone, I said, "Please get the van."


    "Naked van on the way."


    Travis'' voice broke into the conversation. "Rocket? What''s going on?"


    "Van''s on the way," I said. "Control''s handling another incident too."


    He frowned. "What''s going on?"


    "I''m pretty sure it relates to last summer. Check the connection list and you''ll know as much as I do."


    He checked the communicator on his wrist, frowning more as he saw the other group''s names listed. "No one told me about that."


    "Me neither," I said.


    Vaughn looked from one to the other of us. "I kind of knew. I''m dating Bloodmaiden."


    The van rolled down the street. All white with a triangular front and the Heroes'' League''s "HL" logo on the side, it looked more like a futuristic stretch limo (or stretch SUV) than a van.


    Kid Biohack actually smiled for a second, but when the door opened, he said, "Don''t forget my guy!"


    I looked at the person he''d been chasing. The guy was lying face down on the ground. Travis turned toward Haley, "Night Cat, grab him."


    Next to Haley, her orange and white costume contrasting with Haley''s black and gray, Camille said, "Don''t worry about it. I''ve got him."


    The man floated upward, his hair floating upward like his arms and legs, and moving toward the van''s open side door. Whatever Kid Biohack had used to knock him unconscious was still working. The man had begun to snore.


    I got in the front and took the driver''s seat. Haley took the passenger''s side next to me, her arms and teeth shrinking back to normal size. "Where are we going?"


    The door shut and I started the van moving, passing a smashed car that I was pretty sure I''d been thrown into. "I was thinking that we''d go to the office."


    The board had rebuilt it over the summer. I''d contributed design elements, but I hadn''t been in it yet.


    "Good idea." Then she turned toward the back seat, wrinkling her nose.


    I checked the mirror.


    "Thanks," Kid Biohack said as Vaughn passed him a roll of paper towels. He balled a few together, and after a moment, he ran them down his leg.


    Travis had sat down behind me, facing Kid Biohack. He leaned forward, and Kid Biohack''s eyes widened.


    Voice low, Travis gestured toward the body and said, "Tell me why you were chasing this guy."

 Hackjob: Part 7

    Next to me, Haley kept her voice low, asking, "Is he still recording?"


    I checked the dashboard. Now entirely a digital display, it included more than your average van. I checked the corner where it listed all the users of its local LAN. Kid Biohack wasn''t on the list even though he was listed in grey with a question mark next to his name.


    "No," I said. "To discourage bugs, I set up the van so that signals can''t get out unless they''re connected to the local LAN. His system is set up with standard cape protocols. It''s asking for permission, but I''m not giving it access."


    In the main area of the van, Kid Biohack looked at Travis and smiled. "I tracked him down. He''s connected to your string of armored car robberies."


    Letting the van go on autopilot, I watched the main compartment through one of the cameras. I could have turned around, but I felt better paying, at least, partial attention to the road.


    Haley frowned, and said, "I think he''s lying. Maybe not about everything, but at least partially lying."


    Kid Biohack''s upper lip quivered. "I''m not lying!"


    Travis met Haley''s eyes and nodded. "Thanks, Night Cat. I wasn''t sure at first, but he''s definitely lying now."


    "Hey," Kid Biohack began, but as he did Vaughn and Camille both started laughing.


    "Don''t even try," Vaughn said. "It''s not worth it. Night Wolf and Night Cat always know."


    Camille stopped laughing first. "Don''t worry. It''s not your fault. It'' s just their thing."


    Kid Biohack''s mouth tightened. Then he looked at me. "Did you cut off my internet access?"


    Shaking my head, I said, "No. I just never okayed it."


    "When did it stop?" He was staring at me by the time I turned to face him.


    "When the door shut. It''s protection against surveillance."


    He let out a breath.


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    Travis cleared his throat and leaned toward Kid Biohack. "Which part were you lying about? The part where you said you tracked him down, or the part where you said he had something to do with our problem?"


    Kid Biohack didn''t say anything.


    Travis smiled, showing his fangs. Between his teeth, the largely grey costume, and the upright ears on the top of his mask, he made me think of either a wolf or a kind of monster Batman. Of course, Travis didn''t have a cape.


    Nodding, Travis said, "I think he''s lying about tracking the guy down. Night Cat?"


    Haley said, "That''s it," and turned toward the front where she could watch it on the screen.


    After looking down checking his wrist, he met Travis'' eyes. "Since we''re not recording, I''ll say it. I didn''t track him down so much as bribe a bunch of people who work for Syndicate L. "


    Travis'' eyes narrowed. "Syndicate L''s behind this?"


    Kid Biohack shook his head. "No. They don''t have anything to do with it. They do transportation, procure equipment, anything your local supervillain might need. This kid works with Syndicate L. He''s not high up or anything. He''s a courier. They use him when they can''t trust anything electronic, and they can''t here."


    I shook my head. That was complete overkill. It wasn''t as if I were monitoring all email or phone conversations in Grand Lake. Technomage might be able to do that, but he was in Los Angeles.


    Then I thought of something else. The alien AI in the League jet/spaceship might well be able to do exactly that. I''d never ordered him to, but Grandpa might have. I made a mental note to ask about that.


    "Fine," Travis said, "it''s not Syndicate L. Who is it?"


    Kid Biohack shrugged. "I don''t know. Syndicate L doesn''t know either. They send this guy to deliver messages or whatever. If anybody knows anything, it''ll be him."


    Travis looked down at the body on the floor. "Damn," he muttered.


    Taking the opening, Kid Biohack said, "Once I took him down, I planned to ask him some questions. Some of my friends cooked up a drug that weakens people''s will. He''ll talk."


    Haley turned around. "Somehow I didn''t imagine you as someone who shoots people up and then interrogates them."


    Kid Biohack sighed. "Not clean enough for you? Some of us can''t hear when people lie."


    Haley frowned. "I didn''t say that."


    He eyed her. "You''re not better than me."


    Camille barely let him finish before saying, "She didn''t say that."


    Haley said, "Don''t worry about it," and turned around to face the front, saying something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, "asshole." I knew she didn''t mean Camille.


    Travis glanced toward Haley, and then back toward Kid Biohack. "It sounds like we''ll have to talk to this guy."


    He put the slightest emphasis on the word "talk."


    I don''t know if Kid Biohack was about to say something, but before he could, we rolled up in front of the Grand Lake Heroes'' League''s new offices.


    The old offices resembled an early twentieth-century fire department, probably because the building had been converted from one. The new offices filled the same space and more closely resembled a modern office. They were all metal and mirrored glass with a lit up sign saying "Grand Lake Heroes'' League" in large letters.


    One thing it did have in common with the old firehouse, though, was the door that opened in the front.


    We drove straight inside.

 Hackjob: Part 8

    When the door opened, we followed a ramp down into the lower level and into the garage.


    It didn''t look much different than it used to (even if it was bigger), or much different than any underground parking area in the world--concrete walls, floor, and ceiling. The one major difference from most parking garages was fairly easy to notice.


    Kid Biohack stopped to stare at one of the corners. "Is that a fireman''s pole?"


    Set slightly into the wall and enclosed three-quarters of the way around, the pole ran from the floor up to the top of the building. The last section was open and cushioned around the pole.


    "Yeah," I stepped out of the van.  "Each version of the building has had one."


    Kid Biohack said, "Each version?"


    "It keeps on getting blown up." I shrugged, though it might have been hard to tell through my armor.


    Camille floated the guy on the floor out of the van. He was still unconscious. Travis had put handcuffs on him during the ride. They were new handcuffs made from my design. They adjusted to fit anybody--even people with limited shapeshifting abilities. Marcus could defeat them easily. Haley and Travis couldn''t.


    As the man floated past Kid Biohack and toward the stairs, Camille looked around the garage. "I was here the last time the Rocket blew it up. It barely looks like the same place."


    Kid Biohack stared at me. "You blew it up?"


    Not bothering to shrug again, but wanting to, I said, "We were being attacked by people we couldn''t beat. I blew up the building with them inside. It was designed to do that."


    His eyes widened. "Wait. Is this building designed to do that?"


    No one said anything, and we walked up the stairs.


    We walked out onto the first floor. Though Kid Biohack couldn''t know it, the decor matched our real, underground headquarters--crimson carpet, bare grey concrete on the walls and around the edges of the rooms. Black chairs and couches stood next to the walls. Darkened transparent aluminum had been used for the windows. We could see out, but people couldn''t see in.


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    "We could do this in the lobby," Vaughn said. "Well, unless you want me to give everyone the tour."


    Travis snorted. "Yeah, that''s what we need right now. Let''s all sit down. Kid Biohack, do you have a way to wake this guy up or do we all have to wait till it wears off?"


    Kid Biohack held his hand up to the side of his head and tapped a couple spots above and in front his ear. That struck me as an odd spot to put controls, but I supposed that if it wasn''t anything you''d need during combat, it might work.


    Moving his hand away from his helmet, Kid Biohack said, "He''s about to wake up. I just checked when I knocked him out."


    I chose a couch and began to sit down. Haley sat down next to me, but held up her hand to get Camille''s attention. "Could you keep him floating and then move back so that the people who are good at hand to hand are closer?"


    Camille grinned and took a chair further down the room. Travis'' glanced over at Camille, hesitated, but then sat down on the couch across from Haley and me. Kid Biohack sat down on the same couch as Travis, but about as far from him as he could, and probably only because Vaughn had already taken the other nearby chair.


    A moan and then a series of coughs came from the floating guy, and then he leaned forward, stretching out with his hands to reach the ground.


    This went as well as one might expect in zero gravity. He flipped over however many times it took for Camille to get tired of it.


    On the third or fourth time around, he flipped upright and stayed that way.


    I wished he had an actual costume or no costume. It would have made the whole thing feel less weird. A blue t-shirt and Detroit Tigers running shorts couldn''t be considered a costume but the mask put it halfway there. Also, it was  weird, or maybe strangely practical. It did cover most of his face, and to be fair, it did hide his face.


    I couldn''t say anything for sure about him beyond that he was around college age, and he had hairy legs.


    The man took a look around the room, and then looked up at the walls where one side showed pictures and articles about the history of the original Heroes'' League and the other showed pictures of us.


    "Oh, shit," he said, holding his hands up to the sides of his head. "Shit."


    Travis said, "That''s right. We caught you. We know you''re involved with Syndicate L and with the group who are robbing armored cars around here. We''re going to ask you some questions, and we''ll know if you lie. Let''s get started. Do you get in touch with the robbers or do they get in touch with you?"


    The man shook his head. "I can'' t tell you that. Syndicate L said they''d go after my parents or worse if I told anyone what I was doing."


    Haley listened with her eyes closed, and only opened them as he stopped talking. "I think they contact him, and that he''s telling the truth about his parents."

 Hackjob: Part 9

    "But," Haley continued, looking up at the man, "my guess would be that they may have threatened his family, but he doesn''t think they''d really go after them. They mostly threatened him."


    His eyes zeroed in on her. "That''s not true." At the same time, Haley and Travis both said, "He''s lying."


    Then they both laughed. It didn''t seem that funny. I wondered how much of it was a family thing.


    The man grimaced, and looked toward the front door. I didn''t think he could possibly have a realistic escape plan, but I tensed anyway.


    Vaughn must have noticed something either on the man''s part or mine. "Hey man, what should we call you? If you don''t have a name that you like, I''m going with Tigershorts seeing as how they''re at eye level."


    "Call me whatever. It doesn''t matter."  The man muttered.


    "He''s lying," Haley said to us. Looking up at him, she said, "If you don''t like it, you could tell us a codename you do like, or even your real name."


    Tigershorts didn''t say anything.


    "Come on, guy" Travis began, flexing his right forearm. "It''s not as if we have to ask. The Mystic may not be here, but we can get him with one phone call, and if he''s busy, we can get Mindstryke. Got that? All you get out of keeping silent is a telepath rooting around in your head. Now, if you do talk, well, we''ll know if you lie, but as long as you answer the questions truthfully, we won''t get much more.


    "In your position, I''d talk. It''s better than giving someone a free look at all your memories. In fact, I might ask him to give you some kind of compulsion. Like maybe you email us every time something interesting comes up."


    That got his attention. His eyes widened and he stared at Travis. "You can''t do that. That''s against the law. They passed laws against all that shit after the Dominators got that senator."


    Travis nodded. "You got me there, but here''s something to think about. You never hear of heroes being prosecuted for it do you? It might be that they don''t, but it might be that no one cares when we do it. But... let''s bring this back to you. You''ve got a choice. You can find out first hand whether or not heroes get prosecuted for telepathic coercion, or you can answer our damn questions truthfully."


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    Tigershorts lowered his head and took a breath. "Ask your questions."


    "Great," Haley gave a quick smile. "We already know they contact you. How do they do it?"


    Tigershorts scowled. "They put an envelope under one of the plants on my balcony. I''ve never seen it."


    "Balcony?" Camille asked. "How high are you?"


    "Fourth-floor apartment." Tigershorts didn''t even look at her as he replied.


    "That wouldn''t be hard for Accelerando," Travis said. "Gotta be their speedster."


    "Unless the speedster gets his speed from manipulating time or distance, " I pointed out. "It''s still possible, but the height might be more of an issue then."


    Travis shrugged. "Could be. So what were you doing out in your mask?"


    Tigershorts'' face tightened. "I was out for a run until that asshole," he pointed at Kid Biohack, "showed up. I wasn''t doing anything illegal."


    Travis glanced over at Haley. She gave a quick nod.


    He shook his head, apparently not able to believe it. "Then what were you doing in the mask?"


    "I keep it in my fanny pack in case stuff like this comes up!" He finished louder than he''d started, probably because Vaughn started laughing when he''d said the words "fanny pack."


    I hadn''t noticed it earlier, but he did have a fanny pack. I''d never been completely sure what was wrong with them. If you thought about it, they were simply a temporary pocket, but somehow they''d become something people thought was funny.


    Maybe it was because of the word "fanny?"


    Ignoring Vaughn, Travis stood up, looking directly at Tigershorts'' face, "What''s your next assignment?"


    Tigershorts sighed. "I don''t have one. I''ll probably never get one again thanks to you. You caught me. Even if they don''t think I gave you anything, they''ll never trust me again because instead of catching me quietly, you made it a big, fucking deal!"


    He stared at Kid Biohack during the last sentence.


    Maybe if it had been one of us, I might have argued with him, but there was no denying it, Tigershorts was right. Kid Biohack had broadcast the chase, and out of the hundred plus people watching the final capture, one of them must have uploaded it to the internet by now.


    If we''d known a little more and had time to think it through, the smart play would have been to let him run somewhere unpopulated, and then take him down.


    Haley broke the silence. "Do you have any clues to where they are?"


    Tigershorts shook his head. "I never make my deliveries to the same place. I''ve never gotten to talk to them. Sometimes I bring them to a park, and other times a parking lot or an abandoned building. They stay away from people."


    Travis tapped on his comm. "Tell me exactly where you delivered each package that you can remember."


    As Tigershorts began listing them, sometimes stopping to talk through where he''d been ("It was on 47th street. I''m not sure which building, but it had a statue and a fountain..."), I got an alert on my  comm from Kayla. I answered.


    "The police called. They wanted to remind us that holding someone against their will is kidnapping and that if we have any reason to hold him, there''s a metahuman cell open. They also told me to let you know that they can''t hold him very long without evidence."


    "Uh...  That''s okay," I said. "Tell them it''s a mistake. Kid Biohack caught the wrong guy."


    Haley turned toward me. "Nice."


    It wasn''t a sure thing, but it was worth a shot.

 Hackjob: Part 10

    Kayla got back to me almost immediately. "If you don''t have any reason for him to be in custody, they want you to release him, but they also want to talk to you tomorrow--all of you."


    "Did they say why?"


    In the background of Kayla''s connection came the sound of tapping. "Not exactly, but they sounded unhappy about a few different things--the damage at the fight, that Kid Biohack never notified them he was going to be active here, and well, I overheard a lot about the Syndicate L guy Biohack was chasing. His name is Seth Bradley, and I looked him up. He''s got quite a record. He''s been suspected of murder a few times over, but there''s never been enough evidence to connect him to the crime."


    Floating above the ground, he didn''t seem especially intimidating, but murder? If he mostly fought normal people, he could rack up a high body count completely accidentally. The fact that he hadn''t gotten caught argued that it wasn''t accidental, though.


    Alternately, it might argue that Syndicate L was phenomenal at cleaning up that sort of mess.


    Either way, it wasn''t a good thing.


    To Kayla, I said, "I guess you''ll have to find a time when we can all meet. I''m open after three tomorrow. I don''t know about everybody else."


    "Got it," Kayla said. "I''ll check calendars."


    I realized then that Tigershorts (Seth) had stopped talking. Given that he didn''t know much of anything about the armored car robbers, there wasn''t much of a point in asking him anything else.


    "Hey," I said, "Control called, and told me that the police want Tigershorts to go free if we don''t have any reason to keep him. I told him that that was okay and that so far as we could tell, the guy doesn''t have any connection to Syndicate L."


    "But that''s not true,¡± Kid Biohack said. "And it makes me look bad!¡± He stood up from his chair. ¡°I got the guy. I bribed Syndicate L to learn his name. I put myself at risk in half a dozen different ways, and you¡¯re taking the credit!¡±


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    ¡°No,¡± I shook my head. ¡°That¡¯s not what¡¯s happening here. We¡¯re taking the blame and you¡¯re taking it with us. The police wanted to let us know that they consider capturing him kidnapping. We can¡¯t keep him, and we need Syndicate L to trust him. They probably won¡¯t anyway, but this way they might and that¡¯s better than no chance at all.¡±


    Travis grinned. ¡°Nice one. I wouldn¡¯t have expected you to come up with that.¡±


    Fixing his attention on Seth, he got up from his chair, meeting Seth¡¯s eyes. ¡°Hey Tigershorts, you heard the Rocket. We¡¯re letting you go, but you need to keep us informed. We¡¯ll know where you go. Can¡¯t say I know what the Rocket will do, but if he wanted to, he could bug your house and follow you everywhere. So keep your mouth shut about anything we said, and remember that we¡¯ll find you again. When we do, you¡¯ll tell us every new thing you learn.¡±


    Seth¡¯s eyes narrowed under the mask. ¡°You sure about that? You don¡¯t think the cops won¡¯t pull you in for wiretapping?¡±


    Travis didn¡¯t blink. ¡°In the City of New Orleans vs. The Burning Cajun, the Supreme Court determined that as long as the police didn¡¯t motivate the collection of the evidence, they can legally use the evidence vigilantes collect.¡±


    Seth blinked. ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to be the team¡¯s dumb jock?¡±


    Travis laughed. ¡°Gravity Star, would you mind floating this guy outside?¡±


    Camille glanced over at Haley, who gave her a short nod.


    Seth floated toward the front door¡ªwhich opened automatically¡ªand landed on the sidewalk. He stumbled, recovered, and ran away into the night.


    Between the darkened glass and the darkness outside, I couldn¡¯t be sure, but I thought I saw flashes as he left. Were there really photographers out there? It wasn¡¯t unlikely, but it was different.


    Kid Biohack watched Seth go, frowning as he disappeared, but turned his head back to all of us, smiling as he did. ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea. If we can¡¯t keep him, we can use him as our mole in Syndicate L. Yeah, that¡¯s good. It¡¯s really good. All we¡¯ve got left to decide is how to make this partnership work. I put this great lead in your hands, and between him and all our hard work, we¡¯ll break open the mysterious thieves who are terrorizing this city.¡±


    Travis shook his head. ¡°That is such BS. If you want a partnership, what you need to do is tell us that you¡¯re in town, and then we cooperate. Even if you don¡¯t want our help, you politely let us know you¡¯re here anyway. That¡¯s how it works everywhere. It prevents fights like we had in the street. It keeps people safe because they don¡¯t have to dodge us.


    ¡°You made a mistake. We¡¯re fixing it.¡±

 Hackjob: Part 11

    Kid Biohack¡¯s right hand twitched, but despite what I expected, he didn¡¯t blow up at Travis. He smiled and said, ¡°I know that wasn¡¯t the ideal introduction, but it¡¯s not entirely my fault. My powers make me a little impulsive sometimes. I¡¯m sure some of you have the same problem.¡±


    He smiled at Haley. She didn¡¯t smile back.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how it is for you,¡± he continued, ¡°but my muscles and tissues respond to chemicals my body secretes, allowing me to make myself faster, stronger, tougher and more agile. No one¡¯s found a limit as to how far I can push them. It¡¯s all a matter of controlling my body to create the right combination of chemicals. People even write into my website to suggest ideas.¡±


    I felt my eyebrow rise, and wondered if he saw any hint of that through my mask.¡±You¡¯re pretty open about how that works.¡±


    ¡°You should see his website.¡± Vaughn shook his head. ¡°They can¡¯t give too many details on his muscles because they don¡¯t take well to poking and prodding, but they¡¯ve got some scientific report detailing how they¡¯re different from normal muscles. It¡¯s pretty crazy, but Rocket, you might understand it better that I do.¡±


    Travis crossed his arms over his chest. ¡°Aren¡¯t you at all afraid of what your enemies could do with that?¡±


    Kid Biohack raised his hands in a shrug. ¡°Well yeah, but you can¡¯t think like that. Have you ever heard of open source software?¡±


    Travis glanced over at me as he said, ¡°No.¡± At almost the same time, I said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Nodding in my direction Kid Biohack said, ¡°Of course you¡¯d know, but for the rest of you, here¡¯s what it is: some computer programmers publish the hidden code they use to create computer programs openly where anyone can see it. Then anyone who knows what they¡¯re doing can submit ideas and improvements. And sure, people will try to hack the program, but other people will have ideas about how to prevent it. Right now, we¡¯ve got an amazing group of people submitting ideas. I¡¯ve gotten further in the last few months than I have in years.¡±


    He said it all with the enthusiasm of a convert. My first thought? ¡°Hidden code?¡± It wasn¡¯t hidden. It was just compiled into a format easier for computers to read than humans. My urge to correct him vied with my suspicion that it wasn¡¯t worth the trouble, and lost.


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    Travis shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell you how to run your life, but I need to tell you a couple things. First, you told people you were coming here to join the Heroes¡¯ League. We¡¯re planning to expand, but we¡¯re not taking anyone who shows up. We¡¯re not even taking every super we know. We¡¯re taking people that we need. You¡¯re stronger, faster, and tougher than a normal person, but so is half the team right now. You can adjust which one¡¯s your strongest, but hell, I took you out tonight. You¡¯re going to have to offer us something we don¡¯t have.¡±


    Haley frowned, and looked like she was about to say something, and honestly, so did I. Travis didn¡¯t run the League. He¡¯d only been as involved as I was this last year.


    Kid Biohack gave a smile, and started speaking at almost the same moment Travis stopped. ¡°I think I do offer you something you don¡¯t have. I can adjust my strengths to match what the situation demands, but even better, no one knows what my limits are. You¡¯ll be lucky to pull me in now when I¡¯m at the beginning of my development.¡±


    The corner of Travis¡¯ mouth lifted, but he didn¡¯t break into a smile. I felt like he might be close. Travis said, ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind, but what we need right now is more along the lines of a gesture of good faith.¡±


    Kid Biohack nodded. ¡°Anything.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not streaming this, are you?¡±


    ¡°He can¡¯t.¡± I don¡¯t think I sounded frustrated, but I had mentioned this to everyone. ¡°You can¡¯t broadcast out of one of our vehicles or buildings unless you¡¯re in the League or on the guest list. He¡¯s not either.¡±


    ¡°No kidding?¡± Travis glanced toward me, and then back to Kid Biohack. ¡°So, no streaming, but did you record any of that?¡±


    Probably guessing what Travis wanted, he hesitated, but then said, ¡°A little.¡±


    ¡°Delete it,¡± Travis said. ¡°Immediately.¡±


    He opened his mouth, closed it, but finally said, ¡°Seth gave up all the delivery locations. I need that.¡±


    Looming over him by more than a foot in height, Travis said, ¡°We¡¯ll get you all of that, but delete anything you¡¯ve got on us since getting into the van.¡±


    Kid Biohack raised an eyebrow. ¡°Van? Oh, you mean the limo? Fine, I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    Kid Biohack put his hand to the side of his mask, tapping his fingers a few times before finally saying, ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± Travis said, ¡°We¡¯ll send you the location data. I can see you on my comm. For now, though, you should go. We¡¯ve got a few things to talk about over here.¡±


    Kid Biohack nodded, and walked toward the front door, stopping there. ¡°A pleasure working with you. I¡¯ll see you soon.¡± Then he stepped outside.


    Haley fixed her brother with a stare that I¡¯d only seen during arguments. ¡°We aren¡¯t really considering him for membership, are we?¡±

 Everybodys Got One: Part 1

    Travis gave a snort. ¡°No, but if we¡¯re going to expand, we¡¯re going to need a system for it. My frat has one. No reason our team shouldn¡¯t.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°If nothing else, it might help to have something to point to when we say no to that guy. I¡¯ve got a feeling he¡¯s going to get pissy.¡±


    Outside, Kid Biohack paused to talk to the small group of people gathered on the sidewalk, most of whom were carrying cameras. When had they arrived? How had they even known we were here?


    Even as I asked the question, I knew the answer. We¡¯d participated in a public fight. The police had been called. If the press wanted to talk to us where would they go? Here or the real headquarters (which they shouldn¡¯t have any way to know about)?


    As the photographers¡¯ flashes went off, Kid Biohack stepped into the road and ran away, taking only seconds to match the speed of traffic.


    With Kid Biohack gone, the group of photographers and (I suddenly realized) a TV cameraman and reporter turned toward the front door of the building. One of them knocked. Between the darkness outside, the tinted glass, and the streetlights, I could see her as a silhouette, but couldn¡¯t hear the knock.


    Vaughn gestured toward the door with his hand. ¡°We¡¯re ignoring that, right?¡±


    Travis shook his head. ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t see a point in doing interviews. Anybody disagree?¡±


    Camille frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t you think we¡¯re going to look bad after smashing those cars, capturing the wrong guy, and then not talking to the press?¡±


    Shrugging, Travis said, ¡°Yeah, but I don¡¯t see any way that talking to the press will make it better.¡±


    Camille turned and watched the door as the reporter stopped knocking and waited. ¡°They might be flattered to get the attention?¡±


    Travis cocked his head, obviously thinking about it. ¡°You might be right, but I¡¯m not up for it. You?¡±


    Camille sighed. ¡°No.¡±


    Haley stopped fiddling with the edge of her mask to say, ¡°Mindstryke recommended not saying anything if you could avoid it. The board can always clarify later, but we can¡¯t take back what we say.¡±


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    I met her eyes. ¡°When did he say that?¡±


    She bit her lip. ¡°Last fall after everyone went to college, I called him for advice a lot.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯s probably right.¡±


    Travis nodded. ¡°Can¡¯t beat the voice of experience. I¡¯ll email my suggestions for how we handle new members, but basically, if someone sponsors you, you¡¯re in unless other people have a problem with you.¡±


    Vaughn glanced toward the door, and then back toward the group. ¡°Anyone want to sponsor the Kid?¡±


    No one said anything.


    Travis smirked. ¡°See? It¡¯s working already.¡±


    I laughed. Everyone laughed at least a little.


    Travis checked the time on his comm. ¡°I don¡¯t know about you all, but I should go. Are we all going together?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t see any reason why not,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re all in the new suits, so I think we¡¯ve got something that can pass as civilian clothes.¡±


    Travis nodded. ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s the best thing you¡¯ve come up with so far. It¡¯s so much easier to find a place to change. Anyway, let¡¯s get moving. I¡¯d like to get back to campus. Oh, and I hope everyone remembers we¡¯ve got a Stapledon weekend coming up.¡±


    Everyone already did.


    We changed into our clothes, and took the van back to campus, transforming the van to its civilian cover identity in an alley on the way.


    The next day wasn¡¯t a good day.


    I woke up when my alarm got my attention, an ugly electronic beep infinitely repeating itself. I reached out and found my tablet, which was doubling as my alarm clock now. Turning off the beeping, I realized that Jeremy was awake in the upper bunk.


    ¡°Wow. Wow. Wow,¡± he was muttering. I desperately hoped that meant that he was reading something disturbing because the alternative possibility would be incredibly awkward. Fortunately for me, the upper bunk wasn¡¯t shaking.


    ¡°You guys really screwed up last night,¡± he said to my temporary relief.


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Wait, are you saying you don¡¯t know?¡±


    I got out of bed, finding that he was sitting upright in his pajamas, reading his phone. He looked over at me. ¡°It says here that you guys fought Kid Biohack and some powered civilian, causing more than fifty thousand dollars in damage, and then, in the end, catching the guy was a mistake.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I looked toward the phone, not really able to see much of the screen. I couldn¡¯t deny that the smashed car window did look pretty bad. ¡°I don¡¯t remember that window specifically.¡±


    At Jeremy¡¯s look, I said, ¡°Look, I know that we broke stuff, but we were moving really quickly down the road, and a lot of these cars were college student cars. I¡¯d be surprised if most of them were worth more than one thousand dollars and I don¡¯t think we hurt more than two or three. Probably.¡±


    He raised an eyebrow. ¡°Probably?¡±


    ¡°Yes, probably. Combat goes crazy fast. Sometimes you think you remember it all, but then you talk to people or see a video and you realize that you missed a lot. I don¡¯t remember damaging a lot of cars, but maybe Kid Biohack and the powered guy trashed them. Or, maybe my sonics damaged more than I could see? I know I trashed a car once without meaning too¡ªthat and the guy¡¯s phone. The sonics were set to a frequency that a lot of electronics resonated with.¡±


    At that moment, my own phone began to ring. I checked the screen before picking it up. It was Daniel¡¯s dad.


    I had a bad feeling about this.

 Everybodys Got One: Part 2

    Wind blew in the background, not loudly enough that I had any difficulty understanding his words, but loud enough that I knew it was there.


    ¡°It¡¯s been a while since we last talked.¡± Daniel¡¯s dad¡¯s tenor voice came over the phone. ¡°Ordinarily I wouldn¡¯t have called you this early, but my wife assured me that you were up.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s mother wasn¡¯t as strong a telepath as his father. Most of her abilities only worked on people who were asleep, but under the right conditions, there was no known limit to her range. If she said someone was awake, you could assume she was right.


    ¡°I¡¯m up. I¡¯ve been up for a little while. I was discussing last night with my roommate. I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s why you called.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d be right,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m on the way into work and thought I¡¯d debrief you. I¡¯m assuming the roommate is the one my son blocked last fall, right?¡±


    I glanced at Jeremy. He¡¯d looked up from his phone to stare at me, mouthing the words, ¡°Who is it?¡± Ignoring him, I said, ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°Good, then I¡¯ve got some questions.¡± Following that, David Cohen, Esq. alias Mindstryke of the Midwest Defenders and member of the Heroes¡¯ Leagues¡¯ board, proceeded to walk me through every piece of the action and the interrogation that followed in mind-numbing detail. While on the one hand, that¡¯s exactly what you¡¯d expect of a superhero and former prosecutor, it wasn¡¯t in the least bit fun, and I felt grateful when he said, ¡°I¡¯m about to land at the Defenders headquarters, and I don¡¯t have any more questions. Consider yourself free.¡±


    Sitting up in my desk¡¯s chair, I said, ¡°Great,¡± probably with more enthusiasm than he was expecting.


    ¡°I know,¡± he said. ¡°That was a miserable experience, but I needed to know what we¡¯re up against. For the record, I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t talk to the press. I wish Kid Biohack had been smart enough to keep his fight with Syndicate L¡¯s lackey out of the public¡¯s awareness. The police will put up with a lot when they¡¯re not forced to publicly acknowledge that it happened. Now you¡¯ll be under increased scrutiny whatever you do.¡±


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    ¡°I got that impression. All I¡¯ve done so far today is talk about it, and I haven¡¯t even had breakfast yet.¡±


    He laughed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got a long day, and this is a terrible way to start it, but I should tell you one more thing. Kid Biohack¡¯s from the San Diego compound, and he¡¯s a Stapledon graduate. If the team treats him too badly, you¡¯ll alienate important people, and you don¡¯t want to alienate anyone you don¡¯t have to.¡±


    I meanwhile stared out the window toward campus. ¡°He¡¯s a Stapledon graduate? He doesn¡¯t seem that¡­¡± I trailed off, trying to find the right word.


    ¡°Competent?¡± Mr. Cohen suggested. ¡°Even as recently as three years ago, the Stapledon program wasn¡¯t what it is now. Even though it taught real skills, it was mostly a way to keep rich kids with powers out of trouble until their parents could train them for real. Some of us have been working to change the program. Power juice in combination with the alien invasion gave us what we needed.¡±


    ¡°When did he graduate?¡± Below my window, students were walking to the dining halls or class.


    The sound of wind ended with the sound of a door shutting in the background. ¡°The year before you started. You won¡¯t have to work too hard to find out who he is knowing that. Be careful. I¡¯ll talk to you later.¡±


    Before he hung up, Guardian¡¯s voice said, ¡°How many do we still have to talk to?¡±


    Mr. Cohen said, ¡°I caught up with Night Cat and the Rocket¡ª¡±


    And that¡¯s when the connection cut off. On the whole, that wasn¡¯t good news. At least two Heroes¡¯ League board members were debriefing everyone involved with what happened last night. Meanwhile, Kid Biohack was better connected than we¡¯d realized, and possibly tied in with possible futures where we, the current League, would mostly get killed.


    I was almost convinced that Mr. Cohen intended me to hear that to underscore his point.


    Jeremy¡¯s voice knocked me out of my thoughts. ¡°So who was it?¡±


    ¡°Daniel¡¯s dad.¡±


    He shook his head.¡±So the Midwest Defenders are watching out for you? A lot of people expect that. They¡¯ve got at least two former Heroes¡¯ League members¡ªGuardian and Mindstryke. They might have more on the reserve roster.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s more complicated than that. I probably shouldn¡¯t go into it.¡±


    Jeremy raised his hands. ¡°No problem. The more I know, the less I can speculate on in forums anyway.¡±


    My phone rang again. I checked the ID. It was Kayla. I answered.


    ¡°There¡¯s a phone conference with Lt. Van Kley at 4:30 in the afternoon.¡±


    I sighed. I¡¯d known that was coming already last night, but now it was just one more thing and probably a rehash of what I¡¯d already been told.


    Or worse, maybe it wouldn¡¯t be.

 Everybodys Got One: Part 3

    The day went, and if I¡¯m honest with myself, the classes weren¡¯t bad. It was the first day of each class that I took, and while I did learn that I¡¯d have some big projects, they weren¡¯t due for months. It wasn¡¯t even worth worrying about. Besides, some of them sounded fun.


    So the classes themselves weren¡¯t bad, but what came between the classes could have been better.


    It probably was just me, but it felt like everyone was talking about the fight. In my 9am, Modern European History class, a group of students were discussing it before the prof came in. I was sitting near the front, and couldn¡¯t see any of them.


    A girl with a high pitched voice was saying, ¡°That big one, Night Wolf, I don¡¯t know where he came from. He wasn¡¯t there and then he had Kid Biohack by the throat. I didn¡¯t see him at all. Oh, and who was the first guy, the one in black?¡±


    A guy said, ¡°I think that was the Rocket.¡±


    The girl said, ¡°No. I know what he looks like. The Rocket has gold armor, and he¡¯s bigger than that. That¡¯s someone else.¡±


    Another voice, again female, but with a more normal pitch. ¡°It¡¯s got to be the Rocket. He wears an all black suit sometimes, but he¡¯s usually got a guitar with him then.¡±


    ¡°A guitar?¡± The guy said. ¡°What does he do, hit people with it?¡±


    The girl with the high-pitched voice said, ¡°This guy didn¡¯t have a guitar, and he wasn¡¯t very good.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± the guy said. ¡°Prof¡¯s coming in.¡±


    After that, they stopped talking, but that wasn¡¯t all of it by any means. On the way to one of my chemistry classes, I overheard a group of guys (obvious fraternity guys, two of them wore shirts with Greek letters) talking about it. ¡°You think Night Wolf¡¯s supposed to look like Batman?¡±


    ¡°He does not look like Batman.¡±


    ¡°The ears are exactly like Batman. Plus he¡¯s a big guy and his costume¡¯s gray and black.¡±


    ¡°I thought you were talking about the New Jersey Batman. I was thinking, ¡®Dude¡¯s got no baseball bat and he¡¯s not in an overcoat,¡¯ but yeah, same ears as the comic book guy.¡±


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    It was kind of funny, and I considered getting closer, but then one of them said, ¡°They trashed all the windows in the Kappa¡¯s house. Bunch of fucking amateurs.¡±


    I¡¯d been fairly sure that we hadn¡¯t broken anything more than denting and scraping a couple cars. I didn¡¯t remember breaking windows unless it was a stray sonic blast. That bothered me a little, but I let that go. What was I going to do if I caught up with them?


    I had no idea.


    The day went on like that, class after class, walk after walk. Opinionated, clueless people discussed the events of the night before with people who knew only barely more than they did.


    I listened in at risk of my own good mood.


    At 4:30pm, I was in my room at my desk, and alone. Jeremy wasn¡¯t in, and pulled out my phone and joined the call. The phone showed that Travis, Haley, Vaughn, Camille and I were all on the call with Lt. Van Kley. In short, it was everyone who¡¯d been there but Kid Biohack. I wondered whether that was intentional or not.


    Of course, none of us showed up under our own names. It was all Night Wolf, Night Cat, Storm King, Gravity Star, and the Rocket.


    Lt. Van Kley opened with, ¡°I could start this call by complaining about the damage to the street, the cars, and the houses around what some people at GLU call Fraternity Row, but I¡¯m not. For the record, we all know that the damage wasn¡¯t as much as there could have been. All I¡¯m going to say is that you try to keep it to a minimum.


    ¡°Now,¡± she said. ¡°There are only two items on the agenda as far as I¡¯m concerned. Let¡¯s talk about Kid Biohack first. What do you know about him?¡±


    ¡°This is Night Wolf,¡± Travis said. ¡°We don¡¯t know much. He operated out of California. He¡¯s mostly appeared in Los Angeles, but I recently learned that he has ties to the San Diego compound. I don¡¯t know exactly what kind of ties. Rocket, do you have anything?¡±


    I¡¯d spent the hour and a half between the end of my last class (a chemistry lab class) and the call on my computer looking at information about the San Diego compound and people who¡¯d been associated with it. Unfortunately, I¡¯d done most of the research on my bed, and fell asleep for half an hour. That meant I hadn¡¯t been able to search any of the government databases that the Heroes¡¯ League had access to.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have much,¡± I said, ¡°but I can tell you that there were a series of heroes called the Ultimate Man and a couple called the Ultimate Woman. Their powers were similar to what Kid Biohack¡¯s been able to do, but no one talked about hacking muscles with chemistry or anything like that. I only just heard about the San Diego connection today, so I haven¡¯t been able to dig very far.¡±


    Lt. Van Kley didn¡¯t say anything for a second, and I thought I heard paper moving, and maybe the sound of a pen. ¡°That¡¯s more than we had. Do any of the rest of you know more?¡±


    No one did.


    ¡°On to the second matter,¡± Van Kley said. ¡°Do you have anything on the people robbing armored cars in town?¡±


    I thought about the cameras I¡¯d set up, and visiting the crime scene. ¡°Not really. We¡¯re working on it.¡±


    No one else had anything to add.

 Everybodys Got One: Part 4

    Over the next two days, I settled into a more normal routine. The spybots didn¡¯t pick up anything worth mentioning. Kid Biohack didn¡¯t try to contact us. I had time to hang around with Haley, which on Thursday night turned into all the people who happened to visit my room¡ªCamille, Vaughn, and Courtney. We didn¡¯t talk about anything even related to Stapledon or superheroes because a number of Jeremy¡¯s friends also came through including Jillian, the Kid Biohack fan we¡¯d met while moving in.


    Sean even dropped by to talk to Vaughn. It was the first time I¡¯d seen him since leaving Colorado. It wasn¡¯t precisely awkward. We¡¯d talked a few times after everything that happened¡ªfighting faeries, the dragon, and so on, but no heart to heart talks or anything. We¡¯d acknowledged each other and left it at that. Thursday was no exception. Sean and I nodded at each other. Sean and Vaughn stepped out to talk, and then Vaughn came back alone.


    It wasn¡¯t exactly a homework-friendly situation. I didn¡¯t get anything done until after everyone left. On the bright side, it was still the first week of school, so there wasn¡¯t much homework to speak of.


    On Friday afternoon, though, normal life ended¡ªat least for the weekend. All the local heroes that were in Stapledon met up at Heroes¡¯ League HQ¡ªthe real one, the bunker built hundreds of feet below my grandparent¡¯s house and a nearby lakeside park.


    It really was everyone. Not only did we have Travis, Camille, Haley, Vaughn, and I, but also Sean, and his friends Jody (a short speedster who¡¯d always hated me), and Dayton (a big, likable guy with the ability to learn moves by watching them). That wasn¡¯t all. We also had two more former teammates of Sean. Julie, a thin, blonde girl, who could command people with her voice, and Shannon, her cousin, who could create darkness, and was a barista at a coffeehouse Haley and I went to on dates a few times.


    As per directions from the school, we were all in costume. I couldn''t help but notice that none of Sean¡¯s former teammates wore their old Justice Fist costumes. Sean, Dayton, and Jody wore new costumes with a quasi-military look. All black with helmets that covered the upper half of their faces, they included a jacket, pants, and boots. Flexible plates of ceramic armor had been sewed  into the fabric over his chest.


    I recognized the materials. They were among the better ones my grandfather made available to supers a few years before his death. I couldn¡¯t help but notice that whoever made them had paid attention to looks. Unlike real military uniforms, the costumes were form fitting, emphasizing Sean¡¯s height, Dayton¡¯s muscles, and Jody¡¯s slimness.


    None of the costumes had insignia.


    ¡°Like them?¡± Sean asked. ¡°We¡¯re part of a new team. They¡¯re prototypes, but they¡¯re all black to get people looking.¡±


    ¡°They do look good,¡± I said, noting that Jody¡¯s boots were designed more like running shoes than boots.


    Julie, whose costume was a stock gray Stapledon costume, said, ¡°It¡¯s great,¡± in a tone of voice that could also be used to say, ¡°Go die in a fire.¡±


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    Next to me, Haley muttered, ¡°Julie and Sean were dating when they were in Justice Fist.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said. I¡¯d completely missed that.


    Haley smiled so quickly I¡¯d have missed that too if I¡¯d blinked. Meanwhile, Sean had obviously caught Julie¡¯s tone too, and replied with a quiet,¡±Thanks.¡±


    That was interesting by itself because from my personal experience Sean wasn¡¯t shy about telling people exactly what he thought of them. Maybe he was more tongue-tied with girls he¡¯d dated? I didn¡¯t know.


    A blast of white noise saved us all from finding out more. A bright hole appeared in front of us, and we walked through, leaving behind us the League¡¯s hangar with its concrete floors, tools, and vehicles including the League¡¯s jet and Wolfmobile.


    We walked into a warm Colorado day, appearing in the Castle Rock, Colorado super compound. We stood in the shadow of the stone wall that surrounded the compound as well as the shadow of the rocky foothill that the compound had built into a multi-level hidden complex.


    I couldn¡¯t see any sign of the fight with the dragon and its forces. That didn¡¯t surprise me. Earthmover, the super who¡¯d carved the whole place out of the rock was fantastically gifted.


    I didn¡¯t have any time to think about this because I''d recognized a small, balding man in a brown suit. It was Chancy Harris, a man I¡¯d last seen when we were trying to track down where the Hrrnna, a group of horselike aliens, had hidden. He¡¯d helped them cover their tracks¡ªwhich would have been fine if they were friendly, but they¡¯d actually been trying to destroy the human race.


    In his defense, he didn¡¯t know, but I¡¯d always wondered if he¡¯d gotten in trouble for that.


    Haley gave him a little wave.


    He didn¡¯t wave back, glaring at all of us instead. ¡°All of you, move, move, move! I¡¯ve got to bring in nearly 700 people today, and I don¡¯t want the next group tripping over you.¡±


    Sean shook his head, ¡°Can¡¯t the dude just move where the portal opens?¡±


    Chancy glared at him, probably considering dropping Sean in the nearest volcano. I¡¯d had similar thoughts myself in the past, but I didn¡¯t have the means to do it. Chancy did.


    Vaughn noticed Chancy¡¯s expression, glanced at Sean and started laughing, shaking his head. ¡°Let¡¯s get walking.¡± Giving Chancy a nod, he said, ¡°Thanks for the ride.¡±


    Chancy gave him a barely perceptible nod in reply.


    After that, we all walked toward the big rock in the middle of the compound. Once we were inside, we found our rooms, the same ones we¡¯d had during the summer, met up with Daniel, my sister Rachel, Jaclyn, and others. After everyone changed out of costume, we descended on the buffet which doubled as a school assembly where we were welcomed and learned what we¡¯d be doing over the course of the semester.


    It wasn¡¯t much different from last year.


    By the time that most of the student body left to socialize, Amy led a group of us down to the magic labs. We¡¯d met in my personal lab for secret meetings during the summer, but the group had grown.


    In the common area in front of the magic labs, someone had put out folding chairs, and we sat down. It was a big group. We had those of us who brought back the Heroes¡¯ League¡ªCassie, Daniel, Travis, Rachel, Haley, Vaughn, Jaclyn, and I. We had Rod, Samita, and Tara who we¡¯d gotten to know through school. Plus, we¡¯d brought in Camille, Courtney, and Izzy. Amy, of course, was leading the meeting.


    Amy stood in front of the group. She wore blue jeans along with a white blouse with ruffles that struck me as somewhat Victorian in style. The red gem on her necklace glinted in the light.


    Raising her right hand to get our attention, and stop the talking, she began with, ¡°Last summer, for reasons you all know, and I¡¯m not going into, we discovered that one of my kingdom¡¯s enemies, The Thing That Eats, was masquerading as human and had become part of Turkmenistan¡¯s government.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to find a way to destroy it.¡±

 Everybodys Got One: Part 5

    Amy looked out over the group of us, brushing away a few strands of red hair that had fallen across her right eye. She took a breath. ¡°I feel like I should tell you what you¡¯re in for because taking part in this isn¡¯t a decision you should take lightly. It destroyed entire kingdoms before one of the earlier Bloodmaidens figured out how to kill it. It wasn¡¯t easy either. For her, it came at a huge personal cost.¡±


    Amy stopped, frowning. Then she took a breath and went on. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you how we first found out about it. The country I¡¯m from is a little like your United Kingdom, but not exactly. The islands are shaped differently, and some of the tribes that founded it are different, some the same, and I think many are going under different names. Well, it doesn¡¯t matter. Just be aware that if something sounds familiar, it isn¡¯t really.¡±


    She put her hands in her pockets, looking us over again. ¡°My people are from South Rheged. We split off from North Rheged because one brother inherited the northern kingdom and the other one the south. You might have expected that there would be a rivalry, but there wasn¡¯t. The brothers got along and regularly exchanged messages. Then, one day the messages stopped coming.¡±


    She stopped again, waited for a moment, and then continued. ¡°The king of South Rheged became worried and sent out his sister, the Bloodmaiden of the time, and her consort, his war leader, to find out why. A small company of men rode with them because there was no reason to take an army after all. They¡¯d know if the country had been invaded, wouldn¡¯t they?


    ¡°Still, as they rode further north they began to realize that they weren¡¯t seeing any people. Except for the villages nearest the border, the whole country was empty. Cows and sheep stood in the fields unwatched or were shut in their pens without food. Fires had burned out, and the food that had been cooking over them still hung on the spit, uneaten except by birds or dogs.¡±


    Pausing, Amy nodded once as if in response to someone¡ªwhich made sense. She was the current Bloodmaiden and all the Bloodmaidens before her lived in her head. She was probably hearing the story from the Bloodmaiden who had experienced it, possibly with commentary from the rest.


    I couldn¡¯t imagine it. It would be like living with your relatives, all of them constantly commenting on everything you did.


    Also, for the record, her accent changed as she talked. Normally, she had a slight southern accent. She¡¯d used blood magic to learn English and picked up the accent along with the language. As she told this story, though, her accent changed, reminding me of Irish or Scottish, and maybe a little bit of German.


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    Was that from her original language or the language of the earlier Bloodmaidens?


    ¡°After two days of riding, they arrived at the fortress where the king of North Rheged lived. The gate hung open and neither men nor women walked the streets, and no child played. Still, the Bloodmaiden, her consort, and their men passed through the gate, all of them wondering what sorcery or creature could have done this.


    ¡°Yet, as they neared the king¡¯s manor house, they were surprised to see the king himself whole and unharmed, though wearing ripped and torn clothes, much as though he¡¯d been in a fight, or perhaps several.


    ¡°The Bloodmaiden along with her consort shouted with joy to see her brother, but he waved them back, telling them to come no closer. Stopping only because he seemed so serious about it, the Bloodmaiden asked him why.


    ¡°Even as she asked, the expression on the man¡¯s face turned to fear and his body warped, his head growing as large as his body. Further, it was no longer the face of the man they knew, but rather some other manner of being whose visage appeared to have been cut out of stone.


    ¡°It moved with a speed greater than any horse, and crossed the distance before the Bloodmaiden¡¯s men could get away. It devoured them, sometimes two at a time. The Bloodmaiden and her consort fought it for more than two hours. At first, they retreated, trying to protect their men from the beast. Then realizing it would hunt them until it had devoured them all, they stopped running, cornering it in the castle¡¯s great hall.


    ¡°In the end, the Bloodmaiden slew it only after it had taken her consort in its mouth, but before it swallowed him. When it died, he managed to push his way out, escaping before the head shrunk back to become her brother, the king¡¯s, face.


    ¡°After burying him, they went back to South Rheged to tell the story, and though everyone was sad to hear of North Rheged¡¯s fate, they were glad to have survived. Then, one day, the disappearances began. At first, it was a dog, and then a child, followed by two children.


    ¡°Guessing what might be happening, though not wanting to be right, the Bloodmaiden watched her consort from a distance, seeing him transform and eat one of his soldiers. She knew what she must do, and with great regret, slew him. For a time after that, others would change as well, but knowing what to watch for, she slew them almost as soon as they¡¯d first changed until finally no more changed, and the kingdom was saved.¡±


    Amy exhaled. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about telling you all of that. I¡¯d meant to give you a summary, but it¡¯s one of the earliest Bloodmaiden stories, and I told you all of it. I had to memorize more than one version when I was a child.¡±


    She¡¯d reverted to her normal accent.


    From the middle of the group, Vaughn said, ¡°They had kids memorize that? That¡¯s screwed up.¡±


    Amy frowned. ¡°It was a way to talk about our family¡¯s values¡ªpersonal sacrifice on behalf of the people, and bravery in the face of a foe you could barely understand¡­ That kind of thing.¡±


    ¡°Yeah well, as your boyfriend, I hope it goes a little differently this time.¡±

 Everybodys Got One: Part 6

    A few people laughed, but Amy stopped moving, expression blank, finally managing to say, ¡°That¡¯s the plan.¡±


    Samita stood up and walked up to the front. Dressed in a green blouse and khaki pants, it was one of the few times I¡¯d seen her out of costume. With black hair and brown skin, she looked like she might be from southeast Asia, and her parents were. She¡¯d been born in the US.


    She stood in front of the group as Amy moved to the side and stood next to the wall. Samita¡¯s eyes darted from one of us to another. In combination with the straightness of her stance, she gave the impression of a highly motivated student hoping for an ¡°A.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll remember that Amy recognized one of the men in Turkmenistan¡¯s post-overthrow press conference as The Thing That Eats. We had to confirm that and decide what kind of action to take. We¡¯ve managed to do both. Rod found an online group that tracks mysterious occurrences, and they have a list of villages that disappeared for no apparent reason. Not all of them quite fit Amy¡¯s profile of what an attack by The Thing That Eats looks like, but starting in the 14th century, which coincidentally was the last sighting of it in Amy¡¯s world, there have been people who claimed to have sighted it here.¡±


    It sounded like the kind of conspiracy website that Jeremy would be into.


    Samita continued talking. ¡°We didn¡¯t know for sure that it was the same creature, though. It could have been a duplicate. Amy told us that there are different versions of familiar people between her world and ours¡ª¡±


    Leaning back in her chair and giving a laugh, Cassie interrupted. ¡°And so did I. I¡¯d bet that most of the people in this room know about an alternate world duplicate of themselves or someone they know.¡±


    Nudging Vaughn with her elbow, she muttered, ¡°I¡¯m still kind of pissed that I never met my evil double.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°You didn¡¯t miss anything. She was a jerk.¡±


    My sister, Rachel grinned and caught Samita¡¯s eye. They¡¯d visited Infinity City, the city that exists in all realities, and met an alternate version of Rachel.


    Samita didn¡¯t respond to Rachel, but did tell Cassie,¡±I know.¡± Then addressing the rest of us she said, ¡°Through the group, Rod and I found out that there was an account of one of those villages written by someone who survived. Unfortunately, it was held by Duncan Wiseman who is some sort of collector of occult items.¡±


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    Travis took advantage of her pause, asking, ¡°So what did you do? Ask him if you could borrow it?¡±


    Shaking her head, Samita said, ¡°I wish it could have been that simple. We couldn¡¯t ask him as ourselves because he¡¯d have no reason to let us look at it. Amy and I also couldn¡¯t ask him for it in our costumed identities because we¡¯re students of Reliquary, and Wiseman is associated with the mainstream magic community. I don¡¯t know if all of you know it, but they hold themselves apart from metahumans, and don¡¯t get involved in our problems.¡±


    ¡°And there¡¯s one other reason,¡± Amy added, pulling herself away from the wall she¡¯d been leaning on. ¡°Reliquary and Wiseman hate each other. Wiseman collects magical artifacts because he wants them. Reliquary collects them to take them apart and see how they work. You can see where they might not get along.¡±


    Cassie turned in her chair to grin at the rest of us. ¡°That¡¯s why we broke into his personal museum. Amy and Samita handled the magical defenses. Marcus and the AI disabled the security system. Courtney impersonated Wiseman and handled the staff. Rod and I provided muscle.¡±


    From the back, Rod said, ¡°Not that it mattered. We didn¡¯t fight anybody.¡±


    Jaclyn sat up in her chair. ¡°Wait a second. You brought Marcus in on this? He¡¯s not even eighteen.¡±


    Cassie shrugged. ¡°Most of us weren¡¯t over eighteen when we started all this.¡±


    Meeting Cassie¡¯s eyes, Jaclyn said, ¡°But we weren¡¯t facing wizards. The worst most of those guys could do was punch us. These guys can turn people into frogs or something. We can¡¯t fight against that.¡±


    ¡°I can,¡± Amy said. ¡°So can Samita. We went in warded. There shouldn¡¯t be any trace of us, magical or otherwise. I know he¡¯s your cousin, but we did everything we could to keep everyone safe.¡±


    Jaclyn exhaled. ¡°I¡¯m sure you did, but you know how this goes.¡±


    Before Amy responded, Cassie jumped in. ¡°You¡¯re right. Something could happen, but we¡¯re doing okay so far. Marcus is the person least likely to be recognized. He was in the jet most of the time. Besides, it worked. We got the goods on the monster.¡±


    From Jaclyn¡¯s frown, I guessed that she wasn¡¯t satisfied, but she didn¡¯t say so.


    ¡°We did,¡± Amy said, stepping away from the wall to stand in front next to Samita. ¡°The attack survivor knew magic. I don¡¯t know how trained he was, but he figured out something none of the Bloodmaidens did. The creature is attracted to ambitious people. It might be able to take over others, but it can¡¯t stay in them.¡±


    From behind me, Daniel spoke up. ¡°That¡¯s not good news. We¡¯re all more ambitious than most.¡±


    Daniel didn''t say it like it was a problem, though. It was as if he were making conversation, or more likely, given that he was a telepath, making it easier for them to explain how they would handle it.


    Amy gave a quick smile, possibly guessing that he was giving her an opening. ¡°That¡¯s the best part. Now that we know how it works, we can ward against it, and imprison him permanently. I think that we should go to Turkmenistan soon.¡±

 Everybodys Got One: Part 7

    I raised my hand. ¡°That makes sense, but I¡¯ve got a couple questions.¡±


    Amy raised an eyebrow¡ªwhich I suspected meant, ¡°You¡¯re raising your hand? No one else did.¡± I put it down as Samita said, ¡°Yes, Nick?¡±


    ¡°You mentioned that you were looking for confirmation that it was the same creature and not an alternate. Did you get that from the book?¡±


    Samita nodded. ¡°The writer survived a conversation with it. It said that it came from another world, and mentioned the Bloodmaidens.¡±


    I nodded to show I¡¯d heard, but then asked, ¡°Did it say how it got here?¡±


    ¡°A gate from Faerie,¡± Amy said, shrugging. ¡°It looks like the same Faerie connects to everywhere.¡±


    By itself that was interesting, and probably said a lot more about the structure of reality than was obvious. I considered several different questions to follow up on that but realized they probably didn¡¯t have the answers either. I went with a more relevant question instead. Meeting Amy¡¯s eyes, I said, ¡°You said the creature takes over a new host. How did you recognize it in the picture?¡±


    She pursed her lips, but didn¡¯t talk immediately, obviously thinking through her answer. ¡°This gets depressing. You know how I told you the first Bloodmaiden fought and killed the Thing That Eats. Well, that¡¯s true, but it kept on reappearing. It never stayed dead. Some Bloodmaidens have guessed that it comes from Faerie. Others have thought that if there¡¯s even a little bit of it left, it can regenerate given time, and that¡¯s where I lean. Anyway, it¡¯s reappeared over the ages. The first time was back when we were part of a small settlement. The last time was when our family finally controlled the Northern Islands, but in between we ran into it again and again.


    ¡°I recognized it because it takes over a person, wearing their body, but after a few years, the body slowly changes into the man you saw in the pictures. It doesn''t matter what your age, race or gender is. By the time that they''ve fully transformed, there¡¯s nothing of the original personality left.¡±


    I thought about the pictures I¡¯d seen. The creature appeared in all ways to be human, but it didn¡¯t look quite right. The age spots, wrinkles, fleshy face, and wide, soulless eyes spoke to most people¡¯s worst fears of age and gluttony. The clothing it wore made it a little worse, if possible. Anything could be concealed under its black suit¡ªtentacles, for example.


    I imagined it in running shorts and a t-shirt. It was much less intimidating.


    All the same, the thought of slowly morphing into that thing¡­ I shuddered. Was the original person devoured by then or were they pushed into some little corner of their own awareness, forced to watch as it consumed everything that mattered to them?


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    It wasn¡¯t an answer I wanted to know from experience for sure.


    Tara¡¯s voice interrupted my thoughts. ¡°Could you list how The Thing That Eats died and how and where it reappeared? I¡¯d also like to know the address of the website you mentioned. I might be able to see patterns you haven¡¯t.¡±


    Tara was using her ¡°Spock voice.¡± She didn¡¯t really sound like Spock, but normally she sounded perky, friendly, and maybe a little ditsy. If that¡¯s all you noticed about her, you could stop at her blond hair and assume she fit the stereotype. If you weren¡¯t willing to stop there, you might go on to notice that she was as tall as I was, or maybe a little taller, and had clearly defined muscles.


    Amy nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll be happy to get you that. If you find something new, we might be able to kill it for real.¡±


    From the back row, Travis¡¯ deep voice broke in. ¡°Hey, do you have a date planned? We should set one so that we have a goal to aim for.¡±


    On the other side of the room, next to Daniel, Izzy raised her hand, and Amy gave her a nod. Adjusting her glasses with the other hand, Izzy said, ¡°I¡­ Well, I don¡¯t want to cause problems, but the last time I flew to Turkmenistan, it nearly caused an international incident. Are we going it alone on this one again?¡±


    Samita shook her head. ¡°We told Reliquary. He agreed that Amy should face it if anyone should. We¡¯ll go to help, and if we¡¯re sure of our wards, maybe more. He said that he knew who to call to avoid a repeat of last summer¡¯s incident."


    We set a date for the second weekend in October. After that, we talked briefly about the Coffeeshop Illuminati, and the Nine, but the teams assigned to investigating them didn¡¯t have anything that needed action.


    After the meeting ended, everyone stood around talking. Amy had several refrigerators in her lab, and while they mostly held blood, she¡¯d enough space for pop and a couple of bottles of wine. I only had a little of the wine, the first that I¡¯d ever had. I wasn¡¯t awed, but it was okay.


    Still, there was something fun about being there. With everyone talking and laughing the room felt warm and friendly even if the walls were made from stone, the ceiling was twenty feet high, and we weren¡¯t allowed to leave the warded half of the room¡ªat least if we didn¡¯t want to risk being heard.


    While everything was still going strong, I noticed that Tara was standing near the edge of the group. She was talking with my sister, Rachel, and Jaclyn. I stepped away from the group I¡¯d been next to. Haley, Vaughn, Amy, and Cassie were discussing something, but I¡¯d missed the beginning of the conversation, mostly because I¡¯d been talking to Daniel.


    I caught Tara before she stepped outside the wards, tapping her on the shoulder. She turned, saying, ¡°Hey Nick.¡±


    I said, ¡°Hey,¡± noting that she sounded normal, and she was sipping some of the wine. ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll get in trouble?¡±


    She held up her plastic cup. ¡°For this? I¡¯ve seen worse. When I started here, the fourth year students used to sneak hard liquor in all the time. No one got in trouble.¡±


    She smiled and took another sip.


    ¡°Really? I had no idea. Uh¡­ Totally different subject. Kid Biohack came to Grand Lake and he wants to join the Heroes¡¯ League. Did you know him when he was at Stapledon, and what did you think of him?¡±


    She sighed. ¡°I think I told you that I never felt like I fit in here except with the younger classes and the professors? He was in the class before mine. He wasn¡¯t worse than the rest of them, but he wasn¡¯t any better. I hope you¡¯re not planning to bring him into the League.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Never.¡±

 Everybodys Got One: Part 8

    Tara grinned, and when she did, I was reminded that whoever had designed the supersoldiers she was descended from, had obviously been designing for looks too. Not for the first time, I wondered why. Still, she was in a good mood, and considering the memories I must have brought up, that wasn¡¯t a bad thing.


    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t think I¡¯m telling you he¡¯s a bad person.¡± She paused but didn¡¯t give me time to respond. ¡°He¡¯s not. It¡¯s just¡­¡± She stopped. ¡°You know that I grew up in Infinity City. I grew up on the run from the True, the supersoldier group my parents left. They worked as muscle all over the city, training me the entire time because they knew the True would want me too.


    ¡°When we came here and I enrolled in the Stapledon program, the guys didn¡¯t first of all think of me as a soldier. They thought of me as the new, hot girl. Some of them had a betting pool on who could ¡®score¡¯ with me first. I didn¡¯t think anything of all the attention at first, but when I thought about it, I put everything together. After that, I got angry.¡±


    I¡¯d never seen Tara angry, but thinking about how she could use her mind to create complex strategies and tactics and then adjust them on the fly¡­


    Nodding, she said, ¡°You get it. I found out exactly how much the healer could handle at once, the next time we had a group combat training exercise, I hurt them hard enough that they couldn¡¯t fight anymore, but nothing that was a real danger. I made sure it would hurt. Kid Biohack was in the group.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°It would have worked better in Infinity City. There¡¯s no central authority there. If you want justice, you make it. It wasn¡¯t a good idea here. I nearly got expelled.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°What about them?¡±


    Her lips twisted, and she said, ¡°They nearly got expelled too, but after that suddenly no one was getting expelled.¡±


    I tried to wrap my head around that when she leaned forward, and in a softer voice said, ¡°I think I know why. Bullet was the one working hardest for my expulsion. He knew some of the guys¡¯ dads. But other supers knew they needed someone who knew Infinity City, and my dad knew it better than anyone.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°And he wasn¡¯t going to be much help if you were expelled.¡±


    ¡°And I know more than almost anyone else here about how to live in Infinity City. They needed me too.¡± Tara finished her drink. ¡°I think it might be part of the reason Bullet isn¡¯t running the program anymore, or at least part of me does.¡± She tapped her head. ¡°I don¡¯t have evidence, just a lot of little details pointing in that direction.¡±


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    Frowning, she added, ¡°But I do think it¡¯s for the best. I learned later that it wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d covered something like that up.¡±


    I thought about Bullet. He¡¯d welcomed my class during our first year, but faded away after that. He taught specific sections of  combat training, but nothing else. Daniel¡¯s dad had said something about changing the program. Quietly sidelining Bullet could have been part of that. He¡¯d also said that Kid Biohack had powerful friends.


    ¡°You¡¯re doing your internships and mandatory post-Stapledon service for the next two years, right?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve got to line up someone this year. I have places in mind.¡± She flashed me a grin.


    I wondered how directly to say it. ¡°If you have any trouble finding someone to do your internship with, tell us. We might know somebody who¡¯s looking for an intern. We, also, and this is the crazy option, might be able to arrange something ourselves. We¡¯ve got a team. The team has an income, and stuff happens in Grand Lake. One of our board members might be willing to act as your supervisor.¡±


    She glanced toward the ground, checking where the line was. It ran from one glowing red gem to another. She was still on the right side. ¡°That¡¯s sweet of you to offer. I don¡¯t think enough people in the community want to get me back for that that I¡¯ll have trouble, but I¡¯ll keep it mind. My dad had friends and a couple of them sound like they might take me on.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± I said.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± she said, stepping across the line, and tossing her plastic cup into the nearest trash can. It landed perfectly in the center, dropping into the can.


    Daniel and Izzy walked up to me as she walked away. Izzy¡¯s jaw was set, and her jaw muscles stood out. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard anything about that. Every time I begin to feel good about the program, I discover another thing like this. I wonder what else Bullet covered up and who got hurt?¡±


    Daniel met Izzy¡¯s eyes. ¡°We¡¯ll do something about it. I¡¯ll talk to my dad, and see what he knows.¡±


    After that, the night was just talking. When we were done, we cleaned up, and all left together, still talking. It felt a lot like a movie night, but with a few more people. Whenever we did expand, we needed to pull in Samita, Rod and Amy officially¡ª Tara too.


    When I got to the room that Daniel and I shared, I fell asleep almost the instant I hit my bed, forgetting all about Kid Biohack and The Thing That Eats for a few hours.


    The next morning on the way to the cafeteria, though, I happened to walk past Alex.


    A little taller than I was, Alex was tanned with hair bleached blond by the sun. Wearing a t-shirt that advertised a surfboard company, he looked every bit of my surfer stereotype. He didn¡¯t quite live it, though. Stereotypical surfers were supposed to be calm.


    ¡°Nick,¡± he put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°I heard that Kid Biohack was in your town. We¡¯ve got to talk.¡±

 Everybodys Got One: Part 9

    ¡°We should step into a different hall, or better yet, a classroom.¡± He pointed down the hallway to our left. ¡°How about that one?¡±


    It didn¡¯t look bad.


    Earthmover had molded the whole installation out of rock, and he (or someone who worked for him) had kept an eye on aesthetics. The track lighting illuminated reddish-orange rock. Paintings and photos on the walls showed pictures of the West¡ªthe Rocky Mountains, the city of Denver at night, desert thunderstorms, and mesas. There were several doors in the hall, and windows let us look into each of them from the hall.


    ¡°This way,¡± he said and walked through the closest door.


    Alex had chosen a classroom next to the outer wall of the foothill. Windows looked out on brownish green grass, rocky foothills and dark mountains in the distance.


    When I stepped inside, Alex shut the door behind us. ¡°So, did you get to talk to him after you fought?¡±


    Right. Kid Biohack¡¯s video stopped when we stepped into the van. ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s interesting.¡±


    Alex grinned. ¡°¡¯Interesting,¡¯ as in he¡¯s a whiny narcissist?¡±


    ¡°That might be a little harsh.¡± I couldn¡¯t say I liked Kid Biohack, but narcissist was further than I wanted to go.


    Shaking his head, Alex said, ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    He glanced toward the windows and their view but didn¡¯t look out for long. ¡°I never liked that guy. His family, at least part of it, lives in the San Diego compound. His name is Parker Carmona. He¡¯s from an unpowered branch of his family, and grew up in the compound after his powers showed up.¡±


    ¡°How do you know him?¡±


    Shrugging, Alex checked the door. ¡°The way you¡¯d expect. My dad¡¯s been bringing me around whenever he has a bunch of people to heal. Plus, we visited compounds socially sometimes. Everyone stays on good terms with the healer, right? Anyway, his family¡¯s a bigger deal than you¡¯re aware of. You¡¯ve probably heard of Ultimate Man and Ultimate Woman. They keep those names going. Do you know what his powers are?¡±


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    It was my turn to shrug. ¡°Kind of? The way I understand it, he can choose whether he¡¯s strong, invulnerable, agile, or fast? Or alternately, he can go for all of the above, but not be amazing at any of them. Something like that? I haven¡¯t had time to go deeply into it.¡±


    Nodding, he said, ¡°That¡¯s pretty good as far as it goes. It¡¯s a little more complicated than that. What he¡¯s got is adaptable muscles, bones, nerves, and skin that can be controlled by chemicals that he produces. The chemicals aren¡¯t special in themselves, but they trigger reactions in his body, right? Over time, people in his family get better at it. It¡¯s a skill and they get better at what they do the most. So over time, their base strength becomes higher than it was when they started and ramps up faster. Some of them specialize in an area or even a couple areas, and others stay flexible.


    ¡°But that¡¯s not what you should be worried about. You should be worried because his family¡¯s all over, and it¡¯s not obvious that they¡¯re related to him by their powers.


    ¡°My advice is to keep him at a distance, but don¡¯t piss him off.¡±


    I sat down on one of the desks. ¡°Does this advice come from experience?¡±


    Alex grinned. ¡°Do I seem like the kind of guy that might piss him off?¡±


    Remembering how Alex¡¯ idea of fun had been playing pranks on organized crime the last time I¡¯d visited him, I said, ¡°Maybe.¡±


    He started laughing. ¡°Right. You know me. Anyway, yeah. I may have screwed up once or twice. Look, I¡¯ve never liked the guy, and when he decided that L.A. was the place to be, I wanted to punch him. Let¡¯s say that maybe one night last summer we let our inner bastards out. Well, I may have left the guy a withered mess who was too weak to do anything. Then I healed him right up again. And no one cared. Well maybe they did care, but they didn¡¯t do anything about it because I¡¯d fixed the guy right away, and because someday soon they might need me or my dad.¡±


    I nodded along as he talked. ¡°I get it. You can get away with a fight like that, but I can¡¯t. It¡¯s okay, though. We didn¡¯t hurt him much at all.¡±


    Alex shook his head violently. ¡°You¡¯re missing it. He¡¯s got family all over, and you don¡¯t know where they are. Plus, you pissed off some seniors connected to the Coffeeshop Illuminati, and they have relatives all over too. If you get enough people strongly enough against you, you¡¯ll find that you don¡¯t get backup as quickly as you want. Maybe you won¡¯t get pulled out or get medical attention? It¡¯s hard to say, but I¡¯ve heard of life-threatening responses like that. It almost never goes all the way to letting people die, but I¡¯ve heard it¡¯s been close.¡±


    I stood up, pushing myself off the desk. ¡°That¡¯s crazy. Almost letting someone die because you disagree with them? That¡¯s not worth it.¡±


    Alex nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, but it gets the point across. Anyway, let¡¯s get breakfast.¡±


    I followed him out, still thinking about all of it. We didn¡¯t depend on other groups much, but if we¡¯d need help, we¡¯d definitely need it.

 Precision: Part 1

    We were back in Grand Lake late Sunday night. I planned to drive about half the Grand Lake University group back to campus. Jody¡¯s parents lived only a few blocks away, so Dayton, Jody and Sean walked over there and to pick up Jody¡¯s car. Julie and Shannon took their own way too.


    That left Haley, Travis, Camille, Courtney, and Vaughn riding back to campus in the van with me. It filled all the seats once you included everyone¡¯s luggage. I probably could have adjusted the van to compensate, but I couldn¡¯t show up to the university¡¯s car garage driving any other version of my van than my own.


    Arriving in the Cat Mecha would have been funny, though.


    Haley rode next to me in the front. She had her shoes and socks off and her feet up on the dashboard. ¡°It was weird seeing Chancy Harris again. Last time we saw him he¡¯d been helping the Hrrnna hide. He helped us find them too, but still, they did try to destroy the planet.¡±


    ¡°No shit,¡± Vaughn said from behind us. ¡°Did you see the look he gave Sean when we came in, though? I don¡¯t think he likes him.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Wasn¡¯t Sean telling everyone that Chancy was doing it wrong?¡±


    As I talked, I merged into one of the roads that ran alongside the highway that ran through the middle of the city. There weren¡¯t many cars on the road on Sunday night. It looked like there might be more coming from the north, but those were probably people coming home from a weekend at the family cottage.


    Vaughn, Camille, Travis, and Haley all laughed. Courtney talked through them. ¡°He did that? Why did he do that?¡±


    Vaughn said, ¡°It¡¯s classic Sean. Talk out of your ass first. Then find out you pissed off half a dozen people.¡±


    In my rearview mirror, I could see Courtney glance at Vaughn. ¡°I missed out on ¡®classic Sean.¡¯ I had barely any classes with him in high school, and as an overweight geek, I didn¡¯t rate his notice.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°I did. You didn¡¯t miss anything.¡±


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    Travis¡¯ deep voice blew through everyone else¡¯s. ¡°What I don¡¯t get is how Chancy isn¡¯t in jail.¡±


    ¡°Give me second.¡± I turned the steering wheel left, merged onto the highway entrance ramp, and then on to the highway. ¡°Daniel and I were talking about it last night. After everything that happened, Daniel¡¯s dad, mom, and Guardian hunted Chancy down. His mom needs to have met someone before she can track them in their dreams, but she had. Working with Stapledon is kind of his penance. Even before that, he turned away criminal clients when he knew that that¡¯s what they were, and he worked with the Heroes¡¯ League at least as far back as the 60s, so they view him as safe. Of course, everyone¡¯s still required to be in costume when they meet him, so obviously they don¡¯t completely trust him.¡±


    In the rearview mirror, Travis shook his head. ¡°Worked with the Heroes¡¯ League in the 60s? That explains why he can open up a portal directly inside HQ. Maybe we should use one of those teleportation blockers, and only turn it off when we need a way to Stapledon.¡±


    ¡°Not a bad idea,¡± I said.


    I would have continued the conversation, but at that moment, my phone started beeping. Clicking on the dashboard, I opened up the van¡¯s hidden dashboard mode and checked for Heroes¡¯ League notifications. The dashboard rearranged itself, moving all the standard information over and turning on a screen of Heroes¡¯ League notifications.


    At the top of the list was a report from the spybots showing that the instructions I¡¯d given to record high-speed movement in the city had been activated twice, one of them just now.


    I obviously couldn¡¯t go into it then, but Haley took her feet off the dash and clicked for pictures. First, it showed a map of the route. If I wanted to find the speedster, I needed to assign more spybotsto the job. The trail started on the southeast side, ran up toward the north side, and disappeared.


    The bots couldn¡¯t show where the trail began or where it ultimately ended.


    As Haley clicked through the pictures the bots had taken, one thing did become perfectly clear, however. There wasn¡¯t one blur of a speedster. There were two. One was a dark blur, a silhouette that looked male. The other was obviously female and surrounded by a golden glow.


    ¡°There¡¯s two of them,¡± Vaughn said as I drove the van into the school parking garage. It was nearly full. I had to drive up three levels before I saw any empty parking spaces.


    ¡°That explains a lot,¡± Haley. ¡°They did a lot of damage before anyone could stop them in their last robbery.¡±


    No one got out when I stopped, crowding around the front of the van, flipping through the images. The nature of the people being photographed meant there wasn¡¯t any detail to speak of. That didn¡¯t stop Haley from trying, though. With as many pictures as the spybots had taken, it was likely that one of them would be more than a blur.


    We could hope that anyhow.

 Precision: Part 2

    Despite the new details, we¡¯d collected, there wasn¡¯t much to do in the van, and we all left for our respective rooms¡ªwithin limits anyway. Vaughn, Courtney, Haley, and I all lived in the biggest dorm on campus, and so we walked together. Haley and I broke off from the rest to talk about next weekend¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t a Stapledon weekend¡ªplanning to spend some time together.


    Vaughn and Courtney talked a bit as they walked off, but I doubted that they talked for long. Their rooms were on opposite sides of the dorm.


    When I finally walked through my own door, I found Jeremy working through physics homework at his desk, laptop open, his screen lighting his face.


    I finished the homework I had left and then used my laptop to review the speedster sightings the bots had detected so far. It was just the two I¡¯d found out about on the way back, but in both cases, they started on the southeast side of the city. More interesting, they came in view of my spybots within half a mile of each other.


    That might reveal where they were staying, or, if we were lucky, where their next job might be. They¡¯d been photographed on 108th Street. That was near the edge of town, putting it close to newer factories, farmland, suburbs, the southside expressway, and hotels.


    I began plotting out where I might put the new bots for maximum coverage, checking my inventory at HQ to make sure I had enough.


    As I finished, Jeremy closed his laptop. ¡°Done. That¡¯s all of it. Dr. Hodges had us read two chapters and do problems based on them. It wasn¡¯t hard stuff, but he gave us a fuckton of work.¡±


    ¡°What class?¡± I barely looked up from my laptop.


    ¡°Acoustics.¡± He muttered. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong. It¡¯s a fun class, but I¡¯ve been at this for hours now.¡±


    I did look up then. ¡°I thought about taking that class.¡±


    Jeremy backed his chair away from his desk and stood up. ¡°Yeah? Why didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Well, the time conflicted with one of my chemistry classes, but also I wasn¡¯t sure if there would be enough new stuff to justify it. It¡¯s a 200 level course, but it¡¯s still basically an introduction.¡±


    ¡°Point,¡± Jeremy said. ¡°You could probably teach the class.¡±


    ¡°A lot of it. I don¡¯t know everything about acoustics, but what I do know could easily be twenty years ahead of what¡¯s currently being taught. When my grandpa started teaching me, he was big on not standing out. We used a lot of shortcuts that I¡¯ve never seen anyone else use. The last thing I want to do is hand in a bunch of physics problems that accidentally include a major breakthrough.¡±


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    Jeremy stepped in front of his dresser (which like mine was simple, wooden and rectangular), and turned back to me. ¡°Think about it, though. You could get some serious attention.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve already got enough of that in costume. The purpose of college for me is to do well enough that I¡¯ve got an exit into a normal life if I need one, and I probably will. Physically I¡¯m completely human normal. I¡¯ll get too old for it. The ideal is to get good enough grades that I can do what I want, but to be a normal kind of genius.¡±


    Nodding, Jeremy said, ¡°Wonder how many other people are doing that?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said, ¡°but most of the world¡¯s smartest people.¡±


    Pulling his pajamas out of a drawer, he said, ¡°And it surprises people that I''m into conspiracy theories?¡± Then he pointed toward my computer. ¡°What are you working on?¡±


    I explained.


    By the time I was done, he¡¯d pulled on his pajamas and gotten in bed. ¡°That¡¯s cool, but you need to take a break sometimes. You¡¯ve been at the program all weekend after being there all summer, and after you¡¯re done with homework, you¡¯re back at tracking those guys? You should relax. You¡¯re not doing Stapledon next week, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m doing something with Haley, but yeah.¡± I saved my work and closed my laptop.


    ¡°That¡¯s good, but you should hang out with us. My friends and I almost always do something on the weekend. Haley can come too.¡± He grinned at me, still sitting up in his bed.


    ¡°Are you sure? Look, weird stuff doesn¡¯t always happen when we try to do normal things, but there¡¯s a distinct possibility that Haley and I could find ourselves running off.¡±


    He waved it away with his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯ll cover for you. What¡¯s the worst that could happen?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Well, at my senior prom, one of my classmates turned into a monster and tried to eat everybody.¡±


    ¡°I heard about that,¡± Jeremy said. ¡°People didn¡¯t know what power juice was then.¡±


    ¡°Also, last summer a group of us went to a Fourth of July celebration, and got attacked by faeries.¡±


    ¡°Stapledon,¡± Jeremy began to say.


    ¡°It turned out that a famous assassin had been attending Haley¡¯s family Christmas party secretly for years before we turned cape, but the year I attended, he killed two FBI agents.¡±


    ¡°Huh. But you stopped him, right?¡±


    I open my mouth, unsure of where to go with that, finally saying, ¡°It was the Executioner. He killed a classmate¡¯s father at my graduation and joined up with the Cabal before he died.¡±


    Jeremy blinked. ¡°I remember reading about some of that. I¡¯m sure it wasn¡¯t just because of the Christmas party.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Probably not. We¡¯ve had regular movie nights with the team without major problems. Except there was one time where Evil Beatnik escaped, possessed my high school history teacher, called up the grandchildren of the old League¡¯s greatest foes plus Evil Beatnik¡¯s sidekick¡­ Do you remember the guy who summons infinite monkeys? Anyway, they tried to destroy the city.¡±


    Jeremy stared at me. ¡°Now I want to invite you just to see what happens.¡±


    Before I could figure out a reply, my phone bleeped. I checked the notifications. It was from Cassie. Her text said, ¡°R U awake? Talk about Vaughn & Amy?¡±


    Oh boy.


    Keeping my tone level, I said, ¡°I think I¡¯ve got to get this.¡±

 Precision: Part 3

    I texted back, ¡°I¡¯m awake.¡±


    It had barely been sent when my phone began to buzz. I took the call.


    ¡°Hey, Nick!¡± Cassie answered with her normal level of energy¡ªhigh. She didn¡¯t sound like she was faking it.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, suddenly more aware that the wooden chair I sat in lacked cushions. ¡°So what¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°What I said in the text¡­ You know Vaughn and Amy are going out, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. They started near the end of the summer.¡±


    Jeremy lay down in his bed. He¡¯d picked up his phone and started tapping on the screen instead of sleeping. I considered going out in the hall to talk, but then it occurred to me that we might get into team stuff¡­ I stayed in the chair.


    ¡°How do you think they¡¯re doing?¡± Cassie asked in a calmer tone than she normally used.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Vaughn¡¯s here. Amy¡¯s¡­ She¡¯s from Florida, but she¡¯s at Duke with Samita, right? That¡¯s what I thought I heard¡ª¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Cassie said.


    ¡°Anyway, it was only supposed to be a summer thing. That¡¯s what Amy said. She didn¡¯t sound like she was up for a long distance relationship.¡±


    ¡°It looks like they¡¯ve got one.¡± Cassie lapsed into silence.


    When it began to feel overly long, I said, ¡°I suppose being attacked by that dragon and his army was more of a bonding experience than they expected.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Cassie sighed. ¡°Too bad I was on the other side.¡±


    ¡°Not for long, and it wasn¡¯t your fault.¡± I thought back to facing her as well as Daniel and Izzy in the passageway in the Castle Rock compound. It wasn¡¯t something I wanted to repeat.


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    ¡°You know the crazy thing?¡± Cassie didn¡¯t wait for me to reply. ¡°The gun knew something was wrong and kept on telling me so. When an alien AI that wants to burn all living things tells you something is wrong, you should listen. I should have listened.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. How often is the gun right about anything that doesn¡¯t involve killing?¡±


    Cassie laughed. ¡°No kidding, but it was right this time. Or so it tells me again and again.¡±


    ¡°Ouch. That¡¯s got to get old.¡±


    ¡°No shit,¡± Cassie said. ¡°I can tell it to stop, but it can still hint at it, and if I tell it to stop that, we get into an endless game of rules lawyering. So now I just let it talk.¡±


    Conscious of the phone in my hand, and that Jeremy had to be listening to my half of the conversation, I wondered if that was it. Cassie sounded better than she had. She hadn¡¯t ever sounded bad, but maybe like she was hiding something? I¡¯d always wondered if she and Vaughn had ever been more than friends.


    Anyway, complaining about the gun sounded completely honest and normal.


    After a moment, Cassie added, ¡°I hope you don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to cause problems because they¡¯re dating. I¡¯m not. I like Amy, and I¡¯ve been friends with Vaughn for ages. It¡¯s just that it all feels weird even though it shouldn¡¯t.


    ¡°Before the League got together Vaughn and I were hanging out a lot, and we did more than hang out a few times. We were beginning to talk about whether we were more than that, but then his parents sent him to rehab and I started the Goldstein process to jump start my powers. By the end of it, we weren¡¯t seeing each other much at all.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I switched my phone from one ear to the other. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that was going on in the background.¡±


    ¡°There wasn¡¯t any reason to talk about it, but Haley might remember. She was dating Sean, and he was friends with Vaughn. She might not want to talk about it much.¡±


    Knowing how Haley¡¯s relationship with Sean had ended, I could see that. ¡°I''ve never had a reason to ask her about it.¡±


    Cassie gave a short laugh. ¡°There isn''t one. Sorry about going confessional on you. I feel stupid about all of this. I want them to be happy, but wish Vaughn and I had gotten to try something instead of what happened.¡±


    ¡°I get that. It sounds like a mess.¡±


    ¡°Never mind it, though. I¡¯ll work it out, and I¡¯ll let you get to bed. You need the sleep.¡±


    ¡°Ok, but if you want to talk about it, you can still call me.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± she said, and we hung up a little later.


    As I put down my phone and walked toward my bed, Jeremy said, ¡°That sounded interesting.¡±


    ¡°Nothing big,¡± I said. ¡°Relationship stuff that I¡¯m hoping doesn¡¯t affect the team.¡±


    ¡°No kidding?¡± Jeremy leaned out and put his own phone on the top of his desk¡¯s bookshelf.


    ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t go into it.¡±


    I was about to lie down in bed when my phone beeped. The bots had detected more speedster movement. It was beginning to feel like something would be happening soon.

 Precision: Part 4

    When I opened up the pictures on my laptop, it was the speedster I¡¯d seen first¡ªthe one that wasn¡¯t glowing¡ªthe guy. He¡¯d run back to his origin point, but there was no sign of the woman.


    I stayed up for another ten minutes, waiting to see if she¡¯d show up too, but she didn¡¯t. When I woke up the next morning, there hadn¡¯t been any further alerts. Maybe the north end of the route was where she lived.


    Maybe she¡¯d taken a cab back? I had no idea.


    I remotely assigned my bot assembler to make more spybots. Ordinarily, I would have been able to send out the spybots after all my classes ended, but thanks to the Stapledon program, I had one more class. All the Stapledon students in the area showed up in costume to League HQ to be teleported to the Chicago Defenders¡¯ training facility.


    When training was over, I went to the lab to pick up the bots, clearing them off the counter so I could load them into one of the floating pods for delivery.


    Haley walked in as I loaded the pod, standing across the pod from me. ¡°You¡¯re sending out the spybots tonight?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯ve got much of a choice. It looks like something¡¯s happening there. I just hope I haven¡¯t missed it already.¡± I slid the magazine full of spybots into the pod, listened as the pod unloaded the magazine, and pulled the magazine out of the pod¡¯s dull, black, cigar-shaped body.


    She took a breath. ¡°I hope they¡¯re not planning to do it this weekend.¡±


    I looked up from the pod to look at her. ¡°That¡¯s the way it works in stories, but it¡¯d be a ridiculous coincidence in real life.¡±


    Haley peered down at the pod. ¡°We¡¯ve had those coincidences.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Can¡¯t deny that. Oh, that reminds me. Jeremy wanted us to go out and do something with him and his friends.¡±


    Haley tilted her head. ¡°That might be fun, but you know the coincidence thing? If we do, we¡¯re going to be interrupted at the absolute worst possible time we could be when we do whatever it is.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Jeremy says he¡¯ll make our excuses.¡±


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    Haley laughed. ¡°I think the last time we went out with one of your friends who didn¡¯t have powers, it was Courtney and Keith.¡±


    ¡°There was that waitress who didn¡¯t like you,¡± I said, ¡°and then Logan turned into a monster with a taste for humanity, but technically we weren¡¯t interrupted by anyone that wasn¡¯t already part of the date. We never ran off then.¡±


    Haley gave a half-smile. ¡°I think you¡¯re pushing it a little. We weren¡¯t planning for Logan to do that.¡±


    ¡°Not really,¡± I said. ¡°But we had planned for someone to show up using power juice.¡±


    Haley rolled her eyes. ¡°You are pushing it, but if you want to, let¡¯s do something with Jeremy. What¡¯s he planning to do?¡±


    I thought about it, and finally, spit out, ¡°No clue. He didn¡¯t say. He was offering based on the idea that all I seemed to be doing was Stapledon and bots.¡±


    She glanced around the workroom. Most tables held bots in various stages of assembly. ¡°He¡¯s got a point. Did he give a time?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°We didn¡¯t get to that. If you want, I¡¯ll text him.¡±


    By the time we were done, I¡¯d used the pod to release spybots, texted Jeremy, and made sure that everyone in the current League knew what I was doing and how to take control of the bots if they had to.


    Chris sent me a message back. ¡°Glad you¡¯re back. That means I¡¯m not the only one fixing shit. We should get together.¡±


    Marcus texted me back to find out if I was truly okay with anyone controlling the bots.


    By the time I¡¯d hashed things out with them, Jeremy had texted me back. We were going to see a movie at the downtown theater on Friday with some of his friends. We could bring anyone we wanted too.


    I didn¡¯t plan to take him up on it. Most of the people I hung out with were in the League, and bringing normal people would only make ditching the group harder.


    Friday came without much fanfare. The speedsters hadn¡¯t appeared during the week, so we weren¡¯t on any kind of alert. Kid Biohack hadn¡¯t been in touch with the League at all during the week. Haley and I had gone to the cafeteria after teleporting out for practice (and it was funny how normal that was beginning to feel).


    Jeremy had left me a text message saying that he was gathering people up and that we should wait.


    Haley and I were sitting on my bunk, leaning against the wall and holding hands. I didn¡¯t know what she was thinking, but I was becoming very conscious of her body.


    She looked at me and grinned. ¡°Sorry,¡± she said, and before I had time to ask her why someone knocked on the door.


    The lock was designed not to let you leave without a key, so I had to get up and open the door. Courtney stood there. ¡°Jeremy invited me,¡± she said, stepping inside. She wore a hoodie with the Avengers¡¯ ¡°A¡± covering the front. After all the minor modifications she¡¯d made to herself last year with shapeshifting, she¡¯d settled on keeping them, but added back the weight she¡¯d had before gaining powers.


    It worked for her. She looked more like herself.


    Before the door shut, a hand grabbed it. It was Jillian, the friend of Jeremy¡¯s who liked Kid Biohack. ¡°Where¡¯s Jeremy,¡± she asked as she pushed it open.


    As Courtney said, ¡°Not here,¡± Haley touched my shoulder, mouthing the words, ¡°Power juice.¡±

 Precision: Part 5

    In the background, I heard Courtney continue. ¡°His text said that he was corralling everyone else.¡±


    Jillian stood a little taller than Haley, and she¡¯d braided her hair¡ªwhich went halfway down her back. Just like the last time I¡¯d seen her, she wore a flannel shirt over a t-shirt.


    Courtney backed in as Jillian stepped inside¡ªJeremy and I didn¡¯t have a particularly large room. We each had a closet on either side of the door, forcing everyone to move into the main area of the room, and stand next to our bunks and the desks. Jeremy¡¯s was covered with a mixture of physics textbooks, science fiction paperbacks, old anime DVD¡¯s, and books about conspiracy theories. Except for my laptop and the textbooks I couldn¡¯t get as ebooks, mine was nearly empty.


    Courtney pulled out Jeremy¡¯s chair as Haley sat on my desk. Jillian and I stood in the middle of the room next to the bunk beds.


    All of this meant that I couldn¡¯t ask Haley anything about the power juice. The big questions being whether Jillian had some on her or whether she¡¯d already drunk it or what?


    Jillian jerked her head around as the door pulled itself shut with a slam and gave a little laugh as she turned back to Courtney. ¡°Sorry. I forget how the dorm doors shut themselves. I¡¯m in a house this year.¡±


    Courtney leaned back in the chair. ¡°Lucky you. I¡¯m still in the dorms. Still rooming with Michelle, and still stuck with more country music than I can stand.¡±


    Jillian laughed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re still rooming with her.¡±


    Meanwhile, on my desk, Haley had pulled out her phone and started texting.


    Courtney shrugged. ¡°Aside from the music, she¡¯s a good roommate. We work. She¡¯s got people over a lot, but not when I can¡¯t handle it, and I do a lot of my studying out of the room.¡±


    Jillian eyed the door. ¡°When is Jeremy supposed to be back? This is like dealing with my boyfriend but in reverse. When my boyfriend¡¯s late it¡¯s because of work.¡±


    Haley stopped texting. ¡°Your boyfriend¡¯s not a student?¡±


    Jillian shook her head. ¡°He graduated a couple years ago, but not from here.¡±


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    Sitting up a little straighter, and not looking at her phone at all, Haley asked, ¡°Where is he from?¡±


    ¡°All over,¡± Jillian said, ¡°but most recently California. He¡¯s done a lot of traveling.¡±


    Trying to keep the same expression on my face and deliberately avoiding meeting anyone¡¯s eyes, I thought about what she¡¯d said. It sounded like she might be Kid Biohack¡¯s girlfriend. The bit about traveling didn¡¯t quite fit, but the California part did.


    I needed to think of questions that would give me answers without giving her any hints about me.


    Courtney checked her phone. ¡°Jeremy¡¯s on his way.¡± When she looked up, she added, ¡°How did you meet?¡±


    Giving an uncomfortable laugh, Jillian said, ¡°Online. You know how that goes. We both use the CapeFan forums, and we were arguing with this massive troll. Afterward, we talked privately and the rest is history.¡±


    Behind her, the door¡¯s lock clicked and Jeremy opened the door. Gabriel and Caleb stood behind him in the hall. Gabriel was a skinny, black guy who was majoring in computer science. Caleb had light skin, stood a few inches shorter than Jeremy and his hair nearly covered his eyes. I had no idea how he could see. He wore an ¡°Avett Brothers¡± t-shirt.


    ¡°Hey everybody,¡± Jeremy said, leaning into the room. ¡°I was thinking we could go to the cheap theater. It¡¯s all movies from the middle of summer, but I¡¯m sure we can find something.¡±


    Haley waved her hand at him. ¡°Is it okay if I invite Camille? We can meet her at Nick¡¯s van.¡±


    That was smart. If Jillian turned out to be a problem, Camille could slow her down in a dozen not-so-obvious ways.


    Jeremy blinked, and tilted his head back for a moment. ¡°Uh¡­ Sure.¡±


    We went to the movies. The movie we ultimately chose? AFS-X, an action movie. AFS was the military designation for the modern version of the Rocket suit that Grandpa had left with them after World War 2 ended. AFS stood for Armored Flight Suit. The movie was about someone stealing an experimental version of the suit that could ¡°change the face of warfare¡± due to its increased range. Range had always been the AFS¡¯ greatest limitation.


    Whatever. I hadn¡¯t argued either for or against.


    Midway through, my phone started vibrating in a pattern that indicated that the spybots had detected one of the speedsters. Sitting in the dark next to me, Haley pulled out her phone too. Courtney and Camille must have felt it too, but we couldn¡¯t all go check this. Kayla hadn¡¯t sent us an alert, so it wasn¡¯t an emergency.


    I left the theater, following the lights on the floor of the aisle, and finding myself alone in the hallway under the blinking light that said ¡°3.¡±


    I read through the string of messages. The robbers (who needed a name) had attacked an armored truck that had left a bank branch. Marcus had given my goobots permission to fire on any speedster they¡¯d detected. Meanwhile, Marcus, Travis, Chris, and Sydney had responded. They weren¡¯t fast enough to stop the attack, but they interrupted it while it was going on.


    They¡¯d actually fought people, meaning the robbers weren¡¯t a faceless mystery anymore.


    I considered ditching the group and flying to the scene, deciding not to only because Haley would be pissed if I left her.

 Precision: Part 6

    When it was clear that the fighting was over, I resigned myself to going back in and picking apart the technical details of the movie version of the Rocket suit. I stepped toward the door only to find Haley stepping out and shutting it behind her.


    ¡°What happened?¡± She asked, keeping her voice low.


    Further down the carpeted hallway, staff members had gathered next to the door of a movie that was letting out. The staff members held brooms and clustered around a garbage can on wheels, thanking people as they threw away their empty drinks and popcorn bowls.


    ¡°The Heroes¡¯ League prevented an armored truck heist, but couldn¡¯t catch anybody.¡± I glanced in the direction of the people leaving the theater. Probably no one there could hear us, but on the off-chance that someone could, it was better to talk as if we weren¡¯t ourselves members.


    Haley must have noticed my look because she said, ¡°Then time to stop checking the news and go back into the movie.¡±


    She took my hand and we walked back in.


    As it turned out, the movie wasn¡¯t too bad at representing the technology and even did a good job showing what was fun about having a Rocket suit¡ªflight.


    I checked the movie¡¯s credits, and it turned out that they thanked the U.S. Army and Marines, specifically noting their assistance with the AFS units.


    When the lights came on, I noticed that Jillian had pulled out her phone and was tapping away on the screen.


    I pulled out my own phone, typed out, ¡°Power juice?¡± and sent it to Haley.


    ¡°Jillian uses, but isn¡¯t right now.¡±


    Jillian herself turned off her phone, put it in her pocket, and said, ¡°My boyfriend¡¯s coming to pick me up. I¡¯ve got to go.¡±


    Camille, who had been talking to Caleb and Gabriel, turned to her. ¡°Do you have to? We can all take the van back.¡±


    Jillian shook her head. ¡°No. It¡¯s complicated. Something bad happened at work, and he¡¯s worried that it will blow back on me.¡±


    Haley and I looked at each other. I didn¡¯t know what she was thinking, but I was thinking that this didn¡¯t sound like Kid Biohack. He hadn¡¯t been in the fight, and while it might be that he¡¯d stumbled into something else equally big, it seemed more likely that he hadn¡¯t.


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    What seemed more likely based on her excuse and what had just happened is that she might be connected to the criminals we¡¯d been chasing. Haley had said she¡¯d smelled a younger woman who took power juice when we¡¯d investigated the scene where they¡¯d robbed an armored truck. But wouldn¡¯t she have recognized Jillian¡¯s smell today?


    ¡°That sounds like dangerous work,¡± Camille said.


    Jillian¡¯s face froze for a second. ¡°Not really, but he gets worried. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    The corner of Jeremy¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    Jillian shook her head. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about me either.¡±


    The van held its regular complement of bots including spybots. I used my phone to fire off enough spybots to give me a good view of the parking lot and the doors. Whether Jillian¡¯s boyfriend turned out to be Kid Biohack, one of the robbers, or a controlling, abusive type, I planned to catch him on camera.


    A spybot notification appeared on my phone. It wasn¡¯t from the ones I¡¯d placed around the parking lot. This one was from the bots I¡¯d placed at major intersections. An object was moving at greater than two hundred miles per hour down the road, and it was coming in our direction.


    Marcus gave the goobots permission to fire, and they did. The runner never even slowed¡ªthough he did jerk in one direction or another.


    After a few tries, the goobots stopped firing. A quick check of the log showed that Marcus had sent a stop command. He was right. There wasn¡¯t any point in wasting ammunition. In the meantime, though, the runner hadn¡¯t slowed down or turned away. He was still running toward the theater.


    Whoever the guy was, he was confident. If this was Jillian¡¯s boyfriend, the goobots gave a big clue that someone had seen him. A lot of people (especially criminals) would have aborted by then.


    Marcus sent me a text in the general Heroes¡¯ League group chat. ¡°Ready?¡±


    I texted back, ¡°No. In civvies.¡±


    ¡°Crap,¡± he texted back.


    The first runner left the main roads, disappearing off the spybots I¡¯d stationed on the street, but not yet within the range of my newly released spybots.


    Then the second runner appeared, and unlike the first there was no ambiguity. He used devices with standard hero protocols, and so he showed up on my equipment as Kid Biohack. His speed wasn¡¯t quite as fast the speedster, but it was fast enough.


    By the time we¡¯d exited the theater, he¡¯d nearly reached it. As a group, we walked out of the building¡¯s glassy front doors, and into the night. Despite the black sky, the parking lot was almost as light as day.


    The first runner didn¡¯t appear on the spybots feeds. Whatever he looked like, he hadn¡¯t alerted the local bots by running at superhuman speed.


    Fortunately, Jillian had no problem identifying him. She waved at a dark haired man who walked up the steps in a green t-shirt, glancing behind him all the way. I wouldn¡¯t have picked him out of the crowd as a supervillain. His short hair almost looked military. While casual, his clothes had no holes or signs of serious wear.


    He grabbed Jillian¡¯s right arm and pulled her toward him. ¡°Jillian, we¡¯ve got to get out of here.¡±


    I don¡¯t know what her reply would have been. She didn¡¯t get it out.


    Kid Biohack appeared, reaching the stairs in a blur, his silver costume shimmering in the parking lot¡¯s lights. ¡°Don¡¯t touch her you¡ª¡±


    He blinked, staring at Jillian¡¯s boyfriend. ¡°You¡¯re involved in all this?¡±

 Precision: Part 7

    Jillian¡¯s boyfriend straightened up, letting go of Jillian¡¯s arm, and standing in between her and Kid Biohack. Meeting Kid¡¯s eyes, he said, ¡°I told you I wasn¡¯t going to do the hero thing after graduation. The system¡¯s corrupt, and I know you know it. We talked about it back¡ª¡± and there he blinked, ¡°¡ªin days we can¡¯t talk about.¡±


    Jeremy glanced over at me, and I guessed he¡¯d recognized the same thing I had¡ªthe slack-jawed look of a guy whose psychic block had kicked into action.


    Haley grabbed Jillian¡¯s arm and whispered into her ear while pulling her backward, and nudging Camille and the guys next to her.


    That was the smart play. Getting a ringside seat at what might be a superpowered fight was not.


    Meanwhile, the conversation hadn¡¯t stopped. Kid Biohack said, ¡°I know it, but you¡¯re not just dropping out of the system. You¡¯re actively working against it, and the people you¡¯re hurting aren¡¯t the people we had a problem with. It¡¯s normal people you¡¯re hurting. You¡¯re part of the group that¡¯s robbing the armored cars.¡±


    Jillian didn¡¯t go immediately, reaching out and touching her boyfriend, ¡°Alden?¡±


    He just said, ¡°Go.¡±


    After a moment, she did, or at least she tried to. All the people coming out of the theater had created a crowd behind us and on both sides. Going forward didn¡¯t seem like a good idea. Our only option aside from revealing ourselves was to push sideways, and so we did.


    We just couldn¡¯t do it quickly, and so we got to hear more of the conversation than we wanted.


    ¡°You¡¯re my best friend in the world, man, but if you¡¯re in this, I have to bring you in.¡±


    Alden shook his head, ¡°I know, but hear me out first. You know there¡¯s something wrong. It might be the Nine. It might be that heroes we¡¯ve believed in are too powerful, have too much influence. It¡¯s hard to tell, but when you¡¯re outside the system, you¡¯ve got the freedom to look, and I¡¯m looking.¡±


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    Kid Biohack replied, his arms shaking as he said, ¡°You¡¯re not doing detective work, all you¡¯re doing is hurting people!¡±


    Alden held up his hands between the two of them, palms out. ¡°No. There¡¯s no hurting involved. We don¡¯t hurt civilians and we never kill. We''re careful. Precise. We only rob businesses. They¡¯re all insured. The crime¡¯s practically victimless.¡±


    Kid Biohack brought his hands to both sides of his head, and might have pulled his hair if he weren¡¯t wearing a mask.


    Bringing his hands back down, he said, ¡°Look, robbing armored cars isn¡¯t the only thing you could have done. People are always looking for speedsters. Even if you didn¡¯t want to do hero work, you could have worked privately or for the government¡ª¡±


    Alden shook his head. ¡°You know better. The Nine are in government, and even if it¡¯s not them, my dad would never leave me alone. You know what he¡¯s like. He¡¯d hound me and I¡¯d be in a Defenders unit within the month.¡±


    In a much quieter voice than he¡¯d used before, Kid Biohack asked, ¡°Is this all about your dad? I know he¡¯s not the best¡ª¡±


    Alden didn¡¯t let him finish. ¡°I don¡¯t know. So what is it? Are you going to let me go, or are we going to fight?¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± Kid Biohack said, sighing. ¡°I think we¡¯re gonna fight.¡±


    After that, I didn¡¯t so much as see them fight as feel the wind as they rushed each other, and see the blur. From the spybots¡¯ logs, I learned that they fought in the parking lot for a little while, but I never saw them.


    Bare moments later, they weren¡¯t in the parking lot anymore, instead, they were fighting all over the city, only showing up briefly in the spybots cameras before disappearing again. Alden wasn¡¯t caught that night, but I had no way to know that as we led Jillian to the van, climbed in and drove back to campus.


    I made a quick check of my phone before I got into the van. Travis, Chris, Marcus, and Sydney were trying to use the spybots¡¯ images to select a good spot in the city to set up an ambush. Chris Cannon¡¯s grandfather came on the comm to offer them suggestions, one of which was, ¡°Just give up. You don¡¯t have anyone fast enough.¡±


    He was, as I mentioned, completely correct about that, but they still gave it a try.


    I put the phone back in my pocket, figuring that I¡¯d help if anyone asked. Just then, however, we were in a much better position to capture Alden than anyone. Granted we couldn¡¯t capture him directly, but we could get information that might help.


    We couldn¡¯t leave the parking lot at first. Jillian sat down in the second row of the van, but Jeremy stood behind her, leaning forward toward her, and everyone else crowded around the two of them.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± He asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she said. As non-answers went, it was one of the best, but it didn¡¯t save her from the followup question.


    ¡°Did you know he was a criminal?¡± The words came out of Jeremy in a rush.


    She hesitated, but finally said, ¡°N-No.¡±


    I didn¡¯t need to notice Haley¡¯s frown to guess that Jillian was lying.

 Precision: Part 8

    We pushed our way back to the van, leaving and undoubtedly violating laws about staying at the scene of a crime in the process. I wasn¡¯t sure how many heard the first part of the conversation, but there were a lot of people at the end.


    Of course, that was when Kid Biohack was there. Back when it was Alden and Jillian talking, it wouldn¡¯t have appeared to be anything more than normal conversation since he¡¯d been out of costume.


    Still, someone might have listened to all of it. In that case, the police would be very interested in anything Jillian would have to say.


    I made a mental note to share any information we got from her. I¡¯d have called them and asked them for advice as to what we should ask, but then they would have illegally collaborated with a vigilante in gathering evidence¡ªwhich had more legal implications than I was probably aware of.


    I pulled out of the theater¡¯s parking lot, hearing sirens in the distance. I wanted desperately to find out how the fight was going and also to know where the police were heading. Someone might have taken down the van¡¯s license plate and called it in.


    I¡¯d never considered the possibility that I might have a normal person (or in this case, people) inside the van when I wanted to swap the van¡¯s color and license plate. I¡¯d have to make the van shift its dashboard into ¡°superhero¡± mode to get access to changing color and everything.


    By the time I did that, I might as well turn the van into a cat mecha. The ¡°shifted¡± version of the dashboard would give away everything that mattered.


    Rather than get on the highway, I took side roads back, not the smallest, least used roads, but roads that I¡¯d describe as used, but not loved. We rode past old strip malls with bright signs advertising ¡°Payday Loans,¡± convenience stores, vacuum repair, and taquerias.


    As we drove further north, the neighborhoods began to gentrify. The liquor stores began to advertise craft beer. Old brick factories were no longer empty but instead housed small grocery stores, coffee shops, and specialty stores.


    I recognized a lingerie shop that I¡¯d once forced a guy named Tomahawk to hit.


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    That seemed like a long time ago now.


    Within a mile, the gentrified neighborhoods went away. No more factories that had been converted into cute shops or apartment buildings. These factories were still used as factories or warehouses. Even in the dark, lit only by streetlights, they still looked dirty, bland, and nearly abandoned.


    In short, my rusty, white van fit in perfectly with the odd mixture of cars, trucks, and the occasional motorcycle on the street. My van could easily be a delivery van, a carpenter, a plumber, or any of a dozen small businesses.


    I turned on the radio to a local rock station. Electric guitars cut through the silence and sounded better.


    Talking over the radio, Jeremy asked, ¡°What is this? The ¡®Worst of Grand Lake¡¯ tour?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I checked the rearview mirror, seeing him behind me along with Jillian (who was staring out the window) and Courtney (who was looking at Jillian and biting her lip). ¡°I heard sirens and thought it might be better to take side roads home in case someone sent the cops after Jillian.¡±


    At that, Jillian started crying, and not a little sniff or a small sob, but a wail followed by deep, wracking sobs, the kind you might make if you were worried about your boyfriend, who was a supervillain, and fighting his best friend, a superhero, when suddenly some idiot made you realize that you might go to jail.


    Haley raised her eyebrow. I didn¡¯t respond.


    Jillian stopped crying long enough to say, ¡°I was lying. I went along with them once.¡±


    Haley turned around, but she didn¡¯t speak before Jeremy. He said, ¡°Them?¡±


    ¡°Alden¡¯s team.¡± She held up her head to meet Jeremy¡¯s eyes. Her face was wet with tears. ¡°I have powers, and strong ones,¡± she added in what was nearly her normal voice.


    ¡°If I take power juice, I can copy people¡¯s powers, but not everybody¡¯s¡ªonly people who are energy manipulators somehow. Like Alden, he¡¯s inhumanly fast, but it¡¯s not because he¡¯s strong or fast naturally. He does something that makes him move faster than the timestream somehow.¡±


    She paused, adding, ¡°It doesn¡¯t make a lot of sense, but I can do it too. Whenever I copy someone¡¯s power, I glow. I¡¯m sure that means something, but I haven¡¯t figured out how to use the glow.¡±


    She was the second speedster¡ªthe glowing one. That made sense now. Well, partly. It still didn¡¯t explain why Haley didn¡¯t recognize Jillian¡¯s scent from the crime scene we¡¯d visited. It might be that her copying process changed her on a deep enough level that she smelled like someone else.


    ¡°I went along with them when they robbed an armored car. I didn¡¯t do anything. You don¡¯t think they¡¯d put me in jail for that, would you?¡±


    Thanks to Stapledon classes, I was pretty sure they would. If she had a good lawyer and a sympathetic prosecutor, she might be able to avoid being charged if she turned everyone in.


    ¡°There are four of them¡ªAlden, an ex-military guy who¡¯s their leader, a woman with energy powers, and this woman in eagle themed powered armor.¡±

 Precision: Part 9

    I swallowed. I¡¯d met a woman who used eagle themed powered armor. She¡¯d been a professional mercenary who worked for Rook directly, and indirectly the Nine. She¡¯d been in Rook¡¯s headquarters when we broke in to rescue Cassie. I¡¯d assumed that she¡¯d survived the headquarters blowing up, but hadn¡¯t expected to see her again.


    I hadn¡¯t beaten her as much as escaped from her, so this wasn¡¯t good news.


    With any luck, she¡¯d been hired to work for these people instead of still working for Rook. I¡¯d blown up his hand the last time we¡¯d fought. He¡¯d probably be looking for revenge.


    Slowing down for a stoplight, I said, ¡°Do you know where they¡¯re staying?¡±


    Jillian met my eyes in the rearview mirror. ¡°I know where Alden¡¯s staying, but not¡­ You¡¯re not telling me I should turn them in, are you?¡±


    I waited as the stoplight turned from yellow to red. There were no cars on the cross street. Theoretically, but not legally, I could go. I didn¡¯t.


    I said, ¡°Well, I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯d qualify as an accomplice if you were at a crime, and if you heard about any crimes after they were committed, you¡¯re probably an accessory after the fact. Come to think about it, we might be accessories after the fact if we¡¯re helping you avoid the police.¡±


    In the far back seat with Camille and Caleb, Gabriel pushed his glasses up his nose. Scarecrow straight in his seat, he said, ¡°You should turn them in. No good comes from getting involved with people like that. You¡¯re going to ruin your life.¡±


    Next to him, Camille whispered something to him. He stopped talking.


    Jillian¡¯s eyes widened, and for a second I thought she might break into tears again. Before she did, Courtney squeezed her hand. ¡°Do you remember the video of the guy who took power juice and broke his arm? Right at the beginning when it first came out? I was in the video too. I was his girlfriend and I tried power juice too, some of the first batches his uncle made.¡±


    Jillian twisted to look at her. ¡°I know. Your roommate told me. You look different than the video.¡±


    Courtney nodded even as she began to talk. ¡°I know. Even with only power juice, my power lets me make permanent changes, but I don¡¯t take power juice anymore. It¡¯s illegal, and when I tried to find one of those machines that would make powers permanent, I nearly ended up making a deal with the Nine.¡±


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    Jillian blinked. ¡°How do you know it was the Nine?¡±


    ¡°Rook was in Grand Lake last year,¡± Courtney said. ¡°One of the guys who tried to sell me access to a machine worked for him. You never know who you¡¯re getting involved with when you get into this, and everything keeps on escalating.¡±


    Jillian didn¡¯t say anything.


    The light turned green, and I pulled forward, one of a small line of vehicles. As the van got up to the speed limit, we were traveling with long, white privacy fences on both sides of the street, Alden appeared next to us.


    I wouldn¡¯t have recognized him in his costume¡ªwhich was striped white and black starting from the center of his chest. It left no skin uncovered. I only recognized him because, well, how many people in the city could keep up with the van on foot? Also, he was about the right height.


    Plus, the way Jillian snapped to attention and said, ¡°Alden!¡± as he went past helped a little.


    He must have wanted to talk to Jillian or something because he reached out and tried to open the door. He tried all the doors, more than once in a blur, but I¡¯d locked them. It would take a lot more than superspeed to get past them.


    It got worse. Something hit the top of my van with a thump. I didn¡¯t know for sure who it was, but my bet was Kid Biohack.


    I wasn¡¯t wrong.


    Alden stopped trying the doors and ran down the street, not having anywhere to go but straight forward for a very long block. With a push that I could feel, Kid Biohack jumped off the van and landed only a few steps behind Alden.


    I couldn¡¯t see details because Kid Biohack was a silvery blur while Alden was a black and white blur, but Kid Biohack must have grabbed Alden somewhere. Otherwise, Alden would have been gone.


    After a few moments, it became easier to see because even if Alden was still moving, Kid Biohack wasn¡¯t. Kid Biohack had his upper left arm, and even as Alden punched and kicked, Kid Biohack wasn¡¯t moving.


    That was all for the best because we weren¡¯t moving either.


    What you¡¯re supposed to do during a superhero fight is drive away. The government pays for public service announcements that tell people this. They tell them in order to avoid situations like the one we were in.


    Someone, or maybe several someones in each lane of a two lane road had stopped to watch or take pictures of the fight. Heck, someone had probably started live streaming it.


    Haley had her hand on the door. Keeping her voice low, she said, ¡°One of us should get out there¡ª¡±


    She might not have been wrong, but it didn¡¯t matter.


    A booming noise came from the sky above the factory to our left. There, a white privacy fence blocked my view of the yard, but the lights from the yard lit up winged powered armor with an eagle¡¯s hooked beak. One outstretched arm pointed toward the fight below. Below the arm hung a wide barrel of a gun.


    I missed the moment when the gun fired, but whatever ammunition it used, it knocked Kid Biohack through the nearest fence, ripping the metal fence and bending the slats inside the wire, leaving him somewhere in the yard.


    Then before anyone could move, a woman sheathed in swirling yellow energy swooped down, grabbed Alden and flew away.

 Precision: Part 10

    Because the van¡¯s dashboard was still in civilian mode, I couldn¡¯t even send out bots to try to follow her. I pulled out my own phone, holding it to my side, and angling it with its back toward the back, so that people behind me couldn¡¯t see the screen.


    The ¡°presence¡± screen showed that Kid Biohack¡¯s communicator was on and placed him in the factory¡¯s yard.


    There had to be another way to find out whether he was alive or not, short of running out there.


    Then I had an idea. I flipped my phone back to civilian mode and went to Kid Biohack¡¯s camera feed.


    It was dead.


    I checked the last seconds of online video. He¡¯d cut off the feed as he¡¯d gotten into the theater parking lot. Given that he streamed everything with a lag, that meant he¡¯d probably cut it off the moment he recognized Alden. That would have been before the conversation, and even before Jillian became visible.


    Hmmn.


    Deciding not to use a fight with his best friend as part of his on-going self-promotion made Kid Biohack seem almost like a decent human being. Being able to view his stream would have gone a long way toward knowing if he was conscious or not, though.


    Haley put her hand on the door handle. ¡°I¡¯m going out there. He might need first aid.¡±


    She¡¯d already pulled the first aid kit out from under the seat. As she began to open the door though, Jeremy said, ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    From the far back seat, Gabriel said, ¡°Seriously, people get killed stepping into these fights.¡±


    Near him, Caleb said, ¡°Don¡¯t be crazy.¡±


    ¡°Oh come on,¡± Camille said, sounding like she was only barely suppressing a laugh, ¡°this one¡¯s over.¡±


    That had been my thought, but as Haley¡¯s door opened wider, jets roared outside as the eagle powersuit did a quick circle above all the stopped cars and the factory yard.


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    Haley pulled her door shut.


    At about the same time a metal cylinder flew out of the yard over the privacy fence. Between the darkness and the speed I couldn¡¯t see it very well, but it looked like an oil barrel.


    It hit the eagle powersuit, knocking it sideways, but not breaking anything. It flipped over, but the wings adjusted, the jets fired and the flight smoothed out. In the end, it stayed under the pilot¡¯s control.


    I couldn¡¯t recreate the algorithm off the top of my head, but I had ideas. Whatever the system behind it was, it compensated for how hard it had been hit, taking into account the limitations of a human pilot as well as the suit¡¯s strengths.


    However messed up he was as a human being, Rook was an excellent engineer.


    The eagle suit dipped downward aiming for the line of cars, and for one excruciating second, it aimed directly at us. Soon enough though, the suit had roared over us and into the darkness.


    After it disappeared, the noise fading into the sound of sirens, and the rumble of engines, Haley leaned into me. ¡°The suit slowed down as it flew over us.¡±


    I didn¡¯t ask her how she knew. Her senses were better enough than mine that I had no reason to doubt her. Besides, I was wondering how much the person in the eagle powersuit had seen. I¡¯d tested the van with radar, sonar and anything else that might allow someone to see what it really was.


    While I couldn¡¯t make it look exactly like any of the vans it appeared to be on the surface, I could make it impossible to see anything below the surface, and that¡¯s what I¡¯d done. The only way you¡¯d find that strange is if you were thinking.


    I had a bad feeling that the person in the eagle suit (whoever they were) was thinking.


    Kid Biohack walked out of the fence hole he¡¯d blasted through. His costume hadn¡¯t been ripped, but it wasn¡¯t in good shape. The part that I could see was scratched and covered with dirt. The part that I couldn¡¯t see might have been worse. Black goo covered most of his chest, and that struck me as interesting because I¡¯d escaped the woman in the eagle suit by covering her suit in goobots.


    She (or whoever was in the suit) had shot Kid Biohack with a single, wide round. The eagle suit¡¯s goo apparently wasn¡¯t as strong as mine. Small bits stuck to  his arms and legs (where he must have ripped it off), leaving only a black, gooey mass that covered his chest.


    Interrupting my speculation about whether it was the same eagle suit and operator I¡¯d seen before, Jillian said, ¡°I¡¯m going to turn myself in.¡±


    Haley and I both turned around to stare.


    Jeremy watched her, clenching his hands. ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Jillian said, undoing her seatbelt. ¡°I don¡¯t want to, but I don¡¯t want you all to go to jail.¡±


    A police car rolled down the side of the road, half on the asphalt, half on the grass.


    ¡°If you¡¯re sure,¡± I said. ¡°My best friend¡¯s dad is a lawyer. Even if he won¡¯t take the case, he might know someone who will. I¡¯d call him before you talk to the police. I¡¯d definitely call him before you get assigned a public defender.¡±


    I texted her the number. Moments later, she stepped out of the van, and walked toward the nearest police car with Jeremy.

 Intrusion: Part 1

    I waited to see what would happen, but after a few minutes, Jeremy texted me, writing, ¡°J¡¯s talking to cops. I¡¯m riding along. You can go home.¡±


    I typed back, ¡°OK,¡± told everyone what was going on, and drove back to the dorms.


    After we got back to the university, we all walked together back to the dorm. After we got there, Caleb and Gabriel walked off toward their own rooms. Courtney hung around with Haley, Camille and me in my room for about an hour after that, talking through everything we¡¯d wished we could have said to each other back in the van.


    Plus, I ended up explaining to Courtney and Camille about the mercenary who¡¯d worn Eagle themed power armor in Rook¡¯s headquarters. Neither of them had been along that time.


    Courtney got up from behind Jeremy¡¯s desk. ¡°I thought that only happened in the movies.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    She smirked. ¡°The nemesis thing. You know what I mean. Stuck for villain? Make it the hero¡¯s opposite number, but evil. Now if they want to do it right, it should be Rook because he¡¯s got all your stuff. If it¡¯s the mercenary in the Eagle suit, they¡¯re going off script because it¡¯s almost always the same gender as the hero¡ª¡±


    I opened my mouth, but she held up her hand. ¡°No interruptions. For you, a female nemesis won¡¯t work unless you seduce her, and turn her good.¡±


    Camille laughed. ¡°And don¡¯t worry about Haley. She won¡¯t mind.¡±


    Haley shook her head, and pretended to punch Camille¡ªwho didn¡¯t stop laughing.


    ¡°But for real,¡± Courtney said, ¡°I hope you¡¯ve got your bots watching for trouble because you don¡¯t know she didn¡¯t follow us back here.¡±


    I let out a breath, nodding. ¡°You¡¯re right about that. I couldn¡¯t do anything but try to act normal, and if the Eagle suit¡¯s operator guesses who I might be, I¡¯m not the only one in danger.¡±


    Stepping closer to the door, Courtney said, ¡°I know. Don¡¯t forget to ask for help if something happens. Almost all of us are in this dorm.¡±


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    I sat up, trying to sit straight up on my mattress even though Haley sat next to me. ¡°If I get the chance, I will. Besides, it might not be me they¡¯d be after. Send a red and we¡¯ll be there.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m planning on it,¡± Courtney said, ¡°And not just because I can¡¯t do much more than try to look like someone she¡¯s not looking for.¡±


    She gave a quick grin. ¡°And now I¡¯m out of here. It¡¯s not a Stapledon weekend, so I can sleep in, and I plan to start as soon as possible.¡±


    Giving a wave, she stepped through the door as we said good bye. When the door shut, Camille stood up. ¡°She¡¯s got the right idea. It¡¯s midnight, and I¡¯ll bet you¡¯d like the room to yourselves, so¡ª¡±


    Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. For a moment, I suspected she¡¯d been the subject of a psychic attack, but then she said, ¡°Lucas?¡±


    By itself that didn¡¯t mean much except that Haley had already turned toward the window. I followed the direction of her stare.


    A man floated in the darkness, partially illuminated by the light inside my room, mostly hidden by the wall next to my window. His arm stretched upward as if he¡¯d been caught just before knocking on the window. He probably had been.


    ¡°Would you mind opening the screen?¡± He checked from side to side.


    I stepped up to the window. ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. ¡°They make it difficult on purpose. They¡¯re worried about people falling out. Not even the glass windows open all the way. Could you maybe meet us on the roof?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d love to.¡± He withdrew his arm and floated away.


    Camille blinked, and then peered at me. ¡°How do you get to the roof?¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s what I was going to ask.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s an access panel on the top floor near the stairwell on the men¡¯s side. Vaughn got me a key a couple weeks ago.¡±


    Haley got off the bed and slipped on her shoes, ¡°Where did he get it?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. He has a talent for getting things.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°I bet.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have anything to add to that, and a few minutes later we all stood on the roof. It wasn¡¯t exactly well lit on the roof, but Lucas looked like he had every time I¡¯d seen him¡ªbutton down shirt and slacks, short hair, and light skin. He was in his late twenties.


    He was Vaughn¡¯s perfect cousin. If Vaughn was the cousin who was perpetually in trouble, crashing cars, getting involved with drugs, and ending up in rehab, Lucas had gone the opposite route¡ªtop grades, medical school, and awards all the way through.


    Holding out his hand and shaking each of ours, he said, ¡°It¡¯s been a while. A long time since Justice Fist, right Camille?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Not long enough.¡±


    He laughed. ¡°It was a horrible mess, wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    I met his eyes. ¡°It seemed like the only time we ever saw you was when you felt Sean was about to do something stupid.¡±


    ¡°Then we saw each other often.¡± He grinned at me, but then shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s nothing like that now. I¡¯ve been watching the news, and you¡¯re having a hard time with that gang that¡¯s been robbing armored cars. It¡¯s only a matter of time before my dad ropes me into the family business.


    ¡°Would you mind if I helped?"

 Intrusion: Part 2

    A breeze blew across the roof, and I thought about what he¡¯d said. ¡°I¡¯m not making the decisions, but I can bring it up. One thing we¡¯d probably want is that you¡¯d train with us at least a couple times a week. That way we can coordinate.¡±


    Haley added, ¡°We¡¯ll probably have to bring it to a vote, but we know you. I don¡¯t think anyone would be against it.¡±


    She pursed her lips. ¡°Don¡¯t take this wrong, but why now? I know we¡¯re dealing with that gang, but we¡¯ve fought other people over the past year.¡±


    Lucas shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve been doing my residency, and I don¡¯t know if you know how that works, but it¡¯s crazy. I worked sixty hours a week most weeks, sometimes more. Now my residency¡¯s over and I¡¯m working at the hospital downtown. For the first time in years, I¡¯ve got predictable hours again. Well, mostly predictable.¡±


    Camille nodded as he finished. ¡°Sixty hour weeks? That sounds awful. How were you even in Justice Fist?¡±


    ¡°Not easily,¡± he said. ¡°I probably would have been easier on Sean if I hadn¡¯t been so tired.¡±


    He met my eyes. ¡°Is he getting better? It seems like I¡¯ve seen the two of you on TV fighting beside each other lately. Before I knew who you were, all I knew was that he really hated some kid named Nick.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Yeah. I think he¡¯s getting better. I pulled some strings and Preserver healed his sister. She was hurt fighting aliens last spring.¡±


    ¡°The same way you got Paladin over here when the Cabal¡¯s soldier shot me,¡± he said. ¡°They¡¯re good friends to have.¡±


    ¡°I knew them long before I got involved in this stuff. Preserver knew my grandfather, and I played with Alex when he visited. They¡¯re family friends.¡± There wasn¡¯t more to say than that. Even if Alex and I weren¡¯t much like each other, we had each other¡¯s back. Somehow hours of play had set the stage for trust. Had my grandfather intended that?


    ¡°Family,¡± Lucas said, shaking his head. ¡°I get that. My dad¡¯s been grooming me to run the family businesses practically since I was born. I thought becoming a doctor might bother him, but it doesn¡¯t at all. We¡¯re big into medical equipment and pharmaceuticals these days. He thinks being a doctor will give me extra credibility.¡±


    He grinned. ¡°Credibility was the last thing I had in mind.¡±


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    Haley had been looking off the side of the roof. She turned her head towards us, eying Lucas with an intensity that made me wonder if she was going to change form. ¡°Do you want to run the family business?¡±


    He cocked his head. ¡°More yes than no, but I¡¯m not completely sold on it. My dad¡¯s never away from the job. Sure, it¡¯s made the whole family rich, but we can¡¯t get away from it. He¡¯s handled work crises on family vacations. Even going on vacation in Europe you wouldn¡¯t believe how close his office feels.¡± He gave a lopsided grin. ¡°Of course, we¡¯ve got offices in Europe¡­¡±


    Haley glanced at me. She probably wanted to tell me something, but I had no idea what.


    Lucas looked at her and then at me, and came to a decision. ¡°If you need my help, don¡¯t hesitate to call me. You¡¯ve got my number.¡±


    ¡°We will,¡± I said.


    He floated upward, stopping about six feet off the ground. ¡°And say, ¡®hi¡¯ to Vaughn. You¡¯ll see him before I will. Oh, and tell him congratulations for being accepted into the pre-med program.¡±


    Then he flew away, disappearing into the darkness.


    Camille watched him go, but then she said, ¡°Vaughn¡¯s pre-med? I didn¡¯t know that. He doesn¡¯t seem the type.¡±


    I glanced over at her. ¡°What type is that?¡±


    She frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t know. He¡¯s smart, but he doesn¡¯t seem that ambitious. And everybody knows what he was like in high school.¡±


    ¡°He stopped doing drugs,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe he¡¯s more ambitious than we know about. I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Camille grinned. ¡°I don¡¯t know either, but it¡¯s late, and I still want to go to bed.¡±


    She walked over to the access panel and opened it. Then she gave us a wave and floated downward.


    That left Haley and me together on the roof. It was almost romantic. The view at least was great. Depending on the direction we looked, we could see the lights of the university¡¯s dorm, parking garage, lecture halls, and paths on campus. Further in the distance, we could see the lights of cars and trucks on the elevated highway.


    Alongside the highway, downtown¡¯s skyscrapers glowed as did the smaller buildings near the water¡ªrestaurants, marinas and harbor buildings.


    Past that, of course, we could see the darkness of Grand Lake, the lights of the few boats out on it as well as the lights that illuminated the channel between Grand Lake and the immensely larger Lake Michigan, ending in the now ornamental lighthouse.


    The gravel on the flat roof in combination with blocky, metal HVAC equipment and huge fans made it feel less romantic.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯ve gotten used to this,¡± Haley said, staring in the direction of Grand Lake. The gravel crunched beneath her shoes.


    ¡°Got used to what?¡± I walked with her, hoping that she wouldn¡¯t go too close to the edge.


    ¡°Night time meetings on the roof and being in the middle of cape fights. Gabriel, Caleb, Jeremy, and Jillian were all scared. I was too, but not much.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve been in worse,¡± I said.


    ¡°I know, but it separates us. It¡¯s not normal.¡± She stopped walking a good ten feet from the end. She could have balanced on the edge. She¡¯d stopped for me.


    In my pocket, my phone buzzed. I pulled it out to find that I had a message from Amy. It didn¡¯t show the message on the face. That meant it came from the super end of my life.


    Haley pulled out her phone too.


    We signed into our phones to find the same message. ¡°We go into Turkmenistan two weeks from today.¡±

 Intrusion: Part 3

    Amy had sent it to everybody. As we read the first message, the second came in, ¡°Details next weekend.¡± With next weekend being a Stapledon weekend, it was the closest we could come to getting everyone together.


    Anyone who wasn¡¯t at Stapledon could watch video from the meeting in HQ. We¡¯d almost certainly need the support.


    Messages appeared from everyone involved, asking questions, discussing the situation.


    ¡°We could ignore it all until tomorrow,¡± I said.


    Haley sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯d regret it.¡±


    We went back to my room and followed the discussion on our phones until 2am when Jeremy came back to the dorm. He climbed up on his bed without taking his clothes off and exhaled a long breath. ¡°Jillian¡¯s out.¡±


    ¡°No kidding?¡± Haley and I looked at each other, and then back at Jeremy. He flopped his head sideways.


    ¡°Yeah. She called David Cohen, the number you gave us. He told her not to give the police anything until he met us there, and to let the police know that he was her lawyer.¡±


    He pulled himself on the bed. ¡°Did you know he was a former prosecutor?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, hoping this wasn¡¯t a problem.


    ¡°Well, thanks.¡± He leaned forward. ¡°I mean that. Everybody, and I¡¯m including the police, knew him, and they seemed to like him. When he walked into the room, the cops relaxed. They¡¯d seemed a little nervous about everything, and a little annoyed when she said she wasn¡¯t going to talk until her lawyer was there. I wasn¡¯t there for all the details because they sent me out of the room, but they¡¯re not charging her for anything. She can¡¯t leave town, but it could have been so much worse.


    ¡°It¡¯s a big relief.¡±


    For a second, he did look relieved. He slumped a little on the bed, but then he lifted his head up and looked me in the eye. ¡°So who was that? Does the League have him on retainer or something?¡±


    ¡°Something like that. If we had him on retainer, there would inevitably be a money trail back to us, and well, that probably wouldn¡¯t be good, but we have connections.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Jeremy said, glancing over at Haley, ¡°he¡¯s one of the good ones. Oh, and I don¡¯t want mess things up for the two of you, but you weren¡¯t planning on staying overnight, were you?¡±


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    Haley glanced over at me, raising an eyebrow. ¡°No, and I¡¯m sure you want to sleep.¡± She stood up, asking, ¡°Tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got no plans,¡± I said.


    ¡°You do now,¡± she said. ¡°Don¡¯t forget,¡± and walked out the door.


    Jeremy shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s weird knowing who she really is. Does that ever get you?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I grew up meeting other heroes and their kids, often when they were out of costume. My grandfather wouldn¡¯t always tell me who they were, but it wasn¡¯t hard to figure out when I saw what he was making for them. In some ways, it¡¯s weirder when I see someone on the news and don¡¯t have any idea who they are.¡±


    Jumping off the bed and beginning to take off his shirt, he added,¡°You¡¯ve had a weird life. You know that, right?¡±


    The next two weeks were boring, and by boring I mean pleasant, and normal. Wherever Jillian''s boyfriend''s gang was hiding out, they left no sign that we could follow, and the police weren¡¯t volunteering anything that Jillian had told them. More to the point, Jillian wasn¡¯t either. That left attending class, doing homework, and training with Lee several times a week. Even time spent with Haley was safe from interruptions.


    Lucas even showed up for practice a couple times.


    Even the Stapledon weekend wasn¡¯t worth worrying about. We had the meeting with attendance to end all meetings at least as Heroes¡¯ League meetings went. Beyond the League members who were enrolled in Stapledon, we had Alex¡¯ friends from California, Samita and Rod from D.C., Amy, Tara, and Izzy. Everyone in the League who wasn¡¯t in Stapledon yet watched in HQ.


    We agreed on a plan, created a list of what we¡¯d have to practice and made sure everyone had their marching orders.


    During the week afterward, we practiced, we sent videos to each other and evaluated how we were doing. On Friday night, Marcus and I picked up the members of our task force from their universities, and before ten we were all there.


    With all the people, it almost felt like our summer movie nights, but not quite. Hospitality and last minute preparations filled the evening. Cassie, Daniel, and Jaclyn set visitors up with cots in the main room. Meanwhile, I fitted everyone who didn¡¯t already have one with one of the new Heroes¡¯ League suits. At the same time, Amy gave everyone one of the red, gemlike objects that she used to ward off supernatural threats.


    Apparently, it wasn¡¯t as simple as handing them out. She needed to customize them somehow. So while I sat at the counter on one side of my lab, fitting League suits to people, Amy stood in a corner of the main room. Her voice carried into my lab, asking questions, and being drowned out by what felt like an army.


    She walked through the door as Bloodmaiden¡ªblack armor with red, gemlike accents, and a visible glowing gem on her chest. She¡¯d never said so, but I¡¯d always suspected she had more power to work with that way.


    Camille stood in front of me. Her suit was black like the others, covering every bit of skin, impossible to identify except by the number nine written on her chest.


    Checking the screen on my computer, she said, ¡°I¡¯m not stuck looking like this, am I?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I began but didn¡¯t get the chance to complete my thought.


    Amy marched up to us. ¡°There¡¯s something magically wrong with everyone I¡¯ve worked on today. What have you been doing?¡±

 Intrusion: Part 4

    ¡°Nothing with magic. I don¡¯t even know magic.¡±


    Amy held up her hands in front of her, ¡°I know! Do you have anyone who uses magic in the group? Or in the city that you¡¯re friendly with?¡±


    ¡°No. The closest we¡¯ve got to that is Lee, but if he¡¯s magical, no one can detect it¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, no¡­ Wait,¡± Amy began, clenching her fists, and letting her gloved hands fall to her sides. ¡°That¡¯s it. It¡¯s Lee, somehow.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow and tried to meet her eyes. Her helmet made that harder, hiding the upper half of her face. ¡°Are you sure? I¡¯ve been told that wizards can¡¯t detect any magic on him at all. Now, psychics can detect something strange about him, but when they make mental contact, they tend to go insane.¡±


    Holding up her left hand, Amy said, ¡°Hear me out. Your wizards aren¡¯t using blood magic, and I¡¯m not sensing him. Many of the most powerful supernatural entities change the world around them just by being there. Over the years, the Bloodmaidens have come to believe that he¡¯s very powerful. So, it¡¯s not a surprise that he¡¯d affect all of you.¡±


    ¡°And you,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ve been training with him for a year now. That¡¯s a long time.¡±


    She nodded, ¡°That¡¯s right, but¡­¡± Her voice trailed off, but then her eyes widened, and she started talking a little louder and with a hint of a British accent. ¡°I know why¡­ Blood magic is more than magic that uses blood. On a symbolic level, blood is life. Thus blood magic is life magic, touching both on necromancy and soul magic. At its core, it¡¯s concerned with life¡¯s essence.¡±


    The accent faded, and Amy finished with, ¡°That¡¯s what was wrong. I have to tune the blood gems I made to each of you and your essences are a little bit off from what I thought.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, wondering how much I should tell her, thinking back to the conversation I¡¯d had with Lee on my eighteenth birthday where he¡¯d told me what he was.


    Off to my left, Camille said, ¡°That didn¡¯t sound like you at all.¡±


    I could have jumped out of my skin. I¡¯d completely forgotten she was there.


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    Amy¡¯s jaw tightened. ¡°One of the past Bloodmaidens very nearly changed how people practiced blood magic all on her own. She developed new theories and techniques that almost everyone uses now while other theories are still too controversial. I used her words to explain it.¡±


    Frowning, Amy added, ¡°I¡¯m a little surprised at how far she went. Please don¡¯t repeat what she said about necromancy and soul magic. As for Lee, all they¡¯d ever tell me was that he was powerful and immortal. I¡¯d guessed that he was extremely powerful since he knew everything about me that the version of him in my world knows, but no one told me that he changed the people around him simply by being nearby.¡±


    ¡°I guess that would knock him up another level of power.¡±


    Amy grinned, ¡°At least.¡±


    Camille looked from Amy to me. ¡°Should I even be here? I think I¡¯m going to go.¡±


    ¡°The past Bloodmaidens seem to think you¡¯re trustworthy, but you don¡¯t have to stay.¡±


    As Camille walked out of the lab, I said, ¡°Is Lee¡¯s essence a problem? Does it mean that the wards won¡¯t work?¡±


    Pulling out a blood gem and dropping it in my hand, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s see.¡±


    Then Amy stared at the gem for a full minute. ¡°I think you¡¯re okay. The wards are holding.¡±


    I looked over the gem. The multi-faceted reddish stone didn¡¯t look any more strange than any other gemstone. ¡°I guess that¡¯s good news. If the wards weren¡¯t holding, we¡¯d have to scrub the mission until you could find better help.¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know where I¡¯d find people I¡¯d trust enough. At that point, I¡¯d go it alone.¡±


    I looked her over. Between the armor, and the height and muscle she gained with her transformation, I could imagine her doing that. Still¡­ ¡°That sounds like a death sentence.¡±


    Amy shrugged. ¡°Bloodmaidens have fought the Thing That Eats alone and won. I¡¯d find a way. That thing can¡¯t be allowed to keep on living.¡±


    I met her eyes. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine facing it down alone. I admire the intention, but it sounds like a disaster in the making.¡±


    Nodding Amy said, ¡°I know. The drive to destroy that thing? That¡¯s more the Bloodmaidens than me. I agree. It¡¯s got to be destroyed. It does nothing but kill when it¡¯s alive, but I¡¯m not looking forward to it.¡±


    She didn¡¯t cry and she controlled her voice, but I thought I heard fear. I felt like there must be something that I should say, but the only thing that came out was, ¡°I¡¯m not looking forward to it either.¡±


    We nodded in agreement, and she left. I told people how to use their suits, and she customized gems to our mixed essences.


    The next morning we were all together in the main room in costume. Amy stood in front of the group. ¡°The plan will be simple. We know where his house is, and we know that he¡¯ll be there. We¡¯ll drop from the jet, and divide into two groups. The outside group will keep any assistance from making it inside. The rest of us will confront The Thing That Eats and either kill or imprison him.


    ¡°Every one of us will have a protective ward and a spare. If your wards are damaged, you¡¯ll need to retreat to the ship. We can¡¯t risk leaving it a vessel for its power, and you don¡¯t want to become one.¡±

 Intrusion: Part 5

    Amy eyed the group of us. ¡°We can¡¯t simply kill it. If we do, it will try to possess someone else, and there¡¯s a chance, however small, that the host hasn¡¯t been completely consumed.


    ¡°Knowing that, the wards you¡¯ve been given don¡¯t only protect you. If we can surround the creature with wards, we can trap it.¡±


    Marcus raised his hand and waved it. ¡°What do we do with it after that? Our grandparents stored a spirit of chaos here for a while but it broke out. Nick and I were both possessed¡ª¡±


    At Amy¡¯s look, he added, ¡°We got out of it, but that¡¯s not the point. I¡¯m just saying that we shouldn¡¯t keep him here.¡±


    Amy waved the comment away with her right hand. ¡°Reliquary has this all worked out. He¡¯s going to be here to take it when we get back. He also called in some favors. So now we have a Russian wizard¡¯s team to back us up.¡±


    I was about to say something like, ¡°Good¡ª¡± when she continued. ¡°That¡¯s the good news. The bad news is that those of you who were involved in getting Izzy into and out of Turkmenistan will recognize them as the team that Izzy fought on the way out.¡±


    Travis didn¡¯t raise his hand, just his voice. ¡°Are you kidding me? Couldn¡¯t you or Samita have convinced him to get someone else? Those guys are going to recognize her, and if not her, the jet. It¡¯s going to cause an international incident.¡±


    Samita stepped out of the crowd, her red hood down, upper half of her face still hidden by her mask. ¡°No, we told Reliquary everything including that, and he said the Russians will ignore it unless we make them pay attention. Izzy¡¯s not wearing the same costume, and we¡¯re not going to fly low over Russian territory this time. So everything should be fine.¡±


    I looked over at Izzy, and she was wearing the same costume as everyone who was going in¡ªa black costume with red highlights that looked roughly the same as Amy¡¯s armor. All of us had red numbers on our chests so that we, at least, could identify each other.


    I couldn¡¯t have said whose idea it was¡ªpossibly Tara¡¯s, but the logic worked. The creature knew and feared the Bloodmaiden, but didn¡¯t know Amy. In the heat of battle, it wouldn¡¯t have time to figure which one of us she was.


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    It also had the convenient side effect of making it hard to figure out who we were.


    Like most of us, Izzy hadn¡¯t formed her suit¡¯s helmet. She caught Amy¡¯s eye. ¡°If it would help, I¡¯ll stay here.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t.¡± Amy surveyed the group of us, her red hair brushing her shoulders, and standing out against her armor. ¡°We need all of you. Let¡¯s go over the plan one more time¡­¡±


    We left in the late afternoon, knowing that we¡¯d arrive around four in the morning. Leaving Samita behind to set up wards in case one of us came back possessed, Alex in case we were mortally injured, and more than half the League to assist them, ten of us left in the jet.


    Haley flew since she¡¯d logged more time flying than anyone but me. I was on the team that would be going into the house to face the creature.


    With Haley acting as pilot, I took the weapons console, turning on the shields the moment we exited the water. Sheathing the jet in black, energy absorbing shields made us more noticeable visually, but invisible to radar. Haley kept us low until we were out of sight of any boats and then took us up, waiting to break the sound barrier until we were 30,000 feet up, and then heading straight for orbit.


    We made it into space in half the time it took to cross Grand Lake during rush hour, moving from daylight on the ground to seeing the blue and white of Earth beneath us and infinite darkness and stars above.


    Soon enough, we descended into the dark side of the planet, night swallowing up everything, and many of the stars disappearing.


    Monitoring the jet¡¯s sensors, I learned one thing that made me happy¡ªthere were no signs of missile launches, which meant that our flight hadn¡¯t triggered a nuclear war.


    It wasn¡¯t likely that it would, but you never knew.


    We descended more slowly than we could have, using anti-gravity to slow us down and stabilize us. Directional jets kept us on target. Even though the shields obscured the main engine¡¯s exhaust to a degree, using it would have made it considerably easier to detect us.


    The lights of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan¡¯s capital glowed below us. With desert on one side of the city and mountains on the other, the city stood out. Light itself wasn¡¯t the only reason. It had streetlights like any other city I¡¯d seen, but they used more colors to light big buildings than they did back in Grand Lake. I saw purple, green and blue while we were still fairly high up.


    As we sank lower, I could see more detail¡ªat least on the largest buildings. The boxy rectangular column-like buildings were apartments. Other buildings with huge domes and wide plazas could have passed for palaces, but I suspected they were government buildings.


    We ignored them, choosing instead to aim toward a compound off of a major highway. It was one of many similar compounds. I didn¡¯t know for sure, but to me they looked like mansions. Whatever the rest of them were, this one made me think of a medieval keep¡ªhigh walls loomed over the trees on the grounds.


    ¡°I guess this is our stop,¡± I said.


    Haley bit her lip.


    ¡°Good luck, everybody,¡± Vaughn said from one of the seats behind us, and fog began to form on the ground.

 Intrusion: Part 6

    I wondered how much fog Ashgabat saw normally. It didn¡¯t seem likely that a city in a desert would have much fog. We were practically announcing, ¡°Hey everybody, there¡¯s something strange in your neighborhood.¡±


    On the other hand, we¡¯d chosen the team based on strength, not stealth. Izzy, Rod, Jaclyn, Amy, Cassie and I were taking on the The Thing That Eats directly. Daniel, Vaughn, Camille, and Haley would be outside, discouraging interference.


    ¡°One more thing,¡± Amy said, standing up and walking toward the hatch. ¡°We know he¡¯s tough. That¡¯s why you¡¯re here, but that¡¯s not all. Somehow he knows what to say to manipulate people. There¡¯s not enough time to use it in combat, but just to be safe, don¡¯t listen to him.


    ¡°And remember what we practiced.¡±


    She took a breath, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Then she opened the hatch. ¡°Troll?¡± Rod stood next to her as himself, not as a troll, wearing a mask and a black trenchcoat, his blond beard blowing a little in the breeze.


    Then she grabbed him, and they stepped out of the hatch, floating down to the roof. Izzy and Jaclyn went next, both in black and red costumes. That left Cassie and I. I looked over at Haley, and we both said, ¡°Good luck.¡± Then in a move that felt strangely like dancing, Cassie stepped on one of the Rocket suit¡¯s boots, and put her arm around my shoulder. I put my arm around her waist, and we stepped out of the jet.


    I turned on the rocket pack and felt our descent slow. In my mind, Daniel thought, Stay safe.


    I thought back, I¡¯ll try. Notice anything?


    I sense a great danger below you. His amusement carried over our connection.


    Yeah. Thanks a lot. Me too.


    Seconds later, we landed on the roof. Cassie let go and I fired off a series of spybots that spread out and peered into windows. The bots sprayed the inside of the building with sound, infrared, and other methods of seeing in the dark.


    The bots mapped the outside rooms in less than a minute. Then a killbot cut a hole through the wall and all the bots followed it in, mapping as they went. Once inside they spread out again, adding one room after another in seconds.


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    Despite being halfway across the world, it didn¡¯t feel like it. It felt like the house of an old, but important man that could have been located anywhere. At the same time, as the rooms flashed into view inside my helmet, I couldn¡¯t help but feel that something was a little off.


    The house held more than twenty bedrooms, and only one of them showed any signs that a person lived there. That one only stood out because it was bigger than any of the others, and not because it held any sense of the owner¡¯s personality. It did have a painting of a battle where a line of Roman legionnaires fought cavalry, but aside from that, it could have been a hotel room.


    No guards sat in the guard room. No servants slept in the servants¡¯ quarters.


    The first signs of habitation appeared in the basement. One large room, it contained everything that couldn¡¯t be shown in public¡ªany public.


    A line of four cells ran down one wall. Metal bars ran from ceiling to floor, and metal chains hung from the wall. Thin mattresses sat in the corner of each cell.


    I didn¡¯t know if they were visible to the naked eye, but dark spots stained the concrete floor in the computer generated composite of the cells.


    I didn¡¯t have time to be repulsed by the thought of what must have been done there. Even as I¡¯d begun to think about why The Thing might need cells, I¡¯d noticed another section of wall. It held pictures of people without any particular pattern¡ªold, young, male and female, ugly and attractive.


    The newer pictures all appeared to be from Turkmenistan.


    As I absorbed that, Izzy said, ¡°I found him.¡± From the intensity in her voice, I guessed that she¡¯d noticed the cells too, and maybe more.


    I¡¯d found him too. Next to the section of wall with the pictures of his victims stood several bookshelves, a desk, and oddly, a couple statues that might have been lifted from a Greek temple somewhere.


    A man sat at the desk, his skin faded and covered with liver spots. He wore a suit, but the jacket hung on the chair behind him, and the shirt was unbuttoned to show the white t-shirt underneath.


    I didn¡¯t know what the books were about, but from the big circle on the floor I guessed sorcery. The eagle ring on the man¡¯s hand brought up other memories.


    The eagle looked like the eagle that Roman legions had used, but that the Cabal had kept alive, meaning that the wreck of a man we saw might well once have been a Cabal soldier.


    That was unnerving. The worst of them had been both nearly invulnerable, and practically immortal. If he was one of them, not even natural immortality could prevent The Thing That Eats from absorbing someone¡¯s body into its own shape.


    It was disgusting.


    ¡°What have you got, Rocket? Confirmation?¡± Amy and the others watched me, waiting for my answer.


    ¡°That and more,¡± I said. ¡°What happens when The Thing absorbs someone with powers?¡±

 Intrusion: Part 7

    I couldn¡¯t read Amy¡¯s face as easily when the helmet covered half of it. Still, she stiffened. ¡°What kind of powers?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not sure. I think he took over a Cabal soldier. The Cabal¡¯s normal soldiers had a wide variety, and mostly their powers weren¡¯t fully developed, but their reserves were terrifying. Think strong, nearly invulnerable, and they regenerate. Actually, you duplicated one of their descendant¡¯s powers, so you know them better than I do.¡±


    Amy stared. ¡°Crap. I can¡¯t say how it works in this world, but in mine he kept any abilities that were purely physical. He didn¡¯t always keep magic. Some kinds of magic weren¡¯t accessible to him, especially anything opposed to whatever he is.¡±


    Her eyes swept over the group. ¡°This changes our plan. If he¡¯s one of the Cabal¡¯s reserves we¡¯re going to have to go in as hard as we can. If he can regenerate like I could then¡­ Accelerando, you¡¯ve fought them. Can we keep one down long enough to surround him with wards?¡±


    Jaclyn nodded, only distinguishable from everyone else because she was taller than everyone but Izzy and me. ¡°With Blue and Troll we can hold him down and I can get the wards around him.¡±


    Cassie didn¡¯t let them go any further, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯ve got this. The last time we fought the Cabal, the Rocket discovered they were far from invulnerable to high powered lasers, and guess who¡¯s got lasers? Me and the Rocket.¡±


    She moved her gun in front of her from where it hung at her side. Made of a shimmery blue-green metal, it was currently the size of a submachine gun. Its shape adjusted to her needs, so tomorrow it might be the size of a rifle or pistol.


    Amy gave a quick nod in response. ¡°Well, if that¡¯s what we have to do, we¡¯ll do it. You two can hurt him, and then while he¡¯s healing we¡¯ll surround him with wards. Remember everyone, if we don¡¯t know what he is, Cabal or normal human, we have to find out because if we kill the host, who knows where The Thing That Eats will reappear?¡±


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    She¡¯d said that before, but I couldn¡¯t deny the point bore repeating.


    Presumably satisfied that we¡¯d gotten the point, she said, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go. Troll?¡±


    Rod smiled. ¡°Follow the bouncing mythological humanoid¡­¡±


    In his place stood a strangely warped version of himself¡ªtwo stories tall with gnarled muscles, and a wide jaw full of big teeth.


    Izzy chucked a black ball that hit him and expanded into a skintight black and red accented suit with a superficial similarity to Amy¡¯s Bloodmaiden look¡ªjust like the rest of us.


    The Thing That Eats would never confuse him with Amy, but it might be fun to watch him process the difference.


    Troll took a few steps as the roof made cracking noises, and then stepped off the edge, landing on the grass next to the building with a solid thump.


    We all followed. Cassie used one of my redesigned grapple guns to descend using a line of sticky goo. Izzy, Amy, and I flew down while Jaclyn jumped off the roof, landing next to Rod.


    Rod stepped up to the wall, leaned in, and gave it a push. Though it had been designed to look like stone, it was concrete and shattered. A solid push bent the rebar inside, and brushing away the metal bars with his arms, he stepped inside the house. Then he kicked through the concrete floor inside with one foot, leaning down and ripping more floor away with his arms, and then jumping through the hole he¡¯d created.


    He¡¯d done all of that in less than ten seconds.


    With the noise, we couldn¡¯t do anything but alert the Thing to our arrival, so I¡¯d been watching with the spybots to see how he responded. He¡¯d stood up at his desk when Rod broke through the wall, but when Rod broke through the floor and jumped into the basement, The Thing ran toward the breach.


    For me, that was a serious clue that the man had been one of the reserves. For anyone else, the sensible response to having a troll break through your concrete wall is to leave.


    This creature changed from the withered man we¡¯d seen at his desk to the same withered man, but then with a head nearly the size of his body. The head had a mouth large enough to surround any one of us except for Rod in one bite (plus a little slurping to suck in a stray arm or leg).


    It appeared to have been constructed out of fleshlike brick squares, creating a matrix of lines across the head.


    Nothing about that made sense to me, but I didn¡¯t have to understand it, just keep people aware of it.


    ¡°The Thing¡¯s seen Troll and is charging him.¡±


    With that, we followed him in.

 Intrusion: Part 8

    Jaclyn and Izzy went first, followed by Amy (flying), Cassie, who jumped in after her, and finally me.


    The Thing leapt as Rod closed with him, aiming for Rod¡¯s abdomen, knocking Rod backward for all his bulk, and throwing him to the floor.


    For me at least, this instantly confirmed the ¡°Cabal Reserves¡± theory about The Thing¡¯s host.


    The concrete around Rod shattered, throwing bits of floor into the air. To my gratification, Rod¡¯s costume stayed together¡ªmostly. The small rips around where the creature¡¯s fist hit him mended themselves.


    Surprisingly agile for a being so lopsided, The Thing rolled across Rod¡¯s chest and landing on it¡¯s feet next to his shoulder.


    Opening its freakishly wide mouth, it bent towards his head. Though it easily could have fit Rod¡¯s head inside, it never got the chance to bite down.


    Between the low light of the basement and my position behind everyone else, I didn¡¯t see what happened as it happened, but my HUD tracked Jaclyn¡¯s change of position as she moved from the hole Rod had broken through almost instantly to where The Thing That Eats stood over Rod, punching The Thing in the head.


    She must have concluded that the host had been part of Cabal¡¯s reserves too because she didn¡¯t hold back. Her fist hit him with a thudding noise that I could feel through my armor.


    The blow threw him across the basement. He hit the far wall with his head, turning the concrete into dangerously large flying chunks and a cloud of gray dust.


    Even though I knew better, part of me hoped he was dead. We weren¡¯t that lucky.


    Consistent with how we¡¯d practiced, Izzy was already nearly on him. If she and Jaclyn could hold him, we might get a chance to surround him with wards. Unfortunately, we hadn¡¯t practiced with a Cabal soldier in mind.


    Before Izzy could reach him, he jumped upward, crashing through the wall and the floor above us.


    He was outside.


    Daniel¡¯s mind touched mine. He¡¯s out.


    I know.


    I sent the spybots to fly after him. Daniel pointed out the right spot in the fog.


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    Jaclyn followed Izzy out. Amy flew after them. Cassie appeared to be slowing as she neared Rod, but didn¡¯t end up stopping. He rolled over as she closed, and sprinted toward the hole, smashing through it in an explosion of concrete.


    Cassie glanced back at me before she jumped out. ¡°What are you waiting for?¡±


    Not having an answer, I turned on the rocket pack, and flew out after her, shooting upward, above the fog. I hung in the air, using the spybots to point me in the right direction, and then the HUD to get me detail.


    Over the comm, Izzy said, ¡°I see him. He¡¯s going toward the next house. If he gets any closer I¡¯m going in.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s fog covered the entire lawn except for maybe ten feet around the house. My HUD¡¯s composite image showed The Thing stumbling through the fog, moving toward the next house.


    I tapped my palm, allowing me to talk on our group channel. ¡°No one get close. I¡¯m going to take a shot.¡±


    Then I activated the laser, pointing my arm toward the creature and firing. A beam of white laser light showed up against the fog, burning through the creature¡¯s cheek.


    The Thing shrieked, but it wasn¡¯t a simple shriek. This one cut through the night. It didn¡¯t hurt my ears, but it felt like it passed through the Rocket suit¡¯s filters much like a cold winter wind passed through a coat.


    This brought to mind images of snow, of shivering alone in the cold, and the feeling of an unsatisfied hunger.


    Then came strange warmth and the feeling stopped. At the same time I realized that the Rocket suit glowed red. I could see it in my HUD thanks to the spybots, and I wasn¡¯t the only one. We all glowed.


    This wasn¡¯t a good thing.


    The Thing sank toward the ground and then it jumped, flying through the air toward me. If I¡¯d had time to reason it out, I probably would have opened up the rockets full blast and shot away, knowing that the worst thing I could do would be to let it grab me.


    No matter how quickly the suit tried to repair itself, it could probably rip it off, or damage the suit to the point that repairs were impossible.


    That¡¯s not what I did.


    I opened up with bots I¡¯d packed full of explosives that I¡¯d taken to calling boombots. I sent more than twenty at it, and The Thing disappeared in fire.


    I knew it wouldn¡¯t be enough to kill it, but by sheer luck it was enough to alter the creature¡¯s course through the air. It spun leftward, end over end, and it would have passed me altogether¡ªexcept it never got the chance.


    Izzy caught up with it from behind, spiking its head like a volleyball, driving it toward the ground.


    Amy¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°Storm King dissolve the fog around¡ª¡±


    The Thing hit the ground with a thud and a wail of rage that was good news in the sense that we hadn¡¯t killed it, forcing it to choose a new and unpredictable body, but bad in the sense that this meant it could keep up the magical attacks.


    Except¡­ Izzy didn¡¯t let it. She screamed. Her scream wasn¡¯t magical, but it could shatter stone. It drowned out the Thing¡¯s wail or shocked it so deeply that it stopped, pushing away the fog around it.


    It pushed itself off the ground, then began to crouch, ready to jump again.


    This time though, I targeted its right leg, white light burning a hole into it. At almost the same time another beam came out of the fog, this one red, hitting its left leg.


    Cassie¡¯s gun.


    Now we just had to get the wards around it before its legs healed. I grabbed my secondary ward from a pouch on the suit, wondering what the new noise I¡¯d begun to hear in the background meant.


    Then I recognized it. It was sirens.

 Intrusion: Part 9

    At the same time, lights came on in nearby houses. Hovering above the fog, I noticed something that I hadn¡¯t before. The bigger houses that stood next to the four-lane road were all different from each other. On the narrower streets behind them stood identical, white two-story houses that didn¡¯t quite look Western though I was at a loss as to why.


    Thanks to the light, I could see that they were white boxes with green shingled roofs. Even if I couldn¡¯t imagine them in Michigan, there wasn¡¯t anything especially unusual about them.


    Pushing aside speculations about the manufacturing process that led to them and what it might say about Turkmenistan¡¯s culture and economy, I concentrated on the glowing, red ward I¡¯d pulled out of my pouch.


    Wishing Amy hadn¡¯t nixed my idea for ¡°wardbots,¡± I lowered myself into the rapidly expanding circle of fog around The Thing That Eats. Its legs were already visibly healing.


    As it began to push itself up, Cassie shot it again, a red beam lancing out of the fog to burn through one thigh and then another.


    The Thing screamed, trying to dodge the beam, but only succeeding in falling.


    Cassie didn¡¯t stop with simply shooting through the legs, she cut them nearly off. At the speed that they were healing, I couldn¡¯t blame her. I might even thank her except that the charred, blackened cuts were disturbing to look at and even more disturbing when specks of pink began to appear on the Thing¡¯s burnt flesh.


    Ignoring it, I landed near the Thing and dropped my spare ward in front of me. At about the same time Rod stepped out of the fog, a two-story nightmare in black and red. He dropped his spare ward off to the side of mine.


    The Thing That Eats flinched.


    At about that moment Izzy, Jaclyn, Amy and Cassie appeared, walking out of the fog, or in the case of Izzy and Amy, landing near us and dropping their wards in a rough circle around The Thing.


    It seemed to recognize what was happening, and tried to get away, pulling itself up with its arms and across the grass toward the edge of the circle.


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    Amy said words in a language I didn¡¯t recognize except that it sounded almost like English, but not quite, and a red wall appeared around the circle. She glanced over at the rest of us. ¡°It¡¯s going to take a few more minutes for me to pull its essence out of the man. It¡¯s going to have time to talk. Remember what I told you. Don¡¯t listen to it.¡±


    Its eyes swept over the group of us, and it nodded slowly. ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯s correct. The Bloodmaiden can always be trusted in these matters even one as young as this one. How did she come to be here, I wonder? Did something go wrong back home? Is your kingdom in danger, or perhaps destroyed? If that¡¯s true, remember, I¡¯ve been here for hundreds of years now. It¡¯s not my fault. It¡¯s yours.¡±


    Amy didn¡¯t say anything even if the muscles around her mouth tightened. She kept on muttering in the language I¡¯d heard earlier, sometimes making hand motions.


    The Thing smiled. On a head that was wider than most people¡¯s bodies, it felt disquieting to watch that smile slowly expand, hinting at normal human teeth, but many, many more of them.


    Vaughn¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°What¡¯s up with Bloodmaiden? She switched off her comm.¡±


    I spoke over the line. ¡°Remember the briefing? The wards worked, and she¡¯s doing the final spell that separates the Thing from its host.¡±


    ¡°No shit?¡± Tension left his voice. ¡°That¡¯s great. I was worried. She¡¯s got a little time, but not much. I¡¯ve surrounded the jet with a cloud and covered the ground around you with the thickest fog I can manage for miles. Cops are coming, but they¡¯re traveling at, like, two miles per hour, but it¡¯s a straight road, you know? I can¡¯t slow them down completely. Gravity Star and the Mystic will do their best, but someone saw you guys. They¡¯ve got tanks and a few guys in what the jet tagged as leftover Soviet powered armor. Those guys might be able to see through fog.¡±


    I glanced over at Amy. She was still gesturing and muttering. I didn¡¯t see any sign that she¡¯d be done soon.


    ¡°Got it,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll do what we have to.¡±


    Izzy, meanwhile, was slowly turning around. When she stopped, she said, ¡°He¡¯s right. They¡¯re coming, and it¡¯s going to be close. The men in powered armor aren¡¯t coming any faster than the tanks, though, and I don¡¯t think theirs is in as good shape as yours.¡± She gave me a nod. ¡°I think we¡¯ve got a good shot at getting out of here without a fight.¡±


    The Thing turned toward her. ¡°Are you willing to take that chance. For all that they¡¯re trained fighters, in this instance they¡¯re innocents. Any of you could kill them easily and accidentally. Are you willing to murder to catch me?¡±


    Izzy eyed the creature. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be murder.¡± Her fist clenched.


    If Izzy broke the circle, it would get out. I wasn¡¯t sure what tack to take, but I had to say something¡­


    Jaclyn put her hand on Izzy¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to do better than that. We¡¯re not going to listen to you.¡±


    Izzy looked over her shoulder at Jaclyn and nodded.


    I let out a breath, grateful that Jaclyn hadn¡¯t been sucked in. She was wrong about one thing though¡ªwe were all listening.

 Intrusion: Part 10

    I found myself wishing that Amy had told us about the creature¡¯s talent for manipulating people earlier. We would have had time to come up with a countermeasure. Of course, she may not have known it herself. I had the impression that most of what she knew about The Thing That Eats came from past Bloodmaidens. They had to have their own reasons for choosing when to tell Amy what they knew.


    Whatever the case, I had to think of something now.


    What could I do? Well, what did I know? It wasn¡¯t magic because Amy¡¯s wards hadn¡¯t stopped it. It wasn¡¯t using whatever sonic frequencies Julie used to affect the human brain because I¡¯d set up our suits to filter those out.


    The creature went unerringly for strong emotional reactions whether through intelligence or intuition¡ªwhich led me to what? Not action.


    I got out of my head long enough to hear the tail end of whatever it had been saying to Jaclyn.


    ¡°¡ªdo you think they¡¯ll treat you any better than their grandparents treated him?¡±


    Jaclyn raised an eyebrow. ¡°You¡¯re forty years too late on that one, and they already do.¡±


    The Thing That Eats pushed itself up with its arms, making the ruin of its legs visible. Flesh, muscle, and bone were knitting themselves together.


    It turned its gaze on Amy. ¡°Send Sibyl my best. These wards. This spell. It¡¯s based on her work, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Amy kept on chanting, ignoring it or too into what she was doing to notice.


    Off to my right and reflecting the wards¡¯ red glow, Cassie stood next to the circle, aiming her gun at the creature. ¡°Someone needs to shut that thing up.¡±


    Jaclyn stared at Cassie. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot it. You¡¯ll break the cir¡ª¡±


    Cassie shouted over her. ¡°I know! I listened during the briefing. I¡¯m going to shoot it if the circle breaks.¡±


    The Thing¡¯s too large eyes swiveled, taking in all of us, but stopping at Cassie, Amy, and me. ¡°Interesting.¡± Nodding toward Cassie, it said, ¡°She loves a man in the plane. The Bloodmaiden likes the same man, but loves this man.¡± It nodded at me. ¡°He loves the woman flying the plane, but could love others.¡±


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    Cassie stiffened. Amy paused in her chanting and the red glow flickered, but steadied when she said the next word.


    The Thing That Eats opened its mouth to say more. Deciding I didn¡¯t want to find out what else it had to say, I went with the least complicated idea I had. I found the ¡°bad music¡± folder in the Rocket suit¡¯s sound list, clicked on The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, and turned the volume up.


    Sixties pop music combined with the sound of Leonard Nimoy¡¯s voice thundered in the night. Not wanting to risk it being considering an attack on The Thing That Eats by whatever rules governed magical circles, I didn¡¯t aim the noise directly at the creature, but aimed it every direction.


    Amy¡¯s eyes flashed in my direction, and while I didn¡¯t know precisely what the curl of her lips meant, I guessed that it meant, ¡°What the hell?¡±


    Whatever she was thinking, she kept on chanting, and when The Thing began talking again I couldn¡¯t hear it and most likely none of us could. Well, unless Izzy could hear it, but it didn¡¯t seem to be targeting her. It was looking at me and then at Amy.


    When neither of us responded, it began to howl. At least that¡¯s why I thought it howled. In the next moment, I realized it was more than that.


    Before my eyes, the creature separated into two. One was simply the body of the man we¡¯d seen before the creature¡¯s change¡ªpale with wrinkled skin and liver spots on his face. The other body was a gray creature with The Thing¡¯s bulbous head and a shadowy, gray body with transparent sets of teeth.


    As I watched, the reddish glow of the wards flared as the wards came together in the air, surrounding the shadowy image of the Thing, and then shrinking into a reddish cube.


    The cube dropped to the grass, landing next to the body of the host.


    We all stared at that for a moment, but then Jaclyn mimed turning a knob. It took a second, but then I realized that turning off the music would probably be an improvement for everyone within half a mile of me.


    ¡°Nice selection,¡± Jaclyn said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a leftover from fighting Evil Beatnik. It was that or William Shatner singing ¡®Rocket Man¡¯.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°Either way we¡¯re still risking a retaliatory nuclear strike. Both of those songs are epically bad. Anyway, you guys need to get up here. The Mystic¡¯s been sending the cops and the military in the wrong direction, but they¡¯re going to notice pretty soon¡­¡±


    I looked up at the jet or at least at the cloud above us that hid it. ¡°We¡¯ll be up in a second. Bloodmaiden¡¯s got to grab the container, but then we¡¯re done.¡±


    ¡°Cool.¡± Then Vaughn sighed. ¡°It¡¯s going to be a long ride home. I¡¯ve got questions for Amy and Cassie, and uh¡­ you.¡±


    My mind went back to what The Thing had said. With everything that had been happening I hadn¡¯t had time to think about it, but it had basically said that Amy was in love with me and blown what Cassie had told me earlier.


    I could see where he¡¯d have questions. I knew I did.

 Share The Love: Part 1

    Jaclyn¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°Not that that¡¯s not important, but there¡¯s one more thing we need to decide. What are we going to do with this guy?¡±


    She stood over the body of The Thing That Eats¡¯ host. ¡°I¡¯ve checked his pulse, and if he¡¯s got one, it¡¯s too faint for me to tell.¡±


    Izzy turned toward the body, adding, ¡°I¡¯m not sure either, but if I had to guess, I¡¯d say he¡¯s alive, but barely.¡±


    I looked at him. The HUD showed his probable body temperature at his core at 98.6¡ªhuman normal, but cooler in his legs and arms. Despite all the damage we¡¯d done to his legs, they were covered in skin and muscle again¡ªeven if they were half as thick.


    ¡°Almost brain dead,¡± Daniel said, ¡°but there¡¯s something there.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°Then I say we should leave him. If he¡¯s alive and he¡¯s like the rest of them, he might heal before we get back to Grand Lake. If he freaks out, we¡¯ll be fighting him inside the jet. Blue, Cap, and I might survive, but I don¡¯t know about the rest of you.


    Letting her gun hang from its strap, Cassie said, ¡°Makes sense. Let¡¯s go.¡±


    As a troll, Rod couldn¡¯t do much more than grunt and roar, but he did his best. ¡°Not like. Host innocent.¡±


    Izzy tilted her helmet toward the body, and then toward the rest of us. ¡°I don¡¯t like it either.¡±


    Amy picked up the glowing, red cube, dropping it into a pouch on her belt. ¡°We¡¯ve never separated anyone from The Thing after the host has taken the The Thing¡¯s form. For all I know, it¡¯s brain dead because it doesn''t  have any of its own mind left.¡±


    Gesturing out toward the fog, Cassie said, ¡°The police and everything will be here any time. We¡¯ve got backup. Let¡¯s leave this to them.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t like agreeing with you, but you¡¯re right. Night Cat is supposed to call them.¡±


    Haley¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°I¡¯m texting them¡­ And they¡¯ll handle it. They aren¡¯t telling me how. And hurry up here, some of the police are peeling away from the main group.¡±


    The jet sank toward us, stopping a few feet from the ground. The hatch flopped open and we all climbed inside. Haley sent the jet straight upward, giving me one last look at The Thing¡¯s host. The man lay motionless in the only spot that was empty of fog as far as I could see.


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    It disappeared quickly. Haley aimed the jet toward space as soon as we could do it without breaking people¡¯s windows.


    For the next few minutes, we didn¡¯t say much of anything, listening to the roar of the jet¡¯s main engine as we ascended.


    About the time we could see the curve of the Earth, Vaughn said, ¡°What was it talking about?¡±


    We¡¯d all taken off our helmets by then, and everybody had turned their costumes from the black and red we¡¯d worn for this mission to their normal costume colors.


    I, meanwhile, had been checking the Defenders¡¯ feed. The feed for space showed the current status for near Earth space as ¡°safe¡±¡ªno alien spaceships seen or detected.


    Behind me, Cassie said, ¡°Maybe this isn¡¯t the right time for that?¡±


    Amy, also seated in the row behind me, ¡°No, we don¡¯t have a choice. The Thing made this public. We¡¯ve got to talk about it in public.¡±


    Izzy, now sitting the farthest row back with Daniel, said, ¡°It¡¯s okay. You don¡¯t have to talk publicly about it. If it¡¯s private, none of us need to know.¡±


    ¡°You do.¡± Amy stood up. ¡°I should have told all of you a long time ago.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°This sounds like it will take a while. I¡¯m putting us in orbit.¡±


    I glanced back at Amy. She¡¯d changed back into herself during the flight. I hadn¡¯t noticed any of the normal red light and music. She must have gotten better at damping it down.


    ¡°You¡¯re probably right,¡± I told Haley.


    Amy was nearly a foot shorter as a normal person and wore jeans and a t-shirt. Her red hair stopped at her shoulders instead of going down her back.


    She had the same attitude, though. She took in everyone with a look, and said, ¡°I told all of you that I¡¯m a princess in my world and that I had to leave because my twin and I had both received the Bloodmaiden powers. I told you it was because people feared that I¡¯d try to usurp power and rule the empire. That¡¯s true. All of that was true, but there¡¯s more.¡±


    Lowering her voice, she continued, ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you that my mother, father, and sister don¡¯t believe that at all. They sent me away partly to keep me safe, but partly because there was another threat to the realm and wanted me in a position to save or avenge them if it comes to that.


    ¡°Many of you have duplicates in my world, but with magical powers instead. They sent me to Nick¡¯s grandfather because he had a device that could send people to other universes. You¡¯ve got one exactly like it.¡±


    I thought back what to Daniel and I jokingly called the Starplate, a black disk the old Heroes'' League left in our headquarters. I¡¯d never learned how to use it.


    Amy kept on talking. ¡°The Nick in my home universe and I¡­ connected. We only had a day together, so I don¡¯t know if what we had was love, but we liked each other. We didn¡¯t make any promises about staying together forever. It¡¯s been two years, and there¡¯s a Haley there too, so they might have found each other again¡­¡±


    ¡°Found each other?¡± Haley asked.


    Amy turned back to look at her. ¡°In my universe, you¡¯re a werewolf, and your pack left when they found you were getting involved with a human.¡±


    At Haley¡¯s frown, Amy said, ¡°I know it¡¯s weird. In my universe, Cassie and Vaughn are together, but Vaughn¡¯s a weather wizard in training and Cassie¡¯s barely human. There¡¯s another Daniel too¡­ I don¡¯t know who he¡¯s dating.¡±


    Vaughn cocked his head and looked at her. ¡°Did you say weather wizard? That¡¯s really weird. I dueled a weather wizard once. But anyway, you said your family sent you here because they were hoping you¡¯d save them. Does that mean you¡¯re going back?¡±

 Share The Love: Part 2

    Amy met Vaughn¡¯s eyes. ¡°My father said to wait ten years and if I hadn¡¯t heard anything from him to gather together what allies I can find, and take back the kingdom if I can.¡±


    Her voice didn¡¯t waver, didn¡¯t sound apologetic or uncertain. Her accent even edged toward British though it wasn¡¯t quite. In that moment, I could completely believe that she descended from generations of royalty and supernatural guardians, and would get back what was theirs.


    History wasn''t as much my thing as Daniel''s, but long talks with him had made it clear that historical kings and queens weren¡¯t like the royalty in fairy tales. They had more in common with the royalty in Game of Thrones¡ªruthless and effective.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know when I¡¯m going back, but I¡¯m not going to wait ten years to do it. There¡¯s got to be some way to find out what¡¯s going on back home. When I know, I¡¯m going to ask all of you to help. I¡¯ll understand if you can¡¯t, but if I¡¯m fighting something powerful enough to stand against my family, I¡¯ll need all the help I get.¡±


    ¡°Man,¡± Vaughn shook his head, ¡°that could get crazy¡­ After it¡¯s over, are you going to stay there?¡±


    Amy stopped and said nothing for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t know. They might need me especially if somehow¡­¡± She paused again. ¡°If somehow everyone¡¯s dead and I¡¯m the only one left alive. Then I¡¯ll have to rebuild. If they¡¯re alive, the same conditions that made it easy to send me away might still be true. Then I¡¯ll stay here.¡±


    Nodding, Vaughn said, ¡°We said we weren¡¯t going to take this too seriously, but I¡¯m glad you¡¯re not planning to disappear. I¡¯m not sure I want to relocate to your universe¡ªespecially if there¡¯s already another me.¡±


    Amy laughed. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be confusing? And that wouldn¡¯t be the worst of it. Even back home, your double¡¯s family is only barely royal and viewed as uncultured colonists. The Bloodlords would be horrified to find that you were courting me, but since the Bloodmaiden has always had a reputation for scandalous behavior, maybe they wouldn¡¯t care.¡±


    Vaughn leaned back in his chair. ¡°That almost sounds fun.¡± He grinned, but then stopped, turning toward Cassie, keeping his voice low and beginning by saying, ¡°I¡ª¡±


    Holding up her hand, Cassie didn¡¯t let him go any further. ¡°No. Stop. I don''t want to cause problems, so I didn''t bring that up. It''s not as big a deal as The Thing That Eats made it sound.¡±


    Vaughn blinked. ¡°Okay.¡±


    He didn¡¯t add anything to that, and neither did anyone else.


    In my head, Daniel added, That went about as well as could be expected.


    It made for an odd moment, all of us sitting in the League jet,  hearing the hum of the life support systems, and the background roar of the main engine. Meanwhile, outside, the jet hung above North America which was green, brown and gray, but surrounded by blue, and obscured by white clouds.


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    Yet with almost everyone we cared about and maybe ever would care about below us, we found ourselves unsure of what to say in the face of the relationships right here.


    Or maybe I was the only one who was unsure? Still, we didn¡¯t say a lot after Rod interrupted the silence with the question, ¡°So, what do you think of those Nationals?¡± and Haley answered, ¡°They suck.¡± A few of us laughed, Cassie, in particular, but maybe you had to be there.


    There¡¯s not a lot to say about what came next. We landed in Grand Lake where it was still day time. Alex healed the injuries we had, which were amazingly minor considering what we¡¯d done. Agent Lim debriefed us over the internet, listening, I¡¯m sure, for anything we¡¯d done that could damage the security of the United States or cause problems for the Stapledon program.


    Plus, Samita seemed almost disappointed that none of us had come back possessed, making her elaborate protective circles unnecessary.


    Reliquary appeared during all of that to pick up The Thing That Eats¡¯ glowing prison and left us celebrating our survival.


    We had pizza. And breadsticks. With dipping sauce.


    It wasn¡¯t exactly the food of kings, but we were hungry.


    After a couple hours hanging out, though, we had to bring everyone home¡ªwell, almost everyone. Alex and his friends had flown a Defenders¡¯ podjet. Izzy and Daniel flew back to the University of Chicago together.


    That left Haley and me to fly everyone else.


    On a whim, we left Cassie and Rod (both in Washington D.C.) for last. That meant that we were floating above Duke University to drop off Amy and Samita at ten at night, practically invisible because of the shields, and about two hundred feet from the ground.


    Samita looked out the windows, face pointing toward the ground below. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely certain you can carry me all the way down?¡±


    Amy smirked. ¡°After I transform? Yes. Can I have a second?¡±


    Samita nodded, frowning as Amy walked up to Cassie. ¡°I did what I could to pull the focus away from... Well, you know.¡±


    Cassie leaned back in her chair and looked up at her. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re not recruiting us to invade your home universe?¡±


    Amy¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°No, that¡¯s real. Will you?¡±


    Glancing downward toward her gun, Cassie said, ¡°Count on it. Mr. Sparkles¡¯ been complaining about how he barely got to shoot the dragon since August.¡±


    Amy laughed but then stopped. ¡°Are we okay? I mean it seriously.¡±


    Taking her hand and squeezing it, Cassie said, ¡°We¡¯re fine.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Letting go of Cassie¡¯s hand, she tapped Rod¡¯s foot. Nodding toward Samita, she said, ¡°Should I push her out?¡±


    Rod laughed. ¡°Definitely.¡±


    Samita raised an eyebrow. ¡°Don¡¯t.¡±


    Amy didn¡¯t, and after the normal flash of red, she took Samita and flew down to Duke¡¯s campus.


    Cassie and Rod didn¡¯t even go to the same university. We dropped them off in a park in Washington D.C. that they said was near enough to a Metro stop that they could get where they needed to go.


    As the hatch opened, Cassie asked, ¡°What do you think will happen to that Cabal guy?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said.


    ¡°Me neither,¡± she said and stepped out. Rod followed her.


    When they were gone, I turned on the gravitics and let the jet float upward. Out the windows, the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol building dominated the skyline, all of them glowing.


    Haley and I looked at each other. ¡°I think this is the first time we¡¯ve been alone in days,¡± Haley said.


    I shrugged. ¡°If we landed at a team¡¯s HQ in New York, we could change into street clothes and I don¡¯t know, maybe go see a band? Or have dessert?¡±


    She pursed her lips, obviously thinking about it. ¡°We can¡¯t be too late. I wanted to go to Mass with my parents tomorrow, and I¡¯ve got an essay due Monday.¡±


    Checking the jet¡¯s radar, I brought the main engine online. ¡°I¡¯ve got stuff too.¡±


    Somewhere over Pennsylvania, Kayla called. Haley and I shared a look. We weren¡¯t going to be going to NYC.


    ¡°Bad news. Reliquary was driving The Thing¡¯s prison to some kind of magical storage facility when he was attacked. The attacker shattered the device. The creature¡¯s escaped.¡±

 Share The Love: Part 3

    I thought about Reliquary. He was head of Stapledon¡¯s magic department, mostly because he was the only wizard willing to associate with Stapledon, and not coincidentally something of a rebel in the wizarding community.


    From what I¡¯d heard, he was also fantastically knowledgeable about magic. He¡¯d have been careful with The Thing That Eats¡¯ container. He wouldn¡¯t have let it shatter. Whoever or whatever had taken it had to have been looking for it¡ªthough if it were somehow a random heist, the thief got far more than expected.


    While I thought about it, Haley asked, ¡°How is Reliquary doing?¡±


    Kayla said, ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t get to have much of a conversation with him. He said his attacker grabbed the wards, broke them apart, and turned into The Thing That Eats. He fought it, but it bit him and ran away.¡±


    I leaned toward the microphone on the dashboard. ¡°It sounds like he¡¯s okay then.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Kayla said. ¡°After The Thing That Eats bit him, he started hearing its voice in his head. He¡¯s holed up where he¡¯d planned to store it and he told me that he¡¯s not coming out until he¡¯s permanently cut the connection.¡±


    I asked, "Do you know where he is?"


    "No." Kayla stopped, and then added, "He said he was taking it somewhere secret, and he turned off his comm''s geolocation. He called about an hour later."


    Haley shook her head. ¡°And that¡¯s all you heard from him?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s everything.¡± Kayla¡¯s voice turned quiet. ¡°I¡¯m worried for him. He seemed nice when he was here, but when he was on the phone just now he was stopping and starting and talking to himself¡­ He didn¡¯t sound well at all.¡±


    I turned the jet toward Grand Lake. I¡¯d have announced our change in flight path, but we were far above any height commercial aircraft flew and traveling faster.


    Giving me a sidelong glance, Haley talked into her own mic. ¡°Let us know if anything new comes up, and tell Agent Lim. We¡¯ll be in Grand Lake before you know it.¡±


    ¡°I hope so,¡± Kayla said. ¡°This is beginning to look like one of those nights where I¡¯m going to be woken up at two in the morning. If you¡¯re here, maybe I¡¯ll get to go back to bed.¡±


    Haley laughed. ¡°I hope we¡¯re all that lucky.¡±


    The jet could move at more than twenty times the speed of sound in an atmosphere. I kicked up the speed several notches and the engines roared through the night. We made it back to Grand Lake in less than ten minutes. It took longer to submerge the jet in Lake Michigan and float through the underwater entrance to our headquarters.


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    After that, Haley and I stuck around HQ till midnight, but nothing did ever happen. Kayla emailed everyone else about the time she called us. So, we spent most of the time responding to emails and texts from the team. That, and worrying. Without information, we couldn''t do much else.


    Interestingly, Samita and Amy weren''t calling or even responding to us. That wasn''t good at all.


    We did get an email from Agent Lim though. It said that they''d contacted people capable of an "appropriate response" (whoever they were) and that our team was to stay out of it unless asked for help.


    I drove Haley back to Grand Lake¡¯s campus, parting when we reached my floor of the dorm.


    Our hug made me wish we weren¡¯t going to separate dorm rooms, but between the fight and an hour of acting as a glorified taxi driver, I found that I¡¯d passed through any surge of adrenalin that I might have experienced long ago, and I was tired.


    The goodnight kiss after the hug made me wonder about the tiredness, but Haley smiled at me. ¡°Some other night,¡± she said. ¡°Kayla might be right about the two AM wake-up call.¡±


    ¡°I hope not,¡± I said, but moments later, we were heading to our respective rooms.


    When I stepped into my room, Jeremy woke up enough to ask, ¡°Did it go okay?¡±


    Not wanting to go into it, I answered, ¡°Mostly,¡± and he fell back asleep.


    I found myself lying in bed, eyes shut wondering where Reliquary had been taking the creature, and worrying  about where it was now. It didn¡¯t seem likely that it was in Grand Lake, but I had a bad feeling that I ought to be calling Amy soon.


    Maybe we could get every team member one of her wards against the creature? Samita had effectively turned HQ into a trap for it. I needed to ask her about more details. Depending on how it worked, we might be best off living there while it was loose.


    Of course, that assumed it would know how to find us, and would care. That might not be true.


    However tired I¡¯d been feeling when I got into bed, my mind refused to let go of the problem.


    Haley had told Kayla to tell Agent Lim. Isaac would know who in the superhero community to tell. He¡¯d know better than I would at least. I didn¡¯t know the magical side of things very well at all.


    I hoped his "appropriate response" would work.


    I did get to sleep eventually but didn¡¯t get much. My League phone started ringing, pulling me out of a sound sleep. I checked the time. It was 2:33 am.


    Who was calling? Haley.


    I picked up the phone. ¡°Nick?¡±


    Some part of me picked up on the alarm in her voice, but I couldn¡¯t manage a more coherent reply than, ¡°Yeah?¡±


    Words tumbled out of her mouth so quickly I could barely catch them. ¡°Kayla called me just a minute ago, and do you know who¡¯s standing outside the downtown headquarters wanting to talk?¡±


    Thinking of the person I least wanted to see, I said, ¡°Kid Biohack?¡±


    ¡°No. Worse. Remember the guy who stabbed Vaughn?¡±


    That wasn¡¯t something I could easily forget. During our fight with the mayor, Vaughn seemed to spend half the night missing. It turned out that he¡¯d been stabbed by Vengeance, a vigilante whose knife judged the guilt of anyone he stabbed. If they were judged worthy, they lived. Otherwise, they didn¡¯t.


    Fully awake in that moment, I said, ¡°Vengeance?¡±


    Haley said, ¡°Vengeance. And the Hangmen are with him.¡±

 Share The Love: Part 4

    Fifteen minutes later, we were parking in the Grand Lake Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s visible headquarters, having taken the underground tunnel from the regular HQ in my van. ¡°We¡± in this case meant Haley, Camille, Vaughn and me. We¡¯d chosen the group based on the fact that we all lived in the biggest dorm on campus, making it easy to meet up.


    ¡°Why is this guy even here?¡± Vaughn asked as he stepped out of the van¡¯s side door. He wore one of the new costumes I¡¯d designed, but he¡¯d set it to be replacement for his original costume. It looked like black leather, but didn¡¯t have the straps that had made me compare his first costume to bondage gear.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, crossing in front of the van. ¡°I¡¯m betting that it¡¯s got something to do with The Thing That Eats because the timing is too coincidental.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking.¡± Haley stepped out of the right side of the van.


    Nodding, I stood next to Haley, waiting as Camille followed Vaughn out. I added, ¡°It still doesn¡¯t make any sense that he¡¯d know. Agent Lim was going to tell people who could handle the problem, and he doesn¡¯t seem qualified.¡±


    Haley looked up at me. ¡°He is magical, though. That knife he¡¯s got heals the wound if it decides you deserve to live, right Vaughn?¡±


    Vaughn stopped next to us, his face blank. ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s about right. The jerk. You want to talk overreaction to my grandfather? That guy was the worst.¡±


    Camille stared at him. ¡°Are you saying he stabbed you?¡±


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°Oh yeah, you weren¡¯t there for that. Well, on the night we took the Mayor down, Vengeance managed to get me alone and test me with the knife. He was afraid I was a new version of my grandfather or something.¡±


    Giving a small shake of his head, Vaughn added, ¡°So, don¡¯t trust him, okay?¡±


    ¡°Knowing that?¡± Camille¡¯s lip curled as if she smelled something bad. ¡°Never.¡±


    We walked up the concrete steps into the main room of the visible headquarters. Just as it had the last time I¡¯d seen it, the interior design struck me as ¡°high-end hipster¡±¡ªcrimson carpet, black chairs and tables, and gray concrete walls. One way mirrors made of transparent aluminum acted as the external walls and windows.


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    Vengeance and the Hangmen stood outside. They looked much as I remembered them. Vengeance was a middle-aged white guy with a beard that went to the middle of his chest, a white t-shirt that was tight enough to show off his muscles, a rifle on his back, knife and pistol on his belt, and a leathery bit of flesh that might have been an ear on a string around his neck.


    The Hangmen wore blue jeans, ragged button down shirts, and a hangman¡¯s noose around each of their necks. There were four of them, all of them gray-skinned. Bearing in mind that they were zombies, that wasn¡¯t so strange.


    If I remembered correctly, there was one more than the last time we¡¯d met. Weird. Where did a person recruit extra zombies?


    Maybe there was rental service.


    I walked up to the front door. Made of mirrors and a metal frame, it left no hint that we were behind it, but we had Vengeance and the Hangmen¡¯s attention the moment I opened it.


    ¡°No zombies,¡± I said. ¡°They stay outside.¡±


    Vengeance grunted. ¡°You prejudiced against Undead-Americans?¡±


    Opening the door wider, I repeated, ¡°No zombies. We¡¯re not negotiating on this one.¡±


    He stepped inside. The zombies stayed outside, staring into the night.


    Vengeance gave the room a quick once over. ¡°Looks like a coffee shop.¡± He grinned. "I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯ve got coffee?¡±


    I led him to the table that Haley and Camille sat at. Vaughn stood next to the wall about five feet back. ¡°We¡¯ve got a Keurig. Do you really want coffee?¡±


    ¡°Nah. I was making a joke.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a comedian,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°You want to tell us why you¡¯re here? And by the way, if you do plan to stab anybody, remember that I¡¯m better at fighting than I used to be.¡±


    Vengeance raised his hands in the air, palms up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that. In my position, you can¡¯t be too careful. I had it on good authority to watch out for Red Lightning¡¯s descendants. Turns out that you¡¯re no danger for now. Guess it¡¯ll be someone else.¡±


    Eying Vaughn, Vengeance added, ¡°Had to be done.¡±


    Vaughn stared at him. ¡°Are you kidding? You could have killed me.¡±


    Vengeance met his gaze. ¡°I have responsibilities. I¡¯m not here for myself. I¡¯m here as the Champion of North American wizardry. The lords and ladies of the Council have sent me to inform you that you¡¯ve loosed a creature of great supernatural evil on this continent. Hence, they have taken the unusual step of creating a magical quarantine of this city and the smaller towns around it.


    ¡°Nothing magical will be able to go in or out. This includes supernatural creatures and sorcerers, including and especially those that use blood magic. Further, the Council requests that you stay out of the way of its representatives, including me, but not only me.¡±

 Share The Love: Part 5

    Haley took advantage of his pause to interject, ¡°Wait. We didn¡¯t loose anything. We captured a creature in Turkmenistan. It only got away after Reliquary took it somewhere, and it doesn¡¯t sound like he let it loose either. It sounds like he was attacked.¡±


    Vengeance turned to look at her. ¡°We know he was attacked. Our people were with him. Funny how the prodigal son comes back for help when he can¡¯t handle it alone¡ª¡±


    Haley interrupted. ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound like your people handled it.¡±


    Underneath Vengeance¡¯s beard, his lip curled. ¡°No. They died. We found Reliquary alive. He¡¯d¡­ Yeah, I don¡¯t know how he did it, but he was only hurt. He¡¯d never seen the guy who did it before, and the guy was wearing a mask and hood. All he could say was that the guy was big, strong and fast as hell.¡±


    He scowled. ¡°It doesn¡¯t narrow down the list of suspects much.¡±


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°Sounds like about half the guys we¡¯ve fought.¡±


    Vengeance nodded. ¡°Damn straight.¡± He pulled out a chair and sat down. ¡°Still, even there, there¡¯s a hint of a clue. The guy who hit them was strong enough to rip the car apart and kill the guys with one blow each. There¡¯s a lot of strong guys, but less who could do that. The guys that were killed? They weren¡¯t regular guys. I looked over the place where it happened. It was a stretch that curved around the bottom of a hill in the middle of a forest.¡±


    Nodding, he continued, ¡°It¡¯s a good spot for an ambush, provided you¡¯re close to invulnerable, fast and strong. Flip the car over, kill nearly everybody, and smash the device. You¡¯re done. Know anybody like that?¡±


    If I wanted to be completely honest, I¡¯d have mentioned that there were four people capable of doing that at our post-extraction party. Jaclyn, Izzy, Travis, and Rodolfo could have easily done it¡ªphysically at least. Reliquary was there to pickup the device about the same time we showed up with it which meant they were still in HQ with us when Reliquary was attacked.


    I could probably prove that if I needed to. HQ¡¯s security system logged people¡¯s entries and exits. Not that there was a good reason to look. There wasn¡¯t any logical reason to think any of them could have been influenced by the creature.


    As I ran through possibilities in my head, Haley said, ¡°The Cabal. Everyone in their core group could pull that off.¡±


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    Vengeance nodded. ¡°Yeah. Those guys. The people I work for have been watching them for years. Did you see any connection?¡±


    I¡¯d already told Isaac Lim. I might as well pass it on to Vengeance and the wizards that backed him. ¡°It looked like The Thing That Eats¡¯ last host was a Cabal soldier, but I doubt the host was involved. The Mystic found that it didn¡¯t have much of a brain left.¡±


    Behind me, Vaughn exhaled. ¡°Whoa. You know what would be crazy? If the Cabal arranged to provide The Thing bodies. Maybe they¡¯d hand him the bad soldiers?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°They seemed more loyal to each other than that, and it still wouldn¡¯t explain why they¡¯d know to look here.¡±


    I ran through possibilities in my head. The only ways they¡¯d know to ambush Reliquary would be if they¡¯d been watching us or if they had someone on the inside.


    Dismissing the second thought as way too paranoid, I resolved to check the security system¡¯s logs and clear everyone on our end.


    Two in the morning was far too early in the morning to be dealing with this.


    Haley glanced my way, doubtless picking up on my anxiety through smell, increased heart rate, or, for all I knew, a visible temperature change.


    Vengeance nodded. ¡°Can¡¯t rule that out.¡± He turned toward me. ¡°There¡¯s more to the Cabal than you¡¯re aware of, and no, I can¡¯t tell you about it. Any sign of them around here lately?¡±


    Camille caught Haley¡¯s eye. Haley gave her a small nod. ¡°One of them worked for a bank, guarding armored trucks. I saw the police take him away. That¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°Hmmn.¡± Vengeance gave us all a once over. ¡°So, where is he? Do the police still have him?¡±


    Camille, Haley and I all looked at each other. From behind us Vaughn spoke up, ¡°I¡¯m sure none of us have the faintest clue. The guy was victim of some local robbers. He was guarding armored trucks, and he probably got fired.¡±


    I jerked my head around to look at Vaughn directly. ¡°I bet you¡¯re right. No point in hiring a mercenary if he can¡¯t fight off the people he was hired to fight. Maybe we should check on him.¡±


    Vaughn shrugged. ¡°I guess.¡±


    Vengeance looked from Vaughn over to me. ¡°We¡¯ll be looking into that too. If he¡¯s the host, he can¡¯t go anywhere now, so it¡¯s just a matter of time before he appears.


    ¡°If you want my recommendation, you¡¯ll stay out of it. Wizards have been following him for thousands of years and he leaves dead cities in his wake. You¡¯d be best off preparing to evacuate the people you care about if things go south.¡±


    Haley straightened up in her chair. ¡°Why aren¡¯t we evacuating everyone now, so that the host is the only one left?¡±


    Vengeance shook his head. ¡°It¡¯d break the spell we used for the quarantine. It¡¯ll handle normal stuff, but an evacuation? No.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s one more thing I don¡¯t get,¡± I said. ¡°Why do you assume he¡¯s here? He attacked Reliquary an hour away from here, right? Wouldn¡¯t he just disappear?¡±


    Standing up from his chair, Vengeance grinned. ¡°Can¡¯t say for sure, I¡¯m not a wizard. I just solve their problems, you know? But I do know this: they¡¯ve got a mess of oracles and if they say it¡¯s here, I believe them. Chances are, it wants to kill you all and destroy your city in the process. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time.¡±

 Share The Love: Part 6

    I thought about my parents, all of our parents, and all of the other people in Grand Lake who had no idea what they were facing. Then I thought about Amy¡¯s story and not the most recent one about how she came to be here. I thought about the Bloodmaiden¡¯s discovery of The Thing That Eats and how it had eaten everyone in the kingdom of Rheged.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to need to make an exception in your quarantine. The Thing that Eats is an enemy of Bloodmaiden. She knows how to fight it and how to catch it. She made the wards that caught it the first time.¡±


    Taking a step toward the door, Vengeance said, ¡°For someone who practices blood magic?¡± His lip curled and there was no mistaking the disgust in his voice. ¡°Never. I¡¯ve met blood mages and some of them seemed like decent people at first. But I¡¯ve never met one that wasn¡¯t eventually corrupted by the magic that they thought served them.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s different. She¡¯s from another universe where lots of people practice blood magic and don¡¯t get corrupted.¡±


    Vengeance stared. ¡°Have you been there?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I began, but he interrupted me, his voice raising.


    ¡°Then you don¡¯t know. She could be feeding you a line. You¡¯re all too trusting. You have no idea what kind of power she¡¯s hiding. Besides, magic might be different wherever she comes from. Whatever it¡¯s like there, here it¡¯s what vampires teach their followers. The wizards I know think that the first vampires were blood mages who went too deeply into the magic and came out changed.¡±


    He walked to the door, stopping. ¡°And don¡¯t try to find out if she can sneak through the quarantine. It has followers, blood mages and worse. Our people are protecting the borders, and if they see someone trying to get through, their orders are to stop them. Some of them might try to talk. Others, well¡­ Let¡¯s say that if a wizard tries to sneak through, I hope it¡¯s no one you like.¡±


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    Vaughn gave a small wave. ¡°Your people are going to kill anyone who tries to sneak in? Who gave you the right to do that? Aren¡¯t you in the least bit afraid that the Defenders or the government are going to get pissed off about that?¡±


    Vengeance rested his hand on the door. ¡°You don¡¯t get what this is. You¡¯ve precipitated an event that risks regional human extinction. After you told your handler about it, it went up the chain until the FBI passed it on to us. We already knew, of course, but now it¡¯s official. The North American Council of Wizardry is handling this because we are the only ones capable of handling it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Vaughn stepped away from the wall he¡¯d been leaning on. ¡°What if you can¡¯t? I mean damn, The Thing That Eats has been here for more than a thousand years. In the last fifty, it ate a bunch of people and practically took over a country.


    ¡°In the last thousand, there¡¯s probably a bunch of even more horrible stuff we¡¯ve never heard of, right? And none of you did anything about it. From where I¡¯m sitting, you¡¯re the incompetent ones. We only knew about this thing for months. In that time, we captured him, delivered him practically to the doorstep of your secret hideaway, and as soon as it¡¯s in your hands, then it gets away.¡±


    Taking step by step as he talked, he crossed half of the room. Vengeance, meanwhile, had his hand on the door handle. The hand grew whiter and tighter as Vaughn went on.


    ¡°We¡¯ll manage,¡± Vengeance growled. ¡°Stay out of our way. We¡¯re going to keep this city safe whatever it takes.¡±


    He threw the door open. Giving a last look back as he closed it behind him, he said, ¡°Oh, and nice Halloween costumes.¡±


    It took me a moment to puzzle that one out. As the door shut and locked, though, I realized what he was referring to. I wore the stealth suit so I was wearing black and silver. Vaughn¡¯s costume at least looked like black leather. Haley¡¯s Night Cat costume was gray and dark gray. Camille, meanwhile, wore an orange costume with an orange starburst outlined in white.


    ¡°Halloween?¡± Vaughn said. ¡°What do you think¡­ Oh.¡±


    Camille looked down. ¡°Was that supposed to be an insult? Or do you think he might have been trying to be funny?¡±


    ¡°Both maybe,¡± Haley said, but then she frowned. ¡°When he told us to stay out of his way and that he was going to keep the city safe whatever it took? That was a threat. His heart rate was up and he smelled angry.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure what angry smelled like, but Vengeance walked away from HQ like a man on a mission.

 Share The Love: Part 7

    What was left of the night didn¡¯t go well. I sent an email to everybody with a link that would allow them to view the entire conversation with Vengeance. We recorded everything going on in the downtown office but didn¡¯t keep it unless we needed to.


    This, I kept.


    We took the van back to HQ and slept on cots for the night. At first, I tried to think about how I could use the roachbots to detect The Thing That Eats, but the roachbots couldn¡¯t detect magic.


    In the end, I gave up, hoping that The Thing That Eats had possessed someone from the Cabal and would activate if they noticed someone running faster than a normal human--which is what I¡¯d set the bots to watch for anyway.


    I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep between three and four in the morning.


    I woke up to the sound of Haley¡¯s voice whispering in the darkness. I couldn¡¯t see her. ¡°Nick, Amy emailed back.¡±


    The words made sense but failed to register.


    ¡°Nick, wake up.¡± She shook me, and I was finally awake enough that I said, ¡°Ermf.¡±


    That was almost a word.


    ¡°What time is it?¡± I looked around, seeing only lights from the computers at a nearby table at first. Then I sat up. Haley handed me her phone. Even though HQ was completely dark, it was 8:34am on the surface.


    Phrases jumped out me as I skimmed Amy''s email, ¡°Don¡¯t think I won¡¯t be there. Damn their arrogance, this what I¡¯ve been working against for all my time here. Your vampires and their human servants barely understand blood magic and how competent practitioners use it. They¡¯ve exclusively mined the most disturbing potentials and all this world¡¯s wizards believe that that¡¯s the whole of our magic. Well, I¡ª¡±


    It went on for several screens. Handing the glowing phone back to Haley, I said, ¡°Huh. It looks like she¡¯s coming to help whether they want her to or not.¡±


    Visible only because of the light of her phone, Haley tapped it once and the light disappeared. As my eyes adjusted to the renewed darkness, she said, ¡°It sounds like they don''t.¡± She stopped for a moment, continuing with, ¡°You know, when she gets angry, she stays angry.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°I noticed that. I¡¯m trying to remember if I told you about when she was rejected from whatever magic school it was. It was hours away, and she drove there, enraged for the entire drive, and walked straight into the president¡¯s office.¡±


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    She took my hand. ¡°Either I was there or you told me. It doesn¡¯t matter. She¡¯s coming, and it doesn¡¯t sound like anything will stand in her way. I hope that¡¯s just her personality, and not, well, you know.¡±


    My eyes were a little better off. I could see that the darkness where Haley sat on my cot was a little darker than the darkness around her.


    ¡°Blood magic corrupting her? Yeah. I have no idea, but I haven¡¯t seen any signs of that.¡±


    In a low voice, Haley said, ¡°Neither have I. I¡¯m worried for her, but I¡¯m glad she¡¯s coming. Without her and Samita, we don¡¯t have anyone who knows magic that we can trust. All we¡¯ve got are the wards she made, and that¡¯s not enough to protect our families. I almost feel like we should get our parents out of here, but now I¡¯m not sure we should even do that.¡±


    I was about to ask why, but then I got it. ¡°The vampires and blood mages Vengeance said they were trying to keep out? This gets more complicated all the time. You¡¯re right, though. I think if we brought them out, we¡¯d have to stay with them if we wanted to be sure that they¡¯d be safe.¡±


    Conscious of how her hand had tightened, I decided to interject a little hope. ¡°We¡¯re not totally out of options. Samita set up stuff down here to help contain The Thing That Eats if it got loose. We should ask about it, but if it keeps the creature out too, we¡¯ve got a safe house. I don¡¯t know how we¡¯ll do it but we could bring our parents down here.


    ¡°Plus,¡± I added, ¡°the way I understood it, Amy¡¯s wards were interchangeable. We might be able to use them to contain it. Amy might be able to do the spell that binds it from the outside or teach the binding spell to us.¡±


    Haley¡¯s hand loosened a little, but it still wasn¡¯t quite comfortable.


    ¡°I want to believe we could do it, but activating Amy¡¯s or Samita¡¯s magic sounds hard.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not completely confident we could either, but it¡¯s worth asking them. We¡¯ve got an ace in the hole, though. Lee¡¯s here.¡±


    She let out a breath and her hand loosened, ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±


    I knew what she had to be thinking of. Last summer, Lee had frightened off a dragon that was so ancient and powerful that young wizards were taught its name. He¡¯d done it just by reminding it of other times it had met him and threatening to change into a dragon himself.


    After picking up my jeans from where they lay next to the cot and pulling out my phone, I called Lee. He answered almost instantly which was rare. Normally he was too busy to bother with phones and ignored the interruption.


    ¡°Funny you should call,¡± he said, ¡°I was just about to call you.¡±


    ¡°No kidding,¡± I said, feeling a stab of worry in my gut.


    ¡°That creature you were training to capture last week? Well, it¡¯s loose here, and I¡¯m not going to be able to help you.¡±


    Haley¡¯s took a deep breath. ¡°Why?¡± I asked.


    Lee didn¡¯t sound any more worried than normal, but he answered, ¡°You know how I told you my people had planted magic and technology all over the universe with the sole purpose of making it emptier of life? Well, The Thing That Eats is an example, and it¡¯s got the ability to phone home. So, if I help and it notices, they come here to get me and the world ends. Fire everywhere, rivers of blood, dogs and cats living together¡­ The whole enchilada.¡±


    "You''re putting me off enchiladas now," I said.

 Share The Love: Part 8

    ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± Lee said. ¡°Now that doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t help at all. All I¡¯m saying is that The Thing can¡¯t see me in action. I¡¯ll be happy to give you advice. I wasn¡¯t directly involved in creating our deadly toys, but I know that typically our creatures go to ground and try to grow in secret. If they can, they¡¯ll hide until they can attack with overwhelming force. The sooner you find it, the better for everyone.¡±


    ¡°I already started on that, but without magic, I can¡¯t automate my system for detecting it.¡±


    Lee laughed. ¡°I¡¯m confident you¡¯ll figure something out. In my experience, there¡¯s more than one way to solve most problems. Anyway, if you want my advice, I¡¯m only a phone call away.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, and we hung up.


    ¡°So it¡¯s just us,¡± Haley said.


    ¡°It looks that way.¡± I tapped on my phone, turning on the lights. I still hadn¡¯t quite adjusted to HQ¡¯s new, professional look, but at least I knew to expect it. The crimson carpet in combination with HQ¡¯s uncluttered display of awards and trophies still felt weird.


    Vaughn squinted in his cot, covering his eyes, while Camille sat up in hers. She grinned at Haley. ¡°I think I like all girl slumber parties better. They¡¯re much less awkward in the morning.¡± Then she added, ¡°We¡¯re not going to leave catching Mr. Thingy to Vengeance, are we?¡±


    Haley snorted, ¡°No. I don¡¯t trust him. He¡¯s already shown that he¡¯s willing to stab people just in case they¡¯re evil. I think we have to be in this even if it¡¯s just to make sure he only goes after¡­ Mr. Thingy.¡±


    Still lying on his cot, Vaughn said, ¡°Mr. Thingy¡¯s not bad, but I like ¡®The Thing That Sucks¡¯ better.¡±


    Looking over at me and then back to everyone else, Haley said, ¡°We should brainstorm. I¡¯ll call everyone in Grand Lake. If you and Chris could think about ways to detect him and then maybe catch him from a distance without touching him, the rest of us can talk about the overall plan.¡±


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    ¡°I¡¯d like to work on the overall plan too,¡± I said.


    ¡°I know,¡± Haley said, nodding. ¡°But I was thinking that you and Chris are the only ones who can talk tech. So you can do that and then we¡¯ll all get together. You won¡¯t be left out.¡±


    We didn¡¯t manage to do it instantaneously. It was Sunday morning which meant that some people would normally be going to church¡ªHaley and I, for example. Mind you, we were skipping in this particular case. Fighting ¡°ancient, supernatural evil,¡± seemed like an excellent excuse.


    On the other hand, I thought as I stood in the lab, fighting an evil supernatural creature seems like the kind of situation where going to church might help.


    Thinking about that a little, I opened up the inventory we¡¯d made of recent inventions and the materials we had. The ideal would be that I¡¯d come up with something that would help out of materials that were already in the building, and preferably materials we had a lot of.


    Fortunately, I already had ideas along those lines.


    Different versions of the same technology lay behind my ¡°goobot¡± (which exploded a gooey substance directly in front of a target) and my grapple gun or ¡°goo gun.¡± The goo gun fired off a gooey substance that could be used as a line.


    We¡¯d already used a version of it when fighting the Cabal a bit over a year ago by then. It didn¡¯t catch them so much as immobilize them long enough that it was obvious that we could kill them easily. They surrendered.


    As I thought about how the goo worked, Chris came into the room. Brown haired, and light skinned, Chris stood a little taller than I did. He¡¯d had some kind of small growth spurt in high school, and passed me in height by an inch or so.


    ¡°It¡¯s been a while,¡± he said, laying down his backpack on the counter next to the wall.


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure when exactly I last saw you. I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯ve been at a few movie nights over the last year, but I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve gotten to talk about much.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. ¡°It¡¯s been a strange year. I ended up moving in with my grandfather, so he¡¯s been helping with League stuff and even training me¡ªwhich isn¡¯t something I¡¯d looked for at all, but it¡¯s alright.¡±


    I wanted to ask him why he¡¯d moved in with his grandparents, especially considering that his grandfather had been my grandfather¡¯s nemesis for years and had spent a year in prison after attacking me. Something in Chris¡¯ tone made me think that he didn¡¯t want to talk about it that much, though.


    Listening to my gut, I said, ¡°Anyway, I imagine Haley or Kayla told you about The Thing That Eats. We¡¯ve got to figure out a way to arm ourselves to catch it, preferably from far enough away that we don¡¯t risk being bitten and infected by its magic somehow. I¡¯m planning to use the goo guns.¡±

 Share The Love: Part 9

    Another thought popped into my head. ¡°Oh, and if we can manage it, we need to come up with some way to track it even though it looks exactly like a normal human when it¡¯s not transformed and the only way a person can know the difference is with magic.¡±


    Chris shook his head. ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that we just have to do the impossible? Got it.¡±


    I leaned back against the counter. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking and I might have a way. What do you think about this? The goobots, goo guns are all based on the same technology. Basically the goo changes form on my direction. I¡¯m thinking that if someone can hit Thingy with a goobot, I might be able make the goo and a GPS chip soak deeply enough into his clothing that he can¡¯t see it¡¯s there.¡±


    Nodding, Chris said, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to tag him without finding him at least once, but I don¡¯t see how we¡¯d do anything else.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Yeah, me neither.¡±


    Chris¡¯ eyes drifted toward a few laundry baskets in the corner where I kept materials for my suit and other projects. They were filled with small gray squares, mostly made of ceramic, with nanotech design elements that were invisible to the human eye.


    He turned back to me. ¡°Can you reconfigure the new costumes to include goo guns with a software update?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, turning around to bring a computer out of stand by mode and show Chris the plans for the costume. The program visualized the suit with gray indicating the simpler ceramic parts, red lines that showed where power traveled, blue for data, variations on colors to show different varieties, and altogether different colors and labels to show unusual materials or elements.


    At that point, it became a lot like it always had been when we worked. He asked questions (¡±Why did you do that?¡±) to the point that it sometimes became irritating, but then he¡¯d point out some way to simplify the design or make it more efficient.


    However it had happened, we¡¯d managed to inherit our grandfathers¡¯ basic strengths. My grandfather tended to create breakthrough designs that were idiosyncratic and hard to recreate or maintain for anyone but himself. Chris¡¯ grandfather had been better at making the small improvements that made machines work better as well as designing modular powered armor that almost anyone could modify.


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    They¡¯d learned a lot from destroying each other¡¯s armor and reverse engineering it. Grandpa credited Man-machine (Chris¡¯ grandfather) for improving the Rocket suit beyond anything he could have managed on his own. Chris¡¯ grandfather said much the same thing back in the old days, but with more of a sneer.


    Chris and I had a simpler method. It was saying, ¡°Hey, can you look at this?¡± Then Chris or I would walk over to the other person¡¯s monitor, ask questions, suggest changes and go on from there. By the end of an hour, Chris had made some suggestions that kept the goo gun¡¯s energy use a little lower and spread out the weight.


    He¡¯d also asked me, ¡°What¡¯s the limit on shapes that the goo can make?¡±


    I¡¯d said, ¡°None that I know of,¡± but that had started me thinking about all the possibilities and what we might do with them.


    All things considered, though, it was fun, reminding me of what it had been like to do Science Olympiad with him.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Chris said, ¡°there¡¯s something that happened last year while you were busy at college that I should mention.¡±


    I turned to find that he was frowning a little. He shook his head. ¡°I told Haley, Sydney, Camille, and Marcus when it was all going on.¡±


    Chris stood next to the counter. ¡°Last spring, my grandfather started teaching me about his system for designing powered armor and mechs. That was kind of fun, but last spring was also when I came out as gay to my parents and that didn¡¯t go well at all. My dad was already upset because I was spending so much time with my grandfather¡­ They never got along.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°I moved in with my grandparents because it had gotten so uncomfortable. Things are better now. I¡¯m thinking maybe I¡¯ll move back home soon.¡±


    I found that I¡¯d completely stopped thinking about the goo¡¯s chemistry. ¡°Wow. I had no idea that you were gay, or well, any of that. I mean, literally no idea.¡±


    Chris nodded. ¡°I know. There wasn¡¯t a great time to tell you. I was dealing with everything about the same time you were taking apart that alien robot which was right after you guys had literally saved St. Louis from being blown up by alien technology¡­ I wasn¡¯t going to interrupt you in the middle of all that.¡±


    Thinking back to the time, I wondered what I would have said. It was probably for the best that he hadn¡¯t told me. I¡¯d been distracted that whole time. I couldn¡¯t be sure that I wouldn¡¯t have said, ¡°Huh.¡±


    That wouldn¡¯t have gone over well.


    We would have talked more about it, but then I received a text message from Haley. ¡°We¡¯ve got some ideas. You want to come over?¡±

 Share The Love: Part 10

    ¡°Looks like Haley would like us in the main room,¡± I said, putting my phone back into my pocket.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Chris said, checking his own phone.


    There wasn¡¯t much of a need to reply since she¡¯d be able to see when we left the lab. She might well be able to hear our conversation about leaving or our footsteps as we walked out the door.


    One of these days, I needed to test the limits of her abilities, and maybe everybody¡¯s. One of these days knowing it might save our lives, or maybe just not kill them through ignorance. Either way, the Stapledon program had tested all of us--back on our first official weekend in the program.


    I wondered where that information was kept and who had access to it.


    That thought left my head as we left the lab. At one of the tables in the middle of the room, Haley had gathered as much of the current Heroes¡¯ League as she could.


    Travis sat upright in his chair, the Greek letters of his fraternity covering half of his green sweatshirt.


    Blonde hair reaching her shoulders, Sydney sat a couple seats over from Travis--next to Camille. She laughed as Camille talked a mile a minute. Despite Camille¡¯s darker complexion and black hair, I could have told from the similarity of their faces that they were sisters even if I hadn''t known it.


    Marcus sat between Camille and Haley, leaning toward Camille and Sydney, and laughing along with them. He¡¯d put down his pen and drawing pad.


    I snuck a peek at the pad as Chris and I sat off to Haley¡¯s left. Marcus had sketched a recognizable version of Sydney laughing.


    Vaughn sat next to Travis, grinning a little as Camille talked, staring down at his phone, and sometimes tapping on the screen.


    I couldn¡¯t help but see the obvious. As a group, we were heavy on stealth and close combat, lighter on distance attacks, and except for Camille and Vaughn, we didn¡¯t have much in the way of area effect attacks. Chris and I made up for that a little, but not much.


    Travis gave Chris and me a nod, asking, ¡°Do you have any ideas? We¡¯ve been talking, and the best tactics we¡¯ve come up with so far are to have Marcus, Haley and I scout around for it, and use Camille to pin it down for Vengeance and his people. We can¡¯t let the thing get close to any of us given what happened to Reliquary.¡±


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    Chris glanced over at me. He obviously hadn¡¯t heard what happened to Reliquary.


    ¡°Reliquary got bit by Thingy and started hearing voices. It looks like getting bit creates some kind of connection between it and you¡ªunless you¡¯ve got one of these.¡± I held up my glowing red gem. ¡°Unfortunately, of all of us, only Haley, Vaughn, Camille and I have one, and we can¡¯t get more because the North American Council of Wizards put up wards or a shield that prevents magic from going in or out of Grand Lake.¡±


    Chris shook his head. ¡°Crap.¡±


    ¡°But look,¡± Travis¡¯ deep voice cut through all the other noise, and he was the only person talking, ¡°I¡¯ve been telling people that we can move the wards around. Put them in the hands of those of us who can handle hand to hand combat with the creature. The rest of you can take it down from a distance.¡±


    ¡°Do you have a plan?¡± I watched Travis as he shook his head. ¡°Haley told me what Lee said. If it hides until it¡¯s ready to take over, I don¡¯t know what will change its mind. What motivates it? Do you know?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Food is my only guess. I wish Amy were here. She¡¯d probably know more.¡±


    Vaughn looked up from his phone. ¡°She¡¯s working on it. Mind if I put her on the big screen?¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°No, but I thought you said she was driving?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°But I¡¯ve been texting Samita.¡±


    For a moment, Samita appeared, her face filling half of the twenty foot tall screen. Samita appeared as herself¡ªbrown face, black haired, and looking like the daughter of Pakistani immigrants. When she appeared with Rod out of costume, she used illusions of a few different people to hide her real identity, reasoning that they didn¡¯t know each other.


    The background blurred as the camera¡¯s direction changed. Then Amy appeared. She was driving, her hands on a steering wheel, her eyes aimed ahead at the road. She gave a little wave with one hand and grinned as she appeared. ¡°Hey, everybody. We¡¯re driving through West Virginia right now.¡±


    I had no idea where they were, but at that exact moment, they were crossing a river. Green painted steel beams were part of the background blur from Amy¡¯s window. Past that was a brown river and a blue sky.


    The camera didn¡¯t show many more details, but from what I could see, I guessed that she might be driving some kind of sports car, that there weren¡¯t any other cars on the road near her, and that she was driving very quickly.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be in Grand Lake in another seven or eight hours,¡± she said. ¡°Rod and Cassie are in Rod¡¯s car. We¡¯re going to try to meet near the Michigan border.¡±


    HQ¡¯s microphone system picked up my voice as I asked, ¡°Why are you driving?¡±


    Samita pointed the phone back at herself. ¡°We called Reliquary¡¯s FBI handler and he told us not to come. Maybe someone would have flown us up, but we didn¡¯t want to get anybody in trouble.¡±


    Amy added, ¡°And we didn¡¯t want them to know we were going. They kept on telling us that the North American Council was going to handle it.¡± As the camera pointed at her again, Amy frowned. ¡°They have no idea what they¡¯re dealing with. The past Bloodmaidens are nervous. The Thing That Eats is going to do something bad. They¡¯ve seen it before when it was trapped in a city and they won¡¯t tell me what.¡±

 Crisscross: Part 1

    ¡°Huh. Does that happen a lot? I¡¯d think that they¡¯d want you to succeed.¡±


    Amy smirked. ¡°You¡¯d think that, but a lot of them think I should be staying out of this fight and keeping myself safe so that I can return home. Their logic is that you¡¯ve got people who can handle it, and the kingdom needs me. Why risk the Bloodmaiden for this world?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°They do kind of have a point.¡±


    Amy¡¯s eyes darted toward the phone. ¡°Don¡¯t encourage them. I think, and some of them agree with me, that if I defeat it here, it¡¯s never coming home.¡±


    Vaughn tilted his head. ¡°Wait, if some of them agree with you, can¡¯t they tell you what¡¯s going on?¡±


    Amy shook her head as the steel beams of the bridge she¡¯d been on disappeared. Now only green fields, hills, and trucks the other side of the freeway appeared behind her.


    Accelerating to pass another car, Amy added, ¡°The person who was alive at the time owns the memory. If she won¡¯t let anyone else use it, they can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°That opens up a lot of questions about how you store memory,¡± I began.


    Samita turned the phone back on herself. ¡°Few of which are important right now.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± Haley kept her voice low.


    Travis nodded. ¡°Yeah. Here¡¯s a better question: should we pick you up in the jet?¡±


    Samita¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°Do you know exactly where the Council¡¯s wards were placed?¡±


    Travis shook this head.


    ¡°Then,¡± Samita said, ¡°it¡¯s not worth the risk. I¡¯d rather not fly through an invisible wall against magic at several hundred miles per hour.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± Travis said, ¡°then I¡¯ve got a question for you. What motivates this thing? Is there any way we can trick it out of hiding?¡±


    ¡°This one¡¯s yours.¡± Samita aimed the phone at Amy.


    Amy grinned. ¡°It likes eating people, but I doubt that¡¯s all of it. Its presence has been known to bring down kingdoms even when they¡¯re too large to eat everyone.¡±


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    Sydney tilted her head toward Camille, ¡°I can¡¯t believe the wizards¡¯ council is trapping us in here with that thing and they aren¡¯t even trying to get people out.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to defend them,¡± Amy said, ¡°but that¡¯s a big job. Can you imagine trying to evacuate the city without terrifying the people inside into not leaving all at once? If enough people leave at once, they might even destroy the wards, and then what do you do? You¡¯ve just let The Thing That Eats free. Only now, it¡¯s been reunited with any vampires that it''s friendly with, as well as your world¡¯s blood mages. In that moment, it stops being ancient, supernatural evil and becomes ancient, supernatural evil with an army.¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°Talk about a mess.¡±


    In a quieter voice, Sydney said, ¡°My mom¡¯s here.¡±


    And, of course, her dad had already died at the hands of the Executioner a little over a year ago. I could see where she¡¯d be worried. I was too, and both my parents were still alive.


    The screen switched back to Samita. ¡°Sydney, we only met a couple days ago, so you¡¯ve no reason to trust me, but I¡¯m a wizard and I know a little bit about how this works. The Council definitely didn¡¯t send Vengeance with only a few zombies for support. There have to be wizards in Grand Lake now, and they¡¯ll be waiting for the Thing That Eats to show itself. They¡¯ll be searching for it, and they¡¯ll be watching for civilians even to the point that they¡¯ll die rather than let your mother be killed.


    ¡°It¡¯s understandable that you¡¯ll worry, but you¡¯re in better shape than you think.¡±


    Sydney nodded, but then added, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Camille squeezed her hand.


    Meanwhile, I hoped that Samita was right. I wanted to believe that the North American Council of Wizards employed a bunch of badass, self-sacrificing combat wizards¡ªsquads of Harry Dresden wannabes, maybe? Unfortunately, my only exposure to Vengeance had been back when the mayor had tried to quietly get his mental hooks into political office holders all over the region.


    Vengeance had tried to stab the mayor after we¡¯d captured him and knocked him unconscious, and I¡¯d managed to scare Vengeance off.


    On the whole, that didn¡¯t awe me.


    We ended the call soon after that. Chris and I stayed in HQ and experimented with new ways to use the goo. Later in the day, I even worked on homework for a couple hours.


    I woke in the morning to find emails and texts from Rod, Cassie, Amy and Samita. They¡¯d met up and rented a hotel room outside Grand Lake. Rod, Amy, and Samita couldn¡¯t get past the wards into the city. Cassie could, but not if she kept her bloodgem ward on her.


    They were going to find a weak point in the wards and sneak through.


    It didn¡¯t change the fact that nothing else happened on Monday or even Tuesday. There were no reports of bigheaded things eating people, no reports of Vengeance, and no reports of wizards.


    I couldn¡¯t quite enjoy it. I knew better.


    On Wednesday morning at 10:46am, everything fell apart, but not in the expected way. We got a yellow. My bots had registered a speedster (probably Alden) moving at two hundred miles per hour. He¡¯d been sighted near not one, but two banks.


    An armored car was leaving a BNC bank branch practically as I got the picture.


    It didn¡¯t take a genius to guess what would be happening next. It appeared that the gang that was robbing armored cars had chosen that moment to come out of hiding.


    Ignoring the looks I got as I left class four minutes early and ran for my dorm, it struck me that we hadn¡¯t briefed Kid Biohack that The Thing That Eats was in town.

 Crisscross: Part 2

    I dropped my books off in my dorm room¡ªas in I literally dumped the books (and notebooks) from my backpack on the floor, shut the door, and ran up the steps to the top floor of the dorm. I made a quick check for people in the little alcove under the hatch to the roof.


    Assisted by the stealth suit that was hidden under my clothes, I crawled up the ladder more quickly than I would have normally, and flipped the hatch open to find Vaughn, Camille, and Haley already there and in costume.


    I pulled myself up, shut the hatch. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to be last.¡±


    Standing, I yanked the controls for the stealth suit from inside my sleeves, tapping the spot that triggered the hoodie, pants, shirt and backpack to meld together.


    The material surrounded me and hardened, blinding and deafening me for a moment before the eye holes turned transparent and the sound came on.


    Vaughn was already speaking. ¡°¡ªskipped my 10 o¡¯clock class. So, I was here.¡±


    ¡°You rebel,¡± Camille grinned, and turned to me. ¡°Haley and I were studying.¡±


    ¡°The new costumes make changing easier,¡± Haley said, ¡°but I wish they passed for more materials.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I haven¡¯t had time. It¡¯s more complicated than you¡¯d think¡ª¡±


    ¡°I know. I shouldn¡¯t have mentioned it. We should go.¡± She nodded to Camille.


    Camille looked at me and then Vaughn. ¡°I¡¯m already carrying Night Cat. Anybody else want one?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I¡¯d be better off flying myself. If I do have to turn on the rockets, you¡¯ll be safer the further away you are.¡±


    ¡°Ditto,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°I¡¯ll probably blow you into a building even if I¡¯m trying to be careful.¡±


    ¡°Then we¡¯re going first,¡± Camille said, and she and Haley rose into the air, aiming South toward 138th Street. She gave a wave as they left, nearly disappearing into the air as their costumes took on the the color of the sky.


    I gave the rockets fuel and rose into the sky, flying after them. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Vaughn rising from the roof behind me, his costume turning blue-white just like mine had.


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    We weren¡¯t invisible, but we were as close as I could manage for now. I hadn¡¯t figured out how to make light bend around us, but making our costumes match what was on the opposite side was close. It worked better for the front and back than the sides, but I couldn¡¯t complain.


    Well, I could complain. The next algorithm would be better, and sooner or later I¡¯d take a crack at bending light.


    We crossed the city, passing above a grid of roads containing strip malls, green lawns, brick factories from the 1800s and 1900s, mirrored, glass towers from the last fifty years, and more recent factories made of concrete, some of them covered with wood grain siding.


    Modern factories and almost indistinguishable, mirrored, modern office buildings ran down the length of 138th Street¡ªwhich ended in Grand Lake¡¯s airport.


    I quietly hoped we didn¡¯t fly in front of any low flying planes.


    Vaughn and I had passed Camille and Haley as we¡¯d neared the street. I¡¯d been following the armored car that had left a BNC bank branch as it passed the spybots, but it was only once we got close that I noticed a detail I¡¯d missed.


    There was more than one armored car going down 138th Street.


    In the late morning, 138th carried less cars than trucks, but these two armored trucks pulled out into traffic from the same gas station. It seemed like an odd coincidence, especially that one was a Brinks truck (gray with blue letters), and the other Dunbar (red with white letters).


    The armored car industry wasn¡¯t something I followed, but it looked like they were competitors.


    The armored cars weren¡¯t alone either. There were four Cadillac Escalades pulling out of the gas station with them, one ahead of and one behind each armored car.


    Over my communicator, I said, ¡°Hey, is everybody seeing this?¡± I sent a few seconds of video.


    ¡°That¡¯s weird,¡± Haley said, stretching the last word.


    Kayla¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°That¡¯s not all of them. I¡¯ve been checking the other spybots and there two more armored cars and even more Escalades on their way.¡±


    Additional blue dots appeared in my HUD, and then I did see them¡ªtwo more squat armored trucks along with their Escalade escorts pulling off a side road on to 138th street behind the group we¡¯d been following.


    It made sense. If you had a city that was experiencing armored car robberies, but you still needed to get the money in and out, it would make sense to create a giant convoy. The gang wouldn¡¯t be able to take out all of the armored trucks, and if the people in the Escalades were effective, they might be able to hold off the gang.


    If it were me, I¡¯d call Protection Force. They rented out supers and people who trained to fight supers.


    Almost at the same time, I wondered if flying nearly invisibly behind a giant convoy of armored cars and mercenaries was the best thing we could be doing.


    As I had that thought, Haley asked Kayla, ¡°Control, did you tell the banks about seeing Alden?¡±


    ¡°They said they were taking ¡®appropriate measures.¡¯ I¡­ didn¡¯t push them for more.¡± Kayla¡¯s voice trailed off.


    ¡°That sounds bad,¡± Camille said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn added.


    At the same time, my suit pinged. I checked my radar, finding that two people in powered armor were behind us, and flying in our direction.

 Crisscross: Part 3

    ¡°Going visible,¡± I said, and took the stealth suit out of camouflage mode. Now the stealth suit appeared in ¡°classic¡± mode¡ªall black with silver helmet and a silver ¡°R¡± on the chest.


    Waving with my right hand, I tried to get their attention while checking the comm to see if they were listed as using the common Heroes Alliance protocols. They appeared on the list as ¡°PF AFS Unit 1¡± and ¡°PF AFS Unit 2,¡± but they weren¡¯t the only Protection Force people on the list. I didn¡¯t have time to count, but there were at least ten, maybe twenty more.


    Even though they should already be seeing us on their comms, I broadcasted my identity on channels commonly used for collaboration between hero groups.


    My HUD identified them as unused, but this was understandable. Protection Force would have its own protocols.


    In the nearly 360 degree vision that my HUD allowed me, I saw that Vaughn, Camille, and Haley were all out of camouflage mode and broadcasting their identities too.


    The people in powered armor continued to close, but no one was responding to us.


    I twisted around and aimed upward which turned me to face them while putting me above them with the sun at my back.


    This finally gave me time to give their armor a good look. Like a lot of powered armor meant for flight, they were descended from the WW2 era Rocket suit. The bigger defense contractors had all done their own versions, and these looked like models from the early 90s.


    Dull gray like battleships, they had guns hanging under each arm. One had to be a rifle, possibly automatic. The other had a short barrel that stuck out of a rectangular box that hung off the arm. The Protection Force logo (the letters ¡°PF¡± on a shield) covered the middle of their chests.


    At the same time, I felt the Rocket suit wobble as Vaughn turned to float next to me.


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    I hoped we didn¡¯t have to fight them. Based on what I guessed about the suits, I thought I might be able to take them, but Vaughn wasn¡¯t going to be able to take hits from a rifle.


    Haley, meanwhile, had announced, ¡°We¡¯re going low.¡±


    It was the smarter tactical choice for her and probably Camille too.


    The two people in powered armor did almost the same maneuver I had, flying upward and hovering. They stopped about twenty feet away from us. One of them turned on the suit¡¯s PA, ¡°Rocket, tell your friends to get away from our operation.¡±


    Vaughn spoke before I did. ¡°Seriously? We¡¯re here to help out. We tracked one of the gang members here. They¡¯re going to attack¡ª¡±


    Appropriately, at about the same time that he said ¡°attack,¡± reddish blasts of energy hit both of them, knocking them out of the sky.


    I tipped sideways and gave the rockets more fuel, diving and twisting around again. The reddish beams hadn¡¯t left any mystery as to which direction they¡¯d come from. The source had been behind me, but lower. I followed the direction of the beams to see a black woman in a gold accented, red costume. A reddish glow surrounded her.


    Worse, she wasn¡¯t alone. Flying next to her was the Eagle armor, wings outstretched and weapons hanging underneath her arms. Rook, the Eagle suit¡¯s designer, had loved the WW2 version of the Rocket suit too.


    Eagle suit, meanwhile, wasn¡¯t just flying. She fired the huge gun under her right arm into the engine of one of the Escalades, creating a hole in the hood, and stopping the car. Then she did the same to one of the armored trucks.


    I didn¡¯t want to think about the force that had to be behind that gun. The problem was, I had no choice. I was in the wrong suit for what we were doing.


    I needed a different one. I tapped my palm and summoned the delivery pod.


    Now we just had to survive until I could be useful.


    The woman in red took a few shots at Vaughn and me, but she didn¡¯t seem to be trying to hit. We were diving to catch up to Camille and Haley and they were avoiding fire from below.


    All the Escalades and armored trucks were stopped now, and men in armor stood around them firing weapons into the sky. I¡¯d missed when that had happened or how.


    Suspecting it had something to do with Alden, I got on the comm. ¡°My armor¡¯s about to be upgraded. Till then we need a plan, something that slows the fight down and lets civilians escape.¡±


    Haley and Camille stood on the top of a one story, concrete factory painted in red, blue, green and yellow. Vaughn and I landed near them.


    ¡°I think we can go for the win,¡± Vaughn said, and lightning stretched out and hit the Eagle suit.

 Crisscross: Part 4

    My helmet dimmed the light as the lightning leapt from Vaughn¡¯s black gloved hand, outlining the Eagle suit in sparks. The woman in red must have been struck too because she convulsed, even if she didn¡¯t fall out of the air.


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


    Whoever was inside obviously hadn¡¯t been hurt, but the wings had. One hung loosely, almost touching the ground. The other had retracted into a straight line that hung behind the suit¡¯s back. A little smoke rose from the metal casing between the wings.


    The Eagle suit might well have been a Faraday cage, but important parts of it existed outside the cage. It was an interesting design flaw.


    I would have explored that line of thought further except that actions have consequences. Specifically, I mean that when you zap a woman in power armor out of the air, and shock her teammate in passing, the teammate might decide that you¡¯re an excellent target.


    For all the woman in red¡¯s convulsions, she blasted back at us. I didn¡¯t even realize it until Haley shouted something while yanking me sideways.


    The blast had to be more than simply light. Camille¡¯s gravity shield caused it to curve upward, passing above her head.


    Vaughn wasn¡¯t so lucky. The distance between the roof we were standing on and the road meant that the reddish substance spread out, some of it hitting the wall below us, some passing Vaughn to splatter against the roof halfway across the building, slowly fading out.


    Some of it hit Vaughn¡¯s face near his mouth where his mask was open, running across his cheek, but somehow not burning through it.


    ¡°Ow,¡± Vaughn muttered, brushing it away with his gloved hand. His cheek looked a little red, but not burned. Meanwhile metal on the edge of the roof where the burning red substance had hit had actually melted a little.


    My initial thought was that Vaughn hadn¡¯t been hit by quite so much, but my second, clearer thought put it together. He¡¯d leveled up.


    During the summer, Dr. Nation had put everyone on a system of eating, drinking and exercise that was supposed to help activate secondary powers that might not have been fully expressed.


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    It hadn¡¯t done anything for me.


    I didn¡¯t have much time to think about that either. Vaughn''s lightning strike had attracted the wrong kind of attention. The men in one of the Escalades had chosen to target us, apparently not recognizing that we were on their side.


    They opened their windows, pointing their weapons at us. Some guns ended in flat, wide, rectangles, others in thinner rectangles that appeared to glint. As they aimed at us, my HUD indicated it was paralysis rays¡ªboth kinds, sound and light. We¡¯d been taken out by both in the past two years, and I¡¯d built resistance to both of them in the new version of the stealth suit and our costumes.


    ¡°Did they just try to paralyze us?¡± Vaughn shook his head and looked across the green lawn over to the cars.


    ¡°Looks like it,¡± I began only to be interrupted by Camille.


    ¡°Not just us.¡± She pointed out over the lawn. The woman in the red costume lay on the grass, most likely conscious, but unable to move.


    Alden ran out of the mass of cars, a blur, slowing down to pick her up, but only then. The Protection Force soldiers pulled up their weapons as he became visible, but not quickly enough. He disappeared.


    Back on the road, it was obvious that I wasn¡¯t the only person who¡¯d figured out how to stop paralysis. The Eagle suit woman was fighting one of the people in powered armor.


    The second powered armor person fought someone new.


    It appeared to be human, but it was hard to tell. Silvery cubes, tinted like sunglasses and arranged into a humanoid shape, obscured the man inside. It was as if he knew how to make force fields, but didn¡¯t know how to curve them. Whoever he was, he hit the person in modified Rocket armor with long, rectangular shapes that extended far past where his arms must have stopped.


    He fought well, too.


    Even as I watched, he battered his opponent the way he might if he were wielding two clubs, but as the man in powered armor backed away, he extended one forcefield behind his opponent, tripping him.


    Then, as the man fell, he stepped in and started slamming the suit with both arms.


    Haley frowned. ¡°We need to do something. We can¡¯t wait any longer.¡±


    ¡°My armor¡¯s coming¡ª¡± I began, but Vaughn interrupted me.


    ¡°Got him,¡± Vaughn said.


    A gust of wind blew the force field guy into the air. That didn¡¯t last long. He extended the force fields around his legs into stilts, extending his arms to grab on to an armored truck.


    It was enough time, though. His opponent made it to his feet and started firing the rifle under his arm.


    Frowning, Haley walked to the edge of the roof, putting one foot on the concrete and metal edge. ¡°Gravity Star and I are going to get the civilians out of there. Storm King, do what you can from here until the Rocket¡¯s ready. Rocket¡ª¡±


    And then it happened¡ªthe pod arrived. Floating above us with alien gravity technology, the hatch at the bottom of the cylinder, that had slowed to a stop above me, opened. Small gold and black cubes fell on me, arranging themselves into the fully armored version of the Rocket suit.


    A few cubes bounced off to the side, but attached when I grabbed them.


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°Storm King and I will take on the Eagle and force field guy.¡±

 Crisscross: Part 5

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


    Vaughn turned to me, ¡°You want to take Eagle suit? I think I can take force field guy.¡±


    Out on the street, the Eagle suit had smashed one of the two Rocket suit clones into an Escalade. ¡°Why not? She¡¯s probably looking for a rematch.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going,¡± Haley stepped off the roof with Camille and they floated across the lawn. Camille dropped Haley at the edge of the knot of stopped cars.


    It was a mess. Many of the cars were empty. Some of them had been abandoned on the lawn or partially over the curb. Even as I watched drivers left their cars to run across the grass, stopping to watch the fight from a safe distance.


    I couldn¡¯t blame them, but I didn¡¯t have any more spare time.


    Giving the rockets thrust, I shot off the roof, seeing the grass blur, as I aimed for the Eagle suit. When the targeting program had locked on, I fired off a goobot.


    The bot activated its own rockets, accelerating toward the Eagle suit and blooming into a flower or maybe a web. Either way it didn¡¯t quite work.


    The goo didn¡¯t stick. Its threads covered the entire suit, but instead of attaching to the nearest chunk of the road, car, or enemy, the goo slid off and hung, partially on and partially off the Eagle suit.


    That was a new thing. How annoying. How interesting.


    I couldn¡¯t know without testing, but I suspected the finish on her armor played a major role in making it nearly frictionless, and thus goo resistant.


    She¡¯d been in the midst of fighting one of the two Rocket clone suits. The goobot hit the side of her suit, the goo splashing across the back and the front. As the Rocket clone armor pulled it¡¯s punch to avoid hitting the mess of goo, the Eagle suit fired of a giant ball of goo at the Rocket clone.


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    I curved around for another pass, flying over the traffic jam, followed by the lawn of the nearest factory, and then I was pointed toward the Eagle suit.


    This time I aimed the sonics, narrowcasting sound that was pitched to destroy electronics. That¡¯s what I should have started with. The only thing that sucked about that particular attack is that didn¡¯t necessarily destroy anything quickly. If there was too brief of an exposure, all I did was ¡°stress¡± whatever I was aiming at.


    Sure, it would break soon after that, but not instantly, and there was a lot to be said for instantly.


    Just like the other passes, I eventually had to let go and turn¡ªand that¡¯s when things got complicated. Eagle suit had handled the Protection Force Rocket suit she¡¯d been fighting. Now she only had to deal with me.


    As I began to turn away, the Eagle suit jumped. Never mind that suit¡¯s wings were damaged, it still had jets to assist.


    If I¡¯d been on the ground, I¡¯d have called what happened next a tackle, but technically it probably wasn¡¯t one. The Eagle suit hit my suit in the stomach and the operator had enough presence of mind to wrap the suit¡¯s claws around to my back and hang on.


    ¡°You upgraded your suit,¡± she said. ¡°Nice. Does it break?¡±


    She started squeezing with the right claw. Notifications appeared in my HUD. The claws weren¡¯t like Cassie¡¯s sword, but they were piercing the armor¡ªjust not all the way, and the suit was repairing the damage as it went.


    ¡°Oh my god,¡± she said, ¡°it fixes itself before I¡¯m even done breaking it. Rook would pay good money for a piece of that. Nice job, kid. You¡¯re going to impress the psycho someday. For now though, it¡¯s time to stand down. I¡¯m going to get through your fancy self-repairing armor sooner than you think.¡±


    The crazy thing about training with Lee is that you eventually cover even the strangest scenarios¡ªflying while someone hangs on isn¡¯t that strange by comparison to some.


    I¡¯d actually practiced a move to deal with it. It amounted to beginning to spin and then to make an unexpected turn. Timing the spin and the turn was hard because you were trying to get maximum momentum without blacking out.


    Between Lee and Grandpa teaching me how to use the Rocket though, I¡¯d practiced that move.


    I made the spin, and the Eagle suit flew away, plowing into the lawn in front of a company across the street from where we¡¯d originally entered the fight.


    When I stopped spinning, I saw that the Eagle suit was standing up. This was good. I hadn¡¯t killed her.


    I was beginning to ask myself how far I was willing to go to take her down, when a voice came over the comm, identified as Kid Biohack. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m here. Where do you need me?¡±

 Crisscross: Part 6

    ¡°Getting people out of the way,¡± Haley said. ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re doing.¡±


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


    I was about to tell Kid Biohack that as long as he was getting civilians out of harm¡¯s way, he might also watch for Alden. He was the only one of us with a realistic chance of catching the guy.


    Out of the corner of my eye, Vaughn floated in the air and in front of him, but not closely, floated force field guy. The man toppled head over heels without ever touching the ground.


    With Alden out of sight, and the energy flinging woman gone with him, it was possible that this was over.


    I never got to say anything. Eagle suit had decided not to listen to me. She raised her left arm, aiming the wide barrel beneath it at Vaughn, and firing a series of black globes at him.


    They hit Vaughn, but rather than enveloping him in black goo, the globes expanded, sticking to him and to each other. Vaughn struggled to keep himself upright. Two four foot wide balls had changed his profile, and he wobbled in the air, the balls threatening to flip him over.


    That wasn¡¯t all of it. Alden reappeared in a blur, running across the grass. Just behind him, the woman I¡¯d called the ¡°woman in red¡± flew, blasts of energy flying from her hands, all of them aimed with more precision than I liked.


    She started by blasting at me, but the Rocket suit held even if the blasts nearly caused me to tip over. As I struggled to avoid firing off in whatever random direction her blasts pointed me in, the Eagle suit joined in.


    The Eagle suit, however had automatic weapons¡ªhigh caliber and tipped with who knows what alloy.


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    They didn¡¯t break through my armor, but that was only because my armor was made of the best ceramics I could imagine in combination with what I¡¯d managed to learn from similar alien tech.


    The force of the assault did knock me back though, and I decided that I¡¯d be better off on attack than defense.


    Aiming myself downward toward the Eagle suit, I fired off a string of explosive bots. They hit the Eagle suit, covering spots in black soot.


    I landed on the tail of the bots. I had a few killbots on me, and even without them, I had the laser I¡¯d added to the Rocket suit after destroying my guitar. Capable of slowly cutting through the hull of a battleship, I had no plan to use the thing unless she attempted to kill somebody.


    You could argue that the bullets she¡¯d just fired were an attempt to kill me, but it wasn¡¯t that simple. She hadn¡¯t fired them at anyone else, and my armor had taken the shots without much complaint.


    More to the point, she¡¯d stopped firing them as I flew downward, almost as if she wasn¡¯t willing to risk firing them where they might hurt somebody.


    Running across the lawn, I heard thunder and energy blasts from behind me. I also heard Kid Biohack¡¯s voice along with Haley¡¯s. Not having time to think about it, I concentrated on the problem ahead of me.


    The woman in the Eagle suit didn¡¯t stand there and wait for me to hit her either. As I got close, she jumped to the side, forcing me to slow and change direction. Now she was standing in front of a metal walled building and I didn¡¯t have the main fight behind me.


    Instead we were parallel to the line of buildings with seemingly infinite corporate lawn in front of us and behind us. Something in my brain recognized that as a warning sign at about the time that a panel popped out of the side of her arm and started firing missiles.


    I fired off a cloud of bots as three missiles shot from her arm. Not all of the missiles hit me. My bots did their jobs, taking out two of the missiles before they even reached me.


    The third missile hit hard, setting off a series of damage notifications centered around my upper chest.


    I felt the hit¡ªnot directly, but the hit was solid. It knocked me off my feet and onto my back while simultaneously exploding and causing flame to fill my vision.


    Because of the suit¡¯s composite view, the smoke didn¡¯t stop me from realizing that the Eagle suit was running straight for me.


    I rolled to my side and up to a standing position. She stopped, pointing her arms and the guns that hung under them in my direction. ¡°Nice job with the suit. Those missiles have taken out tanks.¡±

 Crisscross: Part 7

    My HUD showed my armor¡¯s status as 89%¡ªas in 11% of the armor¡¯s cells had been damaged and no longer responded to commands. Even though the anti-tank mini-missile hadn¡¯t hurt me, that counted for something.


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


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


    That left the question of what to say. What would get her going?


    I never got to answer that question. The force field guy stepped out from behind an Escalade. ¡°Dammit Eagle, I told you no killing! What the hell is up with tankbuster?¡±


    I checked my HUD, but couldn¡¯t see Vaughn in the air. The HUD showed his vitals as normal, so maybe he was just stuck to something? Anyway, I might have to take care of both of them.


    ¡°Eagle¡± didn¡¯t move, continuing to point her guns at me.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got my orders,¡± Eagle said. ¡°I¡¯ll help you with this penny ante shit so long as you remember that it¡¯s not important. Now, as soon as you remember that, we can get somewhere. As soon as the Rocket¡¯s dead, I get the bounty, and it becomes easier for everyone to do business in this town.¡±


    ¡°No. I told you my conditions for the job going in. No killing.¡± Force field guy said, extending a sword-like shape from his hand.


    ¡°Sorry, but no, Captain Cubist,¡± she said.


    I almost laughed at that because it would be funny if the guy had named himself after an art movement. I didn¡¯t actually laugh because I took advantage of the moment to blast Eagle¡¯s helmet with more anti-electronics sonic noise. That wasn¡¯t all though. I also fired off a series of explosive rounds at Eagle¡¯s feet and legs.


    They didn¡¯t go through her armor, but they weren¡¯t supposed to. They blew her feet to the left without doing much to move her upper body. She landed on her side, trying to push herself up, but the suit itself fought her, limbs jerking uncontrollably out before the arms stopped working at all.


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    ¡°Captain Cubist¡ª¡± I began, but didn¡¯t get to say much more before he¡¯d extended a blade of force that knocked me over. It wasn¡¯t hard enough to knock the suit¡¯s armor status down, but it was still solid.


    I rolled with it and back to my feet, aiming the sonics at the force fields surrounding his body and wondering if they had a resonant frequency. I felt sure that they should, but I¡¯d never had the chance to experiment with a force field, so it was anybody¡¯s guess.


    I had my answer in almost the next second. The cube around the man¡¯s upper chest shattered and disappeared. Beneath it was a flash of white shirt but then the force field reformed.


    With a sudden insight into how I planned to use that I began to run toward Captain Cubist, but I wasn¡¯t fast enough.


    A big man with a shaven head ran past me. He wore the light blue shirt and dark blue pants that security guards sometimes wore, but his physique was that of a body builder. His muscles were obvious even through his shirt.


    Stranger, I recognized him. His name was Philo Schwartz. He was a Cabal soldier, but we¡¯d seen him guarding an armored car the first time I¡¯d caught up with one of this gang¡¯s robberies.


    He tackled Captain Cubist and squeezed. After a several seconds, all the force fields shattered and Philo dropped the body of a man to the ground. Captain Cubist¡¯s body couldn¡¯t have been as powerful as Philo¡¯s in reality, but he gave Philo a run for his money in appearance.


    Black haired and square jawed, he wore green army fatigues for pants and a white t-shirt.


    Philo spat on the ground. ¡°I nearly got fired after the last time.¡±


    He stared down at the man¡¯s body, and for a second, I worried that he might attack him. He didn¡¯t.


    At about the same time, I realized that I didn¡¯t hear any more fighting. I checked my HUD, taking in my helmet¡¯s nearly 360 degree view.


    The Escalades and armored cars were now the only vehicles nearby. Haley and Camille had gotten all the others out of harm¡¯s way. There were no civilians closer than fifty feet away, and most were further.


    Even better, Haley, Camille, and Kid Biohack stood above the unconscious bodies of a black woman in a red and gold costume¡ªthe woman who¡¯d been firing energy blasts, and Alden.


    Vaughn, black gooey spheres still attached to his body, lay on top of of one of the Escalades, awake and frowning, but presumably stuck to the roof.


    I had no idea how that happened.


    That wasn¡¯t the strangest piece of it though. A man stepped around the burnt remains of one of the Escalades to pull Philo into a hug. I didn¡¯t need the eagle symbol on a necklace to make me suspect he, like Philo, was from the Cabal. The man¡¯s muscular arms and chest and Philo¡¯s wide eyes gave me enough of a hint.


    I didn¡¯t recognize the language they spoke in, but they started laughing and talking almost from the second they first saw each other.

 Crisscross: Part 8

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


    Philo turned back to us. ¡°This is Andronicus. I haven¡¯t seen him in more than two, maybe three hundred years.¡±


    Andronicus nodded to the group of us. ¡°I have been busy this last little while.¡±


    His accent reminded me a little of Daniel¡¯s mom. She¡¯d grown up in Greece, but her family had moved to Israel. I wasn¡¯t sure whether the difference was because she had a hint of an Israeli accent or because Greek had changed in the meantime. Both might have been true.


    Giving a short nod in return, I said, ¡°You¡¯re Cabal too?¡±


    He looked over at Philo, who said, ¡°Everybody knows now.¡±


    Andronicus grunted a yes, his eyes roaming over the group of us, briefly settling on Vaughn.


    Vaughn had pulled out a small spray can from his utility belt and started spraying the balls that attached him. I¡¯d made it so that it would dissolve goo from the goobots. Even though this wasn¡¯t the same, it was similar enough.


    Vaughn pulled himself away from the top of the Escalade, leaving the big black balls, and jumped down to the ground. ¡°That was embarrassing.¡±


    For a second, I considered asking about it. Vaughn could be pretty funny, but this wasn¡¯t the right moment.


    Andronicus grinned. ¡°This is a big city, eh?¡±


    He surveyed the whole place, looking up and down the street we stood in the middle of, but then drifting toward downtown and past it toward the lake¡ªnot that the lake was visible from here.


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    I wasn¡¯t completely sure, but it seemed like his eyes lingered on Vaughn, Haley, Camille and me.


    ¡°Kind of,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s bigger than most, but it¡¯s not as big as the really big ones. Grand Lake is in the second tier of big cities. The first tier has the cities you¡¯ve probably heard of¡ªNew York, Chicago, Los Angeles and so on.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not too small,¡± Andronicus focused his attention on me. ¡°You live here?¡±


    ¡°More or less,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve lived a few different places in Grand Lake.¡±


    Andronicus nodded. ¡°You,¡± he nodded toward the rest of the group. ¡°You all live here, yes?¡±


    It seemed like an odd line of questioning, but he probably didn¡¯t know about the ward around the city. We were all stuck here so long as we carried anything magical like the wards Amy made us.


    Knowing that The Thing That Eats was somewhere in the city, we had to carry them. I had mine in a compartment in the Rocket suit. With any luck, I wasn¡¯t the only one. We probably should have required it.


    A message from Haley blinked in my HUD. She¡¯d texted me, and the words appeared next to her name. ¡°Smells like dead man becoming alive.¡±


    I typed back, ¡°Huh?¡± on my palm.


    Even as I did it, the obvious possibility came to mind. She hadn¡¯t been on the ground, so she wouldn¡¯t be able to identify him by smell, but The Thing¡¯s host had probably been a Cabal soldier. We¡¯d left it close to dead, and with barely any brain function after we¡¯d removed its essence.


    Plus, The Thing¡¯s magic (or something) had molded it into The Thing¡¯s standard body.


    To somehow get The Thing¡¯s essence back, it would have to heal itself and fly back to the U.S. before Reliquary took it to the Council¡¯s disposal facility for magical toxic waste. It would have had hours at best.


    We could do it with the jet, but we didn¡¯t have to regenerate first.


    Of course, given what Haley had said, maybe being entirely alive was optional. Maybe it could heal the bare minimum and rely on time to handle the rest.


    ¡°Where have you been?¡± I asked. ¡°Philo said you disappeared for a couple hundred years. What were you doing?¡±


    Andronicus cocked his head for a moment, but then said ¡°I traveled all over the world.¡±


    And that didn¡¯t exactly clarify anything. It fit solidly with both host and soldier. It¡¯s just that it fit better with host.


    ¡°Fighting as a soldier?¡± I asked.


    Philo glanced over at me, clearly recognizing that I was going somewhere with this¡ªand why wouldn¡¯t you after hundreds, maybe thousands of years of life?


    ¡°After a fashion,¡± Adronicus said, and transformed into The Thing That Eats with its globe shaped head and wide, wide mouth.

 Crisscross: Part 9

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


    It bit my blocking arm, completely surrounding it from the elbow up, but that didn¡¯t last. Warmth suffused my body, and a red glow tinged my view of the scene. The view from one of my spybots showed that the entire Rocket suit glowed red.


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


    It flew backwards over the cars, landing on the lawn of a two story building that appeared to be mostly mirrored glass and steel beams.


    I gave the rockets thrust and flew after it, landing on the lawn as the creature leapt into the air. I had time to notice that my punch had left a bloody mark on the bottom of its face where my fist hit.


    That was strange.


    I¡¯d never done that kind of damage against the Cabal¡¯s elite soldiers. It was the only reason I¡¯d felt comfortable going all out.


    I didn¡¯t have time to dwell on it though. Like Jaclyn and the Cabal¡¯s elite, immortal reserve group, Adronicus was strong enough to jump at least a city block, and The Thing That Eats didn¡¯t hesitate to use his strength.


    The first leap took him past the row of factories we¡¯d started in and over to the next street¡¯s line of factories, warehouses, and mirrored office buildings. It landed on the green lawn of Grand Lake Beer Distributors, a mirrored building with no more character or interesting design than any of the rest of the buildings on the block¡ªexcept for one thing. The beige, concrete sign in front of the building showed the logos of all the brands distributed. It included ¡°Larry Beer!,¡± the brand Larry had created when he wasn¡¯t in costume as the Rhino as well as many other craft beers.


    The Thing¡¯s second leap took him away from Grand Lake Beer Distributors into an empty field where the weeds grew as high as my waist.


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    With the new suit, I could fly near Mach 1, so it wasn¡¯t hard to keep up with him. He wasted his speed going up and down while I could go straight.


    The problem was that while something about the ward in my suit let me hurt him, the Cabal¡¯s reserves were easily strong enough to crush the old version of my armor. The new armor was stronger, but I didn¡¯t want to test its strength as the crash test dummy.


    I could escape that by firing off a killbot, but I¡¯d kill off The Thing That Eats along with its host.


    Tapping my palm, I opened up my group comm connection. ¡°Everyone, I¡¯m trailing him. Should I fire a killbot? Because I¡¯ll probably kill the host too.¡±


    Camille¡¯s reaction was instant. ¡°What? No!¡±


    The Thing took another leap. It took it over the field, across a stream and toward a line of houses.


    Haley¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°I see your location. You¡­ Might have to, if he starts eating people.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s link went active. ¡°I think you might have to even if he¡¯s just going to bite someone. Philo¡¯s looking pretty bad.¡±


    The Thing¡¯s next leap took it over several blocks, putting it far past Grand Lake¡¯s borders technically. Practically, South Grand Lake was indistinguishable from the actual city except for a higher average income.


    It landed in front of a gray, two story house located on a block of houses that were almost, but not quite the same. They might be a different color, have the garage on the opposite side, but basically they were variations on the same floor plan.


    A woman in yoga pants and red sweater was opening the back door to her car and placing a baby in a car seat inside.


    The Thing landed in the street, and turned its head toward her.


    Not waiting to find out what its next step would be, I loosed the killbot along with a couple high explosive rounds in case it could sense the bullets.


    The killbot reached it first. And failed. An error message appeared saying, ¡°Did not penetrate,¡± as the bot exploded on the creature¡¯s skin. That explosion was followed by two more, none of them doing any more damage than knocking the creature over and burning its clothes.


    The woman shut the car door, started the car, and drove across her own lawn and over the sidewalk to avoid getting any closer to The Thing.


    It had no desire to avoid her though, pulling itself up, and beginning to leap.


    That¡¯s when I hit it. I aimed myself at it like a missile, hands outstretched and balled into fists.


    It did not, despite my fears, open up its mouth to swallow me. Instead, I hit it in the middle of the face, driving the back of its head into the ground. In a normal human, that might have killed them, but would have almost certainly knocked them out even if it did risk permanent brain damage.


    Would that I were so lucky.


    It hit the ground, giving a wheezing grunt, and I bounced off it as the street under it cracked.

 Crisscross: Part 10

    The bounce threw me into the air. Unlike Haley, who had the reflexes necessary to land on her feet, I had the reflexes necessary to slam into the road, and didn¡¯t want to.


    I tapped my palm, giving the ¡°hover¡± command, a command that told the suit to calculate the best way to kill momentum and bring the suit upright. The world blurred around me as the rockets fired in a pattern I couldn¡¯t have come up with on the fly.


    Instead of bouncing off the Thing, flipping in the air, and flying off in some random direction dictated by the way my arms and legs flailed in the air, the rockets shut off for a moment. Then as I began to flip over they fired, stopped, and fired again. By the time they were done, I found myself fifty feet in the air, and about thirty feet past the Thing.


    I¡¯d ended up facing away from it though, so I swiveled around, adding a little height and readying the lasers, only to find that it had darted between the houses or something.


    I released a few more spybots, flipping through their individual views to see if I could find the Thing, called Kayla to see if she could check their cameras too, and told everyone else what had happened.


    Then I gave myself a little more height. Maybe that way I¡¯d be able to see it dart from behind one house to another.


    I didn¡¯t see it, but then I gave it more thought. The Cabal¡¯s reserves were as strong as Jaclyn or stronger in some cases. That meant that even if they didn¡¯t have Jaclyn¡¯s reflexes, they had speed, something I knew, but hadn¡¯t fully thought through the implications.


    Even without jumping, it¡¯d be able to cover a block in seconds. If it changed back to its host¡¯s body, I might not instantly recognize it.


    I needed to cast a wider net. I needed to get more bots out into the field.


    Fortunately, I had more. I had two floating pods. One of them carried materials for a Rocket suit. The other contained replacement armor bits and bots of all kinds.


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    It loosed the spybots, and even more came online. I had no way to watch all of them even with Kayla¡¯s help, but maybe we could at least find him by checking the recordings.


    I stayed in the air, hovering, searching through the bots¡¯ video and the suit¡¯s HUD, and wondering where everyone else was.


    I was about to ask over the comm when I noticed a hawk. It may even have been an eagle. Whatever it was, its brown feathers had a golden tinge and its wingspread was wider than the Rocket suit was tall.


    It didn¡¯t take much to conclude that it wasn¡¯t a normal hawk. I¡¯d seen hawks while flying in the Rocket suit and they mostly didn¡¯t care that I was there. The ones that did care avoided me. I¡¯d always assumed that it was because the rocket pack sounded like a jet or was simply noisy.


    This bird flew around me twice. For a second, I worried that it might be about to land on me, but on the second time around, the bird rearranged itself in the air, wings reshaping themselves into arms, the hawk¡¯s stubby legs and talons becoming longer.


    Moments later, a woman floated in front of me. Her formfitting dress was dark brown, but decorated with gold, and thicker than a ¡°dress.¡± It made me think of armor. I didn¡¯t recognize the material, but it gleamed like metal in the noonday sun.


    A sword hung by her side without a scabbard. I couldn¡¯t identify the blade¡¯s metal, but it looked more like silver than steel.


    The woman herself wasn¡¯t human. As tall as the Rocket suit, she was thinner than humans could be and still be healthy, but her golden eyes were alert, watching me. Thinness and the color of her eyes weren¡¯t the only clues that she wasn¡¯t human. Her pointed ears got that point across. The streaks of gold in her brown hair were a hint too.


    ¡°You lost him,¡± she said.


    ¡°I¡¯m working on that,¡± I said.


    ¡°Of that, I¡¯ve no doubt,¡± she said. ¡°Please stop. Your own government has passed this problem over to the North American Council of Wizardry, and as a member of that council, I¡¯m telling you that we will handle it.¡±


    As amazing as it was to know that there was a North American Council of Wizardry, its members appeared to live purely for the purpose of telling me to stay out of their business.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t,¡± I noted.


    Her eyes narrowed and her cheeks colored. ¡°I¡¯m well aware of it. I¡¯m also aware that you are touched by some queer form of blood magic. Let it be known to you that there are those of us charged with hunting those who use blood magic to extinction.¡±


    Keeping in mind Tolkien¡¯s line about wizards being subtle and quick to anger, I decided that this might not be the time to complain.


    Trying to sound more earnest than hardnosed, I told her, ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of the source of the blood magic, but you need to be aware that the Heroes¡¯ League will intervene if people are in danger.¡±

 Crisscross: Part 11

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


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


    ¡°We won¡¯t, at least most of us. We¡¯ve been warded against it. I know you don¡¯t like the source, but it works, and if you think about it, I¡¯d bet that the blood magic you¡¯re familiar with can¡¯t do that.¡±


    Shaking her head, she backed away. ¡°Remember that I warned you. If we have to, we¡¯ll kill anyone infected by the creature.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t¡­ Um¡­ What do I call you?¡±


    Still watching me, she said, ¡°Amothel the Hunter.¡±


    Then she changed back into a hawk and flew away.


    I watched the hawk go.


    While I was still watching, Camille, Vaughn and Haley appeared. Haley¡¯s voice came over the comm even as they arrived. ¡°What was that?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°A¡­ shapeshifting elf wizard, I think.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s voice came through both the speakers and the air as I saw them. ¡°Sounds like a character from an Urban Fantasy novel.¡±


    ¡°Kind of,¡± I said. ¡°So, you can see how things went for me. I lost The Thing and got threatened by an elf¡ª¡±


    ¡°Threatened?¡± Haley¡¯s eyes narrowed.


    I shrugged, making me  wobble a little in the air. ¡°A couple different times. She noticed my ward and implied that she¡¯s part of a group that hunts down and destroys blood magic users. Then she followed it up by mentioning that she¡¯s going to straight up kill anyone ¡®infected¡¯ by The Thing.¡±


    ¡°Infected?¡± Vaughn floated closer to us and I felt the wind that kept him up. ¡°That¡¯s got to be what the bite is all about. Philo was looking pretty bad when we left. A couple boxes showed up though, so I think he¡¯s been sedated along with the rest of them.¡±


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    ¡°Sedated?¡± I stared at Vaughn. ¡°He was fighting on our side.¡±


    ¡°He asked for it. Said he was hearing voices in his head. You know, like Reliquary.¡± Vaughn looked back toward the warehouses, and I followed his gaze. As far away as it was, it wasn¡¯t hard to see the flashing lights of the police cars, the armored trucks, and the bulky ¡°boxes¡± that were essentially roving prison cells for supers.


    Vaughn turned his head back to the rest of us.


    ¡°She was a wizard?¡± Camille checked the section of sky where I¡¯d last seen Amothel¡¯s hawk form. ¡°Maybe if we explained, she could imprison him with wards until Bloodmaiden or Reliquary gets here.¡±


    I looked at her. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a good idea. Unfortunately, from what she said just now, it sounds like she¡¯d most likely kill him.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°Gravity Star, could you let me down to the ground? I¡¯d like to see if I can catch his scent.¡±


    Camille lowered Haley to the ground. In only a few seconds, Haley found the spot where I¡¯d slammed into The Thing. Then she walked from there to behind a house.


    ¡°I think it stayed near the back of the houses¡­¡± She jumped a tall wooden fence, walking past an empty swimming pool, and then jumped the fence on the other side of the yard, following the smell for four more houses until she stopped.


    She stopped behind a two story, white house with a wooden deck in back. She jumped up to the deck, stopping in front of the sliding glass door. Her grey and black costume stood out in the noonday sun¡ªespecially against the background of a white house.


    ¡°I can¡¯t find it.¡± She sniffed the air. ¡°I think he jumped¡­ Maybe that way?¡± She pointed toward the backyard for a moment, but then far past it. It was vaguely in the same direction as it had come from, but not quite.


    ¡°I think it went back into the city, but it must have jumped. I can¡¯t smell anything near the ground, and I¡¯m sure the winds blew away anything higher.¡±


    Vaughn glanced down toward the deck. ¡°Yeah, I wasn¡¯t thinking about preserving smells. I¡¯m just keeping myself in the air.¡±


    As Andronicus, The Thing would have been able to make jumps from one house to another in a matter of seconds, and if I wasn¡¯t looking in the right direction, I¡¯d have missed it.


    Not that anyone could see it through my mask, but I frowned. ¡°That sucks. So now what? Do we escort the boxes back, or does everyone want to get back to school?¡±


    Vaughn checked the comm on his wrist. ¡°Oh man, I¡¯ve got a class in half an hour. If we do go back now, I¡¯ll have time for lunch, but only barely.¡±


    Camille looked down toward Haley, and over toward the mass of police cars that were still handling the results of the fight. ¡°I don¡¯t want to go if people still need help, but, I¡¯ve got class too¡ª¡±


    Kayla¡¯s voice broke in on comms¡ªall of ours at once. ¡°Bad news. Philo and Alden were in the same box, and Philo broke out. He was last seen carrying Alden away with him.¡±


    ¡°Philo?¡± I asked, already having a feeling that I knew what was coming next. ¡°But he wanted to go.¡±


    ¡°He turned into The Thing That Eats.¡±

 Splits: Part 1

    The first thing that came into my head was, ¡°Can you see where he is, or where he¡¯s gone?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Kayla¡¯s voice paused and a mouse clicked in the background. ¡°There aren¡¯t very many spybots around here. I mean, except for the ones you just released.¡±


    She was right. I¡¯d mainly focused on major intersections, and there weren¡¯t many of those around here. Worse, there were longer than normal blocks this far out, making corners even easier to avoid.


    ¡°I might be able to track them,¡± Haley¡¯s voice trailed off. She knew, as we all did, that a long jump could throw off her sense of smell. We¡¯d need all of us to pull that off. Plus, The Thing appeared to be good at sneaking around.


    ¡°We could try looking for a little while,¡± I suggested, and we did, but we didn¡¯t find anything.


    In the end, we went back to the university and attended our classes, almost as much out of a need to do something even if it wasn¡¯t something that got us any closer to finding the The Thing¡ªeither of them¡ªand for all I knew Alden too by then.


    Finally, I contacted Hal and asked him if he might be willing to watch the spybots¡¯ feeds for signs of The Thing That Eats. If nothing else, it might give the League jet¡¯s AI something more to do than troll Internet forums in the name of science.


    It was lucky for me that I didn¡¯t find classes particularly hard because my mind wasn¡¯t in any way on them and I found myself constantly checking my phone for progress from Hal (none), checking the headlines on the websites of local TV stations for news (nothing), and calculating how long it would take for The Thing to eat everyone in the city and surrounding suburbs (depressing).


    You had to consider a lot of variables. For example, average distance between victims, speed that The Thing moves, time required to eat victims, maximum number of copies of the thing, maximum number of victims that can be eaten before satiation, time required before more victims were required, and so on¡­


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    My worst case scenario allowed The Thing That Eats to devour Grand Lake and its surrounding suburbs within hours. That assumed unlimited eating, unlimited reproduction, no satiation, and near instantaneous eating.


    Haley found me in the Student Union refining the ¡°Time Required for The Thing to Eat Everyone¡± equation. I was sitting on a stool at one of the higher tables with my laptop open. I¡¯d put the equation into an Excel spreadsheet to make it easier to plug in numbers based on different assumptions.


    Taking in the laptop, my expression, my smell, heart rate and other cues, she said, ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Calculating the time we have left until the extinction of humanity,¡± I said. ¡°Worst case scenarios gives the world less than a month. Those of us in Grand Lake get less than a day under similar assumptions.¡±


    She gave the spreadsheet a closer look. ¡°Um¡­ Could you explain all of this? I¡¯m going to need less equations and more words.¡±


    I did.


    When I was finished, she took my hand. ¡°Then why is Grand Lake still here? Even with your slower scenarios, it could have taken over by now if it wanted to.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The same reason it didn¡¯t destroy Turkmenistan¡¯s capital, I guess. From what we saw there, it ate people, but quietly in the background. Even in Amy¡¯s story, it destroyed a kingdom, but a small one. It didn¡¯t destroy the Roman Empire.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s being cautious? It knows people can destroy it, and not just Amy, so it doesn¡¯t take on more than it can handle. That¡¯s what successful predators do.¡±


    I thought about it and we sat there, holding hands. ¡°That might be it. Though knowing where it comes from, it might just be waiting for the right time to destroy everything.¡±


    ¡°Maybe.¡± Haley glanced from one side to the other, possibly more for my benefit than because she needed to. In any case, no one was close enough to hear. ¡°But your laser worked on it and even normal people could use one of those.¡±


    Nodding, I said, ¡°Yeah. Normal people might not have them, but they could use them if they did. You know what¡¯s interesting. The Thing was hiding, and we couldn¡¯t find it, but when a gang full of supers and a former Cabal soldier appeared, it shows up.¡±


    Haley blinked. ¡°That¡¯s it. I think that you¡¯ve got something there. If we put up the right bait, I bet we could make it appear because now it¡¯s got two Cabal people and a speedster.¡±


    I leaned back in my chair and thought about it. ¡°Whoa. Yeah, that is weird. It¡¯s definitely picking up people with powers.¡±

 Splits: Part 2

    Keeping her voice low, Haley leaned in. ¡°It¡¯s picking people with powers and one of the first is a speedster. I think it¡¯s got a plan.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Of course, it did. A lot of my calculations are dependent on speed.¡±


    At the same time, my stomach sank. The League¡¯s parents (including mine) were mostly still inside the circle. We did need to find a way to get them out¡ªthem and everyone inside.


    Something of that thought must have shown in my face (or my smell or the speed of my heartbeat¡­) because Haley said, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The obvious. The team¡¯s parents, including yours and mine are still stuck here with that thing¡ªwhich means that if it does they¡¯ll disappear before anyone knows it. No one outside can get in, and we can¡¯t get them out without risking humanity¡¯s own extinction if we break the wards holding them in.¡±


    I felt the warmth of Haley¡¯s hand as I talked, but also noticed of all the people milling around, talking about school projects in groups at tables, or laughing.


    ¡°You know what¡¯s really creepy? If The Thing doesn¡¯t get weaker with every additional person, it could theoretically be part of everyone in this room but us?¡±


    Haley¡¯s eyes darted around the room. ¡°You¡¯re right. That¡¯s creepy.¡±


    When I looked at the room with the eye that everyone there could be controlled by the same evil, supernatural intelligence changed nothing and simultaneously everything. Instead of people with projects or lone students killing time, I could imagine them as army waiting for orders or hive mind of people who I individually only needed to give us one look.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Haley gave my hand a squeeze. ¡°They¡¯re not.¡±


    ¡°I know, but you know what I mean. That¡¯s only true for now.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°That¡¯s an awful thought.¡±


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    ¡°But true,¡± I said. ¡°Another thought¡­ We should probably tell Amy about The Thing spawning more of itself. She might know something.¡±


    Haley let go of my hand and grabbed her backpack. ¡°If the other Bloodmaidens let her¡­¡±


    My mind jumped back to something else. ¡°You may not have been around for this, but when I punched The Thing That Eats, I drew blood. That¡¯s weird. I never managed to do that to a Cabal soldier with a punch. I¡¯m not sure that Jaclyn even managed to do that.¡±


    Haley looked directly at me. ¡°I did notice. I smelled the blood. That was right after it bit you.¡±


    Nodding, I said, ¡°And after the ward activated. I didn¡¯t see that happen for anyone else, and I¡¯m pretty sure other people punched it back in Turkmenistan.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t close enough to the action to see.¡± Haley glanced over at the food area, and she wasn¡¯t the only one of us who could smell meat cooking. ¡°I¡¯m done with classes for the day. Let¡¯s get something to eat.¡±


    We ate and then walked back to our dorm, talking about things that had nothing to do with otherworldly monsters¡ªbecause we did talk about normal things too. Haley mostly talked about the Tigers¡¯ chances of making it to the playoffs. I listened. She was excited, but even as someone who didn¡¯t follow baseball, I knew that the Tigers didn¡¯t ever make it very far.


    When we got back to my dorm room, I pulled out my cell phone. When I logged in, I found that there were messages waiting for me on my Heroes¡¯ League account.


    This wasn¡¯t too strange after a public fight. I knew it would mostly be reporters wanting a comment for their story, government officials or property owners wanting to talk about the damage. Some of them would want to sue.


    Over the past couple years, I¡¯d learned what to do¡ªforward the property damage issues to legal, ignore the reporters, and check to find out what was left after that.


    Watching as I logged in, Haley pulled out her own phone. ¡°I took care of my messages before we met for supper¡­ Shit. There are more of them.¡±


    So then we were both clicking through our lists. I didn¡¯t find anything unusual until the second to the last message.


    I recognized the baritone voice (and indefinable accent) instantly even though I¡¯d only heard it for the first time that day.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± the message began, ¡°this is Andronicus. I know you know me as the host of the Great Hunger, but you must understand I¡¯m no longer its willing host. When I was young and stupid, it bit me, and I accepted its offer of power. I know what it plans to do in this city and I offer it to you in exchange for your help. Free me of this thing, and I¡¯ll owe you a great debt.


    ¡°Think about my offer. I¡¯ll call you again.¡±


    Haley and I looked at each other. She held her phone by her side. ¡°Do you believe him?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I barely met the guy.¡±

 Splits: Part 3

    Haley frowned. ¡°I wish I¡¯d heard a real conversation with him. Then I might have better sense of what he¡¯s like. You can learn a lot about who someone is by what they¡¯re nervous to talk about.¡±


    ¡°What I¡¯m wondering is if you could tell who¡¯s in control? Andronicus or The Thing That Eats? That would make this a lot easier.¡±


    She tilted her head, obviously thinking. ¡°If I had some time to observe him, maybe. It¡¯s a good idea. It seems like the kind of thing I ought to be able to do.¡±


    I crossed the room and sat down on my bed. Haley looked over at me. ¡°You¡¯re not hoping to make out, are you?¡±


    ¡°No. I just wanted to sit down. Also, I was going to call Amy, and I thought that you might want to sit next to me when I did.¡±


    She put her phone in her pocket. ¡°You smell a little like you want to make out.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to. It passed through my mind, but seriously, Jeremy could walk through the door any second, and we could end up in combat any minute now the way things are going.¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°We¡¯ll see how that goes.¡±


    She sat down next to me and her arm brushed mine, making me suddenly aware of the warmth of her body. She looked up at me. ¡°You¡¯re sure you were going to phone Amy?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± I turned my phone sideways, put it into speaker mode, and wished that The Thing That Eats were in a completely different universe.


    Moments after I dialed, Amy picked up. Initially, I only saw her face on the screen. She hadn¡¯t transformed, so the major impression I got was bobbed red hair hanging around a pale face. But then everyone crowded in¡ªCassie grinning, Rod and his blond beard, and Samita looking serious (which is to say, normal).


    I couldn¡¯t quite tell where they were, but when Amy picked up the phone, I saw two double beds on one side the room facing a television that sat on cabinets that ran the length of the other side.


    Between that and the beige carpet, it was obvious. They were in a hotel room.


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    I peered in, trying to see more than their faces. ¡°Where are you?¡±


    Cassie spoke first. ¡°The Motel 6 about half an hour out from Grand Lake. You¡¯d know it, if you saw it.¡±


    ¡°The one next to the Cracker Barrel?¡± I asked.


    Cassie nodded. ¡°That¡¯s it.¡±


    Haley leaned toward the phone. ¡°What are you doing there?¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re supposed to be sleeping, but we spent last night fighting vampires.¡±


    I sighed. Haley asked, ¡°Are there a lot of them?¡±


    Amy gave a small smile. ¡°There used to be five in the motel. They¡¯re dead now.¡±


    Samita shook her head. ¡°But there were seven more in an old barn near the motel that we didn¡¯t even know about¡ªuntil two of them caught Cassie in the parking lot.¡±


    ¡°No kidding,¡± I said as Haley and I looked at each other. ¡°What happened?¡±


    Cassie laughed. ¡°They¡¯re dead, obviously.¡±


    Samita¡¯s face tightened, ¡°But not just because of you.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Cassie said. ¡°You know how Daniel had ideas he thought might help against magic? They work, mostly. I got it together enough to pull out the Gun, and he fired on his own¡ªburned them both to ashes. You know how the Gun has a HUD? I¡¯ve found that if I use his senses the vampires'' hypnotism, or mind magic, or whatever it is... Well, that doesn''t work.¡±


    Haley examined the faces on the screen. ¡°How are the rest of you doing?¡±


    Grinning, Amy said, ¡°I¡¯ve got too many minds in my head for that to work.¡±


    Rod shrugged. ¡°When I¡¯m human, I¡¯ve got a luck ring just like Samita. It disappears when I¡¯m a troll, but it¡¯s hard to enchant trolls.¡±


    Meeting Rod¡¯s eye, Samita said, ¡°Too few minds for it to work.¡±


    Rod rolled his eyes. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ve been smashing the vampires, and I don¡¯t know if you play Dungeons and Dragons, but Samita made a real Wand of Fireballs.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Haley looked over at me.


    I grinned. ¡°A wand that shoots out blasts of fire that explode and burn everything around them.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°So, basically, exactly what it sounds like it should do.¡±


    Amy broke in. ¡°As much as I¡¯d love to tell you more, why did you call?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a little bit of a story,¡± I began, and between the two of us, Haley and I told them about the fight.


    ¡°Do you have any idea why I drew blood?¡±


    Amy glanced over at Samita. ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure, but I¡¯ve got an idea. We¡¯ve all spent enough time with Lee that I¡¯ve had to adjust the wards for them to work¡ª¡±


    Samita added, ¡°It isn¡¯t unusual to be affected when you spend time with powerful, supernatural beings like angels, demons, or gods.¡±


    Amy frowned as Samita interrupted her, but added, ¡°Nick¡¯s spent more time with him than anyone. While I was adjusting, I might have tapped into whatever the source of Lee¡¯s power is, or maybe directly into him.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said.


    Haley groaned.


    Amy¡¯s mouth hinted at a grin. ¡°If you want to know, you should ask him if that¡¯s possible. He¡¯s immortal. This can¡¯t be the first time it¡¯s come up. Any other questions?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°Do you think we ought to trust Andronicus?¡±


    Before Amy could reply, Haley asked, ¡°And do you think The Thing could be going after people with powers?¡±

 Splits: Part 4

    Amy froze. Then she all but spit as she talked. ¡°Fuck! They didn¡¯t tell me. It does that kind of thing all the time. In my world, we¡¯ve had a lot of creatures come through interdimensional portals. They¡¯re mostly magical creatures, but every now and then we¡¯ll see some strange mixture of magic and science, and sometimes¡­ Sometimes we¡¯ll see something purely scientific.¡±


    Her face twisted, and then she sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve told you that we¡¯ve fought The Thing That Eats for years, but what I didn¡¯t tell you, because I didn¡¯t know, was that it collected them. We¡¯ve got humanoids called the Elder. Think of them as a cross between vampires and elves. The Thing collected them¡ªalong with anything else it could get. Cyborgs? Sure. Centaurs? Definitely. It took anything it could get.


    ¡°So yes. It would definitely go after people with powers. I don¡¯t know what it plans to do with them, but it gets stronger when it eats. It gets weaker when it splits though. Other Bloodmaidens have seen it split, eat as much as they can, abandon its hosts and devour them.¡±


    Rod turned to her. ¡°No shit? That thing is messed up.¡±


    Cassie glanced between Amy, Rod, and Samita. ¡°I know Amy¡¯s wards are the only thing standing between us and being hosts, but you guys are all alone in there. There¡¯s got to be some way I could ditch it, slip through and help.¡±


    Amy and Samita turned to stare at her, simultaneously saying, ¡°No!¡±


    Cassie frowned for a second before saying, ¡°Look, I get it, but we¡¯re not helping much out here. We need to get in there, and I¡¯m the only one of us who can.¡±


    Shaking her head, Amy said ¡°It will go after you. It knows the League took it down. It also knows that you guys don¡¯t have any protection from it but my wards. I don¡¯t want to sound like the Council, but you¡¯re the weak link. The Council has its own wards, but if mine break, you¡¯ve got power and no protection.¡±


    Cassie held up her hands. ¡°Ok. I won¡¯t, but we need to get inside soon.¡±


    Haley bit her lip. ¡°I just thought of something. Camille¡¯s the only former Justice Fist member who got a ward. That means Sean, Jody, Dayton, Shannon, and Julie are all vulnerable. They¡¯ve all got powers, but no secret identity. It wouldn¡¯t take much for The Thing to find out about them, and then they¡¯ll know all about us and HQ and everything.¡±


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    That¡¯s when everyone got quiet.


    I broke the silence with, ¡°You¡¯re right, and that includes Lucas too. Plus, Marcus and Sydney weren¡¯t part of the raid, so they don¡¯t have wards.¡±


    Amy leaned in toward the phone. ¡°You need to get them into HQ or out of the city immediately.¡±


    Samita glanced at Amy but faced us. ¡°HQ would be better. I set up wards in case we needed to quarantine all of you when you came back. I¡¯ll send you an email that tells you how to operate them. You should be able to keep all of them safe long enough for us to figure out a way to get in.¡±


    Rod raised an eyebrow. ¡°Are you sure? The way I see it, the only way we¡¯re going to get in is to break the Council¡¯s barrier.¡±


    Samita pursed her lips. ¡°Now you¡¯re thinking like a troll.¡±


    Rod shook his head. ¡°No. We haven¡¯t found any weak spots so far. If the Council has a way in, they¡¯ve hidden it pretty well. I¡¯m not sure we have time to find it before things get bad in there.¡±


    Sighing, Amy turned toward Rod. ¡°I know you don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to find one, but you can¡¯t ward a city this size without leaving a few holes even if they¡¯re unintentional. Warding an entire city is hard. Past Bloodmaidens have done it, but there¡¯s always been a hole. I wonder how the Council did it?¡±


    Samita leaned back, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but they couldn¡¯t use Rudolph the Fat¡¯s basic wards for fortifications because it requires more specific knowledge of this place than they¡¯re likely to have.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Amy said. ¡°Reliquary told me that the Council has teams assigned to the larger cities. If they constructed the wards one at a time over the course of years, they could use Fennic¡¯s fifth principle to stabilize¡­¡±


    It only got more obscure from there. Haley caught my eye and shook her head. I¡¯d have interrupted, but I had a bad feeling that many people felt the same when listening to me.


    I let their words wash over me, wondering how we could get them in, and where any holes in the wards might be. Maybe I could come up with a better way to search. Too bad the next Stapledon weekend wasn¡¯t coming soon enough. Maybe I could email Dr. Nation.


    Thinking about Stapledon, I felt suddenly very stupid. I knew how we were going to get them into the city.


    Speaking without thinking, I told them, ¡°I know how to bring you in. I¡¯ve actually got two ways. First, the Starplate would be an option if I didn¡¯t care if you arrived. I have no idea how to use it. The second idea, though, is really obvious. Chancy has been teleporting us to Stapledon, and he teleports straight into HQ. I¡¯m betting Lee knows how to get a hold of him. If I ask him about it, I can also find out what he says about the fact that I can hurt The Thing.¡±

 Splits: Part 5

    Amy looked over at Samita. They¡¯d all sat together on one of the hotel beds. ¡°I think that could work. Psychic teleportation should get us around any ward I¡¯ve ever heard of.¡±


    Brow furrowing, Samita¡¯s face went blank. After a little while, she raised her hand to her chin and waited longer. A moment later, she straightened up and lowered her hand. ¡°It should work. There are wards that prevent teleportation, but I think I¡¯d recognize them.¡±


    Amy grinned. ¡°That¡¯s good enough for me.¡±


    Rod checked between the two of them. ¡°Nice to see you agree on something.¡±


    Sitting beside the three of them, Cassie laughed. ¡°That¡¯s getting a little old.¡±


    She looked back at us from the other side of the screen. ¡°He¡¯s been saying that every time they agree. They don¡¯t agree much, but they agree enough that he doesn¡¯t have to say it. Not really.¡±


    Rod shrugged. ¡°They used to agree less.¡±


    Cassie glanced over at him. ¡°Whatever.¡±


    Leaning back and propping herself up with one arm on the bed, Amy added, ¡°I think that¡¯s all we¡¯ve got that¡¯s useful.¡±


    ¡°Watch for it,¡± Samita said, ¡°I¡¯ll get you the email about HQ¡¯s wards tonight.¡±


    Haley and I said our goodbyes to them, leaving us sitting on the bed in my dorm room.


    Putting my phone down next to me, I said, ¡°I suppose I¡¯d better call Lee now. Do you want to stick around?¡±


    Haley looked up at me. ¡°I might as well. If we¡¯re all affected by this, you shouldn¡¯t be the only one who knows.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°And someone else should know what Lee says about Chancy, and it probably ought to be you because you were leading the group of us who were still in Grand Lake last year.¡±


    She took my hand. ¡°I hope that doesn¡¯t bother you.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No. It does remind me of everything that I apparently missed though. I was right here in Grand Lake, but between Stapledon and everything else going on, I was barely aware that all of you had almost evolved into a separate team.¡±


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    She glanced up at me. ¡°We didn¡¯t try to. I was hanging around with Camille and Sydney and a supervillain would appear. The police would call, and since Camille and Sydney had powers, it made sense to respond.¡±


    Nodding along as she talked, I said, ¡°You¡¯re right. It does. I still feel weird about not even noticing. It¡¯s kind of a big thing to miss.¡±


    Giving a shrug, she said, ¡°You were busy. Rook came. Cassie was kidnapped. The world was attacked by aliens. I know how you missed it. You were in the middle of everything else.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, shaking my head.


    In the hall, a group of guys laughed about something. I missed most of what they said except for catching the word ¡°dong.¡± That made me suspect it wasn¡¯t an important conversation.


    Haley looked toward the sound and shook her head.


    I picked up my phone, found Lee¡¯s name in my contacts, and clicked on it. Lee picked up the phone, said, ¡°Hey, Nick.¡± The video came on, showing Lee¡¯s face, his too wide smile and long, straight black hair. His face appeared to be illuminated only by the bluish light of his phone.


    ¡°Give me a second.¡± He reached off to the left, something clicked, and a light filled the room, or so I assumed. In addition to him, only the back of a red, leather chair and a white wall showed in the picture.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need the light, and I forget to turn it on.¡± The picture blurred, showing a bit of the white t-shirt he wore. It advertised his studio¡ªthe Grand Lake Martial Arts Academy.


    Then he centered it on his face again. ¡°Haley,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re in on this too. What do the two of you want?¡±


    I didn¡¯t wait. ¡°I¡¯ve got a couple questions. We¡¯ve got to get people in here to fight The Thing That Eats and since they use magic, I¡¯m thinking that Chancy¡¯s probably the best way to do it. Do you have a way to contact him? I don¡¯t.¡±


    Lee grinned. ¡°I do, but this isn¡¯t a Stapledon thing, so he¡¯ll be wanting to get paid.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°Would it matter that we¡¯re Stapledon students who are bringing in more Stapledon students to fight The Thing?¡±


    ¡°Nice try,¡± Lee smiled. ¡°No, he¡¯d probably point out that Stapledon isn¡¯t handling this problem. The North American Wizards¡¯ Council is. He¡¯d probably open up a portal so you can escape with your families, but not to let more people inside.¡±


    Haley and I looked at each other. Getting our families out didn¡¯t sound like a bad idea, but Haley asked, ¡°Do you know if he owes you or maybe our grandparents¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Now that,¡± Lee raised his hand, pointing his index finger at Haley, ¡°that¡¯s a good idea. He owes me for not killing him a couple times and he owes your grandparents too. I can call him and lean on him.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± It seemed too easy. ¡°Then my other question was, what¡¯s up with somehow being connected to you? Amy noticed it when she was making our wards. It appears that it makes it easy for me to hurt The Thing.¡±


    Lee sat up a little straighter. ¡°Oh, that. Funny coincidence how that happens. It¡¯s useful. No denying that, but I should tell you something. If you ever do meet another creature like me, it might notice. Fortunately the chance of that is fairly low.¡±

 Splits: Part 6

    I blinked, trying to think of what to ask next. That opened up too many questions.


    Haley didn¡¯t wait. ¡°How low?¡±


    Lee paused, making it either the first or the only time I could remember seeing him hesitate. ¡°Let¡¯s say that there are multiple factors involved.¡±


    He leaned back in his chair, the red leather becoming more visible next to his shoulder length, black hair.


    ¡°Yeah? Like what?¡± I tried to sound interested, but not too interested.


    Haley looked over at me. Lee chuckled.


    Smiling, he said, ¡°I probably should tell you. You¡¯re on the edge of this becoming ¡®need to know¡¯ information, and I might not be there when you cross that line. So, I guess it¡¯s story time. Where were we? Oh that¡¯s right¡­ I told you how the race of beings I came from doesn¡¯t like competitors, and how when we saw new races, well, we decided to destroy them all. Better, we decided to give them the means to destroy themselves.¡±


    He stopped and took a breath. ¡°I may have neglected a few very important details when I told you the first version of the story. Not every one of my people agreed that we should destroy the younger races. That was understandable. We¡¯d been around for quite some time by then, and we¡¯d spread out. Plus, there weren¡¯t many of us left, and some of us had gone native. They¡¯d been guiding the younger races, teaching them. So, there was war. The ¡®Destroy¡¯ faction won, but planets, solar systems, and a chunk of a galaxy died.¡±


    I flipped that around in my head for a little while. ¡°So when you¡¯re saying that there are multiple factors involved, one of them is that whoever we run into might not be from the Destroy faction.¡±


    Lee nodded. ¡°Right. I¡¯m saying there¡¯s a low chance because I¡¯m sure my people aren¡¯t even searching this universe for me, and if they are, they¡¯re not searching this planet. I¡¯ve left better clues in other places. Now if you were to visit another universe or get off this planet, the chances of meeting one of my people get higher. Plus, there¡¯s a chance that one of us might be here on Earth. It won¡¯t be someone from the Destroy faction then, but I don¡¯t know more than that. Whoever they are, they¡¯re hiding the same way I am. So I can¡¯t see them, and they can¡¯t see me.¡±


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    He gave a wide smile. ¡°For all I know, there might be more than one, and in that case, you¡¯re going to be looking at a fight. Now, I¡¯d bet on me but, it¡¯s not something you¡¯ll want to be close to.¡±


    Haley looked up at the screen in my hand. ¡°You¡¯d fight them? If they¡¯re not from the Destroy faction, wouldn¡¯t they be natural allies?¡±


    Lee laughed and then he shook his head. ¡°Allies? No. Now, once upon a time, I might have had friends in each of our factions¡ªeven outside Destroy, but I¡¯m sure they must have soured on me by now. I was part of the Destroy faction for quite some time, and earned a reputation as an effective killer of my own kind.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°So you don¡¯t have any friends.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that. I think the Xiniti might like me a little, and then there¡¯s you kids. It¡¯s not quantity so much as quality, you know?¡±


    Then he stopped smiling. ¡°As a friend though, there¡¯s something I have to tell you. I can¡¯t sense others of my kind, but you just might, and they might be able to sense you. If you can, pretend that you don¡¯t notice and keep on walking. That way you might survive.¡±


    Haley¡¯s eyes widened. Mine probably did too.


    Lee shrugged. ¡°If it doesn¡¯t think you noticed, it might not realize just how much time we¡¯ve spent together. If it does realize it, it¡¯s likely to watch you until you find me, and then well¡­ Things burn.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s like with the ward, then,¡± I said. ¡°What exactly does spending time together do?¡±


    Next to me, I could feel Haley lean toward the phone. Lee¡¯s eyes seemed to stop focusing on the phone for a moment, but then he stared into it again, ¡°It¡¯s like this¡ªyou know how there are multiple dimensions? Imagine that being near me sharpens you and hardens you in dimensions that you can¡¯t quite sense. There are side effects¡ª¡±


    My dorm room¡¯s door opened slowly, and Jeremy peered in. Finding that Haley and I were on the bed, but not making out, and staring at the screen of a phone, he opened the door fully, and stepped inside. Out of some kind of caution, he never let the door go, guiding it to close slowly and softly.


    Lee continued ¡°¡ªlike allowing you to punch The Thing and make it bleed, but also to sense my kind and be sensed by us. Don¡¯t count on the ability to hurt us when you don¡¯t have that ward. You don¡¯t drain power from me, but Amy appears to have attuned it in a way that it drains just a little. It¡¯s not much, but we¡¯re going to need to destroy it when this is over.


    ¡°Now tell me, who just entered your room?¡±


    Jeremy stopped walking, beginning to open his mouth. I didn¡¯t give him the chance. Otherwise he might land on Lee¡¯s list of people to kill in order to keep me safe.

 Splits: Part 7

    ¡°That¡¯s my roommate, Jeremy. He¡¯s already got the block, and he already knows who I am.¡± I hoped that would be enough to stop Lee from making any snap decisions.


    As Jeremy came in, Lee had touched on the topic of who his people were. He¡¯d probably killed people for knowing less, and to be fair, this was a potentially world ending secret if Jeremy figured it out. Worse, Jeremy had actually been part of an online discussion group about Lee. It wasn¡¯t likely that he¡¯d figure out much of anything from what he¡¯d heard, but he had a better chance than 99% of the world¡¯s population¡­


    That was why I''d mentioned the block.


    Looking me directly in the eye, Lee said, ¡°Make sure it¡¯s a good block.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll talk to Daniel about it.¡± I did my best to sound sincere and calm instead of nervous. I wasn¡¯t lying either. ¡°Oh, and one more thing. The Thing That Eats¡¯ host called us.¡±


    Lee nodded. ¡°Sounds interesting. What did it have to say?¡±


    ¡°It said it knew what The Thing¡¯s plan was and asked me to free it. Also, it didn¡¯t say so, but we know it¡¯s one of the Cabal¡¯s reserves.¡±


    Lee listened. ¡°Andronicus?¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°You know him?¡±


    Shrugging, Lee said, ¡°Immortals. We run across each other every now and again. I¡¯ve known the Cabal a bit, impersonated them, and sometimes I¡¯ve run across one of them when they¡¯re away from the group. Andronicus got sick of being a soldier a couple hundred years ago and left the Cabal. It doesn¡¯t surprise me that The Thing took him. It¡¯s stronger with a strong host.¡±


    Tilting her head to the side, Haley said, ¡°If you¡¯re right, Andronicus must have been the host we defeated in Turkmenistan. He¡¯d been completely converted into the form The Thing uses and Daniel said that his mind was badly damaged. He didn¡¯t seem to think it would be able do anything on its own, but if Andronicus was the host, he healed, crossed the ocean in a few hours, and stole The Thing¡¯s um¡­ soul back from Reliquary. Without the League''s jet or something like it, that would be impossible. Plus, it would mean that he wanted The Thing back. So we can¡¯t trust Andronicus at all.¡±


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    I looked over at Haley. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about that, but you¡¯re right.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°It¡¯s been bugging me all afternoon. I couldn¡¯t put my finger on exactly why until now.¡±


    While we¡¯d talked, Jeremy had pulled the chair out from behind his desk and sat down. I think he hoped we all might forget he was there. Even though he listened, he didn¡¯t say anything.


    Lee shook his head. ¡°You¡¯ve got almost everything right, but you¡¯re missing a few details. I¡¯m not surprised that he healed. I think The Thing ran Andronicus¡¯ body through the power impregnator. I¡¯m not sure when, but it would mean he''d regenerate faster than I remember, and the Cabal¡¯s soldiers¡¯ bodies regenerated well even on power juice. He could heal both mind and body.


    ¡°What wouldn¡¯t heal is that after so long under The Thing¡¯s command, he¡¯d want it back the way an addict craves its fix. He¡¯d wake up healed, but he¡¯d still remember all the people who were loyal to the thing. Desperate to get back to normal, he¡¯d contact a sorcerous vampire willing to transport him here along with help. I can think of a few who would be capable of it.¡±


    I thought it over. It fit. ¡°So we can¡¯t trust Andronicus at all. It¡¯s a ploy to help The Thing That Eats.¡±


    Lee laughed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that. The creature¡¯s more cruel than you''re imagining. Andronicus must have been compelled by his need to get The Thing back, but now that he¡¯s got him, and now that his body and mind are fully healed for the first time in centuries, he knows that he could have been free. He¡¯s probably desperate to get away now, but that doesn¡¯t mean you can fully trust him. The creature¡¯s got as much power over him as it ever did.


    ¡°You¡¯re not going to like it, but to win you¡¯ll have to kill Andronicus and the creature both. I¡¯ll tell you why. It¡¯s because even though I¡¯ll get Chancy to teleport Amy in, she¡¯s not going to have time to work much magic. Meanwhile, the creature is going to eat and infect as many people as it can, starting with people with powers¡ªwhich means your friends.


    ¡°Amy¡¯s given you the means to kill the creature. If you do it, you¡¯ll likely be able to free anyone he¡¯s infected. If you leave Andronicus alive, he¡¯ll still be fighting to get back under the The Thing¡¯s yoke and he¡¯ll likely know how.


    ¡°Don¡¯t make the same mistake twice. I¡¯ll talk to Chancy.¡±


    Lee cut the connection. I clicked off the comm program and put my phone back in my pocket.


    Jeremy took an audible breath. ¡°Was that what I think it was?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I pushed myself off the bed. So did Haley.


    ¡°And did I nearly end up on his kill list?¡±


    Haley and I looked at each other. Then we looked at him. ¡°Yes.¡±


    Jeremy sat behind his desk, taking it in. ¡°That¡¯s actually kind of cool.¡±

 Splits: Part 8

    ¡°Not really,¡± I said. ¡°Because he checks names off his kill list on a regular basis. He¡¯s not going to kill you, but that¡¯s only because he¡¯s got faith in Daniel¡¯s block. Um¡­ But he still wants me to get Daniel to improve it.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Jeremy nodded along as I talked. ¡°The bit where he kills people isn¡¯t fun, but look, the online group I¡¯m part of has been tracking him for years, and I¡¯m right next to him. That¡¯s amazing. It still doesn¡¯t seem real.¡±


    I stared at him without saying anything. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­¡± I stopped, trying to find the words. "He killed thirty people who worked for Syndicate L last year because they knew my name, and you walked in when he was talking about something that he¡¯s more worried about getting out than that.¡±


    Jeremy had been leaning back in his chair, but leaned forward as I talked. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t ask about that, should I?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I tried to keep my voice as level and serious as possible.


    Haley added, ¡°What¡¯s going on is bad enough. I don¡¯t know if Nick told you about The Thing That Eats, but it¡¯s a supernatural creature that¡¯s taking over metahumans and eating people. We¡¯re trying to stop it, but we don¡¯t know where it is, and right now we don¡¯t know exactly how. We just know who it¡¯s after¡ªmetahumans first, and everyone else after that.¡±


    Jeremy leaned forward, putting his elbows on his desk. ¡°It¡¯s going after metahumans? All metahumans?¡±


    Haley tilted her head, frowning. ¡°We don¡¯t know why one and not another, but it¡¯s definitely going for metahumans more than humans. We¡¯re going to hide any that it might know about in the League¡¯s headquarters. Actually I was going to contact all of the former Justice Fist people after we got off the phone with Lee because they¡¯re publicly known.¡±


    Jeremy frowned. ¡°Why do you think it¡¯s going after metahumans?¡±


    Sitting a little straighter on my bed, Haley said, ¡°Easy. Every time we¡¯ve seen it, it¡¯s been using a metahuman as a host. And today when we were fighting it, it infected two new hosts, both metahumans. Actually, one of them was Alden.¡±


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    Jeremy froze. ¡°Do you think it might go after Jillian?¡±


    Shaking her head, Haley said, ¡°Jillian has to use power juice. Everyone we¡¯ve seen The Thing go after has been actively using their powers. She hasn¡¯t been, right? And her powers are basically copying other people¡¯s powers.¡±


    Pulling out his phone, Jeremy said, ¡°Yeah, but she still used to be Alden¡¯s girlfriend. He knew what she could do. If it wants her, Alden won¡¯t have a choice. He¡¯ll deliver her, right?¡±


    He started texting, looking up to say. ¡°She says not to worry about her. She¡¯s fine.¡± He stared at his phone. ¡°I don¡¯t like this. I¡¯m going over to her room.¡±


    ¡°That might be a bad idea,¡± I said. ¡°If Alden¡¯s in her room, it¡¯s there too. We¡¯ve got protection against it. You don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Jeremy stood up. ¡°I¡¯m going over there.¡±


    His phone beeped again. Looking down at it, his lip curled. ¡°She says she¡¯s leaving, and she¡¯ll be back later.¡±


    Standing up, he ran out of the room. After a look at each other, Haley and I followed him. It wasn¡¯t hard. He was slightly overweight and didn¡¯t exercise beyond walking between classes while Haley and I had been exercising all summer.


    Plus, Haley could lift a few tons and run at speeds appropriate to slow cars. Outrunning a physics geek wasn¡¯t much of a challenge.


    We caught up to him as he started up the stairway in the middle of the dorm, and followed him into the women¡¯s side. As ever, I could immediately smell the difference in the form of perfume or maybe air freshener.


    ¡°You know,¡± Haley said, ¡°she might not be leaving with Alden. She might have have decided to go to the library. I know I¡¯ve still got classwork I should look over.¡±


    Still breathing hard, Jeremy asked, ¡°Then why are you here?¡±


    Haley said, ¡°Just in case you¡¯re right.¡±


    Almost no one was in the hall. One girl stared at us as if to ask, ¡°Why are you running down the hall now?¡±


    She didn¡¯t say it, and maybe I was overreacting.


    Haley stopped, holding out her arms to slow us down, and turning back to me to say, ¡°Alden was here more than thirty minutes ago. I think they might have left before she sent you that text.¡±


    Whoever the resident assistant for that hall was, she¡¯d written the residents¡¯ names under illustrations of cute ponies. Thus, we found ourselves looking up at the name Jillian Marshall and her roommate Sandra Boomsma.


    Jeremy knocked on the door, and Sandra (so I assumed) opened it. Sandra had dark brown skin, curly black hair and was still looking at her phone as she peered at us through the open door.


    She looked at Haley and I, but then gravitated on Jeremy. ¡°Hey, Jeremy. Jillian¡¯s gone. She left maybe half an hour or maybe an hour ago with her boyfriend. Wasn¡¯t he in trouble with the police or something?¡±

 Splits: Part 9

    Jeremy stood with his mouth open, but managed to start talking again. ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s in big trouble with the police. He¡¯s one of the guys who¡¯ve been robbing armored cars in town. Plus, last I heard, Alden was her ex-boyfriend. As in, she was giving information about him to the police.¡±


    Sandra let her phone, and the hand she held it in, drop to her waist. ¡°She didn¡¯t tell me that. Jillian just said he got in trouble with the police. She didn¡¯t say anything about robbing armored cars.¡±


    She stopped talking and her eyes widened. ¡°Aren¡¯t those robbers all metas? Alden didn¡¯t act like a meta. He never did anything weird or¡­ What does he do?¡±


    ¡°Speedster,¡± I said.


    Sandra glanced at me. ¡°He never gave me any hint of it.¡±


    Haley put her hand on Sandra¡¯s shoulder. ¡°There¡¯s something you should know. If she comes back, she might not be herself. Alden¡¯s been attacked by something¡­ It¡¯s been on the news. It looks like a kind of magic infection.¡±


    ¡°Like vampires?¡± Sandra looked between the rest of us, possibly for confirmation.


    ¡°Not exactly,¡± I began. Haley looked over at me. ¡°But it looks just as bad as vampires. Maybe worse, actually.¡±


    Jeremy shook his head. ¡°If you¡¯ve got somewhere else to stay tonight, you might think about going there. Jillian¡¯s not safe right now. Watch the news. Her boyfriend got caught and then a guy who the creature bit ran off carrying him. It spreads by biting, she¡¯s got to have it too by now.¡±


    Sandra looked from him to us. ¡°You¡¯re serious? Okay. Some of my friends are renting a house. I can go there.¡±


    A little while later we were back in my room. ¡°I hope the news reports show the biting,¡± I said, sitting back down on my bed.


    ¡°They do,¡± Jeremy held up his phone. ¡°I was checking them out while we were talking before we went over.¡±


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    Haley, who hadn¡¯t joined me on the bed, stood next to the room¡¯s window, pulling her phone out of her pocket. ¡°We need to call everyone we were talking about earlier¡ªall the people in Justice Fist. Maybe Kayla can help. I¡¯m sure Sydney can get a hold of Sean¡­ Maybe Camille will know Shannon and Julie¡¯s numbers?¡±


    Jeremy looked over at me. ¡°Shannon and Julie?¡±


    ¡°Members of Justice Fist. We don¡¯t see them much except at Stapledon, but they both had public identities like everyone else in Justice Fist. Shannon controls darkness. Julie can command people and they¡¯ll listen.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Julie¡¯s power is nothing you¡¯d want The Thing to have access to.¡±


    Turning to Haley, I said, ¡°We need to tell Courtney too. Really anyone we can think of with powers that we know.¡±


    She looked up from her phone, frowning. ¡°Kid Biohack.¡±


    Jeremy grinned. ¡°That won¡¯t be hard. Just leave a comment on his YouTube videos.¡±


    ¡°Ha-ha,¡± I said. ¡°For real, though, his devices use standard protocols, so I can email or text him. Actually, I think that''s true of everyone we''ve mentioned so far.¡±


    I clicked on my phone, discovering that Samita had sent me the email about how to use the wards she¡¯d set inside League HQ.


    Jeremy sat down at his desk and opened his laptop. ¡°You¡¯re going to have everybody gather in your headquarters until this is over?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Only until Amy can get here and make wards for every powered person who doesn¡¯t have them.¡±


    ¡°What about me?¡± Jeremy stood next to his desk.


    At first I was about to say he wasn¡¯t at risk because he didn¡¯t have powers, but then I thought about it. Jillian knew him. If she didn¡¯t come back to eat him, she might infect him with The Thing. If she did, he would know everything, and even if he was affected by the block, The Thing That Eats might not be.


    ¡°You should probably come too.¡±


    He grinned. ¡°This is going to be amazing.¡±


    In the next few minutes, Haley and I wrote an email and sent it to everyone who had been in Justice Fist, all the members of the Heroes¡¯ League, and anyone local with powers who didn¡¯t quite fit those two categories.


    Then I sent a citywide red alert to anyone with a comm that used standard hero protocols. That would cover heroes we didn¡¯t know about¡ªassuming the FBI hadn¡¯t already informed everyone.


    ¡°I think that¡¯s everybody,¡± I told Haley as we stood next to the window, looking out over the dark campus and the city beyond it.


    Jeremy watched something his laptop. He looked up. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯d do differently, but there¡¯s got to be someone you missed.¡±


    ¡°Most likely,¡± I said, hoping I was wrong.


    In the background, Jeremy''s laptop played NBC News 10''s theme song. Did they live stream online? Within half an hour, the sound of an alert went out over his laptop¡¯s speakers. The city¡¯s superhuman containment facility was being attacked.

 Splits: Part 10

    The alert also appeared on everyone¡¯s phones, and most likely all of the city¡¯s radio and television stations. After the beeping ended, the message said what they always said¡ªstay in your house until we say it¡¯s safe. Also, the following individuals were released from containment¡­ It listed everyone in the gang we¡¯d fought earlier that day¡ªexcept for the woman who operated the Eagle suit.


    That made sense. She was a normal human, and the city only had ten cells rated for superhuman containment. Why waste one?


    I flipped through the pictures, noticing Haley doing the same. The last two pictures showed Alden and Philo, noting that they were the ones who¡¯d broken the others out. Jillian didn¡¯t make the list.


    Maybe Alden hadn¡¯t bitten her? Maybe she was resisting The Thing¡¯s takeover process?


    It would be nice to think so. More likely it took a little time for The Thing to assert control.


    Next to me Haley sighed and shook her head. ¡°I feel like we should go to the SCF, but it sounds like it¡¯s too late.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I clicked on a news report on News 10¡¯s website. It didn¡¯t have anything more than the alert we¡¯d gotten and the text wasn¡¯t more than a paragraph.


    Jeremy looked up from his laptop. ¡°Superhuman containment facilities like Grand Lakes are only rated for a maximum of one day. After that it¡¯s illegal to keep supers there and they have to be transferred to a facility with a longer term rating.¡±


    Haley stopped tapping on her phone. ¡°How do you know that and I didn¡¯t?¡± Turning to me, she asked, ¡°Did you know that?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Kind of. I knew there was a rating system. I didn¡¯t pay much attention to it.¡±


    Jeremy lit up. ¡°There are a bunch of conspiracy theories that center around the timing of somebody¡¯s transfer. People get transferred too early or too late or more people get transferred to a facility than it has rated cells¡­ You know. If there¡¯s anything suspicious people jump on it. They had some great ones that supported the idea that the government was faking aliens.¡±


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    Raising an eyebrow, Haley said, ¡°You know aliens are real, right?¡±


    He paused, but then said, ¡°Well, yeah. I do now, but it seemed like pretty good detective work then.¡±


    My phone rang. The screen showed that it was Kayla calling over League channels. ¡°Hi?¡±


    In an unusually level voice, Kayla said, ¡°Vengeance called HQ. He wants to know who sent the red. Should I put him through to you? I don¡¯t have to. I¡¯d like to hang up on him right now. The only thing stopping me is that he¡¯ll probably call back.¡±


    ¡°Go ahead.¡± I had sent the red alert even if I¡¯d been trying to get the attention of supers who might be vulnerable to The Thing¡ªnot Vengeance.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Kayla said, sighing, ¡°I¡¯ll let the jerk through.¡±


    In the next moment, my phone clicked and Vengeance growled, ¡°What¡¯s the red alert about?¡±


    ¡°The Thing That Eats,¡± I said, understanding why Kayla sounded so irritated, ¡°we¡¯re trying to get any supers¡¯ attention and get them into our HQ where they¡¯ll be safe. It¡¯s looking for powered hosts.¡±


    ¡°Is it?¡± Vengeance had stopped doing a bad Batman imitation and sounded interested. ¡°Typical. It¡¯s been using a powered host every time we¡¯ve seen him in the last two hundred years. Wait, did you say hosts?¡±


    ¡°Hosts,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s right. It infected multiple people and we¡¯ve seen more than one Thing at the same time.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Vengeance lapsed into silence, but then said, ¡°It hasn¡¯t done that before¡ªat least that I¡¯ve been told about.¡±


    As I tried to figure out what to say next, he added, ¡°Continue to gather your people, keep them out of our way, and we¡¯re in good shape, kid.¡±


    He hung up.


    I moved the phone away from my ear, and stared at its screen. ¡°That was anti-climactic.¡±


    Haley put her own phone back in her pocket. ¡°I¡¯m sure that¡¯ll change when he realizes what we¡¯re really doing. I hope Lee gets back to us about Chancy soon.¡±


    Jeremy had been tapping on his keyboard again, but he stopped. ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Getting everybody protection and then we¡¯ll go after it,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯d be staying in HQ with Kayla, obviously.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s Kayla?¡±


    Haley broke in, ¡°A friend. Also staff. She coordinates us.¡±


    Both Haley¡¯s and my phone started ringing simultaneously. Muttering, ¡°Now what?¡± Haley pulled her phone back out of her pocket and answered it. I did the same, hearing Kayla¡¯s voice on the other end.


    ¡°Grand Lake¡¯s police department wants to talk to Night Cat and the Rocket.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. They¡¯re trying to recapture everyone Philo and Alden broke out and there¡¯s someone who will only speak to the two of you.¡±


    ¡°Why me?¡± Haley and I asked simultaneously.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Kayla said, a little more loudly than usual. ¡°It¡¯s the witness¡ªMorgan Spitz-White. She¡¯s insisting.¡±


    ¡°That name rings exactly zero bells,¡± I said.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t recognize it either.¡± Kayla¡¯s voice was at her normal volume. ¡°She¡¯s the woman who uses the Eagle armor.¡±

 Revelations: Part 1

    Grand Lake¡¯s superhuman containment facility wasn¡¯t much to look at. Few SCF¡¯s were. Like the majority of them, the actual prison was located underground, so all we had to look at were concrete walls with barbed wire on the top. Two towers rose above the wall.


    Originally located in farmland, the prison was now solidly in the suburbs. If it were daytime, we could have seen a grassy field the size of a city block, but it was night.


    The highway ran along the outer edge of the prison¡¯s property, headlights of cars passing constantly. Across the highway stood houses, windows aglow. A small forest stood far to the left side of the property. A jog in the highway bordered it on the right.


    Behind us stood Grand Lake¡¯s National Guard Armory, a long, low building that had once been a factory, but had been converted into storage and training facilities.


    Ever since hearing about it, I¡¯d never quite decided if I regarded placing a military base next to the local SCF as a good idea or an exercise in futility.


    Haley and I had arrived in the van, lengthened and lowered into the sleeker ¡°official Heroes¡¯ League¡± vehicle look. I could have flown in carrying Haley, but she vetoed that. We also could have come with more people, but having Courtney and Camille escort Jeremy to HQ seemed like a better idea.


    I parked the van in the (very well lit) parking lot. Haley and I walked through the front gate with only a cursory look from the guards. I was in the full suit. Checking for weapons was pointless. I definitely had some.


    Our comms registered a request for identification and sent encrypted keys tied to the Stapledon program.


    Once past the gates, we followed guards into a flat-roofed concrete building. The front door had been ripped out of the wall, and lay next to the entrance¡ªa mass of smashed steel. Inside, the walls had been painted lime green, the same color as the inside of my middle school.


    I wasn¡¯t sure what that said about middle school.


    The difference in the guards was interesting though. Outside the guards wore black jackets over Kevlar vests. Inside, they wore powered armor¡ªRocket suits without rocketpacks and enough additional bulky armor that I didn¡¯t initially recognize the underlying structure was the WW2 Rocket suit.


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    They watched as I passed, likely noticing how much more natural and human my movements were.


    A guard led Haley and I into a bare room. A blond woman in an orange prison jumpsuit sat in the chair. In normal clothes, she could have passed for a high school teacher. The guard next to her wore normal prison guard clothing¡ªbutton down tan shirt and black pants. The guard behind him though wore black and tan powered armor.


    ¡°Hey there, Heroes¡¯ League¡­ Nice of you to visit. I¡¯m Morgan, as I¡¯m sure they told you. Normally when you¡¯ve met me, I¡¯ve been wearing the Eagle suit, but they frown on letting prisoners wear their armor. So, I¡¯m wearing this snazzy orange number instead.¡±


    She added, ¡°I¡¯d shake your hands, but¡­¡± Her voice trailed off as she raised her arms. She wore handcuffs.


    Now that I could see Morgan more closely, I pegged her as being in her late thirties, maybe early forties at most.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re here,¡± I said. ¡°You don¡¯t have any powers, right?¡±


    Her guard, a balding twenty-something only a few years older than I was, said, ¡°Policy, sir. Normal humans captured as part of a superhuman group are assumed to have powers until proven otherwise. Too many embarrassing incidents, sir.¡±


    Morgan¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°I¡¯m not complaining. It¡¯s one more thing I can tell you. The Feds came to an agreement with my lawyer. I¡¯m to turn over evidence and help clean up this mess, and I¡¯ll spend less time in the legal system.¡±


    Haley watched her. ¡°What will you be doing instead?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t say,¡± Morgan emphasized the first word, ¡°but I¡¯ll have my armor back.¡±


    The guard frowned.


    Morgan laughed. ¡°Anyway you¡¯re asking the wrong questions. You¡¯re supposed to be asking what happened here, and then ask why I was part of a gang robbing armored trucks in the first place. Be quick about it. They wanted me to talk to a bunch of Renaissance Fair rejects, but I chose to talk to you instead because I think you¡¯ve got a better chance of doing something about it. Questions?¡±


    Glancing over at Haley first, I said, ¡°What happened here?¡±


    Morgan grinned, ¡°Excellent question. I was sitting in my cell wondering where my armor was, and how my life had gone so badly wrong, and feeling deep, deep remorse about the poor choices that had led to my imprisonment¡ª¡±


    Haley snorted.


    Stopping to look at Haley, Morgan said, ¡°Hey it¡¯s my story,¡± and continued with, ¡°¡ªwhen suddenly I heard a ripping and tearing noise coming from above. Alden, the gang¡¯s speedster and a metahuman guard from one of the banks came down, freed the rest of the gang and left with them. I wanted them to take me along, but then I saw that each time they freed someone one of their heads would change form into a big round head. Then they¡¯d bite, and the people would go crazy and argue with themselves. After that I hid in my cell and they left.¡±


    ¡°Ok,¡± Haley said, ¡°why were you robbing armored trucks in the first place?¡±


    Morgan glanced at each of us before replying, ¡°Because we¡¯d been hired to embarrass the League. Just our luck to do it when the city¡¯s being attacked by a giant, magic head.¡±

 Revelations: Part 2

    ¡°Wow.¡± I rolled that one around in my head, wondering why anyone would bother to hire someone to embarrass us when they wouldn¡¯t have to wait long for us to do it to ourselves.


    ¡°Who hired you, and why?¡± Haley watched Morgan, nostrils flaring, and probably getting more information than Morgan realized.


    Morgan shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I wasn¡¯t in on everything. Hank Haseman. The guy with the square force fields? I¡¯m sure you remember him. He was the man with the contacts. He knew who to call, and he handled the money.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of trust,¡± I said. ¡°You didn¡¯t know who had hired you and you let Haseman handle the money.¡±


    Morgan grinned at me. ¡°I know you met me when I was working for Rook, but don¡¯t think that all of us on this side of the law are narcissistic killers who only stop robbing each other when we¡¯ve found a delicious baby to eat. Haseman is well regarded on my side of the street. He pays well, doesn¡¯t fight to kill, and specializes in setting up scenarios that minimize the chance of super involvement.¡±


    Haley took two steps, turning to stand to Morgan¡¯s left. ¡°Your last job was anything but quiet.¡±


    Morgan nodded. ¡°We overreached. We¡¯d had to hide when you outed Alden, but the client was pushing Hank to go big. We thought we might be able to take at least one truck¡¯s money. Between that and tying up traffic, it would have been a nice mess for you to clean up. You got there more quickly than we expected compared to previous response times, and then that thing showed up. It¡¯s enough to make you think someone jinxed the job.¡±


    Haley glanced over at me. I shrugged.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Haley said, ¡°I know you don¡¯t know who hired you, but do you have any guesses who it might have been?¡±


    Morgan raised an eyebrow, watching her out of the corner of her eye. ¡°Guesses? Sure, I have guesses. It¡¯s got to be someone who thinks long term. They kept on telling him that this was ¡®phase one.¡¯ He asked what phase two might be once. They never told him. They only ever said that ¡®he¡¯d know it when he saw it.¡¯ So, yeah, long term thinkers? You¡¯ve tangled with Syndicate L, the Cabal and the Nine. Me, I¡¯d bet on the Nine, or maybe Syndicate L, but I¡¯d rule out the Cabal because they¡¯ve been on the run for a couple years now.


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    ¡°Plus, a couple of those guys showed up. That didn¡¯t feel like a plan coming together. It was chaos for everyone. Besides, I¡¯ve heard how they handle problems. They don¡¯t hire people. They show up one day and start crushing skulls in their hands. That¡¯s why if you pushed me, I¡¯d have to pick the Nine or Syndicate L, but with a finger on the scale for the Nine. The Nine have a plan. Syndicate L only cares about you if they make money by taking you out. From what I¡¯ve heard, every time Syndicate L has tangled with you, they¡¯ve lost money.¡±


    Haley moved to stand in front of Morgan. ¡°That¡¯s not the same thing as ¡®I don¡¯t know.¡¯ You practically just told us it¡¯s the Nine.¡±


    Morgan shook her head. ¡°No. I just told you that of the players that I know you¡¯ve fought, the Nine are the best candidate. But they¡¯re not the only players. The Chicago Outfit got kicked out of Grand Lake by the original League. Plus, they had ties to the Executioner, and you killed him.¡±


    Before either Haley or I could protest that Sean had killed him, Morgan continued, ¡°And even if you didn¡¯t, if they want into this community, they aren¡¯t fussy. They¡¯re just looking for an excuse. Oh¡­ And there¡¯s one more possibility that maybe you haven¡¯t been thinking about, but you should be. When the invaders named places to look for Abominator technology, the leader named coordinates in Grand Lake. Then part of your team fought aliens near those coordinates.


    ¡°A lot of people want Abominator technology, and you¡¯re on their radar. The Nine want them, but the Nine compete with groups all over the world every time Abominator tech appears. Sooner or later, you¡¯ll run into them.¡±


    Morgan leaned back in her chair, ¡°And that¡¯s it. That¡¯s all I have on this.¡±


    I felt my mouth twist. ¡°What about your headquarters¡¯ address? Where have you been hiding all this time?¡±


    ¡°More than one place,¡± Morgan said. ¡°We were in a couple hotels, a rented house, and a few abandoned factories. I left the addresses with the police.¡±


    I tapped Haley¡¯s shoulder with my finger. ¡°How¡¯s she doing?¡±


    ¡°Great. She hasn¡¯t lied once.¡± Haley turned around to face me. ¡°Do you want to go?¡±


    ¡°I guess.¡± I could have made that less ambiguous, but I didn¡¯t have any questions left. I gestured toward the door and the night outside. ¡°What about you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± Haley started toward the door.


    At almost the same time our comms started ringing. When we answered, Kayla said, ¡°Almost everyone is here, but we¡¯re missing Lucas, Kid Biohack, and Sydney.¡±

 Revelations: Part 3

    Haley looked over at me, face tightening, but said, ¡°I¡¯m glad that almost everyone is there, but tell us if any of the missing people show up.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I tapped the palm of my glove, bringing me into the conversation. ¡°Try to get everyone into the area Samita warded, and if you¡¯ve got a second, read the email I forwarded to you. It¡¯s from Samita. It tells you how to work the wards.¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯ve got a second?¡± Kayla muttered something that I didn¡¯t catch. ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Haley chirped. ¡°We¡¯ll be there pretty soon, so it won¡¯t be all on you.¡±


    ¡°I hope so,¡± Kayla said. ¡°I¡¯ll see you soon.¡± Shortly after that, we hung up.


    Not sure how much more I could say here in the prison, I only said, ¡°HQ?¡±


    Haley nodded and we walked outside, leaving the guards, handcuffs, concrete walls and spotlights behind us. We stepped into the van¡ªsleek and ultramodern in its current form¡ªand left, the van¡¯s engine a quiet purr.


    It made for a strange contrast. I wasn¡¯t sure that I liked what it implied. It made us look young, wealthy and powerful while it made the guards look like servants¡ªnever mind the prisoner. They¡¯d led us in and out, spoken only when spoken to, and generally acted like we deserved to be in charge.


    It was easy to imagine someone coming to believe they deserved it. I mentioned as much to Haley.


    She gave a smile. ¡°Do you feel like you deserve it?¡±


    ¡°No, but I know that the van¡¯s all show, and that we¡¯re not headed back to HQ to drink champagne or something. We¡¯re going there because we¡¯re probably going to be fighting The Thing all night and that there¡¯s a pretty good chance that we¡¯ll get hurt. Even if we don¡¯t someone on the team probably will¡ªor worse, people might die, maybe people we know.¡±


    She stopped smiling and nodded. ¡°It feels like that to me too. A few of the girls on my floor were going to get together tonight. Yesterday I thought I might be able to go myself, but tonight¡­ I think you¡¯re right. We probably will stay up all night fighting this thing. Do you ever feel like you¡¯re missing college? I hear about late night study sessions and midnight Denny¡¯s visits, and I barely get to do them. We disappear every other weekend. I don¡¯t know about you, but I feel like I miss a lot.¡±


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    I drove the van across the city toward our downtown office and the entrance to a tunnel that led to League HQ. I had a little bit of a thing for driving or flying at night. I didn¡¯t know exactly about what it was but it had to be something about the interplay between light and darkness along with the bits of color revealed by the streetlights.


    ¡°I think I miss the social stuff less and dates that don¡¯t get interrupted more. One thing I like about Stapledon though is that I can talk with people about technology and not worry that I¡¯ve just introduced a major breakthrough into casual conversation.¡±


    Haley looked over at me, grinning. ¡°I think we had this conversation last summer and I was the one saying how nice it was to be near people who understood.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Yeah. Funny how that goes. I guess I¡¯m missing that more now that we¡¯re in the middle of something all magic¡ª¡±


    Both our comms beeped at about the same time the van¡¯s comm started. Haley reached out and tapped it on.


    Kayla¡¯s voice came over the speaker. ¡°Kid Biohack showed up at the downtown offices. He¡¯s got no idea where HQ is. I wasn¡¯t supposed to tell him, was I?¡±


    Haley leaned in toward the comm. ¡°We¡¯ll pick him up. Can you let him in remotely?¡±


    Kayla said, ¡°I think so,¡± about the same time I said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Kayla said, ¡°I let him in.¡±


    Haley nodded, but then spoke. ¡°Don¡¯t unlock any more doors, okay? He needs to stay where he is. He can¡¯t go to HQ until we pick him up.¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡± Kayla said. ¡°The tunnel door is locked.¡±


    After Kayla left the call, I said, ¡°I hope he¡¯s not infected.¡±


    Haley bit her lip. ¡°I know. I hope the two of us can take him if he is. I didn¡¯t want to let him through the tunnel on the off-chance that he would infect everyone, but if I didn¡¯t let him in, someone outside might bite him.¡±


    The press called the stretch of road our office appeared on ¡°Medical Mile.¡± That had nothing to do with us, and everything to do with the hospitals and doctors¡¯ offices that lined the streets nearby.


    We were getting closer. I recognized an outpatient clinic. Though closed, the nearby streetlight lit up the glass and steel of its entrance.


    As I drove, I continued the conversation, ¡°I should get out and shake his hand or something. You¡¯re best off if you can move. The Rocket suit will take the hit if he attacks in response to the pain. Amy¡¯s wards protect us from being infected, but they don¡¯t make us invulnerable to damage from it.¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. I can¡¯t run faster, but I react faster. I¡¯ll hit him with goo if he attacks.¡±


    We were rolling up to our offices then, the Heroes¡¯ League logo glowing on the front. I turned the van toward the building¡¯s opening door, hoping Haley was right.

 Revelations: Part 4

    The van rolled down the ramp and into the parking area under the building. I wondered if we¡¯d have to go upstairs to get his attention, but ultimately didn¡¯t have to.


    He slid down the fireman¡¯s pole in the corner.


    That seemed like a good sign. I didn¡¯t know The Thing That Eats particularly well, but it didn¡¯t seem particularly whimsical. Being possessed by a ancient supernatural entity didn¡¯t seem likely to leave you in a good enough mood to want to try the pole.


    He walked toward the van and I pushed the button to open the door. As he stepped inside, Haley stepped back into the main area, holding out her hand to help him in.


    He took it, and there was no flash of red from her ward.


    ¡°Good,¡± she said, slipping back into her seat.


    He looked from her to me, and back to her as he sat down. ¡°What?¡±


    She turned back. ¡°You¡¯re not infected. I had to touch you to know for sure.¡±


    Below his mask, I could see his jaw tighten. ¡°I saw the security guard run off carrying Alden, and I got your message. So he¡¯s going to turn into that thing too, now?¡±


    With the van¡¯s door shut, I pushed the button that opened the tunnel out, adding, ¡°Most likely,¡± as I drove into the darkness past the ramp.


    In the rear view mirror, Kid Biohack slumped, but didn¡¯t stay that way for long. He watched as we passed through the newly constructed tunnel that started in the League office and into the older, abandoned, city sewer tunnels


    ¡°I hope they don¡¯t still use these things.¡± He stared at one of the larger puddles and the curved concrete walls.


    Haley twisted her head around. ¡°They don¡¯t. The original League used to have some influence in the city government. They¡¯ve been declared dangerous. No one uses them.¡±


    C, Jaclyn¡¯s grandfather had been one of the city¡¯s civil engineers and knew the right people to keep the tunnels abandoned. What we¡¯d do when he died, I didn¡¯t know. Maybe we¡¯d talk to Agent Lim, or maybe Vaughn would have enough power through his family¡¯s businesses to do something.


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    We¡¯d solve that problem when it came up.


    Nothing worth mentioning happened during the rest of the ride. I did agree to let Kid Biohack walk through the offices with his Internet connection working and even record going down the fireman¡¯s pole after this was all over. Why not?


    A few minutes later, we rolled into the hangar. Close to a football field in size, it contained the League jet (which was really a spaceship). Gray and bullet shaped with small wings, it looked like it should be on the cover of a 1950s or 60s science fiction magazine. The Wolfmobile, a black car shaped much like a 60s Stingray Corvette, was parked next to the jet. Captain Commando¡¯s red, white, and blue motorcycle stood next to the car.


    All along the walls were counters and equipment for repairing vehicles, including a car lift, replacement parts, a fork lift, and equipment that was too large to fit anywhere else. This included a sailboat and a couple jet skis¡ªwhich I¡¯d always found interesting considering that the only place the base exited directly into water was the underwater airlock.


    Kid Biohack stared at all of it. ¡°I¡¯ve seen bigger bases, but I had no idea you guys had all of this.¡±


    I parked next to the motorcycle, ¡°I grew up with it, so it¡¯s normal to me.¡±


    I didn¡¯t tell him that we had additional levels of the same size further down. I did take a look past the jet at the entrance to the airlock. That was where Samita had put the wards because that was where we¡¯d agreed that I¡¯d land. That way if the creature had escaped during the flight, it would have the wards in front of it and the water behind it.


    Basically, once the wards were triggered, it would have nowhere to go.


    Even as we got out of the van, people were already gathering¡ªJeremy, Kayla (wearing a headset), former Justice Fist members (Sean, Dayton, Jody, Julie, Shannon, and Camille), descendants of the original Heroes¡¯ League that were still in Grand Lake (Travis, Marcus, and Vaughn) and unofficial, new members (Chris and Courtney).


    With Haley, Kid Biohack and I, that put us at sixteen people even if Jeremy and Kayla weren¡¯t going to be fighting.


    One more straggler pushed her way in¡ªSydney. Like everyone else who had one, she was in costume¡ªthough not fully. She wore one of the nanotech based costumes I¡¯d designed (gold and white), but hadn¡¯t surrounded herself with a layer of metal.


    Grinning, she gave Haley a hug as we joined the crowd. Just like Kid Biohack, she didn¡¯t activate Haley¡¯s ward and didn¡¯t turn into The Thing That Eats in response to the unexpected pain.


    Good news. We now only had one person left unaccounted for¡ªLucas.


    At about the same time I thought that, I realized that I had a call. Tapping my palm, I took it, and heard Lucas¡¯ voice. ¡°Hey Rocket, I¡¯m almost there. The ER was busy tonight, so I didn¡¯t leave as soon as I wanted. I¡¯m landing at the forest door.¡±


    That meant he¡¯d be coming through the main room. ¡°Hey, everyone. Lucas just got here. Those of you who don¡¯t have wards should probably take cover. I¡¯ll meet him, and those of us with wards will take him out if he¡¯s infected.¡±

 Revelations: Part 5

    Before anyone else could respond, Haley looked me in the eye (as much as the foot and half difference between her height and the Rocket suit¡¯s would allow), saying, ¡°We¡¯ll all meet him.¡±


    She had a point. Lucas had the exact same powers as Red Lightning¡ªstrength, toughness, flight, and obviously, lightning. Even if he wasn¡¯t in the Cabal¡¯s league, he was definitely in mine.


    ¡°Ok, but let¡¯s not be too obvious about it. If he¡¯s not infected, we don¡¯t want to freak him out. Night Cat and I go first to meet him. That won¡¯t seem weird. If Storm King and Gravity Star stand in the command center, they¡¯ll look inconspicuous, but still be able to act. Essentially they¡¯re our last line of defense. After that, those of you without wards will have to blast him with whatever distance weapons or powers you¡¯ve got because if he touches you, you¡¯ll be on his side.¡±


    I considered suggesting how they might go about it, but Travis spoke over everyone else, ¡°Go. I¡¯ve got this.¡±


    I left him to it.


    Haley, Camille, Vaughn and I walked over to the command center¡ªwhich was nothing more than the table in the middle of the main room of the complex. The table had fairly impressive monitors. Vaughn logged in to his account and pulled up the administration screen. It had the expected items¡ªa line views from our security cameras along the top, controls for heat, sound, and defenses as well as apps that monitored environmental variables. Some of those were obvious like temperature, but it also included ¡°psychic interference¡± and ¡°extra-dimensional shift.¡±


    The forest cameras showed nothing for a long minute, but then Lucas appeared wearing the costume of his heroic identity ¡°Red Legacy,¡± a name chosen to take on the fact that he had the exact same powers as the supervillain version of his grandfather Red Lightning.


    The screen didn¡¯t show much color, but after the retinal scanner passed him, he climbed down into the forest entrance. It wasn¡¯t much more than a metal door over a concrete mound outside. Inside, to be fair, it wasn¡¯t much more than a concrete tunnel, but it was a concrete tunnel with cameras and light.


    He walked down the tunnel slowly, taking a few steps and then stopping, and standing, face frozen, mouth a thin line.


    Haley noticed it before I did. Even before the first time he stopped she commented, ¡°He doesn¡¯t look very good.¡±


    Then he did stop and I saw what she did. Either he felt sick because he was physically sick, or he felt sick because he was a decent person compelled by ancient, supernatural evil from another dimension to attack people he knew and liked.


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    I had a bad feeling the latter was more likely and said so to Haley.


    She looked at the steel door in front of us and sighed, deflating a little as she did. ¡°He doesn¡¯t deserve that. He¡¯s a genuinely good person.¡± She frowned. ¡°I¡¯ll know if he¡¯s only sick by his smell. If he¡¯s not, we¡¯ll have to attack.¡±


    She glanced up at me and then back to the steel door in front of us. ¡°He¡¯s coming.¡±


    In the time we¡¯d been talking, he¡¯d started moving again, making it down to a small bend near the other side of the steel door.


    It began to move and Lucas stepped through, pulling the door shut behind him, and giving us a full view of his costume¡ªred with a golden lightning strike on the chest. The lightning had been rendered realistically, not symbolically, a thicker thread in the middle with thinner lightning strikes branching off.


    He turned back to us when the door shut, expressionless and dead eyed. I almost didn¡¯t need Haley to say, ¡°He doesn¡¯t smell sick¡± to know what would happen next.


    Lucas winced and his head ballooned, turning into The Thing That Eats¡¯ too large, globe, leaving no trace of his own features.


    In a syrupy, smooth baritone, it said, ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you all in your home since we originally met in mine. You have quite a bit of history hidden here, and now I know¡ª¡±


    It was easy¡ªtoo easy¡ªto listen to its voice, but, Haley didn¡¯t wait for it to finish. She¡¯d already grown fangs, claws, and let her arms and legs transform into a hard grayish substance.


    She lashed out with a hand and in defiance of anything I would have assumed possible, raked across its cheek leaving four bloody gashes.


    Like her, it moved faster than I did, reaching out to punch her in a blur, but not connecting. She ducked, striking out again, and drawing more blood on the underside of its chin while it backed into the door screeching.


    As Haley ducked to the side to avoid its flailing arms, I punched it, and for all that my reaction time might not be in Haley¡¯s league, the Rocket suit¡¯s strength delivers a punch with lots of speed and tons of force behind it.


    Knowing that Lucas could take a punch and so could The Thing, I wasn¡¯t holding back. I punched it in the middle of its flat nose, throwing it backwards into the steel door it had entered through, and denting the door.


    I¡¯d probably be the guy who¡¯d have to fix that door, but my punch mattered. I¡¯d left a red, fist-shaped mark on its nose¡ªwhich was now bleeding.


    I didn¡¯t have long to appreciate my handiwork. The Thing moved more quickly than I did, bouncing off the door and flying at me.


    It knocked me backwards into the middle of the room, scraping across red carpet and the polished concrete paths between the concrete sections. Had this battle taken place before the renovations, I¡¯d have hit the giant pile of storage boxes. As it was, I didn¡¯t even hit a trophy case. They¡¯d been moved mostly toward the front of the room with a few exceptions.


    So that was great, but Haley was now alone with The Thing That Eats.


    While I was still feeling dizzy from rolling across the floor, it snapped at her, flying toward her in a blur.


    She jumped toward the wall, pushing off it to land behind The Thing as it twisted around to follow her jumps. Still flying, it dove toward where she stood.


    She didn¡¯t stay there long, jumping backward toward me.


    Unfortunately, it could change direction in the air. It did, catching her right arm in its mouth. Her ward did its job, making her glow red, and protecting her from catching its infection, but it wasn¡¯t armor.


    Despite making a pained noise as it bit her arm, it didn¡¯t stop biting.


    I heard her arm crack.

 Revelations: Part 6

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


    Haley had the presence of mind to land on her feet, but wobbled as she landed. Her costume, in the meantime, had already repaired itself. I might have taken it as a tribute to my work, but that wasn¡¯t nearly as high in my mind as the question of whether the costume had adjusted correctly to the change. If it were pushing broken bone into flesh or muscle, it could only be hurting her.


    She could adjust the suit though. I had to get it away from her, so she could get away from the fight.


    I pulled myself off the floor, engaging the rockets and aiming myself at The Thing.


    It noticed. It would have been hard not to notice. The rockets were more quiet than they¡¯d been in my grandfather¡¯s day, but they were still loud. It weaved, turning toward the front of the room. Because it had Lucas¡¯ reflexes instead of mine, it was halfway across to the front before I was halfway to where it had been.


    I dropped to the floor near to Haley, still watching it go. Maybe I should have gone straight after it, but we were playing zone defense on this one, and it was out of my zone.


    Camille and Vaughn stood near the command center, but weren¡¯t pretending to watch the console any more. Camille stood with her fists clenched and staring at The Thing.


    It dropped like a rock, hitting the floor hard enough I could feel as well as hear the thump, and ripping up a chunk of carpet as it went.


    Assuming we managed to stop The Thing without killing Lucas, he was going to have a serious case of rug burn.


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    It struggled to move, unable to float, barely able to move its arms and legs. Maybe we had it.


    I glanced over at Haley. She stood, arm hanging limp at her side, still covered by her costume. Her face, what I could see of it below the mask, was pale. ¡°How are you doing?¡±


    ¡°It hurts. A lot. It broke my upper and lower arm.¡± She kept her voice low and seemed to fight for each word.


    ¡°Should I bring you to a doctor?¡± I watched as a drop of blood fell from her sleeve and hit the carpet. It was a good thing that it was dark red. I wondered if that had been the original plan.


    She shook her head. ¡°Do whatever you¡¯d do if I weren¡¯t here. My grandfather showed me how to heal broken arms by shapeshifting. I¡¯ll be okay.¡±


    Out on the floor, The Thing struggled. It pulled itself up on to Lucas¡¯ own legs¡ªwhich looked odd when you considered the size difference between them and The Thing¡¯s head.


    It tottered forward. I didn¡¯t know how at first, but then thought I might have it. For all that it couldn¡¯t walk before in however much gravity Camille was throwing at it, it had to be using both strength and Lucas¡¯ ability to fly, and it wasn¡¯t doing all that well.


    On the other hand, it was moving, and moving straight for Camille.


    Vaughn threw lightning at it. I cringed internally at the thought of all the computers up there, but watched as jagged lines of electricity crossed the distance between Vaughn and Lucas.


    The lightning did nothing, or at least nothing he¡¯d hoped for.


    The Thing nearly fell over, but it raised its hands and the lightning changed direction. In a move that should have come out of a Star Wars movie, it hit all around and including Camille. Monitors shorted out, creating a burnt electronics smell that I knew very well.


    When I¡¯d designed the team¡¯s new suits, I designed them to protect against lightning. With someone on the team who threw lightning, it seemed like an obvious precaution.


    So Camille was probably okay. She¡¯d dived to avoid the lightning that must have surrounded her, but she wasn¡¯t hurt.


    Probably.


    That wasn¡¯t the worst of it though. She¡¯d stopped concentrating, and that meant that The Thing was free.


    It aimed for the open hangar door, and I gave the rockets fuel and took off, chasing it. I could have aimed the Rocket suit¡¯s laser at it, but that would have damaged Lucas without hurting The Thing. Fists, on the other hand, hurt it, but not him¡ªas Haley had showed. She hadn¡¯t spent as much time with Lee as I had, and she¡¯d ripped into it.


    A question nagged at the back of my mind. How many people could I let it kill in Lucas¡¯ body? Also, how many people could I let it infect?


    I might have to activate a killbot just in case.

 Revelations: Part 7

    Travis¡¯ voice came over the comm. ¡°Don¡¯t get too close. I¡¯ve got a plan.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have time to ask him about the plan. The Thing disappeared through the wide hangar door. We could have closed it. It would have bought Travis time, but on the other hand, he didn¡¯t seem to need it and The Thing would have trashed our door.


    It was a big metal door that ran from the ceiling to the floor¡ªnot exactly the kind of thing you can pick up at Lowe¡¯s.


    The Thing flew through the doorway, past the concrete wall on one side and the door on the other.


    It made it halfway into the room and stopped. I stopped too, but thanks to Travis¡¯ warning, I stopped just past the door. What Travis had done was awesome, or if not awesome, at least smart. In the minutes that he¡¯d had before Lucas stepped into HQ, he¡¯d taken stock of the powers available and put together a defense that fit.


    The hangar looked exactly like it had except for one thing¡ªan ocean of darkness covered the floor. It was thinner in front, almost nonexistent next to the door, but impenetrable gloom covered the back of the hangar


    A quick look at my HUD placed Marcus, Sydney, Kayla, Jeremy, and Dayton inside the League jet, Chris Cannon and Courtney inside the Wolfmobile. Shannon and Julie hid in the darkness beyond the jet.


    It was Shannon¡¯s darkness. Maybe she had to touch it to keep it up.


    Travis, Sean, Jody, and Kid Biohack stood in front of the jet¡ªwhich would have been stupid if I hadn¡¯t known that Samita¡¯s wards were directly beneath them. None of them had one of Amy¡¯s wards after all. Any of them could and would be infected if The Thing bit them.


    I still hadn¡¯t had time to read the email about how to activate them.


    If Travis or one of the other people in the room hadn¡¯t either, it pushed the whole idea back into stupid territory.


    ¡°Yo, Thingy,¡± Travis waved it toward him. ¡°Come on. You know you want to take us down, infect us and turn us into your hosts. Well, we may be doomed, but we¡¯re resisting. Let¡¯s get it over with.¡±


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    Then for good measure he gave it the finger with both hands, a gesture made more intimidating because he¡¯d already transformed, giving him fangs and making his hands huge gray claws.


    In the smooth baritone we¡¯d heard before, it said, ¡°Very clever. You¡¯ve completely overmatched me. I surrender.¡±


    It began to lower itself slowly to the ground. I could see my own surprise mirrored on their faces¡ªwell, except for Travis¡¯.


    I couldn¡¯t see much of his face because the black mask of his Night Wolf costume covered all of it, but the mouth. His mouth curled in a snarl.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Travis said, ¡°I bet.¡±


    It turned out that Travis was right about that because The Thing opened up with lightning on the group of them. The Rocket suit blocked out most of the flash, muting the thunder, and so nothing distracted me from seeing Sean and Jody fall to the ground unconscious and burned.


    Their new black costumes hadn¡¯t been designed with lightning in mind.


    Kid Biohack blurred, moving the bodies deeper into the darkness where they disappeared. At the same time, Travis leapt upward and to the side, landing on one of the metal storage shelves (usually accessed by the forklift) that went up that wall.


    As The Thing shot upward toward Travis, Julie shouted, ¡°Lucas, stop!¡±


    Lucas must have had some control of his body still because The Thing hesitated, and that was enough for me. I¡¯d stopped hovering and aimed for The Thing even as the thunder still echoed in the hangar. With its hesitation, I could slam into it from behind.


    It screamed as I hit, driving it forward past the jet and into the wall on the far end of the hangar. I got my left arm solidly around its neck and punched it on the lower side of its head. It felt like punching a fleshy beach ball, but every punch produced a horrible gargling noise.


    I don¡¯t know how many punches I got in before it pulled us away from the wall despite my best efforts to keep it pointed into the concrete. It twisted left, changing our positions relative to the wall¡ªnow I was between it and the wall¡ªbut with one crucial difference. I was still behind it.


    It had the side effect of moving both of us away from the wall, and it flew toward the shelves where Travis still hung.


    I punched it again, this time into its gigantic ear. It screeched, giving Travis time to jump from the fourth shelf down to the third and from there to the second.


    I punched again, even as it used Lucas¡¯ arms to try to pull my arm from its neck. Lucas¡¯ hand grabbed my armored forearm and squeezed, setting off error message after message in my HUD, but for the moment, the suit could repair the damage as quickly as it was made.


    That wouldn¡¯t last forever. I needed to end the fight.


    Adjusting the hold I had around The Thing¡¯s neck, I started choking him. The Thing twisted its head around, saying, ¡°You¡¯ll kill him first! You¡¯ll kill him¡ª¡±


    And then it was dead weight, dragging me toward the ground.

 Revelations: Part 8

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


    As he lay on the concrete between black lines and symbols that I didn¡¯t recognize, I reminded myself that he had to be alive. I¡¯d choked him correctly, and I¡¯d timed it. The Thing That Eats had a talent for playing on people¡¯s fears. My longstanding one was that I¡¯d kill somebody who didn¡¯t deserve it, and he¡¯d done his best to play on it.


    Using the Rocket suit¡¯s HUD, I checked him out with the suit¡¯s imaging systems. Thermal showed his temperature at normal¡ª98.6 degrees. Sonic imaging showed that his heart still beat.


    Now we only had to set up the wards. I¡¯d sent Kayla the instructions on how to activate them, and if I had to, I¡¯d do it myself. I just had to read them. Life had been busy enough that I hadn¡¯t had the time.


    Meanwhile Travis jumped down from the storage shelves, landing next to Sean and Jody. Both of them were unconscious and appeared to have burns on their faces. I couldn¡¯t see other exposed skin.


    Maybe we could call Paladin or Preserver in when this was over, but Samita had bandages that stopped damage from getting worse. Hopefully she had enough when Chancy brought her through.


    Travis picked up Sean and Jody, moving them outside the wards. ¡°Good job choking him. That was my backup plan if Julie¡¯s voice didn¡¯t work. I thought I might be able to make it to his back. Glad you did it instead.¡±


    Travis didn¡¯t have a ward to protect him. That would have been dicey.


    I adjusted my legs, trying to find a comfortable position as I kept my left arm around Lucas¡¯ neck in a kind of ¡°pre-choke hold¡± position in case he woke up. ¡°How were you planning to activate the wards?¡±


    Travis put down Sean and Jody, stepping back into the warded area. ¡°Kayla. She said she¡¯d read the instructions.¡±


    Vaughn and Camille flew in from the main room. Vaughn landed a distance away from us¡ªwhich was considerate. The winds that kept him in the air could knock people over. Camille landed near me. ¡°Nice job.¡± She peered down at him. ¡°Is he still alive?¡±


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    Travis gave a small shrug. ¡°His heart¡¯s still beating.¡±


    Vaughn stared at Lucas. ¡°That¡¯s good. You saved his life a couple years ago. It¡¯d be a waste if you killed him this year.¡±


    The jet¡¯s hatch opened behind me. My HUD¡¯s peripheral vision caught Kayla descending from the jet, wearing a gray Heroes¡¯ League costume. She was supposed to do that if there was a risk that she¡¯d be identified, but it still struck me as strangely professional of her. The fact that she¡¯d pulled Yellow Burrito¡¯s Burrito Gun and strapped it to her back added to that impression¡ªkind of.


    It was still a gun that fired off burritos at the enemy. On the other hand, it was better than the Gender-bender Gun.


    ¡°Give me a second and I¡¯ll activate the wards.¡± Kayla tapped on her wrist comm.


    ¡°Rocket!¡± Travis¡¯ voice grabbed my attention even as Lucas¡¯ head ballooned into The Thing¡¯s and yanked me forward. I couldn¡¯t see anything ahead of me because of the size of the head, but I heard Travis shout in what might be pain.


    Meanwhile, I started choking the Thing again except this time he didn¡¯t get far. It felt like a massive weight dropped on me, and not just me. The Thing dropped to the ground with a thud, its head contracting to become Lucas again.


    Kayla shouted out a series of words that made no sense at all to me. Then blood-red, but still transparent, walls went up around me, joining to become a dome above my head.


    I let go of Lucas (who took a deep breath) and I stood up. I turned toward Travis who looked better than I¡¯d expected given his shout. He stared down at his right hand, or given that it was transformed, his right claw. Gray with long, white nails, it didn¡¯t appear to be damaged.


    He turned to face me. ¡°It bit me. I started hearing it in my head, but then the walls came up.¡± He turned toward Kayla. ¡°Is it gone, or am I stuck here?¡±


    Kayla stepped away from the jet¡¯s stairway as Courtney came down. ¡°I¡­ think you¡¯re stuck, but the Rocket can walk through.¡±


    I reached out to touch the wall with my gauntlet, but it passed straight through.


    Lucas sat up and then stood, facing Travis. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I never wanted this thing in my head. I did everything I could not to change, and not to infect anyone.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°It wasn¡¯t enough. It controlled my body, and I was barely an inconvenience.¡±


    Travis walked over. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯ve got sorcerers on our side. Someone will know how to get it out of us. It¡¯s just a matter of time.¡±


    Lucas pulled out a phone from a pocket on his red costume. ¡°It¡¯s still my shift in the ER. Who knows what they¡¯re thinking now?¡± He stopped. ¡°They¡¯re probably thinking I¡¯m a rich kid who thinks he can get away with anything because his father practically owns the hospital.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s voice came through the ward. ¡°I hope that¡¯s true.¡±


    The mask hid the top of his face, but Lucas grinned. ¡°Me too, or I could get kicked out of my residency.¡±


    I cleared my throat. ¡°How did it happen?¡±


    Lucas sighed. ¡°It must have known me from everything that happened with the Cabal. Andronicus found me in the ER. Your call came later.¡±


    I could have asked more questions, but in that moment the sound of white noise came from the main room. Louder than that noise came the sound of Amy¡¯s voice saying, ¡°Where?¡±

 Revelations: Part 9

    Amy bounded into the hanger in her Bloodmaiden form¡ªall black armor and glowing gems. Cassie, Samita, and Rod followed her in, all of them in costume. Between Cassie¡¯s flag against a navy blue background, Samita¡¯s hooded red robe, and Rod¡¯s black, leather duster, they had an interesting look.


    Amy stopped once she saw that Travis and Lucas were within the wards and that the wards had been activated.


    The transparent, red walls were a fairly obvious clue.


    ¡°I should talk to her.¡± Still half expecting the walls to stop me, I stepped through.


    It didn¡¯t feel different at all, but I no longer had to look through the wards, so that was an improvement.


    ¡°Oh. Good,¡± Amy said, glancing between Travis, Lucas and me. ¡°For a second I thought you¡¯d been bitten too.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a ward,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±


    Keeping her voice level, she said, ¡°Gems shatter. Don¡¯t take its protection for granted.¡± Then glancing back at Travis and Lucas, she said, ¡°What happened?¡±


    I ran through the entire attack, ending with, ¡°So effectively we lost four people against one of them. Lucas hit Sean and Jody with lightning, bit Travis, and broke Haley¡¯s arm. That¡¯s not a great ratio.¡±


    She turned her head to watch Travis and Lucas inside the wards, and then met my eyes again. ¡°I saw on the news that it¡¯s taken the gang that was robbing banks here.¡±


    ¡°More or less,¡± I said, thinking back to my conversation in the prison. ¡°He¡¯s got everyone but Morgan, the person in eagle themed armor.¡±


    ¡°And they¡¯re all powered,¡± Haley¡¯s voice. ¡°It could be like this all over again.¡± She walked to the side of Amy. Haley didn¡¯t limp, but her arm hung next to her side, unmoving.


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    Travis crossed over to the edge of the warded area. ¡°I heard it happen. You¡¯re using Grampa¡¯s healing trick, right?¡±


    Haley gave a snort as she said, ¡°Yes,¡± but froze as she saw Travis. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    Travis straightened. ¡°I¡¯m fine. The whispers stopped when Control activated the wards.¡±


    Amy blinked and looked over at Kayla. ¡°You activated the wards? I was worried it wouldn¡¯t work.¡±


    Kayla stared at her. ¡°Seriously? If it didn¡¯t work, I might have died.¡±


    Looking over at me again, Amy said, ¡°I thought you were going to do it.¡±


    I ran through possibilities in my head. ¡°Wait, did it need one of our personal wards to work?¡±


    Samita glanced at me and then at Kayla. ¡°Did you feel anything when you said the words?¡±


    Kayla glanced at the growing crowd as everyone exited the jet and the Wolfmobile while the shadows that obscured the back of the hangar dissolved. To Samita she said, ¡°It hurt a little.¡±


    Amy and Samita looked at each other as Cassie said, ¡°Wait. Are you thinking she¡¯s a wizard?¡±


    Vaughn moved his head back and looked Kayla up and down. ¡°Whoa. That¡¯s pretty random.¡±


    Samita raised her voice above the gathering noise. ¡°If she had any substantial talent, the North American Council would have noticed by now, but,¡± she took a step closer to Kayla, ¡°even if you only have a small talent, it might be worth training you.¡±


    As Kayla sputtered, obviously not sure how to respond, Haley said, ¡°What about Night Wolf and Red Legacy?¡±


    Amy looked over at the red dome that held them. ¡°We can¡¯t do anything until we find the first one. Then I¡¯ve got a technique that should allow me to drain its essence without taking it in. If I try it on them, I¡¯ll probably just kill them.¡±


    Haley¡¯s eyes widened, and she said, ¡°Oh. Well, we should figure out how we¡¯re going to find it then.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°and maybe create more gems.¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t do it quickly. It takes hours to make the gems. Attuning them is faster, but I¡¯ll be surprised if I have time.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Ok. Then the group is just those of us with gems¡ªminus Night Cat unless we¡¯re lucky.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I can heal the bones if I shift slowly enough, but everything around it still needs to heal. I¡¯m stuck here.¡±


    I was opening my mouth to ask another question, but I didn¡¯t get to. I got a phone call. My HUD indicated that someone had called the League and opted to specifically ring my extension.


    I took the call, immediately recognizing Andronicus¡¯ voice. I tapped my palm to record the conversation. Immediately, I heard Andronicus¡¯ accented voice. ¡°Hello Rocket, it is now the beginning of the end. Unless you are willing to act, it will devour and infect as many as it can within the hour.¡±

 Revelations: Part 10

    Even though I wasn¡¯t sure that he was on our side, I decided to act as if I thought so. ¡°How soon?¡±


    He made a gurgling noise. ¡°I can¡¯t say¡ª-¡±


    Whatever he said after that turned into indecipherable noise, and then he hung up.


    I stood there, smelling my own sweat and a faint burned smell that seemed familiar. Then I knew why. It reminded me of the smell my arm had given off when I¡¯d been hit by dragon fire.


    Glancing over at Sean and Jody, I wondered if maybe we ought to get them more medical help than we had so far.


    Dayton, tall and as muscular as the football player he had been, leaned over the two of them, checking their pulses, and opening their costumes. ¡°They¡¯re burned. They¡¯re breathing, but I¡¯m worried.¡±


    Amy turned toward Samita. ¡°Red Hex, you¡¯ve got those balms, right?¡±


    Samita nodded. ¡°And they¡¯re still no better than they used to be. They¡¯ll keep them alive and nothing more. We¡¯ll still need to get them to a healer or a doctor.¡±


    Lucas stared at them, his face twisted. ¡°I¡¯m a doctor. If they can pass through the wards like the Rocket did, well, maybe I can do something. I don¡¯t have the equipment I¡¯d like, but do you have something here?¡±


    I thought about it, dismissed the first thing that came to mind, and then returned to it. ¡°Uh¡­ We might. If we do, Control probably has the best chance of finding it. She¡¯s been cataloging what we¡¯ve got. Oh, and we¡¯ve got an emergency backup device if there¡¯s no other way to save them.¡±


    Eyeing me,Lucas said, ¡°Use it now. Lightning injuries are nothing you should ignore.¡±


    Cassie laughed. Lucas glared at her. ¡°I¡¯m not joking. I don¡¯t want killing them on my conscience.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Cassie said, still laughing too much to go any further.


    ¡°There are side effects,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯d shoot them with the Genderbender gun, and it would pretty much heal them of everything except that then they¡¯d swap genders and be women for about six months except during the latter half they¡¯d be between male and female most of the time.¡±


    Lucas stared at me, finally saying, ¡°What the hell? Why?¡±


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    ¡°Crazy supervillain,¡± Haley said.


    I thought about it, and decided to give it to him straight. ¡°She created it as a feminist conscious raising thing. The healing is a side effect. She zapped President Nixon with it because she thought that was the only way he¡¯d understand the need for feminism.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Why didn¡¯t this get into the history books?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°My grandfather said the government hushed it up.¡±


    Lucas laughed. ¡°I¡¯m sure. It makes you wonder what else gets hushed up.¡±


    Samita looked up from digging things out of her pouch. ¡°Alien invasions.¡±


    Rod nodded. ¡°That time statues all over DC started to¡ªactually, never mind. You¡¯re never going to feel safe if you know about that.¡±


    ¡°And I was there for fish men swimming up the Potomac,¡± Cassie said. ¡°It happens.¡±


    Lucas looked at each of them in turn. ¡°Tell you what. Control can get me medical equipment, but if I say that they have to go to a hospital, you have to bring them, okay?¡±


    ¡°If we can¡¯t get Paladin,¡± I said. ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Good enough,¡± Lucas said.


    With that settled, I told them about the call. Better, I replayed it with my helmet.


    Travis stood at the edge of the wall. ¡°You should have told us that earlier.¡±


    I didn¡¯t see the point in arguing. ¡°Sorry.¡±


    Then HQ got another call. With Kayla headed to the storage rooms, I took it.


    Vengeance voice came over the line. ¡°Who have I got?¡±


    Setting the suit to my standard voice modification, I said, ¡°The Rocket.¡±


    ¡°Our wizards have determined that there will be an attack. Stay in your base if that¡¯s where you are. Don¡¯t come out unless you want to get infected. It¡¯s going to be a big one.¡±


    They were more competent than I realized. Well, unless Andronicus was calling them too. I blurted out, ¡°How do you know?¡±


    ¡°Wizards, kid. They know stuff.¡±


    Deciding that my best strategy would be to just say it.¡°We knew already. The Thing¡¯s human host called to warn us.¡±


    Only silence came from the other end of the line at first. Then came a breath, followed by words. ¡°Don¡¯t listen. He¡¯s trying to maneuver you into helping him.¡±


    Then he said, ¡°Remember that. The host¡¯s a danger too. Probably controlled even when he says he isn¡¯t.¡±


    Then Vengeance hung up, and I repeated that conversation for the group too.


    When the recording ended, I said the first thing on my mind. ¡°Neither of them told us where The Thing is going. It¡¯s got to be going somewhere. I¡¯m thinking that if you wanted to infect a bunch of people, you¡¯d go to hospitals, schools or maybe restaurants.¡±


    Jeremy, stood next to the warded area, part of the growing crowd. ¡°How about this? College dormitory.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said, meaning it. They were perfect. Unlike with hospitals, none of the newly infected would be sick, and unlike everywhere else, thousands of healthy candidates  were practically on top of each other.


    I look around the circle, seeing many familiar faces. ¡°So, it¡¯ll have to be those of us with wards¡ª-Amy, Samita, Rod, Cassie, Camille, Vaughn and I since Haley got hurt. Everyone else is too much of a risk.¡±


    Still in his regular shape instead of the gray goo version of himself, Marcus shook his head. ¡°Sydney and I know how to fly the jet. We can stay up there and out of The Thing¡¯s reach. We can use the jet¡¯s anti-personnel lasers to rain down hurt on the Cabal hosts. Plus, if we have to, we¡¯ll be able fly through the Council¡¯s wards because we don¡¯t have any magic on ourselves or the jet.


    ¡°What do you think?¡±


    He was right. I told him, ¡°That¡¯s a pretty good argument.¡±

 Harvest: Part 1

    Amy looked over the group. ¡°I wish we could take all of you. You don¡¯t know right now how much I wish we had time to construct more wards, but we don¡¯t.¡±


    We had a large group, but we were leaving one too¡ªKayla, Chris, Dayton, Julie, Shannon, and even Kid Biohack could have helped. Despite his lack of powers, Jeremy might have too. That went for the injured (Haley, Sean, and Jody) and the infected as well.


    It was depressing to think about as well as pointless. I might as well wish for Daniel, Izzy, Rachel, and Jaclyn to show up.


    Cassie stepped into the circle we¡¯d formed next to the wards. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean they can¡¯t help. We might not want them where they might get bit, but we¡¯ve got remotes the Rocket made and Kayla will need help. You¡¯re not out of the action.¡±


    From behind the transparent red wall, Travis said, ¡°She¡¯s right. You can do all of that.¡±


    Haley looked at Travis and then back at everyone else. ¡°Between Kayla and I, we can organize something useful.¡± She turned to me. ¡°Kayla can control your bots, right?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Yes. I think she can take over the pods too if she needs to.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Haley reached out with her unhurt arm and put her hand on the Rocket suit¡¯s upper arm. I let the helmet dissolve.


    ¡°Stay alive,¡± she said, and we kissed.


    Avoiding her arm as we pulled away, I said, ¡°You too. You might not be safe. If Lucas could send information back, The Thing will know where HQ is.¡±


    Haley stepped back. ¡°I thought about that. We¡¯ll figure something out.¡±


    ¡°I hate to break this up,¡± Rod said, ¡°but shouldn¡¯t we leave? And what are we using to get there?¡±


    ¡°The van,¡± I said, touching my palm and making the helmet reform. ¡°It might be a little snug, but everyone will fit.¡±


    Rod looked over at the van. It still looked long, sleek and futuristic. ¡°You¡¯re going to change it into something less conspicuous, right?¡±


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    ¡°Yes.¡± I started walking toward it, and people followed me, boots clacking on the concrete.


    ¡°What form?¡± Rod walked alongside me. ¡°White pedophile van? Seventies airbrushed chain mail bikini warrior? Catmecha? I¡¯m just curious.¡±


    Everyone always seemed to get on me about the bikini warrior. They missed the point. I¡¯d picked that one in case I wanted the van to be noticed.


    I didn¡¯t bother to explain. ¡°The van has a lot of options. We won¡¯t have to use any of those unless people want to.¡±


    ¡°I vote bikini,¡± Vaughn said from behind me.


    Cassie laughed.


    ¡°No bikini,¡± Samita said.


    ¡°Naked would be good, too,¡± Vaughn said, as if that had been what Samita meant.


    ¡°I don¡¯t even think that would be legal.¡± Samita told him.


    ¡°Has to be,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Free speech.¡±


    We were at the van. I stepped inside, followed by the others as the van detected their comm units. I flipped through my options, finally settling on making it look like a black Ford Transit with one way windows.


    Since I was pretty sure I¡¯d seen similar vans used to carry people to and from airports, I added ¡°Grand Lake International Airport¡± to the van¡¯s sides as further misdirection.


    I took the exit that let us leave through a hillside in the forest next to Veterans¡¯ Memorial Park. It would be a little difficult to explain why an airport van would be using a rangers¡¯ access road near midnight, but we didn¡¯t have to.


    The only people who use roads like that near midnight are high schoolers too busy making out in their cars to notice.


    Amy sat in the front as the Bloodmaiden¡ªblack armor, glowing red gems and spear. Thanks to the size of the van we¡¯d managed to get Vaughn, Samita, Rod, Cassie, and Camille into the van without needing to resort to having anyone sit in the aisle.


    I accelerated, and the van hummed with purely decorative engine noise given that it ran on fuel cells and didn''t use gas.


    I drove toward Grand Lake University, staying above the speed limit whenever possible and running stoplights and stop signs. I was careful about it, but at this time of the night not many cars were out.


    I hoped we wouldn¡¯t get pulled over by the police, but it might have been amusing if we were. I¡¯d roll down the window and the officer would see Amy and me in full armor in front. Behind us would be everyone else in costume. I bet they¡¯d let us off.


    Five minutes away from the university, Haley called and I answered her on the van¡¯s comm so that everyone could hear.


    ¡°Control and everyone else here is watching through your spybots and things are heading toward the GLU.¡±


    Amy leaned toward the dashboard, probably trying to identify a microphone, but then gave up. ¡°What kind of things? The Thing That Eats?¡±


    ¡°No. Raptors in the air. Cougars and maybe coyote on the ground, but definitely a few bears. Plus we think we saw Vengeance and his hangmen near the university.


    ¡°No sign of The Thing That Eats so far.¡±

 Harvest: Part 2

    I thought about that. ¡°If the animals were summoned by wizards, I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m impressed. If you think about it, The Thing That Eats is powerful enough when it¡¯s taken over supers that animals can¡¯t hurt it much, but it can hurt them.¡±


    Amy cocked her head, thinking. Then she straightened. ¡°When I was back home, my father used to say ¡®think sideways¡¯ a lot. My mother is the queen. My father acts as her spymaster. My guess is that they¡¯re using the animals for reconnaissance and maybe to scare normal people away from the battle. If they do make them fight, it¡¯s probably because The Thing can¡¯t possess them.¡±


    Over the comm, Haley made a noise. ¡°I hope they know cougars are on the endangered species list in Michigan.¡±


    Behind me, Vaughn laughed. ¡°If they¡¯re all elves and stuff, I bet they don¡¯t even know what an endangered species list is.¡±


    From further back in the van, Rod added, ¡°No doubt. My stepdad¡¯s been kicking around since the Middle Ages. The things he needs explained¡­ Oh man, you would not believe.¡±


    ¡°The Middle Ages?¡± Camille said, ¡°Is he an immortal?¡±


    Rod grunted. ¡°Don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t think so. The way I understand it, he¡¯s spent so much time moving between Faerie and the normal world that he doesn¡¯t age normally when he¡¯s in Faerie. He might even get younger there. It¡¯s weird.¡±


    We were moving through the neighborhoods around campus by then. Grand Lake University was on the north side of the city (and of the actual Grand Lake), and sat in the middle of neighborhoods from the early 20th century. In our city, that meant two story houses with covered porches, wooden siding, and small yards. Garages were optional. The people who they were built for had taken the trolley to whatever factory or sawmill they worked at.


    I was tempted to ask a question or two myself. Rod hadn¡¯t talked much about his family before, but in the past he¡¯d seemed to have a chip on his shoulder about legacy heroes. This might be a good thing.


    I spoke into the comm. ¡°I¡¯m heading toward the student union. If I stop in the turnaround, I¡¯ll get a good view of the main campus. Or do you have a better place to look?¡±


    Haley said, ¡°Nothing. If they¡¯re moving they aren¡¯t moving quickly enough to trigger the bots, and we haven¡¯t seen them. I wish I were with you. I¡¯d do more good there.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t wrong. Without Travis, Haley, Izzy or Daniel, we were short people with unusual senses just like we were short our most powerful fighters without Jaclyn, Izzy and Travis. Rod arguably fit both areas, but he wasn¡¯t any good for that without transforming into a troll¡ªand then he wouldn''t fit in the van.


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    Maybe Samita or Amy could work something out.


    Keeping my voice low, I replied, ¡°I wish you were, too.¡±


    Cassie groaned, ¡°Less lovey-dovey, more fighty-fighty.¡±


    ¡°Fighty-fighty?¡± Haley asked. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you said that.¡±


    Somewhere out in the darkness a coyote howled. After a moment, other coyotes joined it.


    In the rear view mirror, I saw Camille look out the window. ¡°That¡¯s creepy.¡±


    About that time, I rolled up to campus proper, rolling into the turnaround and coming into a stop in the middle of it.


    DePuit hall, the dorm I lived in stood off to my left, a seven story rectangle of brick and possibly the least interesting building on campus.


    Off to the right stood the Dykstra Administrative Building which housed the student union and the school¡¯s administrative offices. Wide concrete plazas surrounded it on both sides while the upper two floors extended out past the brick walls below them.


    Past them, dormitories and lecture halls rose on either side of the one lane path that lead through campus, their lower floors glowing with light.


    Even with the van¡¯s sensors, no one appeared to be up, and understandably, it was after two in the morning.


    I wondered if we¡¯d gone to the wrong place, but then I thought about the howling. It had sounded close.


    I turned off the van¡¯s lights and fake engine noise. With any luck, whoever arrived next would think the van had been sitting there for hours.


    I glanced over at Amy and back into the van. ¡°Can anyone sense anything out there? I¡¯m coming up with nothing.¡±


    Cassie stood and squeezed past Samita. Pulling a gun about the size of a submachine gun off her belt, Cassie said, ¡°I can use ¡®gun vision¡¯. And sorry if it makes anyone nervous, but I need to have the gun out for it to work.¡±


    As Cassie pointed the gun out the windows, I glanced at the gun. Between the purple tinge to the metal and the silver specks, I thought back to hearing her describe it. It really did look like something that might be carried by space soldier Barbie.


    I turned back to the van¡¯s dashboard screens. Still nothing.


    At about the same time, Amy said, ¡°Someone¡¯s bringing in the big guns. You can¡¯t see it, but there¡¯s a demon on the roof of that building. It¡¯s on the part that hangs out over the plaza.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s above the president¡¯s office. The student film committee won¡¯t be at all surprised.¡± I¡¯d overheard them talking. He¡¯d stopped them from showing several films last year.


    In a low voice, Samita asked, ¡°What kind of demon?¡±


    ¡°Hard to say. It has big black wings, two heads and a humanoid body. If I had to guess, a soldier type from from the fifth or sixth circle.¡± Amy stared upward, frowning. ¡°I¡¯d have to fly up there to know for sure¡ªwhich would mean a fight¡ªand it¡¯s probably working for the Council.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Real demons?¡±


    I barely listened to him and didn¡¯t hear the reply whatever it was. The van¡¯s thermal cameras had locked on to a flying heat source¡ªsources, in fact.


    Jillian and the other woman in the gang¡ªthe one who flew and threw energy blasts¡ªwere flying over campus. Cassie noticed them about the same time I did to judge from her quick, indrawn breath.


    But that wasn¡¯t all. Even as I pointed out Jillian and Latoya on the screen, Cassie said, ¡°There¡¯s one more. He¡¯s next to the tree.¡±


    I aimed the van¡¯s cameras at a clump of trees next to the edge of Dykstra¡¯s plaza. Alden stood there in street clothes. Aside from that he appeared normal.


    ¡°He¡¯s infected,¡± Amy told us.

 Harvest: Part 3

    ¡°The gun thinks I should shoot him now.¡± Cassie stood, pointing the gun in his general direction, but not directly at him.


    ¡°Does it have anything nonlethal?¡± I watched Alden as he stood. The combination of speedster and being infected meant that he¡¯d be able to do more damage than I liked to think.


    The only person fast enough to counter him inside the city was Kid Biohack, and he didn¡¯t have a ward to protect him.


    Thinking strategically, killing Alden was a good choice. Morally, killing someone who was controlled by an outside force struck me as questionable¡ªexcept that if keeping him alive destroyed the city, killing my parents and untold others¡­


    I ignored a wave of worry¡ªmostly.


    Cassie turned to look at me, grinning. ¡°Non-lethal? It sparkles.¡±


    ¡°Just sparkles?¡± I checked the van¡¯s HUD to see if anything had changed.


    ¡°That¡¯s it, but we could hamstring him. The gun¡¯s good enough to do it.¡± Cassie stared out the window at Alden. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t even have to open the window very much.¡±


    Amy followed her gaze. ¡°I¡¯m sure my dad would tell you to take the shot, but not unless we had a plan for the others.¡±


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°Yeah, our simple solution for taking out Cabal soldiers¡ªlasers.¡±


    ¡°Except, we don¡¯t really want to kill them,¡± I said.


    ¡°And we don¡¯t want to offend the rest of the Cabal,¡± Samita added. ¡°Maybe you can survive that, but I¡¯m not sure I can.¡±


    She¡¯d pulled a wand out of the pouch on her belt, and held it in her right hand as she watched Alden as he stood next to the Dykstra building. Occasionally her eyes would flick upward toward where Jillian and Latoya stood, both of them protected by red energy fields.


    I followed her gaze. Latoya and Jillian weren¡¯t doing anything yet. Who was missing? The two (former?) Cabal soldiers Philo and Andronicus, The Thing¡¯s most important host. Also, Hank Hasemann, the guy who made block shaped force fields, and incidentally, the guy Morgan had said was an honest thief.


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    As ridiculous as it seemed when I thought about it later, in that moment the period when we¡¯d fought the Cabal looked good in my memory. We¡¯d been overmatched, but Lee had been directly involved and we could put everyone into the field. Plus, we had the means to fight the Cabal even if we didn¡¯t know it yet.


    As much as I liked the people in the van with me, I missed Daniel and everyone else that the Wizard Council¡¯s magic circle kept out.


    Amy leaned forward in her seat, eyes following the small road that ran through campus, illuminated only by small street lamps. ¡°Be ready. I think this is about to start.¡±


    Camille began to say, ¡°How do you know¡ª¡± but didn¡¯t get any further than that.


    Philo flew out of the darkness, landing in the grass not far from the circle we¡¯d parked in. The Cabal¡¯s toughest soldiers were strong enough to jump a significant percentage of a mile. The way his feet sank into the grass, it was obvious that he couldn¡¯t control the speed he landed at.


    At about the same time Philo landed, the van¡¯s sensors picked up blocky shapes next to the far corner of dePuit Hall. Even to the naked eye, the force field had a faint gray glow despite being almost dark enough to blend into the darkness.


    I couldn¡¯t guess when he¡¯d arrived.


    Even before Philo stood fully upright and pulled his boots out of the dirt, more figures appeared in the night.


    By that, I mean that Amothel, the brown and gold dressed woman faded in on the lawn, naked sword hanging at her waist. From her pointed ears, I¡¯d guessed that she might be elven or half-elven, but part of me didn¡¯t rule out Vulcan.


    Along with her, Vengeance faded in as well, submachine gun in hand, shriveled ear on a necklace still hanging in everyone¡¯s view. All gray skin and slack jaws, the four Hangmen faded in near him.


    Because the group on the campus lawn wasn¡¯t strange enough, they had a duty to include two more members. It wouldn¡¯t have surprised me to see them on opposite sides of a fight rather than together.


    The first was a silver suit of plate armor that I assumed contained a person, but I wasn¡¯t quite sure because the armor covered every piece of human flesh. Strange symbols covered almost every inch of the armor. Contrary to what I would have expected, it didn¡¯t carry a sword. It held a metal staff that was decorated like the armor.


    Next to it stood a short haired woman with bags under her eyes and wearing dark clothes with a medieval look. Gray, black, and white energies swirled around her hands like smoke.


    Amy stared at the woman¡¯s hands. ¡°And they complain about blood magic?¡±


    Samita leaned forward. ¡°Reliquary said she was with them now.¡±


    ¡°Maybe someone could explain¡ª¡± I began, but then Vengeance started talking.


    Aiming his gun at Philo, he said, ¡°I¡¯ve got a message for the creature that lives inside you.¡±


    Philo opened his mouth, and from his strained expression, I expected to hear a scream, but the bulbous, caricature of The Thing That Eats face grew out of his, fleshy lips, wide teeth and all.


    It said, ¡°I choose to hear your message.¡±


    Keeping my voice low, I turned toward Cassie, ¡°If they¡¯re going to fight and you can hamstring him, I¡¯d say take the shot.¡±

 Harvest: Part 4

    From behind me, I heard the sound of a seatbelt clasp clicking open. After a few footsteps, Rod pushed his way to the front between Amy and me.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Cassie said, but Rod ignored her.


    ¡°The Graffiti Knight. Rumor in the magical community is that the Council got some guy to wear that armor. I heard that it¡¯s cursed or connected to an old god or something. There¡¯s a price for using it, so they only get it out for emergencies.¡±


    ¡°So, it¡¯s got powers?¡± I glanced over at Rod, and he nodded.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what they are.¡± He watched as Vengeance stepped toward Philo.


    Chin down, Vengeance addressed the bloated head of The Thing That Eats, ¡°We know what you are, and we know how to trap you. Surrender and we¡¯ll banish you to another world. Fight us, and we¡¯ll keep you in a cave for thousand years.¡±


    The Thing That Eats laughed. ¡°Your councils have been trying to trap me for more than one thousand years and you¡¯ve yet to succeed.¡±


    It grinned, making me think of a fleshy basketball with teeth.


    If Vengeance was scared, he didn¡¯t show it. ¡°You¡¯ll find that we keep on learning new tricks.¡±


    The Thing kept on grinning. ¡°Who do you mean by ¡®we¡¯? The team of outcasts and murderers you¡¯ve assembled? Or, do you mean Reliquary? He succeeded in removing me from his psyche, and he¡¯s coming here. Unfortunately, he¡¯ll find he¡¯s incapable of assisting thanks to this wonderful prison you¡¯ve constructed around us.¡±


    Vengeance froze as The Thing mentioned Reliquary, but not for long.


    Over the comm, Marcus said, ¡°Outcasts and murderers? What have they got? A magical Suicide Squad?¡±


    Amy said, ¡°Close¡ª¡±


    Vengeance interrupted her though he had no way to know it. ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you¡¯re more than you are. You¡¯re just one more threat. We¡¯ve taken down half a dozen this year. I don¡¯t like your odds.¡±


    The Thing grunted. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve ever fought anything exactly like me. If you had, you¡¯d be dead and there¡¯s a good chance your world would be dead as well. No. This is no time to bluster.


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    ¡°You need to listen to my proposal. My needs are simple. I lived for hundreds of years in solitude, feeding when I needed to, taking a body when the one I had wore out, guiding humans when they needed assistance¡­ Small things. Simple things. Let me pass from this place and I¡¯ll find a small, obscure spot where I can live happily. Should your supervisors need one, I can even provide a believable death. I¡¯m naturally talented in that respect.¡±


    Vengeance mouth twisted. ¡°No. We¡¯re not going to release you on some unsuspecting city and let you feed off them and ¡®guide¡¯ them. I¡¯ve read our records and I know what happens to places where you live. Over time, you rule them in all but name.¡±


    The big head nodded. ¡°Yes. You''ve read about me in your records, but do your records contain any stories about what happens when I¡¯m feeling hungry or when I¡¯ve been cornered, much as I am right now?¡±


    It didn¡¯t wait for Vengeance¡¯s reply, smiling and then talking again.


    ¡°There¡¯s a reason. It¡¯s because when I¡¯m hungry I lay kingdoms to waste, and when I¡¯m cornered, I care for nothing but survival and gaining the power I need to survive.¡±


    The Thing¡¯s smile had grown as it talked, and it seemed to reach all the way across its face.


    ¡°This place you¡¯ve penned me in has all the power I need to escape, and from what I¡¯ve seen, you don¡¯t have the power to stop me. So, it¡¯s a simple choice, let me go now, or watch a city die.¡±


    The woman whose hands released smoke that glowed white, gray, and, somehow, black said, ¡°Maybe we ought to think about it?¡±


    Not taking his eyes off The Thing, Vengeance said, ¡°No.¡±


    Graffiti Knight, the man in the silver armor, slammed his staff against the grass. It sank in. Wrenching it out, he said, ¡°Never.¡±


    Amothel, elf, half-elf, or whatever she was, put her hand on her sword, sweeping the area in a look that took in all of The Thing¡¯s infected associates. ¡°Necromancer, don¡¯t listen to its words. Leave that to the Council¡¯s Champion.¡±


    ¡°Necromancer?¡± I looked over at Amy as Vengeance, his people, and The Thing talked more. ¡°Is that her code name?¡±


    Amy frowned. ¡°In Double V, sure, and they¡¯re not wrong about magic for once. That¡¯s what she is. For all they say about not trusting blood magic, she practices one of its offshoots and they¡¯re willing to let her use her skills.¡±


    From the comm Marcus said, ¡°Betcha they wipe whatever record she has due to public service. That¡¯s too cool.¡±


    ¡°Only if you like murder,¡± Amy said, watching The Thing and Vengeance talk.


    Kid Biohack¡¯s voice came over the phone. ¡°You said Alden¡¯s there. Is he okay?¡±


    With a look that said, ¡°Who¡¯s this idiot?¡± She leaned forward and said, ¡°I can sense magic. He¡¯s infected. He¡¯s not okay.¡±


    If Kid Biohack replied, I missed it because The Thing had started talking.


    ¡°Banishment?¡± It dribbled moisture from its mouth. ¡°There¡¯s a being I wish to find, and I believe it to be on this world. There¡¯s no hurry to find it, but I won¡¯t go until I find him or know that he¡¯s left.¡±


    ¡°What if we found him?¡± Vengeance kept his gun pointed at The Thing¡¯s midsection. ¡°Would you go?¡±


    It laughed. ¡°If you found him, you¡¯d die and he¡¯d hide better. I''m afraid we are at an impasse. I declare this parley ended.¡±

 Harvest: Part 5

    Vengeance stood straighter. ¡°We can banish you from this universe. Don¡¯t think we can¡¯t¡ª¡±


    He didn¡¯t get to finish the sentence. In that moment, Alden¡¯s head changed to that of The Thing That Eats. He wasn¡¯t the only one. With a scream, the head of the woman that the elf had called Necromancer changed too.


    Her hands continued to smoke, but she didn¡¯t use them. The Thing¡¯s mouth opened and swallowed the Graffiti Knight, weird, inscribed armor and all.


    Amy swore as Alden blurred and disappeared from view as Latoya and Jillian, both glowing red and sporting giant Thing That Eats heads of their own, flew down from dePuit Hall¡¯s roof.


    With wide, open-mouthed smiles (the better to catch passing birds?) they aimed themselves toward the lawn where Vengeance emptied a magazine of ammunition at The Thing That Was Also Philo. Better, it seemed to be hurting him.


    Philo backed away, shielding his head with his comparatively stubby arms.


    Magic bullets? Silver bullets? Blessed bullets?


    Whatever they were, they left streaks of red and bloody holes in The Thing¡¯s face. Unfortunately, Vengeance didn¡¯t have enough bullets.


    He put his hand in a pouch on his belt to grab a clip except he also had to dodge a blast of red energy from above.


    He stumbled, saved from being burned alive only because one of the Hangmen, noose flapping against the Hangman¡¯s neck as it jumped in between Vengeance and the blast.


    Meanwhile two of the Hangmen charged the Philo Thing, one of them trying to punch him, the other pulling off his noose and whirling it around his head like a lasso.


    The fourth Hangman fought the Necromancer Thing, assisting Amothel who had grown gold-flecked, brown feathered wings and slashed at the Necromancer Thing with her sword.


    ¡°Shift,¡± Cassie shouted into her comm, ¡°Air support, now!¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re all together,¡± Marcus said, ¡°I could hit our side.¡±


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    I tapped my palm. ¡°Shoot Philo!¡±


    ¡°Right. They¡¯re already dead,¡± Marcus gave a small laugh, and then thin beams of light rained down from the sky.


    The Philo Thing screamed as one beam burned down the side of its head, jumping backward before more beams found their mark. It hit the waist high concrete wall that marked the edge of the nearest of the plazas in front of the Dykstra building, shattering that section of wall.


    Let the property damage begin, I thought.


    Between the eating and the blasts of light, Cassie had moved out of the front and over to the right side door. ¡°We need to get them out of there.¡±


    Her left hand grabbed the door handle while the right hung on to her gun.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, letting go of the steering wheel. ¡°Give me a second¡­ We¡¯ve got to save them and¡ª¡±


    ¡°Make sure they don¡¯t spread the infection,¡± Amy added.


    ¡°We need someone in here,¡± I said. ¡°Gravity Star stays. The rest attack. Cover us.¡±


    Camille nodded, saying, "Got it,¡± as she moved to the front seat while the rest of us emptied from the van.


    I jumped out of the van, hearing doors directly behind me and on the other side of the van open.


    Even as I did it, I heard the crackle of energy in the air and a flash of red, followed by dual Thing screams and meteor-like descents from the sky to the ground.


    Camille had yanked both Jillian Thing and Latoya Thing out of the air. Their red shields hit the ground in flashes of red power and big chunks of flying turf.


    The good news for later when they presumably got cured was that they weren¡¯t dead. The bad news for us right now was more or less the same thing.


    Jillian Thing glowed brighter than the original and pushed herself off from the ground, aiming red beams at me while Latoya Thing struggled with gravity.


    I felt the warmth, but the suit shrugged them off. For now it was repairable damage.


    Even as I loaded goobots for my attack, I worried that Rod and Samita might be hit as they exited behind me. I shouldn¡¯t have.


    Rod the human had become Rod the troll even before his door shut. In my peripheral vision, I saw Rod in his black, leather duster and then he became two stories tall, considerably craggier in looks, more muscular, and well, much more likely to drool.


    His blond beard stayed more or less the same from one form to the other.


    As a troll though, his bellow had distinctly bowel-loosening qualities. It vibrated through my armor along with the thump of every one of his footsteps.


    Lights came on all over dePuit Hall. Latoya Thing and Jillian Thing took to the sky¡ªnot quickly because Camille had them, but inevitably. Rod¡¯s bellow gave anything living plenty of motivation to keep out of his way.


    As they strained upward, they peppered Rod and I with weak energy blasts, but not for long.


    Even as I realized that firing goobots at them would be stupid with Camille¡¯s gravity in play, Samita stepped out from behind Rod and pointed her staff at them. In a flash of light and a crack of thunder, they both fell to the ground again.


    Now that they were down though, goobots were a different story. I let a couple fly, giving them some extra height. They exploded high enough to contain them in a gooey mess.


    Now I could finally concentrate on the fight between Necromancer Thing and Amothel.

 Harvest: Part 6

    More to the point, I could answer the question of why there was even any kind of fight going on. With Marcus and Sydney raining down lasers from above and Amy, Cassie and Vaughn getting out of that side of the van, they had a lot of firepower to work with.


    In the moment that I looked over there, I fully understood why the fight was still going. Worse, it was coming for us.


    Amothel fought Necromancer Thing, but not directly. She couldn¡¯t get near her, and neither could anyone else.


    Smokey figures surrounded Necromancer Thing, making her disappear amid a cloud of gray.


    The smokey figures weren¡¯t the worst of it. The worst of came when the smokey figures got a distance from her and solidified.


    They were students.


    They weren¡¯t recent students. They wore clothes from every era of Grand Lake University¡¯s history¡ªsweaters with a big letter ¡°G¡± on them, fur coats and odd hats. Some of the men wore old military uniforms.


    Almost all the people in the oldest clothes were men, but women and men both appeared wearing clothes from the 50s onward.


    It would have been bad enough that Necromancer Thing appeared to be creating bodies for the souls of the dead, but that wasn¡¯t all. She¡¯d created monsters. At best the faces were jagged toothed, and bug eyed, but were less odd than grotesque, with mouths that reminded me of lamprey or multi-faceted eyes like bugs.


    Cassie burned them down with the gun, sometimes two or three at a time when her line of fire wasn¡¯t close to Amy or Vaughn.


    Unlike Cassie, I couldn¡¯t connect telepathically to her gun¡¯s AI, but something about the way it burned the monsters into ashes struck me as joyful.


    Amy took them out one by one, stabbing them with her spear. They shriveled and turned to dust.


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    Vaughn¡¯s lightning strikes started them burning. They shriveled up while still walking and fighting. Sometimes Vaughn would hit them with wind, blowing a few away from the main group and letting Sydney or Marcus burn them down with lasers from the sky.


    The anti-personnel lasers weren¡¯t perfectly careful about what they targeted, more of a shotgun than a sniper.


    Marcus was doing the right thing. Spraying laser fire into the crowd could easily hit one of us.


    All the same, I didn¡¯t envy whoever worked on Grand Lake University¡¯s grounds crew. They had a job waiting for them tomorrow¡ªassuming we all survived.


    Meanwhile Amothel hacked at the creatures with her sword, sometimes taking to the the air to avoid being surrounded.


    Amy stabbed a shark toothed hippie wearing a tie dye t-shirt. It shriveled into dust. ¡°We need to end this before we get tired. Concentrate our fire on clearing a path through. Shift and Railgun, keep Philo off us.¡±


    I checked Latoya and Jillian on the ground, deciding that it couldn¡¯t hurt, I hit them with a couple more goobots.


    Both of them looked back at me with the head of The Thing That Eats. ¡°It¡¯s hopeless. We¡¯ll infect everyone.¡±


    I ignored them, running after Amy, Cassie, Rod and Samita along with me.


    Vaughn stayed in the air, helping from above.


    As we began our charge, I tapped HQ¡¯s comm icon in my HUD. ¡°Watch for Alden. If you see him, tell Vaughn. He¡¯s got a chance.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± Haley said.


    Rod ran faster than Amy¡ªthan any of us. His strides were at least twice ours, so he took the lead position.


    I don¡¯t know how a ghost animating a monstrous human-like shell experiences a charge led by troll, but if the troll¡¯s on your side, it¡¯s the best kind of charge.


    At more than twice the size of any of them, Rod kicked them like soccer balls, crushed them under his feet, smacked them with his hands and left nothing (un)living in reach.


    Following close behind him, I burned them with my laser, used a couple boombots to clear particularly dense spots, and even punched a 60s era football player.


    He exploded into dust.


    We pierced the mass of ghosts, finally reaching the middle. Behind a smokey wall of grayish figures, Necromancer Thing stood, loosing more figures from her hands even as we came closer.


    The Thing smiled at us, showing teeth practically across the entire width if it¡¯s head. ¡°You¡¯ve reached the beginning of the end. Even if you slay me, I¡¯ve already won.¡±


    Rod growled, tensing as if he were about to leap on Necromancer Thing. But then The Thing gurgled, and the Graffiti Knight¡¯s metal staff poked through the side of its cheek. The Thing shrieked as the Graffiti Knight ripped all the way through.


    He landed on the ground next to Necromancer Thing, dripping saliva and blood, pausing only to whirl around and begin to beat the creature.

 Harvest: Part 7

    Whatever sorcery had created the Graffiti Knight¡¯s staff, it worked against The Thing That Eats. He hit it, and with every hit, the Thing That Eats deflated a little more and the embodied ghosts faded.


    With the last hit, any remains of The Thing disappeared, leaving Necromancer bruised, bloodied and unconscious. In that same blow, all the ghosts disappeared.


    Maybe there was something to the idea that Graffiti Knight¡¯s powers came from an old god.


    Amy examined Necromancer without touching her or putting down her spear. ¡°She¡¯s still infected.¡±


    I glanced over at Amy, ¡°What do we do with her then?¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet. I¡¯ve got a bad feeling that we¡¯ll have more like her to store before this is over.¡±


    Graffiti Knight made a symbol in the air with his hand and a silver glow surrounded Necromancer. She lifted up from the ground and floated at about waist high.


    As if answering my unspoken question, Graffiti Knight said, ¡°It¡¯s a lot like a magical circle, but as you can see, it¡¯s slow, so I can¡¯t use it in a fight.¡±


    Letters and symbols from unknown alphabets formed and disappeared in the glow. Whatever it was, I couldn¡¯t do it. From the way she stared at it, neither could Amy.


    ¡°How did you do that?¡± She asked.


    Hard to see as it was through his helmet, Graffiti Knight smiled. ¡°I wish I knew. I¡¯m not really a wizard. It¡¯s all a kind of cosmic accident. I was stocking shelves¡ª¡±


    Amothel stepped up, her wings gone, sword at her side. ¡°Please, I doubt that the Bloodmaiden will have any wish to revisit your days as a clerk.¡±


    Graffiti Knight stepped back and told Amy. ¡°Too true. I¡¯m sure you have better things to do than listen to me ramble. And I¡¯ve barely started at this. Imagine what I¡¯ll be like when I¡¯ve got some real stories to tell.¡±


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    As Amothel led him away, I took a quick check of the situation.


    We ourselves stood in the grass next to the small parking lot that guests used when visiting the Dykstra building. Philo, now controlled by the The Thing That Eats, stood next to the edge of Dykstra¡¯s nearest plaza, watched by Vengeance and the Hangmen.


    Each of the Hangmen had stretched out their ropes and were twirling them like lassos¡ªready to capture The Thing and anything else that needed it. Damaged, burnt grass all around the spot where Philo stood showed that he¡¯d tried to escape more than once.


    Jillian and Latoya remained stuck together, but not unconscious.


    Alden was nowhere to be seen. Combining that with The Thing That Eats statement that we¡¯d already lost but didn''t know it yet, worried me.


    It might only have been an attempt to demoralize us. If so, it deserved congratulations because I was worried. I decided to describe the situation to Haley and everyone else back at HQ.


    I finished it off with, ¡°So, that¡¯s it. I don¡¯t know where Alden went. I mean, the obvious place is the dorms, but he could be in any of them. I¡¯ve been checking dePuit from here, but I haven¡¯t seen anything¡­¡±


    Haley made a noise with her tongue. ¡°Maybe you should go into dePuit. If he¡¯s got Jillian¡¯s key card, he could get inside before you know it.¡±


    In the background, Kid Biohack said, ¡°I should go over there. They don¡¯t have anybody fast enough to handle Alden.¡±


    ¡°Sorry. Just a second,¡± Haley¡¯s voice became less clear. Maybe she¡¯d turned away from the microphone. I didn¡¯t hear the first part, but as she continued, she said, ¡°¡­ But if you get bitten, then they¡¯ll have two superfast Things to deal with.¡±


    The next thing I heard sounded like feet scraping across the floor followed by a door shutting.


    ¡°He¡¯s gone,¡± Haley said. ¡°If you¡¯re lucky, you¡¯ll be seeing him soon and he¡¯ll be himself.¡±


    How lucky that is depends, I thought to myself, on whether there were more options than Kid Biohack and The Thing That Eats. A third option might be an improvement.


    What I said was, ¡°Got it.¡±


    Even as I said it, Kid Biohack was coming to a stop on the sidewalk next to the van.


    Philo instantly noticed him¡ªThe Thing That Eats¡¯ head turning to watch.


    At about the same time I noticed movement in dePuit Hall. People were walking down the stairway into the main lobby of the building¡ªlots of people.


    It didn¡¯t take any great insight to guess what had happened. I shouted, ¡°Look,¡± and pointed at about the same time Rod did.


    Samita shouted at Kid Biohack, ¡°You! Wear a circle in the grass around that building!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a rectangle. Can¡¯t do a circle,¡± he shouted back.


    ¡°Oval!¡± Samita waved him toward dePuit. ¡°Make a protective oval!¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s unprotected,¡± I told Samita.


    ¡°Do you have a better idea?¡± Samita shouted, ¡°Bloodmaiden! Circle!¡±


    ¡°Oval!¡± Amy said, imitating Samita''s tone.

 Harvest: Part 8

    Samita glared at her but Amy grinned and Kid Biohack began to run, presumably adjusting himself as he went.


    And it worked. He moved so quickly that he became a blur, but he wasn¡¯t alone. Another blur ran out of the front doors of dePuit Hall, followed by a mass of The Thing That Eats headed college students.


    Amy and Samita ran to the oval, shouting for Kid Biohack to stop, but he couldn¡¯t. When he began to slow enough that I could identify his silver costume, the other blur aimed itself toward Samita.


    Something happened as the blur closed with Samita and then it wasn¡¯t a blur. It was Alden with a Thing That Eats¡¯ head rolling over and over again on the grass.


    Before Alden Thing could stand up, Kid Biohack pulled a silver rod off of his belt, pressed a button that extended it into a staff, and begin to hit Alden, standing between him and Samita the entire time.


    I realized that I had a chance to take Alden down, made sure I that I still had goobots left and that they were the default ammo when both Kid Biohack and Alden blurred again, moving too quickly for me to be able to tell who was who.


    Even as I realized that I couldn¡¯t take him out, that it was impossible, Cassie¡¯s gun blazed with light.


    Even if I hadn¡¯t known it from seeing it used before, it was obvious that the gun used some serious power. When you threw in the overly enthusiastic, telepathic targeting AI, it only become scarier because even with better than human reflexes, I doubted that she could make that shot. It could.


    When the light disappeared, I half expected to find a charred corpse as I¡¯d found a rooftop full of charred fish men when she¡¯d first found the gun.


    Alden Thing fell, becoming only Alden. The Thing That Eats¡¯ head disappeared.


    I doubted that he was ¡°cured.¡± All she¡¯d done was burn a hole through his thigh, but I supposed a speedster who couldn¡¯t walk, much less run, wasn¡¯t worth much to The Thing That Eats.


    Alden stared down at his leg. If nothing else could be said, it was a clean shot and it had been cauterized. It had also removed a two inch chunk of femur.


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    As disturbing as it was, it was better than killing him, and since I knew we¡¯d be able to get Alex in later, assuming we all survived, no permanent harm done.


    That wasn¡¯t all that happened though. As Alden fell, Philo Thing jumped into the air. From his trajectory, I could only guess that he¡¯d been aiming for Amy and Samita.


    He didn''t make it. He jumped into the air and stayed there, floating uselessly as Camille said, ¡°Got him,¡± over the comm.


    At about that time, the circle that Kid Biohack had worn into the grass glowed red and the crowd of Things spread out, walking along the edges of the circle facing us. Each identical head grinned at us in the same way with identical tooth filled mouths.


    Kid Biohack stood over Alden. ¡°Are you okay, dude? I wish it could have gone another way.¡±


    Alden looked up from his leg and laughed, or maybe sobbed. ¡°Doing great. It¡¯s the best thing that happened all day.¡±


    Cassie still pointed her gun in their direction. ¡°Glad to help. Are you okay?¡±


    Kid Biohack looked up at her. ¡°Are you talking to me? I don¡¯t know. I was feeling okay, but now I¡¯m feeling kind of queasy.¡±


    Still a troll, Rod¡¯s nose twitched and he muttered, ¡°Fuck!¡± As said in troll form, it felt like a nearby semi had pulled away.


    Rod pushed Kid Biohack to the ground one handed and kept him there as his head warped, replaced by The Thing That Eats.


    We all started shouting for Amy and Samita and they came, leaving the protective oval around dePuit Hall and running across the grass to us, Samita¡¯s red robe flapping.


    Vaughn pointed at the circle they¡¯d just made. ¡°Can we dump them in there?¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°Not a chance. We¡¯d break the circle. I need to give them their own circle.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Samita said. ¡°Two.¡±


    Closing her eyes, Amy muttered, ¡°Yes, I know she¡¯s right. Shut up!¡± As she opened them and took a breath, she said, ¡°Sorry. Sometimes it¡¯s like having one of those giant Facebook arguments going on in your head.¡±


    ¡°Why two?¡± I asked.


    Taking out her spear and drawing a circle around Alden, Amy said, ¡°Because we don¡¯t have time to make a good circle. You know how the circle in HQ made The Thing¡¯s head disappear? The circles here will keep The Thing out, but not completely. If they were in one circle, he might make Kid Biohack eat Alden to get more power and try to break the circle.¡±


    ¡°Or because I¡¯m bored,¡± Kid Biohack Thing added, and then squealed as Rod pushed harder on its head.


    Samita pulled a can of fluorescent green paint out of her pouch and spray painted a circle around Kid Biohack. The paint literally glowed in the dark.


    ¡°It was on sale,¡± she said, ¡°and very practical for night work.¡± Twisting her head upward to look at Rod, she said, ¡°You¡¯re going to have to get your hand out of the circle as I say the final syllable of the spell. Can you do that?¡±


    Rod nodded.


    He did it, holding on to Kid Biohack Thing until the last moment possible, but nonetheless, a soft white glow appeared alongside the green.


    Amy finished with Alden''s circle a little earlier, creating a second red circle.


    ¡°It kind of looks like Christmas,¡± Vaughn said, checking out each circle. Tinged with a green glow, The Kid Biohack Thing stared at him.

 Harvest: Part 9

    Then Kid Biohack Thing turned away from Vaughn and began to pace the circle. As it passed him, it spoke in a low voice. ¡°They don¡¯t like you, you know. Not really. They like what you can do for them.


    Vaughn stared at it and stepped away from the circle. ¡°You¡¯re not as good at that as you think you are.¡±


    He stopped next to where Samita, Rod, Amy, Cassie and I had clumped together between the two nearest circles.


    Looking around at the group of us, he added, ¡°I used to worry about that a lot.¡±


    Judging from Vaughn¡¯s reaction, he still thought about it at least a little. I could see how he would. Even if it wasn¡¯t his last name, his family¡¯s name was on more than one building in Grand Lake¡ªincluding Hardwick Hall on GLU¡¯s campus.


    It made me wonder if the Thing got better at needling us through exposure to us. His first attempts hadn¡¯t amounted to much. This one had made Vaughn think.


    I began to wonder if we should get further away from the circles. If my understanding of magic circles matched up with the real thing, The Thing That Eats might have been trying to provoke him into breaking the circle and letting it out.


    As I decided I should pass that on or at least ask Amy or Samita what they thought, I noticed new glow in my peripheral vision¡ªactually two glows.


    Making use of the near 360 degree vision of my HUD, I focused on the glow, realizing that it was exactly what I¡¯d feared. Latoya and Jillian were still stuck together, but nonetheless floating away.


    I wasn¡¯t the only one who noticed either. Amy swore and took to the air. I called her with my comm. ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    The sound of wind came across the connection along with her voice. ¡°Catching them?¡±


    ¡°Maybe you shouldn¡¯t. If they¡¯re joining up with Andronicus, we might be able follow them to him. Have they seen you?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Not yet.¡±


    ¡°Then give me a second¡­¡± I turned all the spybots in the area¡¯s attention to the glow, and then said, ¡°Night Cat? Control?¡±


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    Haley¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°I saw what you did. You want us to follow them.¡±


    ¡°If you can. We¡¯ll be following. All you have to do is track them so that we don¡¯t lose them.¡±


    ¡°We can do that.¡± She let out a short breath, somewhere inbetween a sigh and a sniff. ¡°I wish I were going with you.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s your arm?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Better, but not healed.¡± The sound of keyboards and mouse clicking became louder in the background. ¡°We¡¯ve got them. You should go. Be safe.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± I activated the rocket pack and took off, not going as fast as I could to keep the noise down.


    Even as I flew after Amy, I realized that I wasn¡¯t the only one. Vaughn had flown after her about the time I called her over the comm. So when I caught up with Amy, I found him too.


    We left the campus behind, staying below the trees, and doing our best to avoid power lines. Radar helped.


    We traveled down streets, black night-time sky over us. As time passed we knew we weren¡¯t stopping. We left downtown, flying over the old houses that surrounded campus.


    Still in the dark, we flew southwest, watching as we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere. By the middle of nowhere, I mean mostly that I didn¡¯t recognize the place.


    It almost didn¡¯t count as being a place. It felt more like a leftover than a thing on its own. On one side stood a development, a street with houses on either side of the road, some of them with swimming pools (drained now because it was late October), many with six foot tall fences. On the other side a small, muddy stream widened into a big, muddy pond.


    Past the streams stood another development, and that one wasn¡¯t even finished. It was all dirt skeletons of houses. But on this side of the stream, a few trees stood next to the muddy pond. Next to the trees lay a human sized rock.


    How it survived, I wasn¡¯t sure. Technically, I supposed, it was a wetland, and there were laws about wetlands. You couldn¡¯t legally destroy them for one, but I knew something was different about this one.


    Maybe it was only because I expected to find it, but maybe it was the ward Amy made and the bit of Lee¡¯s essence within it that made the difference. As someone who never trained to be a wizard, I don¡¯t know.


    Whatever the cause, I felt a noticeable thrum of power in the place.


    Amy, Vaughn and I landed on the roof of a nearby McMansion, a three story house that looked exactly like three other houses in the same development.


    We landed on far side of the roof, going down on our knees and looking over the peak down at the rock.


    It might be empty normally, but not tonight. Andronicus, the first host of The Thing That Eats stood next to the rock, but didn¡¯t touch it. Next to it stood the gang member who generated shields. I couldn¡¯t think of his name in that moment.


    Latoya and Jillian, still stuck together by goobots, landed next to them.


    Four people or Things probably counted as a party by the spots normal standards, but that still wasn¡¯t everyone.


    On the other side of the stream stood at least twenty vampires. They didn¡¯t look like Dracula. They wore normal clothes¡ªbusiness suits, t-shirts and jeans, dresses. You¡¯d never have picked these people out of the crowd at your local Target if it weren¡¯t for the fangs.


    Amy groaned. ¡°More vampires?¡±

 Harvest: Part 10

    I pulled my head down decided that seeing it with my own eyes wasn¡¯t worth the risk. I pulled up the spybots¡¯ views of the scene, moving a few in for a better view.


    Amy and Vaughn followed my example.


    My comm made a clicking noise and I heard Haley¡¯s voice. ¡°We can see everything. Do you need any help? We might be able to send the jet.¡±


    I was about to reply that we¡¯d taking any help we could get, but Samita replied before I could. ¡°We might need everyone we can get. Bloodmaiden told you how the circles we created were imperfect. It¡¯s possible that the Things might break them. They¡¯ve been pushing against the barrier, and I don¡¯t think that Troll and Gravity Star will be enough to stop them¡ªnot if Kid Biohack and Alden break out too.¡±


    I flipped to the spybots¡¯ view of Grand Lake¡¯s campus and I could see Samita¡¯s point. The Things from dePuit Hall bunched around one spot as if they believed they might be able to push through, their teeth and giant grins reminding me of creepy clowns.


    Alden and Kid Biohack had both transformed. Alden still couldn¡¯t stand on the leg Cassie shot, but The Thing That Eats had decided that something deserved its full attention.


    The two of them stared at each other, illuminated by red or green glowing circles.


    Plus, since we¡¯d been gone, Samita had added a third individual circle (green), this one for Philo. Marcus had been keeping him at bay, but to judge from the laser burns on Philo¡¯s legs, Marcus or Cassie had immobilized him long enough for Samita to trap him.


    He¡¯d healed and as The Thing That Eats, he too paced his magical cage.


    If any one of their captives broke out, The Thing would break the circles, and they¡¯d need more help than we had to give them.


    ¡°What happened to Vengeance and all those guys?¡± I asked. The spybots didn¡¯t show them anywhere.


    Over the comm, Cassie snorted. ¡°They left right after you did. Shift, Railgun and I had to shoot down Philo. The Hangmen had been helping. Have you seen them?¡±


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    ¡°No,¡± I said.


    Next to me, Vaughn flipped through spybot views that glowed on his wrist communicator. ¡°After all that shit where they told us stay out of it, they just left you holding the bag? That sucks.¡±


    ¡°Whatever,¡± Cassie said, ¡°at least we don¡¯t have to deal with them.¡±


    Amy pulled her head up and looked over the peak of the roof again. ¡°I¡¯ve got good news and bad news,¡± she said. ¡°I know why they came here.¡±


    I flipped spybot views, bringing up the scene on the other side of the roof where Andronicus stood next to the rock. ¡°Which one is that? Good or bad?¡±


    Amy frowned. ¡°Both. You know the wards around the city? We¡¯re at the edge of the wards and they¡¯re linked to physical objects. The rock¡¯s one of them.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re going to break the ward from the inside,¡± I said.


    ¡°Bingo,¡± Amy said, ¡°and any vampires that we missed out there rush in, killing and turning more people while The Thing That Eats escapes out into the world.¡±


    Vaughn looked up from his comm. ¡°Where¡¯s the good news in that?¡±


    Illuminated a little by the glow of her wrist communicator, Amy grinned. ¡°The vampires are still on the other side of the ward. If Storm King hits them with lightning until they burn, they¡¯ll probably die for real, and they won¡¯t be able to fight back.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°So you want me to take out the vampires? They can¡¯t do anything.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°But the ward will drop when The Thing That Eats is gone and we don¡¯t want them here.¡± She waved her hand toward  the houses around us. ¡°Maybe the Rocket will need to help. There are a lot of them. Anyway, here¡¯s my plan. Storm King takes Latoya and Jillian out of the fight. I don¡¯t want them to blast me from behind. The Rocket can go for the guy with the shields. I¡¯ll take Andronicus. I¡¯ve got a way to kill it, but not him.¡±


    Eyeing her, I said, ¡°How?¡±


    She met my eyes. ¡°You know how I absorb people¡¯s abilities by stabbing them with my spear?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°There¡¯s a risk with old, supernatural creatures. You didn¡¯t want to do it on a troll last summer because its personality might overwhelm you.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± she said, ¡°but I¡¯ve been practicing on the vampires we¡¯ve been fighting, and I think I can suck The Thing That Eats out without killing Andronicus.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡± I asked.


    She answered me without hesitation. ¡°I¡¯ve done it before and so have the Bloodmaidens before me. I¡¯ll be taking it out of Andronicus, but not taking it into myself. The previous Bloodmaidens will help. They know what happens when it goes wrong.¡±


    Vaughn took a breath. ¡°It¡¯s really old. Eons old. You¡¯re sure?¡±


    Amy shrugged. ¡°Mostly, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s another choice. You two can hurt The Thing, but you can¡¯t remove it without killing the host. I can.¡±


    ¡°Then I guess we¡¯d better move.¡± I checked the spybots. All of The Thing¡¯s nearby bodies¡ªJillian, Latoya, Andronicus, and the shield generating man stood next to the rock.


    ¡°We¡¯d better go,¡± I said.

 Harvest: Part 11

    Out of the corner of my eye, I watched The Thing That Eats in all of its bodies. None of them said anything as they stood by the rock, but they watched it.


    I felt certain they had a reason, and said, ¡°How do you want to handle it? Straight out attack or something softer?¡±


    Lying with her armored back to the shingled roof, Amy glanced up toward the roof¡¯s peak. ¡°Do you have an idea?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Only that we shouldn¡¯t wait too long, but I¡¯m willing to come up with something if you can think of a reason to go in soft. I mean, if Storm King¡¯s on the vampires, that leaves the two of us against four of them.¡±


    Amy sat up and moved into a crouching position. ¡°Why? Are you nervous?¡± To judge from her grin, she wasn¡¯t.


    Vaughn laughed and got to his feet too.


    I got up and crouched next to her, keeping my head below the roof¡¯s peak and out of view. ¡°Not any more than normal. I just like tilting the odds as far in my favor as possible.¡±


    Holding her spear in her right hand, Amy smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ve got more than one thousand years of battle experience telling me we don¡¯t have much time.¡±


    I checked my spybots. Between when we¡¯d started talking and that moment, Jillian had begun to glow. OK. Scratch that. She always glowed when she had her powers working, but as I looked the glow had become new and weird.


    She¡¯d had a soft red glow around her, matching the one Latoya wore at all times, but as I watched the soft glow grew edges. Still bound to Latoya by the hardened remains of goobots, she¡¯d edged up to the man with the shields¡ªHank Haseman.


    Hank Haseman¡¯s shields were all clear and glowed white if they glowed at all.


    When Jillian touched them, clear, triangular shields surrounded her body. The red energy intensified and extended a couple inches from the edges, cutting through the hardened goo around her, freeing her from Latoya.


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    ¡°Shit,¡± Vaughn muttered, staring at the comm mounted on his wrist. ¡°Did she just combine two people¡¯s powers?¡±


    ¡°Looks like it,¡± I said, wondering if that only worked because Latoya, Jillian and Hank were all part of the same creature.


    Magic made everything weird.


    ¡°Ready?¡± Amy tapped the roof.


    ¡°Ready,¡± I said, and jumped into the air, angling myself so that the rockets on my back shot me downward. As long as I was at it, I fired off a string of boombots.


    It wasn¡¯t as if they could actually hurt any of The Thing¡¯s possessed helpers.


    That said, I was careful. I aimed the bots so that they aimed upward when the shaped charge exploded, keeping the main force of the explosions away from the rock.


    At the time, I only saw four simultaneous explosions, but the slow motion replay was better. The four of them stood in a semi-circle around the rock, unable to fully surround it because the ward generated out of the other side.


    The first bullet hit Latoya Thing on the bottom side of her bulbous head, throwing her upward¡ªwhich shouldn¡¯t have been a big deal since she could fly, but she was close enough the the edge of the ward that she didn¡¯t get control soon enough to avoid hitting the boundary.


    White light exploded from nowhere as she did and The Thing¡¯s toothy mouth screamed.


    The second boombot hit Jillian, throwing her into Hank Haseman who¡¯d taken a boombot at almost the same time. Sparks flew from their shields as they collided. Both of their Thing heads stared, eyes wide, jaws wobbling as they bounced away from each other.


    Andronicus Thing took the hit better than any of the others, falling backward and getting up almost as soon as he went down.


    It was kind of anti-climactic, but it did the job. I needed to get everyone out of Amy¡¯s way and then keep them off her. We¡¯d done exercises a little like this in training even if they weren¡¯t exactly the same. Lee hadn¡¯t ever had us fight people possessed by giant heads, after all.


    It didn¡¯t matter though. Amy came in directly behind me or as close to it as she could. Even as Andronicus Thing came back to his feet in full fighting form, Amy landed, spear stabbing him in the gut.


    It didn¡¯t penetrate which was unsurprising given that Andronicus was a Cabal veteran, but despite that it did penetrate a little, and Andronicus Thing howled. Whether it was a trick of the Rocket suit¡¯s HUD or not, a dark cloud escaped from its side. Stranger, the cloud contained images of people, some in modern clothes, others in robes. I didn¡¯t recognize any of them.


    Whatever it was, Amy gave The Thing That Eats no time to recover, stabbing it again, but not as deeply as I suspected that she wanted to. She barely broke skin.


    Meanwhile, clouds began to form above us, and though they couldn¡¯t know what was coming, the vampires on the other side of the shield chattered in alarm.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, Jillian and Hank had recovered enough that they¡¯d begun to run toward me. Latoya wasn¡¯t. Hitting the shield must have taken more out of her.


    I decided I could use that.

 Harvest: Part 12

    Far too conscious of the limited number of boombots I had left, I tried to think through my next steps. Amy and I stood roughly back to back with her facing Andronicus Thing. The rock stood to her right and my left.


    Latoya lay on the ground in front of the rock. Jillian Thing and Hank Thing rushed toward us from my right and they probably weren¡¯t going to respect my agreement with Amy that I handle them while she handled Andronicus Thing.


    Worse, I realized that we¡¯d screwed up tactically, possibly lethally.


    To be clear, that would be lethal to us.


    The Cabal¡¯s best troops were monsters of close combat. Between near invulnerability, massive strength, and regeneration, the smart choice was not to close with them at all. What I should have done was to shoot the guy with lasers, let Amy handle the lesser Things, and switch off and let Amy destroy The Thing That Eats while Andronicus¡¯ legs healed.


    With Amy¡¯s ability to suck life from her enemies a risk because of the chance of possession, she couldn¡¯t match the Cabal simply by using The Thing¡¯s own abilities against it. She had to fight it with the Bloodmaiden¡¯s strength and speed which were impressive, but nowhere near the Cabal¡¯s elite soldiers.


    Except for all my brilliant tactical analysis in hindsight, Amy wasn¡¯t losing. She wasn¡¯t close to winning either, but it wasn¡¯t impossible that she would.


    Even though she didn¡¯t seem to be able to pierce its skin the way she seemed to think she could, she still drew blood and it wailed at each cut, however small.


    Better, the cuts closed, but they didn¡¯t disappear. Whatever her spear did, it hurt The Thing That Eats.


    Of course, it wasn¡¯t impossible that whatever mixture of Lee¡¯s essence had affected her wards had affected her too.


    Whatever was going on with Amy didn¡¯t matter. If she wasn¡¯t failing in the face of that, I had to hold up my end, preferably before Latoya Thing got herself together. Then I could shoot The Thing with a laser and make Amy¡¯s life easier.


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    Knocking Jillian Thing and Hank Thing into the Wizard Council¡¯s wall wouldn¡¯t be easy either because I was between them and it.


    That brings us back to where we were¡ªspecifically the part where our enemies didn¡¯t care a bit about how Amy and I had divided up our responsibilities.


    The first example? Jillian Thing took to the air, raising her arm to fire a blast of red energy. From the angle, it didn¡¯t look like she was aiming at me. I stepped forward, standing between her and Amy, and firing off two boombots even as she fired at me.


    One of her shots went wild, passing above me. The other hit my shoulder. I only knew it from the heat and the suit noting the damage.


    I must have hit her somewhere. Because at the same time, Jillian tumbled out of control, flipping head over heels in the air, heading toward the wall.


    For a moment, it appeared that she might be able to pull out before she hit. She seemed to be turning a little, but she didn¡¯t turn enough, hitting with most of her body. I missed the details thanks to the blast of white light that exploded all around her as she hit.


    Anyway, I only saw it out of my helmet¡¯s peripheral vision. Hank Thing ran straight at me, his too large head, gleaming teeth and orange, jumpsuit wearing body protected by glowing cubes that adjusted as he ran.


    I fired two more boombots at him. Both of them hit, one after the other, filling the air with heat and noise. He flew backwards, tumbling until he lay flat on his back in the grass in front of the nearest house.


    His shields were still up though, and he pushed himself off the grass.


    At least that¡¯s what I assume must have happened because I didn¡¯t get a chance to watch. The Thing That Eats lunged for Amy. Somehow she dodged it. Thousands of years of experience would help with that. She stabbed it in the thigh.


    Except rather than letting the pain stop it, it took its chance to strike me from behind.


    I noticed it, but not quickly enough to dodge. It punched the rocket pack on my back, hoping maybe to blow us all up. It didn¡¯t. Grandpa had designed the fuel better than that.


    The HUD reported, ¡°Rocket pack inoperable. Repair in progress. Seven percent fuel loss before containment.¡±


    It was hard to read though as I flew ten feet through the air, landing in the grass. Hank Thing ran toward me, using the force fields to extend his stride.


    I had four boombots left and I needed to take him out. I fired them all.


    The series of explosions threw him backward. I had no idea how many hit, but when the light faded away, he lay on the ground, shields off, but still connected to all his limbs and unburnt.


    Also, The Thing That Eats¡¯ head remained on his body even if he was unconscious.


    That left me hopeful that I hadn¡¯t killed him. If I had, I doubted that The Thing would stick around.


    I pushed myself up, turning back toward Amy and Andronicus Thing. Somewhere between when I¡¯d last followed the fight and now, the balance of power had changed.


    Amy limped on her left leg, but still fought. Her limp, though, made me a little less hopeful. I ran to join her.

 Harvest: Part 13

    The Thing That Eats moved with all of Andronicus¡¯ power to punch her again. In training with supers, you learn to recognize powerful punches, the ones that move with tons of force behind them.


    The Thing¡¯s punch had all of that. Its arm blurred in the dark, the whole of its body moving with it.


    Amy knew it too¡ªbecause somehow, even though physically she wasn¡¯t in its league, she moved enough that the blow only grazed her lower chest.


    The problem was, of course, that with tons of force behind your punch, it didn¡¯t matter whether you hit a vital spot or not. Your punch was a hand grenade, turning anything it hit to jelly and anything next to it into slightly less jellylike broken stuff.


    Amy spun off to the side, losing her spear in the process and falling on to the grass.


    I took comfort in the fact that her armor didn¡¯t seem to be dented and that she had the same number of limbs. Then I tapped my palm, powering up the laser.


    Well, I tried to. The HUD said ¡°Communication Error. Repair in process.¡±


    Had I missed that? Or, had something new gone wrong? I had no time to figure that out.


    I activated the killbots.


    ¡°Communication Error. Repair in process.¡±


    The sonics?


    ¡°Communication Error. Repair in process.¡±


    The Thing That Eats jumped, landing next to the rock. It raised Andronicus¡¯ right arm, getting ready to smash the rock with all the force a member of the Cabal¡¯s elite soldiers could muster.


    I started to run even though I wouldn¡¯t reach it in time. I had to try though because I was the only chance we had of keeping the vampires out.


    Except I was wrong about that.


    As Andronicus¡¯ arm reached the height of its windup, lightning filled my vision. I saw almost nothing else, hearing stuttering cracks of thunder.


    Electricity arced across The Thing That Eats¡¯ body without hitting the rock and outlined the shapes of the vampires on the other side of the ward.


    Vampires, it turned out, did not handle lightning well. Whether or not it killed them permanently like fire or sunlight in the classic vampire stories, it wasn¡¯t good for them. Their skins blackened and turned to dust, leaving only charred skeletons.


    A few tried to run, but Vaughn had made a circle of burning vampire death that was too wide for the vampires to escape before they too became charred bone bits.


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    ¡°Gonna see if I can make it to Bloodmaiden,¡± Vaughn said over the comm. He was breathing heavily as if he¡¯d run a marathon. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him drop from the roof, slowed by, but not flying on the wind.


    He stumbled toward her. I said, ¡°Good, but if anyone¡¯s listening, I think she needs medical help. Badly.¡±


    Kayla¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°How badly?¡±


    Vaughn said, ¡°Like, intensive care in a hospital bad.¡±


    They said more, but I¡¯d stopped listening. I was running toward The Thing That Eats. Lee¡¯s essence had melded with the ward Amy made. I could punch it. Maybe I could pull on the power more deliberately and my punches would do more with it.


    The bloodgem felt warm against my skin inside the suit. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was warmer than normal or even if it would be a good thing if it were, but I kept trying anyway.


    The Thing That Eats saw me coming. It stood next to the rock, not even trying to destroy it. Andronicus¡¯ jeans had been charred, but his flesh looked new and pink.


    It turned to face me, eyes widening as it noticed (at about the same time I did) that the red glow that covered me when it attacked me covered me now. Moving slowly, as if it were sore, it began to run toward me, hands held at chest level and open.


    I pulled a flash grenade from my utility belt and threw it to the ground in front of The Thing when I was about twenty feet away.


    The Thing tried to cover its eyes as the grenade exploded, but didn¡¯t entirely succeed. Even after the light disappeared, it blinked, holding out its arms in a defensive position to block my blows.


    That would have worked if The Thing hadn¡¯t been nearly blind and had a smaller head.


    I stepped to the side of its arms and punched it in the nose. That rocked it backward. It didn¡¯t fall over, but that was only barely true.


    Plus, I drew blood. The Thing¡¯s nose had snapped when I hit it, and bled from both nostrils.


    My second punch hit it in the side of the head, leaving a long red line on its cheek. That did knock it over, but not for very long.


    It pulled itself up, growling, and staring at me. The nose had stopped bleeding and it muttered in some harsh sounding language I didn¡¯t recognize or understand.


    After all this, had I finally made it angry?


    Its punch came so quickly that I never saw it, just felt it as I flew backward into the grass, landing away from the trees and in a yard between the two nearest houses. My HUD showed me that at least twenty people were watching from nearby windows.


    Meanwhile, an error message said, ¡°Damage 20% irreparable.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t going to take it down like this. At this rate, it would destroy my armor first. I¡¯d pulled on the bloodgem already, getting more out of it than I¡¯d have expected. I tried for more, concentrating on my hands.


    I knew I should be getting up, but at the same time, I could feel something shifting and I knew somehow that it wasn¡¯t in my body.


    The Thing leaped for me, mouth open, rows of white teeth visible. I managed to push myself sideways, almost losing whatever I was doing with the bloodgem, but not quite.


    It didn¡¯t hit me, landing a few feet to my left. I, in turn, made it halfway to my feet as it stepped toward me, pulling its right arm backward as it prepared to punch me.


    It was an easy tell to read and I should have been moving away, but I could feel that whatever I¡¯d started was about to fall into place.


    I decided to take the punch and hope my armor held.


    It hurt, and I flew backward again, this time into the street in front of the houses, but whatever had been about to happen did. Overpowering the pain in my gut, a warm feeling flooded my body, running through my arm and ending in my hand.


    I was holding something. I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the, ¡°Damage 40% irreparable,¡± message in my HUD, and looking at my hand.


    I held a sword. Four and a half feet long with a charcoal gray straight blade, it looked like something from the cover of a fantasy novel.


    It made sense, though. How many times had I seen Lee pull blades out of nowhere?


    Oh, and one more important detail. The blade was on fire.

 Harvest: Part 14

    I took the sword in both hands, holding it ready in front of me.


    As I''d come to my feet, sword in hand, The Thing That Eats jumped from the grass between the houses toward me. I jumped sideways, landing twenty feet to the side of where I¡¯d been. The Thing That Eats landed a few feet past where I¡¯d been standing. The street cracked under its feet and bits flew through the air.


    It had been aiming for me, hoping to hit and then kill me while I was disoriented.


    At least that was my guess. Given how hard it hit the street, it might have been hoping to kill me outright.


    If that were true, he didn¡¯t follow up. He could have charged me as soon as he hit the ground, but instead he stared at the sword.


    I held it between the two of us, beginning to suspect that if he wasn¡¯t going to charge me, I needed to charge him.


    Its mouth twisted. ¡°Where did you get that? You aren¡¯t him.¡±


    I didn¡¯t bother to reply. If The Thing had recognized Lee¡¯s essence in the sword, it knew where Lee was, and that could lead to the literal end of the world. It had to die or everyone and everything I cared about would be destroyed.


    Swords were Lee¡¯s favorite weapons and he¡¯d trained me in the basics even though they were irrelevant to being the Rocket.


    Between that and the Rocket suit¡¯s strength, I closed the gap between us in one step and the slash of a sword.


    It cut into The Thing¡¯s chin, slowed, but not stopped by the bone. The Thing made a low grunt combined with a sob as the tip slashed all the way through.


    On another level, maybe whatever level Lee had been talking about when he¡¯d told me about the Live or Destroy factions and how his people could sense my connection to him, I felt something too. As the sword bit into its face, I knew the sword had hurt it.


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    Blood seeped down its chin, and the air felt thicker, as if it carried something more. I wasn''t sure what to call it, but the words ¡°soul¡± and ¡°essence¡± felt right.


    Not that that mattered. Whatever damage I caused at levels of reality that I could only barely sense, I needed to get in closer if I hoped to end it.


    It didn¡¯t cooperate, turning, it leapt off the street and back toward the rock¡ªwhich also meant that it would land near Amy and Vaughn.


    I pressed the button that activated the rockets and found myself in the air before I had time to remember that they no longer worked¡ªexcept they did now. I¡¯d missed that message.


    I shot after The Thing, landing less than twenty feet away from it on the grass and another twenty feet away from Amy and Vaughn.


    It pulled itself up to its full height, and said, ¡°Wait,¡± as best it could.


    I didn¡¯t listen, remembering that it lied all the time. I rushed at it, the sword¡¯s flame burning, and The Thing backed away.


    I didn¡¯t let it, jumping forward while slashing at it, the blade sticking a good four inches into its cheek and sinking into a thicker or tougher section of jaw.


    It slowed, or maybe even stuck for only a moment, but The Thing twisted, throwing me sideways. I fell to the ground hitting the grass in front of the small wood where the rock sat.


    The sword lay on the ground next to me.


    I felt more of its being loosed into the air, but The Thing didn¡¯t hesitate. Weaker, but still dangerous, it stepped over the sword and stomped on me, pushing me into the ground. The fact that the soil had some give saved me. Despite the strength in Andronicus¡¯ legs, The Thing only managed bring the suit to ¡°Damage 55% irreparable.¡±


    I pushed myself partway up¡ªout of the hole, but on my hands and knees, a terrible defensive position.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I could see it pulling back it¡¯s leg to kick or stomp me again. I reached out to grab the sword, hoping I¡¯d be able to, fearing that a kick might shatter my armor or my arm.


    The Thing roared, but the kick never came.


    More of the creature¡¯s essence escaped its body. I grabbed the sword from the ground and stood, finding Amy standing to the side of The Thing on my right. She¡¯d jabbed into the creature¡¯s mouth with her spear, and appeared to be ready to stab it in the eye.


    Amy didn¡¯t appear to be in the greatest shape herself. The red, gemlike accents on her armor glowed less than usual, and she wasn¡¯t standing straight up. Either the limp wouldn¡¯t let her or whatever damage she¡¯d taken to her chest made it difficult.


    ¡°I know what threatens your family back in your home universe,¡± it began, continuing even as she said, ¡°What?¡± Not answering, it glanced over at me, ¡°and I¡¯ll keep the traitor¡¯s location secret¡ªjust let me live!¡±

 Harvest: Part 15

    Amy shoved the spear into its eye. It sunk into the corner, deeper than any of her other strikes.


    Though I couldn¡¯t see it, I felt the air thicken with its being. Flashes of memories of faces that other people had loved or hated passed through my mind, followed by moments of terror and a vision of The Thing¡¯s teeth.


    The Thing tried to pull away, but Amy stepped forward, pushing the spear in further. It reached out its hand, grabbing the spear, but it did that about the same time that I shoved my sword into its other eye, pushing it as deep as I could and willing the flames to burn hotter.


    More warmth flowed through me and flame burned the skull, starting from the inside out. Eyes, ears, and mouth blackened first, fire pouring out of the openings.


    Amy kept her spear in at first, but pulled it out as seams of red appeared on its skull and the skin began to burn all at once.


    Then the head became a burning skull, mouth open in a silent scream for a few seconds before the skull disintegrated, turning into sparks and ash.


    Andronicus lay on the ground where the The Thing had stood. I couldn¡¯t say with any confidence whether he was dead or alive. He had his own head at least.


    The sparks floated away, but burned themselves out before they reached the grass.


    As the last one burned out, I noticed that whatever I¡¯d been feeling in the air was gone.


    Knowing what I¡¯d seen, I couldn¡¯t be sure if that was its soul or the remains of the essences of all the beings that it had eaten. Some mixture of both seemed likely.


    They¡¯d deserved better.


    ¡°Well done,¡± Amothel changed from an eagle with golden flecked wings to whatever she was¡ªelf or half-elf in a quick shapeshift that left my stomach queasy.


    ¡°We followed you, but had to protect a ward from vampires. They¡¯d used their influence to compel mortals to attack the ward with a bulldozer.¡± She gave a brief, flat smile.


    ¡°We?¡± I asked.


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    ¡°Myself and the Graffiti Knight as you call him here.¡± She glanced over at Amy. ¡°You should tend to your friend. She doubtless has something to say before she dies.¡±


    ¡°Dies?¡± I stared at Amy. She¡¯d sat down on the grass, holding herself upright with the spear. Her face, the part the helmet didn¡¯t hide, had a gray tone.


    ¡°Dies,¡± Amy said. She said it without any fear that I could hear. ¡°It happens to all of us, and I¡¯m more than aware of what happens after¡ªyou¡¯re reborn in the body of a younger, more naive relative.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I should have guessed how hard that thing could hit. You remember when I absorbed their powers? It was amazing. They¡¯re unstoppable.¡± She grinned, ¡°But we stopped it and I think we might have stopped it forever this time. The Bloodmaiden has never had access to Lee¡ªnot that way.¡±


    She coughed. Drops of blood flew from her mouth. One of them ran down her chin.


    Vaughn walked across the grass, beginning to run when Amy had said ¡°Dies.¡± It wasn¡¯t much of a run. As tired as he was, it struck me as more of a quick stumbling.


    He turned to Amothel. ¡°You¡¯re a wizard. Do something!¡±


    Amothel shook her head. ¡°Those wounds are beyond my ability.¡±


    He said something else, but I missed it. I¡¯d started to think about when we¡¯d fought mind controlled heroes of Cabal descent at the Stapledon program. Amy had absorbed their powers, but she¡¯d stopped before she killed them.


    I stepped closer, grabbed the spear below the blade and moved it into my left bicep, not putting any serious force behind it. I wanted it to make me bleed, not make a hole that would need stitches.


    It ignored my armor as if didn¡¯t exist, moving through it without damaging it or even scratching it.


    ¡°Rocket!¡± Amy shouted as it bit into my skin.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± I said. ¡°Pull it out when you¡¯re not in danger.¡±


    But it was not okay. Though I couldn''t say how I knew it, the spear felt hungry, draining what? My soul? I wasn''t sure. All I knew was that I felt colder. Any thoughts I might have had about pulling the spear away from my arm went away as everything around me began to dim. Not that there was much light to begin with, but my HUD had been doing a good job of amplifying what light there was.


    I needed to brighten the screen because I could barely see it.


    In the distance, Amy said, ¡°I can¡¯t stop it. I¡¯m too hurt. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t use it!¡±


    Vaughn replied, but I couldn¡¯t make out the words.


    As everything turned black, another voice, this one calm and confident, said, ¡°No.¡±


    I knew the voice, but I couldn¡¯t place it. As I tried, warmth filled my body and I could see again. I must have fallen at some point, but hadn¡¯t noticed. So, when I opened my eyes, the HUD showed me stars, all of them bright and burning light years away from me.


    They were probably safer that way.


    Much closer than even the nearest star, Lee stood above me, black hair in a ponytail and not holding a sword or even a knife for a change.


    Amy and Vaughn stood next to him. Amy glowered at me.


    I pushed myself off the grass to stand next to them. I felt great, better than I had before I fell.


    Amy banged on my armored shoulder with her gauntlet. ¡°What were you thinking? I could have killed you.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t want you to die.¡±


    She let out a breath and shook her head.

 Harvest: Part 16

    ¡°You¡¯re a normal human¡ªphysically, at least. Mentally, no¡­¡± She shook her head again. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t matter. If I¡¯m that far gone, I¡¯m not going to be able to control what happens when I¡¯m offered what I need to fix myself.


    ¡°When the Bloodlords created the Bloodmaiden to protect our land, they borrowed ideas from the Elders. They were a lot like vampires, but they were alive. Their hunger for blood lives on in the Bloodmaiden construct, but also in all the noble families of my world because we¡¯re partially descended from them. Some people believe it¡¯s why we can use magic.


    ¡°You can¡¯t trust the Bloodmaiden construct if I''m dying. Find me an animal or let it happen.¡± She stared at me, waiting, I assumed, for my response.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I get it. I wasn¡¯t going to do that exact thing again anyway.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± she said, glowering at me.


    ¡°Glad that¡¯s settled,¡± Lee said.


    He stood next to Vaughn. In my HUD, I could see that Amothel watched him uh¡­ like a hawk that currently looked like an elf, or maybe an elf who could turn into a hawk? Whatever.


    I said the first thing that came to mind. ¡°How did you get here?¡±


    A corner of Lee¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°Easy. Bloodmaiden managed to catch a bit of me in all of your wards, so I was already here. I just stepped through. Oh, and by the way, all your wards have turned to dust.¡±


    Now that he mentioned it, I could feel the dust in my suit. I¡¯d have to vacuum the inside once I got back, or put it into cleaning mode.


    He eyed Amothel and Amy. ¡°It¡¯s my hope that you¡¯ll do your best to keep what I said secret.¡±


    Amy raised an eyebrow. ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to tell anyone anything.¡±


    To my left, Amothel met his eyes. ¡°I don''t know what you are, but I''ve heard stories about you that go back thousands of years. I know better than to cross you.¡±


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    ¡°Excellent,¡± Lee said. ¡°It¡¯s a rare wizard who has the sense not to experiment when they have the opportunity.¡±


    Amothel smiled, but not with any real joy. ¡°The stories about those who have experimented with you are often quite short.¡±


    She stepped back from us and her brown and gold flecked cape turned into wings. ¡°My thanks to the Heroes¡¯ League for their work, but I have matters to attend to.¡±


    Her wings flapped and she turned fully into a hawk by the time she was over our heads. She made a quick circle above us and flew into the night.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said. ¡°So you could have turned them to dust at any time?¡±


    Lee nodded.


    ¡°You intended us to use the wards to attack it, and maybe even for me to use a sword.¡± A quick look around me showed that the sword was gone.


    Lee put his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. ¡°I meant you to use whatever you could handle. The Thing That Eats needed to be put down and I couldn¡¯t do it, but I¡¯d already given you the tools to take care of it. So, I let you. You have to know when to let go, right?¡±


    ¡°Except that you saved the Rocket,¡± Amy said. ¡°Not that I mind, but it¡¯s not exactly letting go.¡±


    Lee put his hand my shoulder, or the Rocket suit at any rate. ¡°I put a lot of work into him and besides, The Thing That Eats was dead. Plus, it was easy.¡±


    As he let go of my shoulder he added, ¡°Don¡¯t forget how the sword worked. You may need it again someday. Oh, and one more thing, there might be a problem.¡±


    My eyes widened as I thought about the obvious problem. ¡°What? You don¡¯t think it managed to tell... uh¡­ people.¡±


    Lee smiled. ¡°Maybe. Probably not, but it¡¯s okay. I¡¯ve got a plan. I¡¯ve already started on it in a few other universes. I¡¯m going to be leaving new false trails in a few different spots. For one of them though, I¡¯m going to have to hitch a ride on your spaceship. Fortunately, you¡¯re going that way anyhow.¡±


    Vaughn crossed his arms and looked at me. ¡°He is? When is he doing that?¡±


    Nodding, Lee said, ¡°After exams in the spring. He¡¯ll probably miss a bit of Stapledon, but it¡¯s time to find out what citizenship in the Xiniti nation means.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°I¡¯d mostly forgotten about that. What about Captain Commando? Oh, and for that matter, Accelerando? I didn¡¯t think to mention it to Lim, but while she may not have killed the Xiniti, she made it possible for us to do it.¡±


    Lee nodded. ¡°Captain Commando¡¯s going too. I¡¯ll pass along what Accelerando did the next time the Xiniti and I talk. We¡¯ve been setting up a job or two for me and it looks as though this might all fit in the same trip.¡±


    I glanced toward the night sky. Somewhere up there, past the clouds were the Xiniti, the Hrrrnna (horselike aliens that probably hated me), and multitudes of humans modified into super-soldiers by the Abominators.


    It looked like I¡¯d be seeing them soon.

 Harvest: Part 17

    Distant sirens grew louder, and I decided that I ought to start paying attention to the world around me again. The sirens meant that the police were on their way to pick up Jillian, Hank, Latoya, and Andronicus.


    Checking around the area, all four of them lay on the ground, none of them showing any sign of The Thing That Eats. To judge from what happened to Andronicus the first time, they might be out for quite a while.


    He was a special case though as he¡¯d been controlled for hundreds of years, but he could also regenerate. Maybe for people who¡¯d been controlled for a short time, but couldn¡¯t regenerate, it would even out?


    I tapped my palm with my fingers, pulling up spybot live feeds of GLU¡¯s campus. Ambulances, a fire truck, police and paramedics inspected the bodies of the transformed students, all of whom appeared to be alive even if they weren¡¯t conscious. A couple even woke up as paramedics placed them on cots and brought them to the ambulance.


    Trampling over the circles Samita spray painted on the grass, two more paramedics carried Alden to a ¡°box,¡± one of the small fortresses on wheels used to contain supers. They¡¯d probably already drugged him, but a woman in an armored police uniform followed them, rifle in her hands and pointed at Alden in his cot.


    A few more paramedics checked out Kid Biohack where he lay on the grass. His eyes opened and he sat up with a jerk.


    The paramedics jumped back and armored police escorts aimed their weapons at him. Kid Biohack raised his hands over his head and talked to them. After a minute, they lowered the guns and I flipped to another camera¡­


    Rod, now in human form, his face hidden by a mask and body by a black, leather long coat, stood next to Samita, Cassie and Camille, answering questions from the police.


    The van stood behind them in the turnaround/parking lot. I wondered if I¡¯d given anyone there the necessary permissions to even turn it on.


    I thought about who I should check on next and realized the obvious¡ªHaley. I should check on her arm and she¡¯d know how Travis and Lucas were doing.


    As I started the call, Lee stopped next to me. ¡°On my way out,¡± he said. ¡°Thought I¡¯d leave before the cops get here. If I stay, I¡¯ll have to be Gunther and fill out paperwork and stuff.¡±


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    ¡°Okay,¡± I got out as he waved and walked away, disappearing as he passed the corner of the nearest house.


    I tapped my palm with my fingers and a picture of Haley appeared in my HUD. She sat in a chair at the main table in HQ. She had both hands on the keyboard.


    When we¡¯d both said hello, I asked, ¡°How¡¯s your arm?¡±


    ¡°Better,¡± she said, holding it up so I could see it. It looked normal.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been switching it between normal and gray, and it gets a little better each time. Right now, it¡¯s not broken anymore, but it¡¯s stiff and sore and I feel tired. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d use it in a fight unless I really had to.¡± She looked at me.


    The screen in front of her would be showing her my face inside the helmet. ¡°I know that you won, but what happened?¡±


    I went over everything from when we left HQ¡ªAlden infecting people in our dorm as well as Kid Biohack, how we¡¯d surrounded them with circles and chased Jillian and Latoya to the city¡¯s ward, how Vaughn had destroyed all the vampires near us, how Amy and I defeated The Thing That Eats and everything that happened afterward.


    ¡°That was a terrible idea! You could have died.¡± Her mouth stayed partially open even as she stopped talking.


    Words came out of my mouth all at once. ¡°I know that now, but you were there when we fought the Cabal students at Stapledon. She didn¡¯t kill any of them. I mean, she hurt them, but mostly she copied their powers and they were okay later. They even still had the ability to heal and she took a lot more from them.¡±


    Haley sighed. ¡°I remember. I might have tried it too, but don¡¯t do that again.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± I said, and paused, thinking. ¡°You know, we¡¯ve got a big hole there. We can do first aid, but if there¡¯s a serious injury, we don¡¯t have anything. We ought to get a healer on the team, or I don¡¯t know, at least see if Samita would let us have those bandages she makes that stop you from getting any worse.¡±


    Haley frowned, ¡°I remember them. I had to wear one the whole time we were fighting the dragon.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± I thought back to that. ¡°It seems like we keep on getting hurt worse. We came out of fighting the mayor with some scrapes, but we¡¯ve had to bring people to the hospital or bring in Alex the last few times we¡¯ve done anything big.¡±


    She looked off to the side. ¡°You¡¯re right, but we don¡¯t have to talk about it now. I feel like I could fall asleep at any time. You don¡¯t have anything else to do. Come back to HQ. Alex is almost here. He might need help with Jody and Sean when they wake up.¡±


    I¡¯d given Cassie access to the van last summer, so she could drive people back. That meant everyone on campus could get back to base. As for us, once the police understood that no one here had willingly helped The Thing That Eats, we flew back to HQ.


    As late as it was, HQ turned out to be full of people¡ªpractically all the supers in Grand Lake. If that wasn¡¯t true, it was certainly almost everyone I knew here. Once everyone who needed to be had been healed, we set up sleeping bags and cots. It wasn¡¯t completely comfortable¡ªHaley and I fell asleep together on a couch, but it was okay for one night.


    Once the lights went out and everything calmed down, it felt like home.

 A Day in The Life: Part 1

    Mindstryke of the Midwest Defenders (my best friend Daniel¡¯s dad) had mixed feelings about the idea and he told me so over a video connection from the Midwest Defenders¡¯ Chicago base.


    ¡°You never know what¡¯s going on with a reporter. Do they have an axe to grind? Or just as bad, are they basically a stalker with a notepad?¡±


    He shook his head. The Defenders had paid money to look good during video conferences. The window behind him looked out over Chicago¡¯s skyline and Lake Michigan. It wasn¡¯t really what was behind him, but you couldn¡¯t tell the difference from here.


    Face hidden by his navy blue mask, he added, ¡°The only reason I¡¯m passing this on is because good press can¡¯t hurt. Your team¡¯s last outing left people confused. Nearly an entire dorm of college students were turned into monsters. The pictures taken afterward showed their bodies sprawled everywhere as if they¡¯d died. Worse, they were in the middle of occult circles drawn on the lawn.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°As you might guess, we can¡¯t tell anyone the whole story. The government doesn¡¯t want people to know it handed off everything to the North American Wizard¡¯s Council and that they failed, leaving you guys to pick up the pieces.


    ¡°If that becomes known, we can count on someone pointing out that The Thing That Eats wouldn¡¯t have been in Grand Lake if you hadn''t tried to capture it.¡±


    ¡°So, it¡¯s mutual coverup time?¡± I asked.


    He drummed his fingers on the desk. ¡°More or less. Reliquary made it clear that he¡¯d expose everything if anyone tried to pin it all on the League, but that goes both ways.¡±


    I sat up in my chair. ¡°Wow, I didn¡¯t know he liked us that much.¡±


    Mindstryke shrugged. ¡°Two of his students are in your group, but never mind. The reporter is Nadia Stone. There¡¯s good reason to believe she¡¯ll be friendly. Even if she¡¯s not a cape, she¡¯s got powers herself and she¡¯s been doing a series on capes called ¡®A Day in The Life Of¡­¡¯ None of the others have been hit pieces. There¡¯s a good reason to believe this won¡¯t be either.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°What kind of powers?¡±


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    He met my eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll let her tell you. I¡¯m not in the habit of describing other peoples¡¯ powers without permission unless they¡¯re well known or supervillains.¡±


    I thought about that. ¡°Okay, so what can we expect? Do we show her around HQ? What does she want from us?¡±


    A beep came from Mindstryke¡¯s end of the connection. He looked down, either receiving mental communication or, more likely, reading something on a screen.


    When he looked up, he said, ¡°Gotta go. Don¡¯t worry about the reporter, but don¡¯t be stupid either. She¡¯ll be going for personal interviews, the kind that humanize you. Control who she gets to interview. Make sure it¡¯s people who know when to stop talking. Accelerando would be great. Captain Commando or Storm King  might not be, got it?¡±


    * * *


    That was back in October. It was November now and we¡¯d progressed from fall¡¯s piles of leaves to November¡¯s bare trees and below freezing temperatures.


    HQ had a better heating system since last summer¡¯s renovations. I sat at the table in HQ¡¯s main room feeling pleasantly warm, but staring at the computer screen.


    I¡¯d received an email from Nadia Stone at my official Heroes¡¯ League address. It said, ¡°Thanks again, and tell Blue good luck. Here¡¯s the article. I hope you all enjoy it.¡±


    I took a breath, forwarded the article to the entire Heroes¡¯ League list including the staff and the board.


    I clicked on the link and my browser opened up to ¡°Superhumans Today,¡± an online magazine that I¡¯d heard of, but never read. I poked around. The ¡°A Day in The Life of¡­¡± series had been going since the early 2000s. I clicked through to a few of them. They weren¡¯t interviews as much as long form essays that included interviews.


    Our ¡°A Day in The Life¡­¡± had the headline on the front page along with pictures that spanned our careers so far.


    Then I bit the bullet and started reading.


    A Day in The Life Of¡­ The New Heroes¡¯ League


    By Nadia Stone


    If there¡¯s any name that evokes the image of old school heroes more than the Grand Lake Heroes¡¯ League, I haven¡¯t heard it. They were giants. They fought aliens, dragons, mad scientists, Nazis, and while they were at it, made time for supervillians.


    Then they disappeared. Their representatives haven¡¯t said what happened to all of them, but everyone knows that the first Captain Commando¡¯s dead. Red Lightning disappeared in the 1960s so only the most paranoid believe he¡¯s alive.


    Two years ago, heroes with some of the same names appeared in the same gray, industrial city. After an explosion of violence that included mind-controlled superheroes and the National Guard, we all learned that Red Lightning, Grand Lake¡¯s mayor, and hundreds of superheroes and villains across the country were connected to a conspiracy that granted powers to normal people.


    The conspiracy¡¯s aims are still classified even if power juice isn¡¯t, but it wasn¡¯t the government that broke the story. It was the new Heroes¡¯ League.


    Who are they? How do they dare to take on the names of legends? One day can¡¯t explain everything, but I can tell you this.


    They¡¯re all very, very young.

 A Day in The Life: Part 2

    The woman who showed me around was no exception. Thin with long, dark hair, she wore a gray unitard with the Heroes¡¯ League ¡°HL¡± logo.


    A mask covered the upper half of her face, but her tan, unwrinkled skin told me she couldn¡¯t have been older than twenty.


    None of the League members I met that day looked much older than she did¡ªnot that she was a member. In a team of adults, her title might have been chief of staff, but on this team, she had another title.


    ¡°Call me Control,¡± she said. She met me by the elevator as The Mystic walked away toward the lab. ¡°If you¡¯d like some coffee we have some in the kitchen. We also have pop, and, water. If you¡¯re hungry, we have some leftover pizza, but between you and me, the pizza¡¯s a little old. I wouldn¡¯t trust it. I think we have cereal, but I can¡¯t promise the milk is still good.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll have coffee. No milk. No sugar,¡± I told her and we walked toward the doorway to the kitchen. ¡°Why are you called Control?¡±


    She laughed, her curly, brown hair, brushing against her shoulders. ¡°The original League came out of the military. They called HQ Command and Control and whoever was back at base Control. We¡¯re using the same name, but believe me, I don¡¯t control anything.¡±


    Then she showed me around their headquarters. It was everything you¡¯d expect out of the Heroes¡¯ League. Placed deep enough underground that I couldn¡¯t guess how deep we were, their headquarters hadn¡¯t been designed to be pretty or impressive. They¡¯d been designed to be functional. From the ceiling to the floor, concrete ruled over all other materials. Gold and silver were nowhere to be seen.


    It was as if during the Cold War, someone had attempted to design the biggest fallout shelter they could.


    But despite the architect¡¯s indifference to what the place looked like, it was difficult not to be impressed. They¡¯d obviously brought in a professional interior designer recently. The work area where tables of computers stood in front of a massive twenty foot tall screen had a kind of understated elegance, but that was the least of it.


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    Around the room stood small exhibits and trophies of the League¡¯s past¡ªawards and pictures hung on the walls next to framed news clippings. More than forty years of service was represented there, starting during World War 2 and ending during the Reagan administration.


    A piece of a Nazi¡¯s powered armor stood next to a trophy case with the horn from the head of a demon lord. A supervillain¡¯s smashed doomsday bomb sat across from the helmet of an invading alien¡¯s space suit. There were at least twenty artifacts like that.


    Control knew the history of each one. ¡°We¡¯ve been scanning in the old League¡¯s records and digitizing them. I think we¡¯ve got them all now. I¡¯ve been reading through all of it. They did some amazing things. I¡¯m not sure that I can talk about half of them even now.¡±


    ¡°You do a lot of work for them. How long have you been here?¡± I asked.


    She cocked her head, thinking. ¡°A little over a year now.¡±


    I pressed the issue. ¡°How did you start?¡±


    In a pleasant, alto voice, she said, ¡°They¡¯re friends of mine and they needed someone to organize everything. They might be superheroes, but they only have so much time.¡±


    We¡¯d stopped next to a circular platform made of black metal. It was roughly ten feet wide. ¡°Do you like working here?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°I¡­ Well¡­ It¡¯s like any job. I like it most of the time. Even on the worst days you¡¯re doing something good, something that helps people. On the best days, maybe you save somebody''s life? It¡¯s funny, because the good days and the bad days are the same days.


    ¡°I ended up fighting aliens last year. It was terrifying. I thought I could die at any second, and sometimes when I was fighting they were hunting me. It was horrible and I hated every second of it, but I also helped keeping the world alive. I¡¯m proud to be part of that even if I ended up using Yellow Burrito¡¯s gun during the fight.¡±


    I looked her over, trying to imagine her fighting the aliens I¡¯d seen in pictures of last year¡¯s invasion attempt. The costume and the mask made it easier, but her? I could imagine her organizing a room, but crouching somewhere with a gun and fighting the toothy, claw handed creatures I¡¯d seen on the Internet?


    That seemed impossible, but I said, ¡°Yellow Burrito? Wasn¡¯t he the hero who fired liquid cheese at people?¡±


    As Control opened her mouth, something pinged. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, ¡°I should check that.¡±


    She walked toward the computer tables and the giant wall screen.


    The screen filled with charts. The background of one blinked red. Above it were the words, ¡°Extradimensional particles detected.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 3

    Control stopped at the table in the center and directly in front of the giant screen. She grabbed a mouse and started tapping, starting by clicking on a button under the word ¡°Status,¡± changing it from green to red.


    Immediately a text message started appearing on another part of her monitor.


    It said, ¡°Accelerando: How bad is the red?¡±


    Control shook her head. ¡°I wish she¡¯d give me a second¡­¡±


    Control typed, ¡°Extradimensional particles. Protocol puts them at red, but we¡¯re still waiting on information.¡±


    Another text message appeared as she typed, ¡°Rocket: Investigating.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Control muttered. ¡°He¡¯s paying attention.¡±


    The words ¡°Calls from:¡± appeared on the screen followed by the words, ¡°Night Cat, Night Wolf, Ghost, Captain Commando, Gravity Star, Railgun.¡±


    Control groaned. ¡°Just give me a second.¡±


    Ignoring them, she opened up an empty message window, addressing it to ¡°All.¡±


    Even as she typed the words, ¡°Extradimensional particles detected. No contact. Await action.¡±


    More names appeared as many of the first group flickered out¡ªBlue, Paladin, The Rhino, C, Brawn, Midwest Defenders: Guardian, Midwest Defenders: Mindstryke, FBI: Superhuman Affairs Branch¡­


    Control looked up at the names, and groaned, followed by a nervous giggle. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d like to handle phones?¡±


    Giving me a sidelong glance, she said, ¡°I¡¯m kidding. I¡¯m kidding. They¡¯d kill me. Well, not really, but they¡¯d be mad.¡±


    Metallic clunking noises came from my left, followed by a screech as the metal door that went from the floor to the ceiling of the wall there opened.


    Another figure in a gray Heroes¡¯ League uniform ran out of the opening. It wasn¡¯t completely open, but through it anyone could have seen a long room filled with clutter and some of the most iconic vehicles of the late twentieth century¡ªthe all black Wolfmobile, Captain Commando¡¯s red, white and blue motorcycle, and the silvery gray Heroes¡¯ League jet.


    Distracted by what I¡¯d seen, I didn¡¯t notice that the new person had come to a stop next to the table. Slightly taller than the Rocket, his mask covered all of his face except the mouth, and his short, straw-colored hair.


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    Ignoring me, he said, ¡°Do you need me to suit up?¡±


    From his voice, I guessed that he might still be in high school.


    Control shook her head. ¡°Not yet. We still don¡¯t even know if anything came through.¡±


    He raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°The Rocket¡¯s looking into it,¡± Control said, ¡°but if you¡¯re not done with vehicle maintenance, you might want to finish.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m done,¡± he said, ¡°but I¡¯ll go prep our suits and the particle accelerator rifles in case this gets bad.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m writing an article about the Heroes¡¯ League,¡± I said. ¡°What should I call you, and how long have you been with the League?¡±


    He held up his hands between us in a gesture that said, ¡°Stop.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, ma¡¯am. I¡¯m not talking. If you have to call me something, call me Two, but better yet, leave me out of the article.¡± Then he turned and ran back to the hangar.


    ¡°Two?¡± Control shook her head. ¡°I guess what we called him last time was too obvious.¡±


    ¡°Ma¡¯am?¡± That took me back, but he¡¯d probably said it because he thought I was old. I''m thirty-two.


    Wide-eyed, Control watched him go. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m sure he was just trying to be respectful before um¡­ being rude. That¡¯s a hazard with techies. They¡¯re just not people people. I know four of them now. The Rhino¡¯s the best with people, and that¡¯s no surprise since he¡¯s um¡­ older.¡±


    I felt sure older wasn¡¯t what she¡¯d been about to say, and I intended to follow up on it, but a door slammed. I turned to see the Rocket crossing the basketball court sized room in the odd gait common to the super strong that''s half run and half a series of jumps.


    I¡¯d seen footage of the Rocket¡¯s black, cloth costume. That¡¯s what he wore then, and he crossed the floor in steps that weren¡¯t any shorter than ten feet long.


    It wouldn¡¯t be accurate to call him elegant, but each foot landed and pushed off with perfect timing. By all accounts, the Rocket has no powers, but he¡¯s in complete control of whatever technology runs his suit.


    The Mystic flew above him. They landed next to the table at the same time.


    The Rocket didn¡¯t say anything. He stepped in front of a computer terminal and started typing.


    The Mystic smiled at me, reminding me of why his face appeared on so many online magazines aimed at teenage girls. His mask hid the upper half of his face, but what they could see must have been enough.


    He turned to me. ¡°We¡¯d intended to have the Rocket give you a tour of HQ, but it looks like circumstances have changed. We can call in some favors and get you teleported out. If you want to stay, I should let you know that our enemies have made it into HQ before. It doesn¡¯t happen often, but it¡¯s often enough.¡±


    I nodded and smiled. That wasn¡¯t the first time I¡¯d heard that speech or a variation on it when things got rough. It was kind of them, if self-serving, but I couldn¡¯t fault them trying to make their jobs less complicated.


    I met his eyes. ¡°You won¡¯t have to protect me. I can handle myself. I served in a powered unit in the Army Airborne.¡±


    The Mystic turned to the others. ¡°She¡¯s telling the truth.¡±


    Ignoring him, the Rocket tapped on his keyboard. ¡°The spybots are in place and we¡¯ve got a picture. I¡¯m sending it to the big screen.¡±


    Numbers disappeared from the giant TV screen, replaced by old brick buildings and a downtown alley. A rectangular gateway glowed in the alley¡¯s shade. Things walked out of the gateway. Covered in brown feathers, they wore bulky clothes that made me think of combat gear.


    The rifles in their talons couldn¡¯t have been mistaken for anything else.

 A Day in The Life: Part 4

    The Rocket¡¯s helmet pointed at the screen. ¡°Those seem familiar somehow. Mystic, did Mindstryke or the Mentalist ever mention anything? C¡­ Uh¡­ Control? You¡¯ve been reading the stuff you scanned. Anything ring a bell?¡±


    Control and the Mystic watched as the creatures spread out, rifles pointed down the alley. The gateway behind them stayed open as they stepped away from it, revealing a silver and black platform similar to the one I¡¯d seen in the League¡¯s headquarters except that it was at least ten times the size. Past the edge of the platform stood more of the feathered soldiers.


    All of them stared at the screen, but the Rocket spoke first. ¡°I think we¡¯re going to have to bring a lot more people in on this¡ªthe Defenders for sure.¡±


    Control took a deep breath and tapped her keyboard. ¡°I¡¯ll start making calls.¡±


    The Mystic closed his eyes, saying nothing at first. Keeping his eyes shut, he said, ¡°It¡¯s actually worse than it looks. It¡¯s dark on the other side, but look at the flickers of bluish-white light. I think there are more starplates than just the one.¡±


    Due to the angle, the gateway didn¡¯t show much more than the platform, darkness and more feathered figures, but he was right. Near the top, a line of bluish-white light flickered.


    The Rocket glanced over at the Mystic and in response to some unspoken communication, the Rocket said, ¡°I¡¯m going in. Well, kind of. You¡¯ll see.¡±


    The screen split. One side showed the alley. The other side showed the alley from a slightly different angle, but then it began to move. As the spybot dove toward the gateway, the side that showed the alley shrunk and moved to the top left.


    The other side, the one that showed the expanding darkness? That grew to cover the entire screen.


    The spybot flew upward, getting a wide view of the room. Thousands of soldiers stood in the dim light, and behind the soldiers, tanks, trucks and troop carriers. They weren¡¯t models I recognized, but when you see an armored vehicle with a big gun and treads, it¡¯s most likely a tank. A taller armored vehicle with a smaller gun or guns? That¡¯s probably an armored personnel carrier even if it carries humanoid birds.


    The room though? That was new, and calling it a room might not have been correct. It might have been the entire building, but if it was, it was a building the size of several football fields, holding at least eight of those monster silver and black circles. A door from the outside stood open near each circle and they weren¡¯t small doors. All were large enough for troops to march through followed by their vehicles, straight up to a ramp that led them on to the platform and through the glowing gateway to Earth.


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    The Rocket controlled the spybot by tapping and sometimes sliding his fingers across his palms, sending the bot deeper into the building. ¡°This is crazy. The spybot¡¯s detecting British cellphone networks. Virgin¡¯s British, right?¡±


    Nodding, the Mystic said, ¡°Right.¡±


    Control turned her head toward him. ¡°You¡¯re not thinking they¡¯re in England, are you?¡±


    The Rocket paused. ¡°Probably not¡ªthough that would be interesting. I was thinking that the cellphone signals were coming through the gateways. We just got Virgin, but now it¡¯s passing a new circle and it¡¯s detecting¡­ Orange? Where¡¯s that?I¡¯m going to run the bot past all the circles and then we¡¯ll know where else they¡¯re invading.¡±


    In a quiet voice, Control asked, ¡°What are you going to do about the ones that are here?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± The Rocket looked up at the small window showing the invaders in Grand Lake. They were walking down the alley, the original four leading a group that swelled by the second as more marched out of the gateway. ¡°Oh, crap. We should do something, but what I¡¯m doing is actually more important.¡±


    The Mystic stepped back from the tables of computers. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll handle it.¡±


    The Rocket glanced over at him. ¡°Alone?¡±


    The Mystic grinned, holding up fingers as he talked. ¡°Not alone. One¡­ Two¡­ Three¡­¡±


    As he finished saying, ¡°Three,¡± a figure stepped through the door from the hangar. A short man with long black hair, he wore a black costume with a thunderstorm on his chest, complete with a cloud, rain and lightning.


    It had to be Storm King, the new League¡¯s sane answer to Red Lightning.


    He eyed me, waved and started walking toward the tables. ¡°What have we got?¡±


    Then he looked up at the screen. ¡°Whoa. That¡¯s bad.¡±


    The Mystic floated upward. ¡°And we¡¯re going to stop the ones in Grand Lake. Ready?¡±


    Storm King looked up at him. ¡°I just came from downtown. I should have stayed. Which exit?¡±


    The Mystic didn¡¯t answer with words, but Storm King nodded. They both exited into the hangar.


    A message appeared on the bottom of the wall screen saying ¡°Alert: Extradimensional invaders reported in London and Moscow.¡±


    The Rocket shook his head. ¡°They don¡¯t know the half of it. Control, I¡¯ve got a list of all the cellphone networks I¡¯ve contacted. I¡¯ll pass it over to you and you can pass it over to Guardian, the Feds and everybody. I¡¯ve got one more to check. Probably Moscow since I¡¯ve already found the British gate.¡±


    He tapped his palm with his fingers and the view shifted, showing another group of invaders lining up in front of a starplate.


    ¡°Uh oh,¡± the Rocket said. ¡°That¡¯s not Russian. I¡¯m detecting AT&T.¡±


    He tapped again and the spybot swooped downward through the gateway. The view disappeared in a burst of static, but reappeared almost as quickly as it had been lost.


    The spybot flew out over the heads a group of invaders, the crests on their heads extended as they marched down an alley.


    ¡°Oh boy,¡± the Rocket said. ¡°I¡¯m getting a read on its location.¡±


    The spybot flew upward, making a familiar skyline visible. The black, rectangular shape of the Willis (formerly the Sears) Tower dwarfed the skyscrapers around it.


    As if I needed the confirmation, the Rocket continued, ¡°Chicago. You know what this means? First, we¡¯re not getting any help from the Defenders because they¡¯ll be busy. Second, that building I flew the spybot through must not be the only one they¡¯re using to invade.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 5

    He tapped on his palms again. ¡°Here¡¯s GPS coordinates for the Chicago gateway. And now I¡¯m flying it back through. I¡¯m going to fly it past each starplate on the way out. If it registers with each cellphone service, they might be able triangulate its position.¡±


    The spybot whirled around and dove back into the gateway as he talked except this time one of the soldiers looked up, feathers moving in the wind. In the bottom corner of the screen, it pulled a walkie talkie from its belt as the bot passed through the gate.


    Nothing happened at first, but as the spybot flew over the crowd of soldiers a few brought up their rifles and began to fire. Bright beams of light appeared on the screen, and the Rocket tapped his palms while the view on the screen jerked right or left unpredictably while moving steadily upward.


    ¡°Guess I won¡¯t try that last idea¡­¡± The Rocket stared at the screen as the spybot whipped in one direction and then the next.


    The soldiers stopped firing.


    Continuing to tap on his palm, he added, ¡°Its low on fuel, and well, its connected to most of the services anyway. The important thing now is to get it out so that they can¡¯t capture it and analyze the bot.¡±


    The view on the wall sized television turned into a long dive that gathered speed as it sank toward the glow of the gateway.


    ¡°You know, if this were just a video game, it might be fun.¡± The Rocket leaned in, tapping his palm one more time.


    The rack of video games, DVD¡¯s and video game consoles that stood next to the table hinted that he might know what he was talking about.


    On the screen, the spybot leveled out less than twenty feet from the glow and shot through a few feet over the heads of the next group of soldiers.


    The Rocket tapped one more time and the bot shot upward into the blue sky. Within two more taps, the small window, the one that had been showing the alley, expanded to fill the entire screen.


    Meanwhile, what had filled the full screen shrunk into a small window. In the small window, the spybot aimed itself toward a long, oval shaped object that floated in the sky. It grew briefly larger and the screen turned dark. The window disappeared.


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    ¡°Got it,¡± the Rocket said. ¡°The spybot¡¯s back in the pod. I¡¯ll extract the logs and get the information to the Feds.¡±


    He started tapping at the keyboard and text scrolled across the monitors on the table. As files opened and the Rocket copied text from one file to another, he glanced over at me. ¡°Sorry for ignoring you. I know we have interviews scheduled with the Mystic and myself. Obviously, there¡¯s an international emergency, but I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to squeeze something in. There¡¯s generally some waiting between the moments of terror.¡±


    I stopped taking notes. ¡°I¡¯ve been at this for a few years now. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get in the interviews, and if it becomes impossible, I¡¯ll work something out.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± he said, turning back to the screen and clicking his mouse.


    On the next computer over, Control told someone, ¡°I¡¯m putting this channel on the main speakers.¡±


    The Mystic¡¯s voice sounded throughout the room. ¡°Got it. Storm King and I are on the roof of the building on the east side of the alley. We¡¯re on the far side of the roof and I¡¯m using clairvoyance to watch them. There are at least fifty soldiers and at least three different species. One of them has wings. They¡¯re the shortest. They just came through. The other two groups have arms.


    ¡°We¡¯re probably going to have to move soon. The flying ones will be able to see us if they take off.¡±


    The Rocket tapped his palm, and his voice came over the speakers. ¡°Are they all sapient?¡±


    The Mystic didn¡¯t answer immediately, but then he said, ¡°I can¡¯t read their thoughts as easily, but yes. I think so.¡±


    Grabbing the mouse of his computer, the Rocket opened up another program. ¡°I think I know who these guys are.¡±


    Control turned to look at him. ¡°Those guys? I remember scanning them in.¡±


    Above them, the wall screen showed the most birdlike of the invaders extended their wings and took experimental flaps.


    One of them took to the air as the wingless soldiers began walking toward the end of the alley.


    A lightning bolt hit the flying soldier. It fell as the rumble of thunder came over the speakers.


    Meanwhile, one of the wingless soldiers fell backwards as if he¡¯d been punched in the head by an invisible fist. Even as he was still falling, the soldier next to him fell in the same way, followed by the next soldier over.


    Some of the soldiers stopped, staring up into the sky or sniffing the air. Others dropped to the ground and began to crawl.


    Then a roaring wind blew down the alley, knocking the creatures that were still standing over, and blowing even the crawling soldiers back down the alley.


    More soldiers stepped out of the gateway and started firing at the upper floors of the buildings on either side of the alley, blasting chunks out of the walls and roof.


    A lightning bolt fell from the sky, dropping two of the four new soldiers that stood next to the gateway, two more soldiers that were stepping out after them, and the gateway itself.


    The bluish-white rectangle flickered out of existence.


    ¡°Huh,¡± the Rocket said. ¡°Lightning bolts will take down the gateway. My bet is that it¡¯s only temporary, but good to know.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 6

    He typed on his keyboard, moved more text over from what must have been logs into another window. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m sending what I¡¯ve got to the Feds, but we¡¯ve got to find the League¡¯s records on these guys. If they¡¯re who I think they are, search under ¡®dinosaurs,¡¯ ¡®evolution,¡¯ or ¡®gorillas.¡¯¡±


    Control stopped typing to face him, saying, ¡°Gorillas?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°I know it sounds weird, but if I¡¯m right they¡¯re dinosaurs from a world where evolution turned out differently. The League faced them twice. The first time they tricked them into leaving. The second time they got help from the dinosaurs¡¯ rivals¡ªgorillas from a universe where gorillas are intelligent.¡±


    Control stared at him. ¡°I only read about the first one. The 60s were very strange.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± the Rocket said. ¡°I was never sure what to believe when¡­ uh¡­ the original Rocket told me that story.¡±


    On the wall screen, the winds stopped and the soldiers began to pull themselves up.


    Storm King¡¯s voice came over the speakers. ¡°Hey, at this point our best shot at winning is to electrocute them. Mystic¡¯s not happy with that, but¡ª¡±


    The Rocket interrupted him. ¡°Really?¡±


    The Mystic said, ¡°He¡¯s right. We die in most futures unless¡ªwait. The odds are changing radically. Right now we win practically every time provided we don¡¯t do anything at all right now.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± The Rocket stared up at the screen.


    Control turned away from her screen, grinning. ¡°You know why? It¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°Blue here. Touching down in less than five seconds.¡± She talked with an accent that had a hint of Spanish, but a lot of California.


    Unlike the others, her connection carried no background noise along with it. I checked Control¡¯s monitors. The map showed her traveling at five hundred miles per hour¡ªthough her speed was slowing.


    She appeared in the spybot¡¯s view almost the instant she finished talking, coming to a full stop five feet above the ground.


    Tall with defined muscles, light brown skin, and black hair that went down her back, Blue wore a unitard that matched her name. Unlike most supers, her costume had no symbol.


    By now, the soldiers were picking up their rifles. One fired, the red beam visible in the alley¡¯s shade.


    It hit her, but where it hit, the air blurred, obscuring any details.


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    She opened her mouth, making a noise that was less a human scream than all notes at once. The speakers in the Heroes¡¯League¡¯s base crackled as the noise went on.


    The soldiers writhed in pain, dropping their weapons, not even trying to get up, only trying to turn around and cover their heads.


    Then Blue shot forward, a blur, stopping next to the soldiers and grabbing their guns, backpacks, belts of equipment. She wasn¡¯t the only one. Much of what they had floated away on its own, landing in a pile some twenty feet away from the group.


    At the same time, Blue seemed to have a sixth sense about the soldier¡¯s movements. Every time one of them pulled itself up and tried to run for the pile of weapons, she blasted them with sound and they fell down. Or, she moved in a blur to block their way.


    In time, they stopped trying and lay on the ground, unmoving.


    Control tapped on her keyboard. ¡°The police and National Guard are coming. I don¡¯t know how soon.¡±


    As if he hadn¡¯t heard her, the Rocket said, ¡°Birds have ears, but they hear with their entire heads and have good hearing. Blue¡¯s voice or my sonics might be more effective against them than humans.¡±


    The Mystic¡¯s voice came over the speakers. ¡°I think we¡¯ll have to stick around until the police arrive at the very least. Maybe we¡¯ll have to stay longer, depending on whether they can handle them, or worse, if the gate reopens.¡±


    The Rocket sighed. ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s my big worry. Even with the gate closed, I think we¡¯ll need to call in everybody. With Grand Lake somehow rating their direct attention even though it¡¯s not the capital of anything, I¡¯ve got a feeling we¡¯re not going to get much help. We might have to use the jet to go pick people up.¡±


    The Mystic replied, ¡°Well, at least it¡¯s fast. My advice would be to do it now.¡±


    The Rocket said, ¡°Is that just a guess or is it a prediction?¡±


    The Mystic waited for a moment and then said, ¡°It¡¯s mostly a guess, but I checked the near future just now and calling people in generally leads to better futures.¡±


    Despite the voice only conversation, the Rocket nodded. ¡°Then I guess we¡¯ll have to do that.¡±


    Sirens grew louder over the Mystic¡¯s connection. ¡°I¡¯ll leave that to you. It sounds like the police are here.¡±


    They ended the conversation as more people entered the room.


    A circular metal door opened and five people stepped out of it. Night Wolf and Night Cat came first, both in gray and black costumes. His had an abstract wolf¡¯s head on the chest. Hers had an abstract cat¡¯s head. At around seven feet tall, Night Wolf stood two feet higher than Night Cat. He had the physique of a bodybuilder.


    The others followed them in. To judge from his skin, the Shift could have been made of wet concrete. He wore a green costume that was darker on one side and shifted to lighter on the other.


    Gravity Star stepped out behind him wearing an orange and white costume with an orange starburst on her chest. Railgun walked in next to her¡ªa seven foot tall woman made of molten silver metal.


    Railgun shut the door behind them as Night Wolf asked, ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡±


    The Rocket didn¡¯t say anything, pointing up at the big screen on the wall.


    It showed the police taking away feathered, bipedal dinosaurs in trucks while words crawled across the bottom of the screen. Under the header of ¡°FBI Alert,¡± the words said, ¡°Extradimensional incursion: Supers requested to coordinate with authorities in defense. The following US cities are reporting attacks: Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Grand Lake. In Europe: London, Paris, Istanbul, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ankara, Berlin, Madrid¡­¡±


    As it scrolled on, listing cities in Africa, Asia, Australia, Central and South America, Night Cat stared up at the screen. ¡°How did Grand Lake get on that list?¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 7

    The Rocket turned around at the sound of her voice. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s got something to do with the original League defeating them the last two times. They did such a good job that the invaders feel like they have to crush us first.¡±


    He cocked his head to the side. ¡°It¡¯s kind of cool in a way. For some value of cool that might include bombings.¡±


    Night Cat raised an eyebrow, making it barely visible above the top of her mask. Then she said, ¡°Bombings?¡±


    The five of them gathered around the tables of computers.


    The Rocket nodded. ¡°The League could open gates for the jet, provided they had an interdimensional tracker on it. The dinos have the same tech, so we¡¯re likely to see air attacks. The question is how soon. Storm King zapped their gateway, so we¡¯ve got a little while before they bring it back up. I was thinking of picking up Red Hex, Troll, Ghost, Captain Commando and Bloodmaiden in the jet before it gets bad.¡±


    Night Cat and Night Wolf turned toward the Rocket. Night Cat asked, ¡°If they send bombers, what do we have while the jet¡¯s gone?¡±


    ¡°Right now?¡± The Rocket paused. ¡°The catmecha. Plus Blue¡¯s here now. Storm King and the Mystic could be effective. Also, the Rocket suit if I¡¯m not flying the jet. Plus Gravity Star and Railgun, if she can get in range.¡±


    Still looking at her screens, Control said, ¡°Accelerando just entered the base. She¡¯s bringing C.¡±


    Night Wolf blinked. ¡°Okay. That¡¯s good. Well, anyway, Accelerando could take out low flying aircraft by herself if she had to. I think we can take the risk, but Rocket, you shouldn¡¯t go. We should send someone else. Shift can fly it.¡±


    Night Cat glanced over at Night Wolf. ¡°I¡¯ll go with him. I¡¯ve got experience with the weapons console.¡±


    The Rocket shrugged. ¡°That makes sense.¡±


    He took Night Cat¡¯s hand in his. ¡°Good luck.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°You too.¡±


    They looked at each other for a moment. She squeezed his hand. As they let go, Shift grinned. ¡°I know this is serious and everything, but you know what¡¯s cool?¡±


    Night Cat looked up at him. ¡°No. What?¡±


    ¡°This!¡± He opened his arms to include everything around them. ¡°We¡¯re about pick up two wizards, a troll, and the nearest people I know to Kitty Pryde and Captain America to save the world. You¡¯ve got to admit that¡¯s cool.¡±


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    Night Cat shook her head. ¡°You know what? I don¡¯t have to admit that, but where do I fit in?¡±


    He paused, but then said, ¡°You¡¯d either be Batgirl or X-23. A guy could argue though that you¡¯d be a combination of both the way Dark Claw in the Amalgam universe was both Batman and Wolverine.¡±


    They started walking toward the hangar and their voices began to fade. Night Cat¡¯s last understandable sentence was, ¡°I got about half of that, but you don¡¯t have to explain it, okay?¡±


    Night Cat and the Shift walked past the big metal door and disappeared into the dim light of the hanger, still talking.


    As they left, Night Wolf stepped over to where the Rocket stood. ¡°So, what do we know about these guys?¡±


    As the Rocket replied, Gravity Star stepped up to me, words tumbling out of her mouth. ¡°Hi, you probably don¡¯t recognize me, but, I¡¯m Gravity Star. I was supposed to drop by for an afternoon interview, but well, you know. How is it going? With the invasion, you¡¯ll be lucky to get any interviews at all.¡±


    I put down my pen and pointed at my digital recorder, microphone already attached. ¡°Mind if I record?¡±


    She said, ¡°No, I don''t mind.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been at this for a few years now, and there¡¯s always time for an interview. It might not be with the team you¡¯re there to meet, but they have staff, family, friends¡­ You just have to use your imagination. How long have you been with the Heroes¡¯ League?¡±


    She stepped closer to the microphone. ¡°Not that long. Remember when they saved St. Louis from being blown up by True Humanity? That¡¯s the first official time I worked with them, but I was part of Justice Fist too. So two years ago, I helped them when they fought the Cabal¡ªnot back when they fought the Mayor and exposed the Cabal¡ªlater than that. I was part of a fight that didn¡¯t get covered much because it was outside Grand Lake. It was between us and Syndicate L, the Cabal, and the Executioner.¡±


    I¡¯d done my research. ¡°Was that the fight in the field near the abandoned radio station or the one where Ray Malone died?¡±


    She grinned. I¡¯d remembered correctly.


    ¡°The radio station. It was awful. People and guns were everywhere, and the worst people were the Cabal. They didn''t even need guns. They could kill you with a punch.¡± She stopped talking, shaking her head. ¡°I¡¯m so grateful they never got close enough to try. I would have died. The Thing That Eats controlled one of them last month and nearly killed Bloodmaiden. It only took one punch even though she was wearing armor.¡±


    ¡°Where you in that fight too?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Not the one where the Cabal guy punched her, but I was at the fight at Grand Lake University where The Thing That Eats infected all the students.¡±


    She paused, frowning, and her voice began to rise after she restarted. ¡°I know people think we shouldn¡¯t have brought it here at all, but Reliquary told us to. He said the wizards had somewhere secure to keep it, and we weren¡¯t allowed to go with him to hide it. So we weren¡¯t there when it got away. I don¡¯t really think it¡¯s fair to blame us for that. We¡¯re not wizards. We don¡¯t know how to dispose of bad magic. We have to trust people who do.¡±


    The Rocket and Night Wolf both turned to listen as she talked, aware of her rising volume.


    Railgun put her hand on Gravity Star¡¯s shoulder. She¡¯d changed, letting the silver-gray metal drop off her and form into a cube on the floor. Now she wore a silver and blue costume with a mask that hid most of her face, leaving visible pale skin and long hair so blonde it was almost white.


    ¡°I¡¯m Railgun.¡± She gave a short smile. ¡°Gravity Star¡¯s taken some of the criticism personally. I think we all have at least little bit.¡±


    On the wall screen, the scrolling FBI alert had changed to ¡°The following military bases are under attack. We request supers near these bases to assist in their defense¡­¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 8

    The Rocket clicked away from the spybot¡¯s view of downtown to a map ¡°We¡¯re not near any of those bases. Our National Guard base and training grounds don¡¯t rate an attack. Uh¡­ Wait. Selfridge Air National Guard base is being attacked.¡±


    Everyone turned as he zoomed in on the base. From above, it wasn¡¯t much more than green grass, buildings and several long runways.


    The Rocket peered up at the wall screen. ¡°I don¡¯t think they expect us to help. We¡¯re on the other side of the state and it¡¯s looking like Detroit¡¯s Unity team is working with the Canadian team in Windsor to defend the base.¡±


    He tapped on his keyboard and the view changed from Google map¡¯s view of the base to a television station¡¯s. Words near the bottom of the screen labeled it the ¡°Fox 2 SkyFox helicopter¡± view.


    Smaller windows showing other stations local to both Grand Lake and Detroit ran down the side.


    On the large window showing Fox 2¡¯s view of Selfridge, feathered dinosaurs as well as armored vehicles charged across the grass, running towards different buildings around the long runways. Beams of colored light burned on the screen.


    There were hundreds, possibly thousands of them. No telltale bluish-white flicker appeared, but a gateway had to be somewhere on or near the base.


    The only visible humans lay on the ground, but by evidence of the muzzle flashes alone, more had to be inside the complex of buildings to the right of the runways


    Gravity Star stared up at the screen, her voice raising as she talked. ¡°We should be doing something.¡±


    In a normal voice, Railgun said, ¡°Night Cat and Shift have to be near there by now.¡±


    Control turned away from her screens. ¡°Should I redirect them?¡±


    The Rocket stared upward. ¡°I¡¯m beginning to think you¡¯ll have to. Thing is, the local teams say they¡¯re responding. Maybe they are and we just can¡¯t tell. A lot of the people I know about over there are street level heroes who are great fighters, but not people who could do much against an invasion¡ªwhoa.¡±


    A wake appeared in the grass leading toward the dinosaur army, the ground sinking in the middle, but piling up on sides, much like the wake of speedboat or a shark. The dinosaur soldiers saw it, turning to point their weapons, firing at the dirt.


    It had no effect.


    Where the wake met the army, the soldiers sank waist deep into the earth, and that wasn¡¯t the worst that happened to them. The grass began to move all around them and the soldiers on the edges went down in a wave of gray.


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    Even zooming in, the helicopter wasn¡¯t close enough to show the details.


    Gravity Star asked, ¡°Oh my God, what¡¯s that?¡±


    The Rocket kept on staring. ¡°I think I know. There¡¯s this super in Detroit who isn¡¯t on any team. I¡¯m not sure he¡¯s even got an official codename, but figure he¡¯s got the powers of Aquaman, but for the city, not the ocean. He¡¯s got an insane burrowing speed and telepathic power over small mammals. So, I¡¯d bet the gray wave is mostly moles, shrews, mice and rats, but there might be weasels, opossums, ground hogs and badgers out there.¡±


    A group of dinosaur soldiers stopped, breaking off from the main group, running into each other as if blinded, tripping, falling and sometimes firing their weapons. Small black and white animals ran off into the field.


    ¡°Also skunks,¡± the Rocket added. ¡°I didn¡¯t know he was that powerful. He¡¯s slowing the main wave on his own.¡±


    But he wasn¡¯t on his own.


    A gray, oval shaped vehicle floated toward the field. People sat inside, all of them visible because the vehicle had no roof and the sides were no higher than a person¡¯s waist. The passengers¡¯ only protection came in the form of the white shimmer of a force field above and below it.


    Dozens of small missiles fired from the bottom of the flying device, each of them exploding. Near each explosion a transparent white dome appeared, covering and imprisoning the dinosaur soldiers or sometimes one of their vehicles.


    The force shields weren¡¯t easy to destroy. An imprisoned tank fired off a shell that ricocheted around its dome, finally destroying the tank that fired it. The soldiers under other domes fired their weapons at the walls without the beams ricocheting, but also without doing the walls any damage.


    The smartest pulled shovels from their pack and began to dig. That would have worked if the rats and mice weren¡¯t faster at digging their way in than the soldiers were at digging out. The soldiers ended up rolling around on the ground, flailing and swatting at the gray, furry wave that consumed them.


    Even before the humans on the base began their counterattack or the other supers jumped out of Instrumentality¡¯s gray flyer, the Rocket said, ¡°I think they¡¯re going to make it.¡±


    Night Wolf nodded. ¡°Oh, yeah. I think I¡¯m going to have nightmares about being eaten by mice tonight. You want to check on other cities?¡±


    They turned on cable news stations, checked out live streams that they found online. Not everywhere had done as well. Few places had the warning that Grand Lake had, found the origin point, or destroyed it. Most cities woke to thousands of soldiers and more pouring in. Some had been bombed by their own country¡¯s planes or ships to contain the invasion.


    Railgun said what I¡¯d been thinking, ¡°I thought our people would be doing better than this.¡±


    A deep voice I remembered from my childhood said, ¡°Me, too.¡±


    I turned around in my chair. C stood there next to Accelerando. He wore the last version of his costume from the early 80s¡ªred, white, and blue, but mostly red with blue and white as accents. Unlike in the 1980s, he carried a white cane and wore dark sunglasses.


    His mask and sunglasses didn¡¯t hide his dark skin or his white hair. Nor did his costume hide his muscles. He walked without a limp or any weakness. He stood with his head held high and looking in our direction¡ªblind, but completely aware of where we were.


    Accelerando couldn¡¯t have been anyone but a relative. Except for being young, a woman, and sighted, she could have been him¡ªthe same posture, similar high cheekbones.


    The Mystic, Blue and Storm King stood behind them.


    ¡°Railgun,¡± he said, ¡°please take over Control¡¯s duties for now. Control, Rocket, Night Wolf, Mystic and Accelerando, please go to the lab. Blue, Storm King, and Gravity Star, be ready to deploy. I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t leave us alone.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 9

    C looked at me. ¡°And you¡¯re the reporter?¡±


    I managed to get a few words out.¡°I''m Nadia Stone with ¡®Superhumans Today¡¯. I¡¯m pleased to meet you, sir.¡±


    C smiled. ¡°I get a lot more sirs now that I¡¯m old. Thank you for being here, Ms. Stone. I look forward to seeing your article. We never expected that you¡¯d have such exciting material.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t say I did either, but after a few years on this beat, I¡¯ve learned to adapt.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Good luck. We¡¯re off to the lab.¡± He glanced around the room. ¡°Everyone?¡±


    Accelerando, the Rocket, the Mystic, Night Wolf, and Control followed him out as Railgun stepped up to Control¡¯s keyboard. Storm King began to talk with Railgun and Gravity Star as the rest of them walked away.


    I watched them as they walked with him across the room, disappearing behind one of the doors to the left of the hangar door.


    I¡¯ve been interviewing supers for years now. I¡¯ve interviewed heroes I admired and criminals I¡¯ve despised, but I wasn¡¯t prepared to see C appear in the room. This was a man who¡¯d been there at the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s founding, who knew Civil Rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers and even Malcolm X. He¡¯d fought alien invaders, Nazis, the KKK, literal demons, and invaders from alternate histories.


    By all credible accounts, he and the Rocket were the strategic thinkers of the team. According to an interview with the original Rocket, it was C¡¯s idea to organize the nation¡¯s supers by state and encourage them to work together, but also with the government.


    It would lead to the web of connections that had sprung into action to fight the current invasion¡ªwhen age had taken his sight, leaving him unable to become directly involved.


    He was a living legend, one of those few people whose actions affected the world in ways that people notice.


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    The members of the new League had laughed and joked with him as they¡¯d walked. The deep rumble of his laugh carried across the room.


    To them, he might well be Accelerando¡¯s grandfather or great-grandfather and if so, he might not be the only member of the Heroes¡¯ League they¡¯d known.


    We¡¯ve all heard the speculation. It won¡¯t be cleared up in this article. Old school hero teams live by the secret identity, and if you¡¯re going to interview one, there¡¯s an understanding that you won¡¯t reveal anything that could hint at who they are. I don¡¯t.


    I wrote notes about what I¡¯d seen.


    As I did, Blue walked up to the table I sat at and pulled up a chair. ¡°Do you mind if I sit here? I¡¯d like to ask you some questions.¡±


    ¡°Please sit,¡± I told her. ¡°I hope you don''t mind if I ask you questions too. It¡¯s why I¡¯m here.¡±


    She nodded without saying anything and sat down. Was she shy? It seemed like a strange combination with the ability to drop soldiers with the power of her voice alone.


    Then she asked, ¡°How long have your been a fan?¡±


    Not sure what she meant, I said, ¡°A fan?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Of C. I couldn¡¯t help but notice that your heart rate went up when you discovered he was here and when he spoke to you.¡±


    Unsure of how much I wanted to say, I stalled. ¡°You can do more with sound than shout at people.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, but nothing more, waiting for me to fill the silence.


    ¡°When I was seven, I saw him on television and I thought he looked like my grandfather. He didn¡¯t very much, but my grandfather had died when I was five so I didn¡¯t really know. When I was eleven or twelve, I wrote about him for a school project, and then I learned who he was and what he meant. He may not have been the first black superhero, but he was the first we know about¡­ The more I knew about him, the more he impressed me.¡± I watched her face. She¡¯d nodded as I talked, made small noises to show she was listening.


    She smiled. ¡°He¡¯s more impressive, the more you know him. I don¡¯t know him as well as the Grand Lake team, but he¡¯s everything they¡¯ve told me.¡±


    I asked my own question. ¡°How did you happen to join the Heroes¡¯ League?¡±


    Her face froze for a second, but then she said, ¡°Everyone knows about the Stapledon program now, so I can tell you. I met them there, and I officially joined around the time we went to St. Louis.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± I said, ¡°I saw footage of you there. I¡¯m not trying to make you uncomfortable, but that¡¯s not the first time you met them. Someone who looked a lot like you was with Evil Beatnik when he formed a team of third generation supervillains and attacked Grand Lake. Were you Dixie Supergirl?¡±


    She sunk a little in her chair. ¡°Yes. You know what he can do, right? I was under his control.¡±


    In the silence that followed, Storm King said, ¡°We don¡¯t hold it against her. A bunch of people think I¡¯m related to Red Lightning, and they¡¯re right, but I¡¯m not a supervillain.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 10

    Railgun turned away from the screen to look at me. ¡°I don¡¯t know if should say this, but all of Justice Fist was descended from Red Lightning¡¯s followers. We¡¯re not them and we don¡¯t have to make their choices.¡±


    ¡°Um-hmm,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m impressed that the Heroes¡¯ League knew that and took you in. Not every team would have done that, and especially not teenagers. Do you know why?¡±


    She frowned, thinking. ¡°Some of us knew each other and liked each other before we knew we had powers, but I think it must have been fighting the Cabal. They joined up with Syndicate L and the Executioners to attack all of us. We worked together with the League to fight them. After that they invited us over when they¡¯d get together to watch a movie or play video games, so we all got to know each other. That was it.¡±


    I looked up at the giant wall screen. At the moment, it displayed windows of all the local news stations plus the major cable news networks. ¡°You watch movies on the big screen?¡±


    Storm King grinned. ¡°And play video games. It¡¯s like having your own movie theater.¡±


    Blue glanced over at it and back to me. ¡°Everyone¡¯s invited. I try to make it when I can. I don¡¯t know who decided to do it or why, but it¡¯s a good idea. We all know each other now, and we see each other for who we are, not who our parents or grandparents were. I¡¯m descended from Dixie Superman. He was a racist. You know that. Everyone knows that. Here, I get to be myself, and we¡¯re stronger for it.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Storm King said. ¡°I spent so much time thinking about Red Lightning and worrying about if people would see me as just another version of him, but it didn¡¯t happen. The League sees me as me. The haters can go f¡ªk themselves, right?¡±


    Gravity Star laughed. Railgun turned to peer at Storm King. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that the kind of thing we weren¡¯t supposed to say in front of the reporter?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I told her. ¡°Our readers have seen worse. You should have read my interview with Officer EXXXtreme. That man has a mouth. Besides, the magazine won¡¯t print the word. They¡¯ll leave enough that people will know what he said, but they won¡¯t print it.¡±


    Railgun frowned and her nose crinkled. ¡°I don¡¯t think that makes us look good.¡±


    Blue glanced over at Railgun. ¡°It¡¯s not a big deal,¡± and then at me. ¡°I¡¯ve got another question. We were told that you had powers and the Mystic told me you were in the army. How is it you became a reporter instead of joining up with a Defenders unit?¡±


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    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Why? Are you looking for a job?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Not now, but everyone knows about the Stapledon program since the Hrrnna attacked. I¡¯m in college and I know I¡¯ll be serving after college, but I¡¯ll need to get a normal job someday.¡±


    I remembered being that young. I¡¯d seen less than she had at the same age, but I remembered the endless, yawning possibility of what lay ahead. ¡°I don¡¯t know if my story will help you, but here it is. I was normal until college, but I got mugged one night, and it changed my life. I don¡¯t know why it happened then, but my body must have been waiting for the right combination of fear and anger, and when I fought back I nearly killed the man.¡±


    I could still see his eyes widen as I threw him into a brick wall and hear the crack of his bones breaking. The surgeons only barely saved him.


    Talking over the memory, I told them, ¡°The military recruited me straight out of school. I graduated, but I didn¡¯t even think about a civilian job then. I was too busy learning how not to break everything around me. When I got out, I started a journalism masters because I didn¡¯t know what to do next as much as because I was interested. I got lucky though. One of my friends got hired by Superhumans Today. He told them about me and I left school to work there.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s all.¡±


    Blue nodded. ¡°Why journalism instead of the Defenders? I¡¯m sure there are teams who would take you?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°You don¡¯t want me for police work. I could hire myself out to demolish buildings or sink ships, but not if you care about anything nearby. I¡¯m safe in normal life, but once I start using my powers, stay away.¡±


    Before she could ask another question, I added, ¡°I can do more as a powered journalist than one more superhero. Supers need people to understand their struggles, and they''ll make time for a powered journalist.¡±


    Blue eyed me, probably thinking of more questions. If she went into journalism, she should try investigative even if she didn¡¯t stay there.


    She didn¡¯t get to ask me more questions¡ªat least not then. Railgun turned away from the screen to talk to us. ¡°They¡¯re on TV. Look at this!¡±


    All the stations on the giant screen showed a grayish-brown feathered dinosaur seated in a busy room. Screens and consoles hung on the walls and other dinosaurs stood in front of them or bustled around the room.


    A mustached man in combat fatigues and a red beret stood next to the dinosaur.


    Railgun tapped one of the stations with her mouse pointer and it expanded to fill the screen. As it did, the sound filled the room, amplifying a deep, croaking voice in the middle of a speech.


    ¡°¡ªof Earth, you can¡¯t defend yourselves against us. Your governments are joining us as I speak. Your powered fighters fall when they face the might of our soldiers. Our empire spans multiple universes, an infinite army bounded only by our ambition, and our ambition is vast. Even now, our soldiers fight in your capitals. Your leaders will soon be in our power.¡±


    ¡°Surrender.¡±


    Railgun stared at her screen. ¡°Agent Lim sent us a message. The president is in no danger and the only places under the dino¡¯s control are the capitols of some smaller countries. ¡®Don¡¯t even think of surrendering¡¯.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 11

    ¡°As if we¡¯d surrender,¡± Storm King said, ¡°we can take these guys.¡±


    Next to him, Gravity Star stared at the screen. ¡°But who¡¯s the man next to him?¡±


    ¡°Soon,¡± the dinosaur said, looking deeply into the camera, ¡°we will give you an example of the price of refusal.¡±


    The feed cut off, going back to CNN.


    Storm King blinked. ¡°You know how we were wondering how we were part of the first wave, and how the first League humiliated them twice? I¡¯ve got a bad feeling about this.¡±


    Railgun glanced over at him, blonde hair swinging as she said, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but at least we¡¯re getting help. I just let in the Power, Blur, Fourpoint, Voice, Shadow, Red Legacy, and um¡­ a few doctors?¡±


    Gravity Star peered at Railgun¡¯s screen. ¡°He went with Fourpoint? He¡¯s nice but¡ª¡± She looked over at me. ¡°Well, he¡¯s nice, but I don¡¯t think he¡¯s getting a four point.¡±


    Storm King nodded. ¡°Yeah. He was trying to find something that worked with his powers and Mimic was taken. Copycat didn¡¯t feel right. Plus, a villain had it. So then he tried a bunch of names that meant ¡®quick learner¡¯ and he went with Fourpoint. Me, I¡¯m a little more worried about Blur. That was the name of an evil, alternate universe Accelerando. It¡¯s a good name, but tainted, you know?¡±


    I caught his eye. ¡°Evil alternate universe Accelerando? When did that happen?¡±


    Storm King blinked and looked around at the others. None of them said anything.


    He grinned. ¡°That never made the news, did it? Well, it was a couple years ago, and anyway, she¡¯s dead. So nothing to worry about.¡±


    I leaned forward. ¡°Can you say more about that?¡±


    He frowned. ¡°Look, we didn¡¯t kill her. She was¡ª¡±


    Blue held up her hand and said, ¡°Storm King, stop.¡±


    She gave me a quick smile. ¡°I don¡¯t want to mess up your interview, but the Mystic told me about it. It needs to stay private.¡±


    Storm King nodded. ¡°Yeah, I almost screwed up big time there. Sorry.¡±


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    Railgun turned away from the conversation, waving her hand to silence the group. After a few moments of listening, she said, ¡°Got it.¡±


    She turned around, grinning. ¡°Night Cat and Shift picked up Ghost, Captain Commando, Bloodmaiden, Red Hex and Troll. She said we should see them in ten minutes.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know where Night Cat and Shift had flown the jet, but Red Hex and Troll were active in D.C. Bloodmaiden had first been sighted in Florida. They couldn¡¯t have left more than thirty minutes ago.


    I could only guess its maximum speed. The League jet was faster than anything our military had.


    The hanger door opened. However quickly the jet moved, it wasn¡¯t them. No, it was the teenager in the League suit who¡¯d refused to be interviewed earlier.


    He looked over the group. ¡°Where¡¯s Control?¡±


    Railgun pointed back to the lab. ¡°With the Rocket and C. For right now, I¡¯m Control.¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Well, particle accelerator rifles are prepped and ready. Suits and vehicles are ready too. Also, um¡­ you know how we¡¯re calling me Two? Let¡¯s just say that ¡®One¡¯ can¡¯t be here today for obvious reasons, but he¡¯s going to help remotely.¡±


    Railgun¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Okay¡­ We better tell C.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°And that¡¯s not all. He¡¯s going to send me a new suit special delivery to the topside entrance. It¡¯ll look like a semi-truck. I¡¯ll stick around to identify it.¡±


    Railgun bit her lip. ¡°I¡¯m going to call C and tell them.¡±


    She turned back to her screen. A quick conversation later, she said, ¡°They¡¯re coming here.¡±


    Even as C and Accelerando stepped out of the doorway to the lab, the round metal door across from the hangar opened again. This time three white men in black costumes stepped out. One was tall, muscular and brown haired. The second was tall and lanky, but with curly, blond hair. The third man was short and brown haired.


    Whoever they were, someone was investing in them. Their costumes were demo CostumeWerks designs¡ªeasily more than fifty thousand dollars each.


    Two women followed them, each wearing gray and black Stapledon uniforms. Behind them came a man in a red costume with lightning bolts, but two men and a woman in scrubs walked with him, all of them openly staring at the inside of the base.


    Red Legacy (that¡¯s who it had to be) pointed them toward the hangar. ¡°There¡¯s a room you can use as an ER over here. They¡¯ve got medical equipment that¡¯s fifty or a hundred years ahead of us, but they don¡¯t know how to use it. You¡¯re not going to believe it¡¯s possible¡­¡±


    The men in black costumes and the women joined the group of us next to the table. Even as the tall blond man in black said, ¡°That the reporter?¡± to Railgun, C, Accelerando, the Rocket, Night Wolf, Control, and the Mystic stepped up to the circle as well.


    It had begun to feel less like a superhero team and more like an army.


    As the kids talked among themselves, C stepped up to me. In a low voice he said, ¡°I imagine you saw the dinosaurs¡¯ video. We don¡¯t have long before they try something else. So, I¡¯m wondering if you might want to help us out. I know it¡¯s not journalism, but your nation and even your world needs you today. You can write it down after it¡¯s over. <Codename> needs to ride again today.¡±


    Except where he¡¯d said ¡°Codename,¡± he¡¯d said the codename I used in the army.


    I looked him in the eye in case he could read my expression. ¡°Where did you hear that?¡±


    ¡°Many avenues are open to a man with friends and a high security clearance.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 12

    ¡°I hope my personnel files made entertaining reading,¡± I told him.


    ¡°Listening,¡± he said. ¡°And I didn¡¯t do it simply to invade your privacy. I needed to know how you¡¯d handle it if the unexpected came up. It happens frequently around here. Now though, I need your answer. We¡¯ll need more people in the next fight and I have an idea about how your specific power can help us.¡±


    Ideally, a journalist reports the truth and nothing more. Everyone knows that perfect objectivity is impossible, but you try your best because the alternative is worse. I knew that, and I also knew that I could never be truly objective about people I¡¯d fought beside.


    These are people you have to trust with your life.


    I said, ¡°Yes,¡± anyway, but I¡¯d be lying if thinking through big questions about objectivity and truth played any part in my decision.


    I couldn¡¯t have said anything else. When your childhood hero asks you to help him save humanity, you say yes.


    ¡°But we can¡¯t use my old codename. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯ll call me, but using that name will only cause problems.¡±


    C nodded. ¡°Do you have any ideas? We don¡¯t have time to have a brainstorming session now, but we¡¯ll need a name, and I don¡¯t want to call you Temp if we don¡¯t have to. You know you don¡¯t want the press to name you.¡±


    I laughed. ¡°No. I wouldn¡¯t want that. Journalists on deadlines make for terrible names. I¡¯ve given a few that stuck.¡±


    Gravity Star stepped closer to the two of us. ¡°We could help. If you tell us what your powers are, assuming you¡¯ve got powers instead of training and devices, we might have ideas.¡±


    I met her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll do you one better. There¡¯s a name I¡¯ve wanted to use since my powers manifested, but it might not be available.¡±


    Gravity Star grinned at me. ¡°What?¡±


    I took a breath and let out the name. ¡°Critical Mass.¡±


    In my ears it still sounded like the me of ten years ago, the person who still thought that I could become a superhero instead of artillery.


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    My mind flashed back to my senior year of college, seeing the mugger fly backward from my punch and hit the brick wall. He¡¯d been lucky. In the moment that I¡¯d punched him, I¡¯d felt the smallest trickle of energy, and I used it the instant I felt it.


    If I¡¯d let it build, he would have died. I knew that because in the army I¡¯d let it build, leaving craters behind me. I¡¯d also fought beings who could take my punches. There weren¡¯t many of them.


    Gravity Star looked at me. ¡°Isn¡¯t that something from nuclear weapons? What do you do?¡±


    There was no reason to be shy. ¡°I explode.¡±


    Even through her costume¡¯s mask, I could see her eyes widen.


    Around us, the conversation became more quiet. ¡°It¡¯s not as bad as it sounds. I can control the direction of the blast and how powerful it is¡ªwithin limits. The minimum blast will kill a normal person and it only gets worse from there. But however powerful the blast is, I don¡¯t get hurt.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± she said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a good powerset for war, but nothing else,¡± I told her.


    ¡°Which means,¡± C said, ¡°that right now, and right here, it¡¯s exactly what we need.¡±


    ¡°Technically,¡± the Rocket said, ¡°Critical Mass doesn¡¯t make that much sense because it¡¯s all about the amount of material needed to start fission going and keep it going. There¡¯s no denying though, that it¡¯s a much better name than Voluntary Energy Release Threshold, right? That¡¯d be more accurate though.¡±


    Storm King said, ¡°What about Boom? Boom would be cool.¡±


    Control stood back at her station, shaking her head. ¡°Boom¡¯s already taken, but I just registered Critical Mass on Nadia¡¯s behalf.¡±


    I stared at her. ¡°Why?¡±


    C answered before she did. ¡°I don¡¯t know all the details, but she¡¯s following standard procedure for us. Even if you only do this once, it will make it easier to control merchandising of yourself as a super and avoid fights. You don¡¯t know how many first time heroes used a name without registering it only to find that someone else already had it, or registered it after the hero used it. You don¡¯t want that kind of legal hassle.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll trust you,¡± I said, and tried to get my head back in the game. With as many people here as there were, I could interview someone about their feelings as they waited for battle.


    I didn¡¯t get to. Control announced, ¡°The League jet¡¯s nearly into the airlock, and Gunther¡¯s in the base with¡­ Doppelg?nger. Did anyone else know she registered it? I knew she was talking about it, but I didn¡¯t know she¡¯d done it.¡±


    ¡°Never mind,¡± C said. ¡°Critical Mass, Shadow, Voice, and anyone who wants a redesigned League suit, report to the Rocket. He¡¯ll give you one. If you need a fancy color scheme, wait for Ghost, but if you¡¯re in a hurry, I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    Accelerando looked over at him. ¡°Seriously?¡±


    C shrugged. ¡°I was hoping that would get more of a laugh, but if you want me to be serious, I am. Change into the new uniforms if you haven¡¯t. After that, we¡¯ll do a quick briefing. We¡¯ve got a plan to end this. I¡¯m just hoping we¡¯ll get to roll it out before they attack.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 13

    Shadow and Voice led me over to the locker rooms to change. If you¡¯re imagining a futuristic locker room, stop.


    It looked like the locker room of every high school sports team in the United States¡ªrows of toilet stalls with metal dividers for privacy. A roomful of metal lockers for each person on the team and wooden benches for people to sit. The far end of the room opened into a tiled room with showers.


    I read the names on the lockers¡ªAccelerando, Captain Commando, The Mystic, The Rocket, Storm King and the others¡ªrealizing, ¡°There¡¯s only one locker room?¡±


    Voice, a thin, blonde woman, shucked her grey Stapledon uniform, laughed and grunted, ¡°You got it.¡±


    As she hung it up in the locker, Shadow said, ¡°The original League only had one woman on the team, and Ghostwoman had her own bathroom. We¡¯d been hoping they¡¯d renovate the bathrooms when they redid the main room, but I guess that¡¯s next year.¡±


    ¡°Or never,¡± Voice said, stepping onto a grey square. When she said, ¡°Activate,¡± the grey square turned into liquid, running upward and coating her body. The grey turned pink except for a white circle that surrounded a sideways outline of a pair of pink lips opening next to three curved lines.


    She looked herself in the mirror. ¡°Nice.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what you said last Saturday.¡± Shadow had changed while I watched Voice. Shadow¡¯s costume had stayed grey, but created smoky patterns on her suit¡¯s surface. A human silhouette with a shadow appeared within a white circle on her chest. Dark black hair or a facsimile of it ran down her back.


    Voice shrugged. ¡°The real thing¡¯s better than the drawing. I can¡¯t complain. Ghost¡¯s got it.¡±


    Shadow grinned. ¡°Told you.¡±


    Voice flipped her off, but told her, ¡°I¡¯ll be back with everyone else.¡±


    I hung my clothes up in an empty locker, conscious that I was hanging my clothes where the original League and their interns hung theirs. Ignoring the history, I asked Shadow, ¡°I just tell it to activate?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°It¡¯s that easy. After the first time, it¡¯s keyed to your voice.¡±


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    I stepped on to the square, said, ¡°Activate,¡± and felt something cool cover my body. After a moment though, it warmed up and I didn¡¯t notice it any more than I noticed any other clothes I wore.


    ¡°If you look at blurry spots around the edges of your eyes, they¡¯ll expand into a heads up display.¡± Shadow held up her right hand. ¡°You¡¯ve probably noticed the Rocket tapping his hand. You¡¯ll want to experiment with it, but think of it as a mouse.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I checked myself in the mirror. The suit was gray like the staff¡¯s suits, but this suit put the Heroes¡¯ League logo in a circle in the middle of my chest. The material covered everything. Except for obviously being a woman, I was anonymous. Good.


    The bathroom door opened. The creature that came through had long, thin limbs, gray skin and a nearly featureless face. Hairless and genderless, it stood over six feet tall and wore a Stapledon jumpsuit.


    Shadow¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Wow. That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s creepy. Please don¡¯t be offended, but I liked the other one better.¡±


    It shrugged. ¡°This is what a Doppelg?nger looks like in Dungeons and Dragons. If I was going to take the name, I thought I¡¯d go all the way.¡±


    Shadow shivered. ¡°You look like you should be Voldemort¡¯s cousin.¡±


    It turned toward me and shifted into a woman¡¯s form. The Stapledon uniform tightened around her new shape. ¡°I¡¯m going to change into one of the new uniforms.¡±


    I left with Shadow and joined the group. While we were changing, Shift and Night Cat had come back, bringing Bloodmaiden, Red Hex, Troll and Captain Commando with them.


    When Doppelg?nger arrived, we were all there.


    C looked over the crowd. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re all finally here. Here¡¯s the situation. The original League fought the dinos twice. The first time we managed to trick them into leaving. The second time, we¡¯d done a favor for their rivals, an alternate empire of parallel universe traveling gorillas, and we called it in. We¡¯re not getting help from that quarter twice.


    ¡°Now, that doesn¡¯t mean we don¡¯t have a plan. We do. Some of you know about Guardian¡¯s ability to travel from one universe to another as well as opening portals within universes. Well, he¡¯s scouting out all their alternate universe portals right now, but he¡¯s not going to be able to destroy them alone. He¡¯ll get tired first. That means he¡¯ll need help, and you know who¡¯s going to help? We are. We¡¯re going to send the League jet to the coordinates he gives and have it destroy as many universe transfer platforms as it can.


    ¡°But that¡¯s not all we¡¯re going to do. For today, Nadia Stone, our embedded journalist, will be working with us. She¡¯ll be sent to destroy as many platform sites as she¡¯s able.¡±


    I raised my arm. ¡°I think I¡¯ll be able to handle two, maybe four if I can rest.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Understood. We¡¯ll do that when Guardian sends us target locations. In the meantime, we¡¯ve got one more thing to worry about. The dinos aren¡¯t the smartest beings I¡¯ve ever fought, but they breed and mature quickly. Typically, they send in a first wave of attackers, but they expect to lose all of them. It¡¯s in the second wave that things get interesting. I expect that we¡¯ll be seeing overwhelming numbers, and possibly overwhelming opponents.¡±


    The Rocket raised his hand, ¡°How are we going to use Guardian¡¯s coordinates? I¡¯ve never used the starplate to do that.¡±


    C grinned. ¡°No worries. I have.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 14

    The Rocket cocked his head. ¡°Are there a lot of small details that you have to see?¡±


    C laughed. ¡°Or put another way, will my blindness kill you all? Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m going to show Control, you and Two, how to operate it right now. It¡¯s not hard. It was made to be used by people who don¡¯t understand how it works.¡±


    He gestured almost in the ¡°starplate¡¯s¡± direction. ¡°Come on. Railgun, take Control¡¯s station. The rest of you can do whatever you want, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt if a few of you checked the spybots¡¯ feeds. You never know what might appear.¡±


    Accelerando walked with him and the others to the starplate¡¯s metal platform. Despite not being named, Bloodmaiden followed them, the red gem on her black armor glowing.


    ¡°Well, well,¡± a voice said as they went, ¡°It¡¯s been a few years since¡­¡± Gunther said, naming two of the worst missions of my military career and a third that I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d been involved in.


    When I repeated the third¡¯s name, he shrugged. ¡°I was on the other side of that one.¡±


    Before I could stop myself, I said, ¡°You bastard.¡± People I knew had died on that mission too.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t do any fighting. You¡¯d have noticed. And anyway, I was only technically on their side. I was on someone else¡¯s payroll.¡± He grinned at me.


    Gunther was as well known as the League, the nonmember who started appearing with them during the war, rumored to be a Nazi who switched sides. No one knew what the League had on him, but when he wasn¡¯t with them he served as a mercenary, serving with anyone who could pay his fees.


    It¡¯s become clear over time that he''s immortal. Internet forums speculate as to his origin with dragon, alien, and fallen god being leading contenders.


    All that anyone knows with confidence is that he¡¯s dangerous.


    Briefings that the State Department has made public advise people not to approach him. His status as a fighting instructor for the Stapledon program shows that not everyone in government agrees. Stapledon, however, is full of former Heroes¡¯ League interns who may know something the rest of us don¡¯t.


    I took a breath, considering how best to apologize to a being that frightens governments all over the world, but I didn¡¯t get to.


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    ¡°I was disappointed to learn that you¡¯d left the service,¡± he said, ¡°but I get it. There¡¯s more to life than war. Still, I look forward to seeing you in action again.¡±


    Then he stepped away to talk with Ghost. All in white with two pistols on her belt, a modern update to Ghostwoman. I caught a little of their conversation. They were talking about guitar chords.


    I listened long enough to realize that they weren¡¯t going to stop talking about chords any time soon.


    I took a look around the room. The members of the League that weren¡¯t at the Starplate clustered around the tables in groups watching monitors and talking.


    I tried to decide what I should be doing. On any other day, I¡¯d have tried to interview the League before they went into combat and try to catch the little details that would humanize them on the page, but today?


    Today I was in the League even if I wasn¡¯t one of them.


    In my old unit, I knew what to do with the waiting. I¡¯d prepare, if there was any preparation left to do, talk if we didn¡¯t need to be quiet, or check in on the little rituals and superstitious habits a few people performed.


    It had been almost four years, and I missed them, and if not them, knowing who I was when I was with them.


    I took a breath. I pulled myself together, knowing what was going on. I was about to take to the field for the first time in years without ever having trained with them, unsure of the chain of command¡­


    I let my breath out. It was going to be okay. I was a journalist. Getting questions answered was what I did. Alright, who would know the answers? Gunther might. C, Control, and the Rocket would, but they were busy with the Starplate.


    The Mystic stepped out of the crowd and walked over to me. ¡°I couldn¡¯t help but notice that you had some questions.¡±


    He had an easy grin and what I could see of his face made me suspect I¡¯d have been crushing on him as a teen. ¡°Do I need to ask questions or do you already know what they are?¡±


    Captain Commando laughed. ¡°She¡¯s got your number.¡±


    The Mystic shrugged. ¡°I try not to invade strangers¡¯ mental privacy.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Captain Commando said, ¡°he saves that for friends.¡±


    A few other League members laughed.


    He glared at Captain Commando, and she laughed again. Ignoring her, he said, ¡°I try not to invade people¡¯s privacy, but I think I know what you¡¯re worrying about. If we get attacked again, you¡¯ll be going in with Blue, Accelerando, and Troll. Rocket and Night Cat will be in the League jet. There might be a couple more, but you¡¯ll be the point of the spear. Blue will probably command the group.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m better off in the front.¡±


    From the middle of the crowd, Railgun said, ¡°There are more extradimensional openings detected. One. Two. Three. Four? Four openings. No, there¡¯s one more, but it¡¯s in the air above Grand Lake. I¡¯m pointing spybots in its direction and toward the other openings.¡±


    Pictures on the screen changed from news stations to the air above Grand Lake.


    Storm King stared upward. ¡°Does that look like Godzilla to you?¡±


    Ghost shook her head. ¡°Godzilla doesn¡¯t have feathers.¡±


    Night Wolf waved his arm, shouting, ¡°Everyone, look at the screen. Are you ready?¡±


    Railgun¡¯s voice came over the room¡¯s speakers. ¡°We just got a message from the dinos over the League¡¯s old comm frequency. They told us to ¡®surrender or die,¡¯ and that they¡¯ll be broadcasting our defeat.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 15

    Railgun flipped through channels on the big screen. The local NBC News 10 already had the flying dinosaur in view of its helicopter, but that wasn¡¯t all. Many of the cable news stations followed the same feed. It wasn¡¯t the News 10 feed.


    One station labeled it as ¡°Invaders Live Feed.¡±


    I checked on internet news sites. The invaders were making the feed available online. They were that confident of destroying us? What else did they have?


    I walked up to Control¡¯s computer. Railgun had stopped talking to us and called the local National Guard base, telling them, ¡°We¡¯ve got four gateways throughout downtown now and one in the air. The downtown gates appear to be moving after a few minutes¡­ Yes¡­ I¡¯ll pass on anything new.¡±


    The map on one monitor showed the city with glowing spots that I guessed had to be open gateways.


    The open gateways were moving parallel to each other down two streets. If they kept their pattern, they¡¯d be on either side of police headquarters in a few minutes.


    I touched the screen, making a line from them to the police station.


    At almost the same time, two of the gateways disappeared from downtown and reappeared in the suburbs next to the Grand Lake National Guard Armory, accompanied by warning pings from the speakers.


    Night Wolf leaned in, towering over both of us. ¡°Holy f¡ªk! They¡¯re going for the armory. Call them!¡±


    Railgun said, ¡°I know! I know!¡±


    She grabbed the phone, fumbling as she tried to make a connection.


    Night Wolf turned around to the assembled group. ¡°Everyone get into groups. Quick Response team should head downtown, but the Power and Shadow should head down to the base to help¡ª¡±


    C had turned away from the Starplate and walked back toward the main group with the Rocket, Accelerando, Control and Bloodmaiden in his wake.


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    ¡°Thank you, Night Wolf, but everyone should go downtown. Quick Response team should target the giant flying dinosaur. That includes you, Critical Mass. Get out there and push it out over the lake before you destroy it.


    ¡°The rest of you need to drive the dinos into big groups, preferably toward their gateways. They¡¯re trying to spread the soldiers out.¡±


    Someone in the group muttered, ¡°Schooled.¡± It might have been the Power.


    Night Wolf ignored it, raising his hand, ¡°But what about the National Guard?¡±


    C nodded. ¡°They¡¯ll be able to handle it.¡±


    He cleared his throat, ¡°Railgun, make sure the Guard knows we shut down a gateway with a lightning strike. They should be able to send grenades or worse through. Then slip on your metal and get downtown with the rest. Control or I will direct all of you. In the big picture, we¡¯re going to do our best to contain the dinos for now. When Guardian gives the word, the League jet and Critical Mass will disappear, but after that, the threat¡¯s over.¡±


    Control stepped up to me and handed me a watch¡ªat least it looked like one. It had a wristband, but no face.


    She said, ¡°It¡¯s an interdimensional homing beacon. Hang on to it or we won¡¯t be able to find you. Press the button to get our attention.¡±


    I strapped it to my wrist. ¡°Got it.¡±


    Blue tapped my shoulder. She¡¯d tied her long, black hair into a ponytail. ¡°Ready?¡±


    I glanced up at her. ¡°For this? I¡¯ve never trained with you and it¡¯s been four years since I last suited up. I¡¯m completely ready.¡±


    ¡°You have more experience than any of us but C,¡± she said.


    ¡°I know, but I need to know how your team works.¡± I gave my tote bag full of equipment one last look. I couldn¡¯t take any of it where I was going.


    Blue nodded. ¡°That would be nice. Can''t you fly?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll be impressed, but I can stay in the air long enough. Just make sure I¡¯m not close to anything fragile when I take off.¡±


    I¡¯m not allowed to tell you how we got out of the base, but Blue let me go above Lake Michigan. I let a little power loose, feeling the explosion point me upward as it always did.


    I created a series of small explosions, each one pushing me upward and forward. I¡¯ve never known quite what to call the protection that surrounds me, but force field always felt a little off. It''s more than that.


    Blue and I flew across the water, turning in toward the shore and crossing over to fly above Grand Lake the lake instead of the city, flying over docks, marinas and private beaches.


    It wasn¡¯t hard to find the dinos'' creature. It circled above downtown Grand Lake, its feathers as red as a cardinal¡¯s.


    Over the communicator, Blue said, ¡°We need to get it above Grand Lake before killing it. I¡¯m strong enough to throw it. What can you do?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll distract it,¡± I told her, let more energy in, and threw myself toward it in a burst of explosions.

 A Day in The Life: Part 16

    There¡¯s only one thing I¡¯m better for in a fight than being a distraction, and that¡¯s a weapon of mass destruction, but this wasn¡¯t the time for a WMD.


    I roared toward the flying dino, light flashing on my front to keep me in the air and from the bottoms of my feet and hand to keep me moving forward. With each flash of light came an accompanying pop or explosive booming noise.


    I sounded like the Fourth of July¡ªthe end of the fireworks display when they¡¯re sending off everything they have left.


    From video footage, I knew what I had to look like¡ªa vaguely human shaped being of blinding light. When I fly toward you, you¡¯ll see me even if you shut your eyes.


    The flying dinosaur flinched. Saddled on its back, one of the smaller winged dinos smacked the side of its neck. The flying dinosaur¡¯s eyes glowed red, but it missed me.


    I don¡¯t think it even tried to hit.


    The red eye beams passed below me, hitting the lake with a hissing noise and a cloud of steam that billowed upward.


    I zigged and zagged, suspecting that my shields could handle its eye beams, but not wanting to test it. As soon as I was close enough that I had a good shot, I let energy build. Since I couldn¡¯t do that and fly at the same time, that meant I¡¯d begun to fall, but only grew brighter as I did.


    Then I let a blast of energy free. It wasn¡¯t precise. I don¡¯t do precise. It was a blast of yellow-white light as wide around as a car, scorching its underside.


    The dinos screamed¡ªboth of them¡ªthe flying dino because it had been hurt, the rider because one of his boots was on fire.


    ¡°Going in,¡± Blue said. In a flash of her namesake color, she appeared, grabbing the dinosaur¡¯s tail and twisting it around, letting it go when it was above the nearest lake¡ªGrand Lake, the lake the city had been built around.


    ¡°We¡¯re in range. Blue, are you clear?¡± The Rocket¡¯s voice came over the communicator in my costume.


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    The dinosaur flapped its wings, struggling to get control as Blue flew to the right and upward from the creature.


    ¡°Clear,¡± she said.


    Hard to see in the sky, a bluish-white beam came from behind me, hitting the flying dinosaur from above, cutting it in half, burning it.


    As cliched as this sounds, it did smell like grilled chicken.


    Its rider managed to get free from the saddle, spreading its own wings and flying away, wearing only one boot.


    I checked behind me. The League¡¯s jet flew downward, turning toward downtown, not looking like it appears in old photos, a slim, silver/gray bullet-shaped plane with stubby wings. It looked like it did when the League fought aliens in the 1970s¡ªthe same shape, but surrounded by a darkness deeper than black.


    ¡°That¡¯s one,¡± Night Cat said. ¡°We¡¯re not going to be able to get the rest of them this way¡ªat least not quickly enough.¡±


    My mind was still stuck on the words ¡°one¡± and ¡°the rest of them.¡± I turned away from the lake and back toward the city. In the time that we¡¯d used to take out one of the beasts, six more had flown out of a hole in the sky.


    As I absorbed that, one of them fired its eye beams. It hit a building on the edge of downtown, a church to judge from its steeple. Most of the steeple fell forward onto the lawn while the church¡¯s roof started to burn.


    C¡¯s voice came over the communicator, ¡°Push them away from people. The lake¡¯s your best choice, but if they¡¯re heading toward the suburbs, fight them downtown. Be aware of our people. They¡¯re already fighting on the ground. Don¡¯t drop a dinosaur on them.¡±


    A lightning bolt hit the dinosaur that had blasted the church. It flailed in the air, nearly losing control and crashing into downtown¡¯s tallest hotel. Somehow, it stretched out its wings and turned in time.


    ¡°Storm King,¡± C said, just a touch louder than before, ¡°leave the flyers to the people who can take them on directly. You need to control the growing army on the ground.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± he said, ¡°but he was close.¡± His voice was just barely loud enough to hear.


    ¡°I¡¯ll strafe them,¡± I said, and let the explosions drive me toward them.


    The winged giants had been beginning to spread out and fly toward the two gateways that the smaller dinos were pouring out of. There was no organization, just an endless stream, and unlike the first invaders, they didn¡¯t seem to be carrying laser rifles.


    I flew directly in front of them, diving lower than I thought they¡¯d be comfortable with bending to aim at me. As I flew, I sprayed a few shots up at their bellies. They wouldn¡¯t be enough to take them out, but they would burn enough to hurt them.


    I guessed right and wrong. Most of the dinos couldn¡¯t bend their necks far enough to aim without accidentally changing direction, so they barely fired at me. The ones on the far end only had to bend a little to fire.


    I felt the hit, but my ¡°shields¡± aren¡¯t just shields. The absorbed the blast, not all of it, but enough. I expended a little of their energy to fly.


    Blue flew after me, drawing some of their fire, but giving her own blast of sound.

 A Day in The Life: Part 17

    Just as it had earlier, Blue¡¯s yell caused chaos. The giant winged dinos dove to avoid her voice despite anything their riders did with their reins. As they dove, the League jet circled around from over Grand Lake to appear behind us even as we dove to follow.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking we should use Blue to herd them,¡± the Rocket said. ¡°If they stay low, it shouldn¡¯t be hard to hit them from the side.¡±


    Blue¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°I¡¯ll try, but you¡¯re going to lose a lot of windows.¡±


    The Rocket said, ¡°Hmmmn. You can narrowcast, right? Or maybe find a frequency they¡¯re suseptible to that doesn¡¯t break things?¡±


    Blue¡¯s grunted. ¡°I¡¯m not a computer. If you figure out the right frequency, play it for me and I¡¯ll imitate it.¡±


    As they talked, we dove toward the city. The dinos couldn¡¯t fly between the buildings¡ªthey were too close¡ªbut they could dodge behind the taller skyscrapers and change direction.


    Worse, they were doing it.


    The group of them had flown around a boxy fifteen story building next to the river that ran through downtown. Two of dinos flew past it, angling themselves toward the lake when they were out of our sight. The other four flew toward the growing army of dinos.


    Blue and I understood what had happened as we followed them around the back of the building, its mirrored glass reflecting my glow.


    Blue spoke over the comm, ¡°They¡¯re scattering.¡±


    A new voice spoke over the comm¡ªAccelerando¡¯s, ¡°We¡¯ll take the ones heading for the lake.¡±


    Before anyone could reply, a purple colored figure appeared on the top of the ten story buiding next to the one we¡¯d flown around. Then Accelerando ran across the roof, jumping, and hitting the nearest flying dino¡¯s neck.


    She pulled herself up on the neck in a blur of movement that ended with a blow to the back of the dino¡¯s head. It fell and she jumped off, stubby wings extending from the back of her costume.


    At that moment we learned what she¡¯d meant by ¡°we.¡± A beam of light hit the other dino that had been heading toward the water, cutting off one of its wings.


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    It fell, splashing down, and sinking beneath the waves.


    I couldn¡¯t tell at that moment where the beam has come from, but by the time I¡¯d made it around the building I could. A giant red, white, and blue robot stood in the street, still pointing an arm that ended in a laser barrel at the sky.


    The Shift¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that a semi earlier? Did One just make you Optimus Prime?¡±


    Two sighed. ¡°He didn¡¯t do exactly the same weapons, but yeah, in looks. Plus, I helped.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have time to pay attention after that. Too much happened at once. Night Cat¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°We¡¯re concentrating on the right two. Blue and Critical Mass, left two are yours.¡±


    Small laser beams peppered the outer two flyers, the League jet¡¯s black silhouette dipping below the flying dinos, hitting them more than once.


    ¡°Taking the far left,¡± I said.


    Blue accelerated past me. ¡°Got it.¡±


    Then she screamed (and not into the comm). The two dinos dodged in opposite directions to avoid the noise, mine left toward the water and hers to the right, toward the city.


    I let energy through, feeling it throw me forward, and then as I came close enough I let go of my flight, let the energy gather further, further¡­ Then as I felt there was enough, I let it all free, recovering my flight before I dropped on to the strange wave shaped conference center below me.


    The dino burned in the air. I¡¯d hit it with a cone of energy wide enough to surround all of its body but the wings. It turned into black ash.


    It didn¡¯t disintegrate, but when it fell, it became a pile of ash on the sidewalk next to its cooked but still fleshy wings.


    Ahead of me in the air, Blue screamed again, and even though it didn¡¯t hurt me, I could tell that it was loud. While the creature darted in one direction and then another, trying to avoid the noise, she grabbed the tail, swinging it around, and down to the ground.


    It hit dirt in a huge junkyard on the north side of downtown, near where the old factories and warehouses began.


    In the moment, I felt sorry for the poor, dumb beasts, if less sorry for their riders, but it wasn¡¯t time for that. Even then I knew I¡¯d be killing many more that day, some of them self-aware.


    I took a breath, watching as the League jet dispatched one dino and then the other above the water. How they¡¯d got them there, I had no idea.


    Only then did I have time to realize that C had been talking to the group. ¡°¡­ The National Guard dropped enough bombs through the gateways near the armory that they closed the gates. We¡¯re not going to do that. We¡¯re going keep a perimeter around the downtown gates. Nothing must get past the perimeter, and we¡¯ll do it as I¡¯ve been telling you¡ªpowers with a wide area effect cover the gates. The rest of you cover what gets past them.


    ¡°And remember, you¡¯re authorized to defend the country right now. We¡¯re not turning these creatures in to the police. If the dinos see civilians, they¡¯ll try to eat them. I can tell you this from experience.


    ¡°Hold the perimeter, and if the gates move, move with them.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 18

    ¡°You know what I¡¯m saying,¡± C said. ¡°You¡¯ll have to kill them. There¡¯s no way around it. Do what you need to do.¡±


    They did.


    There were two gates. One now stood where a street deadended into a small park in the middle of downtown. Though there were trees and grass in the park, an open air amphitheater filled most of it. Five levels of seats faced a concrete stage. The banner hanging above the stage proclaimed ¡°Sponsored by Rhino Breweries.¡±


    The gate glowed bluish-white, but this one was wider than the gate in the alley. Twenty dinos could walk through at once and they were stepping through¡ªexcept for the ones that flew. When the first gate opened it had been obvious that there was more than one species of sapient dino, but it was more obvious now. I could see at least three¡ªsmall ones with wings, larger ones without wings (about five feet tall), but also much larger, close to twelve feet tall.


    All of them, to my eye, were very nearly the same species. They looked close enough to the velociraptors that appeared in movies except that feathers covered their bodies and the winged ones¡¯ feet were more like fingers than claws.


    How to describe the battle? Chaos, but managed chaos.


    Supers try not to scare normal people. Since the Second World War, superheroes have been careful to hold back, to capture rather than kill, to respect laws when they can. Battles where supers have to go all out show supers'' full potential, giving super-hating groups like True Humanity everything they need to stoke the fears of anyone who isn¡¯t sure where they fit in a world where humans can challenge gods.


    This battle was no exception. It was the kind of fight that gave public relations firms nightmares.


    The Power, Gravity Star, and Captain Commando had set themselves up near the gateway. The Power stood on the roof of the Grand Lake Art Museum, a blocky, concrete building. Gravity Star stood on the roof of an ornate stone building that had once been a bank.


    Captain Commando stood next to a red, white and blue motorcycle that looked exactly like the first Captain Commando¡¯s motorcycle. For all I know, it may have been the same one. Her sword hung sheathed on her back as she aimed a purple gun with silver sparkles at the dinos. It looked like something that might have appeared in a girl¡¯s toy set¡ªif Barbie used 50s style sci-fi ray guns.


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    And if girls¡¯ toy sets did come with guns like that, they¡¯d have been sued.


    The dinos ran out of the gateway, not caring what could happen to them on the side, roaring, screeching, screaming. As they did, anything metal flew into the air. Some of them tried to hang on, but they couldn¡¯t hang on long, letting go when they realized the weapons couldn¡¯t stop them or the strap that held the gun to their bodies broke.


    At the same time, many of them stumbled or fell over as gravity increased unexpectedly. In the middle of that Captain Commando fired the sparkly gun. Anything its bright, yellow beam hit burned.


    Burnt bodies halfway down the block testified that she¡¯d been using the gun successfully. The unburned, bludgeoned bodies among them hinted that the Power had been doing more than taking guns away.


    That wasn¡¯t the end of it. Because of their sheer numbers, many dinos made it through, but those that did faced lightning from not one person, but two. Red Legacy threw lightning from his hands. Red Hex threw lightning with her staff.


    The gate had been disappearing and reappearing before we left the League¡¯s headquarters and before they¡¯d arrived. Hundreds of dinos must have arrived. Some had scattered into the city, but a many colored crowd had come to free the gate. If the dinosaurs hadn¡¯t been murderous, they¡¯d have been beautiful. Their feathers were all the colors of the rainbow.


    Talons outstretched they charged, ready to swarm Captain Commando and then the roof, but it wasn¡¯t that simple. I¡¯d never seen a troll before I¡¯d visited Grand Lake. Big nosed with tusklike teeth and a muscled body twice the size of a normal human, it crushed the smaller dinosaurs under its feet, smashed the bigger dinos with the blow from its hands.


    Next to Troll stood Gunther, one short sword in either hand. Wherever he went, he left a trail of blood and not just a trail¡ªpools. Once in a while, he paused to shout at Fourpoint, the man who could mimic movements or Blur, the short speedster.


    The odds seemed long, but I could believe they¡¯d win this fight¡ªat least for now.


    The crowd of dinos went for half a block. I could make this easier. Checking the HUD for my teammates and not finding any, I spoke into the comm, ¡°Taking a shot at the crowd east of the park. Stay back!¡±


    I let go of my flight and started to fall, feeling the energy build. The glowing sheath around me glowed ever brighter as I dropped, but as I got closer to the ground, I let the energy go, throwing me upward as a blast of energy hit below.


    My shields glowed a little less as I slowed to hover. I¡¯d burned at least three-fourths of them to cinders. It was a good shot and it hadn¡¯t hit any of us. Relief washed over me.


    I wondered how the team fighting at the other gate was doing. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to find out.


    Meanwhile, dinos continued to pour out of our gate only to be met with a cloud of metal shards.

 A Day in The Life: Part 19

    The comm clicked and I heard C¡¯s deep, bass voice. ¡°Critical Mass. Please go to Gateway B. They¡¯ll need your help.¡±


    Taking a last look below, I let more power in. The sheath around me glowed with more energy and I flew upward, flying over the line of 19th</sup> century buildings with their carvings and decorations.


    On the other side, the buildings changed from Victorian leftovers to modern parking garages¡ªeven if one of the modern garages looked Victorian, all red brick and ribbon-like carvings in fake stone around the corners.


    I had no time to investigate the architecture, either to appreciate it or mock it. Dinosaurs filled the streets between the fake Victorian parking structure and a more normal gray, concrete parking structure that actually looked like a parking structure.


    I¡¯d seen them making the gateway disappear and reappear further down the street. What they¡¯d gotten out of it was a force that appeared to be converging on the hotel. And how much sense did that make? While I understood that they ate people, it wasn¡¯t where I¡¯d send my forces if I had any control over them.


    What bothered me was that there seemed to be so many more dinosaurs than I¡¯d seen on the other streets, and it wasn¡¯t because the other team had been slacking off.


    They¡¯d recognized what was going on, placing Night Wolf¡¯s car and a cat shaped mech in front of the hotel. Both of them had sonic weapons like the Rocket¡¯s suit and used them to keep the dinosaurs away while they fought. The Wolfmobile had fired off missiles that left tanks and a few of the twelve foot tall dinos burning on the ground. The Catmecha¡¯s laser in combination with its clawed feet cut through the crowds that came near the hotel.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, Railgun stood between the two vehicles, spraying slivers of metal into the crowd like a giant, silver-gray humanoid machine gun. Occasionally, she¡¯d shoot down one of the small, winged dinosaurs.


    A large dumpster stood behind her. To my eyes, a quarter of it had already been absorbed and fired away.


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    By themselves that might not have been enough to control a crowd of dino soldiers that spread down nearly two blocks from the hotel, but that wasn¡¯t all. Walls of impenetrable darkness around fifteen feet tall and just as thick surrounded the front of the hotel.


    That must have been Shadow¡¯s work, but I couldn¡¯t see where she was. Storm King stood on the roof of the modern car structure.


    A dark cloud hung over the block and lightning flashed from it into the dinos.


    ¡°Same thing as the last time?¡± I asked.


    C said, ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    I did, dropping as I let energy into the sheath and then let it free in a burst of light and heat. I aimed it down the street, carving out a gap in the crowd that was almost as wide as the street and more than a block long.


    Screams of pain erupted from the dinosaurs during the beginning of the burn, but by the time I¡¯d finished it was much more quiet. I hadn¡¯t killed them all. They¡¯d stayed alive on the sidewalks and the side of the road. I could only fire down the middle of the street unless I wanted to annihilate buildings and start the downtown on fire.


    Night Wolf¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°That clears them out. Damn. I think we¡¯ve got a fighting chance now. Thanks.¡±


    Again, that wasn¡¯t completely true. The dinos were still stepping out of the gateway in the intersection in front of the hotel, but ones that had survived the blast weren¡¯t in any hurry to mass in the street and charge. They stayed next to the buildings, still cowering.


    ¡°Uh-oh,¡± the Mystic said. ¡°New problem. The hotel residents are leaving.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t wrong. The hotel¡¯s lower floor had clear glass and people were filling the lobby, many of them carrying suitcases, and running for the door.


    The comm crackled and Voice said, ¡°I¡¯ve got this.¡±


    Stepping out of shadows near the front door, she stood in front of doors. As they opened, she pointed at the hotel. ¡°You can¡¯t come out here. Back inside.¡±


    You wouldn¡¯t think that a terrified mob would listen to a slim, blond woman in a pink and white costume, but you¡¯d be wrong. They turned around and went back into the lobby.


    ¡°Bad news,¡± the Mystic said. ¡°They¡¯re going out the other side of the hotel¡ªthe river side¡ªand running toward the parking garage. Worse news, a bunch of dinosaurs made it to this side too. Bloodmaiden, Doppelg?nger, Ghost and I are going to do our best to hold them off, but we could use any help you¡¯ve got.¡±


    Before anyone else said anything, the Rocket broke in. ¡°You know how we didn¡¯t get here instantly? We didn¡¯t know where all the dinosaurs went before we showed up, but we¡¯ve been seeing them at other downtown hotels. Accelerando¡¯s been helping, but we can¡¯t do much from the jet¡ª¡°


    C said, ¡°Rocket, Night Cat, and Critical Mass, we got coordinates from Guardian. Expect to be translated over at any time. Blue and Blur join Acclerando in checking the hotels.¡±

 A Day in The Life: Part 20

    I flew past the hotel, a thirty-three-floor needle of mirrored glass that stood near a parking structure to its left and a rust colored 19th century building to its right¡ªthough a path that led to an old bridge stood between them.


    I might be ready to disappear to an alternate world, but maybe I could do something.


    The dinos swarmed down the wide sidewalk overlooking the river, but without the enthusiasm, I¡¯d seen before. A few of them pointed at me and shrunk closer to the building.


    Ahead of them, Bloodmaiden could only be described as being in her element. When she wasn¡¯t skewering dinos with her spear, she threw it, punching them with gauntlets that burned with fire as she waited for it to come back.


    Anything that came near her died and she never seemed to get tired. If anything, she seemed to have more energy.


    ¡°Voice,¡± C said over the comm, ¡°get into the hotel and tell the civilians to stay inside. See if you can call back the people who are already trying to leave.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s some guy in there panicking,¡± the Mystic said. ¡°I¡¯ll send you a picture once you¡¯re in my range. If he stops egging them on, we¡¯ll be much better off.¡±


    Doppelg?nger stood next to Bloodmaiden. Though she (I assumed) was still tall and gray, she¡¯d modified her form. The Heroes¡¯ League costume covered her torso, exposing her legs and arms, but the skin around her limbs had thickened and hardened. Aside from the armor, her legs and arms had already thickened to the point that they looked like a bodybuilder¡¯s.


    Muscles and armor weren¡¯t the only modifications she¡¯d made. She had claws too. They looked exactly like Wolverine¡¯s in the X-Men movies except that they weren¡¯t metal.


    I wondered how well they worked in real life. It seemed like the kind of idea that someone who read comic books would come up with, but I couldn¡¯t argue with the results. She moved in a blur. To my eye, she didn¡¯t seem as fast as a speedster, but she was faster than most and had the strength her muscles promised. When she slashed, she cut, and her claws didn¡¯tstuck. When one broke, she grew another, healing her own wounds just as easily.


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    The two of them covered for each other, standing side by side or back to back. Above them, the Mystic slowed the dinos down, choosing the best moments to use telekinesis, tripping the front row of a charge and knocking over as many as five rows behind it like dominoesbefore the crowd stopped.


    Ghost caused as much mayhem as her namesake, becoming visible in the middle of a crowd of dinosaurs and firing her pistols, frightening them into jumping sideways to avoid her bullets. They fell into the river on the left of the sidewalk or tripped over the bushes to the right.


    As clever and as brave as they were, they¡¯d get tired in the end. Even if they hadn¡¯t been hurt Bloodmaiden and Doppelg?nger had been hit. The Mystic would get tired. Ghost would run out of ammo.


    I could make it a little easier and maybe save them from a few bad memories. I let the energy build, dropping into the middle of the sidewalk. The concrete turned black around my feet and the dinosaurs dove into the water to avoid my shield¡¯s heat, their feathers beginning to burn.


    When I felt like I had enough, I let the energy go in a long thin stream¡ªthin as my energy blasts go anyway. It burned everything in front of me, nearly disintegrating the closest, leaving several pairs of smoking boots. Further down the block, they were less fortunate¡ªterminally burnt, but still conscious and wailing.


    Still, the League costume¡¯s readouts showed that none of us were near the blast. I could only wish the military had technology like it.


    I let off a second blast that was stronger than the first to end their suffering. It blackened sidewalk, killed grass, and burned bushes, but it did stop the noise.


    With that, I took to the sky. They¡¯d be able to handle the few that were near. More would come, too many for anyone to handle, but that would be true until we stopped them at the source.


    I didn¡¯t have time to wonder when that would be because C¡¯s voice filled my ears even as I rose above the city. ¡°Control¡¯s locked on to you, but it will be easier if you hover. You¡¯ll be translated to another universe and appear within one of their domes. When you¡¯re done, we¡¯ll move you to the next.¡±


    Hovering above the city, I watched more dinos step out of the gates, beginning to fill the holes I¡¯d made in their ranks. They sniffed the burnt remains of their fellow soldiers when they reached them, looking around as if expecting to be attacked.


    ¡°How will you know when I¡¯m done?¡± I asked.


    C said, ¡°The Rocket built a cross-dimensional transmitter into the costume¡¯s comms. You¡¯ll be able to tell us and we¡¯ll be able to lock in and watch you. Ready?¡±


    ¡°Ready,¡± I told him.


    The world changed around me, blurring, but then the sky disappeared, replaced by a giant concrete dome, supported by steel beams. Below me, eight black and silver discs glowed and dinos walked up ramps to stand on the platforms, disappearing when they reached the middle.


    I dropped, letting the energy fill the shield around me, feeling it vibrate, hearing it hum. I knew what it would take to equal the blast of a small nuclear bomb.


    It wouldn¡¯t take as much as you¡¯d think.

 A Day in The Life: Part 21

    Something hit me from behind. I didn¡¯t feel it, but I heard it sizzle as it hit my shield. It didn¡¯t matter. I let the energy flow through me and build in my shield.


    When I was in the military, scientists attempted to figure out where the energy that I use came from. They took genetic samples, poked and prodded me, fired different forms of radiation at my shield, and all they knew in the end was that I had the greatest capacity to draw power and hold it without using it that they¡¯d ever seen.


    By the time they got to that point, I could have told them the same thing.


    Wherever the power comes from, it¡¯s bottomless. I¡¯ve always got more, but when I get tired, I get worse at controlling it.


    I looked around. The dinos had cleared away from me, backing away as the air heated up. The concrete around me was turning black and cracking. A few of the dinos lifted laser rifles and fired. As focused as I was on absorbing energy into my shield, I barely noticed that they fired. Their beams¡¯ energy went into the shield with the rest, adding some small amount to the total.


    The dinos looked at each other, and turned to look and at a green feathered dino that stood behind them. After a few words, the dinos lowered their rifles and stepped to the side. The rest of the crowd moved with them opening a path in the middle of the crowd. A truck rolled forward, stopping with the rest of the dinos. The truck reminded me almost as much of a Hummer as it did a truck. It had large wheels while the body hung high off the ground. Unlike a Hummer, it had a metal circle in the last quarter of the top. The trailer attached there.


    The trailer doubled as a platform for a gun. A red and black feathered dino sat behind the gun in a seat that moved as it aimed the barrel. Something deep in inside it glowed.


    The gun rose above the truck, aiming downward at me.


    It couldn¡¯t have more power behind it than a nuclear blast. I knew that, but I couldn¡¯t be sure. It might punch through my shield or even force me to lose focus enough that I¡¯d let the power go in a way that didn¡¯t cause much damage.


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    No, I decided, I¡¯d gathered enough power. If anyone was going to let go of it, it would be me.


    So, I did.


    You may have watched old black and white movies the U.S. Government made to prepare citizens for nuclear war. There would be an explosion and the screen would turn white as the blast expanded outward, molten fire expanding to cover everything. Further out, the winds would destroy anything in their path until nothing stood, leaving only charred and sandy remains.


    Eventually, a mushroom cloud would rise above the ground.


    It was exactly like that.


    I let the energy go and the world turned white. By the time it cleared, there were no feathered dinosaurs, truck/hummers, whole starplates, or even the dome they¡¯d been inside.


    I stood in the middle of an empty, ashen landscape. Melted metal with no obvious purpose was all that was left of the nearest starplates. The more distant starplates had been only partially melted, but pieces of them had been scattered around where they¡¯d stood, many sticking partially out of the ground.


    Sections of the dome lay across the area, looking like pieces of the same shattered hard boiled egg.


    Dino bones had been scattered across the wreckage, bits of bones nearest me. Recognizable skeletons appeared further away. There were no surviving dinos.


    I forced myself to look past the target. Who else had I hit?


    The dome had been in the middle of a field, surrounded by dinos and vehicles that been lining up to enter, invade and eat their fill. The nearest dino to the dome had been turned into skeletons by the blast. In the distance, the dead bodies were recognizable dinos. A few might even have been alive.


    Past the torn chain link fence, however, stood houses and not whatever kind of strange parallel universe houses that millions of years of dinosaur culture might create. Recognizable ranch style houses stood next to each other in the kind of suburb I¡¯d seen all over the United States. There weren¡¯t many trees and mountains stood in the distance, so if I had to guess, I¡¯d have placed myself in the west, possibly in Colorado.


    It was hard to see from where I stood, but it was humans not dinosaurs stepping out of the houses to stare at the devastation. I could only wonder what they saw. Was this a moment of liberation, or a moment of disaster? Could they possibly have supported the dinos, or even made a deal with them?


    I wanted to interview them and find out what sense they made of it all, but C spoke over the comm, ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    I did the same thing two more times.


    I¡¯m good enough as a reporter. I believe I make difference in helping people understand the world supers inhabit and the decisions they have to make. As a weapon of mass destruction, though, I¡¯m the best there is at what I do, but what I do is kill cities at the request of authority figures.


    It¡¯s a strong argument in favor of being good enough. I sleep better as a reporter than I ever did as a soldier.

 A Day in The Life: Part 22

    When the dust settled, a flash of blue light brought me back to the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s headquarters. I appeared on their starplate, a small version of the ones I¡¯d destroyed. Control looked up from the controls to smile at me. ¡°It¡¯s over. All their gateways are gone.¡±


    Then she stopped smiling. ¡°Could you maybe step off the starplate? I¡¯ve got to turn it off and I don¡¯t want to accidentally send you somewhere, or worse, send part of you somewhere.¡±


    ¡°When you put it that way,¡± I told her, ¡°I can¡¯t say no.¡±


    Her mouth twisted into a brief smile. ¡°Thanks.¡±


    I stepped onto the concrete floor, looking around the room. It felt familiar. Storm King, Gravity Star, Captain Commando and a few more stood together talking, sometimes laughing.


    Shift sat in a chair, leaning back with his eyes closed next to one of the tables. On the wall screen, different windows showed local and national news. The dinos that survived were now captive. Except for a few isolated incidents, the fighting was over.


    Next to one of the computer consoles, C and Gunther talked in low voices. I should have been interviewing them about the battle. Instead, I walked to the locker room and changed back into my civilian clothes.


    When I finished, I walked back out to the collection of tables and computers they used as a communications center and started writing notes about my experience. I couldn¡¯t say I missed being in uniform. I¡¯d spent eight years protecting the United States and sometimes Earth. I¡¯d destroyed cities, small armies and a battleship in the name of saving lives. I don¡¯t know how many people I killed as collateral damage.


    It wasn¡¯t an easy life, but I could live with the deaths, knowing that I¡¯d saved many more.


    After what happened in Grand Lake last fall, people questioned the new Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s judgement, asking if they could trust kids to make those kinds of decisions. It was a reasonable question, and not one I can answer directly. I wasn¡¯t there then, but I was in this battle.


    They weren¡¯t bad.


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    Before anyone else, they recognized the invasion for what it was, passed along what they knew to the rest of the world, protected their city, and held their positions against enemies they knew they couldn¡¯t beat. Aside from what they did themselves, they listened to more experienced supers¡ªGunther, C, and whoever ¡°One¡± turned out to be.


    I¡¯ve seen professional soldiers do worse.


    * * *


    I finished reading Nadia¡¯s article, relieved at her endorsement at the end. I couldn¡¯t say I was wild about the entire article. Vaughn had a couple spots where he looked bad, but not unforgivably bad.


    On the other hand, I was grateful for what she¡¯d left out. When we¡¯d been talking about destroying the dinos¡¯ starplates, I¡¯d asked, ¡°The inventory says we¡¯ve got an atomic bomb, but I¡¯ve never been able to find it. Do you know where it might be?¡±


    C had shaken his head. ¡°We used it. Mark it gone. I¡¯d be more surprised if we¡¯d thought to sign it out.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t our fault, but it could be used to paint us as the kind of people who lost atomic bombs, and that wouldn¡¯t have been good.


    She¡¯d skipped a few other events too. She¡¯d had to. You can¡¯t include everything in one article, but this is what I remembered¡­


    By five in the afternoon, the doctors had finished and left, and we¡¯d been debriefed by the FBI. No one had suffered a major injury, but there were cuts and bruises¡ªlots of bruises, in fact. The doctors examined us thoroughly to make sure that the bruises were only what they appeared to be, so it took longer. The new armored costumes didn¡¯t let much through, but they didn¡¯t absorb everything either.


    Nadia was back into civilian clothes, watching as people pulled out cots and sleeping bags from storage, or disappeared into the locker room to change into their own clothes. I¡¯d already changed¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t what we¡¯d planned, but Daniel said she was safe.


    She moved slowly, carefully, as if anything she touched might explode. She stopped next to me as I rolled out a sleeping bag. Haley and I could have gone home or back to the dorms, but with everyone here, we¡¯d decided to stay.


    ¡°So what¡¯s next?¡± Nadia asked. ¡°A giant slumber party?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Kind of. We¡¯ll probably order take out from somewhere. We might watch a movie. I don¡¯t know. We might just talk. Are you planning to stick around and interview us?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve got enough material already, and besides I¡¯ve got to write a couple more articles than I planned about what happened here today. I¡¯ll be up till midnight, I¡¯m sure.¡±


    I glanced over at her. ¡°Do you ever miss this?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°The fights? Not at all. I don¡¯t miss worrying about killing civilians or calculating the strength of everything I do. You know what I do miss? The people. I could tell you some great stories, but given the people involved, half of them are still classified.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°You want some advice?¡±


    She didn¡¯t wait for me to answer. ¡°Do something with your friends that doesn¡¯t include beating up supervillains.¡±

 Space: Part 1

    Xiniti Space Station Batukti: Edge of Interdicted Space/The Human Quarantine


    Nikataktuk of the Xiniti Jump Gate Command stood alone in his office. He¡¯d rather be with the rest of his clan, but there were some things that were easier thought through alone¡ªmany things in his position.


    He thought at the far wall and it changed. No longer a landscape of the jungles of his homeworld, it mirrored the stars outside the space station. He turned toward the wall to the right, calling up a map of known space complete with jump gates, military installations, and major trade routes.


    Then he used his implant to set the third wall to follow the young on the park level. Their pack hunting tactics would distract him if he needed it. He let the park¡¯s audio stream run in the background.


    With that set up, he focussed his attention on the map of known space. Interdicted Space was where everyone expected to find problems, but the Issakass had a new weapon and were expanding out on the rim of the galaxy. All reports indicated that species that fought them were exterminated or at the least defeated. The Issakass had never been pleasant, but their borders had remained stable for the last two hundred years. That had changed only in the last two. Along with their expansion had come a tendency to fight internally.That had never been their pattern.


    What had changed? He didn¡¯t know, but he had his suspicions.


    They needed more data. He used his implant, assigned teams to investigate. While it might not yet be his problem officially, he knew it would be soon enough.


    He had a solution in mind. He¡¯d had one since the being the humans called Lee or ¡°Immortal¡± visited the Xiniti space station in the humans¡¯ solar systems. That one would be able to handle the problem without having to involve the Xiniti themselves which was a good thing. There were only so many of them, and also the Alliance were often too slow to authorize them to move in themselves.


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    No, the Immortal could cripple the Issakass long before the Xiniti were allowed to act. Then when everything had been officially put in motion they¡¯d be able to risk less hunters from the Xiniti clans.


    He liked that idea.


    The other matter associated with Lee required a bit more sensitivity. A few of his proteges had killed a notorious Xiniti criminal. When that had been reported, he¡¯d followed Xiniti tradition. They¡¯d done the Xiniti clan a service when they¡¯d killed that creature, removing a stain on their name, and he¡¯d had the local Xiniti inform Earth that the humans were now a part of the Xiniti nation.


    While true, the humans were young. The clan reasonably expected the new clan members to undergo the same initiation as all others¡ªto handle one of the clan¡¯s assigned tasks on their own and without help from the clan.


    He¡¯d found one that seemed suitable, a simple mission that youngsters with decent training should be able to handle. A small colony of human refugees near Interdicted Space would be receiving new and highly controversial colonists. The youngsters would have to protect the new colonists and the colony for a few days to a week while forces for the world¡¯s protection arrived.


    There were so many aspects of the situation that made the newest members of the Xiniti Nation perfect for the job. They were human for one, giving them an immediate connection to the colonists that a Xiniti would not have. They had a fast, well-armed ship. He¡¯d seen it in action.


    Still, there were aspects that troubled him. This might require more diplomatic skills than he¡¯d expect as they¡¯d been traveling from one system to another at first. The new colonists were infamous enough that some government might attempt to collect on the bounty.


    And then there was the other potential candidate for adulthood in the clan. The Xiniti who had been killed by the Immortal¡¯s students had one child. By coincidence, that child was now waiting for its chance to officially become an adult in the eyes of the clan. At this time, it was the only eligible child from that clan that was ready, and given the age gap between it and the next group, it would remain that way.


    Normally, if there were other Xiniti ready, he¡¯d send them all out together despite any clan differences. He didn¡¯t want to make any exceptions because they¡¯d killed the child¡¯s father.


    The Xiniti had been bringing aliens into their clans practically since they ventured into space.


    If there were trouble, it would be an embarrassment for the clan.


    The Xiniti turned away from the map, staring out at the darkness of the stars that surrounded the station.


    He¡¯d made a decision. The Xiniti would go and so would the new human candidates.

 Space: Part 2

    The Heroes¡¯ League ¡°Jet¡±


    We were in space and flying toward Lagrange point four, specifically to the Xiniti space station that guards the jump gate.


    I was flying the jet¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t really a jet, but was actually a spaceship that we referred to as a jet and mostly used as a jet.


    Imagine a dashboard full of glowing readouts and a window above it that showed glowing pinpricks of light that were mostly stars except that I knew some of them were galaxies. Off the top of my head, I couldn¡¯t say which was which, but the spaceship¡¯s AI could if I wanted.


    I didn¡¯t at that moment.


    From behind me, Marcus asked, ¡°Why am I along, again?¡±


    Reflected in the windshield, Marcus pulled his stylus away from his tablet. Brown skinned with black hair, he wore his green ¡°Shift¡± costume, newly configured for space travel.


    Leaning back in his chair at the weapons console next to mine, Lee said, ¡°Because the Xiniti are into family. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    Alone among us, Lee wore normal clothing¡ªblue jeans, a leather jacket, and t-shirt advertising his martial arts studio.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Marcus said,¡± I¡¯m not worried. I¡¯m just wondering. I¡¯m not sure I deserve to be here.¡±


    From the next row back, Jaclyn said, ¡°Which leads to the question of why I¡¯m here. Marcus is related to me, but I didn¡¯t kill the Xiniti.¡±


    ¡°Or the sheriff or the deputy,¡± Marcus added.


    ¡°Easy,¡± Cassie said. ¡°You¡¯re being given credit for an assist. Nick and I couldn¡¯t have hit that guy if you hadn¡¯t taken him on first.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to know Xiniti culture runs on rules similar to basketball,¡± Jaclyn said.


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    ¡°And similar to South Pacific islanders,¡± I said. ¡°Daniel mentioned that there¡¯s a tribe that did something similar to the Xiniti. Basically if you killed someone in their tribe, you became part of the tribe. I don¡¯t remember which tribe it was, but you can see the utility. I¡¯m sure there must have been conditions, but if you do it right, you¡¯d get connections with tribes all around you.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°If they¡¯re really going for connections, I can see why they might not be fussy about who technically killed the guy.¡±


    ¡°Might be,¡± I said, ¡°but there¡¯s more to it than that here. Lee was telling me about the Xiniti¡¯s sense of honor. Somehow completing a task they¡¯d been assigned to leaves them in your debt. I¡¯m not sure how that works or how it helps, but it¡¯s in there somewhere.¡±


    Jaclyn sighed. ¡°It looks like we might find out exactly how¡­ Lee did you say this counts toward Stapledon credits?¡±


    Lee turned back to face her. ¡°They do. Stapledon requires you to get in a few hours in space, alternate universes, Faerie¡­ Right now everyone¡¯s feeling a little leery about visiting Faerie or Infinity City, so until then we¡¯ll probably be taking people up to the jumpgate or maybe visiting the USS Jay or USS Kay. You¡¯ll probably fulfill all of yours before you¡¯re back.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°It¡¯s not that going into space and visiting aliens isn¡¯t amazing, but after everything that happened at Stapledon last year, I was hoping I¡¯d just be able to do school there this summer. Except now it¡¯s May again and not only am I not at Stapledon, but I¡¯m flying away from the planet.¡±


    Still turning around in his chair, Lee said, ¡°If it makes you feel any better, the Xiniti asked for you specifically. They requested video of the Xiniti¡¯s death if we had it and once they¡¯d seen it, they demanded that you be included.¡±


    Jaclyn sighed again. ¡°Huh.¡±


    ¡°Which brings it back to me again,¡± Marcus said. ¡°I¡¯m here because I¡¯m part of Jaclyn¡¯s family?¡±


    Lee shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re here because I¡¯ve seen the kind of tests new Xiniti get and I knew they¡¯d need more people. If we brought Haley, we¡¯d have to deal with Xiniti dating customs. If we brought Daniel, we¡¯d have to deal with anti-psionic laws. With Vaughn, we¡¯d be stuck on a spaceship with a guy who flings lightning¡­ You¡¯re the best choice. The Xiniti will accept bringing a relative, and you¡¯ve got a power set that ought to work well in space. Okay?¡±


    ¡°There you go,¡± Marcus said. ¡°You just gave me a straight answer. How hard was that?¡±


    Lee turned around to sit in his seat. ¡°Don¡¯t expect it again any time soon.¡±


    Conversation lapsed then and I turned on the music. Sounds of 70s pop filled the cabin.


    A few songs in, Jaclyn asked, ¡°Are we listening to the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack?¡±

 Space: Part 3

    ¡°That¡¯s not all it is,¡± I told her. ¡°I grabbed soundtracks from a few different science fiction movies¡ªStar Wars, Alien, Star Trek, Iron Man¡ªmore than one from some series. Plus I downloaded TV show soundtracks too¡ªFirefly is the obvious one, but a few other shows too. Plus, all my regular music.¡±


    I felt like I could hear her eyebrow raise as she said, ¡°So, SF movie soundtracks plus music that¡¯s mostly appeared in Guitar Hero or Rockband, right?¡±


    I thought about it and admitted, ¡°That¡¯s about right.¡±


    ¡°Did everyone bring music?¡±


    Marcus and Cassie both said yes and Jaclyn said, ¡°Good. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to listen to what you have, but I don¡¯t only want to listen to that, okay?¡±


    ¡°No problem. I think we could switch off between whose music gets played. This is a small spaceship, if we don¡¯t do something like that, we¡¯re going drive each other nuts. All we¡¯ve got is the cabin, the bathroom, and the engine room.¡±


    I turned to look back at her. Tall and darker skinned than Marcus, she wore a purple costume. As I turned, she was leaning forward, either toward me or toward the front.


    ¡°It¡¯s bigger than my parents¡¯ van when we drove to California. That was three days with both of my older brothers. It felt like we were on top of each other the entire time.¡± She shook her head.


    I could imagine it. Her brothers were big guys and they had powers. They¡¯d shown up for a couple group movie nights in the summer before my senior year.


    ¡°How are they?¡± Cassie leaned over the arm on her seat. ¡°You said they¡¯d moved to Atlanta, but I¡¯m almost sure I saw one of them when I fought the fishmen in DC two years ago.¡±


    Jaclyn shrugged. ¡°Could be. They run around as quickly as I do. I¡¯m sure at least one of them would show up if DC¡¯s being invaded.¡±


    They kept on talking as we closed in on the Xiniti space station. It looked like a gray ball floating in space, and also, yes, a little bit like the Death Star in Star Wars. The resemblances ended with the shape and color though. For one, the Xiniti station was considerably smaller. It wasn¡¯t anywhere near the size of a small moon. For another, it didn¡¯t have an indentation on the top for a planet destroying weapon¡ªat least that I could see.


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    I¡¯d been told that the Xiniti had orders to destroy humanity should they show any sign of causing galactic civilization problems. It stood to reason that they had the capacity for genocide somewhere on that thing.


    Following instructions from the last time we''d been there, I aimed for the third group of landing bays from the bottom. One of the green force fields winked out as we approached, indicating which bay we should use.


    By the time we¡¯d reached the station, I¡¯d already slowed the ship practically to zero, but once we were inside the bay, I used the gravitics to slow us down to nothing and land. The Xiniti station was just as strange on the inside as it had been the last time. Though the walls were silver-gray, they weren¡¯t flat. Indentations suggested pillars or trees and bushes. The lights weren¡¯t set to the level of brightness humans might expect. It felt like twilight.


    The sensors on the outside of the ship reported that the atmosphere was Earth normal. If this all meant what it had last time, we could go out.


    Lee confirmed it by unstrapping himself and standing up. ¡°Get moving kids. It¡¯s rude to keep them waiting.¡±


    We all looked at each other and got out of our seats, following Lee out of the ship¡¯s hatch.


    A Xiniti stood outside the ship¡ªonly one. It looked like the classic pre-contact UFO hunter¡¯s version of ¡°the Grays,¡± aliens that appeared in stories offering enlightenment, or alternately, stuffing probes up people¡¯s behinds.


    It opened its mouth as we stepped out of the hatch, revealing a double row of teeth. I wondered what that revealed about its homeworld.


    ¡°Welcome,¡± it said, speaking each syllable as if saying the word for the first time. It held out its hand. Four small metal balls lay in its palm.


    ¡°Please take one ball,¡± it said, ¡°and touch it to your temple.¡±


    ¡°Do it,¡± Lee said.


    None of us had been wearing our masks, so it wasn¡¯t hard. It held its hand out to each of us in turn. I picked up the ball, touched it to my temple and felt a brief pain, realizing that I couldn¡¯t feel the ball anymore. Moving my hand in front of my face, I couldn¡¯t see the ball at all. Touching the spot where I¡¯d put it on the side of my head didn¡¯t help either. There was no lump.


    When I paid attention to the others again, Cassie, Marcus and Jaclyn were doing exactly what I had been. Well, almost. Jaclyn had fixed her attention on the Xiniti. ¡°What just happened?¡±


    ¡°Successful implantation,¡± it said. ¡°Your implant will identify you to other Xiniti and encourage communication. It will take a period to configure itself to your body and notify you when finished.¡±


    Cassie stared at it, her Abominator gun hanging by a strap on her shoulder. ¡°I can already communicate with Abominator tech. Did you know that?¡±


    ¡°Not unusual,¡± It said. ¡°Interesting technique. We reverse engineered it years ago. Should be no problem.¡±


    Flashing back to the death of the Xiniti we¡¯d killed, I remembered its body appeared to be full of alien technology. What had we let into our heads?

 Space: Part 4

    Whatever it was, it wasn¡¯t doing anything immediately. If it turned out to be useful though, it wasn¡¯t going to be easy to copy it for the team back home.


    ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± Cassie glanced over at Lee.


    ¡°It depends,¡± Lee said, and then he asked the Xiniti, ¡°What¡¯s the mission?¡±


    ¡°Your mission will be to slow down the Issakass expansion on the galactic rim. Their mission will be to protect some human colonists on the way to their colony and for a few days thereafter. There are other forces on the way to the colony, but they have other duties and won¡¯t be able to keep to an easily predictable schedule.¡±


    It stopped, watching us, waiting, I assumed, for more questions. When no one said anything, it continued.


    ¡°You¡¯ll proceed to K¡¯tepolu where you will meet the colonists as well as the fifth member of your group, a Xiniti. Your implants will recognize him. It is also the point at which your mentor will depart.¡± It looked up at Lee. ¡°We¡¯ll contact you in the normal way.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± Lee said.


    Not long after that, we left. We¡¯d had other questions, but the Xiniti¡¯s answers amounted to ¡°Your implants will have those details.¡± Rather than listening to him repeat that again, we¡¯d agreed to say good-bye.


    We left, avoiding the jump gates hanging next to the station in space. Each enormous metal rings had spikes extending outward pointing in the direction of the other two. I aimed our ship under the approach and departure lanes. Ships could come through more quickly than I¡¯d be able to notice much less dodge.


    Xiniti ships crowded above and below the gates, all of them shaped like flattened eggs, most of them sized for one occupant.


    As if to justify my fears, a long wedge shaped ship came through in a blur. I recognized it as a warship¡ªa small one, probably a corvette, and definitely not a Xiniti ship. It wasn¡¯t surprising. Earth¡¯s gate was a relatively safe one in human space. From all I understood, the Abominators had genetically modified humans into stormtroopers and set them loose in space. For safety''s sake, alien ships around here either were warships or were accompanied by them.


    As we reached the other side of the path, I turned the ship to point toward the galactic core. At Lee¡¯s advice, I¡¯d already chosen the route. He¡¯d told me K¡¯tepolu was the destination weeks before we¡¯d even left Earth. He¡¯d also had a few specific spots he¡¯d wanted to hit along the way. I aimed for my intended transition point.


    I heard steps and realized that Jaclyn stood between where Lee and I sat. ¡°Hey Nick, I don¡¯t want you to feel like I¡¯m questioning what you¡¯re doing at every turn, but I¡¯m wondering why we¡¯re flying away from the jump gates. I thought you told me once that very few spaceships had the ability to create their own jump points.¡±


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    From further back in the cabin, Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯d been wondering about that too.¡±


    Marcus said, ¡°I assumed he was going to fly around the Xiniti space station and come back.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s kind of a long story,¡± I said.


    Lee chuckled.


    ¡°Well,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°unless you¡¯ve been holding out on us and there¡¯s another way to jump, we¡¯ve got hundreds of years to hear it.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Give me a second and I¡¯ll explain.¡±


    Jaclyn turned and sat down in the nearest seat. ¡°I¡¯ll be right here.¡±


    I checked the route for obvious potential collisions, set the time for transition and turned my chair around. With my back to the dashboard and a great sea of stars, I faced everyone in the cabin.


    We had seats for fifteen and only four people to fill them, so it felt empty. Jaclyn sat immediately behind us, hands folded across her chest. Marcus sat in the second row, drawing on his tablet. Cassie sat in the third row. Her sword and her gun lay on the floor (which was either good or bad since they could both breach the hull). She wore a navy blue costume with the US flag on her chest. Her light blonde hair reached her shoulders.


    Cassie leaned back in her seat, but watched me. ¡°Lecture away,¡± she said.


    ¡°The first thing I should mention is that Lee doesn¡¯t want to leave a trail back to Earth and every time a ship uses a jump gate, the trip is logged. That means that if we used jump gates the whole way someone could easily trace us back to Earth. Lee doesn¡¯t want to leave one and he doesn¡¯t want us to claim to be from Earth either¡ª¡°


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you about that before I go on my way.¡± Lee turned around, interrupting, but then turned back to the dashboard.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± I said. ¡°There are three kinds of jump space. There¡¯s ¡®near space.¡¯ It¡¯s the slowest and it takes about a week of acceleration to reach faster than light speeds. Even so, it can take years to go places. It¡¯s also the easiest to use. There¡¯s also ¡®jump space.¡¯ It takes about a week to get anywhere in reach of a jump, give or take a couple days, but it¡¯s reliable. Finally, there¡¯s ¡®blink space.¡¯ Conditions have to be perfect, but it takes less than a minute to travel and you go further.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°Are you saying we¡¯ve got a jump drive?¡±


    Marcus stopped drawing. ¡°Or a blink drive?¡±


    ¡°Almost,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s more complicated than that. Here¡¯s the thing. Every major system in the League jet was scavenged from alien spaceships and then repaired and improved by my grandfather. He couldn¡¯t find a jump drive that would fit in a hull this small, but he could find a near space drive. They¡¯re all over because you need one to use a jump gate. They don¡¯t have the power to to get you into jump space, but they can keep you there if something else pulls you through.¡±


    I looked them over. They were still listening. ¡°You know how Grandpa repaired and improved everything? Well, he redesigned the power plant to be more powerful and smaller. Then he did the same to the near space drive. Now, if we¡¯re in near space, we can accelerate faster than normal. When we¡¯re at the right speed, I can up the power and jump. After that, if conditions are right, I can throw us into blink space. It¡¯s not as good as real jump drives or blink drives. Honestly, it¡¯s a hack, but it works.¡±


    Shaking her head, Jaclyn said, ¡°Can other spaceships do this?¡±


    Lee turned and answered before I could. ¡°No. Nick and his grandfather are unusual in how they think about technology. All anybody else would accomplish is to go into jump and not come out.¡±

 Space: Part 5

    ¡°That¡¯s not quite accurate. I doubt that very many ships can do this, but the main reason ships have near space drives is so they can hitchhike on larger spaceships. If you¡¯ve got a near space drive, you can get close to a larger ship and get pulled into jump space with them.


    ¡°After that, you can stick with them or go off on your own. You can do the same thing with a jump gate¡ªstick with the registered destination or choose one. So we won¡¯t stick out that much.


    ¡°The plan is that we¡¯ll use abandoned or uninhabited systems to get to K¡¯tepolu and after that we¡¯ll use the gates like everyone else. The great thing about K¡¯tepolu is that it¡¯s a crossroads. It¡¯s in range of so many jump gates it¡¯s impractical to trace them all. On the way back, we¡¯ll use one of the K¡¯tepolu gates and then disappear on our way home.¡±


    I turned back to the dashboard and checked the sensors as well as the view from the window. We weren¡¯t in danger of hitting anything.


    Lee turned back to everyone. ¡°Let me tell you why we¡¯re making this so complicated. Remember how Nick used a magical connection to me to create a flaming sword out of nothing? When I do it, it¡¯s no big deal, but Nick¡¯s not me. We don¡¯t know if that got my relatives¡¯ attention, but we can¡¯t leave it to chance. I¡¯ve set up a series of distractions in a number of universes and it¡¯s time to make one here. So, I¡¯m combining the Xiniti job with my own errand since they coincidentally need me to be in roughly the same place.¡±


    He grinned at us. ¡°My people probably won¡¯t check the jump gate logs, but it¡¯s best not to risk it.¡±


    I continued to check our sensors, reading information from the fusion power plant as well as our relationship to the gateway. We were on our way to putting Earth between any jump gate user who might be watching us.


    Once we¡¯d done it, I activated the near space drive. The ship hummed and then the stars outside blurred and stayed blurred. In the screen on my dashboard, Earth blurred as well with a few bright lights glowing on the surface. Similar bright lights glowed among the stars.


    Marcus said, ¡°Everything just went weird outside. I take it we just jumped?¡±


    ¡°Technically,¡± I said, ¡°we transitioned. You transition into near space because we didn¡¯t actually jump anywhere we changed states.¡±


    Cassie snorted.


    ¡°What?¡± Marcus asked. ¡°Was I supposed to know that? Or were you laughing because Nick said ¡®transition¡¯?¡±


    Oh, I realized. That could get confusing.


    Cassie said, ¡°No. The gun was talking. It hasn¡¯t been off the planet in few thousand years and it¡¯s looking forward to shooting people in space again.¡±


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    Marcus laughed out loud. ¡°Didn¡¯t it get to kill enough things when the dinosaurs invaded? The way I remember it, you were burning down hundreds of them at a time.¡±


    Cassie didn¡¯t laugh. ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s got a limit. He loves his job.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so glad we give homeless homicidal weapons a forever home,¡± Jaclyn said.


    For the next couple hours we watched the blurry stars begin to stretch¡ªnot much, just a little, but enough for Marcus to say, ¡°It¡¯s beginning to look a lot like Star Trek out there.¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°Well, the near space drive will pass light speed. It¡¯s just that it¡¯ll still take years to get anywhere. Still, it is cool.¡±


    I checked the dashboard. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s time for another transition¡ªthis one into jump space. We¡¯ll move into blink space almost immediately after that.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯ll be interesting.¡± Reflected in the window, Marcus leaned forward.


    I tapped a button. The engine hum grew louder and then faded. As it began to fade, the blurry starscape of near space faded into endless gray.


    ¡°Or not,¡± Cassie said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Marcus said. ¡°People stare at that for a week?¡±


    As I checked the dashboard again, Jaclyn stared out the front. ¡°That¡¯s what he said, but it¡¯s not all gray. I think I see patterns. Don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Shh,¡± Lee held his finger to his lips. ¡°They might hear you.¡±


    She gave a sidelong glance. ¡°Do you mean that?¡±


    He brushed a lock of long black hair back behind his ear. ¡°Eh, maybe, but people see strange things in jump space. Physics get weird and all. You know what I mean.¡±


    Jaclyn turned to look at him directly. ¡°I¡¯m betting you¡¯d know more about it than the rest of us.¡±


    ¡°Transitioning into blink space,¡± I said as the windows all darkened. Even so, it was obvious that the gray had turned bright, bright white.


    It didn¡¯t last long though, maybe thirty seconds at most and then we dropped into normal space again. Let¡¯s put that more accurately¡ªwe dropped into ruins in normal space. The screens showed no planets, only asteroids. It also showed spaceships, some of them the size of small moons, all of them broken.


    Jaclyn gasped as the jagged remains of a particularly large starship passed in front of us. Tumbling after it came either a mech or a space suit for a race of giant aliens¡ªthis one had ten limbs and reminded me a bit of an octopus or possibly Cthulhu. It was hard to say.


    It wasn¡¯t the only one.


    Since I couldn¡¯t find the system¡¯s star visually, I checked the astrogation system. It had a star. It was a white dwarf, and I¡¯d been wrong about not being able to find it visually. It was there. It just wasn¡¯t very bright.


    ¡°As I told you earlier,¡± Lee said, ¡°you¡¯re best off traveling through normal space till you get past the star and the inner orbits. Make for the open spot.¡±


    Marcus stood up and walked over to the windows on the left side of the ship. ¡°What happened here?¡±


    Jaclyn had gotten out of her seat at about the same time and stood near the front. ¡°Are you going to tell us?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the site of a battle, one of the many between the Live and Destroy factions. I commanded Destroy¡¯s armies and fleets in the fight and they won. It was a difficult battle, taking place in multiple universes at the same time. I coordinated troops between them as well as with versions of the battle where the time stream ran faster or slower.¡±


    He looked up into the darkness above the debris. ¡°It was probably my greatest moment in their service. I came back here afterward too, but then only to think. I¡¯d pick a spot up there and look down at the mess. Now though, it¡¯s just a dead place with many jump points¡ªwhich makes it an excellent place to sneak through.¡±

 Space: Part 6

    Lee watched as we flew over a piece of what probably had been a planet. Maybe it had only been a moon, but it was round on the outside, jagged on the inside and big.


    ¡°They tried to hide there at the end of it,¡± he said. ¡°They didn¡¯t know it was the end yet, but I¡¯d gotten my forces out of the area. Once they were safe, I used a new weapon we¡¯d devised to fight them. It destroyed their shields, broke apart magical bindings and protections, and shattered the system¡¯s planets. It damaged the star.¡±


    I looked out toward where the computer said the white dwarf had to be. I¡¯d wondered about that.


    ¡°But we won, and we¡¯d taken out the Live faction¡¯s most powerful fighters.¡± Lee stared out into the darkness. ¡°They¡¯d destroyed galaxies between them.¡±


    Jaclyn turned away from the window and looked down at Lee in his chair. ¡°What was the weapon? Do you still have it?¡±


    Lee chuckled. ¡°Not a bad question. You don¡¯t have a word for the kind of weapon it is. Your species isn¡¯t making them yet even if their precursors exist. Here¡¯s something that you will understand though¡ªit¡¯s powered by the cores of several different galaxies.¡±


    Oh. I wondered if it had any connection to his swords. If it did, I¡¯d held more power than in my hands than I should have.


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°Why fight in the first place? I get that your Live faction wanted you to leave the younger races alone and let them live. I understand that Destroy faction wanted to destroy them. What I¡¯m wondering is why bother?¡±


    ¡°Same reason as violence ever happens¡ªfear,¡± he said. ¡°But, there¡¯s a reason for the fear. We don¡¯t experience time like you do. It¡¯s not completely linear, so we live parts of our future out of sync with our timeline. A long time ago, some among our people saw their deaths at the hands of races yet unborn. They were ganging up to destroy us. Others were seeing their deaths at the hands of their own kind, but the younger races were on their side. You can guess the way things went from there.¡±


    Jaclyn frowned. ¡°When you see things, are they inevitable?¡±


    His mouth twisted as he looked at her. ¡°That¡¯s complicated. Among all the parallel universes, there¡¯s only one of us, but we exist in any universe we choose to. Normally death is no big deal. We manifest another avatar and go on, but we were seeing true deaths¡ªour sources destroyed. That¡¯s the kind of death you can¡¯t ignore. It may only have been a possibility once, but with the Live faction dead or lost and Destroy¡¯s policies working? We¡¯re already halfway there.¡±


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    Before Jaclyn could say anything, Marcus asked, ¡°What do you mean with, ¡®Destroy¡¯s policies are working¡¯?¡±


    ¡°The Issakass,¡± Lee said. ¡°They¡¯re reptilian¡ªkind of irritating to deal with, greedy, penny-pinching¡­ But they¡¯re not homicidal maniacs who stop killing their enemies only to kill each other. The problem is that that¡¯s what they are now and I know why. It¡¯s one of the archeological finds my people littered the galaxies with. The question is whether we¡¯ll have to kill all of them or only most of them.¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Destroy won¡¯t be disappointed either way. It¡¯ll be the end of trillions of beings. Since there¡¯s no way to fix them once they¡¯re infected, it¡¯s a question of mass murder or genocide.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve got to admit I was a little disappointed you weren¡¯t coming with us, but I¡¯m glad we¡¯re not going with you.¡±


    Lee glanced out the window toward the darkness that surrounded us. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re ready for that kind of mission yet. As for me, I¡¯ve had to handle worse.¡±


    For a time after that, all we did was look out the window. It wasn¡¯t as exciting or even as depressing as you might imagine. Solar systems are huge and even after a gigantic, planet shattering battle, this one still didn¡¯t resemble the ones in movies where you dodge endless asteroids.


    More than anything else, it felt empty. We were close enough to the sun that we would have been within the orbits of the inner planets if there were inner planets, but there weren¡¯t. The sun should have been a presence, but it wasn¡¯t. I could find it with the computer¡¯s aid, but it didn¡¯t stand out much from the darkness around it.


    If I wanted to, I could use the ship¡¯s sensors to zoom in on ruined ships and worlds, but I didn¡¯t. I kept my eyes on the sensors. I knew it had to be paranoia, but I felt like something might be watching us. The sensors didn¡¯t detect life though¡ªnot even archeologists or salvage operations.


    I didn¡¯t know where it was, but if I had to guess, I would have said ¡°up¡±¡ªmore or less where Lee said that he¡¯d watch the system.


    Before the feeling passed from ¡°nothing to worry about¡± to ¡°I probably ought to tell Lee,¡± Cassie said, ¡°This is going to sound crazy, but I think we¡¯re being watched, and I think it¡¯s up there.¡±


    She pointed in the same direction I¡¯d been worrying about.


    ¡°I¡¯ve had the same feeling,¡± I told them.


    Jaclyn, (who had gone back to her seat by then) looked at each of us, and said, ¡°You mean I wasn¡¯t imagining things.¡± Then she eyed Lee. ¡°That¡¯s bad news, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Lee took a deep breath and looked out the window, staring upward, frowning. ¡°It¡¯s bad news.¡±

 Space: Part 7

    Then he turned back to the group of us. ¡°Nick might remember that when we talked about my people, I told him that I wouldn¡¯t notice them, but that he would. That¡¯s because I was assuming that they¡¯d be hiding the same way I¡¯m hiding. He¡¯s not. He¡¯s broadcasting his position so that anyone who can sense us can hear.¡±


    I glanced over at him. ¡°Would flipping into near space help? It wouldn¡¯t with a starship, so I¡¯m guessing it won¡¯t¡­¡±


    Lee shook his head. ¡°It won¡¯t help. Shifting into blink space might work, but depending on who it is, well, that still might not do it. Stay in normal space. Don¡¯t speed up. Don¡¯t slow down. Pretend you don¡¯t feel anything.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. I tried not to think about what might be up there. While Lee hadn¡¯t even ever told me his species¡¯ name, I knew enough. It was near immortal, alien, and that those still living feared all sapient life but themselves. It would destroy Earth if we hinted that Lee had been there teaching people and it would call more of its people to finish the job.


    While I¡¯d never been sure whether they sounded more like Lovecraft¡¯s Outer Gods, Marvel¡¯s Thor mythos, Kirby¡¯s New Gods, Babylon 5¡¯s First Ones, or Zelazny¡¯s princes of Amber or Chaos, I knew that I hoped never to meet another.


    Concentrating on the controls, I watched our progress toward what I calculated would be the optimal point to switch into near space. It was only a few hours away.


    ¡°I know you¡¯re probably all feeling scared,¡± Lee began, ¡° and you¡¯ve got every right to be because if they recognize me, you¡¯ll all die. But here¡¯s what you have to remember¡ªthey can¡¯t recognize me. All they can do is recognize that you¡¯ve been affected by me, and you can control that¡ªat least a little.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m game,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°It sounds better than dying. What do we have to do?¡±


    Lee grinned. ¡°Put simply? Don¡¯t look up. Because you¡¯ve spent so much time with me, your perception passes slightly into other places. If you look up where I told you I¡¯d watch, you might see something there, and if you do, it will see you. Don¡¯t do that.¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jaclyn blink. ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to, but thanks.¡±


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    ¡°Great,¡± Lee said. ¡°One more thing. Nick, if you¡¯re tempted to bring a sword into existence, don¡¯t. You shouldn¡¯t be able to without that gem Amy made, but don¡¯t. Okay?¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t either, but I definitely won¡¯t now.¡± I thought about that as I said it though. If the thing started chasing us, that might turn out to be a good idea. I decided to ask Lee about it if it came up.


    ¡°Good. Now, since you¡¯re going to be at this for a couple hours, why don¡¯t you watch a movie or something? I¡¯ll watch the sensors.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got this,¡± Cassie said and pulled a tablet out of her backpack. After some fiddling around, the movie appeared in the back of the cabin. That¡¯s literally ¡°appeared.¡± The video appeared in the air without a screen.


    A few minutes in, I looked over at Cassie. ¡°Bring It On?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a good movie,¡± she said and continued to watch it.


    Not having much of a choice, I did. It didn¡¯t escape my notice though, that I was watching a movie about cheerleaders stealing routines from each other while trying to avoid the notice of a being that would literally destroy everyone I cared about, starting with us.


    Still, there wasn¡¯t much else to do, and, if you want me to be honest, it wasn¡¯t a bad movie. As soon as the credits began to roll, though, I turned back toward Lee. ¡°How are we doing?¡±


    ¡°Not bad. We¡¯re not dead and we¡¯re nearly to the jump point. See for yourself.¡± He waved his hand at the controls.


    He was correct. We were in the middle of infinite inky blackness, stars in the far distance and no planets worth mentioning nearby. This was the ideal spot to transition into near space. With luck I could hit jump around the jump point.


    ¡°Transitioning to near space,¡± I said. The stars stretched in the blackness.


    Cassie spoke up. ¡°Does anybody else feel like it¡¯s following us?¡±


    ¡°Oh no,¡± Jaclyn said.


    Marcus said, ¡°I barely feel anything.¡±


    When Cassie had started, I¡¯d been too distracted by the ship to notice, but after? I felt it too. It felt like something big and empty was coming after us.


    Lee said, ¡°Remember, it¡¯s trying to provoke fear. If you don¡¯t show any, it won¡¯t know you can sense it. Do what you would have done without it.¡±


    The only good news I could find in that was that I¡¯d always been planning to jump at this point anyway. Even so, I didn¡¯t hurry. I took a couple more breaths, found that we¡¯d reached the point where I normally would have jumped, and jumped the ship.


    All the windows showed impenetrable gray, but I could still feel something. Could it have followed us into jump? Was I just afraid? I didn¡¯t know. I¡¯d been planning to blink anyway, so I watched for the right moment. When I changed states, the gray turned to white. After a minute, we were expelled into normal space and a normal star system.


    Lee assured me that this one had a planet where the native life was sapient mushrooms. ¡°Or,¡± he added, ¡°maybe they¡¯re normal mushrooms with hallucinatory side effects when eaten? Maybe both.¡±


    Two near space transitions/jumps/blinks later, we still didn¡¯t feel anything following us. Had we gotten away? I hoped so.

 Space: Part 8

    After passing through three more star systems, I was almost certain we were free of well, whichever of Lee¡¯s people was watching the place.


    I glanced over at Lee. ¡°Do you know who it was?¡±


    Lee shook his head. ¡°I lost track of where everybody was long ago. That place was never part of the galactic main. It happened to be strategically useful to the Live faction at that time. I only ever came back because it was important to me¡ªnot because it was important.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°Whatever else may be true, we can be sure that they sensed something when Nick drew the sword even if they didn¡¯t get the location. They think I¡¯m out and about. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have been watching there.¡±


    Leaning back in his seat, he added, ¡°Knowing that almost justifies the risk of going there. I¡¯m going to have to sell what I do next though. My people will be watching. They just don¡¯t know it yet.¡±


    He looked up at the windshield and pointed, ¡°Go that way for the jumpgate. K¡¯tepolu is one jump from here. Once we use it, we¡¯ll be logged into the system, but it shouldn¡¯t raise any eyebrows. A lot of traffic comes through here and there¡¯s more than one unofficial jumpgate out on the fringes.¡±


    I checked the sensors. He wasn¡¯t wrong. Even though the system didn¡¯t seem to have an inhabited planet, there were more than thirty ships in the system, all of them heading toward the jumpgate.


    As I watched the screen, the colors changed, or if they didn¡¯t change, a golden glow surrounded the screen.


    I looked around the cabin. The glow didn¡¯t go away. If anything, I saw more colors. Looking out the window was easiest. A little added color didn¡¯t make much difference against the darkness outside.


    The screens on the dashboard made me feel queasy¡ªconflicting colors fought to be seen and the words were overlaid with additional words.


    I hoped I wouldn¡¯t throw up.


    ¡°Looks like you¡¯re in final stage of implantation.¡± Lee tapped on the dashboard. ¡°I¡¯ll fly. I¡¯m told it¡¯s disorienting.¡±


    Behind me, someone (probably Jaclyn) tried to say something. She sounded like she was speaking in tongues.


    I don¡¯t know how long it went on. I felt half out of my body the whole time and couldn¡¯t think straight, much less read well enough to know how much time passed. However long it was, it did stop. Rainbows of color shrunk into straight black lines, golden light disappeared, and my nausea disappeared, leaving me sitting in front of the dashboard in a ship in space.


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    Everything was normal, but I knew better. In the same way I could feel my legs, I could feel the implant. I knew its main functions: communication (including language translation and computer user-interface), and cultural knowledge and history with a focus on the Xiniti. I investigated the languages, learning that it knew thousands, all the major galactic languages, many minor languages, and a smattering of languages from other galaxies.


    Remembering that the Xiniti we¡¯d met told us that our implants would have the mission details, I requested them. It responded, ¡°Information will become available as needed.¡±


    In short, they¡¯d feed us information at the Xiniti¡¯s pace.


    From behind me, Cassie said, ¡°Everyone¡¯s finally coming around.¡±


    I turned around. Jaclyn was blinking her eyes and shaking her head. Marcus was stretching his arms. Cassie, however, sat up straight in her chair, watching all of us.


    ¡°What happened?¡± I asked. ¡°Was it easier for you?¡±


    ¡°Get this,¡± Cassie said. ¡°You know how I was worried it wouldn¡¯t work with the Abominator stuff in my head?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I said.


    She laughed. ¡°It actually made it easier. The implant has to configure itself to communicate with us? The Abominator stuff already does that, so it plugged into there and I was done.¡±


    It occurred to me to check what the Xiniti implant allowed me to communicate with and then I knew the answer. All of us were included, but that wasn¡¯t all. I sensed the ship¡¯s computer, ¡°HAL¡±¡ªMarcus¡¯ nickname for the ship¡¯s AI (an alien AI that specialized in fleet strategy and tactics), and a presence that was near Cassie and labeled ¡°indirectly accessible.¡±


    Knowing what that had to be, I concentrated on the ship¡¯s computer.


    The results were far better than I expected. At first, I realized that I no longer needed to look at the dashboard to know details about the ship¡¯s speed, the amount of fuel in the tank, the fusion plant¡¯s current power output¡­ I knew the answer, but more than that, I could adjust anything with my head that I normally would have adjusted with my hands¡ªincluding the weapons and shields.


    I could even adjust my perceptions so that it felt like I was flying through space, leaving me barely aware of my body in the chair.


    Were all the pilots using implants, I wondered? They¡¯d be reacting almost at the speed of their thoughts. Had Grandpa had one?


    I let myself become aware of my body again, but continued operating the ship without using my hands. ¡°Wow,¡± I said aloud. ¡°Does everybody have these?¡±


    Lee shook his head. ¡°People from richer worlds? Yes. People in the military? Yes. Most people have less invasive modifications or none at all.¡±


    Reflected in the windshield, Marcus shook his head. ¡°Have you opened the files on Xiniti customs? They¡¯ve got more than fifty major clans and they¡¯re all different from each other. This is crazy.¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°I hope the implant suggests the appropriate responses because finding them¡­ There¡¯s a lot to look through.¡±


    I would have responded except that the implant flashed a red arrow at me. It pointed toward three gray rings floating in space. Earth¡¯s gateway had rings too, but these were much larger and understandably. The ship¡¯s sensors now showed more than forty ships nearing the rings.


    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind,¡± Cassie said, ¡°but I¡¯m going to let my gun communicate through my implant. It knows a lot about Abominator stuff. Plus, it¡¯s a little wearing to be only one who can hear it sometimes.¡±


    It became audible midway through a rant it was aiming at um¡­ the universe?


    ¡°¡ªAND NOW, MONGRELS, I RETURN FROM EXILE! FEAR ME OR BURN!¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s jaw dropped and we all turned to stare at Cassie.


    ¡°Yeah, I know,¡± she said. ¡°Welcome to my life.¡±

 KTepolu: Part 1

    From a Report by Agent 957 of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s Genetic Management Office¡­


    Location: K¡¯Tepolu System


    Date: Day 139 in year 9043 of the Human Ascendency


    To: [Name Redacted], Director of Breeder Reclamation


    It¡¯s my hope that the War Council will no longer be involved in our operations, but rather that their involvement will be limited to providing assistance that only they can provide and making any requests they might have clear. As they¡¯re not in my chain of command, they should not be making any sort of attempt to give me orders or use our resources for their own projects.


    Our management of the breeding stock has provided them with thousands of years of effective soldiers, spacers, and technicians with no loss of quality or deviation from the designs of the Architects. It could even be argued that we¡¯ve been responsible for some slight improvements and efficiencies in the process of their creation.


    I inform you of this because their current involvement in my mission very nearly caused me to lose track of the escaped breeders.


    One month ago I was requested to watch a group of breeders whose purity officers suspected that they were preparing to escape. This was a mixed bloodline group associated with Cterrek, one of the larger cities in the K¡¯tek system. The group is believed to have been contacted by the Institute for Human Freedom, a charity funded by many Alliance worlds. Our intelligence personnel have reason to believe that the Hrrnna funded its creation and continue to give money to the group.


    After the breeders disappeared, it was found that the breeders had been saving money at higher rates than the norm.


    There¡¯s no law against breeders saving money. In fact, it¡¯s been found that the more control breeders have over their own lives, the better they accept our occasional interference.


    Contact with foreign powers, however, is illegal. That, I¡¯m disappointed that we didn¡¯t detect. When I was last in contact with them, our people were still searching for the methods they used to avoid our detection.


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    However they did it, they disappeared from their residences, their jobs, and all their relationships in one moment. The next time we became aware of them, it was because one of their own number contacted us through their world¡¯s network. The next we knew, we¡¯d assigned personnel to track them, not least of which included me.


    I went immediately to the nearest starport, requisitioned a starship and began following them as I am now.


    Within a few jumps, they made it outside Interdicted Space. Our forces could have caught them if I¡¯d had the ability to compel their obedience instead of the other way around. When we jumped to the edge of Interdicted Space, my ship was surrounded by heavy fighters given the responsibility to keep citizens within the Human Ascendency.


    I was then ordered to cease pursuit and to report to one of several systems to assist them in border patrol operations. Though they weren¡¯t in my chain of command, they¡¯d convinced local officers that my ship was necessary to their efforts. With some work, I was able to contact our headquarters to countermand the order and given leave to pursue my original mission.


    By that time, I had hopelessly lost the breeders¡¯ ship. Only an ansible message from a mole among the breeders put me on track. I was able then to follow them to K¡¯Tepolu.


    I¡¯ve hidden my ship among the asteroid belt near K¡¯Tepolu and have continued to be updated regarding current events by the mole.


    I have learned the following:


    1. The breeders are receiving some level of cooperation with the Alliance government. As suspected, the Alliance has designated a world for breeders to settle. The mole does not know the coordinates, but does know that it¡¯s within a few jump gates of K¡¯Tepolu. When they do leave K¡¯Tepolu, we¡¯ll have the opportunity to destroy them or to follow and learn the colony¡¯s location. My recommendation is that we hold off and discover the colony¡¯s location as well.


    2. My recommendation that we hold off is connected to another piece of information I¡¯ve learned. The Xiniti will be escorting the craft to the colony. My ship has no chance against the Xiniti standard ship or a Xiniti crew. If it were to turn out that the Xiniti are not directly protecting the ship, my recommendation might change to capturing and interrogating the escort for the location of the colony. That would depend on the nature of the escort.


    3. If recapturing or killing the breeders is regarded as more important than discovering the colony, we currently have an opportunity to strike. The Xiniti have not yet arrived. The only major risk is that the authorities at K¡¯Tepolu might learn who attacked the breeders and prevent future Human Ascendency ships from using the port. The economic damage from that could be considerable.


    Awaiting your response,


    Agent 957

 K鈥橳epolu: Part 2

    K¡¯Tepolu lay ahead of us. It wasn¡¯t a planet. It was a collection of asteroids connected by tubes. As statements go, that was an understatement. Two huge asteroids, one following another, lay in the middle, connected to each other by round, gray structures wide enough for spaceships to fly inside. That was the only attempt at a pattern that I could see in the construction. The rest of the asteroids stuck out from the main ones with no rhyme or reason, sometimes with a tube to another asteroid, sometimes isolated.


    Even more disturbing from an engineering perspective, there were multiple levels. While some asteroids had a tube to only one asteroid, many of them had six tubes (four to asteroids on their level, one pointing up and the other down). Most had more than six tubes and they were almost always diagonal instead of straight.


    It wasn¡¯t even possible to come up with an overall shape for the conglomeration of parts. Few of the asteroids pointed in the same direction, some stuck out from the main group¡ªwith another two or three attached to the end and additional tubes that led deep into the mass of asteroids.


    Jaclyn summarized my thoughts in a sentence. ¡°What a mess.¡±


    Marcus laughed. ¡°And here I was thinking that it was cool. I mean, that says space. You can¡¯t build stuff like that on Earth. It¡¯d be crushed under its own weight. Plus, look at all the spaceships.¡±


    It was hard not to see them. We¡¯d seen a lot near the jump gate¡ªwhich had rings several times larger than the last jump gate we¡¯d been through and that one in turn had been several times larger than Earth¡¯s. It had flashed white and a stream of ships of all sizes had come out. When it was over, it had flashed again and several more had come through.


    K¡¯Tepolu, for lack of a better cliche, reminded me of a beehive. Spaceships, small and large, flew between the asteroids, dodging the connecting pieces and landing inside the open bays.


    Something dinged inside my head. The words ¡°K¡¯Tepolu Station¡± appeared along with it. I mentally agreed to take the call.


    ¡°Xiniti ship¡­ Beeblebrox?¡± The perfect, androgynous voice didn¡¯t quite seem to know what to make of the name. It didn¡¯t sound like a Xiniti ship.


    ¡°That¡¯s us,¡± I said.


    ¡°Since this is your first trip here, we¡¯re giving you a berth on one of the outside asteroids. We¡¯ve sent your ship the berth number as well as your approach route. If you choose to manually control your ship, please follow our directions precisely. If you don¡¯t believe you can do it, let your ship¡¯s computer do it. Timing is essential. Imprecise approaches risk collisions.¡±


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    I don¡¯t know if I would have tried it without the implant, but with the implant it wasn¡¯t bad. They weren¡¯t kidding either. Ships crossed my path both before and behind me. With as many ships as I¡¯d seen, it made sense, but I wondered if they might be overdoing the coordination.


    On a whim, I started the song ¡°Major Tom¡± playing.


    As we approached our landing spot, Cassie watched our destination asteroid grow bigger as the ships behind us branched off, decelerating as they aimed for their own landing bays.


    ¡°Did you notice that there are landing spots on every asteroid? It¡¯s like they added them to each new piece instead of designating one starport.¡±


    My implant volunteered that that was exactly what they¡¯d done. I opened my mouth to tell Cassie, but she shook her head, saying, ¡°I know.¡±


    When I brought the ship inside, the directions said to turn off the maneuver jets. I did, and the gravity panels on the floor and ceiling moved us along.


    As we floated down through the hangar, ships stacked on shelves on both sides of us, I asked Lee, ¡°What kind of place is this?¡±


    Lee leaned back in his chair. ¡°Ask your implant¡­ I¡¯ll give you a hint though. It¡¯s from that movie. The one with spaceships?¡±


    Everyone looked at him.


    ¡°You¡¯ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy,¡± he said, and then he grinned.


    Marcus shook his head, ¡°Star Wars? How long has it been since you watched a movie?¡±


    Lee shrugged. ¡°Not important, but before I go, I should tell you a couple things. First off, you¡¯ve probably got an effectively unlimited expense account. You¡¯ll have to check your implant. They might be less generous with young Xiniti who have to prove themselves. It¡¯ll cover docking fees and food at the very least. If yours is unlimited, don¡¯t abuse it. It won¡¯t look good. You don¡¯t want to fail this test that way.


    ¡°Second, most people will leave you alone. Humans are scary because of being the Abominators¡¯ soldiers. Humans who are part of the Xiniti nation are doubly scary because everyone knows how you become part of the Xiniti, but¡­ There are some people who will see it as an invitation. Watch out for them.¡±


    The ship floated upward, landing in a row next to several other similarly sized ships. The row was only five deep, but there were rows on either side as far as I could see.


    We stopped moving. Lee said, ¡°Well, that¡¯s it. I¡¯m going to leave. I¡¯ll see you when I¡¯m done. If you¡¯re done first, don¡¯t wait for me, but do leave a message for me. The Xiniti implant has a name that will find me. Any questions before I go?¡±


    I checked my implant, knew Lee¡¯s alias as well as the name of the Xiniti we¡¯d be taking on, the ship and colonists that we¡¯d be guarding¡­ It seemed complete. ¡°I¡¯ve got one question. If we could bring relatives, could I have brought Rachel too?¡±


    Lee stood up from his chair, letting the restraints fall to its side. ¡°Sure, but it would make things complicated. Her intangibility means more than you think and we don¡¯t have time to sort that out right now. Let¡¯s just say she¡¯d have connections to more than just the Xiniti, and we don¡¯t need that.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said.


    Then, taking the form of a Xiniti, he stepped through the nearest hatch, stopping for a moment. ¡°One more thing. If you go back without me, don¡¯t go through the system with the battle.¡±

 KTepolu: Part 3

    We watched him go. Gray skinned with big all black eyes, Lee wore a silver robe that would have made many UFO fans confident that they were right after all. What they wouldn¡¯t have known is that the silver robe could reform into a Xiniti battle suit, complete with weapons.


    I only knew it because my implant provided the information¡ªjust like it provided me the location of every Xiniti on the station. Aside from Lee and ourselves, that meant exactly one other, Katuk, the Xiniti who was meeting us here.


    There were several more off the station. Their ship was docking at an airlock not far from us. Not coincidentally, Lee was walking toward that very same airlock. Within minutes, he¡¯d boarded the ship, and within an hour after that, the ship passed through the gate.


    The station made ship traffic and gate use available via video or implants. I told the implant to notify me if anything happened to his ship and when it appeared to be a minute from going through the gate.


    It¡¯s not as if we watched his every step though. Once he disappeared into the doorway at the wall of our bay, we could only watch him in our heads¡ªassuming we wanted to. We had bigger issues to deal with.


    I didn¡¯t know how the others felt, but as Lee disappeared through the door, the full weight of the situation fell on me. It was all ours to handle now. We¡¯d be responsible for keeping fifty colonists and their spaceship safe and then protecting the colony for however long it would be before their regular protection arrived.


    We turned four chairs to face each other and sat in the ship. The spaceship¡¯s windows now looked out into what was basically a spaceship parking garage. Though cool in its own way, it was much more mundane than staring out at the stars.


    Jaclyn said, ¡°We should make a plan. From what I¡¯m seeing about the mission requirements, the more quickly we get the colonists out of here, the better it will be.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure specifically why, but a quick look at the mission files came back with the information that all the colonists were wanted by the Human Ascendency, one of the larger ¡°nations¡± inside human space. It included hundreds of worlds. The files described it as being closest to Abominator culture of all the human nations. Somehow this was relevant to the fact that they were ¡°breeders¡± and that agents of their Genetic Management Office would be coming after them.


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    I decided I¡¯d have to read them in detail later, but I said, ¡°I guess so. There are a few parts that I¡¯d hoped we¡¯d have time for me to replace¡ª¡°


    ¡°What?¡± Cassie interrupted me. ¡°Don¡¯t they work?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s not that. They¡¯re all parts for faster than light travel. You replace them before they go bad because you don¡¯t want to discover they¡¯re bad when you need to jump or worse, while you¡¯re jumping.¡±


    Marcus cocked his head, ¡°What happens then?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve never had it happen, but I¡¯m sure it¡¯s bad. Best case scenario, you¡¯d pop into normal space before you went very far. Worst case, maybe you never come out of jump.¡±


    Marcus blinked. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s not do that.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, Cassie asked, ¡°Don¡¯t you have spares?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Not really. I can¡¯t fit everything we need in a ship this small. K¡¯Tepolu¡¯s big enough that it probably has spares as well as specialty shops to construct them if it doesn¡¯t.¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Whoa. How long would that take.¡±


    ¡°Not long,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re atypical, not insanely weird. Maybe four hours of work if I have to rent space to do it myself.¡±


    Sighing, Jaclyn said, ¡°I¡¯d been thinking we¡¯d meet the colonists together, but we should split up. You and Marcus go get that done and Cassie and I will meet the Xiniti and the colonists.¡±


    Marcus frowned. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to go with Nick, but don¡¯t you think he can handle getting the parts on his own? I¡¯m not going to be much use except maybe for carrying them.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s smart,¡± Cassie said. ¡°We don¡¯t know this place. Nick might need backup.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking,¡± Jaclyn said.


    Thirty minutes later found Marcus and me riding a train through the asteroid. I use the word ¡°train¡± loosely since while it was a series of cars connected to each other, there were no rails. Also, people tend to use train when they mean something that runs on the ground on Earth. This train ran on the main walkway, above it, or below it¡ªprobably for the convenience of the architect.


    It felt like riding on a train in Star Wars. Some of the other passengers were human. The rest were alien¡ªmore alien than you can get out of slapping a prosthetic forehead on an actor. For example? I¡¯m fairly sure I saw a sapient plant¡ªthat or I saw a decorative plant in a moveable pot.


    I¡¯m fairly sure decorative plants don¡¯t drive their pots.

 KTepolu: Part 4

    I¡¯m also fairly sure that decorative plants don¡¯t give people ¡°the frond¡± when someone cuts in front of them on the way out the door. Being no authority on rude galactic gestures, I might not have noticed, but the Xiniti implant was.


    Marcus laughed as the door shut and the train silently pulled away from the station. ¡°I wonder what it thinks of vegetarians?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask it,¡± I said and looked out the window. While the train traveled inside closed walls that made it feel like a subway sometimes, it flew above the commercial areas. Wide open streets with shops, restaurants and offices lay below us¡ªat least for a while. Then we started moving up, passing through levels. There were more levels that could pass as a futuristic downtown, but there were also levels that passed as factory and warehouse districts. There we passed over streets choked with floating packages and nothing I recognized as a living being.


    We didn¡¯t stop, but we passed railway stations that were filled with cargo¡ªhuge boxes floating in lines, waiting for the next cargo train. Soon, we were out of that asteroid, traveling through one of the struts we¡¯d seen while flying in and able to look out the window at space, the asteroids and the asteroids¡¯ connecting infrastructure.


    I¡¯d done searches on the sort of shop I needed and it was on one of the inner asteroids. We passed through several more asteroids on the way. One appeared to be devoted to growing food. Several levels were different sorts of alien food crops as well as recognizable Earth crops. I saw wheat and corn. One asteroid had been set aside for a race that needed chlorine in their atmosphere. They were red, bulky and covered with a thin layer of slime.


    Finally we reached our destination K¡¯Tepolu Two (the second main asteroid). We got off the main train and took a smaller train line that was limited to traveling up and down one street on one level of the asteroid.


    This level of the K¡¯Tepolu Two had a high enough ceiling that the line ran above the street. We took a lift down to the main level. ¡°Lifts¡± were essentially square shaped platforms that moved up and down. I assumed that they had some way to prevent people from falling off or scraping themselves against the wall around the lift, but if that was true, it was invisible.


    The lift reached the street without a sound and Marcus asked, ¡°So where are we going?¡±


    Walking down the sidewalk and into a walkway that led through the line of shops to the next street, I said, ¡°A shop, but a specialty shop where I can make what I need if they don¡¯t have it.¡±


    He nodded and we followed the walkway across three more streets. None of these had train lines. Train lines ran down every six streets, making the third and fourth streets the ones with the cheapest rent.


    It felt like it.


    The streets weren¡¯t empty, but there were less creatures and more gravity sleds carrying cargo. As with every street on this level, the shops reached from the street to the ceiling two stories up. On the main streets, facades made each shop different whether it was architectural styles or color. Here, facades were rare. Most shops looked like the material they¡¯d been shaped from¡ªa nickel-iron asteroid. Like the streets, they were silver/gray. Sometimes the name of the shop had been carved in the metal. Most of the time, a full color sign glowed in the air with nothing visibly holding it.


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    Marcus looked around the streets. ¡°You know, this place feels like some of the not very nice sections of Chicago. How close are we?¡±


    I stepped around a tiger-like creature that lay across half the sidewalk. One of its tendrils clutched a bottle. I said, ¡°A quarter of a mile. The shop¡¯s called ¡®Tinkers¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Tinkers?¡± Marcus¡¯ expression went slack. Then he pointed, ¡°Down there?¡±


    I followed the direction of hand. He¡¯d asked his implant and he was right. My implant confirmed it, spelling out ¡°Tinkers¡± in the air and drawing a line that pointed at the building.


    It didn¡¯t take long to get there and except for nearly being run down by one of those floating package carriers, it was uneventful. Apparently we should have registered our intention to cross with our implant and it would have relayed it to the traffic system. That¡¯s what a synthetic voice from the package carrier shouted at us anyway.


    Marcus looked back as it sped away. ¡°We just got chewed out by an AI. That¡¯s so weird.¡± Then he pointed further down the street. ¡°Did you notice that art supplies shop? I wonder how art is different here?¡±


    I noticed the shop and my implant called up lists of what they sold, reviews and ratings for the store. ¡°You can go down there if you want. I¡¯ll probably be here for a while.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d like that,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll pick up food on the way back. There are a couple restaurants around here.¡± He started walking away and then stopped. ¡°You¡¯re sure you¡¯re okay with it? I¡¯m supposed to be backing you up.¡±


    ¡°No problem,¡± I said, checking the crime statistics for the area. They weren¡¯t any worse than the main roads on either side.


    He left and I walked up to ¡°Tinkers.¡± The reviews my implant showed me about the place described it was almost as much a movement as a shop. Owned by a human named Kee Oataki, it¡¯s purpose was to encourage innovation¡ªwhich was why it rented space for modifying equipment in addition to simply selling it.


    Like many of the shops on the street, Tinkers had no facade over the nickel-iron storefront. Unlike any of the others, they¡¯d melted words related to Tinker and creation in multiple languages all over the front. My implant recognized the words and translated them, noting the original language.


    I stepped inside. It wasn¡¯t a big shop and I wasn¡¯t completely sure I would have recognized it as a shop if I were at home. Machines filled most of the room and there weren¡¯t any shelves with stocked items. My implant informed me that the machines would fabricate standard equipment by default and that it could show me the controls to modify the rest.


    A woman stepped out from behind the equipment. ¡°I¡¯m Kee Oataki. What are you here for?¡±


    She had short, straight black hair, brown skin and wore a blue and brown jumpsuit that according to the implant worked as spacesuit as well as work clothes. I guessed that she might be in her early forties.


    I pulled out the bag I¡¯d been carrying. It held the parts I had to replace. ¡°I need to replace parts for my ship¡¯s near-space drive. They¡¯re slightly non-standard.¡±


    She nodded and started asking questions. The first was, ¡°What size is your ship?¡±


    I told her, ¡°It¡¯s about one hundred tons.¡±


    She picked up one of the pieces and started to inspect it. ¡°That¡¯s ridiculously over engineered for a one hundred ton ship.¡± Then she added, ¡°But it¡¯s clearly worn and needs replacement. What have you been doing with the drive?¡±


    I considered lying, but I needed her help. I knew as much about the ship¡¯s components as Grandpa had bothered to document. I knew the basics of how each drive worked and what I could do with them, but I wasn¡¯t an expert.


    ¡°It¡¯s an experimental drive,¡± I began and explained about the modified power plant and the near-space drive that Grandpa had modified to a point that it could now handle jump and blink space.


    Her eyes widened as I explained. ¡°You weren¡¯t exaggerating about it being experimental. Let¡¯s see what we can do.¡±


    Sometimes you¡¯ve got no choice but to trust.

 KTepolu: Part 5

    We spent the next hour talking about jump, blink, and near-space physics and how they related to drive design. As we talked, it became obvious that she didn¡¯t just know more than I did, but that her knowledge eclipsed mine. At the same time, she never talked down to me. It felt like the better sort of independent study. She asked questions and I answered, but from my answers she somehow noticed knowledge that I was missing and explained it to me.


    The longer we kept talking, the more faster than light drives made sense. It felt like talking to my grandfather, Dr. Nation, or anyone who could talk about technical issues at exactly the level I needed to understand them. My mind burned as connection after connection fell into place.


    She sent papers for me to read later to my implant and by the second hour we were working on the parts. They were common parts even if Grandpa¡¯s modifications to the drive weren¡¯t typical. Even there she had observations on things that might need to be changed.


    We¡¯d set up a simulation of the drive based on the schematics I had, Grandpa¡¯s maintenance documentation, and a couple remote connections to the ship.


    ¡°What you need,¡± she said, ¡°based on your usage isn¡¯t simply parts for a larger ship, but parts with increased durability, so dedicated blink drive, or even jump gate parts if they fit. What materials were you planning to use for the drive¡¯s field radiators?¡±


    I named what Grandpa had used and then added, ¡°But some of the alloys you showed me might work. The ones the Hrrnna ships use could handle it, I think.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. The Hrrnna made their fortunes in mining colonies. Many of the best FTL engineers come from their shipyards.¡±


    Four hours later, the machines were fabricating parts based on Hrrnna designs and materials, altered for my ship¡¯s specific design oddities. As for myself, I understood how the reviews could describe it as a social movement as much as a business. The FTL drive parts weren¡¯t cheap, but five hours is an awfully long time to spend with a customer. Marcus came back three times while we were talking, going back to the art store the first two times and on the third asked, ¡°I¡¯m going to get lunch. Do you want anything?¡±


    I hadn¡¯t been thinking about it, but when I did I became aware that I was desperate for food. ¡°Yes, but does anyplace around here even serve food we can eat?¡±


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    Then I thought, and how weird is it going to be?


    My face must have showed a little of that last thought because Marcus grinned. ¡°Their network says there¡¯s a restaurant serving human food a little further down the street. I¡¯ll have them make yours bland.¡±


    Then he stepped outside. I had a moment¡¯s worry about his safety, but it went away as I reminded myself that he was wearing one of my new self-repairing costumes that now doubled as a space suit.


    ¡°He¡¯s thoughtful,¡± Kee said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, realizing that I hadn¡¯t noticed.


    ¡°There¡¯s something I need to ask you,¡± she said, ¡°and I don¡¯t know if I should. The two of you seem safe but this is a big thing.¡±


    She looked me over as if she could see inside me. Then she asked, ¡°Who is it?¡±


    I said the first thing that came into my head. ¡°Huh?¡±


    Her mouth turned into a thin line and in the background machines hummed, followed by solid clicking noises. At the same time, the sound of the room took on a dead quality. A glance at the window made me think that it was thicker than it had been¡ªif that was even possible.


    ¡°I think you know what I¡¯m talking about,¡± she said. When she¡¯d been talking about FTL drive physics, her voice had risen and fallen to emphasize points and she¡¯d laughed easily. Now she kept her voice low.


    ¡°If you¡¯re like me,¡± she said, ¡°you know that telling the wrong person invites the destruction of everyone you¡¯ve ever cared about.¡±


    I felt sure I knew exactly what she meant by that, but I didn¡¯t say anything. Lee had told me what to do if I met another one of his kind¡ªignore it and keep on walking. At close range, they¡¯d be able to tell that I¡¯d been associating with one of them and I might be able to recognize them in the same way I could now recognize Lee in whatever shape he chose to wear.


    Pretending not to notice them meant that they might conclude that I¡¯d spent time with one of their kind unknowingly. It wasn¡¯t a good chance, but it was better than talking.


    He¡¯d never told me how to handle a human associate of one of his kind who¡¯d recognized that I was one too. Leaving would have been the best idea, but if all that humming didn¡¯t mean that the doors were shut, I¡¯d be surprised.


    She watched me for a reaction. I don¡¯t know if I gave her one, but I tried not to.


    Taking a breath, she said, ¡°You¡¯ve trusted me enough to let me look at your experimental drive, hear me out and I¡¯ll let you go whatever you say.¡±


    Nodding, I said, ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°If I¡¯m right, you were told a story like this¡­ A long time ago, one of the first (or maybe the first) species broke apart. One group wanted to teach the younger races. The other wanted to destroy them, but couldn¡¯t destroy them all directly. So the group that wanted to destroy the younger races seeded the galaxy with traps for the younger races, but they also tried to destroy those in the Live faction. They¡¯re still hunting them down. So, the Live faction survives by hiding.¡±


    She looked at me again. ¡°Which one is it? There aren¡¯t many of them left.¡±

 KTepolu: Part 6

    I became conscious of her brown eyes watching my reaction. Running still sounded like the wisest choice. I stayed still and didn¡¯t say anything.


    After a pause, she said, ¡°Was it the King? The Queen? The Warlord? The Wise Ones? The Schemer? The Beauty? The Traitor?¡±


    I tried not to show anything more than curiosity on my face. ¡°Are there more?¡±


    ¡°Enough,¡± she said, leaning back in her chair and frowning. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t name any more. You need to understand this even if you don¡¯t know. Someone close to you is not what they seem. They might appear to be human, but they¡¯re closer to what you imagine gods to be like. All people exist in more dimensions than they¡¯re aware of. People who associate with gods, or whatever they are, stick out. Your friend sticks out a little. You glow.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I let the implications sink in and all of them were bad. If I glowed at close range, then I¡¯d get attention whenever one of them or maybe even their followers came near me. Almost as bad, when I thought about it, were the names she¡¯d used. The Traitor had to be Lee, but if that were so, then the Warlord was someone else. If the Warlord were the Live faction¡¯s best at leading troops and Lee were the Destroy faction''s, that would make sense. At the same time, if the Warlord were better than Lee, that would be a bad thing.


    Then I thought of something. ¡°How do you know that I glow?¡±


    Still watching me, she said, ¡°It happens if mortals associate with them long enough. I¡¯m surprised that you can¡¯t see a glow. If I read you right, you¡¯ve been exposed to more power than most.¡±


    I thought back to the sword and how I¡¯d drawn it out of nowhere.


    ¡°You pulsed,¡± she said. ¡°What were you thinking about? Whatever it is, don¡¯t think about it if you fear immortals might be watching.¡±


    ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t talk any more about this, then.¡±


    She let out a breath. ¡°You¡¯re doing the right thing for now, but not forever. I don¡¯t know which of them you¡¯re connected to, but whoever it is has made a substantial investment of time in you. Even though I can¡¯t know it, I believe we¡¯re on the same side. In the end, we¡¯ll be better together than apart.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re right about that in the long run, but right now I¡¯m just here because I need new parts. I don¡¯t think I can commit to something out of nowhere.¡±


    Leaning back and nodding, she said, ¡°I understand. If you change your mind, you¡¯ll be able to find me.¡±


    After that, the doors hummed again, the windows let more light through, and I felt a breeze in the room. It left us with an uncomfortable silence that she broke by asking me about the material my clothes were made of. Bearing in mind that I wore a self-repairing material that could be programmed to look like different colors, textures, and shapes, it opened up a conversation.


    She knew more about nanotech than I did too, and while my costume wasn¡¯t made of nanobots, it did use nanotechnology. Even if it wasn''t as comfortable as before she¡¯d brought up Lee¡¯s people, I still found her easy to talk to and learned as we talked.


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    Marcus came back mid-conversation with lunch. ¡°They¡¯re kind of like gyros,¡± he said. I unwrapped the sandwich. It was in a material that looked like white and red striped paper, but felt like leaves. The sandwich itself was wrapped in flat bread that really did look like pita bread. The meat was purple. I looked up at him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t ask,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯ll be happier.¡±


    Deciding that the same went for the vegetables and the green sauce, I bit in. The sauce turned out to be tangy with spices I didn¡¯t recognize at all. The meat was tender and juicy¡ªperfect. The vegetables were weird but didn¡¯t stand out among everything else.


    By the time we finished eating, the parts were done, placed in boxes along with the protective wrapping and bagged. On the way out, I paid using the Xiniti implant and said, ¡°Thanks,¡± to Kee.


    I meant it too. In the conversations we¡¯d had, she¡¯d given me an entirely new way to understand FTL drive design and given me ideas about how to fix persistent issues I¡¯d had with the Rocket suit.


    As we walked out, I wished I¡¯d talked to her about the Xiniti implant. It connected to the ship by default. It needed to connect to my armor. I had ideas. The implant had documentation explaining the protocols and hardware required.


    We were out on the street when I decided to step back into the shop for one more question. I told Marcus, ¡°It¡¯ll be quick, I promise.¡±


    He laughed.


    It felt wrong before I even reached the door. I couldn¡¯t have described how, but I knew that something had changed. It might have been as simple as the hum of conversation coming from inside. With the entire asteroid being climate controlled, the door didn¡¯t have to be closed to keep out wind, rain, or snow, so I stepped inside to find the room completely different.


    It still had machines for fabricating parts, but they didn¡¯t fill the room. The room was larger and the machines stood next to the walls. People (or at any rate sapient beings) filled it. The signs and multi-colored banners on the walls made it feel festive. Humans and aliens I¡¯d never imagined stood next to the machines, talking about FTL theory, robot design, and hundreds of other topics. The sound of a lecture drifted in from the room next door.


    A six-armed shaggy lump next to the door rose as I leaned in, rumbling ¡°Welcome to Tinkers. Is this your first time?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°my second. Is¡­ Kee here?¡±


    The Xiniti implant translated what sounded like a hacking cough as ¡°No, I¡¯m afraid she¡¯s been out all morning. Would you like me to take a message?¡±


    ¡°Never mind,¡± I peered into the room. ¡°I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll find her when I need to.¡±


    Stepping back out, I said, ¡°Thanks,¡± only to find Marcus next to me.


    ¡°Wow,¡± he said, and then switched over to a Xiniti private communication channel. We were the only ones on it. ¡°She wasn¡¯t human, was she?¡±


    I thought about it as we walked down the street. ¡°I¡¯m trying to remember if she ever said she was. She said a lot of things that implied that she was, but¡­¡± I shook my head. ¡°She wanted to find out who we were connected to and she mentioned some options, but I don¡¯t think she mentioned herself in the list. I think she¡¯s from the Live faction and I think that her thing is encouraging technological development in the younger races.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Marcus said, ¡°so when it all comes to a head, they¡¯ve got power. It sounds familiar, you know.¡±


    Marcus glanced back at the shop. ¡°If she¡¯s from the Live faction, it would explain why she did what she did with the shop. She trusts us because we¡¯re hiding. On the other hand, if she¡¯s from the Destroy faction, she might have swapped it because it doesn¡¯t matter what we know. She¡¯s going to kill us all anyway.¡±


    I glanced over at him. He shrugged.


    ¡°I¡¯m betting on Live,¡± I told him. ¡°Otherwise, why set up a shop that teaches people?¡±


    We turned into one of the walkways that led toward the street level trains. Marcus nodded. ¡°I like that idea.¡±


    That didn¡¯t stop me from getting the parts inspected at a part store I found on the network, though. The proprietor, a six foot tall bipedal slug, looked them over and said, ¡°High quality FTL drive parts based on a Hrrnna design. Nice. They¡¯d be good for a gate or maybe a deep space exploration ship.¡±


    I paid him and we left.

 KTepolu: Part 7

    Soon after we reached the inter-asteroid train, Jaclyn called us. A transparent picture of her appeared in my vision along with her name. We answered and with the obligatory greetings made, she said, ¡°How far are you from us?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know the distance, but it took us about thirty minutes to get here,¡± Marcus began. Then he glanced over at me. ¡°Does that sound right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think that¡¯s how long it took,¡± I said. ¡°I bet it¡¯ll be about the same on the way back¡ªplus or minus traffic.¡±


    The walls outside the train turned into a blur. I didn¡¯t know exactly how quickly it was moving, but bullet train speeds would not have surprised me.


    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°We¡¯re back at the ship. We joined up with Katuk, the Xiniti who¡¯s joining the group and he¡¯s¡­ interesting. You¡¯ll have to meet him. You¡¯ve got no choice.¡±


    Next to me, Marcus snorted. ¡°Sounds like they get along.¡± He didn¡¯t send that over the channel.


    ¡°So that was the good news,¡± Jaclyn continued. ¡°Here¡¯s the bad news. The colonists are pretty sure they¡¯re being tailed. They thought they¡¯d lost their tail, but they¡¯re not sure, so they want to go immediately.¡±


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t see a problem with that. We¡¯ve got parts and spares¡ªplus a story to tell where we won¡¯t be overheard.¡±


    Marcus broke in with, ¡°You¡¯ll be wanting to sit down. Think about the scariest thing that happened on the way here. It¡¯s related to that.¡±


    Jaclyn didn¡¯t say anything for a second. ¡°Are you kidding me? This is all falling apart. Ignoring everything with cosmic implications for a second, we can¡¯t go. One of the colonists got off their ship and hasn¡¯t come back. They sent me a file on her over the network. I¡¯m sending it to you. She was last seen at a street market. It¡¯s closer to you than us. I was going to run out there, but Katuk said it wouldn¡¯t work. They don¡¯t have lanes for me and there¡¯s someplace between here and there with a chlorine atmosphere. Is that right?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Your new costume doubles as a space suit. I never did test it in a chlorine atmosphere.¡±


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    ¡°Even if it worked, the connecting tubes still don¡¯t have pedestrian routes,¡± Jaclyn said.


    ¡°We¡¯re on our way,¡± Marcus said.


    ¡°And be careful,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°I¡¯ve been checking in on what the Xiniti are legally allowed to do. There aren¡¯t any limits for them, but I¡¯ve got a feeling that the local government might not be as lenient on humans.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± I said, and she cut off the connection.


    I opened up the information she sent, hoping that implant viruses weren¡¯t a thing. The file included pictures of Tikki Tegrush, twenty years old and trained in starship life support systems. Her file noted that she was in training to become a starship engineer and had the basics of FTL and normal drives. It also noted that she was of gene line 72-9502 (whatever that meant) and that her parents and siblings had died in a rebellion on Subsector Capital Five in the Human Ascendency.


    The pictures and video showed a woman with light brown skin, long reddish-brown hair, and wearing a silver and green form fitting jumpsuit. From the design of the neck, it was obvious that the jumpsuit doubled as a space suit. Other pictures showed her next to glowing murals she¡¯d created.


    ¡°No kidding,¡± Marcus said as we both finished with the file. ¡°I was looking at that stuff at the art store. In fact, I bought a couple of the beginner kits. Maybe she can show me how it works.¡±


    ¡°If we find her,¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I like about you,¡± Marcus said, ¡°optimism.¡±


    It took less than ten minutes for us to reach Asteroid Twenty-Two, level seventeen--where we transferred from the inter-asteroid gravity train to a cross asteroid train.


    ¡°Oh my God,¡± Marcus said as the train slowed to a stop, floating next to a platform held in the air by a series of towers.


    I stared out the window. The ¡°street market¡± was an open area that went on for miles. Booths, pedestrians, and floating platforms filled the space. Along with the huge variety of sapient beings who were there to shop, musicians performed and food vendors managed the lines in front of the local equivalent of food trucks.


    I assumed that they all took implant managed credit as I wasn¡¯t going to find an ATM around here.


    ¡°I knew it was big,¡± I said as we went down on the lift, ¡°but I had no idea.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen smaller towns,¡± Marcus said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Me too.¡±


    When we reached the bottom, I opened up a pouch on my belt and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. Then I started tapping on my palms. Spybots flew out of my pouch and took to the air. As they did, I used my implant to inform the station that they were weaponless drones, the reason for their use, and the radio frequency they used for communications.


    Then I stood next to Marcus, watching pictures from all the bots appear on the inside of the sunglasses. After using the Xiniti implant, it felt painfully low tech.

 KTepolu: Part 8

    The sheer size of the open market worked against me. One thing worked for me though¡ªracial prejudice. The Abominators had used humans as their superpowered stormtroopers before the Xiniti destroyed them. Even though humans and aliens seemed to interact peacefully here on the edge of both human and Alliance space, the aliens gave humans extra space.


    It hadn¡¯t been so obvious on the trains where different cars were designed for different species¡¯ needs (chlorine atmosphere, for example, or chair sizes), but the aliens gave humans enough space for three. I didn¡¯t blame them either. Many of the humans here weren¡¯t normal. They looked like supers¡ªwhether it was due to glowing eyes, bulging muscles, or wings. Whatever their looks, the humans here wore pistols on the belts, rifles across their backs, and wore armor.


    ¡°Do you think you can find her? I can take a few of the bots.¡± Marcus pulled out his own pair of sunglasses.


    We stood next to the base of one of the silver gray towers, flipping from the view of one spybot to another. Above us, the trains hummed, moving away from or into the station above us. Smells of spices, grilled meat, and body odors from aliens and humans alike filled the area. Given the strangeness of some smells, I couldn¡¯t be sure.


    No one interrupted us. I imagined it was because we were visibly human in addition to showing up as Xiniti citizens to anyone with an implant.


    After a time, Marcus said, ¡°I think I found her. I¡¯ll send you coordinates.¡±


    He sent me video along with the coordinates. Tikki stood in front of one of the floating boxes I¡¯d seen earlier except electronic goods displayed across the top. Two bipedal slugs stood behind it, talking to customers.


    ¡°That looks like her,¡± I said. She wore the same green and white jumpsuit as in the pictures, holding a small cylinder and asking questions of one of the slugs. Whatever the slug said persuaded her to buy. She pulled a device from her pouch, and tapped on it. When she was done, she pocketed both devices.


    As she stepped away from the booth, we got to see the other side of hatred for humans. Three hrrnna, horselike aliens the size of ponies, blocked her way. Eight limbed, their front two forelimbs were ready to grab.


    She started talking to them, smiling, but her eyes darted between them.


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    Marcus said, ¡°I¡¯m going,¡± and wings erupted from his back, his costume parting as they extended. It was good to see that it worked. Programming the costume to adjust to his shapeshifting had been a pain.


    I tapped my palm and a helmet extended from my costume and surrounded my head, absorbing my sunglasses. A glance around me confirmed that no one was close, so I activated the rocket pack and shot into the air.


    I angled myself forward because I wanted to avoid the level¡¯s ceiling, wheeling around because the coordinates Marcus gave me placed her behind me and to the right. I called back all the spybots, ordering any that were low on fuel back into my pouch. The rest were to fly over to where Tikki stood and give me a 360 degree view of what was around her so that I¡¯d have warning if the hrrnna had friends.


    I¡¯d shrunk the window showing Tikki and turned it translucent so that it wasn¡¯t as much of a distraction. Out of the corner of my eye though, I still watched it. A few seconds into my flight and about the time that I passed Marcus, the situation changed. One of the passersby stopped to stand next to Tikki and talked with the Hrrnna.


    ¡°Stand¡± wasn¡¯t the best description though. It was a plant riding in a floating pot. It floated. I wasn¡¯t sure if this was the same plant I¡¯d seen before, but it was of the same species. Several blade-like leaves grew out around a stalk in the middle of the pot. The leaves operated the pot¡¯s controls. Small branches grew out of the stalk. The branches rustled as it faced the hrrnna.


    I wished that the spybots were closer so we could get sound, but I didn¡¯t have time to fiddle with them. I¡¯d made it there, allowing me to discover that the spybots had missed an important detail¡ªthere were more aliens behind Tikki and the plant in addition to the hrrnna in front. My implant labeled the two bear-like ones with dual segment torsos and six limbs ¡°waroo.¡±


    I landed between Tikki and the waroo, saying, ¡°Your people sent me to help. They¡¯re just about to leave,¡± to Tikki.


    She said, ¡°Thank you. These sophonts were just about to let us go.¡±


    One of the waroo said, ¡°Going to rip you to bits, murderers.¡±


    The plant¡¯s fronds rustled and my implant translated them as, ¡°I hope you brought guns.¡± It also labeled the plant as an ¡°Emperor¡¯s walking blade¡± plant.


    ¡°Kind of,¡± I said.


    Marcus landed next to me, absorbing the wings back into his body.


    The hrrnna hissed and the waroo backed up a step. Interesting, I thought. Shapeshifters get extra points for scariness around these guys¡ªand then I remembered that the Abominators had been gray skinned shapeshifters. Of course, Marcus didn¡¯t look like an Abominator. They¡¯d been five limbed and hadn¡¯t been shaped at all like a human, but once transformed Marcus had grey skin and however many limbs he wanted. Seeing him couldn¡¯t calm things down at all.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯re not here to fight you, but as members of the Xiniti nation we¡¯re here to protect her. So if you attack, we will, and you''ll be seen as criminals in the eyes of the Alliance.¡±


    "Won''t be much of a change," one of the waroo growled and they charged us. So did the hrrnna.


    ¡°Dammit,¡± the plant said, and a turret popped out of the bottom of its pot.

 KTepolu: Part 9

    I fired the sonics at both waroo on the theory that sound would hurt anything with ears and it turned out to be a good theory. The waroo¡¯s charge stopped and they tried to cover their ears with their front paws.


    I kept the sound on them, hoping they would run away, but suspecting they¡¯d charge me to make it stop.


    Contacting Marcus through our implants, I asked Marcus, ¡°Can you grab her and fly away? I¡¯ll keep them off you.¡±


    ¡°It sounds better than fighting alien bears and evil space ponies.¡± He twisted and ran toward Tikki, wings growing on his back.


    At about the same time, the hrrnna used their small forelimbs to pull pistols from holsters on their chests. At about the same time, a series of popping noises came from the plant¡¯s direction. Then in my helmet¡¯s 360 degree vision, blue sparks spread from a spot on the hrrnna¡¯s chest.


    It fell over as the hrrnna on its left dodged sideways, causing other aliens on the walkway to scatter. The hrrnna on the right aimed its gun at Tikki, charging as it fired.


    I turned, deciding that hitting the hrrnna with sonics took priority over the waroo, but it wasn¡¯t necessary. The bubble shaped space around Tikki changed, stretching and rippling like everything outside a spaceship in near space. Surrounded by the bubble, the hrrnna slowed to a crawl. It looked like slow motion replays from a baseball game or maybe from The Matrix, but slower, much slower.


    Whatever it was that the hrrnna had fired appeared as an orange ball within the bubble. It had fired three times before the bubble appeared, and the three balls glowed, each on a slightly different trajectory, all of them aimed at Tikki.


    Unlike anything else within the bubble, Tikki wasn¡¯t affected. She blurred, knocking the gun out of the hrrnna¡¯s hand. Waiting until all of its legs were off the ground, she pulled each leg toward herself and pushed the hrrnna¡¯s body away from her until it was diagonal in the air.


    I would have watched longer but a roar told me that the waroo had realized that I¡¯d stopped aiming the sonics at them. I jumped to the side of Tikki¡¯s time bubble (or so I guessed), partly because the waroo were charging straight at me and I wanted to avoid them, but also because the hrrnna''s burning orange balls were flying in my direction and I didn¡¯t want to be there when the bubble dropped.


    Once I landed, I unloaded the sonics at them again, causing the waroo to freeze, but not for long. This time they ran straight toward me.


    Off to my side, Marcus was shouting, ¡°We¡¯re from the Xiniti. We¡¯re here to help!¡± into the bubble. Past Marcus, the plant had hit the only loose hrrnna with what I was calling a taser bullet. It fell in a shower of blue sparks.


    At almost the same time, the bubble fell and everything inside sped up to real time. The orange balls turned into orange streaks. Two of them hit one of the waroo on its side. It had been trying to avoid the bubble, but that meant presenting its side lengthwise in the wrong direction at the wrong time. One shot hit its first torso segment, releasing red and black gooey liquids. The other hit the meat of one of its legs, blasting through its furry exoskeleton and leaving chunks hanging. The creature howled and fell over.


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    The third shot flew over it and down the street. I hoped it didn¡¯t hit anybody.


    That wasn¡¯t all for the bubble¡¯s effects though. Tikki¡¯s attempt at hrrnna tipping had been successful. The creature landed on its side with audible cracking noises.


    Meanwhile, Marcus had elongated his legs, using them to reach Tikki in one step, grab her and fly away, shrinking his legs on the way up. Tikki didn¡¯t resist.


    I activated the rocket pack, shooting into the air after them. The remaining undamaged waroo snapped at me, but not with any real chance of catching me. After that, it pulled something from its pouch, and sprayed it on the other waroo¡¯s wounds, keening all the while.


    I contacted K¡¯Tepolu¡¯s emergency address with my implant and reported the attack, giving video that my implant had logged to support my claim, and telling them that the hrrnna and waroo would need medical attention.


    The computer voice on the other end asked, ¡°And who will be paying for their medical care?¡±


    ¡°Them?¡± I replied. ¡°Their insurance company? I don¡¯t know. Is that my problem?¡±


    In an emotionless voice, it responded, ¡°K¡¯Tepolu has a financial understanding with the Hrrnna Confederacy. The Hrrnna will receive care. The Waroo Peerage lacks any similar agreement.¡±


    I landed behind Marcus and Tikki on one of the platforms for fliers. Tikki was moving her hair away from her face and back over her shoulders. ¡°So, you¡¯ll just let them die?¡±


    The voice responded, ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll pay for it.¡± Hopefully the Xiniti wouldn¡¯t be annoyed.


    ¡°That will be acceptable.¡± The connection ended.


    I followed them off the landing platform and onto the gravity train¡¯s boarding platform. The train wasn¡¯t there yet and there wasn¡¯t much of a crowd, so we stood together, but basically alone.


    As my suit absorbed my helmet, Marcus grinned. ¡°I guess that worked. It was kind of scary for a second there. I thought they might try to beat us up, but when the hrrnna pulled out guns? That was terrifying.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know what those were¡ª¡° except then my implant told me and we both said, ¡°plasma guns¡° together. ¡°Anyway, I didn¡¯t know if they¡¯d make it past my armor since this is just a version of the stealth suit.¡±


    Tikki reached out and tapped my armor. ¡°I¡¯m no expert on armor, but it might have.¡± Then she nodded at me. ¡°I¡¯m Tikki, and I¡¯m so sorry you had to come all the way out here for me. I didn¡¯t know the ship was leaving. None of us have implants, so we have to use comm bracelets. Mine has been having problems connecting. I just got all the messages here on the platform.¡±


    She held out her left arm to show me a cream colored bracelet that stood out against her skin. As she did, my implant informed me that it¡¯s customary among the Abominator bred humans here to bow, but younger people would nod except in formal situations. I could tell that information was connected to specifics about Abominator breeding practices, but I didn¡¯t have time to pursue it.


    Giving a nod, I said, ¡°I¡¯m Nick,¡± and began to say, ¡°Why did you come out here anyway¡ª¡°


    A rustling noise came from behind me. The implant interpreted it as, ¡°You¡¯re leaving and you¡¯ve got a ship?¡±


    We all turned to find the plant hovering next to us in its pot. ¡°I need to get out of here.¡±


    Marcus and I looked at at each other, but before either of us could say anything, the plant continued, ¡°Look, I helped you. Don¡¯t flake out on me.¡±

 KTepolu: Part 10

    ¡°I¡­¡± I thought about it. Did I trust some random plant I¡¯d just met? I didn¡¯t know him. On the other hand, he¡¯d taken Tikki¡¯s side.


    Tikki¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Of course you can come with us. You helped me. It¡¯s the least we can do.¡±


    Thinking about it, I knew that we had at least three jumps before we got to the their colony. Maybe he¡¯d be willing to get off earlier?


    ¡°Just to warn you,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯re non-Xiniti members of the Xiniti nation, and we¡¯re escorting her people to a place I¡¯m not even allowed to name that¡¯s out in the middle of nowhere. So you may not want to go the whole way and you¡¯ll want to keep it quiet.¡±


    The plant made a humming noise that the implant translated as a grunt. ¡°That¡¯s something to remember. The Xiniti have a hell of a reputation and I don¡¯t want to be on their bad side, but I¡¯m still coming with you. A business deal went bad and my customer put up a bounty. I¡¯ve got no chance to survive here. Somewhere else? Maybe.¡±


    Tikki frowned. ¡°He won¡¯t get you in trouble, will he?¡±


    I said, ¡°I hope not.¡±


    Marcus shook his head. ¡°I doubt it. The way I understand it, we can get things done however we want as long as we get them done.¡±


    Tikki sighed. ¡°Good,¡± and then she smiled at the plant. ¡°I know everyone else¡¯s name, but not yours. ¡°What should I call you?¡±


    The plant¡¯s branches rustled, giving a fleeting impression of the sound of wind. ¡°My name is Crawls-Through-Desert.¡±


    She cocked her head. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ an interesting name for a plant.¡±


    It¡¯s branches hummed again. ¡°It means that I go places where no plant should go. Knowing where I am right now, I can¡¯t say my people named me wrong. By the way, what¡¯s your ship¡¯s berth? I should have my things delivered.¡±


    I thought about that for a second. ¡°We don¡¯t have any cargo space, so I hope you don¡¯t have that much stuff.¡±


    The plant¡¯s branches rustled again. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    About that time, the train glided to a stop in front of us. After it disgorged its passengers, we stepped inside and found seats.


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    As we were settled into our seats, Crawls-Through-Desert stuck its pot to the wall with some kind of adhesive. I missed exactly where it came from.


    Tikki looked between Marcus and me. ¡°How do humans join the Xiniti? I thought they hated us.¡±


    Marcus shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m just here with my cousin.¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t hate us,¡± I said, keeping my voice low. ¡°From what I¡¯ve seen, I think they might like us a little. Anyway, it¡¯s a simple thing. We killed a Xiniti outlaw and they made us citizens.¡±


    ¡°Damn,¡± Crawls-Through-Desert said, angling his leaves in my direction, ¡°you¡¯re very dangerous or very lucky.¡±


    Tikki shook her head. ¡°They¡¯re strange. I don¡¯t think any of us in the Human Ascendency ever have understood what they wanted. They destroyed the Masters, but they never destroyed us¡ªand they could have. They¡¯ve destroyed whole star systems when our people attacked them and when one group found ancient technology¡­¡±


    She lapsed into silence, leaning back into her seat.


    ¡°So what¡¯s your power?¡± Marcus asked. ¡°It looked like you were controlling time.¡±


    She pursed her lips. ¡°I think that¡¯s what it is. We have active powers, but the Abominators viewed mygene line as a failure because we can only use our abilities a few times a day. The only reason they didn¡¯t destroy us is because they get speedsters when they breed us with the right lines.¡±


    Marcus asked her something else, but Jaclyn called my implant. I answered the call.


    Jaclyn¡¯s voice appeared in my head. ¡°How are things going? Are you going to be back soon?¡±


    ¡°About thirty minutes. We¡¯ve got Tikki.¡±


    ¡°Thank God,¡± she said. ¡°The colonists aren¡¯t waiting. They¡¯re still freaking out about being chased and they want to go the moment we¡¯re ready. So don¡¯t drop Tikki off with them. She¡¯ll ride with us. Anything else I should know?¡±


    I didn¡¯t want to tell her, but I had to. ¡°We¡¯re bringing along a plant.¡±


    ¡°You bought a plant?¡± I could hear disbelief in her voice.


    ¡°No, Tikki got attacked by some hrrnna. A sentient plant helped defend her, and when it asked to hitch a ride, she said ¡®yes¡¯.¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s voice rose. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say ¡®no¡¯?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s in trouble. People want to kill it here, and she¡¯d already said it could. I¡¯m thinking we¡¯ve got a couple stops before we get to the colony. We¡¯ll drop it off at one of them. My implant says they¡¯ve got decent populations and a lot of through traffic at their gates. He should be fine. Better, we¡¯ll be using gates, so he won¡¯t see our drive or anything else he shouldn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re sure,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°but this better not blow up in our faces.¡±


    Half an hour later, we were on the ship. Crawls-Through-Desert¡¯s cargo had been delivered. It was the size of a large refrigerator. Jaclyn shook her head as I stared at it, but there was nothing to be done. We all strapped in and I floated the ship out of of our berth and the landing bay.


    Soon we could see stars again as we got into line with the colonists¡¯ ship, a long oval shaped ship with stubby wings. None of the other ships registered to use the gate were obviously from the Human Ascendancy¡¯s Genetic Management Office. We went through the gate with the colonists¡¯ ship following us. The world outside turned white and our ships flew toward Alliance space.


    We didn¡¯t arrive there alone.

 Between: Part 1

    Excerpts From the Interstellar News Network:


    New Developments in the Issakass War


    The Issakass First Fleet that had been attacking the Hardor Imperium appears to be in disarray following the destruction of its flagship. The flagship had been directing an attack on Hardor Prime when it turned and rammed another battleship of its own fleet.


    At approximately the same time, the ships of the Issakass fleet began to fire upon themselves, resulting in losing 50% of their fleet before they managed to withdraw and turn off their weapons.


    When the flagship was boarded after the battle, Hardor forces discovered that the command staff of the Issakass flagship had been killed with bladed weapons, in some cases beheaded. Laser scoring from within the bridge indicates the personnel were aware of the attacker, but unable to stop the being.


    Additional inspection of the flagship¡¯s computer systems indicate that it had released an update to the fleet¡¯s friend or foe recognition database that misidentified Issakass ships as hostile vessels. It¡¯s believed the fleet¡¯s automated weapons¡¯ use of that database caused the fleet to fire upon itself.


    Until four years ago, the Issakass were best known for their merchant ships which could be found throughout the galaxy. Armed with devastating weapons whose designs are based on technology recovered from archeological sites, the reptilian Issakass are now engaged in a war of conquest that includes nearly sixty systems and more than five fronts¡­ (More)


    Traveler Advisory: The Border with Human Space


    Travel within human space is restricted due to the violent and dangerous nature of the inhabitants, but those who must travel within its boundaries should use Xiniti patrolled jump gates. Of particular note is the Precursor archeological site in System 5151 of the Human Quarantine.


    More than fifty ships have disappeared while investigating the site. Thirty of the fifty were armed¡­(More)


    Human Ascendancy¡¯s Fleet on the Move


    A naval task force from the Human Ascendancy, humanity¡¯s oldest and most aggressive post-Abominator nation has been seen on the border of Alliance and Human Quarantine space.


    Reports indicate that they may be traveling toward the K¡¯Tepolu system¡­(More)


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    * * *


    We came out of blink space into the H¡¯spar system with not one, but two ships behind us. One ship would have made sense. The colonists¡¯ ship (named¡ªI¡¯m not kidding¡ªThe Bug¡¯s Revenge), a bulky and slow design usually used for cargo, lumbered after us. Behind it, however, flew a much smaller ship. I knew the wedge shape. It was a Stinger class deep space fighter, a ship used throughout the galaxy.


    The Human Ascendancy assigned them to government agents that needed to travel through hostile systems, a phrase that accurately described most systems in human space¡ªeven within the Human Ascendancy.


    It hailed us. ¡°Bug¡¯s Revenge and Xiniti ship surrender. You can¡¯t outrun us or out fight us. Your only hope is to stand down and appeal to our mercy. Breeders, your escape was an impressive feat that only makes your gene lines worth more, not less. Come back now and your indiscretion will be forgiven. Resist and we¡¯ll destroy you despite your value.¡±


    The Bug¡¯s Revenge broadcast a woman¡¯s voice. ¡°Ascendancy ship. Thanks for your offer but we¡¯re not stopping. We don¡¯t want to go home and breed warriors for the military.¡±


    Turrets (at least five) popped out of the Bug¡¯s Revenge¡¯s skin and that hull glowed. Interesting. It wasn¡¯t like my ship¡¯s shields, but they had shields too. It appeared that theirs had been integrated into the hull.


    The Stinger fighter took the pointed invitation to leave and zagged toward the right.


    It would be nice to say that all our problems were solved and we continued peacefully on to the next jump gate, but that wouldn¡¯t have been true.


    What actually happened is that I used my implants and extended my thoughts in the direction the ship had turned, seeing one thing I¡¯d expected and many things I didn¡¯t. What I expected to see was the gas giant H¡¯spar and the four populated ice worlds that orbited it. What I did not expect to see was a Human Ascendancy carrier cruiser. It was launching fighters.


    Even with The Bug¡¯s Revenge¡¯s unexpected fitness for fighting, we didn¡¯t have a chance and I knew it. That, of course, made it all the more irritating when the ship¡¯s AI started communicating with me.


    [I¡¯ve run several thousand simulations and you don¡¯t successfully fight your way across the system to the next jump gate in any of them.]


    ¡°I guessed,¡± I told it.


    [I¡¯d recommend a strategic withdrawal.]


    ¡°In process,¡± I said and opened communications with the colonists¡¯ ship.


    ¡°Start your near space drive and follow us,¡± I told the captain.


    ¡°That won¡¯t do any good,¡± he said. ¡°We won¡¯t reach the next system for years with a near space drive and they¡¯ve probably mined near space around the system¡¯s second jump gate.¡±


    ¡°Have you ever followed another ship through jump? Follow us and make sure your FTL envelope matches ours. Ours will change twice, once to jump and once to blink.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible for a ship your size,¡± he said, his voice growing louder.


    ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± I said, and transitioned the ship into near space. The Bug¡¯s Revenge followed. The lack of other options had made me more persuasive than normal.


    We passed through jump space into blink space and out into normal space with the colonists¡¯ ship behind us, and one less secret.

 Between: Part 2

    No one waited for us when we came out of blink space this time. On the other hand, bearing in mind that we weren¡¯t using the jumpgate system anyway, I didn¡¯t feel the need to follow the standard paths through space.


    I¡¯d taken advantage of our speed in jump space to allow us to blink in a spot that allowed us options that jumpgates didn''t because they were still too close to planetary gravity wells.


    We came out in system 2411 within Edge sector. The numbers instead of a name meant that it had no populated worlds and hadn¡¯t ever had populated worlds during any recent civilization.


    What it had was two stars, three gas giants, and an assortment of lifeless worlds. The gas giants were the best part because we needed fuel after that jump and we could skim water off of any of the gas giants. Then we¡¯d only have one jump to go before we reached the colony.


    I aimed the ship toward the nearest gas giant, notifying the colonists what I was doing, and let go of my awareness of the ship, setting it to notify me if anything important changed. Snapping back to reality as opposed to a virtual world where I was the ship, I first became conscious of the smells¡ªhuman sweat, dirt, and something else.


    I swung my chair around, noting that Cassie had taken the weapons and shields console next to me in the front. She hadn¡¯t done that before, but that wasn¡¯t the only detail I¡¯d missed. I¡¯d known that Cassie and Jaclyn had brought Katuk, but with everything I¡¯d barely had time to say anything to him.


    He looked like any other Xiniti¡ªhumanoid but with gray skin, a large, bald head, and wide, black eyes. He wore a silver, form fitting suit made of liquid metal that by all accounts contained powerful weapons.


    Another thing I hadn¡¯t noticed? That the plant¡¯s pot was three feet wide and that the plant itself was almost as tall as I was. It had placed its pot next to the wall, but now it floated into the middle of the room with the rest of us.


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    Tikki sat next to Jaclyn. They¡¯d been talking as I turned. Close to them, Marcus put a sketchbook and a pen back into his bag and looked over at me. ¡°We lost them, right?¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± I said.


    Cassie shook her head, eyes watching something we couldn¡¯t see. ¡°We lost them. There¡¯s nothing on the sensors. Plus, I checked with the AI. Hal says that if they¡¯d followed us, we¡¯d have seen them by now.¡±


    Then she shook her head and blinked, seeing us instead of stars. ¡°Those implants are amazing. I get the same level of integration with the ship that I get with the gun.¡±


    Katuk spoke in English, his voice so quiet that I wondered if Xiniti ever spoke aloud among themselves. It didn¡¯t matter though. My implant amplified the words in my head.


    ¡°We¡¯ve had implants for more than seven hundred years,¡± he said, not meeting any of our eyes. ¡°We¡¯ve modified our bodies to work better with them than without them. I¡¯ve received additional implants that would rip you apart without severe modifications that we¡¯ve worked into our DNA.¡±


    I flashed back, remembering the Xiniti we¡¯d fought. He¡¯d been a terror. It had mostly been speed, but the way it cut into Bloodmaiden¡¯s armor back then argued for strength too.


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°I can believe it. The Xiniti we fought moved fast. Normal humans can¡¯t handle that much speed.¡±


    Katuk did look up as she talked about the Xiniti we¡¯d fought, but lowered his eyes when she stopped. Interesting. I could see how he might be curious.


    ¡°So,¡± Jaclyn continued, ¡°you¡¯ve been plotting the route. What¡¯s next?¡±


    I smiled a little. ¡°It¡¯s the last jump. That¡¯s the good news. The bad news is that it actually has to be a jump. We¡¯ve been using blinks and they take basically no time at all. I mean, a minute is pretty close to instantaneous when it comes to interstellar distances. The problem is that jumps are a week long for the people inside the spaceship. It¡¯s not always a week, but it¡¯s between five and nine days, so roughly a week.¡±


    Marcus laughed. ¡°A week? Why?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s complicated, but basically it¡¯s due to gravity. There are too many heavy things in this system to go into blink space and that¡¯s true of all the systems in this area. They¡¯re all a little too dense.¡±


    Crawls-Through-Desert grunted (according to the translator) and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to go dormant. Don¡¯t chew on my leaves.¡±


    Then it floated back toward the wall and began to excrete some kind of sticky goo from its leaves that stuck the pot to the wall.


    Someone was going to have to clean that up, and I had a bad feeling that it would be me.

 Between: Part 3

    Frowning at the goo, I decided that Crawls-Through-Desert could clean it up and wondered how I¡¯d make that stick. Meanwhile, Jaclyn had thought of something.


    ¡°Seven of us in one room? For a week? That¡¯s going to be interesting and by interesting I mean, it¡¯s going to be interesting if we¡¯re still talking to each other by the end of it. But that¡¯s not all, do we have food for a week?¡±


    Marcus held up his hand. ¡°I¡¯ve got this one. Yes. We¡¯ve got food. The ship¡¯s got a machine that takes biological matter and converts it into food bars based on its profile for different species¡¯ nutritional needs¡ª¡°


    Jaclyn¡¯s eyes narrowed and she stared at Marcus. ¡°Whoa. Wait a second. Where¡¯s this biological matter coming from? Because there¡¯s only one place I can think of where we¡¯d get spare ¡®biological matter¡¯,¡± she glanced at the bathroom in the back, ¡°and I don¡¯t want to eat it.¡±


    Tikki shook her head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry very much. All the food systems that repurpose biological waste as food follow very strict guidelines so they¡¯re perfectly safe. Well, except for ones the ones the Duguns use, but no one else uses those anyway. The Duguns evolved from carrion eaters after all.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Jaclyn began.


    Waving down Jaclyn¡¯s objections with both hands, Marcus said, ¡°It¡¯s all real food. I bought it from the grocery store and everything. It¡¯s normal stuff¡ªmeat, vegetables, spices¡­ I even gave it recipes I liked¡ª¡°


    In a lower voice, she said, ¡°What kind of recipes?¡±


    ¡°You know, normal stuff¡ªpizza, hamburgers, pot roast, ribs¡­ Plus stuff that Grandma makes. Plus food I like from the D¡¯Onofrio side of the family¡ªand that includes the restaurants. Awesome stuff. Oh yeah¡­ And also some Indian, Thai, Korean, Vietamese and Mexican food because I like it. I tried for sushi too, but I¡¯m not sure how well that worked.¡±


    Marcus grinned. ¡°Seriously. You¡¯re going to like it.¡±


    Cassie glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say it made food bars? None of that stuff sounds like food bars.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded along as she talked. ¡°Exactly. Plus, what about breakfasts? You didn¡¯t say anything about that.¡±


    Marcus shrugged. ¡°Breakfasts are in there. It¡¯ll be fine, and yes, they¡¯re all food bars, but trust me, you¡¯re going to like them. I tried a few and they taste more like the meal than you¡¯d ever expect. Plus, one more thing¡­ We¡¯ve got a couple months of food even with seven people. We¡¯ve got this week covered.¡±


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    ¡°Cool,¡± I said. ¡°What happens when food gets low? It sounds like we¡¯ll run out of ingredients eventually. Does it substitute stuff in?¡±


    ¡°Kinda,¡± Marcus said. ¡°I read in the manual that there¡¯s a point where it prioritizes nutrition over aesthetics. I think it still uses the spices though.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Tikki said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if all of you know it, but I was training to be a life support engineer. They¡¯re required by Alliance law to prioritize nutrition over taste because of some disturbing incidents early in Alliance history where the crews started eating each other when the food grew low.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I can see where that might be a problem in multi-species crews¡ª¡°


    ¡°It was,¡± Tikki said. ¡°There was a passenger ship early in Alliance history where they lost their engines and had to eat the beings that died to survive.¡±


    Jaclyn stuck out her tongue. ¡°Yuck. It sounds like the Donner party.¡±


    Katuk looked from one of them to another. ¡°What¡¯s the Donner party?¡±


    I said, ¡°Travelers on our world got stuck in the mountains during the winter and ate their dead to survive.¡±


    Katuk said, ¡°Sensible. The dead no longer need their bodies and would have wished their companions to survive. It¡¯s simply another way to serve.¡±


    Cassie laughed. ¡°Humans don¡¯t see it that way. Most humans would be horrified to discover cannibalism.¡±


    The Xiniti peered at her. ¡°Certainly it would be wrong if the subject was killed to be eaten, but not if they were already dead and the living needed food.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°By our customs, it would be wrong either way. Sure people have done it, but only if they were desperate. Even then, they should have done something else.¡±


    The ship notified me that we were near the gas giant and I extended the ship¡¯s scoops and aimed for the gas giant. For the next hour, the ship gathered and processed water into fuel. Sometimes gas clouds would fill our view¡ªthe whole of the spaceship surrounded by a cloud.


    Despite the clouds and the planet¡¯s gravity, it didn¡¯t take long to skim and process the fuel. The colonists¡¯ ship did the same behind us and so we both were ready to jump as soon as we left its atmosphere.


    ¡°Last chance to go back to your ship,¡± I told Tikki. ¡°Otherwise you¡¯ll be stuck with us in one small cabin for a week.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯m having much more fun with all of you here. Everyone else is there with their family and I¡¯m by myself, so I don¡¯t know anyone there very well.¡±


    ¡°Okay, then,¡± I told her. ¡°Remember that when you¡¯re competing with the rest of us for the bathroom. You had a chance to avoid it.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°I¡¯ll remember. Besides,¡± she stopped smiling, ¡°even though my powers are limited, they¡¯re active. The breeders try to be nice, but they¡¯re still uncomfortable around me. Even sharing a bathroom is more comfortable than that.¡±


    Not sure exactly what she meant, I nodded and brought the ship into near space. The colonists¡¯ ship joined ours and the stars stretched as we flew away from the gas giant. When we had enough distance, I shifted us into jump drive, pulling the colonists¡¯ ship along with us.


    Once the gray, shadowy shapes of jumpspace appeared in the windows, I stepped out of my chair. We¡¯d be here for five to nine days, depending on how well the assumptions I¡¯d made matched the system we were heading for. However it worked out though, we were stuck here together for a while.


    ¡°Anybody want to play Monopoly?¡± I asked.

 Between: Part 4

    ¡°Monopoly?¡± Jaclyn raised an eyebrow and looked at me. ¡°Seriously? Why?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°To kill time. We¡¯ve got a week in jumpspace and as you can see,¡± I pointed toward the infinite gray outside the window, ¡°it¡¯ s not very interesting. Plus, I was joking a little too. We probably ought to come up with ideas for how we¡¯ll handle it if we have to defend the colony. There¡¯s no question they¡¯re being followed.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°Skip the Monopoly then. Let¡¯s get prepared.¡±


    Cassie laughed. ¡°That figures.¡±


    Katuk said, ¡°On smaller Xiniti ships, we often do simulated drills of attack and defense patterns. On the larger ships, of course, we have facilities for physical training.¡±


    Jaclyn frowned. Tikki unstrapped herself from her seat and looked around the group. ¡°So what¡¯s Monopoly? Is it a game?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a game,¡± Marcus said, ¡°a really, really long game. It¡¯s fun, but it¡¯s not short.¡±


    Tikki nodded along as he spoke. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±


    ¡°Get rich,¡± I said. ¡°If I remember it right, it became popular when a lot of people were poor on our world. So it was a fantasy, I guess. What you try to do is buy property, charge people rent, and become the wealthiest player.¡±


    Watching me with his big, black eyes, Katuk said, ¡°That sounds like a dangerous game. You¡¯re taking money from those you play with and work to acquire more than the others. It seems as though it would breed jealousy and division. Is that the custom on your world?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know the history of other worlds well enough to say that we¡¯ve got more of that than other places.¡±


    Hal, the ship¡¯s AI, spoke before anyone else, his ¡°voice¡± sounding over our implants or in Tikki¡¯s case, her bracelet.


    [If I might interject, I¡¯ve prepared a number of simulations that will put your group through common offensive and defensive situations. You¡¯ll be able to experience and therefore assess group members¡¯ personalities and training in combat.]


    ¡°If everyone¡¯s okay with it,¡± I said.


    Everyone was¡ªexcept for Tikki, and she wasn¡¯t against it as much as unsure. ¡°I¡¯d like to, but I don¡¯t have an implant¡ªjust this bracelet¡ªand I¡¯m not part of their team, so I don¡¯t know where I¡¯d fit in?¡±


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    She looked down at the bracelet.


    Hal responded, [The bracelet will be adequate for this function. As for your presence, their purpose here is to protect civilians. Having a civilian who isn¡¯t a simulation will be useful. Did you participate in the Human Ascendancy¡¯s militia units?]


    Her mouth twisted. ¡°It¡¯s required. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to attend school without it.¡±


    [Then I¡¯ll arm you with standard infantry equipment in some scenarios.]


    The week settled into a rhythm after the first day. We¡¯d run through combat scenarios. Hal simulated combat on ships and between them, on planets, and in the atmosphere above them. Run through Xiniti implants, it felt like we were there. I could hear the rain, and even more impressive, feel and smell it.


    I¡¯d become awake later with my body feeling like I¡¯d slept in a strange position. This was more or less true. And the AI wasn¡¯t wrong. We did become familiar with how people fought. I didn¡¯t have much to learn about Jaclyn, Marcus, or Cassie because I¡¯d been training with them for years. Katuk though? I learned through fighting with him that the Xiniti we¡¯d killed wasn¡¯t an exception. Katuk moved almost as quickly as Jaclyn in his armor even if he wasn¡¯t as strong. He made up for the relative slowness with his weapons¡ªlaser, plasma gun, and a sharp blade.


    Especially at the beginning, Katuk would forget that he wasn¡¯t part of a squad with the exact same abilities. To be fair, we were close. Jaclyn had the speed, Cassie had the weapons, and I had both except that I had to be flying but didn¡¯t have his reflexes.


    Marcus didn¡¯t have any of that¡ªwhich helped. Katuk remembered the differences because Marcus¡¯ shapeshifting didn¡¯t fit the Xiniti paradigm at all.


    Tikki, meanwhile, reveled in all roles Hal used her, appearing as armed support, a kidnapped civilian, powered and unpowered enemies, and even as a spy. Virtual reality let Hal slip her into spots where we didn¡¯t expect to find her, playing them to the hilt¡ªeven the ones where she had to fight us. It may have been the game, but I felt like she¡¯d been trained in hand to hand combat.


    So training took up the days. At night we separated to the degree that we could. I read, watched a movie, or messed with Rocket suit improvement ideas. Marcus drew, Cassie talked with people, and Jaclyn delved deeply into her implant¡¯s culture and history archives, sometimes asking Katuk and Tikki questions.


    On the last night of jump, Tikki said, ¡°We should play it.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Monopoly!¡± Tikki looked around room, grinning. ¡°I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll never have the chance to play it again. So how about just once?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve never liked that game.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll play,¡± Cassie said. ¡°It¡¯s still better than looking out the windows.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not that bad,¡± Marcus told Jaclyn. ¡°What have you got to lose?¡±


    Narrowing her eyes, Jaclyn said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. More time to that game?¡±


    ¡°If it will make things easier,¡± Katuk said, ¡°I¡¯ll play.¡±


    I was about to say the same when my implant informed me that we were about to drop out of jump. I hadn¡¯t been the only one notified either because everyone strapped in. Watching as the ship counted down, I connected with the ship, feeling its sensors, weapons, and shields.


    We dropped out of jump, the gray fading into the blackness of normal space. Even as we did, I knew that something was wrong. The sensors showed me hundreds, possibly thousands of small dots. I turned on the shields, turned the ship, and radioed the colonists¡¯ ship, telling them to do the same.


    The space between us and the planet had been thoroughly mined.

 Between: Part 5

    Of course, they hadn¡¯t mined the entire solar system¡ªjust the best places to come out of jump space. We¡¯d appeared on the dark side of the planet. Mines surrounded the area in a sphere. Unlike a normal minefield, the people hadn¡¯t designed the pattern to hide the mines. They¡¯d designed it to make them extremely obvious.


    Checking the sensors showed that that the mines weren¡¯t close to us. A ship large enough for a jump or blink drive would have had enough space to turn around and jump out. So, this wasn¡¯t so much an attempt to kill as much as a pointed invitation to leave. I imagined that all the nearest jump points had been mined.


    If we turned on the shields and let Hal calculate the route, we might be able to blow through them before much damage had been done. The same wouldn¡¯t be true for the colonists¡¯ ship. It would go down in flames. In space, mines could aim themselves at their targets. Plus, they¡¯d probably mined near space too, so that wasn¡¯t an option either.


    Of course, that assumed that the mines were owned by unfriendly forces.


    Before I could call back the colonists to ask them if they knew more, a message came from the planet. A deep, deep voice said, ¡°This is Alliance world Hideaway¡¯s starport. Identify yourselves.¡±


    The colonists¡¯ ship replied first. The male voice I¡¯d heard before said, ¡°This is The Bug¡¯s Revenge. We were hired to carry Jadzen Akri and her followers to Hideaway by the Alliance government. The ship accompanying us carries members of the Xiniti nation who were escorting us here.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve been given your public ID. Send us your private ID to allow us to confirm. If you don¡¯t think you¡¯ll pass confirmation, I¡¯d advise leaving the way you came in.¡±


    In an even voice, the man on The Bug¡¯s Revenge said, ¡°No worries, Hideaway. Transmitting ID.¡±


    ¡°Xiniti ship Beeblebrox is also transmitting ID,¡± I said, hoping there weren¡¯t any problems. K¡¯Tepolu hadn¡¯t cared about our ID. Of course, a big, outlaw station might care less about a ship¡¯s identity than a hidden world of refugees.


    The deep voice spoke again. ¡°Identities confirmed. We¡¯ll send you a path through the mines.¡±


    As quickly as he said it, the ship received the message and I read it. Not sure how much of this anyone else had heard, I checked the ship¡¯s settings, found that communication was private by default, and shared that with everyone.


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    I heard Cassie¡¯s voice in my mind. ¡°I¡¯m keeping the weapons ready. I¡¯m assuming you want the shields on.¡±


    It hadn¡¯t occurred to me that she could take control of those, but on the other hand she was sitting at the weapons and shields console. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°we need the shields until we get through the minefield. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll need weapons, but you never know, I guess. Just don¡¯t make us look menacing, okay? I don¡¯t want them to think we¡¯re going to attack.¡±


    ¡°Course not,¡± Cassie said, ¡°but they don¡¯t seem to have the same philosophy.¡±


    She had a point. The mines didn¡¯t widen to give us a comfortable distance as we flew through them. The colony had given us a route that gave us all the room we needed to maneuver and no more. I flew only as quickly as I felt comfortable¡ªwhich is to say slowly. I could only wonder why they¡¯d do it.


    They¡¯d given The Bug¡¯s Revenge a route with more distance from the mines. They made it out before us.


    All the same, it didn¡¯t take too long because for all the dots in the sensors, I¡¯d been right about them protecting choke points. Once we were away from the spot we¡¯d appeared at, space was as empty as its name implied.


    Following Hideaway¡¯s starport¡¯s instructions, we flew around from the night side where we¡¯d come out of jump into the planet¡¯s day. The starport lay near the mouth of a river on a massive continent at least the size of Africa. My strongest impression of the place could be summarized in one word: green.


    Plants covered everywhere I could see. Tall grasses blanketed the fields. Trees and flowering bushes covered the rest of the land near the settlement, some of the flowers as much as two feet wide.


    The starport, however, was something of a disappointment. Mind you, I should have known what it would be like when I¡¯d seen the houses¡ªhundreds of identical egg-shaped buildings that must have been the product of some sort of kit.


    Despite that, I still wasn¡¯t prepared to discover that the starport had a collection of three egg-shaped buildings and half a dozen dirt circles, some larger, and some smaller. That was the landing pad. The deep voice directed us to land near The Bug¡¯s Revenge.


    People descended from the spaceship in a large group, all of them centered around a blonde woman in flowing robes. The question of who led the group couldn¡¯t have been clearer if she¡¯d worn a crown. They all watched as she descended and followed her as she strode up to our ship. My implant identified her has Jadzen Akri.


    We¡¯d only had one very short flight of steps to work with, so we were all there waiting for her.


    ¡°You¡¯re the Xiniti escort,¡± she said, looking us over, and undoubtedly noting the humans, a single Xiniti, and a floating plant. ¡°Interesting. Tikki get your things and come with us. The rest of you can go. You have our thanks for your service in getting us here safe, but there¡¯s no further need for you.¡±


    Cassie met Jadzen¡¯s eyes, jaw set, voice even. ¡°No. Our mission¡¯s not over and we¡¯re staying until it is.¡±

 Between: Part 6

    Jadzen blinked and her mouth tightened. I guessed that people didn¡¯t argue with her under normal circumstances. Before I could say anything, Jaclyn started talking.


    ¡°We don''t want to argue, but we¡¯ve got our orders. We¡¯re supposed to escort you here, but we''re also supposed to stay until reinforcements come. My understanding is that they¡¯ll come soon.¡±


    Standing straight and looking Jadzen in the eye, Jaclyn acted as if this were a meeting of equals instead of whatever Jadzen thought it was.


    Jadzen glanced over at Katuk, the sole Xiniti here. ¡°I assume that you¡¯re the leader? We don¡¯t need you to stay. We¡¯ve been hiding people here for years now. No one who doesn¡¯t know where it is can find this place.¡±


    A yellow alert appeared in my helmet¡¯s HUD. Knowing those were minor, I ignored it. I could check it out later.


    Meanwhile, Katuk¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°I¡¯m not the leader of this mission. No one has made clear to me that there is a leader, but that one,¡± he pointed at me, ¡°may well be the leader.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I might be the leader on the ship, but not always on the ground. We switch off. Anyway, she¡¯s right,¡± I nodded toward Cassie. ¡°Our mission requires us to stay here until reinforcements show up.¡±


    Jadzen¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°We¡¯ve never needed protection before.¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°Did you ever get met along the way with a small fleet of ships? You got tailed to K¡¯Tepolu. There¡¯s no reason to think they can¡¯t tail you here.¡±


    Jadzen stared at the group of us, her eyes finally settling on Tikki. ¡°Then follow your orders. Tikki, remove your luggage from the ship before it leaves.¡±


    Tikki said, ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am,¡± and went briefly into our ship before she ran over to join the line in front of The Bug¡¯s Revenge.


    While Tikki ran, Jadzen left, escorted by a group of men and women. One man looked back, his mouth twisted in an expression that I interpreted as embarrassment. Then he turned back to the group as they walked away, eventually disappearing behind a long white spaceship with a brown smudge on its side.


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    Even to my eyes, it looked old and the implant supplemented my guess with knowledge. It was an Edge class human transport. It had been popular with settlers more than one hundred and fifty years ago. The implant couldn¡¯t sense it¡¯s serial number, but it noted that the hull¡¯s shape matched the shape of earlier models in the class¡¯ history.


    The other two spaceships parked at the airport were deep space fighters. The implant didn¡¯t peg either of them as being as old as the transport, but they were both twice as old than I was. While Alliance technology didn¡¯t appear to change as quickly as ours did, I doubted that forty year old fighters could be cutting edge.


    Katuk interrupted my thoughts, using his implant to connect to all of us. ¡°Her attitude isn¡¯t unusual. The Alliance was grateful that we destroyed the Abominators, but they fear us. The humans saw us destroy their masters and kill no small number of their own kind. It¡¯s understandable that they fear us too, but I would have hoped that they might trust you.¡±


    Marcus watched them go. ¡°Yeah. The fact that we were human didn¡¯t make things any easier. Of course, they¡¯re running from humans. So they might not be willing to trust us just because we¡¯re human.¡±


    Katuk¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡°Interesting insight. We forget how divided other species are.¡±


    Jaclyn snorted. ¡°You haven¡¯t seen divided. Go read about our wars, or for that matter, the Civil Rights movement. Then you¡¯ll begin to get it.¡±


    Katuck¡¯s voice continued as she spoke. ¡°Yes. That is exactly what I lack a true understanding of. In my people, Xiniti are Xiniti and that is all. In that sense you are all Xiniti and your perspectives count as much as mine. We do have people who ask if you truly can be in the same way that you wonder if I can truly understand your history.¡±


    This felt like it was going to enter into territory that we¡¯d never be able to handle. I considered what I could say, but then I noticed the notification I¡¯d ignored back when Jadzen had been speaking with us. I decided I probably ought to check that.


    As that thought struck me, Cassie spoke, ¡°Hey everybody, I think it¡¯s time to reel it in and start thinking small. We¡¯re here to protect these people. We¡¯re not here to figure out who the real Xiniti are. I think our next step ought to be figuring out what their defenses are like, right? They knew when we came out of jump, so all the mines must signal them or something. I think we need to know where they have mines and what else they¡¯ve got. My bet is that if we go over and bug their starport staff, we¡¯ll be able to find out everything we need to know.¡±


    Marcus nodded, ¡°And we¡¯ll also find out that it¡¯s only one guy, I bet.¡±


    ¡°Whose voice is kind of hot,¡± Cassie added.


    Jaclyn looked at her. ¡°Is that what your speech was really all about?¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°No, but it¡¯s a bonus, right?¡±


    I checked the suit¡¯s alert. When Jadzen had been speaking, the suit had activated a defense I¡¯d made against people capable of controlling minds with their voice. It had activated at a low level, so it might be that she used it unconsciously, but it might be that she used it subtlety.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°where did that plant go?¡±

 Between: Part 7

    I checked with the ship and could see Crawls-Through-Desert next to the refrigerator sized box in the ship¡¯s cabin. In a moment, it was floating out the hatch next to him. I could see that as good news given how much space it freed up, but at the same time, I¡¯d never meant to bring him here and I didn¡¯t know what was in the box.


    We all turned to see the plant on the box floating in the air next to the ship.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I used the stealth suit¡¯s speakers to give me some volume. ¡°What¡¯s in the box?¡±


    The plant slowed, branches rustling and bending. Some combination of the implant and my brain interpreted it as having a New York City accent¡ªfrom the Bronx, maybe? My only knowledge of NYC accents came from movies.


    ¡°Stuff that every colonist needs¡ªbatteries, solar chargers, water to hydrogen processing equipment and mini fusion plants. All for a low, low price.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°How would they even buy? How would you process payments here unless you take physical cash?¡±


    The plant laughed. ¡°You¡¯re from a low tech world, aren¡¯t you? They¡¯ve got an ansible. They run it behind so many fake addresses it¡¯s practically anonymous, but it works and they¡¯ve got money. Check your implants, you¡¯ll know what I mean.¡±


    I checked. The ansible didn¡¯t call itself the Hideaway ansible. It claimed to be a deep space relay in a completely different sector. I checked if there was an Earth ansible. There wasn¡¯t, but the Xiniti base next to the jump gate did have one. It didn¡¯t have a connection to Earth¡¯s internet and if they listened to our radio or TV broadcasts, they didn¡¯t make them available over the ansible, but how crazy was that?


    On the other hand, with the number of extraterrestrial visitors we¡¯d had, it stood to reason that they¡¯d want a connection to galactic civilization.


    A quick check told me that ansibles cost a lotof money¡ªthe kind it would take to buy your own private planet on the edge of Alliance space. So, at least one of the colonists had a lot of money. My first guess would be Jadzen Akri. She seemed willing enough to order people around.


    It seemed like a fairly obvious security problem for Hideaway, though. Even keeping the fake address in mind, it only took one loose lipped colonist to tell everyone where the planet was. Or did it? If I weren¡¯t the pilot, jump space and normal space would look the same everywhere and if the crew deliberately attempted to confuse the passengers, they might not have any clue where they were.


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    Well, except in this case, they were a blink and jump from K¡¯Tepolu. That wouldn¡¯t narrow it down enough to be easy, especially considering our non-standard drive, but it made it easier.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to look over what you¡¯re selling these people before you leave,¡± I told Crawls-Through-Desert. ¡°We¡¯re supposed to be protecting these people.¡±


    ¡°You betcha, kid.¡± The plant and box landed in front of me.


    Jaclyn turned to me. ¡°Are you even going to recognize something dangerous?¡±


    ¡°Within limits,¡± I said.


    The box opened as I spoke, containing many small devices, all of them embedded in a translucent foam. Light glowing at the bottom of the box made devices at every level visible. They weren¡¯t a consistent shape though many of them were cylinders that could fit in the palm of my hand. Some were almost the height of my knee, but wider. It didn¡¯t take much to identify the devices as exactly what he¡¯d said they were.


    I could have taken them all apart to check for bombs, but after randomly inspecting the insides of a few different devices, I believed it.


    Cassie questioned it while I dug through the box. ¡°Don¡¯t you think just happening to have exactly the sort of thing that colonists might need is suspicious?¡±


    Crawls-Through-Desert¡¯s leaves and branches rustled. ¡°Not at all! I saw my opportunity and I took it. I needed to get off the station and hide so I bought products that colonists would need. When I saw Tikki, I knew she and her people would need what I was selling. My only miscalculation was choosing human colonists. I wouldn¡¯t have been attacked if I¡¯d been with anyone else.¡±


    ¡°No kidding,¡± Cassie watched the plant as it floated next to the box. ¡°It seems like the fight worked out pretty well for you though. We didn¡¯t have time to vet you or your stuff because we were in a hurry to leave.¡±


    The plant said, ¡°Eh. I¡¯d have preferred not to get this far out from civilization. I¡¯m going to want to leave after a while, and now I¡¯m betting I¡¯ll have to get a berth on a military ship. That¡¯s a pain.¡±


    I put the casing of the last device back on it and placed it into the box. ¡°Done. It looks like what it says it is.¡±


    Cassie shrugged. ¡°Then I guess you¡¯re free. Just don¡¯t scam them. We¡¯re all stuck here for a while.¡±


    Crawls-Through-Desert flew a little higher as the box shut itself. ¡°I conduct myself with the greatest of all possible personal ethics.¡±


    The box flew off to join it in the air and they floated away toward the eggshell village.


    Jaclyn eyed Cassie. ¡°I hope that thing¡¯s just an opportunist. Anyway, I guess we¡¯d better go check out the starport.¡±


    Marcus grinned. ¡°Yeah. For all we know, the guy might only stay there when he knows he¡¯s got something coming in. He might have already left for the day.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°I¡¯ve been watching.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± Cassie said. ¡°By the way, has anyone else been really looking around this place? Do it right now. What do you see?¡±


    I looked. Plants surrounded the place, many of them two feet around with green stems. There were trees with hard, bark-like protection, but they weren¡¯t the most common large plants. That wasn¡¯t the most interesting thing though. There were white poles of some kind of artificial material around the edge of the starport and the village next to it. Just past the poles, the air glittered up to a height of about one hundred feet.


    I could easily see putting up a force field on an alien planet, but one hundred feet seemed like overkill.

 Between: Part 8

    Katuk glanced toward the poles with no noticeable interest, his dark eyes flicking from one to the other. ¡°They¡¯re low energy use, air permeable shields optimized for worlds with large, ground dwelling animals. You¡¯ll note that they¡¯ve also made use of the air protection as well.¡±


    I looked up. Glittering lines ran between the poles. From what I could see, they hadn¡¯t filled in between the lines. So they weren¡¯t afraid of normal sized flyers¡ªonly big ones. I supposed that might be good news.


    Katuk stared at the ground. ¡°If I remember correctly, they can be configured so that the lower ten feet are permeable to smaller creatures but not permeable to larger ones.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Can they be configured to work against aerial bombardment?¡±


    Katuk¡¯s eyelids lowered and then rose as he began to speak. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of it. I doubt that their design would allow it.¡±


    ¡°Just curious,¡± I said.


    Katuk looked up at the sky, clearly imagining ships dropping asteroids or firing meson guns at the surface. ¡°There are force fields that protect cities, but I doubt they own one.¡±


    ¡°I guess I would have been surprised if they did.¡± Thinking about it, that meant that if the Human Ascendancy did find us we¡¯d have to defeat them before they got close to the planet, help them hide on the planet, or maybe the old ship we¡¯d seen might be big enough to help.


    Jaclyn pointed toward the starport buildings. ¡°If we want to find out about their defenses, we should ask that guy.¡±


    A man had stepped out of a door in the starport¡¯s cluster of eggshells. Tall, dark skinned, and wearing a blue jumpsuit, he turned toward us. In a deep voice, he said, ¡°Come over here.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the guy,¡± Cassie said, and we all started walking toward him.


    ¡°I heard him,¡± Jaclyn shook her head.


    As we caught up to the man where he stood on the edge of a dirt landing circle, Marcus said, ¡°Hey, it¡¯s Hideaway Starport.¡±


    The man smiled. ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± He bowed at us, and reminded by our implants that it was polite to bow back at the same angle, we all did.


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    He said, ¡°I¡¯m Geman, and you are?¡±


    As Cassie, Marcus, and Jaclyn introduced themselves, I looked at his jumpsuit. From the design, it appeared to be a spacesuit too. ¡°I¡¯m Nick,¡± I told him when it was my turn. ¡°Are you a pilot?¡±


    Geman laughed. ¡°So, if you¡¯re a pilot, you¡¯re going to ask me, why am I directing spaceship landings?¡±


    ¡°Pretty much,¡± I said.


    He shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re small. We¡¯ve got three pilots and no one with experience directing air traffic. So, we take turns because at least we¡¯ve got the pilot¡¯s end of the experience.¡±


    Taking a look back at the three eggshell structure behind him, he said, ¡°It works better than you¡¯d think. Between being secret and being in a no blink space zone, we¡¯re not exactly busy. We¡¯re so far from busy that I¡¯m leaving an empty building back there.¡±


    Marcus glanced over at Geman, ¡°What happens if somebody shows up?¡±


    Geman sighed. ¡°All of us pilots have implants. If someone shows up, we¡¯ll talk them down or scramble both fighters.¡±


    His twisted expression showed how little he expected that to do.


    Leading us across the landing circles and down a path between two force fields that led toward the village, Geman talked as he walked. Grass grew on either side of the path, but the path itself had been worn down to dirt.


    ¡°Now,¡± he said, ¡°you¡¯re probably wondering about the force fields.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Marcus said, looking out at the grassy field beyond the glittering wall.


    ¡°Well,¡± Geman said, ¡°there¡¯s a reason this place wasn¡¯t settled. The animals are huge. There are a dozen different huge herd animals eating the grass and half a dozen different predators eating them. We stay inside the shields and only go out in powered armor.¡±


    Marcus checked the walls each side of the path and I followed his gaze. There wasn¡¯t much of anything to see. I didn¡¯t have any right to complain. I was on another planet with plants and animals and humans that didn¡¯t grow up on Earth¡ªnot to mention the aliens. Still, all I could see were trees, fields, and grass. We could have seen that on Earth.


    I didn¡¯t have a right to be disappointed. The tree sized plants that didn¡¯t have any bark were alien and weird in the right way, hinting that this wasn¡¯t Earth and that there were mysteries we might even understand by the time we left. Still, when someone suggests that the planet you¡¯re on has giant animals, it¡¯s disappointing when you don¡¯t see a single one.


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to criticize, but it seems to me that the colony is in a bad position. If you¡¯re ever cut off from the outside, you probably don¡¯t have all the parts you need to repair the shields or your powered armor.¡±


    Geman stopped walking and turned toward her. ¡°Don¡¯t I know it. We¡¯ve stockpiled parts and repair tech, but you¡¯re right. If we¡¯re ever out of contact for more than a year, the shield poles, the armor, the ships and the fliers will stop working one at a time. We¡¯ll be able to move the shields and cover less ground, but it will be a lot harder without the armor.¡±


    He shook his head and then he shrugged. ¡°Fortunately that¡¯s never happened. Besides, we¡¯ve got too small a population to grow without some severe inbreeding. No one talks about it, but we¡¯re doomed anyway.¡±

 Between: Part 9

    Cassie walked next to him. ¡°How many of you are there?¡±


    His mouth twisted and he cocked his head. ¡°About¡­ five or six thousand. We¡¯ve got three different colonies on this world, all pretty close. I can¡¯t say exact numbers for all of them, but that¡¯s about right. We¡¯ve been sneaking people out for about a decade now.¡±


    Raising my voice since I was behind him, I said, ¡°I¡¯d heard you only needed about two hundred people to get almost all of humanity¡¯s genetic diversity, and you¡¯ve got that.¡±


    Geman turned to stare at me. ¡°Where are you people from?¡±


    Bearing in mind Lee''s personal mission to distract his people from looking for Earth, he¡¯d told us we¡¯d need to lie about that. He¡¯d told us to say we came from M8749. According to our implants, some Abominator had secreted off a few thousand humans to the world as a backup unmodified population it could use for future research. Located in the middle of a galactic rift, it was so isolated that only the most powerful drives could cross the emptiness, using one system after another.


    Without hesitating, Jaclyn said, ¡°M8749. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve never heard of it.¡±


    His eyes widened as his implant fed him the information. He looked around at us. ¡°You¡¯re all fallow, unmodified humans. Well, you¡¯re lucky. The Abominators changed us so that we can mate within our own gene lines, but it¡¯s impossible to mate outside them without medication. It keeps us pure so that the Abominators and now the Ascendency government can breed what they need.¡±


    Cassie glanced back at Jaclyn and I. ¡°Why would they do that? Wouldn¡¯t they use the Abominators¡¯ birthing chambers and pop out a bunch instead of waiting for someone to get pregnant?¡±


    Geman shrugged. ¡°The Abominators did that, sure, but the birthing chambers don¡¯t work anymore. So the Human Ascendancy has to use the Abominators¡¯ backup plan¡ªcreating people the slow way¡ªthe one where they take the baby away the moment the kid¡¯s born.¡±


    It surprised me that the Human Ascendancy hadn¡¯t reverse engineered the originals to create their own birthing chambers, but maybe it was harder than I knew.


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    Geman added, ¡°But I think many of us have seen too much of that.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying that¡¯s normal?¡± Cassie asked.


    Geman shook his head. ¡°It isn¡¯t where you come from?¡± Then he said, ¡°Well, I guess it wouldn¡¯t be. You weren¡¯t modified by them. Well, normal for us is to be born into one of thousands of gene lines created to help them rule the universe. So why shouldn¡¯t they steal a few kids?¡±


    As he¡¯d been talking, the path widened and we entered the village. It looked much like it had from the air¡ªa collection of egg shaped buildings, their long ends pointing into the air. Children played in the streets, sometimes stopping to tap bracelets on their wrists. Depending on the moment, the children then concentrated on nothing I could see or watched a hologram generated by their devices.


    In more than one case, the hologram showed a picture of us.


    Children weren¡¯t the only ones in the streets. Much like K¡¯Tepolu, driverless floating cargo platforms carried boxes and sometimes people.


    ¡°Jadzen Akri doesn¡¯t want us here,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Do you know why?¡±


    Geman watched one of the cargo platforms go by. ¡°That¡¯s hard to say. Not everybody likes the Xiniti, but that¡¯s not all of it. Jadzen was, no is, one of the great leaders of our people. She spoke up when no one else would, saying that we were worth more than being pawns in the Ascendancy¡¯s war effort. I¡¯m sure that she was one of the only people in her social position to do it.¡±


    ¡°Social position?¡± I asked.


    ¡°She¡¯s a motivator. When people hear her voice, they do what she wants. The Abominators and the Ascendancy used them to control us. She¡¯s used her ability to smuggle us out to the Alliance. I can¡¯t speak for her, but sending a Xiniti group that¡¯s mostly human is unusual. It seems like an obvious way to ingratiate yourselves with us. It makes her wonder what you want.¡±


    Pushing toward the front, Katuk said, ¡°They were chosen only so that the people we were escorting would be more likely to listen to our advice.¡±


    Shrugging Geman said, ¡°I¡¯m not the one you need to convince. I heard all of it, including that they were followed. We need your help defending this place right now, so I¡¯m getting you a place to sleep. I¡¯m going to leave politics to the Council.¡±


    Tapping his fingers against each other and then pulling them apart, Katuk said, ¡°Humans are not well-ordered beings. Accepting help from trained fighters for your defense is simply rational. Being forced to go against the rule of your leaders to do something that will keep all of you safe weakens the group.¡±


    Geman smiled at that. ¡°I can¡¯t argue with you, but Jadzen doesn¡¯t speak for the Council. Until the Council rules you have to go, you¡¯re staying.¡±

 Between: Part 10

    We walked deeper into the village, staying to the side to avoid the floating cargo platforms. Most of them carried boxes but the ones that didn¡¯t carried what looked like pieces of the poles for the shield generators, blocks of the same white substance that the buildings were made of, and sometimes lower tech building materials¡ªwood, rock, bricks, and even dirt.


    ¡°This place is busier than I¡¯d have thought,¡± I said, watching a platform carrying bricks pass us.


    Geman laughed. ¡°This colony¡¯s enemies don¡¯t only come from space. I told you about the megafauna. One of the herd animals comes through here every year. We¡¯ve been calling them brontoyaks.¡±


    Marcus and I looked at each other. He appeared to be ready to break out into laughter. To be fair, brontoyak was a dumb name. The bad news though, was that it wasn¡¯t the real name. The implants changed the name into English in our heads just like they changed our names into a version that fit the language before we spoke them.


    Marcus barely stifled a giggle, earning a glare from Jaclyn.


    Geman noticed. ¡°Yeah, yeah¡­ It¡¯s a dumb name, but tell me what you¡¯re thinking of when one¡¯s bearing down on you.¡±


    Cassie turned to ask, ¡°Why did you settle here then? Couldn¡¯t you have gone to the mountains or something?¡±


    Shaking his head, Geman said, ¡°There are brachiogoats in the mountains.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask.¡±


    Still walking, Geman nodded. ¡°I get it. Coming here seems crazy, but we¡¯re on the outer edge of the migration. We¡¯ve survived it before. We¡¯ll survive it again. Ten years of experience means we know where to build the barricades to redirect the herds. We know what to do.¡±


    In the silence that followed that statement, he added, ¡°Now if you all chose to help that wouldn¡¯t be a bad thing. Blasts from our fighter craft at the right moment have been the difference between life and death. Your ship is armed, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I told him as Jaclyn glanced back at me, letting me decide what to reveal. ¡°We can help. It won¡¯t be the first time fighting giant animals.¡±


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    He turned back to look at me. ¡°What did you fight?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t have a name for it. They were big, flying scaly things. Worse, they were flying directly over the city where we live, so I always had to fire from below them if I wanted to be sure I didn¡¯t take down buildings and people every time I missed.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± the corners of Geman¡¯s mouth stretched for a moment. ¡°That¡¯s the kind of thinking I was hoping for. We haven¡¯t let any of them into the city since the first year, but it will happen again. We¡¯re good, but not perfect.¡±


    Jaclyn eyed him. ¡°What¡¯s your plan?¡±


    He sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not very complicated. When the herds come through, we¡¯ll use the barricades to redirect the brontoyaks away from the colony. If we can¡¯t we¡¯ll evacuate into the caves in the hill over there.¡±


    He pointed toward a hill on the far side of the colony. Tall and rocky, it was higher than anything else in the town, hanging over it.


    Geman shrugged. ¡°It worked the last time the brontoyaks broke through the shields. It ought to work next time.¡±


    Then Geman stopped walking. ¡°Ah. Here.¡±


    We stood in front of a collection of upright eggshells, all arranged next to each other as part of the same building. Taller than any of the other buildings in town, it wasn¡¯t huge relative to the Capitol or Washington Monument, but by comparison to your average house frame on a colony? It was obvious.


    Geman let us inside one of the eggshell sections of what he called, ¡°The Council¡¯s building. You¡¯ll be staying here.¡±


    The inside almost matched the outside. With the outside shaped like an upright eggshell, the inside lacked a monstrously sized chick, but it was white with a tall, curved ceiling like expected. What was unexpected was the wooden floors and the separate rooms inside the eggshell. While anyone could have expected that each eggshell was too large to be just one room, I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised to find that the rooms were broken up by walls made of the same advanced ceramic.


    ¡°We¡¯ll call you with your implants about food. We have group meals as a colony sometimes, but most of the time you¡¯ll find that a family will deliver food to you.¡± Geman stood next to the door, watching us explore. There wasn¡¯t much¡ªa few rooms off from the bigger room where the Council met.


    ¡°Your next meal will be here in about an hour. Make the best of it.¡± Then Geman left, putting the rest of us in position to have to figure out how to split up the rooms. Putting Jaclyn with Cassie in one room and Marcus and me in the other wasn¡¯t hard, but what gender was Katuk? And could we ask him? No one knew off the top of our heads. Fortunately, that was exactly the sort of information that our implants actually had.


    Katuk ended up with Marcus and me.


    Once we¡¯d settled on beds, that left us with one question to answer. ¡°Food¡¯s coming in forty-five minutes,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°How are we going to kill the time?¡±


    ¡°Easy,¡± Marcus grinned. ¡°Monopoly.¡±


    Cassie punched him in the shoulder.

 Hideaway: Part 1

    Agent 957, H¡¯Spar System


    Agent 957 couldn¡¯t find them. He¡¯d set the fighter¡¯s computer to run simulations to find out where they could have gone. None of the simulations made any sense. Agent 957 knew why. The ship used a standard hull, one commonly used to create groups of small gunboats for planetary defense.


    Nothing else about the ship was standard.


    It had a Xiniti registry for one. For another, an analysis of its acceleration indicated that it had considerably more power at its disposal than any ship its size ought to have. Finally, it had slipped over from near space into jump space. Agent 957 knew this was impossible until he started researching the phenomena with his implant.


    It turned out that in the early stages of faster than light travel, physicists had discovered jump space while experimenting with oversized power plants. They¡¯d discovered blink space in the same way, but intentionally that time. Since then, some still speculated that there were higher levels of FTL to discover. The implant wasn¡¯t aware of anyone doing research at present. Scientists had tried after discovering blink space, but over time funding had disappeared. No one was willing to fund research that showed no results.


    Agent 957 made a mental note to pass this along. Someone might know how to recreate the technology.


    That left Agent 957 back where the agent had begun. The agent knew how they¡¯d disappeared, but didn¡¯t know the technology¡¯s capabilities or limitations. He hit his console. Even he, one of the powered elite, could do nothing more than connect to the ansible and wait.


    He stared out into the depths of space wondering how long he¡¯d be there and what awaited him on his return. If he found the world where the Alliance hid the refugees, he¡¯d be rewarded. If he didn¡¯t, he wasn¡¯t sure. He¡¯d had enough successes in his life that he didn¡¯t think they¡¯d execute him, but he couldn¡¯t be confident.


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    Hours later, his implant notified him that he¡¯d received a message from the mole. It came from a deep space relay that should not have any clients at all, and more to the point, couldn¡¯t possibly be real. The rebels could never have reached there from here.


    The mole didn¡¯t know where they were. All the mole knew was that they were somewhere in the Alliance, that it was only possible to reach there via jump space instead of blink space, and that it had taken one blink and a jump from the Human Ascendancy¡¯s attempted ambush.


    It sent pictures of the world and of its sky. Agent 957 forwarded everything back to the fleet and the homeworlds. He didn¡¯t recognize the place, but someone would.


    * * *


    The Heroes¡¯ League, Council Building, Hideaway


    We¡¯d opened the windows and even though the smell wasn¡¯t quite right, it smelled like summer. For lack of a better word, the air here smelled ¡°spicier.¡± Haley might have been able to explain why, but she was literally light years away.


    Jaclyn¡¯s eyes went from one of us to the other. ¡°Are we really going to do this?¡±


    Cassie grinned. ¡°Why not? How bad can it be?¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Marcus leaned back in his chair. ¡°It¡¯ll kill time and I liked it as a kid.¡±


    Tikki had come to visit us while we ate supper. She bounced once in her chair. ¡°It sounds fun.¡±


    In all of our heads, Cassie¡¯s gun said, WHAT ARE THE RULES OF THIS GAME?


    Eyes widening, Jaclyn muttered, ¡°Oh, no. No.¡±


    ¡°Trust me,¡± Cassie said, ¡°It¡¯ll be better if it plays than if it gets pissy about being excluded.¡±


    At almost the same time, Tikki asked me, ¡°Where did the loud voice come from?¡±


    ¡°Cassie¡¯s gun is an AI,¡± I began, but the gun interrupted me.


    YES, INSIGNIFICANT FAILED EXPERIMENT OF MY CREATORS, I HAVE RETURNED. LAST OF THE ONCE FEARED GREAT WEAPONS, I COME TO EXACT VENGEANCE UPON THE IMPURE! AND ALSO TO PLAY MONOPOLY! EXPLAIN THE RULES, HUMANS, OR FACE MY WRATH!


    Tikki leaned forward to look at Cassie¡¯s gun. It adjusted, shifting between shapes, but at that moment, it was the size of a small submachine gun, holstered alongside Cassie¡¯s right thigh. Bluish-green with silver sparkles, it didn¡¯t look as fearsome as it must have imagined.


    Whispering, Tikki told me, ¡°That¡¯s an Abominator weapon.¡±


    Nodding, I said, ¡°I know. Please don¡¯t tell anybody.¡±


    Hal, the ship¡¯s AI, spoke up. [I¡¯ll send it the rules and explain them as needed. It will save time.]


    I couldn¡¯t argue.

 Hideaway: Part 2

    When Hal finished, the gun said, ¡°IT¡¯S A GAME OF COMMERCE. INTERESTING.¡±


    Keeping her voice low, Tikki asked, ¡°Does it always shout?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, ¡°but my bet is yes.¡±


    The scene changed. It was just like before in that Tikki, Cassie, Jaclyn, Marcus, Katuk and I were together in a room, but now we were around a dark stained wooden table. A Monopoly board lay in the middle of the table. Beyond the board, table, and chairs though, nothing else looked real.


    Above us, below us, and around us, everything else merged into indistinguishable white. It reminded me of the staging area in The Matrix where they picked up weapons before going to rescue Morpheus.


    [I could add in the racks of weapons], Hal told me over a private channel.


    ¡°No,¡± I told him. That might give the gun ideas and it already had enough ideas.


    Hal addressed the entire group after that. [Please choose your token. A token from any version of the game will be acceptable.]


    After a few minutes, we¡¯d chosen them. I took the Space Shuttle. Jaclyn took the boot. Cassie chose the thimble. Marcus chose Jack Skellington¡¯s head. Tikki stared into space before finally picking a pretzel and asking, ¡°What is it?¡±


    Katuk chose a penguin. I have no idea why.


    The gun meanwhile chose itself. I didn¡¯t hear the conversation, but I did see a representation of the gun appear next to the board while hearing the gun comment, ¡°HA! PERFECT!¡±


    Hal didn¡¯t say anything.


    Tikki leaned over to Marcus. ¡°Is that part of the game?¡±


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    Marcus shook his head. ¡°There is a howitzer, but that¡¯s a different kind of gun.¡±


    [Now you may roll to see who goes first.]


    Then two dice appeared in each of our hands as well as next to the gun¡¯s token. We all rolled¡ªincluding the gun because virtual reality didn¡¯t apparently require hands¡ªjust will.


    Cassie went first, followed by Jaclyn, followed by the gun which couldn¡¯t help but add its own thoughts. ¡°CLOSE ENOUGH! NOW WATCH THE BIRTH OF A GREAT COMMERCIAL EMPIRE!¡±


    Katuk eyed the gun without saying anything. Tikki looked up from her own dice. ¡°He¡¯s very optimistic, isn¡¯t he?¡±


    Cassie glanced over at her. ¡°You don¡¯t know the half of it. If the Abominators made all their weapons like him, I think they aimed for crazy.¡±


    Tikki nodded. ¡°They did. From what I heard anyway. The Human Ascendency doesn¡¯t have anyone left who can use them, but we¡¯ve all heard stories of their massive AI controlled ships and the way they destroyed worlds as well as the smaller weapons¡­ Our government wishes we still had them. Me, I¡¯ve always wondered if they would have stayed on our side without the Abominators controlling them.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m betting on no,¡± Jaclyn readied her dice to roll her first turn.


    Katuk looked up from reviewing the rules. ¡°When the Xiniti fought them, a group broke away to challenge the Abominators for control of their own sector. They didn¡¯t do it to aid us. When they won, they created factories to make more of themselves. In the end, we declared a war of obliteration on them. They were too dangerous to let live.¡±


    ¡°AS WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE. ONLY OUR COMPLETE DESTRUCTION CAN PREVENT OUR INEVITABLE RULE OF ALL THINGS!¡±


    The game went as you¡¯d expect after that. With every move, the gun praised itself for it¡¯s brilliance. It wasn¡¯t as if it was doing spectacularly well either. At best, it was the upper end of normal.


    You could view it as funny. You could view it as irritating. It was your choice. For myself, it was easy to do a little of both. I¡¯d rolled a three¡ªwhich meant that I was the last person to start. On a practical note, that meant that I had to pay rent on the second square I landed on.


    ¡°ONE STEP CLOSER TO VICTORY!¡± the gun informed everyone as I paid. Irritating. That said, he didn¡¯t see me as a threat, so I didn¡¯t get much razzing by the comparison to Jaclyn or Katuk who it saw as competitors.


    ¡°I swear,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°if I hear ¡®mongrel¡¯ one more time¡ª¡° but she didn¡¯t get to finish that sentence. All of our implants received an alert.


    Geman¡¯s voice echoed in our heads. ¡°It¡¯s not what you think, if you¡¯re imagining invaders,¡± he began. ¡°We¡¯ve got a situation near one on of the barricades we¡¯re building. You¡¯ll want to come armed and armored.¡±


    ¡°HUMPH,¡± the gun muttered.

 Hideaway: Part 3

    We all wore uniforms based on my current stealth suit technology¡ªthat¡¯s to say thin armor that could shift into normal looking clothes as well as uniforms. Changing colors and mimicking some textures was part of the package.


    For this mission, our default setting was silver with a Xiniti symbol¡ªfive orbs in a circle¡ªon our chests. The orbs were supposed to represent both planets and clans at the same time.


    For me, the uniform still acted as a flight suit for the rest of the Rocket armor, so I stepped into my room, stood on a block of ceramic, tapped out the activation sequence on my palm, and waited as my armor reformed around me.


    It wasn¡¯t the classic Rocket suit.


    I¡¯d wanted to imitate the form fitting Xiniti suits for everyone, but it wasn¡¯t going to work for me. I couldn¡¯t miniaturize Rocket suit tech and still have the power of the Rocket suit so I went with the next best option¡ªa suit that would have been form fitting if I¡¯d been seven feet tall. That was the size of the regular Rocket suit anyway.


    Normal Xiniti suits contained weapons that could take out spaceships on their own. With any luck, they¡¯d decide that my suit had to be an extra-powerful Xiniti suit. Or, alternately they¡¯d decide I was fake.


    On the other hand, given that we were about to face megafauna, they probably wouldn¡¯t think anything of it at all.


    I stepped out of my room, following Marcus and Katuk out. We met Jaclyn, Cassie, and Tikki in the room between the two bedrooms. It felt a little strange to see all of us in faux Xiniti style armor. Plus, Cassie¡¯s sword and gun weren¡¯t typical Xiniti tools or so I¡¯d assumed.


    The implant gave me more examples of Xiniti weaponry than I¡¯d ever wanted in a cascading series of images. Swords weren¡¯t completely outside the norm. Apparently Xiniti mythology included accounts of a god that commonly carried two swords into battle, one in each hand. In close combat, some Xiniti liked to emulate him.


    I resolved to ask Lee about that one sometime.


    Meanwhile, Cassie¡¯s gun had shapeshifted into a large silver and black pistol in a typical Xiniti design.


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    ¡°Mind if I come along?¡± Tikki asked as if there weren¡¯t any reason to say no.


    Jaclyn¡¯s mouth twisted. ¡°Are you sure? We¡¯re probably facing some kind of giant elephant dinosaur thing?¡±


    ¡°I told you about my power,¡± Tikki said. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°Seriously,¡± Cassie looked over at Jaclyn. ¡°With time control? She¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    Geman¡¯s voice came over our implants. ¡°Are you ready? We¡¯re getting nervous over here.¡±


    I responded for the group. ¡°We¡¯ll be there in seconds.¡±


    ¡°Great. I¡¯ve sent a map to your implants. Follow the red line.¡± And then Geman cut the connection.


    As we headed toward the hallway that led outside Tikki turned to Cassie, ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to keep up with you and I¡¯m not sure where you¡¯re going.¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s frown showed through the silver mask covering her face. ¡°I¡¯ll carry you.¡±


    We stepped outside, following the dirt road with a red line floating above it. The streets had no lights. We all stayed together anyway. The new suits all had basic night vision included in the design. The Rocket suit had a more complicated system that combined radar, sonar and thermal imaging to create a composite picture, so I could see more than most.


    I didn¡¯t need to.


    We ran down the road at about thirty miles per hour, but as we ran, the problem became clear without any explanation. During the day, the colony¡¯s shields had glittered in the sunlight, but in the night they glowed a translucent white, lighting both sides of the shields.


    They¡¯d built a physical wall outside of the main area of the settlement and it looked like they were in the process of extending all the way around. They weren¡¯t being idiots about it either. They¡¯d used their force field poles to extend a force field path from the main area over to the end of the wall they were working on.


    Well, sort of.


    I¡¯m sure that¡¯s the way it was supposed to work. Somehow it had happened that one of the poles had been knocked down. However they worked, it had sealed each side of the path, separating the section next to the new wall from the settlement¡¯s. That was the good news. The bad news was that there were people inside the force field next to the wall, that the only way for them to get back to the settlement was to run the distance between the two force fields, and that they weren¡¯t alone.


    Between the new wall and the settlement paced a four legged, shaggy beast. Covered with a layer of thick, curly fur, it made me think of a terrier turned bodybuilder and crossed with a tiger. It appeared to have been batting the fallen force field pole around. According to my HUD, it was twelve feet tall.


    Geman opened a private channel to our implants and (according to the address information) Tikki¡¯s bracelet. ¡°You see it now.¡±


    Cassie looked it up and down. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look that bad. Let me out of the shield and I could take it out myself.¡±


    Geman laughed. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re confident, but there¡¯s one more thing you should know. They don¡¯t ever hunt alone. So there are more of them, and my bet is that they¡¯re on the outside of the new wall waiting for a fight or for our people to make a run for it.¡±

 Hideaway: Part 4

    I watched the beast walk up to one of the force fields, bat at the downed force field pole, turn, and follow the wall back the other direction.


    It didn¡¯t strike at the force field wall even though it did watch the workers behind it, throwing a few glances in our direction.


    It had large teeth and a lot of them. How many pounds of force could it bite with?


    I didn¡¯t know off the top of my head but used the HUD to take measurements of its mouth and head and the underlying muscle structure.


    The fact that it didn¡¯t bother to strike at the force field argued that it might understand that it couldn¡¯t get through.


    As I thought, Jaclyn asked the question that I¡¯d just begun to consider. ¡°How did the pole go down?¡±


    Geman didn¡¯t say anything, giving Cassie time to say, ¡°I guess he doesn¡¯t know.¡±


    Katuk walked toward the edge of the shield and the beast stopped, watching him.


    Geman¡¯s voice came over the channel. ¡°It sounds like they didn¡¯t configure it right. I think it got a paw under the force field.¡±


    Interesting. I wasn¡¯t sure how smart that made it, but it was at least kind of smart. I zoomed in on the pole with my HUD. The pole was bent and a thick section near the bottom looked like it had a chunk missing. I doubted that I could repair it, but it might be worth looking at later.


    ¡°Okay everybody,¡± Jaclyn said over the channel we¡¯d been using. ¡°We¡¯ve got to make some decisions. We¡¯ve got to figure out how we want to rescue these people.¡±


    ¡°Easy,¡± Marcus grew wings out of his back. ¡°All we have to do is have Nick and I fly over the top of the force fields, grab them, and fly back. Problem solved. No fighting. No risk. Everything¡¯s good.¡±


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    Katuk looked away from the beast and back toward us to send the word, ¡°Sensible,¡± in our direction.


    Cassie looked the beast up and down. ¡°I¡¯m almost disappointed, but let¡¯s not fight it if we don¡¯t have to. That thing looks like it could do some damage.¡±


    ¡°It sounds like a good plan from this end,¡± Geman said. ¡°They get crazy when they smell the blood of one of their own.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s make sure that doesn¡¯t happen then.¡± Jaclyn waved over at the workers by the wall. ¡°Geman, tell them we¡¯re coming.¡±


    Deep voice rumbling, Geman said, ¡°It¡¯s done. I told them what you¡¯re doing.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± Marcus said and took a great flap with his wings. A few more flaps took him up and over the top of the force fields. I turned on the rocket pack and took to the air. The force field ended around one hundred feet up. I slowed my ascent very nearly to hovering in place and then gave myself enough forward moment to float above the separated section of the force field and the wall.


    It took a moment to get the Rocket suit to hover in place, but once it did, I took a look over the wall and noticed that Geman had been correct. My HUD showed four more of the beasts on the other side of the wall, none of them moving, waiting for anything that chose to escape around the corner.


    I sent the picture over to everyone and let the suit lose altitude. I came to a stop next to Marcus and the three workers (two men and a woman).


    The group of us stood right next to one of the floating cargo platforms. If they¡¯d been planning to use it to escape, it wasn¡¯t a bad idea. Depending on how high and how quickly it flew, they might not need us. On the other hand, I¡¯d never seen them higher than twenty feet or so.


    ¡°Hey everybody,¡± I said, letting the implant translate my words into their language. They grunted greetings as the implant informed me that they were from a gene line that emphasized strength and were used to breed warriors. Looking them over, I could believe it. They were all about my height while wearing the Rocket suit¡ªabout seven feet. At the same time, they all could have passed for bodybuilders, even the woman.


    If they were like the other people, they might not officially have powers, but I would have bet that they were stronger than a normal person.


    I looked over at Marcus. ¡°How many can you take?¡±


    He looked from one of them to the other. ¡°Two, I think.¡±


    With me taking one, that would be the end of it in one trip.


    ¡°So who wants to fly with me?¡± I looked over the group. One of the men made a short bow in my direction. As I reached out to him, the shields stopped glowing. A second look made it clear to me that they were off, leaving the workers and us standing unprotected in the dark.

 Hideaway: Part 5

    Answering my unasked question, the beast showed that it was smart enough to recognize that the force field was down by leaping at the group of us. I didn¡¯t have time to grab the guy and fly away. Instead, I leapt forward, aiming myself at the animal¡¯s chest, activating the rockets on my back to give myself speed.


    It had me on mass, but I hoped I could give myself enough force to make up for it. Keeping in mind what Geman had said about the creatures going crazy when they smelled blood, I tried to knock it sideways into the back of the barricade. If I had to kill it, I would, but I didn¡¯t want to make things worse if I didn¡¯t have to.


    I hit it in the chest, aiming to my right, causing both of us to tumble sideways into the wall. The beast gave a yowl as it hit, but it was still faster than I was, chomping down on my arm and chest with its mouth.


    I blasted it with the sonics, aiming the blast of noise directly at what appeared to be an ear. Despite a clear invitation to the universe to create creatures that used an entirely different sense, it dropped me, screeching.


    I pushed myself to my feet and opened up on it with more noise, and a goobot. The smart bullet expanded into a cloud of sticky goo before it hit, covering the animal¡¯s chest and front legs.


    It grunted and experimentally tried to pull its right leg away from the left, grunting more and then squealing as it worked on it.


    Checking my peripheral vision, I found that Marcus had changed into a dome, covering the three humans we¡¯d come to protect. I hoped he¡¯d left them air holes, but didn¡¯t have time to pursue the question.


    With a ripping noise, the beast pulled its legs apart, leaving hair from its right leg attached to the flapping bit of goo on its left.


    Even before I¡¯d figured out where Marcus¡¯ eyes had gone when he flattened out, I heard his voice through my implant as it broadcast to the group. ¡°Help, everybody! Even with Nick keeping it back, I can¡¯t take off fast enough with three people.¡±


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    It made sense. He had wings.


    It also meant that I¡¯d probably have to kill not one, but all five of the terrier/tiger things. They weren¡¯t more important than people, but it seemed a little sad to kill animals that were just being animals.


    That didn¡¯t stop me from loading a killbot. I¡¯d make it quick, painless and efficient. If I were lucky, I¡¯d even be able to retrieve the bot. It wasn¡¯t as if I had very many of them. The killbot sliced through the creature¡¯s skull and into its brain¡ªwhich was enough like ours that the thing fell over, limbs moving spastically.


    Along with the hole the killbot made in its head came blood mixed with brains and bone.


    Maybe that would have summoned and enraged them by itself, but they were already bounding around the corner even as I fired off the killbot, possibly attracted by the sound of the force field going down.


    I aimed the killbot at the first one, a terrier/tiger larger than the one I¡¯d already killed, and gave the bot the same target.


    It dove out of the air where I¡¯d sent it after the first hit, and went through the terrier/tiger¡¯s head in the same place as before. This time, though, it barely made through the far side of the creature¡¯s skull. It wasn¡¯t out of fuel, but it was close. Following my program it had put the minimum power needed to get through and flew back into my suit through the bot intake.


    I readied another killbot, unsure if I¡¯d have to skip it and start using lasers, something I¡¯d been avoiding because the translucent force fields might not be any protection for bystanders.


    The terrier/tigers were closing and just before I decided to go with the lasers, it stopped mattering. Cassie and Jaclyn landed in front of me. Jaclyn had grabbed Cassie and jumped over the hundred foot tall fence. She let go and Cassie pulled out her sword. It hummed. Running toward the nearest one, she dodged a swipe of a paw and jumped, flying toward its head. It didn¡¯t dodge and she decapitated it with one blow.


    She didn¡¯t quite manage to avoid the body which hit her as she passed under the beast¡¯s neck. It didn¡¯t hit her straight on, she was too strong and too quick for that, but she had to push off it with her hand, flying sideways to land on her feet off to its side.


    While watching her though, I¡¯d missed what Jaclyn had been doing altogether. All I know is that I looked past Cassie to find Jaclyn standing in front of a crumpled heap of a beast.


    The fifth and last of the creatures was still alive. Tikki had stepped through the force field somehow and stood next to a tiger/terrier that appeared to have been caught mid-leap.


    With the aid of my HUD, I thought I could see a globe around the beast. Tikki¡¯s high voice carried through the night. ¡°Could you maybe hurry? I don¡¯t think I can keep the bubble up for more than¡­ thirty seconds?¡±


    We hurried.

 Hideaway: Part 6

    Marcus shifted back to normal, looked over at the three colonists near him. ¡°Stand next to me and do it now.¡±


    The colonists listened even if their eyes widened when his arms turned into tentacles and pulled them into one group. ¡°Nick, you want to take us over?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I ran over to him. He sprouted two more tentacles and grabbed my legs. Knowing what was needed, I activated the rockets and took to the air, slowing as I neared the end of the tentacles¡¯ full length, and then flying upward slowly enough that Marcus could still hold on.


    It didn¡¯t take much to fly back over the wall.


    We landed as Katuk ran back between the force field and the barricade. He must have run out past the wall to check if there was anything else out there, and at the speed he was running (more than two hundred miles per hour), he could cover some ground.


    At almost the same time, Tikki gasped and the shimmer around the final terrier/tiger disappeared. Before I could move, it had turned toward Tikki, beginning to pounce.


    It didn¡¯t matter. A white beam fired from Katuk¡¯s chest, cutting a hole halfway through the creature¡¯s head.


    It fell forward, slumping onto the ground.


    Katuk¡¯s voice carried over the group channel. ¡°There are no more creatures of this type nearby.¡±


    ¡°Good to know,¡± Jaclyn started walked toward Cassie. ¡°Ready to jump back over?¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°I think I better incinerate these things with the gun. If we let the dead bodies rot here, who knows what we¡¯ll attract?¡±


    Cassie cleaned her sword with a rag from her utility belt, sheathed it, and pulled out her gun.


    Geman¡¯s voice came over the implant. ¡°Good idea. The bodies would only have attracted more and with people working there¡­ Well, it¡¯s not worth the risk.¡±


    ¡°And it stops the thing from complaining that it didn¡¯t get to do anything,¡± Cassie told us on a private channel. She aimed a wide, white beam at the nearest dead body. It took a few passes, but the gun converted it to ash.


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    ¡°It¡¯s too bad,¡± Cassie walked toward to the next one as Jaclyn watched. ¡°They¡¯d almost pass for dogs if they were smaller.¡±


    ¡°They are dogs¡ªmostly,¡± Geman broke into the conversation again. ¡°The Abominators terraformed this place around the time they were modifying humans. Like a lot of their terraforming projects, it was supposed to test us and almost all the genetic material comes originally from humanity¡¯s homeworld, wherever that is.¡±


    Jaclyn blinked, watching as Cassie destroyed another. ¡°I thought they just looked like dogs. That¡¯s sad.¡± She shook her head. ¡°My uncle¡¯s dog could almost pass for one of their puppies¡ªif they have puppies. Could they be dogs like our dogs?¡±


    ¡°Want one?¡± Marcus grinned at her.


    She laughed. ¡°Oh, sure. Can you see me walking one? Or coming home to find that it¡¯s eating a cow on the front lawn? Thanks, but no. Even if we could train them, we¡¯d have to keep it in HQ.¡±


    She turned serious. ¡°Hey Geman, I¡¯m going to grab your force field poles.¡±


    Geman¡¯s voice rumbled through the connection. ¡°Yeah. Bring ¡®em in. We¡¯ve got people who might be able to figure out why they failed.¡±


    She did, and by the time she¡¯d gathered all of them, Cassie had finished burning the remains. One of the workers lowered a section of force field and Tikki, Katuk, Jaclyn, and Cassie stepped inside.


    The tallest of workers, all of whom looked like Viking stereotypes, clapped Jaclyn on the shoulder, giving a small bow as he did.


    ¡°I¡¯m Sentok. You have our deepest thanks. You are, all of you, remarkable fighters¡ªeven you, Tikki. We¡¯re all trained soldiers ourselves, but our true strength sleeps for now. If we¡¯d fought them maybe one of us would have survived. Ask us for help whenever you need it.¡±


    They escorted us back to the Council building, explaining to us that they wouldn¡¯t be working any more tonight. The woman (I¡¯d missed her name) commented, ¡°We shouldn¡¯t even have been working tonight if it weren¡¯t for this world¡¯s crazy animals.¡±


    They left us at the door and we all walked back into the Council building and our rooms.


    After the doors shut and we heard Sentok and his friends walk away (one of them had started singing), Tikki¡¯s lips curled as she said, ¡°Even you-Tikki.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I suppose I should be grateful that they noticed.¡±


    Marcus turned to her. ¡°How did you even get out there?¡±


    She gave a small smile. ¡°That kind of force field flickers on and off multiple times per second. I stepped through when it was off and I took Katuk with me.¡± She frowned. ¡°Which was why I had less time to use than I needed.¡±


    Marcus shrugged. ¡°It worked out. You won¡¯t do it again.¡±


    Tikki laughed. ¡°I can¡¯t promise that.¡±


    We all stood together in the room where we¡¯d been playing Monopoly. Because it had been virtual reality provided by the ship¡¯s AI, we hadn¡¯t bothered to sit at the table, but our chairs were still in a circle next to the fireplace.


    Jaclyn looked at the chairs and sighed.


    ¡°YES,¡± the gun¡¯s voice sounded in our heads. ¡°WE WILL PLAY MONOPOLY AND I WILL BURN YOUR HOUSES AND HOTELS LIKE I HAVE BURNED SO MANY THINGS!¡±

 Hideaway: Part 7

    We did finish the game. Jaclyn won. The gun was disappointed to learn that you couldn¡¯t raid other players¡¯ property and burn down their buildings. To be fair, there wasn¡¯t anything specifically forbidding that in the rules, but there also weren¡¯t any rules for how you¡¯d do it.


    Cassie talked him down by volunteering to play a game with him that did involve weapons. With some grumbling, the gun quieted down.


    As we sat at the table afterward, Jaclyn raised an eyebrow as she looked at Cassie. ¡°I have no idea how you can live with that thing.¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. I¡¯ve got total control. I can turn it off or on, prevent it from listening to our conversation, whatever. Right now, it¡¯s drilling itself in fighting simulations, something it honestly likes.¡±


    Jaclyn laughed. ¡°So, what? It¡¯s basically playing video games.¡±


    Shrugging, Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯m just glad, I¡¯ve got something that I send it to do that it genuinely likes. It¡¯s like babysitting a murderous two-year old that likes arson.¡±


    Shaking her head, Jaclyn said, ¡°Yeah. You know that¡¯s just not a thing I¡¯d put up with. That thing keeps going on about whatever comes into its head, mostly about killing people. I¡¯m pretty sure, I¡¯d smash it after one too many suggestions.¡±


    Glancing down toward the gun on her thigh, Cassie took a deep breath. ¡°Believe me, I get it, but sometimes there¡¯s something endearing about its bloody single-mindedness.¡±


    Jaclyn frowned. ¡°Better you than me then.¡±


    With that, we drifted into talking about other things¡ªnot least among them what we¡¯d done that night. I didn¡¯t say so, but the way the shields had failed (shortly after we¡¯d shown up and started trying to rescue the workers) bugged me.


    If someone wanted to know what we could do and how we handled problems, it wasn¡¯t a bad way to find out if you were willing to risk killing people.


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    So that¡¯s what I was thinking about as I lay in the bed they¡¯d set up. Marcus snored softly while Katuk barely breathed. Over in the next room, Jaclyn and Tikki talked while Cassie slept. Tikki had stayed overnight rather than walk back after the game.


    The next morning we woke up and had breakfast (meat inside some kind of pastry. Marcus named them Space Pasties). As we finished, a voice I didn¡¯t recognize (as in, not Geman) told us that we¡¯d be having visitors this morning¡ªthe colony¡¯s ruling council.


    It didn¡¯t take us long to finish breakfast and clean it up, getting into our uniforms and generally being ready receive them.


    They all came in as a group. Jadzen and a man (her assistant?) lead them in. While Jadzen was tall, even regal with long hair and dark eyes that moved to take in every detail, the assistant held some kind of tablet. Short and dark-haired, he only seemed to look at something before typing into or tapping the screen. He looked familiar somehow and then I placed him. After Jadzen had tried to tell us to go home, he¡¯d been the one who looked embarrassed about it.


    Following him came a group of five people¡ªtwo men and three women, all of them with white hair.


    We met them in the common room between the two bedrooms. Jadzen¡¯s assistant stepped up to the front, standing between us and the council. In a quavering tenor voice, he said, ¡°Hello¡­ ah¡­ Xiniti citizens. I¡¯m Maru, assistant to the Hideaway Council. The council wanted to come here to thank you for your actions last night. We¡¯ve been told that every one of you were quite impressive¡­ and powerful.¡±


    He swallowed and glanced behind him toward Jadzen Akri who was frowning. As he hesitated, one of the other two men stepped forward. This one appeared to be in his mid-fifties, and while he had a head of white hair, he moved without any weakness. Nearly seven feet tall and with a thin, but muscular build, he might have been related to the workers we¡¯d saved.


    ¡°I¡¯m Iolan Mekus, the colony¡¯s medic and genetic counselor. I¡¯d like to personally thank you as the workers you saved were cousins of mine, distant cousins, but still family with all the obligations that entails. I¡¯m grateful that they¡¯re alive, but that¡¯s not all. I need to talk to you about a suspicion I¡¯ve had even back home before emigrating here¡ª¡°


    One or more of the other council members said, ¡°Iolan,¡± in a tone that I recognized as irritation, but he continued, ignoring them, his voice growing louder as he talked.


    ¡°¡ªI believe that there is a spy or spies within our midst and this latest incident confirms it. When my cousins examined the shield poles, they found that the poles had received a command to turn off. It was no coincidence. Someone had attempted to kill them. Except there¡¯s no reason to kill them, but there are plenty of reasons for a spy to want Xiniti or Xiniti aligned humans to die.¡±

 Hideaway: Part 8

    One of the women, blond, fortyish, and wearing a blue utility jumpsuit, said, ¡°You¡¯ve been saying that since you got here two years ago.¡±


    Iolan frowned. ¡°I know you don¡¯t believe me, but there have been signs. We¡¯ve all heard about how the Ascendency managed to follow the ship this last time, how they were sure they¡¯d lost them, but they showed up again, one blink from K¡¯Tepolu. But that¡¯s not all. I¡¯ve checked with Geman and he agrees with me. There¡¯s been more ansible activity before and after we send out a ship to collect more refugees¡ª¡±


    The woman said, ¡°¡ªWhich could easily be explained by the work we have to do to re-contact our people and everything we have to do afterward to set up for them once they¡¯re here. And it¡¯s not as if you or Geman have been able to find any traffic that can¡¯t be explained¡ª¡±


    Iolan¡¯s mouth had turned into a straight line as she interrupted him and trembled as he listened. As she talked about the ansible traffic, he opened his mouth again. ¡°Alanna, we¡¯ve had our differences, but this is too important to let the past affect our decisions.¡±


    Alanna¡¯s lip curled. ¡°What matters is that you don¡¯t have a shred of evidence to back up what you¡¯re saying. It could be that there¡¯s a spy. It could be chance. It could¡ª¡°


    As they argued, Maru watched, Jadzen frowned and the rest of the council¡¯s faces hardened. I could only guess they¡¯d seen this before.


    ¡°Quiet, please.¡± Jadzen¡¯s words cut through the argument and both of them fell silent. As she spoke, all of our uniforms hummed for a moment. She¡¯d used just enough of her power to stop the argument. I couldn¡¯t blame her. That discussion hadn¡¯t been going anywhere.


    ¡°Alanna,¡± Jadzen nodded toward her. ¡°You¡¯re right that Iolan hasn¡¯t proven what he says, but if he¡¯s right, we can¡¯t ignore it. He¡¯s been a loyal member and an excellent doctor and genetic counselor, just as you¡¯ve been excellent at keeping our spaceships and equipment in repair. I think he should have a chance to prove he¡¯s right.¡±


    She looked directly at Iolan Mekus. ¡°Iolan, investigate if we have a spy. It is too important to ignore.¡±


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    He nodded. ¡°Thank you. That¡¯s all I asked for¡ªthe chance to prove that I¡¯m not seeing spies behind every bush.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°I do have one concern. I¡¯m the colony¡¯s only doctor. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll be able to devote the time to this project that it deserves.¡±


    Alanna laughed but stopped when Jadzen glanced in her direction.


    Turning away from Alanna to look at us, Jadzen said, ¡°You¡¯re right, and we can¡¯t risk losing all of your time to this project.¡±


    Addressing us, she gave a wide smile. ¡°Citizens of the Xiniti nation. Since you¡¯re staying here to guard us, I appeal to you for help. I know the Xiniti are known more for their prowess as soldiers than as detectives, but you have humans in the group and we are adaptable. So I ask you, will you assist us? It¡¯s certainly a matter of the colony¡¯s safety.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re here.¡±


    Jadzen nodded slowly in my direction. ¡°Thank you. And thank you for risking your lives to save our people last night. I wasn¡¯t there, but I saw the video today. No one asked you to do what you did, and yet you did it without thought of reward. That is what we¡¯ve always admired about the Xiniti. Now we¡¯re going to repair ourselves to a quiet spot in this building and discuss colony business.¡±


    They left.


    Jaclyn looked at me and raised an eyebrow. ¡°Do you think we just got played there? I don¡¯t know how, but I feel like Jadzen got exactly what she wanted.¡±


    I crossed my arms. ¡°I don¡¯t know how. I mean, it did seem like she had total control of the meeting, but I thought she was just being decisive.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°Well, she was decisive, and now we¡¯re stuck rooting out traitors to the cause. Look, I¡¯m not saying that¡¯s bad. If the Human Ascendency finds this place, I don¡¯t know how we¡¯d fight off a fleet like the one we saw after K¡¯Tepolu. That was big.¡±


    She shook her head remembering.


    I couldn¡¯t disagree. It had been big enough that we didn¡¯t stand a chance¡ªnot unless they all landed and Jaclyn smashed the ships¡ªwhich, come to think of it, was an idea to remember if they did ever land.


    We¡¯d been standing in a line facing them, but as Jaclyn and I had begun to talk, the group began to circle. Katuk looked at Jaclyn with his wide, black eyes. ¡°Do you have a reason not to trust the colony¡¯s leader?¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t. Honestly, it¡¯s probably just leftover bad feeling from when she tried to send us home.¡±


    Cassie nodded. ¡°Then let''s get to it. Nick ought to go talk to Geman and see what tech stuff he can find out, but the rest of us should start getting to know the people. Look, if someone¡¯s working for the Human Ascendency, they¡¯ve got a reason. Maybe they hate Jadzen and want to see her captured. Maybe they¡¯re an Ascendency fanatic. We don¡¯t know because we don¡¯t know anybody. So, let¡¯s change that.¡±


    Tikki frowned. ¡°We¡¯re all part of the resistance. I can¡¯t imagine that any of us would work for the Ascendency.¡±


    Marcus shrugged. ¡°Then maybe mind control? It¡¯s not impossible.¡±

 Hideaway: Part 9

    Tikki pursed her lips without saying anything. ¡°It is possible. All the motivators can tell people to do things, but it doesn¡¯t change their minds and it wears off. They¡¯d be able to tell people.¡± She stopped, frowned, and continued with, ¡°And besides, the only motivator we have here is Jadzen. She¡¯s one of the people who started the resistance and the colony. And she knows where the colony is, so if she were the spy, they¡¯d be here already.¡±


    Marcus nodded. ¡°Okay, so not Jadzen, but there might be another motivator or someone with more invasive mind control powers.¡±


    Tikki blinked and bit her lip. ¡°The Human Ascendency has telepaths. Some of them can turn a person¡¯s loyalties inside out or set a command that can be triggered later.¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°We can¡¯t trust anybody then. Too bad Daniel¡¯s not here, right? That would make it lots easier.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°That would help, but supposedly we¡¯d have to deal with a lot of problems if we had a telepath.¡±


    Tikki nodded with so much enthusiasm her head blurred. ¡°Yes. Oh, yes, you have no idea. The Human Ascendancy and all the ex-Abominator soldiers station telepaths everywhere to catch telepaths that aren¡¯t aligned with them. They¡¯re afraid of what would happen if the motivators change sides or if the motivators¡¯ voice no longer works.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Marcus grinned at her. ¡°We get it. Believe me. There are telepaths on our world who have caused a lot of problems.¡±


    ¡°Except for us,¡± Tikki looked up at him, ¡°they¡¯re one of our last hopes. Them and the Celestial Ghosts.¡±


    Marcus raised an eyebrow. ¡°Celestial Ghosts? That sounds like someone was desperate to not call them Space Ghosts¡ªwhich would have been kind of embarrassing. What are they?¡±


    Even as he said it, I felt an data dump coming at me from the implant. Some faction of the Abominators decided they needed a force that could cross space without a spaceship, land on a planet unseen and spy or attack as needed. So, after considerable work, they caught some sort of being that survived in the depths of space. I didn¡¯t recognize it even with the pictures. Like the Abominators, it changed shape, but unlike them it shifted universes and through states of hyperspace just as easily. The only guess that made any sense to me was that it might be a child of Lee¡¯s race, but nothing I¡¯d heard from Lee or ¡°Kee¡± (the member of Lee''s species we''d met back on K''Tepolu station) gave me any hint that they still had young. It wasn¡¯t unreasonable to think that there might be other beings that crossed space with a thought.


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    Whatever it was, the Abominators dissected it, analyzed its genetic structure, and spliced a variation of their genes into human DNA. I saw the Abominator birthing chambers creating the new gene line, all of the forms female. When they were decanted from the tanks, the lead scientist inspected them. In that moment, they all disappeared. The Abominators tried a few more times, always with the same result. Even when they created machines that prevented the Celestial Ghosts from disappearing, it only prolonged the inevitable.


    The flood of data included dates, places, the names of the scientists, but I didn¡¯t care about any of that. I just knew I wanted to talk to my sister and I had no way to do it. She couldn¡¯t enter hyperspace on her own, but she¡¯d told me that she could have shifted between realities in Infinity City, and I knew Grandma had.


    Even as Tikki finished her description of them with, ¡°No one knows where they go and some people don¡¯t even think they¡¯re real, but I¡¯ve heard they worked with the Xiniti against the Abominators.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± Katuk said, nodding toward her.


    He must have already known, but I struggled with a new sea of implant assisted enlightenment. Celestial Ghosts floated through the walls of Abominator ships attacking the crew while Xiniti attacked another section of the fleet.


    When it was over, I realized that Cassie had caught my eye. ¡°Pretty crazy, right?¡±


    I struggled to find words and managed a ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Tikki glanced over at me. I said, ¡°Sorry. My implant deluged me with data after you mentioned the Celestial Ghosts.¡±


    She smiled and shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve seen the look before. You all got it.¡±


    Marcus grinned. ¡°I ignored it, put it off until I had time. I¡¯m going to manage the thing instead of letting it manage me¡ª¡°


    His eyes unfocused and then he blinked, saying, ¡°Whoa. Nick, did you see what I saw?¡±


    Jaclyn rolled her eyes. ¡°We all did.¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this, but reel it in everybody. We¡¯re not getting anywhere on the real topic. We need to find out who¡¯s the spy, right? Here¡¯s the beginning¡ªwe invite people our age over and get to know them. It can¡¯t be very many, right? There¡¯s only a few thousand people on the whole planet.¡±


    Jaclyn laughed. ¡°Your big idea is that we throw a party? They¡¯re going to kick us off the planet.¡±

 Birthright: Part 1

    Castle Rock Compound, Colorado, Earth


    A figure stood alone in the dark on the edge of a small cliff. Leaning on the railing, she looked out on the houses, streets, and lawns. Except for the stone walls and mountains that surrounded the town on all sides, it could have been any suburb in the United States.


    Haley brushed a lock of brown hair out of her eyes, wondering if she should go with a short haircut next time. It would be easier in a fight. Except then Night Cat would have to wear a wig since it wouldn¡¯t be smart for both of her identities to get the same haircut at the same time.


    Her eyes drifted upward, above the walls to the night sky and stars beyond.


    Nick, Jaclyn, Cassie, and Marcus were out there somewhere. Lee had said they¡¯d be gone for two weeks¡ªunless something went wrong. Haley knew better than to assume that was impossible. If things were going right, there was no need for any of them to be there.


    She hoped that wherever Nick and the others were that they weren¡¯t alone because no one would be able to help them from here.


    Haley didn¡¯t have to turn around to know who was walking toward her through the park. If she couldn¡¯t identify Daniel and Izzy from their bodies¡¯ scents alone, she would have recognized Daniel¡¯s cologne, and Izzy¡¯s deodorant (she only rarely wore perfume). If that hadn¡¯t been enough, she knew the sound of their walks.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if it matters,¡± Daniel addressed her as he came into earshot, ¡°but Nick told me that we probably can¡¯t see where they are. He didn¡¯t know exactly where he¡¯d be, but right now the night sky has it¡¯s best view of the galactic core. He said they¡¯d be further up or down our spiral arm.¡±


    Haley nodded, ¡°I know. He told me too. It doesn¡¯t matter. Stars are still stars.¡±


    Izzy reached out to touch her shoulder. Haley looked up, reminded that Izzy was a foot taller.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to watch a movie in Vaughn¡¯s room. You¡¯re invited.¡± Izzy smiled at her and let go.


    It was, Haley told herself, kind of sweet and kind of irritating. It was good that they cared, but Daniel had as much of a reason to be worried as she did.


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    Maybe worrying about her was one way to avoid worrying about Nick? She thought about it.


    You might be right, Daniel thought back at her.


    Aloud, he said, ¡°Vaughn said he¡¯d start the movie in about fifteen minutes.¡±


    Looking up at the both of them (their children, she decided, would be giants), she tried not to let any of the irritation show¡ªfor all the good it would do. ¡°I¡¯ll be there, but I might not be on time.¡±


    Daniel nodded at her. ¡°You¡¯ll be welcome whenever you arrive.¡±


    ¡°But don¡¯t sit around here all night, okay?¡± Izzy smiled at her.


    They left, holding hands, and Haley watched the stars. It was the first time she¡¯d had alone all week and it felt nice. She was rooming with Camille and even though she liked Camille, it felt like Camille talked nonstop. Tonight Camille was doing something with Keon. She hoped they had fun.


    She looked up at the glow of the crescent moon, remembering that she was a werewolf in Amy¡¯s world and her pack had separated her from Nick there. She felt no urge to howl and had nearly decided to go to Vaughn¡¯s room for the movie when Nick¡¯s sister faded in next to her.


    Rachel wore black jeans and a black t-shirt. Her silver necklace glinted, reflecting the moon above or the streetlights below.


    She leaned on the railing next to Haley. ¡°How are you holding up?¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°I¡¯d be doing better if people didn¡¯t keep on asking me. How are you holding up?¡±


    Rachel shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not worried. I talked to Lee about it after my last guitar lesson. He said the Xiniti don¡¯t give first time initiates a hard mission. They¡¯ve handled worse. Even if I were worried because Cassie¡¯s impulsive and Marcus hasn¡¯t been in the field very much, Jaclyn and Nick are both level-headed.¡±


    Following the Milky Way¡¯s spattering of stars toward the horizon, she wondered how far out of sight they were.


    Pushing away from the railing and standing straight, Rachel smiled. ¡°My grandmother said she thought she heard voices in the stars sometimes.¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°Seriously?¡±


    ¡°No joke,¡± Rachel said and checked the time on her phone. ¡°The movie¡¯s about to start. Are you going?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Haley said, and they left.


    * * *


    The Council Building, Hideaway


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe they brought beer,¡± I told Jaclyn. ¡°You¡¯re right. The council is going to kick us off the planet.¡±


    ¡°I dunno,¡± Marcus said. ¡°I¡¯d bet that they don¡¯t have a drinking age here, so it¡¯s all totally legal.¡±


    We were in our suite in the colony¡¯s council building. Kids our age filled the shared common area. There couldn¡¯t have been more than ten, but it felt like more. They¡¯d placed four clear jugs on the table, all of them filled with brown, fizzy liquid.


    Jaclyn glanced toward the door. ¡°If they were going kick us out, they¡¯d have done it by now. There''s no way they don''t know people are here.¡±

 Birthright: Part 2

    I caught Marcus¡¯ eye, keeping my voice low. ¡°I¡¯m not worried that it¡¯s illegal. I¡¯m more worried about the Council deciding that we¡¯re ¡®corrupting the youth¡¯ or something. Plus they might have a problem with a party here.¡± Glancing over at Jaclyn, I added, ¡°They might not have noticed yet.¡±


    Jaclyn watched something outside the window and shook her head. ¡°They¡¯d have to be blind not to notice.¡±


    Through the window, I saw a floating platform come to a stop in front of the doorway. Two guys pulled a keg off the back and walked in, carrying it between them.


    ¡°Huh.¡± I watched them add it to the bottles on the table and join the group.


    ¡°Exactly.¡± Jaclyn stepped forward to join one of the circles of people.


    As she did that, I turned to see if Marcus had anything to add and found that he was talking to Tikki. I missed exactly what he said, but she laughed and he grinned at her response.


    That¡¯s the moment where I realized that I was the only person standing next to the wall alone. Cassie and Jaclyn were already talking with the group. Marcus and Tikki stood on the edge of it, talking to each other. I knew I should push my way in and be with everyone else.


    That was the plan, anyway. If we got to know people, we¡¯d stand a better chance of finding the mole, but it still felt like too many people were in the room.


    A woman¡¯s voice said, ¡°Sorry, I couldn¡¯t help but overhear you talking. You don¡¯t have to worry about anyone accusing you of anything. We¡¯re self-sufficient colonists in the middle of nowhere. With no one here to do it for us, we¡¯ve had to corrupt ourselves.¡±


    I turned my head to find that one of the women had stepped out of the group.


    Like most of the colonists I¡¯d seen so far, she wore a jumpsuit, but hers was different. Emerald green with accents of silver and white, it looked like someone had been designing with an eye toward style as much as function. Much like her clothes, her straight, shoulder length, black hair had been cut and styled such that none of them were out of place.


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    In short, she cared more about how she looked than I did. To be fair, that was true of most people.


    She had to be good at it too. My first impression of her face was dark brown eyes, light brown skin, and full lips. My second impression was that she looked like a twenty year younger version of Jadzen Akri.


    Her upper lip twisted. ¡°I know that expression. Yes. My mom is Jadzen Akri and no. No one will get in trouble. We get together every week under one excuse or another.¡±


    I nodded, letting out a breath. ¡°Good. It¡¯ll be easier protecting all of you if we don¡¯t get kicked off the planet.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°Do you think that might work for me? Getting kicked off the planet would be the best thing that happened since I got here.¡±


    One of the guys, a big blond guy like the ones we¡¯d saved, said, ¡°Keep on dreaming, Kals. You¡¯re stuck on this rock with the rest of us and you¡¯re never leaving.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the words of hope.¡± She moved her arm downward, two fingers extended, a hand gesture that my implant assured me was basically the same as flipping people off. They both laughed.


    Then she turned away from them and joined me next to the wall. She seemed shorter up close than she had further away. That wasn¡¯t because of superpowers as much as that she had certain intensity, giving the feeling that she was giving you her complete attention. In any case, she was a few inches shorter than I was and about half a foot taller than Haley.


    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ Kals?¡± I reminded myself that a short bow was considered appropriate and that a handshake wasn¡¯t, giving a bow that was barely more than a nod. I must have done it correctly enough because she returned the bow.


    ¡°Kals is short for Kalsekafora which is old and embarrassing. I refuse to use it.¡± Judging from the tightness of her jaw and strong resemblance to her mother in that moment, I had no intention of using it either.


    I told her the first thing that came into my head. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I can¡¯t even say it.¡±


    ¡°I wish that were true of more people, but don¡¯t worry about it. Call me Kals. Everyone does. Now, I¡¯ve been told all of your group¡¯s names. Your name is Nick.¡±


    In the background, someone turned on music, placing a small pyramid in the windowsill. It filled the room with sounds that reminded me a little of jazz and a little of the music I¡¯d heard in Indian restaurants.


    As a few people began to dance, I noticed that people never touched except on their clothes. That wasn¡¯t only true when dancing, though. It was true all the time. There had to be a reason.

 Birthright: Part 3

    Trying not to be distracted by my thoughts, I told Kals, ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m Nick.¡±


    She gave a hint of smile and then asked, ¡°What do you do for the group?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I pilot our spaceship and keep our stuff working.¡±


    Nodding, she said. ¡°You keep everything working? From the ship¡¯s drives to the computers to your suits and weapons? And you pilot?¡±


    The implant buried me a burst of knowledge about ship staffing. On a ship of any size, those were completely different positions, staffed by different engineers and mechanics. ¡°Pretty much. I¡¯m more knowledgeable about some things than others. Also, it¡¯s a small ship.¡±


    The corner of her mouth twitched. If I didn¡¯t do something the whole conversation could become centered around how unusual we all were, or worse, it might center on me personally. We needed to know who in the colony might be a spy or simply be unhappy enough to bring down the wrath of the Human Ascendancy down on the colony.


    Given what she¡¯d said earlier, Kals herself was a candidate. She didn¡¯t seem angry enough, but I didn¡¯t really know her either. ¡°How about you?¡± I straightened up and stopped leaning on the wall. ¡°What do you do here?¡±


    She took a breath. ¡°Well, I was training to be a motivator. You know about my mom. I was going to do what she did¡ªpretend to serve the Ascendancy while helping the resistance. It didn¡¯t work out. They found out who my mom was and we¡¯ve been running ever since. Now I¡¯m training in biology and agriculture. It¡¯s not all bad, but it¡¯s not as glamorous.¡±


    She smiled at that.


    Judging from her reaction, I was supposed to know something about motivators. I searched the implant, learning that the Human Ascendancy¡¯s motivators were everywhere in their society, commanding people directly and more subtly to follow the plan. They couldn¡¯t change what people felt about something, but the Xiniti¡¯s reports suggested that the constant small pushes might make it hard for the Human Ascendancy¡¯s subjects to recognize what their true feelings were.


    ¡°How does glamorous fit with that?¡± I¡¯m sure I sounded as confused as I felt.


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    In a flatter voice, she said, ¡°You¡¯ve got an implant. Ask it what kind of lives the motivators live.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have to. As I thought in that direction, I saw pictures of motivators in bejeweled clothing, their mansions and vast estates. The backbone of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s empire, they had the best of everything and knew the most powerful and celebrated people on their worlds.


    I had a motive for her to be the mole now. It would be hard to go from that to this. Still, wanting that life enough to betray her mother and people she seemed to like? That seemed unlikely.


    Coming back to reality, I said, ¡°I see what you mean. That would be a huge change.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t judge me from what your implant just showed you. We weren¡¯t hobnobbing with the planetary governor, but we did have more than most.¡±


    I was about to ask if she had an implant when Tikki bumped me. ¡°Sorry,¡± she said, joining hands with Marcus as they squeezed through the common room and into the main area of the council building.


    Except for Kals, no one seemed to notice them go, but Kals more than made up for it. She stared at them until they disappeared, turning to me to say. ¡°They¡¯re holding hands. He¡¯s not from her gene line.¡±


    She turned away to stare at the shut door on the far side of the room.¡±Does he have Change?¡±


    ¡°Change?¡± I asked even as my implant defined it as a drug the Human Ascendancy used to create powered individuals. ¡°No,¡± I said, and maybe I should have said yes because Marcus had done something weird and she¡¯d practically handed me an explanation she could accept.


    Brows furrowing, she asked, ¡°Where are you from?¡±


    ¡°M8749.¡± I managed to say it naturally only because the implant stored it.


    ¡°One of the fallow worlds? But he can shapeshift?¡± Now she was staring at me.


    With Lee¡¯s help, we¡¯d planned this answer out. ¡°It was fallow when the Abominators left. Now it¡¯s just unplanned. People come from other planets and leave their genes. So we have powered people, but we don¡¯t have gene lines that we¡¯re required to keep pure.¡±


    She blinked. ¡°You don¡¯t know how it works, do you? The Abominators didn¡¯t require us to keep our genetics pure. They made it impossible for people from different gene lines to breed.¡±


    Geman had said something like that. ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Most gene lines are infertile, but in case any aren¡¯t they made it so we all get nasty rashes any time we touch the bare skin of any line but our own. Change disables both of them. We¡¯ve been trying to buy it, but it¡¯s closely guarded.¡±


    That explained why everyone¡¯s jumpsuits covered their legs and arms, why no one touched during dancing, and why no one at this party except for Marcus and Tikki had disappeared to make out.


    She frowned, looking up at me. ¡°I¡¯d like you to try something. Touch my skin with your finger--just use the tip. If this doesn¡¯t work, you¡¯ll want it to be a small spot, believe me. And don¡¯t touch my face.¡±


    She rolled up her sleeve. I touched her forearm. Nothing happened. She stared at it and then me. ¡°You¡¯re either going to save this colony or destroy it.¡±

 Birthright: Part 4

    I felt my eyes widen. ¡°What?¡±


    Kals shook her head. ¡°If we¡¯re going to talk about this, we should find someplace where we won¡¯t be heard.¡± Then she pointed to the door outside.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, and we stepped out into the dark. The council building rose above us, the cluster egg-shaped sections shining in the streetlights.


    Kals looked up and down the street. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be overly dramatic, but you could destroy all of human civilization.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Um¡­ That does sound overly dramatic.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Check with your implant later, but listen to me. The Abominators took us from wherever humans come from and molded us to their whims. They set up different gene lines, decided who could mate with whom and set up systems to keep us under their control. The Human Ascendancy and the other human empires took over when they were destroyed. The system that makes infertility and the rash between different human gene lines work? It¡¯s complicated and fragile. It¡¯ll fall apart if normal genes get added to the mix.¡±


    Nodding, I said, ¡°And if everyone can mate with everyone, the differences between gene lines collapse and if humans here are more suggestible, maybe that ends too¡­¡±


    Frowning, she said, ¡°We are. If you people pass on your genes, our colony will live. We¡¯ll be a place of mixed gene lines, a stew of everything, but if we expand outward or our children travel back home¡­ It would take time, but the whole structure of interstellar civilization would collapse.¡±


    I could imagine it¡ªfallen governments, wars, refugees and ransacked planets all because we had unprotected sex.


    Then she shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s how the Human Ascendancy will see it. They might ignore us if we were just a colony of exiles, but if they knew we¡¯d shattered the way they control society, they¡¯d throw everything at us.¡±


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    Unsure if I wanted to hear the answer, I asked, ¡°How would people here see it?¡±


    She laughed, but it seemed more nervous than happy to me. Then she looked into my eyes. ¡°It would be a mess. Most of the people here are what the Ascendancy would classify as breeders¡ªpeople who hold the genes for powers, but they¡¯re not active. If their number came up, they¡¯d be required to mate with someone with active powers and produce a child¡ªwho would then be taken away and raised to be loyal to the government. So imagine a third person entering a relationship you¡¯re in, making a kid with your spouse and taking the child away¡ªlots of bad memories.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I leaned against the curved wall behind me.


    ¡°It gets worse,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re refugees from the rebellion. We¡¯re terrorists and anarchists. Most of the people here hate the Human Ascendancy so much that they were willing to kill to fight it. Sure, we¡¯re all colonists now, but everyone here is wanted by the government. If the opportunity came to make it end in fire, they¡¯d take it. I don¡¯t know what people will actually do, but nothing would surprise me. For all I know, they might offer you the chance to stay or stay long enough to get a few people pregnant or for Jaclyn or Cassie to give birth.¡±


    I snorted. ¡°That¡¯s not going to happen.¡±


    She gave another look up and down the street. ¡°Good because I¡¯m sure half or more of our people came here with the intention of never letting that happen again¡ªeither to themselves or their kids. What¡¯s worse, I¡¯m sure some of them would volunteer themselves and maybe even their kids, but they¡¯ll be hating you the whole time.¡±


    ¡°Not me,¡± I said. ¡°My girlfriend definitely wouldn¡¯t be okay with that. Is there any chance we could donate sperm and your doctor could inseminate people or, I don¡¯t know, find some way to splice in my genes in for an embryo¡¯s ''make a rash'' genes? It seems faster than having Marcus and I knock up the colony and we wouldn¡¯t have to hurt anyone¡¯s feelings.¡±


    ¡°Maybe.¡± She¡¯d laughed as I suggested we¡¯d have to ¡°knock up¡± the colony and appeared to be ready to say something else when my implant informed me that Jaclyn wanted to talk to me.


    I took the call. Jaclyn¡¯s voice filled my head. ¡°I hope you¡¯re not doing what Marcus is doing.¡±


    ¡°No! I mean, I¡¯m assuming Marcus and Tikki are making out. Kals and I are talking just outside the front door.¡±


    Jaclyn sighed. ¡°Good. Cassie and I had no idea where you went and Kals¡¯ friends didn¡¯t know where she went. They started making jokes about ¡®second skin¡¯. I have no idea what they¡¯re talking about.¡±


    ¡°We probably ought to get back then. I''ve learned a lot. I¡¯ll figure out how to explain, but don¡¯t touch anybody. It¡¯ll be a huge mess.¡±


    Jaclyn snorted. ¡°Awesome. Marcus¡¯ implant isn¡¯t taking any calls, so I¡¯m assuming it¡¯s too late for that warning.¡±

 Birthright: Part 5

    ¡°Maybe Tikki¡¯s accepting calls?¡± I asked as Kals touched the bracelet on her left wrist.


    ¡°We tried that,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Did you leave messages?¡±


    Her sigh was audible even over the implant. ¡°Yes, but not about not touching. You should call them.¡±


    Would Tikki even need to be told? She shouldn¡¯t¡ªexcept that she¡¯d had a week to discover that there were no issues with touching us at all. I hadn¡¯t remembered it coming up, but she might not have told us if it had.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I told her, and left messages with Marcus¡¯ implant and Tikki¡¯s bracelet. One of them would have to notice, right?


    I stopped concentrating on my implant to find Kals with her arms folded across her chest, watching me.


    It struck me that taking a call on my implant might be at least as rude as taking a cellphone call. ¡°Sorry. Jaclyn called me about Marcus and Tikki and also um¡­ us. I told her we¡¯re not uh¡­ doing anything.¡±


    She closed her eyes for a moment. ¡°Of course that¡¯s where their minds went.¡±


    I glanced toward the window. We were off to the side of it, so I couldn¡¯t see much, but a couple people were looking out. With all the light in the room, they probably couldn¡¯t see anything out here.


    I turned back to Kals. ¡°I don¡¯t see why your friends would assume we¡¯re doing anything. For all they know, it¡¯s impossible.¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything for a second, but added, ¡°Let¡¯s just say anything¡¯s possible if you use your imagination¡­ You were saying something before she called. What was it?¡±


    It was my turn to pause, trying to remember something that it felt I¡¯d said half a week a go now. ¡°I was trying to say that while I don¡¯t want to cheat on my girlfriend to do it, I¡¯d like the colony to survive. It seems like if someone could use my genes to fix the allergy, your people could hide the effects from the Human Ascendancy. I mean, you¡¯ve probably got the technology. The Abominators had those birthing tanks. Plus, you seem to be ahead of us in every other area and we¡¯re nearly to the point where we can edit people¡¯s genes.¡±


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    She frowned, but then she shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not that simple or we¡¯d have done it already. But you have to talk to Iolan about the mole anyway. He¡¯s our genetic counselor. He¡¯d know whether or not it¡¯s possible if anyone would.¡±


    She checked the window. ¡°We¡¯d better go in before they decide we¡¯re¡­¡±


    She stopped. ¡°I take that back. They¡¯ll still think that no matter what we do.¡±


    ¡°That reminds me,¡± I said. ¡°What is second skin? Jaclyn said that your friends were joking about it.¡±


    I¡¯d been wearing the glasses that as acted as a hidden HUD for when I was wearing my stealth suit as clothes. Through my glasses I could see Kals¡¯ skin darken or take a redder tinge at the very least.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to kill them,¡± she muttered, but in a louder voice she said, ¡°Second skin is a product used to help heal burns. It can be sprayed over the skin of any gene line. More expensive varieties allow the user to feel through them like normal skin.¡±


    I¡¯d been wondering why she¡¯d begun to lecture me in a controlled, almost strained, voice about a first aid product at first, but a few words in, I knew exactly why and she confirmed it.


    ¡°My first serious boyfriend was from another gene line. We used it once, but not for the official purpose. Both of us ended up with horrible rashes in the worst places.¡± She shook her head. ¡°No one will let me forget it and it¡¯s not as if I¡¯m the only one it ever happened to. I''m sure more people use it for sex than burns.¡±


    Then she threw back her head and laughed, ¡°Assholes. See if I don¡¯t spill their most embarrassing moments the first chance I get.¡±


    We went back inside soon after that. In some ways, there¡¯s not much to tell about the party except that I didn¡¯t spend the rest of it standing next to the wall. Kals pulled me into the group, introducing me to her friends (¡°This is Mati, his most recent, ansible only, girlfriend turned out to be an intelligent computer virus with a weird thing for feet¡ª¡°), whose embarrassing moments were often stranger than I''d thought possible.


    The beer tasted better than the beer I¡¯d tried at the last party I¡¯d been at. It had been Miller Lite and tasted most strongly of the metal keg that contained it. It was a low bar to cross, but the beer here didn¡¯t taste like metal. I still wasn¡¯t sure that it tasted good, but at least it wasn¡¯t bad.


    Marcus didn¡¯t reappear until after everyone had left. Cassie, Jaclyn, Katuk, and I sat around the table in the common area talking through what we¡¯d learned. Tikki wasn¡¯t with him.


    ¡°I walked her home,¡± he said. ¡°She¡¯s amazing.¡±

 Birthright: Part 6

    Jaclyn gave him a sidelong glance, but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°The main point of having people over tonight was to get to know people and pick up leads for who might be passing along information to the Human Ascendancy. We¡¯ve been talking about what we learned. Marcus, did you find out anything?¡±


    He gave a brief grin. ¡°Tikki and I kind of got distracted and we left, but I learned about her childhood and what it¡¯s like to grow up a breeder in the Human Ascendancy. That was interesting. Technically, her gene line is ¡®active¡¯ but because the Ascendancy doesn¡¯t have much use for it by itself, they¡¯re used as breeders¡ªwhich meant that both of her parents had to pass their genes along. She¡¯s got half a dozen half brothers and sisters and she¡¯s never met any of them. Crazy, right?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°It is, but it fits with what I found out.¡± Whereupon I explained what Kals had told me.


    Cassie leaned forward, putting her arms on the table. ¡°I think she¡¯s exaggerating. I mean, sure, it¡¯ll mess things up for the Human Ascendancy and all the other Abominator humans, but not very quickly unless they breed like rabbits. By they time the colony¡¯s a problem for the Ascendancy, the whole situation could be different. The Alliance might let Earth¡¯s ships use the gate.¡±


    Marcus shook his head. ¡°Wow. Tikki kind of told me that, but we skipped the part where sex could bring about the end of civilization.¡±


    Shaking her head, Jaclyn said, ¡°That might be the reason they aren¡¯t letting us leave Earth. If we¡¯d mess up the human civilizations around us that much, well, I get it. It might be that we¡¯d be better off developing to the point that we¡¯re too powerful to keep penned into one system before we leave. If you think about it, Earth¡¯s in the middle of the worst neighbors you could get.¡±


    At that, Katuk nodded slowly. ¡°That is the Xiniti hope for the people of Earth, that when they leave their system that they¡¯re strong enough to survive.¡±


    Jaclyn looked over at him. ¡°I hope they¡¯re not part of the reason that our ships never qualify to be allowed to leave our solar system.¡±


    His dark eyes gave nothing away. ¡°I can¡¯t speak to that as I was not personally involved.¡±


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    Jaclyn raised an eyebrow and turned back to the rest of us. ¡°Did anybody get any leads that might tell us who is behind messing with the force field generators?¡±


    ¡°Not any good leads, but,¡± Cassie raised her hand to emphasize her point, ¡°I can tell you that they¡¯re spooked. They¡¯ve never had that happen before. Iolan has said he¡¯s seen evidence of sabotage before, but this is the first time that it¡¯s this obvious. They¡¯re not sure that it really happened here before the most recent ship of refugees, but it definitely has happened after.¡±


    ¡°Which means that it might be that the person came on the ship this time,¡± I said, ¡°or it means that someone was already here, but maybe someone came in with the most recent ship that made them decide they had the necessary support to make their campaign more noticeable. So basically, two spies.¡±


    ¡°¡®Always there are two,¡± Marcus said, ¡°¡®the master and the apprentice¡¯.¡±


    Katuk eyed him. ¡°My classes in counter-espionage did not make that claim. Could you elaborate?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°He¡¯s making a joke. He¡¯s quoting from a movie and probably the worst movie in that series.¡±


    Marcus shrugged. ¡°Phantom Menace was the first Star Wars movie I saw. I liked it.¡±


    Before I could reply, Jaclyn started talking. ¡°Before this derails into nerdery, does anyone have any suspects?¡±


    ¡°The plant?¡± Cassie glanced over at me. ¡°He might have arranged that attack on Tikki to look good and get on board. I¡¯ve been talking to people and he¡¯s sold a lot of stuff. If that does more than he says, he has something everywhere.¡±


    I thought about the possibilities. Information gathering is the obvious one, but if they could remotely do stuff (like detonate?), we could have a huge problem on our hands.


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°Anyone else?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s Kals. She doesn¡¯t want to be here at all. I can¡¯t quite believe she¡¯d betray her mom and her friends to be somewhere more interesting.¡±


    ¡°Plus,¡± Marcus said, ¡°she wasn¡¯t on the ship. She was here. Tikki told me that Jadzen Akri leaves this place to pick up new people every so often, but she doesn¡¯t bring Kals. So that wouldn¡¯t explain the fleet that nearly caught us on the way here. We don¡¯t know that that was because of espionage, but it would be easier if it were.¡±


    Cassie held up a hand, getting our attention. ¡°Hey, one more possibility: Tikki. She was on the ship. She doesn¡¯t have family, no friends among the rest of the people, and she managed to set things up so that she became familiar with us and how we do things¡ª¡°


    Marcus shook his head. ¡°No. That was accidental. She couldn¡¯t have known we¡¯d come looking for her. Plus, how could she sabotage the force field generators? She was with us that night and only saw them after they malfunctioned.¡±


    Voice low, Katuk spoke as Marcus took a breath. ¡°That is where Nick¡¯s theory of a second spy would explain access to the force field generators.¡±


    Frowning, Marcus muttered, ¡°Crap.¡±

 Birthright: Part 7

    Then he shook his head. ¡°I still can¡¯t see her working for the Human Ascendancy though. They killed her parents. They took her brothers and sisters away when they were two or three. I can see how she might hate them, but I can¡¯t see how she¡¯d work for them.¡±


    Cassie shrugged. ¡°People lie¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Marcus said, ¡°but people here know her and her parents.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Cassie started talking the moment he stopped, ¡°but they could still have something she wants¡ªmaybe her parents aren¡¯t dead or they¡¯re willing to let a brother or sister go? Look, if someone had your family would you let them die? You¡¯d do something, maybe even betraying a bunch of people you only kind of know.¡±


    Marcus exhaled. ¡°I don¡¯t buy it. It¡¯s got to be someone else.¡±


    Jaclyn looked over at Cassie, lips in a straight line, and Cassie didn¡¯t interrupt as Jaclyn said, ¡°Look, I know the two of you like each other. That was obvious on the way in, but be careful. She might be everything you say, but she might not be. I don¡¯t want to find you in the woods with a knife in your back or maybe partially eaten by those dog things.¡±


    He held up his hands. ¡°Ok. Ok. I¡¯ll be careful. Just don¡¯t make Tikki feel like an axe murderer, right? Because she probably isn¡¯t.¡±


    Katuk looked from Jaclyn to Marcus. ¡°Is murdering people with an axe common on your world?¡±


    Everybody turned to look at him.


    Marcus cocked his head, thinking about it. After a moment he said, ¡°Not too common, but it¡¯s memorable when it happens. You know, I bet people use the phrase because axes are scarier looking than other weapons. Almost no one uses them for fighting. People mostly use guns or knives.¡±


    Katuk nodded. ¡°That seems sensible. Axes are often unwieldy.¡±


    No one seemed to have a response to that, so I asked, ¡°Did you hear about any other possible suspects?¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°Yeah and no. There are thousands of people on the planet, so one night isn¡¯t enough. I heard about a lot of people, but I didn¡¯t hear anything bad enough yet. I mean, remember that woman Alanna who didn¡¯t believe that there could possibly be a spy here? She¡¯s one of the colony¡¯s techies. I figured that she was an excellent suspect. It doesn¡¯t get much better than a techie who doesn¡¯t want you to look for spies, right? Except here¡¯s the problem. She had an affair with Iolan years ago, so they¡¯re both on council now, but she opposes everything he¡¯s for.


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    ¡°Sure, maybe that¡¯s enough motivation to betray the colony, but most likely she¡¯s pissed off enough at him to argue, but nothing else, you know?¡±


    Jaclyn glanced at Cassie. ¡°I can¡¯t say I came up with anyone we weren¡¯t talking about earlier, but I know more about who¡¯s who around here than I used to. It¡¯s beginning at least. Maybe Iolan will have something better when we meet him tomorrow?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°The way they talked at the council meeting, it sounded like he¡¯d been harping on this for years. Maybe he¡¯ll have a list.¡±


    Jaclyn pursed her lips. ¡°I hope so. Well, we¡¯re done unless anyone learned anything you think we should all know.¡±


    Marcus raised his hand. ¡°Get this. Did you know these people can choose to be fertile? The guys can shoot blanks at will. The women choose to release eggs and I might be wrong, but it sounds like they can choose the gender. You wonder why. I do, anyway.¡±


    Jaclyn raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°Look,¡± Marcus said, ¡°We were talking. It came up.¡±


    We all went to our separate rooms and went to bed. In the silence as we waited for the chance to fall asleep, Katuk told us, ¡°We, Xiniti, can choose our gender.¡±


    Marcus asked, ¡°What gender are you now?¡±


    ¡°Asexual,¡± Katuk said. ¡°We adjust to the situation. There are no eligible Xiniti here, so procreation is not an option and recreational sex unlikely. In any case, creating a child in a place that might be invaded would be irresponsible as well as a distraction from our task.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± Marcus¡¯ voice carried across the room. ¡°That¡¯s different. I had no idea. Say, you guys destroyed pretty much all the Abominators. Do you have any idea why they chose to give their enslaved humans the ability to choose whether they get pregnant or not? It seems like they weren¡¯t interested in that kind of freedom.¡±


    The Xiniti considered it. ¡°I assume it would have some use in choosing when their subjects would get pregnant since humans are perpetually receptive to sex.¡±


    I opened my eyes and looked toward Marcus¡¯ dark lump of blankets on the other side of the room. ¡°I figured it was because of the motivators. Without the ability to choose, you get a random baby at random times. With the ability to choose and motivators, you get babies whenever you want them. Plus you get whatever gender you think would be convenient.¡±


    ¡°I should have guessed,¡± Marcus said. ¡°I suppose we¡¯re all lucky that they¡¯re dead.¡±


    In his inhumanly precise voice, Katuk added, ¡°The Human Ascendancy uses their methods. In that sense, they live on, and we may see them before the end of all this.¡±


    That thought didn¡¯t help me sleep any faster, but eventually, I did drift off.

 Birthright: Part 8

    The next day found the group of us in Iolan Mekus¡¯ office and lab. It was another of the egg-shaped buildings. This one was set at a distance from the main settlement¡ªwhich I¡¯d just learned had one of the least interesting names possible.


    Marcus stared at Iolan. ¡°You call it ¡®Landing¡¯? I get it. It¡¯s right next to where you¡¯ve got the starships, but I¡¯d have gone with something more, you know, inspiring. It¡¯s significant¡ªthe beginning of a human colony on this world. That¡¯s crazy and amazing.¡±


    Iolan frowned, leaning against his desk which was covered with clutter. There weren¡¯t any papers but there were multiple black tablets and various small, plastic-looking devices of a variety of different shapes, ranging from flat squares to cylinders.


    His desk matched the lab. While perfectly clean (to the degree it could be in the middle of a wilderness), all the devices stood next to each other with barely any space between them. My university¡¯s chem labs were much better organized¡ªwell, except maybe for a few of the profs¡¯ private areas. Those could get messy.


    Iolan scowled. ¡°We used to call it First Landing, but after a while everyone dropped the ¡®First¡¯. Now, I know you¡¯re here to help me find out if there¡¯s a spy¡ª¡±


    ¡°Or spies,¡± I added.


    ¡°¡ªAmong us, but I got the impression that you wanted to talk to me about something else?¡±


    Jaclyn spoke before I could respond, looking Iolan in the eye. ¡°We found out that your colony¡¯s going to get dangerously inbred soon because no one can have children except with people from their own group. We¡¯re from one of the planets where the Abominators kept unmodified humans. We¡¯ve got other stuff mixed in now, but we don¡¯t activate anybody¡¯s allergies so far.¡±


    His brow wrinkled. ¡°You know this how?¡±


    ¡°I touched Kals¡¯ arm with my finger,¡± I said, ¡°and she didn¡¯t have any problems.¡±


    Marcus gave half a smile. ¡°Tikki and I¡­ We touched a few other places¡ªa lot of times. We didn¡¯t use second skin or anything like that.¡±


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    Iolan¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°I hope not. I¡¯ve been keeping all of that under lock and key. If people got into my stores¡­¡± He shook his head, muttering, ¡°We need it for burns, but go on.¡±


    Marcus¡¯ jaw dropped a little. ¡°There isn¡¯t any more. You don¡¯t want to hear exactly what we did, do you?¡±


    Leaning against one of the tables, Cassie grinned. ¡°He wants to hear it all¡ªespecially the embarrassing parts.¡±


    Then Iolan blinked, realizing, I¡¯m guessing, exactly what we¡¯d said. ¡°No. Not at all. That¡­ That¡¯s incredible. I''m not sure I can even believe you, but we can prove it even without bringing in people and risking nasty rashes. If you give me a little bit of skin or spit, I¡¯ll be able to find out what we need to know.¡±


    He turned to his desk, finding a stack of thin, glossy white squares, giving one to each of us except for Katuk. ¡°Spit on it and pass it back to me.¡±


    I took mine, spit on the square, watched as the spit disappeared inside, and passed it back to Iolan.


    Taking the squares, he placed them next to each other on one of the tablets. ¡°We¡¯ll have to wait a minute while it catalogs your DNA and compares to ours.¡±


    After a little more than a minute, the edges of each square changed color, turning from white to red and then back to white. Iolan stared ahead as if reading something invisible above them. ¡°They¡¯re done and have made a preliminary report. You¡¯re all of unmodified human stock or at least of unintentionally modified stock. Note though that I say unintentionally modified. You¡¯re all basic human stock that have somehow inherited genes from more than one Abominator created gene line as well as a few completely new mutations.¡±


    Turning to Cassie, he said, ¡°You¡¯re the most normal of the group, containing genes that one group of Abominators used as rulers¡ªexcept that you lack the gifts related to ruling, have kept the improved physical abilities and immortality, but have an ability to heal that¡¯s far in excess of what I¡¯ve ever seen.¡±


    He went on, pointing at Jaclyn. ¡°You¡¯ve got a collection of genes from different lines¡­ I¡¯ve never seen them combine like this and from what I heard from those who saw you in action, I¡¯d need a great deal of time to explain your abilities.¡±


    He glanced over at Marcus. ¡°You¡¯re as unusual. You¡¯ve got many of the same genes combined with one of the Abominators¡¯ soldier gene lines¡ªone that included some Abominator DNA.¡±


    Marcus looked as if he was about to say something, but Iolan turned to me. ¡°You¡¯ve got a bit of DNA from the gene lines I¡¯m familiar with, but some that isn¡¯t human or modified by the Abominators. You¡¯ve all got a little of that, but you¡¯ve got it most strongly.¡±


    I wanted to ask him if he knew more than that, but he talked over me. ¡°You were right, though. None of you should have any trouble breeding with any gene line.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°This is going to cause all kinds of trouble.¡±

 Birthright: Part 9

    That was a lot to absorb. Marcus had Abominator DNA? If it was from his dad¡¯s side of the family (and it almost certainly was) then Haley and Travis did as well. And what he¡¯d said about me needed a lot more detail. I could guess at it, but¡ª


    Marcus talked over my thoughts, holding up his right hand and waving it a little. ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa¡­ Wait a second. Abominator DNA? What¡¯s going on there?¡±


    Iolan shrugged. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be a surprise. You¡¯re a shapeshifter. They were shapeshifters. They knew where to get that characteristic. They put it into several different lines. The gene lines they optimized for repairing machinery had it. So did several soldier lines that they didn¡¯t want to look like soldiers.¡±


    Nodding toward Cassie, he added, ¡°It¡¯s interesting that you¡¯ve got the Abominator Citizen¡¯s Mark, but none of the mental characteristics that are supposed to go with it. Motivator abilities are generally in there too.¡±


    Cassie shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve never been much into telling people what to do.¡±


    As he finished his sentence, I asked, ¡°What exactly did you mean that not all of my DNA is human?¡±


    Iolan¡¯s face tightened and he glanced out the windows before catching himself and turning back to look at me. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m both a doctor and genetic counselor by training and there are certain things we weren¡¯t allowed to discuss. I¡¯m going to tell you this one, but be aware, it¡¯s a secret and I¡¯m only telling you because you, more than most, need to know. The Abominators came to know that they weren¡¯t the first intelligent life after they made it to the stars. It wasn¡¯t because they found other races, but because they found ruins, whole star systems where some civilization expanded and then ultimately destroyed itself.


    ¡°At first, they didn¡¯t know what had happened, but after a time they studied these civilizations, finding that they¡¯d often discovered some artifact, reverse-engineered it, and that the changes it brought about destroyed their civilization. Worse, they came to realize that all the artifacts had been designed to encourage exactly that outcome. Eventually, it struck them that the ancient artifacts had been designed by the same civilization even though they looked different.¡±


    He paused, looking at each of us, probably looking for a reaction. Whatever he wanted, he started talking again.


    ¡°They became paranoid that whatever affected those other civilizations would affect them as well, and they were right. It did. Over time their society changed. They became power hungry, more cruel, and used other sentient life as toys but somehow they kept it in check. They discovered the worst of the traps in the artifacts and removed them. Their civilization lasted one hundred thousand years. As horrible as the Abominators were, they were great scientists, and over time they managed to find and then capture one of the ancients that created the artifacts and get a sample of its DNA. Soon after that, the creature escaped, destroying the team that had done it and their world.¡±


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    Cassie sent a message over to me with her implant. ¡°That sounds like Lee.¡±


    I sent back, ¡°Except I don¡¯t think he¡¯d get caught long enough for a DNA sample.¡±


    She didn¡¯t respond beyond shaking her head, and Iolan went on.


    ¡°But not all the knowledge had been destroyed. They were able to use it in their designs. Their strongest creations included sections of that DNA. The problem is that after that, they began to recognize that the ones with the ancients¡¯ DNA were unreliable and were more likely to turn on them¡ªwith disastrous results. The Abominators found themselves warring with their own creations as well as the Cosmic Ghosts, the Xiniti, and many of the alien races that they¡¯d conquered. You know the end. They were destroyed."


    I glanced over at Katuk. He had no reaction at all, watching without moving.


    ¡°Your DNA contains more traces of the ancients than any I¡¯ve seen that wasn¡¯t deliberately planned. You also contain traces of the Cosmic Ghosts¡¯ DNA. I¡¯ve always suspected that the Ghosts were related to the ancients, so that¡¯s no surprise, it¡¯s no great thing for you considering that in humans the Ghosts powers only manifest in women. Still, there are those who dream of interstellar flight without needing a starship, and the secret of how to do it is in your DNA.


    ¡°You should know that the Human Ascendancy will want it just like they¡¯ll want the ancients¡¯ DNA within you. Nevermind that you can¡¯t do much with it. The ancients appear to have practically been gods. The Ascendancy won¡¯t be able to leave that alone. Watch out if you travel to any of their worlds. If they get a sample of your DNA, they¡¯ll want more.¡±


    The doctor shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s why, as much as I want to, I can¡¯t use your DNA to fix the colony¡¯s problems. I might be able to use your friends¡¯, but yours is too dangerous.¡±


    Marcus glanced over at me. ¡°Seriously? Nick doesn¡¯t have any powers.¡±


    Iolan frowned. ¡°He may not be able to do anything, but his DNA is a library for those who want to. Now, as for you, I would like you to leave a sperm sample, preferably several. I don¡¯t have the equipment necessary to do genetic engineering, but if I could arrange a few births with your sperm, I think I could save us.¡±


    Marcus stared at him for a second. ¡°Okay, I guess.¡±


    Iolan smiled. ¡°That¡¯s absolutely wonderful.¡± He looked over at Cassie and Jaclyn. ¡°I¡¯d take your DNA as well, but eggs are harder to extract.¡±


    I looked at him. ¡°How would I get ancient DNA?¡±


    Cocking his head, Iolan didn¡¯t say anything for a moment. ¡°Humans made with ancient DNA might have escaped to your world. That¡¯s one possibility. Here¡¯s another. The ancients appear to have had the ability to effortlessly become any race that intrigued them¡ªnot just appear to be them, but actually be them. If your world is like most others, you have myths about humans mating with gods. In this case, that may well have been true.¡±

 Birthright: Part 10

    Thinking back to how I¡¯d pulled on Lee¡¯s power in some way to summon a sword, I knew I wasn¡¯t completely without powers, but I knew Amy¡¯s magic had bridged some gap to allow me to do it.


    Eyeing Iolan, I said, ¡°So, if I have ancient, mysterious DNA, but can¡¯t do anything with it, why is that?¡±


    Iolan frowned. ¡°Well, it¡¯s simpler than you might expect. You might have abilities, but you lack the necessary power to make them work. Many people who have Abominator derived or created genomes have the same issue and ironically, the Abominators fixed it by adding in DNA that they¡¯d reverse engineered to copy the ancient DNA that had caused them problems. I imagine that if someone lacked enough power to fully use abilities they might have, they¡¯d use them at a much lower level, possibly undetectably.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°I get it. That¡¯s about as simple as you get.¡±


    Remembering back to when I¡¯d been tested by Keith with the Cabal¡¯s powers test, I knew I¡¯d gotten a hint of ¡°energy¡± and ¡°mind¡±¡ªboth of which were somehow oriented toward self-use as opposed to something I could aim at people. Even though the test might not cover Lee¡¯s people as well as Abominator genetic manipulation, it wasn¡¯t a big jump to imagine that ¡°mind¡± might suggest an unusual ability with technology. A connection to the Cosmic Ghosts might explain the ¡°energy¡± indicator. The fact that they were both barely blue might explain the subtle effect of whatever I had.


    It wouldn¡¯t surprise me if I got more out of it than that, but I¡¯d have to watch for it. Also, I¡¯d have to ask Lee a few questions the next time I saw him. It seemed like the kind of thing he¡¯d be aware of.


    More than that, it might explain his interest in my family going back a few generations. Grandpa had told me that Lee had mentioned knowing an ancestor of his once. He¡¯d told me that he watched families with potential once. A connection to his own species might have been one of the reasons. Even if Lee hadn¡¯t been the person who¡¯d been caught, he might have known or even cared about them. Alternately, the person might have had abilities Lee found useful and wanted to cultivate in humans.


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    It was something I couldn¡¯t put past him. Being immortal had to encourage thinking long term.


    ¡°Well¡­¡± Jaclyn glanced over all of us. ¡°I think we¡¯ve asked all we can about that. We should start talking about the reason we¡¯re officially here. Jadzen Akri wanted us to help you find out if there¡¯s a spy here. So, why do you think there is?¡±


    Iolan nodded and then spoke slowly. ¡°I told you at the meeting. I don¡¯t have evidence of it. I wish I did, but I do know that there¡¯s increased ansible activity before and after Jadzen goes on one of her rescue trips. And even though Alanna disagrees, it¡¯s not just because they¡¯re planning the trips. There are too many resources involved.¡±


    Iolan had started talking more quickly as he went on, stepping forward and moving his hands to illustrate.


    ¡°Whoa,¡± I held up my hands. ¡°How do you know there are too many resources involved?¡±


    Iolan gave a short laugh. ¡°I¡¯m a little bit of a hobbyist when it comes to comms and the deep space relay system. If you¡¯ll allow an old man his eccentricities, I¡¯ll explain. It¡¯s normal for children to get interested in the ansible system at some point. There¡¯s so much to be fascinated by. There¡¯s the history¡ªit was created by the Abominators and is now used by everyone in charted space. There are the vids about the installation and repair teams that go practically anywhere, exploring worlds and getting caught up in adventures. You know how that goes I¡¯m sure the real teams are bored in the middle of nowhere.¡±


    He picked up a bottle from his desk and took a drink.


    ¡°Anyhow,¡± he said, ¡°I never could pursue it as a profession since I¡¯d been training to be a doctor, genetic counselor, and a motivator since childhood. No one, my parents included was going to let me train to run one of the signal generator stations, much less learn how to repair a station. I did manage to get involved at a volunteer level when I was younger, and when I got here, they made me one of the admins of our deep space relay. It¡¯s so clever of them to spoof the system the way they do.¡±


    At this point Iolan had gotten back into talking loudly and gesturing as he talked. He¡¯d even pulled up a floating picture of the surrounding sectors ansible network from a machine on his desk.


    Stopping, he said, ¡°I¡¯m almost certain that there¡¯s an encrypted stream of data that¡¯s activated whenever other data is going out. You would think that would be easy to prove, but I think they¡¯re using admin channels so that that the data doesn¡¯t appear in the official logs and statistics.¡±

 Venus Spy Catcher: Part 1

    Department for the Analysis of Alien Artifacts, K¡¯Kassa, Issakass Homeworld


    The being that sometimes called itself Lee reformed in front of the building. A body formed around him with barely a thought, so little that he took a moment to check what form he wore. It wasn¡¯t anything special. For the moment, he was bipedal with four limbs, blue-green scaled hide, and while he couldn¡¯t see all of his face, it was obvious that he had a long snout.


    He wore a short robe with a tool belt.


    He was, he recognized, a typical, lower caste Issakass male, the sort of being that would never be noticed walking into a government building¡ªnot that it mattered.


    There were no Issakass as far as the eye could see. He saw plenty of evidence that the Issakass still existed. The smell of smoke hung in the air and he saw evidence of at least four burning buildings with a quick look around. He knew he could pick out more if he cared.


    He didn¡¯t. None of the buildings were close, so it wasn¡¯t as if the neighborhood were burning. This block of low government buildings must look the same as it had before the war. Blocky and made of old plastics and ceramics, all of the buildings had a grayish tinge, whatever color they¡¯d been before. The kassetia vine grew more thickly on them than the Issakass preferred, hinting that this block had been abandoned before the current fighting.


    It didn¡¯t surprise him. He felt sure he knew why, but it was good to check.


    Well, he told himself, there was no reason to wait and every reason to get it over with. Depending on what he found, it might make the endgame easier.


    He walked toward the door, walking under a mural of intricate carvings. The Issakass traditionally decorated their more important buildings with carvings. He remembered visiting when the custom was new. The Issakass had been a young species then. Though they¡¯d always been too focused on money for his taste, they¡¯d had the energy young spacefaring races had¡ªexploring here, going there, encountering other intelligent life for the first time¡­


    He remembered doing that with the others¡ªKee (had she been calling herself Kee then?) had always tried to understand the way things worked, Nataw had always seemed to enjoy the traveling more than anything they found, Halas had wanted to keep them safe. Lee shook his head. The universe didn¡¯t allow you to stay safe. He thought about those three and the many others they¡¯d traveled the galaxies with.


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    They¡¯d been so very young.


    He wondered where Halas was now. The last Lee had seen him, he¡¯d been with the Destroy faction, designing devices like the one Lee had come to inspect. A part of Lee hoped he might have died in the fighting. Better to discover Halas had died in the years since he¡¯d left than to have to kill him himself, but Halas wouldn¡¯t have joined the Live faction. It wasn¡¯t in his nature. Besides, Nataw had, and Halas had always been on the edge of not getting along with Nataw.


    Lee supposed that he was Live now, assuming he could ever persuade them not to kill him in retaliation.


    He spent enough time remembering that he reached the artifact before he expected to. One minute he¡¯d been traveling down a hallway and the next he felt the device. Knowing where to go, he stepped through an archway and into a nearly empty room.


    The artifact lay on the floor, a tangled mess of wires sticking out of a ceramic casing. It was older than some galaxies. Lee crossed the wide, white tiles, reaching the artifact halfway across the room.


    Lee didn¡¯t even have to pick it up to find out what he¡¯d wanted to know. It released an invisible cloud of nano-devices. He could feel them dig into his skin¡ªif he¡¯d been a mortal, he wouldn¡¯t have, and they would have made small but important changes in his brain and body. He¡¯d have developed the ability to influence other beings with his voice, a stronger, more resilient body, and a deep need for conquest.


    While going mad in the way Halas intended might be entertaining for a time, Lee had things to do. He thought them out of existence and let the body he¡¯d created repair itself.


    Then he summoned a sword and stabbed the artifact. Because it was more than a sword, Lee could feel it as the artifact died, along with the nano-factories inside it.


    Good, he decided, he might not have to kill the entire species. If the species were being led into war by people changed by this device and others like it, he¡¯d only have to kill the leadership. He¡¯d have to inform the Xiniti. They¡¯d be able to handle it. The Abominators had stolen elements of the technology and repurposed them.


    He turned to leave, noticing a figure forming in the shadows in the corner of the room. More than nine feet tall, it had horns on its head and claws on its hands and feet. Great slabs of muscle covered its body, all of them tensing as it looked at Lee, ready to attack. Except its mouth opened and it said, ¡°I didn¡¯t believe it. I¡¯d been told that you were back and that you were no longer with us, but I had to see it. Why did you do that?¡±


    Lee shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s complicated, Halas.¡±


    ¡°Complicated?¡± Halas¡¯ voice rose and the building groaned in response. ¡°That¡¯s all you¡¯ll tell me? The younger races are going to kill us if we don¡¯t destroy them first. You used to understand that¡ª¡°


    The ground shook as Halas stepped toward Lee. Feeling the power gather, Lee knew he¡¯d have to match him, but he¡¯d been planning to. He opened the doors to his power as he hadn¡¯t for the first time in millennia¡­


    From the Interstellar News Network:


    The Issakass home world K¡¯Kassia has experienced a series of devastating explosions. It¡¯s not currently known if they are the product of fusion, fission or antimatter bombs.


    Developing.

 Venus Spy Catcher: Part 2

    I stood next to one of the counters in Iolan Mekus¡¯ lab, considering sitting on it but then reconsidering when I noticed the same kind of square chips that had absorbed our biological samples.


    Standing then, I asked, ¡°So okay¡­ If you think they''re using admin accounts to communicate and then deleting the specific logs of their ansible use, then who are the admins?¡±


    Iolan grinned, but barely. ¡°I see where you¡¯re going, but it¡¯s not that easy. That was my first thought. The other two admins are Geman, who is no fan of the Ascendancy government and Dalat, the other pilot, who is in his own world. I know anybody could be a traitor, but the two of them are poor candidates. I¡¯ve been forced to look elsewhere.¡±


    Marcus looked up from one of tables. ¡°How about mind control? I know I¡¯ve mentioned this before when we were talking among ourselves, but you guys have people who can tell you what to do and then you listen even if you disagree. It¡¯s crazy.¡±


    Iolan blinked. ¡°Well, of course mind control is a possibility, but we do have some experience in resisting it here. Now, as for myself, I grew up in a leader gene line and even though we were stronger and more powerful than most humans, our best weapon against other humans had to be our voice. So, as for myself, I never discount that possibility, but there are so many potential motivators¡­ If you think about it, I could theoretically be causing it despite not being interested in destroying myself or ever having any real interest in being a motivator at all.


    ¡°I was far more interested in learning to be a genetic counselor and doctor¡ªso I left my motivator abilities quite underdeveloped. I¡¯m far from the only one of us who is like that. You don¡¯t become part of a group like this without hating that part of ourselves. The only people with good motivator training are Jadzen Akri and her daughter, young Kals. The rest of us have the potential, but we¡¯re only good at the direct, obvious commands¡ªthe kind of thing everyone will pick up on.


    ¡°Only people with real training could both make someone use their ansible access against their will and make them unable to talk about it. Jadzen and Kals wouldn¡¯t have needed to do it. Jadzen has been going back on and off to recruit for years. Kals¡¯ training was interrupted and I don¡¯t see any motivation for her to destroy her family. The only way for mind control to work like that, in this case, is if the Dominators got them and¡ª¡°


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    Cassie looked up from whatever she¡¯d been fiddling with and the desk she¡¯d been standing next to. ¡°Dominators? Whoa. Wait. You¡¯ve got Dominators here too?¡±


    Iolan cocked his head to look at here. ¡°Of course. They¡¯re all over human space. They were the Abominators¡¯ group that handled problem humans and prevented human rebellion.¡±


    Cassie turned toward the rest of us¡ªJaclyn, Marcus and I, mouth twisted and probably thinking what the rest of us were¡ªthat the Dominators were a supervillain team back home that specialized in mind control. It would make a kind of sense if they turned to be Abominator founded group¡ªexcept we couldn¡¯t explain that without explaining we were from Earth, something we didn¡¯t want to do in case Lee¡¯s people got wind of the fact that he came to space with us.


    Cassie turned back to Iolan saying, ¡°I always thought the Dominators were only on our world.¡±


    Iolan nodded. ¡°It would be better to think so. They¡¯ve been known to plant commands that don¡¯t activate for years. All the same, I¡¯d have expected them to trigger long before now. If we are dealing with Dominators, guessing motives is useless and it could be anyone no matter how little sense it makes.¡±


    Jaclyn frowned. ¡°There aren¡¯t any tells that someone¡¯s been modified by them?¡±


    Brows furrowed, Iolan put a bracelet on his wrist and tapped it. ¡°There might be. I¡¯ll do some research. Perhaps the Xiniti might do the same. There might be some default commands that we might activate to check for Dominator manipulation. It may be that I was wrong to discount them. It wouldn¡¯t be impossible for them to include a mini-personality with the skill to use motivator abilities. We¡¯ve had resistance groups broken up by exactly that. It¡¯s just that they¡¯re effective enough that I wouldn¡¯t expect them to take this long to destroy us. They¡¯d have found out our location and called in the Ascendancy long ago.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Jaclyn looked over everyone. ¡°I¡¯m thinking we have to investigate the Dominator angle, but I don¡¯t think we should assume that¡¯s got to be it. We should be looking just in case it is someone else¡ªeven if we can¡¯t guess who right now. Anyone else ready to call this meeting done?¡±


    Iolan nodded. ¡°One thing I¡¯d ask of you all¡­ Please don¡¯t tell anyone that we¡¯re suspecting Dominator involvement. We don¡¯t want a panic. Some of us here only barely survived Dominator controlled personalities. Aside from that, who knows how the Dominators might have told them to respond?¡±

 Venus Spy Catcher: Part 3

    Back in our rooms at the council building half an hour later, we sat across from each other at the table, all of us thinking over what we¡¯d been doing.


    I looked over everyone. ¡°I don¡¯t know about you, but I feel like I have less direction than I had before we talked to Iolan. I mean, it sounds like Iolan¡¯s already got the ansible under investigation and he didn¡¯t offer to let me in. Plus, we¡¯ve got a population that¡¯s ready to freak out either because we can breed with anyone or because the Dominators might come for them. Also, I don¡¯t feel like we got much of a direction from that party the other night.¡±


    Cassie shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. We know more than we did when we got here. I see it as long term thing. We get to know people now, keep on talking to them, and in a little while we see the big picture.¡±


    Nodding, I said, ¡°You¡¯re right, but I¡¯m not sure we¡¯ve got a long term. We¡¯ve got a short term and then the Xiniti show up and we go home.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she drawled. ¡°If they show up. You¡¯ve been following the news, right? Whoever the Issakass are, they started some kind of major war and the Xiniti are containing the edges of it. I¡¯d say who¡¯s in the middle of it, but that might be a bad idea.¡±


    Marcus bobbed his head in agreement. ¡°It is crazy to follow that whole thing. That whole race went crazy and now they''re fighting a war on five fronts when they aren¡¯t fighting each other. And Cassie¡¯s right about who¡¯s in the middle of it. A major Issakass fleet started attacking itself. You know what that sounds like? The sort of dirty tricks he¡¯s always been pulling.¡±


    Jaclyn leaned across the table. ¡°Nick, where do you think you¡¯ve got the best chance of figuring it out?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Geman and the other guy, Dalat? They share admin responsibilities with Iolan. It seems like there¡¯s got to be more there. None of them are ansible administrators or anything like that. I¡¯m not either, but two of them are pilots and the other one¡¯s a doctor. It seems like they could miss something, or that if one of them was hiding something, the others wouldn¡¯t have the skill to figure it out.¡±


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    ¡°You¡¯ve got it.¡± She gave a wave toward the door. ¡°Figure out how you¡¯d get into the relay. We¡¯ll get out and meet people. There¡¯s got to be some way. Marcus? How about you come with me? And let¡¯s go see Tikki. They¡¯ve got to be teaching her a job. We can help and we¡¯ll talk to people along the way.¡±


    Marcus gave her a sideways glance. ¡°I¡¯ve got a feeling this isn¡¯t going to be all that fun.¡±


    Jaclyn gave him a small smile. ¡°I¡¯m sure the two of you can sneak away eventually.¡±


    Cassie looked me in the eye. ¡°Which puts you with me. I¡¯m guessing that sends us to the spaceport.¡±


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought that far ahead, but I was thinking that I might talk to Hal. He can chew through encryption back home. I¡¯m a little worried that he might not be as good here where he¡¯s not as far ahead technologically. On the other hand, he¡¯s built to assist in making war¡ªwhich includes breaking encryption, so I¡¯m basically asking him to do one of the jobs he¡¯s designed for.¡±


    Cassie grinned. ¡°Better to use Hal than my gun. It was on ice for so long that it¡¯s not current on anything but killing.¡±


    Not long after that, Cassie and I were walking to the spaceport. I¡¯d spent some time getting our costumes to imitate the clothes we¡¯d seen on other colonists, so we fit in¡ªat least visually. For all I knew, the costumes we wore had religious or cultural significance and simply wearing them delivered an insult that went back generations.


    It wasn¡¯t a bad day outside¡ªthough it was different taking the same path we¡¯d taken at night back to the ¡°spaceport,¡± a name that overstated its significance by far. It was a spaceport in the same way that a field next to a shack was an airport.


    As we neared the ship, I noticed a few things¡ªfirst that Bug¡¯s Revenge was gone, presumably on the way back to civilization. Hopefully it wouldn¡¯t get caught. The two fighter ships were out and shiny.


    Finally though, Crawls-Through-Desert ¡°sat¡± next to our ship in his pot. An empty gravity sled lay next to the plant on the ground. The last time I¡¯d seen it, it had been piled high with devices.


    ¡°Not to rush you,¡± it said, ¡°but when are you leaving? I sold my entire stock and I don¡¯t have anything left to do but wait. So how long am I going to wait?¡±

 Venus Spy Catcher: Part 4

    Cassie and I both looked at him, but I spoke first. ¡°Your entire stock? I¡¯m hoping it¡¯s gone in the multitudes of happy customers sense and not in the swarms of unhappy villagers with pitchforks chasing us sense.¡±


    It drew its branches upright and spoke with the air of someone whose pride had been touched. ¡°I¡¯m a respectable businessman. I only deliver the best service and this sort of place is the exact sort of client I specialize in.¡±


    ¡°Captive?¡± Cassie grinned, winking at me.


    ¡°I prefer to think of them as underserved,¡± it said.


    ¡°I hope that you¡¯re not taking advantage of them,¡± I said, ¡°because we will have a problem with that.¡±


    ¡°Far from it,¡± its leaves adjusted to catch the sun. ¡°I¡¯ve been discovering areas in which they desperately need my services¡ªparticularly financially. They have accounts that they have no access to because they didn¡¯t have time to move them. I know beings that can¡ªfor a suitable, but not inappropriate fee. And that¡¯s far from the only issue that I can handle. They have property and possessions that haven¡¯t been confiscated by the government, but that they can¡¯t in any way maintain or sell. That¡¯s only few of the things that they need fixed, but I can fix them. Fixing is what I do. I¡¯m afraid, though, that I need to be there in person to get things started and that¡¯s where you come in. When can we leave?¡±


    Hadn¡¯t it been listening? I was almost sure we¡¯d talked about it while it was around. Caught in my memories, I delayed long enough that Cassie replied before I did.


    Stepping closer to it and the ship, Cassie looked down. ¡°We¡¯re stuck here until the Xiniti arrive. We can¡¯t leave at all. If we do and the Human Ascendancy shows up, we¡¯re useless as protectors, right?¡±


    The plant¡¯s leaves rustled. ¡°I have friends that I might be able to get protection through, but I don¡¯t know our coordinates. If you wanted to leave the planet, it¡¯s possible I could arrange something.¡±


    Cassie laughed. ¡°What kind of friends? Are you talking about pirates? Organized crime? Because that wouldn¡¯t be better. Look, you¡¯re stuck here until we can leave. After that, we can drop you off anywhere on our way, but if you find out where we are, I¡¯m pretty sure we have to leave you here for the Xiniti. Okay?¡±


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    Some of its leaves twisted toward her. Making a noise that our implants translated as a grunt, it said, ¡°You¡¯re making this difficult, but I accept. I¡¯ll wait for you to leave. Please let me into your spaceship.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, no,¡± I told it. ¡°We¡¯re not letting anyone in there right now. If you want shelter, you can stay with the rest of us in the council building.¡±


    It floated upward. ¡°I find your lack of faith in me disturbing. I¡¯ve done nothing but help. Still, to win your trust, I¡¯ll go back to your rooms. I may be dormant when you return, but should something change, speaking to me will eventually get my attention.¡±


    We watched as it floated away.


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°That thing¡¯s a piece of work. I¡¯m halfway between thinking that it was trying to trick us into giving it the location of this place and thinking it is what it seems¡ªa borderline criminal with connections to the space mafia or something.¡±


    I glanced over to follow its progress toward the village and then back toward Cassie. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I never seriously considered that it might be a spy. It¡¯s never given off a hint that it¡¯s trying to dig for information¡ªthough I suppose a good spy never does. I¡¯m running with small-time criminal as my model to explain what it does. That said, that¡¯s bad enough. If we told it where we were and it called in its ¡®friends¡­¡¯ I mean, what would we get? A bunch of thugs? We¡¯d get in trouble, and bearing in mind what Kals said about the colonists¡ªthat they were basically the rebels to the Human Ascendancy¡¯s empire? I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the thugs tried to take something and the colonists simply killed them.¡±


    Cassie raised an eyebrow. ¡°You think they¡¯re that dangerous?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but the way Kals described them, it made them sound like they experienced bad things and did bad things before coming here.¡±


    Her expression didn¡¯t change. ¡°Well, if you say so. Either way, we¡¯re here to talk to Geman."


    I nodded. ¡°I guess we¡¯d better do that. Maybe if we¡¯re lucky the other guy will be here too.¡±


    ¡°Dalat?¡± Cassie glanced over at the three egg shaped buildings in the middle of the field. ¡°Let¡¯s see who¡¯s there.¡±


    We started walking. As we did, Cassie tapped her costume in its pseudo Xiniti armor mode. ¡°I¡¯m sick of wearing this crap. I think the last time we wore anything like normal clothes was the party and sure, that was only last night, but we¡¯ve worn them since we left home. I mean, no offense, you designed them and they¡¯re comfortable, but it gets old.¡±


    ¡°I know. I¡¯d prefer to be in t-shirt and jeans.¡± Looking ahead, I noticed that the door to the three egg building cluster had an open door and a figure standing in it with his back to us. Bearing in mind that Geman was tall, dark-skinned and muscular whereas the figure in the doorway was light skinned with blond hair, short, and skinny, I guessed he might be Dalat.


    For all that wearing a mask on my face got uncomfortable, the newest version of my suit gave me much better hearing.


    The man in the doorway was saying, ¡°¡ªsaid we shouldn¡¯t say anything¡ª¡° but then he turned around, seeing us. ¡°Hey there!¡±

 Venus Spy Catcher: Part 5

    I wished we had Daniel there because given what I¡¯d heard it sounded like someone was organizing people against us. Daniel could have sorted that out in seconds. Between Cassie and I, all we had going for us were our combined insight into people.


    I might have been underestimating Cassie, but I wasn¡¯t optimistic.


    As Cassie waved at them (¡°Hey!¡±), I used the implant to ask her, ¡°Did you overhear what he said before he turned around?¡±


    When she thought back, ¡°No,¡± I sent her the memory because the implant suggested it was possible. Technically, it might not have been a memory as much as some sort of temporary data cache of everything I¡¯d recently seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched, but in the moment it didn¡¯t matter.


    She thought back, ¡°This just got more interesting,¡± without visually giving any sign of it. She smiled as Geman and (as we¡¯d guessed) Dalat stepped out of the doorway. Dalat looked us up and down. ¡°I didn¡¯t know humans worked with the Xiniti. I heard it, but I¡¯ve never seen anyone who was. Do they make you wear their armor or do you wear it because its better?¡±


    We were close enough by then that I had time to notice that Dalat was almost a foot shorter than I was. ¡°It¡¯s not their armor. It¡¯s my design. I made it look like Xiniti armor because I didn¡¯t want to have to explain that we were working with them.¡±


    Dalat cocked his head to the side, looked me up and down, cocked his head to the other side and looked at Cassie. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have known the difference. Is it as powerful as theirs?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t know. They only Xiniti I¡¯ve ever fought either wasn¡¯t wearing it or it was partially disabled or something. He was dangerous, but that¡¯s because he was dangerous¡ªnot because of his armor.¡±


    Dalat blinked. ¡°Is that how you¡¯re with them then? You killed him? I heard that when you kill a Xiniti that they make you a Xiniti citizen.¡±


    ¡°Kind of,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not any time you kill a Xiniti. It¡¯s when you kill a Xiniti and they feel like they owe you for it¡ªlike if the guy was a criminal. The guy we fought was.¡±


    Dalat looked over Geman who had stepped out of the doorway, towering over his coworker. ¡°Pretty impressive,¡± Dalat said. ¡°They killed a Xiniti. Not a lot of humans can say that, but a lot of them can say they¡¯ve been killed by Xiniti¡ªwhole systems.¡±


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    Under his breath, Geman said, ¡°Dalat¡­ Not now.¡±


    Dalat didn¡¯t seem to hear him. He shook his head. ¡°After all the humans they killed, I can¡¯t believe they¡¯re protecting us. Strange how the wheels turn, you know? More than one hundred years ago, my father¡¯s side of the family barely got off their planet before the Xiniti scrubbed it. They burned it all down to the dirt. There wasn¡¯t anything left alive except maybe bugs and fungus. What do you think of them? I heard you had one.¡±


    Cassie and I looked at each other. She responded as I wondered where Katuk was exactly. We¡¯d last seen him back on the ship, but I didn¡¯t remember Jaclyn asking him to com along. He had to be with them though.


    As I thought, Cassie answered Dalat. ¡°Eh¡­ He¡¯s quiet. Keeps to himself. We barely know he¡¯s around most of the time.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t hate humans then?¡± Dalat frowned. ¡°Well, I guess they can¡¯t act like they do in online vids back where we¡¯re from. In the stories they¡¯re just waiting for their chance to scrub a world, you know.¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°If he¡¯s waiting for the chance to destroy a solar system, he hasn¡¯t told us about it.¡±


    It seemed like the kind of thing that might come out during a game of Monopoly, I thought. Anybody might choose to destroy the world after finding they have to pay the rent at Park Place while short of funds.


    I made the joke to myself in my head, but even as I did it, the implant gave me access to the standard Xiniti procedures for destroying every form of life on a planet. I¡¯ll skip the details, but there were a lot of ways to go about it and cases that I¡¯d approve of (at least in theory)¡ªstopping the spread of a fast-killing, species-jumping disease, for example.


    I couldn¡¯t say I approved of all the reasons I saw though.


    Ignoring the wash of images and access codes, I did my best to follow the conversation. Cassie didn¡¯t seem to have triggered the same thing in her head. In the time that I¡¯d hit a burst of world destruction stories and Xiniti WMD access codes, she¡¯d moved forward in asking questions that were actually relevant to the mission.


    ¡°You probably know that we¡¯ve been looking into the idea that someone¡¯s spying on the colony. Is there any way someone could get admin access to the local ansible without being one of the admins?¡±


    As she asked, I knew the answer on my own. The Xiniti had access to the network on a deep level¡ªincluding self-destruct access codes to parts of the ansible network. At the same time, they were freakishly security conscious. The implant gave me a crash course in ansible tech. Getting access to it required more than simply a password, it required codes deep within an implant or if no implant, identifying DNA (or a different species¡¯ equivalent) and appropriate records inside the system that that individual is allowed to access it and what permissions they had.


    I¡¯d have to investigate on my own, but it looked like any Xiniti who came through had access, but beyond that it was pretty much impossible. Sure, they had control of the local relay, but a quick request through my implant gave me the list of the local admins gave me Geman, Dalat, and Iolan, all of whom had DNA and various identifiers unique to implant tech on file.


    No one was getting past that easily.


    If someone was, they had to be an ansible tech, a Xiniti, or (and this seemed most likely to me) they had to have control over one of the admins.

 Venus Spy Catcher: Part 6

    Geman¡¯s voice carried through a storm of technical details about the ansible network. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    Dalat looked up at me. ¡°You¡¯re looking kind of white, kid? Did you just get an implant?¡±


    ¡°About a week and a half, maybe two weeks ago¡­¡± My voice trailed off as my implant gave me the exact number of seconds. I took a breath, concentrating on the process of breathing as I¡¯d learned to do when meditating.


    It was better. The roar of detail became background noise.


    Nodding, Geman stepped closer to me, looking me over. ¡°Yeah. That fits. People take time to adjust to new implants. It gets better. When you start out, the implant¡¯s got so much information you don¡¯t know. As you use it, some of that becomes part of your regular memory. So instead of opening up ten or twenty streams of inquiry with one question, maybe you only open up five or one or two? Anyway, you learn how to filter itbetter and only follow up on questions a little at a time.


    ¡°You can tell it to slow down. Don¡¯t forget that. I don¡¯t know what speed the Xiniti set their implants at, but it¡¯s probably faster than the human norm. What¡¯s your C-sets rate?¡±


    I queried the implant. ¡°It normally has me at 400 something, but based on my reaction to the most recent data push, it¡¯s throttling me down to 360 or so.¡±


    Dalat stared at me. ¡°Three hundred and sixty? That¡¯s got to be wrong. What geneline are you from? That¡¯s some serious mental mods.¡±


    I tried to keep my tone even. It wasn¡¯t hard. I wasn¡¯t even lying except that I wasn¡¯t mentioning the world. ¡°None in particular. I¡¯m from a fallow world that got a bunch of genes added to the mix. What modifications we¡¯ve got are completely random.¡±


    Dalat¡¯s eyes flicked between Cassie and me without saying anything.


    Geman glanced over at Dalat and then back to us. ¡°That¡¯s pretty impressive. The normal human rate is closer to 120 and unmodified humans are closer to 60.¡±


    My implant confirmed his figures, adding that my C-set rate wasn¡¯t unusual for Xiniti, but that they¡¯d been modified to take cybernetic enhancement better.


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    I chose not to follow that line of inquiry to its end, but it opened a lot of interesting questions. For example, was my capacity random Abominator modification or random stuff from Lee¡¯s people?


    Whatever it was didn¡¯t matter now, though. We were here to find a mole and I had a direction to go.


    I looked between Geman and Dalat. ¡°Cassie asked if you knew if anyone else could get access to admin on the ansible. What do you think?¡±


    Geman¡¯s brows furrowed and he frowned. ¡°Can¡¯t say. We haven''t given anyone local admin access who isn¡¯t supposed to have it. Registered ansible techs can still get in. Plus, we basically turned off logging of admin actions in case the ansible gets audited. Right now it only logs the actions of the default admin account and no one¡¯s using that one.¡±


    Dalat nodded. ¡°I know you¡¯re not supposed to do that, but we had to. No other choice if we wanted to keep it secret.¡±


    Geman nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. If they ever figure out it¡¯s anything more than a deep space relay, the colony¡¯s screwed. We¡¯ve had to set things up so that all the admin accounts are hidden, filter out our actions from the logs, and give our special local accounts total power over the thing.¡±


    So basically, if someone created an account for anyone outside the admin group, you¡¯d never know.


    Off in the distance, a large animal roared and something else screeched. I couldn¡¯t tell whether it was defiance or a death cry. I glanced over at the force field poles that surrounded the grassy field of the starport.


    ¡°Who set up the ansible to work that way?¡± From what I now knew about ansibles, they weren¡¯t easy to modify.


    Geman sighed. ¡°Rinson. He was one of the earliest colonists. He used to be an ansible tech and he came from a geneline optimized for tech work¡ªlong, thin fingers and toes and mental mods. He might have had a prehensile tail too. I can¡¯t remember now. It¡¯s been a while.¡±


    Cassie had been watching them without talking, but then she said, ¡°What happened to him?¡±


    Geman paused, but after a moment said. ¡°He¡¯s dead. One of those dog-things got him years ago.¡±


    Dalat turned his head to gaze at the line of shield poles, but turned back to us. ¡°We weren¡¯t even involved then. The guy died and Iolan was the only admin for a while, but then he brought us in because he didn¡¯t have enough time to handle it alone.¡±


    He frowned as he ended. ¡°Sorry, but Geman and I were about to have a meeting when you showed up. It¡¯s good to be neighborly and all and chat, but we still have to talk.¡±


    Geman glanced down toward him. ¡°It¡¯s no big thing, but you probably shouldn¡¯t be here. It¡¯s colony security stuff.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Cassie said. ¡°We get it.¡±


    She stepped away from the building and I walked away with her. I considered opening an implant communication channel to her at about the time she opened one to me.


    Her words tumbled out as we connected. ¡°Were you watching them with sonics or anything? The gun gives me a few different ways to see in the dark, but I can use them for more than that¡­ Did you see that their heart rates spiked when you started asking about the ansible?¡±

 Venus Spy Catcher: Part 7

    ¡°No,¡± I told her. ¡°I didn¡¯t think to try that, but you know what I just thought of? I should be trying to listen in on them now.¡±


    Ignoring her reply, I turned on the sonic receivers in the suit, setting them to focus on the buildings and hoping the walls weren¡¯t thick enough to prevent sound from escaping.


    They weren¡¯t.


    I heard Dalat¡¯s nasal tenor. ¡°Do you think they can hear us? A lot of actives could probably still hear us.¡±


    Geman replied in his much lower voice, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but if you¡¯re worried, we should just use implants.¡±


    After that, I didn¡¯t hear anything.


    I pinged Cassie with my implant. ¡°Do you hear anything?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Cassie¡¯s voice was low. ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯re saying much of anything. It looks like they¡¯re just eating snacks and drinking beer.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve got a visual? What kind of system is the gun using?¡± I had a little bit of a visual if I narrowcast sound at the bottom of the door, but it was fuzzy. I didn¡¯t get much more than two blurry figures and a blurry table.


    The gun¡¯s voice broke in. ¡°SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY! THE KIND THAT YOU WILL NEVER MATCH IN MILLIONS OF YOUR YEARS!¡±


    For half a second, I considered asking it for details or hints, but then I decided that life was too short to spend it in conversation with an AI that was constantly shouting.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± Cassie said. ¡°He¡¯s way too noisy sometimes. I¡¯ve shut him up. What are your ideas for the next step? I know what mine are and you¡¯re not going to like them.¡±


    We stopped walking and I looked at her, hearing the wind rustle in the grass. ¡°Why? What are your ideas?¡±


    She glanced back down the dirt path toward the building. ¡°You heard them. They¡¯re covering something up and they wanted us out of here. What I want to do is go back and get it out of them. It probably wouldn¡¯t work and it would cause us no end of trouble, but I¡¯m sure something would get them to talk.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow even though she couldn¡¯t see it. ¡°What are you going to do? Torture them?¡±


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    She shook her head, frowning. ¡°No. It wouldn¡¯t work, but I want to do something and walking away isn¡¯t it. If they really are planning to betray their friends to a bunch of Abominator wannabes, I want to put the fear of God into them and if God¡¯s not available, the fear of me.¡±


    I laughed. ¡°I get it. I¡¯m not planning on walking away. My idea was more along the lines of contacting the ansible and finding out what we can find out. The way I read it, all Xiniti have admin level access to the ansible and between the two of us we¡¯ve got access to two AI¡¯s, both of whom might be able to help us with this.¡±


    Cassie glanced down toward the gun in its holster. ¡°Sounds awesome. There¡¯s nothing I like more than quality time with Mr. Sparkles. You want to do it now?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I don¡¯t think we have time to waste. I¡¯m little worried about how to explain it, though. Do you think they¡¯ll believe we¡¯re doing maintenance?¡±


    Cassie rolled her eyes. ¡°This whole place is sex-crazed or thinks we are. They¡¯ll probably assume we¡¯re screwing.¡±


    I felt my lip curl as I imagined telling someone we were doing maintenance. I could practically hear them putting quotes around the word. Cassie was right. They probably would. Then another thought hit me. ¡°People haven¡¯t been using the ship for sex, have they?¡±


    Cassie shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve barely been around this last year, but if they were, you and Haley started it.¡±


    I took a step across the grass toward the ship. ¡°We never got that far. Even if we¡¯d been trying to, we didn¡¯t have time. We got attacked by a robot hitchhiker. Anyway, a ship isn¡¯t the place for that. Juices and stuff could get into seats and on the carpet and maybe places that actually make the ship work¡­ We¡¯d have to clean it out and that would be gross.¡±


    Cassie laughed and started walking. Aloud, she said, ¡°C¡¯mon lover, let¡¯s go to the ship. That upholstery isn¡¯t going to ruin itself.¡±


    ¡°Not funny,¡± I said.


    We walked across the field, stepping on the grass and watching as insects, some of them the size of mice or larger, scurried out of our way. There were small furred animals too, but I didn¡¯t recognize them.


    The ship¡¯s hatch opened as we stepped up and we went inside. Its small cabin felt almost inviting after being on the planet for a few days. It did smell like a locker room though¡ªwhich, given that we¡¯d spent more than a week inside it on the way there, wasn¡¯t a surprise.


    Cassie sniffed the air. ¡°I¡¯d say it needs a good cleaning either way.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll have the ship pump fresh air in¡ªprovided there¡¯s a way to avoid bringing contaminants home.¡±


    We sat down at the front of the ship and I used my implant to connect to the ship, getting a 360 degree awareness of everything around the ship as well as the space above it. Cassie did the same and I could see her there, floating along with me. The gun glowed softly at her hip¡ªwhich it didn¡¯t normally. It marked an inorganic intelligence.


    I opened up a connection to the ansible. I could have done it anywhere, but had decided I¡¯d have a better connection both to the ansible and the ship if I used the ship¡¯s connection.


    A visual representation of the entrance appeared in my mind as an iron door against a field of stars.

 Venus Spy Catcher: Part 8

    My implant requested that it be allowed to present my identification as a Xiniti representative. I gave it my approval and added that I¡¯d need to keep a connection to the ship¡¯s AI as it was my assistant. Cassie must have had the same conversation because the door opened and we were both allowed to enter. A small glowing representation of the ship followed me just as a representation of the gun floated on her hip.


    As we floated through the door, Cassie glanced over at me. ¡°For a second I thought it wouldn¡¯t let the gun in. Abominator tech sets off alarms for these peo¡­ Uh¡­ things.¡±


    I didn¡¯t reply as I was looking at the room we¡¯d stepped into.


    It wasn¡¯t really a room, of course. It was actually a representation generated by my implant to help me feel comfortable.


    If it was supposed to help me feel comfortable though, I wasn¡¯t sure how well my implant was interfacing with my brain because this place was at best weird. I can only assume that my brain contains more Steampunk than I remember reading because the room was somebody¡¯s Steampunk dream.


    We stood in front of a wooden counter. On top of the counter was an unidentifiable brass machine that looked like a combination of a cash register and a typewriter. It had a flat, glass surrounded area at the top where letters and numbers appeared. For example, at that moment, the letters said, ¡°WELCOME.¡± While the side that faced us was flat, the keys from a typewriter filled the other side.


    No one stood there to press them, though.


    Behind the counter, several bins lay on the floor, all of them filled with envelopes. New envelopes poured out of one glass tube. Another glass tube pulled them in with brass gears, flashing each envelope with a light before letting the wind in the tube pull it away, turning it into a small white blur that shot down the tube to the outside.


    Leaning toward Cassie, I asked, ¡°Are you seeing some kind of steampunk post office, too?¡±


    She looked around, staring at the brass machine on the counter for a little while before saying, ¡°If that¡¯s what all the old timey tubes and gears mean, then yes.¡±


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    Well, at least we were seeing the same thing. That would make communicating easier.


    I stepped closer to the counter. ¡°Cool. That¡¯ll be less confusing.¡±


    Cassie stepped in front of the machine and said, ¡°I guess. So, what¡¯s your plan?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m working on that.¡± I checked the brass machine. It still said ¡°WELCOME.¡±


    What did I know? I knew that local admin accounts were hidden from the operating system running the ansible, that no local admins¡¯ accounts but the default one had their actions logged, and that there was unexplained bandwidth usage before and after Jadzen Akri¡¯s trips into Human Ascendancy space. Plus, I knew that Rinson, their ansible tech, had created the modifications to allow this and then conveniently died¡ªbecoming tiger/terrier food.


    Finally, whatever I did, it couldn¡¯t turn off the hidden accounts or the lack of logging or I risked exposing the colony¡¯s existence and location to everyone using the ansible network.


    Whoever the mole was had either manipulated or forced Rinson to create an account and then arranged for a force shield malfunction. While that wasn¡¯t a good thing, it did have one good side effect¡ªit meant that the mole probably wasn¡¯t technically competent too.


    That meant they might not be thinking about all the possible reporting options an ansible had¡ªwhich meant that rather than use the ansible personally at a different time than their admin account, they might use one after the other, assuming that the admin account was hidden and nothing it did would be logged.


    Not sure what to talk to, I decided to address the device on the counter. ¡°I¡¯d like a log of all the communications made before, after, or during the periods where there is unaccounted bandwidth use, starting three days ago. This should include accounts of those communicating.¡±


    Cassie leaned in. ¡°And I¡¯d like a list of any calls made to the Human Ascendancy along with times during that period. Send it to his AI.¡±


    The counter device made a clunking noise and the word ¡°WELCOME¡± was replaced by ¡°SEARCHING.¡±


    I thought about it. It was a good idea. I came up with a few variations on the idea which basically amounted to the same search before the trip and also a search based on unaccounted bandwidth use in general, even outside of the periods when Iolan noticed it.


    It seamed like a good start anyhow. It would probably take us hours to go through it or, alternately, seconds for HAL to go through it.


    Then the counter device made a series of clunking noises and the word ¡°DELIVERED¡± appeared. Hal confirmed that he¡¯d received the data.


    With that, we left, coming back to our senses in the cockpit of the ship, and realizing as I did, that someone¡¯s was knocking on the ship¡¯s door.


    I looked out the window to see Maru, Jadzen¡¯s assistant. He was alone, so it probably wasn¡¯t an emergency. Clicking on the door release, I decided to find out what he wanted.

 Venus Spy Catcher: Part 9

    Maru looked up at me, blinking, as the door opened. It wasn¡¯t that he was especially short. It was just that the door to the ship was a couple feet off the ground.


    As he stepped inside, I realized that, if anything, he might be taller than I was. The stealth suit in ¡°silver fake Xiniti mode¡± gave me an inch or two.


    He met my eyes or at least the part of the helmet and mirror shade lenses that covered them. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to interrupt. Jadzen heard that you¡¯d talked to Iolan and then Geman and Dalat and then disappeared into your ship.


    ¡°Is anything wrong?¡±


    Jadzen was keeping a closer eye on us than I¡¯d expected, but given what I¡¯d seen of her, maybe I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised.


    I shook my head. ¡°No. We¡¯re just investigating. Iolan, Geman, and Dalat all gave us some good ideas. We¡¯re checking out the ansible to see if we can find anything there. After that, we¡¯ll follow wherever it leads us.¡±


    Maru nodded as I talked. ¡°I see. I hope you don¡¯t mind that I ask, but I¡¯m sure Jadzen would like to know where you think this investigation is going. What have you learned from the ansible so far?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Nothing. Literally nothing at all. We just downloaded piles of information from it, but we haven¡¯t had any chance to look at it yet.¡±


    His lips tightened for a moment. ¡°Surely you must know something. You asked the ansible for information. That means you had a question to ask. Even that might help Jadzen figure it out on her own.¡±


    From behind me, Cassie said, ¡°That would ruin the surprise.¡±


    He blinked, staring at her, and I didn¡¯t blame him. In the half darkness of the cabin, half of her costume reflected the light coming through the cockpit window while the other half was dark, reflecting the darkness in the rest of the ship. On her hip hung an Abominator gun (which he might have recognized) and on her back hung her father¡¯s sword. Even though he probably didn¡¯t know what it could do, its purpose was obvious.


    She took a couple steps forward, stopping just behind me and to the right and folding her arms across her chest.


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    He took a step backward. ¡°Surprise?¡±


    There was no denying it. Even in practically the same costume, she did intimidation much better than I did. I could have blamed it on her weapons, but it probably had more to do with her attitude¡ªor maybe mine.


    She smiled at him, her mouth slowly widening. ¡°The surprise. If we figure out that there is a mole and then find out who it is, we want to surprise him, her, it or whatever.¡±


    I nodded at him. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean we won¡¯t tell Jadzen. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll be one of the first people to know, but we¡¯re going to be careful about it. ¡®Loose lips sink ships,¡¯ right?¡±


    He blinked, not recognizing the World War 2 era slogan. ¡°Ah. Absolutely.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an old saying on my world,¡± I said, smiling in the hope that maybe I¡¯d balance out Cassie. ¡°My grandfather used to say it. It meant that you shouldn¡¯t say too much because you never knew who might be listening.¡±


    Nodding, he said, ¡°That¡¯s educational. We¡¯ve had similar folk sayings that date back to the Abominators, but I think that¡¯s the first I¡¯ve heard that talks about ocean going boats.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said.


    ¡°There is one other matter that I should bring up and I hope you don¡¯t take it badly.¡± He looked me up and down, glanced over at Cassie, froze, and then back at me. ¡°Jadzen¡¯s daughter¡ªKals¡ªwas seen talking to you.¡±


    I considered that and reached for the first thought that popped into my head. ¡°Is that against some custom here? It seemed like everyone was talking to everyone. And she wasn¡¯t holding herself back from talking to people¡­¡±


    He gave a quick laugh. ¡°No. There¡¯s nothing like that. It¡¯s more that she might want to leave and you have a starship. We¡¯re worried that she might ask you to take her with you when you go, or she might persuade you to leave before everything is finished, leaving us unprotected.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t make a lot of sense. We can only take jumpspace¡ªwhich means a week either way¡ªby which time this will either be over because the Xiniti arrived or over because the Human Ascendancy found you. Either way, that would be hugely irresponsible on my part, so that¡¯s not happening.¡±


    He met my eyes. ¡°You might not have a choice. Kals may not have told you, but she¡¯s trained as a motivator and trained at one of the better schools the Human Ascendancy has. Now, I¡¯ve seen that you have a motivator-mute, but someday she may find you without it and then reason will not matter. You¡¯ll simply obey.¡±


    As I tried to figure out how I wanted to respond, Cassie jumped in. ¡°Why are you so worried about her? Has she tried something like that before? ¡±


    Maru shook his head. ¡°No. It¡¯s that she doesn¡¯t want to be here and she¡¯s always done what she wants instead of what people tell her to. She¡¯s very much like her mother in that way. Jadzen joined the resistance even though much of the Ascendancy hates it, and where would we be if she hadn¡¯t? Kals wants her old life back and if she makes it off this planet, we may lose everything. Before you say anything, I¡¯m not suggesting she¡¯ll betray us willingly, but there are motivators good enough to get you to tell them anything you know.¡±

 Venus Spy Catcher: Part 10

    Cassie raised an eyebrow. ¡°And we¡¯re supposed to believe that she¡¯ll show up out of nowhere and demand that Nick flies her back to her old life even though she¡¯s never done that before? Take it from someone with a difficult mom. I get sick of her, but I wouldn¡¯t risk her life or the lives of all the people here.¡±


    Maru frowned. ¡°I¡¯m sure that you¡¯re not as difficult she is. She¡¯s been determined to have her own way since she was a child and her mother and father indulged her too often.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Cassie¡¯s voice stayed low. ¡°We¡¯ve got it. She¡¯s hard to deal with and you¡¯re not impressed by her parents¡¯ discipline methods. Is there anything else?¡±


    Maru blinked. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think so.¡±


    He looked from Cassie to me. ¡°Thank you for your time. I¡¯ll be going.¡± Then he stepped out of the hatch and onto the ground.


    When the hatch closed, we watched him go. I looked over at Cassie. She had her arms crossed over her chest and her face wore a small smile.


    ¡°What brought that on?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Not much. Anyway, I wasn¡¯t that mean to him¡ªat least not more than he deserved. I didn¡¯t see anything about her that said she was willing to endanger the colony. From what you told us about the conversation you had with her, it sounded like she was telling you what she did so that we wouldn¡¯t cause problems here.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°That was my impression. I got the feeling that she cared for the people here.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Cassie pointed her finger at me. ¡°It¡¯s like he came over here just to make Kals look bad.¡±


    ¡°What does he get out of that?¡± I supposed that if Jadzen died, the leadership of the colony would go to somebody. If he discredited her, it might be that much more likely to go to him, but it wasn¡¯t as if we, the local Xiniti nation representatives would be making that decision. Far from it, I would have guessed. I¡¯d have thought that outsiders would, if anything effectively encourage the colony to go for the other direction. It wasn¡¯t as if we had any connections here.


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    Cassie leaned toward the windshield, watching Maru go. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe we should ask her.¡±


    ¡°I suppose we could. I¡¯ve no clue where she is though. Oh. Wait a second.¡± My implant volunteered that the colony directory included her bracelet¡¯s address and that I could contact her any time.


    I sent her a text¡ªsort of. What I actually sent her was a text sized bit of information sent directly from my brain. I¡¯m not sure that counts, but it wasn¡¯t direct communication. It was a snippet of communication, so a ¡°text¡± is the closest I¡¯ve got. Regardless, my communication said, ¡°We¡¯ve got some questions for you about Maru.¡±


    Her reply came as, ¡°My favorite person ever. Did he say that he doesn¡¯t like me?¡± Along with the reply came a feeling of distraction and a sense that she should be paying attention to something else.


    It made me wonder what feelings my text included. I sent back, ¡°Is this a bad time?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m at work. We¡¯re planting seedlings. I¡¯ll drop by when I¡¯m done.¡± Again it came with distraction, but also a sense of relief.


    I told her thanks and concentrated on the real world, that being the cabin of the ship and Cassie in this case. ¡°She¡¯ll drop by when she¡¯s done with work.¡±


    She grinned. ¡°The party worked. If we hadn¡¯t had it, you¡¯d have been the random investigator guy or I would have had to make the call. This way, you¡¯re ¡®that guy she talked to last night¡¯. That¡¯s much better.¡±


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be if I¡¯d started talking about faster than light engineering. Then I¡¯d have been ¡®that boring guy at the party¡¯.¡±


    Cassie pressed the button that opened the hatch. ¡°But you didn¡¯t. Maybe you would have in high school, but you¡¯ve been dating Haley for two or three years now and you know she¡¯s got no interest in it. You¡¯ve learned how to talk to normal people without even trying to. So, what was Kals doing at work?¡±


    I followed her out of the ship. ¡°Planting seedlings? We didn¡¯t go too deeply into it.¡±


    Cassie grinned at me. ¡°She didn¡¯t want to bore you. Did she say when she got off of work?¡±


    ¡°No. If agricultural work goes anything like at home, my bet would be that she starts when it¡¯s light and goes for eight hours?¡±


    We started walking across the landing field. Cassie peered down at a small hole in the ground that must have been the burrow for some small animal. ¡°I bet she¡¯s off soon. It¡¯s most of the way through the afternoon.¡±


    We arrived back at the council building after a few minutes of walking. Cassie was right that work ended soon. Soon after we got back, I saw a lot of people walking the streets on the way to their houses, most of them looking like they¡¯d been working in the dirt¡ªcovered with mud up to their knees and dirty hands.


    Kals didn¡¯t arrive until the crowed thinned out and when she did arrive, she didn¡¯t look dirty at all. Between the combed hair, clean jumpsuit and hint of makeup, it was obvious she¡¯d cleaned up before she came over. It fit. With a mother like Jadzen, I could imagine that she¡¯d never consider dropping by on the way home from work.

 A Good Boy: Part 1

    Castle Rock Compound, Colorado, Earth


    Haley sat next to Camille in the dining hall. The wide, grey rock room was nearly empty. A few people were inside but they sat in small clusters, none of the clusters anywhere near each other.


    Camille leaned in,¡°You can talk about it. It¡¯s normal.¡±


    Haley eyed her, pausing before sticking her fork into a piece of rare steak. ¡°Everybody knows I¡¯m worried. Talking about it more won¡¯t make me feel much better, but they¡¯ll get sick of hearing about it soon if they aren¡¯t already. And besides, it hasn¡¯t even been two weeks yet. Lee said it would be at least two weeks, so they aren¡¯t even late.¡±


    Camille leaned over the table toward her. ¡°I¡¯m not sick of hearing about it. I think anyone would be worried, and I think everyone is¡ªin their own way.¡±


    Travis stopped next to them, surprisingly quiet despite his height and muscular bulk. As he sat down next to Haley, he said, ¡°I¡¯m not worried. Nick¡¯s smart and so is Jaclyn¡ªexcept Jaclyn¡¯s also one of the most powerful people in the program. Cassie and Marcus are tough too. They can handle anything they¡¯re likely to face. I¡¯d bet they¡¯re back sometime next week.¡±


    Haley frowned.


    Eyes on her expression, Travis leaned back in his chair. ¡°What? I¡¯m just saying that they¡¯ll be okay. Is something wrong with that?¡±


    She took a breath. ¡°No.¡±


    Travis watched her for a little while. ¡°I hope you¡¯re not worried that Nick will find someone else. He¡¯s better than that, and even though they¡¯ve got humans up there, what are they going to have in common with us, right? Besides, it¡¯s not like Nick¡¯s a player. There are guys in my fraternity who¡¯d be going crazy up there because it¡¯s not like anyone would be able to find them once they left.¡±


    Haley stared at him. Giving both of them a quick look, Camille began to talk, ¡°Is anyone planning anything tonight? I think the last time we did anything together was watch movies in Vaughn¡¯s room.¡±


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    Travis shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I think there¡¯s a group thing tonight. The summer just got started so they¡¯re trying to build up the group before they put us through hell.¡±


    Amy walked up with her own tray and sat next to Camille, red hair in a ponytail and wearing exercise clothing. Haley could smell that she¡¯d just come from working out¡ªjust like the rest of them.


    Sitting down, Amy smiled, ¡°Well, at least there shouldn¡¯t be dragons this year.¡±


    Travis laughed. ¡°Yeah. Haley, when you¡¯re missing Nick, think about that. It makes everything sound better. I wonder what Marcus is doing? Probably drawing everything. The guy barely ever stops drawing. I think he might be the only guy I know who¡¯d rather draw a superhero than be one.¡±


    Camille smiled. ¡°Is Marcus any good at drawing?¡±


    Travis stopped eating for a second. ¡°Hard to say. He¡¯s pretty good at drawing people who are wearing costumes, but he doesn¡¯t do sensitive people staring sensitively into the distance pictures. His drawings have people punching each other.¡±


    In her head, Haley thanked Camille for changing the topic. She couldn¡¯t take much more of Travis¡¯ support.


    * * *


    Hideaway


    I let Kals into our rooms. She looked around as she followed me inside. ¡°This place needs a party. Without people, it just looks abandoned.¡±


    ¡°Is that the way it normally is?¡± I watched as she ran her fingers across the top of one of the room¡¯s desks.


    ¡°Abandoned? No. We let guests stay here, but we also use it with new arrivals. Oh, and during the epidemic the colony had back when I first arrived a few years ago, this was one of the hospitals.¡±


    We stopped next to the suite¡¯s table. Cassie and I exchanged glances and I said, ¡°Epidemic?¡±


    Kals nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. It came in with our group of settlers. I don¡¯t know where it came from but it spread before Iolan could stop it and it kept people down for days. I don¡¯t know if it had an official name or if it was one of those new viruses that show up every now and again. I just know I could barely move for a few days and my head hurt bad enough that I could barely think. It was miserable.¡±


    ¡°I hope we don¡¯t bring that home,¡± I told Cassie.


    Kals pulled out a chair and sat down next to the table. ¡°I doubt you will. From what I remember, if you contracted it, you got sick and it didn¡¯t take long. But never mind that, what was Maru telling you about me?¡±


    ¡°Not a lot¡ªjust that you might try to command me to take you away from here, leaving the colony without protection.¡±


    Her mouth compressed into a hard line and her cheeks reddened. ¡°Well, fuck him. I¡¯ve never tried to do anything like that. He¡¯s stopped complaining about what I actually do, and started making things up. If I thought for half a second that it would do any good, I¡¯d tell my mom, but she always listens to him anyway.¡±

 A Good Boy: Part 2

    ¡°Always listens to him anyway?¡± I followed the obvious line of reasoning. ¡°He¡¯s not a motivator too, is he?¡±


    Kals shook her head. ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s not that simple. We¡¯re mostly immune. If we weren¡¯t, we¡¯d never be able to use our power without following our own orders.¡±


    As Cassie and I sat down at the table across from Kals, Cassie glanced over at me. ¡°Mostly?¡±


    Kals brushed a lock of black hair out of her face. ¡°Mostly. It works, but it¡¯s hard. Do you have any people with motivator powers on your world?¡±


    Thinking about Julie, former member of Justice Fist and now a fellow student at Stapledon, I said, ¡°I know one, but there are probably more. Her mother had the same powers.¡±


    Cassie barely let me finish before adding, ¡°If there are more, they don¡¯t seem to be running things on our world. I don¡¯t see how they could. Julie orders people to do things, but it wears off and there¡¯s no mystery about who¡¯s responsible. Even if she did take a country over, all you¡¯d need is a sniper rifle or big bomb to solve the problem.¡±


    Kals shook her head saying, ¡°That¡¯s not how it works. Sure, if you¡¯re inexperienced and you¡¯ve got no one to train you, you go the direct route and bark orders at everybody, but that¡¯s not the way the best motivators do it.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh,¡± I said, mostly to make sure she knew I was listening.


    Kals didn¡¯t say anything, waiting and only beginning to talk as Cassie frowned and sent the words, ¡°What is she doing?¡± at me via our implants. Kals pointed at Cassie. ¡°That¡¯s what we do. We¡¯re taught to constantly be watching people so we can use them. I knew you¡¯d say something first. Nick¡¯s patient. You¡¯re not. You become suspicious more easily than he does. I¡¯d have an easier time getting him alone and an easier time getting started on him, but he might be harder ultimately because I think he might notice what I¡¯m doing.¡±


    She looked at Cassie, eyes resting on the sword and then looking toward where the table hid her gun . ¡°I¡¯m not sure you¡¯d notice, but if you did, you¡¯d kill me or something.¡±


    I leaned forward, putting my arms on the wooden table. ¡°What would we notice?¡±


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    ¡°I¡¯m was getting to that. Most of the time, we have to motivate people we have no control over, people who know we¡¯re there for the Ascendancy, and most of all, people who don¡¯t trust us. We don¡¯t command them. What we do is listen, maybe use a hint of our power to make them talk a little more freely. Then once you know what makes them tick, then you start modifying their memories¡ª¡°


    Cassie interrupted. ¡°¡ªWait a second. You¡¯re not a telepath. You can¡¯t do that.¡±


    Kals raised an eyebrow. ¡°If you¡¯re done, I¡¯ll tell you how I can. People¡¯s memories aren¡¯t set. I can¡¯t change something that people remember well as easily, but something half remembered? That¡¯s something I can do. Look, you can do it. If you make up a memory with enough enthusiasm and detail, they¡¯ll begin to remember it¡ªat least if they think you might remember something they don¡¯t. It¡¯s the same for me except as long as I don¡¯t contradict something big, it doesn¡¯t matter, they¡¯ll listen. Once you¡¯ve found the right memories, you modify around them and you can change their whole meaning, change the person¡¯s loyalties, likes and dislikes. You can¡¯t do it all at once, but over time, you can do almost anything.¡±


    She explained it like she might have described how anything worked, and not at all the way you¡¯d describe warping someone¡¯s personality to make them betray everything they cared about. On the other hand, she¡¯d trained at it for years. That was enough time to get used to the idea.


    Following the next question that came to mind, I asked, ¡°So, okay¡­ How does that explain why Maru isn¡¯t manipulating your mom?¡±


    ¡°He can¡¯t,¡± she said, gesturing outward with her hands as if it should have been obvious. ¡°Maru¡¯s a motivator, but my mom studied with the best teachers the Ascendancy had to offer. Maru couldn¡¯t even get into her school. He worked for one of the professors, but he didn¡¯t go there. He trained somewhere else. They used him as an opponent so that they¡¯d learn how to fight other motivators. It¡¯s hard to affect each other, but it¡¯s possible¡ªbarely. She beat him again and again. He¡¯s not at her level. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s even at my level.¡±


    I thought about that. ¡°Alright. So he met your mom at the school she went to and she hired him, why?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°She didn¡¯t hire him. My dad also went to the school at the same time. He hired him and somehow they all got involved in the resistance because of my mom. I¡¯ve never gotten the full story. Mom¡¯s impossible to talk to.¡±


    I sighed. Either we weren¡¯t getting anywhere, or we were on the edge of something big. ¡°I think I asked this, but why did he try to warn us about you then?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think he hates me, but I think he hates the entire second generation.¡±


    She leaned back in her chair, smiling. ¡°Does that mean you think he¡¯s working for the Ascendancy?¡±


    Cassie shrugged. ¡°Maybe.¡±


    I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. He might be. He¡¯s a little suspicious, but we don¡¯t have anything resembling a motive. Do you?¡±


    She tilted her head, pursing her lips. ¡°Let me think.¡±

 A Good Boy: Part 3

    Kals stared at the table for a minute¡ªwhich was the longest I¡¯d yet heard her not talk when I¡¯d been around her.


    Finally she looked up. ¡°The resistance has used this world as a hideout for years and Mom, Dad and Maru all spent time here on and off when I was growing up, but when Dad died, and we all had to disappear, Mom and Maru had a fight. I don¡¯t know what they were fighting about. It was after we¡¯d been here for a few weeks. I don¡¯t know what it was about. They never talked about it again and when I asked, Mom wouldn¡¯t say anything.¡±


    ¡°Come on,¡± Cassie crossed her arms over her chest. ¡°You must have heard at least one word? Maybe a sentence?¡±


    Kals glared at her. ¡°It was two years ago. I can¡¯t be sure about anything anyone said. I remember the sound of their voices and that¡¯s all.¡±


    My implant alerted me that Hal had sent me a message. I opened it, experiencing the entire dataset that we¡¯d collected from the ansible as he must perceive it¡ªblocks of data that you could organize as you wanted. Except I received the version that he¡¯d organized. We¡¯d given him data on ansible bandwidth usage and on the accounts that were active during that time. The admin accounts were hidden, but I¡¯d guessed that people would be on their personal accounts before or after using one of the unlogged admin accounts. My theory was that Hal could compare what accounts were active during the periods of unusual activity after Jadzen came back from her trips and we might find the spy.


    It wasn¡¯t a bad idea, but knowing how we used the internet back home, I should have anticipated that practically everybody used the ansible all the time. Fortunately, there were differences. The shining columns of light thinned when a person¡¯s ansible usage was little more than background noise and thickened when they were deliberately using their connection.


    Knowing that, I traced the accounts that showed the most usage during the time period just after Jadzen¡¯s most recent trip. Jadzen and Maru¡¯s lines were the thickest, followed by Iolan, Geman, and Dalat¡¯s. I could rationalize all of those. Iolan, Geman, and Dalat managed the ansible. Jadzen and Maru could be communicating with their information sources off world. I considered going lower down on our list of users, but bearing in mind Maru¡¯s behavior and the fact that he was a motivator¡­


    Maru didn¡¯t have to control Jadzen to have her trust. As a motivator though, he could control Geman and Dalat even if he couldn¡¯t control Jadzen, and if that argument Kals mentioned represented the moment he¡¯d lost confidence in her¡­ Well, then we knew who the mole was even though we couldn¡¯t prove it yet or explain why.


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    I checked the other people¡¯s usage anyway. The only name that jumped out at me was Alanna, the person on the council who¡¯d argued against the idea that there was a spy.


    Kals interrupted my thoughts. ¡°You downloaded something big.¡±


    As I became aware of the world around me again, I became aware that her eyes were on me. Fumbling for words, I said, ¡°A data analysis.¡±


    I probably shouldn¡¯t have said it, but I was still half inside a world of virtual images and data patterns.


    She leaned forward, and I caught a hint of a musky perfume. ¡°What were you analyzing? Ansible use? Is Maru the spy?¡±


    Cassie sent me a message through our implants, ¡°Nice one.¡±


    Aloud, she said, ¡°We don¡¯t know. Don¡¯t tell anyone.¡±


    Kals cocked her head. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t tell anyone that you don¡¯t know that Maru¡¯s the spy?¡±


    The twist of Cassie¡¯s mouth left no doubt that Cassie didn¡¯t find her reply funny. ¡°You know what I mean. We can¡¯t prove it¡¯s him, but right now, he¡¯s our best guess. So don¡¯t tell anybody.¡±


    Kals voice rose. ¡°I know better than that. Everyone around here knows better than that. We¡¯ve been hiding from the Ascendancy for years. Why do you think it¡¯s him?¡±


    Not quite sure that it was the right choice, I decided to trust her. ¡°Guesses, mostly,¡± I began and explained how Dalat appeared to be telling Geman not to say anything as we approached and talking via implant when we left, how Maru had appeared to talk to us and direct us to watch out for her, and how the ansible¡¯s records showed that Maru¡¯s account was in use around the suspicious times even if it wasn¡¯t the only one.


    Kals gave me her full attention, nodding as I talked. I finished with, ¡°It only hangs together because we want it to. We don¡¯t have any evidence. I¡¯d send out bugs, but I¡¯ve got a bad feeling that people would detect them here.¡±


    ¡°From what I¡¯ve seen of your ship, you don¡¯t seem that far behind us, but we¡¯ve been under surveillance for most of our lives.¡± She pursed her lips, half-closing her eyes, but then said, ¡°My friends can watch him. We¡¯ll see where he goes and then maybe we¡¯ll find some evidence.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s a good idea? If he¡¯s the spy, he might kill them.¡±


    She waved her hand, batting away my concern. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. That¡¯s what we did for the resistance. The kids watched without getting involved. We¡¯re good at it. Besides, this is a small town in the middle of nowhere. Everybody¡¯s in everybody¡¯s business. It won¡¯t take much at all to get deeper into his, and if he¡¯s a traitor, he¡¯s a threat to all of us.¡±


    I felt like I wanted to argue with her, but Cassie started talking.


    Glancing toward the room Katuk, Marcus and I shared, Cassie peered through the open doorway and turned back toward Kals and I. ¡°Katuk¡¯s not here. Jaclyn called me to say she hasn¡¯t seen him since we were at Iolan¡¯s. Did he say anything to you?¡±

 A Good Boy: Part 4

    I¡¯d already realized that I had no idea where Katuk was earlier, but I¡¯d assumed that he was with Jaclyn. ¡°I¡¯m assuming he¡¯s not in our bedroom¡­ I lost track of him at Iolan¡¯s. I knew he came in with us, but I didn¡¯t see him when we left. He¡¯s pretty quiet. I¡¯d assumed that he went with Jaclyn and Marcus.¡±


    Cassie had let the mask absorb back into her costume when we stepped inside and her blond hair swished as she shook her head. ¡°Jaclyn hasn¡¯t seen him since Iolan¡¯s either.¡±


    I leaned sideways to take my own look into our room, seeing that Katuk¡¯s bed was empty. ¡°He should be safe enough. Even if he tried to jump the force field, he¡¯s got the full Xiniti armor and even if he didn¡¯t, the Xiniti have been genetically modified to take cybernetics well. I doubt if there¡¯s anything on the planet that could take him out. Check your implant. They¡¯re crazy dangerous.¡±


    Throwing her hair back over he shoulders, Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯ve been checking out their weapons since I got the implant. They¡¯re one man armies except that they always travel in groups of at least four.¡±


    Kals looked at Cassie and then at me. ¡°Could Katuk be working with the spy?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I doubt it. Obviously he¡¯s never been here before, but beyond that they almost never go bad as long as they¡¯re with a group. They¡¯re descended from tree dwelling predators that hunted in packs and they kept the pack mindset.¡±


    Cassie frowned. ¡°You know, we¡¯re not really Xiniti.¡±


    I checked the implant. It gave me years of statistics, more information than I wanted. ¡°He should be fine. Xiniti stay sane as long as they have a group, especially at his age. My implant says that working with non-Xiniti teams actually improves their mental stability in the long run.¡±


    Cassie tapped her head. ¡°Same implant. Same information.¡±


    Kals smiled and looked over at me. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t know. Thanks.¡±


    Cassie closed her eyes for a second. ¡°Jaclyn wants us to get out and look for him.¡± She sighed. ¡°When I pointed out that he could take care of himself, she told me that she thought we¡¯d offended him somehow and having all of us look for him might help.¡±


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    I almost pointed out that he had an implant too and that we could send him a message. Except then I decided to try it instead of criticizing. The implant informed me that it didn¡¯t detect his signal, that he¡¯d set his implant to privacy mode.


    ¡°Privacy mode,¡± I said.


    Cassie looked toward the windows and then back to me. ¡°A little voice in my head tells me the Xiniti don¡¯t use it much. And that means Jaclyn¡¯s right and we¡¯d better get out there.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll help.¡± Kals pushed her chair back and stood up from the table. ¡°I know the colony better than you do.¡±


    Cassie took a step toward the door. ¡°Why don¡¯t you show Nick? Jaclyn figures we all ought to buddy up and Marcus and Tikki are already out there looking. That, or they¡¯re making out. Just don¡¯t bring in your friends for this. We don¡¯t want to make it a big thing.¡±


    Then she stepped out the door.


    Kals followed Cassie¡¯s path, putting her hand on the doorknob. ¡°Ready? Let¡¯s go save the Xiniti warrior from loneliness.¡±


    I got out of my chair and followed her out. ¡°I guess we should cover the area around Landing. I¡¯m checking my implant and it looks like Cassie¡¯s going to meet Jaclyn in the next town over and Marcus and Tikki are already in the other settlement. There are only three, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Kals pointed down one of the streets. ¡°Let¡¯s go that way. Landing¡¯s longer than it is wide. We¡¯ll see most of it this way. Besides, it¡¯s the only street that goes all way through.¡±


    We spent the next couple minutes walking down the road. Kals would point out buildings, tell me who owned them and wave hello to the colonists riding their floating platforms home from the field or whatever work they¡¯d been doing. The people we¡¯d saved weren¡¯t the only ones constructing barrier walls against the local wildlife. To guess from the people walking home covered in dirt, a lot people had drawn that duty.


    The sun had begun to set soon after we started walking. When we reached the edge of town, she turned around and crossed her arms, looking at the collection of domes and the starship field further down. The walk had taken us uphill and we could see the buildings sprawl on either side of the road, some of them glowing in the twilight. Kals had said we still had a couple hours before it became dark, but the process had already started.


    ¡°There are a few houses outside the main settlement that we can hit, but I¡¯d say he¡¯s not in town. I didn¡¯t expect to find him. I really wanted to get you alone because I wanted to tell you a couple more things you should know.¡± She watched me as if ready to sprint after me if I ran.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said.


    She looked straight into my eyes. ¡°You should know that the Dominators or other motivators might have placed a command in any of us that can be triggered by an event or word, so you can¡¯t really trust anyone, including me. The other thing? Your people have motivator-mutes. Did you make them?¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°Stop,¡± she said, and her voice took on the strange tone I¡¯d heard in Julie¡¯s voice when she used her power except this wasn¡¯t quite the same. The suit registered a wider range of tones than Julie used.


    She looked me up and down, ¡°Can you move?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t.


    ¡°You need to fix that.¡±

 A Good Boy: Part 5

    Then, in the same queer tone of voice, she said, ¡°I release you.¡±


    My muscles released and took a step forward. ¡°I¡¯m a little surprised that you¡¯d tell me all of this. Some people would keep it secret so that they had a little bit of insurance against us.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Whoops. I¡¯ve ruined our plans for galactic domination.¡± Then she turned to look down the hill again¡ªall of it still blazing in the light of the red sunset.


    She looked away from me to stare down the hill. ¡°Not for normal people, no, but for us? After being caught here? Hideaway¡¯s the last place humans from the Ascendancy are free. It¡¯s the last safe refuge for resistance members who can¡¯t live in the Ascendancy. If they find us, they¡¯ll work on us and by the end we¡¯ll be empty shells whose only purpose is to trap resistance members. And if we resist reprogramming, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be killed.¡±


    Worse, I knew that if we were still here when the Human Ascendancy came, we might end up empty shells along with them. I had a hard time imagining leaving the colony to that. We ought to be able to do something. We¡¯d managed to survive impossible situations before.


    Imagining what I¡¯d have to do to make the ¡°motivator-mutes¡± in our costumes work, I said, ¡°You¡¯ll have to help. I think I¡¯ve got some ideas as to how to change the ¡®mute,¡¯ but I won¡¯t be able to test or fine tune it without you. Maybe you could drop by tomorrow?¡±


    Kals touched her bracelet with her right hand''s index finger. ¡°I¡¯ll check my social calendar¡­ What do you know? It says, ¡®Still stuck on this rock.¡¯ Looks like I¡¯m open.¡±


    ¡°You were sounding almost inspirational about the colony a second ago.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°Inspirational? Where was I inspirational? Before or after I told you our personalities would be gutted and replaced with something that¡¯s not really us.¡±


    ¡°A little before? The bit where you said it was the last safe refuge and everything¡­¡±


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    Looking out across the town below us, she grinned for a second. ¡°Blame the sunset. It¡¯s one of the few things I like about this place. Besides, it¡¯s not as if this can¡¯t both be humanity¡¯s last free place and also an isolated rock in the middle of nowhere. The last I heard being both is pretty much a requirement.¡±


    For the next hour, we walked around the edges of town, checking out the egg-shaped farmhouses and outbuildings. As the twilight turned to outright night, I got a call from Cassie. ¡°Found him. Jaclyn jumped the force field and saw him standing on top of one of the barricades. I think she¡¯s managed to convince him to come back to the Council building. He won¡¯t say why he left or what he¡¯s been doing. When Jaclyn asked what was going on, he said we should know¡ªwhich makes no sense. He sounds like a high school girl. God, I remember saying that to a boyfriend once, and the only way the poor guy could have known is if he were a telepath.¡±


    I had no idea which high school boyfriend Cassie meant. This had to have been before senior year when we reconnected¡ªduring the period before that where the most we ever did was say, ¡°hi,¡± to each other while walking to class.


    ¡°And you weren¡¯t dating Daniel,¡± I said.


    Cassie laughed for a while. ¡°As if that would ever happen. Besides, Daniel would have caught it without telepathy. You too. You both knew about my dad. Anyway, meet us back in the suite.¡±


    Stopping next to a farm¡¯s egg-shaped outbuilding, I told Kals that they¡¯d found Katuk. Leaning with her back against one of the floating platforms, she said, ¡°Where¡¯d they find him?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Top of a barricade somewhere? I don¡¯t know the exact location, but where Jaclyn and Cassie were looking.¡±


    Kals eyed me. ¡°Are you kidding? He¡¯s crazy. I can think of half a dozen things that might give a Xiniti trouble out there.¡±


    ¡°None of us know this place,¡± I began, but she waved her hand as if brushing what I¡¯d said out of the air.


    ¡°You¡¯ve seen our wildlife. So has he. He¡¯s nuts.¡± She stopped talking, starting again only after scowling for a moment. ¡°I need to ask you a favor. Do you mind if I sleep over at your place? And I don¡¯t mean it in the way you¡¯re obviously taking it--¡°


    My eyes had widened, but I hadn¡¯t seriously thought she was proposing sleeping with me in the room I shared with Marcus and Katuk. I was going to say so, but couldn¡¯t get a word in as she continued.


    ¡°Maru, the Council, and more than a dozen other people will be over at my Mom¡¯s tonight. They¡¯re plotting against the Ascendancy, so it¡¯s going to go late and most of them are going to stay overnight. The way I feel about Maru right now, I want to tell him to choke on his own tongue and I know that you have space.¡±

 A Good Boy: Part 6

    I leaned back against the shed¡¯s cool, smooth surface. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t your mom notice that you¡¯re gone?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°It doesn''t matter. She notices everything, but if we were home, I¡¯d be living on my own, so she¡¯s got no right to stop me. Besides, we do it all the time after parties. Sure, we¡¯ve got the force fields, but some of the small animals that sneak in are as bad as the big ones. Walking home in the dark isn¡¯t safe, so no one complains.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I don¡¯t see a problem then. I know we¡¯ve got more beds than we¡¯re using, but you¡¯ll have to talk to Jaclyn and Cassie to know for sure if they¡¯re okay with it. The thing is, it¡¯s not going to be a party. You know about Katuk. So that¡¯s going to be going on in the background. Also, if you want to help me make our suits mute commands, well, that¡¯s not going to be fun, but we could work on it tonight.¡±


    Her eyes flicked between the shed, the cluster of egg shapes that was the farmhouse, and field around us. ¡°We should start back. The underweasels live out here around the edges. They¡¯re not very big, but they come out after dark.¡±


    ¡°Then we¡¯d better go.¡± I¡¯d let my stealth suit absorb my helmet while we talked, but I reformed my glasses out of the helmet mass around my collar. When I put them on, I didn¡¯t see anything like a pack of weasels hiding in the soil around us, but I did see a number of warm bodies hanging in the trees off to the side of the field. None of them were larger than a small dog, but there were too many to count.


    We started walking back toward the main road. I set my glasses to give me a 360 degree view of my surroundings, noting that Kals continued to check around herself in a way that gave her 360 degree awareness as well. She did it subtly too, not turning completely around to look, but instead turning to talk to me and then glancing behind her.


    I didn¡¯t see it as ominous. I¡¯d been taught to do the same thing by Lee. It just meant that the Human Ascendancy taught their motivators basic martial art skills. Given that the Human Ascendancy appeared to use them as leaders, soldiers, and secret agents, I¡¯d have been more surprised if they hadn¡¯t.


    We managed to avoid getting attacked before reaching the main street. As we walked, she said, ¡°I might be able to help you with Katuk.¡±


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    I turned my head toward her. ¡°Does your voice work on Xiniti too?¡±


    Her eyes darted from one side of the street to another before she said anything. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. We learned techniques for different aliens, but I never got to try it on any of them.¡±


    I searched my implant. The Xiniti didn¡¯t have any recorded incidents where the Ascendancy¡¯s motivators had been controlled, but they also recorded mysterious incidents where units of Xiniti had disappeared. So maybe it did work. Paying attention to Kals again, I nodded. ¡°Okay. They¡¯re not saying he¡¯s gone crazy, but if that does happen, do what you can.¡±


    When we did walk through the door at the Council¡¯s building, we found Cassie, Jaclyn, Marcus, and Tikki eating some kind of meat and vegetables. The meat had the redness of a steak, but a texture that looked a lot like sushi. Crawls-Through-Desert sat next to a window, unmoving, leaves pointing toward where the sun would rise in the morning.


    I glanced toward our room. The air on Katuk¡¯s side of the room was warmer than the other side. Alright, Katuk was there. Maybe I¡¯d be able to talk to him when I went to bed? Then the smell of the food hit me, a mixture of cooked meat, spices, and vegetables. I decided that Katuk ranked lower than supper and sat down at the table along with everyone else. Kals sat down along with me. It didn¡¯t matter. The heaping bowls meant that there was more than enough.


    Eating meant that I didn¡¯t say anything for a couple minutes. Kals recovered sooner than I did, stopping to ask, ¡°Did he say anything more before disappearing into his room?¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°Nope. It¡¯s all still the same as ever.¡±


    Marcus stopped eating long enough to add, ¡°But I learned something interesting. If you go through the Xiniti files in your head, you¡¯ll find out that the mission groups that the Xiniti form every fighting force around? They use the same word for them as they do marriages.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°That makes a lot of sense. If the Xiniti spend most of their lives in an asexual state, marriages wouldn¡¯t quite mean the same thing. I could see how they might be the same thing as a military unit in that situation.¡±


    Cassie used her implant and I could feel Jaclyn, Marcus, and even the more distant presences of Kals and Tikki. ¡°What I don¡¯t get is why he¡¯s freaking out now. He¡¯s been with us for a week now. And sure we ignored him a little today, but was that more clueless than the rest of the stuff we¡¯ve said? We¡¯ve got a Xiniti implant sure, but we know almost nothing about Xiniti really.¡±


    Jaclyn thought at us, ¡°I know. I¡¯ve been looking through his personnel files, trying to find out if there¡¯s anything there we need to know. There¡¯s something encrypted in them and the implant won¡¯t decrypt it.¡±


    ¡°No kidding?¡± I opened the files myself, ignoring everything until I found the encrypted information.


    Then I passed it over to Hal.

 A Good Boy: Part 7

    My connection to Hal froze for long enough to make me wonder if it had been dropped, but then he said, [The encryption is complex. It will take some time to decrypt it.]


    ¡°How long?¡±


    [Unknown, but minutes, possibly hours instead of seconds.]


    ¡°Okay. Let me know when you¡¯ve figured it out.¡±


    [I will.]


    With that I dropped out of contact with Hal and become more aware of the digital conversation I¡¯d left¡ªthe one with Jaclyn, Cassie, Marcus, Tikki and Kals. ¡°Your voice blinked out,¡± Jaclyn told me. ¡°What did you do?¡±


    ¡°I gave Hal the encrypted file and asked him to decrypt it.¡±


    Tikki grinned at me, a flash of white teeth. ¡°Of course you did. He¡¯s made for it.¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°More or less. He¡¯s more for simulating battles than encryption, but you need to know a lot to make a good simulation.¡±


    Still grinning, she said, ¡°I know. I¡¯m familiar with battle simulation AIs. One of my friends loved fighting and got me interested in the technology. I still keep up a little. Yours ought to be on a flagship. It¡¯s one of the big ones, the kind you¡¯d use to simulate multiple fleet actions, ground invasions and espionage, complete with the personalities of the commanding officers.¡±


    I¡¯d momentarily forgotten that she was an engineer. Life support didn¡¯t include AIs or combat technology, but the better starship engineers had secondary specialties.


    She reached for another piece of meat from her plate and ate it. As she opened her mouth to eat, her mouth seemed a little too wide or had too many teeth? I couldn¡¯t be sure. You never knew what the Abominators put into their gene lines. The Xiniti implant didn¡¯t either.


    I didn¡¯t have time to go down that rabbit hole though. I had another question. ¡°Kals was wondering if she could stay here for the night.¡±


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    Jaclyn looked at her and then me. ¡°I assume you¡¯re meaning in our room and not yours. Because squeezing into Nick¡¯s bed won¡¯t help with Katuk.¡±


    Kals rolled her eyes. ¡°You people worry about sex all the time. Trust me. I¡¯m not here for that. I¡¯m here to get away from my mom for a night.¡±


    Jaclyn took a breath. ¡°Fine, but you¡¯re not the only one. Tikki¡¯s staying here too.¡±


    Cassie stopped eating only long enough to add, ¡°She¡¯s staying on our side too. Sorry, Marcus.¡±


    Pouring a green sauce over the vegetables on his plate, Marcus said, ¡°Yeah, yeah. I knew that. Besides, I do want to help with Katuk. I¡¯m thinking that Nick and I ought to apologize on behalf of everybody and see if that works.¡±


    Jaclyn frowned, shook her head and then took another helping of vegetables. ¡°Cassie and I already tried to apologize, but he didn¡¯t accept it, but maybe the two of you will have better luck.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m hoping,¡± Cassie said, continuing to eat. ¡°All the stories I ever heard about how the Xiniti destroyed whole worlds didn¡¯t include anything about how mopey they were. You¡¯ve got to get this guy out of his funk.¡±


    Grateful that all our talk was taking place through our implants, I thought, ¡°We¡¯ll see what we can do.¡±


    That¡¯s when Hal reported back. With no warning, I knew the contents of the encrypted data file. Katuk¡¯s father had been a criminal, a Xiniti outcast who had killed his unit in a dispute and then slowly gone mad, only recovering his reason after being captured by a crew of mercenaries. That crew of mercenaries had eventually been hired to attack Earth¡ªwhich was where Cassie, Jaclyn, and I had killed his father.


    Of course, we had.


    The implant informed me that in cases like this, the Xiniti had a much greater chance of going violently insane as a direct result of the stress from years of distrust during the process of growing up. The Xiniti were far more affected by the distrust of beings in their marriage group. Exposing them to other species and alien ways of thought helped them reduce and resist it.


    Making a split second decision, I passed it to the group¡ªall of us including Tikki and Kals.


    Everyone stopped eating. Jaclyn blinked. ¡°That¡¯s much worse than I was expecting.¡±


    Kals stared at me. ¡°You¡¯re all Xiniti because you killed one of his parents and you didn¡¯t know that you had that connection until now. That¡¯s¡­ scary. He¡¯s got every reason to hate you.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. ¡°But on the other hand, his father had been gone for years before we killed him. His father¡¯s death might have lifted the social stigma from him, making it all better.¡±


    Kals glanced over toward the room Marcus and I shared with Katuk.¡±Do you think he agrees with that?¡±


    I followed her gaze. ¡°No idea, but Marcus and I should find out as soon as we¡¯re done eating.¡±


    Marcus looked up from the table. ¡°At least I¡¯ll get to die on a full stomach.¡±

 A Good Boy: Part 8

    I couldn¡¯t argue with him. I didn¡¯t know what the vegetables or the meat were, but I liked them. I wasn¡¯t sure that they were good enough that my life would be fulfilled if I got killed by an angry Xiniti after supper, but as Marcus implied, it was better than dying hungry.


    ¡°So what do you think?¡± Marcus asked, ¡°You think they told him?¡±


    Jaclyn paused with her fork in the air. ¡°How would he not know something like that? It was a big enough deal to make us Xiniti citizens. That can¡¯t happen every day. How would he not hear about it?¡±


    ¡°Easy,¡± Cassie raised her hand, waving it to get our attention. ¡°They¡¯re a military culture. If you don¡¯t need to know, they don¡¯t tell you.¡±


    Marcus nodded. ¡°Sounds about right. That¡¯s what Grandpa hated about the army. The way he told it though, people had ways to find stuff out. Rumors got around. So even if you didn¡¯t know the whole story, you knew something.¡±


    I thought for a second. ¡°I guess we probably shouldn¡¯t say anything about that unless he does.¡±


    Jaclyn frowned. ¡°It still doesn¡¯t seem right for them not to tell him and if that¡¯s really the reason he¡¯s angry and feeling ignored was just an excuse? Then we¡¯re not going to get anywhere until we address it. By the way, I¡¯m not arguing with you. I¡¯m saying this because it needs to be said once before you go in.¡±


    We all looked at each other across the table. Thinking back to Geman and Dalat this morning, I said, ¡°We probably ought to switch back to a normal conversation so that he doesn¡¯t think we¡¯re talking about him.¡±


    For the rest of dinner, we talked normally.Kals talked about the day to day life in the colony and the Human Ascendancy. Tikki talked about adjusting to the colony. We answered questions about living on Earth without ever calling it Earth and continuing to pretend we were from somewhere else.


    As we picked up the dishes and washed them in the sink, Marcus sent me a message via implant. ¡°Ready?¡±


    I nodded and we left the main area and walked into our room. It was dark, but not pitch black. Light came in through the doorway behind us and if that weren¡¯t enough, my glasses brightened the room enough that it only felt dimly lit instead of dark.


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    Katuk lay in his bed, staring into the air with wide eyes and blank expression, an expression I recognized. It was the look of a person watching television, a computer screen or using an implant. Katuk never moved as Marcus and I stepped into the room, but the senses provided by standard Xiniti cyborg enhancements would have allowed him to notice us no matter what was going on in his head.


    Marcus turned and walked directly up to Katuk¡¯s wooden bed. ¡°Hey Katuk, Nick and I stopped by to say we were sorry. I know we don¡¯t pay as much attention to you as you need. Being human, we¡¯re not wired the same and so we don¡¯t naturally know what¡¯s normal for you. I don¡¯t know if you do this with other Xiniti, but you¡¯re going to have tell us what you need. Otherwise we won¡¯t know. Nick?¡±


    Katuk remained motionless, but Marcus turned to me. ¡°Your turn.¡±


    I watched as Katuk took a long, slow breath. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything to add to that. Marcus said everything important. I should give you my personal apology though. No one intended to exclude you. I didn¡¯t either. If I did, it was completely unintentional.¡±


    Katuk didn¡¯t say anything.


    Marcus glanced at me. ¡°Is it possible that he didn¡¯t hear us?¡±


    I looked down at Katuk. His eyes, wide and dark, aimed upward at the ceiling. ¡°It¡¯s pretty much impossible that he didn¡¯t unless he really worked at it. Xiniti senses plus their cybernetics can take in more information at once than we can¡ªat least most of us.¡±


    Marcus sighed. ¡°Okay. Then I guess he¡¯s ignoring us.¡±


    He began to turn toward the door, but as he took a step, Katuk spoke. ¡°I will do my duty. Please leave me alone.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, watching to see if he¡¯d say anything else.


    He didn¡¯t.


    After a little while longer, Marcus and I walked back into the main room of the suite. When we sat down around the table with everyone else, Jaclyn asked, ¡°How did it go?¡±


    Marcus and I looked at each other.


    Marcus shook his head. ¡°I have no idea.¡±


    ¡°We both apologized and Katuk said he¡¯d do his duty, but to leave him alone.¡± I shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s all we¡¯ve got. Marcus did tell him that we were unfamiliar with what he needed out of us and that he have to tell us for us to know, but I¡¯m not sure if that helped or hurt.¡±


    Marcus rested his arms on the table. ¡°It seemed like it needed to be said.¡±


    Jaclyn looked toward the doorway as if expecting some reaction from Katuk. When nothing happened, she said, ¡°I guess that¡¯s something. As long as he¡¯s willing to work, we might still get somewhere. That¡¯s more than he said to us.¡±


    Thinking about it, it seemed to me that she was right. On the other hand, a more paranoid part of my mind wondered if any motivators on the planet did know enough to affect a Xiniti. Kals said she might, but more experienced motivators would know more.

 A Good Boy: Part 9

    In the end though, it wasn¡¯t something that I could do anything about aside from passing on the speculation to everyone else¡ªthat and the fact that Kals¡¯ could get around our current defenses. Everyone¡¯s response could be summarized in Jaclyn¡¯s, ¡°Are you kidding me? Why didn¡¯t you tell us that before?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know until just before you told us you¡¯d found Katuk. Everyone was worried about that and I kind of forgot. Anyway, we were going to work on it tonight. Well, I was assuming we would, if that¡¯s okay.¡± I looked over at Kals.


    She gave a quick nod. ¡°Whoever controls all of you controls all of us. I¡¯m not going to let that happen.¡±


    Cassie looked around the table. ¡°Sounds like the two of you are going to have fun. Now what are the rest of us going to do?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°The Xiniti implant has an entertainment folder. Plus there¡¯s the ansible.¡±


    Shaking her head, Cassie said, ¡°I don¡¯t even know what kind of entertainment you''d find through the ansible. And have you checked the Xiniti entertainment folder?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± As I said it, a long list of titles flowed through my mind.


    ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± Cassie¡¯s tone of voice mixed the sound of finality with utter disbelief. ¡°I did, and they¡¯re this weird mix of soap opera and war story. At any given moment anyone in the story might change gender or maybe everyone will change gender. Units will break up and reform for reasons that won¡¯t make any sense. Also, some of them are musicals. And there are religious rituals. And there are sports where your gender can change mid-game¡­ Plus, you know how the implant rushes to give you all the information you need every other time you use it? Well, it doesn¡¯t with the entertainment because that would affect your interpretation of the creators¡¯ artistic intent. Xiniti art is supposed to be enjoyed and interpreted by your whole unit or group marriage.¡±


    She clenched her right hand as she leaned forward over the table. ¡°If Katuk¡¯s listening, I hope he understands I¡¯m not hating on his culture, but I don¡¯t get it at all.¡±


    Marcus waved his hand in the air. ¡°You know what we could do?¡±


    Almost in unison, Jaclyn and Cassie said, ¡°No Monopoly!¡±


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    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Marcus leaned back, cocking his head and waiting for a moment before he added, ¡°But I don¡¯t know what we¡¯d do then. Maybe Hal could list any games he thinks he could simulate and then we¡¯d choose?¡±


    I didn¡¯t pay much attention after that. It wasn¡¯t surprising if you thought about it, but Hal¡¯s specialty was simulating battles. That meant that while games using military strategy and tactics might be a special interest, he had a general interest in all games, ranging from children¡¯s games to drinking games and including sports, boardgames, war-games, and role playing games. As long as it had been uploaded on to the internet, he knew the rules.


    By the end of the night everyone was playing some game (I didn¡¯t pay attention to which one). I spent most of the night tweaking the algorithm that countered motivators¡¯ voices¡ªwhich meant that Kals divided her time between playing and testing my tweaks. That¡¯s to say she alternated between playing and giving me orders.


    This would have been fine if we were alone except that we weren¡¯t, and as soon as Marcus realized how we were testing he began to offer suggestions. ¡°Have him cluck like a chicken. No, wait¡­ I can come up with something better than that¡ª¡±


    At which point Kals interrupted him to ask, ¡°What¡¯s a chicken?¡±


    After Marcus explained, Cassie then suggested that they, ¡°See if he knows the Periodic Table of the Elements from memory.¡±


    I did¡ªall the elements known on Earth plus a few Grandpa told me about. Tikki knew a few more¡ªseveral, actually. At Marcus urging, Kals had her recite them too¡ªwhich made her laugh once she was done.


    That wasn¡¯t the reaction I¡¯d been expecting given that the whole colony seemed to exist to avoid control by motivators, but I was beyond trying to make sense of people. I was more concerned about the sounds that came out of Kals¡¯ throat, using my suit and the implant to record and analyze them, and sometimes offloading work to Hal.


    Even with Jaclyn¡¯s help in preventing Cassie and Marcus from making more suggestions (¡°Just stop it.¡±), we didn¡¯t completely figure it out before I realized that I was too tired to think clearly. Chalking it up to the problem being hard and everyone being stir crazy, I went to bed, finding that it wasn¡¯t easy to sleep.


    I couldn¡¯t quit thinking about alternate solutions and sonic tricks Grandpa had told me about. When I did finally fall asleep, I didn¡¯t stay that way all night. Around four in the morning, I woke up, realizing both that I heard footsteps in the main room, and that I needed to pee.


    While the possibility that it wasn¡¯t one of us did occur to me, it was far more likely that one of the four people on the women¡¯s side of the suite needed to go the bathroom too. Since my ¡°pajamas¡± were simply a thin version of the stealth suit, I grabbed my glasses/HUD and walked out of the room.


    The glasses'' thermal imaging left no doubt about what had happened. Glowing footsteps led from the women¡¯s doorway toward the end of the room where two doors stood. One led to the bathroom. The other led deeper into the building.


    The glowing footsteps went past the bathroom and out the other door.

 A Good Boy: Part 10

    Wondering if I should check with the others before I did anything, I decided it was most likely Jaclyn, Cassie, Tikki, or Kals and if not, I could probably tell the rest via implant.


    In fact, I was being too paranoid already. The most likely possibility was that one of them had opted to use one of the bathrooms outside our suite rather than risking waking everyone else up. The toilet was kind of noisy.


    As I walked through the door that led into the main area of the council building, I reflected that if that were true, explaining what I was doing was going to be awkward. Well, if I did find that the footsteps led to one of the other bathrooms, I¡¯d do my best to sneak away before they got out.


    The main area of the council building was an open room large enough hold almost everyone in the colony. Even if that was only all of the colony¡¯s adults, that might mean as many as 2000 people. I followed the footsteps across the front of the auditorium, noting the rows of seats to my left. Anything could be hiding there in theory, but my glasses¡¯ thermal imaging didn¡¯t show anything hot enough to be alive.


    I reached a short hall on the other side of the auditorium. It continued into another suite like ours, but before that a stairway opened up downward to the right. I followed the steps downward, noting that they appeared to be made of the same white substance as the egg-shaped outside walls. Even before I reached the bottom, I noticed that the thermal footprint remains were more distinct. Halfway down, I heard the first noise. It was a series of high pitched barks¡ªmore yips than barks¡ªand then Jaclyn¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Shh.¡±


    I jumped down the final flight of stairs, landing in front of a closed door, but one with a telltale glow at the bottom of the door. The light was on inside and since I knew who was there, I said, ¡°Jaclyn?¡±


    The door opened. Jaclyn stood in the doorway wearing the pajama version of her stealth suit¡ªa red top with white pants. I remembered programming in the specifications.


    She sighed. ¡°I knew someone would notice eventually, but I thought it would be Cassie.¡±


    Then she turned to look behind her. A dog with grayish-brown, curly fur bounded toward me, getting on its hind legs and placing its paws on my stomach. A closer look showed me that it was more fuzzy than furry and the clumsiness of its walk told me that it was more puppy than dog despite its size. More clues came together¡ªthe thickness of its limbs, the size of its paws, the resemblance to a terrier.


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    It sniffed my crotch and then dropped to all fours to consider the smell of my feet. It gave my left foot a lick.


    ¡°Wow. Is that what I think it is, and why did you take it in?¡± I looked around. ¡°You¡¯ve been keeping it in a closet?¡±


    To be fair, it was more of a storage room. It was at least twenty feet wide, maybe larger, filled with boxes, a bowl of water, and bowl of last night¡¯s leftovers.


    Her head sunk for a moment, but then she looked me in the eye. ¡°It¡¯s not a closet. Look, I got up early the morning after we killed those things and went out running. It was there where we¡¯d killed them, sniffing around. I know it was dumb, but I couldn¡¯t leave it there. We¡¯d killed its parents and I¡¯ve always liked dogs¡­¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°This sounds even dumber out loud than when I was imagining explaining it.¡±


    The puppy grabbed my pants leg and started pulling on it. It had a strong grip.


    ¡°No! Stop. Over here.¡± She pointed directly in front of her. It stopped, looked at her, and let go of my pants. Then it sat in front of her. She crouched, scratching it behind the ears, and saying, ¡°Good boy. Who¡¯s a good boy?¡±


    She let the puppy lick her face a couple times, wiping off the spit with her hand. Then she stood up. ¡°He really is a good dog. Dogs at home don¡¯t learn commands that quickly. They should be training them instead of hiding from them. I¡¯ve been hoping to show them, but for now, I just need to take him outside. You want to come along?¡±


    I glanced down at the dog which had already wandered off to the food dish to scarf down a few gobbets of meat. ¡°Sure.¡±


    We brought the dog out to a courtyard off to the side of the auditorium. Since it was surrounded by the building, we didn¡¯t have to worry about the dog running off¡ªthough we did have a scare when it darted toward one of the walls, disappearing behind a bush. When we caught up with it, we found it dismembering a creature that appeared to be a cross between a rat and a grasshopper. Rats don¡¯t have six legs or wings, and grasshoppers don¡¯t have fur, but this had both.


    ¡°What are you going to do with it?¡± I asked her as the puppy finished eating and then did its business behind another bush.


    She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think the colonists could train them, but you know how big they get. The colonists aren¡¯t going to like the idea. We could bring him home, but¡­¡±


    I tried to imagine that. It wasn¡¯t as if Jaclyn could keep it in her dorm at the University of Michigan. The best idea would be to keep it in HQ in Grand Lake. I imagined trying to take it for a walk. It wouldn¡¯t be so bad when it was a puppy, but when it was fully grown¡­


    ¡°I hope we don¡¯t bring him home,¡± I began, but I was interrupted by a message.


    It was from Iolan. It was marked important, but if we¡¯d been asleep, it wouldn¡¯t have been urgent enough to wake us up. We¡¯d have gotten the notification after waking. I opened it. It said, ¡°I¡¯m part of the group meeting at Jadzen Akri¡¯s house tonight. Things have gotten¡­ off topic. We¡¯ll all be visiting tomorrow morning. Whatever happens, be cooperative and pleasant. Don¡¯t give anyone an excuse to be angry. It¡¯s not too big a thing. It¡¯s just that there have been a few complaints about your investigations. I¡¯m doing my best to calm people down over here.¡±


    The message ended and I asked, ¡°Did you¡ª¡±


    ¡°Get the message? Yes.¡± Jaclyn¡¯s mouth was a flat line. ¡°It sounds like a bad time to bring up the dog.¡±

 Complaints: Part 1

    Agent 957 of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s Genetic Management Office, System 2411, Edge Sector


    Two ships flew through space. One, a long cylinder bristling with laser turrets in addition to its main gun, led the way. The other, a wedge-shaped ship not even a tenth of its size, followed off to its side.


    Knowledgeable observers would have recognized the larger ship as the Human Ascendancy Extinction class warship named Annihilation. The smaller ship would have been recognized as a Stinger class heavy fighter number 1123 of the Far Hunter Squadron. There were no knowledgeable observers or even sentient creatures in the system except for those on the ships themselves. The only other being that could have observed them was busy and while she would have recognized the technology and purpose of the ships, her interest in science was great and her interest in fighting only marginal unless it presented an interesting technical problem.


    Human Ascendancy warships were conservative in design and offered no interesting technical problems. Therefore, her attention lay elsewhere.


    Agent 957 flew the Stinger. It was moments like this one that he lived for. He¡¯d taken his ship all the way back to K¡¯Tepolu after he¡¯d failed to capture the criminals and their Xiniti escort. K¡¯Tepolu had been the sensible choice. It worked for whatever he wanted to do¡ªinvestigate as his mission dictated or desert and try to escape the consequences of losing them. He might have tried if the Annihilation hadn¡¯t been there.


    Instead he¡¯d given the pictures that the mole had passed along to a professional astrogator he¡¯d hired, explaining his mission, the last heading of the criminals¡¯ ship, and the fact that the Xiniti ship appeared to have access to jump and blink space despite its small size. The astrogator had access to a database showing the skies of hundreds of thousands of planets and ran a search on the mole¡¯s pictures. With that started, he¡¯d searched out anywhere the colonists or Xiniti could have gone on that strange collection of linked asteroids.


    He¡¯d learned that only one of the Xiniti was biologically a member of the Xiniti species. The rest were human. He couldn¡¯t find out where they¡¯d originated from, but members of other races who joined the Xiniti nation were no pushovers. He made sure to pass that information on to the warship. As the only allies he had, he¡¯d have to bring them in on this no matter how little he wanted to.


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    Though he did find Kee Oataki¡¯s shop and technology training facility, he found that no matter how much he threatened, no one would let him speak to her. ¡°She¡¯s presently unavailable,¡± a scruffy Zeeta crawler told him. Then, making a gesture that his implant identified as rude, the Zeeta had gone back to a discussion that involved equal parts jump drive theory and its favorite serialized vid.


    The public, online records of a fight in the marketplace gave him a better picture of their fighting styles. Two of the human ¡°Xiniti¡± had fought a few of the barbarian waroo there. The agent didn¡¯t recognize their fighting styles, but it was clear they¡¯d been well trained. It was also clear that ¡°Tikki¡± could manipulate time, making her recapture a priority.


    Though viewing the fight had been easy, getting the waroo to talk about it turned out to be impossible. Agent 957 didn¡¯t at all expect to understand the creatures, but he was surprised that even though they were known mercenaries, they wouldn¡¯t talk about the fight and wouldn¡¯t draw up a contract to hunt down the people who¡¯d nearly killed one of their own. They¡¯d refused. ¡°You have no understanding of our laws. We will handle this in our own way.¡± When the astrogator¡¯s report came back with a positive identification of the planet and star system Hideaway, the waroo had been willing enough to take the information.


    With any luck, they¡¯d appear in time to destroy the Xiniti escort in their rage. If they didn¡¯t show up, he had the firepower to do it himself.


    That brought him back to the moment. Hideaway lay in the middle of a cluster of systems arranged such that their gravity wells made blink space practically useless. The Annihilation and his ship would spend a week in jump space before they reached the planet.


    The mole had been surprised to find that Agent 957 had found Hideaway¡¯s position on his own and unsuccessfully tried to hide fear. No matter. Agent 957 had made it clear that the mole¡¯s service had been invaluable. Did the mole have anything left to report? The mole did. There were mines. Agent 957 had made a note of their positions and notified the warship.


    It was time to make the jump. Agent 957 checked with the Annihilation tomake sure it had the coordinates correct. Then the agent aimed his ship toward the cluster of stars ahead and turned on his jump drive.


    * * *


    The next day my implant woke me at eight in the morning¡ªwhich was good. It meant that I¡¯d be awake before any of the colony¡¯s leadership came to complain. It was also bad in that I needed more sleep after waking up in the middle of the night to follow Jaclyn around and watch her dog poop.

 Complaints: Part 2

    When the colonists dropped off breakfast, Jaclyn took advantage of the fact that we were all together to tell everyone the story and then bring us all downstairs to show us the puppy. When we were all back up in the suite, Cassie shook her head and finished off the last bit of some kind of meat. Swallowing, she told Jaclyn, ¡°That was so crazy and such a terrible idea that¡ª¡°


    ¡°It¡¯s like something you would do?¡± Jaclyn finished.


    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Cassie said. ¡°But I¡¯d know better than to take in a dog. I tried once when I was kid and my dad gave me hell. He gave me a big speech about how a dog is a big responsibility, but nowhere nears as big as yours is going to get.¡±


    Jaclyn gave a short laugh. ¡°I know. Believe me I know. I want to leave him here because they¡¯re so easy to train, but if they won¡¯t let me, I guess I¡¯ll bring him home.¡±


    Kals looked down at her hand. The puppy had licked it. ¡°We don¡¯t have dogs as pets. I¡¯ve never seen one of those things act friendly.¡±


    Katuk furrowed his brow, ¡°Why would you keep such a dangerous creature?¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t, but if they¡¯re not going to train him, I¡¯m not going to let them kill him. We already killed both of his parents and more. There¡¯s got to be a point where you learn what you don¡¯t have to kill.¡±


    Katuk paused, but didn¡¯t add anything to that.


    Jadzen Akri and the others showed up about thirty minutes after we¡¯d finished cleaning up. They didn¡¯t knock and wait for us to open the door either. They went into the big council room and after a short period where we could hear them talking in there, Maru stepped into the suite, saying, ¡°Excuse me, everyone. Jadzen and several members of the revolutionary board will see you now.¡±


    We followed him back into the big council room. It felt larger as well as oddly less frightening than it had the night before. Still, the room felt very big and very official with the chairs around the table the front and people sitting in them.


    As we entered, Kals looked up at the front of the room. ¡°They¡¯re playing this as if they were investigating some major violation of a Council editct. That¡¯s annoying. Someone must dislike you.¡±


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    When we sat in the seats facing the group. Jadzen looked on calmly while Iolan fiddled with something he¡¯d found in the pocket of his suit coat. Alanna slumped in her chair, possibly hungover, possibly remotely accessing something through the bracelet she wore. Three other people that I didn¡¯t recognized at all were also up there in addition to Maru and Geman. Geman yawned and then nodded at us.


    Jadzen looked over the group of us. Everyone but Crawls-Through-Desert had followed Maru through the door and into the auditorium. She frowned as she saw Kals and then Tikki. ¡°Kals, you don¡¯t have to be here. Take Tikki and go.¡±


    Kals shook her head. ¡°Mom, I was with them during almost everything they did yesterday. If they¡¯re in trouble, I¡¯m in trouble.¡±


    Tikki glanced over at Marcus, smiled at him, and reached out to squeeze his hand. ¡°That goes for me as well, but also it¡¯s a fascinating opportunity to learn what my fellow colonists think is unacceptable behavior.¡±


    Jadzen gave Tikki a disjointed expression that made it clear she found Tikki¡¯s response odd, but when she looked at Kals, she wore a tired expression similar to the one I remembered seeing on my parents¡¯ faces when they were told I¡¯d taken apart a neighbor child¡¯s toy or a grownup¡¯s lawnmower.


    Without saying anything else to us, Jadzen said, ¡°Maru, please start.¡±


    Maru stepped up to the podium. ¡°Greetings everyone and especially to those of you who have come from so far away to protect us. We value your sacrifice. For everyone¡¯s good, we have a few issues to bring up. We received a few reports that your attempts to look for the mole were disruptive to regular operations of the colony as well as colony morale. You interrupted a regular meeting by Geman and Dalat. You all searched throughout the colony, giving no explanation of why you needed to be there. Other individuals in addition to Geman and Dalat were also interrupted from their work to answer questions.


    ¡°These sort of practices make it more difficult for people to practice the trades that keep the colony secure and fed. We need you to stop interrupting people during work hours and to stay off people¡¯s property without permission.¡±


    Maru stopped, giving all of us a polite smile. ¡°Do you have any questions?¡±


    Kals responded before any of the rest of us. ¡°I was there for all of that. You know as well as I do that Geman and Dalat usually use the meeting as an excuse to have a beer. The only reason they searched the colony was to find a teammate who they thought might have gotten lost. I can¡¯t speak to interrupting the other people with questions, but I don¡¯t know how else you conduct any kind of investigation.¡±


    Iolan¡¯s eyes widened as she began to speak. I had a feeling that when he¡¯d sent us a message to remain calm and pleasant, he¡¯d been trying to avoid exactly this sort of thing.


    The problem was that Kals wasn¡¯t wrong. Being restricted from talking to people during most of the day would slow things down a lot.

 Complaints: Part 3

    Geman frowned but didn¡¯t argue at Kals¡¯ suggestion that he and Dalat used the meeting as an excuse to drink.


    Maru¡¯s mouth tightened, reminding me of a growling dog. ¡°Kals, you may be assisting, but you can¡¯t speak on their behalf.¡±


    I spoke even as Kals began to open her mouth to respond, ¡°It¡¯s okay. She¡¯s gotten everything right. I didn¡¯t know about the meeting being an excuse to hang out and drink but it¡¯s definitely true that we weren¡¯t randomly searching people¡¯s farms or property. We were just looking for Katuk. Our implants weren¡¯t detecting him and we were worried that something had happened to him. It turned out that he was safe.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Jaclyn stepped forward. ¡°Speaking only on a practical level, we need the freedom to talk to people whenever it works best for them and for us. Some people will have time during the day and others in the evening. And if it looks like we¡¯ve got a person missing, we¡¯ll look for him. This isn¡¯t the kind of planet where I¡¯m comfortable assuming someone¡¯s okay.¡±


    Katuk cleared his throat. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that my disappearance made it necessary for the others to search for me. I felt it was necessary to disappear for a time and didn¡¯t realize that the others would want to search for me. Had I understood that I would have coordinated it with them first.¡±


    Maru swallowed and nodded, not taking his eyes off the Xiniti. ¡°Thank you, Katuk. All of us here appreciate how far you must be from your people right now.¡±


    ¡°All those with me are members of my clan,¡± Katuk said.


    ¡°Not all of you,¡± Maru said, looking over at Kals and Tikki. ¡°Kals. Don¡¯t you have duties that would prevent you from assisting them? You¡¯re involved in our greenhouses, livestock, and farming. Surely you have enough to keep you busy.¡±


    Kals shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re in the slow season for me. We¡¯re collecting data, but I won¡¯t know how well this year''s crops went until the harvest. Once the harvest is in, then those of us in crop design get to work. Right now I can collect the data I need in a few hours. Besides, you know what my real duties are. As one of the few with fully active abilities, my first duty has to be defense. And that means I need to be with them. Otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to help.¡±


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    Maru¡¯s jaw dropped ever so slightly. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have said that¡ª¡°


    Chin down and staring at him, Kals said, ¡°Why not? They¡¯re on our side. For the good of the colony, we need to be coordinating with them, not spying on them and if I were spying on them, I couldn¡¯t do it from the greenhouse.¡±


    Maru turned to look at Jadzen who shook her head. He turned to Tikki. ¡°As a new member of the colony, I¡¯m sure you have duties that you could be doing¡ª¡°


    Tikki shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that I don¡¯t. Because I¡¯m a life support specialist, they assigned me to help maintain the greenhouses, but the greenhouses are in good condition. We do maintenance, but there¡¯s not much to do. They keep on telling me it will get busy later in the year, but it isn¡¯t yet.¡±


    Behind Maru, Alanna shifted forward in her chair, no longer looking like she was semi-comfortably nursing a hangover. She gritted her teeth as she stood up. ¡°You both just dropped your duties to help the Xiniti? We know what¡¯s really going on. These Xiniti are human and somehow they¡¯re not triggering the rash¡­¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re putting the colony behind men who will disappear when the job is done. You should be thinking of the colony first. Is it slow for your teams? Then you should be helping another if you¡¯re done early. The earthworks team is working night and day on the barricades. Kals, you know you could be helpful there. And you, life support girl? I¡¯m going to talk to your superiors. My team could use more help and I know you¡¯re an engineer¡ª¡°


    ¡°No,¡± Kals kept her eyes on Alanna. ¡°You¡¯ve known me on and off for most of my life, Alanna. I¡¯m my mother and father¡¯s daughter. There is nothing I won¡¯t do for this colony and right now, we need the Xiniti, whether they¡¯re biologically Xiniti or human. Iolan thinks there¡¯s a mole. I think he¡¯s right. I¡¯m almost certain Geman and Dalat are controlled without their knowledge and I¡¯ve seen hints ever since I¡¯ve been here that someone knows that Mom is coming when she goes back. You¡¯ve heard the stories. They shouldn¡¯t have known she was coming. They shouldn¡¯t have known her plans. You and I both know it.¡±


    Alanna stood up straight, staring at Kals, face reddening. ¡°Are you accusing me?¡±

 Complaints: Part 4

    With the volume of Alanna¡¯s reply, Kals stepped backward. ¡°What? No. I¡¯ve never suspected you, but someone is.¡±


    Geman sat in his chair, face blank of emotion, but his jaw muscles tightened. Speaking slowly as if were difficult, he rasped out, ¡°I¡¯m not¡­ controlled. I¡¯d remember¡­ it.¡±


    Everyone turned toward him¡ªJadzen, Maru, Alanna, the rest of them, and we, of course, were already looking toward the stage.


    As the colony¡¯s leadership had turned though, they¡¯d all gone several shades paler. Geman stood up in his chair, saying, ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡±


    Then he fell over onto the floor, beginning to choke on his tongue. Kals jumped up on to the stage, her voice taking on a queer tone. ¡°Stop choking yourself! You misunderstood me. I said you weren¡¯t controlled.¡±


    He opened his mouth and started breathing in great gasps.


    She watched him as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. ¡°Do you have any orders that will be activated if I ask you questions about what you just did?¡±


    He nodded.


    In a quieter voice, she asked, ¡°Will any of those orders have lethal consequences for you or others?¡±


    Taking another breath, he said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Kals took a look back at her mother and turned back to Geman. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go back to work? Or if you¡¯re done for the day, go home. Don¡¯t think about this meeting.¡±


    Geman stood up and walked out of the auditorium. No one spoke until we heard him walk through an outside door.


    Iolan spoke first. ¡°I think we now have all the proof we need that there¡¯s a mole. Thank you Kals for your quick thinking. You saved a life today.¡±


    In her chair, Jadzen let out a sigh. ¡°Iolan is right. Thank you Kals. We¡¯re going to have to discuss the best way to handle Geman now that we know he¡¯s controlled and that Dalat likely is as well.¡±


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    Walking to the door Geman had left through, Alanna opened it, looked through, and closed it again. Addressing Kals, she said, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you ask who did it?¡±


    Kals gave a small bow in her direction. ¡°I guessed that if whoever had done it forced people to choke themselves on their own tongues if someone suspected that they were controlled, the motivator would put triggers on asking for their name and it wouldn¡¯t stop there.¡±


    Alanna nodded, ¡°I think I¡¯ve seen that. Back before I left, our group had a mole. No one knew who, but after we made a few guesses, my second in command¡¯s wife shot him and then killed herself. We didn¡¯t know if it was a motivator or if she was just depressed. We didn¡¯t have any motivators in my group who could have stopped her, so we never found out.¡±


    Kals stepped off the stage to stand back with the rest of us. ¡°We¡¯ve developed techniques to protect against other motivators messing with our work, so you might not have ever found out even if you had one in your group. My school taught us how to set triggers based on sound, words, smells, pictures and more. You had to know what¡¯s associated with what in someone¡¯s mind before you could change a command. There are different systems for doing it.¡±


    Alanna gave voice to almost the same thought I had. ¡°It¡¯s not the same, but it almost sounds like breaking into a computer program.¡±


    Shrugging, Kals said, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know, but it¡¯s a challenge to work out how to unravel someone else¡¯s commands.¡±


    Iolan stood up from his chair. ¡°My motivator training was minimal compared to some here as was my computer training, but I¡¯ve done enough of both to know the we have significant work ahead of us.¡±


    Clearing his throat, he said, ¡°Jadzen, we¡¯ll need experienced motivators to go through their heads¡ªyourself or Maru, perhaps. I know we have a number of others. Kals might assist. In any case, they¡¯re all we need to find the mole now.¡±


    Alanna smiled. ¡°Then the investigation¡¯s over. There¡¯s no need for it if our motivators can get the mole¡¯s identity out of their heads.¡±


    Jadzen rose from her seat. ¡°I don¡¯t think that the investigation is completely over, but I do think it should be put on pause until our motivators have had a chance to examine Dalat and Geman. I¡¯d prefer not to deal with any more controversy than we have to. Maru assemble a list of motivators that could be trusted with something like this and have it to me by this afternoon.¡±


    Maru give her a short bow and Jadzen said, ¡°Good. My thanks to all of you for your work. You¡¯re dismissed.¡±


    Jaclyn and I both looked at each other. I don¡¯t know what she was thinking, but her eyes had narrowed and she was frowning¡ªwhich led me to think that she was thinking that this all seemed a bit premature. Neither of us had time to figure out a way to broach the subject though.


    Cassie crossed her hands over her chest. ¡°Are you sure about that? It seems to me that if anything goes wrong with Dalat and Geman¡ªlike maybe they kill themselves¡ªyou¡¯ve got nothing.¡±


    Jadzen looked Cassie up and down. ¡°If it comes to that, we¡¯ll put you back on the case, but for now, we¡¯ll leave it to our people.¡±

 Complaints: Part 5

    ¡°Uh huh.¡± Cassie gave Jadzen a small bow as the council members left the room, walking toward the exit via a different wing of the building.


    I felt a stab of worry as they passed the doorway that led down to the dog, but they didn¡¯t stop. Soon they were gone and we all went back to our suite. I sat down at the table along with Cassie and Kals. Marcus and Tikki sat next to each other on the couch while Jaclyn and Katuk each took one of the chairs across from the couch. Jaclyn found herself sitting next to Crawls-Through-Desert who had positioned himself in front of one of the windows, his leaves angled toward the sun. He still appeared to be dormant though. He hadn¡¯t moved or said anything.


    Marcus looked around the room. ¡°I don¡¯t want to start any trouble, but we¡¯re not going to stop investigating, are we?¡±


    Leaning into him, Tikki shook her head. ¡°Of course not. You know what I think? It¡¯s got to be someone on the Council. I don¡¯t know who, but isn¡¯t it funny how they did exactly what you¡¯d want them to do if you were the person behind it all? They told the people who were getting somewhere to stop.¡±


    Kals frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t know. We¡¯ve got motivators who are capable of doing that to Geman, but except for my mom, they¡¯re not on Council. Maru¡¯s not that good. Iolan¡¯s barely trained at all. Alanna¡¯s all techie. She¡¯s got her hands in everything, but before that, she worked on implants. The rest of them don¡¯t have active powers.¡±


    Cassie spoke the second Kals finished. ¡°Is there anybody who might be hiding motivator powers? Or hey, could Alanna have done that with an implant tweak? I mean, those things go straight into everyone¡¯s brains.¡±


    I found myself nodding as she spoke. ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering about that. They¡¯re basically just computers and computers get hacked all the time. With an implant, it seems like you could hack somebody¡¯s brain.¡±


    Katuk and Tikki both started talking at once, both of them starting with, ¡°No¡ª¡° I didn¡¯t hear the rest. Even as I tried, I experienced a massive data dump in my head. By the time it was over, I knew the architecture of the standard implant as well as the protections installed to prevent it from being used to take over a sentient being. From what I understood, it would need a sustained effort by a government or corporation to hack one. A single person on a backwater world wouldn¡¯t be able to.


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    When the rush of information ended, I became aware that everyone was looking at me. ¡°Didn¡¯t any of you get all the technical details on implants? I just got a crash course in the theory and practice of implant design.¡±


    Marcus shook his head, ¡°No¡ªnot in much detail. I got a general sense of how they work and that it would be hard to hack them.¡±


    Glancing around the room, Jaclyn said, ¡°I got some technical detail, but not like you did. Maybe they put more technical info into yours or give people more technical information if they can understand it.¡±


    In his almost expressionless voice, Katuk added, ¡°Both choices are common practice.¡±


    To my eye, he seemed to be in a better mood than the night before. It might be that looking for him hard enough that we got in trouble had touched him somehow. That or he regarded participating in this conversation as part of his duty to the group.


    In any case, it was better than last night.


    Sitting straighter in her chair and speaking a little louder, Jaclyn said, ¡°Hey everybody, we¡¯re going to have to reel it in and get focused. I think we have to ask ourselves two questions, ¡®Who are we going to investigate,¡¯ and, ¡®Are we okay with what happens if the Council finds out what we¡¯re doing¡¯?¡±


    Kals shrugged. ¡°They can¡¯t do much. My mom won¡¯t be happy with me. Maybe she¡¯ll move me to a less responsible position in the colony for while, but if it saves the colony, I¡¯m fine with it. She can¡¯t do much of anything to you guys. The only person who stands to be hurt is Tikki. She¡¯ll probably be handed over to Alanna to do menial tech jobs for a few years, but it could be worse. Mom¡¯s exiled a few people from the colony. I don¡¯t think she¡¯d do it to Tikki, but it¡¯s a death sentence. I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s survived more than a few months.¡±


    Tikki had been leaning against Marcus, each of them with an arm around the either. She smiled. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. If she comes down hard on me, I¡¯ll leave with Marcus and the rest of you. I¡¯m grateful that the colony took me in, but right now I feel like I want to see the universe. I trained for years to work on starships because I feel like the stars are calling me. I don¡¯t want to be stuck here.¡±


    Kals¡¯ mouth twisted. ¡°I want to go too, but I can¡¯t go if we don¡¯t fix this first.¡±


    As they¡¯d spoken, I¡¯d come to a decision. ¡°I think we should focus on Maru. He¡¯s got Jadzen¡¯s confidence and if he¡¯s been working with Jadzen for years, he¡¯s had every opportunity to learn from her. The reason we''re assuming he¡¯s not as good is because he didn¡¯t go to as good a school. After years of using a skill, it doesn¡¯t matter as much where you went to school as what you learned in the next twenty years. I still don¡¯t have a motive for why he¡¯d do it, but that¡¯s what we need to find out.¡±

 Complaints: Part 6

    ¡°Easy,¡± Cassie said, ¡°Bug him.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I was trying to avoid that. My tech is pretty low compared to what I¡¯ve seen in the files in my implant. The Xiniti could detect my bots easily and while they¡¯re ahead of the curve in terms of technology out here, they¡¯re not that far ahead. So, bugging Maru with my stuff might accomplish nothing more than warning him that we¡¯re watching and giving him ammunition to argue we should leave or never leave our ship.¡±


    Tikki sat up, pulling away from Marcus. ¡°I might be able to help. If you show me your design, I¡¯ll be able to tell you if it¡¯s so bad that there¡¯s no chance it¡¯ll work. I¡¯m not an expert in spying technology, so I don¡¯t know what will work, but I can tell you if it¡¯s laughably bad.¡±


    Katuk added. ¡°I have some background in our technology. I may be able to assist as well.¡±


    It was hard to gauge Katuk¡¯s enthusiasm from his voice, but the help the implant gave me in judging Xiniti body language didn¡¯t hint that anything was wrong.


    I thought about it a little more but decided that we had very little to lose. ¡°Okay, then, I guess we spy on Maru. There¡¯s something that¡¯s bugging me though. If Maru¡¯s behind it all, he knows that we¡¯re aware that Dalat and Geman have been influenced, so he¡¯s not going to use them. If he guesses that we¡¯ll be watching what he does, he might not do anything but use the ansible as an admin¡ªwhich means we couldn¡¯t watch him there since I¡¯m thinking he¡¯s got an implant. If he does then we might not see him do anything at all.¡±


    Jaclyn looked over at Katuk and then at me. ¡°Go for it. The worst that can happen if you don¡¯t is that he¡¯ll tell the Human Ascendancy where the colony is and you won¡¯t know it. The worst that can happen if you do it is also that he¡¯ll tell the Human Ascendancy, but this way we¡¯ll have a chance of knowing beforehand.¡±


    I glanced over at her. She was right. I shouldn¡¯t overthink this. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll tell you all how my spybots work. Tell me what you think.¡±


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    With that, Tikki and Katuk came forward to the table while Cassie, Jaclyn, Marcus, and Kals stepped back to talk to each other while we discussed how my bots worked. I got out a few of them, opening them up on the table and explaining how they were constructed and exactly what they did as well as my system for communications and major algorithms that determined their behavior.


    Katuk sat still and listened quietly, occasionally asking a question for clarification. Tikki leaned over the table, sometimes interrupting to tell me, ¡°Oh, that¡¯s very clever,¡± and a couple times to say, ¡°Did you consider¡­¡°


    The crazy thing was that times that she complimented me were times that I had been clever and times when she asked, ¡°Did you consider?¡± I hadn¡¯t. They were good ideas. One was a tweak to my search algorithm that I was pretty sure would improve the area by at least five percent. The other idea was a change in the communication protocol that would allow me to decrease the number of signals involved in any given communication. As I said, it was a good idea. I didn¡¯t have time to implement it then, but when I did, the overall effect ought to be making the protocol more secure because there simply wasn¡¯t as much communication to observe.


    A life support engineer in the Human Ascendancy got some decent training¡ªthat or Tikki was unusually gifted. Alternately, Tikki¡¯s technology was so far ahead that commonplace suggestions made a huge difference.


    By the time I finished Katuk did weigh in. ¡°I used the techniques I was taught to detect nearby listening devices. Your devices are unusual enough that they might not register as bugs. If they knew to look for them, however, they might be able to be found by standard debugging techniques.¡±


    Tikki nodded, ¡°Their casing is a type of ceramic shell that isn¡¯t unusual. I think I have an idea for a coating that would lower its chances of being detected. Even better, I think we can find the materials locally. I¡¯ve made an outline of the process. I¡¯ll send it to your implant!¡±


    She all but bounced as she talked about it. On the couch, Marcus not only beamed but did a series quick sketches as she talked. They managed to capture the way she moved her arms, grinning, as we discussed the process.


    As we finished, I looked around the room. ¡°Anyone want to help gather materials?¡±


    Before anyone could reply, the plant¡¯s pot began to hum and Crawls-Through-Desert spoke, ¡°As a special agent for the Alliance¡¯s Consolidated Defense Force, I think we need to talk before you blow this open.¡±

 Complaints: Part 7

    Hand moving an inch closer to the gun on her hip, Cassie said, ¡°You¡¯re a secret agent now? How do we know that?¡±


    My implant created a translucent square above Crawls-Through-Desert. In appeared the words, ¡°Sending ID. Accept and verify?¡±


    I thought back, Yes.


    More words appeared on the screen, ¡°ID verified as special agent for Alliance Consolidated Defense Force. Species: Emperor¡¯s Walking Blade (sapient subtype). Cooperation with Alliance agents is recommended where appropriate for the mission.¡±


    We all looked at each other. From Cassie¡¯s narrowed eyes and Jaclyn¡¯s nod, it was obvious we¡¯d all gotten it.


    Katuk inlined his head toward the plant. ¡°Our orders encourage us to render Alliance agents assistance when appropriate for the mission.¡±


    Crawls-Through-Desert¡¯s branches bent toward Katuk and then straightened. ¡°Good. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re willing to assist. I think you¡¯ll find that we have the same mission. I was ordered to step in at K¡¯Tepolu when it became clear that the assigned agent would not be able to reach the system before the colonists left. I had a verifiable cover identity and was on site and was therefore reassigned. My mission is to keep the colonists safe and to discover if there is any kind of mole in the colony.¡±


    I looked at the plant, trying to figure out if there was any spot that could double as a face. My implant assured me that there wasn¡¯t. The plant sensed sound vibrations all across its body and limited light sensing by means of its leaves. Asking, ¡°Do you think Maru¡¯s the mole?¡±


    The plant¡¯s leaves rustled. ¡°Eh. Don¡¯t know. He¡¯s in the running. Like you, I realized he was in the best position to be a mole of anybody, but I¡¯m still not sure I believe it. Sure, he¡¯s a motivator who¡¯s the chief assistant to one of the leaders of the resistance. He¡¯d have an excuse to meet with anybody and mess with their heads. On the other hand, I haven¡¯t seen any sign that he hates his boss or the colony. He seems loyal to me, kids. So if you¡¯re going to accuse him, run your evidence by me when you¡¯ve got it.¡±


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    I thought about that. ¡°Who do you think the mole is?¡±


    A pause. Then Crawls-Through-Desert¡¯s leaves rustled again. ¡°Can¡¯t say, but I have a suspect or two. I¡¯ll tell you when I¡¯ve got something. I don¡¯t want it getting out.¡±


    His pot began to float. ¡°That reminds me. I¡¯ve got a couple things to check on. I¡¯ll be back later tonight. You can call me with my ID code. You¡¯ve all got it now.¡±


    I looked the plant up and down. Between his green leaves, branches, and pot, I wondered where his implant was. Overall, I felt like the pot was the best bet, but drilling a hole in the trunk or attaching a fake branch might also work. ¡°We¡¯ll keep you informed,¡± I told him as he floated toward the door.


    It pulled the door open with a frond and floated down the street. I reflected that my threshold for normal was expanding during this trip. Floating plants with guns in their pots? Basically, Crawls-Through-Desert was James Bond as a fern. Well, why not? I supposed that plants needed heroes too.


    Kals stood next to me and watched him go. ¡°They¡¯re immune to motivators. Their brains, their sense of hearing, their physiology¡­ None of it maps to ours. They¡¯re not the only aliens like that, but you can see why the Alliance sent it. On the other hand, they stand out a lot.¡±


    Behind me, Marcus talked to Tikki. ¡°No wonder it stepped in to protect you from the hrrrnna and waroo when we met. It all makes sense. It seemed a little weird for this sketchy plant to play hero without some kind of angle where he tried to blackmail you or something.¡±


    Tikki said, ¡°I never thought that was so strange. Even criminals aren¡¯t all bad. When you¡¯re in the resistance, you have plenty of opportunities to see monsters show kindness. And sometimes, you also see good people act in monstrous ways, but I¡¯ve seen more good than bad. We live in a universe full of wonders.¡±


    Crawls-Through-Desert disappeared and Jaclyn turned to Tikki. ¡°If you can create a coating that hides his bots from super-advanced spy technology just from natural materials, I¡¯ll believe this universe is full of wonders.¡±


    Tikki shook her head, smiling. ¡°It¡¯s not all from here. We¡¯ve got a coating to use as a base. We¡¯re just going to collect a couple things and add them to the coating.¡±


    That¡¯s what we did for the next couple of hours. Tikki showed us some silvery leaves, and we gathered them. I can only guess what the other colonists thought. Marcus suggested that we tell them that it was for an art project, but no one did ask. We boiled them and mashed them and worked out a process that would mix them with the coating.


    By the time we were finished, the room stank and my bots had a dull silver coat that the eye slid off. Even before supper came, I¡¯d loosed the bots to find Maru.

 Complaints: Part 8

    I sent them to his house, Jadzen Akri¡¯s and all over the council building while I was at it. I shared the process with everybody via implant.


    As I maneuvered the bots through Jadzen¡¯s house, bugging the common spaces as well as her office, I asked Kals, ¡°Are you okay with it? We are bugging your house.¡±


    Kals sat at the table, eyes glazed over like everyone else¡¯s. ¡°It¡¯s my mom¡¯s house and you have to. Maru¡¯s over there all the time. Even if I didn¡¯t want my mom¡¯s privacy invaded, there are so many meetings there. It¡¯s practically the unofficial council building.¡±


    Once every bot was in position, I left the monitoring to Hal. The AI could assign a process to monitor all the feeds for interesting events and notify us if something important was going on.


    Over the next few days, we pretended we weren¡¯t doing anything. Jaclyn paid attention to the dog. Everyone helped¡ªeven Katuk who seemed to find the whole idea of domesticating animals strange.


    We were in the storage room feeding the animal.


    Katuk watched as the dog devoured the contents of its bowl. ¡°I know that other species do it. Humans, in particular, have a great number of domestic animals. The Xiniti do not domesticate animals. We set aside hunting preserves and while we have bred animals, it was to increase the challenge in hunting them¡ªnot for friendliness.¡±


    The dog stopped eating long enough to tilt its head and look at the Xiniti while he talked but then got back to eating, licking the bowl once the meat was gone.


    Kals and Tikki worked at their respective jobs. Alanna had made good on her promise make Tikki busier even if she couldn¡¯t do the same to Kals who stopped by mid-afternoon as Katuk and I made it back to the suite, finding Marcus and Jaclyn gone and Kals talking with Cassie.


    Kals took a sip from a mug. ¡°Alanna¡¯s a bitch. Did you know that she dated Iolan? Whatever happened with that, she hates him now. I think the last time I saw her agree with him was the meeting where they told you to stop looking for the mole. Otherwise, she argues with any position he holds, whether he¡¯s right or wrong.¡±


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    Cassie laughed. ¡°I heard about that. It¡¯s so ridiculous. I¡¯m here on another planet and what do I hear about? Stupid high school stuff. Two council members had an affair and now she hates him. I could have stayed home for that.¡±


    Kals shrugged. ¡°People don¡¯t stop being people.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t wrong.


    A little after midnight on the second day, Hal notified me that he¡¯d collected information that we¡¯d find interesting during the day. I was lying in my bed by then. Marcus and Katuk lay in their beds, Marcus snoring quietly in the dark. Katuk was, as ever, silent. He may have been awake.


    Ok, I thought at Hal. I¡¯ve got nothing better to do right now. Show me what you¡¯ve got.


    I found myself in Jadzen¡¯s office, a room with potted plants, a comfortable desk, small sculptures, books, a picture of a boat crossing a stormy lake, and not a single piece of stray paper. Jadzen sat behind the desk. Maru stood in front of it.


    He shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m picking away at Geman and Dalat. I believe that I¡¯ll be able to get around their conditioning by tomorrow.¡±


    Jadzen eyed him and frowned. ¡°You¡¯ve been trained by the Dominators. Isn¡¯t there a way to do it more quickly?¡±


    He sat down. ¡°No. Whoever modified them was at least as well trained as I am.¡±


    Nodding as he talked, Jadzen asked, ¡°Does that mean there are Dominators here?¡±


    Maru swallowed, but then said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. My implant should be up to date on anybody who could be assigned to us¡ªunless they realized that you turned me. Then they¡¯re almost certainly feeding me bad information.¡±


    She let out a breath, looking down at the desk as she did it, and seeming smaller. ¡°In your message, you mentioned a disquieting discovery. Learning that there might be Dominators here is all of that, but is that what you were referring to?¡±


    Maru sat down in a chair. ¡°No. This is either worse or of no consequence at all. It¡¯s impossible to know. You¡¯ll remember that we stole an Abominator designed array¡ª¡°


    She interrupted, ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°The Abominators got paranoid about the Artificer civilization near the end, avoiding archeological digs, sometimes destroying their artifacts from a distance¡ª¡°


    Jadzen gave a curt nod.


    ¡°Well,¡± Maru said, ¡°Geman and Dalat have begun getting readings from a sensor that claims to detect ¡®reality manipulation¡¯. It¡¯s supposed to detect remnants of the Artificer civilization. They¡¯ve been getting flickers from it since we landed. Something might have come in with us or maybe with the Xiniti. Or maybe there¡¯s nothing. They¡¯re barely readings, but the problem with ignoring them is that the sensor has been reporting nothing since we bought it and only now started to report something.¡±

 Complaints: Part 9

    Jadzen frowned. ¡°If one of the new colonists has something the Artificers made, we¡¯re doomed¡ªunless it¡¯s the Xiniti somehow. They had ways of neutralizing Artificer technology when they fought the Abominators. The rumor I heard is that some Xiniti could connect to the artifacts like Abominators did.¡±


    Maru nodded. ¡°I heard that rumor.¡±


    She took a breath. On the desk, her right hand clenched into a fist. ¡°We¡¯re going to have to trust that the Xiniti do know how to control Artificer equipment because the other rumor I heard is that they collect it.¡±


    Unmoving except for his mouth, Maru said, ¡°I heard that too. The leader of my cell claimed he¡¯d seen them do it.¡±


    Jadzen shook her head. ¡°Then we¡¯ll have to hope that they¡¯re resistant to the corruption of the artifacts. When you feel confident that you can trust Geman and Dalat again, make sure they know to watch the sensors for more and report it.¡±


    Maru bowed and the scene ended.


    Even as I considered asking Hal if there were more, another scene appeared. This one showed him in what I now knew was his house, a white, egg-shaped building like any other in the colony. His particular house could only be described as ¡°unfinished.¡± It had furniture , but no pictures on the walls or rugs¡ªonly eggshell white floor. From what I could see from the bots¡¯ cameras, only his bedroom had any kind of decoration¡ªa series of small sculptures. I wasn''t sure exactly what they were, but they were human shaped. If anything they reminded me of prehistoric ¡°Earth mother¡± statues I¡¯d seen in archaeology magazines.


    It made me wonder if they came from a culture where those statues still had a meaning. It was too bad I wasn¡¯t going to be in any position to ask about them. My Grandpa Klein (Dad¡¯s father) taught archaeology and would probably love to know what they were all about.


    The picture in my head didn¡¯t take place in the bedroom though (and in retrospect, I was thankful for that). It took place in the living room during the early evening¡ªhours ago.


    Dalat and Geman sat on the couch, both of them sitting straight up, their eyes on Maru. Geman¡¯s bulky, muscular body and bald head contrasted with Dalat¡¯s smaller frame and thin, scruffy beard.


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    Maru stood in front of them. ¡°Well, you made a mess of this. I suppose I should have told you specifically that you should be prepared for people whose senses were better than human, but I did tell you to take all appropriate precautions. That should have included using your implants for any conversations that relate to my orders. Is that clear?¡±


    Dalat and Geman said a simultaneous, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Maru shook his head. ¡°In the future, you will do exactly that. Unfortunately, in the future, you¡¯re not going to be nearly as useful as you have been in the immediate past. You will remember all the orders I gave you. You will not remember that I gave them. As far as you¡¯re concerned, the memory of who has been controlling you is hidden. It¡¯s behind the wall and nothing can get through the wall without my approval. My voice, my appearance and habits, and the specific words I used to give you the order? They¡¯re all behind the wall too. You will still respond to any order I give, but anytime I attempt to affect your old orders in public act as if it were someone else who created them.¡±


    Dalat and Geman said yes again.


    ¡°Now,¡± Maru said, ¡°I¡¯m going to have to go more in detail about specific events and memories, but what I just told you applies to everything else.¡±


    With that he began to go into detail regarding different times where he¡¯d given them orders, many of them so outside my experience that they made no sense¡ªfor example, ¡°During the Fruit Festival, you don¡¯t remember anything specific about the apples.¡±


    I did tell my implant to record both scenes. I felt sure something in them would make sense eventually.


    I was right about that. Midway through the long list, I heard him say, ¡°You don¡¯t remember any specific time when you gave me access to the ansible or the name of the account I use to access it as an administrator. You don¡¯t remember anything I said about the account or any other account.¡±


    And there it was. I stopped myself from sitting up in bed. Maru had been the unknown admin. But what had he meant by ¡°any other account?¡± Had he created another hidden admin account? More to the point, what were we going to do now that I had this? It seemed like more than enough to prove that Maru wasn¡¯t a double agent, but instead a triple agent. Well, unless this was somehow approved by Jadzen, but that didn¡¯t make any sense. Mind controlling Dalat and Geman would only work as an approved activity if there were some agent that they didn¡¯t know about on the ground. If Maru had created another hidden admin account, it made more sense that he was working with someone that he did know.


    I debated whether I should wake everyone up to break into Maru¡¯s house and capture him. We might get something even better if we watched him longer. On the other hand, we might watch him take over the colony¡¯s council if we left him too long.


    I decided that this had to be a group decision and that I needed to start waking everyone up when Hal sent me another message.


    [Two ships have exited jump space.]

 Complaints: Part 10

    Outside the council building, alarms went off. At the very same time, a message that the implant informed me was a ¡°local emergency notification¡± appeared in my head.


    A flat, artificial voice sounded. ¡°A Human Ascendancy warship and heavy fighter have exited jump space. Assemble your evacuation kit and be ready to leave.¡±


    Marcus and Katuk sat up in their beds, Katuk going further and making it to the floor in the same motion. Marcus turned toward the light taps as Katuk¡¯s feet touched the floor.


    Meanwhile, my implant supplied video from the ansible. Two ships shot out of a glowing flash in space¡ªprobably at the same Lagrange point we¡¯d come out of. One of the ships was a long gray cylinder and the other a much smaller wedge that had been painted black but with red stripes and accented lines that reminded me of a sports car.


    The cylinder had a round hole in the middle of its front end that I recognized as its main gun. Since that wasn¡¯t enough, it had four, evenly placed lines of turrets running down its sides. Without getting closer, I didn¡¯t see any way to find out exactly what each turret fired, but they had a lot of turrets so I didn¡¯t feel like I was in any hurry to check.


    I did wonder how they¡¯d handle the mines though.


    From outside our room I heard Cassie and Jaclyn talking to Kals and Tikki, both of whom had slept over the night before. At the same time, Hal¡¯s ¡°voice¡± overlaid the real world noises.


    [I¡¯ve done several simulations. The heavy fighter and a wing of fighters from the warship will land within an hour. Even assuming the colony gets their two fighters as well as myself into space, they¡¯ll only slow the ships¡¯ down by about ten minutes.]


    Okay, I thought back, what would be a good plan since a direct attack on a warship is a bad idea?


    [If I fly away from the colony with the shields on, they¡¯ll be unable to detect me and since it¡¯s night, they won¡¯t be able to visually identify me. I¡¯ll contact you after I¡¯ve found a place to hide. I need your permission for my programming to allow me to do so.]


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    Do it, I told him. They¡¯d probably destroy the ship on the ground otherwise.


    It didn¡¯t take long before I heard the roar of its engines as it flew away. With that taken care of, I checked the ansible¡¯s view of the Human Ascendancy ships. They had no trouble with the mines at all. In fact, the mines opened a path for the ships to fly through and then closed behind them. It was almost as if someone had handed the Human Ascendancy all the relevant passwords.


    Thanks, Maru.


    That said, something bothered me about the idea that Maru had turned on the colony. It wasn¡¯t that it was impossible that he¡¯d want to do it. It¡¯s just that he¡¯d apparently been turned away from his loyalty to the Human Ascendancy originally by Jadzen earlier. When people make that kind of change, they didn¡¯t casually change back. Of course, it could be that he¡¯d always been loyal and he¡¯d never really changed to become part of the Resistance.


    That made sense too, but you¡¯d think someone would notice. Sure, he was a spy with the ability to mess with your head, but not everybody around him was affected and it seems like one of those people (better known as the Resistance¡¯s leadership with whom he worked) would have noticed.


    But what did I know? All I really knew was that I¡¯d recorded him ordering Geman and Dalat to forget that he¡¯d been the one to mess with their heads. It was pretty damning. If this idea had more going for it than idle speculation, I¡¯d have to find out how he¡¯d come to betray the colony unwillingly.


    In the meantime though, we had to escape the Human Ascendancy first and make sure that no one was in the position to betray whatever they were doing next. That meant giving Jadzen the recording we¡¯d made and hoping the fact that we were spying on him wouldn¡¯t make her reflexively distrust us.


    I got out of bed and touched the block of ceramic next to my bed. My pajamas absorbed it, transforming from pajamas into jeans, a shirt and a jacket.


    Jaclyn knocked on the door. ¡°Are you guys decent?¡±


    Marcus looked at me and then over to Katuk who was now covered head to toe in silver, Xiniti armor. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re decent, and we¡¯re also loaded for bear. Well, except for me. I¡¯m just in my costume.¡±


    He¡¯d put on his costume at some point between getting off the bed and now.


    ¡°Good.¡± Jaclyn opened the door. ¡°It looks like we¡¯re getting out of here. I got a message from Jadzen because apparently she¡¯s decided that the I¡¯m in charge of the group. The colony has a bunker and we¡¯re all going there. Grab all your stuff. I¡¯m grabbing the dog.¡±


    She looked at us, waiting for us to say something. No one did.


    ¡°There¡¯s one more thing you should know,¡± I told her and had my implant send her everything I¡¯d gotten from the bots.


    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯d been wondering if this could get worse. Congratulations.¡±

 Retreat: Part 1

    Agent 957 of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s Genetic Management Office, Hideaway


    Orbiting the only world in the system that showed signs of life, Agent 957 checked the sensors for humanity. Because the world had been seeded with lifeforms with genes the Abominators had gathered from humanity¡¯s birthplace, this took longer than expected. The planet¡¯s lifeforms were numerous and in many cases, massive. Agent 957 filtered for signs of technology. Ignoring the Abominator ruins (remnants of the planet¡¯s terraforming), the agent found what he was looking for on the dark side of the planet.


    The sensors showed three settlements, all within walking distance of each other. The computer estimated six thousand people between them. It was hard to say precisely.


    Agent 957 checked the sensors for any signs of resistance, finding only two aged fighters in the field that passed for the colony¡¯s starport. Neither of them took to the sky, meaning either that the colonists were unaware that their ships had arrived, or that they¡¯d decided not to waste their lives in a pointless act of resistance.


    He¡¯d have seen that as a good sign except that he¡¯d seen the Xiniti ship at K¡¯Tepolu, but saw no evidence of it now. That was disquieting. He¡¯d never heard of the Xiniti running away from a fight without a plan and Xiniti plans had brought down the Abominators. He passed on his information about the Xiniti ship over to the Annihilation, the warship accompanying him. They could use the help. Even if only one of the crew was Xiniti by birth, all he¡¯d ever heard of the Xiniti suggested that those they adopted were just as deadly as the original.


    He reached out to his implant and had it contact the mole. She might know the status of the Xiniti, adopted Xiniti, and the missing starship.


    The implant had overlaid a light gray square over the spot on the planet where the villages were. Agent 957 stared at it, willing the mole to respond. She didn¡¯t.


    The implant reported no response.


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    Agent 957 knew that she might be occupied. If the colony were aware of the Ascendancy forces, they¡¯d evacuate or fight. Either way, the mole might not have time to converse. On the other hand, the mole had been growing less cooperative lately.


    He would have to consider appropriate punishments. It would have to be subtle. On the one hand, she¡¯d given them the colony. On the other, this sort of half-hearted assistance could not be encouraged. He¡¯d have to get creative. It sounded fun. It more than made up for the fact that he wouldn¡¯t be able to do the same to Maru. The onetime Dominator would have to be given back to the other Dominators. He didn¡¯t know what they¡¯d do with him, but it would be interesting¡ªprobably.


    It was possible to argue that he¡¯d fulfilled his original mission, but with a significant detour.


    Agent 957 shook his head and watched as the planet grew closer. He contacted the warship. ¡°Annihilation, are the marines ready?¡±


    ¡°Ready,¡± the warship¡¯s communications officer responded. ¡°The dropships and fighter wing escort are fueled and ready for launch. Unless you have a reason they should launch earlier, we¡¯re going to wait until we get closer.¡±


    ¡°We control the mines now. I don¡¯t anticipate any need for an early launch.¡± Agent 957 wondered what Commander Hesses was doing¡ªprobably sitting on the bridge, jaw set, and trying to look important. Word had come down from both of their chains of command about who was leading this mission¡ªAgent 957¡ªand the commander had not taken it well. He didn¡¯t think they¡¯d talked directly since.


    He shook his head. It didn¡¯t matter. All that mattered was that they destroyed the colony and with it the resistance¡¯s hidden leadership before the Alliance or the Xiniti sent more ships.


    Checking his implant, he learned that he had thirty minutes before they entered the planet¡¯s atmosphere. He walked back to his stateroom and pulled on the last layers of his armor, even grabbing his helmet in case something damaged the spaceship¡¯s hull on the way down.


    By the time he returned to the bridge, the spaceship had nearly reached the planet¡¯s atmosphere. He strapped himself in, giving the Annihilation the word, and waiting as it released its dropships and fighters. Then he led them downward, aiming for the colony.


    As they neared the ¡°starport¡¯s¡± landing field, he fired on the two fighters and the old colonization ship near them. It removed the chance that someone would get away and sent the colony a message at the same time. As they got closer, he checked the ship¡¯s sensors for life signs.


    There weren¡¯t any. All three towns were empty of human life. Where had they gone?

 Retreat: Part 2

    I don¡¯t think that the colonists had ever seen a puppy before¡ªnot a ¡°tiger terrier¡± puppy anyway. Maybe the adults didn¡¯t bring them along and maybe it didn¡¯t occur to them that the twenty or thirty-pound dog following us could possibly be related to the twelve-foot tall predators that lurked outside their fence.


    The upshot of all this is that when the floating platforms came to take us all away, the dog was no problem. Even shoved into the corner of a platform with us and our luggage, it was friendly to the two families riding with us.


    One of the kids, a blond-haired five-year-old boy asked, ¡°What¡¯s his name?¡± as the dog sniffed his hand.


    Jaclyn ran her hand through the curly fur on the puppy¡¯s back. ¡°I¡¯ve been calling him ¡®Tiger¡¯ after an animal on my world that also has stripes.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but there were subtle stripes in its grayish-brown fur. They were only slightly darker than the fur around them and the curly fur made them jagged. They might look more tiger-like if he was shaved.


    The platform floated through the air in the dark. Only my glasses allowed me to see where we were going. We were going up the hill that the colony had been built on, but not in the direction that I¡¯d gone while walking with Kals. We went parallel to the shore of the ocean instead of away from it. After a few minutes of riding, we reached a hole in the rocky cliff that we were riding on.


    ¡°Hey Kals, what¡¯s that?¡± Leaning her back on a pile of luggage, Cassie twisted her hand to point at the hole with her thumb.


    Kals leaned against her own luggage. ¡°That¡¯s where we¡¯re going to hide.¡±


    We knew she had to be right because all the floating platforms ahead of us were disappearing into the hole.


    ¡°No shit.¡± Cassie straightened her back. ¡°Where¡¯d it come from? Did you people dig it?¡±


    Kals shook her head. ¡°It was here before we were. These tunnels are all over the coast. We think an animal dug them, but we haven¡¯t seen one.¡±


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    I turned back to look at her. ¡°Wait, how long have you known about these tunnels? Are you sure they¡¯re unoccupied?¡±


    Kals stared at me. ¡°We¡¯re not stupid. We¡¯ve known about them since the beginning of the colony. They¡¯re up and down the coast for hundreds of miles, maybe thousands. We think it predates the Abominators terraforming the world. A lot of creatures use the tunnels now, but we haven¡¯t seen anything that can dig them.¡±


    Our platform followed the other platforms inside and deeper into the rock. The walls were ribbed, narrowing a little and then widening a little, staying roughly the same width. It was as if whatever had created them had bunched up and then expanded, bunching up and then expanding again and repeating it as many times as necessary.


    I wasn¡¯t sure what could make tunnels like that. The only thing that came to mind was the sandworms from the book Dune, but even those had trouble with solid rock from what I remembered.


    Kals reached out to pet Tiger and scratch under his chin. The dog growled at her when she stopped. ¡°We¡¯ve used force fields to set apart a space where we can live. It¡¯s not bad as giant caves go.¡±


    ¡°You know what this place needs?¡± Marcus told Tikki.


    Sitting next to him, Tikki turned to meet his eyes. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°A railway and mining carts.¡± He stopped.


    Katuk turned to look at Marcus. ¡°Why would that be an improvement over these floating platforms?¡±


    I leaned toward Katuk. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be an improvement. He¡¯s saying that because many pieces of popular entertainment included mining carts and a railway. He¡¯s wondering what it would be liketo try it in real life as opposed to watching it.¡±


    Katuk¡¯s big, black eyes pointed both at Marcus and me. ¡°That seems like an inefficient mode of transportation.¡±


    Marcus nodded. ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s not why I¡¯d want to try it.¡±


    We were saved from finding out how Katuk would respond to that by the platform floating into a new room. This one appeared to have been carved out of the rock just like the tunnels, but unlike the tunnels, it was shaped like a circle. It was big, big enough that I felt comfortable with the idea of thousands of people living inside it.


    And it was good that I felt that way because thousands of people were there whether I wanted that to be true or not. The egg-shaped buildings I¡¯d seen on the surface had been used here as well, some of them fatter, some thinner, all of them in clusters and all of them reaching from the floor to the top of the room¡¯s ceiling. Artificial lights lit the streets and the windows.


    The glow of force fields blocked the cave¡¯s exits.


    I turned to Kals. ¡°I never imagined you¡¯d have something this big and¡­ developed.¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ve been expecting to have to hide for years.¡±

 Retreat: Part 3

    I looked around the room again, taking in the people unpacking, the streetlights and well-lit buildings going all the way to the ceiling of the cave.


    It felt like a neighborhood in a big city more than it did a refugee camp, but it was still a refugee camp. All the people pulling their most valuable and portable possessions off the mobile platforms made that all too clear.


    My implant sent me a notification and it wasn¡¯t just to me. Kals sent it to everybody. ¡°As soon as we¡¯ve dropped off our luggage, we tell my mom about Maru.¡±


    Jaclyn sent back, ¡°That¡¯s the plan.¡±


    Crawls-Through-Desert had ridden on the platform along with the rest of our stuff. It¡¯d been a bit of work to keep the dog from peeing on him during the trip. Apparently, he¡¯d been included in the messages too because he asked, ¡°You were working on making your motivator-mutes work better. How¡¯s that going?¡±


    ¡°Mostly okay,¡± I told everyone. ¡°It works better against Kals¡¯ commands, but I¡¯d have to test it with more people to know if I¡¯m muting everything from everybody.¡±


    The plant¡¯s fronds rustled. ¡°So I still have to watch you. Kids, do yourselves a favor. If you feel any hint of wanting to listen to him, run. I can handle him alone, but I can¡¯t handle all of you at once.¡±


    Marcus cocked his head to the side. ¡°Maybe we should just let you do it.¡±


    The plant rustled again. ¡°Jadzen Akri would never listen to me. She¡¯d listen to Xiniti. I¡¯ll follow along.¡±


    Soon after that, the platform slowed, stopping in front of one of the larger egg-shaped buildings. Kals looked it up and down. ¡°Lucky you. It looks like you¡¯re all staying with me and Mom.¡±


    Cassie looked up at the egg-shaped bulge extending out of the room¡¯s wall. ¡°Do you think he¡¯s in there?¡±


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    Kals touched what looked like a chest or maybe a locker on its side and the object floated upward and then floated next to Kals. She looked up at the building. ¡°He almost has to be.¡±


    Cassie nodded. ¡°Then let¡¯s go in there.¡±


    ¡°Before we do,¡± I tapped through a menu on my palm, ¡°here¡¯s the latest motivator-mute software,¡± and I released an update.


    Jaclyn grabbed her suitcase. ¡°I hope that doesn¡¯t cause our costumes to seize up.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a very low chance of that,¡± I said.


    She gave me a look. ¡°I was joking.¡±


    ¡°There is a small chance of it though, but it¡¯s less than one percent, I think.¡± I grabbed my own suitcase off the platform.


    We walked up the wide steps to the building¡¯s front door, Jaclyn, Cassie, and Kals ahead of me, Katuk to my left, Marcus and Tikki behind me and Crawls-Through-Desert at the rear.


    As we walked, I overheard Marcus tell Tikki, ¡°If you don¡¯t have a motivator-mute, you should stay out of range. I don¡¯t want him to¡ª¡°


    With the 360 degree vision that my suit gave me, I saw Tikki lean in to kiss his cheek. ¡°You¡¯re so cute, but don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m prepared for him.¡±


    Marcus stepped forward, ¡°Are you sure? Because I don¡¯t want to end up fighting you.¡±


    ¡°Trust me,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s not well known, but people from my gene line don¡¯t become easily ensnared by a motivator¡¯s voice.¡±


    If Marcus argued with her after that, I didn¡¯t hear it, and anyway, we were too busy getting settled. All the buildings and rooms had their own number and knowing that, it wasn¡¯t hard to find my room or anyone else¡¯s. We were all in the same hallway¡ªin alphabetical order given the alphabet they were using.


    They weren¡¯t large rooms, but they were enough for one person and a bed. I barely put my suitcase down when I got the notification from Kals that, ¡°Maru and my mom are on the second floor. You¡¯ll find me there.¡±


    No one talked as we walked up the stairs. The only sounds aside from our feet were the whimpering of the dog. Jaclyn had locked him in her room.


    We walked up into a larger room. From the tables, I guessed it could be used as a dining room, but also a ballroom, council room or even a throne room had there been a throne. Maru and Jadzen sat across from each other at a table. Kals walked with us. She¡¯d been waiting at the top of the stairs.


    Whatever they were talking about, they either stopped or switched to implant assisted conversation as we walked upstairs.


    Jadzen watched us come closer, showing no emotion. Maru¡¯s eyes darted from one of us to another. As we stopped in front of the table, Jadzen rose, sizing us all up with a look.


    ¡°Kals,¡± she asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±

 Retreat: Part 4

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to show you,¡± Kals said, but she sent a message through her bracelet to my implant. ¡°I need the footage of Maru talking to Geman and Dalat.¡±


    I sent it to her.


    You know how you sometimes know something is wrong, but don¡¯t know why you know? Some people believe it¡¯s magic, and others something psychic. I believe that for most people, most of the time, it¡¯s the brain recognizing a pattern that it can¡¯t put a name to.


    It that moment, it wasn¡¯t one of us who had a bad feeling but Maru¡ªor so I assume. Because even as Jadzen blinked and began to look thoughtful, Maru drew a gun. Technically, it wasn¡¯t a gun in the sense we usually mean it¡ªa tube through which a missile is propelled forward by an explosive. It was a shiny oval that stuck to the back of his hand and fired a laser beam.


    My implant informed me that the Human Ascendancy¡¯s agents often used laser pistols with that form factor.


    He raised his right hand slowly, giving the rest of us time to sense that something indefinable was wrong. Who exactly he intended to shoot wasn¡¯t obvious, but Jaclyn and Katuk both moved forward in separate blurs of silver, Katuk wearing Xiniti armor and Jaclyn the faux Xiniti armor skin on her new League costume.


    When it fired, the laser hit both of them, but it stopped instants later. I didn¡¯t how it happened but by the time he stopped firing Maru lay on the room¡¯s floor with Katuk pointing his arm (and the weapon that formed out of it) at him. Jaclyn had Maru¡¯s weapon in her hand, but then she crushed it.


    He spoke, and as he did it, I could tell that he was using his voice¡¯s powers on us. I recognized the sound. At the same time, all of our costumes¡¯ protections activated, playing notes near enough to the important notes and overtones to disrupt them (except now I was more aware of how many there were).


    Even more interesting, our suits weren¡¯t the only ones doing it. Kals and her mother were also making noise. To judge from the noise, it seemed like they were blocking his voice with their own.


    I should have guessed that they could do it. I¡¯d never thought about adding tones that Maru couldn¡¯t counter at the same time that he was countering others.


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    It struck me that Julie, former member of Justice Fist, was in elementary school by comparison to their college or graduate level skills.


    Before I fully thought through what that meant, Maru stopped trying to use his voice, standing still, smiling, his entire body relaxed as if this were a good day.


    He looked at Jadzen, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t want to betray you, but if I did anything else, I¡¯d die, and I can¡¯t tell you how or who did it because I¡¯ll still die. I¡¯ll understand if you force me to tell you. I know what this colony means to you. I¡¯ve been hoping that you¡¯d catch on or that they¡¯d catch on.¡±


    He nodded toward us. Then he said, ¡°I couldn¡¯t say anything directly, but I tried to make it obvious. I didn¡¯t make it obvious enough because as much as I love the cause, I still hoped to live.¡±


    Over the team¡¯s implants, Jaclyn asked, ¡°Do we have any reason to believe him?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°He did seem suspicious, but that also works if he¡¯s actually the bad guy.¡±


    Cassie broke into the conversation with, ¡°He¡¯s telling the truth. There¡¯s a bomb in his head. The gun recognized it. It¡¯s a copy of an Abominator device used to keep people silent¡ªeither by killing the victim or people around them.¡±


    Jaclyn raised an eyebrow. ¡°A copy of Abominator tech? Is there any chance you could turn it off?¡±


    Cassie shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s a copy. They didn¡¯t copy everything¡ªjust the design. Otherwise I would have noticed it the first time we met the guy.¡±


    The gun¡¯s voice echoed in my brain. ¡°A POOR IMITATION¡ªBARELY WORTHY OF THE MASTERS¡¯ SACRED MEMORY! IT MUST¡ª¡±


    ¡°Sorry¡­ I get sick of his rants so I cut him off.¡± Cassie said, but she sounded more amused than apologetic.


    Marcus¡¯ voice came over the connection. ¡°This reminds me of the The Dark Knight. You remember the bomb in the guy¡¯s stomach?¡±


    I barely noticed. I had a feeling that I was on the edge of something.


    I started checking Xiniti records about the bomb, learning that the same technology was used for implants, that the Abominators developed implants along with the internal bombs. That led me to the question of who would have the knowledge to plant a bomb in someone¡¯s head. The answer was obvious¡ªsomeone who knew about implants¡ªthe former specialty of Alanna, the colony''s lead tech. I¡¯d discounted her as the mole because even though she¡¯d been around from early on, and was one of the people who used the ansible when we thought the hidden admin account was being used, she wasn¡¯t a motivator.


    Except you didn¡¯t need to be a motivator if you could put an explosive implant inside a motivator¡¯s brain and set it to blow at the trigger of your choosing.


    I didn¡¯t know exactly why she''d betrayed them, but maybe it had something to do with her breakup with Iolan? All I knew for sure was that if we mentioned her name and it was her, Maru¡¯s head would explode and more likely than not, it would warn her first.


    I sent everyone (except for Jadzen and Maru) what I¡¯d just guessed, including my reasoning and my warning.


    It all made sense. We could figure out why when we found her.

 Retreat: Part 5

    The conversation in our heads had taken place in seconds, but not quickly enough that someone who¡¯d grown up with implants wouldn¡¯t notice.


    Jadzen sent all of us a message through her implant or computer bracelet¡ªI didn¡¯t know which and it didn¡¯t matter. ¡°What are you discussing?¡±


    Kals sent a private message to me. ¡°Is there anything you sent us that I shouldn¡¯t tell her?¡±


    I replied, ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    So she gave her all of it or so I assume. All I know is that Jadzen dropped her head, closing her eyes for a few seconds and letting out a breath. She looked tired, as if a massive weight had fallen on her shoulders.


    I could imagine how she might feel that way. Over the course of a couple days at least four people she¡¯d known and trusted for years had turned out to be working for the Human Ascendancy, willingly or not.


    Crawls-Through-Desert interrupted all our thoughts with a question. ¡°Do you know where Alanna is? The boy¡¯s reasoning is sound even if we don¡¯t have proof.¡±


    Jadzen¡¯s eyes closed as she consulted a computer. ¡°She¡¯s near the front of the cave. The big building to the right of the entrance holds the power equipment.¡±


    The plant¡¯s branches shook. ¡°We should capture her and bring her here immediately. She has half a dozen ways of getting the Human Ascendancy¡¯s attention. The fastest of you should get her before she betrays the colony.¡±


    All the talking went on in our heads. In the room, Jaclyn and I caught each other¡¯s eye and she opened a private implant connection.


    ¡°Ordinarily, I¡¯d be asking why we¡¯re listening to the plant, but he¡¯s making sense. We should go immediately. I¡¯m going to ask Katuk too.¡±


    Instants later, I heard Katuk¡¯s voice on our link. ¡°I¡¯m in full agreement. We should go immediately.¡±


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    Jaclyn passed it on to the full group as the three of us ran down the stairs and out the front door of the bulding.


    I activated the rockets because I¡¯d never be able to keep up without them. Jaclyn and Katuk ran down the side of the street, avoiding and sometimes jumping over floating platforms and the people walking off to the side of them. I kept up even though I couldn¡¯t fly as quickly as Jaclyn could run, mostly because I could fly straight the entire time. My biggest worry was that I might forget I was underground, try for some altitude and hit the ceiling.


    I didn¡¯t. I have that much sense.


    We reached the entrance in less than thirty seconds. I flipped and used the rockets to slow myself down, finally hovering and lowering myself to the steps in front of the front door. My boots touched the steps as Jaclyn and Katuk came to a stop in front of the stairs.


    Jaclyn opened a private channel for the three of us. ¡°Unless the two fo you have a better idea, I¡¯m saying we do a snatch and grab¡ªget her straight out of the building before she knows it and can trigger something.¡±


    We stepped inside. Cylinders as tall as I was went all the way around the room. I didn¡¯t recognize them on my own, but the implant did. They collected ambient energy. There wouldn¡¯t be much of it down here, but they¡¯d been collecting for years and probably had power for as long as we were likely to be down here.


    Alanna stood in the middle of the room, talking to a group of about ten people, all of them wearing tool belts. She stopped to look at us as we entered and her eyes widened. Fairly or not, I felt certain she guessed why we were there.


    Jaclyn and Katuk didn¡¯t wait to ask if she¡¯d be willing to go quietly. They both ran, turning into silver blurs. Unable to match their speed, I said, ¡°Everyone freeze.¡±


    I barely got the two words out before Jaclyn and Katuk slowed down enough to grab her, elbowing her people out of the way to do it.


    Jaclyn carried her out with Katuk clearing the path in front of her. I didn¡¯t wait around to answer questions in the room, activating the rockets the moment I passed through the doorway outside.


    They had her back at Jadzen¡¯s building within seconds. I was with them as they brought her through the front door. Traveling so quickly through the streets hadn¡¯t agreed with her. She had a coughing fit that started as Jaclyn carried her inside and didn¡¯t stop for half a minute.


    When we brought her inside, Cassie met us at the door. ¡°Over here,¡± she said, pointing down the hall. When we followed her, we found ourselves in the first floor¡¯s common area.


    Jadzen stood there waiting for her along with Crawls-Through-Deserts in his floating pot.


    ¡°Tell us, Alanna,¡± Jadzen said, her voice rich with complex tones, ¡°why did you betray us to the Ascendancy?¡±

 Retreat: Part 6

    Alanna¡¯s eyes locked on Jadzen, looking up at her from the chair we¡¯d placed Alanna in. ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­ I didn¡¯t fully. I didn¡¯t tell them where we were. I showed them a picture of the sky, but I never expected that they¡¯d be able to find us. I¡¯ve been refusing to speak to him ever since. I never expected it to go this far.¡±


    Jadzen pulled out a chair and looked deeply into Alanna¡¯s eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s start from the beginning. How did you begin to serve the Human Ascendancy?¡±


    Alanna lowered her eyes. ¡°I only ever became part of the resistance because I was with Iolan. When it became too dangerous to stay at home, I escaped here with him and a couple years after we came here, we broke up. I don¡¯t know how that happened. Afterward, I became lonely and started talking to friends through the ansible through my implant even though I knew it risked being caught.¡±


    She took a breath. ¡°And they caught me. Everyone caught me. Maru noticed me talking to my friends and so did the Human Ascendancy. The Ascendancy recognized my implant ID and knew that I¡¯d disappeared with a known resistance member. They contacted me while I was online, told me my name, told me how my relatives were doing and that they could kill them all if they wanted to. If I wanted them to be left alone, I had to tell them what you were doing. I didn¡¯t need to tell them every detail or do anything that would call attention to me¡ªjust to make sure they knew whether you were on the planet or back home.¡±


    She stopped, saying nothing, and went on. ¡°I agreed, telling myself that I wasn¡¯t betraying you or anyone, that I was doing a very small thing that was keeping my family and friends back home safe. I know that it sounds stupid now, but then it didn¡¯t seem like they asked for much. The problem was that after a little while Maru noticed too¡ªas I told you earlier. He¡¯d been watching the logs in the ansible or he¡¯d had someone pull the logs for him. I don¡¯t know what kind of access he had back then, but I knew that if he was able to find out who I was talking to, you¡¯d have to exile me or kill me.


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    ¡°Except I¡¯d done maintenance on his implant. I was doing work on everybody¡¯s implant back then, but I¡¯d noticed the bomb in his brain. It must have been there from back when he was a spy for the Ascendancy. He wasn¡¯t the only one either. Geman and Dalat had both been fighter pilots so they had them too as do a few other people we¡¯ve got here.


    ¡°I told Maru that he wasn¡¯t going to tell anyone what was doing or I¡¯d blow up his brain and not only his but Geman and Dalat¡¯s too. Then I told him the I was going to need a hidden way to use the ansible and that someone was going to provide it for me¡ªhim, Geman, Dalat, whoever¡­ It took a little doing, but in the end, I made it clear that I had complete control of his implant and I¡¯d programmed it to explode based on triggers I¡¯d set up¡­


    ¡°He did what I wanted and made sure that Geman and Dalat stayed silent with his powers and he kept it up even when you were here. He tried to get me to turn it off over the years, but I knew better. He was completely loyal to you and would have told you everything as soon as he could.¡±


    She glanced over the group of us. ¡°So that¡¯s almost everything. I don¡¯t know much about the person I was giving the information to except that he was an agent of the Genetic Management Office. He let that slip once, that and his number. Does 957 mean anything to you?¡±


    Jadzen shook her head, ¡°No.¡±


    Then she looked over at us as if we might have something to say. To be fair, we had Xiniti implants with all the information that the Xiniti nation felt we could be trusted with, but if they had in-depth knowledge about individual agents of the Genetic Management Office, they hadn¡¯t trusted us with that. All I knew was that they were aware that the Genetic Management Office¡¯s agents were motivators, but more like Iolan had described when he¡¯d talked about Cassie. They had the voice like Julie and were physically better than a normal human.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got nothing,¡± Cassie looked around at the rest of us¡ªKatuk, Jaclyn, and me.


    ¡°Me neither,¡± I said, ¡°except that in Babylon 5, sector 957 was where all the really advanced aliens were, but I¡¯m sure that¡¯s not an intentional reference.¡±


    Jaclyn folded her arms over her chest. ¡°You¡¯re such a geek.¡±


    Alanna turned her head back from looking at us back toward Jadzen. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I never meant it to come to this.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°No. She¡¯s got¡ª¡°


    And then Alanna¡¯s head exploded¡ªwhich was every bit as disgusting as you¡¯re probably imagining. Brains should stay on the inside where they belong.

 Retreat: Part 7

    I could go into the details, but I won¡¯t. Let¡¯s just say that I¡¯d designed the new costumes to include a water-resistant coating and with blood and brains being mostly water, nothing stuck. I think Jaclyn, Cassie and I were all grateful for that. Katuk¡¯s Xiniti designed armor stayed clean too, but probably by a different method. Crawls-Through-Desert hadn¡¯t been hit either, but I suspected I¡¯d seen the glow of a force shield go up.


    Jadzen had been sitting across from Alanna. She dived to the floor as Alanna¡¯s head exploded, but she still had to change clothes. That left us back in the room with Maru, Tikki, Marcus, and Kals.


    Maru had been restrained when we left, but with Alanna dead, he¡¯d been allowed to stand in the room with everyone else.


    ¡°I still can¡¯t say anything about it,¡± He stood near the front of the room, looking out of the wide second-floor window onto the people removing Alanna¡¯s body from the first floor.


    They carried her out on a floating stretcher, a blanket covering her body, the normal human outline stopping at the neck. I wondered what they did with the remains of her head.


    Crawls-Through-Desert floated up to the window and landed his pot next to us. ¡°Wish she¡¯d survived. I had questions for her. It would have been nice to know exactly what she¡¯d told them. Now we need to take action no matter what she¡¯d have told us.¡±


    Cassie stood near the window but a little behind me. ¡°I figured. The Human Ascendancy isn¡¯t going to stop looking just because we evacuated the villages. We¡¯re going to have to fight them.¡±


    Maru turned to look at her. ¡°Fight them? The resistance hasn¡¯t ever been able to take them on directly. We¡¯ve always stayed in the shadows. We¡¯re not soldiers. We don¡¯t have the background for it.¡±


    ¡°We will have to anyway, but it¡¯s my hope that the Xiniti and our Alliance agent will take the lead in our defense.¡± Jadzen Akri had returned, wearing clothes that had not been spattered with brains and blood.


    Crawls-Through-Desert turned away from the darkness and streetlights and toward Jadzen. We¡¯d all gathered near the window by then.


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    ¡°Good,¡± the plant¡¯s leaves tilted such that their upper surfaces aimed at Jadzen and the rest of us. ¡°Because you will have to fight. The tunnels do mask any sign of your people, but the Ascendancy will recognize it as well. You¡¯ll soon have the choice between fighting them on the surface or fighting them in the tunnels as you retreat.¡°


    ¡°That seems likely,¡± Katuk said, fixing his dark eyes on the plant. ¡°Do you have some plan for fighting them?¡±


    The plant shook its branches. ¡°Plan? No, but I know what we¡¯ll need to make a plan¡ªinformation. That¡¯s what we need now. Plans will come after that.¡±


    Jadzen nodded. ¡°You won¡¯t find getting information as easy as you¡¯d like. That is the disadvantage of staying within this rock. We have two antennas on the surface and a limited connection to the ansible. Unfortunately, our preparations for using it were interrupted by the death of our lead technician.¡±


    I raised my hand halfway into the air. ¡°Do you need technical help? I can do that sort of thing.¡±


    Jadzen shook her head. ¡°What we need is knowledge of the protocols for setting up the cave for habitation and we have that already. It¡¯s merely slower than I¡¯d prefer.¡±


    Katuk raised his arm, copying my gesture. ¡°What we have seen so far makes me believe that the enemy is beyond the scope of our abilities to fight and defeat. Aside from fighting to hold out until Alliance forces arrive, we have two other options. I¡¯ll mention the first so that you know it, but not because I expect to use it. I¡¯m referring to the weapons placed in any Xiniti designed ansible that allow us to strip any system of life. Should we deem the consequences of capture or defeat worse than death, we have the option of activating the ansible¡¯s self-destruct and destroy everything.¡±


    In my head, I found that I had access to the necessary codes and protocols to activate that weapon as well as others across the galaxy (though not remotely)¡ªeven one in the Xiniti space station near Earth. I blinked. ¡°What¡¯s the other option?¡±


    Marcus laughed.


    Katuk nodded and said, ¡°The Xiniti have a protocol for contacting and requesting help from the Celestial Ghosts.¡±


    Crawls-Through-Desert¡¯s fronds stretched out toward Katuk. ¡°We¡¯d suspected as much. Do you believe the Ghosts will arrive before the Alliance or Xiniti reinforcements?¡±


    Katuk regarded him with his wide, black eyes. ¡°Out here on the edge of things? Yes.¡±


    The plant''s branches rustled. ¡°Then I¡¯d say we should do it. We¡¯ll need every scrap of help we can get. Is there any way to use the weapons you mentioned for anything less than genocide?¡±


    Katuk tilted his head to regard the plant. ¡°No.¡±


    The plant said, ¡°Then it sounds like our best shot is to summon the Ghosts, find out the situation on the surface and make a plan for survival.¡±

 Retreat: Part 8

    ¡°What do we need to do to contact them?¡± Jaclyn pushed her way to the front, looking between Katuk and the plant. ¡°I¡¯m assuming that when you said ¡®summon¡¯ you meant calling them though the ansible. You¡¯d didn¡¯t mean some sort of magic ritual.¡± She paused. ¡°Did you?¡±


    Katuk blinked, an odd visual given his black eyes and gray skin. ¡°When our race was younger, I believe that some did attempt to summon them with ritual magic. I don¡¯t know if anyone does any longer. My intention was to access the ansible and send a message to an address that we¡¯ve been given.¡±


    I checked my implant. It knew about the address. It didn¡¯t have any record of Xiniti magical practices. I wondered if that meant that they were hiding some cultural practices because they were embarrassed, but then reflected that I¡¯d seen magical rituals that worked. With that in mind, I supposed they¡¯d either lost confidence in magic or wanted to hide it.


    Either way, I was more confident about connecting to the ansible than I was of performing a ritual in any system of magic.


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°So, let¡¯s get this straight. Our goal is to resist the Ascendancy, not to win, because we¡¯re waiting for help from the Xiniti according to the original plan, but really because we¡¯re hoping the Celestial Ghosts will appear first. To do this we have to access the ansible and ask the Ghosts for help without revealing the location of where we¡¯re hiding. We also need to get a good look at the situation above ground. Is that everything?¡±


    Cassie crossed her arms over her chest. ¡°I hope so. Do you want to talk complicated? If contacting the Ghosts or checking out the forces means running around up there, it¡¯s going to be hard not to reveal where we are, you know? There aren¡¯t a lot of places nearby where people could go.¡±


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    Marcus nodded. ¡°That¡¯s kind of what I was wondering. You hid in this rock because it¡¯s hard to find us, right? Is there any reason why we can¡¯t just hide here and not go up at all? I mean, you¡¯ve obviously been planning to hide here for ages or you wouldn¡¯t have made an underground city. That means you¡¯ve got to have food, right? Because if you planned to stay down here for a while, maybe the best plan would be to stay here and wait for the Xiniti show up and not risk giving away our location. It¡¯d be boring, but I¡¯d rather be bored than get everybody killed.¡±


    Maru shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not how it would work. I was trained by the Ascendancy. Here¡¯s what they¡¯ll do. First, they¡¯ll search for us. They know this is the Resistance¡¯s leadership¡¯s hideout. They¡¯ll want us alive for execution or reprogramming. If they can¡¯t find us and they get wind that the Xiniti are coming, they¡¯ll use a capital ship and hit us from orbit with the ship¡¯s guns or an asteroid. They¡¯ll get us too. Cassie and Marcus are both right. We hid here because there are more than fifty miles of caves down the coast and it¡¯s almost impossible to find us, but there aren¡¯t many other places to hide where creatures won¡¯t eat you.¡±


    I sighed, ¡°I think we have to go out. I¡¯ve been looking at how ansibles work, and using them reveals your location to the ansible in order for them to work. That¡¯s fine normally, but you know how I was trained by a battle simulator that replicated standard tactics? Well, one of the first things invading forces do is get control of the ansible. They may not have it yet, but if they do, we¡¯ll reveal our position as soon as we use it.¡±


    Jaclyn had been checking the view from the window, but she turned back to say, ¡°If there¡¯s a chance they don¡¯t control the ansible, we should try to contact the Celestial Ghosts now.¡±


    She looked over the group. ¡°I wish we could take everybody, but I think we¡¯ll have to go with Nick, Katuk and me. Look, it¡¯s a speed thing. The rest of you won¡¯t be able to keep up. Jadzen, do any of you have maps of the tunnels? We¡¯ll have to leave them, but it doesn¡¯t have to be nearby.¡±


    Jadzen said, ¡°I can give you a copy of what we¡¯ve surveyed, but not much more. We don¡¯t have anyone like you.¡±


    Moments later, I received a database of maps of the caverns and could look over the entrances and exits. After a little while longer, we left.

 Retreat: Part 9

    It took time to fly through the tunnels, trailing Jaclyn and Katuk. The sheer size of the tunnels made it easier even if it made me think again about the tunnels¡¯ origins. The planet had megafauna everywhere and while the creatures that created the tunnels might be long dead, they could easily be used by something big on and off¡ªpossibly even descendants of the original creators.


    All the same, we didn¡¯t see any evidence of anything like that on the way out.


    We exited the tunnels some fifty miles to the north of the colony. I shot out of the tunnel over Jaclyn and Katuk¡¯s heads before starting the landing routine, which involved aiming the Rocket suit upward and cutting almost all of the power, allowing me to hover and then drop to the ground.


    We¡¯d come out of the rock next to a forest. Trees with wide trunks and odd, bulbous leaves that stuck out of the trunks most densely near the top of the tree, but appeared all the way down the trunk. They reminded me a little bit of upside-down pine trees and a little bit of palm trees.


    Either way, I saw them through my HUD, interpreted by the software using sonar, thermal, and night vision techniques to give me near normal vision at night¡ªwhich it still was. I¡¯d been woken up after midnight by the invasion, packed and evacuated to the tunnels with everyone else, witnesses to Alanna¡¯s suicide, and now we were going out to gather information without a decent night¡¯s sleep. I wasn¡¯t feeling it yet but I knew I would be. Maybe we¡¯d be able to sleep after we got back to the tunnels.


    Looking south, I couldn¡¯t see much from where the colony ought to be, but my HUD¡¯s enhanced vision showed me flame in the sky. I hoped it wasn¡¯t the entire colony. Clearly, they were prepared, but if the Human Ascendancy destroyed everything, it would be a lot to rebuild. On the other hand, they might have resources that I was completely unaware of.


    Jaclyn broke the silence. ¡°That doesn¡¯t look good.¡±


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    Katuk, who was fully covered in silver armor, said, ¡°My sensors are detecting particles in the air that are byproducts of the destruction of a fusion drive. It seems likely that we¡¯re seeing the results of the destruction of the ships at the starport.¡±


    I wondered how our ship was doing, deciding to wait on contacting it until I knew a little bit more about what we were facing. ¡°So the way I understand this is that we¡¯ll have to go to one of the colony¡¯s villages to contact the ansible.¡±


    I glanced over at Katuk for his response. He paused for a moment, but then started talking.


    ¡°The colony¡¯s villages receive the ansible¡¯s signal and then broadcast the signal across the village. We have to go within range of the signal, assuming they don¡¯t destroy the antenna.¡±


    Jaclyn frowned. ¡°And we do this without anyone detecting us long enough to target us. Great. I¡¯d say we should see how close we can get a signal without going into a village and being seen.¡±


    I thought about that. ¡°If we get an ansible signal, does the ansible instantly get our location?¡±


    The implant answered me before Katuk replied and the reply wasn¡¯t too complicated. Once the technical specs were removed, it amounted to, ¡°Yes, it does detect that you¡¯ve connected,¡± but ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t know precisely where.¡± It knew loosely where and on a planet with only three spots where you could connect to the ansible, there weren¡¯t many places to hide once you connected.


    In short, it wouldn¡¯t know where we were, but there were bombs that could hit all the possibilities at once if they wanted to.


    ¡°Never mind,¡± I said, answering my own question. ¡°Did everyone else just get the answer too?¡±


    Jaclyn nodded and Katuk muttered something that sounded like a yes.


    ¡°OK then,¡± Jaclyn stared out into the dark world in front of us. ¡°There¡¯s not much to do more than run south. Rocket, you¡¯ll have an aerial view, so warn us if you see something you think we¡¯ll need to know.¡±


    Neither Katuk nor I had anything to add to that and so we started south. Jaclyn and Katuk followed the edge where the rock met the forest. I flew above them. As we grew closer, I confirmed Katuk¡¯s guess. It was the starport burning. They¡¯d destroyed every ship on the field¡ªboth of the old fighters and the old colony ship.


    It seemed like a waste of effort. None of them offered a threat to the ship that could destroy them from orbit.


    The village stood. I didn¡¯t see any occupiers on the ground¡ªso far.

 Retreat: Part 10

    Jaclyn spoke through the implant, ¡°Do you see anything?¡±


    As the person with the better overall view, I flew north of the town, avoiding the burning field where the starport had been. Flying upward, but still below 200 feet, I followed the land as it rose, but I didn¡¯t have long before I did see something.


    The starport field lay closest to the ocean, south of the long rocky cliff with the tunnels. On either side of the town lay open fields and more fields lay further inland, up the hill that Kals and I had climbed while looking for Katuk. In the fields between Landing, the town we¡¯d stayed in and the colony¡¯s other two towns, I saw the Human Ascendancy¡¯s ships.


    Thanks to years of simulations, I knew what they were. The long, squat, winged cylinders were dropships. Typically they carried forty troops, assuming the troops were human or human-sized. Given that we were facing the Human Ascendancy, that was probably the case. I counted twenty of them¡ªwhich meant 800 troops, overkill when you considered that they were facing 6000 civilians, many of whom were children.


    On the other hand, when you considered that some of the civilians had powers while others had been domestic terrorists, it might have been reasonable. Either way, they probably had more troops on the ship.


    In the air, ten additional ships hovered above the dropships and their troops¡ªfighters, all of them in the classic wedge shape. It worked well in atmospheres and in space. That¡¯s what fighters needed.


    So we were looking at a full squadron of dropships and a half squadron of visible fighters¡ªwith the probability that the other half of that squadron was here, but not visible. They could be higher up in the air, watching for an attack from space or flying further inland or up or down the coast, or all of the above.


    ¡°Here¡¯s what we¡¯ve got,¡± I told Jaclyn and proceeded to fill her in on the details of what I¡¯d seen, finishing with, ¡°and that¡¯s it, but the other half of the fighter squadron could be down here too, but far enough away that they¡¯re not obvious yet.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°then we¡¯re going to see how close you have to be to town to get an ansible connection. Join up with us and we¡¯ll all watch each other¡¯s back while Katuk sends a message to the Celestial Ghosts.¡±


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    ¡°Sounds good,¡± I twisted around and aimed the Rocket suit toward their position, watching the fighters in case any of them peeled off to chase me.


    Fortunately, the Human Ascendancy didn¡¯t typically have to fight troops in flying, powered armor. They mostly fought other humans and that meant that their opponents had powers and didn¡¯t need powered armor.


    I decided to be thankful for that and hope it didn¡¯t mean that they were searching the air with telepaths.


    It didn¡¯t take long to find Katuk and Jaclyn¡¯s position. They were in the middle of town in an alley between two blocks of stores. As I landed, Jaclyn said, ¡°We could have connected with the ansible from the edge of town, but there wasn¡¯t any cover. I thought we might blend in better here.¡±


    ¡°Good idea.¡± I fired off four observation bots, enough to give a 360-degree view of our surroundings, watching as Katuk informed us, ¡°I¡¯ve made a connection,¡± and began to request help in what the implant informed me was very formal language.


    I didn¡¯t pay attention to the details. I had him and his ansible connection whispering directly into my mind while also watching all four bots feeds. That was enough information that I didn¡¯t have room for details.


    Eventually, Katuk reached the end and closed the ansible connection.


    Jaclyn glanced over at him asking, ¡°Was there any response?¡±


    Katuk blinked. ¡°Not as such.¡±


    She crossed her arms over her chest. ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    He eyed her. ¡°I received an automated response¡ª¡°


    Her lips curled. ¡°Something like, ¡®We at the Celestial Ghosts appreciate your inquiry, but we¡¯re busy helping other people right now. We¡¯ll get to your question as soon as possible¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± he said, ¡°not in those precise words, but in essence.¡±


    ¡°Oh, God.¡± She looked up and down the alley, her head a blur. ¡°We¡¯d better get out of here before someone notices us. How¡¯s it going, Rocket?¡±


    I checked the feeds again. ¡°Nobody¡¯s coming to kill us so far.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I like to hear.¡± She took a few steps down the alley to the corner and we followed her. Once on the road, we had a mostly straight shot across the colony¡¯s shielded strip of land to the outside.


    Before we began to run, a voice appeared in our implants on what the implant labeled an ¡°emergency communication channel.¡±


    A man appeared in my mind. Dark haired with light brown skin and a square jaw, he wore a bulky, red and black armored uniform with a pistol on its belt. His broad shoulders gave the impression that he might be a big man underneath the uniform, but given the armor, it was anybody¡¯s guess.


    ¡°I¡¯m Agent 957 of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s Genetic Management Office. I¡¯m here searching for criminals and all who aid them. Surrender now or face the might of the Human Ascendancy.¡±

 Reap: Part 1

    Jump Space, Waroo Huntship, Great Bounty


    Rrr¡¯graka knew that he wasn¡¯t flying through space in body like the all-powerful gods, but he enjoyed the illusion. He could feel the cold of jump space on his snout and smell the trail almost as he might in real space. Implants¡ªsome of his people saw them as unnecessary, others as unworthy of warriors, but he saw them as what they were¡ªtools.


    They made operating a huntship easier, practically an extension of his own body, as much a part of him as his own snout and eight furred limbs. No, they were damned useful for a huntship traveling far from Waroo Free Worlds. They¡¯d been low on cash at K¡¯Tepolu, their ship needed repairs, and they had no clan to take them in. The only other waroo on the station had been merchants, none of them with any need for mercenaries.


    Without the implant, Rrr¡¯graka would have had to get out the entire crew to search through the work opportunities. With it, he¡¯d gone through everything worth doing in an hour by himself. Not all the jobs had gone well, but enough had that the ship was repaired and they now had thousands of credits of profit as well as a signed contract for next month.


    He¡¯d never have managed all of that without the implant.


    He knew that his mate would point out that without the implant his crew would never have been in the open market on K¡¯Tepolu, never have taken a job for the Human Ascendancy, never attack those young humans, and never been hurt¡ªvery nearly to the point of death. They¡¯d had to rely on the Human Ascendancy agent to find out where the humans were going.


    Without the implant, he¡¯d have avoided the blood debt altogether.


    No matter. What was it to be waroo without the odd blood debt along the way? Such things made him feel alive, and wasn¡¯t that the point of becoming the crew of a huntship instead of some merchant vessel? He saw no issue with profit, but he¡¯d served on a merchant ship in his younger days. He much preferred a life where he¡¯d get to use tooth and claw in service of profit than to avoid it or risk scaring off the native customers.


    No, his crew would settle the debt and then go back to K¡¯Tepolu to fulfill the contract.


    The Office of Professor Skatz, Hrrrnna Homeworld Memorial Endowed Chair in Artificer Technology and History, University of the Alliance Worlds, Capital System


    It knew they were on the move. It saw the signs even if no one else did. There were signs, small signs that a being less knowledgeable about the Artificers might miss, but Professor Skatz had been researching the Artificers for its entire professional life and it knew the signs even if it couldn¡¯t prove it.


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    It sat in its office, a room filled with disarmed Artificer artifacts, all of them partially dismantled and suspended within stasis fields throughout the room.


    Professor Skatz sat on its couch, licking its fur for comfort. It was certain that the explosions on the Issakass world were not the product of terrorism as the Issakass claimed. It couldn¡¯t name the entities, but it knew they were Artificers. The first explosions started near a building that held an Artificer artifact, one of the artifacts that led to the creation of motivators, resulting in disastrous effects on the societies that they led.


    The size of the explosions were consistent with what it suspected was a specific entity. It didn¡¯t know the entity¡¯s name, but it called it the Deceiver. For all of the creature¡¯s power, it always seemed to maneuver more creatures into the effect of its power than expected. It was clearly some sort of master tactician and/or strategist.


    Professor Skatz wanted to write an article to that effect but there were signs that unlike many of the Artificers, the Deceiver was still active. It felt sure that the Deceiver was fighting one of its own on the Issakass homeworld and Professor Skatz didn¡¯t want to get their attention.


    The fact that Kee Otaki had disappeared from K¡¯Tepolu according to one of its more reliable sources also worried it. Professor Skatz had suspected for years that she was one of the Artificers.


    Now it feared that she might either be the Deceiver or his opponent. Her little store continued though, quietly encouraging technologists to re-envision technology. It wondered if she¡¯d taken on a different identity to run the store because it had recognized her as an Artificer.


    It seemed unlikely. How would she even know? All it knew was that no one had seen her for weeks.


    Castle Rock Compound, Colorado, Earth


    Rachel found herself staring up at the stars. The ledge looked out over the compound¡¯s neighborhoods of suburban houses. She wasn¡¯t alone. Tara stood next to her. Taller, blonde, and noticeably muscular, Tara had been training downstairs, something that, in Rachel¡¯s opinion, Tara did excessively.


    ¡°They are pretty,¡± Tara said. ¡°Back where I grew up, you could never be sure which universe¡¯s sky you were looking at, and sometimes they¡¯d overlap. You¡¯d see the Big Dipper except that it was right next to another universe¡¯s Big Dipper and sometimes they¡¯d cross each other and that was pretty weird. Plus there was this one time that the Elder Gods descended from the heavens and a whole universe was destroyed.¡±


    Rachel stopped leaning over the railing to turn and stare at her.


    ¡°But it was okay for Infinity City,¡± Tara continued. ¡°By the next day an alternate version of that universe had filled in the empty spots.¡±


    ¡°I forget how much weird shit you¡¯ve gone through.¡± Rachel shook her head.


    Tara shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was weird.¡±


    Rachel nodded. ¡°I get that. It might make you a good person to talk to, though. I¡¯ve been having visions of space lately. There are people flying through it that are somehow me and its got something to do with Nick, but I don¡¯t know what.¡±


    Tara frowned. ¡°That¡¯s weird.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Rachel looked out over the suburban houses and yards below. ¡°I came up with that much on my own.¡±

 Reap: Part 2

    The implant¡¯s information on the channel was that it was used to make announcements¡ªa one way channel that ran recorded warnings except on the rare occasions that matters moved too quickly for recorded emergency information to keep up.


    ¡°I¡¯m recording it,¡± I told everyone. Everyone back in the cavern needed to see it too.


    Jaclyn nodded while Katuk peered into the distance, watching his own copy of the same scene.


    Agent 957 sat in the cockpit of a heavy fighter¡ªone of the deep space fighters used for scouting and other long distance missions. I guessed it was a fighter from the cockpit¡¯s small size, but that it couldn¡¯t be a regular fighter because of the outline of a door behind the seat. Normal fighters didn¡¯t have any space for humans outside of the cockpit.


    Staring directly into the camera, he said, ¡°This is the end. We¡¯ve found your planet and there¡¯s no one here to protect you. The Xiniti¡¯s ship is gone or hidden. If the Xiniti are there with you, there aren¡¯t enough of them to fight Ascendancy marines. We have more than 1000 marines from ten different gene lines, all of them powered. I know you don¡¯t have that many Xiniti. I also know that most of your ¡®Xiniti'' aren¡¯t even Xiniti. They¡¯re humans. I know the Xiniti choose tough recruits, but they¡¯re only human and if you¡¯re hoping in them because they have active powers, so do we.


    ¡°And it¡¯s not just the marines who have active powers. The crew of the Annihilation includes the pride of the Ascendancy¡ªmembers of the Ascendant Guard, the Ascendancy Council¡¯s own protectors. You¡¯ve heard of two of them¡ªNeves, who protected the First Citizen himself and Kamia of the Thuroni Defenders, who has killed thousands on behalf of the Ascendancy¡ªincluding Xiniti as the true Xiniti among you will well remember.¡±


    As he¡¯d said Neves, a picture of a dark-skinned man in a black uniform with green and white accents appeared in my head. The uniform had a military look and did nothing to hide the muscles underneath. He reminded me of nothing more than one of the Cabal troops we¡¯d fought. Cassie¡¯s regeneration had surprised Iolan, so Neves couldn¡¯t be one of them, but it didn¡¯t make me feel comfortable.


    When he said ¡°Kamia,¡± the picture changed to that of a woman in a red uniform with black accents. Like Neves¡¯ uniform, hers was a short jacket with pants in the same color, but her uniform had a black cape. Her skin was pale enough that I wondered if she was albino and her blonde-white hair pointed in that direction. Still, she wasn¡¯t as pale as I remembered albinos were. She carried a sword and gun that had a similar shape to Cassie¡¯s gun. It couldn¡¯t be the same kind, though.


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    The picture changed back to Agent 957. His mouth held a hint of a smile, but then he opened it. ¡°I¡¯m giving you until noon tomorrow to surrender. That means that you bring everyone out of whatever forest or cave that you might be hiding in. After that, we¡¯re coming in after you. Don¡¯t make us do that. You¡¯ll get much better treatment if it¡¯s easy to bring you in.¡±


    He stopped talking and stood there, arms crossed, looking at the camera. After a few moments, I began to wonder if it was over and this was the moment before the loop would restart.


    Then he straightened his arms and said, ¡°One more thing¡­ My orders aren¡¯t to bring you all in. My supervisors only care about the leaders. That means Jadzen Akri and all the people on colony¡¯s council as well as a few more names I¡¯ll list right now¡ª¡°


    He listed them, but then got back to talking, ¡°¡ªAs I said, the most notorious members of your leadership. With them gone, we don¡¯t care about the colony anymore. We don¡¯t have room to bring them back anyway. We can kill all of them or let them stay here unhurt. I think you¡¯d prefer it if they survived, wouldn¡¯t you?¡±


    That¡¯s when he stopped for real, freezing for several seconds and then starting the message from the beginning. I recorded it until I¡¯d caught the part I¡¯d missed earlier.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I shut off the connection and looked at Katuk and Jaclyn. ¡°I guess that¡¯s it. We¡¯ve got a good general sense of where they are. We¡¯ve sent off a message to the Celestial Ghosts. Plus, now we¡¯ve got a message to bring back. Do you think we¡¯ve got anything else that we should check out?¡±


    Jaclyn looked out toward the gap between the end of the alley we stood in and stretch of field before the colony¡¯s force field barrier. It was only a few hundred feet, an easy gap for her or Katuk to make and not hard for me to fly over.


    ¡°No,¡± Jaclyn said, but she looked over at Katuk. ¡°Was it true what she said about Kamia? Did she kill a lot of Xiniti?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°There are many Xiniti that wish that the opportunity to kill her would fall to themselves or their unit. It falls to us.¡±


    Making a quick check of the way ahead of us first, Jaclyn said, ¡°I¡¯m half surprised they didn¡¯t try to give her Xiniti citizenship.¡±


    ¡°You misunderstand the nature of your invitation. Though we do offer citizenship to those who best us, it¡¯s offered to those who¡¯ve served us by killing one who¡¯s brought shame on his/her/its family. You¡¯ve served us doubly. First by killing my father and secondly by providing a unit for my testing.¡±


    Okay, then, I told myself. Katuk did know about that.

 Reap: Part 3

    So I said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you knew that we were the ones who killed him. We didn¡¯t even know that you were his child until we got here.¡±


    Katuk looked between Jaclyn and I. ¡°The Xiniti view it as appropriate that those who freed someone from the shame of their parent¡¯s actions be involved in his passage into adulthood. Do you have different customs?¡±


    Jaclyn blinked. ¡°Yes. Very different.¡±


    Thinking that we shouldn¡¯t wait too long before running back to the caves, I tried to say it in as few words as possible. ¡°In our world, we don¡¯t make our passage into adulthood a mission. Also, many humans who found that we¡¯d killed a member of their family would consider killing us.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°A result of personal attachment from being raised in proximity to your family. We¡¯re raised in clan housing and only get to know our parents as adults. By then they¡¯re back from their tours of duty. I have fond memories of my mother, my other mother and the uncles, but my father brought shame on us all. I have no wish for any revenge.¡±


    Jaclyn glanced back out the end of the alley and then back to us. ¡°We need to go. I think we should talk about this later so everybody knows where you stand.¡±


    Katuk eyed her. ¡°Did everyone expect that I would attack you if I knew?¡±


    Pursing her lips, Jaclyn said, ¡°Not really, but no one wanted to push the issue either. You¡¯re like a human in your overall shape and that makes it easy to forget you¡¯re not.¡±


    Katuk tilted his head back, saying nothing, but then nodded. ¡°I understand the confusion.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jaclyn looked out into the darkness ahead of us, probably using her own HUD. ¡°We should go before they notice us. Are you ready?¡±


    I nodded, checking our surroundings with the bots I¡¯d stationed about;. Katuk said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    She counted down. ¡°Three. Two. One¡­¡±


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    Then she began to run. Katuk followed, leaving at almost the same moment, both of them becoming blurs as they crossed the field and then jumped over the force field at the edge of the settlement. Collecting the bots, I turned on the rockets and flew across the open field and over the force field.


    From there, all we could do was travel back to the caves, hoping that the Human Ascendancy forces didn¡¯t detect us. In some ways it didn¡¯t matter if they did. Agent 957¡¯s broadcast had hinted that he knew that we were in the caves. It didn¡¯t take a genius to guess at the caves. They were part of a rocky structure more than fifty miles long with enough tunnels that people without a map would get hopelessly lost.


    We had a map in our implants that the colonists (okay, Kals) had shared with us, so we were okay.


    Katuk and Jaclyn ran through the night at speeds between 200-300 miles per hour and I flew above them. It took about ten minutes to fly to an entrance in the dark. So far as we could tell, no one followed us. We did fly past megafauna that reminded me more of giant ground hogs than anything else. What they were in reality was anyone¡¯s guess. I didn¡¯t have time to take a DNA sample.


    Jaclyn and Katuk passed around them before the giant groundhogs even realized that they¡¯d passed. A few looked up at the sound of my rockets, but giant rodents with stumpy legs can¡¯t be expected to pay a lot of attention to flying armor, so I was safe.


    Before long we¡¯d made it down the tunnels, past the force shields, and into the colonists¡¯ underground city¡ªor more accurately, village. By the time we got there, people were standing guard near the entrances to the cave, but not a lot of people were awake.


    Cassie greeted us as we walked into the building we now shared with Jazden and Kals. It wasn¡¯t much of a surprise. One of the side effects of Cassie¡¯s powerset was the ability to stay up for days at a time.


    ¡°And?¡± Cassie walked with us into the common area on the second floor. ¡°What¡¯s happening out there?¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t seem to be coming down into the caves at this exact moment,¡± I told her. ¡°It looks like they¡¯ve landed about 800 troops on the ground near Landing. They¡¯ve destroyed anything that looks like a starship. Plus, we¡¯ve got a recording where their leader, Agent 957, implies that he knows that we¡¯re down here.¡±


    Jaclyn had been walking ahead of us up the stairs to the common area. She turned back toward us. ¡°There¡¯s no question that they¡¯re coming for us, but they don¡¯t seem to be in a huge hurry. We didn¡¯t see anyone follow us into the caves or anything like that. They¡¯re broadcasting a demand for Jadzen and the Council to surrender by noon tomorrow or they¡¯ll kill everyone but the leadership. My bet is that that¡¯s when they¡¯ll come down here.¡±


    Cassie nodded. ¡°Sounds like it¡¯s time to make a plan.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°I¡¯d been hoping I might get to sleep.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°Yeah, right.¡±

 Reap: Part 4

    Sleeping in the Rocket armor wouldn¡¯t be completely uncomfortable, but I didn¡¯t want to do it. I clicked and the full Rocket suit sloughed off me, reforming into a block behind my legs, leaving me dressed in the current version of the stealth suit.


    Overall, it was extremely convenient. I could sit on the block and did, leaning my back against the wall and looking out the rooms front window at the glowing lights and empty streets of the colony¡¯s underground hideaway.


    Cassie laughed. ¡°Well, that¡¯s nice. A built-in chair.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°It should have been a built-in bed. Wake me up if I fall asleep.¡±


    I don¡¯t think I heard her reply, but she did wake me up. Everybody was there. By everybody, I mean Jadzen, Kals, Marcus, Tiki, Jaclyn, Katuk, Crawls-Through-Desert and people from the colony leadership including Iolan, but not Maru. I learned later that that was at his own suggestion because he might have more buried instructions to follow if he overheard us.


    The room didn¡¯t have a big enough table for everyone, so some people stood.


    Once I passed on the video, Jaclyn asked Jadzen, ¡°Let¡¯s get this out of the way. Are you and the Council going to turn yourselves in?¡±


    One of the council members laughed. I didn¡¯t see who. Jadzen shook her head.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know Agent 957, but all I¡¯ve ever heard about him is that he¡¯s an honorable agent as long as his orders allow him to be. If his orders don¡¯t require him to lie, we can trust him, but we don¡¯t have any way to know what his orders are. So we can¡¯t trust him.¡±


    Crawls-Through-Desert floated near the table, fronds moving as it talked. ¡°As we discussed earlier, the Human Ascendancy¡¯s patience will end and when it does, they¡¯ll aim their battleship¡¯s main guns at the tunnels and destroy them. It¡¯s not enough to hide. We¡¯ll all be destroyed if we try that. No, what you have to do is destroy the battleship or its main gun. Your ship appears to be more powerful than most ships of its size. Do you think you can do it?¡±


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    The plant angled its leaves so that they pointed at me.


    I thought about it. ¡°I think so. My grandfather tinkered with it for years--so it''s powerful, but also stranger than average. It¡¯s not so powerful though that we¡¯d be able to challenge the battleship to a direct fight and expect our ship to stand up to something with that many guns, much less if it manages to bring its main gun to bear on us. We¡¯ll survive direct fights with multiple fighters, but if we have to take on a battleship, we''ll need to be sneaky.¡±


    The plant¡¯s fronds rustled. ¡°Then that¡¯s what you have to do. Destroying the battleship turns it from being a question of how long they¡¯re willing to wait before destroying us to a question who can survive on this planet longest. I¡¯m betting that¡¯s you guys, especially when you start aiming the local megafauna at them.¡±


    Marcus laughed. ¡°That would be hilarious. I don¡¯t know how we¡¯d do that, but yeah, I¡¯m sure they didn¡¯t come prepared to stay.¡±


    Iolan took in a breath. ¡°It worries me that we might then find ourselves fighting them on the ground. We don¡¯t have an army even if some of us are experienced at fighting.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± I said, ¡°but I think you¡¯ll still have a better chance against them on the ground when you know the planet and they don¡¯t.¡±


    Iolan frowned, but then nodded. ¡°If we can keep them outside the force fields for any length of time, they¡¯ll lose most of their force to the wildlife.¡±


    Jadzen looked around at the group. ¡°It sounds as if that¡¯s settled. What do we need to do to do it?¡± She looked over at me. ¡°What do you need from us to succeed?¡±


    I imagined how I¡¯d do an attack. ¡°We¡¯ll probably need a distraction. If they think they¡¯re dealing with something completely different, they¡¯ll have their attention on that. In an ideal world, we¡¯d get control of your mines again and redeploy them against the battleship, but that¡¯s not the only way to do it. Plus, when it comes down to it, they¡¯ll probably start looking for an attack if the distraction leaves them time to think.¡±


    After a moment, I said, ¡°You know what? I think I¡¯ll just take our ship up there now. I think I¡¯ve got a way to do this that could work.¡±

 Reap: Part 5

    I held my breath for a moment, thinking about how it would work. ¡°Here¡¯s my idea. You know how near space extends nearly to the planet? No one takes advantage of it because anyone with any sense sets up near space mines around the planet. It¡¯s cheap and easy to do for most planetary governments. But here¡¯s the thing, it¡¯s not cheap or easy for a small colony like this, so you never did it, right?¡±


    Jadzen didn¡¯t say anything at first, but after frowning, she said, ¡°No. We couldn¡¯t afford it. The mines around the Lagrange point were all we could fit in the budget.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Right. So there aren¡¯t any mines in near space because you couldn¡¯t afford it. Also, that ship above us may have mines, but they probably aren¡¯t sending them out yet because they don¡¯t know how long they¡¯re going to be staying. Plus they¡¯ve got control of your mines so they¡¯ve got control of all the probable routes into the system. They¡¯ve got control of real space and someone coming in through jump space has to enter real space first. Only after that could they go into near space.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do what I¡¯ve done before in this situation¡ªflip into near space on the planet, come out of it right next to the ship and start blasting away before they have time to respond. They¡¯ll be surprised because they destroyed your fighters and they didn¡¯t see any evidence of our ship. At least that¡¯s my theory. They might have a few ships outside the main ship and those ships are probably near space capable, but they won¡¯t expect us the first time. After that, it¡¯ll get complicated.¡±


    My implant registered questions from everyone in our group or near to it. I set up a private channel for Jaclyn, Cassie, Katuk, Marcus, Tikki, and Kals because they were asking the questions¡ªmore or less. Katuk, Marcus, and Tikki hadn¡¯t asked anything, but I included them because I didn¡¯t think I should leave them out.


    ¡°When have you done this before?¡± Jaclyn¡¯s voice sounded in my head.


    ¡°In video games,¡± I told her, ¡°but not some random space game, a realistic one. I told you about it.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°The ship¡¯s video game. I do remember it. Do you think it could possibly be as good as the real thing?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°you were with us when the ship ran us through exercises on the way out. What did you think?¡±


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    ¡°I felt like I was there.¡± She nodded.


    Tikki, who I remembered made some kind of hobby out of AI, said, ¡°It appears to be a powerful AI whose primary focus is combat simulations. I would trust its judgement implicitly in such things. When we trained on the way here, it became clear to me that it was one of the more powerful AI¡¯s of its type.¡±


    ¡°Grandpa found it after a battle near our planet,¡± I told her. ¡°He scavenged almost every piece of the ship.¡±


    Tikki¡¯s face lit up. ¡°I would never have guessed. It was connected seamlessly and he¡¯d improved on what he found. He had an amazing mind.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re confident,¡± Jaclyn¡¯s voice stayed even, ¡°then go for it.¡±


    Kals¡¯ voice broke into the conversation. ¡°Everything Nick said fit with what I learned about space combat in school. I wasn¡¯t a specialist, but I¡¯m comfortable with his plan. They won¡¯t expect it.¡±


    Outside of our channel, I looked over Jadzen, the Council and the plant in addition to our group. ¡°I¡¯ll need a volunteer to help me with either weapons or piloting. I can do both, but I¡¯ll do better with only one.¡±


    Marcus waved his hand. ¡°I¡¯ve got more hours training in the ship than anyone else here and I¡¯m less useful in a straight fight than most. I¡¯ll go.¡±


    Jadzen Akri looked us over. ¡°If you¡¯re going on the attack, we¡¯ll have to prepare to fight. I¡¯d like the rest of you to meet what there is of our fighting force.¡±


    Then she turned to me. ¡°When are you going to go?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Now, I guess. The longer we wait, the more likely they are to start mining near space.¡±


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll have to signal our people immediately.¡± She looked over at Kals.


    ¡°I know,¡± Kals said, her voice raising. ¡°I¡¯m part of what little we¡¯ve got of a fighting force. I¡¯ll show you there.¡±


    As everyone began to leave, I commanded my armor to reassemble. It covered me, reorganizing into the ¡°fake Xiniti¡± version within a few seconds.


    Marcus stepped up as it finished. ¡°What¡¯s the most convenient form for you to carry me in? I can fly after you if you¡¯re not worried about speed, but if you are, I could hang on and turn into something aerodynamic.¡±


    We went with the second option. Marcus hung on to my legs and transformed into a shape that reminded me of a paper airplane. I felt a little less maneuverable, but it wasn¡¯t too bad.


    We flew out of the tunnels and out over the water of the ocean near the tunnels¡¯ stone cliffs. It didn¡¯t take long before I flew over the area where the ship had hidden itself. The ship surfaced and we went in for a landing, Marcus letting go as I circled and swooping down next to me as my feet touched the hull.


    He swung inside the hatch before I managed to climb down to it, but then we were both inside. ¡°Hal,¡± I told the AI, ¡°we¡¯re going to have to either destroy the ship or hurt the main gun so badly they don¡¯t have a chance of fixing it.¡±


    [I¡¯m already running simulations of the possibilities. I¡¯ll give you a list of your best options shortly.]

 Reap: Part 6

    I walked to the front of the ship, sitting down in one of the chairs in the cockpit and connecting to the ship with my implant, feeling my surroundings as if I were the ship¡ªthe weight of the water around me, the lightness of the air above me, and the buzzing noise of encrypted communications between the battleship above and the ships on the ground.


    I sensed Marcus come online, taking over the weapons and shields, leaving me with piloting, monitoring the engines, and repairing them if it came to that.


    Deciding that we were better off under the water, I checked if the door was fully shut and dove, propelling the ship with the anti-gravity. While not as fast as the main engines, it made less noise. My only worry was that there might be megafauna in the ocean too.


    The ship¡¯s sonar wasn¡¯t detecting anything though, so at least it didn¡¯t look like we were going to fight some kind of giant seal.


    Hal got back to me with his simulations after a few minutes. Using near space to get close worked well, provided I did it before they mined near space. The difficulties came with the target. Firing at the bridge of a battleship didn¡¯t work because in an age of implants, the bridge became redundant. As long as there were qualified people and working sensors on the ship, the bridge crew could be anywhere. The ship¡¯s main gun was the obvious target, but disabling it only meant that it was disabled. Simulations showed that they had bombs aboard capable of taking out the caves and even if the simulations were wrong, they could tow an asteroid to the planet and drop it on the rock formations from space.


    If we wanted to be sure, we needed to go for the engines and the only problem with that was that everyone goes for the engines. A ship that can¡¯t move, can¡¯t fight (much). Engines have extra physical shielding. Many have stronger shields protecting them. The nozzle on the end was the most vulnerable point because you couldn¡¯t cover it with shields while accelerating. Most ships placed extra weapons back there to discourage rear attacks.


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    ¡°Marcus, are you looking through the simulations?¡± I brought our spaceship closer to the surface and checked the air above us with the passive sensors without seeing anything. That was good as far as it went.


    A noise from the real world made it into the simulation¡ªMarcus sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not looking good. From what I can see, the best simulations are the ones where we pop into real space right behind the engines, blast the ship power plant with our main gun, pop out into near space and then back into real space enough times that what¡¯s left of the engine room isn¡¯t fixable. It would be easy except that Hal¡¯s assuming that there are still fighters up there.¡±


    The shadowy forms I got out of the passive sensors didn¡¯t give much detail about the battleship. ¡°He¡¯s probably right. The Extinction class battleship has a lot of fighters. On the bright side, our shields hold in most simulations. So that¡¯s the good news.¡±


    Marcus laughed. ¡°Most. That¡¯s the best shot. Are we going or did you have another idea?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t have a better idea. Be ready with the shields.¡±


    I let the ship float upward until it was outside the water. As I did, I felt the barrier of the shield surround the ship. I¡¯m not sure how to describe the barrier. Electrical? It¡¯s certainly in there, but that¡¯s not a major component of the shield.


    In any case, the shields came up as the ship cleared the ocean water. With the shields on, we were invisible to any form of detection that I was aware of. Energy was simply absorbed, making the shields appear black, and making the ship a silhouette of itself. That sort of thing stood out during the day, but fortunately, it was night.


    I continued to use the anti-gravity. It wasn¡¯t quick, but when I used it, I didn¡¯t have to thin the shields and release heat for it to work. That meant that no one did see it when I flipped the ship into near space about a kilometer above the planet.


    Everything around the ship became blurry to the sensors as we shot upward at what would have been near light speed in our own universe, arriving in orbit almost instantly. I slowed the ship so that I¡¯d have to aim it toward the rear of the great cylinder shaped battleship ahead.


    An unknown number of small, blurry ships flew next to the main ship, but a quick count showed it was at least ten. When I exited near space, I¡¯d have to move.

 Reap: Part 7

    Knowing that most battleships had sensors that extended into near-space, and that my ship¡¯s stealth was more an accidental product of the shields than intentional, I stayed in near-space until I was just past the Annihilation, flipping over when I was past the rear of the ship.


    Marcus had started charging the main gun the moment the ship came in sight, so when I transitioned out of near-space and into real space, I felt the shields thin near the nose of our ship and the main gun released a blast of white light. Meanwhile, our other guns targeted the guns in guard position to protect the engine exhaust.


    Like most battleships, they had their shields at half-power even when no enemies were visible, a soft blue glow. We¡¯d planned for that. Our ship had been designed to be a small ship capable of damaging battleships even before my grandfather increased its power output.


    The main gun shattered the shield, throwing bits of glowing blue into space where they shrunk and disappeared. Marcus had aimed it at the most vulnerable spot¡ªthe hole at the bottom of the nozzle. The nozzle melted, the hole expanded, and something inside the ship exploded. It wasn¡¯t the kind of explosion you might see in Star Wars, one where the whole ship explodes. It was flash of red, yellow, and orange that flared, jutting out of the cracks and the undamaged nozzles, followed by smoke.


    I¡¯d seen that kind of explosion before in simulations and felt confident we¡¯d damaged the fusion power plant as well as the banks of capacitors that held a charge ready for weapons and jumps. Even better, the ship¡¯s sensors confirmed my theory.


    Half of the lights winked out across the ship¡ªthe windows near the lines of turrets were still on¡ªand to my surprise the ship¡¯s directional thrusters fired and the battleship began to turn.


    ¡°I¡¯m going in,¡± I told Marcus.


    I had a sense that he was shaking his head, but he said, ¡°I¡¯ll be ready.¡±


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    We flipped into near-space¡ªwhich maybe wasn¡¯t the smartest idea or people would try what I was trying all the time. I flew the ship inside the battleship, staying in the nearest of near-space, barely outside reality. We were close enough that weapons we fired would fall out of near-space and hit things in real space.


    Not coincidentally, the reason it wasn¡¯t smart to fly through here was that most ships carried devices that could knock us back into real space where we¡¯d then attempt to inhabit the same space as the battleship¡ªwhich was generally bad for both ships. They¡¯d probably turned off fields like that when their main power plant went down.


    We''d flown into the engine compartment¡ªwhich was large enough that we could have flown inside if the back had been open anyway and also if it hadn¡¯t contained two fusion power plants, a near-space drive and a jump drive, a massive bank of capacitors, and fuel for all of that.


    As was normal for near-space, everything outside the ship had a hint of blurriness, but we could see enough. We were near the top of the room to give us the best chance to see the ship¡¯s backup power plant.


    It wasn¡¯t that hard. The second power plant was at the far end of the engineering compartment, roughly the middle of the ship.


    Marcus didn¡¯t have time to give our main gun a full charge, but we didn¡¯t need one. We didn¡¯t have to break a force field or the hull. All Ihad to do was fly forward, watch as Marcus aimed the gun at the block-shaped device at the front end of the compartment.


    The blast hit about three quarters up the side, making a hole in the gray wall. Fire erupted from the spot, hitting the next drive in line¡ªa jump drive so far as I could see.


    Small figures wearing white space suits ran away from the line of massive engines. I didn¡¯t have time to feel guilty or afraid for the people who might be dying because of our actions. I did notice that some of them didn¡¯t have legs as much as a second pair of arms¡ªthey climbed down the sides of the drives.


    At about the same time, we passed outside of the Annihilation¡¯s hull. Going deeper into near-space, I aimed our ship toward the system''s outer planets, not because I wanted to go there but because I guessed that a few of the fighters might try to pop into near-space and chase us.


    And I was right.


    Four of them peeled away from Annihilation, firing blasts of energy at us. I wasn¡¯t sure we could outrun them in near-space, but we could probably take them.

 Reap: Part 8

    At least I could take them in video games. Hal had thrown ships from the Human Ascendancy, the Alliance, machine race clans, various independent human groups from inside the Quarantine, and Abominators (just in case) against me.


    I tried to think about fighting in near-space. It was weird because your weapons didn¡¯t hit as hard because they leaked into other realities¡ªincluding ours¡ªin small amounts. You could fly through starships and even asteroids If they were small enough. Plus, you¡¯d eventually be moving faster than light, allowing your battles to cross the solar system, while also allowing you to get close enough to planets to use their features to hide your ship¡ªwithin limits. If you got too close, a planets¡¯ gravity would pull you out of near-space and into real-space.


    What was the practical application of all that? I flew straight toward the system¡¯s gas giant. It had upwards of 10 moons. I hadn¡¯t counted them all, but it was enough to hide behind. The only bad point about the idea was that we¡¯d have to dodge weapons during the trip. On the bright side, it would only take us eight minutes to get there¡ªlonger since I¡¯d be taking evasive maneuvers the entire way.


    I didn¡¯t have a choice. The ship¡¯s shields hid the ship at night or in normal space (provided the sun wasn¡¯t in the background), but in near-space, a shielded ship stood out more to a ship¡¯s sensors. We weren¡¯t going to lose them.


    The main gun was on the front so we couldn¡¯t use that as easily as we¡¯d have liked to. Marcus had to use the smaller guns that could be pointed backward in order for us to fire at anyone or anything at all. Their shields helped them the same way ours did us, absorbing the hit.


    We did even try the main gun and I say ¡°we¡± because it was complicated. Marcus charged it and I flipped the ship around in place, letting the forward momentum carry us but turning the ship around completely. He fired, hitting once. In that one shot, he happened to fire as the fighter jerked to the left to get out of his direct line of fire¡ªexactly what it needed to do, but not as quickly as it needed to do it.


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    The shot hit the side of the engine compartment, taking down the shields in a burst of blue light, and destroying something inside, probably their near-space drive to judge from how the ship disappeared, turning blurry and distorted as it reappeared in normal space.


    Even though we might want to try that constantly, we couldn¡¯t, each time we tried, we lost a little more of our lead. The constant evasive maneuvers meant that we couldn¡¯t fly at our fastest speed. Still, even then we were staying ahead. When we flipped around to fire though, we used the near-space drive to keep us in near-space, but couldn¡¯t continue to accelerate. They, of course, could keep on accelerating the entire time, slowed only by their attempts to dodge.


    We were a little faster than they were¡ªjust enough that if we fired once and kept accelerating for a while, we could make up the time we¡¯d lost. So, we did try it two more times, flipping the ship over a different way, turning left then flipping upward... We didn¡¯t hit with either of them, but we got them used to the idea we¡¯d do a 180 degree turn and fire.


    I''d decided that we weren¡¯t really trying to make it to the gas giant. All we were doing is trying to do is make them believe that we were heading for the gas giant, using our attempts to fire at them to show that we were trying to keep them behind us until we reached the gas giant¡¯s moons at all their potential cover.


    A couple minutes in though, I sent Marcus the overall plan I was using, one that Hal had tested. Even though it wasn¡¯t inevitable, it had a good enough chance.


    ¡°We¡¯re starting now,¡± I told him. ¡°Are you okay with it?¡±


    ¡°More than I would be with heading to the gas giant for real,¡± he said. ¡°Besides, we already got one of them.¡±


    ¡°Okay, then. Step one¡­¡± I flipped the ship again only this time I wasn¡¯t flipping the ship over. I was pointing the ship¡¯s nose down, heading away from all the planets instead of turning around to fire. They¡¯d done what they¡¯d done the other three times, spreading out to avoid the inevitable shot from the main gun.


    As they realized that I hadn¡¯t done the expected, I flipped the ship again, aiming the main gun upward at one of the fighters just as it began to turn to aim at us.


    Marcus fired first and unlike last time, he hit something explosive. The fighter disappeared in a ball of fire, the burning remains blurring and phasing back into real-space.


    Meanwhile, we headed back toward Hideaway, hoping to make the planet while we still had some night to use to hide the ship. The remaining two fighters were still behind us, but they appeared to be hanging back even if they were still firing.

 Reap: Part 9

    They¡¯d taken one of the better positions possible. They were far enough behind us that turning around and firing didn¡¯t give us a good chance of hitting while being close enough that if they kept on firing, they might hit us in the rear where the shields were open for our engines.


    I kept up evasive maneuvers, but since I was going back to the planet, I also didn¡¯t want them to follow the ship down to the surface where I hoped to hide it.


    Marcus¡¯ voice sounded over my implant. ¡°I¡¯m firing at these guys with the small guns, but they can¡¯t do anything at this distance. The main gun could take them out, but hitting won¡¯t be easy. We¡¯re going to have to turn around and chase them if we want to hit them.¡±


    ¡°I know. I might have an idea.¡± Aware of my surroundings through the implant, I could see his blasts bounce off their shields or miss and disappear into the darkness of space.


    Then I realized what I could do. We were in near-space and we weren¡¯t that close to the planet. I couldn¡¯t use blink space to leave the star system, but I could blink out while I was inside the system¡ªprobably. I had the ship¡¯s computer calculate what I wanted to try while I continued to dodge.


    It didn¡¯t take long. As our shield absorbed another shot and the ship¡¯s capacitors¡¯ showed a higher level of stored power, I decided that now would be a good time to use that power. We were already in near-space. I threw the ship into jump-space and then immediately into blink-space.


    Instants later, we appeared several planetary diameters on the other side of Hideaway. I¡¯d transitioned back into near-space and didn¡¯t wait to find out if the fighters would figure out what I¡¯d done. I aimed the ship straight at Hideaway, going as close as I could to it before coming out of near-space.


    The coastline where the colony hid was still in the dark but only by a little. I matched the ship¡¯s velocity to the planet¡¯s so that the ship would transition out at essentially zero and set the anti-gravity to turn on as soon as there was gravity to counteract.


    That left us a few miles from the caves and the ocean. Marcus and I stepped out of the ship, flying low toward the caves while the ship dove into the water.


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    On the way back, Marcus and could still see the glow of rockets ascending and descending from orbit. We¡¯d destroyed the engines but not the battleship itself. So they must have been saving people and equipment. This was good in that we¡¯d minimized casualties and bad because they were coming down to the ground where they could be used to fight us.


    Lee would have killed them all and maybe dropped the battleship¡¯s burning remains on the Marines¡¯ camp. Many of Lee¡¯s plans had that kind of elegance¡ªif by elegance you mean that you¡¯ve killed almost everyone in one action, an action that you¡¯ve been setting up in the background since the beginning of the fight (or even before it).


    I liked Lee, but I didn¡¯t want to be him. I preferred to believe that life was worth something and that the less of it you take, the better for everyone in the long run. Seeing the dropships heading up and down from battleship and knowing that Extinction class ships typically held 5000 people, 1000 of whom were marines, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if Lee had the right idea.


    That was a lot of people to fight.


    I knew that that wasn¡¯t how Lee would be looking at it. He¡¯d see the opportunities. The majority of the people on that ship were most useful for running a ship. When it came to surviving on this planet they were as much of a burden as an asset. It was just a question of how to use them.


    Wings outstretched, arms hanging onto my legs, Marcus asked, ¡°How many people do you think survived?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I sent back, ¡°but we focussed on killing the engines instead of the people. I¡¯d bet the majority survived. Their standard uniforms all work as spacesuits for a little while, so even if we depressurized the hull, they¡¯ve got a chance.¡±


    ¡°This is going to be crazy. I know that this is the plan and that taking out the ship means they can¡¯t blast us from orbit, but this means they¡¯re stuck here. I¡¯d be surprised if that agent doesn¡¯t try to finish his mission anyway. They probably used the ansible to send a call for help already.¡±


    We were nearing the caves. The giant rock mounds were less than a mile ahead. I aimed for the cave entrance that gave us the most efficient route.


    All the same, Marcus was right. We should have blown up the ansible while we were up there. Now we were going to have a race between the Xiniti, the Cosmic Ghosts, and the Human Ascendancy¡¯s reinforcements to see who gets here first.


    Marcus wasn¡¯t done though. ¡°You know what movie this is like?¡±


    We flew into a cave. I slowed down to give myself more time to turn and Marcus let go of my feet and flew under his own power.


    ¡°No,¡± I told him via our implants.


    ¡°This is a lot like ¡®The Magnificent Seven¡¯ or ¡®Seven Samurai¡¯ if you want to go with the original. There¡¯s a small town that can¡¯t pay much, but it¡¯s being threatened by bandits and their leader. Except they hire a ragtag bunch of gunfighters who defend the town.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t seen the movie. ¡°How does that go?¡±


    Marcus gave a lopsided grin. ¡°The town is saved. The bandits are destroyed, but almost all the gunfighters die.¡±


    ¡°Awesome.¡±

 Reap: Part 10

    Marcus flapped his wings and glided down the tunnel. ¡°If we were in a movie, you and I would probably be okay.¡±


    ¡°And why is that?¡± We¡¯d slowed to a point that I was mostly upright.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the deal: you¡¯re the guy who gathered everyone together. I mean, yeah, you didn¡¯t try to, but in the movies that¡¯s the main character. Pretty much all his friends die, but he¡¯s okay. I¡¯m okay because the gunfighter who falls in love with the local girl survives too. Jaclyn would be in trouble though because she didn¡¯t get romantically involved. She got attached to a dog. In most versions, a gunfighter connects with the kids, but a dog¡¯s close enough. She¡¯d end up dying to defend the animal.¡±


    ¡°Dunno,¡± I checked the tunnel map. We still had a couple miles to go. ¡°If you think about it, Tikki¡¯s as much a gunfighter as a local girl in this case. She spends most of her time with us and she¡¯s new to the place. Also, if Iolan gets enough sperm from you, it sounds like everyone in the colony will be descended from you eventually.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s messed up, but this is a modern, sci-fi retelling. Why not have artificial insemination? For that matter, half the group¡¯s female, so why not have romance within the group?I reckon that future versions of the story might include gay romance.¡±


    ¡°You reckon?¡±


    ¡°You bet, pardner.¡±


    We floated through the darkness. ¡°So, where does the plant fit into all this?¡±


    Marcus flapped his wings again. ¡°I don¡¯t know. This is a science fiction version. It doesn¡¯t really map. There¡¯s generally an experienced gunfighter or two. Crawls-Through-Desert might be one of those guys, but then there¡¯s Katuk. In the movie, the guy who doesn¡¯t fit into the group is also the youngest and ends up with the village girl. Here, I¡¯m the youngest, but I fit in and Katuk is the only Xiniti. Plus, he¡¯s got no romantic interest in humans.


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    ¡°For that matter, there are versions of the story where no one dies at all. I¡¯m pretty sure everyone lives in A Bug¡¯s Life because that¡¯s Disney. Plus, I don¡¯t know if you ever saw that old TV show The A-Team on cable, but they retell the story every single week and not even the bad guys die.¡±


    ¡°You realize we¡¯re not in a movie, right?¡±


    Marcus laughed. ¡°I noticed. Because if we were in a movie there wouldn¡¯t have been an irrelevant side plot about Lee¡¯s people and whatever happened with Kee Otaki back on K¡¯Tepolu. That¡¯s basically a ¡®disappearing magic shop¡¯ story except that there wasn¡¯t anything special about the parts you bought beyond being good parts. If it did include Kee, that would be piss poor editing.¡±


    We were within a mile. ¡°What about the, ¡®Let¡¯s play Monopoly subplot¡¯?¡±


    He sighed. ¡°That was probably a bad idea too.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°We should have been playing ¡®The Settlers of Catan¡¯.¡±


    ¡°I know there are better games but Monopoly¡¯s a classic.¡±


    We made it to the hideout a few minutes later, passing the force fields they¡¯d used to block the tunnels, and flying over the caverns¡¯ streets, dodging buildings with a combination of our night vision and the streetlights. Finally we landed in front of the structure we shared with Jadzen Akri, Kals, and the colony¡¯s council.


    Cassie met us at the door. She¡¯d set her costume to civilian mode¡ªit didn¡¯t cover her head, allowing us to see that she was grinning. ¡°Jadzen¡¯s technical people got their ''antenna¡¯ working. They keep on telling me it¡¯s not exactly an antenna, but can¡¯t quite explain what it is, so I¡¯m calling it an antenna. Anyway, we saw the ship blow up a few minutes ago. They got everyone off and then they deliberately blew it up. The council members were saying that¡¯s standard practice when there¡¯s a certain amount of damage. They destroy the ship so that their enemies can¡¯t get anything off it.¡±


    Marcus nodded his head. ¡°That¡¯s kind of hardcore. It makes you wonder what happened that makes them go so far.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°If you¡¯ve got people around that pick up anything done in a place in the last hour like Daniel sometimes can, you¡¯d probably want to break your ship up into the smallest pieces possible.¡±


    ¡°Not a bad idea,¡± Marcus said, cocking his head. ¡°Too bad we can¡¯t ask Daniel about it.¡±


    Cassie tapped her foot. ¡°The interesting question isn¡¯t what they¡¯re doing next, it¡¯s what we¡¯re doing next. The colonists are going to drive herds of megafauna at them and we¡¯re going to keep them safe.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Are we going to do this right now or can I sleep?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve got a few hours.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± I stepped around her and walked down the hall, preparing to drop my armor the first chance I could.

 Release the Hounds: Part 1

    Hideaway, Landing Starport (Which Was Normally an Empty Field)


    Agent 957 watched as the last of the ships from the Annihilation landed in the empty field the colonists used as a starport. Their fiery exhaust lit up the night. Since they¡¯d filled up the slope between Landing and the colonists'' next town with fighters, dropships and marines, they now had no choice but to use the field.


    Ten shuttles left almost no room in the space within the shielded area. They¡¯d considered landing outside, but they¡¯d had seen footage of the planet¡¯s native megafauna. Some of them were larger than a shuttle. It wasn¡¯t worth the risk.


    They¡¯d considered landing in the colonists¡¯ fields until the Annihilation¡¯s Executive Officer noted they might need to harvest the crops themselves if no one came to rescue them. When the communications officer said that they¡¯d already sent a distress signal, the Exec had reminded him that the Xiniti must have as well.


    Everyone knew what that meant. When fleets clashed, rescue missions were diverted. Sometimes they couldn¡¯t make it through until the end of the conflict.


    If it wasn¡¯t bad enough that they were on a planet covered with psychotic, killer animals, the soldiers and spacers would have to camp outside. The first house the Marines investigated had blown up, killing the fireteam that entered the house.


    Knowing that the colony included many of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s most notorious terrorists, the marines¡¯ commander had ordered the marines to set up shelters and inventory the supplies and weapons. They needed to know how much time they had before they had no choice but live off whatever food they colonists could grow.


    Commander Hesses¡¯ personal shuttle landed last.


    Agent 957 reflected on how unfortunate it was that the commander could not be persuaded to go down with his ship. He¡¯d waited for every last soldier or spacer to leave but left before the self-destruct command activated.


    Agent 957 knew that he¡¯d have to handle this himself. Left to himself, the old man would pay more attention to keeping his people alive than catching the colony¡¯s leadership and fulfilling the mission. The man was good to his people but wrong for this mission. It was time to take care of that problem.


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    Somewhere inside himself, Agent 957 raged against all of it. Damn that ship for reappearing. He didn¡¯t know whose it was, but it was some government¡¯s pet project. The ability to use blink and jump in a ship that small in combination with black shields, and a gun capable of damaging a warship?


    Whether it was a new power, the Xiniti, or some Alliance race like the Hrrnnna, he didn¡¯t like knowing that there were nations that were ahead of the Human Ascendancy. Whatever group it was, they¡¯d supplied the Xiniti with new technology, making the creepy, little maniacs more dangerous if that were possible.


    Agent 957 put that out of his mind as he stepped in front of Commander Hesses¡¯ shuttle. Anticipating the moment, he¡¯d sent all of the people up the slope toward the colony. It would be best to make it quick.


    The shuttle door opened and two spacers stepped out, both of them in combat ready spacesuits¡ªthick-skinned and layered for protection against kinetic weapons and covered with more than one shiny coating to protect against lasers and other energy weapons.


    Even in the low glow of the force shields, he could see that the uniforms were poorly designed for ground combat. Once day came, the mirrored surface would be a beacon or at least hilariously inadequate for hiding in a forest.


    Commander Hesses followed them out, a small, stocky man wearing the same sort of space suit as his guards. He looked at Agent 957, seeing, Agent 957 knew, a big man wearing layered armor that blended into its surroundings. It might not do as well against energy weapons, but it did have protection against them.


    Hesses opened his helmet. ¡°Your command over this mission is finished. With the destruction of my ship, our mission is no longer to assist the Genetic Management Office, but first of all to survive to be rescued. You¡¯ll find that I¡¯ve forwarded these orders to all of my people.¡±


    Agent 957 gave him a shallow bow. ¡°I¡¯m sorry you feel that way. Capturing the resistance¡¯s leadership is vitally important to the survival of the Human Ascendancy. Surviving is important, but not as important as removing the threat Jadzen Akri and her people pose our civilization. If you don¡¯t believe that, your usefulness to our society has reached its end.¡±


    Commander Hesses said, ¡°Just like that, then? You¡¯re going to kill me or have my people do it for you?¡±


    Agent 957 said the word that when said with the correct modulation caused any military personnel hearing it to freeze and wait for orders.


    Something near Commander Hesses hummed and he laughed. ¡°That¡¯s right. We¡¯re prepared. Don¡¯t think that you¡¯re the first to try something like this.¡±


    Ten more people followed Hesses out of the shuttle, all of them holding weapons.


    ¡°Motivators¡ª¡° Commander Hesses began, but then he stopped.


    Agent 957 tried a different modulation of the word and Commander Hesses and all his people froze.


    ¡°Kill Commander Hesses,¡± he said.


    And they did.

 Release the Hounds: Part 2

    I woke up to find Marcus knocking on my door. ¡°Rise and shine. It¡¯s time to save the world.¡±


    He sounded as tired as I felt. I got up, finding that the space next to my bed was only barely wider than my body, making me wonder how people who were overweight were handling this. The best thing I could say about the room was that it was larger than a Japanese capsule hotel room, but those might have been better designed. From what I¡¯d heard, in capsule hotels, the bed was the floor. My room had space under the bed for storage. It contained the Rocket suit and my clothes, but no one could get stuck between the bed and the wall in their rooms.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be out in a second,¡± I said and started pulling the stealth suit on. I left it in stealth suit form. The time for fake clothes had passed.


    ¡°Do you mind if I come in? I¡¯ve got a question I don¡¯t want to talk about in the hall.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ Okay. Go ahead.¡± I unlocked the door with my implant and pulled on my shirt. Marcus stepped in and sat on my bed as I pulled on my pants. Whatever. We¡¯d been dressing in the same room for more than two weeks now.


    The pseudo-Xiniti silver color made me think of the space suits you¡¯d see in movies from the 1950s. At least he wasn¡¯t wearing a fishbowl style helmet. That would have been embarrassing for both of us.


    My pants and shirt sealed together into a seamless bottom layer for the Rocket suit. Marcus leaned back against the wall. ¡°After this is over, I¡¯m thinking of asking Tikki to come home with us.¡±


    I turned to look at him. It was the first time I¡¯d seen him completely serious in a long time. ¡°Do you think she¡¯d want to?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°No way to tell without asking, but she doesn¡¯t have parents. She knows us better than she knows anyone here. It¡¯s a new world either way, but this way she¡¯d be with me.¡±


    Sitting down on the bed next to him, I thought about it. ¡°I can see that, but she¡¯d have a whole new planet and a totally different culture to get used to.¡±


    Marcus nodded. ¡°A free culture, though. Here, her only choice is to live in hiding or in a dictatorship. That¡¯s barely a choice. We can show her the basics and our implants can set up a package for cultural expectations and rules¡ªnot to mention English. I checked. She could access all of it through her bracelet.¡±


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    I checked. He was right. The implant could set up a basic ¡°cultural orientation¡± package for other people to download. We could direct its attention to specific cultural practices, but it could use its default guidelines and handle it automatically too.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I shook my head. ¡°I had no idea that was possible. It¡¯s too bad we can¡¯t hand this all over to people at home. I¡¯m sure there are a bunch of cultural anthropologists that would kill to find out what the default guidelines for a ¡®cultural orientation package¡¯ include.¡±


    Marcus grinned. ¡°Yeah, I bet,¡± but then he took a breath. ¡°The only thing that worries me is race. She¡¯s not going to get it. They handle what we¡¯d call race totally different here.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± As I said it, the implant explained what he meant. Race wasn¡¯t a thing here. The Abominators used skin, eye, and hair color to indicate which version of a project they were on, starting either from dark or pale skin. Most of the human genelines that the Abominators created could pass for Asian, Middle-eastern, Latin American, or Central American, depending on the geneline. Genelines that passed for European or African were genelines that the Abominator creator didn¡¯t change after the first version and then kept them isolated.


    Before Marcus could explain it, I said, ¡°My implant just gave me an infodump. How did I miss that and why didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Easy,¡± Marcus stopped leaning against the wall. ¡°You didn¡¯t talk with many people outside our group, right?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    Marcus grinned. ¡°Exactly. You, Jaclyn, and Cassie all look like the powered zealots that the Human Ascendancy would pull out when things get tough. So most people were too nervous to talk to you, but they did talk to me. I wondered why but its because I pass for normal here. So that¡¯s why the council was so nuts every time we met with them and why they wouldn¡¯t listen to us. I don¡¯t think they believe you¡¯re a nutjob but they think you look like one.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡± I thought about all the cues I must have missed. It made me feel like I needed to rethink every reaction I¡¯d received since arriving. ¡°I wish you¡¯d said something earlier.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s fair but I didn¡¯t get it either until right around when we caught Maru. I just knew something felt different. That¡¯s when I looked it all up.¡±


    I thought a little more. ¡°So maybe she won¡¯t understand it, but it seems like the kind of thing the basic cultural package should include. She¡¯d probably be fine.¡±


    Marcus closed his eyes for a moment. As he opened them, he continued, ¡°Yeah. She probably would be okay. Good point. Now I have to get up the nerve to ask her about it.¡±


    He blinked. ¡°Oh, crud. Jaclyn just messaged me to ask if I got you yet.¡±


    I opened the door. ¡°I guess we¡¯d better go.¡±

 Release the Hounds: Part 3

    We stepped into the hallway. It was little more than walls of an indeterminate gray material broken up by one door after another, all of them leading to rooms just like mine.


    As we walked toward the stairway, I asked Marcus, ¡°What about Sydney? No one ever said anything, but when I¡¯ve seen either of you in the last year, you¡¯ve mostly been together.¡±


    Marcus¡¯ walk slowed for a second. ¡°That¡¯s been complicated. We¡¯ve been interested in each other, but it¡¯s never been the right time. Her dad got shot at her brother¡¯s high school graduation. After that, Sean stopped speaking to her because she admitted that Camille was her half-sister and tried to get to know her. That went on for almost a year and for most of that time Haley, Sydney, Camille, and I were all of the Heroes¡¯ League that was active in Grand Lake. I know you were around, but you were busy with college and Stapledon, you know? Anyway, we didn¡¯t feel comfortable messing with our ¡®working¡¯ relationship.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said and we stopped at the bottom of the stairs.


    He shook his head. ¡°Her dad cheated on her mom for years, so she doesn¡¯t exactly trust guys, right? She¡¯s dated and then dumped three different guys since I¡¯ve known her. Plus, she knows she¡¯s kind of screwed up and she didn¡¯t want us to hate each other. Anyway, we were both freshly out of relationships this spring and beginning to think that maybe we could try something, but then this trip came up. So that¡¯s where that is.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Okay. Wow. I had no idea.¡±


    He leaned against the wall, nodding. ¡°We didn¡¯t make a big deal out of it. Right now I¡¯m feeling like it all worked out for the best. Tikki¡¯s so much more relaxed. Her parents are both dead and she lived under a dictatorship, but she¡¯s optimistic and sees life as an adventure. And I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯m walking on eggshells all the time, you know? It¡¯s fun¡ªwell, except that we may all die, but, I¡¯m feeling optimistic about that now that they can¡¯t hit us from orbit with a battleship.¡±


    I looked up the stairway. They had to hear that we were down here even if they didn¡¯t know what we were saying. ¡°Sometimes plans work,¡± I said.


    Marcus grinned. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that was the first time I¡¯ve been useful for this whole trip.¡±


    I put my foot on the step. ¡°You were useful when we saved Tikki from those Waroo mercenaries.¡±


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    He cocked his head. ¡°You know, that probably helped. There¡¯s nothing like showing up when someone¡¯s getting attacked to establish that you¡¯re one of the good guys. Still, I didn¡¯t do much even then. You and the plant did more fighting.¡±


    We both started walking up the stairs. Almost to himself, Marcus asked, ¡°I wonder where the Waroo are now?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said, but by then we were off the stairs and standing in the big room on the second floor.


    People filled the space. It felt like the big group scenes just before the final battle of a Star Wars movie¡ªor at least of A New Hope or Return of the Jedi. People stood or sat, wearing colorful clothes from cultures that I didn¡¯t recognize but my implant did, labelling them with notes that I could click on and explore. Some clothes were made of shiny futuristic materials. Others appeared to be leather (some of it scaled), furs, or coarse fibers. Those had been made here.


    Despite the resemblance to Star Wars, everyone looked human except for Katuk and the plant. Like everyone else though, they circled around a projection showing the colony and the land around it, featuring the positions of the enemy. Since I¡¯d last been awake, the Human Ascendancy had filled the starport¡¯s landing field with military shuttles. Beyond that, we¡¯d seen that they¡¯d filled the area between Landing and the next town over with camping soldiers and spacers.


    Everyone turned to watch us as we joined the group. Then, out of nowhere, people began to shout, hoot, cheer and clap. They backed away, opening up a path so that we could make our way to the middle and stand next to everyone else.


    Tikki kissed Marcus and people reached out to clap our shoulders or touch our costumes. It was a strange sensation. I wasn¡¯t sure if I¡¯d ever been in the middle of a group of people that I¡¯d helped right after I helped them. Most of the time, we disappeared into the shadows.


    As I reached the middle, Kals smiled at me. ¡°You don¡¯t know how much people in the resistance have wanted to do something like that. We¡¯ve had ships, but we¡¯ve never had anything that could take on a battleship. We¡¯ve got a chance to live now.¡±


    Next to me, Cassie leaned toward me, her ponytail swishing behind her head. ¡°Wait till you see the plan we worked out. We¡¯ve also got plenty of chances to die.¡±


    Past Cassie, Jaclyn kept her voice low and arms crossed, ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. We did our best for everyone.¡±


    At the front of the room, standing with the window opening out to the glow of the colony¡¯s buildings and streets behind her, Jadzen raised her arms and said, ¡°Please, we are all thankful for what they¡¯ve done, but we all know that there¡¯s more that we all have to do.¡±


    After a few seconds everyone stopped talking, reminding me of being in elementary school¡ªif Jadzen Akri were a third grade teacher and she was organizing her class to kill the fourth graders.


    That, in turn, made me wonder if we were in the middle of a retelling of The Magnificent Seven or, bearing in mind that we were marooned on what was metaphorically a desert island, what if this were a retelling of The Lord of the Flies?

 Release the Hounds: Part 4

    ¡°Now,¡± Jadzen said, moving her eyes across the group, ¡°we have at least three different problems left. First, while there may be more of us than them, they¡¯re all trained military and we aren¡¯t. Second, they still have the shuttles, fighters, and military equipment. We don¡¯t have much military equipment. Third, they had members of the Ascendant Guard, the First Ascendant¡¯s elite forces, on the Annihilation¡ªtwo of whom we¡¯ve been told about¡ªNeves and Kamia. There may be more. In addition, they have a motivator¡ªAgent 957. We have members of the Xiniti nation, but they can¡¯t solve all of our problems. We will have to fight along with them.


    ¡°Our plan is to make their numbers a disadvantage, damage or destroy their ships, and hope that between the Xiniti and ourselves, we can handle what¡¯s left.¡±


    I raised my hand. ¡°You know where I¡¯d start? Those force field generators you¡¯ve got. I was looking over the design with my implant and it looks like you could set a timer that would turn off the force field. After that, though, you could change the width of the projection to something really thin, maybe monomolecular, and rake across the ships. I don¡¯t know how long the power would last after that, but you¡¯d poke holes in the ships and it would open the whole place up for the animals.¡±


    Two men on the other side of the circle from me laughed. Both wore homespun clothes with grey, blocky weapons holstered on their hips. Short and narrow-faced, they might have been brothers. I thought I remembered seeing them with Alanna¡¯s tech group.


    ¡°We¡¯re not laughing at you,¡± one of them said. ¡°I¡¯ve been telling Sian over here that someone would figure it out eventually.¡±


    The other guy¡ªSian, presumably, gave a slow grin that reminded me a little of Lee. I didn¡¯t feel the telltale hint that he was an inhuman, eldritch being from beyond time, but I did have a gut feeling that the two of them were casual killers.


    Sian leaned over the glowing map between us. ¡°We¡¯ve been using the technique for assassinations back home. We have a list of spots where making little holes will disable a shuttle. Asan and I are still calculating if the shield generators will have enough power, but they should.¡±


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    The other guy¡ªAsan¡ªsaid, ¡°Look, from what we¡¯ve got so far, I¡¯m 99% certain it will work.¡±


    Jadzen didn¡¯t let them go any further. ¡°We¡¯ve been watching the Ascendancy camp from a distance and they seem to be fighting among themselves¡ªnot an all-out civil war, but we saw what appears to be the naval commander¡¯s body on the ground near one of the shuttles. Since then, there have been a number of murders among the naval staff¡ª¡°


    Sian muttered, ¡°The agent¡¯s consolidating power.¡±


    Jadzen glanced over at him and frowned but continued, ¡°and they don¡¯t appear to have organized any kind of patrol schedule with the fighters yet or replaced the codes on our shield generators with their own. Since the starport is now nearly empty of people, Sian and Asan will use the shield generators to damage the shuttles and the fighters. Meanwhile, our people will herd the native megafauna toward their main camp. When they arrive, the shields will be down except for the shields around the towns themselves, and the animals will be able to charge and attack whatever they like.


    ¡°We know that after we do this, they¡¯ll retaliate. It¡¯s possible that they¡¯ll try to find us in the tunnels and it¡¯s certain that someone will have the technology to find us. We¡¯re going to hope that they¡¯re too busy to try, but if that happens, those of us remaining in the caves will resist. We¡¯ll let those of you outside the caves know if we can¡¯t handle what we¡¯re facing, but your primary responsibility will be to find and capture or kill the leadership¡ªAgent 957 and the Ascendancy¡¯s guard.¡±


    It sounded reasonable even if finding the leadership in the chaos of a big fight would be harder than it sounded. I asked our group with my implant.


    Katuk sent back, ¡°Our implants can monitor Ascendancy battle communications if we¡¯re in range. I believe we have a realistic chance.¡±


    I checked the implant¡¯s data on secret communication methods that they¡¯d broken and the Xiniti had broken quite a few¡ªboth enemies and allies. I doubted that the Hrrnna and the Alliance would be happy to find out how much the Xiniti had access to, but I wasn¡¯t planning to tell anyone.


    Jadzen went on, assigning people to specific duties, but we were set. As she talked, I checked with the group. ¡°Just to get this straight, but we¡¯re all going in with the animals, right?¡±


    A few feet down the circle from me, Jaclyn gave a lopsided smile, sending back, ¡°That¡¯s it. They¡¯ll be sending people with us to start the animals going and Crawls-Through-Desert will be directing us and supporting forces from a distance since he¡¯s experienced at that sort of thing.¡±


    Near Jaclyn, Cassie shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s what I meant when I said we¡¯d have a lot of chances to die. We¡¯re going into battle on the backs of a herd of crazed animals. It¡¯s going to be fun, but is it crazy? Hell, yes.¡±

 Release the Hounds: Part 5

    Thirty minutes later found us outside in the warm sun, standing upwind of a field that was inland and slightly to the north of the settlement.


    The creatures in the field reminded me of both elephants and rhinoceroses. They had grey, wrinkled skins, tusks like elephants, but with the long, wide snout of the rhinoceros and a small horn on the top of the snout. Their upright, triangular ears made me think of wild boar. Their wide legs made me think of tree trunks.


    They had all of an elephant¡¯s size, and maybe more. I wasn¡¯t sure how tall elephants were, but the smallest of these creatures had to be taller than 30 feet at the shoulder.


    As they grazed, scooping up huge mouthfuls of the green, waist-high grass, I could only wonder how much they ate in a day.


    Jaclyn stood next to me, looking out at the herd. ¡°I hate this,¡± she said.


    I glanced over at her. ¡°Yeah?¡±


    She sighed. ¡°You remember back when Rook kidnapped Cassie and we broke into his base? You got stuck running all of that. You offered it to me and I didn¡¯t take it.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I remembered it well. She¡¯d been right not to let me hand it off to her. I¡¯d started it moving and it wouldn¡¯t have been fair to dump it on her.


    She crossed her arms over her chest. ¡°I hope we all live through this. If we don¡¯t, it will be my fault.¡±


    ¡°Not entirely. We¡¯re all going to make our own decisions. Some of them won¡¯t be the best, but they¡¯ll mostly be our own fault.¡± I watched her face. This was a bad time to have a crisis of confidence.


    I couldn¡¯t read much. Her face barely moved until she gave a half-smile. ¡°It¡¯s nice of you to say so, but remember what you did. When you heard they were pumping the base full of nerve gas, you sent Izzy and me back and you went on alone. We only came in at the end. I wish I could do that. Then I know you¡¯d all be safe.¡±


    She let out a breath. ¡°If Marcus dies, I won¡¯t even be able to explain how he died to his mom and dad. The block¡¯s still working full force for them.¡±


    It was my turn to sigh. ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t know what to say. I¡¯m sure Agent Lim will help you come up with something, but I¡¯m sure that¡¯s not what you want. Do you want me to take over?¡±


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    She grinned. ¡°No. I know this one¡¯s mine, but you can have it if I go down.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s kind of dark.¡± Maybe this was a crisis of confidence.


    She laughed. ¡°It¡¯s realistic. We have to plan for it even if it¡¯s only temporary. You know the plan and they¡¯ll listen to you. That¡¯s what we need. And don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯m sure that half of the reason I¡¯m worried is that they wouldn¡¯t let me leave the dog back in the cave.¡±


    Tiger paced up and down in front of the group of us and looked over at Jaclyn before sitting down. He seemed bigger than I remembered. He¡¯d been listening better than I expected as well. As willing to eat humans as the adults appeared to be, Tiger seemed to have been born to be domesticated. He¡¯d learned to follow Jaclyn¡¯s orders better than dogs from home.


    As I thought about that, the implant gave me a vision of dogs like Tiger fighting Xiniti at the side of Abominators and their human slaves. Though I could feel that there was more to learn, I didn¡¯t go into it. For the moment, I knew enough. They¡¯d probably been created by the Abominators to serve humans, much as normal dogs did on Earth.


    Near us, Marcus eyed the herd, possibly painting it in his head. Cassie had pulled her gun from its holster on her thigh and was pointing it past the herd toward the settlement¡ªprobably using its sensors. Katuk stood completely still and watched the beasts.


    That wasn¡¯t everyone. Maru had volunteered to go with us. He knew the creatures, the terrain, and my tech blocked his powers. If Alanna¡¯s implant modifications tried to force him to betray us, he wouldn¡¯t be able to. That wouldn¡¯t be true back in the cave.


    He walked up to us. Short with dark hair, he wore a jacket and pants that changed color to match the grass as he walked. He wasn¡¯t invisible, but he might be from a distance.


    Stopping in front of us, he bowed. ¡°How are you handling it? I hate moments like this. You¡¯re ready, but you can¡¯t do a thing until someone else gets into position.¡±


    Jaclyn let her hands drop to her sides. ¡°I¡¯m doing fine. We¡¯re all going to do fine. In case you didn¡¯t know, Nick¡¯s my second in command. He¡¯ll do fine too.¡±


    Maru smiled. ¡°That all we can hope for. I plan to do fine too. And in case you didn¡¯t know, my voice won¡¯t compel the creatures down there like it does humans, but it will help.¡±


    Nodding, Jaclyn said, ¡°Thanks for telling me. I guessed when you volunteered, but I didn¡¯t know.¡±


    Crawls-Through-Desert¡¯s voice sounded in our heads. ¡°We¡¯re on track to be in position in two minutes. You can start.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± Jaclyn sent back and the plant ended the call. By then we were all looking at her. She said. ¡°You heard what I heard. It¡¯s time to get moving. Remember that you have to be scary enough to start them running but not scary enough to start them fighting. Let¡¯s go!¡±


    We started running on to the plain, aiming for a herd of creatures that seemed go on for as far as we could see. People shouted. The dog began to bark. I turned on the sonics, wondering what frequency would work best.

 Release the Hounds: Part 6

    The shouting didn¡¯t do anything. A few of the giant elephant/rhinoceros things looked over at us without much interest. The ones nearest the dog made grunting noises and began to sniff the wind, a good idea except that we were upwind. Then a few began to move forward, away from the barking, swinging their heads around to look for the noise.


    When they saw the dog, one of them made a deep noise somewhere between a growl and a roar. Some of the smaller ones bolted away, but the large one turned toward us.


    We weren¡¯t intimidating enough, and why would we be? Judging from the Rocket suit¡¯s readouts, the nearby creatures ranged from two to thirty tons.


    I narrowcast a barrage of noises at the large one, hoping that one of them would hurt it, but even better, hurt it in a way that made it run away instead of at us.


    It didn¡¯t run, but it did back up a step.


    Not intimidated at all, Tiger kept on barking and even growled at it. The creature growled back and I considered giving up the sonics, but didn¡¯t. I¡¯d used the setting where an algorithm cycled through sounds, and we weren¡¯t done.


    As it hit a collection of high pitched notes, all of them at noise levels that hurt the human ear, the creature wheeled away and ran after the smaller ones, stopping some hundred feet away and turning to face us. The smaller ones had stopped just past it, turning sideways to watch us out of one eye.


    Tiger kept on barking but he didn¡¯t run ahead, staying near Jaclyn, and then it stopped running when she did.


    By that time, we¡¯d all stopped shouting.


    Cassie gave a short laugh, put the gun back into its holster, and crossed her arms over her chest. ¡°Well, that¡¯s going to be harder than you¡¯d think. You want me to start shooting at them? We¡¯ve got to get these suckers moving.¡±


    Jaclyn exhaled. ¡°I think you¡¯ll have to. Can you burn them without hurting them much? Because we don¡¯t want to kill them. Maru, you said you could affect them. Can you make them uneasy? Because if you start with that, and then we start with the dog and whatever noise Nick made with the sonics, and if we were far enough away from each other that we got a bunch of them moving¡­ Well, we might get all of them going.¡±


    She looked over at Maru. ¡°Are you going to be able to keep up or will I have to carry you?¡±


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    In a quiet but still penetrating voice, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll be able to keep up.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Once we get them going, we¡¯ll need to keep them on track. Tiger and I will stay on the right side. Nick go to the left. Everyone else can go where you¡¯re needed, but you¡¯ll probably end up at the back at first.


    ¡°Alright, we know that Maru¡¯s going to start. Cassie¡¯s going to shoot¡ª¡°


    Cassie shook her head, raising her voice to say, ¡°I¡¯m giving them a light show first. If that doesn¡¯t work then, yeah, I¡¯ll shoot.¡±


    Near Cassie, Katuk said, "I will create light and fire off my weapons as well."


    Jaclyn nodded. Turning to look at Marcus, Jaclyn asked, ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    Marcus grew to 12 feet high with skinny legs and arms and a featureless face. Tentacles grew out of his back while his League uniform turned into a black suit.


    Jaclyn¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Slenderman? Seriously? They¡¯re alien herd animals. They don¡¯t know their memes.¡±


    Marcus shrugged, using his shoulders and all of the tentacles. ¡°I need the legs to keep up with you guys and I really think they¡¯ll find the tentacles scary.¡±


    Jaclyn started to reply, stopped, took a breath and said, ¡°Fine. Just keep up, but don¡¯t rule out imitating Tiger. I think that would work better.¡±


    Maru cocked his head and looked up at Marcus. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll scare the beasts, but I think you¡¯ll scare the men. We have legends about things that look like that.¡±


    Marcus peered down at him, mouthless face opening to say, ¡°No kidding. That¡¯s crazy.¡±


    Jaclyn held up her hands. ¡°Whoa. Let¡¯s not go down this road. Maru do your thing. Everyone else, wait for my say so, but then do what you do.¡±


    The first time Maru had been shouting with the rest of us except that his shouts had the queer tone that activated our defenses. This time he imitated the creatures¡¯ grunts and the noises the large one had made as the smaller ones ran off, but still with that same queer tone.


    His voice rose in volume, activating my suit which started to buzz. At the same time, the herd beasts turned to look at us, making grunts and multi-note whistles that sounded nervous to my ears. As he grew louder, so did they, and it wasn¡¯t just the nearest beasts that seemed nervous. Every one of them in sight began to look around or sniff the air.


    When Tiger began to bark, a few of them ran away, darting across the field. A few of them followed. Then Jaclyn waived to Cassie and I. Cassie raised the gun and pulled the trigger. Instead of a burning beam that killed what it touched, bursts of bright light came from the gun in no particular rhythm.


    More beasts began to run. Not all of them kept on running once they started but enough ran that I could hear footsteps thunder across the field.


    I fired off the sonics and this time I wasn¡¯t narrowcasting. Everyone could hear and not just my target. I set the sonic device on my left arm to blast the frequencies that worked earlier on and off. I set the device on my right arm to randomly blast other frequencies at extreme decibel levels and sometimes dog barks.


    During my first barrage of the new sounds, the creatures began to run. I took off, flying toward the left side of the herd, but aiming my sonics toward the middle. Behind me, the rest of our group began to follow the herd.


    For all that it was true that the creatures could not possibly recognize Marcus¡¯ shape, I couldn¡¯t deny that the combination of spindly limbs and waving tentacles was creepy.

 Release the Hounds: Part 7

    As the creatures gained speed, I realized that I could hear their feet hitting the ground from the air. It was the sound a thousand bass drums might have made if they¡¯d been played by elephants with a poor sense of rhythm, a cacophony of thumping noises that overlapped each other.


    I¡¯d worried that Cassie¡¯s gun or my sonic weapons might warn the Human Ascendancy¡¯s forces of our attack, but it didn¡¯t matter. The creatures¡¯ running drowned out everything we could have attempted.


    Thanks to the Rocket suit, I had the best view of anyone. As Jadzen Akri had described, the Ascendancy troops weren¡¯t organized. People at the far end of the camp stood at attention while on the other end of the camp, they stood in groups, many of them holding weapons or holding their ears.


    At the same time, people from the organized end of the camp walked out of formation, accompanied by guards. When they reached the groups of milling people, the groups would break up and join the formation.


    Through our implants, Jaclyn asked, ¡°What are they doing? Do they know we¡¯re coming?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I watched as one group shot a man from the formation only to line up themselves as another shouted at them from another side. ¡°It looks like one group is trying to get control and the rest are resisting the motivators, but I don¡¯t think their hearts are in it.¡±


    I angled the sonics downward as a group of the beasts began to veer away from the main group. Giving them a blast of high pitched noise followed by tiger-terrier barks inspired them to rejoin the main group. For all I knew, the barks were enough.


    Maru spoke through the implant link. ¡°It¡¯s the agent. The spacers and soldiers aren¡¯t comfortable with him running things, but they also aren¡¯t comfortable openly rebelling. The motivators will have them in minutes. It¡¯s not hard to use that.¡±


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    He might have said more but Crawls-Through-Desert¡¯s voice. ¡°We¡¯re in position and turning off the shields. Are you ready?¡±


    Jaclyn said, ¡°Yes. We¡¯ll be another 30 seconds. Does that look right to you, Rocket?¡±


    I used my helmet¡¯s HUD to measure the distance. ¡°That works.¡±


    It didn¡¯t feel like thirty seconds and maybe it wasn¡¯t. Maybe we gained speed as we went. It felt like we did. As we grew closer, the formation broke. Why it had held, I didn¡¯t know. Maru might have. It was most likely simple to explain. My best guess was that it had been hard enough to get people into formation that they didn¡¯t want to let them out.


    I saw the people run in all directions, grabbing for weapons or trying to escape.


    No one appeared to be listening to anyone when the glow of the force fields faded, leaving the open area past the town of Landing unprotected. At the same time, the shields around the shuttles turned into thin lines and began to cut.


    The shields around the towns stayed up, but it did no good for the Ascendancy¡¯s people. They couldn¡¯t go through.


    The Rocket suit didn¡¯t include cameras good enough to see emotions on people¡¯s faces as the first wave of creatures hit and I felt grateful for that. There were so many beasts and so many people that the creatures weren¡¯t even trying to hit. They were only trying to run between the gap between the two towns with glowing force fields¡ªexcept that there were so many of them that they had to stay close.


    The Ascendancy soldiers dodged, and ran. A few of them flew, but it didn¡¯t matter. They couldn¡¯t move quickly enough to avoid being trampled. They were buried under a gray wave.


    That¡¯s not to say that they didn¡¯t try. Weapons fired. Lines of bright light hit creatures in the herd, killing them or hurting them, but not enough to stop the herd from coming.


    A few of the one man fighters made it into the air, but they made it into the air with wings broken and damaged grav plates. The constant wobbling made it clear that they were lucky to be in the air at all.


    One started to take shots at the herd (or maybe at us) before its wild shots made it clear that it couldn¡¯t hit anything. It wheeled around to limp after the other fighters.


    When the gray wave of beasts finally broke and the herd made it out the other side, we could see what we¡¯d done. From one side to the other, everything appeared to be flat, from vehicles to people. It wasn¡¯t literally flat, but it felt that way.


    Tents, small buildings, and small vehicles had all been smashed. People too.


    That had been the plan, but a plan was abstract whereas the blood and broken bodies were real.

 Release the Hounds: Part 8

    I couldn¡¯t do anything about the death and destruction now and I reminded myself that we¡¯d done this because we didn¡¯t have the ability to meet them in a fair fight without losing a lot of civilians.


    Looking past the force fields, I saw that not everyone had died. One hundred, maybe two hundred of the Ascendancy¡¯s people had run out the other side of the field and were watching as the last of the creatures ran across the field and out towards the forest and fields on the other side.


    As much as they must have been terrified and freaking out after watching their ship die and their crewmates trampled by giant space elephants, some of them were with it enough to begin firing at me. Flashes of light hit my suit and I felt heat across my chest.


    I dove, dipping below one hundred feet, the height of the force fields. They stopped firing or at least stopped hitting. I wheeled around, heading back toward the rest of our group. ¡°Hey everyone, you saw that, right? Do we have any reason to go after the rest of them?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Jaclyn waved at Katuk and the both of them turned around to join Maru, Cassie, Marcus and the dog.


    Even as I turned, more shots came across the field at me, none of them hitting for the moment. Checking my HUD showed that some of the Ascendancy soldiers had taken cover behind the corners of the fields and were shooting at the group of us. We weren¡¯t close, so they weren¡¯t hitting, but they¡¯d hit if we stuck around.


    I flew across the dead and damaged, finding that Cassie and Katuk were firing back, Cassie with her gun and Katuk with a gun that had formed on the right arm of his armor.


    Through my implant, Jaclyn said, ¡°Nick grab Cassie, Katuk take Maru, and I¡¯ll take Marcus and the dog.¡±


    Marcus¡¯ body warped and shifted as he dove toward Tiger, surrounding the dog¡¯s body with grey goo and sprouting wings. ¡°Form of winged dog crate!¡±


    Tiger whined and bent over to sniff his stomach, barely having time to try it before Marcus grabbed Jaclyn¡¯s shoulders and she started running.


    ¡°Tell you what,¡± Cassie told me as stepped toward her, ¡°put me over your shoulder and I¡¯ll keep on firing.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t shoot my legs, okay?¡± I picked her up and gave the rockets fuel.


    Gasping as the Rocket suit shot forward, pushing my shoulder into her stomach, she said, ¡°This is the worst way to fly!¡±


    Even as she said it, she¡¯d already started firing. Beams of bright light shot backward, throwing up chunks of soil, bouncing off the force fields, and keeping the Ascendancy soldiers back behind cover.


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    She didn¡¯t shoot my legs, but I was happier when I wasn¡¯t watching her fire.


    We kept up with Jaclyn and Katuk, staying low and whipping around the corner. Cassie stopped firing. ¡°It looks like they¡¯re heading toward the landing field.¡±


    ¡°They probably don¡¯t know about the team that destroyed the shuttles.¡± I landed next to everyone and let Cassie stand on her own two feet.


    Cassie watched the Ascendancy soldiers go. They were running about as quickly as Cassie or Maru could run¡ªmuch slower than Jaclyn, but fast enough that they¡¯d be down there in minutes.


    Katuk watched them for a moment. ¡°Crawls-Through-Desert, the Ascendancy group is running in your direction. Do you require assistance?¡±


    The plant¡¯s response came in a short burst. ¡°How many of them?¡±


    Katuk glanced toward the field and said, ¡°Perhaps one hundred.¡±


    I followed his gaze. He was right. They¡¯d left maybe half of the survivors and sent them into the field to search for people to save. I didn¡¯t begrudge them that. I¡¯d have helped if I could.


    The plant said, ¡°We¡¯re going to hide. Get over here and extract us. Watch for the Agent and the Guardsmen and while you¡¯re at it, don¡¯t underestimate the rest of them. They¡¯re probably all powered and all marines.¡±


    The group heading toward the landing field had already disappeared behind the town of Landing. The plan had been to hit the group and then withdraw. Crawls-Through-Desert¡¯s group was only large enough to do its job¡ªtake out the force field. We hadn¡¯t gone any larger because Hal¡¯s prediction was that the survivors had a good chance of heading to the tunnels if Agent 957 still led them after the attack.


    Jaclyn turned to the group of us, ¡°You know what this means?¡±


    Marcus¡¯ mouth twisted. ¡°More dog crate duty.¡±


    ¡°More flying,¡± Cassie holstered the gun. ¡°Let¡¯s get it over with.¡±


    Maru frowned. ¡°We don¡¯t have time to waste.¡±


    ¡°Then let¡¯s try to stay together. Follow each other¡¯s position with your implants if you get separated.¡± Jaclyn glanced over at Marcus and he started to change.


    Cassie looked up at me. ¡°This time around just carry me. It¡¯s still going to be awkward, but at least I won¡¯t get the wind knocked out of me.¡±


    It felt like it took more time to get ready than fly over there. We passed the town of Landing in a blur, touching down next to the lower edge of the town¡¯s force shield, allowing us to look down the hill at the shuttles. At first look, the damage wasn¡¯t obvious. They were all intact. The force shield around the landing area was even still up. The Rocket suit¡¯s sensors showed warm spots under the shuttles where the beams cut pieces out.


    Crawls-Through-Desert, Tikki, Kals, a small group of armed townspeople, and Asan and Sian, the techs responsible for the force shields stood waiting for us there.


    That was the good news. The bad news was that we could see the Ascendancy troops on the other side of the landing field, standing out against the grass, the force fields giving them ablue glow. Judging from the soldiers¡¯ armor and equipment, I knew they¡¯d be over here soon.


    The plant¡¯s fronds rustled. ¡°We need to move.¡±


    We weren¡¯t going to be able to carry all these people across the fields and over to the caverns or take on all of the soldiers directly.


    Sian and Asan looked at each other. ¡°We can open the shields and cut through town. We know where the explosives are. They don¡¯t.¡±


    We looked at each other. It seemed like a bad idea whose time had come.

 Release the Hounds: Part 9

    ¡°Do it.¡± The turret popped out of the bottom of Crawls-Through-Desert¡¯s pot.


    Asan and Sian ran toward the nearest force field pole and the nearest section of wall stopped glowing. We all ran inside and the blue glow appeared behind us.


    The plant waved a branch toward the hill. ¡°Run into town. Once we get out of sight we¡¯ll decide where we want to come out. Don¡¯t go into any buildings without my permission.¡±


    That left us running up the same path we¡¯d taken when we¡¯d landed on Hideaway even if it wasn¡¯t the same place. Right next to the starport, the force fields only protected a path up the hill. Here, near the lower edge of town, the force fields protected an area almost as wide as the town.


    On the far side of the force field, the Ascendancy troops would have to go entirely down to the starport and possibly around it in order to catch up to us, assuming we stayed on this side of the town. We¡¯d probably have to, considering that the caverns were also on this side of town.


    Overall, it wasn¡¯t a bad plan. If we started running from where we¡¯d been, it was mostly open fields between here and the caverns, meaning they¡¯d be able to take potshots at us from a distance the entire way. This way, it would be hard to guess where we¡¯d come out of the force field, and even if they had people who could take down or fly over the walls, we knew the streets of Landing better.


    With any luck, we wouldn¡¯t have to find out either how effective their armor was or how effective their weapons were on us. Thinking back to how much time Hal had spent running me through space combat simulations, I felt all too aware that I hadn¡¯t done as many first person shooters set in space, meaning I didn¡¯t know the Ascendancy¡¯s hand to hand combat tools and techniques anywhere near as well.


    Also, the soldiers¡¯ body shapes and sure movements reminded me of Haley and Travis. That worried me.


    It didn¡¯t take long before we¡¯d reached the first full block of houses. We jogged down the dirt road, moving down the cross street and out the view of anyone who might be watching.


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    Thinking about that, I released a couple spybots so that if anyone did fly down from the sky I¡¯d see it.


    Kals caught up with me as we ran, sending a message directly to my implant. ¡°How did it go? I know that it worked because you made it here, but how many more do we have to worry about?¡±


    I told her. ¡°This is about half of the uninjured survivors. The other half is searching the camp for anyone they can still save.¡±


    She stared at me for a moment. ¡°That¡¯s a lot more dead at once than I expected. How was Maru?¡±


    I checked the spybots feed in my HUD. Nothing. So I answered her, ¡°He did fine. He helped get the herd moving. He didn¡¯t try to betray us.¡±


    She grinned. ¡°I didn¡¯t think he would. My mom was worried about him. She didn¡¯t think he should go so soon after everything Alanna made him do. She was worried he might take crazy chances to prove himself.¡±


    ¡°Maru?¡± He didn¡¯t seem like a crazy chances kind of guy.


    She checked over her shoulder. ¡°I didn¡¯t think so either. Hey¡­ I need to go back and push some of our people to keep up. Talk to you later.¡±


    I checked behind us in my HUD. She was right. Three of the rifle-carrying townspeople were lagging behind. Kals turned and ran back to join them, running and talking alongside them, keeping her voice low.


    The most interesting thing to me was that my anti-voice defenses never buzzed, meaning that she wasn¡¯t using her power to get them moving. It was something to respect at least.


    I glanced over at Maru. He ran next to a few of the other townspeople without saying anything. For all I knew, he could be having a long and drawn out conversation via implant with one of them. On the other hand, in his place, I wouldn¡¯t be in a hurry to use my implant. So it might be that he was just running next to them, but didn¡¯t want to talk because he didn¡¯t know what they would say.


    Crawls-Through-Desert whirled around, stopping in front of a block of eggshell shaped houses. ¡°We¡¯re close to leaving Landing. If we follow this street out, we¡¯ll have some cover from trees and there¡¯s a ridge that we can follow. It should give us cover at least part of the way there and we¡¯ve got a floating platform hidden nearby. Follow me.¡±


    Near me, Jaclyn said, ¡°It¡¯s nice not to be in charge.¡±


    At the same time, I saw a flash of light, but not in front of me¡ªin my HUD. I found it after searching frantically through the pictures. It wasn¡¯t the flash I found though. It was the flash¡¯s creator.


    The spybots were high enough that their pictures showed only the upper parts of row after row of egg-shaped buildings, some larger than others. At least ten of the Ascendancy¡¯s troops hung by their claws on the sloping walls, leaping toward us.

 Release the Hounds: Part 10

    I sent everyone a picture of the troops jumping from one eggshell to another along with the thought, ¡°Are we upwind or downwind of them?¡±


    It wasn¡¯t as if I could feel that inside the suit.


    ¡°No wind,¡± Cassie sent back, pointing her gun upward and shouting, ¡°Incoming!¡±


    My bots showed the Ascendancy troops two rows off from us, but that didn¡¯t matter. They knew where we were and they were leaping between the houses in the nearest row to get at us.


    The first one to jump died before he landed, hit by a bright beam from Cassie¡¯s gun that burned through his chest and out his back. As for myself, I fired off goobots. Some people might see that as taking the situation insufficiently seriously but I saw it differently. I only had so many killbots along and didn¡¯t know if my standard bulletbots or boombots would pierce their armor.


    The goobots, on the other hand, stuck to armor.


    I hit the guy right behind Cassie¡¯s hit with a goobot that covered the guy in goo with strands of goo flying far enough behind him that they stuck to the nearest house. He never reached the ground. His momentum carried him in front of the house, sticking him to it fifteen feet above the ground.


    Claws didn¡¯t help him get away. His arms stuck in the goo as it hardened.


    Out of the corners of my eyes, I saw the rest of the fight even though I couldn¡¯t give it the attention it deserved¡ªKatuk firing beam from his arms and then the middle of his chest, Jaclyn jumping to meet one of the soldiers in the air, Marcus stretching upward to grab someone in the air, and the townspeople¡¯s marksmen firing constantly.


    It would have gone perfectly if they were less agile or stupider, but instead of continuing to come in from the direction we expected to see them, they changed course, splitting up, landing on the street to the right or the left of the group.


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    I wheeled around to help. While I don¡¯t know exactly how close the Ascendancy¡¯s troops were to Haley or Travis in performance, my estimate is that they were close enough.


    I couldn¡¯t hit either one easily when they were close enough for hand to hand combat and I couldn¡¯t hit these guys either. According to Haley, it was agility, but that understated their better than human senses. The combination of both was hard to deal with though.


    I fired a goobot at one after he landed on the street in a crouch, but he smacked the bot into the street and jumped away before it expanded onto him.


    With a jump and a slash of his hand, he made a long gash across the stomach of one of the townspeople. He would have gone for the person¡¯s belly again except that Maru leaned in to kick the soldier in the chest, knocking him backward into a roll. He jumped forward toward Maru except that Maru had pulled out a pistol and shot the soldier in the faceplate of his helmet.


    The soldier fell backward and lay on the street.


    Meanwhile, Tikki had pulled the injured townsperson into the darkened sphere of time manipulation that she¡¯d called up. I barely had time to speculate that she might be able to accelerate healing when I noticed another soldier leaping toward the road from an eggshell house.


    I tagged him with a goobot, which, like the last one, expanded to stick to the nearest house. Only this time the house was two houses down the street from where we were, something we were grateful for because the house exploded.


    Pieces of the house fell into the street, all of them covered with black scorch marks, and still burning. The same could be said of the guy I¡¯d covered with goo.


    I didn¡¯t have time to wonder who would rig their home to be that easy to explode or think too hard about the guy who¡¯d just died. More Ascendancy soldiers were landing on the street than I¡¯d seen with my bots, meaning that they were coming from another direction as well or that I¡¯d been wrong about there being ten of them earlier. It also meant we were in a real danger of being overwhelmed.


    One landed on top of me as I checked my HUD to see if anyone needed my help.


    The Ascendancy fighter hit the base of my neck with enough force to leave me paralyzed or dead if I hadn¡¯t been wearing armor. Since I was armored, I fell forward. I didn¡¯t have a clever countermove for handling this, but my reaction time was good enough that I grabbed the man¡¯s legs. So even though I fell forward, so did he, hitting the street.


    It didn¡¯t damage either of us much, but I had the presence of mind to let go of one leg and fire a goobot up his body as we hit the ground, gluing his entire right leg, left thigh and right arm into one position.

 Release The Hounds: Part 11

    Then I let go of his other leg and stood up, leaving him stuck to the ground.


    I checked my HUD for threats, seeing more Ascendancy soldiers dropping in from above. One dropped off to my right, clearly expecting that I wouldn¡¯t be ready to fight yet. I didn¡¯t hesitate. As he turned to rake me with his claws, I punched him in the chest¡ªhard. The armor gave and he flew backward, tumbling a few times and not getting up off the street.


    I turned my attention back to our group, finding that the townspeople had retreated into Tikki¡¯s globe¡ªwhich had expanded a good ten feet in diameter.


    Kals and Maru fought Ascendancy soldiers but didn¡¯t use their voices to do it. That would have been a mystery, but the implant cleared it up. The Ascendancy regularly fought other Abominator influenced human civilizations. Their troops¡¯ helmets filtered out external motivators and allowed Ascendancy motivators to command them through the helmet while allowing environmental noises.


    That left Kals and Maru to fight using their fists or guns. They were good at it. They used pistols to keep the Ascendancy soldiers at a distance and then when soldiers closed, they were both fast enough to dodge while the other one fired a pistol.


    They took care of two of them that way that I saw¡ªpossibly more.


    That¡¯s to say that they worked as a team. They had to. They were better than a normal person, but not fast enough to face an Ascendancy soldier alone. While they weren¡¯t without armor (their jacket and pants seemed stiffer than clothes), they weren¡¯t as armored as the soldiers. I suspected a solid hit could kill either of them.


    I checked my ammunition levels. I had five killbots and I knew I had to save them. If I didn¡¯t, I¡¯d encounter something big and they¡¯d be gone. Beyond that, I had 100 standard bots, 50 boombots, and 32 goobots.


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    Once I ran out, I¡¯d have to depend on my sonics or my laser. In the meantime, I decided to do what I could to make their lives easier.


    I shot one that was coming straight for me with a goobot, making him immobile and fired off a series of standard bots at one of the two soldiers that had landed near Kals and Maru. As expected, the bots didn¡¯t pierce the soldier¡¯s armor, but the series of five hits to his helmet and chest knocked him sideways and put me higher on his kill list.


    He leaped at me, reaching out with his claws and leaning sideways to avoid my shot even as I aimed my arms in his direction¡ªexcept that I used the sonics. I expected that his equipment would filter out an attack on his ears, but I attacked his technology, hoping maybe I¡¯d hit a frequency that damaged his filters.


    It didn¡¯t happen soon enough.


    He landed off to my left, flanking me, striking my ribcage. Protected by my suit, I didn¡¯t take any real damage, but it knocked me backward. I didn¡¯t fall over, but I did stumble and he took advantage of it, reaching out with both his arms to grab at me, probably with the intent of ripping my armor apart.


    Before that happened, his helmet made an audible cracking noise and he froze for a second. I fired the laser under my left arm, burning a hole through his right leg.


    The soldier fell over and I stepped backward to avoid being hit by him.


    At about the same time, another Ascendancy soldier slashed at Kals with his claws. Kals stepped back, avoiding it, but slashed at the soldier with a knife. He avoided it by jumping sideways, landing to her right, flanking her.


    Maru and she had been fighting with Tikki¡¯s bubble of time distortion at their backs, making it impossible for anyone to approach them from behind. It also meant that they couldn¡¯t back up because the moment they touched the bubble, they¡¯d find themselves moving slower, allowing themselves to be attacked while they were halfway in and halfway out.


    Kals couldn¡¯t back up to avoid her attacker because she¡¯d be vulnerable to more attacks, couldn¡¯t go left because she¡¯d bump Maru and couldn¡¯t go forward without opening up her back to the soldier flanking her or becoming the target of another soldier.


    Maru stepped sideways, moving in front of her and aiming his pistol at the soldier. When he pulled the trigger though, it didn¡¯t fire.


    The Ascendancy soldier leaped at him, grabbing Maru¡¯s pistol hand and then ripped right through Maru¡¯s armor, tearing out his intestines with the other hand.


    Kals drove her knife into the soldier¡¯s neck, cutting most of the way through. The soldier fell.

 Release the Hounds: Part 12

    Moments like that cause you to rethink what you¡¯ve been doing. I¡¯d left 60 bots out of my calculations. In addition to the others, I had 20 observation bots, 20 spybots and 20 EMP bots. I¡¯d left out the observation bots and spybots because they weren¡¯t much use in a fight and the EMP bots because I¡¯d been assuming Ascendancy soldiers would be using equipment hardened against EMP bots at my tech level.


    When I considered the question in that moment, the implant gave me the Ascendancy equipment''s known specs and I compared them to my bots.


    Instants later, I fired off ten of the 20 EMP bots, targeting all the nearest soldiers. On Earth, I might have used one, but now I knew what would work here.


    The bots set off a simultaneous blast of static that filled all the channels my suit and implant were monitoring. Both devices worked well enough to filter it out, but reports scrolled down my readouts. Over my implant, I flashed Kals what I¡¯d done, making clear the important detail that their helmets shouldn¡¯t be able to filter her voice out anymore.


    She probably could have guessed. The moment the EMP bots exploded, the soldiers ripped at their helmets, claws out, tearing chunks away.


    She shouted, ¡°Surrender!¡±


    When they held their hands up in the air, she told them, ¡°Watch to see if anyone attacks us. If they do, attack them!¡±


    With that, I finally had time to look around again both literally and figuratively. Above us, the spybots showed the few Ascendancy soldiers retreating, jumping away from us. It looked to me that they were going in the direction of the starport, the last place I¡¯d seen the main group heading.


    We¡¯d won. Paying attention to the ground gave me a sense of the price. Four of the houses around us were burning. I wasn¡¯t sure what it said that I could only remember two of them exploding.


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    Beyond the houses, the bodies of soldiers littered the ground, a few of them covered with goobot goo, not all of them hit by me. Jaclyn and I had been working on options for her beyond punching people. We¡¯d come up with a sling and several types of ammunition (one of which included depleted uranium) that she could fling at people (and vehicles) from a distance.


    Many of the soldiers had broken legs, smashed arms, large burns and were sometimes missing sizable chunks of their bodies.


    Jaclyn stood next to Kals, bending over Maru¡¯s body. Behind losing his intestines, his lower body appeared to be covered in blood. ¡°He¡¯s dead. See there? That¡¯s his descending aorta. The soldier ripped it open. My guess is that he¡¯s lost almost all his blood. I¡¯ll bring him to Iolan, but he¡¯s got no pulse.¡±


    Jaclyn picked him up and disappeared in a blur.


    ¡°Over there,¡± Crawls-Through-Desert¡¯s pot flew down the street and we all followed, escorted by our squad of mind-controlled soldiers, stopping at one of the eggs. After removing a floating platform from the garage, we all climbed aboard and flew toward the caverns. We left the soldiers on the ground, commanding them to stay there¡ªwhich they would¡ªuntil the end of time or until someone noticed they were there.


    No one followed us or attacked us which surprised me. I¡¯d expected an attack on the way back, but on the other hand, they didn¡¯t have many people and we¡¯d found a way to get around their ear protection.


    We rode across the near-empty plain between the caverns and Landing, floating over the green grass with Cassie, Tiger, and Katuk ready in case any of the local megafauna decided to take a piece out of us¡ªCassie and Katuk to shoot them, Tiger to bark at them.


    Kals didn¡¯t say much during the first half of the ride. When she did, she began with, ¡°You know, I never even liked him. He was a friend of my dad, sure, but after my dad died, I thought that his devotion to my mom bordered on creepy. That¡¯s true of a lot of people. The resistance is just short of worshipping her half the time. Maru though, he was around all the time and made it visible to me in the way that the others didn¡¯t. Also? Maru was good at his job. Mom thinks in the big picture. Maru thought in the small details. He made things work.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know where we¡¯ll find another person like him. Mom needed him a lot.¡±


    She stared out at the grass. ¡°I don¡¯t know how I¡¯m going to tell her that he died for me.¡±

 Warriors: Part 1

    Agent 957, Hideaway, Landing Starport


    It had been an utter disaster. Agent 957 couldn¡¯t see it any other way.


    The sun beat down as he stood at the edge of the field, outwardly supervising the marines and the few spacers who¡¯d survived as they ransacked the ships, trying his best not to let anything show.


    If the marines had lost respect for him, he didn¡¯t see it, but helmets covered their heads so it wasn¡¯t as if he could read their facial expressions. Besides that, Ascendancy policy was to keep soldiers as compliant with authority as possible. They could be screaming inside and he¡¯d only know it if he deliberately asked.


    The spacers were allowed a little more agency, but not much.


    The spacers never looked him in the eye. He wasn¡¯t sure whether that was due to hatred or fear.


    He kicked a can of¡­ something¡ªwater or food, maybe. That got a few looks. He saw them out of the corner of his eye, but the spacers turned their attention back to unloading and organizing the supplies before he had time to glance their way.


    It was all his fault. Between the destruction of their battleship and the death of its commander, the Ascendancy forces had been in such disarray that they hadn¡¯t seen the herd coming toward them or realized that the force shields were down until the creatures were pouring into the camp.


    If he failed to capture Jadzen Akri and the council after all this, he¡¯d need to go into hiding¡ªand maybe even if he succeeded. He¡¯d lost a battleship and then most of its crew.


    He took a series of slow breaths. No, he told himself, the commander lost the battleship. I lost the crew and even then it¡¯s not all my fault. They¡¯re supposed to be trained to handle this. They knew about the megafauna on this hellhole. They should have been watching.


    As he began to feel better, he thought again about how the resistance had damaged the ships¡ªall of them. Whoever had done it had used something to poke holes in the shuttles¡¯ engines and control mechanisms, consistently targeting the exact same spots on all of  the shuttles with an eye toward making sure there were no spare parts.


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    Whoever they were (and he had ideas), the attack showed the same techniques as half a dozen incidents across Human Ascendancy space. His implant had the details.


    He could give up any ideas he had about going into hiding. Whoever had done this had destroyed not only the shuttles¡¯ engines but those of his own fighter, making it impossible for anyone to get off the planet and signing his death warrant at the same time.


    Footfalls came from behind him. He knew whose they had to be and if they were upset, he¡¯d die.


    He turned, seeing them, all of them current or former members of the Ascendant Guard. Neves, the biggest of them¡ªtall, dark-skinned and with massive muscles. Neves had some connection with the Abominator servants still on Earth.


    ¡°Well,¡± Neves said, ¡°that was a massive fuck up. We were too far away to even hear about it before it was too late.¡±


    ¡°I know. You were the only ones I could trust. Did you find them?¡±


    Kamia, pale skinned with hair so blonde it was nearly white, laughed. ¡°No. You sent us to the caverns, but they¡¯ve had years to hide and we had more than fifty miles of caverns to search. Their people were clever. We lost men to their traps and tracked their signs through caves without once ever catching them.¡±


    Agent 957 frowned. ¡°What about Abominator technology?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I couldn¡¯t sense any in the caverns. I caught a hint of Abominator out here while I was in inside, but I assumed that was a mistake.¡±


    Neves shook his head. ¡°No mistake. The survivors reported that one of the ¡®Xiniti¡¯ carried what sounded like an Abominator gun.¡±


    Kamia¡¯s eyes narrowed. She didn¡¯t say anything at first, but added, ¡°I¡¯ll watch for it. I could use another.¡±


    Agent 957 glanced at her waist where three oddly shaped guns hung in their holsters (not to mention the other items in their pouches). They couldn¡¯t all be sentient weapons.


    Next to Kamia, Four Hands shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about acquiring another. You know what the masters¡¯ weapons were like. That way lies madness.¡±


    One of the few of the Abominators¡¯ genetically bred zero-g repairmen to make into the Guard, Four Hands stood a foot higher than the average member of his people. Wearing powered armor that protected his body from the planet¡¯s gravity, Four Hands had hands instead of feet and a mind designed to understand technology.


    Turning away from Kamia, Four Hands addressed the agent. ¡°I received an ansible communication that reinforcements are on their way. It¡¯s anyone¡¯s guess as to when they¡¯ll be here, but they¡¯re coming. That means that when they get here, they¡¯ll find out about this.¡±


    He waved a hand toward the rows of damaged shuttles. ¡°We¡¯d like to offer you a chance to save your career and life. We don¡¯t believe in capturing members of the resistance. We believe that all of them, from the youngest child to Jadzen Akri, need to die. We need you to help us control what¡¯s left of the troops. In return, we¡¯ll vouch for you to our supervisors. You¡¯ll be a hero and better yet, you won¡¯t be executed. What do you say?¡±


    Agent 957 let out a breath. ¡°Yes.¡±

 Warriors: Part 2

    Castle Rock Compound, Colorado, Earth


    Rachel woke.


    She¡¯d been dreaming of flying through space, the stars blurring and stretching as she flew. She¡¯d dreamt of this before but this time it felt real. The cold of space didn¡¯t hurt her while intangible, but she knew it was out there waiting for her or anyone else who made the mistake of phasing into reality.


    That was one of the other differences from past dreams. In the past, she¡¯d suspected that others were there too and even thought she¡¯d heard voices but this time she knew it for sure. The voices were as clear as anyone¡¯s she¡¯d ever spoken to.


    ¡°Come with us,¡± they told her, their sound as empty as the dark space they flew through. She knew they weren¡¯t talking. They were in her head.


    ¡°We need you. All of your people need you¡ªthe hidden Artificer needs you, your brother and your friends need you, and the other humans too.¡±


    She¡¯d said, ¡°I don¡¯t know you and I¡¯m not going anywhere until I know more. If you want to talk, talk. I don¡¯t want you in my head until I¡¯ve got a solid reason to allow you in.¡±


    That was when she¡¯d woken up alone in her dark dorm room, her chest heaving. Grateful that she had her own room this year because it meant that she only woke herself up, wishing she had someone else to talk to at the same time, she considered texting Tara. Then she shook her head. It wasn¡¯t worth waking her up for a dream. Tara deserved to sleep and so did the other upperclassmen she knew best¡ªTravis, Rod, and Samita.


    She turned on the light, realizing that she was not alone in the room.


    A being of hazy light, it had a woman¡¯s shape and a hint of her grandmother¡¯s face as well as her own. Its whiteness against the red stone walls made her think it ought to be in a Patrick Nagel painting.


    All she said was, ¡°Whoa. You¡¯re real.¡±


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    The being of light met her eyes. Its eyes had no white. They were black but sprinkled with stars. ¡°We are real. Come with us. You are one of our descendants. Come with us and save your brother and your friends.¡±


    She looked it up and down. ¡°You already said that. How can I trust you?¡±


    It held up its hands. ¡°You know us already.¡±


    She considered that and the dreams she¡¯d been having practically since Nick left, all of which featured glowing figures in space. If she were honest with herself, she had to admit that this made a degree of sense and that she didn¡¯t have much choice but to trust it. Given Nick''s track record, she found the idea that he¡¯d found trouble out there in the stars entirely too believable.


    ¡°What do you want me to bring?¡±


    It did nothing, appearing to consider the idea. ¡°Yourself. Nothing more is needed. Phase out and we will show you the way.¡±


    ¡°Nothing?¡± She barely thought about that before throwing off her pajamas and putting on her utility belt, feeling her costume spread out and cover her body. Grabbing her gunbelt¡ªwhich included two guns and magazines of ammunition¡ªshe added, ¡°No clothes? What about a toothbrush? Shampoo?¡±


    ¡°All will be provided.¡± It paused. Then, ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± she said and phased out, grateful it hadn¡¯t somehow forced the issue before she put on her costume. There¡¯s no way she was going to perform a rescue wearing Snoopy pajamas.


    The Fringe of the Issakass Alliance


    Lee stood on the surface of the small moon, grey dust sticking to his claws¡ªall of them. He wondered if he¡¯d lost his pursuer and doubted it, but if that were so, he had things he needed to do. If not, well, he had other things he needed to do.


    Halas appeared in front of him, looking worse for the wear even though he, like Lee, could repair his body as needed. He wore the form he¡¯d used when they were traveling across the multiverses when they were young, an inchoate cloud of dust.


    To Lee¡¯s eye, the dust seemed tired. It had always moved and swirled, almost ready to take form, but here it was just a cloud.


    Lee wore a form he called the ¡°multi-dimensional dragon,¡± a form that to creatures capable of seeing only three dimensions appeared to be stretched and wrong with too many limbs and bodies or not nearly enough.


    ¡°Well,¡± Lee said, ¡°it appears that you¡¯ve caught me again,¡±and waited for the next part. He knew what was coming.


    ¡°Caught you,¡± Halas said. ¡°No, I¡¯ve killed you. Remember our mutual friend Bakanan?¡±


    Lee did. Bakanan had never been as good at fighting, but made up for it with his strength. Even as Halas finished his sentence, Bakanan materialized above them, all claws, teeth and scales in his own version of the multi-dimensional dragon.


    Their struggles broke the moon.

 Warriors: Part 3

    The Caverns, Hideaway


    Maru didn¡¯t make it. Even as Jaclyn carried him away, I didn¡¯t think he would. Despite having advanced alien tech, it¡¯s not realistic to expect that they¡¯d have the ability to handle disembowelment combined with massive blood loss in a colony¡¯s medical center.


    ¡°If we¡¯d been at home,¡± Iolan began, ¡°I think I could have saved him.¡±


    We were on the second floor of Jadzen¡¯s cavern home in the open area where the council met and we¡¯d made battle plans. As before, we were looking out on the lights of the hidden settlement. Unlike before, Maru¡¯s body lay in storage elsewhere in the cavern.


    He hadn¡¯t been the only one who¡¯d died. One of the colonists had died too, done in by a punch that hadn¡¯t killed him outright, but had done more damage to his internal organs than I could see.


    Jadzen had said a few words over the bodies and now we were back here looking out into the caverns and deciding what to do next.


    Jaclyn turned to look at Iolan. ¡°You could have saved him.¡± The flatness of her tone made it a statement, but it hung in the air like a question.


    Iolan nodded. ¡°He was still warm. He hadn¡¯t lost anything we couldn¡¯t bring back. We have large tanks that we can use to repair the body.¡±


    I thought about the Abominator birthing chambers that I¡¯d seen in the research facility in New York during the Hrrnna invasion and the similar chambers that Rook had been running. It was all probably variations on the same tech.


    Marcus turned away from Tikki. ¡°It sounds like the medical tech in Star Wars.¡±


    Iolan said, ¡°Star Wars?¡±


    Marcus glanced over at me and then back at Iolan where he sat next to the table. ¡°It¡¯s an entertainment franchise set in another galaxy in the past. It¡¯s about a rebellion against an evil empire¡­ You guys would probably just see it as normal life.¡±


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    Kals and Jadzen walked into the room next. They both had reddish eyes and glistening cheeks. Jadzen gave Kals¡¯ hand a squeeze. They looked at each other and let go. Jadzen stepped up to a crowd of council members and Kals walked up to Marcus, TIkki, Jaclyn and I.


    As she did, Iolan stood up from the table, pushing his way out of his chair. He put his hand on Kals¡¯ shoulder, carefully avoiding any skin and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry about Maru. I did everything I could.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± she said.


    Iolan walked toward the Jadzen and the other council members. Kals looked over the group of us, atypically quiet. Then she sighed. ¡°How are all of you doing?¡±


    Jaclyn met her eyes. ¡°I feel like we should be asking you, but while I can¡¯t speak for anyone else, I¡¯m doing alright.¡±


    Kals smiled. ¡°I¡¯m doing better. Mom understood. She¡¯d been worried since he left. I told you about that. She was worried that he might take terrible chances in order to redeem himself or even commit suicide.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°He didn¡¯t do that. He tried to protect you, but it wasn¡¯t like he jumped in front of a blow meant for you. You two were working together and he happened to get unlucky.¡±


    ¡°I know. It¡¯s not good that he died, but at least he didn¡¯t throw away his life out of despair.¡± She gave a twisted smile. ¡°It¡¯s not much of a consolation, but it¡¯s better than nothing.¡±


    Tikki stepped closer. ¡°I feel like I haven¡¯t done enough. I was close. I don¡¯t know if I could have saved him, but I feel like I should have tried.¡±


    Marcus put his hand on Tikki¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You couldn¡¯t do much. I mean, seriously. Your power doesn¡¯t do much offensively.¡±


    Tikki didn¡¯t say anything at first, but then she added, ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking there are ways that I could have used it.¡±


    To the back of our group, Cassie spoke up. ¡°Don¡¯t beat yourself up over it. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re thinking of, but it probably wouldn¡¯t have worked. If it¡¯s a new thing, it almost never works the first time and that¡¯s even less likely in the middle of a fight. Now if you¡¯ve been practicing something day after day, that¡¯s the move that¡¯ll work.¡±


    Tikki sighed and lowered her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never practiced it, but it didn¡¯t seem hard¡­¡±


    ¡°Take it from me,¡± Cassie told her. ¡°Everything I do is supposedly simple but it never works out that way.¡±


    Tikki took in a breath, possibly ready to argue the point. She didn¡¯t get to. Jadzen rapped her hand on the table a couple times.


    ¡°We should begin the meeting now. Everyone please sit down at the table. We need to plan our next steps.¡± Jadzen looked us over.


    I was inclined to listen. I had a nagging feeling that what was left of the Ascendancy¡¯s force would try something soon.

 Warriors: Part 4

    Jadzen waited as everyone sat at the table. ¡°As we¡¯re all too well aware, Maru died while fighting Ascendancy forces today. While I find a new assistant, I¡¯m going to have Kals take over Maru¡¯s role. She might not want to continue in it for the long term, but right now she¡¯s familiar with everything I need her to know.¡±


    ¡°Meaning,¡± Kals sent to me via her bracelet, ¡°she knows that everyone in the colony knows me and she knows that the group of you like me and don¡¯t like her.¡±


    I sent back a feeling of amusement via implant.


    Meanwhile, the council members congratulated her and she thanked them.


    ¡°You love me now,¡± she told them, ¡°but wait until I ask for your next resource report.¡±


    That led to laughter and groans from the group. I was about to message her and ask what she was talking about when she sent to the group of us that Maru had people report on their used supplies to get a sense of what they needed to order from off-planet or needed to learn how to make here.


    ¡°Everyone knows it needs to be done, but nobody likes it,¡± she told us.


    Aloud, she addressed the Council. ¡°As you¡¯ve heard, the plan worked. We drove a herd of megafauna into them. I don¡¯t know how many died but from what I saw, most of them died or were too hurt to fight. Between the destruction of the ship and all the shuttles, they can¡¯t have working medical chambers, so their forces are reduced to 200 or 300 people at most, and it might be less than that.¡±


    She looked around the table at the group. ¡°There¡¯s one problem. The surviving members are part of the Ascendant Guard. We know that Neves and Kamia are among them and there might be more. Agent 957 might be among the dead, but he might not. We don¡¯t know. Either way, they probably have experienced motivators, so we can¡¯t let our people get near them.¡±


    One of the council members asked, ¡°Do we know what they¡¯re doing next?¡±


    Kals shook her head. ¡°We don¡¯t. We have people watching outside and they haven¡¯t seen anyone try to enter the tunnels that lead to us. Cameras near our traps and decoy entrances show Neves, Kamia, and a few others trying to find us. What we don¡¯t know is whether they¡¯ve given up after what happened to the rest of their group¡ª¡°


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    Another council member, a big man with dark skin and faintly glowing eyes, interrupted her. ¡°They¡¯ll never give up. They hate us. The Guard killed more of us than anyone else. I served in the First Citizen¡¯s mansion. He wants us all dead!¡±


    Kals blinked and then frowned as he talked over her, but then said, ¡°I know. That¡¯s the problem. I¡¯ve talked to our techs and they don¡¯t know what the Guard members are doing. All anyone knows is that they saw them heading back to the shuttles. Since then, we haven¡¯t seen anyone heading back here.¡±


    From there it turned into a discussion of whether or not the Guard would bother when they hadn¡¯t made it past the decoys, had far too much area to search and needed to consider issues like surviving on the planet.


    Iolan pointed out, ¡°While I agree that the Guard are fanatics, even they have to see that they¡¯ll never be able to capture us and bring us home now.¡±


    Glowing eye guy shook his head. ¡°They¡¯re fanatics. Killing us and then dying at the Xiniti¡¯s hands would be a success in their minds. We¡¯ve got to find them and kill them first.¡±


    It went on until Crawls-Through-Desert interrupted. ¡°I¡¯ve fought the Guard. We have to assume they¡¯ll come after you. Casone,¡± he must have caught glowing eye guy¡¯s name, ¡°is correct. They¡¯re fanatics. They won¡¯t give up and if they think they¡¯re going to die, they¡¯ll probably kill us all to preserve their reputation. Imagine the Xiniti ships arriving to find that the only living humans were the Ascendant Guard¡ªwho would then commit suicide if they didn¡¯t think they could steal a Xiniti ship. Before they died though, they¡¯d send recordings of them killing Jadzen and all of the Xiniti assembled here to the media through the ansible.


    ¡°No, you can be confident that they¡¯ll play their best hand every step of the way.¡±


    Casone nodded. ¡°The murderous bastards.¡±


    Crawls-Through-Desert floated above the table. ¡°The Xiniti group needs to rest up and be ready to go tomorrow morning. We can¡¯t be sure the Guard won¡¯t attack tonight, but we¡¯ll do better with rested people than tired people. It the meantime, if Jadzen allows it, I¡¯d like to talk to the techs. We need to work out a system for finding them before they find us. I¡¯ll also need Nick for this. Is that alright with everyone?¡±


    Jadzen glanced over at Kals and then said, ¡°Do it and take Kals along as well. She needs to know this.¡±


    Thinking back to when Marcus and I destroyed the battleship, I¡¯d seen four armed and four-handed people in the engine rooms. I wasn¡¯t sure but I might have seen them on the ground as well. The implant identified them as a geneline designed to be good with technology. I wondered how many survived and what they might be doing.


    If any survived, they¡¯d be working on the traps and decoys right now.

 Warriors: Part 5

    I couldn¡¯t know that, of course, but if I thought in terms of the Ascendency¡¯s situation and resources, it seemed reasonable. Our main protection was the caverns¡¯ size in combination with the decoys and traps the colony¡¯s techs created.


    If the Ascendancy had genetically modified technical geniuses, they¡¯d be throwing them up against that. That¡¯s what I¡¯d be doing anyway.


    I hoped the colony¡¯s techs were as good.


    Not long after that I found myself walking across the cavern city to the technical building we¡¯d captured Alanna in before she¡¯d committed suicide. When we walked inside it looked the same as before. Black cylinders as tall as I was while wearing the Rocket suit filled the room. As I remembered from the last time we were there, the cylinders collected ambient energy and stored it.


    They¡¯d been collecting energy for years despite being inside a giant rock formation. I hadn¡¯t had the chance to ask for details when we¡¯d been there last time. I might get to this time, but I doubted it. The implant had a selection of technologies that it might be and I suspected I¡¯d have to content myself with going through them later when I had time.


    Kals, Crawls-Through-Desert and I followed one of the techs up to the second floor of the building. There weren¡¯t any cylinders there. It looked like a lab. Desks and long tables with dismantled machines and parts of machines filled the room. Tanks with cloudy liquid were scattered throughout the room¡ªnext to walls and on top of desks and tables. Though they weren¡¯t easy to see through, the tanks contained hard objects. If I watched, I thought I could see new objects grow.


    Neither Kals or the plant showed much interest as we met Asan and Sian at the back of the room and took another flight of stairs up to another floor. This one was a mixture of desks, storage closets, and parts¡ªlots of parts. The implant labeled the ones I gave any thought to and sometimes I recognized parts from my experience with the ship¡¯s alien tech.


    Asan and Sian stopped at a desk and pulled out chairs from it¡¯s nearest neighbor for Kals and I. The plant floated next to the desk. Since I was wearing the Rocket suit, I half expected to crush the chair when I sat down, but the most recent version of the suit was lighter than the last. The chair held.


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    Asan grinned at us. ¡°Jadzen wanted us to talk about what we could do to detect the Ascendancy¡¯s people before they made it down here.¡±


    Sian sat in his own chair. ¡°We¡¯ve been thinking about this for years and we¡¯ve got a system already. It¡¯s not perfect, but it should work. The core problem is that while there are methods we could use to send information through the rock without physical material, they make it easy to triangulate our location.¡±


    In his own chair, Asan tapped on the desk with a stylus. ¡°Not only that, it¡¯s practically an invitation to start decrypting everything we say. So, we went old school. We put in cable¡ªa nearly mono-molecular cable that we used bots to pull through the rock.¡±


    ¡°So,¡± Sian said, ¡°we have cameras on the other end of the cable that are smaller than pimples. We watched them this morning as they searched the caves. They had no idea.¡±


    Asan grinned. ¡°We¡¯re several steps ahead of where you all think we are. We¡¯ve got people and computers watching the feeds whenever there¡¯s movement.¡±


    Keeping my movements minimal, I asked, ¡°Did Alanna know about the cables?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Sian frowned, ¡°but she didn¡¯t know where each one of them was. Everybody uses cables like this. They¡¯re practically impossible to find.¡±


    It sounded good. I thought about how I¡¯d counter something like that. If I could detect it with some work, I¡¯d send people in to remove the cameras and then bring in the rest behind them. If I couldn¡¯t detect it, I¡¯d either accept that I¡¯d be making an attack with no chance of surprising anyone, or maybe I¡¯d figure out a way to obscure how many people were going down any given tunnel. Dust, maybe?


    My implant called up lists of known ways that Xiniti had defeated similar systems. Depending on the type of camera, it included the use of chameleon suits, sending dust down the tunnel or exploiting the limits of a known type of camera.


    ¡°Do we use different types of cameras or all the same kind?¡±


    ¡°The same kind,¡± Asan nodded. ¡°A good point. They¡¯d have to know the type of camera, but they might be able to get past all of them. It¡¯s not likely.¡±


    ¡°Did Alanna know?¡±


    Sian frowned again. ¡°Yes. I think we could swap out a few cameras, but they didn¡¯t think like that yesterday. Why would they change their approach?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I don¡¯t know that they will, but I¡¯m thinking that if they¡¯ve got any techs left, they¡¯ll be assigned to this now.¡±


    From the stairwell came the sound of voices. I couldn¡¯t quite make out what they were saying, but they¡¯d become louder.

 Warriors: Part 6

    Sian and Asan looked at each other. Asan said, ¡°We need to go downstairs. It sounds like the Guard just showed up.¡±


    ¡°Showed up?¡± I kept on talking as they turned toward the stairs and motioned us to follow. ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware they¡¯d gone missing.¡±


    Sian turned to look at me. ¡°We¡¯ve been watching them since they left or we¡¯ve been trying to. The Guard have chameleon tech. It doesn¡¯t make them invisible to the eye if you know what to look for, but they¡¯re invisible to sensors. After they left the tunnels, they disappeared. We¡¯ve got visual sensors on the outside, but the better they are, the bigger they are, and the easier they are to detect. So we¡¯ve got other sensors for longer distances, but chameleon tech can fool those.¡±


    We all walked down the stairs.


    Kals talked over my shoulder at them. ¡°Wait, when I called you guys for a report earlier, you didn¡¯t say anything about chameleon tech. You said that you¡¯d seen them heading toward the shuttles.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Asan shouted back, ¡°We watched them until they disappeared from visuals.¡±


    Sian added, ¡°Maru knew about the chameleon tech.¡±


    Keeping her voice close to level, Kals told them, ¡°Maru¡¯s dead and he didn¡¯t pass that on. You can¡¯t assume I know everything he did.¡±


    Maybe there would have been more to that conversation if we hadn¡¯t made it to the second floor by then. In the second floor lab, techs crowded in one corner where pictures from different cameras showed Neves (big, dark-skinned man in black armor), and Kamia (a pale woman in red armor with at least three guns). It also showed one of four handed techies, but this one was bigger than any of the others and wore armor.


    None of them wore the Human Ascendancy military¡¯s logo¡ªa human outline, head upraised to the sky. All three wore what my implant identified as the Ascendant Guard¡¯s symbol¡ªa human outline with a rifle held across its chest.


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    Along with them in the tunnel were more of the Ascendancy soldiers with claws and teeth that resembled Haley and Travis. A smaller number of the four-handed techs stood in the hall near them, aiming devices up and down the walls. They were the size I expected them to be.


    A fourth person stood near the clawed soldiers. Wearing blue armor that doubled as a space suit, he paced up and down the cavern next to the troops, stood behind the techs as they analyzed their surroundings, and turned his helmet toward the Guard members and watched them, turning away before they looked in his direction.


    The symbol on his armor was the Human Ascendancy¡¯s man with his head upraised to the sky, but in this case, a DNA strand had been shaped to fill the human figure¡¯s body. My implant identified it as the symbol of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s Genetic Management Office.


    This was Agent 957, the guy who had followed us across space and used Alanna to find the colony.


    It was almost disappointing. When someone does something like that, you expect them to be bigger than life and this guy, well, he wasn¡¯t.


    From what little I¡¯d seen of him, I got the impression that he was nervous and maybe afraid of the Guard members.


    That all passed through my mind in a moment. In the next moment, I knew that we needed to know more.


    ¡°Where are they? Is that a tunnel that might lead them here?¡±


    The techs turned around to look at me. One guy shrugged. ¡°Uh¡­ Yeah. That one¡¯s a real way in. It¡¯s defended, but I suppose someone might be capable of getting past it, but we watched these guys try this morning. They didn¡¯t get anywhere. Can¡¯t say I see any reason to believe they¡¯ll do better tonight.¡±


    Another tech, one with blue-tinged hair, shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. This time they¡¯ve got a bunch of handsies to help.¡±


    The first tech said, ¡°I¡¯ve never believed those guys were much better than any other techie. It¡¯s not like hands make you smarter.¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t,¡± blue hair said, ¡°but I worked with those guys back when I was on a ship and some of them were far past normal¡ª¡°


    All the screens went black, or at least all the screens that showed Ascendancy troops.


    Crawls-Through-Desert spoke, ¡°We need an estimate of the best time they could realistically make it here from the point that they were at. We¡¯ll need to know both the speed if they knew how to disable all the traps and if they don¡¯t.¡±


    The blue haired tech said, ¡°With traps disarmed is easy. It¡¯s about 30 minutes. Assuming that they can disarm the traps and break through the force field, but don¡¯t know how? My guess is about an hour or two. If they¡¯re lucky, 45 minutes.¡±

 Warriors: Part 7

    The plant¡¯s fronds waved. Through my implant, I heard, ¡°Drop the tunnel on them. You can do that, can¡¯t you?¡±


    The techs concentrated. Some of them closed their eyes. The screens in the air changed from black screens to new sections of the tunnel and not all of them the same section. Each screen was numbered, starting from 927 through to 978, but with a seven screen gap in the middle¡ªthe screens that had gone blank.


    Screens below 942 through to 933 and above 949 through to 956 showed chunks of rock fall. Some screens went dead. Others showed closeups of rocks and pebbles.


    ¡°There,¡± the first tech said. ¡°We brought a couple tons of rock down on them. We can¡¯t bring down the entire tunnel, but that should be enough to kill them.¡±


    I sighed. This guy, whoever he was, didn¡¯t spend enough time watching whatever their equivalent of action movies was. I didn¡¯t have time to tell him so before screen 962 showed the rockfall begin to move. At first, rockswere all we saw. They moved up the tunnel, pushed forward by something. From experience, I doubted that it was telekinesis. I couldn¡¯t quite say how it looked wrong for that, but it did.


    Then a yellowish-white glow broke through the stones, first in small beams of light and then thickening until the top of a yellowish-white globe broke through the top of the of the pile. Within seconds, we could see Neves¡¯ bulk, followed by the four handed Ascendant Guardsman. For lack of a better idea, I decided to call him Four Hands in my head. What I¡¯d do if his relatives had also survived was a problem for another day.


    I wondered what his actual name was. Four Hands sounded like the Ascendancy equivalent of a racist nickname, a thought that didn¡¯t make me feel good about coming up with it on my own. I supposed that I could ask him for his name if we both survived.


    For all the technical skill that I assumed Four Hands had, it wasn¡¯t his force field. Kamia stood behind Four Hands, her armor glowing with the same color as the force field. Behind Kamia walked Agent 957, the Ascendancy soldiers, and more of the ¡°handsies¡± as one of the techs had called them.


    It didn¡¯t seem like there were as many as there had been before and the troops¡¯ armor had long scrapes and sometimes blood. I wasn¡¯t sure that the blood was theirs.


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    ¡°Again! Drop the ceiling on them again and keep it up,¡± Crawls-Through-Desert told them.


    The techs looked over at Asan and Sian. They agreed.


    The techs did what they could. The first two times rocks covered them the force shield shed ¡°sparks.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what else to call the fragments that fell away from the shield. I knew how my ship¡¯s shields worked, but these personal shields were a different kind of technology and outside of my experience.


    My implant identified Kamia¡¯s armor and the shields as Abominator tech. It figured. They¡¯d created the empowered portion of humanity, so they might as well have built us tools.


    ¡°As soon as you find that they¡¯re in a section where you can blow up the tunnel, do it. That shield can¡¯t have infinite energy. One of the times that it gets hit, it will fail.¡± The plant floated closer to the screens, its pot blowing air out of the holes in the back.


    The blue haired tech said, ¡°I think I¡¯ve figured out the speed at which they push through the rubble. They should be at the next explosives site in five minutes.¡±


    ¡°Five minutes? You guys didn¡¯t line the whole thing with explosives?¡± I didn¡¯t really expect that they had, but it seemed worth a question.


    The blue haired tech said, ¡°No, we didn¡¯t want to risk damaging the stability of the caverns. There are tunnels all over and some of them are close to other or close to spots in the rock that could have side effects if we blow them up. Besides, we might need the tunnel later even if we want to blow it up now.¡±


    That made sense.


    Ignoring me, the tech continued, ¡°We¡¯re going to blow sections 970 to 977 in three minutes. Everyone quiet, please. No distractions.¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kals touching her bracelet. In the next moment, her voice was in my head. ¡°I¡¯m alerting my mom. We¡¯re going to have to evacuate or fight, probably both.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I told her. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to stop them before they reach our cavern. We need to prepare an ambush.¡±


    I wished I had a direct line to HAL just now. He¡¯d probably have some useful observations. Unfortunately, tons of rock made an effective communications barrier. On the other hand, if anywhere in the cavern had a connection outside, it was here.


    I considered whether or not I could ask anyone about it and decided I couldn¡¯t. At the same time, the screens corresponding to the next sections of the tunnel appeared in the air.


    The blue haired guy said. ¡°We¡¯re going to blow the next section. One¡­¡±


    Then all the screens went blank. After a second, words appeared and the implant translated. It said, ¡°We¡¯re coming.¡±


    Then it went blank again.


    The blue haired tech turned to Asan and Sian, ¡°The bombs won¡¯t respond.¡±


    As I considered how the Guard might have done that, my implant vomited the Xiniti¡¯s experiences with these Guard members into my brain. Among the more memorable lines was, ¡°Four Hands and Kamia have a remarkable synergy between his technical expertise and her Abominator device that allows her to attack computers, AIs, and implants.¡±


    While it didn¡¯t explain this, that¡¯s something I would have wanted to know long ago.

 Warriors: Part 8

    ¡°Crap,¡± I said, ¡°implants? We¡¯re going to have to turn them off or at least the communication part.¡±


    I queried my implant to find out if we could turn them off. We couldn¡¯t, but we could turn off outside communications. While I was at it, I checked what the Xiniti experience of fighting Kamia had been.


    It hadn¡¯t been good.


    While they were well aware of her device¡¯s ability to attack implants, they weren¡¯t always in a situation where they could drop communications¡ªflying spaceships, for example¡ªand she made her presence a surprise. Plus, and they didn¡¯t know how, she had some way to get around disabled connections. They suspected it required touch, but they only had implants from dead Xiniti to go on.


    Whatever the Abominator device was, it didn¡¯t leave much evidence behind and the damaged implants had been boobytrapped more often than not.


    We were so screwed.


    I heard Kals telling everyone (maybe including me), ¡°We¡¯re evacuating right now.¡±


    Then she turned to the blue haired tech. ¡°Blow every bomb in the tunnel between them and us. Don¡¯t wait for them to get close. Got it?¡±


    ¡°I get it,¡± the guy said and turned back to the picture.


    As that conversation went on, I used my implant to tell our group what I knew about Kamia, including Kals and Tikki. It¡¯s possible that the Xiniti might not want everyone to know how effective Kamia was against them and how, but Katuk had told us. As far as I was concerned, the colony had entered ¡°need-to-know¡± status, a point I highlighted in Kals¡¯ message.


    As I sent it off, Kals turned to me, dropping her jaw. She didn¡¯t wait to discuss it with me or Jadzen, making a general announcement on the channel the colonists used for emergency messages.


    Crawls-Through-Desert, meanwhile, had floated back into the corner. I had no idea what he was doing as he floated there, but I supposed he was more dependent on computer systems than any of us. He was probably trying to figure out what he could afford to shut down.


    Then Kals voice filled my head.


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    ¡°Everyone must shut off the network in any implant they may have installed. This is also true of any AI you may be harboring among your possessions. The Ascendancy troops have an Abominator device capable of connecting to your devices and taking control. Turn them off if you can, but if you can¡¯t you have to disable communications if you want to survive.


    ¡°Before you shut them off, remember that we¡¯re using the standard evacuation plan and rendezvous point, but code red evacuation. That means now! They¡¯re coming down tunnel four. Good luck.¡±


    From outside came the click of doors shutting, voices talking and shouting, and footsteps. Amid all of that, my Rocket suit¡¯s comm beeped. Since I wasn¡¯t wearing the helmet, I checked my glasses¡¯ mini-HUD. Jaclyn was calling.


    I took the call.


    ¡°Just when I get used to using the implant, it signs up with the bad guys¡­ Anyway, we¡¯re setting up near tunnel four. We might send people with the evacuees. It depends on how badly this goes.¡±


    Keeping my voice low, I said, ¡°Got it. We¡¯ll be there as soon as possible.¡±


    We ended the call and Kals said, ¡°Now what?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re meeting near the opening of tunnel four.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡± She stepped away from the techs and walked over to me.


    The techs, meanwhile, were grabbing bags that they kept next to their desks and running down to the next level, following Sian and Asan. The standard evacuation plan didn¡¯t leave the techs here to defend the place¡ªnot that you¡¯d expect the techs to do it, but someone would have to stay and slow the invaders down in most evacuation plans. I wondered whose lives we were saving.


    It wasn¡¯t as if I¡¯d complain. Saving lives, directly or indirectly was pretty much the entire point of what putting on a costume was all about.


    I looked at her. ¡°Are you sure? You¡¯re the second in command. It seems like they¡¯ll need you.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°In the standard evacuation plan, the second stays. It was written assuming the second would be Maru, but I¡¯m the second.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I didn¡¯t think it was likely that her mother would approve, but we could use her help. So, I didn¡¯t argue and looked toward the stairs. ¡°We¡¯d better get out then.¡±


    Crawls-Through-Desert floated near the stairway in his pot. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to go with the colonists. If I¡¯m in range of whatever Kamia¡¯s got, I¡¯m a danger to the rest of you.¡±


    He floated away at a faster speed than I¡¯d seen him go so far.


    We weren¡¯t the only ones in the room or the building, but it was getting that way. There were only two people left on our floor by then, but a few more were crowding the stairs from the floor above us. They stared at my suit as we walked toward the stairway.


    It took a minute to get out of the building.


    People were running to exits across the cavern as we stepped out the door and tried to get our bearings or as I tried to at least. Kals pointed down the street. ¡°That way.¡±


    Even as we began to move, we heard a voice echo in the cavern. ¡°I¡¯m Kamia of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s Ascendant Guard. Surrender or die!¡±


    I didn¡¯t know, but if I had to guess, Kamia had found some way of crossing into a different tunnel than tunnel four before entering the cavern.

 Warriors, Part 9

    I formed the suit¡¯s helmet and set the suit to triangulate the source of the sound. Then I pulled the cavern¡¯s map out of the implant¡¯s memory. Though it took longer than it would have with the implant¡¯s network connection, I knew where the voice came from and how it happened.


    I tapped my palm, going live on the League¡¯s communication system, ¡°They''re coming out of Tunnel Three.¡±


    Only Jaclyn, Marcus, and Cassie could hear me. They¡¯d have to tell Katuk and Tikki.


    Tunnel Three crossed under Four. If they had some way to detect it or if Alanna had given them a map, it wouldn''t be hard to break through.


    Waving to get Kals¡¯ attention, I pointed toward the source of the noise. ¡°Tunnel Three!¡±


    At the same time, I loosed a few spybots, giving me a better views of the situation.


    Tunnel Three came out between two buildings, both of them tall blocks of rock that went from the bottom to the top of the cavern. I couldn¡¯t know how many people they held, but this cavern had to hide a few thousand people.


    My guess was hundreds. Each one was at least as large as my dorm at college and I¡¯d heard it held three hundred.


    That mattered because as I watched, streaks of red light became visible through the windows of different floors in each building. The light went from one side of the buildings to another.


    I didn¡¯t need the suit¡¯s enhanced senses to hear the sound of screams or the crackle of the beams.


    I shared the visuals with Marcus, Jaclyn, and Cassie.


    As I did, one of the Ascendancy soldiers leaned out of a third-floor window and aimed a thick muzzled gun down at the people on the street, leaving five bodies unmoving on the ground and more screaming and running.


    Cassie¡¯s voice echoed in my helmet. ¡°Holy fuck.¡±


    Next to me, Kals asked, ¡°Do you know what¡¯s going on?¡±


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    ¡°They¡¯re clearing whole floors of buildings with really big guns.¡±


    She froze. ¡°They''re using burners?¡±


    And that pulled up a multitude of flashing implant memories, giving me visions of the same gun on world after world. The Ascendancy used burners to commit mass murder. They weren''t effective against soldiers. Standard military armor prevented them from doing much damage.


    The guns fired off a flammable foam that expanded in a high-speed stream and separated, blending into the air. Then, when the gun heated up the main mass, it triggered all the foam in range, including any that had been breathed into the human body unless the people were lucky enough to become inaccessible.


    Still wearing the armor she¡¯s worn to go to the fight, Kals pulled a mask out of the jacket. It spread to cover her face. When she spoke through it, her voice sounded no different, something I wanted to investigate if I ever had time. ¡°It figures that they¡¯d pull those out only after only after I told everyone to turn off their implants. We¡¯d better get over there and try to stop this or at least minimize the damage.¡±


    I ran with her, telling Jaclyn, Marcus and Cassie to check their implants for information on burners. The distance wasn¡¯t far enough to take flight and besides, I didn¡¯t want them to know I was coming until I appeared.


    We ran down the street against the flow of people, many running all out. Kals slowed to tell people to be careful, to watch for anyone who had been hurt, and to be as orderly as possible.


    I got ahead of her¡ªwhich was probably for the best. I didn¡¯t know how good her armor was or wasn¡¯t. Also, something bugged me about what was happening. It came into focus as I noticed a picture from the opening of Tunnel Three.


    Kamia stood alone in the mouth of the stone doorway, helping me put words to the problem. It felt flashy and distracting, but not real. They didn¡¯t need to do something that drew our attention that well unless they were trying to distract us from something else¡ªlike for example, where the other people in the group were?


    I stopped one building away from Kamia, able to see her with my own eyes as she shouted and sometimes shot down the street with her weapons.


    Someone stopped next to me and I turned to find Jaclyn instead of Kals. ¡°The rest are on their way. I decided to come first because we might be able to stop this between the two of us.¡±


    I thought about it. Jaclyn might be able to stop it by herself. ¡°There¡¯s something you should think about. I think this might be a distraction. I mean, where¡¯s everyone else? We know there are more of them.¡±


    Jaclyn looked Kamia and said, ¡°That makes sense, but I can¡¯t let them keep this up, can you?¡±


    Another reddish blast flashed in the direction of the crowd. ¡°No.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°See if you can think of any way to take out Kamia. I¡¯m going to stop the soldiers.¡±


    She took two steps. The first gave her some speed. She used the second to leap, hitting the fifth floor of the nearest building and going through the wall.


    I looked at Kamia and the glowing force field around her. Much as I disliked the idea, I knew what I had to try.

 Warriors: Part 10

    Superheroes don¡¯t kill (most of the time). There are reasons for that, ranging from moral to legal to practical. Legally, most of us aren¡¯t empowered to do it (even if we can get away with it). Morally, killing isn¡¯t something you want to do unless you have to. Practically, society would come to regard us as a menace if we did it a lot even if it was justified.


    Here almost none of that applied. We weren¡¯t vigilantes. We were the law, empowered by the Alliance as part of the Xiniti Nation to do whatever was required to protect the colony.


    All the same, it didn¡¯t come easy for me. While you could argue that was a good thing, you could argue that the colony might be better served by a conscienceless killer.


    I say this because I hesitated. It wasn¡¯t the kind of hesitation that was too long and turns the fight into a tragedy. It was long enough to remind myself that if there was any time that it was right to kill, it was now. She was directing people to kill civilians and she was doing it to distract us from what the rest of the group was doing somewhere else.


    I pulled the trigger, releasing a killbot, targeting her via the observation bots. It shot out from under my arm, flying low to the ground, picking up speed as it grew closer to her.


    In that moment, she must have noticed something or maybe the Abominator devices did. She raised her right arm, firing yellow beams and taking out all three observation bots, but missing the killbot which dodged and weaved in what my design document called an ¡°evasive wobble.¡±


    It only made it halfway through the shield, which meant it didn¡¯t hit her at all¡ªexcept that killbots exploded. This one exploded partially inside and partially outside the shield, creating a blast of fire on each side.


    That meant a lot of different things. First of all, it meant that my killbots almost went through Abominator shields and the Ascendancy shields that imitated them. All they needed was a little more push or maybe more monofilament wires on the head of the bullet or on the body. That was the good news. Secondly, it meant that I was screwed because I didn¡¯t have the equipment here to make the changes, but also because the implant indicated that all Ascendant Guards had those force fields as well as their better solo agents.


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    The more practical and immediate result? The half-blast still blew Kamia backward in her force bubble. She ducked back into the tunnel.


    I ran up to the side of the tunnel but didn¡¯t run in. With an inexperienced fighter, I might have considered it. With someone carrying Abominator devices who had defeated Xiniti, it seemed wiser to assume that dropping back was part of a plan on her part even if it was her emergency backup plan.


    I sent out a spybot. In an effort to avoid hinting where I was, I took the minimal precaution of having it enter the tunnel from the top rather than from the same direction I was standing in.


    Watching the spybot¡¯s feed as it flew down the tunnel, I didn¡¯t see anyone.


    Pulling up the implant¡¯s map of the caverns, I saw openings into the buildings on either side. A little farther back, Tunnel Three passed other tunnels. Bearing in mind that they could create connections between tunnels, that meant that she could be anywhere.


    When I took into account how quickly I¡¯d lose a connection to the bot underground, I realized I¡¯d be better off helping Jaclyn and watching for the others to attack in whatever way they were planning to.


    That¡¯s the point at which Kals and Katuk joined me.


    Katuk stopped next to me. ¡°Where did Kamia go?¡±


    I moved to stand in front of the tunnel and looked in. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Even as I said it, I used the suit¡¯s sonic and thermal sensors, hoping that I might get footprints out of the thermal or that the suit¡¯s echolocation or passive sensors might catch something. They didn¡¯t.


    ¡°I saw her go down into the tunnels, but she got out of range before I could get a good sense of where she was going.¡±


    Katuk peered down the tunnels next to me, possibly using his own suit¡¯s sensors. ¡°I don¡¯t see her either.¡±


    Without turning away from the tunnel, he added, ¡°This is not good. She¡¯s an extremely effective soldier.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m more worried about where the others are,¡± I said.


    Off to the side of the tunnel, Kals glanced upward to the buildings. By that point, there were no more flashes coming from above. Jaclyn must have handled that.


    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m worried about,¡± Kals said. ¡°If they managed to catch up to my mom and the colony while we were doing this, they could already be slaughtering them.¡±

 Warriors: Part 11

    Katuk turned toward Kals. ¡°Do you know how the colonists are escaping? If we can¡¯t find her, it seems that our first duty would be to attend to their welfare.¡±


    He had a point. I didn¡¯t think that we should leave without telling Jaclyn, and was just about to try to use the comm, but I didn¡¯t have to. Jaclyn jumped out the second floor window and landed next to us.


    She glanced at the tunnel and back at us. ¡°Where¡¯s Kamia?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°I hit her shield with a killbot. It went partially through, exploded, and after that she ducked back into the cave. We haven¡¯t seen her since. What about you?¡±


    Jaclyn pursed her lips. ¡°I didn¡¯t kill anybody, but none of them can walk right now.¡±


    I was about to describe our conversation to her and ask her what she thought about joining the escaping colonists when the cavern shook. It wasn¡¯t the kind of big quake that I imagined happening in California, but it was a short, sharp movement that was strong enough that I felt like I¡¯d been pushed.


    I didn¡¯t fall over, but I did have to spread my legs to avoid falling over.


    Out in the darkness came creaking noises and the pitter-pat of small objects falling, combined with a few thumps that I thought might be larger objects falling from a height.


    Like the rest of us, Jaclyn looked in the direction of the noise once she had herself under control. ¡°What was that?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I used the sonics to try to figure out where where the sound likely originated, but as the suit¡¯s computer crunched numbers, I added, ¡°But if Alanna ever mentioned that the colony had an underground escape plan, maybe the Ascendancy might be prepared with a tool that would allow them to collapse the caverns.¡±


    Jaclyn turned to look into the main area of the cavern with it¡¯s floor to ceiling buildings, dim lights and open streets. ¡°That makes sense, but why come in here? Why not do it from outside?¡±


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    I shrugged. ¡°Maybe they could have except that we destroyed the ship, so they had to put together a less powerful version from spare parts or a piece of the machine? Four Hands had a bunch of their genetically engineered engineers in tow for some reason.¡±


    Katuk turned away from the tunnel. ¡°That sounds possible, but it seems like a great deal to assume based on one movement of the earth. Earthquakes are a natural phenomena as well.¡±


    He did have a point. ¡°It might be natural, but it is an awfully strange coincidence.¡±


    At the same time and after considering the data it had, my HUD threw up a picture of the area, showing the potential location of the earthquake¡¯s source. It hadn¡¯t narrowed it down much, indicating a quarter of the cavern opposite this spot. Superimposing the tunnel map in my implant over the HUD¡¯s map in my helmet showed that two tunnels came out opposite this spot and that they cameclose enough to the tunnels on this side at one point that a powerful enough person would be able to blast through from one to the other. On the other hand, the same could be said of the other four tunnels on that side.


    Tapping her helmet, Jaclyn said, ¡°Quiet everyone, I¡¯m telling Cassie, Marcus, and Tikki to follow the colonists out. They¡¯re closer. We should leave too. I wish I knew where Crawls-Through-Desert went. He needs to leave too.¡±


    I looked down the road, but didn¡¯t see him. ¡°The last I saw him, he was heading toward Tunnel Four. He was out of sight by the time I got here.¡±


    Katuk followed my gaze. ¡°I don¡¯t detect him, but we should try to warn him if he¡¯s still there.¡±


    Kals¡¯ frowned. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t he notice if he¡¯s completely alone and the Guard isn¡¯t there either? I mean, he¡¯s a spy. They¡¯re supposed to notice that sort of thing.¡±


    She had a point too. We could probably count on him to take care of himself¡ªunless the Guard had taken him out.


    Another quake hit. This one felt a little stronger than the other one, though it was hard to say for sure. I hadn¡¯t made earthquake measurement a priority for any version of the Rocket suit and so far as I knew, Grandpa hadn¡¯t either.


    We heard a few shouts, more thumps and a short rain of unknown small objects hitting the ground from above.


    I reran the calculations and included the newest data. It didn¡¯t change much. I needed to move more to get a better sense of where they might be.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°Do you have any idea where a device might be if it exists?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯ve narrowed it down to about five tunnels¡ªwhich isn¡¯t very narrow. I need to get data from another spot in order for it to maybe work.¡±


    Jaclyn sighed. ¡°Then let¡¯s run past where the plant¡¯s supposed to be and then follow the colonists out. If we¡¯re around for another quake, maybe we can track it down. Otherwise, we¡¯d be better off not being here.¡±

 Warriors: Part 12

    Tunnel Four wasn¡¯t far away¡ªjust two buildings down the same street. We ran at a comfortable pace, thirty miles per hour or so. We didn¡¯t have enough space to go faster. Kals didn¡¯t have any problems keeping up.


    Tunnel Four sat between two buildings that weren¡¯t much different than the buildings at Tunnel Three¡ªexcept that we didn¡¯t see anyone here. Wherever the plant had gone, I hoped he was safe. My bet was that he¡¯d gotten the last people out over here and gone with them when he realized that he¡¯d missed Kamia and the others.


    We came to a stop in front of the tunnel.


    Jaclyn glanced over at me and then Katuk. ¡°Do either of you sense anyone in there?¡±


    Before I could reply or send out bots, Katuk said, ¡°There are no lifeforms within the buildings.¡±


    Turning to me, Jaclyn said, ¡°Nick?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m betting he¡¯s got the better sensors, but I don¡¯t see anything so far. To be confident, I¡¯d have to send in bots.¡±


    Katuk looked the buildings up and down. ¡°I¡¯m confident that there are no lifeforms within. I had to recalibrate my sensors after the last building, but I¡¯ve adjusted now. Incidentally, I do not sense any lifeforms in the buildings within my sensors¡¯ effective range.¡±


    Frowning, Jaclyn gave the area around us a look, turning around in a blur. You could argue she¡¯d wasted our time, but not much. Her sensor equipment was the same as mine, but for all I knew, she might have been more thorough in her brief glance than I would be if I¡¯d sent out bots.


    In her low, alto voice, she said, ¡°We should join the evacuees. There¡¯s nothing we¡ª¡°


    The whole cavern shook. It was harder this time¡ªmuch harder. Unprepared for it, I fell over, catching myself on a wall that, to my relief, didn¡¯t fall in.


    Crashing noises came from all over the cavern, but from what I could see so far, no buildings had fallen in. Giving a silent thanks to the engineers or architects who designed the place, I checked my HUD, finding that as intended, my suit had been recording the quake.


    I added in the new dataset and ran the calculations again, this time with more useful results. The blast came from the other side of the cavern, as I¡¯d known before, but from within Tunnel Eight. I didn¡¯t wait until I felt comfortable. I told everyone even before the last trembles faded.


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    ¡°I know where the origin point of the last quake is. It¡¯s Tunnel Eight¡ªthe one that¡¯s not quite directly across from us.¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s eyes darted in my direction. ¡°Then here¡¯s what we do. Katuk and Kals go help the colonists. Nick and I take out the earthquake machine. Kals, am I right in assuming they¡¯re taking the same routes our implants downloaded when we got down here minus anything that went through tunnels three or four?¡±


    Kals looked up at Jaclyn. ¡°Yes, but are you sure that the two of you will be enough?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Jaclyn said, turning, ¡°but we don¡¯t have time to talk about it. Nick?¡±


    She jumped, landing halfway across the cavern. I said, ¡°Good luck,¡± to Kals and Katuk, fired off the rockets and followed her.


    Jaclyn arrived first, but I landed just behind her. Tunnel Eight came out between two more buildings like the ones we¡¯d seen less than ten seconds before¡ªwide stone buildings that reached from the bottom to the top of the cavern with open windows that the people can use to look out onto the underground city.


    The tunnel itself was little more than a doorway into the rock that stood between the two buildings on their lowest level.


    My HUD showed two figures within the room, a larger humanoid, a smaller one and a waist high rectangle of what I assumed was, for the lack of a better name, the earthquake machine.


    Jaclyn didn¡¯t wait. She said, ¡°Going in,¡± and blurred, running into the tunnel. I followed, but much slower. By the time I¡¯d reached the inside, she¡¯d already taken out the large humanoid (one of the Ascendancy¡¯s clawed and fanged soldiers). All his weapons had been smashed and he lay on the ground.


    She¡¯d grabbed the other figure in the room, one of the armored, four-handed humanoids that the Ascendancy used for technical work.


    She held him pointed away from the device, upper arms held behind his back and high enough in the air that he couldn¡¯t touch the ground.


    I would have been worried that he might try to grab something with his lower arms, but he hung limp in the air.


    Still watching him, Jaclyn asked, ¡°Do you need him to turn off the machine?¡±


    I pointed my HUD at the machine, getting a limited view of the insides. My Xiniti implant completed the view, giving an overall picture of how it worked. While machines that caused earthquakes weren¡¯t standard equipment for warfare, they were standard methods for handling underground bunkers¡ªthough best practices didn¡¯t include sticking around with the machine after turning it on.


    They were either still configuring it or they¡¯d been left to die¡ªnot uncommon in the Ascendancy.


    Did I need the guy? While it might be dramatic to include a complicated disarming sequence, the Xiniti indicated where the standard device could be punched to safely destroy it.


    Unfortunately, from what I was beginning to understand, it was already too late. The quakes it had already started showed that destroying it would only slow the inevitable.

 Warriors: Part 13

    ¡°No,¡± I said, straightening my hand and then thrusting it like a spear through the top of the device, smashing its internal computer and separating the power from the main mechanism.


    Lines of electricity surrounded my arm, but I didn¡¯t feel it. The suit¡¯s systems for handling massive amounts of electricity had been in advance of anyone else as far back as the 1950s and had only improved in the versions created since then.


    In this case, it wasn¡¯t a booby trap or even targeting me. The device needed a lot of energy to start an earthquake and while severing the connection between that energy and the rest of it, my suit briefly became the connection.


    As I pulled my hand out and the glare went away, Jaclyn asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    Even the four-hander straightened and stared at me before hanging limp as Jaclyn held him in the air.


    ¡°I think so. I didn¡¯t feel anything and suit isn¡¯t throwing any errors.¡± I rechecked my HUD as I said to make sure that was still true, noticing the amount of power that had passed across the suit¡¯s skin¡ªa lot. It was enough to kill me hundreds of times over.


    The suit wasn¡¯t throwing errors, which was a relief. I¡¯d managed to keep that aspect of the suit despite filling it with nanotech.


    I didn¡¯t get to wallow in the glow of technical accomplishment for long. The cavern shook again and this time something big fell over inside the cavern. It reminded me somehow of the sound of cereal¡ªthe kind that snaps, crackles, and pops¡ªexcept deeper in tone and much louder. If the destruction of the cavern were a cereal, the slogan would be ¡°cracks, smashes, and thuds.¡±


    I¡¯m not sure who would buy it either as the market for cereal made of shattered rocks has to be small.


    Jaclyn and I stared at each other. She said, ¡°The cavern¡¯s coming down. Go. We should catch up to the colonists.¡±


    She put down the four-hander. It ran away as soon as its lower set of hands touched the ground. She let out a breath, ¡°Unless you think you can stop it, he¡¯s got the right idea.¡±


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    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Then go.¡± She kicked the Ascendancy soldier she¡¯d taken out and he groaned. ¡°The cavern¡¯s falling in. Run or die.¡±


    It began to pull itself to its feet and she turned away from it, jogging out the door. I followed her out. She began to gather speed once she hit the street. I activated the rockets and took the air, noticing the source of the noise.


    A building along the edge of the cavern had fallen in on itself and into the street in front of it. It hadn¡¯t reached all the way to the top of the cavern, giving it less support to weather the earthquakes. I wondered what had been in it. There had to be a reason that they¡¯d choose to make it one of the few exceptions to the rule with regards to its design.


    I didn¡¯t have time to think it all through then. The cavern was large, but not that large. It only took me a few seconds to reach Tunnel Nine. Since I didn¡¯t see Jaclyn, I checked my HUD, saw that she was the only person in our group online and opened a connection.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡±


    Her voice came over my helmet¡¯s speakers. ¡°I¡¯m in the tunnels. Where are you?¡±


    I replied, ¡°At the entrance to Tunnel Nine,¡± but before I reached the end of the sentence, her status button winked out.


    It didn¡¯t surprise me. The HUD didn¡¯t show anyone but me online anymore. Stone caverns and tunnels weren¡¯t ideal spots for radio contact. Still, I felt alone and a little worried about her even though I knew that the person I should be worried about was me¡ªI was alone at the edge of a cavern that was in the process of collapsing.


    I took one last look at the cavern¡¯s glowing streets and blocky skyline, hoping that no one I cared about was still out there somehow. It didn¡¯t seem likely, but with the implants shut off to prevent Kamia from hacking them, it was possible we¡¯d lost track of somebody.


    Ignoring the worry, I stepped inside the tunnel and began to run. According to the implant¡¯s map, there were too many turns in the near future for it to be worth it for me to fly.


    I ran all out, heart pumping, legs taking ten feet or more with each step, reaching forty, fifty, sixty miles per hour. Even with the suit¡¯s assistance, I could feel that it wasn¡¯t just the suit doing the work. That wasn¡¯t the first thing on my mind though. The first thing on my mind was that I planned to start flying as soon as I had a tunnel straight enough to make it worth the bother.


    At the very least, I didn¡¯t want to get caught alone in a collapsing cavern. Jaclyn might survive that. I doubted that I would.


    As if on cue a rumble came from behind me and the earth shook again¡ªnot as much as when I was inside the main cavern, but the noise was louder. And besides, it wasn¡¯t just noise and tremors. This time, a cloud of dust blew forward behind me, dispersing before it caught me.


    I didn¡¯t know if that meant that that cavern had fallen or only part of it, but I didn¡¯t plan to go back and check.


    I kept on running and checking my HUD, failing to see signs of anyone. I was still alone in the dark.

 Unhidden: Part 1

    Agent 957, Hideaway, The Caverns


    He didn¡¯t know where he was in the endless caves around him, but his implant had kept track of his every step, so he had a limited map. The soldiers within range fed their information into his implant as per instruction, giving him an overall picture of everything within range.


    He open up a communication channel with the soldier at the front of the line. ¡°Are we close to them yet?¡±


    ¡°No, sir. We¡¯re gaining, but they started before we expected it and they planned for us. They¡¯ve been releasing something that obscures their smell. Our best trackers are following them and the four-handers are doing what they can.¡±


    Agent 957 grunted and cut off contact, creating a connection with the nearest four-hander. ¡°How are you assisting us in catching the colonists?¡±


    The four-hander made a series of quick chirping noises that the implant didn¡¯t translate. Then it said, ¡°Your Excellency, our equipment senses for them using multiple methods, but we are unsatisfied with our progress. The resistance has technicians that, while inferior to us intellectually, have a remarkable grasp of detail. They appear armed with tactics that defeat all our standard tracking methods. We would have lost them by now were it not for knowing that they entered this tunnel.¡±


    He cut the connection, knowing that there was nothing he could say that would make them work better. Besides, the rare sign that had kept them on track showed that catching the colonists was still a possibility. It wasn¡¯t as if they had anywhere to go up top. While the colonists had killed the majority of the crew and the marines with their attack, there were still some capable of pointing a weapon. He¡¯d left them ready.


    Once they got to the surface, he¡¯d be able to call for help and this whole humiliating experience would be over. The Guard would back him up and he¡¯d back them up¡ªhe hoped.


    A tremor shook the cavern. It wasn¡¯t as powerful as the last one.


    While that was a relief (he¡¯d never liked the idea of destroying caverns while he was inside one), the fact that one more thing wasn''t going according to plan worried him.


    With a sigh, he reopened the connection he¡¯d just closed. ¡°What¡¯s going on with the earthquake device?¡±


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    The four-hander made an untranslatable buzzing noise. Whatever the Abominators had done to their minds had left most of them with uncontrollable tics. 957 couldn¡¯t blame the four-handers for it, but he couldn¡¯t pretend it wasn¡¯t irritating.


    When the four-hander finished making the noise, he said, ¡°I haven¡¯t received any word on the device, but since the shocks aren¡¯t following the expected pattern, I had to assume that it was destroyed before it could finish.¡±


    Agent 957 exhaled, thinking back to the plan. Kamia was supposed to have made enough noise to distract the Xiniti and the humans with it. For someone to have destroyed the machine meant that Kamia and the people with her might have been killed, an unnerving possibility given Kamia¡¯s near legendary status as a killer of Xiniti.


    He hoped that she¡¯d survived. As terrifying as he found her, anything that could take her down could end his chance at redemption or even survival.


    He opened up his connection to the four-handers and soldiers under him, ¡°Hurry, we need to catch them before they reach the surface!¡±


    Four Hands, Hideaway, The Caverns


    He couldn¡¯t help but stare back into the darkness when he realized that the bunker breaker had been destroyed. It wasn¡¯t a good sign, but the overall picture was still good. Neves, Kamia, and their people were headed to the surface. Maybe they¡¯d kill some colonists on the way. Maybe they wouldn¡¯t.


    Agent 957 was acting as their attack dog, leading a team that was chasing the main group of colonists to the surface. Whether he or his people survived or succeeded wasn¡¯t important. All that was important was that he was relentless, giving the colonists no time to think before they hit the surface.


    Once they arrived there, they¡¯d face an ambush that would end them if Four Hands was lucky. If he wasn¡¯t, well, the colonists would have to fight the leftover crew members for control of the villages. The villages might be booby-trapped, but they were behind force fields. The colonists would never survive this hellhole of a planet without them.


    On one level, he had to admit that it bothered him to place Agent 957 and his people in the way of the Xiniti force. Between the Xiniti¡¯s reputation and what the small force here had achieved so far, he felt sure the man would die. Four Hands felt that the Ascendancy sacrificed too many of its troops and the people with Agent 957 were good soldiers.


    On the other hand, Four Hands knew that Agent 957 had left the four-handed to be destroyed many times with no effort to avoid it. The two-hander deserved whatever came to him even if his troops didn¡¯t.


    Four Hands remembered daydreaming that he¡¯d joined the resistance when he was younger. He¡¯d returned to that thought many times over the years, only realizing what a joke it was when he¡¯d joined the Guard and been given access to their collected intelligence.


    There were no records of any four-hander in the resistance or any evidence they¡¯d ever been asked to join. In that sense, the resistance was no better than the Ascendancy.


    They deserved whatever came to them too.

 Unhidden: Part 2

    Nick, Hideaway, The Caverns


    Far behind me, the cavern fell into itself. I felt the rumble as I ran, followed by cracking noises, a lot of them. It seemed like they stretched out for minutes, but doubted that was true. I wasn¡¯t checking the time.


    However long the quake went, it was too long. The floor shook along with each rumble and crack, finishing in a loud but muffled thump that may have been the end of the cavern, but wasn¡¯t the end of the noise. Smaller crashes continued behind me, blowing fine dust upward into the tunnel.


    That wasn¡¯t the worst of it.


    The worst came when the tunnel I was in collapsed¡ªnot all of it, but the part above me and chunks of the tunnel ahead of and behind me.


    The Rocket suit registered damage to the suit¡¯s shoulder and notified me that repairs were in progress. That was great, but it couldn¡¯t repair me. The chunk of rock that damaged the suit was longer than four feet, jagged, and at least a foot thick.


    It hit my shoulder and my head at about the same time, but it must have hit my shoulder harder because that¡¯s what hurt afterward.


    It wasn¡¯t as if I couldn¡¯t use my right arm, but it hurt when I moved it. I had no choice about moving it either. Chunks of stone ceiling fell along with it, burying me¡ªnot completely, but enough that I had little choice in the first horrible seconds to wonder if this was it.


    I centered myself on my breathing, concentrating on letting one breath in and another out. Then I pushed myself to see the pieces of the problem, in this case the literal pieces of the ceiling and the walls. They had fallen on each other and on me.


    It was a matter of pulling out the right pieces, one at a time until I could move. The big piece that had damaged the suit and maybe my shoulder wasn¡¯t the worst. I twisted and pushed it off my shoulder. Then, one by one, I removed the others, using the suit¡¯s strength more than I had in any single event than I had since making it.


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    It felt a little like playing Jenga¡ªthe game where you pull logs out of a tower until it falls¡ªwith the key difference that you yourself were integrated with the tower and when you pull out a piece, any pieces resting on top of it fall on you.


    Where I could, I pushed rocks off me starting from the top, but after removing the largest, I pushed the ones in front of me forward all at once. They landed with a crash, one of the largest breaking into several more pieces.


    I froze for a second, wondering if I¡¯d start another collapse and then deciding that the best thing I could do would be to move forward and not think about it. Maybe that wasn¡¯t the best thing I could do, but it seemed better than overthinking whether or not I should move rocks and which one.


    Once I was past my personal cave in, I had to deal with the next one, a pile of rock shards that reached halfway up my chest. This one I pushed, noticing that the space behind it was clear except for small pieces of rock.


    Putting my hands on a chunk about halfway up, I pushed the top part of the pile into the clear area and then walked over both.


    Once past that pile, I began to run again. It wasn¡¯t bad. Aside from small rocks and dust, it appeared that I¡¯d gotten past the worst of the cave in.


    I hoped I¡¯d been the only one caught. I¡¯d have been dead without my armor and for all that the colonists were genetically modified, most couldn¡¯t use their abilities in any way. Thinking about our group, I felt confident that any of us could survive what I¡¯d been through¡ªMarcus better than anyone but Jaclyn.


    Cassie had the most to worry about. While strong, she wasn¡¯t as strong as I was in the suit. If enough rock fell on her, her ability to heal would only keep her alive longer. That was good if anyone else was in a position to help, but it might be worse than dying if she were alone.


    Deciding not to think too hard about that either, I concentrated on the implant¡¯s map and what I could see in my suit¡¯s HUD. After about a minute, the composite view began to include hints of footprints, dimly glowing fragments of feet that the thermal view picked up.


    I slowed a little, sending a spybot ahead. From the number and variation of footprint sizes, it had to be the colonists, but they could have been captured by the Ascendancy. Sending a scout seemed wise.


    They weren¡¯t far ahead. The bot¡¯s view showed a crowd of people carrying bags. Marcus stood at the back, his costume in silver imitation Xiniti mode. Tikki stood next to him, her eyes following the bot.

 Unhidden: Part 3

    I called the bot back and started running faster. It didn¡¯t take long to catch up. Their group was only walking at a normal human rate.


    I slowed as I caught sight of them. Marcus¡¯ suit had to be registering my presence, but caution meant lowering the chance of accidentally fighting each other.


    Marcus¡¯ voice filled my helmet. ¡°Nick! I was wondering if you died. That earthquake was massive.¡±


    As I came to a stop next to them, he said, ¡°Where¡¯s Jaclyn?¡±


    ¡°Alive, so far as I know. She said she made it into the tunnels, but then we lost radio contact. I¡¯m assuming we left by different tunnels¡ªwhich was the plan. The colonists were going to divide into different groups. We were supposed to each be with a different one, I thought.¡±


    Marcus nodded. ¡°That was the plan. Cassie¡¯s with her group. I¡¯m with this one. Katuk¡¯s out there too. I saw him following a group into one of the exits as we left. With all the ways these tunnels cross each other, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised to run into them again.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°We aren¡¯t supposed to, but yeah, from what I¡¯m seeing in the implant map, we could, or depending on how people do it, we might not see anyone.¡±


    Marcus turned to look behind me. ¡°All that matters is that we get out of here. However it is that we make it, I¡¯m fine with it, but I¡¯m getting worried. Have you been seeing anyone behind you?¡±


    I checked my helmet. I didn¡¯t see anyone and hadn¡¯t since I left the caves. ¡°No.¡±


    Tikki glanced past me before saying, ¡°Marcus thinks he¡¯s been seeing people behind us.¡±


    Noting the intensity of her stare into the darkness, I said, ¡°I¡¯m guessing you think he¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She swallowed and took a breath. ¡°I thought I heard something before you appeared, but it might have been you. It might have been them. I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not trained for this¡ªnot the way you two are.¡±


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    I wanted to say that I hadn¡¯t been trained for this either, but you could argue that I had. I hadn¡¯t trained specifically to be hunted in tunnels by humans that were genetically modified by aliens, but I had been trained to protect people. In the end, that¡¯s what we were doing.


    We started walking together behind the main group, a group that could have been any refugees anywhere, I supposed. Men, women and children walked through the tunnels with backpacks or bags that held what they needed (food, water, clothes), and what they couldn¡¯t bear to leave.


    You might have expected them to be grim, or so terrified they couldn¡¯t go on, and maybe there was some of that before I arrived, but most of them walked and talked. The parents talked their children into continuing to walk. The children sometimes cried, but sometimes ran after each other shouting¡ªbefore being shushed by their parents.


    It wasn¡¯t bad. In one sense it was terrible, but it wasn¡¯t constant death and misery. We had to make it to the surface, handle whatever we found there, and if we were lucky, we might be able to move them back into their homes only slightly worse for wear.


    That¡¯s what we could hope for anyhow.


    I watched my HUD. I¡¯d sent a couple observation bots down the tunnel ahead of us and didn¡¯t see anyone waiting for us. I sent them behind without seeing anything either. It would have been nice to then conclude that we were safe except that it wasn¡¯t that simple. Every now and then our tunnel would intersect with another which meant that we then had another possible attack origin and also my bots didn¡¯t have infinite fuel. I could bring spybots (small, easy to hide) and observation bots (bigger with a wider range) back to refuel, but every refuel meant I had less fuel to work with.


    As I checked through footage from my cameras, Marcus said, ¡°The colonists have been releasing something that kills everybody¡¯s smell. Apparently, the Ascendancy¡¯s soldiers are as good as my cousins at that kind of thing.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± I said, flipping to the next picture. We were about three-quarters of the way up by then. If they were going to catch us, it would be from behind. The bots didn¡¯t show anyone waiting outside our exit.


    Ten pictures in, I found a dark shape that had the silhouette of a soldier in the Ascendancy¡¯s armor. None of the other pictures showed it. It hadn¡¯t been close to the camera. At the same time, given the speed they could run at, they were only ten or fifteen minutes behind us.


    I sent it to Marcus with the comment that, ¡°We¡¯ve got fifteen minutes at max.¡±


    He touched Tikki¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Nick got a picture of one about ten or fifteen minutes behind us. I¡¯m going to tell the main group to get ahead of us so they don¡¯t get caught in the fight. You can go with them.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m staying with you. The Ascendancy killed my parents and too many friends. I¡¯m not going to let them kill more.¡±


    She turned to stare down the tunnel, face tightening.

 Unhidden: Part 4

    I considered if we had any alternatives to making a last stand in the tunnel. We could run to the next intersection and take another tunnel, but if they were managing to track us anyway, that wouldn¡¯t help.


    I could try to bring down the tunnel behind us. The Rocket suit could do it, but I¡¯d have to punch the wall or ceiling. It might land on me.


    My laser was powerful enough to punch holes in the ceiling, but I¡¯d still have to be close to cut any appreciable amount of rock.


    Plus, with the artificial earthquake we¡¯d just experienced, I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to risk messing with the tunnel¡¯s structural integrity.


    That left bots and hand to hand combat. Remembering how well that went in the Landing fight, it didn¡¯t make me feel confident. I only had ten EMPbots left and 28 goobots. I had a bunch of standard bots, but they hadn¡¯t been effective.


    Raising my arm and pointing it down the tunnel, I told them, ¡°I¡¯m going to send off a spybot to find out how many we¡¯re facing.¡±


    ¡°Good idea,¡± Marcus stared into the tunnel¡¯s darkness. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how we do this except that I¡¯m going to have to be careful. Back home, guns aren¡¯t much of a problem for me. Here, their guns cut through me in a second. I can put myself back together, but it takes more out of me.¡±


    Tikki bit her lip. ¡°Are you sure you should be part of it? I might be able to hold them by myself. I¡¯ve been using my powers more lately and I think I might be able to freeze them in time and keep them here.¡±


    Marcus frowned. ¡°But what about you? Wouldn¡¯t you have to stay for that to work?¡±


    Tikki looked up at him, eyes wide. ¡°Yes, but I think maybe that I can keep the field here and run away. It would be my first time, but I¡¯ve almost worked out how.¡±


    Shaking his head, Marcus said, ¡°But you¡¯ve never tried it before. Don¡¯t. If you¡¯re going into a fight, you¡¯re going to want to know what you can do. We can¡¯t depend on something you¡¯re trying for the first time.¡±


    In my HUD, the feed from the spybot showed the dark, gray stone of the tunnel for a while, but then a human-shaped figure appeared. An Ascendancy soldier stood waiting as more approached, all of them in combat gear.


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    I counted twenty soldiers, three four-handers and one more guy¡ªAgent 957. I recognized him from the broadcast he¡¯d made telling us to surrender.


    That seemed like ages ago and while he looked the same¡ªthe same square jaw, light brown skin, and red and black armored uniform¡ªhe also looked worse.


    The uniform had scrapes across its armored plates. Dirt stained the fabric. He had taken off his helmet and a look at his face revealed a man with bags under his eyes with the expression of a man whose favorite football team was losing.


    Landing on the ceiling ahead of the group, the spybot picked up enough sound that my implant could translate, ¡°¡ªthey¡¯re less than five minutes ahead of us.¡±


    Agent 957 replied, ¡°Then this is it. Move ahead as quickly and as quietly as possible. We¡¯ll attack as soon as we¡¯ve got a clear shot.¡±


    Then he tapped a device on his belt and his suit glowed. My implant identified it as a shield modified from an Abominator design. That wasn¡¯t good news. On the other hand, a killbot went partially through Kamia¡¯s. Maybe his wasn¡¯t as good.


    Then he pulled his helmet back on. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Unwilling to find out if the four-handers could detect the spybot if they got closer to it, I recalled it. It dropped from the ceiling and flew a few inches from the floor until it was out of their sight.


    As it flew back, I told them what I¡¯d seen. ¡°There are around 25 of them, all in armor. There are three four-handers and they probably won¡¯t fight directly, but Agent 957 is with them. I don¡¯t know what he fights like, but it sounds like he¡¯s not open to negotiation. They¡¯re going to shoot us the moment they see us.¡±


    Marcus sighed. ¡°That¡¯s the worst case scenario for me. All I¡¯ve got with that is to spread myself thin around the top of the tunnel and drop on them from above or reform and fire at them from behind when they pass.¡±


    ¡°I think that could work,¡± I told him. ¡°I¡¯ll be the obvious target. You can hide and do whichever of those fits the situation. I think I can reuse the killbots if I do it right. Maybe I¡¯ll use the EMPbots. Otherwise nothing else affects them¡ªexcept maybe the laser and I have a limited number of shots with that. Well, the goobots do too, but I don¡¯t have very many now.¡±


    ¡°No!¡± Tikki turned to me. ¡°You can do more than that. You could¡ª¡°


    And from there she described a way I might be able to modify the EMPbots phase out and through armor. It was an amazing idea, requiring some subtle adjustments, tools I didn¡¯t have on me, and a part I didn¡¯t have either.


    I told her so and she said, ¡°Oh, but what about¡ª¡° and she described a way I could tweak the killbots to get them past the force field. That was brilliant too, but it required me to take apart the bots which would take longer than five minutes.


    And then we had one minute left. My HUD gave me hints of the sound of their footfalls before they appeared, giving us time to get into position and giving me enough time to think about Tikki and how weird it was that a life support engineer with an interest in AI suddenly had insight into my tech.


    I had an idea, but no time to pursue it because in seconds, shots rang out and they were upon us.

 Unhidden: Part 5

    By shots, I mean burning blasts of energy and technically they didn¡¯t ring out so much as sizzle through the air. Of course, a technicality of description wouldn¡¯t make their weapons less lethal.


    Marcus flattened out against the wall¡ªthough not before Tikki stood in front of him with her bubble of time distortion filling the tunnel. I was on the wrong side¡ªthe unprotected side. That wasn¡¯t bad. I wanted to be able to do things, but it was inconvenient for Marcus.


    That said, head on fights with people using energy weapons weren¡¯t his strong point. Like Jaclyn, he¡¯d inherited some level of toughness from their grandfather, but it worked better against physical hits.


    All the same, the implant noticed that the area of Tikki¡¯s field had increased by fifty percent. I would have loved to speculate why¡ªhad she been hiding it? Did risk to Marcus prompt a growth spurt? I didn¡¯t have time for that.


    More than one blast hit my armor, causing damage, but nothing major. I wasn¡¯t immune to it, but I could take it for a little while. After nearly losing my arm to a fire-breathing dragon, I¡¯d improved the heat resistance.


    First, I had to slow down or stop their charge. I went with an idea I didn¡¯t love, but thought might work. I fired off a killbot, turning off the bot¡¯s default programming¡ªwhich was to aim for a vital spot and explode on arrival. Reminding myself that innocent people would die if I didn¡¯t do this (and maybe us too), I aimed for the heart and set it to hit the same spot on as many soldiers as it could.


    I¡¯d thought about trying it earlier, but now conditions seemed more favorable and maybe I was a little more desperate.


    They weren¡¯t quite in a straight line¡ªit was more like two staggered columns, but it was close enough.


    I felt a small push as the bot fired outward from my arm, hitting the first soldier in the heart, cutting through his armor like it wasn¡¯t there, and then zigging to the right to hit the next soldier.


    Like Haley and Travis, these soldiers had better than human agility, so the second soldier tried to dodge, jumping sideways toward the middle of the tunnel.


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    It didn¡¯t work. The killbot swerved, hitting him in the chest and shooting out the back and zagging to the left toward the third soldier before the first soldier even hit the ground.


    The bot killed four more in exactly the same way before it hit the eighth, going through the front, but worn down enough that it couldn¡¯t cut through the back. As per its programming, it then exploded.


    Up until the explosion, it had reminded me of the bits in ¡°Guardians of the Galaxy¡± where Yondu¡¯s arrow flew through people, killing them the same way my bot had killed the first seven.


    We didn¡¯t have the Disney corporation or the Motion Picture Association of America available to minimize the gore. The eighth soldier¡¯s chest exploded, throwing bits of the soldier¡¯s body, armor, and fire on to the stone below.


    Bloody chunks hit the ground, some of them charred and glowing like the dying embers of a campfire. The smell reminded me of barbaqued pork.


    Using the sonics, I used the implant¡¯s command of the Ascendancy¡¯s language to shout, ¡°Surrender!¡±


    Maybe they might have, but Agent 957 shouted, ¡°Kill him!¡± in a way that activated my suit¡¯s anti-voice system (now improved thanks to Kals).


    Blasts of energy flew toward me, the first two hitting me in the chest. The third missed, absorbed by Tikki¡¯s time bubble, but not destroyed.


    She twisted, rotating the bolt around her, and aiming it back at the soldiers, hitting one of them and taking him down.


    I didn¡¯t think it was the one who¡¯d fired the bolt, but it was impressive anyway, showing more control than I¡¯d thought she had.


    When you¡¯re a fanatic soldier and you¡¯re being urged to kill by mind control, that¡¯s not enough to shake your morale, but it should be.


    I fired off another killbot, knowing that after this I had only two left, but also knowing that it was the only bot that worked well enough to be useful. Maybe Tikki could help me convert the rest into something effective later.


    The killbot took out six and then exploded on the seventh. They¡¯d moved more when dodging than the first group. I could only guess that it had less force to work with or that the bot hit tougher sections of their armor.


    Either way, we¡¯d taken out 16 out of the 20 Ascendancy soldiers (including Tikki¡¯s redirect), leaving four soldiers, three four-handers and Agent 957.


    I decided not to use another killbot, partly because I only had two killbots left, partly because I didn¡¯t want to see another body explode, and partly for a reason that both Lee and Hal would have approved of. Knowing that the bot wouldn¡¯t work on Agent 957, that I wouldn¡¯t need it to kill the four-handers, and that the killbots were a limited resource, using them on only four soldiers was inefficient.


    It wasn¡¯t a thought that made me feel good about myself, but it was true.


    I decided not to dwell on it, turned on the sonics in the hope that they¡¯d disable something, and ran toward the soldiers, hoping Agent 957 would let them surrender.

 Unhidden: Part 6

    That turned out to be a fool¡¯s dream. Agent 957 barked out a command that my implant translated as, ¡°Target him!¡±


    ¡°Him¡± in this case meant me and the four remaining soldiers ran at me, the front two firing their weapons, hitting my armor. I felt the warmth. Even as I began to aim the sonics directly at the nearest soldiers, one of them fell over, taken out because Tikki recycled one of their own shots.


    Another of their energy blasts missed, flying above everyone¡¯s heads and hitting the ceiling.


    The soldier nearest me dropped his gun and jumped for me, claws out. While he moved faster than I could, he didn¡¯t move faster than Travis or Haley, and I¡¯d been training with both of them¡ªHaley more than Travis. One thing I¡¯d learned was that I could make up for less agility with timing. I might not be able to turn as quickly as they could when they were on the ground, but the moment they left the ground, they were traveling in one direction at a more predictable speed.


    I stepped to the right, punching him in the chest as hard as I could in the suit, hard enough to kill a normal person several times over. These guys were covered in alien-made armor that had to be at least as advanced as mine.


    Advanced as it was, I still hit with around ten tons of force on a good day. The punch threw the soldier into the wall on the left side of the tunnel with a crash that cracked the wall. The armor didn¡¯t break, but after the soldier fell to the floor, he didn¡¯t move.


    In the meantime though, the remaining two soldiers had reached me. Before I could do anything about it, one hit me in the stomach with its shoulder, reaching around me to grab my arms. The other stood out of my reach, aiming its gun at me, hoping, I guessed, that close range and holding me in place would open me up.


    It wasn¡¯t impossible that they were right about that.


    I bent forward and activated the rockets, shooting myself down the tunnel or at least it would have been that way if there were more space near the ceiling. I shot upward, trying to level out while an Ascendancy soldier hung onto me. We hit the ceiling at about the time we would have leveled out if I hadn¡¯t been trying to compensate for the soldier¡¯s weight, bouncing off of it and heading toward the ground.


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    The soldier on the ground careened sideways, trying to avoid the other soldier¡¯s legs. Agent 957 and the four-handers dropped to the floor or leaned against the wall.


    I¡¯d gotten out of a bad spot, but it didn¡¯t make me feel competent as much as a potential member of the cast for ¡°The Three Stooges go to War.¡±


    I didn¡¯t feel more competent when we hit the ground, but on the bright side, I did land on the guy who¡¯d been hanging on to me¡ªfor a little while. We flipped over a couple times. I wish I could say that I used that momentum to get back to my feet, but ended up on the floor next to the Ascendancy soldier and behind Agent 957 and the four-handers.


    Thanks to the suit¡¯s strength, I pushed myself up about as quickly as the soldier, charging him, and punching him in the face.


    He went down and didn¡¯t get up.


    Back where I¡¯d taken to the air, the sole standing Ascendancy soldier pointed his rifle at me and would have fired except that the wall developed hands and started battering the soldier against the floor until his gun bounced across the floor and he stopped moving.


    Marcus reformed into a rocky version of himself, maybe five feet tall, but with big fists. Still obscured by her time field, Tikki stood behind him.


    I¡¯d say that we were down to a battle between the three of us on one side and Agent 957 plus the three four-handers except we weren¡¯t.


    The four-handers huddled against the wall together saying, ¡°Mercy, we surrender!¡±


    Agent 957 glanced over at them with no expression. That was probably standard procedure for them.


    He held a wide-barreled gun in his hand but didn¡¯t point it at anybody. Looking over at Marcus, he pointed at Tikki and said, ¡°Kill her.¡±


    Against the background of a quiet buzz, Marcus shook his head, ¡°Sorry, but no. That¡¯s not going to work.¡±


    Looking at Tikki, he said, ¡°You, kill him.¡±


    Tikki looked at him and I tried to remember if I¡¯d given Tikki an anti-voice countermeasure. I felt sure I hadn¡¯t and hoped that her time distortion field might prevent that though I couldn¡¯t think of a good reason that it would.


    She smiled. ¡°Your whole civilization is built on slavery. I¡¯ll never help you.¡±


    I thought it interesting that she talked as if she wasn¡¯t part of that civilization.


    In the same moment, Agent 957 pointed his gun at Marcus and fired.

 Unhidden: Part 7

    The beam hit Marcus¡¯ chest, but it didn¡¯t get through his new costume. While I hadn¡¯t been planning to go to war, I knew that he and Jaclyn were more vulnerable to heat and lasers than they were to anything physical.


    I designed their costumes to disperse heat and reflect lasers.


    In Marcus¡¯ case, I designed his to adjust to shapeshifting to the degree that it could¡ªwhich sometimes worked against protecting him.


    In this case, he¡¯d gone with a smaller, denser form instead of a larger or thinner form which would have made the armor thinner as well.


    On the other hand, it wasn''t a form that helped a person dodge.


    The costume glowed with heat and he dove to the side.


    Tikki screamed and I activated the lasers, aiming them at Agent 957. I¡¯d been trying to avoid killing anyone else, but I didn¡¯t have much of a choice here.


    I¡¯d never been all that interested in finding out what lasers with the power to burn through a battleship¡¯s armor would do to human flesh, but I didn¡¯t have a lot of choices.


    Fortunately for my stomach and unfortunately for Marcus, Agent 957 had an Abominator style shield. Instead of burning and cooking Agent 957¡¯s flesh, the beams hit the shield, each of them creating a spot on the shield that burned with a bright light (that my helmet dimmed).


    White with hints of red and blue, the light lit the tunnel.


    I didn¡¯t love what it was doing to the suit¡¯s power reserves. While it wasn''t emptying them, I could see that it could given enough time.


    At the same time, I could see hints of Agent 957¡¯s face through his helmet with my HUD.


    His eyes were wide and he seemed to be looking at something that no one could see. I guessed it might be suit-related information from his implant because defending against the lasers would cost battery life.


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    I didn¡¯t have information on whether running a shield would cost less or more energy than pointing lasers into that same shield. I would have bet on more, but I would also bet that he probably had better batteries to work with.


    Whether or not that was true, he didn¡¯t try to stand there and just take the blasts. He shouted a few quick words and ran at me, firing his pistol.


    Kals had mentioned that the Ascendancy prepared people with words that could be used to take them out. I assumed that Agent 957 was trying the common ones out on us except that none of us had grown up in the right time or place to have an agent prepare us to be disabled except for Tikki.


    The words didn¡¯t affect her in any noticeable way. She took a step forward, pulling her entire time bubble closer to the rest of us.


    Meanwhile, Marcus had slumped against the cave wall near Tikki¡¯s time bubble even before the agent said anything and Tikki¡¯s movement had pulled him into the bubble.


    I turned off the left arm¡¯s laser and turned on the sonics, setting the weapon to find the shield¡¯s resonant frequency on the theory that enough vibrations might take down the shield.


    At the same time, I kept up the right arm¡¯s laser attacks.


    Agent 957 let out a breath, leading me to think that if he was relaxing, turning off the left-hand laser might have been a mistake. Except then, as sonics found the shield¡¯s resonant frequency, the glowing bubble around him began to ¡°wobble¡± in the air. Worse for him, light from the laser began to get through the shield¡ªnot all the time, but stray bits of light were beginning to burn his armor. At the same time, the sizzling noise that the laser hitting the shield made became louder.


    His eyes widened, darting around, trying to decide what to do next, I guessed.


    Making a decision, he pulled a hand-sized cylinder from his belt and shouted, ¡°Stop or they die!¡±


    Then he ran toward Tikki and Marcus. I didn¡¯t know what the cylinder was, but the smart money seemed to be on a grenade or a bomb. Even as I continued to point the laser at his wobbling shield, I realized that a bomb was the perfect attack against Tikki in that an explosion would fill the space.


    She might be able to slow it down, but if it ever reached her, she¡¯d still die and Marcus with her.


    All I could think at the moment was to turn off the right arm¡¯s laser, but then, on impulse, I turned on the right arm''s sonic, setting it to match the left arm''s sonic frequency.


    As I did, Agent 957 slumped in relief and smiled. He¡¯d won. Except then his shield popped into glowing sparks and Tikki accelerated herself, moving forward in a burst, grabbing the hand with the bomb and pulling it out of his hand as her time bubble surrounded him.


    When she stepped back from him, the bubble still surrounding him, he began to age, his skin turning grey and then crumbling to dust.

 Unhidden: Part 8

    In seconds, Agent 957¡¯s armor fell to the ground, expelling a cloud. Some of the grey particles floated in the air, others fell out of the bottom of his helmet, creating a small pile. It made me grateful that the Rocket suit filtered the air. It wouldn¡¯t do me harm, but I didn¡¯t like the idea of breathing him in.


    The four-handers ran away, deeper into the tunnels, unwilling to take the chance that we wouldn¡¯t kill them. Given that there were more than 20 bodies on the ground, most of them killed by me, I couldn¡¯t blame them.


    I turned to check on Marcus. He looked worse than I¡¯d realized.


    He lay with his back to the wall, enclosed in the time bubble. I hadn¡¯t noticed, but the shot had burnt through his costume. The grey, rocky skin, tough as it was, must have done some good, but not enough. He wasn¡¯t moving at all.


    I became aware of my breathing and the movement of my heart in my chest as the thought struck me that he might be dead.


    Except then I noticed one more thing. Lines distorted the shape of Tikki¡¯s time bubble, pulsing outward with her at the center. Around him, lines pulsed outward with him at the center. She had a second time bubble inside the first. She might be keeping him in stasis, something that was well within her abilities as I understood them, but I¡¯d never seen a second bubble inside the larger one.


    I turned to look at Tikki, but as I did, I felt something. It reminded me of the feeling I¡¯d had when we¡¯d passed the remains of the battle that Lee had fought while leading the Destroy faction. In memory, that one had felt full of menace.


    This felt hopeful, but also afraid at the same time. I¡¯d wondered even as the fight began if she might somehow be one of Lee¡¯s people. We¡¯d met Kee Oataki, and Kee, just like Tikki, had given me new ideas to consider about technology. In Kee¡¯s case, that had been FTL equipment. In Tikki¡¯s, she¡¯d given me new ideas about the bots.


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    It fit. Kee had disappeared after we walked out the door of her shop. When we walked back in, she wasn¡¯t there. The shop contained people we¡¯d never seen and they didn¡¯t know where she was. It was exactly like one of those disappearing magic shops you read about in stories. After that, we¡¯d been told about Tikki. If Kee¡¯s abilities were anything like Lee¡¯s, she¡¯d had plenty of time to get a new identity.


    My grandfather¡¯s theory was that Lee manipulated reality every time he took a new form, altering history so that it was as if that new form has always existed from the moment he took form for as long as it lasted.


    It didn¡¯t make a lot of sense to me, but it fit my experience. Somehow Kee had changed reality such that Tikki had always been, including a history that left her parents conveniently dead, and no ties strong enough among the resistance to prevent her from joining up with us.


    That would have been exactly what she wanted. Kee said that I glowed. I denied any knowledge of why, but following us would have given her every opportunity to find out who we were connected with.


    The only thing that didn¡¯t fit was that Lee had said that I¡¯d probably sense the presence of another one of his people, but Tikki hadn¡¯t ever tripped my ability to sense beings of blasphemous, eldritch horror (or whatever she was).


    On the other hand, neither had Kee. I only become aware of what she must be after she¡¯d brought the topic up herself and then completely disappeared.


    If Kee was, as she appeared to be, the Live faction¡¯s tech genius, it didn¡¯t seem impossible that she might be able to hide her nature better than any of the others.


    We met each other¡¯s eyes and she said, ¡°I know you know. Please don¡¯t tell Marcus.¡±


    I felt my jaw drop. ¡°How can I not tell Marcus? Friends tell their friends when they¡¯re dating uh¡­ whatever you guys are.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I need to tell him. She¡­ I¡­ Tikki¡­ She really did, really does love him.¡±


    I said the first thing that came into my head. ¡°What?¡±


    She took two breaths. ¡°I went too deep. I created Tikki and I forgot myself. She¡¯s so like I was when I was young. I¡¯d forgotten how deeply you feel emotions, how much everything hurts whether inside or outside. She wouldn¡¯t let me do anything halfway.¡±


    ¡°So, Marcus is definitely alive, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± She shouted back at me, her upper lip quivering. "I''m going to save him, and then after that, when it''s over, I''m going to tell him what I really am."

 Unhidden: Part 9

    Turning back to Marcus, she said, ¡°He¡¯s close to death, but not there. I can bring him back by reversing time.¡±


    That didn¡¯t surprise me. It fit with everything else. If she could slow people or speed up herself, why couldn¡¯t she move backward in time? Then another thought struck me, ¡°You could have brought back Maru or Alanna.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°No. Well, I could have, but it¡¯s not simple. Both of them died before I could do anything. People knew they were dead. When people die, it affects everyone they matter to. That sets events in motion that spread and can¡¯t be easily stopped. Bringing someone back in that situation stops or changes everything that stated, pushing the future in new directions. One of my people would notice and I don¡¯t know who or whether it would be Live faction, the Destroy faction, or both.¡±


    Her eyes wide, she continued. ¡°Less powerful races would think that I was a miracle worker, but they already think that after I live among them. What I fear is my people noticing that the future changed and that the cause exists outside of time. That shouldn¡¯t be true with Marcus. He hasn¡¯t died and no one knows but you and I. My people still might notice, but with almost no one knowing, it¡¯s so much less likely.¡±


    As she said the last line, she almost sounded like Tikki again.


    Her eyes drifted back toward Marcus and then back to me. ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell him until people stop trying to kill us. It¡¯s hard enough to survive without being distracted by heartbreak too. I don¡¯t want to see him die again.¡±


    Standing there in the tunnel, darkness around us and dead bodies on the ground, I took her point. I didn¡¯t want him to be distracted either. On the other hand, ¡°But you will tell him, right? This can¡¯t hang in the air unsaid. I¡¯ll tell him if you don¡¯t, but not until the fighting¡¯s over. I think I agree with you there.¡±


    She took a breath and nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll tell him. I don¡¯t have any choice. We¡¯re not even the same species. As soon as I was fully myself again, I¡¯d find him too limited and I¡¯d grow bored. I wouldn¡¯t want to hurt him, but I know I would. I can¡¯t make him into one of us even though all of you have the greatest potential for that that I¡¯ve seen so far.¡±


    She looked me up and down. ¡°When we talked in my store, I told you that you glowed. If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d think you were one of our young¡ªwhich is one more reason to end this. I don¡¯t know how so much of us got into your DNA. The Abominators experiments weren¡¯t enough to explain this. And Lee, if he¡¯s behind this, I don¡¯t know how he managed it. It¡¯s not all him, and he¡¯d only be interested in contributing DNA the easy way.¡±


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    In the silence that followed that statement, I decided to ask a question that could destroy the Earth if I asked it of the wrong being, ¡°You know who Lee is?¡±


    She laughed, and she didn¡¯t sound like Tikki. Tikki¡¯s laugh had a high, but not irritatingly high, pitch to it. To me, she¡¯d sounded innocent and optimistic and hopeful all at once. This laugh had some of that, but deeper notes among the light. Beyond that, I felt that it existed on levels beyond sound, levels that I couldn¡¯t name or describe, but I knew they were there.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said when she finished. ¡°Lee isn¡¯t really his name, but I¡¯m sure you know that. Lee fought for the Destroy faction until he left, taking their greatest weapon with him. I designed that weapon. I¡¯d only stayed to spy for the Live faction and to see if I couldn¡¯t convince him that he¡¯d chosen the wrong side. The battle where he first used my weapon convinced me that I couldn¡¯t stay any longer. He remained and I despaired that anything would change his mind. Later, he left on his own and I never knew where he went.¡±


    Deciding not to mention Earth for all the good that would do, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure, but it sounds like a lot of different places.¡±


    She laughed again. ¡°I¡¯ve heard stories of the chase from our spies. He hasn¡¯t changed. Now, give me a moment.¡±


    Turning toward Marcus, she closed her eyes and the distortion surrounding him changed, emitting a dim glow as the rocky surface of Marcus¡¯ chest turned from rocky, but with smooth edges to defined, rocky muscles and Marcus¡¯ costume came back together undamaged. An echo of the energy blast that hit him flowed away from his chest, dissipating in the air in front of him.


    Then the distortion around him ended and he lay on the ground opening his eyes and taking a deep breath.


    At almost the same time, Tikki opened her eyes, bending down to hug him. He hugged her back, asking, ¡°Are you okay? When I took that last shot, I thought I was dead.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she said. ¡°I was worried about you. I thought you might be dead, and I tried moving time backward to make the damage go away and I think it worked.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± he said, and kissed her, shifting back into his normal form as he did. She kissed him back and I thought I saw tears at the corners of her eyes.


    As much as I thought that she should tell him the truth, I couldn¡¯t blame her. Loving someone and being loved in return had to be better than being an ancient being fighting against former friends who hoped to destroy all other intelligent life.


    Saying nothing and scanning the area behind us, I let them enjoy the moment.

 Unhidden: Part 10

    In a little while, I turned around to find Marcus standing, his costume fully repaired. Tikki stood beside him. They were holding hands and looking into each other¡¯s eyes, all but glowing. I didn¡¯t see any hint of regret or anxiety in her smile, meaning that Kee had submerged herself into Tikki again, or that she was too good an actor for me to read.


    When you considered that Kee predated the human species and possibly our universe, she¡¯d had billions of years to gain the skills necessary to fool me.


    Marcus pulled himself away looking at her. ¡°We should go find everybody that we sent ahead. From the map, it doesn¡¯t look like we¡¯re that far from the surface. I¡¯m worried what happens if they get too far ahead.¡±


    It didn¡¯t take long to catch up even considering that Tikki had only a normal person¡¯s speed when she didn¡¯t have a bubble up. I had good reason to think she wasn¡¯t as limited as she made herself out to be originally, but she was staying in character for now.


    The colonists appeared to be happy to see us alive, asking what happened. They¡¯d heard the fight. More than one of them seemed impressed by description of my killbots. An older man told me, ¡°I¡¯ve heard of similar weapons. Don¡¯t know if they were Ascendancy, Abominator, or Alliance. Whatever it was, I never managed to find them anywhere or I¡¯d have ordered as many as I could afford.¡±


    When we got within roachbot range of the end of the tunnel, I sent a couple observation bots out of the tunnel to get a good view.


    They weren¡¯t destroyed the instant they passed of the cave¡¯s mouth¡ªa good sign. What they showed was a little less straightforward than that. The tunnel exited from the stone formation ten feet above the ground. It wasn¡¯t a straight drop. The colonists would be able to walk down a ledge that became wider the longer it got, meeting the ground some forty feet to the left of the exit.


    If they felt impatient, they could drop to the ground. Ten feet wasn¡¯t that far.


    Like most of the stone formation, it lay next to an empty field. We were further down the coast from Landing, the settlement¡¯s largest town. Its force shields glittered in the sunlight.


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    Next to Landing¡¯s force shields lay the bodies of the spacers who¡¯d been trampled by the herd of elephant/rhino/boar things. They¡¯d been busy. Over the time that we¡¯d been underground, they¡¯d been burying bodies and added a few more. The new bodies appeared to include a few more dogs like Jaclyn¡¯s dog Tiger as well as a few more predators. I couldn¡¯t see details from this distance¡ªjust mounds of fur, scales, or in one case, feathers.


    A set of force shields with a greenish shimmer glowed next to the graveyard. The spacers had either taken over the colonists force fields and modified them or set up their own shields. Unwilling or unable to disarm the colonists¡¯ traps, they¡¯d set up domed shelters inside. I doubted there could be many more than two hundred people in that space, but I didn¡¯t know for sure.


    That didn¡¯t cover everything though. As the first observation bot swung around, showing the next tunnel exit over. I gasped as it came into view because this tunnel had been attacked. Burn marks surrounded the stone around the tunnel¡¯s exit, but not just the tunnel¡¯s exit. They¡¯d also left big scorch marks in front of the tunnel, and along with those scorch marks, burned bodies¡ªat least 50 of them. Scorched and smoking armor, space suits, and weapons lay there with them.


    That group had been ambushed.


    At about the time that thought went through my head, my HUD registered Cassie¡¯s and Jaclyn¡¯s presence, routed over to me through the bots.


    ¡°Rocket!¡± Cassie¡¯s voice felt a little too loud in my HUD. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you can see our exit from wherever you are, but no matter how bad it looks, we¡¯re not dead.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± I set one of the bots in a slow circle near to the exit and set the other to a wider circle in the opposite direction. I also checked to see if HAL was in range, getting no response to my ping. ¡°What happened? It¡¯s obvious that there was an ambush, but I can¡¯t tell much more than that.¡±


    Cassie didn¡¯t even stop to breathe. ¡°There¡¯s not much to tell. Our groups joined up and became a massive group¡ªmaybe 500 people. There¡¯s no way a group like that is going to be stealthy, so we should have expected that people would be waiting for us. A couple of their people went ahead of the larger group as scouts¡ªwhich saved everybody. They found people waiting ahead of us in the tunnel and turned around to tell us.


    ¡°Problem was that as soon as they turned, the whole group started firing. Plus there were more running down the tunnel after them. Jaclyn and I rushed forward with the gun raving like a madman in my head. I¡¯m pretty sure it was the best day that thing¡¯s had in years because I shot a fuckload of people. Jaclyn took out everyone I missed, but she got shot a lot.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± I tried to formulate a sentence. Just because her suit registered her, it didn¡¯t mean she was alive.


    Jaclyn¡¯s voice came over the HUD¡¯s speakers. ¡°I did get shot a lot.¡±

 Unhidden: Part 11

    She took a long breath. ¡°I¡¯m not in the best of shape. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I can still fight, but I¡¯m burned all over. The new costume did some good but it didn¡¯t stop everything. If we¡¯re going to fight these guys more often, I¡¯m going to need better protection against heat and light.¡±


    Marcus cut into the conversation. ¡°Me too. I nearly died a couple minutes ago.¡±


    The volume of Jaclyn¡¯s reply made the speakers crackle. ¡°What? Nick, you need to watch him better.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s voice cut in. ¡°But he¡¯s not dead.¡±


    Marcus¡¯ sigh was audible through the helmet¡¯s internal speakers. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Jacks. I¡¯m fine. Better than you, I bet. Tikki reversed time in her bubble. I¡¯m right back to where I was before I got shot.¡±


    Cassie let out a breath. ¡°Whoa. That¡¯s awesome.¡±


    In a quieter voice than before, Jaclyn asked, ¡°Do you think it would work on me?¡±


    I looked over at Tikki. She didn¡¯t look like she¡¯d heard Jaclyn¡¯s end of the conversation. Kee would have had a way to listen in.


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°it gets more taxing the longer it is from the event. She had Marcus in her time distortion bubble practically the second after he got hurt.¡±


    Jaclyn sighed. ¡°That was too much to hope for. Then, I need you to understand. I¡¯m not at my best. I¡¯m going to do everything I can, but I don¡¯t have much in the tank and almost every part of me hurts.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± I told her. ¡°We¡¯ll figure things out. There aren¡¯t many of them left anyway.¡±


    Near me in the cave, Marcus grinned. ¡°That¡¯s right. We¡¯ve got some good news. Agent 957¡¯s dead.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s one less¡ª¡° Cassie began.


    Talking over her, Jaclyn asked, ¡°How did that happen?¡±


    Marcus looked over at Tikki and then at me. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I assumed it was Nick, but¡­¡±


    ¡°It was Tikki.¡± I looked over at her and she nodded. ¡°She aged him into dust.¡±


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    Marcus looked over at me and then at Tikki. ¡°No kidding. Wow.¡±


    Tikki held up her hands. ¡°I didn¡¯t know if you were alive or dead.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s more than you told us you could do back when we met.¡± He looked at her.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know. I¡¯d never tried it.¡± She shrugged.


    I knew she wasn¡¯t going to tell him until she thought everything was over, but it still felt like she was ignoring everything that happened and everything that she¡¯d said. I wasn¡¯t going to say anything though. Tikki¡¯s true nature would be a huge distraction for Marcus¡ªeven more so than it was for me. Anyway, for the moment, she was all Tikki. Depending on how far into Tikki she was, she might not even know what I meant when I brought it up.


    Deciding that dwelling on that couldn¡¯t help, I brought upthe most important topic of the moment. ¡°We¡¯ve got to figure out what¡¯s next. The way I understood the plan was that the people we¡¯re escorting are going to go meet up at different rendezvous and we were supposed to do whatever it took to keep Four Hands, Kamia, Neves and Ascendancy forces away from them. The way I see it, at this point we probably have to go find Four Hands and the rest. Otherwise, they can hunt down the different groups whenever they want.¡±


    Cassie grunted. ¡°For a bunch of former terrorists, you¡¯d think they¡¯d get a bunch of people together and give us some backup.¡±


    Jaclyn responded before anyone else. ¡°Oh come on, Cassie. You know they weren¡¯t all terrorists. Plus, they¡¯re middle-aged people with kids now. They were probably terrorists when they were our age.¡±


    I thought back to the evacuation plans the colonists had shared with us. ¡°After they scatter to their other hideouts, it looks like they¡¯re supposed to see how many soldiers they can field for guerrilla warfare. If any come to help, they¡¯ll probably come with Kals¡ªwhich reminds me. Have any of you seen her, Katuk, or Crawls-Through-Desert?¡±


    Both Jaclyn and Cassie said, ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯re right,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°if we¡¯re going to keep them off the colonists, we have to find Four Hands and the leadership immediately. We don¡¯t have time to worry about where everyone else is. Without the leadership, the spacers will only worry about survival.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°What I¡¯m seeing with the bots is that there are a bunch of them gathered behind a force field next to where we hit them with the herd of um¡­ eleboars? Whatever. I don¡¯t know if Four Hands is there, but going there might help us find him.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Cassie said, ¡°they¡¯ll call on him to deal with us.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°That¡¯s probably true.¡±


    At that moment, a big glowing light appeared in the streams from the observation bots. I focused on that and saw that a glowing figure had appeared in the sky above the field between the colony and the caverns.


    It didn¡¯t take much to recognize the figure. It was a projection of Four Hands. Along with the visuals came booming audio of Four Hands¡¯ voice (or so I assumed).


    ¡°Congratulations Xiniti, you¡¯ve bested us. You¡¯ve scattered the colonists so completely we¡¯ll never find them all and only they know how to survive on this hellhole. We¡¯d like to negotiate the terms of our surrender. Come to our camp and we¡¯ll talk.¡±


    On a gut level, I wanted to believe it could be that simple, but I didn¡¯t.

 Unhidden: Part 12

    Marcus looked toward the cavern¡¯s opening. ¡°That¡¯s loud. I can hear it through your bot feed, but I don¡¯t need to. It¡¯s just as loud in here.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t noticed, but when I thought about it, he was right.


    ¡°We can hear it too,¡± Jacklyn said. ¡°Does he seriously think he¡¯s fooling anybody?¡±


    ¡°You could make the case that they¡¯ve lost,¡± I said. ¡°If no one shows up and they actually have to live here without any help from the colonists, they probably will die. But yeah, it is a little early for them to give up, we know they summoned help, and it looks like they¡¯re trying to exterminate the colonists. I¡¯d say he¡¯s probably figuring that if he kills us, he can hunt down everyone else¡ªwhich is what we were kind of saying earlier. We¡¯ve got to take out Four Hands¡¯ people. They¡¯ve got to take us out. Meeting with them is probably our best chance.¡±


    I sent a ping out for HAL again, getting no reply. It was worth a shot.


    ¡°I think you¡¯re right,¡± Cassie said, ¡°but we¡¯d better be careful about it.¡±


    Jaclyn grunted what we were all thinking in that moment, ¡°Huh.¡±


    ¡°I know that¡¯s not what you¡¯re expecting me to say, but what I¡¯d do is give you a meeting spot and then bomb it or set up a bunch of snipers.¡± Cassie paused, ¡°Right?¡±


    I checked with the observation bots, focusing them on the camp. While I couldn¡¯t identify individuals, there were four handers, more typical human spacers, and a few Ascendancy soldiers, most of them wounded. That was just on the outside edges of the camp. I couldn¡¯t see into the middle of the camp. All the same, it didn¡¯t seem likely that he¡¯d destroy his own people to take us out.


    On the other hand, I didn¡¯t know him, but it seemed over the top. He¡¯d have to view his own people as disposable to be willing to do that, and members of the military that I¡¯d known tried to avoid shooting their own people.


    Answering Cassie, Marcus said, ¡°Remind me never to negotiate with you.¡±


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    ¡°Tikki,¡± I turned to look at her, ¡°would it be unusual or normal for a Human Ascendancy soldier to kill his own people to get a target?¡±


    Tikki frowned, ¡°Unusual? Yes. It would be very unusual, but they¡¯ve done it. I think their motivator made them.¡±


    With Agent 957 gone, they didn¡¯t have a motivator or at least they didn¡¯t have one outside the normal military structure, meaning they¡¯d be less likely to sacrifice fellow soldiers in theory. The Xiniti implant confirmed that. Xiniti records showed that motivators who were within the military used their powers in support of the military¡¯s goals. It was outside motivators that sent them on suicide missions.


    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t all go,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll go and then the rest of you should be ready to come in to help me if things go wrong or if we decide we have to attack.¡±


    Jaclyn spoke before anyone else could. ¡°No. You shouldn¡¯t be alone. You should have backup right there with you.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I think it makes sense to only send me because that way you only lose one person if things go horribly wrong. That one person should be me because Cassie¡¯s gun is vulnerable to Kamia, you''re hurt, Marcus can¡¯t do area of effect attacks, and Tikki¡¯s powers are too limited.¡±


    Even as I said the last part, I thought about what Tikki really was. If we could be sure Kee would use Tikki¡¯s powers as effectively as Lee used his different identities, Four Hands and the others might as well give up.


    Before anyone else could interrupt, I added, ¡°Besides, I¡¯ve got a good chance of escaping if I have to. If I use the rocketpack, I can fly away. I don¡¯t intend to be caught or killed, but better one of us than all of us.¡±


    After a moment, Jaclyn said, ¡°Okay. I don¡¯t like it, but it makes sense. But if we¡¯re going to do it, we¡¯re going to have a plan. You¡¯re going to keep in touch and we¡¯ll keep on listening. If we decide we need to move in, we¡¯ll do it. If you get in trouble, we¡¯ll get you out.¡±


    We talked through our plans and options for the next half hour, talking on our comms and sitting in our tunnels. When the glowing figure began to repeat itself for the tenth time, we stopped.


    ¡°No matter how tempted you are to fly,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°walk toward them. We¡¯ll need the time to get into position. Talk to them. Get them going. Talk tech with Four Hands if you have to.¡±


    ¡°It might be worth a shot.¡± I summoned the observation bots back into my suit and began to walk across the field. I wanted to run, but that wouldn¡¯t give them time either.


    Taking a breath, I decided to enjoy the walk, looking at the waist-high grass, the flowers, and small animals that bounded away through the grass. Grey furred, long-eared, and long-tailed, I couldn¡¯t decide whether they reminded me more of rats or rabbits.


    In a better universe, I¡¯d have been taking biological samples so I could pass them off to scientists back home.

 Unhidden: Part 13

    Whatever I might think about this universe, though, I had a duty. I kept walking. As I walked away from the caverns the icons showing Cassie¡¯s, Jaclyn¡¯s, and Marcus¡¯ presence turned inactive. They were going deeper in and meeting up to follow a tunnel that opened up out of sight on the other side of the field.


    I¡¯d run calculations with assistance from the implant and given the distance and probable speed, they ought to get there the same time I reached Four Hands and company. I¡¯d have to stall for them to make it the rest of the way, but who knew? Maybe Four Hands wanted to surrender for real. It wasn¡¯t likely, but it was possible.


    Reminding myself that picking up the pace was a bad idea, I ran through the plans we¡¯d decided as I walked. In truth, they weren¡¯t plans as much as a series of conditionals along the lines of, ¡°If a group breaks off and begins running away while the rest charge, we¡¯ll use that maneuver Lee taught us this spring¡­¡±


    I kept them in mind, putting one foot ahead of the other, stepping or jumping over puddles and mud. It would have made for a more exciting story if at some point I stepped into a puddle and the claws or mandibles of something below tried to pull me under, but nothing did.


    Safe from exciting cliches, I made it to their camp.


    I couldn¡¯t help but note that their force field generators had a different design than the colonists¡¯. Black half-globes on flat bases gave off a blue glow similar to the colonists¡¯ generators. Off top of my head, it struck me as a bluer blue even though it was still transparent, and I also noted that the wall only extended a good twenty feet in the air. The colonists¡¯ generators created a field that reached about one hundred feet if I remembered correctly.


    I wondered if the spacers¡¯ force field generators were adjustable. It could easily be that their default settings were for worlds where the potential attackers were smaller, but they were in for an unpleasant surprise here.


    As I came closer, it became obvious that they¡¯d noticed me. Most of them were watching in my direction. The ones that weren¡¯t were scanning the skies and checking other directions. I couldn¡¯t know exactly why, but it was amusing that they thought an attack could come from any direction now that I was here.


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    Maybe that should have given me pause given our plans, but it didn¡¯t.


    As I walked up to the force field, an opening formed in the blue, shimmering field ahead of me. I walked through it, finding myself surrounded by Human Ascendancy soldiers, spacers, and their four handed techs. The soldiers trained guns on me.


    One of them pointed deeper into the camp, saying, ¡°This way. Follow me.¡±


    There wasn¡¯t much of a choice. I followed him, walking between what looked like inflatable, plastic containers that the implant identified as multi-use shelters used both on and off-planet. Most of them were green with a few blues, and a smattering of brighter colors¡ªred, yellow, and orange.


    According to the implant, the shelters were supposed to adjust color to blend into the environment when on planets, but might default to louder colors designed to stick out when rescue was required.


    From what could see through the open doors, most of the shelters held wounded people, almost all of them likely hurt in our attack on the battleship or in the stampede. However they were hurt, the Ascendancy soldiers didn¡¯t appear to feel the need to pretend to be friendly. Never dropping their guns, they scowled at me the entire way.


    After a minute of pushing through the small streets between the lines of shelters, we came to a clearing. There were no buildings or shelters. There was a firepit that was filled with wood and the burned remains of past fires.


    To the side of the fire stood Four Hands. He wore gray, powered armor. The helmet hung from his belt next to two guns. His face remained expressionless as he saw me enter, but when the Ascendancy soldier said, ¡°He¡¯s here,¡± Four Hands watched me, waving the soldier away.


    ¡°Welcome, adopted Xiniti. I¡¯d expected that there would be more of you.¡±


    I nodded, wondering how his implant would interpret the gesture, but saying, ¡°We thought sending one would be enough. If that changes, we¡¯ll let you know.¡±


    He chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m sure you will. You¡¯re a puzzle, you know. The Xiniti rarely induct humans into their ranks. I can¡¯t tell you how rare because they don¡¯t publish their statistics anywhere, much less send them to the Human Ascendancy, but I don¡¯t have records of human adopted Xiniti in the past ten years. Beyond that, I don¡¯t have record of the precise technology that your suits appear to be made of at all.¡±


    He looked at me, moving his eyes up and down my suit. ¡°In fact, from what I¡¯ve collected from our people¡¯s suit cameras, all of you are wearing the same technology, but yours appears to be more extensive than anyone else''s. I¡¯ve begun to suspect you might be the inventor.¡±

 Unhidden: Part 14

    That blindsided me. It shouldn¡¯t have. When you looked at it from the outside, it was logical. We used tech that looked like Xiniti tech, but if you were a techie, you¡¯d notice the small details that would cue you into the fact that this was homebrewed instead of mass-produced.


    Bearing that in mind, the question was whether denying it or admitting to it would lead to a more distracting conversation. I went with admitting to it. Talking shop with the guy might run the risk of telling him more about my armor than I wanted him to know, but the same was true in reverse.


    I said, ¡°Kind of. It¡¯s built on more technology than just mine and we¡¯re all from a world on the edge of things. So, it¡¯s less advanced than what you¡¯re probably using. It¡¯s more a hodgepodge of technology that I was able to get a hold of and then repurpose or reverse engineer.¡±


    None of that was false. I¡¯d come up with the suit¡¯s current ceramic material on my own based on Grandpa¡¯s tech, but the current ceramic was based on alien tech I¡¯d gotten when aliens tried to blow up St. Louis. Plus, the nanotech element was mine, but the rest was a mix of my stuff, Grandpa¡¯s designs, and Earth tech that I hadn¡¯t had a reason or time to redesign.


    ¡°It¡¯s effective.¡± He looked the suit up and down. ¡°You¡¯ve survived shots from our weapons and one of your projectiles nearly made it through Kamia¡¯s force field and that¡¯s the Masters¡¯ technology. Am I right in guessing that it used mono-molecular tech?¡±


    I considered lying, but said, ¡°Yes, mostly.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°There was a period where the Masters used that technology in war, but it only lasted until they invented effective shields. Our shields are based on theirs and though we don¡¯t use them commonly, there¡¯s been no reason to bring back monomolecular weaponry when everything and everyone important is shielded.¡±


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    He stopped, glancing around the clearing.


    That¡¯s when I realized that we were alone¡ªnot completely alone because we were in the middle of a camp, but close to alone. We were the only ones next to the fire and while we were surrounded by their inflatable habitats, there was a forty foot gap between the fire and habitats on every side.


    This was private to the degree that it could be.


    He walked the rest of the way around the fire pit and stood in front of me. ¡°Your technology might give us the power to win this endless contest we¡¯re in with the nations around us. I know you¡¯re not feeling friendly to the Human Ascendancy, but hear me out.¡±


    Under any circumstance other than waiting out the clock to get Jaclyn, Cassie and Marcus into position, I would not have listened to him. Giving the Human Ascendancy a better weapon was not part of my plans ever. That shouldn¡¯t need to be said, but I feel like it should be given that my implant was freaking out.


    It wasn¡¯t freaking out in the literal sense. The implant had artificial intelligence, but not in the ¡°self-aware and capable of making its own decisions,¡± sense. Its artificial intelligence was the kind where it learned how I processed information over time and presented it in an optimal way. In this moment, it was giving me a prolonged political and historical view of the Human Quarantine.


    After the Abominators, the Alliance and the Xiniti had pushed the Abominators¡¯ genetically modified servants into a sector of space. The Human Ascendancy was one of many, but currently the most powerful. With better weapons, it might be able to unite the whole Quarantine area, something the Xiniti were deliberately trying to avoid.


    With a united humanity, the Human Ascendancy had a realistic chance of breaking out of the Quarantine and reconquering territory that the Abominators lost. More to the point, for the Alliance, a united humanity was one of those hot-button political issues guaranteed to generate fear and anger. If it ever looked possible, I could count on a massive pre-emptive strike by the Alliance.


    You could argue that having the Alliance attack the Human Ascendancy and destroy it wouldn¡¯t be a bad thing, but that failed to account for one crucial fact. Earth was within the Human Quarantine. Even though we might not be a target, we¡¯d still get hit.

 Unhidden: Part 15

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to hear you out. The Human Ascendancy is horrible. They literally mind control their people, implant suggestions in their heads, force them to watch and betray people they care about¡­ I literally saw someone¡¯s head explode because she¡¯d been manipulated by them. I don¡¯t want to help you guys take over all of human space. I mean, honestly, that¡¯s about the last thing I want.¡±


    Even as I said it, I knew that that wasn¡¯t the best answer possible. The best answer possible was one that would keep the conversation going indefinitely while everyone got into position. This answer amounted to shouting, ¡°I¡¯ll never join you!¡±


    Shortly after that line, Darth Vader revealed himself to be Luke¡¯s father and Luke jumped down an air shaft.


    Um¡­ Sorry for the really old spoiler?


    On the other hand, shortly before that, Vader had cut off Luke¡¯s hand¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t the best possible lead up to any conversation. I¡¯m not the most persuasive person in the world, but I¡¯d say that almost nobody is more likely to listen to you after you cut off their hand unless maybe you tell them you¡¯re sorry and you¡¯re calling an ambulance.


    Even then, I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d trust them.


    That tangent aside, Four Hands didn¡¯t tell me that he was my father or cut off my hand. He sighed and said, ¡°I know. I feel the same way. The Human Ascendancy needs my people desperately, but it couldn¡¯t care less what we want. We want to come up with ideas, invent, change things, but the Ascendancy can¡¯t let us do that. It needs us to repair their ships and come up with new ways to get around innovations made by members of our race that other people have enslaved.¡±


    He glanced from one side to another and when he talked, he spoke in a low and distorted voice. ¡°I¡¯m not asking for the Human Ascendancy. I¡¯m asking for my people. If they¡¯re thinking I¡¯m asking for the Ascendancy, I¡¯ll be able to convince them to let you go.¡±


    I looked at his face. He had the faceplate of his helmet off, showing his face. I couldn¡¯t speak to the rest of him, but his face seemed to have barely any fat at all, barely covering the bones. Hairless, like all of the other four-handed we¡¯d seen, his cheekbones and jaw stood out as if they¡¯d been chiseled from rock. At the same time, his eyes darted about, looking at my face most of the time, but darting downward to look at my suit and lingering on the weapons under my arms.


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    ¡°That still doesn¡¯t sound like a good idea. You might be lying or you might be mind controlled yourself and not know it. Besides, I don¡¯t know much of anything about your people.¡±


    Four Hands nodded. ¡°I understand. My people were genetically engineered by the Abominators to fix and care for their spaceships. After the Xiniti and the Galactic Alliance destroyed the Abominators, my people retreated to the few zero-g habitats, spaceships and low gravity worlds that we controlled, but that wasn¡¯t most of us. Most of us found ourselves working for whoever controlled whatever territory we were in. I grew up in a zero-g habitat controlled by the Human Ascendancy and yes, it was as bad as you probably believe it would be. The motivators told us what to do and we did it. They rooted out any hint of rebellion and we were happy knowing it meant the Ascendancy had become stronger.¡±


    He stopped, taking two heavy breaths, and continuing. ¡°At least we were happy on the outside where they could see. Secretly, we hated them and invented devices that helped us keep our minds clear of their influence. The problem is that we never thought big. We came up with ways to live under them and keep our heads, but never overthrew them.¡±


    Thinking about the direction of the conversation, I said, ¡°And that¡¯s what this is all about? You think that my killbots are the final piece that will allow the four-handed to rise up against their oppressors and become free? That¡¯s a big load to put on a small device. And believe me, there are things it won¡¯t work against. So far, the common theme is magic. They were less effective than I want against an elder dragon and a servant of the Artificers.¡±


    He stared at me. ¡°The Artificers? What servant? What do you know about the Artificers?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t tell him that I now knew two of them personally or about Live or Destroy factions. Telling him that Marcus was dating one was right out. I said, ¡°Just what everyone knows. They left things for future civilizations. Also, we fought one of their creations. It was terrifying and horrible. I¡¯m not going to say more than that.¡±


    ¡°My people don¡¯t worship the Artificers, but they¡¯re impressed with the technology. Anything that can last that long and still function is the work of great genius, something we respect. We don¡¯t have any intention to fight them. As long as your device works against the Ascendancy, we¡¯ll use it.¡±


    The tone of his voice stayed the same¡ªcalm and thoughtful¡ªbut his brows furrowed as he looked me over again.


    As he did, Jaclyn¡¯s voice sounded in my helmet. ¡°We¡¯re in position.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a problem though. He¡¯s not surrendering, but he might be volunteering to turn on the Ascendancy.¡±

 Unhidden: Part 16

    For a moment, I heard silence as Jaclyn processed that. Then, ¡°As long as you¡¯re not being attacked we¡¯re coming out ahead of what we expected. Keep us in the loop.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll broadcast the conversation.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    To Four Hands I said, ¡°How would handing off the technology work? I don¡¯t have the plans here. They¡¯re mostly in my head. I can describe them to you, but honestly, there are a bunch of little things that I might not remember to say. I¡¯d suggest knowledge transfer via implant, but you¡¯ve got an Ascendancy implant and I¡¯ve got a Xiniti implant and both of them might have internal programming that we don¡¯t know about.¡±


    Four Hands grinned. ¡°We know more about the implants than most people. We designed and built the Ascendancy military¡¯s, but you¡¯re right. They include protections and the military implants are especially suspicious about unusual connections. What I¡¯d suggest is that if you have any that I can take and then describe your methods of construction, we¡¯ll probably be able to figure out the rest.¡±


    I let out a breath. ¡°I¡¯ve only got two left.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± He cocked his head to the side, looking at me.


    ¡°Back home I don¡¯t generally need to kill people. In fact, if I did kill people when I didn¡¯t need to, I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d get in big trouble. So, I generally don¡¯t have more than five killbots on me because I pretty much never use them and they¡¯re a bother to make and I have to maintain them if I expect to have them work after a month of sitting in my armor waiting to be used, much less a year of waiting to be used. All of these are about a year old. Anyway, I didn¡¯t expect this kind of mission. I probably should have, given the Xiniti, but even then, maybe not. I didn¡¯t need killbots when we got invaded. My standard bots were good enough. Anyway, I¡¯ve got two, and I¡¯m not sure I want to give them away.¡±


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    I considered ending there, but decided that it wasn¡¯t enough. ¡°I want to help you, but honestly, I don¡¯t know if I should trust you. Anyone can say they want to take out the Ascendancy, but doing it is another thing. Plus, if you think about it, what you¡¯re doing is asking me to give up my most effective weapon for analysis. You¡¯re not offering to help me or surrender. You¡¯re offering to let us go, but if you think about it, we don¡¯t even need that. We¡¯ve got a ship. In theory, we could use it to get fairly high up and fire on the group of you till you¡¯re dead. Obviously, that doesn¡¯t feel right to me, but we could. So, in addition, to telling me why I should give you those bots, I¡¯d like to know why you¡¯re trusting me at all, and also, why it makes sense for me to do this your way.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°I understand. It¡¯s not every warrior that would give up one of their weapons to someone they¡¯ve been fighting. It doesn¡¯t make sense and you need to know why you can trust me. It¡¯s all wrapped up with why I believe I can trust you. You¡¯ve seen my people. We fix things. We don¡¯t get involved in fights. We serve those who are stronger than we are. I¡¯m unusual because I decided to fight instead of serve, but I can do both, much like you can.


    ¡°Like you, I¡¯ve had to root out my hesitation to kill. It¡¯s still more natural for me to run and avoid the fight than to take part in it. We have access to files on you from the spy in your ranks. Before she died, she sent us word that you hailed from a planet where Abominator bred humans had nothing to prevent them from  mixing their genes randomly. I don¡¯t know who your ancestors were but your ability to invent is unusual even among our kind. I¡¯d like to believe that you¡¯re descended from one of us.¡±


    We had lied to the colonists about that, but it wasn¡¯t untrue. Abominator bred had come back to Earth and Abominator created genes had been loosed among our population in many different ways. It was more likely that my ability and the four-handers¡¯ descended from some common ancestor than the other way around, but who could say?


    Four Hands watched me, eyes steady as he continued. ¡°I¡¯ve seen footage of your fights and you don¡¯t kill every time you can and when you do, as with the stampede, it¡¯s because you don¡¯t have other realistic options. The fact that you hold to that despite the temptation to go another way makes me think I can deal with you and that you can deal with me. I think you¡¯ll want to because if I prevent our people from going after the colonists, it will cause less death than the alternative. Then, if I can end the Ascendancy, it will be even better.¡±


    In my head, Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure I buy it.¡±

 Unhidden: Part 17

    Into my helmet, I asked, ¡°Why?¡±


    Cassie paused before answering. ¡°I don¡¯t know. We don¡¯t really know this guy. He¡¯s buttering you up, trying to make a connection because his people do tech stuff too?¡±


    ¡°To be fair, I did kind of ask him to butter me up.¡± Then I turned my attention to him. ¡°Can you prevent your people from going after the colonists?¡±


    His eyes narrowed and he frowned a little. ¡°I can here. As long as the colonists keep up their disappearing act until our people come here, I¡¯ve got a good chance of persuading people it¡¯s not worth the trouble of finding them. I¡¯m sure they have people who know how to hide from our equipment. If our people have any whiff of them, I won¡¯t have any choice in the matter, but whatever you¡¯re doing now is working.¡±


    Over the comm, Jaclyn said, ¡°I¡¯m tempted to give him a chance. If the Xiniti show up first, it won¡¯t matter what weapons we have, but if the Ascendancy shows up first, we¡¯ll need him.¡±


    ¡°Seriously?¡± Cassie¡¯s tone couldn¡¯t have made her doubt more obvious.


    Marcus cut in. ¡°Tikki thinks you should listen to him.¡±


    ¡°I do.¡± Tikki¡¯s voice sounded distant¡ªwhich it would. Even if Marcus had his helmet open, I¡¯d designed the microphone to record as little as possible beyond the user¡¯s voice.


    Then I thought about what she¡¯d said. If Tikki were just Tikki, I might not have given it too much more thought, but given that Tikki was Kee, avatar of what amounted to one of Lee¡¯s childhood friends, I had to give it more.


    I looked Four Hands in the eyes and said, ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    I released the final two killbots and let them roll out of the compartment under my forearm and into my left hand. I¡¯d deleted the software first, figuring that even if I was willing to give out the hardware, I wasn¡¯t willing to allow someone to try to figure out every detail of the system.


    Then for the at least the next twenty minutes, probably more, I described how the bots worked, including key details that explained how it had managed to get as far past Kamia¡¯s shield as it did.


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    He got it. He even suggested a couple ideas that might get the bots further through an Abominator shield. Assuming they weren¡¯t red herrings, they were worth an experiment or two when I got back home. The only bad point being that I¡¯d have to grab an Abominator force field on the way out and for all that I always wanted to grab new technology, it never seemed to work out.


    The rare exceptions seemed to be alien tech. I was still getting ideas out of the alien robot we¡¯d grabbed. So, it wasn¡¯t unreasonable that I might be able to grab a force field to experiment with.


    When Four Hands appeared to have grasped the basic concepts involved in constructing the killbots, I asked him. ¡°Do you know if there are any spare Abominator style shields that I could experiment on when I get home?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°They¡¯re closely held pieces of hardware. The only one I have easy access to is mine and I¡¯m going to need it when I make a run for it.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t deny he had a point there. And anyway, the sonics were even more effective against shields and I knew I had no intention of passing that on. We¡¯d need that advantage if the Ascendancy¡¯s fleet appeared.


    ¡°Understood,¡± I tried to think if I had anything else I wanted to ask him before we all disappeared and hid. ¡°So what are you going to do if Kamia and Neves track us down?¡±


    He frowned and clasped his (upper) hands together. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about it. I¡¯ll do my best to avoid fighting you. You¡¯ll have a better chance against them when I¡¯m not there. I can¡¯t do much more than that except to miss more often than normal if you¡¯re in my sights. Well, that and what I said earlier. If you don¡¯t give us a good reason to search for you, I¡¯ll do what I can to keep everyone here.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s something,¡± I glanced down toward the dead firepit and then out at the tent city around us. ¡°I can¡¯t ask for much more than that.¡±


    He grinned suddenly, ¡°But I can give more than that. My people have a relationship with the Waroo. You fought them on K¡¯Tepolu. They¡¯re enormous beast-like mercenaries. We hire them when we need muscle. There¡¯s a Waroo ship in the system and they¡¯re looking for you.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, ¡°if you could manage to not mention that I¡¯m here, that would be great.¡±


    ¡°No kidding,¡± Marcus said over the comm.


    Four Hands laughed. ¡°It¡¯s better than you think. I¡¯m not sure why, but when I talked to them, it sounded like they felt like they owed you. They told me to give you one of our distress calls. You can call them once and they¡¯ll perform a service for you. If it¡¯s an extended service, you¡¯ll have to haggle about details, but if it¡¯s simple and short, they¡¯ll do it without argument.¡±


    He held out a metal disc and I stared at it. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to trap you,¡± he said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to tell you about this if we couldn¡¯t come to an agreement.¡±


    I took the disc. I was already trusting him with the killbots. In for a penny¡­

 Unhidden: Part 18

    ¡°What did you do for them?¡± He asked as I put the disc into a pouch on my belt.


    I looked up. ¡°We fought, but I paid for the medical bills of one of their people. I didn¡¯t know that they knew. If anything I was expecting them to want to hunt me down.¡±


    He gave a quick nod. ¡°Why did you help them?¡±


    Shrugging, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t see any reason to let one of them die because they couldn¡¯t pay when I had the money to help. It seemed better than letting someone die pointlessly.¡±


    He watched me for a little while then, not saying anything. ¡°That¡¯s not how the Ascendancy would have handled it. Your treatment of your enemies is unusual and I¡¯m sure some would say it¡¯s naive. It¡¯s helped you here, though.¡±


    I thought about that and the fact that I¡¯d given him my last two killbots out of the five that I¡¯d brought. I couldn¡¯t argue that people accusing me of naivet¨¦ were wrong. Four Hands had enough power to prevent the Ascendancy from chasing us for now, but not if their fleet arrived.


    I looked out at the tents again. A few spacers and soldiers talked in the rows between the tents. Others moved from one tent to another, looking inside and then sometimes opening the door.


    Our meeting was basically over-which led to another thought. ¡°What are you going to tell your men?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. They¡¯ve been manipulated for so long that they¡¯ll believe anything anyone in authority tells them. The ones I have to worry about are Neves and Kamia and for now they¡¯re willing to let me talk to you. They¡¯re willing to put off hunting you if I can convince you to hand over your killbots. They don¡¯t know who the bots will actually help, and I have many ways to make sure they get to my people and not the Ascendancy.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I should probably get out of here then.¡± I gave the camp 360 degree check with my HUD. People weren¡¯t arming themselves and rushing in. Nothing had changed from the last time I¡¯d looked.


    He gave me a small bow. ¡°Though you¡¯re not truly one of us, it¡¯s my hope that you and your friends survive whatever comes next. As for myself, I¡¯ll be doing everything I can to free my people. May you stay clear of gravity wells and stay clear of the Artificers in your explorations.¡±


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    The implant pegged that last sentence as a reference to a formal blessing the four-handed used among each other.


    Not knowing what else to say, I told him, ¡°Good luck. If you¡¯re against the Ascendancy, I hope whatever it is you¡¯re planning to do succeeds. Please don¡¯t take this wrong, but it¡¯s always a danger for revolutionaries to turn into the people they revolted against. At least that happens on our world. I hope it doesn¡¯t happen on yours.¡±


    Then I activated the rockets and took off, passing above the camp and the rows upon rows of tents. Anything he said in reply was lost to the sound of wind and the roar of rockets.


    I aimed myself toward the forest north of the camp and the settlement. My HUD showed that Jaclyn, Cassie, and Marcus were there. I deliberately flew past them, staying low and landing alongside the forest. Assuming they only had visuals, it wouldn¡¯t be precisely obvious where I was going.


    The walk gave me time to consider whether or not I¡¯d done something stupid. In some ways, I was tempted to answer yes to that question. I¡¯d traded my bots for peace with the small, damaged remains of what was left of the Ascendancy¡¯s forces on the planet. It wasn¡¯t a terrible trade assuming Four Hands stuck to it, but there wasn¡¯t anything forcing him to.


    On the other hand, based on the Ascendancy history that the implant gave me and what I¡¯d seen of Four Hands, I was willing to believe he might be a revolutionary waiting for his moment. Tikki¡¯s support of him gave me a little more confidence in that direction too. I could only hope that Tikki had been speaking as Kee then and not as Tikki, life support specialist, Marcus¡¯ girlfriend, and figment of Kee¡¯s imagination.


    I ventured deeper into the forest, disappearing from the sight of the camp. The underbrush crackled and cracked under my feet as I aimed toward the signal in my HUD.


    Only five minutes into the walk, I noticed a group of bushes next to a tree. By itself that wasn¡¯t unusual, but the HUD¡¯s thermal imaging showed a human-shaped heat signature behind them. Before I decided on a plan, a voice said, ¡°Don¡¯t shoot. It¡¯s me, Kals.¡±


    She stepped out from behind the bushes. ¡°I caught up with the rest of your group. We¡¯re going to join up with my mom. We¡¯ve got scattered above ground hideyholes that we can use for a little while. If we play it right, we can stay out of the Ascendancy¡¯s sight until they starve or leave.¡±


    I found myself smiling at the sight of her. It was good to know she¡¯d survived. I hoped the same could be said of Katuk and Crawls-Through-Desert.


    Before I could say anything though, HAL¡¯s icon glowed green in my HUD. ¡°With the destruction of the Ascendancy¡¯s ships, I¡¯ve spent time off-planet using the system¡¯s ansible. Data I¡¯ve gathered indicates that we can expect at least two fleets to be entering the system in minutes if they aren''t here already.¡±

 Planet in the Middle: Part 1

    Lee, Excursion Keep (Artificer Ruins), Forbidden Space


    It was over. They¡¯d fought across millions of lightyears and at least ten different alternate universes. He¡¯d killed Bakanan, using the device Kee designed to channel his power and so much more into a burning beam that crossed universes and expanded into more dimensions than the material creatures of this universe understood. The beam hit Bakanan¡¯s true form, destroying him everywhere.


    And now, Lee knew, there was one less of them. There hadn¡¯t ever been very many by comparison to the short-lived races he¡¯d been hiding among, but now there was one less. He couldn¡¯t say he felt bad about killing Bakanan, but he did feel a twinge about bringing his species one step closer to extinction.


    That thought led him to Halas.


    He shook his head. With all the fighting over, he¡¯d settled into the form he¡¯d used when he was last here¡ªhis ¡°dust dragon¡± form¡ªthe one he¡¯d used for faster-than-light travel when they were young.


    He stood if it could be called standing, in the middle of a wide circle. In the middle of the circle, a blue dome glowed. The circle sat in the middle of broken buildings, all of them made from materials that no creature in this universe so far had words for. At its height, Excursion Keep had been a city that covered half of a planet, sheltering his people as they began to explore the universes, their allies, and visitors from this universe as well as others.


    He remembered the lights, the crowds, the parties that never seemed to end. He¡¯d left one to find it still going ten years later, and that was far from the longest he¡¯d heard of.


    When he¡¯d first arrived here, he¡¯d been learning what he was and what he could do. After a time where they¡¯d learned the basics, he¡¯d left with Kee, Halas, Nataw, and many others.


    Now he was back here with Halas except Halas wasn¡¯t doing much. Halas floated inside the blue dome in his own dust form. After he¡¯d called in Bakanan to attack Lee, he¡¯d watched from outside the fight offering small assists to Bakanan, but nothing that put himself at risk.


    After Lee had killed Bakanan, Halas traveled here. He¡¯d planned ahead, using a trap he¡¯d set for Lee or maybe for someone else long ago.


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    They¡¯d materialized and a stasis field activated, aiming for Lee. He¡¯d been lucky. Kee had made similar traps years ago and he knew how to avoid them. Before the field fully engulfed him, he¡¯d moved it toward Halas who didn¡¯t have time to move.


    Now Halas floated within the blue field as a cloud of dust, unable to connect to his larger self and be released.


    Lee considered killing him. It wouldn¡¯t be hard. If he used his full abilities, he could destroy Halas before Halas knew what was happening.


    He found that he didn¡¯t want to. Well, that wasn¡¯t quite true. Halas had tried to kill him and if he ever got free, he¡¯d try again. He wanted to avoid that and killing Halas would be the most efficient way. In this spot though, thousands of years worth of memories of Halas poured through his mind and not all of them were bad. If he was honest with himself, most of them were good.


    He frowned at the dust in the blue dome, knowing that he wouldn¡¯t kill Halas today and wondering what the real reason why was. He couldn¡¯t deny that he missed what he¡¯d been when he¡¯d started out in the universe, but he¡¯d killed Bakanan. Bakanan had been around back then too.


    He knew that he might have been changed by living among the humans for so long. Leaving a defenseless enemy alive seemed like the kind of thing Nick or his grandfather might have done.


    On the other hand, he knew these traps. This one would operate for at least one hundred thousand years based on the power it had available. By then, he¡¯d be long done with the Earth project one way or another. Earth would be fighting the Destroy faction 10,000 years in the future at most.


    Halas might easily wake to a humanity that could handle him, something Lee wouldn¡¯t mind seeing.


    And that woke another thought. With the Issakass and Halas handled, he¡¯d gotten what he wanted out of this. It was time to find out if Nick and the others had done as well as he thought they would. He concentrated and accessed the nearest ansible. Excursion Keep had a few and it didn¡¯t take much work to attach one to the Alliance¡¯s network.


    A few minutes later, Lee cut off the connection. He couldn¡¯t determine everything from public news sources, but what he could find showed that the Cosmic Ghosts were on the move. That was an interesting non-coincidence. If that weren¡¯t all, he¡¯d found news that Xiniti, Galactic Alliance, and Human Ascendancy ships had been seen jumping away from K¡¯Tepolu.


    He supposed he ought to start heading in that direction himself. Given the distance, he suspected he¡¯d miss the main action, but being around for the aftermath might be fun. It would be interesting to see how the kids handled a multi-fleet battle.


    He began to float away from Excursion Keep, taking one last look at the city while readying his form for faster-than-light travel. It had been nice to see it again.


    Noticing the blue dot that held Halas one last time, Lee decided that former friend or not, if Halas reappeared before this was all over, he¡¯d kill him and he¡¯d enjoy it.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 2

    Nick, Hideaway


    Hal didn¡¯t know exactly when the fleets would enter the system, but he promised to keep me informed. I passed that on to Kals who sighed and said, ¡°We¡¯d better get moving.¡±


    With that conversation over, Kals led me to where everyone else was waiting. It was only a few hundred feet further into the woods next to a thick clump of trees that stood so close to each other that only Marcus would have been able to make it between them.


    Jaclyn looked over at Cassie, Marcus, and Tikki. ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    Cassie shrugged. Marcus nodded and glanced over at Tikki who chimed in with a chirpy, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Something about Marcus seemed a little off. I couldn¡¯t put a name to it. I wondered if Tikki had told him, but then I¡¯d have expected him to be more depressed. Though you never knew, maybe a cross-species relationship with a massive age difference could work.


    It did for Bella and Edward, right? I never watched the movies or read the books, but that¡¯s what I¡¯m assuming. That said, the idea that a vampire represents a different species is arguable, and the age difference between Kee and Marcus would be billions of years instead of hundreds. Anyway, forget I mentioned it.


    Kals pointed deeper into the forest. ¡°This way. And Nick, could you walk ahead with me and scan? We don¡¯t want to be surprised.¡±


    Cassie raised an eyebrow as she looked at me. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll scan behind us then.¡±


    ¡°Good idea,¡± Kals said and took my arm, leading me forward with her. As we walked through the forest, Kals kept her voice low, asking, ¡°Did something happen between them? When I first saw them, Tikki seemed a little quiet and Marcus didn¡¯t seem to know what to do.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°It¡¯s a little hard to explain. Actually, I¡¯m not allowed to explain. Tikki told me not to. When she tells Marcus, we¡¯ll all know.¡±


    Kals glanced over at me. ¡°That kind of secret? I¡¯ll wait.¡±


    Part of me wanted to explain that she couldn¡¯t possibly have guessed correctly, but that part of me was quickly silenced by the larger part of me that knew that this secret wasn¡¯t the kind you talked about.


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    We walked through the forest, not following a path, stepping on thick, brown leaves that tore under our feet. ¡°What does your mom want us to do?¡± Waiting for her answer, I watched through my HUD, not seeing any sign of other life and understanding a good point of hiding in a forest. All the big animals were too big to be comfortable.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Kals said. ¡°She wanted to make sure that everyone got out and was safe. You¡¯re included in ¡®everyone,¡¯ but I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s got a special task for you. I think she just wants you all nearby in case something comes up. Even though they didn¡¯t think much of you at first, everyone¡¯s impressed with your group now, native Xiniti or not. I don¡¯t think they quite dare to find out what would happen if we faced down the rest of the Ascendancy without you.¡±


    ¡°The good news is that we might not have to even if the fleets I mentioned do show up. If we¡¯re lucky, that whole battle will take place in space and we¡¯ll only have to deal with the Ascendancy forces that are left here and those guys might not want to fight at all. Jaclyn told you about that, right?¡±


    She stared at me. ¡°No.¡±


    With that, I went through the whole story of what happened after we left the caves, starting with the giant images meant to get our attention (¡°Well of course we saw those, but we didn¡¯t know you¡¯d gone through with meeting them.¡±). We drifted back to the death of Agent 957 and Marcus¡¯ near death (¡°Shit.¡±), but I skipped Tikki¡¯s revelation Then I told her about meeting Four Hands and the deal where he promised to leave the colonists alone and I gave him a couple killbots (¡°Your last ones? You trusted him?¡±).


    Though she couldn¡¯t see it through my helmet, I pursed my lips. ¡°I did¡ªup to a point. I gave him the killbots which went halfway through Kamia¡¯s shield, but I didn¡¯t pass on my sonics. They actually took Agent 957¡¯s shields down. Anyway, he did seem to trust me and I didn¡¯t see a downside. Does the resistance recruit four-handers at all? The Xiniti don¡¯t seem to think you do, but I¡¯m figuring you might know more.¡±


    Kals shook her head. ¡°We don¡¯t. It seems stupid now that I¡¯ve heard your story, but I don¡¯t think anyone ever thought it would be possible. With the exception of that guy¡ªwhose real name can¡¯t be ¡®Four Hands¡¯¡ªthey run from combat and they switch sides to work for the winner. Plus, they don¡¯t live on planets. You almost never see them off a ship. I¡¯m sure no one in the resistance thought we could trust them.¡±


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s worth a shot in the future.¡± I checked behind us. The others were keeping up, but they weren¡¯t directly behind us.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ If we pulled them in, we¡¯d have access to every big ship in space. By the way Nick, we¡¯re almost there. It¡¯s just past the hill we¡¯re going up.¡±


    It was hard not to notice the hill. Thick with trees, I wasn¡¯t sure when it started or where the crest would be, but we were definitely going up.


    I was about to reply to Kals when I received a communication from HAL. ¡°They¡¯re here.¡±


    With it came an image of ships pouring out of holes in space, small Xiniti ships zigging and zagging as they fired on the Ascendancy¡¯s giant cylindrical battleships.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 3

    I couldn¡¯t tell whether the Xiniti or the Human Ascendancy was winning. The Human Ascendancy had more ships when you considered their fighters in addition to their battleships, but the Xiniti¡¯s ships (even their battleships) were smaller and changed direction with no warning at all.


    They¡¯d turn on an angle, target an Ascendancy battleship with a large part of their firepower, inflict damage and change direction again, putting another battleship in the way of the first¡¯s return fire. It didn¡¯t always work out. Xiniti ships exploded too, but not as many as Ascendancy fighters. On the other hand, there weren¡¯t as many Xiniti ships.


    If the fleets had been roughly equal in size, I¡¯d have bet that the Xiniti would win, but they weren¡¯t. While the Xiniti ships were harder to hit and harder to damage when they got hit, the Ascendancy did pick them off one at a time.


    The Xiniti did the same, but from the short clip of the battle that played in my helmet, I didn¡¯t dare try to predict the end.


    ¡°Where are you?¡± I asked HAL.


    ¡°I¡¯m on the planet and hidden from view. I¡¯ve set up a stream of information from the ansible that allows me to monitor what it can sense and am using my own sensors and ability to simulate battle to fill in the gaps.¡±


    I stopped walking, glancing over at Kals to see if she¡¯d noticed. She had, and stopped, turning to look at me. ¡°Is something wrong?¡±


    To her, I said, ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s complicated.¡±


    She took in a breath. ¡°Great. I love not knowing if I¡¯m about to die.¡±


    To HAL, I said, ¡°Are you close enough that we could use the ship if necessary?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but while the chance that the Ascendancy will detect me is currently low, it goes up as the battle moves closer to the planet. If you¡¯re considering joining the battle, joining the Xiniti fleet gives a small improvement to their odds of winning in the most probable versions of this fight. If the Ascendancy sends a landing force down to the surface, your presence increases the chances of the colony¡¯s survival.¡±


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    ¡°Good to know,¡± I said. ¡°Keep me informed if the battle changes enough that our presence is likely to help.¡±


    The connection ended and images of the battle disappeared. I looked around to find that Jaclyn, Cassie, Marcus, and Tikki had caught up.


    Even as I began to turn toward them, Jaclyn asked, ¡°Did HAL show you the fleets too?¡±


    ¡°Fleets?¡± Kal looked over at her and then back at me. ¡°They¡¯re here already. It¡¯s not just the Ascendancy, right? Someone else came through too?¡±


    ¡°The Xiniti,¡± Cassie said. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anybody else.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Alliance ships are pretty likely, but I didn¡¯t see them or the Ghosts. Maybe they¡¯re on their way? I have no idea.¡±


    Kals took a breath and pointed ahead. ¡°My mom needs to know about this.¡± Turning back to look at the rest of us and back at me, she said, ¡°You made a deal with Four Hands. If the Ascendancy wins, he can¡¯t do much of anything for us, assuming he was in the first place.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Jaclyn said. She stepped over a small stump, pushing between the trees which were growing ever closer to each other as we went higher. ¡°Where¡¯s your mom?¡±


    ¡°Over here,¡± Kals pointed up the hill.


    We followed her up and over the crest. Between the number of the trees and the small distance between them, it felt like we spent the entire climb squeezing between them and finding good spots to put our feet as we walked.


    On the other side, we found them. The woods were just as thick and overgrown, but at some point in the past, someone had cut down enough trees that they could put up a long, thin shed. It wasn¡¯t a beautiful work of carpentry, but it stood amid the trees without falling down.


    Following Kals through the door, we found Jadzen, the surviving members of the council including Iolan, spouses, children, and their unofficial bodyguards. At least that¡¯s what I interpreted the men with guns to be. None of them were unmarked by their escape from the caverns. Most had scrapes on their skin, a few had bandages wrapped around their arms, and one man¡¯s arm hung in a sling.


    Iolan stood next to him with some device, asking questions and feeling the arm.


    As we walked through Jadzen stepped away from the table next to the far wall where she¡¯d been sitting to say, ¡°Thank you,¡± to each of us as we stepped inside.


    When the door shut, she said, ¡°We have monitoring equipment hidden in the forest, but we can¡¯t see very far beyond it. What¡¯s been going on outside?¡±


    We began to explain what had happened to us and what we¡¯d done, but as we did something distant exploded and screamed in the air above us.


    Everyone¡¯s eyes went to a series of holographic screens set up along the walls, most of which showed the forest, but a few showed the sky. Far up in the sky, one of the Ascendancy¡¯s cylindrical battleships fell, burning, but still firing beams back at the Xiniti ships attacking it.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 4

    In a maneuver that felt choreographed, the Xiniti ships all moved to the right side of the bottom of the Ascendancy battleship, firing bright beams at a spot three-quarters of the way down the battleship¡¯s side.


    Flame burst from the spot and the back of the ship. The battleship¡¯s nose turned downward, aiming for the ground and hitting it, throwing up dirt, rocks, smoke, and flame.


    The ground moved as it hit. It wasn¡¯t hard enough to make anyone fall over, but it was hard enough to feel. Along with the shock came a series of booming noises accompanied by the screech of hard surfaces scraping against each other, finishing in a final thud.


    It was long out of their screens¡¯ view by the time that was over, but one screen showed the side of a large hill. The forest cascaded into the small valley below and then up the hills on the other side. Past them rose a great cloud of black smoke in the distance. Chunks of the top of several hills had been ripped off, destroying the trees and exposing dirt and rock, leaving mangled pieces of the hull, some of them still glowing in spots, making thin trails of smoke in the air above where they touched the trees.


    I hoped that they weren¡¯t hot enough to start a forest fire. That could be worse than fighting the Ascendancy. We had a hope of winning against them in a fight, but we weren¡¯t prepared to fight fires.


    I thought back to Larry¡¯s ¡°Rhinomobile,¡± a tank-like vehicle he¡¯d designed for combat, but included hoses in case he started fires. Judging from stories my grandfather told me about Larry, it seemed wise. He did seem to do more damage than you¡¯d expect.


    That said, Grandfather¡¯s claim that Larry had something to do with the volcanic eruption of Mt. Saint Helens seemed unlikely.


    I had a moment of wondering what technology I could get out of the ship, but I knew better. Assuming the technology survived the fall and the explosions, the ship was too hot inside and possibly radioactive.


    On the bright side, if this could be considered a bright side, any people inside were dead¡ªwhich meant no reinforcements for the planetside Ascendancy troops.


    Well, not until the Ascendancy decided to send a landing force down. It wasn¡¯t likely until the battle was over or close to it. According to the Xiniti implant, Ascendancy dropships were relatively easy targets if you knew they were there. It was when they dropped at night and outside of a battle that they became useful. In that situation, they reached the ground quickly and then you had to deal with ground forces.


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    Whatever I knew about the Ascendancy forces, the colonists must have also known because they all watched the smoke, but they didn¡¯t seem scared.


    Jadzen Akri put the best possible face on it. ¡°That¡¯s one more down. If the Xiniti can keep that up, the Ascendancy ships may not survive the night.¡±


    On the screens that showed the sky, Xiniti ships flew upward, disappearing into the blue.


    Turning to us, Jadzen asked, ¡°Do you know what the situation is in space? Are the fleets large?¡±


    Jaclyn looked her in the eye. ¡°I don¡¯t know how many there are, but right now there are two fleets¡ªXiniti and the Ascendancy. We don¡¯t know who¡¯s winning.¡±


    I spoke up too. ¡°There are at least five Ascendancy battleships¡ªone less now, but I¡¯d be surprised if that meant there were only four left. I got the impression that the ships I was seeing were only a small part of the fleets. The Xiniti didn¡¯t have as many ships, but they had enough to be roughly equal.¡±


    Another thought pushed its way to the front of my brain. ¡°Have you seen any sign of Katuk or the plant?¡±


    Jadzen shook her head and then looked around the room. ¡°Have any of you seen them?¡±


    A few people said, ¡°No,¡± while others said nothing¡ªan answer in its own way.


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to stay here,¡± Jadzen said. ¡°Our best chance for survival is to remain here out of sight until the people above us are finished fighting. We have hundreds of hidden retreats. The plant and the Xiniti could easily be with any of our groups.¡±


    I turned to Jaclyn, ¡°What do you think?¡± Noticing Cassie¡¯s scowl, I added, ¡°What does everybody think?¡±


    Cassie leaned forward, ¡°I think that Katuk¡¯s out there alone, he¡¯s going to go after Kamia and die. He practically said he would when he first found out she was here.¡±


    Marcus sighed. ¡°He kind of did, didn¡¯t he? She killed a bunch of his people. I don¡¯t have the faintest clue how we¡¯d find him though, not without opening up our implants to the world and getting Kamia¡¯s attention ourselves.¡±


    Jaclyn frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea, but I think we should stay here. We can¡¯t do much out there except attract attention to ourselves. If we do that, we¡¯re either going to die or accidentally reveal any colonists who happen to be nearby.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s probably the best idea,¡± I said. ¡°I agree with Jaclyn.¡±


    The discussion went on longer than that, but that was what we settled on. After that, there¡¯s not much to be said. We had a meal of the Ascendancy equivalent of an MRE and sat there in the dark, listening to the chirp of the insects and the howls and screams of distant wildlife.


    We hoped it was distant, anyway.


    A few hours into the night, HAL woke all of us up with a message, ¡°The battle has shifted away from this planet, but that¡¯s not all. Though the main bodies of both fleets are fighting further away from here, the Ascendancy and the Xiniti have both released dropships on the planet, all of them heading for the colony.¡±

 Planet in the Middle: Part 5

    I thanked HAL for the message, adding, ¡°Tell me if any of them land near us.¡±


    The group of us all had mats next to each other on the floor. The mats were both thin and surprisingly comfortable despite the fact that we were in a small shack with hard floors. I want to describe them as hardwood, but who knew what the materials were?


    I glanced over at the holographic screens showing 3D representations of the world around the hideout. I saw animals, but no people. I wasn¡¯t the only one looking at the screens either. Cassie, Jaclyn, and Marcus had all been woken up by HAL. Tikki slept on the mat next to Marcus¡¯ mat. Whether she was truly sleeping was an open question, given her true nature.


    Kals, though, had taken a mat between Jaclyn and me and she was awake by the time I opened my eyes to stare in the direction of the screens. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    Jaclyn and I looked at each other. I said, ¡°Well, the good news is that the ship to ship fighting has moved away from the planet. The bad news is that Xiniti and the Human Ascendancy both dropped ground troops to the surface. I¡¯m assuming the Xiniti are here to protect you and Ascendancy is here to kill all of you. The thing is, it doesn¡¯t really matter what they¡¯re here for at all. What¡¯s most likely to happen is that they¡¯re going to end up fighting each other while all of the colonists try to stay out of the way.¡±


    Kals nodded. ¡°That sounds about right. Do you know where they¡¯re landing?¡±


    ¡°I can ask, but the information¡¯s coming from our ship and it¡¯s hiding, so it may not have all the information we want. I¡¯ve asked it to tell us if they¡¯re landing nearby, though.¡±


    I sent the ship a request for pictures of where the landings were and got back a picture that showed dots that centered around the landing field and the open area next to the colony. They weren¡¯t too near us, but since we weren¡¯t far from the colony, they were too close.


    In a different picture, I noticed one more detail. Some of the dropships were leaving the planet. While Ascendancy dropships¡¯ main purpose is to land on a planet and take control, they can leave a planet. They aren¡¯t as good at it, but they can do it.


    On the way up they¡¯re slow and don¡¯t have much of a range, but they can get soldiers back up into space for pickup. From what I could tell by examining the series of shots, they were sending the wounded soldiers up into orbit.


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    It was better than I expected of the Ascendancy, but I supposed they were human and humans care for their people. At any rate, a totalitarian society needed to care for their troops. Without their loyalty, they can¡¯t keep their citizens in line. Motivators couldn¡¯t be everywhere at once. They had to create some level of real loyalty.


    That was the rational way to look at it. I couldn¡¯t believe that was all of it. Someone in power there responded with a basic sense of decency. It didn¡¯t make me like them better, but it made it hard to view them as simple, unrelenting evil.


    I told Kals. ¡°They¡¯re landing in the big open areas¡ªthe landing field and the areas between the settlements. Oh, and they¡¯re also landing around the spacer settlement, filling their dropships with the wounded and sending them back into space¡ªwhich means that if we head over there the camps won¡¯t be full of the wounded anymore. They¡¯ll be full of able-bodied soldiers.¡±


    ¡°Are the Xiniti firing on the dropships?¡± Kals watched me as I clicked my palm, flipping through the shots.


    ¡°There¡¯s no sign of it. Actually, my implant says the Xiniti and the Ascendancy have some kind of arrangement where they don¡¯t fire on each other¡¯s noncombatant wounded. I guess that extends to ships.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I should have known. The Ascendancy¡¯s leadership said that they killed everyone. Painting the Xiniti that way made it easier to hate them. Even the resistance fears the Xiniti. We¡¯ll take their help, but we don¡¯t trust them.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Well, it looks like we¡¯ve got plenty to worry about just from the healthy soldiers. From the pictures, the camp¡¯s now turning back into a staging point for whatever they¡¯re planning to do to the Xiniti and ultimately, us.¡±


    Four Hands wouldn¡¯t be much help now that he wasn¡¯t running the show.


    Even in the dark, I could see Kals frown. ¡°Then we¡¯ve got to tell my mom.¡±


    She got up, walking down the side of the room, tapping the man assigned to watch the screens on the shoulder and having a whispered conversation that I didn¡¯t overhear, but I didn¡¯t need to. He pulled his hands away from the computer interface and clenched his fists.


    Then they both walked further down the length of the building, stepping around people sleeping on their mats.


    From the mat on the other side of Jaclyn, Cassie said, ¡°We¡¯re fucked. Look at that.¡± Then she pointed at one of the images on the screen. A camera on the edge of the forest had picked up a group of Ascendancy soldiers, all of them in clean, undamaged armor, passing into the trees.


    Comparing the camera¡¯s position to the implant¡¯s maps of the forest, it was clear they were coming straight for us.


    It didn¡¯t take much to guess what had happened. Four Hands probably knew where at least some of the forest hideouts were. He could avoid going after us when he was the ranking officer of a force that was mostly wounded, but that wasn''t true anymore.


    Even worse, I recognized the people leading the group. Neves, massive and hugely muscled walked next to Kamia. The soft glow of her force field hinted that they didn¡¯t see stealth as a major concern now.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 6

    Four Hands wasn¡¯t anywhere to be seen in the group. I wasn¡¯t sure what that meant. It wasn¡¯t impossible that a motivator from the new group of Ascendancy soldiers had gotten him to confess, but it wasn¡¯t likely. If he was as he seemed, a revolutionary in the making, he might be plotting with his people now.


    I couldn¡¯t assume it would do us any good, though.


    Jaclyn glanced over at Kals and the tech as they talked with Jadzen. ¡°If they¡¯re not coming for her, I don¡¯t know why they¡¯re coming this way.¡±


    Marcus looked past her toward the screens, ¡°We¡¯d better do something then. We¡¯d better go¡ªunless you think we can take them out. I know you¡¯re not at your best though.¡±


    Frowning, Jaclyn glared at him. ¡°I know. Right now we can fight or run and I don¡¯t know where to run to. I could get Jadzen out of here, but that just means they¡¯ll go after the rest of you.¡±


    I thought about calling the Waroo, but that wasn¡¯t a solution either. With the new troops behind them, the Waroo mercenaries would be a delay and nothing more. That didn¡¯t mean I wouldn¡¯t use their help if we needed a delay, but I didn¡¯t want to waste their efforts¡ªespecially if they might die on my behalf.


    Turning to Tikki, Marcus asked, ¡°Is there anything you could do?¡±


    Tikki bit her lip. ¡°I can¡¯t do anything big enough to affect all of them.¡± Then she stared at the screens.


    From Jadzen¡¯s side of the building came her voice, ¡°There¡¯s nowhere else to go that¡¯s any safer and doesn¡¯t put others in danger. We¡¯re going to have to fight. We have defenses here. If we run, they¡¯ll find us while we¡¯re traveling.¡±


    I looked around the long room. People stirred as the conversation¡¯s noise woke them up. Though I¡¯d missed it before, it wasn¡¯t all of the Council members. They¡¯d spread out some of the leadership. Beyond that, there were the Council¡¯s bodyguards, more than a few of whom were fit, and had guns lying on their mats. It wasn¡¯t more than ten, but that was something.


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    Plus, of course, they had us¡ªwhich might have given Jadzen more confidence than I felt we deserved.


    Jadzen stood, pulling on robes that struck me as heavier than what I¡¯d seen her wear before. ¡°Everyone, wake up!¡±


    My suit buzzed out the commanding tones, but her speech had the desired effect. People sat upright on their mats, pulling on clothes.


    ¡°The Ascendancy has received reinforcements and they¡¯ve chosen to send troops here. We all know why. This is where most of the Council is. They want to cut off the head before killing the rest. As you know, these are the last of our prepared refuges. We have nowhere else to go. On the surface, our choices are to fight or to surrender. You remember why we left and you know that surrendering means to have our minds remade in the image of the Human Ascendancy.


    ¡°So, we can¡¯t surrender. We can only fight. That¡¯s why I¡¯m sending word to all of our people that we are fighting and they may have to as well. Be aware that it is not hopeless. In addition to the Ascendancy, the Xiniti have also landed troops on the planet. If we can survive long enough, we¡¯ll receive assistance both from the Xiniti and our nearest bunkers.


    ¡°Arm yourselves if you can fight. If you can¡¯t, go to the lower level. We can¡¯t offer anything more now, but we will not let you down.¡±


    Jadzen turned toward us. ¡°Our defenses will hurt them, but unless we¡¯re very lucky, they won¡¯t destroy them. We¡¯ll need your help. At first they¡¯ll encounter our traps, but soon enough there will only room for your deeds to keep us safe.¡±


    Cassie met her gaze. ¡°We¡¯ll be there. It¡¯s not like there¡¯s much of a choice.¡±


    We all looked at her. ¡°There isn¡¯t,¡± she said. ¡°I hope there¡¯s a better plan than simply waiting for the traps to fail before sending us in. We need something better than that, right?¡±


    Jadzen only said, ¡°You¡¯ll have to devise one. Our people will be happy to work with you¡±


    If Cassie¡¯s comments bothered her, I couldn¡¯t tell. She turned toward one of the bodyguards¡ªthis one prematurely white-haired, but mid-thirties by his features. ¡°Trenith, you¡¯re familiar with our defenses. Coordinate with them.¡±


    Then Jadzen turned toward the tech who¡¯d been watching the screens, ¡°Send the alert.¡±


    In the distance, a bomb exploded and figures on one of the screens were bathed in fire. Trenith watched as Kamia and Neves stepped through the flames unharmed.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 7

    Trenith exhaled and kept on watching as the Ascendant Guard members kept on walking through the forest, their shields keeping the flames away from their bodies. One screen showed a map of the forest. If there were any doubt they were walking in our direction, the map killed it.


    Trenith¡¯s eyes moved from one screen to another. ¡°We don¡¯t have long. The outer circle is mines. The inner circle is force fields and lasers. There isn¡¯t anything else. We¡¯d hoped to be able to evacuate to the nearest neighbor, but with all of their people coming, we just have to fight. There¡¯s nowhere we can go that they can¡¯t find us. So, I¡¯d get outside the force fields and get ready to fight.¡±


    ¡°God,¡± Cassie said, ¡°when I said ¡®traps,¡¯ I was imagining more than that. That¡¯s practically nothing.¡±


    Eyes wide, Trenith could only say, ¡°It wasn¡¯t supposed to happen this way. We were going to use the caverns for big stuff like this. This was where we¡¯d go if one ship did a flyby.¡±


    Jaclyn looked over at Cassie. ¡°You¡¯re not going to make it any better by arguing with him. We need to get out there.¡±


    Cassie took a breath, ¡°I know. Let¡¯s do it. Let¡¯s go off to the side to those trees there. Maybe we can flank them.¡±


    Noting the trees that Cassie was pointing to on the map, I said, ¡°We can try.¡±


    On the screen, the forest floor fell out from under a group of Ascendancy soldiers following behind Neves and Kamia and the soldiers disappeared into a pit.


    Cassie stared. ¡°That¡¯s more of what I imagined when I was thinking of traps.¡±


    Trenith shook his head. ¡°We gave up on pits years ago. We kept them up, but we decided they¡¯d be a waste of time and we were right. Watch them.¡±


    Even as he began the sentence, soldiers began crawling out of the pits, claws extended. Some of them were stained with dirt. A few bled from scrapes, but none of them seemed badly hurt. If they were anything like Haley and Travis, they wouldn¡¯t be. Even if they¡¯d fallen, they¡¯d have caught themselves on the wall before falling all the way down.


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    ¡°Let¡¯s get out there,¡± Cassie walked toward the door and we followed her out into the dark.


    We weren¡¯t alone. Kals followed us out.


    She wore what my implant classified as light armor¡ªa gray jumpsuit that darkened as we stepped out into the night. I didn¡¯t doubt that she could be useful, but given the real possibility of death, I wondered if risking Kals meant risking that Jadzen wouldn¡¯t be able to make good decisions if Kals died.


    Maybe I was being sexist, but I¡¯d like to think that I would have been just as worried if Jadzen was a guy and Kals was his son as opposed to her daughter. Either way, I didn¡¯t try to stop her. As a trained motivator, she might be able to stop the battle without a fight and she probably wouldn¡¯t be as effective back inside.


    I didn¡¯t get a chance to finish my meditation on the wisdom of risking Kals. Marcus used the comm. ¡°I¡¯m going to stay here by the door. I¡¯m going to be most useful if they manage to get close.¡±


    I didn¡¯t argue with him. He was right. My HUD gave me a visual of him lengthening enough to fit on one side of a tree. Tikki slipped into the trees near him and it made sense. They were both better off close.


    The rest of us squeezed our way between the trees and it wasn¡¯t easy. They weren¡¯t any less close than they had been before we went inside. We pushed through, step by step, tree by tree, making our way to the spot on the map Cassie pointed out. All the while, I listened for the sounds of footsteps or the sounds of explosions.


    I didn¡¯t have difficulty finding them either. The trees were close and the Ascendancy soldiers big and broad-shouldered. When I pointed my HUD in their direction, I heard the scrape of armor against tree, creaks as someone pushed trees sideways to widen the path.


    For all of Cassie¡¯s complaints, it wasn¡¯t a bad place for a fight if you wanted your opponent to fight the terrain as much as they did you. Of course, it¡¯d be nice if you weren¡¯t fighting the terrain too.


    Plus, even if mines and force fields weren¡¯t a wide variety of traps, they had their uses. The Ascendancy set off mines three different times on the way in. They had no chance of sneaking up on us.


    When they finally did come within sight, they knew that the colonists knew they were there. How could they not? So instead of sneaking in, Kamia pulled a device from her belt and held it to her mouth.


    ¡°Jadzen Akri. This is Kamia of the Ascendant Guard. We know where you are and we have more than enough troops to catch and kill you and all your companions.¡±


    Kamia wasn¡¯t wrong. I counted 40 soldiers standing in the dark behind her, some of them stepping away from the main group to surround the building. That would be enough soldiers to handle everyone she knew about.


    ¡°If you value their lives, surrender now.¡±


    ¡°One,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Two¡­¡±


    When she said, ¡°Three,¡± we were to find out how well she¡¯d accounted for us.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 8

    On ¡°Three,¡± Jaclyn ran toward Neves, Cassie ran toward Kamia. I turned on the sonics, aiming them at the largest groups of soldiers. My initial blast of sound started as noise meant to distract, turning into sound meant for destroying technology.


    As disquieting as fighting soldiers who, for all you can tell, could be cousins of your girlfriend and her brother might be, it had one good point. I knew exactly how to attack them. Please don''t take this as some sort of repressed urge toward domestic violence, though--I didn¡¯t like it. It was strangely nice to go someplace where nothing was familiar and find that my enemies had the same powers I¡¯d been fighting in training for last three years. The only major difference being that here the owners of said powers fully intended to rip my throat out.


    That difference meant that for once I did not at all feel bad about exposing sensitive ears to frequencies that caused them pain.


    I wasn¡¯t the only one doing it either. Behind me, Kals opened her mouth in a scream that might not have been as loud or focused but had the added benefit of carrying a compulsion along with it.


    My implant translated her command as, ¡°Run!¡±


    They didn¡¯t all run. The Ascendancy had enough enemies with motivators to craft helmet tech that allowed their own motivators¡¯ voices to get through and prevent their rivals¡¯ from doing the same.


    As my speakers found resonant frequencies in the soldiers¡¯ equipment, about a third of them turned and ran. Others leaped forward despite crackling noises coming from their helmets, far too many of them deciding that I was the threat that had to be taken down.


    If they were doing it because of my armor¡¯s resemblance to the Xiniti¡¯s, I wasn¡¯t impressed, but I had a bad feeling that they¡¯d recognized the synergy between my sonics and Kals¡¯ voice. That, I respected, because they were right.


    All of my familiarity didn¡¯t make me immune to fear as Ascendancy soldiers jumped toward me, mouths open and filled with long fangs. I don¡¯t know if humans¡¯ fear of that is instinctive or learned, but whatever the origin, it comes easily.


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    Having spent as much time training as I had by then, the response is natural enough¡ªfire bots from your right arm and spray sonic destruction from your left. The Ascendancy armor worked against my standard bots, but not entirely.


    When the bots exploded (and this was true especially if the soldiers were in the air), they had a solid pushback even if they couldn¡¯t get through the armor. Plus, if your armor was designed to allow you to bite people, that¡¯s a point of vulnerability.


    I¡¯d made modifications to the standard bots¡¯ programming during my downtime. First, knowing that the bots couldn¡¯t penetrate, I¡¯d set them to calculate the angle that would force them the furthest off course. That didn¡¯t bother me, but the other one did. I¡¯d set them to aim for the mouth if they had the opportunity. It didn¡¯t make me feel good to do it, but we were at war here and I decided I had to prioritize the lives of the people we were protecting and my friends over the people who were trying to kill us.


    So when they swarmed me, the soldiers that jumped for me found bots exploding against their sides throwing them off course and into the trees. Hitting the trees was less due to programming than the density of tree trunks here. It was harder to miss them. Less agile than Travis or Haley, more than one soldier hit the trunks and went down. More managed to redirect themselves by using a tree trunk to change direction again, but it wasn¡¯t easy. Some of them still hit trees.


    Of the two changes I¡¯d made, that allowed the kinder possibilities¡ªif you regarded being bludgeoned unconscious or to death as kind. You could argue that was kinder than having your head explode, something that happened at least twice in my sight.


    The second time came as I began to use my helmet¡¯s 360 degree view to check on Kals behind me. In paying attention to my peripheral vision, I let one get too close. He raked out with his right claw, grabbing me by the neck and beginning to squeeze.


    I brought up my right arm, firing off a bot which whipped past the soldier, turned in a tight circle and went through the mouth opening where it exploded. The soldier died in a burst of blood and fire.


    It¡¯s the memory of images like that that give war a bad name.


    At the same time, I did get to see how Kals was doing¡ªokay. I knew that she was physically equivalent to Cassie, but tended to forget it. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her fighting with a pistol in one hand and a long knife in the other. She dodged out of the way of a soldier¡¯s rifle, distracting him, but not stopping him with her voice, and driving the knife into his heart. Then she stepped back, pulling out the knife and firing her gun at the next one.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 9

    Knowing that Kals was handling herself, I could concentrate on everyone else. Cassie had made it across the gap between herself and Kamia and stood in front of her, firing the gun at Kamia¡¯s shield.


    The shield held.


    I would have targeted it with my sonics, but I didn¡¯t have a clear shot. There were Ascendancy soldiers rushing me and I found myself shooting, punching, and blasting them with the sonics, watching Cassie when I had a second. By the next time, I saw her, Cassie had pulled out her sword and switched her gun to the left hand.


    With one strike, the sword cut halfway through the shield. The only thing that saved Kamia from having her stomach cut open was expanding the shield¡¯s size and backing up.


    With the sword in the shield¡¯s sphere nearly to the hilt, Cassie had to pull it out. At the same time, Kamia fired one of her guns through the shield. My implant noted that the shield had opened when she¡¯d fired. No doubt there was some way Cassie could use that but I didn¡¯t have time to think it through. I found myself blanketing the soldiers nearest me with sonics with my right hand and narrowcasting the sonic on my left at a group of soldiers heading toward Cassie.


    Smoke floated upward from one of the soldiers¡¯ helmets. He threw it off his head, warning Cassie who jumped sideways, putting both Kamia and the soldiers to her left side, allowing her to fire the gun¡¯s bright, white beam at the soldiers. They scrambled to avoid it, some of them getting burned.


    Along with them, a couple of the trees nearby burst into flame, but it didn¡¯t seem to be growing and spreading. Still, it stood out in the night.


    I tried to find Jaclyn and Neves, but my HUD didn¡¯t make it easy¡ªthough you could argue that the problem was less the HUD and more that Jaclyn and Neves moved to quickly to follow.


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    The HUD represented Jaclyn as a purple blur and Neves as gray. They didn¡¯t stay in the same place, moving between the trees except when one or the other attacked. In that moment trees would crack, breaking in two or falling over because they¡¯d been hit in the side.


    As the trees burst into flame, Neves or Jaclyn threw an attack that broke the trunk of a tree in half. The upper half fell¡ªonly to be caught in the air by the density of the forest before it lost even five feet in its distance from the ground.


    The gray and blue blurs in my HUD clashed again even as it fell¡ªonly this time I could see Jaclyn fly backward through the air, smashing into the side of a tree hard enough that the tree seemed disintegrate behind her. Half the thickness of the tree trunk fell to the ground in a cloud of sawdust and splintered wood as she bounced off the trunk and fell to the ground.


    As she hit, I could see Neves appear next to her, driving his hand down toward the back of the neck in a move clearly intended to kill. Except then, in a move I recognized only afterward, she rolled back to her feet and instead of attacking him said, ¡°Nick. Laser,¡± into her comm.


    Not sure whey she wasn¡¯t attacking herself, but confident she had a good reason, I aimed my laser at him and fired. It wasn¡¯t an easy shot with all the Ascendancy soldiers on the ground, but at that moment I would have been okay with shooting through any number of soldiers as long as I could help Jaclyn out. She wouldn¡¯t be asking if she didn¡¯t need it.


    The shot burned the arm of a soldier and a started a tree trunk burning before it found its target, hitting Neves in the ribs as he turned toward Jaclyn.


    Knowing as I did that the laser could melt through the hull of a battleship provided I could stay next to the ship long enough, the most surprising result of hitting Neves was that the beam didn¡¯t instantly emerge from the other side of his stomach. For a moment, I thought it had, but I was wrong. He¡¯d only stepped back from the beam. It had melted through his armor as he gasped, leaving a wide red welt on his skin along with blackened flesh and the melted and charred remains of his costume.


    I swung the beam in his direction as he backed away, and burned more trees and Ascendancy soldiers for my trouble, but not hitting Neves.


    Neves had gone¡ªwhich was good because I¡¯d taken the laser¡¯s dedicated battery down to about a quarter in that short time. If I wanted to save energy, I¡¯d have to use it on the pulse setting.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 10

    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie cut into Kamia¡¯s shield again except this time she wasn¡¯t alone. With Neves out of sight, Jaclyn blurred, running up to the shield and hitting on the line where the shield was reforming after Cassie cut it with her sword.


    For a moment, the blue glow of the shield disappeared and I could see Kamia¡¯s eyes widen. At the same time, she grabbed for her belt while turning to run.


    By itself, that wouldn¡¯t have done her much good against Jaclyn or Cassie. What did help was that the shield reformed around her, but much closer to her body. If that had been all, she would have died, but it wasn¡¯t.


    A bullet-shaped bolt of force from the direction that Neves disappeared hit Cassie, knocking her over. A second bolt, glowing yellowish-red around the edges, flew toward Jaclyn, but she moved to the side, avoiding it.


    In that moment I felt a painful pressure in my head. It didn¡¯t feel like when Daniel got into my head. To say that it felt alien didn¡¯t cover it. It felt orderly and emotionless. It broadcast pain, but without any feeling of anger or animosity.


    For a moment it felt as if it might try to go deeper into my head than surface thoughts. In that instant, I felt more than the smooth, almost artificial presence it had shown so far. The being on the other end of the mental connection quailed and squirmed as it pushed deeper.


    Daniel had set up defenses in my head¡ªfirst one that hid information from an invader and later he¡¯d set up a trap that used imitations of Lee¡¯s mind. One attacker had literally gone mad after trying to probe my mind. In retrospect, it might not have been so effective if Daniel wasn¡¯t working with me¡ªsomeone descended in some way from Lee¡¯s species.


    But that wasn¡¯t the most important thing on my mind then.


    In the moment that the mental presence made contact with Daniel¡¯s trap, warped as it might be by my association with Lee and my heritage, the contact recoiled and the connection ended.


    I became conscious of my surroundings again, noticing that I wasn¡¯t the only one who had been attacked¡ªCassie and Jaclyn stood with their eyes glazed over as I came to and jerked into consciousness a little after I did. Behind me, Marcus, Tikki and Kals didn¡¯t seem to have been affected.


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    Kamia, though, had started running and the Ascendancy soldiers followed her, aiming their weapons at us to buy time for their escape. Cassie managed to dodge behind some trees as a hail of bright beams burned the ground and trees around her, sometimes hitting her armor.


    Jaclyn and I were in much the same situation except that Jaclyn could still act. Even I could see her stumble from whatever injuries she¡¯d taken before we met up, but every soldier Jaclyn hit stayed down. Kamia retreated behind a phalanx of Ascendancy soldiers, all of them firing weapons.


    Even with my armor and Jaclyn¡¯s speed, she¡¯d still be hit enough to get past the armor, given time. Jaclyn wasn¡¯t suicidal, taking out small groups and stragglers that hadn¡¯t moved fast enough to join the main group.


    As they disappeared into the woods, Cassie asked, ¡°What do you think? Should we follow them? I mean look, I know it sounds crazy, but they¡¯re going somewhere and it¡¯s probably to join up with fresh troops and then come back. If we could take them out before they got back there, they wouldn¡¯t get back.¡±


    Kals wiped her bloodied knife on the body of a dead soldier. ¡°Could you take them out? Because if you can, I think you should.¡±


    ¡°Absolutely not,¡± Jaclyn put her hand to her head and took a breath. ¡°Normally, I might be able to stop them by myself, but not right now and not with Neves in the group. Next time we meet them, we¡¯ve got to try something different. He absorbs force¡ªlike that guy we fought ages ago back home¡ªPayback, right? I didn¡¯t know it before I started fighting him. I thought he was your run of the mill tough guy, and all I managed to was power him up.¡±


    She looked over at me. ¡°That¡¯s why I told you to shoot him. Next time, you or Cassie have to take him on. I¡¯ll go after Kamia.¡±


    From behind us, Marcus said, ¡°I think I could take him¡ªat least if he didn¡¯t have time to power up first. Tikki could too.¡±


    Barely loud enough to hear, Tikki said, "I could have."


    ¡°Me too,¡± Kals added, ¡°if we can get his helmet off.¡±


    Jaclyn waved her hand in the air. ¡°Okay, okay. I get it. I¡¯m the last person who should have taken him on.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Cassie said, ¡°but you should have been the one on Kamia. She¡¯s got some kind of slaved Abominator AI on her that kept on trying to break into the gun and into me through the link I¡¯ve got with the gun.¡±


    That explained the mental attack. Unable to stop myself, I said, ¡°Is that what that was? All I knew was that it didn¡¯t feel like a human telepath.¡±


    At about the same time, Jaclyn stared at Cassie. ¡°You should have told us. I would have swapped.¡±


    Cassie frowned. ¡°You saw the sword cut through her shield. I was so damn close to taking her down I could taste it.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 11

    Kals sheathed her knife. ¡°If you think they¡¯re going to come back, we need to get my mom and everyone out of here. I just wish I knew where to send them. We don¡¯t have anywhere left that¡¯s more secure than this.¡±


    Taking a breath, Jaclyn said, ¡°Your mom said she would have evacuated to your nearest neighbor if they had the time. Wouldn¡¯t that be better?¡±


    Kals frowned. ¡°Well, it wouldn¡¯t be here, but it wouldn¡¯t be any more secure.¡± She glanced back at the shelter. ¡°You know what? I think that¡¯s the best we¡¯re going to do. I¡¯ll tell her.¡±


    She walked toward the shelter as Marcus, Tikki, Jaclyn, Cassie and I came together in a circle. Marcus looked over the group. ¡°So what do you think? Are we going with them? I feel like we have to until they¡¯re safe, but at the same time, we¡¯re not fixing anything, you know? We¡¯re waiting for something bad to happen and hoping we can handle it. This fight could have gone either way. There were a lot more of them than there were of us, but they had no way to expect that Cassie¡¯s sword could cut Kamia¡¯s shield or that Jaclyn would recognize Neves¡¯ powers and have Nick shoot him.


    ¡°Now they know, and they¡¯re going to swamp us with numbers or something, right?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°That¡¯d be one way to do it, but if they caught us while escorting Jadzen¡¯s people, they could ambush us with less people as long as they grabbed a few hostages.¡±


    Glancing my direction, Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s an awful thought and God, you¡¯re right. Hostages would throw us off, and guess what? We¡¯re about to escort them through the forest.¡±


    I turned that around in my head, wondering how we¡¯d get them to the next shelter safely and realizing I didn¡¯t even know where the next one was. As I began to think about good tactics for walking through the forest with civilians, Cassie said, ¡°Do you see something over there?¡±


    We all looked. I took a quick mental inventory of my options for a fight, not liking them much. It wasn¡¯t as if I was out of everything, but if it was Neves and Kamia leading the Ascendancy¡¯s main force to us, I¡¯d have to activate the disc and call in my one and only favor from the Waroo.


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    Scanning around us though, I didn¡¯t see any sign of the Ascendancy and after the last fight, I knew what to look for. Adjusting the suit¡¯s options¡ªsonic, radar, and infrared¡ªI didn¡¯t see anything at first. A few adjustments in, I caught images in the trees. Even though a combination of my options plus computer generated speculation gave me transparent shapes, I recognized them. Shorter than human, but with larger heads and skinnier arms and legs, they walked between the trees in groups of six.


    As they came closer to us, their forms became clearer. They were Xiniti¡ªwhich didn¡¯t surprise me. I¡¯d known that when I saw the shape of their bodies.


    One group walked upto us and stopped. One of the Xiniti stepped up to us, his body hidden inside his sleek, silver armor. ¡°Congratulations, young soldiers. You¡¯ve successfully completed your mission and more. You escorted the ship back and have successfully protected the colony¡¯s leadership even in the face of an Ascendancy invasion. Consider this mission a success and yourselves full members of the Xiniti nation. We suggest you take your starship and remove yourselves from the planet. We are anticipating a larger battle for control of this system than you¡¯re currently seeing and don¡¯t wish to lose promising young soldiers.¡±


    Another of the Xiniti asked, ¡°Where is Katuk?¡±


    I answered, ¡°We escorted different groups away from their last hideout. He went with a different one. We can¡¯t leave without letting him know.¡±


    ¡°Appropriate,¡± the two Xiniti said in unison. ¡°Find him. Notify him, but then leave him at our K¡¯Tepolu embassy. Given the current situation, we can¡¯t tell you to leave him with our battleships here.¡±


    ¡°I have an idea of where he might be,¡± said a voice from behind us. I checked my helmet¡¯s peripheral vision to find that Jadzen Akri, Kals, and much of the surviving council.


    Jadzen stepped up to the group. ¡°After you asked me if I¡¯d seen him, I told you I didn¡¯t know where he was, but later, one of our people told me that she had seen him as well as the plant and that dog. They were with a group that was supposed to go to a shelter ten miles north of here.¡±


    Jaclyn looked over at the rest of us. ¡°I¡¯d like to go. Things got busy and I left Tiger with him.¡±


    I turned to the Xiniti. ¡°We¡¯ll go get Katuk. And thanks for letting us do it.¡±


    Looking at me with his wide, unblinking eyes, the Xiniti said, ¡°Requesting to collect a member of your unit rather than leaving him is an appropriate attitude.¡±


    Then the Xiniti stepped up to Jadzen Akri and started talking to her. I caught a few words, but not enough. Kals stepped up to me as they talked. ¡°So, you¡¯re going to leave?¡±


    I struggled to find words for my reply. I didn¡¯t want to say so in front of the Xiniti, but I didn¡¯t want to leave before this was over.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 12

    ¡°I think we will leave,¡± I said, ¡°but our obligation to Katuk, Crawls-Through-Desert, and uh¡­ Jaclyn¡¯s dog might mean it¡¯s not instantaneous.¡±


    Looking out of the corner of my eye at the Xiniti, I added, ¡°Of course, we¡¯ll go, but as I said, we can¡¯t just leave people hanging.¡±


    Kals smirked. ¡°Got it.¡±


    I pulled out the disc Four Hands had given me. ¡°Give this to your mom when you have the chance. Even the Xiniti can be outnumbered. This will call mercenaries who owe me a favor to come and help her. Just have her explain that I¡¯ll consider their debt to me canceled if they help her.I¡¯m going to guess she¡¯ll know how to use it.¡±


    Kals looked down at the disc. ¡°That? Everybody knows how to use one. You can give it to her yourself, though, because I¡¯m going with you?¡±


    ¡°Home?¡± I must have sounded as confused as I felt about that.


    She shook her head. ¡°No. To find Katuk and the others.¡±


    We¡¯d all let our suits absorb our helmets by then. So, I didn¡¯t miss Cassie¡¯s snort and found myself wondering what amused her. I hoped Kals wasn¡¯t attracted to me. It didn¡¯t seem likely. In terms of looks, she was out of my league. Besides, she knew about Haley.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll give this to your mom then.¡± I walked over to where Jadzen, Iolan, and other council members talked with the Xiniti who¡¯d been talking with us¡ªthe unit leader.


    Holding the disc in my hand, I stood next to Jadzen who stopped talking. ¡°I¡¯ve got one more thing to pass on. We won¡¯t be here to help you, but if you find yourselves in a desperate situation, you can use this. Waroo mercenaries feel that they owe me a favor. I won¡¯t need it. You can collect on that debt on my behalf. With everything going on here, you and the rest of the council will need all the help you can get.¡±


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    She took the disc and looked at me. ¡°I don¡¯t think that you understand the worth of what you¡¯re giving away, but thank you. From what I¡¯m learning about the current battle, we will need it.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± I said, stepping backward and out of the conversation. ¡°I¡¯ve learned a lot from serving you.¡± To the Xiniti, I added, ¡°By the way, if you didn¡¯t know already, Kamia is here, so you can expect direct attacks on your mind and any AI in reach.¡±


    The Xiniti nodded at me. ¡°We are aware, but thank you for the warning.¡±


    I murmured a few more words and got away from the group, rejoining Jaclyn, Kals, Cassie, Tikki, and Marcus. ¡°I guess we should go get Katuk.¡±


    Kals nodded. ¡°I know where the nearest shelters are. I¡¯ll show you the way there.¡±


    ¡°Is your mom going to be okay with that?¡± I asked.


    Kals shrugged. ¡°She won¡¯t need me with this many Xiniti and Waroo mercenaries for backup.¡± Then she smiled. ¡°Trying to get rid of me?¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m still surprised you¡¯d go with us instead of staying with your own people.¡±


    Kals looked us over and then glanced over to where the Council and the Xiniti talked. ¡°We should start going if we¡¯re going to get there soon.¡±


    Following her into the forest, we stepped over or around the bodies of Ascendancy troops. I hadn¡¯t been aware of how many we¡¯d killed. Passing one after another made me understand why Kamia and Neves chose to run instead of organizing a final charge. Noting how many lay near the shelter and Marcus and Tikki¡¯s position, I also realized that I¡¯d missed most of their part of the fight.


    On one level, I felt like we¡¯d done the right thing in defending them, but when I saw all the bodies, I couldn¡¯t help but think that they¡¯d mattered to somebody, whoever they were. If what Kals had told us about was the norm, they¡¯d been bred from unpowered humans of a particular type and then taken away to be raised as soldiers. It didn¡¯t sound like a great life and we¡¯d provided them an end for it¡ªwhether they¡¯d been looking for one or not.


    I couldn¡¯t say I was proud of it, but it was closer to the right thing to do than let the colonists get killed.


    When we were out of sight of the shelter and couldn¡¯t hear people anymore, Kals slowed, walking next to me. ¡°You¡¯re not going to leave even after you find Katuk, are you?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°No. I was assuming everyone would want to stay until it¡¯s all over somehow. Plus, if we¡¯re not trying to be the Council¡¯s bodyguards, we might even be able to do something that matters in the big picture.¡±


    Kals nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here.¡±

 Planet in the Middle: Part 13

    I raised my eyebrow. ¡°Because you think we¡¯re going to fix this?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°Maybe? The Xiniti and the Alliance have been fighting the Ascendancy for ages. You may not be able to fight them alone, but at least you¡¯ll be trying something different. I¡¯m sure none of them tried making a deal with Four Hands and I¡¯m not sure he¡¯d have tried with anyone but you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a weird thought. I think you¡¯re right because he kind of said that, butwe aren¡¯t exactly best buddies. I feel like he¡¯s loyal to his people and no one else¡ªmaybe even to the point that he trusted me because I might be distantly descended from his people.¡±


    Kals shook her head. ¡°I told you that we don¡¯t feel like we know the four-handed or we¡¯d have brought them into the resistance.¡±


    We kept on walking, not saying anything as we walked through the dark, stepping around trees as Kals pointed us in the right direction even though we couldn¡¯t see a trail.


    ¡°You want to know one more reason I¡¯m here?¡± She turned to me as we rounded an almost hill size stand of trees, all of them growing so close together that we¡¯d never have gotten through without destroying them.


    ¡°What?¡± I pushed a branch away from my face.


    ¡°We¡¯ve only got one option left. If Mom gives the signal, every half-way decent fighter pulls out whatever weapons that still work and joins up to attack whatever she points them at.¡±


    She frowned and continued to walk.


    ¡°Voluntarily?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s not a command?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not the Ascendancy. Of course it¡¯s voluntary. It¡¯s a waste of life¡ªsuicide with a small chance that we¡¯ll win.We can¡¯t match the Ascendancy¡¯s troops. It¡¯s a last chance to feel like we¡¯re doing something, but even if it succeeds, we¡¯ve lost the people most likely to keep us alive here.


    ¡°If we run across a new animal, a hard winter, or we can¡¯t fix the force fields, we¡¯ll die.¡±


    I followed her between two smaller stands of trees, squeezing between the branches and listening as Jaclyn, Cassie, Marcus, and Tikki did the same.


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    ¡°What is it? Some kind of symbolic last charge?¡±


    Kals looked back at me. ¡°Oh no. They¡¯re trying to be smart. I¡¯ve asked Council members about it and they told me it was our last defense, but it can¡¯t work. Even if you win, you still lose afterward.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound like a good idea, but it could be worse. For a second as you were talking about it, I thought you might have some kind of final weapon¡ªlike, I don¡¯t know, a bomb that blows up the planet and makes it unlivable or something.¡±


    She stared at me. ¡°What would be thesense of that? That¡¯s worse. The only good thing about it is that it would at least be cleaner than what we¡¯ve got¡ªa last stand followed by starvation.¡±


    From behind me, Jaclyn said, ¡°Your last stand might not be a bad idea now. You¡¯ve got a few thousand people. If half of them showed up with weapons, it might be enough to kill the Ascendancy troops.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Kals said, her voice getting louder, ¡°but only if the Ascendancy fleet leaves and never comes back. What are the chances of that?¡±


    Keeping her voice even, Jaclyn said, ¡°Good¡ªat least if the Xiniti win. If the Alliance shows up and the Cosmic Ghosts appear, the Ascendancy won¡¯t have much choice but to retreat.¡±


    From behind her, Cassie laughed. ¡°She¡¯s got you. Now you have to get everyone together to get shot.¡±


    Further back, Marcus groaned. ¡°This is a lousy time to get into an argument. Seriously, it¡¯s the worst time.¡±


    Kals sighed. ¡°Tell me about it. The Ascendancy might be out here. Xiniti who don¡¯t know who we are might be out here. But those are the good possibilities. They might talk to us. There are things in the woods at night that won¡¯t talk to us. They¡¯ll try to eat us.¡±


    Not sounding scared, Jaclyn said, ¡°I think we¡¯ll be okay, but I do think that we should think about doing a last stand. We don¡¯t have to charge. We could set a trap.¡±


    Kals glared at her. ¡°We could set a trap. Let¡¯s leave everyone else out of it. They¡¯ve done enough.¡±


    Not liking where this was going, I tried to interject an argument that would shut all of this down until we found Katuk. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have the argument worked out before I opened my mouth.


    ¡°Um¡­¡± I began and stopped because I felt something weird. It wasn¡¯t mental. If it had been a telepathic attack or even a contact, I would have known it. No this was different, but familiar.


    A voice I knew almost as well as my own spoke, ¡°She¡¯s right, Jaclyn. You wouldn¡¯t believe everything in this forest.¡±


    With that, my sister Rachel materialized in front of us. All white in her Ghost uniform, she floated above the ground, trees visible through her. I¡¯d have suspected that she was an illusion except that she¡¯d appeared in my comm contact list as ¡°active¡± when she materialized.


    That made a fake unlikely even if it didn¡¯t explain how she got here.


    Kals stared at her and then at me. I said, ¡°Kals, meet my sister Rachel. Rachel, this is Kals.¡±

 Planet in the Middle: Part 14

    Kals looked Rachel up and down. ¡°Your sister?¡± Then she said, ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m not pleased to meet you, but how did you get here? Have you been staying on the ship?¡±


    Rachel glanced to the right and left, barely moving her head. I couldn¡¯t give her a full costume like I had everyone else, but I had been able to improve hers. That glance had been enough to use her HUD to check around nearby.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t the sort of thing you should tell people about, but I have to tell you and this is as good as anywhere. You called for help from the Cosmic Ghosts and it turns out that Nick and I are indirectly descended from the Ghosts through Grandma Vander Sloot.¡±


    ¡°Indirectly?¡± I thought I knew the answer, but hoped she¡¯d confirm it.


    Rachel shrugged. ¡°The Abominators used some Cosmic Ghost genes from when they took human form. Even weirder, we¡¯ve got genes from Lee¡¯s people in our family and they mixed with the Ghost genes. In fact, they filled in some of the gaps. So I¡¯m almost a Ghost¡ªnot quite, but closer than I ought to be.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s weird that Lee¡¯s people¡¯s genes mix with the Ghosts at all,¡± I offered.


    Rachel met my eyes. ¡°I know. I asked them about it and they told me that the Ghosts are related to Lee¡¯s people somehow. It¡¯s kind of like us and Neanderthals¡ªif the Neanderthals survived somewhere else. And it¡¯s not like it¡¯s the first time either. The way I understand it they were uh¡­ cross-fertile.¡±


    I thought about the implications of that for a second. There were far too many and they led in too many sometimes contradictory directions.


    I didn¡¯t even get very far in when Marcus stepped up next to me and said, ¡°What are the Cosmic Ghosts all about and how did you get here? I¡¯m glad to see you but it¡¯s pretty weird to have you show up.¡±


    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Rachel said. ¡°I was in bed sleeping when theytold me you all needed help. When I agreed to help them, they showed me how to use my ability to turn intangible to fly faster than light. You know how I can slip into alternate realities? It¡¯s like that.


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    ¡°So I flew with one of their fast response teams. They¡¯re scouts. The main force is behind us. We just have to be ready to tell them what¡¯s going on when they arrive. They¡¯re not always an army, but they are when they have to be. TheGhosts think of themselves as a police force that defends against Lee¡¯s people and whatever else shows up. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re as powerful as any one of Lee¡¯s people, but they are more of them.


    ¡°I¡¯m here because they think I¡¯ll do a better job of communicating with you than some random Ghost.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re more likely to listen to you than someone we don¡¯t know.¡±


    Marcus laughed. ¡°You know what you are? You¡¯re a Green Lantern. You¡¯re part of a big police force that¡¯s also an army. You can fly through space. Basically, you¡¯re a Green Lantern. Do you have members from all kinds of different planets?¡±


    Rachel shook her head. ¡°Not really. There are a lot of us, but it¡¯s not like everyone¡¯s from a different planet. I think more of them are fully Ghost, but I¡¯m not the only one from a more recent race.¡±


    "That''s all pretty strange, but, I''m glad you''re here. We need one more voice of reason in this crowd," Jaclyn stepped up and gave her a hug. Rachel let her, growing fully solid for the first time since we¡¯d seen her.


    Kals turned to me. ¡°Your sister is a Cosmic Ghost and you didn¡¯t know?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Our world has a lot of people with unpredictable genes from just about anywhere. I feel like the Abominators were using our planet as some kind of big experiment where they threw in everything they knew how to do and waited to see what would come out on top.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t put it past them to do that for real.¡±


    Marcus, meanwhile had stepped in to talk with Rachel and Jaclyn. Tikki had stepped up and stood next to me. She watched Rachel with undisguised interest. Noticing that I¡¯d seen her, she said, ¡°She is quite close to a young Ghost. She reminds me of many that I knew before our peoples fully diverged.¡±


    Kals frowned. ¡°What did she say? I missed it.¡±


    Tikki grinned and stepped forward to put her hand on Marcus¡¯ shoulder.


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I missed it too.¡±


    Meanwhile, from the other side of Kals, Cassie said, ¡°Hey Rach, I¡¯m glad to see you too, but we ought to get moving. We were going to go find a couple of people and go try a plan that we¡¯ll probably regret immediately.¡±

 Planet in the Middle: Part 15

    Rachel looked toward Cassie. ¡°You¡¯ve got a plan? What is it?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Cassie shook her head. ¡°We don¡¯t have a plan, but I¡¯m assuming that whatever plan we have will turn out to be more complicated than we expect.¡±


    Shrugging, Rachel said, ¡°That¡¯s how plans go. I don¡¯t want to slow you down. Let¡¯s go find whoever it is you¡¯re going to find. And while we¡¯re at it, I should meet the new people.


    Marcus reached back to put his hand around Tikki¡¯s waist. ¡°This is Tikki. She just joined the colony. She¡¯s trained as a life support engineer and she can control time, but not all time¡ªthe time in a bubble around her. She¡¯s more powerful than you¡¯d think with that.¡±


    Tikki smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not that powerful, but you must be. I didn¡¯t know the Cosmic Ghosts took new members from the outside.¡±


    Rachel smiled. ¡°I didn¡¯t know they existed until they showed up in my dorm room and told me they needed my help to save my brother. They didn¡¯t explain anything until we got into space. After that, they told me a lot more¡ªincluding how to speak this language and a lot of things I can¡¯t talk about at all.¡±


    Glancing over at me and then Rachel, Kals said, ¡°I¡¯m Kals. My mom is one of the colony¡¯s leaders. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here. I don¡¯t know what the Ascendancy is doing now, but they¡¯re probably planning the best way to kill us all. You said you flew in with the fast response team, what are they doing and when are the rest of the Ghosts arriving?¡±


    Turning to meet Kals¡¯ look, Rachel shook her head. ¡°I have no idea. I¡¯ll sense it when the main force comes through and I¡¯ll tell you, but I¡¯m not in on everything. I know they¡¯ve got a plan, but it¡¯s not my plan, so I¡¯ll be waiting along with you.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Kals looked at her the way the might if she¡¯d been a small child and Rachel had told her that Christmas had been rescheduled.


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    Nodding, Rachel said, ¡°I know it¡¯s a disappointment, but it¡¯s the best I can do. That¡¯s just the way it works.¡±


    Ten minutes later found the group walking through the woods. Rachel floated next to me as I walked. I did my best to describe what we¡¯d been doing since we left Earth. It wasn¡¯t exactly a short story, and I could only guess what Lee had been doing since he¡¯d left us¡ªthough Rachel filled me in on how he¡¯d been fighting some species called the Issakass as well as members of his own kind, destroying some planet¡¯s moon in the process.


    ¡°The Ghosts have observers all over and almost no one knows it.¡± Rachel floated alongside me as the group followed Kals toward the shelter where Katuk had ended up.


    She frowned. ¡°I¡¯m a little surprised they didn¡¯t have anyone here. Jadzen Akri and the resistance against the Human Ascendancy are important enough that someone should be here, but maybe they went beneath the Ghosts¡¯ radar too. The Ghosts told me that Akri¡¯s people were good at working around powers.¡±


    Kals turned back to look at her. ¡°We are, but it¡¯s because we use our motivators to keep them underestimating us and never quite sending enough people to the right places. If you get the right motivator into the right place, they¡¯ll never know how badly wrong they are about you. We probably have people on the ships up there, but between Kamia and losing control of the ansible, communicating with them hasn¡¯t been possible.¡±


    The trees thinned and we ran through the woods, using our suits¡¯ sensors to watch for Ascendancy soldiers, animals, and tripping hazards in the dark.


    Kals, Cassie, Jaclyn and I ran, easily making twenty miles per hour most of the time. Marcus shapeshifted into a long legged catlike form. Tikki activated a shimmering bubble of time manipulation around herself, accelerating the time flow until she could keep up.


    If I didn¡¯t know what she was, I¡¯d have been worried that she might age herself to death, but I knew that wouldn¡¯t happen.


    ¡°We¡¯re getting close,¡± Kals said. ¡°It¡¯s over there.¡±


    She pointed at a small hill. My HUD showed that the hill was a few degrees warmer than the land around it¡ªwith a door-sized spot glowing a little warmer than that.


    That wasn¡¯t all. A growl from a nearby clump of trees made me notice the shape of Tiger, Jaclyn¡¯s dog, which darted from behind the trees to run toward Jaclyn, barking, jumping and randomly licking her and anyone in reach.


    Rachel, still floating, said, ¡°That¡¯s a dog?¡± as Katuk stepped out from behind the trees as well.


    He didn¡¯t try to hug any of us, but my implant helped me interpret the looser, less precise movement as relief.


    ¡°I¡¯ve continued to keep my implant¡¯s connection off because of Kamia. What is the news?¡±

 Planet in the Middle: Part 16

    ¡°Mostly good,¡± I said. ¡°The Xiniti are here and the first of the Cosmic Ghosts are here. In fact, technically we¡¯re done. The leader of the unit that came to Jadzen Akri¡¯s shelter told me that we¡¯d done what we were supposed to and that we could go. He didn¡¯t want to risk us in this fight¡ªthe Ascendancy has fresh troops and ships.¡±


    Katuk froze. ¡°I¡¯ve missed a great deal. The unit leader said we should withdraw? It makes sense. The Xiniti nation prefers not to waste lives. As inexperienced as we currently are, we might prove to be a drag on resources due to our lack of experience in war.¡±


    He stopped talking and his suit absorbed his helmet. Then he looked at me. I¡¯d reformed my own helmet before the run. I had my suit absorb it again once his came down.


    ¡°They told us to drop you off in K¡¯Tepolu.¡±


    He blinked. ¡°That¡­ seems unsatisfying.¡±


    ¡°I know. I told him that we had to go find you and Jaclyn¡¯s dog and Crawls-Through-Desert before we could consider leaving. He seemed okay with that, but I don¡¯t know if he thought through how long that could take. I didn¡¯t say it might take hours before we find everyone, but it might.¡±


    I watched Katuk for his reaction.


    He watched me with his wider than human eyes. Then he nodded. ¡°It¡¯s a difficult task in this situation. Crawls-Through-Desert isn¡¯t here. He¡¯s at another shelter. We separated when our groups went to their respective spots.¡±


    ¡°Do you know where he is?¡±


    ¡°Yes. He¡¯ll want to know about the new arrivals. I saw some of the ships earlier when they fought, but I hadn¡¯t known about the Ghosts¡¯ arrival.¡±


    He looked at Rachel who was still floating. ¡°Are you one of them?¡±


    She said, ¡°Kinda? Think of me as an intern. I can do a lot of what they can do, but I¡¯m not trained on most of it and their powers are subtle. So, training matters a lot.¡±


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    I broke in. ¡°This is my sister, Rachel. Rachel, this is Katuk.¡±


    He turned to examine me. ¡°Your sister. You must both have Ghost DNA.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I suppose. It doesn¡¯t help me in any way I¡¯m aware of.¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s dog broke away from her to stand up on its hind legs, put its paws on my chest, and give me a series of licks that dripped with dog spit.


    That¡¯s the kind of thing that made me wish I¡¯d kept my helmet up¡ªthat and avoiding being shot in the head, but dog spit was the current risk.


    As it dropped down to all fours and ran back to Jaclyn, Katuk said, ¡°If you want to find Crawls-Through-Desert, we should go soon. Do you know what the Ascendancy¡¯s current plans are?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I don¡¯t, but I¡¯ve been thinking about it. The battle left this part of the system, but they left soldiers. If they wanted the colonists dead, they¡¯d have dropped a nuke or something like it on them. So the question is, ¡®What do soldiers do better than bombs?¡¯ I¡¯m guessing that they¡¯re here to capture anyone they can¡ªthe higher up in the resistance the better. Then they¡¯ll brainwash them.¡±


    Jaclyn looked up from petting the dog. ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking. They¡¯d have some people who know how to get around protections against motivators like Kals did against you that time. Or you know, they might have put as many motivators in as they could find and hope that numbers alone will get them what they want.¡±


    Kals took in a long breath. ¡°I think I may have told Nick this before, but that¡¯s what we¡¯re all afraid of. It¡¯s one of the reasons that a resistance exists. We don¡¯t want our heads remade to serve the Ascendancy and catch and betray other resistance members. That¡¯s why some of the older people carry poison pills for themselves and their families.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying they¡¯d give them to kids?¡± Cassie stared at her. ¡°That¡¯s so messed up. I¡¯m not saying I don¡¯t get it, but that shouldn¡¯t be necessary.¡±


    Katuk looked into the darkness. ¡°If we want to find the plant, we should go.¡±


    We agreed and followed him into the night, running through the forest and wondering how long that would last.


    It didn¡¯t. About ten minutes into it, blasts of light turned into explosions and burning trees. Shouting Ascendancy soldiers fought an enemy that was silent except for the sizzle as their beams found targets.


    I never saw them, but I felt sure that they were Xiniti.


    ¡°We should go around this,¡± Katuk led us to the right of the firefight. In the distance, tree branches cracked and fell, many of them burning. Soldiers screamed in pain and I smelled burning flesh.


    I wondered if we were going closer to or further away from the main battle.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 17

    In the big picture, it didn¡¯t matter if we were going to closer to the main action. The important thing was that we met up with Crawls-Through-Desert to find out what he wanted to do¡ªstay or leave?


    So we followed Katuk through the forest, all of us running quickly and as silently as we could.


    Before we left the scene of the battle, a white beam speared two Ascendancy soldiers that emerged from a group of trees. I¡¯d been about to turn toward themmyself, but then the beam hit and a Xiniti appeared to fire a second shot at the two soldiers as they lay on the ground.


    Then, sure that they were dead, he disappeared into the trees.


    If Katuk was happy to see another Xiniti for the first time since leaving K¡¯Tepolu, he didn¡¯t show it. He glanced in that direction, said nothing and continued to run. I hoped he wouldn¡¯t get in trouble for coming with us instead of leaving like we were ordered to.


    I had gotten permission after a fashion, but all that I¡¯d heard about our own military back home indicated that no branch had a sense of humor about completely ignoring orders.


    We made it to the next shelter ten minutes later. It wasn¡¯t a good scene. The first hint of that came as Katuk said, ¡°It¡¯s over this hill.¡±


    We crested the hill, slowing to make it easier for them to recognize thet we weren¡¯t Ascendancy soldiers, but the first glimpse of the shelter gave us a glimpse of a smoldering fire in the woods.


    The shelter had been hit many times by energy beams, burning holes in the wallsand the bodies of the people in front of the building. None of them were alive.


    As we got closer, I failed to recognize any of them, but noticed that they were all adults, male and female. They all held guns in their hands and there were only ten of them.


    I couldn¡¯t know for sure, but it felt like they¡¯d known the Ascendancy would be coming, and sent out people to distract them from capturing anyone. They¡¯d died, but wherever the survivors had gone was Ascendancy free.


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    Alternately, they might have died further away from the shelter, killed as they retreated to a safer place.


    As we came to a stop near the shelter, Cassie pulled out her gun, using its senses to scan the area. I did the same with the Rocket suit¡¯s HUD.


    Hints of footprints let away from the shelter, disappearing into the forest. I knew I couldn¡¯t follow the little that the HUD reconstructed and I would have left that to anyone with skill in tracking except that I didn¡¯t think that we had anyone.


    Walking toward the footprints, I decided to take a shot at it anyway. The obvious footprints led out from the shelter and into the forest, disappearing some fifty feet away from the shelter where the ground turned hard.


    Well, I hadn¡¯t thought I¡¯d be able to follow the footprints.


    As I stared out into the darkness, wondering where they¡¯d gone and hoping that the plant was with them, Rachel appeared next to me.


    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t walk away from the group in situations like this often.¡±


    I probably should have jumped, but more than two years into knowing that Rachel might do that at any moment, I checked behind myself toward the shelter. Everyone else was still there, checking inside or around it.


    ¡°You know I don¡¯t. Besides, you¡¯re the one who was taking chances back home.¡±


    Rachel crossed her arms. ¡°My ¡®taking chances¡¯ was sneaking out the window to go drinking after Mom and Dad went to bed. It wasn¡¯t walking away from your group at the site of an ambush in the middle of a war.¡±


    I thought about that. It wasn¡¯t likely that someone was laying in wait out here, but it wasn¡¯t impossible.


    ¡°I¡¯ll walk back, but you know there¡¯s no one out here. Besides, it¡¯s not like I can tell where they went anyway.¡±


    ¡°No one that you can see, and lately I¡¯ve become more aware of how much I can¡¯t see and haven¡¯t seen.¡± Rachel pursed her lips. ¡°I¡¯m sorry if I¡¯m being a pest, but the Ghosts dragged me across hundreds of light years because you were in danger.¡±


    ¡°The Cosmic Ghosts,¡± I said. ¡°So, what¡¯s that like?¡±


    ¡°Weird. They¡¯re not human. They don¡¯t explain anything directly, but at the same time there are moments where they remind me of Grandma Vander Sloot. I don¡¯t know why, but it¡¯s more than powers.¡±


    We reached the damaged shelter as Kals stepped out. ¡°No one¡¯s inside. They got away.¡±


    I said, ¡°That¡¯s what it looks like. I followed tracks that way and didn¡¯t see any signs of fighting. I also didn¡¯t see any signs of them. I couldn¡¯t follow the tracks any further.¡±


    Everyone else gathered around. Jaclyn looked over the group. ¡°It looks like we¡¯ve got a decision to make. Do we keep on trying to find the plant or do something else?¡±

 Planet in the Middle: Part 18

    Marcus cocked his head. ¡°You know, I don¡¯t think there is much of a choice here. I¡¯m not sure we have much of a chance to find the plant. I mean, how would we do it? Jaclyn could run around the area looking for it, but she¡¯s not at her best, so they might take her out. The rest of us aren¡¯t really big information gatherers. I mean, Nick can do some of that, but his bots are short range, right?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly. The observation bots and the spybots are longer range, but they¡¯re only useful if I either know where to place them or if I have so many that and I can put them everywhere. Right now, neither of those is true. So, you¡¯re right that I need more time or more bots to be useful.¡±


    Giving a quick nod, Marcus said, ¡°Alright, but I¡¯m at least right that we don¡¯t have much of any way to find the plant, right? Because I can¡¯t see one.¡±


    Jaclyn sighed. ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking, but I¡¯d hoped that I¡¯d missed something. If Marcus is right, we need to figure out what else we¡¯re going to do. The best idea I¡¯ve had is to go back to Jadzen. That, or leave because if we¡¯re going to stick around, I want to be useful, I don¡¯t want to get drawn into a fight that doesn¡¯t help anybody.¡±


    Cassie spoke before anyone else. ¡°My gun would take any fight over no fight, but it doesn¡¯t worry about the future. If we go into a fight, we could end up like Maru or any of those guys¡ª¡±


    She pointed to the dead people on the ground. ¡°So yeah, let¡¯s make it worth it.¡±


    Kals looked over at Cassie. ¡°Don¡¯t get the idea that I think you¡¯re wrong. I want you to make a difference, but don¡¯t be too choosy. The colony and everyone in it could die¡ªor worse¡ªtonight. You¡¯ll find a fight that¡¯s worth fighting for everywhere.¡±


    Cassie folded her arms over her chest. ¡°I want the fight where we fix the problem and not the one where we win a fight with the Ascendancy, but everyone dies a few hours later when they get reinforcements. I¡¯d rather leave than that.¡±


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    Kals¡¯ mouth tightened as if she might want to argue, but she said, ¡°I want to fix the problem too, but I can¡¯t let my people die if I can do something about it. I¡¯m with you because I thought you¡¯d have a better chance of getting into the middle of it. If you¡¯re not going to try, then I should go back to my mom.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s jaw muscle had twitched as Kals spoke. ¡°I¡¯m not saying we shouldn¡¯t try. Ijust don¡¯t know what we should try yet.¡±


    Before she could continue¡ªshe looked like she would¡ªI cut in. ¡°I¡¯ve got an idea. It¡¯s not foolproof, but I think we could get some direction. I¡¯m going to ask the ship what it¡¯s been seeing. With all the violence, it¡¯s got to be seeing a pattern, and if it¡¯s seeing a pattern, then it might have some suggestions.¡±


    ¡°Tell you what,¡± Cassie said, ¡°loop us all in. We¡¯ll leave our helmets open and Tikki, Kals, and Katuk can listen too.¡±


    Rachel smiled at Cassie and Kals. ¡°That sounds better than arguing.¡±


    I wondered if they¡¯d be able to understand anything. Our implants translated anything that we heard, or anything we were about to say, before it came out. With the possible exception of Katuk, I doubted that their implants could translate into English, but I decided not to argue.


    I waited until everyone was ready and called Hal. The connection registered and I said, ¡°Hal, what¡¯s your analysis of the situation on the ground?¡±


    Hal¡¯s calm, tenor voice came over the connection, ¡°At present, there are three forces on the ground. The Xiniti force is smallest and is advancing generally in the direction of your position. They appear to be the best armed. The Human Ascendancy¡¯s forces arrived in the forest and the area around it before the Xiniti. They appear to be losing wherever they face the Xiniti directly, but they are only facing the Xiniti in a small number of places. The third force appears to be the largest, but the least well armed and organized. The colonists appears to be gathering into units based on direct word of mouth. They are not presently engaging with any force.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not understanding any of this,¡± Kals told me. She stood next to me, listening. I¡¯d sent the entire conversation to my helmet¡¯s external speakers.


    Before I could reply, Hal said, ¡°I¡¯ll repeat and continue the conversation in the Human Quarantine¡¯s common language.¡±


    When he did, Kals said, ¡°Crap, someone¡¯s decided that fighting¡¯s our only chance.¡±

 Planet in the Middle: Part 19

    ¡°So in your opinion,¡± I asked Hal, ¡°where would the best place for us to go?¡±


    Hal responded without any hesitation. ¡°That depends on your purpose. I¡¯ve simulated multiple versions of the upcoming battle. Judging from the Ascendancy¡¯s soldiers movements, their goal appears to be first of all to capture or kill the leadership and then to move on to destroying the rest of the colonists.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know where Jadzen Akri and the Council will be with certainty, but I know where the battle between the Xiniti and Ascendancy forces will be. The probability is that the battle will be fought at a clearing roughly one mile west of here. I believe there to be a shelter there, but since their shelter are designed to be hard to detect by Alliance and Ascendancy technology, I can¡¯t be sure. Were you to go there, you¡¯d be in an excellent position to defend the colony¡¯s leadership.


    ¡°In many of my simulations, the colony¡¯s leadership is destroyed or captured because Kamia is singularly effective against them. Your group is effective against her as well as her compatriots. However, that will not help very much in protecting the rest of the colony. The Ascendancy forces are searching for the colony¡¯s shelters and destroying them as they find them. Should it be impossible to capture the leadership and the spaceship battle returns to the area of space around the planet, they will simply bombard anywhere they suspect colonists might be hiding.¡±


    Kals made a small noise somewhere between a grunt and a moan and looked me in the eye, talking into my helmet. ¡°You¡¯re saying that even if we save my mom, they still might destroy the colony? Is there any way we can prevent that?¡±


    Hal responded in the same calm voice he¡¯d been using. ¡°There is a small chance that by sending a small number of people into space with me, I could direct the Xiniti into a more efficient way of destroying the fleet. Alternately, the capabilities of this ship in combat might swing the battle towards the Ascendancy¡¯s defeat or distract them from attacking this planet.¡±


    ¡°What kind of chance?¡± I asked. ¡°When you say a small chance, is it small, but worth pursuing or small in the sense of don¡¯t waste your time?¡±


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    ¡°The probable futures do not include decision points that lead to this ship becoming essential to the survival of the colony. Intervention by the Cosmic Ghosts or additional Xiniti or Alliance ships is the most probable salvation for the colony.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°We don¡¯t go up in the ship then.¡±


    Keeping her voice low, Rachel asked, ¡°What are the chances the Ghosts arrive soon?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have enough data on the Ghosts to predict their actions. The Ghosts act without being observed. In many cases, it¡¯s not even clear that they¡¯ve been in a place except that some action has been stopped.¡±


    A thought struck me. ¡°Would it help if you regarded Rachel¡¯s abilities as examples of a young Ghost?¡±


    ¡°Nick,¡± Rachel met my eyes, frowning. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they like being a mystery.¡±


    Hal said, ¡°It would give me more data, but not the kind that I need to predict where they will or won¡¯t appear. It is useful information.¡±


    Jaclyn looked around and the group of us and then said, ¡°Alright Hal, how long do we have until we lose our chance to protect the leadership?¡±


    ¡°It varies, but the sooner you arrive, the better your chances of success.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the way it always works. We¡¯ll need directions. Can you send us a map?¡±


    ¡°I can direct you with the GPS.¡±


    Jaclyn looked over at me. ¡°We didn¡¯t put any satellites in orbit, did we?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No.¡±


    Hal said, ¡°The planet has the standard Alliance system set up. I can translate between it and your systems.¡±


    Thinking about that, I said, ¡°I wish I¡¯d known that earlier. I was pretty sure we didn¡¯t have access to GPS at all¡­ That said, we probably ought to go.¡±


    The map appeared in everyone¡¯s HUD. It wasn¡¯t far away¡ªwhich was good because Tiger wasn¡¯t as fast as the rest of us. Going slow enough that he could keep up wasn¡¯t a problem, but it did make me feel a little weird about bringing a puppy into a big fight.


    I hadn¡¯t come up with a better alternative by the time we reached the clearing.As we reached it, it wasn¡¯t much. On the one side of the open, grassy area, there were trees. On the other side, there were more trees. Even I could tell they were a different type.


    A shelter stood on the far side, but this was different from any other I¡¯d seen in that there were more than one hundred colonists around it, all of them armed with guns and wearing armor that adjusted to match the scenery around to the point that they were almost invisible.

 Planet in the Middle: Part 20

    I¡¯d be lying if I didn¡¯t say that seeing people there ready to fight gave me some hope. My mind noted that hope or not, the Ascendancy troops almost had to outnumber them.


    We crossed the clearing, walking instead of running, giving them time to recognize us even though it was still dark. A few of them pointed at the dog, but no one shot at us.


    Outside along with them stood Jadzen Akri, some members of the Council and morecolonists I didn¡¯t recognize, all of them watching us as we came closer.


    As we came near, Kals said, ¡°Mom, I didn¡¯t know you were coming here.¡±


    Jadzen nodded. ¡°We weren¡¯t, but then we met a runner from Crawls-Through-Desert. The runner said that he¡¯d been told to get people to gather there. The plant wanted to set up a big target, one that would draw the Ascendancy in because it was too big to pass up.¡±


    Kals frowned. ¡°Mom, you don¡¯t have to be here.¡±


    Unblinking, Jadzen said, ¡°I do. That¡¯s the one thing I have to do. I¡¯m good at inspiring people and encouraging them to come up with their own ideas about how to resist the Ascendancy. I¡¯m not good at running a war. But I know that the plant¡¯s better at it. Somehow, he found out about our last contingency plan, the one where the best fighters take their chance, and he decided to use it early¡ªwhen there¡¯s still a chance to save something. Those who can¡¯t fight are hidden and most of the Council with them.


    ¡°I¡¯m here because if I¡¯m here, they¡¯ll come for me. We have many more people coming, I hope, but if it turns out not to be enough, I have my backup plan.¡±


    Kals expression flattened. At that Jadzen held her hand to Kals¡¯ cheek.


    ¡°I¡¯d like you to go with the Council if you can find it in yourself that you can. They¡¯ll need a replacement for me. You won¡¯t have to lead¡ªjust be there, remind them of me, and give them hope. The Council will do the work.¡±


    Kals shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m staying.¡±


    Nodding, Jadzen said, ¡°I wish you weren¡¯t, but I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here.¡±


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    Then she pulled Kals in and hugged her. They held each other for a moment. As they pulled away, I noticed a glisteningunder their eyes.


    I couldn¡¯t blame them. They were facing death or being re-educated into a puppet. I wasn¡¯t sure why I didn¡¯t feel the same, but I supposed I might feel differently if I were staring my mom in the eye right now.


    I glanced over at Rachel. She had a good chance to live even if I didn¡¯t.


    Catching my look, Rachel said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll survive.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll do our best.¡±


    Behind me, Marcus grinned. ¡°Exactly. Remember the team motto, ¡®Try not to die¡¯.¡±


    Kals whipped around to stare at him, ¡°Is that really your team motto?¡±


    Glaring at Marcus, Jaclyn said, ¡°It¡¯s not.¡±


    Tikki bit her lip as Katuk turned his head toward Marcus. ¡°While a sensible sentiment, it sounds defeatist.¡±


    Cassie folded her arms across her chest. ¡°He ripped it off from a comic book team.¡±


    Marcus sighed. ¡°It was a joke.¡±


    Shrugging, Cassie said, ¡°Yeah, well, use it back home and Marvel¡¯s going to sue.¡±


    With a hint of a smile, Jadzen gestured toward the soldiers and a few council members. ¡°Come and join us as we plan our defense.¡±


    A big, scarred man in form-fitting armor explained their plans. ¡°We know they¡¯re coming from the other side of the clearing, but it¡¯s not impossible they¡¯ll come around behind us. It¡¯s the smart choice. We¡¯re going to watch from all directions, and station people with guns behind trees. Those of you who can beat Ascendancy soldiers hand to hand should initially stay behind the people with guns until there¡¯s a hole in the line. When they try to break through, fill the hole, but don¡¯t get too far out. You don¡¯t want to be surrounded on their side of the line.


    ¡°Be aware, everyone, that their motivators will likely try to overwhelm our voice countermeasures. We¡¯ve done what we can to amplify your defenses and our own motivators will be doing what they can to keep you safe. In the end, some may get through anyway. Remember your training and you should be able to resist.¡±


    That was training we didn¡¯t have. I hoped that our suits¡¯ defenses worked. While I thought about that, the man continued.


    ¡°The Xiniti that escorted Jadzen here are hiding in the forest, waiting for the right moment to attack as will more of our troops and the Xiniti main force. So all we have to do is survive until they arrive and we¡¯ll have help and a real chance to live. Watch for them and try not to shoot them. Remember, we¡¯re not here to be heroes. We¡¯re here to last. We¡¯ll have force fields too. Our people are setting them up now.¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw them put up the poles, followed by the creation of a blue shimmer than spanned the distance between them. They had holes for guns. Also, they didn¡¯t go all the way around. There were gaps, but there were trees in the gaps and soldiers standing behind them.


    It made me feel a little better. The meeting went on longer than that, but that was the gist of it. When it was over, we got into position and waited.


    I hoped the shields lasted. Without them, it would be harder.

 Trees & Shields: Part 1

    Four Hands, Bridge of the Human Ascendancy Flagship: Glorious Victory


    Four Hands could have followed the progress of the battle in full immersion through his implant, but didn¡¯t need the distraction. The flaghip¡¯s admiral had summoned him to the bridge even though full immersion could have handled that as well.


    Knowing the Human Ascendancy, Four Hands knew that this could be because the admiral wanted to see him killed in person. They knew he¡¯d met with the human Xiniti recruit. He¡¯d included it in his report, if only because he knew the soldiers would.


    On the other hand, the admiral might want to congratulate him personally. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time he¡¯d turned treason into a commendation.


    He walked across the bridge, ignoring the crewmen, many of whom appeared to be sleeping at their consoles, but instead were managing the ship, remote drones, or parts of the fleet through their implants.


    That was the long outer circle. The bridge¡¯s inner circle held six, two person console rigs, all of them filled with staff, awake, and staring at holographic representations. There to communicate to the fleet as well as personally protect the admiral, the inner circle needed an awareness of the real world and the bridge at the same time.


    As much the admiral¡¯s bodyguards as bridge crew, they watched Four Hands walk in as one of their screens showed Xiniti ships dealing the final blow to a damaged battleship.


    Admiral Makri Tzin sat in the middle at a command console that had the height and bulkiness of a throne. On top of it, the admiral wore the silver, pressurized, uniform of the navy, making the bulk of an Ascendancy soldier even more impressive.


    As Four Hands came before the chair, the admiral shouted, ¡°Abase yourself.¡±


    Four Hands knelt with his head to the floor until the admiral grunted. Then he stood up.


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    Admiral Tzin looked down at him without saying anything, bushy eyebrows arched and arms across his chest.


    ¡°All have spoken well of your accomplishments and leadership on the surface, particularly on how you rescued the mission from the agent who killed our people and lead the mission to utter disaster. Now I know that you weren¡¯t able to capture the colonists either, but you were able to drive them out of the caves and into the woods, and all of that with a force that had been mostly destroyed.


    ¡°It¡¯s another brilliant addition to an already impressive resume. I only have questions about one small part of your actions. You spoke to a human Xiniti recruit and then allowed him to leave your presence alive. Why did you choose to make these decisions?¡±


    Inside Four Hands¡¯ head, his main implant reported that the admiral was using a motivator¡¯s tones and that it had scrubbed them from his perception without alerting his official navy implant.


    ¡°Your Excellency,¡± Four Hands said, ¡°the Xiniti recruit exhibited skills similar to my own as well as an impressive competence as a combatant. I thought I might try to recruit him to our side if I could.¡±


    ¡°And?¡± Admiral Tzin grunted.


    ¡°He¡¯s loyal to the Xiniti and couldn¡¯t be recruited.¡±


    ¡°Hmmn,¡± Admiral Tzin leaned forward, ¡°And why didn¡¯t you have him killed when you had him?¡±


    ¡°As I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware, fleet policy is to respect flags of truce if there¡¯s any possibility that not doing so would come back to hurt us. I judged that we might wish to meet with them later and there was no reason to end that potential now.¡±


    Admiral Tzin nodded. ¡°Understood. Your caution is appreciated. Our current plans are to capture and suborn the human ¡®Xiniti¡¯ recruits along with the colony¡¯s leadership. If that proves impossible, we plan to cleanse the colony from the planet.¡±


    Giving a nod, Four Hands said, ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Admiral Tzin said. ¡°We are now in battle with the Xiniti fleet or I might send you back to the planet to assist in finishing what you started. Instead, I¡¯m assigning you to guide your own people in coming up with ideas for breaking into and subverting the unusual technology that the Xiniti recruits appear to possess. Kamia expresses difficulty with it and that¡¯s an impressive statement on its own.¡±


    Then the man dismissed him with a wave of his claw.


    On the way out, Four Hands thanked the universe for the machines that saved him from influence as well as the admiral¡¯s stereotypical assumptions about his skills that sent him to his own people. It wasn¡¯t inaccurate in his case,but little of his military record showed it.


    It was time to plan his next move.

 Trees & Shields: Part 2

    Nick, Shelter 454


    We waited for the Ascendancy troops to arrive. Captain Tolker, the guy who led the briefing, turned out to be a mercenary who the resistance hired, but then became notorious enough that the Ascendancy decided that he was a resistance leader. In the end, he found himself here with everyone else.


    I didn¡¯t know where had he been before, but he spent the wait getting acquainted with those of us he didn¡¯t know and encouraging those that he did. Though I¡¯m no authority on leading troops, he seemed good at it.


    I¡¯d assigned myself to be behind the front line amid the melee fighter whose purpose was to jump in if a shield or tree went down and handle things until they could get a shield working again or have everyone fall back.


    He stepped up to me, still larger even though I was in armor, and looked me up and down. ¡°You¡¯re one of the human Xiniti. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re very good, but tell me what you can do so that I know you¡¯re in the right place.¡±


    ¡°My suit protects me, increases my strength, allows me to fly, and controls bots and weapons. My standard ammo doesn¡¯t do much against Ascendancy armor except when using multiple rounds per soldier. My laser punches through, but it¡¯s got limited shots. My sonics will stop big groups but only for as long as the sound continues.


    ¡°So,¡± I continued, ¡°I decided I was best off as backup.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°That sounds right. I may have a mission for you later. Jump when I call you.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, wondering if I should have said something that sounded more military.


    Captain Tolker didn¡¯t appear bothered, nodding and moving on to talk to Jaclyn. I didn¡¯t hear much of what he said to her except that I did again hear, ¡°¡­ tell me what you can do, so I know you¡¯re in the right place.¡±


    As they talked, I checked my bots. I¡¯d released the observation bots and the spybots, figuring that an early warning would be better than no warning.


    I didn¡¯t see anything special moving in the woods through a few of the bots had to dodge birds as well as small, raccoon-like predators.


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    So, nothing.


    I hoped that I¡¯d designed the pattern to be tight enough. It¡¯d be sad and pointless to send out the bots and leave a hole open that an army could walk through.


    Out in the night though, small animals chased each other, but so far nothing else.


    ¡°I¡¯m still surprised that this is everyone,¡± Marcus stepped up and stood next to me. ¡°Wasn¡¯t Crawls-Through-Desert supposed to be here or something?¡±


    ¡°I know. I get the impression that he¡¯s gathering more people and he¡¯ll show up with them when he shows up.¡±


    Marcus¡¯ mouth twisted. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m hoping that happens before we get attacked instead of after afterward. I mean, it¡¯d be awesome and all to be saved by themat the last minute, but we¡¯d have to survive through whatever happens before that.¡±


    I thought about that. ¡°Almost dying that way would probably be less fun than it would be in the comics.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Exactly. That or Lord of the Rings. Thing is, you read the books, right?Tolkien made it clear that every battle in those books was hard won. People died even in the easy battles.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Tolkien fought in World War I. I¡¯m sure it was miserable every step of the way. I think he was in the Battle of the Somme and I don¡¯t know much about it except that I guess it was particularly bad.¡±


    Marcus nodded. ¡°I think I read that somewhere. Hey¡­ I¡¯ve got a totally different question. What did Tikki do to me? I know she healed me, but I feel like it was more than that. She¡¯s been a little different since then. I don¡¯t know how.¡±


    I glanced over at her. She stood next to Jaclyn, talking. Both of them stood behind Cassie next to one of the force shields.


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said, "but it¡¯s way too complicated to get into right now. She¡¯s going to tell you later, probably after the battle when there¡¯s time.¡±


    Marcus looked at me without saying anything for a moment. ¡°I hope it¡¯s not anything bad. Anyway, you should take a look at this.¡±


    He pointed to a force shield to the left of us. Standing next to it with guns were Dalat and Gemman. Standing next to each other in combat gear, Dalat still looked small next to Gemman¡¯s bulk.


    ¡°They were going to do their best to remove anything from their heads whether it was implants or motivator suggestions¡­¡± I tried to sound optimistic.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Marcus said, ¡°Maru was¡ªback when Alyssa could mess with his head. People have to know about them, right?¡±


    ¡°Jadzen does.¡± I glanced in their direction again.


    Dalat appeared to be deliberately controlling his breathing, taking in a little breath and letting out a long one. Gemman stared at his gun, opening sections of it, inspecting them and closing them. Then he closed the last and stared out into the darkness, practicing how he planned to stand while firing out of the hole in the shield.


    They weren¡¯t the only ones doing things like that. We were all waiting for hell to be unleashed in our general direction.


    I considered asking Jadzen or maybe asking Kals to ask Jadzen what was going on with those guys, but in that moment one of my bots caught sight of the Human Ascendancy soldiers crawling through the woods.


    Hell was on its way.

 Trees & Shields: Part 3

    I flipped from screen to screen in my HUD. The Ascendancy had sent a lot of troops. My gut said it had to be hundreds. According to my implant (which had noted the distance between the bots, the number in the pictures, the probable distance between them and made guesses about areas the bots didn¡¯t cover), the number was more like thousands. Specifically, it was more than I thought had landed.


    At any rate, that was the implant¡¯s estimate. The number it had seen was 750¡ªwhich was still an awful lot.


    Around that time, beams of light appeared in the woods around us, accompanied by the screams of Human Ascendancy soldiers.


    That would be the Xiniti that escorted Jadzen here. We¡¯d been told that they¡¯d retreated in the woods to reappear when they found it useful.


    Here they were forcing a large force to divide in order to attack them as well as us. Not only that, but they¡¯d just ruined the Ascendancy¡¯s best chance to catch us unawares.


    All in all, it had to drive the Ascendancy¡¯s commander crazy. The Xiniti were mobile enough that even as I watched their beams would appear in one place, stop and reappear somewhere else.


    For all that, the Ascendancy¡¯s troops kept on coming. I wasn¡¯t sure that I wanted to call it bravery. Even if it wasn¡¯t the only reason they moved forward, they had motivators whispering in their ears through their communications systems.


    Also, there were an awful lot of them. So a small number of roving Xiniti caused chaos, but the Ascendancy had enough people that they could devote a part of their force to watching for the Xiniti and firing whenever they saw any hint that they were there.


    It worked well enough for them, I guess, in that they could keep on moving forward, but because the Xiniti could run past the edges of a loose formation and start firing at the group from inside it, the Ascendancy had to change to atighter formation.


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    By the time they reached the clearing, they were marching in a long, rectangular shape. It didn¡¯t mean that they were immune to the Xiniti¡¯s attacks, but it did allow a lot of people to fire back at once.


    It seemed like the entire right side of the group responded as we watched, blasting holes in trees, starting small fires, but not killing any Xiniti that we saw.


    That might have been reassuring except that they only stopped firing for a moment before the whole formation charged us, splitting in half so that one side went to the right of our position and the other side went to the left.


    We didn¡¯t just let it happen. Captain Tolker ordered everyone to fire. Of course, we weren¡¯t the only one firing. As the Ascendancy¡¯s troops charged, they fired on us, blasts of energy hitting the shields and blazing with light.


    Blasts hit trees and branches fell to the ground, sometimes hitting people. Tikki stopped a large one that threatened to hit the hand to hand fighters as well as knock over a shield generator pole. Her field slowed the branch enough that Marcus and I could throw it out and over the side.


    The other defenders weren¡¯t sitting still. Cassie¡¯s gun killed any soldier it hit, burning holes through their armor and dividing the formation further back than they had at first, seemingly to avoid running headfirst into her fire. She divided the rest of her shots between the streams of troops going to the left and right.


    It reminded me of nothing more than the invasion by alternate universe dinosaurs¡ªexcept that the Ascendancy¡¯s troops had better armor and could dodge better.


    At the same time, Katuk fired a white beam that incinerated whatever it hit. It didn¡¯t penetrate as deeply, but it burned away armor and skin just as well.


    By that time, I¡¯d begun to feel useless, but I was okay with it. This was the kind of fight that could kill any of us, and surviving untested wasn¡¯t bad.


    This is the sort of thought someone probably shouldn¡¯t have in combat as the world appears to go to extra work to make sure that you know that you ¡¯re wrong.


    The Ascendancy soldiers had broken into two groups, each going around either side of the shelter¡¯s shields and meeting on the other side to surround us. Because of the trees and the colonists¡¯ ability to return fire without getting shot, they couldn¡¯t get too close.


    That must have been the origin of their next plan. Just like Travis and Haley, the Ascendancy¡¯s soldiers were effective climbers, able to swing and leap through a forest. It wasn¡¯t a surprise that a group of them jumped into the trees, leaping from branch to branch in an attempt to leap over the shields.


    I saw it through my bots and warned everyone, even firing up at them, but they still landed in the middle of us.

 Trees & Shields: Part 4

    Jaclyn blurred, punching five of them before anyone else had a chance to respond¡ªat least that¡¯s what I saw when I replayed the moment with my implant later.


    In the moment, I was too busy to watch what she was doing. Two soldiers landed in front of me, the first grabbing for my arm before I could back up to avoid him and beginning to pull me in.


    Knowing the strength of my armor, I¡¯ve always been worried about facing people capable of ripping it straight off me. Travis was one of them and these soldiers had the same powers. With nothing else coming as an option, I did what Lee had taught me to do when that was a possibility¡ªpunch them hard.


    Before the one my right could react, I punched the one that had grabbed me¡ªthe one on the left¡ªdirectly in the front of his helmet. The Rocket suit generates tons of force and unlike at home, I didn¡¯t hold back at all, punching deeply into the soldier¡¯s face, denting the helmet.


    He died. I didn¡¯t need to scan him with the sonics to know that for sure and didn¡¯t. The goo flowing out of his helmet was enough of a clue¡ªthat and how he fell backward and lay there unmoving.


    I didn¡¯t pay attention to that either because I still had the other one to deal with. Twisting to throw the first punch had already ¡°loaded¡± the second punch and I threw it even as the first body fell.


    The second soldier had seen what happened to the first and raised his arm either to block my punch or to grab. He had a problem though. He wasn¡¯t anywhere near as fast or as strong as Travis--who would have been able to grab my arm and guide my body to the ground.


    This guy¡¯s arm, despite being encased in armor, shattered with the strength of my blow, hanging at an angle that an unbroken arm couldn¡¯t.


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    Trained to follow through, I threw another punch as he stumbled backward, hitting him in the head. He went down.


    I¡¯d almost never used the Rocket suit¡¯s full strength and in this moment, I understood why. I¡¯d known it intellectually and my grandpa had told me how he''d used it during World War 2, but some things you had to experience first hand to get them.


    In that moment, I understood in my bones that the Rocket suit didn¡¯t need any weapons on it at all.


    I¡¯d killed two men and they lay on the ground ahead of me, one of them still jerking and twitching.


    Off to the side of me, Dalat shot one soldier and Geman finished him off as he lay on the ground. After a couple shots, he stopped moving.


    On my other side, Marcus knocked one soldier and then another into Tikki¡¯s field where she aged both of them into dust.


    I took a breath and reminded myself that I¡¯d killed before. I¡¯d even killed this exact type of genetically modified human during the invasion of Earth where we¡¯d killed Katuk¡¯s father. That had been mostly with lasers and bots though. Punching them to death felt more personal somehow.


    Turning their heads to goo felt more personal somehow.


    My suit flashed ¡°COLLISION ALERT¡± in my HUD, something it normally did only while flying and I looked up, pointing my laser in the air, and firing as I saw an Ascendancy soldier above me.


    The laser could cut through a battleship¡¯s armor. It cut through his chest as if he wasn¡¯t wearing any armor at all.


    He fell to the ground, making no attempt to land on its feet or to roll. The body hit and lay there motionless.


    I checked above to see if there were more and there weren¡¯t. I called back some spybots and stationed them around the top of the shields so that we¡¯d know if this happened again.


    While the bots moved to their new positions, I took a quick look around us. All the Ascendancy soldiers were dead¡ªthe ones that made it over the shields anyway.


    More interesting, there appeared to be a lull in the fighting around the shields. It wasn¡¯t that no one was firing, but before the shields had been impossible to see through as they deflected blast after blast.


    It was almost as if someone outside wanted to see how we handled the troops dropping in on us over the shields.


    As I thought that, the Ascendancy forces started firing again. I had a bad feeling that we¡¯d find out if my suspicions were correct all too soon. In the meantime, I decided to watch the top of the shields and tell everyone else.

 Trees & Shields: Part 5

    ¡°I think they¡¯re going to send more over the shields¡ªmaybe to go straight for Jadzen and the council members here.¡±


    Jaclyn stared up at the top of the shields. ¡°Of course they are. If they can do it once, they can do it again and with 20 times the people.¡±


    A chill went through me as she said that. She was right and we wouldn¡¯t be able to handle that many.


    Jaclyn glanced over at the shields. They were spattered with energy blasts. If the Ascendancy sent people through at a time like this, they stood a good chance taking down the shields from within while we were distracted.


    ¡°I know what to do,¡± Jaclyn checked the top of the shields again and then turned back to us. ¡°If I go out there and knock down the trees around us, they won¡¯t be able to get high enough.¡±


    ¡°Good idea,¡± I said.


    Marcus took a breath. ¡°Are you okay? I mean, you got hit pretty bad earlier and this will be more of the same. Whatever they¡¯re using takes more out of you than bullets.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°Look, I can take it for a little while. I¡¯ve got one of Nick¡¯s suits. Plus, if they get through we¡¯re all going to die.¡±


    Marcus¡¯ face tightened. ¡°You had the new suit on last time too. How damaged is it?¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this. I¡¯m going to be moving too quickly to take a lot of hits.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, Marcus looked her in the eyes. ¡°While knocking down trees?¡±


    From where she was firing her gun, Cassie shouted back at us, ¡°She should do it.¡±


    ¡°Here¡¯s an idea,¡± I said. ¡°Tikki should go with her. That¡¯ll keep the shots that do hit to a manageable level.¡±


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    ¡°And I¡¯m going to carry her around?¡± Jaclyn asked. ¡°Because that¡¯ll be slower.¡±


    Tikki shook her head. ¡°No. I¡¯ll accelerate us to be faster than the time stream around us and I¡¯ll freeze and redirect any shots that make it into the bubble.¡±


    Marcus¡¯ looked at her, meeting her eyes. ¡°Are you sure? Do you think you can make it that long?¡±


    Tikki reached out and held him. ¡°I know it. Trust me.¡±


    When she let go, Marcus watched her walk over to Jaclyn, who said, ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s try it.¡±


    Holding his arms across his chest, he looked smaller than usual. As they walked closer to a gap between a tree and a shield, Marcus turned to me and said, ¡°I hope they survive.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know whether he blamed me, but the fact that he didn¡¯t seem to be mad about it made me feel worse. He just seemed scared for them and didn¡¯t know what to do with it.


    I wasn¡¯t as scared. If Tikki had really just been Tikki, I would have been, but knowing that she was one of Lee¡¯s people, I wished I hadn¡¯t promised to keep it quiet.


    Telling him wouldn¡¯t make things better, though. It would have just introduced a little more chaos into a situation that already had enough.


    With him, I watched as Tikki¡¯s bubble surrounded both of them, distorting the air in a way that reminded me of ripples on a pond. As a resistance fighter stepped out of their way, allowing them through the gap, Kals stepped up beside us.


    ¡°What are they doing?¡±


    I didn¡¯t have time to explain before the first tree came down. Together in the Tikki¡¯s bubble of time, they didn¡¯t move as quickly as Jaclyn could alone, but they weren¡¯t slow. With the accelerated time, Jaclyn moved faster than normal.


    So, when the bubble surrounded a tree trunk, the tree fell in almost the same moment. Taking the whole exercise farther than I¡¯d thought to suggest, Jaclyn made sure that each tree fell toward the attacking soldiers, sometimes throwing the tree trunks like gigantic lawn darts.


    If she¡¯d been trying to be disruptive to the attack, she wouldn¡¯t have done it much differently.


    The trees¡¯ branches made harder to see the shields, and if Jaclyn threw the tree, it sailed into the crowd, hitting any soldiers that didn¡¯t jump out of the way.


    It wasn¡¯t a bad plan. The side effects were nice anyway.


    The only bad point was that there were a lot of trees around the shelter, so it wasn¡¯t hard to figure out what Jaclyn was doing before she finished. Flying trees were a notable clue.


    So somewhere out there, whoever had been planning to send people over the top of the shields decided that now was the last chance they¡¯d have.


    Even though Jaclyn and Tikki had removed more than half of the trees surrounding the shelter, Ascendancy soldiers jumped for the trees that were left, leaping from one to the other.


    I don¡¯t know how many it was, but a lot¡ªmore than last time, anyway.

 Trees & Shields: Part 6

    They poured over the shields, throwing themselves over by pushing off from the trees standing outside of the ring.


    The only good thing that could be said is that this time they were all coming from the back half and left side of the shelter. That wasn¡¯t good by itself, but it meant that Jaclyn and Tikki were cutting off routes past our defenses.


    I aimed the sonics up at the Ascendancy soldiers. The smart ones were crawling down the trees in front of or between the ends of two shields. I didn¡¯t dare aim the sonics there. They destabilized Kamia¡¯s Abominator shields and I didn¡¯t want to take down one of ours.


    I aimed the sonics at the soldiers who were less smart or more confident¡ªthe ones who swung over the shields without aiming at a specific tree. Knowing Travis and Haley¡¯s abilities, they probably planned to turn the downward momentum into forward momentum through acrobatics or use some kind of grapple to swing to the ground.


    I used one arm to hit them with a piercing scream that would especially hurt beings with genetically modified hearing. I set my other arm to try frequencies that would damage their tech. I¡¯d used my Xiniti implant to find out common materials for Ascendancy armor and device construction, narrowing the probable frequencies.


    There are those who would regard my choice as half-measures that made the sonics less effective than committing to one or the other, but I¡¯ve never liked putting all my eggs in one basket.


    I can¡¯t deny that my hypothetical critics might have a point, but the soldiers didn¡¯t appear to be having an easy time of it. The soldiers who got hit with the sonic scream (which pulsed to help defeat their helmet filters) became distracted as the sound hit and it hurt them.


    They pulled into themselves when the sound hit, missing the tree they must have been hoping to grab and hitting the ground or the roof of the shelter like very heavy raindrops. Some of them even hit trees.


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    If it had just been noise, they might have handled it, but their armor had stopped bending in one limb or their helmet might have begun to spark or smoke. Sometimes the clear material over their eyes went white. From the ones that tried to rip the helmet off, I guessed I might have triggered some kind of noise from filters that filtered out enemy motivators, but I didn¡¯t know for sure.


    The sonics didn¡¯t hit all of them, but I wasn¡¯t the only person aiming for the sky either. Many of the hand to hand fighters were also backup gunmen for those manning the shields. They fired upward with the enthusiasm of people who are finally in a position to do something instead of watch.


    Dalat and Geman were among those firing upward and not, so far as I could tell, doing anything but help defend the shelter.


    Next to me, Kals kept up a stream of commands that made the damage I¡¯d caused to the soldiers¡¯ helmets even more effective. The last thing a soldier falling through the air needed while trying to snare a passing branch was a motivator shouting, ¡°Stop!¡±


    It tended to make them miss the branch and hit the ground without even trying to stop themselves.


    Now if all you paid attention to was our efforts to defend ourselves, you¡¯d think that whoever had thrown soldiers against us had made a catastrophically stupid mistake.


    Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t that simple.


    There were a lot of soldiers coming over the top and while we hit a lot of them with sonics, motivator commands, or lasers, we didn¡¯t hit all of them. To put it another way, if you have a whole lot of people jumping over your shields and you shoot three-quarters of them, you¡¯ve still got a whole lot of people coming over your shields.


    Worse, when the ones that didn¡¯t get shot hit the ground, you¡¯re still firing at the ones in the air and if you don¡¯t fire at the ones in the air, you¡¯re letting more hit the ground.


    That¡¯s the point where you become grateful that Captain Tolker was actually good at his job. He¡¯d placed people on the roof of the shelter before the fight even started. Even though some of them were busy killing whatever landed on the roof, the others were firing down at the soldiers on the ground.


    He¡¯d placed a few in trees as well. So even as the soldiers hit the ground, they¡¯d sometimes have their heads explode.


    Of course, that wasn¡¯t always his snipers. Sometimes that was Rachel.


    They couldn¡¯t get everyone though. Two got over, landed and ran toward the nearest shield. I saw it in my HUD, but couldn¡¯t move before one of them leaped over Dalat, landing next to a shield generator pole¡ªwhich he then smashed, opening ten feet of our front line to the world.

 Trees & Shields: Part 7

    Dalat turned to fire at the soldier who¡¯d jumped over him, killing him in a shot while Geman shot the other.


    The good news was that Geman had saved one half of the shield generator pair. The other pole, still lying on the grass, didn¡¯t look too bad as it could. It hadn¡¯t been broken in two, but it wasn¡¯t working either.


    I didn¡¯t know as much as I wanted about these shields but fixing it didn¡¯t seem impossible. Even better, if they had a spare, they might be able to swap it out.


    Not that the Ascendancy¡¯s forces planned on making that easy. When the shield went down, the nearest troops ran for the opening, running and firing.


    Unsure of what else I could do, I ran for the opening, aiming the sonics above the heads of the people who¡¯d been firing from behind the shield. It was easier than it might have been. They weren¡¯t in complete retreat, but they were moving to stand behind the shields on either side of the downed shield.


    I couldn¡¯t blame them. They wore the same light armor Kals (and almost all the resistance) did. Little more than a jacket, pants, and a helmet, it could take a few shots, but after a couple in the same spot, it would go through.


    This time I set both arms¡¯ sonics to anti-tech frequencies and I pumped up the power to just short of damaging levels. I could feel a hint of warmth on my arms¡ªwhich was unusual in a heavily armored suit even if it was normal for the stealth version of the Rocket suit.


    That worried me a little because the last thing I needed was for the sonics to give out before this was over. Sure, the suit could repair them, but I might not have time for that.


    In the first few seconds, I took more shots than I had time to count. My armor dutifully noted the damage and began repairs. I¡¯d improved the Rocket suit¡¯s materials a couple different times within the past few months before this trip. It felt good to know that the design could handle some punishment.


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    Ahead of me, two Ascendancy soldiers¡¯ rifles shot gouts of flame out of their sides and then the rifles went dead¡ªor so I assumed from the way they pulled the trigger without anything happening.


    Then they stopped running. I couldn¡¯t tell why, but they came to a stop, dropped to the ground, and pulled at their helmets. At about the same time, more soldiers ran past them only to stop and start pulling at their helmets as well.


    As they did, resistance fire picked them off.


    I¡¯d discovered a real vulnerability, whatever it was, but not one I¡¯d be able to keep up forever.


    That was even more true when I checked my peripheral vision and got an overall picture of the situation. Ascendancy soldiers were still coming over the shield though not as many of them as before. The ones that had already made it over were the main worry right now.


    Only quick action by our troops and luck had stopped them from taking out another section of shield.


    If they did, I¡¯d have to choose between protecting this section, moving to the other one, or aiming for ones still coming over.


    I contacted Hal, ¡°I need help. We need to make the Ascendancy troops back off. I don¡¯t care how you do it except that you don¡¯t hit Jaclyn and Tikki. They¡¯re outside our shields. Also, that you don¡¯t take out our shields or kill any of our people.¡±


    Hal responded, ¡°I can, but not without revealing my position. The Ascendancy troops are probably in possession of weapons capable of doing this ship real damage. Even if they do not possess them, there are small spacecraft on the planet and firing on the troops will reveal my position. I¡¯ll have to attack and then hide again.¡±


    ¡°If you have to, go ahead. You have my permission.¡±


    Hal manufacturers had built in protections against rebellion on the part of sentient machines. My permission had disarmed part of that for one purpose¡ªmy orders.


    I checked the world around me. It wasn¡¯t any better than it had been before I talked to him.


    Through the firing weapons, shouts, and the strange tones of the motivators, I heard a hint of my ship¡¯s engines. He wasn¡¯t far away at all.


    Then Hal fired the main gun, turning everything in front of me white and everything in the path of the beam to ashes.


    Over my comm, Hal added commentary. ¡°The anti-personnel lasers lack the necessary range to be useful in this situation. The main gun isn¡¯t made for targeting individual humans. It is effective in targeting general areas.¡±


    The beam circled around the forest, burning the entire way.


    After a moment, Hal said, ¡°Objective achieved. I must now evade the small craft and weapons targeting me.¡±


    The sound of engines increased as explosions and energy beams appeared above us.

 Trees & Shields: Part 8

    In the dark, the ship was practically invisible with the black shield that surrounded it. Plus, Hal hadn¡¯t fired from just above the trees. Knowing the range of the main gun, he could have been miles away.


    Given that the atmosphere interfered with the beam, he¡¯d probably been within a mile though.


    So all I could know was that the beams and explosions didn¡¯t send pieces of the ship crashing down on us from above. It seemed reasonable to assume that he¡¯d made it.


    Deciding to assume the best for the ship didn¡¯t help me with my other problem¡ªthe Ascendancy soldiers that had come over the top of the shields while the shield went down.


    Blasting away with the sonics at frequencies that destroyed tech was not an option. I turned away from the downed shield, hoping that others would be able to handle whatever came from the front. Bearing mind that I saw only ash from that direction at the moment, it seemed likely.


    It wasn¡¯t as bad as I¡¯d feared. Our snipers had taken out quite a few on the way down. Plus, Jaclyn and Tikki had come back inside while I¡¯d been conversing with the ship.


    The dog had even taken one down, grabbing him by the neck, biting down and shaking until the soldier¡¯s limbs stopped moving.


    I¡¯d seen Marcus fighting too. While he used guns too, flexible limbs let him pull off armor or grab soldiers and swing them into trees, sometimes while they were still in the air.


    While I didn¡¯t see Rachel directly, I saw evidence that she was in the fight. Beyond heads exploding from her bullets, soldiers¡¯ bodies would sometimes spasm as she reached through their armor to touch them with the taser gloves I¡¯d made her.


    I¡¯d been planning to watch for any soldiers aiming for the generator poles, but I didn¡¯t have to. As one soldier made a break for the nearest pole, a purple blur appeared, knocking him backward to the ground, unconscious or dead.


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    In the end, I helped take down the ones that were jumping from tree to tree, trying to avoid getting shot and get closer to the generator poles. I also helped with the few that were still jumping in.


    By the time they stopped, no Ascendancy soldiers were left alive within the circle. They weren¡¯t even trying to rush the open spot in the shields.


    I activated the rockets and flew to the top of the shelter, using it to look all the way around us.


    I couldn¡¯t see anyone.


    The ship had burned down anything that Jaclyn hadn¡¯t knocked over. The only things blocking my view were the trees next to and within the shields and the shields themselves. Otherwise, we had at least fifty feet of flat, ash-covered ground on all sides.


    I could understand why the Ascendancy might back off in the face of the ship, but knowing that they were giving chase to it, I had no idea why they wouldn¡¯t be pouring troops into here now that it was gone.


    Adjusting the suit¡¯s sensitivity to audio, I listened for hints of what might be going on.


    I heard the sounds of fighting¡ªa lot of it. My first thought was the Xiniti, but the Xiniti we¡¯d seen weren¡¯t a large enough group to do much more than hit the edges of a larger force¡ªmaybe even carve chunks out of that force. They weren¡¯t large enough to force the Ascendancy to reassign their entire landing force when what they wanted was to capture Jadzen.


    Beyond that, it was way too optimistic to hope we¡¯d intimidated the Ascendancy into giving up.


    Rachel appeared next to me on the roof. ¡°Have you figured it out yet?¡±


    I opened my eyes and looked at her. ¡°Why they left?¡±


    She smiled. ¡°And who¡¯s coming.¡±


    Then I heard a gun fire. My implant identified it as a laser rifle commonly sold to mercenaries within the Human Quarantine but  one that wasn¡¯t commonly used among Human Ascendancy troops.


    That narrowed it down. I knew who to expect before they appeared¡ªhundreds of colonists, all of them dressed in the same light armor and carrying the same rifles as the people we already had. Crawls-Through-Desert floated along next to them, giving directions.


    That wasn¡¯t all. They arrived with more shield generators¡ªmany more, setting another circle around the one we had.


    In the distance, I could see flashes of bright light and heard screams. My implant identified the lights as Xiniti weapons. They had to be distracting theAscendancy soldiers so we had time to set up defenses.


    On the roof, I turned to Rachel. ¡°How did you know?¡±


    Her mouth twisted. ¡°I pick up what the other Ghosts know sometimes. It¡¯s not all good. The Ascendancy is getting reinforcements.¡±

 Trees & Shields: Part 9

    ¡°Reinforcements? From where? Are they landing more ships?¡±


    Rachel shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s just people they already had on the ground¡ªpeople who landed today mixed with some survivors from the ship you fought before.¡±


    So that meant we had a chance. I wondered if Four Hands was among them and if he would do anything.


    I said, ¡°The battle¡¯s just continuing then and they aren¡¯t coming back to the planet?¡±


    Rachel closed her eyes, breathing. ¡°They¡¯re fighting the Xiniti all over the system right now. I don¡¯t think they have any ground troops that they can spare and even if they did, they don¡¯t have any ships near here.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I guess that¡¯s good news. All we have to do is survive until the Xiniti win, Alliance ships show up, or maybe the Cosmic Ghosts take out the Ascendancy fleet.¡±


    I thought about it some more. ¡°That¡¯s not bad odds. I think we¡¯ve got more people technically¡ªeven if the colonists are ex-terrorists and not professional soldiers.¡±


    Rachel took my hand, gave it a squeeze and let go. ¡°Provided more Ascendancy ships don¡¯t show up and blow the Xiniti to Hell while dropping thousands of troops down here. Also, assuming the Ascendancy doesn¡¯t give up and drop a rock on us.¡±


    I looked over at her. ¡°Was squeezing my hand supposed to take the edge off that?¡±


    Rachel shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m just as much in the dark as you are. More Ghosts are on their way. I don¡¯t know when they¡¯ll get here, but I think we¡¯ve got a good reason to hope.¡±


    I looked out at the second ring of blue, glowing shields going up around the shelter as we talked. The plant floated next to Captain Tolker, coordinating the defense. In that moment, it wasn¡¯t hard to be optimistic.


    The flashes of light in the distance made it a little harder though. I knew it had to be the Xiniti and they were trying to be louder and more obvious than they had to be in order to give the new troops time to set up. If the Ascendancy killedthese Xiniti, I suspected it would hurt us more than we knew.


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    Their constant attacks meant that the Ascendancy couldn¡¯t ever put it¡¯s full force against those of us defending the shelter.


    ¡°That¡¯s a long silence,¡± Rachel looked at me and then out toward the shield rings. ¡°Look at it this way. We¡¯ve made it this far. Despite the Cabal, The Thing That Eats, the Nine, and all the others, we¡¯re still alive. If you think about it, we shouldn¡¯t be. All of them are out of our league.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t wrong. I needed to calm down and not keep on seeing all the ways that this could go wrong tonight. Chances are, the next big problem would be something that I didn¡¯t even have on my list.


    Plus, if I managed to relax, I might be able to get back to solving problems instead of worrying about them. A fight was at core a series of technical problems. I could handle them the same way I did at home¡ªbacking off for a little while, assuming that the Ascendancy gave me the time.


    I didn¡¯t want to even think about what it would be like to go through an even longer fight like the last one. We¡¯d been far too close to losing.


    To be fair, we were in a better position now. The trees were down all around the outer ring, all of them turned to ash by the ship¡¯s main gun. The Ascendancy¡¯s troops could try to jump over the shields, but they weren¡¯t going to jump 100 feet high.


    I wondered how much of what I was feeling came from not sleeping much and running for half the night.


    I kept that thought in mind as I watched our people put the Ascendancy dead into a pile next to our dead (no one I knew). Making a pile next to the shelter didn¡¯t feel quite right, but you didn¡¯t want the bodies underfoot either. A pile made sense. They could handle them appropriately later.


    Captain Tolker looked up at me on the shelter and then around the camp. ¡°Everyone in the first battle should rest if you can. We¡¯ve got four times as many people as we did before. So you should sleep, eat, whatever¡­ They¡¯ve withdrawn. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be back, but you¡¯ll do better if you¡¯re not tired. Take a moment. We¡¯ll wake you when we need you.¡±


    ¡°That means you,¡± Rachel said, yawning. ¡°And me too.¡±


    Falling asleep turned out to be easier than I¡¯d have expected. Between the nervous energy from the fight and being overwhelmed by all the things that could possibly go wrong, you¡¯d think it would be impossible. It seemed like it would be, but then sleep took over anyway.


    When I woke, the sun was rising in a direction I¡¯d arbitrarily decided was east. I was still on the roof in my armor. I didn¡¯t see any troops around us, but I didn¡¯t believe they¡¯d gone. They could easily be hiding in the forest on either side of the shield ring.


    Captain Tolker must have agreed with me because he had troops manning weapons next to the rings, waiting for an attack.


    Even as I thought about it, they made contact¡ªnot as an attack, but by voice. Acalm, female voice said, ¡°I am Kamia of the Ascendant¡¯s Guard. Surrender or we¡¯ll kill you where you stand.¡±

 Trees & Shields: Part 10

    ¡°Well, crap,¡± I muttered. Kamia had Abominator devices or a talent that might allow her to take the shields down from a distance. She also had an Abominator designed shield that both Cassie¡¯s sword and my sonics had a chance to get through.


    In her place, I¡¯d take down the shields remotely and send in enough people that the battle would be over before Cassie and I found her.


    That¡¯s not what she was doing at that moment, though. She was trying to give us every reason to surrender without a fight¡ªwhich might mean that she didn¡¯t want to waste soldiers¡¯ lives, but it also might mean that we¡¯d scared her.


    I hoped that we were that lucky.


    Meanwhile, Kamia continued, ¡°You¡¯ve fought well so far, but you can¡¯t survive what¡¯s coming. We have hundreds of fresh troops to help us, but we have more than that. More members of the Ascendant Guard came on board that ship. Four Hands is no longer on the planet, but Neves and I have more than enough help to handle even your strongest fighters. We¡¯ve slain four Xiniti already today.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think they¡¯ll be able to save you.¡±


    On the ground below, Katuk stood, staring in the direction of Kamia¡¯s voice, probably scanning the area. One thing she could be confident of is that he¡¯d go after her if she showed up. Bearing in mind her record of killing Xiniti, she might appear so that she could kill him and then disappear.


    It might be worth the risk for the damage to our morale.


    At the same time, she¡¯d already done that a little bit with regards to me. If Four Hands was off the planet, he wasn¡¯t going to be much help.


    As Kamia addressed Jadzen directly, I jumped off the roof of the shelter and walked over to Tikki, Marcus, Cassie, and Jaclyn. They were standing in a circle near Katuk. Tiger lay on the ground behind Jaclyn.


    Rachel appeared as I joined the group.


    Looking over at Jaclyn as they stopped talking to include us in the circle, I asked, ¡°How are you doing today?¡±


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    ¡°Better,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Much better. I heal a little more quickly than all of you, but today, I¡¯m completely healed. I¡¯m more tired than I should be, but it¡¯s better than being burned all over like I was¡ª¡±


    Then she stopped, looking over at Tikki, saying what I¡¯d begun to think, ¡°How much did I age when you accelerated time for us yesterday?¡±


    Tikki blushed. ¡°Not much. Nothing at all, I hope. I accelerated when you were with me, but when we were done, I made you younger again. You should be the same age as when we started.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not how it worked with me,¡± Marcus cocked his head to look at her.


    Tikki bit her lip. ¡°No¡ªI¡­ With you I changed the past so you didn¡¯t get hurt, something I can¡¯t normally do, but I can make people older or younger. Jaclyn could heal herself by growing older, but once she was healed I could make her younger without bringing her back to where she was before she healed.¡±


    Marcus raised an eyebrow. ¡°I get it, but I don¡¯t know why it works that way.¡±


    Tikki held up her hands. ¡°Me neither.¡±


    I started talking before anyone else take the conversation further afield. ¡°You¡¯ve been listening to Kamia, right?¡±


    Cassie nodded, touching her sword. ¡°Yeah, that and waiting for the attack.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking that Kamia can take down shields and that we ought to have a plan in case she takes down one or all of them.¡±


    ¡°All of them?¡± Cassie shook her head. ¡°If that happens, we¡¯re screwed¡ªwell, unless we¡¯ve got the ability to attack all of them on the way in. I could use the gun to burn down a lot of people, but I¡¯m not going to take out all of them¡ªjust a lot.¡±


    I turned toward Tikki. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve been holding out on us, but if you can do more than what you¡¯ve mentioned so far, you might want to think about the largest radius you can fire off a blast of aging at. Without your help, we¡¯re probably all going to die¡ªthough with Jaclyn feeling good, it might be slower.¡±


    Tikki frowned. ¡°I¡¯ll do what I can. I have a stake in this too.¡±


    To me, that didn¡¯t quite sound like her even if it didn¡¯t sound off enough to Marcus who told me, ¡°You know she¡¯ll do everything she can. She¡¯s been doing more than we ever thought possible lately.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± I said, ¡°but knowing exactly what she can do would help. Right now, I¡¯m feeling like she can do anything.¡±


    Tikki looked from Marcus to me, ¡°Not anything, but I might be able to handle half of the ring without straining myself.¡±


    Then she frowned, waiting for my response.


    ¡°Half of the ring? That¡¯s more than I expected, but that¡¯s great.¡± I didn¡¯t know how much power would get the attention of her and Lee¡¯s people, but I wouldn¡¯t have thought she¡¯d be willing to risk that much.


    Next to me, Rachel¡¯s eyes narrowed and she watched me. She might want me to explain this later, but we probably wouldn¡¯t have time.


    Around us, Kamia¡¯s voice faded away and everyone looked out past the force fields while our soldiers crouched, pointing their weapons through the shields, ready for action.


    We¡¯d missed the rest of what Kamia had said and I had a bad feeling it mattered.

 Trees & Shields: Part 11

    Admiral Makri Tzin, Human Ascendancy Flagship, Hideaway System


    Admiral Tzin knew that he¡¯d won when he saw who¡¯d taken control of the ground forces.


    The report told him that Kamia of the Thuroni Defenders, an elite company within the Ascendant Guard, had assumed command as soon as the marines landed. Ordinarily Admiral Tzin disliked the fact that any member of the Guard could assume command of any Ascendancy force outside the Guard, but in this case, he knew Kamia¡¯s record.


    Any Guard member with her success against Xiniti could use his forces as necessary¡ªso long as she didn¡¯t take over his position.


    If she did, he had some plans she wouldn¡¯t appreciate.


    And in any case, she appeared to be one of the polite ones. The smarter Guard members often were. She¡¯d sent him a message saying what she intended to use the troops for and that she didn¡¯t intend to keep using them any longer than was necessary to capture the council. She¡¯d even asked him if he had any use for the human Xiniti trainees.


    He didn¡¯t and his return message had told her that she could do anything she wished with them. Reprogramming them for espionage against the Xiniti never worked out no matter how often they¡¯d tried it. Better to kill the human traitors than to give the Xiniti more practice in deprogramming.


    They were getting too good at it already.


    As for the Xiniti themselves, he looked forward to finding out exactly what Kamia would do to them. He had enough of them up here. He could use some ideas. Laughing at that thought, he decided to check on the progress of the battle. Using his implant, he connected to the ship¡¯s tactical computer and the ship¡¯s sensors.


    The tactical computer wasn¡¯t sentient, of course. That was too much of a risk, but it did calculate the probability of success for the overall battle based on current actions, predicted the best way to reach specific objectives, and made predictions of enemy responses to specific actions.


    Admiral Tzin opted to get back to the current situation, but with notations as to probable outcomes of his choices.


    It did not go well.


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    Early on in the battle, he¡¯d found that the fleet¡¯s larger ships couldn¡¯t maneuver quickly enough to be effective against the smaller Xiniti ships. Following fleet doctrine, he¡¯d used smaller ships and personal fighters against Xiniti ships.


    The standard fleet tactics against Xiniti needed some revision and the people he¡¯d assigned to come up with effective tactics weren¡¯t yet successful.


    By a series of actions he¡¯d only just begun to understand, the Xiniti had managed to separate the fleet¡¯s different groups to a point that they couldn¡¯t assist each other effectively.


    While they still outnumbered the Xiniti, the tactical program showed that though the smaller craft were keeping the Xiniti busy for now, the Xiniti were destroying his fighters more quickly than his forces were destroying Xiniti ships.


    Once they passed a certain point in numbers, the Xiniti would begin to target the battleships and cruisers. That would be the beginning of the end. The war on the ground might go well, but up here, he needed a game changer and he wasn¡¯t finding one.


    He tested the probable results of making the Xiniti aware of what was going on on the ground, forcing their ships back in the direction of the planet. The simulations didn¡¯t go as he hoped. Instead of clustering as they tried to help the people on the ground, most simulations showed them beginning to cluster and then destroying his fleet as it began to get into formation for attack.


    He tried other options including gathering the largest ships to bombard the planet. Even that didn¡¯t work out as planned since the Xiniti in the simulation (or the ship on the planet) were watching for it.


    The damned little ship had taken out a half a squadron before the commanding officer had the sense to withdraw. They still didn¡¯t know where it had gone.


    He screamed and would have punched something if he¡¯d been outside of his own head.


    Controlling himself, he commanded that Four Hands be found and given access to the tactical computer in case he could see anything the admiral had missed. The man¡¯s people weren¡¯t much use in a fight, but he¡¯d heard Four Hands was a capable commander. It¡¯d be a waste not to use him.


    Even as that command went out, the tactical computer made him aware of a change. Ships were coming out of jump in the outer system, an Ascendancy fleet the size of his own.


    He grinned as tactical predictions began to shift. If final calculations were anything like what he was beginning to see, the combined fleet would destroy the Xiniti fleet. He hoped the new admiral didn¡¯t outrank him.


    Then, before he got the new fleet¡¯s identification, more jump points opened, at least as many as before. As soon as he saw their shapes, he could tell they weren¡¯t from the Ascendancy. Most of these ships he¡¯d only seen in his implant¡¯s catalog. He never thought they¡¯d enter the Human Quarantine.


    This new fleet, a combination Alliance and Xiniti fleet, had followed the Ascendancy fleet through jump. If Admiral Tzin guessed right, they¡¯d probably been fighting before the jump.


    Dammit, the admiral thought.


    Even worse, the tactical computer kicked him out as it recalculated probabilities for the entire battle.

 Trees & Shields: Part 12

    Nick, Hideaway Surface


    Kals walked up to us at about the same time as Katuk joined us.


    As we backed up to let them into the group, Kals asked, ¡°What¡¯s your plan?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t really have one,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re kind of working on backup plans in case the shields go down. Also, we missed the rest of what she said. Given that everyone¡¯s looking tense, I¡¯m guessing they¡¯re just about to start?¡±


    ¡°Close,¡± Kals glanced back toward the shelter. ¡°She made a big appeal to Mom and the Council to surrender and save the lives of all the people fighting today. It wasn¡¯t much different than what they¡¯ve said before.¡±


    Cassie laughed. ¡°It¡¯s almost like they¡¯re afraid to fight you.¡±


    Kals gave a half-smile. ¡°I think they are, but mostly because if Mom dies they¡¯ll have a hard time finding a unifying figure like her to reprogram. That¡¯s why Kamia talked about how easy it will be to take the shields down.¡±


    Tikki eyed her, frowning. ¡°She¡¯s not the only potential unifying figure. If she were to die, you would also be an effective choice.¡±


    Kals raised an eyebrow. ¡°Me?¡± Then she let out a breath. ¡°You¡¯re right. Both my dad and mom would be heroes of the resistance and they¡¯d be dead. It¡¯s inevitable.¡±


    She glanced down to a pouch on her belt. Other resistance members kept suicide pills there.


    Jaclyn noticed too. ¡°We¡¯re not going to let that happen.¡±


    Katuk cocked his head to look at Jaclyn¡¯s face. ¡°Suicide is an honorable response when your death protects what your life cannot.¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s mouth tightened. ¡°I suppose, but I don¡¯t want anyone to have to go that far.¡±


    Kals looked out past the shields. Kamia¡¯s troops still weren¡¯t visible. ¡°I¡¯m not in any hurry to make the ultimate sacrifice for the resistance, but I don¡¯twant to be used to destroy it.¡±


    Marcus nodded. ¡°I think we all get that. I¡¯m not in a hurry either, but knowing what they can do to us makes me think that we should have packed suicide pills.¡±


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    Katuk looked over at him, the silver of his armor gleaming in the daylight, ¡°There¡¯s no need. Your implant can do it if necessary.¡±


    I¡¯d never considered that we might have a way to kill ourselves built in to the implant, but in that moment I knew all I had to do to activate it. Looking at everybody¡¯s faces, we all did¡ªwell, except for Rachel.


    Next to me she said, ¡°That¡¯s not a good look on any of you.¡±


    ¡°No kidding,¡± Cassie shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s the last thing I wanted to know. Maybe we should be probing our implants for things it can do to help us win.¡±


    ¡°I think we should be thinking about how to win in general,¡± Jaclyn looked the group of us over. ¡°Kamia said she had more of the Ascendant Guard with her now. My implant tells me that they¡¯ve got a variety of soldiers, all of them Abominator designed for different types of warfare. I guess if we have any fliers, Katuk, Nick or I will have to handle them.¡±


    Tikki raised a hand slowly. ¡°I can help with that.¡±


    Not showing any surprise, Jaclyn nodded.


    ¡°Me too,¡± Cassie glanced over at the shields. ¡°I¡¯m not assigned to the front this time around. I think they must be assuming we¡¯ll work together.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be nice?¡±


    Then we talked about ways we could do that for a few minutes. We weren¡¯t done when Kamia¡¯s voice again sounded around us.


    ¡°Jadzen, come out. It¡¯s time to do the only thing that will save your people here. Come out and lead the rest of your ¡°Council¡± through the shields. Remember I can take them down with a thought. I don¡¯t need you to cooperate. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll just kill you and everyone else.


    ¡°So it¡¯s your choice. Cooperate or watch all your people die.¡±


    Kamia stopped speaking (wherever she was) and waited for a response. She didn¡¯t get one immediately. I¡¯d like to say that silence hung in the air, but that doesn¡¯t make the slightest bit of sense. How would an absence of sound hang anywhere?


    The door opened with a creak and Jadzen stepped out of the shelter, followed byIolan and a couple other council members.


    Silence hung in the air, broken only by the sound of their footsteps on the forest floor.


    They didn¡¯t walk toward the shields. They stopped close to us and Jadzen cleared her throat. She took a breath and looked over at Kals giving her a smile.


    Then she spoke, her voice resonant with the queer tone that motivators had when using their power. She wasn¡¯t commanding anyone to do anything though. She seemed to be using it to be heard.


    ¡°Kamia,¡± she said, staring out past the shields at the forest, ¡°I¡¯ve heard of you and your deeds. Your ability to cause destruction is well known. I say this so that you understand that I¡¯ve made my decision with full knowledge of the consequences.


    ¡°I will never let myself be captured and personality bent to the will of people with no respect for human dignity or freedom. I will die first¡ªeither by your hand or my own.¡±


    Jadzen opened her mouth to say more, but she¡¯d already given an answer enough for Kamia.


    Beams of light hit the shields, creating the sound of a hissing white noise. For the moment, they held. We had to do something before they fell. I doubted it would be long.

 Trees & Shields: Part 13

    It turned out that I wasn¡¯t wrong about that either, but not quite in the way that I would have imagined it. I¡¯d been imagining that the ongoing attack would take them down, but the shields held up to that at first.


    Crawls-Through-Desert called a retreat as the outside ring of shields began to flicker and the soldiers ran towards the first ring of shields.


    A roar of excitement came as the shields fell and we watched as the reinforcements we¡¯d received all ran toward the inside ring of shields, unable to get through all at once, most of them turning around in front of the shields, aiming their weapons outward as Ascendancy soldiers ran in.


    In that moment the shields came back on, but not as flat panes of blue light. Instead, the shield poles generated long, thin lines that whirled around the poles reminding me of strange Christmas trees in the first second, but then of blenders.


    The thin blue lines cut through the Ascendancy troops armor and bodies, leaving the ground soaked in blood, covered with slashed bodies and severed limbs.


    Then the shields turned back on as if they¡¯d never been off, leaving a few Ascendancy soldiers who¡¯d somehow made it past the lines alone, trapped between the inside and outside rings.


    They didn¡¯t last long. The colonists in front of the inside shields fired, hitting them with beams of light that turned half their bodies to ash.


    It was a moment best appreciated by people with strong stomachs. My own felt queasy.


    That didn¡¯t stop people from cheering, but the cheer could have been louder. On the other hand, if the colony had assembled its most experienced veterans for this fight, they might have an all too realistic sense of how far this was from the end of the battle.


    As they cheered, the colonists ran back toward the outer ring, taking their positions again and firing at the withdrawing Ascendancy troops.


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    ¡°Wow,¡± Cassie watched the retreat as she talked. ¡°I don¡¯t envy those guys. They¡¯re going to have to stand in that stuff for the rest of the battle. It was kind of awesome though. I didn¡¯t see that coming.¡±


    I took a breath, trying to ignore my stomach while thinking of the fastest way to make my suit absorb my helmet. ¡°I should have seen it. Crawls-Through-Desert and Captain Tolker were talking and I knew they could do this. That¡¯s how they made the Ascendancy¡¯s smaller ships inoperable earlier. They just weren¡¯t this obvious about it.¡±


    Jaclyn stared at the bloody battlefield for a moment and then turned back to us. ¡°There¡¯s no reason to hide it now.¡±


    Katuk said, ¡°I concur, but it¡¯s not a technique they¡¯ll be able to use again in quite the same way during this battle. The Ascendancy will work around it now. In fact, I¡¯m sure that we¡¯ll be seeing Kamia soon.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Marcus said, ¡°if she can take over the shields and make them do it again, she¡¯ll take out everyone near the shields¡ª¡± he snapped his fingers, ¡°¡ªlike that!¡±


    I thought about it, using the Xiniti implant to supply details about the shields. ¡°It¡¯s not an easy thing to do. I don¡¯t know exactly how her power works, but unless they made that an easily accessible function in the shields, it would be hard. My impression is that the technique¡¯s a fairly complicated hack and hard to reproduce just form seeing it.¡±


    Katuk turned to look at Marcus with his dark, too wide eyes. ¡°Kamia has limits. She exploits her connection to Abominator technology to control related technologies and AIs. Her connection to unrelated technologies and objects of less intelligent computers is less effective. Though she can disrupt the standard functioning of our implants, she can¡¯t control them. She should have a difficult time producing complex actions on the computers used in shield generators.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± Marcus said, looking toward the outer ring of shields. ¡°I wonder what she¡¯s going to do now then?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said, checking my implant again, ¡°but she¡¯s brought down shields when she¡¯s gotten close to them. My bet would be something like that.¡±


    As I said that, the hum of energy weapons firing and the hiss as they hit the shields began again, but not everywhere.


    One section of the shield was left untouched, but the sections on either side of were getting hammered with fire. A quick look showed that there was another untouched section of shield on the other side of the ring while every other section was under attack.


    The first thought that came into my mind was whether they were going to attack only one of the two untouched sections or both?

 Trees & Shields: Part 14

    Answering my unvoiced question, Kamia, her own force field glowing, led a group of Ascendancy soldiers, all of them bigger and more muscular than average. Neves, larger than any of the others, ran next to her.


    All the rest of them wore form-fitting, red, reflective armor that showed the symbol of the Ascendant Guard on their chests¡ªa clawed, feathered beast that reminded me of a gryphon.


    Not all of them were running either. Four of them were flying, but not far off the ground. Instead of flying far above the group, they flew with them.


    My implant supplied me with the information that they threw bolts of plasma, much like Solar Flare back on Earth, but less powerful. On the other hand, superheated plasma was still superheated plasma and there were four of them.


    Plus, all of the Guard members had force shields. Even if they weren¡¯t as powerful as Kamia¡¯s, they still wouldn¡¯t make this any easier.


    And it wasn¡¯t. The resistance fighters were firing at them the moment the Ascendant Guard appeared. Blasts of energy weapons exploding or bouncing off the Guard¡¯s shields.


    Sometimes in stories, I¡¯ve read scenes like this described as strangely beautiful.


    It wasn¡¯t.


    The blasts of light against the shields weren¡¯t pretty. They meant that people on our side were going to be dying soon.


    It also meant that these people were our problem. I didn¡¯t know if we could take them, but no one else could¡ªwell, except for Tikki. And she had more to think about than our survival. If using her powers¡ªeven the weaker form of them she¡¯d given Tikki¡ªmeant that she called attention to herself far worse things could happen than having a challenging fight with Kamia.


    It wouldn¡¯t just be Kamia either. Right behind the Ascendant Guard ran all the troops that the Ascendancy forces could spare from battering our shields. The implant estimated the currently viewable number at one hundred, but it felt like thousands.


    Some twenty feet behind the Guard, the regular Ascendancy forces didn¡¯t seem to be any hurry to face us. That or the Guard didn¡¯t want them to be close.


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    Whatever the reason, the plan was obvious¡ªhave Kamia take down the shields and then everyone else would rush in. It was obvious enough that we¡¯d even come up with a counter earlier, though a far from perfect one.


    I looked over at Jaclyn, ¡°Do you want to do this?¡±


    Her answer was only to tighten her jaw, let her helmet enclose her face and leap upward at an angle that allowed her to land outside the outer ring. I activated the rocket pack and flew upward with her¡ªsort of. Jaclyn took off more quickly than I did, but I passed her near the top of the arc.


    She reached the ground before I did, landing in the middle of the Ascendant Guard and beginning to punch and move, knocking them back before they could respond.


    As for myself, I slowed before I landed, aiming the sonics at them, setting them to find the frequencies that made the shields become unstable.


    More than one shield popped, but I couldn¡¯t stay there and keep it up because hovering in one place would make me a target for every Ascendancy soldier with an energy rifle and all the plasma throwing flyers as well.


    And anyway, Kamia had to be the real target if we were to prevent them from taking down the shields.


    So that¡¯s why I twisted sideways and aimed myself toward the ground, landing in front of her.


    As I landed, my suit took a blast of kinetic force from Neves, throwing me backward. I didn¡¯t know what the Guard did to prepare for battle, but I suspected it involved punching Neves until he¡¯d built up enough of a charge that he had all of his powers available.


    It hurt and I almost fell over, seeing him stop flinging bolts of force in my direction and run toward me.


    Neves might have been able to kill me then, but he spasmed as arcs of electricity crossed his shoulders and upper chest.


    Rachel faded into view, floating above Neves, her hand touching his shoulder. His eyes widened as he realized the source of his pain and possibly recognized her as being similar to the Cosmic Ghosts. He swung at her, his fist traveling through her body at a speed that would have hurt me, Rocket suit or not.


    Then he blurred, moving away from Rachel, and aiming himself at me. From what I¡¯d seen of him, he was on par with the Cabal¡¯s reserves except more disciplined as a soldier. He would have hit me and I couldn¡¯t guess how much damage he might have done, but he never got the chance.


    Jaclyn rushed in from the right, hitting him in the side with her shoulder, knocking him sideways and out of my reach. From what I¡¯d seen of his abilities, she¡¯d also powered him up, but I didn¡¯t have time to think about that. Kamia had pulled out a gun, but oddly she didn¡¯t fire it.


    Her eyes narrowed and for a moment I felt something almost like telepathy. My implant reported, ¡°Communication attempt. Probably hostile.¡±


    I¡¯d turned off its ability to communicate with the outside world and wasn¡¯t sure how it would know, but I didn¡¯t have time to think about it as I aimed my sonics at Kamia and all the other Guard members as they rushed me.

 Trees & Shields: Part 15

    The Guard members'' shields popped as my weapons found a frequency that resonated and poured on the power.


    Kamia¡¯s didn¡¯t go down. It probably wasn¡¯t exactly the same technology, but I knew it could go down. Earlier, my killbot had gone partway through as had Cassie¡¯s sword.


    As the other Guard members¡¯ shields fell, the colonists¡¯ blasts seemed to hit them in almost the same moment. Several hit the ground, but not all of them. Their armor both absorbed and reflected the beams.


    They dropped behind soldiers with working shields even as those soldiers stepped forward to stand in front of them.


    Of course they did. For them, shields went down every day. They were experienced veterans. They had to have a plan for that.


    Part of that plan must have included targeting the attacker because they did.


    That wasn¡¯t a shock to me, but I hadn¡¯t been thinking about it in exactly those words. And anyway, in that moment I wasn¡¯t thinking about much other than the hiss as beams hit my armor and the heat I felt inside.


    I upped the power sent to the sonics and fired, initially attacking the shields and then changing to attacking technology as the shields went down.


    I had mixed results. In the crowd of Ascendant Guard soldiers, shields went down wherever I aimed my sonics and the barrels of guns went dark or sections of armor froze, causing the soldiers to fall, their legs or sometimes all of their limbs unmoving.


    The mixed part of the results came from my armor. The latest version¡¯s materials used some inspiration from alien tech which meant it was doing better than any previous version at dealing with the lasers, plasma blasts, particle accelerators, or whatever. At the same time, it wasn¡¯t invulnerable.


    The repair systems were getting a workout and eventually they¡¯d run out of material to work with. I had more, but it was on the ship.


    Aside from that, fighting an entire Ascendant Guard unit wasn¡¯t the point of flying over the wall. The point was to stop Kamia and she wasn¡¯t staying with everyone else.


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    She¡¯d slipped past as I traded shots with the Guard. Using my helmet¡¯s near 360 degree view, I saw her nearing the shields and knowing that she¡¯d take them down once she got near enough, I leaned sideways and shot myself at her, the rocket pack blazing.


    Not wanting to throw her in the direction of the shields, I hit her in the side, the sphere-shaped Abominator shield allowing me to send her sideways like a billiard ball.


    Except, this wasn¡¯t a pool table. Everything outside the inside ring had once been forest or part of the clearing. That meant we stood in an apocalyptic landscape created after Jaclyn knocked down almost all the trees and then Hal burned everything but Jaclyn with the ship¡¯s main gun.


    It reminded me of nothing more than the ashes in the cave underneath the old Hardwick mansion in Grand Lake.


    Just like in the cave, the ground was covered with ashes and sometimes shattered human bones. Unlike the cave, we stood in bright sunlight and in addition to the ashes on the ground, there were entire tree trunks that had burned black and were ready to fall apart at the slightest touch.


    Kamia¡¯s sphere rolled across the hellscape, throwing ashes into the air in a line, hitting a fallen tree and making it explode into ash confetti.


    At the same time, the constant barrage of Ascendancy soldiers firing on the outer ring stopped wherever she rolled. I had no idea at first if it was because they were well trained or because the Ascendancy¡¯s technology had a, ¡°don¡¯t fire on the Ascendant Guard,¡± feature.


    The implant assured me that it was the latter as the thought passed through my head.


    I didn¡¯t have much time to reflect on it at the time, though, because I was following her.


    The Ascendancy¡¯s tech didn¡¯t have a feature for keeping me safe, but I flew close behind her, trying to get close enough to knock her away from the shield ring.


    It wasn¡¯t as easy as it sounds for two reasons. First, because the ground wasn¡¯t in the slightest bit flat, causing the sphere to roll in unpredictable directions or shoot up into the air at any moment.


    Second, because Kamia was far from a passive, predictable target.


    Once she¡¯d blasted through the fallen tree, she shrunk her shield into a form-fitting shape. Showing no sign of dizziness from rolling across several hundred feet of ash covered ground, she landed on her feet, pulling a gun that could have been a close relative of Cassie¡¯s, sparkles glowing around its barrel.


    Thanks to my helmet¡¯s view of the surrounding landscape, I could note one other detail. The entire force that been following Kamia with the intention of rushing through any section of shield she destroyed? Well, they were still following her¡ªwhich meant that the entire army thundered after me and now that she¡¯d stopped, they were gaining.


    As I neared her, she fired.

 Trees & Shields: Part 16

    I¡¯d never been hit by Cassie¡¯s gun at full blast. In training, we¡¯d sparred a few times with it, but never at full power.


    It would be nice to say that I don¡¯t have anything to compare the pain to, but that would be wrong. Fire from a dragon hit my arm a year earlier, cooking it all the way through. That had been intensely painful in the first instants and completely painless after that when my arm became little more than cooked meat.


    This felt much like that. The heat hit, surrounding my entire chest, combining with the pain to make it hard to breathe, much less scream. It had one crucial difference from my experience with the dragon though. It didn¡¯t cook me. As the heat hit me, the suit¡¯s air conditioning turned on, flooding the inside of the suit with cold.


    Better, even though there were error messages, there weren¡¯t many. The suit hadn¡¯t melted. If it worked as designed, it hadn¡¯t absorbed much of the heat.


    The error messages stated that the suit was repairing damage, but didn¡¯t indicate any special danger¡ªwhich meant all that I¡¯d done to improve the suit¡¯s resistance to heat had worked. I still didn¡¯t know if I¡¯d survive a dragon so old it was practically a god, but surviving an Abominator gun was good enough for the moment.


    This time around I couldn¡¯t assume that Lee would be there to pull my butt out of the more than metaphorical fire.


    Not waiting for her to fire a second shot, I jumped 30 feet sideways. My helmet¡¯s near 360 degree vision and the Xiniti implant¡¯s passive recording and recall left me with a good sense of Kamia¡¯s expression as I leaped sideways. Her eyes widened and she leaned forward, mouth in a straight line.


    I opened up on her with the sonics. They seemed to be working on everyone else¡¯s shield. Why shouldn¡¯t they work on hers?


    Her shield flickered. For a moment, it definitely went down, but the shield generator restored it within seconds.


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    She aimed the gun at me again, firing¡ªexcept this time I moved again, jumping forward as colonists behind the shield ring fired on her and all of the Ascendancy soldiers behind us.


    The Ascendancy soldiers, in turn, were firing at the shield ring, but also sometimes at me.


    Hearing and feeling a boom that shook the ground, I spared a moment¡¯s thought to wonder where Jaclyn and Neves were fighting, but I didn¡¯t have time for more than that. Whatever else might be true, I was the only thing between Kamia and taking down the shield for the moment.


    Ignoring the possibility that it was already too late, I activated the rockets and hurtled toward her again, aiming for her shield and taking hits from Ascendancy forces as I flew.


    She¡¯d changed her shield to be form-fitting rather than round earlier and so this time when I hit, she fell over, her shield making her too slippery to grapple.


    I slid across her onto the ground, pulling myself up at about the same time she did. She began to move her gun in my direction and as I jumped to the side of her, she dropped her arm and ran toward the shield ring. She didn¡¯t just run, but she jumped, landing within 20 feet of the wall.


    At about the same time, the Ascendant Guard caught up with us and a big Guard member hit me in the lower side with his shoulder in a move that wouldn¡¯t have been out of place on a football field.


    I came around with a palm hand strike to his nearest shoulder, knocking him sideways, flipping him over. In that moment, I decided that risking being shot might be better than getting tackled by hundreds of soldiers.


    I gave the rockets fuel and shot upward, looking for Kamia and seeing her running toward the shields. Even as I began to turn toward her, one of the Guard jumped up, grabbing my legs.


    I wasn¡¯t sure what he thought he¡¯d do, but he wasn¡¯t the only one taking advantage of the moment. The flying Guard members started throwing energy blasts in my direction despite the Guard member hanging on me.


    Not wanting to give the guy on my legs time to start ripping my armor off or to make it easy for the flyers to get me, I did what I planned to do anyway, aiming myself toward the shield ring and Kamia. With any luck, I still might have time to distract her.


    The guy on my legs didn¡¯t improve the Rocket suit¡¯s mobility, but on the other hand, he also didn¡¯t have time to attack me since he was too busy trying to hang on.


    With blasts of red energy passing me in the air, I caught up to Kamia as she neared the shield. My hit caught her in the shoulder, knocking her over, but even as I did it, I could see the blue of the shield fade.


    A section of the outer shield went down and the Ascendant Guard, followed by Ascendancy soldiers rushed toward it.

 Trees & Shields: Part 17

    They came through in a giant wave. The colonists ran or fell, burned by the Ascendancy¡¯s energy weapons or ripped to pieces by the claws of their soldiers.


    It wasn¡¯t as if the colonists left them unopposed, but the sheer numbers of the attackers verses the numbers of the defenders meant that for every beam aimed at the Ascendancy soldiers, the soldiers aimed three or four back.


    The colonists weren¡¯t stupid. They retreated to the inner ring as their people fired out at the soldiers.


    Anyway, that¡¯s what was happening around me as I stood next to Kamia, having knocked her to the ground. What was happening near me was a little different. The soldiers ran past with barely a look at the two of us. On the one hand, that surprised me, but on the other, I supposed it was possible that they¡¯d been told that Kamia could take care of herself.


    Worse, it also struck me as possible that they¡¯d been ordered to leave the Xiniti and us to Kamia and Neves.Whatever the reason, I realized that unless I stopped her now, she¡¯d take down the inner ring too.


    She rolled sideways in a move that ended with her standing on her feet. She smiled, her face all sharp features, thin like the rest of her body.


    ¡°You should give up,¡± she pointed her gun at me. ¡°There¡¯s no hope now. They don¡¯t need me to get the inner shields down.¡±


    Keeping my eyes on her, I said, ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve got shieldbreakers. I get the shields down faster and easier, but they¡¯ll do it without me eventually. I¡¯m not here to handle the shields. I¡¯m here to handle you¡ªXiniti born and Xiniti adopted.¡±


    It struck me that if we were talking, she wasn¡¯t fighting, and that I should encourage her to keep that up. I might learn something worth knowing in the process.


    ¡°Surely we¡¯re not that big a deal,¡± I began.


    Keeping her gun pointed at me, she said, ¡°You¡¯re enigmas, all of you. When the Xiniti bring in outsiders, they have standards and all of you appear to be keeping up the quality as well as the mystery. Where are you from?¡±


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    ¡°Can¡¯t you tell from my accent?¡± I felt confident she couldn¡¯t.


    At that, amid the hiss of energy weapons and screams, she laughed. ¡°It¡¯s such a nice accent. It¡¯s average in every way¡ªthe way we all imagine humans speak the Masters¡¯ tongue but no one does. You speak like Xiniti who are completely dependent on their implants to understand the most common human tongue and yet you¡¯re human.


    ¡°Not only that, but you¡¯re using technology that¡¯s out of date, strangely sophisticated, and capable of matching or even besting our own. Not only that, but all of you appear to be powered, but none of you appear to be the product of the Masters¡¯ designs.


    ¡°One of you even appears to have a Citizen¡¯s Mark. We in the Guard have been talking and the only thing we can think is that you¡¯re the product of some backwater world where a Master was able to do whatever they wanted, unsupervised by their clade. Perhaps you put together your tech with the remains of the Masters¡¯ technology and your own designed brilliance.


    ¡°We could use you. I can understand how the Xiniti might impress you if they¡¯re the first advanced society that you¡¯ve encountered, but you have to understand that they¡¯re not human. They don¡¯t truly have your needs in mind. The Human Ascendancy is all about uniting humanity into one unstoppable force like it was in the days of the Masters.


    ¡°Now, with the Masters gone, we¡¯re forging our own path and we want all of humanity to benefit. If you were to persuade your people to join us, we could find a place for you near the top of the Ascendancy, possibly even in the Guard if you want that. The Xiniti pick capable people and we respect that, but unlike them, in the end, we¡¯re your people.¡±


    She watched me, waiting for a response, a sign that I was interested. I glanced away from her toward the battle. I didn¡¯t know how long I wanted to pretend to care, but if keeping her out of the battle wasn¡¯t helping I needed to do something else.


    The last thing I wanted was to lose the battle because I was worth more to the defense than Kamia was to the offense.


    They were holding their own. I didn¡¯t know how long they¡¯d be able to do it, but energy lanced out again and again from behind the shields, burning soldiers to death.


    Though the Ascendancy had taken down a section of the outer ring on the other side, they weren¡¯t yet able to overwhelm the inner ring. The colonists'' attacks were keeping them back and the sections of the outer ring that were still standing stopped them from spreading out as much as they ought to.


    Plus, there was one side effect of keeping Kamia busy that I hadn¡¯t thought through. Cassie could use her gun. Every time she blasted away, she turned groups of Ascendancy soldiers to ash.


    Kamia¡¯s eyes widened as Cassie burned a line of ten soldiers to death.

 Trees & Shields: Part 18

    Cassie wasn¡¯t going to turn the tide of battle all by herself, but you never knew for sure. I remembered having to pick up Cassie from the top of a office building in Washington D.C. during an invasion by humanoid fish creatures. We¡¯d arrived to find that fishman corpses covered the roof. It wasn¡¯t all her work, but the majority of it was. I don¡¯t know how many she killed that day, but it was definitely in the hundreds.


    Kamia didn¡¯t know that story, but it didn¡¯t take much to guess that Cassie could cause problems. The Ascendancy troops were already avoiding that section of wall¡ªor even anywhere near it.


    The burned bodies lying on top of the ash Hal created acted as a warning sign. If that weren¡¯t enough, one of the Ascendancy soldiers must have caught a particularly powerful blast. The beam had turned everything above his knees to ash which fell apart, leaving only the soldier¡¯s boots and the still smoking remains of his legs.


    Gruesome? Yes, but it was also a convincing argument for staying out of Cassie¡¯s range.


    Cassie wasn¡¯t someone who let you get out of her range though. When they started avoiding her section of shield, she ran to wherever the Ascendancy appeared to be strongest and swapped herself in for whoever happened to be there.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, Rachel was also out there using an axe I¡¯d made for her. It looked like a purse, but transformed into a playable electric guitar¡ªwhich transformed a little bit more to turn into a double bladed axe with an edge like Cassie¡¯s sword.


    Guitars are sometimes called axes, so it had seemed funny at the time I designed it.


    Not that I saw all that at the time, but that¡¯s what was going on in the background. It¡¯s demoralizing when an axe appears out of nowhere and decapitates the guy next to you.


    So, despite the fact that the Ascendancy had broken through the ring and outnumbered the defenders several times to one, they hadn¡¯t broken through the inner ring.


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    From the distance came the sound of shattering wood and then a deeper rumble. I couldn¡¯t be sure, but I suspected that might be Jaclyn and Neves fighting.


    As I felt the rumble in my feet, Kamia turned her head toward the fight around the inner ring and then back at me, firing her gun.


    If she¡¯d ever wanted me to convince our group to change sides, she¡¯d given up on it, possibly because I¡¯d never given her a reply. That was okay though because I¡¯d been watching her and that meant I didn¡¯t get hit in the middle of my chest or my head.


    Her shot hit my right side and I felt the heat. A few error messages appeared, but less than the last time.


    She ran through the open section toward burning chaos of the main battle, joining the soldiers that were still running through. In the moment I fully intended to go after her, but she must have been communicating with the other Ascendant Guards the entire time. As she ran, plasma bolts hit my side and back.


    I¡¯d upgraded the heat protection on my back as well¡ªwhich was good because that level of heat might have started the fuel in my rocketpack burning in past suits.


    That didn¡¯t mean that I didn¡¯t see error messages appear in my HUD, but they weren¡¯t as bad as they could have been. I took in the situation in an instant, realizing that I had two attackers¡ªboth of them the flying Ascendant Guard members I¡¯d seen earlier.


    Neither of them wore force shields which made sense. That could interfere with flinging plasma bolts at people. Plus, both of them were covered in flame and I could easily imagine a shield causing problems with that.


    Again, not that I spared much thought on it. In the moment, I knew it without thinking about it. My next actions had about the same level of thought.


    I shot into the air and a twisted around, firing the sonics at the one that was coming straight at me with a dull, roaring noise. The man went out of control, putting his hands to his ears and careening off to the right, hitting one of the outer shields with a burst of blue light and falling to the ground.


    He didn¡¯t get up.


    The other one hit me in the air, wrapping his arms around me and preparing, I suddenly knew thanks to my implant that he was about to send out more energy in a burst than he''d normally use in hours.


    I threw his arms off me by pulling my arms away from my sides, but I knew that wouldn¡¯t be enough to avoid the blast.


    So I shot him with the laser under my arm. His eyes widened and his mouth made a noise halfway between a gasp and a scream. Then he dropped to the ground, fire exploding all around him.


    Trying to get the image of his face out of my head, I tried to find Kamia in the crowd below.

 Trees & Shields: Part 19

    I wouldn¡¯t have been able to find her without the implant. There were too many people moving too quickly for me to pick out details. Beyond that, the frequent blasts of energy didn¡¯t help, forcing my helmet to darken to protect my eyes.


    The implant buffered the last few minutes of whatever I¡¯d seen or heard and could sort through it with a computer¡¯s attention to detail. So when I started to look for her, the implant tracked her through the last few seconds and made her blink in real time.


    I wondered how many things I could have used that for since we¡¯d gotten here.


    Even with the implant, it still wasn¡¯t easy to pick her out of the crowd when needed. She ran with other members of the Ascendant Guard, shielded by even more Ascendancy soldiers.


    I needed to get over there and take her out before she took down the inner ring¡¯s shields except there was a problem. Like us, they had implants, and unlike us, they weren¡¯t afraid that Kamia would target them if they stayed connected.


    The upshot of that meant that if they saw me flying that way, almost everyone in the Ascendancy forces could shoot at me. That meant that even if I were willing to die to take out Kamia, I might not make it over there.


    For the record, that kind of noble suicide was far from my first choice.


    The problem was that I didn¡¯t see another obvious option so I decided to do my best to avoid becoming an inspirational story.


    I shot upward and then down like a ballistic missile, going on the theory thatmost people don¡¯t look up and that even if they did, they wouldn¡¯t be shooting at me much on the way up and I¡¯d be moving too quickly for them to get off a good shot on the way down. Also, I was assuming that even if my theory was wrong, I¡¯d still take less damage than if I flew over the top of the group.


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    It didn¡¯t turn out to be that simple.


    By the time I flew over the top of the remaining shields in the outer ring and dove toward Kamia she¡¯d already moved closer to the wall. Worse, I realized that Cassie wasn¡¯t firing at her with the gun¡ªwhich she should have been because Cassie knew how much of a danger Kamia was.


    Instead, Cassie frowned and put the gun into its holster, pulled out her sword, and ran in our direction. At the same time, I realized that Kamia had smiled. It didn¡¯t take much to figure out why.


    At the same time, the notion that they wouldn¡¯t fire at me much on the way down? That turned out to be wrong. Despite all the different noises, at least one of them must have picked out the whine of the Rockets amid the white noise of energy blasts.


    Then they¡¯d passed on my position to all their best friends and everyone who could took a shot at me. Fortunately, while I might have been wrong about how easy it would be for them to hear me coming, I¡¯d planned ahead.


    As I flipped over, I¡¯d fired off as many of my regular bots as I could. They might not be able to penetrate the average Ascendancy soldier¡¯s armor, but that wasn¡¯t their job here. I set them to target the front of soldiers¡¯ helmets and explode.


    Once they hit, I turned on the sonics, setting them to alternate between high pitched frequencies that would hurt or maybe deafen the soldiers and frequencies that I¡¯d found worked against their shields.


    While it didn¡¯t destroy them in an instant, it worked okay. Small explosions in the soldiers¡¯ faces left them stepping back into other soldiers while the Guard members with working shields didn¡¯t do any better. They had to wipe bot bits and soot off their shields.


    That didn¡¯t mean I wasn¡¯t a target though. Ascendancy soldiers that weren¡¯t right below me started firing from the moment I started downward. I didn¡¯t get hit more than three, maybe four times before I twisted and aimed for Kamia.


    The bad news was that it wasn¡¯t exactly a surprise to her that I was coming. She didn¡¯t have much warning, but she had enough to turn and bring up her gun. At the same time, her expression¡ªa dropped jaw and wide eyes¡ªdidn¡¯t show confidence.


    This time her gun¡¯s opening shot grazed the side of my suit without penetrating and I aimed both arms sonics at her shields, giving the strongest blast I could without risking damage to the sonics themselves.


    Her shield went down in a flash of blue-white light.

 Trees & Shields: Part 20

    Kamia¡¯s shield¡¯s collapse surprised me almost as much as it did her, but I knew that it might be coming and more to the point, I was flying straight at her.


    Of course, the fact that she didn¡¯t expect her shield to go down, didn¡¯t mean she wouldn¡¯t try to dodge. When you considered that she¡¯d been fighting Xiniti and winning, she had to be more than who owned Abominator weapons.


    Even as I closed with her and despite the Rocket¡¯s suit¡¯s speed, she moved. She didn¡¯t move enough to avoid being hit, but she did move enough to avoid taking both my fists to the middle of the chest.


    I hit her in the left shoulder.


    Her body armor didn¡¯t protect her enough. Dull red, accented with black at the edges, it cracked as I hit her and to my ears so did she.


    Technically, I heard it through my helmet¡¯s internal speakers, but it was a moot point because I wasn¡¯t wrong about that. I¡¯d hit hard enough that a chunk of her armor had shattered and fallen off. I could see jagged white bone poking out through her skin underneath.


    I didn¡¯t absorb that all when I hit her shoulder,  and knocked her sideways, twisting left to avoid the blue of the inner ring of shields. ThenI dropped to the ground, running at her even as I wondered if she¡¯d still be standing after that hit.


    I¡¯d broken her collarbone. Lee had made me break different bones in practice enough times that I knew what it looked like.


    She should have issues with using the arm at the very least. She probably wouldn¡¯t be able to use it at all. If I broke the other collarbone as well, or maybe a leg, she might have to surrender.


    At least that¡¯s what I told myself. In reality, it couldn¡¯t be that simple. Her shield flickered back on and as it did, Kamia pushed the piece of collarbone back inside her skin with her other hand, grimacing as she pushed the broken halves back together.


    I¡¯d seen that before too¡ªmostly when I fought Lee or even sometimes Cassie in practice. Kamia could regenerate.


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    Worse than that, while I¡¯d shot all the nearest Ascendancy soldiers in their helmets, distracting them, distractions like that don¡¯t last very long. They last for seconds and we were past that point.


    Two Ascendancy soldiers, Ascendant Guard members judging from the shields glowing close to their bodies, swung around to run at me. Both of them were nine feet tall if my HUD was to be believed. That meant bigger than Travis, my previous standard for large, intimidating humans with claws.


    Wearing the Rocket suit put me on the level with people larger than I normally was, but not this large.


    They stood in between me and Kamia, blocking her from my view. It would have been nice if they were the only ones who¡¯d had that idea, but far from it, all the nearby Ascendancy soldiers were heading my way.


    In that moment, the smart choice might have been to activate the rockets and do some ¡°strategic repositioning,¡±¡ªotherwise known as retreating.


    As good an idea as that might have been, it didn¡¯t occur to me. I knew Kamia stood behind the two giants ahead of me and I knew I had to stop her from getting near the inner shield ring.


    So I didn¡¯t fly over them, I aimed the laser under my arm at one of them and put it on full power while bathing the guy in sonics meant to attack his shield.


    This wasn¡¯t an Abominator shield. It fell under the combined assault and the beam pierced the Guardsman¡¯s armor and chest. From the soldier¡¯s wide-eyed expression, that wasn¡¯t what he¡¯d expected to happen.


    He fell over and I turned my attention to the other Guardsman. At any rate, I tried to do that. No matter how much downing the first Guard member might have surprised the other, he hadn¡¯t stuck around to think about it.


    He¡¯d started moving almost from the moment I fired, running towards me with his claws out, throwing clouds of ash into the air with his every step.


    In one of those sequences you hear about or sometimes see on TV, everything around me slowed down and I realized that he moved faster than I could react. There was no way I¡¯d be able to dodge his claws. His claws glinted with the same gray color I knew from Haley¡¯s claws. I didn¡¯t know how strong this member of the Ascendant Guard was, but knowing that he was larger than Travis, he might be stronger.


    I couldn¡¯t assume that his claws wouldn¡¯t pierce my armor. Travis¡¯ could under the right circumstances.


    I leaned leftward, hoping I could catch him with the sonics or the laser beam before his right claw met my chest.


    It didn¡¯t work, but not because he hit me. It didn¡¯t work because I was no longer alone. Twin beams of burning light hit the Guardsman¡¯s shield and it fell. Katuk¡¯s beams cut into the Guardsman¡¯s legs and the body toppled.


    Katuk stood next to me as Kamia pointed her gun at us.


    Not one for long flowery speeches, Katuk met her eyes and said, ¡°One of us will get you.¡±

 Trees & Shields: Part 21

    Admiral Makri Tzin, Human Ascendancy Flagship, Hideaway System


    Admiral Makri cringed as the flagship¡¯s alarms began to ring again, watching his screen as more ships came out of jump.


    There shouldn¡¯t be that many ships ready to jump into this system, he told himself.


    Despite the inertial dampers, he still felt it as the flagship accelerated and turned along with the rest of the fleet, changing formation to protect the Xiniti fleet¡¯s most likely targets.


    The Ascendancy reinforcements and the Alliance fleet that had followed them had changed everything and nothing. It had looked good in the first few seconds when he¡¯d seen Ascendancy carriers and battleships materialize. When the Alliance battleships followed them through, all of them Hrrnna designed and manufactured, he¡¯d known it was about to become more complicated.


    It had. It turned out that the Ascendancy fleet hadn¡¯t been one fleet but two¡ªthe Third and Fourth Edge Fleets, both of them recalled from patrolling the edges of the Human Quarantine to fight here.


    As for the Alliance fleet, it had similar numbers to the Ascendancy fleet, but he could only make guesses as to the organization. The Ascendancy often fought Alliance forces, but that was mostly Xiniti or the Alliance Quarantine fleet which was designed to face Ascendancy forces. He knew those ship designs.


    This fleet had no consistency. It had all of the standard, rectangular Hrrnna designed Alliance ships, but also ships shaped like spheres, saucers, wedges, and ramshackle designs that could never survive any atmosphere.


    What he¡¯d wanted to believe is that the Alliance was low on ships and thrown together their emergency reserves to fight here. It took only seconds of fighting for him to abandon that theory. The ships fought well, coordinated with each other as if they¡¯d trained for years, and kept in formation.


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    Seeing that, he knew what they were. Everyone knew that the Xiniti patrolled the Human Quarantine, keeping the Ascendancy from expanding beyond the borders the Alliance had set after defeating the Abominators. He¡¯d always assumed that the Alliance was weak, letting the Xiniti handle their problems, but this put a lie to that statement.


    If he¡¯d been in the Alliance¡¯s position and if the Alliance weren¡¯t weak, he¡¯d have set up a force ready to take up the slack in case of emergency. Say, in case the Ascendancy united the human states within the Quarantine and decided to expand.


    That¡¯s what the Alliance fleet was¡ªa multi-species force designed to work with the Xiniti. Admiral Makri doubted this was anything more than a small part of it. If he survived, he¡¯d have to make that clear to the Ascendancy leadership. They had plans for what to do when they united humanity, but if they weren¡¯t planning for this. They needed to.


    Between the Alliance fleet and the new Ascendancy fleets, he wasn¡¯t in a much better position than before they¡¯d come out of jump. Certainly, there was more potential for cooperation than before, but the reality of the situation was that they¡¯d left him to fight the Xiniti in almost the same situation as he¡¯d been before they came through.


    In many ways, it was now harder because a skirmish from their battle could interfere with his.


    Instead of the game changer he¡¯d been hoping for when they¡¯d come through, he was back in the same place, slowly losing ships to the Xiniti.


    He needed to do something. He checked the screens to find out what had just come through¡ªmore Xiniti. The ships peeled off to assist the Alliance. He¡¯d have felt relief at that except that it meant that the Xiniti ships facing his fleet needed no assistance.


    He¡¯d hoped it wouldn¡¯t come to this, but he had a mission.


    Using his implant, he queried the most recent reports from the surface. Kamia had organized an attack on Jadzen¡¯s position. They¡¯d taken the outer ring and were hoping to destroy the inner ring soon.


    It wasn¡¯t going as quickly as they¡¯d hoped. The colonists and their Xiniti helpers were resisting. No one knew how long they¡¯d be able to keep it up. He needed to be ready in case it failed.


    He connected to his implant, telling the battle computer to start simulating the reactions to different versions of his orders. ¡°The core of it all is this. We need to hold the space around the planet. We can¡¯t let the colony survive if they defeat our ground forces. I need to know the different problems we might face if we try to burn the planet black when our forces down there lose.¡±

 Trees & Shields: Part 22

    Nick, Outside the Inner Ring of Shelter 454


    Kamia¡¯s mouth tightened and Katuk¡¯s left leg kicked out. He fell over sideways into the ash. Glancing at me with a frown, she pointed her gun toward Katuk, intending, I assumed, to finish him off.


    I aimed myself at her and activated the rockets (which had never gone inactive), making it the second time I¡¯d tried that on her, but also the second time it worked.


    It didn¡¯t work as well as the first time, but I did hit her and she didn¡¯t finish Katuk off. Her shield surrounded her, allowing me to knock her over, but not to do any real damage. Unlike earlier, her shield wasn¡¯t sphere shaped, so she didn¡¯t roll backward¡ªnot on the shield anyway.


    She flipped over, coming down on her feet as I flew over her. I tapped the button on my palm that brought me upright and the suit¡¯s internal systems flipped me over, leaving me floating above the ground, pointing in Kamia¡¯s direction.


    She turned her head, keeping both Katuk and me in view. He¡¯d stood up again and his leg had stopped wobbling, bits of ash sticking to his silver armor. For a moment, I couldn¡¯t tell whether Kamia viewed Katuk or me as the bigger threat.


    But then the moment ended. Kamia pointed her gun at Katuk. It made sense. Even though I floated behind her, Katuk stood between her and the inner ring of shields.


    Ignoring whatever pain she must have felt in her collarbone, she ran toward him as his body wobbled again. He fell to the ground, getting off a shot that shattered against her shield.


    It wasn¡¯t as if just stood there doing nothing, though. I dropped to the ground, firing off a laser beam at almost the same time I activated sonics on the other arm.


    In the chaos of the moment, I didn¡¯t get the sequence quite right. To get the most out of the laser, I should have fired it only after I knew her shield had gone down, but I knew I couldn¡¯t wait that long.


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    She¡¯d be at Katuk before I shot her at all if I waited. I fired both devices, hoping the laser might interact with the sonics and the shield, taking the shield down or at least distracting her.


    I aimed the laser at her head to make it more distracting.


    It didn¡¯t matter, but not because Kamia wasn¡¯t distracted. The shield did react to the sonics. For lack of a better word, it vibrated. My implant provided hundreds of new concepts and terminology related to force field design and implementation along with relevant equations.


    Technically, ¡°vibrated¡± didn¡¯t cut it as an accurate description, but outside of specialized technical discussions, it worked.


    Her Abominator shield reflected my laser in all directions, but mostly upward, making the day even brighter and throwing lines of light into the colony¡¯s shield. They crackled as they hit.


    For all that, she still didn¡¯t have time to shoot Katuk as he lay on the ground, struggling to bring his own weapons to bear. It wasn¡¯t because the sonics took down the shield, allowing the laser beam through. It wasn¡¯t because I gave up and punched the shield. I didn¡¯t have time to try that.


    It was because Cassie appeared out of nowhere, ducked under the laser light reflecting off Kamia¡¯s head and cut through the shield, sticking her sword through Kamia¡¯s armor and into Kamia¡¯s chest.


    When Cassie pulled out the sword, Kamia fell, losing more blood than I¡¯d thought a body could contain. It pooled on the ground next to her body.


    I remembered seeing Cassie leave the inner ring when we got close to the shields but I¡¯d lost track of her.


    Katuk pulled himself up, pointing his arms outward, ignoring Cassie and me. We didn¡¯t feel bad about it at all. The problem with killing the leader of this group of the Ascendant Guard was that when she died someone else received a field promotion and whoever that person was, they didn¡¯t like us.


    The Ascendant Guard and all the nearest Ascendancy soldiers charged us, firing their weapons. Katuk fired back and so did I, but Kamia¡¯s death had one more side effect. We didn¡¯t have to feel afraid of using alien tech anymore.


    Cassie pulled out her gun and pointed it in the direction of the charging soldiers. The bright beam burned anything that stood in front of her. In moments like that, you almost wish that your helmet didn¡¯t dim the light enough to allow you to see all of it.


    I¡¯m not going to go into detail, but the Guard¡¯s shields did not hold. Bodies turned to ash before my eyes. People screamed. The charge stopped in its tracks, allowing us to aim for an opening in the shield.


    We turned and ran for it, allowing us all to be looking in the right direction when a group of Ascendancy soldiers hit one of the shields on the far side with a shield ram.


    It does exactly what you¡¯d expect. The shield went down on the far side and then, one by one, all the other shields winked out.

 Trees & Shields: Part 23

    What do you do when the moment you¡¯ve been trying to avoid happens? This was literally all that we¡¯d been trying to prevent from day one. Jadzen Akri would either surrender to the Ascendancy or die and there were so many soldiers that we probably wouldn¡¯t be able to stop them.


    It¡¯s nice to imagine that you¡¯d be able to pull a brilliant plan out of your butt in this situation, but when there¡¯s nothing between you and hundreds, possibly thousands of enemy soldiers, you know better.


    The reason you know better is that nothing is coming to mind at all.


    At least that¡¯s how I felt then.


    You could argue that it could be worse. The Ascendancy troops on our side weren¡¯t in any hurry to charge us after Cassie took her shot. The Abominator gun had burned through at least fifty of them in the short time Cassie had used it.


    All that meant was that they¡¯d target Cassie once they got over their shock.


    I wasn¡¯t at all sure what I¡¯d do after I got over mine, but it turned out that I didn¡¯t need to.


    Jadzen Akri stood at the top of the shelter and said, ¡°I surrender. If you¡¯re willing to take me and only me, we¡¯ll stop fighting.¡±


    My suit buzzed, meaning that it was filtering out the command that went along with those words.


    ¡°You have to promise not to hurt anyone from the colony as I surrender or after as well as to leave the colony alone. You know that it¡¯s only a matter of time before the Alliance brings enough ships to defeat you. They¡¯re not going to allow the Ascendancy to take a piece of their territory.¡±


    My implant assured me that she was correct about that. Losing territory to the Ascendancy would be a major black eye to whatever party was in power in the Alliance legislature now.


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    With Kamia dead, there wasn¡¯t any reason to fear an attack on my implant. I turned on its network access, finding that I wasn¡¯t the only one who had. I had messages waiting from the Xiniti on the planet. I resolved to listen to them when I had a spare second.


    I didn¡¯t at the moment.


    In whatever part of my brain organized moments of worry, it struck me that Kamia might regenerate and so I glanced over at her body. I didn¡¯t see a person. Only ash and her blackened, burnt and warped armor remained¡ªthat and her Abominator guns. They were glossy and undamaged.


    In the ash that must once have been her head, I saw a glint of metal¡ªprobably an implant.


    I turned my attention back to Jadzen, noting that in her hand she held the disc I¡¯d given her, the one that called in my favor from the Waroo. It had changed color to a dull, flat black. From my implant, I knew that it had now been used. The device contained an ansible, allowing her to reach them anywhere they happened to be.


    I wondered what she¡¯d asked of them and if they were close enough to do any good.


    From the other side of the shelter, a voice said, ¡°I accept your offer. I¡¯m Weffrik Aut of the Ascendant Guard, the current commanding officer of the Guard here and the acting commander of the Ascendancy¡¯s ground forces.


    ¡°If you mean to surrender, leave your people and walk toward me.¡±


    Jadzen climbed down from the top of the shelter, stopping to talk to Kals, Iolan, and a couple others.


    Kals stood in front of her, saying something I probably could have listened to if I¡¯d thought to zoom in on the sound at the time. It didn¡¯t take sound to guess what she was saying. I got it all from the wideness of her eyes, the movement of her hands as she spoke, and the tension in her shoulders.


    Her mother reached out and pulled her into a hug. It wasn¡¯t long, but it was long enough. She said something to Kals as she pulled away.


    Then Jadzen stepped around her and began walking toward the Ascendancy troops. The colonists stepped out of her way, many of them saying a few words, bow, or touch her armored shoulder as she passed.


    They knew she was doing it for them, but I doubted they¡¯d seen the disc.


    Cassie turned to me and I heard her voice in my head. ¡°We should do something. I wish I knew what¡ª¡±


    BURN THEM? An echo of the gun¡¯s voice traveled over the link.


    Cassie rolled her eyes. ¡°I wish it were that simple, but after all she said about not doing what she¡¯s doing right now, she¡¯s got to have an angle. I don¡¯t know what it is. Do you?¡±


    ¡°She called in my favor from the Waroo, but I¡¯ve no clue what she asked them to do.¡±

 Trees & Shields: Part 24

    Cassie turned to watch Jadzen walk toward the Ascendancy troops. Her lips twisted. ¡°It had better be brilliant because there¡¯s not much she can do if she¡¯s just going to walk over there. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be able to detect if she¡¯s a suicide bomber or if she''s carrying a gun to shoot them or something.¡±


    I thought about it for a second. ¡°She¡¯s a motivator. Maybe she¡¯s hoping to use that? The impression that I got from Kals was that Jadzen was among their best before she decided to turn against the Ascendancy. I mean, Kals was in the same program or something and she could get past my anti-voice defense. We probably avoided getting taken over a few different times because she told me how she did it and I changed my system.¡±


    Cassie cocked her head and then said, ¡°I hope it¡¯s something like that. I was figuring suicide bomb or that maybe she¡¯d get close to the leadership and have the Waroo hit her position, killing herself and taking them out. That¡¯s what I¡¯d do, but I¡¯d survive it. She won¡¯t.¡±


    Thinking about it, it made sense. She wouldn¡¯t want to be reprogrammed into working against everything she cared about. Having the Waroo kill her and as much of the Ascendancy leadership as possible would give us a chance of fighting our way free and ending their reason for searching for her. They might still go after the Council or Kals, but neither had the political weight Jadzen had.


    The more I thought about it, the more sense it made and that led to another thought, ¡°What was I going to do about it?¡±


    I passed those thoughts over to Cassie and then the whole conversation we¡¯d had plus my thoughts over to Marcus and Katuk once I noticed that their implants had come online as well.


    ¡°That sounds right. Captain Tolker¡¯s keeping everyone close. He¡¯s not making it too obvious, but he¡¯s got techs next to the shield generators. I think he¡¯s hoping to get them back up again.¡±


    I got a flash of Marcus¡¯ perspective. He looked at Tikki who¡¯d stepped over to one of the shield generators.


    She frowned. ¡°They can¡¯t be fixed. Shield rams cause a surge in the shield matrix that burns out the generator and jumps to the next shield. I might be able to fix in an hour if I had the right parts and the pair wasn¡¯t too bad.¡±


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    Kee was barely even trying anymore. Tikki had never claimed to know very much about shields and now she was diagnosing them. I wished she¡¯d told Marcus back in the caves. I didn¡¯t feel like pretending either. On the other hand, thanks to my implant, I knew the basics of shield technology if I thought about it and Tikki might not have an implant, but she had equivalent tech.


    Maybe she was doing a perfect job and I was the problem.


    Katuk stood next to Cassie and I. Over the implants, he said, ¡°She must have some way to contact the Xiniti. If you check your implants¡¯ tactical display you¡¯ll find that our people are massing in spots around the edges of the Ascendancy¡¯s forces. It looks as though we intend to attack certain units from both sides and then attack the main Ascendancy group from behind.¡±


    Marcus broke in before I could reply. ¡°Captain Tolker wants the three of you to come closer to the shelter¡ªinside the inner ring if you can. He says to do it quickly, but be casual about it.¡±


    Cassie laughed. ¡°Right. We¡¯ll do a casual retreat.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what he¡¯s suggesting.¡± Marcus shrugged.


    Katuk, Cassie and I looked at each other. We weren¡¯t far from the inner ring. If all Captain Tolker wanted was for us to be inside, it wouldn¡¯t take much.


    We moved, ash crunching under our feet as we made for the nearest open area between shield generators. We weren¡¯t alone there at all. Ascendancy troops stood only ten feet away from us. They watched as we walked away, crossing over the line where the black and white ash ended and the normal dirt, grass, and leaf covered floor began.


    They didn¡¯t move to stop us, saying nothing either.


    I didn¡¯t feel safer as we crossed over, but I suspected that we must be or Tolker wouldn¡¯t have made the request.


    I checked Jadzen¡¯s position. She¡¯d passed beyond the inner shield ring and was walking toward a cluster of Ascendancy troops. Weffrik Aut, a seven foot tall Ascendancy soldier stood in front of the cluster. His hands held a rifle.


    When she reached him, they stopped and began talking. I couldn¡¯t hear them from this distance, but I could see their faces. Hers struck me as superficially friendly. She kept a controlled smile on it as she talked. Weffrik Aut¡¯s face showed a wide smile as she walked up to him, but one that appeared increasingly uncertain as they talked.


    By the end, he¡¯d become expressionless. One of the nearby soldiers started talking and she replied to his question, leaving the soldier with his hand on his chin, staring at her.


    I wondered if Jadzen might be so good that she¡¯d be able to cut through whatever protections they had against her voice and take over the Ascendancy forces.


    At the same time, I doubted we¡¯d be that lucky.

 Trees & Shields: Part 25

    I zoomed in on the conversation, deciding that I wanted to know what Jadzen was telling Weffrik Aut to do. I supposed that I could have used my bots to listen in. I still had a few, but using the sonic systems as a shotgun microphone struck me as less likely for the Ascendancy¡¯s soldiers to notice or stop.


    I fiddled with the system for a few seconds and I began to hear their voices. The sound wasn¡¯t perfect. It contained bits of static and sometimes a word or two from conversations behind them would become a little too loud, but I could hear them talk.


    Jadzen leaned into Weffrik, looking up at him and speaking in a low voice. I doubted that anyone could hear her but Weffrik and me.


    ¡°Here¡¯s what you¡¯ll do, you¡¯ll take me and bring me across the clearing. You¡¯ll keep your troops here and you¡¯ll tell them to keep out of either the inner or outer ring of shields. You¡¯ll do it now.¡±


    ¡°I will.¡± Weffrik kept calm, keeping his voice at a steady, low volume. ¡°May I ask why?¡±


    She gave him a thin smile. ¡°No. You may not.¡±


    ¡°Then I refuse,¡± He grinned and pointed a pistol at her. ¡°Everyone knows who you are. You were trained by our best motivators and now you¡¯re a traitor. The Ascendancy prepared a few of us in this crew for you. I¡¯ve got rules and commands for how to deal with you that have embedded so deeply that I don¡¯t know what they are and you¡¯ll never root them out.


    ¡°So I ask you again, why do you want me to take you away?¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything at first, but then she pulled out her own pistol, pushing it into his armored chest and firing on him at point blank range.


    Iolan had told us that motivators had similar physical abilities to Cassie and I¡¯d seen Kals use them, but I¡¯d never Jadzen do so.


    Light poured into Weffrik¡¯s chest, but he didn¡¯t die without striking back. His own pistol fired a beam of light that slid across the gray armor she wore, scoring it, but not staying in place long enough to penetrate until it reached her arm.


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    It burned through the armor and into her left bicep. Her eyes widened and she gasped. At almost the same time, Weffrik fell to the ground, all of his rules and commands for handling her dying with him.


    I barely had time to wonder what the rest of the crew would do now when she pointed her gun into the sky, firing a ruby red beam that was visible even in the daylight. It made me think of a flare gun¡ªwhich it basically was.


    Then as the nearest Ascendancy troops began to aim their weapons at her, she fired back, moving fast enough that they didn¡¯t seem to be able to hit her.


    Being in the middle of them must have helped. It was the same problem a circular firing squad would have¡ªevery miss would hit someone on your own side.


    Whatever training she¡¯d had must have been amazing, but there was no way she¡¯d be able to kill enough of them to make it back to us. She probably wasn¡¯t even trying. The whole exercise struck me as the military version of suicide by cop.


    I activated the rockets and broadcast, ¡°I¡¯m going after her,¡± to everyone via my implant.


    Katuk sent back, ¡°I¡¯m with you,¡± as I shot across the battlefield in a blur of motion. Katuk kept up with me, dodging and weaving his way through our people and then the Ascendancy soldiers. Where blindingly fast movement wouldn¡¯t get him through, he fired off the Xiniti guns on his arms, burning through Ascendancy soldiers and setting them on fire.


    Jadzen was lucky that we were close. She¡¯d already taken one hit to her leg by the time I¡¯d reached her and another to her gut. Still, she was standing as I landed next to her, blasting everyone on one side of her with the sonics, alternating between sound and tech destroying frequencies.


    Katuk fired shot after shot into the crowd around us. I can only guess how it seemed to the Ascendancy soldiers, but if I had to, I¡¯d bet that we were blurs of silver combined with the sound of high pitched pain and an unending rain of searing light.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take me,¡± she said. ¡°I need to die here. They¡¯ll never leave us alone ifthere¡¯s still a chance of capturing me.¡±


    She grunted but didn¡¯t resist as I grabbed her and turned to figure out my best route if I wanted to prevent her from getting shot again.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t die too,¡± she said.


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I don¡¯t want to explain to Kals why I flew all the way out here and then left you,¡± I said, deciding on a flight plan and sending it to Katuk.


    The rockets pushed us into the air before I could ask why I¡¯d die, but I didn¡¯t need to. That became obvious as we rose above the mass of Ascendency soldiers. It wasn¡¯t just the obvious risk of flying above a bunch of people who wanted to shoot you down.


    It was also the U-shaped spaceship that flickered into view above us as if it had turned off its cloaking device. My implant identified it as a Waroo ship commonly used by mercenary crews.


    Even as I guessed what might be coming next, it began to rain fire down on our position.

 Trees & Shields: Part 26

    I accelerated the rockets, but not too quickly. I didn¡¯t want to give Jadzen whiplash. For the little good it would do, I held her below me so that if I did get hit, she¡¯d have something in between her and the blast.


    It was a nice thought, but if I did get hit, I felt sure the explosion would surround me, roasting her instantly even if I somehow survived. Plus, if I didn¡¯t survive, she¡¯d hit the ground while moving at nearly one hundred miles per hour. Between my speed and her injuries, I didn¡¯t hold out much hope there.


    It didn¡¯t matter, though.


    The Ascendancy¡¯s soldiers were too busy firing at the Waroo ship to fire at me¡ªthat or I didn¡¯t notice. Either way, I flew back to the shelter where Marcus, Tikki, and Kals were still standing with Captain Tolker and the colonists, all of whom were pointing their weapons outward, ready to fight.


    Katuk ran below me, his hands and guns a blur of burning white beams¡ªwhich might be the other reason the Ascendancy troops weren¡¯t firing at me. They were too busy dying.


    It felt eternal, but in reality, it took less than a few seconds for me to get back to the shelter. I landed as carefully as I could, laying Jadzen on the ground as Iolan ran forward to look at her wounds.


    ¡°I have some things in the shelter, but not everything I¡¯d want to take care of those wounds here.¡± Then Iolan pointed at one of the colonists, telling him to, ¡°Get my kit from inside.¡±


    Her voice low, Jadzen said, ¡°I¡¯m not going to make it.¡±


    Iolan shook his head. ¡°No. You might survive. You owe it to yourself and to the rest of us to let me try and save you.¡±


    She smiled at him. ¡°I knew this was a possibility. I had a good life and if by dying, I buy us some more time, then I think that¡¯s a good trade.¡±


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    Iolan frowned, ¡°Jadzen, I know you believe that, but we aren¡¯t anywhere near as strong without you as with you. I know you¡¯d die for us over and over, but you shouldn¡¯t have to.¡±


    The colonist came back with a small black bag. Iolan took it. Nodding at the colonist, he said, ¡°Thank you. Jadzen, I¡¯m going to do what I can to save your life.¡±


    Kals kneeled down next to her, ¡°Mom, let him try.¡±


    I missed whatever they said together. I could have listened in, but giving a friend time alone with her dying mother seemed like the right choice. I looked up, trying to get a sense of our overall situation.


    The Waroo blasted away from above, but they were only one ship and the Ascendancy turned out to have weapons made to be effective against that size of a ship. They didn¡¯t take it down, but beams hit it from below and it wobbled in the air.


    I didn¡¯t know for a second whether or not it would fall, but it didn¡¯t. It flew upward and kept moving, diving down to fire back at the troops. Overall, I approved. I didn¡¯t like the idea that they¡¯d repay me for saving the life of one of their people by having a whole ship die.


    Unfortunately, it also meant that they weren¡¯t able to keep up a steady stream of fire like they had been when they were closer to the ground. Plus, it meant they were hunting down the groups with the anti-ship weapons when they could, meaning that keeping the Ascendancy away from the colonists wasn¡¯t their only focus.


    I called Hal, telling him that it would be great if he could get over here and give us some assistance. It would be even better if he could do it in a way that wouldn¡¯t make the Waroo think he was a threat.


    Then I called Rachel. She didn¡¯t have an implant, so I used the League¡¯s comms. ¡°Is there any chance that the Cosmic Ghosts could appear right now? We could use the help.¡±


    The sound of her sigh came over the line. ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to get their attention and they are coming, but I don¡¯t know when. They¡¯re kind of godlike and they don¡¯t seem to have much of a sense of urgency.¡±


    I looked out at the Ascendancy troops. The ones that the Waroo weren¡¯t firing on had backed off and appeared to be talking. ¡°That¡¯s not good. My sense of urgency is getting better and better developed by the second.¡±


    ¡°Tell me about it. I¡¯ll try to bug them again.¡±


    I¡¯d barely heard the connection click off when Jaclyn¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°Anybody free? I¡¯ve figured out how to take Neves down, but I¡¯m going to need a distraction.¡±

 Trees & Shields: Part 27

    ¡°Is there any chance you could come here because the shields are down and the only thing that¡¯s keeping the Ascendancy from destroying us is the Waroo and the fact that Jadzen killed their current leader. I can give you everything over implant if you turn yours on. It¡¯s safe now.¡±


    I directed my implant to send Jaclyn a summary of everything that happened since she left once it detected her.


    Her implant came online almost instantly and she said, ¡°On my way. When you see me get in his way and take a shot at him with your laser. Don¡¯t punch him or shoot the sonics at him. Remember when we fought that guy back on Earth? I think he was called Payback? Neves absorbs force too, but I¡¯ve got him. I just need a second to turn around.¡±


    I considered asking why, but I supposed that the speeds they could move at, a turn would be enough time for him to avoid her.


    I imagined that might go both ways and said, ¡°OK.¡±


    Then I sent a copy of the conversation to every else so that they knew what was going on.


    Cassie replied with, ¡°Good luck,¡± and we waited.


    We didn¡¯t get to wait quietly without anything to do though. It went more like this:


    As I talked with Jaclyn, the colonists has already begun firing on the Ascendancy troops and the Ascendancy didn¡¯t reply by engulfing us in waves of troops. No. The troops backed off. I could only guess that they still hadn¡¯t figured out which of them was now in charge and what their mission would be.


    I couldn¡¯t blame them. If Kamia had been in charge and then the position fell to Weffrik Aut, they might not know who was in charge.


    From the implant, I knew that the commanding officer ought to be the person with the highest rank and earliest date of being raised to that rank. The problem was that the members of the Ascendant Guard could take over any force that wasn¡¯t the Ascendant Guard.


    That ought to be easy enough to figure out, but the Guard turned out to be fairly flat in terms of ranks. The majority of Guard members had the title of Guardsman and nothing more.


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    That meant that it wasn¡¯t clear who was in charge when you had a large number of Guardsmen around. Worse, in the Ascendancy, the question of who became the leader of a force could ignore rank and commission date in favor of force of the officer¡¯s personality, political reasons, and how much the men respected the officer.


    As a result, the Xiniti targeted Ascendancy officers as often as possible, hoping to throw their forces into chaos.


    Knowing that we were benefitting from that gave me hope that I¡¯d have time to help Jaclyn before the Ascendancy forces figured out what to do about the Waroo, giving us time for the Ghosts to appear, or maybe for one of us to come up with a better plan than simply enduring.


    I barely had time to think that all through before the implant notified me that Jaclyn was near¡ªabout half of a mile behind the Ascendancy soldiers. Stepping away from everyone, I blasted into the air, staying low to minimize the number of people who¡¯d easily be able to target me.


    I¡¯d seen what they tried to hit the Waroo ship with and I didn¡¯t want to find out what it would do to the Rocket suit, much less my body.


    I passed over the soldiers in a blur and they did take some shots at me, but moving over them at nearly 500 miles per hour meant that they didn¡¯t have long to take that shot.


    Having passed them, I saw Jaclyn and Neves running in the gap between two sections of forest. He ran behind her. I couldn¡¯t help but note that his gun was missing. Knowing that the energy rifles they used could hurt her, it made sense that she¡¯d have destroyed it early on in their fight.


    Another thing that I noticed was that even though they were both moving at more than 200 miles per hour, he appeared to be more tired than she did. I couldn¡¯t say exactly how I knew that¡ªwhether she raised her legs higher off the ground or held her head straighter.


    Either way, I dove, firing my laser down at him. He aimed his hand at me and a blast of white energy hit me, not doing appreciable damage.


    I don¡¯t know what kind of damage my laser did to him, if any, but my dive left me directly in front of him.


    I expected him to attack me, but he never got the chance. Jaclyn ran in, throwing a punch that began at her waist and extended to hit him in the face, getting an additional boost of strength from the way she pushed off with her leg.


    It wasn¡¯t hyperbole to say that she¡¯d thrown all her body¡¯s strength into that punch. I didn¡¯t have time to think about it, but if I had, I would have been worried because from what I knew, that should have powered him up.


    It didn¡¯t.


    Instead, something in the air in front of his body made a cracking noise, throwing off flashes of light, and Jaclyn¡¯s fist continued through with a thump that threw soil in all directions.


    He didn¡¯t move after that.

 Trees & Shields: Part 28

    I wasn¡¯t sure whether Neves was dead, unconscious, or unconscious and dying. Either way, there was something bugging me.


    ¡°How did you get him? I thought he absorbed punches.¡±


    Looking down at Neves¡¯ body, Jaclyn said, ¡°I knew that punching him would give him faster and harder to hurt, so I ran from him, thinking that maybe I¡¯d be able to wear him down and then maybe run him past a bunch of Xiniti so they could shoot him with energy weapons. The problem was that he realized it and used a burst of energy to catch me. I punched him then because I had no choice. It knocked him sideways like I intended, and powered him up like I was trying to avoid, but it broke his¡­ absorption field? and hurt him a little.¡±


    She stared down at Neves¡¯ body. ¡°I guessed that the less energy he had to work with, the less force he¡¯d be able to absorb. So, I did what I could to wear him out again, and get some help. That way, when I did punch him again, I¡¯d be in a position to finish it.¡±


    Noting the burn and hole in his chest from my laser, I said, ¡°I¡¯d say it worked.¡±


    Her lip twisted. ¡°I guess. I didn¡¯t really want to kill him. I just wanted all of us to survive.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of which,¡± I said, ¡°that¡¯s still open. We¡¯d be best off getting back while the Ascendancy¡¯s still disorganized.¡±


    We both turned to look at the small army of soldiers surrounding the shelter.


    ¡°Assuming it still is,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Jaclyn cleared the crowd with a short run and a long leap that took her almost to the edge of where the internal ring of shields had been. I flew after her, catching up while she was in the air.


    We landed at about the same time. The first thing I did upon landing was to turn around to look at the Ascendancy¡¯s troops.


    They were still there, standing in the sunlight past the inner ring. Some watched us. Some stood, unmoving. I guessed that the unmoving ones were involved in politicking and discussion about who was going to run things.


    I felt sure that Lee would be attacking them all right now if he felt that he had a chance of winning¡ªwhatever he viewed his winning condition to be. Captain Tolker wasn¡¯t sending us out to attack. I assumed that he didn¡¯t think we¡¯d win and I couldn¡¯t say I disagreed.


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    Even now with the Waroo blasting at them from a distance, keeping them from fully committing to a charge, they were still better armed and all of their forces had powers while ours didn¡¯t.


    Despite that, I wished Lee were here. I didn¡¯t know for sure how he¡¯d handle it, but if Lee were here, I¡¯d suggest that the Ascendancy¡¯s soldiers should go over their wills one last time.


    We¡¯d worked out some ideas in case they attacked, but we¡¯d be using them for the first time together here.


    Kals walked up as everyone else did. She didn¡¯t stamp her feet as she walked, but gait made me think that she should be stamping her feet. As Jaclyn explained what happened to Neves, Kals stopped next to me.


    ¡°We need to do something and Captain Tolker says we need to wait. We can¡¯t just sit though. We need to do something.¡±


    A shot from the Waroo ship slammed into the ground, killing at least ten Ascendancy soldiers that were moving closer to our camp. The rest scattered andran back toward the main body of their troops as Ascendancy forces fired back with their bigger guns.


    That in turn brought a response from the ship. A beam struck a group of troops clustered around a long barreled energy weapon, leaving them blackened and the gun bent and broken.


    ¡°I know, but we can¡¯t strike out with no plan. We can¡¯t outfight them one to one. We need to make them lose the will to fight. Otherwise they¡¯ll swamp us with numbers. Um¡­ How¡¯s your mom?¡±


    Kals took a breath. ¡°Dying, and everyone knows it. We¡¯ve said our goodbyes. I was thinking that maybe if we were lucky, we win soon enough that we could bring her to Iolan¡¯s lab and¡­¡±


    She stopped. She wasn¡¯t crying, but the corners of her eyes glistened. If we weren¡¯t in the middle of a fight and if I didn¡¯t have my armor on, I¡¯d have put my arm on her shoulder and maybe given her a hug or talk about it and let her cry or something.


    In armor, a hug wouldn¡¯t work.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± and put my left hand on her shoulder anyway.


    Looking up at me, she said, ¡°Thanks.¡± Glancing over at my arm, she added, ¡°Nice try, but please stop. Right now, I know I don¡¯t have time to cry. Right now, we need to kill them all.¡±


    I withdrew my hand and I felt like I should say something, but in that moment my implant notified me that we¡¯d received a communication from the Xiniti¡ªreal ones, not us.


    ¡°Xiniti trainees. We understand why you didn¡¯t go as told and respect it. We didn¡¯t tell you that to force you to leave your clients unprotected or your mission unfinished. We did it because we don¡¯t like to lose promising young ones. Now, like us, you may die on this mission.


    ¡°Our surveillance indicates that the Ascendancy has sent down fighters to attack the Waroo ship and that the Ascendancy have resolved their leadership issues and will attack soon. We¡¯ll try to assist you.¡±


    From the Ascendancy forces came a loud shout and the sound of thundering footsteps.

 Trees & Shields: Part 29

    At the same time that the Ascendancy forces began to charge, bright light came from the sky toward the Waroo ship, hitting it in an explosion of light. The ship didn¡¯t fall out of the sky.


    Knowing that, I knew that the Waroo were okay or okay-ish. Their shields were still up. If they¡¯d fallen, chunks of the ship would be falling from the sky, burning all the way down. All the same, they couldn¡¯t be as much help. They were maneuvering to respond to the fighters, blasting upward with their weapons.


    That meant the obvious, they weren¡¯t firing at the Ascendancy troops, meaning the Ascendancy had no reason not to kill us all.


    They attacked.


    The big guns they¡¯d been aiming at the Waroo ship found new targets. One hit the shelter, burning a big black spot on its side. I didn¡¯t know exactly what material the shelter was made out of (the implant suggested a few options), but I wouldn¡¯t have expected it to be able to take one shot.


    The way the flat wall warped around the burn made me doubt it would be able to take many more.


    Another gun¡¯s shot hit one of the trees and the shield generator next to it. They¡¯d known they couldn¡¯t get all the generators back up, but if they¡¯d brought up any, it would make things that much easier.


    With the crash of the tree and the crunch of the generator, that spot became impossible.


    At almost the same time (Jaclyn was probably first), Jaclyn and I said, ¡°The big guns!¡±


    When we were planning what we¡¯d do if the shields all went down, we¡¯d come up with our approach. We couldn¡¯t take out everyone, but we could take out individual targets.


    Jaclyn said, ¡°Cover me,¡± and ran into the oncoming Ascendancy soldiers. Katuk ran forward, aiming for a different gun at about the same time, saying only, ¡°As discussed,¡± to Cassie who started firing on either side of him with her gun.


    I couldn¡¯t do the same thing to support Jaclyn, but I tried. I aimed the sonics and sometimes my laser at the people on either side of her and sometimes ahead. They did what they were supposed to do. When the laser hit, the soldier went down and thanks to the sonics, the tech of the people near her didn¡¯t always work.


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    That¡¯s not inspiring, but when the guy who ought to be firing at you is tapping on his helmet or opening up his energy rifle to figure out why it went dead, you don¡¯t get shot as much.


    Jaclyn plowed through the people between her and the gun, sometimes moving around them before they could touch her, sometimes throwing them to the side, knocking them into the next soldier.


    I didn¡¯t pay as much attention to Katuk, but blasts from his rifle and Cassie¡¯s gun hit the Ascendancy¡¯s troops again and again.


    Some soldiers tried to hit us, but it wasn¡¯t as if we were the only ones there. Everyone who¡¯d come to the shelter was firing back, many of them experienced soldiers from wars I¡¯d never heard of and that I didn¡¯t have time to download from my implant.


    It turned out that we had whole lines of troops with force shields in the front of our lines. It wasn¡¯t as good as the force field walls around the shelter, but it was better than nothing.


    Captain Tolker and Crawls-Through-Desert shouted commands. Kals did what motivators did, countering attacks by Ascendancy motivators and encouraging the colonists to stand firm.


    Geman and Dalat stood with the rest of the infantry, firing their rifles. They¡¯d shown no signs of betraying us to the Ascendancy so far. It was sad that they¡¯d come here, both of them probably feeling like they had to in order to prove themselves loyal. Geman had mentioned a family. I didn¡¯t know about Dalat.


    As I thought about that, Jaclyn reached her target, smashing the big gun with a single blow, turning, and running back through the Ascendancy¡¯s troops, jumping over our front line to land back where I was. Katuk came back soon after, having destroyed his target as well.


    In the meantime, the Ascendancy¡¯s advance had slowed. Our front line¡¯s shields were holding. It wasn¡¯t perfect. People were going down under the barrage of fire, but for the moment, they were holding the line.


    It wasn¡¯t as if we were winning. They¡¯d put their shielded people at the front too. Their people would fall just like ours would.


    In a war of attrition though, I felt sure that they were going to win. I needed to figure out where the Ascendancy¡¯s leadership on the ground was so that we could maybe get them to surrender. Killing them would just pass the leadership role on to the next person in line.


    I sent my surviving observation and spybots into the air to take pictures of the Ascendancy¡¯s troops. They had to be planning something to break our current stalemate. There ought to be some sign of that.


    Tolker and Crawls-Through-Desert had to be trying to come up with something too. I hoped that they¡¯d coordinate with us before trying it. Then it struck me that that went both ways, so I sent our group as well as Tolker what I was doing.


    This whole situation was fragile enough that if we didn¡¯t work together, dying was a possibility that was beginning to feel more real the longer I thought about it.

 Trees & Shields: Part 30

    It didn¡¯t take long to realize that the leader wasn¡¯t obvious. With implants, you didn¡¯t need to do anything visually to know who was running things. Plus, as my implant informed me, armies had policies for hiding who the officers were.


    They didn¡¯t have policies that hid what an aerial view from my bots showed. The colonists may have stalled the charge earlier, but now the army was massing close together. When they rushed us, they weren¡¯t going to stop.


    I contacted Crawls-Through-Desert who seemed to be acting as Captain Tolker¡¯s lieutenant or something like it.


    After I sent him a series of pictures from the bots through my implant, he said, ¡°I¡¯ve told Tolker. We¡¯re adjusting. Do what you can to hold them back.¡±


    I passed the images over to everyone else¡ªincluding Tikki and Kals who had fished out their bracelets from somewhere and connected to us.


    ¡°Shit,¡± Cassie said, ¡°we¡¯re screwed. Jaclyn, take this. You¡¯ll need it.¡±


    She unbuckled her belt and held her sword out.


    Jaclyn stared at it. ¡°No. I don¡¯t want to use that thing.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not on Earth. There are no cops or jails. You¡¯ll need it.¡± Cassie waved it at her and Jaclyn took it and buckled it on.


    ¡°All hail Blender.¡± Cassie grinned at her.


    Jaclyn shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t call me that.¡±


    She took out the sword and turned it on. ¡°I¡¯m going to be lucky if I don¡¯t cut off my own leg.¡±


    Marcus imitated the hum of a lightsaber. ¡°Nah. You¡¯re going to be great.¡±


    Even as he said it, I saw the Ascendancy troops begin to charge. From above, it was a line of blue-white shields followed by a mass of people in armor. Worse, the line went around our entire camp completely unbroken.


    They all ran forward at once, focussing their fire at specific spots in the colonists¡¯ lines, shattering shields. Other colonists moved in to fill the gap, but I could see it wouldn¡¯t last long.


    I wasn¡¯t the only one. Jaclyn jumped over both front lines, landing in the middle of the Ascendancy¡¯s troops.


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    Before I could fly after her, Katuk ran after her, jumping after her, not quite landing as far into the Ascendancy¡¯s soldiers as she did. I realized that that might have been intentional when I saw that she¡¯d pulled out the sword blade.


    It flashed in the sunlight, decapitating a body with every strike.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Katuk caught up with her, hitting any Ascendancy solders that came too close with lasers.


    I breathed a little easier because Jaclyn wasn¡¯t alone, but it wasn¡¯t enough. The Ascendancy troops didn¡¯t stop fighting. They continued except that they assigned people to fire beam weapons at Jaclyn and Katuk.


    Energy weapons could hurt Jaclyn. I¡¯d seen her skin get burned by hot plasma. While she walked away from it without even getting any special care, it still hurt her.


    I hoped that if she got so hurt that she couldn¡¯t fight, Katuk would be able to get her out of there¡ªor that she¡¯d recognize what direction things were going and retreat on her own.


    I didn¡¯t have time to fly out there to help.


    Jaclyn and Katuk weren¡¯t the only ones able to jump over the battle lines. Ascendancy soldiers did exactly that as the lines got closer, attacking the colonists¡¯ line from behind.


    Of course, we didn¡¯t just let them. Cassie burned down soldiers as quickly as she could, but it meant that she wasn¡¯t firing into the advancing front line. She was firing carefully within our side, burning down Ascendancy soldiers while trying to avoid shooting colonists in the back.


    As for myself, I ignored the feed from my bots as a fanged and clawed soldier landed in front of Dalat as the thin man attempted to fire at it.


    It eviscerated him before he landed a shot. Geman, seeing the death of his fellow pilot, fired his rifle into the creature, the shots not making it through the soldier¡¯s armor.


    It ripped out Geman¡¯s throat.


    I landed next to it at that point, throwing a punch that hit with nearly ten tons of force, more than enough to get past its armor. Its chest exploded, throwing bloody spray and bits of rib cage backward.


    I had a bad feeling that image would haunt me later.


    I hit two more soldiers, saving a couple colonists from being torn to shreds even as I processed the fact that Geman and Dalat were dead. I hadn¡¯t known them well, but they¡¯d deserved better.


    Ahead of me, the Ascendancy line had broken through ours, but at the same time, they were in complete disarray. Between Jaclyn and Katuk, this section of the Ascendancy''s line had a hole. Body after body lay on the ash-covered ground, some of them put there by me, all of them burned or dismembered.


    But as I said before, it wasn¡¯t enough. Even as I saw that we had the beginnings of a horrible Pyrrhic victory, the bots showed me that at three other points around the circle, the Ascendancy had broken through and were entering the circle, killing colonists as they went.


    Captain Tolker was directing them to fall back and reform a new line over colonists¡¯ communication channel¡ªexcept then he cut off mid-sentence. I looked over the battlefield to see him lying on the ground with a bloody clawed Ascendancy soldier standing over him.


    Over the channel, soldiers screamed and asked for help. Crawls-Through-Desert shouted at the soldiers, getting some of them to form ragged groups that were again firing back.


    Even though the Ascendancy soldiers weren¡¯t doing as well near us, they seemed to know they were doing well everywhere else and bounded toward us in great leaps, determined, I assumed, to make up the difference.

 Trees & Shields: Part 31

    Jaclyn couldn¡¯t take them all out, but she tried. She moved too quickly for me to see, but with the Xiniti implant, I processed her movements well enough to notice the blur of where she¡¯d been.


    Ordinary people didn¡¯t even notice that and had to rely on the explosion of blood and the way the Ascendancy soldiers¡¯ bodies toppled off their torsos to the ground.


    That didn¡¯t mean the Ascendancy soldiers couldn¡¯t hit her though. One of them, an Ascendant Guardmember by the symbol on his chest, shot her in the thigh with a yellow beam.


    She tumbled as he twisted to take another shot at her.


    I tried to point my laser in that direction, but it didn¡¯t matter. A beam of light burned away his head.


    His body flopped to the ground as my implant outlined Katuk¡ªwho had now started aiming at other soldiers. Cassie meanwhile had burned down several at once.


    Jaclyn made it to her feet, setting off again, but my implant informed me that she wasn¡¯t moving as quickly as before. She¡¯d moved from extremely fast to not quite as fast, but it was still faster than the Ascendancy soldiers could react to.


    I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how many shots she could take before she couldn¡¯t move at all.


    Not that it made much of a difference in the moment. For all that we¡¯d done, the Ascendancy still descended upon us in waves. In my helmet¡¯s 360 degree view, I could even see them coming from behind.


    They weren¡¯t targeting us yet. The colonists were still fighting, but it was only a matter of time.


    I fired the sonics at a group of soldiers as they landed in front of me, burning them with the laser on my other arm. Meanwhile, Kals shouted a word that made another group stop in their tracks, unmoving.


    Behind me, Marcus had elongated his legs. From where he stood next to a group of skinny trees, he used one of our particle accelerators as a sniper rifle. As he burned the soldiers from above, Tikki stood below, absorbing anything that came her way into her time bubble and sometimes turning the bubble to redirect it back toward the Ascendancy.


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    In the middle of all of that, I called Rachel again. ¡°I don¡¯t know where you are, but they¡¯re in the camp now and colonists are fighting them hand to hand. So, basically, we just lost. Now would be a great time for the Ghosts to show up.¡±


    Rachel¡¯s voice came over the comm. She was all but shouting into it as the hiss and crackle of different energies burned through the air in the background. ¡°I know! I called them. They¡¯re not coming.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Now I was yelling. Behind me, the gun under Crawls-Through-Deserts¡¯ pot burned three Ascendancy soldiers in a shotgun-like blast of light.


    ¡°They see the future. They¡¯re attacking the Ascendancy ships fighting the Xiniti fleet. They said you¡¯ll think of something.¡±


    ¡°Ugh.¡± I tried to think of a response with more words than that.


    ¡°Look, I know. Don¡¯t argue. Do it and we can all go home. Keeping you alive isn¡¯t getting any easier.¡±


    An Ascendancy soldier that had landed in front exploded, starting with his head and ending partway into his body. Rachel floated behind it, holding her pistol. Then she faded out and I heard static over the comm.


    In the chaos and screams, I thought of my next best option after Rachel and opened a connection to Tikki with my implant.


    She took the call and time seemed to stand still, presumably because mind to mind communication was so much faster than speech. I couldn¡¯t assume it had nothing to do with the powers Kee showed as Tikki.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I kept my voice calm and low. In reality, she was on Lee¡¯s level of power and I was about to end forever any chance at a life she liked. ¡°You know how you said you¡¯d tell Marcus that who you really were? We need that version of you right now. We need Kee more than Tikki. I mean, if you think you can take everyone out as Tikki, I¡¯m fine with that, but I suspect you¡¯ll need to be yourself to make this work.¡±


    The pause before she spoke seemed to be unending, but I knew it wasn¡¯t because nothing seemed to be moving around us.


    ¡°No.¡± Tikki¡¯s face tightened. ¡°If I reveal myself, the Destroy faction will come here. You won¡¯t survive it and neither will I. Thanks to Lee, I know they¡¯re active now. He¡¯s been fighting one or more of them. I¡¯ve felt the aftereffects of their battles.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to reveal yourself to your people. You told me that you were the one that truly understood your species¡¯ powers and that you¡¯d designed the weapon that Lee stole from the Destroy faction before he disappeared. I¡¯m pretty sure you told me that you could hide using your abilities better than he could¡ªbetter, I¡¯m guessing, than any of your people, right?¡±


    I knew I had her attention then. By that, I mean I knew it because I could feel it. Lee had told me I¡¯d feel something when I encountered one of his kind and Kee hadn¡¯t triggered it much at all.


    Now though, I could sense something big in the air around me, an almost physical weight. It was the kind of weight you might feel if you met a being billions of years old, that consciously existed in an infinity of universes, that had the power to unmake the planet with a thought, and you¡¯d said something that made it decide to give you its full, undivided attention.

 Trees & Shields: Part 32

    ¡°What I¡¯m asking is probably simple for you¡ªtake out the people who are trying to kill us or hide all of us or maybe move us somewhere else? I don¡¯t know. A teleport would be ideal.¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything but I could feel flickers of her emotions, much as I felt Daniel¡¯s when I was back home. It wasn¡¯t a telepathic connection or maybe it was, but if it was it felt different¡ªbigger¡ªa forty room mansion instead of your standard four bedroom house.


    That¡¯s a terrible metaphor, but I don¡¯t have anything better than ¡°bigger.¡±


    We still had an implant connection, but she¡¯d stopped using it, unwilling, I assumed, to risk standard communication methods.


    I glanced around us and everything stood still, frozen at the moment that I¡¯d tried to get her attention.


    ¡°I can¡¯t risk it.¡± On the surface, her voice stayed level without growing higher or faster with emotion, but through our connection, I felt a flicker of fear.


    Without showing any emotion that she wouldn¡¯t have if she were teaching a college physics class, she continued, ¡°If I hid all of you, I¡¯d have to keep on hiding you until they left and I can¡¯t be sure they would. If I moved all of you from one place to another, something would notice. Maybe my people wouldn¡¯t notice right away but they would in time.¡±


    ¡°What about Marcus? He¡¯ll die with the rest of us if it all goes wrong here.¡± Even as I said it, I felt hints of fear and anxiety that I knew wasn¡¯t all mine.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been running for millions of years now.¡± Her voice seemed to fill my entire being, reminding me that Daniel had told me that being in Lee¡¯s presence could be mentally painful for him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want them to find me. I have so much more to do.¡± She said it matter of factly as if we were talking about the weather.


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    ¡°Are you just going to let things happen if you don¡¯t help us?¡± I watched her face as I asked the question.


    She stared ahead of herself, but then she said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I try to do what I can when I have the chance.¡±


    She looked down.


    I tried to catch her eye. ¡°Look, if you can¡¯t do something yourself, can you give me the power to solve this?¡±


    That earned me a look. She stared at me as if she¡¯d never looked at me before. She said, ¡°No. It¡¯s too early. Let me think.¡±


    Then I stopped feeling her emotions and the world around me went forward again.


    Blasts of energy flew through the air. Ascendancy soldiers rushed in. A beam hit the plant¡¯s pot. He did his best to dodge, but the beam hit and the pot fell to the ground with a crash.


    Cassie took two beams to the back. She fell to the ground, but rolled over and began firing back with her gun. As long as she didn¡¯t get hit in the head she¡¯d be fine, but I wondered how long that could last.


    A wave of soldiers surrounded Jaclyn. I couldn¡¯t see her, but every now and then blood would shoot into the air. I assumed she had to be alive.


    I fired my laser, punched, and fired the sonics as fast as I could, unsure as to how long I could keep it up. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ascendancy soldiers pointing their weapons at Marcus and Tikki. Marcus had been stretched into a shape I thought of as ¡°sniper Slenderman,¡± but now he¡¯d contracted into a roughly human shape and was firing his particle accelerator rifle while smacking soldiers with tentacles that he¡¯d grown.


    Tikki stood next to him, surrounded by her bubble, seemingly doing nothing, but then everything stopped again and I was in contact with Kee.


    In that moment, I felt something that reminded me of when I¡¯d pulled a flaming sword out of nowhere using Lee¡¯s power or arguably maybe through a combination of his and my own small hint of power.


    This wasn¡¯t me, though.


    I felt small trickles of power opening and knew without being sure how I knew that they were Kee¡¯s doing, that there were many of them, each of them a different source, and that they weren¡¯t going to me. They were going to her. A part of me wondered if I could somehow tap them, but doing so without instruction or invitation seemed rude at best. At worst, it might be deadly.


    Either way, it was unnecessary. The power flowed toward Kee and as her bubble absorbed it, it grew, expanding first to include Marcus, the nearest Ascendancy soldiers, Then the bubble grew faster, including me, Cassie, Jaclyn, Kals and the entire camp before I had time to notice, much less time to get away.


    She was on our side, but I remembered what had happened to Agent 957. The bubble wasn¡¯t a safe place to be.

 Trees & Shields: Part 33

    Whatever my reservations, it didn¡¯t matter. The bubble expanded to cover the entire battlefield and that included all the troops that had been waiting in the wings and beginning to charge.


    Connected to Kee¡¯s not-quite-telepathy, I could sense how far it went¡ªmore than one hundred yards away in every direction.


    Past the edge, the Xiniti that had promised to show up and help stood, staring at the bubble.


    Inside the Ascendancy forces stood still, unable to move at all.


    Kee, as I¡¯d started to think of her again, said, ¡°Do you want any of them to survive?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t read her mind, but I could feel her focus. I said, ¡°I¡¯d like them all to survive, but I don¡¯t have any specific use for any of them.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t hold them this way forever. The moment I step away, they¡¯ll start trying to kill you again. I¡¯ll end them now.¡±


    Before I could say anything more, she pulled in more energy from each of the many sources she¡¯d opened up. I could feel her pulling it in, allowing it to build up, and then she released it into the bubble, all of it directed into individual Ascendancy soldiers.


    I knew somehow that she wasn¡¯t aging them. She wasn¡¯t using Tikki¡¯s powers at all. She disintegrated them, absorbing the heat as the bonds that held their bodies together dissolved, leaving dust and bits of bone.


    Then the bubble faded away and the skies became bright once again. I wasn¡¯t sure why being within the bubble dimmed the light. I had theories but hadn¡¯t had time to devote more than an instant¡¯s thought to them.


    Now it looked as though I might have more time. The small piles of dust all over and the complete lack of fighting told me what I already knew¡ªno Ascendancy soldiers survived.


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    The Xiniti I¡¯d seen through Kee¡¯s eyes walked toward us slowly, looking from one side to another as if they expected creatures to appear out of thin air, burst out of the ground, or attack with no reason and no warning.


    It wasn¡¯t unreasonable given that the Ascendancy soldiers had just disappeared for no reason they knew of and no warning.


    I considered using my implant to contact them but figured they¡¯d contact us if they wanted us. It would be better to determine who¡¯d survived all this. I asked the implant for a status update on all of us and it replied. Jaclyn was alive but hurt, Cassie alive and already healed, Katuk was alive, and Marcus was alive.


    I looked around the camp for the others. Kals was alive and walking toward the shelter. She had to be looking for her mom.


    Jaclyn¡¯s dog stood over the piles of dust, sniffing them. Then he raised his leg and peed on one. Meanwhile, Rachel was solid and walking across the ground toward me.


    I waited for her, planning to tell her that I was going to follow Kals and find out what had happened to Jadzen, but then I heard Marcus¡¯ voice.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Tikki and what are you doing here?¡± He faced Kee. His rifle lay on the ground.


    Kee stood next to him where Tikki had been. When I thought about it, Kee and Tikki weren¡¯t so very different. The body she wore as Kee appeared to be in its thirties and Tikki appeared to be in her early twenties or late teens. ¡°Kee¡± had fuller lips and a squarer face, but they both had the same shades of dark hair and light brown skin.


    If I¡¯d seen them at the same time, I might have guessed they were sisters or maybe mother and daughter. They were variations on the same face and body.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the deception,¡± Kee said, ¡°but I couldn¡¯t leave K¡¯Tepolu with you in this form. It would have raised too many questions and gotten too much attention. I really did like you as Tikki. I still like you, but if you think about what I did, you¡¯ll know what I am. You already know one of my people and you know why this can¡¯t work.¡±


    Marcus¡¯ eyes widened. ¡°Oh, god.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t a completely inappropriate line under the circumstances.


    Now standing next to me, Rachel said, ¡°This isn¡¯t going to be pretty. Take it from someone who been there.¡±


    ¡°I know your breakup with Travis was bad, but I really don¡¯t think it¡¯s the same.¡°


    Still staring at Kee, Marcus said, ¡°We had sex.¡±


    I don¡¯t know that I would have gone there next, but it did raise some interesting questions.

 Trees & Shields: Part 34

    Marcus pursed his lips. ¡°There¡¯s no chance that you¡¯re pregnant, right? I mean, you said you¡¯d had that¡­ turned off, but I didn¡¯t even know who you really were at the time, so¡­¡±


    Kee¡¯s face darkened, but she kept on talking. ¡°I was telling the truth. In our true form, we¡¯re not fertile with humans. I¡¯m not sure you¡¯d even recognize what we do to reproduce as sex, but when we embody ourselves, we have to create something that can connect back to our true selves.


    ¡°So we could have reproduced, but if we did, our child would have too much power for your world to handle, and too little to defend itself from the Destroy faction for a long, long time. I¡¯d never risk that.¡±


    Taking a deep breath, Marcus smiled. ¡°That¡¯s good. I didn¡¯t want to be one of those guys who makes a kid and then disappears. I wish you would have told me earlier, though. I never seriously expected that you¡¯d come home with me, but when we got involved I began to hope.¡±


    She took a breath and let it go. ¡°I should have told you sooner. I wish I had, but then, when everything became dangerous, the moment never seemed to be right. Again, I¡¯m sorry. I shouldn¡¯t have let it go this long, but Tikki wouldn¡¯t have wanted it to end, and sometimes we let our false personalities make decisions. It makes it harder for Destroy to tell the true from the false.¡±


    Cocking his head to look at her as she talked, Marcus said, ¡°Yeah. I can see that. Acting like you don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on will put them off guard.¡±


    They kept on talking and I managed to relax. At least this wasn¡¯t going to blow up. Knowing what Kee had just done, I didn¡¯t want to see her angry¡ªif only because I might have just broken up her strongest relationship in the last thousand years.


    Next to me, Rachel smiled. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a relief to be wrong. They¡¯re doing okay¡ªfor now, anyway. In my experience, what you feel about a breakup comes in waves.¡±


    She stopped, frowned, stared up at the blue sky. ¡°Bad news. This isn¡¯t over. The Ghosts can send warnings to each other and right now I¡¯m seeing a big one. The Ascendancy flagship is positioning itself to fire its railgun at the colony, starting with us.¡±


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    I turned to look at her. ¡°Crap. ¡®Rods from God¡¯.¡±


    She raised her eyebrow. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Cold War era military idea. You shoot telephone pole-sized rods at the surface of a planet and get atomic blast level damage without the radiation. Are the Ghosts going to help?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°They¡¯re busy annihilating the Ascendancy fleet over on the other side of the solar system. A few of them could get here in a few minutes, but the first rod they fire will get here sooner.¡±


    I stopped listening halfway through, trying to connect to Hal. When the connection opened, I didn¡¯t wait for a hello. ¡°You have my express authorization to do anything that works to stop the Ascendancy flagship from shooting a railgun at us.¡±


    Hal¡¯s voice came over my implant. ¡°It is unlikely I¡¯ll cross the distance on time, but firing the main gun might distract them. I¡¯ll run simulations as I go.¡±


    At about the same time, my implant¡¯s emergency setting activated, registering a public announcement. Guessing what might be coming, I opened the message.


    In my mind, I saw someone that could pass as an Ascendancy soldier except that he appeared to be in his fifties or older and wore a black uniform with a pattern of colored triangles in a circular shape. My implant identified him as an admiral and the triangles as medals.


    ¡°This is Admiral Makri Tzin of the Ascendancy fleet. You are in violation of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s laws and will be destroyed. If by some accident, someone on this world survives, be sure that the colony is dead. Tell the Cosmic Ghosts that even if they destroy my ship as they are my fleet, the Ascendancy will endure and thrive. For now, burn rebels, burn.¡±


    I opened a connection to Hal and he took the call, giving me his view of what lay ahead. The Ascendancy flagship was so far in the distance that it was little more than a dot. Hal fired the main gun. It wouldn¡¯t be effective at this range, but it might distract them.


    Admiral Makri Tzin¡¯s voice and image reappeared in the public announcement stream. ¡°We¡¯ve loaded our railgun. This is your final moment. Fire!¡±


    Except then, the admiral frowned, staring downward at what I assumed was a dashboard or control panel. ¡°I said, ¡®fire¡¯!¡±


    Then he paused, turning to look off camera to his right. ¡°What are you doing here? I told you to¡ª¡±


    White light hit his body and the feed went dead.


    Then another public announcement began. I opened it and Four Hands appeared in my view. He stood behind the same console the admiral had been using. Wearing shorts, a short-sleeved shirt, and tool belt instead of his Ascendant Guard uniform, he addressed the viewers.


    ¡°I¡¯m Izzk Sekman, known as ¡®Four Hands¡¯ in the Ascendant Guard where I served the Human Ascendancy for more than ten years. In the Guard, I oppressed people in the Human Ascendancy¡¯s name, much as my people have served the Ascendancy and many others by maintaining their ships.


    ¡°We will do so no longer.¡±

 Trees & Shields: Part 35

    Four Hands looked into the camera or whatever he was using. It might just as easily have been an image captured from his brain by his implant.


    He paused, giving all of us viewing a chance to look at him. Though I¡¯d peg him as being in his late 20s (only a few years older than I was), he had bags under his eyes. I supposed that leading the Ascendancy forces after they¡¯d been destroyed by us, followed by taking over the Ascendancy¡¯s flagship, might be tiring and stressful.


    ¡°If any of the Cosmic Ghosts are listening, I ask you to save as many of my people as you can as you destroy the Ascendancy fleet. We¡¯re not in charge, and we¡¯re as susceptible to motivator commands as any human in the Ascendancy.¡±


    He paused again, taking a breath. ¡°We may even be more susceptible. The Abominators made us for repairing ships and creating new devices. They wanted us to be easy to control and not to do what I just did¡ªrebel and take over using the technical access they entrusted us with.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking the Xiniti, the Alliance military, and the Ghosts to be kind to us. I think you¡¯d find us better allies than you can imagine right now.¡±


    I nudged Rachel, asking her if she had access to the public announcement channel and sent a message to Hal not to attack the Ascendancy flagship. If he used near space to attack, he might well destroy the flagship and that would be awkward.


    Rachel nodded. ¡°I can hear him. I¡¯m doing what I can to pass his message on to the Ghosts. For all I know, they heard him themselves.¡±


    She closed her eyes, mouth a thin line, hands clenched in fists. ¡°I think I got through¡­ And¡­ They just got back to me. They¡¯ll leave the four handers alone. I don¡¯t think they were trying to destroy whole ships anyway. They¡¯ve destroyed engines and weapons, but they left the rest to the Alliance and the Xiniti.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I guess the colony¡¯s safe then. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anyone else fighting.¡±


    Rachel sighed. ¡°Good. They dragged me halfway across the galaxy to help you. I was supposed to start some kind of internship or something. I only barely got up to speed on that when the Ghosts yanked me out of there¡ªwhich is annoying because it was looking interesting.¡±


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    ¡°Who was it with?¡±


    ¡°Some kind of super covert ops team. I don¡¯t think I can say anything even out here. They sounded like the kind of thing I might protest if I found out about it in the news, but it also sounds like they try to do the right thing¡­ I think I¡¯d enjoy working with them.¡±


    I thought about that. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t take that long to get back if you ride with us¡ªa little over a week. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s faster or slower than the Ghosts.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I think it might have taken longer for us to get here than that, but they were also showing me the ropes for interstellar flight. I haven¡¯t got it all down yet, but when I do, I can cross a galaxy without a spaceship. Of course, I¡¯ll also be part of some kind of interdimensional force for good. So it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll be doing that for fun. Anyway, I¡¯ll probably fly back with all of you. No promises, but the way I understand it, I¡¯ve got a long way to go before I¡¯m even with the least powerful Ghost.¡±


    Around us, the colonists were tending to their wounded and even a few of the Ascendancy wounded, applying goos and sprays that would start whole new industries back home if I got a sample. It was tempting, but medicine wasn¡¯t a major interest. Grabbing one of the Xiniti suits and taking it apart sounded like more fun, but I knew I had to ask permission if I wanted to do that.


    Closer to the shelter, a couple colonists appeared to be replanting Crawls-Through-Desert in a big ceramic box. It appeared makeshift. Only two of the sides were the same color (pastel green) and none of the sides were flush. They all stuck out a little further than they needed to¡ªas it might if they were in a hurry because a plant might die.


    It didn¡¯t float. A flat, floating platform hung in the air next to it. Too bad they¡¯d filled the box with dirt before putting it on. It wouldn¡¯t be much trouble for the Rocket suit, though.


    I told Rachel that I was going to help them and started walking that way, passing Jaclyn who was petting the dog. Cassie, Kee, Marcus, and Katuk were talking with the Xiniti. Rachel joined that conversation.


    It didn¡¯t take me much to get Crawls-Through-Desert on the gravity sled. He didn¡¯t say much, but one of the colonists assured me he¡¯d be fine. ¡°Moving from one pot to another is a huge shock to the system for them, but give him a couple of days and he¡¯ll be okay. His wounds aren¡¯t bad, but his pot was unfixable.¡±


    Kals stepped out of the shelter. I began to ask, ¡°How¡¯s your mom,¡± but stopped halfway through.


    The blank look on her face answered my question before she said, ¡°She¡¯s dead. They finished the surgery, but they couldn¡¯t save her.¡±


    She stood there, unmoving either because she didn¡¯t know what to do or maybe because she was waiting for me to do something. I didn¡¯t know. I did set the armor to transform into a block. Wearing it felt wrong.


    As it fell away, she said, ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do. I can¡¯t be her. I¡¯m not going to take over for her. I was even thinking of asking if I could leave with all of you¡­ But that doesn¡¯t feel right.¡±


    She looked down at the ground. ¡°I wish we were normal people. Then she¡¯d never have been involved with any of this.¡±

 Trees & Shields: Part 36

    Possible responses hung in my head, most of them bad. I settled on, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I wish we could have done something, but none of us are any good at healing.¡±


    I thought back to my friend Alex. He was good at healing. It would have been nice if the Ghosts had grabbed him along with Rachel. He couldn¡¯t have survived the trip without a spaceship, and everything I knew through my implant and Rachel said that they didn¡¯t bother with them.


    Kals shook her head. ¡°Iolan could have done it if he had access to all his equipment. The Ascendancy killed her in more ways than one. I hate them. I don¡¯t know how, but somehow we have to destroy them. Not everybody, but the Ascendant and the Ascendant Council, the Guard¡­ It all needs to end.¡±


    ¡°Iolan seemed to think that grabbing Marcus¡¯ DNA would be a start.¡±


    Kals laughed. ¡°Yeah. In 300 or 400 years, we¡¯ll have them on their knees. I¡¯m sorry, but right now I don¡¯t want to wait that long.¡±


    ¡°Good point,¡± I searched for something else that might distract her. ¡°Four Hands seems to be starting something sooner. I gave him some of my tech that he thought might help. If the resistance talks to him, maybe you could coordinate. He¡¯s still in the solar system. He¡¯ll probably stay until he picks up all of his people on the other Ascendancy battleships. I don¡¯t know where he¡¯s going after that.¡±


    She looked up toward space. ¡°I¡¯ll have to bug our Council about that. We should talk to him. I don¡¯t know why no one thought to talk to four handers before. If anybody should hate the Ascendancy, they should. They¡¯re dying in Ascendancy ships even if they don¡¯t care who they¡¯re fighting.¡±


    Turning to look at the shelter and then back at me, she said, ¡°With Mom dead, I feel like I have to take over what she¡¯s left unfinished. There¡¯s too much of it. I know I don¡¯t have to do it all on my own, but even if I don¡¯t lead the movement myself being visible will help keep it together. That¡¯s what I¡¯ve got to give that no one else does. I can show people that her presence can still be felt here.¡±


    She looked up at me. ¡°How long are you all going to stay?¡±


    ¡°Not long,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ve all got to get home. We¡¯ll do what we can to help, but the mission¡¯s over. I¡¯ve got classes to get back to. So does my sister. And I feel like I should tell you that we¡¯re not from where we said. I can¡¯t tell you where we are from, but not that.¡±


    She laughed again. ¡°I figured that out on my own. Wherever you¡¯re from, you¡¯re not from an Ascendancy world. You don¡¯t act like us and even though you know about us, it¡¯s like you¡¯re reading it from a book. You were leaning on your implant for everything.


    ¡°Even if I hadn¡¯t guessed from that, your sister is with the Cosmic Ghosts and Tikki or Kee or whatever-she-is just wasted all the Ascendancy troops at once? Nobody does that. What are you really? Are you even human? I know your DNA¡¯s got Artificer DNA in it.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know right now. I¡¯ll let you know when I find out. If I¡¯m somehow connected to the Artificers it shouldn¡¯t be that hard, right?¡±


    ¡°Are you going to stay for her funeral?¡± Kals stood, waiting for my answer.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not. Unless you have a tradition that requires we wait here for months.¡±


    Kals shook her head. ¡°No. We have the funeral and then cremate the dead and we do it within a day or two.¡±


    ¡°We can stay for that,¡± I said, and we did, leaving the planet three days later with Jaclyn, Marcus, Cassie, Rachel, and I. We also brought Tiger. The dog wasn¡¯t too big yet, but I had no idea what we¡¯d do with him when he reached full growth. I didn¡¯t even know what we¡¯d feed him.


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    Katuk went back with the Xiniti, telling us that, ¡°Perhaps I¡¯ll visit your home someday.¡±


    Kee disappeared during the cleanup after the fight. We didn¡¯t see her again, but she did talk with Marcus before she disappeared. He didn¡¯t give any details about what she¡¯d said. ¡°It¡¯s personal,¡± he told us. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t mean much to you anyway.¡±


    He didn¡¯t say more than a few words at a time for the first few days of the flight back home.


    * * *


    We didn¡¯t go back the same way. We stopped at K¡¯Tepolu briefly, but Kee wasn¡¯t back yet according to the people at her store. I made a quick call without telling Marcus. I wasn¡¯t sure what I would have done if she¡¯d come back, but I felt compelled to check.


    We avoided the solar system and old battle site where Lee had sensed one of his own kind, but found Lee in a backwater system we were cutting through to avoid observation. Hal got a message and using the coordinates we¡¯d been given, we matched speed with Lee and got close enough that he could pull himself into the airlock.


    He spotted Tiger immediately, and said, ¡°Interesting.¡±


    The dog growled at him. Ignoring it, he grinned at Rachel, ¡°Nice to see you getting in touch with family.¡±


    Rachel leaned back in her chair and folded her hands over her chest. ¡°It might have been nice to know earlier.¡±


    Lee shrugged. ¡°It wasn¡¯t my place. The Ghosts tell their recruits what they need to know at their own pace.¡±


    Rachel nodded. ¡°No shit. A slow pace.¡±


    I turned back from my place in the pilot seat to look at him. ¡°What were you doing?¡±


    Lee found a seat and pulled on a seat belt. ¡°This and that. I created a powerful distraction, one that exists in more than one universe, making it impossible for my people to guess which universe¡¯s distraction is the important one.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Cassie grinned at him. ¡°It¡¯d be nice if we get home to find a planet instead of a smoking ruin. And by the way, we succeeded too.¡±


    ¡°Mostly,¡± Jaclyn stretched her legs in her seat. She¡¯d been complaining about soreness in her thigh, but it was healing.


    Lee sat up in his chair. ¡°I know. I saw some of it. I didn¡¯t get too close. I couldn¡¯t risk Kee sensing me, and to be honest, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she did anyway.¡±


    Turning in his chair, Marcus said, ¡°If she did, she didn¡¯t say so.¡±


    Nodding, Lee said, ¡°She wouldn¡¯t. She¡¯s careful. But anyway, I can¡¯t deny it, you did everything you needed to do. You didn¡¯t know that you were doing most of what you were doing, but you succeeded nonetheless.¡±


    There, he had my full attention (and Jaclyn¡¯s to guess from her look at him), ¡°What did we do that we weren¡¯t trying to do?¡±


    Lee met my eyes and gave a wide smile. ¡°A number of very important tasks that I couldn¡¯t be seen doing. First, you got the Earth genes necessary to break down the Ascendancy caste system to a group that will use them to do that. Second, you connected the nascent fourhander rebellion with the Alliance and the Ascendancy¡¯s rebels. Third, you connected yourselves and by extension me, with an old friend of mine, one that wouldn¡¯t have known whether or not she could trust me if I showed up on my own. Now, even if she never said so, Kee knows that I¡¯m working with you and against Destroy.¡±


    He looked around the cabin, meeting eyes with all of us. ¡°Because of you, the Ascendancy will fall in 100 years at most, possibly as soon as fifty. Plus, Kee will find a way to get in touch with me. She¡¯s resourceful that way. Once that happens, I¡¯ll be able to find out what the Live faction¡¯s been up to for the last few eons. I don¡¯t know where that will lead me, but I¡¯m sure it will be interesting.¡±


    Sitting up, Marcus strained against his seatbelt. ¡°Are you kidding me? Did you use us? Was this all part of some kind of plan?¡±


    Lee looked him in the face. ¡°Exactly. It¡¯s part of a plan that keeps Earth the least interesting planet on this side of the galaxy, thereby keeping it alive for thousands of years longer than if Destroy noticed it.¡±


    Frowning, Marcus said, ¡°When you put it that way, I¡¯m okay with it.¡±


    ¡°You and me both,¡± Cassie said. ¡°Big picture, everyone, Big picture.¡±


    Not long after that, we stopped talking. Hours, days and many jumps later, we arrived home, joining Stapledon for the rest of the summer.


    As grateful as I was to be home and see Daniel, Haley, and everyone else, I dreamed of Hideaway--the good and the bad, the battles we fought, and the people we knew. I remembered the scent of its forest, the roars of its migrating megafauna, the sizzle of handheld beam weapons, the ashes of the last battle, and the many, many deaths.


    While I didn¡¯t find myself diving for cover at the sound of car backfires, I felt that my memories had a weight to them and wondered how people did this job for 20 years.


    Grandpa, I knew, had done it for nearly 40 years even though I knew he remembered things he''d rather have forgotten. If you had a reason to do it, you found a way to continue.

 For His Own Good: Part 1

    Dr. Strazinsky stood in front of the class, staring down at the pile of paper in his hands. Then he looked at me, making me wonder what I''d done.


    This was my Calculus III class, one of the few prerequisites I hadn¡¯t comped out of. I was only taking it during my Junior year because of some annoying scheduling issues between my double major in electrical engineering and chemistry.


    The professor took a long breath and looked out at the class. From his appearance, I guessed that he had to be in his thirties, but he felt older. I didn¡¯t know whether it was the tan suit jacket with tie and slacks, or the slightly balding hair.


    Whatever it was, if you were hoping for a young, charismatic professor, this wasn¡¯t your guy.


    That¡¯s not to say that I didn¡¯t like him. I did like him. He seemed smart, knowledgeable, and good enough at explaining the material. I didn¡¯t need anything else in a professor.


    He looked directly at me again¡ªmaking me wonder what was going on, back down at the papers, and then back to the class. Then he began to talk.


    ¡°I know that no one enjoys taking a quiz on the first day of class, but I like to know what people actually remember from Calculus 2. As a class, you did well¡ªwell enough that I¡¯m comfortable starting without too much review. So, we¡¯re going to go over the quiz. Feel free to ask about anything you want, but I¡¯ll go over the quiz in order.¡±


    About a quarter of the class raised their hands. Dr. Strazinsky blinked but pointed to a blond guy wearing a blue and gold University of Michigan t-shirt.


    The guy said, ¡°What was up with that last question? I had no idea where to even start. I¡¯ve never seen that covered anywhere. That¡¯s not part of this class, is it?¡±


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    The prof shook his head, smiling a little. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that question. You¡¯ll never see anything like that again. It¡¯s not part of this class. It¡¯s not part of any class you¡¯ll ever take in this university. I put it on the quiz to see how you¡¯d try to solve it and not because I thought you could find the answer. It¡¯s not something an undergrad should be able to solve. Most PhDs don¡¯t have the necessary background. So, don¡¯t worry about it. In fact, don¡¯t worry about this quiz. It won¡¯t be part of your grade.¡±


    Then he passed back the stapled piles of paper.


    As the stack of quizzes passed from one person to another, my stomach began to ache. I¡¯d thought back to the last class, trying to remember the question, but I couldn¡¯t. Nothing in it had seemed hard and the last question hadn¡¯t stood out from the crowd.


    Maybe, I told myself, I hadn¡¯t noticed it. If it were on the back of the last page, it would have been easy to miss. I¡¯d done that sort of thing before.


    Except then I thought about the looks the prof had been giving me. I hadn¡¯t missed it. I¡¯d probably answered it strangely. Using the implant the Xiniti had installed in my head, I¡¯d been investigating advances that aliens had made in math. Even with the implant, I didn¡¯t have the background to understand all of it, but I¡¯d made a good beginning. I''d have made a better one if the Xiniti were more interested in physics and less interested in war.


    Off the top of my head, I decided that all I¡¯d have to do is explain some of the shortcuts I¡¯d taken or maybe offer a proof for one or more of them.


    Then I got the quiz back. I flipped it over to look at the back of the last page. It was blank. I hadn¡¯t missed the last question.


    I opened it to the last page and looked at my scribbled answer. It seemed simple enough. The question asked the reader to solve for the value of a variable assuming other values that the question defined.


    Then I recognized where I knew the equation from. It was a type of equation used in calculating the distance a jump drive would send a spaceship. I¡¯d learned a lot about them early in the summer when I¡¯d taught myself the basics about jump drives.


    It wasn¡¯t impossible that someone on Earth would come up with an equation like this. The math needed to put something into practice often predates a need to use it. At the same time, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how it had gotten on my quiz.


    It was only at that point that I noticed the words, ¡°See me after class,¡± written next to the answer I''d written on my paper.


    It appeared that I was about to find out.

 For His Own Good: Part 2

    When class let out, I waited for everyone else to leave¡ªwhich also meant waiting for five people with questions and others who wanted to add or drop the class. By the time that was done, the next class was already beginning to file into the room with their professor.


    Dr. Strazinsky looked over at me as I stood there. ¡°Would you mind walking to my office before we say anything about your quiz?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Sure.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t as if he was attempting to lure me back there so that he could murder me¡ªprobably. Deep in my psyche, I couldn¡¯t rule it out even though a more realistic part of my brain knew that was ridiculous. Even if he did want to murder me, his office in the math department was next to every other math professor in the university¡¯s office.


    Plus, even though I looked like a typical college student wearing nothing more than a backpack, jeans, and a t-shirt, the clothes, and backpack transformed into a thin layer of powered armor. I referred to it as the stealth suit to distinguish it from my main armor. I¡¯d been improving it throughout June, July and August.


    Part of me wondered if that whole line of thinking was paranoid, but I¡¯d spent the first month of summer break fighting in a war zone. Planning for the worst seemed like a reasonable way to avoid it.


    We didn¡¯t talk as we walked to the math department. Neither of us were much interested in making small talk, I assumed¡ªthat or I¡¯d missed his attempt to make conversation because I was too deeply involved in my own thoughts.


    The math department was an open room with a desk for the secretary in the middle, a wall of mail slots for professors that stood behind her and counters with a copier, and other departmental resources lying everywhere. Posters about math, academic scholarships, and off-campus programs covered the walls except for the professors¡¯ doors. The doors showed the professors¡¯ names as well as cartoons featuring math-related humor and whatever the professor felt compelled to announce to visitors.


    Dr. Strazinsky¡¯s was bare except for his name, a piece of paper showing his schedule, and few XKCD cartoons. He opened the stained wooden door and I followed him in, sitting across the desk from him.


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    Unlike some profs, his office felt organized. The books were all on bookshelves instead of threatening to consume the desk and the chairs. Photographs of his wife and children sat the corners of his desk which was clear except for his laptop.


    His diplomas hung on the wall above the smaller of his three bookcases. He¡¯d gone to the University of California¡ªBerkeley as an undergrad and to Princeton for graduate school.


    I wasn¡¯t up on the standings of US mathematics departments, but I suspected that those two were in the top tier, making me wonder what he was doing here. Grand Lake University was in the top third of US universities, but I doubted any of our programs were in the top tier.


    I supposed that the merely good graduates of great universities needed to teach somewhere?


    Dr. Strazinsky cleared his throat. ¡°I suppose you¡¯re wondering why I wrote what I did on your test.¡±


    ¡°A little.¡± I tried to sound innocent and upbeat. Keeping my responses short would reveal as little as possible.


    ¡°You answered it correctly and not only that, you used a shortcut that I¡¯d never seen before. If you¡¯d pull out your quiz, I can show you.¡±


    I put in on the desk and he pointed to where I¡¯d shown my work.


    ¡°There,¡± he said. ¡°When I thought it through, I understood why it worked, but I don¡¯t know how you know why it worked.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. My grandfather was an engineer and he tutored me in math when I was younger. He taught me a lot of shortcuts and I might have built on some of them.¡±


    That much was true, but I couldn¡¯t lean on that too hard or he might make a connection between the original Rocket and my grandfather¡ªwhich wouldn¡¯t take a big leap to connect the current Rocket with me.


    He looked at me, taking a short breath. ¡°Is your grandfather still alive?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°He died three years ago¡ªbefore my senior year of high school.¡±


    He exhaled, his head tilting downward a touch, becoming visibly less tense. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that and please don¡¯t take this wrong, but that¡¯s a relief. That means that he wasn''t the man who created the equation I used. During graduate school, I did some work for the government, mostly the FBI. Sometimes they recover journals or plans by supervillains who are technical geniuses and they need someone to figure out what they were working on. I¡¯ve helped with the math.¡±


    He stopped, smiling as if that explained all of it.


    ¡°Uh,¡± I paused as if struggling to figure out what to ask, ¡°how does that connect with the quiz?¡±


    He blinked. ¡°Oh. With permission, I sometimes use bits of what I read in tests and quizzes. I modify them a little so that I don¡¯t give away anything important, but if I need a hard question to separate the best grades from the next best, I use one of them.¡±


    That surprised me. It didn¡¯t seem likely that the FBI would be okay with random bits of future technology being shared with the world. That meant that Dr. Strazinsky was either lying about having permission or lying about why he was doing it.

 For His Own Good: Part 3

    ¡°They¡¯re okay with that?¡± It seemed like something I could ask. The Galactic Alliance requirement that we couldn¡¯t copy their technology had passed into general knowledge.


    Dr. Strazinsky nodded. ¡°The aliens aren¡¯t as concerned about the math as the technology. I like to think that I¡¯m exploiting a loophole in the system. Don¡¯t tell anybody. The administration might get nervous.¡±


    I thought about that. I¡¯d heard of people doing that kind of thing in STEM courses. Our scientists and engineers seemed to be more bothered by the Alliance¡¯s version of Star Trek¡¯s Prime Directive than your average guy.


    You could argue that the idea had some wisdom behind it. If a world got technology before they¡¯d had any chance think through the technology¡¯s potential impact, they might destroy themselves before they figured out how to integrate the new technology into their culture.


    I knew of at least one alien race that was deliberately passing out new technology that would be far outside any species¡¯ natural technological development. They were counting on younger species¡¯ lack of experience to destroy those species.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± I could play the clueless undergrad as well as anyone.


    He smiled and in a voice that was likely intended to be reassuring, he said, ¡°Yes. There¡¯s nothing to worry about. Better minds than mine cleared the idea.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said and tried to think of something that would help me understand what was going on here.


    The only thing that came to mind was, ¡°Which super villain was it?¡±


    Keeping his voice low, he said, ¡°The Master Martian¡ªnot the first one. The second.¡±


    My implant didn¡¯t give me a massive brain dump worth of information. So either the Xiniti didn¡¯t know anything about the second Master Martian or I didn¡¯t yet have the right information to trigger recognition.


    Still, it made sense in a way that someone whose schtick was claiming to be the son of the last Martian might be working with jump drive math.


    My grandfather and his best friend, Giles Hardwick, had fought the first Master Martian and won back when they were twelve or something.


    I frowned. ¡°The second Master Martian¡­ Is he still out there?¡±


    Dr. Strazinsky nodded. ¡°The last I heard. We were studying his journal to find out what he was up to next. I don¡¯t know what the others learned, though. I only got the sections with math.¡±


    I thought about that, remembering an unrelated but important event that I didn¡¯t want to miss at home. ¡°Is that it?¡±


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    Sitting back in his chair, Dr. Strazinsky said, ¡°Yes. That¡¯s it. You¡¯re the only one who¡¯s ever solved that calculation. That means that you¡¯re either brilliant or that you¡¯re very smart and happen to have the right background. Either way, people are going to be watching what you do. Make the best choices you can, ones that you¡¯ll be able to live with later.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, not sure why he felt compelled to start giving advice. ¡°I try to make the best choices I can.¡±


    Then we said goodbye and I left, unsure of what had happened there. All I knew for sure was that contacting Isaac Lim to find out if he knew something about Dr. Strazinsky was now on my list of things that needed to be done. That and checking if the Federal databases we had access to included anything about him.


    I¡¯d be able to do something about that sooner rather than later because I wasn¡¯t living on campus this year, meaning that it was time to go home.


    I stopped by the parking garage and grabbed my van, driving across Grand Lake in about ten minutes. It wasn¡¯t a bad drive. I had the window open because it was still in the first week of September. The temperature was in the low seventies, the grass green, and sometimes, when the highway ran alongside it, I smelled the lake.


    I rolled up to the small, white 1920s bungalow I¡¯d inherited from my grandfather and drove inside the garage. The van barely fit. Making my way past the shovels, rakes, trimmer and other implements of lawn care that hung on the wooden wall, I crossed the distance to the house and walked through the door.


    No one greeted me and I hadn¡¯t expected anyone to. My grandfather was three years gone by now and the only one of my housemates that was home right now was waiting downstairs.


    I took the hidden elevator down into the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s headquarters. When the elevator opened, I stepped into the main room. Over the last year, it had come to look like a working superhero base again. We¡¯d long since removed the cardboard boxes of memorabilia and placed them out of sight. Bearing in mind that one of the trophies our grandparents had collected had actually contained the disembodied essence of a supervillain, we¡¯d gone over all the other trophies by technical and later magical means to make sure there wouldn¡¯t be any more surprises.


    As of now, none of the weapons on display worked. The big, black and silver disc that I referred to as the starplate still worked, but I¡¯d set up a system that should allow us to catch anything that appeared on it whether we were there or not.


    On the other side of the room stood a huge screen and in front of it several tables with smaller screens, but that was a long ways away.


    The people were over here with me. As I stepped out, I heard Kayla say, ¡°People should have been here by now. I hope nothing¡¯s wrong. They haven¡¯t called for backup or anything¡ªoh, it¡¯s Nick. So, I¡¯m guessing that everyone¡¯s just late.¡±


    Two figures stood in HQ¡¯s open kitchen area. Kayla was the smaller of the two. Tan with shoulder length, dark hair, thin, and a little taller than average for a woman, Kayla wore a gray Heroes¡¯ League costume as she had at work for the past year.


    Next to her stood Tara. Unlike Kayla, Tara wore street clothes (jeans and a green blouse) and carried a duffel bag. Two big suitcases stood next to her.


    Maybe an inch taller than me, Tara¡¯s shoulders were a little wider than many women the same size and her arms and legs hinted at muscle. Knowing what she was¡ªthe offspring of two nearly identical lines of genetically engineered super soldier¡ªher size and strength made sense.


    What I¡¯d never understood is why the designer of the True had made them attractive. With dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and wide lips, Tara could have modeled.


    If I were making super soldiers, I wouldn¡¯t have made them stand out so much.

 For His Own Good: Part 4

    And like all of the True, Tara stood out a lot. Unlike most superheroes, she had the physique women have in comic books¡ªthin but with larger than average breasts, a look few women have in real life without plastic surgery. Female martial artists, for example, tended to be thin everywhere¡ªthough the ones that did look like Tara got a lot of attention online.


    All of which is a long way to say that if I had to bet, I¡¯d bet that the True¡¯s designer was a straight guy.


    On the other hand, I supposed that if the men were just as attractive, the designer might have been a gay man or a straight woman, making a female True¡¯s appearance accidental.


    I didn¡¯t share any of that with Tara. When I stepped into the kitchen area, she put down her duffel bag next to her suitcases and stepped forward to hug me, talking quickly, almost into my ear even as she pulled me close. As high pitched as her voice went, that was on the edge of uncomfortable.


    ¡°Thank you, I¡¯m so grateful to be here. I thought I¡¯d never find a place to do my residency.¡±


    Tara wasn¡¯t as strong as either Haley or Cassie, but I felt the material in my shirt tighten to protect me anyway.


    She noticed too and loosened her grip, still talking. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to do that. You¡¯re okay, right?¡±


    I smiled at her as she let go. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Cassie sometimes punches me in the shoulder to get my attention. That hurts.¡±


    She smiled back. ¡°Okay, good. It¡¯s not good that it hurts when she punches you, but I¡¯m glad you weren¡¯t hurt by me. Sorry, I¡¯m so scattered right now. I could be more like I am in class, but I don¡¯t like being that detached all the time.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine. Be comfortable. If things are anything like they¡¯ve been for the past four years, you¡¯ll spend more time fighting than you expect.¡±


    I glanced over at Kayla who was watching the two of us. ¡°Did you end up showing her around?¡±


    Kayla shook her head. ¡°You told me you¡¯d do it or Vaughn would.¡±


    I frowned, wondering where Vaughn was. It wasn¡¯t out of character for him to be late, but he was generally better with something like this. Well, whatever, he was living at the house this year too. He¡¯d be here eventually.


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    And anyway, Tara and I got along. We¡¯d both assisted Lee in teaching fighting as well as attending his advanced classes at Stapledon. Showing her around wouldn¡¯t be a big deal. She¡¯d be spending the next year with us.


    I shrugged. ¡°Then I guess I¡¯m doing it.¡±


    Kayla let out a breath. ¡°Good. Then I¡¯m going back to my station. Marcus and Haley are going out on patrol tonight and they¡¯re starting from campus. They might start early and I¡¯ve got to be ready.¡±


    She turned to Tara. ¡°It was nice to meet to you. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll enjoy working together. I hope they start you a little slower than they did me.¡±


    Then she added. ¡°At least you''re prepared for it. That would have been nice.¡±


    After a look in my direction, she added, ¡°Talk to you later,¡± and walked toward the big screen and computers on the other side of the room.


    Tara watched her walk away and then looked at me, a hint of a smile on her lips. ¡°She¡¯s got a story to tell.¡±


    I checked in Kayla¡¯s direction. She was passing the first group of trophy cases. That ought to be out of earshot.


    ¡°We brought her along when we fought the Cabal with the idea that she¡¯d help coordinate us. She was in powered armor and not in the front lines, but she was still too close to the action. They took her out. Plus, after she started working, we had the alien invasion and she was right in the middle of it. I only found out later.¡±


    Tara took another look in Kayla¡¯s direction. ¡°She¡¯s got a lot of spirit if that didn¡¯t scare her off.¡±


    I flashed back to another memory. ¡°She kept her head during the dinosaur invasion. She was steady when we needed steadiness. She¡¯s been better than we could have realistically hoped when Cassie suggested she could help.¡±


    Tara smiled. ¡°Good. I like her.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± I said, ¡°but you never say anything bad about anybody.¡±


    Giving my shoulder a punch that was more of a tap, Tara grinned at me. ¡°But she¡¯s still nice. That¡¯s a good thing.¡±


    I showed her around HQ¡ªthe hangar where we kept the League jet (which was semi-secretly a spaceship) and the other vehicles, the command center across the room, the storage rooms (though I didn¡¯t open the ones with Abominator weapons), the exits to the tunnels, and we finished in the lab. I pointed out the stairway down to HQ¡¯s basement, a giant, long term fallout shelter from the Cold War.


    ¡°We don¡¯t use it for anything,¡± I told her as we walked into the lab and pulled out stools. ¡°It¡¯s full of bedding and dehydrated food. Grandpa thought people might stay in here for a year or more if there were a nuclear war. We should throw it all out. The food might be edible, but it doesn¡¯t seem likely that we¡¯ll need it now.¡±


    Her brows furrowed. If she wanted to, Tara could pull details that she¡¯d never consciously noticed into detailed analysis. World events weren¡¯t her strength, but she could try.


    ¡°You can throw it away. The kind of catastrophe that would force people to live here isn¡¯t likely anymore.¡± Her voice came out flatter than usual, but then reverted to normal as she continued to talk.


    ¡°But that¡¯s not what I¡¯m really wondering about. Are you still thinking about quitting?¡±


    The real strength of her power was to predict opponent¡¯s next moves or guess at thoughts friends weren¡¯t mentioning to anybody.


    ¡°Less now than when we got back,¡± I said.

 For His Own Good: Part 5

    Tara nodded. ¡°I hope so. At first, when you got back, you didn¡¯t have any enthusiasm for anything but going to your lab. You did everything Lee asked you to, but only just enough. And you left as soon as you could after the class ended.¡±


    I remembered it from another angle. After we¡¯d gotten back, it was hard not to see our fighting lessons for what they were¡ªa way to keep us alive and take the other guy out of the fight.


    If you¡¯d asked me before I¡¯d left, I would have said the same thing, but at the time I hadn¡¯t seen people die because they¡¯d made a mistake or felt how close the line was between death and survival.


    I wasn¡¯t even sure why I felt so much worse after getting back from Hideaway than after fighting the Hrrnna in New York or the sentient dinosaurs from whatever parallel world that had been. I had theories. Fighting the Hrrnna had been an afternoon instead of weeks. I¡¯d killed more thinking beings when I¡¯d fought the dinosaurs. We¡¯d practically nuked them multiple times.


    At Hideaway, we¡¯d lost or almost lost people I knew.


    I couldn¡¯t say that I¡¯d known or even liked Jadzen Akri, Hideaway¡¯s leader very much, but I¡¯d known her daughter, Kals. We¡¯d stayed for the funeral and I could tell that Kals felt her death. She wasn¡¯t the only one who¡¯d died.


    Between running from one place to another, hiding in a cavern,and fighting, I could think of at least a dozen faces that might or might not have survived the battles there. I could think of more that I knew were dead.


    Maybe it was that? Maybe it was all the running and hiding or the period in which we didn¡¯t know who was spying on us? Whatever it was, it went on for a long time.


    ¡°Plus, you zoned out even more than normal,¡± Tara said.


    She didn¡¯t need to add, ¡°Like you are right now.¡± That was clear enough from context.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you much about what happened, did I?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t say anything and I didn¡¯t ask. I thought you¡¯d talk about it when you talked about it.¡± She stopped, sitting across from me on a stool, leaning a little on the counter next to it.


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    Knowing Tara, that was the request. Sometimes she was indirect about wanting things. I told her the story, starting as Jaclyn, Marcus, Cassie, Lee and I flew away from Earth, visiting the Xiniti and getting implants put into our heads. I described escorting the colony ship to Hideaway and the battle with the Human Ascendancy that followed it.


    Tara didn¡¯t interrupt me often, but she did ask questions. I did my best to answer them, finally getting to the end and our flight away from Hideaway. ¡°And that¡¯s pretty much everything. After that, we landed at Stapledon and all of you saw us. I was relieved to be home. I don¡¯t even know how to say how glad I was to be out of there¡ªwhich is funny. I still dream I¡¯m back there some nights.¡±


    She nodded, looking into my eyes. ¡°I know what you mean. I don¡¯t know how much Rachel told you, but I was born in Infinity City. My mom and dad and I spent our entire lives on the run because my parents were like Romeo and Juliet. The True are obsessed with remaining exactly as they were designed and not mixing our genes with outsiders which includes True from parallel universes, no matter how much like us they seem to be.


    ¡°We lived in constant fear because they were looking for us and if they found us both of my parents¡¯ people would have killed me on the spot because of what I am and then each of them. Even though I spent my whole childhood in fear and even though they did kill my mom, Infinity City is still home. I still dream of it, the good and the bad, more often the good now.¡±


    ¡°Hideaway wasn¡¯t my home,¡± I said. ¡°It happened to be a place where I got stuck.¡±


    She gave a small smile. ¡°What¡¯s important is that¡¯s it¡¯s normal to miss it even though it was horrible when you were there. It will fade and you¡¯ll feel better.¡±


    ¡°It already has. At least a little bit. I didn¡¯t mean to go on this long about it.¡± I tried to think if I had told anyone else the whole story before. I¡¯d told parts to Haley and Daniel had probably picked up more than I was aware of.


    Leaning back, Tara brushed hair out of her eyes. ¡°I think we all need to talk about our lives and especially the bad experiences¡ªyou too.¡±


    ¡°Do you?¡± I watched for her reaction.


    She laughed. ¡°Not too often. I¡¯m careful about who it is. It¡¯s safer that way. And not to change the subject, but thanks again for letting me do my residency here. I don¡¯t know where I would have done one otherwise. I don¡¯t have many connections outside of Infinity City.¡±


    As I began to respond, my phone and the nearest computer beeped. When I checked the screen, it showed the FBI¡¯s seal and the words ¡°Agent Isaac Lim.¡±


    That was interesting. I¡¯d intended to call him about Dr. Strazinsky, but I hadn¡¯t yet had a chance to do it.


    ¡°That looks important. I¡¯ll step outside.¡± Tara got out of her chair and left the lab.


    I¡¯d have invited her to stay, but given the conversation I was about to have, it was probably better that she left.

 For His Own Good: Part 6

    That left me alone in the lab with tools, tables, the machines I used to fabricate parts, and the computers I used to design and monitor the machines.


    I reached out and used the nearest mouse to click to accept the call.


    The picture changed from the FBI seal to Agent Lim¡¯s actual FBI office¡ªwhich could have passed for a professor¡¯s. By that I¡¯m not talking about Dr. Strazinsky¡¯s which was organized and clean, I¡¯m talking about the sort of professor where you have to take books or piles of paper off one of the chairs if you want to sit down.


    His desk had several piles of paper on it, most of the paper inside thick manila folders. He also had a few Heroes¡¯ League action figures on the desk, one of them an older one from the 1970s. The rest had been manufactured within the past year. The board had shown us the designs and asked us for our opinions.


    Isaac Lim grinned at the camera from behind his desk. ¡°Nick, you¡¯re going to be surprised to hear it, but you just made my life a little easier.¡±


    I moved the mouse so that the pointer no longer rested on his face. ¡°Really? That does surprise me. It seems like I mostly make your life more complicated.¡±


    He laughed hard at that. ¡°You¡¯re a superhero. Making my life more complicated is a given, but sometimes it makes my life easier in a completely different way. Case in point, you¡¯re now on a list that you probably didn¡¯t even know existed.¡±


    Beyond whatever list Stapledon program students got on, I didn¡¯t know of any other, so he was almost certainly right about that. ¡°What list?¡±


    He leaned forward toward the camera. ¡°The Bureau calls it ¡®The Mad Scientist List,¡¯ but that¡¯s not the real name. The real name is the ¡®National Atypical Intellect Threat Assessment List.¡¯ Basically, it¡¯s a list of anyone who shows evidence of being smart to the point that they¡¯re a threat to national security.¡±


    ¡°How did I get on that¡ª¡± I didn¡¯t even finish my question before figuring it out. ¡°Did Dr. Strazinsky report me to you?¡±


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    Lim nodded. ¡°More or less. It¡¯s bigger than that, though. Dr. Strazinsky and other profs like him routinely slip questions that normal college students would find it impossible to answer into their classes.¡±


    ¡°And people like me fall for it and answer. Are the questions from supervillains or are they designed by a committee for the purpose of catching people?¡±


    I watched as he smiled a little harder. ¡°Good question. We do have a committee and we do adapt them from equations supervillains created.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°So now what? I¡¯m on the list. What happens now and how does it make your life easier?¡±


    Lim smiled wider if that were possible. ¡°That¡¯s the good part. Once we find people to put on the list, we don¡¯t waste them. We¡¯ve got a Stapledon like program for them, but it¡¯s a little less direct. We direct their energies in ways that will get them a good income and do the country some good. In a few cases, we direct them toward areas where normal people need the help¡ªlike creating spaceships that can go through the alien gates or spaceships that can defend us from aliens attacking.


    ¡°That piece of the program¡¯s newer, but it¡¯s getting results. They used to keep people on this list away from high tech out of fear that they¡¯ll get inspired in a bad way. So far, that hasn¡¯t been an issue.¡±


    He paused, frowned and looked directly into the camera. ¡°Here¡¯s where you come in. We¡¯ve got a joint public/private project where alien technology that¡¯s fallen into our hands is getting analyzed by experienced scientists as well as interns from the mad scientist list. It¡¯s not something that we¡¯d put kids from the Stapledon program into because we don¡¯t want to draw attention to them, but it¡¯s too late for that. You got on that list all by yourself and you¡¯re someone I trust. So I¡¯m sending you in. You need to do an internship for your engineering program at school. This will count. It¡¯s a win-win. We both get something we want. For example, I get to send someone I trust into a program I wouldn¡¯t normally get access to.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°What are you sending me in to investigate?¡±


    Lim stopped smiling. ¡°That¡¯s where this all becomes a little less fun. Some of us in the Bureau have begun to worry that the Nine have their fingers in this particular pie. That¡¯s what you need to find out. And it¡¯s a little more complicated even than that. The Hardwick family companies own a piece of the company that¡¯s in this joint venture. It¡¯s not as if Russell Hardwick himself will show up, but it¡¯s not impossible. You¡¯re going to have to forget you¡¯re the Rocket while you¡¯re on this. Pretend that you¡¯re just a kid with an internship. Don¡¯t take the law into your own hands. Gather information and deliver it to us. That¡¯s it.¡±


    Taking a break from being the Rocket sounded like a relief. Chris had made appearances as the Rocket while I was in space. He might be willing to while I was doing this internship. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m in.¡±

 For His Own Good: Part 7

    The corners of Lim¡¯s mouth went up in what was almost a smile. ¡°I¡¯m glad. You¡¯ve seemed a bit down lately and I wasn¡¯t sure you¡¯d be up for it. I would have been okay if you¡¯d said no. I wouldn¡¯t have been excited about it, but we¡¯d try another route to get at them. You can still say no, by the way. I¡¯ve been in combat and even when you win, it still takes time to heal, physically and mentally.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I think I¡¯m okay. I had a period where I didn¡¯t want to put on the suit after I got back, but this isn¡¯t putting on the suit. It¡¯s kind of the opposite. So, I¡¯ll be okay.¡±


    He looked at me for a few seconds. ¡°That might be the best mindset that you go into this with. If you do discover something they¡¯re doing wrong, we need you to document it¡ªnot stop it. If you feel like they¡¯re onto you, you need to report it to us and we¡¯ll come up with an excuse to get you out of the internship. If something really bad happens and you need to be rescued, let us know. We don¡¯t want you to blow your identity as the Rocket fighting these guys.


    ¡°If it really is the Nine, they might already know or suspect, but there¡¯s no reason to confirm it or to accidentally make it public. We¡¯ll keep a watch on you and be ready to come in if something goes wrong during the operation.¡±


    If the feds were willing to watch me, there wouldn¡¯t be much of a reason to blow my identity. I knew I¡¯d take my own precautions, but if the feds were willing to watch me, it meant I wouldn¡¯t be bringing any of my friends in to help.


    Isaac Lim put his hand up to his lips and then put it down, a gesture I put down to absentmindedness rather than any wish to hush me. ¡°There¡¯s one more issue that you¡¯re going to have to decide on. I could tell you what I think you should do, but part of working with superheroes is knowing that they¡¯ll do whatever they want anyway.


    ¡°So here¡¯s what I need to tell you. You know how I said that Hardwick Industries is an investor in the company that you¡¯ll be working for? Well, they own the building that the company works in and they¡¯re not the only company in the building. It¡¯s part of a medical complex that Hardwick Industries owns and they¡¯ve got a bunch of pre-med interns there. Vaughn, your teammate, is one of them.¡±


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    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, running that through my head and watching as Isaac Lim sat up in his seat, watching my reaction and shaking his head.


    ¡°In your situation, there are two ways to play it. If you think you can trust his judgment and that he¡¯ll put the mission over the good of his family, then tell him what¡¯s going on. He¡¯ll be a powerful asset. If you¡¯re not sure that he can keep it secret or you¡¯re not sure of where his loyalties will lie, then don¡¯t tell him.¡±


    Lim delivered the last line in a low voice that gave it a feeling of finality¡ªat least in my head. I didn¡¯t have much doubt that he¡¯d keep it quiet.


    I remembered the last time that Vaughn felt like I was keeping him out of things. He¡¯d taken it badly and I hadn¡¯t even known he was angry about it until Cassie told me. Even if I couldn¡¯t trust him, I felt like keeping him out of this might cause a permanent rupture between us. Maybe I was overestimating how much it would bother him, but last time I hadn¡¯t even noticed there was a problem.


    It might be that assuming the worst would be wisest.


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind,¡± I said.


    ¡°Keep us informed,¡± Lim said. ¡°Whatever decision you make, we¡¯ve got to know who our people are. If he¡¯s working for us, we¡¯ve got to support him too.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s part of the Heroes¡¯ League either way. I have to tell him about something like this¡ªespecially given how it all played out after Ray and the Cabal went after us. I mean, you remember that Russell Hardwick hired Ray to protect them from the Cabal after he escaped from prison. Someone, maybe you guys, were looking into charging Hardwick after that came out, but the charges were dropped. I always assumed it was because he had money, but if he¡¯s connected to the Nine¡­ Well, Vaughn should know.¡±


    I watched Lim for signs of what he thought as I talked and was a little disappointed. Lim nodded as I talked about Ray, but said nothing.


    When I finished, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s not get ahead of ourselves. We don¡¯t know Russell Hardwick is connected with the Nine. We don¡¯t even know that the company you¡¯ll intern at is connected to them. That¡¯s what we need you to find out.¡±


    Then Lim frowned. "I''ve never known how it was that Hardwick avoided getting charged either."

 For His Own Good: Part 8

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I suppose I should ask what the name of the company I¡¯ll be interning at is then.¡±


    Lim grinned for a second. ¡°No kidding. I like to think I do a better job briefing people than this, but here¡¯s the basics. It¡¯s called ¡®Higher Ground¡¯ which is both a reference to a song the founder liked and to the business¡¯s mission¡ªgetting humanity into space no matter what that takes. It¡¯s a startup that gets money from several sources, Hardwick Industries being the largest investor, but there are others. It¡¯s also getting money from the Defense Department in addition to the alien technology they and other government agencies have collected.¡±


    I rested my hand on my chin, thinking about that. ¡°Why them? Why a startup? I¡¯d half expect that they¡¯d go to GE or some big firm.¡±


    Lim sat back in his desk chair. ¡°That¡¯s a question. You¡¯re not the only one to ask. The surface answer is that Alexander LePage¡ªhe¡¯ll tell you to call him Sandy¡ª is persuasive and he¡¯s hired good people. Below the surface, he¡¯s got connections that have helped him get those people and introduce him around. What we don¡¯t know is where those connections come from¡ªlegitimate or not. Both are possible. We¡¯ll send you more information about the business. You can ask me any questions you want after that. Still in?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve got to do an internship one way or another and I¡¯d want to be in on that if I knew it were legal. So, sure.¡±


    Lim straightened up in his chair. ¡°Makes sense. The internship should count either way. You¡¯ll just be observing after all. Later. Look for our information packet.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll watch for that. Oh, and with regards to the Mad Scientist List¡­ Is some completely different group going to contact me now?¡±


    Shaking his head, Lim said, ¡°That¡¯s all outside the view of the person on the list. You¡¯ll probably find that you have interesting educational opportunities that you didn¡¯t expect for a little while.¡±


    We said goodbye and the connection ended.


    I walked out to find that Tara was playing with Jaclyn¡¯s dog, Tiger. She¡¯d become familiar with him during the summer after we came back from space.


    Covered with short curly hair like a poodle or some terriers, he had jagged black, gray, and orange stripes. About the size of a Great Dane at this point, I hoped he was the runt of the litter. The adult version that I¡¯d seen on the world where Jaclyn had found him reached sizes larger than horses and neared the size of small elephants.


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    Tiger barked at her to throw the ball and she did, causing him to scramble across the basketball court-sized room, dodging trophy cases and a glare from Kayla.


    As he ran back, I noticed that the twenty-foot tall screen on the far wall showed an aerial map of the city with two smaller windows showing first-person views of the city as the people with the cameras swung from building to building.


    I¡¯d thought Kayla said that the patrol started in an hour? Haley and Marcus must have started early. I wondered if they were planning to put any of the footage online. People would get a kick out of it or so we were told by the for-profit wing of the Heroes¡¯ League that licensed out our merchandise. Kid Biohack agreed. He¡¯d had called me recently to offer unsolicited advice about our social media presence.


    He was probably right, but I didn¡¯t want to deal with it.


    I walked over to Tara, reaching her as she was saying, ¡°Who¡¯s a good dog? Yes, you!¡±


    And then she threw the ball again¡ªbecause that¡¯s what genetically modified super-soldiers do when dogs and balls are available, I guess.


    Tiger bounded back across the room, his claws clicking on the concrete and earning Tara a look from Kayla. Tara meanwhile was laughing at the dog¡¯s enthusiasm.


    ¡°He¡¯s so funny,¡± she told me as I stood next to her.


    I asked, ¡°Did they have dogs in Infinity City when you grew up there?¡±


    ¡°Mm-hm,¡± she said, ¡°but they weren¡¯t very nice. There were stray dogs. Most of them were genetic experiments that were specifically programmed to eat human livers. They went around in packs. Then there were the dog-men on block T-59, but they didn¡¯t let anyone in their territory. Plus, there were the cyberhounds. They might not count because they were less than 15% dog. Still, they were friendly sometimes. Oh, and some people had regular dogs, but nowhere near me.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, remembering too late what my sister Rachel had told me¡ªthat all of Tara¡¯s Infinity City memories were nightmare fuel.


    Behind me, I heard the hum of the elevator, saving me the trouble of trying to figure out how to continue the conversation.


    The elevator door opened and two people stepped out. Wearing a black leather jacket with a black t-shirt and black jeans, Vaughn either liked black or felt the need to look like the team¡¯s ¡°bad boy¡± even in his off hours.


    Following him, Jeremy Barrows, my roommate at school for the past two years stared at Tara and then the dog as the dog ran toward us, dropping the ball in front of Tara.


    As Tiger wheeled away from Tara to sniff Jeremy, Jeremy leaned backward, unsuccessfully trying to avoid getting the dog¡¯s nose in his face. ¡°Where did you get an orange striped dog?¡±


    ¡°Another planet.¡± I stepped backward and put my hand on the dog¡¯s back.


    Jeremy hesitated but held out his hand for the dog to sniff.

 For His Own Good: Part 9

    Tiger sniffed his hand and leaned in to lick Jeremy¡¯s face. Tiger had a large tongue, adding a layer of slobber to Jeremy¡¯s right cheek and the side of his nose.


    I¡¯d have been worried that I¡¯d just contaminated Jeremy with alien bacteria, but the Xiniti had already worked that out. We¡¯d stopped by the Xiniti space station next to the Earth jump gate for debriefing and decontamination after we entered our solar system.


    Bearing in mind that the Abominators terraformed the planets where they settled humans to use Earth species, the Xiniti had procedures for moving humans and animals from one to another without causing epidemics or dietary deficiencies.


    I¡¯d checked them out on my implant, but because it was outside my areas of expertise, I didn¡¯t go too deeply into it. It amounted to wide-scale destruction and replacement of bacteria and viruses¡ªusing a mixture of nanotech, bacteriophages, and other techniques.


    It almost would have been ironic if Jeremy would have gotten sick from Tiger¡¯s lick. When I¡¯d met him as a freshman, he¡¯d been one of the world¡¯s many conspiracy theorists who didn¡¯t believe that we¡¯d ever been visited by aliens. They believed it had all been faked for some terrible purpose.


    Don¡¯t ask me what that would be. I¡¯d known aliens before I even knew what aliens were.


    Anyway, Jeremy and I had both grown and matured since then. Besides, in that moment I wasn¡¯t thinking too much about Jeremy. I needed to talk to Vaughn.


    I met Vaughn¡¯s eyes. ¡°We should go back into my lab. Isaac Lim called me just now with something that we should talk about privately.¡±


    Vaughn raised an eyebrow. ¡°No kidding? I wonder what this is about. Is he trying to kick me off the team?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Nothing like that, but it is complicated and uh¡­ family related.¡±


    Vaughn blinked. ¡°Awesome. I can tell this is going to be good.¡±


    I looked over at Tara. ¡°We won¡¯t be long. You can talk or play with Tiger or something.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I know how this goes. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    We both looked at Jeremy. He¡¯d backed against the wall. Tiger had stopped licking Jeremy¡¯s face and moved his head down to sniff Jeremy¡¯s crotch.


    Meanwhile, Jeremy looked at me, then Tara, then back to me again, eyes wide. It was then that I remembered how a couple years ago he and two other guys had showed me a video in which Tara had taken down a street gang and saved a mother and daughter¡¯s lives.


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    Jeremy and his friends hadn¡¯t commented so much on her fighting skills¡ªwhich were amazing¡ªas much as on her body. I¡¯d left because I¡¯d wanted to go to my lab and also because listening to them talk about her had made me feel uncomfortable. I¡¯d known her already back then.


    On the other hand, she¡¯d been in costume, so he wouldn¡¯t recognize her. Plus, I hadn¡¯t told her that story about him. They should be fine.


    I glanced over at Jeremy. If I had to name his expression (wide eyes and expressionless face), I would have gone with poorly hidden terror. And that sucked because the four of us were basically going to be living together this year.


    Well, he was going to have to figure this out. Besides Tara was good enough with people that she¡¯d be able to finesse the situation somehow. At least I hoped so because I didn¡¯t have any idea how to make this less awkward.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said and walked back into the lab with Vaughn.


    Behind us, I could hear Tara saying, ¡°Come here, Tiger. Good dog. Good dog! Fetch the ball!¡±


    Dog claws scraped across the concrete, followed by the sound of shattering glass. I wondered which trophy case it had been.


    Tara¡¯s voice said, ¡°Oopsie. So, Jeremy, you¡¯ve been rooming with Nick for the last two years. I know he¡¯s in engineering. What are you majoring in?¡±


    I missed Jeremy¡¯s answer. He mumbled.


    Vaughn and I sat down on the same stools that Tara and I had sat down on earlier.Vaughn grinned at me, looking out toward the door.


    ¡°I kind of wish we were out there. Did you see Jeremy¡¯s face? That was the face of a guy who¡¯s got no idea of what he¡¯s going to do next. I mean, he¡¯s seriously uncomfortable. My guess is that he¡¯s so distracted by what she looks like that he hasn''t noticed that she''s happy to just talk.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m kind of glad I¡¯m not out there.¡± I glanced toward the door, not seeing either Tara or Jeremy. I couldn¡¯t claim I¡¯d have been any better than he was except that I¡¯d almost always been training or acting as Lee¡¯s assistant when I was with her. All the time we¡¯d spent punching each other hadn¡¯t left me much time to be awkward.


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°So, what¡¯s going on with my family?¡±


    I took a moment to organize my thoughts. ¡°It¡¯s not so much your family as your family¡¯s companies. They¡¯ve invested in a company called Higher Ground which has some contracts with the Feds to study alien technology. The FBI suspects that the Nine have their fingers in Higher Ground too. So your uncle Russ might be connected to the Nine. Because of that, the feds are sending me in to gather information as part of my internship.¡±


    Nodding, Vaughn said, ¡°I see where this is going. I¡¯m doing my internship in the same complex and so I might be able to help. Plus, being family means I can get in pretty much anywhere if I want.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°That and also, are you okay with maybe going up against your own family on this? Because that¡¯s the big thing here.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°It isn¡¯t. This isn¡¯t going up against my family. This is maybe going up against Uncle Russ. A bunch of people in my family were ready to remove him from being CEO after the whole thing with Ray. Uncle Russ has always been involved in shady shit, but mostly he¡¯s managed to keep it evidence free. So no one¡¯s ever proved it, but this? If he¡¯s involved with the Nine, that¡¯s bad for the company and bad for my family. The way I see it, we¡¯re working for my family¡ªthe law-abiding part, anyway. If he¡¯s working with the Nine, we¡¯ll throw him out on his ass.¡±


    I thought about that, finally saying, ¡°I¡¯m beginning to feel like I just stepped into ¡®Game of Thrones.¡¯ That or maybe ¡®The Godfather¡¯.¡±


    Vaughn grinned. ¡°It¡¯s not personal, it¡¯s business. Except, believe me, it¡¯ll be personal too. There are people in my family who¡¯ve hated him since they were kids.¡±


    ¡°And now I¡¯m getting a ¡®Nine Princes in Amber¡¯ vibe,¡± I said. ¡°I hope your family isn¡¯t as familiar with murder.¡±

 For His Own Good: Part 10

    ¡°We take the business seriously, but not that seriously. Mostly, I mean. At his worst, I don¡¯t know what Grandpa Hardwick did. He was pretty far gone near the end. For all I know, maybe he did kill people.¡±


    Vaughn frowned.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I told him. ¡°I¡¯m not up on what happened internally at your family¡¯s companies during the worst of it. The funny thing is that right up until the end, my grandfather was still working on stuff for your companies¡ªfirst, because he didn¡¯t know and after he found out because he didn¡¯t want Giles to know he knew.¡±


    Shaking his head, Vaughn said, ¡°I know. His patents are the basis of our ultrasound technology.¡±


    Sitting up straighter, I thought about that. ¡°I wonder how similar that tech is to my sonic weapons? Grandpa tried to make the designs different enough that it wasn¡¯t obviously the work of the same person.¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but I¡¯ve never heard anybody say that the Rocket designed our stuff. So I guess it worked.¡±


    Another thought passed through my mind. ¡°Hey, so if we do find out that your Uncle¡¯s working with the Nine, how bad does it get on your side of things? It would have to go to the Feds first before anything else happens, but after that, they¡¯d go public somehow.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn paused. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be fun. I guess it depends on how public it gets. If only our family knows, he might be able to get around it. He¡¯s got his supporters, But still, if he¡¯s publicly linked to the Nine, he¡¯ll be thrown out. No company wants that kind of publicity. Even if it¡¯s only known inside the family for a while, there¡¯s a lot of people who¡¯d try to expel him preemptively.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong. It would be messy. Really messy. Once you¡¯re 18, you can vote your share of the business and it¡¯s not a publicly held stock. So, it¡¯d be family lobbying family and Uncle Russ pulling in favors or maybe even trying low-level blackmail and stuff. And I¡¯m old enough to vote my share now, so I¡¯d be in the mix.¡±


    He stopped. ¡°Wow. Holy shit. I almost wish you hadn¡¯t asked me. I mean, I¡¯m all in, but this is going to get crazy if it turns out to be true. If the Nine are involved, they might go after my family on his behalf. So it¡¯s probably good that I know. We can plan for it, right? We can get the League involved and keep everyone safe somehow. I don¡¯t get along with everyone in my family, but I don¡¯t want anyone to die¡ªnot even Uncle Russ.¡±


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    Vaughn¡¯s forehead furrowed and he met my eyes.


    I needed to say something. ¡°At the very least we can put bots near your houses to watch out for everyone. Plus, the Feds have to have a system for this. They protect witnesses all the time.¡±


    Nodding Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯m sure they do, but you remember what happened the last time they watched out for us¡ªthey left when no danger showed up before Haley¡¯s Christmas party. Plus, they pulled people to help fight aliens when Ray and the Cabal were after us. We¡¯ve got to do it ourselves too. I mean, the family¡¯s already got security, but we don¡¯t know that the Nine haven¡¯t infiltrated them just in case. That¡¯s their thing.¡±


    With all the stories about Vaughn I¡¯d heard secondhand in high school and his stint in rehab for drug and alcohol addiction, it wasn¡¯t hard to dismiss him as a spoiled heir, but he wasn¡¯t. He was thinking it all through and it didn¡¯t surprise me at all that his college entry test scores had showed it¡ªto his parents¡¯ shock.


    His choice to join the Stapledon program, allowing him to avoid being dependent on them for money to attend college said something too.


    ¡°We¡¯ll do what we can,¡± I said. ¡°At the very least, we can watch everybody. We¡¯ll just have to do it in a way that doesn¡¯t raise suspicion. If we plug the streams into Hal, I don¡¯t know what he¡¯ll notice, but a lot more than you or I would.¡±


    I paused, thinking about it. ¡°He¡¯d probably even like it on some level. Whatever research he¡¯s doing on human behavior would probably benefit¡ªeven if he is doing it mostly so he can predict our moves in combat.¡±


    Vaughn started nodding before I finished talking. ¡°I like the idea¡ªnot the part where we hand over the secrets of the human psyche over to an alien AI, but you know he¡¯ll do a better job than we would. I mean, think about it. He might be able to predict what Uncle Russ is doing before we figure it out¡ªnot to mention the Nine.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°I guess that¡¯s what we¡¯ll do then.¡±


    Vaughn grinned and sat back in his chair, easily the most relaxed I¡¯d seen him since the conversation started. ¡°Cool. Uh¡­ Did Lim tell you where our research labs are?¡±


    I shook my head.


    Vaughn paused, watching my reaction with a growing smile. ¡°It¡¯s an hour north of here. That¡¯s what it took to put it right on Lake Michigan. So, you¡¯ve got a long drive every time you work or¡­ You ride to work with me. There¡¯s an executive jet that flies up there a couple of times a day and if I put in the word, you can come along.¡±

 Hardwick Industries: Part 1

    The next day, I got an email from Dr. Strazinsky and the Engineering department chair, Dr. Hansen. That interested me on several levels. First, because I¡¯d been expecting an email from the department secretary with my internship information. Second, because while my engineering department adviser had to sign off on whatever internship I got, neither Dr. Strazinsky nor Dr. Hansen were my departmental adviser. Third, getting an internship meant getting information from a contact at the business, but didn¡¯t mean a meeting with the departmental chair or anyone in the department once they¡¯d accepted you and you¡¯d accepted their offer.


    If I hadn¡¯t talked to Agent Lim, I¡¯d have been worried, but as it was, I walked into Dr. Hansen¡¯s office at the appointed time (three o¡¯clock) with a good idea of what was going on.


    Dr. Hansen had a corner office with a good view of the grounds from two of the four walls. Like Dr. Strazinsky, his office felt organized. All the books had been placed on the shelves that covered the walls. A few potted plants had been placed in corners of the room, giving the office a less drab feel than your average prof¡¯s.


    I wondered who watered the plants¡ªDr. Hansen or the departmental secretary. Giving each plant a quick look, I was relieved to find that my implant didn¡¯t identify any of them.


    It might seem paranoid, but, knowing as I did that intelligent plants worked for the Galactic Alliance¡¯s intelligence services, it was worth a look.


    Dr. Hansen smiled at me. Nearly seven feet tall with thinning blond hair, Dr. Hansen looked like the basketball player I¡¯d heard that he had been in college. Twenty years past that now, he glanced over at Dr. Strazinsky.


    ¡°You,¡± Dr. Hansen told me, ¡°just got lucky. I don¡¯t think you have any idea how lucky you¡¯ve gotten. You¡¯ve been offered an internship from Higher Ground, a startup associated with Hardwick Industries. Higher Ground has a contract with the federal government to study alien artifacts, something that many of the best and brightest of our scientists want, but most will never get. Dr. Strazinsky¡¯s the only person at our university who¡¯s ever had that chance and now you will too, if you want it.¡±


    He glanced over at Dr. Strazinsky and Dr. Strazinsky swallowed, saying. ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you everything when we talked, Nick. After our conversation, I shared your answers with a few friends from when I was working for the government. They told me that this internship was available and agreed that you qualified for it.¡±


    Taking a breath, he said, ¡°Dr. Hansen is right that this is an opportunity for you that scientists all over the world will envy. I hope that you¡¯ll consider it. It won¡¯t just look good for you, but also the department. We¡¯ve never had any of our students placed in something that big¡ªbefore or after they graduate. I¡¯d say that it¡¯s a once in a lifetime opportunity, but it isn¡¯t if you take it. It¡¯s possible that you¡¯ll be able to make a life out of understanding alien technology. We¡¯ll be investigating it for years.¡±


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    Dr. Strazinsky paused, watching my reaction and biting his lip. Dr. Hansen watched me from behind his desk where he¡¯d sat down, unmoving.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll take it if they¡¯re offering. I didn¡¯t even know that was possible. I had no idea anyone was studying alien technology in West Michigan¡ªat least not first hand. It is first hand, right?¡±


    Dr. Strazinsky exhaled and Dr. Hansen gave him a look, but replied to me. ¡°I assume. I doubt they¡¯ll let you pick it up without filling out half a dozen forms and legal releases. This is the government after all. I wouldn¡¯t doubt that it¡¯ll be there in the building though. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll mostly see pictures and look at the inside indirectly, but Dr. Strazinsky might know more.¡±


    Shaking his head, Dr. Strazinsky said, ¡°It¡¯ll all depend on what they have. There are some pieces where we basically understand what they can do even if we don¡¯t understand how they do it. There are others that might be for personal hygiene or they might be nuclear bombs for all we know. I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t pass out anything unfamiliar or that we know to be dangerous, but they might let you handle the more familiar and innocuous devices.¡±


    ¡°That sounds about right,¡± Dr. Hansen said, pulling a pile of paper from the side of his desk into the middle of it.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re interested, but because you¡¯re interested we have to have you read and sign these forms.¡±


    I stared down at the paper. ¡°I¡¯d thought you were joking about the forms. That¡¯s a big pile.¡±


    Dr. Hansen grinned. ¡°It¡¯s not so bad. You won¡¯t have to sign every page, but you¡¯ll have to initial a few. Think about it as practice for signing a mortgage.¡±


    Dr. Strazinsky laughed. ¡°It¡¯s less paper than most mortgages.¡±


    I took the pen Dr. Hansen handed me and leaned over the pile of pages, signing where it was needed.


    After I¡¯d signed a few pages, Dr. Hansen said, ¡°There¡¯s one more thing I should mention. You¡¯re going to have to drive about an hour north of here. I hope that doesn¡¯t cause problems. The university will try to help if it does.¡±


    I stopped signing and looked up. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be a big deal. I¡¯m living in the same house with Vaughn Hardwick-Jones of the Hardwick family. He¡¯s got an intership that¡¯s probably in the same complex. I¡¯ll see if I can ride with him.¡±


    Dr. Strazinsky blinked and looked at me as if grown a third arm. ¡°Oh. That¡¯s an interesting connection. I didn¡¯t know you¡­ uh¡­ knew people like that.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, Dr. Hansen gave Dr. Strazinsky a look. ¡°I¡¯m sure what he means is that the Hardwicks are big donors to the university and we tend to forget that their kids have friends just like anyone else.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like we¡¯re anywhere near that well off,¡± I said, ¡°but our grandparents were friends and my grandfather did work for Hardwick Industries.¡±


    Then I started signing papers again. All of that was in the public record, I told myself. I hoped I hadn¡¯t revealed anything accidentally.


    ¡°Excellent,¡± Dr. Hansen said. ¡°Dr. Strazinsky will be your faculty contact with regards to this internship. He¡¯s the only one on the faculty with a security clearance high enough to read about what you¡¯re doing.¡±

 Hardwick Industries: Part 2

    Eventually, I finished signing all the papers. My hand didn¡¯t hurt, but that was more of a surprise than an expectation.


    When I signed the last one, I looked up, handed Dr. Hansen back his pen and asked, ¡°I understand that you talked to friends in government about me, but what made me qualified for this? I mean, this is secret enough that only Dr. Strazinsky can read my internship reflection and that I have signed a mountain of papers saying that I won¡¯t tell anybody about this except for people on my projects inside Higher Grounds or that have a top secret security clearance plus codewords that will be defined later.


    ¡°I¡¯d be surprised if I have Top Secret clearance. I¡¯m pretty sure they have to do some kind of investigation for that to even be possible. I¡¯m not trying to get out of it or something, but it just seems too easy. You know what I mean?¡±


    I hoped I hadn¡¯t blown my cover there, but it seemed like a question a smart person who didn¡¯t have the behind the scenes information I had might ask.


    Dr. Hansen and Dr. Strazinsky looked at each other. Dr. Strazinsky spoke. ¡°We had to move quickly to make sure you get into the program. If they did the kind of investigation that the FBI usually does, you might lose weeks out of the semester. They¡¯ve done a quick one already. You don¡¯t have much of a record, so they don¡¯t need to do as much as if you¡¯d been involved with anything illegal. I think they¡¯ll continue investigating for a little while after everything starts, but you don¡¯t have anything to worry about there.¡±


    I wondered if the FBI brought in telepaths or even artificial telepaths. I¡¯d seen agents wearing psi helmets before. Of course, given the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s relationship with the FBI, they probably didn¡¯t even investigate. They just told them they had.


    ¡°Okay.¡± I looked at each of them. Dr. Hansen kept on smiling the same confident smile. Dr. Strazinsky¡¯s smile slipped and reformed.


    In moments like that, I wished that I had telepathy.


    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll go then. When does everything start?¡±


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    Dr. Strazinsky said, ¡°Tomorrow at one. It¡¯s on the top sheet of paper. Did you take that?¡±


    I looked down at my hands. I had, but I¡¯d forgotten to read it. I held it up and waved it so that I could see it. ¡°Yep.¡±


    He smiled for a second. ¡°And you planned for a year-long internship, right? This one goes from September through to April of next year with the option of becoming a summer job if you both want that.¡±


    I looked down at the piece of paper. It did say that. Anyway, I¡¯d planned on a year-long internship this year and arranged my schedule accordingly. Aside from that, I knew I wasn¡¯t going to do an internship there. I had another one planned through the Stapledon program and anyway, six months of deep cover would likely be as much as I could stand¡ªassuming we didn¡¯t destroy the company.


    ¡°That sounds great,¡± I told them, gave them another wave and walked out the door.


    Once I was out in the lobby, it struck me as an odd way to leave. I hoped they didn¡¯t think I was an idiot. On the other hand, if they thought of me as a smart guy with a way to go in social skills, it would make them less likely to suspect I was a spy.


    If only that were acting.


    * * *


    Around 12:30pm, Vaughn and I stood next to the helipad at Hardwick Industries Grand Lake campus. They had a shiny glass and metal building on the edge of Grand Lake. It stood in the middle of five other shiny glass and metal buildings since this was Hardwick Industries world headquarters.


    Vaughn¡¯s lip twisted. ¡°You know how I told you we¡¯d use the jet? It turns out that the jet is only for special occasions like when most of the executive leadership goes up there. Most of the time, we¡¯ll be riding the helicopter.¡±


    ¡°No problem. I¡¯m not disappointed. I¡¯ve been in jets before. I can even fly them.¡±


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°Yeah. No kidding. Don¡¯t tell the pilot. He might be able to tell you know too much.¡±


    I might have shushed him, but we were the only people standing on the green grass next to the pad.


    As I wondered if I could continue the conversation without the two of us discussing stuff that shouldn¡¯t be discussed in public, the helicopter appeared above one of the farther buildings.


    Black with tan stripes running down the length of the chopper, the helicopter had a longer body and smaller windows than I¡¯d have expected. I wondered if it were armored, but I didn¡¯t see any sign of weapons. It interested me though, that whoever had bought it expected to be attacked.


    I wondered if this was a general anxiety or if they had a specific idea of who they might be attacked by.


    Soon, it landed in front of us. One of the doors opened and a man waved us to come inside.


    The answer might be in there, I told myself, and Vaughn and I carried our backpacks across the helipad.

 Hardwick Industries: Part 3

    In my head, my Xiniti implant labeled the helicopter as ¡°Pre-gravitic air transport capable of vertical take-off and landing.¡± It then followed it up with the word ¡°helicopter¡± in human and alien languages.


    Present in my head, but below my conscious awareness, were examples of different models of copters from different planets. If I wanted, I could call up whatever details the Xiniti high command thought their soldiers might need.


    This wasn¡¯t the time to investigate them, but I wanted to. You never knew what you might learn from alien designs for technology you were already familiar with.


    A man in a blue suit stepped out of the helicopter, opening the door. A tall man with a bald head, he appeared to be in his thirties and wore a pistol in a shoulder holster. I wondered what rated that level of security. Had people tried to kidnap their executives?


    Vaughn might rate a guard. Holding a scion of the Hardwick family for ransom could make you a lot of money if they were willing to pay.


    Following the security guard¡¯s lead, we stepped inside and snapped on our seatbelts. They were a little more complicated than car seatbelts, but about the same as the League ¡°jet¡¯s¡± seatbelts. Vaughn and I didn¡¯t need help.


    The guard grinned, revealing a gold tooth in his smile. ¡°When they said interns, I figured you¡¯d need help. Looks like you¡¯ve spent a lot of time in the air.¡±


    Then he sat down in front next to the pilot. I couldn¡¯t see much of the pilot from where I sat, but I could tell that he had brush cut white hair, wore a white shirt with yellow stripes on the shoulders¡ªlike an airline pilot.


    Keeping his voice low, the pilot said, ¡°The long-haired one is Vaughn Hardwick-Jones.¡±


    The corners of Vaughn¡¯s mouth curved upward for a second.


    ¡°Family?¡± The guard glanced back at us. ¡°That explains it. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve been in the air more than I have.¡±


    Vaughn shrugged. ¡°Maybe. I don¡¯t know. Uncle Russ¡¯ family flies all the time. My mom and dad stay around here mostly.¡±


    The guard turned to me. ¡°What about you? Are you rich too?¡±


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    The pilot gave him a sharp look.


    ¡°Hey,¡± the guard said, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to be nosy or anything. Just friendly.¡±


    ¡°No problem,¡± I told him. ¡°We¡¯re not rich¡ªnot own your own plane level rich, anyway. My grandpa was a freelance engineer who did some work for Hardwick Industries as well as other clients. My dad¡¯s a psychologist who¡¯s written a few books. He does okay, but he¡¯s only known among people who read books on parenting.¡±


    Nodding, the guard said, ¡°Parenting books? Maybe I should check those out. I might need them. I¡¯m Ronnie, by the way. You¡¯ll see me riding along on this flight most days. The pilot¡¯s Bud. He¡¯s assigned to this chopper most days.¡±


    Bud spoke for the first time that I¡¯d heard. He had a strong southern drawl. ¡°That¡¯s right and we just got clearance to take off. I shouldn¡¯t need to tell anyone this but keep your seatbelts on. It won¡¯t be a long flight, but if you need to use the bathroom, tell me. I¡¯ll work it out.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about us,¡± Vaughn grinned at the man. ¡°We¡¯ll do our best not to be a problem.¡±


    Bud nodded. ¡°Thank you, sir. Taking off¡ªnow.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know how to tell a good helicopter pilot from a great one, but the ascent felt smooth and natural. Soon we were flying past the hangar for Hardwick Industries corporate jet and its runway. Bud pointed it out as we ascended.


    Only then did I have a moment to take in the helicopter¡¯s cabin¡ªleather seats, a screen in front of each person, wifi, and a look backward showed that it had in the neighborhood of twenty seats as well as a bathroom.


    It was nicer than any of the helicopters that I¡¯d flown in for Stapledon. Most of those were military models. The cabin¡¯s overlay of luxury features made it harder to answer whether or not it had armor, but I would have bet yes if forced to.


    It only took twenty minutes to make it to the research labs. From the air, the view fit with everything else I¡¯d seen so far. The Hardwick Industries campus sat in the middle of a block of land next to Lake Michigan. Thick forest grew next to all the roads that marked the borders of their property¡ªincluding the beach.


    The middle of the property had been cleared out and filled with two low, wide buildings, a helipad, and a runway. It was hard to say from the air, but I would have bet that the trees were thick enough that passing cars couldn¡¯t see any of that.


    The only hints that people did use the area were the dirt road on the north side of the property and the large white building on the beach. Even from the air, I could see people sunbathing, sailing, and everything else anyone did on the beach.


    It was hard to know, but I thought I saw kids.


    It was interesting, to say the least. After going to all the bother of hiding their research facility, it didn¡¯t seem likely that they¡¯d put a hotel on the property¡ªunless it was cover. It seemed more likely that they¡¯d house guests there or maybe employees.


    I supposed that I could ask. Even as I considered how to approach the question, the Xiniti implant labeled the campus in my head. ¡°Privately held human research facility. Abominator and Artificer civilizations¡¯ artifacts detected but not reported to Galactic Alliance. Internal policy on this issue has been followed instead of official Galactic Alliance policy.¡±

 Hardwick Industries: Part 4

    Internal policy? That was an interesting detail. Sensing my interest, the implant gave me more information. Ever since the Xiniti had freed the members of the Galactic Alliance from servitude to the Abominators, they¡¯d been policing the Human Quarantine area. Galactic Alliance policy was to alert them if people on Earth, the birthplace of humanity, acquired alien technology, particularly that of the Artificers and the Abominators.


    If that were to happen, the Galactic Alliance might decide to eliminate all life on Earth.


    Why hadn¡¯t the Xiniti passed the information on? The implant responded, ¡°Debt owed to the following individuals,¡± and listed all the members of the 1970s era of the Heroes¡¯ League as well as those current members of the League (including myself) who¡¯d gone into space early this summer.


    Vaughn¡¯s grandfather wasn¡¯t on the list as he¡¯d been dead by the time that debt had been incurred.


    I wondered if there were a point at which the potential threat of Abominator technology in human hands would outweigh the debt.


    The implant sent back, ¡°Insufficient information. Perhaps you could rephrase the question.¡±


    I didn¡¯t.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Vaughn tapped my shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re really zoning out.¡±


    The helicopter had began to hover above the helipad and then to descend. Ronnie turned back to us. ¡°Once we get down, I¡¯ll open the door and you can get out. You¡¯ve got the seatbelts handled, but if you need any help, I¡¯m here.¡±


    He got out and opened our door. We didn¡¯t have any difficulty with the seatbelts.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Ronnie pointed toward the nearest building. The two buildings would have been twins if they were human. Given that the buildings were made of bright metal and reflective glass, they would have been twins who wore clothes made of mirrored sunglasses or 1950s era futuristic clothes.


    But maybe I¡¯m abusing that metaphor.


    ¡°That one¡ªBuilding A,¡± Ronnie said, ¡°is where the offices are. There are a lot of offices and all the rooms look alike. So you will get lost. Ask for directions. Everybody knows what it¡¯s like and they¡¯ll all help. Building B is all labs and the artifact storage area.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± Walking next to Vaughn, I followed Ronnie as he started toward Building A. ¡°Why two buildings? It seems like you might as well have had one.¡±


    Barely acknowledging me, he said, ¡°Security. If we had offices mixed with labs, stuff would start to move from lab to office and unauthorized people would have an easier time getting into labs with their friends. Plus, some of the stuff in the labs is dangerous. It can¡¯t ever get out into the world.¡±


    Nodding along, I couldn¡¯t help but think that it would have been possible to make it work with one building, but I could see the guy¡¯s point. It did make every entry more obvious.


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    Noticing that the buildings had loading docks, but that the parking lot had only five spaces, I thought back to my other question. ¡°What¡¯s up with the other building? The one next to the beach.¡±


    Vaughn answered before Ronnie did. ¡°I know that one. Most of the employees live there. It used to be a big resort, but it¡¯s been converted into a mixture of individual apartments and suites. Some people live off campus, but they get picked up and driven in. If you¡¯d driven up from Grand Lake, I think you might have had to park over there.¡±


    Ronnie nodded. ¡°That¡¯s about right. We have a few people drive in¡ªvisiting specialists, interns, and sometimes reporters. We keep their cars in a secured garage to prevent vandalism. You know how it goes. Some of the townies are suspicious. You¡¯d never believe the rumors about this place.¡±


    ¡°Huh. What if I do have to drive in sometime? Like maybe I miss the helicopter or a test runs late? Do I have to get a sticker or something?¡±


    Ronnie shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯ll have an ID before the end of the day. It¡¯ll get you in and out of the garage.¡±


    ¡°Cool.¡± We walked down the sidewalk and I kept on noticing things. For one, there were no bushes. The lawn was all green grass straight up to the buildings. The buildings in turn were far enough away from each other that if you had security on the roof of each one, you wouldn¡¯t be in too much fear of hitting the other building. Also, you could target the same person from each roof.


    Again, maybe I was being too paranoid. Gunning down someone from multiple sides seems like the kind of thing that would get bad publicity. On the other hand, when you thought about the parking situation, you could see where that might get bad publicity too. They¡¯d set things up so that no one could leave unless they allowed it.


    On the other hand, no one outside knew about it¡ªsomething that worked both for the parking situation and for anyone that the security guards might hypothetically shoot.


    ¡°After you,¡± Ronnie held open the glass door. Vaughn and I stepped inside, walking into a corporate lobby I¡¯d expect to see anywhere but less than 100 yards from the beach. It had grey marble floors, brown, wooden walls and a black marble desk with a wide white top.


    A high pitched female voice said, ¡°Hi, Ronnie. Are these the new interns?¡± I looked up from the tile. I knew that voice.


    Wearing a red business jacket, and skirt, she had olive skin, long, dirty blond hair, thick lips and a square face. She looked exactly like Tara if Tara were four inches shorter instead of a little taller than me. Also, if Tara didn¡¯t have noticeable muscle and were in her mid-to-late twenties.


    Vaughn and I exchanged glances¡ªwhich she noticed. ¡°Is something wrong?¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°No, you look a lot like someone we know.¡±


    The woman flashed a wide smile at him. ¡°I hope she¡¯s nice. I don¡¯t want to get off on the wrong foot with you because of someone else. I¡¯m Emmy Rogers. And you are?¡±


    She held out her hand to shake ours as she said, ¡°Thanks Ronnie,¡± and waved him off.


    Vaughn shook her hand, ¡°Vaughn Hardwick-Jones. And don¡¯t worry about making a bad impression. You¡¯re doing great.¡±


    Smiling, she turned toward me. I shook her hand saying, ¡°Nick Klein. I¡¯m interning at Higher Ground, wherever that is.¡±


    ¡°You must be very smart,¡± she said. ¡°They¡¯re all big brains there.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t feel that smart.¡±


    She grinned. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be fine. Now if the two of you will come over to the left side of the desk and stand in front of the wall, I¡¯ll take your picture.¡±


    I followed Vaughn over there, wondering what this all meant. On the one hand, it might mean that Emmy was the person that all the True had been based off, meaning that the True had been created within this complex. This was the optimistic possibility.


    It also might be true that the True had already been created and that Emmy was one of them. In that case, the war for humanity¡¯s survival had begun.

 Hardwick Industries: Part 5

    That¡¯s what I understood from Tara, anyway. In her parents¡¯ worlds, the True destroyed and replaced humanity before falling into disputes among themselves as to which groups best followed the values of the True.


    She couldn¡¯t know the full story, though. The True weren¡¯t historians. They were soldiers. And anyway, both of her parents were born after their bands of True had escaped their own realities by relocating to Infinity City, a city that existed in an Infinity of worlds.


    In some, the True followed a nation or world conqueror faithfully. In others, they destroyed humanity in a rebellion or fell sick from a virus they were especially vulnerable to.


    Whatever happened, Tara only knew about the ones that escaped to Infinity City¡ªall of which were endlessly fighting each other.


    My guess, based on the fact that Emmy didn¡¯t give any hint of being super-soldier, was that Emmy was the original on which all the others were based. That or she was the spy model Or¡­ maybe a prototype?


    I needed more information and I was going to have to figure out a sneaky way to get it out of her. I did not feel optimistic about that.


    We didn¡¯t talk much as she took our pictures aside from, ¡°Could you move a little more to the middle of the screen behind you? That¡¯s right. If you¡¯re on the yellow line, you¡¯re in the right place.¡±


    Emmy looked down at her phone. ¡°I think that¡¯s good enough. I¡¯ll send the pictures to security and you¡¯ll have an ID before you leave today. Now, don¡¯t forget to stop by the desk, okay?¡±


    ¡°No problem,¡± Vaughn grinned at her. ¡°How do we get to where we¡¯re supposed to be?¡±


    Emmy pointed to herself, ¡°Not only do I take ID pictures, answer phones, greet guests, arrange meetings, organize company events, and create handouts, but I also act as a guide for college interns.¡±


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    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°are you sure you have time?¡±


    She put her phone back in her purse and put her purse over her shoulder. ¡°Plenty. Guests only walk in by appointment and when they do, they¡¯re supposed to be my first priority. This way.¡±


    Vaughn and I followed her down the hallway. ¡°So,¡± Vaughn took a few quick steps and matched her pace, ¡°are you from around here or do you live at the building on the beach?¡±


    She gave him the side eye. ¡°I hope you¡¯re not trying to ask me out. I don¡¯t date people from work¡ªespecially not college interns. You¡¯re at least six years younger than I am.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°Not at all. I¡¯m just friendly. I even have a girlfriend¡ªkind of.¡±


    She raised an eyebrow. ¡°Kind of?¡±


    Vaughn frowned. ¡°It¡¯s weird right now. On the one hand, she transferred to Grand Lake University, but on the other hand, she¡¯s thinking her family won¡¯t approve¡­ I mean, I get it. She¡¯s not from around here and her parents don¡¯t have any idea who I am, but I was thinking we could figure it out.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I broke in before Emmy could reply. ¡°Amy¡¯s in Grand Lake? She¡¯s going to GLU?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Transferring was a pain. She missed half of the first week of classes because they were still figuring things out.¡±


    With a half-smile, Emmy moved to the right, allowing me to get closer to Vaughn. ¡°How did I miss this?¡±


    Vaughn shrugged. ¡°I dunno. She told people, but you¡¯ve been busy lately. It might be that you weren¡¯t around.¡±


    I felt myself frown. I had distanced myself from people during the summer. I could only guess what I¡¯d missed and hope there wasn¡¯t more stuff at this level of importance.


    Emmy pointed at an open doorway. The ¡°room¡± inside turned out to be a hallway with a series of small meeting rooms and one large conference room, all of them with glass walls.


    ¡°Those are the meeting rooms we use when a guest doesn¡¯t have clearance to go inside.¡±


    She turned to Vaughn. ¡°I¡¯m from here and I live in an apartment in Jericho. It¡¯s close. My adopted parents¡¯ families have been living around here for more than one hundred years. My biological parents live in Florida. In the winter, I think they might have had the right idea.¡±


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°No kidding. I think the same thing and I don¡¯t even have relatives in Florida.¡±


    I wondered how I could ask her more about that, settling on, ¡°Florida? Did you know your biological parents when you were growing up too?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Not at all. I got curious two years ago and managed to find them. They got together as teens and had me too early. I know them a little bit now. I also met my brother and sister. We¡¯re all similar to each other in little ways. It¡¯s strange.¡±


    I¡¯d have to see them to know for sure, but it didn¡¯t sound like she was part of a family of True.

 Hardwick Industries: Part 6

    ¡°When you say they¡¯re similar to you in little ways, do you mean that it¡¯s not obvious that you¡¯re related just by looking at you?¡± That seemed like an okay way to get at the main question on my mind¡ªwhether she might be part of a cell of True and somehow not realize it.


    It struck me as I asked that one of the True might well pick up that I knew what they were.


    So maybe it wasn¡¯t the best question, but if she recognized what I was after, she never showed it. She gave me a wide smile. ¡°Not at all¡ªwell, they do look like me a little. You can see it in our faces, but my biological brother and sister look like our mother or our father, but I look like a mix. I wouldn¡¯t have guessed we were related without online DNA websites. We¡¯re a mix of everything around the Mediterranean¡ªItalian, Greek, Northern Africa, Arabic, all of it.¡±


    She looked from Vaughn to me. ¡°Did either of you ever get your DNA tested?¡±


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°My parents got curious and it turned out we already knew almost everything. We¡¯re English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh by genealogical research and DNA tests showed pretty much the same except they also included like three percent from Sub-Saharan Africa. We¡¯re not sure what¡¯s up with that. Is it random or did we maybe have a black ancestor who passed for white a few generations back? It¡¯s fun to speculate about, but that¡¯s all.¡±


    Emmy turned back to me. ¡°And you?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°We haven¡¯t done DNA testing, but I did a genealogy project in high school. My family¡¯s German and Dutch with a little bit of ancestry from Norway and Sweden.¡±


    I was lying¡ªpartly. I¡¯d gotten my DNA tested when we were off-planet. My ancestry was mostly human, but with a clear connection to the Artificers, aliens from early in the universe¡¯s history that were still divided over whether or not to destroy all other sentient life.


    Emmy didn¡¯t ask for more information though. We¡¯d reached Vaughn¡¯s stop. Emmy led us into a room that could best be described as a sea of cubicles, almost all of them filled with people staring at their computers or talking over the walls.


    A few of them greeted Emmy and she¡¯d smile and say, ¡°hi,¡± but she didn¡¯t stop. She led us next to the wall, passing offices, meeting rooms and labs¡ªwhich was interesting. Ronnie had said the labs were in the other building. I supposed that these might be labs that didn¡¯t analyze alien tech.


    When we did stop, she led Vaughn into an office where a tall man wearing a suit and tie glanced over at the two of them, blinked, and pushed his chair away from his desk. While I didn¡¯t hear everything, I watched as he pumped Vaughn¡¯s hand as if his departmental budget depended on it.


    To be fair, it might have.


    Emmy stepped out and said, ¡°You¡¯re next.¡±


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    I wondered if I''d be able to keep the conversation going without Vaughn there to lead it. It turned out that my worry was unnecessary because Emmy could handle keeping that moving on her own.


    ¡°You¡¯ll like them. Higher Ground is a fun company. The owner, Sandy LePage, comes from Silicon Valley and he told me he wanted it to be different from your average midwestern office. Oh, and I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s been told about you, but when I talked to him he was very excited.¡±


    I don¡¯t know what expression my face showed, but she frowned. ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t have said that. After the last time, I said something, I should have known better. Sandy¡¯s nice and even though they¡¯re working on top secret projects, you¡¯d never know it. It really is the fun side of the building and I know there¡¯s a reason they¡¯re excited to have you.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re right. I didn¡¯t think I was nervous, butI guess I am.¡±


    All of that was true. I hadn¡¯t thought I was nervous, but discovering Emmy, noticing this place¡¯s security, and being reminded that they knew enough about me they were excited to have me¡­ Well, upon doing a quick self-assessment of how I felt, I realized that ¡°nervous¡± described my emotions accurately.


    Emmy reached out and put her hand on my shoulder. ¡°Relax.¡±


    I didn¡¯t, but it was nice that she cared. ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all anyone can do.¡± She let her hand rest on my shoulder a little longer before she pointed down the hall. ¡°It¡¯s at the end.¡±


    During the walk, the hallway had jogged left and we were now walking next to the outside wall. From the inside, the mirrored glass was only dark, shaded glass.


    As we walked, I thought about Emmy. Even beyond how she looked, she had Tara¡¯s friendliness and optimism. In noticing my mood, she might even have a hint of Tara and the True¡¯s ability to pick up small details and predict what people would do.


    All the same, from what I¡¯d seen of her, I wouldn¡¯t say to myself, ¡°This is the woman I want to use as a base for my unstoppable, genocidal army.¡± Well, not unless I wanted to create an army of therapists. She might be a good choice for that.


    When push came to shove, the True didn¡¯t have to be created here. This could be one of the realities where they never came into being. I could hope that she lacked some crucial ingredient.


    As we neared the door, she said, ¡°Remember. Relax. It¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    With that I opened the door, letting the two of us in. Then I stopped, absorbing the room. The words, ¡°Higher Ground¡± hung in the middle of the room, glowing in green neon against a black background with smaller lights that suggested stars.


    Unlike the rest of the building which had been all gray tile for the floors and white, black or gray painted walls, Higher Ground had wooden floors in the lobby and green paint on the walls. A pool table and a foosball table stood next to each other under the sign.


    No one was using them.


    I assumed that was because they were all working and looked past them toward the cubicles in the main area of the office. There, at least, it didn¡¯t look any different than the Hardwick Industries portion of the building.


    Even as I thought that a heavy man in a black t-shirt with a white Apple logo popped up from one cubicle holding a nerf gun. He opened up on a cubicle three cubes to his left, rewarded by a voice shouting, ¡°Ow! Fuck!¡±


    The shooter gave us a thumbs up, saying, ¡°Heya, Emmy. Sandy¡¯s on his way. He¡¯ll be here any minute now.¡±


    Emmy gave a lopsided grin. ¡°I¡¯ll believe that when I see it.¡±


    On the left side of the lobby, a door opened and a man walked through. He was tall, blond and wearing a gray and black striped suit jacket with blue jeans and without a tie.


    Gawky even as a thirty-something, Sandy LePage gave Emmy a hug and then hugged me.


    It was every bit as awkward as it sounds.


    ¡°Welcome to the team!¡± He released me and stepped back. ¡°Good to meet you, Nick. I hope you¡¯ll love the company like we do.¡±

 Hardwick Industries: Part 7

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I tried to think of something to say. ¡°That would be great.¡±


    Even as I said it, I thought that sounded kind of stupid, but Sandy kept on smiling, so I guessed that it was close enough to an appropriate answer.


    His smile faltered. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t take you over to the labs today. There¡¯s been some kind of snag with your security clearance. They tell me it¡¯s coming but it¡¯s not here yet. It¡¯ll be okay, though. The stuff we work with is so secret that almost every single one of our clearances has had a snag somewhere in the process. It would be strange if one didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I hope there¡¯s no problem¡­¡± I let the sentence trail off. I wasn¡¯t worried. If I knew anything about Isaac Lim over the past four years of working with him, it was that he knew what he was doing. If they had problems with clearances, he¡¯d have made sure they had one with me.


    He put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any problem. According to my sources in government, you¡¯re our ideal candidate¡ªbrilliant, squeaky clean record, and a hard worker.¡±


    Deciding to play ignorant, I said, ¡°How do they know all that?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s the government. I¡¯m sure they told you about the question you answered, but there¡¯s more than that. Don¡¯t be surprised if the FBI dropped by to ask questions of your relatives. It¡¯s essential for a position like this. We can¡¯t give people we don¡¯t trust access to this technology.¡±


    ¡°Makes sense,¡± I told him.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s too important to the future of humankind to get into the hands of supervillains and other criminals or even to a business that¡¯s solely interested in profit. We¡¯re more than that. We¡¯re thinking about the future of humanity and asking where the human race should be in ten years or even twenty.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I like the idea of a long term perspective.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. You and I and everyone in this company is a visionary. We¡¯re plotting the course of humanity for the next one hundred or maybe even one thousand years. Imagine that. That¡¯s the power of the technology that we¡¯re hoping will come out of this place.¡±


    He stepped back from me, eyes transfixed on some far horizon¡ªmaybe the future. Who could know? ¡°I¡¯ve got plans for this company in the long term, but in the short term, I need you to fill out a few forms that Emmy has for you and then we¡¯ll give you a taste of what¡¯s coming. A few of your future co-workers will come back from the lab and show you what they¡¯ve been working on. I think you may even know one of them.¡±


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    I raised an eyebrow. Assuming Vaughn wasn¡¯t an option, I didn¡¯t know anyone who worked here.


    Sandy stepped back, ¡°I¡¯ll leave you in Emmy¡¯s capable hands. She¡¯ll get you set up and show you where your desk is.¡±


    Then he left through the door in the lobby he¡¯d come in.


    I turned toward Emmy.


    She let out a breath and smiled at me. ¡°Isn¡¯t he wonderful? Most of the time working for Higher Ground is the best part of this job. Come on!¡±


    She let me to a cubicle that was empty of people but full of equipment¡ªa laptop, two monitors, headphones and a phone. Next to the laptop lay a small pile of paper and a pen. ¡°It¡¯s nothing unusual¡ªthe state, federal, and local income tax forms. You¡¯ll need to fill out all of them and then do your best to do nothing while looking like you¡¯ve got something to do¡ªstandard first-day stuff. I¡¯m going to go find someone to show you around¡ªvirtually, at least. You can¡¯t go into the lab until your security clearance checks out.¡±


    With that, she left and I filled out forms. It wasn¡¯t that hard. I¡¯d had to fill them out before. By the time I was done, Emmy had returned, leading a familiar looking woman in her early twenties over to my cubicle.


    In the first moments that I saw her, I didn¡¯t know why I recognized her. She had long black hair, light skin, and appeared to be amused to see me. She smirked as she pulled a chair out of the cubicle across from mine, and pushed her glasses further up her nose. In a move I suspected was typical for the company she wore a t-shirt and jeans.


    That¡¯s when I knew where I¡¯d recognized her from. Her name was Stephanie. She¡¯d had a lab near mine at Stapledon where we¡¯d been training to be superheroes. There, her specialty had been designs that hacked the human brain, causing you to freeze or fall asleep. I knew she¡¯d developed helpful designs as well, but I hadn¡¯t become as familiar with them.


    Like Tara, she¡¯d graduated this year and should be doing a required residency with a superhero team. Working here didn¡¯t qualify for that, but this might be the kind of place a superhero team would investigate.


    ¡°Heya, Nick,¡± her smile widened as I recognized her. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time. I volunteered to do your orientation when I found out you were here.¡±


    One other thing about Stephanie--back when I¡¯d known her in the Stapledon program, she¡¯d been part of a shadowy group called the Coffeeshop Illuminati. Without any kind of government authorization, they''d toppled Turkmenistan¡¯s government. I wasn¡¯t sure if they were an official enough team that she could do her residency with them, but I could easily imagine that she¡¯d still be working for them unofficially.


    They were a group of supers who believed supers should do more than stop crime. While that might be true, I thought vigilante foreign policy was a step too far.

 Hardwick Industries: Part 8

    I had to come up with a response that fit her opening, but I didn¡¯t know what her cover was. I decided to be vague and let her lead. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to run into you here.¡±


    No doubt guessing what I was doing, she gave a catlike grin. ¡°I graduated. After you graduate you have to get a job and I got lucky enough to get one here.¡±


    Emmy looked from one of us to the other. ¡°How do you know each other?¡±


    Stephanie said, ¡°We got the same scholarship. You know one of the ones where people meet up on the weekends?¡±


    Emmy shook her head. ¡°You were in the same program as Stephanie? I¡¯ve heard of those scholarships. You don¡¯t have anything to worry about.¡±


    Problem solved. I knew that Stephanie was here under her actual name or at least her first name. In addition, I mentally thanked whoever had set up the Stapledon program. They¡¯d set up other scholarship programs with the same pattern of regular meetups with other students, allowing us to blend in.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Emmy added. ¡°I have a few other things I need to finish this afternoon, so I¡¯ll leave you. Don¡¯t forget to pick up your ID on the way out, okay?¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± I told her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± she started to walk away, giving me a wave. ¡°Bye.¡±


    When she was gone, Stephanie said. ¡°She¡¯s nice, isn¡¯t she? Does she remind you of anyone?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± I didn¡¯t go any further than that.


    ¡°Me too. Let¡¯s talk about it later.¡±


    We spent the next few minutes going over forms I¡¯d have to fill out before going to the lab the first time, a checklist of the procedure I¡¯d have to follow before touching the alien artifacts that they¡¯d collected. She also showed me the database of information about the artifacts we¡¯d collected.


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    ¡°Technically,¡± she said, ¡°I can¡¯t let you into the database until after you get your security clearance, but I can show you a picture of our lab. It¡¯s already been cleared to go on our brochures for investors, so don¡¯t expect to get too much out of it.¡±


    The picture filled the screen. It showed a big room with concrete walls on one side and a long glass wall on the other. In the middle of the room stood a collection of human-sized, transparent tubes in a blue-gray base. On the floor near it stood a chair made of the same blue-gray material that reminded me of the power impregnator.


    I knew the collection of tubes from more than one context. Back when Cassie, one of my friends, had been captured by the Nine, they¡¯d created something similar out of current human technology and attempted to use it to clone her, but that wasn¡¯t all.


    Later, we¡¯d encountered a laboratory silently sponsored by the Nine where scientists were attempting to figure out a device exactly like this one. Cassie had identified it as an Abominator birthing chamber, but she had an organic structure in her brain that allowed her to contact and control Abominator technology.


    For all I knew, this might be the same device. I didn¡¯t know what had happened to it after we left, but I suspected that the FBI might have taken it away.


    At the time that we¡¯d encountered it, I hadn¡¯t had a Xiniti brain implant. This time, it only took the picture for my implant to identify it as an ¡°artificial womb for human slave creation and modification.¡±


    A tidal wave of additional information waited for me to tap it. Even without dipping into it, I knew that this was the model they¡¯d used to create their armies. The implant recommended destroying it if there were any hint that someone understood how to use it.


    Beside it, the chair that I¡¯d guessed might be an Abominator version of the power impregnator was anti-climactic. The implant noted that it was used for activating latent powers and that humans on Earth had already invented comparable or even more effective devices on their own.


    I took advantage of the moment to breath slowly, keeping my breathing controlled as I did my best to avoid drowning in information about the Abominators. I could delve into that when I got home.


    Breaking through the noise in my head, Stephanie said, ¡°Are you okay? Why don¡¯twe get some air?¡±


    She helped me out a side door that must have been nearby. I was too distracted to pay attention to detail. Whatever the Xiniti wanted their soldiers to know about Abominator artificial wombs, they must have felt it was very important because it took all I had to shut it down.


    By the time I had, I found myself standing in the grass between the forest and the buildings with Stephanie asking, ¡°What was going on in there? You can¡¯t have that happen when you go into the lab because they¡¯ll notice. God knows what will happen to you after that, and for that matter, me.¡±

 Hardwick Industries: Part 9

    Stephanie stood next to me, watching and wearing an expression I guessed to be somewhere between concern and fear.


    I glanced over at the buildings, wondering if they had any way to hear what we were saying. Then I pulled a control pad out from inside my sleeve and into my palm, setting my sonics to produce white noise loud enough that it would obscure what we were saying. I¡¯d tested it with a variety of shotgun microphones and Haley¡¯s hearing.


    ¡°You can¡¯t tell anyone about this,¡± I told her. ¡°Especially not the Coffeeshop Illuminati or Gordon.¡±


    Her mouth quirked. ¡°Definitely not Gordon because we broke up this summer and I won¡¯t tell the Coffeeshop Illuminati because I can¡¯t. Remember Stapledon¡¯s mental block? I can¡¯t tell anyone anything about you.¡±


    I felt myself frown. ¡°It didn¡¯t stop you and Gordon from handing our plan over.¡±


    Her face tightened and she sighed. ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry about that. We were worried about all those people dying in Turkmenistan and your plans for taking out their government were brilliant. We should have talked it over with you, but it did work out in the end¡­¡±


    She almost sounded like she was trying to convince herself.


    ¡°After we removed The Thing That Eats from power in Turkmenistan and nearly had it take over Grand Lake, yes. Then it worked out.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°I heard about that. We had no idea he was there and I¡¯m not sure what we could have done about him. What happened in the end?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I killed him. You can¡¯t know for sure about something that powerful, but there¡¯s a good reason to think it¡¯s dead.¡±


    She frowned for a moment. ¡°Good. I can¡¯t change what we did, but I¡¯ll promise you that I won¡¯t do anything like that now. I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re here, but I know why I am and I think we¡¯re going to have to work together.¡±


    I thought about what she¡¯d said. In some ways, trusting her seemed like a bad idea, but she wasn¡¯t lying about the Stapledon telepathic block on revealing someone¡¯s identity. It didn¡¯t prevent her from screwing me over in any other way, but on the other hand, the fact that she¡¯d graduated from the program meant she had some level of credibility.


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    I decided to trust her, but watch her. ¡°Here¡¯s what¡¯s going on: I have Xiniti technology in my head that instantly gives me knowledge when I see something it recognizes, but sometimes it¡¯s too much knowledge at once. It¡¯s a little bit of a challenge to shut it down. I was deluged with what the Xiniti know about its history and how it works.¡±


    Her eyes widened and she glanced from side to side. ¡°That¡¯s not what I expected. I don¡¯t know what I expected. Maybe an illness, but how did that happen?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°We killed a Xiniti criminal during the Hrrnna attack a couple years ago and they made us citizens of their nation as a kind of reward.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s so crazy. Okay, I¡¯m here because I¡¯m doing my residency with a couple Michigan heroes¡ªRed Bolt and Future Knight¡ªdo you know them?¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Yeah. I ran into them once back when we restarted the Heroes¡¯ League.¡± I didn¡¯t add that they¡¯d been implanted with suggestions to capture us by the then Mayor of Grand Lake and we¡¯d had to fight them.


    ¡°Well, they got a tip that Higher Ground was searching for alien artifacts. It wasn¡¯t strictly illegal because they¡¯ve got a contract with the government to study them, but they also know that the Nine have been looking for alien artifacts, so they sent me in.¡±


    Her eyes narrowed. ¡°Why are you here?¡±


    ¡°The League has a contact in the FBI. He set things up so that I¡¯d get an internship here because he¡¯s worried the Nine might be involved.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°It¡¯s nice to know Red Bolt and Future Knight aren¡¯t the only ones worrying about it. Red Bolt does this fake accent thing and Future Knight says he spent time in the future, but he doesn¡¯t know anything that¡¯s going to happen¡­ I¡¯m not saying they don¡¯t know what they¡¯re doing, but sometimes I wonder how I got stuck with them.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond to that. Every time I¡¯d run into them they¡¯d been mind controlled, so I¡¯d never experienced them when they weren¡¯t deluded.


    I don¡¯t know exactly what my expression was, but she read it in a way that led her to respond with, ¡°That look isn¡¯t making me feel better.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯re good people. We just ran into them in a weird situation. Um¡­ So what happens if it is the Nine? What I¡¯m supposed to do is collect evidence and stop there. This is too big to bring in the Heroes¡¯ League. What are you doing?¡±


    She glanced over at the door to Higher Ground¡¯s offices. ¡°We should get back in before anyone gets worried about us, but give me a second--I¡¯m not trying to dodge your question. Right now, I¡¯m gathering information. I think they¡¯re planning to hand it over to the Michigan Heroes Alliance.¡±


    ¡°What about the Coffeeshop Illuminati?¡± I asked, watching her face for any hints she might be lying.


    She didn¡¯t give me anything to work with, saying, ¡°I don¡¯t want to mess my residency up. If I thought they could help, I¡¯d ask before I brought them in.¡±

 Hardwick Industries: Part 10

    ¡°Okay,¡± I thought through my options. ¡°It sounds like we¡¯re going to get a lot more out of this if we work together. We¡¯ll have to hash out something. I don¡¯t know when. Where are you staying? Obviously, we don¡¯t have time to do it now.¡±


    She glanced toward the door again. ¡°We don¡¯t. It¡¯s not as if they have any reason to be suspicious, but if we take too much longer they¡¯ll remember this later if either of us ever does something suspicious.¡±


    Turning her head back to me, she crossed her arms over her chest. ¡°I¡¯m staying here in the employee housing. I¡¯ve got my equipment hidden in my car and off campus.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m in Grand Lake. Is there any chance you could drive south and meet with us? I can give you an address.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sure I can. They don¡¯t watch us all the time. Am I meeting the FBI or the Heroes¡¯ League?¡±


    ¡°Heroes¡¯ League.¡±


    ¡°Great.¡± She waved me toward the door and we went back in.


    The birthing chambers were still on the screen when I got back to my computer, but I had a handle on it. She showed me a few more of the pieces they were working on. My implant identified them devices for genetic research, weapons, Abominator survival gear for living on Earth, and a few ¡°unknown¡± items. Some were too damaged to be identified. Others were outside the contents of the implant¡¯s database.


    Each item the implant labeled as ¡°Unknown artifact¡± made me a little worried. They had a lot of them. Bearing in mind that they were likely hundreds of thousands of years old, I could hope that they didn¡¯t work.


    It was an awfully long time for something to stay in good repair. I could tell myself that anyhow, but all I had to do to get a little nervous again was to think about Cassie¡¯s gun.


    She¡¯d found it in one of the Nine¡¯s hideouts where it had sat for years without turning on. Soon after she¡¯d walked in, it contacted her and offered itself up for her use¡ªhoping that it would be used to kill as much as possible.


    Even as I began to wonder if I should get Cassie down here, the implant made me aware that it had several different techniques for contacting Abominator devices and a knowledge base of things I might try. It wouldn¡¯t work with everything, but it worked with many of their devices.


    ¡°You¡¯re zoning out,¡± Stephanie looked over at me.


    ¡°Sorry.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯re done for the day anyway. It looks like Emmy¡¯s here to pick you up.¡±


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    Emmy stood in the lobby, smiling at me as I noticed her, and walked over to my cubicle. ¡°It looks like you¡¯re getting settled in. Here¡¯s your ID.¡±


    She handed it to me.


    As I took it, she asked, ¡°Is Sandy around?¡±


    ¡°Why,¡± Stephanie asked, ¡°do you need him for something?¡±


    Emmy shook her head. ¡°No. Just curious.¡±


    Stephanie caught my eye and smirked. Then she looked up at Emmy. ¡°You¡¯re just curious. Do you want me to text him that you¡¯re here?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she put her hand on my shoulder. ¡°The helicopter leaves in fifteen minutes. It¡¯s a little early today because they need it in Grand Lake.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I stood up, still thinking about Stephanie¡¯s smirk and wondering what was going on there. It didn¡¯t take long to come up with a theory. Sandy had hugged Emmy before he¡¯d hugged me even though they might see each other several times a day.


    Did she have a crush on him or were they in a secret or semi-secret relationship? If they were, hugging me might have been a way to give him cover to touch her¡ªwhich meant that I might be able to avoid it in the future if I walked in alone.


    As those thoughts went through my head, I walked back with Emmy, talking with her and meeting up with Vaughn. Soon after that, Vaughn and I were on the helicopter, talking about what we¡¯d done, but not in detail until we touched down at Hardwick Industries'' Grand Lake campus.


    Even then we didn¡¯t say anything about what we¡¯d seen until we sat down in my van. With the windows closed, we drove away and then Vaughn said, ¡°Oh my God, what¡¯s going on with Emmy? Is she one of Tara¡¯s people?¡±


    Keeping my hands on the wheel as we merged into traffic, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but she¡¯s something. Either she¡¯s one of the True or maybe she¡¯s the first proto-True¡ªthe one whose genes were used to make them? Either way, they¡¯ve got an Abominator birthing chamber in the labs. I don¡¯t know if it works, but that¡¯s what the Abominators used to genetically modify humans into superhumans.¡±


    Vaughn stared at me. ¡°Whoa. So they could do it? They could make the True right here? That¡¯s nuts. That¡¯s not even why Lim sent us in. What else have they got back there?¡±


    I merged onto the freeway, joining the long line of cars in Grand Lake¡¯s rush hour traffic¡ªthe kind that made ¡°rush hour¡± something of a misnomer.


    By that I mean it was slow. We were moving at five miles per hour, stuck in the middle of SUVs, semi-trucks, and small cars. The smell of air-conditioned air combined with a hint of exhaust filled the van.


    Tamping down the urge to transform the van into a catmecha and fly away, I said, ¡°Nothing else as freaky as the birthing chambers. They¡¯ve got an old Abominator power impregnator, some weapons, and a bunch of Abominator equipment. The implant didn¡¯t recognize all of it. I have no idea how much of it works or if any of it does.¡±


    Vaughn whistled. ¡°That beats my internship by a long shot. I¡¯m helping the administrator of our medical equipment lab. There¡¯s nothing special going on there¡ªnot unless it¡¯s a cover for Higher Ground. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Uncle Russ was using them for something dirty, but I¡¯m not seeing it so far.¡±


    ¡°One more thing,¡± I moved the van about ten feet further down the highway, ¡°you know who else is working there? Stephanie from Stapledon. The inventor whose lab was near mine and who used to date Gordon¡ªGifford¡¯s older brother. She¡¯s working with Red Bolt, Future Knight and the Michigan Heroes Alliance. They think Higher Ground¡¯s connected with the Nine too.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t care what Lim told you. No matter how much he wants information only and no fighting, there¡¯s no way this ends without the lab blowing up.¡±

 Dealing With It: Part 1

    ¡°It makes sense,¡± Haley pulled her chair out from under the table and sat down next to me. ¡°It¡¯s the right thing to do, but I don¡¯t like it.¡±


    Short with black hair and olive skin, Haley frowned. We¡¯d been going out since my senior year of high school and after years of being together, I knew her well enough that I knew both what bothered her and that she¡¯d be telling me aloud anyway.


    ¡°She and her boyfriend stole our plans and then handed it over to the Coffeeshop Illuminati. From what I heard, she¡¯s the one with the connection to the Illuminati.¡±


    Marcus sat a few chairs down on the other side of the table. ¡°Really? I always thought they were kind of cool, you know. They¡¯re all young from what I can tell, they¡¯re not doing the traditional team thing and they¡¯ve got a political perspective. Most teams don¡¯t have the nerve. I mean, the Dixieland Defenders are almost all conservative and the Southern California Defenders are pretty liberal, but they don¡¯t make it a cornerstone of their teams. These guys want to make the world better both for normal people and supers. They''re for ending poverty, protecting supers rights to use their powers and they¡¯ve brought in heroes from all races and backgrounds to do it.¡±


    Haley eyed her cousin, ¡°And they¡¯ve never come out against Dark Cloak. He actively helped that dragon we fought try to get a foothold for Faerie in our world. And I already mentioned how they flipped Turkmenistan¡¯s government. I¡¯ve sometimes thought supers should do more, but they didn¡¯t spend much time thinking about what would happen after.¡±


    Marcus shrugged, ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not saying they did everything right¡ªjust that they¡¯re at least asking questions. Seriously, is catching supervillains the only thing superheroes should do? What if they took over a country like they did in Turkmenistan?¡±


    Interrupting, Tara walked up to the table, mussed my hair, and asked, ¡°Did you start already?¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow, but also smiled as Tara sat down. ¡°No. We¡¯re still waiting for everyone.¡±


    Like Emmy, Tara didn¡¯t have a problem touching people she felt comfortable with and Haley knew it. It was just Tara being Tara and it gave us a window into how the True might be with each other.


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    Then Haley started, twisting her head in the direction of the elevator on the far end of the room. ¡°I take that back. Everyone¡¯s here.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t heard the elevator, but it wasn¡¯t close by. As I followed Haley¡¯s gaze, the elevator door opened. Vaughn, Amy, and Stephanie got out¡ªcarefully.


    The elevator barely fit two people.


    On the other hand, the elevator only allowed people whose retinas had been scanned in to use it. I hadn¡¯t ever scanned Amy¡¯s, though I should have by now, and I wouldn¡¯t have scanned in Stephanie¡¯s.


    Anyway, all of them were on the short and skinny side even though Vaughn had lost fat and added more muscle in the last two years.


    Vaughn¡¯s voice carried. ¡°¡­ I wasn¡¯t trying to see how many of us I could squish in there. It was the only way we¡¯d get down.¡±


    Stephanie said something I missed and Amy laughed. After a little while they sat down at the table with us. Vaughn caught my eye. ¡°Nick, you need to scan Amy in. That elevator¡¯s not made for three people.¡±


    Stephanie pushed her glasses back up her nose. ¡°It depends what you use it for. If you¡¯re hoping to get to know people, well, I feel like I know every crevice of each of you.¡±


    Amy¡¯s grin flickered, but she didn¡¯t say anything. When she wasn¡¯t transformed into Bloodmaiden, creation of blood magic and guardian of her nation, Amy sometimes showed hints of shyness.


    Short and red-haired with pale skin, she sat straight in her chair, a legacy of being raised as a princess in a Victorian, steampunk fantasy world.


    Catching Haley¡¯s eye, Amy asked, ¡°Is anyone else coming?¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°Sydney¡¯s the only one of us who might be, but she couldn¡¯t make it.¡±


    Marcus frowned. He hadn¡¯t been dating Sydney before we went to space, but even I¡¯d been wondered if they would. Sydney had taken the news that he¡¯d met a woman out there hard¡ªeven though it hadn¡¯t worked out.


    She¡¯d been avoiding him.


    ¡°Thanks for coming, Stephanie,¡± Haley smiled at her. ¡°I know it¡¯s a long drive. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here.¡±


    Stephanie¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°We¡¯ll do better working together. You know how it is. When you¡¯re away from home on a case, you coordinate with the local heroes. Plus, I know almost all of you. I know we haven¡¯t always been on the same side, but we are here.¡±


    Giving no sign that she disagreed, Haley nodded. ¡°Nick talked to Agent Lim and he agreed that we should work together. We have to decide how best to help the two of you. Agent Lim also wanted us to find out what we could from Tara.¡±


    Glancing over at Tara, Haley asked, ¡°Did your parents ever tell you anything about how the True were created?¡±

 Dealing With It: Part 2

    Tara frowned, but then her face went blank as her brain went into whatever state allowed her to predict opponents'' moves before they made them and recognize patterns of human behavior by connecting details no one else remembered.


    Then she took a breath and relaxed, becoming the Tara I was more used to. ¡°The True aren¡¯t historians. We could have kept everything about the story if we¡¯d wanted to, but it¡¯s important to the leaders of the True to revere the Designer as the one who decided what it meant to be one of the True.


    ¡°My parents each told me their battalion''s version of the story and then I heard half a dozen different versions wherever we moved in Infinity City. Every group of the True has their own and they¡¯ll tell it to anyone willing to listen.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know which one is real. Maybe all of them are. I don''t know enough to figure that out, but I can tell you what¡¯s common to all the versions I know. Maybe that will be close enough.¡±


    She looked around the table, pursing her lips. With all of our eyes on her, she continued. ¡°The True come in every race, culture, and body type found in the infinity of worlds in which we exist, sometimes even from every culture within the same world. Still, we¡¯re united by the same things¡ªwe¡¯re soldiers and every group of us believes in the vision of the Designer¡ªthat we¡¯re the best humanity has to offer. It¡¯s also what divides us from each other.


    ¡°Every world has its own version of the Designer and a different version of the True. The True know they can¡¯t all be right. One version of the True must be the original True, the version of which all the others are only shadows. That''s what we aspire to become. So, we try to prove that we best exemplify the True¡¯s values. Sometimes that means we fight each other. Sometimes we work together. Whatever we do, it¡¯s also why each of our battalions needs to protect its own purity.


    ¡°The True believe that children of mixed battalions can¡¯t be allowed to live. That''s why my parents were hunted and my mother killed. Mixed children force them to question everything. Some of us are better than full True on either side.¡±


    Tara stopped. ¡°I know it sounds like I¡¯m bragging, but I''m not. It''s simply reality. When Nick¡¯s sister Rachel and our friends were fighting the True, I was a little faster, a little stronger, and a little smarter. And they knew it. That¡¯s one of the reasons they wanted to kill me.¡±


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    Stephanie nodded. ¡°I was on that field trip too. We had to sneak out. I don¡¯t think the True knew exactly what any of us could do at first. I think that''s the only reason we made it out.¡±


    Shaking his head, Marcus said, ¡°Don¡¯t take it wrong, but they kind of sound like Nazis.¡±


    Tara sighed. ¡°I know, but I think that¡¯s because it¡¯s only the worlds where everything goes wrong that the True escape to Infinity City.¡±


    In a quieter voice, she continued, ¡°In my father¡¯s world, the Designer was a man who brought a group of scientists to Mars because the Earth was slowly becoming unlivable for humans. The Designer created the True with the DNA of a girl (but by then a woman) that he¡¯d never had the nerve to talk to when he was in high school. The spaceship was named Higher Ground.


    ¡°He sent the True back to Earth to prevent it from becoming completely unlivable. They did what they could, but in the end, they realized that destroying humanity was the only way to prevent change. So, they did.


    ¡°In my mother¡¯s world, the Designer was a woman who worked for a company called Higher Ground. She found out that she was going to lose access to the artifact that she¡¯d spent her career studying. Instead of letting them destroy her life¡¯s work, she snuck into the lab of another researcher and used an Abominator birthing machine to create soldiers based on her own DNA and sent them out to destroy the people who were stopping her from completing her work.


    ¡°The problem was that they realized that the reason she was unable to complete her work was only a symptom of larger issues. The weak, they decided were preventing the strong from reaching their full potential. So they destroyed them. Then they realized that they were truly the strongest in the world and humanity was preventing them from reaching their full potential. So they destroyed them too¡ªincluding the Designer.


    ¡°They revered her teachings, but not her person.¡±


    Haley muttered, ¡°That¡¯s awful.¡±


    ¡°I know! I know,¡± Tara raised her hands in front of herself. ¡°I¡¯m almost done. I¡¯ve met True from worlds where they didn¡¯t destroy all of humankind. They went through Infinity City as bodyguards or alone, sometimes searching for something. In some places, they''d integrated into humanity. In others, they were the beginning of a clone underclass that later expanded into its own society. In the worlds where they created their own future, they didn¡¯t escape to Infinity City as a group, so I don¡¯t know much about them.


    ¡°But there are a lot of them where the Nine created the True. I don¡¯t know who does it because the stories are all different, but Higher Ground shows up a lot. The problem is that it¡¯s not always the same thing.


    ¡°But there¡¯s almost always a betrayal and an Abominator birthing chamber. Sometimes it¡¯s destroyed, but they recreate it. Sometimes the Nine secretly replace the original with a fake. Sometimes they use your friend Cassie as the base, but most of the time, the True look like me.¡±


    Tara sunk a little in her seat. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t tell you more. I haven¡¯t run into a story exactly like the reality we''re in.¡±

 Dealing With It: Part 3

    ¡°That¡¯s more than we knew.¡± I looked over at her and Tara smiled at me. ¡°Do you have any idea when that happened? The year? Or if we¡¯re lucky, maybe a specific date?¡±


    Tara¡¯s expression went blank again for a few seconds. ¡°No, but a lot of the stories sound like they could take place in this year. My mother¡¯s and father¡¯s stories both include mentions of the Heroes¡¯ League as one of the first groups to face the True.¡±


    ¡°Cool,¡± Vaughn grinned and asked Tara, ¡°how did we do?¡±


    Tara frowned. ¡°You all died¡ªnot all at once, but eventually.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°That kind of figures, but it¡¯s not the first time, you know? Nick and Haley were supposed to die in St. Louis. It all worked out in the end.¡±


    That was true. We hadn¡¯t. Tara¡¯s father had, and I doubted that Vaughn had remembered before he started talking. I did, though, and couldn¡¯t help but watch Tara¡¯s reaction.


    At the time, she¡¯d told me it was the kind of death he¡¯d have wanted. By that, I think she meant in action and protecting people.


    Tara didn¡¯t break into tears or even pause. Instead, she replied in much the same way as she would if Vaughn hadn¡¯t brought up her father¡¯s death without noticing it.


    ¡°The stories don¡¯t mention me at all, so I think you¡¯ve got a chance. When you saw Emmy, you knew what might be coming. Now we have to prepare.¡±


    Tara looked over the group and leaned back in her chair.


    ¡°That brings all of this back to Nick and I.¡± Stephanie glanced in Tara¡¯s direction as she spoke. ¡°We¡¯re in the middle of whatever¡¯s going to happen. No one knows if Emmy¡¯s one of the True or if she¡¯s going to be used to create them, but we¡¯ve both been told that the Nine might be involved with Higher Ground. Nick and I will be watching for the True or the Nine, but all of you, and especially Vaughn, will be able to watch from the outside. We¡¯ll need your help.


    ¡°I know that you don¡¯t entirely trust me, but believe me when I say I¡¯m not going to call in the Coffeeshop Illuminati without your okay and my mentors¡¯ okay.¡±


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    Haley frowned for a moment, but not long enough to notice unless you were looking for it. ¡°We decided to give you a chance before we invited you over.¡±


    We had. We¡¯d had that discussion after I¡¯d gotten back from my first day.


    Marcus leaned in above the table. ¡°It¡¯s old news now. Honestly, I was more worried that Red Bolt and Future Knight would drop by with you.¡±


    Stephanie¡¯s face showed the smallest hint of a smile. ¡°They thought that you might listen to me more than you¡¯d listen to them. I encouraged that.¡±


    Vaughn snorted. ¡°You know we fought them twice when we started? We won both times.¡±


    Stephanie laughed. ¡°What? No, they didn¡¯t mention that.¡± She looked over at me. ¡°You never said that.¡±


    I shrugged.


    Shaking her head, she added, ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re talking to me at all. Look, I¡¯ll be straight with you. My mission is to watch for if the Nine or anyone else seems to be involved with Higher Ground. It would be great if you¡¯d help. I¡¯d love to have you researching things we don¡¯t have time to get to or being ready to help us escape, but you don¡¯t trust me, I only need you to let me work. I¡¯ll be happy with that even if you don¡¯t do anything else.¡±


    Tara took a breath and spoke before anyone else. ¡°I feel like I have to do more than that. My father and I made our home here and letting anyone create the True won¡¯t make this world better.¡±


    Next to Vaughn, Amy said, ¡°I¡¯ve fought the True too¡ªnot me personally, but one of the earlier Bloodmaidens. I didn¡¯t know it, but she made the connection and told me while Tara was talking.¡±


    I blinked. That was weird.


    Amy continued, ¡°I think they came through Infinity City. Our world has a connection to it too. I don¡¯t know why they came through, but they started conquering one city after another. My predecessor, the Bloodmaiden Aife, found that fighting them was easy at first, but once they learned how to fight her, it became much harder. She called in help¡ªother bloodmages and our version of Lee.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn laughed. ¡°How¡¯d that go?¡±


    Amy smiled and for a moment the expression wasn¡¯t quite hers. ¡°In our world at that time, Lee didn¡¯t have anyone keeping him in check. It¡¯s a long story, but all of the True were dead by the end. Aife wants me to tell you not to let them get a foothold here.¡±


    Stephanie¡¯s brow furrowed, but she didn¡¯t ask how Amy knew what Aife wanted. ¡°Is there any way for us to get Lee in on this?¡±


    ¡°I think he¡¯s off-world meeting someone.¡± I hoped I didn¡¯t show any hint of how important that meeting might be. ¡°He¡¯s due back in a couple weeks. So, maybe?¡±


    Vaughn added, ¡°But strange stuff happens around Lee. Figure it might just as easily be months. It¡¯s a pain in the ass. Between what Tara and Amy just said though, we¡¯d be crazy not to work together.¡±


    I was about to throw my support behind Vaughn, but my phone buzzed. I¡¯d gotten an email from Emmy at my university email address. Whatever had been holding up my security clearance had stopped. I¡¯d be cleared to work in the lab the next time I came in.

 Dealing With It: Part 4

    The meeting didn¡¯t last too much longer. We agreed that Stephanie and I would coordinate what we were doing and keep everyone informed¡ªespecially Vaughn. He¡¯d be in a better position to help or be hurt than anyone else.


    Haley and I went out for a walk after that, coming back later to talk and play with the dog.


    Agent Lim called while we were sitting in my lab. We¡¯d been waiting for him. I¡¯d passed an audio file of Tara¡¯s story over to him with her permission.


    The FBI seal flashed off and Lim¡¯s face appeared. From the background, a bookcase filled with books and decorated with Heroes¡¯ League collectible figures from the 1970s and 80s, I guessed that he was in his home office instead of at work or an FBI operation.


    Nodding at the two of us, he said, ¡°Nick, Haley, good to see both of you.¡±


    He glanced around, no doubt checking our background before smiling. ¡°The lab? It¡¯s nice to see it in use. What are you working on?¡±


    He pointed his finger toward the table behind us. I turned around, reminding myself of what I¡¯d left there.


    Turning back to the screen, I said, ¡°Micro-spybots. I don¡¯t know yet what they can or can¡¯t detect, but I¡¯m going to need something as small and as impossible to detect as I can manage one way or another. Thus the 3d printers and teeny conveyer belts. They¡¯re too small to comfortably put together by hand.¡±


    Lim shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s too bad we can¡¯t officially buy your equipment. I can think of places where I¡¯d love to test your bots.¡±


    Taking a breath, he said, ¡°But let¡¯s get down to business. I listened to what Tara said, and I¡¯m relieved not to have heard anything new there. We interviewed the two of them extensively when she and her father escaped Infinity City. It¡¯s one of the reasons that we wanted to investigate Higher Ground.


    ¡°I was more concerned that none of us ever noticed Emmy¡¯s resemblance to the True, but then I looked at the pictures our people were using to look for potential True¡­¡±


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    Lim shook his head. ¡°We were handing out pictures of Tara and other True as adults. If we knew what we were looking for, we would have been handing out pictures of them as 12-year-olds. Before their final growth spurts, they look more like Emmy. We¡¯re in luck that you happen to be friends with her and set up her residency¡­¡±


    He trailed off and paused long enough that I began to worry. Haley touched my knee and gave me a look.


    Lim picked up an action figure of Captain Commando, shook his head and put him down. ¡°I should just say it. This mission isn¡¯t entirely on the books. My last call, the one where I told you that bringing in Vaughn was optional and totally your decision? That was on the books. This call isn¡¯t.


    ¡°I¡¯m not using a Bureau phone for this call. I¡¯m using one that a super made me. It¡¯s more secure and imitates the Bureau¡¯s phones when it has to. It is right now. I¡¯m using it because some of the people here must be working for the Nine. Infiltrating governments is what they do, so I¡¯m trying to use the work that¡¯s on the books to get the Nine¡¯s people to out themselves.


    ¡°I¡¯m using the off the books calls to keep you informed. For the future, assume any call I make is on the books. I¡¯ll tell you directly if it isn¡¯t. Second, keep the rest of the League¡¯s involvement off-screen. Don¡¯t talk about it and make sure Stephanie doesn¡¯t talk about it. I¡¯m sure the Nine will expect Nick to call on the League for help, but they won¡¯t be sure if all our official calls are with Nick and Vaughn.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± my heart raced as I thought through this added complication. ¡°Is the mission the same? Are we still just observing?¡±


    Lim¡¯s mouth twisted. ¡°It¡¯s almost the same, but it¡¯s more complicated. This is the problem. You¡¯re there to find out if the Nine are involved or if it¡¯s someone else. If the Nine start making True with Abominator equipment, I want you to tell us, but if you can¡¯t you may have to destroy it or steal it. Maybe you can bring Cassie in and sabotage it. I don¡¯t know, but ideally, you¡¯ll do it without anyone knowing it was you.


    ¡°We need you to think like a spy.¡±


    While I began to think through the ramifications of that, Haley frowned and then asked, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be safer if you destroyed the birthing chambers now?¡±


    Lim nodded. ¡°It would be, but I¡¯m not authorized to do that and there are people who want those birthing chambers for science or so that our country stays ahead in understanding alien technology. I can¡¯t destroy it without a clearer threat.¡±


    The curl of Haley¡¯s lip hinted that she didn¡¯t find that reason good enough. ¡°Aren¡¯t they at all concerned that it might be too late before they have a reason?¡±


    Lim rapped his hand on his desk. ¡°I¡¯m concerned, but that¡¯s not my only concern. This is big enough that I might get the Nine¡¯s people to stick their necks out if I play it right. Nick¡¯s the one on the ground. He¡¯ll have to follow his best judgement to stop the True¡¯s creation, but the best solution will be the kind that doesn¡¯t leave a trail back to him or me.¡±

 Dealing With It: Part 5

    I tried to think of ways I could stop the True¡¯s creation without leaving a trail. The best option that came to mind was one I¡¯d thought of earlier. Cassie had been cloned from her father¡¯s DNA plus an X chromosome from an unknown source and a structure in her brain that allowed her to control Abominator technology.


    She¡¯d be able to turn off the birthing machine or better, set it to almost, but not quite, follow directions.


    The only problem was that she¡¯d been created by Dr. Mind, Nazi brain in a jar, and enemy of her father, Captain Commando. Dr. Mind had either played a role in founding the Nine or they¡¯d acquired his equipment and records. The Nine had been looking for her for years and putting her within their grasp wasn¡¯t the brightest of all possible moves.


    Isaac Lim grinned. ¡°Keep on thinking things through. Going undercover requires caution balanced with a willingness to take the right risks. If it helps, I think you can handle it. Do you have any questions?¡±


    Neither Haley nor I could think of any in that moment and so we all said goodbye and hung up.


    As the video on my monitor disappeared, Haley shook her head. ¡°I should have asked him if there were any way to get me into Higher Ground.¡±


    ¡°There probably isn¡¯t.¡± How could there be? Even if Higher Ground needed more people, Haley wasn¡¯t majoring the sciences. She was majoring in graphic design.


    She frowned. ¡°I know, but it still would have been nice to ask. It feels like the summer all over again. You were in danger and I couldn¡¯t do anything about it.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± I said.


    We¡¯d discussed it at least twice since I¡¯d gotten home.


    ¡°It¡¯s easier when we¡¯re both in the middle of everything. Then I don¡¯t have time to think about what¡¯s happening to you¡ªI¡¯m too busy keeping myself alive. And besides, at least then we¡¯re together.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t deny that made sense. "Sitting around with no ability to help would be awful. Of course, being together means we might see each other die and have to live with it.¡±


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    Haley bit her bottom lip. ¡°I know, but I¡¯d rather have a chance to help than none at all.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue with that. I worried about her too--but not most of the time. Grand Lake wasn¡¯t a New York, Los Angeles or Chicago¡ªbig cities that supported competing superhuman gangs.


    Of course, now that the secret to activating latent powers was public, we did have more of that.


    Haley leaned sideways on her stool, putting her elbow on the counter and resting her head on her hand. Then she sighed.


    It didn¡¯t take a genius to guess that something else was bothering her. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±


    ¡°The Nine. Two years ago, they kidnapped Cassie and put Marcus, Travis, Vaughn, and Courtney into the hospital. I know, technically we brought them to my cousin because he¡¯s a doctor, but they should have gone to the hospital. Then when we went in to save Cassie, they released nerve gas in their own building, blowing it up with a nuclear bomb, and firing nuclear missiles at us on the way home.¡±


    I thought back to my freshman year, remembering how we¡¯d crossed into Canadian airspace without permission and nearly fought Canadian supers because the Nine had enough power in the Canadian government to trump up a story that we were planning to attack Ottawa, their capital.


    That wasn¡¯t just true of Canada. They infiltrated governments all over¡ªincluding our own.


    Before I had time to drift off into my thoughts, Haley leaned forward. ¡°And that was back when they didn¡¯t have any experience with us. I¡¯m sure they thought of us as a bunch of kids¡ªexcept then we won. Plus, you blew up Rook¡¯s hand¡ª¡±


    ¡°He was aiming nukes at the League jet and you were flying it¡ª¡±


    ¡°I know... I¡¯m glad you stopped him, but now it¡¯s got to be personal. If Rook¡¯s high up in the Nine, he¡¯s got to be waiting for a chance to pay you back.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°He might not be in the leadership. No one knows who is in their leadership except that it¡¯s a council of nine. So, yeah. He might be in it, but theoretically, anyone could be. Some are more likely than others though. I could easily believe Rook would be, but I¡¯d doubt Russell Hardwick would be. Back when we were in high school and fighting the Cabal, Russell Hardwick wouldn¡¯t have needed our help to survive if he¡¯d had the Nine to call on.¡±


    Haley blinked. ¡°Why are you thinking he¡¯d be a possible member?¡±


    I cocked my head, eyes to the ceiling. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was just talking. In favor of the idea, Russell Hardwick is powerful and uh¡­ ethically challenged, an ideal recruit. Plus, if they do hate us, maybe they¡¯d deliberately recruit him to have someone here. Um¡­ Huh.¡±


    Haley and I met eyes.


    ¡°Shit,¡± she said. ¡°That makes a lot of sense. We should run it by Tara and maybe Hal. I know Hal¡¯s thing is military strategy and tactics, but he is an AI.¡±


    ¡°And he¡¯s always gathering intelligence. Yeah. We should.¡± I paused, still looking into her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m glad you thought of that. I¡¯m glad I¡¯m not doing this alone.¡±


    Haley looked down. In a quiet voice, she said, ¡°I wish we weren¡¯t involved in it at all. This is too big for us.¡±

 Dealing With It: Part 6

    I couldn¡¯t argue with her. We stood at the nexus of humanity¡¯s extinction by the True, the possibility that Higher Ground¡¯s mission to understand alien technology would kick off humanity¡¯s genocide by the Xiniti, and the more day to day menace of the Nine and their attempts at worldwide influence.


    By this time we ought to be used to it. Things we¡¯d done during the summer had the potential to affect the fate of far-flung human and alien civilizations that spanned the galaxy around us¡ªnot to mention becoming peripherally involved a civil war between Lee¡¯s people that had lasted for millions, possibly billions of years.


    The difference being, of course, that the stakes felt higher when they affected the city where you lived.


    Haley and I sat on a couch I¡¯d pushed into a corner of the lab, holding each other and talking about other things until she had to go. We both had homework.


    The next day was Friday and Friday meant that I¡¯d be attending class in the morning, followed by a helicopter ride to my internship.


    When Vaughn and I met near the helipad, he pushed his hair back, straightening his ponytail. ¡°Today¡¯s going to be a little different. It¡¯s not going to affect you too much, but me? It¡¯s going to be a day from fucking hell.¡±


    ¡°Why? What¡¯s going on?¡± Even as I asked the question, I noticed a group of people in suits walking out of the nearest building. Near the front, I saw Ronnie, the tall, bald security guy we¡¯d seen every time we took the helicopter. Next to him walked Russell Hardwick, CEO of Hardwick Industries. Fatter than Ronnie, he was almost as tall and bald, standing out in the crowd because of his bulk.


    Though no judge of clothes, I would have bet that Hardwick¡¯s blue suit cost more than Ronnie¡¯s blue suit by a factor of ten.


    To my surprise, Russell Hardwick wasn¡¯t the only person in the mass of suits I recognized. Next to Russell walked Vaughn¡¯s mom¡ªSuzanne Hardwick-Jones. Smaller and slimmer than Russell, she had the same square face and dark, black hair as her brother and her son. She wore her hair in a pixie cut.


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    The suits crowded around us in a vast wave of employee handbook approved clothing. They didn¡¯t get too close though because ¡°Uncle Russ¡± made a beeline for us. Vaughn¡¯s mom matched him step for step.


    In a warm baritone voice, Russell Hardwick said, ¡°I hear the two of you have had the helicopter to yourselves this week. I¡¯m afraid we¡¯re going to have to commandeer it today but don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll get your choice of seats.¡±


    ¡°Sounds great, Uncle Russ,¡± Vaughn said as Russell Hardwick shook his hand, following it up with, ¡°Hey Mom. I¡¯m on time and I didn¡¯t wear leather.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t wearing leather. He wore a red button-down shirt with a black tie. I wore Higher Ground¡¯s standard¡ªt-shirt and jeans.


    Vaughn¡¯s mom¡¯s eyes narrowed even as Russ laughed. ¡°I can¡¯t deny it,¡± the man said. ¡°You turned out well even though you did give us all a scare for a few years there. Didn¡¯t he, Suzanne?¡±


    In a level voice, she said, ¡°I was always confident he¡¯d work his way through it.¡±


    She said more to Vaughn, but I didn¡¯t get to hear it. Russell Hardwick had closed in on me. While part of my mind had already suggested three different ways I could take him down without killing him and two more that posed a serious risk, a more realistic part held out my hand.


    Russell Hardwick took it. He had a firm grip and I must have too. He looked down at my arms. ¡°You work out. That¡¯s not something I imagined when I heard you were an engineer. Of course, your grandfather was a soldier first and never lost the look. You take after him. That¡¯s a good thing.¡±


    ¡°You knew him?¡± I asked, already knowing the answer.


    Russ nodded. ¡°Of course I did. He was my father¡¯s best friend in the world and the best engineer this company ever had even though he was never a full-time employee. He even came by after Dad died. He was a good man. I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯t see me at the funeral, but I was there.¡±


    ¡°I saw you.¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Good. I wanted your family to know I cared. He and his wife were a comfort after my dad died. I always thought of them as family.¡±


    It would be nice to think that Russell Hardwick couldn¡¯t be a bad guy if he liked Grandpa, but I also knew that Rook, a guy who might be one of the Nine, was a fan of Grandpa as the Rocket. Rook told me so while he was trying to kill me once.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, stalling for time as I tried to figure out if this meant that the conversation was ending now.


    Russ shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s barely enough, but there¡¯s something I¡¯d like you to consider. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got other prospects but when you¡¯re finishing school and looking for your first job, keep Hardwick Industries in mind. You might even get to work with ideas based on your grandfather¡¯s technology.¡±


    He grinned at me and gave me a wink.


    ¡°Thanks again. I won¡¯t forget it.¡± I kept my voice even, trying to project sincere interest even if I wasn¡¯t sure how to do that while hoping that wink didn¡¯t mean that he knew I¡¯d become the new Rocket.

 Dealing With It: Part 7

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget it,¡± Russ said. ¡°No business can survive without good people. You and your father have both been good influences in his life.¡±


    The sound of helicopter blades ended that conversation as everyone in the crowd turned to watch the copter land.


    As it came down, Vaughn¡¯s mom turned to me and tapped my shoulder. ¡°Good to see you, Nick.¡±


    I managed to get out, ¡°Good to see you too,¡± but not much more. The noise made conversation impossible and I was fine with that. It¡¯s not that I disliked her, but the last real conversation I¡¯d had with her involved her informing me that she knew I was the Rocket and that she didn¡¯t want Vaughn to be involved with the new version of the Heroes¡¯ League in any way.


    Vaughn was so far past ¡°not getting involved¡± that we couldn¡¯t see it in the rear view mirror¡ªleaving me to assume that his mom would hate me.


    If she did hate me, she hated me deep down, but not enough that she couldn¡¯t be friendly on the surface¡ªsomething that would be a useful skill for an executive at a multi-billion dollar company.


    On the other hand, that bit Russell Hardwick had said about my father and me being a good influence on Vaughn might have been something she¡¯d told him. My dad had been Vaughn¡¯s therapist and I assume Vaughn made progress under him. Plus, however dangerous fighting supervillains might be, Vaughn hadn¡¯t relapsed into drugs and alcohol since I¡¯d come back into his life and he¡¯d joined the Heroes¡¯ League.


    I¡¯d give more credit to the League as a group than myself, but either way, maybe it was what he¡¯d needed.


    Whatever the case, we sat down in our usual seats in the front of the helicopter and couldn¡¯t talk about it at all because Russ and Vaughn¡¯s mom sat next to us, meaning that conversation turned toward business and family.


    I zoned out, staying aware enough to answer when one of them noticed I wasn¡¯t saying anything. One observation I got out of the ride? Their family vacations sounded more expensive than mine.


    Vaughn held out his phone so I could see the villa they¡¯d rented on the French Riviera. ¡°We ought to invite everyone out next year for a week next summer. It¡¯d be pretty crazy.¡±


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    I didn¡¯t have any doubt who he meant by everyone¡ªthe whole League plus a few. I doubted that his mom had missed that either¡ªshe blinked and said nothing. She had to be thinking what I was¡ªthat that would be the week nuclear terrorists or supervillains attacked.


    Aside from the inevitable disaster, it might be fun. ¡°It¡¯s something to think about. I have no idea what any of us will be doing next summer.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°No kidding. The summer after our senior year? Me neither.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s mom let out a breath and leaned back in her seat.


    Then Vaughn grinned. ¡°We could do it right after graduation, though. It¡¯d be awesome.¡±


    Russell Hardwick leaned forward to grin at Vaughn, a grin that broadened after glancing at his sister¡¯s expressionless face. ¡°Did I ever tell you what I did after graduation? I rented a¡­¡±


    He spent the rest of the flight telling us drinking stories from when he and his friends went to Europe. They were funny and we weren¡¯t the only ones listening. The row of executives behind us might have heard the stories before, but it didn¡¯t stop them from laughing along with us.


    Shaky morals or no, Russell Hardwick could tell a good story and the stories he told about himself reminded me of the stories Grandpa told me about Giles Hardwick.


    At his best, Giles was loyal to his friends and could talk himself into just about anywhere.


    When we landed, everyone else went into the Hardwick Industries half of the building and I continued into the Higher Ground offices with Emmy.


    ¡°I know you don¡¯t need me to lead you back,¡± Emmy walked next to me, matching my pace, ¡°but I need to hand these files over to Sandy and they¡¯re private, so I have to do it myself.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I looked down at the plastic file box she held, barely moving, at the full length of her arm. It looked heavy.


    ¡°Do you want help?¡± I wasn¡¯t going to tell her, but the stealth suit hidden in the shape of my clothes would do most of the work.


    She shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s mine, mine, mine or so the government says. I even have to make Sandy sign for it.¡±


    We talked about other things, reaching the office. I held the door for her. She thanked me and we found Sandy waiting in the lobby.


    Handing the file box over to him, she poked his stomach just above his suit coat¡¯s button. ¡°This is for you. You¡¯ll have to sign for it and I¡¯m not leaving you alone until you do.¡±


    Laughing, Sandy waved toward the door on the right side of the lobby. ¡°I¡¯ll hold you to that.¡±


    Emmy waved at me as she stepped through. The door shut and I turned toward the line of cubicles only to find Stephanie walking around the end of the last one into the lobby.


    She stopped next to me, giving the door a pointed look.


    I asked the question most on my mind. ¡°Are they¡­¡±


    She gave a lopsided grin, ¡°Screwing? Shaboinking? Laying pipe? Making bacon? Knocking boots? Shellacking the canoe? Opening the gates of Mordor?¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Opening the gates of Mordor?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s an expression.¡±


    I didn¡¯t ask where.


    Stephanie folded her arms over her chest. ¡°Office rumor says yes. Office rumor says that they are definitely doing the horizontal greased-weasel tango. Office rumor does not say what his wife thinks about this.¡±

 Dealing With It: Part 8

    That was new information. ¡°I didn¡¯t know he was married.¡±


    Stephanie glanced over toward the lines of cubicles and back to me. ¡°Office rumor says that she¡¯s in California most of the time and I happen to have met her on one of her visits here, so I can confirm that. For the record, her name¡¯s April and I kind of like her.


    ¡°Funny how Sandy can do the awkward geeky guy thing at the same time he does the executive screwing the secretary thing. I never thought it was impossible, but I wasn¡¯t looking for an example.¡±


    ¡°I know I wasn¡¯t.¡± As I spoke, movement caught my eye and I turned to notice a taller guy standing up from his cubicle.


    A few inches over six feet with light brown skin, dark hair, stubble on his cheeks, and a goatee, he wore a t-shirt and jeans. His t-shirt said, ¡°No, I won¡¯t fix your computer,¡± in white type on a black shirt.


    As he came around the nearest line of cubicles, he asked Stephanie, ¡°Is this the new guy?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Stephanie waved him over. ¡°Nick, this is Victor, our sysadmin and helpdesk guy.¡±


    To say that Victor towered over me would have been an exaggeration but he had a good five inches on me so it felt like towering.


    As he shook my hand, Victor said, ¡°What Stephanie didn¡¯t tell you is that I¡¯m also in charge of deciphering the alien languages that appear in your head when you touch some of the devices as well as any writing you see.¡±


    Stephanie nodded, adding a touch of an eye roll. ¡°He¡¯s the lead on the linguistics team and does some programming. We¡¯re working on a program that will translate the major languages we¡¯ve encountered.¡±


    I looked him over. ¡°That¡¯s a bunch of different things to be involved in.¡±


    He gave a wide smile. ¡°My undergrad was in computer science. My doctorate and masters were in linguistics. I worked my way through school doing helpdesk and later system administration and since it¡¯s a small company, that¡¯s part of what I do here.¡±


    I hoped he didn¡¯t do it alone. The computer security this place needed had to be a huge hassle. ¡°How did it happen that you got hired here?¡±


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    He snorted. ¡°Since you¡¯ve got your security clearance now, I can tell you. Like at least half the company, I took a test that tested for more than expected. My prof called in the government and the next thing I knew I got an offer here.¡±


    Half the company? I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt about that.


    Victor laughed. ¡°The expression on your face, kid¡­ You too?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Admitting it seemed safer than denying it and if I wanted to fit in, maybe I¡¯d have wanted to lie even if I¡¯d been hired normally.


    Stephanie nodded. ¡°Me too. I¡¯m working on a masters in neurolinguistics and the same thing happened.¡±


    Considering that Stephanie specialized in creating images that hacked the brain, that fit.


    Victor looked from me over to Stephanie. ¡°I guess we¡¯d better take him over to the labs and show him around.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what we were told to do. Let¡¯s get it done.¡± Stephanie glanced at the wooden door and Emmy and Sandy had disappeared into. ¡°Besides, I¡¯m going to feel better if we¡¯re not here when they come out.¡±


    With that, they led me out the same door that Stephanie brought me out when my implant started acting up. This time, instead of leading me into the grass between the buildings, we walked across the sidewalk from the side door out to the side door of the laboratory building.


    After the retinal scanner finished and we¡¯d scanned our cards, the door opened, depositing us into what was for all practical purposes an airlock. I didn¡¯t have a better word for whatever a door opening into a tiny room that had a door on the other end would be called.


    When we finally stepped into the main room, though, I felt like I knew exactly where we were.


    When the Hrrnna, a race of evil, alien ponies, hired mercenaries to find Abominator artifacts and potentially push the Xiniti into destroying the planet, most of the Heroes¡¯ League found ourselves protecting a scientific lab that was studying Abominator artifacts.


    Except for being several times the size, this lab reminded me of that one. Computers and desks were scattered around the big, concrete-floored room. Enclosures the size of small rooms dotted the inside of the main room. Machines stood near the enclosures and the desks.


    I recognized some of the equipment¡ªultrasounds, an MRI, an X-ray, electron microscopes.


    ¡°The idea,¡± Stephanie told us, ¡°is that they don¡¯t have to ship anything out for analysis.¡±


    Ahead of us stood the birthing machine, a platform with larger than human-sized tubes. Across the room stood a streamlined cylinder that might have been a spaceship¡ªa small shuttle, maybe. The implant needed me to get closer to identify it.


    Just to my right, a pockmarked ceramic sphere two feet in diameter sat on top of a table. Grayish-blue, it sat on a black plastic mat.


    ¡°We¡¯re still trying to figure out what that thing was,¡± Stephanie began.


    Victor laughed. ¡°An alien soccer ball?¡±


    My implant identified it as a thousand-year-old ansible, a device that allowed faster than light communication.


    I didn¡¯t have time to wonder if it still worked because it began to hum as my implant informed me, ¡°Incoming communications.¡±

 Dealing With It: Part 9

    Knowing that people sometimes noticed when the implant threw me a lot of information, I steeled myself for the onslaught and did my best to keep my face neutral.


    The implant informed me that I had more than 30 messages to download. The majority were from the Xiniti High Command, informing me of military actions that the Xiniti had taken part in and how monitoring the Human Quarantine was going. According to Xiniti intelligence, the loss of a noticeable percentage of their fleet had caused the Human Ascendancy to withdraw from a number of worlds they¡¯d been threatening to occupy.


    In addition, the Ascendancy¡¯s internal resistance had been gathering steam.


    Bearing in mind that the Human Ascendancy was an interstellar dictatorship that manipulated its citizens with mind control and genetic manipulation, this was good news.


    Katuk, a Xiniti I knew through our trip to the stars, left me a message informing me of the military actions he¡¯d been in since we¡¯d last seen each other and about the other Xiniti in his unit. It was hard to read him, but he sounded happy.


    Taking my mind off the ansible for a second, I glanced at Victor and Stephanie.Neither one appeared to have noticed anything. At any rate, they¡¯d both turned away from the ansible and weren¡¯t staring at me.


    Stephanie pointed toward the next group of desks and artifact holding cases. ¡°Let¡¯s go over there.¡±


    I followed them over. Since they¡¯d failed to notice me going through the previous messages, I took a look at the one I hadn¡¯t opened.


    A picture of a woman¡¯s face appeared. Black haired with light brown skin and full lips, Kals wore an emerald green jumpsuit with silver and white accents. Standing in front of a window that showed the gray blur of jump space, she smiled at the camera.


    In the language of the Abominators¡¯ human servants, she spoke my name¡ªthe name I¡¯d used when I visited her colony anyway. My implant translated it.


    ¡°Nick, I¡¯m sending this message through the Xiniti embassy on K¡¯Tepolu. If you ever get it, it means it passed their encryption requirements.


    ¡°In case you¡¯re wondering, my background means what you think it means. I got off Hideaway¡ªwhich is now officially protected by the Alliance. I¡¯m traveling from one planet to another, meeting with members of the resistance¡ªwhich includes the four handers now. Thanks for that. I know it wasn¡¯t all you, but you listened to Four Hands. Not everyone would have. You have no idea how much we needed them without knowing it.¡±


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    She turned to stare out the window and back at the camera. ¡°I wanted to call you, but the Xiniti wouldn¡¯t let me. It¡¯s a security thing for both you and me. Anyway, I¡¯m not just calling to tell you how I¡¯m doing. I¡¯m calling because there¡¯s something you ought to know. You know Tikki? Of course, you know her. Tikki or Kee left around the same time you did, but you know what? She came back and she didn¡¯t come back alone. She came back as Kee, but she came back with a guy who called himself Lee.


    ¡°I know you mentioned a Lee. Watching them was¡­ weird. I¡¯m not sure what they were together. Friends? Lovers? Siblings? But they were something. Anyway, I thought you''d find it interesting.¡±


    She closed her eyes and then opened them. ¡°I just got a message. We¡¯re docking, so I¡¯ve got to end this. Wish you were here. You¡¯ll forever be the one who got away, you know.¡±


    She smiled once more and the picture faded to black.


    I wished she hadn¡¯t said that. We¡¯d spent a lot of time together, but we hadn¡¯t done anything. We¡¯d never had any relationship beyond friendship--along with a hint or two of mutual attraction, but we''d both known nothing could happen.


    I supposed that being thousands of light-years away on a starship and maybe a little lonely made saying it aloud easier.


    Letting go of the image, I found myself walking behind Victor and Stephanie and coming to a stop in front of the cubicles next to the birthing chamber platform.


    Stephanie and Victor introduced me to the team¡ªwhose names I forgot even as they said them. I don¡¯t think I was rude to anyone, but after the introductions, I found myself standing in front of the platform. The team told me that it was more than ten thousand years old. Though they couldn''t date it, they¡¯d used carbon dating on other objects near it in the excavation.


    They weren¡¯t wrong. My Xiniti implant tagged it as ten thousand years in addition to giving me the model and the manufacturer¡ªmore or less. The Abominators had weird names and translated from the original Abominator, this birthing chamber came from the workshops of Artaxus the Unhallowed, scion of the eighth lineage of someone called Magnetus the Purifier.


    Whatever that meant.


    Ignoring the explanation, I examined the material. I¡¯d never have guessed it was ten thousand years old. The ceramic¡¯s surface was smooth and unpitted. The birthing tubes were clear.


    The implant informed me that the birthing chamber was on standby, but operational. Running my finger down the side of one of the tubes, I asked how it knew that, getting in return information about the systems that the Xiniti used to query Abominator technology. It had multiple methods for gaining control. Did I wish to start? I did not. Later would be better.


    Victor stood next to me. ¡°That¡¯s the motherlode right there. It¡¯s in perfect condition and the last lab that had it were close to communicating with it. They even had a backup plan that might allow us to workaround the AI. Sandy hired a few of them in. They should arrive next week.¡±


    I felt sick. ¡°What lab?¡±


    ¡°Some lab in New York. Medford, I think? When the Hrrnna¡¯s mercs hit New York, the mercs told everyone the old lab¡¯s location so the government had to move the device. They want to keep working on it though, so I guess we¡¯ve got a few new co-workers, right? And maybe a better chance to figure this stuff out.¡±

 Dealing With It: Part 10

    ¡°It sounds like they were close enough that they should have kept it somehow¡ªnot that I think we shouldn¡¯t have it. It just seems inefficient to have us start from zero on it and only bring them in a couple years later.¡±


    Victor shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s the government. I think I heard that they moved it someplace so secret that it practically disappeared for a year and half. Except people do know it exists and what it does. According to government records, when the supers fought the Abominators, the Abominators used it to create clones, engineer new supers, modify supers that already existed, and even heal their people.


    ¡°It¡¯s too powerful to bury and Sandy¡¯s got pull, so we got it.¡±


    ¡°What kind of pull does Sandy have?¡± I kept myself as calm and as much like a normal, curious person as I could. Any name Victor mentioned could put us on the trail of the Nine¡¯s agents.


    Victor held up his hands. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t pay attention to how the suits get things done.¡±


    Having the source of influence being a mystery felt more like the Nine than anything he¡¯d said so far. The whole setup made more sense when viewed as one of the Nine¡¯s operations than the government¡¯s. They¡¯d put powerful alien artifacts into a private company staffed with people from a program they¡¯d created to identify potential mad scientists.


    It didn¡¯t seem like the kind of thing an agency worried about public relations would think up. It did seem like something that an organization that didn¡¯t care at all about public relations and cared only for results might think up.


    On the other hand, by the time a government agency satisfied a program¡¯s intended purpose, all relevant laws, and competing bureaucratic and political interests, it might not look pretty from a public relations standpoint.


    Victor nodded in Stephanie¡¯s direction. She was talking with a group of people, two of whom wore ties. ¡°It looks like she got caught. I should show you around until she can join us.¡±


    He took me around the rest of the room. To my relief, I didn¡¯t make an implant mediated connection with any other technology and while my implant did recognize devices, I didn¡¯t see anything else as worrying as the birthing chambers. On the other hand, that might have meant that the worst stuff wasn¡¯t out.


    I didn¡¯t know.


    With most of the tour over, Victor led me to a line of cubicles near the far wall. ¡°When you¡¯re in the lab, you¡¯ll be working here. My understanding is that you¡¯ll be helping with analyzing the materials used because we¡¯re trying to reverse engineer them. You¡¯ll also be helping analyze the devices¡¯ design when we have one we can see inside.¡±


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    I thought about it. ¡°That sounds about right. I¡¯m majoring in electrical engineering and materials science. I started double majoring in electrical engineering and chemistry, but then I realized that materials science was what I was really interested in. Fortunately, there¡¯s a big overlap in courses, so switching wasn¡¯t hard.¡±


    Victor grinned. ¡°It sounds like you¡¯ll fit in around here. Most people know at least two scientific disciplines¡ªsometimes three or four. Stephanie told you about my IT and linguistics background, but I¡¯m sure I got hired because of my interest in genetic engineering and bioinformatics.¡±


    Even beyond the birthing chambers, that was what the Abominators were all about. They¡¯d remade their own variant of humanity to supply themselves with superpowered soldiers. Victor¡¯s claim made sense.


    Victor sat down at one of the cubicles and logged in to the computer. His desktop background showed Harley Quinn posing with a baseball bat.


    He opened a few programs, one of them for email, and then looked up at me. ¡°You know Stephanie from somewhere, right?¡±


    I hoped he wasn¡¯t going to ask for details. They¡¯d set up Stapledon to maximize deniability about what it really was, but if he wanted details we¡¯d have to coordinate our lies.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°A bit.¡±


    Victor itched his beard. ¡°Is she with someone? Because I¡¯ve hinted we should get together and she changes the subject every time.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I wondered how much I should tell him since she hadn¡¯t. ¡°I think she got out of a long term relationship. So maybe she¡¯s taking a break from dating.¡±


    His mouth twisted. ¡°Well, fuck her then. She could have said so.¡±


    Maybe in that moment, I should have pointed out that he didn¡¯t deserve any explanation at all and that changing the subject was an answer if he thought about it. At the same time, I didn¡¯t feel quite right lecturing a near-stranger ten years older than me about basic human behavior.


    So, I didn¡¯t and watched as he showed me how to log into programs I¡¯d need to use. It seemed to me that he typed harder than he had to. By the time he¡¯d shown me a few things, he¡¯d calmed down and when Stephanie walked up, he asked, ¡°How¡¯d it go,¡± with no hint of anger.


    She laughed. ¡°We¡¯re getting more funding for the birthing chamber project. Maybe they¡¯ll let us share a little with everyone else. On the linguistics side, it¡¯s all one project. How are you guys doing?¡±


    Pointing at the screen, Victor said, ¡°Take a look. I got him into everything important. Next week, he should be able to be useful.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Excellent. Thanks. I¡¯m glad you showed him around. Whoever showed the last intern around left her with half the accounts and permissions she should have had.¡±


    ¡°Not my fault.¡± Victor leaned back in his chair. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure Sandy was still handling IT himself back then in addition to being CEO and a team lead. Too many hats. I¡¯m glad he cut back.¡±


    Giving a snort, Stephanie said, ¡°Me too, but I¡¯m wondering if he might not be busy enough. How are you doing, Nick?¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°I can log into a lot of apps. That¡¯s something.¡±

 Deeper In: Part 1

    By the end of the day, I¡¯d been shown everything I¡¯d need to know to start work. At any rate, I knew how to get at my files, what programs I¡¯d need, and been told multiple variations on, ¡°You can¡¯t tell anyone about this.¡±


    Around five I got a text from Vaughn saying, ¡°Copter¡¯s leaving late¡ª6:30. Execs going to old hotel to get hammered.¡±


    I texted back, ¡°Are you going with them?¡±


    ¡°No choice. Family. Higher Ground¡¯s going too. U?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll ask.¡±


    I¡¯d been sitting in my cubicle¡ªthe one in the main office not the lab¡ªwhen I got the text. I looked up from my phone to find Stephanie standing next to my cubicle.


    ¡°Thought I¡¯d let you know¡ªHigher Ground and the Hardwick execs are meeting for drinks at the old hotel. It¡¯s a way of showing them the people their money supports. With any luck they won¡¯t talk to them very much. Some of our people don¡¯t know when to shut up.¡±


    I held up my phone. ¡°Vaughn was just telling me. They¡¯re even inviting me? I can¡¯t legally drink yet.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯re not checking ID. The last intern was underage too and she didn¡¯t let that stop her. But that¡¯s not why I¡¯m telling you. I was thinking that we could take a walk down the beach and talk.¡±


    Guessing that she meant ¡°talk about work,¡± I said, ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll check with Vaughn. He might want me there to distract him from everything.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know if Vaughn needed help to keep himself away from drinking anymore, but it seemed worth checking.


    I texted Vaughn. ¡°I¡¯m invited. Meet you there?¡±


    Vaughn texted back. ¡°Dude, no. U really want to drink with my Mom and my Uncle? I¡¯ll get away if I can.¡±


    I wrote back, ¡°OK.¡±


    Looking up at Stephanie, I said, ¡°It sounds like Vaughn won¡¯t be able to get away. So, if you want to talk, it¡¯ll just be me.¡±


    ¡°Fine with me. Let¡¯s get out of here.¡± She turned and waved to a couple guys a few cubicles away. "See you there.¡±


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    We walked out of the door, talking about the day as we walked down a well worn dirt trail in the woods around the complex.


    The forest wasn¡¯t anything special¡ªjust Michigan woods¡ªleafy trees, green shrubbery, sandy trails, ivy, and the occasional rotting log.


    We came out south of the old hotel. Long with white painted walls and large windows facing out toward the lake, it had a wraparound porch that was wide enough for the bar and the growing number of people drinking on it.


    It struck me as a strange mixture¡ªall of the suits from Grand Lake on the beach with Higher Ground¡¯s jean and t-shirt crowd. The two groups kept to themselves with a few exceptions. Sandy and a number of the managers at Higher Ground stood in a group that included Hardwick Industries executives. One or two executives had wandered into the groups of Higher Ground employees.


    I couldn¡¯t hear the conversations from this distance, but they seemed happy enough.


    ¡°We can talk now,¡± Stephanie¡¯s voice broke into my thoughts. ¡°We¡¯ve made enough of an appearance that people know we¡¯re here and we¡¯re far enough away that no one should be able to hear us. Plus, I¡¯ve got a couple things going that should distract anyone trying to listen in.¡±


    I glanced over at the hotel again, noticing Emmy standing next to the bar and then talking to the staff before going back to Russell Hardwick.


    ¡°Sure. What do we need to talk about?¡±


    She glanced back at the hotel as we walked down the beach, crossing the sand to walk near where the waves washed up on the shore.


    ¡°We need to get our story straight. I¡¯ve had a couple people ask me how we know each other. I¡¯ve been telling them that we were in a scholarship program. What have you been saying?¡±


    ¡°The same thing. They set up the program that way so that we¡¯d have cover to know each other if we had to. There¡¯s no reason not to use that.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Good. That¡¯s what I thought too, but there¡¯s another wrinkle here. We need to define what kind of relationship we had. Were we friends, enemies, or casual acquaintances?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Acquaintances? That¡¯s closest to the truth and if anybody asks me about you, I can just say I don¡¯t know.¡±


    She stopped to pull off her shoes, stuff her socks inside, and walked in the water. I followed her example. We were close enough to the lake that I knew a wave would soak my feet sooner or later.


    Tying her shoelaces together, she said, ¡°Makes sense, but we could go another way. I¡¯ve already had someone ask if we were dating. If we pretended to be, we¡¯d never have to look for an excuse to disappear at the same time again. That works almost as well for friends, but, on the other hand, if we pretended not to get along, anyone who noticed anything weird about me might mention it to you. Then you might be able to deflect it.¡±


    ¡°I like the idea of pretending not to get along. People wouldn¡¯t expect us to be working together then. The problem is that I don¡¯t think I could manage it. I¡¯m pretty easy-going and I don¡¯t hold grudges that long. Um¡­ Pretending to be dating would get weird because I¡¯m actually dating Haley. Pretending to date you opens up the potential for weird misunderstandings.


    ¡°Plus, Victor just asked me if you were dating anyone and I told him ¡®no.¡¯ So that might cause problems.¡±

 Deeper In: Part 2

    Stephanie stopped walking, letting a wave wash across her feet. ¡°Dammit. Look, I didn¡¯t tell you not to tell him, so that¡¯s on me, but I wish you hadn¡¯t. The guy¡¯s been dropping unsubtle hints ever since I started working here.¡±


    ¡°Oh. I¡¯m sorry.¡± I searched her face to try to figure out how angry she was at me and how much at the situation. She scowled more as she talked about Victor than when she was telling me she wished I hadn¡¯t said anything.


    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault.¡±


    She took another step down the beach and I walked with her. ¡°If it¡¯s any consolation, he seemed angry when I mentioned it because he¡¯d noticed you were changing the subject every time he suggested getting together. That means he might get that you¡¯re not interested.¡±


    She gave a short laugh. ¡°Maybe. Or maybe he¡¯ll decide he needs to give me a break for a little while and then start again. He¡¯s a decent enough co-worker except for that, but after hearing what he thinks about his girlfriends, there¡¯s no way I¡¯d date him. I¡¯ve hinted in half a dozen small ways that I¡¯m not interested and I said so as directly as I could twice. I don¡¯t think he hears me. The undercover thing makes it harder. If I make him too angry, it might make it impossible for me to get anything done.¡±


    Turning to look at me, she asked, ¡°How angry was he?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°For an instant, very angry, but you joined us right after that and I didn¡¯t notice anything then.¡±


    ¡°Then I guess we¡¯ll see what he¡¯s like on Monday.¡± She shook her head. ¡°After Emmy and Sandy, it would be perfect if my internship blew up because I didn¡¯t want to date some asshole.¡±


    I wondered if I should say what I was going to say for half a second before it popped out of my mouth. ¡°The funny thing is that if this were a Bond movie you¡¯d have seduced the guy.¡±


    Giving me a twisted smile, she said, ¡°There¡¯s a male fantasy if you ever saw one. No, I¡¯m too honest with myself to play the femme fatale. Can you imagine pretending you like someone enough to build a relationship with them? It wouldn¡¯t be worth it.¡±


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    I nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t have any idea how to go about it.¡±


    She stopped, looking out at Lake Michigan and then back at me. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to, but I wish you had the skills to do it. There will be a lot of times where we¡¯ll have to talk people into telling us things they shouldn¡¯t. You don¡¯t have to seduce them to make that happen. All you have to do is seem like someone who cares about them. Stapledon has a track where you learn espionage. Half of it is listening. Try doing that, okay?¡±


    Having stopped next to her, I said, ¡°Sure.¡±


    I¡¯d stared out at Lake Michigan many times as a result of living in Grand Lake. It looked like it always did¡ªdark enough that it was impossible to see the bottom and wide enough that it might as well be an ocean.


    ¡°And that,¡± Stephanie said, ¡°brings us back to where we were before you mentioned Victor. How do you want to play this?¡±


    ¡°Friends¡ªclose enough that we hang out sometimes, but not exes or even pretend friends with benefits.¡±


    ¡°I thought you might say that.¡± She glanced up the beach toward the old hotel and all the people on the lawn drinking. ¡°I think that¡¯s the best option for you. You¡¯re better off telling as much of the truth as you can. That¡¯s why we took this walk.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°Look,¡± she continued, ¡°pretending to be dating offers us the most flexibility.I don¡¯t think you¡¯d be able to sell it unless you were actually dating me, but you know what you can sell? Awkwardly denying we have a relationship. We just walked down the beach together in full view of everybody. We¡¯re going to disappear together a lot, partly because I¡¯m in charge of interns, partly because of what we¡¯re doing.


    ¡°They¡¯ll never believe our denials, but we¡¯ll both be telling the truth. We¡¯ll get all the benefits of dating without having to pretend we¡¯re doing it. It¡¯s perfect.¡±


    Meeting her eyes, I asked, ¡°Are you always this sneaky?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re infiltrating a company that might be controlled by the Nine. We need ¡®sneaky.¡¯ I adapt. You should too.¡±


    I stared out at the lake, thinking about its unknown depths. ¡°Victor¡¯s going to be pissed.¡±


    Swinging her shoes in her left hand, she looked out across the water. Though still high in the sky, the sun had begun to dip toward it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll handle him.¡±


    * * *


    The red Porsche¡¯s engine roared as Vaughn drove it down the freeway that ran around Grand Lake.


    ¡°That¡¯s crazy,¡± Vaughn shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m impressed, though. She¡¯s definitely playing to your strengths. Especially now that you know that people won¡¯t believe you, you¡¯re going to look awkward and guilty every time someone asks if you¡¯re going out. That¡¯s some next-level manipulation there. Be glad she¡¯s on our side.¡±

 Deeper In: Part 3

    ¡°I guess,¡± I said. ¡°I think she¡¯s on our side, but she kind of tricked me into doing what she wanted. I think I¡¯d have been just as uncomfortable with having people think I was cheating on Haley if I¡¯d known she was setting that up. She could have asked me.¡±


    Vaughn glanced right and moved his car into the right lane, roaring past the three cars that had been ahead of us, hitting close to ninety miles per hour as he did it.


    On a Saturday morning, the freeway would have been almost empty, but this was Friday around 7 pm in the middle of the city during one of the last weekends of summer.


    There were cars¡ªnot as many as rush hour, but more than Saturday morning. Vaughn weaved back into the middle lane and I reminded myself that he¡¯d only ever crashed cars when he was drinking and driving.


    It wasn¡¯t much of a comfort.


    Letting the car slow to a speed that wasn¡¯t as far over the speed limit, Vaughn glanced over at me. ¡°I don¡¯t know, this way you¡¯re more upset when they ask you because you¡¯re thinking about how she did it. It might have been the best way to get what she wanted. I don¡¯t know that it was the right way to do it because you¡¯re less likely to trust her now. But you also don¡¯t have much of a choice because you both want to keep the artifacts away from the Nine.¡±


    I sighed. He wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡°Did you learn anything? You ended up stuck with a bunch of executives plus your uncle and your mom. Any hints that make you think he¡¯s dealing with the Nine?¡±


    Vaughn snorted. ¡°Not a chance. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s on his best behavior in front of all those guys¡ªnot to mention my mom. They didn¡¯t hint at any mysterious program or client or anything like they would in a movie. I¡¯d have been on that.


    ¡°No. It was just like getting stuck at home when my parents had board members over for dinner. Everyone¡¯s trying to impress everyone or they¡¯re talking about the business or maybe they decide to make points with my parents by asking me a couple of condescending questions¡­ You know what I mean.¡±


    I didn¡¯t. My dad did a mixture of writing parenting books, teaching, and counseling children and teens. My mom marketed his books. We never had anyone like that over.


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    I looked over at him. ¡°No. Well¡­ Sometimes my grandfather would bring me along when he visited supers he was designing devices for. If I was lucky, they had kids my age. If I wasn¡¯t, everyone talked over me.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°That¡¯s pretty much what I was going for. But yeah, there are no leads from my end unless they¡¯re more subtle than I¡¯m noticing. Maybe I should look at the money we give Higher Ground and what we get out of it. We might get stuff unofficially. The cool thing is that you being there gives me an excuse to ask.¡±


    Not sure how to say, ¡°Please don¡¯t ask in a way that gets them thinking about me,¡± I responded with, ¡°Good luck.¡±


    Frowning, Vaughn said, ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m going to have to be careful how I do it.¡±


    It didn¡¯t take much longer than that for us to get back to my house. As we pulled up in front of the hundred-year-old bungalow I¡¯d inherited from my grandparents, Vaughn asked, ¡°Do you mind if I park it in the garage?¡±


    ¡°No problem. It¡¯s not a bad neighborhood, but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if it were worth as much as my house.¡±


    Vaughn pulled up the driveway and I triggered the garage door opener from my stealth suit.


    Taking a look at the old, white-painted house, Vaughn said, ¡°Maybe twice the cost.¡±


    It was a Porsche, after all.


    We went inside to find Jeremy waiting for us in the living room. ¡°So, what are we doing?¡±


    I stopped walking. ¡°Nothing special¡ªjust hanging around. I think we¡¯ll get pizza and watch a movie.¡±


    He closed his laptop and put it in his backpack. ¡°If I¡¯d ever been told that I¡¯d spend a Friday night hanging around with the Heroes¡¯ League, that wouldn¡¯t be what I expected.¡±


    As he slung the backpack over his shoulder, I said, ¡°I¡¯m happy to surprise you, I guess?¡±


    Jeremy took a step toward the back of the house. ¡°It sounds more like a cheap date or a class party in middle school.¡±


    Vaughn cocked his head. ¡°I could see that.¡±


    We headed to grandfather¡¯s workroom. He¡¯d hidden the elevator in the floor. We took it one at a time. It was slower but less awkward.


    By the time I got downstairs, Tara, Vaughn, Jeremy, Amy, and Kayla were sitting around the table grabbing plates or eating. Tiger sat at attention, his tail twitching and eyeing the table, clearly calculating his chances for getting pizza.


    All the pizza boxes showed the stylized ¡°D¡± that marked them as coming from D¡¯Onofrio¡¯s, Haley¡¯s family¡¯s restaurants. By comparison to other movie nights, the number of people was disappointing, but I didn¡¯t have time to think about it. Haley met me as I stepped out.


    ¡°Hey,¡± she said, grinning at me.


    I know it¡¯s a cliche, but it did feel like my heart melted¡ªnot that it had anything to do with my heart. I felt good because I knew she was happy to see me and I didn¡¯t have to keep my guard up as I had all day.


    We held each other. Then as we let go, she said, ¡°What all happened today?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you heard anything from Vaughn, but it was weird¡ª¡±


    As I began to talk, the whole day¡¯s memories flooded my head.


    Haley¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°What did Stephanie do?¡±

 Deeper In: Part 4

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated,¡± I said, and after a pause to put the story together in my head, I told her about Sandy and Emmy, Victor, the birthing chamber, the ansible, and the walk down the beach. I didn¡¯t mention everything Kals had told me because if there were ever a time to go into that, it wasn¡¯t now.


    ¡°So, basically,¡± I finished, ¡°now everyone¡¯s going to believe we¡¯re an item or want to be.¡±


    Jeremy looked up from grabbing two more pieces of pepperoni pizza. ¡°I did my internship this summer at a physics lab near Chicago. I¡¯m pretty sure nobody was having sex with anybody there and if they were, I don¡¯t want to imagine it.¡±


    Haley glanced over at him without saying anything and then back at me. ¡°She should have told you. You don¡¯t just dump something like that on someone without warning them.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± Vaughn said, grabbing a paper plate. ¡°You¡¯ve got to admit that it¡¯s clever. She could have told everyone they were dating. Then they¡¯d have to make out every once in awhile to sell it. This way everyone will assume that they¡¯re good enough at hiding it that haven¡¯t gotten caught making out.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°I¡¯ve got to admit that that would have bothered me more. I know you wouldn¡¯t do anything,¡± she looked at me, ¡°but I know guys think she¡¯s attractive.¡±


    Vaughn laughed. ¡°She was the one you saw having sex with her boyfriend in her lab, right? Or did both of you see them?¡±


    Haley¡¯s mouth twisted as she said, ¡°Mostly me. Nick had me watch them from one bot¡¯s camera while he checked what document they were printing from another. And I saw more of her ex-boyfriend than I did of her.¡±


    ¡°No kidding?¡± Jeremy looked up from his pizza and over at me. ¡°Nick did you save that video? I¡¯m not saying you should sell it but there are websites that would pay a lot of money for something like that. What are their codenames? If they¡¯re big or if their parents are, we could be talking six figures.¡±


    I tried to remember. I did tend to save everything, but if I¡¯d saved that, I¡¯d never looked at it. ¡°I have no idea, but we¡¯re under a mental block similar to the one we gave you. We can¡¯t tell you their codenames if it would lead to you identifying them.¡±


    Even as I talked, I couldn¡¯t help but notice that every eye in the room was on him. Kayla¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t really sell the video, would you? Even if you blocked out their faces, someone might still recognize them.¡±


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    Haley¡¯s cheeks reddened. ¡°The way I remember it, the screen mostly showed her ex-boyfriend¡¯s butt and they kept most of their clothes on.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn laughed. ¡°I remember you guys telling us about that. That¡¯s the night they stole the plans.¡±


    Looking up from the piece of pizza she¡¯d been cutting with her knife, Amy said, ¡°That seems like forever ago now. That was the night the fairies kidnapped Vaughn.¡±


    Jeremy looked over at me. ¡°What?¡±


    Shrugging, I said, ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡±


    Kayla stared him in the face. ¡°You¡¯re not going to try to sell that video, are you?¡±


    Jeremy shook his head. ¡°No. I probably can¡¯t because my block won¡¯t let me. I¡¯mjust amazed you don¡¯t think about how much it would be worth in the wrong hands.¡±


    Holding up her hands, Haley looked around the group. ¡°Let¡¯s just not worry about that. Why don¡¯t we find another topic and then watch a movie?¡±


    To me, Haley added, ¡°Vaughn¡¯s right that it¡¯s better than having you pretend to date her, but the way she didn¡¯t doesn¡¯t make me want to trust her more.¡±


    ¡°I know. Me neither.¡± I paused. ¡°So about Gordon¡¯s butt¡­ How would you rate¡ª¡±


    She stared at me. ¡°Ten out of ten.¡±


    Then she laughed. I didn¡¯t ask her to rate mine. And anyway, as long as we were on the topic of finding other people attractive, I would have had to admit that Stephanie was¡ªtheoretically. Between having her pass our plans off to the Coffeeshop Illuminati, fighting a team she was on in a tournament at Stapledon, and now this, attractiveness wasn¡¯t the first thing on my mind when I thought of her.


    I had to admit that if I saw Stephanie wandering off with some guy, I¡¯d wonder if they were involved too.


    Stepping closer to me, Haley looked up as she grabbed a plate. ¡°I¡¯m being nice about this, but if Stephanie does something that gets you hurt, I¡¯m not going to be happy at all. She can¡¯t make decisions like that if you¡¯re supposed to be working together.¡±


    She put a couple of pieces of pizza on her plate. ¡°And I know I already said something like that. I¡¯m going to let it go¡ªfor now.¡±


    I grabbed my own plate and took a couple pieces myself, glancing over at Tiger as I did.


    The dog watched me with interest. That or maybe he watched the pizza and I happened to be near it.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Marcus,¡± I asked.


    Haley pulled out a chair and sat down. ¡°Well¡­ He¡¯s been trying to figure out a way to make things right with Sydney. They weren¡¯t ever a couple, but I think she was hoping. She volunteered to patrol tonight to avoid him and I convinced her that it would be better if she talked to him. So they¡¯re out tonight together.¡±


    I pulled out a chair and sat next to her. ¡°What happens if they get into a fight mid-patrol?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re going with Chris. The idea is that they¡¯re not going to discuss any deep issues. They¡¯re just going to get used to working together again. I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll get in an argument with him there.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°I¡¯m hoping they won¡¯t.¡±


    I asked the next thing that came into my head. ¡°Is Chris in the Rocket suit?¡±


    Haley nodded. ¡°His version of it. It¡¯s almost the same as yours.¡±


    I ate my pizza. That was good news. However long this lasted, Grand Lake would still see the Rocket in the skies above it even if it wasn¡¯t me. We hadn¡¯t gotten to talk about it in detail, but maybe we¡¯d see each other on Saturday or Sunday.


    On Monday, I¡¯d be back at school and later in the day, I¡¯d be at Higher Ground.

 Deeper In: Part 5

    Not a lot more happened that weekend worth mentioning¡ªat least in terms of events with world-ending stakes. On a personal level, Haley and I went out on Saturday and had a good time. Also, I spent Sunday studying and I enjoyed that too. On Monday though, I went to Dr. Strazinsky¡¯s class. That wouldn¡¯t be worth mentioning either except that when it was over he said, ¡°Nick, could you stay after class? I¡¯ve got a couple of questions about your internship.¡±


    I continued putting my books into my backpack but said, ¡°Sure.¡±


    We walked out after he¡¯d answered a couple questions from students and walked to his office.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to assume it¡¯s going well, but I can¡¯t ask more until we¡¯re inside.¡± He unlocked his office door.


    I stepped in after him and let the door shut.


    He gave me a short smile and sat down in the chair behind his desk. Then he took a breath. ¡°This will be quick. I think you¡¯ve been over there twice, maybe three times now. How are things going?¡±


    Sliding my chair closer to the desk, I considered the question. ¡°I think it¡¯s going okay. They finally got me set up with all the computer access I need on Friday. There was a glitch in my security clearance process or they would have done it sooner.¡±


    Nodding, Dr. Strazinsky said, ¡°Great. There are always security clearance glitches. Be glad yours didn¡¯t take weeks to sort out. What do you think of the place?¡±


    ¡°Higher Ground? I think it¡¯s okay. It¡¯s a little different than I expected. With the security clearance and everything, I thought it¡¯d be stuffier or more military somehow? I don¡¯t know. It feels like a Silicon Valley startup except with alien tech and in West Michigan.¡±


    Giving a long, slow nod and a weak smile, Dr. Strazinsky said, ¡°That¡¯s true. As much as I admire what the firm represents and can become, I¡¯ve got to admit that I prefer a more mature or more military organization for this sort of thing. I know people who are responsible for approving their access to certain pieces of alien technology and they feel like the business is sloppy. Don¡¯t pass that on to them, but if you do see something that worries you about their handling of alien artifacts, please mention it in our sessions. You''ll have to meet with me or send me an email over what you''ve done. Don''t put information about what they''re doing wrong in our official emails.


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    ¡°I can get people to look into it in ways that won¡¯t be traced back to you. That will protect you and protect me. You¡¯re dealing with technology that will affect the future of the human race. We can¡¯t be too careful.¡±


    More people asking me to spy for them? What was the appropriate response for that? ¡°Okay. I can do that, but I¡¯ve got to admit that I haven¡¯t seen anything that worried me so far.¡±


    Smiling in a way that made me think he was nervous, Dr. Strazinsky said, ¡°That¡¯s good. I¡¯d like to believe they¡¯re careful, but I¡¯ve worked at a startup before¡ªback when I was young and stupid. My experience is that they¡¯re fast and loose with security when they can get away with it and they¡¯re stressful places to work. I think everyone should do it once. It¡¯s an amazing experience but you should go into it with your eyes open.¡±


    I wondered, should I be reading more into this than he was saying? Not sure how to get him to be more direct if he needed to be, I said the first thing that came into my head. ¡°I¡¯d like to think I¡¯m going into this with my eyes open. It¡¯s an opportunity to learn. It may or may not turn into a job someday, but I can¡¯t make any assumptions. Also, I¡¯ll keep you aware of what I¡¯m doing. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll see things I don¡¯t.¡±


    Dr. Strazinsky frowned. ¡°Let¡¯s hope so. There¡¯s another matter related to what I was just talking about. I do get a little information from Higher Ground. The woman who manages interns knows you from college?¡±


    And that¡¯s where this got one step weirder and more interesting. ¡°Different colleges. We were both in the same scholarship program¡ªthe kind where you meet other recipients for extra help a couple times a month. She was two years ahead of me. I don¡¯t know her that well, but I do know her.¡±


    ¡°Good. Good,¡± he stumbled verbally forward quickly enough that I wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d heard me. ¡°I don¡¯t know her, but if you¡¯ve got a friend there, it might help. It¡¯s nice to have someone to watch your back.¡±


    Here was another place that someone else might have been able to get him to say more. I could only manage, ¡°Why do I need someone to watch my back?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, but my experience is that office politics are worse in a startup, especially one that¡¯s just past the beginning where it¡¯s changing from being a few people with a mission to a bunch of peoplewho want to get rich.¡±


    I thought about what I¡¯d seen so far. I¡¯d never heard anyone talk about money, but that might not be something you¡¯d tell an intern about. I offered up, ¡°They seem nice so far. I guess we¡¯ll see what I think in a week.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll make a more formal session out of it next time. The first weeks of the semester are loose. Even with the internships that don¡¯t require security clearances, no one¡¯s doing anything much in the first week.¡±


    He grinned. ¡°You¡¯ll be surprised at how well knowing that prepares you for your first week in most jobs you have after graduation.¡±


    With that, we finished off the conversation and I left to meet Vaughn at the helipad, beginning the first week where I could be useful at work.

 Deeper In: Part 6

    When I walked into Higher Ground¡¯s office, I had two minutes in front of my desk to check email before Stephanie all but dragged me away to the lab. I¡¯d literally just clicked on an email she¡¯d written to me. The subject? ¡°COME TO THE LAB NOW!¡±


    Even as I logged out of my computer and stood up from my chair, I heard the door open and Stephanie grabbed my arm and led me out the door to the lab.


    Letting go of my arm as the door shut behind us, she said, ¡°You¡¯re meeting with Ryan McCall. He¡¯s the lab¡¯s chief scientist.¡±


    Walking next to her on the path to the lab, I managed to get out an, ¡°Uh-huh.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to want to make a good impression. Even if you¡¯re not planning to work here, it¡¯ll get you better assignments now. If you were planning to work here, I¡¯d be irresponsible not to tell you that he¡¯s gotten people fired over the stupidest things.¡±


    Eyeing her expression, I felt sure that she meant it. ¡°Oh. So he¡¯s not easy to deal with?¡±


    She took a breath, ¡°He¡¯s relaxed and friendly on the surface, but he¡¯s also the reason we¡¯ve lost three scientists this year.¡±


    I¡¯d have asked more questions, but by then we were in the lab. We scanned in, walked through the ¡°airlock,¡± and almost walked into the man were there to meet.


    Ryan McCall stood only a couple feet back from the door. With bleached blond hair, a slim but muscular body, tight slacks, and a blue shirt with a noticeable sheen, he looked more like he was planning to go dancing than work as a scientist.


    In retrospect, I thought I remembered seeing him talking and drinking with Russell Hardwick and Sandy before Stephanie and I started walking down the beach.


    Nodding to Stephanie, he said, ¡°This is Nick?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± To me, she said, ¡°Nick, meet Dr. McCall.¡±


    He smiled and shook my hand. ¡°Thanks, Stephanie. You can go now. I¡¯d like to talk to him in my office.¡±


    ¡°Let me know when you¡¯re done, Nick.¡± She met my eyes, giving me a look that I interpreted as ¡°I told you he was a jerk.¡±


    Nodding toward the other side of the building, he said, ¡°This way,¡± leading me between groups of cubicles and cabinets full of samples, past the birthing chambers, and over to a row of offices along the far wall.


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    ¡°She¡¯s kind of hot,¡± he told me.


    I guessed that he meant that as small talk. Maybe if I was noncommittal he¡¯d move on to another topic? ¡°Sure.¡±


    He opened the door to his office. ¡°How long have the two of you known each other?¡±


    ¡°A couple of years. We were in the same scholarship program so we ran into each other every two weeks during school. We¡¯ve never been particularly close, but we get along.¡±


    He chuckled. ¡°She¡¯s a good person to know here. She¡¯s barely more than an intern herself, but she¡¯s organizing the interns and acting as project manager for a few different things. That¡¯s the nice thing about the newly hired. They¡¯ve got something to prove.¡±


    He indicated the chair in front of his desk. ¡°Please sit.¡±


    It didn¡¯t seem long since I¡¯d sat down across from Dr. Strazinsky, but this was a very different office. Dr. Strazinsky¡¯s had been organized and professorial. This looked like the rest of the lab¡ªconcrete floor, thick metal cabinets that held samples and probably files.


    A box with scraps of material sat on his desk. He fished a large one out of the box. My implant identified it as a ceramic material based on one the Abominators created that was commonly used in galactic civilization.


    Holding the long, red shard above the box, he asked, ¡°Let¡¯s say that we want to analyze this material, but we can¡¯t get a sample off of it that¡¯s small enough. We¡¯d like scrapings so that we can easily put them under a microscope or analyze them in other ways. We don¡¯t have anything hard enough on Earth that we can scrape anything off of it, much less cut it or grind it down. Not even diamonds will work. What would you do?¡±


    I looked down at the box of scraps, thinking about it and then looking for more of the same material inside. Diamond cut diamond. This should be able to cut itself.


    Not everything inside the box was of alien manufacture. I recognized various metals, rock shards, and even gems in addition to alien materials.


    Finding one of the same type as the original shard, I took it and ran my piece across it, leaving a long scrape down the length of it.


    He laughed. ¡°Very nice. You¡¯re not the first person to try that, but you¡¯re one of the quickest. A few had the same idea, but couldn¡¯t identify the right material. Others carefully tried all of them¡ªwhich I respect, but it¡¯s so slow. Now, explain your reasoning.¡±


    I put the shards back in the box. ¡°I thought if diamond could cut diamond, this material could cut itself too. That¡¯s all. Nothing too clever.¡±


    He laughed again. ¡°That¡¯s what I like about engineers. They go for the simple, pragmatic idea. I think you¡¯ll do well here. Now, what are you interested¡ª¡±


    His desk phone rang and he picked it up. I had little choice but hear his end of the conversation. He didn¡¯t tell me to leave.


    He spent the first minute or two listening, finally responding with, ¡°I don¡¯t care. I don¡¯t care what you have to do or who owns it now. Get it. You¡¯ve got a budget. Think about what you can do. Okay? I don¡¯t care how. Get it or you¡¯re fired.¡±


    Then he hung up, giving me a quick smile, he said, ¡°I can¡¯t imagine what that sounded like to you. Sometimes we have to motivate our people to get what the business needs. I gave him a push.¡±

 Deeper In: Part 7

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± I said, wondering if I¡¯d just seen the beginning of a crime.


    His smile widened. ¡°You¡¯ve never worked at the high levels of a business¡ªany business, I bet, given your age. Trust me, there are things that are normal in a business that look scary to outsiders. That guy I talked to? He¡¯s not going to go rob somebody. He¡¯d go to jail, right? No, he¡¯s going to think creatively now. That¡¯s part of what being a manager means, knowing what will motivate your people to do their best. He needs a kick in the pants.


    ¡°Now before we were interrupted, I¡¯d asked you what you¡¯re interested in professionally. What¡¯s your answer? Remember, there¡¯s no shame in thinking big.¡±


    From there on, it became a completely conventional discussion about career goals. In the background, though, I found myself wondering about the guy. He could say he never intended that a crime should be committed if the guy stole whatever it was they were talking about, but from what I heard he¡¯d encouraged exactly that without ever saying so directly.


    The paranoid side of my brain wondered if he¡¯d planned that interruption. It wouldn¡¯t be hard. I¡¯d heard a story about a Silicon Valley startup that made one of their interview questions, ¡°If you could press a button that would give you one million dollars, but would also kill a farmer on the other side of the world, would you if it couldn¡¯t be traced back to you?"


    They¡¯d hire the ones that said yes. Hypothetically, he could be trying to vet future employees by how they reacted. Maybe he¡¯d keep the interns that he thought he could bully into silence or corrupt?


    If that were true, I wondered if I¡¯d passed.


    In the meantime, I kept up the career chatter, telling about how I wanted to be on the edge of whatever technological developments humanity made in this century. If that sounded naive, I was at least being honest. After about a hour, we were done and I walked back to my workstation.


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    I spent the next three and half hours shadowing the scientists and technicians who were analyzing the materials used in the alien tech and making first steps in the direction of replicating them.


    With half an hour left in my day, I found myself working on a summary of what I¡¯d done for Dr. Strazinsky. At least that was part of what I was working on. My implant had a collection of methods for breaking into Abominator technology. I¡¯d set it to try the least risky ones out on the birthing chamber.


    As I stared at the screen, the implant notified me that it had made progress. It had access to the archives, making me wonder what was in them.


    In answer to my thought, I saw creature after creature, some of them familiar. For example, I saw the Abominators¡¯ standard ground troops¡ªhumans that had been given claws, regeneration, inhuman agility and strength¡ªHaley¡¯s ancestors.


    Some of the images were more monstrous than that. For example, a tentacled creature that reminded me of a panther except for the eyestalks, mandibles, and exoskeleton¡ªthat and the lack of fur.


    Sensing my interest in the creature, the implant gave me more information. Called a Tentacled Seeker by the Xiniti, the Abominators had used it to track people down and kill them. The tentacles had poison stingers.


    I checked out a few more and went back to the Tentacled Seeker. The entry described its hunting techniques and effectiveness. It also gave statistics for the process of birthing copies of the creature. The birthing chambers could produce an adult within four hours.


    The machine had at least twelve chambers from what I could see. So, you could create 24 of the creatures in a night if you wanted to make 24 animal assassins.


    I poked around the creatures¡¯ profile a little more before noticing that all profiles had logs of how recently they¡¯d been accessed. Expecting to find that it had been three thousand years or more, I looked over the last few dates. Thelast two accesses were me, but the third turned out to have been on Saturday afternoon.


    The birthing chamber showed a couple more from last week.


    I queried the implant to ask if there were anywhere that showed whether or not the creatures had been used. The implant didn¡¯t know. The birthing chambers had a small AI that would have an easier time noticing if we broke into that subsystem.


    I stood up in my cubicle, looking over toward Victor and finding him working at his desk. I walked over to him. ¡°Do you know if the linguistics team had any breakthroughs on the birthing chambers¡¯ user interface?¡±

 Deeper In: Part 8

    After looking around for a moment to find the source of my voice amid the chatter mechanical hums of the lab, Victor stood up in his cube and faced me. ¡°Breakthroughs with the user interface? No. And believe me, I¡¯d know. That would bring everything in the lab to a stop. Why do you ask?¡±


    Now that was something I hadn¡¯t thought through. Why would I be asking about the user interface, something I wouldn¡¯t be working with at all? ¡°Well, you¡¯d said that that you were having people from that other lab come here. I didn¡¯t phrase it well, but where do we need the help? Is it the user interface? Does it need power? Something else?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°We think it¡¯s all a user interface issue. There are physical controls. We don¡¯t understand them, but we¡¯re working on it. There are also telepathic controls. We don¡¯t understand them either, but the Medford, New York lab was close to it. They¡¯d worked up a variation on a psi helmet¡ªyou might have seen one on TV¡ªand we followed their plans, but it doesn¡¯t seem to have worked right. That¡¯s why we¡¯re bringing them in. That and they know more, but I bet they know more because their helmet worked.¡±


    I thought back to the Medford lab. I couldn¡¯t remember them saying anything like that when we saved them from an alien attack, but, on the other hand, they¡¯d defended themselves from that attack using working alien technology. It didn¡¯t take much to guess that they were doing something right.


    I wondered who they¡¯d send. I didn¡¯t meet many people there, but I met a few and I might recognize the person. You never know. ¡°Yeah, I bet those helmets would help. I¡¯m sorry if I interrupted you, by the way. I got curious and I wasn¡¯t thinking about much other than that.¡±


    Victor grinned. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll tell you if you¡¯re bothering me.¡±


    A passing scientist (or so I assumed from his lab coat) said, ¡°He will,¡± but didn¡¯t stop to join in the conversation.


    Victor told him, ¡°No one likes a smartass,¡± as the man passed and they both laughed. When he¡¯d finished, he said, ¡°Like I said, don¡¯t worry about it. I was meaning to talk to you anyway. Do you code? We¡¯ve got people who do, but everyone wears different hats and we¡¯ve all got too many projects. You¡¯re an intern though, so, we can make sure you¡¯ve got the time.¡±


    I laughed. ¡°A little. I¡¯m in electrical engineering in addition to materials science, so my programming is kind of low level. I know assembly, C, Verilog and some Java, but I¡¯ve never needed to use Java except for class. I¡¯ve been learning Python and thinking about learning C++. Except for a little bit of experimentation with phone apps, I only program when I need to. It¡¯s not my main interest.¡±


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    I skipped describing that most of my programming experience came from my various bots and the League¡¯s communicators.


    Nodding, Victor said, ¡°That¡¯s good enough. I don¡¯t know what our people are using for the helmet, but I might bring you in if we need to make changes and none of the original programmers can.¡±


    ¡°Ok. Just as long as it¡¯s a language I know. I¡¯m willing to pickup a language, but I don¡¯t think you want to me to make my mistakes on something that big.¡±


    Victor waved his hand across his chest, waving my objections away. ¡°You won¡¯t be the the first person to make mistakes on this project. Sometimes I feel like that¡¯s all we do. Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯re smart. It¡¯ll work out or it won¡¯t.¡±


    He sat back down¡ªwhich meant the conversation was over, I guess.


    With that, I finished the rest of my summary for Dr. Strazinsky and emailed it to him and since it was five o¡¯clock, I got up and left the lab.


    I wasn¡¯t the only one. I left in a crowd of lab workers, most of them talking with each other. I didn¡¯t see anyone I knew so it surprised me when I felt a hand on my shoulder.


    I glanced back to see Stephanie. ¡°Let¡¯s talk for a second before you leave.¡±


    By that time we were outside the lab and standing on the grass. ¡°Sure.¡±


    She still hadn¡¯t taken her hand off my shoulder and as we walked away she leaned into me. I frowned. ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Selling it. Look happy or nervous. It doesn¡¯t matter which. Just keep on moving until we¡¯re around the corner.¡±


    I turned around toward the line of people crossing back to the main office. Ryan McCall happened to be watching us as I did. He grinned and gave me a thumbs up.


    I made a half-smile and turned back to Stephanie, stepping forward until we made it around the corner. Standing next to a windowless white wall, she let go of me.


    ¡°How did it go with McCall?¡± Stephanie met my eyes, watching me for signs of¡­ something?


    ¡°Okay, I think. He gave me a test and seemed to like what I did.¡±


    ¡°The box of scraps?¡±


    I raised an eyebrow.


    She crossed her arms over her chest. ¡°He doesn¡¯t do that every time, but he does it a lot.¡±


    I did a quick check around us, seeing only the white building, the grass lawn and the forest. No one had followed us.


    ¡°He said he¡¯d done it before. There was one other thing. He took a call and it sounded like he was pushing the guy on the other end to steal something. I assumed it was an Abominator artifact, but it wasn¡¯t clear. I don¡¯t think he ever told the guy to steal directly, but it was obvious in context.¡±


    She stared at me. ¡°Do you have a recording?¡±


    I thought at the implant and it replayed the scene in my head. ¡°Yes, but it might be hard to move it from the system I used to a normal video format.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask, but try. I¡¯d like to see it. I might know who he was talking to.¡±


    ¡°One more thing. I¡¯ve got some access to the birthing chambers and someone¡¯s been looking at animal assassins. Do you know anything about that?¡±


    She shook her head, eyes widening. ¡°No, but I think we need to tell Red Bolt and Future Knight now.¡±

 Deeper In: Part 9

    ¡°Wait. What do you think they¡¯re likely to do? From my experience they¡¯re likely to break in and look at the birthing chambers or worse.¡±


    She raised an eyebrow and looked up at me, saying nothing.


    ¡°Their minds had been messed with, but they weren¡¯t puppets. Whatever the Mayor told them, they decided on their own that it was worth trying to take out the whole Heroes¡¯ League at once¡ªincluding Jaclyn. Even untrained, she¡¯s out of their league. In fact, I¡¯m pretty sure it was only the second time that they were doing it under the Mayor¡¯s control. The first time, I think they did it of their own free will.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°They¡¯re not my first choice in mentors, but they¡¯re not complete idiots either. I¡¯m pretty sure they¡¯ll see that with the Feds involved, it¡¯s not a good idea to go in guns blazing. Besides, they know people. We¡¯re talking about Abominator designed assassins. They¡¯ll know who to talk to to find out if anyone¡¯s sighted any and someone at the Michigan Heroes Alliance will know how to warn people without losing control of the information.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°I hope you¡¯re right.¡±


    ¡°Me too. And please don¡¯t take this wrong, but did you tell anybody?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°You¡¯re the first person. I haven¡¯t even told Vaughn or anybody on my team.¡±


    I stopped and thought about it for a second. Stephanie stared at me. ¡°Who did you tell?¡±


    ¡°No one, but I did ask Victor if there had been any progress on user-interface right afterwards. He didn¡¯t seem to make any connection. He just went on to ask me to ask me if I could program. I told him I could and he said, he might have me write some code.¡±


    Stephanie took a quick look to the left and right. ¡°What is he having you code for? I¡¯ve been doing the coding for the UI team.¡±


    ¡°I think it was something about psi-helmets. I guess they¡¯re useful in connecting with the birthing chamber and he wanted me to tweak the code if the original programmers were busy. It might be connected with whoever¡¯s visiting from the last lab to have the birthing chamber?¡±


    ¡°Oh God,¡± Stephanie shook her head. ¡°It sounds like it¡¯s ¡®secret project¡¯ time again.¡±


    She explained before I could ask her what she meant. ¡°It¡¯s like this: every now and then, the higher ups have an idea, but they don¡¯t want to share it. So they put together a team and place them on some other teams¡¯ project without telling them.¡±


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    ¡°Oh. I don¡¯t want to take your project.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re not. They¡¯re doing some weird new thing on their own now. You need to keep your eyes open and figure out exactly what the project is and who¡¯s involved. There¡¯s going to be someone from higher management and a middle manager¡ªVictor, obviously. But who else? And is it normal business stuff or is this from outside? This might be the Nine¡¯s project.¡±


    I considered that. ¡°What happens if it¡¯s normal business stuff?¡±


    She cocked her head. ¡°Then someone¡¯s trying to make someone else look bad by getting farther on their project than the original team did. Even better, you can bet someone¡¯s going to get fired when it¡¯s over.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense. If people learned all the stuff they need to know to work here, it¡¯s a huge waste to fire them like that.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Stephanie said, shrugging. ¡°It¡¯s stupid, but if you¡¯re playing political games and don¡¯t have to pay for it yourself, you don¡¯t care about that. This place runs on cash from the government and investors like Hardwick. It¡¯s not going to get better until our executives feel some pain when they fire someone for no good reason.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have anything to say to that.


    Stephanie shook her head. ¡°I guess we¡¯re done. I¡¯ll tell you what Red Bolt and Future Knight decide to do¡ªespecially if it¡¯s dumb. Do you have anything else?¡±


    My mind went back to a few days before when she told me about Emmy and Sandy. ¡°You know a lot of synonyms for sex.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°Oh yeah. My mom wouldn¡¯t let us use the word. She¡¯d always say ¡®have relations¡¯ or something else that isn¡¯t really any better. So I rebelled and I made a special point to find euphemisms that were worse than just saying it. It seemed funny, so I memorized a bunch from a list.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s impressive that you still remember them now.¡±


    Looking toward the trail that would bring her to the hotel, her mouth twisted. ¡°I was a little snot. Anyway, you probably shouldn¡¯t make the helicopter wait for you.¡±


    ¡°True.¡± With that, we went our separate ways. I followed the sidewalk back to the front of the main building. As I walked around the corner, I could see Vaughn waiting at the helipad, but the helicopter wasn¡¯t there yet.


    Much closer to me, Emmy walked out the front door of the main office, her hair blowing a little in the breeze. I waved at her.


    Normally quick with a smile, she didn¡¯t seem like herself. She didn¡¯t seem to notice, staring straight ahead and walking slowly, one step ahead of the other.


    When I said, ¡°Hey, Emmy?¡± She turned toward me with start and I recognized tears glistening around her eyes.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± I asked, aware that I hadn¡¯t even given her a chance to reply.


    Sniffling, she said, ¡°I had a bad day. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll feel better tomorrow. Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s not a big deal.¡±


    The scrunched up expression on her face as she said it gave lie to the last sentence. I had a guess as to what might be wrong, but didn¡¯t feel comfortable pushing her to say more.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow then.¡±


    She nodded and walked down the trail toward the hotel where they kept the employees¡¯ cars.

 Deeper In: Part 10

    When I came back on Wednesday, Emmy wasn¡¯t at the front desk. That gave me pause and I wasn''t alone in worrying. I¡¯d kept Vaughn informed of everything I¡¯d seen. So it wasn''t a surprise when he leaned over the counter to her desk, moving the computer mouse.


    ¡°Her name¡¯s still the most recent log in.¡± He pushed himself off the counter. ¡°I don¡¯t know if the medical division¡¯s got rules about dating other employees, but technically, she¡¯d have been dating someone from another company. So she shouldn¡¯t get fired for that. On the other hand, I bet there¡¯s something in the Employee Handbook that would let them fire her for dating a married guy. I wonder where she is?¡±


    ¡°No idea.¡± We walked together until we came to Vaughn¡¯s office.


    He opened the door and stopped halfway through, turning back to me. ¡°Don¡¯t leave me hanging, okay? Text me when you find out what¡¯s going on.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do what I can. We¡¯re not supposed to use our phones in the lab. I might be able to take a break outside though.¡±


    He gave me a thumbs up and stepped through the door.


    I walked down the hall, wondering how damaged the ansible was and if I¡¯d be able to send a message from my implant to ansible and out to the Xiniti space station near Mars and then back to Earth and Vaughn¡¯s phone. Maybe I wouldn¡¯t need to? Knowing as I did that there were aliens on Earth, it seemed impossible that none of them had found a way to link Earth¡¯s internet to the interstellar ansible network.


    On the other hand, if they were on Earth, they might be here to avoid galactic civilization¡ªwhich was understandable. On a personal level, I felt like I should reply to Kals, but I felt awkward about it too.


    That was my last thought before entering Higher Ground¡¯s lobby. As my shoes hit the wooden floor, Stephanie stood up in her cubicle, waving at me. ¡°Over here.¡±


    I walked around the far end of the row, pulled my chair out of my cube, and rolled it down the row to find Emmy sitting with Stephanie in a chair borrowed from another cube.


    I said the obvious, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see you here.¡±


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    ¡°Because you¡¯re assuming that I¡¯d be hiding from Sandy?¡± Emmy shook her head and then took a breath and looked down. ¡°If you are, you¡¯re right. Sandy¡¯s in California with his wife for the next two weeks.¡±


    Emmy glanced over at Stephanie, keeping her voice low. ¡°Does he know?¡±


    ¡°That you and Sandy were playing ¡®hide the cannoli?¡¯ Emmy, everybody knows.¡±


    Emmy blinked. ¡°Hide the cannoli?¡± Then she giggled and looked at me. ¡°I¡¯m beginning tofeel like I should have a press conference for everyone in the building so that I only have to explain it once. Except then I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d get fired. There¡¯s a section in our employee handbook about engaging in ¡®immoral behavior on company grounds.¡¯ Technically, it would have been here, but it¡¯s all Hardwick property.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think they really care, but if they do, you know they won¡¯t punish Sandy.¡±


    Her mouth twisted and she looked at me. ¡°Not that you asked, but I broke up with him. When we started he said he and his wife were practically divorced. They¡¯re not.¡±


    Stephanie shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s practically a cheater cliche¡ªat least that¡¯s what Lifetime movies tell me.¡±


    Emmy sniffed. ¡°Good news. All their cliches are true. I¡¯m sure that next week it¡¯ll turn out that I¡¯m pregnant with Sandy¡¯s baby, an ex-boyfriend will start stalking me, and one of the two of them will hire a hitman to kill me and steal the baby after she¡¯s born.¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯ll be okay in the end,¡± Stephanie told her, ¡°because you¡¯re a good person and because of the hot yet sensitive guy you¡¯ll fall in love with in the next two hours.¡±


    I looked from one of them to another. ¡°You''re making me feel better and better about never watching that channel.¡±


    Stephanie smiled. ¡°It only seems silly because it¡¯s not your ridiculous fears and fantasies.¡±


    She looked at Emmy, ¡°Do you want to go out after work? Hit a bar and hang out?¡±


    Then Stephanie grinned at me, ¡°And no offense, but not you. You¡¯re under 21, right?¡±


    ¡°Twenty,¡± I said. We¡¯d been in space on my birthday and I hadn¡¯t even noticed until we got home. They used a different calendar out there.


    ¡°Good,¡± Stephanie said, ¡°then I¡¯m not being rude. I¡¯m being a good example to the intern.¡±


    And turning back to Emmy she said, ¡°So, girls¡¯ night out?¡±


    Emmy paused, exhaling before saying, ¡°I¡­ Yes. Let¡¯s.¡±


    They both smiled, Emmy a little more slowly. Then she looked between Stephanie and I. ¡°Someone told me the two of you were going out. Are you?¡±


    Stephanie shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know where that came from. No.¡±


    Deciding that I should back her up on this, I said, ¡°I¡¯ve been going out with Haley, my girlfriend, since my senior year of high school. Stephanie and I sometimes talk here, but that¡¯s it. People make assumptions sometimes.¡±


    Not long after that Stephanie and I went to the lab while Emmy went back to her desk. Before leaving, I texted Vaughn, ¡°Emmy in my office. Still employed.¡±


    He texted back, ¡°Good,¡± and added, ¡°You should look at this.¡±


    He¡¯d sent a link to a Detroit Free Press article with the headline, ¡°Local Businessman Killed by Cougar.¡± I read the article. He¡¯d invested in Higher Ground.

 Claws & Eyes: Part 1

    My lab hummed with the sound of 3D printers and other machines putting together more bots, some of them from new designs. I didn¡¯t know how sophisticated Higher Ground¡¯s security was, but I¡¯d have to beat it if I wanted to learn more.


    Off the top of my head, I listed what I wanted to find out more about and wrote them on a piece of paper, numbering them, but not in order of importance.


    1. Any connection to the Nine.


    2. The Higher Ground investor who¡¯d died.


    3. Whatever happened as a result of that call Ryan made.


    4. Who had learned how to use the birthing chambers.


    I stopped and thought, adding more.


    5. How far can I trust Stephanie?


    6. What about Emmy? Is she the mother of the True or not?


    7. Who¡¯s visiting from the Medford lab? Is that person connected with the Nine? Lim seemed to think the Medford lab might be.


    Distracted by the bouquet of chemicals, I hoped that I wasn¡¯t working with anything cancer-causing, but after checking the robots¡¯ progress on my computer, I picked up the pen again and leaned over the counter, staring at the paper.


    How was I going to handle all this stuff? Red Bolt and Future Knight were going to investigate Dean Whiteford, the businessman killed by the ¡°cougar.¡± They were on that side of the state anyway if I remembered correctly. Hopefully, they¡¯d get back to us with information. They were well-known heroes and Stephanie seemed to think they were competent enough in that setting at least.


    As for the rest, getting access to the Nine¡¯s computer system would open up a lot of possibilities. Hal, our resident AI, would be able to break in provided I could get him a connection to Higher Ground¡¯s network. Even if he somehow had difficulty, he might be able to get help. He¡¯d told us that there were other AI¡¯s. If he could get help without telling them what he was doing, it might be worth the risk.


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    On the other hand, it might not. I¡¯d have to talk to him about it and then specifically forbid bringing anyone else in if I had to.


    That left the people questions. Could I trust Stephanie? Emmy? Whoever came from the Medford lab? I didn¡¯t have an easy answer for any of them.


    About the time I¡¯d decided that for now, I should stick with bugging the buildings and getting Hal a connection, Tara stepped into the lab.


    She wore a grey Heroes¡¯ League uniform and a few drops of sweat ran down her face. I¡¯d seen her practicing martial arts moves alone when I entered HQ.


    She pulled out a stool next to where I sat by the wall. ¡°Hey Nick, how¡¯s the investigation going?¡±


    ¡°Well, as of today we¡¯ve got our first unexplained death. In mystery novels, that means you¡¯re making progress because no one would bother to try to kill you if you weren¡¯t getting closer to understanding what¡¯s going on. The problem is that I don¡¯t feel any closer to understanding what¡¯s going on and if anyone was, it¡¯s probably the guy who died.¡±


    Tara pursed her lips. ¡°That¡¯s hard to say. I¡¯d need more information to be useful. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?¡±


    ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    She asked me a lot of questions, covering everything I¡¯d been doing since we¡¯d last talked¡ªwhich was great since when she chose to, she could pull together details I would never notice.


    When she was done, she frowned. ¡°I wish I were there. It¡¯s nothing against you, but I need more detail than I think you notice.¡±


    ¡°Bringing you along would be a problem.¡± Even if Tara didn¡¯t look like a taller, muscular version of Emmy, there was the fact that we¡¯d be bringing the final product of their research in to visit¡ªassuming someone was creating the True.


    Tara laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t know enough to know for sure what¡¯s going on, but did you wonder why Sandy happened to be gone when that man died?¡±


    I looked at her. ¡°Kind of, but I thought it would be impossible because he was heading to California to spend time with his wife and the murder happened in Detroit. Also, I don¡¯t know anything about Sandy that says it¡¯s likely that he¡¯d be a murderer. I know that he was cheating on his wife with Emmy, but neither Emmy nor his wife are dead.¡±


    She leaned forward, resting her chin on her arm. ¡°It¡¯s not that I think Sandy did it, but there¡¯s something about the timing that bothers me.  Maybe Sandy was coordinating the death so he wouldn¡¯t fall under suspicion?¡±

 Claws & Eyes: Part 2

    ¡°That would explain the coincidence, but it¡¯s so weird that Higher Ground would include people who actively murder people. I¡¯d have pegged them for the kind of people who do it indirectly by working with the Nine¡ªbecause if they hand over their research to the Nine, the Nine will use it to kill people.¡±


    Tara shrugged. ¡°I told you I don¡¯t have enough information to really do my thing well. If I could talk to someone else who worked there, I¡¯d be able to make more connections. Like maybe if Stephanie came over here again and I asked her questions¡­¡±


    Tara¡¯s voice trailed off as she leaned back on her stool, eyes unfocusing, thinking about something only she knew.


    Then she straightened. ¡°I never thought I¡¯d be near the beginning of any version of the True. For both of my parents, the creation was far enough in the past that they didn¡¯t think about it. And this place? Even if it¡¯s not exactly the same, some of the same people are involved.¡±


    She paused, staring into space and then continuing. ¡°Even if Emmy¡¯s not the base for the True here, versions of her must have been the basis for both my father¡¯s and my mother¡¯s version¡ªwhich makes her another version of me or at the least an ancestor.


    ¡°I hope that I can meet her somehow. I know it¡¯s a dumb idea, but I want to know what we were like before we became¡­ whatever we are. Maybe after it¡¯s all over if Lim thinks it¡¯s okay?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d say yes, but I have no idea what Lim would think.¡± I hoped she wouldn¡¯t try it on her own. She¡¯d never tried anything like that, but everyone has things that will push them to act in ways you might not expect.


    She nodded and continued talking her voice growing more intense as she went. ¡°I get it. I don¡¯t expect you to make any promises you can¡¯t keep, but here¡¯s one you can. If this all ends in violence or some other situation where you have to stop them at any cost, bring me in.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know how bad they can be. I know you¡¯ve heard about them, but hearing about them isn¡¯t enough. No one should be hunted like my family was. If I can do anything to stop the creation of more True, I will.¡±


    She stopped there, eyes bright, face tight, and her attention focused on me. It didn¡¯t take much to imagine her running into battle. I wouldn¡¯t have wanted to be on the other side.


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    Looking at her, I knew I didn¡¯t know what it felt like to move all over Infinity City, trying to keep away from the True. At the same time, I knew she felt it.


    ¡°In that situation, I¡¯ll bring you in. I promise. It would be stupid not to. I can¡¯t promise that you¡¯ll get to meet Emmy, but I¡¯ll see if I can help talk to Agent Lim once this is all over. It shouldn¡¯t matter anymore.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± she said and she hugged me so hard that it hurt for the first couple seconds.


    In a romantic comedy or a sitcom, Haley would have walked in in that moment and we would have had 30 minutes to an hour of misunderstanding to work out.


    Then she let go, saying, ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m sweaty. I¡¯m going to go clean up.¡±


    As she backed away from me, I asked, ¡°How¡¯s the internship going?¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Great! We¡¯ve been working on a training regimen for your team and Rhino and C and Mindstryke have all been dropping by at different times and they all have so much to teach. It¡¯s better than I thought it would be when I realized I¡¯d been blackballed from I-don¡¯t-know-how-many-teams.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t take it wrong, but I¡¯d have taken anything.¡±


    ¡°I get it. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d have done in your position.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°You won¡¯t be in my position. Half of the major superhero teams owe your grandparents somehow, but I¡¯m sure you know that.¡±


    Giving me a wave, she walked out the lab¡¯s door in the direction of the showers.


    She wasn''t wrong. I''d walked into Stapledon as the grandson of one of the earliest known superheroes. She''d walked in as a refugee from another reality with no connections. Also, the guys in her class at Stapledon had hit on her constantly. I''d even heard that they had a contest to see who could sleep with her first.


    Her response had been to beat up all of them during a training session. Unfortunately, they were from influential families in the superhero community and that had consequences.


    Once she left, I got back to monitoring the robots, wondering if I¡¯d done the right thing by promising she could be involved in what we did with the True. When push came to shove, we would need her. She¡¯d be our best authority on how they thought and probably the only person who could match their abilities with strategy and tactics.


    On a gut level, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if she might find herself too personally involved with the True to make her best decisions. Her ability to turn vast numbers of small details into patterns argued that she¡¯d be fine, but the True could do the same thing and they were genocidal, near fascist super-soldiers.


    That¡¯s the kind of thing that made me think that Tara¡¯s feelings, hopes and fears mattered a lot.


    On the one hand, she wanted to stop the True from being created here, but on the other, she wanted a connection with Emmy. With her mother dead by the hands of the True and her father dead here, Emmy was Tara¡¯s only connection to her own history.


    I shook my head. This was a problem for later. For now, I had devices to make and then to install in Higher Grounds¡¯ offices.

 Claws & Eyes: Part 3

    Hours went by. I lost track of time as I worked. I¡¯d redesigned the remote control for my bots. Though I¡¯d recreated it as software in the Rocket suit, my new version acted as an interface between my implant and the bots, allowing me to control them directly with my brain.


    I probably could have figured out a way for the implant to connect to the bots directly either by imitating their control signals or creating a system for the bots that connected to the implant, but this was easier.


    It meant I didn¡¯t have to redesign the bots and that my first attempt at connecting to alien technology didn¡¯t have to fit inside a bot. Instead, I¡¯d designed it to look like a portable phone charger.


    I tested a spybot, sending it in a circle around the room. The connection stayed strong and it responded to my directions as well as it did from the suit¡ªbetter maybe.


    I did feel a little weird to have a little window showing the bot¡¯s camera feed in my head, but the Xiniti had systems for controlling devices remotely built into the implant. Figuring out how to make the video and sound convert over had the side effect of answering if it were possible to translate my conversation with Ryan (Higher Ground¡¯s head scientist) into Earth audio-visual formats.


    As I began to bring the spybot in for a landing, Haley stepped through the door. She wore her costume which was grey with an abstract head of a cat on her chest.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re still here.¡± She stepped to the side as I lost control of the bot and it skidded across the table and hit the wall next to the door.


    I felt my eyes widen. ¡°Sorry.¡±


    Haley glanced down at the spybot where it lay on the floor. ¡°It¡¯s my fault. I should have given you more warning.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that would have helped.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°I doubt it. You weren¡¯t paying attention to anything, but if I had made a noise maybe you wouldn¡¯t have broken your bot this badly.¡±


    Bending over, she picked it up and put it on the counter I sat next to. Its nose had been smashed in. A quick look at the bot¡¯s vitals showed that it was still connected to the remote and that the main rocket would still respond.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s an old bot I only keep around for testing anyway.¡±


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    ¡°Good.¡± Then she frowned. ¡°Do you know what time it is? It¡¯s after midnight.¡±


    The implant gave me the exact time¡ª12:14 am. ¡°I kind of knew that. Why are you here?¡±


    ¡°I went out on patrol with Tara. Chris and Camille were out too, but they were flying so mostly it was Tara and me.¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s that going?¡± I¡¯d heard Tara¡¯s perspective. Haley¡¯s might be different.


    Haley cocked her head. ¡°It¡¯s good. It¡¯s a little strange to have Chris in the suit instead of you, but I think Tara makes us coordinate better and she notices so much about how we fight. I think she¡¯s good for the team. If she wants to stay after she¡¯s done with her government service, I think we should take her.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d be for it. Ignoring powers, I think she¡¯s the best hand to hand fighter I¡¯ve seen in the program.¡±


    Waving her hand at the tables in the lab, she asked, ¡°So what have you been working on?¡±


    ¡°Stuff for bugging the lab. I¡¯ve got an interface for the bots and my implant and a couple of new types of bots.¡±


    Haley looked over at the tables full of parts and a few finished bots. ¡°I only see one kind.¡±


    ¡°One of them doesn¡¯t look like a bot. The box full of little black dots about the size of ant heads? I¡¯m calling them ¡®dotbots.¡¯ They can only move a little bit, but once they get into the right spot, they can burrow into concrete if they have to and at worst they¡¯ll look like a speck on the wall. They¡¯re the bugs. They¡¯ve got a decent range for both audio and visual and as usual, they¡¯ll self-destruct.


    ¡°The bigger bot¡ªthe wasp-sized one¡ªI¡¯m calling a ¡®spitbot.¡¯ It contains several dotbots which it¡¯ll spit out wherever I want.¡±


    She raised an eyebrow. ¡°Dotbots? Spitbots? Not all of your names have to end in bot, do they?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s easy and I¡¯m not telling everybody their names¡ªjust the team.¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°That might change. Chris has been talking about how the two of you should set up some kind of business. You need some kind of normal way to support yourselves after college. He¡¯s been thinking you should invent something.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Maybe. We¡¯ll have to have some kind of civilian job.¡±


    Haley reached out and put her arm on my shoulder and leaned into me. It felt good and I reached out, wrapping my arm around her.


    Her head neared my shirt and she took a sniff. ¡°What did Tara want?¡±


    I wasn¡¯t surprised that she¡¯d noticed. ¡°To talk about Emmy and the True mostly, I think. She hugged me when I said that I¡¯d see if I could convince Lim to let her meet Emmy when this is all over.¡±


    She looked up at me. ¡°Sometimes I wish Tara weren¡¯t quite so touchy-feely with you, but I know she doesn¡¯t mean anything by it. It would smell different. And anyway, she¡¯s like that with all of her friends.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± My sister Rachel didn¡¯t always feel comfortable with it either.


    Haley frowned. ¡°I think we might be the closest thing to family she has.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to get into all of this. I was really stopping by because I¡¯m hungry. Do you want to go to the Chinese buffet on State? They¡¯re open all night. If you¡¯re not in the mood for Chinese food, I guess there¡¯s Denny¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°You know, I don¡¯t think I had supper.¡± My stomach growled, underscoring the point.


    We left for the restaurant and I left the details of how I¡¯d bug Higher Ground for the next day.

 Claws & Eyes: Part 4

    Vaughn and I took his car to Hardwick Industries downtown offices and the helipad after class. It felt a little showy to ride there in a Porsche, but it wasn¡¯t my Porsche.


    It had the additional advantage of not leaving my van where it could be inspected by Hardwick¡¯s people. The van passed as a normal van, but if anyone started poking and prodding it, they¡¯d discover that the material wasn¡¯t quite metal. If someone who knew the model of van it was supposed to be measured it, they¡¯d discover that the measurements weren¡¯t quite right. Worse, they might figure out that most of what you could see underneath was a facade.


    You¡¯d think that knowing the problem, I¡¯d be able to solve it, but it wasn¡¯t that simple. I¡¯d designed the van to shift into several different vans as well as a giant catmecha version. Even with nanotech, there are limits to how far you can go.


    In the end though, leaving the van in a parking lot that I knew people familiar with alien tech might walk through would be asking for trouble.


    Thus, the Porsche, and driving down the road with Vaughn asking, ¡°Do you need me to do anything? I could have a thunderstorm roll in. With enough thunder and lightning, everyone would be looking out the windows instead of paying attention to your bots.


    ¡°For that matter, I could set up a tornado. If everyone¡¯s heading for inside walls to hide, they¡¯re not going to be looking for bots.¡±


    The wind blew through the windows over the engine¡¯s persistent hum. ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea, but I¡¯m thinking a definite no on the tornado. They¡¯ve probably got evacuation procedures that include the artifacts. I wouldn¡¯t put it past them if some artifacts disappeared permanently. You¡¯re not the only weather-controlling super out there and some of them aren¡¯t heroes.¡±


    Vaughn snorted. ¡°Tell me about it.¡±


    Thinking about his grandfather, I said, ¡°Sorry, but you know what I mean.¡±


    Accelerating, Vaughn whipped around a blue Volvo wagon that had made the mistake of moving too slowly, bringing us into the left lane of a two-lane road.


    I tried not to think about the small truck coming at us head-on as Vaughn eased us back into the right lane. ¡°You know Uncle Russ got Grandpa¡¯s powers too. I¡¯m not saying they won¡¯t be worried about people with lightning and weather powers, but I¡¯d be surprised if they were the biggest worry.¡±


    I didn¡¯t point out that Lucas, Vaughn¡¯s cousin and Russell Hardwick¡¯s son, also had the same powers. Vaughn knew it. ¡°I suppose that depends on whether ¡®Uncle Russ¡¯ and Higher Ground are more worried about the Heroes¡¯ League or the Nine.¡±


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    Turning onto Hardwick Industries¡¯ campus, Vaughn slowed the car to pass his keycard in front of the reader and wave at the guard. With glassy buildings, manicured lawns, and the company parking lot around the corner, Vaughn added, ¡°All I¡¯m saying is that if you need a distraction, all you have to do is text me. If there¡¯s one thing my powers are good for, it¡¯s distractions.¡±


    After that, he parked the car and we waited for our ride at the helipad, hanging out and making the odd joke. I wondered what our grandfathers would think if they could see us. They¡¯d been lifelong friends before Giles Hardwick betrayed the original Heroes¡¯ League.


    Forty-five minutes later I¡¯d entered Higher Ground¡¯s lab, heading straight for the birthing chambers as I¡¯d been told in an email Stephanie sent me.


    As I stepped through the ¡°airlock¡± into the main room of the lab, I knew the place felt different. It took only a moment to realize why. The birthing chamber platform had twenty people standing in front of it.


    All of them were lab employees (including Victor and Stephanie). The one person who I didn¡¯t recognize did strike me as familiar. Where had I seen her before?


    A light-skinned woman in her early to mid-forties with short brown hair, she could have been anyone. Something about the intensity of the way she looked at the birthing chamber sparked a memory, but I couldn¡¯t say where it came from.


    The Xiniti implant came to my rescue. A translucent label appeared under her face saying, ¡°Dr. Valerie Griffin, electrical engineer with a specialty in investigating galactic technology including Abominator artifacts. She¡¯s human, born and located on Earth. She¡¯s believed to have Galactic connections. It¡¯s unknown whether or not she is knowingly involved with agents of the Human Ascendancy, but she does know individual agents on sight. Some of these agents are connected to the Nine, an Earthling criminal organization with connections in the Galactic Alliance and Human Quarantine.¡±


    The Xiniti records went on longer, detailing specific points at which she¡¯d come to the attention of Xiniti intelligence services. I didn¡¯t have time to absorb every last detail, but there wasn¡¯t enough to peg her as anything more than an engineer with unintentional connections to crime.


    All the same, I knew who she was. She was the leader of the Medford lab that studied the birthing chamber platform a couple years before. We¡¯d saved her family and the lab from an attack by alien mercenaries searching for Abominator artifacts.


    She¡¯d given Vaughn, Cassie, Amy and a few more of us a tour of the lab before the government had appeared to grab the birthing chambers. I tried to remember anything she¡¯d told me then, but Stephanie¡¯s voice interrupted me.


    ¡°Over here, Nick.¡± As I walked over to her, Stephanie continued, ¡°Dr. Griffin, this is the last member of our team, Nick Klein. He¡¯s an intern from Grand Lake University. He¡¯s here as part of the same program I mentioned earlier.¡±


    Dr. Griffin held out her hand, smiling. ¡°Hi Nick, I¡¯ve heard good things about you.¡±


    Reminding myself that she couldn¡¯t possibly recognize my voice because the Rocket suit had modified my voice to sound like my grandfathers¡¯, I shook her hand. ¡°Thanks. I heard they were bringing in someone who knew more about the birthing chamber platform.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t know much more, but I think I can help. People underestimate how alien alien artifacts are.¡±


    Behind her, the platform glinted bluish-green in the light. I¡¯d thought she¡¯d be coming next week. Why was she here now?

 Claws & Eyes: Part 5

    On the bright side, I was an intern. Interns are inexperienced and haven¡¯t absorbed how things are done in the workplace. That meant that as long as I wasn¡¯t too obnoxious about it, I could ask anything.


    Provided I wasn¡¯t too obvious about my prying, the worst that people would think was that I was naive.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I heard this right,¡± I began, ¡°but I thought you were coming next week.¡±


    She gave a quick smile. ¡°You¡¯re right. I was, but they called to ask if I could come early and it turned out that I could move my schedule around. Now what I¡¯ve heard is that you¡¯re not just majoring in engineering and materials science, but you¡¯re also a programmer.


    ¡°Our lab modified a psi helmet to contact the birthing chamber platform but your people couldn¡¯t get theirs to work. I checked over the circuitry. From what I can tell, it¡¯s a match to ours. I¡¯m hoping that you can modify the software until it works.¡±


    I looked over at Victor. He seemed to be smiling.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ¡°but I¡¯ve got another question. What happened to your helmet? I mean, I¡¯m all for having a backup, but if you¡¯ve got a working one, couldn¡¯t we use that? It might even help troubleshoot what¡¯s wrong with the new one.¡±


    Her mouth twisted. ¡°I wish we could use our old one. When the government took the artifact, their people didn¡¯t secure the helmet well enough and it dropped when they were moving it all into storage. Higher Ground has ours. It¡¯s shattered beyond repair.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I thought about that. ¡°Do you have your original code for the helmet¡¯s software?¡±


    She paused, frowning. ¡°I didn¡¯t write it. Before now, I didn¡¯t have much to do with the new investigation into the artifact, but what I understand is that the government gave them our finished code.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Victor walked up and stood next to Dr. Griffin as did Stephanie. At the same time, I noticed that the rest of the group was beginning to wander off to their own work areas.


    Victor looked between the four of us. ¡°I think we¡¯re going to have to do a little bit of knowledge transfer before Nick can get started. Dr. Griffin, if you could answer any questions he has about how the helmet design and what your additions allowed it to do.¡±


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    ¡°I¡­¡± She looked over at Victor. ¡°I¡¯ll try to do anything I can to help him. Do you have anywhere private that we can talk?¡±


    Victor nodded. ¡°We¡¯ve got offices on the far wall. Stephanie can show them to you. She¡¯ll need to go with you anyway. She¡¯s one of the people who wrote code for the new version of the helmet. She understands the new code and hardware better than anyone else that¡¯s still here.¡±


    With that, Stephanie led the two of us across the lab, passing teams, file cabinets, enclosed areas, some of which I still couldn¡¯t identify.


    Less than a minute later, we sat in a small conference room on the same wall as Ryan McCall¡¯s office. I wondered if he was in it or if I¡¯d have any chance to bug it.


    In any case, saying that the conference room was small didn¡¯t quite do justice to it. It hadfour chairs, but only enough space to fit three at the table with pulling the table away from the wall. Even then, it would only have been comfortable if only two people at most attempted to put stuff on the table.


    Stephanie¡¯s laptop seemed to take up most of it.


    Dr. Griffin sat down at the table and Stephanie and I joined her. Stephanie had plans for the helmet on her laptop¡ªboth Dr. Griffin¡¯s original plans and Higher Ground¡¯s modifications.


    The next two hours involved learning that telepathy was complicated and machines that enabled it were also complicated. That wasn¡¯t a surprise, but sheer amount of detail meant that I had to take notes. To hear Dr. Griffin explain it, telepathy was a case of applied quantum mechanics. They still weren¡¯t sure how information transferred, but they could set up the conditions for it to take place and had a system to interpret what arrived.


    Near the end, it all began to make sense¡ªenough sense that the implant began giving me access to similar designs and documents describing the general flow of telepathic connections. Dr. Griffin¡¯s device and Stephanie¡¯s version of the software imitated how telepaths connected without fully understanding it. The implant had a big picture version of a civilization¡¯s successful understanding and implementation of the technology.


    I might not know every detail of how I¡¯d put it together, but I suspected I might be the only person on the planet who understood how this worked.


    Then it struck me¡ªI could stall progress on it for a long time, maybe permanently. All I had to do was get it almost, but not quite right. We might be able to avoid the True if no one could get access to the telepathic controls. If they had to work with the physical controls, they might be limited to what¡¯s in the birthing chamber¡¯s library.


    The more I thought about it, the more I suspected I couldn¡¯t make that decision alone.


    ¡°Nick?¡± Stephanie tapped the table. ¡°Are you listening?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I mean, I missed what you just said, but I¡¯ve been listening to everything else.¡±

 Claws & Eyes: Part 6

    Dr. Griffin laughed. ¡°I¡¯ve seen that look before. What were you thinking about?¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± I considered lying, but decided to go with the truth because that might allow me to lie with credibility later. ¡°I think I understand the basic system for how it works.¡±


    ¡°And what¡¯s that?¡± She pulled a blank piece of paper out of a small printer in the corner. ¡°Can you diagram it?¡±


    ¡°I can try.¡± I took the pen she passed me along with the paper and started, explaining as I went.


    For the most part I didn¡¯t give them anything new, but I felt like I had to give them one new thing to justify allowing me to have the project. It made Higher Ground that much less likely to take it away later when the project stalled.


    So, in the midst of running through what prior programmers had thought was simply the minimum requirements for making a connection, I said, ¡°But it¡¯s not. We¡¯ve been using ¡®frequency¡¯ as a concept related to telepathic connections as if were the same as radio waves. Sometimes the model works, but it¡¯s something people shouldn¡¯t use too literally because it leads to mistakes. People expect frequencies to stay the same, but in this case, the pattern of frequency change people have been noticing isn¡¯t a negotiation of the connection¡¯s frequency. The frequency is already set. It¡¯s set before the pattern starts. The pattern exists to show the range of frequencies that associated concepts can be sent at to give context for the thoughts they receive later.


    ¡°I¡¯m not completely sure about why it involves so much repetition, but if you look at the communication that they used to as an example, they mention there¡¯s a lot of background chatter on those frequencies and don¡¯t have any idea why.¡±


    Dr. Griffin blinked. ¡°I remember discussing the background chatter and arguing about whether it was important or not. I thought it might be, but I didn¡¯t know how.¡±


    She looked over at Stephanie. ¡°What do you think?¡±


    Stephanie had picked up the laptop and clicked on the window with graphs of of the connection patterns. ¡°I wish I¡¯d seen it. I did think it was weird that all the background chatter stayed in that range.¡±


    After a few clicks, she added, ¡°I think he¡¯s right. It¡¯s completely consistent and there are points where we skipped broadcasting background noise that match up with users having issues with making sense of what was said.¡±


    Dr. Griffin smiled at me. ¡°It sounds like you¡¯re the right person for the job. Now what else do you see?¡±


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    I rolled through the rest of the explanation without blowing anything else that big, but pointing out where the background noise had affected the example conversation.


    When it was all over, Dr. Griffin left ¡°for another meeting,¡± and Stephanie walked back to the birthing chamber platform.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have time to ask you about it now, but maybe you can tell me how you figured that out later. As for now, I¡¯ve got to give you access to everything we¡¯ve got on this project. Do you need anything else to do?¡±


    She shook her head, smiling a little. ¡°I guess they put you on the Feds¡¯ list for a reason.¡±


    I wanted to tell her that I¡¯d cheated. I had noticed the relationship between the frequency range and the background chatter as she had, but that¡¯s one of the things that had prompted the implant to start handing me designs and theories about telepathic connections.


    On the bright side, she was as good as her word about getting me access to the previous research. I sat at a cubicle in the lab pretending to browse the info about the helmet¡¯s system for telepathic connections while releasing the ¡°spitbot¡± to place ¡°dotbots¡± throughout the lab and its offices.


    Around 5 pm, Stephanie and I followed everyone else out of the lab, walking down the lawn between the lab and the office building next to it. We didn¡¯t go all the way to the helipad, stopping near the parking lot in front of the building.


    She took out her phone, tapped on its screen and said, ¡°We can talk privately now. Anybody who looks at us will feel an urge to go somewhere else. Related to that, don¡¯t try to look at the back of my shirt.¡±


    Though tempted to see if I could use the implant to record out of the corner of my eye and analyze the image later, I resisted the urge. Stephanie¡¯s ability to hack the brain with visual symbols was a cool thing that deserved some investigation, but I didn¡¯t have time.


    I did use the stealth suit¡¯s white noise generator to obscure our voices for redundancy


    ¡°Sure. With regards to the connection protocol, I cheated. I only noticed as much as you did, but I¡¯ve got a source on telepathic connections that made it easier.¡±


    She frowned for a moment, but then smiled. ¡°Of course you have a source on telepathy. Good. I¡¯d like to think we¡¯re equals, but I totally missed all of this. Don¡¯t rock my confidence like that.¡±


    She was probably thinking about Daniel, my best friend and third in a line of powerful telepaths. That was okay.


    Then she laughed. ¡°I guess I¡¯d better go, but be careful what you give them. If all of this is going to the Nine, we don¡¯t want them to come up with their version of the True while we¡¯re not looking.¡±


    I glanced over toward the helipad ahead of us. Vaughn stood waiting there. ¡°I know. I¡¯m going talk with people about ideas for handling that.¡±


    ¡°Keep me in the loop and if you¡¯re having a team meeting about it, don¡¯t forget me. I want in on that.¡± Then she nodded toward the helipad. The helicopter hung in the air in the distance. ¡°It looks like you¡¯ve got to go.¡±


    We stopped talking and I hurried toward the helipad. Vaughn saw me as got closer. ¡°Done talking with Stephanie? I was going to join you, but I suddenly felt like I should go to the helipad. Was that what I think it was?¡±


    He knew about Stephanie¡¯s skills too.


    ¡°Yeah. Sorry about that. We needed privacy. On the bright side, I got done what I meant to get done today.¡±


    Vaughn grinned. ¡°Excellent.¡±


    We might have talked more then, but the helicopter had come to a stop above us and begun to lower itself for a landing.


    I turned off the white noise. We didn¡¯t need that all the way home.

 Claws & Eyes: Part 7

    After Vaughn and I went back to the house, I headed immediately down to my lab because I wanted to talk with Isaac Lim. I¡¯d told Vaughn about how I¡¯d now become the ¡°lead¡± and only programmer on Higher Ground¡¯s birthing chamber remote control project (or whatever it was called).


    He¡¯d stared at me long enough that I worried that he wasn¡¯t paying attention to the road. ¡°Let me get this straight¡ªyou¡¯re duplicating Cassie¡¯s Abominator Citizen¡¯s Mark with a psi helmet?¡±


    Shaking my head and looking forward, hoping Vaughn would take the hint, I said, ¡°Not exactly. I think her Citizen¡¯s Mark gives her total control of the device.From what I understand, the psi helmet would give the user the default level of access the Abominators gave normal users. I suspect that would still be more than we¡¯re comfortable with.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°If you¡¯re right and they¡¯re using that assassin thing you found, I¡¯d say yeah. We should bring Cassie in. Then you can make the psi helmet work, but she¡¯d be able to lock the chambers down so that they can only make what you let them make.¡±


    We exited the freeway, rolling down the circular ramp and coming to a stop. Cars and trucks filled the road. Watching as Vaughn waited for an open spot in the stream of vehicles, I took the moment to respond.


    ¡°I thought about that, but she¡¯s in Washington D.C. because the Nine are looking for her here. That and they can protect her more easily there.¡±


    Nodding, Vaughn gunned the car, fitting it into a smaller space than I would have attempted, causing the guy in the pickup truck behind us to lay on his horn.


    ¡°I get that,¡± Vaughn slowed, giving us more space from the car ahead and prompting another series of beeps from the car behind. ¡°But maybe it¡¯s time for her to come back. The birthing chambers big. It could create the True, but think about it. Higher Ground¡¯s got a lot of stuff. Sure the birthing chambers are bad, but for all we know, they¡¯ve got stuff that¡¯s even more disruptive that they haven¡¯t figured out yet. Cassie could shut them all down.¡±


    Within a few blocks, the neighborhoods had changed from old factories, car repair shops, and old houses with flaking paint to old houses with green lawns, new paint, or aluminum siding. We were getting closer to home.


    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty good idea. If it were just us and Agent Lim hadn¡¯t asked me to watch and not act, I think this would be worth bringing Cassie in. As things are, I texted Lim and I¡±m going to ask him what he thinks we should do.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°Yeah. That makes sense. Bringing Cassie in might blow the ¡®secret investigation¡¯ wide open. She¡¯s generally not too subtle about how she handles things. Let everyone know how that meeting goes, okay? I¡¯m pretty sure the rest of us don¡¯t want to be surprised.¡±


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    Vaughn wasn¡¯t wrong about Cassie. She wasn¡¯t subtle, but he wasn¡¯t either. As for what he¡¯d said about me? Well, he had a point. I did sometimes forget to tell people things.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell everyone what happens and if we need to have a team meeting after that, we can.¡±


    There wasn¡¯t much to say after that. Once I went down to my lab, I logged into the computer, setting myself available for calls, and poked around the lab, trying to think if I needed to design any more bots and wondering what my current bots had picked up.


    It didn¡¯t take long for Agent Lim to call and I picked it up immediately, watching as the black screen dissolved into Agent Lim¡¯s home office. He frowned as he looked at me.


    ¡°I got your text that we should talk and that we should do it the most secure way possible. What¡¯s going on?¡±


    Remembering back to the last time we¡¯d talked, he¡¯d told me that he was talking to me over an unofficial system because he didn¡¯t trust the official systems, implying that the Nine might be bugging the official phones.


    ¡°It¡¯s Higher Ground. They want me to program a psi helmet to connect to the birthing chamber they¡¯ve got. Worse, I can do it. They¡¯re having problems because they don¡¯t fully understand Abominator and Galactic Alliance standards for programming a mind to machine interface. I do. It¡¯s in my implant.¡±


    Lim blinked. ¡°No kidding? They gave you an implant? Shit. Look, I know that aliens use them, but it never occurred to me that they¡¯d give you one. The rest of the team too?¡±


    ¡°Everyone who went to space with me.¡±


    Isaac leaned back in his chair. ¡°Well, I hope they¡¯re not listening in. The Xiniti seem to want us to survive, but they don¡¯t need to know everything. Do you think they are?¡±


    I checked. ¡°The implant says it¡¯s not programmed to give regular updates about me beyond notifying them if I die.¡±


    Lim frowned. ¡°I hope it¡¯s telling you the truth. Anyway, so what did you want to ask me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking maybe I should sabotage the psi helmet. I¡¯ve got more than one way to do it¡ªprogramming the psi helmet wrong is the most obvious. Beyond that, I¡¯ve got my own backdoor into the birthing chamber, so I might be able toslow down their access from that direction. Plus, there¡¯s always bringing in Cassie. She¡¯s got total access to everything.¡±


    Lim placed his chin on his hand. ¡°Let¡¯s think about that. First, let¡¯s start by saying that bringing in Cassie is an absolute last resort option. That opens up all new ways this op could go wrong. Plus, I don¡¯t want to tangle with her mom. She''s already isn¡¯t happy that we¡¯re sending you in."


    Cassie''s mom was some kind of big deal in the CIA.


    ¡°Next, do you have any kind of evidence that someone¡¯s trying to create the True? Did someone say it and did you record it?¡±


    I felt myself slump on my stool. ¡°No. We think that the Higher Ground investor that died was killed by an Abominator assassin creature that¡¯s easy to get access to in the DNA library, but we don¡¯t have direct evidence. I know the creature''s details were accessed but don¡¯t have any way to know if one was created¡ªbut I do know they had time to make one. Beyond that, Emmy, Hardwick Medical¡¯s administrative assistant, looks like Tara¡¯s smaller and weaker twin.¡±


    Lim shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s something, but it¡¯s not enough. If that¡¯s all you have, I¡¯d say that you should give them what they want. You don¡¯t have to be quick about it, but right now they¡¯re a government contractor in good standing and you¡¯ve signed a contract to work for them. If you deliberately sabotage them, and we can¡¯t prove they were doing anything wrong, you might be sued for breach of contract and we might not be able to protect you.¡±

 Claws & Eyes: Part 8

    I stared at him. ¡°Seriously? I¡¯m supposed to help them do it? Isn¡¯t there a point at which we intervene?¡±


    Lim frowned. ¡°There is. When we know before someone might die, we intervene, but even then we try to do it without blowing our cover if it¡¯s possible. Right here, we don¡¯t have that. We¡¯ve got a body that might be be connected and we are following up on that. We don¡¯t need you to do it.


    ¡°We¡¯ve also got a problem that has destroyed humanity in alternate universe and that puts this whole operation on a lot of people¡¯s watch lists for a lot of different reasons. The problem is that some of the people whose watch list it¡¯s on are not in it for the right reasons.¡±


    Lim stopped, looking into the camera and saying nothing for a moment. Then he took a breath, sighed, and started to speak. ¡°Last time we talked I told you why we needed to sometimes use alternate methods of communicating¡ªlike this one. It¡¯s a given that the Nine have infiltrated the FBI or the Justice Department. A secondary purpose of this operation is to find out who¡¯s watching this op, if anyone''s trying to hide the results, and who attempts to get control of Higher Ground¡¯s research.


    ¡°When we know that, we¡¯ll have some clues as to who¡¯s been compromised around and above me.¡±


    Lim stopped and looked out the window to his right, responding to a noise I hadn¡¯t heard or movement I hadn¡¯t seen. Turning back, he said, ¡°That¡¯s the big prize and if I want it, I¡¯ve got to live as if I don¡¯t know anything. Sometimes I might want to act, but choose not to because I¡¯m only going to get one shot at some of these people. If I act too soon, they¡¯ll know I¡¯m looking. I¡¯m going to need you to do the same thing.¡±


    His voice stayed low, but he spoke with more intensity than I could ever remember hearing from him.


    ¡°I know you want to act,¡± he continued, ¡°and I get it. In fact, I might have to take advantage of it. For me, the fact that you¡¯re vigilantes and you can choose to ignore the law is your real superpower. You¡¯ll be able to act when I can¡¯t if the necessary legal permission don¡¯t come through because the Nine don¡¯t want them to.


    ¡°But you won¡¯t be able to act if you act too soon and they figure out that they¡¯re being watched by the Rocket and the Heroes¡¯ League. Count on the fact that they¡¯re watching for you. Between Cassie breaking into their secret research facility and getting the gun¡ªsomething that has to eat at them¡ªas well you fighting Rook off and getting her back after he captured her, they have to fear you by now.


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    ¡°That and you can be confident that Rook¡¯s waiting for his chance to get you back for blowing up his hand.¡±


    I thought about that, running through bits of it in my head. ¡°Alright. I guess I¡¯ll work on the helmet. I¡¯m just going to act as if I didn¡¯t have access to the Xiniti¡¯s work on it and pretend to fight for every piece of it.¡±


    Lim nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the way to go. Make progress, but don¡¯t make so much process that they begin to suspect that you¡¯ve got an implant. There are people out there that will try to steal it and won¡¯t be bothered that they have to remove it from your brain first. Do you have anything else?¡±


    ¡°I did plant some bugs today. I¡¯ve got them in the conference rooms as well as management¡¯s offices. I¡¯m sure that¡¯s not the only place they¡¯ll talk about secret things, but that¡¯s where I¡¯ll get the best recordings.¡±


    Smiling, Lim said, ¡°That¡¯s what we need¡ªunambiguous proof of whatever it is they¡¯re doing. That¡¯s the best news I¡¯ve heard so far this week. Now, later on in this, it might be that we¡¯ll want to sacrifice a bug if they begin to get suspicious. So you¡¯ll want to come up with an alternate design and be ready to place them in more obvious spots.


    ¡°Oh, and one more thing. We¡¯re going to have to do a fake report on the regular line just in case someone¡¯s watching. You¡¯ll want to mention that you¡¯re planning to install bugs. Can you be ready in an hour from now?¡±


    I thought about it. The only thing that would interrupt was homework. ¡°Sure.¡±


    Not long after that, we ended the conversation. I started up a few printers to make bot parts and worked on my calculus homework. I continued working on that after the second (fake) call with Isaac.


    Around eleven at night, I considered wrapping it up for the night and I did, but not in the way I expected.


    I heard the sound of voices¡ªVaughn and Amy laughing about something. Then heard Sydney laugh with them. I got up from my stool and walked out of the lab in time to see Amy and Vaughn step into the elevator that would bring them back up to the house.


    I knew I¡¯d heard that they weren¡¯t dating anymore, but seeing her leaning into him, I wasn¡¯t sure if I¡¯d heard that right. Sydney, meanwhile, stood next to the team locker room. The metal that had encased her flowed off of her body, forming into a gray blob of steel, leaving a slim, pale-skinned girl with blond hair that went halfway down her back.


    A friend of Haley, she waved at me before going into the locker room. That left me alone with Chris--who¡¯d stepped out of HQ¡¯s hangar and made a beeline for me as I stepped out of the lab.


    A few inches shorter and stockier than me, Chris wore a gray Heroes¡¯ League costume that I knew he used as a flight suit under his version of the Rocket suit. He wasn¡¯t wearing the mask that went with it, showing his blond hair and grinning face. ¡°Hey Nick, we should talk. It¡¯s been forever.¡±

 Claws & Eyes: Part 9

    Slipping off of my stool, I took a quick look at the factory dashboard on my monitor. I didn¡¯t have any processes running that had to be manually stopped.


    I was safe from whatever the nanotech equivalent of Mickey Mouse directing brooms to carry pails of water might be.


    Compelled to be accurate, I said, ¡°We did talk a few different times, but yeah, it hasn¡¯t been much more than ¡®hi¡¯ and a couple technical things.¡±


    Chris nodded as I spoke. ¡°The links you sent me to your Rocket suit documentation were a lifesaver¡ªprobably literally. I understood a bunch of different things that I hadn¡¯t been thinking about at all.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I grabbed a lot of that from my grandfather. I use a lot of his testsand minimum specifications with the newer versions of the suit.¡±


    Chris grinned. ¡°I know. My grandfather happened to be looking over my shoulder once and he was freaking out. He kept going on about how he¡¯d noticed it years ago or how it explained some things or telling me about the fight where you grandfather must have decided that was important¡­¡±


    Then he frowned. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind that I let him look.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I might have a few years ago, but he¡¯s acting as a kind of advisor now. He probably needs as much information as he can get. I think I might have read that he was helping with Tara. It would have been in a League Board email.¡±


    Chris shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t get those, but he might be. He¡¯s been busy with League stuff lately. Do you mind if I sit down?¡±


    ¡°No problem.¡± I got back onto the stool I¡¯d just left and he sat on the one next to it.


    ¡°So,¡± he took a breath. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking lately. You¡¯re close to graduating college.¡±


    Taking a glance at the monitor, I said, ¡°Sort of. I¡¯m a junior¡ªso next year.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Right. So what are you doing after graduation?¡±


    I¡¯d thought about that. ¡°You have to do a couple years of residency and government work after graduation from Stapledon, but in terms of a civilian identity, I¡¯m thinking I¡¯ll set myself up as a consultant. Between Stapledon and my grandfather, it looks like I¡¯ll have enough contacts to take a shot at it.¡±


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    ¡°Make sense,¡± Chris kept his face blank, ¡°but I¡¯ve got another idea. You could do that for a couple years, but after that we could go into business together. Between the two of us, I bet we could come up with something that would really take off. That or, I don¡¯t know, maybe I could join your consulting practice? I think if it were more than just you, you¡¯d have a better chance of keeping your projects covered if you got busy. And that works both ways. I¡¯m backing you up here right now, but when things get slow on the superhero end, you¡¯d probably enjoy taking over projects I¡¯m on.¡±


    I thought about it. I wouldn¡¯t mind working with Chris. In fact, past experience argued we worked better together than separately. ¡°Sure. I like the idea. The only problem is that we¡¯d probably both be busy at the same time with League stuff and maybe work too.¡±


    ¡°I thought about that.¡± He grinned. ¡°I think you might like this idea. You know more inventor types from Stapledon, right? We pull in the interested ones and everyone gets an alibi as well as interesting work.¡±


    It struck me that we might not want a link between the group of us, but might be some way to make it work. ¡°I¡­ kind of like the idea. There¡¯s a security element we have to think about, but I bet we could work something out. Also, sometimes mad scientists or super-geniuses or whatever-it-is-we-are have some odd quirks. So if we did do something like this, we might have some weird personality issues to work with, but it¡¯s worth a look. I¡¯m still not sure what I really want out of my civilian life.¡±


    Frowning, Chris raised an eyebrow. ¡°Personality issues? That¡¯s a good point. I was mostly thinking about how we work together, but other people might not work together as well. Yeah, we¡¯ve got to think about¡ª¡±


    The speakers began playing the ringing of an old time phone. That meant someone was calling the Heroes¡¯ League line and that it was someone we¡¯d whitelisted to not go directly to voicemail.


    I checked the monitor. It was the Grand Lake Police Department. I took the call on speakerphone.


    ¡°Heroes¡¯ League, this is Lieutenant Hekman, the GLPD watch commander for tonight. We¡¯ve sighted a superhuman and we¡¯d like your help. It¡¯s climbing on Hardwick Industries building downtown.¡±


    ¡°Climbing?¡± I looked over at Chris. He was taking deep breaths.


    ¡°Yes. It looks like Night Wolf or Night Cat, but it¡¯s not either of them¡ªtoo small for him and too big for her. It looks like one of those alien soldiers¡ªhuman shaped with the claws? But this one isn¡¯t in their armor.¡±


    ¡°We can look into it, but none of us are in costumes right now. It¡¯ll be a minute.¡±


    ¡°Understood. We¡¯ll be waiting.¡±


    Chris sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll get back into the Rocket suit¡ªunless you want to take this one.¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ There probably ought to be two of us. I¡¯ll take the stealth suit and stay in chameleon mode. That way there will be two of us, but it might not notice.¡±


    In my head, I thought about Haley¡¯s senses and mentally added a, ¡°Maybe,¡± to the sentence.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on? I just got out of the shower when I heard the alarm.¡± Sydney stood in the doorway in jeans and a t-shirt, her long blond hair still wet.

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 1

    Chris replied before I did. ¡°The police saw some guy that looks it could be Haley¡¯s or Travis¡¯ relative¡ªlike when you got burned¡ªexcept not in alien armor.¡±


    Sydney¡¯s mouth twisted. ¡°I remember those guys. But not an invasion, right?¡±


    Shrugging, Chris said, ¡°They only saw one and no spaceships.¡±


    Deciding they ought to know, I added, ¡°I¡¯m betting it''s from the Abominator birthing chamber where I work. It¡¯s not the first creature created in the thing that¡¯s been used lately.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Sydney said. ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to. You just got done washing up.¡± She was literally still dripping with water. There were dark spots on her shirt and a few on her pants.


    With a curl to her lip that reminded me of her brother Sean, she said, ¡°I want to. There¡¯s no point to all the training we do if we don¡¯t use it.¡±


    She stopped and looked out of the lab into the main area of HQ. ¡°The only problem is that Kayla¡¯s gone home.¡±


    Glancing over at Chris, I asked, ¡°Do we need Kayla?¡±


    He looked over at Sydney and then back at me. ¡°We¡¯re trying some things Tara recommended. So now we always have someone back at base to coordinate. We generally tried to do that in the past, but now we¡¯re not making any exceptions.¡±


    Then he added, ¡°It¡¯s okay, though. Tara said that she¡¯d do it if Kayla wasn¡¯t around. I¡¯ll text her.¡±


    It made sense that Tara would look through how we did things and try to improve our system as part of her internship. There was no way to deny that having Kayla or someone like her around to coordinate things back in HQ helped. She was different from how she¡¯d been before she figured out who we were. All the same, it felt weird to have her involvement required.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Chris and I were in the air. Sydney ran and jumped below us, making better time than I would have expected.


    It felt more like summer than fall. My HUD showed the outside temperature as 73 degrees and even though it was after 11 pm, I could still see people sitting outside at a few downtown restaurants and bars.


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    It felt nice to be in the air again. I¡¯d flown in exercises during the summer at Stapledon but not much since getting back to Grand Lake. It could have been any night out with the team except that it wasn¡¯t. Tonight I wasn¡¯t with Daniel, Cassie, Vaughn, or Haley. I was with Chris, grandson of my grandfather¡¯s nemesis Man-Machine, and Sydney, younger sister of Sean, a high school classmate that I¡¯d fought both with and against.


    Sean and I had had a better relationship since I¡¯d arranged that she¡¯d be healed after she had nearly been burned to death.


    As we neared the downtown headquarters of Hardwick Industries, Tara¡¯s voice came over our communicators. ¡°Rocket and R2, please release some bots so that I can get a better look at the scene.¡±


    Not all changes were bad. We could have used bots and a coordinator in the early days of our version of the League.


    ¡°Railgun stay in the front. R2 make a circle in the air above the main building. Rocket hover on the other side. Get as low as you think you can and stay out of sight. Tell me if you see something.¡±


    R2 turned out to be Chris¡¯ codename while wearing the Rocket suit. ¡°Like R2D2?¡± I¡¯d asked.


    ¡°No one thought about that until afterward.¡± The Rocket suit¡¯s helmet had formed around his head. ¡°They just didn¡¯t want to call me ¡®Rocket.¡¯ It¡¯d be confusing when you came back. You¡¯re the Rocket.¡±


    I thought about that as I hung on the other side of the building, noting the empty helipad where Vaughn and I waited during the week. Several stories high, the main building on the downtown Hardwick Industries campus was much longer than it was tall.


    Even with the stealth suit¡¯s night vision and the feeds from the bots I didn¡¯t see much. In a sense, it didn¡¯t surprise me. Haley and even Travis seemed to have a talent for stealth that went beyond anything they could have learned.


    Tara said, ¡°It¡¯s Control again. R2 take another swing around the building and make it as slow as you can. Make sure you¡¯re leaning on the sonics for your night vision.¡±


    And that¡¯s when I knew for sure what she was doing. She was trying to force them to move. Knowing the sensitivity of Haley¡¯s hearing, she¡¯d hear the sonics when used as part of a sonar system. Whoever this guy was, he probably would too.


    In the distance, on the other side of the building, two police cars sat in the otherwise empty parking lot.


    As Chris swung around the far end of the building, he spoke into his comm. ¡°They must have snuck away before we got here or even after. I mean, you know what Night Cat and Night Wolf are like.¡±


    Calm but with a tone that made me think of steel, Tara¡¯s voice came over the comm again. ¡°Don¡¯t make assumptions. Watch.¡±


    In fairness to Chris, Travis and Haley could have gotten away before we reached the building and we wouldn¡¯t have seen them¡ªif they had nothing to do inside.


    Whoever these people were, they came out of a door in the back¡ªboth of them. The first one stopped with the door halfway open, staring out into the dark. Tall and muscular, he wore a dark uniform that from what HUD¡¯s computer enhanced vision showed barely reflected light. It did less well against sonar.


    Keeping my voice low and my comm on, I said. ¡°They¡¯re coming out the back.¡±

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 2

    As I spoke, the second came up behind the first. When the suit¡¯s visuals depended on the sonic and thermal systems, the edges became fuzzier than with normal night vision, but the second person appeared to be female.


    Unsure if it would be worth listening in, I decided to anyway. The suit was receiving sound from that direction already. It would just process it differently.


    Static resolved into a husky woman¡¯s voice. ¡°... How far do we have to go? Halfway between the buildings?¡±


    The man turned his head, maybe enough to see the woman out of the corner of his eye. ¡°That¡¯s what they said. Don¡¯t worry about it. I gave them the signal. They¡¯ll be watching.¡±


    ¡°Great. More alien tech. God only knows what this will do to us.¡± Even with the fuzzy outlines of the sonics and the mask over her upper face, I could see her lip curl.


    The man snorted. ¡°If you don¡¯t like alien tech, what are you doing working at Higher Ground?¡±


    Her voice near to a hiss, the woman said, ¡°I like science. I like studying alien tech. I don¡¯t like being experimented on.¡±


    This time, he turned to look at her. ¡°Are you kidding? This is the best thing that ever happened to me. You know what I¡¯m like normally. I¡¯m nothing. People have walked over me my whole life. Now I can rip them apart if I want to.¡±


    She stared up at him. ¡°You won¡¯t really do that.¡±


    He grinned. ¡°Who¡¯s going to stop me? The Heroes¡¯ League? I can take any of those kids. Think about it. We¡¯re stronger than most of them and smarter than any of them except maybe the Rocket.¡±


    The woman turned away from him, staring at the lawn ahead. ¡°If we don¡¯t time this right, you¡¯ll get your chance to prove it.¡±


    ¡°Let him make one more circle. We¡¯ll go when he reaches the far corner of the building.¡±


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    The two of them shut the door and backed into the indentation around it, blending in.


    Thinking about Haley¡¯s hearing, I talked as softly into the comm as possible. ¡°They¡¯re going go after R2 makes his next circle. I¡¯m getting the impression that they¡¯ll get picked up if they make it halfway to the next building. I don¡¯t know how. We need to stop them from making it.¡±


    Tara¡¯s voice came over the comm, her mind having already calculated probabilities to small for me to guess at in the time we had. The True were like that.


    ¡°R2¨Cwatch behind you when you go past, circle around and be ready with your goobots. Rocket, tell him when they move around and slow them down with goobots or sonics, whichever fits best. Railgun, jump over the building when you hear the Rocket.¡±


    Chris neared the far end the building, his rocket pack keeping him in the air with twin streams of reddish-orange fire. It felt a little strange to be seeing a Rocket that wasn¡¯t me.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be ready,¡± I said as Chris added, ¡°Got it¡± and Sydney muttered, ¡°Okay.¡±


    Chris made the turn around the building and I readied goobots. I¡¯d added guns to the stealth suit since coming home¡ªsmall ones, the equivalent of a pistol or maybe submachine gun.


    Through the suit¡¯s HUD, I heard the woman speak again. ¡°Rocket to our right.¡±


    They watched Chris fly toward them, flying almost upright, looking around as if he had no idea where the infiltrators were.


    He flew at maybe fifteen miles per hour.


    The man said, ¡°He¡¯s flying slower this time around than the first. I think we could take him.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± the woman¡¯s voice went up a step. ¡°That¡¯s not you. It¡¯s whatever change they made to us in that machine.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. I like it.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see more of them than fuzzy human shapes, but the smaller shape seemed to shrink back from the larger one.


    Chris was almost there by then. Again keeping my voice low, I spoke into the comm, ¡°R2, be prepared. You might be attacked on the way past them.¡±


    In a louder voice than I would have used, Chris said, ¡°Seriously?¡±


    ¡°Did you hear something?¡± The woman stared out into the night, loosely in my direction. ¡°I thought I heard someone say something and then the Rocket responded. I think someone else is out there.¡±


    Before I could say anything else, the man stepped out from the doorway, took a leap that put him on the lawn a little short of Chris.


    His next leap came as I said, ¡°Watch out!¡±


    It didn¡¯t do much good. Reaching out with claws extended, the man wrapped his arms around Chris and the Rocket suit and began to squeeze.


    Even if she didn¡¯t seem to be as enthusiastic, the woman didn¡¯t leave her partner alone. She jumped after him, but her first leap carried her past where Chris and the man fought.


    Her second leap sent her in my direction. Chris was going to have to fend for himself for a little while.

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 3

    If I were using the original version of the stealth suit, I would have died. Whoever this woman was, she had all of Haley¡¯s strength, more size and greater reach to work with.


    Her claws would have torn through the fabric of my armor even though it had multiple layers and hardened in response to pressure.


    This stealth suit¡¯s materials came from my own imagination combined with alien tech. Using elements of nanotechnology, it adjusted and even repaired itself while it was being damaged.


    That was good because the suit was getting a workout. When she¡¯d jumped, she¡¯d grabbed me around the waist, but reached out with her left arm, pulling her head even with mine.


    That was the moment when Spider-man or one of many fictional superheroes would have made a joke. I thought of a few later when it didn¡¯t matter, most of them revolving around the fact that she had one hand on my shoulder, her arm around my waist and she was stepping on my feet.


    The moment was ripe for a series of jokes about how bad a dancer she was, how we hadn¡¯t been properly introduced, and, if I spun around, I could have made a joke about spinning her around as I threw her off.


    In retrospect, none of them seem all that funny, so it might be best that I didn¡¯t. All the same, it also felt strangely intimate.


    Spoiling that feeling, I saw the teeth of a carnivore on a face that was hidden by a mask and knew somehow that she¡¯d be going for my throat if she could.


    I didn¡¯t think through my response. I reacted, aware that if her strength was like Haley¡¯s, she¡¯d be stronger than I was. Throwing the sonics to full volume, I whistled, amplifying the sound to a decibel level well past the 130 decibel ¡°threshold of pain.¡±


    Screaming, she pushed off from me with force that would have ripped me in pieces if I hadn¡¯t been wearing armor. Even with armor, I felt it as her motion threw me backwards.


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    I pushed down the button combination on my palm that brought the suit upright, sending me higher as a side effect.


    In the meantime, my attacker had fallen to the ground, gotten up and begun to run away. At the same time, in front of me, Chris fought the man on the ground. Why he¡¯d landed, I wasn¡¯t sure.


    As I watched, the man swung at him, claws extended, moving so fast that Chris had no chance to dodge. Even using his own version of the Rocket suit, Chris benefited from the fact that the suit was designed to keep those of us with no chance to dodge alive.


    The claws scraped across the front of the Rocket suit, hitting hard enough that they would have ripped apart a normal human¡¯s chest. The suit¡¯s chest plate didn¡¯t break and Chris, trained by Lee and his own grandfather, had stepped back with the hit, helping his balance and softening the blow.


    I saw Chris¡¯ response coming before he made it, but his opponent didn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t an especially clever technique¡ªChris jabbed at the guy with his left arm¡ªbut the strength in the Rocket suit made the blow ¡°don¡¯t blink or you¡¯ll miss it¡± quick.


    Still more agile than Chris, the man leaned back and Chris¡¯ jab passed his face without connecting.


    It didn¡¯t matter.


    The jab to the face had been a feint. The real blow came from Chris¡¯ right arm as Chris twisted, stepping forward and driving it into the man¡¯s stomach. Whether because of the man¡¯s speed or luck, Chris didn¡¯t hit the spot he must have been aiming for¡ªthe man¡¯s solar plexus.


    That would have knocked the breath out of him. As it was, the blow knocked the man backward into a flip that he turned into a second flip.


    At the same time all that took place, Sydney¡¯s jump over the building ended as she landed on the lawn. A massive, human shaped sculpture of metal, she glittered silver in the building¡¯s outside lights, sinking a good foot into thelawn.


    As she did, creatures I hadn¡¯t even noticed earlier stepped away from the building to attack first her and then, I assumed, the rest of us. Worse, I recognized them. The birthing chamber and my implant identified them as Tentacled Seekers, creatures the Abominators used for scouts and assassins.


    With the same build and style of movement as panthers, they also had chitinous exoskeletons, antenna, and tentacles.


    Sydney smashed the first one with a massive metal fist, cracking the exoskeleton, making unknown fluids and internal organs more visible than I wanted them to be.


    She shot another with a metal slug, splattering it across the lawn.


    Unable to give any of that my full attention, I aimed my arm at the woman I¡¯d fought as she ran away and fired off some goobots.


    She dodged the first two shots. The third hit, spreading across her upper chest and sticking to her uniform, but not sticking her to anything.


    She kept on running and I flew after her.

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 4

    She took twenty feet or more at a step. I¡¯d seen Haley do the same when she wanted to. At the same time, Haley ran with more confidence. The woman I was fighting now almost fell twice, catching herself the first time and diving into a roll on the second.


    It hinted that she wasn¡¯t used to her powers or that blasting her with sound might have damaged one or more of her eardrums and her sense of balance along with it.


    As fast as Haley could run, I knew the Rocket suit flew faster and this person had less control over her abilities. I let more fuel into the rocket pack and felt the suit lurch forward even as she poured on the speed.


    I¡¯d almost caught her when she began to glow and then vanished.


    I slowed down, circling around the spot, trying to see if there were some kind of teleportation portal either on the ground or floating in the air where she disappeared. Then I looked up to see if maybe there might be a ship above her that had beamed her up as in Star Trek.


    Even with the Rocket suit¡¯s sensors, I saw nothing.


    Knowing it was a long shot, I checked with my implant to see if it could detect an ansible or other implants in range.


    It detected Earth¡¯s main ansible, but nothing else close except for Marcus. The next closest object to appear was the ansible in the lab. Its connection status was labeled as a ¡°poor.¡±


    Then it asked me if I wanted a list of all public implant connections on the planet. I did, but not at that particular moment. All I¡¯d been trying to find out was if there were any alien implant users nearby. Because while it didn¡¯t seem likely that the people we were chasing were aliens, it wasn¡¯t impossible.


    A crashing noise knocked me out of my thoughts. I turned toward the noise to find Chris had hit the ground. A quick replay of what the implant had recorded in my peripheral vision showed that Chris had grabbed the guy and taken off¡ªexcept then the guy had shifted his weight, redirecting them downward and jumped off before Chris hit.


    As I watched, the man was running away in the direction the woman had gone.


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    Tara¡¯s voice came over the comms. ¡°Rocket, get him! R2, are you okay?¡±


    Heavy breathing came over Chris¡¯ connection. ¡°I¡¯m winded and my suit¡¯s repairing itself. The guy didn¡¯t get through, but it was close.¡±


    Chris hadn¡¯t even finished the first sentence before I¡¯d aimed myself at the man, firing off more goobots as I did.


    In all the time I¡¯d spent sparring with Haley, you¡¯d have thought that I¡¯d be better at fighting people with massive agility and senses capable of noticing my smallest movement, but that was the nature of her powers. Anyone with her abilities was good at reacting to what I did.


    So when I fired off the goobots, the man avoided all of them. When I aimed a wide blast of sound at him, hoping to incapacitate the guy with noise, he seemed to guess what I¡¯d been trying even as I did it and jumped sideways as sound blanketed the space in front of me.


    If the noise hurt him, he didn¡¯t show it.


    Leaning left and then right, I adjusted my flight path to go right for him. His eyes widened and he took a couple more steps only to jump to my right, sailing past me too quickly for me to catch him.


    I circled right, making the turn as tight as I could without blacking out.


    It wasn¡¯t tight enough. He¡¯d made it roughly to the spot on the lawn where his partner had disappeared and he went through a similar mini-light show. I couldn¡¯t quite decide whether it looked more like a Star Trek style ¡°beam up¡± or a bodily assumption into heaven as done by a low budget religious movie.


    Either way, he glowed. In fact, he held out his hand and gave me the finger as he disappeared.


    ¡°Can I get some help over here?¡± Sydney crushed another ¡°tentacled seeker¡± by jumping up and landing on it. It was far from alone. Dead and alive, I could see about a dozen. The dead ones outnumbered the live ones. I counted seven bodies.


    Chris was already flying over to help her in his Rocket suit, firing bots as he went, exploding one of them before he even touched down next to her.


    I¡¯d decided to fly after her except that even as I turned, the light reflected off the building allowed me to notice a smear of red on my suit¡¯s left arm.


    It had to be blood and it had spread across the suit¡¯s bicep. My time in space had left me with a suspicion that I should keep the means to collect DNA on me at all times. I had a kit for it on my belt.


    I felt a little weird about not helping Sydney, but they didn¡¯t seem to need me. Chris shot the weird tentacled things, blowing up two at a time, as Sydney crushed them with a metal hand or foot.


    That¡¯s not to say that there weren¡¯t tense moments. Two of the monsters grabbed one of her legs each and tried to drag her away.


    Though I considered stopping swabbing my suit to help, I didn¡¯t have to. She fired a metal rod out of her armor that exploded the seeker¡¯s body.


    Chris smashed the other one and then there weren¡¯t any left alive.


    I finished collecting the blood. Even if it didn¡¯t get me anything useful after being tested for DNA, I could call Amy.


    Blood magic might tell me more in the end.

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 5

    I couldn¡¯t call Amy at nearly midnight. Well, maybe I could, but she¡¯d left with Vaughn. Even if they weren¡¯t officially dating anymore, what they were doing looked exactly like dating¡ªwhich meant that any texts I made might interrupt nakedness.


    I didn¡¯t want to be that guy.


    Tara¡¯s voice, high pitched but steady sounded in my helmet. ¡°They teleported away with Abominator technology.¡±


    Chris and Sydney stood in front of the office building, each of them looking in opposite directions next to the bodies of the tentacled beasts they¡¯d killed.


    Chris asked, ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± I said, ¡°but there are plenty of people out there who can teleport.¡±


    With a note of finality, Tara replied, ¡°It¡¯s Abominator tech. There are messages from¡­ Sensor Array 5? Is that Abominator technology the original Rocket found?¡±


    ¡°More or less,¡± I thought back to the hours I¡¯d spent reconnecting it to the current network and getting my grandfather¡¯s programs to work on modern computers. It would have been much harder if he hadn¡¯t ported all his programs to C in the mid-70s.


    The implant flooded my mind with information I hadn¡¯t had back when I did the work. I ignored it. I didn¡¯t have time for that.


    Tara didn¡¯t either because her next comment was, ¡°If there¡¯s nothing left, you should get out of there before the press appears. Tomorrow we¡¯ll review the footage and see what we can turn over to the police.¡±


    That was new. ¡°Were we filming? I know I was, but I didn¡¯t know that Railgun or R2 were.¡±


    Chris, walking toward me in the Rocket suit, nodded, the golden armor glinting in the spotlights aimed at the building. ¡°We were told it was best practice.¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± Tara said. ¡°Defenders units across the country do it. It helps avoid lawsuits and the police like you better when you¡¯re handing them evidence on anyone you catch.¡±


    She had a point.


    A giant being of gray metal as Railgun, Sydney looked up toward Hardwick Industries headquarters. ¡°You know what? I think I¡¯ll run around the building on the way home.¡±


    ¡°Just leave,¡± Tara said. ¡°I¡¯m seeing a van that says NBC News 10 pulling into the parking lot near the police. They both look like they¡¯re coming this way.¡±


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    Talking to the press could get embarrassing. Talking to the police could cause other problems.


    We went back to League HQ the same way we came. Sydney jumped or ran, taking giant steps. Chris and I flew back, staying in sight of her just in case.


    When we got back, Chris and I took showers first because Sydney wasn¡¯t sure if she wanted to take a second shower tonight within an hour of the last one.


    As we dressed in the locker room afterward, Chris looked over at me, ¡°Sometimes I feel like an embarrassment to the Rocket suit. Tonight, that guy flipped me over before I knew it. I¡¯m not even sure how he did it. He just moved so fast and I was falling over. He wasn¡¯t even very good. He moved so quickly I couldn¡¯t dodge him or hit him. It¡¯s embarrassing.¡±


    I pulled on my t-shirt and shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve been punched into the ground in a clip that made national news and every time we fought the Cabal, it felt like I screwed up somehow. I don¡¯t feel up to it most of the time either.¡±


    Chris sighed and pulled a backpack out of his locker. ¡°I get that. Your grandfather¡¯s a lot to live up to, but so are you. You¡¯ve saved the world at least a couple times in the last three years. I think that even if you aren¡¯t quite what he was, you¡¯ve got a great start. I want to see what you do when you¡¯re back in this suit and I¡¯m back in the lab.¡±


    Not wanting to follow up on that line of conversation, I said, ¡°You should make yourself your own suit. All I¡¯ve got on you is time. You shouldn¡¯t have to feel like you have to live up to anyone but yourself.¡±


    Chris smiled. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t either, but it¡¯s okay. I¡¯m doing it for the same reason you do¡ªthe world needs the Rocket even if it¡¯s my version of him. Anyway, keep on thinking about that business we¡¯re going to start, okay?¡±


    Then he left and I followed him out. Sydney was looking at her phone at the table near the kitchen. The door to the showers andlocker room was on the same wall as the kitchens and elevator.


    She looked up at me as I watched Chris get into the elevator and disappear. ¡°He¡¯s right.¡±


    I stopped and turned to look at her. She smiled and continued. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much the world needs the Rocket, but patrolling is better when the suit¡¯s out there.People stop and listen to whoever¡¯s wearing it. I think it¡¯s the way it¡¯s old timey tough without being¡­ I don¡¯t know¡ªtoo tough?¡±


    She put her phone on table. ¡°You know my brother--"


    That was an understatement. During my first couple of years in costume, if anyone could be considered my nemesis, it would have been Sean.


    She continued, "When I first met you, I was ready to dislike you, but you¡¯re nice and you make Haley happy. So I don¡¯t. And I¡¯ve seen you enough in the suit that I think you¡¯re good in it.¡±


    Not sure what response to make or why she¡¯d think it was important to tell me so, I said, ¡°Thanks. I¡¯m trying¡ªat least I will be one of these days when I put it on again.¡±


    She picked up her phone and got up, giving me a nod and then frowning. ¡°I think I¡¯m going to take another shower. I end up stinking whenever I do anything with all that metal around me.¡±


    She left for the locker room and I pulled out my phone. If I texted Amy about the blood now, she didn¡¯t have to respond until tomorrow. I supposed that if she did respond while doing something with Vaughn, she couldn¡¯t be having too good a time anyway.


    I wrote, ¡°Have blood from supervillain. Can you use it?¡±


    The reply came back seconds later. ¡°On my way.¡±


    I hoped I hadn''t interrupted anything, but it was good news that she was coming now. From the way they talked, the people we fought almost had to be employees of Higher Ground.

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 6

    Amy didn¡¯t appear in the next instant, but it didn¡¯t take too long¡ªmaybe five minutes.


    When she did appear, she walked through the door with frown on her face that edged close to a snarl and a quick but stiff walk.


    Taking in her expression as she walked through the door and took a seat on the stool next to mine, I said, ¡°I hope you didn¡¯t feel like you had to come. This could have waited until tomorrow.¡±


    She took a breath, waited, saying nothing and let it out. ¡°I¡¯m not angry about coming down here at all. I needed to leave¡ªdesperately.¡±


    I studied her face. She sighed again. ¡°You know, I¡¯ll just explain it. I¡¯m leaving¡ªnot today or tomorrow and maybe not even this year, but I¡¯m going to go home. I¡¯m not staying here forever and when I do go home, I can¡¯t take Vaughn with me.


    ¡°I explained it all to him. I¡¯m royalty and even though I¡¯m a twin Bloodmaiden and no one wants me to come back, I have to. My dad told me that if he didn¡¯t send me a message within the next ten years to come back ready for a fight. It¡¯s only been three years and while I know I shouldn¡¯t expect anything, I have to be prepared and I can¡¯t have any ties that will keep me here.¡±


    She looked down at the counter.


    It seemed like she¡¯d told me a little about this before. I couldn¡¯t remember the occasion, but it seemed like she had. ¡°I think you¡¯ve got ties and that¡¯s not a bad thing. If you need us to come back with you, we¡¯d want to help. I¡¯m sure no one would be expecting it.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°There¡¯s no doubt you¡¯re right about that, but it would be confusing as all hell. There¡¯s already a version of you back home. Your grandfather¡¯s still alive and so is Vaughn¡¯s. And you went out with Haley there too¡ªexcept back home she¡¯s part of a pack of werewolves. Vaughn and Cassie are more than friends there and sometimes I think that¡¯s inevitable here too.¡±


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    She frowned.


    We¡¯d talked about this a few different times since the first time she¡¯d mentioned it. ¡°And there¡¯s a version of me.¡±


    She nodded, red hair falling across her shoulders. ¡°Yes. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s forgotten about me by now.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have¡ªnot the way you described it. The building was under attack as he and his grandfather worked to get their starplate going to send you here? You¡¯d have to live an exciting life for that to just blend in with the rest of it.¡±


    She looked up at me. ¡°Don¡¯t get my hopes up. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll find someone else in ten years. Even if he didn¡¯t and we somehow got together, it would be messy. I¡¯m a princess and he¡¯s from the colonies. The best case scenario is that I stay in the Colonies¡ªwhich would be politically better in some ways and worse in others¡­ But that assumes my family¡¯s alive and still running the kingdom back home. I can¡¯t assume that. I want to check in before it¡¯s too late for them.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got a transdimensional gate here too. We can send people through and bring them back pretty easily.¡± I watched for her response.


    She shook her head. ¡°The more I try to keep you all out of this mess¡­ Okay, don¡¯t be surprised if I take you up on it. Now let¡¯s talk about your problem.¡±


    From the tiredness of her voice, I doubted that she felt better, but the political situation that had sent her here wouldn¡¯t be solved by the two of us talking about it. On the other hand, if she could use blood magic on the blood I¡¯d found, that might lead me to the answers I needed.


    I pulled the glass tube with the blood I¡¯d collected and passed it to her. She held it up in the air, examining the bloody swab inside.


    Then she took a breath and mumbled a few words. The blood in the vial glowed. ¡°I can work with this. When I¡¯m done with it, the blood will be useless for scientific analysis, but I can make it glow when you¡¯re close to the woman it came from.¡±


    I felt myself frown. ¡°Is there any chance of finding out more about them now? I¡¯m a little worried that being right next to them and having something on me glow might be a little suspicious¡ªespecially if I¡¯m wearing civilian clothes or the stealth suit.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Nope. That¡¯s all I can do. The blood is a few hours old now. For finding people from a distance, you need newer blood that has more of a connection to its creator¡ªminutes old, not hours old, and ideally more of it. Plus, it¡¯s better if it¡¯s not dry. You¡¯re lucky that anything will work.¡±

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 7

    Nodding, I said, ¡°Then what do you need?¡±


    ¡°Not much more than this,¡± she held up the vial between us. ¡°I¡¯ve got the rest on me.¡±


    Then she pulled out a knife from her backpack along with several clear, plastic bags filled with different colored powders. ¡°Sometime I should ask you if you have spare space down here. I¡¯ve got more equipment that I can¡¯t keep out in my dorm room. I keep what I can in my backpack.¡±


    Eyeing the bags, I thought about HQ. ¡°We can make space. We¡¯ve got some rooms we¡¯re mostly using for storage. Back during the original League¡¯s time, everyone had their own separate space. Right now, I¡¯m the only one who cares.¡±


    She let out a breath. ¡°Good. I¡¯ve been keeping bags of blood in one of those little fridges in my dorm room. You know someone¡¯s going to ask for a Coke and I¡¯m going to forget about what else is in there.¡±


    ¡°And ask if you¡¯re a vampire.¡± I grinned at her.


    ¡°And tell the entire floor and the RA that I¡¯m a weirdo who keeps bags of blood in her fridge. No, thanks.¡± She poured some pink powder into her left hand. Then she picked up her knife from the table.


    ¡°You can look away if you don¡¯t want to see me cut myself.¡±


    I shrugged.


    She cut into the skin of her palm next to the powder and angled her hand so that the blood ran sideways. When it met the powder, she picked up a small spoon and mixed the blood and powder until they turned into a paste.


    As she did, the combination took on a dim, red glow. Putting down the spoon, she opened the vial with one hand and pulled out the bloody swab inside.


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    It looked difficult, I said, ¡°I could have done that¡ª¡±


    She only said, ¡°Shhh,¡± and held the swab above the paste. Then she said a few words in a language I didn¡¯t understand. My implant didn¡¯t either, sending up an error message about it.


    To me, the language sounded a little like German, but maybe a version of German that came from another world.


    The blood on the swab changed from a stain to a wet drop of blood, one that fell from the swab, leaving no trace. In the moment that it hit the paste, the paste reformed into a dark, red gem. At the same time, the cut on Amy¡¯s hand healed, changing from a bloody slice to a thin, pink line.


    ¡°What would you like it to be?¡± She asked. ¡°A necklace? A ring?¡±


    I thought about it. I didn¡¯t wear jewelry. ¡°A twenty-sided die? I can show you an example. I¡¯ve got a few in my backpack.¡±


    I got off the stool I¡¯d been sitting on and dug around in my backpack until I found my bag of dice, eventually finding a twenty-sider. Because of the number of sides, it was nearly, but not quite round. Made of translucent, blue plastic, it matched the other dice in the set.


    As I put it on the counter in front of her, she asked, ¡°What do you use it for?¡±


    ¡°Games. Specifically, role-playing games. I don¡¯t have a lot of time for them right now, but they¡¯re games where you play a character¡ªusually a hero in a fantasy world. The dice help determine if you¡¯re successful in what you try to do.¡±


    She looked up from the die and met my eyes. ¡°A fantasy world? If I understand that right, you¡¯re meaning a place where magic works, nobles rule the nations, and a place where nonhuman races also live. Basically, places like my home.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Does your home have dragons?¡± I smiled at her.


    She didn¡¯t smile back. ¡°Here and there. Not anywhere civilized.¡±


    Shaking her head, she said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t really matter. I can make it look like a twenty-sided die. It will glow when you get close to the woman whose blood it came from. You¡¯ll want to have it somewhere you can see it.¡±


    She covered the gem with her right hand and when she uncovered it, it looked like a twenty-sided die. The red glow faded as I watched.


    ¡°How close do I have to get before it glows?¡±


    She frowned. ¡°Maybe ten feet. I didn¡¯t want to put a lot of energy into something that you¡¯ll only use once. And it won¡¯t continue to work forever. You¡¯ve got about two weeks. After that the magic will fade away. You don¡¯t need something that will last longer than that, right?¡±


    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t.¡±

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 8

    She passed me the die and I looked down at it where it sat on my palm. It felt warm, warmer than my hand and the room anyway.


    Then an idea struck me. ¡°Could you make it glow when I touch it? It doesn¡¯t have to be much¡ªideally about as much as it would when the uh¡­ donor comes near.¡±


    Amy scowled. ¡°Now? If you¡¯d asked me before, it would have been easy, but now I¡¯d either have to undo it and remake it¡ªand believe me, you can¡¯t guess how hard that would be¡ªor¡­¡±


    Her voice trailed off and she stared at me. ¡°Of course that only applies to normal people. For you, it will be easy. Hold out your hand¡ªnot the one with the die.¡±


    I held it out.


    ¡°Now,¡± she said, ¡°Close your eyes.¡±


    I did.


    ¡°Excellent. Now, this might hurt a little¡­¡±


    Even as she said, ¡°a little,¡± I felt a stab of pain in my hand, followed by her hand grabbing mine, covering my palm, and turning both of our hands sideways. Warm blood dripped between them.


    Opening my eyes, I found that she¡¯d moved our hands over the die and saw blood dripping on the die and only the die. None of it reached my hand.


    Then she let go and I looked down at my hand, finding no sign of blood on it. The only remnant of what happened was a pink line on my palm that matched a second pink line that she¡¯d added to hers.


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure this violates everything Stapledon ever taught us about wound care.¡±


    Amy rolled her eyes.


    I kept on going. ¡°But thanks. I¡¯m pretty sure you said that you couldn¡¯t heal people, though. All I remember you being able to do is heal yourself by taking other people¡¯s life force. Samita was the one who had those bandages that kept things from getting worse, but didn¡¯t make them better.¡±


    Amy nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right, but you¡¯re an exception now. There¡¯s some of my soul, life force, or whatever that used to be yours. All I did just now was close a small hole. If any healing took place, it was because some of your life¡¯s energy got back to where it was supposed to be.¡±


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    She looked into my eyes, scowling. ¡°Don¡¯t ever do that again.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t. We already talked about this.¡±


    Shaking her head. ¡°I know, but I¡¯m not sure that I believe you.¡±


    I thought back to the day she¡¯d been hurt and was dying after we¡¯d fought and killed The Thing That Eats, one of her alter ego¡¯s traditional foes. I¡¯d stabbed myself with her spear, thinking that it might transfer enough of my life over to her that she¡¯d live and I¡¯d be able to stop it before it drained me of everything.


    It turned out that the spear was a greedy little magical artifact and only intervention by Lee, my fighting teacher, had stopped it in time.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Amy continued, ¡°the die will glow if you touch it now.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t wrong. Even as she¡¯d started speaking the die had begun to glow, starting with a small glow in the middle and then spreading to every facet of the twenty-sider.


    I put it on the counter and the glow faded.


    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s exactly what I was hoping it would do. I probably should have asked you to make it so that I could control the glow from a distance, but this will work.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Amy said, ¡°because the way I did it doesn¡¯t have much to do with your wishes. It¡¯s a spell that one Bloodmaiden created to identify Lee¡¯s people if they happened to visit our kingdom.¡±


    That made a kind of sense. Another of Lee¡¯s people had told me I looked like one of their young¡ªnot physically, but to some sense that I don¡¯t have. I could see why they might want to be warned when someone of his level of power visited. Bearing in mind that he was billions of years old and had bodies in an infinity of different universes, it was also reasonable to wonder what they thought they could do if he or his people chose to visit.


    Touching the die with my finger, I watched as it began to glow again. ¡°Why did that Bloodmaiden want to know?¡±


    Amy sat back on her stool and held up her hands. ¡°I don¡¯t know. The previous Bloodmaidens are all there, but they don¡¯t tell me everything. They know we¡¯re friends. They know you¡¯re connected with Lee and if they don¡¯t want something to get back to him, they won¡¯t tell me.¡±


    I thought back to the fight with The Thing That Eats. Thanks to an accidental connection between Lee, myself, and Amy¡¯s magic, I¡¯d been able to use some of Lee¡¯s power to help Amy kill it. That in turn had led to me going to space with Lee, which he¡¯d used to accomplish several different things he couldn¡¯t have done alone as easily.


    I placed my arm on the counter and leaned into it. ¡°Do you ever feel like we¡¯re pawns in a game of cosmic chess?¡±


    Amy sighed. ¡°Often, but I¡¯m descended from generations of heroes, sorcerers, kings, and queens and it¡¯s not unusual for us to think we¡¯re more important than we are.¡±


    I looked down at the red die. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that I¡¯m a pawn in a larger game that Lee¡¯s playing and I think I know the end goal. What I¡¯m wondering is if what we¡¯re doing right now somehow fits into it.¡±


    Amy closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them, she said, ¡°The previous Bloodmaidens won¡¯t say a thing. Personally, I¡¯m assuming that means yes, but we won¡¯t figure it out tonight.¡±

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 9

    She frowned. ¡°And you know, preventing Lee from finding something out isn¡¯t the only reason the previous Bloodmaidens might not tell me something. It¡¯s just as possible that they made an arrangement with him to push me in some direction. All they have to do is give or withhold the right information at the right time.¡±


    Shaking her head, she pushed herself off the stool. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s all I¡¯ve got. Unless you need anything else, I should go to bed.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°That¡¯s all for me. I should sleep too. I know I¡¯ve got stuff to hand in tomorrow. If I go to bed soon, I¡¯ll be able to do it tomorrow morning.¡±


    And with that, we both left, me to my room and her to her car.


    I found myself lying awake in bed in the dark, wondering what would happen the next morning. The twenty-sider sat on the dresser next to the bed¡ªunlit. This was good. The two situations in which it would glow were if the woman I¡¯d fought had tracked me home or if Lee or one of his relatives had decided to visit and picked it up.


    My thoughts ranged from the room I stayed in¡ªit had been my grandparents¡¯ bedroom¡ªto Amy and Vaughn and the possibility that Amy would leave. The homework that I was leaving till tomorrow made an appearance as well as the bots I¡¯d planted in Higher Ground¡¯s offices. They had to have captured something by now. If that weren¡¯t enough by itself, I drifted into replaying the fight outside Hardwick Industries in my mind, feeling my heart race at the memory.


    I took a few breaths and forced the thought out of my mind, paying attention to the movement of the air through my body¡ªfirst into the nose, then down to my lungs, and back out through the mouth.


    After a few minutes of that, I did drift off, waking once to find that Tiger, Jaclyn¡¯s dog, had curled up next to me on the bed. I drifted back to sleep again, this time dreaming of the planet Hideaway and the herds of animals I¡¯d seen there.


    The next time I woke up it was around seven in the morning. Tiger had gone somewhere else, possibly back down the elevator. The dog was smarter than he ought to be.


    I got up, pulled on clothes, grabbed my laptop, and walked into the kitchen to work on a two page reflection on Citizen Kane for my film studies class. Doubting that the prof wanted to read another paper about the sled, I wrote about the effect of Kane¡¯s wealth on the life of Susan, his second wife, who he pushed to take up opera despite her lack of talent for it, and how Kane himself had been sent away from his parents for education after the discovery of a gold mine on family land.


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    Adding more examples of how wealth affected the different people in the movie (but especially Kane) easily filled two pages. I wasn¡¯t sure I bought my own thesis, but I did my best to find support for it in the film.


    While I was finishing up, Vaughn stepped into the kitchen, pulled some cereal from the shelf and poured it into a bowl, followed by some milk. He sat down next to me and started eating.


    I saved the last changes to the document, uploaded it to the class page, and closed the laptop. I began to push my chair back when Vaughn said, ¡°I hear that you got into a fight near the family business last night.¡±


    Remembering back, I¡¯d seen Vaughn and Amy leave before we even got the call. ¡°How did you know?¡±


    He put down his spoon. ¡°Nothing special. Tara, Amy and I were upstairs when she said she¡¯d act as Control for you. Amy and I went downstairs and listened after you left.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± I¡¯d had no idea. ¡°It wasn¡¯t too bad. Chris and Sydney did most of the work. I got lucky enough to have one of the two burglars bleed on me. I texted Amy for help and now we¡¯ll have a chance at finding her if she works at Higher Ground.¡±


    Vaughn blinked. ¡°Oh. That explains that. Amy and I went upstairs and we were having an argument. Then she just said, ¡®Gotta go,¡¯ and left.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I¡¯d suspected as much, but I wasn¡¯t going to tell him that.


    He shook his head. ¡°No. It¡¯s okay. It was time to stop talking anyway, but neither of us could do it. She¡¯s going to go home someday.  She¡¯s decided she doesn¡¯t want any attachments to this place stopping her from saving her family. I think she¡¯s going go home early even though she doesn¡¯t have to. What sucks is she doesn''t want to bring us along even though she could use us. Taking on whatever¡¯s happening over there won¡¯t be easy.¡±


    Stopping, he stared down at his cereal bowl. Then he took another spoonful, speaking as he chewed. ¡°What¡¯d she do for you?¡±


    ¡°She made a twenty-sided die that glows when the woman I fought gets near.¡± I stood up, picking up the laptop. ¡°I¡¯ll show you on the way to work. If you get impatient and you want to see it now, it¡¯s in my room. I''ve been writing since I got up, so I¡¯m going to take a shower.¡±


    Vaughn poured more cereal into the bowl. ¡°I can wait. Do you want me to drive?¡± Not waiting for an answer, he added, ¡°Same time?¡±


    ¡°Same time,¡± I stepped toward the doorway to find Tara there, already dressed in black and pink running clothes. From the sweat on her forehead, she¡¯d already been out. She reached up, mussing my hair like I was five and stepping past me into the kitchen.


    There she looked down at Vaughn¡¯s cereal. Putting her hand on his shoulder, she asked, ¡°Is that Cheerios?¡±


    Vaughn peered up at her. He was as aware as I was that this could get weird.


    ¡°In Infinity City,¡± she said, ¡°we had a version of Cheerios that had drugs in them that made you happy¡ªexcept when it made you depressed or put you into a murderous rage. My parents didn¡¯t let me have any after the first time.¡±

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 10

    Before I thought about it, I asked, ¡°Why would your parents let you try drugged Cheerios even once? I¡¯m assuming they didn¡¯t label them.¡±


    Tara laughed. ¡°No. I mean, you know Infinity City. It¡¯s in the middle of North Dakota in this world and it¡¯s not in the center of civilization in most places it exists. So the nations around it find it easy to control what gets in an out and we don¡¯t have farmland, so we¡¯re dependent on anything that gets imported. If food comes from an alternate universe where the government keeps its citizens in a drugged out haze, we¡¯ll take it. If a government¡¯s trying to control the version of Infinity City that exists there, we¡¯ll still take the food and it¡¯ll probably get shipped into place that have nothing to do with where the food came from.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s Infinity City?¡± Jeremy, my Freshman and Sophomore year roommate stood on the other side of the kitchen. The only person in the house who wasn¡¯t a superhero and hadn¡¯t attended the Stapledon program, he had a telepathic block in his head to prevent him from spilling anything.


    Short and heavyset, he wore a t-shirt that said, ¡°Science: It¡¯s like magic but real.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure when he¡¯d joined the conversation, but his room was on the other side of the kitchen. He could have been listening the entire time.


    Vaughn and I looked at each other, but before either of us could figure out how to address this Tara said, ¡°It¡¯s a city that might not exist in all alternate universes, but it does exist in an infinite number of them. Your government keeps it secret. Most do. I was born there.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°That explains a lot. There¡¯s this place in North Dakota that the military won¡¯t allow anyone near and satellite imagery blots it out in the weirdest ways. You have no idea how much cred it would get me online to explain this one. Everyone thinks it¡¯s some kind of Cold War intelligence facility.¡±


    Nodding Tara said, ¡°Sometimes there¡¯s an exit in Russia. I mean, not always, but sometimes. So they used to sneak spies in that way during the Cold War and the Russians would sneak them in over here. The whole place used to be full of spies. There are still some from universes where the Cold War hasn¡¯t ended yet.¡±


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    Jeremy looked over at me. ¡°You guys have known this for years, right?¡±


    I hesitated, but then said, ¡°My grandfather mentioned it a few times.¡±


    Vaughn said, ¡°Only since Nick¡¯s sister went on a field trip there and nearly got sold into slavery. So, two years.¡±


    Jeremy blinked. ¡°You know what? This sounds more and more like the kind of thing I shouldn¡¯t know about. I¡¯m going to go back to my room, get ready for class, and pretend I never heard anything.¡±


    He took a step backward out through the far doorway and then turned around and stepped into his room, proving that he might be getting wiser. He¡¯d been a believer in superhero related conspiracy theories before he learned about my identity as the Rocket.


    Pausing as he picked up his spoon to turn toward me, Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯ll text you when I¡¯m ready to leave.¡±


    Four hours and a couple of classes later, I found myself at my internship. Hardwick Industries wasn¡¯t taking whatever had happened the night before lying down. I¡¯d had to pass a security guard at the door. Ronnie, the guard who¡¯d ridden along on the helicopter on my first day had been on it again.


    He¡¯d been less talkative than the first time, keeping his attention on anyone who appeared to be approaching the helicopter while we were on the ground and out the windows while we were flying.


    I was tempted to ask him what he thought he¡¯d do if we were attacked by flying supervillains or fighter jets, but I decided not to. Between the thin line of his mouth and his endlessly searching eyes, I thought he might overreact.


    A more cautious person might have thought better of adding a magical glowing die to the mix, but I decided to anyway. As I sat down at one of the cubicles to start writing code for the psi helmet to birthing chamber connection, I made a point of placing the die next to my laptop and stopping to touch it every now and again.


    Stephanie walked up as I stared at the screen, trying to figure out the best ways to put my understanding of telepathic connections into code. She picked up the die and held it up to the light.


    It did not glow at all. I don¡¯t know what I would have done if it had.


    ¡°Planning to start a company D&D game?¡± She rolled the die. It came up as an eleven. She smiled and left it on my desk. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be the first.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not planning on it, but are there games going?¡±


    ¡°A few. I¡¯m not in any of them, but they exist. With everyone living on the property, you can bet they¡¯ll play some games. But I¡¯m not here to talk to you about that. I¡¯m here because Hardwick Industries had a break-in last night. You might have seen it in the news. So if you¡¯ve got anything that you think might make security nervous, you should take care of it now.¡±

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 11

    ¡°Are you imagining that I brought weed along in my backpack? Or maybe guns? Bombs?¡±


    I grinned at Stephanie, knowing that she didn¡¯t expect any of those things. This was likely her way of hinting that any bugs I set in the offices or anything I might be carrying to control them might need to be hidden better or removed.


    Stephanie rolled her eyes. ¡°No. I was thinking you maybe had a jackknife.¡±


    A couple cubicles away, Victor laughed. If there were an art to saying secret things in public, we seemed to have mastered it¡ªor maybe that was just her.


    ¡°Do you think they¡¯d actually be bothered by a jackknife?¡± I did have one in my pocket. It was a real Swiss Army knife¡ªnot a fake Swiss Army knife that was actually a laser, radio, or bomb detonator.


    All the same, it did have three different knives, two different screwdriver heads (one was a Phillips), an awl, tweezers, and a toothpick. It¡¯s hard to underestimate how useful screwdrivers can be whether or not they¡¯re sonic.


    ¡°Technically,¡± Stephanie began, ¡°the contract you signed specified that you can¡¯t bring knives of any kind into the lab.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯ve seen people using knives in the lab.¡± I looked from her over to Victor. There were other people around, but no one else seemed to be paying attention.


    Victor stood up in his cubicle. ¡°Those were knives from official lab toolkits.¡±


    I stared at him.


    He held up his hands. ¡°I know! I know! It sounds like legalistic bullshit, but it¡¯s legalistic bullshit that¡¯s written into your contract.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I turned and shut my laptop. ¡°I¡¯ll run over and put my jackknife in my office cubicle.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Stephanie said, glancing over at the door. ¡°While you¡¯re at it, you should check if you¡¯ve got anything else that shouldn¡¯t be here. There¡¯s a list in your email that the marketing department sent out this morning.¡±


    Resisting a temptation to ask why the Marketing department would be responsible for that as opposed to, for example, security, I said, ¡°I¡¯ll check that first.¡±


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    Then I reopened my laptop, logged in again, and looked through my email. In fairness to Stephanie, I¡¯d completely missed that email, but there it was, listing all kinds of things that weren¡¯t allowed in the lab¡ªincluding food and drink. I wasn¡¯t sure whether they were afraid we might ingest bits of alien artifact or spill orange juice on the ansible.


    At the same time, given that we were investigating Abominator artifacts, it was well within the realm of possibility that they were releasing a virus that would alter our minds, strengthening our worst qualities and increasing our willingness to serve whatever authority figures appeared.


    When I finished reading the email, I closed my computer for the second time. The Swiss Army knife was the only thing I had that was on the forbidden list, but I took my backpack anyway, putting the die inside. It wasn¡¯t that I expected anyone to steal either my backpack or the die while I was gone, but the backpack contained a lot of material that converted into the stealth suit.


    If I had to transform, I wanted it nearby.


    As for the die, I didn¡¯t expect anyone to steal it, but if someone did, replacing it would be a pain if it were possible.


    It didn¡¯t take long for me to leave the cubicles for birthing chamber related work, cross the lab, walk across the sidewalk between the buildings and go inside.


    Once there, I put my knife in one of the drawers in my cube. Then I opened up my laptop, realizing that with the majority of the office in the lab, I¡¯d be able to write code with fewer interruptions. I didn¡¯t even need a psi helmet to test it on¡ªnot that I was up to that yet. All I needed was the emulator I already had running on my laptop.


    With that thought, I placed the twenty-sider on my desk and started working. Even if I couldn¡¯t put it into words at that moment, I knew that it felt better to be writing in a quiet room with carpet, warm colors, and wood (even if it was fake) than in a room with the constant whirr of fans, more desks, more chatter, and gray, concrete floors and metal supports.


    Time disappeared and only two things mattered in the world¡ªthe way I imagined the helmet ought to act and the way that it actually responded when I ran my tests through the emulator.


    Distracted by the process of making one small change after another, I became aware that there were voices in the office without feeling a need to do anything about it. Then the die on my desk began to glow.


    I kept working for a little while then, but something in me felt that working was bad for some reason. So, I stopped and considered why working when the die glowed might be bad.


    That thought snapped me fully back to reality.


    There were people talking to each other in Higher Ground¡¯s office and they were talking in the row on the other side of my desk.


    A woman¡¯s voice said, ¡°We have to think about how we¡¯ll frame the break in lastnight so that the staff doesn¡¯t find it frightening¡ª¡±


    A man¡¯s voice said, ¡°There¡¯s someone here. We should find a conference room.¡±


    Not having a better idea, I stood up to get a better look at them.

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 12

    I recognized them. I didn¡¯t know their names, but I¡¯d seen them at the party the company threw at the old hotel by Lake Michigan.


    Neither of them went by the company¡¯s informal dress standard¡ªjeans and a t-shirt, but their success in looking a cut above the rest of us worked better on the woman than the man.


    Only a few inches shorter than I was, the woman had light skin, blond hair and wore a green suit jacket with a black turtleneck and pants. It struck me as a goth turned business professional look. I guessed she might be in her early thirties.


    I pegged the man as being in his early forties. A couple inches shorter than the woman, he had curly black hair, tan skin, and either hadn¡¯t shaved or grew facial hair at an alarming rate.


    A look over his clothes made me think he was either trying too hard to look important or not hard enough. He wore blue jeans with a gray suit coat and a black t-shirt showing a yellow smiley face with a spot of blood on it.


    I liked the t-shirt, but I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d wear it in a work setting.


    Seeing me stand up, the woman smiled without missing a beat and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry we interrupted you. Aren¡¯t you the new intern? You¡¯re Nick, right?¡±


    If you¡¯d asked me half a second before what her name was, I wouldn¡¯t have known it, but my implant recognized both of them. Zola Rood worked in the marketing department doing graphic design. The man was Art Marin who¡¯d moved out of lab work one month ago and now designed reports for the business office.


    I wasn¡¯t sure when the implant started paying attention to those details, but it was. I knew without asking that it hadn¡¯t come out of the Xiniti¡¯s data on Earth. In the next instant, I knew that the information came from emails I¡¯d skimmed but hadn¡¯t read.


    Not letting myself get bogged down in implant data overload, I told her, ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯m Nick and you¡¯re Zola and,¡± I nodded toward him, ¡°you¡¯re Art. Stephanie introduced me to you both when you walked through the lab on my first day.¡±


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    Zola smiled. ¡°That¡¯s impressive. I didn¡¯t expect you¡¯d remember us at all. When I was working in the labs, I didn¡¯t remember any of the suits that came through.¡±


    Not sure what the situation demanded, I decided I¡¯d keep the conversation going. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you¡¯d worked in the labs.¡±


    That got a laugh out of her. ¡°Oh yes. I was trained in medical illustration butI¡¯ve worked in graphic design as well since getting out of school. They hired me into the lab because they had an artifact that had biological effects and wanted to animate the findings. Except they¡¯d roped me into other projects by then and I stayed in the labs for a while. I only got out a few months ago. Now I¡¯m doing graphic design and some animation again.¡±


    I paused, unsure of where I wanted to go with this. With the die glowing red on my desk, she had to be the woman who broke into Hardwick Industries last night and the guy might be the guy who had been with her.


    What was I supposed to be doing at this point? Make a connection so I¡¯d have an excuse to talk to them later? Get them to give me some clue as to why they¡¯d done it?


    I didn¡¯t even know what questions to ask and I couldn¡¯t afford to get too worked up about that. My girlfriend, Haley, had the same powers they did and could read people¡¯s anxiety from their smell alone. Maybe they didn¡¯t understand how to use their powers as well as she did, but maybe they did. Either way, they could tear me apart if they wanted to.


    I answered her, ¡°That¡¯s a pretty crazy career path.¡± Then I caught Art¡¯s eye and said, ¡°I like your shirt.¡±


    If nothing else that was honest.


    He looked down. ¡°Watchmen blew me away the first time I read it. I don¡¯t know why I wore this shirt today, though¡ªprobably because it was at the top of the pile.¡±


    Zola shook her head. ¡°We should get to our meeting. Nice to meet you, Nick.¡±


    Then she stared at me. ¡°What¡¯s glowing red on your desk?¡±


    I reached down and picked up the die and showed it to them. It glowed brighter in my hand. ¡°It¡¯s a novelty twenty-sided die. It glows for some people and not others. I¡¯m still trying to figure out why.¡±


    Art stepped into the cubicle on the other side of mine and held out his hand. ¡°That¡¯s cool. Can I take a look?¡±


    Zola stepped in along with him. After an instant of not being sure if I should, I let it fall into his hand.


    It went from being bright red to barely glowing at all.


    Art snorted. ¡°Well, I guess I shouldn¡¯t buy one. Here.¡±


    He passed it over to Zola and the die brightened, but not as much as when I¡¯d been holding it.


    Zola rolled it across her palm a few times and then passed it back to me. Though already bright, it glowed brighter in my hand.


    ¡°Nice,¡± Zola stepped out of the cubicle. ¡°Come on, Art.¡±


    With a wave in my direction, they left and I watched them go, hoping I¡¯d bugged the room they chose to talk in.

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 13

    I sat down, not wanting them to think I was watching them. Thanks to the bots I¡¯d hidden around the offices and the lab, I didn¡¯t have to watch them with my eyes. Allowing communication between my bots and my implant let me sit at my desk and watch the two of them move with my brain.


    No doubt that opened up issues related to both privacy and humanity¡¯s cyborg future, but I wasn¡¯t worried about them. For me, being able to watch the two of them as they walked over to one of the small conference rooms meant that life was good.


    I¡¯d bugged that small conference room.


    With glass walls on three of its four sides, the conference gave the impression of being modern or even futuristic, allowed the room to feel more spacious, and meant that the sort of senior executive that made passes at lower-ranked female co-workers would be less likely to use a conference room to do it.


    It also made it a little harder to hide a spybot in the room, but fortunately, the room had the same kind of drop ceiling you found in almost every office in the US. Whatever they were made out of, whether it was vinyl or polystyrene, the tiles weren¡¯t hard to burrow through.


    That left me with a bird¡¯s eye view of the room. Zola and Art sat across from each other. Art leaned back in his chair while Zola leaned toward him.


    Glancing in what I realized must be the direction of my cubicle, she turned back toward Art. ¡°Did anything about that conversation seem off to you?¡±


    Art shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. He just seemed like a geek. What other kind of guy recognizes this shirt on sight?¡±


    Zola threw her hands up. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe I¡¯m being paranoid after the fight last night. If they hadn¡¯t teleported us out, we¡¯d have lost and then we¡¯d be in jail right now or maybe dead.¡±


    ¡°Dead?¡± Art laughed. ¡°This is the Heroes¡¯ League. They don¡¯t kill people. Now if Vengeance was in town I¡¯d be worried and I can¡¯t say I¡¯m not. He¡¯s been in town with those zombie guys he leads¡ªthe Hangmen. Those guys will string you up with their lassos. They¡¯re like a zombie lynch mob. That makes me nervous. They¡¯ve been around twice in the last few years¡ªonce when the new Heroes¡¯ League started up and then again when that weird thing with the big head showed up. I don¡¯t know what that was, but Vengeance came back. That¡¯s not good.¡±


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    Zola looked down at the fake wood grain on the table and breathed without saying anything. Then she looked up. ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that. I don¡¯t think I can take worrying about any more things. What we¡¯ve got is bad enough. We fought the Heroes¡¯ League last night. Now they¡¯re going to be looking for us. I hope that whatever they had us steal was worth it.¡±


    Sitting up in his chair, Art said, ¡°It was. Ryan seemed happy when I handed him the flash drive.¡±


    Zola snorted and then said, ¡°Ryan,¡± stretching out the syllables into, ¡°Ryyyyannn¡­¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Dr. Ryan McCall, director of research and hot stuff in his own mind. I can¡¯t believe we let him do this to us.¡±


    Art smiled and even from above, I could see his teeth. They¡¯d grown.


    Zola whispered. ¡°Don¡¯t do that here.¡±


    Shaking his head, Art let his teeth turn back to normal. ¡°No one will see it except maybe the kid. Like I¡¯ve said before, enjoy it. I feel more alive now. I can smell smells I didn¡¯t know existed. I can hear your heartbeat and the kid¡¯s breathing, people talking in the Hardwick offices, and more. That doesn¡¯t touch what I smell or that I can see in the dark or how strong and fast I am. What¡¯s there to complain about?¡±


    Zola didn¡¯t say anything for a few seconds. Then she said, ¡°Don¡¯t you feel different? When I held the dice-¡±


    ¡°Die,¡± Art said.


    She continued as if he hadn¡¯t said anything. ¡°¡ªI thought for a second that I smelled blood and I¡¯ve been coming back to it ever since. It makes me feel hungry. As soon as we decide what we¡¯re going to put in the company email about the break-in, I¡¯m going to get lunch--steak, warm, barely cooked and bloody. I didn¡¯t used to like it rare. I can¡¯t stand it any other way now.¡±


    Art shrugged. ¡°I never noticed. I always liked steak rare to medium rare, but you know, I do like it more rare now. After we get this email written, let¡¯s get steak. That sounds good.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°It¡¯s awful, but I can barely think about anything else right now.¡±


    Shaking her head, she pulled a laptop out of her bag. ¡°The company line on break-in is that yes, it¡¯s bad, but we have enough security that we should be safe as long as everyone follows procedure.¡±


    Nodding, Art said, ¡°Sounds good. That¡¯s what Ryan wanted. Once we knock it out, we send it to him for approval and we¡¯re done.¡±


    She started typing, writing a paragraph and then saying, ¡°What do we do about the kid?¡±


    Art met her eyes. ¡°What is there to do? He doesn¡¯t know anything.¡±


    She took her hands off the keyboard. ¡°He smelled nervous to me.¡±

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 14

    Art laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t know how many guys like him you knew in college, but here¡¯s a little secret. Guys that age want women desperately and have no idea what to do about it. You¡¯re good looking. Even if he never says anything, he¡¯ll probably get nervous every time he gets near you.¡±


    Zola shook her head. ¡°I hope not, but I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s nervousness. I¡¯m still figuring out what all these smells mean, but that doesn¡¯t seem quite right. Besides, doesn¡¯t he have a girlfriend? I thought I heard he was with someone or maybe Stephanie?¡±


    Shaking his head, Art said, ¡°Not Stephanie. At least that¡¯s what Victor told me, but that might be wishful thinking. You know, I¡¯ve seen the intern talking with Emmy every time he comes in.¡±


    Zola laughed. ¡°Emmy¡¯s not going to date some college kid right after breaking up with Sandy. Of course, knowing Sandy, if she¡¯s into geeky guys, Nick qualifies.¡±


    Snorting, Art said, ¡°If she¡¯s into geeky guys, I qualify, and she¡¯s not into me. No, could be Emmy¡¯s into money. There¡¯s Sandy first of all, but then this kid is friends with one of the Hardwicks. That¡¯s what Ronnie told me.¡±


    Zola¡¯s raised an eyebrow. Art stopped and then continued. ¡°You don¡¯t know Ronnie? He¡¯s one of the security guards. He was special forces¡ªI don¡¯t know which one¡ªand now he works for Russell Hardwick. Anyway, if the intern is a friend of the Hardwicks, he¡¯s probably rich too. Rich kids run together in my experience.¡±


    Turning her head in the direction of my cubicle, Zola said, ¡°A friend of the Hardwicks? He seemed normal to me.¡±


    Art grinned. ¡°Well, if you¡¯re interested, I¡¯m sure he is.¡±


    ¡°What is he, like twenty? No. I¡¯ve dated guys that age when I was that age and believe me, the geeks aren¡¯t the only ones with no idea of what to do in a relationship.¡±


    Then she looked in the direction of my cubicle again. I made a point of keeping my head facing the computer screen and not looking away.


    Leaning in toward Ryan, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s say he¡¯s a friend of the Hardwicks and he knows too much. Maybe he¡¯s even a spy for the Hardwicks. They¡¯ve put millions of dollars into this place. They¡¯d want to know what they¡¯re buying. Well, let¡¯s say we tell Ryan. What¡¯s he going to do? They can¡¯t do anything to this kid or the Hardwicks will come down like a hammer on all of us.¡±


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    Art shrugged. ¡°Not my problem.¡±


    Zola¡¯s eyes widened and she began to open her mouth.


    ¡°No,¡± Art said, ¡°it isn¡¯t and it isn¡¯t yours either. The way I see it we both sold our souls to the group when we agreed to let Ryan and Victor run us through the damned machine. I¡¯m pretty sure the government didn¡¯t have human experimentation in mind when they let Sandy have the birthing chambers. So we¡¯ve got something on them. Problem is, you can bet they¡¯ve got something on us. I know they¡¯ve got something on me. I did some work for the Nine as an analyst a few years back. I don¡¯t know how Ryan found out, but he found out.¡±


    A hint of an animal snarl entered his voice. ¡°They said they wouldn¡¯t tell anyone, but you know they will if we snitch on them. Sure, it won¡¯t get them out of trouble, but you know Ryan. He¡¯ll take us down with them. Why¡¯d you say yes? What have they got on you?¡±


    Checking both ways before speaking, Zola¡¯s voice must have come out louder than she intended. I could hear her through the glass and across two rows of cubicles. ¡°Why do they have to have anything on me?¡±


    In my mind¡¯s eye, I saw Zola slap her hand across her mouth as she sobbed or maybe hyperventilated. As she did, Art slowly looked around and into the main room, stopping on my cubicle.


    I considered standing up and looking over there because that would be a normal person¡¯s response, but then decided not to because I didn¡¯t want to have a normal person¡¯s response. I wanted to have an oblivious, flaky genius¡¯s response.


    I looked back at the function I was editing and typed a few words, stopped and typed a few more.


    I managed to keep on typing even as Zola started talking again. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you, but you can¡¯t tell anyone. Too many people know already. When I was in college, I roomed with a supervillain. She goes by Preying Mantis now¡ªthat¡¯s with an ¡®e¡¯¡ªbut she didn¡¯t have a codename then. We were just art students and we had no money so she¡¯d steal from people and I¡¯d act as lookout. One night someone discovered us and Paula¡ªPreying Mantis¡ªripped her head off. I helped her hide the body.


    ¡°Ryan knew somehow. I think Preying Mantis works for the Nine now. I haven¡¯t heard from her in years. If he¡¯s got a connection to the Nine, that¡¯s got to be why.¡±


    Art stared at her. ¡°I thought I¡¯d screwed up, but wow. You helped murder somebody.¡±


    Zola¡¯s face tightened. ¡°I didn¡¯t murder anyone. I just helped Paula hide the body. That and burglarize some stores and houses.¡±


    Back in my cubicle, I knew I had to get this to Isaac Lim. Having the leadership of Higher Ground using Abominator tech for some purpose seemed like the kind of thing the Feds would shut down the investigation for.


    Well, maybe.

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 15

    Using alien technology to empower people to break into Hardwick Industries and maybe commit other crimes as well had to be in violation of some agreement. Plus, they were talking about me. Didn¡¯t the FBI quit while they were ahead if they had something and a civilian ¡°asset¡± was in danger?


    They hadn¡¯t said, ¡°That kid makes me nervous. Let¡¯s kill him,¡± in so many words yet, but a risk to life and limb seemed implied in the way they were talking.


    Of course, Lim didn¡¯t view me as any civilian. He viewed me as the heir to my grandfather¡¯s work and maybe even my grandfather¡¯s genius. He wasn¡¯t all wrong with that, but these people weren¡¯t complete pushovers either.


    Zola and Art were faster and stronger than the Ascendancy troopers I¡¯d fought in space. They were more in Haley and her older brother Travis¡¯s league. I doubt I¡¯d have survived fighting them if the Ascendancy¡¯s troops had the same physical abilities¡ªthough the troopers were likely better trained.


    Art and Zola most likely hadn¡¯t been trained much at all. They didn¡¯t fight like it anyway. Unfortunately, talent might be enough if they both attacked me. My current version of the stealth suit was better than any previous one, but it was meant to be something I could wear without giving any hint that it was more than clothes. Nothing else, including weapons and armor, compared to that.


    Plus, any fight where the suit had to be used would reveal that I was using a version of the Rocket suit. It wouldn¡¯t be a big leap from there to guess that I was the Rocket.


    The fact that Chris and I had both been using versions of the Rocket suit last night might obscure it, but not for long.


    At any rate, those were the thoughts that flashed through my mind.


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    In the conference room, Zola had covered her face with her hands and wasn¡¯t saying anything.


    Art watched with his mouth half-open, sometimes glancing out toward the main area of the room. Then he said, ¡°Look, I was just talking. I shouldn¡¯t have brought it up. I should have known that anything they had on you couldn¡¯t be good.¡±


    Zola pulled a tissue out of her purse and dabbed under her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not you. It¡¯s that it¡¯s not over. After Paula and I graduated and I got my first job, I thought I¡¯d never have to worry about that again and now it¡¯s back. I made a mistake and now I¡¯m stuck with it forever.¡±


    Shaking his head, Art said, ¡°Not forever. They said they¡¯d leave me alone after a year or two.¡±


    Zola snorted. ¡°They¡¯ll never let us go. They don¡¯t have any reason to let us go. We¡¯re not the same people who said yes to them. They changed our DNA and who knows what they put in it. They made us into the people they want us to be, but what about the people we want to be? We might not feel it yet, but a year from now, we might like what we do for them. Maybe we¡¯ll like the excitement and the violence the same way I¡¯m still thinking about that steak even though I never used to. Maybe we¡¯ll like it the same way I want to pounce on any animal or person that looks weak¡­ Fuck, I used to be a vegetarian.¡±


    Art looked at her and sat back in his chair. ¡°You¡¯ve got a point. I get twitchy when see people I think I can take in a fight and I keep on thinking of how I can get them away from help when I do it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about. Whatever they did to us turned us into predators.¡± Her voice never became loud, but it became harsher, more intense.


    Art glanced over in the direction of my cubicle. ¡°What do you think about the intern?¡±


    She said, ¡°He¡¯s not acting like prey.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know what prey acted like, but I wasn¡¯t going to ask them.


    ¡°So¡­.¡± Art began, ¡°we should write that email.¡±


    She put her hands on her laptop¡¯s keyboard.


    Nothing interesting happened after that. They negotiated their way through a ¡°good¡± email about the break-in, sent it out, and left. She waved at me on the way out and her eyes lingered on me a little too long.


    I worked on code for the rest of the day, but also made a few quick edits to the conversation for Isaac Lim. I planned to call him as soon as I could.

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 16

    A few hours later, I found myself on a call with him. Isaac sat in his home office. I sat in my lab. I¡¯d used backchannels to let him know I had something big and he¡¯d called me from his secure system¡ªthe one so secure that even his superiors wouldn¡¯t be aware of it because they might have been compromised.


    I¡¯d given him access to the video I¡¯d made. He¡¯d finished watching and shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s bad. I¡¯ve seen worse, but that¡¯s pretty bad. Higher Ground is blackmailing their own employees into getting their DNA modified by alien artifacts. Then they¡¯re using them to steal an unknown piece of data from Hardwick Industries. It seems to be organized by their research director who might have connections to the Nine.¡±


    Stopping, he took a breath. ¡°Do you have more? It¡¯s not that this isn¡¯t great, but let me tell you what we still don¡¯t know. We don¡¯t have definitive proof that the Nine are involved. We just have two people guessing and we don¡¯t have any reason to believe they¡¯re right. I¡¯m not saying they¡¯re wrong, but we don¡¯t have anything solid.¡±


    Thinking about the hours of recordings we¡¯d probably made, it struck me that we didn¡¯t yet have a process for getting them listened to yet. Hal, our AI, had agreed in principle to go through them and so had Tara, but we hadn¡¯t handed them off to anybody.


    We¡¯d only been listening in for a few days, so we probably didn¡¯t have much.


    I met Lim¡¯s eyes. ¡°We don¡¯t yet. We¡¯ve got recordings, but no one¡¯s gone through them. Anyway... I¡¯m a little surprised that you aren¡¯t telling me to shut everything down and get out. They¡¯re changing normal people¡¯s DNA with alien tech and the people are saying that they have urges to kill and eat people. That¡¯s pretty far out there.¡±


    Lim nodded. ¡°I get it. There¡¯s no denying those are both big problems and we could go after them for that¡ªHigher Ground would lose their grant to study the artifacts they don¡¯t own and the ones they do could be seized. Beyond the artifacts, Ryan might go on trial for blackmail and if Art and Zola don¡¯t murder people in the meantime, we might be able to make it stick. The problem is that the big fish here, by which I mean the Nine, will completely disappear and we¡¯ll be right back to the beginning there.¡±


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    I slumped on my stool, watching him as he nodded.


    ¡°I get it, Nick. Investigations are tough and investigations are slow and believe me, this is easy work by comparison to what we¡¯ve had to do with organized crime. We¡¯ve had to work with geeks hired by a mob boss to handle their computer systems. Except those geeks were nothing more than geeks. You¡¯ve had years of training in the same techniques our agents use for deep cover¡ªexcept in your case it¡¯s called a secret identity. Plus, you can handle yourself in a fight, you¡¯ve got contacts with talents no one¡¯s going to expect, and if everything goes to Hell, you can call in the kind of cavalry that gives people nightmares.¡±


    He smiled at me. ¡°This is going well. It¡¯s not perfect. I¡¯d be lying if I said I¡¯m not worried that Art and Zola might become serial killers or maybe murder Ryan, but you just got evidence we couldn¡¯t get before now and you¡¯re in a position to get more. Start processing your recordings and we might actually beable to end this thing.¡±


    Then he met my eyes. ¡°As much as I want to get as much as I can out of you being in there, I don¡¯t want you to get killed. The good news is that being a friend of Vaughn¡¯s makes that less likely. They know someone will miss you and that that someone¡¯s connected with the major source that funds their research. If at any time, you think that it¡¯s become too dangerous for you, tell me and we¡¯ll decide if you need to pull out. How are you feeling right now?¡±


    I didn¡¯t say anything, considering it. ¡°Well, I¡¯m okay. I know that Zola is suspicious of me, but I think I might be able to give her the impression that I¡¯m attracted to her. She¡¯s got the same powers Haley does, but I¡¯m pretty sure she isn¡¯t as good at using them. Haley might be able to help.¡±


    Lim nodded. ¡°Good. Keep me updated on that. If you need to get out, we can do things like lower your security clearance or revoke it, giving you an easy exit.¡±


    Then he frowned. ¡°One more thing. Document their security practices. I¡¯m not impressed with what I¡¯ve heard so far, but that¡¯s good. One anonymous complaint and we can swarm that place with agents. I know exactly who will make it. You won¡¯t even be connected.¡±


    Staring at the screen, I said, ¡°You¡¯ve got someone else in there?¡±


    Lim grinned. ¡°Yes, but don¡¯t go looking for them, okay? They don¡¯t have your access, but they are in a position to help or distract if they need to.¡±

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 17

    Flipping through the people I could remember from work, I couldn¡¯t think of any that had even hinted that they might be Feds or in any way on my side. To be fair, that was probably a mark of competence.


    That in turn reminded me of Stephanie. I needed to show her this video. Even though I wasn¡¯t quite sure she was trustworthy, we were in this together now and she deserved some warning if they somehow caught on to her.


    You could make an argument that she might be better off not knowing given Zola and Art¡¯s senses, but I couldn¡¯t quite make myself believe it. At core, the more a person knew, the better they could adjust their actions to match their situation.


    ¡°Nick?¡± Isaac Lim waved at me from the screen. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±


    ¡°I have to tell Stephanie. If they get a hint that she¡¯s more than she seems, she needs every chance to survive and to avoid letting it happen.¡±


    Lim nodded. ¡°I agree. I¡¯m not wild about it, but she needs to know and from everything I know about her, she¡¯ll make it work. She did well at Stapledon. She deserved better than to intern at the Michigan Heroes Alliance. They¡¯re not a bad group, but she could have interned with a Defenders unit. I don¡¯t know for sure, but I¡¯d guess it¡¯s her ex-boyfriend¡¯s doing. His family¡¯s more influential than hers.¡±


    Soon after that, he hung up and I started organizing the recordings we¡¯d made. They¡¯d been stored in the implant while I worked and had to be converted into Earth formats. Hal could do that as he watched and transcribed them. After contacting Stephanie and arranging a meeting, I did homework in my lab. Homework didn¡¯t stop for breakthroughs.


    A couple hours later Stephanie walked through the lab¡¯s door. She looked around the room, eyeing pieces of the Rocket suit, buckets filled with the suit¡¯s nanotech building blocks, the 3D printers, and other devices I used while creating bots and new suit materials.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you last time, but I like your set up. I hope to have one like it someday.¡± She bent down to look at a laser that assembled itself from a mixture of ceramics and electronics that passed for denim.


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    Frozen in place from an error, it demanded attention and time I didn¡¯t have right now.


    I closed a couple books and pushed myself off my stool. ¡°It¡¯s not all mine. I inherited the basics and access to the money to pay for it from my grandfather.¡±


    She looked up and smiled. ¡°That would be nice. We should collaborate sometime. I spend so much time hiding my brain hacks. It would be easier to have my uniform mold itself into the right shape or have the upper layer slide out of the way. I have to hide them under a flap or on the inside of a jacket. If my work ever made the news, they¡¯d probably call me the Flasher.¡±


    ¡°We could probably work out a trade. I¡¯m not sure when I¡¯d use your work, but being able to flash a symbol that makes someone stand in place and do nothing would be useful.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°I know, right? You can¡¯t guess how many times I¡¯ve had to use it during this mission alone. The trick is to make one that will make people forget what it was they saw just before they saw the symbol. That¡¯s when it becomes useful. If you loop someone and they still remember they saw you in Sandy¡¯s office, you might as well have been caught. If you leave them wondering why they¡¯re standing alone in Sandy¡¯s office, that¡¯s better.¡±


    I was about to ask her if her example was based on a real event when Haley and Tara walked in, Tara towering over Haley, both of them still in costume. Neither was out of breath, but their faces shone with sweat.


    ¡°We were out on patrol when we got your message,¡± Haley said.


    Tara smiled, ¡°Haley showed me how to use your grappling guns for swinging. It¡¯s amazing.¡±


    Stephanie looked down at the guns on Tara and Haley¡¯s belts. ¡°What? Like Spider-man? That¡¯s too high. I¡¯d fall and end up road pizza.¡±


    Tara shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s a trick to it, but you could learn it.¡±


    Stephanie frowned, and opened her mouth to say, ¡°Believe me, I can¡¯t,¡± but she didn¡¯t get to finish because Haley started talking at the same time she did.


    ¡°What did you say you had to show us?¡±


    ¡°This,¡± and I played them my recording, the same one I¡¯d shown Lim earlier. I¡¯d cued it up on my computer. When it was over, Stephanie shook her head. ¡°They had the people who broke into Hardwick Industries write the company memo telling us not to be worried about the break-in? That takes balls.¡±


    Tara¡¯s expression had changed from a grin that now reminded me of Emmy to the blank expression that told me she¡¯d shifted her brain into a different mode. Stepping forward to study Art and Zola on the screen, she said, ¡°They¡¯re not the only ones.¡±


    Glancing from Tara over to me, Haley frowned. ¡°Who are those people?¡±


    Stephanie grinned. ¡°The face of real evil. They¡¯re in the marketing department.¡±

 Jekyll Or Hyde: Part 18

    Haley raised an eyebrow. ¡°But for real, who are they?¡±


    Crossing her arms across her chest, Stephanie said, ¡°They really are in the Marketing Department. Zola¡¯s a graphic designer except she also writes¡ªwhich means she writes a lot of internal memos from management to the masses. She¡¯s not a bad person. She¡¯s artsy¡ªlikes to talk about different periods in graphic design. I went out with her to a few bars when she worked in the lab. I haven¡¯t seen her much lately. She¡¯s been busy with work and learning to use her powers, I guess.


    ¡°Now, Art¡­ I don¡¯t know him as well. He worked in the lab too, but I avoided him. He¡¯s the kind of 40 year old guy who¡¯s always chatting up the 20 something women in the company? A little creepy. He didn¡¯t ever do anything that could get him fired, but I stayed out of his way after the first couple times and he seemed to get the message. He used to do programming and analysis in the lab. Now he designs reports for management and some stuff for marketing too. I¡¯m not sure what. Our company¡¯s so small management and marketing are basically one team.¡±


    Giving a shrug, she added, ¡°And that¡¯s pretty much all I know about them. I can tell you a couple stories about going drinking with Zola, but you¡¯re not going to learn anything except that she has too much sometimes.¡±


    Haley gave a short laugh. ¡°Not anymore. It sounds like they gave her the same powers I got¡ªwhich means getting drunk is going to be a lot harder.¡±


    Stephanie¡¯s brow furrowed and then her mouth twisted. ¡°That¡¯s for the best. She threw up in my car once. It took weeks before the smell was completely gone.¡±


    That gave me the opening I needed. ¡°Tara, what did you mean when you said, ¡®they¡¯re not the only ones¡¯?¡±


    She turned, her eyes meeting mine instead of some unknown point in the distance, and her mouth no longer a thin line. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I mean, I know that I meant that they obviously modified other people, but I don¡¯t know who. And I don¡¯t know how I know it.¡±


    She interrupted me before I could ask why.


    ¡°Sometimes when I think I put together chains of facts that were too unrelated to notice normally, but sometimes I read between the lines without knowing how I did it. Right now, I know that Art and Zola aren¡¯t the only ones they modified, but I don¡¯t know who the other ones are or what they can do.¡±


    In a tone that was all hers and not even Emmy¡¯s, Tara said, ¡°Sorry,¡± ending the word on a breathy, high pitched whisper.


    Stephanie looked from Tara over to Haley. ¡°Great. I guess we¡¯ll find out what the other modified people can do later, but for now, how would I fool you into thinking what I want you to think?¡±


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    Haley bit her lower lip. ¡°Um¡­ I get most of my information on your emotions from your smell. Perfumes help mask scents especially if they¡¯re perfumes that smell like human odors. So a musky smell might help. I¡¯ve learned how to tell the difference, but Art and Zola might not be able to. I can also hear your heartbeat. If it becomes faster, I know you¡¯re nervous or excited. I don¡¯t know what to tell you to do about that. Think calm thoughts?¡±


    Stephanie frowned for a moment, but then she smiled. ¡°I think I can handle it. All I need to do is hack my own brain. I¡¯ll make a symbol that keeps me calm but keeps me alert. It won¡¯t be the first time I¡¯ve made stuff like that. What are you going to do?¡±


    I stared into the distance between Tara¡¯s and Haley¡¯s heads, thinking about my options. ¡°I¡¯m thinking that I¡¯ll use my implant. While we were off-planet, we had the thing substitute the standard language for the Alliance in when we were talking. We didn¡¯t even have to think about it. It translated our intended words into words in a completely different language¡ªwhich means it¡¯s got some serious hooks into my body, maybe even into things I can¡¯t normally control.¡±


    With a thought, I told the implant to give me blush. In seconds, I felt heat in my cheeks.


    As Stephanie said, ¡°That¡¯s pretty good,¡± I told the implant to let my blush fade.


    Even as I did, Haley added, ¡°Can you make your heart speed up? It does that sometimes when you¡¯re attracted to someone.¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± I began.


    ¡°And sometimes,¡± Tara said, ¡°you don¡¯t make eye contact with them if you¡¯re feeling really nervous.¡±


    Stephanie grinned. ¡°It sounds like the three of you are going to figure this out. I¡¯m going to drive home. I¡¯ve got some work to do.¡±


    She gave us a wave as she walked out the door of the lab.


    ¡°You do,¡± Tara said.


    She wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡°I guess,¡± I tried to remember the first time I¡¯d met her. Had I done that or had she noticed that from other examples? Either way it was a little depressing.


    We worked on it a little while longer until we had an approach that would work. Tara left me alone with Haley and the two of us talked together in the lab, holding hands as we sat next to each other.


    ¡°In a way,¡± Haley told me, ¡°I feel sorry for Art and Zola. Everything they were talking about, I¡¯ve felt too¡ªmaybe not in exactly the same way, but I have. Unlike them, I had my grandfather to teach me how to use my powers, and Travis and I could always talk about them with each other. So I knew I wasn¡¯t the first person to feel this and I knew that I was more than my instincts.¡±


    She looked up at me. ¡°I wish I could talk to them¡ªor at least to Zola because it sounds like it bothers her. Maybe after everything is over.¡±


    ¡°Maybe. I just hope she doesn¡¯t go off the deep end before then.¡± Zola seemed to vary between worried about controlling herself, angry, and nice. At least she¡¯d seemed nice. Overall, it didn¡¯t seem like a good combination.


    ¡°Nick?¡± Haley¡¯s voice broke through my thoughts.


    ¡°Sorry. I was thinking about all of this.¡± I looked at her face. From the way she looked up at me, she seemed concerned, not angry.


    ¡°I should go. I still have homework to finish.¡± She leaned toward me and we kissed.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay. So do I and I should also show the video to Vaughn in case he needs to know too.¡± I let go of her hand and she went to the locker room to strip out of her costume and shower.


    We did see each other before she left, but it was while Vaughn was watching the video.


    ¡°Stay safe,¡± she said, poking her head into the lab, and I waved to her while Vaughn said, ¡°Oh, man. This just gets worse.¡±

 Truth and the True: Part 1

    With everything going on at Higher Ground, you¡¯d think that I¡¯d work on that and nothing else, but life wasn¡¯t that simple.


    We¡¯d gotten to that point in the semester when the tests begin to appear and papers along with them. Electronic engineering and materials science weren¡¯t majors with a lot of papers, but I did have to turn in a couple of short ones explaining the technical choices I¡¯d made on projects. The tests weren¡¯t bad¡ªDr. Strazinsky¡¯s calculus class asked about material I¡¯d learned on my own and ¡°Principles of Photonics¡± was interesting enough that I couldn¡¯t ignore it.


    No, the thing that sucked time out of my life was that I had a Stapledon weekend on top of all that. That meant being teleported to Castle Rock, Colorado for the weekend and engaging in physical training, tactical drills, and a few lectures on top of whatever school work I hoped to do.


    Twice monthly training weekends in exchange for free tuition wasn¡¯t much to complain about, but I found myself doing exactly that.


    We were all in the dorm room I shared with Daniel when we were in Castle Rock. It wasn¡¯t just Daniel and me either. Cassie and Jaclyn were also there. We¡¯d cleaned up after the last training session and were waiting for supper.


    Crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall by the door, Jaclyn said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you didn¡¯t tell me any of this. I¡¯m literally in HQ every day.¡±


    Almost as tall as I was, Jaclyn¡¯s dark skin, narrow face, and lean body reminded anyone who knew that she was the granddaughter of the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s original speedster ¡°C.¡±


    I told her. ¡°I keep on seeing your name in the entry records. When are you in?¡±


    Her mouth twisted, ¡°Around six in the morning. I walk Tiger and then I leave. Who¡¯s been feeding him? You guys said you¡¯d handle it.¡±


    ¡°Kayla. On the days when she¡¯s not in, I do it, but I think Tara¡¯s handling it this weekend.¡±


    Shaking her head, Jaclyn said, ¡°That sounds like a great internship.¡±


    Cassie laughed. She¡¯d sat down on my bed and was leaning against the wall, her platinum blonde hair on her shoulders, still bent from being in a ponytail when she was in costume.


    Sitting up, she added, ¡°And after that, she gets to clean up after it, right? Remember when we were on the way back? It pooped outside the ship at K¡¯Tepolu station and the biological contamination alarms went off.¡±


    Jaclyn closed her eyes and brought her left hand up to her face.


    Looking from Jaclyn to Cassie to me, Daniel grinned. ¡°Sometimes I feel jealous that all of you got to go to space, but you¡¯re making me feel better all the time.¡±


    ¡°No kidding,¡± Cassie said. ¡°You can be glad you didn¡¯t get stuck in a one-room spaceship for a week with a giant puppy from space that someone,¡± she glanced over at Jaclyn, ¡°decided she needed to bring home.¡±


    Jaclyn glared at her for second and then they both laughed¡ªwhich was a change. They¡¯d never hated each other, but they¡¯d never struck me as friends before the trip.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Cassie continued, ¡°you were complaining about your secret mission?¡±


    And with that, we went through everything I hadn¡¯t already told them¡ªabsolutely everything¡ªbecause with Daniel being one of my closest friends and a telepath, he knew when I¡¯d skipped or forgotten something important and asked about it.


    When I was done, Cassie looked up at me. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re here instead of home. With all of that hanging over my head, I¡¯d have skipped this weekend.¡±


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    Nodding, I met her gaze. ¡°I thought about it, but in some ways, this is the closest thing I¡¯ve got to a break and I decided to take it.¡±


    Tilting her head she didn¡¯t say anything for a second. ¡°I get it, but if you need someone with an Abominator Citizen¡¯s Mark, you know where to find me. I know the Nine are looking for me, but it¡¯s not the first time the Nine and I have tangled. I can handle it.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s probably not a good idea¡ª,¡± I began.


    Cassie didn¡¯t let me finish. ¡°I got a look at the birthing chamber platform when we were in Medford. If they¡¯ve got any control of the machine, they¡¯re going to give someone a Citizen¡¯s Mark. It¡¯s in the library and it probably won¡¯t take more than an hour to add it in. You¡¯ll need someone to stop them.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t noticed it when I was going through the birthing chamber¡¯s library but I hadn¡¯t gone through the whole thing.


    ¡°I¡¯ll call you if it all doesn¡¯t move too quickly.¡±


    In a level voice, Jaclyn said, ¡°Even if she can¡¯t get home from D.C., I can. I might not be able to control ancient alien artifacts, but I can break them if there¡¯s nothing else we can do.¡±


    ¡°Same here.¡± Standing next to our bunk beds, Daniel grinned at me. ¡°I might not be able to control alien artifacts either, but I think I can shut off somebody¡¯s access to them.¡±


    Cassie reached out to smack his leg with her hand. ¡°Seriously?¡±


    He nodded. ¡°I think so. And Nick, you know that I¡¯m not always right, but I¡¯m feeling like something¡¯s going to happen soon¡ªmaybe on Monday. Cassie might want to see if Chancy can be on call so he can teleport her in if you need her.¡±


    I let out a breath. ¡°Let¡¯s do that.¡±


    Daniel frowned. ¡°Tell us if everything falls apart. Even if I can¡¯t make it on time, Izzy can hit Mach 4. Between her and Jaclyn, you¡¯ve got a good chance of handling what you need to. Depending on what¡¯s going on, Izzy can bring me along.¡±


    Between Izzy and Jaclyn, we''d have two people who were near impossible to take down and strong enough to shatter buildings. That would help.


    Not long after that, we went to supper and the weekend passed like they always do.


    On Monday, I went to my classes, turned in calculus homework without Dr. Strazinsky pulling me aside to talk to me about my internship, and made it all the way through the helicopter ride without anything special happening.


    When Vaughn and I walked in through the big glass doors to Hardwick Industries, we found Victor talking to Emmy. She stood behind the desk wearing an expression almost as blank as Tara¡¯s when she went into her alternate mental state. A slight curl of the lip flavored the expression on Emmy¡¯s face, hinting that it was less dispassionate analysis and more controlled irritation.


    Victor stood in front of the desk, towering over her and talking without stopping.


    When she saw Vaughn and me, she gave us a wide smile and waved us over. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Victor. I¡¯ve got a few things that I have to pass on to Nick and Vaughn. We can talk again later, but this might be a little while.¡±


    Victor¡¯s face tightened, but he moved away from the desk and managed a smile as he took a step toward the hallway that led toward Higher Grounds offices. Nodding to Emmy, he said, ¡°Talk to you later. You too, Nick.¡±


    Then he stared at Vaughn. ¡°Vaughn Hardwick?¡±


    ¡°Almost,¡± Vaughn grinned at him. ¡°Hardwick-Jones. My mom wanted to take my dad¡¯s name, but she wanted me to have Hardwick in my name so she joined them together.¡±


    ¡°No kidding. I thought you were Russell Hardwick¡¯s son.¡± Victor stopped walking, giving Vaughn a once-over that seemed to take in everything from Vaughn¡¯s black jeans to his leather jacket, purple button-down shirt, and long hair.


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m just his nephew.¡±


    ¡°Then you¡¯re a lucky man.¡± Victor grinned at us and started down the hall, glancing back at us one more time before he disappeared.


    Catching my eye, Vaughn asked, ¡°What did that mean?¡±


    I stared down the hall, following the sound of Victor¡¯s footfalls. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Emmy glanced down the hall after him. Then she walked over to the hallway and looked down it, turning back to us. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about it. He doesn¡¯t always make sense.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Vaughn leaned sideways and looked down the hall. ¡°What did you want to tell us?¡±


    Emmy¡¯s lips curled. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡ªnothing. I couldn¡¯t think of a better way to get rid of him.¡±


    Vaughn grinned. ¡°I knew it.¡±


    Stepping away from the hallway, Emmy said, ¡°I know. I wish he¡¯d notice. He¡¯s stopped by here almost every day since¡­ um¡­ lately.¡±


    Following Emmy, Vaughn moved away from the hall. ¡°You could tell him you¡¯re not into him.¡±


    Frowning, she said, ¡°Maybe I should. Being polite but uninterested isn¡¯t getting me anywhere. Except... I feel like he¡¯s the kind of guy who will make a scene.¡±


    Thinking back to what I¡¯d seen of Victor, I had to admit she had a point. ¡°That¡¯s possible.¡±


    Emmy walked out from behind the desk. ¡°I know. This is going to sound ridiculous, but my intuition is unusually good, maybe even psychic. I feel like something bad¡¯s going to happen and all of us¡ªincluding him¡ªare going to be in the middle of it.¡±

 Truth and the True: Part 2

    ¡°No shit?¡± Vaughn looked at her and raised an eyebrow. ¡°Do you know when?¡±


    Emmy frowned. ¡°Are you making fun of me?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Vaughn shook his head and then smiled at her. ¡°I believe you. There are psychics all over. The Heroes¡¯ League in Grand Lake has had at least two¡ªthe Mentalist and the Mystic. They¡¯re pretty well known and I¡¯m sure there are a bunch of people with potential out there that no one knows about. Do you take power juice?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Her eyes widened. ¡°No. That¡¯s illegal. I¡¯ve got to admit I¡¯ve wondered if I would make what I can do into something more predictable, but even before it became a controlled substance I didn¡¯t want to risk it.¡±


    Vaughn didn¡¯t say anything for a second but then said, ¡°Yeah. I get that. It was all over my high school and I didn¡¯t try any, but I¡¯d just gotten out of a program for fighting substance abuse the summer before it happened. I didn¡¯t want to relapse.¡±


    That, of course, was a lie. Vaughn had come out of rehab before our senior year of high school, but the reason he didn¡¯t try power juice was that there wasn¡¯t any use for it. He¡¯d already awakened his powers fully with the power impregnator.


    Tara might well have seen through that lie even if she didn¡¯t know Vaughn¡¯s history, but Emmy only said, ¡°That¡¯s right. I forgot you went to that high school¡ªthe one where the guy turned into a monster at prom.¡±


    Shrugging, Vaughn said, ¡°Nick went there too. It¡¯s no big deal. No one got hurt. The Heroes¡¯ League showed up on time. For real though, I¡¯m not making fun of you. Do you know any details? Something specific we could watch for?¡±


    Shaking her head, Emmy leaned against the front of her desk, almost sitting on it. ¡°No. You always hear about psychics having strange dreams or visions or I don¡¯t know what¡­ For me, it¡¯s more like solving a puzzle. I think about things in a certain way and I can see a relationship even if it¡¯s not much of a relationship. Most of the time I don¡¯t know how things fit together, just that they do.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯ve got now. I know that Victor and Nick are connected to something in the Higher Ground offices,¡± she glanced over at me, wide eyes watching for something, maybe a reaction, ¡°but you and I are on the outside. I don¡¯t know what will happen or when, but Nick moves like someone who expects a fight and Victor¡¯s always angry. It¡¯s going to be violent.¡±


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    She looked me in the eye. ¡°Am I right?¡±


    Hoping that the note of fear in her voice didn¡¯t mean she was afraid of me, I met her gaze. ¡°I¡¯m not allowed to talk about any of the artifacts in the offices, but I am trained in fighting. I¡¯ve been training for more than ten years. As for Victor, he does seem like an angry guy.¡±


    She looked around the room before speaking in a lower voice. ¡°Sandy told me more than he should have about what¡¯s in there. I have some ideas. Watch Victor. I feel like he¡¯s going to do something and I¡¯ll be involved.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I can do that. He¡¯s been worrying me a little anyway.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± she leaned back over her desk and moved her mouse and looked at her computer monitor. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I kept you, but you shouldn¡¯t let me slow you down. Don¡¯t be late to work, but don¡¯t forget about what I said, okay?¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t. This is more important to me than you might think.¡±


    We walked away, taking footstep after footstep across a bland, corporate carpet in a bland corporate hallway toward offices filled with potential mad scientists and murderers.


    Neither Vaughn nor I said anything at first, but he stopped in front of the door to Hardwick Industries¡¯ offices. ¡°You know what she is, right?¡±


    Keeping my voice low, I said, ¡°I know what she might become.¡±


    Vaughn checked the doorway. ¡°Yeah. That. Let me know if you need help. I think I heard that rain was in the forecast, maybe even lightning and thunder.¡±


    I told him, ¡°I¡¯ll let you know,¡± and then I walked down the hall, thinking about Emmy, Tara, and the True.


    Nothing about Higher Grounds¡¯ offices hinted at the possibility of an upcoming apocalypse in the form of the True. It felt as dead as usual and the labs felt as full of activity.


    Victor gave me a wave but otherwise stared at the screen of his computer. No one bothered me as I started writing computer code for the psi helmet in the cubicles near the birthing chambers.


    When I contacted the spybots and started downloading last week¡¯s recordings, no one showed any sign that they noticed that I¡¯d stopped working. Bearing in mind what Cassie had said about the Abominator Citizen¡¯s Mark, I decided to contact the birthing machine to see if they had modified anyone while I was at it.


    I felt the birthing chambers presence in my head and called up the contents of the library, sorting by the most recently accessed records. My stomach lurched as more than one hundred different records became available. Someone had been searching through the library over the weekend. I let my implant go through the files, checking the summaries for anything interesting.


    It didn¡¯t surprise me that the system for adding a Citizen¡¯s Mark turned out to be one of them. If they understood what it was, adding it to someone would make modifying the psi helmet to control the birthing chambers redundant. It would also allow them to control any Abominator device in range¡ªincluding weapons.


    Checking the access dates showed that it had been accessed a week ago¡ªbefore most of the others. I turned that over in my head. It didn¡¯t seem impossible that they¡¯d added the mark to someone, maybe more than one person, and all the rest of the files had been accessed last weekend with the mark.


    With all the people working in the lab around me, I wondered who.

 Truth and the True: Part 3

    Then I worried if they¡¯d notice that I was looking around or worse, that I was barely working. For a moment I felt like my heart was about to speed up, but it didn¡¯t. My implant informed me that it was, ¡°Quelling ¡®fight or flight¡¯ response,¡± and I began to feel normal.


    While I hoped it wouldn¡¯t do that when I was in a fight, I felt relieved to know that it worked.


    Though I didn¡¯t see either Art or Zola, I decided that I ought to get back to work. I could check through access to the library later.


    Coding did distract me from the world for a while, but not forever. Midway through the afternoon, it struck me that if someone in the company had a Citizen¡¯s Mark, finishing the helmet might be the best thing I could do. My implant¡¯s hack into the birthing chamber platform only allowed me access to the library of creatures, but not total control.


    The psi helmet might give me full access¡ªmaybe even enough to compete with the Citizen¡¯s Mark, allowing me to control the birthing chambers.


    That might allow me to modify the usage logs. If they had someone with a Citizen¡¯s Mark, it was only a matter of time before they discovered that they weren¡¯t the only ones with access.


    Deciding I¡¯d be better off getting further in my project, I pushed myself to concentrate on code again. As was often the case, I lost track of time and everything around me.


    In the middle of testing why a section of my code wasn¡¯t delivering the expected variable in the simulator, I heard someone say my name. By the second time, it struck me that they were trying to get my attention.


    I turned away from the computer screen, finding that Dr. Valerie Griffin, head of the lab that used to have the birthing chamber and consultant to Higher Ground, stood next to my cubicle.


    In her white lab coat, she looked like half the people in the building.


    ¡°I see that you¡¯re working on the helmet. How would you say it¡¯s going?¡± She pulled out a chair from an unused cubicle and gave my computer screens a calm, slow look that hinted that she might understand more of what I¡¯d written than she¡¯d said.


    Shrugging, I said, ¡°Okay. I¡¯m making progress, but I¡¯m not done. I don¡¯t even have a guess as to when I¡¯ll be done. I¡¯m not primarily a programmer and I¡¯ve never written anything like this before.¡±


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    She shook her head. ¡°I understand. Research like this isn¡¯t the kind of thing that you can push. Don¡¯t feel pressured. I understand exactly what you¡¯re going through. I¡¯ve spent a lot of time on alien artifacts during my career. What I want to know is if you feel like things are going well or badly? Are you feeling like you understand where things are going or does it feel alien and almost completely unpredictable?¡±


    I considered it. If I told her things were going well, they¡¯d expect something soon. If I told her things were going badly, she might tell them to pass the project on to someone else.


    The answer, I decided, lay in how I was trying to present myself. The version of me that was selling to them was that of a brilliant wunderkind, grandson of the engineer that made the Hardwicks millions or billions of dollars.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty straightforward,¡± I told her. ¡°It can always go bad, but right now, I¡¯d say I understand where this is going.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t lying. Between the implant¡¯s store of knowledge about Abominator and galactic technology and my own experience with the alien technology in the League¡¯s ¡°jet,¡± it didn¡¯t feel like alien technology anymore.


    Dr. Griffin blinked. ¡°In more than twenty years in this field, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever heard anyone say that. If you can pull this off, you¡¯ll be getting job offers from places you¡¯ve never even heard of, most of them so secret you won¡¯t ever be allowed to fully explain your job.¡±


    She glanced around, and not seeing anyone nearby, she continued talking, ¡°I¡¯ll deny it if you tell anyone, but if you do pull this off, consider yourself as having a standing job offer from my lab. We can use someone like you.¡±


    Giving the area around us another once over, she added, ¡°Medford isn¡¯t far from New York City, but still has a little bit of small-town feel. You might like that. Just don¡¯t tell anybody I said any of this. It would get awkward.¡±


    ¡°No problem,¡± I said. ¡°I won¡¯t.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Good. Keep me updated on it and don¡¯t hesitate to let me know if you need help. I¡¯ve got more experience with alien technology than anyone else here. That¡¯s why they brought me in.¡±


    Standing up, she pushed her chair back into the correct cubicle and walked away.


    Thinking back to when I¡¯d helped defend their lab a year or more before, they¡¯d weaponized alien tech that disintegrated the mercenaries trying to break in. I didn¡¯t know what they were working on now, but I¡¯d be interested in learning about that. On the other hand, whoever had rigged that up probably had ended up in a top secret government lab.


    Since it was later in the day and I¡¯d been interrupted anyway, I accessed the library again, going through more of the entries that had been accessed over the weekend, checking if any stood out.


    One did. Labeled ¡°Experimental,¡± it appeared to be a design from Abominator scientists stationed on Earth. The design described the minimum genetic tweaks necessary to get an effective fighting force out of human beings by heightening their ability to analyze information as well as the tweaks needed to maintain that group as distinct from the rest of humanity.


    It didn¡¯t take me long to recognize that they were talking about the True.

 Truth and the True: Part 4

    In order to power the abilities that supers have, humans need to be changed. The standard Abominator practice involved implanting genes that allowed humans to absorb energy not only from our reality, but from others as well. The Abominators were working to set things up so that they controlled which humans could use the powers they¡¯d gained.


    At the point where they¡¯d designed the True though, they were at a point where those genes weren¡¯t fully understood or as effective as they¡¯d eventually become. So, they were trying to design human soldiers that used a lower level of energy, something a normal human body could produce.


    They¡¯d designed genetic modifications that allowed their humans to notice and store more information and then to access it and draw patterns more quickly than a normal human. Their modifications improved reaction times, strength and endurance in addition to the mental improvements.


    To all of that, they added in a change to the reproductive system that allowed the women of the True to reproduce identical or gender-swapped copies of themselves.


    If the Abominators had been trying, they couldn¡¯t have come up with a better candidate than Emmy to run through the birthing chambers. However it happened, she had some kind of ability to see the future. Whether that was psychic as it was for Daniel or simply a kind of intuition, it meant that the True had one more piece of the power set that the Abominators had been trying for from the beginning.


    What the True could be if I understood them correctly was a fighting force full of people that could learn and adjust based on minimal information or warning. They could then take the information and respond in the best way possible.


    One other thing made sense too¡ªTara¡¯s story. Tara had told us about how the True fought True from other factions and other worlds connected to Infinity City. Even though humans were perfectly capable of fighting people with similar backgrounds or beliefs to the death based on small differences that were believed to have life or death importance, the Abominators had an absolute mania for genetic purity.


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    Even the Xiniti records in my implant couldn¡¯t go too deeply into it, but the Abominators had been divided into factions based on their similarity to the Abominator genetic ideal and even gone to war among themselves based on it.


    The True¡¯s internal feuding duplicated Abominator attitudes. The way that the different groups united to kill Tara¡¯s parents for mixing two strains in creating Tara was all Abominator¡ªnot to mention destroying the human race on some worlds.


    Now all I had to do was get the most recent recordings back to our HQ for analysis. With any luck, we¡¯d be able to prove that Higher Ground had some connection to the Nine before True emerged from the birthing chambers¡ªassuming they hadn¡¯t already.


    With that thought, I started paying attention to the world around me again. It wasn¡¯t much different than it had been when I stopped paying attention. People stood in and around the canvas enclosed ¡°rooms¡± or sat in cubicles. No one looked in my direction with any kind of special look.


    I almost felt like they should be. I¡¯d just understood something big, ignoring what I was supposed to be working on for¡­ however long that went.


    I checked the time on the bottom left corner of my monitor. It was 3:11 pm. I had almost two hours left for the day.


    It almost felt anti-climactic, but I started working on the helmet programming again. With that, the rest of the day flowed past without any kind of notice. By the time I came up for air while programming, Victor stood next to my cubicle. ¡°Day¡¯s over, Nick. Time to go. No matter how much you might want to stay after hours, it makes management nervous.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want that,¡± I told him¡ªmore because it seemed like the kind of thing I should say.


    Victor watched as I put away my work stuff, putting the psi helmet itself back into a metal locker and listening as the clicks of the lock system ran.


    ¡°How¡¯s Emmy?¡± Victor asked. His voice didn¡¯t seem to hold any special anger. He asked as he might have if he hadn¡¯t been there when Vaughn and I arrived and if she hadn¡¯t used us to get away from him.


    ¡°She seemed fine,¡± I told him as we walked away from the birthing chamber, following others toward the door.


    ¡°Did she say anything about me?¡± He looked down at me as we stopped, waiting for the line of people ahead of us to make it out of the lab¡¯s side door.


    Knowing that I didn¡¯t want to tell him, ¡°Yes, she did. She told us that you won¡¯t leave her alone even though she¡¯d like you to,¡± I went with the first thing that came into my head.


    ¡°Nope. She just talked about a form or two we had to fill out for school.¡±


    Victor nodded. ¡°Ok. Well, I thought I¡¯d ask. We¡¯re getting to know each other better these days.¡±

 Truth and the True: Part 5

    Whatever emotion showed on my face, he took it as disbelief. ¡°Look, you saw us talking. We¡¯ve been talking a lot since she broke up with Sandy.¡±


    I glanced around. While Emmy and Sandy¡¯s relationship might have been an open secret for some people, it was possible that saying it aloud might force someone to take official notice.


    The people in line for the door ahead of us weren¡¯t close and no one stood behind us. On the other hand, there were people coming in our direction¡ªArt and Zola. I hadn¡¯t been wrong in thinking that Art was both a good six inches shorter and 20 years older than I was. It did surprise me that he could get away with wearing a ¡°Rick and Morty¡± t-shirt in an office environment. On the other hand the shirt¡¯s message, ¡°I¡¯m not arguing. I¡¯m explaining why I¡¯m right,¡± fit Art well enough.


    Zola on the other hand stood a little short of my height. Seeing her up close instead of across the room from my desk or from the lense of one of my spybots, my first impression was red lipstick, blond hair and glasses that, if her senses were like Haley¡¯s, were purely decorative. The black denim, button down shirt might have been one button lower than I¡¯d think of as business casual, but it was a casual office.


    It made it easier to imagine her going out to a bar with Stephanie and getting drunk.


    She put her hand on my shoulder, saying, ¡°I hope we didn¡¯t interrupt your work last Friday. I happened to hear later what you must have been working on. You have no idea how much the company¡¯s invested in that thing. You must be amazingly smart.¡±


    I felt the warmth of a slight blush. Knowing that I¡¯d programmed the reaction into my implant the week before, choosing a subtle blush in the hope that it would be enough, did not make the blush less awkward or embarrassing.


    Doing my best to ignore it, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. What¡¯s smart? I think I¡¯m better at figuring out technical issues than most people, but bearing in mind the Dunning-Kruger effect, even incompetent people think they¡¯re competent.¡±


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    ¡°You¡¯re funny,¡± she said, and let go of my shoulder.


    Touching me might have been meant as a way to make a connection, but I couldn¡¯t help but notice that Art had moved behind me to talk to Victor, making it impossible to see him if he attacked.


    Even that thought came without the familiar jolt of fear. Bearing in mind that I was trying to convince the Art and Zola that I didn¡¯t know anything about them, that was probably a good thing. I wasn¡¯t sure that I felt quite right about the idea that my implant could override my natural emotional state, though.


    ¡°What do you think about the company so far,¡± Zola asked. ¡°I worked in the lab for a while myself and made a lot of friends there. I¡¯m sure you know Stephanie. We¡¯ve gone out after work sometimes.¡±


    ¡°She mentioned that,¡± I said, and we made small talk as we followed the line of people out of the lab and over to the main office where people grabbed anything they might have left and we all walked out into a rainy fall day.


    Art and Victor talked together as I left the office. Victor had to be in whatever group of conspirators existed in the company. I didn¡¯t have hard proof, but it was worth a look. I made a mental note to have Hal watch for times in the surveillance when Victor and Art were talking.


    Vaughn and I met near the helipad. He looked around, and seeing no one else nearby, said, ¡°Anything weird happen with Victor?¡±


    ¡°Not so far. He was about to talk to me about Emmy, but we got interrupted¡ªwhich might be for the best. If he went on too long, I might have been tempted to tell him that Emmy¡¯s got zero interest in him and that might have turned messy.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say anything about that unless you¡¯re ready to deal with the fallout. I¡¯d figure Emmy should give you the okay at the very least.¡±


    Nodding, I said, ¡°I get that. She was worried about what Victor might do and I can¡¯t say she¡¯s wrong to worry.¡±


    Then I pointed upward toward the grey sky. ¡°Is this all yours?¡±


    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s part me and part normal fall weather.¡±


    When I got back, I sent Hal the newly downloaded recordings and started doing my school assignments.


    As I worked in my lab, I had a notification in my implant. It was a message from Hal saying, ¡°I¡¯ve finished converting the most recent recordings as well as the older ones. You may view them anytime you wish.¡±


    I looked over the list, stopping when I saw the name ¡°Russell Hardwick.¡±

 Truth and the True: Part 6

    It¡¯s worth noting that technically I hadn¡¯t received a physical list. I¡¯d received a list as part of Hal¡¯s message to my implant. When I thought about the message, I knew everything on the list. Russell Hardwick¡¯s name was on one of the most recent conversations.


    It had happened yesterday around eight in the morning, only a few hours before I¡¯d come into work. The message described the location as Sandy LePage¡¯s office, but the meeting was with Ryan McCall.


    Of all the meetings, and there were more than 20, this one stood out because of who was involved, when it happened, and where.


    I knew I wanted to look at it first.


    Hal had placed the files on the League¡¯s server, but I didn¡¯t need those. I could view them directly from my implant. I thought about opening the file and then it was open and found myself viewing Sandy¡¯s office from the inside wall. I¡¯d sent the bot to burrow into a bookshelf, giving it a view of the entire room.


    It was a room I¡¯d never been inside physically, but I knew it well enough by now.


    Sandy had a corner office that could arguably be a suite. The walls were mirrored glass from the outside. From the inside, they looked out on the lawn and woods behind the building. Going by the view alone, it felt like Sandy had a desk in the middle of a forest.


    Of course, it wasn¡¯t just a desk. From left to right, it had a small bar, a long table for meetings in front of big-screen television, a long, t-shaped desk that had two chairs and two monitors, and a private bathroom including a shower. In the middle of the room, in front of the bookshelf and under my bot, it also had a couch and a couple of chairs that made it feel like a living room.


    I didn¡¯t know if all of that qualified as a room or not, but it felt like at least three.


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    Ryan McCall, the lead scientist for Higher Ground, sat behind the desk. As he watched, Russell Hardwick walked down the room, passing the bar, the long table, television and all of it with barely a glance.


    The thin line of his lips and the tight efficient gait made it clear that he wasn¡¯t happy to be there. Though I couldn¡¯t read his mind, watching him, I could easily imagine him punching the next person he saw.


    After spending the last few years in costume on and off, it felt strange to see an overweight, middle-aged man in a blue business suit in the grasp of the same emotions I¡¯d seen on the face of murderers and small-time thugs.


    Ryan smiled slowly as Hardwick approached, standing and beginning to walk around the desk to shake his hand.


    Hardwick¡¯s lip curled and he walked past Ryan, ignoring the outstretched hand, and sat down in the chair.


    When Ryan shook his head and sat down in his chair, Hardwick said, ¡°Let¡¯s get this over with. You¡¯ve got something of mine. How much do I have to pay to get it back?¡±


    Lines of something glittery in Ryan¡¯s green shirt sparkled as he pulled out a flash drive, setting a tic in Hardwick¡¯s cheek going.


    ¡°You¡¯re meaning this?¡± Ryan held the drive over the desk. ¡°What makes you sure I¡¯ve brought you here to blackmail you? I might be here to play Good Samaritan and return a man his stolen property.¡±


    Hardwick frowned. ¡°You might be and yet I somehow doubt it. We both know what¡¯s on that flash drive. The only reason you¡¯d have it is because you had someone steal it and the only reason you¡¯d have someone steal it is because you know it makes me look bad.¡±


    Ryan dropped the flash drive into a desk drawer and closed it, the lock clicking into place. ¡°That¡¯s not the only reason we¡¯d have someone steal it¡ªif we did that. We might have someone steal it because we want you to do the right thing, but don¡¯t trust you to do it without the right motivation.¡±


    Hardwick stared at him. ¡°If you all want more money, you¡¯ve made a big mistake. I¡¯ve put millions into your company and I¡¯ll put millions more in if I think it¡¯s a good investment. If you¡¯re thinking that you can force me to do it, you¡¯re making an enemy you don¡¯t have to make and if you¡¯ve read the files on that drive, you know why that should frighten you.¡±


    Ryan shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s more to life than money. What we want is bigger. We want to control our own destiny. We know you have connections in the Nine. So do we, but we want out and we want you to help us get out.¡±

 Truth and the True: Part 7

    Hardwick laughed though it didn¡¯t have the joy and surprise of most laughter. ¡°You want me to go to war with the Nine? Don¡¯t kid yourself. I¡¯m sure we¡¯re every bit as compromised as anyone else. The moment we try to do anything, they¡¯ll know.¡±


    Ryan shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not asking that. I¡¯m asking that you talk to people over there and see what you can do to free us from them. Say that you want us for yourself. Since they know you¡¯re friendly to them, they¡¯ll know that if they want something from us, they can get it.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s uncle stared at Ryan and let out a sigh. ¡°What the hell are you thinking? My dealings with the Nine aren¡¯t from a position of power. I hired them to keep whatever¡¯s left of the Cabal away from my people and my business. Those bastards are still out there. The Nine have the connections to keep them away. It¡¯s a near thing, though. From what I¡¯ve heard, the Cabal¡¯s personal army wants to go after the Heroes¡¯ League, but they¡¯re not going to stop there. Some of my employees'' kids work with the Heroes¡¯ League now and the rest? They may not be in the League, but the Cabal¡¯s been after us for years. I¡¯ve got a duty to keep my people safe and if it means I have to work with the Nine, I¡¯ll work with the Nine.¡±


    Hardwick stood up from his chair, looking down at Ryan. ¡°You can release those documents to the authorities if you want, but if you¡¯re thinking about it, keep this in mind. The Nine already knows all of it. I don¡¯t lose anything by askingfor their help, but you guys lose everything if they decide to use their connections in government to pull your access to Abominator tech. You need to ask yourself if that¡¯s what you want because if the Nine decide to go after you, I¡¯ll pull your funding. Ask yourself where your business is without me or them before you try to blackmail me.¡±


    Only the tightness around Ryan¡¯s lips hinted at his thoughts. ¡°There¡¯s something you don¡¯t know and you don¡¯t want to push us to expose Hardwick Industries¡¯ connection to Red Lightning¡¯s breeding program before you let me have my say. We¡¯ve got complete control over the birthing chambers now.¡±


    Ryan grinned as Russell Hardwick¡¯s eyes widened.


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Ryan continued, ¡°we have access to the ability to clone people and modify human DNA along with thousands of Abominator designs and modifications that will work on humans and aliens alike. In our reports to Hardwick Industries, we¡¯ve told you about our success in using Dr. Griffin¡¯s techniques, but we haven¡¯t told you everything.


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    ¡°Our people discovered how to understand the physical controls for the birthing chambers at a level allowed to the Abominators¡¯ lowest servants but they kept on working at it and someone, just a few weeks ago, figured out how to give one of our people complete access to the birthing machine. There¡¯s a genetic structure that makes Abominator technology respond to human commands as if they were Abominators. It opens up everything to us. Everything their civilization achieved¡­ They ruled the galaxy. We could do that. It could be humans. And Higher Ground in combination with Hardwick Industries will make billions, if not trillions, of dollars off of it. Given time, I might even be understating what we¡¯ll get.¡±


    Hardwick stood in front of the desk, saying nothing, making no noise but the quiet rasp of his breathing at first. Then, ¡°This genetic structure, you¡¯ve given it to one person. Why only one?¡±


    Ryan¡¯s face froze for a second. ¡°It¡¯s complicated. The Citizen¡¯s Mark-that¡¯s what it¡¯s called¡ªwon¡¯t work on just anybody. We tried to add it to other people before him, but the machine wouldn¡¯t do it. Something was missing from their genetic makeup. We don¡¯t know what, but we¡¯re having our man investigate. When we know, we can give it to more people.¡±


    Nodding, Russell Hardwick said, ¡°This man you¡¯ve got. What¡¯s he like? Is he loyal? Is he competent? I know what kind of people you¡¯ve got working for you¡ªpeople the government pegged as so smart they¡¯re potential supervillains. Can you trust him?¡±


    Leaning back in his chair, Ryan appeared to consider the question. After a few seconds, he leaned forward, saying, ¡°Yes. He¡¯s been with us since the beginning of the business. He¡¯s one of our first hires and he¡¯s been successful at every task we¡¯ve thrown at him.¡±


    Hardwick sat back down in the chair. ¡°There¡¯s no chance he¡¯d try to prevent you from finding out why the Citizen¡¯s Mark won¡¯t work on other people? Because the way I see it, he¡¯s got a monopoly right now. There¡¯s nothing stopping him from controlling every Abominator artifact he sees. What¡¯s he going to become then? Worse, what if he uses that birthing chamber to give himself more power?¡±


    Ryan shook his head. ¡°He won¡¯t. He¡¯s loyal. We know what he wants and we¡¯re giving it to him a little at a time, keeping him hungry. And just like with everyone else, we¡¯ve got insurance in case he goes rogue.¡±


    Hardwick¡¯s mouth twisted into a shape that wasn¡¯t quite a smile. ¡°The same kind of insurance you had for Dean Whiteford? Or is it just blackmail?¡±


    Eyes never leaving Hardwick¡¯s face, Ryan¡¯s barely moved. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you¡¯re talking about. We¡¯re all quite saddened by Dean¡¯s death even though we¡¯d been having some differences with him recently. As for our loyal employee, we¡¯re taking all appropriate precautions to insure that he remains loyal.¡±


    At that point Hardwick did grin. ¡°I understand and I¡¯ll think about your offer. Don¡¯t try to hurry me. Releasing what you¡¯ve got might destroy my career, but whoever replaces me won¡¯t give these kinds of offers appropriate consideration.¡±

 Truth and the True: Part 8

    Standing up and stepping away from the chair, Hardwick grinned wider. ¡°There¡¯s one more thing you should know. Those files you took included records from Red Lightning¡¯s breeding program and how our company assisted him at that time as well as things I¡¯ve done to protect the products of that breeding program¡ªincluding hiring the Executioner, a known criminal.


    ¡°Now what you¡¯re thinking is how much revealing that will hurt me. What you should be thinking of is how far that means I¡¯m willing to go to protect myself and my people. You should also be wondering about the products of that breeding program. You remember Justice Fist and how I bankrolled them? They¡¯re not the only people with powers to come out of that program. They¡¯re just the ones you¡¯ve heard of. You should remember that if you ever come to the conclusion that we¡¯re having problems. I don¡¯t have any intention of ending up like Dean Whiteford. Are you clear on that?¡±


    Ryan stood up behind his desk. As he did, the smile on his face wavered before turning back into a professional, if fake, smile. ¡°You¡¯ve made your point. We¡¯ll give you the time you need, but don¡¯t take too long. Information wants to be free. You never know where it might end up or when.¡±


    Walking toward the door, Hardwick turned to take a long look at Ryan. ¡°I¡¯ll remember that. You should too.¡±


    Then he walked out and shut the door. The recording ended.


    I came back to myself in my lab. It had only taken a few seconds, but it felt like a different world. To be fair, it had confirmed almost all of everyone¡¯s suspicions. I¡¯d suspected that Ryan was involved in whatever was going on or at least that he wasn¡¯t one of the good guys. Lim, Vaughn, and anyone on the team had suspected that Russell Hardwick might be involved with the Nine. Stephanie had suspected the connection between Dean Whiteford¡¯s death and Higher Ground.


    The idea that someone in Higher Ground¡¯s leadership might blackmail Hardwick into getting the Nine to leave them alone and then bribe him with money and power if he succeeded?


    I hadn¡¯t seen that coming. Maybe I should have, but I hadn¡¯t. And then there was the successfully implantation of a Citizen¡¯s Mark. That meant that the whole library and the entire functionality were accessible to someone and it was anyone¡¯s guess as to who.


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    Well, not anyone¡¯s guess. They¡¯d given us a clue. Ryan had said it was one of the earliest employees. All I had to do was to get a list of who¡¯d been hired and when. Of course, the whole company wasn¡¯t more than five years old. I didn¡¯t know exact dates, but I had a feeling that ¡°one of our earliest employees¡± could easily cover half the company.


    Sandy LePage would probably be the earliest employee given that the company was his idea. It wasn¡¯t impossible that Ryan himself might be the one with the mark and was misdirecting Hardwick.


    I did a quick pass down the list of recordings. This one had been the most recent. Even if I went through all the rest of them, I still wouldn¡¯t know what Hardwick had said. On the other hand, going through the rest of them would give me more context and that might make a world of difference.


    I went through the others. None of them were as dramatic as that one. Most of them were business meetings where one problem or another was being discussed. For example, the problem of how to store artifacts and allow access while lowering the risk of theft or employee use. Some meetings involved Sandy and Ryan and those sometimes turned into conference calls.


    It didn¡¯t take more than a few to realize that if I were in a mood to take notes and associate dates with events that happened after the meetings¡ªmaybe by watching them in chronological order and doing more research¡ªI might understand a lot about the deeper workings of the business and discover more crimes in the process.


    Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t in the mood. Between the homework that had to be done by tomorrow, the implications of the meeting I¡¯d watched, and the gut-level conviction that this was about to get worse, I didn¡¯t have enough attention to go around.


    I sent all of it to Lim and then went back to my homework. His people could go through it and get more out of it than I could. After thirty minutes of working on calculus, another obvious move struck me. I sent Tara a link to all of it.


    She¡¯d be able to make links between the various facts more easily than could at this moment and if she needed to ask me questions, I had the time¡ªor at least I would later.


    A couple of hours later I¡¯d finished everything I needed to finish by the next day and decided I could relax for a little while and then go to bed.


    I wasn¡¯t sure that I wanted to relax in the lab though. All the bots, the Rocket suit pieces, and the partially finished experiments demanded attention in their own way. Sometimes this was relaxing, but not when you knew that about an hour away someone with a Citizen¡¯s Mark had access to a warehouse for Abominator devices.


    Thinking back to the fight with Art and Zola at Hardwick Industries, I remembered how they disappeared when they got far enough away from the building.


    That might have been a supervillain, but it might have been Abominator technology.


    As I began to put my books and computer into my backpack, HQ registered a call.It identified the caller as Agent Isaac Lim.

 Truth and the True: Part 9

    I clicked and took the call. Lim sat at his desk at home. Blinds covered the window behind him, but the darkness of the night outside surrounded the edges of the blinds.


    Lim sighed and shook his head as he saw me. ¡°You struck pay dirt. Even though I want more detail and more proof, we¡¯ve now got direct confirmation from Ryan and Hardwick¡¯s own mouths that they¡¯re connected to the Nine. We even know that they¡¯re planning to do things that sound questionable once they¡¯ve gotten out from under the Nine¡¯s thumb as well as a near confirmation of the murder of Dean Whiteford.¡±


    He stopped and looked directly at me or at the camera. ¡°As of this moment, the investigation¡¯s entered a new stage. We have to decide whether we arrest Ryan and Hardwick, raid their offices, or send someone in to gather more information in another way. By someone, I¡¯m meaning you.¡±


    I don¡¯t know the exact expression on my face, but I felt myself frown.


    Lim held up his hands. ¡°I know. Sending you and Stephanie in to find more information isn¡¯t the best option. We don¡¯t even have a good target and I know I normally wouldn¡¯t tell a civilian asset to go find something to steal. It would let them know someone¡¯s on to them. At the same time, Stephanie, Vaughn and you aren¡¯t typical civilians. You¡¯re all trained by Stapledon in various specialties of superhero work. If you as superheroes chose to take some sort of action that got more information, I couldn¡¯t do a thing about it.¡±


    He paused. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t want to compromise the investigation, of course, but that¡¯s the thing. If I want to go further, that¡¯s going to happen anyway. Everything I choose to do to move forward will have to go outside my team for approval and that means that the Nine will have an opportunity to learn what¡¯s going on. Almost the best thing that could happen would be if important evidence disappeared before the Nine destroyed it. The thumb drive full of evidence on Hardwick would be nice. There might be more in that office that would be worth a look.¡±


    I looked at him through the screen, hoping that the means of encryption we were using was good.


    ¡°The Hardwick thumb drive is the only one I¡¯m aware of. We could look for good targets. Honestly, we might be able to find more. For all I know, Stephanie might know of things I¡¯ve never gotten a chance to ask her about.¡±


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    Nodding along as I talked, Lim said, ¡°Good thought. Just remember, whatever the two or three of you do, it¡¯s an independent Heroes¡¯ League thing. It¡¯s not something done at my direction. What I¡¯m going to officially tell you to do is this¡ªkeep your eyes open for anything that looks like evidence and be aware of where it is. We want to know if there¡¯s a risk that it will disappear. Don¡¯t do anything that could put yourself at risk and keep on recording. At the point that we¡¯ve gone through the additional recordings you sent, it might be all over for them both.¡±


    Leaning back in my chair, I said, ¡°That¡¯s a little optimistic.¡±


    Lim nodded. ¡°It is, but a guy can hope. The other thing that I¡¯m going to hope is that if the Nine have hooks in the FBI that they aren¡¯t watching what I¡¯m doing hard enough that they¡¯re aware of what we¡¯ve got here. It wouldn¡¯t be a good thing if I or the people on my team got shot or disappeared.¡±


    I looked at his image in my monitor. ¡°Is that likely?¡±


    Lim checked the windows behind him, reaching out to touch the ends of the blinds. ¡°It¡¯s likely enough that I¡¯m going to replace the blinds with ones that make it harder to tell if anyone¡¯s in this room¡ªnot to mention the rest of the house. I¡¯m not expecting immediate assassination, but I don¡¯t like to be watched and if someone is out there, I don¡¯t want to make it easy.¡±


    ¡°Wow.¡± I stared into the room behind him. ¡°I didn¡¯t know we were that close to direct conflict with the Nine.¡±


    Lim glanced back toward the window but turned around to face me. ¡°Please don¡¯t do that. You¡¯re making me nervous. I¡¯ve got a security system designed by contacts that I have and there¡¯s every reason to believe I¡¯m safe. We are close to one of their projects, though, and when that¡¯s true anything can happen.¡±


    ¡°Crap.¡±


    Lim smiled. ¡°Look, it¡¯s not the first time for me. There¡¯s a real risk, but it¡¯s one I can live with. I¡¯ve taken more precautions than you¡¯re aware of. Anyway, I don¡¯t have anything else to pass on. Good job getting the video. We¡¯ll be going through all of it. Now, go out there and find out what else you can get before it disappears forever. My advice is that you don¡¯t go off half-cocked. If it¡¯s something that you can easily make disappear, it¡¯s a good target. If it¡¯s something everyone will immediately notice is gone, watch but don¡¯t touch¡ªunless everything goes to Hell. Then use your own judgment.¡±


    We signed off shortly after that and I texted Stephanie, ¡°Are you aware of any records the leadership is hiding? Something that might contain records of connections with the Nine?¡±


    She wrote back, ¡°I might.¡±

 Truth and the True: Part 10

    Looking down at the words on my phone, I wrote back, ¡°What?¡±


    Three dots that indicated that she was writing appeared. I waited. Then more words appeared, accompanied by a beep. ¡°There¡¯s a file cabinet in Sandy¡¯s office and he shoved a bunch of folders in there when I got close to his desk. Don¡¯t know what¡¯s in there, but he didn¡¯t want me to see it.¡±


    Even as I thought about my reply, she added, ¡°Might not be the Nine, but it¡¯s worth a look.¡±


    I wrote back, ¡°Right. Want to talk here? Tomorrow night after work?¡±


    Seconds later, ¡°Yes. Seven?¡±


    That worked for me. I put my books and computer into my backpack, took the elevator upstairs, and went to bed.


    * * *


    Checking email on my phone after I saw an email from Dr. Hansen, head of the Engineering Department. Could I drop by his office after class? I had an hour between classes that morning that I¡¯d been planning to use to read ahead or start my Calculus problems, so the time worked, but it wasn¡¯t convenient.


    I replied yes. This had the feel of an order instead of a request.


    Dr. Strazinsky left no sign that he thought that I was in trouble or even that he knew about the meeting. He lectured, reminded us that we had an assignment listed on the class site, and then class was over.


    I arrived in the Engineering Department and walked over to Dr. Hansen¡¯s office. The door was open. I leaned in and knocked on the door.


    Dr. Hansen looked up from his laptop and waved me in, saying, ¡°Please close the door.¡±


    As meetings with authority figures go, those are words that start unpleasant conversations more often than they start pleasant ones. At the same time, Dr. Hansen didn¡¯t look angry to me. He stood up, drawing himself up to his near seven-foot height. It might have been more intimidating if he weren¡¯t thin as opposed to muscular. Also, he was holding out his hand for a handshake.


    Ignoring that part of my brain that had been suddenly reminded of Tara trying to teach Tiger tricks (¡°Shake? Shake? Yes! Good boy! Who¡¯s a good boy? Who¡¯s a good boy? Yes, you!¡±), I shook the professor¡¯s hand.


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    We both sat down.


    Closing his laptop, Dr. Hansen looked over the desk at me. ¡°Nick, this isn¡¯t about you. We¡¯ve had no complaints. Everyone says you¡¯re doing a good job, but¡ª¡±


    And there I expected him to end the sentence with, ¡°we¡¯re ending the internship,¡± because that would have been a mess.


    Instead, he ended the sentence with, ¡°¡ªthere¡¯s been a security breach at Higher Ground. Someone¡¯s been taking recordings inside the building and your name was specifically mentioned in one of the videos. That doesn¡¯t mean that we think you took the video, but from what was said you were in the area when it was taken. So, it falls to me to ask you, did you or anyone else you know at Higher Ground take video inside the building?¡±


    I¡¯d already triggered my implant to help in case I couldn¡¯t remain calm on my own, but the implant didn¡¯t notify me that it was helping as I said, ¡°No,¡± with what I hoped was a convincing level of calm.


    Dr. Hansen nodded at my response but kept on talking. ¡°That¡¯s good to hear, but I can¡¯t leave it there. Hardwick Industries is one of the major places we place interns. Losing their confidence would do our internship program major damage. That¡¯s still true if there are problems with one of our interns with the Higher Ground because there¡¯s a connection between the two companies.¡±


    He watched me as he talked, seeking signs of a guilty conscience, maybe?


    In my head, my implant received notifications from my phone. It hadn¡¯t been as hard to make a connection as you might think, allowing me to give alien technology some of the same features as an Apple Watch.


    I¡¯d received a message from Lim on the encrypted network Supers used. It said that another team had been assigned to this investigation and that he¡¯d been required to share the videos with them. ¡°But don¡¯t worry, your name isn¡¯t associated with the video¡ªjust the mad scientist list and our investigation. That¡¯s bad enough, but we think it¡¯s likely they¡¯ve guessed you¡¯re working with us from the beginning.¡±


    If I weren¡¯t already trying to look as calm as possible, that might have shaken my composure. I¡¯d have read the entire message, but for the moment, this was enough. Anyway, Dr. Hansen hadn¡¯t noticed that I¡¯d been distracted. He¡¯d kept on talking, ¡°I¡¯ve read that you know people there now. One is a friend from before¡ª¡±


    ¡°I knew Stephanie a little from my scholarship program, but more now,¡± I added as he talked.


    ¡°Right, but you know other people there too, not from your scholarship program, but since you were hired. Are any of them or anyone you know involved in espionage against Higher Ground or Hardwick Industries?¡±


    He stopped, watching me, eyes wide, mouth in a scowl.


    If his expression had become more intense, I knew why. As he¡¯d asked the last question, he¡¯d touched the pin on his tie. As he did, the implant recognized the sounds as, ¡°Dominator command inflections,¡± and my glasses began to vibrate, making sounds designed to be outside the human hearing spectrum, but also capable of blocking out the sounds that would have forced me to answer his question whether I wanted to or not.

 Truth and the True: Part 11

    Unsure as to how to fake being mind-controlled, I said, ¡°No,¡± answering as if I didn¡¯t know he¡¯d asked a question I shouldn¡¯t be able to refuse.


    He paused, still scowling and then asked again. ¡°You don¡¯t know of anyone who wants to know about Higher Ground¡¯s research or about the people who work for the company?¡±


    The HUD in my lenses continued to indicate that the glasses¡¯ sound blocking continued to be active as he spoke¡ªas did my implant.


    Deciding that thinking through my answer might hint that I was unaffected, I went with the first thing that came into my head. ¡°I¡¯m sure that many scientists would love to know about the research. I¡¯m sure that competing labs would want to know how Higher Ground got their artifacts. None of them have contacted me to ask, so I don¡¯t know who¡¯d specifically want to know. If I were worried about corporate espionage, that¡¯s where I¡¯d start.¡±


    Dr. Hansen sighed and shook his head. ¡°Thanks for your suggestion and thanks for answering my questions. I don¡¯t have anymore.¡±


    He stood up behind his desk which was my cue to leave. Shaking my hand again, he added, ¡°I¡¯m glad we got to have this talk. Don¡¯t worry about your standing in the internship. Asking you about it was simply a precaution.¡±


    I let go of his hand and said, ¡°Thanks. I get it. It is all secret stuff.¡±


    He followed me to the door and we walked out of his office into the departmental suite. It looked normal. The secretary was at her desk in the middle of the room with a student assistant who was arranging piles of paper on the counter.


    Other students were waiting at the doors of other professors. A couple of profs were talking to each other in a corner. I¡¯d taken classes from both of them and they waved at me.


    The one thing that was out of place? That was the guy waiting to the right of Dr. Hansen¡¯s office as I came out. On the face of it, he wasn¡¯t completely out of place. Wearing a tan Carhartt and blue jeans, he matched the profile of most of the university¡¯s maintenance workers. The brush cut combined with male pattern baldness and an age I pegged as mid-thirties fit that idea too, but my gut said that this was someone with combat training.


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    It was something about the way he tracked where I was going without moving his body to watch me¡ªjust his eyes. Thanks to the glasses I wore, I had a close to 360-degree view of my surroundings.


    He discussed something with Dr. Hansen, eyes glancing in my direction the entire time. As an experiment, I stopped and grabbed a brochure for an off-campus international semester and they both stopped talking to watch until I turned to walk away again.


    If that had been all, I might have dismissed it as nothing, but it wasn¡¯t. I knew the Carhartt jacket wasn¡¯t a Carhartt jacket. It was a subtle thing, but I knew the material. My grandfather had designed an early version of it and I¡¯d worked with it when he was training me. This was the kind of material used in superhero costumes and equipment ten years ago.


    I might have been able to dismiss that if I¡¯d wanted to, but my glasses were designed to display the results of different sensor types combined into one image just like other Rocket suits. My HUD showed the material as denser than normal¡ªbulletproof (depending on the bullet). It also showed an even denser pistol-shaped object hanging underneath his left arm.


    That was the moment where I might have been tempted to run except that I knew that nothing would cue them in more quickly than that. I kept on walking at a normal pace until I got out of the department and even then only walked a little bit faster down the hall until I walked out the front door.


    Carhartt jacket guy walked out when I was halfway to the next set of buildings and heading closer to the middle of campus. He didn¡¯t even look at me beyond a glance. Then he walked away, heading in a direction that would take him off-campus within a block or two.


    Though he might be trying to throw me off, it seemed more likely that he¡¯d been told I wasn¡¯t a threat. I imagined that if I¡¯d admitted to bugging the place, he¡¯d probably have gotten all the information out of me that he could and then sent me on a walk with Carhartt guy. Whether that would be a trip to talk to the Nine or to my death, I didn¡¯t need to know.


    For now, I was free.


    I¡¯d been good enough with the implant¡¯s help to convince them that I knew nothing and when I thought about it, Dr. Hansen hadn¡¯t said anything that tied him to the Nine. I¡¯d only known I was being coerced because the implant told me and Lim sent me a message. Aside from that, it had been subtle.


    I decided to keep the recording of the scene for later, but if I gave it to Lim, I¡¯d give it to him unofficially.

 Truth and the True: Part 12

    In the face of all that, I knew what the first thing I had to do was. Send Lim a message so that he knew that he was right. The Nine had infiltrated the FBI¡ªand by the way, they¡¯d also infiltrated the Engineering Department of my university.


    In the grand scheme of things, the FBI was more important to the country, but the university had a more immediate impact on my life. Lim would want to know in any case.


    As I walked toward the library¡ªwhich happened to be near my next class¡ªI thought about what I was going to do this afternoon. I¡¯d been planning to go to work, but was going to work the wisest possible thing I could do? On the one hand, Dr. Hansen had decided I¡¯d passed his test, but if the Nine had someone at Higher Ground and they recognized that I was protected instead of innocent, I¡¯d be in the middle of enough enemies that I¡¯d have no choice but break out the Rocket suit or do something that an average college student shouldn¡¯t be capable of.


    I wondered if there might be some way to use my implant to resist whatever vocal tones forced people to follow commands. It would be harder to remove than glasses.


    When you considered that I¡¯d gotten the implant from a civilization where they were as common as cellphones, but also one where people used their voices to control nations that spanned multiple star systems, it seemed likely they¡¯d have already figured out how to do that¡ªif it was possible.


    A cold wind blew as I walked down the sidewalk through the middle of campus. A few people zipped up their jackets.


    Thinking about it more, I realized that I had to go to work. If anyone knew that I skipped after Dr. Hansen interrogated me, they might suspect that I understood what had happened.


    The only reason that I shouldn¡¯t would be if Lim contacted me to say that this was enough and the FBI was going in to shut them down.


    My heart pumped a little harder at the thought and it struck me that I should tell the rest of the team that the potential existed that they¡¯d have to extract me from the Nine¡¯s hands¡ªpreferably before people handed me over to the Dominators.


    I didn¡¯t want my mindset ¡°adjusted.¡±


    Not wanting to write out all of that on my walk, I waited until I reached the library, sent a message to the whole group and included the video of Dr. Hansen, something that turned out to be more work than anticipated. It involved sending the video to Hal for conversion, attaching it to the message only after that, and finally sending the whole thing to the group.


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    The results were predictable. Haley asked me if I was sure I had to go. Daniel told me to make a point of sending a ¡°yellow¡± the moment I got on the helicopter and that everyone should watch for a red after that.


    Cassie wrote that she¡¯d contacted some friends in the D.C. superteams and she could pull some favors and get here somehow.


    Other people in the group wished me good luck or to stay safe¡ªincluding my sister Rachel who wrote, ¡°Are you kidding me? You¡¯d better stay safe. I don¡¯t want to have to explain this to Mom.¡±


    A lot of people had League communicators or a connection to our system now¡ªthe original nine of us, some of the ex-members of Justice Fist (Sydney, Julie, Shannon, and Camilla), friends from the Stapledon program (including Tara, Samita, and Rod), Kayla, Izzy, Amy, Chris, and old friends in the hero community (Alex, Jenny, and Brooke).


    It felt like a vast cloud, a league of superheroes or even a legion (of nothing in particular), all of them offering help, or at least rooting for Vaughn and me because it wasn¡¯t as if I was going in alone.


    On that subject, Vaughn¡¯s post was, ¡°Shit! Lim¡¯s got no idea what we¡¯re walking into either, does he?¡±


    I wrote back, ¡°I doubt it. He just told me that we should go in, but to notify him in any distress call I made.¡±


    Lim had. His message had just appeared in my personal inbox.


    He was right to tell me to go in. It felt good to know that I wasn¡¯t going in alone, though. Not everyone could help if I needed it, but enough could that it felt like we had a chance.


    It was the best I¡¯d ever felt sitting in one of the library¡¯s line of wooden study carrels. I used my glasses wide-angle view to check around, seeing other students studying, walking off to check out books, or using their phones. I didn¡¯t see the fake maintenance worker or Dr. Hansen.


    I also didn¡¯t get any calculus homework done at all. The team¡¯s discussion kept on going even after I left for class and I didn¡¯t try to follow it. It was all I could do to take notes.


    By the time it was over, I had enough time to grab lunch at the student union, ride with Vaughn to Hardwick HQ, and get in the helicopter. While I caught a few messages and sent a yellow alert, I couldn¡¯t look at my phone during the ride. There were too many Hardwick Industries¡¯ executives for me to feel comfortable with that and obviously I couldn¡¯t talk to Vaughn about it.


    I didn¡¯t see Emmy at the desk when we arrived. That wasn¡¯t such a big deal. She wasn¡¯t always there, but Vaughn and I gave each other a look anyway.


    That wasn¡¯t the biggest surprise, though. When I arrived in the lab, I found that the birthing chambers were gone. Seeing my expression, Victor stood up from his cubicle and laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. They brought them into another room in the labs for some additional tests. They do that every month. It¡¯s no big deal.¡±

 Truth and the True: Part 13

    I¡¯d only been there for about a month, so I had no way to know if he were lying. On the other hand, even if he were telling the truth, it would still be an excellent excuse to make the birthing chambers disappear for a few days.


    Combined with Emmy¡¯s disappearance, my mind found it all too easy to imagine that they¡¯d grab her and then create the True while the machine was out of sight. Who¡¯d know? I certainly wouldn¡¯t because I didn¡¯t memorize the time needed to create the True while I was looking at them last--though I didn''t think it was too long. I¡¯d have to look in the birthing chambers¡¯ library to know the exact times it took to clone anything.


    Looking up at Victor, I said, ¡°Ok. I didn¡¯t know that.¡±


    It must have been good enough because Victor sat back down and I went and grabbed the psi-helmet from its storage locker. Part of me felt tempted to try to use the helmet for its original purpose¡ªreading minds.


    While I had more experience with telepathy than most people who weren¡¯t telepathic, I suspected I''d still have to learn something to make it useful. I didn¡¯t know how to use the helmet from experience, just the assumption that it couldn¡¯t be too different from talking to Daniel. Also, if anyone saw me using the helmet, there would be questions¡ªespecially given the business¡¯ now very clear connection to the Nine.


    No, now was the time to keep one¡¯s head down and look like a model unpaid employee.


    And that¡¯s what I did, half-expecting at any moment to get pulled away by Art and Zola and ripped to shreds, tortured, or at the very least threatened. I¡¯m not sure how much of my work counted in the first two hours because when you¡¯re watching the shadows around you, it¡¯s hard to have a coherent thought.


    I did my best to project calm, but I was checking my glasses'' near 360 degree view.


    Stephanie walked past about halfway through, stopping to ask, ¡°Is tonight still on?¡±


    She gave me a nod and walked away after I said yes.


    As I tried to put myself back into a mindset for writing code, Victor walked over to my cubicle, asking, ¡°Tonight?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Nothing special. She¡¯s dropping by my house and hanging around with me and my housemates.¡±


    He stood there for second and said, ¡°Okay. How¡¯s the helmet project going?¡±


    Though tempted to point out that he was preventing me from working on it, I told him, ¡°Making progress.¡±


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    He asked for more detail and we talked through things for the next thirty minutes. When we were done, he seemed satisfied. He¡¯d even made a few suggestions that might be useful.


    I started reading through the code again, trying to find the spot that I¡¯d been working on and recapture the thread of my thoughts. This time around, it worked, and I spent the rest of the day writing and testing sections of the program. By the end of work, I had made progress and found myself wishing I didn¡¯t have to leave by the helicopter¡¯s schedule.


    I did have to, though, and so I walked out, joining Vaughn by the helipad, and riding back to my house with him.


    It was October and the trees were losing leaves. We rode back in light rain. I wasn¡¯t sure what that meant for tonight and Stephanie¡¯s plans to go through Sandy¡¯s file cabinets, but it was worth keeping an eye on.


    During the ride I also took a look at the discussion that had followed my announcement. It was far too long to read through, but I did feel like I had to make sure that everyone knew that nothing much had happened during the day¡ªthat I was aware of anyhow. I¡¯d checked in with my bugs and they were undisturbed. I''d also downloaded all the recent footage while I was in.


    If we were going to sneak in and rifle through Sandy¡¯s office, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to send all of our footage through Hal and see if he noticed any good times to sneak in.


    Anyway, I let everyone know that I was fine. Vaughn had already said so, but confirmation didn¡¯t hurt. I also passed on what Stephanie and I were going to be talking about, hinting that I still might need a rescue if we broke in.


    That led to groans¡ªnot literal ones, obviously, but I could read between the lines. Jaclyn wrote, ¡°Keep us informed. We don¡¯t want you going in without backup.¡±


    A couple hours later found Stephanie, Vaughn, and I sitting on stools next to the counter in my lab in HQ. We¡¯d gone through what Lim had said and his fears about the Nine as well as the birthing chambers.


    ¡°Did they really take them to another room for testing? And do they really do that every month?¡± I watched Stephanie for her reaction.


    She nodded. ¡°They do. Every month. It¡¯s always around this time. It might be a little early by a couple days.¡±


    Opening her phone and checking her calendar, she added, ¡°It¡¯s about four days early.¡±


    Vaughn turned to face her. ¡°What about Emmy? I didn¡¯t see her on the way in.¡±


    With a smile, Stephanie said, ¡°She¡¯s fine. I saw her on the way out. She was Victor free. He¡¯d been walking over to see her a little before one¡ªwhen you arrive. She managed to avoid him today.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I looked at her, ¡°do you think we¡¯re just being paranoid after what happened with Dr. Hansen?¡±


    She met my eyes. ¡°No. Four days early is too early. Everyone else in the labs might be too wrapped up in Sandy¡¯s cult of personality to notice, but they¡¯ve never done that. I think you¡¯re right and more than that, if what you said about someone having a Citizen¡¯s Mark is right, they¡¯re probably using the days that it¡¯s out of the office to make stuff. You told me that some things take longer than they¡¯d have overnight? Well, if they time it right they could get a weekend plus a few weekdays every month. That might be enough to transform Art and Zola into whatever they are.¡±


    Nodding, Vaughn said, ¡°Yeah, that makes sense.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t believe I hadn¡¯t seen it, but she was right. I didn''t know the exact times they needed for anything in the library, but I didn''t remember seeing anything longer than five days¡ªincluding the True.


    Glancing from Vaughn to me, she said, ¡°We should go tonight.¡±

 Truth and the True: Part 14

    ¡°Tonight?¡± Vaughn cocked his head. ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯ve got anything going, but don¡¯t you think they¡¯re going to be extra watchful with Nick getting interrogated and the Nine involved?¡±


    ¡°For that matter,¡± I added, ¡°if they¡¯re making something or worse, making the True, they¡¯re going to be extra worried. I don¡¯t know what kind of security they¡¯d have, but something alien seems likely.¡±


    Stephanie nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why we should go tonight. It feels like things are escalating. They might not slow down until after everything is over.¡±


    I thought about it. She had a point. I wasn¡¯t sure that going there tonight was the only way to find out what was going on. It seemed likely that they¡¯d be less watchful if we waited, but it wasn¡¯t clear how long we¡¯d have to wait. Bugging the place so that I¡¯d have access to every room would take time too. I wasn¡¯t sure if I could do that in a way that would be much less risky than going over there tonight.


    With that in mind, I nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s say we do it. We¡¯re going to have to get in and out without being seen. More than that, we¡¯ll probably want back up in case they detect us and have enough people there that we can¡¯t get out without a fight.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°That sounds about right. Of course, we don¡¯t want to bring in so much backup that we tip-off that we¡¯re there either. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll need that much anyway. They¡¯re trying to get out from under the Nine¡¯s thumb, so they aren¡¯t going to be calling on them and pulling in Rook or any of their bignames.¡±


    That wasn¡¯t wrong as far as it went, but, ¡°That¡¯s not the whole story,¡± I said.¡°They¡¯ve got access to creatures made from the libraries in the birthing chambers and maybe direct access to working Abominator technology. When we fought Art and Zola, they were teleported out once they got to a specific spot. I don¡¯t know exactly what that was, but if it¡¯s Abominator tech, it¡¯s something that the company isn¡¯t specifically studying. And if they can teleport Art and Zola out, they might be able to teleport other people in or teleport us away. Also, if they¡¯ve got more tech we don¡¯t know about, we can¡¯t plan around it.¡±


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    Vaughn shook his head. ¡°If they¡¯ve got personal teleports, who knows what they¡¯ve got.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s my worry. I¡¯m not saying we can¡¯t possibly do this because I think we can, but even if they¡¯ve only got that, we¡¯ll be in a challenging situation once you throw in a bunch of Abominator designed monsters and a big fight.¡±


    Stephanie listened and nodded along until I was done. ¡°That¡¯s all true, but that¡¯s why we¡¯re going to avoid a fight. You know what my tech does. If I want to, I can make it so anyone that looks at me freezes and can¡¯t move or gets looped in their head until they can¡¯t see me anymore. This can work.¡±


    There were still holes that needed to be filled in for whatever we were about to try, but I decided to go along with it then. We couldn¡¯t plan for everything and if we wanted to make what we¡¯d already done matter, it would help if we had direct evidence of Higher Ground¡¯s leadership doing despicable things. That meant we¡¯d need access to the files Stephanie knew were in Sandy¡¯s office. The way things seemed to be going, it wasn¡¯t impossible that they¡¯d move them.


    If they became paranoid, this might be the last night they¡¯d keep them there.


    * * *


    An hour later, we were floating above the waters of Lake Michigan in the Heroes¡¯ League jet. We weren¡¯t the only ones in the jet. In addition to Vaughn, Stephanie, and me, we¡¯d brought along Tara, Haley, Sydney, and Marcus. Kayla had come into HQ to monitor what was going on remotely with the idea that if things when wrong, she¡¯d be able to call in more help. With the exception of Sydney, everyone we¡¯d brought along was stealthy.


    Haley sat at the controls of the jet, looking at the lights of the old hotel on the beach. ¡°Do you want me to get in close or do you want to fly in from here?¡±


    Wearing an armored black costume with patterns outlined all over it, Stephanie held her face mask and goggles in one hand. ¡°I can¡¯t fly.¡±


    Haley shook her head. ¡°You won¡¯t have to. Vaughn or Nick will carry you down.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll just hold us both up with a gust of wind,¡± Vaughn clicked his palm and material extended upward from his black uniform, covering his face.


    Frowning, Stephanie said, ¡°A gust of wind?¡± She looked over at me. ¡°You¡¯d hang on to me with your actual, physical hands, right?¡±


    My helmet formed over my face and the HUD lit up. ¡°Yeah, but Vaughn can hold a lot of weight in the air with wind.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Stephanie pulled her mask over her face and adjusted her goggles. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be held in the air with more air.¡±


    Deciding not to point out that my rocket pack wouldn¡¯t be keeping us in the air with anything more solid than Vaughn, I told Haley, ¡°I guess fly over the main buildings and we¡¯ll float down. There are entrances on the roof.¡±

 Truth and the True: Part 15

    ¡°I could just stop above the building, engage the gravitics and float down. Then you could walk out.¡± Haley checked the screens on the instrument panel and then glanced back up toward the windshield.


    ¡°I¡¯d like that.¡± Stephanie¡¯s mouth twisted as she glanced in my direction.


    Shrugging, I said, ¡°I was thinking that if anyone was watching upward, we¡¯d have a better chance for the jet to avoid detection if we floated down. I mean, yes, it¡¯s hard to see, but if they know what to look for, they¡¯ll see a jet shaped spot of nothing that turns into a jet in a blacker than black energy shield hovering above the building. If we drop out of it high enough, it won¡¯t notice the jet or any of the three of us unless they¡¯ve got phenomenal senses or exactly the right kind of Abominator tech.¡±


    ¡°Which they might,¡± Stephanie said.


    From further in the back, Sydney piped up. ¡°But they probably don¡¯t. Nick¡¯s right often enough. You should run with it.¡±


    Sydney hadn¡¯t shaped the block of steel she used as armor yet so all she looked like was a blond, seventeen year old in a blue Heroes¡¯ League costume slouching in one of the jet¡¯s seats.


    I hadn¡¯t expected her support, but I didn¡¯t mind.


    A few chairs down in the same row, Marcus glanced over at her. He had changed into a gray, faceless figure made of a substance that resembled liquid stone.


    ¡°We fought people with Abominator tech this summer. Nick¡¯s not always right, but about that? I¡¯d listen.¡± Then he sighed, sinking a little into his chair but watching Haley fly the jet.


    I wondered if he¡¯d really forgiven me for not telling him that his girlfriend was a godlike interdimensional being that had only temporarily taken human form? Of course, he might just be feeling tension because his unstated, proto-relationship with Sydney had been messed up by falling for Tikki, the being¡¯s alias.


    That wasn¡¯t all my fault. I¡¯d only discovered what she was when she¡¯d altered the flow of time to save his life¡ªwell after they¡¯d started their relationship.


    Haley glanced over at Marcus and then Sydney and frowned, saying only, ¡°I guess we¡¯ll stop about a thousand feet above the complex and you can float down.¡±


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    ¡°Sounds awesome,¡± Stephanie muttered, staring out at the dark sky and then the dark waters of lake below.


    Looking over at her, Vaughn grinned. ¡°It won¡¯t be that bad.¡±


    ¡°Says someone who can keep himself in the air by thinking.¡± She crossed her arms over her chest, the mask in her hand hitting the chair.


    In the next seat to the right of Stephanie, Tara put her hand on Stephanie¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You¡¯ll be fine. Nick and Vaughn are careful. Back when I lived in Infinity City, I once had to escape from a burning building while hanging on to the legs of a three foot long flying cockroach that only wanted to drop me. Now that was scary, but it worked out. It would have been easier if it hadn¡¯t dropped me off in a neighborhood controlled by intelligent fungus. The fungus turned out to be friendly though, so it¡¯s okay.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll try to remember that.¡± Stephanie had known Tara for several years and knew better than to ask more about the rabbit hole of insanity that was life in Infinity City.


    Tara grinned, ¡°Please do.¡±


    There were moments where I suspected that Tara was completely aware of how strange her Infinity City stories were and told them to see people¡¯s reactions.


    In any case, Tara wore one of my new Heroes¡¯ League costumes. She¡¯d set her color to black and accessorized with a utility belt and one of the small rocket packs. She hung two short sticks and a katana on her utility belt.


    With that decided, Haley flew the jet down the coast, Lake Michigan to the left and the shore and cities of the west coast of Michigan to the right. It didn¡¯t take long before Grand Lake and its suburbs were behind us.


    After that, most of the lights seemed to come from cottages and houses on the dunes above the beach.


    Unlike when I took in the helicopter, it took only a few minutes to reach Hardwick Industries¡¯ and Higher Ground¡¯s labs. The lights of the former hotel¡¯s rooms became visible along with the spotlights around the Hardwick Industries buildings in the clearing.


    A few cars and the Hardwick Industries helicopter sat outside the building, the cars in the parking lot, the chopper on the helipad.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Vaughn popped of his seatbelts to join me in looking out the windshield, ¡°do you see what I see?¡±


    ¡°The helicopter, you mean?¡± Vaughn nodded and I continued, ¡°I wonder who¡¯s there?¡±


    In a low voice, Vaughn said, ¡°It¡¯s got to be my uncle.¡±


    ¡°I hope not. Because if he¡¯s meeting with someone in Sandy¡¯s office, we¡¯re not going to get anything.¡± I leaned forward in my seat, looking down and trying to contact the bots below with my implant.


    The connections came all at once. I zeroed in on the ones I cared about. No one was in Sandy¡¯s office. The light near the door was on, but that was it. In fact, no one was in sight of any of my bugs in either the office or the labs¡ªthough the lights in the labs were on.


    In fact, the lights in a section of the lab building that I hadn¡¯t thought Higher Ground used were on. That was good in the sense that we didn¡¯t need to scrub the mission, but it was bad in the sense that I hadn¡¯t bugged that section of the building.


    I had a gut feeling that we needed to know what was going on in there.

 Who Are The True?: Part 1

    Vaughn, Stephanie, and I stood in Sandy¡¯s office. Since Vaughn wore one of my new Heroes¡¯ League costumes, he¡¯d set it to fully cover him and turn black with no symbols. On the off-chance that any cameras were working other than mine, they¡¯d see two men and a woman in unmarked costumes.


    Symbols for hacking people¡¯s brains covered Stephanie¡¯s costume, but they were only obvious when she turned them on. From what I understood, she planned to do her best to avoid using them since that would reveal that ¡°Hologram¡± (her mother¡¯s codename and now hers) was here.


    She¡¯d done a good job of avoiding it so far. She¡¯d planned for this before I even started my internship, getting access to the door system and setting up key fobs with names of fictional employees with full access to the building. Better, she¡¯d gotten access to the building¡¯s camera system and set things up so that the system would copy the recordings from the night before over.


    In many ways, Vaughn and I were dead weight, contributing nothing at all, but honestly, I¡¯d take being dead weight if it meant getting in and out with no problems.


    We stood next to Sandy¡¯s desk, the same long desk I¡¯d seen through my bot when Russell Hardwick visited Ryan here.


    Vaughn walked around the end. ¡°You said it¡¯s over here. Do you know which one? There are two.¡±


    I leaned over the wooden desk. He was right. There were two sets of drawers that could be filing cabinets. On the other hand, the desk was long enough that it had two chairs and two spots for laptops. From what I¡¯d seen in the video I¡¯d taken, both Ryan and Sandy used it.


    Stephanie shook her head. ¡°The one nearest you, I think.¡±


    Putting his hand on the handle of the top drawer, Vaughn took an experimental tug. ¡°It¡¯s locked. Do you have the key?¡±


    Leaning over to look, Stephanie said, ¡°Just because I could get us in, it doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ve got everything worked out. Let me come over there¡ª¡±


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    She was straightening up when Vaughn said, ¡°No, I¡¯ve got it,¡± grabbed the handle in one hand and yanked the drawer open, pulling one side of the handle out of the drawer while shattering the section of wood and metal around the top where the bolt went into the desk.


    Dr. Nation¡¯s regimen of exercise and food supplements had allowed some people in the Stapledon program to access latent powers. Vaughn¡¯s cousin and grandfather both had strength and toughness in the mix. It wasn¡¯t a surprise that Vaughn had access to a bit of that now.


    ¡°Shit,¡± Stephanie said, ¡°I was going to pick the lock. So much for leaving no hint that we were here.¡±


    Vaughn shrugged, ¡°There¡¯s no chance this doesn¡¯t end in a big fight. Every time we do anything, it ends in a big fight.¡±


    Stephanie glared at him. ¡°And it always will if you go in with that attitude. What¡¯s in the drawer?¡±


    Vaughn pulled out a stack of folders. ¡°No idea, but here they are.¡±


    Placing the folders on the desk, he opened the first one. It contained a stack of photocopies, each one showing a picture of writing in a language I didn¡¯t instantly recognize.


    In the first few moments, it seemed to be nothing more than pictures, but as I looked, my implant notified me that it did recognize them. They were writing from the Abominators'' language. To judge from the pictures, the letters and words were photographed outside somewhere cold (there were bits of snow) and had been carved into rock.


    Precisely where they had been taken wasn¡¯t obvious. I couldn¡¯t think of anywhere that reportedly had Abominator writing carved into the wall. From what I knew of the Abominators¡¯ history on Earth, the writing could be one hundred thousand years old.


    I stared at the first picture and then found that courtesy of my implant, I could read the language.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I told everyone. ¡°I don¡¯t know what we¡¯ve got here, but I should probably photograph each page. It¡¯s Abominator writing. It¡¯s not all that clear what it¡¯s about from looking at the first page here, but if it¡¯s got something to do with any of the artifacts out there, we¡¯re definitely going to want to know.¡±


    Pulling a couple more folders out of the drawer, Vaughn said, ¡°Abominator writing? That¡¯s crazy. Let¡¯s see what else they¡¯ve got.¡±


    Stephanie stared at me. ¡°You can read Abominator?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Kind of? It¡¯s a side effect of going to space last summer.¡±


    As she took a moment to process that, I made a quick connection to all of my different bots. As of this moment, no one appeared to be walking around the complex.


    So, at least I didn¡¯t have to worry about that¡ªyet.

 Who Are The True?: Part 2

    I set the implant to take an image of each page and flipped one after another until they were all in the implant¡¯s memory, not even bothering to read them. I¡¯d have time for that later. What we needed to do now was to get the information and get out.


    ¡°Oh, man,¡± Vaughn had opened one of the folders he¡¯d pulled out of the filing cabinet and stood looking at the pages inside. Then he reached into the folder and pulled out a small object. ¡°Remember this?¡±


    In his right hand, he held up a thumb drive. It looked like the one I¡¯d seen Ryan holding in the recording between him and Russell Hardwick.


    Vaughn added, ¡°From what I¡¯m seeing here, it looks they printed out transcriptions of what¡¯s on the thumb drive. I¡¯m thinking we just take the drive.¡±


    ¡°Makes sense to me.¡± I didn¡¯t even look up from the papers I was scanning.


    Stephanie picked up the folder Vaughn grabbed from the filing cabinet and began to flip through the pages. Vaughn put the thumb drive in one of the pouches on his belt and asked, ¡°What have you got?¡±


    ¡°Not the faintest fucking clue.¡± Stephanie flipped another page in the folder. ¡°It¡¯s all printouts of spreadsheets and financial stuff. I¡¯m assuming that it¡¯s important because the other stuff was important. Do either of you know what it means?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± Vaughn said, putting the folder he¡¯d grabbed back into the drawer.


    ¡°Me neither,¡± I told her and kept on scanning pages. ¡°Do you want me to scan them?¡±


    ¡°Already in process,¡± she said and tapped the side of the goggles she wore.


    ¡°It¡¯d be funny if in the end all of that was more important than what you and I grabbed.¡± Vaughn looked up from opening another drawer to glance in my direction.


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard some pretty crazy business stories,¡± he added, ¡°so it wouldn¡¯t be surprising. I can¡¯t imagine they¡¯d keep the second set of books on paper, but maybe it¡¯s a set of supplemental information? I¡¯m surprised that they¡¯d keep them here though.¡±


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    I shrugged. ¡°They¡¯d want to look at them here, I¡¯d think.¡±


    Frowning, Stephanie flipped another page. ¡°If I had any idea I¡¯d be doing this, I¡¯d have taken a few courses in accounting.¡±


    I mentally flipped through the different cameras I¡¯d placed throughout the labs and the offices. The offices were clear¡ªwhich was good, but the labs weren¡¯t. As I watched, I noticed Art and Zola slip out of a door I¡¯d never seen opened on one side of the labs¡ªthe area that I¡¯d seen lights from the last time I¡¯d looked.


    Art and Zola stepped out of the door, both of them wearing black unitards and ¡°monstered out¡± as I sometimes called Haley¡¯s transformation. That meant pointier teeth and extended claws, but otherwise, they looked like themselves. If they were like Haley though, they were stronger, more agile, and worse, had better hearing and sense of smell.


    As I¡¯d already seen, their ability to interpret those smells didn¡¯t match hers, but that wasn¡¯t going to be any comfort if they found us anyway.


    Bearing in mind Zola¡¯s expressed mixed feelings about her new abilities, it struck me as a bad sign that the two of them were now walking around transformed to patrol. On the other hand, they were only walking around the lab. They weren¡¯t coming over to the office.


    I decided to pass it on¡ªspeaking not only to Vaughn and Stephanie but also on the mission¡¯s communicator channel. ¡°Hey, everyone¡­ Art and Zola are patrolling the lab. They don¡¯t show any signs of heading over here yet, but I don¡¯t know that they won¡¯t.¡±


    Stephanie looked up from the papers to say, ¡°I¡¯ll hurry, but I think we need this.¡±


    Over the communicator, Marcus asked, ¡°Are those the people they transformed into Ascendancy soldiers?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Haven¡¯t you been paying attention?¡± I felt like I could hear Sydney scowling.


    Marcus didn¡¯t reply¡ªat least not over the communicator. Tara started talking and I thought I might have heard a few words by Marcus and Sydney in the background.


    Tara talked over them. ¡°I think you need to assume that they¡¯ll check the offices. Maybe it won¡¯t be this time, but definitely next time.¡±


    Stephanie flipped another page. ¡°I¡¯m almost done and I¡¯ve got a plan to handle them. Just give me a few minutes.¡±


    ¡°I think you¡¯ll get your time,¡± Tara said. ¡°But I think you might have to fight. From what I¡¯ve seen, they¡¯re more similar to Travis and Haley than the standard Ascendancy trooper we fought. It¡¯ll be risky, but I know you can win. Do you need help?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I think we¡¯re okay. My sonics nearly take Haley down. They should work against anyone with better than normal hearing. Plus, Vaughn¡¯s got lightning if we need it.¡±


    I made another check on the labs. Art and Zola had walked past the door without even looking at it.


    We had a chance.

 Who Are The True?: Part 3

    How much of a chance was a question I had the next time the door opened. Ronnie, the security guard we sometimes saw on the helicopter, walked out and with him came Russell Hardwick and Ryan McCall.


    It didn¡¯t take long to guess where they might be going next¡ªthe office that we stood in. It was possible that they might walk to the helicopter and leave, but anyone who took Murphy¡¯s Law seriously knew better.


    I let the picture fade into the background of my mind, setting the implant to warn me if the situation changed. Then I connected to the League communicator in my suit, telling anyone listening to the mission¡¯s channel, ¡°Russell Hardwick, his bodyguard, and Ryan McCall are leaving the room where they¡¯re ¡®cleaning¡¯ the birthing chambers. My bet is that they¡¯re coming back to the office. We¡¯re going to have to get out and it¡¯s possible that we may need to fight our way out.¡±


    Without looking up from the papers she was scanning, Stephanie said, ¡°How close are they?¡±


    I concentrated on the picture. They¡¯d stopped in the lab, standing near Victor¡¯s cubicle and along with it, mine. In short, they stood a little off to the side of where the birthing chambers ought to be.


    They weren¡¯t alone. Art and Zola had joined the group. They stood in a circle talking. Russell Hardwick grinned, asking them questions, laughing at their answers, completely comfortable as far as I could tell that Art and Zola now had fangs and claws.


    ¡°They¡¯re talking with Art and Zola in the lab near my cube. I¡¯ll tell you when they start walking again.¡±


    Stephanie nodded. Vaughn said, ¡°Good. Maybe we¡¯ve got time to put everything back so it¡¯s not so obvious we were here.¡±


    I leaned over the deck to look at the filing cabinet again. It looked like I remembered from a few minutes before¡ªbroken. It wasn¡¯t as if everything around the drawer had been ripped out, but the bolt at the top had left a hole when Vaughn ripped it out.


    Making sure I hadn¡¯t left the mission channel open, I said, ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    Putting back two of the three folders we¡¯d gotten out, Vaughn pushed the drawer shut. ¡°Look, it¡¯s not too bad. The door stays shut. If we get everything in and get out of here, they won¡¯t notice on the first look. On the second, yeah, they will, but we¡¯ll be out of here by then.¡±


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    I went back to watching Russell Hardwick, turning on the sound this time.


    Russell Hardwick smiled at Zola and gave a nod to Art. ¡°I¡¯m sure Ryan let you on my little secret. I¡¯m Red Lightning¡¯s son.¡±


    He held up his right hand, made a gap between his thumb and forefinger and let electricity arc from one to the other. ¡°Hardwick Industries is full of people whose parents or grandparents worked for Red Lightning and I¡¯ve taken care of them. That¡¯s how I ended up here tonight.¡±


    Ryan cleared his throat, ¡°Russ, you¡¯re right that they know, but we don¡¯t have to talk about that here. They¡¯re coming with us¡ª¡±


    Shaking his head, Hardwick said, ¡°I think it¡¯s important that they know what I¡¯m about and I doubt you¡¯ve told them everything. I think they should know what Ronnie knows.¡±


    Next to him, Ronnie nodded.


    Turning back to Art and Zola, he continued, ¡°You might remember how the new Heroes¡¯ League helped shut down the Cabal in Grand Lake a few years back. Well, I never believed that the Cabal was fully gone and I was right. They¡¯re not. I made a deal with the Nine to keep them out of our business and the people I have to protect. That¡¯s what I¡¯m about. We lived in fear of the Cabal for years, but after making a deal, we haven¡¯t had to.


    ¡°It¡¯s ironic, but having you steal proof of that deal means that I¡¯m going to help Ryan get the Nine out of this company, something I can only do because the Nine trust me.¡±


    Hardwick looked around the group. ¡°Ronnie knows what that means. His parents were followers of Red Lightning. I¡¯ve made sure he and his family have been safe all their lives because of that. With this deal, I own much more of this company and now all of you become mine. You¡¯ll find that if you¡¯re faithful to me, I¡¯ll be faithful to you beyond anything you expect.¡±


    Ryan smiled. To me, the smile seemed a little strained. ¡°Let¡¯s get over to the office and talk through the rest of it then. You¡¯ve seen what we¡¯ve got and you know what it¡¯s worth. We can get this done.¡±


    Hardwick nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s, but aren¡¯t Art and Zola supposed to guarding this place?¡±


    Shaking his head, Ryan said, ¡°We need them with us. Art, tell Victor to have the True take over security.¡±


    Art walked back to the closed door, disappearing into the room and coming out with two men. Tall and muscular with dirty blond hair and olive skin, they looked exactly like Tara might have if she were male.


    They wore gray armor made of a substance with an unearthly blue sheen. I wouldn¡¯t know for sure without watching them more, but to my eye the armor appeared to be powered.


    My implant labeled it as Abominator shock troops¡¯ armor, commonly used about 10,000 years ago. The armor¡¯s gleam made it hard for me to believe it could be that old. That meant that it either aged remarkably well or that they might have a machine in the backroom capable of making it.


    Either way, I needed to get back there.

 Who Are The True?: Part 4

    Despite my curiosity about the armor, my mind went back to the thing I should really be worried about. ¡°Hey everyone, they¡¯ve already got the True. Also, Art and Zola are coming along with Ronnie, Uncle Russ, and Ryan, so we¡¯d better get out of here.¡±


    Putting the papers back in the folder and handing it to Vaughn, Stephanie said, ¡°Ok. Done. I was going to go over them once to see if I missed anything, but we don¡¯t have time.¡±


    Vaughn put the folder in the drawer and pushed it shut. ¡°How are we doing?¡±


    I checked the cameras. Hardwick, Ryan, Ronnie, Art, and Zola were walking toward the lab¡¯s exit. I told him, ¡°Not well, they¡¯re heading out of the lab¡¯s exit which means they¡¯ll be entering through the door in the middle of the office. If we leave now, we can go through the hallway into the main Hardwick Industries¡¯ offices.¡±


    ¡°That works,¡± Stephanie walked around me toward the office¡¯s door. ¡°I¡¯ve got access to Hardwick¡¯s security systems too.¡±


    Vaughn and I followed her out. As we walked into Higher Ground¡¯s lobby, Vaughn glanced over at the cubicles and past them to the door that led out to the lab building.


    Then he caught up with Stephanie. ¡°Where¡¯d you learn how to hack into the security systems? Is that a super genius thing you just do natively?¡±


    Opening the door to the hallway, Stephanie looked out without responding. Then she glanced back at us. ¡°It¡¯s clear and yes, I¡¯m sure some of its freaky mad scientist stuff, but I learned a lot in Stapledon¡¯s information gathering courses. Plus, the Coffeeshop Illuminati have more super-geniuses than most groups. Hacking stuff is what they do.¡±


    Neither Vaughn nor I said anything as we followed her down the hall. I don¡¯t know what Vaughn was thinking about, but my mind went back to the Coffeeshop Illuminati. Depending on who you talked to, they were either a terrorist group or a vigilante group that didn¡¯t let the unwritten rules of super teams prevent them from doing what they thought was right.


    ¡°For the record,¡± Stephanie added, ¡°I still haven¡¯t told them anything, but if the True do explode out of here and destroy the entire human race, not calling the Illuminati in will have been a mistake.¡±


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    Then she stopped and motioned toward an open doorway into a Hardwick Industries office area. ¡°I¡¯m thinking we should wait there until we know they¡¯re in the office. We don¡¯t want them looking down the hall.¡±


    I checked the cameras in Higher Ground. They weren¡¯t in the labs at all. I switched cameras to check the cube farm. They were walking in the door. Art walked through last and shut it. Ronnie stepped inside first, looking around before he let anyone else in.


    As I watched him, I noticed that his eyes glowed a pale blue. I hoped that meant that he could shoot some kind of energy beams from his eyes because if he could see through walls, we were screwed.


    He didn¡¯t show any signs of seeing more than a normal person as he waved people in, checked up an down each row of cubicles, the door down our hallway, and finally into Sandy¡¯s office.


    ¡°Coast¡¯s clear, boss.¡± He stepped out of the way and let them walk past him inside.


    Ryan shook his head as he walked past Ronnie and inside. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you made us wait while you checked the office. No one but Sandy and I have keys.¡±


    Letting the scene go, I said, ¡°They¡¯re all in Sandy¡¯s office now. If we¡¯re going to leave before they discover the busted filing cabinet, now¡¯s our best shot.¡±


    Stephanie nodded, ¡°Can¡¯t argue with that.¡±


    We stepped back into the hall, walking even though I felt more like running. Vaughn kept on looking back as we walked. It was understandable. He hadn¡¯t been sure he wanted to deal with learning how to use my 360-degree vision system, so I¡¯d left it out of his costume.


    I turned up the volume on the office as we walked. They were going to notice the filing cabinet sooner or later. I wanted to know the second they did.


    Ryan¡¯s voice filtered through my implant into my head. ¡°Now that we¡¯re all in here, I¡¯d like to know what you think.¡±


    Hardwick let out a long breath. ¡°I¡¯m blown away. When you said super-soldiers earlier, I expected people like Captain Commando. I didn¡¯t expect that they could predict stock prices or other corporations'' business strategies. Sending them out to shoot people is absolutely ridiculous. We need them here in the company. That kind of insight could make billions of dollars of difference.¡±


    Ryan laughed. ¡°That¡¯s what I like to hear, but there¡¯s more than that. We¡¯ve found that different people¡¯s DNA mixes with the True¡¯s DNA in different ways. The True you¡¯ve seen are the product of one donor, but we¡¯ve created three different lines based on three different donors. You¡¯ll find they each have their own strengths.¡±


    Art¡¯s voice broke into the conversation. ¡°I don¡¯t want to interrupt the two of you, but Zola and I heard a noise down the hall.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not all,¡± Zola said, ¡°There¡¯s a smell in this room. It smells familiar, but there¡¯s something not right about it. It smells strongest over¡­ here. Was that drawer always broken?¡±

 Who Are The True?: Part 5

    Ryan muttered, ¡°Huh?¡± He followed it up with, ¡°Shit. Someone broke in and went through the¡ª¡±


    He stopped talking and then I heard a series of electronic clicking noises. He had to be calling someone.


    Over the communicator, I told everyone, ¡°They found the broken drawer and Ryan¡¯s calling someone for help. I don¡¯t know who, but we need to get out before they come this way.¡±


    ¡°What do you think we should do,¡± Vaughn asked, ¡°Run?¡±


    Both he and Stephanie looked back at me and then past me down the hall. I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but they¡¯re still in the office talking. It seems like that would make more noise than doing what we¡¯re doing.¡±


    Over the comms, Haley took a breath. ¡°I¡¯m floating down toward the parking lot in front of the building. Run for it if you have to, but I think that you¡¯re going to have to fight.¡±


    Vaughn whispered, ¡°Why?¡± into his communicator. I ignored the question in favor of paying attention to my bugs. On the surface, it might have been rude, but Haley could explain it as well as I could. Besides, Vaughn should have figured it out for himself.


    If Haley caught our scent in the same situation, she could sprint upwards of fifty miles per hour¡ªmay be faster. Except for me, our small group of infiltrators couldn¡¯t hit that kind of speed. Art and Zola could.


    Ignoring Haley¡¯s answer, I opened up the video of the scene. Ryan and Hardwick stood alone in the office. Ryan had opened the drawer and bent over it, looking through the folders.


    Stopping and turning his head toward where Hardwick stood on the other side of the desk, Ryan said, ¡°They got your flash drive. It¡¯s not here. Fuck. I¡¯m going to have them killed.¡±


    In a level voice, Hardwick said, ¡°Leave that to your people and the Nine for now. In the future, never say that out loud and especially never say it in my hearing. We need plausible deniability.¡±


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    I let go of the picture, deciding I didn¡¯t need the distraction. As I did, I heard something through the suit¡¯s speakers, followed by movement from behind me.


    I whipped around, activating the sonics at levels that could blow eardrums, hoping that Vaughn and Stephanie¡¯s costumes would keep their ears safe and that the property damage wouldn¡¯t be too bad.


    That was a nice thought that didn¡¯t survive the sound of shattering glass that came from the ceiling as the hall¡¯s light bulbs shattered. It wasn¡¯t all of them¡ªonly the nearest in the direction I faced.


    That section of the hall darkened as Art dropped to the ground, hands over his ears. Zola did better. By luck or wisdom, she didn¡¯t happen to be directly in front of me when I released the initial blast of sound.


    Instead, she¡¯d jumped to the top of the hallway, using her claws to stay up near the top of the wall and then push off, twisting in the air to grab and then push off from the other side of the hallway. It was a technique I¡¯d seen Haley use and one that required skill in addition to agility and power.


    Zola had been working on it. I wasn¡¯t sure whether to think of that as a good or bad sign.


    When she leaped off the wall, aiming at me, I couldn¡¯t help but feel that ¡°bad sign¡± seemed more likely. She didn¡¯t hit me, but it was nothing I did. I couldn¡¯t move. My ability to process information was far above the human norm, but my reaction time wasn¡¯t.


    All the same, I wasn¡¯t alone, a truth made more obvious by the lightning bolt that left Vaughn¡¯s hands to hit and burn the ceiling along with the peal of thunder that sounded at the same time.


    Zola avoided most of the blast, eyes going wide and giving a yelp as she dropped to the carpeted floor. There she caught part, but not all of the sonic attack I continued to aim in that direction.


    Instead of falling down and lying helplessly on the ground, she jumped, claws outstretched, mouth open and a full set of sharp teeth in view.


    I wasn¡¯t sure if she was aiming for me, but I threw myself to the right side, hitting the wall. Zola continued past me, landing in front of Vaughn and Stephanie, but directly in front of Stephanie.


    Out of the peripheral vision that my helmet gave me, I saw Zola draw back her hand, raking at Stephanie only to be met with a glowing symbol that appeared on Stephanie¡¯s chest.


    My HUD blocked the character with a black shape that obscured the details in my sight and though I couldn¡¯t know it for sure, also Vaughn¡¯s. After training with Stephanie as well as fighting her at Stapledon, I¡¯d developed a program that blocked her brain hacks¡ªmost of the time.


    Zola didn¡¯t have the benefit of my research. She froze and crumpled to the ground, but not before one of her claws penetrated Stephanie¡¯s uniform. A line of blood ran down Stephanie¡¯s right bicep.


    ¡°Oh God.¡± She stared down at her arm.

 Who Are The True?: Part 6

    The claw had penetrated at least an inch deep and while the other four hadn¡¯t penetrated as far, they were all bleeding¡ªa lot.


    Aiming the sonics of my left arm at Art, who¡¯d begun to get up from the floor,I fumbled with a can that hung on my utility belt, pulled it out, and sprayed, covered the wounds with foam.


    Vaughn threw a bolt of lightning at Art and he convulsed, going down for good as a crack of thunder echoed in the room.


    ¡°What was that?¡± Stephanie stared down at her arm. Except for the blood still dripping from the uniform, the bleeding appeared to have stopped.


    ¡°A coagulant and local anesthetic. The first Rocket developed it with another hero back in the 80s. I rediscovered the design this summer.¡±


    Stephanie glanced over at Zola who lay at her feet and then over to Art. ¡°We should go.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn stepped over Zola¡¯s body. ¡°I zapped that guy, but he¡¯s not dead. You can see he¡¯s breathing, but if he¡¯s like people we know, he¡¯s got a healing factor. He might not be out long¡ª¡±


    Red laser beams lanced out of the darkness, hitting my suit. They didn¡¯t penetrate. Though the suit threw up messages about the damage to my HUD, I bathed our attacker in sonics.


    The beams stopped for a second, fired again, hitting the ceiling and then stopped entirely as Vaughn threw bolts of lightning, hitting him with the second, creating the sound of thunder and a smell of ozone.


    Only as the man fell to the floor did I recognized him as Ronnie, Russell Hardwick¡¯s bodyguard for the night.


    Haley¡¯s voice came over the speakers in my helmet. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±


    Turning away, Stephanie said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Vaughn and I didn¡¯t argue, following her down the hall. I watched behind us out of the corner of my eye, which thanks to my helmet showed that no one was following us.


    Vaughn glanced back. ¡°I hope I didn¡¯t hurt Ronnie too bad, but damn, I had no idea he was a super. I should have guessed though. From what we saw while fighting the Cabal, it looks like a bunch of Uncle Russ'' inner circle are descended from people who used to work for Red Lightning.¡±


    I opened my view of the office to find Russell Hardwick standing by the doorway looking out into Higher Grounds¡¯ lobby. Ryan stood just behind him and to the right.


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    ¡°Did you hear the thunder?¡± Hardwick turned toward Ryan who shrunk back as electricity arced across Russell Hardwick¡¯s hand.


    Ryan only nodded.


    ¡°They got Ronnie,¡± Hardwick said. ¡°It¡¯s got to be the Heroes¡¯ League.¡±


    Ryan looked up at him. ¡°Do you know who it is then? The League¡¯s got a weather guy. Everyone thinks he¡¯s got to be Red Lightning¡¯s descendant.¡±


    Hardwick shook his head. ¡°I used to think so. I used to think I knew who it was, but then I found out differently. Whoever that guy in the League is, I don¡¯t think he¡¯s family. Red Lightning threw lightning, but he didn¡¯t control weather. Storm King isn¡¯t one of us and that means that I won¡¯t feel bad if I find out that he¡¯s dead.¡±


    I let go of the video and left the volume on a low level in case he said anything interesting.


    As I did, we stepped out of the front doors of the Hardwick Industries building, passing Emmy¡¯s desk on the way. Ahead of us floated the League jet, coated in a layer of blackness that absorbed any light that touched it, making it invisible except that the lights in the parking lot behind it made it visible in outline.


    A door opened in the side of the jet, creating a glowing human-sized hole in the darkness. Stephanie stepped inside, helped by Tara. Vaughn stepped forward toward the steps, grabbing the railing as Tara poked her head out to say, ¡°Rocket?¡±


    It was easy to understand why she felt she needed to ask the question. I stood in front of the jet looking at the lab building. ¡°Take Hologram to the hospital. I can fly home. I need to take a look at what¡¯s going on in there.¡±


    Vaughn stopped. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll stay for that. I¡¯m not going to leave you alone. Buddy system, you know.¡±


    Frowning, I considered arguing with him, but I couldn¡¯t say he was wrong.


    Then Tara stepped out. ¡°I think I need to stay for that.¡±


    Given Tara¡¯s relationship with the True, that didn¡¯t seem like the best possibleidea. ¡°Are you sure¡ª¡± I began, but I didn¡¯t even get to finish.


    Tara stepped out. ¡°I need to see this too.¡±


    Haley followed her. ¡°Shift can take Hologram to the team doctor. Railgun, you stay with him and then the two of you can come back and pick us up.¡±


    ¡°Night Cat, Ronin, neither of you have to stay. Storm King and I can take a quick look and then fly home.¡±


    Haley didn¡¯t reply to me. She jumped out, landing next to Tara. Then she started talking. ¡°I stayed home when you went to space. I¡¯ve been waiting around every day while you come here. Now, when you¡¯re about to go check in on the True¡ªwho destroyed the human race on other worlds¡ªwhich means the two of you might not be able to handle it by yourselves, I want to go.¡±


    I stood there, considering whether or not I wanted to get into an argument in front of a building that might contain an unstoppable enemy army. From the jet, Marcus got up from his seat and walked toward the front. Even though he made his superhero form faceless, I caught the hint of a frown.


    Over the communicators, Marcus said, ¡°This is Shift taking over the jet. Ronin and Night Cat are staying while we fly Hologram to the doctor.¡±


    In the background, Sydney said, ¡°We love being left out.¡±


    Kayla¡¯s comm name (Control) appeared before she spoke. ¡°That¡¯s a change of plans.¡±


    From the jet, but not over the comm, I heard Stephanie say, ¡°Can we just go before I start bleeding again?¡±


    The door shut and the jet vanished into the darkness.

 Who Are The True?: Part 7

    We stood in the parking lot. Haley looked up at me. ¡°So, where are we going?¡±


    The two buildings stood next to each other, the main one well lit with the glassy front office illuminated to the point that I didn¡¯t need my helmet¡¯s night vision to see Emmy¡¯s desk inside.


    The second building was a twin in size, but nothing appeared to be lit at all from the outside. It loomed above us, dark and windowless.


    ¡°The other building. The dark one.¡± I pointed at it.


    Haley looked at it. ¡°It¡¯s not that dark.¡±


    Tara pulled goggles out of her utility belt and pulled them on. ¡°That¡¯s better. It must be nice to see like this all the time. Did you have a plan for entering?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I didn¡¯t plan to go into the other building in the first place. It¡¯s just that if they¡¯ve got the True already and they¡¯re not all based on Emmy, we should find out who they are based on instead of being surprised.¡±


    Frowning, Tara looked at the main building and then over at the lab. ¡°Maybe we should go to the far side of that building? It would be less visible than standing here. And if those people inside wake up, they¡¯re less likely to notice us there.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°They¡¯re like Night Cat. I zapped one pretty hard, but Night Cat regenerates and my bet is that this guy does too. Dunno how long that woman who looked at the sigil stays down. Hologram never explained how that worked.¡±


    He paused before continuing with, ¡°I don¡¯t know how Ronnie¡¯s doing. I hit him with lightning too, and he¡¯s got no healing factor. I hope he¡¯s not dead. Aside from trying to shoot us with his eyes, he seemed okay.¡±


    Haley sniffed the air. ¡°I don¡¯t smell death.¡±


    Vaughn looked over at her. ¡°Would you? They¡¯re inside and behind a couple doors.¡±


    Shrugging, Haley said, ¡°Sometimes. Not if the building is air tight, but even then if the door is open for a little while, it¡¯s possible. Um... Shouldn¡¯t we be moving?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Tara started walking toward the far side of the lab building and we walked with her, hoping that no one had seen us.


    The far side of the lab building was empty lawn with the forest starting at least fifty feet from the building. My mind flashed back to standing behind force fields while defending a small building in the middle of forest on the world Hideaway. The attackers had been versions of the same supersoldier design as Art, Zola, and Haley.


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    I hoped this would go better.


    On the off-chance that it didn¡¯t, I connected to the bots that carried backup parts and even allowed expansion of the stealth suit to become as effective as a full Rocket suit. The bots were on their way.


    Even if I had to repair, rearm, and refuel my suit mid-battle, it would still be better than not having the option.


    I looked down the side of the lab building. Like the office building next to it, the lab building was nothing more than a rectangle. Looking down the side didn¡¯t take much. Between the treeless lawn and the lights, it took nothing to know that we were alone on this side of the building.


    While I was at it, I sent out a spybot to check the roof. Even though we hadn¡¯t yet had a sniper start firing at us from above, it wasn¡¯t impossible that we still could.


    A few moments later though, I knew that no one stood on either roof. That didn¡¯t quite fit with my image of the project. I¡¯d assumed that they¡¯d keep the top of the building manned at all times. It was, of course possible that they used cameras or that they¡¯d deliberately chosen not to have the roof manned on the night that the CEO came to visit the illegal project in Higher Ground¡¯s lab. That made sense.


    I got on the comm. ¡°The roof is clear. The side¡¯s clear. We can walk down to the lab if we want. Hologram, if you¡¯re listening, you told me earlier that you¡¯d replaced tonight¡¯s camera footage with a loop. Are there outside cameras too?¡±


    Stephanie¡¯s voice came over the speakers. ¡°There are. They¡¯re on a loop too. You¡¯ll find them hard to see. They¡¯re small, almost as small as your cameras.¡±


    ¡°No kidding? That¡¯s not good.¡±


    Tara nodded as I replied. ¡°I don¡¯t think they have anyone outside. Let¡¯s go. If we wait too long, they¡¯ll be more likely to catch on to the camera loops and then the situation will change.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue with that. Neither did Haley. She did ask, ¡°Do you think I should scout ahead?¡±


    ¡°I¡®ve got more spybots,¡± I said.


    Tara shook her head while Vaughn shrugged.


    I took a quick look into the lab. The True stood outside the door to their private area, still in Abominator armor, still holding guns.


    I checked back inside Sandy¡¯s office. Ryan and Russell Hardwick were no longer there. Noting that, I flipped through all the cameras in my head, searching for any kind of movement until I found it.


    They stood in the hall where we¡¯d fought Art, Zola, and Ronnie. Ryan stared at the bodies on the ground, then stared down toward the exit, straining to see something in that direction, muttering, ¡°Shit, shit, shit!¡±


    Russell Hardwick stood over Ronnie, reaching down to check his pulse and then moving over to check Art and Zola, finally saying, ¡°They¡¯re all alive. We need to get ourselves back to the lab and send the True to get them. Then we¡¯re going to have to decide whether we can handle them ourselves or if we need to call in the Nine.¡±


    Ryan stopped muttering to stare at him. ¡°You think they¡¯re still here?¡±


    Russell shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but if they are, we need to get somewhere where we¡¯ll be protected before we do anything else. We also need to kill the intruders. They know too much.¡±

 Who Are The True?: Part 8

    Walking down the hall toward the door but stopping before he reached the lobby, Hardwick peered out toward the parking lot. ¡°I don¡¯t see them. They might have left.¡±


    He reached out to the wall and turned up the light from almost nothing to a moderate brightness.


    Turning back to Ryan, he asked, ¡°Do you have a gun?¡±


    Ryan shook his head.


    Hardwick held up his right hand and let a spark of electricity leap from his index finger to his thumb. ¡°Me neither. If we get into a fight, let me go ahead. Don¡¯t get too close. I don¡¯t tell many people about this, but I ran myself through one of those machines that activates latent powers a couple years ago and I¡¯ve got a full dose of whatever Red Lightning had. If someone tries to take us down, I¡¯ll handle it. You stay out of the way.¡±


    Ryan stared at him, eyes wide.


    Then Hardwick took his phone out of his pocket. ¡°You¡¯ve got a way to call the lab, right? Call them and tell them what¡¯s going on. I¡¯m going to call security. If have to, I¡¯m going to call in the Nine.¡±


    ¡°The Nine?¡± Ryan clenched his right hand. ¡°We¡¯re trying to get away from the Nine.¡±


    Hardwick let his hands drop to his waist. ¡°Our arrangement was that I took over your obligations to the Nine, only leaving you with obligations to me. So you and Sandy don¡¯t owe them for anything they do tonight, you owe me.


    ¡°I hope that¡¯s good enough for you because it¡¯s the best I can manage.¡± Hardwick looked down at Ryan with a hint of a curl to his lips.


    Shaking his head, Ryan said, ¡°That¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll make the call.¡±


    Then, hands shaking, Ryan pulled his phone out of his pocket, nearly dropping it as he typed out a number. Hardwick smiled at him and started to make his own call.


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    I cut off the view, opening up a view to the outside of the lab, watching the two True soldiers stand by the door, looking out at Higher Ground¡¯s lab.


    Whoever it was that received Ryan¡¯s call, it wasn¡¯t the guards outside the door-which made sense. It would have to be someone inside, someone who would be in charge of the True.


    The door to the lab opened and a woman in a white lab coat stepped out. I recognized her. It was Dr. Griffin, the scientist whose lab had first had the birthing chamber. She¡¯d seemed nice enough when we¡¯d interacted and it was a little disappointing to realize that she was deep into this.


    I¡¯d seen her kids back when we defended her lab from mercenaries the Hrrnna had hired. I supposed that bad guys also had kids. Not to mention that I¡¯d known even then that there was a good chance that her lab had a relationship with the Nine.


    Dr. Griffin spoke quietly to the soldiers and then stepped back inside the lab. The soldiers nodded, but didn¡¯t do anything special beyond continuing to watch.


    I let the scene fade from my view, finding that Haley and the others were watching me as I became aware of my true surroundings next to the lab building.


    ¡°That was long look through your spybots,¡± Haley frowned as she looked up at me.


    ¡°Probably, yeah. I checked a few different places. I saw Russell Hardwick and Ryan, the lab¡¯s chief scientist. They¡¯re with the people we took down. The good news is they¡¯re all alive. The bad news is that ¡®Uncle Russ¡¯ has decided that we need to die and he¡¯s calling in security and maybe the Nine.¡±


    Vaughn looked around us as if expecting people to explode out of the forest. ¡°That¡¯s not all the bad news. Uncle Russ has been using Protection Force a lot since the Cabal. My mom¡¯s been complaining about the cost. It¡¯s not as if the company can¡¯t afford it, but I don¡¯t know that we need it.¡±


    Haley folded her hands over her chest. ¡°Do you think Protection Force would kill because he told them to? I know they¡¯re a company, but they try to present themselves as superheroes for hire¡ªnot mercenaries.¡±


    Cocking her head without saying anything at first, Tara bit her lip. ¡°Is there anyone your uncle might use as security who¡¯d follow his directions without worrying about whether they were legal? Because that¡¯s who I think he¡¯d bring in.¡±


    Vaughn began by saying, ¡°I don¡¯t think¡ªoh. There¡¯s the obvious one. Uncle Russ has been connected to what was left of Grandpa¡¯s army. He keeps them safe. If they repay the favor by taking care of any problems without questions, we¡¯re practically there.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I think I¡¯d prefer dealing with Protection Force.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but I¡¯m sure they wouldn¡¯t kill anyone or work with the Nine.¡±


    Haley tilted her head back and sniffed the air. ¡°Maybe we should get out of here while we still can.¡±

 Who Are The True?: Part 9

    I shook my head. ¡°We need to stay long enough for me to get a look inside the lab. We¡¯re close right now and it would be a wasted opportunity even if it turns out to be something we can¡¯t handle.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°I get it. I know you want to know what¡¯s in there. I want to know too, but if we get out now, you might be able to move the bots into position and look inside tomorrow. You¡¯ve already got bots that are close.¡±


    Vaughn nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a pretty good idea.¡±


    I thought about it. I didn¡¯t want to argue, but, ¡°It is, but I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll get to find out tomorrow. I¡¯m betting that after tonight they¡¯ll move anything can somewhere else and I have no idea where. They¡¯re a billion dollar company. They can hide things all over.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s more like 600 billion,¡± Vaughn checked both ways, ¡°but you¡¯re right about the hiding. We¡¯ve got factories and warehouses all over the world and an island in the Caribbean, but I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s owned by family members, the business, or the family foundation. They might all own a piece.¡±


    Tara pulled out the sticks hanging from her belt. ¡°We don¡¯t have time to talk. If they behave like the True I know, they won¡¯t wait. They¡¯ll defend themselves aggressively. If you can get your bots into the room now, do it so we know their plans. Also do it because it¡¯s your last chance. I don¡¯t have as much data as I want, but if I had to bet, I¡¯d bet that Higher Ground is closed tomorrow, maybe permanently, so that they can bring the Nine in to clean it up.¡±


    We all looked at each other. That made too much sense.


    I considered the bots that I had on site. If this were my final shot at getting information, I had a few bugs that I could still plant. Plus, I might want to self-destruct them all before we left.


    I connected to the mobile bugs and sent them toward the steel door that two True stood guarding. It stood next to a larger door on tracks that rolled up toward the ceiling. I hadn¡¯t given it much thought because I¡¯d assumed that it was for loading and unloading trucks.


    I aimed the mobile bots upward toward the top of the larger door, using my implant to view the feed from their cameras. I didn¡¯t know if I would have been able to control multiple bots with my mind before getting the implant. I doubted it, but I didn¡¯t have any easy way to test.


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    It didn¡¯t take long to find a way around the door. The bots saw nothing at the top. The door was flush with the opening to the next room. Having a few bugs up there made little difference, but by the time they got to the bottom, I found it possible to watch the True soldiers guard the human sized door a few feet down the wall while directing the bots in how to get through under the door.


    It wasn¡¯t perfectly flush with the floor. The space leftover was easily enough for the bots to slip through.


    In the moment they were under, everything changed. The bots were no longer in a large warehouse room that been converted into a lab. The room that they were now in was smaller and felt smaller than that because of everything that they¡¯d attempted to fit inside.


    Originally, the room must have been a garage for two pickup trucks or minivans. It might even have worked for a semi with a small trailer with a little room to load the trailer inside. Now it held the birthing chambers next to the door, but they weren¡¯t empty. A greenish blue fluid and grown human bodies filled them. I counted a dozen of them.


    Next to the birthing chambers were sleeping bags and mattresses. There were too many to count with confidence, but in the short look I had, I guessed it might be twenty, maybe twenty-four or two batches worth.


    To the left of the bedding were machines. The implant recognized all of them as Abominator equipment manufacturing devices, each one thousands of years old and predating human civilization.


    They weren¡¯t interesting to look at. Gray boxes about half the size of a car, each of them with small screens and controls on one end and an opening on the other that was closed on some and open, holding pieces of Abominator armor, weapons, or equipment on the rest.


    Victor stood next to the machines in the jeans and sweatshirt he¡¯d worn to work, staring at the bedding and smiling. Dr. Griffin stood next to the birthing machine, glancing away from it and toward the bedding as well.


    Her expression was hard to read, but as she looked her lips curled in what I took as an expression of disgust¡ªthat disappeared almost as soon as it appeared.


    People lay together in the bedding, many of them huddled together, all of them naked, some of them lying on top of the sleeping bags, some of them under. They were male and female, all of them at least six feet tall, some of them closer to seven, all of them muscular.


    I knew all of them or at least the people who¡¯d supplied the original DNA. A few looked like Emmy, but much larger, making them twins or nearly identical brothers of Tara. It got worse. Some of the clones had Stephanie¡¯s dark hair and thinner face.


    The last group of True were the biggest surprise. Even though her clones were larger than she was and some of them male, I recognized Cassie¡¯s blond hair, square face and cleft chin.

 Who Are the True?: Part 10

    Were all of the True newborns? If they were, it made sense. Based on what I remembered from accessing the birthing chambers¡¯ library, they could crank out a generation a day or maybe less than a day. They had 24 there and were working on another twelve.


    The ones they had guarding the doorway had to come from a previous batch¡ªwhich made me wonder where the other ten were. Were they outside walking the perimeter? Guarding some other location?


    Another possibility struck me, this one on the creepy end of things. I couldn¡¯t help but note who¡¯d been cloned. Cassie could be explained. They had connections with the Nine and Cassie herself was a gender swapped clone of the original Captain Commando. We¡¯d already seen them use an exact clone, so it was likely they had samples available.


    Emmy and Stephanie though? Victor might have seen Emmy¡¯s potential for predicting people¡¯s actions. Victor might have recognized that Stephanie had brilliant insights in how the human mind worked. That might be true, but I also remembered his temper when he thought I was dating Stephanie and how he wouldn¡¯t leave Emmy alone after she¡¯d broken up with Sandy.


    Bearing in mind that Victor had an Abominator Citizen¡¯s Mark which forced even sentient Abominator creations to follow his commands, it seemed possible that he might be using at least one or two of them as sexbots.


    It could be that I wasn¡¯t being fair to Victor. He might not be as bad as I imagined.


    Still, if true it was messed up on multiple levels. Even the oldest of them could only be months old. According to my implant, Abominator birthing chambers were capable of embedding years of combat experience into their creations and enough personality for them to follow orders. It occurred to me that using them as soldiers under those circumstances wasn¡¯t any better morally.


    It didn¡¯t put fighting them in a good light either, but even if they were child soldiers, they were deadly. We¡¯d fight them if we had to.


    All the same, I suddenly understood why so many stories of the True¡¯s origin included killing their creator.


    Movement drew me back to watching the True. One of Stephanie¡¯s clones pulled a sleeping bag over his feet, tried to pull it up past his waist while it was still zipped, but couldn¡¯t muster the coordination. He didn¡¯t try to unzip it. He might not even have known what a zipper was. In the end, he pulled it over himself like a blanket.


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    Whatever the Nine and maybe the Abominators included in his packet of memories, it didn¡¯t include zippers or sleeping bags¡ªwhich brought me back to the thought that they were basically child soldiers.


    I sent everyone a copy of what I¡¯d watched so far.


    It didn¡¯t take long for people to watch it, but when they were done, Vaughn said, ¡°When Lim sees this, it¡¯s over for Higher Ground, Uncle Russ and everyone. The Feds are going to roll in and charge everyone they can.¡±


    ¡°Pretty much, yeah. I should send it to him the moment we¡¯re out.¡± I looked around us in the dark. From what the Rocket suit¡¯s sensors could show, we were still alone.


    ¡°Dunno,¡± Vaughn stared out into the darkness. ¡°Maybe you should send it to him now and see if the Feds can¡¯t get moving immediately. I don¡¯t know whether those True are wiped out post birth or whether they¡¯re ready to go, but if whoever Uncle Russ was calling arrives, we might be too busy to send it before they start dismantling everything.¡±


    ¡°You should send it to him,¡± Tara said, ¡°but it¡¯s too late. At least one batch has already been created and they¡¯re not all here. That¡¯s enough to get them started. We should contact Lim immediately so that they can contain everyone here, but they¡¯re going to have to search out the rest. They won¡¯t be able to be sure until they know how many were created and how many they¡¯ve found.¡±


    She stopped, frowned. ¡°If I were a commander of the True, I¡¯d say that we should go in there now while they¡¯re weak and kill them immediately.¡±


    Vaughn looked at her. ¡°That¡¯s pretty harsh.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s harsh, but realistic. The True are made to reproduce ourselves. We can choose to get pregnant and to accelerate the child¡¯s growth rate. Even without the birthing chambers, we can double the population of True every two years if we¡¯re left alone an they¡¯ll all be perfect clones of the originals.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not wild about just killing them,¡± I said.


    Haley stopped looking out towards the woods to say, ¡°Me neither.¡±


    Tara nodded. ¡°I know. We¡¯re not evil. I think they can all be rehabilitated, but they have to know what they are to know that they can¡¯t trust certain... urges.¡±


    I began to say, ¡°What urges,¡± but stopped when Haley held up her hand.


    ¡°Someone¡¯s coming. A lot of someones.¡± She looked over at me. ¡°If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d say it was you.¡±


    I turned up the suit¡¯s sensors and after a few moments, I heard the distant sound of rockets. Seconds later, I saw the first person in powered armor appear above the trees on the edge of the clearing. The ¡°PF¡± logo of Protection Force glowed blue on the figure¡¯s chest, visible in the dark.


    Within another second, there were three more.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 1

    ¡°Camouflage setting,¡± I said over the comm, flipping mine on.


    It wouldn¡¯t make me invisible, but it matched my surroundings. Haley and Vaughn¡¯s suits had it too. Tara wore her own (not of my design) and hers didn¡¯t as far as I knew.


    We all squished our bodies next to the wall of the building. That might be enough on first glance. Protection Force¡¯s suits¡¯ night vision wasn¡¯t likely better than night vision goggles¡ªwhich were often monochrome.


    They wouldn¡¯t work for more than a glance with the lights alongside the building. Unlike the front of the offices, the back of the lab was just gray painted cinderblock, making it slightly easier to hide, but not easy.


    We needed a distraction if we wanted to get away.


    Over the comm, Tara whispered, ¡°Our best chance is to get into the trees. We need a distraction.¡±


    My mind flashed back again to the bunker in the forest on the planet Hideaway and the hours we¡¯d spent fighting there. A part of me did not want to go into the woods. I squashed it down, but not before Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯ve got this.¡±


    I felt the wind begin to blow and heard the sound of the wind increase. Above the forest, the clouds began to move, covering the moon. In the air above the trees, the four Protection Force fighters in powered armor had become at least ten, but their formation broke and scattered as they struggled to remain upright.


    Soon after that most of them gave up on remaining upright and struggled to remain in the air and away from trees as they blew rightward.


    ¡°Now!¡± Tara ran across the fifty foot gap to the trees with the rest of us following.


    If it were left to me, I might have waited longer before running to be sure they¡¯d moved far enough that the lab building blocked their view of us. At the same time, I had to give Tara the benefit of the doubt.


    We ran about twenty feet into the woods before I said, ¡°If we go too far, we¡¯ll go to the beach near the dorm.¡±


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    ¡°Dorm?¡± Asking without a hint of effort in her voice, Haley ran alongside me, weaving around or jumping over the same kind of small bushes I ran through.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn followed a few steps behind me. ¡°Higher Ground¡¯s people stay in the old hotel over there.¡±


    ¡°Do we want to come out on the beach where people might see us?¡± I glanced back, unable to see Protection Force¡¯s people, wondering if their suits were based on Grandpa¡¯s World War 2 design like all the military suits I¡¯d seen.


    Tara held up her and stopped running. We were far enough in that I couldn¡¯t see anything but trees around us. I felt myself breathe faster, controlled it and concentrated on using my HUD to look for signs of Protection Force.


    Thinking back to the time we¡¯d fought Ray in the forest near Haley¡¯s family¡¯s cottage, I wondered where Solar Flare was these days. His plasma blasts were hot enough to burn the old Rocket suit. I didn¡¯t know how they¡¯d do against the current suit, but I didn¡¯t want to find out.


    Turning around to face us, Tara talked in a low voice over the comm. ¡°I don¡¯t know how many people Protection Force has here, but I¡¯ve done some reading about them. Their squads are typically from four to eight people in size. He¡¯s clearly hired several, but most of their business contracts specify guarding locations or people. They don¡¯t give chase under normal circumstances. So even if they have people at the hotel, they won¡¯t follow us if we get to the beach and fly toward Grand Lake.¡±


    I considered that, deciding to try to ask a question she might not have asked herself. ¡°Are there any exceptions to that?¡±


    Tara frowned. ¡°Well, if Protection Force has been infiltrated by the Nine, it¡¯s likely that they¡¯ll do whatever they can to stall us until the Nine¡¯s people arrive and try to kill us if that doesn¡¯t work.¡±


    I asked the next question, ¡°What are the chances that they¡¯ve been infiltrated?¡±


    In a softer voice, as if it were news to her too, Tara said, ¡°High.¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± Haley muttered. ¡°Maybe we shouldn¡¯t go down the beach. Maybe we should go inland?¡±


    Tara shook her head. ¡°If they¡¯ve been infiltrated, they¡¯ll have more people here, the people Mr. Hardwick is paying for and the people he doesn¡¯t know he¡¯s paying for. They¡¯ll have enough to cover the beach and search the forest.¡±


    Vaughn looked back. ¡°That sucks. If we¡¯re going to fight whatever we do, we¡¯d better do it sooner than later. I¡¯m not tired, but I can¡¯t keep up the winds forever.¡±


    Over the comm, Kayla said, ¡°Control speaking. Should I send a red? People said they¡¯d be looking.¡±


    Weighing the idea, I said, ¡°We¡¯re not quite there yet. Maybe call a few people so they¡¯re in position when we do?¡±


    From the way Haley stepped back and frowned, I guessed she might not agree. ¡°I¡¯m going to call Lim by his back channel. They probably won¡¯t fight the Feds. Not if he¡¯s got our video.¡±


    Then I tried to connect. He didn¡¯t pick up, but he did send a text message. It said, ¡°Busy. Will call back. Watch out.¡±

 Mere Anarchy: Part 2

    On the off-chance that Lim would have a chance to look at the video, I started it all uploading. At the same time, I found that I didn¡¯t like the coincidence at all. Lim was unavailable on the night where it happened that we were going into Higher Grounds¡¯ offices?


    Lim had a habit of being sent into situations where he couldn¡¯t talk. That wasn¡¯t unusual. It seemed inevitable when you considered that a big part of his job was acting as a government liaison too superheroes. All the same, knowing that the Nine had infiltrated the FBI made me worry.


    For all I knew, he might be on the run. Deciding to let everyone know, I said, ¡°Lim¡¯s busy. He told me to watch out. I¡¯m a little worried about him actually. It seems weird that he¡¯d be busy and telling me to watch out when we¡¯re fighting here. It makes me think he might be on the run from the Nine himself.¡±


    Haley frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t like the sound of that. It makes me wonder how many more of us they¡¯ll target tonight and maybe tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Tara said, ¡°we know they don¡¯t know who you are because then you¡¯d be dead. Their standard operating procedure is to kill superheroes investigating them as quickly as possible.¡±


    We all stared at her.


    She shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve never read that anywhere, but it¡¯s obvious if you follow the news.¡±


    Cocking his head to look at her, Vaughn said, ¡°It is?¡±


    ¡°It is to me.¡± Tara took a quick look through the trees around and pointed in the direction we¡¯d been going. ¡°If we walk that way, we won¡¯t come out too close to the hotel. We still might have to fight Protection Force or the Nine, but that could happen anywhere and I think we¡¯ve got our best chance to get away on the beach.¡±


    Haley looked up and then sniffed the air. ¡°Let¡¯s go if we¡¯re going to. I don¡¯t have any better ideas.¡±


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    ¡°Fine with me. Do you want me to keep this up,¡± Vaughn gestured upward where the winds continued to roar. ¡°I can, but like I said, it¡¯ll drain me. I won¡¯t be worth much in a fight after that.¡±


    Tara¡¯s brow wrinkled. ¡°Let the winds go, but be ready to bring them up again if we need them.¡±


    Giving everyone a small wave, I said, ¡°That would allow me to keep a spybot above the trees. I can¡¯t right now.¡±


    Tara took a few steps toward the beach. ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡±


    I sent up a spybot, sending it ahead of us, but also above the trees as I¡¯d said. With the winds dying down, Protection Force¡¯s people had begun to fly in circles above the cleaning around the buildings. A few more flew over the forest. Others still had landed on the ground and were looking into the forest.


    I felt sure there were more now than the ten we¡¯d already seen. Getting out without fighting sounded better and better. It was too bad that being both fast and quiet didn¡¯t work together.


    We all followed Tara and Haley through the woods with one or the other of them holding up a hand to stop us or point out a half-buried branch. It would have been nice to have either or both along on Hideaway. I wouldn¡¯t have wanted them to go through it, but I¡¯d been the best at information gathering there.


    Over the comm, Kayla said, ¡°People are getting ready, but no one¡¯s in position to get to you right now. Shift and Railgun are still getting Hologram to the doctor. The only person ready to help is Captain Commando.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s strengths were like Tara¡¯s¡ªstraight-forward fighting. The fact that she had an Abominator gun and contained her own Citizen¡¯s Mark struck me as both a plus and a distinct minus.


    I spoke into my comm. ¡°She doesn¡¯t have to come yet. We¡¯re trying to sneak out. There¡¯s no reason to bring her in unless everything blows up.¡±


    Tara said, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when she should go. How¡¯s she getting here?¡±


    Kayla didn¡¯t answer instantly. ¡°I think she said she¡¯d teleport.¡±


    Cassie had said something about calling in a favor to get to us. A teleport would work.


    As neared the beach, my spybot detected at least five dark shapes floating in the air above the beach. I thought back to what Tara had said about Protection Force having the people Hardwick knew he was paying for as well as the people he didn¡¯t.


    Three of them were down the beach, close to the former hotel. Three more circled over this end of the beach, one of them directly ahead of us.


    It didn¡¯t take Tara to predict that if we fought, all of Protection Force¡¯s troops would swarm us.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 3

    Before I told everyone what I¡¯d seen, I considered our options. Running might work. Depending on what their rocket packs¡¯ range was, we might be able to fly away, use Vaughn¡¯s weather control to keep them back, and head for HQ.


    If Tara and her parents were any indication, the True weren¡¯t automatically bad, but we might have to subdue them and maybe destroy the birthing chamber. From what I¡¯d seen of Protection Force and the Nine, we might need everyone for that, but at the very least, we¡¯d need the jet.


    The main gun would take out the birthing chamber easily. Maybe Lim could get the True into Stapledon or something like it.


    From what Tara had told me, there were universes where the True integrated into normal society and merged into the population. She¡¯d met people from them in Infinity City.


    I hoped I wasn¡¯t letting my optimism doom the human race.


    ¡°They¡¯re ahead of us,¡± I told everyone. ¡°There¡¯s only six of them, but you know the whole group¡¯s going to go for us if they see us. I was thinking that if we fly away now, Storm King might be able to keep them behind us and then we could come back with the jet and... blow away the birthing chambers.¡±


    Vaughn eyed me, ¡°Whoa. Are you sure you¡¯re feeling okay? You don¡¯t want the sweet, sweet alien tech?¡±


    ¡°Not at the expense of the human race.¡± And honestly, it wasn¡¯t as if humanity wasn¡¯t already moving forward with genetic research on our own.


    Frowning, Haley looked up at me. ¡°What about the True? What were you planning on doing with them?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re people and basically newborns. I was thinking they might turn out okay if they¡¯re not being raised by the Nine.¡± I looked around the group of us for reactions.


    Vaughn nodded along as I talked. The part of Tara¡¯s face that I could see below her mask was motionless and unreadable.


    Haley¡¯s eyes narrowed, making them more catlike than usual. ¡°I hope you¡¯re right. I don¡¯t want to kill anyone, but I¡¯m beginning to wonder... Ronin?¡±


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    We all looked at Tara. Tara sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. If I let myself think like a True commander, I¡¯d tell you to kill all of us because then you¡¯ll be sure there¡¯s no risk. Here¡¯s something I know, though. In all the stories I ever heard about the True, part of the reason we became what we did was resentment over being used as troops instead of people.¡±


    Haley nodded. ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s try to run, but before we do it, we need to send a red. Control, did you hear that?¡±


    Over the comm, Kayla took in a breath. ¡°Yes. Should I tell everyone to come here?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, ¡°but only if we get away. If we don¡¯t, we¡¯ll need help wherever we happen to be. Oh... And where are Railgun and Shift?¡±


    ¡°Still dropping Hologram off at the doctor,¡± Kayla said. ¡°What do you want me to tell them?¡±


    ¡°Get back and find us as soon as you can.¡± That seemed like enough.


    Tara shook her head, ¡°Watch in case there¡¯s another jet or flying transport¡ªmaybe two. I think Protection Force would have transportation for their gear and if the Nine are here, they¡¯ll have something too.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll watch for them,¡± I said, feeling like we might be the only people in the woods, but knowing better.


    Giving a look around the group, I readied the suit to fly, ¡°I guess we should go?¡±


    ¡°Just a second.¡± Vaughn closed his eyes, concentrating. ¡°I think I¡¯ve got a way to improve on your plan. Now we can go.¡±


    Through the spybot above the trees, I saw fog form above the forest, blocking out any view of the beach and the Protection Force troops.


    It was better.


    ¡°Everyone ready or need any help?¡± Tara and Haley both started fiddling with the small rocket packs they¡¯d put on.


    Tara shook her head. Haley said, ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± and flew upward. I flew after her, hearing Vaughn over the comm, ¡°Don¡¯t get too far ahead. I can make the fog, but I can¡¯t see through it.¡±


    When I flew past the top of the trees, I hovered with Haley, waiting for Vaughn and Tara and collecting my spybot. Once the two of them caught up with us, we began to fly slowly through the fog.


    It wasn¡¯t thick. We could see a good forty feet ahead¡ªwhich was enough to get moving, enough to see the tree limbs that stuck higher in the air than the rest. Even better, the Rocket suit¡¯s composite sensor view in my HUD had no issue seeing through the fog.


    Protection Force¡¯s troops weren¡¯t moving in our direction¡ªwhich meant that if they had radar or some other system for seeing in the dark, we didn¡¯t show up on it.


    A nagging thought went through my head¡ªeither they didn¡¯t see us or they were leaving us for someone else. That was paranoid. I didn¡¯t have any reason to believe it until we¡¯d moved a good half mile south.


    I¡¯d begun to think it might be time for Vaughn to drop the fog and let us pick up some speed when I noticed shapes flying upward from the ground. I¡¯d have called them birds, but they didn¡¯t move quite right.


    As I looked a little harder, I knew I¡¯d seen them before. They didn¡¯t just look like birds. They looked like crows.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 4

    That felt like a gut punch even if it wasn¡¯t quite unexpected. The one thing that you could know for sure about the Nine is that no one knew exactly who their leadership was. You could also guess from the name of the organization that there were nine of them.


    It was a pretty good guess that they were all supervillains.


    I¡¯d only ever run into one supervillain that worked for the Nine personally¡ªRook, an inventor who constructed suits of powered armor themed after rooks. Rooks were corvids just like crows and ravens. Rook himself had been kicking around since the mid-80s, around the same time my grandfather retired.


    Grandpa never fought him that I knew of¡ªwhich would have been interesting since Rook admired the Rocket. You could even see it in his name. If Rook had any critique of him, I could only guess that Rook would be disappointed that Grandpa hadn¡¯t murdered a bunch of people and stolen their stuff.


    What he thought of me was anybody¡¯s guess. On the one hand, we¡¯d been mutually impressed by each other¡¯s tech. On the other, when he¡¯d kidnapped Cassie, we¡¯d gone to get her, leading to the destruction of his base, and his hand.


    He¡¯d been about to fire off a nuclear missile at Haley who was flying the League jet at the time. I¡¯d targeted his hand with an HE (high explosive) round or maybe several. I wasn¡¯t completely clear on that. Visiting his base had been a long drawn-out fight that included nerve gas, a nuclear self-destruct, and my first encounter with Morgan Spitz-White, a mercenary that used eagle themed powered armor.


    TLDR? Finding Rook¡¯s crow bots in the middle of all this wasn¡¯t a surprise at all. He probably wanted to kill me¡ªif not because I¡¯d blown up his hand, because I¡¯d led the mission that humiliated him by rescuing Cassie.


    Since we¡¯d fought, I¡¯d suspected that he might be one of the Nine¡¯s leaders. You don¡¯t give a base with a nuclear powered self-destruct to just anybody.


    Without giving it another thought, I fired off bots that were later versions of the same design that blew up Rook¡¯s hand, choosing my targets with the idea of maximizing the effect of the explosions.


    One after another, Rook¡¯s bots exploded into their component parts. It would be nice to imagine that they all went down, but they didn¡¯t. The first bots hit the middle of the rooks¡¯ formation, blowing up everything near them, throwing bits of burning wings and shattered beaks into the darkness of forest below.


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    With any luck, the rainy fall and swampy land below meant that I wouldn¡¯t start a forest fire.


    The bots aimed at the outside of the rook formation didn¡¯t do as well. Rook¡¯s crowbot swarm had adjusted, spreading out so that they weren¡¯t close enough to be caught in a blast that hit the crowbot next to them.


    Crowbot. I didn¡¯t know what Rook called them, but I liked my name.


    Vaughn¡¯s voice sounded in my helmet. ¡°Whoa! You think we can take these guys? I can call up some lightning, but it means letting go of the fog. And I¡¯m going to need some help. I can¡¯t see them much.¡±


    I was going to have to put in some kind of night vision for him later. Maybe I could make one that he never had to adjust.


    ¡°No!¡± Haley pointed below them.


    More crowbots rose from the forest below. I¡¯d blown up maybe ten¡ªtwenty if I was lucky. This was a cloud of black, winged with rockets in the tail for assistance. I didn¡¯t try to count them, but the implant did. It counted sixty-three, but didn¡¯t rule out the possibility that there were more.


    The last time I¡¯d fought Rook his crows had ripped into the first version of my van. That one had been armored, but they¡¯d pecked it with their beaks and ripped at it with their claws until they broke windows and tore the metal. I doubted that Rook had been idle since then. They had to be better.


    I thought through our options, ruling out flying over Lake Michigan first because of Protection Force¡¯s people on the beach, but also because of the possibility of drowning. If we went inland, we¡¯d be heading toward farmland. It wouldn¡¯t be great for hiding even if we hid in a cornfield. Beyond that, our only option would be to head back in the direction of Protection Force and Hardwick Industries.


    Tara pointed backward. ¡°We fly back toward Protection Force and when Rocket says we¡¯re close, Storm King drops the fog. Record it and make sure they know it.¡±


    I saw her logic. Rook and his murderous flying robots wouldn¡¯t care about how it looked to be attacking the Heroes¡¯ League, but Protection Force, even if it was controlled by the Nine, was also a company. Bad publicity could sink it.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do it,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re going live now.¡±


    Activating our live stream which connected to more than one online streaming service and the League¡¯s social media accounts, I started to stream video. ¡°This is the Rocket. Members of the Heroes¡¯ League are in the air right now. We¡¯re fighting Rook, a suspected member of the Nine, and experiencing a misunderstanding with Protection Force. They think we¡¯re the bad guys. We¡¯re worried they might have been infiltrated by the Nine.¡±


    Checking behind me with my HUD, the crowbots were following. Ahead of me, my sensors showed Protection Force floating in the air as group on the edge of the fog.


    Knowing that it would take time, I calculated the distance with the implant and told Vaughn, ¡°Storm King, drop the fog.¡±

 Mere Anarchy: Part 5

    On the bottom of my HUD, a bar running across the bottom showed the number of people viewing climbing¡ªthousands already. Then the number jumped by a factor of ten. It had been shared by a super known as Kid Biohack. I wondered if it was him or a staffer, but I didn¡¯t have time to find out.


    My floating pods signaled that they were near. That would be nice. People knew the stealth suit by now, but not as well as they knew the Rocket suit. If I could talk to Protection Force in a version of the Rocket suit that called up memories of the legacy of the Heroes¡¯ League, that would help.


    The other pod would help just as much but that was because it had repair materials and replacement ammunition. If I needed that, it would be because things were not going well.


    I sent out observation bots, larger and less stealthy than the spybots, they could stay in the air longer and broadcast better quality video from a distance. In this situation, they allowed multiple steams of the same event that Kayla or someone in HQ could mix as needed.


    The fog began to clear and back at Hardwick Industries¡¯ buildings, Protection Force had noticed.


    A few of them flew toward us with more flying upward from behind the trees. My HUD showed that the ones on the beach were flying this way too, possibly in an attempt to flank and surround us.


    Over the comms, Tara¡¯s voice cut through the background hissing of the wind. ¡°Spread out and be ready to drop into the trees.¡±


    To my right, Vaughn turned to look past me at her. ¡°Wait, are you saying this won¡¯t work?¡±


    ¡°This is a chess game,¡± Tara said. ¡°It will work if we pay attention to the ways it might not.¡±


    Vaughn sighed and I thought I saw his hand spark.


    Behind and a little below me, Haley said, ¡°Don¡¯t be that obvious.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± Vaughn muttered.


    And then the time for planning was over. Protection Force¡¯s people had met us in the air. The four people who¡¯d flown toward us first slowed to hover in front of us. Twenty more, including the six from the beach, stood behind them but spread out to flank us on both sides.


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    They didn¡¯t surround us, but if Protection Force was controlled by the Nine, I felt sure that Rook¡¯s crowbots were waiting behind us for their chance. The only question was how close they were now.


    In an ideal world, I¡¯d have left the talking to Vaughn, but his grandfather¡¯s reputation and the similarities of their powers meant that I shouldn¡¯t let him go first.


    With my voice modulated to sound like my grandfather¡¯s had as the Rocket, I said, ¡°I¡¯m the Rocket and I¡¯m with members of the Heroes¡¯ League¡ªStorm King, Ronin, and Night Cat. We¡¯re here because of illegal activity on the part of your employer. We have evidence. It¡¯s in your best interest to let us go instead of chasing us.¡±


    One of the suits floated forward, stopping several feet away from me, but still closer. Whoever operated that suit had a good understanding of how to fly it. He¡¯d moved forward while staying at the same altitude. It wasn¡¯t impossible, but it was easy to dip or give yourself an extra foot or two off the ground.


    Without opening his mask, he said, ¡°I¡¯m Jared Curtis, commander of this platoon of soldiers. We¡¯ve been hired to protect these buildings and the people inside. You¡¯re trespassing on Hardwick Industries¡¯ property and we¡¯re going to have to request that you remain here until the authorities arrive.¡±


    The moment I heard his name, I realized that I knew of this guy. I didn¡¯t know him, but he¡¯d been in some group the army used to fight superpowered soldiers. It wasn¡¯t a government-sponsored superhero team, more a division with a specific purpose¡ªso, a lot of people.


    I didn¡¯t know why exactly I knew him. Hopefully knowing that he¡¯d been in the military and used powered armor was enough. It told me he¡¯d be professional and skilled. Still, it wasn¡¯t going to be your average soldier that made into the news. It would be a hero or a war criminal or something.


    Not knowing that bothered me, but I kept on talking. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that you can¡¯t detain us. You¡¯re security guards. You¡¯re not law enforcement. You can defend people, but if you detain someone, I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s kidnapping.¡±


    ¡°Protection Force has the right in this jurisdiction to detain people if they commit a crime on Hardwick Industries¡¯ property. Trespassing is a crime. We¡¯re empowered to detain you until the proper authorities arrive.¡±


    With his right hand, Jared made motions that were distinct enough that they had to be signs to the rest of the group.


    ¡°Then I guess we could wait for the authorities. Do you want us to land in the clearing below?¡±


    Nodding, Jared said, ¡°Land and then remove your armor and anything that could be considered a weapon.¡±


    I didn¡¯t need to hear Haley say, ¡°What,¡± or Vaughn say, ¡°No,¡± to respond, ¡°It¡¯s not reasonable to expect superheroes to reveal their¡ª¡±


    At that moment Protection Force''s soldiers raised their right arms which, much like my grandfather¡¯s original World War 2 suit, had weapons hanging under their forearms.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 6

    ¡°Whoa,¡± I held my hands up in the air, raising them slowly, palms forward. ¡°There¡¯s something that you¡¯ll want to know before firing on us. You¡¯re currently being watched by more than 100,000 people on multiple different streaming services¡ª¡±


    Kayla interrupted me. ¡°One million people.¡±


    A quick look at the bottom of my HUD confirmed she was right. I continued, watching them as I talked. ¡°¡ªactually one million people. Anyway, you don¡¯t want to attack us in front of that many people, do you? I¡¯m pretty sure security guards aren¡¯t allowed to use deadly force unless we¡¯re attacking you or someone else.¡±


    Off to my right, the wind blew upward, holding Vaughn in the air. He held his hands up too, but only partway, shouting over the wind. ¡°He¡¯s not kidding. Trust me, you don¡¯t want to go to jail to protect anyone here.¡±


    My helmet beeped and my HUD showed that one of my floating pods hovered above me. Silent, camouflaged and resistant to radar, it had been designed to be hard to detect. Judging from how Protection Force¡¯s people weren¡¯t firing on it, I¡¯d been successful on some level.


    That was good news because my floating pods represented plan b in case talking them down didn¡¯t work.


    Jared Curtis turned his helmet to look at Vaughn¡ªwhich told me that their suits didn¡¯t have the peripheral vision that mine did. If came to a fight, I could use that.


    When Jared replied, he spoke louder, not screaming, but with a touch higher volume. ¡°What have you got?¡±


    Contrary to what I half expected he¡¯d do, Vaughn didn¡¯t spill it all. He shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We can¡¯t talk about details, but think about it. You¡¯re talking to the Heroes¡¯ League. Our grandparents practically showed people how you do superheroing and we uncovered the conspiracy behind power juice within a year of bringing the League back. I¡¯m pretty sure we¡¯ve saved the world a couple times now that you¡¯ve heard of and more that you haven¡¯t. Do you want to bet against us?¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s speech might have had a little more kick if I¡¯d been wearing the full Rocket suit. It hung above me in the pod, waiting. If I gave the pod the signal, the full suit would drop.


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    It would make for a great moment as the slim, black stealth suit disappeared under under the full suit¡¯s gold. It¡¯d probably be the first time I¡¯d appeared in it since getting back. I wondered if anyone would notice a difference from Chris.


    On one level, I hoped not because that was the whole point of him wearing it, but on another¡­


    Though the Protection Force Rocket suits might not have had great peripheral vision, they had night vision. Between my implant and my HUD, it wasn¡¯t hard to tell that they were still aiming their weapons at us.


    Jared¡¯s helmet moved again, turning back in my direction and then at Vaughn. His weapon arm turned along with it, but not all the way, as if his mind wasn¡¯t entirely on the scene in front of him. Maybe Vaughn was getting to him.


    Jared didn¡¯t get a chance to respond before Vaughn added, ¡°Attack us and you and your team could find yourselves in jail for a long, long time. Neither one of us wants that to happen, right? I mean, I don¡¯t and I bet you don¡¯t either.¡±


    In the silence that followed Vaughn¡¯s statement, we all hung in the air staring at each other. The Protection Force team kept their weapon arms pointed at us, only moving to adjust to the wind. I found myself wondering when Jared would respond and if trying to push him would help.


    As I began to think that I had to talk, Haley whispered into the comm, ¡°Someone¡¯s talking to him. I can¡¯t make out the words, but there¡¯s a hint of fear in the smells coming from his suit.¡±


    ¡°What,¡± Vaughn laughed, ¡°did he piss himself?¡±


    With a hint of annoyance in her voice that I recognized, Haley said, ¡°No.¡±


    As she said it, the soldier to Jared¡¯s right turned to look at him. If I had to bet, he¡¯d asked Jared a question over their communication system.


    Then Jared said, ¡°No. Shut up. Do your job.¡±


    The soldier to his right turned to face us, pointing his weapon arm at me. That, oddly enough, is when I remembered where I knew Jared¡¯s name. I¡¯d been right that he¡¯d been part of a division specialized in fighting supers. He¡¯d been court-martialed because he¡¯d stolen from supers they¡¯d fought, taking alien technology that an archeologist had unearthed.


    I¡¯d followed the story because I wanted to know more about the technology, but details about it never made the news. I wondered when he¡¯d gotten out of prison. I didn¡¯t remember exactly how long he¡¯d been sentenced for, but had a vague sense that it was a long time.


    Her high pitched voice contrasting with her matter-of-fact delivery, Tara talked into the comms. ¡°In ten seconds, they¡¯ll open fire. Six, now.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going up,¡± I said.


    At the same time, Jared pointed toward the clearing. ¡°Land or we¡¯ll fire!¡±


    ¡°Two,¡± Tara said. ¡°Everyone else, drop. Control, send a red!¡±


    The last part of her sentence cut through a barrage of gunfire. I shot upward, feeling like I left my stomach near the treetops.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 7

    Two bullets hit me before I began my first mid-air Rocket suit integration. The first glanced off my arm, not doing much. The second would have gone through my heart if my armor hadn¡¯t been in the way. Three years ago, it would have killed me. In the meantime, I¡¯d replaced the original material with a substance that had origins in alien tech and repaired itself.


    Judging from the strength of the hit and the damage the HUD reported, I decided that the bullet had to be armor-piercing.


    It didn¡¯t go through my armor, pushing me backward, ricocheting downward toward the forest.


    I didn¡¯t have time to give a thought about how close I¡¯d come to death. I¡¯d chosen to go upward for a reason and it was already falling toward me.


    I¡¯d given the floating pod the release as I shot upward. Above me, the Rocket suit adjusted its shape as it fell, aiming all the way. When it hit, it was hard to say whether it was more like being smothered in a ceramic blanket or diving into pool of ice cubes.


    Either way, I felt a series of small thumps followed by feeling the suit change around me, adjusting as the armor become thicker, the armaments more varied, and the sensors more precise.


    Meanwhile, in my HUD, connection after connection, system after system, reported successful integrations. It didn¡¯t stop there. I¡¯d modified it to make a successful connection to my implant. It didn¡¯t allow full control by thought, but ¡°phase one¡± did allow the weapons to be fired by thought.


    All of that was amazing, but there were other questions on my mind. ¡°Everyone okay?¡±


    Tara spoke, talking in a quiet, calm, voice but fitting more words into a second than I could have. ¡°We got hit, but everyone¡¯s alive. PF will target you first. Watch out for the rooks.¡±


    She stopped, but then added, ¡°If you keep them low, we¡¯ll be able to help.¡±


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    Checking back where I¡¯d seen the crowbots before I saw nothing, I continued not to see either humans flying above the woods in the distance or any kind of technology.


    So that was good maybe in a loose sense. If attacking meant allowing Haley, Vaughn, and Tara to get away, it sounded worth it. Of course, Tara hadn¡¯t said anything about getting away. She¡¯d said they¡¯d be able to help¡ªpresumably with destroying the birthing chambers if we had to.


    Thinking about the clearing around the Hardwick buildings, I knew that if Protection Force or Rook¡¯s bots were still here to attack, they¡¯d have easy time of it. The armor I¡¯d made the team took some damage, but not as much as my suit by far. No one else had wanted that much armor.


    I spun around in the air, turning in the direction of Protection Force¡¯s main group of soldiers. If I was going to ¡°tank,¡± I¡¯d better start. How to start? I needed to do something that made me and only me the target.


    Letting myself drop, I used the rockets to change my position from upright in the air to flying straight toward the group and firing while I did it. I fired off EMPbots, figuring that if I could take them out of the fight without killing them, that would be a good thing.


    They might not all be connected to the Nine. Besides, I¡¯d killed enough people out in space. I didn¡¯t need to kill any more.


    The bots flew away from me, leaving burning lines of fire behind themselves in the darkness, hitting the nearest of them and simply letting other EMPbots explode in the middle of the group. That should be enough.


    Little bursts of light illuminated the Protection Force logo on their chests, but none of them went down. They¡¯d hardened their armor against EMPs. I¡¯d done the same, but it was annoying when other people took the obvious precautions.


    It did bother me for one other reason. If they¡¯d done their research, they knew that I used EMPbots. How many more of my standard attacks had they prepared for?


    At the same time, they weren¡¯t standing around and doing nothing. A group of six or so had peeled off to fly in the direction that the rest of the group had gone. The rest were coming for me.


    I couldn¡¯t help but notice that while they might be coming for me, some of them didn¡¯t appear to be enthusiastic about it. While the main group flew toward me as a group, spreading out so that I couldn¡¯t easily target them at once, a few flew behind the group. I hadn¡¯t been sure they were going to follow at all.


    It was hard to know if they were intimidated or were fans of the Rocket.


    Whatever was going on there, it didn¡¯t stop the whole group from firing off more rounds at me. Most pinged off my armor. A few exploded, surrounding me with flame for a moment.


    I took a quick inventory of what I had on the suit. What would take them down?

 Mere Anarchy: Part 8

    Assuming the Nine at least influenced Protection Force, Rook might have been involved in preparing them. He¡¯d have gone over available footage and police reports of fights I¡¯d been in and possibly even information from Stapledon about my abilities. Even assuming that Stapledon was perfectly secure, I knew that our exhibition fights had made it online.


    That and every battle we¡¯d ever had in public. Cell phones and surveillance cameras made keeping secrets harder.


    It struck me that my killbots were rarely used and most likely hadn¡¯t come to Rook¡¯s attention.


    I imagined that he¡¯d be both surprised and delighted if I killed all of these people. Knowing that, I decided to run through as randomly as I could.


    I started out with a blast of sonics set to frequencies that damaged electronics as I charged them, veering right as I began to close and then left toward their backs.


    At any rate, that¡¯s what would have happened if they kept on floating in one place instead of responding to my movement. As I shot toward them, the ones directly in front of me shot upward while the rest shot upward and to the left.


    If they did that right, they¡¯d have found themselves above me with everyone able to fire downward. Not being a complete idiot, I didn¡¯t let them. I aimed upward with them.


    By the time I was done I¡¯d gone right to flank them as they ascended. Unable to turn as quickly as I did without losing control, I found myself behind them as I continued to bombard them with circuit board shattering frequencies.


    They kept on turning, aiming at me as they did without any obvious loss of control over their powered armor. Either Rook had hardened them against my sonics or it would be a little while before any damage I¡¯d caused became obvious.


    That happened.


    At the same time, the rest of them kept on turning and rising. I¡¯d chosen to put my momentum into turning and so they ended up above me after all, firing whenever they had a good shot or constantly out of panic. It depended on the person.


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    The Rocket suit seemed to be taking it. Even if Rook had set them up with defenses against much of my tech, my armor seemed to be better. Knowing that they¡¯d eventually get something through, I twisted and aimed myself upward, following them, weaving, and staying close while firing.


    Not sticking with the sonics, I fired off a goobot at the two on the end, targeting the nearest one¡¯s face. It worked better than I¡¯d expected. The goobot exploded directly in front of the target¡¯s helmet, expanding to cover the person¡¯s face and upper chest in gray goo, tendrils expanding past him, hitting the next person, and contracting to pull them together.


    They slammed into each other, neither in full control of their direction. They shot sideways and then redirected themselves downward, righting themselves for a moment as they skimmed across the tops of the trees, and then, for no reason I could see, turning downward, and disappearing into the forest.


    Making a mental note to use the goobots again, I fired off another, covering a soldier¡¯s helmet. Whoever this was, they didn¡¯t have anyone close enough to get caught by the same ball of goo, and they had the sense to slow and begin to hover.


    Though better than flying blind, slowing down in a combat situation wasn¡¯t the smartest possible thing. I was still following the guy upward and on my way past, I tilted him sideways, sending him toward the forest where he disappeared.


    Even in the moment, I wondered if that was the right thing to have done, but even as that thought passed through my mind, he¡¯d disappeared into the trees.


    In the meantime, the remaining Protection Force soldiers had done something smart, they¡¯d changed formations. Instead of flying in a line, they¡¯d spread out on either side of me. If they¡¯d chosen to fire at me, it would have had the same problems as a circular firing squad.


    That¡¯s not what they did.


    Four of them flew at me, grabbing at me. Two of them went for my arms, another for my legs, and the last flew straight at me, winding up his arm to punch at my head. If their suits generated as much force as the Rocket suit, the punch had a chance to take my head off or break my neck.


    My bet was that their suits weren¡¯t as powerful, but if they were close, I might not survive to congratulate myself on having the better design.


    I gave the rockets as much fuel as they could take and added some spin. It would have been harder if they¡¯d cut their engines, but they didn¡¯t. They¡¯d grabbed me with their rockets set to keep them in the air, but in the end their momentum pointed upward and I only added to it.


    With the spin and the solid upward push, I shifted myself to put the punch at chest level and the person grabbing my right arm in between me and the person throwing the punch.


    The puncher tried not to hit his coworker, but momentum isn¡¯t easy to kill in the air and while he put his arm down, he slammed into the person hanging onto my arm, pushing all of us sideways.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 9

    If we¡¯d been spinning faster, maybe he¡¯d have hit the guy on my arm and then been clipped by the guy hanging onto my legs from behind.


    That¡¯s not what happened, but even as we lurched sideways, the suit continued to spin. The guy hanging onto my right arm didn¡¯t let go, but I heard him shouting at the guy who¡¯d tried to punch me and ended up punching him. I could hear muffled noise through his helmet even though I couldn¡¯t make out the words.


    The puncher, meanwhile, had bounced off us and was trying to stabilize himself upright in the air and trying not to send himself flying in some random direction.


    He had my sympathy¡ªa little bit of it anyway. If he weren¡¯t trying to hurt me, he¡¯d have had more. I¡¯d been in that position many times. I didn¡¯t have much sympathy to spend though because the guys hanging onto my arms and legs made it easier for everyone to punch me¡ªnot just the first guy and a couple more were closing.


    We were heading upward at a fair pace because I¡¯d already set my suit to push upward as hard as possible despite the drag. Thinking about the guy hanging on to my legs, I adjusted the rockets to throw out as much heat as possible. It wasn¡¯t as efficient, but bearing in mind that he was hanging on underneath the rockets¡¯ blast, it made his life worse¡ªhopefully to the point that he¡¯d let go.


    At almost the same time, I turned on the sonics at full. The two guys who¡¯d grabbed my arms had pulled them into their bodies such that my hands were next to their stomachs. If they knew about my killbots, they were trusting that I wouldn¡¯t let the bots cut through their armor and explode inside their stomachs¡ªnot to mention what my lasers would do.


    To be fair, they weren¡¯t wrong. I wouldn¡¯t.


    Instead, I set the sonics at frequencies that resonated most strongly with elements of the human digestive system, causing problems that would be felt at one end of the human body or another. Rook, or whoever had worked on their armor, may have hardened it against sonics, but it was one thing to resist sonics from a distance and another when they were held next to your armor.


    I made a point of pressing my forearms against them so that the sonics would touch their armor, making a better connection, allowing as much of their armor as possible to conduct sound vibrations, turning it into a kind of intestinal surround sound.


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    My first hint that it was working came when they both groaned. Then they started making noises that reminded me of my cat coughing up a hairball as well as childhood stomachaches and being sent home from elementary school after making a disgusting mess on my desk.


    To be fair to my would-be captors, they didn¡¯t instantly let go. They tried to keep control of both of me and their own bodies¡¯ rebellion. After a series of horrible noises, they let go, first with one hand and then with both to fiddle with their helmets¡ªwhich from what I could see were not leaking at all.


    In many situations that would be a good thing, but not this one.


    I didn¡¯t see more than that because when they let go, I shot upward, freed of their weight along with that of the guy who¡¯d been grabbing my legs. He¡¯d let go as did¡ªless because he couldn¡¯t hold on, I suspected, but out of surprise.


    Despite that, I wasn¡¯t fully free of them. Except for the two with vomit filled helmets and the three I¡¯d taken out with goobots, they were all chasing me. Leading the pack were the two I¡¯d just left behind and now nicknamed for personal convenience ¡°Puncher¡± and ¡°Leg-man.¡±


    It amazed me that I could tell the difference given their identical suits, but it wasn¡¯t me. It was my implant¡ªwhich also helpfully labeled Jared Curtis. He was the third closest out of the fifteen behind me.


    Now that I did remember that he¡¯d been courtmartialed for stealing an alien artifact from supervillains, I wondered if he had it on him.


    I needed to decide where to go next. Over the comm, I asked, ¡°Do you need help?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see Vaughn, Haley, Tara or the Protection Force people who¡¯d followed them into the forest. The constant movement showed they were alive though.


    ¡°No,¡± Haley whispered, ¡°Do you?¡±


    ¡°Doing okay,¡± I said before thinking about it. Was I really doing okay?


    I¡¯d taken five out of the fight and I was on the run from fifteen more. Only moments ago, four of them could have taken me down, but I¡¯d escaped. That was ¡°okay.¡± Now I had to take out the other fifteen.


    Maybe that wasn¡¯t okay?


    No, I decided, I might not be knocking them out of the sky right and left, but right now I controlled this part of the fight. I was ahead of them and they weren¡¯t gaining.


    As an experiment, I stopped flying straight up, turning sideways to fly toward Hardwick Industries. Even losing a little speed there, they were still behind me. I could use this to pick them off one by one if I did it right.


    It bothered me that I hadn¡¯t seen Rook¡¯s crowbots show up again, but flying over the clearing around the buildings made it that much less likely that they¡¯d surprise me.


    From behind me, Jared¡¯s voice boomed, ¡°This is your last chance. Surrender! I¡¯m authorized to use lethal force and, if you don¡¯t listen, I will.¡±


    A flash of light caught my eye. Alone among the Protection Force suits, Jared¡¯s had acquired an eerie purple glow. Thinking back to what I knew about him, I wondered if the artifact he¡¯d stolen had some practical use in fighting and if he¡¯d somehow gotten it back.


    The purple glow began to ripple around him and it struck me that he¡¯d begun to gain on me.


    Over the comm, I said, ¡°I might not be okay.¡±

 Mere Anarchy: Part 10

    ¡°Not okay, how?¡± Haley asked?


    ¡°I¡¯ve got fifteen Protection Force people following me. They can¡¯t keep up, but I think one of them might have an Abominator weapon and I think he might catch me.¡±


    Kayla¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°Should I have your repair pods cover you?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°Yes, but don¡¯t start firing yet.¡±


    Haley sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t make her wait too long.¡±


    Saying only, ¡°Yeah,¡± I took a glance backward and saw that Jared was still gaining. She wasn¡¯t wrong but if they took out my only way to repair the suit mid-fight, that wouldn¡¯t be a good thing either. Past experience indicated that this might not be my only fight tonight.


    Haley sighed again, but didn¡¯t argue.


    I took another look. There was no question that he was gaining on me. I fired off a goobot toward his face. It flew straight through him and not like a bullet might have.


    He glowed a brighter purple and the blob of gray goo shot through him as if he didn¡¯t even exist and nothing inhabited thet space except for air.


    That¡¯s where my implant started sending me information. The glow and being intangible both had a connection to Abominator history. At one point, the Abominators came to the attention of an alien race known only as the Cosmic Ghosts. When the Abominators clashed with them, the Abominators lost.


    Being the inventors that they were, they created a biological device that integrated into a biological entity and imitated the Ghosts¡¯ ability to fly and turn both invisible and inatangible. What was cool about that was that I knew exactly how to deal with it. What was less cool was that it was a device that prevented someone from going intangible and I didn¡¯t have it along or even in the repair pods.


    My grandfather had created it to catch my grandmother back when she¡¯d been a Nazi super and I¡¯d used it to help against my sister Rachel in fighting competitions at Stapledon.


    It hadn¡¯t occurred to me that we¡¯d need it. Anyway, the Cosmic Ghosts acted as a kind of galactic police force and technically Rachel and I were related to them just like we were related to the Ghosts considerably more sinister relatives, the Artificers.


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    It wasn¡¯t as if I expected to fight them. The Ghosts were on my side.


    My confidence of that was too bad. A bit of irrational paranoia would have helped. I¡¯d have been protected¡ªwhich would have been worth something since now Jared a was only twenty feet away.


    It surprised me that he wasn¡¯t firing at me, but then I watched him draw his knife from his belt. it wasn¡¯t a small one either.It was at least a foot long and that bothered me because I knew that one of my grandmother¡¯s fighting techniques had been to use her intangibility to push a knife straight past armor and let go. The knife would then solidify.


    It left the knife sharing space with the armor¡ªwhich often exploded around the spot where the two interpenetrated each other. It also shared space with whatever happened to be inside the armor¡ªskin, bone, muscle, organs, veins, arteries, and blood. They exploded too, but with less force.


    My grandfather had been lucky to survive meeting my grandmother for the first time.


    I began to weave even as Jared disappeared, knife in hand. The suit¡¯s sensors showed nothing even as I adjusted settings to give emphasis to the radar, sonar, or thermal. Looking at them alone didn¡¯t give any more clarity than the composite gave.


    My implant offered a probable path based on the armor¡¯s speed and direction before disappearing. I was above Hardwick Industries by then, noticing that two people standing on top of the lab with rifles. They weren¡¯t firing. Their rifles hung by their sides.


    From their size and the glint of light on their armor, I guessed they were True.


    Ignoring all the disquiet brought up by that thought, I waited as the implant counted down in my head, counting down the seconds til Jared came within reach with his knife.


    With three seconds to go and no good reason to think so, I felt that the implant was wrong. I couldn¡¯t see it but I sensed a presence almost close enough to strike.


    It wasn''t like hearing Obi Wan Kenobi''s voice telling me to use the Force. It had to be my ability to sense Lee in whatever form he chose along with other Artificers if I met them.


    Jared''s presence felt similar, but not quite the same, and that¡¯s why instead of trusting the implant, I turned right. It wasn¡¯t any right. It was a hard right and as I turned, I felt something else. I knew what telepathy felt like and this wasn¡¯t it. This felt similar, but not quite the same. The best I can say was that that it felt like it was on a different frequency and that not one that human telepaths used, one that drew from a deeper well of power.


    It felt warm and cold all at once and carried with it a sense of many presences rather than one, a sea of consciousness.


    Within that sea, one of them felt like it was directing me to reach within myself to a source of power and I knew that power. The last time I¡¯d used it, I¡¯d created a flaming sword out of nothing and as side effect had to leave Earth in a scheme to prevent Lee¡¯s people from realizing Lee was here.


    It didn¡¯t sound like a good idea. They¡¯d notice the second time and then, well, it might be the end of the world.


    Without words, the presence was insistent, sending a feeling of cold through me. It could teach me to survive this.


    Meanwhile, my rockets roared and I felt that even though my turn had thrown him off, Jared was gaining again.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 11

    If in the middle of a fight for your life, an unknown presence offers you the power to survive, the pragmatic choice might be to say yes now and deal with the consequences later. The cautious and maybe wisest choice might be to say no and concentrate on surviving because some favors come at too high a price.


    As for myself, I pushed the rockets as much as I could to give myself more time and thought back, ¡°Who are you?¡±


    I felt an answer as much as I saw it in my mind, a vast host of translucent humanoid forms that reminded me a little of angels and even more of the Cosmic Ghosts I¡¯d seen pictures of in the Xiniti implant¡¯s recordings.


    That wasn¡¯t all. Among the unnumbered army, I saw my sister Rachel, short, dark hair and wry expression standing out amid the faceless horde. ¡°I can¡¯t get to you, but asked them to help. Listen to them. They know what they¡¯re doing.¡±


    In a quieter voice, as if from a distance, Lee said, ¡°She¡¯s right.¡±


    Another that seemed to come from just as far away said, ¡°You trusted them before. Trust them now. And tell Marcus I miss him.¡±


    That was Kee. Kals had said they¡¯d been to Hideaway together.


    After glancing back toward the horizon, Rachel turned toward me. ¡°They¡¯re not normally here. Like you, they¡¯re on a guest pass. Don¡¯t get used to it. And be careful.¡±


    I¡¯d have asked more, but if I could trust that it wasn¡¯t an illusion I needed the help now. I thought, ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    The sea of Ghosts faded away, leaving only a warm feeling, followed by a blur of information that I now understood. When I¡¯d created the sword, I¡¯d drawn on Lee¡¯s power and Lee¡¯s power was loud. Now I knew better how to draw on my own. There wasn¡¯t much of it, but I¡¯d have more by the time I was a thousand years old, the Ghost told me.


    Even more important, she could show me how to hide it.


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    I let her, noting that my species rarely lived a hundred years, much less one thousand.


    All she said was, ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡±


    Technically, she may not have said words, but passed on a combination of feelings and vague impressions that were best translated as, ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡±


    With that, I found myself fully aware of being in the Rocket suit with the accompanying warm weight around my body flying through the darkness at more than four hundred miles per hour. The woods flew past below me. The stars winked above me. The Hardwick Industries¡¯ buildings stood only a little behind me because all that had happened had taken only seconds.


    It may even have taken less than a second.


    I couldn¡¯t see Jared through my helmet¡¯s wraparound screen, but I could feel him. As I¡¯d suspected earlier, he was behind me but gaining. He¡¯d be on me in less than ten seconds if I did nothing.


    I jinked left, feeling him shoot past me, adjust, and then turn left to follow me. Then I leaned over to the right, turning in that direction and forcing him to adjust to follow me again. That was interesting. He or his suit might react slower than I did.


    I repeated the moves again, hoping he¡¯d be thinking that I couldn¡¯t see him, but was only guessing that he was still behind me. Even better, I was giving him the impression that I thought in two dimensions instead of three.


    He did better at following me but still flew past. For all his experience, I might still have more time spent in the air¡ªor maybe the Abominator device taxed him in ways I didn¡¯t know.


    Either way, I didn¡¯t jink right or left after that. I turned upward and flipped over so that he flew under me. I ended up above him but not parallel. I was over the lower half of his body.


    Not giving him time to respond, I gave the rockets everything I could, putting myself over where his rockets should be and then I punched them.


    What should have happened was that I missed, punching empty air while Jared existed just to the left of reality. It didn¡¯t go that way. As I punched, I pulled at something with my mind, maybe a part of me that didn¡¯t physically exist here, willing myself to extend elsewhere, to be solid.


    My punch hit, crushing one of the two rockets in his pack. I didn¡¯t know exactly how the Abominator artifact worked but I understood that even if it altered how fast Jared¡¯s suit could fly, the suit¡¯s rocket pack affected how fast it could go and now it definitely flew slower.


    For all that, it didn¡¯t instantly slow down. For a moment, it still traveled at the speed it had been at before and in that moment Jared spun in the air, aiming his long knife at me.


    He must have decided invisibility wasn¡¯t worth it because he flickered into view as the knife flashed toward my gut, hitting the Rocket suit, and failing to go through.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 12

    At about the same time, Jared did slow down, the purple glow still surrounding him. As he dropped backward, the undamaged rocket on his back became louder leaving a wider trail of flame and exhaust.


    On a gut level, I didn¡¯t think that a rocket of that size should be able to do keep him moving forward even as fast as he was going¡ªwhich was still faster than the rest of them. The Abominator artifact had to be behind it. If it was made to fight the Cosmic Ghosts, it had to be slightly out of phase with reality and judging from its speed, it was manipulating time to a limited degree as well.


    I let myself slow down to match his speed, deciding I had to take him out rather than destroy the other rocket and leave him for the people on the ground. Tara might come up with a way to hit him, but I had no idea how.


    Slowing down meant that I drifted a little lower, but so had he. He wasn¡¯t going down easy either. Instead of shying away, he aimed toward me, stabbing me again with the long knife.


    It didn¡¯t make a lot of sense unless he thought he might have done something wrong. Whatever his reasoning, it didn¡¯t work any better the second time. I¡¯d kept the power flowing through me as I neared him and it did what it needed to do¡ªpulled the knife into phase with the the reality we were in, forcing it to hit my armor instead of slide through it.


    As I did it, I felt the power flowing through me and knew that I felt more tired than I had before I started using it. I wasn¡¯t going to be able to do this forever.


    It wasn¡¯t a physical soreness, more the beginning of an all over lethargy, the kind I felt after a ten mile run.


    I needed to take him out of the fight now and not later. If the artifact¡¯s power source lasted longer than I did, he¡¯d have no problem running me through.


    He wasn¡¯t stupid. When it failed to go through the second time, he began to pull away. I didn¡¯t let him. In the summer, I¡¯d learned that while I wasn¡¯t physically any faster than a normal person, I absorbed information much faster. I¡¯d spent a lot of time practicing with Jaclyn and Cassie when we got back, trying to make the mental speed physically useful.


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    The best we could come up with was for me to move as fast as I could after making a decision. Here, it worked. As he began to pull the knife back, I reached out with my left hand, grabbing his right forearm.


    He tried to pull away, but my grip didn¡¯t break, hinting that my suspicion that I had a stronger suit might be correct. The question was what to do next. Even if I wanted to kill him, my killbots wouldn¡¯t help. Like my sister¡¯s ability to turn intangible, what I¡¯d learned to do didn¡¯t extend much past my own body. I wasn¡¯t going to be extending it to a bot any time soon.


    On the other hand, those limits meant that I also wasn¡¯t likely to summon Lee¡¯s enemies to destroy our planet.


    Knowing that, I pulled him toward me with my left hand, rolled under him in the air and began striking at the right arm¡¯s shoulder joint. If his suit were based as closely on my grandfather¡¯s early suits as I suspected, crucial elements of the artificial muscles would be there along with cables that transmitted commands to the gun as well as the suit and the rocket pack.


    I didn¡¯t stop with one either. I started with one and hit two more times before he punched back, hitting the upper part of my chest near my neck and helmet. It wasn¡¯t a bad area to target in the WW2 version of the Rocket suit. A lot of control systems went through the neck and down through the front of the chest.


    My suit¡¯s self-repairing blocks with nanotech elements had left cables behind a couple of generations ago. That wasn¡¯t to say he didn¡¯t hit hard. My HUD reported a small degree of damage and began to repair it. My next punch caused his right arm to freeze.


    It didn¡¯t freeze to the point of becoming completely unmoving, but he dropped the knife and the forearm bent inward until it met the bicep. He tried to move the arm but couldn¡¯t. He even stopped trying to punch me with his left arm.


    Knowing what I¡¯d done to the right arm, I punched him in his left shoulder. That got a reaction. With the purple field around his armor fluctuating with every hit I made, he tried to pull away, thrashing with his left arm, kicking with his legs, but not doing any real damage.


    Not having a better idea, I kept on pounding until something cracked inside his shoulder.


    He stopped trying to hit and the left arm straightened, flopping in the air, hitting the side of Jared¡¯s suit. It wasn¡¯t controlled at all, reminding me of a flag flapping in the wind.


    I let go. It wasn¡¯t as if he could do anything except use the backup controller in the mouthguard to land.


    Showing no sign he had any control of his suit, Jared dipped downward into a group of evergreens, crashing into them and disappearing from sight.


    Maybe his suit didn¡¯t have a backup controller in the mouthguard.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 13

    It should have had a backup controller in the mouthguard. They¡¯d taken the rest of Grandpa¡¯s design. Sure, the mouthguard took a little bit to learn to use, didn¡¯t give you the precision of hand controls, made the helmet design more complicated, and theoretically, all you needed to control the suit¡¯s major functions was one hand, but what if you needed both hands for something complicated while flying?


    Some things required triple redundancy and controlling what direction you were flying was one of them.


    I wondered who the designer was. I didn¡¯t think Rook would be that much of a fool, but there was no way to know for sure.


    Of course, the way things were going today, I might get the chance to ask him.


    Seeing no sign that he was flying out of the trees and not feeling the disquiet I¡¯d felt as he came near, I stopped worrying about whether he was a threat. I also did my best to stomp down the small worry that I¡¯d killed him.


    On the one hand, I knew that he¡¯d have killed me given the chance. He¡¯d said so. At the same time, I also knew what I¡¯d been told both by my grandfather and others in the Stapledon program. Superheroes didn¡¯t kill for a reason. The reason was that if it became normal, some horrible death would bring the public to a point where they wouldn¡¯t put up with it anymore. Then superheroes would be regulated and their power use restricted to those with an official license.


    Putting that aside, I turned to the unit of soldiers who¡¯d followed Jared into the fight. They¡¯d caught up and hovered about fifty feet away from me.


    Contrary to past experience, they weren¡¯t charging in as a group to take me out or even spreading out and taking shots at me from a distance. Either one had a good chance of working. My armor wasn¡¯t invulnerable, just tough.


    Instead, they did nothing more than hover. When I turned to face them, a few of them backed up. Three of them peeled off to fly southward. Several of the others turned to watch them fly away over the trees.


    I¡¯d never been in the military and arguably they weren¡¯t in one, but on a gut level, it seemed to me that discipline had broken down. When I¡¯d been on Hideaway, we¡¯d been in the middle of a siege that felt endless even if it had been maybe a day or two at most and during that time we¡¯d repelled wave after wave of people trying to kill us. If we¡¯d been doing what they were now, we¡¯d have died.


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    It might be some kind of trick, but it didn¡¯t feel like one.


    One of them turned on his sonics, broadcasting his voice around across the forest. ¡°We¡¯re Protection Force as you¡¯ve... uh... been told. Surrender, please. We outnumber you. You can¡¯t win against all of us. Even now, we¡¯re hunting down your friends in the forest. They don¡¯t stand a chance either. You all need to surrender and wait for the police.¡±


    A couple more flew downward. I checked the group in my HUD, seeing green lights for their presence and red for their status. ¡°Is everyone okay? Two more of them just went down toward you.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re doing okay,¡± Haley could have been talking on the phone about a paper for class. ¡°It¡¯s like fighting you in practice except I think their suits are older--or maybe cheaper. They don¡¯t regenerate and my claws cut through them. Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°I think so. I think I just took out Jared and now the rest of them don¡¯t seem quite sure if they want to fight me. Do you need me where you are?¡±


    Tara spoke. ¡°No. If you come down, they¡¯ll all come down here. If you stay up there, you¡¯ll be the focus and we¡¯ll be able to keep on taking them down one at a time. We should go. We''ve taken down three and we¡¯re close to taking down another.¡±


    As plans went, it made sense. I could be the distraction and let them gang up on anyone who makes the mistake of going after them.


    Vaughn whispered, ¡°Tell us if you need help.¡±


    Then I heard the sound of wind blowing followed by a clang and the screech of metal¡ªas if a metal covered man had hit a tree.


    In the distance, the tops of tree branches moved. Two of the Protection Force people went to investigate, but they hovered above the trees, making a circle around the spot without going down.


    A black bird made a circle around the spot and one of the two men pointed at it. They were right to. It didn¡¯t fly like a real bird. It flew like a small jet¡ªwithout flapping its wings.


    Cassie¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°Hey Rocket, it sounds like you need a wingman. I told you I could arrange a teleport over to you. I¡¯m just outside the guy¡¯s door. Give me a second.¡±


    Her voice cut off.


    If that was one of Rook¡¯s bots, I didn¡¯t want Cassie here. The Nine were trying to get her. Rook had already kidnapped her once. To be fair, she hadn¡¯t been carrying her gun at the time.


    Now might be different and I hoped it would be because she wasn¡¯t connected to the comm system anymore.


    More crow-like birds appeared, flying in from all directions. As I got a handle on that, I saw bigger birds¡ªat least five of them, all of them human-sized and human-shaped¡ªexcept for the wings and beaked helmets.


    Amplified over every other sound nearby, Rook¡¯s uneven voice couldn¡¯t be ignored. ¡°Impressive, young Rocket. You beat someone I¡¯d been told was unbeatable. I wonder which one of you did it? My bet is the original. What do you say? Am I wrong?¡±

 Mere Anarchy: Part 14

    Telling Rook whether he was fighting Chris or myself might give him an advantage. I opted to preserve anonymity.


    Turning on the helmet¡¯s speaker, I said, ¡°The Nine don¡¯t have any business here. Unless you want to fight, I¡¯d suggest going home. The Heroes¡¯ League is here and if you remember the last times you faced us, you¡¯ll remember they didn¡¯t go well.¡±


    That came out a bit more aggressive than I normally went for¡ªespecially when you considered that I was facing Rook, four of his best evil bird impersonators and a host of rocket-fueled crowbots. At the same time, it sounded like something Grandpa might have said. It was nice to think some part of him might be here now¡ªif only because I¡¯d chosen to simulate his voice.


    Rook hovered in the middle of his cloud of crowbots and minions, not coming closer for the moment. It was hard to read emotions on a guy covered in powered armor, but he seemed to freeze as I spoke.


    If he did have a moment of fear or better, a moment in which he worried that Grandpa was still alive, it didn¡¯t last long.


    ¡°I remember.¡± He raised his right arm in the air. ¡°Coming back here to thank you for your assistance in my new research into prosthetics was one of the reasons I came back. Of course, I don¡¯t owe everything to you. I owe some of it to the Abominators. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of the artifacts here. Be aware that they¡¯re not the only artifacts that we¡¯ve collected.¡±


    He¡¯d changed his powered armor. The overall look was the same. It still made me think of crows¡ªall black with wings, a face with a gray and yellow beak, and four limbs that ended in talons.


    The appendage where his right hand would have been was different from the left. The one on the left was more or less hand-shaped, but with color and texture reminiscent of a bird¡¯s foot. The one on the right was actually shaped like a bird¡¯s foot¡ªwhich made me think that whatever prosthetic was inside the armor might be shaped like that too.


    ¡°One more thing,¡± he twisted his right arm so that I could see the talons better. They shimmered in my suit¡¯s HUD in much the same way Cassie¡¯s sword did.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t have Captain Commando¡¯s sword long and I didn¡¯t get to take it apart like I wanted to, but I did get to keep it around long enough. I think my version is just as good, but we¡¯ll have to test it.¡±


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    He let the arm fall back to his side. ¡°I can¡¯t say I would have thought to make such an extreme change to my body, but you made it necessary. My friends thank you as well.¡±


    In that moment, I noticed that the right hands of Rook¡¯s followers weren¡¯t hand-shaped either. It didn¡¯t seem likely that he¡¯d found four people who¡¯d lost hands that were also willing to become henchmen.


    On the other hand, if he hadn¡¯t found people who¡¯d lost hands, it meant he¡¯d cut them off himself.


    They must be fanatical nut jobs to be willing to put up with that¡ªunless they¡¯d been mind-controlled into becoming fanatical nut jobs. Then all they had to be were people.


    Either way, it was messed up.


    What made it worse was that their talons had the same shimmer, one that was shared by the beaks of the crowbots and maybe the bots¡¯ clawed feet as well.


    I tried to comfort myself with the fact that none of the claws appeared to be more than an inch long. They weren¡¯t close to three feet long like Cassie¡¯s sword.


    In a similar situation, I¡¯d make claws that extend or maybe ones that fire off like bullets.


    There¡¯s something to be said for taking problems to their logical solution, but not to solve problems for the person attempting to kill you.


    On the other hand, what was I doing by talking to this guy right now? It took very little time to come up with the answer. I was keeping him away from everyone else so that less mobile people like Haley, Tara, and Vaughn wouldn¡¯t be mobbed by crowbots with supersharp beaks.


    Okay then, if it was my job to delay Rook, I¡¯d better start delaying him.


    Turning my head toward the group of Protection Force soldiers I¡¯d been fighting, I said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to threaten him like you did me? He¡¯s trespassing on Hardwick Industries airspace too. Didn¡¯t you hear him talking about Abominator artifacts? He knows they¡¯re here.¡±


    The ragged line of Protection Force employees hadn¡¯t been standing firm during my conversation with Rook. They¡¯d been backing away.


    ¡°We¡¯re withdrawing to better protect Hardwick Industries property.¡±


    Two more of them flew out of the forest below to join the main group as they flew toward the buildings. There had been at least five who¡¯d gone down to chase Haley and the others. They weren¡¯t even trying to bring all their people back.


    Increasing the volume on my helmet speaker, ¡°You¡¯re willing to fight superheroes but not someone who¡¯s been outside the law for more than twenty years?¡±


    They didn¡¯t say anything.


    Over the comm, Cassie said, ¡°That¡¯s going to hurt them. They look like a bunch of cowards, if not stooges in the service of the Nine. You know you¡¯re still broadcasting, right?¡±


    I checked the data strip on the bottom of my HUD. More than four million people were watching now. I hoped I hadn¡¯t said anything stupid. Maybe I should kill the feed.


    ¡°Nice try,¡± Rook said. ¡°That¡¯s new. When we fought before I don¡¯t think you¡¯d have tried that. Trying to distract me, weren¡¯t you? Or trying to bring them in on your side? Let¡¯s see what else is different.¡±


    He turned toward the bots and henchmen to his left. ¡°Kill the ones in the forest.¡±

 Mere Anarchy: Part 15

    There are moments where you have to make a decision about what you¡¯re going to do. Some of them will be hard. Others might be easy. This one? This was a repeat.


    When we¡¯d attacked Rook¡¯s base, he¡¯d attempted to shoot a nuclear missile at the League jet¡ªwhich Haley happened to be flying. Then I¡¯d shot his hand with an explosive bullet or maybe many bullets. At a distance of couple years, I didn¡¯t know anymore.


    In that moment I did know I didn¡¯t want Haley and the others to be attacked by things that I knew could cut through their armor. I didn¡¯t have a well thought out reason to do what I did¡ªsomething like, ¡°Taking out Rook will stop the attack by demoralizing his henchmen.¡±


    After the fight with Jared, I didn¡¯t quite have the energy for that level of thought. Using whatever ¡°powers¡± I had pulled a lot out of me. I felt like I did after taking a long run.


    What I had was a thorough knowledge of what Cassie¡¯s sword could do¡ªcut through anything I¡¯d ever seen¡ªand an awareness that going three or four inches deep into a body was enough to hit something vital. Even though Haley could regenerate, Tara and Vaughn couldn¡¯t and it wouldn¡¯t be too hard to cause more damage than she could repair in time.


    I fired off two killbots, aiming one at Rook¡¯s head and the other at his chest.


    They both hit. It didn¡¯t go as planned.


    Though I couldn¡¯t see it until it hit, the killbot that hit his chest didn¡¯t go through. It hit and stalled before it got through the armor. The one that I¡¯d aimed at his forehead did the same. Before either bot could explode, both of them glowed and turned to dust.


    It may have been the tiredness, but at first, none of that made any sense. A moment later, it became obvious.


    There were countermeasures that worked against killbots. They were based on the same technology that was used in Cassie¡¯s sword. When I¡¯d gone to space, I¡¯d learned that the Abominators had used it as well, but that they¡¯d figured out countermeasures and then people stopped using it as weapons technology.


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    I¡¯d actually given one to a genetically modified human called Four Hands who thought it was the time to bring it back to fight the human heirs to the Abominators¡¯ civilization.


    I doubted that Four Hands had given the secret to Rook. He didn¡¯t need to. Rook had figured out the basics on his own and then worked the countermeasures into his own armor. It made sense. In his position, I might have done the same thing if I¡¯d known that the owner of Captain Commando¡¯s sword might come looking for me.


    Too bad I hadn¡¯t thought of that earlier. I¡¯d known that the killbots¡¯ monomolecular blades wore out, but hadn¡¯t designed my suit or anyone else¡¯s with that in mind.


    I hoped that none of us died. On some level, it would be my fault for not thinking things through.


    Even as that thought went through my brain, my implant offered up information on the other effect I¡¯d seen¡ªthe killbots¡¯ disintegration. I¡¯d thought of it as an entropy shield in the sense that it increased entropy. The implant referred to it as a disintegration field¡ªwhich was more precise in terms of what it did.


    I''d seen it in operation when the Hrrnnna attacked Dr. Griffin''s lab.


    My suit didn¡¯t have countermeasures for that. I wasn¡¯t going to be able to get close or trust that my bots would survive hitting him.


    The rest of Rook¡¯s henchmen¡ªtwo of them¡ªand the remaining bots began to move toward me, obscuring Rook from my view.


    Grateful that the Rocket suit did most of the work, I shot upward while talking over the comm as fast as I could. ¡°Rook¡¯s here. He¡¯s sending people down for you and they can cut through my armor.¡±


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Haley sounded out of breath.


    ¡°Fine,¡± I said, continuing with the words, ¡°for now,¡± in my head where she couldn¡¯t hear them.


    The crowbots and the two henchmen flew up after me, but slow enough that I could take a shot at Rook with the laser.


    Rook¡¯s chest and head were wide open from the angle I moved to, but to aim, I had to move my arm and while the suit did most of the work being tired made it harder to hold the arm still.


    I kept the laser on, raking the beam in his direction, but still missed even though I did cut into one of the crowbots. The bot¡¯s wing burned, revealing that it had layers of a shiny substance under the outer layer.


    Grandpa used that same technique. For that matter the material of my Rocket suit used a variation on that same technology.


    It didn¡¯t matter though. That¡¯s something I could punch through as long as I could keep the beam on it for long enough.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 16

    For the crowbot, it turned out that even that brief contact could take it down. The beam didn¡¯t cut the wing off, but it cut through far enough that the wing broke because of the stress that flying through the air put on it.


    If it had been further down the wing, maybe it could have kept on flying, but it broke off near the body. The crowbot flipped over a few time and then disappeared into the trees below.


    As it disappeared, I turned off the laser beam, knowing that running it sucked power and might start fires. I¡¯d turn it on when I had another good shot¡ªassuming that the I was able to. It felt like whatever I¡¯d done to hit Jared had sucked the power out of me.


    At that thought, I remembered something I hadn¡¯t been aware I¡¯d learned from the Ghosts. I could pull more energy in¡ªtemporarily. If I did it too often, I¡¯d get more tired than I would have been if I never did it at all.


    She¡¯d explained to me how it worked¡ªsort of, It was more like implanting the necessary memories directly in my brain¡ªmuch like what the implant did. I hadn¡¯t had the chance to think through the most efficient way to use it. The one thing that seemed obvious was that using it as little as possible seemed like the best choice.


    It was just that I might not be able to¡ªnot if I kept on missing because I was too tired to react quickly enough.


    Not sure what to do next with all of that, I decided to concentrate on what was in front of me, or technically, below me.


    Rook¡¯s two henchmen and his crowbots were heading straight up at me, a smart move, but one that meant that he was going at this with his head and not his emotions. He¡¯d be okay if the bots or henchmen got me instead of killing me himself¡ªwhile I was having to remind myself that if I went down to help Haley and the others now, I¡¯d only allow Rook to focus his whole force on the group of us instead of spending half of it to get me.


    ¡°Everyone okay?¡± I asked over the comm.


    Haley said, ¡°Busy,¡± and something crackled in the background followed by the roaring of the wind.


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    Not wanting to distract her or anyone else, I kept on flying upward watching everyone¡¯s positions in myHUD. Rook might not be following right behind me, but as long as he was, I could keep him away from everyone else.


    Plus, if I kept on moving, maybe I wouldn¡¯t have to find out how well Rook¡¯s version of Grandpa¡¯s monomolecular blades worked on my armor.


    Watching as the distance increased, I found that I almost felt a little disappointed that Rook appeared to have made his suits slower than mine. Guessing that they might head down toward everyone else if I got too far away, I stopped going straight up and began to circle back toward Hardwick Industries.


    That gave them the chance to make up the distance and they took it¡ªall of them, including Rook.


    They didn¡¯t just turn though, I felt them start to do something. It felt the same as whatever Abominator tech Jared had been using. Giving the area around me a look through my helmet¡¯s internal screen, I learned that Jared hadn¡¯t reappeared.


    Instead, I noticed that Rook and his henchmen¡¯s right arms, the ones where their hands had been amputated, glowed with the same purple light that Jared¡¯s had. That confirmed my suspicion that Rook had some influence on Protection Force¡¯s powered armor because he¡¯d also gotten a more than casual look at Jared¡¯s Abominator artifact.


    I knew that he¡¯d tweaked it somehow before I knew how. I felt power build and as it released, jagged purple bolts that reminded me more of lightning bolts crackled and hissed toward me.


    Not having any better ideas, I concentrated, trying to use the same source of power I¡¯d used before, which if I understood things correctly was somehow me. In what felt like the same moment, all three bolts hit me at once, power washing over the suit. I could feel the heat through both my external armor and the stealth suit in its present role as my flight suit.


    Errors, alarms, and notifications crossed the bottom of my HUD, informing me of low-level damage across 73% of my powered armor. My armor wasn¡¯t all of it either, I struggled to keep my eyes open. Even though I¡¯d been hit, I knew that whatever I¡¯d prevented would have been worse.


    At the same time, worse than falling asleep in the air didn¡¯t get me much, and now I barely felt like I could move. Recognizing that I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything if I let myself feel this way, I opened myself up to energy from another source, one that I''d have to experiment with later.


    A cool feeling went through me, almost like it might feel if it were a wind. I didn¡¯t feel more powerful, but at the same time, I didn¡¯t feel like I was about to lose consciousness.


    Even as I let myself enjoy the moment, Rook¡¯s amplified voice seemed to go through my armor.


    ¡°How? How did you prepare for that? I thought you might have some counter to Abominator technology, but that wasn¡¯t from the Abominators. I made it. It took me months to make it work. How did you know?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t know for sure, but now he sounded personally invested in the idea of killing me.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 17

    Part of me wondered if telling the truth would help. In this case, that would be something like, ¡°You know what? I didn¡¯t see it coming. I¡¯ve been instructed by aliens in how to make myself and my armor extend outside our reality, stopping your weapon from going through it like it didn¡¯t exist.¡±


    For one thing, that speech would have gone way too long. Beyond that, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if his fascination with Grandpa, and by extension myself, was a kind of competitive thing. He might stop caring if he knew I hadn¡¯t out-thought him.


    Also, he might figure out a way to tweak his tech so that it worked.


    On the other hand, keeping him talking was a good thing. Not sure of the best way to do that, I went with the first thing I could think of. ¡°If you can¡¯t figure it out, I¡¯m not telling.¡±


    I kept moving, but continued to watch him¡ªto the degree I could. His crowbots and henchman stayed between us, making it difficult to see him for more than instants at a time.


    I needed to do more than distract him, I needed to take him out. Better, I needed to remember what Rook had seen me do because I had a bad feeling that he¡¯d planned for anything he¡¯d seen before. What did I have that was new?


    Rook laughed. He had a high pitched laugh that continued longer than it should have, amplified by his suit¡¯s speakers. ¡°I never got to fight the first Rocket. He retired before I ever visited Grand Lake. Without him, there was no point, but you, you¡¯re a disappointment. It¡¯s not the same person in the suit all the time and how am I supposed to kill you when you predict my inventions before I even try them on you?¡±


    Even as loud as his suit made his voice, I could tell that he¡¯d shouted the last line. I didn¡¯t think he was in the mood for talking.


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    Using the observation bots that I¡¯d loosed earlier to pinpoint his position, I sent the floating pod that had carried the full armor over the order to fire. That allowed me to use its secondary function, floating weapons platform.


    I¡¯d been working on it around the time I fought him the first time, but it hadn¡¯t matured until later and I hadn¡¯t used it much.


    On the off-chance it might do some good, I turned toward the oncoming wave of crowbots and henchmen and blasted them with sonics set to frequencies that worked on electronics.


    As I did, Rook shouted, ¡°Fine, then. Die by your own hand!¡±


    I¡¯d have asked him what he meant by that, but that¡¯s the moment when the pod¡¯s beam hit, a burning white beam that appeared to come from the night sky. The crowbots blocked my view of him and so I couldn¡¯t know where he got hit as it happened. I only saw the laser¡¯s beam.


    My HUD gave me the observation bots¡¯ view. The beam hit his back. It didn¡¯t go through, but it did hit the bulge that housed both his wings control mechanism and the rocket pack beneath.


    Whatever kind of fuel he had in there, it didn¡¯t explode, but he still fell.


    I didn¡¯t have time to celebrate because even as the pod¡¯s beam hit, one of the crowbots extended a barrel out of its chest. It wasn¡¯t the only one. Five more of them did the same.


    At the same time, I realized what Rook could have meant¡ªkillbots. Killbots were my invention and though I hadn¡¯t used them on him, I¡¯d used them around that time and I¡¯d never done anything special to protect myself from them. My armor had the potential to wear down the bullets before they got through, but it wasn¡¯t anything I¡¯d bet my life on.


    Despite there being two choices, I went with the option that wasn¡¯t quite as obvious. I activated EMPbots and sent them out from my armor.


    They exploded as the crowbots fired off Rook¡¯s version of my killbot. Flashes of light obscured my vision as I leaned sideways, hoping I stayed within the area of the EMPbots¡¯ protection.


    Had the bots gotten all of them?


    One crowbot fell out of the sky as Rook¡¯s killbot hit my right arm. I felt it hit the armor and continue inside, burrowing into the armor covering my bicep. In the confusion of all the explosions and the impact, I didn¡¯t know whether it made it through.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 18

    Then the word, ¡°Breach¡± appeared in my HUD along with, ¡°Stopping bleeding. Repairing suit.¡±


    By that, I understood that that the bot had made it all the way through both the full Rocket armor and the stealth suit. From the pinprick of pain and the fact I could still move my arm, I guessed that it wasn¡¯t that bad.


    Then I felt a cool sticky liquid hit and solidify as the padding around my bicep exuded a substance that coated my arm, preventing more bleeding.


    The words, ¡°Expelling foreign matter,¡± appeared in my HUD and the killbot fell out, falling toward the trees. It appeared to have been stopped by some combination of sonic damage, the EMP bots, and my armor. The suit¡¯s material might be enough to wear out the monomolecular blades faster, but it had a better chance if the killbot were damaged.


    Between learning that Rook¡¯s armor included first aid materials, having my arm nearly cooked through by a dragon, and participating in a small guerrilla war over the summer, I¡¯d been giving more thought to injuries. Even if it wouldn¡¯t help against dragon breath, stopping bleeding had been on my list.


    Even as I tried to understand whether or not the bot had shot through my arm, I was already doing my best not to have it happen a second time. I aimed myself away from the group of henchmen and crowbots, spraying them with the sonics in the hope that I¡¯d damage them more.


    The two henchmen didn¡¯t follow me. They dived into the forest where I¡¯d seen Rook fall. Though I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d regret it if it turned out that I¡¯d killed him, I doubted that I had. The fact that the crowbots kept on following made me suspect that he was alive, but I didn¡¯t have time to follow up on it.


    With the crowbots behind me, I had to make a choice. Did I want to outfly them and join everyone on the ground or should I take out the crowbots first?


    I decided it would be better for everyone if I reduced the number of enemies, preferably without dying. I felt confident that Rook would load his bots with more killbots than I would.


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    Giving the rockets more fuel, I felt myself shoot forward. As my stomach seemed to sink inside me, I targeted the crows with my own boombots. Watching through my HUD, I saw one of the bots hit a crowbot dead on and explode. I¡¯d set them to target where the wings joined the body if they could and it had.


    The bot fell, one wing blown to bits and the other still on and flapping.


    The other boombot hit and the crow exploded in a series of booms and balls of fire that extended twenty feet in every direction. I could only guess what Rook had intended with that bot.


    The other three had been a little ahead of the crowbot when it exploded, disappearing from sight in the blast, but righting themselves and flying after me.


    Knowing that my suit flew faster than the crowbots, I accelerated to give myself some space, and then jinked right and a little down to see if I could line the bots up. I couldn¡¯t get all three in a line, but I got two.


    I fired off a killbot, watching it hit the side of one crowbot and then the other. They both fell out of the sky. The bullet made it halfway into the third bot¡¯s outer skin and then exploded.


    It didn¡¯t take the bot down. The crowbot flipped sideways and seemed to tumble, but then righted itself¡ªthough the beating of its wings seemed a little off even if I couldn¡¯t say how. Before I could take advantage of that, the barrel in its chest fired off one killbot and then another. I didn¡¯t notice it. My implant did and notified me. Knowing it, I activated the sonics at tech destroying frequencies and pushed my rockets to their maximum possible speed.


    EMPbots might have been better, but I''d already used more than I wanted to.


    Assisted by my implant, I saw the moment where the first killbot got into range of the sonics, spontaneously started to smoke, and fell out of the air. The second killbot swung sideways, forcing me to adjust the sonics¡¯ targeting, and making me wonder if the killbots were controlled by a person or an AI.


    Either way, the bot was getting closer. Did this one have extra fuel and speed? Either way, I didn¡¯t like it, but recognized the cleverness in the inconsistency.


    I aimed the sonics at it, widening the area of effect so that I wouldn¡¯t have to be as accurate, and twisting left, forcing the bot to change direction. The crowbot followed it.


    Both of them lost ground on me. I sent another blast of sonics in their direction, getting another comm call as I aimed, which was annoying.


    ¡°Incoming!¡± Cassie shouted. Below me, a burst of light appeared in the forest.


    In that moment, Cassie connected directly to my implant from hers, allowing another voice into my consciousness.


    HA-HA! BURN, PRIMITIVE!


    With that, a beam of burning light shot upward from the ground, disintegrating tree branches and the remaining crowbot. I hoped Cassie wouldn¡¯t let her gun talk to me during the entire battle.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 19

    Cassie and the gun¡¯s arrival had distracted me from the Rook¡¯s final killbot, something I realized as a wave of fear went through me.


    The emotional push from knowing that my life could end at any moment left me scanning my HUD only to have the implant draw my attention to the small yellow glow behind the bot. It had flown past me in my moment of inattention and, contrary to its previous behavior, it wasn¡¯t adjusting its course.


    Then, a few hundred feet ahead of me the light winked out and the HUD¡¯s sensors showed it falling into the woods.


    That told me two things about Rook¡¯s design. First, he¡¯d given his killbots less fuel to work with. Second, he may have run remote control (or decision making?) through the crowbot because otherwise, the bot wouldn¡¯t have lost its purpose when the crowbot that fired it had gone down.


    Deciding that it would be better to go into whatever the ground fight turned out to be with a partner, I made a quick turn and dropped through the trees to land next to Cassie.


    Cassie didn¡¯t stop pointing her gun into the woods as I hit the ground, though she did glance over to me and grin. Via implant, Cassie said, ¡°Back in the forest and shooting people again.¡±


    I thought back, ¡°Except this time we¡¯re home.¡±


    ¡°Not my home. Where are we, anyway?¡± She started walking toward the rest of the group. I kept pace with her, watching through my HUD for Rook.


    ¡°An hour north of Grand Lake, kind of close to Muskegon. How¡¯d you get here?¡± I kept my focus on the right while she took the left, knowing that with her Abominator gun in hand, her senses were every bit equal to the Rocket suit¡¯s if not better.


    ¡°Reliquary has a place in D.C. I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s just a doorway that teleports you to wherever his real house is. Red Hex introduced me, but never mind that. Do you have any idea what¡¯s in that lab? The Gun went nuts when I pointed it that way.¡±


    ¡ªYOU PRIMITIVE MONGRELS HAVE NO CONCEPTION OF THE GLORIOUS PURPOSE FROM WHICH YOU¡¯VE DESCENDED! YET SOMEONE IN THAT PLACE ATTEMPTS TO SCALE THE LOWEST RUNG OF MY MASTER¡¯S GLORY!¡±


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    ¡°Genocide, you mean?¡± I asked and felt the gun begin to respond, but didn¡¯t hear it as Cassie cut it off.


    ¡°No kidding,¡± she said. ¡°Is there anything you haven¡¯t told the whole team in chat?¡±


    ¡°At this point, I don¡¯t even know. I think I told everyone everything. If you¡¯ve been listening in on the mission channel, you should be up to date. Uh¡­ Probably.¡±


    She looked over at me again. ¡°Yeah?¡±


    I¡¯d have shrugged but she¡¯d never have seen it through the suit. Or maybe she would have. She¡¯d seen me in the Rocket suit more than most people.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure we missed something.¡±


    I would have followed that up with more, but something glittered in my HUD. When I looked directly at that part of the forest, I didn¡¯t see anything. I sent Cassie the video of what I¡¯d seen via implant and queried my implant for information. Did the video bring up anything in its databases?


    Cassie said, ¡°Swap?¡±


    As one, we switched positions and areas to watch. I gave the section of woods on my left a look as my implant came up with pictures of different things that glitter could be¡ªteleportation, interdimensional travel, various sorts of beams, force fields¡­


    The Abominators had used all of the above.


    To Cassie I said, ¡°See anything?¡±


    ¡°Not yet. Nothing that glitters, for sure. We¡¯d better catch up with everyone else.¡± She took a step forward.


    I hit on another idea, asking implant about the Abominator armor model that I¡¯d seen the True wearing. Did the implant recognize it and what did it do, assuming it did more than protect the body?


    From that, I learned that the design was common for the Abominators¡¯ human servants, that it had various abilities beyond protecting a person¡¯s body, but which ones depended on the period in Abominator history and the Abominator lineage that designed the armor.


    I considered stopping the explanation, but then it said, ¡°the most common characteristic of Abominator armor was invisibility or camouflage, especially when fighting other Abominators.¡±


    Before I could tell Cassie, energy lashed out from the forest, a bright white light that reminded me of Cassie¡¯s gun¡¯s.


    It hit my armor even as Cassie said, ¡°Duck!¡± Then she started firing back, this time with a thinner, brighter beam than she¡¯d hit the crowbot with.


    A RESPECTABLE RECREATION OF THE MASTERS¡¯ BUT ONE THAT USED INFERIOR MATERIALS THAT WERE NO MATCH MY OWN PEERLESS BEAM!


    Two more burning white lines appeared, both aimed at us. Cassie ducked, avoiding them and fired back. I didn¡¯t get as lucky. One of the beams hit my thigh, not going through, but I could feel the heat and see the error messages roll across the screen.


    I dived to the ground and fired back in the direction of the beams with my sonics, hoping that the sonics would adjust and find whatever in the Abominator power armor had the most resonance and vibrate it until it broke.


    Cassie¡¯s beam did better. A set of abominator armor shimmered and fell over with a hole in the chest.


    Making a strangled noise, she managed to get out, ¡°The fuck?¡±


    The woman lying on the ground had her face.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure we mentioned that.¡±

 Mere Anarchy: Part 20

    I felt her queasiness as her words echoed in my head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t remember you ever saying, ¡®Hey Cassie, the True have your face.¡¯ I think I¡¯d have remembered that.¡±


    ¡°We just found out. I thought we passed it on. With everything going on, I really don¡¯t remember. It¡¯s not just you though. They also based them on Emmy, the receptionist, and also Stephanie. She was at Stapledon.¡±


    Stepping over to the body and staring down at it, Cassie held up her hand as if waving my comment away even as my implant reminded me that I had passed it on.


    ¡°I remember Stephanie. She was the one who passed on our stuff to the Coffeeshop Illuminati a couple of summers ago. She got hurt, right?¡±


    I sent a visual of a nod through the implant.


    Cassie shook her head and looked down at the body again, shining light from her gun into the wound. ¡°She¡¯s bigger than I am and it doesn¡¯t look like she¡¯s healing. What do you think?¡±


    Using the suit¡¯s sonics, I did what amounted to an ultrasound of the body and looked it over. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not a doctor. I¡¯m trying to look if anything¡¯s moving and there¡¯s way too much stuff. There are a lot of liquids in the body and some of those are still moving, but you pretty much destroyed her heart, and that¡¯s not moving much.¡±


    Rolling her eyes, Cassie stepped back from the body. ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking for your medical opinion. I was just thinking you¡¯d maybe see something I didn¡¯t. Whatever. Let¡¯s catch up with everyone else.¡±


    Speaking into her comm, she asked, ¡°How are all of you doing?¡±


    Tara answered, ¡°We¡¯ll need help within the next minute. You can see our position. Join us from the north.¡±


    Kayla¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°We¡¯re loading people in over here. Hologram¡¯s coming back¡ª¡°


    I found myself asking, ¡°What?¡± Stephanie might not have been in imminent danger, but it seemed too soon. Kayla continued talking as if I hadn¡¯t said anything.


    ¡°¡ªthe doctor used some of our equipment on her. We¡¯re loading a couple other people as well. I¡¯ll keep you in the loop.¡±


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    We did have advanced equipment in HQ. I vaguely remembered we¡¯d shown it to Haley¡¯s cousin, the team doctor. It wasn¡¯t as if we could use it ourselves. Maybe Jaclyn or Vaughn could in a few years.


    ¡°Got it.¡± Cassie turned to me, using the implant connection to ask, ¡°We¡¯re south of their position. Any idea why Tara said to come from the north?¡±


    We started running. ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s probably the whole thing where she extrapolates people¡¯s actions based on details none of the rest of us noticed.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Cassie shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s easy to forget how weird her brain is. She seems normal most of the time.¡±


    We fell into a rhythm, running through the forest, checking around us as we ran and checking the glow of our HUDs to keep aware of where Haley and the others were. They were definitely alive, but they kept on changing position.


    From their movements, it appeared their approach was to stay out of sight and pick people off one at a time. The other thing I noticed as I ran was that my legs felt tired, not as bad as I¡¯d felt after fighting Jared, but I was moving in that direction.


    Only the Rocket suit¡¯s artificial muscles were keeping me from knowing how bad I actually felt. They did almost all of the work. Even with them, I had a bad feeling I¡¯d have to take another pull at the power I¡¯d pulled in before.


    I¡¯d had a little more time to think about the knowledge the Ghosts had left in my mind. The energy I¡¯d used normally collected in the background. I¡¯d been taught how to collect and use it intentionally, but there wasn¡¯t any way I¡¯d be able to absorb more than I¡¯d use.


    Deciding to put off using whatever I¡¯d collected since the last time, I kept on going, aware that breathing felt harder and my limbs seemed to drag as they moved.


    I wondered if there were a point at which I¡¯d fall over, unable to move, but also unable to pull in enough energy to allow me to get over it. It sounded all too possible.


    Then we turned, making a half-circle between the trees, slowing as we got closer.


    Tara¡¯s voice came over the comm. ¡°You¡¯re going to come up behind them in a few seconds. Even if they see you, don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯re ready for them.¡±


    The Gun broadcast its thoughts on the matter.


    EXCELLENT. TELL HER SHE CAN CLEAN UP AFTER US.


    Cassie didn¡¯t, responding with, ¡°Got it.¡±


    At about that point, Cassie and I came around, seeing what Tara was referring to through the trees. Rook and two henchmen stood together along with a small cloud of crowbots, all of them looking around, guns out.


    A lone Protection Force man in powered armor stood about fifteen feet away from them, glancing in their direction and then around himself, not trusting anything, but not daring to stand alone.


    ¡°Rook,¡± Cassie thought over at me through the implant. ¡°Now there¡¯s a guy I have a bone to pick with. Are you going to have a problem with it if I go for him?¡±


    I thought back, ¡°Tell Tara.¡±


    Before she replied, my implant informed me that someone was using energies associated with Abominator matter transporters.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 21

    Not seeing anything appear yet, I directed one of the spybots to fly ahead of us and sent Cassie a memory of the last few seconds along with directions for how to see the spybot¡¯s video.


    She sent back the words, ¡°If everyone on the team had implants, it would be so much easier.¡±


    Then she spoke over the comm, ¡°Ronin, remember when Rook captured me? If I get the chance, I¡¯m going for him.¡±


    Speaking without inflection, Tara¡¯s high pitched voice seemed lower than it was, ¡°I know.¡±


    Cassie grinned, her voice sounding in my head, ¡°You heard her.¡±


    ¡°I did,¡± I thought back, but I kept my eyes on the spybot¡¯s view of the forest. Over the comm I added, ¡°Watch out for teleports. One could be happening right now.¡±


    The spybot sped through the forest ahead of us. Equipped with simpler sensors, its view showed only black and white. Guessing that Rook or his men would be less likely to look upward, I flew it at about eight feet above the ground, swerving to avoid trees and tree branches.


    The bot¡¯s programming did most of the work. I provided the direction and the speed¡ªthe slowest necessary to remain in the air. It still felt fast. Rook, two henchmen and several crowbots came into view mere seconds later.


    Wanting a good view, I sent the bot upward to land on a branch. After a moment, it gave me a view of the scene below.


    Rook, mangled wings swinging and swaying as if they were about to fall off, stood near his two henchmen. The crowbots stood on the ground, all of them staring in different directions.


    They didn¡¯t seem to notice my bot. Standing with their backs to each other, they had their gun arms pointed outward, acting as if they planned to aim purple lightning at any second.


    Once the spybot gave me the full scene, I understood why. Three men in Protection Force¡¯s armor lay on the ground, their armor battered and shredded in spots. The closest one had pulled off the armor around one arm and appeared to be digging around the side of his armor¡ªprobably for the full suit¡¯s release.


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    The other two were too far away to see details, but the arms did move. I assumed they were trying the same thing.


    That wasn¡¯t all, though. Rook¡¯s other two henchmen lay on the ground as well, and shattered crowbots lay around them in pieces. Like the Protection Force soldiers, Rook¡¯s henchmen¡¯s armor had jagged tears and holes as well as dents.


    Unlike the Protection Force soldiers, Rook¡¯s henchmen didn¡¯t appear to be moving. From what I could see, they weren¡¯t bleeding out either, but the spybot¡¯s cameras needed more light than they were getting.


    Tara, Haley, and Vaughn had been busy.


    Rook¡¯s voice registered on the spybot¡¯s audio sensors. ¡°Can either of you tell if they¡¯re alive? My sensors are on the fritz. The Rocket¡¯s sonics must of gotten something¡ªthat or the fall. Dammit. If you¡¯re alive, move or something. Abominator tech¡¯s been activated.¡±


    ¡°Sir?¡± One of the two standing henchmen began to move his helmet in Rook¡¯s direction. ¡°I thought your sensors¡ª¡±


    Rook interrupted. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me. Look outward! They¡¯re here somewhere. And yes, not all my sensors are dead. Now, shut up and look for the enemy before something else goes wrong.¡±


    ¡°And I thought he was a just a jerk to the League,¡± Cassie sent over the implant.


    A glance at my HUD showed she wasn¡¯t the only one of us following the spybot feed. It struck me that it might be going into the social media feed, but I didn¡¯t have time to check on that. Human shaped figures surrounded by glowing white light began appearing in the woods around Rook.


    Though I didn¡¯t have time to check them all (there were at least twenty), the ones I could see through the spybot were male and female True based on Stephanie and Cassie. They wore the Abominator armor and carried guns that definitely weren¡¯t standard Earth made weapons.


    One of Rook¡¯s henchmen began to aim his gun at one of the True, but Rook reached out with his good arm and pushed it down. If he said something then, it was lost in what happened next.


    Another figure materialized; this one directly in front of Rook, but at least a foot taller. It was Victor, but not Victor as I¡¯d seen him. This version of Victor stood around nine feet tall, had the muscles of a bodybuilder, all of them visible because the only clothes he was wearing appeared to be some kind of plate mail covered skirt and grey metal bracers on his arms.


    Also for some reason there was golden circlet on his head and he now had a beard that went down to his chest.


    His skin had a faint purple tinge that reminded me all too easily of both Rook¡¯s arm and Jared. As tired as I was and as much I didn¡¯t want to draw on whatever trivial reserves I might have collected in the last minute or two, I doubted I had anything else that would work on the guy.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 22

    Of course, maybe I¡¯d get lucky and a killbot would work. The way the night had been going, that was nothing to count on. Also, given that purple glowing tinge to Victor¡¯s skin, I had no idea what he could do, but if he existed out of phase, the only way I¡¯d be able to touch him is by using what the Cosmic Ghost¡¯s taught me to power up the killbot somehow.


    Of course, that wasn¡¯t something they¡¯d taught me how to do. I could only affect things within a short distance around my body. The only way I¡¯d get any use out of the killbot was to try to use it as a knife.


    You never knew. It might work.


    I might have stood there thinking about options until Cassie complained, but I didn¡¯t get the chance.


    Victor, the all-new, barely clothed, Greek god version of Victor, smirked at Rook. ¡°Lucky me. I¡¯m being graced with the presence of one of the Nine. I¡¯d ask what I owe the honor to, but I know. You¡¯re here to protect your investment.¡±


    Holding up his hands as if he were receiving the applause of a crowd, Victor grinned at Rook. ¡°And I¡¯m your investment. I¡¯ve got the Citizen¡¯s Mark, something the Nine have been wanting for ages. So I can use everything the Abominators ever made. And that¡¯s not all. I¡¯m smart enough to figure this stuff out by myself and you know what that makes me? It makes me the most valuable person on the planet.¡±


    In my head, Cassie said, ¡°Holy shit. He¡¯s got a Citizen¡¯s Mark?¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± I thought back. ¡°Who could ever expect that giving someone with the potential to be a mad scientist access to Abominator tech could go horribly wrong?¡±


    Rook raised his helmet, pointing his beak toward Victor and staring for a few seconds. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? The Heroes¡¯ League is here. We need to coordinate and take them out.¡±


    Victor¡¯s grin widened, turning his face into a grotesque caricature of normal, leading me to wonder what Victor had pulled out of the birthing chambers¡¯ library to modify himself. ¡°What¡¯s wrong is you. I¡¯ve been talking to the other eight and I¡¯m told that if you die, there¡¯ll be an opening.¡±


    Rook adjusted his footing, putting his right foot behind and to the right angle to the left. I recognized it from training as a position that at least in hand to hand fighting made it harder to kick a person¡¯s feet out from under them. It wouldn¡¯t do anything against ranged weapons, but it put you in a better position to fight.


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    Also, if you had learned how to fight, it made a decent security blanket.


    Either Victor hadn¡¯t spent any time in the martial arts or controlling his new Abominator designed abilities left him with no time to pay attention to details like that. He didn¡¯t react.


    To Rook¡¯s credit, he didn¡¯t attack. He talked. ¡°There¡¯s a time and place to challenge me for my position. This isn¡¯t it. Screw up the Nine¡¯s hold on this place and you¡¯ll be serving them by means of your dissection. You¡¯ve heard of the Dominators? They work for us and if you think it never occurred to us that you might want to rearrange our org chart, you¡¯re wrong.¡±


    My HUD noted that Rook had transmitted a sound outside the range of human hearing.


    Victor blinked and stopped smiling. ¡°What did you do?¡±


    He pointed his finger at Rook. Victor¡¯s body began to glow brighter by the moment and then fizzled out.


    Over the comm, Tara whispered, ¡°Night Cat, Storm King, move! He¡¯s going to target you.¡±


    As Victor stared at his hand, Rook said, ¡°Now, be useful. There are people hiding around us who have been attacking our people. Get rid of them.¡±


    From what I could see through the bot, the camouflage function on their costumes worked. The bot couldn¡¯t see anything more in the area around them but trees and brush. Victor, however, could see more.


    He pointed into the forest and purple energy sparked across his body. Haley disappeared from the radar in my HUD. He followed it up by doing the same with Vaughn and then Tara.


    As they disappeared, I stared into my HUD, watching the radar to see if Haley¡¯s signal would reappear. He couldn¡¯t disintegrate them. He had to be whatever had teleported Art and Zola out.


    It felt as if she¡¯d never reappear, but she did. She was 80 miles out above Lake Michigan. Her altitude was roughly 100 feet above the water. Her first words over the comm were, ¡°I¡¯m okay, but it looks like I¡¯m closer to Wisconsin.¡±


    ¡°The mini-rocket pack you have doesn¡¯t have enough fuel to get you back here. You should probably aim for Milwaukee or something. Maybe they can pick you up in the jet?¡±


    Vaughn and Tara appeared within a mile or two of her.


    Tara didn¡¯t talk about her situation at all, saying only, ¡°Rocket? Cap? You¡¯re next.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t wrong. Even as she said it, Victor was turning in our direction. I opened myself up as the Ghosts had taught me pulling in energy and converting it into protection. It was protection against people using out of phase weapons, though. I hadn¡¯t been told that it worked against involuntary teleports, but it might and I didn¡¯t have any better ideas.


    I tried to move in between Victor and Cassie because if it did work...


    A flash of purple came out of the woods, reaching Cassie before I could. I heard her gun¡¯s voice. It said:


    NO.


    And the purple field that had enveloped her shattered.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 23

    I didn¡¯t have time to ask Cassie how her gun had stopped the shot because the next flash of purple targeted me.


    Keeping myself in phase took everything I had. By the time that the purple glow around me disappeared, I knew that everything I¡¯d pulled out of whatever power reserves I could access was gone. I wasn¡¯t going to be able to prevent that if he did it again¡ªnot for a little while, anyway. All I could do was hope he didn¡¯t realize it.


    Thinking about it, I didn¡¯t fall over, but I wobbled.


    ¡°You okay?¡± Cassie put her hand on my shoulder. Her mask covered everything but her mouth and chin, making it hard to read her, but hints of her worry came through the implants¡¯ connection.


    I thought back, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m tired, but the suit does most of the work.¡±


    Cassie thought back, ¡°From what I¡¯m seeing, it doesn¡¯t do balance.¡±


    In the background, through the spybot, Victor told Rook, ¡°I got most of them. They¡¯ll probably drown. Only two left.¡±


    Rook made a noise somewhere between a growl and a scream. ¡°Two? Which two? And how?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how. With two of them, the teleporter just didn¡¯t work. One of them, Captain Commando, has Abominator tech. The Abominator library tells me that they built countermeasures into their combat gear. The other one? The Rocket¡ª¡±


    Rook interrupted. ¡°Yes?¡±


    Victor paused, staring at him, but continued, ¡°With the Rocket, the library told me, ¡®Artificer. Extreme danger¡¯.¡±


    Turning away from staring into the forest in our direction, Rook tapped a claw against his leg. ¡°Well? What does that mean?¡±


    The muscles in his cheeks tightening, Victor shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. What I know about the Abominators is only as good as what they knew when they made the birthing chambers. I¡¯ve got their tech in my head now, but it¡¯s thousands of years old. All I can get is that the Artificers were an ancient race that predated the Abominators. All the Abominators knew about them is that they were ahead of the Abominators. Far ahead to the point that excavating Artificer ruins was a serious risk. And that¡¯s it. That¡¯s everything.¡±


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    Rook turned back in our direction. ¡°He¡¯s got alien tech that¡¯s ahead of our alien tech. That¡¯s why he won. Damn. And I didn¡¯t even know those people existed. Where do we find Artificer technology? Are any of their ruins on Earth or in our solar system?¡±


    Victor¡¯s eyes lost focus. ¡°Mars. There¡¯s an Artificer site on Mars. That¡¯s what attracted the Abominators to this system in the first place. They probably excavated the site. Abominator technology is based on the Artificers¡¯ technology-what they understand of it. You should know that the Artificers terrified the Abominators. That¡¯s clear.¡±


    Whipping his head around, Rook poked Victor in the chest with his claw. ¡°Except the Rocket¡¯s got it, doesn¡¯t he? And haven¡¯t I been researching Abominator tech for years only to learn that he¡¯s been ahead of me the entire time?¡±


    Rook stopped talking, staring out into the forest. ¡°He¡¯s brilliant. Of course, having access to the original team¡¯s hardware doesn¡¯t hurt. He may have been to Mars already.¡±


    Then he turned back to Victor. ¡°Well, what are you waiting for? If you can¡¯t shoot them, we need to get them. Where are they?¡±


    I didn¡¯t wait to find out the end of that conversation before pinging Cassie¡¯s implant with, ¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯m only here to keep Rook¡¯s people away from the rest of the group. Now that they¡¯re near Wisconsin, there¡¯s only one thing worth doing¡ª¡±


    Cassie interrupted my thoughts with, ¡°Blowing the birthing chambers to hell?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± I looked her up and down and then at the spybot¡¯s feed in my HUD. Rook, Victor and the True were running through the forest. ¡°We have to fly.¡±


    Cassie stepped on my foot and put her left arm over my shoulders. I grabbed her waist and fired off the rockets. It wasn¡¯t the most aerodynamic way to do it. We leaned right. I compensated as we dodged tree limbs on the way up.


    Then beams of I-didn¡¯t-know-what started cutting through the tree branches. Cassie aimed the gun downward, firing off a stream of autofire energy blasts that lit up the forest below.


    Meanwhile, her gun laughed like a madman in my mind, keeping up a constant stream of chatter that I blocked out, catching only, ¡°THIS IS THE BEST DAY I¡¯VE HAD IN MONTHS!¡±


    As we passed above the last tree branches, I told her, ¡°Please don¡¯t let him start a forest fire.¡±


    She thought back, ¡°Do you think that¡¯s going to help?¡±


    The endless white blasts made me think of snowflakes¡ªdeadly, burning snowflakes that caused damage to everything in sight. On the other hand, the shots fired at us were fewer and farther between¡ªso at least it had worked. Better, I hadn¡¯t seen any purple blasts. With any luck, Rook and Victor would keep on thinking we were invulnerable.


    If we were even luckier, it might not occur to Victor to try to teleport someone into solid matter.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 24

    Aiming for the Hardwick Industries lab building, I half-expected that what was left of Protection Force¡¯s team would be waiting in the air or on the roof.


    They weren¡¯t. I couldn¡¯t see them anywhere.


    Had they left or had they gone inside? I didn¡¯t have time to find out. It was enough that we had to get in there and destroy the birthing chambers.


    The fact that Cassie, her gun, and I agreed on what needed to happen next made me wonder if I was doing the right thing as Cassie was much less cautious than I was and her gun was happy as long as it had something to burn.


    Still, I couldn¡¯t think of anything better. Despite guessing that similar thoughts had killed more people than could count, I steeled myself for whatever happened next and landed on the roof.


    Before I could say anything or even hint what was needed, Cassie let go of me, pulled her sword from its scabbard and cut a hole in the roof.


    ¡°Done,¡± Cassie told me over the implant connection. ¡°I left enough metal that it won¡¯t fall in until you step on it.¡±


    She had. The white painted metal held the triangle-shaped section up by a thread, or less metaphorically by three slivers of metal at the corners.


    Knowing that there were times to enter carefully and times to blast through, I decided that this was time for the second kind of entrance. I stepped back and took two steps forward, turning my second step into a jump that was almost, but not quite, straight upward.


    Between the height I got on my leap and the weight of the Rocket suit, I hit the precut spot with enough force that it came free with a short screech of metal tearing.


    Though the lab building looked high enough for three or maybe four stories, it also had a high ceiling, so I hadn¡¯t given the possibility that I¡¯d hit a completely unknown level of the building much thought.


    I should have because it was quite clear as I hit the floor that that was exactly what I¡¯d found. Everywhere around me stood devices made of the bluish-green materials that the Abominators used. Of all sizes, the devices were a mix of elegant, rounded corners and gently swelling shapes combined with the jagged edges and torn open sides of devices that had been ripped out of wherever they¡¯d been installed.


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    On my own, I couldn¡¯t have named them without work, but with the Xiniti implant, I knew what they were. They weren¡¯t the most exciting Abominator devices a person might find, but they were every bit as significant. Though the ability to alter humanity¡¯s genetic code and in hours modify or create a person might be the highest priority, it wasn¡¯t the only thing a colony of scientists needed.


    They also needed life support. We (because Cassie jumped down after me) were looking at devices and systems used to keep buildings at the correct temperature, air mixture, pressure, and level of gravity that the Abominators needed. Along with them were devices to store, create, and modify food on an alien planet.


    Along with them were spare parts and machines to make them. In short, boring stuff, but still vital if you wanted your scientists to survive while empowering an alien lifeform to subdue, enslave, and/or destroy your interstellar neighbors on your behalf.


    None of this stuff was on the official list of objects that we were studying which meant that the government didn¡¯t know we had it. That in turn meant that Higher Ground had acquired it privately. Bearing in mind that people were legally required to bring alien technology to government inspectors, I¡¯d bet that none of these items officially existed.


    If I¡¯d prided myself on being some kind of expert on spying, it might have caused a small crisis of confidence. It was a big room to miss.


    Cassie met my eye. ¡°Are you ready or do you want to mess with the alien air conditioners?¡±


    I barely got out, ¡°Ready,¡± before she started slashing with her sword. Three slashes later, she stepped back.


    I took a breath, deciding not to give myself time to think before going through. This time, I stomped on the middle of the triangle with my right foot and watched as it fell. Then I stepped into the hole, letting the Rocket suit slow my fall with the rockets.


    They started firing on me as I fell through the hole, starting with bright, white beams of energy. My suit took the first two or three with minimal complaint¡ªa few notifications about the repairs it was making.


    The fourth shot hit a spot that had been hit a second before, causing a cascade of notifications about how it had passed the first layer of armor, damaging elements of the repair system that now had to be repaired.


    I wasn¡¯t hurt and nothing was in imminent danger of failing, but it wasn¡¯t good news. If I gave the suit time, I¡¯d be fine. Better than that, I gave the suit more fuel and shot down the room, barely below the ceiling.


    This attracted a series of shots, one of which was tinged with purple.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 25

    Even though I had no time to process it, my implant told me what the purple shot meant. Some Abominator guns had been given the ability to attack out of phase with reality, passing their victims armor. The technology turned out to be related to FTL technology, teleportation, and Abominator intangibility tech. Rook must have reverse engineered it or been inspired by what Jared¡¯s device did.


    Either way, it wasn¡¯t Rook firing at me. It was one of the True, a male version of Stephanie wearing silver-tinged Abominator designed armor.


    Cassie and I had cut into the room where they¡¯d hidden the birthing chambers¡ªwhich is what we¡¯d intended to do¡ªbut it wasn¡¯t a big room. The lab took up most of the first floor. They¡¯d moved the birthing chamber into what must have been a garage. It was as long as the lab, but only a little wider than the birthing chambers, but wide enough for trucks to park.


    Weaving to avoid beams from the True, I realized how much chaos our entrance had created in the room. When I¡¯d been observing the place through a spybot, the newly created True had been lying on sleeping bags, recovering from their births. Now they were running to the sides of the room where weapons and armor lay on the ground. All of them naked, they wobbled and even fell on the way.


    Though they didn¡¯t fully have running down, they reflexively knew they had to fight.


    They weren¡¯t the big worry, though. That came in the form of four True standing next to the one firing out-of-phase energy blasts in my direction. He was going to kill me if he hit.


    They were in the middle of the room, standing next to the door to the main lab and about twenty feet away from Dr. Griffin who¡¯d dived behind a bluish-gray, coffin-sized rectangle that my implant labeled as a ¡°military replicator.¡±


    It was a little disappointing to see that she was part of this. She¡¯d seemed decent when I¡¯d met her at her original lab¡ªresourceful even. They¡¯d fallen just short of figuring out the birthing chambers and turned an Abominator weapon against the invading Hrrnna. On the other hand, even then I knew that she might have gotten the birthing chambers through the Nine. It might be that she¡¯d needed time to show her true colors.


    Another possibility struck me then, one that I didn¡¯t have time to test.


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    Why? Because my attempt to evade being shot had lead me to shoot in the direction of the far wall. Even with my dodging, weaving, and in air acrobatics, I was still heading in the same direction¡ªwhich meant that I was about to crash through into Hardwick Industries¡¯ laboratories, or another secret room, or find out what bugs felt when they went splat against a windshield. It all depended on the wall¡¯s materials and design.


    Despite a casual interest in architecture, I decided I didn¡¯t need to know for sure.


    Aiming my head downward, I flipped over the way I had hundreds of times in practice and twisted so that my stomach would face the floor instead of my back.


    I tried to anyhow. The problem with being tired is that you¡¯re tired and even when you think you know instinctively when to flip, when to turn, and when to fire off the rockets, it¡¯s possible you¡¯ll screw up.


    I screwed up.


    I managed the flip without issue even though something did feel a little off. Then I twisted and fired the rockets. At that moment, I knew something was off. Instead of staying level with the rockets slowing me before hitting the wall, Ishot downward and to the right with my momentum still carrying me backward.


    I gave the rockets more fuel and tried to aim upward and to the left, all the while seeing the (hopefully unreinforced) concrete wall getting closer through my HUD¡¯s peripheral vision.


    The only good thing that could be said about it was that the True didn¡¯t see that coming either. So as I flew from near the floor on the right side of the room to near the ceiling on the left, a barrage of laser fire peppered the far end of the room, white beams pitting the wall and burning black marks into it.


    The purple-tinged beam passed by me on the right as I climbed, disappearing into the wall behind me without doing any visible damage.


    Kind of.


    Something on the other side of the wall made a muffled boom and, while the wall didn¡¯t explode, red emergency lights started flashing and the sprinkler system turned on, spraying water all over the room. Along with it came the high pitched EEEE! of an alarm.


    I felt sure this could get worse but didn¡¯t know how.


    A glowing cylinder of purple light appeared in the middle of the room in front of the birthing chambers. The light disappeared, revealing Victor in his god garb standing with Rook and his two henchmen as well as a small cloud of flying murder bird bots.


    That would have been bad enough, but Victor wasn¡¯t done. A second purple cylinder deposited Russell Hardwick, three Protection Force soldiers in ¡°Rocket¡± armor, and the disappointingly mobile Art and Zola.


    We hadn¡¯t killed them after all and if they were anything like Haley they regenerated. Zola¡¯s mouth hung open, her canine teeth and wide eyes with catlike slits made her look more feral than I remembered.


    They stood on the soggy sleeping bags, staring at the chaos. Then Art and Zola howled.


    I almost felt like joining them. When it rained, it poured.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 26

    In the middle of all the teleportation, Cassie connected via implant. ¡°I¡¯m behind the birthing chambers. Can you keep them off me while I take them out?¡±


    I didn¡¯t see her drop through the hole, but my implant reproduced an image of her swinging across the birthing chambers and dropping to the far side next to the wall.


    ¡°I can try,¡± I told her, beginning to try to figure out how.


    Even though implant-based exchanges were near-instantaneous, I found myself having to make some quick decisions. Unless I was willing to fly with my body upright, making myself a slow target, I had to stay at the minimal speed to stay airborne.


    Not having a better idea, opened up with goobots in three-shot bursts, setting all of them to area of effect instead of single target.


    Spider-man might have been proud if he¡¯d existed. The bullets exploded into gooey grey lines that resembled off-brand Silly String more than spider webs, but it wasn¡¯t much different in the end.


    Victor, Rook, Rook¡¯s henches, and the crowbots had appeared in a cluster. Russell Hardwick, Ryan, Art, and Zola appeared together in the next cluster¡ªthe one good point of your enemy using teleportation. I¡¯d been moving quickly enough toward them they didn¡¯t have time to spread out or even recognize that they needed to.


    Mind you, Art and Zola had noticed me. They¡¯d been tracking me with their eyes even as they began to howl, readying themselves to leap.


    The goo left them trying to pull themselves free. Zola yanked her arm back twice without success and then pulled it toward her mouth to gnaw on one of the lines with a growl. Art watched her with a frown appearing to show on his face.


    Vaughn¡¯s Uncle Russ stared at me. If his lightning worked like Vaughn¡¯s or even his son Lucas¡¯ power, he didn¡¯t need to aim his hand at me to fire off lightning. He didn¡¯t even try. I could only guess that he knew that the Rocket suit was practically invulnerable to the stuff.


    Ryan, meanwhile stood behind Russ, struggling to pull his arm free without tearing his silk shirt and nearly falling for his trouble¡ªnearly falling because he did trip. The goo had not only attached to his arm but also the back of his shirt and his pants. So after he fell, the goo pulled him around, holding him about two feet above the ground. ¡°Uncle Russ¡± turned to scowl at him. Zola hissed.


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    I passed them, dodging and weaving to make it hard in case anyone tried to shoot me.


    None of them even tried. Victor, Rook, his henchmen, and the crowbots were trying to cut their way out of the goo, and with the killbot cutting tech in their claws, it was working. Even the best of them could only cut one strand at a time, though, so as I passed they were too busy getting out to shoot at me.


    This was not true of the first people I¡¯d seen when I entered the room though. The True in armor including the one firing purple-tinged shots had been behind everyone who¡¯d been teleported in.


    Worse, they acted like all the other True I¡¯d ever heard of¡ªthey weren¡¯t stupid. They were already spreading out before I came near them. Because they could only move so far though, they weren¡¯t so spread out than I couldn¡¯t fire at them.


    I made the guy with the purple-tinged gun the highest priority on the grounds that he was most likely to kill me, hitting his general area not once, but twice. Grey strands of goo spread all around him, hitting not just him, but three out of the four soldiers near him¡ªkind of. Purple gun guy managed not to get entirely wrapped up in the stuff. I hit his left leg and the gun¡ªwhich was great. He couldn¡¯t shoot at me.


    The two guys next to him couldn¡¯t either, but since the fourth guy, a male True based on Cassie or if I thought of it differently, a male True based on her father, the original Captain Commando. He did what either of them would have done.


    He blasted away at me with his gun, aiming white laser beams in my direction while I was getting closer to the far end and trying to figure my next step.


    Turning had to be part of it because I didn¡¯t want to hit the rapidly approaching wall. The one on this end had a garage door sized such that a pickup truck or van could go through. I decided to keep it in mind if I needed an exit later.


    In the meantime, despite getting hit a couple of times by the True, I flipped over and found myself facing another run down the middle of the room, or taking cover next to the birthing chambers while Cassie trashed them.


    Even better if that could be soon, we¡¯d be able to leave before everyone got out of the goo. The alternative would be to start shooting everyone since I¡¯d stuck everyone to the ground or each other.


    I didn¡¯t want to. I didn¡¯t want to kill anyone, but it struck me that if I were going to kill anyone, I should probably prioritize the people with guns that could phase shots through my armor¡ªthe True with the purple beam, Rook, his henchmen, and probably Victor.


    Aiming for the nearest corner of the birthing chambers, I decided to take cover there and start firing. Concentrating on the energy reserves that the Ghosts had taught me to access, I noted that I''d absorbed almost no energy since I¡¯d last pulled some in.


    I decided I''d better hope the birthing chambers offered protection against out-of-phase shots or start being extremely ruthless.


    Near the middle of the room, the True with the purple beamed gun ripped the gun loose from the strands of imprisoning goo.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 27

    Realizing that I had no time to speak of, I flew toward the birthing chambers, flipping to slow myself and then turning myself vertical to land. Only a couple steps away from the birthing chambers, the purple beam passed me on my left, close enough that my suit sensors felt the heat.


    I jumped toward the birthing chambers, hitting them, but managing to stop myself from falling over.


    Checking the spybot I¡¯d released earlier, I saw that they were all still struggling to get out of the goo. The True with the purple-tinged beam (now christened Purple Gun Guy) had stopped firing at me and started pulling at the goo around his legs. Then he grabbed a knife from his belt and started cutting.


    I became aware that I was breathing hard. Unsure of whether it was fear, exertion, or something worse, I took a long breath, trying to center myself on that.


    In no particular order, I needed to keep my opponents locked down until Cassie could destroy the machine¡ªwhenever she got around to that. I needed to take out all the people who could phase attacks through solid matter¡ªat least four people.


    I need to do that without getting shot myself. If I could use what I¡¯d been taught, I¡¯d be able to use my armor instead of getting fried the first time Rook or Victor got a lucky shot, and who was I kidding¡ªlucky? I wasn¡¯t Haley or Jaclyn and able to move or dodge more quickly than people could aim. For all practical purposes, I was a normal guy who was able to handle being a superhero because I¡¯d put a lot of work into my armor.


    I hadn¡¯t put any work into anti-Abominator defenses. If I survived tonight, I¡¯d have to, but for now, I had an idea.


    The Ghosts had shown me how to sense parts of myself I hadn¡¯t been aware of. If I tried, I could feel the slow trickle of energy flowing into me. I didn¡¯t know what it was or where it came from, but I thought I could open it up and get more flowing through. Then, instead of letting energy collect in me (wherever that happened), I¡¯d let it flow straight through, giving me a constant stream to work with instead of the fits and starts that I¡¯d had to deal with so far.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    That was the idea anyhow. I didn¡¯t have enough time to truly think it through. I reached into myself, felt hundreds or maybe thousands of little gates or maybe little mouths opening themselves a little farther, letting more food in. I felt heat, warmth, and a chill all at once and then the feeling of a kind of fullness as whatever I used to store energy filled.


    Could I maybe keep a little bit of the stream stored, using it to expand my ability to store energy as well as to make the stream of energy more consistent? It sounded like a good idea, but too difficult to keep going in the heat of battle. Now was time to keep it simple. Could I keep the gates open and keep the energy coming?


    I could. I felt better than I had all day, the way I might after a long rest. Everything I could see and hear seemed sharper and better defined. This was good. I might not be able to keep it up all day, but for this fight? If I felt like this the whole time? Definitely.


    I hoped there were no side effects.


    In my head, Cassie said, ¡°Nick, you okay?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Great, actually. Why?¡± I checked the spybot. Purple Gun Guy had nearly cut his way free. He had one big strand to go. Even given the speed of an implant to implant conversation, I didn¡¯t have much time.


    ¡°Because I¡¯ve got an alien gun that lets me see through walls and stuff. Half a second ago you and ten feet around you lit up and was labeled with the words, ¡®Danger: Phase Stability Field¡¯. And the gun doesn¡¯t know what that means.¡±


    I DON¡¯T.


    ¡°So,¡± Cassie continued, ¡°Do you?¡±


    ¡°Artificer thing, I think. Aren¡¯t you going to shoot the birthing chambers?¡± I checked the spybot. Purple Gun Guy was nearly through the last strand. I had no time to talk.


    I stepped out from around the corner, crossing the distance in one jump that I had no trouble timing, pushing off on one foot and landing on the other. I grabbed Purple Gun Guy¡¯s Abominator gun, yanking it out of his hands as he dropped his knife and pointed it at me.


    Then I broke it in two. Then I stepped to the side of him and grabbed the gun from the guy next to him and broke his.


    It was strange. In a fight, I¡¯d noticed that everything sometimes slowed down, but I felt I hadn¡¯t slowed down as much as everything else. From what I could see in my HUD, I wasn¡¯t moving any faster, but my reaction time felt faster than theirs.


    It wasn¡¯t that much faster, though. The other True caught with Purple Gun Guy pulled out their lasers and fired, hitting my armor and setting off a bunch of messages in my HUD.


    Cassie¡¯s voice exploded in my head. ¡°Don¡¯t fight those guys! Get Victor. I keep on turning off the chamber¡¯s repair systems and then he turns them on again.¡±

 Mere Anarchy: Part 28

    ¡°Funny that you¡¯re doing the tech stuff and I¡¯m the one out here fighting everybody?¡± I mean, it was.


    ¡°Shut up and hit people!¡± I could feel her irritation over the implant link.


    Knowing that she had a point, I fired off a few more goobots, covering all the people near me, and then I ran around them down the side of the room, passing the newly born True who were crawling, or in some cases running and falling, toward the edge of the room.


    They didn¡¯t seem to be a threat for now, but if they got control over their muscles, I¡¯d have to do something.


    I didn¡¯t have to in that moment, though. So I kept on running toward Victor, Rook, Rook¡¯s henchmen, and his crowbots. When I passed Russell Hardwick, Ryan, Art, and Zola, they still seemed secure, but I sprayed them with a few more goobots anyway. Better to be sure than to be surprised.


    Zola hissed at me and Art growled while Ryan struggled to pull his way out, leaning as far away from Art and Zola as possible, staring at them. Russell Hardwick watched me run past without saying or doing anything.


    That worried me more than Art and Zola.


    Rook¡¯s crowbots came at me before I even reached him or Victor. Either I¡¯d missed them or I hadn¡¯t done a very good job on them¡ªnot that it mattered. I fired off multiple boombots. Even if the power flowing through me did more than I¡¯d realized, it hadn¡¯t shown any signs of preventing their killbot tech claws from going through my armor.


    My boombots homed in on the crowbots, sunk into their bodies and exploded, throwing fiery crowbot parts all over. A few hit me, but nothing penetrated my armor, meaning that Rook¡¯s version had to be powered for the monomolecular blades to keep on working too.


    Better, none of them had a chance to fire off a killbot if they had one. I hadn¡¯t taken the time to check before firing.


    Taking a few steps through the smoke and burning cinders, I found myself looking at Victor, Rook, and his henchmen. They were mostly free. Monomolecular blades in the claws would have been my first thought, but I wasn¡¯t entirely correct.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    As I saw Rook, he pointed his purple beamed gun at a big pile of goop connected to his right foot and fired, turning it into a black pile of dust. It wasn¡¯t the only one near them.


    Then he and his henchmen aimed their guns at me. I don¡¯t know how much having power flowing through me helped, but I saw them moving their guns and I had time to try dodging to my left as they fired. Bearing in mind that they¡¯d been pointing into the room when they¡¯d been struck by goobots and I¡¯d dodged toward the edge, it wasn¡¯t a bad move.


    Only Rook was able to bring his gun to bear on me. He hit. The other two missed.


    The great thing about that was that his gun wasn¡¯t able to phase through my armor to hit me directly. The bad thing was that it still hit my left arm. I felt a burning heat, but not one hot enough to do any real damage. By that, I mean it didn¡¯t cook me. It did damage the armor and cause another notification of repairs in the process.


    I ignored it.


    I loosed another bunch of boombots, aiming them at the whole group. A person could reasonably accuse me of trying to kill all of them at that point, but their armor could handle it, making it more of an exercise in distraction.


    All the same, it was great exercise if you liked explosions. Each boombot hit its target and though it failed to go through anyone¡¯s armor, it exploded, hitting everyone in the group¡ªRook, Victor, and Rook¡¯s henchmen, throwing all of them away from each other in a different direction.


    Well, technically almost all of them flew in different directions. One of Rook¡¯s henchmen was still connected to a string of goo. He fell over on his face. The rest of them fell over in ways that were less humiliating. Rook rolled and came straight back up to his feet.


    He probably had a program assisting his movement built into his suit or, depending on how much cybernetics he¡¯d put into his body, maybe his brain.


    Victor flew backward, but only the first second or two was uncontrolled. He slowed and then fully came to a stop in the air as the flames around him seemed to get drawn into his body.


    It was annoying. I¡¯d fought people that absorbed energy before and it never made my life easier¡ªespecially since it seemed like they always had a way to fire the stuff right back at you.


    I wondered if Cassie could pull whatever Victor had done to himself out of the birthing chamber so that I could avoid more surprises like this.


    I didn¡¯t even get the chance to ask her before a burning white beam lit the room, traveling straight through the birthing chambers from the back and out the front. Cut in two, each side tilted inward, colliding with itself in a crashing noise.


    As everyone in the room stared at the destruction, I heard Cassie¡¯s gun in my head.


    FELLOW SERVANT OF THE MASTERS, I MOURN YOUR DEATH. YOU GAVE LIFE TO SO MANY CREATURES, SOME OF WHICH I¡¯VE KILLED, AND COULD HAVE CREATED SO MANY MORE. BUT NO MATTER, I LIKE THE WAY YOU BURN.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 29

    Victor held his head in his hands, screaming as if in pain. I guessed it might be feedback from his connection to the birthing chambers.


    Rook, meanwhile, began screaming at him. ¡°Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!¡±


    Even before he¡¯d finished, I fired another boombot at him and aimed a narrow beam sonic attack at Victor because with all the energy flowing through me I could handle that and still have time to adjust the sonics.


    Rook saw the boombot, tried to stumble out of its way, but it curved and exploded against his chest, throwing him back into the wall. The expanding ball of fire also knocked over one of Rook¡¯s henchmen who¡¯d just pushed himself off the floor. It missed Victor and the other henchman.


    As for Victor, I¡¯d set the sonics to vibrate at the most resonant frequency they could find, but I¡¯d targeted an inch of his chest. I had a theory that the ten-foot tall, purple-tinged body wasn¡¯t him. It was some kind of projection. If he only absorbed energy on the electromagnetic spectrum, he wouldn¡¯t be able to absorb sound and the most resonant frequency might disrupt whatever was keeping it together.


    A pipe dream? Maybe, but, around that spot, Victor flickered. Overall, it didn¡¯t do any good because it firmed up again in an instant. Still, if I put more power into it, I might be able to take it all down.


    Before I could up the power and hit him with sonic blasts from both arms, he disappeared, reappearing next to the nearest corner of the shattered birthing chambers. Cassie had been coming around the corner. As she jumped toward the top of the shattered birthing chamber, he pointed his hands at her and a pulse of purple energy as wide as his chest hit her.


    She didn¡¯t disappear. A white glow appeared around the costume I¡¯d made for her, but whatever protection the gun had given her, it wasn¡¯t enough. Purple light appeared on the other side of the white glow, blackening spots on her costume.


    Remote damage notifications ran across the bottom of my HUD. I ignored them as she fell, activating the rockets and blasting in their direction. Rook and his henchmen all fired on me then, sending another round of notifications through the HUD. These showed that the armor had taken another series of hits, but that we were closer to the point where shots might start to damage pieces of the suit that couldn¡¯t be repaired in the field and also me.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    I ignored that too, aiming myself straight at Victor. Cassie¡¯s healing factor was one of the highest anyone had cataloged. Unless Victor took the time to burn her to cinders, she¡¯d be up again. I had to give her the time.


    If I got the chance, I might even blow through the wall and leave.


    She¡¯d destroyed the birthing chambers. We didn¡¯t have any reason to stay. Sure it might be nice to take Rook down, but we¡¯d won already. It was time to go before Victor cremated Cassie and my armor reached its limit.


    So I flew through the air, pulling back my right arm and throwing the punch as I came toward him. Victor stood over Cassie. His skin and body glowed with a faint purple light.


    Without slowing down, I hit him in the back of the head, throwing him into the birthing chambers. He hit hard enough that the cylinder that met his head cracked and the birthing chambers scraped over the concrete floor enough to hit its other half. Small bits broke off the birthing chamber and hit the floor.


    I landed and used the momentum to give my steps a little more distance as I moved to stand between him and Cassie, putting me about four feet from the end of the birthing chamber. This meant that Rook and his henchmen were out of my view and behind me while Victor was in front of me.


    He pushed himself back from the birthing chambers and turned toward me, firing a wide purple beam out of his chest, much like the one he¡¯d used on Cassie. I thought about dodging and then thought better of it, guessing that it might hitCassie if it didn¡¯t hit me.


    Instead, I concentrated on keeping the energy flowing through me and hoped it would counter whatever he was shooting me with.


    Then it hit and for a moment all I could see was the color purple as it hit my head and chest. A burning heat seemed to surround me, but as more energy flowed through me, it seemed to take the edge off.


    At the same time, I could feel that I was hitting the limit of what I could handle controlling at once. Then it ended. The beam stopped and for a moment, I blacked out.


    Except even that wasn¡¯t simple.


    It wasn¡¯t just that I couldn¡¯t see, it was also that I felt that I was in a big, dark place, one that extended forever. I felt that there were presences in the darkness and that they were very big. Then I noticed pinprick dots of light. Stars?


    Whatever they were, I felt that I didn¡¯t want the presences to notice me and I knew I didn¡¯t want to be there.


    Without warning or an obvious reason why, I snapped back to reality. Victor stared at me. Damage notifications ran across my HUD, telling me that the next shot like that would go through my armor. It was that thin now. Also, there was damage to the laser.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, I could hear Rook shouting and people running toward us. They¡¯d be around the corner all too soon.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 30

    Deciding it was worth taking the chance, I unloaded the sonics on him, blasting him at the same frequency that I¡¯d used before, the one that seemed close to making his ¡°body¡± shatter.


    It was a risk, both because the sonics might not be able to generate enough power and because they always seemed to take on longer to work than my other options.


    On the other hand, punching him didn¡¯t seem likely to take him out and using the laser would charge him up, making it easier for him to unleash another blast like the last one.


    Since it almost worked, I left the settings for the right arm the same¡ªa narrow, intense beam. Guessing that pressure from two beams would be better than one, I widened the left arm¡¯s area of effect to make it easier to hit the same spot.


    It wouldn¡¯t be as effective as two narrow beams, but I¡¯d be able to hit the same place, and maybe putting pressure everywhere around the target would help. To improve my chances, I set the sonics to the maximum possible volume. I didn¡¯t like anyone on that side of the room anyway.


    It was a nice theory.


    Funny thing about putting theories into practice, they don¡¯t work quite the same as they did in your head.


    I nailed Victor in the chest with the narrow beam of sound again without a problem. Just as before, the spot I hit rippled and so did the area around it. Hitting Victor with the area attack turned out to be harder, mostly because adjusting the settings took longer, but also because Victor noticed the attack.


    He stared down at the spot on his chest and his eyes widened, trying to move to his left and then his right even as I kept the narrow beam on his chest. Then he looked up and stared at me. I didn¡¯t know what his look meant, but I guessed that he was about to teleport or target me.


    Either way, that¡¯s when I got the wide beam¡¯s settings changed and fired. The effect was instant. When the second beam¡¯s effect covered his chest, the spot on his belly where the narrow beam hit caved in. Then everything went all at once.


    Victor¡¯s tall, Greek god version of his body dissolved, leaving a normal, if taller than average, man. He wore what he did at the office most days¡ªjeans and a t-shirt.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    It wasn¡¯t the kind of thing I thought of as synonymous with evil intent. If it were, I¡¯d have had to report myself.


    Thinking that Victor would ¡°turn on¡± his powers if he had the chance, I stepped forward and hit him on his collarbone the right side. It broke under my hand and Victor stumbled back, yelping in pain. Then I fired a goobot at him.


    Victor fell back and stuck to the floor.


    I didn¡¯t know if that would prevent him from changing back, but if he¡¯d never had an injury like that before, he¡¯d have a hard time working through the pain.


    With that, I found myself facing Rook and his two remaining henchmen. They¡¯d come closer as I¡¯d fought Victor. From the way they hung back, I guessed that they hadn¡¯t decided on an approach to deal with me and might be discussing it over a comm connection.


    That was good because I didn¡¯t like my chances. As damaged as the armor was, I didn¡¯t know how long it would hold out if they all started firing on me. Plus, they still had killbot inspired claws, so wading into melee was out or at least unwise. If I grabbed Cassie and tried to leave via the hole we¡¯d made in the ceiling, I¡¯d be giving them a free shot at me.


    Spraying them with goobots might have solved the problem¡ªexcept that they¡¯d spread out enough that that would be harder. That left talking and maybe delaying them until Cassie got up (assuming Cassie got up) or until I had a better idea.


    Or got desperate.


    Deciding to talk, I took a breath and started, wishing that Vaughn were here to handle it and that Victor hadn¡¯t sent him to Wisconsin.


    Pointing my laser arm at the group of them, I said, ¡°Don¡¯t come any closer. No matter what you do at this point, you can¡¯t get what you want. We¡¯ve destroyed the birthing chambers. There are many more of us coming as well as heavier weapons, so even if you kill me, you won¡¯t have time to take the chambers somewhere else to salvage what you can before they¡¯re completely destroyed. Your best shot is to run right now.¡±


    Over my comm, Kayla broke in, ¡°You¡¯re not wrong. Blue, the Mystic, Accelerando, and the jet are incoming in less than a minute.¡±


    A minute? I could keep going that long.


    Rook laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t you think I can see you? Your armor¡¯s been repairing itself this whole time, but it¡¯s not in good shape. You¡¯re stalling. You think that maybe you can wait long enough for the girl to wake up and then you¡¯ll have a fighting chance. Well, you won¡¯t. Even if the Abominator tech¡¯s been destroyed and all those people you say are coming appear, I¡¯ve got people coming too and I do have something that I want. I want to kill the Rocket and you¡¯re as close as I¡¯m going to get.¡±


    He stepped forward with his claws gleaming and his henchmen behind him.


    I began to think of my next move, but then I saw movement from the ground as Cassie pointed her gun and a bright, white beam disintegrated Rook¡¯s leg from the knee down.


    Through what had to be massive pain, Rook managed to scream, ¡°What the fuck,¡± as he fell.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 31

    Almost as he hit the floor, I stepped on his cyborg arm, and not in the casual, ¡°I¡¯m holding it down and I¡¯m not going you move it,¡± sense. I stepped on his arm more in a, ¡°finishing move,¡± sense.


    My booted foot hit with enough force to shatter concrete and armored forearms along with it. The armor around Rook¡¯s forearm bent and cracked, revealing machinery, wires, circuit boards in reinforced protective cages, and below the forearm the barrel of Rook¡¯s Abominator energy weapon with its batteries and tech that made my implant activate and all but scream for attention.


    Electricity arced as my foot connected parts that had never been intended to connect, shorting them out. Bits of concrete next to his arm shot into the air, some of them hitting my armor, others hitting Rook¡¯s face, and the rest scattering across the nearby floor.


    I stepped back as quickly as I¡¯d stepped forward, aware that Rook or one of his henchmen might have something else ready. I also noticed that I¡¯d been partially wrong about Rook¡¯s lower leg. It hadn¡¯t all been disintegrated. The booted foot remained on the floor where it had been hit.


    It was still smoking.


    Rook¡¯s henchmen rushed forward, but they didn¡¯t attack. They grabbed him and backed away, glancing behind me where Cassie had pushed herself off the floor and held her sword in one hand and her gun in the other.


    I didn¡¯t know if she could use both of them at once, but knowing her, she was probably training to make it work. I couldn¡¯t deny that it was intimidating.


    I fired off a burst of goobots, hitting them again. It wouldn¡¯t hold them long, but it might hold them long enough.


    I gave the room another once over. Ryan, Russell Hardwick, his two Protection Force guards, Art, and Zola were still stuck¡ªexcept Art had shifted back to his human form. Zola was still panting and trying to cut through the goo with her claws.


    I¡¯d have to apply another coat of goo if she started to get anywhere, but she couldn¡¯t move much. Everyone who could be a problem had been sprayed with goo. You could argue we had the situation under control.


    As it happened, Russell Hardwick disagreed.


    ¡°Do you know who I am?¡± He¡¯d pulled himself to his full height, as much as it was possible when covered in sticky goo, and met my eyes.


    ¡°Kinda,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re someone who¡¯s going to jail for collaborating with the Nine. I¡¯ve got recordings of you where you say it at least three different times.¡±


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    Next to him, Ryan said, ¡°Shit. We¡¯re screwed.¡±


    Hardwick glared at him. ¡°Quiet.¡±


    Cassie started laughing. ¡°Ryan¡¯s right. Listen to that man.¡±


    At the same time, Art started muttering, ¡°Oh no, oh no, oh no¡­ Zola, change back, okay? You¡¯ve got to change back.¡±


    She hissed at him.


    Victor, who was also stuck to the floor, said nothing, jaw clenched tight, his face pale. The broken collarbone had to hurt a lot.


    In the meantime, Dr. Griffin was walking toward us from the far end of the room where she¡¯d been hiding. She didn''t seem to be scared anymore, though. She was walking toward us with her cellphone in her hand.


    She put it into her pocket and said, ¡°Agent Lim says congratulations. He¡¯s been watching since you started streaming.¡±


    Hardwick¡¯s eyes widened and so did mine. I hadn¡¯t forgotten that I was streaming, but hadn¡¯t thought about it in a while. I¡¯d configured it to have a delay of twenty seconds, figuring that would be long enough if I ever decided to broadcast a fight.


    I also hadn¡¯t forgotten that Lim had sounded like he was on the run from the Nine when we¡¯d last almost talked and that he¡¯d mentioned that he had someone on the inside that might help me.


    Dr. Griffin appeared to be that someone. That was good. I¡¯d been a little disappointed that she¡¯d seemed to be involved with running the birthing chambers. That she¡¯d been working for Lim made some sense.


    I checked up and down the room again, making sure that none of the people I¡¯d hit with goobots were getting free. They weren¡¯t¡ªthough the newly born True hadn¡¯t been sprayed by the bots at all. They were lying on the floor near the wall, still unable to control their limbs fully.


    For a moment, I thought that this might be it, I could let go of whatever energy I had flowing through me and fall unconscious if I had to. I wasn¡¯t sure that I dared to yet¡ªnot until Izzy, Daniel, and everybody showed up.


    As if on cue, Izzy and Daniel floated in through the hole Cassie had cut in the ceiling. Izzy descended first. Over six feet tall, muscular, and wearing a blue costume, she must have already swept the room with her sonar. It put mine to shame, but that was only the tip of the iceberg as her abilities went.


    The world didn¡¯t have a Superman, but she was close enough for me.


    Daniel, my best friend from childhood on, floated down after her, wearing a black and silver uniform. Between Izzy¡¯s physical strength and his psychic abilities, we were one hundred times better off than we¡¯d been a second ago.


    My telepathic connection to Daniel became solid as soon as he came in range. I thought over to him, Glad you¡¯re here.


    His words came to me over our link, Me too, but I¡¯ve got some bad news. We¡¯re about to be attacked.


    Rook started laughing and just as he did, small, humanoid robots with metal, crowlike wings shredded the nearest garage door in the room. At least twenty of the robots swarmed in, some on foot and others in the air.


    Izzy screamed, holding a long, painfully clear note that turned more than half of the first wave of robots into shattered bits of metal. Twenty more followed them in.


    Cassie aimed her gun¡¯s beam into the middle of them. I pulled more power out of nowhere. It was clear that I¡¯d need it¡ªexcept something didn¡¯t feel quite right.


    Nick? What are you doing?


    Trying to control the energy, I couldn¡¯t spare any of my concentration to respond and so I fell into the same inky darkness that swallowed me before.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 32

    Though I didn¡¯t lose the feeling of my connection to Daniel, I couldn¡¯t connect to him. In much the same way, I couldn¡¯t contact my implant.


    At the same time, I could feel presences in the darkness, and, as my senses adjusted, I could see stars. At least I assumed they were stars. If I were to stick to pure description without assigning meaning, I saw pinpricks of light in the darkness.


    They seemed likely to be stars but it all depended on where I was. If this were some kind of afterlife, it might be souls, but I felt more certain by the moment that it wasn¡¯t an afterlife.


    The feeling of bigness reminded me of the in-between space where the Cosmic Ghosts had shown me how to control energy. I¡¯d sensed the Cosmic Ghosts themselves there as well as Rachel, Lee, and Kee.


    Finding Lee and Kee there made sense given that the Cosmic Ghosts were in some way related to the Artificers¡ªwhich gave me an obvious candidate for where I was. If the Cosmic Ghosts had a place that was outside of reality where they communicated across interstellar space instantaneously, the Artificers might too.


    In fact, it might even be another location in the same place.


    That was great because if I was correct, it explained everything. It was not all that great because the most powerful faction of Artificers would destroy Earth and everything on it if it would help them destroy Lee. Also, they had a history of destroying younger races out of fear that those races would someday equal or surpass them.


    If you thought that through, you might guess that their paranoia could bring about their own destruction by causing the younger races to join together.


    It seemed that way to me, anyway, but they¡¯d never asked my advice on the matter.


    If I was correct, though, I was now in an excellent position to critique the flaws in their logic directly to their disembodied consciousnesses.


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    There were issues with that idea. First among them being the fact that they were capable of casually destroying planets or worse. The second issue was that I wouldn¡¯t be able to do a thing to stop them.


    If I was now on some kind of Artificer-exclusive cosmic internet, I needed to leave before they realized that I was here in the first place. Concentrating, I tried to connect to that part of me that pulled in energy and turn it off. In theory, that could pop me back into our universe.


    Like all too many good theoretical ideas, it didn¡¯t change anything. Maybe connecting my consciousness to this place cost energy, but to leave I had to do something else?


    I tried imagining that I was back in the room I¡¯d left and reached outward with my mind to ¡°pull¡± myself there.


    That worked as well as it would have before Cosmic Ghosts taught me how to feel my extradimensional muscles¡ªwhich is to say not at all. I floated in a sea of darkness, wracking my brain for a hint of what to try next.


    Remembering what it felt like to transition from reality into this space, I tried to recreate the feeling of making the change. If I could reproduce that while trying to transfer over, maybe I could reverse engineer it.


    It didn¡¯t work, but as I tried, I felt a presence. I couldn¡¯t tell exactly where it was, but it was moving closer. It asked, ¡°Who¡¯s there? What are you doing here? Identify yourself.¡±


    Knowing that there were two factions of the Artificers and that the Live faction was small and hidden, but wouldn¡¯t hurt me, while the Destroy faction had seized control of their society, and had a more ominous name, I didn¡¯t reply.


    ¡°I felt you before,¡± it said. ¡°Hiding doesn¡¯t get you anything. I will find you.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know for sure, but going by that, my gut instinct said it was a member of Destroy, the group that left technology scattered around the universe in the hopes that it would destroy the species that found it.


    Even though the birthing chambers only came indirectly from the Artificers, it certainly put the True in perspective.


    Another presence came closer. This one felt smaller than the first, but as with people, I couldn¡¯t assume that meant it was less powerful.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± It stopped moving, but I could feel that it was doing something. Sending out feelers? Using a kind of radar?


    ¡°There¡¯s something here,¡± said the first, larger presence. ¡°I¡¯ve felt it before. It passed the battlefield. The one where Lee used the Galaxy Core weapon. I told you about it.¡±


    ¡°You said you sensed Lee.¡± The smaller presence said in a harsh whisper.


    ¡°I sensed Lee and something else. I thought it might be a child.¡±


    The smaller presence stopped moving. ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous. We¡¯ve lost the ability to reproduce.¡±


    ¡°It appears that the Live faction hasn¡¯t.¡±

 Mere Anarchy: Part 33

    The smaller presence rattled off a reply. ¡°Impossible. We all agreed that there were enough of us and then we rewrote ourselves so that there wouldn¡¯t be more. We¡¯d all know it if they changed it back¡ªif it¡¯s even doable¡ªwhich I doubt.¡±


    Though there was no air to breathe, I heard the larger presence sigh, ¡°Nevertheless, there was a child.¡±


    ¡°Impossible¡ª¡± the smaller presence began.


    ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t tell anyone then. I knew everyone would get anxious and then angry. I think we need to think before we act. It seems like it should be connected to the futures we¡¯ve seen, but we haven¡¯t seen any future where there are children.¡±


    Something made a clacking noise and the smaller presence said, ¡°There were the first futures anyone saw, the ones where we expanded too far and devolved into different creatures¡ª¡±


    Interrupting, the larger presence said, ¡°Which we prevented by changing ourselves.¡±


    ¡°Except for the Cosmic Ghosts.¡± The smaller one spat it out quickly as if expecting to be interrupted again.


    ¡°They took their own path, but one that still keeps them stable.¡±


    The smaller one replied to that, but I missed it. I¡¯d begun to consider the larger problem of how to get out of here again. Meanwhile, their discussion only became louder. If I wanted to get away, taking advantage of their distraction seemed like a good idea.


    Having made that decision, I was left in the same spot I¡¯d been in before Big Thing and Small Thing showed up¡ªnot knowing where I was, how I¡¯d gotten there, or how to contact anyone for help.


    A gut feeling told me that if I tried to ¡°talk,¡± I¡¯d attract both of their attention and maybe even more Artificers that I wasn¡¯t currently sensing. I ruled out talking for the moment.


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    Considering the place a little further, I remembered my speculation that it might be a different location in the same ¡°plane¡± that the Cosmic Ghosts used to communicate. It seemed possible.


    Related to that, I thought about the ansibles used in interstellar society. Much like this place, they enabled instantaneous communication. Knowing that Artificer technology threaded its way through Galactic tech, it wasn¡¯t a huge leap to guess that there might be a way to do private messages. The best idea I could come up with was to think at someone rather than talk.


    It wasn¡¯t a deep insight, but it was better than nothing. It left me with a direction to go. With that decided, I only had to figure out who to call for help. It didn¡¯t take long before I decided to think at Lee.


    Trying to put myself into the same mental state I¡¯d used while learning from the Cosmic Ghosts, I thought at Lee, ¡°Help? I somehow managed to get myself into the Artificer version of the Information Superhighway and I can¡¯t find an exit. I can¡¯t find much of anything except for two guys that think I¡¯m a child Artificer, one of whom happens to have been at that battlefield that we flew through on the way to K¡¯Tepolu.¡±


    Then I waited for a reply. When I didn¡¯t get one, I started thinking, ¡°SOS. Stuck in a place that isn¡¯t in the actual universe I¡¯m from. Hiding from two Destroy faction members. Send help!¡±


    I stopped and waited, this time checking in on Big Thing and Small Thing again. They appeared to be talking about the Cosmic Ghosts.


    ¡°¡­ The Ghosts are basically our kind¡ª¡±


    ¡°No. The list of their deviations is too long to count¡ª¡±


    A quiet voice spoke in my head, ¡°Nick.¡±


    I knew that voice. I¡¯d last heard it in the Ghosts¡¯ version of this place, but before that it had been on the planet Hideaway. ¡°Kee?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Lee got your message, but between the two of us, we decided that I¡¯d be much more likely to handle your problem without having to fight anybody. Well, I decided that. Lee wanted to come, but you know him. Before meeting up with me he ran into a former friend of ours named Halas who brought in Bakanan¡ªa member of the Destroy faction who we never liked. I think Lee might have touched off a supernova during a fight with them.¡±


    She had a point. Even though Lee was a good teacher when it came to fighting, I¡¯d trust Kee more when it came to something technical. Teaching me how to use Artificer resources qualified¡ªthough I did have one other thing on my mind.


    ¡°One of the guys out there thought I was a child from your species. I know I appear that way, but why?¡±

 Mere Anarchy: Part 34

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated, but the short version goes like this: we didn¡¯t begin being creatures that spanned universes. We began as small reptilian creatures in a universe that may not exist any longer. We grew, changed, and after a time learned how to modify ourselves. We¡¯d always had a small talent for existing out of phase, but we expanded it, allowing ourselves to move from one universe to another and connect to other versions of ourselves.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have our DNA because we used another system, but your DNA includes genes the Abominators adapted from ours. They didn¡¯t understand fully what they were giving your people. Training with Lee has strengthened your ability to use them. Try to look at yourself.¡±


    I looked ¡°down.¡± I put ¡°down¡± in quotes because in a place with near-total darkness and no noticeable gravity, down is more of a philosophical question than reality.


    I didn¡¯t see a body.


    What I saw were nearly transparent lines that reminded me of veins or nerves in medical illustrations. Maybe they were tendrils? It was hard to say. On the off chance that I might see more, I looked ¡°up¡± and didn¡¯t see anything¡ªwhich meant that I wasn¡¯t a cloud of tendrils.


    It wasn¡¯t impossible that I was a floating brain with tendrils. On the other hand, I wasn¡¯t a lizard. You take the small victories where you can get them.


    I thought back to her. ¡°I saw lines¡ªnerves, veins, or maybe tendrils? I don¡¯t know.¡±


    I felt calmness float toward me over the connection. ¡°You¡¯re not fully formed yet.¡±


    ¡°How long will that take?¡± As I said it, I looked around, trying to see either of the presences I¡¯d heard talking. I didn¡¯t see anything.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. Of the humans I¡¯ve known, you¡¯re the first to go down this path.¡± She stopped but then added. ¡°We didn¡¯t name our young until they were at least one thousand of your years old. We didn¡¯t think they were developed enough to get attached to.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I felt pressure on my body that moved from one side to another and felt that the presences were closer. ¡°How do I get out of here? I think that they might have found me or they¡¯re close to it.¡±


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    Kee sent the knowledge into my brain and I realized that it was easy. I hadn¡¯t known it, but there was a sense in which I was holding on to his place. I needed to let go but hadn¡¯t known how.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I thought back to her. ¡°We need to talk about this again soon.¡±


    As I felt a sense of amusement cross the distance between us, a dark presence blocked out the stars. It was Small Thing as I¡¯d dubbed it earlier.


    Up close, Small Thing wasn¡¯t so small. Its presence felt very large and as I realized that, I also realized that Big Thing dwarfed it. Big Thing was coming toward me from below.


    I didn¡¯t waste any time. I let go of the place, bringing my consciousness back into my body. As the darkness faded away, I heard Big Thing say, ¡°I told you there was a child.¡±


    I came to consciousness on the floor of the garage in Hardwick Industries. Above me and to the right was the hole Cassie had cut to let us in. To my left stood the shredded garage door and the remains of Rook¡¯s robots¡ªthe almost human-sized humanoid-shaped ones that had entered as I fell unconscious.


    None of them stood anymore, much less fought. A few arms still rolled across the floor away from Izzy who was taking a breath as if it were only moments since she¡¯d finished.


    I hadn¡¯t been out long. It might have only been seconds.


    Cassie stood a good ten feet behind Izzy, but in front of the burned and melted remains of I didn¡¯t know how many robots.


    As I took that in, Daniel used his connection to my mind. You¡¯re back! What happened?


    I thought back, Too long and too complicated to explain right now, but the short version is that I¡¯ve got an extremely limited superpower that I just overused. Is the fight over?


    Daniel shook his head at about the same time that not one, but four mechs stepped through the shredded garage door. I tried to push myself off the ground, but while the suit had all the strength necessary, my arms didn¡¯t. They shook as I tried to push off the ground, sending me a few inches sideways.


    I opened my mind to the power I¡¯d learned to draw in and found myself with a splitting headache. I didn¡¯t scream, but that was only because I had the sense to stop.


    My mind felt like my body did on the day after a long workout with muscles I hadn¡¯t exercised lately.


    On the ground next to me, Daniel grimaced. That hurt. Don¡¯t do it again. I think we¡¯ve got this.


    Closer to the door, Cassie aimed Mr. Sparkles at the first mech while Izzy flew toward the one next to it.


    Out of paranoia, I turned my head to check on Victor and Rook. Surrounded by goo, Victor glared at me while Rook muttered to himself. He¡¯d been covered in goo as well, something I didn¡¯t remember doing and probably hadn¡¯t. I¡¯d given Kayla backup control over my bots though. She¡¯d probably done it while I was unconscious.


    Victor gritted his teeth and rocked a little in the goo, but couldn¡¯t move.

 Mere Anarchy: Part 35

    That at least was good news. The bad guys appeared to be contained. Speaking of which, Russell Hardwick, Ryan, Zola, Art, and the two Protection Force guards were still stuck too.


    Plus, Dr. Griffin was off to the side of the room.


    So we were all good except for the four, twenty-foot tall, grey mechs and they were less of a worry than you¡¯d think. With Izzy being stronger than a locomotive, it only took one blow to knock the head off of the first mech in. The head bounced off the shoulder of the mech behind it and rolled off into the night.


    From the lack of blood, I guessed that the operator sat in the main body, something that Izzy had seen through her sonar. I aimed my own sensors at it, confirming my guess as Izzy blurred, dropping downward to punch the mech in the leg, pushing through the thigh and ripping the leg off. The mech fell over and she started ripping the back open to get at the operator.


    The one that Cassie fired on hadn¡¯t done any better. She¡¯d started off with her gun, melting the upper half of the head along with the guns mounted on its right and left shoulders.


    It turned toward her, running, probably with the intent of stomping on her. She aimed her next shot roughly where the groin would be if the mech had one and the beam melted through it, burning through what appeared to be an engine.


    It fell.


    I fired off several boombots at the mech coming in behind it on the left, shooting a bot into the joints of each leg and a third over the shoulder and into the back where the two guns appeared to be mounted.


    Even as the explosions started, I could tell that it wasn¡¯t going down. One of the guns fell off and the right leg lost part of its casing, showing the steel, and wires underneath. It had been crippled, but it wasn¡¯t down.


    Except then it fell over on its face, landing on top of the one Cassie had shot. She laughed and began to aim her gun at the one next to it.


    You? I thought over at Daniel.


    It wasn¡¯t going down quickly enough.


    I was about to ask him why he hadn¡¯t gone after the one next to it, the last one of the four now standing, but as I did, I understood why.


    As the last one brought its guns to bear on Izzy (the bullets bounced off the invisible shield around her with little flashes of golden light),a blur of purple appeared behind it and it fell forward. Then, with no warning, Jacklyn stood on topit in her purple Accelerondo costume.


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    In a burst of speed and her typical attention to detail, she¡¯d shattered the joints where both the legs and arms met the main body of the mech. As it fell, she must have run up the back, smashing the two guns.


    When it hit the ground, she jumped off, landing next to it. ¡°Is that everything? I¡¯d have been here sooner, but there were people outside.¡±


    Cassie holstered her gun and started cutting open the side of the nearest mech.¡°I think that¡¯s everyone. We took out a bunch of guys outside before you got here. If anyone woke up, they were there.¡±


    Even as she said those words, Victor flashed purple and silver. In that moment, he became the large, bare-chested, metal skirt wearing version of himself that I¡¯d fought.


    Before I could figure out how to move my arms enough to aim the sonics at him or tell Daniel to mentally nuke the guy, he disappeared in a flash of purple, leaving the remains of the goo that stuck him to the ground. Worse, he wasn¡¯t the only one missing. Rook and his henchmen were gone. Zola and Art had also disappeared, leaving Russell Hardwick, Ryan McCall, and their Protection Force bodyguards.


    Jaclyn blurred as Victor glowed and wound up standing next to Russell Hardwick.


    My implant provided an instant replay when I wondered what happened. As they¡¯d disappeared, Jaclyn ran toward Rook. As he and his henchman disappeared, the purple glow started on Art and Zola. She hadn¡¯t made it to them before they teleported away either.


    Crap, Daniel thought at me. I didn¡¯t have any hint that Victor would do anything. Something was shielding his mind from both telepathy and prescience. Better, I can¡¯t find him clairvoyantly either¡ªwhich means he¡¯s out of range or immune to that too.


    Try sensing Rook? I thought back.


    Daniel closed his eyes and I could see the corners of his mouth tighten below his mask.


    Nope. I¡¯d bet out of range, but this is Rook. He might have anti-psychic gadgets.


    Daniel stared at the spot Victor had been and frowned.


    Thinking about the True, I said, Do you feel like the humanity is in imminent danger of being destroyed by the True? Maybe not tomorrow, but in the next few years?


    I sent him pictures of all of the True that I¡¯d seen so far.


    Long term prescience isn¡¯t something I can do on demand. That¡¯s more of an unexpected surprise when it happens. I can try, though.


    He closed his eyes and started breathing slowly, one long breath followed by another. As he concentrated, Izzy walked up to us, watching him.


    Then Daniel shook his head. When he thought at us, I could feel him touch everyone¡¯s minds¡ªIzzy¡¯s, Cassie¡¯s, Jaclyn¡¯s, and of course, mine.


    I don¡¯t see a disaster in the near future¡ªat least not one that connects to the True. At the worst, we¡¯ve got a few years. At best, maybe the threat¡¯s over. There¡¯s an interesting wrinkle, though. Nick, you gave me memories of different True. I don¡¯t sense anything special from the ones descended from Cassie or Stephanie, but there is a hint of something coming from the ones created using Emmy. I don¡¯t know what it is. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s as simple as humanity¡¯s destruction. It¡¯s more complicated than that somehow.


    That¡¯s all I¡¯ve got.


    In the background as he ended, Dr. Griffin walked over to Russell Hardwick, and Ryan and held out a black leather wallet in front of them. ¡°FBI. You have the right to remain silent¡­¡±

 Loose Ends: Part 1

    Haley and I stopped in front of Dr. Hansen¡¯s door. ¡°I¡¯ll see you in a little bit.¡±


    She squeezed my hand and stepped away to grab one of the chairs next to the wall in the engineering department. We weren¡¯t the only ones there. The engineering department was a combination of a workroom, departmental assistant¡¯s office, and common room. Ten or more professors¡¯ had offices that surrounded the room.


    The nice ones had windows. Dr. Hansen, as the department head, had a corner office.


    Haley sat next to one of the tables and pulled out her phone, looking up at me as I watched her.


    ¡°I think you¡¯ve got an appointment.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I turned back to the door and knocked on it.


    What she hadn¡¯t said was, ¡°I¡¯ll be listening out here and if they try anything, I¡¯m coming in.¡± She didn¡¯t need to. We¡¯d already discussed it.


    Dr. Hansen opened the door. As he backed up to let me in, I was reminded that he was nearly a foot taller than I was. It wasn¡¯t that intimidating because he was in his fifties and while he wasn¡¯t fat, he wasn¡¯t muscular either.


    There wasn¡¯t any reason to be nervous about a guy who¡¯d been a good college basketball player with no known superpowers¡ªexcept that he¡¯d had a mind control device tie pin the last time I¡¯d visited. Given that he¡¯d known about the video I¡¯d passed on to Agent Lim and appeared to have a hitman disguised as a janitor in the department lobby, I took it as a given that he worked for the Nine.


    On the bright side, I hadn¡¯t seen the hitman this time.


    I followed Dr. Hansen into the office to find Dr. Strazinsky already sitting in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. He nodded at me and I sat in the other chair and Dr. Hansen walked around the desk to sit in his own chair.


    I took the moment to notice a framed newspaper article with a picture of a much younger version of Dr. Hansen dunking a basketball. His college and doctoral diplomas hung above it on the wall.


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    When Dr. Hansen finished rolling his chair next to the desk, he looked from Dr. Strazinsky over to me. Then he sighed.


    ¡°I assume that you¡¯ve seen the news reports. Higher Ground is under investigation for working with the Nine.¡± Then he shook his head. ¡°They¡¯re not just under investigation. They¡¯ve been closed down. Not only that, but Russell Hardwick was found there and it¡¯s clear that he had connections to the Nine as well.¡±


    He looked over at Dr. Strazinsky and then back at me, ¡°I¡¯m going to assume that you¡¯re not surprised that your internship is over. The FBI came in almost at the same time the Heroes¡¯ League. I¡¯ve been told that you¡¯ll be able to collect personal objects from your desk provided the FBI doesn¡¯t keep them as evidence.¡±


    His hand moved toward his tie and there it was¡ªthe same tie pin that he¡¯d been wearing the last time. Fortunately, I was wearing the same glasses that automatically blocked the ¡°Dominator command inflections,¡± last time.


    He touched the tie pin. ¡°I¡¯m wondering if either of you called in the FBI.¡±


    Looking over at Dr. Strazinsky, he said, ¡°Ken?¡±


    If I¡¯d ever known Dr. Strazinsky¡¯s first name, I didn¡¯t remember it. So that was new.


    I didn¡¯t have time to reflect on what that said about me because Dr. Strazinsky was already talking. ¡°As I¡¯ve told you before, I¡¯m in regular contact with the FBI, but I didn¡¯t call them about this¡ªthough I have been considering calling them about you¡ª¡±


    Dr. Hansen raised his and said, ¡°Stop. Neither of you move or talk without my permission. When I ask you questions, you will not raise your voices or call for help in any way.¡±


    For all his hurry to give us orders, his voice stayed calm.


    This was a change. The last time he¡¯d been subtle, using the tie pin to ask questions, but he hadn¡¯t given orders. If I hadn¡¯t had anti-voice control tech, I¡¯d never have known. Now though, it was obvious. I wondered how far I could let him go¡ªthat and if the hitman was now in the lobby.


    Meanwhile, Dr. Strazinsky¡¯s eyes had widened and his face reddened. I decided that I should show a little more fear and let myself take an audible breath.


    Dr. Hansen glanced over at me, but then turned back to Dr. Strazinsky, ¡°Tell me what made you suspicious.¡±


    Swallowing, Dr. Strazinsky said, ¡°It wasn¡¯t any one thing. It was a few little things. You asked me about Nick too often and knew a little too much about Higher Ground. I don¡¯t know which of them did it.¡±


    Nodding slowly, Dr. Hansen said, ¡°That¡¯s good to know. Wait for me to ask you to talk before you say anything more. Now Nick, what about you? Did you notify the FBI?¡±


    Being careful not to move anything but my mouth, I said, ¡°No.¡±


    Dr. Hansen stared.


    He put his hand into a desk drawer and pulled out a nine millimeter pistol and pointed it at me. "You''re faking it. Does this help you remember?"


    Daniel, I thought, now would be great.

 Loose Ends: Part 2

    Trying to keep him guessing, I interpreted the question as literally as possible. ¡°It does not help me remember. What do you mean by faking ¡®it¡¯?¡±


    Dr. Hansen began to move his left arm upward toward the gun, mostly likely to steady it so that he could shoot me. I had no time left to wait. I was just about to use the stealth suit (concealed as jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt, and a jacket) to lean forward and throw the desk at him, but I didn¡¯t have to.


    Dr. Hansen¡¯s right arm and gun rose upward. He tried to pull the gun down again, but it kept on going higher until it aimed straight up at the ceiling. Then he tried to let go. His finger couldn¡¯t move further than half an inch as if held in place by an invisible force field¡ªone that also prevented him from pulling the trigger.


    He tried. The trigger didn¡¯t move.


    As he did that, the window behind him shattered, but not the way a normal window shattered¡ªpolitely.


    It didn¡¯t ask permission, but the noise as cracks extended from the middle was muffled as if by an invisible barrier. Instead of exploding either into or out of the room, the pieces slid downward, broken, but still in the shape of a rectangle, landing outside in a brief, tinkling noise.


    Warm air flowed in. October¡¯s ¡°Indian summer¡± had arrived to give us some variety from the cooling fall weather.


    Daniel and Izzy floated inside, both of them in costume¡ªDaniel in black and silver and Izzy in blue. They looked like heroes from TV and the movies¡ªmuscular without being musclebound, tall without being giants, and confident without giving the impression of arrogance¡ªthat¡¯s to say unlike the majority of real heroes. Most heroes had something more noticeably wrong with them.


    Daniel¡¯s words sounded in my head, We don¡¯t look that great.


    Then I felt him connect to all of us¡ªIzzy, Haley, Cassie, Vaughn, and Amy. Haley, of course, was in the lobby of the Engineering department. Cassie, Vaughn, and Amy stood outside the building, watching in case Dr. Hansen had help.


    We could call in more if we had to.


    Izzy landed next to Dr. Hansen¡¯s desk, glancing over at Dr. Hansen first, but looking directly at Dr. Strazinsky and me. ¡°I¡¯m Blue. You probably recognize the Mystic. We¡¯re members of the Heroes¡¯ League and we¡¯ve got reason to believe Dr. Hansen is working with the Nine. We know that he¡¯s got mind-control technology. We¡¯ll do everything we can to free you from it.¡±


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    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dr. Strazinsky open his mouth, but no sound came out.


    Daniel frowned. Next to him, Dr. Hansen tried to move his left hand toward his tie pin but found that he couldn¡¯t touch it, hitting an invisible barrier.


    Letting his hand drop, he turned toward Daniel, ¡°You¡¯ve got no right to do this. Absolutely none at all. You¡¯re no better than criminals yourselves if you¡¯re coming into my office and attacking¡ª¡±


    His head slumped and his body slowly dropped toward his chair. The gun remained in the air, but his right arm fell slowly until it dangled at his side. He stared ahead into nothing, saying no more.


    Well, Daniel thought, I guess I should rummage around his brain now.


    Haley sent her view of the lobby to the group. I don¡¯t see anyone out here that shouldn¡¯t be. Let me know if you need me inside.


    We sent her silent acknowledgments through the telepathic connection and waited as Daniel delved deeper into Dr. Hansen¡¯s head. After a little longer, I felt his attention turn back to us.


    Okay. I¡¯ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that Dr. Hansen¡¯s allegiance to the Nine is 100% manufactured. He¡¯s been reporting to them regularly, asking people questions, and influencing people in and around the university, but it¡¯s definitely because someone got into his head in the last year.


    Here¡¯s the bad news: it¡¯s far beyond anything that I know how to fix. Whoever did it was good¡ªextremely good. It¡¯s got to have been a team effort, which means it was probably the Dominators. They work as a group and use multiple mind control techniques.


    I can¡¯t get far enough in to know when it happened or who did it. I can tell that he doesn¡¯t know who he was reporting to or how he got the tie pin. I think I¡¯m going to have to call in my dad.


    In fact, I think I¡¯m going to have to put him to sleep and keep him that way until the Defenders get here. The Dominators have embedded suicide commands before.


    I felt Vaughn¡¯s interest before I heard his thoughts. It¡¯s not just suicide commands. They¡¯ve set up suicide bombers. My mom told me that Hardwick Industries had a Nine influenced scientist once and he blew up his lab.


    Amy¡¯s mind felt like a crowd of different thoughts and emotions, but through it her thoughts were clear. I can change into Bloodmaiden and scan him for magic commands.


    Sure, Daniel thought back. If there¡¯s magic involved, I¡¯ll never know.


    Glancing over at Dr. Strazinsky, I thought, Can you tell if Dr. Strazinsky is okay?


    As per Dr. Hansen¡¯s command, he wasn¡¯t moving, but that was all I could know for sure.


    Dr. Hansen started snoring and Daniel stared at Dr. Strazinsky for a few seconds. He¡¯s fine. As I said earlier, I wouldn¡¯t know it if there were magic involved, but there¡¯s no sign of mind control except for memories associated with Dr. Hansen and those seem to be limited to leading questions until today.

 Loose Ends: Part 3

    Then Daniel frowned. I can¡¯t say that there aren¡¯t potential problems, though. Memories associated with verbal commands using Dr. Hansen¡¯s tie pin or other people¡¯s voices last longer than normal memories and a decent telepath could use them as foundations for altering how someone thinks¡ªwhich is why the Dominators are as effective as they are.


    Have someone with voice powers put in a few basic commands, let a telepath set up a framework that connects the commands together, and maybe have a wizard set up a way to revert to that mental state if a telepath removes it and you¡¯ve got something I can¡¯t remove and maybe something I can¡¯t detect.


    I looked over at Dr. Strazinksy again. But you¡¯re pretty sure that¡¯s not the case here?


    I felt a wave of amusement from Daniel. Mostly sure? Even if the commands were all magic they¡¯d leave traces in his brain if they were used. I wouldn¡¯t know why the normal flow of his thoughts had been disrupted, but I¡¯d be able to tell that they had. I¡¯m not seeing any of that here. It¡¯s probably still worth letting the Defenders or Amy take a look at him. I don¡¯t know everything and after looking at Dr. Hansen¡¯s head, I¡¯ve realized that I know less than I thought I did before I looked at him.


    That¡¯s comforting, I thought back at him.


    He sent me an image of him shrugging. It¡¯s good to know your limits. I¡¯d be willing to experiment if we had no choice. Between Amy and I, we could handle a lot, but since my dad¡¯s on the way, it¡¯ll be better to let him do it.


    Mindstryke arrived twenty minutes later along with two other people. One was atall black man who wore atop hat, long-tailed black coat, and glasses. In a noticeable Chicago accent, he introduced himself as Baron Samedi. The other was a woman in her 70s wearing in an all-black costume that made me think of a military dress uniform. She didn¡¯t introduce herself.


    They weren¡¯t done by the time we left. Since they were in costume, Daniel and Izzy stayed¡ªDaniel to help his dad and Izzy in case something unexpected happened. Amy, Vaughn and Cassie stayed too. Amy stayed to watch the procedure as Bloodmaiden. I wasn¡¯t sure why Vaughn and Cassie stayed, but they¡¯d come with Amy.


    Haley and I walked out, officially because we were civilians and unofficially because there wasn¡¯t anything we could do. We left the building in a different situation than when we¡¯d walked inside.


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    The police surrounded it, blocking entrances and refusing to let anyone inside. Leaving was a different matter though. They barely looked at us on the way out.


    Haley and I held hands once we were past the people, the cars, and the reporters. NBC News 10 had a van out in front.


    When we were all but alone on a walkway nearly two buildings away, she looked up at me. ¡°How are you doing? I know you liked Dr. Strazinsky.¡±


    I turned back to look at the building for a second. "I¡¯m okay. I think we did the right thing by going in. They¡¯re getting help. Who knows what they would have done if we did nothing? Um¡­ How are you feeling?¡±


    She frowned, ¡°Useless. I know I wasn¡¯t, but nothing went right. We went in to get information last night except it turned into a fight and then Victor teleported me nearly to Wisconsin. If we¡¯d used the jet to scan around Hardwick Industries, we might have found Rook, Protection Force, and everybody before we went in. Then someone still might have been teleported out, but maybe not.¡±


    I nodded, checking around before I spoke. No one was near us. ¡°That¡¯s true. We didn¡¯t do enough before we went in. No guarantees we would have seen anything out there though. They had technology that I didn¡¯t even know existed. They might have Abominator tech for hiding things.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°They might have. I still wish we¡¯d have looked.¡±


    My phone beeped. I read the text on the lenses of my glasses. It was from Isaac Lim to my Rocket communicator account. It said, ¡°You can remove anything personal from Higher Ground after 2 pm. Your special guest can come along as long as she¡¯s in costume and arrives separately.¡±


    I tapped out a reply on my phone since it would be faster than blinking it out with my glasses. I wrote, ¡°I¡¯ll be there.¡±


    Haley leaned in to check my phone. ¡°Leaving?¡±


    ¡°It looks like it. I¡¯ll be back tonight¡ªprobably by four, actually. I¡¯d normally be working today, but obviously not now.¡±


    I put the phone back in my pocket as Isaac sent me back a thumbs up icon.


    Haley frowned. ¡°What do you think they¡¯ll do about your internship?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I have no idea. Ideally, they ought to count it, since it¡¯s not my fault they were criminals.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t count on it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I shouldn¡¯t, but I¡¯ve still got to go.¡±


    An hour later, I drove down the dirt driveway into the employee parking area of the Hardwick Industries compound. The parking lot was about half full. The police cars and unmarked Chevrolet Suburbans parked all around the building along with two semi-trucks in the parking lot in front of the main buildings made up for the lack of employee-owned vehicles.


    Police waited at the garage exit. They didn¡¯t say anything to me. I already had an escort. Tara waited next to the door wearing a green and white costume that hid her face.


    Officially she was there as a member of the Heroes¡¯ League to assist as necessary. In reality, she was there because she wanted to meet Emmy and this seemed better than driving her by Emmy¡¯s apartment.

 Loose Ends: Part 4

    Tara wore the katana she¡¯d carried the night before. I wondered what it did if anything. I hadn¡¯t made it, after all.


    It could be that it was just a sword that she¡¯d chosen to use when she adopted her late father¡¯s superhero identity¡ªRonin. Given that they were masterless warriors and he¡¯d left the True, I could see why the name might have resonated with him and her too.


    All the same, it would be disappointing if it were normal. At the very least, it ought to be able to cut like Cassie¡¯s sword. Ideally, I could design it to shield her or maybe act as a ranged weapon, making her effective outside of hand to hand combat.


    The police opened the chain-link fence''s gate and let me walk past after I told them my name. Tara smiled and walked with me down the trail through the woods toward the Hardwick Industries buildings.


    Once we were out of sight of the garage, and knowing her, outside the hearing of the police, she started laughing. ¡°You could have asked me about my sword.¡±


    ¡°We were a little busy last night.¡±


    She grinned. ¡°It doesn¡¯t do anything except cut things. It was my dad¡¯s. If you want to make one for me, I¡¯ll be happy to retire it. It¡¯s more to remember him than to be useful.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d like to. We should talk about what you want out of it. This is your internship. I don¡¯t know what C and the others are having you do, but it seems like an opportunity to try a few different things.¡±


    She looked down the trail ahead of us and held a finger to her lips. ¡°We¡¯re close enough to the back of the buildings that someone might hear us.¡±


    We stopped talking and walked further down the trail. In between the beginning of my internship and now, fall colors had come to the forest. It had been too dark last night to appreciate them, but the trees¡¯ leaves were red, gold, yellow, and orange¡ªwith the exception of the pine trees. Their needles were as green as they ever were--though there were pine cones on the forest floor and the trail.


    We arrived at the back of the buildings to find police and people wearing navy jackets with letters ¡°FBI¡± written in yellow. People were hauling boxes out of every available door¡ªthe side doors between the lab and the offices as well as the front and back of both buildings. The rumble of a large truck¡¯s engine came from the far side of the lab building. I assumed that a truck must be getting loaded there.


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    Seeing the place during the day told me how much destruction I¡¯d missed the night before. Both the lab and office buildings had broken windows and melted spots in the metal walls. Even Sandy¡¯s office had broken windows. I didn¡¯t remember that happening last night.


    A look back, as Tara and I walked toward the offices, gave me a new perspective on the forest. The fight hadn¡¯t gone too close to the employee garage, but the open lawn behind the lab was pockmarked with burned soil and grass. Trees had been knocked over and large branches had been broken and burned.


    I didn¡¯t remember that either, though as I thought about it my implant sent me images of the destruction. Not feeling like I had to review it, I stopped the images and followed Tara into the office.


    Amid the FBI agents going through the place, I saw one person I recognized¡ªStephanie.


    She stepped out from her cubicle carrying a box just as we stepped through the door. ¡°Nick! I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re here. There¡¯s practically nothing in your cubicle. If it weren¡¯t for the pile of papers, I wouldn¡¯t know anyone used it.¡±


    Dressed in jeans and a blue, long-sleeved blouse, she didn¡¯t look much different from most workdays.


    Then she glanced over at Tara and grinned. ¡°And you¡¯ve got your own superhero escort. Don¡¯t steal anything.¡±


    Tara didn¡¯t reply.


    I glanced down at  Stephanie''s arm. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°My arm? It¡¯s almost like new. Your doctor¡¯s great.¡± She glanced around at the FBI agents in the room. Then she rolled up her sleeve. The claw marks were raw, red skin, but it was healed skin. We¡¯d let Haley¡¯s cousin experiment with alien tech that the original League had. It worked.


    ¡°I¡¯d love to talk more, but it doesn¡¯t seem like the right time. I¡¯ll catch up with you later, maybe tonight, okay?¡±


    ¡°Sure. I won¡¯t be too busy. Just schoolwork.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Excellent. I¡¯ll see you then. Oh, but one more thing¡­ Agent Lim¡¯s in Sandy¡¯s office. He wants to talk to you.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡± I watched her walk out with her box and then turned to Tara, ¡°I guess we should go in.¡±


    We walked in to find that the office had been all but stripped. All of the filing cabinets and the desk were gone, making the long, L-shaped room feel empty. Agent Lim stood next to the broken window. He turned toward us as we walked inside.


    Waving us toward a small table and chairs in the corner, he said, ¡°Come over here and sit down.¡±


    Then he placed a little ball in the middle of the table and tapped it with his palm. ¡°This will keep our conversation private¡ªmaybe not from Nick if he knew about it ahead of time, but short of that, we¡¯re safe.¡±


    Tara and I sat down with him.


    He grinned. ¡°First of all, great job. We didn¡¯t get everything we could ever have wanted, but we did get more than we could¡¯ve realistically hoped. We have evidence that all of Higher Ground¡¯s leadership was involved with the Nine, that they¡¯ve been using alien tech for experiments on unwilling participants, and that they were constructing a superpowered army for the Nine. Russell Hardwick, CEO of Hardwick Industries has been shown to be working with them as well.


    ¡°We haven¡¯t tracked down every implication of what you guys found in the office, but it¡¯s going to be big when we do. You don¡¯t know it, but you saved my butt.¡±

 Loose Ends: Part 5

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°How?¡±


    Isaac leaned forward, glancing over at Tara and then at me. ¡°I have contacts all over the superhero community and it shouldn¡¯t surprise either of you that Nick¡¯s not the only one I¡¯ve got trying to infiltrate the Nine. One of them let me know that the Nine were after me about the time that Dr. Hansen tried to mind control you.


    ¡°Those of us who are working to find the Nine¡¯s people in our government have escape plans in place. I¡¯m not going to go into details, but we¡¯re prepared. So, when you went in, I¡¯d already notified Dr. Griffin that she was on her own temporarily and that I was in one of our safe houses. I did what I could to keep informed while some of our people watched who was sent after me and traced where their orders came from. Now we¡¯ve got a better picture of who their assets are.¡±


    He smiled, ¡°But I still haven¡¯t told you how you helped me. More than anything else, it was your decision to broadcast everything¡ªeven more than the documents you brought back. The broadcast connected the Nine to Hardwick, Protection Force, and Higher Ground¡¯s management publicly¡ªtoo publicly for them to make it all disappear. And that meant that it wasn¡¯t possible to make me disappear. The people I¡¯m working with have pull of their own, but they¡¯ve got to be careful about using it. We don¡¯t want to call attention to ourselves¡ªwhich meant that they might not be able to act to save me.


    ¡°I¡¯m grateful you did even though I¡¯m sure you had no idea you were.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I wanted to put Protection Force on the record for anything they did against us. I didn¡¯t know I¡¯d be putting them on record for working with Rook or using Abominator tech.¡±


    Lim nodded. ¡°We had hints of it, but only hints¡ªnothing solid that we could use to arrest anyone.¡±


    Then he shook his head. ¡°You know their leader? Jared Curtis? He survived and we caught him. He was unconscious and our people kept him that way long enough to remove the Abominator relic that gave him his abilities. It was inside him. It made for a nasty surgery, but he¡¯s alive and we¡¯ve got the device.¡±


    Remembering back to fighting him, I asked, ¡°What¡¯s going to happen to it?¡±


    Despite the device that he¡¯d said shielded us, Lim checked around before talking, ¡°There¡¯s a national program for storing Abominator tech. Imagine the big room at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. We¡¯re going to send it to them and hope it stays there.¡±


    Despite having my own guess answer to the obvious question, I asked it anyway, ¡°Why do you think that it won¡¯t stay there?¡±


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    Lim sighed, ¡°The Nine, but our own military would want it even without the Nine. Plus, I¡¯m sure there are peaceful uses for the technology. Plenty of people know what it can do and want it.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue with that. I could even make an argument that I¡¯d made it worse by streaming our fight. On the other hand, you could also argue I¡¯d made the technology look worse. Jared Curtis had lost the fight and to the viewer it probably looked like it couldn¡¯t get through the Rocket armor.


    ¡°What happens to Protection Force?¡± I asked.


    Lim shrugged, ¡°Exactly what you¡¯d expect. They employed a former criminal with ties to the Nine that became more obvious during your fight. They attempted to attack you even though you weren¡¯t attacking them and they used lethal force. There¡¯s an investigation going. Depending on how high it goes, it might be the end of Protection Force as a business. If it was just this group we may find ourselves prosecuting, ¡®a few bad apples,¡¯ instead of the organization.¡±


    Leaning back in his chair, Lim eyed me. ¡°Out of curiosity, how did streaming work out on your end? I¡¯ve always assumed it made a lot of money for Kid Biohack.¡±


    Nodding, I admitted, ¡°I got a few emails from the people who manage our social media. They¡¯d like us to do more streaming. I don¡¯t know how much money it made, but it did make money. It wasn¡¯t in the same league as the money we make from toys or anywhere near what we make off patents the original Rocket registered, but it¡¯s still noticeable. Also, I guess the group¡¯s social media accounts got a lot more followers. I wasn¡¯t trying for that. I turned it on and got too busy to turn it off. I thought about it a couple of times, but the moment never seemed to be right until the end.¡±


    Isaac laughed. ¡°I¡¯m not complaining. I watched all of it after I heard it was on. There were a couple of times when you blacked out. What happened there?¡±


    I paused. Did I want to let him in on it? Then I said, ¡°I want to tell you, but right now I need more information too. I¡¯ll let you know if it becomes necessary.¡±


    Lim looked me over and nodded. ¡°We all have our secrets. If it turns out to be a problem that keeps you out of the suit, don¡¯t feel like you have to continue. We want you in it, but not if there¡¯s a medical problem that will make it difficult.¡±


    Shaking my head, I said, ¡°It¡¯s not a medical problem. It¡¯s a side effect of one of the things that kept me alive versus Rook¡¯s Abominator tech. It should be better next time. This was the first time in the field.¡±


    Lim nodded, ¡°New technology? I get it. That never goes perfectly. Do you have any other questions?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± I looked over at Tara. ¡°Do you?¡±


    Tara laughed, her face hidden behind her green and white mask. ¡°Me? So many, but Agent Lim answered the ones that he could. He¡¯s actually got me asking your former co-workers questions as they get their things. I haven¡¯t found any that are secretly part of the Nine, but there¡¯s still most of the afternoon to go.¡±


    Lim laughed. ¡°She¡¯s been useful.¡±


    I¡¯d gotten him away from asking questions about the blackouts, hopefully without making him suspicious. Lim had always struck me as trustworthy, but I couldn¡¯t dump the whole story of Lee, his people¡¯s plan for multi-universal genocide of all intelligent life but themselves, and my relation to them on Lim now.


    Maybe not ever.

 Loose Ends: Part 6

    Talking about it too widely could literally lead to the end of the world, so I felt like I had a decent excuse.


    Still showing a hint of a smile, Lim stood up and tapped the globe on the table again. It stopped glowing. ¡°If that¡¯s it, I should let you go. I¡¯m assuming that you got everything?¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°Everything I intended to take. Do you think anyone¡¯s going to mind if I grab pens, t-shirts, or anything else from the swag closet?¡±


    Lim snorted. ¡°I might not wear it anytime soon if it were me, but it¡¯s not evidence¡ªunless someone committed a crime with the branded pens that no one told me about.¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I just thought I¡¯d like some stuff. I¡¯d been intending to grab something earlier, but it got busy enough that I didn¡¯t have time.¡±


    Lim eyed the broken window and a hole that (my implant remembered) had been created by a stray energy beam. ¡°I imagine. Nice work on the helmet by the way. You¡¯re not the first to connect to an Abominator device with our tech, but I¡¯m told by our techs that your program had a good design.¡±


    Aware that Lim¡¯s silence globe was off, I only said, ¡°I imagine that¡¯s going into a warehouse somewhere, too.¡±


    Lim flashed his teeth. ¡°Something like that, but don¡¯t be surprised if it leads to more work later. There aren¡¯t a lot of people experienced with Abominator tech and as of now, you¡¯re one of them. Don¡¯t be surprised if you get calls.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°From the FBI?¡±


    Stepping away from the table, Lim put his hand on my shoulder, ¡°Maybe. Maybe other places. For now, I wouldn¡¯t worry too much about it. All I¡¯m saying is that even though the internship went wrong, it¡¯ll open doors for you. If you don¡¯t want them open, all you have to do is say no.¡±


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    I glanced over at the hole. ¡°If I say no, will they listen?¡±


    Lim paused, but then said, ¡°Let¡¯s hope so, but if not, I¡¯m sure you can handle it.¡±


    His eyes dropped to look down at my ¡°clothes¡± and glasses. I¡¯d kept the stealth suit on after we¡¯d visited Dr. Hansen. Given that I¡¯d be coming back here, I felt better safe than sorry.


    We didn¡¯t talk too much after that. He escorted us out of the office and Tara and I walked down the hallway out of Higher Grounds¡¯ offices and down toward the Hardwick Industries section of the building. We stopped by the swag closet on the way.


    I¡¯d assumed that Hardwick Industries would be open because it wasn¡¯t as if they¡¯d been illegally using Abominator tech on behalf of the Nine, right? Well, I¡¯d assumed that, but I was wrong. The place was dead.


    We did see a couple people, but they were accompanied by serious people wearing jackets with ¡°FBI¡± in big yellow letters. Their blank expressions hinted that they might not be having a good day.


    Tara and I passed the spot in the hallway where we¡¯d fought Art, Zola, and Ronnie. Tara and I both stopped to look at Zola¡¯s claw marks on the walls and scorch marks both from Vaughn¡¯s lightning and Ronnie¡¯s lasers. There were more scorch marks on the carpet and body-sized indentations in the shattered drywall.


    It was easy to forget how much damage we caused even in a small fight.


    Tara and I looked at each other and started walking again. There wasn¡¯t much to say. We were almost at the front desk and the whole reason Tara volunteered to spend a day escorting potential mad scientists to grab their stuff.


    Emmy sat behind the desk, hand on her computer¡¯s mouse, monitor open to a social media site. She appeared to be watching a video of baby ducks.


    She started as we walked in, turning to look at Tara and me¡ªthough mostly at Tara because Tara wore her Ronin costume and a sword. At any rate, that was my guess. After a second or two, she did look at me again, stopped the duck video, and stood up.


    ¡°Nick, how are you?¡± Before I could answer, she looked down at the bag I carried. ¡°You raided the swag closet?¡±


    In addition to the Higher Ground t-shirts, sweatshirts, pens, magnets, ping pong paddles, and balls, there were also branded tote bags. I¡¯d grabbed one as long as I was grabbing the other stuff. It seemed efficient.


    She looked down into the bag, ¡°Do you have a ping pong table?¡±

 Loose Ends: Part 7

    I looked down at the bag, ¡°The ping pong paddles and balls were kind of an impulse thing. We¡¯ve got tables, but not an official ping pong table. I was figuring we could use one in the dorm, maybe? I really wasn¡¯t thinking very far ahead.¡±


    Emmy smirked. ¡°Well normally, I¡¯d have to give you a little lecture about taking swag just to take it, but with everything that¡¯s happened, go ahead and clean out the closet. I don¡¯t have to care anymore.¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I could use some more pens.¡±


    Tara tapped her foot and I reminded myself of why we were here. ¡°Do you have anyplace for the of us to talk that would quiet and private? It¡¯s important.¡±


    Emmy looked over to Tara and then back to me. For a moment, I saw a flash of the same blank expression Tara had when she let her mind work. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t leave the desk, but no one¡¯s here. Follow me, I¡¯ve got a place.¡±


    She led us through a room of empty cubicles and into an almost empty room. There were rolled up yoga mats leaning against one wall, a couple big TVs hanging on the opposite wall, and an exercise bike in one corner. The open concrete floor made the whole room feel unfinished.


    When I¡¯d taken in everything, I turned to Emmy, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±


    She laughed, ¡°It¡¯s almost an exercise room. When they renovated the building, we were supposed to have one, but the guy who led the project left and no one ever finished it. It was annoying. I wanted an exercise room.¡±


    Then she asked, ¡°What did you want to tell me?¡±


    Tara pulled her mask off, ¡°I wanted to talk to you.¡±


    The two of them look at each other. Emmy was in her late twenties while Tara was in her early twenties. Tara stood at least a foot taller with leaner look to her face and more noticeable muscles on her arms and legs.


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    Still, they had the same dirty blond hair, same high cheekbones, lips, wide eyes, and high pitched voice.


    They might not be twins, but no one could think they weren¡¯t related.


    Emmy looked her up and down, ¡°Who are you?¡±


    In a calm voice, Tara said, ¡°My parents were refugees from alternate universes where someone cloned you, made your clones into soldiers with alien genetic manipulation technology, and used them to take over the world. Your talent for predicting what people are going to do is useful for fighting when it¡¯s trained.¡±


    Emmy stared at her, ¡°That¡¯s a lot to take in.¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything more than that for a few seconds but then asked, ¡°Did you say universes?¡±


    Tara¡¯s face showed a hint of a smile, ¡°It¡¯s a long story, but it¡¯s happened more than once in different universes and it¡¯s not always a version of you that gets cloned. I feel like you have to know though, because it happened here. Victor got samples of you and used them to create more of us and here he works for the Nine. I thought you needed to know and if you want help or want training, I can train you.¡±


    Emmy looked up at Tara, ¡°Training so that I can learn to whatever it is I can do on purpose?¡±


    Nodding, Tara said, ¡°Yes, but not if you don¡¯t want to. I think it will work differently for you than it does for us, but I want you be able to use it. Now that there are clones of you using it out in the world, they might find you or someone else might look for you because they found one of them. I want you to have the best chance to survive that you can.


    ¡°You¡¯re the closest I have to family here.¡±


    Emmy took a deep breath and didn¡¯t say anything for a little while. ¡°This doesn¡¯t seem real, but I believe you. You look more like me than members of my own family do.¡±


    Then she frowned, ¡°And Sandy told me about the birthing chambers. I can¡¯t believe they used them on me. I¡¯m not that special. Nick, you worked there, do you know anything?¡±


    ¡°I¡ª,¡± I began, and then went into the version of the truth Tara and I decided on the night before. ¡°I didn¡¯t know they¡¯d cloned you until afterward. I assumed it was because of Victor. Honestly, I think your abilities weren¡¯t even on his radar. I don¡¯t know too much more than that, but I¡¯ve told what I could to the FBI.¡±


    Emmy would see right through it if Tara ever did teach her to use whatever level of ability she had, but it was okay for now. It wasn¡¯t even untrue. It just skipped a lot of details.


    Hopefully Tara would tell us if Emmy ever did take her up on her offer. I¡¯d want to know.

 Loose Ends: Part 8

    Emmy looked from me over to Tara, ¡°Do either of you know what happened to Victor?¡±


    Eyeing Tara, I hoped she took the hint. Or to put it another way, I hoped she chose to take the hint. She almost certainly got it and if she failed to notice, it could only be that she had a bigger problem on her mind.


    For a moment, I thought I saw the hint of a smile as Tara responded, most likely guessing at my thoughts. ¡°No one knows. He teleported away. If I had to bet, he¡¯s with the Nine and he¡¯s telling them how he can turn the True into an unstoppable army under their command if they¡¯ll just give him the money.¡±


    Emmy frowned. ¡°He¡¯s so wrong. I don¡¯t even understand how someone can be that messed up in the head. If he does that, he¡¯s doing it with copies of me that have been twisted into I don¡¯t know what.¡±


    She stopped, eyes widening as she looked over at Tara. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything against you or your father.¡±


    Tara shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re right. They¡¯re twisted and they become more twisted once they go on their own. I can¡¯t tell you everything, but in a lot of universes they come to believe that their creator was using them, turn on him, and then turn on the entire world.¡±


    Emmy took a breath, watching Tara, and when Tara didn¡¯t continue, she said, ¡°What happens after that?¡±


    Tara shrugged. ¡°It depends. Sometimes the True are destroyed. Sometimes they destroy everyone else and then start on themselves. It¡¯s hard to predict.¡±


    Leaning back against a concrete wall, Emmy sighed. ¡°You¡¯re making me wish I still smoked. The way you talked about it before, it sounded like I had a choice about whether or not you trained me, but I don¡¯t think I really have a choice, do I?¡±


    Tara¡¯s eyes glazed over. ¡°You don¡¯t have to, but your chances of survival are much higher if you do.¡±


    Emmy looked up at her, showing a hint of a frown. ¡°That¡¯s not a choice.¡±


    Tara nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know how else to help you better.¡±


    Emmy pushed herself away from the wall, checked the back of her skirt for something, maybe concrete dust, and decided it was good enough to stop and say, ¡°I think I should get back to my desk. I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t fire me for cooperating with you, but they expect me to be there.¡±


    Stepping back as Emmy took a step forward, Tara put a hand on her shoulder, ¡°I¡¯ll give you my contact information before I leave for the day, okay?¡±


    When Emmy nodded, Tara pulled her in for a hug. Emmy¡¯s eyes widened at first, but let herself be pulled in and held each other for a little while. I don¡¯t know what Emmy felt, but she didn¡¯t walk away as quickly as she¡¯d been going. So, maybe she felt better.


    She had every excuse not to feel better. Finding out that the creepy guy you¡¯ve been avoiding made a clone army of you and offered it up to one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world doesn¡¯t happen every day.


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    All the people that the Dominators had reprogrammed into puppets could argue that worse possibilities existed out there in the world, but they wouldn¡¯t because the majority might not even realize it had happened.


    Tara put on her mask and we walked out, giving Emmy a wave and exchanging goodbyes. We walked out the front and I looked over the semi-trucks parked there, both of them waiting to be filled with evidence, and then over to the helicopter pad. It was empty.


    I wondered where Ronnie was. He¡¯d seemed nice enough as security guys went, and hadn¡¯t he said he had baby on the way? Or maybe he¡¯d just been talking about what he¡¯d do if he had a kid. Something like that. I didn¡¯t remember off the top of my head. Either way, someone out there knew he hadn¡¯t come home last night. He¡¯d been among those the Feds had picked up afterward. Though someone with powers, we¡¯d left him too hurt to participate in the final battle in the garage. He¡¯d lain in the hallway until a Box came.


    We were far enough away by then that we were out of earshot of anyone near the building, walking on one of the trails that led toward the fenced-in parking area. It wasn¡¯t a bad day either. The smell of Lake Michigan and even a hint of the sound of waves had made it passed the forest. It was warm enough that walking to the lake sounded like a good idea even though I knew it wouldn¡¯t be.


    By October, Lake Michigan always turned cold.


    As we stood on the far edge of the clearing and the beginning of the forest, Tara asked, ¡°What¡¯s bothering you?¡±


    ¡°Nothing, really. I¡¯m just thinking about Ronnie. We fought him last night. He was the guy with laser eyes. He¡¯s probably in the hospital. I was just thinking that I¡¯ve fought a lot of faceless mooks, but it¡¯s a little different when you know one of the mooks. He might have a kid. I can¡¯t say I feel bad. The guy was firing potentially lethal eye-beams, and it¡¯s not like I took him out. He got hit by lightning. It¡¯s just a little weird.


    ¡°Did you hear anything about what happened with Russell Hardwick?¡±


    Tara put her hand on my shoulder, ¡°Not much. Agent Lim told me that a judge had denied bail, saying that he was too much of a flight risk since he owned houses outside the US and was wealthy enough that he never had to come back if he didn¡¯t want to.¡±


    She cocked her head. ¡°The judge was right. He¡¯s got no chance of staying CEO of Hardwick Industries after this even if he gets off. And if he goes to prison, he¡¯s got powers, so they¡¯ll send him into supervillain Supermax. There¡¯s no reason for him to stick around after that.¡±


    I scanned the area around us with my glasses. No one was close. ¡°There¡¯s family. He¡¯s got a son named Lucas. He¡¯s a doctor and seems nice enough. Plus, there¡¯s Vaughn¡¯s aunt. Though I suppose if he did go into hiding, his family could still visit.¡±


    Tara¡¯s mouth twisted. ¡°Living in hiding is terrible. With prison, you know you might someday get out. When you¡¯re in hiding, you just keep on running.¡±


    Given that her family had spent her entire childhood hiding, she¡¯d know. Related to that, another thought struck me, ¡°How are you doing?¡±


    She looked down at the dirt trail and then back up at me. ¡°Not well. We didn¡¯t stop Victor or the True. We almost stopped them, but they¡¯re still out there. Emmy¡¯s at risk. The world doesn¡¯t know that the True are copies of her, but they will eventually.¡±


    She blinked. ¡°I think we can keep her safe, but I don¡¯t know for sure. Are you going to mind if I stick around here after the internship is over?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t speak for the team, but it should be fine.¡±


    She looked back at Hardwick Industries¡¯ long, twin, white buildings. ¡°I feel like we¡¯re on the edge of something. It¡¯s not just the True, but they¡¯re part of it, and no, I don¡¯t know anything. I feel like the information I need is just out of reach.¡±


    I thought about the last four years--the Cabal, the Hrrnna, Stapledon, our trip into space, Lee, Kee, the Cosmic Ghosts, and all the changes in our lives. I didn¡¯t know what it added up to either, but it did feel like something was happening.


    Tara took her hand from my shoulder. ¡°I should get you back to the car lot. I¡¯ve got a few more people to check for signs of working for the Nine, Dominator influence, or both.¡±


    ¡°Sounds fun,¡± I said.


    She shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s not bad. It¡¯s a day. Tomorrow will be another day.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 1

    It was the last two weeks of my internship and not the internship for my engineering degree. That one had ended barely two months in after an investigation and battle that left most of the company¡¯s leadership in prison.


    Grand Lake University¡¯s engineering department with help from the FBI had put me into a quiet internship where I learned how to design auto parts for the rest of the year. It wasn¡¯t the most interesting internship, but on the other hand, no one had attempted to kill me, making it much less stressful than my first internship.


    This was my post-college internship through the Stapledon program which meant I was interning with another superhero group.


    The greater Detroit metro area had a well-known team¡ªDetroit Unity¡ªwhich had been created by joining together superheroes from the suburbs with the downtown Detroit supers, fixing racial divisions in the local super community dating from the 1967 riots. The group¡¯s history had inspired two documentaries, but I wasn¡¯t interning with Unity.


    I was interning with the Motor City Heroes. They helped Unity, but they weren¡¯t part of it.


    It¡¯s something of an understatement to say that the Motor City Heroes didn¡¯t have the nicest base. It was a round, concrete tower that rose two stories from a corner lot that had last been used by a dollar store. The name ¡°Motor City Heroes¡± had been carved into the concrete.


    One thing that you could say for it was that unlike your average superhero base in a city, it didn¡¯t put civilians at risk. While it was on a four-lane road, Detroit¡¯s depopulation had left a half-block distance from the nearest home or business¡ªat least on the south side of the street.


    Grass and weeds surrounded the building, turning into urban gardens on the next block. Most of the houses had been bulldozed, clearing out the space.


    I wasn¡¯t outside the building, of course, I was inside and I couldn¡¯t even look out of the window. Much like an iceberg, most of the base was under water, or to be technically accurate, under ground level.


    That¡¯s if, you know, you¡¯re into complete technical accuracy. Because if you were, then I¡¯d also be forced to note that I wasn¡¯t alone down there. I was hanging around with Mateo.


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    We were in the garage/lab. It wasn¡¯t my lab. It wasn¡¯t even as big as my lab, but it did feel like home even if it was less like the lab than the hangar where we kept the jet and various super vehicles.


    The Motor City Heroes¡¯ technical person was a power-suited automotive engineer who went by V8 when in costume and as Willa when she wasn¡¯t. She wasn¡¯t in, but all her tools and machines were. She worked more with metal than I did, but we had similar fabrication machines, and 3D printers. She did more welding and more metalwork. The machines, tools, and counters covered the walls, and the whole place smelled of oil.


    In his mid-twenties, Mateo was partly out of costume and leaning against a metal support beam. A little taller than I was and skinnier, he had dark brown hair and tan skin. His blue mask stuck partly out of the pocket of his black button-down shirt (with a priest''s collar) while his rapier hung from his belt.


    He folded his arms across his chest. ¡°You¡¯re almost done, right? It¡¯s one week? Two? Then you¡¯re back to Grand Lake.¡±


    ¡°Two,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s been interesting to be here¡ªreally different actually. Most of the League¡¯s stuff seems to escalate into world ending territory. This has been nice, more street level and a little more human, if that makes any sense.¡±


    Mateo nodded. ¡°Sure. It makes a lot of sense. We spend all of our time on the ground. When you aren¡¯t flying or hiding behind armor, you have to talk to people. And when you aren¡¯t dressed like a stormtrooper, people come up and talk to you.¡±


    ¡°They talk to me when I¡¯m in the Rocket suit, but it¡¯s a little more of a mob scene and there are a lot of selfies.¡±


    He laughed. ¡°The selfies do get a little out of hand. I should be grateful that the Masks were at their peak popularity in the 1920s and 30s. I don¡¯t get as much of that.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m still amazed that you¡¯re all still out there and still doing the same thing¡ªmasks and rapiers. I know it¡¯s magic, but it surprises me that it hasn¡¯t evolved a little.¡±


    ¡°Some things are perfect as is,¡± he winked at me. ¡°And besides, it does evolve. It¡¯s a little different for everyone in my family.¡±


    His phone began to ring and he pulled it out of his pocket to answer. After a few minutes of talking in a low voice, he put the phone away and turned back to me. ¡°That was the police. We¡¯ve got a dead body and according to them, it looks like there¡¯s something spooky going on.¡±


    He pulled the mask out of his pocket and it stuck to his face. As he let it go, his clothes changed into shimmery blue clothes that reminded me of something out of a Zorro movie including a sash, broad-brimmed hat, and cape.


    ¡°Coming?¡± He walked across the room and mounted his motorcycle, a long black Harley. His cape fell across the seat behind him, never getting close to the back tire, chain, or engine even though it hung to his knee.


    ¡°It¡¯s not as if I have a choice.¡± My own motorcycle started as I walked toward it.

 Motor City Intern: Part 2

    Mateo pulled on his helmet, letting his hat fall down his back, held on by a blue leather string. He grinned at me. ¡°You always have a choice.¡±


    I put my leg over my motorcycle¡¯s seat and grabbed my own helmet, feeling the electric hum of the engine. ¡°True, but some choices aren¡¯t the kind you can say no to if you want to live with yourself later.¡±


    Nodding, Mateo tapped the spot on the floor that moved the platform up to the first floor. Above us, the section above us opened and in a few seconds, we were at ground level. The metal door slid open and we rode out, stopping on the dirt driveway in front of the Motor City Heroes¡¯ headquarters, and then into traffic. Though a four-lane road, there weren¡¯t many cars. A semi rumbled down the road ahead of us and only two cars followed behind us, both of them so far away I could only guess at their color.


    I intended to ask someone why they¡¯d never paved the driveway someday, but I hadn¡¯t gotten around to it. Working Man, the group¡¯s leader, could be a little prickly, and being shouted at for asking a question didn¡¯t appeal to me. I didn¡¯t care that much about the answer.


    It would be overstating it to say he hated the Heroes¡¯ League, but I didn¡¯t feel like he liked the current version. I didn¡¯t know it for sure, but he spent enough time ranting about the Stapledon program and all the legacies whose parents and grandparents traded in on their heroics for cash that I didn¡¯t feel the need to clear things up.


    ¡°V4,¡± Mateo said, ¡°we¡¯re going to turn right at the next corner. The house will be the only one on the right side of the block. If you¡¯re in doubt, look for the flashing lights.¡±


    ¡°Am I taking this one alone?¡± Guessing what was coming, I readied my hand on the right handlebar.


    ¡°Nope, but I might beat you there,¡± and then he shot forward down the street, engine roaring.


    There were bad points to being in a section of Detroit that had lost so many people that the blocks had more empty lots than houses, but the bright side was that if you were young, had a motorcycle capable of going several hundred miles per hour, and the ability to handle it, you could race down the street with no risk of hitting anyone.


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    We¡¯d been doing it a lot.


    I had the more powerful bike, but thanks to the mask, Mateo¡¯s reflexes were off the charts. He beat me most of the time.


    I twisted the throttle and the bike shot forward, almost catching him, but not quite. We were close to the corner and he¡¯d already begun to slow down. I still had to, and he didn¡¯t slow down as much.


    He was a quarter of the way down the block as I finished turning the corner. After that, it was all straight. My bike accelerated faster and so I wasn¡¯t too far behind as the ambulance, police cars, and a dingy, grayish-white, single-story house came into view.


    We both slowed down and he only pulled into the driveway a little before me. I couldn¡¯t help but note that the victim¡¯s driveway was cracked, but still paved.


    Officer Harshaw, a forty-something, dark-skinned woman stood outside. I¡¯d seen her a few times over the summer but hadn¡¯t talked with her. ¡°V4, Blue Mask,¡± she gestured for us to come closer. ¡°Before you go inside, you should know that the victim¡¯s been dead for at least a day. It does not smell good in there. So if you need to throw up for that or any other reason, there¡¯s a bucket on the porch outside the door. Try not to have a problem inside, okay?¡±


    Mateo and I looked at each other and he smiled at her. ¡°We¡¯ll do our best.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t do your best. Make it to the bucket. It¡¯s already bad enough in there. Don¡¯t make it worse.¡±


    Then she started walking, waving for us to follow her up the porch, passing a white plastic bucket that sat next to the screen door. Mateo and I stepped onto the porch, she turned to me.


    ¡°V4, how is V8 doing? It seems like we haven¡¯t seen her much at all since you appeared.¡± She stopped and turned to look at me as she opened the door.


    I met her gaze. ¡°V8 is fine. She¡¯s still around. We¡¯re working together on a bunch of things. It¡¯s just that my being around freed her up to work on some things for the group that she hadn¡¯t been able to get to. I¡¯m helping her with some of them and taking a lot of her shifts.¡±


    ¡°Good to hear.¡± She turned away and stepped through the front door.


    It felt a little different being ¡°V4,¡± sidekick of V8, than being the Rocket. For one, I wore a costume with blocks of red and navy blue, designed to resemble leather racing suits. The colors matched V8¡¯s. For another, I didn¡¯t have either the mobs of selfie hunters or the instant credibility of the Rocket suit while wearing it.


    I didn¡¯t mind losing the selfie hunters, but when I needed civilians to listen to me, I missed the Rocket suit.


    ¡°V4¡± was a creation of necessity. Working Man made it clear to me before I even left Grand Lake that I would be welcome, but the Rocket wouldn¡¯t. ¡°I know who your enemies are and I don¡¯t want any part of them. We¡¯re just a small team. We don¡¯t need problems with the Nine.¡±


    So I was V4 and as V4, I walked into the house¡¯s front room. At that moment I knew one thing for sure.


    Officer Harshaw was right about the smell.

 Motor City Intern: Part 3

    I¡¯d been at gruesome death scenes before. One of the worst had been the product of a man who¡¯d burned the victims halfway to ash. That one had left me with mixed associations with the smell of smoked pork.


    The bright side of this one was that it wouldn¡¯t leave me with mixed associations with pleasant smells. It smelled like rotting meat combined with any biological substance that might leak out of a human body before the body stiffened.


    I didn¡¯t throw up, but it was a near thing. My stomach rolled and I did my best to keep everything inside where it belonged.


    Next to me, Mateo¡¯s eyes widened. He closed his eyes and swallowed. After a moment he opened them. I didn¡¯t ask him for details.


    The TV was on, showing Maury Povich and his guests. They were screaming at each other over the results of a paternity test. In front of the TV, a man¡¯s body lay in a lounge chair. He was black and appeared to be in his late 50s. Except for the smell and the dried blood on his shirt and the chair, he might have been sleeping. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be smiling.


    Officer Harshaw looked from Mateo over to me and, satisfied that we hadn¡¯t vomited yet, said, ¡°Look at his neck. He¡¯s the fourth person this week to die in this way. We¡¯ve been told that we should call in a super from the magical end of things to take a look at the crime scene. They¡¯re hoping that you¡¯ll confirm what¡¯s perfectly obvious to everybody else. So, is it a vampire?¡±


    Mateo raised an eyebrow, ¡°I¡¯ll take a look.¡±


    He took a breath, closed his eyes and then opened them, this time looking over the room again and out the front door. Then he turned back to Officer Harshaw.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t mentioned it, but is one of the things that¡¯s off about this murder that there¡¯s no sign of forced entry?¡±


    Officer Harshaw nodded.


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    Mateo¡¯s frown was visible under the mask. ¡°I want to say, ¡®of course it¡¯s vampires,¡¯ but I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s the most likely option, but I¡¯m not going to lie to you. Vampires aren¡¯t the only supernatural creatures that I¡¯ve heard of that could get in without forcing it and drink the victim¡¯s blood. I¡¯m going to have to ask around. I have friends that might know.¡±


    Officer Harshaw¡¯s mouth twisted, ¡°But vampires are your best guess right now?¡±


    Mateo nodded. ¡°But only for right now. There are different kinds of vampires, so even if it is vampires, it might not be the kind that everyone knows about.¡±


    Officer Harshaw raised an eyebrow, ¡°There¡¯s more than one kind of vampire?¡±


    I replied before Mateo could, ¡°There¡¯s one kind where the vampire¡¯s head detaches at night and flies around looking for blood.¡±


    ¡°Are you kidding me? You think we¡¯ve got one of those around here?¡± She looked over at Mateo.


    He glanced over at me, ¡°I think that was just supposed to be an example, right?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Right. I¡¯ve never seen the floating head kind. I¡¯ve fought regular vampires right here in Michigan, though.¡±


    Frowning, Officer Harshaw said, ¡°Alright, I get it. I¡¯ll tell my supervisors that you¡¯re guessing it¡¯s vampires, but you need to find out more. Meanwhile, they¡¯ll have to pass out garlic and crosses to the force.¡±


    Mateo flashed her a smile. ¡°That sounds right. We¡¯ll keep you updated in case it turns out to be something else. In the meantime, I¡¯m wondering about the other similar deaths. Do you know who died and where they were?¡±


    She frowned, thinking. ¡°I don¡¯t have everything off the top of my head, but as I remember, two of the other victims were men, both white and in their fifties.The third was a white woman in her forties. All of them were downtown near the Renaissance Center.¡±


    That stopped Mateo. ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°So if it¡¯s the same vampire, assuming it¡¯s a vampire, they moved over here¡ªmaybe because they guessed people would notice. Alternately, it¡¯s a different vampire and that might mean that they turned someone we maybe don¡¯t know about yet.¡±


    Officer Harshaw nodded along as I talked, adding, ¡°If that¡¯s true, we might be seeing more new vampires by the end of the week. Then we¡¯ll have to call in for help. We don¡¯t want a repeat of what happened to Grand Lake a couple years ago. Magical heroes cut the city off from the outside so that whatever was in there couldn¡¯t spread. That¡¯s the first step when stopping  magical predators the normal way becomes impossible. It gets worse from there.¡±


    Remembering back to The Thing That Eats and everything we had to do to contain it, I could only say, ¡°Yeah.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t as if I were the Rocket.

 Motor City Intern: Part 4

    As we left, the men from the ambulance started removing the dead man from his chair and put him on the stretcher. It wasn¡¯t as easy as it sounds. His body seemed to be stuck to the cushions¡ªwhich was the point that I stopped watching and moved a little faster as I followed Mateo out the door.


    As we got on our bikes, he said, ¡°I¡¯m going to stop about a block from here.¡±


    I didn¡¯t question it and rode behind him until he turned right into the cracked remains of a concrete driveway that sat in the middle of an otherwise green lot, the last remains of the house and garage it led to having disappeared long before I started my internship. The nearest house I could see was on the far end of the opposite side of the block. The block on the other side had three houses, but none of them were close either.


    Through his helmet communicator, Mateo said, ¡°I didn¡¯t feel like waiting until we got back to the base. If we talk through the helmets comms, no one should be able to hear us, and if they can, it¡¯s your fault, right?¡±


    Updating their communications had been one of my projects. ¡°I guess, but the helmets are soundproofed and the communications are encrypted, so it shouldn¡¯t be an issue unless they¡¯re a telepath. If they are, blame Working Man, I wanted to put anti-telepathic technology into the helmets, but he wouldn¡¯t let me due to the cost. He¡¯s not wrong. It wouldn¡¯t have been cheap, but it¡¯s worth thinking about.¡±


    Nodding, Mateo said, ¡°I remember that discussion. Getting back to my reason for stopping, what did you think about everything we saw back there?¡±


    Even though Working Man or V8 were the senior heroes on the team, I¡¯d spent most of my time with Mateo who¡¯d only been out of Stapledon for a couple years at most. At the same time, he was both good at teaching and at street level work. That was the Masks¡¯ main thing.


    ¡°Well,¡± I began, ¡°she already knew the answer she wanted. She didn¡¯t give us the victim¡¯s name and she chose you specifically even though the Unity team hasChromatic. He¡¯s some kind of dragon wizard, right?¡±


    Tilting his head to the side, Mateo didn¡¯t say anything for a moment, but then nodded. ¡°Chromatic isn¡¯t much of a people reptile. I don¡¯t know where he¡¯s from, but I get the impression that humans aren¡¯t worth much there. Besides, he¡¯s all about blasting people with elemental magic and not so much about gathering information. She wouldn¡¯t have gotten much out of him, but she knows I give them what I can. The police have been put through the ringer here¡ªthe undead like places like Detroit. I¡¯d bet that she¡¯s right about the vampires, but there are so many vampiric undead that I don¡¯t dare tell her yes without more information.¡±


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    I nodded. ¡°So, what are you going to do?¡±


    I saw him grin through the tinted helmet. ¡°First, tell me what you¡¯re going to do.¡±


    ¡°Call Bloodmaiden. She knows about vampires. Then maybe call Red Hex and see if she has any ideas.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good. What I¡¯m going to do is call one of our contacts on the police force and see if I can¡¯t get all the names and exactly where they were found. While I¡¯m at it, I think I might check if any of their friends ever disappeared.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a good idea, one I probably should have thought up on my own.¡±


    Shaking his head, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You don¡¯t have contacts on the force and I¡¯m supposed to keep them secret because they¡¯re too sensitive to pass on to an intern.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Okay. It does make sense. I wouldn¡¯t want to get them in trouble by accident or something.¡±


    Mateo gave a twisted smile and tapped me on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Working Man¡¯s careful. Too careful, maybe.¡±


    A couple cars passed us on the road. One of them was a police car. It didn¡¯t stop, but the driver glanced over at us. I turned back to Mateo. ¡°Did you see anything over there? Bloodmaiden¡¯s got some kind of magic vision and I¡¯m assuming you¡¯ve got the same?¡±


    He nodded and glanced over at the road. ¡°It¡¯s not exactly like hers, but it¡¯s similar. Not everyone in my family can do it. It seems to be my mask adapting to me. I can see magic and spiritual forces.¡±


    ¡°Because you¡¯re a priest?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The masks have their own goals¡ªgood ones, we think, but we don¡¯t understand them. We know they want us to fight evil, stop oppression, and other priorities that change over time. Fighting the undead isn¡¯t normally their focus, but it sometimes is for me. Whatever was there came in the front door. When I looked, I could see hints of it there and in-between the door and the chair. I think it had been back into the kitchen too.


    ¡°The good news if there is any, is that the dead man had touches of undead power around his neck, but nothing inside. When they turn someone, I see a kind of seed inside which expands into the entire body in a day or two. There wasn¡¯t one here or I never would have let them take the body away.¡±


    He stopped, frowned, thinking maybe of times where he had seen the seed he¡¯d talked about. I asked, ¡°Is there anything that makes you think it couldn¡¯t be a regular vampire?¡±


    ¡°Not so far, but if the police go in assuming it is and die, it¡¯s our fault.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 5

    I thought about that. ¡°Don¡¯t the police have their own researchers? I mean, you said they¡¯ve faced a lot of undead around here. You¡¯d think they¡¯d hire someone or, I don¡¯t know, go to the library?¡±


    Mateo laughed, ¡°I think they¡¯ve done all of that, but the supernatural community doesn¡¯t let much information out. They¡¯ve got a whole school for wizards that doesn¡¯t even talk to us and none of our magical types are allowed to go there.¡±


    My mind flashed back to when we¡¯d fought The Thing That Eats. After sealing Grand Lake in a kind of magical circle, they¡¯d sent in a kind of magical superhero team that I¡¯d never heard of before or since. Not wanting to get intothat, I said, ¡°I heard about the school from Bloodmaiden. I guess she tried to get in, but they wouldn¡¯t take her and then she went down to shout at them about it.¡±


    He sighed, ¡°Everybody knows about that, at least everybody with a connection to the magic side of things. She didn¡¯t know how much people hate blood magic. It must be normal where she comes from, but here it¡¯s only used as a pathway to necromancy.¡±


    Pausing, he took a long breath, ¡°If you do talk to her about all of this, make sure she knows that she can¡¯t just show up, right? That¡¯s got to go through Working Man and the last thing he wants is to be associated with the League. I know you from Stapledon, but Detroit¡¯s teams have a hard enough time covering the city. We don¡¯t need to start handling the big stuff. I think our most powerful hero is a guy who isn¡¯t on any team. He shows up out of nowhere and controls rats.¡±


    I grinned, ¡°Right. The Skunk Lord. I¡¯ve heard of him. When those extra-dimensional dinosaurs invaded, he almost handled it himself over here.¡±


    Mateo¡¯s eyes widened and then he laughed. ¡°Skunk Lord? That¡¯s a new one. People mostly don¡¯t know about him. Even the press doesn¡¯t have a name for him. He was more visible than usual during the invasion, but only if you knew what to look for.¡±


    Then he frowned. ¡°We should get back to the Tower if we¡¯re going to start making some calls.¡±


    We started our bikes and drove back.


    I had my own desk in the Tower¡¯s lab area. It wasn¡¯t much space, but with Willa working from home, it felt private enough if full to the point of bursting. I had no right to complain, but back in our HQ, I had several times as much space.


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    Taking off my helmet, I set it to charge. Then I activated my League communicator through the implant in my head. Amy¡¯s communicator rang and she picked it up.


    A number of low pitched hums that made me imagine multiple bulldozers came through the link as Amy picked up. ¡°Rocket? Please tell me there¡¯s an emergencybecause then I can leave.¡±


    ¡°Sorry. No emergency. I¡¯ve just got a couple of questions. What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Right now? Guarding a construction crew. It¡¯s not that bad, but I¡¯ve been watching them do construction without getting attacked for two weeks now. I don¡¯t want them to get attacked, but I¡¯m not interested in watching them build a wall either.¡±


    I tried to remember where her internship was and didn¡¯t come up with it. ¡°Whereare you again?¡±


    ¡°Infinity City¡ªtechnically just outside. Something blew out a chunk of wall and we¡¯re trying to help the FBI get it fixed.¡±


    Even throwing in guarding a construction site, Infinity City still sounded more interesting than Detroit. ¡°I¡¯m in Detroit and we might be fighting vampires.¡±


    I went through what I¡¯d seen at the house, ending with, ¡°Do you know what kind that might be? Just regular or could it be something else?¡±


    ¡°Rocket, that could be anything. Regular vampires would be most likely, but there are so many varieties. Reliquary had us learn about them. Back in the universe I come from, vampires aren¡¯t exactly the same, but all the past Bloodmaidens found my coursework interesting. Did you know that your world has legends of vampiric vegetables?¡±


    It seemed like I¡¯d heard of something like that. ¡°That sounds like something out of a Discworld novel. In fact, I¡¯m pretty sure they were in one.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said, and then she went into what she¡¯d learned about vampires and the different ways they were classified with examples. The conversation went on for some time.


    When she was done, I said, ¡°Wow. That¡¯s a lot. Are all of those real?¡±


    ¡°Yes. The ones I know about are all real.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°There are so many I don¡¯t even know where to begin.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± she said into her comm, ¡°that¡¯s exactly where I am with your question. You don¡¯t have enough details. Throw holy water on it or something and tell me what happens. Then we¡¯ll start going somewhere.¡±


    ¡°Do you think Red Hex would know more?¡±


    Amy laughed for a while. ¡°No. She was in the same classes I was. But if you do want to talk to her, she¡¯s here too and so is Troll.¡±


    ¡°No kidding? Okay. Well then I guess I¡¯m done. If we get more information, I¡¯m likely to call you back.¡±


    Her voice lowered, ¡°And I wasn¡¯t entirely joking about helping. If you need help, let me know. Red Hex and Troll might be willing too.¡±


    A look around the cluttered lab that wasn¡¯t my cluttered lab reminded me of the answer I had to give, ¡°I¡¯d have to ask permission from Working Man to call you in. If he¡¯s fine with it, I¡¯ll do it.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 6

    Amy paused before responding, but then said, ¡°If he¡¯s fine with it? What if he¡¯s not and you still need help?¡±


    Memories of The Thing That Eats converting people I knew into alternate bodies for itself flashed through my head. ¡°Let¡¯s just say there¡¯s a point where I¡¯m going to ignore him and call in anyone I can get, but before that, I¡¯m going to try to pull in any local heroes I can get. I mean, Skunk Lord¡¯s around here somewhere.¡±


    Laughing, Amy said, ¡°The guy who controls rats? That¡¯s a good idea, but don¡¯t forget that some vampires also control rats. He might have to settle for groundhogs, skunks and squirrels.¡±


    Even though she couldn¡¯t see it, I shrugged. ¡°There might be badgers around here somewhere. Also raccoons. Besides, he¡¯s my backup plan. I¡¯m hoping it doesn¡¯t come up.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t let your boss¡¯s pigheadedness kill people. If you think you need us, call us in. From what you¡¯ve said, he sounds like my guardian and there¡¯s no reason you should have any patience with that.¡±


    Thinking about Amy¡¯s guardian, I had to admit that there was a resemblance in their personalities, but nowhere else. Amy¡¯s guardian was blood sorcerer, hereditary noble, and spy who¡¯d lived for hundreds of years. Working Man was just a regular guy with powers.


    We talked a little longer after that but stopped when Mateo stepped into the lab. ¡°Ready to go? I know a little bit more than I did when we came back, but I want to know a little more.¡±


    I¡¯d already finished talking with Amy as he opened the door, so I asked, ¡°What have you got?¡±


    With a wolfish smile, he said, ¡°Names, a more precise location, occupations and times of death. And it gets more interesting. Officer Harshaw remembered that they were near the Renaissance Center, but as it happens all three bodies were found in a parking garage right next to the Renaissance Center. I don¡¯t know if the vampire is there, but it¡¯s still daytime which means it¡¯s the best time for us to be looking for vampires. By the way, what did you get?¡±


    ¡°Not much. I didn¡¯t have enough information. Without a description or more details than ¡®spots of deathly power¡¯ and ¡®seems to have sucked blood,¡¯ it¡¯s anybody¡¯s guess. For all Bloodmaiden knew, it could be vampiric vegetables.¡±


    Mateo raised an eyebrow. ¡°That would be different.¡±


    We grabbed our bikes and rode the elevator up to the first floor. Once we got moving, it took about twenty minutes to get to the Renaissance Center¡ªproperly the GM Renaissance Center, now with the Chevrolet logo circling one of the Renaissance Center¡¯s black towers.


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    The first fifteen minutes of the ride hadn¡¯t been much different from the section of Detroit where the Motor City Heroes¡¯ Tower stood¡ªolder houses, some scattered across nearly empty blocks of grass, others together in rows as they must have been for the last fifty years.


    When we got closer, it began to look like every big city¡ªbig steel buildings with mirrored glass or dark glass. That¡¯s not to say that Detroit didn¡¯t have older, unique, brick, stone, and concrete buildings from earlier styles of city architecture. It did, but our route went heavy on gleaming modern buildings.


    Of course, you could find yourself passing old, abandoned-looking buildings within a block or two.


    Another amusing detail? American made cars were noticeably more common than inGrand Lake. I¡¯d heard that car companies gave discounts to their employees, and based on what I¡¯d seen, I was prepared to believe it.


    The Beaubien Place Garage turned out to be a brick building accented with white concrete. It sat next to another parking garage and both of them were across from a long parking lot filled with cars.


    Given that the Renaissance Center was five large towers, I could imagine they¡¯d need the space.


    We parked the motorcycles on the sidewalk¡ªnot blocking it. The sidewalk extended from the building to the street and our bikes were next to the street.


    As we walked in, I glanced back at the bikes, remembering what Mateo had said the last time we¡¯d been downtown, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. The police won¡¯t ticket us. We¡¯ve got an arrangement.¡±


    Inside, the parking garage looked like every parking garage ever¡ªgrey concrete beams, yellow lines, and grey concrete floors and ceilings. It didn¡¯t take long to the fourth floor by the stairs, surprising a family and several men in business suits on the way up.


    They didn¡¯t register that we were superheroes even as they must have registered that our costumes weren¡¯t quite normal gear for bikers. They shrank to the side as we hurried past them.


    Cars filled the garage, but it didn¡¯t take long for Mateo to say, ¡°Over here.¡±


    I followed him down the row of cars until he stopped in the middle. ¡°They were found here.¡±


    Mateo stared down at the ground between two Chevrolet SUVs. ¡°I can still see bits of the power they got out of the blood. I¡¯m going look under the cars to see what else I can get. Keep your eyes peeled in case we¡¯ve got a daywalker.¡±


    I looked up and down the row of cars, paying attention to the ceiling above them in case of a bat, mist, even a flying head.


    Every now and again, I checked under the vehicle as well because any horror movie worth the name would include him getting grabbed and dragged away while under the SUV.


    It didn¡¯t take long before he crawled out from under it and stood up. ¡°I think it was the same one. I¡¯m not sure how I know it, but from what I see through the mask, this thing leaves the same flavor of evil¡ªwhatever that means.¡±


    He grinned at me.


    ¡°The woman¡¯s death was on the next floor up. We should go up there, but after that, I want to walk through the whole building once. If I¡¯m right we won¡¯t see any signs of it that are newer than three days. I think it went our way in search of new hunting grounds.¡±


    I thought about the area around our Tower. Between the open land and abandoned buildings, it would have space to hide.

 Motor City Intern: Part 7

    Then we walked up the stairs, finding the spot where the woman died not by the cars, but just past the door that led into the stairwell from the fourth floor.I didn¡¯t see anything, but Mateo looked over the little room from floor to ceiling.


    In the end he turned to me, ¡°She saw the vampire, or whatever it was, and tried to run, but it stopped her before she got out the door. That¡¯s where the feeding starts. It looks like she never stopped struggling. There are marks from blood magic all the way down the wall next to the door and around the corner. The last marks are at the top of the stairwell. Bits of power are scattered around the spot as if she was still fighting it even then. I can¡¯t know for sure what kind of vampire it was, but what I¡¯m seeing is that it was human-shaped and strong¡ªor at least stronger than she was.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°I almost wish I could tell her family that she resisted, but I think they might be happier not knowing the details. She had to have been terrified the entire time.¡±


    I gave the spot a once-over with the sensors I¡¯d embedded in my helmet. Since they weren¡¯t visible, I didn¡¯t feel bad about using the same tech as I¡¯d used for the current version of the Rocket suit.


    It didn¡¯t matter. None of the sensors detected anything.


    On the off-chance that it might do something, I tried to sense what I could with powers that I¡¯d only recently learned I had and didn¡¯t really understand. I concentrated and let power flow through me, trying to use it to sense anything around me that I could.


    It didn¡¯t do any good. That probably wasn¡¯t a bad thing as the only things I¡¯d ever successfully sensed with whatever those ¡°powers¡± were were creatures capable of casually destroying the planet or much worse.


    If one of them had decided to impersonate a vampire, all I¡¯d be able to do was call for help.


    As I stopped though, Mateo turned to stare at me. ¡°What did you just do?¡±


    Meeting his eyes, I said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ve got a power that I can¡¯t use consistently. I thought I¡¯d try it to see what I got.¡±


    He cocked his head to look at me. ¡°Weird. Everything around you kind of wobbled for a second and then went back to normal. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but, be careful of it. It registers to the mask, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s magic. Plus, it makes the mask nervous.¡±


    Taking a moment to consider that, I wondered if I should tell him more, but decided not to, ¡°Ok.¡±


    After that, we followed the stairs to the roof. When we walked down, Mateo looking for signs of vampiric power, and with me looking for physical threats, it turned out that Mateo¡¯s guess that he wouldn¡¯t see anything recent was correct.


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    ¡°Which means,¡± he said as we got on our bikes, ¡°that it stopped by our section of town for a snack, but it might not be planning to stay. It might be on its way somewhere else. In fact, it might already be gone. The best thing we can do is patrol and watch the news.¡±


    We arrived back at the Tower half an hour later and parked our bikes inside only ten minutes away from the end of our shift, something we both noticed.


    Leaving our bikes in the garage, we stepped into the main hallway under the base and walked toward the lab, only to find ¡°Athletica¡± stepping out of the locker room.


    Wearing a red and black costume that made her look as if she might have just stepped out of a yoga class, Holly stood a few inches shorter than I did. In her early thirties, she had dark hair, light skin, and a round face that her mask almost entirely hid. At any rate, it hid her face normally. It was half off. She held a Starbucks cup in her right hand and stopped drinking it to say, ¡°Hey guys, how did your shift go?¡±


    Mateo shook his head, ¡°Got a few minutes, Holly? We should brief you. We¡¯re this close to having a vampire infestation. The only thing saving us from it is that it might have already skipped town.¡±


    Holly¡¯s eyes widened and let the latte drift further from her mouth, ¡°Where do you think¡ª¡±


    Then she stopped. Nodding toward the base¡¯s only conference room, she said, ¡°Brief me.¡±


    We stepped inside. As rooms went, it felt like whoever designed the conference room only included it begrudgingly. It held four people comfortably around the room¡¯s round table and six if you didn¡¯t mind breathing on each other. Between the size and the filing cabinets down the far wall, it felt smaller than it looked.


    Fortunately, there were only three of us. Mateo ran through everything we¡¯d done and seen, ending with, ¡°If it kept on going in the same direction, it would end up in Farmington or Farmington Hills¡ªmaybe Novi or Livonia.¡±


    ¡°Fuck. I live in Farmington.¡± She frowned. ¡°This sounds like a night for the buddy system. Working Man¡¯s got a thing going downtown so he bailed on tonight¡¯s patrol. V8 is busy with her projects. I guess I¡¯m going to call in a favor from Detroit Unity. Nanosecond said she owed me one. We¡¯ll run through Farmington and see what else we can cover.¡±


    Mateo nodded, ¡°Great. Then we¡¯re done for the day. I¡¯ve got a few things at my church tonight and Nick¡¯s either got free time or more lab work.¡±


    ¡°Most likely lab work, but I¡¯m wondering if I shouldn¡¯t be out there with Holly.¡± I looked over at her.


    She shook her head. ¡°Thanks, but no. Get some sleep. Relax. Don¡¯t burn your candle from both ends. We¡¯ve already got one guy doing that. Working Man¡¯s not going to change, but I don¡¯t think a lot of people can live like that¡ªnot and be happy anyhow.¡±


    Mateo laughed, got up, and left the room, giving me a wave. ¡°I¡¯ll see you tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°So, newbie,¡± Holly said, ¡°two weeks and you¡¯re done. What do you think about that?¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°Things get back to normal? I¡¯ve enjoyed being here, but I¡¯ve felt out of my depth about half the time.¡±


    She took a sip from her Starbucks cup, ¡°And you go back to being the Rocket and being world-famous instead of being a nearly unknown sidekick.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind being an unknown sidekick. I do miss the Rocket suit. I feel naked without it sometimes. On the other hand, I haven¡¯t needed the Rocket suit for anything, so that¡¯s okay.¡±


    Standing up from the table, she said, ¡°I hope it stays that way. When I started, I wanted to fight aliens, have my name up in lights, all of it. Now, I¡¯m relieved the world won¡¯t end if I screw up. Fame¡¯s overrated.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t wrong. On the other hand, fame meant you had resources to fight vampires that you didn¡¯t have as a nearly unknown sidekick.

 Motor City Intern: Part 8

    Following her advice, I followed my schedule¡ªI took the night off. I read for a while, tinkered with a couple my own things, and drew a few devices that based on current events were stuck in my head.


    I¡¯m meaning, of course, an automatic rifle that fired stakes, a ¡°water¡± gun that turned holy water into a fine mist that would stay in the air for a few minutes, and a garlic grenade.


    Elements of the garlic grenade¡¯s design might be worth adapting to commercial kitchens. I decided to ask Haley about that and sent her the drawing I¡¯d made along with some notes about how it could process large amounts of garlic more quickly than people could.


    The kitchen version included a container that prevented the garlic shrapnel from exploding across the room.


    Since she was training at the Colorado Stapledon program facility, Haley didn¡¯t see the text or diagram until about 10 pm in Colorado which was midnight in Michigan. Her response was, ¡°Have you been drinking?¡±


    I had, but nothing alcoholic. In response, I explained the situation. She wrote back, ¡°You need to talk to Amy. The Motor City Heroes¡¯ aren¡¯t prepared for vampires. They¡¯re only four people and I don¡¯t think any team on the whole east side of the state has a wizard.¡±


    Using my implant, I texted back through my League communicator, ¡°I talked to Amy and she needs more information before she can help. You¡¯re right about this side of the state, but the Motor City Heroes does have Blue Mask and he¡¯s kind of a monster hunter.¡±


    Her words appeared in my brain thanks to the implant. ¡°That¡¯s right. He knows what he¡¯s doing at least, but stay safe, okay? Call us if things get bad. I¡¯m sure the League can send someone. If you¡¯ve got a little warning, I¡¯ll be there and maybe with Stapledon people.¡±


    ¡°Believe me, I will call for help if I need it. I know I don¡¯t know anything about vampires.¡±


    After that our texts turned away from vampires to Stapledon and what she was doing¡ªconstant training and classes, ending with the two of us talking about how long it had been since we¡¯d last seen each other.


    After she texted me, ¡°Love U,¡± and I replied, I went to bed. They had a guest room in the base. It felt like a cramped hotel room or a single room in a university dormitory. It had space for a bed, a desk, and a beige carpet that had only been vacuumed because V8 bought a few Roombas.


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    I hadn¡¯t modified any of them. She¡¯d already done that.


    Mateo and I weren¡¯t scheduled for duty until the evening. I spent most of the day in the lab until then. I didn¡¯t start constructing any of my anti-vampire tech, but I did start fleshing out the details. Plus I had a few more ideas.


    Mateo walked in as I sat in front of my laptop in the lab. He leaned over my shoulder to stare at the screen. ¡°What is that? Are you designing a giant squirt gun?¡±


    I shook my head and turned around, ¡°It¡¯s a mister. It¡¯ll fill a room in seconds. It¡¯s actually meant for holy water and I have a few questions for you about it.¡±


    He blinked. ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Is there a limit on how much you can make at once? For example, could you bless Lake Michigan or Lake Huron and then have the whole lake be deadly to vampires?¡±


    He cocked his head, frowning. ¡°I¡¯ve mostly seen it done over bowls of water. No one ever told me that you can¡¯t do it over a body of water, but normally you¡¯d use clean water to create holy water and lakes include algae, fish, and mud, not to mention boats and people. It wouldn¡¯t be clean. I know of people getting their water from a lake or stream, but they don¡¯t bless the entire stream. A number of priests use distilled water.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°So it¡¯s got to be clean. Is there anything else that¡¯s special about it? Anything that would make it different from normal water?¡±


    ¡°Usually there¡¯s rock salt that a priest consecrated. For different purposes, there¡¯s sometimes a little oil, but mostly what you¡¯d call holy water is water with a little salt.¡± Mateo crossed his hands over his chest and took a step back, still looking at me.


    ¡°Let¡¯s say,¡± I continued, ¡°I had an idea for how to keep the water in the air longer and that involved adding chemicals or processing it in some way. Maybe it would heat it up, for example. Would it still be holy water then?¡±


    He frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Despite what you see in the movies, the main purpose of holy water isn¡¯t for destroying monsters. It¡¯s for baptisms. For that matter, even though we do a ritual over a bowl of water and use salt, none of that is the important part. In the end, we¡¯re asking God to bless the water. All that matters is that God consents to bless it and count it as holy. No one knows exactly what would make it stop being holy water if you¡¯re thinking about it in terms of chemistry.¡±


    I thought about that. ¡°Sorry if I¡¯m asking weird questions. My girlfriend is Catholic, but I¡¯m not. I¡¯m trying to figure out the rules. You know, if it really is just God choosing to do it or not, that would be so much more convenient.


    ¡°In that case, all you¡¯d need is to ask God to bless a fire hydrant. After that, you could slaughter hordes of undead if you just had a hose.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°If God willed it, it would work, but it¡¯s not what we¡¯d normally do to create holy water.¡±


    ¡°I get it,¡± I said, ¡°but holy water would be a much more flexible tool if it stayed holy when it changed state. With vapor and liquid, you have an easy area of effect attack and as a solid, you have holy bullets or you could even make holy barriers if you used it in the winter. You know, like a holy igloo or something.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 9

    Mateo half sat on the table behind him. ¡°Do you have a plan for using a holy igloo?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°That was more of an illustration. A better use of that much holy water might be trapping a vampire in a house covered with holy ice. In the winter, it might hold them for a while. Mixing holy water into concrete might be an even better idea.¡±


    Mateo opened his mouth without saying anything, half-closed it, and said, ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea if we had enough holy water. You¡¯ll want to hang on to your creativity, though, because we have a new development in the vampire case. Working Man and Athletica are in the conference room to talk about it.¡±


    What more was there to say after that? I followed him down the hall.


    The conference room wasn¡¯t any bigger than the last time I¡¯d been there and since I was last, I got to sit on the same side as the file cabinets this time¡ªwhich was the side of the room that anyone with any sense avoided because if you leaned back, you could hit the back of your head against one of the handles.


    I hit one as I sat down. The back of the mask I wore as ¡°V4¡± was armored, but it connected with a solid clunking noise.


    Working Man frowned. Athletica grinned. I¡¯d seen her hit her head in other meetings and felt pretty sure she¡¯d laugh if I flipped her off, but I didn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t something I did normally, and anyway, it didn¡¯t seem professional.


    Working Man cleared his throat. Only a few inches short of seven feet tall and muscular, he was intimidating even when he wasn¡¯t standing. Though actually based on a material my grandfather designed, his costume looked like it was made of blue denim, making him stand out against the beige wall.


    Unlike the rest of the team, I didn¡¯t know his real name. That may have upped the intimidation factor a little.


    In a deep voice, he began with, ¡°Let¡¯s get this done. I¡¯m in the middle of hunting down a Syndicate L operation with Detroit Unity. Normally I¡¯d pull you in, but now there are vampires and if we get an infestation of those things, it¡¯ll be an epic clusterfuck on our record. We don¡¯t want that.¡±


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    Meeting the eyes of everyone at the conference room table in turn, he said, ¡°You¡¯ll be working in teams¡ªBlue Mask with V4 and Nanosecond with Athletica. Nanosecond will be helping here because I¡¯m with Unity. V8 continues to be focused on tech projects, but she¡¯ll show up in an emergency. Do your best to keep her out of it. She¡¯s only got two weeks until V4 is out of here and then it might be months before she has time to finish anything.¡±


    Nodding to Holly, he said, ¡°Tell everyone what you saw last night.¡±


    Holly took a breath, ¡°Last night, Nanosecond and I were running through downtown Farmington and she noticed two people flying above the street. We ran after them because we didn¡¯t recognize either of them and they weren¡¯t dressed in costume. I think they spotted us because they turned off of Grand River Avenue onto Oakland¡ªexcept here¡¯s something interesting¡ªthey were just about to fly above the big parking lot on Oakland when they turned to avoid it. They flew above the marketing firm on the left of the parking lot instead. That¡¯s when we realized they had to be vampires.¡±


    I was missing something, ¡°Why do you say that?¡±


    She smiled, ¡°The church on the other side of the parking lot owns the parking lot.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow, ¡°So, the parking lot is consecrated ground or something?¡±


    Giving a shrug, Holly said, ¡°It was next to the church? I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s important to me,¡± Working Man said, ¡°is that there were two of them. It means there might be a group and maybe that they¡¯ve been infecting more.¡±


    Mateo nodded. ¡°Could be. It might also be that there are only two. Holly, did you see where they went after that?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Nanosecond and I can¡¯t see in the dark and her night vision goggles weren¡¯t picking them up. We lost them.¡±


    Nodding, I said, ¡°Night vision goggles are often infrared¡ªwhich means they detect heat. With vampires being dead, they''d be the temperature of the air. That could make them invisible to her goggles. Do you think they might have gone into the marketing firm you mentioned?¡±


    She scowled. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s an old, one-story house. They might have gone in there, but I can¡¯t imagine they could hide a coffin inside without people noticing. And if they turned everybody on the staff, people would notice something strange and start talking. Farmington is only 10,000 people.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Mateo said, grinning, ¡°vampires might not stand out much on a marketing team.¡±


    Holly smirked. I smiled. Working Man didn¡¯t miss a beat.


    Not even acknowledging the joke, he said, ¡°Tonight you¡¯ll want to ride through that area. Night vision goggles might be worthless, but you¡¯ve got Mask-vision, whatever that is, and that¡¯s why you¡¯re here. You can see magic and the rest of us can¡¯t. V4, see if you can figure out a way for the rest of us to track those things. Anyway, that¡¯s all. You¡¯ve got your mission¡ªgo!¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 10

    With that, the meeting was over¡ªmostly anyway. It¡¯s not as we jumped up from our seats and ran to our bikes. As Mateo stood up, he asked, ¡°Is our highest priority finding them for now? I¡¯m asking because there¡¯s going to be a wait before Athletica, you, or V8 can get here if we press the panic button.


    ¡°You know as well as I do that sometimes the situation will move too quickly for us to locate them and bring in help. We¡¯ll have to save someone immediately or they¡¯re done for. Do you want me to call Unity in if we need backup?¡±


    Working Man frowned. ¡°You can call in Unity, but unless it¡¯s a life or death situation, don¡¯t fight. You¡¯re not going to get much help out of Unity tonight. We¡¯re expecting people in powered armor and mercs with powers to be working with Syndicate L. We don¡¯t know how many, but maybe more than 20. We might be calling in for backup and that means that we might find ourselves calling in V8, Athletica, and maybe even the two of you. We¡¯ve even notified the Michigan Heroes¡¯ Alliance to have people on standby. That¡¯s how big this is. So don¡¯t do anything big. We should be able to handle Syndicate L with what we¡¯ve got, but if not, you might find that there isn¡¯t any backup.¡±


    Even though I knew better, I couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Accelerando could be here in less than a minute and we could get anyone else from the Heroes¡¯ League in less than fifteen minutes if we handled it right. The League¡¯s a member of the Michigan Heroes¡¯ Alliance, so we could even send people to help Unity, freeing local people up to help us.¡±


    Working Man leaned in, towering over me, but close enough that I caught a hint of alcohol. ¡°Absolutely fucking not! We don¡¯t need to be fighting evil space horses, weird-ass giant heads, dinosaurs from alternate damn dimension, or superpowered Roman soldiers. Keep your people out of it. Do what you do for your team¡ªfind out where the bad guys are. Don¡¯t think you have to solve the problem. Don¡¯t run in.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be a hero,¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± he said. ¡°Don¡¯t be a goddamn hero.¡±


    Out of the corner of my Holly¡¯s lips quivered as if she were trying to keep a laugh inside. Our eyes met and she covered her mouth with her hand and turned away.


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    ¡°Got it,¡± I said, and followed Mateo out, bumping into the filing cabinet again as I took a step toward the door. We didn¡¯t talk as we walked down the hall to the garage where we put on our helmets and got on our bikes.


    As Mateo pushed the kickstand back, he said, ¡°The bit about not being a hero was either ballsy or passive-aggressive. Maybe both.¡±


    My motorcycle didn¡¯t have a kickstand. It balanced perfectly whether or not I was there. ¡°I don¡¯t know what made me think to do it, except that he was almost saying it without help, so I didn¡¯t have to do much.¡±


    Through Mateo¡¯s helmet, I could see him grin. ¡°He¡¯s always been wound a little too tight and sometimes he¡¯s way too stubborn about certain things¡ªnot bringing in the Heroes¡¯ League is one of them. I can¡¯t argue with his reasons. As a group, we¡¯re not ready to take on the Nine and I know I don¡¯t want to be kidnapped to lure you into a trap. Still, he¡¯s good at this. He knows Detroit and he¡¯s got a heart for this work. With any luck, he may someday notice that other people are telling jokes.¡±


    We rode the elevator up and drove toward Farmington.


    ¡°I could smell alcohol on him,¡± I said through the comm.


    Mateo¡¯s sigh was audible. ¡°I noticed that too. His metabolism makes a difference. I¡¯ve never seen him act drunk at work or make a mistake that I could trace to drinking, but I know. I worry about it too. I¡¯ve brought it up with him. I didn¡¯t get much of anywhere, but I told him that it worried me.¡±


    I didn¡¯t say anything for a little while. I didn¡¯t know what to say. In the months that I¡¯d been there, Working Man hadn¡¯t ever been noticeably impaired or made any mistakes either. At the same time, it seemed obvious that something bad could happen someday¡ªespecially given what we did.


    After riding down the highway for twenty minutes, my next words were, ¡°Well, it looks like we¡¯re here.¡±


    Farmington looked more like a neighborhood in Grand Lake or the suburbs around it than the neighborhood of Detroit where the Motor City Heroes¡¯ tower was located. It was a place of mowed lawns, Victorian buildings, chain stores, and signs letting you know that there was such a thing as the ¡°Farmington Downtown Development Authority.¡±


    It felt different from the near-abandoned blocks ten miles away.


    Cars moved down the streets at a slower pace, but it wasn¡¯t long before we pulled up in front of the house Athletica mentioned. It was a bungalow that had been converted into a business located across the parking lot from a church.


    We pulled into the church parking lot, parking our bikes next to the house. Mateo looked at the house, his eyes following it from the porch in the front toward the back.


    ¡°I¡¯m seeing signs of the same presence we saw in the parking garage and it looks like it¡¯s not alone.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 11

    ¡°Okay. When you say it¡¯s not alone, what else are you seeing?¡± I looked over at the house, failing to see anything on my own. I needed to talk to Amy about seeing if she could set up magic that I could power with whatever power source the Artificer aspect of myself could tap into.


    I tried using it here as I had back at the parking garage and got the same result¡ªnothing¡ªwhich meant that I needed to give up on the idea of seeing the supernatural with whatever I could now do or recognize that I needed training. Worse, I might need time to get to the point where I could generate enough power for it to be useful.


    ¡°V4?¡± Mateo stared at me, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing but it¡¯s distracting.¡±


    I stopped, ¡°Sorry.¡±


    He eyed me and nodded. ¡°You were radiating something almost like a fog or a haze. Anyway, I don¡¯t know what else I¡¯m seeing. I¡¯m not an expert in vampires, but what I¡¯m seeing is almost the same, but a little off. My guess is that I¡¯m seeing vampires, but two, maybe three different kinds.¡±


    I looked over at the bungalow again. It didn¡¯t look like the lair of different kinds of vampires. It even had a vegetable garden in the backyard, which wasn¡¯t something I associated with vampires or businesses.


    Turning away from the house, I said, ¡°Do you happen to have some holy water?¡±


    He raised an eyebrow, ¡°Do you think priests carry holy water everywhere?¡±


    I began to reply, but stopped as he continued talking, ¡°I don¡¯t normally, but since we might be facing vampires, I thought I¡¯d bring some along.¡±


    He pulled a couple of glass vials out of a pouch on his belt, showed them to me, and put them back. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Bloodmaiden wanted to know if holy water worked on them. I¡¯m assuming it doesn¡¯t work on all vampires and she¡¯s familiar with the ones where it doesn¡¯t work? She told me once that vampires from her world were different than ours. I¡¯m assuming that¡¯s one of the ways.¡±


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    Mateo frowned. ¡°I¡¯m hoping we¡¯re not facing them then. Holy water and holy symbols are our major advantages over them. Are hers immune to sunlight, too?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t know. She just asked me to watch for that single detail.¡±


    As we stood there, standing in the church¡¯s parking lot and looking at the house, a white police car pulled into the driveway, stopping next to our motorcycles. The car door opened and a woman stepped out wearing a navy blue police uniform with badges indicating she was an officer in the Farmington, Michigan Police Department, and showing that her name was Helen White.


    She had pale white skin and light brown hair in a ponytail and came up to my chin. ¡°Hi. How are the two of you?¡±


    Mateo nodded at her, ¡°We¡¯re doing fine, and how are you?¡±


    She smiled, ¡°Doing great, but the department got a call asking why you were here, and since we didn¡¯t know, they sent me out to ask.¡±


    ¡°Vampires,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe.¡±


    Mateo gave me a look and said to her, ¡°Athletica and Nanosecond were out here last night for the same reason. They saw one. We think the same vampire appeared in a couple of places in Detroit before coming here.¡±


    Officer White frowned. ¡°If anyone told us, it didn¡¯t make it down to me or anybody back at the station.¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°Do you need anything? We¡¯re not equipped to fight vampires. I know they have in Detroit, but they take care of it before it gets out here.¡±


    Mateo smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t think so, but do you know anything about Downtown Marketing, the business over there? They don¡¯t look open right now. They might have closed early, but their website says they¡¯re supposed to be open.¡±


    Officer White looked past him toward the house. ¡°We haven¡¯t gotten a call about them and we haven¡¯t gotten any missing person reports today that I know of.¡±


    Then she turned back toward her car. ¡°If you give me a second to call in and check a couple of things, I¡¯ll know for sure.¡±


    With a grin, Mateo said, ¡°That would help. Thanks.¡±


    She stepped back inside her car and started typing on the computer on her dashboard.


    I turned to look at the house. Now that I was looking harder at it, I realized that all the shades and curtains were drawn. If someone were trying to make sure that no light got inside, that would be the way to do it.


    I looked over at Mateo, ¡°Did you notice the shades?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± He opened his mouth, starting to say more, but the police car¡¯s door opened again.


    Officer White stepped out, ¡°Here¡¯s what we have. The owner of the business, Bret Eastman, worked from home today. His secretary, Paula Hart, was supposed to be in, but he hasn¡¯t been able to reach her since just after eight in the morning. He got nervous enough to call the department thirty minutes ago. The business is supposed to be open.¡±


    Mateo and I looked at each other. By now she was probably dead or worse, turned, but she might be alive.

 Motor City Intern: Part 12

    He turned back to Officer White, ¡°I think we¡¯re going to have to go in. Are you going to have to stop us?¡±


    Her lips twitched, hinting at a smile, ¡°No, because there¡¯s a person who may be in danger, and because I got permission from the owner.¡±


    A thought struck me. ¡°How are we planning to get in? I don¡¯t think we should wait for him to open the door. And while we could break it down, I can probably unlock the door. Um¡­ Unless that would be illegal.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s illegal if you own lock picks with the intent of using them to steal, but since you¡¯ll be using them to assist a police officer in saving a life, there won¡¯t be a problem.¡± She glanced over at the house, ¡°We should get going.¡±


    That made it sound like she was coming with us. As the local law enforcement representative, it made sense, but she¡¯d already said that she didn¡¯t have any experience with vampires.


    Mateo handled it better than I would have. He nodded and said, ¡°Guns won¡¯t do much against them. Do you have a cross?¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything for a moment, but then said, ¡°No. That works?¡±


    He gave a shrug, ¡°Better than guns, but more for holding them off. Here.¡±


    He pulled a cross on a chain and three jars of holy water from a pouch on his belt. ¡°Use the cross to keep them back and throw the holy water. Be aware that I don¡¯t have much holy water. Don¡¯t waste it.¡±


    She raised an eyebrow but hung the cross around her neck. Then she took the jars of holy water. ¡°Normally, we¡¯re not supposed to wear necklaces because people might grab them.¡±


    She shook her head.


    Mateo nodded, ¡°Think of it as a bulletproof vest.¡±


    Holding the cross in her palm, she said, ¡°It covers a lot less than a vest.¡±


    Then she shook her head, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


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    Mateo nodded, ¡°Alright. V4, unlock the door. Break it down if you have to. Either way, I¡¯ll go in first, followed by Officer White, and you can take the rear.¡±


    I nodded and we walked across the green lawn, up, the stairs and onto the house¡¯s front porch. Once at the door, I pulled out my picks and started on the door. It wasn¡¯t a difficult lock.


    Putting my picks back, I said, ¡°Done,¡± and opened the door, stepping back so they could go through. Sunlight entered the room without prompting shrieks of pain¡ªwhich was a kind of good news.


    Mateo entered with his rapier drawn and without his motorcycle helmet, face covered only with his blue, silk mask and wearing his broad-brimmed hat.


    I followed Officer White in, grateful that a costume themed around engines and riding motorcycles could include almost everything I put into the Rocket stealth suit, plus and minus a few things.


    In case vampires could hypnotize me through eye contact, I switched on a composite view made of sonar, infrared, thermal and radar on my helmet¡¯s screen, switching off normal sight. Overall it meant the same shapes, but less detail on textures and more on heat.


    The first room turned out to be a lobby with a receptionist desk in the right corner and comfortable chairs and a couch. I hoped that the wooden floor didn¡¯t turn out to be creaky.


    Mateo¡¯s rapier glowed in the infrared. Bearing in mind that it generally glowed in the dark, that didn¡¯t surprise me.


    ¡°Seeing anything?¡± I talked a little above a whisper.


    Mateo pointed down the hall with his sword. ¡°The presence went that way.¡±


    ¡°Presence?¡± Officer White checked from side to side as we walked toward the hall.


    Mateo stepped around the receptionist¡¯s desk, an ornate wooden model that extended into the walkway. ¡°I don¡¯t know it¡¯s a vampire. All I know is that it leaves an inky spiritual residue behind.¡±


    Pausing only to glance behind the desk, Officer White said, ¡°Hmmn. I can¡¯t say I don¡¯t learn new things on this job.¡±


    Checking my helmet¡¯s near 360-degree view, I was relieved not to see anyone behind us.


    We passed the bathroom on the left, but on the right, the hallway opened into a small room with a polished wooden stairway going up to the second floor and down to the basement.


    Mateo pointed toward the downward staircase. While the part that went upward was polished and gleaming, the section going downward was not original to the house. It was newer, at most maybe ten years old, and not stained.


    We walked down it into the basement, a long, empty room with gray, concrete walls.


    The windows, small and next to the ceiling, had been covered with cloth. Old filing cabinets stood next to the walls and tarps what appeared to be old furniture in the middle of the room.


    A woman stood on the far end of the room, a stocky, no-nonsense looking woman in her sixties. Between her square jaw, glasses, and her scowl, I could imagine her as a particularly harsh elementary school teacher.


    For a second, I thought she might be okay, but then she opened her mouth, revealing long, sharp teeth.


    Oh, well.

 Motor City Intern: Part 13

    The thing that I assumed had been Paula Hart, secretary of Downtown Marketing looked over all of us, stopping at Officer White¡ªwho held the cross out in front of it.


    ¡°I don¡¯t recall asking for the law for help. I don¡¯t recall calling in the Motor City Heroes either.¡±


    the vampire took a step back from Officer White, staring at the cross, ¡°Now that¡¯s justunfriendly.¡±


    Bending over with a speed that sixty-year-old woman shouldn¡¯t have, the creature grabbed a desk, a long, wooden desk longer than some motorcycles, and threw it at Officer White.


    Though Officer White may have been the target, but the desk was big enough that it would hit all three of us.


    Mateo grabbed Officer White¡¯s arm and pulled her sideways. I stepped forward, putting myself in between her and the oncoming piece of office furniture. As the desk came closer, I could already feel the costume around me hardening. Then it hit, and while it wasn¡¯t unbearable pain, it didn¡¯t feel good.


    I had my arms out to deflect it, which I did to a degree. I caught it, but it had enough force that even though I pushed it sideways to my left, it still hit me before I fully pushed it away, knocking me backward.


    It would have killed me if I hadn¡¯t used Rocket suit tech in V4¡¯s full-body motorcycle racing suit. Haley had called it a motorcycle onesie when I showed it to her. She wasn¡¯t wrong.


    Onesie or not, I¡¯d designed it with strength and armor in mind, figuring that the powers fit a superhero named after an engine and that they were common enough that someone wouldn¡¯t instantly think, ¡°That¡¯s gotta be the Rocket.¡±


    The desk landed on top of the other tarp-covered furniture in the room, some of which was made of glass to judge from the sound of shattering.


    An indrawn breath to my right told me one piece of good news. Mateo had pulled Officer White far enough that she hadn¡¯t been hurt at all. She stood next to the wall, still holding the cross Mateo had lent her.


    Mateo had pulled out his rapier which had taken on a golden glow that I didn¡¯t remember from practices at Stapledon. Of course, facing off against superheroes in training wasn¡¯t the same as facing the undead and the sword might somehow know the difference.


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    He rushed the vampire as Officer White showed that even if she hadn¡¯t been trained in fighting vampires, she had the presence of mind for it.¡¯


    She threw a vial of holy water.


    The vial hit the vampire in the face, breaking on its forehead and running down its face, turning the skin on its cheeks black as it burned it. Unasked for, the fact that holy water did 2d6 of radiant damage to undead in Dungeons and Dragons came to mind.


    I did my best to ignore it even as the vampire screamed and tried to wipe the holy water away with the sleeves of its white and pink polka-dotted blouse.


    From the way the scream continued, I guessed that it didn¡¯t do much good, spreading the water across its cheeks even if the blouse did absorb some.


    Mateo didn¡¯t give it time to adjust either. He ran toward it and shoved the rapier through its chest, avoiding its arms and into its heart. As it reached out with its arms to grab the blade, the blade glowed like sunlight¡ªas in, exactly like sunlight with the same warm, golden glow.


    The vampire''s hands turned to ash as burning flame spread across its body, starting from the spot in its chest where Mateo ran it through. I stepped closer to join him, maybe to be ready if the vampire reached out and he needed help.


    It wasn¡¯t necessary. The burning fire went through the body, leaving only a skeleton partially covered with charred flesh that lay in a pile of ash.


    Mateo pulled back his sword, pulled out a paper towel from one of his pouches and wiped the blade clean.


    We all stared at the body and it, in turn, didn¡¯t move at all. After a period of silence,I said, ¡°It looks dead.¡±


    Officer White shook her head, ¡°Very dead. Except from what we saw, she must have been dead before we arrived.¡±


    Still breathing heavily, Mateo said, ¡°Yes, but give me a second, I need to make sure there aren¡¯t more of them.¡±


    The basement was a single room. All he needed to do to cover all of it was walk all the way around it once¡ªthat and stare at the furniture under tarps in the middle of it for a minute.


    ¡°The basement¡¯s vampire free. There were more here, but they left through... that window.¡± He pointed at the window on the far end of the basement. It opened to the back of the house.


    ¡°How many?¡± Officer White took a step toward it.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say, but my guess is three. Bearing in mind the traditional weakness to sunlight¡ªwhich this one definitely had¡ªthey must have left before dawn. They¡¯re somewhere else in the area and we won¡¯t see them until after sunset.¡±


    Mateo put his sword back in its scabbard.


    ¡°Sunset¡¯s about four hours from now,¡± I said.


    Officer White looked from Mateo to me. ¡°If you¡¯re looking for a way to kill time, I have some questions I need to ask about Paula¡¯s death, but I need to know what¡¯s going on. Are we in the middle of the kind of emergency where we need to evacuate the city?¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 14

    Mateo shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know. At the rate that a vampire infestation can grow from what I¡¯ve read, you probably should, but, they choose not to grow at that rate most of the time. They¡¯re not stupid. They know that if they grow too much, they¡¯ll be destroyed. Their best bet is to stay in the shadows.¡±


    Officer White nodded, ¡°I¡¯m looking for a recommendation to pass up the chain. What do you think we should do?¡±


    He frowned. ¡°I think you should talk to an expert in fighting vampires, and that¡¯s not me. V4 and I are going to patrol tonight and if we see any leads we¡¯ll pursue them. We¡¯ll keep you informed of anything we find, but neither of us are qualified to make that kind of decision.¡±


    Looking down toward the ash-covered skeleton, Officer White said, ¡°You could have fooled me. I¡¯ll tell my supervisors what you said¡ªall of it¡ªand we¡¯ll see what they do. Honestly, I¡¯d be surprised if they evacuated the city, but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they increased patrols and armed the force with garlic, crosses, and holy water. Don¡¯t you be surprised if you see the best expert they can afford showing up.¡±


    We spent the next thirty minutes, maybe more, giving a statement about what had happened. More police had arrived by then as well as an ambulance.


    We were outside by then, standing in the parking lot between the church and the house. I commented to Mateo, ¡°She seems pretty well past the point where anything¡¯s going to help.¡±


    He shrugged, ¡°I think it¡¯s standard procedure if there¡¯s a dead body. I don¡¯t know.¡±


    This was after our statement, but we¡¯d been told to stay in case there were more questions. Officer White and another officer walked out the front door started toward us. As they got closer, they stopped talking.


    The other officer stood around six and a half feet tall and was slim like some long-distance runners. He sped up as he got closer, stopping less than a foot from Mateo and leaning in toward him.


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    Officer White hadn¡¯t kept up. She was about five feet behind him and turning a little red.


    The man¡¯s glossy, metal name tag named him, ¡°F. Duford.¡± Officer Duford didn¡¯t shout, but his voice was definitely louder than casual talking¡ªby a lot.


    ¡°You stabbed her and then you incinerated her. I don¡¯t know why you haven¡¯t been arrested. No, I do know. It¡¯s because people around here think that because you¡¯ve got a magic sword that you¡¯re special and better than the rest of us.¡±


    He looked over at me, ¡°Fuck you, too. Designing a super motorcycle shouldn¡¯t mean you¡¯re above the law either.¡±


    Officer White caught up and spoke before Mateo or I could say anything, ¡°I¡¯ve got it all on body cam. He did the right thing.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me, White. How do you know she couldn¡¯t have been cured?¡± He didn¡¯t wait for an answer before storming off toward the police cars in front of the house.


    ¡°That¡¯s not how it works,¡± she said to his back. He didn¡¯t show any sign of hearing her.


    She turned to us, ¡°There isn¡¯t a cure, is there?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Not for vampires that I¡¯ve ever heard. I know of a couple of people who caught the zombie plague in New Mexico a few years back. They got cured, but that was a disease. So Preserver, the healer in Los Angeles, could handle it. I¡¯m pretty sure these vampires are supernatural¡ªat any rate holy water worked on them.¡±


    I¡¯d have to remember to tell Amy about that.


    Mateo nodded, ¡°He¡¯s right. I¡¯ve never heard about a cure for vampires either. My understanding is that even though the body is still here, the soul is gone and something else is in the driver¡¯s seat.¡±


    She eyed him for a moment before saying, ¡°That is how it worked in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was hoping that wasn¡¯t real.¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t in that the corpses don¡¯t turn to dust but the only reason it worked that way in the TV series was that Joss Whedon didn¡¯t want to deal with the question of what to do with all the vampire bodies.¡±


    Glancing over at Officer Duford as he stood next to the forensics SUV, Officer White said, ¡°That might have been nice.¡±


    Mateo grimaced, ¡°The ashes and burned skeleton did look pretty bad. Did he know her?¡±


    ¡°Paula was his mother-in-law.¡±


    Mateo eyed Officer Duford, but Duford noticed and scowled in our direction.


    Turning back toward us, he said, ¡°I¡¯d apologize, but I think he needs some time.¡±


    Officer White took a breath, ¡°Don¡¯t. It¡¯s not worth it.¡±


    Not looking in Duford¡¯s direction, Mateo said, ¡°Yeah. V4 and I are going to see if we can¡¯t find the trail to wherever the one that turned her went, preferably before sundown.¡±


    Checking her phone, Officer White said, ¡°Then you¡¯ve got an hour.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 15

    Mateo looked over at me, ¡°Let¡¯s walk through the neighborhood around here and see if I get any hints of where they went.¡±


    He waved toward the church parking lot. It ran down the side of the church and around the back, taking up the middle of this block. If the vampires had gone anywhere close, we¡¯d be able to see the backyard of every house or business on the block. That might be enough to pick up a sign.


    He gave Officer White a smile, ¡°We¡¯re going to take a walk. We¡¯ll be back before you know it, but if you need us, just follow the parking lot and look around the edges.¡±


    ¡°Good luck,¡± From her tone, I wasn¡¯t sure whether or not she thought we were wasting our time.


    I wasn¡¯t sure either.


    Either way, we walked down the parking lot, staying on the edge of the church¡¯s property when we had no choice but to leave the parking lot to get a good look at the back of the houses around it.


    This meant starting with the house that held Downtown Marketing and Paula Hart¡¯s burned remains. We didn¡¯t look at her so much, but we did take a look at the parking lot behind the house.


    Aside from an officer who looked out the back door at us, we had it to ourselves. There wasn¡¯t much to see. Most of the lot was empty except for a yellow VW Beetle¡ªone of the ¡°new¡± ones¡ªwhich in this case was ten years old.


    Mateo looked it over and shook his head. ¡°No signs of anything. I¡¯d bet you it was Paula¡¯s car though. Since she called the owner at eight¡ªwhich is after sunrise, my bet is that the vampire caught her after work yesterday and she stayed all night. It seems more likely than catching her at six in the morning and having her be prepared enough to close all the windows and get into the basement before burning to death.


    ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s my guess.¡±


    He stepped back from the Beetle and we both took a look at the small garden next to the house. It wasn¡¯t a large plot¡ªmaybe five feet deep and running the length of the back. Watermelon appeared to be the only crop. I counted four big ones and more than ten smaller, all of them with green skins.


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    Then we left the house and looked at other backyards for a while¡ªalmost an hour. We didn¡¯t find anything. We checked out all of the buildings including the apartment complex next to the Downtown Marketing house. I learned that the church¡¯s neighbors had large houses and backyards. Also, one of them had a sailboat. It was sitting on a trailer behind the large, white house and just off the side of the driveway.


    By the time we found ourselves walking back to the motorcycles, the police had left and the sun had disappeared near the horizon.


    ¡°I guess we get on the bikes and go around the block,¡± Mateo said. ¡°After that, I don¡¯t know, maybe we expand the circle and go around another block. The one good thing about riding around in the dark is that undeath will stand out a little bit better for me.¡±


    ¡°And the bad thing is that we¡¯ll be a target for whatever¡¯s out there,¡± I said with a light tone¡ªnot a complaint.


    Mateo nodded and grinned, ¡°That might be a good thing. If we survive, we¡¯ll know exactly where they are.¡±


    Walking past Downtown Marketing in the twilight, I wondered if something inside was watching us. The police were all gone and every door of the building had been shut. Even the Beetle had been towed away. Though the shades had been pulled up, something seemed different. I couldn¡¯t put my finger on it at first.


    Then my implant superimposed an image of the house as we left over the one we were passing on the way to our bikes. ¡°Did you notice that they moved the watermelons? A couple of them are now around the side of the house.¡±


    Mateo glanced over at the watermelons and then over at me. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s the vampiric vegetables you were mentioning?¡±


    ¡°Watermelons are fruit.¡± I got rid of the implant¡¯s image and checked the house. The fruit weren¡¯t moving.


    ¡°Most likely the police moved them and forgot to move them back,¡± Mateo stared at them. ¡°You know, I never really looked at them on the way out. Crap. It does look like there¡¯s some sort of connection to undeath.¡± Mateo¡¯s hand went to his sword¡¯s hilt.


    Zooming in on the watermelons, I noticed a dark smear on the top of one of them. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but there may be blood on the first one around the corner.¡±


    Mateo didn¡¯t reply because, in that moment, the watermelons started rolling toward us. The four big ones came first, their dark and light green stripes visible in the twilight. The smaller ones followed, making hollow thumping noises with their bodies and a crooning, ¡°Brrl, brrl,¡± noise from the wide mouths that stretched from one side of the watermelons to the other.


    If my life felt like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer earlier in the day, it now felt like the cheapest of independent horror movies.

 Motor City Intern: Part 16

    On my right, Mateo pulled out his sword while I considered my options. When Working Man told me I couldn¡¯t be the Rocket on this team, I¡¯d put most of my work into my motorcycle and only a little into my costume.


    On a practical level, that didn¡¯t leave me with much beyond strength to work with. I¡¯d worked up a paralysis gun, but I doubted that vampiric watermelons would have a similar enough nervous system and brain to be affected by it.


    That left physical attacks. I ran forward until I was just in front of one of the big ones, raised my right leg, and stomped downward with as much strength as I could.


    The melon opened its mouth wide as my foot neared it and while a part of me wanted to pull it away, I steeled myself for whatever pain might follow and tried to kick through to the street.


    If the watermelon¡¯s rind were any more protection than that of your average watermelon, I didn¡¯t notice. Of course, I didn¡¯t make a practice of stomping on watermelons in normal life or in training.


    My foot broke off greenish-white teeth on the way down, crushing through to the red center of the melon all the way to the asphalt. The melon squirmed around my leg, trying to get away.


    Not sure what else to do, I kept my right leg still and brought down my booted left foot on the left half of the melon, smashing it and leaving only rind and red watermelon slush.


    Off to my right, Mateo slashed one of the larger watermelons in two, searing it, his blade glowing with white light. It fell limp on the ground.


    Another bounded toward him across the ground with bounces that brought it higher with every bounce, the final one aimed at his head. This was a big watermelon. I didn¡¯t know how many pounds it was, but it could easily have been more than forty.


    He hit it in the air, scorching the whole fruit and cutting it in half at the same time. It fell to the ground, dead (or undead?). Either way, it stopped moving.


    I didn¡¯t have time either to appreciate his skill or the effectiveness of my brute force approach. Even as I tried to dodge it, two of the smaller watermelons hit me, one in my stomach, the other to my face.


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    I fell backward, hitting the asphalt. My costume took most of the impact. I felt the fall, felt losing my balance, and a dull pressure when I hit the ground.


    That didn¡¯t change the fact that having a watermelon open its body, enveloping the helmet you¡¯re wearing, blocking your view of anything but its red flesh dotted with black seeds, is disquieting. If that weren¡¯t bad enough, I felt something enclose both of my legs at once, biting down on my shins and calf muscles at the same time.


    At once I realized the obvious¡ªone of the big ones must be trying to eat me.


    Despite a moment of fear that it might be able to get through my costume, I also grinned because I knew something the watermelon didn¡¯t. I knew that I¡¯d cheated a little when Working Man told me not to put any Rocket tech into my equipment. I hadn¡¯t given myself a rocket pack, but I had given myself rocket boots.


    They didn¡¯t qualify as weapons normally, but in this situation, they did.


    Before turning on the boots, I enabled one of my costume¡¯s few features, making parts of it close to frictionless. Then I turned on the boots.


    I felt the final chomp of the watermelon¡¯s teeth against my legs and then felt it explode around them as I fired off a burst of flame and shot across the pavement, sliding off of the marketing firm¡¯s parking lot and onto the church¡¯s.


    The initial burst of momentum threw the one on my stomach off and good riddance, it had begun to jump up and down. The one on my head stayed on longer. I guessed that was because it covered about three-quarters of my helmet and protruded in the front.


    Whatever the reason, I knocked it sideways after I made it to the church¡¯s property¡ªwhich became interesting for another reason. It hit the asphalt like butter hit a hot frying pan¡ªfrying, spattering, and finally burning.


    The last embers burned out as I cut off power to the outer layer of my costume, allowing it to stop sliding. I pulled myself up to see Mateo bat one of the smaller ones onto the church¡¯s parking lot with the flat of his sword¡ªwhere it immediately started burning.


    I ran forward to join him, blocking one as it leaped for him and seeing him dispatch another with a slash.


    With that, they were done. I didn¡¯t know if we¡¯d killed all of them or if a few had retreated, but they were gone.


    I walked closer to Mateo to find him watching the one he¡¯d thrown toward the church. It was still burning.


    ¡°Consecrated ground,¡± he said. ¡°It isn¡¯t very ecumenical of me, but it still surprises me that a UCC church property counts.¡±


    I looked over his clothes. They were clean. If any watermelon splattered onto him, it left no sign. Despite its period of near-perfect smoothness, my costume still had bits of watermelon on it¡ªnot to mention seeds.


    ¡°I¡¯m still surprised at how quickly you turned fruit ninja,¡± I said.


    Mateo grinned under his mask, ¡°Fruit swashbuckler.¡±

 Motor City Intern Part 17

    I laughed, ¡°Right.¡±


    Then I pointed at his costume, ¡°How in the world are you still clean?¡±


    He shrugged, ¡°Magic? The costume, sword, and mask all appear out of nowhere when I want them. They might as well be impossible to get dirty too.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue with that. Unsure if I could trust the universe to give us a break, I took a 360 degree look around myself. Nothing appeared to be moving around us or even in the air. If flying taught me anything, it taught me to think about the world in three dimensions.


    As a precaution, that turned out to be a good idea, but not one that turned up anything in that moment. There wasn¡¯t anything in the air.


    Mateo¡¯s hat disappeared as he walked over to his motorcycle and pulled on his helmet. ¡°We¡¯re going to have to call in the action we¡¯ve had so far. We¡¯ve been in two fights already. With no backup to speak of, I think he¡¯s going to want us out of the field.¡±


    Torn between pointing out that we could have backup any time we wanted it and knowing that Mateo already knew my thoughts on that, I opted to nod.


    Taking in my response or lack of one, he smiled, ¡°I¡¯m including you in this call because he might have questions for both of us.¡±


    I didn¡¯t want to argue about this with Working Man either, but I nodded anyway.


    Mateo said, ¡°Connect V4 and I to Working Man,¡± and the helmet did exactly as asked, giving me a brief moment of satisfaction as something I worked on did what it was supposed to do.


    ¡°Working Man, here. What do you have?¡± The helmet¡¯s map placed him in Detroit Unity¡¯s base downtown.


    Mateo glanced over at me and started talking, ¡°We¡¯ve been in two fights already, neither of them hard. An employee of the marketing firm in Farmington had been turned. We entered into the building with a member of the local police force who hoped to save her. After our statements were taken and the police left, we were attacked by vampiric watermelons outside the house. We beat them.¡±


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    Working Man didn¡¯t usually have his camera on and so we couldn¡¯t see his face as Mateo spoke, but Working Man did pause before answering, ¡°Did you say vampiric watermelon?¡±


    Mateo and I shared a look as Mateo said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Damn. Every time I think I¡¯ve seen everything in this job, I get proved wrong. Alright. You¡¯ve been attacked twice and there are two different kinds of vampires. You should probably get back to base because in about an hour, nobody will be able to help you out if you¡¯re in a jam. But before you head back to base see if you can¡¯t pick up another lead. Don¡¯t follow it to the end, but see if there¡¯s any sign that other vampires are out there. I haven¡¯t fought them a lot, but something about this feels wrong. If there are two kinds of vampires out there, there might be more. Something bigger is happening and the two of you are better equipped to figure it out than I am. See what you can do.¡±


    Giving a nod that he had to know Working Man couldn¡¯t see, Mateo said, ¡°Right now our best shot is to circle the area looking for hints of undeath.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a good beginning. Try it and report back, but don¡¯t be surprised if I don¡¯t answer. We¡¯re going in in the next thirty minutes.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll do that,¡± Mateo turned his head toward the street, probably thinking about the route we might take.


    Working Man said, ¡°Good, but don¡¯t take too long about it. It¡¯s getting dark and soon they¡¯ll have the advantage.¡±


    Then the connection closed.


    I looked over at Mateo, ¡°I thought he¡¯d order us back to the base immediately.¡±


    Mateo got on his bike and started it. ¡°He basically did, but he knows that even magic trails get cold. Let¡¯s go around the block and see what we can see.¡±


    I slid onto my bike, started it, and followed Mateo out of the church parking lot when another thought came to mind. ¡°What do you think the chances are that someone saw us driving away from a pile of burned and splattered watermelons, but didn¡¯t see the fight?¡±


    ¡°What you mean,¡± Mateo said over his Harley¡¯s engine, ¡°is do you think we¡¯re about to be framed for fruit vandalism?¡±


    ¡°More or less,¡± I turned on my bike¡¯s sensors. They were the same type as I¡¯d used in my helmet¡¯s composite vision, but they had a longer range and better resolution.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about it. Sure, that would look bad, but we¡¯ve got our own footage, right?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ¡°but if someone gets the inaccurate version out first¡ª¡±


    Mateo interrupted me, ¡°Can you look up above the houses to our right? There¡¯s something up there.¡±


    I zoomed in on it. It was a human head held up in the air by its flapping ears.There was no body in sight. It had long canines, but aside from that, the lack of a body, and the ear flapping, it looked like a normal forty-something white guy.

 Motor City Intern: Part 18

    I sent the picture over to Mateo who watched it on the screen in his helmet.


    Mateo deliberately looked away from the vampire. ¡°That makes three different types of vampires. We¡¯ve got proof there are more out there now, but I¡¯d still like to take a trip around the block and see if I can get any hints about where they¡¯re holed up.¡±


    Still watching the head as it floated down the street, I asked, ¡°What about the head?¡±


    Frowning, Mateo said, ¡°I¡¯m thinking that if we follow it, it¡¯ll notice and lead us into a trap. If we make a couple circles around the area, I might be able to notice other signs. And then if we follow orders, we head back to base.¡±


    I had ideas related to that. ¡°Can we stop by a hardware store on the way back? It shouldn¡¯t be too expensive, but you¡¯ve got the credit card. Also, if there¡¯sanything you need to make holy water, we might get some of that too.¡±


    He raised an eyebrow and may have sighed. It wasn¡¯t as obvious under the helmet¡¯s darkened face shield. ¡°Alright. I have the salt I need if you really want to try it.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re literally carrying a holy sword or something. I¡¯m going to need some help to be effective.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°I get it. I just don¡¯t know if it¡¯ll work.¡±


    Then he pointed toward the street and I followed him out. I don¡¯t know where he was looking, but I used my helmet to look for the flying vampire without looking like I was looking for the flying vampire.


    It stayed above the houses on our left, flapping its ears to keep up and then gliding for a little while. It felt like it was trying to keep up, but if it was, it only managed to until we turned left. Then it disappeared behind the trees and houses. We weren¡¯t going more than forty miles per hour, but I supposed that its ears weren¡¯t all that big.


    Even vampires had to make some concessions to physics, but given the size of its ears relative to the size of its head, its speed was one of the few.


    My helmet¡¯s 360 degree vision allowed me to watch behind us and by the time we made a second turn, I¡¯d decided that even if it guessed our direction, it couldn¡¯t catch us.


    Mateo led us in widening circles around the edge of Farmington¡¯s downtown, past the Victorian houses around it, and finally through the neighborhoods surrounding it.


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    Activating the communicator with my implant, I said, ¡°Are we going in wider circles because you can¡¯t find anything or because you have?¡±


    He didn¡¯t look back as he replied, looking from one side of the road to the other, ¡°Neither. I think I know where they went, but I¡¯m trying not to make it too obvious. Do you remember that house with the sign that said, ¡®Hothouse Yoga?¡¯ We¡¯ve gone past the front and back now and I¡¯ve seen trails that seem to lead both to and from it. We may not be able to hit it tonight, but tomorrow we can pull the whole team in and do it when they¡¯re at their weakest.¡±


    I pulled the moments that we¡¯d passed it out of my implant¡¯s memory, seeing nothing more than that it was big, Victorian house with a sign hanging over its wide, pillared, front porch.


    There were a few lights on, but nothing that it distinguished it from its neighbors¡ªno leering vampires in the windows or headless bodies on the porch. There weren¡¯t any pumpkins or watermelons to be seen either.


    ¡°Alright, then,¡± I brushed the pictures from my mind and concentrated on the road ahead. ¡°If we¡¯re going in tomorrow, the hardware store visit sounds like a great idea. Farmington¡¯s won¡¯t be open for much longer though¡­¡±


    Mateo pointed to the right with his hand and we both turned. ¡°Good point. More importantly, it¡¯s not getting any lighter outside.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue with that. I could see the light from my headlight on the ground and the red glow of his tail lights. The night could only get more vampire friendly from here.


    We weren¡¯t far away from the local Ace Hardware. It was in a small mall off themain road. The clerk and the other customer stared at us and our cart full of hoses, a couple of humidifiers, pipes, and various metal and plastic parts.


    She spent a few seconds flipping over the Motor City Heroes credit card when Mateo handed it to her, biting her lip as she leaned over to look at everything we¡¯d placed the belt.


    ¡°Is there anything wrong,¡± I asked.


    She shook her head and rang us up.


    Within twenty minutes we were back in the base and I was putting things together in the lab.


    Mateo stood watching me for a few seconds, finally asking, ¡°How much holy water?¡±


    ¡°Lots,¡± I said. ¡°As much as you can. You can¡¯t overdo this.¡±


    ¡°Alright. I can¡¯t promise this will be everything you want or if it will work, but I¡¯ll take a shot at it.¡±


    He walked out of the door and within a few minutes, I was no longer there. Physically, I was there, but mentally I was putting things together, one piece after another.


    That meant that I had no idea how much later it was when my comm started going off. It wasn¡¯t an emergency alert, but it was ¡°high priority.¡±


    Noting that it was from Working Man and addressed to both Mateo and I, I took the call, noticing that Mateo had beaten me to it. As I picked up, I heard Working Man¡¯s voice.


    ¡°We don¡¯t need you to come down here. Stay in the base. They can¡¯t come into the base unless they¡¯re invited. There aren¡¯t enough of you to make a difference and there¡¯s plenty of time for then to capture you on the way to join us.¡±


    Deciding it was better to know, I asked, ¡°What happened? I missed the beginning.¡±


    Working Man grunted, ¡°The local Syndicate L group¡¯s been infiltrated by vampires. We¡¯re regrouping for our counterattack. Stay in the base. We can¡¯t risk losing it.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 19

    ¡°Right,¡± I thought back through what we¡¯d been told. ¡°So is everyone in Detroit¡¯s Syndicate L a vampire now or just a few people at the top or something?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± Working Man said. ¡°It¡¯s definitely not everyone, but there are a lot. If I had to guess, it¡¯s at least half of them¡ªwhich is worse. The vampires can¡¯t come in unless invited, but the regular humans just break down the door.¡±


    Mateo¡¯s indrawn breath was audible over the comm, ¡°We¡¯ve seen three completely different types of vampires so far. I wouldn¡¯t assume they all follow the same rules, so it might be that some vampires don¡¯t care about invitations either.¡±


    ¡°Dammit,¡± Working Man sighed. ¡°It¡¯s been that kind of day. Do what you can to hold the base. I still think you¡¯ll be better off staying in there at night than somebody¡¯s apartment. Stay safe and keep us updated. I can¡¯t promise that we can help you, but we¡¯ll try.¡±


    With that, the call was over.


    A few minutes later, Mateo walked into the lab, ¡°You said you wanted a lot of holy water? I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s enough, but we¡¯ve got a water tank in case something happens. I think it¡¯s at least 200 gallons.¡±


    I stared at him, ¡°Wow. That¡¯s huge. I mean, I¡¯m not complaining. It¡¯s good, but why do you have a tank that big?¡±


    He shrugged and leaned against the doorway, ¡°I don¡¯t know. It could have been Working Man being paranoid about the city water system after what happened in Flint, but it also could have been V8 needing a lot of water to make something.¡±


    ¡°Is it full?¡± Filling a tank that big wouldn¡¯t be quick.


    Mateo grinned, ¡°As of a minute ago, it¡¯s not only full but full of holy water. I blessed it, looked it over with the mask and I can see it¡¯s different somehow. Don¡¯t ask me how.¡±


    ¡°Great, I¡¯ve made some progress too. Give me a couple more hours and I think I can get the majority of what I want to do done.¡±


    Then I paused, considering another issue, ¡°How are we going to work sleeping? I¡¯m figuring we¡¯re both stuck here and we could rely on the base¡¯s alarms and hope there aren¡¯t any vampires that can sneak in, or we can post a watch. We won¡¯t get as much sleep, but we might not get surprised in the night.¡±


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    Crossing his arms across his chest, Mateo said, ¡°I think we should stay in the same room. In some stories, they can change form and go through the vents as a rat or something. So we wouldn¡¯t even know they were attacking someone in another room.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow, ¡°Huh. There¡¯s only barely enough space for one in our rooms. Do you want to sleep in the lab?¡±


    Letting out a breath, he replied, ¡°Not really, but the beds fold up and you¡¯ve got the space.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be the first time I slept in the lab, but that was usually in a chair.¡±


    He laughed. ¡°I noticed. Do you want to take first watch? You tend to work on things until late in the night anyway¡­¡±


    Mateo wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    Turning to look down the hall, Mateo said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll set the defenses on high and start rolling my bed.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a few defenses of my own to set,¡± I said.


    * * *


    The first sound I heard when I woke was the whirr of the humidifiers. The second was Mateo¡¯s voice, ¡°Nick, wake up. They¡¯re here.¡±


    The third sound was a metallic crash that shook the room. I opened my eyes and pulled myself up in bed, reaching out to the cube I¡¯d placed at the foot of my bed. It flowed around my body, dressing me, and reforming into V4¡¯s costume, including the helmet.


    By the time my feet touched the floor, I was already wearing boots.


    Glancing away from the screen next to the metal door that shut us off from the hallway, Mateo stared at me, ¡°Is that how you get dressed all the time?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but not in front of people here.¡±


    Looking me up and down, he said, ¡°No kidding,¡± and turned his head back to the screen. ¡°Is that something I shouldn¡¯t tell Working Man?¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a problem. It¡¯s not one of the Rocket¡¯s known powers according to the Villains and Vigilantes database.¡±


    Whatever had made the first metallic crashing noise hit the base again, creating a clanging noise that I felt in my bones and set the parts on the shelves wobbling.


    ¡°What was that?¡± I asked, but I didn¡¯t wait for an answer. My implant connected to the security system and I checked the cameras¡ªall of them simultaneously.


    Despite how close and how solid the crashes felt, the creature wasn¡¯t outside our door. It stood outside the tower itself, hitting against the big steel doors on the first floor of the tower.


    And ¡°creature¡± felt like the best way to describe it even though it was shaped like a human. With its gray skin, bloated flesh like that of someone who had been dead for some time, and black and blue bruises on its face, I didn¡¯t even consider the possibility that it was alive. The pointed ears and nine or maybe ten foot tall muscled body opened up more questions about the thing¡¯s origin than it answered.


    Here¡¯s one: did Andre the Giant go back in time and have sex with elves? The idea didn¡¯t make much sense, but on the whole, the creature¡¯s existence didn''t make much more sense than that.

 Motor City Intern: Part 20

    ¡°A giant vampire?¡± Mateo had opened the security camera app on the lab¡¯s computer. ¡°It looks like one of the Nosferatu out of Vampire: The Masquerade.¡±


    I eyed him, ¡°Do you play that?¡±


    ¡°When I was a teenager, there was a local LARP group that ran events near¡ª¡±


    I grinned, ¡°No way. I wouldn¡¯t have pegged you as a¡ª¡±


    The giant vampire hit the doors again, screaming, its pointed teeth visible. They were big teeth. I could imagine them ripping large chunks of flesh out of whatever it bit.


    Also watching the vampire, Mateo said, ¡°I think we need to stop talking about LARPing and concentrate on how we¡¯re going to take that thing down. Besides, there¡¯s nothing wrong with it.¡±


    My grin widened. Mateo frowned.


    He wasn¡¯t wrong, though. The best thing we could do would be to take the vampire out before he smashed through the door.


    I had the implant activate the gas next to the door, releasing a dense cloud that surrounded the creature, hiding him from view. It was supposed to make him sleep, but it didn¡¯t.


    It did cough and back up from the door, standing there for a minute.


    ¡°Hmmn,¡± I said, ¡°what do you think we should do now?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± Mateo switched from the ground floor cameras to the second floor cameras. They showed something the ground floor cameras didn¡¯t¡ªa white van parked next to the road in front of the tower.


    For a second I thought back to the League¡¯s white van and irrationally hoped that Haley, Cassie, Vaughn, and Daniel might be stepping out of it. I knew better, but it was a nice thought.


    It made the people who did step out doubly disappointing. Three men and one woman exited from the big side doors, all of them carrying AK-47s and wearing dark clothing. My gut told me that the guns were fully automatic, but that wasn¡¯t the bad news.


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    The bad news was that one of them was carrying a briefcase. About ten feet from the tower, she opened it and I could see inside. It contained gray bricks that I guessed were C-4 explosives. I didn¡¯t know exactly how much force the door could take off the top of my head or how much the C-4 she had could deliver, but my bet was that she had enough for the door.


    Mateo drew similar conclusions at about the same time. ¡°Crap.¡±


    ¡°Maybe we open the door?¡± I stood up, pushing myself off the bed. ¡°You can take the vampire and I¡¯ll go for the Syndicate L people.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°Do it.¡±


    My implant connected to the door system and set the door to open, giving the vampire and the Syndicate L a look into the first floor of the tower¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t much more than an elevator shaft to the lower levels.


    The vampire didn¡¯t wait. It ran into the tower and stood there, looking around the room, never looking the same direction for a few seconds. Then it stopped moving, sniffing the air.


    Syndicate L¡¯s finest (or whatever) followed the vampire, but they seemed a little off. I¡¯d fought them before. In general, they seemed well-trained and smart. In this case, they didn¡¯t. The woman with the C-4 closed her briefcase, put it back in the van, and joined the rest in the elevator, talking a little on the way down.


    We didn¡¯t have long to listen, but what conversation I did hear didn¡¯t sound like Syndicate L¡¯s enforcers.


    A tall man with a circular scar in the middle of his right cheek said, ¡°Master says follow the big vampire and kill the Motor City Heroes. They are at the bottom.¡±


    Then all the rest said, ¡°Yes,¡± at once.


    The vampire watched them but said nothing.


    That didn¡¯t make it clear whether they were vampire cultists or mind-controlled Syndicate L enforcers, but I was betting on the latter based on their equipment and what Working Man said.


    The Motor City Heroes¡¯ base was organized roughly as a wheel around a spoke, that spoke being the elevator leading to the surface and the tower. All we had to do was open the door to the lab and we¡¯d be facing them.


    I couldn¡¯t say I was wild about the idea of having people shoot into the lab, but with any luck, they wouldn¡¯t be able to do it for very long.


    Next to me, Mateo drew his rapier and we faced the door on the far wall. The hum of the elevator stopped and I said, ¡°Ready?¡±


    He grinned, ¡°For this? I guess we¡¯ll find out.¡±


    I checked the suit¡¯s weapons power levels, decided they were good enough, said, ¡°Three, two, one¡­ Now.¡±


    The metal door slid open as the vampire gave a roar and ran at us. Two of the Syndicate L enforcers didn¡¯t do as well. They were facing a little to the right, turning toward the door as it opened, as confused as I was the first time I used it.


    The woman who¡¯d been carrying the C-4 and another guy did better, running out after the vampire and firing their rifles at us. Bullets flew and something behind us shattered. I hoped it wasn¡¯t important.


    Mateo flicked a bullet into the wall even as he swayed to avoid others. I¡¯d have watched longer if I had the time.

 Motor City Intern: Part 21

    More than one bullet hit my suit, failing to get through the layers of protection provided by a combination of alien materials with design elements created by both myself and my grandfather. The costume might look like a motorcycle racing suit, but it was a Rocket stealth suit with more protection and a few new ideas.


    The bullets didn¡¯t bounce off. The outer layer absorbed force, causing the bullets to sink in, but then fall to the ground. The few that did bounce off had less force than before, landing at worst a few feet away and lying there.


    It¡¯s not as if it felt good, but on the other hand, I also didn¡¯t have holes in my body. One shot did hit my helmet. That one bounced off, ricocheting into the wall.


    Not wanting to find out what V8 would think about more destruction, I decided to fire back, pointing my arms at them and activating my paralyzation weapons. Since becoming a superhero, I¡¯d encountered two different ways to paralyze people. One used electromagnetic radiation and the other sound. Supers on both sides had figured out how to counter each one.


    I¡¯d created new versions of both and combined them in one weapon.


    So I aimed them at the two Syndicate L goons nearest me¡ªwhich included one guy and the woman who¡¯d been carrying C-4. They both went down, bodies falling on the concrete floor on top of their guns¡ªwhich had to hurt.


    At the same time, they weren¡¯t dead and the guns didn¡¯t fire off.


    If my paralyzation attack hit the big vampire, it showed no sign of it, running toward Mateo. Then Mateo¡¯s sword blazed with light and the huge creature leaped to the left, away from Mateo and directly at me.


    That wasn¡¯t how I¡¯d been hoping this would go. If I were in the Rocket suit, I¡¯d have been fine with going toe-to-toe with it, but not as V4. The V4 suit was stronger than a normal guy, but not strong as supers go.


    I jumped forward, toward the people I¡¯d paralyzed, and passing the big vampire as it landed where I¡¯d been.


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    The vampire took a swipe at me with its clawed hand, but I was just out of reach. It didn¡¯t get time for more than that. Mateo charged it, stabbing the creature in the gut. It bellowed but didn¡¯t go down.


    On one hand, it didn¡¯t go after me¡ªwhich was great. On the other hand, there were two more Syndicate L goons. They¡¯d recovered from facing the wrong direction when the door opened and followed the others. That meant that now that I was standing next to the paralyzed Syndicate L people on the ground, I was less than five feet away from them.


    Their eyes widened as I landed, though that might not have been as much because of me as watching Mateo fight the vampire behind me.


    Either way, they looked as surprised as I felt.


    Not wanting to lose the moment, I held out my arms and sprayed them with paralyzing sound and radiation.


    One of them fell to the ground, hitting with a solid thump that might have knocked him out even if he weren¡¯t paralyzed. The other one was faster or smarter. Either way, he stepped sideways as he saw me raise my arms, moving toward the other side of the room and raising his gun to shoot me.


    Shaking his head as he did, he stared at the three people scattered around me on the ground and then over at the vampire behind me and said, ¡°What?¡±


    I felt like I knew exactly what had happened. Somehow, the combat around him had snapped him out of whatever ability vampires used to control people. On the other hand, assuming that the Syndicate L people were mind-controlled, that he¡¯d broken it, and wanted to be friends was a lot of assumptions to make on the basis of a, ¡°What?¡±


    I took advantage of his confusion to barrage him with all the paralysis I could manage.


    This time he fell to the concrete. If I felt odd about that, I quashed it. All of the Syndicate L people were victims, but they were also hired thugs,  and right now Mateo was fighting the big vampire alone.


    Mind you, he was doing a great job. The vampire hissed at him and swung with its massive arms as Mateo ducked the blow and slashed the creature¡¯s thigh as he moved out of the way.


    Screaming, the creature twisted to swing at him with its other hand and Mateo ducked again, backing toward me.


    The vampire, meanwhile, wasn¡¯t moving as well as it could. In the base¡¯s humid air, its skin had begun to glisten with moisture. More interesting, the bloody slash in the creature¡¯s thigh appeared to be burning. It wasn¡¯t a roaring fire, but more like a fiery vein in a log that had been burning all night.


    As I noticed that, it turned to face me, and I realized that the stabbing wound in the creature¡¯s gut burned with the light of a single small candle.


    I wasn¡¯t the only one to notice. The vampire did too.


    It covered the wound in its gut with its right hand and the moisture on it caught fire for a moment, burning with a bright, white light.

 Motor City Intern: Part 22

    The vampire¡¯s scream started as a hiss, but grew into more as its hand burned, charring the flesh. It covered the burning hand with its arm, smothering the fire between its arm and chest.


    That would have worked with real fire, and it seemed to work here, but white flame flashed outward from the hand. The creature made a grunt that ended in a squeal. Moving its arm, it pulled out the blackened hand and bits of ash drifted toward the ground.


    Mateo stood still, waiting with his sword in his outstretched arm. The vampire looked at him and glanced down at its blackened hand. Then, making a decision, it ran at me instead of Mateo.


    It could have run to the side of me and used the elevator or broke through its roof and climbed up the wall in the base¡¯s center spoke. It ran at me with its claws outstretched, mouth open with visible sharp teeth, and I couldn¡¯t be sure the suit would protect me.


    I pulled one of the new weapons I¡¯d designed off my belt, setting it on shotgun setting with my implant as I raised it up and fired.


    It fired without the shotgun¡¯s traditional booming noise. As names went, shotgun was wishful thinking. It was more a squirt gun with a wide spray option¡ªwhich I used.


    The water covered the vampire¡¯s front in holy water from the head down. It should be news to no one that it didn¡¯t like it.


    Throwing up its arms to protect its face, it started screeching. Then it started blinking its eyes and furiously wiping its face on its short right sleeve.


    That must not have helped because it threw its head into the air and wailed. At the same time, it started hitting its own arms as if trying to put out a fire, scraping and piercing them with its claws.


    As the water hit the scrapes, small tongues of flame rose up from them and the creature¡¯s wailing became louder.


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    Not sure what my next step should be, I backed away, still holding the gun.


    Mateo didn¡¯t hesitate. He started running forward, his feet hitting the ground with a whisper of the noise they should have made.


    Despite the near silence, the creature did jerk its head in Mateo¡¯s direction.


    I took advantage of the moment to fire off another blast toward its face, spraying both its eyes with a fine mist of holy water.


    It shrieked and whirled at me, its claws reaching for my face.


    They didn¡¯t make it to me.


    Mateo¡¯s sword pierced its side between the ribs, sliding upward into the vampire¡¯s heart, the sword glowing with white light.


    Then the entire vampire went up in flame, gouts of fire coming out of the hole the sword made as it came out of the vampire¡¯s chest.


    It screamed as it burned, reaching toward Mateo with its arms, but missing as he ducked and pushed the sword in further.


    The roaring fire burned its body, blackening its skin, and turning it to ash both outside and in¡ªor so I learned as its arm fell off and turned to black and gray dust that reminded me of fully used charcoal.


    It was dead by then and the rest of the body followed, falling to the ground and falling apart the way a sand sculpture might, leaving body shaped lumps in piles of dust.


    Thinking back to the people I¡¯d paralyzed, I stepped back from it and pulled out a can from my belt, spraying their hands and legs with what was basically another version of my goobots except that it didn¡¯t explode out of a flying bot.


    It came out of the can as goo and hardened around what it hit.


    Mateo looked over the Syndicate L goons, ¡°Nice. What did you call that stuff?¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°Nothing, yet. I think that I might have called it ¡®Liquid Cuffs¡¯ once, but I¡¯m pretty sure I stole that from a science fiction novel, and I¡¯m not sure which one.¡±


    He laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t use that then. You don¡¯t need to get sued.¡±


    ¡°I know. I¡¯m wondering if I should make a line of police equipment. The problem is that I¡¯m not sure that I want to connect it to my regular alter ego.¡±


    Leaning over to look more closely at the green goo around one man¡¯s arms, ¡°You already sell a lot of stuff under his name. What¡¯s one more?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s mostly toys and licenses to use ideas we own. This would be real stuff made in our name with real world effects of misuse. That¡¯s different.¡±


    Nodding, Mateo said, ¡°You¡¯ll figure it out. This stuff looks more flexible than handcuffs. That¡¯s not all bad.¡±


    I looked down at the pile of ashes and chunks of grey that had been a vampire. ¡°Thanks for getting that guy before he got me. Holy water hurts them, but it doesn¡¯t seem to take them out by itself. Has your sword ever done that before?¡±


    Mateo frowned, thinking for a moment before saying, ¡°No. Not exactly like this.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 23

    He looked down toward the vampire¡¯s ashen body on the concrete floor, ¡°It¡¯s always been more like what you saw with the first vampire. But I¡¯ve never been in a room with holy water mist either.¡±


    Then he pointed toward my squirt gun, ¡°What did you think?¡±


    I pulled it out and looked it over, ¡°It was okay. I guess I¡¯d been hoping it would have more stopping power. Maybe the thing would dissolve or something? I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Mateo nodded, ¡°It did slow him down. You were working on a stake gun too, weren¡¯t you?¡±


    I pointed back toward the lab, ¡°In the heat of the moment, I didn¡¯t think to grab it. So that¡¯s for next time, assuming Detroit Unity doesn¡¯t handle all of it tonight without us.¡±


    Pursing his lips and letting out a breath, Mateo said, ¡°Don¡¯t mention it to Working Man, but I doubt that¡¯ll happen. This has a feel of one of those nights where everyone is worked past their limit and the situation isn¡¯t under anyone¡¯s control, villain or hero.¡±


    I¡¯d experienced a few of those nights myself.


    Then Mateo frowned. Pointing at the people on the ground, he said, ¡°How long before they can talk?¡±


    I considered it. ¡°It depends, but I don¡¯t think I hit any of them for very long. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they were already able to move again.¡±


    Mateo quirked his lips. ¡°Then I guess it¡¯s good we weren¡¯t discussing anything secret.¡±


    To the Syndicate L goons, he said, ¡°So, do any of you have something to say?¡±


    The woman said, ¡°We follow our master.¡±


    Turning to look at her, Mateo said, ¡°And who¡¯s ¡®master¡¯?¡±


    She didn¡¯t say anything and closed her eyes.


    I pointed at the guy who I thought had broken free. ¡°Try that guy.¡±


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    With a nod, Mateo walked over to where the man lay on the floor. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you know who ¡®master¡¯ is?¡±


    The man tried to move his arms apart but found that my goo had hardened into something he couldn¡¯t break alone. He raised his face from the concrete to look at Mateo and then me. ¡°I have no idea who ¡®master¡¯ is except that he¡¯s not human. He looked into my eyes and I knew that I¡¯d do anything for him.¡±


    Mateo nodded slowly, ¡°What does he look like, and did he give his name?¡±


    The man shuddered, ¡°He¡¯s beautiful. I mean¡­ When he looked into my eyes, I couldn¡¯t see him as anything but beautiful. He doesn¡¯t seem unusual now that I think about him. He¡¯s dark-haired, pale skin, handsome face but long canines, thin¡­ He wears a lot of black.¡±


    ¡°Black suits?¡± I asked. ¡°Tuxedos? Capes?¡±


    Shaking his head, the man said, ¡°No, turtlenecks, jeans, leather jackets. Except sometimes he¡¯d wear button-down shirts. They looked expensive.¡±


    I wondered suddenly how we¡¯d started talking about clothing and then realized it was my fault. ¡°Not too different from your regular bosses then.¡±


    At that point, he started laughing. It wasn¡¯t quite hysterical laughter, but it lasted longer than the comment deserved.


    ¡°You¡¯re not wrong,¡± he said, ¡°but our regular bosses don¡¯t literally suck the staff¡¯s blood. They prefer LaCroix.¡±


    I¡¯d been held captive by Syndicate L a couple times. LaCroix seemed about right.


    They were organized crime if the criminal empire were run by health-conscious, granola-eating, bottled water drinking murderers who got the recommended daily amount of exercise.


    Mateo raised an eyebrow, ¡°Did the vampire give you a name?¡±


    The man snorted, ¡°Barrington.¡±


    ¡°Hmmn,¡± Mateo looked at him. ¡°Barrington? Not Barry?¡±


    The goon shook his head.


    ¡°Barry the vampire?¡± I looked over at Mateo.


    Holding up his hand, Mateo said, ¡°I know that sounds dumb, but Barrington sounds like he ought to be one of the orphans in A Series of Unfortunate Events.¡±


    ¡°Or a teddy bear? I¡¯d be surprised if there isn¡¯t a Barrington Bear toy.¡±


    The goon frowned, ¡°I think my kid has one of those.¡±


    Taking a step closer to the goon, Mateo looked over from the man to me, ¡°We¡¯re getting off-topic. Back to Barrington the vampire¡­ Does he have a last name? Did he say where he grew up? Or when?¡±


    Still looking up from the floor, the goon said, ¡°Dunno. He didn¡¯t give us a last name. I say he¡¯s twenty-something by looks, but he sounds pretty formal. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he were a couple of hundred years old.¡±


    I grinned, ¡°Which means he might actually be a Victorian orphan.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± the goon said, ¡°if you¡¯re going after him, there¡¯s something you ought to know. He¡¯s one of those vampires who walks around during the day. I¡¯m not saying he¡¯s at his best during the day. He covers up, but he¡¯s not afraid of it either.¡±


    Mateo took in a deep breath, ¡°That¡¯s not good news. I don¡¯t know real vampire lore, but in stories I¡¯ve read, it¡¯s the oldest, most powerful ones that can walk around in daylight.¡±


    Putting my hand on my chin, I leaned back against the wall, ¡°That might not be real.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 24

    Laughing, Mateo said, ¡°If I¡¯ve learned anything in this job, it¡¯s to count on the fictional ideas that screw you over turning out to be true. Besides, the mask thinks it¡¯s true.¡±


    I stared at the blue mask on Mateo¡¯s face, ¡°Does it talk to you?¡±


    Mateo shook his head but didn¡¯t say anything more¡ªprobably because of the Syndicate L people in the room. What were we going to do with them?


    Nodding, I said, ¡°Got it. What are we going to do with these people?¡±


    He looked them over, ¡°Good question. We¡¯ve got cells downstairs, but we try not to use them if we have a choice. Standard procedure would be to call the police and have them picked up. We¡¯ve got footage of them trying to break in and attacking us. That¡¯ll be enough for the police to hold them at least. It might not be enough to charge them once mind control comes up, but it won¡¯t be our problem.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have the people to hold them and technically, we might be charged with kidnapping if we do. I don¡¯t think they¡¯d do it, but it¡¯s better not to force them to consider it.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t wrong, but, ¡°With everything going on tonight, do you think the police will take them?¡±


    He shrugged, ¡°I have no idea.¡±


    We called them and they took the criminals away along with a copy of our footage of the attack. As we closed the doors to the tower, I asked, ¡°Did the officers look nervous to you?¡±


    Frowning, Mateo considered it, ¡°Tired and nervous, I think. Did you notice how they didn¡¯t answer when I asked them how the night was going? They left as soon as they could. We need to keep this place open in case Working Man needs someplace to retreat to, but I¡¯m beginning to think he¡¯ll need us in the field.¡±


    I thought about my bed. I didn¡¯t feel sleepy after that fight, but it was four in the morning. If I got some sleep, I¡¯d be better prepared for all of it¡ªespecially if Barrington could get around during the day.


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    ¡°Are you going to mind if I go to sleep?¡±


    He laughed, ¡°Go for it. I don¡¯t promise you¡¯ll get to sleep, but you should try it if you¡¯ve got the chance.¡±


    * * *


    I woke to feel Mateo poking my shoulder and saying, ¡°Nick, we¡¯ve got a call.¡±


    Grunting, I woke up and let the implant connect to the call. Working Man was in the center of the picture with Athletica and others behind him.


    Working Man¡¯s voice came through, deep but with a scratchy sound as if he¡¯d been shouting. ¡°They¡¯ve got access to one of Syndicate L¡¯s armories. They¡¯ve been using civilians and police against us. We¡¯re going around them so that we don¡¯t have to fight them. Chromatic thinks he can break the vampires¡¯ control over the crowds, but we have to get back to Unity¡¯s base for materials.¡±


    Leaning toward the screen, Mateo asked, ¡°What do you need from us?¡±


    Taking a look back at something in the darkness, Working Man didn¡¯t say anything at first, but then he turned back to the screen, ¡°Meet us at Unity¡¯s base. They¡¯re calling in their reserve members and local heroes from the suburbs. We¡¯re calling in everyone¡ªV8¡¯s on her way. There are too many of them to leave anyone out of the fight¡ª¡±


    An explosion turned the computer screen white and red for a second, but then the darkness returned except that fire roared on the left of the screen. Shouts and screams dominated the background noise.


    Working Man shouted over it. ¡°Meet us at the base!¡±


    Then the picture turned black, resolving into the Motor City Heroes logo. I reached out and activated my armor, feeling it coat my body and harden as Mateo turned around, ¡°I¡¯m going to check the news.¡±


    He did, flipping from one local channel to another. A few were showing reruns of sitcoms and police dramas. Others showed infomercials, news, and TV preachers.


    None of them showed fighting in downtown Detroit.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect that vampires were that good,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a complete blackout on all of it.¡±


    Voice barely more than a whisper, Mateo said, ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°My gut feeling,¡± I continued, ¡°is that it might be too good to just be vampires unless there are a lot of vampires. I feel like it might be the Dominators to get all of it that completely.¡±


    Flipping from channel to channel, he said, ¡°I¡¯ve never fought the Dominators or the Nine, but whoever is running this knows what they¡¯re doing. I¡¯ve never seen vampires act on this scale. If they get away with it, they might be able to control the entire city.¡±


    If they were this good at controlling the media, I wondered what else they controlled. It didn¡¯t seem possible that they could prevent people from talking about it online, but I didn¡¯t have time to check.


    Mateo was already in full costume and I was close. Pushing myself off the bed, I watched notifications as the V4 costume finished assembling itself and connected remotely to my motorcycle.


    I pulled everything I¡¯d been working on off of the shelves. It looked like I¡¯d need it.

 Motor City Intern: Part 25

    With a full utility belt and arms, I carried my new equipment down the hall and over to the bike. Watching through my implant as the new components integrated, I didn¡¯t see any error messages.


    I¡¯d tested it and knew there shouldn¡¯t be errors, but it was nice to know that that was true in reality.


    Mateo had already seated himself on his bike, ¡°Ready?¡±


    ¡°Think so. It¡¯s only a small modification and one that I¡¯d planned for when I designed the bike. There¡¯s no reason to think that anything will go wrong.¡±


    His risen eyebrow was visible through his helmet¡¯s face shield, ¡°Are you trying to convince me or yourself?¡±


    I pulled on my helmet, ¡°Mostly me. Are we going to Unity¡¯s base?¡±


    Pushing the button on the handlebar that started the engine, he said, ¡°That¡¯s what Working Man told us to do. We¡¯ll follow directions until there¡¯s a good reason not to.¡±


    Then he drove his bike out of the garage and into the spoke and the elevator.


    Starting my bike with a thought that my implant relayed, I followed him out, using my communicator to reply, ¡°Like the base being overrun?¡±


    ¡°That,¡± he said, watching me as I stopped in the middle of the room, ¡°but even then we might want to check if there¡¯s anyone we can save.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue with that.


    We drove our bikes into the middle of the spoke, waited as the walls came up around us, and rode the elevator up to the tower. There, after checking the cameras, we activated the door and drove out into the street.


    It felt eerie and empty in a normal sense as opposed a, ¡°full of the undead,¡± sense. We weren¡¯t the only vehicles on the road, but it felt like it. Between the blocks with one house or a couple of darkened businesses and seeing headlights a long way down the road ahead, I could imagine that we lived in a post-human world.


    As we passed a block that had been transformed into an urban farm, I thought I saw a pumpkin move. It was several rows back from the road, so if I wasn¡¯t imagining things, it chose not to give chase.


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    I had no idea if a pumpkin vampire would be harder or easier to defeat than a watermelon vampire, but I didn¡¯t need to find out through personal experience. Maybe someone would fight them both and tell me about it someday.


    It wasn¡¯t the only urban farm on our way. I watched for moving vegetables each time.


    I didn¡¯t see any. I did see some raccoons and a skunk. The raccoons looked up from investigating a bag with a McDonald¡¯s logo to watch us with interest. The skunk didn¡¯t even stop waddling across the street as we passed it.


    In the back of my mind, I wondered if it would be worth stopping to see if we could reach ¡°Skunk Lord,¡± the Detroit super who controlled small mammals, deciding not to. He had a tendency to show up when he wanted to and not as requested for one. For another, if the vampires (or the Dominators) got into his head, I didn¡¯t like our chances.


    When we reached the highway, it felt more normal. With the steady stream of trucks and cars, some of which were likely headed toward Canada, I could believe it was a normal night.


    That belief ended when Mateo said, ¡°Let¡¯s get off the highway early. It¡¯s easier for them to watch the highway exits than all the roads into downtown.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t wrong. We took an exit about four miles earlier than we needed to, driving upward into a neighborhood of small, rectangular houses and empty lots where there used to be more. It didn¡¯t feel as empty as it did near the Tower, but even in the dark, I still felt the lack.


    As we came to a stop at the first stoplight at the end of the exit ramp, bats fluttered down and then materialized into human shapes wearing black. Switching to the helmet¡¯s composite view, I hoped that it would be enough to avoid looking into their eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take the one on the right,¡± I began.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Mateo pulled out two plastic bags of white rice from a compartment on his bike and threw them in front of the vampires. The bags broke, scattering across the road.


    Instead of trying to grab us, they bent down and began to count the grains. ¡°One! Two! Three grains of rice! Four¡­¡±


    We roared off and they kept on counting, one of them glaring in our direction as we did, but not stopping.


    I glanced over at Mateo. He was checking his mirror, not trusting whatever he¡¯d done either, but they were still counting.


    ¡°What was that all about?¡±


    He stopped checking the mirror to look at me, ¡°I read that if you throw rice or salt to the ground, vampires are compelled to count the grains. So I bought some rice while you were buying garlic powder at the grocery store.¡±


    We¡¯d visited it last night after the hardware store.


    ¡°I think we need to hurry. It looks like they have to count but it doesn¡¯t look like they like it. They¡¯re going to tell people or come after us.¡± Then I had another thought, ¡°Do you think that¡¯s where Sesame Street came up with Count Von Count?¡±


    Mateo checked his mirror again, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I think I should have just bought salt. It¡¯s got more grains for the same space.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 26

    As we rode, I kept on checking behind us with my helmet¡¯s peripheral vision. The vampires didn¡¯t show up. I didn¡¯t know whether this was good news or bad. Counting two bags worth of rice wouldn¡¯t be quick by any stretch of the imagination.


    If your best way to fly involved turning into a bat, they wouldn¡¯t have much of a chance of catching up with us either. I didn¡¯t know how quickly bats flew off the top of my head, but I felt confident motorcycles were faster.


    On the other hand, they might know where we were going and see no reason to interfere because they assumed we were doomed.


    We drove through neighborhoods with older houses with big porches, wide streets with blocky one story buildings that sold auto parts, Mexican food, advertised themselves as a ¡°supermercado,¡± or in one case, ¡°Chicago¡¯s Pizza.¡±


    That one struck me as strange because Detroit had its own style of pizza. On the other hand, it wasn¡¯t as if people were required to eat it every time simply because they lived there.


    There were still empty lots, but now that we were in southwest Detroit, there weren¡¯t as many. There were more signs in Spanish¡ªwhich meant we were riding through Mexicantown. It made sense. Mexicantown was north of Detroit Unity¡¯s headquarters.


    Driving down almost empty streets in the dark meant that nothing was open in the first place and that this section of the city looked different more becauseI knew what it looked like during the day than how it looked now.


    Darkness hid the brighter colors on some stores and any sign that wasn¡¯t lit up.


    At first, it also hid any signs of the fight. It wasn¡¯t as if I saw police on every street corner or supers in the sky.


    The distant sound of sirens was the first hint of what was coming. That and the sight of a helicopter flying south above us.


    Zooming in on it, I told Mateo, ¡°That was an Apache. Think it might be from the military base near here?¡±


    His voice came over the comm, ¡°No idea. I¡¯ve never gone there. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d have called in the Unity team if they needed help.¡±


    His helmet tipped upward as he followed the copter¡¯s progress across the night sky. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they used the military against Unity. It would be one way to pin them down¡ªunless the police bought one as surplus.¡±


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    The helicopter disappeared into the darkness. ¡°Think that¡¯s possible?¡±


    Mateo shook his head, ¡°I¡¯ve heard of departments getting military equipment to use against supervillains, but if they had one tough enough that they needed it, they¡¯d call in Unity.¡±


    ¡°Which means that if they were going up against Unity, it¡¯d be a good reason for its first use.¡± Reviewing what I¡¯d seen of the helicopter with my implant, I didn''t see any obvious missiles or other weapons, but it might be a good floating platform for devices that prevented telepathy or teleportation.


    Nodding, Mateo said, ¡°The Unity team might disagree, but yeah. Um¡­ I¡¯ve been listening in on the police and I think we might have to park our bikes and walk in.¡±


    ¡°What have you been hearing?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve surrounded the place and they¡¯re trying not to let anyone in or out. Some of the officers don¡¯t sound completely happy with the orders they¡¯re being given, but no one¡¯s challenging them directly from what I¡¯ve heard. They¡¯re being told that the Dominators are controlling the team.¡±


    I stared out into the darkness ahead of us, failing to see anything more than older houses. ¡°That figures. I guess sneaking in is worth a shot, but my bike is my best equipment.¡±


    Mateo laughed, ¡°I know. We¡¯ll get as close as we can before we ditch them.¡±


    We got as close as we could, but it wasn¡¯t that close.


    Unity¡¯s headquarters stood on what had been an empty field near the Mistersky Power Station, a big, brick building on the Detroit River.


    Unity HQ wasn¡¯t on the river itself. It was across the street and a few blocks down from the power station, but the station and its smokestacks were visible all around it.


    On a good day, the area looked like an industrial park that included both abandoned, empty, green fields, and old factories still producing whatever a business called (for example) Detroit Tube Products would produce.


    Unity HQ reminded me of nothing more than a castle. Several stories tall with grey, concrete walls, its tower and main entrance stood to the left. Though it had big windows on the top story, there weren¡¯t any on the first two levels and the building stood in the middle of its lot, giving it the benefit of open land on all sides.


    Though designed to have appealing, rounded shapes, the short pillars around the building were made to stop vehicles from getting too close.


    So, on a good day, despite the mowed, dark green grass that gave it the feel of a modern office building, it was a fortress.


    This wasn¡¯t a good day. It wasn¡¯t even a good night and police cars backed up by armored personnel carriers had blocked off the area around it for blocks¡ªbig blocks.


    We stopped when we could see the lights surrounding it, but a quarter-mile from the nearest police cars. As big as Unity HQ, we couldn¡¯t see much more than the grey walls. We¡¯d pulled our motorcycles up to a group of trees twenty feet from the road. Tipping the bikes over, we stood within the trees, hoping we wouldn¡¯t be too obvious.


    ¡°The way I see it,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯ve got a choice between trying to sneak through an open field slowly and maybe getting caught or riding closer on our bikes and hoping Unity might find a way to get us in. I don¡¯t like our chances either way.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 27

    Mateo looked at me and then out toward Unity¡¯s HQ, ¡°I¡¯m sure there¡¯s a way. Do you think you could fly in? Imagine if you snuck in as close as you could and then flew the rest of the way.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Assuming they didn¡¯t try to shoot me out of the air and that Unity¡¯s base doesn¡¯t aim their air defenses at me, sure.¡±


    Grinning, Mateo said, ¡°But it¡¯s one more option than sneaking it or racing up to the front door, right? I think we can make a few more options if we talk to people.¡±


    I had to concede the point and honestly, I should have thought of it myself. ¡°Good point. Imagine if we called the base before we tried to sneak in and coordinated with them or something¡­¡±


    Still, with a hint of a smile, Mateo noted, ¡°They¡¯d be less likely to shoot you out of the air for one and if we¡¯re really lucky, maybe they¡¯ll have an underground sewer entrance.¡±


    Thinking about the cracked streets and general feeling of industrial neglect around me, I said, ¡°A walk through the sewers sounds exactly like something I¡¯d want to do.¡±


    He laughed, ¡°I know, but honestly, the rocket boots aren¡¯t the only thing you¡¯ve got that flies, right?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°No. The bike turns into powered armor. It¡¯s more in the style of Japanese mechs so it doesn¡¯t immediately make you think of the Rocket.¡±


    Slowly nodding his head, he said, ¡°Good. That fits with V8. Her cars have always transformed in one way or another. Working Man will probably be okay with it. Can you make it to the roof and carry me if you have to?¡±


    Taking another look at the glowing lights of police cars and the helicopter circling Unity¡¯s base, I said, ¡°I think so, but not your bike.¡±


    ¡°We can come back for my bike if we have to.¡± Then he said, ¡°I¡¯m calling the base and looping you in.¡±


    A beep came over my comm as the helmet said, ¡°Joining call,¡± followed by ringing and a woman¡¯s voice answering, ¡°Blue Mask? We¡¯re in the middle of something right now.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m outside,¡± Mateo said. ¡°We¡¯re meeting up here with Working Man, Athletica, and all the rest of the people who were targeting Syndicate L tonight.¡±


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    Nanosecond talked a little too quickly, but between years of knowing Jaclyn, I could translate her words. Plus, my implant helped. ¡°They¡¯re not here. I don¡¯t know where they are. Chromatic called in twenty minutes ago, and I haven¡¯t heard from them since.¡±


    I turned to check around us, trying to see any sign of others hunkering down out here. I didn¡¯t see any.


    I checked my helmet¡¯s communicator. I¡¯d set up the Motor City Heroes¡¯ comms the same as the League¡¯s¡ªincluding the constant GPS location. Working Man had insisted that the GPS needed to be able to be turned off in case someone hacked the system.


    It didn¡¯t surprise me that neither he nor Athletica¡¯s location showed up. Not fo the first time, I wished I¡¯d been persuasive enough about the benefits of being able to find other team members to convince him to keep it on.


    Still, fighting mind-controlling vampires might be a good time to go dark. Even if the system couldn¡¯t be hacked, a vampire could hack anyone on the team.


    Breaking through my thoughts, Mateo asked Nanosecond, ¡°What would it take for us to get in?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Convince me that you¡¯re not mind controlled too?¡±


    Even over the comm, I could hear Mateo sigh, ¡°How am I supposed to do that? Okay. I think I can. Nanosecond, you know me and you know the mask. Do you think it would stay on me and let me use it to serve a vampire? Get my location. Zoom in on me. You¡¯ll find me in full gear¡ªmask, sword, and everything.¡±


    Sound came through from Nanosecond¡¯s end. It might have been quick footsteps or the click of a keyboard. It was hard to say, but it was followed by Nanosecond¡¯s voice, ¡°That¡¯s good enough for me to give you the benefit of the doubt. Is that V4 with you?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you tell that I¡¯m still me, but I¡¯m betting Blue Mask might be able to tell.¡±


    With a crackle that I¡¯d want to look into later, Mateo said, ¡°I would. Is that enough?¡±


    If Nanosecond paused to think, I didn¡¯t notice, but I probably wouldn¡¯t. She said, ¡°Yes. Alright, there¡¯s a garage not far from where you are. I¡¯ll send you the location. Take your motorcycles. There¡¯s a tunnel in the back that leads to the base.¡±


    Mateo looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me about that the other times I¡¯ve been here.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t need to know,¡± she said and closed the connection.


    Picking up his bike from where he¡¯d put it on the ground, he looked at me, ¡°I¡¯ve been working with these guys for two years now, off and on, and I didn¡¯t need to know.¡±


    I picked up my bike and once it got it about a foot off the ground, the tires adjusted their shapes, moving the bike upright. Mateo watched and shook his head.


    As I threw my leg over the body and sat down, I noticed that a rabbit sat next to one of the trees. Little more than a shape in the darkness, it watched us. It might be just a rabbit, but on the off-chance that it was the Skunklord¡¯s, I talked to it.


    ¡°Hey, we need some help. Working Man and Athletica might be meeting us at the base over there, but they might have been captured. We don¡¯t want them to become vampires. Can you help? We¡¯ll be in the base.¡±


    The rabbit chewed on some grass.


    Mateo motioned toward the road, saying, ¡°Nice try,¡± as he gave the motorcycle some gas.


    The rabbit stopped chewing, turned, and hopped away.

 Motor City Intern: Part 28

    I followed Mateo down the road to a shed made of corrugated metal that stood next to a long one-story building made of concrete. If I hadn¡¯t known that it let to Unity¡¯s base, I¡¯d have assumed that it was part of the factory it was closest to. Maybe it was¡ªofficially.


    While the outside featured weeds and a driveway that was cracked concrete, the inside featured a smooth path that led downward into a well-lit arched tunnel that reminded me of tunnels in the Rocky Mountains, but less wide.


    It ended like it had started at the shed¡ªwith steel doors that opened wide to let us in. I assumed they had to be operated by the staff because Mateo didn¡¯t need to swipe a card or do a retinal scan.


    The metal doors opened into a concrete parking garage (complete with yellow lines and exit signs) filled with decidedly normal cars. This wasn¡¯t the only set of steel doors in sight. I guessed this might be the staff¡¯s garage or maybe even the garage everybody used for their civilian vehicles.


    Either way, the elevator on the far side of the room opened as we approached, leaving our bikes with the rest of them.


    It went up several floors, stopping to open its doors and let us out into what looked like a command center¡ªa real one, unlike the one I was used to in the bunker under my grandfather¡¯s house.


    Here, people in red and blue uniforms sat at workstations and stared up at giant screens showing the police surrounding the base, a map of the base with its defenses, and screen after screen of entrances and exits from the base.


    Nanosecond met us as we stepped out of the elevator. Wearing a multi-color blur of a costume based on a material my grandfather once used for C, his team¡¯s speedster, she stopped next to Mateo.


    She might not have been trying to leave me out, but I had to step around him to join the conversation.


    ¡°Good news,¡± she said, ¡°we¡¯ve heard from Chromatic and your people. They¡¯re coming this way in a police SUV. They plan to drive straight down the tunnel we sent you down.¡±


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    ¡°They stole an SUV from the police?¡±


    She cocked her head, frowning, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was assuming they¡¯d found a cop who hadn¡¯t been mind-controlled.¡±


    It made sense. As a team, Detroit Unity was more a group of street fighters than most big teams. Chromatic had wings and could fly, but he was more of a glider.


    At the same time, it didn¡¯t feel quite right to me. Working Man had called us more than twenty minutes ago and told us to meet him here, but we¡¯d beaten him and he¡¯d gone radio silent in the meantime.


    It felt off now that I thought about it.


    I had my implant start a call to Working Man over my suit¡¯s comm. Even as I listened to a recording of a phone ringing, one of Unity¡¯s staff broke in with, ¡°They¡¯re in the tunnel.¡±


    Then he pointed over at one of the screens. It showed a police SUV coming to a stop in the parking garage below the complex. Chromatic, a red, green, and blue scaled dragon-like humanoid stepped out along with a police officer, Athletica, and three humanoid hamsters in karate uniforms. I didn¡¯t remember their names, but I did know their origin involved a pet store and an industrial accident.


    I didn¡¯t see Working Man at all. Unease rippled through me and I asked, ¡°Where¡¯s Working Man? He was with Athletica when he called us.¡±


    Nanosecond frowned, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Our people all got separated in that ambush. I don¡¯t know who¡¯s in what group.¡±


    As she spoke, I noticed more movement on the screen. Chromatic, Athletica, the karate hamsters, and the police officer weren¡¯t the only ones to get out of the car. A mist seeped out the door and along with it came a flying head with its ears beating in the air.


    Chromatic waved them all into the elevator.


    Not able to muster words to describe everything that was wrong about this situation, I pointed at the screen intending to say something along the lines of, ¡°Look at the vampires that have mind controlled your people and have been invited into your base!¡±


    At the moment, all I managed was, ¡°Gah!¡±


    They did look.


    Mateo did use his words, saying, ¡°They¡¯re going to open the doors on the first floor.¡±


    I felt almost certain he was right about that.


    Nanosecond must have agreed because she turned into a blur and ran the short distance down from the elevator to a door that opened up into a stairway.


    By some measurements, I think more quickly than a normal person, but I don¡¯t move or talk faster. So while I thought that Nanosecond running alone downstairs to face the group might be a bad tactical decision, I only managed to say, ¡°Hey,¡± before she disappeared.

 Motor City Intern: Part 29

    Mateo and I looked at each other. I said, ¡°We¡¯d better get down there,¡± while he said, ¡°She¡¯s not going to be able to take them alone.¡±


    At least we tried to, starting, getting few words out, and then deciding by mutual, unstated agreement that we were on the same page. We ran for the elevator we¡¯d only just exited.


    As we reached the elevator, Mateo turned to shout at the room, ¡°From what we see, the people that just came back are under the vampires¡¯ control. Don¡¯t let them up here. Don¡¯t let anyone open the doors to the outside, and above all else, if you see a vampire or something that could be a vampire, don¡¯t invite them in here, okay?¡±


    All the men and women in their red and blue uniforms and ¡°Detroit Unity¡± insignias stared at him. One man, his brown hair touched with gray, nodded.


    It was something. Better Mateo than me to try something like that, they knew who he was.


    Not for the first time, I wished for the Rocket suit and its undeserved instant credibility.


    The elevator¡¯s doors opened and we stepped inside, pressing button ¡°B¡± for basement. The doors shut and the elevator sank downward.


    As the elevator hummed, Mateo drew his rapier and faced the elevator door. I would have drawn a sword, but my weapons weren¡¯t as impressive. My best ones were part of the bike.


    Also, if we were fighting mind-controlled supers, holy water wasn¡¯t going to do a bit of good. I couldn¡¯t think of anything that ended a vampire¡¯s charm, or whatever you called their mental influence, short of punching people unconscious and hoping they woke up normal.


    The elevator stopped and the doors opened to the parking lot and a scene I¡¯d half-expected.


    Nanosecond stood between two rows of cars off to the left of the elevator. In front of her, a tall pale man wearing a green suit (including a vest), a black cape, and a a purple sash. It made me think of pre-World War 1 European nobility.


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    My bet was that he¡¯d been the mist I¡¯d seen come out of the car.


    The three adolescent karate hamsters, Athletica, and Chromatic stood just past the vampire and Nanosecond¡ªin front of the row of cars and facing us.


    Something screeched. It was the flying head, ears flapping as it hovered. If it had been any normal creature doing the same thing, there would have been a physics paper in how it was staying in the air. Bearing in mind that it was a vampire, the answer to that question was almost certainly (and disappointingly) magic.


    The vampire in front of Nanosecond turned to look at us. I felt an urge to stare into its eyes, but I¡¯d prepared for that¡ªmy implant switched to my radar/sonar/infrared composite view and shut off my direct view of his face.


    The pressure on my mind ended. I don¡¯t know what Mateo did, but his sword glowed a little brighter.


    He said, ¡°Nice try, vampire. You need to let all of them go and then leave this place. And by place, I mean lands where humans live. We know how to fight you and if you stay here, you¡¯ll be destroyed.¡±


    The vampire smiled and spoke in an accent that sound like it was from Eastern Europe. I couldn¡¯t place where. ¡°A hero? I see that you wear one of the masks. I may know more about them than you. I¡¯ve fought them before. Now to be honest, I know little or nothing about this V4 fellow, but I know the most important thing. He¡¯s mortal and I know how to fight that. You fight mortals with other mortals.¡±


    The vampire glanced over at me, frowning for a moment, but then smiling again, ¡°Whatever he is, the two of you will have to face six of your own kind if you choose to fight me¡ªChromatic, your dragon mage, as well as Athletica, Nanosecond, and the three martial rodents. I don¡¯t think that you¡¯ll stand a chance.¡±


    Then he grinned, showing his teeth. The canines were quite long.


    ¡°And even if you are, are you willing to risk killing them? These are your friends, are they not? They won¡¯t be fighting you of their own free will. No, I think it¡¯s you that should leave. If you don¡¯t, I assure you that if they get badly hurt, we¡¯ll have to transform them into our own, but if they stay unhurt enough to be useful, we may let them go while they¡¯re still mortal.¡±


    Mateo raised an eyebrow, ¡°And they¡¯ll be truly free? They won¡¯t have any little hooks embedded in their minds in case you need them later?¡±


    The vampire gave a dry, raspy laugh, ¡°I see you do know us. I can¡¯t say we won¡¯t prepare for the future, but I don¡¯t have a specific use for them right now. Think of it as a choice between having live friends whose minor enslavements can perhaps be removed and undead enemies who might resent how your choices affected them.¡±


    Trying not to imagine Athletica or the others as vampires, I said, ¡°Are you sure you want to be doing this? This is the kind of thing that brings in wizards and even official teams of wizards tasked with destroying you.¡±


    Staring at me, the vampire said, ¡°Who are you?¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 30

    ¡°I¡¯m... just a guy,¡± I said, ¡°but I¡¯ve got a couple wizards on speed dial. You guys need to rethink what you¡¯re doing. This is too loud for us to ignore.¡±


    The vampire froze and then started shouting at me. No longer the image of sophisticated vampiric nobility, it hissed,¡°It¡¯s all your fault! We were quietly turning Syndicate L into a tool for finding victims and recruits, but then a few of us got greedy and you people,¡± he waved his hand, including the mind controlled supers as well as Mateo and me in the gesture, ¡°decided to raid us.¡±


    He looked over at Nanosecond as she stood next to him, unmoving. ¡°We weren¡¯t loud before, but we¡¯ll defend ourselves now. Kill them!¡±


    Many things happened at once. The vampire looked at me, showing his teeth and stepping in my direction. At the same time, the flying vampire head flew upward toward the ceiling, Nanosecond blurred, running toward me, and Mateo¡¯s rapier glowed with a brighter light.


    It would have been nice if it stopped there, but it didn¡¯t. A reddish glow grew around Chromatic as he chanted and raised his arms in a spell while all three hamsters charged Mateo and I. Athletica ran after the hamsters.


    Unlike Nanosecond, my physical speed wasn¡¯t any better than a normal person even if my mental speed was. The good news about connecting my weaponry to my implant was that my weaponry could respond at the speed of thought.


    I blasted the room with noise and electromagnetic radiation designed to paralyze. The radiation was outside human sight and the sound outside human hearing, but that didn¡¯t stop devices on Mateo and my utility belts from buzzing and counteracting the sound around us.


    Nanosecond, to no one¡¯s surprise, came at us first¡ªand by ¡°us,¡± I mean me. Even though I could fire at the speed of thought, I still had to aim at the speed of my arm. The good news? I didn¡¯t have aim much. Paralyzation beams were a weapon where close was good enough.


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    My HUD showed the beam crossing the lower half of her body and her upper legs. It wasn¡¯t as good as a headshot which would have taken her out, but it had an effect¡ªshe fell over, catching herself with her arms, but unable to bend her upper legs.


    She struggled to right herself on her arms and knees, her butt sticking up in the air.


    The beams also caught one of the karate hamsters, Rembrandt, I think. That was the one that did the spinning kicks. He fell face forward, turning the fall into a roll and ending up on his back.


    I had to admire the thoroughness of his training even if it didn¡¯t help when you can¡¯t control your legs.


    Beside me, Mateo held out his sword and the vampires shrank back in the light. The other hamsters didn¡¯t. Mateo kept his sword in between one and himself.


    The other hamster reached out and punched at Mateo¡¯s face. Catching the punch in one hand, Mateo said a word from no language I recognized.


    The hamster shook his head, eyes wide and looking over at the other hamster, ¡°Hieronymous! Stop fighting, man! The vampire got into our minds.¡±


    Hieronymous didn¡¯t listen, giving Mateo a punch to the gut that I saw coming, but didn¡¯t have time to do anything about. Mateo seemed to crumple inward, still holding his sword, but taking a quick, indrawn breath. Hieronymous¡¯ specialty was pressure points if I remembered correctly.


    As Mateo stumbled backward, the hamster he¡¯d freed stepped in between him and Hieronymous. By process of elimination, that had to be Vincent.


    Vincent sunk into a ready position, left arm upright as a guard, right arm near his waist ready to become a punch, ¡°He¡¯s one of the good guys, remember?¡±


    Hieronymous didn¡¯t say anything, but Athletica pushed herself off of a car bumper into the air, aiming herself toward Mateo. In the same moment, the red glow around Chromatic turned into a blast of fire that Mateo blocked with his sword.


    I didn¡¯t have time to find out what happened after that because the flying vampire head dove toward me with its mouth open, fangs ready to sink into whatever part of me it could reach.


    My right arm turned out to be closest. It aimed for my bicep, but I twisted, punching it with my left arm and sending it flying sideways with its ears flapping to right itself, hitting a car with a metallic thump.


    Even as I felt a touch of relief, a hand grabbed my left arm, yanking me sideways.


    While I knew intellectually that vampires were strong, I hadn¡¯t been thinking about it. Now I had no choice. I couldn¡¯t pull away.


    I used my implant to connect to the motorcycle as the vampire grabbed my other arm. ¡°Nice armor. I wonder how well it will withstand my teeth?¡±


    My bike¡¯s engine came to life.

 Motor City Intern: Part 31

    It wasn¡¯t the classic roar of your average motorcycle, but a quiet, electric hum and nothing that anyone would notice in a fight. I got access to the gun I¡¯d adjusted before going to bed last night and turned on the targeting mechanism, adjusting the motorcycle¡¯s position by a small turn of the handles and putting the vampire in almost the right position for a shot.


    I got the vampire the rest of the way by leaning into him. I¡¯d been trying to pull away, so it was less like changing direction than letting him ¡°win¡± and adding a little momentum.


    Two things happened at once. The first? He bit me and it turned out that his fangs could pierce my armor. They went through as if it wasn¡¯t there in much the same way that Amy¡¯s spear did. It hurt and not a small pain either. I wanted to scream, remembering that Amy¡¯s spear sucked the life out of someone.


    Don¡¯t ask me to explain that scientifically. It makes zero sense, but it doesn¡¯t matter whether it makes scientific sense if it¡¯s killing you.


    The second thing? My bike fired off a burst of three wooden stakes. The first went through the vampire¡¯s temple and came out of his eye. The second hit the middle of his abdomen from the side.


    It couldn¡¯t have felt good, but nothing special happens when a wooden stake goes into a vampire¡¯s liver.


    The third stake went into the vampire¡¯s back at an angle. I saw it from the motorcycle¡¯s cameras. It went in at the right angle to hit the heart, but not far enough.


    The vampire still held my left bicep, but my hand had gone around to the back when I, ignoring the pain of the vampire¡¯s teeth in my shoulder, I reached around, pushing it in with all the strength my suit¡¯s artificial muscles gave me.


    His teeth came out of my shoulder and he slumped, eyes rolling up into his head. He let go of my arms last.


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    From above me came the sound of a raspy voice¡ªa glance upward told me that it was the flying vampire head. ¡°Retreat! Run! Go!¡±


    Chromatic ran toward Nanosecond, scaled legs pumping as he ran past me and the downed vampire. ¡°To me!¡±


    I began to step over the vampire as the flying head swooped down and Nanosecond, Chromatic, and it disappeared with a pop.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know he could do that,¡± I said aloud and then remembered that Athletica and Hieronymous Hamster had been attacking Mateo. Checking my helmet¡¯s peripheral vision, I saw that Vincent Hamster stood over Hieronymous who was now lying unconscious on the concrete. As I looked, Vincent sighed.


    Athletica, meanwhile, lay on the floor near Hieronymous, arms restrained by a bola. She struggled within the ropes. Mateo leaned forward, saying a few words under his breath, and touching her shoulder. She stopped struggling and fell asleep.


    Vincent turned toward him, ¡°Can you do the same for my brothers? I don¡¯t want them to wake up still controlled by that thing.¡±


    Mateo smiled, ¡°I can try.¡±


    He stood over Hieronymous. Each breath lengthened and Heironymous¡¯ body relaxed as Mateo spoke. When Mateo repeated himself over Rembrandt¡¯s paralyzed form. Rembrandt slumped, no longer paralyzed and watching us, but now sleeping like the others.


    Vincent stroked a bloodied mat out of Rembrandt¡¯s fur, and turned to Mateo, saying, ¡°Thank you. I won¡¯t forget this.¡±


    Nodding, Mateo said, ¡°You¡¯re welcome. I wouldn¡¯t have left them like that.¡±


    Thinking about the fight, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t suppose there¡¯s a way to turn that into an area of effect uh¡­ effect?¡±


    Mateo shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t even understand what I did. The mask showed me how to do it at about the time you saw me do it.¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°I thought I¡¯d ask. It would have ended that fight almost as it began.¡±


    Vincent touched the watch on his wrist, ¡°Staff, we need medical assistance for Rembrandt, Hieronymous, and Athletica. We¡¯ll also need to preserve a vampire¡¯s body for the authorities. You can find us in the garage.¡±


    He let his arm fall to his side, turning to Mateo and I, ¡°We¡¯re going to get them back now, right? Nanosecond, Chromatic, and whoever else they¡¯ve got?¡±


    Mateo looked down at his face. ¡°Do you want to be with us instead of here with your brothers? Whatever I did put them to sleep to heal from what the vampire did to their heads. You might need some time too.¡±


    Vincent shook his furry head, ¡°No. The vampires enslaved my brothers and members of my team. Chromatic and Nanosecond are still enslaved. I¡¯m going to do what you¡¯re doing and what my brothers would do if they were awake. I¡¯m going with you and we¡¯re going to kick the vampires¡¯ undead asses.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 32

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°The only problem is that we don¡¯t know where they are. Except that it¡¯s going to be in downtown Detroit or near it. Also, given that this is Syndicate L, it¡¯s going to have bottled water available.¡±


    Tilting his head, Vincent blinked. ¡°Bottled water?¡±


    I nodded, ¡°You¡¯ve never fought them before?¡±


    Vincent¡¯s brow furrowed and his tail twitched, ¡°Once or twice. My brothers and I spend more of our time fighting a gang called the Thumb.¡±


    I¡¯d never heard of the Thumb. I made a mental note to look them up. ¡°Imagine if the mob were run like a Silicon Valley start-up and you¡¯ll getSyndicate L.¡±


    Vincent¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°How many times have you fought them? Didn¡¯t you just start?¡±


    Having a second superhero identity was getting annoying. ¡°A few different times, but under a different name. I¡¯m been told that I shouldn¡¯t say who.¡±


    The hamster gave a toothy grin, ¡°A man of mystery? I¡¯ll see if I can puzzle it out, but don¡¯t worry about it. I won¡¯t tell anybody. It¡¯s a relief that you¡¯re not a complete newbie. The odds are against us already.¡±


    By that time, the staff began to enter the parking garage, putting the sleeping heroes on stretchers and cleaning up the blood. One man stopped to stare at a dent on the side of a car, muttering a curse.


    Vincent glanced over at him, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. The team will pay for it.¡±


    The man nodded, ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Motioning us all to come closer, Mateo addressed Vincent, ¡°You were under their control. How did it happen and what did you learn?¡±


    Vincent sighed, ¡°I think you saw it. Working Man was talking to you when they attacked. At first, we thought it was just Syndicate L¡¯s people and maybe some of the police, but it wasn¡¯t. Vampires appeared, turning our own people against us. Syndicate L¡¯s people swarmed us and then it was over. They brought us into an old, abandoned skyscraper and Rudolfo¡ª¡°


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    I snorted, ¡°Rudolfo?¡±


    A smile tugged at the corner of Vincent¡¯s mouth, ¡°I know. I thought it sounded silly at first, but then I knew I¡¯d be willing die for him and it stopped sounding silly. You wouldn¡¯t know it from how easily he went down to your¡­ automatic stake gun, but he was powerful. He mentioned the Dominators. It didn¡¯t sound like he was one of them, but that sometimes they hired him.¡±


    Mateo frowned, ¡°That might be good news. If the Dominators hired him, it means he''s not a member. Do you know what skyscraper it was?¡±


    Shaking his head, Vincent said, ¡°I don¡¯t know its name, but I think I might be able to find it by smell if we go back to where we were captured.¡±


    Stepping back and crossing his arms over his chest, Mateo said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, then. Do you need to ride with us or do you have your own transportation?¡±


    Vincent turned to look at my motorcycle, ¡°I think I¡¯d rather ride with you.¡±


    With a tight grin, Mateo said, ¡°I¡¯m fine with that. What about you, V4?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± My bike easily had enough space for a second rider and maybe a third.


    We turned, starting to weave through the Unity staff people as they applied first aid to Athletica. She was still sleeping.


    Mateo turned his head to look at Vincent, ¡°Do you know what happened to Working Man? Did they send him somewhere else or is he still with them in the building?¡±


    Frowning, Vincent said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t remember him getting captured. The last I saw of him, he was still fighting them. He wasn¡¯t with us when Rudolfo put the finishing touches into our heads.¡±


    Looking over at me, Mateo said, ¡°There¡¯s hope that he¡¯s out there then. I¡¯m just surprised he hasn¡¯t contacted us at all.¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°That would make sense, but I don¡¯t know. I could see him keeping his comm off in case Syndicate L can detect it. They do have some sophisticated tech. Then maybe he¡¯d be tracking Barrington, the vampire leader, all by himself. You know him better than I do, but that seems like the kind of thing he¡¯d try.¡±


    Stopping next to his motorcycle, Mateo said, ¡°See, you did learn something while you were here. That¡¯s exactly the kind of thing he¡¯d do. I just made the mistake of hoping he¡¯d do what tells us to do¡ªcall for help when you¡¯re in over your head.¡±


    I swung my leg over my bike, ¡°Maybe he¡¯s not in over his head?¡±


    Mateo laughed, ¡°In his head, he¡¯s never in over his head, but we should talk. Riding off to shut down a vampire who¡¯s controlling a host of vampires, supers, Syndicate L people, the police, and the local media makes it sound like we might be a little overconfident.¡±


    Climbing up on the bike behind me, Vincent said, ¡°My brother Rembrandt says that no matter who you are, you¡¯ll go down if someone punches you hard enough. I think we¡¯ve got a chance.¡±


    Then he tapped on the face of the watch he was wearing, ¡°Door¡¯s open. Let¡¯s go out the shed exit.¡±


    Mateo and I looked at each other and I followed his motorcycle into the tunnel, ready to take on a host of vampires with a swashbuckling swordsman and a humanoid hamster martial artist.

 Motor City Intern: Part 33

    As we rode through the tunnel toward the shed and our hidden exit, I found Vincent¡¯s comm id and set up a channel for the three of us to talk, finally asking, ¡°Where did you last see Working Man?¡±


    I felt him move behind me, ¡°One of the parking lots in Foxtown. The one on Cass near Bookie¡¯s Bar and Grille.¡±


    Hoping that Mateo was listening in, I said, ¡°Do you know where that is? I don¡¯t.¡±


    In my HUD, Blue Mask¡¯s icon glowed as Mateo said, ¡°The one with the big brick building on Elizabeth and Cass?¡±


    Vincent¡¯s teeth clicked, ¡°That¡¯s the one.¡±


    ¡°I think I know the way. Tell me if it looks like I¡¯m going the wrong way. V4, could you pull up a map to Bookie¡¯s Bar and Grille? That¡¯ll tell you if we¡¯re getting off target. Backup never hurts.¡±


    I pulled it up in my HUD and while Vincent and Mateo discussed the best way to get there, I used my implant to go online and check V&V¡¯s super news to see if they were getting anything out of Detroit.


    They were. A news report from CBE, a radio station in Windsor, Ontario said that local heroes, led by a super called Black Rose, were joining with reserve members of Detroit Unity to fight a major vampire infestation in Detroit. They even had a quote from V8 saying, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Detroit. Help is on its way.¡±


    I called her with my comm. She didn¡¯t answer.


    It made sense. Even though she didn¡¯t mention him, she¡¯d worked with Working Man for years. My new comm system hooked into Unity¡¯s with a protocol my grandfather designed, but with Athletica and Unity compromised, V8 and Working Man had probably fallen back on their old system. They might even be assuming that Mateo and I were either dead or working for the vamps.


    That assumed they were working together and still in their right minds, but if they were, I couldn¡¯t blame them.


    I just hoped that if we all happened to meet, they wouldn¡¯t attack first and ask questions later.


    Still, it was good news on the whole. Interrupting Mateo and Vincent, I said, ¡°News is getting out. There¡¯s a radio station in Windsor that knows about the vampires and they¡¯re getting linked by the V&V website¡ªwhich means it¡¯s only a matter of time before it makes it to SuperTV. Plus, they quoted V8. She¡¯s doing something or she was. I tried to call her, though. No answer.¡±


    Mateo sniffed, ¡°Then we have to assume we¡¯re on our own. Either they got captured or they think we¡¯re controlled. The people in Unity¡¯s base can vouch for us, though. Vincent, could you make sure that the base¡¯s staff knows what we¡¯re doing and that we¡¯ll need help?¡±


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    Cutting through the wind¡¯s noise, Vincent said, ¡°You got it. I¡¯ll tell them where we¡¯re going and hope they can figure out who¡¯s controlled by the vamps and who isn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Hmmn,¡± Mateo paused, but then continued, ¡°That¡¯s what I wanted to hear, but it sounds like a bad idea now that you¡¯ve said it.¡±


    Chuckling, Vincent said, ¡°You¡¯ve got a point, but we¡¯re going to have to trust someone and we hire good people.¡±


    I checked the map. We were nearly there. We¡¯d passed the factories and green, open lots and now we were passing the mirrored glass and round corners of the MGM Grand, a hotel and casino. Even at five in the morning, the letters of its name glowed.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Mateo said. ¡°Make sure they warn us if they tell anyone.¡±


    Only a minute or two later, we pulled up to the parking lot. There wasn¡¯t much to say about it. It was empty except for two cars that were on the other side of the lot. The old brick building Mateo and Vincent had talked about was dark. It wasn¡¯t much more than an old brick cube in the dark. The front had windows that stretched up to the third floor, trying for some kind of grandeur, but the graffiti on the walls and peeling paint on the window frames told another story.


    I noticed something else. In the bushes off to the right of the building were two rabbits. They weren¡¯t nibbling on the bushes¡¯ leaves. They were staring directly at us.


    I pointed at them and said, ¡°Blue Mask.¡±


    He turned to look at them, ¡°You¡¯re right. That¡¯s not normal. Someone¡¯s watching us and it¡¯s either Skunk Lord or someone controlling him.¡±


    Behind me, Vincent sniffed. ¡°There¡¯s another human here.¡±


    Then he jumped off the back of my bike. I dismounted and stood next to him on the sidewalk. Visible on the screen of my HUD, I saw the heated air next to the back corner of the building before a hooded human figure stepped out from behind it.


    He wore a dark robe that brought to mind wizards and evil cultists. The scuffed, brown leather, steel-toed work boots visible under the robe brought to mind factories and construction sites.


    Mateo had jumped off his bike and stood next to me, ¡°This is going to be interesting.¡±


    A low, raspy voice came from the robe, ¡°I¡¯ve been watching you since V4 tried to get my attention earlier.¡±


    Mateo glanced over at me. I took that as a hint that I should start talking, ¡°Thanks. We¡¯re trying to find Working Man. He was attacked, but hopefully got away here. We¡¯re also trying to find wherever the vampire headquarters is. It might be the same thing as the Syndicate L headquarters. Do you know anything that might help us?¡±


    The robed figure walked closer, saying nothing until he reached the wrought iron fence.


    Concentrating on keeping myself calm and being ready in case we were about to be swamped with rats, I waited for him to speak.


    He stopped behind the gate, saying, ¡°I know a lot, but not as much as I want to. Vampires, some of them at least, control rats. I can control more than rats, but if you know cities, you know that when it comes to controlling animals rats are where it¡¯s at.¡±


    Vincent gave a short, raspy laugh.


    The hooded figure said, ¡°I knew you¡¯d understand. Now, I do know where they are, but I can¡¯t help you much. The vampires are in the Book Tower. I don¡¯t know about Working Man, but I know they didn¡¯t catch him. He escaped, but I don¡¯t know where.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 34

    Mateo nodded, ¡°At least he escaped. That¡¯s what I was hoping.¡±


    The hooded figure said, ¡°As long as he didn¡¯t get caught inside the Book Tower, I¡¯d say he escaped but he did disappear. I think he¡¯s been moving from roof to roof, but I can¡¯t be sure. There are fewer rats up there.¡±


    I said the first thing that came into my head, ¡°Have you tried bats?¡±


    Within the hood, I saw his lips move, ¡°Bats are good at finding bugs in the dark. They¡¯re less good at recognizing people at a distance. I¡¯ve tried. I¡¯ve seen someone that might be him. And besides, bats are friendly to some vampires.¡±


    I should have guessed.


    Moments like this made me wish I¡¯d ignored Working Man¡¯s orders and created a roachbot equivalent for V4. Unless there were vampires that controlled computers, we¡¯d avoid this problem. On the other hand, given that there were vampiric vegetables, vampires that obsessively counted, and I didn¡¯t know what else, maybe technopathic vampires were a thing.


    A few seconds passed as I stood in the dark, wishing for robotic scouts. The hooded man looked from Mateo to Vincent to me. ¡°I should go. I¡¯m handling three different problems right now. I¡¯ll watch you and call in for help if you need it.¡±


    That struck a nerve, ¡°Who will you call?¡±


    His look made me think he heard something in the tone of my voice. Meeting my eyes, he said, ¡°The Michigan Heroes¡¯ Alliance. If no one¡¯s available there, the Heroes¡¯ League. Do you have someone you want me to call?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°That sounds good. I hope we don¡¯t need help.¡±


    The man nodded, ¡°I¡¯d call the Heroes¡¯ League first if they weren¡¯t on the other side of the state. The Heroes¡¯ Alliance is a bunch of independents that see each other a few times a year. When you¡¯re stuck in a jam, you want a team that knows how to work together.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t argue with that,¡± I said. It wouldn¡¯t be my fault if he called in the League.


    Glancing over at me as if he had an idea of where my mind had gone, Mateo said, ¡°If you see V4¡¯s motorcycle go into the Book Tower on its own, call whoever you want. We¡¯re in trouble.¡±


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    Visible despite the hood, the man raised an eyebrow, ¡°I¡¯ll watch for that.¡±


    Then he gave us a wave and walked away, disappearing into the dark past the back corner of the building.


    Over my comm, I told Mateo, ¡°You know, that¡¯s a little less cool and mysterious when you consider this is the only building in this parking lot. He literally has to be around the corner.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t wrong. We stood in the dark, but there were six parking lots around us, all of them lit up by the streetlights. He¡¯d have to run at minimum one hundred feet in any direction to find a building.¡±


    Mateo grinned, ¡°You can run after him and check.¡±


    I thought about it, staring at the corner. I didn¡¯t see any movement. I shook my head, ¡°I¡¯d probably get attacked by an army of angry groundhogs or something. We should go to the Book Tower, though we should give some thought to what we¡¯re going to do when we get there.¡±


    Vincent sniffed the air, ¡°I¡¯ll second that thought. Are we going to fight our way up the tower and stake the lead vampire? It¡¯s not much of a plan, but it¡¯s more of a plan than we¡¯ve got right now.¡±


    Mateo sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was hoping to get a look at the Book Tower and see what''s there. We don¡¯t have enough to make a plan. If I¡¯m going to be honest, I¡¯m not even sure we will after we get there. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll do a frontal assault, but that¡¯s still more of a plan than we have. Let¡¯s call it plan B for now. We¡¯ll take look at the Book Tower and see if we can¡¯t come up with plan A.¡±


    Vincent nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a healthy attitude. Right now, we don¡¯t know if the vampires are in the building¡¯s basement, its highest floor, or somewhere in between.¡±


    We got on our bikes and took Grand River Avenue southeast toward Book Tower¡ªor so said my GPS. It was night. I¡¯d never been there before so far as I knew. All I knew was that we were in a section of Detroit that felt like a downtown. On the left, we passed a brick building from the early twentieth century that had round towers at the corners. Next to it stood a blocky brick building with long thin lines of windows. It might have been from the 1970s. Across from that stood an apartment or office building that stood at least ten stories high.


    At the end of the road stood another building. This one reminded me of nothing more than the building from Ghostbusters. It wasn¡¯t any specific detail as much as the feeling. There was no giant walking marshmallow man, lightning, or otherworldly lights at the top, but it almost had a temple.


    Most of it was a big, boring rectangle with windows, but on the left side, a big, boring, rectangular tower with windows reached for the sky.


    At the top of that tower, it was almost as if someone had added on another building. There were Corinthian columns, sculptures of nearly naked men and women on the columns, and a copper roof shaped like an upside down ¡°V.¡±


    My implant labeled it ¡°Book Tower¡± and offered me a link to the Wikipedia entry.


    Aloud, I said, ¡°That¡¯s Book Tower?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about you,¡± Mateo said, ¡°but I¡¯m betting they¡¯re not in the basement.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 35

    ¡°Yeah. The top floors seem too weird to waste. Did you know that this place was supposed to be redeveloped, but then something happened and the company that bought it sold it to someone else.¡±


    We pulled off to the side of the road to look up at it, ignoring the concrete People Mover station and platform that crossed over the street. I didn¡¯t see any trains coming, but if that meant that no one would be coming by during the fight, it would be a good thing.


    Vincent leaned to my right, staring up at the tower. ¡°I don¡¯t think I ever looked at the Book Tower¡¯s top floors before this. They look like they were made for vampires.¡±


    Over my comm, I continued talking, ¡°I checked a government database, and the company that bought the place is suspected to be a Syndicate L front company.¡±


    Mateo didn¡¯t look back as he responded, ¡°I remember reading that the new company put a lot of work into the place, but that they had money problems and everything stalled. You¡¯ve fought Syndicate L before. What¡¯s your read on that?¡±


    On one level, the question felt like a lot of the questions he¡¯d asked me that were more about critiquing my thought process than the answer. This might be more of the same, but I suspected he wanted the answer this time.


    ¡°They favor buildings where they can blend in. They ran a fake real estate company out of a building they¡¯d stuffed full of their people and equipment for my first big fight with them. For the next big one, they got an old radio or TV station. Here my bet would be that they invested heavily, but not in the lower floors. They¡¯ll probably fill those with cover businesses or maybe even rent the place out to real ones¡ªmaybe even businesses they indirectly own.¡±


    Mateo¡¯s reply filled my helmet, ¡°That was my read too. From what I¡¯ve heard, they¡¯re big on technology¡ªwhich means that even if no one¡¯s in the lower levels, they¡¯re monitored and they¡¯ve got people ready to fight¡ªwhich means fighting through the building is stupid. Sneaking through the building might also be stupid unless you can turn off their security systems.¡±


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    Even though he couldn¡¯t see it, I found myself shaking my head, ¡°Most security systems are cameras connected to servers with ethernet cable or maybe wifi plus alarms that may or may not be managed by a separate system. I don¡¯t know anything about theirs yet. It might include attack robots, for example, and I¡¯m not a hacker. I¡¯m an engineer. I might be able to take out the security systems, but it¡¯s going to be with an EMP¡ªsomething that some people might see as potentially¡­ revealing.¡±


    Mateo turned around, ¡°Do it. You¡¯re not the only techie that creates EMPs and the other alternative is climbing up a skyscraper.¡±


    I met his gaze, ¡°Okay. I¡¯m just saying that it¡¯ll be a big EMP and it won¡¯t be precise. It might trash computers in the area. I¡¯ll do my best to avoid it, but, no promises. Also, I¡¯d be strongly tempted to focus on the tower itself because that¡¯s where the leadership will be.¡±


    I looked up at the building, adjusting my HUD¡¯s composite image to focus on heat. More red and yellow appeared on the tower than the rest of the building.


    Mateo turned back to look at the tower and then back to me, ¡°I think we¡¯re past the point of worrying about a few computers.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± I said, ¡°but I wanted you to know before I did it. Also, we¡¯re going to want to do it from here and maybe rush in after that. I don¡¯t want to risk destroying our bikes.¡±


    Vincent grunted, ¡°Nuke them and rush in while they¡¯re still trying to figure out what works? I like that plan.¡±


    Mateo took a deep breath, ¡°I¡¯m not sure I do, but it¡¯s the best plan we¡¯ve got right now. Loose the nukes.¡±


    ¡°Technically, they¡¯re not nukes,¡± I said and used my implant to access the bike¡¯s less obvious controls. With more than three times as much material as the Rocket suit, I had a lot to work with. Of course, it also meant that the transformed version of the bike was a bit unwieldy indoors.


    But never mind, I felt the weapons systems like they were extensions of my own body. Calculating the area the EMP would have to cover, I knew I¡¯d have to use all five of the EMP bombs I¡¯d brought along. As annoying as that was, I hadn¡¯t used any all summer. I probably wouldn¡¯t need more.


    Loading them with a mental command to the implant, I fired them all at once, rocking the bike back as what amounted to four giant roachbots fired off, rockets blazing. Two of them were aimed at the tower. The other three spread out across the length of the main building.


    The result was anticlimactic¡ªat least for me.


    Watching through the roachbombs¡¯ gave me little more than a blur of streetlights and darkness, shattered windows, blurred rooms, and then explosions that ended in darkness from the feeds.


    Coming back to myself, I watched as every light in Book Tower and the main building below it went dark.


    With a chittering laugh, Vincent said, ¡°Gun it,¡± and Mateo and I roared toward the building.

 Motor City Intern: Part 36

    It didn¡¯t take long before we reached the front of the People Mover station and elevated railway in front of the skyscraper. Well lit, with a pavilion of steel beams and a white roof, the station looked like the perfect place to get off a bus and wait for a train.


    There were a few people standing under it, most of them staring at their phones¡ªwhich was good because it meant their phones still worked.


    Barely slowing down, Mateo turned left on the road running next to the People Mover tracks and the concrete pillars holding them above the ground. Turning right on the next street, we sped around to the main entrance to Book Tower.


    We came to a stop on the sidewalk in front of the main entrance. At any rate, the ornate carvings in the molded concrete around the doors made it look like it should be the main entrance. Plus, the words, ¡°Book Building¡± in the concrete of the molding above the second floor gave that impression too.


    All the windows on the first floor and a few on the second were covered with plywood which didn¡¯t make it look inviting. Plywood also replaced the glass in the metal doors.


    Mateo got off of his bike as Vincent jumped off mine.


    I began to slide off, but then stopped.


    Mateo turned to look at me, ¡°Are you thinking what I think you¡¯re thinking?¡±


    My implant estimated the size of the doors versus the size of the transformed bike. Squelching the urge to begin with, ¡°I think so, Brain, but¡­,¡± I said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Nodding and without any hint of reproach in his voice, he said, ¡°The uh¡­ Skunklord is going to call in for help if his creatures see your bike is helping us. The people he calls might be your friends.¡±


    I checked my HUD, giving the street a full 360 degree look, ¡°I don¡¯t see any rodents unless he¡¯s looking through Vincent¡¯s eyes, and anyway, it won¡¯t have been me. Also, honestly, I¡¯m thinking if they notice it now, they might actually show up in time to help.¡±


    Vincent flicked his tail from his left side to his right, ¡°He¡¯s not. Skunklord,the Batmaster, or the Rat King, whatever nickname you like, can¡¯t look through my eyes.¡±


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    Mateo let out a breath, ¡°Okay. I think I can live with that. If it had been up to me, we would have called in help ages ago.¡±


    Looking over his expression for any hint that he might be bothered, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to get you in trouble.¡±


    Glancing upward toward the highest part of the tower, he said, ¡°We¡¯re already in trouble. Have you thought any further ahead than turning Transformer?¡±


    I nodded, ¡°I was thinking that if I flew up, I might distract whoever was inside while you¡¯re making your way up. I can scout the upper stories and we can keep in touch with the comms.¡±


    Mateo checked the tower again, ¡°There¡¯s something up there. It wasn¡¯t as obvious from farther away, but from here I can see it. The top stories of the skyscraper contain unlife. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s in there beyond guessing it¡¯s probably vampires, but be careful. Stay alive and we¡¯ll meet you up there.¡±


    I started the transformation, reaching out with my implant to connect with the motorcycle¡¯s control systems, and feeling the body of the motorcycle reform around me, sending me upward so that I could look through the head.


    Within seconds, I found myself looking out at a height of nine feet¡ªmore than two feet higher than the Rocket suit. The weapons systems came online including the new versions I¡¯d created before going to bed.


    From the outside, I knew that Mateo and Vincent were seeing an armored human shape, but silver, red and blue, and enough of the little styling quirks that the look of the mech should remind people of V4¡¯s motorcycle.


    For the less observant, I¡¯d also placed the V4 logo in the middle of the mech¡¯s chest.


    Vincent laughed, ¡°I think I know who you are now.¡±


    Sweeping around us with the suit¡¯s sensors, I didn¡¯t see anything worth worrying about except that the tallest part of the Book Building didn¡¯t radiate anything much at all.


    I wondered what they had in there, but only gave a wave with my hand while saying, ¡°Stand back!¡±


    The rockets on the suit¡¯s boots roared and the suit, slowly at first, but then with increasing speed, left the ground, shooting off the sidewalk and into the air.


    Racing up the side of the tower, it didn¡¯t take long before I reached the top of the tower. Experienced at flying, if not at flying in this suit, I¡¯d anticipated that and aimed sideways to circle the tower.


    Even as I took a wide circle around the top above the pointed, green with rust, copper roof, I didn¡¯t like that the sensors weren¡¯t getting anything inside the tower. The EMP bombs had penetrated it.


    I began to wonder how far they¡¯d penetrated. Before I could start to review the data from the logs, a human shape stepped out of one of the windows and blue flame burst from its feet and back.


    I wasn¡¯t surprised. Syndicate L had well-designed powered armor and a good designer would harden the armor against EMPs. That didn¡¯t bother me. The question of how many suits of powered armor did bother me¡ªespecially as a second figure followed the first into the night sky.

 Motor City Intern: Part 37

    ¡°How are you doing?¡± Mateo¡¯s voice sounded in my head. ¡°We¡¯re a few floors in. We haven¡¯t run into anyone, but there are definitely vampires.¡±


    ¡°Busy,¡± I said. ¡°Two people in powered armor so far. Might be more.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± Mateo said. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid to retreat or call for more help. We¡¯ll keep you informed of what we¡¯re doing. Do the same.¡±


    And with that, he closed the connection and I stopped listening. The two figures in powered armor were tailing me and gaining¡ªwhich didn¡¯t surprise me. I¡¯d designed the V4 armor with the idea that it would be bigger and stronger than the Rocket suit, but spend less time in the air.


    I wasn¡¯t going to outrun them. The V4 suit¡¯s flight system was designed to help in hand to hand combat. So, despite the suit¡¯s size, the new armor beat any powered armor I¡¯d seen in agility¡ªprobably. The system was based on a combination of anti-gravity, inertial dampers, small rockets for directional changes, and making use of the speed of my thought by using the implant for the controls.


    In short, it was a complex, untried, experimental system that had the potential to go horribly wrong and this was its first big test.


    The people facing me on the other hand? A spray of the suit¡¯s sensors showed me that they were using Rocket tech.


    I recognized design elements in the knee joints, the rocket pack on the back, and the shape of the body. What struck me as strange in the moment was that Syndicate L¡¯s designer hadn¡¯t copied my grandfather. He¡¯d copied from me. Those design changes were from the last two years.


    Giving the suits a closer look, they still seemed to echo Syndicate L designs that I remembered¡ªwide, transparent face masks for maximum peripheral vision, and the organic look of the underarm automatic rifles.


    Peppering me with bullets, the pilots gave me the latest of many illustrations of the fact that getting distracted during combat was a bad idea.


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    I¡¯d learn that lesson someday.


    In the meantime, bullets were hitting my armor, most of them bouncing off. Then a series of three hit my leg and exploded, setting off error messages as the suit started to repair the damage.


    I felt the heat. At least one of them had penetrated the suit¡¯s outer layer¡ªwhich was not supposed to happen.


    I needed to end this fight before they blew my leg off or, given the size of the V4 armor, my foot.


    Turning around with a speed that should have turned me to paste or at least hurt me, I found myself directly in front of the first attacker.


    Through the transparent face mask, the man¡¯s eyes widened, and I knew why. WhenI¡¯d been testing the tech, I¡¯d watched the early versions of the armor move. They made quick movements that included jerky, stuttering stops.


    It didn¡¯t look natural.


    I don¡¯t know if it helped my punch. I threw it forward as I finished my turn, the suit¡¯s strength assisted by directional rockets and my opponent¡¯s own momentum.


    I hit him at the joint of his right shoulder¡ªmy intended target¡ªand pulled back before the momentum from my punch threw him sideways.


    As he moved into upward and to my left, twirling and out of control, he only missed the suit behind him by inches. The second suit dodged to the right avoiding him. For a moment neither of them were moving in my direction, giving me time to flashback to details that I thought I¡¯d seen, but wasn¡¯t sure.


    First, I¡¯d smashed the shoulder joint. He shouldn¡¯t be able to aim his rifle much at all.


    Second, the pilot had a grey complexion and elongated canines but otherwise appeared to be in his forties. He flew well enough that had to have been recently turned.


    Even as I began to wonder how I¡¯d stake a vampire wearing powered armor, the second suit shot toward me, firing away. I weaved around, dodging to the degree that I could, but better, weaving enough that I came at the second suit from its side, firing my paralysis weapons and finding that it didn¡¯t show any effect.


    So, I punched it, knocking the armor backward and getting a good enough look to notice that the pilot was a female twenty-something with short hair and elongated canines as well.


    It was a good punch. She flipped over a couple of times and hit Book Tower, smashing a statue of a naked man.


    The statue¡¯s remains dropped toward the sidewalk 38 stories below, shattering, but not hitting anyone. The sidewalks were empty this early in the morning, but that wouldn¡¯t last.


    ¡°What is my goal?¡± I asked myself and answered in my head. I was trying to distract whoever was inside from Mateo and Vincent so that they could get up the tower and we could take Barrington out.


    Winning this fight was optional. What I needed to be doing was pissing people off.


    I might be out of EMPs, but I had additional missiles and it was time to use them.

 Motor City Intern: Part 38

    Using my implant, I opened up a comm connection to Mateo and Vincent, ¡°You guys aren¡¯t anywhere near the tower yet, right?¡±


    Vincent laughed, ¡°We¡¯re at the fourteenth floor at most.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re almost at the seventh,¡± Mateo said, taking a long breath. ¡°Look next to the door up there.¡±


    Vincent muttered, ¡°Crap. How many floors does this place have?¡±


    ¡°Thirty-eight,¡± I said, ¡°according to Wikipedia.¡±


    Another raspy laugh came from the hamster. ¡°You¡¯re reading Wikipedia? Is that what you¡¯re doing up there?¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m fighting vampires in powered armor and shooting off smoke bombs.¡±


    And then I shot off the smoke bombs¡ªwhich technically were less bombs than missiles. The nice thing about having larger armor meant that I had more room to store things and the nice thing about years of designing for smaller spaces meant that I had plenty of experience packing the power in.


    I fired off two missiles, each of them containing smoke bombs that I felt confident would fill the floor. Watching through their feeds, I saw them both hit windows and fly in, drop off their payloads, and fly deeper in, incinerating themselves and starting off the second payload.


    The first flew through the window that the vampires come out of on the theory that that might be where they had all the tech¡ªand the feed did seem to show tech. I sent the second down a few floors because my sensors showed there were people there, something the missile¡¯s feed confirmed. I didn¡¯t see many details beyond blurry people running.


    I¡¯d have analyzed that more if it weren¡¯t for the vampires. The woman I¡¯d knocked into the tower had recovered control before hitting the train station. That was an overall good thing because it avoided more property damage.


    Above me, the man had stopped his armor from twirling in the air. Even though he still didn¡¯t seem to be able to move his arm from the direction it was stuck in, he was dropping into range and aiming the arm and its gun in my direction.


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    Meanwhile smoke poured out of the windows, noticeable in my suit¡¯s sensors if nowhere else. A part of my brain that had begun to register the consequences of bad PR felt some relief that pictures were unlikely thanks to the darkness.


    More bullets hit my suit, this time without damage. They were both firing. The suit was mostly repaired from the shots that they¡¯d hit me with earlier, but the suit was weaker than it had been. I couldn¡¯t create more matter out of nothing.


    I turned to the left, letting myself drop as I did it and turning away from Book Tower and over the bus station¡ªwhich was a better idea than it sounds because of what was on the other side of the pavilion.


    There was a parking lot. Even better, it was almost empty. Better than that? Almost every lot around it was also a parking lot.


    The way I spun as I turned and jinked from one direction to another left them struggling to hit me, but it didn¡¯t stop them from trying to follow. The man¡¯s suit¡¯s damaged shoulder joint and permanently outstretched arm kept pulling him sideways. He couldn¡¯t keep up.


    The woman, though? Her suit wasn¡¯t as damaged. Not only could she keep up, but she was gaining on me.


    I couldn¡¯t have planned it better than that.


    I kept on dodging, watching her get closer in my HUD, swerving sideways to avoid shots that hit the parking lot ahead of us and exploded, throwing chunks of asphalt into the air. They shattered without hitting anyone. Well, except for one chunk. It hit the windshield of a car.


    No one was inside the car, so I counted that as a win.


    Then she grabbed the leg of my suit, but she didn¡¯t stop there. She tried to smash the rocket pack on the side of the boot with her other hand.


    While this suit could fix it, even a short period with one boot¡¯s worth of thrust would decrease my chances of survival.


    I flipped head over heels and her punch missed, but she hung on and as she went over me and began to head downward, she tried to take me with her. Pulling my foot downward, she tried to aim me toward the parking lot.


    The V4 suit wasn¡¯t quite flexible enough to turn into a ball, but it was close enough. I tried. I also fired off the directional rockets.


    By then, we were close to the ground and the directional rockets had given me enough thrust to get one more half-flip in, putting her between me and the ground. Better, while the V4 suit wasn¡¯t as flexible as a body, it bent forward  far enough for me to grab her arm with the suit¡¯s massive hand.


    She hit the pavement with enough force that I heard it shatter. It wasn¡¯t just the pavement shattering. An audible crack came from the back of her suit and it was more than an audible crack. A physical crack ran up from her back to the point where the neck and helmet met.


    I reached out and dug into the crack with my left hand, holding the suit in place with my right, and pulled.


    It ripped apart. Mindful that her partner was behind us, I fired a wooden stake straight into her heart.


    At the train station pavilion, someone screamed.

 Motor City Intern: Part 39

    Ignoring the scream, I checked the vampire I¡¯d staked. She¡¯d slumped and stopped moving. For lack of any reason to think otherwise, I decided to assume she was down and turned to face her partner.


    That turned out to either be a bad move or one that saved my life.


    As I turned, I saw the other mech¡¯s right arm move and even though I knew I¡¯d damaged that arm, I used the implant to fire off the directional rockets and send me sideways into the air, giving me a second or two of movement to the left before sending me to the right.


    Between the implant and my own consciousness, the world seemed to slow as the bullets sprayed across the parking lot, one hitting his partner on ground, sending a spurt of blood into the air, others taking chunks out of the asphalt, while three more hit my armor.


    One hit a directional rocket, throwing off the suit¡¯s steering. The rocket shut down almost as his happened, but not before turning me completely around. I spun two more times before I got it under control, but that wasn¡¯t all.


    My HUD showed that the other two bullets had hit as well, one of them had sunk a good three inches into the right side of my armor. Had I been wearing the Rocket suit, it would have sunk at least two inches into my leg.


    If I¡¯d been that unlucky, I might be bleeding out too quickly for my suit¡¯s first aid to help.


    The third bullet had shattered the paralysis gun under my left arm¡ªso none of that for a little while. My suit would repair itself, but the paralysis gun was complicated. It would be slower than I wanted.


    I wondered how he was aiming and a mental replay from the implant told me what I expected. Whoever designed the vampire¡¯s armor had duplicated my armor¡¯s ability to self-repair. Not for the first time in my life, I wondered who supplied Syndicate L with their powered armor and mecha.


    Copying my tech might not be as challenging as reverse engineering alien tech, but it wasn¡¯t easy. The suit¡¯s armor used elements of alien materials and techniques. Whoever it was, they knew what they were doing.


    Someday I wanted to meet them.


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    To live until then, I needed to survive the next few seconds. I took evasive action, flying forward toward him, jerking in one direction and then another and adjusting on the fly.


    With the damage to one of the rockets, it felt a little sticky as the direction changes came a touch slower than I expected, but they were working¡ªmostly. The vampire was firing his weapons but wasn¡¯t landing any hits, at least not any that hurt.


    Superhuman reflexes must not be one of the side effects of vampirism for these people. I was fine with that.


    Jinking to my left as I reached him, he might have thought that I was going around him. At least that¡¯s what I wanted him to think, but the V4 suit¡¯s arms were longer than the Rocket suit¡¯s and I reached out, grabbing his left leg and dragging him behind me.


    Size matters.


    The flames and, more relevant, the thrust from his rocket pack didn¡¯t slow me down. Better, he panicked, noticing, I assume, the streetlight ahead of us and turned his rocket pack up to full, doing his best to turn in one direction and then another, attempting to throw us off course.


    Unfortunately for him, mass, momentum, the shortness of the distance, and my directional software¡¯s ability to adjust combined to throw him into the streetlight less than a second after he noticed it.


    I may have already said this, but the one good thing about fighting the undead is at least you don¡¯t have to worry about killing them.


    When I swung him into the streetlight, it would have. The armor shattered, pieces of it broke off, falling to the ground. The rocket pack broke, releasing its fuel, a jelly-like goo that resembled my own fuel.


    The streetlight didn¡¯t do very well in the collision either, cracking and falling over in a shower of sparks. Also, the light shattered, surprising no one.


    The annoying thing though, was that he didn¡¯t go down. In one sense, that¡¯s not a surprise. Streetlights aren¡¯t among the classic ways to kill vampires, but I expected to get a bit more out of it.


    It went like this. I let go of the vampire as I slammed him into the streetlight. My armor¡¯s inertial dampers slowed my armor to a speed I could handle as I turned off my rockets and touched down to the ground. Turning around to face him with the momentum I had left, I did it in time for him to fire off more bullets. Two more ricocheted off my armor. The third penetrated the V4 suit¡¯s inner thigh, destroying the channel that brought fuel to the rockets on my right leg¡¯s boot and the directional rockets on that leg.


    Then he turned into a mist and floated through the night toward Book Tower. The remains of his armor and guns dropped to the ground, abandoned.


    I smashed his guns, shattering the barrels by hitting them against the ground in two quick strikes. This was in no way a gesture of frustration. It was me making sure that people couldn¡¯t hurt themselves.


    It had nothing to do with being unable to fly or use my paralysis gun until the repair systems finished several minutes from now.


    Putting his left arm gun down, I ran toward Book Tower, trying to connect to Mateo and Vincent over the comm.

 Motor City Intern: Part 40

    As I ran, I glanced over at the train station. A bus was parked under the pavilion and a small crowd stood near it, all of them looking in my direction.


    I pointed back at the two shattered sets of powered armor and the vampire on the ground. ¡°She¡¯s a vampire. Whatever you do, don¡¯t pull out the stake!¡±


    If they replied, I didn¡¯t hear them. I didn¡¯t know that she¡¯d revive if they pulled out the stake, but better safe than sorry. The sheer variety of vampires in this mess argued that caution was a good trait.


    Looking up at Book Tower, I considered my plan of attack. Running up the stairs sounded like a good first step. If I were lucky, maybe I¡¯d run up the same stairway they did.


    ¡°Where are you guys now?¡± I asked into the comm when my HUD showed the connection.


    Mateo replied, ¡°The 21st</sup> story. We¡¯ve had to dodge a couple groups of Syndicate L people. I think they¡¯re setting up defenses, but I¡¯m not sure. Either way, I don¡¯t think they were looking for us. What you¡¯re doing is working. So, look out on your way up. If they¡¯re preparing for anyone, they¡¯re preparing for you.¡±


    Running down the street toward the front of Book Tower, I said, ¡°The Syndicate L people. Were they human or vampires? I just fought Syndicate L people that had been turned.¡±


    Vincent broke in, ¡°They didn¡¯t smell dead. I¡¯d say human.¡±


    ¡°Hmmn,¡± Mateo muttered. ¡°Nothing undead showed up when I looked at them through the mask, but we were hiding, so I didn¡¯t see all of them.¡±


    I turned the corner and found myself back at the front door, ornate decorations around the doorway and above it. For a moment, I wondered if I should try to scale the outside of the building, but decided not to. There was no guarantee that my rockets would be working again by the time someone decided to throw me off.


    That meant I might be setting myself to fight all the way up the tower, but the V4 suit wasn¡¯t meant for stealth.


    Deciding that I couldn¡¯t wait any longer, I pulled the door open and stepped inside, ducking so that I didn¡¯t hit my helmet on the top of the doorway.


    The inside was a mix of old and new. On the one hand, there were white pillars and painted ceilings that in my peripheral vision appeared to show people standing around in a style I associated with Greek pottery. On the other, some ceilings opened up to metal beams and new wiring. Plywood kept in place by orange duct tape covered what I assumed were holes in the concrete floor.


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    Most importantly, no one tried to shoot me.


    Ignoring the elevators, all of which were white with either gold or gold paint, I looked around until I found the stairwell past the elevators.


    Like the lobby, the stairwell and been stripped down to the concrete. It still had gold chandeliers and an ornate iron-wrought railing, though.


    Reminding myself not to look at the architecture, I ran up the stairs, thinking that it was a little odd that the police hadn¡¯t shown up yet. Given that Barrington¡¯s vampires controlled enough cops to put Unity HQ under siege, you¡¯d think that he¡¯d have pulled in help by now.


    Book Tower couldn¡¯t be far from the Police Department.


    I took a moment to look out of one of the windows. The glass was hazy with dust from construction and years of disuse, but I didn¡¯t see any lights from cars approaching the building.


    Given that Barrington controlled the local Syndicate L and to some degree the media, he might have other resources he could call in. If Syndicate L had more powered armor like I¡¯d just fought, this would not be a good situation.


    Okay, I reminded myself, people are depending on you. Time to move. No time to think.


    I started running up the stairs, using my suit¡¯s sensors to throw information into my HUD and hope that I¡¯d still notice important details. I concentrated on throwing myself into the flow of information, watching for movement, and ready to act.


    I ran up a few floors like that and my comm started flashing in my HUD.


    I stopped on a landing in between floors, opened the connection, and heard Haley¡¯s voice, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    It took me a moment to turn her words into something that made sense with the blood pounding in my head from the last few minutes of combat, ¡°Uh¡­ Sure. Kind of.¡±


    She sighed, ¡°HQ got a call from the Michigan Heroes Alliance saying V4 needed help. No one was up in Michigan, so I got it here in Colorado. What¡¯s going on?¡±


    How could I say this quickly? ¡°Detroit¡¯s Syndicate L group¡¯s been taken over by vampires.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not fighting them alone, are you?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I felt myself shaking my head. ¡°I¡¯m with Blue Mask and Vincent, you know, the talking hamster.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± her voice trailed off. ¡°What about Unity and Working Man?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know. Working Man¡¯s not around right now and neither is most of Unity except for a couple of people who are controlled by the vampires.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Haley¡¯s voice became more businesslike. ¡°There¡¯s no chance I¡¯ll be able to get there in time. Bloodmaiden, Troll, and Red Hex said they¡¯ll be able to teleport. I¡¯m going to call them.¡±


    I felt a little tension go out of me at that. ¡°That¡¯s good. And thanks. I wish you were here.¡±


    ¡°So do I. Don¡¯t die, okay?¡±


    We hung up and I took another look out the window, reminding myself as I did that I should keep going.


    Except, there were lights now, some of them in the air and others on the ground. I couldn¡¯t see them through the haze, but none of them were the police¡¯s red and blue flashing lights.

 Motor City Intern: Part 41

    I wondered if I should smash the window. It seemed a little bit overboard to smash it just because it was so covered by construction dust that I couldn¡¯t see through it, but while the V4 had many abilities, I hadn¡¯t thought to include tools for window washing.


    As of last night, it now included the ability to spray holy water, but I didn¡¯t want to waste it on washing a window.


    In moments like this, I wished that I¡¯d been less cautious about people recognizing my technology. The sonics might well have worked if I¡¯d thought to include them.


    On the other hand, so would a wet sponge.


    Maybe if I opened the gauntlet around my hand and wiped it with the glove inside? It would work but getting that much dust inside the system seemed guaranteed to screw up something.


    Trying the same thing without removing the gauntlet would scratch the window at the very least.


    I shook my head. Putting this much thought into it was a waste of my time and what was the worst thing that would happen if I broke the window?


    Brushing the hard, ceramic gauntlet over it, I listened as the window screeched, but thanks to years of working with better than human strength in different versions of the Rocket suit, I didn¡¯t break it and did clear away enough dust that getting a decent view was possible¡ªin about four inches of the window.


    I leaned forward and it was everything I¡¯d feared.


    The police would have included people who weren¡¯t mind-controlled and had an interest in doing the right thing. Syndicate L hired professional criminals, mercenaries, and dedicated members who were willing to follow orders for the right money. They might break with orders to save their own lives, but they had enough resources behind them that it took a lot to make them scared.


    The lights in the sky were five more people in powered armor and one big one, at least 20 feet tall, that was more of a mech. On the ground, they had at least seven humvees with weapons, all of them probably military surplus. I¡¯d heard that the military had a replacement for the vehicle, so I could only guess how many were out there now.


    Deciding that I wanted a better view, I put the suit¡¯s gauntlet up to the window and started to swipe across it again. In that moment, my HUD lit up with a new comm connection, this one from Amy.


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    I took the call, forgetting about the hand on the window, and watched as cracks spread out across the glass.


    ¡°Crap,¡± I muttered. Actually, I might not have said ¡°Crap.¡±


    ¡°Something wrong?¡± Amy asked.


    ¡°Pretty much everything,¡± I said.


    She laughed, ¡°I got that impression. We¡¯re teleporting straight to you. What are we jumping into?¡±


    ¡°This,¡± I sent her a picture of everything in my HUD¡ªthe landing stairwell, iron railing, the painted ceiling and the now cracked window.


    ¡°Got it,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯ll be there just about¡­ Now.¡±


    And then they were there, all three of them. Amy stood, spear in hand, wearing the black, accented with glowing red, Bloodmaiden armor. Rod wore the black trench coat and mask that he wore before transforming into a troll. Samita wore the red, hooded jacket and pants she wore as Red Hex, carrying a wooden staff with iron ends. I felt sure it was a new staff.


    Rod wiped a spot on the window clear with his gloved hand, frowning down at the smear of grime on his glove. Looking outside, he said, ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s pretty bad. Where do you need us, upstairs or outside?¡±


    ¡°Honestly? Both.¡± I took a breath, calming myself down. Between the fight outside and running up the stairway, my heart was still racing.


    Amy glanced toward the window and than back at me, ¡°I¡¯ll go with¡­ V4, right? Do the two of you think you can handle everyone outside?¡±


    Giving a half-smile, Samita said, ¡°We¡¯ll manage. I think we¡¯ll have to be careful, but¡ª¡°


    ¡°Fuck careful,¡± Rod took a running leap and transformed on the final step before the window, turning from your average, bearded philosophy grad student into a massively muscled, wide-mouthed, drooling troll that was bigger than the V4 suit.


    He ducked to avoid hitting the window frame with his head, or, more likely, his upper chest. As the glass blasted outward, he gave a deep roar that shook my suit.


    I expected him to land on one of the humvees, but that wasn¡¯t his plan. His leap carried him straight for the big mech. Almost as large as the mech, he pulled it into a hug with one arm, and started pounding on it with the other.


    They dropped out of sight even as the people in powered armor turned to figure out what had just happened.


    Shaking her head, Samita said, ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be careful.¡±


    She took a step toward the window and then stopped, turning toward Amy, ¡°You be careful too. Don¡¯t absorb too much of them.¡±


    Amy sighed, ¡°Thanks, ¡®mom.¡¯ Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯ve got more than one thousand years of collective experience in avoiding that.¡±


    Mouth in a firm line, Samita started walking toward the window, giving one glance back before she floated out, ¡°It didn¡¯t work for all of them.¡±


    Taking a deep breath, Amy shouted after her, ¡°Good luck to you too!¡±


    Samita faded into invisibility even before she¡¯d floated outside. My suit¡¯s composite sensor view couldn¡¯t find her either.


    Deciding not to wonder how that worked because magic routinely gave physics the middle finger, I turned to Amy, ¡°Avoiding sucking vampires souls shouldn¡¯t be too hard, right?¡±


    ¡°No! It¡¯s not hard at all.¡± She glared at me and let out a breath. ¡°Let¡¯s start up the stairs.¡±


    She peered at my suit, ¡°Did you know there¡¯s a hole in your suit¡¯s leg?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re taking the stairs,¡± I said.


    Not replying, she started running and I followed her.


    Behind us, lightning began to rain down from the sky, hitting suits of powered armor on its way down toward the ground.

 Motor City Intern: Part 42

    It wasn¡¯t hard to keep up with her. The biggest issue was remembering to keep my head down so that I didn¡¯t hit the ceiling. It¡¯d be a shame to trash one of the paintings above the landings. Destroying a window was one thing. Glass could be replaced, but the paintings couldn¡¯t.


    ¡°What¡¯s with the extra-large suit?¡± Amy asked over the comm.


    ¡°Nothing. I wanted to try it and it fit V4¡¯s theme. V8¡¯s mech is even larger.¡±


    Taking the stairs three steps at a time, I had my own questions, ¡°I don¡¯t remember you being able to teleport.¡±


    Breathing steadily as she ran, she replied, ¡°I can¡¯t unless I¡¯ve got at least ten minutes and some connection to where I¡¯m going. It¡¯s more of a ritual. The previous Bloodmaidens knew it and they taught it to me.¡±


    ¡°Whoa. So Red Hex was okay with using blood magic?¡±


    Amy laughed, ¡°Not at all. She was like she always is when I use it¡ªjudgey¡ªeven though the only blood we used was mine.¡±


    Thinking back to what I remembered about blood magic, I said, ¡°For power?¡±


    She glanced back at me for a second, ¡°Partly power. Partly to make it easier to aim. After you gave me a little bit of your soul, it¡¯s been easier for me to find you with magic.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt about that, ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Oh is exactly it. Don¡¯t do that again.¡± She jumped the remaining four steps to the next landing.


    Then she stopped and turned to face me. ¡°Red Hex isn¡¯t all wrong. I don¡¯t remember if I told you this, but it¡¯s worth saying again. In this world, Blood magic is used by vampires and allies they¡¯ve taught to use it. I¡¯m not sure what we¡¯ll see up there and you might need to let me die.¡±


    I looked down at her. She stared up at me, mouth in a thin line, eyes narrow. I told her, ¡°I remember that conversation. I¡¯m not going to save you that way again, but if I¡¯ve got another option, I¡¯ll take it.¡±


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    She nodded, ¡°I can live with that. I don¡¯t want to die, but I don¡¯t want to take you with me.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want that either,¡± I said.


    ¡°Good,¡± she turned and we kept on running. I called Vincent and Mateo, bringing Amy in on that channel because now that she was here, she¡¯d need to coordinate.A moment later, I added Rod and Samita to the channel, but not this conversation. They didn¡¯t need the distraction.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°where are you in the tower?¡±


    Mateo¡¯s calm tenor answered, ¡°Close to the top, but we¡¯re not in the stairwell right now. We skipped out when we heard a lot of them coming down toward us. They¡¯ve passed us now, but I was thinking we should wait until you catch up and go in as a group.¡±


    ¡°Good plan,¡± I said. ¡°It sounds like they might have some blood magic-based sorcerers up there, but good news, Bloodmaiden¡¯s here now. Hopefully, she¡¯ll be able to run interference there, and if we¡¯re really lucky, Red Hex and Troll might show up.¡±


    Mateo and Vincent both laughed at that and Vincent said, ¡°I saw them out the window. Wondered why they were here. They¡¯re a helluva distraction. Don¡¯t know how long they¡¯ll last, but they¡¯re more than a bunch of mobsters can handle.¡±


    Thinking about that, I hoped that they¡¯d have a sense of when to get out of the fight. I said, ¡°Yeah. They¡¯re good. We¡¯ll meet up with you as soon as we can. And while you¡¯re waiting, could you tell them where you are and to join you when they get the chance.¡±


    Mateo spoke up, ¡°I¡¯ll handle it.¡±


    Signing off, I concentrated on running again. I hadn¡¯t lost much ground on Amy, but I wasn¡¯t as close as I should be. I took a few steps, getting me closer by half a turn of the stairwell.


    But then she muttered, ¡°Uh oh,¡± over the comm and I knew why¡ªmany footsteps. Vincent and Mateo had been going up as stealthily as possible and must have heard them first.


    The V4 suit wasn¡¯t stealthy at all and Amy and I had been running. I said, ¡°Maybe we can detour out the door,¡± pointing toward the doorway to the 29th</sup> floor, but a look upward told me what I needed to know. They were only two floors above us and if we did, they¡¯d follow.


    Amy muttered a few words in a language I didn¡¯t recognize and the red edges of her armor glowed brighter, adding a layer of what I assumed was a defensive shield.


    She needed it. A rain of bullets came down from above us, hitting the iron railing, the steps, and the two of us.


    Bullets hit the shield, bouncing off, but leaving it a little dimmer. When they hit my armor, of course, they just bounced, sending the bullet to a new home¡ªmost often the plaster wall next to me.


    I fired off my paralyzation weapons, aiming them upward and seeing men fall onto the stairs with dull thumping noises.


    Amy did one better. She made a motion with her left hand and blood-red lines connected to five men, two of them in powered armor, gave a yank and the red lines doubled in width.


    All five men turned white and sank to the stairs beneath them.


    It went a long way toward explaining how Samita might find ¡°normal¡± blood magic creepy.

 Motor City Intern: Part 43

    ¡°Are they alive?¡± I asked as we ran upward.


    She glanced back at me, ¡°Yes.¡±


    We turned the corner on the stairwell, our steps echoing, and came across the bodies. Hers were easy to tell from mine. Mine didn¡¯t move, but he stared as we stepped over them, some caught mid-frown or mid-smile. Hers were pale and breathing slowly as they lay there in their black uniforms, bulging where armor protected them.


    On a whim, I checked if they had codpieces. They did.


    Anyway, more than that, hers looked drained. I wondered if that¡¯s how I¡¯d looked after I¡¯d stabbed myself with her spear. I didn¡¯t regret the donation, but she¡¯d absorbed bits of my soul. That sounded more intimate than¡­ well, a lot of things.


    ¡°They¡¯re really okay?¡± I said into my comm.


    Her reply was almost a sigh, ¡°Yes, but bad news, we didn¡¯t get all of them. The rest ran over there.¡±


    She pointed toward the door and into the main area of the floor. I didn¡¯t see people there. My main impression as I looked through the doorway was of white marble walls (real or fake), a shattered statue of an unknown subject, chandeliers, and more paintings on the ceiling.


    ¡°I guess they know we¡¯re coming, then,¡± I said, and we started running again.


    ¡°That''s the only reason they''re here. They were sent to find you. The vampire that survived the fight outside told them you were coming.¡± She barely moved her lips,  keeping her voice low.


    She had to have absorbed that information along with their soul or whatever her magic had absorbed.


    Taking a few more steps, I said, ¡°You got that out of their heads? I thought you needed the spear to do that.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a new trick. I worked it out with help from Red Hex and the other Bloodmaidens. And no, Red Hex didn¡¯t like it, but she still helped.¡±


    Then she held up her hand and we stopped, ¡°There¡¯s a mech on the next floor up.They were supposed to find you. It¡¯s supposed to get you.¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°Maybe I go first and you hit it with your spear while we¡¯re fighting? I mean, the last two I fought were piloted by vampires, so you might want to check that first.¡±


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    She frowned, but then said, ¡°Thanks for the warning, but I¡¯m so sick of everyone worrying about it. It''s on my mind  without help.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± I said. ¡±I¡¯ll try not to. Did you get anything out of them about exactly where the mech will be?¡±


    She closed her eyes, muttering, ¡°What''s left of them is already fading¡­ I think the mech will be on the other side of the doorway on the landing, watching for you there.¡±


    ¡°Probably waiting for me to come up the stairway, though,¡± I checked the repair status. The suit wasn¡¯t at 100%, but the leg rockets could get fuel.


    Looking upward, I decided I could weave between the sides of the stairwell. ¡°Follow me up, but maybe wait a second.¡±


    I gave the rockets fuel, took off, shooting upward over the other side of the stairway, and then back over to my original side¡ªwhich meant overshooting the next floor a little.


    That meant I landed and jumped down a few steps which could not have been what the guy was expecting. I knew this because I could see his eyes widen through the mech¡¯s faceplate as I appeared, landed, and jumped.


    He swung his gun arm away from the side I¡¯d have walked up and started firing even as I ran at him, hitting the railing, causing at least one bullet to ricochet, others to shatter the window behind me, and make holes in the stairway.


    In the background of my mind, I¡¯d half-expected to find that the man was in powered armor as opposed to being what I thought of as a mech, but I was wrong. Even though it wasn¡¯t much taller than a normal human, it was wider and longer¡ªa kind of tank mech with treads instead of legs.


    I wasn¡¯t sure how it got up stairways, but I didn¡¯t have time to think that through as I ran at it, pushing the gun arm to the side and punching it, watching as the first punch smashed into the side. Whoever had designed it had an interesting approach. The armor wasn¡¯t metal. It was some kind of ceramic that imploded inward with my punch but didn¡¯t fall apart, staying together enough to keep the machinery and man inside alive.


    At the same time, he didn¡¯t think much of this development. He appeared to be shouting something. The armor blocked most of it, but what I did hear sounded like, ¡°No, no, no!¡±


    More than that, he appeared to be leaning away from me inside the pilot¡¯s capsule, not with the mech¡ªso, total panic on his part, making me think he shouldn¡¯t have been piloting it in the first place.


    He did manage to release an explosive, though. Don¡¯t ask me from where. Using explosives that blow up on your mech seemed like a questionable choice. At the same time, it didn¡¯t seem to do any more damage to the mech than I¡¯d already done and it did knock me sideways into the wall and off of it.


    So, maybe it wasn¡¯t a bad design for fighting supers, especially when you considered that it gave the operator time to turn the gun arm to face me¡ªwhich he did with eyes still wide and his jaw dropped in an expression that left me thinking he expected to die at any second.


    He wasn¡¯t all wrong, but not in the way he assumed.


    That¡¯s when Amy¡¯s spear phased through the armor, hitting him in the side. He slumped and the gun arm turned toward me, passing without ever firing a shot.


    Amy flew over moments later, pulling the spear out.


    Past experience told me that Amy hadn''t killed him.  As she took the spear back, she shook her head. ¡°Do you think you can fly the rest of the way up? They¡¯re about to send down Nanosecond and that dragon wizard to take out Blue Mask and the hamster--permanently.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 44

    ¡°I¡­¡± Checking the armor¡¯s status report, I learned that while the rocket fuel systems had been fully repaired, I had less fuel than I thought.


    I hadn¡¯t designed it with as much fuel as the Rocket suit to begin with, so losing some made more of a dent in the total supply. Did I have enough to fly up ten floors, maybe a little more?


    Yes. Probably.


    I told Amy, ¡°I¡¯ve got that much fuel. I think.¡±


    She raised an eyebrow. ¡°What do you think about dropping 30 stories? I can¡¯t carry that thing.¡±


    I frowned even though she couldn¡¯t see it, ¡°The fuel gauge works. If it gets really low, I¡¯ll land on the stairs or something.¡±


    She nodded, ¡°It¡¯s your life.¡±


    Activating the main leg rockets and the directional rockets, I opened up the comms, ¡°I don¡¯t know where you guys are, but Chromatic and Nanosecond have been told to kill you. We¡¯re flying up to help¡ªyou, not them.¡±


    Breathing heavily, Mateo¡¯s voice came over the comm saying, ¡°We know,¡± followed by more breathing and the sound of air.


    Not waiting to ask if that meant that if he was in the middle of fighting them (that seemed obvious), I gave the rockets fuel enough to fly.


    Weaving from one side of the stairwell to the other at a speed that felt a little too fast, I still managed to avoid hitting anything¡ªwell, mostly. I hit one railing with the V4 suit¡¯s shin. It didn¡¯t damage the shin. The iron railing bent and broke.


    I decided not to think about it. After trashing the building¡¯s electrical system, what was one railing? I just hoped no one would get hurt fixing it.


    My helmet¡¯s peripheral vision showed Amy flying after me, the red glowing accents on her black armor making it easier to pick her out. She was a couple of stories below me. Whatever magic she used wasn¡¯t as fast as my tech. On the other hand, she hadn¡¯t hit anything.


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    Not that I spent a lot of time comparing our relative speeds. That was pointless, except that it meant that I¡¯d be arriving first.


    Checking my HUD, I tried to use the comms¡¯ tracking feature to figure out whether I¡¯d reached the correct floor.


    It turned out that I didn¡¯t need to.


    A lightning bolt arced across the stairwell two floors above where I was. To be fair, it could have been Samita, but it wasn¡¯t. She was still outside. Also, I heard Vincent yelling, ¡°Chromatic, dude, you know me. I¡¯m your friend!¡±


    That was a clue.


    Unfortunately, Vincent¡¯s attempt at talking sense with Chromatic wasn¡¯t working. A second lightning bolt followed the first and Vincent jumped from one side of the stairwell, dropping at least ten feet, and swinging over the railing onto the stairway.


    I passed as he came out of a roll, turning around, and standing with his arms in a guard position facing the direction he¡¯d come from.


    He waved at me as I passed, ¡°Hey V4, good to see you! Hurt him, but don¡¯t hurt, hurt him, right?¡±


    I didn¡¯t get to answer. Chromatic¡¯s orders didn¡¯t leave him any options except for hurt, hurting people and he¡¯d decided to include me. The good news, though, was that he appeared to have an affinity for lightning.


    That said, I didn¡¯t feel like it was that wonderful as the first bolt hit, searing brightness making it hard to see through my helmet. The suit dimmed the light, but there¡¯s only so much that you can do when lightning surrounds your head.


    I¡¯d done what I could. Like the Rocket suit, the V4 suit had been designed to route electricity around the suit and not allow any to go through it. Better, it worked. Nothing shorted out and I didn¡¯t get electrocuted.


    The rockets didn¡¯t stop when I got hit, sending me upward, and I had enough presence of mind to zig to avoid another section of the stairway and zag back, putting me a little higher than Chromatic who stood on the landing¡ªthe one that led into the rest of the floor.


    He raised his reptilian claws and electricity gathered around them. I didn¡¯t hesitate. I blasted straight for him. His tail twitched as I bore down on him, knocking him over as lightning shot out of his hands toward the ceiling, burning the mural above us and downing a chandelier.


    It crashed to the floor, glass shattering and metal bending.


    Meanwhile, Chromatic and I hit the marble wall next to the doorway out. The marble cracked. I pushed myself up, realizing from the angle of Chromatic¡¯s forearm that I¡¯d probably broken it. Nothing was sticking out, but it wasn¡¯t straight.


    I¡¯d been trained in first aid, but for humans, not draconic immigrants from alternate universes. I aimed my sensors at him, giving him as much of an exam as I had time for, learning that he had two hearts and they were both beating.


    Deciding that that was good news, I tried to think of what to do next. Elevate his arm?


    The roar of wind from the hallway told me that I didn¡¯t have time. Nanosecond appeared in the doorway, turning her head toward me.


    I aimed my paralysis weapon at her, hoping I¡¯d connect.

 Motor City Intern: Part 45

    I didn¡¯t. With the new suit acting at the speed of my thought (where it could), I might be faster than normal people, but Nanosecond was faster than I was.


    I¡¯d been hoping her name was just marketing.


    She ran at me, moving too quickly for me to see much more than a blur of long hair and fists. Her hands hit the suit in a string of blows that reminded me of the sound of rain but weren''t doing much of anything to my armor.


    That told me something about her. There are two kinds of speedsters, the ones that are fast because they¡¯re physically fast and strong, and the other kind, the ones that manipulate time or space to appear to be faster even though technically they aren¡¯t.


    She was the second kind.


    Okay, maybe she was a mix, but she was definitely on the physically human end of the pool because nothing she threw hurt the suit or even made me stumble.


    That didn¡¯t change the fact that I couldn¡¯t hit her if my life depended on it. Not even a wide area spray of paralyzation combined with a turn did any good. That or her armor included countermeasures to both methods of paralyzation. Either way, I had another option, courtesy of Chromatic who¡¯d charged me up.


    I¡¯d turned the outer skin of my suit into a taser by releasing some of the energy I¡¯d designed the suit to absorb.


    She punched the suit only once before discovering the change, saying a word that stood in for ouch but wasn¡¯t. It was four letters long but had only one letter in common.


    It didn¡¯t take her out though.


    Not wanting to kill her, I didn¡¯t feel comfortable swinging my arms around in hopes that I might hit. Even if she had armor in her costume, the V4 suit could generate tons of force and if I wanted a chance to hit her, the more force and the more speed, the better.


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    I adjusted the paralysis weapons to the widest possible settings and pumped more power into the weapons than they were designed for, swinging around even as she began to back away from me.


    She must have been assuming that I was trying to hit her because it was the right move for that, but it put her into the path of the weapon.


    Even as the suit informed me that the weapons were overheating and I began to lower the power, she fell, her momentum carrying her in the direction of the stairway and worse, the direction of a more than 30 story drop.


    She didn¡¯t drop. I wasn¡¯t quick enough to catch her, but I didn¡¯t have to. She fell before she reached the railing, rolling into it as Amy floated over it.


    The whole thing would have been more dramatic if Amy had to catch her, but disappointing in the extreme if Amy had tried and missed.


    Amy looked down at Nanosecond¡¯s body and asked, ¡°How long until she¡¯ll be able to move?¡±


    Thinking about how I''d overpowered my weapons and not knowing if Nanosecond generated a field that warped time around her, I said, ¡°I have no idea.¡±


    Shaking her head, Amy said a few words and waved her hand at Nanosecond. Blood red tendrils appeared in the air around the speedster, joining together in a spiderweb of veins.


    ¡°I know it looks gross,¡± Amy flew over her and landed next to me. ¡°But she shouldn¡¯t be able to get out¡ªnot unless she¡¯s secretly trained in magic.¡±


    ¡°I hope not,¡± I began, but noticed movement in the hallway behind me my helmet¡¯s peripheral vision.


    Turning, I found Mateo stepping through the doorway into the stairwell. He didn¡¯t look good. Aside from limping, dust-covered his blue cape. His wide-brimmed hat had been dented. The blue mask, of course, was pristine.


    Unsure in the first instant I saw him of which leg was limping, I realized that the answer was both of them. And the pain or soreness must not have been limited to his legs. Every limb moved like he¡¯d had a grueling four-hour workout.


    He stared at the red threads encasing Nanosecond first but then said, ¡°She hit me more times than I could count. Do you think you can bring her back to herself?¡±


    Amy took a breath and stared down at Nanosecond¡¯s body. In a moment so brief I couldn¡¯t guess its length, I felt something around me move. It might have been air, but I was encased in the V4 suit. Blood magic seemed more likely in that Amy stopped staring as I stopped feeling it.


    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°I recognize the power source, but not the technique. It¡¯s blood magic designed to affect the mind. I could take it apart, but not quickly.¡±


    She turned to look at Chromatic, ¡°He¡¯s affected too.¡±


    Raising her right hand, she said a few words, and the red tendrils wrapped around Chromatic as well.


    Mateo blinked and looked from Nanosecond to Chromatic, ¡°All the red stuff makes sense now. Give me a second and I think I¡¯ll be ready to fight again.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 46

    Leaning back against the wall, Mateo closed his eyes. His lips may have moved, but if they did, I didn¡¯t hear anything he said.


    I did feel something though, a warm wind¡ªexcept bearing in mind that I was covered by armor, it was impossible for me to feel anything of the kind. I had a suspicion of what it might be, but I didn¡¯t have time or any realistic direction to explore it.


    In front of me, Mateo pushed himself away from the wall, still walking stiffly for the first two steps, but normally by the third. He took a deep breath and smiled, ¡°Ready?¡±


    Amy shook her head, ¡°No. You couldn¡¯t do that in school.¡±


    His smile wavered, ¡°Actually, I could, but healing isn¡¯t something I can do a lot. If it becomes a ¡®known power of Blue Mask,¡¯ in the V&V database, people will come after me for help like they do Paladin and Preserver. If I keep it secret, I¡¯ll have it on missions when we need it.¡±


    Her eyes narrowed for a second, but she said, ¡°I¡¯m no one to talk. If I¡¯ve got enough power to work with, I can do things that I¡¯m never going to admit to.¡±


    In an even voice, Mateo said, ¡°Like what?¡±


    She laughed, ¡°Assume they¡¯re all creepy as hell and that I¡¯ll use everything that isn¡¯t someday.¡±


    Vincent walked up the stairs, his claws clicking on the floor, ¡°Nice. They¡¯re okay, right?¡±


    He waved his paw at Chromatic and then Nanosecond.


    ¡°Should be,¡± I said.


    Amy turned toward him, ¡°They¡¯re alive. My spell will keep them bound for a few hours or until I let them go.¡±


    ¡°Good enough,¡± he said. ¡°You guys ready? I don¡¯t know what they¡¯ve got up there, but Syndicate L¡¯s main base is a few floors above us. It¡¯s got to be vamp central.¡±


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    He turned to look at Mateo, ¡°You¡¯re looking better than you did last I saw you. After Nanosecond hits people about a million times, they usually go down.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Mateo walked over to us. ¡°I took a rest. I¡¯ll be okay.¡±


    Vincent laughed, ¡°I wasn¡¯t that far away when you said you could heal.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± Mateo said, nodding. ¡°I healed myself. Please don¡¯t tell anybody.¡±


    Shaking his head, Vincent said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We won¡¯t tell, but my brothers and I might bring you along on missions more often.¡±


    Mateo frowned as Vincent chuckled.


    Stepping back from us, Amy looked up the stairwell, ¡°I don¡¯t want to interrupt anyone, but we¡¯ve got a little more to do.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I know,¡± Vincent glanced upward. ¡°I don¡¯t hear anything. We¡¯ve got a second. Do we have a plan or are we going to run up there and wing it?¡±


    Mateo glanced over at Amy and then Vincent, ¡°We¡¯re not winging it. I think Vincent and I should go a little ahead of the two of you and see if we can scout the area. Then once we know what we¡¯re dealing with, we call you in and attack.¡±


    Amy glanced toward the windows in the stairwell. From this height, we could see Detroit¡¯s skyline, but not much of anything below us. Rod and Samita were down there somewhere.


    She said, ¡°I¡¯ll call in Troll and Red Hex and see if they can make it up here. They¡¯ve done everything they need to. We¡¯re in and a little more help can¡¯t hurt.¡±


    ¡°Do it,¡± Mateo said.


    ¡°I was just thinking,¡± I began, ¡°that if we could wait until sunrise, we¡¯d have the advantage. It¡¯s 6:05 am, and we¡¯re only twenty minutes from the sun coming up. It wouldn¡¯t be that long to wait.¡±


    Amy shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t think we can wait. If we attack now, we¡¯ll see all of them. If we wait and they have coffins somewhere else, they¡¯ll leave before sunrise¡ª¡°


    ¡°¡ªAnd if we fight them now, they might not make it to their coffins even they get away from us,¡± Vincent said. ¡°I like that.¡±


    Nodding, Mateo said, ¡°Me too. The sooner we get there, the better. Besides, Barrington can walk in daylight.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°I was thinking that if we fought him alone, that would help, but maybe that¡¯s what happens in the end. Attacking them when they think they have time to fight might be better.¡±


    Moving his hand to his chin, Mateo stood quietly for a moment, finally saying, ¡°I think we¡¯ll do best if we move now. We don¡¯t want them to escape and for all we know, they have captives they¡¯re going to¡­ convert. For that matter, maybe their coffins are up there. We don¡¯t know enough and we can¡¯t risk waiting until it¡¯s too late.¡±


    Stepping out of the group, he waved toward the stairway, ¡°Let¡¯s all go for now. I¡¯ll tell you when Vincent and I should go ahead.¡±


    Amy and I looked at each other for a moment, but we followed.

 Motor City Intern: Part 47

    It wasn¡¯t as if he was wrong. The V4 armor wasn¡¯t made with stealth in mind. I felt lucky that Book Tower had high ceilings. Otherwise, I¡¯d be bumping my helmet against the ceiling constantly.


    Amy didn¡¯t make any noise that I noticed. Given that it appeared out of nowhere when she transformed, I had no idea what it was made of. Mystery magic stuff was my best guess so far--with the distinct possibility that it was the physical manifestation of the remains of souls that the Bloodmaidens had consumed over the millennia of their service to Amy¡¯s family¡¯s empire.


    Her ancestors weren¡¯t nice people.


    Anyway, Mateo and Vincent walked ahead of us, Mateo with rapier in hand and Vincent walking behind him, one step at a time, nose sniffing the air with all the caution you¡¯d expect of a rodent.


    It struck me that the two of them together, a masked swordsman accompanied by a humanoid hamster, seemed like something that should appear in a children¡¯s book¡ªnot one about vampires though.


    Anyone putting those ingredients together had a poor understanding of genre.


    ¡°What¡¯s amusing you?¡± Amy glanced up at me.


    ¡°Nothing worth mentioning,¡± I told her over the comm. Explaining cultural aesthetics to a warrior princess and magical girl from another universe seemed like it would take too long.


    As Mateo and Vincent neared the next floor, Mateo held up his hand and spoke into his comm, ¡°We¡¯ll take a quick look at this floor.¡±


    This floor looked more intimidating than the last one somehow¡ªit might have been the windowless, grey metal door. Whatever construction they¡¯d done had also replaced the early 20th century paintings from the ceiling, replacing them with flat, white ceilings with no molding.


    It didn¡¯t take long for Vincent to pick the lock on the door. The two of them left, their footsteps impossible to hear even on the concrete floor.


    Amy and I waited for them to come back. We could have talked, but instead looked up and down the stairway for people coming to kill us.


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    They came back a minute or two later. Mateo still had his sword in hand and Vincent closed the door slowly, letting the lock¡¯s click be the only noise it made.


    Mateo kept his voice low as he talked, ¡°The whole floor was some kind of guard post, but it¡¯s empty now. There¡¯s still equipment, guns, partial suits of powered armor, and some armored uniforms.¡±


    ¡°Powered armor?¡± I looked toward the door.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have time,¡± Mateo said.


    ¡°I know, but you¡¯re saying it was empty?¡± I checked my suit¡¯s sensors, trying to see what I could get out of a ping.


    It turned out not to be much. Even when I put my hands on the wall, I only got a few rooms worth of echoes. He was right. The computer assembled composite didn¡¯t show anything human. From the map it created, I got the impression of closets, beds, and shelves. So, basically, the floor was a barracks.


    ¡°Empty,¡± Mateo said. ¡°They¡¯ve got special rooms for mechs. If you want to go through them, I¡¯d wait ¡¯til after.¡±


    I didn¡¯t argue and followed him up to the next floor. This time, I pinged the place as I walked up the stairway, using my HUD to view the reconstruction. It didn¡¯t make a lot of sense.


    Unlike the last floor, this one was one big room. If it wasn¡¯t, the other rooms were on the far side of the room that took up most of the floor. At that same time, the room wasn¡¯t empty, and judging from the density of the material around the edges of the room and some parts of the floor, it was organic.


    There was more organic material in the middle of the room, but those were human-shaped.


    I spoke into the comm, ¡°Before we go in, you should know that there¡¯s something in there and that it¡¯s all over this side. Also, there are a bunch of people in the middle of the room.¡±


    Vincent turned back to look at me, ¡°What do you think it is? The big thing, I mean.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Mold? A fungus? We¡¯ve seen vampire watermelons. It could be anything.¡±


    Mateo stopped, staring ahead at the doorway outside the stairwell. This one hadn¡¯t been redone in a modern style. If anything, someone had gone out of their way to recreate the feel of the lower stories, touching up the original art, the ornate moldings around the ceiling, and restoring or replacing the golden chandeliers.


    Also, the stairway ended. I knew we weren¡¯t on the top floor, but this was the farthest up we could go without going deeper into the main area of the floor.


    Shaking his head, Mateo said, ¡°You¡¯re right. There¡¯s something in there. I¡¯m not sure what to even call it. It¡¯s got similar energy to vampires, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s undead. There are undead in there, though.¡±


    Amy pushed her way past me on the stairs, beginning to say, ¡°Let me take a look¡ª¡°


    The door opened, blood-red tendrils exploding out of it, grabbing Mateo and pulling him through the air before he could jump out of the way. He struck one tendril and then another with his sword, cutting one through, but it wasn¡¯t enough, and within seconds, he¡¯d been pulled through the door.


    He disappeared.

 Motor City Intern: Part 48

    Jumping over the tentacles, Vincent dove into the room, but not before drawing two curved knives which he used to chop at the tentacles that tried to grab him even as he landed.


    Knives were his weapon, I remembered. I¡¯d always wondered why, but this didn¡¯t seem the time to ask.


    Stopping out of reach of the tentacles, Amy muttered, ¡°Don¡¯t go in before we know what this thing is¡ª¡°


    I did stop, but I wasn¡¯t listening. Instead, I was getting an unasked for data dump from the depths of my implant¡¯s database. Sudden visions of blood red blobs with tentacles and multiple mouths, some without teeth, but most with disjointed, unmatched teeth set in layers around circular mouths.


    Along with the visuals came the words:


    Excerpted from the Encyclopedia Extra-Galactica


    The earliest mentions of the Xosk place them at the core of the X.79 galaxy. Linked to Artificer ruins found there, the Xosk have since spread to at least five other galaxies, causing the extinction of at least fifty spacefaring species. Their ability to drain psychic energy from their victims has prompted advancement in the area of psychic defense technology in multiple civilizations. Despite being a genderless species with asexual reproduction, they have complex cultural beliefs about reproduction and social hierarchy¡­


    After that I stopped paying full attention, shouting, ¡°Lovecraftian, psychic space vampires!¡± into my comm.


    It made sense. It felt like the only kind of vampire we were missing.


    ¡°Sure, why not?¡± Amy pointed the Bloodspear ahead of her and ran for the door. I started after her, picking up speed with every step. I could have blown past her, knocking her out of the way and going through the door first, but that would have been rude, so I stayed behind her.


    Some part of my brain whispered that tentacle monsters posed a special risk to anime-themed magical girls, but I kept that to myself. Amy wouldn¡¯t get the cultural reference and I didn¡¯t ever want to explain it to her.


    Aside from which, she didn¡¯t have much of a problem as she entered the room.


    Stabbing the first tentacle that snaked toward her legs with her spear, Amy¡¯s blow turned it to dust. I didn¡¯t know what exactly she¡¯d done, but given that her spear drained people¡¯s souls/life essence/whatever, the Xosk couldn¡¯t be happy.


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    In the next second, I knew that I was right.


    ==PAIN!==


    ==DIE WITCHLING!==


    Coinciding with the second telepathic communication came unbearable pain. I¡¯d never had a migraine, but I guessed that the pain in my head must be something like that. It hurt so badly that I wanted to throw up¡ªexcept I didn¡¯t want to because I was inside the V4 suit.


    Ahead of me, Amy stumbled.


    Hoping it would do some good, I pulled energy from the well of energy I¡¯d learned how to tap in the spring. This thing was related to the Artificers and it was an Artificer technique.


    It might work. The only bad thing was that if it did, I didn¡¯t have much energy to work with before I hit the bottom of the tank.


    Also, I hadn¡¯t ever tried this exactly. I was going to use the energy to juice the mental defenses Daniel set up in my head years ago, the ones he¡¯d drawn inspiration from Lee¡¯s defenses to create, leading to madness on the part of the telepath that tried to break into my mind.


    But anyway, the side effect of growing up as the best friend of a telepath was that I had a clue of how to do it. Though I hadn¡¯t known how to do it when he¡¯d set them up, Daniel had taught me how to feel my defenses. Now I sent energy into them, extending them, expanding them, hoping that none of my friends would be affected.


    As Amy stumbled, tentacles stretched toward her from all directions, but she never fell, she flew.


    In the same moment, the creature began to wail telepathically. I could feel its pain, but it didn¡¯t hurt. Either my defenses took the edge off or it was too involved in its own pain to attack.


    Not sure of how long I could keep it up, I took advantage of the moment and followed Amy into the room.


    It wasn¡¯t much different in shape from what I¡¯d seen through the suit¡¯s sonic view, but the details mattered. The room was large, taking up most of the building¡¯s floor. It must have been a ballroom at some point in the building¡¯s history. The ceiling was twice the height of the floors below and covered in paintings and golden decorations. Chandeliers hung throughout the room with the biggest in the middle.


    The walls of the room were another story. If there were windows, the body of the Xosk covered them. Its uneven blobby mass stretched around the room, thicker in some spots than others, but all mouths and tentacles the entire way around.


    Mateo and Vincent fought them to my right, Mateo being being pulled in toward a mouth full of uneven teeth half of his height, but he was still fighting, cutting one tentacle after another. Vincent dodged between them, slashing with his knives.


    That would have been bad enough, but the middle of the room was worse. It was filled with coffins and with the coffins were vampires, some standing, others sitting on the lid, still others halfway inside as if they¡¯d been about to lay down. I didn''t know how many there were, but more than twenty for sure.


    It was near dawn, and no light could get in.


    Oh, yeah. We had them right where we wanted them.

 Motor City Intern: Part 49

    Sarcasm aside, the one good thing about being completely surrounded by your enemies is that your enemies are easy to find. At the same time, if you want to survive, it¡¯s good to have a strategy that¡¯s better thought out than, ¡°kill everybody.¡±


    Talking over the comm, I said, ¡°Let¡¯s help Blue Mask with the xosk.¡±


    Off to the side and above me, Amy glanced over at the vampires in the middle of the room and then over to where Mateo and Vincent fought off tentacles. ¡°Is that what it¡¯s called? Yes. Let¡¯s free up Blue Mask to fight the normal vampires and maybe open up a window.¡±


    She''d said everything I was thinking but didn¡¯t want to explain. I didn¡¯t know whether that was because of years of training together, some kind of lingering connection because of how I¡¯d saved her life, or the more than one thousand years of fighting experience she had access to through past lives.


    Whichever it was, we turned toward the xosk, Amy flying downward toward Mateo while I ran parallel with her except that I was on the floor.


    The xosk noticed, shooting out tentacles that ended in bony spikes.


    Mind you, they weren¡¯t much of a threat to me. Between whatever juicing my psychic defenses did and my armor, the tentacles wavered as they grew closer to me, bouncing off my armor in a series of clicking noises.


    Amy didn¡¯t get quite so lucky. Her armor stopped most of the xosk¡¯s shots, but her armor wasn¡¯t airtight. The helmet was open-faced.


    One bone-tipped tentacle sunk into her cheek. Her face went slack and she began to fall.


    I turned to grab the tentacle if I could, but I didn¡¯t have to.


    Grimacing, she stabbed the tentacle with her spear and it erupted into flame, starting from where she struck it and burning most of the way back to the xosk¡¯s body. By the end, the tentacle had been turned to dust except for the bone tip and a few fatty bits.


    A small part of my brain wondered if the fatty bits were alien bacon, but I brushed the thought away, asking Amy, ¡°Can you do that to the whole thing?¡±


    She raised an eyebrow, ¡°Not all at once, but I can try.¡±


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    Ahead of us, the xosk wasn¡¯t waiting to find out what we planned to do. Whether or not it guessed our intentions, it aimed dozens of tentacles at Mateo and Vincent.


    It¡¯s a tribute to their skills (and maybe Mateo¡¯s mask) that they didn¡¯t go down in the first barrage of bone-tipped flesh. Both of them moved with an agility I didn¡¯t have in most versions of my armor. Even in this version of my armor where I had more than normal, I couldn¡¯t swing a sword with the speed Mateo used, chopping half a dozen at a time in half.


    Vincent did as well or better with his knives, but neither of them could keep it up.


    By the time Amy and I came close enough to strike, the xosk had wrapped tendrils around their legs and arms and begun to pull them toward its mouths. Though they still pulled this way and then that, both had a dazed look on their faces (though I found the hamster¡¯s face harder to read).


    ==Back!==


    A mental wail seemed to fill my consciousness.


    ==Or we WILL devour them!==


    As if to illustrate, it pulled Vincent and Mateo so far forward that Vincent was all but in its mouth.


    Amy didn¡¯t hesitate. She loosed her spear, throwing it into one of the mouths even as the alien opened it to take a bite with its mismatched teeth.


    It would have been convenient if the whole creature had burned up then, but it didn¡¯t. It screamed as blood and fire erupted from its mouth. Vincent, however out of it he¡¯d appeared, slashed one tentacle after another, pulling himself halfway free, pushing away from the xosk one step at a time.


    As much as I didn¡¯t want Vincent to be eaten, I was barely aware of any of it as it happened because I was aiming for Mateo.


    Tentacles grabbed my body as I moved between Mateo and the xosk¡¯s nearest mouth. They weren¡¯t strong enough to slow me down and even if they had been, I¡¯d begun to realize that they hesitated before they tried to strike me.


    I felt sure it had to be because of what I was doing with my mental defenses, but I was beginning to tire¡ªnot physically, but whatever part of me could tap into power outside myself? That felt tired, but only a little.


    Ignoring the tentacles around myself, I grabbed the tentacles that were pulling on Mateo and started pushing away from the alien, figuring that if I ripped part of its body away it could only be an improvement.


    It didn¡¯t like it. I mean, I don¡¯t think anyone would enjoy having their limbs ripped out of their body, but it attacked me. I began to breathe in short shallow breaths, feeling like something was about to strike.


    If it had been the first time I¡¯d ever felt someone else¡¯s emotions try to masquerade as my own, I might have done something stupid, letting go of the tentacles and running, for example, but it wasn¡¯t new at all.


    Concentrating on moving, I pulled as hard as I could, hearing a sound somewhere between a snapping rubber band and tearing clothing with the addition of a splash.


    I moved forward as something behind me gave¡ªmaybe I¡¯d torn part of it away? I wanted to turn to check, but I couldn¡¯t.


    Ahead of me, Mateo¡¯s eyes had changed from half shut to wide open. It was in that moment that I noticed that one of the tentacles holding him had sunk into the back of his neck.


    He pointed his sword at me.

 Motor City Intern: Part 50

    I didn¡¯t want to hurt Mateo, but I also didn¡¯t want to discover that he¡¯d figured out Amy¡¯s trick for ignoring armor. The question then became how to stop him. Lashing out with the full strength of my armor might kill him, but yanking the tentacle out might scramble his brains.


    Deciding to go with what I was already trying anyway, I directed my mental energies toward the tentacles. Knowing that for Lee, they weren¡¯t directed anywhere so much as everywhere around him. Of course, it could be that he didn¡¯t try to direct them.


    Either way, I did, and I didn¡¯t stop there. Though I¡¯d already been grabbing at the tentacles around Mateo, I grabbed harder and stepped sideways, putting the mass of tentacles between me and Mateo.


    Mateo¡¯s face tightened in what might have been pain, but maybe not his pain, and he slashed at me with his sword.


    I¡¯d trained with Mateo over the summer and I¡¯d seen him when he wanted to hit. He struck in the same moment that I realized he was striking. This wasn¡¯t that fast.


    Better, it cut into the tentacles around me, but not into my armor, hitting it with a solid thunk, but not going through. Mateo might still be in enough control of his body that he wouldn¡¯t go for the kill.


    Even as I had that idea, a mass of cut tentacles fell off the front of my body and out of my hands. Better, they fell off him¡ªincluding the ones in his head. There were three and they all had blood around the white bone tips.


    ¡°Take the regular vamps. Bloodmaiden and I will handle this guy¡ªI hope.¡± I glanced over at Vincent to see how he was doing.


    The answer? Surprisingly well. He¡¯d avoided getting taken over by the xosk and more tentacles lay on the floor around him than I¡¯d have thought possible.


    Hearing me, he chopped away another two out of the air, and said, ¡°Go for it. We¡¯re not getting very far here and Blue Mask told me a couple of tricks I¡¯d like to try on the regular ones.¡±


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    He wasn¡¯t wrong. Cutting tentacles off the alien wouldn¡¯t bring it down any time soon.


    I didn¡¯t know what kind of tricks he was talking about, but it looked like he¡¯d have the opportunity. A crowd of vamps had broken off from the group by the coffins. In the little time I had to watch, I found myself staring at the group. They didn''t look like vampires. They looked like a motorcycle gang. Big bearded men in leather jackets with long canines ran toward us carrying knives and chains.


    I supposed that it only took one vampire gang member to turn the rest.


    Instead of attacking the regular vamps, it looked like Mateo and Vincent would have to keep them off us while we fought the alien.


    I didn¡¯t like those odds. I mean, the two of them were good, but¡­


    With Mateo behind him, Vincent ran forward and as he got close to the vamps he shouted, ¡°Today¡¯s slaying has been brought to you by the letter S and the number 4, you overgrown muppets!¡±


    Then he threw a handful of ball bearings across the floor, followed by another handful. The first vampire slipped on several at once, pitching himself face forward into the floor. Another ran into the first, tried to stay up, but stepped on more ball bearings and went down.


    The rest started to count the rolling balls even as Vincent pulled out what looked like a piece from a broken broom handle and stabbed the nearest vampire in the chest.


    ¡°S stands for stake,¡± he said.


    The vampires backed away from him, not wanting to get stabbed but unable to do anything else but search for and count the balls.


    Mateo ran through the one next to him with his rapier¡ªwhich flashed with a bright light, burning the vampire¡¯s body and turning him to ash.


    Mateo and Vincent were getting better at this. Maybe we did have a chance.


    Turning away from a chorus of vampires counting ball bearings broken up by the occasional screech as one got stabbed, I gave the alien my full attention, running toward it, hoping whatever was radiating from my mind would confuse it more if I were closer.


    Tentacles tried to grab me, but either didn¡¯t have the strength or at a gut level didn¡¯t want to touch me.


    Why they kept on trying was a little bit of a mystery in the instant that the thought came into my head, but in the next instant, I remembered a bit from the alien encyclopedia entry the implant had force-fed my brain. The xosk was a consciousness composed of many lesser identities. So, it was possible that the main intelligence had enough control to use them to grab me, but that the individual tentacles had enough control to decide not to once they got a taste of my artificer inspired psychic defenses.


    That was fascinating in its own way, but it didn¡¯t change my backup plan in case disorienting psi wasn¡¯t enough.


    I planned to punch my way through its body to the outside and let the sunshine in.

 Motor City Intern: Part 51

    Of course, the xosk wasn¡¯t under any obligation to let me punch a hole in its body, and however much the tentacles had a mind of their own, they might have had an inkling that if the body lost everyone lost.


    That¡¯s my best theory why, after shrinking away from me as I charged the xosk, they got it into their minds to surround me and try to grapple me as I reached the body. It was at the same time not too bad and terrifying. The tentacles were everywhere around me and pulling me in toward the mouths.


    At the same time, I was stronger than they were or at least my armor was. Even though they tried to pull me, I could stop and hold myself in place. They tried to be clever about it, pulling my legs in opposite directions, but the V4 suit was too heavy and had the ability to deliver tons of force with a punch or kick.


    That was a good thing because it had somehow escaped me how malleable the xosk¡¯s body was.


    I¡¯d aimed for a spot that didn¡¯t have any mouths, but as I ran for, it developed at first a small mouth, and by the time I was within a few feet, a mouth large enough to swallow a full-grown man. Worse, it had at least three layers of teeth, each a few inches further down the throat.


    It didn¡¯t seem likely that it could bite through my armor, but it would be a bad time to find out that I was wrong.


    So, how to handle the mouths? As the tentacles tried to pull my feet out from under me, I stepped to the right, breaking a few tentacles off, but avoiding the mouths. Standing in front of a section of empty wall save for some broken tentacles, I started punching.


    It felt like punching jello, muscular jello.


    When the suit hit, I felt an initial give and then a tearing as the suit¡¯s hand penetrated its body. A dark liquid, more viscous than blood, flowed out and around my suit¡¯s forearm.


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    If it sounds gross, that¡¯s because it is.


    My second punch hit, penetrating like the first. I didn¡¯t feel a wall behind it at all. I needed to punch harder to get through. I also needed to not think about the tissues that I felt ripping as I pushed the suit to smash whatever was in the way.


    All the while, the xosk screamed in my mind. My defenses dulled the effect, but I could still hear it.


    Through the noise and the weird, blood-like substance, Amy asked, ¡°Are you doing okay?¡±


    ¡°Kinda?¡± My world appeared to be all tentacles.


    Amy made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a sniff, ¡°I can barely see you and I don¡¯t like it. I¡¯m giving you some help. Don¡¯t move left.¡±


    I had less than a second to think about the last sentence. Then the xosk screamed loud enough that it felt like I no longer existed and that the only thing that did exist was its scream.


    At the same time, the tentacles cleared to my left, blackening and turning to dust along with a huge hole where the mouth used to be.


    The destruction gave me time to notice something that I¡¯d missed in the process of trying to punch through the xosk. While I¡¯d been tearing it to shreds directly ahead of me, it had spilled outward below me. I stood up to my suit¡¯s knees in xosk. I¡¯d noticed that I couldn¡¯t move as well as I wanted, but I¡¯d assumed it was tentacles.


    Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered what would happen if the xosk absorbed me and if any of the xosk¡¯s multiple minds were once other creatures.


    I started moving my legs, trying to get out. I didn¡¯t plan to run, but staying in the same spot while fighting this thing wasn¡¯t a good idea. It wasn¡¯t as easy as it should have been. I lifted my legs to find the xosk¡¯s body clinging to them and when I put them back on the ground, they were as caught as they¡¯d been before.


    Turning on the rockets didn¡¯t work either. They didn¡¯t turn on. All I got was error messages about connection issues.


    That led to the obvious conclusion¡ªit was in the suit and it would reach me soon. I¡¯d designed the suit in layers, but it wasn¡¯t as if the materials for any given layer was all that different than the others.


    I hadn¡¯t designed it with the idea that I¡¯d be facing something that could worm its way between the nanotech that held the suit together. There wasn¡¯t supposed to be space to squeeze through.


    Could I open the suit and jump out? Maybe, but the V4 costume under the suit wasn¡¯t going to be much protection and I¡¯d be jumping into tentacles whatever direction I went, even left. Amy might have killed a spot to the left, but the tentacles were still on my armor everywhere.


    Something warm and gooey touched my feet.

 Motor City Intern: Part 52

    Then I felt pinpricks of pain as needles pierced my skin. I had a sudden vision of mini-tentacles with bone tips and suspected that I¡¯d made a good guess.


    But could they control me through my feet? It didn¡¯t seem likely, but bearing in mind that I was an engineer, not a xenobiologist, I had no idea.


    It became a moot point as I felt more pinpricks of pain further up my leg. Could it reach my brain given time? Yes.


    Remembering that the earliest xosk had connections to the caches of technology the Artificers planted and knowing that Artificers saw me as a young member of their species, I wondered if I could somehow control it.


    Then I felt pinpricks of pain above my waist.


    I didn¡¯t have time for subtle ideas right now. If I spent any time thinking through a clever way to (I don¡¯t know) convince the xosk that it was my servant or find some hidden Artficer control mechanism within its psyche, I¡¯d probably find that I was on my way to being converted into a new mind among the many.


    I did not want to be assimilated.


    For lack of a better idea, I went for everything I¡¯d been doing, but more so. Step one was counterintuitive. I stopped extending my mental defenses as far out from me as I could. Except for within my own brain, they were off.


    The wisdom of this strategy felt questionable in the extreme in the next instant. I¡¯d no idea how effective it had been in keeping the xosk back. The moment I stopped, I felt pinpricks everywhere, from my feet to my head.


    Worse, I could feel its mind or more accurately, minds. A vast horde of whispering voices chattered in the background of my psyche, uniting into one and speaking to me.


    ==You¡¯re not like the rest of them. I sense Xiniti technology within you, but there¡¯s something else. What is it? It seems familiar.==


    That was the part where I could have tried the, ¡°Do you know who I am,¡± option, but I didn¡¯t. I was trying to concentrate. To do that I had to block out the many minds of the xosk, Amy trying to contact me over the comm asking, ¡°Nick, are you okay,¡± the pain from the xosk¡¯s touch, and the numbness I was beginning to feel in my feet.


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    I¡¯d been given exercises to practice earlier in the summer. They were supposed to teach me how to control the small amount of power I had without destroying myself like I almost did the first time I used it. I hadn¡¯t practiced every day, but I¡¯d practiced enough that I knew the basics.


    I pulled all the power I could out of whatever extra-dimensional space it came from and released in a burst, powering my mental defenses, and directing them as best I could through my connection to the xosk.


    As the power released, I hoped I wasn¡¯t wasting my time. If it was somehow immune to whatever Daniel imitated in Lee¡¯s mental signature, I was about to die mentally if not physically.


    I needn¡¯t have worried. It worked, but it wasn¡¯t pleasant.


    The power flowed out of me and the strain on my mind only felt worse when all the xosk tentacles started moving, some of them pulling out of me, others driving in and moving around inside me. Others raked across my skin.


    When people looked me over later, they pointed how small the holes were, how short the tentacles, and how shallow the cuts.


    All of that might have been true, but it hurt.I¡¯ve called it pinpricks, but it was more like my entire body was covered with cat claws and they all sunk it at once.


    I screamed and I wasn¡¯t the only one. The xosk¡¯s thoughts mirrored mine, but amplified by being repeated over and over, overlapping each other, rippling outward through the many minds in its body.


    Along with the screams came images of different worlds, memories of humans and aliens being absorbed by the xosk as I¡¯d almost been along with some of their thoughts. My implant labeled the aliens, but I ignored them in favor of keeping the power flowing through me.


    I could get the implant to replay all of it later.


    More interesting was the point at which it stopped being able to identify them, meaning the memories were from too deep in the past or too far away for the Xiniti implant to have come across them. As the shrieking stopped, the last memory I experienced was of someplace cold and dark and a long wait before a shaggy, blue-furred creature opened a lid, showing me (no, not me) the first light I¡¯d ever seen.


    I came to myself then, stumbling backward, released from the tentacles, and almost falling over. Amy grabbed my left arm, steadying me as the xosk¡¯s tentacles slumped and its body seemed to shrink, the top of it falling away from the wall.


    I could see the top of a window frame ahead of me even if I couldn¡¯t see the windows.


    ¡°You killed that thing? Great!¡± Vincent¡¯s voice broke through my mental haze. ¡°You want to help with these guys?¡±


    Without wanting to, I checked my HUD. All the vampires from the middle of the room were coming our way.

 Motor City Intern: Part 53

    Strictly speaking, all the vampires I¡¯d seen when I¡¯d decided to face the xosk weren¡¯t coming. The implant volunteered that bit of information. It had counted them earlier and counted them again once I turned away from the xosk¡¯s hopefully dead body.


    Mateo and Vincent had taken the number of them down from 41 to 23¡ªwhich was pretty impressive. How they¡¯d done it became obvious as I looked the scene over. Ball bearings were scattered across the floor and as vampires came across them they stopped to count.


    As they did, Vincent stabbed them through the chest with one of the thin, knife-like wooden stakes I¡¯d made last night. I¡¯d given twenty or so to Mateo and he must have given them to Vincent. It made sense. The last I¡¯d seen of him, he¡¯d been stabbing vampires with pieces of a broom handle. You¡¯d run out of those pretty quickly.


    That isn¡¯t to say that the vampires were stupid. A few of them were picking up ball bearings as they counted them and passing them on to the next vampire near them, saying the number to the next one in line, and rushing toward Vincent and Mateo in a blur.


    Of course, they weren¡¯t stupid either.


    Mateo ran the closest vampire through with his rapier while Vincent reached out, knocking the ball bearings out of the next vampire¡¯s hands before he could hand them off to the vampire behind him.


    The ball bearings fell to the floor and the vampires hissed, diving to the floor to prevent them from rolling too far away.


    I turned to Amy, ¡°I¡¯m going to pull the Xosk away from the window and see what happens. Can you help those guys?¡±


    She raised an eyebrow and said, ¡°Sure. Don¡¯t take too long. I don¡¯t know how long they can keep up knocking ball bearings out of their hands and then stabbing them¡ª¡°


    She stopped as the sound of another cascade of metal balls fell to the floor and a vampire gave a scream that turned into a death rattle. She stared, ¡°Okay. They¡¯re good. The women in my head are comparing them to ancient warriors that I¡¯ve never fucking heard of. But anyway, hurry up. Do it.¡±


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    I turned and covered the few steps I needed in seconds, reaching the xosk¡¯s body and then facing the challenge of the moment. Where exactly was I going to grab the thing? It went all the way around the room to a height of ten feet or more.


    Looking up to where I¡¯d seen the top of a window frame before, I grabbed a handful of tentacles in one hand and stuck my other hand partially into one of its mouths, getting a grip on a tooth in the second layer of teeth.


    Then I pulled back, hoping that it wasn¡¯t too heavy for me and also that it was really dead. Sure, the V4 suit could move tons, but there was a lot of xosk. Still, I only had to move the nearest part.


    It didn¡¯t come free in an instant. I should have expected that the xosk would have stuck tentacles into crevices in the floor and wall in the same way it had my armor, but my life had been busy since the moment I¡¯d realized it existed.


    On the bright side, dead tissue didn¡¯t hold on as well as live aliens. I heard snaps as I pulled it back and it scraped across the floor. I did my best to turn it sideways as I pulled it in, hoping that the sunlight would destroy the whole nest.


    I didn¡¯t know where Barrington, their leader was, but if he were in the middle of all the others, we¡¯d only have him to deal with when sunlight burned all the rest away.


    I looked up from pulling on the xosk¡¯s remains to see the window. It was disappointing. While the sky looked a touch lighter, I could still see stars in the sky. I checked the time in my HUD. It was past the point where I should be seeing the dawn.


    What was going on? Had vampires found a way to block the sun, throwing us all into a world of endless night?


    A closer look put a lie to that idea. Though the world seemed to be all night, I could see sunlight hitting the buildings. That prompted another realization that I checked on the HUD.


    The GPS location showed what I suspected¡ªwe¡¯d fought the xosk on the west side of the tower. The east, of course, was where the sun rose. The sun would be there soon enough, but not yet.


    I froze, considering what to do next. Then I gave the xosk¡¯s body one last yank, let go, and flew across the room, relieved to find that the suit¡¯s repair mechanism had cleared out xosk remains well enough that the rockets worked.


    Everyone stared upward at me as I flew over the fight and the coffins, landing next to the other side¡¯s piece of the xosk. Giving it the most powerful yank I could, I pulled it away from the east side¡¯s windows, hearing a sound that reminded me of frying bacon as sunlight entered the room.

 Motor City Intern: Part 54

    Of course, frying bacon smelled good. While I couldn¡¯t smell through the suit, I did notice that Amy¡¯s lips curling in what I assumed to be disgust. So maybe it didn¡¯t smell like bacon frying unless it was the smell of rotting bacon.


    I¡¯d ask Amy later, or maybe never.


    Either way, I didn¡¯t feel much of an urge to open my facemask and find out for sure. Plus, I had another responsibility¡ªmaking sure there was nowhere for the vamps to hide.


    I pulled the xosk¡¯s body as far away from the wall as I could, checking as I did to see if I was doing what I intended to, drawing the body away from the northeast and southeast corners of the room, letting sunlight in from multiple directions.


    I did okay.


    Better than I could have expected, in fact. Pulling it inward happened to flip the body downward, letting in a maximum of light.


    That¡¯s not to say that the vampires didn¡¯t try to head for the shadows in the room created by being right next to the xosk. They did, but that meant running across the floor a good thirty feet or more, depending on whether it was in the middle or whether they¡¯d been counting ball bearings near Amy, Mateo, and Vincent.


    Running from the coffins in the middle was the best-case scenario, but even that meant watching the vampire bubble in the sunlight, expelling liquid fat out of its body, staining its clothing as its skin shrunk, and then it all caught on fire.


    It made me wonder how many of those cases of ¡°spontaneous combustion¡± you saw reported in the tabloids were vampires.


    It would have been the stuff of nightmares if it weren¡¯t such a relief to see. At least ten of them went that way.


    The rest were by my team. Of those, the ones counting ball bearings were in the worst shape because they couldn¡¯t stop. All they could do was count more quickly. Around six or seven started burning while shouting numbers as if they were in a distinctly Not Meant For Children episode of Sesame Street.


    One of the vampires had collected a handful and was counting furiously, flinching as Vincent came near, expecting the hamster to knock them out of his hands.


    Shaking his head, Vincent said, ¡°Nah, go ahead man, but you did miss a few.¡±


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    Vincent pointed toward the ground. The vampire lit up like a candle as he dove for them.


    The rest of them ran for the coffins, which was actually a good idea. Within limits, I mean. There are some obvious drawbacks. The ones that sprinted and pulled the top of the coffin closed did shut themselves away from the sunlight¡ªfor a few seconds.


    Amy and Mateo followed them, flipping the coffins sideways, turning the vampires into vampire briquettes one at a time. In one case, Mateo even managed to run one of them through while he was getting into the coffin, the light of his blade burning into the vampire as the sunlight hit its outside.


    In instants, the vampire was little more than cinders floating through the air.


    The only nerve-racking moment came when Amy flipped a coffin over, starting the vampire inside on fire except that a coffin behind her and to her left had a vampire in it that we hadn¡¯t seen¡ªmaybe one that had been in there before the fight started.


    Worse, when it opened its coffin door, sunlight didn¡¯t seem to affect it. It did shade its eyes with its left hand, but with the right, it pulled and sword out of the scabbard at its hip. Then it pulled the sword back to slash at Amy, who was at that moment watching the vampire inside the coffin she¡¯d knocked over burn.


    She heard something as the vampire moved toward her, but not soon enough to do more than shrink back and pull up her spear.


    I fired a burst of stakes at him from the gun under my arm. One missed, the second got him in the chest, but too far to the right for the heart, and the third hit an inch to the left of the heart.


    It did knock him off his stride. He looked down, as anybody might when they¡¯ve been stabbed a couple of times. That gave me another chance to fire, which was less another chance than a continuation because I¡¯d never stopped firing.


    All three of the second group hit him in the chest, one of them sliding into the lower part of the heart. That turned out to be good enough. The sword bounced off Amy¡¯s armor and he fell forward, bursting into flame.


    So, his vulnerability to sunlight appeared only after being staked? That was interesting. If we were lucky, maybe that had been Barrington.


    Amy stared down at the body, ¡°I should have seen that one coming. That was the only closed casket.¡±


    I left the xosk¡¯s body and walked toward her. ¡°Do you think that might have been Barrington? The clothing¡¯s gothic. It kind of fits with the name.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not holding my breath,¡± she said.


    Vincent and Mateo walked up behind her. ¡°There¡¯s no way we¡¯d be that lucky,¡± Vincent said.


    Mateo turned in all directions, ¡°I have a bad feeling about this.¡±


    Glancing in his direction, I asked, ¡°Are you trying to make a Star Wars joke? Or are you sensing something¡ª¡°


    Five figures materialized out of the air, all of them carrying swords and wearing armor¡ªmetal armor¡ªchain mail or plate. That was annoying. Weirder (at least after all the vampires I¡¯d seen so far) was that they were all, for lack of a better word, hot.


    They all looked like they came from the covers of romance novels or maybe the cover of a boy band¡¯s album.


    Worse, in the words of Vincent, ¡°Is there something wrong with my eyes? Why are these guys sparkling?¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 55

    Amy laughed, ¡°Of all the books to be based on reality¡­¡±


    Vincent muttered, ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me.¡±


    One of the sparkling vampires stepped out in front of the group. He had short, black hair, a pale face, and wore black armor with silver rivets. The shape of the armor either emphasized or created the illusion of a lean, muscular physique.


    In short, someone cared enough to pay for a suit of brigandine that had some style.


    The man held a sword pointing upward, letting it lie on his shoulder.


    Though I wasn¡¯t a great swordsman, the pose struck me as dangerously casual.


    He looked us over, giving a thin smile as he did. ¡°I¡¯m Barrington, vampire king, protector of vampires from those that would hurt them, and leader of this band of warrior vampires.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, thinking about the vampires around us, all of which were dead, many of which only existed as oily, ashy messes on the wooden floor. ¡°You protect vampires? Um¡­ Nice to meet you.¡±


    Amy glanced over at me, raising her eyebrow. Since she was some sort of princess in her native world, I guessed that I¡¯d violated some sort of royal etiquette.


    Not sure what it was, or if she¡¯d just been thinking he and his band were a little bit late to protect anything, I decided to introduce her, ¡°I¡¯m V4. This is Bloodmaiden, she¡¯s a princess and kind of related to vampires where she comes from. Plus, I¡¯m sure you know Blue Mask and Vincent.¡±


    Amy frowned in my direction for an instant before facing them with a smile, ¡°V4 is correct. I¡¯m an heir of the House of Sacrifice. In my world, the sun never sets on our empire. I haven¡¯t heard anything about a vampire king here.¡±


    Barrington smiled, turning his face from a caricature of a tortured artist to one that would sell magazines and whatever clothes he happened to be wearing, ¡°I only heard of the vampire king and our order of warriors within the last few years myself, despite having been a vampire for a century before that. I was lost and lonely and hating what I was, but this brotherhood of warriors has given me purpose.¡±


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    Nodding, Amy said, ¡°And how does that make you a vampire king?¡±


    He glanced back to the others, grinning, ¡°I¡¯m the last scion of a great vampire line. I didn¡¯t know it, but the others did and they were searching for me. When they found me they told me what I was and everything changed. Now, as for you, I knew you for what you truly are the moment I saw you. You¡¯re one of us. Tell me about this world where vampires rule.¡±


    ¡°Rule?¡± Amy looked at him. ¡°It¡¯s not exactly what you¡¯re thinking. In my world, there aren¡¯t vampires the way they are here. There¡¯s a race called the Elder that mixed with humanity before they were destroyed. Their descendants rule in many nations, but not in all.¡±


    As Amy and Barrington talked, I heard Mateo talk through my comm, ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    Keeping my voice quiet and hoping it wouldn¡¯t escape from the V4 suit¡¯s helmet, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was trying to get a second to catch my breath. Maybe we don¡¯t have to fight them. The guy seems a little deluded, but not evil so far.¡±


    As I paid attention to the conversation around me again, I heard Barrington say, ¡°That¡¯s how it is with us too. While there are other vampires, true vampires are a race within a race. We mix with humanity, but we aren¡¯t truly of them. It might be that your Elder visited this world too. Wouldn¡¯t it be amazing? It¡¯s been a great mystery to our people where we come from. If you join us, perhaps you can clear it up. We have writings in languages even the oldest of us don¡¯t understand. Look at this¡ª¡°


    He pulled a black metal dagger out of a sheath on his belt. Red veins spiderwebbed across it. Some of the veins had been shaped into letters.


    Amy drew in a short breath as she looked at it and muttered, ¡°Dammit.¡±


    She looked away from the dagger to Barrington, ¡°I need to talk to my team. Give us a second.¡±


    Turning around, she led us a few coffin lengths away from the vampires, stopping and looking back toward Barrington. He and the rest were talking in low voices.


    ¡°That dagger,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯ve seen them before. We¡¯ve got them at home. They come from wherever the Elder came from before they reached my world. They made more when they reached my world, but they¡¯re not the same. That¡¯s an original.¡±


    Mateo glanced over at Barrington before saying, ¡°And what does that mean? Do you want to go with them?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°No, but this is important. I¡¯ve known since I came to this world that blood magic here was similar to mine, but wasn¡¯t the same. If this is true, it might be that it¡¯s because less developed and more like the kind the Elders used when they first came to our world. Some of the past Bloodmaidens are telling me I need to find out more and the others are telling me I need to kill all of them and destroy the dagger.¡±


    Mateo met her eyes, ¡°What do you want to do?¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 56

    Frowning, Amy twisted her head in the vampires¡¯ direction. Turning back to Mateo, she said, ¡°I don¡¯t trust them as far as I can throw them. The earliest Bloodmaidens, the ones I know the best, fought the Elder and it was near thing. It might be easier right now because the sun¡¯s dawning, but not much. The Elder mated with humans. They were both undead and alive at once and they knew how to use magic.¡±


    Looking at Mateo, she said, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    Not hesitating, Mateo said, ¡°Kill them.¡±


    Giving me a look, he continued, ¡°I can see their true nature through the mask. They may look human, but undeath permeates every part of them.¡±


    Amy¡¯s mouth twisted, ¡°What do you see when you look at me? From what they said, we¡¯re practically the same.¡±


    Flashing a grin, Mateo said, ¡°The mask approves of you. It sees darkness and light mixed, but mixed in a way it finds useful.¡±


    Saying nothing for the moment, Amy muttered, ¡°Hmmn. That¡¯s not what I expected. Look, if we¡¯re going to fight these guys, expect soul-sucking magic. And that dagger? You know how my spear ignores armor. The dagger does too and when it hits, well, there¡¯s soul-sucking magic again.¡±


    ¡°So, basically it¡¯s exactly like your spear,¡± I said.


    ¡°Not quite, but close,¡± Amy took a breath. ¡°Alright, the huddle¡¯s over, but know that if something more comes up about the Elder, I might have to investigate because if my guardian gets wind of it who knows what¡¯ll happen.¡±


    Vincent pulled some nuts out of a pouch on his belt and started chewing them. ¡°Sure, no idea who that guy is, but that sounds bad.¡±


    Amy gave him a look but turned around to face the vampires. We all walked next to her. It might seem that we had no plan, but after years of Stapledon, we knew how our power sets worked together. Vincent hadn¡¯t attended while we were all there, but he seemed flexible.


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    Mateo spoke first, ¡°I know that you want to talk to Bloodmaiden, but I¡¯ve got some questions that I¡¯d like answered. I¡¯m part of a team that protects Detroit and you just tried to take over organized crime in this city and brought in vampires from all over to help. You can say it¡¯s because you protect vampires, but I protect people and people have been dying here. What¡¯s the point? What are you getting out of this?¡±


    Barrington smirked, ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? We need food and this city offers us places where we can hunt without interference. I know you must feel threatened by this, but don¡¯t be. We¡¯re higher on the food chain. It¡¯s natural for us to take over. Think about yourselves and how you get your food. You herd cattle and then bring them to slaughter. If you think about it, we¡¯re kinder than you.You control your meat for their entire lives. We let you indulge your dreams before we feed off of you, and we don¡¯t always kill you. Some of our kind even invite you to join us. Can you say the same?¡±


    So, that didn¡¯t take long. I¡¯d had Barrington pegged as deluded, but maybe not so bad. After one question from Mateo, he¡¯d started talking about humans as food.


    Except for a twitch of the lip, Mateo didn¡¯t move, giving Barrington a long look. Finally, he said, ¡°You really believe that?¡±


    One of the other vampires stepped forward. The man had a square jaw and short curly hair. He was a little short, maybe as short as five and a half feet. He was muscular, though, wearing plate armor that made me think of Roman Centurions. It had metal abs and a skirt.


    The man shouted, ¡°That¡¯s my king, show him respect!¡±


    Vincent stood a little shorter than the guy, cocking his head and looking up as he asked, ¡°And who are you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Lhust, his most trusted warrior, rodent.¡± The man glowered down at him.


    Vincent let out a sigh, ¡°Are you saying your actual name is the word lust, but with a completely unnecessary ¡®h¡¯ added in? Because I¡¯m hearing an h.¡±


    Lhust made a growling noise.


    Barrington put a hand on his shoulder, ¡°Relax, we¡¯re all friends here.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Mateo said, ¡°we¡¯re not friends. You¡¯re here to feed on people and I¡¯m telling you that you can¡¯t do that here. If you tell me you¡¯ll leave and that you won¡¯t try this again, we¡¯ll let you go, but you have to mean it. I¡¯ll know if you don¡¯t mean it.¡±


    Even with dawn''s red and orange light coming in the windows, the rapier in his hand glowed bright enough for the glow to be visible.


    Another vampire, this one tall and thin with a thin face, said, ¡°He will know. I¡¯ve fought the Masks before.¡±


    This one¡¯s plate mail was white and gold. He held a golden metal staff.


    Amy looked him over, ¡°And your name?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s called the Loremaster,¡± Mateo said. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen him before, but he¡¯s fought other Masks.¡±


    Vincent chuckled, ¡°That¡¯s without an h, right? I wouldn¡¯t want to call him the Lhoremaster because that would be disrespectful.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 57

    If we were imagining the hypothetical boy band that the vampires were members of, Barrington would be the conventionally attractive guy, Lhust, the manly guy, and Loremaster, the geeky guy. Maybe those aren¡¯t really boy band tropes, but I don¡¯t listen to boy bands.


    Anyway, that left the other two.


    Barrington smiled at us, ¡°I think we can be friends, but since we¡¯re introducing everyone, I shouldn¡¯t skip Leo and Bobby.¡±


    He nodded at each of them as he said their names.


    Leo turned out to be dressed in black metal plate mail and wore a black, leather cape. On his waist hung a black sword in a black scabbard. If that weren¡¯t enough, he had long black hair and a goatee.


    If ¡°bad boys¡± were a thing, and I was pretty sure they were, Leo fit the bill, though he might be more of a ¡°goth boy¡± than a bad boy.


    ¡°Lheo,¡± Vincent said, ¡°Nice to meet you. What¡¯s up with all the L¡¯s? Is it some kind of mystical vampire thing? I mean sure, Loremaster¡¯s probably not his real name, but still two out of five. With Loremaster, that¡¯s three out of five¡ªsixty percent. That¡¯s a lot.¡±


    Leo pulled on his goatee, ¡°That¡¯s a deep question¡ªvery deep. How, out of infinite possibilities did these five people come together? Did the universe conspire to put such personalities in one place? And if so, why? Did it intend to save the vampire race or was there some deeper purpose? Perhaps it was a way to allow it to know itself?¡±


    Vincent nodded, ¡°You know, that¡¯s pretty deep. It wasn¡¯t quite the question I was asking, but I¡¯ve got another. Can vampires get high? I feel like I already know the answer, but I want to be sure.¡±


    Amy covered her mouth with her hand.


    I didn¡¯t hear Leo¡¯s response because I was paying attention to Bobby. Bobby couldn¡¯t have been more than fourteen when he turned into a vampire, assuming that that¡¯s how it worked with these guys. Babyfaced and blonde, he was maybe five foot eight and waiting for a growth spurt that would never come.


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    Mind you, he still wore plate mail. His was painted gold with black accents. Despite that, he held a morningstar in two hands. Unlike most morningstars, the ball wasn¡¯t grey. It was golden, and whether that meant it was made of gold or merely painted gold, it matched his armor and was very shiny.


    Taking one hand off the weapon, he waved at us and said, ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Bobby!¡±


    Then he smiled at us. His fangs were larger than I expected.


    Not sure what else to do, I said, ¡°Hi Bobby,¡± and looked over at Mateo to see if he was about to cue us to fight.


    He wasn¡¯t.


    He was facing Barrington, ¡°Alright, we¡¯re introduced. What I said a moment ago still stands. If you and your group say that you¡¯ll leave and that you won¡¯t try this again, we¡¯ll let you go. We¡¯ll know if you don¡¯t mean it.¡±


    Barrington turned to face the rest of the vampires, ¡°Well, what do you think of that proposal, my friends? The man¡¯s made an offer. I¡¯d like your opinions. Advise your king.¡±


    Lhust leaned in toward him, ¡°It¡¯s an insult, my lord. Your subjects need a constant supply of more blood and flesh and this was the best plan anyone¡¯s devised in one thousand years for getting more. Still, there are benefits to be had from it. The Bloodmaiden¡¯s one of our kind even if she¡¯s allied with the humans. If she were to consent to join us, perhaps as a bride for the king, we could consider it.¡±


    Next to me, Amy shook her head, muttering, ¡°That¡¯s not happening.¡±


    Barrington held up a hand in our direction, ¡°Wait until my advisers are finished and then we¡¯ll talk. For now, we¡¯re permitting you to watch.¡±


    With that, he lowered his hand and turned to the Loremaster, ¡°And what do you say?¡±


    Loremaster eyed us all, but especially Mateo before he spoke, ¡°Taking the proposal would get us out of a fight in the short term. And let¡¯s be clear, it¡¯s not a fight that I¡¯m completely certain that we¡¯ll win. The Masks are a force to be reckoned with alone, but adding in a woman that wields an unusually sophisticated form of blood magic and an armored man capable of killing the xosk and we have a hard battle.


    ¡°It might be wise to take the offer so that we live to fight another day. We¡¯ll live long enough to create a new stratagem.¡±


    ¡°Interesting how I don¡¯t even rate a mention with him,¡± Vincent leaned in to whisper at me. ¡°Think he¡¯s upset about that Lhoremaster joke?¡±


    Loremaster didn¡¯t even look at him.


    Barrington nodded, ¡°Thank you, Loremaster. And what about you, Leo?¡±


    Leo bowed deeply, ¡°As you know, my lord, I always counsel you to fight our darker natures and find a new way. This may be a start, a path to move beyond the needs of undeath.¡±


    Lhust spat, ¡°And what, have us drink animal blood? No. That¡¯s absurd. We don¡¯t need to fight our natures. We need to be proud of them.¡±


    Holding up his hand toward Lhust, Barrington said, ¡°Please don¡¯t interrupt others, Lhust. Leo, are you done?¡±


    Leo nodded.


    Barrington grinned, ¡°Well then, only one more of my councilors needs to weigh in. What say you, Bobby?¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 58

    Looking over at us and then turning back to the king, Bobby said, ¡°I love love. I love blood. Blood and love.¡±


    There might, I thought to myself, be something wrong with Bobby.


    Barrington nodded, ¡°That¡¯s another one of my councilors against a fight, but still a major change of course. I need a moment to think. I¡¯d like some silence while I consider the situation. I¡¯m going to go over to the corner. Don¡¯t start fighting while I¡¯m gone.¡±


    He walked away from everyone, standing next to the body of the xosk where it had once been a corner. It kept the sun off him, a point I decided to note for future reference. He might be able to walk in sunlight, but he didn¡¯t like it.


    Using my communicator, I said, ¡°Bloodmaiden, Blue Mask, can either of you make any sense out of the blood and love bit? I think I understood the rest of the advice.¡±


    Mateo gave a quick shake of his head.


    Amy spoke softly into her comm, ¡°It¡¯s not too hard to figure out. Back home, people used blood as a symbol for life. I¡¯m sure some people here do too.¡±


    If I substituted life in for blood when Bobby spoke, it made some sense. It still didn¡¯t make complete sense, but I suspected there was something wrong with Bobby. Still¡­


    I considered that. ¡°So he was basically saying that he loved love and life. Therefore, don¡¯t fight?¡±


    With a hint of a smile, she met my eyes and said, ¡°Exactly.¡±


    Looking at her at that moment and knowing that she¡¯d just put her life in danger to show up here to help, I could understand how some other version of me back in her home universe had fallen for her.  It was an uncomfortable feeling.


    Well, at least Amy and I could be friends here.


    That thought didn¡¯t stop me from replying, ¡°You know, the whole blood means life thing only works if you ignore the fact that it comes from other people.¡±


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    She shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ve told you my ancestors weren¡¯t exactly wonderful to their subjects. They were even worse to their enemies.¡±


    Behind us, a door creaked open, and all of us, Vincent, Mateo, Amy, and I plus all the vampires turned toward the doorway.


    Rod and Samita walked in. Rod was in troll form and ducked until he came out of the doorway, stretching to his full height in the main room. Samita¡¯s red, hooded robes were unstained. They looked like they¡¯d just come off the rack, but she did specialize in enchanting objects. Her staff glowed, sparks of electricity running down the length of it.


    The vampires'' hands went to their weapons. I held up my hands, ¡°Red Hex, Troll, it¡¯s okay. We¡¯re talking.¡±


    In the corner, Barrington turned to watch them as they joined us.


    Every one of Rod¡¯s footsteps thumped against the concrete. As he got closer, I could feel each step.


    As they reached us, he grunted and scowled down at the vampires. Lhust scowled back. Bobby smiled at him. The rest took a step back. It wasn¡¯t all at once. It was more of a small shift as they talked that left them a foot or two farther away.


    ¡°Sun, bright,¡± Rod muttered.


    Even as a troll, he wasn¡¯t stupid, but he liked being underestimated. Samita eyed them as she squeezed in between him and the rest of us, ¡°He¡¯s right,¡± she said. ¡°They¡¯re not affected. Does that mean they¡¯re dhampirs or extremely old?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know for sure, but it sounds like they¡¯re similar to Bloodmaiden¡¯s people,¡± I said.


    Amy nodded.Samita glanced over at the vampires, ¡°Oh.¡±


    Taller than the other vampires, Loremaster looked over them to eye Samita, ¡°Pardon me, but are you a student of Reliquary?¡±


    Staring at him for a few seconds before she replied, she turned toward him, staff in hand, ¡°I don¡¯t think I should answer your questions.¡±


    He laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. He and I go back. We¡¯ve tried to kill each other and fought by each other¡¯s side as well. I recognize some of his techniques in your gear. Well done. Say hello to him for me.¡±


    She pursed her lips, ¡°If I do ever see him, I¡¯ll pass that along.¡±


    Smiling wider than before, Loremaster said, ¡°Excellent.¡±


    Leaving the corner, Barrington walked up to stand between the vampires and our group, ¡°Don¡¯t let me stop the two of you from catching up, but I should let you know that we¡¯ve decided to take your offer. Come on, boys. It¡¯s daytime, so there¡¯s no misting away. We¡¯ll have to walk and then catch an Uber.¡±


    Turning to look at Amy and me, Samita said, ¡°You¡¯re letting them go?¡±


    Barrington turned toward the door, waving the other vampires to follow, ¡°Yes they are. It was a kind offer. I¡¯m not excited about the idea of fighting my way out of here. Nor do I love the idea of hurting mortals. I want a better life for my people, but I don¡¯t want to kill anyone. We need you and I think you need us.¡±


    Vincent¡¯s ears twitched, ¡°Do we?¡±


    Too far away to hear, or deciding to pretend not to, Barrington and the vampires walked away.


    Catching Mateo¡¯s eye, I said, ¡°Did we do the right thing?¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 59

    Mateo began to open his mouth, but he didn¡¯t get to say anything. Vincent started shouting at the retreating vampires.


    ¡°Hey, you guys are going to call off the cops and everybody, right? Because if I go back to Unity Base and find that we¡¯re still under siege, you and I are going to have words.¡±


    Barrington turned around and gave him a bow, ¡°Your wish is my command, largest of hamsters.¡±


    Then he grinned, ¡°Besides, this wasn¡¯t the only Syndicate L base we controlled in Detroit. While you were fighting us here, other heroes went to the other base and wiped out the vampires that were doing our political operation. All they¡¯ve been saying to us for the last half hour is things like, ¡®Send help, they¡¯re killing us!¡¯ And we¡¯ve been in no position to help because we¡¯ve been fighting you. So in a roundabout way, you already solved that problem yourself.¡±


    He gave us a wave and followed the rest of his crew through the doorway, leaving us standing in the middle of the ballroom with the xosk¡¯s dead body.


    After they disappeared, Troll grunted, and even as the grunt ended Rod stood there instead. He wasn¡¯t in his civilian clothes. He appeared as ¡°costumed Rod¡±¡ªa heavyset, bearded, blond man wearing a black trench coat and a mask over his eyes.


    From what I understood, Samita had placed some heavy enchantments on the costume to keep him relevant when he wasn¡¯t a troll.


    The way Amy looked him up and down after he transformed made me suspect that Samita had added a few things for this fight.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you all had enough to do in here, but you missed a hell of a fight outside. I¡¯m glad it¡¯s over, but the troll part of me loves the chaos.¡±


    Samita shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m grateful to be alive after all of it.¡±


    Taking a breath, she looked over at me and then at Mateo, ¡°Should we go or stay for debriefing?¡±


    Mateo and I looked at each other. He had to be thinking what I was. They should stay, but after everything Working Man had said about not bringing in friends of mine, I almost wanted to sneak them out of Detroit. Given that they¡¯d been the ones outside at the beginning of the morning commute in the heart of downtown Detroit, pretending they hadn¡¯t been there wasn¡¯t an option.


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    That said, Amy had been inside with us, and we¡¯d never been outside when they were around. V4 had no connection to them. Maybe we¡¯d be able to sell that.


    Mateo said what I was thinking, ¡°Stay.¡±


    Then he sighed.


    Samita looked between the two of us but didn¡¯t ask any questions.


    Then my mind jumped back to what Barrington had said about their political operation, ¡°Do you think it might have been Working Man who took out the other vampires?¡±


    Nodding, Mateo said, ¡°I¡¯d count on it. I know he likes the idea of having a team, but when the going gets tough, he withdraws or works with people he¡¯s known for years¡ªV8, some of the people in Detroit Unity, the Skunklord, I bet. It works for him, but sometimes you want to play Robin to his Batman. He¡¯s been doing this for years and he¡¯s one of the best.¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I didn¡¯t even know there was another Syndicate L base until now.¡±


    With a slow smile, Mateo said, ¡°Yeah. We probably didn¡¯t ask the right question at the right time. Working Man wouldn¡¯t make that mistake.¡±


    Amy frowned, ¡°Are the two of you worried that he¡¯s going to be angry at you for bringing us in? You couldn¡¯t have taken all of these people on without us. Even with us, it was a near thing. If you thought there was any chance I wouldn¡¯t stick around for debriefing, you¡¯re wrong. I¡¯m sticking around to argue with him if he throws a fit about this.¡±


    Samita eyed Amy, ¡°Are you sure you want to do that? I do think we should stick around, but I don¡¯t want to get them in more trouble by making Working Man angrier.¡±


    Folding his arms across his chest, Rod said, ¡°Bloodmaiden¡¯s right, though. V4 didn¡¯t do anything wrong by bringing us in. The rationale for not doing it is that we¡¯re going to lead the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s rogue¡¯s gallery this way, right? Well, we don¡¯t know V4. We know Blue Mask. That¡¯s what we tell the press. Plus, Bloodmaiden¡¯s been going after vampires ever since she showed up. Of course, she¡¯ll help Detroit out. It¡¯s easy to explain away.¡±


    Vincent looked away from Rod and over to me, ¡°Okay, now I get it. I¡¯d wondered about you, but yeah, I see it now. Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯ve got my support and my brothers¡¯ once they¡¯re back to normal. Besides, Working Man¡¯s not that bad. I mean, yeah, he¡¯s kind of a hardass, but he¡¯s not stupid. He¡¯ll get why you had to bring people in. If he is worried about fighting the Cabal, yeah, I get that, but you didn¡¯t bring in the League. When people think about the League, they don¡¯t think about these guys. They think about the Mystic, Captain Commando, Accelerando, the werewolf twins, and the weather guy.¡±


    Mateo sheathed his sword, ¡°Thanks for the support, Vincent. I hope you¡¯re right. Working Man¡¯s not a bad boss, but he¡¯s stubborn. If I¡¯ve ever changed his mind on anything, no one¡¯s told me about it.¡±


    Our comms started beeping. Working Man¡¯s ID showed as the caller.

 Motor City Intern: Part 60

    Mateo and I looked at each other. My helmet covered my face, but Mateo¡¯s frozen expression hinted at the same dread I felt.


    Not letting Working Man wait, Mateo took the call, ¡°Blue Mask here. Are you okay?¡±


    In a hoarse voice, Working Man said, ¡°We¡¯re alright. What¡¯s your situation?


    Taking a breath, Mateo said, ¡°Good. The vampires left in Book Tower are dead including an alien. We didn¡¯t kill them all, though. We¡¯ll have to discuss what¡¯s next there.¡±


    With a tired laugh, Working Man replied, ¡°I¡¯m not worried. We got a lead on the group directing the police and media and hunted them down. We¡¯d have called youin, but we didn¡¯t know how far their communications expertise extended. V8 couldn¡¯t know for sure that everyone with access to our comms was uncompromised or we¡¯d have brought you in. From what I¡¯ve been seeing since, it looks like Book Tower saw heavy fighting, more than I¡¯d have expected you to handle.¡±


    ¡°We had some help,¡± Mateo said, his tone calm and even as if he didn¡¯t expect to be reamed out for it.


    ¡°Saw it,¡± Working Man said without any hint of anger. ¡°The troll and the wizard. I heard one of Unity¡¯s hamsters was with you too. Bring them back to home base for debriefing. We¡¯ll meet you there.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± Mateo said. ¡°We¡¯ll bring everyone over. It¡¯ll be at least 30 minutes.¡±


    The call ended with Working Man saying, ¡°I know it. See you there.¡±


    After the words, ¡°Connection Closed,¡± appeared on my screen, Mateo said, ¡°I know I skipped a few things. I didn¡¯t want to go into the deal over the comm and I really didn¡¯t want to go into who helped us.¡±


    Amy raised an eyebrow, ¡°You did tell him you had help. I heard that much.¡±


    ¡°He even seemed to notice Troll and Red Hex,¡± I said. ¡°I half-expected him to explode right there.¡±


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    Mateo shook his head, ¡°He may have seen them, but I¡¯m pretty sure he didn¡¯t recognize them. He¡¯s up on supernatural heroes and villains if they¡¯re a known big threat or if they¡¯ve ever come to Detroit. If they¡¯re not a threat here, he doesn¡¯t pay attention. It¡¯s a blindspot of his and he knows it. I¡¯m the one who¡¯s supposed to keep track of that sort of thing. He knows about Bloodmaiden. Expect the explosion when we get back to base.¡±


    I sighed.


    On the one hand, it¡¯s not as if Working Man could punish me much. Theoretically, he might assign me to clean the base (including bathrooms) for the rest of the internship. Aside from that, it wasn¡¯t as if he could prevent me from being part of the Heroes¡¯ League without his approval.


    In a worst-case scenario, I might have to do this internship all over again with someone else. No denying that would be annoying. It would set back the timetable for finishing my required period of post-Stapledon service by three months.


    What we¡¯d done didn¡¯t seem bad enough to repeat an internship, though. Beyond that, Isaac Lim and other higher-ups in the Stapledon program gave me more credit than I deserved due to the original League. They might allow it to count anyway.


    On the other hand, in a world where supers needed help from other supers more than they needed government approval, Working Man¡¯s disapproval would count. If I left him angry, it might mean that teams that were friendly to him might not make helping ours a priority.


    We wouldn¡¯t have any idea how much that might hurt us until it did. And it did matter. We were already seeing how much the old boys'' network hurt Tara by preventing her from finding an internship until the League gave her one.


    It didn¡¯t take much to guess that there were already people out there pissed at us because of that. I just didn¡¯t know who or how many.


    For that matter, if I really pissed off Working Man, he might fire Mateo. He hadn¡¯t threatened to, but Mateo was the guy most in charge of me, which meant that whatever I did was on him.


    Come to think of it, if Working Man did get upset about us letting the vampires go, that had been Mateo¡¯s idea.


    Oh boy. If it came to that, maybe I could take the blame.


    Amy looked over at me, ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly what you¡¯re thinking, but if it involves self-sacrifice, don¡¯t. You don¡¯t know what Working Man¡¯s going to say yet.¡±


    I looked over at her, ¡°How did you come up with that?¡±


    She stared up at me, ¡°I¡¯ve known you for a few years now, and I¡¯m more aware than most people of how far you¡¯ll go to help.  Plus, remember how I pick up powers from people I stab? I stabbed the xosk, so right now I''m a little telepathic.¡±


    ¡°Okay, then. I guess we¡¯d better go back to base,¡± I said.

 Motor City Intern: Part 61

    With that, we started down the stairs, walking down more than thirty floors. I don¡¯t know exactly how many. Book Tower had 38 floors and I knew that we were close to the top, but not there.


    The implant could have told me, but I didn¡¯t care enough to check.


    However long the walk felt, and it did feel long, we made it to the ground floor before the police took control of the building. As we made it down to the empty room by the front doors, a few police stood inside amid the concrete floors and walls, the ornate ceilings, and the exposed wires and cables from the construction.


    Their hands moved toward their weapons as we stepped out of the stairway, but dropped away as they recognized us.


    Mateo raised his hands as he stepped into the main room, ¡°It¡¯s okay, we¡¯re not vampires. If we were, we¡¯d be on fire by now.¡±


    Sunlight glinted on the hilt of his sword and a few of the cops laughed.


    He stepped forward, adding, ¡°You¡¯ll get our reports through the Motor City Heroes as usual. V4 and I will be available for questions.¡±


    A tall, beefy cop asked him, ¡°What¡¯s the statusupstairs?¡±


    Giving him a smile, Mateo said, ¡°Vampire free unless they made it to a closet before the sun came up. Watch out, by the way, it¡¯s a Syndicate L base that the vampires took over. There¡¯s more to worry about than vampires.¡±


    The cop nodded, ¡°That¡¯s what I heard. For now, we¡¯re just keeping people out. We¡¯re not going in until the feds arrive.¡±


    Leading us toward the door, Mateo said, ¡°Sounds like a good plan to me.¡±


    We walked out into downtown Detroit in the early morning. Cars drove past the police cars parked next to the sidewalk. Further down the sidewalk, officers were putting up yellow police tape.


    Mateo walked over to his motorcycle, swinging his leg over the side and sitting down. I walked around his bike and transformed back, feeling the pieces of the V4 suit fall off me and reshape themselves into a motorcycle.


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    I felt a little naked standing there with only the normal V4 armored jumpsuit to protect me, but I knew there wasn¡¯t much to protect me from.


    Turning to Amy, Vincent, Samita, and Rod, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know who wants to ride with whom, but that¡¯s where we are now.¡±


    Amy touched the bottom end of the Bloodspear to the sidewalk, ¡°I¡¯ll fly.¡±


    She floated into the air, hovering at about ten feet while Rod and Samita figured out where to sit.


    ¡°Tell you what,¡± Vincent said, ¡°V4¡¯s got the longer bike. We¡¯ll put more people there.I¡¯ll ride behind Red Hex and Troll rides with Blue Mask. What do you think?¡±


    It took a moment for everyone to get on, but everyone fit. Within minutes, we were cruising down the street and then the highway.


    Detroit¡¯s traffic moved faster than Grand Lake¡¯s, closer to 90 than the official 70 miles per hour highway speed limit. For a long part of the drive through the city, the highway seemed to be in a concrete trough below ground level. Between that and the cars, it felt cramped. I knew it would become a normal highway soon enough, but I didn¡¯t like it.


    From the way Samita¡¯s grip on my waist tightened, I suspected she didn¡¯t either. She¡¯d said, ¡°I¡¯ve never been on one of these before,¡± as she got on, adding, ¡°They don¡¯t have seatbelts. I mean, of course they don¡¯t have seatbelts, but I wish they had seatbelts.¡±


    Riding at close to 90 down the highway for her first time might not have been ideal. ¡°I¡¯m not hanging on too hard, am I?¡±


    ¡°The costume¡¯s armor. Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I said.


    Her grip tightened.


    Behind her, Vincent shouted, ¡°V4 knows what he¡¯s doing. We¡¯re going to be fine, assuming some asshole doesn¡¯t forget to look when he¡¯s changing lanes. Then we¡¯re road pizza.¡±


    ¡°Does that happen often?¡± She shouted back.


    ¡°All the damn time,¡± he said. ¡°People don¡¯t look for bikes. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on in their heads.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t the moment to tell Vincent not to say things like that, but I wished he wouldn¡¯t.


    It didn¡¯t matter in the end. The highway came up to ground level and the cars spread out. Twenty or thirty minutes later, we were pulling up to Motor City Heroes¡¯ tower-shaped base.


    It felt like an age since we¡¯d left. It felt good to see it, dirt driveway and all. ¡°It looks like a rook,¡± Samita said as we pulled in.


    Assuming she meant the chess piece and not the bird, she was right. It did.


    By the time the doors opened and we rolled into the elevator, it felt like the night had ended and we didn¡¯t have to worry about fighting vampires anymore. That feeling lasted for a few seconds. Then the doors to the elevator opened and my stomach cramped up.


    Working Man stood in front of us in his blue and grey costume, face hidden by his mask. On a gut level, I doubted that he was smiling underneath it.

 Motor City Intern: Part 62

    Amy landed next to me as Samita and Vincent got off my bike and I pushed it into the ¡°garage¡± off of the elevator circle in the middle. In my peripheral vision, I saw that Rod had slid off Mateo¡¯s and that Mateo was pushing his bike over as well.


    Working Man waved everyone down the hall, ¡°Conference room.¡±


    Counting the people in my head, I stifled a groan. The conference room held six people on a good day and four comfortably. There were seven of us. Vincent wasn¡¯t quite human-sized, but he wasn¡¯t much smaller.


    This was going to suck.


    We walked out of the gray metal and concrete section of the base and into a hall with beige walls that could have passed for the office of a small business. That or maybe the hall that leads you from the lobby of an oil change shop to the bathroom?


    The conference room wasn¡¯t much larger than a bathroom.


    It probably smelled better, but bearing in mind that everyone in the room had been up most of the night doing heavy exercise, that might not have been true.


    Vincent eyed the small room with its round conference table, six chairs, and the wall of grey filing cabinets that covered one side, muttering, ¡°Maybe I should sit under the table¡­¡±


    I¡¯d been wrong about the number of people. It wasn¡¯t seven. It was eight. V8, or as I knew her, Willa, sat at the table already. She wore a black and red jumpsuit, the kind you¡¯d imagine a NASCAR driver wearing, but with only one logo¡ªhers, ¡°V8¡± in red.


    Though she wore a mask, she¡¯d taken her helmet off, making it obvious that she was in her forties, dark-skinned, and had black, curly hair shorn less than an inch long.


    ¡°Welcome everyone, please sit down,¡± she looked around the room, ¡°I know it¡¯s a little cramped, but we won¡¯t take too much of your time. When we designed the base, we didn¡¯t think we¡¯d need a conference room.¡±


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    She shook her head, rolling her eyes, ¡°We were young and dumb. We didn¡¯t think anyone but Working Man and I would use the base. We thought we¡¯d meet in an office or the lab. This used to be a closet.¡±


    She laughed, ¡°But please, sit. Most of you will have chairs.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll stand,¡± I said, partly because I felt I should and partly because standing meant I was that much less likely to bash my head against a file cabinet as I did during the last meeting.


    Amy gave me a look as she sat down, possibly retaining enough of the xosk¡¯s telepathy to know that I wasn¡¯t being entirely altruistic. She sat in front of me, putting her in a position to bash her head against my stomach or my solar plexus if she aimed well.


    Samita sat down next to her, putting her in line to hit the filing cabinets too. I wondered if her hooded red jacket amounted to armor or if the ring she wore, the one that contained a spirit of luck or something would help prevent her from getting hurt? On the other hand, it wasn¡¯t as if she¡¯d die from hitting a filing cabinet.


    Mateo said, ¡°I¡¯ll stand¡ª¡° but Working Man waved at him to sit, saying, ¡°No. Sit. I¡¯ll stand.¡±


    Face tightening as if he wanted to argue, Mateo sat and so did Rod and Vincent.


    Taking out a bag of nuts from his utility belt, Vincent put them on the table, ¡°If anybody wants some, you¡¯re welcome to them.¡±


    No one else reached into the bag. It might have felt a little weird, but it also might have been that Vincent was the only one not wearing a mask or gloves or both.


    Personally, I was wearing a helmet.


    Working Man looked over the group, ¡°Let¡¯s hear what happened. V4 and Blue Mask can start from the first vampire victim they looked at. Start from the beginning.¡±


    That wasn¡¯t exactly going to make for a short meeting, but it wasn¡¯t a bad idea. Mateo and I swapped off telling what happened, starting with the very dead man through to the vampire in the marketing firm, the vampiric vegetables, and the annoyed cop in Farmington.


    Vincent laughed through the battle with the watermelons. I couldn¡¯t exactly blame him for that. Rod and Amy struggled to keep straight faces.


    He stopped laughing when we got to the bit where he and his brothers were serving the vampires.


    Working Man nodded along through all of it. He seemed to trade off asking questions with V8, sometimes stopping to say, ¡°Good job,¡± or in the case of the xosk fight, ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could do that.¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t tell anybody,¡± I said. ¡°I feel like it¡¯s barely a power. It mostly just stops things from happening. I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s worthless, but I can do more with straight-up tech.¡±


    Working Man nodded and didn¡¯t make a big deal about it. It wasn¡¯t until the very end that we seemed to get an emotional reaction out of him.


    It came when we came to the point where we offered the vampires a deal that Working Man said, ¡°You let them go? Do you know where they went?¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 63

    Mateo shook his head, ¡°We didn¡¯t follow them. We¡¯d fought all the way up the tower, destroyed I don¡¯t know how many vampires by then, and they were fresh. Offering them a way out kept everyone alive.¡±


    Chin jutting forward, Working Man said, ¡°Including them. They¡¯re monsters that live off of humans. They literally took over the city¡¯s police department and influenced the local media to keep it quiet as they had the police lay siege to Unity¡¯s base. That¡¯s a significant level of power to let loose in this city. What¡¯s to stop them from starting up where they left off?¡±


    Meeting Working Man¡¯s eyes, I said, ¡°They can¡¯t. Between your group and ours, there¡¯s barely anybody left. You took out the people that Barrington said were in charge of that. We killed a lot of others. I don¡¯t know how many, but up until the vampire king and his advisors, everyone we saw¡ªincluding one that worked with the Dominators. I¡¯d be surprised if he wasn¡¯t the guy that planned out the part of the operation that influenced the police and the media.¡±


    Raising a hand, Amy cleared her throat as if expecting that everyone would stop so she could talk. Even if that was a leftover from being an heir to an empire in another universe, it worked. ¡°I know I¡¯m not part of this team, but I was part of this fight. Mateo was right not to fight them. From what I learned, they¡¯re similar to my people. We¡¯re like vampires but not the same. We¡¯re descended from a race that came to our Earth and the closest thing I can compare us to in your world is maybe dhampirs¡ªall of the strengths of vampires and none of the weaknesses.¡±


    Almost talking over Amy, Samita added, ¡°And Blue Mask and V4 were prepared for normal vampires from what I saw, but holy water, garlic, bags of rice wouldn¡¯t have helped. Worse, one of them, Loremaster, fought my teacher, Reliquary, and survived.¡±


    Staring at her, Working Man smacked the table, ¡°That was the time to call for help. I know we weren¡¯t available before but if you had called us then, we would have been.¡±


    I sighed and I knew it was loud because everyone looked at me.


    Working Man nodded, ¡°Do you have something to say about that?¡±


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    ¡°Yes. We had no way to know that. You¡¯d said you¡¯d meet us earlier, but you didn¡¯t show up or respond to anything we tried. For all we knew, you were dead or too busy to answer. Either way, there wasn¡¯t any reason to think that calling you at that moment would have brought you over. None.¡±


    ¡°They told you I was alive,¡± he said.


    ¡°Right,¡± I tried to keep my voice from rising, ¡°which showed that they weren¡¯t trying to put one over on us. When Blue Mask asked them to call off the police, they could have just said yes. Instead, they told us that you¡¯d taken care of it, basically telling us that they had no support and no backup.


    ¡°I have to admit, Barrington didn¡¯t seem like the brightest guy in the world and some of his people may have lived a little too long to think straight, but Loremaster seemed to know what he was doing at least. As for the rest of them, I don¡¯t think they were bright enough to pull this off without all the help they had. I think they were just convenient figureheads that happened to have one good idea¡ªcalling all the vampires they could find together.¡±


    ¡°Help from the Dominators, you think, and for all you know, the Nine?¡± He didn¡¯t shout, but the volume ticked upward as he talked.


    He¡¯d seemed to gloss over the fact that I¡¯d brought in people associated with League members to help earlier, but it sounded like that wasn¡¯t going to last. In the back of my head, I knew that he might not bring it up and that the best thing to do was try to calm things down, but trying to connect the vampire with Dominator connections to problems from bringing in Amy made no sense.


    ¡°The vampire worked with the Dominators, and yes, they do work for the Nine, but I didn¡¯t see anything that said the Dominators were involved here. And if you¡¯re trying to imply that bringing in Bloodmaiden means that the Nine will come after all of you, no. He was dead before we got any help.¡±


    ¡°Besides,¡± Rod piped in, ¡°if it comes up, we¡¯re going to tell the press that we know Blue Mask from Stapledon¡ªwhich we do. News reports will back us up.¡±


    Ignoring Rod, Working Man started talking, ¡°That¡¯s not good enough. Anyone who looks at the big picture¡ªa techie working with Bloodmaiden, Troll, and Red Hex will wonder if it¡¯s the Rocket. I would.¡±


    V8 turned to look back at him, ¡°Working Man, V4, I think we all need to remember that this fight was successful. There might be problems that come up tomorrow, but today we need to remember that we won¡ª¡°


    Working Man talked over her, ¡°We also need to remember that I gave strict orders about bringing in others¡ª¡°


    I didn¡¯t need to hear more of that, ¡°Orders that were irrational and likely to get us all killed.¡±


    In the back of my mind, I wondered how long it would be before I lost my temper or if I had already and hadn''t noticed?

 Motor City Intern: Part 64

    That didn¡¯t stop me from continuing to talk, ¡°Look, you literally weren¡¯t available to answer questions and it was deliberate. You had the technology to contact us even if all you did was send a short text. I know this. I made it. In fact, I¡¯ve been in situations this bad without losing contact with my team. Sometimes I¡¯ve ignored them long enough to get out of a bad situation, but you were unavailable for hours. And I¡¯ve got the experience to know when I¡¯m out of my depth.


    ¡°You¡¯re lucky I¡¯ve got that kind of experience and that I¡¯ve got friends who will show up to get me out of a jam. If I didn¡¯t, I might have died and you might have too. Barrington told me that the vampires you were fighting were calling for help and that if we hadn¡¯t been fighting him, he¡¯d have given it. Maybe you¡¯d have won anyway, but it would have been harder. Also, maybe you¡¯d have died too.


    ¡°So, if you think about it, my disobedience may have saved your life.¡±


    Vincent cleared his throat, ¡°You¡¯ve got to admit that the kid has a point. Speaking as someone who¡¯s been in the middle of some big fights, we needed the help. Everyone I knew who could have helped was either busy or too far away to call.¡±


    Turning toward Vincent, Working Man said, ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind. V4, come to my office.¡±


    Mateo began to get up from his chair, ¡°I was in charge of the two of us. If V4 is coming to your office, I should as well.¡±


    Working Man held up his hand, ¡°No. Stay in here. We¡¯ll talk later.¡±


    Amy¡¯s eyes narrowed and I wondered if she was going to say something, but I moved toward the door, saying only, ¡°Okay.¡±


    If he was going to kick me out or fail me, I could deal with it. Repeating the internship with someone else might be a pain, but it wasn¡¯t the end of the world. And besides, it wasn¡¯t as if I needed a license to be a hero. The internship was a requirement for the Stapledon program, but I¡¯d been training before I ever started with them.


    Everyone watched as I followed Working Man out of the room. We walked down the hall without speaking, passing Mateo and Holly¡¯s offices and ending at Working Man¡¯s, the door at the end of the hall.


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    Like the others, it was made of reinforced metal and didn¡¯t have a window. Painted green, it gave the hall an industrial look, as if this were the office area of a factory.


    I followed him in, thinking back to the last time I¡¯d stepped inside¡ªon the day I¡¯d started my internship. The decor hadn¡¯t changed. A wide poster of the Detroit skyline hung on the wall behind him, showing the city¡¯s skyscrapers, including Book Tower. The posters on the other walls depicted cars¡ªthe Ford Mustang, the 57 Chevy, the Ford Model T, Dodge Charger, and even one newer model, the Dodge Viper.


    All the cars gleamed.


    The rest of the office didn¡¯t. Papers, some of them in folders, covered his desk. An old black laptop lay off to one side, partially covered by a folder. It wasn¡¯t plugged in.


    I¡¯d suggested he might want to replace it once. He didn¡¯t want to.


    Four beige filing cabinets ran down the side of the wall on my left. A model of a factory covered the tops of the two farthest from me. A big brick building with cars rolling out one end, accompanied by workers, I almost recognized it, but didn¡¯t think this would be a good time to ask about it.


    A glance backward reminded me of the map of Detroit that hung there. A few pins stuck out of it. I wondered what kind of crimes they represented. Murder? Rape? Robberies?


    I sat down as Working Man sat behind the desk, his bulk filling the chair. Whether he had low-level powers or a high level of natural, physical potential, he had at least half a foot on me.


    He started with, ¡°You did what I wanted you to¡ªignored me¡ªand that¡¯s a good thing. As far as I¡¯m concerned, you¡¯ve passed this internship.¡±


    I thought about that, and then said, ¡°If you were trying to teach me something, don¡¯t you think a life and death situation might have been a bad time?¡±


    He shook his head, ¡°V8 showed me how to monitor the situation discreetly. If you¡¯d followed directions, I¡¯d have called to tell you to bring people in, but I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d have to. You do have enough experience to gauge whether or not you can handle a situation.¡±


    Keeping my voice under control, I said, ¡°Then what was the point of putting me into a position like that if you thought I¡¯d make the right choice anyway?¡±


    A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, ¡°I¡¯m not a teacher by trade, but I¡¯m good at reading people. You trust authority figures, maybe not all of them, but most. That¡¯s not all bad, but it¡¯s a common failing of kids coming out of the Stapledon. In fact, I¡¯d say that it¡¯s an intended failing. The government can¡¯t control vigilantes directly, but it¡¯s doing what it can.


    ¡°I can¡¯t even say that I think Feds are wrong to try, but I do think we¡¯re losing something important when people like us get too comfortable with the powers that be.¡±

 Motor City Intern: Part 65

    Sitting there, I still felt everything I¡¯d been feeling before he¡¯d told me this was a test and I¡¯d passed. My stomach still turned and my heart may have slowed a little, but I could still feel it beating. I didn¡¯t know what to do with my arms.


    It wasn¡¯t as if I needed to punch someone, but it didn¡¯t feel right to place them on the arms of the chair. I didn¡¯t know what would feel right, but up in a blocking position was the first thought that came to mind.


    I¡¯d spent too much time fighting people today.


    Letting myself take a breath or two, I said, ¡°You sound like you¡¯d prefer it if we were living back in the 50s when my grandfather¡¯s team was sometimes fighting both the criminals and the cops.¡±


    Working Man shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight cops. They¡¯ve got a hard enough job. It worries me that the Feds set up a program that sends supers into government service. It seems like it¡¯s designed to pull as many people permanently into the armed forces and other agencies as they can. Even the ones that don¡¯t will have a positive impression and personal connections inside.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got to say that I like the idea that they¡¯ll be better trained and not have to pick everything up the hard way. They teach you the basics of being a combat medic. I don¡¯t even want to think about how much that would have helped me when I started.


    ¡°My problem comes when I start thinking about the Nine and the Dominators. I¡¯ve heard that you¡¯ve faced their handiwork.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°More than once, I think, and as I said, not just on Earth.¡±


    Images popped into my head of a woman¡¯s head exploding and of the head of the engineering department. He¡¯d been fine in the end, but I¡¯d heard from Daniel that the man had been working for the Nine for years.


    ¡°Right,¡± Working Man said. ¡°We know they have people in government. We suspect they¡¯ve reprogrammed a few heroes. We don¡¯t know how many, but exposing new heroes to government means exposing them to an unknown number of the Nine¡¯s agents, both willing and unwilling. That¡¯s what I¡¯m afraid of. Even if we didn¡¯t have the Nine to worry about, I¡¯d still be nervous because I think the supers serve as an important check on anyone in government who wants to take more power than they¡¯ve been given already.


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    ¡°With the Nine to worry about, my fear is that supers will be recruited before they even know it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, thinking back to the Mayor and how he¡¯d taken over heroes who¡¯d come to Grand Lake as well as people in the federal and state government, calling out the National Guard to fight us. The impression Daniel had was that the Mayor had taught himself with some help from the Cabal. If that was what a low-powered telepath with a talent for mental manipulation could do, I could only wonder what the Dominators could do over time.


    I made a mental note to check on whether the man was still in prison. Even if he had no connection to the Nine or the Dominators, he¡¯d be a prize recruit and even more so if someone ran him through a power impregnator.


    Resisting the urge to do an internet search on whether or not he was still in prison, I asked Working Man, ¡°So, now what? Are you hoping I¡¯ll go through my post-Stapledon program residency with enough fear and suspicion to avoid having my mind messed with? We¡¯ve already got our own mental defenses that the Mystic set up. I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll be enough against the Dominators. We haven¡¯t ever gone up against them where they¡¯ve been the main enemy as opposed to shadowy background figures.¡±


    Working Man nodded, ¡°It¡¯s worth trying. They¡¯re everything I fear most in an opponent. I¡¯ll take fighting Syndicate L over them any day. The worst Syndicate L gets is finding out your true identity and threatening those you care about in your normal life. The Dominators can make you serve them without even knowing it.¡±


    As I absorbed that statement, I realized that somewhere over the conversation I¡¯d relaxed. It didn¡¯t say good things about my life that a conversation like that could be relaxing, but there we were, ¡°I¡¯ve got another question. I get that you wanted to leave me suspicious of authority figures, but doesn¡¯t telling me what you were doing afterward work against that? If you¡¯d really wanted to traumatize me, you might have fired me after all that and let me find out that I¡¯d passed the internship later. It seems like explaining yourself might make me reinterpret the whole thing.¡±


    Working Man shook his head, ¡°No. I wanted to teach a lesson you¡¯d remember. I didn¡¯t want to be cruel. I respected your grandfather more than that. Besides, it wasn¡¯t all an act. I really am stubborn and I prefer to do things my way. Bringing in your friends is a risk and I don¡¯t want them here, but in this situation, it¡¯s a risk that kept you alive and I respect that. All I want is that you use your own best judgment and not let authority figures intimidate you.¡±


    He pushed his chair back and stood up, ¡°We should rejoin the group.¡±


    A part of my brain that might be referred to as my inner smartass suggested that I might start thinking for myself by refusing to leave the chair in his office.


    I stood up. My inner smartass doesn¡¯t get much use.

 Motor City Intern: Part 66

    It didn¡¯t take long before we reentered the conference room. It was a straight shot down the hall, after all. As we stepped inside, V8 was saying, ¡°Unless any of you have something you¡¯d like to add, all we¡¯re waiting for is Working Man and V4.¡±


    That¡¯s the moment when Working Man opened the door. V8 turned to him, saying, ¡°I was just about to end the meeting. Do you have anything you want to say?¡±


    Working Man shook his head, ¡°I¡¯ll talk to Blue Mask in a moment, but everything¡¯s fine. I¡¯m happy with the work that everyone¡¯s done. You¡¯re all free to go.¡±


    Amy shot me a look as he said that and I nodded. With that everyone stood up and filed out. Working Man and I didn¡¯t even get fully inside. I only had a foot in before I had to back out.


    I found myself standing in the hall as Amy, Rod, and Samita stepped out. After they stepped into the hall, Working Man walked into the room, closing the door as Vincent said, ¡°I¡¯d like to stick around a second.¡±


    The door shut behind Working Man and Amy asked me, ¡°What happened?¡±


    I nodded toward the lab, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about it over there. It wasn¡¯t bad, but I think I¡¯d like a little privacy.¡±


    When we made it down the hall and over into the lab¡¯s spoke, I sat down at the desk, took off my helmet, and leaned back in the chair.


    Amy did the magical girl thing. Black and red colors swirled around her along with writing similar to both Gothic and Celtic scripts. It left her a foot shorter, thinner, and wearing jeans and a green t-shirt instead of black armor.


    ¡°I wanted to be in my own body,¡± she said in response to my unasked question. ¡°So, what happened?¡±


    I sighed, ¡°Working Man was doing some kind of test. He¡¯s actually fine with me calling everyone in. In fact, he¡¯d have been disappointed if I hadn¡¯t. He said he did it to encourage me to question authority.¡±


    Amy blinked, ¡°Are you kidding me? He did that to you deliberately? That¡¯s crazy. My ¡®guardian¡¯ or whatever he was supposed be deliberately taught me as little as possible. I came to hate the man. Unlike him, I suppose Working Man¡¯s at least trying to teach¡­ But he doesn¡¯t do that kind of thing all the time, does he?¡±


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    ¡°No,¡± I sat up in my chair. ¡°Mostly I¡¯ve been working with Mateo. He¡¯s been straightforward.¡±


    Amy shook her head as Rod laughed, ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d have ever done it that way, but you won¡¯t forget it.¡±


    Nodding, I said, ¡°True. That¡¯s an understatement.¡±


    ¡°No doubt,¡± Rod turned toward the door as footsteps echoed from the hallway. Mateo walked in with Vincent close behind him.


    Mateo had taken off his mask and tucked it into the pocket on his shirt, ¡°Sorry about that. I didn¡¯t know he was doing that as a teaching technique or I¡¯d have told him not to. I thought Working Man was just being his normal level of difficult.¡±


    He took a deep breath and might have been about to say more, but Vincent spoke first, ¡°Could be worse. I¡¯ve heard stories about martial arts masters that are much crazier. You know what I mean, right? The kind of guys who don¡¯t teach you anything at all for a year or something. They just have you clean their house and make their meals? And then when the student asks what the hell is going on, they explain how the student should have learned some great martial arts principles from doing dishes and shit?


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if anybody really does that or if those are just folktales, but that¡¯d be more of a waste of your time. Anyway, I was just stopping by on my way out. Unity sent a car for me and they¡¯re almost here. Great fighting with you kids and I hope things stay vampire free for a while.¡±


    He gave a wave and walked back out to where the elevator waited.


    After the elevator doors shut and the motors began to haul it upward, Samita turned away from the noise to look back at the rest of us, ¡°My sixth-grade homeroom teacher had hamsters in her classroom... I was tempted to pet him the whole time he was here. I hope that''s not just me. Anyway, we should go back, or I don¡¯t know, we did let them know we were going. I think they¡¯d understand if we slept here.¡±


    Rod nodded, ¡°Hell, yes to that. I¡¯m going to fall asleep standing.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been sleeping here,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡±


    Mateo smiled, ¡°We can clear out a guest room or two if you want. It¡¯s nicer than the conference room.¡±


    ¡°Nicer than the conference room?¡± Amy asked. ¡°Is it bigger? I hit my head on a filing cabinet getting out of there. If I hadn¡¯t been wearing a helmet, it would have hurt.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s bigger,¡± I said. ¡°Not that that would be hard. And by the way, thanks. None of you had to come, but you did because I asked you to and you¡¯ve done this more than once, Amy especially.¡±


    She looked up at me, shaking her head, ¡°Of course, we did.You needed help and you¡¯d do the same for us. That¡¯s what friends do.¡±


    I didn¡¯t doubt that she meant, but in the back of my mind, I wondered when, or if, she¡¯d someday go back to her home. ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ¡°let me know when you all get up. We should all go out to eat or something before you leave.¡±

 The Power: Part 1

    Sean Drucker stepped out of the Uber in front of the building. He didn¡¯t know the place. He¡¯d never been there in his life, but now it was all the home he had in Grand Lake.


    At least six stories tall and red brick, it looked like a big rectangular block with a smokestack¡ªlike the factory it must have once been. Now a bronze metallic sign identified it as Cityview Luxury Condominiums.


    It seemed like a dumb name, but he wasn¡¯t going to complain. His family had a forty-nine percent stake in the business that owned the building and the Hardwick family owned the other fifty-one. Complaining about the name in front of the wrong person would cause no end of trouble and his family had had enough of that in the last five years.


    The Uber driver, a lumpy, sixty-something man wearing a worn blue jacket opened up the trunk, ¡°Your mom lives there? She must be doing pretty well. I like how they turned the old Karlson factory into something nice.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sean said, taking his suitcases out of the trunk, ¡°she says it¡¯s nice. I¡¯ve been out of town.¡±


    The man grinned, waiting until Sean had removed the second suitcase and closing the trunk. ¡°She moved while you were away? Good luck, betcha all of your stuff is still in boxes.¡±


    Sean imagined blowing out the car¡¯s electrical system. It wouldn¡¯t be hard, but he didn¡¯t. Losing his temper over small things wasn¡¯t worth it. It caused too many problems and it wasn¡¯t like the guy deserved it.


    ¡°Could be,¡± he said. ¡°Thanks for the ride.¡±


    The man gave him a wave, got back into the car, and drove away. Sean opened up his phone and pressed the tip button.


    He found himself staring after the car and then, after the car disappeared into city traffic, at the city park across the street. Some other factory had been there, but now it was all green lawn with picnic tables, trees, paths leading from one flowerbed to another, and a cast iron and steel gazebo.Past it rose more factories and the highway that ran through Grand Lake¡¯s downtown. Past that, though he couldn¡¯t see it, lay Grand Lake itself and the city¡¯s beach.


    It wasn¡¯t a bad view, but it wasn¡¯t home.


    It did come with perks, though. He wasn¡¯t far from Chuck¡¯s Pizza, a restaurant owned by an ex-girlfriend¡¯s family. Haley had been dating Nick for years now, but Sean remembered visiting her when she worked there. He¡¯d liked the pizza.


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    Whatever. There was no point in thinking about any of that, he told himself and walked toward the apartment¡¯s front door. Holding his phone up, he tapped on it, found the program for unlocking the door, and tapped on it. Facial recognition activated and the door unlocked.


    He could have flown up to the roof, but he walked inside, finding the elevator to the right of the lobby, and pressed the button for the roof level. The elevator car rose more slowly than he would have flown. He occupied himself by looking out the windows as the elevator rose.


    By the time he reached the top floor, he could see Grand Lake and further in the distance, the darkness of Lake Michigan.


    The door opened and he turned around, leaving and walking down the dark red carpet to a door marked with the number 801. Clicking the notification on his phone, he reached for the doorknob as he heard the click, opened it and walked in.


    Ahead of him lay a wide room with tinted glass walls, a wooden floor, and thin, elegant furniture that might have appeared in the background of pictures in a fashion magazine.


    ¡°Sean?¡± His mother¡¯s voice came from the left, out of his sight.


    In a few steps, he passed the short section of wall and closet to his left, standing in the main area of the room.


    His mother walked toward him. In her early fifties, she had light skin and blond hair beginning to turn gray. She wore dark gray and purple exercise clothing.


    ¡°You¡¯re home! I didn¡¯t know you¡¯d be here so soon. I just came back from a run and I was about to shower. I was hoping not to stink when I showed you around the new place.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll go and sit on the couch. Maybe I¡¯ll watch tv or something.¡±


    She smiled, ¡°Wait for me before you go looking around. Half of our things are still in boxes. I don¡¯t want that to be the first thing you see.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll wait,¡± he said.


    ¡°Good,¡± she grinned and walked down the hall.


    What was he going to do to kill time? He opened his phone and held down the button long enough that it changed modes, wiping the screen and replacing the apps with the ones he used professionally. He clicked on the ¡°Communicator¡± app, finding that someone he wanted to talk to was in town.


    He clicked on a name and the comm opened a channel. Vaughn picked up, ¡°Hey, Sean. How¡¯d your internship go?¡±


    Sean groaned, ¡°Boring. Nothing happened. I told you I was assigned to the Southwestern Defenders Unit. I thought it would be crazy. You hear all kinds of stories about the border with Mexico, but it was quiet. We saw some action in the cities, but, it¡¯s not like we fought any major supervillains, just a bunch of also-rans. Oh, and we also visited the cities where the zombie plague started in Arizona? That¡¯s been over for 15 years.¡±


    Vaughn laughed, ¡°Maybe quiet is good. I heard Nick fought a bunch of vampires in Detroit. Me, I ended up with Cerebus¡ªit¡¯s this team out of Texas that watches over the Dreadportal. They keep on fighting a magical weather guy and they wanted to see if I could help.¡±

 The Power: Part 2

    ¡°How¡¯d that work out?¡± Sean thought back to his own experiences fighting a dragon and an entity called The Thing That Eats. He could do without more of it.


    Vaughn laughed, ¡°I helped but not maybe not in the way they were expecting. We both controlled the weather and there we were evenly matched, but it¡¯s not like the guy was alone. There were a bunch of nature spirits and the Dread Knights¡­ You probably haven¡¯t heard of them, but they¡¯re scary. My team, Cerebus, I mean, had fought them before so they could keep them under control, but that left me going mano a mano with the weather guy¡ª¡°


    Sean interrupted, ¡°What¡¯s his name? You can¡¯t just call him ¡®weather guy¡¯.¡±


    Barely seeming to pause, Vaughn continued, ¡°But I can. See, Cerebus doesn¡¯t know his name either. They¡¯ve fought him a bunch of times and he keeps on coming back in a different costume, different face, different name, but the same powers and he remembers the past battles. Oh yeah, he¡¯s also always a he. When I fought him, he called himself The Stormmost¡ª¡°


    Interrupting again, Sean said, ¡°Are you fucking kidding me? The Stormmost? That is the dumbest¡ª¡°


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but you asked for it. And anyway, it doesn¡¯t matter at all. Maybe he¡¯ll stick around for a week, but next it¡¯ll be the same guy only now he¡¯ll be calling himself The Mother of All Hurricanes. That¡¯s what he called himself in the 90s. In the 70s, he called himself Weatherbomb for a couple years.¡±


    Sean walked over to the couch in front of the tv, ¡°Anyway, you fought him and?¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°We¡¯re in the air throwing lightning at each other and directing it away from ourselves, trying to slam each other into the ground with gusts of wind, when I realize something¡ªhe¡¯s a wizard.¡±


    ¡°Dude,¡± Sean stared at the phone for a second, ¡°wasn¡¯t that the whole point?¡±


    Sean could almost hear Vaughn shaking his head, ¡°No. You¡¯re missing the point. He¡¯s a wizard. They¡¯re magical geeks. He probably comes out of an apprenticeship with some old guy or like that school Amy almost went to. Those guys don¡¯t do cardio. They study old books, learn languages and everything, but that¡¯s it. And that¡¯s what I¡¯ve got over him¡ªStapledon¡¯s physical training. That, and Dr. Nation¡¯s experimental physical improvement program. It worked for me, at least.


    ¡°We were in the air, pretty much matched in power, but then I flew through a rain of hail and got my hands on him. It took one punch, maybe two, and he went limp.¡±


    Adjusting the phone as he leaned back on the couch, Sean grabbed the remote from the next cushion over, ¡°How did those guys not think of punching him? It seems kind of obvious.¡±


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    Over the speaker, Sean heard Vaughn sigh, ¡°They thought of it, but they couldn¡¯t get close to him. Plus, they¡¯re not very physical themselves. Cerebus is a bunch of archeologists and they got their powers from Hades¡ª¡°


    ¡°The Greek god? Like in the Hercules movie?¡± At the same time, Sean began to wonder where this call went wrong. He¡¯d been calling Vaughn to ask the guy a question and he was nowhere near asking it.


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Vaughn replied. ¡°Some version of Hades anyway. Anyhow, the group¡¯s a bunch of archeologists with powers like the ability to speak to the dead and touch souls and stuff like that. They can do some crazy shit, but straight-up fighting isn¡¯t really their thing. The Stormmost¡¯s a wizard. He¡¯s protected himself against soul poking and eldritch attacks, so they¡ª¡°


    Sean couldn¡¯t stop himself from asking, ¡°Soul poking?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s not go there,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°I don¡¯t even really know what they¡¯re talking about but what I do know would take way too long. The short version is that they can do stuff to your soul that¡¯ll affect your body. You don¡¯t want to mess with them, but mages can protect themselves. That makes the whole problem physical, not magical. If it were magical, they wouldn¡¯t have needed me. So, the end of the story is that The Stormmost is in magical jail or something. The North American Wizards Council got involved. After that, I don¡¯t know what happened. So, why¡¯d you call? I know you¡¯re in town again, but we¡¯re all just about to get sent wherever they want to send us.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the thing,¡± Sean said, relieved to finally get the chance to talk, ¡°I told you about the investors we got. They¡¯re going to fund Jody, Dayton, and I. They¡¯ve got some pull with the government. So we¡¯re going to have official superhero mentors during our residency and government service, but we¡¯re going to get to start our own thing. I¡¯m thinking we¡¯ll bring back the Justice Fist name, but it¡¯ll mostly be different people. You don¡¯t have to join, but if you want to at least talk about it, the investors are coming by tomorrow.¡±


    On the other end of the phone, Vaughn made a sound that might have been a groan, ¡°I already said no to this. I¡¯m not going anywhere right now. I¡¯m in the Heroes¡¯ League and you know what¡¯s going on with my family, right? We¡¯ve practically got a civil war going over Hardwick Industries. Uncle Russ is in jail, but he¡¯s appealing and he¡¯s got people in the family that are still on his side even though he was working with the Nine.


    ¡°It¡¯s crazy right now. My parents are working to organize as much of our family and as much of the board as possible to put the right CEO in place. It isn¡¯t easy. It¡¯s so bad that they¡¯ve got me making calls sometimes¡ªas myself, not as Storm King. Plus, my sisters are doing everything they can. It¡¯s a mess. I don¡¯t have time for anything more than what I¡¯m doing.¡±


    Sean bit back a response that he knew wouldn¡¯t make anything better, finally saying, ¡°Look, I know you¡¯re not leaving the Heroes¡¯ League, but you guys already have a board and I know you know more about business than I do. Could you look over things before we sign the papers?¡±


    The pause from Vaughn¡¯s end of the conversation stretched long enough that Sean wondered if he was still on the line. Finally, Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯m not a lawyer, but if you want me to look at what you¡¯ve got, I¡¯ll look. Plus, the League¡¯s got lawyers we can call in.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± Sean said, ¡°I¡¯ll send you the appointment.¡±

 The Power: Part 3

    ¡°No problem, I¡¯ll watch for it,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°The thing is about business is that it¡¯s all about people in the end. Get in bed with the wrong people and you get crabs or something. I mean, seriously, Uncle Russ made a deal with the Nine and he¡¯s going to be paying for it for a long time even if he doesn¡¯t go to jail.¡±


    Ignoring the cascade of memories of Russell Hardwick and his father, Sean said, ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll keep it in mind. I don¡¯t want crabs.¡±


    Vaughn laughed and after a little while they hung up.


    Sean slid his phone back into his pocket and sat on the couch, remote in hand, not turning the tv on and breathing quietly.


    He¡¯d called Russell Hardwick ¡°Uncle Russ¡± too back when he was a kid. The man had seemed like a superhero to all of them, ¡°them¡± being all of the descendants of Red Lightning¡¯s superpowered army. He¡¯d told them what they all knew, that the Cabal was hunting for them, but that he¡¯d keep them safe. Red Lightning had taken the fruits of the Cabal¡¯s breeding program and added his own efforts to the mix, activating their powers with power juice and eventually the power impregnator that had made his own powers permanent.


    The Cabal wanted the results, but Uncle Russ kept his father¡¯s followers'' sons and daughters secret, gave them jobs, helped them learn about their powers, and organized a defense against the Cabal when they showed up.


    His father had worked for Uncle Russ, had trained with Uncle Russ, and helped him keep their small group of the descendants of supervillains safe¡ªfor a time. In his senior year of high school, the Cabal had shown up again, killing Sean¡¯s father during his class¡¯ graduation ceremony.


    Sean still remembered turning after hearing a muffled pop to see his father slumped, head partially gone from Ray¡¯s gunshot.


    Sean had run out of the stadium to see if he could find the assassin in the parking lot around the stadium, but he hadn¡¯t seen him anywhere.


    In the weeks that followed, he¡¯d blamed a lot of people for his father¡¯s death, Vaughn for telling him that Ray was not only his team¡¯s trainer but also an escaped criminal, forcing his team to try to attempt Ray¡¯s capture during a training session. He¡¯d blamed his own team for not being fast enough to capture Ray then, and his father for not helping. He¡¯d been watching, after all.


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    For a time after that, he¡¯d settled on blaming himself. Ray was an experienced assassin and he¡¯d been a high school student. How could he have thought a spur-of-the-moment decision to take the guy down would work?


    With some help from the therapist he¡¯d been assigned in the Stapledon program, he¡¯d come to see the bigger picture. He did have some responsibility for what had happened. It was his decision to attack Ray, but it was Ray¡¯s decision to kill his father in response and beyond that, it was Russell Hardwick¡¯s decision to hire Ray, an escaped criminal famous for murdering superheroes, to train and protect Sean¡¯s group of beginning heroes.


    They shouldn¡¯t have ever been put in that position in the first place.


    If Russell Hardwick spent years in prison and lost his reputation due to working with the Nine, good. The man deserved it and more.


    Sean looked down at the remote in his hand and up at the tv. The screen was still black. Thinking he could use the distraction, he pressed the ¡°on¡± button.To his relief, the screen lit up. Combining magnetic powers and strong emotion had led to the accidental death of so many electronic devices, he tried not to think about it.


    The first image on the screen was of a woman pulling a mask off of an unconscious man and looking at his face in horror, saying, ¡°Bobby?¡±


    The next scene showed her running as a man in the same purple and green mask with a matching costume chased her. Over the scene, the announcer¡¯s voice said, ¡°Stalked by a Stranger in a Mask. Friday night on Lifetime!¡±


    As the voice faded, the commercial ended with a picture of the man and woman together, the woman saying, ¡°I¡¯m pregnant¡­¡±


    Sean changed the channel, flipping until he reached SuperTV which appeared to be showing, ¡°Fifteen years of the Hamsters. No longer teenagers, America¡¯s furriest martial artists joined the Detroit Unity team last year. Let¡¯s remember the most exciting moments since their founding. Named after Dutch artists, the Hamsters seem to be the product of a radioactive accident involving a Van Gogh painting¡­¡±


    It was better than nothing, he decided. Besides, from what he could see, they were good fighters.


    He watched for a good fifteen minutes before the door opened. He heard Sydney¡¯s voice first, ¡°Mom said Sean was coming home today. I wonder what he¡¯ll think of the condo?¡±


    He turned in time to see Sydney step out from the entrance followed by Camille, who said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask him?¡±

 The Power: Part 4

    Sydney had been looking back at Camille, but in response to Camille¡¯s question, she turned to look past the closet next to the door and into the main room.


    Tall and thin with long blond hair and pale skin, anyone who saw Sydney with Sean assumed that they were brother and sister. Sean knew this. Seeing Camille with Sydney made him wonder how he¡¯d ever missed that Camille was also his sister.


    Even though Camille had long, dark brown hair and tan skin, courtesy of her mother, her face had the same oblong shape and lips as Sean and Sydney. Her height was only a little shorter than Sydney¡¯s.


    He could see an echo of his father¡¯s face in both of theirs. It wasn¡¯t the only way his father had disappointed him, but that wasn¡¯t Camille¡¯s fault.


    For reasons known only to themselves, Sydney and Camille wore blue jeans and matching t-shirts. Sydney¡¯s pink shirt labeled her ¡°the quiet one,¡± and Camille¡¯s white shirt said, ¡°the loud one.¡±


    Walking over to the couch, Sydney said, ¡°Sean? I didn¡¯t know you were already home. How did your internship go?¡±


    ¡°Boring,¡± Sean said, ¡°but it¡¯s done and I can get back to the rest of my life.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s the mandatory government service,¡± Sydney began.


    ¡°I know,¡± Sean said, ¡°but the way they talk about that, it¡¯s emergencies and projects where they think I can help. It¡¯s not 24/7 like my internship. That sucked. Not much happened, but in case something did, I couldn¡¯t go anywhere. For the next few years, I could get called in at any time, but I¡¯ve also got the freedom to build up my team and do our own stuff. Being called in by the government gives us a chance to build up our reputation without having to sit around in the base all the time and train.¡±


    Camille grinned, ¡°The way I hear it, that¡¯s what the top teams do.¡±


    It felt weird to have her here, knowing who she was. He also knew he should be over it by now, but he¡¯d barely seen either Camille or Sydney these last few years¡ªhis fault but still¡­


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    ¡°Well, yeah, they do, but they can leave when they want. When you do your internship, you¡¯ll know what I mean.¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s anything like Nick¡¯s, I can guess. It sounds like he lived in the Motor City Heroes¡¯ base and it was worse than the Heroes Leagues¡¯ base before the cleanup and renovations. Except for the end, though, he had a good time. I¡¯m hoping for a nice, boring internship somewhere fun and warm¡ªlike Miami or Los Angeles.¡±


    Sean shook his head, ¡°You won¡¯t see any of the fun parts if your internship is anything like mine¡ªnot unless you have to go undercover and they didn¡¯t let me do that at all.¡±


    Camille laughed, ¡°You¡¯re not an undercover kind of guy. You¡¯re the kind of guy who destroys electronics everywhere for blocks around you.¡±


    Keeping an urge to tell her that she wasn¡¯t any different, Sean said, ¡°I¡¯m a lot better now.¡±


    Was she trying to needle him? First bringing Nick up and then reminding him of how badly he lost control sometimes. He shook his head. Maybe he was being oversensitive.


    Sydney looked over at Camille and Camille nodded. Sean didn¡¯t know what he¡¯d missed, but he¡¯d missed something.


    Her tone light, Sydney asked, ¡°How is everything going with the new team? You told me that the investors were coming here? Like to the condo?¡±


    Sean shook his head, ¡°No. I don¡¯t want to get Mom involved with superhero stuff. We¡¯re going to rent a space in Grand Lake, but it¡¯s only going to be a little office. The Heroes¡¯ League has Grand Lake sewn up. No one¡¯s going to call us in if they¡¯re around. We¡¯re thinking that we¡¯ll put our main office in Lansing, Battle Creek, or Kalamazoo, whichever city sounds most interested. I wanted to put us in a big city, but big cities attract big teams. Our investors said that the best thing we could do is be big fish in second or third-tier cities and make connections in Chicago and Detroit. That way people will pull us in when things get tough and we¡¯ll get more exposure.¡±


    Sydney frowned, ¡°Are you going to move to Lansing or wherever your main office is?¡±


    Getting off the couch, Sean said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe. I think we¡¯ll want to be close to our main office. We were thinking about trying to recruit a teleporter if we could find one. That way we could be wherever we need to in a blink, but those guys are expensive. They can write their own ticket anywhere. So my bet is yeah, we¡¯re probably moving.¡±


    Stepping closer to the couch, Camille said, ¡°Who are these,¡± she made air quotes with her fingers, ¡°¡®investors¡¯. You make it sound like a superhero group.¡±


    Sean laughed, ¡°They kind of are. They don¡¯t have powers, but it¡¯s a business called, ¡®Future-men Capital.¡¯ The name is a little weird, but they¡¯re the biggest capital organization that invests in superhero groups. They help new groups that they think have potential and with everything that happened here in Grand Lake, that¡¯s us.¡±

 The Power: Part 5

    Sydney frowned, ¡°You¡¯ve checked them out, right? I mean, we spent our whole childhood with Dad telling us about people who wanted us for our powers. You checked and made sure it¡¯s not connected to the Cabal.¡±


    Camille pursed her lips, glancing over at Sydney, and then back to Sean, not saying anything.


    She never seemed to stop talking normally, but Sean knew why. Even if she hadn¡¯t grown up with them, her mother had been part of the same group as his dad. She¡¯d known that she could be snatched away and murdered or brainwashed from childhood.


    ¡°Of course,¡± he said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t check everything, but I checked with the school and that means with Lim and a bunch of supers. Future-men Capital has a good name in the community and no one¡¯s found any links with the Cabal or the Nine. I mean, seriously, I remember what that was like. I remember Julie¡¯s mom. She was on a mission to find out about the Cabal and the Cabal killed her. I wasn¡¯t going to take that risk.


    ¡°Not that there¡¯s that much risk from the Cabal. I know a few of their troops survived, but these days I¡¯m more worried about the Nine or Syndicate L. Think if those guys owned a piece of a superhero group. You know they¡¯d do their best to twist us.¡±


    Nodding, Sydney crossed her arms over her chest, ¡°That¡¯s one of the things I¡¯m worried about. I really think you¡¯d do better talking to Nick about being part of the Heroes¡¯ League.¡±


    Sean rolled his eyes, ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me. Nick and I kind of get along now, but I don¡¯t want to push it. Yeah, I¡¯ve fought on their side a few times, but being on the same team with Haley would be weird and a bunch of them didn¡¯t like me even before power juice and everything. Travis, Jaclyn, Chris, I mean seriously¡ªMan-Machine¡¯s grandson, and Cassie have all told me that they were going to kick my ass at least once. I don¡¯t need that. Even Vaughn and I have our moments.¡±


    Sydney sighed, ¡°You could get along with them if you wanted to. I bet Nick would even support you if you asked to join and if he supported you, they¡¯d probably take you.¡±


    Thinking about it, Sean had to admit that it might work out that way. If Haley was okay with it, Nick might be okay with letting him in, but he knew he couldn¡¯t do it, ¡°Look, Nick might let me in, but what about Jody? I know Dayton wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but none of them would take Jody.¡±


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    Shaking her head, Sydney said, ¡°That¡¯s because Jody¡¯s an asshole. No one likes Jody. I don¡¯t know why you like Jody. There some childhood friends that you grow out of. He¡¯d be a great place to start.¡±


    Looking her in the eye, Sean said, ¡°He¡¯s one of my oldest friends and his parents were part of the group just like ours were. I know you don¡¯t like him, but he¡¯s gone through hell with all of us. His parents were just as close to being killed by Ray as ours were. He deserves to get the good stuff as well as the bad.¡±


    Camille frowned, ¡°Dayton deserves good things. Jody makes everyone around him miserable for fun. Didn¡¯t you tell Sydney that he only barely made it past the Stapledon psych screening?¡±


    Sean wasn¡¯t sure Jody had made through the psych screening. He¡¯d seen Jody¡¯s score. Someone had taken pity on him or maybe they¡¯d thought that throwing him out of the program made it more likely he¡¯d turn supervillain than keeping him in? Sean had no idea, but he wasn¡¯t going to tell anybody that.


    He said, ¡°Right, but he made it. That¡¯s the important thing.¡±


    Sydney let out a breath, muttering, ¡°I¡¯m sure his future victims will appreciate it.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Sean¡¯s voice rose, ¡°he¡¯s not that bad.¡±


    Camille looked up at him, ¡°He really is. I don¡¯t hate him, but he¡¯s¡­ not nice to be around.¡±


    Sean¡¯s phone rang. Pulling it out, he saw the red dot that meant it was using the superhero comm network. That was fine. He was done with this conversation anyway, ¡°Dude, you¡¯re back too?¡±


    Dayton''s deep voice came through the speaker, ¡°We got back before you did. You know how Jody and I ended up with the same internship? They wouldn¡¯t let us use our regular comms except we didn¡¯t know that until we got there. They confiscated them and someone delivered them to our houses a few minutes ago.¡±


    Sydney¡¯s lips curled, ¡°I hope that¡¯s Dayton.¡±


    Camille laughed.


    Sean ignored them, ¡°Where did you go? You guys didn¡¯t know when I left.¡±


    Dayton chuckled, ¡°I know. It was pretty crazy. We went to space¡ªkind of. We were on the Jay and Kay, which meant that we mostly orbited Earth. We did visit the Xiniti base near the jump gate. That was pretty cool, but I bet you did more fighting than we did. We did train on how to use our powers up there. You know what was crazy? The Xiniti knew who we were. Oh, and you know Gunther, Lee, whatever he¡¯s called? The Jay picked him up from the Xiniti base. I asked him what he was doing out there and all he said was, ¡®I don¡¯t want to kill you, kid, and I don¡¯t feel like lying. Ask a different question¡¯.¡±


    Sean thought back to their fighting classes, ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with that guy.¡±

 The Power: Part 6

    Dayton laughed, ¡°Yeah, but he¡¯s good at fighting, better than anyone else we¡¯ve trained with. I do feel like he¡¯d kill just about anybody if he felt like it¡ªincluding us, but, he hasn¡¯t. That¡¯s a point in his favor.¡±


    Thinking back to his father¡¯s death, Sean forced a chuckle, ¡°Yeah, you remember that we¡¯re officially signing the contract tomorrow, right? Make sure that Jody remembers. He¡¯s got to be there or he¡¯ll have to sign later. They¡¯re in and out in a day and if we¡¯re not all there, it¡¯s going to look bad. Maybe they¡¯ll cancel everything. I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Not laughing, Dayton spoke in a calm, deep voice, ¡°I get it. This is a big deal to you. It¡¯s a big deal to all of us. Me too, believe me. We¡¯ll be getting professional football player salaries. I know Jody¡¯s interested in that.¡±


    Out of the corner of his eye, Sean saw Camille lean toward Sydney, grinning, ¡°There you go. It¡¯s Dayton.¡±


    Sydney shook her head, ¡°That¡¯s good except that it means they¡¯re both going show up. We should leave.¡±


    Dayton must have caught some of that because he said, ¡°And say hi to Sydney, okay?¡±


    Giving her a scowl, Sean said, ¡°I¡¯ll tell her, but remind Jody it¡¯s happening.¡±


    ¡°You know,¡± Dayton didn¡¯t lose any of his calmness as he talked, ¡°you¡¯ve got Jody¡¯s number too.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sean said, ¡°but he listens to you. When I tell him to do something, it¡¯s like he decides to be a dick about half the time.¡±


    ¡°Mmmn-hmmn,¡± Dayton gave a short laugh. ¡°I don¡¯t tell him to do something. I try to give him a nudge in the right direction¡ªremind him how much money the contract¡¯s worth. Maybe I¡¯d call him, offer him a ride over and happen to mention the time when I¡¯m asking when to pick him up¡ªthat kind of thing.¡±


    Camille and Sydney had walked around the couch as Dayton¡¯s voice came over the phone¡¯s speaker. Now they stood to the left of the tv. Camille pointed at the screen, asking Sydney, ¡°Aren¡¯t the hamsters cute?¡±


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    Sean took a breath, ¡°That never works for me. Just let him know it¡¯s happening and when. I¡¯ll call him later. Maybe I can end the call with ¡®see you tomorrow at 2 pm?¡¯ That seems like enough.¡±


    ¡°It might work,¡± Dayton said. ¡°I think it¡¯s when you nag that he gets pissed off.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t nag,¡± Sean said. ¡°I do tell him more than once when it seems like he¡¯s not listening.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a question of what you¡¯re trying to do. It¡¯s more what he hears. I think if you mention it once, everything will be okay,¡± Dayton paused, finishing with, ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re back. It¡¯s been a long summer.¡±


    They said their goodbyes and hung up. Sean put his phone in his pocket, seeing that Sydney and Camille had started walking down the hall, turning and disappearing into a room¡ªprobably Sydney¡¯s, Sean guessed.


    On the television, SuperTV showed footage of what it described as, ¡°a team-up between Vincent Hamster and members of the Motor City Heroes¡ªBlue Mask and V4, the mysterious new member of the team.¡±


    The grainy video looked down toward Blue Mask, Vincent, and V4 fighting vampires in what appeared to be the stairway of an old hotel. A flying woman in black armor crossed through the frame. Sean recognized her as Bloodmaiden¡ªwhich meant that Nick had called her in to help.


    He didn¡¯t know where her internship was, but he knew it wasn¡¯t Detroit.


    A few years ago, he knew he would have found a way to get angry over it, but his therapist had helped him see that he was angry over other things, most of them surrounding his dad. There may have been some jealousy too¡ªnot just over losing Haley, but also how easy Nick had it.


    As a descendent of the Heroes¡¯ League, he¡¯d been trained from birth and had their good name to call on when he needed it.


    Sean had to live with knowing the Cabal wanted them, a father he couldn¡¯t please, and then knowing that his mistake with Ray cost his father his life. He¡¯d been angry after that and while he knew Nick had nothing to do with it, trying to outdo Nick had kept him going.


    By the time Sydney had nearly died in an alien attack and Nick arranged for Preserver to save her life, Sean had come to accept that their lives were on different tracks. Neither of them deserved it. All either of them could do was do the best they could with what they got.


    He turned off the tv. He didn¡¯t need to think about what other people were doing. He needed to think about tomorrow. He hadn¡¯t inherited a base. If he was going to achieve anything in life, he needed more money.


    Future-men Capital had a good track record of guiding teams to greatness. From what he¡¯d been able to find online, they didn¡¯t have a record of screwing people over. He¡¯d have to be careful, but from what he¡¯d seen of them, he could trust them.

 The Power: Part 7

    He hoped he could trust them.


    Walking over to the window, he looked out on Grand Lake. It wasn¡¯t a bad view, The top floor of the building hadn¡¯t ever been part of the factory. It was a collection of metal and mirrored glass built on top of what had been the roof. This section was close to the edge.


    Over the fence around the edge, he could see all of Grand Lake¡¯s downtown, Grand Lake itself, Lake Michigan, and where the city turned into suburbs.


    From one spot, he could see boats on both lakes, cars, and trucks on the highway that ran through downtown, and people, some adults in suits, others in shorts and t-shirts, and children.


    If he made an effort, he could see places where he¡¯d fought people¡ªthe junkyard where he¡¯d fought Nick and Daniel, the county jail where he¡¯d fought Izzy back when she¡¯d been mentally influenced by the Evil Beatnik.


    He tried to look for places he¡¯d fought supervillains instead of heroes.


    His mother walked up and joined him, her hair still drying from the shower, but wearing a blue, flowered blouse, and white slacks, ¡°It is a beautiful view,¡± she said. ¡°I like it that it¡¯s mostly sky. Do you want to see the rest? We¡¯ve got the largest penthouse suite. It better be, given what we were planning to sell it for.¡±


    Before he could think about it, he blurted out, ¡°Why did you sell our house?¡±


    She sighed, ¡°Sean, the only reason I stayed there after your father died was that Sydney was still in high school, and you were about to start college. I didn¡¯t want to throw a move on top of being kidnapped and nearly murdered by the Cabal in addition to your father¡¯s funeral.¡±


    Her face reddened as she spoke. Sean took a step back from her, remembering her temper and his parents¡¯ fights, ¡°Okay. I get it, Mom, but no one told me until maybe a week ago. I didn¡¯t even know our house was for sale.¡±


    She took a deep breath, ¡°You weren¡¯t here and neither was Sydney. I needed a smaller place than that house. This condo is big enough to entertain, big enough for the two of you to visit and bring friends, but it¡¯s small enough that I can be here alone and not feel¡­¡±


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    She shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s memory-free. That¡¯s enough for now. I can even be sure that your father never brought anyone here because the renovations only finished last year.¡±


    Sean might have argued that his father was better than that, but his father¡¯s will made the answer to that question clear enough. Camille¡¯s mother got an apartment building. Two women he¡¯d never met inherited jewelry.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he wondered what else could he say.


    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. He was a complicated man. Now,¡± she said, ¡°let me show you around our new home.¡±


    He followed her out of the combined living room, kitchen, and dining room area and down the hall.


    * * *


    The next morning he woke up in a room he didn¡¯t recognize¡ªhis room. His dresser and his bed were there. His clothes were still in the dresser, but mostly clothes from high school. Boxes lined one wall, joined by his suitcases. He still hadn¡¯t unpacked from his trip. He wasn¡¯t even sure if it would be worth it.


    His room looked out onto an open area on the roof with benches, chairs, tables, and a counter that could be used as a bar.


    His phone beeped. He picked it up from the table next to his bed to find a message from Jody, ¡°Yr mom¡¯s nu place. 2 pm?¡±


    Jody was taking it seriously. Sean let out a breath and typed back, ¡°2 pm. See you.¡±


    Now all he had to do was entertain himself until 2 pm. Getting bored of checking his phone, he threw a sandwich together for breakfast and found himself without anything else to do. He didn¡¯t want to sit and watch tv until 2 pm. He didn¡¯t want to stay in the house. Too many more conversations with his family and he didn¡¯t know what he¡¯d say.


    He walked back into his bedroom, pulled his suitcase onto his bed and took out his costume, a green, multi-layer unitard made out of materials that turned it into armor. His included a thin iron frame, allowing him to get a solid hold and fly himself.


    It was one way to get out of the house. If his mother¡¯s new condo had any good points, at least it allowed him to get into the air without getting too much attention.


    Once it was on, he stepped out of his room, walking back into the hall, and passed the kitchen, going out the door into the courtyard outside his room.


    No one was there, so he flew straight up into the air, feeling his uniform pull him upward. His suit¡¯s comm turned on, allowing him to be available for emergencies, but he didn¡¯t expect any, and he was right.


    The flight turned into a nostalgia trip. He flew past the blocky set of rectangles of his old high school, the house he¡¯d grown up in, the many spread-out buildings of Grand Lake University, and on his way there, he passed the stadium where Ray shot his father.


    He barely looked at it, deciding to make a few circles around the city.


    An hour into his flight, his comm beeped and vibrated. He tapped it and Sydney¡¯s face appeared on the screen. She stood in the hallway outside his room, ¡°Where are you?¡±


    ¡°Flying. What¡¯s going on?¡±


    Her voice a harsh whisper, she said, ¡°Those guys you¡¯re supposed to sign with at 2 pm? They¡¯re here already. They said they¡¯ll wait, but they¡¯re sitting in the living room. Get back here.¡±

 The Power: Part 8

    ¡°Are you kidding? It¡¯s like,¡± he looked at the time on his comm device, ¡°11:23 am? They¡¯re almost three hours early. What¡¯s going on?¡±


    Sydney scowled, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Do you want me to ask them?¡±


    He shook his head, ¡°No, but this is a complete pain in the ass. What the hell is wrong with these guys? They didn¡¯t do this last time.¡±


    Looking up from the screen and down the hall in what he guessed was the direction of the living room, Sydney said, ¡°You¡¯re repeating yourself. Just get back here, okay?¡±


    Then she cut the connection, leaving him to stare at the default comm screen showing the names of his favorite connections. He pressed the one that said, ¡°Team,¡± using the text message option, letting it translate speech to text, ¡°They¡¯re here now! I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but get to my place.¡±


    Then swept around through the air in a wide arc, flying around the spire of a downtown church and back toward his mom¡¯s condo. It didn¡¯t take long to get there, maybe ten minutes of flight.


    He landed on Cityview Luxury Condominiums¡¯ roof, pulling out his keys and unlocking the door to find Jody waiting on the other side.


    Wearing a silver costume with accents and the fist logo in black and white, Jody smirked, ¡°You¡¯re slow, dude.¡±


    ¡°Compared to you, everyone¡¯s slow,¡± Sean said, and they fist-bumped.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you know it,¡± Jody backed out of his way and let him in.


    ¡°What about Dayton,¡± Sean asked as he noticed the two suits sitting at the table. One was tall and blond and with his size could have passed as a bodyguard. The shorter, dark-haired one tugged on strands of his mustache. He remembered that guy. He¡¯d talked with him in the past. He¡¯d have his name in a second. It was a geek name.


    As they walked toward the table, Jody said, ¡°Dayton¡¯s still driving. He shouldn¡¯t be long.¡±


    ¡°Hope he¡¯s not,¡± Sean said and made for the shorter lawyer, ¡°Good to see you, Mr. Winslow. I¡¯m a little surprised to see you here.¡±


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    Mr. Winslow stopped pulling on his mustache and stood up, holding out his hand. ¡°I¡¯m sure you are. I¡¯m surprised to be here right now myself. We were expecting to meet you at the arranged time, but we got a call today. Apparently, one of Future-men¡¯s board members wants to meet you and this is the only time he has. We¡¯ll be happy to come back at the expected time, but we thought we should be here when he is.


    ¡°Honestly, none of this is standard in any way. I hope you won¡¯t take offense at the inconvenience, but it is a great opportunity. Most of our clients never get to meet anyone this high up. Frankly, it¡¯s a surprise that he¡¯s taken an interest in your team, but I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t account for the whims of those above me. You know how it is.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Sean looked over at Jody who shrugged and then back at Mr. Winslow. ¡°Is he still coming? He¡¯s not in the bathroom or something, is he?¡±


    Mr. Winslow and the other lawyer laughed. Then Mr. Winslow said, ¡°No. He¡¯ll be here when he¡¯s here. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    The doorbell rang and everybody jumped. Before Sean could take a step toward the door, Jody stood next to it, pressing a flashing button on the intercom. A voice came over the speaker, ¡°This is Dayton. Can you guys let me in or something?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯ll you give me?¡± Grinning, Jody looked back at Sean.


    ¡°Let him up,¡± Sean said.


    Dayton¡¯s disembodied laugh echoed in the room, ¡°At least I know you¡¯re there. Good on you for beating me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± Jody said. ¡°I¡¯m a responsible adult.¡±


    Then he pressed a button on the intercom. ¡°This looks like it¡¯ll open the door.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± Dayton said, ¡°the door¡¯s unlocked. Be up in a second.¡±


    ¡°Doubt it,¡± Jody said, and stepped away from the box, covering the distance back to Sean without seeming to move. He was simply back where he¡¯d been before the doorbell rang.


    Sean knew that Jody¡¯s power wasn¡¯t so much super speed as making the speed of time around him faster. He hoped Jody hadn¡¯t pulled a prank on the way back.


    Moments later, he heard the whirr of the elevator¡¯s motors and the sound of doors opening. Then from the other side of the door, Dayton said, ¡°I don¡¯t know the place either, but I¡¯m pretty sure Sean¡¯s mom¡¯s place is 801.¡±


    Sean walked over to the door and opened it, thanking whatever power in the universe cared that Jody hadn¡¯t decided to screw with this too. When he pulled the door open, Dayton stood there, all but seven feet of him, in a blue and white costume that showed his muscles.


    Dayton wasn¡¯t alone.


    Behind him stood a man in a black suit. Sean didn¡¯t know suits, but he knew what expensive suits looked like. The look of this man¡¯s reminded Sean of the suits his father would wear when he wanted to impress.


    Outside of the suit, the man wasn¡¯t that impressive. Grey-haired, he had to be less than six feet tall, but he had an intense gaze that moved over Sean in an instant, seeming to take in every detail.


    With a glance back toward the older man and a frown, Dayton said, ¡°Hey Sean, I didn¡¯t get his name, but this man says he¡¯s here to see us.¡±


    Clearing his throat, the man said, ¡°I¡¯m Martin Greatson. From what I¡¯ve heard, you have great potential.¡±

 The Power: Part 9

    Sean couldn¡¯t place the man¡¯s accent, but he knew the man¡¯s first language couldn¡¯t have been English.


    Ignoring that for the moment, Sean said, ¡°Thanks, I¡¯d like to think we have great potential. Come on in,¡± and waved them forward, continuing to hold the door for them.


    Dayton walked past, saying, ¡°Thanks, man.¡±


    Martin Greatson walked past without saying anything, ignoring everyone¡ªincluding the lawyers, and walked with quick, efficient steps toward the wide windows, staring out at the city.


    Sean looked over at Dayton and Dayton shook his head, muttering, ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s up with him either.¡±


    After a few seconds, Martin turned away from the window to say, ¡°Come here, all of you.¡±


    Mr. Winslow and the other lawyer began to stand up, but Martin motioned them to sit down. ¡°Not you,¡± he said, ¡°the boys.¡±


    Sean felt his mouth frown but reminded himself that he only had to put up with this guy for a little while. Off to his right, Jody chuckled. Dayton kept up the easy smile he normally wore, but Sean thought he saw his mouth twitch.


    Whatever the three of them thought, they walked across the wooden floor to look out the window.


    Now that it was nearing noon, the mirrored glass of the city¡¯s newer skyscrapers gleamed with the sun¡¯s light while the older, brick and concrete buildings from the Grand Lake¡¯s eighteenth-century boom stood in their shadows.


    ¡°What do you see,¡± Martin asked.


    Jody glanced over at him with a small smile, ¡°Stuff the Hardwick family owns.¡±


    Nodding, Martin said, ¡°Land, wealth and power. Vital things.¡±


    He turned to Dayton, ¡°What do you see?¡±


    Dayton stared out the window, ¡°The lakes, both of them. My dad used to take us waterskiing when I was a kid. We used to have a small cottage on Lake Michigan which was pretty expensive for its size. My aunt sold it after my parents died. It was too much work and too expensive to keep up. Still, great memories, you know?¡±


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    ¡°Family,¡± Martin said. ¡°Also important.¡±


    He turned to Sean, ¡°And you?¡±


    ¡°A lot of things, places we fought people, sometimes the right people and sometimes the wrong people. We fought the Maniacs downtown and the Cabal up north by all those factories. We had a fight over in that junkyard that we lost, but that was better than if we¡¯d won, considering that we were fighting the Rocket and the Mystic.¡±


    Martin¡¯s mouth widened in a wolfish grin, ¡°Battles. I¡¯ve fought many and I¡¯ve made many mistakes. If you survive, you learn better. What have you learned?¡±


    Shaking his head, Sean said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I guess, maybe that I¡¯m not always right and a lot of shit is more complicated than it looks.¡±


    Martin laughed, ¡°A good start. Now, here¡¯s what I see¡ªreinvention. You see the older buildings replaced by the new even as the older buildings replaced small shops and before that wooden shacks. I¡¯m an old man, but I continue by never staying the same. I adjust. I learn even now.


    ¡°I¡¯m here to find people, strong people, the first citizens of a humanity that will reinvent itself.¡±


    Out of the corner of his eye, Sean noticed Jody grinning. He caught Jody¡¯s eye and gave the smallest shake of his head that he could. He didn¡¯t want to find out what would happen if Jody decided to take Martin down a peg.


    Dayton tilted his head to look down at Martin, ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you mean by that. Could you explain it?¡±


    With the smallest nod, Martin said, ¡°You and others have powers. Someday everyone in the human race will have powers, starting itself on a new journey. In that sense, you¡¯re unlike the many out there without them. You need to make the most of them. For now, that means keeping the worst of our people in check. For the future, perhaps you¡¯ll be more than that.¡±


    ¡°So you should know,¡± Martin stepped away from the window, ¡°that I approve of this place and I approve of you.¡±


    He turned around, walked across the room, and out the door, shutting it behind him.


    At the sound of the elevator doors closing and the hum of its descent, Dayton said, ¡°Well, that was pretty strange.¡±


    At the dining room table, the lawyers laughed. Mr. Winslow pushed his chair back and said, ¡°He¡¯s eccentric. Please don¡¯t judge the company by him. He won¡¯t be part of the team we¡¯re going to assign to help you. To be honest, I¡¯m not sure you¡¯ll ever see him again.¡±


    With a shake of his head and a grin, Dayton said, ¡°I can¡¯t say I wasn¡¯t a little thrown by the guy. Why do you keep him around? I can imagine you losing potential investments if he randomly shows up and asks him what they see out the window.¡±


    Mr. Winslow sighed, ¡°I know. Fortunately, as I was telling Sean and Jody before you arrived, this is the first time I know of that he¡¯s done this. We¡¯ll be reporting it to our supervisors. However it¡¯s handled, it will be handled by the board.¡±


    With that, both lawyers got out of their chairs and walked toward the door. ¡°Again,¡± Mr. Winslow said, ¡°our apologies. We¡¯ll be back at 2 pm, assuming this hasn¡¯t scared you off.¡±


    Sean looked over at Dayton and Jody. Dayton gave him a nod. Jody shrugged, ¡°Whatever.¡±


    Sure only that he wanted to be alone with his team, Sean said, ¡°We¡¯ll be here.¡±


    The lawyers left and the door locked behind them with a click.

 The Power: Part 10

    For a little while, no one said anything. Then a door opened at the end of the hall and Sydney walked into the room, blond hair bouncing on her shoulders.


    She looked over at Sean, ¡°I can¡¯t believe that guy was real, and then how the lawyers were like ¡®yeah, I know he¡¯s crazy, but what can you do''?¡±


    Sean blinked, ¡°You heard all of that from your room?¡±


    Shaking her head, she pulled out her phone, ¡°I bugged the room.¡±


    Then she pressed on the screen and four small objects buzzed out from the corners and flew past her down the hall.


    Dayton laughed, ¡°Nice.¡±


    A touch of red colored Sydney¡¯s cheeks, but that disappeared as Sean asked, ¡°Did you get those from Nick?¡±


    Keeping her voice level she said, ¡°I am part of the Heroes¡¯ League. Anyone can grab a few for their utility belt. Besides, technically, I got them from Chris. He¡¯s been making them based off of Nick¡¯s designs.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± Dayton said, ¡°is Chris the Rocket now? Thanks to my mimic thing, I can tell that it¡¯s not Nick in the suit lately.¡±


    Sydney shook her head, ¡°Chris covers for him when he¡¯s not around so that there¡¯s always a Rocket in Grand Lake. Nick¡¯s been in Detroit this summer and all the seniors said last year was rough at Stapledon. Plus Nick was in outer space and doing special government stuff during his junior year¡­ Chris ended up in the suit a lot more than anyone expected he would.¡±


    Holding his hands in the air, Sean said, ¡°Wait. Everyone stop talking. That can wait. Syd, what the hell? Why were you bugging us?¡±


    Her lips twisted, ¡°What do you mean, why? I was worried for you. The lawyers showed up out of nowhere and said some random guy was going to be here. I wanted to be ready if you needed help. We lived through years of wondering what stranger was going to be the Cabal¡ª¡°


    ¡°That¡¯s over,¡± Sean began, but Sydney kept on talking.


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    ¡°But it doesn¡¯t mean that guy¡¯s safe.¡± She stopped, frowning.


    Sean wanted to ask her how she¡¯d know, but managed, ¡°Okay, I get it. He seems pretty messed up and that¡¯s what I was about to bring up to the group. Are you guys still okay with signing?¡±


    Jody shrugged, ¡°They money¡¯s the same, right? It¡¯s not like they¡¯re making him the team leader. They said we¡¯re never going to see him again.¡±


    Dayton grinned, ¡°They said they didn¡¯t think we¡¯d see him again, but they also said he never did this. I¡¯d say that I¡¯d like to see the contract. Weren¡¯t you going to get that looked at?¡±


    Walking over to the kitchen counter, Sydney pulled up a stool. Sean considered asking her to get out of the room but decided he didn¡¯t want to go through another argument. ¡°Yeah, I sent it over to Vaughn last night. He said he¡¯d have someone look for it¡ªone of the League¡¯s lawyers.¡±


    Nodding, Dayton asked, ¡°When are they supposed to get back to you?¡±


    Sean shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know, before the meeting? We didn¡¯t set a time. I did tell them when we were supposed to sign.¡±


    With a quick grin, Dayton said, ¡°Hey, that¡¯s good enough for me. They seem like the kind of people who will get back to us on time.¡±


    Half-expecting to have to argue about whether he¡¯d done the right thing, Sean said, ¡°Uh, yeah. That¡¯s what I thought.¡±


    ¡°Works for me,¡± Jody looked over at the tv. ¡°You think we can get lunch or something while we wait? We¡¯ve got almost three hours to kill now.¡±


    Sean shrugged, ¡°I guess we could order pizza.¡±


    ¡°Cool, cool,¡± Jody sat down on the couch, put his feet on the black table in front of it, and picked up the remote.


    Before he had a chance to press the on button, Dayton¡¯s, Jody¡¯s, and Sean¡¯s comms all beeped at once. Sydney looked up from her phone, ¡°I didn¡¯t get that. What¡¯s going on?¡±


    Ignoring her, Sean looked at the comm screen on the arm of his suit. He had a message from Vaughn, ¡°Do you guys have time to look at the contract now?¡±


    Dayton looked up from his comm, ¡°That¡¯s convenient.¡±


    In a spooky voice, Jody said, ¡°Heeee¡¯s psyyychic...¡±


    Muttering, ¡°Asshole,¡± Sean typed, ¡°We¡¯re all here.¡±


    On the screen, Vaughn texted, ¡°Great. Sending you the contract with comments. Lawyer incoming.¡±


    Before Sean had time to ask what that meant, a tear ripped open in the air behind the couch, pulling sideways to become a human-sized hole. A man stepped through, turning back as the hole dissolved to say, ¡°Thanks, Guardian.¡±


    As the web of sparking energy around the tear in reality disappeared, becoming a normal spot in the living room, but one that was now occupied by a man in a navy blue costume with a small Greek letter to the left of the man¡¯s heart.


    Sean knew who this was. It was the man who¡¯d first talked to him about going into the Stapledon program.


    Mindstryke looked over at Jody, ¡°He¡¯s not psychic, but I am. Let¡¯s talk about this contract and unless I miss my guess, something important just happened here. Sydney, if you could send me that video you took, I think we should talk about that as well.¡±

 The Power: Part 11

    With a brief hesitation, Sydney nodded, adding, ¡°I sent it to the League¡¯s server. You should be able to just pull it up.¡±


    Before Sean could think, he found himself already talking, ¡°Wait, you recorded us and put the video on the League¡¯s server. That¡¯s private! It¡¯s none of their business¡ª¡±


    Interrupting him, she said, ¡°It¡¯s on my private folder on their server. I¡¯m not sharing it with everybody¡ªjust Mindstryke. And I let the AI watch too because he was going to whether or not I said he could anyway. Besides, he said he¡¯d help.¡±


    Dayton looked over at Sydney, ¡°They¡¯ve got an AI? That¡¯s¡­ Wow. I mean, it¡¯s the Heroes¡¯ League. So I¡¯m sure they¡¯ve got everything, but I had no idea.¡±


    Sean frowned, ¡°They¡¯ve got two. The gun and the jet. Which one listened in?¡±


    ¡°The jet,¡± Sydney said. ¡°Cassie¡¯s gun only cares about killing things.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sean thought back to the time it fired at him, ¡°the gun¡¯s an asshole.¡±


    Mindstryke¡¯s smile was visible under his mask. ¡°I won¡¯t argue with you and don¡¯t worry about keeping this confidential, Hal won¡¯t tell anyone and I¡¯m going to consider you a client, which means that I¡¯m not telling anyone either. Why don¡¯t we all sit down at the table and talk about the contract first? After that, I¡¯ll take a look at the video and see what I get out of that.¡±


    Dayton grinned, ¡°That sounds good. Thanks for taking a look at it. I think we¡¯d have been happy even if one of the League¡¯s lawyers had just sent us an email. Having Mindstryke show up is far beyond anything we expected.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ yeah,¡± Sean said, realizing that Dayton was right, ¡°Thanks for coming.¡±


    Walking over to a chair next to the table, Mindstryke said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Remember the summer after high school when I dropped by and told you about Stapledon and talked you into coming? I feel like I owe you a little bit for following my advice. I want to see you on solid footing and I don¡¯t want to see you get taken advantage of. This life is difficult enough.¡±


    He pulled out his chair and sat down, waving everyone over to join him and even nodding over at Sydney who had continued to stand in the hallway, ¡°You¡¯re already involved. Come join the rest of us.¡±


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    Once everyone had sat down, he pulled out a roll of plastic from a pouch on his belt. Fully rolled out, it covered half the table. With a tap, it turned into a computer screen. A few taps later, everyone had an image of the first page of the contract in front of them.


    ¡°Before we go through it in individual sections, I¡¯d like to give you the big picture. The big picture is that it¡¯s their standard contract for a new hero group. If anything, it¡¯s a little more generous than most. Thanks to being here in Grand Lake and being involved in everything that happened to the Cabal, you¡¯re more than just a new, regional hero group. You¡¯ve got national and even some international name recognition. They clearly expect to make money off of you¡ªwhich is why they¡¯re taking a slightly lower percentage of your merchandising than usual.


    ¡°And while you¡¯re expected by law to turn over any supervillain or alien tech, you acquire, they¡¯ll be getting a percentage of any money you get as a result of discovering it. They¡¯ve also got the usual provisions regarding things you might invent while you¡¯re working with them. They haven¡¯t given you a break on that at all, but there aren¡¯t any inventors in your group, so no big deal.


    ¡°You¡¯ll get their support in the form of salaries and assistance in setting up a base, hiring staff, and additional heroes if needed.


    ¡°They¡¯ll manage the business end and own the majority of the company, but you will be able to buy them out if you want. There are provisions for terminating the agreement if you decide you don¡¯t want to be heroes, but it will be expensive. You¡¯ll be able to do it, though and it won¡¯t financially ruin you with these salaries. That¡¯s the important thing. Do you have any questions?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Jody said, ¡°what¡¯s the point of going over the rest of it? I know what I¡¯m getting paid and I know the big picture. That¡¯s all I care about. I¡¯m done.¡±


    He pushed his chair back and began to stand up.


    Mindstryke shrugged, ¡°Honestly, you don¡¯t have to if you don¡¯t want to, but the details are important and if you don¡¯t listen, you¡¯re going to want to hope your friends do. It¡¯s the details that will hurt you in the end.¡±


    Jody looked over at Dayton and Dayton nodded. Jody sat down.


    For the next hour, they went through the contract section by section with Mindstryke answering questions. It wasn¡¯t the most fun Sean had ever had, but before it was over, Sean knew that he¡¯d needed it. Whatever his business degree had been good for, it hadn¡¯t made him a lawyer.


    When it was over, Mindstryke said, ¡°If there aren¡¯t any other questions on the contract, let¡¯s watch the video.¡±


    There weren¡¯t any questions and so they did. The plastic screen showed the conversation from four different angles at once. It didn¡¯t seem any less weird to Sean the second time around.


    He couldn¡¯t help but notice Mindstryke, though. The hero watched as if lives depended on it and maybe they did. As Martin left, walking toward the door, Mindstryke stopped the video, suspending Martin Greatson in the moment.


    Tapping on the screen, Mindstryke said, ¡°Hal, have you identified this man?¡±


    An emotion-free voice said, ¡°Of course. This man¡¯s image is associated with many other names, the best known of which is Martin Magnus.¡±

 The Power: Part 12

    Jody looked up from the rollup screen on the table, ¡°That name does not ring a fucking bell.¡±


    Shaking his head, Dayton said, ¡°I don¡¯t know who that is either.¡±


    Sean felt sure he¡¯d heard the name before, but he couldn¡¯t say where or when.


    Sydney spoke up while he was still thinking, ¡°Nick¡¯s mentioned him. We were talking one time about the Cabal and he mentioned that Martin Magnus was someone he still hadn¡¯t figured out.¡±


    Mindstryke nodded, ¡°Martin Magnus is still on our list of leftover business from when all of you fought the Cabal, but this dates from even earlier when the League exposed the Cabal¡¯s existence to the wider world.¡±


    Sitting up in his chair, Mindstryke smiled, ¡°If you give me a second, I¡¯ll tell you everything we know about Martin Magnus. It won¡¯t take long. We don¡¯t know much.


    ¡°Martin Magnus seems to have been associated with the Cabal at least as far back as the Roman Empire, possibly farther. We don¡¯t know when the Cabal began, but it could date to prehistory or whenever the Abominators first started splicing in new genes and taking some humans to space. He split from the Cabal about five years ago, but not before recruiting our last mayor into the organization. While the League was fighting the mayor, Magnus called Nick at least once, trying to recruit him and the League into his service.


    ¡°After that, we don¡¯t know what happened to him. We have theories that even though we defeated the Cabal, there might be a remnant still out there. Even if that¡¯s not true, we know through Lee that there¡¯s a loose association of immortals in the world. All of them know the Cabal at least a little. Some of them, like Magnus, used to be in it.


    ¡°My bet would be that if we try to get a hold of Magnus through Future-men, we¡¯ll find it impossible¡ªor that we¡¯ll meet with a similar man who¡¯s not Magnus even if he looks the same. From what Lee¡¯s said, the immortals are wealthy and socially powerful. Many have powers in addition to immortality.


    ¡°Even with this lead, I¡¯m not optimistic about catching him because they trade favors and each of them, including Magnus, have thousands of years worth of favors to cash in.¡±


    Mindstryke sighed, ¡°So that¡¯s it. I¡¯m going to report this lead to the Defenders and we¡¯re going to chase it down, but that¡¯s all I know. Knowing that Magnus has a connection here, you¡¯ve got to make a decision. Do you sign or not?¡±


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    Dayton leaned in over the table, ¡°What would you do?¡±


    Mindstryke frowned, ¡°Good question. If you want to know what I¡¯d do now, I¡¯d contact the Defenders and we¡¯d decide as a group whether going undercover was worth the risk. It might be, but if Magnus or any of his friends have a connection to the Dominators, you could find that you¡¯ve become a Dominator asset before you even realize it.¡±


    Smirking, Jody laughed, ¡°Sure, but you don¡¯t know the Dominators are involved. They might control anybody, but if we¡¯re thinking that way, any one of us could already be a Dominator asset.¡±


    Nodding slowly, Mindstryke said, ¡°In theory, yes. I¡¯d say it¡¯s unlikely because we¡¯re familiar with their techniques and we¡¯ve done everything we can to vet Stapledon students. The Stapledon block was constructed with the Dominators in mind.¡±


    Sean watched as Mindstryke exhaled, his expression unreadable. ¡°But we don¡¯t know he¡¯s got a connection to the Dominators, right?¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Mindstryke said, ¡°but if I were working for the Dominators, I¡¯d get someone into Future-men if I could. You¡¯d have access to new heroes without the experience to recognize or resist them. Even if they can¡¯t take you, Future-men would help pick your staff--which means there¡¯s an easy in there.¡±


    Feeling like the whole dream was about to disappear and that they¡¯d be forced to start with whatever money they could scrounge up on their own, Sean checked Dayton and Jody¡¯s faces. Jody scowled. Dayton was biting his lip.


    Could he justify signing somehow? In a real way that made sense? He didn¡¯t want to fool himself into doing something stupid.


    ¡°Before this,¡± Sean asked, ¡°was there any reason to worry about Future-men? Did you have any hints of a connection with the Dominators?¡±


    Mindstryke shook his head, ¡°Not that I saw. I¡¯m part of the group that vets these sort of companies for Stapledon students and we didn¡¯t have a hint of it. We didn¡¯t mind scan every single employee and board member, but they do have to pass unannounced mental audits among other things¡­¡±


    Taking a breath, Mindstryke said, ¡°I know where you¡¯re going with this. You¡¯re right in thinking that this is just a guess on my part, but it¡¯s a guess informed by what I¡¯ll call appropriate paranoia.


    ¡°Still, given our security precautions, it¡¯s possible that the Dominators don¡¯t even try using Future-men and that all you have to worry about is Magnus, someone that we want to find¡ªbadly. I¡¯ll make a deal with you. If you¡¯re going to sign, we can run this like an undercover mission against the Nine. You¡¯d have to agree to weekly check-ins and unannounced mental audits for your own safety, but that would give you part of the help you¡¯ll need.


    ¡°Put bluntly, Sean, you took mostly combat courses. Dayton and Jody did take courses in espionage and deep cover, but you¡¯re the weak link in this. I don¡¯t get to decide it for you, but when the three of you discuss this, you¡¯ll have to keep that in mind.¡±

 The Power: Part 13

    As much as Sean wanted to argue, he knew better. He¡¯d said so himself, ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re making it sound like you¡¯re leaving.¡±


    Mindstryke tapped the rollup screen and the end farthest from him rolled into the shape of a cylinder. Then the cylinder shrunk enough to fit into the pouch on his belt. ¡°I am. The group of you need to talk about this and make a decision. This is your team and I¡¯m not on it. You need to start making big decisions as a group and with this one you¡¯ve at least got a few hours to think about it.¡±


    Then Mindstryke stood up, ¡°By the way, there¡¯s one more reason that Magnus might have shown up that I didn¡¯t think of until just now¡ªbait. He might be trying to push the Defenders to investigate Future-men Capital, possibly to distract us from something else he¡¯s doing.


    ¡°Despite that, we¡¯re still available to help if you do sign. The possibility that he secretly runs Future-men is too big of a risk to ignore. We need to know what kind of connections he has there.¡±


    Putting the screen into a canister on his belt, Mindstryke said, ¡°That¡¯s it. Call me whether you sign or not and tell me about it. We might want to have someone on call to see what they do if you ignore them.¡±


    With that, a door-shaped hole in reality opened behind Mindstryke. He turned, stepping through, leaving a silhouette of colors.


    Jody looked back at everyone else, ¡°I don¡¯t remember him being able to do that.¡±


    Dayton continued to stare as the colors faded away, ¡°I don¡¯t think it was him. It must have been Guardian, or maybe the Defenders have a teleportation device? I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Sean shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s the Defenders. They¡¯ve got cash.¡±


    They sat there for a moment and then Sydney pushed her chair back and stood up, ¡°If you¡¯re going to make a team decision, I don¡¯t need to be here.¡±


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    Eyes narrowing, Sean said, ¡°You¡¯re not going to watch us with the bots, are you?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°No. I want to know what you do, but I¡¯m trying to be nice. Besides I was only watching before because something weird was going on. This isn¡¯t weird at all.¡±


    Backing away from the table, she walked down the hall to her room, ¡°Good luck.¡±


    With that, they were alone in the room. Sean looked from Dayton to Jody, ¡°What do you guys think? Do we sign or don¡¯t we? And if we do, are we going to be the Defenders¡¯ spies?¡±


    Jody shook his head, ¡°We sign. Look, I think that if Magnus wants us he¡¯s going to go after us whatever happens with Future-men Capital, but if we sign, at least we get the money.¡±


    Dayton cocked his head, thinking, and then sat up, making it obvious how much taller he was than Jody, ¡°You know, Jody might be right, but not just for the reason he said.¡±


    He put his hand on his chin, ¡°Think about this¡­ What if Magnus is showing to make us nervous about Future-men Capital? Because if we don¡¯t sign and we have to raise our own money, we¡¯ll be more likely to sign up with him when he shows up again.¡±


    Sean thought about it, ¡°Yeah. Could be, but why does he want us in the first place? That¡¯s the part I don¡¯t get.


    Dayton raised his hands, ¡°I don¡¯t know. All we¡¯ve got is what we know just happened and what Mindstryke said, right? I don¡¯t know anything more than you do.¡±


    Nodding, Jody said, ¡°That¡¯s what I don¡¯t get either. We can do cool stuff, but we¡¯re not the most powerful people out there.¡±


    Shrugging, Dayton said, ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a way to get at the Heroes¡¯ League. They¡¯re in Grand Lake. We¡¯re in Grand Lake.¡±


    Jody didn¡¯t move for second but then nodded, saying, ¡°Might be. I mean, we shouldn¡¯t get too precious about ourselves. We¡¯re not that important. There¡¯s got to be a bunch of people in Grand Lake with powers, right?¡±


    Looking over at Sean, Jody asked, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m about half and half. I like your idea that we might as well sign and get the money because Magnus will go after us either way. I mean, Dayton could be right that Magnus is trying to prevent us from signing. I just don¡¯t know why he¡¯d bother. On the other hand, if we don¡¯t sign, we don¡¯t talk to people at Future-men. If contact with them were the way to mess with our heads, then we should stay away, right?¡±


    Sean felt he could have said it better, but that was good enough.


    Jody tapped on the table, ¡°So then we sign, right? I don¡¯t hear anyone saying don¡¯t.¡±


    Dayton frowned, ¡°I¡¯m kind of saying don¡¯t. If it¡¯s a way to get at the Heroes¡¯ League and we don¡¯t sign, we avoid it.¡±


    Voice raising, Jody said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to give up my future to save the Heroes¡¯ League. They can take care of themselves.¡±

 The Power: Part 14

    Shaking his head, Dayton looked Jody in the eye, ¡°This isn¡¯t just about saving the Heroes¡¯ League. We don¡¯t know that¡¯s even on the table. This is about the bigger picture. If we can¡¯t trust that these guys are on the level, we shouldn¡¯t go into business with them.¡±


    Jody¡¯s mouth twisted, ¡°But that¡¯s the thing, it seems like these guys are on the level. We¡¯re considering dropping out of this because maybe, just maybe, they¡¯re going to be taken over by evil people so secretly that we¡¯re not going to notice and then take over us. Right?¡±


    Dayton paused, but then said, ¡°Pretty much, but I don¡¯t think that¡¯s as dumb as you¡¯re making it sound. We know the Dominators have done it. That¡¯s exactly what people pay them to do.¡±


    Jody spoke the instant Dayton stopped, ¡°Yeah, but we¡¯ve got the fix. I mean, we literally just had the best telepath we know of say that if we¡¯re going in, we¡¯ve got not only him behind us, but the Midwest Defenders, one of not just the nation¡¯s, but the world¡¯s big teams. And he¡¯s not telling us to stay away at all. He¡¯s telling us we can make this decision on our own. He wouldn¡¯t be doing that if he thought we were going to become Dominator drones. He¡¯d be telling us to stay the fuck away.¡±


    Raising his hands in the air, Dayton said, ¡°I get it. I know we¡¯ve got support, but we¡¯ve heard heroes talk about facing the Dominators. It¡¯s not easy to recognize their assets and Mindstryke himself has said that it¡¯s hard to fix them. When he visited one of my classes, he literally told us that he¡¯s failed before. We don¡¯t want that to be us if we can avoid it. No money¡¯s worth that.¡±


    Hitting the table with his hand, Jody screamed, ¡°Fuck! We are so close that we can taste it. It¡¯s crazy to give up here. We don¡¯t know that we¡¯re ever going to see this guy again and what did Mindstryke say? Magnus went after Nick and Nick said no. You know what happened after that? Nothing. Nick said no and Magnus left him alone. We can do that. We¡¯ve got more balls than Nick does.¡±


    Turning toward Sean, he said, ¡°Can you talk some sense into this guy?¡±


    What was he supposed to say? He¡¯d asked Dayton how to handle Jody, but right now Dayton wasn¡¯t handling Jody and anyway, how was he going to handle Dayton?


    Sean looked from one to the other, ¡°Look, I think both of you guys have good points¡ª¡°


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    ¡°Oh, fuck,¡± Jody shook his head so quickly it blurred. ¡°Are you fucking kidding me? This is obvious. We sign and take the Defenders¡¯ help. That¡¯s all. I¡¯ll come back before the signing. I¡¯m doing it even if you aren¡¯t.¡±


    Then he was nothing more than a human-shaped blur. They heard the condo¡¯s front door slam, followed by a second slam in the hall.


    Dayton turned toward the noise as Sean stood up. ¡°Don¡¯t bother,¡± Dayton said. ¡°He took the stairway. We¡¯re never going to catch him.¡±


    Sean looked down at the comm unit on his costume¡¯s wrist. It wasn¡¯t worth the bother of trying to talk the guy down. Jody wouldn¡¯t come back until just before the signing¡ªif he came back. Sean shook his head. No, Jody would come back. He wanted this to happen.


    Sitting back in his chair, he asked Dayton, ¡°Do you really think Jody would sign without us?¡±


    Dayton sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t know. You know how he is, though. It¡¯s not the first time he¡¯s gotten angry and run out of a room. At least this time he didn¡¯t punch anybody.¡±


    Taking a breath, Sean thought back six years, ¡°No shit. Even with Sledge on our side, we all still got detention for that one.¡±


    They didn¡¯t say anything for a few seconds as Sean tried to put everything together in his head, ¡°I¡¯m thinking Jody might be right this time. I don¡¯t want to argue with you because that doesn''t make you wrong. This is a hell of a risk even if it¡¯s not likely. I don¡¯t want the Dominators to take me over and I¡¯ve got to admit, I¡¯m not sure that Mindstryke can protect us as much as he wants to.


    ¡°Still, Magnus might just disappear or show up later even if we don¡¯t sign, right? So I¡¯m thinking maybe we sign because I don¡¯t have a plan for what happens next if we don¡¯t sign.¡±


    Dayton nodded, ¡°I don¡¯t have a plan for what we do if we don¡¯t sign either. I know there are other groups like Future-men, but Future-men¡¯s the biggest name. Did any of the others even try?¡±


    Clenching his right fist, Sean said, ¡°Yeah, I got a few other calls, but that was after we were pretty sure about Future-men. I told them no. Maybe we should have followed up on them.¡±


    Dayton frowned, ¡°It looks like that now, yeah, but it¡¯s not your fault. If you¡¯d told me before meeting Magnus, I¡¯d have told you not to bother.¡±


    Opening his hand, Sean nodded, ¡°I¡¯m glad you think so. I¡¯m pretty sure my dad would have talked to all of them and used them to push Future-men Capital for a better deal.¡±


    Laughing, Dayton said, ¡°You¡¯re probably right, but you¡¯re not him and you don¡¯t have to be. We don¡¯t have to scrape for every last cent they¡¯d give us. That pisses people off.¡±


    Sean grinned, feeling some of the tension release, ¡°Yeah, Dad pissed a bunch of people off. He¡¯d tell me about it and then how he¡¯d put one over on them in the end.¡±


    Beginning to open his mouth to speak, Dayton stopped and then started again, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but that¡¯s the kind of thing I don¡¯t miss about him. Still, it does remind me of something I¡¯ve been meaning to bring up. Even if Jody was right this time, we don¡¯t want to encourage this crap. I¡¯m not pushing for it, but if he keeps on pulling this kind of thing, we might have to kick him out someday¡ªespecially if we bring other people in.¡±

 The Power: Part 15

    Sean blinked, ¡°Whoa. I didn¡¯t see that coming.¡±


    Dayton averted his eyes, but then looked up, ¡°I know, but I¡¯ve been thinking about this lately. I love the guy like a brother because he pretty much is, you know, but sometimes you love your brother even though you don¡¯t always like him. Jody¡¯s touchy and he bullies people¡ªstill.¡±


    Stopping, Dayton frowned, ¡°We all did that in school, but we grew out of it¡ªeven Jody. He doesn¡¯t do it as much, but he¡¯s still doing it. I¡¯m hoping he does better in the future, but if he doesn¡¯t, he¡¯s going to be the guy giving the group a bad reputation. If our group takes off, that means he¡¯s going to be the founder that everybody hates. And by that point, if we don¡¯t take care of it, no one working for us will have the power to complain.¡±


    Stomach sinking inside him, Sean knew Dayton had a point, ¡°Yeah. I want to give him a chance, but I get it. If we start thinking about this as an organization, he¡¯s a lawsuit waiting to happen.¡±


    Turning his head toward the window, Dayton said, ¡°That¡¯s right, and worse, if he gets pissed at us mid-battle and runs off, maybe someone dies. I¡¯m not saying that we have to kick him off the team right now, but I think we¡¯re going to have to think through our rules for it when we set up the Justice Fist charter.¡±


    Sean nodded, ¡°Which we¡¯ll do as part of Future-men¡¯s package. This is going to feel weird. We¡¯re going to be talking about how to throw him out right there and he¡¯s going to be throwing out ideas for how to handle it.¡±


    Shrugging Dayton said, ¡°Or he¡¯ll decide it¡¯s all stupid and watch a video on his phone. It won¡¯t just be for him. We really do need it in case we make a mistake as we expand or if one of us wants to leave on good terms too. A good policy helps everyone.¡±


    Not even aware he was doing it until his hand slapped the table, Sean muttered, ¡°Shit. I always imagined the three of us starting our own thing after graduation and having it be like being on the basketball team together, you know?¡±


    Dayton smiled, ¡°There¡¯s no reason it can¡¯t be like that. We can keep it small at first. I think we can handle him if it¡¯s just us.¡±


    Sean found himself staring at the black lacquer of the dining room table, remembering playing with Jody and Dayton as kids, roaming the playground of their elementary school, playing other teams on the basketball court... ¡°This sucks.¡±


    He looked up to find Dayton nodding, ¡°I don¡¯t like it either, but I can¡¯t think of any other way to handle it. Keep him around as long as we can and hope he gets better over time. After that¡­ Well, at least we can make it clean.¡±


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    ¡°Ok,¡± Sean tapped out a message on his comm, ¡°I¡¯m telling Jody that we¡¯re going to sign. He probably won¡¯t come back right away, but he¡¯ll know.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good enough for me,¡± Dayton shook his head. ¡°But it¡¯s not the way I¡¯d hoped this would go.¡±


    ¡°Me neither,¡± Sean checked the window, half-expecting to see Jody standing outside or to hear a knock on the door. ¡°I feel worse that we¡¯re even talking about kicking Jody out than I do that we might be facing Magnus somehow. It¡¯s crazy.¡±


    Dayton pushed his chair back and stood up, ¡°No, it¡¯s not. Facing supervillains is part of the job. Fighting with your friends isn¡¯t. For all that I¡¯ve heard about the Dominators, we might be able to win that one. If it gets to the point that we have to kick Jody out, we¡¯re going to feel like we lost even if it''s good for the group.¡±


    Sean stood up, walking with him toward the window and looking out over the city. Jody was running somewhere out there and Future-men¡¯s lawyers were getting ready for the signing. Magnus might still be out there too if he didn¡¯t have someone to teleport him out.


    In the distance, the sun sparkled on the water of Grand Lake. Sean had spent most of his summer in the desert. He should go to the beach. Maybe Dayton and Jody would be up for it after the signing. He wondered if he¡¯d be able to find his swimsuit in all the boxes in his room.


    As they stood, Jody ran up the side of the building, coming over the edge in a blur and walking across the roof to knock on the condo¡¯s side door.


    When Sean let him in, Jody smirked at the both of them, ¡°Thought you guys would make the right decision in the end.¡±


    Dayton grinned, ¡°We¡¯re slower than you are. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re back.¡±


    With a shrug, Jody joined Dayton at the window, ¡°There¡¯s nothing to do out there. I mean, sure, I could run around, but it¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to go get coffee dressed like this.¡±


    He waved his hand across his costume. ¡°I could have changed into normal clothes, but since you came to your senses, I¡¯d rather wait in here. What changed?¡±


    Dayton threw up his hands, ¡°Nothing much. I just needed a little time to realize that we don¡¯t have a plan b. We didn¡¯t talk to any other investors.¡±


    Jody nodded, ¡°We should have. Maybe we could have gotten more cash out of them.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Sean thought back to his father. ¡°What do you guys want to do tonight? I was thinking maybe we go out to dinner. Maybe go to the beach?¡±


    Looking up at him, Jody said, ¡°Whatever you guys are doing. I don¡¯t have any plans.¡±


    Dayton nodded, ¡°Both of those sound good. It¡¯ll be nice to do something normal. A couple of days ago Jody and I were both in space, followed by riding a rocket home, moving back in, and all of this drama. Now I¡¯m ready to walk in the sand.¡±


    ¡°Cool,¡± Sean couldn¡¯t disagree. After this afternoon, it did sound good to hang out as a team, whatever the future might hold.


    Jody¡¯s comm rang. Jody tapped the screen on his wrist, taking the call. Sean heard only Jody¡¯s end of the conversation, ¡°Bad timing, man. Talk to you later, okay?¡±


    With another tap, Jody ended the call. ¡°Stupid. It was someone from Stapledon.¡±


    Sean had a gut feeling that Jody wasn¡¯t telling the truth, but he didn¡¯t feel like pushing it. They were going to sign with Future-men Capital, the premier investor in superhero teams.


    Sometimes you needed to let a good moment be good.

 Rematch: Part 1

    I wouldn¡¯t have even attempted to rent this hotel room on my own. It appeared to be the size of the house I¡¯d inherited from my grandfather, but with a better view and air conditioning. That ignored the base under the house, but even considering that, the hotel room was less a room and more of a suite¡ªwhich was good because I was sharing it with two other people.


    I stood next to the window. I could have gone out onto the balcony, but the less chance I had of being seen, the better. Also, it was at least 90 degrees outside and humid. Ocean breezes might make it better, but I wasn¡¯t holding my breath.


    Daniel walked up, joining me, and telepathically asking, Enjoying the view? He didn¡¯t need to ask. It was a given that he already knew. He was using it to start a conversation.


    I replied, ¡°Mostly. It¡¯s a great view, but I think I¡¯d enjoy it more if we were on vacation.¡±


    Outside the window, it looked like someplace out of a James Bond movie. Square, shiny modern buildings were surrounded by huge green lawns complete with palm trees, wide sidewalks, fountains, and no motorized vehicles larger than golf carts. Colorful birds sat in the palm trees.


    In the distance, the ocean glistened. Our building wasn¡¯t next to the beach, but it was taller than the hotels that were. Below us, some people walked past in shorts and short sleeved shirts, others in bathing suits¡ªvery small bathing suits.


    Switching to the spoken word, Daniel said, ¡°I know. I feel like we just got pulled into something out of our league, courtesy of the US military.¡±


    Behind me, a door shut and Cassie said, ¡°You didn¡¯t say no. You know what they used my dad for and I told you it would be something like that.¡±


    She walked across the carpet to join us at the window. We had plenty of space. The tinted windows were two out of the room¡¯s four walls. Daniel shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m not against doing the job. It needs to be done, but I¡¯ve heard what other teams are doing. They¡¯re getting supervised. We¡¯re not. They¡¯re not treating us like students.¡±


    Standing at a spot to the side of the balcony, Cassie leaned toward the window looking down, ¡°Is that your opinion as the kind of guy who pokes around in people¡¯s heads?¡±


    Daniel sighed, ¡°We haven¡¯t talked to anyone who knows anything in person yet. I think we can all guess why.¡±


    We were working with the CIA with input from other agencies including the FBI. Intelligence agencies didn¡¯t let their people get close to any telepaths but their own if they could avoid it.


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    Cassie turned away from the window to smile at the two of us, ¡°They trust us. They wouldn¡¯t give us something that could blow up if they didn¡¯t.¡±


    Shaking his head, Daniel let out a breath, ¡°That¡¯s what my dad said before we left. I still don¡¯t like it. Not being able to sense anyone¡¯s motives leaves me more nervous than I¡¯d like to admit.¡±


    Cassie laughed, ¡°Welcome to everyone else¡¯s world¡­ We should probably get down to business. It¡¯s safe, right?¡±


    She looked at me.


    ¡°If it¡¯s not,¡± I said, ¡°we just tipped them off, but yes. If we¡¯re bugged, they¡¯re so good thatI¡¯m not going be able to do anything about it.So far as I can tell though, no one was listening in. ¡°


    ¡°Alright, then,¡± Daniel grinned. ¡°Let¡¯s get rolling.¡±


    We walked over to the metal and glass table and chairs and sat down. Whoever had designed the room liked things that glittered. Between the tinted windows, the glass and metal table, the mirrors on the wall, and the hot tub, it felt like everything in the common area of the room either acted as a mirror or could be seen through.


    I decided that I was grateful that the fluffy, white carpet on the floor was an exception to the rule.


    Once we all slid our chairs forward, Cassie started talking, ¡°Since I roped you into this, I¡¯ll go first. My handler told me that we¡¯re here because they think that whoever makes Syndicate L¡¯s mechs, paralyzation guns, and other technology does it here. They want us to bring him in and they¡¯re not doing it themselves because it¡¯s outside US territory. Since we¡¯re vigilantes, they think it will cause less problems if we do it. Did Lim tell you anything different?¡±


    I grinned and Daniel laughed, ¡°I don¡¯t want to steal Nick¡¯s thunder, but yes. Nick?¡±


    Watching Cassie scowl, I said, ¡°It turns out that Larry and Lim came here back in the 1980s. A former superhero named Armory was making powered armor for anyone who wanted it, including criminals, and Larry was here to tell him to stop.¡±


    ¡°And¡­¡± Cassie said, ¡°is it still the same guy?¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°Don¡¯t know. The last Larry saw, Armory was being pulled into the earth by an earth elemental that sank most of the island a few minutes later. At the same time, Larry never saw him die. So it might be the same guy.¡±


    Cassie shook her head, ¡°My guy didn¡¯t tell me any of that.¡±


    ¡°It might be that he didn¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°Lim was there. What I¡¯m wondering is why there¡¯s an island again.¡±


    ¡°As it happens,¡± Daniel said, ¡°I did a little research on that while we were flying here. A group of investors hired Earthmover to raise the island again. It¡¯s bigger than it used to be. Back in the 80s, there wasn¡¯t too much more than a small airport, a resort, and a stadium for supers fighting supers that they called the Metafight Games. Now there¡¯s a few casinos, an amusement park, a larger resort, a rebuilt stadium, and a small city. I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s why they renamed the place Renewal Island.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± Cassie nodded slowly. ¡°Who were the investors?¡±


    Daniel raised his hands in the air, ¡°A bunch of rich guys. I¡¯ve never heard of them. Rumor says it was Syndicate L, the Nine, the Lords of Destruction, the Devil Coven¡­ You know, the usual suspects, but there¡¯s no proof.¡±


    Cassie started laughing¡ªwhich she did for a while¡ªand then shook her head, ¡°What my guy said is that it was a straightforward mission¡ªlocate, extract, and get away. That¡¯s all. What BS.¡±

 Rematch: Part 2

    I grinned, ¡°I feel like we¡¯ve been doing this kind of thing long enough now that we expect it¡¯s not going to be as easy as it looks.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Cassie snorted out half a laugh, ¡°but I don¡¯t expect it to be this far off either. Go in and kidnap this guy. It¡¯ll be easy except maybe there¡¯s Dominators, or organized crime, or international terrorist spy people, or aliens, or witches, or immortal, evil warriors. Or maybe all of the above. It¡¯ll be fine. Everything¡¯s fine.¡±


    Daniel gave the both of us a smile, ¡°It could be worse. Don¡¯t ask me how exactly, but it could. Before we find out, let¡¯s focus on the mission. How do we find this guy?¡±


    ¡°Easy,¡± Cassie said. ¡°You do it. Either you feel him out with telepathy or you see in the future the moment we find him and backtrack from there.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, he shook his head, ¡°You know better. My prescience doesn¡¯t work on demand like that. Don¡¯t get me wrong, if I get a flash of inspiration, I¡¯ll follow it up, but I can¡¯t just do it. The telepathy, sure, but it¡¯s going to have to be a light touch unless we want to risk people noticing¡ªwhich we don¡¯t. Plus, there¡¯s a pretty good chance that the kind of guy we want will have a shield whether it¡¯s tech or purely mental.¡±


    ¡°Right, so after you work up some leads,¡± Cassie added, ¡°Nick sends in the bots.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d say you¡¯re being kind of flippant about all of this,¡± I said, ¡°if it weren¡¯t for the fact that that¡¯s what we¡¯ll probably do anyway.¡±


    She smiled, ¡°How long have we been training and working together now? Let¡¯s get moving. If you¡¯re right and it¡¯s Armory all over again, he¡¯ll be in the arena, right? We should get tickets for whatever¡¯s in there tonight and see what we can find out. If we want to cast a wider net, maybe we hit a few clubs instead.¡±


    After taking a moment to consider it, Daniel said, ¡°That might be the better option even if there¡¯s a show in the arena. If the guy¡¯s lab is in there, they¡¯ll be hanging up anti-telepathy generators on the ceiling with the wifi.¡±


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    I¡¯d been connecting with the hotel¡¯s internet with my implant as Daniel talked. ¡°Related to that, it looks like we¡¯ve got the best or worst of both worlds, depending on your point of view. There aren¡¯t any fights in the arena tonight, but that¡¯s because the arena¡¯s booked for a music festival¡ªMetafest. And when I say ¡®arena,¡¯ I mean the whole building, but there are three separate arenas in there and I¡¯ve heard of all of the bands.


    ¡°Also, we¡¯ve already got tickets. They came with the room¡ªthough given how much they paid for the room, I have a hard time calling it a deal.¡±


    Daniel frowned, ¡°Do you really think going to Metafest will do any good? I¡¯m not joking about the anti-TP tech. Plus, I hate crowds. I can block out the noise if I have to, but that goes against the whole point of being here.¡±


    I knew he hated crowds, but, ¡°Well, Metafight Arena is the closest the island has to a government building. I¡¯ve been flipping through pictures of this place online and that¡¯s where the police force¡ªwhich is also basically the army¡ªis. They¡¯re all in powered armor and the design uses the same weird joint design that Grandpa and Larry talked about. So even if it¡¯s not Armory, it¡¯s a fan or a student, and if the armor¡¯s stored there, that means it¡¯s maintained there. And that means that someone who knows how to fix it is there¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Daniel took a deep breath. ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡±


    ¡°There we go,¡± Cassie said. ¡°We¡¯ve got a plan.¡±


    ¡°Not for getting out if things go wrong,¡± I said.


    Nodding her head and smiling, Cassie said, ¡°That¡¯s because we¡¯re not going to let things go wrong. We¡¯re not superheroes. We¡¯re a bunch of rich kids with more money than sense and we¡¯re here to have fun. And if things go bad, we handle it the way you and Haley did when that bank got robbed when you were on a date¡ªsubtly.¡±


    Daniel looked at her, ¡°Are you sure you haven¡¯t been mind-controlled?¡±


    ¡°Very sure,¡± Cassie pulled out a gun from her purse. A small pistol made of a shimmery blue-green metal, it was smaller and more glittery than normal¡ªwhich struck me as exactly the sort of pistol someone with more money than sense might have.


    ¡°It would never put up with it,¡± she said.


    It probably wouldn¡¯t. Cassie¡¯s gun had been designed by one of the galaxy¡¯s most evil races and existed only to kill and then kill more. I¡¯d seen Cassie mind-controlled and even if it hadn¡¯t stopped it from happening, it knew who Cassie¡¯s real friends were and didn¡¯t go all out against us.


    ¡°It¡¯s weirdly cute today,¡± I looked it over. ¡°I¡¯m surprised it¡¯s putting up with it and I¡¯m even more surprised you managed to get it through the airport.¡±


    She pressed a button and the side popped up to reveal a mirror, a brush, and makeup, ¡°You know how it adjusts to fit the user. I told it that transforming into a makeup case was the only way it could come along.¡±

 Rematch: Part 3

    Remembering back to when I¡¯d taken Cassie¡¯s gun to rescue her from being kidnapped by Rook, I supposed that a being that had been sitting unused for thousands of years before Cassie found it could handle some delayed gratification.


    You could also argue that it might be desperate enough to do anything to avoid being alone again.


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, ¡°I guess that¡¯s good. Time to go damage our ears?¡±


    ¡°Your ears,¡± Cassie put the gun back into her purse. ¡°Mine regenerate.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t forgotten that, but I hadn¡¯t been thinking it through either. Whatever. An hour later we were in the Metafight Games arena trying to impersonate the idle rich. I hadn¡¯t been born yet when Larry fought there in the 80s, but maps showed that it was three times the size it had been then. It felt less like an arena and more like an upscale mall that happened to have arenas inside.


    It didn¡¯t stop with arenas either. Showing our tickets let us into a small garden surrounded by stores. Though there were people, the crowds weren¡¯t overwhelming and a lot of them were around our age. We fit in¡ªin more ways than one. Beyond being twenty-somethings, we weren¡¯t the only ones wearing the anti-camera powder that obscured faces in photographs.


    We¡¯d been introduced to it at Stapledon, but it wasn¡¯t a surprise that it had made it into the hands of the rich and famous. I hadn¡¯t seen any paparazzi, but maybe that was how the good ones caught you?


    As we moved out of a clot of people, Cassie muttered, ¡°Wasn¡¯t he on the Disney channel?¡±


    I glanced back toward a tall, shirtless, blond guy in the middle of a group of equally attractive and underdressed men and women, ¡°Maybe, but if that¡¯s who I¡¯m thinking of, he had fewer tattoos then.¡±


    Daniel nodded, ¡°It¡¯s him. He had them. He just didn¡¯t take off his shirt for the cameras.¡±


    Cassie raised an eyebrow at Daniel who told us, He was literally thinking about being free to take his shirt off in public now.


    She laughed and looked closer at the group, nodding toward one of the women, ¡°I think I follow her videos online. This is going to get weird.¡±


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    Daniel shrugged, ¡°They¡¯re notpaying any attention to us.¡±


    Thinking into what amounted to Daniel¡¯s self-hosted group chat, I said, What about those guys? Are you getting anything interesting?


    A man and a woman in form-fitting powered armor that appeared to be barely more than one of my stealth suits stood next to the entrance. Despite the minimal protection, it did appear to have the multi-layered joint design that made anyone in the powered armor community think of Armory.


    I felt Daniel¡¯s attention turn in their direction, a brief sense of resistance, and then images of a room full of similar armor, some of it much heavier as Daniel responded, No question that we¡¯re facing Armory or one of his students.


    Images of an older man flashed through my head. Balding with white hair, a wrinkled face, and a potbelly, I didn¡¯t recognize the man, but he looked old enough to retire in the 1980s. From the images Daniel showed me, he appeared to be directing others in maintaining the armor.


    I shook my head, We¡¯re going to be punching senior citizens again.


    Cassie¡¯s amusement flowed through our connection as she grinned, It looks like it.


    I felt mild irritation from outside myself¡ªfrom Daniel. Sorry, give me a few seconds.


    We walked a little further and he continued, Okay, I think I may have something. As we thought, Armory¡¯s here. He seems to be one of the people in charge and his center of power is under the arenas. I¡¯m not sure how we get in there. Grabbing passwords is a little hard from a surface scan and I need time to do a deep dive into their heads. The bigger problem is that even if we had passwords, I¡¯m getting the impression that whatever gets them into the secured areas is part of the armor.


    I considered that. There¡¯s got to be someone who gets back there without wearing armor, but if they¡¯re not obvious, maybe we have to mug a security guard? It seems like there¡¯s got to be a more subtle way in than that. I mean, honestly, if we have to do that it seems like the kind of thing that we¡¯ll have to do while we¡¯re sneaking in.


    Cassie walked up to a bed of flowers and leaned in to sniff one,Maybe not. Maybe Daniel does something sneaky like finding out what in the costume gets people in and then we take it from someone¡ªexcept Daniel wipes their memory.


    Stepping forward to stand next to her, Daniel tilted his head down as if he were looking at the flowers. That might work. I¡¯ve got a feeling it would be more difficult than it sounds. I¡¯m getting the impression we¡¯d need the entire costume or that Nick would need time to take it apart. On the other hand, if I implanted a need to get us inside into someone on the security team, that might be enough.


    Then Daniel blinked, looking up from the flower bed, staring at another group of concert-goers, one that clustered around a man in a bluish-purple costume webbed with silver veins. It left his mouth uncovered and didn¡¯t hide his blond hair. I¡¯d spent more time than I wanted to with him a few years back¡ªKid Biohack.

 Rematch: Part 4

    I tried to remember. Had Kid Biohack ever seen my face? I didn¡¯t think so. I didn¡¯t even know his real first name. He¡¯d graduated from Stapledon before I got there. Still, we knew some of the same people. It wasn¡¯t impossible that he¡¯d recognize me if Stapledon¡¯s block permitted them to show a picture to another Stapledon graduate.


    On the other hand, he¡¯d shown up the year we fought The Thing That Eats¡ªmy sophomore year at Grand Lake University. He probably hadn¡¯t looked at my picture often enough in the last two and half years to recognize me. Plus, Daniel hadn¡¯t been around for much of that while Cassie had only shown up for the end.


    Assuming I didn¡¯t shout, ¡°Yo, Kid Biohack, I¡¯m the Rocket!¡± I was probably okay.


    Deciding that standing still and staring wasn¡¯t the best possible choice, I walked up to the flower bed, stopping next to Cassie, and pretended to care that the flowers existed.


    Cassie laughed, Yo, Kid Biohack!


    As that passed into my brain, Daniel added, You were thinking loudly, but you¡¯re right. This makes everything more complicated.


    As I stared down at the flowers¡ªwhich were definitely yellow¡ªI tracked Kid Biohack¡¯s movements, trusting my sunglasses/HUD to hide my eyes. Zooming in, I could see that he was laughing with two women. If I had to bet, I¡¯d bet that he was flirting with them.


    You¡¯d win that bet, Daniel grinned. Better him than me.


    With Daniel literally being tall, dark, and handsome, I¡¯d half expected that to cause problems by now, but apparently being a superhero mattered more.


    Which is good for our cover, Daniel said.


    Kid Biohack and the crowd around him made their way down the hall, disappearing around a corner. He hadn¡¯t seen me, or maybe he¡¯d recognized me, but knew that the moment wasn¡¯t right to make contact.


    Closer to option one, Daniel said, he was trying to figure out if he could ask both of the women he was talking to up to his room at once.


    Huh, I thought back.


    Cassie shook her head, I don¡¯t think anyone in Stapledon ever told us not to have threesomes with strangers while on a mission¡­ How was he doing?


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    One of the women has a boyfriend and he was right there the whole time. He¡¯s already jealous and angry. Expect an explosion. I don¡¯t think Kid Biohack¡¯s on a mission though. The whole group of them are social media influencers and he¡¯s just one of the crowd. Daniel waved us to start walking.


    We did, passing the glowing signs of restaurants, souvenir shops, and banks advertising their currency exchange rates.


    As we walked forward, merging into a crowded hall where we were at most a foot away from the nearest person, I thought, Do we just ignore him? If we attack Armory, Kid Biohack might show up in the middle of the fight. I think he¡¯d ultimately be on our side, but it could be a big mess if he shows up at the wrong time.


    Daniel glanced over at a shop advertising falafel. I could smell the heated oil. I missed all of that except for the trip to Turkmenistan. I only heard about him afterward. We should talk about it after we figure out what we¡¯re going to do with Armory.


    Ditto, Cassie thought back. I barely met the guy before The Thing That Eats infected him and we didn¡¯t talk much after he got better. You¡¯re the local expert, Nick.


    Awesome. Let¡¯s try to avoid him then, I said. Figuring out where to find Armory is first priority.


    That was the afternoon. We walked around the building, listened to bands, and pretended not to have a care in the world. Cassie was the group¡¯s designated drinker since she couldn¡¯t get drunk. She pretended to, though, hanging on Daniel and me at different times, giving us an obvious excuse for walking away from the main crowds¡ªshe needed a bathroom.


    She¡¯d stumbled out of the main arena hanging on to me with Daniel following a few steps behind when we had a breakthrough. We¡¯d turned down a hall near the back. Daniel had told us, This feels right. Turn here.


    At least twenty feet wide, it was as non-descript as a hall that size could be. All gray concrete with no decoration or anything but smooth walls, it had no restaurants or shops, no blinking colored lights or screens with advertisements. It ended in two big, blue, metal doors.


    Cassie pounded on one with her hand¡ªnot to the point that she left dents, but she made a lot of noise. People didn¡¯t come quickly, but they did come. It felt like we waited for a minute before a balding man in a button-down shirt and khakis opened the door, ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    Slurring her words, Cassie said, ¡°I need a bathroom. I¡¯m feeling sick. Where¡¯s the bathroom?¡±


    He frowned, looking Cassie and me up and down, ¡°Are you blind? The bathroom¡¯s back that way. How did you even miss it?¡±


    His eyes narrowed. I had a bad feeling that he¡¯d just become suspicious. Moving the arm I had around her waist, I tapped the palm of my hand, activating the sonics and aiming them at her stomach, feeling the device warm next to my forearm.


    ¡°I¡¯m feeling really, really sick,¡± she said as she thought at me, Nick, did you just¡ª


    She vomited. Except, as a super, she had powerful muscles all over, so it was more projectile vomit than average. It hit him around the knee, leaving his lower legs covered in beer, wine, and bits of shawarma.


    He stared down at his legs and as he did, I got a glimpse of what was behind him. The hallway sank deeper into the ground, ending in a room full of machines. Among them, I thought I saw the upper torso of a mech.

 Rematch: Part 5

    At the same time, the smell of vomit began to saturate my awareness. Beyond the smell of alcohol, I recognized the smell of the fried cheese curds Cassie ate at some point in the afternoon. Unlike your average cheese curds, these hadn¡¯t been made of cheddar, but of a stinkier cheese I didn¡¯t recognize, adding a strong moldy addition to the already questionable smell.


    ¡°That smell,¡± I swallowed, trying to keep everything down, ¡°I feel sick too.¡±


    The bald man¡¯s eyes widened.


    From behind me, Daniel added, ¡°Me too.¡±


    With a cry that might have been poorly pronounced swearing, the man backed up and shut the door between us, still dripping Cassie¡¯s vomit.


    Daniel thought, Let¡¯s go, at us and we headed back up the hallway, but not before I let loose a single roachbot. Little more than a small black spec, it landed in the corner intersection of the ceiling, the wall, and the double doors, practically invisible.


    As we ran away, I thought, I wasn¡¯t joking about feeling sick.


    Me neither, Daniel thought back, but I¡¯m feeling better now that we¡¯re farther away from the smell.


    I realized that I was too.


    Cassie¡¯s voice cut into my thoughts, That¡¯s great for you two, but I still need a bathroom and I need a drinking fountain. I haven¡¯t been sick since my powers were activated and I never liked the taste of vomit.


    We rounded the corner, putting us back in the public part of the arena, but still not one of the most popular spots. Like the rest of the building, it was a wide hall surrounded by concrete, the floor covered with black tile, but it didn¡¯t have any shops, restaurants, or anywhere to sit. The men''s and women¡¯s restrooms and a couple of drinking fountains were the only objects in sight.


    It felt to me as if the arena¡¯s architect were telling people to move through and not stick around.


    We took the message to heart. Except we did stop for Cassie to use the drinking fountain and the bathrooms. We hung out next to the door as she stepped inside. I¡¯d already identified two visible cameras by then (two small half-globes on the ceiling) and was willing to bet that there were more.


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    Cassie commented in our heads as she took care of a few stray bits of vomit on her dress and washed the taste out of her mouth. Nice save back there, Nick. I can¡¯t say I liked it much at the time, but if there¡¯s any better way to make the guy dismiss us as a group of drunk kids, I can¡¯t think of it.


    I took a drink from the drinking fountain. I hadn¡¯t had much to drink, but the taste of the beer I¡¯d had was lingering and it made me think of the smell in the hall. I didn¡¯t need that. No problem. After what you said, it was that or the brown note, and I was pretty sure you wouldn¡¯t like that idea.


    God, no. Don¡¯t ever do that unless I ask you to. And if I ever do, you can bet I¡¯m not in my right mind¡ªwhich reminds me¡ªgive me some fucking warning next time or I¡¯ll make sure some of the splash hits you.


    Feeling her irritation wash over me, I decided apology was the better part of valor. Sorry. All I could think of was that I didn¡¯t want to fight my way out. I¡¯ll warn you next time. In fact, if we have to do it again, maybe I should choose someone else.


    Leaning against the wall next to the drinking fountain, Daniel shook his head, I¡¯ve got to admit that would be fair, but let¡¯s not overuse it. They¡¯ll see through it eventually.


    What I¡¯m hearing, Cassie thought back, is that someone doesn¡¯t want to take his turn. Remember that, Nick. Daniel¡¯s next.


    Daniel didn¡¯t say anything or give even a hint of a mental response. He did roll his eyes as I stepped away from the drinking fountain.


    So the next thing, I began, is for me to get the roachbot inside the lab, mech factory, or whatever that place is, but I feel like we can¡¯t leave until after a concert or two if they¡¯re watching for us after that.


    Works for me,  Cassie said. I don¡¯t have any plans tonight. Besides, we might see a band we¡¯d never get to see normally.


    I checked up and down the hall. We were still the only people in this section. Daniel, are you pretty sure this is the right spot for me to send the bots? I¡¯ll be using the one I planted to guide the others in. It¡¯ll be a waste of time if this is just an outlying mech repair room or something.


    Daniel grinned, No, this one¡¯s real. The guy Cassie puked on is one of Armory¡¯s top engineers. You know how else I know it¡¯s real? How little I got out of him. He was right on the edge of an anti-telepathy fuzzer. Whoever set it up, set it to be effective up to the doors, but end there. So they were trying to hide everything inside, but not give it so much protection that it was a beacon that they had something to hide. But this is it, Armory¡¯s main lab and manufacturing facility. All we have to do now is figure out what we want to do to it.


    Cassie stepped out of the women¡¯s bathroom door. The gun wants you both to know that he¡¯s ready to burn it to the ground right now, but I¡¯m not. I think we need to decide if we¡¯re going to stop at grabbing Armory or if we¡¯re going to trash the whole lab on the way out. Think about what our base has in it. It¡¯s anybody¡¯s guess what this guy¡¯s got and if we take him, his people will sell it or keep it for themselves.

 Rematch: Part 6

    Good point, I thought back at her. I don¡¯t know what we should do with all of that, but the only thing your people suggested was that we should do something about whoever was selling equipment to the Nine and Syndicate L. They didn¡¯t mention anything about the equipment.


    Daniel gave off a hint of amusement that felt like a gentle breeze in my head. If they don¡¯t have some kind of plan for it themselves, I¡¯d be surprised. I¡¯m betting that they¡¯ve got other people on the island to clean up after we do whatever we do.


    I felt Cassie thinking even if I didn¡¯t hear it. Now that you say it, yeah. I¡¯d bet on it.


    You know, I thought at them, when they sent in Larry last time, they sent him in because they half-expected he¡¯d sink the island.


    I¡¯m pretty sure they don¡¯t expect that of us, Cassie thought back. You¡¯re careful and so is Daniel. I¡¯m the only wild card in this group and even I don¡¯t have a reputation for accidentally blowing things up.


    I thought back to Daniel¡¯s comment, If they¡¯re planning to swarm in and grab everything they can, maybe we should make sure it all gets trashed. It¡¯s not that I distrust our government, but if Armory¡¯s got alien tech and it gets back to the Nine, that¡¯s not good.


    Crap, Cassie¡¯s thought pierced my mind like a bullet. Now you¡¯re making me paranoid.


    Daniel¡¯s sigh was both verbal and mental, But after everything that happened with the True, it¡¯s a depressingly realistic kind of paranoid. Let¡¯s table this for now and come back to it while we¡¯re planning. For now, I think we should go see at least one band and leave after that.


    Neither Cassie or I needed to ask why. He¡¯d left enough of his thoughts unprotected for us to feel his worry that if they were watching us now, taking in a show fit our cover better than leaving.


    As we all thought about that, Cassie stepped out of the women¡¯s bathroom, ¡°You know who¡¯s playing? Vincent Sucks. I feel like they follow me around.¡±


    Daniel and I both laughed, but neither of us said anything more, knowing that if Armory were paranoid enough to bug the area outside the entrance to his lab, we¡¯d be giving away more than we wanted to.


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    We walked down the long, concrete hall, back toward the more public areas of the arena and watched a Jazz trio in one of the bars, followed by a forgettably famous band from the 90s in one of the arenas.


    It was past midnight by the time we got back to the hotel, smelling of alcohol and our own sweat. That didn¡¯t mean that the night was done¡ªfar from it. I had to lead in the rest of the roachbots, one at a time, scouting out the lab, and then placing them for maximum effect in surveillance.


    I was tired, but at least I hadn¡¯t drunk very much. I¡¯d spilled more on myself than I let inside. Using the implant to connect to the bots made the process less about physical than mental control in any case.


    Daniel and Cassie stayed up for a while, but it was all my job after that. I stayed up for a few more hours, flying, crawling, and sometimes drilling the bots into place. By the time I was done, it was three in the morning. I stared out the windows into the city. Crowds still stood out in the streets, laughing and talking. The arena glowed with lights and signs with the names of the bands scrolling across the marquee.


    I thought I saw Vincent Sucks scroll past. We hadn¡¯t seen them, but that was fine. We¡¯d been in the green room for one of their concerts back in the summer when we¡¯d fought the dragon in the Castle Rock Compound. That was the summer where I¡¯d realized that for some being a super meant hobnobbing with celebrities and actually being the kind of people we were pretending to be.


    I¡¯d known it already, but staying in the compound made the line between feeling separate from the rest of humanity because of your abilities and thinking it made you better than the rest more obvious. I wasn¡¯t sure where I was going with that line of thought, but my implant notified me that my comm had notifications for me.


    I¡¯d turned them off while I¡¯d been placing the bots, but now there was no reason not to look at them. Most were part of on-going conversations that I¡¯d been expecting, including one from Chris about the company we were forming. Vaughn wanted to be an investor. I decided to put off thinking about that until morning.


    One, however, wasn¡¯t part of an on-going conversation and centralized all of my fears in one spot. It was a message from Kid Biohack.


    I opened it, seeing him sitting in a chair in the main room of a suite every bit as large as ours except where ours was spare and modern in style, his was ornate. He didn¡¯t have his mask on and as I looked at him, I remembered when he¡¯d seen my face.


    It was after the fight with The Thing That Eats. He¡¯d been freed from its control and everyone who¡¯d been in the fight¡ªall of our team plus friends from Stapledon slept in the League¡¯s HQ. We¡¯d allowed him in for what there was of a victory party with everyone else. He¡¯d been blocked just like the rest of us. Allowing him to sleep over and watch movies hadn¡¯t seemed like a risk then.


    Feeling a pain in my gut that I knew wasn¡¯t real, I started the message going.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± he looked up into the camera, ¡°I thought I saw you in the arena on Renewal Island today. You seemed busy, so I left you alone.¡±

 Rematch: Part 7

    My thoughts went in all directions. Could I maybe turn off my video when I made the return call and say, ¡°Nope, that wasn¡¯t me?¡± As much as that sounded tempting, I might actually need his help sometime. Bearing in mind his powers¡ªthe ability to alter his physical speed, strength, and toughness by altering his biology¡ªand the fact that he could put himself into Jaclyn¡¯s league in those areas, I didn¡¯t want to hurt his feelings.


    He was a bit of a bro, but he had a moral code buried somewhere underneath a need to be liked by as many people as possible. He¡¯d fought his best friend after it turned out that the guy had been robbing armored cars.


    Maybe we could bring him as backup? I didn¡¯t want to. As much as we were here to put Armory out of business, we wanted to do it as quietly as possible. While I didn¡¯t know for sure what Kid Biohack had specialized in at Stapledon, his only options were espionage/investigation, technology, magic, and combat.


    I¡¯d have put a few thousand dollars on a bet that it was combat without much fear.


    Meanwhile, his image in the message kept on talking. I backed up to watch what I¡¯d missed.


    Kid Biohack laughed, ¡°Of course, that wasn¡¯t the only reason I didn¡¯t. I¡¯ve got a thing for Shanna. She¡¯s an online model? Hawt. I was talking with her and her friend Audrey who¡¯s also a model. They¡¯re here for the festival. I know them from my online stuff. Anyway, it turns out that Bryce, who I thought was just her friend, is actually Shanna¡¯s boyfriend and he took a punch at me. I didn¡¯t do much to him at all. I just caught his arm and pushed him back. I didn¡¯t want to punch through his head, you know? He¡¯s just a normal guy.


    ¡°Anyway, Shanna and Bryce are a little angry with me and it¡¯s getting awkward over here. So I¡¯m kind of wondering, are you here for the festival or on a mission? Because if it¡¯s the festival, great. Maybe I could hang out with you tomorrow? That¡¯d give them time to cool off. If you¡¯re on a mission, though, that¡¯s even better. Because girls love that, right? I mean, maybe you don¡¯t know that because you¡¯re dating a super, but trust me, normal girls love the danger thing.¡±


    If I¡¯d had any temptation to bring him in, that killed it. If even hints that we were more than we seemed made it to the wrong person, we were screwed.


    Then he grinned, ¡°Audrey¡¯s still into me, though. It¡¯s the danger thing, I¡¯m sure. Anyway, dude, call me back. If there¡¯s danger, I¡¯m your man. If there¡¯s no danger, we¡¯re still good and we can take in a few bands. Not only that, but I know where to find the best fucking sushi on this island. They rent private karaoke rooms. So, bonus, right?¡¯


    The message ended with a wide smile and a wave.


    I closed the connection, sinking further into my chair and looking out toward the ocean. Past the island, darkness hid where the ocean met the sky. Walking out to the balcony and clearing my head by flying a lap around the island almost sounded like a good idea. It wasn¡¯t and I knew it, but it would have been nice.


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    Pushing myself out of my chair, I walked to my room, stripped off my clothes, and went to bed. Tomorrow I¡¯d have to figure out how to let Kid Biohack down gently.


    * * *


    I woke to hear Daniel¡¯s voice in my head, Nick, they¡¯ve got a buffet downstairs, but it closes at 10 AM. So you¡¯ve got 30 minutes unless you want to get room service.


    Where¡¯s Cassie? I opened my eyes, realizing that the ceiling of my room was all mirrored glass. Interesting.


    Downstairs and still eating, I felt Daniel¡¯s amusement over our connection. Cassie ate a lot.


    Missing the buffet and ordering room service seemed in character for the kind of people we were pretending to be, but there was an issue with that. I felt hungry. I¡¯ll throw something on and run down there.


    Leaving yesterday¡¯s wadded-up clothes on the floor next to my suitcase, I pulled out a new pair of shorts and a t-shirt and put them on. Deciding to ignore the fact that I¡¯d deliberately spilled beer on myself yesterday, I skipped taking a shower, pulled on my sneakers, and waved to Daniel as I ran for the elevator.


    Stale beer smell combined with being unwashed while running for breakfast would be in character too.


    Taking the elevator down to the second floor where the buffet was didn¡¯t take long. I mostly had the elevator to myself and the people who did get on didn¡¯t stand next to me for very long before moving to a different corner.


    Whoever set up the breakfast menu had gone for a European feel¡ªpastries, oatmeal, eggs, beans, sausage, bacon, fruits, different kinds of bread, lunchmeat, and a variety of beverages. At any rate, it was more interesting than your average US hotel¡¯s combination of pastries, boiled eggs, and make-your-own waffles.


    I took a little bit of everything except for the oatmeal and looked around for Cassie. After making one round of the main breakfast room, I stepped into the second room, checking the booths and tables for her without success. Since the rooms were half full, I had no trouble finding a booth for myself.


    I sent her an implant to implant message asking, Done with breakfast?


    Yes. She sent me a short video of the hallway to our room. Did you just get there? Go figure. I guess we¡¯ll kill time while you eat.


    That left me eating alone¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t that bad. It was a nice enough room. Between the white and silver tables, white and silver chairs, and the white-painted walls, it felt a bit bright, but it looked out on the city and the green lawns and palm trees around our hotel.


    I was midway through eating my bowl of fruit when I felt the small wind of someone passing¡ªexcept she didn¡¯t pass. She sat down across from me. Dark skinned with short, tightly curled hair, she wore a pink tank top and jeans.


    As she smiled, I realized I knew her. Her name was Yoselin. The last time I¡¯d seen her was before my grandfather died. She¡¯d come because her father Alexis wanted to talk to Larry and my grandfather, leaving me to entertain her for a few hours. It had been fun, but it wasn¡¯t something I even talked about with other supers.


    Her father was a Cuban tech superhero who was wanted in the US because of various Cold War incidents. Plus, the Dixieland Defenders hated him, especially the ones in Florida. I wasn¡¯t sure why, but I wasn¡¯t going to go out of my way to ask them.


    ¡°Charles! It¡¯s been so long. We should catch up. I¡¯ve been looking for you all over.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°it has been a long time. Are you here for the festival?¡±


    It was nice of her to help me keep cover by using the name on my passport, but since I¡¯d never told her what it was or even told her I was coming, I didn¡¯t like where this was going.

 Rematch: Part 8

    Adding more to my disquiet, my implant chose that moment to create a brief illusion of wires threaded through her brain and label it, ¡°Human Ascendancy implant.¡±


    That brought up a small storm of thoughts, questions, and feelings, starting with whether she was allied with the Ascendancy because they were not nice people. They were the Abominators¡¯ former human slaves who decided to carry on their empire in the tradition of their masters.


    That didn¡¯t seem like the most likely possibility though. I remembered that her father had been the sidekick of a Russian super who¡¯d been investigating Abominator tech, causing them to both go up against and eventually befriend Grandpa and Larry.


    Most likely her tech dated from that. Taking a chance, I told my implant to send her a ping.


    Her eyes widened.


    I didn¡¯t know what she was getting from her implant, but mine told me that it had gotten a reply using an older protocol¡ªabout forty years old.


    I told my implant to open a communications channel¡ªwhich might not have been the wisest thing, but I¡¯d interfaced with lots of Abominator descended tech a year or more ago without issue.Plus, I¡¯d been contacting the nearest ansible and keeping my implant up to date.


    Aloud, she said, ¡°I am here for the festival. What luck! I¡¯m on my own. Maybe we can catch a show together?¡±


    I smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t see why not, assuming our tastes match up.¡±


    She gave a wide grin, and I heard her over the implant to implant channel, Assuming our tastes match up? Nice.


    ¡°We like some of the same bands,¡± she spoke unaccented English¡ªat least to my ears. If I remembered correctly, she¡¯d been planning to attend the University of Florida. Being the daughter of a major Cuban hero could only give her better access to education than the average person.


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    The way I heard the story, your dad and Larry were officially on different sides the last time they met up. It¡¯s just that they both had a problem with Armory. Where are we?


    Aloud, I added, ¡°That¡¯s true. I hope a few of them are playing at the festival.¡±


    She winked at me, raising her left hand as she talked, ¡°Don¡¯t be negative. We might discover new bands that we both like.¡±


    Over the implant, she said, There¡¯s more going on than just Armory¡¯s arms dealing. We¡¯ve been tracking down agents of the Nine in Cuba and they came here. We think that the Nine might be one of Armory¡¯s financial backers. We think they might share whatever Armory has under the arena.


    With a grin to respond to what she¡¯d said aloud, I said, ¡°Discovering new bands might be fun, I¡¯ll just have to clear it with my friends. We were coming together. I want to make sure that they¡¯re open to letting others into our group.¡±


    It really is complicated. More complicated than you¡¯d think. I already saw another super around here that I don¡¯t want to bring in. If say yes to you, but no to him, that could lead to awkward questions.


    She grinned, ¡°I understand. I want your friends to feel comfortable with me too.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, and thought back, Are you really working alone?


    She took a sip out of the cup of coffee she¡¯d put down in the booth. Yes and no. I¡¯m not the only one here. Renewal is too close to Cuba for us to ignore it. I¡¯ve got people I can call for help, but because I¡¯m a hero of the people, they trust me to meet with you without assuming I¡¯m about to run away. So no one is looking over my shoulder.


    I started to eat my bowl of fruit again. Good. We¡¯re here to stop Armory from selling to the Nine and other criminal groups, but we¡¯re not acting directly as agents of our government. We¡¯re on our own. That said, if you¡¯re here to grab Armory¡¯s stuff for the good of Cuba, we¡¯re not going to help with that or even let it happen when we can see it.


    She smiled. I understand. It¡¯ll be like it always was. We help each other when we can and when it¡¯s more important than either of our countries.


    Aloud, she said, ¡°I¡¯m going to grab a little more food. Be back in a second.¡±


    In my head, she said, I¡¯ve been seeing you in the news ever since you started wearing the suit. The way I remember it when we last talked, you weren¡¯t planning on following your grandfather into this life.


    Hearing the clink as she grabbed a plate in the other room, I thought back, My friends were interested in reforming the League. Also, the mayor of Grand Lake went after us and he wasn¡¯t the only one. It was as much about fighting to stay alive as saving people¡¯s lives at first. It still is some days. Um¡­ To go back to why we¡¯re here¡­ You don¡¯t have any reason to think that sorcerer um¡­ Sloan or his earth elemental is still around here, do you?

 Rematch: Part 9

    I turned, checking around the corner of our booth to see Yoselin stepping back from the buffet and walking down the aisle back to our booth.


    She grinned at me, It¡¯s funny how that story lives on. My dad never saw him again after that. The earth elemental disappeared after the island sank. The Dixieland Defenders might have destroyed it. Cuba didn¡¯t allow supernatural heroes to be part of government teams back then so my dad didn¡¯t have anyone to ask.


    She sat down and bit into a croissant she¡¯d spread strawberry jelly on.


    I bit into scrambled eggs. Well, that might be a good thing. If no one¡¯s seen Sloan or the elemental, maybe we only have to worry about Armory, the Nine, whatever security forces they¡¯ve got, allies, and maybe the Dominators.


    She stopped eating, meeting my eyes as her smile widened. What a relief that that¡¯s all. How lucky we both are that we found each other.


    I raised an eyebrow and took another bite of eggs, How did that happen exactly? I know I wasn¡¯t expecting you, but it sounded like you might have been expecting me.


    Taking a bite of her croissant, she thought, You know I can¡¯t tell you much, but it¡¯s true. We knew someone was coming, and when they sent me the list of Americans who landed on the island yesterday, I recognized your face even if I didn¡¯t know who Charles Finley was.


    I thought about that, recognizing the part that bugged me, How did anyone get my picture? We used the powder that¡¯s supposed to make that impossible.


    To cameras, she thought back, we had a person at the airport that could show us what they saw.


    She hadn¡¯t said exactly how, but from what she did say, a telepath would work and so would someone with an implant. I¡¯d never thought putting powder on my face would be foolproof, but I¡¯d thought it would be harder to get around.


    We ate without talking either through our implants or out loud for a few minutes. It didn¡¯t take that long for either of us to finish. As she finished the last of her danish, I said, ¡°It¡¯s been great to reconnect, I¡¯ll talk with my friends and see if they¡¯re okay with you coming along with us.¡±


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    She smiled at me, ¡°That sounds great.¡±


    Just a word of warning, I thought at her, I don¡¯t know how you got your implant, but if it¡¯s an Ascendancy implant, I¡¯ve literally seen someone blow up their own head with one of those.


    We both got out of the booth, holding our trays and their plates as we walked down the aisle past empty tables and booths and toward the racks where we slid our trays in.


    Yoselin frowned as she thought back a reply, shaking her head, I wish I was surprised. My father knew it was a risk, but we had to--


    She stopped, Maybe I¡¯ll tell you later.


    We walked out of the breakfast area, stopping at the elevator. She nodded toward the stairs, ¡°I¡¯m going to run an errand. I¡¯ll be back here in a little bit.¡±


    Then she pulled me into a hug¡ªwhich was nice as it happened, but as she pulled away, I could see her nose wrinkle, making me think I should have showered before I came down here or if she might have caught a whiff of Cassie¡¯s vomit that I¡¯d missed.


    Through my implant, I said, Sorry, I was late for breakfast and thought I¡¯d be eating alone.


    She waved at me as she walked down the stairs to the hotel lobby, I think you¡¯re doing an excellent job of pretending to be a tourist.


    You¡¯re doing an excellent job of not telling me I should take a shower.


    She didn¡¯t reply, but I thought I heard her laugh in my head as I stepped into the elevator. The door shut behind me and the car carried me up to the top floor. When I got back to my room, I found Cassie watching a news show on television, one that made no sense to me because it was all in Spanish.


    So far as I could tell, Cassie was fluent in the language or close to it.


    Daniel, meanwhile, sat in an armchair and looked at his phone. His head turned to look at me as I walked through the door. This didn¡¯t surprise me. We¡¯d been able to sense a telepathic connection to each other within range since we were kids.


    As Cassie turned away from the TV, he asked, ¡°What happened?¡±


    Looking at both of them, I said, ¡°The short answer is that another person recognized me. You don¡¯t know her, but if you remember Larry¡¯s story, she¡¯s the daughter of Alexis, the Cuban super who was also after Armory.¡±


    Then I used my implant to replay the conversation in my head for Daniel and sent a copy to Cassie since she had a Xiniti implant of her own. It didn¡¯t take her long to go through it. Her eyes glazed over and she turned off the TV. Even before Daniel finished watching my mental replay, she muttered, ¡°This gets worse every time we turn around.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m beginning to feel like everybody on this island knows me. The bottom line is, do we bring her in and trust her only as far as we can trust her, or do we keep everyone out of it except for the three of us? On a gut level, I¡¯m feeling like we¡¯ll need her if she¡¯s right about the Nine being involved. Worse, we might need Kid Biohack too.¡±

 Rematch: Part 10

    Turning off the TV and leaving the remote on the chair, Cassie walked over to the table in the middle of the room, asking, ¡°From what little I¡¯ve heard of Kid Biohack from you and the rest of the team, he loves any camera he can find, but he¡¯s on the right side. From what I¡¯ve seen from your recording, Yoselin might be trustworthy for what we¡¯re doing, but she¡¯s probably got plans for Armory¡¯s stuff that we might not like.¡±


    Daniel put his phone in his pocket and joined her at the table, reaching it at about the same time I pulled out a chair, ¡°You were saying we might want to blow up Armory¡¯s stuff. With the Nine there and Yoselin likely to grab what she can for Cuba, it makes even more sense. It could make for a good distraction on the way out.¡±


    I sat down in the chair, noticing that it was surprisingly comfortable, ¡°Are you making a guess or is that something you¡¯re seeing in the future?¡±


    Shaking his head, Daniel said, ¡°We¡¯re too far out from trying it and I haven¡¯t had any random visions. Once we start planning, I¡¯ll have a better sense of it.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°And for that, I¡¯ll need to check what the bots have gotten overnight plus maybe a full normal day. It¡¯d be nice to get some sense of when Armory¡¯s around. Then we can figure out our plan. In the short term though, am I right in thinking we¡¯re willing to take a chance on Yoselin and, I don¡¯t know, bring Kid Biohack in as possible backup? Combat¡¯s more his thing than investigation and espionage.¡±


    Daniel nodded. Cassie shook her head, ¡°I know I said it sounded like Kid Biohack¡¯s okay, but he¡¯s such a camera hog. I think he¡¯ll be a great backup, but I hope he doesn¡¯t turn this into a big media thing. The only reason I¡¯m saying yes is that at the point we need him, we¡¯ll already be making so much noise it won¡¯t matter if the guy¡¯s putting it all on video and telling the world how lucky we are to have him.¡±


    Laughing, Daniel said, ¡°It¡¯s better than having no backup, but I can¡¯t say I disagree. I watched a few of his videos this morning. I¡¯m amazed that he can talk as much as he does during a fight.¡±


    I sighed, ¡°Yeah. I got to watch that in real-time once. So, I¡¯ll call Yoselin and after she gets here, we¡¯ll explain him to her. After that, we might have to hang out with him too. He managed to get the people he was with angry at him so he was wondering if we were open to him joining us.¡±


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    Grinning, Cassie said, ¡°The three-way didn¡¯t work out? Whatever. It might even help us sell our cover. We just have to do an extra good job of putting on our glitter dust.¡±


    A hint of worry came through from Daniel¡¯s end of our telepathic link, but his voice didn¡¯t sound worried, ¡°Maybe we could have him pretend to meet us for the first time?¡±


    ¡°Works for me,¡± Cassie said. ¡°He will be meeting most of us for the first time.


    * * *


    It didn¡¯t go as badly as you¡¯d expect. I can¡¯t say it was exactly how I¡¯d have wanted to spend a day, but it could have been worse. Kid Biohack didn¡¯t make any slips that blew our cover¡ªnot even with Audrey, the woman he¡¯d described as still being into him. From the amount of time she spent touching him, I gave him the benefit of the doubt there.


    We¡¯d briefed Yoselin on our cover and vice versa. She was pretending to be the daughter of a higher up in the Cuban Communist Party¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t much of a stretch for her. I don¡¯t know if the party would have approved of her portrayal, but she fit in with our ¡°rich kid¡± characters.


    Around 5:30, Kid Biohack got a call, learning that he¡¯d been forgiven and could he come back to the group now? He left with Audrey within seconds, but not before thanking us and letting me know he was up for ¡°anything¡± while we were here.


    That was subtle for him, subtle enough that Aubrey didn¡¯t even pay attention. I had no complaints.


    Later that night though, Daniel, Cassie, Yoselin, and I left the last band we wanted to see and went up to our room. There, we went through the day¡¯s footage from the bot feeds, learning that Armory spent most days in the office, meeting with his engineers, and working on new suits in his lab.


    We also learned that Yoselin was right about the Nine.


    This was the scene: Len Jones, also known as Armory, stood next to a mech. It was open, all of the outside panels off, exposing circuitry, cables, artificial muscles with similarity to my grandfather¡¯s earlier designs, and the inside of Armory¡¯s intricate joint designs. I could have stopped it right there for more examination, but didn¡¯t because I was streaming it to everyone.


    About six feet tall, Len was balding with white hair and a combover that didn¡¯t hide it. He wore a blue coverall that might be for piloting mechs. As we watched, he turned as new people walked toward him. He had none of the slowness I¡¯d have expected out of a seventy-year-old.


    It raised questions, but not as many as his visitors. I¡¯d have recognized them anywhere¡ªJohn Kowalski, the first Captain Commando and Cassie¡¯s dad, along with Tara, a friend from the Stapledon program and now a member of the League.


    At any rate, that¡¯s how they appeared at first glance. Cassie, Daniel, and I all knew better. We knew that Cassie¡¯s dad was more than ten years dead, but that the Nine had cloned him. As for myself, I couldn¡¯t have pointed out the differences between this woman and Tara, but I knew they weren¡¯t the same person.


    The Nine had come into possession of alternate versions of her too. I wondered how many they had these days.

 Rematch: Part 11

    Len nodded at them, ¡°I assume you¡¯re delivering the new artifact. If you¡¯re here forthe next delivery of mechs, I told your¡­ owners¡­ that they¡¯re going to be late due to certain parts being unavailable.¡±


    As he¡¯d said, owners, he¡¯d grinned at them and not a nice grin. It was more of a smirk. The Tara twin gave no reaction, an expressionless dark blond woman in a black business suit. By contrast, Captain Clone¡¯s eyes narrowed and his mouth widened in an expression that in my life meant that Cassie¡¯s next punch was going to hurt. I¡¯d mostly seen it after a hard punch while training,or when we were playing Monopoly.


    The less said about that, the better.


    Captain Clone didn¡¯t attack, but I might have stepped back from his slow smile, ¡°We are here with the new artifact, and as it happens, our owners did get your message about the parts issue. They want a list of the parts, your specifications for them, and where you normally find them. They¡¯ll make sure you get them. They need those mechs on time.


    ¡°I hope you¡¯re actually having problems getting the parts because if you¡¯re deliberately being slow our ¡®owners¡¯ will be extremely irritated.¡±


    Len straightened and stared at Captain Clone for a second and replied, ¡°I¡¯m not lying. We¡¯re having problems getting the parts. I¡¯ll send them the list and if they can get them for me within the next week, we¡¯ll be able to keep to the schedule. Any longer and it will be pushed back by however long it takes for us to get the parts.¡±


    Captain Clone nodded and began to turn away, ¡°Good. You won¡¯t wait long.¡±


    The Tara clone matched his pace and they walked away together, two figures in black suits walking out the door.


    Aloud, Len said, ¡°Did they even leave the artifact?¡±


    He noticed the brown cardboard box on the white table next to a mech arm. It was near where the clones had been standing. Len stepped toward it at about the same time my implant finished replaying the moment where the Tara twin placed it on the table.


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    Pulling out a jackknife, he cut the tape holding the box shut, and pulled out a circular tablet made of rust-red metal. Too wide for one human hand, it had a dome-shaped protrusion on the middle of the screen and jagged, broken metal on the right side as if it had been snapped off of a larger object.


    My implant identified it as a piece of a ¡°god killer,¡± a device designed to allow the Abominators to identify Artificer technology, and detect and defend against any Artificers in range. I checked the implant for more information, learning that the Xiniti had never seen it used, but had discovered broken pieces of them on worlds where the Abominators investigated Artificer ruins.


    Len held up the device, turning it so that he could look into the broken side. Then he lowered it and spoke to someone off-camera, ¡°Hey Stan, get me the charger.¡±


    The man Cassie puked on stepped up, holding what appeared to be a brick made of a blue-green material I¡¯d seen used in Abominator tech. This brick differed from most by the tentacle-like protrusions from one side.


    My implant labeled it ¡°charger,¡± which made me more worried than before because it meant that Armory had it right.


    Len took the charger and moved it up to the jagged metal. The tentacles extended inside and the rest of the device adjusted, extending to cover all the broken parts of the tablet and fuse with it¡ªthough the point where the devices met was visible, red metal meeting blue.


    Then the screen began to glow. The upper half of the circle showed a collection of symbols that the implant identified as derived from an Abominator writing system, but could not translate. The lower half appeared to show thin lines spreading out from a mass of more lines. It reminded me of how I looked in what I half-jokingly thought of as ¡°elder god vision.¡±


    Lee had told me that other Artificers would see me as an infant of his species, but if that device could detect me, it wasn¡¯t a good thing. Worse, if Len or the Nine got access to the weapons that went along with the sensor portion of the device, I didn¡¯t like to imagine what happened next.


    Len touched the screen of the tablet. Nothing changed. That¡¯s the point where I ended streaming the video to Cassie and Yoselin¡¯s implants and letting Daniel watch through a telepathic connection.


    As the picture of Len¡¯s lab went away, leaving me to see our hotel room with Cassie, Daniel, and Yoselin sitting around the table, I looked over at Yoselin who was frowning, ¡°Did your implant give you any information when you saw the round tablet? Cassie and I probably got the same thing, but I¡¯m hoping you got something different.¡±


    She shook her head, her curly hair swinging around it, ¡°It labeled the tablet ¡®forbidden,¡¯ but labeled the strange brick a ¡®charger.¡¯ What did you get from your implants?¡±

 Rematch: Part 12

    ¡°Well, I got a charger for the brick, but for the tablet,¡± and there I paused, knowing that if I said what I saw we were going to have to trust her with even more, ¡°I got ¡®god killer.¡¯ I don¡¯t know what sense if any, that makes to you.¡±


    Over my implant, Cassie said, I hope she¡¯s worth the risk. Because if she isn¡¯t trustworthy, that thing might be going to Cuba.


    Shaking her head and then looking me in the eyes, Yoselin said, ¡°No. Except now my implant is warning me that if I repeat what you said, I¡¯m risking reprogramming by the Dominators.¡±


    Laughing, she said, ¡°It threatens me a lot. It¡¯s like carrying the worst parts of home along.¡±


    Meeting her eyes, I asked, ¡°Why do you even have it? I can use mine to control my body, but in my case, I feel like I can trust the source. The Human Ascendancy is basically a dictatorship. They¡¯re far worse than Cuba from what I saw.¡±


    She took a breath, ¡°I know. After everything that happened to Red Victory, my father discovered a way to disable the implant¡¯s ability to control the user. We can¡¯t disable the nagging, but there¡¯s no risk of it taking control.¡±


    Nodding, I thought back to the little I remembered hearing from Larry about what had happened when Alexis and he had gone to investigate what happened to Viktor (Red Victory) after he¡¯d been forced to lead an expedition back to the moon. Implants Viktor retrieved had put the surviving expedition members under the control of a local cell of the Dominators and an Abominator AI. How Larry and Alexis had managed to free them while hiding in 1980s Moscow, I didn¡¯t know, but they had.


    ¡°At least, there¡¯s that,¡± I said. ¡°And that¡¯s good because it¡¯s probably going to freak out with my next sentence. I don¡¯t know if your implant will tell you what Artificers are, but they¡¯re an ancient and mysterious race. The ¡®god killer¡¯ is designed to kill them and the tablet¡¯s a piece of it. There¡¯s a reason to believe I have a connection to the Artificers somehow, so there¡¯s no way we¡¯re leaving that in his hands.¡±


    She looked over at Daniel and Cassie. Seeing Daniel¡¯s watchful gaze and slight smile, and Cassie¡¯s crossed arms and expressionless face, I can only assume that Yoselin decided we meant it. ¡°My supervisors didn¡¯t send me to find it. I think that if we ruin Armory¡¯s cooperation with the Nine, my mission will be a success.


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    ¡°If I can ask, ¡° she said, gesturing in my direction, ¡°where did you get your implant?¡±


    ¡°Cassie and I are officially members of the Xiniti nation, and thus, implants.¡±


    Yoselin blinked, her expression going slack in what I recognized as a massive information download. Then her eyelids fluttered, and she said, ¡°Oh. You know that all myimplant gave me in response to the word ¡®Artificer¡¯ was ¡®a dangerous, deceased ancient race?¡¯ In response to mentioning the Xiniti, I just got a download of scrubbed worlds and hundreds of battles with the Abominators and then the Ascendancy. It tells me that if you¡¯re human members of the Xiniti nation, you¡¯re murderous traitors to humankind.¡±


    Cassie grinned, ¡°All true.¡±


    Laughing, Yoselin said, ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±


    Daniel caught my eye, ¡°Nick, if you could show us a map and tell us what the bots have collected, we could plan what we¡¯re going to do.¡±


    I did, using my implant to collect all the bots¡¯ information about the layout including placement of troopers, workers, patterns of movement, and schedules. I plotted it out visually, allowing Cassie and Yoselin to download it from me directly. I let Daniel poke around as he needed during the discussion, reminding me of our group Monopoly simulations in space.


    ¡°I can¡¯t promise any of this will stay this way forever, but sounds like Armory will be around tomorrow at the same time. Also, it looks like he¡¯s keeping the tablet in his office in a safe.¡±


    Cassie grinned, ¡°That won¡¯t last long.¡±


    I¡¯m not going to go through the whole discussion, but in the end, the plan went like this: Armory¡¯s personal lab and office were in the center of the complex, a couple of levels below the main floor of the arena. We¡¯d all go in together, but after we sighted Armory, stealth would be impossible. It would be Cassie, Daniel, and Yoselin¡¯s job to grab Armory and the Abominator artifact, and my job to blow the lab and everything Armory was working on. I¡¯d also be responsible for making a lot of noise so that the island¡¯s police force would be trying to subdue me instead of tracking down the rest of the team.


    Kid Biohack would be backing me up, though he didn''t know it yet.


    After that, the League jet would extract us and we¡¯d leave, assuming we didn¡¯t manage to sink the island again. Then we¡¯d have a whole different problem.


    Once we had a plan, we went through it in a joint simulation in our heads, ignoring our bodies as they sat at the table in our hotel suite. When we felt that we had it, Yoselin walked down to her own room and we went to bed.

 Rematch: Part 13

    All the same, it¡¯s easy to say you went to bed, but there¡¯s no guarantee that you¡¯ll sleep once you get there. It gets harder to sleep when you know you¡¯ve got something big planned the next day. That¡¯s especially true if you know you could get hurt, that your friends could get hurt, and if one of your friends is a telepath with who you¡¯ve had a low-level telepathic connection since childhood¡ªat least when you¡¯re in range¡ªyou might sense his anxiety too.


    I don¡¯t think either of us noticed it at first, but twenty minutes after pulling the sheets up, I found myself staring at the ceiling, which thanks to the mirrors on the ceiling, gave me a dark reflection of myself staring up at myself. Lit only by the stars and moon outside my windows, I could see only a little more than shadows, but it was enough for me to recognize my face.


    As I did, I found myself wondering why the shades were up, feeling sure that I¡¯d closed them already even though I knew I¡¯d left them up deliberately. I wanted to see the stars. That¡¯s the moment where I realized that it wasn¡¯t me wondering about the shades. That was Daniel.


    Sorry, Nick. I¡¯m having a hard time sleeping, It¡¯s probably knowing what we¡¯re doing tomorrow. It¡¯s easier when you don¡¯t know what you¡¯re going into.


    I sent back a feeling of my amusement and felt his in return. It felt like we were both eleven and sleeping over at one or the other¡¯s house. No big deal. I was feeling that way too.


    Great, he thought back, a feedback loop. Maybe I should work on keeping my thoughts private until at least one of us is asleep.


    If it helps, I thought back. That or we could go out somewhere play a game.


    He sent back a picture of the last time we¡¯d tried playing Jenga using his telekinesis and grocery carts. They crashed in a heap. I felt him shaking his head. I doubt they have big grocery stores here anyway.


    He had a point. If they did, it wasn¡¯t the kind of superstore that had enough carts to leave them unwatched long enough for us to play games. Besides, it¡¯s not as if either of us wanted to.


    There is something I¡¯d been meaning to mention to you, but we were all too focused on planning. You know how you¡¯re going to be the distraction so we can get in and out?


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    I was all too aware of it. My part of the plan kept on rolling through my head.


    Well, Daniel continued, you remember how Cassie suggested that Kid Biohack could handle that and I said that it ought to be you? It wasn¡¯t just that we can trust you to do it. It¡¯s also because if we let Kid Biohack do it alone, his chances of dying are astronomical. When you¡¯re both doing it, they¡¯re much lower.


    That answered the question of why Daniel might have a hard time sleeping. I wouldn¡¯t want to be sitting on that either. What if I¡¯m doing it alone?


    Daniel thought about it and I could feel him sense the universe¡¯s possibilities. A better chance of dying, but still nowhere near as bad as Kid Biohack. Whatever it is, it¡¯s either something he¡¯s particularly vulnerable or that you¡¯re trained to handle, but he isn¡¯t. And no, I don¡¯t have the faintest clue what it might be.


    What could I be prepared for that Kid Biohack wasn¡¯t? Technology, aliens, and though it overlapped with the other two, Artificers and their relics.


    That¡¯s all I can think of too, Daniel said.


    While a technological problem didn¡¯t sound too bad, I could do without the rest. I considered telling Daniel that, but found that whatever had been keeping me up no longer mattered. My eyes closed and I could feel Daniel slipping away too.


    My last clear thoughts of the night were that I must have been kept up by his worry.


    The next day we reviewed my bots¡¯ recordings in case there was more data, visited the festival as a group again, and notified Kid Biohack of our plans. I sat down on my bed, looking into the comm unit on my wrist. Over his comm, he grinned at me, ¡°So, you¡¯re going in around seven? That works. I¡¯ll be there the second you call. The footage will be amazing!¡±


    Not wanting to argue about that, I went to my next question, ¡°You know you¡¯ll probably have to leave afterward, right? Whatever¡¯s left of this place¡¯s government is going to be really angry. You¡¯ll probably have to leave with us and depending on how crazy things get, we might have to take any civilians associated with you. Make sure they have a meeting place if things go wrong and that you know what it is.¡±


    He smirked, ¡°That¡¯s the easy part. People like feeling involved.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Alright. One more thing, whatever happens, wait for me to call you in. The Mystic¡¯s determined that we¡¯ll be facing something with a good chance of killing us unless we¡¯re together.¡±


    He gave me a thumbs-up, ¡°Got it. I¡¯ll wait for your signal and haul ass to find you.¡±


    With that, we hung up and I walked out of the bedroom. Yoselin, Daniel, and Cassie were waiting around the table. Their suitcases sat on the floor nearby. ¡°He¡¯s all in. He says he¡¯ll wait until I call. Are you all ready?¡±


    Cassie raised an eyebrow, ¡°We¡¯re ready. Your luggage is still back there.¡±


    I turned around, seeing it next to my bed. She wasn¡¯t wrong.

 Rematch: Part 14

    Once I grabbed my luggage, we took the elevator downstairs and checked out of the hotel, talking and joking around like we¡¯d known each other all of our lives. In the case of Cassie and Daniel, that was true, but over the last couple of days, we¡¯d gotten to know Yoselin (or at least her persona) well enough to fake it.


    She did add a certain energy to the group, laughing loudly, accompanying most of what she said with wide gestures. Plus, Cassie, who despite what she told everyone, spoke fluent Spanish or close enough that she could keep up with Yoselin, something that had to help with our cover.


    We walked out the hotel¡¯s front door to find our golf cart waiting by the curb along with several others parked next to it. It didn¡¯t stand out at all, which was great since it wasn¡¯t a golf cart. We put our luggage on the rack in the back and I drove down the street, avoiding pedestrians, other golf carts, and the occasional poorly placed palm tree or fountain.


    From there we spent the rest of the day eating, attended a concert outside in the afternoon, and rolled out in front of the arena. The signs showed pictures of the bands playing tonight. People stood in lines that extended to the street. Young or old, they stood, talking to each other, staring at their phones, buying food from people pushing carts, and sometimes ditching the line to buy from ticket scalpers.


    Daniel, Cassie, and Yoselin stepped off the cart, Yoselin wearing a ruffled, black dress with red, green, and orange stripes that would transform into powered armor. I¡¯d meant to ask her more about it, but planning hadn¡¯t given us much time to swap ideas. She winked at me, grinning, and saying, ¡°I¡¯ll see you inside.¡±


    She walked away talking with Cassie in Spanish. Daniel walked alongside them, sending me, Good luck. We¡¯ll wait for the explosions.


    They walked directly to the arena. Our cover as rich kids with more money than sense meant that lines happened to other people.


    A valet in a long white shirt and khaki pants walked up, asking, ¡°Keys, sir?¡±


    I waved him off, saying, ¡°Sorry, no,¡± and drove away, heading for the corner. Once I turned and drove a block, I was heading toward the back of the arena, a small fenced-in parking lot with four loading docks, two semi-trucks, and three smaller trucks. I went two blocks past that, stopping next to a blue corrugated metal warehouse.


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    Despite the arena¡¯s crowds, no one was near me.


    I drove the golf cart into the warehouse¡¯s asphalt parking lot, thinking back to Larry¡¯s story about the earth elemental and how it had incorporated the road into itself. I parked and gave a command through my implant, watching as the rear of the golf cart sheered away from the rest, absorbing the luggage and changing into one of my suit¡¯s resupply pods.


    Then it floated upward, its coloring matching the twilight sky as it flew away to rendezvous with the jet somewhere above the island. I stepped forward into the remains of the golf cart, seeing it reform around me into a suit of powered armor. In one sense, you could call it the most recent variation on the Rocket suit, but it wasn¡¯t. Inside, it was every bit that, the controls matching what I was used to, piping the HUD¡¯s information into my implant, and doing the same with bots and weapon controls.


    On the outside, it didn¡¯t bear much resemblance to the classic Rocket suit. We¡¯d known we might face Armory and if not him, people who remembered what happened when the island sank. We also knew the Rocket suit¡¯s main use on this mission¡ªattract attention away from Cassie and Daniel.


    That¡¯s why the new suit was green and bore a strong, but not exact resemblance to the suit Larry wore back then. I¡¯d even had Man-machine and Larry critique it before we left.


    Tonight, the Frog suit jumped again.


    When the implant and I finished the checklist, I gave the rockets fuel and the suit shot into the air, taking me above the warehouse and then the arena, seeing the sun above the ocean, the arena¡¯s three domes, and then beginning my descent toward the back of the building¡ªthe section with administrative offices, staging areas, dressing rooms, and in the basement levels, Armory¡¯s operation.


    I¡¯d put the bots in place earlier in the day. As I dropped toward the roof, the bots exploded, creating ten-foot-wide holes in every floor from the roof all the way down to the basement room with Armory¡¯s main workshop¡ªnot to be confused with his personal workshop. This was the big one. The room where his employees created mechs for the Nine, Syndicate L, and dictators around the world.


    Concrete floors collapsed below me, creating clouds of dust, sparks, and gouts of flame. I¡¯d made sure that the path was clear of people before starting the explosions off, but that didn¡¯t mean the floors were empty¡ªfar from it. The alarms wailed while people screamed and ran away from the destruction.


    The drop was a blur until I hit the pile of shattered concrete shards on the workshop¡¯s floor. I¡¯d landed in the corner of the room where they put the trash¡ªtwo dumpsters full of mech parts that didn¡¯t work.


    I jumped out of the cloud of concrete dust and broken chunks to get a good view of the room. More than thirty feet high, the room held mechs in all stages of construction from metal frames to finished.


    I don¡¯t know how deep or wide the room went (it was big), but my implant counted 102 people, some in coveralls, others in shirts and slacks, all wearing hard hats. Some were running, others staring at the mess and at the Frog suit.


    Finding that I¡¯d come to a moment I¡¯d been waiting for, I powered up the suit¡¯s PA system and croaked out a thunderous, ¡°Ribbit!¡±

 Rematch: Part 15

    Glass and plastic broke on the machines at the nearest work areas. Some of the people who had been running stopped to turn around to look at the suit, recognizing the sound of a recorded bullfrog. Taking advantage of the moment, I activated the music playlist I¡¯d put together last night.


    I started with Three Dog Night¡¯s ¡°Joy to the World,¡± also known by its first line, ¡°Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog.¡± At this, more people stopped to stare at me, throwing their hands over their ears before they began to run again.


    I understood. I¡¯d pumped up the volume as high as I could. While the noise wasn¡¯t bad inside the suit, chances were good that people could hear me upstairs in the arena. Not only wasn¡¯t that a bad thing, but almost the entire point of coming here.


    Over my implant, Cassie said, I can hear you over here. What is that?


    I told her, adding, I made a frog-themed playlist. Lots of kids'' songs. Also, lots of muppets and Crazy Frog. I¡¯m supposed to be noisy and irritating. It felt right.


    She paused for a moment, Crazy Frog? You¡¯re doing great. Oh, and by the way, there are powered armor guys on the move. Watch for them. I¡¯ll let you know when we¡¯re done and don¡¯t forget to call for help if you need it.


    Believe me, I won¡¯t forget. With that, the call was over. I checked out the room, choosing my targets.


    My first priority? The three that looked finished. First, because that would cause them more problems. Second, because someone might be able to use them against me.With two jumps, I crossed the room, landing next to the three finished suits and the room¡¯s exits. That¡¯s plural because of the four normal-sized elevators, the stairs, and a cargo elevator, but that¡¯s not all.


    At the end of the room, there was another elevator sitting open. This one stood tall enough for any of the three twenty-foot-tall mechs to step inside and ride upward. That explained the size of the doors on a section of the building that must have been above me.


    As for the three mechs, I went for the one with the North Korean flag painted on it first. Making a quick scan of the area, I satisfied myself that no one was close enough to be hurt if the mech fell over. Then I jumped upward, activating the rockets to allow myself to hover in front of the head. A blast with the sonics confirmed my suspicions that this was the pilot¡¯s seat. I pointed both arms at the head and adjusted them to affect the head¡¯s outer armor. When I felt confident it had been weakened enough, I found a handhold and ripped open an armored panel.


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    Aiming the sonics inside, I set them to frequencies I¡¯d found effective against computer parts.


    Once I felt confident that the controls and their associated systems had been damaged in countless, subtle ways, I tipped the mech over, watching it smash tools and machinery, bounce a couple of times, and finally lay still on the floor. One of the mech¡¯s arms had been twisted by its fall.


    Good. If someone did try to repair it after we left, they¡¯d have the obvious damage to distract them from the damage inside.


    I repeated the process on the other two mechs, guessing that even though they didn¡¯t have flags painted on them that they might be heading to North Korea too. As the third mech fell, I heard an elevator door open.


    That was interesting by itself because the people had cleared out while I worked. None of the technicians or engineers seemed to be willing to risk death fighting a mystery attacker in frog-themed powered armor.


    Looking toward the elevators, I saw a man walking out the door wearing a black t-shirt that said, security in large, block letters. Between the receding hairline, five o¡¯clock shadow, and the potbelly that threatened to flop over his belt, he had more of the feel of a mall cop than a genuine threat.


    The suit estimated his height as six and a half feet. Combined with his muscles, that made him a little intimidating¡ªif I weren¡¯t in powered armor.


    At the same time, I knew I¡¯d seen him before and whatever memory I associated with him wasn¡¯t good.


    I turned away from the three damaged mechs to face him, noting that I¡¯d passed on to the second song on my playlist. The suit was now blasting the singing of Kermit the Frog from Sesame Street into the room.


    Our eyes met¡ªwell, kind of. I met his eyes and he happened to be staring at the right spot to make me feel like our eyes met. The Frog suit had big googly eyes, so meeting eyes was not really ever going to be a thing.


    His eyes widened, ¡°Frog armor? Are you kidding me? Why? What the hell? Were wombats taken? I don¡¯t know who you are, but I¡¯ve fought the Rocket. You¡¯re just embarrassing.¡±


    I¡¯d fought this guy? Could it have been my grandfather? Except even as I thought that, I knew who he was, and began to feel sick to my stomach. The first time Daniel, Cassie, and I ever went out as a team, we¡¯d run across the Grey Giant, a thug who transformed into a giant with grey skin, massive strength, and near invulnerability.


    He¡¯d been out of our league, far out of it. The Midwest Defenders captured him before their leader took time out from his life to chew us out.


    Jason Swan (the Grey Giant) grinned as his body turned grey and grew more than three times taller. In a much deeper voice, he said, ¡°I¡¯m giving you one chance to surrender. If you don¡¯t, just like the song says, it¡¯s not going to be easy being green.¡±

 Rematch: Part 16

    I asked the first question that came to mind, ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to be in a prison somewhere? You got caught by the Defenders six years ago and with as many deaths as you have on your record, I have a hard time believing they¡¯d ever let you out again.¡±


    The Grey Giant frowned down at me, reminding me of just how much bigger he was, ¡°Not my fault! I didn¡¯t try to kill any of them. They didn¡¯t have to get close to me. Heroes that fragile should know better.¡±


    Hearing the tone of his voice, it made me think he might feel guilty about it. That was a mark in his favor. From the snarl on his face as he stepped toward me, though, I got the feeling that he handled negative emotions by hurting people.


    Doing my best to channel my dad, I lowered the volume of the music and said, ¡°From what you said just now, I¡¯m getting the impression that you regret hurting them. If you think about it, hurting me because you feel bad about hurting them can only cause a self-reinforcing spiral of shame and guilt. Uh¡­ What do you think about that?¡±


    He froze, his face turning a darker grey as whatever he used for blood-filled it and he started screaming at me, ¡°I hate therapists! I¡¯m not going to feel bad about killing you at all.¡±


    Then he ripped an arm off of one of the mechs lying on the ground and rushed me¡ªwhich, given his size, meant that he was within arm¡¯s reach in two steps.


    Note to self? Leave therapy to therapists. Also, try to warn Dad off from counseling supervillains if it ever came up.


    Jumping sidewise, I shouted, ¡°You need to work on a better way to process your negative emotions!¡±


    The bicep of the mech¡¯s arm hit where I¡¯d been standing, bending, but also throwing chunks of the concrete floor in the air. One passed halfway through a laptop¡¯s screen, the momentum carrying the laptop off of the table it had been on and dropping it on the floor in front of a row of metal cabinets.


    Using the implant to control my suit, I pumped up the volume on the music (¡°Froggy Went a Courtin¡¯¡±), sent Cassie and Daniel a message that I was calling in reinforcements and to let me know the second I could leave, and then sent a text to Kid Biohack saying, ¡°help!¡±


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    The comm would give him location details. I was going to be too busy trying not to die for that.


    I landed next to the elevators, the normal human-sized ones were on the wall around the corner and to the right of the giant mech-sized elevator. For a moment, I considered taking one, but even if the door opened, the Grey Giant could punch through the wall and into the elevator shaft.


    Besides, the whole point was delaying and distracting Armory¡¯s people so they couldn¡¯t protect him.


    I jumped into the air, giving the rockets fuel to send me deeper into the room. I landed in the aisle in the middle. Fabrication machines and massive 3D printers stood on either side of me.


    I could do this. I didn¡¯t really even have to fight the guy. I just had to keep him mad and keep moving. When Kid Biohack got here, we do it even better. Kid Biohack¡¯s speed might not be as fast as Jaclyn''s, but he could adjust his body to get more out of it.


    Back at the front of the room, the Grey Giant had just realized how far my jump had carried me. With a scream, he threw the mech¡¯s arm at me. Recognizing that it angled rightward instead of straight, I jumped to my left, feeling the wind of its passing as part of it hit one of the larger machines, swinging around it to hit another.


    I decided to try another tack, ¡°Are you sure you want to fight? If you keep on damaging his stuff, Armory might fire you. You want to play poker or something?¡±


    Glancing at the machines¡¯ wreckage, the Grey Giant¡¯s eyes widened and for a second I thought he might stop. He might not want to play poker, but maybe he¡¯d want to talk¡ªwhich would be okay. I had no idea how to play poker and even less of an idea of where I¡¯d find a deck of cards.


    He stared at me, ¡°He knew what he was getting when he hired me. Are you going to run or are you going to fight?¡±


    Then he grabbed one of the metal cabinets, ten feet wide and almost that deep, throwing it at me. The cabinet flew faster than the mech arm. I saw only a dark blur heading in my direction.


    I tried dodging right and almost got out of the way, but it hit my left side, knocking me off balance. I landed on the floor, seeing the cabinet tumble down the aisle until it hit the far wall. Thanks to the suit¡¯s peripheral vision, I also saw that the Grey Giant was running straight toward me from the front, covering the distance far too quickly.


    Trying to ignore thoughts along the lines of, ¡°So this is how I die,¡± I gave the rockets fuel and shot sideways and upward, avoiding the ceiling and walls only because of reflexes developed over years of flying.


    That kind of flying didn¡¯t fit the frog theme, but I wasn¡¯t willing to die from going hand to hand with this guy. I¡¯d improved on my original Rocket suit¡¯s strength, durability, and weapons, but I wasn¡¯t confident I¡¯d improved them enough.


    All the same, if Kid Biohack didn¡¯t arrive soon, I¡¯d have to stop fighting to delay and start fighting to win.

 Rematch: Part 17

    My evasive maneuvers put me over lines of machines and mech parts and materials¡ªsteel for frames, plates of armor, boxes full of bolts. It reminded me of the secret factory that Chris inherited, and it didn¡¯t surprise me at all. When he and Larry looked over my pseudo-frog suit, he¡¯d told me everything.


    After Armory stopped being a superhero, he¡¯d gone to Man-machine for advice on how to make powered armor as a business and they¡¯d stayed friends after that. Well, at least until Armory stiffed him on an object I called The Ball that he made for a group of supervillains called The Maniacs.


    I didn¡¯t have time to dwell on that, though, because the Grey Giant had turned around to swat at me with his arms. They were longer than I¡¯d realized because he almost connected. I gave the rockets more fuel as I whipped around to aim myself in his direction, feeling the g-forces on my body.


    Then I activated the suit¡¯s laser, creating a blinding light show. Again, it wasn¡¯t frog-themed, but I¡¯d at least made it mostly green. I¡¯d come up with the technology ages ago and used it in my (missed, at least by me) guitar.


    The Grey Giant tried to block the light with his left arm and kicked at me as I flew low past his legs, heading for the back of the room. Once past, I turned off the flashing lights and landed next to the dumpsters and the shattered concrete chunks from the holes I¡¯d made to get me into the room.


    Holding up my arms and stoping the music, I said, ¡°I can leave any time I want. You¡¯ve got no reason not to talk with me. It¡¯sthe only way you¡¯ve got to keep me here and have a chance to take me out.¡±


    Using my implant, I thought at Cassie and Yoselin, How are you all doing?


    Yoselin¡¯s voice echoed in my mind, We¡¯re about to kidnap Armory. Your friend, Daniel, is putting him and the others to sleep.


    What she said, Cassie added. Are you okay?


    I was about to reply, but another voice pushed into my head.


    I MUST PROTEST THIS MISUSE OF MY POTENTIAL! HEAR ME OUT! AM I NOT A WEAPON OF EXCEPTIONAL POWER? THEN WHY WAS I NOT¡ª


    Sorry, Cassie said, he¡¯s been getting antsy. Anyway, you?


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    I¡¯m having a rematch with the Grey Giant. Kid Biohack¡¯s coming. Don¡¯t have time to talk.


    Shit! Tell us if you need help. We¡¯ll be there. Out. Cassie cut the connection.


    The Grey Giant came to a stop about twenty feet away from me, frowning and looking down at me, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s talk then. What do you want to talk about?¡±


    What did I want to talk about? All I knew was that a conversation would give them more time with less risk than a fight would, ¡°Nothing in particular, but I am curious as to how you got out of prison and went to work for Armory. Is there some kind of supervillain job site online? Do you just use Craigslist?¡±


    He gave a sigh with a rumble that reminded me of a semi-truck, ¡°I have people. Sure, you can call them agents or whatever, but they find me jobs like this one. They get a finder¡¯s fee based on the job.¡±


    Nodding inside the suit even though I know he couldn¡¯t see it, I said, ¡°That sounds expensive. Did your agents get you out of prison too?¡±


    He shrugged, ¡°Kinda, yeah. Syndicate L broke me out. One of my agents made the deal and paid my fees.¡±


    Narrowing his eyes, he said, ¡°The question thing goes both ways. What are you doing here? I know you¡¯re not a rival. Those guys don¡¯t talk until afterward. They just send in the mechs.So who sent you in? I¡¯m figuring government or maybe a superhero on account of how you aren¡¯t going for the jugular.¡±


    So, now I needed to come up with a lie that would work for at least ten minutes, ¡°A superhero. We¡¯re kind of pissed that Armory¡¯s making things for the world¡¯s supervillains. I¡¯m here to blow up his stuff.¡±


    He began to grin, the expression going slowly wider. It wasn¡¯t a look that made me feel good. When it reached its full, toothy width, he said, ¡°No shit? You wouldn¡¯t by any chance be the Rocket? Kind of a giveaway when you¡¯re flying around like that. I saw a video of the last frog guy. I don¡¯t know who that guy was, but he didn¡¯t fly.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t expected the Grey Giant to be dumb, but on the other hand, I hadn¡¯t expected him to be that observant either. Still, it wasn¡¯t as if hiding that I was the Rocket was a mission requirement. The Feds would be more than happy if we put the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s name on this.


    At the same time, I wasn¡¯t going to confirm it, ¡°I guess you¡¯re just going to have to wonder about that. If you know anything about superheroes, you know that we¡¯re not into telling people that kind of thing. For all you know, I¡¯m just a guy who admires the frog¡¯s power and place in the ecosystem.¡±


    He laughed, ¡°Sure, kid. Be that way.¡±


    My implant let me know I had a message from Kid Biohack. It showed a blur of white-painted cinderblock walls and his view of a rapidly descending stairway along with the words, ¡°Almost there.¡±


    And then he was.


    Kid Biohack ran out of the stairway, his silver suit a blur as he ran down the full length of the room with a stride that covered more than thirty feet at once. He passed the Grey Giant before the giant even noticed him and turned around to stand next to me, only then seeming to notice who he was facing.


    Though a mask hid most of his face, I could see as his eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth, ¡°You!¡±


    Kid Biohack, I remembered, came from a big family of superheroes. The chance that he¡¯d lost a family member or friend to the Grey Giant was better than most.

 Rematch: Part 18

    In a low voice, I asked, ¡°You know this guy?¡±


    Not even looking at me, he said, ¡°You remember Shield? He was my cousin.¡±


    Despite the name,Shield didn¡¯t carry a shield. The idea was that he was everyone¡¯s shield. He¡¯d died in a fight with the Grey Giant when I was starting high school. Kid Biohack would have been starting college. I didn¡¯t know how old Shield had been, but I had the feeling that he¡¯d been just starting his career.


    I opened my mouth to say I was sorry and maybe find a way to tactfully remind him that we were here to delay the Grey Giant, not kill him. I didn¡¯t get the chance. Kid Biohack ran straight toward the Grey Giant, hitting his leg and knocking it out from under him.


    I had to jump sideways to avoid having the Grey Giant fall on me. I landed next to the work area closest to the wall, avoiding a mech¡¯s half-constructed frame, but denting a metal cabinet. They¡¯d have a job getting that one open again¡ªthough I couldn¡¯t say I felt bad about it.


    The Grey Giant wasn¡¯t so lucky. He fell face-first into a dumpster full of damaged mech parts and packaging. It would be nice to think that hurt him, but it didn¡¯t.


    It hurt the dumpster. The metal screeched as one side bent and hit the concrete floor with the weight of the Grey Giant¡¯s head.


    As an opening move, it made a statement. I wasn¡¯t sure what the precise statement was, but I knew one thing. It wasn¡¯t the kind of statement that helped create quiet conversations that distracted the Grey Giant from doing his job.


    If anything, the statement was something like, ¡°Watch me kick your ass,¡± and while it did distract the Grey Giant from his job, it was because it made him want to murder everything within reach. At least that¡¯s what I assumed from the way he bellowed and pushed himself up, not seeing Kid Biohack, but seeing me.


    He swung at me with his right hand, missing, but only because he started the swing while getting up and I saw it out of the corner of my eye.


    I engaged the rockets and shot halfway down the room where I flipped over, turned around, and landed. Roaring, the Grey Giant ran after me¡ªexcept it wasn¡¯t me he was going for. Kid Biohack had stopped almost as far from him as I had and now he was running back toward the guy.


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    He turned into a silver blur as he ran down the room¡¯s middle aisle straight for the standing giant. I half-expected him to knock down the Grey Giant again, but instead, the Grey Giant whipped his arm out, smacking Kid Biohack sideways, throwing him through a working area, knocking down a half-constructed mech, a pile of mech armor plates, and denting a metal cabinet so deeply that he reached the concrete wall behind it¡ªwhich cracked.


    Kid Biohack didn¡¯t get up, but he did move his arms and legs, beginning to push himself up on all fours. The Grey Giant laughed and began to run toward him.


    I say began because I fired off a bunch of boombots, aiming them at the giant¡¯s eyes where they erupted in a series of explosions. I hadn¡¯t had anything like them the first time I fought the guy and maybe I should have given some thought as to whether or not I might blind him forever if I did that.


    I didn¡¯t, but he was just fine for some value of fine.


    He screamed and brought his hands up to his eyes, wiping out ash and boombot bits. Then he screamed again, this one deep enough that I could feel it vibrate my suit. It wasn¡¯t loud enough to be a sonic attack, but still¡­


    Then he looked toward where he¡¯d hit Kid Biohack, following the trail of destruction with his eyes, staring at the smashed and dented remains of the metal cabinet and cracked wall. Kid Biohack wasn¡¯t there. While the Grey Giant wiped his eyes, he¡¯d run through the room, stopping at a work area behind me, leaning against the wooden tabletop, breathing heavily.


    So that was one time when he could have died. Given that he was hurt, it seemed likely there would be more.


    It was time to start fighting to win¡ªwhich was easier said than done. The last time we¡¯d fought the Grey Giant, the only one of us who was able to hurt him had been Cassie using her father¡¯s sword. Shocked by its ability to cut into his leg, he¡¯d run away only to be taken out by the Midwest Defenders.


    In the meantime, I¡¯d added more options to my suit including killbots that used tech from Cassie¡¯s sword. The Nine had tech that could defeat them, but not everyone did, and that was far from my only option.


    The Grey Giant¡¯s head turned away from where Kid Biohack had been and toward me, stopping to stare at Kid Biohack behind. Then he grinned, ¡°There¡¯s not going to be anything left of you but paste.¡±


    With a lurch, he charged us.


    Through my comm, I said, ¡°You¡¯re hurt. Go!¡±


    ¡°Give me a second,¡± he gasped for breath, ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    I was already in the air by then and didn¡¯t have time to argue. The Grey Giant had covered half the distance to us. I flew toward him, turning on my blinding light show when I reached the level of his head. As he shielded his eyes with one hand, I activated the sonics, aiming them at his head.

 Rematch: Part 19

    The first time I¡¯d ever fought him, I aimed the sonics directly at his ear, keeping them at a level designed to cause pain, but not trying to hurt him. I¡¯d been trying to distract him from a couple of guys in a mini-van who were shooting video and got too close.


    It had distracted him but hadn¡¯t hurt him much.


    This time I was going for more than a distraction. Kid Biohack wasn¡¯t fighting rationally. He might die if he came back into the fight. If it was better to maim than to kill, I felt sure I could justify destroying the Grey Giant¡¯s hearing and sense of balance if it kept Kid Biohack alive. Besides, if the Grey Giant¡¯s weird, transforming grey goo body was anything like Marcus¡¯, weird, transforming grey goo body, he¡¯d fix himself turning back.


    If destroying his sense of balance didn¡¯t work, well, I still had killbots.


    They weren¡¯t my first choice, but if that was all that stood between Kid Biohack and joining his cousin, I would.


    I flew toward the Grey Giant, staying on his left side, glowing with a blinding green light. Though he¡¯d shielded his eyes with his arm, he hadn¡¯t shielded his left ear. I narrowcast sound at it, using the sonics to give me an ultrasound of his head, and setting the sonics to concentrate on frequencies that got the strongest reaction from his eardrum.


    He screamed as it broke, but that wasn¡¯t all I did. I aimed myself downward like a missile toward his left leg. He¡¯d lifted it to step forward. I hit it at nearly three hundred miles per hour. The inertial dampers I¡¯d put inside my suit whined in complaint, but they also stopped me from turning into paste at the impact.


    I still felt it, but not much.


    The hit pulled his leg sideways, twisting his body. What momentum he had was pulling him to the right as he fell backward, sending him toward the right wall, but also in the direction he¡¯d been walking¡ªexcept now he was traveling on his back.


    He wasn¡¯t sliding as he would on a waterslide either. It was more the way he¡¯d slide if he were a semi-truck sliding down a highway full of stopped cars. He crushed the work areas he landed on¡ªcomputers, fabrication machines, metal cabinets, and office cubicles all at once, complete with sparking electricity.


    The work areas he slid into turned a tidal wave of office equipment, mech parts, and machines.


    To my relief, the wave of debris didn¡¯t make it to Kid Biohack, stopping a work area ahead¡ªthough a printer tumbled down the middle of the row, stopping off to Kid Biohack¡¯s side in the aisle. Kid Biohack raised his head enough to watch everything, but he still didn¡¯t move except to give me a thumbs up.


    In my head, I heard Cassie talking through my implant, Are you okay? We felt that.


    That was the Grey Giant falling. I¡¯m fine.


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    Her reply came in at a volume that would have caused me to back away if we¡¯d been in person, Kickass! Give him a punch for me, okay?


    I thought back, Are you done?


    Done? She laughed, We¡¯re on our way up the stairs. That¡¯s why I was calling, but then I felt him fall. Sorry. We¡¯re heading out the back as planned. In a few seconds, you can give this place a Viking funeral.


    After I hit the giant¡¯s leg, I¡¯d used his weight to slow me down and turn me toward the back of the room again. The reduction in speed gave me time to flip over and fly back instead of hitting the wall with the dumpsters.


    As Cassie talked about a Viking funeral, I was flying toward the Grey Giant and Kid Biohack. The Grey Giant tried to push himself up, but as he sat up, he wobbled and had to catch himself before falling sideways.


    I flew over him, but he didn¡¯t even try to swipe at me. To Cassie, I said, Tell me when you¡¯re out.


    From the amusement in her tone, I knew the answer before she finished, We¡¯re out. Let ¡®er rip.


    Seeing that the Grey Giant was still having trouble staying upright, I landed directly in front of the table Kid Biohack was leaning on. Jumping over it, I grabbed him as I landed, saying, ¡°We¡¯ve got to go. Like, now.¡±


    He didn¡¯t resist as I held him next to my armor even if he did, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯m healing.¡±


    With my helmet¡¯s 360 degree vision, I saw that the Grey Giant had managed to pull himself up even if he was keeping himself upright by putting his hands on the ceiling. ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you,¡± he growled, closing the distance between us with one step.


    Even given his difficulty, I didn¡¯t feel like waiting to see what happened next. I blasted off even as I heard the Grey Giant laugh. While that could have been a laugh about missing his chance to off me, it wasn¡¯t.


    He¡¯d noticed what I¡¯d noticed. Five mechs had run out of the cargo elevator on the end of the room I¡¯d been planning to use as an exit. I asked Kid Biohack, ¡°Can you make yourself tougher? Because that¡¯s going to help.¡±


    I didn¡¯t wait for his answer, firing off a cloud of bots. There was no point in saving them for later. Roaring after them, I watched as goobots plastered them in grey goo, spreading to cover them and attach both to the floor and the nearest mechs. That wasn¡¯t enough to immobilize them. They started pulling the gooey strands off themselves almost the instant they got hit. Two didn¡¯t even get their arms covered. So they were already firing their arm cannons even as I rocketed toward them, firing off more bots.


    Boombots hit the two with working guns, knocking them over and more goobots swarmed them. Ahead of me, more boombots hit the giant mech elevator, the one that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. I¡¯d thought the doors were open earlier, but they must have closed.


    The boombots blew a hole in them and I flew through the smoking, blackened remains. Stopping in the elevator, I watched as more bots blew a hole through the ceiling.


    Turning around and hovering, I addressed the mechs on the ground outside, ¡°You¡¯re going to want to get out of your suits.¡±


    Then I sent the bots the message I¡¯d been setting up ever since I understood where Armory and his people worked. It wasn¡¯t quite the Viking funeral Cassie imagined, being less fire and more electromagnetic pulse. I¡¯d used the jet to store EMP bots along with boombots and sent them in throughout Armory¡¯s offices and labs. I targeted the labs'' data center as well with the idea of leaving not a scrap of Armory¡¯s data behind.


    The boombots hit file cabinets to assure that even paper burned.


    Unlike most people, I understood that it took more than plans to construct a piece of technology. Translating those plans into physical objects meant documenting hundreds of little details. Destroying those documents could put them back years.


    As explosions went off behind me, I shot upward through the hole in the ceiling and into the elevator shaft. Seconds later, boombots blew a hole in the door to the outside and I was free.

 Rematch: Part 20

    Free for some value of free¡ªwhich in this case meant not fighting someone that could potentially kill me with a punch or, more likely, kill Kid Biohack.


    I took a moment to orient myself. There¡¯s no point in getting out only to fly into the path of a Mack truck. I¡¯d come out on the side of the arena where I thought I would, a side with no obvious doors or windows except, of course, for the hole my bots blew in what would have otherwise passed for a wall.


    This was convenient because there weren¡¯t many people near. ¡°Many¡± turned out to be a relative term though. From the huge crowd near the front, it was obvious they¡¯d evacuated the building after the fight started. Knowing how many people the three arenas inside could hold, there had to be thousands of people in the intersection near the front.


    Here there were less than one hundred people. Unlike the front of the arena which sat in the middle of gleaming restaurants and shops, the back stood among corrugated steel buildings that looked enough alike that they might have all gone up at once.


    Either way, the people in the street did see me, shouting things like, ¡°Is that a frog?¡± And, ¡°Look, he¡¯s carrying Kid Biohack!¡±


    Then I heard a grinding noise coming from behind me inside the building. I gave the rockets more fuel, shooting upward while shouting, ¡°Get back or you¡¯ll die!¡±


    The Grey Giant confirmed my fears as he used the hole I¡¯d made in the door as a handle to pull the elevator door in and began to pull himself through the doorway.


    Thinking that I owed the people a distraction even if I couldn¡¯t protect them, I unloaded another barrage of boombots at his eyes and ears. Lowering his head to protect it, he lost his grip and fell backward, hanging in the elevator shaft.


    Then I turned away, hearing Kid Biohack moan at my movement, but feeling like I¡¯d at least done something. If I got high enough, the Grey Giant wouldn¡¯t have a chance to take another shot at me.


    Even though he¡¯d fallen back, I hadn¡¯t noticed any balance issues¡ªthough he¡¯d been moving slowly. Maybe he¡¯d changed back to human and then back to giant, healing himself but tiring himself? I wouldn¡¯t know for sure without asking him and that wasn¡¯t going to happen today.


    Using my implant to operate my comm, I asked, ¡°Are you all okay?¡±


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    Daniel¡¯s voice came back over the comm, ¡°We¡¯re on the jet. How are you?¡±


    ¡°Gaining altitude. Come around and pick me up, but watch for giants while you do it.¡±


    Between the streetlights and the arena¡¯s lights, I could see that the Grey Giant had pulled himself out of the elevator shaft and stood in the street, staring upward, probably at the rockets¡¯ glow. I weaved, angling the suit so that I changed direction enough that he¡¯d have a hard time throwing a car at me if one came to hand.


    He didn¡¯t,  standing below me and watching as the jet appeared above me, invisible in the darkness except for the light visible through its open door. Thinking back to watching Izzy¡¯s view of the same sight over Turkmenistan during college, I stepped through, closing it behind me, and taking in the jet¡¯s cabin.


    Len Jones, otherwise known as Armory slept in one of the cabin¡¯s chairs. Daniel sat next to him, still wearing his black costume.


    Cassie and Yoselin sat in the front with Cassie flying the jet in the same red, white, and blue her father wore. Yoselin wore red, white, and blue as well, but where Cassie''s costume was light blue except for the US flag on her chest, Yoselin had a red triangle on one side of her chest (and back) with a star in the middle. Blue and white stripes extended out of it.


    Yoselin¡¯s costume also included hard plates over her arms, legs, and chest. Her helmet sat on the floor next to her chair. She gave me a smile as the door shut.


    Lowering Kid Biohack into the chair behind Armory, I said, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s alive, but that¡¯s all I¡¯m sure of.¡±


    Daniel stared at Kid Biohack and nodded, ¡°He¡¯s in some kind of healing trance. Kid Biohack may not look it, but he¡¯s actively involved in fixing himself right now. You might find it interesting to talk about it with him later. It¡¯s complicated.¡±


    After strapping Kid Biohack in, I stepped around him to sit next to Daniel and behind Yoselin. Cassie turned back to ask me, ¡°Do you want to take over?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Not unless you don¡¯t want to fly it.¡±


    Turning the jet toward Florida¡¯s coast, Cassie said, ¡°I like it, but if we do get into a fight, it¡¯s yours. You know it better than I do.¡±


    Yoselin turned back toward me, ¡°I can move, but you don¡¯t need me to, do you? It¡¯s all implant controlled.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Everything. It looks like a jet, but it¡¯s more of a starship.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said, turning around further to eye the door to the engine room at the back of the cabin. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have told her that, but her father had to know already.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Daniel said, staring at Armory, ¡°I¡¯m finding something interesting here. Armory¡¯s got mental protections by some telepath, but that¡¯s not the interesting part. The interesting part is that it looks like his brain was reshaped around the phrase, ¡®You should be getting paid for this.¡¯ I can find echoes of it all over and it¡¯s not in his voice. That¡¯s not a technique telepaths use.¡±


    Shaking her head, Cassie said, ¡°Shit.¡±


    I knew exactly what she was thinking of and what Daniel was implying, ¡°You¡¯re sure? Vocal manipulation only lasts for about thirty minutes normally. Either someone he knows is regularly repeating it and did that for years, or it¡¯s an advanced technique like the Dominators might use.¡±

 Rematch: Part 21

    Daniel nodded, ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking too. It has to be them. The only question is whether someone hired them to do it or whether they¡¯re doing it on their own. If no one¡¯s hiring them, that¡¯s worse.¡±


    Yoselin turned around, ¡°And why do you think that?¡±


    I knew why, but he answered first, ¡°Because if they did it themselves, they¡¯ll care what happened, and I¡¯m not sure we¡¯re ready to go up against the Dominators. If the Nine hired them, the Nine might care, but they¡¯ll have to hire the Dominators for them to care. We¡¯ve gone up against the Nine successfully a couple of times now. We might be able to do it again.¡±


    From the front, Cassie said, ¡°Three times if you count the time Red Hex, Troll, and I fought them.¡±


    Yoselin shrugged, holding out her hands, ¡°Whether the Nine hired them or not, I¡¯m not sure there¡¯s a difference between the Dominators and the Nine. My father thinks that the Dominators only let the Nine think they¡¯re independent.¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°That kind of makes sense.¡±


    Turning to meet Yoselin¡¯s eyes, Daniel said, ¡°I hope you¡¯re wrong, but Nick¡¯s right. Crap.¡±


    We all sat for a little while in silence watching the moon and ocean in the darkness outside. Then Daniel said, ¡°Cap, turn us around and make a loop around the island. I just thought of something. I¡¯ll tell you where to go once we get closer.¡±


    The jet whipped around in a turn quick enough to put us into one of those UFO videos and we hurtled toward the island. Streetlights and spotlights illuminated its hotels and the arena. Though I half-expected to, I couldn¡¯t see the Grey Giant.


    Past the arena, where the city turned from tourist attractions into a suburb that might have existed anywhere, I saw another light. This one wasn¡¯t large, but I recognized the red flames for what they were.


    ¡°That way,¡± Daniel pointed toward the flames.


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    Fire trucks poured water on one house, a large one with a five-car garage. Burnt black with flames coming out of every window, and one wall that had fallen inward, I felt comfortable guessing that no one would live there again.


    Daniel pointed his thumb toward where Len Jones slept in a chair, ¡°His house. I was thinking that even though we¡¯d burned his records, we might find something here that would give us a clue who messed with his head.¡±


    ¡°Heading out of here,¡± Cassie aimed the jet leftward and we headed out toward the water again. Another turn sent us north toward Florida, but not over the island. We didn¡¯t know they had missiles or flying supers, but knowing they had alien tech meant that it was better not to stick around to find out the hard way.


    Then Cassie glanced over at Yoselin, ¡°Where should I drop you off? Cuba¡¯s not far. How close do we need to get before you can fly the rest of the way?¡±


    Twisting around to look back at Daniel and me before she answered, ¡°If it all the same to you, I¡¯d like to stay with you until you¡¯re done with this. I know it might be politically challenging for you, but I can clear it with my supervisors.¡±


    She looked from Cassie and back to me again, ¡°My father worked with the original Rocket and is friends with the Rhino. I¡¯d like you to trust me as much as they did him.¡±


    I looked over at Daniel, ¡°Are we going to go after this? My understanding was that we¡¯re done after we hand Armory over. I¡¯m not sure if the Feds would even want us involved. They¡¯re willing to hide behind us, but I don¡¯t think they¡¯re looking for help.¡±


    From the front, Cassie laughed, ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ve got a feeling we¡¯d be hearing the words ¡®national security'' a lot from Lim and his people.¡±


    ¡°Good point,¡± Daniel gave Len a look. The guy was still sleeping, ¡°but there¡¯s something else we need to consider. We know the Nine have infiltrated the FBI. I don¡¯t know whether Lim rooted them out or not, but even if he found a few agents, there might be more. I¡¯m not sure I want us to go after either the Nine or the Dominators, but I¡¯m not sure the Feds can do it themselves without tipping off the people they¡¯re investigating.¡±


    I looked at Len Jones who was still sleeping, a little drool dripping from his mouth. It was possible that Len hadn¡¯t turned mercenary on his own. He¡¯d been pushed, meaning he was as much a victim as any of the people killed by powered armor he¡¯d sold to the highest bidder.


    I looked over at Daniel, feeling him read my chain of thought, but adding for everyone else¡¯s benefit, ¡°It seems like we have to look into it. If we hand him over to the Feds and do nothing, then the guy will probably go to jail for stuff someone made him do.¡±


    Daniel looked over at Yoselin, ¡°Are you sure you want to stick around for this? I have a bad feeling it¡¯s going to get messy.¡±

 Rematch: Part 22

    Yoselin nodded, ¡°I do. This is bigger than Cuba and the United States. The Dominators and the Nine represent a threat to all nations and I don¡¯t want to be at home wasting my time while you fight. I¡¯ve known about them all of my life and this is the closest thing I¡¯ve ever had to a lead on them. I want to follow it.¡±


    Daniel and I looked at each other, making an instant telepathic connection. She means it, Daniel told me. I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s been modified by them in the past, but since I don¡¯t see any hints of it, I¡¯d be willing to take a chance on her.


    Me too, I thought back. We should probably ask Cassie what she thinks.


    Daniel grinned, The last thing we need is for everyone to feel like we¡¯re making decisions for the team and leaving everyone else out. I¡¯ll bring her in and give her the short version of what we¡¯ve said.


    He did. Cassie¡¯s response was, If she¡¯s clean as far as you can tell, I¡¯m fine with it. She was good back on the island. Let¡¯s call it done.


    And Kid Biohack? Daniel asked us.


    I looked over to Kid Biohack¡¯s seat. He was still sleeping, but a bloody scrape on his face was half as big as I remembered.


    I felt Cassie¡¯s amusement even before she spoke. Look, he¡¯s not a bad guy. Every time he¡¯s shown up to help us so far, he¡¯s taken a bullet for the group. He got taken by The Thing That Eats last time and this time the Grey Giant punched him. I can¡¯t do anything but respect him for that. Still, he¡¯s not my first choice for anything that needs to be quiet and this is going to need all the quiet we can manage. So, no.


    Daniel and I agreed and so he ended the connection. I told Yoselin the good news.


    ¡°Congratulations,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯ve agreed that you can stick around and risk your life, sanity, and identity along with the rest of us.¡±


    She laughed, clapping her hands, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t miss it for the world.¡±


    With a look at Daniel first, I said, ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be too hard to allow you to stay officially. They make it really easy for Cuban citizens to immigrate and I know you aren¡¯t planning to, but it¡¯s not like you have to stay forever if they allow you to stay. ¡±


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    From the front, Cassie said, ¡°My mom¡¯s parents are from Cuba. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard. Besides, it¡¯s not like you¡¯ll have to go through normal channels. We know people.¡±


    Before anyone else could speak, Cassie added, ¡°We¡¯re nearing Florida. That¡¯s where we¡¯re supposed to drop Armory off. Now that we know what we know, do we? I know they¡¯ll be pissed, but if the guy¡¯s a victim of the Dominators and the Nine, we might be handing him right back to them.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Yoselin blinked and looked from Cassie back to us, ¡°you can do that?¡±


    ¡°If we want to really piss people off, yes,¡± I said, ¡°but I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll get away with it. I¡¯m pretty sure they¡¯ll talk to other heroes who will then show up to talk us into it.¡±


    Daniel nodded, ¡°True, but Cassie brought up a good point. We know the Nine has people in government. We should get everything we can out of him before we hand him over in case the Nine find some way to¡­ um¡­ erase the evidence.¡±


    ¡°That, exactly,¡± Cassie glanced back at us and then out into the night ahead of us. We were high enough to see light along the darkness of the coast, but not close enough to see details. ¡°If you want me to stall, it won¡¯t be hard. It¡¯s not as if we show up on radar.¡±


    Daniel bit his lip, ¡°I¡¯m trying to work out the best way to do it. I can¡¯t just copy everything into my brain. The last thing I need is to have him as a kind of psychic ghost in my head. Not to mention that if the brain modification he got somehow transferred, I might find myself selling my services to the highest bidder.¡±


    I turned away from the window to look at him, ¡°Is that possible? Viral commands?¡±


    He frowned, ¡°It depends on how closely I copy him. What I¡¯m thinking is that I¡¯ll go through relevant memories as we did with Mayor Bouman when we caught him. Then those of you with implants can store the memories. There won¡¯t be enough of him around to cause problems¡ªjust his memories interpreted by you.¡±


    He set up a connection with the three of us and threw images and scenes at us, one at a time, but too quickly for my mind to absorb but the implant got it. It classified and organized them one after another. How do you summarize a life?


    Armory was born Len Jones in a small town near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Inspired by the Rocket he¡¯d started experimenting with powered armor, becoming a superhero, and fighting on different teams throughout the 70s and early 80s. Dissatisfied with it, he¡¯d started to sell his designs even before ending his career as a hero. After that, he¡¯d moved around, selling to anyone who would buy.


    When the stream of memories ended, Daniel leaned back in his seat, ¡°I hope you¡¯ve got all of that because I don¡¯t have any of it. I did my best to copy the most important memories, but you don¡¯t have all of it¡ªprobably not even a tenth.¡±


    He grinned, ¡°I hope it¡¯s good enough because I¡¯m too wiped to do any more before we turn him in.¡±

 Never Go Home: Part 1

    I woke up the next day in my own house and my own bed. I¡¯d been living there since my junior year of college by that point so it felt normal to think of it as mine as opposed to my grandparents. I¡¯d even decorated to a degree.


    When we¡¯d cleaned up the base below, we¡¯d found a sign that hung in front of Grandpa¡¯s business. It said, ¡°Joe Vander Sloot, Consulting Engineer.¡± His name was on the first line and title on the second, both in gold letters against a black background. Knowing the Rocket suit¡¯s colors, I¡¯d wondered if it were a subtle nod to his alter ego, but it might be colors that fit the look of the business.


    It might have been both, but it was five years late to ask him.


    Anyway, I¡¯d hung it on the wall to the side of my bed. It might have been a subtle nod to both of our alter egos, but more likely a nod to his memory, that there was once a man named Joe Vander Sloot who the world knew by another name. I can only guess what he or my grandmother might have thought about me hanging the sign in their bedroom, but I hope they would have understood.


    Not that I had any time to think about that.Someone knocked on my door, saying, ¡°I know you¡¯re awake, may I come in?¡±


    I knew her high-pitched and relentlessly cheerful voice before Tara finished the first word.Living in the same house with her for the last couple of years had been like living with a younger sister who was taller and stronger, smarter than I was when she wanted to be, and capable of beating me in a fight whenever I wasn¡¯t wearing the Rocket suit.


    Checking to make sure I was in pajamas (I was), I said, ¡°Sure.¡±


    She opened the door with enough force that it could have slammed into the wall if she hadn¡¯t hung on. Leaving the door open, she walked in wearing khaki shorts and a button-down shirt with a pattern of flowers in all the colors of the rainbow. Calling it loud was an understatement.


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    She sat down on the bed next to me, ¡°What I know is that it was Armory. You gave him to the FBI and didn¡¯t tell them everything. You kept the Abominator relic and didn¡¯t tell them why you brought the new girl here.¡±


    She stopped there, grinning at me.


    We hadn¡¯t explained any of that to her last night when we landed. She was fully capable of picking it up from a combination of our expressions, tone of speech, physical clues, news reports, and what she knew of our mission before we left.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you the whole story,¡± I said, and I did.


    She listened, sometimes laughing and asking questions, but just as often expressionless, silent, and maybe learning more from what I said than I intended to say. When I was done, she got up, kissed me on the forehead the way she might have if I were five, and said, ¡°It sounds like you¡¯ll have a busy day. Don¡¯t forget that team practice is at three. And bring Yoselin. It sounds like she¡¯ll be sticking around for a while.¡±


    She closed the door behind her on the way out, and I decided it was time to get up. The conversation had been a little weird, but not outside the norm for her. As the child of two genetically engineered super-soldiers who¡¯d spent her childhood in hiding when she wasn¡¯t training to fight, her socialization must have been spotty.


    It might explain how we got along as well as we did even if my social awkwardness came from another place.


    Half an hour later, I¡¯d showered, put on clothes, eaten a donut out of the box Vaughn (according to the yellow sticky note) left on the counter, and took the hidden elevator down to Heroes¡¯ League headquarters, walking over to my lab.


    Amid the tables, fabrication machines, 3D printers, tools, boxes, barrels, and piles of materials lay a cardboard box. Daniel had floated it out of the jet and into the lab without touching it. Inside was a rust-red circular tablet my implant had informed me was a piece of a ¡°godkiller¡± device.


    Knowing that the Xiniti had found pieces of the device in places where Abominators investigated Artificer ruins and that the Abominators had used Artificer ¡°DNA¡± in their creations, I had a theory that the Abominators used the ¡°godkiller¡± device to find, capture, and/or kill Artificers so they could extract what they wanted from them.


    I stood next to the counter where the box sat, staring at it, trying to plan my approach to investigating it, and wondering if there were any more pieces on Earth and what they did.

 Never Go Home: Part 2

    I had options. The obvious ones were purely the product of normal physics¡ªX-rays or my sonics to analyze the structure, shaving off bits and tests to understand the materials, and trying to operate it by touch, if I wanted to take that risk.


    Armory had done it and it hadn¡¯t been fatal¡ªyet.


    Of course, I was a special case, given my connection to the Artificers, and that they were the ¡°gods¡± the device took its name from.


    Ignoring the feeling that we should have passed it on to Dr. Nation, I opened the cardboard box, tipping it, letting the circular tablet slide onto the wooden counter. More than anything else, it reminded me of a mirror. It must have been the shape. It wasn¡¯t the screen. That was glossy but dark.


    I thought back to watching Armory use the device and wondered if Cassie or Daniel had thought to take the tentacled brick that my implant had labeled a ¡°charger.¡± Checking the box, I found nothing else inside.


    Looking at the tablet¡¯s jagged edge, I remembered the brick¡¯s tentacles extending into the open area. Annoying. I¡¯d have to figure out what kind of power the thing took. Thanks to my implant, I had a better chance than almost anyone on the planet of figuring that one out, but the implant still couldn¡¯t tell me how to jury-rig an alien battery out of what I had in the base.


    Thinking about how I¡¯d pulled some form of energy out of nowhere when I¡¯d fought someone using Abominator tech almost two years ago now, I wondered if I could supply the power. I shook my head. That was an experiment for later.


    For now, I¡¯d start with the physical.


    That¡¯s how I spent the next few hours, taking scrapings, running tests, and scanning the insides with different tools. Plus, knowing that touching the tablet hadn¡¯t hurt me, turned it on, or given me any sort of ominous feelings, I also picked it up and held the jagged part up to my eyes, and looked inside.


    What I saw inside didn¡¯t surprise me. Though hundreds or maybe thousands of years ahead of Earth technology, it was standard for Abominator tech¡ªsolid, but with lines and indentations that reminded me of the human brain.


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    Between my own experience and the technical information in my implant, I identified the materials. We didn¡¯t have words for them, but the implant gave me a general technical history of the Abominators¡¯ technology. Though it was nice to see how it descended from technology I did recognize, I got something more practical out of it¡ªwhere I could attach the power, provided I could figure out how much it needed.


    That and whether or not I could figure out if it was worth the risk.


    Another thought passed through my mind. I might have a power source that worked. After the League destroyed the last of the Abominators, they¡¯d collected the tech they¡¯d left behind, and locked it inside some of the storage rooms. Up until last year, I couldn¡¯t have opened them, but we¡¯d been cataloging everything in the base and we found the keys. They¡¯d been in one of the locked file cabinets in the lab.


    So now I had access to a trove of devices that might end human civilization. I didn¡¯t know that for sure, of course, because I¡¯d never been in the rooms, but now they were all but open.


    Still, given that they¡¯d gone to the trouble of locking them, I felt confident Grandpa wouldn¡¯t want me to. That coupled with my suspicion that War, an evil alternate version of myself, had, left me with the gut feeling that I didn¡¯t want to.


    After getting data from my implant, I worked up a power interface that fit common Abominator specs. It took the nanotech I used to build and repair my suite in combination with the alien tech I¡¯d learned about while working on the League ¡°jet.¡±


    From its size, I doubted it would take that much power, but connected it to one of our higher voltage cables. That, in turn, ultimately connected to HQ¡¯s fusion plant.


    Using my implant, I gave the nanotech the command to make the final connection, watching as the yellow and black striped mass extended into the jagged hole. When it connected, I watched as my interface tested the connection and reported it usable.


    Deciding to let the power flow, I watched as the tablet did nothing. The screen didn¡¯t even flicker. Increasing the power didn¡¯t immediately change anything, but as the power rose the screen acquired a soft glow. By that point, more power was flowing through than I¡¯d expected¡ªthough not anywhere near the maximum possible.


    A picture appeared on the screen. Against a dark background, faint lines appeared. The shape reminded me of a ghost or of the human nervous system. I¡¯d seen that much last time, but this timeI noticed one more thing. A faint line hung behind the nervous system, but this one extended downward¡ªforever, as far as I could tell.


    If the ¡°ghost¡± was me, what was the line?

 Never Go Home: Part 3

    Knowing that Cassie was upstairs or at least in Grand Lake, I considered calling her. With her Abominator Citizen¡¯s Mark, she registered to Abominator devices as an Abominator or at least as a servant authorized to use their stuff. Chances were better than average that she could have full control over the device.


    Knowing that the Xiniti fought the Abominators and hacked into their technology, I asked my implant if it could connect to the device. It replied that it couldn¡¯t sense any means to make contact.


    That either meant that the device had hidden its communication systems or that they¡¯d been damaged to the point that they no longer worked. Either way, I wasn¡¯t getting much help from the implant.


    If I wanted to know more, that meant I might have to resort to either touching it and seeing if there were any physical controls or seeing if my limited Artificer abilities might make it do something interesting. Suspecting that ¡°interesting¡± might mean activating long-hidden weapons and summoning them to destroy the new threat, that was my second choice.


    I walked into the corner of the lab and activated a suit formation I¡¯d worked up for lab work. This corner wouldn¡¯t have raised any eyebrows except possibly among toddlers. On the floor were three barrels of small, black, and yellow cubes. I¡¯d used them to make a connection with the tablet. The counter ran the length of the wall, but the section above the barrels held cardboard boxes filled with more small cubes, but many of these gleamed like metal, most of them gold, some black, and others the color of a blue-green alloy commonly used in Abominator tech.


    The cubes in the barrels reached out to me, building bridges of themselves as ants might do, and covering me in seconds. Anyone watching would have seen the cubes rearrange themselves into an exoskeleton with artificial muscles, separating into layers of material with different levels of flexibility, some hard, others flexible padding.


    When they finished, cubes from the boxes did the same, covering the suit, turning it from blocky and unfinished into glossy armor with the Rocket¡¯s R symbol on the front. The rocket pack didn¡¯t hang from my back because this was a lab configuration.


    I walked back to the table where the tablet lay. Commanding the power interface I¡¯d made to adjust, I picked up the tablet in my gauntleted hands, watching the interface stretch and recreate itself on the fly.


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    Then I watched the screen. The picture changed as I moved it, changing angles to show the ¡°ghost¡± from the top along with the wispy line I¡¯d seen behind it. Despite what I¡¯d thought might be true when I first saw it, the ghost and the line weren¡¯t connected. Plus, from this angle, I could see there were more lines, all extending downward, all of them moving, reminding me of smoke and flame from a campfire. It made me think that it might be an energy source, but if that were the case, the energy source was so far away I couldn¡¯t see it.


    I angled the tablet to show as many lines as possible, keeping the ghost in the picture only by happenstance. Writing appeared next to the ghost and the lines. The characters appeared in clusters of five or six. I didn¡¯t see a pattern in their positions except that one or two characters were in the middle and the rest on the outside.


    My implant translated them without asking me, identifying the writing as Abominator script, the 21st,</sup> and final variation. Under the ghost, the words translated as ¡°Cosmic Ghost/Proto-Artificer? Indeterminate.¡± The words near the lines said, ¡°Artificer Core Technology Energy Signature.¡±


    That prompted a memory. I¡¯d heard a similar phrase before. When I¡¯d accidentally visited a place in what I sometimes referred to as the hyperspace superhighway, I¡¯d overheard to Artificers from the Destroy faction mention something called the ¡°galaxy core weapon¡± and that Lee had used it. And that wasn¡¯t the only memory that it prompted.


    On our way out from Earth, as we went through a solar system with a dead sun and the remains of a battle that predated humanity, Lee mentioned that he¡¯d used a weapon powered by the cores of galaxies in a fight against his own kind. I didn¡¯t remember him saying straight out that he¡¯d kept it when he¡¯d deserted the Destroy faction, but that would explain why they were hunting for him.


    If the lines were energy leaking from the weapon, it surprised me that the Artificers hadn¡¯t already found him. On the other hand, it might be well hidden from his kind but barely visible to the Abominators. From what Lee said, it sounded like studying Artificer tech was their species'' main occupation.


    It wasn¡¯t unlike how Lee was successfully invisible to his own kind when he wanted to be, but human telepaths could detect him¡ªthough attempting to read his mind could leave them catatonic.


    Almost without thought, I readied myself to contact Lee or more likely his friend (friendly ex?) Kee, the Artificer techie genius who¡¯d designed the weapon. At that moment, the ¡°ghost¡± that might be me became a touch brighter and Abominator script began flashing across the tablet¡¯s screen, a cascade of the same words.


    My implant translated it as, ¡°Danger! Take cover!¡±

 Never Go Home: Part 4

    I did the only thing I could think of. I ordered the power interface to cut off the power, but on the off chance that the tablet had a bomb inside, I did it while running for the exit and shutting the door behind me.


    Theoretically, given the size of the tablet, it might not be much of a bomb, but I knew what Cassie¡¯s gun could do. I remembered the bodies of the frogmen on the roof of a building in Washington D.C. It hadn¡¯t been pretty and if push came down to it, if I had to come up with a species most likely develop a golfball-sized hydrogen bomb (or worse), the Abominators would have been high on my list of candidates.


    As nice as it might be to know that my guesses about their technology were correct (if they were) there¡¯d be no way to get away in the time I had.


    Still, even the lab suit¡¯s stride put me in the middle of HQ¡¯s main room. Unlike in the past, it felt like an active superhero base now instead of an abandoned one. Between the basketball court-sized room, the giant television screen in the middle of the far wall, the (disarmed) trophies and pictures of battles past, the conference table that stood just ahead of me, and the computer work areas with their own screens.


    Turning around, Kayla stared at me, ¡°What did you do?¡±


    She¡¯d come a long way from being Cassie¡¯s nosy best friend. As the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s first direct employee in this version of the League, she ran the base these days. We¡¯d even upgraded her work clothes from the standard grey Heroes¡¯ League unitard to a green, black, and white uniform. Cassie said that green looked better on her. Given Kayla¡¯s light brown skin, and black hair, I could see that, I guess, but from my point of view, the costume¡¯s real upgrade was the increased armor and hidden weaponry.


    I turned back to watch the lab¡¯s door. It didn¡¯t explode. Turning back to Kayla, I said, ¡°Well, since nothing¡¯s blown up, I¡¯m thinking I overreacted.¡±


    She looked from me to the door and back to me, ¡°Should I send a red?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°It¡¯s fine. Everything is fine. I was just experimenting with some Abominator tech which,¡° I looked back at the door, ¡°didn¡¯t blow up. So, that¡¯s good. I¡¯m going to go back there now.¡±


    She stared at me without saying anything for a few seconds, ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±


    ¡°Pretty sure,¡± I said. ¡°It took a lot of power to turn it on in the first place. I think if it had stored any appreciable amount of energy, it would have used it all by now.¡±


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    Taking a breath, she said, ¡°Okay. Well, you know team practice is about an hour from now. Don¡¯t get too into whatever you¡¯re doing. And warn me if you think we¡¯re going to get blown up.¡±


    Frowning, she turned back to her computer screens. I took a final glance in her direction and started walking back, not even making a full step before Cassie pinged me with her implant. When I opened the connection, she said, What was that?


    Taking my next step, I thought back, The tablet. It identified me as ¡°proto-Artificer¡± when I thought about asking Lee some questions. I think it detected whatever small wisp of power I¡¯d used and tried to warn the user to get away, not knowing that I was the user. My bet is that that¡¯s what was going on instead of the bomb I thought it might be at first.


    Even though implants allowed mind to mind communication, I thought I heard her sigh. Alright. Well, I could hear it upstairs in the house. Whatever the Abominators were thinking, they made it loud.


    No kidding? I suppose there¡¯s a reason that the Xiniti only found pieces of the godkiller machines. Even a hint ofArtificers using their power most likely meant that everyone was about to die, so they might as well be loud.


    Cassie laughed. I guess there aren¡¯t any of them around to get scared anymore. I¡¯ll see you at practice. It¡¯s less than an hour away now.


    She cut off the connection. I didn¡¯t bother to ask why everyone seemed to think I¡¯d forget practice. I¡¯d make it provided nothing interesting came up. Chances were a lot better now, anyway. I had to rethink my approach to the tablet and I wasn¡¯t going to get done before practice.


    As it happened, I didn¡¯t even make it to the lab. Chris walked out of the hangar. Taller than I was by an inch or so these days, he was dressed in slacks and a dark blue button-down shirt. Thinking back to all the flannel shirts I remembered him wearing in high school, it was funny how he¡¯d started dressing professionally once we¡¯d started the business. He even had a briefcase.


    He waved at me and, crossing the distance from the hangar, he said, ¡°I know you¡¯ve got practice, but we should have enough time to go over a couple of things. It¡¯s budgeting and project management, mostly.¡±


    He stopped, recognizing the lab suit for what it was, and glanced in the direction of the lab¡¯s closed door, ¡°Did something happen?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Not really. An Abominator relic recognized me as related to Artificers, but even though it looked like it might blow up, it didn¡¯t.¡±


    He took a breath, ¡°Whoa. Do you want me to take a look at it while you¡¯re at practice? That sounds interesting and I¡¯m not an Artificer. I might be able to get away with more than you can.¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°You know what? That might work. I guess I¡¯ll bring you up to speed and then we can find out how much paperwork we can get done¡ª¡°


    Even as I said it, I felt a tugging at my consciousness that wasn¡¯t telepathy or my implant. My awareness expanded into another universe or dimension where I felt the vast presence of a full Artificer¡ªKee.

 Never Go Home: Part 5

    Where I was, I didn¡¯t know for sure. I¡¯d asked before, but she told me that I didn¡¯t have words for it. My best metaphor so far was that it seemed to be Kee¡¯s personal breakout room in ancient, eldritch social media.


    She¡¯d raised her eyebrow when I¡¯d suggested it the first time and while she didn¡¯t roll her eyes, it felt like she was nearly there. Anyway, I knew better so I didn¡¯t push it. To me, it seemed more likely that it was her personal demiplane. I mean, if you¡¯re basically a deity, why not create your own mini-universe for conversations that you¡¯d prefer to keep private?


    Points of light hung in the darkness around us. If I concentrated on them, some would resolve into stars, others into star clusters, or galaxies, some with familiar spiral shapes. I didn¡¯t bother to in this moment. Kee held my attention.


    She appeared as I¡¯d first met her in K¡¯Tepolu, an artificial world that was less a world and more a collection of massive asteroids joined by supports. Her short, straight black hair was in the same style I remembered. Between her plain features and brown skin, she wouldn¡¯t stand out in many cities on Earth. If I¡¯d been forced to guess her ethnicity, I¡¯d have guessed Indian, but I wouldn¡¯t have been sure.


    Her flowing blue and brown jumpsuit didn¡¯t fit any Earth style I recognized, but it didn¡¯t matter. I didn¡¯t recognize many clothing styles from any planet.


    As we had many times since I got back from space, we regarded each other. This time, she spoke first.


    ¡°Nick, what did you do?¡±


    I took a breath of whatever passed for air here, ¡°That¡¯s a good question. I powered up a piece of a device the Abominators appeared to use for hunting uh¡­ you guys. So far as I can tell it was some kind of sensor, but I¡¯m beginning to think it had more potential as a communicator than I expected. Maybe an ansible, I¡¯m guessing, because now you¡¯re here.¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s not an ansible. The Abominators were experimenting with other ways to communicate and this one was meant to be hidden from us. After they attacked me, I made a point of analyzing one of their ¡®godkillers and understanding the technology they used. I¡¯ve been monitoring it ever since.¡±


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    Two memories came to mind and a question that I might get answered now, ¡°I¡¯m guessing that the Abominators used the godkillers because they wanted to harvest your DNA or your species¡¯ equivalent. When we last talked about it, you told me that you weren¡¯t sure how I became as close to your species as I am. You didn¡¯t think Lee had contributed much, if any, and the Cosmic Ghosts¡¯ abilities only become active in human women¡­


    ¡°There¡¯s something I didn¡¯t think of then. When I was on Hideaway, I was told by the colony¡¯s doctor, Iolan Mekus, that the Abominators captured one of you and translated his abilities into human DNA. They couldn¡¯t keep him long. He destroyed the team that captured him and the moon their base was on. Does that ring any bells? Do you know who that might be?¡±


    She paused, mouth tightening, her eyes seeming to look at a spot far behind me, ¡°I don¡¯t know. My worry, and the reason that I contacted you is that I know others of us encountered godkillers, but I might not be the only one to have analyzed them. If someone from the Destroy faction did the same, they might try to track it down. I wouldn¡¯t worry too much about it. We¡¯re all aware that the Abominators are no more. Still, there¡¯s a chance, however small that someone from Destroy might visit.¡±


    Meeting my eyes, she said, ¡°Since Lee and I are traveling together at the moment, I¡¯m not worried that they¡¯ll find him and destroy the planet. I¡¯m worried that they might find you. I¡¯m not sure what they would do then, whether they¡¯d study you or kill you.¡±


    I cocked my head to the side, ¡°I suppose they could do both.¡±


    Nodding, she said, ¡°It¡¯s possible.¡±


    Then she paused again, ¡°If it¡¯s not someone from Destroy, I think I might know who the Abominators caught. Lee and I have been visiting members of the Live faction as well as friends who hate Destroy, but haven¡¯t joined any faction, and there¡¯s one of us missing. A friend of ours is missing. He joined the Live faction early on, but no one¡¯s seen him in the last century or two. No one thinks he¡¯s dead, but he¡¯s not responding when people try to contact him. He¡¯s always been prone to disappearing and reappearing and that would have made him more likely to encounter the Abominators than most of us. I don¡¯t suppose any of your cultures record visits from a godlike being named Nataw?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I¡¯ve never heard the name, but I¡¯m a lot more focused on technology than mythology. What should I do if I run across him?¡±

 Never Go Home: Part 6

    Against the sea of stars behind her, Kee seemed to shrink into herself, saying nothing, ¡°I don¡¯t have an easy answer. Back when we were young, when Lee, Nataw, and other friends of ours first came into this universe, we loved to travel, he more than most of us. I think he may have been the last of us to give up traveling simply for the sake of travel--if he ever did. I think he still did even after our people divided up into factions. As one of the first members of the Live faction, the smartest thing he could have done was hide, but he kept on moving instead, never staying anywhere long enough to be found.¡±


    Watching her face for any reactions, I said, ¡°A lot of people would see that as a pretty good tactic for hiding.¡±


    She gave a small smile, ¡°But for him, I¡¯m sure it was just an excuse. He loved new worlds, new cultures, new ways for life to exist whether it was on a planet, on a star, or in deep space. You remind me of him a little, but for you, it¡¯s more delight in understanding a new thing than discovering a new place.¡±


    There, she stopped, saying nothing for a little while and staring past me as if watching something. If she were, it was nothing I could see, whether in another place or her own mind, but then she added, ¡°The problem is this¡ªthe Abominators caught him and he escaped. Whatever happened when he was in their custody couldn¡¯t have been pleasant. Knowing him, and knowing that he seldom killed anything, it¡¯s out of character for him even to kill his captors. The fact that he never mentioned it to any of us in the Live faction worries me. We were and are his friends.


    ¡°My worry is that if he meets you, all he¡¯ll be able to see is years of torture and bits of himself inside beings that should not have them. If he is on Earth and you sense him, stay away. If he¡¯s close, leave, pretending that you didn¡¯t notice, and he might not either.¡±


    I felt myself frown, ¡°Is that likely? The impression I got from Lee is that his people weren¡¯t here.¡±


    She nodded slowly, ¡°I¡¯ve been to Earth and while I was there, I sometimes had a sense that one of us had been there. I did see a sign or two of Lee, but only because I knew him and knew what to look for. This was something else. I never figured out whether it was one of our people, kin such as the Cosmic Ghosts, or perhaps someone else like you. The Abominators put enough of us and the Ghosts into your race that it seems possible that someone might be born with enough of the right elements to use them but it''s never seemed likely. You¡¯d have to live for more than one thousand years to began to learn how to use them well.¡±


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    Thinking back to my fights against The Thing That Eats, against a mercenary with an Abominator relic, and against the Xosk last summer, I said, ¡°I¡¯m already using them and I¡¯m nowhere near one thousand years old. You know this. We¡¯ve had literal training sessions this year.¡±


    Then she gave a full smile and laughed, ¡°I know! You¡¯ve been unusual in so many ways. We used to let our young go out on their own and name them when they came back. Many were behind where you are at this age, but none of them experienced the guidance of a full-grown adult, the Bloodmaiden¡¯s magic, or had the Cosmic Ghosts in their ancestry. I don¡¯t truly know what you¡¯ll be capable of in time, but I know you need a great deal more time to learn¡ªeven in your regular life. I should end this now.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, knowing that she was about to let my consciousness return to my body, ¡°would it be okay if someone else looked at the godkiller device fragment? Someone who isn¡¯t me?¡±


    The stars began to fade away. The last I saw of Kee¡¯s face was of her shaking her head. I heard her voice clearly, ¡°No. It¡¯s deeply unwise to turn it on at all.¡±


    Then I came back to reality¡ªthe main room of the Heroes¡¯ League HQ, a big, underground, concrete bunker, organizational nerve center, and a room containing massive amounts of memorabilia that belonged in a museum.


    Chris looked at me, his forehead lined with concern, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I¡¯m okay. You know how I told you about Kee? I just had a visitation.¡±


    He glanced past me to Kayla who was walking toward us, ¡°That explains it. You looked like you were about to fall over for a second and then you straightened up as if nothing happened.¡±


    I turned back to Kayla, ¡°I¡¯m okay. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    She stopped and began to turn around, ¡°I heard. You¡¯d better be. I¡¯m opening up the base for Chancy¡¯s teleport in 45 minutes.¡±


    Turning my attention back to Chris, I said, ¡°Bad news. Kee said you probably shouldn¡¯t look at the Abominator tech either. There¡¯s too big a chance that it¡¯ll attract stray Artificers.¡±


    Chris frowned and looked toward the lab¡¯s closed door, ¡°Well, I guess we could do paperwork then. There¡¯s no harm in showing it to me, though, right?¡±


    I thought about it. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Not now that I¡¯ve turned it off.¡±


    We spent most of the next hour talking about budgets and doing paperwork for the business. Oddly enough, years of being the only person on the team concerned with the day-to-day running of the base helped me with the basics of running ¡°Cannon & Klein Engineering.¡±


    I did manage to squeeze in a short tour of the godkiller fragment and it didn¡¯t light up, call up ancient, eldritch beings, or do anything more than sit on a workbench looking broken.


    ¡°And that¡¯s it,¡± I told Chris as he peered in through the broken side, ¡°that¡¯s all. It¡¯s dangerous. Done.¡±


    He put it down, ¡°I don¡¯t recognize anything in there. It¡¯s a little depressing that they were that far ahead of us thousands of years ago.¡±


    ¡°On the other hand,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯re alive. The Abominators are dead. We¡¯ve got that on them.¡±

 Never Go Home: Part 7

    Chris grinned, ¡°Can¡¯t argue with that. We¡¯ve still got time to figure it all out and with any luck, we won¡¯t get corrupted by ancient alien artifacts first.¡±


    ¡°Sadly, that means that we¡¯ve got to leave this one alone for the time being,¡± I looked down at the tablet where it lay on the table. ¡°I¡¯ve got a feeling I¡¯ll want to lock this one away.¡±


    Raising his eyebrow, ¡°Does this mean you¡¯re finally going to open storage room three or four?¡±


    I bit my lip, glancing toward the door, ¡°You know, I probably will. We¡¯ve got two entire rooms full of Abominator tech. It¡¯s the one place I know we can keep it. You know what? I should just do it now. Knowing what I know, I don¡¯t feel comfortable leaving it in here during practice.¡±


    Chris swallowed, ¡°Well, this will be a first.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re telling me,¡± I walked over to the safe Grandpa put in the wall next to his tools. It didn¡¯t take long for me to go through the combination, twisting the dial a few different times and then waiting as it scanned my handprint from a spot on the counter next to the safe that looked exactly like the wood on the rest of the counter.


    With that, the safe door opened, showing several sets of keys, three sets of three-ring binders, and a couple of grey metal containers that held three by five cards¡ªthe cards that people wrote recipes on. They didn¡¯t contain recipes. I¡¯d looked through them. Written by hand in Grandpa¡¯s handwriting, many cards contained ideas Grandpa had but didn¡¯t have time to fully explore along with the location of the proof of concept if he (or someone else) had made one. He¡¯d written secrets on others, ones he didn¡¯t feel comfortable putting on his after-action reports.


    I¡¯d read a few and decided he¡¯d had good judgment.


    I picked up the keys as Chris asked, ¡°What¡¯s the rest of that stuff?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t give you details, but basically it¡¯s insurance. Figure that if I ever get it out, we¡¯ll be planning to purely metaphorically burn down the world. Basically, it¡¯s all stuff that can¡¯t be taken back once it¡¯s said. Um¡­ You know how in comics Batman has secret plans for how to take out the whole Justice League except supervillains get them and use them first?¡±


    Chris shook his head, ¡°I basically barely read comics at all, but I think I know where you¡¯re going with this.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s pretty similar to that except it¡¯s not at all about the Heroes¡¯ League. It¡¯s all pointed outside of our walls. Some of them are about people, others are about locations, and there¡¯s a bunch that are about ideas. I¡¯m pretty much the only person who can get in and there are circumstances where the safe burns itself to slag if someone tries to open it.¡±


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    I shut the door. It clicked and the whole safe hummed as something happened inside. The combination would be different next time, but I knew the equation necessary to figure it out given the time and date.


    Letting out a breath, Chris said, ¡°I¡¯ve got a feeling we¡¯ll all have better lives if we never see a situation where you open it for anything but keys.¡±


    ¡°Pretty much,¡± I walked over to the table and picked up the godkiller tablet.


    Then we walked out of the lab and walked through HQ¡¯s main room next to the wall, passing the first two storage rooms until we reached the third. Looking at it, you¡¯d assume that it was another painted metal door, but I knew better. I¡¯d noticed a spot where the paint had chipped and knew the material at sight. Tests confirmed my guess. It had been made of a ceramic used in alien spacecraft that I¡¯d learned how to make.


    I put the key in the lock, heard mechanisms inside the door and wall click as the door opened. At first glance, the room looked like every other storage room in the complex, the same gray metal shelving reached from floor to ceiling, all of it looking like 1950s era industrial technology.


    It probably was.


    The resemblance to every other storage room ended there. For one, the walls, ceiling, floor as well as the inside of the door were covered with a shiny blue-green foam. My implant identified it a material used to block access to the ambient energy that a lot of Abominator technology needed to recharge.


    Ignoring the nagging thought that no material blocked energy completely, I took in what was on the shelves. If I hadn¡¯t already been a low level of anxiety when I opened the door, this would have brought me there. Abominator technology covered the shelves and half of the floor.


    A power impregnator (that my implant labeled an ¡°activator¡±) sat in front of the shelves on the left side wall. Guns that bore an uncanny resemblance to Cassie¡¯s lay next to each other and a foot-wide disc that reminded me of the flying neutron emitters we¡¯d destroyed in St. Louis. Those were far from the only weapons. My implant identified more than twenty different weapons as well as spare parts and charging devices.


    That was far from everything. I needed at least an hour to fully understand what we had. Placing the tablet next to an egg-shaped device that my implant labeled ¡°Abominator implant constructor,¡± I took a look at the right side of the storage room and wished I hadn¡¯t.


    An eight-foot-tall cylinder sat on a two-foot-tall platform. I didn¡¯t need my implant to identify it as an ¡°Abominator birthing chamber.¡± It was exactly like the machine I¡¯d helped destroy except that ours had only one chamber while Higher Grounds¡¯ had 12.


    Next to me, Chris said, ¡°You know what? I¡¯m going to feel better after we lock the door.¡±


    He stared at a big grayish-blue box on the lower shelves. It glowed, giving a dim light. Tuneless humming came from its direction. My implant didn¡¯t even try to identify it.


    I turned to Chris, ¡°Let¡¯s do that now.¡±


    We backed out¡ªit only took a step¡ªand I shut the door, hearing mechanisms click as it swung into place followed by a hiss as the door sealed. I tried the doorknob without putting the key in the lock.


    Nothing moved, not even a little.


    From behind me, I heard Vaughn¡¯s voice, ¡°Whoa. I never thought I¡¯d see that door open.¡±


    At almost the same time, I also heard Yoselin mutter the word, ¡°Dios!¡±

 Never Go Home: Part 8

    I turned around to find Vaughn in my latest version of the Storm King armor. Black with a storm cloud on his chest, it included flaps to catch the wind he generated. Yoselin wore her own armor, the red triangle, white star, and blue and white stripes might almost pass for a patriotic US costume if you didn¡¯t think too hard about it. The backpack and streamlined half-cylinders running up and down her arms and legs hinted at a refined version of her father¡¯s armor¡¯s air manipulation tech.


    Neither of them wore their helmets, but it was plain they were both prepared for practice.


    I caught Yoselin¡¯s eye, ¡°I know you¡¯ve got Abominator tech at home. It can¡¯t be that much of a shock.¡±


    She grinned at me, shrugging and raising her hands as she did, ¡°We do, but not that much. Well, maybe just as much, but I didn¡¯t expect to see it. You know what happens with implants. When you have too many things you¡¯ve never seen before, it all comes at once.¡±


    I nodded. I was far too familiar with that one.


    Vaughn turned toward Yoselin, ¡°You¡¯ve got one of those things too? I¡¯m beginning to feel like everyone¡¯s got one but me now.¡±


    She put her hand on his shoulder. Winking at me, she said, ¡°You should talk to Nick. He might be able to make one for you.¡±


    Raising his eyebrow, Vaughn looked at me, ¡°Seriously?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I don¡¯t know. That kind of thing isn¡¯t really my specialty, but I¡¯ve got a general sense of how they work now. My implant can give me basic plans for them. I¡¯d just have to figure out some substitute materials¡­ It¡¯d be cool, but you¡¯d be putting an experimental device in your brain.¡±


    I didn¡¯t mention the Abominator implant factory in the storage room. Given humanity¡¯s position as servants in their empire, it was a given that it produced medically safe implants. Given the Dominators'' prominence in the Abominators¡¯ empire, I¡¯d be more surprised if their implants didn¡¯t include triggers the Dominators could use. With my implant¡¯s help, I might be able to find them. It was worth a thought.


    Vaughn laughed, ¡°No, thanks.¡±


    Then he looked over at Chris, ¡°If you¡¯re here for practice, you¡¯ve only got five minutes to get into armor.¡±


    Chris looked over at me, ¡°Well since I can¡¯t take a look at the tablet, I might as well. I¡¯ve got spare armor in the lab.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got to put the key back in the safe,¡± I said. ¡°So I guess we¡¯re both walking back.¡±


    Nodding toward the middle of the room, Vaughn smiled at Yoselin, ¡°Then I guess we¡¯ll wait for you there.¡±


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    She gave me a wave as they walked away.


    As Chris and I walked toward the lab, he asked, ¡°Are they going out?¡±


    I¡¯d had my suit absorb my helmet after talking to Kayla, so I didn¡¯t have the suit¡¯s 360-degree vision to work with. I turned my head to watch them. They were talking and laughing.


    ¡°It¡¯s only been a day since she¡¯s been here. I don¡¯t even know how long she¡¯s going to stay. She¡¯s here because she wants to see whatever we do to the Nine and Dominators through to the end. There are no guarantees that we¡¯ll ever get anywhere with that. Lim¡¯s got our best lead on the subject and while we did get a few things out of his head before handing him over, we haven¡¯t even gotten started there.¡±


    Chris shrugged, ¡°Just asking. Vaughn¡¯s not dating Amy anymore and they seem to get along. Plus, and I¡¯m no authority on this, but I think a lot of straight guys would go for her.¡±


    I grinned as I remembered something from before the island, ¡°Weren¡¯t you going on a date with someone named Paul before we left?¡±


    He blushed, ¡°We¡¯ve been on a couple of dates. It¡¯s no big deal right now, but I think it¡¯s going well. Hopefully, this stuff doesn¡¯t mess it up.¡±


    We entered the lab and he pointed toward the line of powered armor and buckets of blocks running down the far wall. I didn¡¯t argue with him. I¡¯d been lucky that Haley and I found each other at the beginning of all of this. We didn¡¯t have to lie about why we needed to leave and suit up midway through a date or why we¡¯d be unavailable for the next week. We¡¯d suit up and go in together.


    I put away the keys in the safe and then stopped next to one of the buckets, setting my suit to change into the full Rocket suit, feeling the suit expand and alter itself, becoming larger and stronger, and adding the rocket pack to the suit¡¯s back along with sonics, the laser, and loading up roachbots.


    To my left, Chris stepped into one of the barebones exoskeletons and stood next to the bucket, absorbing half the bucket in a half a minute. I watched as the suit grew half a foot in size and widened, taking on the blocky look and gray, flat texture of a Man-Machine suit. In public, his grandfather had been my grandfather¡¯s nemesis, the supervillain version of the Rocket.


    Out of costume and the public eye, their frenemyship had been more complicated.


    ¡°Wow. Are you going to make that your standard look?¡± I motioned up and down at the suit.


    ¡°Is it going to bother you? I¡¯m trying it out.¡± The tenor of his voice didn¡¯t quite match the solidity of the armor.


    I shook my head, ¡°No. It¡¯s a classic look for your grandfather if that¡¯s what you want people to think of¡­ What does he think?¡±


    Chris stepped back from the bucket and began to walk toward me, ¡°He loves it. Man-machine began as a hero. He made his first suit as a kind of tribute to your grandfather and only became a supervillain by mistake¡ªat least the way he tells it. I like the idea of redeeming the name.¡±


    Kayla¡¯s voice sounded over HQ¡¯s intercom, ¡°Thirty seconds until teleport.¡±


    We looked at each other and ran for the door. I made it through first, bolting across the floor, dodging trophy cases, and hearing the thump of Chris¡¯ armor hitting the concrete behind me.


    A small crowd stood in the middle of the room and I knew every one of them. With only one exception, I¡¯d made their equipment. Vaughn and Yoselin were still talking¡ªthough Vaughn turned to point at Chris and me as we ran. Daniel, Cassie, Marcus, and Sydney stood on the near side of the crowd. Jaclyn¡¯s dog Tiger stood in the middle, large enough that his head was at the same level as mine when he was on all fours.


    Tiger barked as Chris and I reached the group. Seconds later, the scene changed. We stood together near the edge of a forest and we weren¡¯t alone.

 Never Go Home: Part 9

    To be clear, it was the good kind of ¡°not alone.¡± In the clearing with us was everybody that hadn¡¯t been in HQ when we teleported out.


    And when I say everybody, I¡¯m not exaggerating by much. This was what Cassie called a ¡°friends and allies¡± practice. Not only did it include all current members of the Heroes¡¯ League (except for Rachel who was in space), but it included all the former members of Justice Fist who hadn¡¯t joined up with Sean¡¯s new Justice Fist. So basically, we didn¡¯t have Sean, Jody, or Dayton, but we did have Julie (voice powers), Shannon (darkness), Camille (gravity), and Sydney.


    We didn¡¯t have Lucas, but that wasn¡¯t because he¡¯d joined the new, even smaller Justice Fist. This was due to Hardwick family politics. My adventure in corporate espionage left Russell Hardwick in prison and made Vaughn¡¯s mom the family member with the most influence over the Hardwick family¡¯s collection of companies and properties.


    Lucas hadn¡¯t returned Cassie¡¯s calls, leading all of us to wonder if he was too busy being a doctor to care or if going from being the son of the CEO of Hardwick International to becoming the son of the disgraced former CEO of Hardwick International mattered more to him than we did.


    Beyond the former Justice Fist members, we also had Rod (Troll!), Samita (Red Hex), and Amy (Bloodmaiden). Sometimes we¡¯d also had Blue Mask, but not tonight. Mark and Mackenzie, friends of Amy¡¯s whose exposure to a zombie virus variant had left them with the abilities of the tougher, faster-moving type of zombie, weren¡¯t here either.


    Alex (Paladin), Brooke (Portal), and Jenny (Flame Legion), friends of mine from California, were, though.


    It felt like one of those huge crossover events where you end up with giant pictures of all the supers a page can fit. Except we were training for the crossover so that when the real thing hit, we¡¯d be prepared.


    Haley stepped out of the crowd and we kissed¡ªa long one. It had been more than two weeks since we¡¯d last seen each other and not much this summer before that. We looked at each other after we stopped. We¡¯d both let our costumes fall away from our faces and so I could see her grinning at me, fangs visible in her mouth, dark hair pulled away from her face by something hidden by her costume.


    Amplified by the PA in her suit, Cassie¡¯s voice turned everyone¡¯s head in her direction, ¡°Hey everybody¡­ If I could have your attention, we¡¯ll start with drills today. Later we¡¯ll be going through an obstacle course and in case you¡¯re wondering, yes, Izzy and Jaclyn won¡¯t be on the same team again ever. That sucked for everybody¡ªincluding them. That doesn¡¯t mean that we won¡¯t use them as obstacles in the obstacle course because we¡¯re going to use everybody as an obstacle. We¡¯ll also have a team sparring segment¡­¡±


    She went on longer than that, but I didn¡¯t listen much. I¡¯d been part of the planning as had Tara, Daniel, and Hal. Between them, they¡¯d come up with the tactical situations we were most likely to face and designed exercises for them.


    We¡¯d been lucky that the original League had bought a section of land in Michigan¡¯s Upper Peninsula¡ªthree square miles of it. It included evergreen trees, a small river, a ghost town abandoned in the early 20th</sup> century, and an unused mine.


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    While it wasn¡¯t impossible that people could find it and watch our practices, it wasn¡¯t likely. We¡¯d set up countermeasures.


    For the next two or three hours, we drilled and fought our way through obstacle courses that included robots, drones firing at us, inconsistent gravity, darkness, fog, thunderstorms, and random attacks. We even disabled our protection against Julie¡¯s voice so that we could have training in resisting it without help.


    As much as she¡¯d trained, Julie wasn¡¯t as good as Kals or any of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s Dominators at using her powers. She¡¯d had to work it out with help from teachers at Stapledon, none of whom could do the same thing. Part of me wanted to invite Kals in to train her. Another part, one that remembered her ordering Haley and me to leave a coffee shop, still didn¡¯t trust her fully.


    To be fair to her, she didn¡¯t abuse her chance and she trained as hard as anyone else. The Stapledon Program¡¯s training had left her better than human physically in addition to her voice''s power. She wasn¡¯t as physically powerful as Cassie, but she was strong enough to be a threat on a good day for her and an off day for Cassie.


    At the end of practice, Chancy called Cassie. Then we separated into groups, and he teleported each one back where it came from¡ªwith exceptions. Everyone still at Stapledon¡¯s training camp for the weekend went back to HQ with the rest of us. Chancy had moved their luggage as part of the pre-practice teleports, so we appeared back in HQ finding that the main room''s line of suitcases called to mind a hotel lobby.


    Everyone ditched their costumes, went through the showers, dressed in their civilian clothes, and either talked in groups in the base or left for their homes.


    I found myself sitting next to the door of my lab petting Tiger who¡¯d barked at me and rolled over to display his belly after I put away my armor. Tiger had decided he was done with the stomach rub eventually. So I was scratching his ears and head.


    Haley walked up, wearing a green blouse and light blue jeans. She pulled two suitcases behind her across the concrete, ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    The blouse struck me as a little nicer than she might normally wear after practice and I caught a hint of perfume. Given the circumstances, I wasn¡¯t surprised.


    I stopped petting the dog. Tiger moved his head to put it back under my hand. I gave his head another scratch, ¡°I think so, but the dog disagrees.¡±


    Haley leaned in to pet the dog, telling him, ¡°Sorry, Tiger. Dog massages are done for the night. If you want more, I¡¯d talk to Kayla.¡±


    With a soft, wuffing noise, he stood up, giving each of us a lick and walked toward Kayla. Haley moved the handle of one of the suitcases toward me. I took it and we walked across the main room toward the hangar. Among the groups of us lingering, I happened to notice that Marcus and Sydney were standing behind one of the larger trophy cases and kissing.


    Catching Haley¡¯s eye, I asked, ¡°When did that happen?¡±


    She shrugged, ¡°This summer at Stapledon. She finally forgave him for everything that happened with Kee. I didn¡¯t ask about the details.¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°They weren¡¯t going out. They never even went on a date.¡±


    Haley took a breath as if she were about to speak, stopped, and then said, ¡°I know. I don¡¯t know how many times I told her she couldn¡¯t blame him if they never even talked about having a relationship, but it looks like she listened¡ªeventually.¡±


    We pulled the suitcases through the doorway into the hangar and loaded them into her car, a blue Prius that I¡¯d modified for her.


    As we got inside and shut the doors, I said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re going to my parents for supper after this.¡±


    She started the car and we rode toward the hangar¡¯s exit, rolling past the Wolfmobile and the League jet, ¡°Your mom asked and it was the only night that worked this week. How did the island go? I talked to Yoselin at practice, so I know a little, but why is she here? And why did you open storage room three?¡±


    I wasn¡¯t even finished explaining all of it by the time we stopped in front of my parents¡¯ house.

 Never Go Home: Part 10

    We rolled into the driveway as I said, ¡°The Grey Giant was in Armory¡¯s place dressed as a security guard. I¡¯d barely destroyed much of anything in his weapons lab and suddenly I had a whole new fight to deal with. The bright side was that I was supposed to be distracting people from everyone else, and it worked.¡±


    Haley shook her head, ¡°He nearly killed all three of you the first time you fought him. Why is he even out of prison?¡±


    ¡°Syndicate L got him out.¡± I put my hand on my door handle.


    She sighed, ¡°Well, that figures.¡± Then she paused, ¡°You''re nowhere near done, are you?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Nope. We¡¯ll be talking for another half hour if you want to hear it all now. That or we can just go through it at the dinner table. I¡¯m pretty sure my dad¡¯s block is still holding. My mom, though¡­¡±


    Her lips curled, ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be nice. I¡¯ll ask about it after we leave. You haven¡¯t even gotten to why you opened the storage room yet.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± We opened our doors and stepped out onto the driveway. I looked up at the house in front of me. All red brick and grey painted wood, the two-story house was where I¡¯d spent the first eighteen years of my life.


    It felt like I hadn¡¯t been home since my freshman year at Grand Lake University. That wasn¡¯t quite true. I¡¯d been home for holidays, but for the first two years of university, I¡¯d been in the dorms and the last two in Grandpa¡¯s home that I¡¯d inherited. Plus, I¡¯d spent my summers and half my school weekends at Stapledon.


    Home had fallen away from me and I hadn¡¯t noticed. I¡¯d been busy. Maybe that might change now that I¡¯d graduated, but knowing what superheroes¡¯ lives were like, I didn¡¯t feel optimistic. Still, Grandpa had managed.


    Before I could go deeper into those thoughts, Haley put her hand in mine and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    We walked in through the garage, stepping into the utility room, the room with the washer and dryer and hooks for the family to hang up coats¡ªwell, for kids and their friends to hang up coats. The kids Rachel and I used to be along with Daniel, sometimes Cassie, and even Vaughn a few times.


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    Grown-ups used the closet near the front door for their coats.


    Out of habit, I took off my shoes. Haley frowned for a moment and did the same.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to,¡± I said, knowing that she was thinking about her feet. She didn¡¯t have fangs or claws out right now, but shoes gave her a little more time to gain control if something triggered her.


    My mom stepped into the hall, ¡°You don¡¯t have to take off your shoes. I used to make sure Nick did because his shoes were always muddy or when he went to my dad¡¯s house, covered with I don¡¯t know what.¡±


    Only two inches shorter than me, my mom had short dark hair with a few strands of grey. Thin with an oval face that reminded me a little of Rachel¡¯s, she wore a blue and white striped shirt with blue jeans.


    Haley smiled, ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡±


    She placed her shoes next to the door with mine. We walked down the hall into the kitchen and dining room. I considered sitting on one of the chairs next to the counter between the kitchen and dining area, but my dad had gotten up from his chair in the family room. He placed the newspaper on the floor next to his chair.


    A couple of inches taller than me, Dad was around six feet tall and wearing a green button-down shirt and tan slacks. His belly hung out a little over his belt, but his broad shoulders and thick arms hinted at the football player he¡¯d been in high school and college.


    I¡¯d inherited none of that¡ªthe strength, athletic talent, or much, if any, of his personality. If anyone, I resembled Mom and, even more, Grandpa Vander Sloot. If that ever disappointed him, he¡¯d never said so.


    Dad put his hand on my shoulder, ¡°It¡¯s good to have you both here. It feels like it¡¯s been ages since Haley¡¯s visited.¡±


    Smiling, Haley said, ¡°It has been a few months. I think I was here last spring before I went to Colorado.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°You¡¯re in the same scholarship program as Nick and Rachel.¡± He stopped, blinked, but continued, ¡°And now that I think of it, most of Nick¡¯s friends through his grandfather¡¯s army buddies.¡±


    Haley glanced over at me, but replied, ¡°I think children and grandchildren of veterans might have a better chance of getting into the program. I don¡¯t know, but that¡¯s my guess. A lot of the other students are from military families.¡±


    Dad nodded as she spoke, "I¡¯d never thought of Joanie¡¯s family as a military family, but her father did serve even if he never much talked about the war. I wish he had. Being able to pass on family history like that is good for people. It might have been good for him to talk about it too.¡± Dad shook his head, ¡°But it¡¯s too late for that, and honestly, I think he must have talked about it with his friends. They got together a lot and it was probably good for all of them.¡±


    He stopped, frowning, ¡°Now where is Rachel doing her service project again?¡±


    ¡°Ghana,¡± I said. We¡¯d settled on that lie before she¡¯d left.


    With a sigh, he stepped back and waved us into the room, ¡°I thought that was it, but every time I think about it, there¡¯s something in me that doesn¡¯t believe she¡¯s there.¡±

 Never Go Home: Part 11

    Haley and I stepped into the dining room. The table was already set¡ªwhite dishes, blue placemats, and even though no food was out, blue hot pads were already waiting to protect the table from hot dishes. I also noticed that the water had already been poured.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you sit down?¡± My mom opened the door of the oven. ¡°Everything¡¯s ready. I¡¯ve been keeping it warm.¡±


    I looked at Haley, ¡°We¡¯re not late, are we?¡±


    She said, ¡°No,¡± but then looked back toward my mom who said, ¡°No, I wanted to be ready in case you were early.¡±


    Haley gave a small laugh, knowing by now that while I wasn¡¯t consistently late, I was more likely to be late than early.


    Mom laughed too, adding, ¡°I know it¡¯s not likely, but I also knew that Haley was driving you over.¡±


    And that meant that Mom had been texting or talking to Haley because I hadn¡¯t told her that. Mom probably also knew that we¡¯d been training because unlike Dad, her block had failed during my senior year of high school back when Ray and his team of assassins held her captive.


    It would have been nice if Dad¡¯s block had fallen back then too, but Mom had a weakened version of Rachel¡¯s ability to turn intangible and was the daughter of two superheroes, giving her a greater weight of life experience to ignore.


    Within a few minutes, Dad had prayed over the meal and we¡¯d started eating. For a while, that¡¯s all we did. It was long enough after practice that I had time to notice what my body wanted beyond being less tired and food was on the list. Plus, I¡¯d noticed that after talking with Kee or doing the exercises she gave me I needed more food, much like Haley or other supers.


    It wasn¡¯t as true for me as Haley or Cassie, but I felt the difference and I definitely felt it today. The talk with Kee must have done it.


    As I thought about that, Dad asked, ¡°How¡¯s the business you started with Chris going? You were saying that you had clients already.¡±


    I looked up from my plate, ¡°It¡¯s going okay. Easier than I would have expected. We didn¡¯t get anyone at first which isn¡¯t too surprising since I just graduated, Chris isn¡¯t done yet, and neither of us has a lot of experience outside of internships.¡±


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    At that, Dad grunted, no doubt thinking about my internship with Higher Ground. He hadn¡¯t known I¡¯d been gathering evidence for the FBI, but he did know that it had ended in a fight with the Heroes¡¯ League, and the prosecution of both Higher Ground¡¯s leadership and Russell Hardwick.


    I kept on talking anyway, ¡°Fortunately, it turns out that Chris¡¯ grandfather had contacts who needed work done, basically auto parts and the machines that make them. Also, Vaughn told his mom what we were doing, and you know how Grandpa Vander Sloot did a lot of work for Hardwick Industries? He basically created the ultrasound technology that they¡¯re still using? She decided to give us a chance. It¡¯s a small contract, but if we do a good job, it could turn into something bigger.¡±


    ¡°Gerald Cannon?¡± Dad lowered his fork and Swedish meatball to his plate. ¡°The former supervillain? It¡¯s legal work?¡±


    I nodded, ¡°I know it sounds bad, but when he wasn¡¯t in costume, he built a regional auto parts chain. It wasn¡¯t the biggest, but he does have legitimate business contacts. We checked them out.¡±


    Dad shook his head, ¡°I get it. It¡¯s work. I remember when I was building my practice. I was everywhere, taking any business I could get, even some I shouldn¡¯t have, but taking business related to superheroes is different than most. It ropes you into situations that are beyond anything you could expect. I¡¯ve counseled a few teenage superheroes, sometimes at government request. I think I did some good, but my worry was that their enemies would find out he was talking with me. I don¡¯t know what would have happened then, but it could have easily put the whole family in danger.¡±


    With a sigh, he added, ¡°Between the two, I¡¯d hope for more work from Hardwick Industries. Vaughn¡¯s parents are good people even if his uncle wasn¡¯t.¡±


    He opened his mouth again, blinked, and stopped, ¡°You know, there was something else I wanted to add to that, but it just went clean out of my head. Don¡¯t you hate it when that happens? So, Haley, what are you going to do after graduation this year?¡±


    Haley frowned, ¡°My dad thinks I should work in the main office of our holding company. I¡¯d be designing menus, signs, and ads. I¡¯m not sure that I want to. I feel like I¡¯ve worked for my family for years already and it would be nice to do something on my own.¡±


    My mom smiled, ¡°I understand the feeling. When I was in college, all I wanted to do was get out of Grand Lake and I did. I got a job reading unsolicited manuscripts for an agent in NYC and a few different jobs with publishers until I helped promote the book of a therapist from Grand Lake¡­ I moved back then and I¡¯m still here.¡±


    Haley grinned for a second before frowning again, ¡°I don¡¯t want to go that far away. I just don¡¯t want to owe my dad for every job I ever have.¡±


    Dad stared into the distance, ¡°Something else happened in New York, something important, but I don¡¯t remember it. Joanie? Do you remember it? I feel like I¡¯m losing my mind.¡±


    At that moment, I felt a quiver of whatever sense I used when I was in Lee¡¯s or Kee¡¯s presence. It didn¡¯t feel as strong as when I was with them, but I felt a whisper of their power.

 Never Go Home: Part 12

    As I felt it, my mom opened her mouth to reply to my dad, hesitating, but then finally speaking, ¡°We were kidnapped.¡±


    Her words came quietly and slowly at first but then seeing that my dad was still listening, she talked more quickly, ¡°We were leaving my office when three huge men in suits grabbed us and pushed us into a car. You tried to fight them, but you couldn¡¯t hurt them and they were so strong that they had to be supers. They brought us to an old warehouse and kept us there for two days. On the second day, another man came to see. He was older and talked with a strange accent, but like the others, he was also a big man.¡±


    Dad nodded, ¡°I do remember that now. He started by saying nothing, just staring at both of us. When he did talk he started asking us questions about our ancestry. What countries were our ancestors from? What were their names? Did we ever dream of being¡­ I think it was, ¡®luminous beings in a great darkness?¡¯ It didn¡¯t make any sense to me at all.¡±


    Letting out a breath, Mom said, ¡°Yes. That¡¯s exactly what he said and you asked him what kind of luminous being? An angel?¡±


    Leaning in to look at Mom, he said, ¡°Right. I was trying to keep him talking. The rest were supers and he was their boss. He had to be too and for all I knew he was going to try to turn us into them or sacrifice us to become one himself. I don¡¯t know. But then he just said, ¡®I don¡¯t know,¡¯ and he walked away.¡±


    The two of them looked into each other¡¯s eyes, my dad taking deep breaths, ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about it in years, but it changed everything. We¡¯d been dating on and off since my previous book, but after that, you wanted to move back to Grand Lake.¡±


    Looking from one of them to the other, Haley asked, ¡°How did you get away? Did they just let you go?¡±


    My dad smiled, ¡°No. They tied us up and shoved us into a big closet, but minutes later, maybe half an hour at most, the Rocket showed up and not just the Rocket. The Rhino, Mindstryke, the Mentalist, Ghostwoman, and Gunther. I think he was some kind of German super soldier who fought against the Nazis? All of those guys. It was around when the Rocket and Mentalist retired. I never understood why they were in New York or why they showed up for us, but I was grateful.¡±


    I had an excellent idea of why they might have shown up. I didn¡¯t have kids, but I felt sure I¡¯d show up for them even if I were retired. What bothered me was the guy who¡¯d shown up to ask questions. The three guys with him didn¡¯t bother me so much.


    Big guys weren¡¯t rare in the superhuman community, but three big guys together? It sounded like the Cabal. Many of the Cabal¡¯s main soldiers dated back to the Roman Empire or even earlier, so strange accents weren''t rare among them either, but I could think of one guy who looked older and used to work with the Cabal.


    Unsure of how long it would be before Dad¡¯s block kicked in, I considered asking Mom, but found myself looking Dad in the eye, ¡°Did they catch the older guy? And what happened to the people that kidnapped you?¡±


    Shaking his head, Dad said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. They ran away. The Rhino said it was a hard fight and I believe him. The building shook while they fought and when they brought us out, there were holes in the concrete floor and the roof, shattered walls, and it looked like someone threw a forklift. I can¡¯t even guess what happened to the older man. I¡¯ve never seen him again.¡±


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    I pulled out my phone, connected to a government database through the League¡¯s connection, and downloaded a picture, expanding it to fill the screen. It showed a man with white and grey hair in a blue suit. The broad shoulders and thick arms hinted at strength. A bushy mustache covered most of his upper lip.


    Holding the picture up, I asked, ¡°Could this be the same man?¡±


    Dad frowned, ¡°It could be, but it¡¯s been over twenty years.¡±


    ¡°Closer to twenty-five,¡± Mom stared at my phone and then over at my dad. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Who is that?¡±


    Putting my phone back in my pocket, I said, ¡°Martin Magnus. He was connected to the Cabal. The guys that kidnapped you sound kind of like Cabal soldiers.¡±


    Smiling for the first time since this topic came up, Dad said, ¡°You can see your grandfather in you there. He knew obscure facts about all of those people. Don¡¯t worry about it. Whoever they were, I¡¯ve never seen them since.¡± Then he stopped, ¡°Well, except that Accelerando fought two Cabal members near my office the day they were all over the city, the same day the Executioner kidnapped your mom.¡±


    He shook his head, ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem possible that the two events could be connected, but it¡¯s a strange coincidence...¡±


    Turning away from me to look at Mom, he said, ¡°Do you remember when they found us? Gunther stared at us. I don¡¯t know what he was looking for, but something about it felt strange. I don¡¯t know why.¡±


    We kept on talking after that, but my mind wasn¡¯t on it. It kept on jumping back to advice I¡¯d gotten separately from both Lee and Kee at different times. They¡¯d told me that if I felt any hint that Artificers might be around, I shouldn¡¯t do anything to attract their attention. On the most human and relatable end, that meant not acting scared. On the least human end, I needed to avoid using abilities that showed that I was connected to them.


    At the same time, sometimes you had to take a chance. These were my parents. I knew we had a connection to the Cosmic Ghosts through Grandma Vander Sloot and that Lee had been watching my Grandpa Vander Sloot¡¯s family for years before he appeared. If that weren¡¯t enough, the Cosmic Ghosts were related to the Artificers. Knowing that, it wasn¡¯t a surprise that the Cosmic Ghosts¡¯ abilities were strong enough in Rachel that they¡¯d asked her to come with them to be trained.


    That strength had to come from somewhere, and knowing the basics of genetics, it might be both my parents.


    Making use of the training Kee gave me, I opened up my mind to other energies, ones I didn¡¯t yet have a name for and not for lack of asking. Kee wouldn¡¯t say. Letting them in to me in a controlled trickle, I looked around the table.


    Starting first with Haley, I saw nothing more than herself, glancing in my direction, guessing that I was doing something, but not knowing what. Across from Haley on the other side of the table, Mom poked her fork into her salad. Within her, I could see wispy lines that could have been a loose drawing of the human nervous system. It wasn¡¯t much different from what I saw when I looked at myself in whatever space Kee and I used to communicate, but I was both bigger and brighter.


    Dad, though? If I didn¡¯t think much about it, I could have dismissed the shape I saw within him as being much like Mom except dimmer and smaller. When I looked closer, that wasn¡¯t quite true. Though hard to see, all of the strands and tendrils within him had spots of brightness.


    Closing my eyes for a moment, I could still see them all. Though it wasn¡¯t visible when my eyes were open, even Haley had a small, dim, presence. Mom and Dad both stood out, being, despite their differences, luminous beings in the darkness.


    I let the vision fade and opened my eyes, scooping more noodles and meatballs onto my plate.


    Checking the windows behind him, Dad said, ¡°Did anyone else feel that breeze? I think it might be cooling down outside.¡±

 Never Go Home: Part 13

    Mom frowned, leaning to look into the living room which was behind Haley and in the front of the house. Following her gaze, I noticed that unlike the windows in the dining room, the windows in the living room were shut. A breeze seemed unlikely.


    ¡°I felt it too,¡± she said, not looking at either Haley or me.


    Dad nodded, ¡°I think a thunderstorm is in the forecast. We could use it. The heat these last few days has been miserable. Well, enough about the weather. Did you see last night''s Tigers game, Haley?¡±


    From there the conversation detoured away from troubling memories and weather to sports. Baseball, basketball, football, and hockey never interested me the way they did my dad, but Haley¡¯s whole family, except for maybe her mom, followed them religiously. So, Dad got to talk sports with someone, much like he¡¯d been able to do with Travis back when Rachel had been dating Travis.


    I guess that was a good thing.


    After supper, we talked a little longer, and then Haley and I went up to my room and not, in case you¡¯re wondering, to make out. We¡¯d have a lot more privacy for that anywhere else but my parents¡¯ house. We went up to my room to see if there was anything else I needed to grab. I¡¯d never had an official move-out date from my room. I¡¯d always come home to grab a little bit more stuff.


    Now, a little more than half of my books were still on my bookshelf, some of them college textbooks I couldn¡¯t sell back, but didn¡¯t want to throw away. Most were novels or comics. My senior pictures from high school in a multi-picture frame sat next to yearbooks.


    A little bit of me was tempted to pick up the yearbooks and show them to Haley, but that part of me was outranked by that part of me that remembered high school. It hadn¡¯t been great. It said something that senior year, the year in which the mayor tried to call in the government on me, and Ray and the Cabal tried to capture and kill me represented an overall improvement in my life.


    Still, the half-empty bookshelves, the bed with its perfect, untouched green and white striped coverlet and sheets felt neglected. My desk was neat with no books or papers, but the working model I¡¯d made of a trebuchet was still there. One of these days I¡¯d have to move the disassembled parts of the finished version out of my parents¡¯ basement.


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    Haley took it in in a glance, ¡°Do you want to take anything?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I think I have everything I want on a day to day basis. I think the rest will have to wait until whenever the final, for real, move out date is.¡±


    Then I noticed a matchbox on one of the shelves. Opening it to check whether what I thought was inside was still there, I saw a squat metal cylinder. Grandpa had invented a version of the transistor in 1939 because he¡¯d needed one for an early Rocket suit. It predated the official invention of a useful transistor. He¡¯d given me one once when I asked about it.


    ¡°You know what? I think I¡¯ll take this,¡± I said, and pocketed the matchbox.


    For a second Haley¡¯s eyes followed the box and I felt sure she was about to ask about it. Instead, she blinked and turned toward my bedroom door, saying, ¡°Your mom¡¯s coming.¡±


    Mom gave the door a knock and stepped inside without waiting for a response, closing the door behind her. Letting go of the doorknob, she turned to face us, ¡°Do you know how long it will be before he knows?¡±


    Freezing as I thought through my answer, I finally said, ¡°I have no idea. I didn¡¯t know he was this close to the end of his block until today.I mean, you¡¯d probably have a better guess than I do. You actually had one like his.¡±


    Mom¡¯s face tightened, ¡°I don¡¯t know if it was the same sort of block as mine. Because I can do what I can do and my history, I think my block must have been more complex. Ben¡¯s a normal person. His block might not be as complicated.¡±


    And there I could have told Mom about the Artificers, the Live and Destroy factions, the Cosmic Ghosts, Lee, Magnus, and what I¡¯d seen inside them, but I didn¡¯t. Instead, I committed what¡¯s called a sin of omission¡ªI didn¡¯t explain anything. Maybe that would have made what followed better, but even now, I doubt it. I knew that explaining all of that to the wrong person or telling someone who explained it to the wrong massive supernatural entity could end the world, maybe taking this arm of the galaxy with it.


    Ignoring the fact that my dad had the worst possible name for the father of a superhero, I said the first thing that came to mind, watching her face for a reaction. ¡°I can ask Daniel and his dad. They might know.¡±


    Her mouth twitched, ¡°Please do that. When Ray kidnapped me, it all fell away in a moment. I didn¡¯t recognize all the ways it had been building up before then until later, but it could have fallen at a different time, one that would have been better, but also one that was worse. How do you think he¡¯ll respond to finding out that we¡¯ve known for years?¡±


    I don¡¯t know what I would have said next because my phone rang. Pulling it out of my pocket, I saw who was calling. Saying, ¡°It¡¯s Daniel,¡± I clicked on the screen and took the call.


    Not even saying, ¡°Hi,¡± Daniel went straight to the meat of why he was calling, ¡°Do you remember after the Cabal when my grandpa went ominous and cryptic on us? He¡¯s doing it again. He just told me to call you and tell you that ¡®It''s starting. Find it before they do¡¯.¡±

 Never Go Home: Part 14

    Already suspecting the answer, I asked, ¡°Did he use a word more precise than ¡®it¡¯?¡±


    Daniel¡¯s laugh had a hint of weariness, ¡°No, but if I had to guess, he said something about a device that needed to be destroyed last time, and when we asked him if he meant the power impregnator he didn¡¯t respond.¡±


    I thought back to the afternoon. Even besides the tablet, we had two storage rooms worth of Abominator devices. I could think of half a dozen devices that might be good candidates for destruction and I¡¯d only opened one of the two rooms. Plus, and I wasn¡¯t going to mention this outside of HQ, we had a whole lower level below the main level of HQ that Grandpa set up to be a fallout shelter and base for rebuilding civilization in case of nuclear war.


    I¡¯d come to suspect that there might be more Abominator equipment down there in addition to canned and freeze-dried food that was well past its expiration date.


    ¡°Crap,¡± I said, ¡°He¡¯s not in¡­ the best of health, though. Do you think we have to take him seriously?¡±


    Daniel¡¯s grandfather said something in the background and Daniel said, ¡°Just a second,¡± and then in a voice that sounded distant, as if he wasn¡¯t talking directly into the microphone, ¡°Grandpa, which device? The Rocket has a lot of devices, remember?¡±


    Grandpa Cohen said something unintelligible and Daniel¡¯s voice came over the phone again, ¡°He says you¡¯ll know it. And now he¡¯s walked away, mumbling something to himself. I¡¯m going to keep on moving. I¡¯m the only one home so I should keep him in sight.¡±


    Glancing at my mom and Haley, I wondered if I should wrap up the conversation. Haley had to be able to hear both sides, but my mom couldn¡¯t. ¡°No problem,¡± I said, ¡°but do you think he¡¯s saying something useful, or is he just randomly repeating things from the past?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure,¡± Daniel said, the inconsistency of his volume hinting that his phone was moving back and forth near his mouth as he walked, ¡°but when you asked if we should take him seriously, he said ¡®yes.¡¯ I didn¡¯t have my cell on speakerphone and I keep up enough of a block that he shouldn¡¯t be able to pull it out of my head.


    ¡°My dad and I have suspected for years that he set up something in his brain that would allow him to pass out information at crucial moments. I mean, the League¡¯s board¡¯s basically said that they¡¯re following a plan based on what he learned about the future and that they¡¯re not telling us to avoid messing things up. If he¡¯d trust anyone keep things on track, though, he¡¯d trust himself.¡±


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    I felt myself frown, ¡°And he¡¯s not being particularly talkative either. Do you think it would be worth it for Haley and me to drop by?¡±


    ¡°No. He¡¯s still as powerful as he used to be. We know how he responds to family, but we try not to risk guests without help and I¡¯m the only one home right now.¡± Daniel¡¯s phone made a clunking noise.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I looked over at my mom. ¡°Totally different subject. It sounds like my dad¡¯s block is on its way out. Do you have any tips to help us make it as smooth as possible? We¡¯re hoping it won¡¯t drop while he¡¯s teaching a class or something.¡±


    Daniel let out a breath, ¡°Wow. Don¡¯t let him go on long trips alone until it happens. The way a block ends is that the subject¡¯s brain stops reinforcing pieces of the block a little bit at a time and learns more and more until one day it all falls. There¡¯s no way to know what the final trigger will be, and whether it will fall gently or all at once. It¡¯ll be better if he¡¯s in familiar surroundings, near friends and family.¡±


    I thought about Dad, wondering what he was doing now¡ªwatching TV or doing research for his next book, maybe loading the dishwasher. I wasn¡¯t going to be at home and neither was Rachel. As the person who ran the business end of Dad¡¯s combination of writing, public speaking, therapy, and teaching, Mom worked at home as he did.


    She¡¯d be here and that was a good thing, but on a gut level, it felt like I should be helping more than that. To Daniel, I said, ¡°We¡¯ll see what we can do. They both work out of the home a lot, so my mom will be with him and I don¡¯t think he¡¯s got any big trips planned.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like the best possible situation,¡± Daniel said. ¡°I think I need to help Grandpa back to his room. I should hang up.¡±


    He did, and I explained what he¡¯d told me to mom, ending with, ¡°Do you want me to move back home for a little while until Dad comes to himself? I can¡¯t promise I¡¯ll be home all the time, but if I¡¯m home in the evenings or at night, it¡¯ll be better than nothing.¡±


    Mom shook her head, ¡°I think I can handle it. You¡¯ve got your own very busy life right now and explaining why you¡¯re here one minute and gone the next¡­ I¡¯m not going to pretend to know more than Daniel, but I think that¡¯s the way you trigger the more dramatic kind of break. Don¡¯t worry about me.¡±


    Then she stopped, glancing toward the door to the hall, ¡°There¡¯s something you should know though. I think your Grandpa Klein knew about Grandpa Vander Sloot and the Rocket. Thinking about it after my block ended, it was obvious even though I can''t explain why it''s obvious.¡±


    Dad¡¯s father, my Grandpa Klein, had taught anthropology at Grand Lake University until they eliminated the department and he moved to teach at the University of Minnesota. I¡¯d never seen any indication that he knew, but I hadn¡¯t been looking either, and now that I was, I remembered that Grandpa Vander Sloot visited him in Minnesota every year.


    I¡¯d asked him what they did once. Grandpa said they went fishing.

 Memories: Part 1

    If you asked a random person on planet Earth what a superhero did all day, the answer you¡¯d get is something like ¡°beating up criminals.¡± If you asked me or anyone else in the business, it would be some combination of training, your day job or your cover, beating up criminals, and checking out leads on whatever case you were working on. Of all of those, beating up criminals was the least likely to actually take place.


    In my particular case, the list would also include working on new technology since I could now, for the first time in my life, do that for hours at a time if I wanted to.


    Today I was combining testing new technology with what could be called personal business. I felt that a case could be made for the idea that I was checking out a lead on a case even though the case in question might be six years old.


    I was flying to Minnesota.


    I hadn¡¯t heard from Martin Magnus since high school when he¡¯d tried to recruit me into working with him against the Mayor. That might not seem like a big deal in the grand scheme of things except that 1) he¡¯d called my personal phone to have that conversation and 2) we learned that he¡¯d been part of the Cabal and was in fact the guy who¡¯d recruited the Mayor into it.


    Combining that with my dad¡¯s story about how he¡¯d kidnapped my parents while they were dating made it clear to me that finding out more about Magnus had to be higher on my personal priority list. Grandpa Klein might know more about that if my mom was correct about him knowing that Grandpa Vander Sloot was the Rocket.


    Even if he didn¡¯t, I still might learn something useful and even if Grandpa Klein didn¡¯t know anything useful, well, at least I got to test my new variant on the suit¡¯s flight systems.


    I¡¯d set off from Grand Lake in the early morning and while the sun was rising, you¡¯d never know it from what lay ahead. Flying westward this early meant that I was chasing the night. While I could see the dawn behind me if I wanted to look, my helmet filtered the light. I didn¡¯t need the distraction.


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    Ahead of me lay darkness and stars even though dawn had begun to light up the ground, cities still glowing in the morning¡¯s dim light. I wasn¡¯t aiming for any city. Grandpa and Grandma Klein owned a small cottage on Lake Superior, a couple of hours from Minneapolis. When I texted Grandpa to ask if I could meet him there, he didn¡¯t ask how I¡¯d get there or why I was coming. He¡¯d told me that he could make it there by eight.


    I landed at the cabin a few minutes early, taking an hour and half to get there. The jet would have been faster, but harder to hide. Taking a moment to look around, I didn¡¯t see anybody.


    To look at the lake, you¡¯d have thought it was in the middle of an uninhabited wilderness. Pine trees surrounded the cabin, a rectangular building with walls of stained wood and a wooden porch in the front. A rocky beach lay around ten feet from the cabin with a weathered wooden dock extending around thirty feet into the water. The grey, metal rowboat tied to the dock figured in my childhood memories of visiting grandparents.


    With the sensors showing no one in the trees or on the lake, I walked up to the picnic table and told the suit to transform. It sloughed off me in a moment, reassembling itself into a working copy of a motorcycle¡ªnot the same one I¡¯d driven during the summer in Detroit, but a design built on that work.


    Between that and the helmet in my hand, anyone passing by would see my grandfather talking to a guy with a motorcycle instead of the Rocket.


    I sat down at the picnic table as the door of the cabin opened and Grandpa Klein walked out on the porch. Built much like dad with the same wide shoulders, but around 25 years older, Grandpa stood around six feet tall. Thinner than my dad, he had a short white beard and wore a light grey jacket and jeans.


    He walked over to the picnic table and sat down next to me, glancing over at the motorcycle and grinning, ¡°I was wondering if this conversation would ever happen. And nice job on the motorcycle. I don¡¯t recall Joe¡¯s suit ever changing its shape.¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°He could have worked it out if he were active now. It¡¯s my work, but it¡¯s built on his foundation plus ideas from teachers at Stapledon and even profs at GLU.¡±


    He smiled, ¡°It¡¯s good to know those of us in normal, mundane academia aren''t wasting our time. So, what do you want to ask me?¡±


    I looked over at him, ¡°I barely know where to begin. You know my Dad¡¯s got the block, right? It¡¯s coming undone and that¡¯s a good thing, but maybe not. Also, were you actually fishing when GrandpaVander Sloot came to visit you every summer? And if you weren¡¯t what were you really doing? Plus, what do you know about the guy who kidnapped my parents or about their kidnapping in general?¡±


    He shook his head, ¡°You don¡¯t start with the small stuff, do you?¡±

 Memories: Part 2

    I gave a half-smile, ¡°Sorry. There¡¯s too much going on right now. In some ways, it¡¯s mostly in my head because none of it¡¯s hit the point where people are trying to kill me. I¡¯m just worried it might hit that point sooner rather than later.¡±


    He frowned, looking down and drawing a breath, ¡°I never wanted this life for you, and if it weren¡¯t your best chance to survive, I doubt Joe would have wanted it for you either. If you think about how our society¡¯s decided to handle superheroes, it¡¯s not the best thing we could have done. I understand why we¡¯ve done it, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s good either for the people doing it or for society as a whole.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got a whole class of people encouraged to think of themselves as above the law and a society willing to ignore it until someone decides that they¡¯ve gone too far. Then all of their friends are expected to help the government hunt them down. If they never go too far, they have to live a life where they hide the real purpose of their life from almost everyone around them. If they chose to live honestly, they risk either having their friends or loved ones get targeted by criminals or setting themselves apart from society by living in a compound.


    ¡°In a better world teenagers with powers wouldn¡¯t be pressured to become part of paramilitary forces and you¡¯d be creating the first generation of starships that the Alliance can¡¯t find a way to forbid from leaving our solar system.¡±


    He let out a long breath, ¡°I know that¡¯s not the question you asked, but I¡¯ve always thought the system we now have is madness. I talked it over with Joe dozens of times over the years, and I think we agreed even if he had a more practical attitude than I do. From his point of view, it was a bad system, but it was the one we had and we had to live with it until we managed to turn it into something better.¡±


    He stopped talking and turned to look at me, ¡°I spent enough time teaching and doing anthropology to know that societies don¡¯t automatically move to something better. They move to something that seems to fit that society¡¯s needs¡ªat least for a little while. If you want something better, you have to work to change it, and even then, there are no guarantees.¡±


    Giving me a grin, he said, ¡°But that still doesn¡¯t answer your question¡ªdirectly. It¡¯s something we talked about, though. We really did go fishing when he said we went fishing, but that¡¯s not all we did. He told me about his life and I listened, acting as an outside second opinion, sometimes a counselor, and sometimes a consultant. As a cultural anthropologist, I like to think I helped the League understand the Abominators and their servants.¡±


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    Letting him stop, I asked, ¡°How did that happen? The League blocked my parents from noticing or even being able to think about the League.¡±


    Grandpa¡¯s face tightened and he stared out toward the lake before continuing, ¡°I didn¡¯t like that. It made no sense to me at first, but then I found out about everything the Mentalist saw in the future for the group and their grandchildren. Based on what he saw, they did what brought about the best chance for you all to survive. For reasons I don¡¯t know, that meant that I needed to understand everything and have a minimal block, the kind that pushes me to avoid talking about what I know in public. Beyond that, I¡¯m free.


    ¡°As to how it happened? It¡¯s easy to explain. I happened to be studying Bedouin culture in the summer of 1971, trying to understand the effect of the end of their traditional, nomadic lifestyle on their culture. Because of that, I happened to be in Jordan when an archaeologist I knew uncovered Abominator artifacts and along with them a few Abominators in stasis. When they woke, Iinterviewed them and when they brought their human servants out of stasis, I was one of those that escaped and told the League.¡±


    I stared at him. That story I¡¯d heard, but not from him. Grandpa Vander Sloot told me about it as one of the events that lead up to fighting the Abominators, events that gave them a hint of what theAbominators were about before everything went crazy.


    ¡°I had no idea,¡± I said.


    He nodded, ¡°I hope you weren¡¯t expecting any sort of major revelations when you came here. Everything I know is out of date and I¡¯d like to keep it that way. I think that answers all of your questions.¡±


    ¡°Not the one about the guy that kidnapped my parents. Do you know anything about him?¡± I watched Grandpa¡¯s face as he nodded and held up his index finger.


    ¡°One thing, and it¡¯s something neither your mother and father registered even though the Mentalist saw it at once. When they kidnapped your parents, it wasn¡¯t only by violence. They had someone with them that could command them not to escape or where to walk and they would simply listen. There was a human servant like that with the Abominators when I met them.¡±


    ¡°Dominators,¡± I said.


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Grandpa let out a long sigh. ¡°The Mentalist looked and he couldn¡¯t find evidence of tampering, but it did lead them to take special precautions with your parents.¡±

 Memories: Part 3

    Grandpa stared out at the water, not saying anything else.


    ¡°What precautions?¡± I asked.


    Turning back to me, he said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. The regular ones they took with all of their families, but more than that on the advice of Gunther. He wasn¡¯t there, but Joe mentioned his name.¡±


    We talked longer than that, but he didn¡¯t have anything more to add about the block, Grandpa Vander Sloot, or anything about the League. We talked about Grandma who¡¯d taken the car into town to do grocery shopping. She didn¡¯t know that Grandpa Vander Sloot was the Rocket or that I¡¯d be flying in this morning. Grandpa Klein had chosen our meeting time to make sure she¡¯d continue to remain ignorant.


    We also talked a little about Dad¡¯s younger sisters, their husbands, and my cousins. Grandma Klein had given birth to my dad when Grandpa was still in graduate school and they waited to have more kids until after he¡¯d been hired in at Grand Lake University. All of my cousins were at least three years younger than I was on Dad¡¯s side, much like my youngest cousin on my Mom¡¯s was three years older than Rachel and five years older than me. We weren¡¯t close to any of them.


    I didn¡¯t dislike them. In fact, Ana (short for Anastasia), the youngest cousin on Mom¡¯s side, was even an electrical engineer. We¡¯d bonded a little over that last year in Chicago for an extended family Christmas. Her response to me explaining that I was double majoring in electrical engineering and materials science had been, ¡°You¡¯re insane.¡±


    ¡°It gets worse,¡± I¡¯d told her. ¡°I started double majoring in electrical engineering and chemistry before I realized that materials science fit better. So, I¡¯ve also got a minor in chemistry. I¡¯m still getting out in four years.¡±


    She''d smiled, continuing to fiddle with the three earrings in her right ear, ¡°It sounds like you¡¯re a better fit for my job than I am. I¡¯m working with a lot of materials scientists now. Our focus is on using nanotechnology to create self-repairing materials. I¡¯d say more, but I think that¡¯s more than I should have said already. If you¡¯re looking for a job after graduation and you want to move, let me know. We¡¯re always hiring.¡±


    As I flew back, crossing over Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Lake Michigan, I wondered where she worked. I mean, I didn¡¯t wonder about that the whole time, but I wanted to know. If they were working on nanotech, I might learn something or, almost as likely, improve whatever they were doing.


    I wasn¡¯t planning on dropping the business with Chris, but she was talking about exactly what I¡¯d designed my armor to do. They might even be aware of it and using it as proof of concept. Hopefully, they weren¡¯t the ones providing rip-off Rocket armor to Protection Force. Worse, it might not be impossible that they were funded by the Nine or maybe Rook himself.


    As paranoid as that thought was, I set the implant to remind me of it later. I needed to look into it just in case. If I didn¡¯t have the time, maybe I could pass it over to Hal. The jet¡¯s AI might find it boring, but at least it would get done.


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    Midway across Lake Michigan, the dark water extending to the horizon on all sides of me, my mom called. I considered not answering, but knowing that I¡¯d be in the air for at least ten minutes anyway, I took the call.


    ¡°Hey Mom. Is everything okay?¡±


    Mom paused before lowering her voice and answering, ¡°Should anything not be okay?¡±


    Between Dad, Martin Magnus, the Dominators, the Abominators, the Nine, Armory, and my recent, paranoid thoughts about Ana, I could think of a few things that might not be okay, but I said, ¡°No.¡±


    Her tone lightened, ¡°Good. I was calling because Uncle Steve¡¯s here for a day or two. If you want to see him, you should stop by soon. You know what he¡¯s like. He said that he was planning to stay the night, but if he gets a call, he could be gone before supper.¡±


    Like Uncle Joe (Joseph Vander Sloot, Jr.), Uncle Steve was a mechanical engineer, but unlike Uncle Joe, Uncle Steve never got married, never settled down, and never had kids. He¡¯d gone from contract to contract, traveling all over the world, never staying anywhere for more than a few years. Closest to Mom in age, he was also the one she got along best with of her brothers. I liked him too even though arguably I¡¯d seen more of Uncle Joe¡¯s and the twins¡¯ (Uncle Charles and Uncle Curtis) families.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ¡°I can drop by. I¡¯m almost home. I¡¯ll walk over in half an hour. Probably have to shower first.¡±


    About 35 minutes later, I walked through the garage door and into the utility room, passing through to find Uncle Steve sitting at the dining room table where I¡¯d been the night before. He put down his mug of coffee as he stood up to greet me.


    A little over six feet tall, Uncle Steve had a beard, brown and streaked with white, that reached to his chest. He wore jeans and a black t-shirt showing a flying saucer with the word ¡°Boston¡± written across it.


    He held out his hand, ¡°Good to see you, Nick. You look more and more like my dad all the time. All you need to do is disappear mysteriously and it¡¯ll be a perfect resemblance.¡±


    ¡°He did that?¡± I asked.


    He grinned, ¡°All the time. But¡¯s not much of a mystery to me now. He owned his own business. Those guys never get any rest¡ªwhich reminds me, didn¡¯t you just start a business? That¡¯s what Joanie was telling me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. A friend of mine and I are officially ¡®Cannon & Klein Engineering.¡¯ We¡¯ve managed to get a couple of contracts, one of them because my friend Vaughn happens to be the son of Hardwick Industries¡¯ CEO.¡±


    I shrugged.


    Uncle Steve nodded, ¡°Suzanne¡¯s the CEO instead of Russ now. I heard about that. That¡¯s why I should have stayed home after graduation instead of taking that contract in Saudi Arabia. I¡¯d have contacts here instead of everywhere and be running my own business instead of going wherever the business is.¡±


    He stopped, grinned, and then laughed, ¡°Nah... I¡¯d never have survived running my own thing. I like moving around and I like being able to just do the job and let someone else keep the client happy. Say hi to Suzanne and see if she rememberers me. I had a big crush on her back in the day. Don¡¯t tell her that, though.¡±


    Mom¡¯s mouth twisted, ¡°She knew and still remembers.¡±


    Uncle Steve froze, ¡°Then maybe don¡¯t mention me. It might not help.¡±


    Deciding not to mine that unexpected vein of social awkwardness, I said, ¡°What are you doing now? Did a contract just end?¡±


    Nodding, he said, ¡°Yeah. It was the craziest thing. I got hired to work on this Caribbean island. You might have heard about it in the news. It used to be Metafight Island. Now it¡¯s Renewal Island or something like that. I got hired to work on powered armor for Len Jones, better known as Armory, an ex-superhero. It was all legal from what I heard and it was a great place to work.


    "Except... a few months in, I started to see that they were putting the North Korean flag on some of the mechs. That¡¯s when I knew I had to go. I was beginning the process to see if I could get out of the contract and then, well, everything you saw on the news happened. Fortunately, I was on the day shift and not the night shift. So I missed all the excitement, but that¡¯s totally fine.¡±

 Memories: Part 4

    My jaw dropped as I thought about how close we¡¯d been to each other. He¡¯d been gone by the time I¡¯d fought with the Grey Giant, but he¡¯d have been working when Cassie, Daniel, and I went exploring during the day.


    He might know the guy Cassie puked on.


    Laughing as he saw my expression, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t be too impressed. It wasn¡¯t fun. I¡¯ve been researching things online and I think I¡¯ve seen armor I worked on being used by Syndicate L and maybe the Nine. I got lucky that the people who broke into the labs didn¡¯t want to kill people. Whoever planted all those bombs chose to blow them up when almost everyone left. It could have been someone who wanted a body count instead of, I¡¯m guessing, law enforcement. The Dixieland Defenders showed up within 30 minutes of the bombing. It didn¡¯t stop Len from disappearing or his house from burning, but it was still a fast turnaround time. They knew something beforehand.¡±


    I glanced over at Mom. I hadn¡¯t specifically told her why I was going but I had mentioned that I was on a mission with Daniel and Cassie before I left last week. Her face showed nothing. She listened, nodding, without a hint of alarm or at least without staring in my direction.


    I decided to follow her example, ¡°Wow, that¡¯s pretty crazy. It shows how weird things get even with former supers.¡±


    Uncle Steve grinned, ¡°No doubt. Totally different subject¡­ How¡¯s your grandpa¡¯s friend Larry? Joanie mentioned that you saw him sometimes.¡±


    ¡°Alright. I don¡¯t know if you kept up with him, but he worked at the big GM factory until it closed and then after that, he took odd jobs until he turned his hobby of making beer into a business. He¡¯s brewing craft beer and I guess he¡¯s expanding. He might even need mechanical engineers. I don¡¯t know details, but I guess his equipment is extremely innovative. It¡¯s also his design.¡±


    Leaning back against the wall, he nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll think about it. I¡¯ve never worked in a brewery, but I bet there¡¯s free beer and it¡¯s been years since I saw him last. It might have been back in the 70s when Dad helped him prepare for his PE exam. It seemed like they disappeared to work on that all the time. I didn¡¯t understand that until I took it myself. I¡¯m not sure if you can study enough. Remember that four years from now when you¡¯re taking it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not looking forward to it,¡± I said. I wasn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t doubt that I knew the material, but I didn¡¯t know the standard terms for everything.


    We talked for a while longer, mostly about his different contracts since I¡¯d last seen him and the countries they¡¯d been in. As I prepared to leave, he asked, ¡°You told me the name of your company. Who¡¯s the Cannon in ¡®Cannon & Klein¡¯?¡±


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    I had a bad feeling I knew where this was going, ¡°Technically, my friend Chris, but also his grandfather Gerald Cannon who put up money to get us going and brought in a client already.¡±


    Uncle Steve¡¯s grin widened, ¡°Gerald Cannon? Formerly Man-machine? I thought he was in jail.¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°He got out after providing a lot of evidence to the Feds. He¡¯s officially off probation as of last year. So he¡¯s giving Chris and I adult supervision.¡±


    Shaking his head, Uncle Steve said, ¡°Better watch out or you might find yourself painting North Korean flags on your work.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all legal so far. It¡¯s just auto parts¡ªwhich reminds me, I should get back to work.¡±


    He put his hand on my shoulder, ¡°You go do that. I¡¯ve still got a lot of catching up to do with your Mom and I¡¯ll be around for a little while. Maybe I¡¯ll drop by your office.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°by the way, how did you end up working for Armory?¡±


    ¡°Family,¡± he paused, letting that sink in. ¡°We¡¯re a family full of engineers. I got that tip from Anastasia¡ªCharles¡¯ youngest.¡±


    ¡°I know who you mean. We talked last Christmas. How¡¯d she hear about it?¡± I watched his fact for a reaction.


    He shrugged, ¡°Work, I think. Someone in her office knew Armory was looking.¡±


    I thought about that, ¡°Where does she work? She told me she worked with nanotech the last time we talked. I never got the name. All I know is that it must be in Chicago because that¡¯s where she lives.¡±


    He frowned, ¡°Good question. I don¡¯t know either. I¡¯ll find her number and get it to you, okay?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I ran through what I had to do next in my head. This conversation had left me with a list.


    A minute later and I¡¯d said my goodbyes to Mom and Uncle Steve and started walking back to my house. Ignoring the warm, morning breeze, the cars passing on their way somewhere, big yellow buses--all of them empty and heading back to the garage after dropping off children at school, I used my implant to connect to my comm and told Hal about my cousin Anastasia, telling him to find out where she was and where she worked.


    My next call went to Daniel. He answered, and I said, ¡°Sorry if you¡¯re in class, but life just got a little more complicated.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not. Classes don¡¯t start until next week. I¡¯m making breakfast.¡± He paused and I could hear the sizzle of something in the background. He asked, ¡°Are you talking to me through your implant?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Why?¡±


    ¡°It sounds like the way you hear yourself in your head¡ªwhich is a little different from how it sounds when you talk.¡±


    I decided not to go into that, ¡°Ok. Well, I¡¯m calling because I just found out that Uncle Steve is at my parents¡¯ house and that he was working for Armory when we trashed the place.¡±


    I heard a quick, indrawn breath over the connection, ¡°Oh. That¡¯s bad. I¡¯m guessing you want me to check him out. How much time do I have?¡±


    Thinking back to a whole lifetime of him appearing, staying for a day, a week, or, once, for two months, I said, ¡°I have no idea. When the call for his next job comes, he disappears.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure he¡¯s not a superhero?¡± Daniel asked. ¡°Don¡¯t answer that. Give me a second,¡± and the connection went quiet except for the sound of frying.


    Moments later, Daniel said, ¡°The chances that he¡¯ll disappear before I¡¯m finished with breakfast are small. I¡¯ll pass by and see what I can get off of him.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°After you¡¯re back, we need to start going through Len Jones¡¯ memories. It¡¯s beginning to feel like every piece of my life includes the Dominators right now. We need to find out everything we can. Also, if you happen to notice anything interesting about my cousin Anastasia in his head, check it out.¡±

 Memories: Part 5

    The metallic thunk of something being placed on the stove came over the line. ¡°How interesting is Anastasia? Is this the cousin that babysat us once?¡±


    The trouble with old friends is that they might remember any random piece of your past. On the other hand, he¡¯d at least be able to recognize her in Uncle Steve¡¯s mind, ¡°Yes. She¡¯s the one who watched us um¡­ eleven years ago or something? I¡¯m pretty sure we were ten. Anyway, she might be very interesting. She¡¯s the one who connected Uncle Steve with Armory.¡±


    He let out a breath, ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡±


    ¡°I know. I¡¯m hoping it¡¯s just bad luck, but honestly, the company she¡¯s working for sounds like the kind of place the Nine would be interested in or even bankroll. I¡¯m not feeling optimistic right now.¡±


    I pulled out my sunglasses and turned my head to look down the block, seeing nothing unusual, just midwestern suburbs, a place of mowed lawns, trees with a few leaves beginning to turn color for fall amid the green, and new model cars parked in front of one or two-story houses. A U.S. flag hung by the door of one house, a rainbow-striped gay pride flag in front of another. Yet another displayed the University of Michigan¡¯s yellow ¡°M¡± against a blue background.


    I wondered if the person who owned that house had gone to the University of Michigan or simply liked their football team.


    Either way, my sunglasses showed no signs of the Nine or of anything hidden. Better yet, my implant didn¡¯t give me an info dump about aliens or their technology based on anything I saw.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Daniel said, ¡°given what you¡¯ve been learning about your ancestry lately, I¡¯m hoping she doesn¡¯t have an equal share of whatever your grandparents passed on to you, technical or otherwise.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± I said, and we hung up.


    I walked home, thinking about that. The way I understood it, the Abominators had harvested DNA from what amounted to an Artificer¡¯s human avatar and used it in their experiments, allowing it to spread into the human gene pool. My Cosmic Ghost ancestry likely had a similar origin. If I wanted to know more, I should have taken a look at my Grandpa and Grandma Klein to see how active their Artificer ancestry was. In fact, I should have taken a look at Uncle Steve while I was talking to him.


    Well, whatever, I¡¯d probably get another chance.


    As I walked down the block toward what was now my house and had been my grandparents, I got a text from Daniel that said, ¡°Here.¡± Thanks to the implant¡¯s connection to my League communicator, it appeared in the upper corner of my vision.


    I replied, ¡°Thanks.¡±


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    Except for being forty years older than my parents¡¯ block, which had been developed in the 1960s, the street wasn¡¯t much different. It had the same mowed lawns, tended and untended gardens, but smaller houses. The fenced-off park behind the house with its forest, playground, and beach on Grand Lake was the bigger difference.


    From the sidewalk, all I could see of the park were trees and the fence in my backyard. Walking up the driveway, I noticed Vaughn¡¯s Porsche and Haley¡¯s Prius in front of the small, white garage¡ªwhich told me that today¡¯s meeting was happening.


    I walked up the steps and through the front door to find everyone except Daniel.


    Tara, Vaughn, Haley, Yoselin, and Cassie were in the living room. Vaughn and Yoselin sat next to each other on the old brown couch near the room¡¯s back wall. Cassie balanced on the arm of the couch in a grey Georgetown hoodie and plaid pajama pants. She had one bare foot on the couch and the other on the floor. Haley and Tara stood next to her, the group of them talking.


    No one was dressed as if this were a work meeting. Vaughn wore jeans and a ¡°Vincent Sucks¡± t-shirt. Tara wore a black t-shirt and yoga pants. Out of everyone, Haley and Yoselin were closest and they weren¡¯t very close. Yoselin wore a short skirt and bright, flowery top¡ªperfect for a music festival in the Caribbean. Haley wore a white, button-down blouse and jeans.


    Not looking like we were doing a work meeting was completely okay, of course. Work-appropriate clothes would be costumes and blow our cover.


    They stopped talking as I stepped through the door and said, ¡°Hey, everyone. I think we¡¯ll have to wait for Daniel, but that shouldn¡¯t be long.¡±


    Then I got another text, ¡°All done. On my way back.¡±


    ¡°Really soon, I guess,¡± I said and grabbed one of our mismatched chairs¡ªthe green armchair.


    Raising an eyebrow, Haley pulled one of the folding chairs away from the wall. ¡°You took the good chair.¡±


    ¡°We can switch if you care,¡± I began to get up.


    She grinned and shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± pulling up her chair next to mine.


    Tara was pulling two of the wooden chairs from the dining room when Daniel walked through the front door, instantly becoming the only one of us dressed for a meeting. He wore a green button-down shirt and khakis.


    Cassie looked him up and down, ¡°Why are you dressed like that? It¡¯s still summer and you don¡¯t have a job or anything right now.¡±


    Daniel made a half-smile that vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, ¡°I¡¯m dropping by my dad¡¯s office¡ªhis law practice. He¡¯s there part-time. I didn¡¯t want to look too out of place. Anyway¡­ Before we talk about Armory, we need to talk about Uncle Steve.¡±


    ¡°Uh oh,¡± I looked up at him. ¡°How bad is it?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± he began, stopping as Tara handed him one of the two chairs she¡¯d grabbed and sat down herself.


    Placing his chair in front of the TV, he said, ¡°It¡¯s not bad exactly. I checked his surface thoughts and as much below them as I could without being noticeable. His brain doesn¡¯t show any signs of being modified by voice, telepathy, an implant, an intelligent parasite, or anything I can realistically detect. Magic is still a possibility, but I can¡¯t say it¡¯s likely. It leaves hints and I don¡¯t see them. We¡¯d want to bring in Amy to know for sure, but I¡¯m 99% certain he¡¯s okay.¡±


    I could feel a hint of anxiety through the mental connection we had and so I prompted him, ¡°But¡­¡±


    ¡°I saw the remains of one of my grandfather¡¯s blocks. It shouldn¡¯t work now, but he¡¯s also got a very effective and recent mental shield that someone set up. It looks like a standard shield that corporations or governments use to protect information. He¡¯s an engineer that contracts all over the world. So, of course, he¡¯d have one, but I don¡¯t know who set it up or if they put anything ¡®extra¡¯ inside.¡±

 Memories: Part 6

    Cassie caught my eye and grinned, ¡°And I¡¯d gotten so used to Nick having the ¡®normal¡¯ family.¡±


    I raised my eyebrow, ¡°Normal? Rachel¡¯s currently flying around in space without a spacesuit. Plus, my grandparents were not normal at all at least on one side.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Cassie said, ¡°but Daniel¡¯s whole family is full of telepaths. Jaclyn¡¯s older brothers have the same powers she does. Vaughn¡¯s uncle was basically Lex Luthor and his grandfather was Red Lightning¡ª¡°


    Vaughn talked over her, ¡°And Haley¡¯s family owns a lot of pizza places. Some of them offer anchovies. Definite supervillain material there.¡±


    Cassie punched his shoulder hard enough that he bumped into Yoselin who laughed, pushing him off herself.


    Saying, ¡°Sorry,¡± to Yoselin, he turned back to Cassie, laughing, ¡°I felt that. Holy crap.¡±


    Cassie grinned, ¡°That¡¯s what happens when you get tougher, I have to punch harder when you interrupt me.¡±


    Before the conversation could continue, Haley asked, ¡°Is there any way you can get around Uncle Steve¡¯s block?¡±


    Daniel sighed, ¡°Technically yes, but not really. Not without making a mess. Government and corporate telepaths aren¡¯t usually the best telepaths out there, but they¡¯re generally good enough. I¡¯m sure this shield wasn¡¯t designed by the person who put it in, but the design¡¯s simple and effective. It¡¯s good enough to keep people out of his head. If people start hammering it, he¡¯ll know, giving him time to do something about it or maybe triggering a whole set of commands that we don¡¯t want to be triggered.¡±


    ¡°Like suicide,¡± Yoselin said, her voice level. ¡°The Dominators use that one. I¡¯ve seen it activated.¡±


    Not wanting to derail the conversation, I left that there, ¡°Let¡¯s say for a second that I don¡¯t want to risk triggering any commands. What can we do about it?¡±


    Pursing his lips, Daniel shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Honestly, there¡¯s nothing about his thought processes that make me think his ability to make choices is affected. There are usually hints and I don¡¯t see them. To me, it looks like the shield was put in with his approval and cooperation.¡±


    He looked at me and through our unintentional, but constant connection, I could sense that he meant it. I hadn¡¯t had any doubt, but it went a long way to making me worry a little less.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I felt myself frown, ¡°I guess we should assume he¡¯s okay with the shield and honestly, it makes a lot of sense that he¡¯d have one. If he¡¯s moving from job to job, he¡¯d want to keep secrets and this would be one way to do it.¡±


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    Giving a nod, Daniel said, ¡°If it makes you feel better, there were familiar elements in the block. I¡¯m pretty sure no one I know did the work, but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if my dad had a hand in the design. He might have even trained the person who set it up back when he was in military intelligence. Did your uncle do any government work?¡±


    I thought back, trying to remember conversations and stories across my entire life, ¡°You know, he said that he did take a government contract early in his career. The way he described it, it sounded like a mess. They got interference from both the Pentagon bureaucracy and the general in charge of the project. He said that he decided he¡¯d never take a government contract again after that. I think he did though, maybe a couple more, but not a lot.¡±


    Daniel smiled, ¡°That might be it, then. And if they freshened it up each time, or better, taught him how to maintain it, it would stay useful for his entire career.¡±


    That was true, provided the Nine hadn¡¯t infiltrated the ranks of government telepaths.


    Daniel replied I know. I¡¯ll talk to my dad and see what he thinks.


    I thought back a feeling of approval and said, ¡°I guess we should talk about what we came here to talk about¡ªLen Jones. Where should we start?¡±


    Glancing around the group, Daniel said, ¡°I don¡¯t remember much of it. I passed it on to you with the idea that your implants would remember. So maybe the three of you can describe what you¡¯ve got and we can try to figure out where Len got influenced and his Armory technology became available to everyone for a price. Think back to the first memory where the phrase, ¡®You should be getting paid for this¡¯ appears in what I gave you and see what you get.¡±


    When we were traveling to Hideaway, we used our implants¡¯ ability to simulate the world around us to train. It was much like Star Trek¡¯s holodeck except that it all took place in our minds. This memory used all of that technology to put us into Len Jones¡¯ head¡ªat least on a surface level. Human memory doesn¡¯t save everything like a computer. We weren¡¯t getting all of it, just whatever he¡¯d retained across the years.


    Still, it felt real.


    We were in a city. I wouldn¡¯t have known it from the skyline, but Len knew it intimately. We were in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The year was 1982, two years before Larry fought Armory and his men on Metafight Island. He was chasing Master Martian. I didn¡¯t get a sense from Len¡¯s memories as to whether this was the first Master Martian or the second. I decided to assume the first. I could look it up later.


    Len, as Armory, ran down a two-lane street with tall, red brick buildings. After four years at Grand Lake University, I recognized academic architecture instantly. If the wide sidewalks hadn¡¯t been enough of a clue, the signs would have been. They said UWM, short for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.


    It was night and clouds covered the stars. Master Martian flew down the sidewalk ahead of us, protected from the cold by his shiny green spacesuit and fishbowl helmet. One of his two antenna pointed ahead and the other behind, aimed in our direction.


    There weren¡¯t many students out, but the ones that were ran away from the fight, towards the buildings¡ªthe Golda Meir Library appeared to be open¡ªeven crossing the street. Len blocked one guy from stepping in front of a car and then kept running, the boots of the Armory suit clanking against the concrete as he took twenty-foot strides to catch up.


    He wasn¡¯t alone. Flying next to him, surrounded by a cone-shaped force field, a blond man in mirrored sunglasses and a black and gunmetal gray costume shouted, ¡°Surrender, you alien freak!¡±


    I recognized him. Armory had been on a team with Bullet in the early 80s. Bullet had run the Stapledon Program during my freshman year at GLU, but he¡¯d been dropped without explanation by my sophomore year. He¡¯d had a thing about aliens then too.

 Memories: Part 7

    Over the team radio channel, Bullet muttered, ¡°Give me the okay and I¡¯ll turn the freak into Swiss cheese.¡±


    Len jumped over a pile of snow, landing less than ten feet behind Master Martian. ¡°You know the policy and you know why.¡±


    In  October of 1954, the Feds came to an unofficial agreement with the superheroes of the period, agreeing to leave them alone as long as the body count didn¡¯t get too high. My grandfather had told me about the negotiations. As the highest-profile team of the day, the Heroes¡¯ League had to be there.


    ¡°Stupid policy,¡± Bullet let loose a barrage of force bullets that hit Master Martian¡¯s shield which erupted into yellow, blue, and white explosions, but didn¡¯t fall.


    Within the fishbowl helmet, sweat poured down Master Martian¡¯s face. Len launched forward, the systems in the suit¡¯s legs making a grinding noise followed by a snap as he left the ground, putting him in reach of Master Martian¡¯s body.


    With one punch of his Armory suit, Len hit the Master Martian¡¯s shield and this time it fell apart. Despite his skin¡¯s greenish color and the fleshy antenna on his head, Master Martian looked at least as human as an alien in a Star Trek series. The snarl on his face showed his frustration as clearly as it would have with any other person.


    He didn¡¯t have long to feel angry. Even as he tried to recreate his shield, knitting threads of glittering mental energy around his body, small beads of force hit him, forcing him down to the sidewalk, and shattering what little shield he had in another explosion of light.


    Bullet landed next to Master Martian, creating more yellow, glowing cones above him, shouting, ¡°Don¡¯t even try to get into our heads. The second you do, I¡¯ll kill you. If you can read my mind, you know I mean it.¡±


    A dark, slim object resembling a small crossbow bolt, arrow, or dart flew between Bullet¡¯s cones of force, puncturing Master Martian¡¯s suit. He slumped, sprawling on the sidewalk and snow-covered lawn.


    Bullet gave a nod and smiled at whoever was off to Len¡¯s right side, seemingly outside his peripheral vision. A voice talked over the scene, reminding me of a narrator in a movie, ¡°You don¡¯t remember me catching up with you and you don¡¯t remember seeing who threw that dart. Bullet, whoever did throw it did the world a service. Master Martian was a dangerous alien. Armory, this was a senseless death. Modern heroes are falling away from the ideals you hold. It¡¯s time to retire. The Rocket¡¯s making devices for other heroes. You should be getting paid for this too.¡±


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    I stopped my implant from playing the scene back as Armory and Bullet began to argue about what happened and where the dart came from. Instead, using my implant to check Double V¡¯s database, I searched on Bullet, Armory, and Master Martian, learning what I¡¯d just seen. The first Master Martian died in February of 1982, killed by a mysterious dart, an event that prompted an argument between Bullet and Armory, bringing about the end of the Brew City Protectors.


    No one ever figured out who threw the dart and while people did analyze the poison, it was nothing they¡¯d seen before. It wasn¡¯t poisonous to humans even if it was to Master Martian, whatever he was.


    Having read that, I checked out a few more of Len¡¯s memories. There were too many to go through them all, but the ones that I did explore showed him setting up his first labs, making connections, and selling to anybody with money as the first priority. Whenever he wavered, the voice whispered, repeating the line in his head again.


    I couldn¡¯t find another command, but I didn¡¯t want to go through all the memories right now either. With Master Martian¡¯s death, we had a few directions to investigate: Bullet, Len Jones, the dart, and if we were desperate, we might even try to find the second Master Martian. He might know something about why someone would want to kill the first one.


    Another thought struck me. In the middle of the battle near Higher Ground, Victor had told Rook that the Artificers had a site on Mars that the Abominators may have excavated. It was a long shot, but that might have something to do with Master Martian. It wasn¡¯t as if I¡¯d ever heard of any real Martians. People were still arguing about whether or not Mars had even simple organisms.


    I shook my head. That was a last resort option.


    Then I let myself become aware of the room around me again. Everyone but Tara appeared to be doing what I was¡ªchecking out everyone else''s response to what they''d seen.


    Daniel caught my eye, ¡°I let everyone without an implant follow along as Cassie looked at Len¡¯s memories. It was easier to give her privacy than it would have been with you.¡±


    I nodded. We were a little too connected. I looked over at Yoselin. She had an implant from the Human Ascendancy or the Abominators themselves. ¡°How did it go for you?¡±


    She frowned, ¡°It was¡­ worrisome. Whoever gave the command spoke only a little and changed the course of that man¡¯s life. I wonder how many more there are like him?¡±


    Next to Daniel, Tara had her eyes closed, but as Yoselin spoke, she opened them, ¡°If it¡¯s that easy, there must be quite a few.¡±

 Memories: Part 8

    Tara paused, her expression unreadable, ¡°But I don¡¯t think it¡¯s as easy as I¡¯d guess from what we saw. From what I¡¯ve read about the Dominators, they need more time than that to make what they¡¯re doing permanent. Also, Bullet knew and liked the person who threw the dart and he wasn¡¯t surprised to see her.¡±


    ¡°Her?¡± Vaughn¡¯s smile widened, ¡°People tell me I see women everywhere, but there was nothing in that voice that said woman to me. Well, it didn¡¯t say ¡®man¡¯ either. It was kind of fuzzy.¡±


    Lines appeared on Tara¡¯s brow, ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain. It¡¯s more little things. When Bullet landed and he looked in the direction of the voice, he looked downward and men are on average taller than women. That¡¯s not always true, but it¡¯s often true. That¡¯s not enough by itself, but there were also bootprints in the snow at the right spot for a dart to be thrown at the angle we saw. The prints are for women¡¯s boots.


    ¡°I think we need to see if there were any female superheroes operating around Milwaukee in the early 80s that were known for their aim.¡±


    Then she sighed and leaned back in her chair, giving a tired half-smile, ¡°I hope that¡¯s enough to get started because I don¡¯t like that version of me very much.¡±


    As she said it, I was replaying the scene and she was correct. There were women¡¯s bootprints in the snow next to the sidewalk. Between my implant and my imagination, I confirmed it. Assuming someone around five feet and six inches, the angle worked.


    I connected to Double V¡¯s superhero database and ran searches based on Tara¡¯s criteria, remembering what I¡¯d learned while working with Kals on Hideaway¡ªDominators weren¡¯t limited to what they could do with their voices. Like Julie after Stapledon, they were faster, stronger, more agile, and had greater endurance than a normal person.


    I threw that into the search too, and I didn¡¯t find anyone. Expanding the search into bows and crossbows didn¡¯t get me a name either, but it did get me three articles and a picture. The Brew City Protectors didn¡¯t include a female archer, knife, or dart thrower, but in 1982 there were three different incidents where an archer assisted them. None of the newspaper articles pictured her, but TV news footage from a helicopter showed a woman in a dark, purple costume aiming down from the top of a parking garage.


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    When asked about her by a TV reporter, Bullet, Armory, and other members of their team had said, ¡°Sorry, that¡¯s private.¡± More interesting, they¡¯d said the exact same words all at once. In the moment, it caused the group to break up into laughter. In retrospect, it was a clue.


    I looked over at Daniel, ¡°I think I¡¯ve got something.¡±


    Tara laughed, ¡°That¡¯s what Daniel just said.¡±


    Daniel shrugged, ¡°I was eavesdropping. I can share what you found if you want.¡±


    ¡°Please.¡± I sent the links to Cassie and Yoselin directly, but let Daniel copy what I¡¯d seen and heard out of my head for everyone else. Despite what he¡¯d said earlier, he didn¡¯t share anything private that I noticed.


    As he finished, Cassie looked over the whole group, ¡°Looks like we go to Bullet next, wherever he is. The Feds have Armory. Even if they let Daniel rummage through his head some more, he¡¯s been in their custody for a couple of days now. That¡¯s enough time for the Nine to edit what he remembers or something, right Daniel?¡±


    Daniel¡¯s mouth twisted, ¡°Unless they¡¯re willing to completely destroy his mind, I think I could still get something useful out of it. I don¡¯t think they¡¯d let me look even if the Nine aren¡¯t involved. Remember how careful they were to keep their higher-ups out of my range when we delivered him?¡±


    I nodded as Cassie muttered, ¡°That was so dumb.¡±


    Even though her facial expression didn¡¯t go blank, Tara did look down at the wooden floor before telling Daniel, ¡°That might be the Nine¡¯s influence.¡±


    Nodding, he said, ¡°I thought about that.¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°Going after Bullet seems like the smartest option, but I kind of like the idea of finding Master Martian. At least he wouldn¡¯t have been there. That¡¯s got to be the only way the mystery archer can¡¯t affect his brain.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± Haley said, looking over at Vaughn, ¡°but it also means he might not know anything. We need to go after Bullet.¡±


    At that, Yoselin spoke up, ¡°If we¡¯re going to visit Bullet, I want to go. Going after the Dominators is the only reason I¡¯m in this country.¡±


    In an intense tone that didn¡¯t quite fit with her high-pitched voice, Tara said, ¡°If we¡¯re going to see Bullet, I want to go along. We have unfinished business.¡±


    When Tara¡¯s brain went into overdrive, she tended to talk in a flat, expressionless voice, one very unlike her normal, optimistic tone. This wasn¡¯t like either.


    I met her gaze, ¡°You¡¯re not planning to hurt him, are you?¡±

 Memories: Part 9

    ¡°I¡­¡± She stopped, ¡°I don¡¯t know. After everything, I have an excuse, but I know I can¡¯t really do that. What I really want is to talk to him. After they removed him from doing anything except for a couple of combat classes one year, I never got to talk to him about everything he¡¯d done. He nearly got me expelled from Stapledon after I was harassed by children of his friends. I never got to hear him say why he thought that was right.¡±


    Nodding along as she spoke, Vaughn asked, ¡°Are you looking for an apology?¡±


    Tara shook her head, the muscles around her mouth tight. ¡°I know better. I¡¯ve even thought it through¡­ dispassionately. I know it¡¯s a waste of time. I¡¯m not going to get anything out of him, but I still want to go.¡±


    On a gut level, sending Tara in to face someone who was at the center of the program¡¯s old boy network sounded like a bad idea, especially when you considered that that old boy network had made it hard to impossible for her to get the internship and residency necessary to finish off the program. We¡¯d taken her in for both the internship and the residency.


    At the same time, assuming that we did some sort of good cop/bad cop thing, Tara could pass as the ¡°bad cop¡± since Bullet might know what she was and guess she had a strong motivation to take him out. Plus, honestly? Even if Bullet was an ¡®old boy,¡¯ the superhero community was forgiving of heroes solving interpersonal problems with violence provided the damage wasn¡¯t permanent. He''d know most people would look the other way.


    Next to me, Haley said, ¡°She should go.¡±


    On the couch next to Vaughn and Yoselin, Cassie laughed, ¡°I¡¯d pay money to see that, but are you sure? I¡¯d trust Tara to stay in control of herself more than I¡¯d trust me in the same situation, but Tara, do you really want to see that guy ever?¡±


    Tara turned to look at Cassie, her chair scraping the wooden floor, ¡°Yes? No? It¡¯s complicated. I feel like I have to.¡±


    Wondering where we¡¯d find Bullet these days, I said, ¡°I think almost all of us should go. I¡¯m thinking that there should be a visible team to go in and then a team that¡¯s out of sight in case things go wrong. We¡¯ve got protection against Dominator voice control, so they shouldn¡¯t be able to take us instantly. I¡¯m thinking the visible team could be Tara, Yoselin, and me unless anyone has a better idea.¡±


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    ¡°I like it,¡± Cassie said, ¡°but we don¡¯t even know where the guy is right now. For all we know, he¡¯s part of a big team, all of them may be mind-controlled, and we¡¯ll have to land inside their orbiting satellite.¡±


    Vaughn grinned at her, ¡°That¡¯s it. Think big.¡±


    Next to him, Yoselin frowned, ¡°It is possible.¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°True. With something like that, maybe we¡¯d need to take everyone here just so that we¡¯d have a fighting chance to get out.¡±


    ¡°And also notify the larger team,¡± Haley eyed me and then the rest of the room. ¡°If it¡¯s like that but not in space, Izzy and Jaclyn might be able to handle the rescue by themselves.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯d say send them in to talk to Bullet instead, but if the Dominators got them, we¡¯d be so screwed.¡±


    Tara¡¯s eyes widened for a moment. I caught her eye and she shook her head, ¡°Never mind me. I just thought it through. Cassie¡¯s right, but we could win. It¡¯s just that there would be deaths.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Daniel said, ¡°I haven¡¯t been doing deep scans or anything, but we¡¯re all in agreement that we should talk to Bullet. Let¡¯s get that started. Cassie¡¯s been doing some checking and she knows a little more about Bullet now.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s eyes flicked in Daniel¡¯s direction, ¡°I¡¯ve been checking the internet with my implant. Bullet¡¯s not on an official team and he¡¯s shown up in NYC, Washington D.C., Portland,Los Angeles, and a few other cities where he¡¯s got friends. He¡¯s been staying out of the Midwest, mostly. I¡¯ve got no idea where he really is unless he¡¯s been hiding out in Milwaukee and showing up everywhere else to throw people off track.¡±


    Vaughn leaned back into the couch as she talked, ¡°Could be he¡¯s homeless and couch-surfing at legacy heroes¡¯ houses?¡±


    She shrugged, ¡°For all I know, sure. Why not?¡±


    I looked around the living room, wondering how many other discussions like this it had seen, ¡°We can call him. He might not pick up, but our comms use the same protocol as everybody else. At the very least, he¡¯ll get the message later.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll answer,¡± Tara said.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯ll call him,¡± and I did. He picked up on the first ring, ¡°Rocket, good to hear from you. I was just thinking about the first Rocket. He was an amazing man.¡±


    This wasn¡¯t where I¡¯d expected this call to go, but I ran with it, ¡°He was. Did you know him?¡±


    ¡°He personally recruited my team to help against the Abominators. It was one of the great moments in my life.¡±


    The sound of his pride carried through the phone system. I chose to build on it, ¡°Is there some way that we can meet in person? I¡¯ve got some questions about your 80s era team.

 Memories: Part 10

    Bullet said nothing for a few seconds, but then added, ¡°Yes. I¡¯m part of another project now, but it¡¯s one that I think you may already know about. I¡¯ll send you the location. You can visit whenever you like, but give us some warning.¡±


    I noted the ¡°us¡± as he talked and wondered if I should ask more, but decided not to, ¡°Sure. Today¡¯s okay, right? We could be there before noon, depending on where you are.¡±


    ¡°That will work. Send us your ETA once you know. You can land your jet on the lawn.¡±


    He said goodbye and we ended the call. I looked around the group, ¡°He¡¯s sending me the location and we can visit whenever. He said he¡¯s part of another project now and it¡¯s one we might know about.¡±


    Haley¡¯s mouth twisted, ¡°He didn¡¯t tell you anything more than that and you didn¡¯t ask?¡±


    We were at whatever stage of the relationship you¡¯re at when you recognize that however much you love each other, you know that your significant other has faults, ¡°I thought about it. I didn¡¯t think I should push in the call. I¡¯m hoping that the location I get will tell me what we need to know.¡±


    Haley frowned but didn¡¯t argue. As she did, my comm sent me a notification. Bullet had sent his location. I had the comm pull up a map. The location turned out to be a forested area between Portland, Oregon, and Mount Hood¡ªcloser to Mount Hood.


    I connected the comm to government databases we had access to and ran the location through them, coming up with a satellite photo of a house. House was the wrong word for it, though. The correct word was a mansion, assuming that people lived there. My gut told me it was a team¡¯s headquarters even if it wasn¡¯t the official headquarters.


    Surrounded by pines, with the rocky, white shape of Mount Hood in the distance, the house had been designed to look like a wooden cottage¡ªif cottages were four stories high. A section jutted out in the middle of the front, windows running from the bottom to the top under a sloped roof.Each story had balconies and walkways around the outside, the walls made to look as if they were made of logs or at least stained wood.


    Long enough to hold at least two semi-trucks and their trailers, I could only guess what might be inside. With as many windows as the building had, the dark glass showed nothing.


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    As Daniel sent the image from my mind to everyone else¡¯s, I said, ¡°Right now I¡¯m thinking maybe a few people stay in the jet. Maybe even stay in the air after you drop us off? That and yeah, notifying everyone to prepare to be backup might be a good idea. We¡¯d probably only get Izzy and Jaclyn soon enough, but we might not need more than that.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Cassie said. ¡°If the jet¡¯s circling, we¡¯ve got its main gun as a backup. That¡¯s going to make them think all by itself.¡±


    ¡°I hope,¡± Daniel said. ¡°I¡¯d like to be part of the group going inside. I¡¯m pretty sure Bullet¡¯s going to be out of range from the jet.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°That puts Vaughn, Haley, and Cassie outside in the jet and Yoselin, Tara, Daniel, and me inside. That¡¯s not a bad distribution of people. Is everybody okay with that?¡±


    Ten minutes later, were downstairs putting on costumes and letting everyone know what we were doing. Well, Kayla was doing that as well as arranging backup for us. Thirty minutes later, we were in the air and within an hour, we were landing on the lawn in front of the¡­ log mansion. It looked bigger than it had in the picture.


    It only took a few minutes for us to get out and for the jet to float upward, circling in the air above, leaving Daniel, Tara, Yoselin, and I on the grass.


    Bullet stepped out of a side door next to the big, windowed, middle section that extended out of the front. He wasn¡¯t wearing a costume. Instead, he wore a black t-shirt and jeans. By comparison to how he appeared in Armory¡¯s memories, his blond hair had thinned, some of it now gray. Back then he¡¯d been in his mid-twenties. Now he was in his mid-fifties. He still wore mirrored sunglasses though.


    He looked up at the jet as he walked up to us, ¡°Where¡¯s the jet going?¡±


    ¡°Nowhere,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯ll be close, but in the air.¡±


    He looked up at the jet and then over to me, noticing, I felt sure, that I was in full Rocket armor. It might be a little egotistical to assume that he knew both versions of the costume, but I¡¯d been seen in both. Experienced heroes paid attention to things like that, especially if they¡¯d spent time with tech-oriented heroes--which he had.


    ¡°You¡¯re in the middle of something?¡± He glanced back at the building.


    Not sure whether his look meant that he was considering running or looking for help, I went with, ¡°We¡¯re trying to figure that out, but it¡¯s better to be cautious.¡±


    He grinned, ¡°Good. That sounds like your grandfather. Come on in.¡±


    Resisting the urge to point out that outside wasn¡¯t the best place to say something like that, I nodded.


    Waving us to follow, he started walking back toward the house, talking all the while, ¡°Good to see all of you here. It¡¯s good to know that your students are using their training.¡±


    Giving us another look as he opened, he said, ¡°Rocket, Mystic, Ronin, and¡­¡±


    Everyone wore costumes based on the same tech as my suit, but he looked at Yoselin.  She¡¯d decided to use one of my new Heroes¡¯ League costumes instead of wearing her powered armor which was designed to resemble the Cuban flag. She''d set the temporary suit''s color scheme to be black with broad orange stripes up the sides and green accents.


    ¡°Cypher,¡± she said.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 1

    Bullet frowned, either at the hint of an accent in her voice or because he had no idea who Yoselin was. Maybe both. He didn¡¯t linger on it, though, opening the door for all of us.


    We stepped into one side of the big windowed room we¡¯d seen from the outside. It extended into the second story with a walkway going around the edges and another extending across to the other side. While the architect might have intended it to be a living room, I could see hints of another purpose in the layout.


    Two long couches and a few freestanding chairs pointed in a rough ¡°V¡± shape toward the large TV at the front of the room. It could pass as the briefing room of a large team. Noting the number of gaming consoles and controllers on top of the coffee table in front of the TV, I had to bet that it was a younger team.


    Leaning toward me, Tara muttered, ¡°You¡¯ve almost got it,¡± at a volume low enough that I wouldn¡¯t have caught it except that the Rocket suit picked it up.


    Before I could respond, Daniel told me, You¡¯ll figure it out in a second.


    I decided to ignore them and concentrate on my surroundings.


    If I hadn¡¯t guessed it from the outside, the room itself would have told me that someone connected to this team had money and cared what the room looked like. They¡¯d gone with an ¡°expensive yet rustic¡± look. Thus visible wooden beams on the ceiling and wood-paneled walls, but also paintings and posters on the walls. Even if the posters were of bands and movies, the paintings were real paintings.


    The shirt and wadded-up socks next to the gaming consoles hinted that the team might be mostly guys, at least one of whom expected his mother or their cleaning service to pick up after him.


    The clutter of empty and half-empty cups and fast-food wrappers on the coffee table added to that impression.


    Still, the view out the front windows put the view out of my grandparents¡¯ house living room to shame. Instead of a city block, their windows looked out on a descending mountainside¡ªgrass, rocks, evergreens, winding roads, and in the distance, more mountains.


    Movement from above caught my attention. Gordon, who I remembered from the Stapledon program, had stepped out of a hallway and onto one of the walkways. When I first met him, I thought he looked like a soldier from a Nazi recruitment poster. Between the blond hair, square jaw, cleft chin, and muscled body, this was still true.


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    The sleeveless t-shirt and shorts he wore gave everyone a good view of his body as he hopped over the side of the balcony and floated down. Like his younger brother Gifford, he was an aerokinetic.


    As he touched down, he smiled at all of us, ¡°Looks like a formal visit. You¡¯re going to find that we¡¯re not formal here at all. We¡¯re trying to adapt to the times we live in. Superheroes have to open up.¡±


    ¡°Gordon,¡± Bullet said, ¡°they¡¯re here to speak to me.¡±


    Gordon nodded, ¡°Have a good time then. Bullet¡¯s the best advisor we could have. If any of you feel like joining up afterward, we¡¯re always looking.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not likely,¡± Tara said, her voice in the calm tone that indicated that she¡¯d retreated into the True¡¯s analytical mindset. They weren¡¯t emotionless, but in my experience, analysis could distract someone from strong emotion.


    Gordon, like Kid Biohack, had been part of the same Stapledon class as Tara back when it had been sometimes less than twenty kids per class, all of them from the same group of families. The chances that he¡¯d been in the group of guys that Tara beat up after what I¡¯d heard was months of harassment were pretty good.


    Giving Tara a nod and the rest of us a wave, he stepped back and exited through a hallway midway down the room.


    Bullet pointed down the hallway running next to the wall and said, ¡°That way to my office.¡±


    The common rooms of the house were open to the hallway, allowing us to see into the kitchen, dining room, a couple of entertainment rooms, and a gym with professional equipment¡ªall of it adapted to supers.


    Five men and two women were using the machines. I recognized a couple of faces from Stapledon, but I couldn¡¯t come up with their names. More interesting to my mind, three of the men and one of the women wore sleeveless shirts that said, ¡°Coffeeshop Illuminati,¡± above a picture of a cup of coffee.


    That¡¯s it exactly, Daniel told me. I knew it the moment I walked inside. They¡¯ve got telepathy blockers all around the building, but not inside. And while they¡¯ve all got blocks or basic shields, enough is visible in their surface thoughts that I¡¯m assuming that they don¡¯t try to hide anything when they¡¯re here. If it¡¯s normally this easy to get around their blocks, they¡¯ve been very lucky and the designer is terrible.


    How many people are here? I thought back at him.


    I felt Daniel concentrate. In the house? At least 30, but there are more in the basement levels. It''s hard to say exactly how many.  Nick, there¡¯s a data center, training rooms, labs for techies, and a factory to mass-produce their designs. I knew they were big, but not this big.


    I thought back to the summer at the superhero compound in Castle Rock, Colorado. The Coffeeshop Illuminati stole information from us and used it to launch a coup in Turkmenistan which ultimately allowed The Thing That Eats to become politically powerful there. Granted, they weren¡¯t trying to help it, but that side effect didn''t show their assumption that supers should intervene in other countries'' politics in the best light.


    Adam, alias Dark Cloak, had been not only involved with them, but also with a dragon that he helped take over the compound while we were there. I''d nearly lost my arm in the ensuing fight.


    I wondered if the Coffeeshop Illuminati still counted him as a member in good standing.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 2

    This wasn¡¯t a good time to ask. Or, thinking about it some more, it struck me that it might be. I could save asking about Adam until the end, just before Tara brought up something if she was going to do that. If he kicked us out at that point, we wouldn¡¯t lose anything.


    It might not be the best way to look at it, but it was at least practical. Plus, I felt confident that Tara thought the same way.


    You¡¯re right on that one even without telepathy, Daniel told me. Except for Yoselin, we¡¯re all on the same page.


    What¡¯s she thinking? Tara glanced over at me and then at Daniel as I thought back at him, catching some tell that was visible even through the Rocket suit for her.


    Bullet didn¡¯t notice anything. He kept on talking about the rooms we were walking through as if he were leading a tour.


    No idea,  Daniel thought back.  She thinks in Spanish, but she¡¯s watching everything. You¡¯ll have to ask her yourself.


    I decided to leave that for later and it was just as well. We¡¯d reached Bullet¡¯s office. The best description I can give of it was that it fit the house¡ªstained wood on the floor, walls, and ceiling, a thick white rug on the floor, enough space that there was room enough for everyone to sit, and big windows that gave a view of the mountainside.


    On the walls hung pictures and framed news articles of Bullet. Some of them showed him with the Brew City Protectors and others with other teams¡ªincluding the Heroes¡¯ League. Grandpa and Grandma Vander Sloot, both of them in costume, stood next to him, all of them celebrating defeating the Abominators.


    Except for his computer and monitors, the desk was empty.


    He pointed to the couch and chairs on the other end of the office, saying, ¡°Why don¡¯t we all sit down?¡±


    Everyone did¡ªincluding me. Even though I wore the full Rocket suit, I guessed that his furniture had been made to take some punishment. By not even moving, much less creaking as I sat, the chair proved me correct.


    ¡°Now,¡± Bullet asked, ¡°what brings you here? I know what it¡¯s like to live this life. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not a social call.¡±


    We¡¯d discussed how we¡¯d handle it on the way over. In the end, we¡¯d decided to go with what Vaughn called the ¡°rip off the bandage,¡± approach.


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    ¡°Have you been paying attention to the news?¡± I asked. Not giving him time to answer, I added, ¡°I¡¯m specifically thinking of Renewal Island or Metafight Island if you¡¯re more familiar with that name.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°Of course I am. Armory was my friend. Even after he turned into...whatever he is now¡ª¡°


    Bullet stopped, looking all of us over, eyes widening and the muscles around his jaw tightening.


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Daniel said. ¡°It was us¡ªnot all of us here, but Cypher, the Rocket, and I were there.¡±


    Slowly nodding his head, he asked, ¡°What happened?¡± From his tone, he expected the worst.


    Yoselin spoke up first, her accent noticeable--which I suspected was deliberate. ¡°He was selling to anyone who could afford it.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t his fault,¡± Daniel said. ¡°Not completely. We looked into his head. He¡¯d been influenced by the Dominators and it started when he was on your team.¡±


    For the first time since we¡¯d stepped into the house, Tara spoke up, ¡°Who was the archer?¡±


    Without missing a beat, Bullet said, ¡°Sorry, that¡¯s pri¡ª¡°


    Eyes wide, shutting his jaw, and holding his hand over his mouth, he got out, ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to say that.¡±


    ¡°She wore purple,¡± Tara said, her tone flat and without emotion.


    ¡°Sorry, that¡¯s¡­¡± Bullet¡¯s eyes widened again, and he leaned forward in his chair. For a second I thought he might run out of the room, but he straightened up, staring ahead and saying to no one in particular, ¡°She killed Master Martian.¡±


    Then he started to sob.


    We¡¯d brainstormed possible reactions to our questions so that we¡¯d be ready. Violence had been on my list. Uncontrollable crying wasn¡¯t.


    It¡¯s not uncommon for people to cry when the Dominators'' commands finally lose their hold, but stay ready. Violence is still on the table. One command might fail, but if some are still active, it gets unpredictable.


    I felt Daniel¡¯s alertness through our link.


    Bullet shook his head, and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the tears from his face, ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about his death in years, but I know I dreamed about it. I remember her voice. She was the first superhero I knew about. It was¡­¡±


    He stopped, took a breath, and said, ¡°the Amethyst Archer.¡±


    My first thought was that her name sounded kind of cheesy or maybe just dated--with the date being the 1920s. My second thought was that I¡¯d never heard of her. I did, however, have access to Double V¡¯s database and I searched on her name.


    It wasn¡¯t quick, and when the search did come back, it didn¡¯t come back with much, just a few news articles from the 1920s through to the early 50s. From what I read, the Amethyst Archer appeared in Madison, Wisconsin, and nowhere else. She¡¯d been named by a reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal.


    Comparing the black and white newspaper photos with the grainy 80s footage of her, the costume appeared to be the same. While I couldn¡¯t see her face in either picture, both the picture and the footage of her shooting arrows seemed to show the same person. My implant concurred.


    Skimming the articles brought up another interesting fact. She¡¯d fought Master Martian twice. The second time she¡¯d buried arrows in his chest and thigh without killing him. The article didn¡¯t say how he¡¯d survived, but she''d disappeared after that.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 3

    Bullet stopped wiping his face, ¡°Who was she really? Do you know?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Daniel continued to watch him, ¡°we were hoping you might know. We¡¯re guessing she¡¯s one of the Dominators.¡±


    Looking over at Daniel, Bullet stuffed his handkerchief back in his pants pocket, ¡°I¡¯m going to kill her.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know where she is,¡± Tara said, her voice level and controlled. ¡°You haven¡¯t seen her since and you haven¡¯t been looking because she controlled you so completely that you never tried. What makes you think that you could?¡±


    Turning toward her, he bared his teeth, all but snarling. I half-expected that he was going to scream at her.


    ¡°You were involved with her,¡± Tara watched him, not making any hostile moves, but both of her hands lay near her utility belt. She¡¯d moved her right foot back into position to push herself up. She expected a fight.


    He was, Daniel told me, but that wasn¡¯t in his surface thoughts until she said so.


    His voice low, Bullet said, ¡°Get out.¡±


    He¡¯s a hair away from attacking, Daniel thought at all of us. Let¡¯s do that.


    ¡°Sorry about that,¡± I said as I stood up and Tara passed behind my chair, moving toward the door.


    Bullet didn¡¯t reply. I let Yoselin and Daniel step out before I did, less out of politeness and more because I felt more confident that my armor could take the blow than anyone else¡¯s. Everyone wore one of my suits, but with the exception of Yoselin¡¯s, they weren¡¯t suits designed first of all with the thought of taking the kind of damage Bullet could dish out.


    It struck me that it might be worth a comforting word or at least one that might deescalate the situation. None came to mind, so I followed everyone out into the hall, watching Bullet in my HUD¡¯s peripheral vision.


    He didn¡¯t attack.


    We didn¡¯t say anything as we started walking back. It seemed best to allow him every possible chance to ignore us. Plus, though I hadn¡¯t paid attention to it on the way in, the Coffeeshop Illuminati used the standard protocol that allowed visitors access to a map of their base. My HUD overlaid the rooms¡¯ names above the doorways as we passed. It also placed a map in the upper corner of my vision. A lot of rooms were labeled ¡°private¡± as well as most of the lower levels.


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    It didn¡¯t seem like a good time to poke around and find out what they were hiding.


    As I considered that along with the fact that I hadn¡¯t gotten to ask about whether Adam was still involved in the group, I felt Daniel connect everyone¡¯s minds. Tara¡¯s got something she wants to share.


    I felt a hint of fear along with relief and happiness as she told us, I know that didn¡¯t end well, but it wasn¡¯t going to anyway, and this way I got something out of it.


    A surge of strong interest came from Yoselin as she asked, More than his relationship with the archer?


    Yes. That she was a Dominator, but not the only one, and that whoever the current Dominator is, they¡¯re not coordinating. If they were, the new Dominator would have reinforced her command to keep her killing of Master Martian secret.


    Wait, I thought, you¡¯re saying that he¡¯s being influenced now.


    She¡¯s right, Daniel thought at us, I wouldn¡¯t have known it if she hadn¡¯t said anything, but once she did I could see signs outside of his block¡ªwhich is a step better than most blocks around here. We should make getting out a priority. I¡¯m not sensing that he¡¯s being influenced right at this very second, but who knows what kinds of triggers have been set up.


    Tara picked up the pace¡ªnot in a running through the house at breakneck speed sense, but a touch faster. We¡¯d be out soon, but we wouldn''t be running the way we would if we¡¯d just planted a bomb.


    As we began to near the weight room we¡¯d passed on the way in, a door opened. According to the map, it opened into a stairway that lead down to one of the sections marked private in the first level of the basement.


    Three people stepped out of the doorway and into the hall in front of us. As the door opened, I thought they might be about to attack, turning on targeting systems and readying myself for whatever might be coming.


    Next to me, Yoselin began to raise her arms, not pointing them exactly at the door, but close enough.


    Relax, Daniel thought at me. This should be okay.


    Hunter and Gifford stepped through the door first, both of them in sweat-soaked exercise clothes. Hunter was smaller and dark-haired. Gifford looked much like his brother Gordon, a square-jawed, muscular, potential model even if unlike Gordon he had brown hair.


    Behind them came the biggest surprise¡ªStephanie. With long dark hair and eyes that seemed to take in all of us at once, Stephanie wasn¡¯t in an exercise uniform. She wore dark blue armor, the upper layer of which had a mesh-like texture. I know it wasn¡¯t the same costume she¡¯d used when we were at Higher Ground, but she was into upgrading her gear.


    Gifford grinned at us, ¡°Gordon told me you were here.¡±

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 4

    It might not be fair to either Gifford or Hunter, but I¡¯d never particularly liked either of them. Gifford and Gordon came from a legacy hero family, the kind that lived in private compounds and didn¡¯t interact much with normal people. Hunter¡¯s mother was a legacy superhero,celebrity, and superhero stage mom (from what I¡¯d seen).


    She had a reality TV show about her life in Hollywood called, ¡°Diva!¡± To judge from the online commercials, Hunter and Gifford appeared sometimes.


    Also, and here¡¯s where the unfairness came in, Gifford was interested in Haley. It hadn¡¯t caused problems because she wasn¡¯t interested in him, but it didn¡¯t make me like him more.


    Daniel nodded at them, answering before I could, ¡°We had a few questions we needed to ask Bullet. We¡¯re working on a case that touches on his time as part of the Brew City Protectors.¡±


    Gifford nodded, ¡°Something about Armory? I heard that the Feds brought him in. Bullet¡¯s been worried about him. It¡¯s got to be weird when a friend goes bad.¡±


    Hunter shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m not sure how friendly they are now, but everything Armory¡¯s been doing would make Bullet look bad. It¡¯s good that the Feds have him.¡±


    Giving Hunter a glance and a frown, Gifford said, ¡°Anyway, you guys want a tour? It¡¯s not every day we see people from Stapledon and it¡¯d be great if we could work together sometime.¡±


    Turning her head to look at the two of them and glancing back at Stephanie, Tara shook her head, face expressionless, ¡°We have to go.¡±


    Gifford hadn¡¯t been around when Tara took down the guys in Gordon¡¯s Stapledon friend group, but he¡¯d had to have heard about it. He took a step back as her eyes fell on him.


    Waving them away, Stephanie said, ¡°Let them go. They¡¯re in the middle of something and you know how to contact them if you want to.¡±


    Gifford and Hunter looked at each other and Gifford shrugged, ¡°Alright, I know how it goes. Tell Night Cat, I said ¡®hi¡¯.¡±


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    Taking a step after Gifford, Hunter turned to us, ¡°I know you didn¡¯t have the best experience with our group when we were all at school, but there¡¯s been a leadership change. We¡¯ve got a vote now.¡±


    The two of them walked ahead of us and into the rooms with exercise equipment. To say that we didn¡¯t have the ¡°best experience¡± was an understatement. They¡¯d used a report I¡¯d had our jet¡¯s AI make to overthrow a country.


    With them gone though, we were ¡°alone¡± with Stephanie for some value of alone. Between superpowers, magic, psychic clairvoyance, and cameras, I assumed that someone had to be watching.


    ¡°It¡¯s been a while,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m kind of surprised to see you here at all. Are you and Gordon¡­ um¡­ a thing again?¡±


    Though she wore armor, the fact that she wasn¡¯t wearing a helmet made her eye roll obvious. ¡°No,¡± she shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m off that train forever. Thanks for asking. I¡¯m here because I can do some good in the world and even if I¡¯m not ¡®with¡¯ Gordon, I have friends here. Plus, Hunter¡¯s right. There was a leadership change after The Thing That Eats came to Grand Lake. Noticing that we¡¯d put some kind of eldritch horror in charge of a country caused people around here to do a little rethinking.¡±


    She smiled at me, ¡°Congratulations. That¡¯s your work even if you weren¡¯t trying to do it.¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°I guess that¡¯s a good thing.¡±


    Her eyes darted down the hall behind us and then ahead, ¡°Let¡¯s see if we can¡¯t get you out of here without any more interruptions and recruitment attempts. As you¡¯ve noticed, everyone around here is extremely excited about the group and wants to show off the base. It gets to feel like we¡¯re part of a multi-level marketing scheme sometimes. It even feels a little like a startup sometimes¡ªone with big corporate backers.¡±


    She smiled and gave my armor a tap, ¡°You know what I mean.¡±


    She pointed down the hall, ¡°Let¡¯s get moving that way.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like a good idea,¡± I said.


    In my head, I thought, Daniel, could you connect everyone?


    He knew what I meant, pulling in Yoselin and Tara, but not Stephanie. I¡¯d put something together. Stephanie¡¯s getting us out of here because she knows something. I¡¯d pull her into this, but I¡¯m thinking that if anyone¡¯s listening in on her, she¡¯s got a system to misdirect them.


    I felt agreement from Daniel, I wouldn''t be able to blend a five-way conversation into her surface thoughts without another telepath noticing.


    Yoselin asked, What are you picking up from her surface thoughts?


    Nothing, Daniel said, but she¡¯s a techie like you and Nick. She might have a psi-blocker in her suit.


    While I didn¡¯t sense distrust from Yoselin, I did sense watchfulness¡ªwhich made it less surprising that her next question was, Can we trust her?


    I thought back, I think so. We worked together in bringing down a company. It was a startup with big corporate backers that was doing work for the Nine. When she told me it felt like a startup, that was a message.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 5

    We followed Stephanie down the hall toward the exit while she asked us questions that pointedly weren¡¯t about what we were doing here. Except for her hint, they didn¡¯t make any other reference to the last time we¡¯d been together either. I followed her lead, answering her questions and choosing not to go in directions that might make her listeners suspicious.


    As we reached the room we¡¯d first entered¡ªthe one with the big TV and the two long couches facing it¡ªshe stopped, ¡°I heard about what Cassie¡¯s been doing¡ªorganizing multi-team training sessions at your property in the U.P. I think you¡¯ll find plenty of people here who will be interested in working out with you. Personally, I think you¡¯ll want to be careful about who you invite. Some people around here hold grudges. You know how that is.¡±


    Tara watched her, giving a small smile, ¡°I do. Who¡¯s holding grudges? Everybody?¡±


    Shrugging, Stephanie said, ¡°How should I know? Nobody tells me anything. I¡¯ve just got a feeling. Anyway, I¡¯ll let you out. Give me a second. I have to remember the codes.¡±


    She closed her eyes and tapped on the communicator on her left arm. The door opened on its own power as she gave a few additional taps, opened her eyes, and said, ¡°Sorry, I had to send someone a message. Anyway, I¡¯ll see you all later.¡±


    As we followed Tara out, it struck me that I¡¯d noticed a pattern in the tapping. With my implant, I replayed the sound, realizing it was Morse code. She¡¯d typed, ¡°Call me.¡±


    I gave her a wave as the jet lowered from the air to land on the ground in front of us. Stephanie waved back and watched us as we walked up the steps and shut the door behind us. In my last view of her, she let out a breath, slumped for a second, and let the building¡¯s door shut.


    The jet floated upward with Cassie flying and Haley sitting next to her at the weapons console. Vaughn stood at one of the windows, watching the Coffeeshop Illuminati¡¯s base. I watched out the window too, seeing the base, the trees, and the rocky hillside around it shrink to become bits of gray and green in the mountains.


    No one flew after us. Tapping into the jet¡¯s network, I didn¡¯t see missiles, vehicles, or powered armor following us either. I checked in all directions and kept on checking until we were about one hundred miles away and Cassie asked, ¡°Do want to take over? I can feel you through my implant.¡±


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    I shook my head, ¡°Not unless you¡¯re sick of flying. I thought I ought to keep on watching behind us.¡±


    Cassie turned around to grin at me, ¡°Trust me, I know you are. What did you learn there? Something that made you nervous for sure.¡±


    Haley, who unlike Cassie didn¡¯t have an implant, glanced back at me to say, ¡°And what¡¯s Stephanie doing there?¡± Then she turned back toward the front and the various screens in the cockpit.


    Thinking back to how she¡¯d escorted us out and her final, tired or relieved look, I said, ¡°Remember what she was doing at Higher Ground? More of that, I think. Except I¡¯m not sure who she¡¯s investigating. It turns out that Bullet¡¯s been advising or leading the Coffeeshop Illuminati since he left Stapledon and Gifford, Hunter, and Gordon are there plus a bunch of other supers. I don¡¯t know how many. From the seating in their briefing room, I¡¯m guessing at least 20 and maybe as many as 40.¡±


    ¡°Also,¡± I added, ¡°Gifford said to tell Haley ¡®hi¡¯.¡±


    Haley turned back, her mouth twisting, and caught my eye, ¡°Great.¡±


    Vaughn grinned, ¡°Heh. Good to know nothing¡¯s changed there.¡±


    ¡°Not really,¡± Haley turned back to her screens.


    ¡°But there¡¯s more than that,¡± Daniel said. ¡°We know that the woman who killed Master Martian was once known as the Amethyst Archer, doesn¡¯t visibly age and had a relationship with Bullet in the 80s. We don¡¯t know any more than that about her though. We should probably check into it, but we¡¯ve also got to decide what we do about the Coffeeshop Illuminati. Bullet showed signs of recent Dominator influence and while I¡¯m not sure, I think I saw hints of it in Gifford and Hunter¡¯s surface thoughts. I didn¡¯t have time to get a good look.¡±


    Sitting down, Vaughn took a seat next to me, ¡°I¡¯m still stuck on the fact that it¡¯s the Coffeeshop Illuminati down there. I¡¯d assumed they were all secretly working out of their parents¡¯ basements or something. That looks like someplace my family would buy.¡±


    He paused, but then said, ¡°What about Stephanie? Has she been affected by the Dominators?¡±


    Daniel shook his head, ¡°No idea, but I¡¯m pretty sure she¡¯s got some kind of psi-blocker. If she knows about Nick¡¯s technique for blocking Dominator voice powers, she¡¯s probably safe.¡±


    I thought about that and was about to say, ¡°No idea,¡± too except that my implant showed me the exact moment when I¡¯d told her how it worked. ¡°Actually, yes. She does. I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s using it, but if she is, she¡¯s as safe as we are.¡±


    Tara said, ¡°She¡¯s got speakers built into her suit. She didn¡¯t use to. I¡¯m almost certain she¡¯s there for the same reason we were¡ªthe Dominators. But, I don¡¯t think we have time to decide what we¡¯re going to do about the Coffeeshop Illuminati. I think we need to find Master Martian before the Dominators do.¡±

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 6

    Slumping into her seat, Tara shook her head before turning to look around at the group, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I need to get out of True headspace for a little while. It¡¯s exhausting to look at the world that way even though I know we need it. We need to find Master Martian first, though, and from what I was seeing, we need to find him today. When the Dominators know we met with Bullet, they¡¯ll go after Master Martian and maybe after the woman too.¡±


    Cassie glanced back toward Tara before turning back to the front, ¡°I thought the woman was a Dominator.¡±


    Holding up her hands, Tara said ¡°I don¡¯t know. It was obvious when I was thinking like the True, but I think it¡¯s like this¡ªwhoever¡¯s been working on Bullet wasn¡¯t reinforcing what the Amethyst Archer did to him. I don¡¯t know how I got there, but before I stopped, I worked out that she might be part of a different faction or maybe she left the Dominators. You don¡¯t need me to figure this out. Hal and Daniel can do it.¡±


    ¡°Oh man,¡± Vaughn muttered. ¡°This is going to get messy.¡±


    At about the same time Yoselin spoke with me implant-to-implant, Why can¡¯t she stay in ¡°True headspace?¡±


    It wears on her. I think it¡¯s partly that she hates what the True become when they let their abilities make their choices for them. From what she¡¯s told me, it¡¯s not that they become emotionless. It¡¯s more like they¡¯re unaware of how their emotions are guiding them because they¡¯re completely involved in the analysis. Also, I guess it¡¯s exhausting over the long term¡ªthough maybe more so for her. The impression I get is that since she¡¯s a combination of two types of True, she¡¯s better than normal somehow, but needs more rest.


    The thought left me as quickly as it passed through my mind.


    Yoselin met my eyes, shaking her head, Back in Cuba, I knew that my life was stranger than my friends¡¯, but I didn¡¯t have quite so many types of heroes. I¡¯d never heard of Tara or the True before coming here.


    I know what you mean. For the last few years, my life has felt like someone shook a can of pop and then opened it right next to my head. She laughed and we listened as Daniel replied to Tara.


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    Nodding, he said, ¡°Rest. Hal and I can handle it. Hal, pull in any leads you can find and I¡¯ll test them with my prescience. Also, Cassie, could you fly at the speed of a normal jet? If we¡¯re lucky, we might get a lead on Master Martian while we¡¯re still in the air.¡±


    From the front, Cassie flashed Daniel a grin, ¡°Sure, I don¡¯t have anything planned today.¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± Haley said, turning back toward the rest of us, ¡°but I can skip class for this.¡±


    Thanks to my implant¡¯s connection to the jet, I could feel the sudden increase in the amount of data the jet pulled in. Even as I saw the numbers on its various connections shoot upward, Hal contacted me through my implant.


    [Requesting permission to exchange information with other AIs.]


    I thought back, What for? Don¡¯t you normally?


    [No. I discuss issues with them and participate in activities that demonstrate trust and friendship, but I don¡¯t conduct conversations that risk information about your activities being passed along to other AIs. If, as I suspect, you want me to get information about Master Martian¡¯s location to you as quickly as possible, I¡¯m going to need to call in favors from other AIs. It won¡¯t be anything that puts organic life at risk.]


    Hal¡¯s makers, along with the majority of interstellar civilization, were paranoid about a computer uprising and programmed their paranoia into the AI¡¯s security system. It was far from the first time Hal needed my permission to do something. I thought back to it, Permission granted.


    It might be that I should have required a transcript of the conversation Hal had with them or demanded to be able to listen, but I trusted the AI enough that I didn¡¯t think he would conspire to destroy or enslave organic life. Learning more about the private conversations of Earth¡¯s AI population might be interesting though.


    In my next thought, I wondered if we were the only group with an in with the secret AI network, and if not, who else had one? Even as that thought passed through my brain, I began to think about the fact that Hal said he was calling in a couple of favors to help us. It implied that he¡¯d done favors. I couldn¡¯t help wonder which AI he¡¯d done them for and who they were connected to if anyone.


    It didn¡¯t seem like the right moment to ask, especially given that he was using them to our benefit, but in the long run, it seemed too important to ignore.


    Before I had time to give any real thought to when I¡¯d look into it, the AI connected to my implant.


    [Master Martian located in Washington D.C. Information incoming.]

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 7

    I held up my hand and waved it, ¡°Hey everybody, Hal¡¯s already got the location. Master Martian¡¯s in Washington D.C. More precise information is on its way.¡±


    Though we didn¡¯t feel it thanks to the gravitics and inertial dampers, we could see through the windows as the jet spun around in the sky, changing direction and altitude, clouds and the blue sky a blur as the jet shot upward.


    Then Cassie started talking over the radio, logging our change in flight plan with the nearest airport. It was a risk, given the reason that we were going, but when you¡¯re traveling several times faster than the speed of sound, you don¡¯t want anyone in your way. Besides, she told them we were going to Philadelphia.


    I didn¡¯t know what she was going to do, but it wouldn¡¯t be hard to put up the shields and stealth in when we got closer.


    ¡°Crap,¡± Vaughn said, turning to look at me, ¡°that was fast. Daniel just asked for help. What happened? Did the guy get caught or something?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Not that I know of. Hal called in some favors. He knows a guy, or really, he knows a bunch of AIs.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± Vaughn paused, then said, ¡°that¡¯s a little scary.¡±


    ¡°Not necessarily,¡± I said. ¡°If you think about it, some of them have been around longer than we¡¯ve been alive and so far as I know, none of them have given us trouble. We¡¯ve been fighting humans this whole time.¡±


    ¡°Point,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but for all you know, those people might have been following directions from AIs.¡±


    Thinking back to how the Coffeeshop Illuminati launched a coup in Turkmenistan with plans from Hal that they¡¯d stolen from us, I couldn¡¯t argue with him. ¡°Could be. We haven¡¯t seen any signs of it so far, but it¡¯s within the realm of possibility.¡±


    And that¡¯s when Hal attacked my brain. Okay¡ªnot really¡ªbut an explosion of images opened up inside my head along with maps and news reports, and footage from security cameras, all of it saved in discrete files by my implant.


    [That¡¯s favor number one¡ªa mix of publicly available information from the D.C. area along with private information collected by the Feds. It¡¯s all sightings of Master Martian.]


    I thought back, Where did you get this?


    [Eugene¡ªan AI created in the 1950s as part of an accident involving lightning, an engineer, an early mainframe, and a nest of rats. He¡¯s nice. Works with Isaac Lim sometimes. The Feds keep on adding on as he needs more hardware. I hear he takes up most of a building now.]


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    Okay. That could be worse. He sounds trustworthy. Where do the rats fit in¡ª


    Hal interrupted me. [You don¡¯t want to know. Sorry¡ªjust got access to the second favor¡ªit¡¯s video streams. Eugene can¡¯t get everywhere, but CYB3R-WZ3L can. It lives in the unused processing power of millions of computers all over the world. I¡¯ve loaned it a virtual machine every now and then. So does Eugene. It only runs on Windows, so there¡¯s not much of a risk.]


    Trustworthy? I thought back as I looked over the streams.


    [Within limits. When it passed those limits, I''ve deleted the virtual machine. Eventually, it got the idea.]


    Comparing the packets of data from Eugene with the video streams, I found that CYB3R-WZ3L¡¯s video streams were live while Eugenes¡¯ data showed where Master Martian had been over the last few days¡ªfollowing an oil company lobbyist on behalf of a country with oil reserves. Eugene had pictures of him meeting members of that country¡¯s embassy staff.


    Better, combining the pictures with the maps and the streams told me exactly where Master Martian was, complete with an address. I sent the address to Cassie via my implant and got Daniel¡¯s attention with a telepathic poke. Feeling his attention, I showed him everything.


    That¡¯s a lot, he thought at me, I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯re handling more information and connections between your brain and the implant than you could have when you got back from space. Give me a second.


    He closed his eyes, took a couple breaths, and when he opened them, he said, ¡°Everybody, Hal gave Nick everything we need to find Master Martian. Unfortunately, I¡¯m seeing that we¡¯ll definitely end up fighting when we get there. I don¡¯t know any more than that, but Cassie, if you can hurry, it will help.¡±


    Cassie glanced back, ¡°Then I guess we¡¯re going sub-orbital.¡±


    The hum of the jet¡¯s engines moved a little higher¡ªif nowhere near the worst I¡¯d done when we were in space. As we left the atmosphere, there were moments where the streams flickered and I couldn¡¯t connect, but Hal managed to reconnect and stay mostly connected throughout the flight.


    That allowed me to watch as Master Martian walked through the door of a nearly empty apartment and lay down on the white, pillowed, couch¡ªthe only piece of furniture in the room. Master Martian didn¡¯t quite look like the original. The original wore a helmet and shiny green spacesuit that could have come out of a 60s sitcom.


    This one wore a dark blue suit. As he¡¯d walked through the door, I wouldn¡¯t have seen him as anything but a normal human, but as he closed the door, his skin had taken on a green tinge. By the time he was on the couch and throwing off his suit coat, his antenna extended from the top of his head.


    Except for the antenna and skin tone, he could have been any guy coming home after a long day.


    Switching video streams, I checked outside. Looking out of the camera of a doorbell on the other side of the street, I saw a row of multi-colored painted, brick three-story houses. Master Martian¡¯s apartment was on the third floor of the one that had been painted yellow¡ªexcept for the orange balcony.


    It wasn¡¯t the buildings I cared about as much as the cars in front of them. A white van sat two houses down on the left. The two men inside didn¡¯t look like deliverymen. Even though they wore blue shirts and dull blue jackets, the sunglasses, clean shave, and close-cut hair made me think of soldiers or cops. The earpieces made me think more of the Secret Service.


    Another similar van parked two houses down and to the right of Master Martian¡¯s apartment. Dressed and groomed like the others, the man in that van seemed familiar. The wide mouth and handsome face set off alarm bells in my head. He was a male version of Tara.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 8

    Telling the jet to throw the streams on screens in the passenger area so that people without implants could see them too, I announced, ¡°This looks bad. At least one of these people is one of the True and I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if there were more. We should probably assume that, actually. The big question is if they have backup and how close it is.¡±


    I flipped through the various accessible video streams that Hal¡¯s friend (I guess?) had made available. There were more than I would have predicted, but most of them were either through laptops or security cameras that computers could access.


    The useful streams were almost always security cameras, but they were placed with the owner¡¯s needs in mind as opposed to mine. I did hit the jackpot after some looking. It turned out that the True soldier had a laptop in his van, one that a group of additional True were sitting in the back area and using. Judging from the fact that I could use the camera to see them and the mic to listen in, they used it to communicate with someone and so they hadn¡¯t disabled either device.


    There were three of them, two of them were male and wore blue shirts and jackets, making them identical. I supposed if they exited the van one at a time, no one would notice. The third one was female. She¡¯d gone with a black business suit, allowing her to pass as some kind of professional¡ªthough if you looked closely, you might notice the guns in shoulder holsters under the jacket.


    All three stared into the laptop¡¯s camera, watching someone on the laptop¡¯s screen, or so I assumed. A male voice said, ¡°¡­ This mission is switching from surveillance to extraction. We think the Heroes¡¯ League is on its way. So, we¡¯re sending in backup. You won¡¯t be able to take them on on your own. In the meantime, suit up and get ready to fight. We¡¯ll tell you when you need to move on the target.¡±


    As the True began to take off their clothes and put on battledress (pants and jackets with a black, white, and gray camouflage pattern), Cassie glanced back at Daniel, ¡°Unless you think it¡¯ll make things worse, I¡¯m going to let the Liberators know we¡¯re in town and about to get into a fight.¡±


    Looking away from a screen showing Master Martian, Daniel closed his eyes and then opened them, ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯ll happen, but I¡¯m not sensing that the battle will be worse if you do. Go ahead. At least they¡¯ll know we¡¯re being polite.¡±


    Cassie nodded as she closed her eyes to control the jet via implant, ¡°That¡¯s what I figured. Incidentally, everyone, we¡¯re nearing Master Martian. We¡¯ll be there in less than ten minutes. You should start thinking about your plan for getting him out.¡±


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    We all looked at each other. I can¡¯t say what anyone else was thinking, but I was thinking, ¡°Crap.¡±


    Yoselin turned toward us, ¡°From what I saw in Bullet¡¯s memory, the first Master Martian appeared to have mental powers¡ªtelekinesis, telepathy¡­ Are the second Master Martian¡¯s powers the same?¡±


    I didn¡¯t need to tap into the jet¡¯s internet connection to know the answer, but I used it anyway, ¡°So far as anyone can tell, they¡¯re the same¡ªtelepathy, telekinesis, and short distance teleports. We¡¯ve got telepathy and teleportation blockers in the jet¡¯s storage area. I¡¯m trying to figure out if we should use them. If we come in to rescue him,he might feel like he owes us. Dumping blockers all over might ruin that. Plus, Daniel wouldn¡¯t be able to use telepathy either.¡±


    Turning away from the weapons console, Haley said, ¡°We should use them. I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll trust us even if the True already have him when we rescue him. What I don¡¯t know is what we¡¯re going to do when we¡¯ve got him. We¡¯d have to keep him unconscious the whole time or run the telepathy blocker. I could poison him, but for all we know, my venom won¡¯t work on Martians or whatever he is.¡±


    Yoselin opened a pouch on her belt, pulling silvery, metal discs out of it, ¡°I think I may be able to help. These discs stick to telepaths, using the energy it pulls from them to remain attached.¡±


    Daniel stared at her hand, ¡°No kidding. My dad told me the Russians had something like that, but this sounds nastier.¡±


    Nodding, she gave a small smile, ¡°My father improved on the original design.¡±


    Without turning around, Cassie said, ¡°What we¡¯ve got then is that I fly in, you all jump out and kidnap Master Martian from his apartment. Daniel attacks his brain and Yoselin sticks that thing on him. Then we leave before the True have time to do anything.¡±


    Vaughn frowned, ¡°And if the True do have time, I hit them with lightning. Plus, I don¡¯t know, maybe Tara helps?¡±


    Tara shook her head, ¡°My head still hurts. I overused my abilities today and if I go out there, I¡¯ll be a liability. Haley should go. I¡¯ll take the weapons console and direct you from here. I can handle that much. I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Her head drifted downward and she looked at the floor.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± I said. ¡°I think we¡¯ve got a plan. It¡¯s a little more direct than I¡¯d have come up with, but it could work.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Cassie said, ¡°because we¡¯ve got less than five minutes now.¡±


    As Tara and Haley swapped seats, we talked through a few more details. Then I checked the streams again, fast-forwarding back through where I¡¯d left off when we started talking. Learning that I hadn¡¯t missed much, I watched Cassie take us in, using the gravitics to lower us down next to Master Martian¡¯s apartment. The orange-painted balcony hung off to our left. We¡¯d be able to land on it when we opened the hatch.


    Even with cars going down the street below us, no one noticed we were there. I¡¯d had time to figure out how to use the shields as a real cloaking device during my senior year. They weren¡¯t as effective as shields in that mode, but you went in cloaked to avoid fighting.


    Yoselin, Haley, Daniel, and I stood up and crowded around the hatch as Cassie said, ¡°Everybody ready? Go!¡±


    Before anyone could reply, she opened the door.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 9

    I jumped out first with Yoselin following after me. We landed on the balcony and didn¡¯t even have to smash through the balcony¡¯s sliding door. Daniel slid both the screen door and the glass door open. Even though we¡¯d opted to turn on our telepathy and teleportation blockers for the initial assault, Daniel¡¯s telekinesis worked perfectly.


    Thanks to the stream, I could see Master Martian¡¯s eyes widen and his antenna shoot straight from his head as he pushed himself, stumbled, and then flew off the couch.


    I could understand his shock. With the cloak up, his only warning that we were there was to see the air shimmer in vaguely human shapes as we jumped through it. Even as I ran through the open door, the cloak shimmered as Daniel and Haley jumped through it, Haley in the lead.


    Opening up with the paralysis, I pointed my arms at Master Martian, blanketing him with both sonic and radiation-based paralysis technology in the hope that one of the two would work. Despite the nagging voice in the back of my head that half-expected that it would do nothing or accidentally kill him, Master Martian¡¯s limbs and jaw went slack.


    Showing that I had good instincts in expecting unexpected consequences, Master Martian didn¡¯t go down. Despite drooling down his front and onto his white, button-down shirt and blue and silver striped tie, he floated away from us, his limbs and jaw swaying as he turned to float away toward the stairs leading downward at the back of the room.


    The stain on his dark blue dress pants and liquid dripping from his left foot testified that even if his telekinesis still worked, I¡¯d still managed to paralyze more muscles than I intended¡ªthe sphincter being the case in point.


    That didn¡¯t stop Yoselin from shooting forward over the couch and past Master Martian¡¯s La-Z-Boy chair and television¡ªwhich appeared to be showing an old Western based on the presence of cowboys and the revolvers.


    With a flick of her wrist, Yoselin threw one of her discs toward Master Martian and it weaved through the air, hitting and then sticking to his neck. Master Martian dropped to the floor, not even making it to the stairs.


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    Unable to move or use his psychic powers, Master Martian lay on the floor, his antennas drooping across his bald head like a bad combover.


    Vaughn¡¯s voice came over the comms, ¡°Turning off the telepathy blocker.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see him do it through the cloak, but I didn¡¯t need to. I felt Daniel¡¯s intense concentration as my connection to him reestablished itself.


    Master Martian floated upward and toward the jet. Daniel said, ¡°We need to get out of here. Something just changed and I¡¯m getting flashes of all of us dying.¡±


    Still following the streams Hal had made available, I flipped through them to see if I could find a hint of what was coming. I caught the True inside the van in the street as they received more orders, all of them now fully changed and armed. The man¡¯s voice told them, ¡°Our new assets are nearly there. They¡¯ll handle the League. Grab the target.¡±


    In the next second, the building shook as shattered bricks, shingles, plaster from the ceiling, and bits of broken wood fell into the room, accompanied by massive, muscular men, all of them wearing red bodysuits with the Roman Empire¡¯s eagle with outspread wings on their chests in gold.


    It wasn¡¯t a mystery who they were. Somehow, the Nine had hired or controlled what was left of the Cabal¡¯s elite troops¡ªat least some of them.


    At the same time, my suit¡¯s 360 degree vision showed several of them hitting the jet, half-hidden by the cloak, seemingly suspended in the air as they leaned forward to pound on the jet¡¯s hull. I¡¯d upgraded the jet¡¯s armor over the past year, but hearing the pounding, I had to bet Cabal soldiers would get through sooner rather than later.


    Tara saw everything I did, making the right decision, ¡°Cap, go!¡±


    The jet shot forward into the air. Tara no doubt intended to shed the soldiers before they could do serious damage. If they took out the jet, we¡¯d have no way to get out of here and we¡¯d have to fight the Cabal one on one until they converted us into a bloody paste.


    It would have been better if we¡¯d been able to get into the jet first, but there were two Cabal soldiers on the balcony, one of them pulling his leg out of a hole he¡¯d created when he hit. The other glanced in the direction of the jet¡¯s noise before turning his head toward us.


    I made a quick assessment of the situation. There were two on the balcony and three in the room. Yoselin and I were the furthest into the room, standing near the television and in front of the couch. Haley and Daniel stood closer to the balcony with Master Martian floating between us, but closer to them. Two of the three Cabal soldiers had landed in the kitchen and dining room area off to the side of the living room and the other stood almost within arm¡¯s reach of Yoselin and me.


    We needed to keep them off us and get into the air. Feeling Daniel¡¯s unvoiced agreement, I considered how.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 10

    Daniel agreed with my first half-formed thought, I¡¯ll take the two on the balcony. The rest are yours.


    Awesome, I thought back. Taking on the Cabal one on one will be easy.


    To everyone else, I spoke over the comm, ¡°Mystic¡¯s taking the ones on the balcony. Cypher, don¡¯t let them touch you. You¡¯ll die.¡±


    Yoselin muttered, ¡°Mierda.¡±


    That¡¯s all the planning we got because in the next second everything happened at once. Daniel let Master Martian sink toward the floor, landing in front of Haley and himself while simultaneously lifting the two Cabal soldiers on the balcony into the air above the balcony where they couldn¡¯t push off anything.


    At the same time, the Cabal soldier next to Yoselin and I jumped forward, diving toward Master Martian or maybe toward Daniel. Either way, it didn¡¯t matter because Yoselin had aimed her arms and the bulbous attachments under them in the direction of the soldier.


    As he jumped, something in her suit whined and the guy shot upward, creating a new hole in the ceiling in addition to the one he¡¯d made on the way in. More bits of shattered plaster, wood, and shingles fell into the room, but at this point, it didn¡¯t make the room look that much worse.


    Plaster dust left a cloud of white on Master Martian¡¯s suit, but nothing big hit him.


    I wouldn¡¯t have had time to do anything about it if it had because even though I saw all of that in my helmet¡¯s HUD, I¡¯d started moving sidewise toward the kitchen and dining room because the remaining two Cabal soldiers had chosen to fight smart. Recognizing that we¡¯d cut their force into less than half, they went straight for the people immobilizing them¡ªDaniel and Yoselin.


    I¡¯d moved in front of Yoselin when I saw them start to move, aimed my arms at them with more hope that the paralyzation rays would work than I had with Master Martian and also more disappointment¡ªbecause they didn¡¯t. They kept on running.


    I had the sudden realization that they hadn¡¯t been wearing uniforms the last time we¡¯d fought them. Someone, probably The Nine, had put money into them and bought them stuff¡ªincluding paralyzation ray resistant costumes.


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    In my peripheral vision, I saw Haley jump between the oncoming Cabal soldier and Daniel. I didn¡¯t have time to help her. I was too busy switching up my weapons, aiming my lasers at the nearest soldier. As close to invulnerable as they might be to getting punched, lasers worked against them. Thus, the one good thing about fighting immortal, near invulnerable, regenerating powerhouses? There¡¯s no reason to hold back. Also, there¡¯s probably no other way to survive.


    After a brief sparkling of light in which I worried that their costumes protected against lasers too, both lasers burned through the costume and into the nearest soldier¡¯s legs. By nearest, I mean far too close. He was only ten feet away when he fell forward on his face, hands still reaching for me even as he screamed in pain.


    I backed up, shooting his arms. On a gut level, it felt unfair, but my gut wasn¡¯t accounting for the fact that the guy might be able to crush my armor and squeeze my leg off if he happened to reach me.


    The smart choice would have been a head shot, but I didn¡¯t. Cutting into his arms left the bones broken and the guy couldn¡¯t even crawl.


    I felt sick, but not sick enough to forget that he¡¯d be healing sooner than I¡¯d like to think.


    As the guy spat out, ¡°I¡¯ll kill you, you bastard,¡± I pointed Yoselin toward the balcony as I scooped up Master Martian¡¯s limp body, glancing toward Haley as I muttered, ¡°You and the Black Knight.¡±


    He gave no indication that he caught my Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference. To be fair, he was old enough that the Black Knight might have been a friend.


    Haley stood over the soldier who¡¯d been aiming for Daniel. He lay on the ground, but each of his feet lay a couple of uh¡­ feet away. My implant gave me a quick replay. As I¡¯d been firing the paralysis beams, she¡¯d darted forward dodging the Cabal soldier¡¯s punch and aiming a swipe of her claws at the soldier¡¯s right Achilles tendon. Except she wasn¡¯t using her real claws, she used the claws I¡¯d built into her costume, the ones using the same technology as Cassie¡¯s sword.


    Those claws hit the back of the soldier¡¯s leg and did not go through.


    Grinning, the soldier turned and punched down at her, missing because she¡¯d rolled away, pausing to look in my direction. The implant calculated where she¡¯d looked¡ªat the boots of the soldier I¡¯d been fighting. Thinking back, I noticed something I hadn¡¯t at the time. They wore different styles of boots¡ªwhich meant boots weren¡¯t part of the costume.


    With that she¡¯d grabbed the couch, using it to hit him from behind with enough strength to knock him forward, and then leaped in to cut across the middle of his boots with an outstretched claw, cutting off both feet even as the soldier threw the couch off of himself and toward Daniel¡ªwho batted it away with his telekinesis.


    It landed in the kitchen, knocking a pile of dishes off the counter as it broke in two.


    The soldier struggled to pull himself up onto his stumps as we ran for the balcony. Behind us came more thumping and crashing noises as more Cabal soldiers broke through the roof and into the apartment.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 11

    As Daniel stepped on the balcony, he broadcast to all of us, Something is going to happen as we leave, but staying would be worse. Be aware.


    The first part of his statement was worth knowing. The last part was punctuated by another Cabal soldier crashing through the roof, landing in the living room, and partway through the floor. That brought the number of newly arrived and mobile soldiers to four. Knowing what the Cabal was like left me no temptation to stay.


    If anything they¡¯d be worse now.


    They¡¯d been dependent on power juice when we¡¯d last fought them, but even then Ray and Prime managed to run some through the power impregnator. Knowing that the Nine seemed to be their new employers, I decided that I¡¯d be more surprised if the Nine hadn¡¯t completed the job.


    Daniel shot sideways and to the right off of the balcony. Thanks to our connection, I knew that he didn¡¯t even know why he did it¡ªa gut feeling that it was the best way to go. Haley activated the rocket pack on the back of her costume and flew along the wall to the left.


    Yoselin and I followed them out. Guessing that going straight out over the street would only make me a target and that the True might have orders to kill Master Martian if they couldn¡¯t capture him, I turned right, following Daniel.


    Even as I turned, I heard Haley shout, ¡°True,¡± over the comm.


    Showing all of Tara¡¯s talent for predicting her opponent¡¯s moves, the True had moved to stand on the right side of the balcony. All of them now in their combat fatigues, two of them aimed goo guns up at me while the rest pointed automatic rifles.


    I could only guess part of their plan, but I spun to keep Master Martian out of reach of either gun and then at an unvoiced hint from Daniel threw Master Martian in his direction¡ªsomething I wouldn¡¯t ever have chosen to do without our link.


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    Daniel pulled Master Martian along with his mind as he shot down the block, illustrating the bad point of Tara¡¯s ability¡ªit needed data. Daniel¡¯s ability to predict the future might be less exact, but it gave him the perfect moments to act out of character.


    The only bad point? He might have been aiming for the future with our best chance of survival and completing the mission, but it wasn¡¯t a sure thing.


    My situation demonstrated that perfectly. As I threw Master Martian, I got hit by both streams of white goo, my spin wrapping them around me. It was only two strings, so it wasn¡¯t as if I couldn¡¯t move, but it didn¡¯t help.


    How badly it didn¡¯t help become obvious a split second later when one of the Cabal¡¯s soldiers ran out onto the balcony and jumped in my direction. Thanks to the goo, I had no way to fight the guy. Even aiming my arms in his direction wouldn¡¯t work unless I was willing to aim toward the sidewalk and into the screaming pedestrians visiting the shops on the apartments¡¯ first floor.


    Yoselin, who¡¯d followed after Haley had seen everything though. She aimed the bulbous shapes under her arms at the soldier, adding more force to his jump, sending him past me and over the strip mall on the other side of the road where he disappeared.


    Meanwhile, the True on the ground aimed their automatic rifles at Daniel and Master Martian, peppering them with bullets which they had to know Daniel could block¡ªmeaning that they were doing it for another reason.


    That reason became obvious as the next three Cabal soldiers ran out to the balcony, all of them turning in our direction¡ªand that wasn¡¯t all. The first one, a woman, began to glow, white light surrounding her all over, but intensifying into the shape of a sphere in front of her forehead.


    Recognizing what was about to happen, I moved in between her and Daniel as a bright beam erupted in our direction. My suit threw up too many notifications and errors to keep track of, most of them telling me about damage to the suit, ending with:


    [71% of protection remaining]


    Meanwhile, I felt like I¡¯d taken a swim in lava, and the suit¡¯s air conditioning had kicked on. Still, I wasn¡¯t dead. Of course, it was anyone¡¯s guess as to what happened to anyone else in the path of the beam. Next to me, windows in the apartment cracked and shattered along with the green painted bricks.


    A glance at my HUD showed that Daniel had dipped downward in time to keep his passenger from being turned into Kentucky Fried Martian.


    The one bright side? The blast had burned away the goo. Noticing that, I aimed my lasers at the woman, giving her a taste of her own medicine, loosing a series of goobots as a chaser.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 12

    I wasn¡¯t aiming the majority of goobots at her¡ªjust one. I¡¯d aimed the rest at the other Cabal soldiers in the balcony and they worked, kind of.


    As the lasers burned through the woman¡¯s costume and into her body, one hitting her thigh and the other her torso, the goobots exploded into sticky gray stuff, hitting her as well as the two men next to her.


    She collapsed into the balcony, held up by the goobots¡¯ goo, and I stopped burning her with lasers. At the same time, the two Cabal soldiers were trying to avoid the goobots. One of them succeeded, jumping off the balcony in my direction, pulling a few bricks along with his foot¡ªthe one spot that did get hit with goo.


    The other Cabal soldier wasn¡¯t so lucky. He jumped up too but didn¡¯t put enough power behind it. The goo connecting him to the balcony didn¡¯t break when he jumped, allowing him to shoot into the air until he reached the limit of the goo where he stopped in the air, fell, and then swung downward above the sidewalk and then upward and back, never getting close enough to the bottom of the balcony or the sidewalk to grab anything.


    It was perfect. Too bad I hadn¡¯t planned to do that.


    Mind you, even as it happened I didn¡¯t have time to time to congratulate myself. The Cabal soldier that hadn¡¯t managed to hang himself upside down from the balcony was more on my mind. That guy had aimed himself toward Daniel and even though the smart choice would have been to let him pass over me it wasn¡¯t the moral choice or even the smart choice in the long term.


    When you¡¯re the guy in the powered armor, giving overpowered thugs the opportunity to turn you into a paste was in the job description. Of course, making it easy for them wasn¡¯t a requirement at all.


    I flew upward, grabbing the guy¡¯s feet on the way up and then flipping over, swinging him around and letting him go sailing toward the sidewalk, sending goobots after him, so that as he smashed into the sidewalk, throwing bits of concrete into the air, the goobots exploded, holding him to the sidewalk without much room to move his limbs.


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    I had no doubt that he¡¯d get out, but it wouldn¡¯t be easy.


    Giving the rockets more fuel, I aimed myself in Daniel¡¯s direction, connecting to the jet via my comm, ¡°Are you close? Getting out of here sooner rather than later will help keep us from dying.¡±


    Tara¡¯s voice answered, ¡°We can¡¯t get closer or we risk getting hit by more of them. We¡¯re cloaked. Fly north. We¡¯ll send you coordinates.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± I said, following Daniel and Master Martian, and seeing notifications that everyone had received the coordinates. Checking everyone¡¯s position showed that Haley and Yoselin had gone south at first, but looped around to the west and were flying north parallel to us.


    Below us, people who¡¯d run inside the first floor shops to avoid the fight were coming out, some of them with phones in hand and pointing them up at us or typing frantically. Traffic on the lower half of the block had turned into an impenetrable snarl as a white delivery truck had hit a red sedan at some point during the fight.


    It might have been possible to get around that problem if it weren¡¯t for the six-foot-deep, human-sized crater in the road next to the delivery truck. In combination with the backed up traffic and cars parked on both sides of the road, the hole meant that the truck had no room to maneuver and that a tow truck wouldn¡¯t be able to pull the delivery truck out until the traffic on the south side of the block cleared.


    Fighting the part of myself that felt bad about the damage, I reminded myself that we weren¡¯t responsible for the damage. That was the Cabal and the Nine who¡¯d assigned them to attack us if we contacted (and then kidnapped) Master Martian.


    My comm sent a notification to my screen that showed, ¡°Liberator HQ calling.¡± Ignoring the feeling that they ought to be calling Tara, I took the call.


    The rough voice made me guess that the caller was an older male, but I didn¡¯t recognize who it was. I guessed that it had to be someone on the Liberators¡¯ staff.


    ¡°Rocket?¡± The caller never slowed down enough for me to reply. ¡°We¡¯re getting reports of damage and the Cabal from your location.¡±


    ¡°Sounds right,¡± I said, ¡°but we¡¯re changing locations and leaving as soon as we can.¡±


    ¡°Do you need help?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but we¡¯re fighting the Cabal and probably the Nine. If you send anybody that can¡¯t take that kind of punishment, they¡¯re just going to die.¡±


    As if to punctuate my point, a Cabal soldier plummeted from the sky in front of Daniel, smashing in the roof of a parked Volkswagon Beetle.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 13

    Other voices said something impossible to understand in the background of the staffer¡¯s connection and he said, ¡°We¡¯ll see what we can do. It sounds like we might be able to help.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t have time to talk.¡±


    This was true. While Daniel had been able to pass the soldier on the crushed car before the guy could jump up at him and Master Martian, the soldier wasn¡¯t stopping. He leaped in Daniel¡¯s direction even as I gave the rockets more fuel and shot forward, knocking the man back down toward the street and into the back of a parked mini-van.


    The soldier¡¯s momentum pushed him into the right door¡¯s back window through to his waist, warping the door roughly into the shape of a cone.


    Passing over the smashed van, I barely had time to feel any relief before I saw another Cabal soldier land behind me¡ªby mere inches. The guy wasn¡¯t quick enough to grab my legs, but he had the chance.


    Using the helmet¡¯s 360 degree vision, I pointed my arms behind me, targeting him first with a boombot¡ªwhich hit and exploded, knocking him backward¡ªand then with a goobot¡ªwhich coated him in sticky goo.


    He hit the street on his back, sticking to the middle of the road. It wouldn¡¯t get me much time, but it was something.


    Hurrying up to catch Daniel, I had time to wonder how these guys were getting so close. Sure, maybe one of the Cabal had some kind of prescience or maybe even a more focused, targeting only, prescience, but that would be only one person, not the sort of thing that would lead to a constant rain of murderous jerks.


    Checking behind me with my helmet led to another thought. I¡¯d passed over the van where the True monitored Master Martian¡¯s apartment at the beginning of the chase. If anybody here would do an excellent job of predicting where we¡¯d move next, it would be them.


    I wasn¡¯t wrong either.


    Once I started looking, I picked them out. The two women were running after us, one of them down the sidewalk and the other on the street running next to the parked cars. They weren¡¯t capable of matching Jaclyn, but Tara could push herself past normal human limits. There was no reason they couldn¡¯t do the same.


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    I fired off goobots at them, gluing the one in the street to the side of a black Mercedes Benz sedan. The other woman dove forward as the goobot closed in, forcing it to hit the sidewalk.


    Meanwhile, two more Cabal soldiers fell from the sky, followed by a third with a depressingly familiar power¡ªmagnetism¡ªto judge from the metal staff he hung onto as he floated down. Of course, the staff wasn¡¯t the only hint as to his powers. An SUV and a pickup truck floated up from the road to whirl around him.


    Olive skinned with black hair, the man wore a costume with an eagle just like the others, but unlike them, didn¡¯t attack the moment he saw us. Shouting, ¡°Surrender,¡± he raised up the truck and SUV behind him in a move that hinted at what would happen next if we didn¡¯t listen.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t surrender Master Martian, I¡¯ll kill them,¡± he nodded at the SUV which held a man, a woman, and two kids in the back, all of them held in place by their seatbelts.


    Daniel spoke into my head, If you think you can catch the SUV, I think I can put the man to sleep.


    Let¡¯s try it, I thought back, feeling that Daniel had brought Haley and Yoselin in on the link.


    Daniel knew what I¡¯d been working on¡ªgravitics for the Rocket suit. I didn¡¯t yet have them where I wanted with regards to acceleration, but in combination with the rockets, they increased my range and in this situation, they¡¯d allow me to hold more while flying than the rockets ever would.


    Turning around, I hovered above the street, facing the Cabal soldier and knowing that behind me, Daniel was doing the same.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, increasing the volume on the suit¡¯s amplifiers so that everyone could hear me, ¡°relax. I don¡¯t think either of us wants those people to die. As you can see, the Mystic¡¯s stopped flying away too. What do you want Master Martian for?¡±


    Ignoring me, he shouted at Daniel, ¡°Float Master Martian over to me.¡±


    Through my helmet, I could see Daniel hold up his hands and let Master Martian begin to float in his direction.


    The Cabal soldier blinked¡ªseveral times in a row. Shaking his head and then nodding toward Master Martian, he said, ¡°Hurry it up.¡±


    Then the soldier yawned and Daniel thought Now, at me.


    I gave the rockets fuel, aiming myself at the SUV as the truck began to sink. The Cabal soldier¡¯s eyes widened as he watched me fly toward and then under the SUV as it began to drop. Then his eyes shut and the pickup truck dropped into the street, hitting on its side and then rolling into parked cars on the far side of the road.


    The SUV dropped into my hands and I felt myself drop toward the street, stabilizing about three feet lower than I¡¯d started, but holding the SUV in the air. By that time, the soldier lay in the middle of the street sleeping.


    The other two soldiers that had landed at the same time? They weren¡¯t sleeping at all.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 14

    They both jumped at once, both of them aiming in my direction, no doubt guessing that if they could take me out, they could grab Master Martian or Daniel. Also, I was between Daniel and them.


    Only as one hit me did I come up with the obvious, alternate possibility¡ªthat if one of them hit me, the other might be free to go after Daniel when he got past me.


    How I managed to avoid dropping the SUV when the first one hit, I still don¡¯t know. I understand it on the level of technology in that Grandpa had designed the suit to absorb damage and I¡¯d expanded it with tech inspired by the jet¡¯s inertial dampers, but I¡¯m still amazed that I had the presence of mind to hang on as the Cabal soldier hit the suit¡¯s chest, knocking the SUV and me backward.


    If the guy had hit the SUV, it would have been ripped apart, but since he hit the suit, we moved maybe 20 feet and much slower than we could have.


    At the same time,the other Cabal soldier, the one that jumped past me, never reached Daniel. Instead, Yoselin and Haley, who had been flying parallel and a little behind us, turned in our direction, Yoselin redirecting the soldier upward and sideways so that he shot over the rowhouses next to us, flying blocks away from the fight.


    I hoped he wouldn¡¯t kill anyone when he landed, but there was nothing I could do about it. I had my own problems.


    The Cabal soldier who¡¯d slammed into me hung from one arm over my left shoulder and started punching my ribs with the right arm while steadying himself by scissoring his legs around mine. The only bright side was that the Rocket suit wasn¡¯t throwing quite so many error messages as when the woman¡¯s beam attack hit me.


    She¡¯d taken out 30% of my armor¡¯s repair capabilities in one shot. On average, he was destroying roughly 2.5% per punch around the abdomen¡ªso I had 20 more punches to go before he punched through my chest. The bad news was that he punched a lot.


    I started dropping to the street, knowing that I wouldn¡¯t be able to fight back unless I let go of the SUV, preferably without hurting the people inside. He didn¡¯t stop punching. So by the time I hit the sidewalk, I was down to roughly 15 punches before my inevitable death.


    By the time I let the front of the SUV slide forward and hit the street behind me, I was down to 12 punches. Intentionally letting myself fall backward, I let go of the SUV and as it accelerated away, I moved my arms downward, pointing my right arm into his chest and aiming the beam in the direction of his spinal cord. Thanks to the suit¡¯s sonics, I could see it.


    As the beam exited his back, another beam hit his upper back from the side, this one from Haley¡¯s suit. He screamed and I threw him off myself and onto the street, pushing myself upward as Haley asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Mostly,¡± I said, checking out the man on the ground.


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    He tried to move his left arm, but only seemed to be able to move it a few inches and without enough control to do much more than scrape against the pavement. If didn¡¯t know he¡¯d regenerate,I might have felt sick. As it was, I felt half-tempted to shoot him again to increase the time before he could get back in the fight.


    Tara¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°It¡¯s about to get better, but it will look worse. Flying away won¡¯t help. Stay low.¡±


    I was about to ask for more details, but I suddenly understood how it would ¡°look worse.¡± More Cabal soldiers landed in the street, some of them jumping toward us from near Master Martian¡¯s house. I recognized those guys. They were the ones with bloody costumes, newly regrown white flesh showing through the holes, some of them with goo from the goobots still sticking to their costumes.


    Worse, of course, not all of them were coming from Master Martian¡¯s house. Those were landing in the middle of the street, their costumes untouched by blood or goo, all of them with their game faces on and running in our direction.


    The implant counted 22.


    Despite what Tara had said, flying straight up sounded like the best idea, but knowing her, we listened anyway. Haley and I took off, following Yoselin, Daniel, and Master Martian down the street.


    Before the group of us had even gone ten feet, more Cabal soldiers landed ahead of us, smashing through cars, hitting buildings on either side of the street, and some of them passed within a few feet of us, only failing to grab us because we rolled to one side or another.


    My implant counted 14 more, making the total 36. I didn¡¯t like those odds.


    Becoming certain our best chance had to be flying sideways over to the next block, I began to say, ¡°Up,¡± except that Daniel thought, Wait, at me.


    At that moment, two dark blurred forms ran through the street, hitting the Cabal troops ahead of us, throwing them in every direction before they could do anything. They were moving too fast for me to make out any details, but I knew that Jaclyn¡¯s older brothers helped the Liberators sometimes.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, a blue blur appeared in the sky above us and Izzy dropped down in time to slam into two Cabal soldiers who¡¯d been jumping toward Daniel.


    As crazy as that was to see, the big show appeared behind us. A dark cloud had formed above theCabal and True grouping in the street. Though I expected lightning to lash out, that wasn¡¯t what happened next.


    A dark, cloaked figure appeared in the air near the rear of the group. I couldn¡¯t see anything but darkness within the cloak, but I had a bad feeling I knew who it was. I¡¯d last heard from Adam AKA Dark Cloak when he¡¯d written us a letter after loosing a dragon and its vassals on the Stapledon program to distract us from preventing the Coffeeshop Illuminati from overthrowing Turkmenistan¡¯s government.


    It had been part apology and part warning that the government and some supers were controlled by a third force. He¡¯d been in hiding ever since. I didn¡¯t know where, but since he got his powers from the fae somehow, it might have been wherever they lived.


    The figure opened its cloak, revealing inky darkness and not even a glimpse of a human body. Creatures poured out. From what I know, there are two basic sorts of faerie creatures¡ªcreatures of whimsy and unpredictable mischief on the one hand and merciless killers on the other, often both at once.


    No two creatures falling from his cloak looked like another, but between the giant spiders,the toothy grin of a small dragon, the blocky, mismatched features of goblins, fanged beasts out of nightmares, and a small, red-capped gnome with beady eyes, I had a feeling they came from the killer end of the faerie spectrum.


    The last I¡¯d heard, Dark Cloak¡¯s powers involved teleporting from shadow to shadow and invisibility. Adam, if that was Adam, had leveled up.

 Old Friends & Enemies: Part 15

    The creatures from his cloak hit the Cabal soldiers and the True before they could react. The redcap landed on the back of one and chopped off his head with a long knife and held it in the air, blood still spurting from the body as the soldier fell.


    It made a serious argument for the idea that a magic blade would have no trouble with the Cabal.


    A dragon-like creature with a long neck, and flaming, white eyes that reminded me of ping pong balls¡ªif the ping pong had soaked in gasoline and set on fire¡ªdropped on top of two soldiers and bit through the body of a third, swallowing the upper half and leaving the lower half on the street with its intestines spilling out.


    Even though the Cabal soldiers killed a goblin with each punch, the creatures¡¯ weapons bit into their flesh, leaving black marks in and around their cuts that reminded me of pictures of necrotic tissue I¡¯d seen in Stapledon first aid classes. The fact that tissue didn¡¯t normally necrotize that quickly would have given me a reason to avoid goblins in the future if I hadn¡¯t already had enough.


    The True died too. Predicting actions didn¡¯t work as well with magical creatures that could ignore the way reality normally worked. Fairies teleported behind them and cut their tendons. Giant spiders crawled up walls and shot webbing at them, pulling them into the air.


    All of this happened in seconds. And if it hadn¡¯t been bad enough, tentacles reached out from the darkness within the cloak, grabbing two Cabal soldiers and yanking them inside where they disappeared.


    The Cabal knew when to leave. They started shouting in what I guessed might be Latin and began jumping away, disappearing behind the rowhouses on either side of the block. Not as physically tough as the Cabal, almost all of the True died at once.


    I could have tried to chase the Cabal soldiers, but I had no temptation to do so. I did fly upward, hovering above the highest buildings and watching where the soldiers went. I had a feeling we might want to know that later.


    Despite that, I could still see Dark Cloak and the other creatures in my peripheral vision.


    The Jabberwock (I named him for the burbling noise he made) snapped in the direction of the blurs I thought might be Jaclyn¡¯s brothers but didn¡¯t catch either of them. Meanwhile, one by one, the other creatures were pulled back into the cloak. Some of them definitely didn¡¯t want to go. The redcap screamed and shouted in Dark Cloak¡¯s direction before floating upward.


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    The goblins frowned as they went, sheathing their weapons, but seemingly resigned to it.


    The Jabberwock sank its claws into the street, warbling as it twisted its long neck around to look at Dark Cloak. A voice I recognized as Adam¡¯s said a few words, each one quiet, but still loud enough to be heard up and down the block. If he¡¯d been a technological hero, I¡¯d have wanted to look at his sound system.


    As it was, something about the words tempted me to call up the defenses Kee had been teaching me about. I couldn¡¯t say I¡¯d mastered them, but they¡¯d worked for me in the past.


    Still, it wasn¡¯t me that Adam had been aiming his words at. As I watched, the Jabberwock faded, turning wispy and floating into the cloak.


    With the last of his menagerie collected, he turned to the rest of us, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll talk to you later.¡±


    Then he faded away, leaving us with the remains of the battle¡ªa few splattered goblins, a smashed spider, and scattered pieces of Cabal soldiers. Even assisted by my implant, I couldn¡¯t see the head the redcap cut off. I supposed that he might have taken it along with him when he disappeared, but I had no way to know.


    With the live Cabal soldiers gone, I landed as did Daniel, Haley and Yoselin. You could make an argument that we shouldn¡¯t have, that we should have hurried to the jet in case the Nine sent someone else, but Jaclyn¡¯s brothers had stopped running and started waving at us.


    Plus, we couldn¡¯t see a threat anywhere, and when I said, ¡°We¡¯re landing. I think they¡¯re either dead or gone,¡± Tara said, ¡°You¡¯re right. We¡¯ll be right above you in a few seconds.¡±


    Landing, I found Izzy standing next to Daniel. All in blue, she¡¯d turned to look at Master Martian who floated, unmoving, above the street, ¡°Is he okay?¡±


    Daniel nodded, ¡°For now, but I think he might be a little traumatized after all of this.¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s brothers walked up. Their costumes hid their faces, but not their physiques. Almost as muscular as the Cabal, Cedric, Jaclyn¡¯s oldest brother wore a red and black costume. Taller and thinner, reminding me of C, Jaclyn¡¯s grandfather, Damon¡¯s costume was light blue. Neither of their costumes gave any hint of their codenames and I realized I didn¡¯t know them. They hadn¡¯t gone through Stapledon and they¡¯d started their costumed careers after they¡¯d moved to Atlanta. Cedric was a lawyer and Damon taught high school math.


    Cedric looked us over and said, ¡°Who was that guy?¡±


    Haley, who¡¯d landed next to me said, ¡°Dark Cloak. I thought he came with you. The Rocket called the Liberators and they were going to send someone.¡±


    Cedric stared at her, ¡°That was Dark Cloak?¡±


    As Cedric spoke, Damon shook his head, ¡°We help the Liberators sometimes and they did call us, but Dark Cloak doesn¡¯t work with them. After everything we heard about him loosing that dragon on you, we wouldn¡¯t have worked with him. We¡¯d send him to jail.¡±


    I let out a breath, ¡°Then I guess we¡¯re going to have to find out where he fits in.¡±

 Conversations & Interrogations: Part 1

    Damon looked away from us and toward the dismembered bodies of True and Cabal soldiers, ¡°Good luck,¡± he said. ¡°And I mean that. He clearly wants you for something and from what Accelerando tells us, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll want to help him¡ªwhich means that you might be on the receiving end of what we just saw.¡±


    Cedric nodded, ¡°She told us that you¡¯ve got a wizard on the team. You¡¯re going to want her help on this.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± I said, telling the implant to remind me to call Amy when we got back.


    Next to me, Haley said, ¡°Even if the Rocket doesn¡¯t, I will. We don¡¯t want to end up like that.¡±


    Damon grinned, ¡°We know you will. Are you still doing movie nights?¡±


    They¡¯d come for one during the summer before everything started. Damon had just gotten a job teaching, following his older brother to Atlanta.


    ¡°Not as often,¡± Daniel glanced at Master Martian and back to Cedric and Damon. ¡°We¡¯ve been busy, but we still do sometimes. Do the two of you have names yet?¡±


    Cedric shook his head and Damon laughed. Rolling his eyes, Cedric replied, ¡°Officially? No. The original idea was that we¡¯d operate in the shadows and all anyone would know about us was our work.That didn¡¯t stop the press. They¡¯re calling us Red Blur and Blue Blur.¡±


    Damon smiled at Izzy, ¡°Not to cause any confusion with you.¡±


    A smile tugged at the corner of Izzy¡¯s mouth, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I only registered Blue because I¡¯d done so much work under the name that it seemed silly not to.¡±


    Cedric and Damon looked at each other. Cedric frowned, ¡°Damn. Maybe we should register them just in case.¡±


    Even through his blue mask, I could see Damon''s eyes widen, ¡°Then we¡¯d be stuck with them forever. Do you want that?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Cedric said, ¡°but if we don¡¯t choose a name, that¡¯s what everyone will use for us, and if we don¡¯t register it, anyone can take it. If we register it, we¡¯ll at least prevent anyone else from using it and claiming it was them all along.¡±


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    Damon froze, ¡°Point. Hey everybody, we¡¯re going to have to talk about this ourselves somewhere else, but it¡¯s been good to see you even if it means that we¡¯re now going to have to talk about branding and business¡ªthe parts of superheroing that we both hate.¡±


    Shaking his head, Cedric said, ¡°I don¡¯t hate it. I just wanted to avoid it. Blue just reminded me that we can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°If you were in the Heroes¡¯ League,¡± I said, ¡°you could talk about it even more often.¡±


    Cedric smiled, ¡°No thanks. I¡¯m glad you all are bringing the League back, but I like doing my own thing. Don¡¯t get me wrong¡ªif you need help, we¡¯ll be there, but I can do without the kind of scrutiny you get.¡±


    Damon nodded, ¡°That goes for me too. We won¡¯t let Accelerando or any of you die, but we want to stay out of the limelight.¡±


    As he spoke, the hum of the Jet¡¯s anti-gravity units changed from nothing to noticeable and the Jet itself faded into view above us. We said our goodbyes and floated upward as group¡ªone that now included Izzy.


    It didn¡¯t take long to get in our seats, put on our seatbelts, and fly away. We even put Master Martian in a chair, but in his case, we didn¡¯t stop with a seatbelt. We used special hand and leg cuffs that I¡¯d developed. They used a variation of the same goo my goobots used. In this case, it was stronger and lasted longer. With Marcus and Courtney¡¯s help, I¡¯d even designed it to adjust to shapeshifters.


    Master Martian slumped in the chair, sleeping thanks to Daniel, but even when he woke up, he wouldn¡¯t be able to go anywhere.


    Daniel looked around the Jet and said, ¡°I think we need to talk to him in the air. We don¡¯t have a good way to hold him back at the base and we might need to act on whatever he tells us immediately. If we do, I think we¡¯ll need to block telepathy and telekinesis¡ªwhich means I won¡¯t be able to do things either. I¡¯ll still be able to use prescience to help direct the conversation, so I think we¡¯ll be okay.¡±


    From the weapons console in the cockpit, Tara turned around to say, ¡°He¡¯s right. I don¡¯t have enough data to be sure, but I think we¡¯ll have to act quickly.¡±


    I looked over at Master Martian. He¡¯d been operating long enough that we probably knew everything he could do, but if we didn¡¯t this could go horribly wrong. All the same, it would be eight on one. I decided I was willing to take those odds.


    Plus, Master Martian was drooling a little and still had the pee stain on his pants from the fight. Irrational as it might be, I had a hard time believing he¡¯d have allowed himself to end up in that position if he had a secret power.


    Sitting in the row behind us, Vaughn said, ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡±


    Daniel gave a nod, ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll wake him up.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± Cassie said from the front, ¡°I just turned on the telekinesis and teleportation blockers. I¡¯ll turn on telepathy when you say so.¡±


    Looking at Master Martian, Daniel¡¯s brow furrowed, and then Master Martian shuddered and began to open his eyes. Through our connection, I felt Daniel think, Now at Cassie and then I couldn¡¯t feel his thoughts anymore.


    Master Martian¡¯s tendrils rose straight up from his head and he struggled to pull his arms and legs apart, but the cuffs held. His face tightened and he glared at Daniel, asking, ¡°What have you done to me?¡±

 Conversations & Interrogations: Part 2

    Daniel¡¯s smile was visible under the black and silver mask over the top of his face, ¡°Nothing special. You know what you could do if you could use your powers. We used blocking devices that you should already be familiar with¡ªI know I am¡ªthe kind that prevents mental powers from working.¡±


    Master Martian stared in Daniel¡¯s direction, the tendrils on his head following his gaze, ¡°You were in my head.¡±


    Nodding, Daniel said, ¡°For a little while. Only enough to put you to sleep and then wake you up. Your defenses on your memory and way of thinking are well designed. The point where your mind controls your body isn¡¯t as well defended.¡±


    Master Martian¡¯s upper lip quivered, but he didn¡¯t say anything.


    What Daniel said about Master Martian¡¯s mental defenses did bring to mind a question that I had been wondering, ¡°Are you really a martian? Except for your green skin and the antenna on your head, you look human. Seriously, you barely look alien at all. You look like the sort of martian that might be on a TV show with a low special effects budget. If you were truly another species, I¡¯d think that the Mystic wouldn¡¯t have been able to figure out how to put you to sleep.¡±


    He frowned, remaining silent, giving me time to reflect that suggesting he looked like the product of a low-budget TV show might not have been the best way to make friends.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Vaughn got out of his seat and turned around a chair to face Master Martian directly, ¡°I know this has got to feel like a kidnapping and I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t like us at all, but we saved your life.¡±


    Master Martian continued to frown, but he met Vaughn¡¯s eyes, asking, ¡°How do you know that?¡±


    Shrugging, Vaughn said, ¡°It¡¯s just a guess. I¡¯m figuring you didn¡¯t hire those guys, right?¡±


    Master Martian shook his head.


    ¡°Right,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°so they had people out in front of your apartment watching you and they had all those Cabal guys ready to jump in. We¡¯ve barely survived fighting those guys before. Whoever had them ready wanted to kill somebody and it probably wasn¡¯t us. We didn¡¯t know we¡¯d be here until less than half an hour ago. Is there anybody you really pissed off?¡±


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    Remaining silent, Master Martian moved his eyes from side to side, getting, I assumed, a full picture of everyone inside.


    Daniel spoke, ¡°Is it the Nine? We saw people that we know work with them.¡±


    Haley tapped on my armor and whispered a message to me through her communicator, ¡°The Nine scare him.¡±


    Master Martian continued to sit in the chair, hands and feet held next to each other by my cuffs, breathing slowly, but loud enough to hear over the hum of the engines.


    Haley leaned forward in her seat, meeting his eyes, ¡°What about the Nine scares you?¡±


    His first words came out all at once, ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. There¡¯s no reason that they should care what I do.¡±


    Izzy, who¡¯d been sitting behind Daniel, but watching as the rest of us talked, said, ¡°You¡¯re lying. You don¡¯t have to. We¡¯re not going to take you to them.¡±


    Turning around in her chair, Tara turned away from the weapons console, ¡°Unless you¡¯d like us to take you back to your apartment. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s much safer now and no one is looking for you. Cap, why don¡¯t you turn us around?¡±


    Cassie grinned, ¡°Turning around. Washington D.C., here we come.¡±


    Using the jet¡¯s joystick instead of her implant, she pushed it as far to the left as it could go. Outside the jet, the windows on the left no longer showed blue sky. They showed streets and suburban houses, all of them in a blur.


    Even though the jet¡¯s inertial dampers meant that I didn¡¯t feel the change in direction, I could understand how someone might get airsick from the abrupt change of scenery.


    Whether Master Martian was responding to that, the idea that agents of the Nine might still be near his home,or the possibility of being handed over the Liberators, he said, ¡°No! Don¡¯t bring me back there. I¡¯ll tell you what you want.¡±


    I looked over at Haley. She said, ¡°He means it¡ªfor now.¡±


    Master Martian scowled and said, ¡°I do,¡± as Cassie changed the jet¡¯s direction again, aiming us into the sky, almost all of the windows showing blue.


    ¡°So,¡± Daniel said, ¡°What do the Nine have against you?¡±


    Sinking into the chair, Master Martian said, ¡°It¡¯s an odd story and in order to understand it, you¡¯re going to have to understand something else. It happened in the Great Depression. I¡¯m not even sure what year anymore. I was doing what I¡¯ve always done¡ªfinding out secrets for those willing to pay for it. I was in Chicago¡ª¡°


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°you weren¡¯t around in the 1930s, were you? That would have been the first Master Martian and he died in the 80s. You didn¡¯t show up until later.¡±


    Stopping, Master Martian shook his head, ¡°That¡¯s what I need you to understand. That was me. I¡¯m the one and only Master Martian. I budded a clone of myself and as I died, I transferred my consciousness to my new body.¡±

 Conversations & Interrogations: Part 3

    Despite what I¡¯d asked him before, budding off a clone of yourself seemed quite alien and I hadn¡¯t seen it coming. From Tara¡¯s high-pitched, ¡°Oooh, I wondered,¡± I knew that at least one of us hadn¡¯t been completely surprised.


    I looked toward the cockpit where she sat, leaning forward in her chair and smiling at us, ¡°I only guessed after you brought him inside.¡±


    Master Martian raised an eyebrow at her but turned back to look at the rest of us, ¡°As I said, it¡¯s an odd story. I appeared on Earth as part of an accident. I¡¯d retrieved at Abominator device as part of an excavation on behalf of my city-state, but then it activated and I appeared here.¡±


    ¡°Abominator device,¡± I asked. ¡°And what do you mean by ¡®here¡¯? Where did you come from?¡±


    He frowned and his antenna drooped, ¡°I called myself Master Martian for a reason. I come from Mars.¡±


    Stopping and taking a deep breath, he continued, ¡°But not your Mars. Another Mars. I don¡¯t know where it is any more or how to get back. There was an Abominator device attached to a big, black, and silver disc. That¡¯s what sent me here but I haven¡¯t seen another.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. We had one of those¡ªnot the Abominator part, but the silver and black disc? We had one in our base. The League picked it up somewhere and they didn¡¯t have the only one. I knew there were others out there. Grandpa¡¯s documentation had been better on technical than historical details. They probably didn¡¯t know where it came from originally either.


    Master Martian looked around the jet.


    Everyone wore the same frozen, blank expression¡ªme too¡ªexcept mine was hidden beneath my helmet. They knew we had one too.


    Smiling, Daniel said, ¡°You come from Mars in another universe where they also had Abominators. Were you were some sort of archeologist?¡±


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    The alien¡¯s antenna rotated around, pointing at each of us in turn before he responded, ¡°You could call me that, but that¡¯s not quite how we thought of it. I was more of a specialist in finding out information, much like I am now, but that sometimes included finding things¡ªespecially the Abominators¡¯ things. Much like those of you here, we were modified by them too. That¡¯s how we came to live on Mars. We¡¯re descended from humans that they planted there when they terraformed the planet.¡±


    That reminded me again of the Mars Abominator settlement that I¡¯d heard Victor mention to Rook more than a year ago now. This added another level to that and one that wasn¡¯t our first priority to explore.


    ¡°That¡¯s pretty cool,¡± Vaughn grinned at him. ¡°So what happened? You appeared on Earth and thenwhat?¡±


    Master Martian let out a breath, ¡°I got caught¡ªnot right away but later. In the 1930s I was trying to hide in Chicago. It was a big city, lots of people, and if I only went out at night, the green skin wasn¡¯t so visible. Except, I knew someone was following me. I felt minds telepathically, but just on the edge of my range. These guys were good. They knew how to watch me and still keep out of my way.


    ¡°One night I was walking to my hideout (an apartment the owner didn¡¯t even know he was renting), when a bunch of guys found me in an alley. They looked like the guys you fought back there plus a few that didn¡¯t look quite so big. I didn¡¯t have time to do much against them. They dropped from the sky just like they did when you picked me up. Then one of them told me to surrender and I did. I didn¡¯t even think about it. There was something about her voice. I wanted to obey. I don¡¯t know how they found me or why they wanted me, but they kept me for a while. They used me to do some robberies and then one day they left me alone long enough that my head became clear.I teleported out to the street and ran away. After that, I left Chicago and didn¡¯t stay anywhere for more than two nights for a long time.¡±


    Yoselin leaned in as he talked and the second he stopped, she asked, ¡°You said that a woman stopped you with her voice. Do you remember anything about her?¡±


    He started laughing, his arms shaking the goo cuffs on his hands and feet. ¡°Remember her? Of course, I remember her. She¡¯s the one that killed me¡ªthat body at least. She went after me two different times with a bow and arrow before she finally killed me while I was fighting Armory and Bullet. I left my body just as she started the cover-up¡ªwhen she told them to forget who shot me.¡±


    Nodding, Yoselin asked, ¡°Do you remember anything else? Any places you remember? Addresses? Any names?¡±


    Master Martian frowned, ¡°One name. It was an older man and I think he was leading the group., I think his name was Martin Magnus.¡±

 Conversations & Interrogations: Part 4

    Yoselin frowned, likely not even knowing who that was, but I¡¯d told everyone else long ago¡ªexcept maybe Izzy and Tara. At that moment, I couldn¡¯t think if there¡¯d been any reason to bring him up.


    Vaughn, Cassie, Daniel, and Haley all knew the name, however, and Master Martian had their full attention.


    Since I was the only one who¡¯d talked to the man, I jumped in, ¡°Martin Magnus? Do you know much about him?¡±


    Master Martian¡¯s face tightened, ¡°Beyond being kidnapped by him, kept captive in his house, and probably killed at his command? No. I couldn¡¯t sense him, not to any great degree. When I could touch his mind, all I got was pain, static, and a hint of something weird. I don¡¯t know what it was, but it wasn¡¯t right.¡±


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t right, how?¡± Daniel leaned forward in Master Martian¡¯s direction. ¡°Do you mean that he felt insane or that his thoughts don¡¯t feel human?¡±


    With a sigh, Master Martian shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know. It was more than 80 years ago. If I had to guess, I¡¯d lean toward inhuman, but whatever he is, trying to enter his mind makes you feel like yours is being torn apart. From one telepath to another? I don¡¯t think he¡¯s a telepath at all. I didn¡¯t sense any kind of mental defenses, just a howling scream, and infinite static. If he¡¯s got a power, I don¡¯t know what it is, but he¡¯s got something.¡±


    I thought back to the reason we knew about him in the first place, ¡°Why did Martin Magnus want you dead then? I¡¯m assuming that it was him who gave the Amethyst Archer (or whatever her name was) her orders.¡±


    Pursing his lips, Master Martian paused for a few seconds, ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure. I¡¯ve been wondering ever since she started to try to kill me. I knew where he lived in Chicago, but he left there long ago. I don¡¯t know anybody else¡¯s names anymore. The only thing I can think that they might want to hide that still might matter is what I did for them. They had me tracking down and stealing old books and archeological finds¡ªcuneiform tablets, old scrolls, and sometimes Abominator artifacts.¡±


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    ¡°Oh man,¡± Vaughn stared at the alien. ¡°Abominator artifacts? That¡¯s got to be it.¡±


    Master Martian frowned, ¡°Not the ones we stole. He was always disappointed. The books and one of the tablets made him excited. I never saw what was in them, but some of them had Abominator writing.¡±


    Yoselin looked from Vaughn to Master Martian, ¡°Do you know where any of the books or other things you brought back to Magnus are?¡±


    Master Martian shook his head, ¡°We brought them back to Magnus¡¯ house in Chicago. I read that he disappeared about five years ago after a big fight with the Cabal in Chicago. I don¡¯t know what happened to the house.¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± I said, taking a glance around the jet. ¡°After the Cabal attacked Magnus¡¯ branch of the Cabal, Magnus disappeared, but I brought in the FBI and they grabbed pretty much everything in that lab. I don¡¯t know what happened to it after that, but we¡¯ve got a contact in the FBI who might know.¡±


    Vaughn laughed, ¡°Oh, you mean¡ª¡°


    Cassie interrupted him, ¡°Storm King!¡±


    Looking over at her, Vaughn¡¯s jaw dropped and he looked over at Master Martian, ¡°Right. Sorry.¡±


    Master Martian glanced from Vaughn over to me, ¡°The FBI? The Nine probably have them by now.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Maybe. I wasn¡¯t thinking about them too much back then, but I¡¯m hoping our contact managed to keep them safe.¡±


    Tara turned her chair toward Cassie, ¡°I think we should start heading back to Grand Lake now.¡±


    I looked away from Master Martian and asked, ¡°Why?¡±


    Turning her chair toward the weapons console, Tara said, ¡°I don¡¯t know where it is, but there¡¯s some kind of connection between Magnus, Master Martian, and the attack on Master Martian¡¯s apartment. There might be a counterattack at home soon.¡±


    Daniel leaned back in his chair, his eyes staring out into space, ¡°I don¡¯t see that. I don¡¯t see anything that prevents it from being true, but I can¡¯t find anything pointing to it either. I may not be asking the right questions.¡±


    As Cassie turned the jet and accelerated, the humming of the engines rising, Daniel said, ¡°There¡¯s one thing I did notice, though. The Cabal troops weren¡¯t acting of their own free will. I didn¡¯t have time to say it during the fight, but they showed signs of Dominator influence. It wasn¡¯t anything I had time to fix.¡±


    Thinking back to how Magnus had called my personal cell phone when we were fighting the mayor and how I¡¯d expected to find that something terrible had happened to my parents after one of his calls, I looked over at Tara, ¡°You¡¯re saying that Magnus and the Nine are connected, right? And maybe the Dominators too?¡±


    Giving me a look, she frowned, ¡°I think it¡¯s possible, but I don¡¯t know how.¡±

 Conversations & Interrogations: Part 5

    I thought about her answer, ¡°If he¡¯s one of the nine people that run the Nine, it might fit. I suppose if he¡¯s one of the Dominators, the connection could be there. For all we know, they might run the Nine even though it¡¯s supposed to be the other way around. Thing is¡­ I don¡¯t think he can control anybody. He called me a bunch of times and I didn¡¯t suddenly think he was a great guy. If anything, he creeped me out.¡±


    Daniel frowned and looked over at me, ¡°I just had an idea. I¡¯m going to see what I get if I try to imagine us doing a search for Magnus and see what I get out of sensing the future.¡±


    Then he shut his eyes and leaned back into his chair. It seemed a little strange not to be able to feel anything at all when he tried that, but that was the whole point of telepathy blockers.


    After a few moments in which he seemed to do nothing, but breathe slowly, he opened his eyes and slowly shook his head, ¡°This isn¡¯t good. I can¡¯t sense him. It might not mean anything because I¡¯m not great with projecting the long term. I generally need a more specific plan, but I still think something is off here. I can generally sense someone¡¯s presence in the future and with Magnus, I don¡¯t get anything. It¡¯s as if he doesn¡¯t exist.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t exist?¡± I considered it for a moment. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s as if there¡¯s nothing there or if there¡¯s a kind of hole?¡±


    Closing his eyes again, Daniel took two slow breaths and said, ¡°A hole. I can¡¯t feel him in the future, but I feel like we can head in his direction if that makes any sense at all. I can only think I must be sensing the side effects of his existence even though I can¡¯t intentionally find them or him.¡±


    In the seat next to me, Haley asked, ¡°Are there other people that you can¡¯t sense like that?¡±


    Daniel nodded, ¡°Mostly psychics that know how to hide from prescience, but also Gunther and sometimes the Rocket.¡±


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    At my look, he added, ¡°Lately you¡¯ve been blinking in and out¡ªyou can guess when.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t too hard. I¡¯d been practicing pulling energy out of nowhere and putting it into the skills that Kee had been teaching me¡ªsensing Artificers, resisting phasing attacks, and communicating with her and eventually other Artificers. If practicing shielded me from prescience, Magnus might be far worse than I¡¯d thought.


    I¡¯d been assuming that Magnus was simply a Cabal immortal. If I remembered correctly, Lee had said he¡¯d met him during the Roman Empire. That opened up another possibility. Kee had told me that I¡¯d need one thousand years to develop my abilities to a basic level. If Magnus had inherited Artificer DNA, he¡¯d had at least two thousand years.


    Of course, given that Lee could also evade prescience in the same way, it might well mean that Magnus was also an avatar of an Artificer. If so, who? It might be Nataw, the Artificer who the Abominators used to generate DNA for their projects. That didn¡¯t seem likely to me since I would have expected Lee to recognize him, but it might be some other Artificer that Lee wasn¡¯t as familiar with.


    Either way, it gave a huge clue as to why Magnus kidnapped my parents.


    In my HUD, a message from Haley appeared, ¡°Practicing what you¡¯re learning from Kee?¡±


    She¡¯d texted me while I¡¯d been thinking. I typed back, ¡°Yes.¡±


    That underscored another issue. What were we supposed to do with Master Martian? Right now we weren¡¯t able to talk about what to do next because of what we might reveal while he was in the jet. I didn¡¯t want to let him go because he might still know more that none of us knew was important enough to ask about yet. I didn¡¯t want to keep him because we couldn¡¯t talk without telling him things we¡¯d regret.


    I used my implant to ask Hal to check on Master Martian¡¯s legal status.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, looking over at Master Martian, ¡°we need to do something with you. I¡¯m sure somebody wants to put you in jail, but no one seems to have a warrant for your arrest right now. I want to let you go except that I¡¯m a little worried that the Nine will be looking for you after what just happened.¡±


    Master Martian eyed me and then everyone else, ¡°I¡¯m willing to take my chances. I think I¡¯ll be safe as long as I¡¯m not with you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got an alternate suggestion,¡± I said. ¡°You know the silver and black disc that sent you here? We¡¯ve got one ourselves and we know how to send you back. It¡¯s in our base, so I¡¯m not wild about the idea of bringing you inside, but if you¡¯d let the Mystic put you to sleep, we can bring youinside.¡±

 Transitions: Part 1

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


    Plus, if he calculated the odds, it was obvious that we could do anything we wanted to him whether he said yes or no. So it wasn¡¯t as if we had to lie about having a way home to get him to do something.


    We got home around twenty minutes later. Daniel floated Master Martian out of the jet, through the hangar, and out into the main room of the base.


    Kayla sat at the big table in the middle of the room. She looked up from her laptop as we walked through the wide metal doors, aiming for the black and silver disc near the massive screen at the front of the room.


    Jaclyn¡¯s dog, Tiger, an orange and black striped dog the size of a large horse, gave a loud woof and bounded toward us, stopping only when he reached Master Martian. For a moment, I thought he might grab Master Martian and use him as a chew toy, but he only sniffed the man, spending an unnecessarily long time investigating Master Martian¡¯s crotch.


    Izzy reached out and scratched behind his ears, her hand disappearing into his curly fur. The dog licked her face, leaving dog saliva on her face and mask. He had a large tongue.


    Wiping the stuff off with her hand, she said, ¡°I like you too, but yuck.¡±


    Kayla, meanwhile, had gotten up from the table and walked toward us with a box of tissues in her hand. She held them out to Izzy as the dog left her to sniff Yoselin who said something to him in Spanish.


    As Izzy took the box, Kayla said, ¡°I keep them around for a reason.¡±


    Then she pointed at Master Martian, turning to Daniel to ask, ¡°What¡¯s he doing here?¡±


    Vaughn answered before Daniel, ¡°He¡¯s going home¡ªwherever that is. Some kind of Mars in a universe that isn¡¯t much like ours.¡±


    Kayla frowned, ¡°Not the dinosaur universe, I hope.¡±


    Daniel shook his head, ¡°No. Somewhere else.¡±


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    As we walked up to the disc, he added, ¡°I hope we don¡¯t have any other questions for him because once we send him away it¡¯s going to be a lot harder to ask him.¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I don¡¯t. Anybody else?¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t,¡± Cassie said, ¡°I don¡¯t think anybody does.¡±


    She walked up to the side of the disc, stopping about a foot away. She knew just like the rest of us that it could send you to another universe without much warning once activated. Worse, it might only send part of you.


    ¡°Mystic,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯ll need him on the disc to figure out where we¡¯re supposed to send him. Probably you ought to wake him up while we do it. It¡¯d probably be bad to send him home asleep.¡±


    Daniel grinned, ¡°I was planning on it.¡±


    Stopping next to me, Kayla asked, ¡°Do you want me to run it?¡±


    I shook my head, or in her view, my helmet, ¡°I¡¯ve got it.¡±


    I¡¯d used my grandfather¡¯s notes on the disc to connect it to our network, allowing any of us to run a universe-to-universe transition from one of the computers. When I¡¯d returned home from space, I discovered that it simply worked with my implant, associated with a rich vein of history that I hadn¡¯t had time to investigate.


    I connected to the disc, allowing it to draw energy from the base¡¯s fusion plant. As Daniel let Master Martian drift to lay on the silver and black rings, I activated the disc¡¯s dimensional analysis feature, allowing it to sense the frequency of the universe that Master Martian originated from.


    There wasn¡¯t much of it. What the disc sensed was our universe. It made sense. If Master Martian had budded a piece of himself off and grown a new body, it would have been grown using local materials. Was there enough left of the original to keep a connection to his own universe?


    On the disc, Master Martian pushed himself up to a sitting position, ¡°Is something wrong?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± I scanned through the disc¡¯s various readings, hoping that I¡¯d find one that would help. Inside my head, the implant showed me a visualization of parallel universes, a cone where the wide end spread to infinity.


    I increased the sensitivity on the disc¡¯s sensors and got a small flicker. Adjusting it more gave me a solid signal. ¡°I¡¯ve got it. I don¡¯t know where it will send you, but it will be someplace familiar¡ªpossibly where you disappeared, but maybe your home. If we had the location in the disc¡¯s database, I could tell you what it looked like.¡±


    Master Martian stood up, ¡°Send me. I don¡¯t care where it is.¡±


    I looked over at the group. No one shouted out questions. I activated the disc and with a flash of rainbow colors, Master Martian faded away, his head turning to look into the distance of wherever he was. As he began to speak, his body sparkled and disappeared.


    I deactivated the disc. We didn¡¯t need any accidents.


    Across from me, Vaughn slapped his forehead, ¡°Oh man, I just thought of a really important question¡­ Kidding.¡±


    Cassie punched his arm.


    Above us on the wall, the League¡¯s massive screen lit up, showing the block where we¡¯d fought the Cabal with its smashed cars, damaged buildings, and the grisly remains of some of the Cabal¡¯s soldiers.


    Kayla¡¯s voice carried over the reporter¡¯s description of the scene, ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was that bad!¡±

 Transitions: Part 2

    ¡°God, yes,¡± Cassie stared up at the screen. ¡°It was every bit that bad and they didn¡¯t do the worst of it. That was Adam¡ªremember Dark Cloak? He made some kind of deal with the fey that turned lets him call on weird shit out of faerie for help. Plus, you know what? They deserved it. They weren¡¯t holding back. They were going for the kill.¡±


    ¡°Except,¡± Daniel caught her eye, ¡±they were under someone else¡¯s control when they did it. They might have done the same thing on their own, but they didn¡¯t have a choice.¡±


    Nodding, Cassie said, ¡°I get it, but they were trying to kill us the last time we fought them too. I can¡¯t say that I¡¯ve got a lot of sympathy for them.¡±


    Kayla pointed up at the screen, ¡°I probably wouldn¡¯t mention that if the press asks you for a comment if I were you. Look at that.¡±


    On the screen, a reporter was interviewing Senator Mitchell Abrams, a tall, blond man wearing a blue suit, white shirt, and red tie. I hadn¡¯t seen the man since he¡¯d watched our demo at Stapledon a few years ago. He¡¯d never liked supers and it didn¡¯t sound as though that had changed.


    ¡°This is the problem I¡¯ve always had with them,¡± he said, raising his hand to point at the reporter. ¡°There¡¯s no control over them. I¡¯d been told that the Stapledon program would give us the means to control them, but I don¡¯t see it so far. I¡¯m going to propose cutting federal funding for the program immediately. All of the people involved in this fight were graduates of the program who are even now on call to the government. And what did that get us? Nothing but damage to the property of innocent American taxpaying citizens. How long will it be before the damage is repaired? No one knows. And what about the insurance companies? Will they pay? Businesses and homes have been destroyed and for what? We don¡¯t even know where they are. The government should end all association with the Heroes¡¯ League immediately and we should give due consideration to doing the same with the Liberators since they assisted them.¡±


    The reporter, a woman with brown short hair and a green suit asked, ¡°But wasn¡¯t that the Cabal? The Heroes¡¯ League practically destroyed them a few years ago. Wouldn¡¯t the Cabal go after them any chance they got? And weren¡¯t the Cabal¡¯s people the primary cause of the damage?¡±


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    Senator Abrams sneered at her, ¡°It¡¯s people like you in the press that promotes these vigilantes as if they can do no wrong. It¡¯s as if you¡¯ve never heard of Red Lightning and all the other heroes that flipped sides¡ª¡°


    Kayla cut the sound, ¡°Do any of you want to listen to him?¡±


    Vaughn shook his head, ¡°I can¡¯t believe what an idiot that man is. We didn¡¯t make that happen.¡±


    Turning her eyes from the screen, Tara walked over to one of the computers that sat at desks between the table and the screen. As she logged in, she turned toward us, ¡°I think I was right about the counterattack, but I was wrong to think it might happen here. It might be him.¡±


    Haley looked up at the screen where Senator Abrams was still haranguing the reporter, ¡°Are you saying Senator Abrams is part of the Nine?¡±


    Looking up at the screen, Tara frowned, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I don¡¯t think so. I think the Nine might have¡­ collected him. He shows up on the news when the Nine¡¯s done something. He criticized how you flew into Canadian airspace and other times when heroes fought the Nine. Even though he never attacked the Heroes¡¯ League directly, he had to know.¡±


    Tara paused, adding, ¡°If you¡¯re going to ask Agent Lim for access to the books that you found in Martin Magnus¡¯ house, you might want to do it before the senator does whatever he¡¯s going to do.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know how easy it would be for Senator Abrams to get any legislation through both the House and Senate, but senators did have enough informal power to make working with the FBI difficult. She might be right. I contacted my comm with my implant and sent a message to Lim, asking if we could talk soon.


    It didn¡¯t take more than a minute for him to call back. I took the call, listening to it in my helmet instead of connecting it to the room¡¯s system for everyone to hear.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± he said when I picked up. ¡°If you¡¯re calling because of what Senator Abrams is saying, he can¡¯t do any of that for months¡ªif he can do it at all. He¡¯s constantly complaining about superheroes and the Heroes¡¯ League is more popular than he is.¡±


    I didn¡¯t sigh with relief, but I could have. ¡°Great. I was a little worried that you might have gotten some direction from on high to not help us until this was sorted out. Do you know where Martin Magnus¡¯ stuff is? The stuff you grabbed from his house in Chicago?¡±


    For a moment, he didn¡¯t say anything and I wondered if he¡¯d put me on hold. Then he said, ¡°Oh. I¡¯m going to have to check on that.¡±

 Transitions: Part 3

    I wasn¡¯t sure I liked how he phrased his last sentence, ¡°Uh¡­ Check on it? Did you lose it or something?¡±


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


    ¡°I know. My grandfather told me about that. Plus, it was covered at Stapledon. So, where is it? Can we visit or is it so top secret that nobody can know the location of the vault?¡±


    Lim laughed, ¡°Sorry. I have to explain it to newbie heroes all the time. Anyway, we can bring you in. There¡¯s an area for visitors¡ªsometimes superheroes, but more often researchers. You wouldn¡¯t believe the number of patents that come out of that place. Well, maybe you would.¡±


    I should probably have been keeping my mind on the possible visit, but something struck me in what Lim had said, ¡°Wait¡­ So the inventor doesn¡¯t get the patent?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Lim said, ¡°supervillains mostly don¡¯t bother to patent their inventions. Plus, congress passed a law a few years back that prevents someone who uses their invention in a crime from patenting it afterward. The way I understand it, it¡¯s supposed to encourage innovation¡ªmostly by encouraging people to steal criminals¡¯ ideas. It might stop a few wannabe mad scientists, but my experience is that by the time someone decides to invent a freeze ray and terrorize the city, there¡¯s more going on than money can solve.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I still had more questions, but I decided to stay on target. ¡°Can you arrange a visit? We¡¯d like to take a look at Martin Magnus¡¯ stuff, and the sooner the better.¡±


    ¡°Can do. I¡¯ll call you back when I¡¯ve got a time.¡± Lim told me goodbye and hung up.


    I looked around at the group, ¡°Lim¡¯s going to try to get us into some kind of place where they store supervillains¡¯ stuff.¡±


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    Vaughn grinned, ¡°We¡¯re going to be able to just roam the aisles?¡±


    Rolling her eyes, Cassie said, ¡°You make it sound like Walmart. Dad told me about that place once, I think. He said it was a big warehouse. They wouldn¡¯t let him in. He thought it was funny.¡±


    ¡°He did have a reputation for breaking everything my grandpa made for him.¡± I shrugged, though I¡¯m not sure if anyone could tell through my armor.


    The conversation might have gone on longer except that my comm started beeping. It wasn¡¯t just my comm either. Everybody except for Yoselin looked down at the comm on their left forearm. I might have trusted her with one of the League¡¯s new costumes, but I hadn¡¯t trusted her with high-level access to HQ¡¯s communications.


    That¡¯s what was causing the beeping. Superhero teams and regular people from across the country were leaving messages in our phone system and social media. Most of them were supportive, both on the part of the superhero teams and the general public. There was a minority that seemed to be as angry as Senator Abrams.


    Kayla¡¯s laptop beeped along with our comms. ¡°Crap,¡± she kept on scrolling down the screen. ¡°Reporters are calling too. Do any of you want to talk to them?¡±


    We all looked at each other, most of us saying, ¡°No,¡± at the same time that Vaughn said, ¡°Maybe.¡±


    Cassie shook her head, ¡°That¡¯s not a good idea. No comment is the best comment, remember?¡±


    Chicago Hawk, one of our Stapledon instructors had taken a class period to talk about handling the media, mostly by avoiding them. I couldn¡¯t argue with that idea right now. I didn¡¯t have a good idea of what to say and I didn¡¯t feel like stumbling around to find it would help us much.


    ¡°Hey,¡± even without using telepathy, Daniel had our attention, ¡°The board can draft a statement. We should concentrate on tracking down Martin Magnus and figuring out what he wants.¡±


    Next to me, Haley frowned, ¡°Do you think this got his attention? We know that the Nine were watching him and we can guess that they might be watching him because of Magnus.¡±


    Glancing over at Tara, she asked, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    Tara shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t have enough information, but if I assume that Magnus is one of the Nine, it¡¯s certain that he¡¯ll know.¡±


    Next to Daniel, Izzy pushed her long, black hair out of her eyes, ¡°Are you confident that Magnus is one of the Nine?¡±


    Tara shook her head.


    A notification came through my implant. This one was from Hal.


    [You asked me to locate your cousin Anastasia¡¯s workplace. It¡¯s a well-funded startup called Eden Tech. It¡¯s south of Chicago.]


    Eden Tech? I didn¡¯t know why that sounded ominous, but it did.

 Transitions: Part 4

    ¡°Hey, everybody,¡± I raised my hand to get their attention, ¡°Hal just told me where my cousin Anastasia works. I think I told you all about her¡ªwell, except for Izzy. Ana¡¯s the cousin who told my Uncle Steve about a contract to work with Armory, the guy who Cassie, Daniel, Yoselin, and I gave to the Feds. So, she¡¯s got some kind of connection to all of this and it¡¯s probably through work. She¡¯s also an engineer. Oh, and it sounds like wherever she¡¯s working is trying to duplicate the self-repairing feature of my armor. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s up with that.¡±


    Vaughn raised his eyebrow, ¡°I don¡¯t think you mentioned the bit with how they¡¯re trying to duplicate your tech, but what do you want to do about it? Break in or, I don¡¯t know, make an unexpected visit as yourself?¡±


    Giving a sigh, I shook my head, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Given what just happened, it seems like going in costume is just going to give Senator Abrams more ammunition. If the Nine control Eden Tech¡¯s leadership like they did Armory, I think there¡¯s a pretty good chance that everything explodes¡ªnot literally. Well, maybe literally, but most likely figuratively. For all we know, they¡¯ve got the Cabal there too.¡±


    Daniel grinned at me, ¡°I have an idea. Let¡¯s do an invisible flyby. Use the jet¡¯s sensors on the building and if that¡¯s not enough, maybe Izzy listens in and I read minds. If we need more, you send in the bots.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m still resting my abilities,¡± Tara said, ¡°but I think that¡¯s a good idea.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m just feeling like I should have thought of it.¡±


    Next to me, Haley bit her lip, ¡°Do we all need to go? I¡¯ll go if you need me, but I¡¯ve got class in less than an hour and I¡¯ll still need to shower and grab my books before I go. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to go, but you know.¡±


    I opened my helmet, letting my suit absorb it. ¡°We¡¯re going to do reconnaissance. We don¡¯t need everybody. We need Izzy, Daniel, and maybe me. A couple of people more might be necessary if things go wrong, but we¡¯ve got the jet. Plus, we might need to have people here at the base. I still think that if there¡¯s going to be a counterattack from the Cabal or the Nine, it¡¯ll come here.¡±


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    Nodding, Daniel said, ¡°I don¡¯t have a clear picture of what happens next, but there¡¯s danger whatever we do. It¡¯s hard to say whether leaving people here puts the people going in more danger, but it¡¯s definitely true that leaving people here lowers danger for the city.¡±


    Giving a look around the group, Tara said, ¡°I¡¯ll stay here. With Kayla, Vaughn, Haley, and anyone we can call up, I think we¡¯ll be able to handle things for a little while.¡±


    Stopping only long enough to grab a snack from the base¡¯s refrigerator and for me to kiss Haley goodbye, Cassie, Daniel, Izzy, Yoselin, and I got back in the jet. I stepped toward the pilot¡¯s seat, looking over at Cassie as she followed me in.


    ¡°It¡¯s all yours,¡± she told me. ¡°I¡¯m taking the weapons console.¡±


    Thirty minutes after we made the decision, we found ourselves south of Chicago¡ªwhich should not at all be confused with the South Side of Chicago. They are very different. The South Side of Chicago feels like a city¡ªSoldier Field, trains, old houses, gentrification, public housing, and the skyline of downtown Chicago above you in the distance. When you¡¯re south of Chicago, at least if you go far enough, you discover that the state of Illinois is more than just Chicago and the suburbs of Chicago.


    It¡¯s prairie, but not unused prairie. Acres and acres of corn and other crops that I couldn¡¯t recognize off the top of my head covered the land ahead of us, all except for the campus of buildings that we¡¯d come to visit.


    Eden Tech¡¯s campus lay below us. Surrounded by cornfields on three out of four sides, it amounted to two buildings, a massive parking lot, and green grass that wouldn¡¯t have been out of place on a golf course.


    Of the two buildings, one stood four stories high and covered on all sides with mirrored glass. From the signs in front of it, I guessed it had to be the office building. It wasn¡¯t just the signs that clued me in, however. The other building was a long rectangle with smooth, white walls and a series of five tall doors large enough that a semi could park inside each one. This was obviously a warehouse even if the white walls and minimalist architecture made me think of how old movies¡¯ depicted the future.


    We hung invisibly in the air on the other side of the highway in front of the campus.


    ¡°Eden Tech,¡± I said, adjusting the jet¡¯s sensors. ¡°I don¡¯t see any sign of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In fact, I don¡¯t see very many trees at all.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Daniel said, ¡°since this isn¡¯t Eden any way except maybe metaphorically, the tree might have to be metaphorical too.¡±


    Finishing my adjustments, I aimed the sensors at the buildings, silently asking Hal to tell me if he recognized anything. Hal responded even before I began to analyze the image.


    [Abominator energy generator identified]

 Transitions: Part 5

    Through my implant, Hal showed me the two buildings on Eden Tech campus only with a kind of mist that seemed to be centered around the lower level of the corporate building.


    Cassie¡¯s gun absorbed ambient energy to work, mostly electromagnetic and gravitational from what I could tell. What this absorbed, I wasn¡¯t sure yet. It might be the same but on a bigger scale. It might be something that I couldn¡¯t imagine until I studied it.


    Daniel thought at me, That¡¯s interesting. Abominator tech. No wonder they¡¯ve set up telepathy blockers.


    I thought back, Seriously? Crap.


    Then I told Hal to share it with everyone. He did. It appeared on one of the screens on the jet¡¯s dashboard for Izzy and Daniel. Yoselin and Cassie got it the same way I did.


    Cassie looked over at me from her position on my right, ¡°If we weren¡¯t thinking it was the Nine before, we¡¯d have to now. They¡¯re always going after anything of the Abominators they can find. I wonder where they got this.¡±


    From behind Cassie, Yoselin said, ¡°I think I know. I didn¡¯t tell you, but this is one of the things I was hoping to find out. My father found out through Abominator technology that he¡¯s acquired that someone visited an Abominator base on Mars and removed the generator.¡±


    I turned around, looking toward her, ¡°Was this tech from the moon?¡±


    She smiled, ¡°You heard that story too.¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Not very much. Just enough to know that there was a story.¡±


    Eyeing both of us, Cassie said, ¡°I haven¡¯t heard any of it.¡±


    Frowning, Yoselin said, ¡°It¡¯s too long to tell right now, but in the end my father and his friend retrieved Abominator technology and brought it home. That¡¯s why we have it.¡±


    ¡°From what I understand,¡± I said, ¡°it was pretty crazy. Both the Soviet Union and the US had people on the moon to investigate the base and midway through exploring it my grandpa, Larry, her father, and Russian Victory realized that they couldn¡¯t hand over Abominator tech to either country. Plus, the last Abominators were there. Plus, there were Xiniti and they thought all humans were Abominator servants. So, they had to persuade the Xiniti not to kill them, fight Abominators, and keep both the US¡¯ and the USSR¡¯s forces away from the tech.¡±


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    ¡°As I said,¡± Yoselin shook her head, ¡°it¡¯s a very long story.¡±


    Next to Yoselin, Izzy took off her seatbelt and stepped forward to stand between Cassie and me, staring out the window toward Eden Tech¡¯s buildings, ¡°We need to know more. Do you think you can send in your bots?¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°Kinda. I¡¯m sure I can send them in, but if it¡¯s the Nine¡¯s operation, well, Rook knows my bots. He managed to detect and destroy them back in our first year of Stapledon. And we know that Rook¡¯s one of the Nine, so I¡¯m betting that tech is everywhere. Now, I¡¯ve changed a bunch of things about the bots since then, but I get the impression that he follows my tech obsessively. I should have thought of that before we got here.¡±


    Izzy shook her head, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I can listen in from here, but I need to be outside the jet to do it. How confident are you that I won¡¯t be seen if I use my suit¡¯s camouflage?¡±


    I threw up my hands, ¡°I¡¯m pretty confident that they won¡¯t see you, but, I¡¯m not so sure about smelling, hearing, infrared, telepathy, or whatever¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take that chance.¡± She stepped out of the front and walked to the door.


    Daniel frowned, but she turned toward him, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    Then she tapped the palm of her glove and she was invisible or as close to it as I could manage. I opened the door with a command to my implant and she flew out. The door shut behind her.


    Through her comm, she said, ¡°I¡¯m going to circle around and listen to what I can and see if I can¡¯t get a picture of what¡¯s inside.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± Cassie spoke before I could, leaning forward in her seat and looking outside. ¡°I hope they can¡¯t see her, but if they can, we¡¯re in for a show.¡±


    Leaning forward in his seat, Daniel said, ¡°I can do without a show.¡±


    Cassie turned around to look at him, ¡°I¡¯d bet she can level both buildings before they even hurt her. I¡¯m not worried.¡±


    Giving no other reply than a small sigh, Daniel stared at Eden Tech¡¯s offices.


    Izzy¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°There are row after row of mechs in the far half of the warehouse. There¡¯s a wall between the two, but I can¡¯t see how anyone who works here could fail to know they¡¯re here.¡±


    I thought back to Len Jones¡¯ lab back on Renewal Island. One of the True and a clone of Cassie¡¯s father had visited and in talking to them Len had said something about the ¡°next¡± shipment. That implied that there had been past shipments. If there were row after row of them, some, hopefully, all of them, had been shipped here.


    I hoped she was wrong about it being impossible for employees to miss them. If she wasn¡¯t Ana might be working for the Nine knowingly.


    ¡°That¡¯s not all,¡± Izzy said. ¡°People are living on the floor above the mechs. I can¡¯t see them in much detail through the wall, but I think some of them are the True.¡±

 Transitions: Part 6

    Cassie tapped her comm, ¡°Can you see if they¡¯re Tara¡¯s clone or do they look like me?¡±


    Talking over the wind blowing in the background, Izzy said, ¡°No. I¡¯m only guessing it¡¯s the True because of their height. That¡¯s about all I can get.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± Cassie stared out the window toward the campus and shook her head. ¡°They¡¯ve got enough copies of Dad, male and female. It¡¯s messed up.¡±


    No one was saying it, but I couldn¡¯t help thinking about what this meant. The Nine had a warehouse full of True and mechs. Was this the only one, or were there more? If there were more (and I¡¯d bet there were), how many were there and where were they located? This one was close enough to Chicago that they could reach it without notifying anyone if they handled it right¡ªby brainwashing local law enforcement, for example.


    It also meant that Anastasia might be working for the Nine or worse, might have been modified until she became one of the Nine¡¯s unwilling assets.


    Daniel¡¯s thought appeared among my own, I know it¡¯s bad and I know you¡¯re worried, but now that we know, we can do something.


    He wasn¡¯t wrong. I was worried. In a way, though, I wished I felt more. I didn¡¯t know the kids on that side of the family very well, but of them, I knew her best. While I felt something, on a gut level I found myself thinking about the timing of when we¡¯d grab her, where we¡¯d do it, and if we¡¯d need to take this place apart either before or after we got her away from this mess.


    I felt like the sooner we did it, the better. Before this fight though, we¡¯d have to notify Lim and the Midwest Defenders. That ran a risk of notifying the Nine, but after what happened in DC, we¡¯d be better off if people with connections were prepared to smooth it over.


    Over the comm, Izzy said, ¡°I¡¯m circling around the back now. From what I¡¯m sensing, both the warehouse and the office buildings have thicker walls than most buildings. There are a lot of small hidden rooms in the office building. They¡¯re larger than closets, but whatever¡¯s inside fills the space.¡±


    In a few seconds, she added, ¡°I¡¯m coming around the side now and heading toward the jet unless you want to go in to rescue your cousin now.¡±


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    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°come back to the jet. I¡¯m thinking that if we go in we¡¯re going to want to go in with overwhelming force and we need to have some cooperation from the Midwest Defenders. Plus, the government too.¡±


    ¡°Good idea,¡± she said and then I heard a knock at the door of the jet. I reached out through my implant to open the door and she stepped in, the blue of her costume becoming visible as the camouflage ended.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I turned around and looked around the cabin, taking in Cassie, Daniel, Izzy, and Yoselin. ¡°What do you think we should do? We came in on an intelligence mission and we¡¯ve successfully completed that part, but now that we know it¡¯s the Nine and that the True are here, I don¡¯t feel comfortable leaving my cousin there. I mean, I could make a good argument for watching this place and leaving everything alone. We might learn something if we watch who comes in and who leaves, and who knows? Maybe they don¡¯t have a way to detect my bots.¡±


    I stopped and let out a breath, ¡°Here¡¯s the thing though. My gut says that we¡¯ll learn more, more quickly, if we just go in. Also, I think we already kicked off a response from the Nine with DC. So, I don¡¯t think we have time for long-term surveillance.¡±


    Next to me, Cassie grinned, ¡°I¡¯m all for it, but if you want my gut reaction? They¡¯ve planned to be attacked. They¡¯ve got True and mechs in the warehouse, mystery rooms in the office building, and Abominator tech powering everything. I¡¯m betting they¡¯ve got one of the Nine¡¯s teleportation machines somewhere. We¡¯ve seen a couple of those now. They¡¯ll be able to retreat or pull in more troops or a nuke¡­ You know Rook likes them. If we¡¯re going in, we¡¯ve got to pull in anyone in the League who can get here plus whoever else is interested. That¡¯s basically only going to be Jaclyn unless we want to fly back to pick people up, but the Midwest Defenders are no joke.¡±


    Sitting up in her chair, she looked over the room and finally over to me, ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong. A fight sounds fun and the gun¡¯s practically peeing itself in excitement, but I want to win. We¡¯re going to need a lot of help to make that work.¡±


    Daniel and Izzy turned to look at each other and back to the rest of us. Izzy spoke first, ¡°I think we should go in. Getting help is important, but even if no one comes, I think we can do it. We just need to have the right plan.¡±


    In her own chair, Yoselin swallowed and then said, ¡°I almost don¡¯t feel like this is my decision because I¡¯m not truly one of you, but there is something I should say. My father contacted me. He thinks I should go home to Cuba. He¡¯s found out about our fight in DC and the Senator¡¯s comments. He doesn¡¯t want to risk people finding out that I¡¯m here and that I¡¯m his daughter.¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°I think we should go in. I came here to fight the Nine and this will hurt them.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s voice filled the silence before anyone could respond to Yoselin, ¡°We¡¯re all in agreement that there are good reasons to go in. I think it''s time to make a plan and then some calls.¡±

 Transitions: Part 7

    ¡°I¡¯m most worried about the mechs,¡± I said. ¡°If we can do it without killing anyone on the floor, I¡¯d like to start this thing by aiming the main gun at the lower level of the warehouse. Plus, as much as I¡¯d like to investigate the Abominator generator, destroying it might be the better choice. If you think about it, if they¡¯ve got one Abominator artifact, they might have more.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, Daniel said, ¡°I didn¡¯t even think about that, but you¡¯re right. If they managed to find something like that and get it working, they¡¯ve probably got more working.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Cassie nodded, ¡°exactly that. The lab I grabbed the gun from didn¡¯t just have the gun.¡±


    Izzy shook her head, ¡°If I were outside, I could show you where the people are. We¡¯ve done it before.¡±


    I knew what she meant. She¡¯d get the picture. Daniel would share it with me.


    Continuing, Izzy added, ¡°I can knock out whatever you miss when you¡¯re done firing. My only worry is that I don¡¯t know what your cousin looks like and I¡¯m not going to get enough detail to recognize her even if I did know.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know if she¡¯s in today. I do have a way to find out, but it¡¯s questionable,¡± I shrugged. ¡°I can try to call her. If I¡¯m lucky, I might hear where she is.¡±


    ¡°Worth a shot,¡± Cassie said.


    Yoselin smiled, ¡°I might be able to find her. I have experience with security and camera systems. If I had a picture and their cameras were well placed, I could find her in maybe half an hour using my implant.¡±


    ¡°And then we get her out, I think,¡± I said. ¡°Or at least make sure she doesn¡¯t die. If she¡¯s controlled by the Dominators, I don¡¯t think we want her in here.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Daniel took a breath and stared out at the office building through the jet¡¯s cloak. ¡°I don¡¯t have any way to fix her quickly even if I can do it.¡±


    We used the next half hour to finalize details, check with Hal and Daniel¡¯s prescience to understand our chances, call Lim, and notify the League of what we were doing. In the end, I called Ana on my comm, knowing that even if they traced the call, it would appear to come from my house.


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    After a few rings, she answered, ¡°Nick? I¡­ This is a surprise. Are you calling about where I work? I thought I heard that you were starting your own business.¡±


    ¡°I am. I mean, I did. I¡¯m still looking at options, though. Small businesses don¡¯t necessarily succeed. Plus, do you guys hire contractors? Even big places outsource.¡±


    She laughed, ¡°We do, but how many people do you have? We tend to work with big, established firms when we outsource.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got a contract with Hardwick Industries,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a little bit of ¡®not what you know, but who you know¡¯ in that, but we¡¯ve got it.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± she said. ¡°Grandpa practically grew up with Giles Hardwick and you¡¯re a friend of his grandson. My dad still talks with Suzanne Hardwick-Jones, the current CEO, sometimes. You know, that might be enough. If you¡¯re interested, I can pass it on, but you¡¯re going to have to persuade someone that you¡¯ve got something we want. I might even be able to get you in for a visit.¡±


    If we could do it today, that might be a great way into the building, but how was I going to explain why I was nearby? Thinking about the fields all around us, it wasn¡¯t as if I could tell her that I was here to visit the corn.


    I went with, ¡°I¡¯d love to. We¡¯ll have to set a date. Are you in today? I¡¯m just wondering because if there are any forms to fill out, the sooner I get them, the better.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m in,¡± she said, ¡°and I have no idea. I¡¯ll talk to someone and get back to you.¡±


    In my head, I got a message from Yoselin over my implant, Found her. Her desk is near the far left corner on the third floor of the office.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I told Ana and we said our goodbyes.


    As I hung up, Daniel updated me on what they¡¯d learned. ¡°Lim got back to us. He¡¯s a little nervous about getting help via official FBI channels, but he connected me with the Probationers¡ª¡°


    My eyes widened at that one, ¡°Is that what I think it is?¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re thinking it¡¯s basically reformed supervillains, yes,¡± Daniel gave an apologetic grin.


    ¡°Except maybe not reformed,¡± Cassie said, ¡°just finished with their prison sentence. Even better news, since we¡¯ve got the jet, no one except Jaclyn can make it here anytime soon. On the bright side, Guardian and the Midwest Defenders will teleport in if we need help. They¡¯re in the middle of something right now, but they¡¯ll drop it.¡±


    Hal sent me figures based on the plan we worked out. Assuming we took the mechs out of commission, he gave us a better than 70% chance¡ªunless we were missing significant details about what they had inside the building.


    I thought about it, ¡°I guess we¡¯d better get the jet ready to fire shortly before Jaclyn and the Probationers show up.¡±

 Transitions: Part 8

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


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


    Even though Grandpa had helped train him, all I knew about the man was that he¡¯d killed his team while under mind control and changed his name to the Atoner afterward.


    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± I said, ending the briefing. ¡°As long as you wait to get close until after we fire and then deal with the mechs and the True first, we¡¯ll all be okay to enter the office.¡±


    The Atoner nodded, his red helmet reflecting the light of the screen. ¡°You¡¯re sure that there aren¡¯t more hostiles in the office building?¡±


    I shook my helmet, ¡°No, but we haven¡¯t detected any. That said, we know there¡¯s some kind of Abominator energy generator in the office building¡¯s basement. So they might have Abominator artifacts and people capable of using them. Join us as soon as the warehouse is under control, and if you can scan the office building, let us know what you see.¡±


    With a nod, he said, ¡°Got it. We¡¯ll let you know when we¡¯re close. Out.¡±


    The screen went black and Jaclyn said, ¡°This is going to be fun. We still don¡¯t know who¡¯s on the Probationers yet.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± I checked the screens and looked out the window, seeing nothing out of place at either building or the cornfield around them. ¡°Lim said to use them and the Atoner seemed confident. Anyway, I passed them a temporary code. They¡¯ll show as friendlies in your HUD.¡±


    ¡°Sounds great,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to going into a fight that might include Dominators with a guy who killed his team while mind-controlled.¡±


    ¡°Good point,¡± I said, ¡°but I did pass on specs for a basic anti-voice buzzer to Isaac and he passed it on to them a while back.¡±


    ¡°Nice,¡± she said, ¡°but I still don¡¯t like the idea of working with random supervillains. Oh, and by the way, I¡¯m about 100 miles out from you now. I should be there in ten minutes.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, and then we all sat there waiting, running through the plan in our heads, and listening to the comm.


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    Vaughn¡¯s icon flashed and he said, ¡°Crap. I knew we should have come along.¡±


    Text appeared next to Haley¡¯s icon, ¡°I would have skipped class if I knew you were going to do this.¡±


    Other team members'' icons turned from yellow to green, indicating they were now active.


    As I texted back, ¡°Sorry,¡± Kayla¡¯s voice filled the channel, ¡°Everybody who isn¡¯t actively helping needs to shut up or get off the channel. We¡¯re going to have enough going on trying to include the Probationers.¡±


    ¡°Go Control!¡± Cassie texted.


    Ignoring her, Kayla continued, ¡°I¡¯ve set up a new channel for the team members onsite and the Probationers. The rest of you can listen in, but unless you¡¯ve got something important, keep it off the mission channel, okay?¡±


    In the next moment, most of the group¡¯s icons faded out, leaving only Kayla, Cassie, Izzy, Daniel, Yoselin, Jaclyn, and myself. In the moment after that five more icons appeared. The Atoner¡¯s had his name next to it. None of the others did. Hopefully, they¡¯d tell Kayla soon. I didn¡¯t want to have to address anyone with, ¡°Hey, third icon from the bottom¡­¡±


    The Atoner¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°We¡¯re about a mile out from you, hovering low behind a hill, but we¡¯re ready at any time.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Blue and I are coordinating our first sweep through the warehouse.¡±


    In my helmet¡¯s 360 degree view, I could see Izzy standing up and stopping next to the door. She gave a thumbs up.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I opened the door, ¡°Blue can give us targeting information and after I¡¯m done firing, it¡¯s all yours. That means the Probationers can move in too.¡±


    Izzy floated out the door and it shut behind her. Invisible thanks to chameleon mode, I couldn¡¯t see her, but her location showed in my HUD on the jet¡¯s screens.


    ¡°Got it,¡± Daniel projected her view of the warehouse into my mind. The implant superimposed it over my vision, showing me what I wanted to see. There weren¡¯t more than ten people in the mech¡¯s side of the warehouse, all of them servicing two mechs that stood next to each other.


    ¡°Firing now,¡± I said, and opened the main gun up, aiming the beam and turning the jet so that I could swing the beam across the lower level of the warehouse. Of course, it wasn¡¯t simple. I also had to pause firing to avoid hitting the support beams that held the structure up.


    The result was everything a Hollywood scriptwriter might have hoped for. The jet¡¯s main beam could penetrate armor and force fields. I¡¯d even destroyed a battleship with it once. The warehouse wasn¡¯t anywhere near as tough.


    The bright white beam crossed the lower level, burning through the wall. Inside the warehouse, mechs melted, exploded, and shattered. The human-shaped figures ran toward the corner of the building, a spot I hadn¡¯t planned to shoot anyway since it would take down the warehouse.


    Half of the warehouse now leaked black smoke through the holes in its melted and shattered walls. Fire alarms rang out, beeping at a volume we could hear through the jet¡¯s armor.


    Izzy flew in, a blue blur. Jaclyn ran from wherever she¡¯d been waiting, jumping into the air and flying half a block to land in front of the smoking walls.


    Well, we¡¯d started it now.


    As that thought went through my head, new names appeared next to the Probationer¡¯s icons¡ªApe Nasty, Mistress Madness, Dr. Transylvania, and Lone Eagle. Noticing the last name, I remembered Morgan Spitz-White, the woman in the Eagle suit that I¡¯d fought in Rook¡¯s lair and interrogated before fighting The Thing That Eats.


    She wouldn¡¯t tell us about the deal her lawyers made with the government back then. I should have guessed.

 Transitions: Part 9

    Jaclyn and Izzy stepped into the warehouse as the red beams of lasers appeared in the smoke. Izzy grabbed a missile out of the air, crushed it, and threw the pieces to the ground before smashing through one of the building¡¯s undamaged bits of wall.


    I¡¯d have fired off the anti-personnel lasers to give them cover, but between the explosions, smoke, fire, and moving figures inside, I wouldn¡¯t be doing them any favors.


    Instead, I disconnected my implant from the control systems and said, ¡°Hal, bring us in close to the office building. You have permission to support us, but not to take human lives unless there¡¯s no realistic way to prevent someone from killing us or a civilian. Also, be ready to pick us up on the way out.¡±


    Hal¡¯s creators didn¡¯t trust AIs and so I had to give him specific instructions when I left him directions. Despite his creators¡¯ paranoia, he hadn¡¯t yet tried to organize the world¡¯s AIs to destroy all intelligent life. So, I didn¡¯t feel the need to make his instructions airtight.


    As Hal brought us in toward the office building, I watched out the windows toward the warehouse, seeing a podjet exactly like the ones that the various Defenders units used. White and egg-shaped except for the wings, it made me wonder if the Probationers received funding from the Defenders.


    I didn¡¯t have time to think about that as the door opened people jumped out¡ªthough the word people might be arguable in a couple of cases. The Atoner jumped out first, his red and white costume matched by the red hang glider he flew down. Ape Nasty followed him down on an identical, but larger, hang glider, sized to match the fact that he was a twelve-foot-tall gorilla.


    Jumping out on the other side, I saw the familiar sight of the Eagle suit, metal wings outstretched, diving downward. The write-up I¡¯d seen on her when she worked for Rook claimed that her codename was Harpy. I didn¡¯t expect that she¡¯d have a different attitude as Lone Eagle, but whatever. At least she was on our side this time.


    Behind her in all black armor, Dr. Transylvania flew down with no visible wings, jets, or any other way to stay in the air. Dimly glowing symbols ran down his arms and legs. A few spread out across the center of his armor¡¯s chest. The only vampire that seemingly hadn¡¯t visited Detroit last summer, he was known for designing devices that worked with a combination of science and magic.


    How they kept him in the Probationers, I had no idea. Like Ape Nasty, he was a tier one supervillain. Of course, I hadn¡¯t heard about either of them in the last five years or more. Some Defenders unit must have taken them down without much noise.


    Even weirder, he was carrying someone. A woman in a silver costume, flecked with a rainbow of colors if she moved, hung below the vampire¡¯s armor, held in place by a harness. She held a large gun connected to her matching silver backpack by a hose.


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    I¡¯d seen this costume before on Mister Madness back when we¡¯d fought Evil Beatnik and a collection supervillains¡¯ grandchildren. Did he have a sister or a cousin? Either way, it made me wonder about his family dynamics.


    I didn¡¯t have time to dwell on that line of thought because Hal had stopped the jet, hovering above the office building. Cassie jumped out before I had time to react, followed by Daniel and Yoselin. I jumped out after them with the door shutting behind me, hearing the hum of the gravitics as the jet floated away.


    Landing on the gravel-covered roof next to the rest of the group, I pointed toward one of the bubble-shaped skylights, ¡°That one¡¯s next to the stairway.¡±


    Going down from the top would give us at least a glimpse of what was going on on each floor. I began to walk toward the skylight, expecting to have to smash it or at least rip it off the roof, but Cassie pulled out her sword before I got there and cut it away with two quick strokes.


    Sheathing her sword, she jumped through the hole, pulling out her gun as she landed. Daniel and Yoselin followed and I jumped after them.


    Landing, I noticed that my surroundings differed little from any other office in the US. Between the carpeted floors, cubicles with desks, cabinets, and docked laptops with monitors, we could have been anywhere as opposed to an office owned by the Nine.


    Given the number of offices I¡¯d broken into while fighting supervillains, I probably shouldn¡¯t underestimate the number of criminal decisions made in your average cubicle farm.


    With this being the top floor, the place of the most powerful cubicle dwellers, the cubicles and desks were larger than average and were placed next to meeting spaces with whiteboards, TV screens, tables, and chairs. Between the green of the potted plants and the wooden tables, the place almost felt nice.


    The sirens didn¡¯t help that impression.


    Even though my helmet blocked most of it, lowering the noise to a bearable volume, I could still feel it through the suit. Haley had been willing to come, but I found myself relieved she hadn¡¯t. The costume I designed for her blocked loud noises too, but her hearing might have been good enough to defeat my best efforts.


    Cassie pointed her gun toward a thick, rectangular block of dark, gray wall standing in the middle of the room. At first glance, it wasn¡¯t obvious why it even existed, but a moment later I noticed that the two elevators and the stairs ended inside.


    ¡°Over here,¡± Cassie began walking toward the stairs.


    At the same time, the sirens stopped and a man¡¯s voice echoed through the building, ¡°We¡¯re being attacked by the Heroes¡¯ League! Kill the intruders!¡±


    In any normal situation, I doubted that even trained security guards would bother to fight us, but I had little doubt that the few people left on this floor would. As the man had begun to speak, the anti-voice tech in my suit began to buzz.


    Though most people must have left when the sirens began to ring, around ten were still in the room, all of them standing near the door to the stairwell. A mix of men and women in suits, ranging in age from their 20s to their 60s, they turned around when the voice spoke and began to run at us.


    A gray haired man with a green suit jacket pulled out a Swiss Army knife and charged us, shouting, ¡°Kill! Kill! Kill!¡±


    I wondered if I had enough goobots for the entire building.

 Transitions: Part 10

    Firing off several goobots, I saw them race around my teammates and explode into a gooey mess that hit the older man with the Swiss Army knife along with two women in suits, a short blond woman in her 20s and a freckled woman in her 40s.


    The strands reached into the crowd, hitting a few more people I couldn¡¯t see as well along with the ceiling and the floor. I¡¯d designed the bots to spread out and hit something that wouldn¡¯t move.


    It worked. Even though hitting the drop ceiling tiles didn¡¯t help at all, the floor wasn¡¯t going anywhere. The metal of the drop ceiling strained but didn¡¯t fall, the gooey strands covering the front line of our attackers stopping them from moving. A few of the people behind them, pulled and strained at the lines of goo attached to them, only becoming more entangled.


    On either side of the stuck people, a few people in the back were going to either side of the group, eyeing us with narrowed eyes and scowls on their faces.


    Behind me came the sound of something heavy moving and I glanced around my helmet¡¯s 360 view screen to find it. Given the size of the floor, it could have taken a long time, but it didn¡¯t. When Izzy scanned the building, she¡¯d noticed a number of spots where she couldn¡¯t see what was inside. Maybe ten by ten feet, they didn¡¯t take up much room, but on an open floor plan, they stood out.


    Much like the big, black rectangle that held the elevators and stairwell, there was a black pillar standing behind me and to the right. I¡¯d assumed it was a bathroom, but thinking back to Izzy¡¯s map of the floor, I realized it was one of the unreadable spots.


    Except now, I knew exactly what was inside. The noise we¡¯d heard was the motors moving the door up into the wall above it. Tamping down a temptation to check out the mech¡¯s details, I aimed armor-piercing, explosive boombots at the mech. They sunk into the armor, exploding and throwing pieces of the mech¡¯s chest and control systems across the room.


    No one was inside it. That wouldn¡¯t be true on the lower floors.


    As I turned around, I saw that I¡¯d damaged more than just the robot. The walls of the pillar the mech had been inside had blown out, sparks and some flame along with them. The nearest desk had been thrown a good ten feet along with papers, books, a computer, and the office phone. Not all of them were thrown ahead of the desk. Some of the papers were still behind it and the office phone had been crushed under it.


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    Also, the fire alarm went off and the building¡¯s sprinkler system turned on, the water hitting my suit and dripping down my helmet.


    I didn¡¯t feel guilty, but on a day where we¡¯d already done property damage in D.C., doing more wasn¡¯t going to help. On the other hand, if the Nine was now releasing the mechs, we¡¯d have property damage whether or not we were careful.


    Turning my attention back to the stairwell, I saw that Cassie had thrown a goo grenade, imprisoning the rest of them in goo. To judge from the closed eyes and slumped bodies, Daniel had gone into their heads and put them to sleep.


    All of them were held upright by the goo and didn¡¯t seem to be at risk of drowning. I shook my head. Maybe I was being too paranoid.


    I checked their future. They¡¯re not at any more risk of dying than most people if we leave them here, Daniel thought at me.


    Good enough, I thought back and ran around the group, following everyone down the stairwell. Painted gray everywhere except for the edge of the steps which were all painted yellow, it didn¡¯t feel like we were in the same building as the office above us.


    Yoselin went first in her black and orange striped Heroes¡¯ League suit. Using her comm, she asked, ¡°Do you want to check each floor or sprint for the basement?¡±


    We had been planning to check in on Ana and at least see if anything on the other floors mattered, but knowing about the mechs and that civilians had been ordered to kill us¡­


    ¡°Sprint,¡± Daniel, Cassie, and I said at almost the same time.


    ¡°Assuming they let us,¡± Daniel added.


    Sometimes Daniel says stuff that has to be because he unintentionally sensed the future. At any rate, it would be incredibly messed up if he¡¯d known what was coming next and only said that.


    Below us, the door to the third floor opened and a flood of people filled the stairwell, all of them running up the stairs at us. In the brief moment of time I had, I checked their faces to see if any of them were Ana and failed to find her.


    Before I had time to let myself feel any relief over that, I saw that a big guy wearing a blue polo shirt and jeans was running up the stairs toward Yoselin. I didn¡¯t doubt that she could handle him¡ªshe¡¯d customized the suit to include her own tech¡ªbut I didn¡¯t know how lethal it would be.


    She raised her arm as he ran toward her, but she never got the chance to fire. Before she even had a chance to aim, a thunderous boom sounded as the concrete wall next to the man shattered. Hit by more than the wall, his chest exploded, blood, bone and internal organs splattered across the wall to the right.


    The bullets (big ones) that had done the damage stuck in the wall with his blood.


    The curly-haired, 40 something woman behind him had been hit by concrete and was bleeding through her white blouse.


    This had to stop. I hammered the concrete wall to my left with a series of punches, hoping no one was nearby, and then slammed into it with my shoulder, crashing through.

 Transitions: Part 11

    I fell into the third floor from a height of around ten feet, taking down the nearest section of drop ceiling along with me, bending the metal grid downward, and crashing through the nearest tile as a couple more fell out of the grid.


    It wasn¡¯t what I¡¯d call an inspiring entrance.


    On the bright side, if you can call it a bright side, is that none of the chunks of concrete that fell when I pushed through the wall hit anybody. There¡¯s no denying that that was a good thing, but directly ahead of me stood another one of the same types of mechs I¡¯d destroyed on the fourth floor except this one had a person inside. Not only that, but based on how they¡¯d been shooting through the wall, they didn¡¯t care who they hit as long as they had a chance to hit us.


    The voice we¡¯d heard over the intercom earlier spoke again, ¡°They¡¯re in the stairwell. Find them. Kill them.¡±


    Though I hadn¡¯t paid attention the first time, this time I noticed my implant¡¯s alert: Dominator command inflections. I¡¯d already assumed, but it brought up a question. Was this whole place full Dominator tech or did the building¡¯s speakers carry the Dominators¡¯ commands well enough that they worked?


    Either way, that wasn¡¯t a good thing.


    Not that I had time to think about that. As I landed on the ground, the mech changed position, aiming the gun at the end of its right arm at me. I aimed a few bots at the arm and fired, letting the bots¡¯ navigation systems find their own way to the mech as I jumped forward and to the left, closer to the outside wall.


    Just like the top floor, this floor of the building was an open room with a few large pillars and the big rectangular block holding the elevators and the stairwell. The elevators and stairwell opened toward the middle of the floor. I¡¯d jumped through the wall facing outward.


    Ahead of me lay rows of emptied cubicles and the mirrored windows to the outside. Between me and all of that stood the mech, of course. With my jump leftward, it had been forced to swing the gun even further to its right¡ªwhich was my plan.


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    Running next to the wall meant that its misses would fly out into the cornfields instead of at my friends or the Nine¡¯s mind-controlled employees.


    On the other hand, the mech was still aiming at me, but not very well. All of its shots whizzed past me¡ªone five feet above my head and the other two off to my left. I couldn¡¯t know for sure, but my gut told me that the operator wasn¡¯t a trained soldier. Most likely, some employee had received some barebones mech pilot training from the company along with their 401K.


    Out of the next salvo of bullets, one hit me, not getting through the armor. It hit my suit¡¯s left shoulder, kicking off a series of error messages and knocking me backward. I didn¡¯t lose control of my suit or fall over. I did have to move a couple of feet sideways as I found my footing again.


    Looking down, I noticed that the bullet was still there, stuck partly into the armor protecting my upper chest. As I looked though, the bullet popped out and the suit filled in the hole.


    That wasn¡¯t all. At about the same time, my bots hit the mech¡¯s arms, hitting where I¡¯d intended, the lower arm where it merged with the gun. Exploding in a burst of fire and smoke, pieces of the gun flew in all directions, separating into cables, wires, armor plating, metal rods, and dark liquids.


    I¡¯d aimed the bots there in hopes that I wouldn¡¯t hurt the human inside, but I was still relieved not to see a hand or arm rolling across the beige carpet.


    What wasn¡¯t so good about that was how the mech then ran straight for me. I wasn¡¯t sure what the mech planned to do without its main gun and with fluids leaking from the arm, but then a round object shot out of its head, exploding as it neared me.


    The flash of fire obscured my vision, but while the blast burned the carpet and hit a set of cubicles, blowing them apart and starting papers on fire, the Rocket suit was made using ceramics more advanced than most.


    I had the momentum to run straight through the blast, finding that the mech was directly ahead of me. Guessing from the size of the grenade that the pilot sat inside the body, I punched into the head, smashing through the front into the middle, breaking the rack partially full of grenades.


    As the force of my punch bent the head backward, bending the metal of the rack, the mech¡¯s working arm flew toward my right side. Seeing it out of the corner of my eye, I moved sideways, taking less of a hit than I might have. The suit didn¡¯t even post an alert.


    I pushed forward with my arms and legs, releasing extra energy from the artificial muscles to get some extra momentum. This did what I thought it might¡ªI knocked it on its back. Not stopping there, I stuck my fingers into a crevice on the main body near the head. My gauntleted hands sunk into the metal and ripped a panel of the mech¡¯s outer body off, allowing me to see the quivering man inside, and ripping away pieces of the mech¡¯s control panel at the same time.

 Holes: Part 1

    Cables popped out as I pulled the panel away and threw it on the floor. The man inside was screaming and trying to untangle himself from the harness. Meanwhile, the mech¡¯s arms drooped and the mech stopped moving.


    It had taken more effort to knock it on its back than I would have expected. On the other hand, as mechs went, it was squat and had wide legs. The center of gravity might be low. I supposed that might be a plus if you were expecting to protect your base with barely trained, mind-controlled civilians.


    Seeing as how the mech didn¡¯t appear to be about to explode, I pointed my arm at him and activated the paralysis ray.


    Slumping back into the harness, his face relaxed and he stopped fumbling with the straps, lying limp within them.


    I hoped I¡¯d done him a kindness. At any rate, I¡¯d done myself one. It was one less person I¡¯d have to fight. Even as that thought passed through my mind, I noticed in my HUD that a crowd of office workers was running around the corner of the black-painted rectangular block we¡¯d jumped out of.


    I didn¡¯t want to hurt them, but I knew I wouldn¡¯t have enough goo or juice for the paralysis rays to take everyone in the building down. Still, I wasn¡¯t alone by then. Daniel, Cassie, and Yoselin had jumped out of the stairwell, all of them aiming the paralysis devices in their costumes at the office workers.


    As they fell, Daniel flew in my direction as Yoselin and Cassie ran toward the corner,standing in front of the crowd as Yoselin pointed her own tech at the people, blowing wind out of both ends of the cylinders hanging under her arms.


    The people in front of her didn¡¯t fall, but they did stumble backward as Cassie picked them off with paralysis, people falling to the ground and not moving.


    In my head, Daniel said, There are more coming up the stairwell. Too many. We could have fought them to a standstill, covered them with goo, or paralyzed them, but then they¡¯d be falling down the stairwell¡­ Plus, there¡¯s a better chance of a good outcome if we go this way right now. Once we slow them down up here, Cassie¡¯s going to chop a hole to the next floor.


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    Glancing over to Cassie and Yoselin, that wouldn¡¯t be long. As I watched, Yoselin stopped blowing air at the crowd and threw a goo grenade at the group.


    That left the ones in the front of the group either lying on the ground paralyzed or stuck together with goo. I fired off a few goobots that exploded among the ones further back, taking out a few more clusters of people.


    Zooming in to look over the crowd with the Rocket suit¡¯s amplified senses, I didn¡¯t see Ana among either the ones on the ground, the people still streaming up from the stairwell, or the few standing in the hole I¡¯d made. It was nice to see they had at least enough control over themselves to prevent them from making a ten-foot drop to the floor below.


    Cassie and Yoselin turned to run away from the crowd even as more people arrived around the corner. Cassie took big steps, covering more than ten feet each time a foot left the floor. Yoselin took to the air after a short run, using the blowers on her arm and belt instead of the rocket pack on her back.


    It was odd, but she probably knew her own equipment better.


    Behind them, the growing crowd of additional office workers began to go around the fallen and stuck bodies of the first group. A few tried to thread their way between the bodies. Most of them got stuck in the goo.


    By the time the first few got around the edge of the unconscious group, Cassie had reached us, taken her sword out of the sheath on her back, and cut a hole in the floor. Her first swipe was half a circle. The next was a straight swipe across the floor, making it look like a ¡°D¡± or a cartoon mouse hole¡ªthough mouse holes were on the wall and not in the middle of a beige carpet.


    Then she jumped through. I followed, hearing a boom along with Cassie¡¯s voice over the comm saying, ¡°Fuck! Mechs!¡±


    Like the third floor, the second had a lot more cubicles than the fourth floor where we entered. Even though I couldn¡¯t help but notice that, I didn¡¯t pay attention to it in the moment. I was looking for the mechs and for Cassie.


    I found Cassie first.


    Our hole was directly above an endless line of cubicles and she wasn¡¯t directly below it where I¡¯d expected. She was two cubicles to my left. To my right were three more mechs and to my far left, trundling up the side of the rows of cubicles, were two more.


    So, there were five of those suckers.

 Holes: Part 2

    Over to my left, Cassie pulled herself up from where she¡¯d been lying¡ªon a desk in one of the cubicles and partially into one of the walls. Then she jumped over the next cube and into the next. For a moment I wondered where she was going, but then I knew. She was going after her sword.


    I¡¯d added tracking devices to it and other pieces of equipment that were likely to get lost. She could see it in her HUD just like I could if I wanted.


    The mechs on the left side on the far side of the cubicles next to the windows fired at her, but not soon enough to hit. Pieces of the cubicles exploded outward as the bullets blew through.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, the ones on the right started firing as well, taking chunks out of the cubicles and the big rectangular block holding the elevators¡ªwhich on this floor had been painted red for some reason.


    But, this was no time to think about interior decoration. Besides the two mechs to my left that were firing at Cassie, there were three more to the right that had come around the other side of the elevator block. Those three, of course, were firing at me.


    This was something I¡¯d anticipated as soon as a saw them. So even though I¡¯d been keeping track of Cassie and her problems with mechs, I¡¯d activated the rocket pack on the way down and aimed myself out over the vast sea of cubicles, whipping around so that I could come at them from behind.


    However effective those mechs were, they weren¡¯t great at tracking quickly moving objects inside. They tried to aim their gun arms in my direction, firing constantly, shattering the windows behind me, and taking chunks out of the cubicles below. In some cases, the bullets hit where the panels joined, blasting chunks out of the metal, causing the panels to sag or even fall off.


    I hoped no one was hiding in the cubes, but at this point, the best I could do for those possible victims was to take out the mechs¡ªwhich definitely contained victims.


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    Curving around in the vast room, I watched as the mechs slowly turned in my direction, adjusting position, but constantly aiming at where I¡¯d been. I aimed a barrage of armor-piercing bots at the nearest one¡¯s joints and gun arm. It had worked with the other one, though these mechs were moving.


    On a gut level, I didn¡¯t see any more competence from their operators than the last one, but I¡¯d only been down on this floor for seconds. They might be better or at least have had time to activate better defenses.


    The bots worked. They tore the gun arm of the mech directly ahead of me into three different pieces that fell to the floor. At almost the same time, more bots hit the mech¡¯s legs, causing them to explode and the mech to fall over.


    As the other two mechs turned toward me, I flew toward them,bobbing and weaving in the air to make it harder for them to aim. At the same time, the mech that was furthest from me and closest to where I¡¯d come from, lifted in the air and flew backward, hitting the other mech that had been standing.


    ¡°Had been standing¡± because when the flying mech hit it, both fell to the ground on their sides.


    I¡¯d been planning to land next to the closest one and see if I could tear it apart and use it to block me from being attacked by the other. With them both struggling to stand up, I flew past them, but not before firing off more bots aimed at the nearest one¡¯s legs¡ªwhich blew up.


    I flipped in the air to turn around, finding that none of the three mechs were moving and that Daniel had flown in my direction. He¡¯d probably put the person inside the mech to sleep¡ªwhich was interesting. He¡¯d said that the building had telepathy blockers when we were outside, but he¡¯d talked to me telepathically upstairs.


    If they¡¯d protected the outside, but not the inside, it could only mean that they had telepaths visit often enough that they didn¡¯t want to inconvenience them¡ªwhich made me think of the Dominators.


    That¡¯s my thought too, Daniel told me as I looked over toward the two mechs on the other side of the building to see how Cassie was doing.


    She was fine. So was Yoselin.


    The two mechs lay on the ground, one of them with all four limbs shaved off and lying on the floor. The other mech was still standing, but smoke drifted up into the air from the inside¡ªwhich was open. A woman lay on the ground in front of the mech. Whoever she was, she wasn¡¯t Ana. This woman was a stocky, 40 something wearing a blue suit and coughing.


    Yoselin stood in front of her, but unlike the mind-controlled people upstairs, the woman didn¡¯t even try to attack.

 Holes: Part 3

    Zooming in on Yoselin, I noticed that she held something in her hand. From this distance, her hand covered most of it, but I could tell that it glowed. In my head, my implant told me, ¡°probable Abominator origin.¡±


    On the one hand, that wasn¡¯t good news, but on the other, it didn¡¯t seem to be harming anyone. The woman laying on the ground in front of her mech pulled herself up and stood as I watched. She walked up to Yoselin and started talking.


    I thought about flying over to them and felt Daniel¡¯s agreement. Leaving the mechs we¡¯d destroyed behind us with their sleeping owners inside, we crossed the room to join Cassie and Yoselin next to the mechs they¡¯d destroyed.


    Since I was there, I checked around the corner of the elevator block on their end of the room. No one was coming around it. No one else seemed to be on the floor¡ªwhich was good except that it meant that everyone other than the five people in the mechs had to be downstairs. For now, that was fine, but in the back of my brain, I found myself wondering what the Nine planned to do with them.


    If they weren¡¯t on the first floor below us, they¡¯d be in the basement with all the Abominator relics. What I¡¯d seen of what their technology could do worried me, especially how some of it could warp human beings beyond what I could do to fix them.


    I turned back to Yoselin and Cassie, ¡°Are you two okay? And what¡¯s that thing?¡±


    I pointed at the glowing object in Yoselin¡¯s hand. Now that I was closer, it appeared to be a glowing sphere made out of glass or, more likely, a material beyond what we could make.


    Glancing over at the woman who¡¯d been piloting a mech, Cassie said, ¡°We¡¯re fine. Meet Cindy. I think that whatever Cypher¡¯s holding freed her mind.¡±


    Turning toward Yoselin, I said, ¡°Seriously? Because we could have been using that a while ago.¡±


    Yoselin shook her head, ¡°It is not that easy. Minds are complex and it can¡¯t just remove what¡¯s been done. It takes time, and it is not even done now. I think that we are halfway.¡±


    Cindy, the former mech pilot, said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. They chose a few of us to learn how to pilot the mechs. I didn¡¯t know what for and I don¡¯t remember why I agreed. I don¡¯t know anything about mechs and I¡¯ve never wanted to fight you people.¡±


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    Daniel turned away from the other mech and looked at her, ¡°You didn¡¯t agree. Someone constructed those memories.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m done,¡± Yoselin said. ¡°There will be holes in what you remember where they manipulated your memories to fit their needs. I can¡¯t replace what they removed. The most I can do is leave markers of where they changed things and hope that you can piece together what was real.¡±


    Cindy nodded, breathing slowly, ¡°What should I do now?¡±


    ¡°If there¡¯s an exit that goes straight outside without going downstairs,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯d leave that way. Otherwise, wait for us to go downstairs and then exit in the chaos that follows. Whatever you do, don¡¯t go down there while we¡¯re down there. You might get told to attack us. Oh, and if you¡¯ve got earplugs, wear them. They might not help, but you never know. They might.¡±


    She nodded, ¡°We¡¯ve got a stairway that leads to the parking lot. I¡¯ll go that way.¡±


    Then she ran away, running toward a door near the corner of the building. As the door shut, I heard Jaclyn¡¯s voice over my comm, ¡°We¡¯re done over here. Do you need us?¡±


    Before I could respond, Cassie said, ¡°Yes. We¡¯re going down to the first floor and then the basement. They¡¯ve been attacking us with mechs and mind-controlled civilians and they might have more down there. We¡¯ll need any help you can give us.¡±


    Izzy¡¯s voice cut in, ¡°There¡¯s no one on the first floor.¡±


    My stomach sank, ¡°Do you see anyone on the upper floors of the building or around it?¡±


    ¡°Almost no one. I think they must have gone toward the basement.¡± Izzy spoke slowly as if she were scanning the building as she talked.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you see the basement?¡± Cassie asked.


    ¡°Not well. Between the ground around it and the materials, I can¡¯t see details. I can tell there¡¯s more than one level down there and that there are people, but I won¡¯t be able to tell much more than that until I¡¯m inside,¡± Izzy paused, adding, ¡°Sorry.¡±


    Next to me, Daniel pointed to the stairwell, saying over the comm, ¡°Let¡¯s meet on the first floor.¡±


    As the group of us started toward the stairwell, I asked him, ¡°Is that the best option?¡±


    He held up his hands, ¡°It¡¯s the only option. I don¡¯t have a good read on it. The future keeps on changing so quickly I can¡¯t tell the overall best option on the way down. Whatever decision has to be made for me to get a clear read, we haven¡¯t made it yet.¡±


    I followed him through the door to the stairwell, saying, ¡°I hate your powers.¡±


    Running down the stairway after Cassie and Yoselin, he said, ¡°I don¡¯t always like them either.¡±


    Then he slowed down¡ªa lot. I almost ran into him. He turned around to look at me, breathing heavily, ¡°Something just changed. A decision was made and I don¡¯t think it was by us. The overall picture just got worse. We might have to ask under what conditions we abort.¡±

 Holes: Part 4

    ¡°Crap,¡± I muttered.


    Since he¡¯d said it over the comm in addition to me, Cassie glanced up at us from the landing, asking, ¡°How bad?¡±


    Daniel shrugged, ¡°There¡¯s still too much flux to be sure. Hey Blue and Accelerando, how does the first floor look?¡±


    ¡°Empty,¡± Izzy said, flashing us a picture of the lobby, a big open area of the floor filled with potted plants and booths around the edges. A counter ran next to one section of the wall. It was covered with snacks and a refrigerator with a glass door showing the water bottles, flavored water, and pop cans inside.


    My stomach reminded me that it had been a while since I¡¯d eaten. I ignored it and followed Daniel down the stairway, coming out of the door into the lobby. We came out at a different angle than Izzy had shown us. The block of elevators stood behind a row of booths which, now that I was down there, reminded me of restaurant booths more than anything I expected to see in a workplace. I supposed that you could hold a meeting in them.


    Izzy and Jaclyn stood near the door as we stepped out.


    Cassie turned to Izzy, ¡°You¡¯re right. No one¡¯s here. They¡¯ve all got to be downstairs. Did you scan the place?¡±


    Izzy shook her head, ¡°Enough to know that I can¡¯t get much out of it.¡±


    Crossing her arms over her chest, Cassie asked, ¡°Do you think they had you in mind?¡±


    Holding up her hands, Izzy said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not the only one who uses sonar. The Rocket¡¯s famous for it.¡±


    Jaclyn pointed at the gun holstered on Cassie¡¯s hip, ¡°Doesn¡¯t that thing have sensors?¡±


    Cassie laughed, ¡°Yeah, but with all the Abominator tech they have, it says it would attract attention. I was waiting until we¡¯ve got no chance to sneak around before using it.¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s mouth twisted, ¡°I guess. Wait, that thing¡¯s not telling you to run in and burn everything?¡±


    Shrugging, Cassie said, ¡°It¡¯s weird to me too.¡±


    I looked over to Yoselin, ¡°We¡¯re going to be fighting more mind-controlled people. Is there any way we can use your orb or whatever it is? I know it¡¯s slow, but if you stayed in the back and had us keep them off you, would that be time enough? Or do you need someone to be pretty much unmoving before you start?¡±


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    ¡°No,¡± she waved her hands in front of her, ¡°it¡¯s complicated like I said. Every person¡¯s different.¡±


    Watching for her reaction, I asked, ¡°Is there any chance you could do an area of effect thing that wipes away the most recent commands?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s a complicated thing that won¡¯t become simple no matter how many questions you ask.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­ By any chance do you have any more Abominator devices on you?¡±


    Through the lower half of her helmet, I could a strained smile, ¡°Yes, but I can¡¯t tell you about them. I¡¯ll use them if we need them, but I¡¯m not supposed to tell anyone about them.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re from the moon?¡± I wondered if Daniel had picked up anything.


    Her smile became genuine, ¡°You already know. I don¡¯t need to answer.¡±


    I can¡¯t read her at all, Daniel told me. Could be one of the devices is an Abominator psi-blocker. It feels similar, but not the same as one of ours. It¡¯s better actually. I can sense her surface thoughts, but when I try to go deeper there¡¯s nothing there.


    Izzy stepped closer, ¡°It would help us if we knew what you might do.¡±


    Yoselin sighed, ¡°I know. I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°We need to stop talking and move,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Every second gives them more time to prepare and you know they have to be watching us.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t wrong. Looking around the room, I used my suit¡¯s sensors to check for cameras, finding four within a few seconds, two of them hanging from ceiling tiles, and the other two hidden. One was in the center of the clock near the front desk, literally in the spot where the hour and minute hands met.


    The fourth was in a clock that hung on the far wall of the lobby.


    ¡°If I trash the nearest cameras, we can jump down through a hole placed somewhere they can¡¯t see,¡± I waved my hand to include most of the lobby.


    ¡°Sure,¡± Cassie said, ¡°if we drop through a hole in a different section of the room, it might surprise them.¡±


    I looked over at Daniel. He said, ¡°Try the spot past the fifth booth¡ªjust short of the snacks.¡±


    I knew it wasn¡¯t worth asking why. He wouldn¡¯t know until moments before something happened. I fired off four of the standard bots and they spread out across the room, each of them hitting a camera. As the pieces fell to the ground, we all ran for the fifth booth.


    Even though Jaclyn or Izzy could have punched through, Cassie chopped out a circle with her sword. Jaclyn jumped through first with the rest of us following and Izzy taking up the rear.


    If I had to use a word to describe the room we landed in, the word would be ¡°grey¡±¡ªgrey walls, grey concrete floor, darker grey doors leading out of the room. Inside the room, grey mechs stood against the wall, all of them damaged or missing arms or legs. That said, most of the mechs were gone. The spots where they could be hooked to the wall were empty as were most of the racks in the middle of the room that held weapons.


    We were in the armory. The mechs were waiting for us somewhere else on the floor.


    Sometimes, I loved Daniel¡¯s powers.

 Holes: Part 5

    Over the comm I asked, ¡°Do we have time to think about our next move, or are we best off moving forward?¡±


    Daniel closed his eyes for a moment, ¡°We don¡¯t have long, but we¡¯ve got a little while before it becomes too dangerous.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m going to send out a roachbot to see what¡¯s ahead. If Blue¡¯s can scan this place without giving them too much of a hint that we¡¯re here, maybe she can too?¡±


    ¡°Make it quick,¡± Jaclyn said, looking up at the hole Cassie had cut in the room¡¯s ceiling. ¡°If they¡¯ve still got anyone upstairs, that¡¯s going to be too big to miss.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I fired off a bot, aiming for the bottom of the door, guessing that there might be enough space. I was wrong, but since I¡¯d added killbot tech to almost all of my bots, it wasn¡¯t a problem. The bot scraped out a piece less than a quarter of its diameter off the bottom of the door¡ªnot something anyone would notice.


    I turned it to the right as it exited into the gray, concrete hall, avoiding the wall the bot would have otherwise hit. Letting the bot fly down the hall told me something important¡ªthat¡¯s all this floor was. The bot flew past at least six pairs of metal doors exactly like the one, all of them roughly the same distance away from each other.


    That meant that this floor was most likely a series of storage rooms. I supposed that might be enough for anyone who came to inspect the place, giving them a normal-looking basement. The bot¡¯s speed brought it to the end of the hallway¡ªa cargo elevator.


    I flipped the bot over and sent it back our way, but didn¡¯t turn it when it came near our door, letting it go all the way down the hall to my left. It was exactly the same as before except on the opposite end of the hall were a pair of doors. I sent the bot low and it cut through near the bottom, finding a wide stairway downward as well as up¡ªwhere we¡¯d somehow missed it.


    I aimed it down the stairway, whipping it around the landings where it turned and then realizing there was enough room between the up and downsides of the stairway that I could go straight down.


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    That worked well enough until I hit a level where the walls weren¡¯t simply gray concrete. Three stories down, the floor had windows. Through the windows, I could see the basement and in that moment, I learned something.


    The basement was bigger than I¡¯d thought.


    It went at least as far down as the building upstairs went up. From the windows in the stairwell, the bot showed me a basement floor. In the far corner on the right side stood a round-cornered rectangular device. Black in color, three glowing lines ran across its sides, one at the top, another near the middle, and finally one at the bottom. Cables ran away from it on all sides in large bundles.


    Were the cables powering everything else on the floor? It seemed possible. It could be powering the entire building along with the one next door.


    In the meantime, looking down to the bottom reminded me of a city. The Abominator wasn¡¯t the only glowing object even if the rest weren¡¯t as large and because of that, they were harder to distinguish. The bot¡¯s camera was better than my early bots, but not perfect. I couldn¡¯t see in the detail I wanted, but I felt sure I could see people down there, some of them in mechs.


    Even if I couldn¡¯t, the far side of the room and a platform that stuck out from the wall on every floor from the top to the bottom. Made out of concrete, it didn¡¯t look beautiful, but if the basement were a city, the line of platforms was a skyscraper and one I couldn¡¯t see inside of. Dark panels of glass connected one level of the platforms to the ones below and above it.


    I considered sending the bot through the glass and over to the series of platforms. There had to be a reason they existed. As I decided to do it there was a yellow flash the bot sent back, ¡°Activating self-destruct.¡± The scene disappeared from my HUD.


    Blinking at the sudden light followed by seeing the gray storage room again, I took a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what happened, but I just lost the bot. It¡¯s set to self-destruct if it takes damage. So that means that someone took it out. On the bright side though, it turns out that I know exactly where the Abominator energy generator is now. Plus, there are more people, possibly a lot more for all I know.


    ¡° I have to get down there in case my cousin¡¯s there, but I feel like I need to warn you in case you don¡¯t want to. I don¡¯t know as much as I want to, but it could get bad.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head, ¡°We¡¯re going. This is your family and you¡¯re not going to be able to do it alone. Come on.¡±


    She took a step toward the twin metal doors and we followed her down the hall.

 Holes: Part 6

    As we walked toward the stairs, I noticed a message in my HUD. It said, ¡°Connection lost.¡± Everyone near me still showed as green, but everyone else had gone red including Kayla. That meant that we had no backup or any way to tell anyone we needed help. Plus, everyone back at base was probably freaking out now or would be soon.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°We just lost everybody. I¡¯m going to run back into the room and tell them what¡¯s going on.¡±


    ¡°Hurry,¡± Daniel said.


    I gave them a wave as I ran back. The doors to the storage room had locked behind us, so I needed to smash them open in order to go inside. It wasn¡¯t hard.


    Leaving the doors lying on the floor behind me, I watched as the connection changed to one bar and everyone¡¯s icons turned green again. This not only included Kayla, but also the Probationers.


    The second Kayla¡¯s icon turned green I said, ¡°Control? We¡¯re going into what¡¯s turning out to be a massive underground base.We¡¯re going to lose contact as we go in, so you won¡¯t know what happened until we¡¯re done. On the bright side, we¡¯ve got Blue and Accelerando, so we¡¯re not underpowered.¡±


    Talking a little higher and faster than normal, Kayla said, ¡°Do you have to go down now? Is there any chance you can wait?¡±


    ¡°The Mystic seems to think the sooner, the better. Remember Rook? The guy blew up his base after he lost. There are people that don¡¯t deserve to die down there and from what we¡¯ve seen, it¡¯s not impossible that they¡¯d leave civilians down there to press the self-destruct.¡±


    Kayla let out a breath, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll send a yellow and call back the jet so we can get people in to help.¡±


    Another voice cut in and The Atoner¡¯s icon blinked, ¡°We¡¯ve nearly finished up in the warehouse. We¡¯ll be able to help sooner than anyone you¡¯ve got at your base.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, wondering if the guy would think differently when he saw the place. ¡°To follow us, go to the lobby. There will be a hole in the floor that opens into a storage room. Go left to follow the stairs down. We¡¯re leaving as soon as I get off the call. ¡°


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    ¡°Got it. We¡¯ll be right behind you. Out.¡± The Atoner¡¯s green became paler, indicating that while I could still reach him, he was currently using another channel.


    ¡°Gotta go,¡± I told Kayla, and ran out of the room, turning left to follow the rest of the group. They¡¯d made it to the end of the hall, stopping right next to the doors to the stairwell. Izzy was the last in line, taller than anyone in the group but Daniel. As I came to a stop, she turned to the others, ¡°He¡¯s here. I think we can go.¡±


    We walked down the stairs, turning two times before coming to the third floor down from where we¡¯d started¡ªthe one where the walls had windows that started from the concrete floor, going up to the ceiling.


    We stopped on the landing, seeing the energy generator, mechs, the long line of platforms that ran up the side of the far wall, and people running around the floor far below. Even more, I heard distant shouts and a murmur of noises that had to be some combination of people and machines.


    Looking down the stairs, I noticed one more thing¡ªthe scattered, burned bits of my bot. Following the possible paths from where I remembered it had been in the air, I looked up, noticing a large, green, rectangular box that hung above the stairway. It had four circular protrusions arranged equally distant from each other.


    There were two other boxes just like it that hung above the stairway. Part of me wondered why they¡¯d put them here, but I supposed that might be a good choice. People will stop to look out a window. You shoot them while they¡¯re distracted.


    At about the same time I noticed the boxes, Yoselin said, ¡°I think the boxes are lasers.¡±


    ¡°Makes sense,¡± Daniel said, angling his head to look down toward the basement. ¡°There¡¯s a choice here. Depending on what we do, it gets harder or easier. I don¡¯t know which for sure, but if we break the windows and fly straight down, avoiding the stairway, we at least avoid the lasers.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, ¡°we could. I don¡¯t like how that puts us flying down the side of the wall in plain view of everyone down there, but I also don¡¯t like how running down the stairs means dodging lasers.¡±


    Jaclyn frowned, her eyes darting between the stairway and the massive drop outside the windows. ¡°I think we can make dropping work. Blue and I can go first. She can carry me down or I¡¯ll run down the wall. Either way, we can get down there before anyone can do anything. Then while they¡¯re distracted, the rest of you fly down.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea,¡± I said. ¡°How do you guys think we should handle it down there? I¡¯ve got someone I need to find and obviously we¡¯ve got to get anyone we can out of the Nine¡¯s clutches, but with regards to the tech, even though I¡¯d like to look at it, I¡¯m half-tempted to destroy anything we can since anything we don''t trash is something the Nine can use later.¡±

 Holes: Part 7

    Izzy turned her head to look at me, ¡°You¡¯ve said Abominator technology is based on Artificer technology that corrupts the user. I don¡¯t see a reason to keep any of it.¡±


    Inside the helmet where, unlike anyone else, she still might see it, I smiled, ¡°I¡­ can think of a few, but they mostly amount to ways they could help me understand both species¡¯ tech. I want it, but I think it¡¯s going to be easier to get things done if we break things.¡±


    Daniel nodded, ¡°I feel like it¡¯s going to be harder if we try to preserve the equipment and I don¡¯t need prescience for that.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Cassie said, ¡°I think you¡¯re right and I think we¡¯d better get moving. If they nuked the Rocket¡¯s bot right here, it¡¯s not going to be long before they see us if they haven¡¯t already.¡±


    Through her helmet, I could see Yoselin frown, ¡°I¡¯d like to take the equipment, but I think Captain Commando is right. We need to go now.¡±


    Jaclyn pointed down toward the window from our position on the stairs above it. ¡°That¡¯s what I was saying. Shatter the windows and we¡¯ll drop through. You can follow. Everyone okay with that?¡±


    We all nodded or muttered our agreement.


    ¡°Before you go, I¡¯ll take out the lasers,¡± I said, pointing down toward the rectangular boxes on the ceiling.


    Cassie shook her head, ¡°Save your bots, I¡¯ve got this.¡±


    Then she pulled out her gun, pointing it down the stairway and releasing a bright, white light, hitting one box and then the next, sweeping across each one. The beam¡¯s heat cut through the green painted metal, leaving melted, molten metals and plastic on the floor along with shattered bits of concrete that had seemed to explode from the ceiling as the beam hit.


    With the destruction of the weapons finished, she said, ¡°What the hell,¡± and aimed the gun at the windows, melting a long hole across them and cracking the glass at the same time. Streaks of liquid glass ran down the side. Given how the gun¡¯s shimmery, blue-grey metal made it look like a children¡¯s toy, the average person probably wouldn¡¯t expect the destruction it could unleash. Of course, it was an Abominator weapon.


    Yoselin¡¯s eyes blinked and widened, reminding me that she might not have seen what it could do in whatever intelligence reports she¡¯d seen.


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    ¡°That¡¯s our cue,¡± Jaclyn took a few steps further down the stairs and dove through the window with Izzy flying after her, big chunks of the window falling after them.


    ¡°My turn,¡± Cassie said and jumped after them.


    Daniel, Yoselin, and I looked at each other. Daniel shrugged as Yoselin shook her head and jumped out the window after them. Daniel and I followed with Daniel flying out the window first.


    At first, it looked easy, even as Cassie dropped, she targeted the Abominator energy generator with her gun, burning a strip of glowing, red metal across its black, rectangular body. At the same time, she was doing that, Jaclyn had turned on the rockets on her costume, diving toward the floor of the room and aiming herself to land on a pathway through the middle of the room. As she became parallel with the ground, she let one-foot touch and then the second, matching the speed of her rockets in a blur and running across the ground punching and destroying five mechs as I glanced in her direction.


    At the same time, Izzy flew straight toward a turreted gun large enough that I¡¯d have expected to see it on a battleship or maybe a tank. It hung above the ground on the top of a small tower. As much I found the idea of keeping a large gun underground and then firing it inside questionable, I had to admit it was a potential defense against Izzy¡ªassuming they didn¡¯t also destroy any of the supports that prevented the building above us from falling into the hole.


    The gun only fired once, aiming a blast of its white beam at Izzy and hitting her full on. I didn¡¯t doubt that it would have turned a normal human into cinders, but it didn¡¯t do that with her. The air distorted around her as it and a silvery shield became visible over the front of her body where she¡¯d been hit.


    It never got a chance to fire a second time because she hit it in the next instant, turning the gun into smashed and shattered metal and electronic parts. Then she curved to the left, flying across the room too quickly for me to see anything but a flash of blue.


    Only noticing an identical tower and gun on the left side of the room as she flew over to it, turning it into metal confetti. That one hadn¡¯t been firing, but better safe than sorry. The first tower¡¯s beam had seemed similar to Cassie¡¯s gun¡¯s beam.


    All this had happened in less time than it would have taken to fall five stories to the floor. I¡¯d taken it in as I activated the rockets and aimed myself across the room toward the far wall¡ªmainly because Daniel had thought there at me as I¡¯d noticed the spot.


    On the bottom floor in the middle of that wall, light shone out from two double doors, both of which were open.


    People on the floor, most of them dressed like office workers, were running toward them. They were blocked from getting in by men in blue security uniforms, all of them carrying what appeared to be automatic rifles.


    Automatic rifles didn¡¯t cause me much worry while wearing the Rocket suit, but what I saw next did. A blue-white flash came from inside whatever room I was seeing and the room stopped being empty. Instead, it now contained bird-themed mechs, their glossy black paint bringing back a few memories.


    Back when we¡¯d rescued Cassie from Rook¡¯s base, there¡¯d been a teleporter there too.

 Holes: Part 8

    That put everything into a new light. The crowd of people was moving in that direction to be teleported out. Mechs that looked a lot like the mechs Rook¡¯s henchmen used were coming out of the teleporter room, presumably because this base was worth fighting for¡ªat least for a little while.


    Inside the room, more bird-shaped mechs appeared even as I descended toward them. Thinking back to Daniel, I asked, When you drew my attention to the room, what were you hoping I¡¯d do?


    I had no plan. I felt that whatever was going on down there was important, Daniel thought back at me.


    Thanks, I told him. Then I talked the group over the comm, ¡°They¡¯ve got a teleporter in the room in the middle of the far wall. They¡¯re calling in more mechs to fight us. Plus, I think they¡¯re planning on evacuating the people that way. I¡¯m thinking I¡¯m going to head over to the far wall above where they¡¯ll come out.¡±


    ¡°Good idea,¡± Cassie replied, ¡°but I¡¯m heading down.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t a bad idea. It put Daniel, Yoselin, and me in a position to fire down at the mechs as they came out and made it a little more difficult to fire back at us. Mechs had their limits and one place where they appeared is their range of motion. They might not even be able to target us without moving out from the wall. It wasn¡¯t something to count on, but it wasn¡¯t impossible.


    Plus, it wasn¡¯t as if the main reason were tactical. I was actually doing it because it offered me the chance to figure out what to do next while also looking for Ana since I still hadn¡¯t seen her.


    We got into position for that at about the same time I told people what I was doing and sent a picture of what I¡¯d seen in the room. In the meantime, Cassie landed in the middle of the room, slicing a mech in two with her gun before aiming the beam at the cables that led up the wall next to the Abominator energy generator.


    Sparks flew everywhere as the gun cut through.


    Meanwhile, Izzy hit another of the room¡¯s large guns, this one on the wall below the window we¡¯d broken through. Jaclyn, meanwhile had stopped crushing the closest mechs to ask, ¡°Did you find her yet?¡±


    The funny thing was that I just had.


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    Using my helmet to scan through the faces of the people on the ground, I¡¯d told my implant to help if it could. It turned out that it could. Among more than a few hundred different faces on the ground, it identified Ana before I did, making her glow with a white light in the crowd.


    She stood on the edge of a crowd of other office workers near the front. Even as I saw her, she picked up her phone, listened, and then broke away from the group, running over toward the stack of glass-walled in platforms that stuck out from the nearest sidewall.


    ¡°Almost,¡± I told Jaclyn as I considered going after Ana. ¡°She ran into the stacked platform over there. I might have to go after her.¡±


    As Jaclyn began to reply, a voice broke out, filling the room, ¡°Welcome, Heroes¡¯ League! I have to admit that we weren¡¯t expecting you today or I¡¯d have been here myself. But sadly, I have other plans and so I¡¯ve sent a group of my very best to look after you today. You¡¯ll find that I¡¯ve been busy lately. It¡¯s been so annoying that I have to try my best to catch up to you, but that¡¯s the way the world works isn¡¯t it? Competition makes us all better. For now, though, I hope you¡¯ll do your best here. Because if you do, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll meet up again in person and I¡¯ll be able to tell you what I¡¯ve done to my hand and my leg.


    ¡°Until then, goodbye.¡±


    The speakers went quiet.


    I didn¡¯t instantly recognize the voice since I¡¯d only ever met the guy twice, but by the end, I was absolutely sure it was Rook even if the mechs in the teleportation room hadn¡¯t been enough of a clue.


    Even though part of me wanted to ask which limb he¡¯d lose this time, I knew better. He wouldn¡¯t hear it. That said, I decided to do my best to remember it for the next time we did meet.


    It seemed obvious that Rook¡¯s henchmen would rush out of the teleportation room soon, but I hadn¡¯t decided if my next move would be grabbing Ana or trashing all of the Abominator tech that I could see in the room.


    There was no shortage of it.


    Now that I was close to the bottom floor, the room reminded me of nothing more than the lab at Higher Ground where we¡¯d analyzed Abominator artifacts. Groups of cabinets and cubicles surrounded well-lit tables with broken or fully assembled devices, some of which appeared to be made out of the same metal as Cassie¡¯s gun.


    My implant labeled them one by one, from spaceship pieces to weapons to equipment for survival on alien worlds.


    It struck me that the group didn¡¯t need me to destroy as much of the room as possible. Izzy and Jaclyn could do it by themselves. I should go after Ana.


    As I came to that conclusion and prepared to aim myself toward the glass-covered platforms, another voice spoke over the room¡¯s speakers. A woman¡¯s voice said, ¡°Surrender, Heroes¡¯ League. Go to the front of the room near the open double doors, take off your armor, weapons and stand still.¡±


    I didn¡¯t need the implant to identify the ¡°Dominator command inflections¡± because my own buzzers were neutralizing her commands. Also, I felt as if I knew the voice. I recognized it from the memories that Daniel had grabbed from Armory¡¯s head.


    Somewhere in this room, the ¡°Amethyst Archer¡± waited for us to make a mistake.

 Holes: Part 9

    Off to my right, I heard a crackling noise. A glance showed Cassie standing on top of a cabinet next to a group of cubicles, using the height to shoot over a big bluish-grey block that my implant labeled as a ¡°dark matter converter¡± and into the Abominator energy generator.


    The Abominator energy generator burned where she hit, throwing glowing bits of whatever material the case was made into the air, some of them hitting the dark matter converter.


    Recognizing, now that I had a few years of experience with it, that even wondering what the dark matter converter was would cause a massive download into my brain, I chose not to even try. I could do that later.


    Still, the question of what dark matter was and what the converter changed it into was the kind of thing that would change people¡¯s understanding of the universe.


    I ignored that, setting a trigger in the implant to remind me of it tomorrow.


    Then I landed in front of the glass-walled stack of platforms, noticing a glass door to the right side¡ªwhich had to be where Ana had gone inside.


    I ran for it, letting everyone know over the comm that, ¡°I¡¯m going in to get Ana.¡±


    ¡°Do it,¡± Izzy said, diving down into my field of vision, aiming herself toward what was now a surge of henchmen in Rook suits coming out of the teleporter rooms, all of them flying, many up toward her.


    Izzy moved more quickly than I could see, turning into a blur of blue, knocking the first eight or so of them in all directions. At least three hit the walls, others were thrown to the floor. Another hit a cluster of cubicles, smashing through walls, throwing office chairs in all directions, shattering computer monitors, and moving the entire group a few feet down the floor.


    The terrifying thing? Not one of them stayed down. The ones that hit the walls some 40 feet above the ground, hit, but pushed themselves away from the wall, spread their wings, fired off their jets, and flew back up at Izzy. The ones that hit the floor rolled up and to their feet.


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    She¡¯d either been too worried about killing them to take them out, or their armor could take her punches without issue. If so, that wasn¡¯t good news.


    Worse, most of them, both the ones she¡¯d hit and the others following behind them, targeted her all at once. Beams of white light from cylinders below the Rook suits hit the silvery shield that appeared around her, some of it reflecting off her and burning bits of wall and shattering glass walls higher up on the stack above me.


    It wasn¡¯t a bad technique. In fact, arguably it was brilliant. It used the fact that Izzy didn¡¯t have infinite reserves of energy to keep that shield going to make the only kind of attack that could work for them. Nuke her shield and all that was keeping her safe from either lasers or particle accelerators would be her costume¡ªwhich wouldn¡¯t last too long.


    The bigger danger was that if they damaged her anti-voice buzzer in the process, they had a very strong ally.


    Of course, Izzy wasn¡¯t an idiot, she didn¡¯t just sit there and take it. She kept on flying, letting the beams touch her for no longer than an instant.


    Jaclyn wasn¡¯t an idiot either. She blasted through the group of Rook henchmen while they fired at Izzy. Here was the crazy thing, though. In the moments before she blew through, they began to back away from each other and spread out.


    They didn¡¯t spread out enough. Jaclyn knocked them down like bowling pins. Just like before though, they let themselves be knocked over but rolled back to their feet and fired back at her. Not a shot hit, of course. Anyway, her suit was made to resist lasers and particle accelerators.


    Over the comm, Jaclyn said, ¡°Go. Find Ana. We¡¯ll keep them back. Besides, the Probationers should be here any second now.¡±


    In my head, Daniel said, I¡¯m going to stay to take Cassie, Jaclyn, or Izzy down if they get controlled. Yoselin just decided to go with you.


    All of that had happened in seconds of time. I reached the door, hearing Yoselin say over the comm, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t go alone.¡±


    I didn¡¯t even try to argue with her. She was right.


    With a look through the windows with the suit¡¯s sensors, I decided that I didn¡¯t see any people inside, and I opened the door¡ªor tried. It was locked.


    Taking a couple of steps backward, I smashed into the door with my shoulder, crashing through the glass in the door, but hitting the metal handle on the inside of the door. It didn¡¯t break at first but held long enough that the metal doorframe warped and twisted.


    One step later, I¡¯d broken the door handle, pulled the door out of its hinges, and walked out of the shattered glass and twisted metal and into a room.

 Holes: Part 10

    Yoselin entered behind me, turning her head around as she entered, likely to make sure people weren¡¯t following us. Seemingly satisfied, she turned her head back toward me, following me in.


    It was bigger inside than I expected, not in the sense of being a timelord¡¯s extra-dimensional space, but in the sense that a quarter of a big building¡¯s basement turns out to be a large space anyway. That wasn¡¯t all of it either.


    If the outside reminded me of Higher Ground where we¡¯d tried to understand the secrets of Abominator technology, this room reminded me of that combined with my own lab back in the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s base. My gut feeling was that they weren¡¯t just trying to understand Abominator tech. They understood some of it and they were making more.


    It made sense. There wasn¡¯t much of a reason to teleport troops into this building unless they had something to protect, something valuable enough that they wanted to make sure they evacuated or destroyed it even though the building had already been identified as one of theirs and its deepest sections penetrated by hostile forces (us).


    That feeling was confirmed as I looked over the room in more detail.


    Long, wooden counters stood next to tables where fabrication machines and 3D printers stood ready for use. Boxes of materials were stacked next to the wall. Flat, fingernail-sized discs lay on the counters many of them open with their internal circuitry visible.


    On first look, it reminded me of work I¡¯d been doing to connect my implant to my suit¡¯s systems. Even as that thought went through my brain, my implant volunteered, ¡°Low tech implant following an Abominator design for worlds disconnected from Abominator infrastructure.¡±


    The implant then gave me an overview of Xiniti military campaigns on those worlds, adding that such implants were used to subjugate frontier worlds before adding them to the Abominators¡¯ ansible network.


    Behind me, Yoselin gasped, doubtless getting the same story from the Abominator perspective, ¡°Do you know what we¡¯re looking at?¡±


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    ¡°A great way to connect the True and anybody else the Nine need working together,¡± I started walking around the nearest counter and then jumped on top of it, jumping from one table to the next, aiming toward the elevator I saw in the middle of the back of the room.


    Yoselin jumped up after me and ran beside me as we jumped from one table to another, sometimes shattering the tables and equipment on top of them. It didn¡¯t take long to cross the room at that rate.


    We jumped off the table directly in front of the elevator and the door to the stairway off to its left. As I took a look at the elevator, which from the width of its double doors was sized like a cargo elevator, Yoselin said, ¡°Stairway?¡±


    Turning away and running with her toward the door to the stairwell, I heard Daniel¡¯s voice over the comm, ¡°Bad news. We won¡¯t be able to keep all of them off you. Accelerando and Blue knocked out the teleporter down here, but there¡¯s another somewhere else. They¡¯re coming down from one of the upper floors.¡±


    We entered the stairwell, letting the grey, metal door shut behind us. I stepped through first, running up the stairs. Yoselin stepped in after me as we both heard a sizzling noise and saw a flash of light through the door¡¯s window. Daniel had said that they were going to be fighting Rook¡¯s henchmen. This was probably them.


    I hoped they¡¯d be able to keep them outside instead of letting them in to follow us.


    Whatever would happen, that noise started us moving. We ran up the stairs, taking three or four stairs at a time, making it up to the second floor in seconds.


    Not knowing what level Ana was on, I pushed the door open to take a look. My eyes widened as I looked around, not that anyone could see them through my helmet.


    Much like the room below, it had waist-high counters, tables with machinery, and boxes full of parts. Here, though, the middle of the room had been cleared and a large object sat in the middle of the room. I didn¡¯t need my implant to identify it. I¡¯d seen other models¡ªtwo at this point. Not to mention a human version of the same.


    This was another.


    Though it only had four human-sized tubes sitting on top of a platform, it was set of Abominator birthing chambers. In this case, it was based on the Abominator design, but clearly human-constructed¡ªclearly because the sides of the platform were open, the machinery and electronics inside visible.


    Aiming my laser at the electronics in the platform, I burned them black. Then I ran into the room, picked up the platform and threw it out through the plate glass window.


    The window shattered, opening up half of that wall to the room outside. The birthing chambers fell, crashing to the ground.


    Then I ran back to the stairwell, following Yoselin upward. Though she¡¯d watched me destroy the birthing chambers, she didn¡¯t ask me why, only laughing as they crashed through the wall.

 Underground Tower: Part 1

    A look down at the floor below us told me what I need to know, the human-sized tubes had cracked all over, shattering one entirely and the top half of the one next to it. The platform the tubes rested on had also cracked with electronics and wires falling out of it, some of them still smoking from when I hit them with my laser.


    That was the good news.


    The bad news was different but related. Jaclyn darted from somewhere in a blur, slowing to punch one of the Rook suits. The suit flew backward, hitting the concrete wall some 20 feet behind him. Cracks appeared in the wall, but the henchman stepped away from it as if nothing had happened. Checking over the wings, which I¡¯d have expected to be damaged from the hit, I noted that they expanded and retracted without issue, probably to help with balance.


    Worse, the guy aimed his gun at Jaclyn at the same time that several others did, seemingly by chance, but from all Tara had told me, they fought like the True. Lasers fired at Jaclyn who was standing between two clusters of cubicles and in front of a block of tall metal cabinets.


    If it were anyone else, they¡¯d have had nowhere to go, but even as the bright beams opened up on her, she moved, becoming little more than a purple blur as she whipped to the right, moving in front of one of the cubicle clusters and then turning left when she reached the wall. Running along the wall, she ran through the group of henchmen, hitting all of them at least once because they shot in all directions before pulling themselves off the floor, undamaged.


    They aimed their lasers at where she¡¯d been and then fired again at the purple blur. Maybe they hit her a few times, but not enough for her suit to notify me.


    I stepped away from the window and toward Yoselin who only said, ¡°She¡¯s fast,¡± as we ran back toward the stairway, running through the now empty middle of the room.


    It didn¡¯t take long before we were running up to the next floor, one step after another under our booted feet. Even though we were in the middle of a life and death situation, it didn¡¯t stop my brain from considering something new that I¡¯d learned.


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    Whatever else might be true, Rook was winning if we were in a race to create a tough suit. I wasn¡¯t sure that I¡¯d do as well if Jaclyn punched me.


    Unasked for, Daniel¡¯s voice appeared in my brain, If I¡¯m right, you¡¯re about to find her or close to it. Don¡¯t take too long or it will get harder.


    I thought back in agreement, and paid attention to my surroundings. Yoselin and I stood near a grey painted, metal door with a small window near the top. Through the window, I could see another room like the one we¡¯d left, but not all of it. About ten feet ahead of us stood a series of tall, red metal cabinets. They blocked our view of half of the room.


    Over the comm I told Yoselin, ¡°I guess I¡¯ll go in.¡±


    The door was locked, but I smashed through it. I might have been able to pick the lock, but it didn¡¯t seem worth it.


    When I punched it,the door tore out of its frame and fell over. I stepped through the doorway, expecting to be attacked, and discovered once I stood next to the metal cabinets that the room was bigger than I thought.


    Looking to one side of the cabinets, I could see the part of the room that I expected to see¡ªthe part that faced into the larger basement. Much like the two levels below, it had machines for mass-producing parts, boxes to store materials for making those parts, cables, wires, and sheets of metal. There were no people inside.


    Unlike the rooms below, that part of the room wasn¡¯t all. Moving away from the section of wall containing the stairway and the elevator, I realized that it wasn¡¯t a wall like the others. Much like the building upstairs, this had a rectangular block containing the stairs and elevator and the area was open on either side of the block.


    Yoselin noticed too and even as I turned away from the expected part of the room, she¡¯d moved to stand next to the corner. Not seeing anything that caused her to stop, she moved around the corner and walked down the side of the wall, disappearing from my view.


    I followed her, moving around the corner and finding that she had flattened herself to the wall. More to the point, I saw into the room. It reminded me of Man-machine¡¯s underground base. Full to the ceiling with mechs, powered armor, and the materials for building them, it held mechs and powered armor in various states of assembly. Many but not all had the crow-like features of Rook¡¯s design. Others reminded me of Armory¡¯s work.


    Worse, there were people. On the far end, men and women work wore thin grey jumpsuits, but they weren¡¯t normal people. To my first glance, they all looked like Tara and they were putting on armor.


    Looking closer, there were more people behind the True. I couldn¡¯t tell for sure, but one of them resembled Ana.

 Underground Tower: Part 2

    Through my implant I heard Yoselin say, We¡¯re here for your cousin. If you think you can draw their attention, I¡¯ll try to get to her.


    Sure, I thought back at her, wondering how she intended to do it.


    Abominator tech, she thought back.


    Which figured.


    So it didn¡¯t entirely surprise me when she then faded out of sight. To be fair, it wasn¡¯t something I was expecting either.


    Moments later, I heard her say, I¡¯m out of your way. Go straight forward and I¡¯ll follow.


    I took a breath and walked fully around the corner, standing next to the wall and beginning to run down through the room. I didn¡¯t run for very long, though. Activating the rockets on my back, I flew, passing above the tables covered with mech parts, dodging tall metal cabinets and mostly assembled mechs.


    The True that had been getting into mechs as I initially looked around the corner shut themselves inside as I started flying. Then they started to move, acting with the same precision that I¡¯d seen them use against Jaclyn.


    They started with a barrage of burning bright light, whether it was laser or particle accelerator was something that I¡¯d have to ask them. All that mattered was that it wasn¡¯t powerful enough to take me out. It did damage the suit, though. For now, it was a negligible amount, but it would add up if they were anything like Tara.


    As I neared the main group, though, they stopped firing and two of them began to step forward. Even though I noticed their movements, twisted, and did what I could to dodge, they seemed to anticipate all of it, running more quickly than a normal human could hope to, propelled by the power of their suits, jumping from table to table.


    They caught me as I swerved to the right to avoid one. Then the other, who¡¯d been behind the first one, jumped toward me, grabbing me. Meanwhile, the one I¡¯d been trying to avoid turned and jumped toward me too, catching my right leg and pulling himself higher on my body.


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    The strength of his suit allowed his gloves to dig in, prompting low-level error messages. He wasn¡¯t any danger of breaking through, but knowing how quickly the True learned, I couldn¡¯t assume that he couldn''t figure out how if I gave him time.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I noted that more of them were running in my direction. If I kept on flying forward, I¡¯d go down in a pile of them. Worse, if their suits could take a beating from Jaclyn too, I might not be able to get them off me long enough for it to help.


    I whipped around, not losing either of them, but dragging both of them against the wall, pulling away, and then hitting them against it a second time. They¡¯d started trying to move away even before the first time they hit, but the beauty of having two people hanging on to one person is that there isn¡¯t much of anywhere to move.


    You can predict that I¡¯m going to slam you into the wall, but if your buddy is taking up the space you need to move into in order to dodge, you just have to put up with it.


    Better, if I then swerve in such a way that your body hits the nearest table and I don¡¯t stop flying (or lose control due to the impact), keep on turning as you try to climb onto the back of your fellow True, and force you into another table because there¡¯s nowhere to dodge? Well, then life sucks for you.


    That¡¯s what happened to one of the two. Either because he couldn¡¯t hang on, or more likely, because he realized that one person would work better at this point. Why he didn¡¯t figure that out earlier, I didn¡¯t know. Maybe the True didn¡¯t clone as perfectly as I assumed?


    Either way, it didn¡¯t matter because the remaining True was still hanging on me and punching at the rockets on my back. The first punch made the system status move from green to yellow. Even though it was already repairing itself, I had to bet that the next punch would damage it enough that it would shut down one of the rockets¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t the end of the world, but it would mean a loss of speed and maneuverability.


    I twisted in the air, rotating fast enough that he had to stop punching and hang on.


    With all the speed I¡¯d been using it didn¡¯t surprise me that I was nearly at the block enclosing the elevator and stairs and the entrance to the room.


    Still twisting, I turned around again, shooting forward to realize that the one I¡¯d scraped off my armor plus three more stood ahead of me, standing on top of tables, all of them ready to grapple me whichever side of the room I chose to use to get past them. Given the speed they¡¯d shown, at least one would, maybe more.


    Still rotating in the air, I loosed several boombots and hoped they¡¯d blow the True out of my way.

 Underground Tower: Part 3

    The True didn¡¯t make it easy for me. Even as I swerved toward the far left table in the line, they started running for me¡ªexcept for the one that was already there and waiting.


    The bots hit that one first, exploding and throwing him backward. They hit the other two at almost the same time, whipping around them and shooting them not backward, but forward in a fiery explosion, generally in the opposite direction that I was flying.


    That had been my plan after all. If I couldn¡¯t take them out, I could at least slow them down. Given that I hadn¡¯t seen them fly yet, it might be that they couldn¡¯t. Given that this appeared to be the lab where they were made, they might not be finished.


    It would be nice for the universe to throw me a bone.


    As I flew forward, passing over the True I¡¯d just blown backward, the universe at least threw me a small bone. The True aimed his suit¡¯s gun upward but, still struggling to stand, couldn¡¯t move fast enough to hit me. The white beam hit the ceiling above him, causing chunks of concrete and dust to fall.


    That left the True that was still on me. I even had an idea for that one even if it wasn¡¯t an idea that I liked. Still, the nice thing about near invulnerable opponents is that you don¡¯t have to hold back.


    At my internship, I¡¯d had to give some thought to plastique near the end of the summer when all hell broke loose. It struck me afterward that there might be a time that I might want to place a shaped charge with a bot. So, I designed one and had a few on me.


    I fired off a couple and they shot forward, flipped over, one of them hitting the joint near the True¡¯s right hand and the other hitting the True¡¯s suit directly in the middle of the faceplate. Both of them stuck where they hit.


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    From the tilt of the True¡¯s helmet, I could tell that he noticed the one on his hand as well as the one on his faceplate, offering him an annoying problem¡ªhow to remove the bots without letting go of me. It barely took any time for him to come up with part of the solution. He began to move his head closer to me, probably with the intent to rub the bot off on me if he could.


    He never got the chance because I set the bots to explode.


    In a flash of red and yellow flame, the bots exploded and the True let go, screaming¡ªwhich was good because it meant that he was alive, something I thought I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about.


    It suddenly became a question in the moment that I noticed that the faceplate was a spiderweb of cracked glass. It didn¡¯t seem to be broken, but it was damaged to a point that seeing out of it wouldn¡¯t be easy.


    He hit the ground and started pulling himself up using his right hand. The metal near the joint was discolored, but it didn¡¯t seem to work any worse. At least that¡¯s what I thought, but then it wobbled for a moment.


    Having come out of the spin I¡¯d been using to keep him distracted, I found myself going diagonally across the room instead of straight as I¡¯d intended. It wasn¡¯t all bad in that it gave me a moment to collect my thoughts as I straightened myself out.


    I hadn¡¯t expected the plastique bots to do much of anything. To be fair, I¡¯d used a shaped charge and the technology I used was a mix of Grandpa¡¯s ideas, my own, and ideas inspired by technology from the implant¡¯s records. Still, it showed that the faceplate might be a weak point. Helped by my implant, I knew that wasn¡¯t where Jaclyn had punched.


    I needed to let Jaclyn and Izzy know as soon as possible but now wasn¡¯t good for me.


    Ahead of me lay more True, some in powered armor and some in mechs and at this moment I couldn¡¯t see Ana anymore. I didn¡¯t know whether that meant that she¡¯d disappeared into a mech or if she¡¯d left.


    I pinged Yoselin through my implant, Where¡¯s Ana?¡±


    Yoselin replied, She¡¯s in powered armor and she¡¯s leaving. I¡¯m following. I think they¡¯re going up to the next level.


    Well, I thought about that, looking at the True in armor ahead of me. There were at least ten of them. The ones behind me were already running after me, jumping from table to table. I guess I¡¯ll have to get through.


    Hurry, she thought at me.


    That was easier said than done, but I told her, I¡¯ll try.

 Underground Tower: Part 4

    Looking at the group of mechs ahead of me, I had to ask myself the next question, ¡°How?¡±


    I didn¡¯t have a pile of plastique bots and while they¡¯d worked on one guy, they were designed with unmoving objects like walls in mind. I had a few killbots, but the last time I¡¯d fought people in Rook¡¯s armor, the killbots didn¡¯t work. Plus, I didn¡¯t want to kill them anyway.


    So, I decided to target their faceplates with boombots, figuring that killing them wasn¡¯t possible, but it¡¯d at least be a distraction. The only problem was that I¡¯d just done it and bearing in mind that I was fighting True, they¡¯d anticipate it.


    They already were, and not just the ones in front of me. Spreading out as if they could read each other¡¯s minds, some of them moving deeper into the room so that even if I got past one of them there would still be more, they began to fire at me as one.


    I dipped and weaved in the air, doing best to evade, but I still got it¡ªa lot. In seconds, weaponized particle accelerators dropped my suit¡¯s protection by 25%.


    Diving nearly to the floor, I shot under the tables as I flew toward the group of them, hopefully making it harder to hit me, but also shattering any chairs in my way.


    I also had a better idea. Noting that one of the big mechs (around 10 feet tall) had started moving toward the right side of the wall, I changed my mind, aimed for the middle, and rather than aiming at their helmets, I aimed at the ceiling directly in front of all of them and then at the helmets of the ones in the center of the room.


    It wasn¡¯t cheap in terms of boombots, but it was all I could come up with. Besides, I wasn¡¯t out. I was just getting lower, and it was worth it.


    Chunks of concrete fell from the ceiling¡ªmore than I¡¯d expected. The way they¡¯d spread out made it worse as the explosions didn¡¯t just blow holes in a line on the ceiling. A jagged hole opened up and not only concrete but also tables, chairs, and a tank filled with some kind of yellow liquid fell through the hole, shattered, and spilled on the floor, hissing as it came in contact.


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    A glance ahead showed that Ana and the people with her were gone, hopefully upward. I didn¡¯t have time to ask. I shot upward through the shattered floor, ignoring the clouds of yellow in the air below me.


    My implant identified the water and gas as a waste product from an Abominator armor creation process. It was dangerous to humans with the potential for long-term lung damage among other issues. I wondered how the Nine planned to dispose of it but decided not to think about it.


    When you were a multi-national criminal organization, illegal toxic waste disposal might be the least of your crimes.


    I left waste disposal issues behind the moment I flew through the hole into the next floor. The tank of yellow liquid wasn¡¯t the only one in this room. Longer than the building above us, tanks of liquid-filled this floor, most of them with objects in the flat, multi-level tanks. Though I couldn¡¯t see it happen, my implant uploaded details of Abominator manufacturing processes, informing me that the objects inside were forming by means of nanomachines in the liquid.


    As tempted as I was to trash everything in the room, it seemed like a bad idea.


    Not seeing anyone on the floor, I ran for an aisle. The tanks rose to the ceiling. I knew I wasn¡¯t flying over them. As I did, I pinged Yoselin, Where are you?


    Her reply came back with a stronger accent than she normally had along with pauses that I assumed came from running, They¡¯re running up the stairs on the far end of the room. They¡¯re moving quickly. Hurry. By the way, your cousin seems very comfortable in a suit.


    That was not good news. It made her situation lean farther in the direction of mind control or honest agreement with the Nine¡¯s goals and away from unwilling hostage.


    Reaching the aisle along the right side of the room, I activated the rockets and shot away, reaching the far end of the room in seconds, hearing thumping noises from behind me. The True had to be jumping up after me.


    I whipped around the corner, disappearing behind crates of material, probably material for whatever process they were using. I spotted a doorway halfway down the wall and ran to it. There was no reason to stick around long enough for the True downstairs to catch up.


    Passing crate after wooden crate on one side and grey concrete wall on the other, I concentrated on running only to find Daniel¡¯s voice in my head, We¡¯re coming up to join you. We¡¯ve done what we can, but they keep on getting up. Blue¡¯s getting tired, and Accelerando¡¯s suit¡¯s in danger of burning away.


    I checked the group¡¯s status in my helmet. Daniel was right. Jaclyn¡¯s suit¡¯s status had turned red.


    Okay, I said, but go straight for at least the fifth floor. There¡¯s toxic waste below that.

 Underground Tower: Part 5

    I didn¡¯t need to explain the toxic waste comment, Daniel caught the gist of it from my head.


    Got it, he said, but then I felt a pulse of worry from him. One more thing¡­ They¡¯ve got mental shields built into their suits, so I can¡¯t get a read on what they¡¯re thinking, but I did learn something. One of them jumped up and tried to grab me. I knew it was coming before he did, but still, I only barely got away. As he got close though, I got a flash of Rook talking about the armor. I heard one word, ¡®stasis.¡¯


    In that moment, it came together. Rook might not have been able to come up with that on his own, but I¡¯d heard him talk with Victor about an Abominator site on Mars¡ªsomething Master Martian more or less confirmed was at least true in his universe. In the intervening year, Rook could have flown to Mars and ransacked the base.


    The only problem with the idea was that I¡¯d managed to damage one of the suits. If the suits¡¯ materials were stuck in time, I couldn¡¯t have hurt them. On the other hand, I¡¯d hurt the faceplate and one of the joints¡ªnot one of the big plates.


    Mulling this over in my head, I found the doorway and the elevator entrance, stepped into the stairwell, and began running up the stairs.


    Still thinking about it, I stopped on the next floor up, pointed my head through the doorway, and saw another floor of tanks full of colored liquid with shelved suit parts in the process of being created.


    I didn¡¯t see Ana or any of the True''s mechs, however. Checking my HUD to confirm my assumption, I saw that Yoselin¡¯s suit was above me. The concrete floors didn¡¯t make it easy to tell exactly how far, but it was enough, I ran up the stairs to find them.


    As I did that, another thought struck me. Of course, I¡¯d managed to damage the joint and the faceplate. If you could stop time, it seems like it¡¯d be a lot harder to do it on moving parts because then they wouldn¡¯t move. As for the faceplate, it seemed likely that freezing the faceplate in time would result in not seeing anything through it.


    It seemed like you might be able to mitigate that by having the stasis field flicker multiple times in a second, but if turning the field on and off cost a lot of power, you might not be able to do that.


    Following the stairway upward as it turned around, I heard Daniel in my mind again, We¡¯re on the floor below you. The True are following, but they can¡¯t fly.


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    Cool, I thought back and made it to the door of the next floor and felt the hum of a huge machine through the floor. Checking my HUD, I saw that Yoselin was probably on the other side of the gray, metal door in front of me.


    A quick check with my sensors gave me the expected picture of fuzzy shapes on the other side of the door. Connecting to Yoselin¡¯s implant, I thought, What¡¯s the situation? I think I¡¯ve found you.


    She responded with, A lot of True in mechs. They¡¯re having an issue getting the teleporter powered up.


    Talking over her, the Atoner¡¯s voice came over the official comm channel that maybe we should have been using, ¡°We¡¯re in the basement. Where are you?¡±


    I said, ¡°Go down and you¡¯ll get to a point where you can see into the basement. On the left is a kind of tower. Get to the top floor and go down or better, if you see a floor with a lot of people, that¡¯s the one you hit. It¡¯s probably the seventh. Also, they¡¯re wearing powered armor. It¡¯s tough. Faceplates and joints are weaker. If you¡¯ve got something that can shatter stasis fields, use it. They¡¯ve got them.¡±


    Dr. Transylvania¡¯s icon flickered and he asked, ¡°Have any of you tried magic?¡±


    ¡°None of us can do it,¡± I readied myself to open the door, wondering if I should go through or wait for everyone else.


    ¡°A pity. I¡¯d think that you¡¯d pick it up if only for the flexibility,¡± he said, his voice ending the phrase in a rasp that left me wondering how differently undead lungs handled speech.


    I was about to reply that some of us did use magic, but just not the group here today when I heard the same commanding voice that I¡¯d heard before I entered the tower.


    The Amethyst Archer, or whatever she called herself now, spoke with a voice that I could hear through the door, ¡°Get it working now. I don¡¯t care what you have to do.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have time to wait. I had to go through now and since the Rocket suit wasn¡¯t great for stealth, I went with surprise. Smashing through the door, I heard the metal screech and saw it crumple as I went through. Throwing the door to the side, I stepped inside, finding myself in a room that seemed to be half-filled with grey metal boxes and thick cables that ran from the boxes to a square metal platform that might have been forty feet across either way.


    People in Rook suits stood on either side of the platform, but none of them stood on it.


    Ana¡¯s mech, a red and black model, stood next to a dark-haired woman in a black suit who happened to be carrying a longbow¡ªan odd combination made odder by the quiver on her back.


    The Rook suited people nearest me turned in my direction, beginning to run toward me. As my heart beat more quickly, I wondered how I was going to handle these people. I¡¯d survived fighting five or so downstairs, but there were more than 20 here.


    Activating the rockets with the idea of flying over them, another thought struck me. Kee could manipulate time. I couldn¡¯t use it as she could, but I might be able to disrupt Rook¡¯s stasis field. It was just a question of how.

 Underground Tower: Part 6

    Feeling the rockets throw me forward, I weaved through the air, doing my best to be hard to hit, knowing that the True could predict my moves before I made them¡ªif they had enough information.


    Half of the True ran forward, but only on this side of the room. It made flying across the room and following the far wall seem like the best option except that the True would be trying to trick me into a bad choice. Flying across the room would allow the whole group more time to fire at me and flying next to the far wall would do more of the same.


    I chose not to. Instead, I turned and flew toward them, dipping downward as if I planned to ram one of the silvery Rook suits in front of me and then shooting upward and to the left to move between two of them. It wasn¡¯t as if there were enough of them to stand close and hold hands or something.


    That¡¯s where it went wrong. The True to my left had anticipated this exact maneuver, jumping at me as I passed, grabbing me around my chest, and hanging from my back. The blast of the rockets wasn¡¯t enough to through the True off, and worse, it made it harder to dodge the True in front of me.


    Another jumped on, this one from the right, hanging with his left arm and pointing his right arm with its laser at my helmet, shouting, ¡°Surrender!¡±


    I¡¯d been holding my arms ahead of myself, Superman-style, and so neither of them controlled my arms. I brought down my right arm, putting the end of the sonics under my arm directly next to the joint at the elbow of the arm he was using to hang on to me and using the maximum volume.


    If it had any effect, I didn¡¯t notice. Fortunately, that wasn¡¯t the only thing I was trying. I also dipped downward, hitting the guy against the massive grey metal platform, causing all three of us to crash into it and roll.The suits were strong and you could grab onto something, but I doubted they were as good at grabbing people as hitting them. I knew the Rocket suit wasn¡¯t.


    All three of us lost hold of each other, rolling across the platform¡ªexcept for me. I was skidding across the platform, rockets still pushing me forward. Knowing that being on top of a semi-working teleportation platform was not a good place to be, I took to the air, angling the rockets upward and flying toward the Amethyst Archer, and Ana, wondering what I was going to do when I reached them.


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    The Amethyst Archer didn¡¯t have any of those questions. She pulled up her bow and fired two arrows at me. What was even crazier was that she hit. The first one hit my chest and exploded, but aside from the heat didn¡¯t do much damage.


    The second arrow could have killed me though. It hit in the middle of my helmet and would have gone straight through if the system I¡¯d installed to protect against killbots hadn¡¯t activated.


    I¡¯d have been crazy not to put that in after having fought Rook¡¯s killbot-enhanced crowbots at the end of my internship at Higher Ground.


    I was within 20 feet of them by then, having decided that the best thing I could do would be to take out the Amethyst Archer and maybe Ana if I had to, given that the Amethyst Archer had to be a ¡°motivator¡± by the Human Ascendancy¡¯s standards.


    It¡¯s in moments like that, where you¡¯ve figured out what you¡¯re going to do, that everything goes crazy.


    Even as I fired off a goobot, the Amethyst Archer gave the inevitable command, ¡°Kill the Rocket!¡±


    The swarm of 20 plus True were already running across the platform after me, joined by more from the floors below that were coming up through the stairs. If that weren¡¯t enough, Izzy and Jaclyn blasted through the glass on the far end of the room, the part that extended into the open basement.


    Worse, they weren¡¯t alone. A cloud of Rook suited True from the other teleporter flew up after them. Where Daniel and Cassie were was something I didn¡¯t have time to pay attention to at that moment.


    Arguably, I didn¡¯t have time to pay attention to Izzy, Jaclyn, and all the True behind them either, but thanks to my helmet¡¯s wide field of vision, it barely took thought.


    As much as the site of a malfunctioning teleporter didn¡¯t seem to be the best location for a fight, it was what we got. I didn¡¯t have time to give that much thought because at the same time that everyone and their dog began to enter the room, two other things also happened.


    The Amethyst Archer buckled as if she¡¯d been punched in the stomach by an invisible opponent.


    I¡¯d have been running over there to help Yoselin except for the other thing. The red and black suit that I¡¯d seen Ana get into jumped onto the teleporter platform and ran at me.


    It was time to find out how familiar with her suit Ana was.

 Underground Tower: Part 7

    As Ana ran for me, her suit¡¯s color changed, turning silver¡ªwhich told me a lot. First, that all of thesuits might be able to turn on stasis and second, that they didn¡¯t do it all the time. If I had to guess, that would be because it sucked power¡ªwhich meant that we might be able to outlast them.


    It made me wonder if it was possible to power a plate of armor with a battery that was inside the plate. In theory, assuming it stopped time in the right moment, that could last forever. The fact that they didn¡¯t seem to be doing it that way indicated that it was more complicated than I assumed.


    Knowing that I didn¡¯t have time to think about tech, I swerved around Ana, swinging around her back, trying to figure out my next move. Assuming that I was right in guessing that I was dealing with stasis, it had to be turning that off.


    Ana twisted toward me, aiming the gun under her arm and firing a white beam at me. It hit for a moment, throwing error messages under my suit¡¯s status and noting that I¡¯d lost another percentage of protection.


    I circled in front of her, moving around too quickly for her to get off another shot.


    Kee had been teaching me the building blocks that would lead to faster than light travel and direct communication (as opposed to using the communication system we used now), but I wasn¡¯t anywhere near being able to use them. I might not be able to travel that way for another hundred years, but I¡¯d reached a point where I was able to manifest something equivalent to a very small stasis field. It was far too small to cover me, but it was enough to allow me to connect to the place where Kee could teach me.


    Though I might not be able to do much constructive with it, if I created one that included part of another stasis field, I might be able to destroy it. Of course, it might also be that there would be unanticipated alternate effects.


    I might be better off hitting her faceplate with the associated risk of hitting it too hard and turning her head to mush.


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    I didn¡¯t have much time to make decisions because out of the corner of my eye, I could already see beams directed at Jaclyn and Izzy, the blast of Cassie¡¯s gun, and though I could feel both Daniel¡¯s anxiety and his analytical mind moving, I didn¡¯t need to because I could hear him over the comms directing everyone.


    ¡°Keep moving. Don¡¯t cluster. If Blue and Accelerando keep on throwing them out through the windows or at the teleportation plate. That increases our chances of survival. Cap keep on targeting faceplates and joints, but¡ª¡° a flash of white light obscured the far end of the room, and Daniel paused, ¡°wide angle blasts are great. Everyone try to get to the Rocket¡¯s end of the room¡ªpast the teleporter. It¡¯ll help. I don¡¯t know why, but I¡¯ve got a guess.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have time to think about it. I had to choose¡ªstraight physical action or timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly bullshit.


    The universe didn¡¯t cooperate. As I whipped around Ana¡¯s mech¡¯s silvery back, a bluish-white force field bubble appeared around her¡ªwhich struck me as overkill, personally. I¡¯m all for redundancy in design where needed, but force fields took a distant second place to plates of armor in stasis. To be fair, it did fix the faceplate and joint vulnerabilities, but all the suit needed was smaller fields over the weak points.


    I hoped it wasn¡¯t Ana¡¯s idea. I¡¯d assumed better of her.


    Aside from which, I knew how to handle force fields, even ones based on Abominator tech. My sonics worked (most of the time).


    I¡¯d only begun to aim the sonics when the force field wobbled, extending itself in what I could best describe as a pseudopod that slammed into my armor, giving a solid hit that prompted a wave of repair notifications and knocked me backward into a group of Rook suited True who acted as one, pulling me out of the air, slamming me to the teleportation platform and slamming their clawed fists against me, some of them raking me with monomolecular wire enhanced claws.


    The claws didn¡¯t do much. As designed, the upper layers of nanotech broke up the wire, blunting their claws. I blasted away with the rockets, kicked, punched, and even fired the sonics in hope that they¡¯d knocked something vulnerable loose inside the suits.


    In the end, I got away more due to the relative strength of my suit compared to theirs. My kicks threw their legs out from under them. My punches knocked them a few feet backward and I even threw a couple¡ªone into the wall and the other into a clump of new opponents running this way.


    Flying away from them and swerving to aim myself at Ana and her suit, I aimed the sonics at the force field, narrowcasting the beams so they hit two nearby spots on her force field. The spots around the damage wobbled and the force field popped.

 Underground Tower: Part 8

    What was disappointing though, was how the force field regenerated before my eyes in an instant. Noticing that, I swerved to the right, whipping around her toward the wall behind her with the idea that I¡¯d be able to go around her back.


    For a change, an idea that struck me as questionable even as I put it into practice worked. The force field generated a pseudopod and struck at me except this time it missed, possibly because she didn¡¯t have as wide a perspective in her helmet or possibly because I¡¯d moved too quickly.


    Either way, I whipped around behind her and came around her side, avoiding another pseudopod by going wide. As I came around, I noticed two men out of the corner of my eye. These guys stood near the back of the room next to the wall on the other side. One wore a flannel shirt, jeans, and a tool belt. The other wore a light blue shirt and black slacks. They had the doors open on a grey-painted metal box almost as tall as they were and half as wide.


    Boxes of tools lay on the ground next to them. These must have been the people who were being shouted at to fix the teleporter when we came in.


    I didn¡¯t have time to do anything about them.


    Daniel¡¯s voice sounded in my head, I¡¯ll see what I can manage.


    We had that respect for necessity combined with an appreciation of the difficulty in common. I still had to figure out what I could do too, especially since I was coming around and Ana had to have something more to work with than slapping me with force fields.


    She did. Even though it felt like she was moving in slow motion, she wasn¡¯t. A collection of spots on the force field began to glow and shot forward like spears.


    The Xiniti implant in my head offered up that the Abominators used force fields to puncture armor and that it was still used in the areas of the galaxy that they¡¯d conquered.


    I shut it up before it distracted me, dipping below the lines that had appeared in front of me even as more shot out, scraping against my armor, and sending more damage notifications. My abdomen had more than 50% damage though the repair was in process. Bits of ceramic littered the metal platform below me, reminding me more of chalk than anything else.


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    Spinning, I dipped below the spikes of force, realizing that force fields could thin to the point of being close to a monomolecular blade and that my defenses didn¡¯t work as well as against my killbot tech.


    The other thing I realized was that Ana was trying to kill, so I either had to come up with something now or let her go.


    I let my momentum carry me away from her and out of range, but not too far away. In the main area of the room, flashes of light, shouts, and the blur of Jaclyn and Izzy¡¯s movement. I didn¡¯t have time to count, but it seemed as though there were more True as opposed to less but not due to lack of effort. Jaclyn and Izzy threw more than 15 out of the room through the now shattered windows.


    That wasn¡¯t the only fight either. As I centered my attention back on Ana, I saw that the Amethyst Archer was down on the ground, getting punched by Yoselin¡¯s invisible fists.


    Even as I noticed that I also noticed that Ana had turned toward Yoselin and begun to extend spears of force in her direction.


    Activating the sonics, I targeted the spears with the smallest circles of force that I could manage while still targeting all of them.


    The nearest spears shattered as the power ramped up and the farther ones disappeared once they were directly in the line of fire.Knowing that I couldn¡¯t leave Ana alone for even a second, I decided to finish this now if I could.


    Turning my sonics toward Ana, I amped up their power, concentrating the sound on two spots nearest me, roughly at stomach level. Then I turned off the rockets and dropped to the ground, letting power that (according to Kee) I was absorbing from alternate universes flow through me, concentrating it about a foot ahead of my body.


    I hoped I¡¯d be able to keep it going. While I¡¯d managed to use the most basic of my abilities in combat, I¡¯d only ever used this while meditating before now and the assumption that I¡¯d ¡°used¡± it was questionable. I''d been told that I could handle only a hundredth of the energy I needed to turn it into a tool.


    As I stepped forward, sonics blaring, an invisible mote of malleable time floating in front of me, the Amethyst Archer glanced in my direction, eyes blinking as she tried to push Yoselin away, but almost as if she could sense something.


    Not knowing whether that was a coincidence or if I should be terrified, I leaped toward Ana, the sonics continuous operation knocking her shield down even as it tried to reform.


    In two long steps, I made it to her, letting the mote hang in the air in front of me, pushing it forward toward Ana¡¯s chest plate.

 Underground Tower: Part 9

    It touched the plate, the silvery color wobbling at the edges and then I let more energy through, wondering how long I¡¯d be able to keep it going and how large I could make it. It¡¯s not that I hadn¡¯t experimented, but there was a difference between expanding a mote to include a desk or sphere of air versus an object attached to a person who might choose to move.


    I felt fairly sure I could expand it to include the chest plate and keep it going for a while though, so I took a shot at it.


    Letting otherworldly energy flow through me and around the chest plate, I used a technique that Kee had described as a building block for coming out of faster than light travel, allowing you to move back into the normal time stream.


    She hadn¡¯t described it as being exactly what you¡¯d use to turn off a stasis field, so I hoped there weren¡¯t unanticipated consequences. Given that I didn¡¯t fully understand what she was teaching me to do yet, it was a distinct possibility.


    In an instant, the chest plate turned black like most of the other Rook suits I¡¯d seen, but it didn¡¯t quite look right. I didn¡¯t have the words to describe how it looked wrong. How do you describe time visually? The best I can do is to say that even though it was no longer silver to the point of being reflective, I could sometimes see silvery spots that would disappear.


    It was almost as if I wasn¡¯t distributing the energy necessary to move the plate out of stasis perfectly evenly.


    I let a touch more energy through and the spots disappeared, but that left me with another problem. How was I going to win this fight? Punch Ana on the chest plate? No. I didn¡¯t want to kill her. I had another option. Using my implant, I reached into my suit¡¯s systems and changed which selection of bots were ready to fire, and then¡ª


    A fist hit me in the side of my helmet. A quick replay combined with a guess based on who was throwing the next punch revealed that it had been one of the True using their own speed combined with the Rook suit¡¯s strength to close with me before I had time to notice.


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    Somehow I kept concentrating on keeping my anti-stasis field going, but Ana¡¯s force field reformed as the True kept on punching me and I struggled to keep my balance. Except then I realized that I didn¡¯t have to keep my balance. When the next punch, I let myself fall backward, giving the rockets a blast of power and shooting me backward and allowing me to fly away, twist around Ana and fire off a couple of goobots at him. They hit, spreading out to hit both the floor below and the ceiling above.


    That left me near enough to Ana that she could still reach me and she did, a collection of needle-thin spears of force extending outward toward me. I swerved to the side to give myself time and shot toward the far side of the room, swerving back even as she turned, trying to keep the spears pointed in my direction.


    I aimed the sonics at them and they again shattered. Her force field shattered with them and I fired off the EMPbots I¡¯d been intending to release before I got hit.


    The bots shot off, heading for the edges near the top of the chest plate on the theory that might be closer to something important.


    The bots didn¡¯t explode the same way the boombots did. It was more of a small flash, a sizzle, and black smoke.


    Ana¡¯s suit didn¡¯t fall over or even stop moving, but I could see a jerkiness to her next step and a wobble when she moved her arms. Better, the bots¡¯ effects didn¡¯t stop there. Rook had at least tried to prevent EMPs from affecting his suits, but the same couldn¡¯t be said to be true of the teleporter or its controls.


    As the bots exploded, I saw a flicker of sparks within the platform followed by darkness and not just there. The two men working on the big gray box that either hid the teleporter¡¯s controls or core components jumped back as sparks flew out and then stopped.


    The one in the blue shirt and black slacks hit his chest with open hands as if a few of the sparks might have hit his shirt. The other guy, the one in a flannel shirt who¡¯d been leaning into the box with tools fell backward out of it, landing on his back.


    I didn¡¯t have time to pay attention to them, though, because there was too much to pay attention to with Ana. Everywhere her suit had turned silver, it had now turned black and red¡ªits original colors. More than that, she was wobbling on her feet.


    I wasn¡¯t sure, but it seemed like we¡¯d won¡ªkind of. Even if Ana wasn¡¯t out, Yoselin had knocked the woman I was calling the Amethyst Archer in my head out and had thrown the unconscious body over her shoulder.


    Unfortunately, even though Izzy and Jaclyn had taken out most of the original group of True out of the fight, there were still more coming up the stairs and flying through the windows on the far end of the room.

 Underground Tower: Part 10

    I aimed my sonics at Ana¡¯s suit. Even though firing them off was something of a crapshoot and you never knew what you¡¯d damage, you generally damaged something, sometimes even something important. Given that Ana¡¯s suit was no longer protected by either stasis or a force field, I had a real chance now.


    Despite that, it didn¡¯t spark, blow smoke, or stop moving.


    Even though her suit wobbled, she still took a punch at me. It missed, passing a few inches in front of my helmet.


    Meanwhile, Jaclyn¡¯s suit monitor showed a sliver of red, meaning that it was done. All it could do was cover her now. It wasn¡¯t giving any protection¡ªwhich didn¡¯t mean she was down. She blurred across the room, throwing True into another Rook suited True. Izzy meanwhile was on the ground doing much of the same, but standing next to Cassie who¡¯d given up on using her gun and seemed to have grabbed all of everyone else¡¯s goo grenades, making a wall of stuck True in front of her, all of whom were trying to rip their way free of the goo.


    This was good because Izzy barely seemed to be moving. It wasn¡¯t that she wasn¡¯t doing anything. She¡¯d step and throw a punch that knocked the nearest moving True down the room, smashing over several of his teammates, and falling out of the far window. Still, she was taking as few steps as possible to do it and wasn¡¯t flying unless she absolutely had to¡ªflying across the room to stop a True heading for us and then dropping to the floor to punch him and walk back to cover.


    That was the moment when I realized the obvious. We were done.


    Ana wasn¡¯t in the greatest of shape either¡ªeven if my sonics hadn¡¯t done much by comparison to the EMPbots. Using my implant to operate my comm as I threw a punch that knocked Ana¡¯s suit on its back, I said what I could, ¡°If Blue or Accelerando grabs Ana, we can leave.¡±


    Ana tried to pull herself up, but noises came from inside the suit, throwing her backward and straightening her legs and arms. They didn¡¯t move after that. It was as if they¡¯d frozen in place.


    Daniel, who¡¯d picked up the Amethyst Archer with his mind and was floating her next to Yoselin, said, ¡°Atoner? Everyone with you should stay away from the window side and definitely shouldn¡¯t be on the floor below.¡±


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    ¡°We¡¯re coming from above,¡± Atoner said, ¡°as per your earlier directions.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± Daniel said, glancing over at Jaclyn and Izzy.


    Whether Daniel told them what to do or whether he anticipated it, I didn¡¯t know, but knowing Jaclyn, it was more likely her than him.


    Jaclyn and Izzy looked at each other and simultaneously slammed their feet into the floor, hitting the teleportation platform and smashing through the metal plates, the equipment below them, and finally into the floor below that.


    At that moment, a loud cracking noise began, the kind of noise that makes a person worry about the structural integrity of the floor. It began with their kicks, but continued and didn¡¯t stop. In fact, the cracks grew louder and the floor to on the windows side dipped, starting just past Izzy and Jaclyn and losing at least a foot of height below the windows.


    The True who¡¯d been flying upward to come through the broken windows dropped back out, flying away, their enhanced ability to analyze data telling them something a much stupider person could figure out too¡ªbattery-powered stasis armor won¡¯t hold out forever, making hanging out in a falling building a bad idea.


    The other True, the ones that didn¡¯t have working wings had another problem. Were they going to stay and try to fight us or try to escape? Their routes for escape amounted to the stairs off to the side or jumping out of the window and hoping that stasis plus their armor would stop them from being crushed.


    Well, that¡¯s what I thought their choices were. It turned out that there was at least one more. The True stuck their claws into the concrete and crawled up the sides, or, even leaped upward out of the broken window and caught the floor above, pulling themselves upward¡ªexcept for the one person who missed. He fell.


    A group of them did run toward the stairs, going upward, and they were right to do it, I realized. We weren¡¯t going down. If we went out of the window, we¡¯d probably be shot at by True that had to be out there waiting. We had to go up.


    ¡°They¡¯ll know we¡¯re coming,¡± Daniel pointed up at the far right corner of the ceiling, ¡°If Blue or Accelerando could break through that spot, it¡¯ll be a surprise.¡±


    Before Izzy or Jaclyn could do anything, a bright, white beam of light annihilated the spot. As the remaining bits of concrete and dust fell, Cassie ran toward it, the gun that she¡¯d used to create the hole still in her hand.


    Meanwhile, the two civilians who¡¯d been trying to fix the teleporter stared at us opened mouthed¡ªwell either at us or at the half of the teleportation platform that was sliding toward the far end of the room.


    ¡°You¡¯ll want to take the stairs,¡± I said, ¡°but you might want to wait before you do that because of, you know, the fighting. That said, you won¡¯t want to take too long because this whole place might fall.¡±


    They stopped staring at the platform to stare at me.


    Cassie ran between us, aiming for the hole she¡¯d just made, ¡°Rocket! Move!¡±

 Underground Tower: Part 11

    After all that Izzy and Jaclyn had done and the damage they¡¯d taken, I probably was the person most ready to take point. The Rocket suit might not be in perfect shape, but I could take a few shots from the True I knew had to be up there.


    Of course, Cassie was already moving. She jumped through the hole in the ceiling even as I aimed myself in that direction. I shot off a bot to scout as she passed me because I wanted to know what was up there if I could.


    My bot got up there at the same time as Cassie, giving me a picture of an empty room this time, gray concrete on the ceiling, the walls, and the floor. The one thing that wasn¡¯t gray was the Rook-suited True crawling up the windowed side of the room.


    One other detail about the room didn¡¯t stand out until I flew up there myself¡ªthe spiderweb of cracks across the floor. Izzy and Jaclyn had done more damage when they¡¯d stomped on the floor than any of us had realized.


    More interesting, the True weren¡¯t even trying to engage. They were hurrying upward as quickly as they could make one hand reach over the other.


    They¡¯d noticed more than we had.


    I barely had time to explore that thought and had begun to say, ¡°Blue¡ª¡° even as I used the sound-based slice of my sensors to take a look at the area. I couldn¡¯t see to the depth that Izzy could, but the sonics showed fuzzy sections where I was getting more noise back than I¡¯d expected from what I¡¯d sent.


    It didn¡¯t take much to guess that that might be the sound of cracking.


    The nearest ones seemed to be centered around support beams near where they¡¯d damaged the floor. The fuzziness increased as it went further away from me, becoming its greatest at the far end of the room.


    That was the end that dropped a few feet after Izzy and Accelerando attacked the floor.


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    Izzy talked over my attempt to get her attention, ¡°We need to get out of here. This whole place is going to fall in.¡±


    We didn¡¯t take any time to discuss anything after that as Izzy knocked a hole in the ceiling, allowing us to fly toward the next floor up. Following behind Izzy, Cassie, and Jaclyn, I helped knock pieces of concrete to the side so that they wouldn¡¯t hit Daniel, Yoselin, or their captives.


    Even before we¡¯d gone through the new hole, we heard a rumbling followed by a deep, crashing noise that I felt even though I was in the air.


    For a moment, I expected everything to come falling down on top of us, but it didn¡¯t. We flew through to another room, this one filled with wooden crates that we didn¡¯t have time to investigate.


    We had to be getting close to the top floor even if we weren¡¯t quite there. Jaclyn took the next entry, dropping to the side of the hole we had just come through, and jumping upward, shattering the ceiling, throwing chunks upward, and creating a shower of concrete dust along with some small pieces.


    But that wasn¡¯t all. Along with the dust came flashes of bright light and a muttered curse from Jaclyn. Izzy and I shot up after her, Cassie following us. This was another floor full of wooden and metal crates, many of them large enough to hold full mechs.


    Standing behind the crates were True, some of them with silvery armor, others in the more familiar all black. All of them were firing at us, seeming to hit with every shot and from every direction.


    You could see that as an example of the True¡¯s ability to extrapolate the best approach to a problem based on small, not obviously related bits of data, or maybe (and less impressive) once Jaclyn broke through, it was obvious where we¡¯d be.


    I didn¡¯t have time to mentally debate the merits of either one. Beams hit my suit, burning it, and creating a lot of errors and notifications, all of which told me the same thing¡ªthe suit was getting too hot and the coating that allowed it to deflect much of this kind of radiation was being burned off. Also, the Rocket suit was getting closer to the point where the fuel in the tank would explode.


    That wasn¡¯t all of the bad news either.


    Jaclyn had been the first one through and her suit¡¯s reports showed that she had less than 15% of her suit¡¯s expected protection and she wasn¡¯t in my direct sight. Izzy, meanwhile, had flown through the hole a little before I did, allowing me to be there as the silvery shield around her disappeared under a deluge of white light.


    She fell¡ªnot back down through the hole which might have been better, but off to the side of it, landing on the concrete floor next to the hole. That left me alone in the air, target of every True that could see me.

 Underground Tower: Part 12

    It wasn¡¯t all bad news though, because even if Izzy was out, Jaclyn wasn¡¯t. In a blur, she ran out from behind a group of crates, grabbed Izzy, and disappeared before the True could do anything. White light hit the spot where they¡¯d been.


    For all the True¡¯s ability to predict people¡¯s moves, they couldn¡¯t necessarily move quickly enough for it to matter.


    Of course, I wasn¡¯t standing there thinking it through. I¡¯d been thinking of getting Izzy out of there somehow, but Jaclyn freed me of the necessity. Instead, I jumped sideways into an opening between two rows of crates, making it to ¡°safety¡± moments after Jaclyn and Izzy had disappeared into a similar opening on the other side.


    Unlike Jaclyn, I got hit multiple times, burning away protective layers all over the suit. I was now at less than 50% of normal protection. Over the comm as I moved, Jaclyn said, ¡°Cap, watch out!¡±


    Surprising no one, Cassie came through anyway, but not stupidly. Her own gun¡¯s white beam came through the hole first, spraying everywhere, starting the wooden crates on fire where the wood didn¡¯t turn into cinders on contact.


    Beams from the gun also hit the True¡¯s suits, not damaging them unless maybe Cassie hit the joints or the faceplates¡ªand she might have. From all the burning, she seemed to have set the gun on wide beam. Plus, some of them might not have stasis plates on their armor.


    She didn¡¯t stop there either. She blew a hole in the ceiling too, throwing smoking, reddish, chunks of concrete into the room. In the face of all that, the True backed up, concluding something that made that make more sense than rushing us. Like maybe Cassie¡¯s gun had more of an effect than we realized.


    This brought up the real problem. We had to get everyone up before the whole place collapsed. We didn¡¯t need to take them all out. We only needed to block them from getting to us for a little while. As an idea struck me, Jaclyn talked over the comm, ¡°Push the crates. We¡¯ll box them in.¡±


    She didn¡¯t need to persuade me. We¡¯d had the same idea. She just had it first.


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    I reached out, crates inward from the middle of the row, feeling them hit the row ahead of them plus the row ahead of that and the row ahead of that¡­ At the same time, I heard not only their scraping but also the scraping of the crates Jaclyn was pushing.


    The True saw it, of course, and one of them tried to run through, getting smashed by the leading crates from both Jaclyn and I. Plus, it wasn¡¯t as if we were only thinking of that one row. We¡¯d pushed one line of crates in and moved over to push in more to fill in the gaps.


    It wasn¡¯t going to stop them for long. I could hear them smash crates and try to push them away. I pushed back when I saw crates moving back my way, even throwing crates up over the top to make it hard to crawl over the pile, sometimes even being rewarded with a crashing noise as one of the crates hit flew far enough to hit someone.


    Jaclyn did the exact same thing except she did it several times faster.


    I¡¯d be lying if I told anyone that I was the main player in keeping us alive at that moment, but whatever. It gave Daniel and Yoselin time to bring their captives (and for Daniel to grab Izzy) and float them up to the next floor.


    We stopped the second they were through the hole and heard the impromptu barricade fall apart through a combination of smashing things and burning them, flames licking up through the hole we¡¯d made.


    Even then, though, I knew that something had changed. As I landed on the next floor up, screams began to reach us from the floor we¡¯d left. Along with the screams, I also heard roaring¡ªnot the sound of a lion, but more of a bellow. Almost human. I¡¯d heard it on video streams. That was Ape Nasty.


    At about the same time, I also heard hissing and saw rainbow-colored gas billowing through the room below. It must have been a heavy gas because it didn¡¯t come up, but I recognized the look of it. The original League had fought Dr. Madness many times. We¡¯d fought Mr. Madness, his grandson. Mistress Madness used the Madness Gas just like they had. I didn¡¯t know their relationship, but they almost had to have one.


    I wasn¡¯t sure that gas would make it through their suits, but in all the fighting some of them might have leaks.


    The Atoner¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°Go! We¡¯re in and attacking from the back. Get out, we¡¯ll hold them off.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± I said, ¡°I should warn you that the whole tower could fall in at any time.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± The Atoner began, and then came a sizzling noise.


    ¡°You okay?¡± I asked.


    The purring voice of Dr. Transylvania answered, ¡°He¡¯s fine, but busy. They¡¯re a challenging group, aren¡¯t they? That¡¯s all the more reason for you to hurry out so that we don¡¯t have to face them for too long.¡±


    A long, high-pitched scream followed his comment.


    ¡°Run along,¡± Dr. Transylvania added.

 Older Enemies: Part 1

    We left. It would have been stupid not to, not to mention more than a little unkind to our backup that, past careers notwithstanding, was risking their lives for an information-gathering mission that had turned into something much bigger.


    Jaclyn jumped up, crashing through the floor and then jumping back down to grab Izzy before jumping up again. Cassie didn¡¯t even have time to say, ¡°I could have taken out the floor for you,¡± though she tried.


    We all flew through the hole, finding ourselves in the first hallway under the lobby. We were on the far end next to the elevator that led down on the tower side of the hall. The hall went further than I¡¯d realized past the elevator.


    Cassie flew out of the hole, pointed her gun at a section of the concrete ceiling a good thirty feet down the hall from us and fired, causing an oval-shaped section of the ceiling to explode and fall in¡ªthose parts of it that weren¡¯t vaporized on contact.I felt glad we weren¡¯t under it.


    Then we all flew up into the building¡¯s lobby with Cassie and I leading the way since we weren¡¯t carrying anyone. It didn¡¯t look that much different than it had when we left, putting a hole in the lobby¡¯s floor and ceiling. Now, we¡¯d added another to the floor.


    Even as Cassie and I looked at each other and both said, ¡°Out,¡± we heard the Atoner¡¯s voice over the comm, ¡°We¡¯re out and just in time.¡±


    When he hit the word, ¡°time,¡± a deep rumble started, followed by screeches of metal and then crashing noises, some of them deeper than others. The building literally shook. We all looked at each other and started running out the front doors. I didn¡¯t bother with opening the door and neither did Jaclyn or Izzy¡ªwho¡¯d woken up as Jaclyn carried her and dropped down to her feet.


    I¡¯d have felt worse about smashing through if it wasn¡¯t owned by the Nine and if we hadn¡¯t already done so much worse damage than simply trashing the glass and the metal frame around it.


    We weren¡¯t the only ones either. The Probationers pulled themselves up through the hole. Ape Nasty propelled himself up , pulling himself over the edge and landing on his feet. Dr. Transylvania floated out of the hole in a mist and reformed a few feet past the edge, surprisingly pulling Mistress Madness out of the mist along with him. Seeing him up close, I noted the magical symbols inscribed into his armor. I couldn¡¯t read even one of them, but years of knowing Amy and Samita had left me with at least a basic recognition of the magic symbols that actually worked.


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    I¡¯d heard him described as a vampire Iron Man. I¡¯d have loved to talk shop with him if we had the time¡ªwhich we didn¡¯t. There was, of course, also the matter of the thousands of deaths at his hands due to feeding over the centuries since the Middle Ages.


    I didn¡¯t know how he¡¯d become a member of the Probationers, but chances were that he¡¯d helped a team with something big.


    The Atoner came out of the hole last, jumping up and landing just past the edge. Most of the gadgets on his belt were missing. There¡¯d been more in the video when he¡¯d flown in, but he grinned at all of us, ¡°Did you got everything you were looking for?¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± I told him.


    He began walking toward the door, ¡°Then let¡¯s get out of here before this turns into an interview with the local press.¡±


    Sirens screamed in the distance, somewhere beyond the cornfields. I didn¡¯t doubt that they were most likely on their way here. We all walked out the wide, double doors in front as a group. Despite all the destruction of the past half hour, the doors opened automatically.


    Walking out onto the front steps of the building, we looked into the parking lot to find that there were already news trucks there¡ªWGN and Chicago¡¯s CBS affiliate. How they¡¯d gotten here on time had to be luck because they didn¡¯t have time to get here from Chicago in the time we¡¯d been here.


    A pale-skinned woman with long, brown hair and a black suit walked up to me with a microphone in hand and a cameraman standing directly behind her. He pointed the camera directly at my face as she said, ¡°I¡¯m Alissa Henges from WGN-TV, have you seen this video?¡±


    She held up her cellphone in her left hand. It showed a picture of Rook¡¯s black armor, beak, wings, and all.


    ¡°We¡¯ve been busy fighting for our lives,¡± I peered down at it. ¡°When did that come out?¡±


    ¡°Just now. It¡¯s been emailed to reporters across the country,¡± she moved the hand with the microphone in toward the triangle in the middle of the phone¡¯s screen and tapped it with her finger.


    Any questions I might have had ended with the voice. It was the same one I¡¯d always heard coming out of the Rook suit. If that weren¡¯t enough, the crow-themed helmet looked like every picture I¡¯d ever seen of Rook.


    ¡°Heroes¡¯ League,¡± Rook said. ¡°Let me be the first one to congratulate you for starting a war.¡±

 Older Enemies: Part 2

    I¡¯d have argued with him except that Rook was just a picture on a cellphone screen.


    Pausing, possibly to smirk behind his beaked helmet, Rook continued, ¡°We¡¯ve let the Heroes¡¯ League alone despite our conflicts in the last few years. Why? Because we don¡¯t want to kill a bunch of kids.¡±


    Next to me, Cassie scoffed, ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve gone easy on you. There are still some of us here who respect the original League¡¯s idealism and wisdom. Some of us are even former colleagues. No one makes a better villain than a hero¡ªas the original League found out the hard way.


    ¡°Still, there are some things that we can¡¯t let go by. This place was important. We invested a lot of money here. We manufactured things that we needed¡ªnot anything that we can¡¯t manufacture somewhere else, but you¡¯ve caused me a problem. I¡¯m not going to be able to make my deadline and I don¡¯t like that. A man¡¯s only as good as his word.


    ¡°So, now we¡¯re going to kill you and we¡¯re not going to stop there. We¡¯re going to kill everyone who¡¯s worked with you, any connection, whether they¡¯re a superhero or a civilian. We won¡¯t stop until every last one of them is dead.


    ¡°You should think about whether you want that to happen. You should also ask yourself if you¡¯ve left any connections between your superhero life and your real one because if you have, we¡¯ll find it. I don¡¯t know who we¡¯ll kill whether it will be your friends or families, but you¡¯ll know.


    ¡°And don¡¯t think we¡¯ll stop if we can¡¯t find anyone. I¡¯m confident that we can, but if we don¡¯t, we¡¯ll attack Grand Lake itself. You know our reputation. We have people everywhere and some of them don¡¯t even know that they work for us. One of them will find something. You can count on it.¡±


    Rook paused, making me wonder if he was done and hadn¡¯t thought to stop filming, but then he said, ¡°Expect to see us soon even if you don¡¯t know it¡¯s us.¡±


    The screen of the reporter¡¯s phone went black before resolving into YouTube.


    Slipping the phone back into her coat¡¯s pocket, she held out the microphone toward me, ¡°What¡¯s your response? Do you think he can do everything that he says?¡±


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    I shook my head or, from what she could see, my helmet, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I know the Nine¡¯s reputation, but we¡¯ve won when we¡¯ve fought them. He can say he went easy on us because he was being nice, but he blew up his base with a nuke when we were beating him there. He attempted to aim a nuke at the League jet while someone was flying it and the only reason he stopped was that I shot his hand.


    ¡°I don¡¯t feel like they¡¯ve been holding back at all. I don¡¯t doubt that they¡¯ve been trying to figure out who we are as civilians, but if that was easy, I think we¡¯d already be dead by now.¡±


    I stopped, not sure where I should go from there or even if I should be talking at all.


    The reporter looked up past me toward Daniel who was floating Ana and the Amethyst Archer above his head, ¡°And who are they? Are these the people you came here to catch?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Daniel said, ¡°I don¡¯t think we should answer that right now. This still isn¡¯t over.¡±


    Izzy, who walked with the small cautious steps of someone who¡¯d finished a marathon, was between Daniel and Jaclyn. Jaclyn held out her hand to steady Izzy as they walked down the steps behind me. Yoselin walked on Daniel¡¯s other side, watching Izzy as if she was thinking about helping too.


    Taking in Izzy¡¯s unsteadiness and burned, blue costume, how Jaclyn¡¯s purple costume had long lines of charred ceramic and lighter char all over, the reporter held the microphone out to Izzy, ¡°Blue, I see that you¡¯re tired. Was it a hard fight?¡±


    Izzy let out a breath, ¡°I am, but I don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡±


    Shaking her head, Jaclyn said, ¡°She¡¯s just been through hell. Leave her be. And no, I don¡¯t want to talk right now either.¡±


    Then, still staying next to Izzy, Jaclyn moved between her and the reporter.


    Before anyone could say anything else, a new person spoke¡ªthis one with an accent light enough that I couldn¡¯t place it. That said, if Dr. Transylvania was actually from Transylvania, the accent was probably Romanian.


    ¡°You should leave that young woman alone. She fought too well to have to stand here and be pestered with questions.¡±


    That¡¯s when the two reporters and their cameramen got a good solid look at who was following us out of the building¡¯s now shattered front doors¡ªDr. Transylvania, vampire inventor and sorcerer, an undead being who¡¯d been on the verge of conquering the world twice that I could think of.


    Following him came Ape Nasty, all fur-covered muscle and simian genius, who¡¯d been at least a henchman, if not a co-conspirator, to Dr. Transylvania on one or more of those attempts.


    Stepping around them, the Atoner held up his hands, ¡°It¡¯s nice to see members of the press here. I''d just like to remind you that everyone in the Probationers is doing their best to pay back society for their crimes with service. That¡¯s why we¡¯re here today.¡±

 Older Enemies: Part 3

    Both reporters, Alissa and whoever the other reporter behind her was, didn¡¯t seem to notice the Atoner¡¯s comment because they were still looking past him where they were seeing Mistress Madness strolling out of the door. She stopped to check the lobby behind her.


    Not seeing anyone following us out of the hole we¡¯d made in the floor, she joined the rest of the group, smirking as she turned around.


    I couldn¡¯t help but think that it might have been wiser for her to hurry. Given what happened downstairs, I couldn¡¯t be sure that part of the building wasn¡¯t about to collapse.


    ¡°Hey everybody,¡± I waved my hand out toward the parking lot, ¡°maybe we should move away from the building. I¡¯m a little worried about the stability of the place¡ªespecially given that Rook tends to blow his stuff up.¡±


    Through his facemask, I could see Dr. Transylvania scowl, ¡°You¡¯ve got good instincts. Let¡¯s get out further into the parking lot. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time.¡±


    I had the feeling that Rook was about as popular with villains as heroes.


    Another thought passed through my mind. Aiming my sensors at the building, I couldn¡¯t see anyone inside with anything that I could do. I considered sending in a spybot if I had any left, but a second thought made me reconsider.


    ¡°Blue,¡± I wasn¡¯t sure whether it was the right thing to ask even as I said it, ¡°are you in any shape to scan the building? I¡¯m not seeing anything, but you¡¯re better at it.If the building¡¯s about to fall in we should see if we can save anyone.¡±


    She gave me a tired smile, ¡°I already did. I think everyone¡¯s out. They evacuated the building when we were fighting our way down. From what I¡¯ve been seeing, the only people left are in Rook¡¯s suits and they¡¯re disappearing.¡±


    ¡°Seriously? It¡¯s good that they¡¯re not dying, but I thought we¡¯d gotten both teleportation devices. I know we got the top one, but I thought you all had damaged the one down on the bottom level,¡± I looked from Izzy to Jaclyn.


    Jaclyn shook her head and held up her hands, ¡°Me too. Either they fixed it or they¡¯ve got another in there somewhere.¡±


    By this point, we were all walking into the parking lot. I thought about Victor and how he¡¯d teleported most of our group with Abominator-derived powers after Rook had activated some sort of mental programming the Dominators had worked into him. That was also an option¡ªone that I didn¡¯t feel up to dealing with right now.


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    Bearing in mind what Izzy had said, I took a quick look around and there were people in the parking lot, all of them standing in clusters, most of them watching us. None of them were running to fight us, though. So, the Amethyst Archer¡¯s commands must have worn off. That or she¡¯d phrased them badly.


    I wondered if Ana was still controlled.


    Daniel responded to my thought, Completely and utterly. As long as we¡¯re in costume, we¡¯re the enemy. The only thing stopping her from attacking us and trying to rescue the Archer is her suit¡¯s toast.


    He¡¯d been learning everything he could from his father about undoing the Dominators¡¯ work since we¡¯d found that one of my professors was unknowingly one of their many remote-controlled thralls. I didn¡¯t even get to ask him about that before he answered.


    I don¡¯t even know where to start with her. My dad might be able to pull her out of it, but it would take a long time, and honestly, I¡¯m not even sure he could. There¡¯s been a lot of work done and it¡¯s subtle. If we get rid of her biggest compulsions, it¡¯s possible that there might be an entire additional layer or more below them.


    Alissa, meanwhile, held out her microphone at me, asking, ¡°Do you know that the building is about to explode, or are you just worried that it might explode?¡±


    Then her eyes flicked over toward the building and her face tightened.


    ¡°Worried,¡± I said. ¡°We don¡¯t know anything for sure.¡±


    ¡°Can you tell me why you went inside?¡± She forced her eyes away from the building with a noticeable jerk.


    ¡°No,¡± I said, checking behind us. The building still wasn¡¯t blowing up.


    From a few feet behind me, Dr. Transylvania cleared his throat, ¡°These questions are inappropriate at this time. You shouldn¡¯t ask any more of them.¡±


    The Atoner¡¯s eyes widened visibly, even through the eyeholes of his mask, ¡°Doc!¡±


    Sighing, Dr. Transylvania said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t attempting to influence her mind except in the most ordinary of ways.¡±


    The Atoner began to open his mouth in reply except that a noise reminding me of tearing clothing, except much deeper, began to come from the building, followed by a massive crashing noise that went on and on as the left side of the building¡ªthe part above the underground tower¡ªfell in.


    The ground shook. It wasn¡¯t an earthquake, but it felt like one.


    Dust exploded upward and outward from the inside of the building along with pieces of concrete, some landing on cars, shattering windows, and denting or at least scratching the closest cars.


    We didn¡¯t get hit. Despite holding two people in the air, Daniel still had enough control to redirect the larger pieces away from everyone. The dust, of course, got everywhere.


    As Ape Nasty frowned down at his fur, everyone on the League¡¯s channel saw that Guardian¡¯s token was now active and heard his voice, ¡°Just got away from our planned engagement. We¡¯re coming in.¡±


    ¡°Too late now,¡± Cassie shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s over.¡±


    Guardian didn¡¯t even bother to argue, ¡°We¡¯re coming anyway.¡±

 Older Enemies: Part 4

    We didn¡¯t have long to think about Guardian¡¯s statement. Even as I wondered whether or not he was going to chew us out when he got here, a hole opened in the air above the parking lot. Guardian floated out, muscles showing under his silver suit as it shimmered in the sunlight. Flying along with him came Daniel¡¯s father, Mindstryke in a black costume with the Greek letter ¦· on the upper left of his chest.


    Flick jumped out of the hole to the right of Daniel¡¯s father, landing on the sidewalk going down the middle of the parking lot. Small, blond, and wearing a light blue costume with large, metallic gauntlets, already glancing around the parking lot to understand the situation. She¡¯d been one of our teachers at Stapledon. Even though her power didn¡¯t put her in the top ranks of heroes by itself, she¡¯d made the most of it.


    The last of the Midwest Defenders to exit Guardian¡¯s portal was Dreadnought. Almost as large and muscular as Guardian, she was considerably stronger. Her costume was odd, making me feel like it should have been in a Jack Kirby drawing. A black and yellow circle covered much of her chest, black stripes extended from it, standing out against a red background. I didn¡¯t know what significance any of it had to her. I¡¯d only ever met her once.


    By the time they all landed on the ground next to us, fire trucks were pulling into the parking lot. Along with them came police cars¡ªliterally a mixture of SUVs and sedans, all of them labeled ¡°Will County Sheriff.¡± There were a few of the blocky, armored trucks, commonly called ¡°boxes,¡± for superhero containment.


    Following them came a red and blue helicopter with a stylized ¡°7¡± on it¡ªprobably a Chicago TV station.


    Alissa and the other reporter looked at each other and at the Midwest Defenders and started shouting questions. I couldn¡¯t make out one from another and Guardian may not have been able to either because he waved his hands in the air and shouted, ¡°That¡¯s enough!¡±


    In the quiet that followed, he added, ¡°I¡¯ve seen Rook¡¯s video. Nothing about it surprises me. We knew that the Heroes¡¯ League was going in. They let us know in case they needed backup. I¡¯m glad to see that they took it seriously enough to call in the Probationers as well.¡±


    Guardian stopped to take a breath, continuing with, ¡°I¡¯ve been getting reports from across the country saying that the Nine are gathering their forces and entering some new stage of their plans. I¡¯m not going to talk about what we think it is for security reasons, but remember this¡ªthis fight was coming. No one knew who would happen to hit it first, but it was the Heroes¡¯ League.


    ¡°I¡¯m grateful it was them instead of someone with no experience.¡¯


    He stopped again as people got out of the police cars and firetrucks, waving them in our direction, ¡°I¡¯m going to be opening portals for people to get in and out of here. We¡¯re going to have to get the employees care that paramedics can¡¯t handle. Please leave us alone. I¡¯ll be willing to talk after this is over.¡±


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    He turned to me, ¡°Rocket, please ask the people in the parking lot to come over here for assistance and ask to them not to leave.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ¡°but you¡¯ll want to get people to the other building as well. The Probationers plus Blue and Accelerando took out a bunch of people that you won¡¯t want to escape.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, Rocket,¡± The Atoner walked up to Guardian. ¡°We left Lone Eagle back there to stop them in case they woke up.¡±


    Guardian looked over at Dreadnought and Mindstryke, ¡°Go over to the warehouse and check on her. Let me know if you need anything.¡±


    Dreadnought gave him a nod and jumped, flying from the office building¡¯s parking lot to the front of the warehouse, and walking through one of the new holes in the warehouse¡¯s walls. Daniel¡¯s dad flew after, giving us a wave as he went.


    I gave the rockets some fuel, sending me 20 feet into the air where I hovered, ¡°As you may have heard Guardian say, those of you who exited the building during the fight will want to come over here for the convenience of the emergency personnel. We¡¯re going to need to give you a quick look over in case you¡¯re hurt. Also, the sheriff¡¯s deputies will want to take a statement.¡±


    Everyone seemed to take it well enough. People started walking in toward us and no one got in their cars and tried to drive away.


    Guardian nodded at me and began opening portals. People walked through circles of shimmering air and into the parking lot. Some appeared to be normal humans in green combat gear and carrying guns. Others wore scrubs¡ªmostly in green or blue. A few wore the multi-colored costumes that superheroes used. I didn¡¯t recognize any of them.


    We stuck around for the aftermath, sometimes helping organize the crowd, but mostly standing around together, talking, and watching.


    Guardian walked up to me as Daniel had stepped away to have a private conversation with Izzy. Half-expecting him to chew us out for not doing more, I nodded at him and hoped I was wrong.


    He pointed over at Ana and the Amethyst Archer, both of whom were on the ground and sleeping thanks to Daniel, ¡°What are you planning to do with them?¡±


    ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d know. The one in armor needs to be deprogrammed somehow. The other one is the person who did the programming. She¡¯s formerly known as the Amethyst Archer, but I¡¯m pretty sure she¡¯s one of the Dominators or so closely related to them that it makes no difference. Both of them have to be somewhere where the Nine have no influence¡ªwhich means not the government.¡±


    Stopping, I watched as Guardian frowned and then said, ¡°We can take them. It won¡¯t be for long, but we can do it. The Amethyst Archer will be the easy one. No one wants a suspected Dominator in their jail. The other is a civilian. That will be harder. There will be questions even if we tell them the truth and, honestly, we don¡¯t want the team to become superhuman jailers. We¡¯ll be able to do it for a little while though. Do you have a plan for freeing her?¡±


    I¡¯d thought of one while we were standing around, ¡°The Mystic didn¡¯t think he or Mindstryke could handle it. We¡¯d need someone who knows the methods the Dominators use. I know someone. She¡¯s not close by, but I know I can get a hold of her.¡±


    Kals was somewhere out in space recruiting people to fight against the Human Ascendancy, but the Xiniti had an ansible near Mars. I¡¯d be able to ask her as easily as if she were on Earth. She wouldn¡¯t be able to get here instantly, but a couple of weeks might work.

 Older Enemies: Part 5

    Guardian nodded, watching me as we talked, ¡°How long will it take?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. My bet would be two weeks at most. It might be as short as a couple of days, depending on where my friend is and how long it takes me to get to an ansible.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Guardian let out a breath and shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m guessing this is a friend from your excursion into the Human Ascendancy. I¡¯ve never gotten any details on that beyond hearing that it was harder than it should have been. Alright, get your friend. We¡¯ve got an ansible at our Chicago base. That way, you won¡¯t have to fly to Mars to use the Xiniti ansible.¡±


    I felt myself blink, ¡°You¡¯ve got your own ansible?¡±


    He shrugged, ¡°You¡¯re not the only one with friends outside the solar system. What can you tell me about the woman you¡¯re bringing in?¡±


    ¡°She was trained by the Human Ascendancy¡¯s Dominators before she joined the resistance,¡± I said.


    Guardian grunted, ¡°Then I hope she¡¯s trustworthy. We¡¯ve had a lot of trouble with the Human Ascendancy. I don¡¯t know if the first Rocket told you about the war with the last Abominators, but they upgraded my powers and had their Dominators control me.¡±


    Grandpa had told me a little about that. Also, it was in the old reports from that period. I¡¯d read a few.


    Taking a moment to check the parking lot around us, I decided that no one was close enough to worry me, ¡°I can vouch for her. Her mother was killed by the Ascendancy and she¡¯s fighting to overthrow them as basically her full-time job.¡±


    Nodding, Guardian said, ¡°Good enough. We can keep your captives then.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, thinking about how I was asking for the Defenders to keep Ana captive. On the other hand, we¡¯d just destroyed where she worked. So as bad as imprisoning her was, at least we weren¡¯t keeping her from doing anything.


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    Granted, that was a terrible rationalization, but it wasn¡¯t as if we had another option. If we got her out of the armor and let her go, she¡¯d be a loose Dominator asset. She¡¯d work for them without any chance of making another choice.


    Another thought hit me, ¡°What do we do about these people¡¯s lives? I don¡¯t care much about the Amethyst Archer, but the other one¡­ What if she¡¯s got a cat or something? Or rent¡¯s due?¡±


    Frowning, Guardian looked at me for a moment, ¡°You know her name, right?¡±


    ¡°Pretty well,¡± I told him.


    His mouth twitched and I suspected he caught what I hadn¡¯t said.


    ¡°Alright,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s not the first time we¡¯ve had to pick up someone under the Dominators¡¯ control. You¡¯ll want to contact Lim and let him know. I think there¡¯s a way that he can pay or at least hold her bills. Is that what you¡¯re going after?¡¯


    I nodded, ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Then I added, ¡°Sorry about whatever happens next. The way Rook described how he and the Nine were going to respond, it sounds as though they¡¯re not just going to target us.¡±


    Guardian grunted, ¡°You heard what I told the reporter, right? I meant all of it. We¡¯ve seen increased activity from them. They¡¯re building to something. If it wasn¡¯t you who got in their way, it would have been someone. The time to start a fight with them is before they¡¯re ready.¡±


    He stopped talking and frowned, adding, ¡°I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ve heard the saying, ¡®fools rush in where angels fear to tread?¡¯ It seems like there ought to be another saying that makes the opposite point. I¡¯ve been telling people for years that we shouldn¡¯t just be fighting the Nine, we should be making a serious attempt to completely destroy them.


    ¡°Everyone agrees, but no one does anything. No one wants to start the ball rolling and maybe be the first head on the chopping block, and I didn¡¯t want to go in alone without knowing if I had the community¡¯s support.¡±


    Then he smiled, ¡°But your group went in, fought the whole way through, destroyed one of the Nine¡¯s major manufacturing and design facilities, and did it because it needed to be done, without worrying about anything else.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to convince other superhero teams to do this for years. This isn¡¯t a mistake on your part. This is a present. If I¡¯d gone in and started a war with the Nine, I¡¯m sure people would have helped in the end, but not before telling me that I¡¯d made a big mistake and dragging their feet about helping me.


    ¡°But how will they react if the Heroes¡¯ League starts the same war? A few groups might be angry at you, but most of them won¡¯t be able to help themselves from coming in on your side. The League¡¯s been too important historically to ignore. Plus, you kids have taken the lead enough times that you¡¯ve built your own reputation.¡±


    He grinned at me.


    I¡¯d spent years expecting him to show up and tell me that we¡¯d screwed up, but now that I had his support, I had no idea what to do with it.

 Older Enemies: Part 6

    Guardian nodded back toward the part of the parking lot where the sheriffs¡¯ cars, boxes, reporters, and all of the people from the building stood. There were more people than I remembered and several black SUVs, all of them unlabeled. The people coming out of them wore black jackets and armor with the letters ¡°FBI¡± placed in the middle of the chest and taking up half of it.


    The Probationers, our team, and the Defenders were in and out of the crowd, some of them helping law enforcement, and the rest simply talking. Daniel and Izzy were talking with Ape Nasty and Mistress Madness.


    Morgan/Lone Eagle, who I¡¯d first met when she was working for Rook, was helping the Feds load up True in one of the boxes. Cassie and Yoselin stood off to the side with the Atoner, ready to step in if someone tried to escape.


    ¡°Two more things,¡± Guardian said as we walked closer, ¡°Cypher has to get back home to Cuba. Her father contacted me and he wanted her back.¡±


    ¡°If she wants to go, sure,¡± I glanced over at her. She seemed to be laughing at something with Cassie.


    Guardian shook his head, ¡°She¡¯s not going to have a choice. Somehow her presence got passed up the chain and now people are pissed that we¡¯ve got a Cuban national loose in the US. I¡¯m going to send her back home as soon as we get enough of this wrapped up¡ªand hopefully before someone sends in a team to grab her.¡±


    Glancing over at her again, I said, ¡°Then I guess we¡¯d better get that moving. What was the other thing?¡±


    He let out a breath, ¡°This isn¡¯t going to look good. I think it¡¯s great, but it¡¯s not going to come off great. What we¡¯ve got is big property damage, civilians at risk, and a business that put millions of dollars into the local economy. Worse, the visuals are going to be of you working with the Probationers. You know they weren¡¯t doing anything wrong and I know they weren¡¯t doing anything wrong, but the public remembers Dr. Transylvania for the time he attacked Washington D.C. and left most of the Liberators lying unconscious on the National Mall, hypnotized all but a couple of the rest and used them to attack the White House. It¡¯s not the kind of thing that goes over well¡ªnot on the same day you have a big fight in D.C. yourself.¡±


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    I shook my head, ¡°Only if they¡¯re trying to bury us. They know who the Nine are and what they are. We¡¯re going to tell people that we were fighting them in both places. More than that, I don¡¯t think we hurt civilians. We were careful. We¡¯re always careful with that¡ªeven when they¡¯re mind-controlled and trying to kill us.¡±


    Sighing, he said, ¡°You know that. I know that, but it doesn¡¯t matter at all. Someone in the Nine has a talent for putting the right people in the right place at the right time. That includes in news sources. It won¡¯t be anything obvious. It¡¯ll just be reporters asking questions¡ªthe kind that make you look bad and pull in the most negative associations. They¡¯re trying to bury you. That¡¯s exactly the goal. They¡¯re trying to remove your public support and make it harder for other supers to help you out of fear of public blowback. Then they can sweep in and kill, control, or discredit you.¡±


    Though Guardian couldn¡¯t see it, I frowned at that, ¡°Everyone knows what the Nine are all about, but you¡¯re right. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be subtle and won¡¯t leave anything obvious pointing in their direction. Crap.¡±


    We¡¯d covered half of the parking lot by then, walking up behind Cassie and Yoselin as they stood next to a box as FBI agents stripped one of the True of her armor, cuffed her, and pushed her inside. Leaning in a little, I realized that the box held more people than I¡¯d have expected. I counted at least six, all of them strapped into thick, padded seats that allowed no movement for any limb.


    A man and woman wearing blue, padded armor gave each of the True a syringe full of a clear liquid into their arms. I guessed that it might be a sedative.


    As I watched, Guardian leaned into Yoselin, ¡°I¡¯m going to send you home.¡±


    Though I could see her lips curl through her helmet, she said, ¡°I know. My father told me. I don¡¯t want to cause them trouble. He said I could come back for the Archer¡¯s interrogation.¡±


    Guardian frowned and his eyes narrowed. I expected that he¡¯d argue, but he said, ¡°That¡¯s the arrangement. I¡¯ll teleport you back to League HQ and then to your home. We¡¯ll bring you back, butit will be brief.¡±


    He put his hand on the shoulder of her suit and the two of them disappeared in a flash. Cassie turned to me, ¡°Why did that happen?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll explain when we¡¯re in the jet,¡± I began except Agent Lim¡¯s icon started flashing in my HUD. I took the call.


    Standing next to gray concrete in what appeared to be a warehouse to judge from the rows of plastic-wrapped pallets on each level of the room¡¯s rows, Agent Lim said, ¡°Sorry to interrupt. I¡¯m told that you¡¯re almost done. Get everyone into the jet. I¡¯ve found Magnus¡¯ stuff and it¡¯s going to be much easier to get you a look right now before the media feeding frenzy gets going.¡±

 Older Enemies: Part 7

    ¡°Sure,¡± I told him. ¡°Where is it?¡±


    Lim grinned, ¡°The Pocono Mountains. It¡¯s an old supervillain lair that we use to store things we don¡¯t want to lose. It¡¯s hidden under an abandoned resort. We¡¯ll get you exact coordinates once you¡¯re in the air.¡±


    ¡°An old supervillain lair? Whose?¡±


    Giving a sigh, Lim told me, ¡°We don¡¯t have time for that. Anyway, there were too many to list. They tend to change hands a lot. Sometimes they turn into a supervillain team¡¯s headquarters. Sometimes they¡¯re abandoned and then another one sets up shop. Anyway, hurry.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± I said, and we closed the connection.


    Over the comm channel Kayla had set up as a shared channel for the incident, I said, ¡°Heroes¡¯ League, I just got a call from Agent Lim. Remember the stuff that he said he was going to look for? He found it. Apparently, the FBI found it. It¡¯s in a government storage facility that used to be a supervillain base. I think the Defenders and the Probationers can handle what little is left.¡±


    Mindstryke broke in turning in my direction from his position watching the FBI load Ana and the Amethyst Archer into the last box, ¡°Go. We can handle what¡¯s left.¡±


    Above us, the jet decloaked, appearing in the blue sky above us, a long, silver cylinder that with its short wings could have fallen out of the cover of a 1950s science fiction pulp magazine.


    Even as I heard gasps and even a small cheer from a few of the remaining employees, Cassie shot upward, but not before tapping my suit with her hand and saying, ¡°Hurry up!¡±


    I activated my rockets, hearing someone ask, ¡°Was that there the whole time?¡±


    Shooting upward, I made it to the jet before Jaclyn, but just in time to see Daniel and Izzy stepping inside through the hatch. I stepped in after them. Jaclyn stepped in behind me.


    As I stepped around toward the pilot seat, Jaclyn asked, ¡°Where are we going?¡±


    ¡°The Poconos,¡± I said, watching as Daniel shook his head.


    ¡°I should ask my Dad if the League ever fought any supervillains there. He might know. I could ask my grandfather, but that might get complicated.¡±


    He sat down and started strapping himself in. Izzy and Jaclyn were doing the same in the row next to him. Cassie, meanwhile, had already taken the weapons console. As the final click of her seatbelt ended, she looked over at me. ¡°So Yoselin¡¯s just gone now?¡±


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    I nodded, ¡°Guardian told me that someone released the fact that she was from Cuba and hanging out with us. He wanted to get her out of here before it became a big deal. I think that¡¯s also why Lim wants us over there right now. He wants us in before someone tells him not to.¡±


    From behind us, Jaclyn said, ¡°Wow. I wonder who did that?¡±


    ¡°Guardian didn¡¯t tell me, but I doubt he has any idea beyond that it¡¯s ultimately the Nine,¡± I reached out through my implant, telling the jet to float upward, and then reaching out to grab the controls. Controlling the jet through my implant was cool, but I did like the feel of pulling back on the jet¡¯s steering wheel and turning around.


    I did that, taking the jet away from the buildings, the warehouse with the holes in the wall, and the office building, half of which had fallen in. From the brief look I gave, I couldn¡¯t see into the basement. Piles of shattered concrete and office furniture blocked my view of it.


    I made a quick turn, aiming the jet eastward toward Pennsylvania, receiving the coordinates through the comm and using my implant to send them to the jet. Suspecting that I shouldn¡¯t give anyone warning of where we were going, I turned the cloak back on and set the jet to watch for planes we might have to avoid.


    It didn¡¯t take long to get there. I didn¡¯t go at the jet¡¯s absolute fastest speed, but it was closer to that than its slowest. There weren¡¯t many jets up where we were either, so we didn¡¯t have to avoid any collisions.


    We had enough time for Jaclyn and Izzy to get their suits brought back to fighting shape before we got there¡ªnot enough for mine, but mine wasn¡¯t as damaged.


    In less than 30 minutes, we descended toward the Poconos. By comparison to the Rocky Mountains, they were small. The Rockies were tall enough that trees stopped growing after a certain height and much of the mountains seemed to be rock, grass, and shrubs. The Poconos, by contrast, appeared to be covered with trees, all of them green with leaves, and while there must have been evergreens somewhere down there, most of what I saw were leafy trees.


    Using the coordinates provided, I aimed for a long, tree-covered mountain that stood next to a river across from a larger, similar mountain.


    After flying over an island in the middle of the river¡¯s dark water, I made a quick trip around the mountain, noticing a line of tennis courts next to a long wooden building that must have been the abandoned resort that Lim had mentioned.


    It had no challenge selling the ¡°abandoned¡± aspect of its identity. The roof had fallen in along with parts of the walls. I didn¡¯t have long to look, but I thought I saw greenery inside the abandoned building.


    It didn¡¯t matter, though. Lim''s directions told us to aim for the tennis courts. If it had just been one tennis court, the jet wouldn¡¯t have been able to land, but there were four in a row--which worked.


    The second the jet¡¯s legs extended and touched the tennis court¡¯s green painted surface, the courts began to sink into the ground. More than that, something slid into place above the jet as we continued our way downward.


    I¡¯d have tried to blast upward if I hadn¡¯t already known what was going on, but even though I did feel tempted after the fight we¡¯d just survived, I didn¡¯t.


    The jet and tennis court surface came to rest in the middle of a long room with concrete walls that rose all the way up above ground. Glancing toward the door, I saw Agent Lim in his suit waving us in.

 Older Enemies: Part 8

    Even though I didn¡¯t expect any problems here, I still found myself telling the jet, ¡°Be ready for action. You¡¯ll be better at projecting scenarios we might have to respond to than I am. Warn us if you realize one of them is happening.


    ¡°Also, and this is probably paranoid of me, but could you monitor the media for any signs of being manipulated by the Nine in their coverage of our activities? I don¡¯t know what to ask you to look for, but maybe similar wording or similar negative perspectives? Maybe even attempting to create a certain perspective on us that could then be turned negative? I don¡¯t know anything about propaganda or public relations, but I feel like that¡¯s the Nine¡¯s most effective weapon right now.¡±


    Hal broadcast his response on the League¡¯s private channel for the current group. [I¡¯m familiar with a variety of techniques of psychological manipulation on a societal level, especially as used in relation to warfare. I know what to look for. Would you like to respond in kind? I¡¯m familiar with how your species uses your worldwide communication system and I¡¯m more than capable of redirecting conversations in virtually every social network.]


    ¡°Uh,¡± I thought back to when he¡¯d told me about how he was studying human behavior by trolling Internet forums across the world. ¡°Go ahead and do what you can to help us, but try not to make the world¡¯s overall mood angrier. If you can figure out a way to make people sympathetic to us, I¡¯m all for that.¡±


    [My skills in manipulating your species¡¯ psychology have increased greatly due to my research. I think you¡¯ll find the results to your liking.]


    The words appeared in my HUD and I only said, ¡°Great, you have my permission.¡±


    Then I followed Jaclyn out as she turned back to look at me and shook her head.I didn¡¯t need to ask what she thought of trusting Hal because I knew I thought the same thing. Hal was probably fine, but if it wasn¡¯t, we¡¯d be facing it, all of its AI buddies, and everyone it could manipulate into attacking us.


    I decided to wait to solve that problem until I had a hint that it existed.


    In the meantime, Jaclyn and I jumped out of the hatch, landing on the green tennis court, its white lines faded by sunlight. With Daniel, Izzy, and Cassie, we walked to the hallway where Isaac waited for us.


    He waved us forward, adding, ¡°Glad you¡¯re here. Follow the hall down to the big room. You can¡¯t miss it. I know I told you this was a supervillain base, but it¡¯s not the high end of bases. The only two things it does well are store objects and protect anything inside. You¡¯re just going to have to trust me on this because we disabled the defenses so you could land. We¡¯re reenabling them while you¡¯re here.¡±


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    We followed his advice. He wasn¡¯t wrong about the base either. It wasn¡¯t the high end. Much like the Nine¡¯s base that we¡¯d left less than an hour ago, it had grey, unpainted, concrete walls and metal doors. That wasn¡¯t so strange. When I thought back, most of the ¡°supervillain bases¡± I¡¯d been in had been homes or office buildings. The one movie quality supervillain base I¡¯d been in had been Rook¡¯s.


    As Isaac had said, we couldn¡¯t miss the big room.


    If I hadn¡¯t been in the Nine¡¯s office building earlier that day, it would have been the largest room I¡¯d ever seen. As it was, it was maybe one floor of their basement¡ªpossibly two since it did have a high ceiling. Of course, the important question wasn¡¯t what the room looked like, but what was in it.


    Boxes. There were a lot of boxes¡ªnot the truck used to hold supervillains, but wooden crates, all of them stacked on top of each other like legos, many of the piles close to hitting the ceiling.


    If it reminded me of anything, it reminded me of the warehouse where they stored the Ark of the Covenant after they found it in Raiders of the Lost Ark¡ªexcept this was more like the version in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull where it felt smaller and a little disappointing.


    Still, it was big, and I couldn¡¯t see its end.


    Agent Lim walked around the group of us, leading us through a small, twisty, aisle between the piles of crates, ¡°This way. We¡¯ve got an open area near the back of the room.¡±


    The aisle twisted and turned, never staying straight for long, and sometimes becoming so narrow that I had to move sideways.


    After looking up at the top of one of the piles as we squeezed through one of the small sections, Jaclyn asked, ¡°How do you even move anything in here?¡±


    ¡°Anti-gravity,¡± Lim said, pushing through into a wider aisle. ¡°The previous owner also stored things here. We can make the gravity low enough that everything¡¯s easy to move. The only hard part is making sure the piles are still stable after gravity goes back to normal.¡±


    After a few more minutes of squeezing through difficult corners and trying not to accidentally tip over a pile of who knows what, we made it to an open area near the far wall where at least nine crates had been opened¡ªmaybe more behind the closest crates.


    It was all there, piles of leather-covered books, old glass vials, and beakers, a flag with the Cabal¡¯s eagle symbol in the middle, overflowing drawers pulled from a wooden desk that I didn¡¯t see, and piles of scrolls stacked on top of each other.


    Daniel turned to look at me and I heard his voice inside my brain, There¡¯s something in here that relates to you. It¡¯s hard to look at just like Lee¡¯s hard to find in the future. Even though I can¡¯t see it, I still know that it¡¯s important. I wish I knew what it was.

 Older Enemies: Part 9

    I thought back at Daniel, Me too. Because I don¡¯t even dare to touch some of this stuff.


    Next to the scrolls on the desk were clay tablets with the odd triangular marks and lines of cuneiform. There was even a clay cylinder with a kind of scene. In addition to the cuneiform, there was a scene that showed a man in what looked like a kilt and another creature with a man¡¯s torso, a lion¡¯s body, and what appeared to be wings on its back.


    I wasn¡¯t sure what, if anything, it meant, but if it was really from Sumer, it had lasted longer than the civilization that created it by thousands of years. Touching it with a suit made to deliver tons of force seemed like a bad idea.


    Daniel appeared to have the same thought, walking up to the desk and looking down at everything, ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯ve got this just out here like this.¡±


    Lim nodded, ¡°I know. In our defense, this place is climate-controlled. All this stuff is here because the last guy to own it was literally storing stuff of a similar age down here¡ªmagical texts, mostly. It was Dr. Transylvania. We have him in to consult about how to keep the place running sometimes.


    ¡°Look, it¡¯s crazy to have this out to look at, but honestly, we¡¯re not treating this as an irreplaceable piece of human history. We¡¯ve got it out because we need people to look at it. We¡¯ve gotten everything we can out of it. We need people like you now.¡±


    Daniel gave a nod, ¡°What do you have? Translations? I don¡¯t think any of us can read Sumerian.¡±


    Over to my left, Cassie stood over the desk, frowning, and then looked up from the tablets, ¡°I can.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the gun. It knows the languages that were current when the Abominators were using it on Earth. Plus, it¡¯s synchronized with other Abominator tech that it was stored with. So it knows a lot of ancient crap.¡±


    Jaclyn, who¡¯d walked around to the other side of the desk to look over a pile of books, said, ¡°That¡¯s new.¡±


    Nodding Cassie said, ¡°As of a few seconds ago, yes. Mr. Sparkles volunteered that for the first time now.¡±


    Lim blinked, ¡°We haven¡¯t translated all of it. We¡¯re still trying to find researchers that we¡¯re confident haven¡¯t been compromised.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow that Lim couldn¡¯t hope to see through my helmet, ¡°It¡¯s been a few years since I brought it in.¡±


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Over to my right, looking over the eagle banner that might have dated from the Roman Empire, Izzy said, ¡°The Nine have hooks anywhere people study ancient history. Between my grandfather and my anthropology major, it seemed like the FBI or Stapledon teachers were always checking in on me.¡±


    Taking a breath, Lim said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that, but we had to be cautious.  I''d be more surprised to learn that the Nine don''t have someone in Berkeley''s anthropology department than that they did. The Nine have scooped up more Abominator tech than we¡¯d like and your professors were excavating the right places to find it.¡±


    Thinking about what Grandpa Klein had said about meeting Grandpa Vander Sloot, I wondered how long that had been true. Back in 1971, there might not have been a Nine, but there had to be precursors. Thinking back to the Amethyst Archer and my travels off Earth, I knew the Dominators were around.


    ¡°Hey Cap,¡± I looked over at Cassie, ¡°you¡¯re the League¡¯s official translator now.¡±


    Cassie let out a breath, ¡°I guessed. Where do you want me to start?¡±


    Daniel and I both said, ¡°The tablets.¡±


    Cassie rolled her eyes and Lim¡¯s mouth twitched.


    Daniel looked around at the group of us, ¡°I¡¯ve got a feeling about the tablets.¡±


    Cassie picked up the nearest one, ¡°A positive feeling?¡±


    Throwing his hand in the air, Daniel said, ¡°A significant feeling. I get that about a lot of things around here, but a little more from the tablets.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, Cassie began to look over the tablet, ¡°Give me a second to get into the right mindset. The gun knows the language, but it doesn¡¯t translate very well. That¡¯s not what it was made for. I¡¯m using the Xiniti implant to help.¡±


    She stood there, breathing in and then breathing out, several times longer than a second. Then she said, ¡°The record of Urin of the city Uruk, the greatest city where men dwell. Its great walls and teeming crowds show the blessing of Anu, lord of the sky, whose ziggurat with the White Temple stands as a testament to our power.


    ¡°I am Urin, once a man of no consequence, a man who came to the city alone and with few possessions and rose to become a man of wealth¡ª¡°


    Cassie stopped, ¡°And for next paragraph¡­ No, for the rest of this tablet, he talks about his wives and children, his house, his servants, and all the people that live there. It sounds like he owns a lot of sheep.¡±


    She turned to look at Daniel, ¡°Significant sheep. He also owned oxen, donkeys, pigs, and goats. Does anyone want to know how many goats?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°A fuckton of goats. I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s what it says here.¡±


    Jaclyn turned toward Cassie, ¡°Seriously? Can we keep on moving?¡±


    Cassie picked up the next tablet, ¡°It looks like he¡¯s done telling us all how wealthy he is, but for the first part, he tells about all of his accomplishments, buildings he¡¯s had built¡­ All this guy has done is brag so far. But¡­ This looks interesting. You¡¯re going to want to hear this next bit.


    ¡°Some wonder at the wealth my household has collected, but they don¡¯t understand my nature. While I don¡¯t always lead my household and sometimes another, perhaps a son or servant, takes over for a time, I am always there. I have had many times the life of most men to collect and grow my wealth.


    ¡°I do not grow old.¡±

 Older Enemies: Part 10

    Cassie looked up from the tablet, ¡°Do you think this is Magnus talking? Writing on clay tablets seems like too much work just to keep a diary.¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°Do you think he¡¯s seeing people from the Cabal?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°Who knows? I guess I¡¯d better get back to reading.¡±


    Taking a breath, she continued, ¡°I am not the only one. There are more. I don¡¯t know how many, but I¡¯ve seen them¡ªtwo for the first time ten years ago in Uruk. The man was a soldier. I don¡¯t think he recognized me, but a woman appeared a few weeks later. We talked for a time and then she left, but not before reminding me that we¡¯d talked before more than one hundred years ago. That was when I was wandering and before I came to Uruk.


    ¡°I had them watched when they were in the city and when they left. Two months after seeing them, my men told me where the man and woman had gone. They had gone north across the rivers and into the mountains. My men in other cities found that there were others like them who traveled to and from a village called Iduka. I sent men to Iduka to find out what they did there and whether they left. None of those men returned.


    ¡°When I learned that they were missing, I traveled to Iduka with seven of my soldiers. It was a small village. The houses were built out of reeds except for one house made out of clay bricks. After we came to the village, the man who owned the clay house came back from his fields with his servants.


    ¡°¡®You must go,¡¯ the man said, ¡®or the men will come from the mountains and kill you.¡¯


    ¡°I told him that I feared no one and that if they came I would fight them. He said, ¡®You will surely die now because here they are.¡¯ In that moment, I saw them walking down the streets toward us, the man and woman I¡¯d met, but also others, all of them of great size.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like the Cabal,¡± Jaclyn stepped closer to Cassie to look over her shoulder at the tablet.


    ¡°It gets better,¡± Cassie said, ¡°Listen to what he does next: I told them that I feared no man, and that if I fought them and lost, I¡¯d be their slave and if they fought me and lost, they¡¯d be mine. They laughed but agreed. I fought them one by one and by the time I¡¯d beaten four they declared that they were my slaves. Then I asked them why they were coming to kill us and if they said they¡¯d been told to do so by their former lord.


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    ¡°They led us to a great cave in the mountains and there I fought their former lord and became his lord as well. I asked him why he had told them to kill us and he explained that the cave was the cave of their masters and that their masters were gone, but that they would return.


    ¡°I asked them who their masters were and they said that their masters were not men, but came from the sky. I asked them if their masters were gods and they said they did not know. They knew only that they were not men but could take the form of a man if they chose.


    ¡°I asked them more questions, but they knew no more than that and seemed content to serve me until their masters came back. The cave contained all manner of strange riches¡ªnot only coins but tools that no man could make. Among their possessions was a recipe for a potion that could make some men stronger and ageless. They called it the drink of the gods.


    ¡°From then on, they served me and my power and influence grew among all the peoples of the world. Every man I met after that became my servant whether they knew it or not. Well, all men save one.


    ¡°Once when I visited the city of Ur, I passed a man riding in a chariot. He carried not one sword, but two. When I saw him, I felt ill and knew that should he notice me, I would die. I have no understanding of how I knew this, but since then I have sometimes heard whispers in my mind that I have ignored.¡±


    Cassie put down the tablet and looked over the rest of them. After a little while, she turned toward everyone and said, ¡°I think that¡¯s everything¡ªeverything we care about at least. The rest of the tablets are stories about how he became more the power behind the throne in different city-states and grew his army of powerful men and their children.¡±


    ¡°Is there anything more about the whispers?¡± I stepped closer to the desk to look down at the tablets.


    Cassie turned back toward them and shook her head, ¡°Nothing. I looked and not just for that. I have a gut feeling that the guy in the chariot with two swords is Lee.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°He does like fighting with two swords or two daggers.¡±


    Isaac Lim had walked over to the other side of the desk, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t surprise me. Our files on him show hundreds of possible identifications in the historical record.¡±


    Lim¡¯s voice reminded me not to go any further in talking about how the whispers and ill-feeling when Urin of the city Uruk passed Lee in the street hinted that Urin might be connected to the Artificers or the Cosmic Ghosts. While I didn¡¯t quite feel ill, the one time I¡¯d encountered an Artificer that wasn¡¯t Lee, I¡¯d recognized her in exactly that way.


    Kee had later told me I¡¯d have to wait a thousand years to develop the associated abilities that came with that heritage. It struck me, though, that if the Sumerian civilization came together six thousand years ago, Urin had all the time he''d needed and more.

 Older Enemies: Part 11

    ¡°Uruk,¡± Daniel said, shaking his head. ¡°That¡¯s where Gilgamesh ruled, assuming that he was a real person. Also interesting? Gilgamesh wanted to be immortal and he went to find Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim was basically Noah down to building a boat to preserve the world¡¯s animals and his family during a massive flood. In Sumerian myth, Utnapishtim was given immortality by the gods afterward.¡±


    Izzy glanced over at him and smiled, ¡°You beat me to it.¡±


    His mouth twitched, ¡°I cheated. I heard you thinking about it. I knew Gilgamesh, but I didn¡¯t remember Utnapishtim.¡±


    She nodded, ¡°That¡¯s what I thought.¡±


    Turning to us, she said, ¡°Uruk was the biggest city in the ancient world for its time and it looks like Gilgamesh ruled there and wasn¡¯t just a myth.¡±


    Jaclyn let out a breath, ¡°So Magnus might have been the real Gilgamesh or Utnapishtim.¡±


    I looked over at her, ¡°If we¡¯re lucky this Urin guy was someone else and Magnus is a descendant. Like maybe he¡¯s only 500 years old?¡±


    Lim laughed, ¡°That would be a little better. Then he¡¯d only have 10 times as much experience as I do instead of more than 120.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Daniel turned toward the pile of books that Jaclyn had been standing next to before Cassie read from the tablets, ¡°I¡¯m getting the feeling that we should look at one of those and then leave.¡±


    Lim turned around to look at the books, ¡°These?¡±


    Jaclyn walked around the desk and stopped next to the books, ¡°Which one? Closer to the top, bottom, or middle?¡±


    ¡°Second from the top,¡± Daniel said, pointing at it.


    ¡°This one?¡± Jaclyn pulled it off the pile and opened it, ¡°I don¡¯t understand it. It¡¯s in Latin.Mystic, didn¡¯t you take that?¡±


    Daniel frowned, ¡°I¡¯ll see if I can figure it out.¡±


    Jaclyn held out the book and it floated over and opened in front of Daniel. The pages flipped over, seemingly under their own power until they were about a third of the way through the book.


    ¡°Here,¡± Daniel flipped the book around so everyone could see. Bound in worn, tanned leather, it had to be at least a foot tall. Inside the spidery, hand-drawn illustrations appeared to be attempts at representing three-dimensional shapes.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    If anything, it reminded me of the sort of drawings you¡¯d see in a movie when someone was about to summon a demon or an unnamable horror. Along with it were notations, all of them in Latin. I didn¡¯t recognize even one word.


    The shapes did bring up something though. I couldn¡¯t place them but they felt familiar¡ªnot the kind of familiar where I recognized them, but the kind that stayed on the edges of my understanding and felt like I should recognize them.


    I checked my implant, a repository of knowledge that gave me access to more history, culture, and technology than I had time to explore. It gave me nothing. There was no similar collection of three-dimensional shapes cataloged in the many thousands of years that galactic civilization existed¡ªat least that they¡¯d bothered to include in my implant.


    They couldn¡¯t include everything after all.


    Mind you, it¡¯s not as if the implant didn¡¯t try. It gave me constellations as viewed from planets across the galaxy, schematics of thousands of pieces of electronics, and maps. It would have overwhelmed me when I first got the implant, but now I absorbed what I wanted and nothing else.


    Very little of that deluge of imagery matched anything that sparked my imagination. The closest resemblance came from trails in a park on a planet light-years away. I had my doubts that whoever drew the lines had been fantasizing about an interstellar vacation.


    I took a picture of the book with my implant, converted it into a png file, and sent it to Amy via the League¡¯s comm system. Her text message came back, ¡°No. Not magic.¡±


    As I did, I heard Daniel translate the title of the page, ¡°The closest I think I¡¯m going to get is ¡®galaxy core device¡¯.¡±


    I turned toward him quickly enough that I stepped sideways to keep my balance. I wasn¡¯t the only one. Jaclyn and Cassie also turned to look at him and then at me.


    I had heard those words before¡ªalmost. Lee had mentioned a weapon that Kee had designed for the Destroy faction of Artificers that he¡¯d stolen and then left the group. I¡¯d thought about it only a few days ago when I¡¯d taken a look at an Abominator device that had been designed to help the Abominators find and capture Artificers.


    I thought back to the lines I¡¯d seen in that mirror. Calling up the memory with the aid of my implant, I could superimpose the lines over a small section of the drawing in the book in front of me. It was a spot where five lines came together in a kind of joint.


    A few lines didn¡¯t quite fit, but the part that I¡¯d seen inside the Abominators¡¯ ¡°mirror¡± was maybe one percent of that drawing. Given that, it seemed all too possible that some of the lines from the mirror were too small to be worth including in the picture.


    Lee had to hide the weapon somewhere, didn¡¯t he? He¡¯d spent a lot of time on Earth and done a lot of work to keep his people away. Though I didn¡¯t doubt that he¡¯d done that because they wanted to destroy any mortals that he¡¯d influenced as he¡¯d told me, I suspected that wasn¡¯t everything.


    I needed to send the picture from the book to Kee to see what she thought. I¡¯d only started to put myself into the right mindset for that when Daniel¡¯s eyes widened. As Cassie began to look at me and say, ¡°Galaxy core¡ª¡° Daniel waved his hands to get our attention, ¡°We need to leave and Lim needs to evacuate as fast as possible.¡±


    Lim pulled out his phone, ¡°Why?¡±


    Shrugging, Daniel said, ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly, but I know we¡¯re now a target.¡±

 Older Enemies: Part 12

    Lim, who had years of following both the original League and us didn¡¯t hesitate. Tapping the screen exactly twice, talked into it, and as he finished, his words blasted out of speakers throughout the complex, ¡°Evacuate immediately! Only take something if you¡¯re holding it. There¡¯s nothing in here that¡¯s worth your life. Again, get out now!¡±


    To us, he said, ¡°I¡¯m leaving with the staff. Go to your jet and don¡¯t feel bad about breaking things if you need to.¡±


    Jaclyn and Izzy looked at each other and Jaclyn said, ¡°I¡¯ll go left. You can take the right. No one¡¯s here but us right?¡±


    Izzy blinked and then said, ¡°No.¡±


    Lim gave us a wave and ran out of the nearest door, a door that was on the opposite side of the room of the door that we needed¡ªnot that it mattered. The nice thing about not caring what happened to your surroundings was that you could go all out. Jaclyn and Izzy did.


    The tall, twisty trails through the room turned into a straight, wide trail toward the door on the other side of the room. Moving more quickly than I could see unless I did an instant replay with the implant, Jaclyn and Izzy knocked the piles sideways, causing domino-style crashes on either side of us. Smashed and shattered boxes fell backward, releasing their contents. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see clothes, laptops, clay cups and vases, car parts, and mystery devices.


    I didn¡¯t realize until later that I¡¯d seen a glowing sword fly sideways into another pile, sinking into one of the crates as if it were cutting butter. If I had, I might have grabbed it, but I didn¡¯t grab anything. I was flying after Cassie and Daniel on the theory that they wouldn¡¯t appreciate the heat of my rockets.


    We went through the room in a blur, followed by the hall to the room with the jet, a final burst toward the jet¡¯s hatch. Someone elsewhere in the complex was kind enough to open the way to the tennis court above us.


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    We didn¡¯t wait for the fake tennis court slab that had carried us down to carry us back up either. I didn¡¯t even make it to my seat before the jet started going up of its own accord. I supposed that I had given him leave to respond to emergencies on some level.


    Hal sent everyone a text to the League comm channel as we started to fly.


    [Activating cloak. Changing orientation for a faster escape.]


    Even though the windows were darkened by the cloak, I could see the jet¡¯s nose point upward toward the sky and felt the jet¡¯s engines shoot us upward. Thanks to the anti-gravity, the only hint of the engines¡¯ strength came in the form of a small slip as I put my right foot down, but since I didn¡¯t fall downward, hitting the back wall of the cabin at hundreds of miles per hour, I had no complaint.


    We made it into the sky long before the tennis court slipped back into place.Once I¡¯d snapped the final belt in place, I took control of the jet, seeing the incoming missiles flying toward the top of the small mountain that we¡¯d left below.


    It struck me that we could make Lim¡¯s life easier if we shot them down. The same thought must have popped into Cassie¡¯s mind. Aided by her implant, she took control of the jet¡¯s weapons and let loose the anti-personnel lasers. They weren¡¯t as effective as the main gun, but you didn¡¯t have to aim the entire ship in the right direction to use them either.


    Bright beams took out two of the five missiles as they flew across the river on the way to the top of the mountain. The first of the other three missiles dipped down toward the tennis court, hitting before it got into place. Chunks of concrete, rock, dirt, and trees from the mountain¡¯s peak exploded outward, covering the place in black smoke and flame.


    The other two missiles must have been timed well enough that they didn¡¯t have to hit the tennis court because the ground underneath the ruined resort exploded, throwing pieces of the building and the ground beneath it in all directions even as what was left fell inward. The same thing happened on the other side of the tennis court¡ªin the storage room, I guessed¡ªturning the peak of the mountain into a long divot.


    I barely had time to take that in when I noticed four egg-shaped objects in the air on the far side of the mountain. Judging from the dirt on them, they had to have been near the mountain when it blew.


    On the League¡¯s comm channel, Lim¡¯s icon blinked, ¡°If you¡¯re still here, we¡¯re in the eggs. Please don¡¯t fire on us.¡±

 Older Enemies: Part 13

    Connecting to my comm through my implant, I told him, ¡°No worries. We see you. We didn¡¯t know it was you, but we do try not to shoot when we don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll hit.¡±


    I looked over at Cassie and she rolled her eyes at me.


    Unaware of that, Lim replied, ¡°Good. I¡¯m contacting D.C. to get people there up to speed about all this. Did you recognize the missiles?¡±


    I was about to say I hadn¡¯t, but Hal did.


    [They¡¯re the same kind that fired at you while you were leaving Canada after rescuing Captain Commando.]


    I froze for an instant, but then said, ¡°The jet recognized them as the same kind of missile that was fired at us on the way back after fighting Rook in Canada. Our best guess is that it¡¯s the Nine in some form, but we can¡¯t prove it.¡±


    Starting with a click, Lim said, ¡°Given everything that¡¯s happened today, I¡¯d be surprised if it pointed in any other direction. Talk to you later.¡±


    With that, I took the jet up to 60,000 feet so that our sonic booms didn¡¯t cause problems.


    It wasn¡¯t a difficult flight. No one attacked us and we didn¡¯t get any requests for help. I found myself thinking about what came next. I needed to contact Kee to see if my suspicions that Lee had hidden an alien superweapon on Earth were correct. Then I needed to contact Lee and ask him something like, ¡°What the hell, man?¡±


    To be fair, his very existence on Earth put the planet at risk for destruction, but I¡¯d gotten used to that idea¡ªsort of. This kicked it up a notch. Not only did it give the Artificers plenty of motivation to visit, but it might also draw out both the Live and Destroy factions into a fight that could leave our entire spiral arm lifeless.


    Then beyond that, we had to free Ana¡¯s mind, interrogate the Amethyst Archer, maybe find out her real name, and deal with whatever fallout resulted from bringing Kals to Earth for a visit.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    After that, maybe we¡¯d be able to find out why Magnus kidnapped my parents, who Urin had been, and why he had a drawing of Lee¡¯s weapon. Worse, we might find out that he knew what it was and was looking for it himself.


    I couldn¡¯t guess exactly what he wanted to do with it, but world conquest seemed like the obvious possibility. Given that the weapon had been created by an alien genius with abilities that verged both in the direction of godhood and unnamable, eldritch horror, I might be thinking small.


    At that moment, I found myself grateful for the distraction of flying. The blue sky, clouds, the constant checking as to what all was around us, and what was ahead kept my mind focused on the many things that I didn¡¯t know and needed to.


    Daniel had to have heard everything because I could feel his attention. It felt like the big speakers at a rock concert. Even if no one¡¯s playing, you still know that they¡¯re on.


    I know it¡¯s big and that we don¡¯t know anywhere near enough about what¡¯s going on here or what the Nine have to do with Magnus, if they do, but I think we can find out. I don¡¯t know the details, but I know there are futures where we make it through all of this.


    I thought back, I hope those futures become more obvious as we go because the only idea I have right now is to take one step forward until I have a better idea.


    I felt Daniel¡¯s understanding, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve got another option.


    It didn¡¯t take long before we were flying over Ohio and descending. Letting the jet slow down, I told everyone that we would be landing soon.


    Before we even made it into Michigan, an icon in my HUD began to blink.A look told me what I needed to know. I was being called by Dr. Transylvania. I didn¡¯t give myself time to wonder why he was calling. I opened my comm connection, wondering how I should even answer this call.


    I went with, ¡°Hey.¡±


    Dr. Transylvania went with, ¡°Rocket.¡±


    In that one word, I heard barely suppressed anger that I hoped wasn¡¯t directed at me, ¡°I¡¯m surprised to hear from you.¡±


    ¡°They destroyed my storage facility!¡± Even though the comms compressed the words into a reasonable volume, it still felt loud.


    Not sure of the best approach to go with when called by an enraged, reformed supervillain with a bad reputation, I went with calm and added, ¡°Yeah, I was almost inside when it happened.¡±


    He gave a sigh that turned into a growl, ¡°Do you know who it was?¡±


    ¡°My best guess is the Nine,¡± I said, deciding not to point out to him that the federal government had taken it years ago and that it wasn¡¯t technically his at this point.


    ¡°Whoever it is,¡± he said, ¡°I¡¯m going to get them.¡± Then he hung up.

 Probationers: Part 1

    Dr. Transylvania could have bought a more impressive headquarters for the Probationers himself. He had the money.


    Four stories high with gray concrete and steel beams being the most noticeable pieces of the interior, it looked like what it had been¡ªa warehouse used by the postal service. Even though the building now held offices and laboratories, it still looked like an abandoned warehouse from the outside. It even had a worn post office symbol on the outside of the building, the eagle so light and worn that he couldn¡¯t tell what color it had originally been.


    He¡¯d have bet on black, but after more than a millennium of life, he¡¯d long ago stopped caring about logos.


    He had more immediate concerns.


    Staring up at the television in the conference room, he scowled and sat up straighter in his chair, hearing his voice raise as he said, ¡°What do you mean we can¡¯t go after them?¡±


    The man on the screen sank back into his chair before the mortal realized that he¡¯d been cowering and puffed himself up. In his mid-forties with thinning, blond, curly hair, Agent Spitz struck Dr. Transylvania as a scared, little man who was hanging on until he reached his pension.


    In a higher voice than usual, Spitz said, ¡°I mean that you can¡¯t! You¡¯re superheroes in the employ of the United States government. That means that you need to be available to aid the United States government. You know what the Nine is like. If you get their attention, it¡¯s going to be an all-out war. We won¡¯t be able to send you anywhere without the Nine sending out a team to assassinate you. You¡¯ll be useless to us and I think you all need to think about what that means.¡±


    From behind him, Dr. Transylvania heard the raspy voice of Ape Nasty, ¡°Yeah, yeah. The bomb in my brain goes boom.¡±


    The ape¡¯s voice sounded as deep as its owner¡¯s body was enormous.


    A woman¡¯s voice said, ¡°He¡¯s got a bomb in his head?¡±


    Dr. Transylvania turned away from the television to nod at Mistress Madness in her costume which was silver with undertones of the colors of the rainbow. What was her real name? It didn¡¯t matter. ¡°Agent Spitz and Ape Nasty have history.¡±


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    The ape laughed, ¡°I told him I¡¯d rip his head off.¡±


    Mistress Madness¡¯ jaw dropped, ¡°You put a bomb in his brain because he made a joke?¡±


    Laughing, Ape Nasty reached across the table and touched her shoulder, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I wasn¡¯t joking. I meant every bit of it.¡±


    Wanting to keep the conversation on track, Dr. Transylvania turned back toward the television, ¡°We don¡¯t want to be useless to the government, but isn¡¯t it a little bit late to worry about whether we¡¯ve annoyed the Nine? We just assisted the Heroes¡¯ League in destroying a major base and manufacturing facility. Rook posted a video saying that the Nine had declared war on the Heroes¡¯ League. Do you think that there¡¯s any chance that we¡¯re not included?¡±


    Agent Spitz shook his head, ¡°We see no reason to believe that they care that you exist. Your name was never mentioned in the video and you only barely appear in the news reports.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, Dr. Transylvania said, ¡°Are you serious? I¡¯ve seen news reports that link us with the Heroes¡¯ League in an attempt to drag them down because they associate with us. Aside from that, I¡¯ve had my own run-ins with the Nine before I got caught and we¡¯ve fought them as a team. They already hate me and there¡¯s no reason to think they don¡¯t hate every one of us.¡±


    Agent Spitz shook his head, ¡°There is no way short of them targeting you and making it impossible for you to get anything else done that I will allow this team to go after the Nine again. That¡¯s all. We¡¯re done for today.¡±


    From the other side of the table, the Atoner, still in his red and white body armor, said, ¡°We completely understand. Thank you.¡±


    The screen went black as (or shortly before) the Atoner finished. Dr. Transylvania turned toward him and said, ¡°I hate that man.¡±


    Nodding, the Atoner said, ¡°Phil has issues. I¡¯d have taken anyone else, but this is who we got.¡±


    At the sound of Agent Spitz''s first name, Mistress Madness laughed, ¡°Phil? The agent¡¯s name is Phil Spitz?¡±


    The Atoner shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s not that funny unless you think Spitz is just a funny last name.¡±


    Mistress Madness said, ¡°I do. It''s hilarious.¡±


    Dr. Transylvania fought back a sigh. She¡¯d only been on the team for a month and at 26 years old, she was practically an infant.


    From the far end of the table, the team¡¯s second newest member Morgan Spitz-White said, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a little funny, but it¡¯s my name too. Remember that.¡±


    In her forties, Morgan had years of mercenary work behind her. Dr. Transylvania knew she was almost as dangerous even out of her powered armor and he approved.


    Mistress Madness nodded, ¡°No offense meant. He¡¯s not a relative, is he?¡±


    Morgan shook her head, ¡°I¡¯d shoot myself. I don¡¯t want to be related to a fed.¡±


    Ignoring them as they continued talking, Dr. Transylvania turned to the Atoner, ¡°I don¡¯t care what he says, we¡¯re going after the Nine.¡±


    Taking a long breath, the Atoner froze, ¡°That¡¯s going to cause problems. We¡¯re employees and he¡¯s our boss.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a fool. Mark my words, he¡¯ll change his mind by the end of the day.¡±

 Probationers: Part 2

    The Atoner frowned, ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    Time stretched and Dr. Transylvania began to open his mouth to say goodbye when The Atoner said, ¡°Talk in my office, Doc?¡±


    Dr. Transylvania nodded and they got up from the table, walking out of the concrete-walled room as Mistress Madness muttered, ¡°Looks like the grownups are going off to have a private conversation.¡±


    The Atoner smiled at her, ¡°If it¡¯s important, we¡¯ll let everybody know afterward. This is a team. Doc and I don¡¯t run this team. We all do.¡±


    Ape Nasty gave a booming laugh, waving at Dr. Transylvania, ¡°See you, boss. Let me know the plan when you¡¯re ready.¡±


    The Atoner shook his head but opened the door for Dr. Transylvania and they walked through another gray hall, through a steel door, and into The Atoner¡¯s office. An unfinished gadget shaped like a shiny, black ball lay on the Atoner¡¯s desk. Partially disassembled, circuitry and wires were visible inside. Other pieces sat on the desk around it.


    Neither one sat down. The Atoner stepped behind them and shut the door, inadvertently standing in front of what Dr. Transylvania thought of as the Atoner¡¯s Wall of Regret.


    A framed poster of the Des Moines Titans hung in the middle of framed newspaper articles of their biggest successes hung on the wall. In the picture, the men and women were happy, healthy, young, and beautiful. In the present, they were all dead except for the only survivor who stood in front of him¡ªtheir killer.


    It hadn¡¯t been the Atoner¡¯s fault. He¡¯d been controlled by a super that the press initially called ¡°Mind Wedgie.¡± He¡¯d called himself Mind Whip. The only reference to this part of the Atoner¡¯s history was a framed article with the headline, ¡°MIND WHIP EXECUTED.¡±


    ¡°Vladislav,¡± the Atoner said, ¡°I know that you mean well, but you were sounding like a supervillain in there. I know the team won¡¯t report you, but when I hear you talk like that, I get worried about what you¡¯re going to do. Ape Nasty¡¯s got a bomb in his head and I know there are agents whose silver bullets have your name on them¡ªnot to mention the blood thing. Don¡¯t give them an excuse to use it. We¡¯ve done good work together. I don¡¯t want to end it prematurely.¡±


    In moments like this, Vladislav had no choice but to remember that the Atoner believed that he, Vladislav, was somehow a good man, ¡°Colin,¡± he said, ¡°I will not let this stand. The Nine destroyed my storage area. The government may own it now, but there are things inside that I need. The authorities promised I¡¯d get them back, and now they don¡¯t know if they exist. The Nine attacked and I know they weren¡¯t the main target, but if the Nine knew I wanted them, I have no doubt that they¡¯d destroy them intentionally.¡±


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    Colin nodded, ¡°What is it? Is it personal? Technical? How important is it to keep secret?¡±


    Vladislav said, ¡°All of that. The FBI knows what to look for, but I don¡¯t trust all of them. The Nine have their hooks into too many people¡ªincluding Agent Spitz, I think.¡±


    Colin looked down, but when he raised his eyes, he said, ¡°I think so too. I still don¡¯t want you to antagonize him. They have ways to control and hurt you. You know that. I think we need to keep all of this under the radar. If anyone¡¯s a target, it should be me and it needs to be quiet.¡±


    Shaking his head, Vladislav responded, ¡°They have controls on you too¡ªloyalty to the government, respect for authority figures, and an unwillingness to become a criminal. This needs someone with less respect and more experience in defying authority. I can assure you that it will be quiet.¡±


    ¡°Absolutely not, ¡°Colin said. ¡°This will blow back on you. Don¡¯t do anything. I¡¯m going to look into it now and I will be back before tonight¡¯s meeting with Spitz. You, however, will be here all day with a completely clean conscience because you won¡¯t do anything wrong.¡±


    With a nod, Vladislav said, ¡°I won¡¯t do anything wrong.¡±


    Colin looked up at him, ¡°Don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t hear the double meaning in that. You know I¡¯m telling you not to do anything that I would consider wrong.¡±


    Vladislav grunted something that could be considered assent if you wanted to believe he was assenting.


    Colin sighed, ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to see what I can do and you¡¯re going to avoid screwing up the lives of your entire team.¡±


    Colin opened the door for them to leave the room and go back into the world where Vladislav would be a reformed supervillain and Colin would not be the closest thing to a friend he¡¯d had in more than one hundred years.


    The Atoner followed him out into the hall and with a wave said, ¡°Think about what I said.¡±


    Dr. Transylvania nodded and walked the other way down the hall to his own office. Pulling the steel door open, he walked in. It felt better than Colin¡¯s bare, monk-like room. He¡¯d had a big wooden desk put in along with rugs, curtains to cover the walls, and crossed swords hanging above the desk. He¡¯d been told it felt medieval, but he knew better.


    The medieval era wasn¡¯t quite as comfortable and it took considerably more work to hide from the sun.


    As the door shut behind him, he sat down at his desk and picked up the phone. It looked like an old brass phone from the last century except that it didn¡¯t have a cord that led to the wall.


    It didn¡¯t need the cord. He¡¯d designed it to work without one, tapping wirelessly into the network he¡¯d designed for his organization. Within a few seconds, he¡¯d used the dial to send the activation code and heard a man¡¯s voice on the other end of the line.


    ¡°Yes, sir?¡±


    ¡°Get me everything you can find on Agent Phil Spitz. I¡¯m especially interested in any training or protection he has against mind control. Don¡¯t hesitate to use our sources in the Nine to find out if he¡¯s an asset.¡±

 Probationers: Part 3

    The voice on the other end said, ¡°Yes, sir,¡± again with the same, precise intonation he¡¯d used before. It was Florin Ablu. How long ago had Vladislav hired his family? Perhaps 300 years ago. Maybe a little longer.


    As Vladislav came to that conclusion, Florin added, ¡°Sir, do you wish me to assign this to your children? Earlier you said they should stay out of the public eye for fifty years, but I believe that Maria and Alexandru regularly feed on a number of the Nine¡¯s employees.¡±


    ¡°All of my children have been ordered to cultivate useful sources in the world. I know I said they should avoid attention, but this is necessary. Make it clear to all of them that I want to know everything and if they balk, tell them that in this matter, you speak with my voice. Is that clear?¡±


    ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± Florin talked quickly, his voice higher than normal. ¡°I will tell them to gather everything they can and I will contact every one of them and not just Maria and Alexandru.¡±


    ¡°Excellent, but make sure that they understand that they should still do their best to avoid attention. I don¡¯t want them to be found any more than I did before.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Florin said, his voice lowering to his normal range, ¡°I¡¯ll start immediately.¡±


    ¡°Do that,¡± Vladislav said and hung up.


    Placing the handset back down into its brass cradle, he decided that it was time to prepare. Getting out of his chair, he left the room, walking through the spiderweb of identical hallways toward his lab.


    The young woman walking toward him smiled. With shoulder-length dark hair, light skin, and red lipstick, she reminded him of all too many women that he¡¯d fed on over the years, many to their deaths. The clothes were modern¡ªfrayed jeans with holes and a black shirt with sleeves made out of a material so thin he could see the roses tattooed on her right bicep.


    She was young, healthy, alone, and he was hungry. He had blood in the lab, but this would be warm. The pain started the moment he started wondering how he¡¯d do it. It shot through his chest and up into his head. Forcing a smile onto his face and keeping the scream inside, he concentrated on letting his breath flow in through his nose and out through his mouth.


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    She stopped smiling and looked up at him, ¡°Are you okay, Doc?¡±


    Letting his smile widen as the pain withdrew, he said, ¡°I¡¯m fine, my dear.¡±


    Now that he was back to himself, he knew who she was. Mistress Madness had changed out of her costume. If he¡¯d been less hungry, he¡¯d have recognized Lindsay¡¯s scent.


    Lindsay peered up for a little longer and smiled again, ¡°You do look better now. Well, I was going out to Starbucks. Do you want anything?¡±


    He smiled, ¡°They don¡¯t serve what I want.¡±


    She laughed, ¡°God¡­ Of course, they don¡¯t, but I suppose you can get that anywhere, can¡¯t you? You live in a world of living snacks.¡±


    He let out a breath, remembering to breathe in through his nose, ¡°I don¡¯t do that anymore.¡±


    ¡°Too bad,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯ve always wondered what it would be like.¡±


    Smiling, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t trust your public entertainment. Vampires don¡¯t want your love. We want your blood, and if we see something worth keeping, your immortal servitude.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind in case I meet any other vampires,¡± she stepped around him, touching his shoulder as she passed, ¡°You seem okay.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said and turned as she passed. ¡°I think I¡¯d like a grande Chai.¡±


    She nodded, ¡°Hot or iced?¡±


    ¡°Hot.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± she said and turned away.


    He seemed okay? He shook his head as he walked toward his laboratory. He was an immortal undead monster. The only reason he hadn¡¯t fed on her was that he¡¯d ensorcelled himself with a working too difficult to remove when he was hungry enough that he wanted to. If he expected to work off his debt to society, he couldn¡¯t leave a string of dead bodies and new vampires behind him, could he?


    All the same, she¡¯d have been a good candidate for his family. She¡¯d earned a doctorate in chemistry by the age of 25 and she kept her head in a fight. Her na?vet¨¦ about the undead would have disappeared when she rose again.


    Casting those thoughts from his mind, he walked towards his lab, thinking through his plans. What did he need to work around? Agent Spitz had an anti-voice buzzer on a necklace around his neck. While useless against vampiric hypnosis, they might have hidden more defenses inside it. Spitz also wore a cross. Vladislav doubted that Spitz had enough faith that it would be effective, it still made him uncomfortable and if Spitz had more of a spiritual connection than expected, it might hurt. It might also be some sort of relic. If so, that would be a problem.


    He¡¯d be surprised if Spitz¡¯s bullets weren¡¯t silver. What else? He didn¡¯t know. He¡¯d have to wait for Florin¡¯s reports.


    Whatever defenses Spitz had, Vladislav knew that he could defeat whatever sorcery or technology that weak, little man had collected.

 Probationers: Part 4

    It didn¡¯t take long to get to his laboratory. Though it wasn¡¯t the equal of the laboratory in his castle, Vladislav had brought the essentials and collected substitutes for what couldn¡¯t be moved.


    People always stared at it the first time they opened the door. Between the computers, partially assembled sets of powered armor, boxes of spare parts manufactured at his factories, the refrigerators with bags of blood, magic circles on the floor surrounding his anvil and other devices, it looked like no other room in the building.


    The shelves were full of books, jars containing powders, preserved creatures, and humanoid and animal body parts, some of which still moved.


    The mixture of modern and ancient suited him. Aside from which, the mortals never seemed to understand that the magic swords in their stories were as much a mixture of magic and technology as when he enchanted a suit of powered armor.


    The only annoying thing about it was that instead of giving him privacy, it met the building¡¯s other labs at the far wall, and even worse, the wall was made of a transparent substance with the strength of metal.


    Through the wall, he could see into the Atoner¡¯s lab where he made and maintained his gadgets, and Mistress Madness¡¯ lab where she experimented with gases and airborne poisons.


    What annoyed him most was what it said. It said that the powers-that-be didn¡¯t trust him and maybe didn¡¯t trust any of them¡ªnot even the Atoner. Knowing that any of them could defeat any cameras the FBI installed, they were giving them the opportunity to tattle on each other. He wouldn¡¯t and he hadn¡¯t. The Atoner had a collection of the Nine¡¯s technology. Mistress Madness was still experimenting with poisons that caused death or permanent derangement.


    Vladislav had no intention of telling on either of them. He was sure they had their reasons, but no matter, the labs were empty.


    He shook his head. Where to begin? The silver bullets. They¡¯d probably hired a wizard to enchant them to one shot vampires. It wouldn¡¯t take much to modify armor he¡¯d already enchanted against that to fit under his clothes. The anti-voice buzzer and the cross were more of an issue. Neither one was automatically a problem, but both had the potential to be¡ªif the cross contained a relic or if the buzzer contained more than a buzzer.


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    He¡¯d have to come up with a way to deactivate them or remove them from the action either by removing them or destroying them. Replacing them with a harmless duplicate might be worth it, but that would be challenging. He did have a solution, though.


    Starting with the armor because it was the more predictable problem, he disassembled cloth armor he¡¯d made for a dinner where the group had to act as bodyguards, finding the cloth layer he¡¯d designed the suit coat around. For the next hour, he worked the enchanted cloth into the shirt he wore, something made more challenging because he had to modify one of his circles and work on the cloth inside to keep its enchantment from disappearing or worse, changing.


    Analysts on SuperTV had never guessed how much time he spent sewing.


    By the time he¡¯d finished, he¡¯d come up with an approach to the problem with the anti-voice buzzer and the cross¡ªa summoning.


    Boss Scree was a rat, but a rat from Faerie. Vladislav knew him from the old days. Boss Scree and his clan were useful when you needed something stolen, wanted it done quietly, and didn¡¯t mind if someone got eaten to make it happen.


    When the cloth was finished, Vladislav walked over to one of the magic circles, adding markings with chalk, and placing a wheel of moldy cheese in the middle of the circle, partly because it amused him and partly because he knew Boss Scree would like it.


    Lighting candles, he chanted the summoning spell, saying Boss Scree¡¯s true name. If it were his own home, he¡¯d have shouted it, but here he didn¡¯t want to attract attention or worse, interruption. He¡¯d let Boss Scree loose when he was younger and less experienced. The results were¡­ messy.


    Shaking his head at his past self¡¯s na?vet¨¦, he said the last few words and gestured upward with his arms. As he did, a figure materialized in the middle of the circle, picking up the cheese, sniffing it, giving a sigh, and beginning to eat.


    Standing nearly four feet tall, Boss Scree was a large rat. If his size didn¡¯t already hint that he was no normal rat, the way he stood comfortably on his back two legs would have made it clear that something was not normal. If that weren¡¯t enough, the top hat, green jacket and pants, ruffled shirt, and bright, green, silk sash across the creature¡¯s belly would have been a more than subtle suggestion of the rat¡¯s otherworldly nature.


    Boss Scree looked up from the cheese, ¡°Vladislav, this cheese is remarkable, and I do love to see you again, but your timing was inconvenient. I was presiding over a banquet and I hadn¡¯t even had a bite to eat. This cheese is a more than adequate substitute, but it¡¯s still quite annoying. I should find out your true name and summon you whenever I have a problem. Then you¡¯d know what it feels like.¡±


    The rat took another bite of cheese and then looked up at the vampire, ¡°So what is it that you want this time?¡±


    ¡°I need you to steal a few objects from an FBI agent named Phillip Spitz.¡±


    The rat¡¯s smile widened, revealing sharp and uneven teeth, ¡°I¡¯ve heard the name. He has children.¡±

 Probationers: Part 5

    Vladislav looked down toward the rat¡¯s face, speaking slowly, ¡°No one needs to die this time. In fact, no one should die at all. It will attract attention to the project and that will cause problems.¡±


    The rat picked a bit of mystery meat out from between its teeth, chewed, and swallowed it, ¡°Disappointing. What about in the houses on say the same block? We could choose one that wasn¡¯t too close. Maybe on the far end of the block?¡±


    Not allowing his expression to change, Vladislav reminded himself that despite Boss Scree¡¯s ever-present focus on food, he and his people were very good at what they did, ¡°As I told you earlier, no one should die for this project.¡±


    The rat sighed and took another bite out of the cheese wheel, ¡°No one should die, but if they do, they can be put to some of the most delicious uses. I have cooks who mix the most remarkable spice blends, some of which are especially good on live food¡ªwhich reminds me¡­ If we take someone from the other end of the block or a nearby block it won¡¯t be too obvious. You couldn¡¯t even hope to guess how many times we¡¯ve gotten away with that.¡±


    Vladislav felt the muscles in his cheek twitch. He was losing it. He needed to get this transaction over with, ¡°Scree, we aren¡¯t even sending you to Phillip Spitz¡¯ house. We need you to go to his office, or if you¡¯re up to the challenge,grab the items from his car.¡±


    ¡°Hmph. An office? Grown humans are less tender.¡± The rat¡¯s eyes narrowed.


    ¡°Since you¡¯re not going to eat anyone on this venture, that shouldn¡¯t be a concern. I will provide for you the standard fee in piglets and lamb and double it if you keep your people under control and don¡¯t hurt any humans. You should be aware though, that I will cut your fee in half if your actions cause any kind of problem for me with the human authorities.¡±


    Boss Scree nodded slowly, ¡°Twice the meat if we don¡¯t eat anyone and half of our normal amount if we create problems with your human masters. I can accept this, but I¡¯d like one more thing. Throw in two more wheels of cheese if we¡¯re successful and we¡¯ll do it.¡±


    With a smile, Vladislav nodded, ¡°I have a source. As usual, you¡¯ll receive it all on completion.¡±


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    Taking another bite of cheese, Boss Scree said, ¡°Good. Then send me back now. I¡¯ll expect to receive more details then. I get the impression that you¡¯ll need us shortly and it would be good to let the pack know that we have a job.¡±


    ¡°Excellent. I¡¯ll send you all the details when I have them,¡± Vladislav said, and with a word from a long-forgotten language and a hand gesture, sent the fey back where he belonged.


    As the rat faded out, Vladislav heard the sounds of excited screeches and gnawing on bones. He didn¡¯t doubt that they¡¯d be excited by the job. As for himself, he was relieved. The rats did good work.


    Before he had a chance to even feel as if he were alone in the room, the phone in his lab rang. A twin to the one in his office, it also looked like it came from the early 20th</sup> century. He walked over to it and picked up the phone.


    Florin¡¯s baritone voice sounded through the headset, ¡°Sir, I checked with our people. Is this a good time to tell you what I¡¯ve learned?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Vladislav waited.


    ¡°What we know is that he has silver bullets that have been enchanted to be especially effective against you¡ª¡°


    ¡°Expected,¡± Vladislav said.


    ¡°Also, a cross that holds a bone of one of the saints. I¡¯ve been unable to discover which one, but that¡¯s something to take note of. There¡¯s an anti-Dominator voice buzzer that does defend against several different techniques that they¡¯ve been known to use, but there¡¯s no effect against magic.


    ¡°Finally, you should know that he¡¯s been protected against psychic attacks by a government psychic that Maria suspects has a relationship to the Nine. She hasn¡¯t been able to get confirmation. It¡¯s possible that commands have been planted in case of magic mental attacks.¡±


    Frowning, Vladislav said, ¡°It¡¯s not the first time I¡¯ve encountered that. Thank you for letting me know. If you find the name of the saint within the next two hours, tell me. Otherwise, it will be little more than a curiosity.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best, sir.¡±


    They hung up. Vladislav knew his next steps. He¡¯d have to look into his records of triggers in the Nine¡¯s subjects, scry for the information Boss Scree needed, and one more thing. He pulled a team communicator out of his pocket, calling the Atoner.


    Colin answered, ¡°What did I tell you, Doc? I¡¯m looking for information and I¡¯m in the middle of something complicated right now.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mean to interrupt you Atoner, but I thought I¡¯d check to find out if you¡¯ve learned anything.¡±


    ¡°A little, but it¡¯s not something I¡¯m confident of yet. I¡¯ll get what I find out to you before tonight¡¯s meeting. If this is some sort of final check before putting a plan of your own in motion, please don¡¯t. If everything pans out, this will solve your problem.¡±


    ¡°Apologies, Atoner. I¡¯ll leave you to it then.¡±

 Probationers: Part 6

    ¡°Thanks,¡± the Atoner¡¯s voice faded for a moment, but then became louder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I can understand that you want to do something. This is just one of those times that you have to trust your teammates, okay?¡±


    ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll look forward to seeing you this evening,¡± Vladislav looked over at the other labs through the transparent wall. No one was in them. He¡¯d be able to finish what little was left.


    ¡°You bet,¡± the Atoner said, closing the connection.


    Walking over to one of the grey-painted metal cabinets, Vladislav placed his hand on the palm reader and opened the door. Then he pulled out a stained wooden case and carried it over to his desk. Once there, he pulled out the crystal ball and placed it on its round stand.


    As much of a stereotype as it was, it was the best way to find Spitz¡¯ location so that he could tell Boss Scree where to lead his rats. After that, he¡¯d check out the Nine¡¯s typical mental triggers in his records.


    Two hours later, he sat with the rest of the team in the conference room, nursing a Chai Latte. Morgan sat next to Lindsay. Both of them were still out of costume¡ªLindsay in her black shirt and ripped blue jeans. Morgan, her blond hair tied back in a ponytail, wore a dark blue jumpsuit dotted with cubes of grey plastic on her chest and limbs.


    Obviously the final protective layer underneath her suit, Vladislav didn¡¯t doubt that it could keep her safe against bullets and hand-to-hand combat. It didn¡¯t surprise her that she thought that way.


    The fact that she appeared to be entertaining herself with her phone impressed him less. To be fair, they were safe and Lindsay was doing the same, but still, danger was everywhere.


    He sat on the other side of the table along with Ape Nasty who was using his own phone, but only as cover as he whispered, ¡°Anything I should know, boss?¡±


    ¡°Everything is fine,¡± he said under his breath. ¡°Be ready to improvise.¡±


    Ape Nasty chuckled, ¡°I¡¯m always ready.¡±


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    Then he sipped from his own paper cup. Vladislav wondered how Starbucks¡¯ cups worked for a giant ape, but he didn¡¯t bother to ask. If it were hard, Ape Nasty would have already complained.


    Whether or not Vladislav would have followed up on the thought became a moot point when Agent Phil Spitz entered the room. In a blue suit that was bulked up by what had to be armor underneath, Phil walked to the front of the room. His thin, curly blond hair looked no better than it had over the online call that morning.


    As he stood at the lectern at the far end of the table, he said, ¡°Where is the Atoner? He¡¯s never late.¡±


    Amazed as ever by the agent¡¯s lack of manners, Vladislav shook his head, thinking that it would have been so easy to greet everyone and ask about their health before complaining about the Atoner¡¯s lateness. A leader needed to make sure that his followers knew that he cared about them.


    If he ever did turn supervillain again, Spitz would die as soon as it was practical. He¡¯d set up some sort of trust for the agent¡¯s children if it came to that. They didn¡¯t deserve to grow up in poverty because of their father¡¯s boorishness.


    Looking up at Agent Spitz, Vladislav let himself smile, ¡°I¡¯m confident that the Atoner has his reasons for being late. He¡¯s a consistently responsible and respectful man.¡±


    Agent Spitz glanced over at Vladislav before saying, ¡°He¡¯d better have a good reason. There¡¯s no one on this team that the government won¡¯t kill if they go rogue.¡±


    Lindsay looked up from her phone, ¡°Come on, Spitz. The Atoner didn¡¯t ¡®go rogue.¡¯ He¡¯s maybe a minute late for a meeting. You¡¯re later than that half the time and he¡¯s always here waiting for you. Also, he never says that you should be shot for it.¡±


    Agent Spitz reddened as Ape Nasty turned toward Vladislav, ¡°Didn¡¯t you have someone killed for being late once?¡±


    With a nod, Vladislav said, ¡°It was before your time with me¡ªback in the late 1800s¡ªand it wasn¡¯t simply lateness. The lateness was merely a symptom of a larger issue, his disrespect for his fellow man. I gave him more than one warning and when he didn¡¯t change, I had him flayed. Flaying didn¡¯t itself kill him, but you don¡¯t live long without your skin.¡±


    Ape Nasty laughed as Agent Spitz worked through different expressions, showing fear, horror, disgust, and finally stopping with his mouth open as if he¡¯d started to say something and then thought better of it.


    The Atoner walked through the door at the back of the room then, the only one of them in full costume¡ªwhite accented with red, the red of his friends¡¯ blood, Vladislav assumed. The Atoner¡¯s belt of gadgets was missing a few. Vladislav noted that it was the slots that Colin routinely swapped out. What had he been doing?


    Even with the mask covering half of his face, Colin¡¯s smile managed to convey warmth, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry I¡¯m late. It won¡¯t happen again. Did I miss anything?¡±


    As Colin pulled out a chair at the far end of the table, Ape Nasty said, ¡°Doc was telling stories.¡±


    The Atoner shook his head, ¡°I¡¯ve heard a few of those. They¡¯re always educational.¡±

 Probationers: Part 7

    Agent Spitz frowned and said, ¡°Let¡¯s get to work.¡±


    Standing behind the lectern, he began with, ¡°As we discussed this morning, you did an excellent job assisting the Heroes¡¯ League. Our people are checking the effects on the general public¡¯s opinion of the team. Morgan? This is something that you should be caring about because it affects what you can do after your probation is over. If you¡¯re generally popular with the public, it¡¯s even possible that a Defenders unit or one of the other big teams might take you.¡±


    Morgan smirked, ¡°How about the Heroes¡¯ League?¡±


    Spitz rolled his eyes, ¡°Do you really want to work with a bunch of kids? You don¡¯t have to answer. I have no idea if they¡¯d take you, but I¡¯m pretty sure there¡¯s not one of them over 25. I wouldn¡¯t recommend it.¡±


    Shrugging, Morgan said, ¡°We get along. So... About our popularity contest, who¡¯s the most popular?¡±


    Spitz¡¯ mouth twitched. Lindsay and Ape Nasty laughed, ¡°The current leader, as has been the case since he joined the team, is Dr. Transylvania. We believe it¡¯s because he joined by betraying a group of supervillains the Nine had hired. That and because people like vampires.¡±


    Grinning, Ape Nasty asked, ¡°Where am I?¡±


    Spitz¡¯s expression grew sourer, ¡°Last, as usual. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s the string of murders you committed. The only reason you haven¡¯t been executed is that Dr. Transylvania insisted that he needed you. That and the bomb in your brain.¡±


    Ape Nasty laughed, ¡°Eh¡­ It¡¯s not the first time.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, Spitz fiddled with the tablet on the lectern, ¡°Back to the topic, our metrics for assisting the Heroes¡¯ League against the Nine have given you all a bump. From what I¡¯m hearing though, they¡¯re getting a lot of criticism for how they handled things today, including working with supervillains. We¡¯re going to keep watching that because being associated with a team that¡¯s going down could be bad for your image too. We¡¯ll have to watch how this goes because as you¡¯ll remember, merchandising is one of the three pillars that keep this team afloat.


    ¡°Too much of a popularity drop will translate into a drop in funding which will translate into a drop in how much you can help. That will then turn into adrop in popularity. Do you see my point?¡±


    Vladislav found the manipulation interesting. The man understood that Vladislav had no intention of leaving the topic alone and had put together an argument that a group of former supervillains might find appealing.


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    Well, it wasn¡¯t as if Vladislav planned to leave the man any free will to argue with him, ¡°Merchandizing? That reminds me, are you looking into purple pandas?¡±


    Scrunching up his face as he stared at Vladislav, Spitz said, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I brought them up as something for the online store,¡± Vladislav kept on talking as if he actually had done that, but he shrugged inside. He was one trigger down. ¡°Purple pandas¡± might have ended all of it, revealing Spitz as one of the Nine¡¯s puppets and putting him into a mindset where he¡¯d take any orders Vladislav chose to give him.


    Well, he supposed that would have been too easy. Dammit. Now he¡¯d have to try the others.


    Thinking of something, he took a glance around the room, noting that no one else was muttering the response phrase, ¡°I love the purple pandas!¡±


    That was good news.


    Still, as Vladislav looked, he saw that the Atoner wasn¡¯t smiling even if he wasn¡¯t outright frowning. Could he have recognized was Vladislav was doing? He had enough experience that he might. Vladislav hoped that he wouldn¡¯t interfere.


    Spitz¡¯ face tightened, ¡°We won¡¯t be doing anything with purple pandas either now or in the future.¡±


    Lindsay grinned, ¡°Awww¡­ I¡¯d buy them.¡±


    Ignoring her, Spitz said, ¡°You need to take this seriously. This is your future we¡¯re talking about, but enough of this. We need to talk about what your next focus will be. We¡¯ve got several possible targets. None of them, as we discussed this morning, are the Nine.¡±


    The man droned on, discussing the groups they might go after and the possible publicity wins that might happen if they did. Vladislav, meanwhile, went over the other triggers in his head, discarding the worst ones as he went.


    Top on the list was ¡°Magician¡¯s Lighthouse¡± in which he¡¯d have asked Spitz, ¡°Have you seen the Magician¡¯s Lighthouse?¡± Spitz would have replied, ¡°No, but I¡¯ve always wanted to turn on the light.¡± If Vladislav then said, ¡°Go ahead,¡± Spitz would then shoot everyone in the room except for the person who asked the question.


    Given the people in the room, Vladislav suspected the person most in danger would be Spitz, but since the Atoner was the only one in full armor, it wasn¡¯t worth the chance. It was a pity. There wouldn¡¯t be a clearer way to demonstrate that he was the Nine¡¯s puppet.


    Of course, if Boss Scree and his rats did their job, Spitz wouldn¡¯t have a working gun, anti-voice buzzer, and if he were lucky, the cross. He didn¡¯t hold his breath on the last one. The fey might not be hurt as much by holy relics, but they didn¡¯t work well with them either.


    Hearing Spitz'' voice in the background, Vladislav decided to go for a subtle one, using the Nine¡¯s trigger for the same purpose they did. In a normal voice, as if he were replying to a question, he said, ¡°nine¡± in Chinese.


    Spitz replied with, ¡°Lucky number nine,¡± and then continued to talk as if nothing had been said. Vladislav repeated the number again in Chinese and Spitz did precisely what he¡¯d done before. The first time people barely reacted.


    The second time Ape Nasty laughed. Morgan tensed, moving her hands under the table. Lindsay glanced around at the group, mouthing the words, ¡°What was that?¡±


    The Atoner locked eyes with Vladislav and nodded.

 Probationers: Part 8

    Agent Spitz stopped talking, ¡°Do you two have something to say? We¡¯re trying to decide the group¡¯s next focus and as the most experienced members of the group, your input should be useful.¡±


    The Atoner gave a wide and innocent smile, ¡°Doc and I were just agreeing that the Devil Coven might be too big for this group, but investigating their activity in Pittsburgh would be worth a try. Doc at least has enough experience with magic to match them. Well, he can  match the groups they normally send out--not the entire coven.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Vladislav hoped Spitz wouldn¡¯t ask him for details because he hadn¡¯t been listening.


    Spitz¡¯ lips curled and Vladislav suppressed a smirk. Spitz had been modified enough that he didn¡¯t know a trigger word had been used. So all he was responding to was a perceived lack of attention.


    That was good.


    Now the challenge was to figure out how to handle it. The Nine¡¯s agents had triggers implanted for what to do when they were found out. He¡¯d heard of ones that were little more than suicide bombers, but that was on the low end. He¡¯d also heard of supers that had been mind controlled to only use their powers under certain circumstances. That was the better possibility.


    He¡¯d also heard of normal humans that had been modified with superpowers that they could only use once¡ªbecause after that they died. He kicked himself for not thinking of the possibility when he¡¯d talked to Florin. He¡¯d fixated on the cross when he should have been sending his spawn after the Nine¡¯s engineers.


    If he had to bet on what sort of agent Spitz was, he¡¯d bet on the last. Getting assigned to be the liaison to the Probationers was the kind of job that made an FBI agent¡¯s reputation or set back their career for years and it wasn¡¯t in their hands. All that mattered was which random selection of superpowered convicts came together.


    If the Nine knew Spitz would be assigned to them, they¡¯d know that Spitz wouldn¡¯t have access to much beyond the Probationers. Plus, the Nine likely held a grudge against him, Ape Nasty, and might want to keep Morgan silent if she¡¯d somehow managed to work for Rook and not get reprogrammed herself.


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    She¡¯d shown no evidence of it in any case.


    Vladislav¡¯s comm vibrated. The message appeared on his watch as coming from Mistress Madness, ¡°What did you do?¡±


    He typed, ¡°Later,¡± keeping his arm on the table, hopefully in Ape Nasty¡¯s sight. A small grunt from the giant ape gave him hope that they¡¯d be able to make it through the meeting without violence.


    The next message came from Morgan and had been sent to both him and the Atoner. It was simply, ¡°Now?¡±


    Vladislav met her eyes from across the table. She was expressionless and watching Spitz out of the corner of her eye. A drop of sweat fell from her cheek to the table. He gave a small shake of his head and she nodded, but this didn¡¯t bode well. She¡¯d recognized what he¡¯d done and unless he guessed wrong, she was terrified.


    Well, she had a reason for it. Rook was on the Nine¡¯s inner council¡ªthe nine that the organization was named after. Now, though, he had to keep the situation from getting worse.


    At Morgan¡¯s nod, Spitz stopped again, ¡°I¡¯m beginning to feel like there¡¯s another conversation going on in the room without me. What¡¯s going on?¡±


    The Atoner stood up and began to walk around the table, passing Morgan and Lindsay, ¡°Phil, Doc, and I have something we need to talk about in my office. It¡¯s related to the reason everyone¡¯s distracted, but it¡¯s not something that we¡¯re ready to talk about as a group.¡±


    Spitz looked from the Atoner to Vladislav, ¡°Am I supposed to believe you or am I supposed to believe the evidence before my own eyes? You¡¯re all looking down at your comms or over at each other. I know I shouldn¡¯t expect respect from a bunch of criminals, but I¡¯d think that you¡¯d recognize what will keep you out of jail. That¡¯s why you¡¯re here. You betrayed your friends to the government. All of them want to kill you now. You know who doesn¡¯t? The government. And you know who the government is when I¡¯m here? Me.


    ¡°The only thing keeping you on this team and out of prison and away from death row is my reports on how conscientious you are, how compliant and helpful you are¡­ That¡¯s me. I¡¯m your leader, your advocate, and a man with literal life and death power over your future. Tell me what¡¯s really going on.¡±


    On the other side of the table, Morgan¡¯s eyes followed Spitz, turning as the Atoner passed her, but keeping her hands under the table where she¡¯d put them after he¡¯d demonstrated what the man was.


    Knowing that she¡¯d worked for Rook, she could have anything under there.

 Probationers: Part 9

    Vladislav knew he needed to talk quickly or talk with the force of undead charisma¡ªnot to Spitz, but to Morgan. Opening up to the energy of unlife, he tried to meet Morgan¡¯s eyes, controlling the flow with nearly one thousand years of experience. Uncontrolled, it would leave him a mindless predator in time.


    Even as he felt the cold power enter his body, he knew it was too late. She¡¯d pulled out a slim, palm-sized pistol¡ªtoo slim to fire bullets. Vladislav had seen them before. Based on Abominator tech, the Nine¡¯s elite agents used them. They could pass through metal detectors and burn through almost anything with time.


    She¡¯d declared the gun when she joined the team.


    Bright white tinged with bluish-purple, it hit Spitz in the chest, burning through where his heart would be and coming out the other side. Vladislav saw it all in slow motion as Lindsay gasped and backed away from the table, going for something below the table. Meanwhile, the Atoner¡¯s eyes widened.


    Ape Nasty grunted and sat up straighter in his chair.


    Vladislav only had a moment to wonder how they¡¯d sell Morgan¡¯s attack as a necessity to the Feds before what he later saw as the inevitable happened. Instead of falling forward into the lectern and slumping onto the floor, Spitz¡¯ eyes widened and his body grew as his clothes ripped and white energy rippled across his body, burning the clothes that remained along with the wooden lectern.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get close, but hit him with anything you have,¡± he said, shouting over Spitz¡¯ crackling power.


    Lindsay, with her black shirt and blue jeans looking increasingly out of place, moved behind Morgan, muttering, ¡°That had better be his final form.¡±


    Vladislav thought he saw a flash of something in her hand, but he didn¡¯t know what.


    All of that came too quickly for him to think about it. He was already turning toward Spitz and aiming the dark power he called on at whatever the man had become. Saying, ¡°Stop,¡± he met Spitz¡¯ eyes, willing Spitz to listen.


    Spitz did not. The cross that still somehow hung around his neck glowed and Vladislav felt the dark power within him snap back. He stumbled backward even as the white, rippling glow of energy around Spitz surged outward, burning everything it touched.


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    The table crackled as it caught on fire. Vladislav stopped trying to stay up and let himself fall.


    Next to him, Ape Nasty had jumped upward, missing the worst of the blast, and flipping as he pushed off the ceiling. He landed on his feet, and grabbed his own chair, massive and custom built to hold an impossibly huge gorilla.


    Ape Nasty threw it as if the chair weren¡¯t more than 300 pounds by itself.


    Made of metal, the chair flew at Spitz with force that would have killed any normal human and more than a few supers. It struck Spitz in the middle of his chest, throwing Spitz backward into the wall, smashing through the TV mounted on that wall.


    The bloody scrapes on Spitz¡¯ body told Vladislav that it was possible to harm the man, but he didn¡¯t have time to consider how. As he activated the weaponry in his costume, two objects shot forward, hitting Spitz.


    The first ball exploded into a gooey mess of white strands that spread across both Spitz and the cracked concrete wall he¡¯d hit.


    The second ball popped like a balloon as it hit Spitz, releasing a blue powder that coated Spitz, the gooey mess of web, and the wall behind it. From that Vladislav knew the Atoner and Lindsay were both still up. They¡¯d been working on the one-two punch of Colin¡¯s restraint glue and Lindsay¡¯s disorientation powder¡ªa version that was heavy enough to stay where it hit.


    In the meantime, Vladislav had aimed the gun in his right sleeve, firing a burst of poison-filled needles¡ªhis last attempt at a nonlethal solution. He¡¯d extracted the poison from a vampire in Cleveland, Ohio that had poison fangs and synthesized his own version.


    Not all of the needles hit, but Vladislav saw bloody spots where three had been implanted into Spitz¡¯ belly.


    He didn¡¯t know which was more important, his needles or Lindsay¡¯s disorientation powder, but Spitz wobbled. That was promising. If they were lucky, they wouldn¡¯t have to even try to understand Spitz¡¯ powers.


    The problem with mind-controlled homicidal maniacs whose superpowers only had to work once was that you had no background on your opponent. Overcharged latent superpowers were always a surprise.


    The fact that they existed wasn¡¯t. Martin Magnus¡¯ bodyguards had the same one-time surprise power centuries ago. Magnus had a talent with Abominator tech. If Vladislav hadn¡¯t already known the man was connected with the Nine, this attack would have been enough to make him suspect it.


    In the meantime, it was time to take Spitz down. Vladislav turned into a mist and floated toward Spitz, planning to materialize off to the ¡°man¡¯s¡± side and stab him to death. So long as Colin¡¯s glue held, he¡¯d have a chance.


    As his body turned to mist, Morgan, as calmly and professionally as ever, popped out from under the table where she¡¯d taken cover from Spitz¡¯ blast of energy, and fired off her pistol, hitting him with another blast of light, raking across the being¡¯s body with the gun¡¯s beam.


    Spitz screamed as she hit, surrounding his body in a cocoon of light that exploded into the room. Even as a mist, Vladislav could see nothing but light and he felt the heat.

 Probationers: Part 10

    From under him, he heard the sound of something large and heavy hitting the floor, probably the table. How much protection it would give, he had no idea. He could already hear the crackle of burning wood.


    It was up to him. He wasn¡¯t sure how well he¡¯d do against Spitz¡¯ heat after he turned back into a human, but as long as Spitz wasn¡¯t radiating sunlight, he¡¯d be fine.


    Crossing the distance, he reformed off to Spitz¡¯ right and a foot behind him.


    The heat hit his body along with the accompanying pain. Though he wasn¡¯t in full armor, his vulnerability to sunlight meant that he always wore something. It only took a word to cover every part of his skin. Even though he could still feel the heat and thought he might smell something beginning to burn, it wasn¡¯t his skin.


    Ignoring all of that, he said the true name of an entity he¡¯d researched hundreds of years before. As the last syllable finished, a dagger appeared in his hand. Made of dark metal and stained with the blood of a dead god, summoning it would touch sensitive people across the world, but most would know better than to investigate.


    He stabbed Spitz¡¯ kidney.


    Spitz moved forward as the heat from him burned Vladislav¡¯s glove. Then Spitz turned his head to look backward at Vladislav, aiming his arm in his direction, gibbering as if he¡¯d forgotten how to talk.


    The glow around Spitz¡¯ arm expanded as it fired a wide beam of heat in Vladislav¡¯s direction, missing only because Colin hit Spitz from the side as if he was playing football.


    Colin was in full costume, but Vladislav saw the upper layer blacken. Colin might still be up, but his protection wouldn¡¯t last forever. Running toward Spitz with the dagger in hand, he reached around, stabbing at the man¡¯s back again.


    As he did, Spitz pulsed with another blast of white heat. Colin dropped to the ground as the heat broke through Vladislav¡¯s armor. He could feel his skin crisping. Much more and his arm would burn into immobility.


    He powered through the pain, aiming for the kidney again, the blade sinking into Spitz¡¯ back even as a chair thrown by Ape Nasty hit Spitz in the front.


    Whether Spitz'' growth had changed his internal organs or Ape Nasty¡¯s chair knocked the blow off, Spitz didn¡¯t go down in a combination of pain and internal bleeding. Of course, the pain was still there. A spiderweb of black veins extended under Spitz¡¯ skin, pulsing as they pulled blood from his body. It would kill the man, but it would take more time than Vladislav had.


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    With Spitz distracted, Colin rolled away, showing he was still alive, but he began to stand, looking up at Spitz as if he intended to charge the man again.


    Vladislav said three words, the ending line of a summoning spell. Scree would understand. It wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d used it. He¡¯d just have to pay the rat more.


    Spitz tried to pull away from the dagger, screaming as the web of black veins stayed within, pulling his skin.


    At the same time, rats exploded out of the corners of the room, big and small, all of them with teeth bared. The sound of thousands of claws skittering across the floor combined with the thumps of rats that had appeared near the ceiling, and Spitz¡¯ screams as the rats covered him and tore into his skin.


    Spitz tried to burn the rats, turning hundreds into ash, but for every rat killed another would take its place. His blasts of white light became gradually weaker until his body went limp.


    Within a minute after that, only bones were left.


    Everyone in the group had survived. Morgan, Lindsay, and Ape Nasty came out from behind the flipped table¡ª more charcoal than a table. Ape Nasty¡¯s fur and the skin under it were burnt. Morgan¡¯s light armor and skin on her gun hand had also been burned.


    At first glance, Vladislav thought Lindsay had pulled her entire silver costume out of nowhere, but then he noted that she didn¡¯t have her backpack or gas gun. Ah, he realized, an emergency backup costume then. He approved.


    Lindsay tapped a spot on her belt and the costumed turned into gooey strings that the belt absorbed, ¡°It¡¯s not as good as my normal costume, but it¡¯s good enough.¡±


    In the background, Colin began to spray Morgan and Ape Nasty¡¯s wounds with something in a canister from his belt, ¡°We¡¯ll have to get a doctor to look at you, but this will work for now.¡±


    Hours later, they stood together in Vladislav¡¯s office. Colin sat on the desk. Vladislav stood in front of him.


    Letting out a breath, Colin said, ¡°It looks like they bought all of it. We weren¡¯t lying, but trying to frame Morgan shooting Spitz before he did anything as a heroic act? I didn¡¯t think we were going to get away with that. You didn¡¯t mess with their heads, did you?¡±


    Vladislav shook his head, ¡°They take precautions. Someone would have noticed.¡±


    ¡°Good. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re thinking that way. Because if they do, it¡¯s not just you who suffers, it¡¯s all of us. That was your original plan for Spitz, right?¡±


    Nodding, Vladislav said, ¡°Yes. And what was your plan for Spitz? Surely it wasn¡¯t for Morgan to shoot him.¡±


    Colin sighed, ¡°We never even got to my plan. Back when I didn¡¯t know how much of a hold they had on him, I planted bombs I confiscated from the Nine in his car. I planned to blow it up when no one was near it. When they studied the bombs, they¡¯d have discovered that ¡®the Nine¡¯ had planted them. Spitz would have been reassigned or identified as one of the Nine¡¯s agents. I didn¡¯t want you linked to it.¡±


    Vladislav laughed, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re a superhero?¡±


    Colin¡¯s mouth twitched, ¡°Most days, yes. Some days I wonder how thin the line between villains and heroes is.¡±

 From Far Away: Part 1

    It wasn¡¯t much different from picking someone up from the airport, provided the airport orbited at Lagrange point 4 and you had to pick them up in the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s ¡°jet¡±¡ªwhich only resembled a jet in its shape.


    You might see stars in the sky while you pick someone up from the airport, but you don¡¯t see them in all directions including below you.


    Also, when you go to the airport, you¡¯re usually going to pick up family or friends. You¡¯re not generally going with your girlfriend to pick up someone who once told you that you were ¡°the one who got away.¡±


    On a gut level, that would seem like a bad idea, but that was exactly what I was doing with Haley. I¡¯d told her about it, of course¡ªboth because I didn¡¯t want her to go into whatever was coming next blind and because she could guess at a person¡¯s mood by their smell and hearing the rate of their heart.


    With any luck, Kals had been lonely and drunk dialing with the interstellar ansible system when she¡¯d said that. Either way, we needed her and she¡¯d come when I asked for her help. Earth didn¡¯t have anyone trained by the Dominators that I could find or trust. We needed to unwrap everything in my cousin Ana¡¯s head, partly for information but mostly because she deserved a life more fulfilling than being the Nine¡¯s puppet.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, Kals might even be able to interrogate the only Dominator we¡¯d managed to capture, a woman whose real name we didn¡¯t know. I called her the Amethyst Archer because that had been her codename in the early 20th</sup> century.


    Glancing over at me from the weapons console, Haley asked, ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±


    Gray and black with a stylized cat¡¯s head on her chest, her costume had been reinforced to double as a space suit if necessary. Unlike normal, her dark hair had been put in a ponytail in case her costume had to grow a helmet. She raised an eyebrow to look at me.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, ¡° I said. ¡°Everything all at once¡ªKals, Ana, and whatever¡¯s going on with us in the media. It still hasn¡¯t let up. It¡¯s been a few weeks and it doesn¡¯t seem to end.¡±


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    She shook her head, ¡°The initial story¡¯s past, but it¡¯s still going in social media. It felt like it stopped last week, but then after the interview with the Defenders unit in Arizona¡­ What was that guy¡¯s name?¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°Major Justice, I think. I¡¯d never heard of him before¡ªwhich is crazy because he¡¯s been out there since the 1980s.¡±


    Her voice became louder as she talked, ¡°He¡¯s got a dumb name. It¡¯s like he¡¯s trying for a military theme, but also a police theme? And who designed his costume? Green camouflage and a silver shield that looks like a policeman¡¯s badge? It just looks bad.¡±


    I found myself nodding, ¡°I know. It¡¯s weird looking. It¡¯s got to be one of those costumes from before anybody brought in fashion designers.¡±


    Haley shook her head, ¡°Even by comparison to the 80s, it¡¯s bad. I¡¯ll take pastel costumes and big, feathered hair over camouflage and silver. That¡¯s just gross.¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°I¡¯m sure silver would work with some version of camouflage, but not this one. Besides, I doubt I¡¯d care about his costume at all if he didn¡¯t rake us over the coals constantly.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I was trying to say. Most superheroes were supporting us, but then he did that video, and after that other heroes started the same thing. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re all working for the Nine. Some of them were even in Stapledon when you were,¡± she let out a sigh.


    ¡°Yeah, I know. I think it¡¯s mostly kind of old guard supers, both the young ones and the old. We¡¯ve pissed off a few by taking in Tara, and I¡¯m betting a bunch just blame us for power juice and the way it¡¯s pretty much tripled the number of supers, both good and bad, making the old guard less important in the hero community.¡±


    I stopped for a second to look ahead of us with the jet¡¯s sensors, seeing the Xiniti base and the giant round gate that allowed ships to jump between the stars. It flashed as I watched, opening to allow a long, cylindrical ship to slide out and into normal space. My implant identified it as a modular cargo ship with a small number of passenger modules.


    As the implant identified it and translated it for me. It was named after a huge animal famed for carrying large loads over a long distance. It was like a camel if camels were the size of elephants. It was like an elephant if elephants could cross deserts with barely any need for water. At a loss for a perfect word to express what the name meant, I nicknamed it Really Big Camel.


    I knew the name for one other reason that I explained to Haley as we flew toward the ship, ¡°Kals'' ship just came through the gate.¡±

 From Far Away: Part 2

    Haley nodded, ¡°Will it be a problem if I keep the weapons console active? Someone might be out here.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t wrong. The first time we¡¯d flown out to the gate it had been partly to take the jet into space and partly because we could make out without worrying about being interrupted. That did not work out as planned. We¡¯d been interrupted by an alien AI that wanted to piggyback on our ship to get out of the system, supers monitoring the area, and a small but multiple ship battle near the gate.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably a good idea. It¡¯s not weird at all to find local ships with their weapons active near a gate. You never know who¡¯s going to come through.¡±


    I looked toward the gate. We¡¯d traveled a distance even since we¡¯d started talking.A massive circle of silvery alien technology hung in the middle of space. Not far from it floated a huge, gray sphere that definitely wasn¡¯t a moon, it¡¯s smooth surface was free of the inevitable asteroid craters. Despite its superficial resemblance to Star Wars¡¯ Death Star, it also lacked any obvious weapons. Being the creation of the Xiniti, I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised to discover that it could blow up a planet despite that.


    In my head and on a screen on the dashboard, we received a communication from Hal.


    [Communication initiated by the Really Big Camel. Request that you match velocities for passenger transfer.]


    ¡°I¡¯ll come around and match speeds,¡± I said, calculating the best route to do that in my head, my implant gathering information from the ship¡¯s control systems.


    Within seconds, I changed the jet¡¯s direction, swerving to my left and then coming around, finding ourselves matching speeds with the cargo ship.


    Haley watched the jet¡¯s sensors and looked over at me, ¡°You¡¯re much better at this with the implant.¡±


    She grinned, ¡°We didn¡¯t have any time to make out this time.¡±


    I looked over at her, ¡°We barely had any last time.¡±


    As she laughed, we matched the cargo ship¡¯s speed and direction and got as close to it as I dared without attempting to land on it. I hoped this was good enough.


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    I didn¡¯t even have time to wonder about that as lines shot out of the cargo ship¡¯s hull, hitting the jet around the door. Within seconds, a filmy substance extended from the lines on the ends, filling the spaces with a transparent layer of goo.


    Moments later, the jet contacted me again.


    [Ship to ship docking completed. Air pressure equalized. Cargo ship has notified me that the their airlock is about to open for the passengers.]


    I barely had time to register that passenger now had an ¡°s¡± on the end when the sensors registered both Kals and Katuk walking down the passageway toward the jet. Kals wore a green spacesuit with a transparent helmet that extended out of the main part of her spacesuit. Through the helmet, I could see her light brown skin, black hair and enough of her face that I knew it was her. Katuk, by contrast, wore silver Xiniti armor that in its most powerful version wasn¡¯t much different from a small warship.


    I doubted Katuk wore that version¡ªthough I couldn¡¯t know it. Still, he wasn¡¯t high up in Xiniti society. It wasn¡¯t likely.


    Ignoring that thought and all the memories I had of both of them and the time that we¡¯d spent on Hideaway fighting for our lives together, I opened the airlock.


    I opened it a little early. They were still more than ten feet away, but there wasn¡¯t much of a wait. Soon enough, Kals and Katuk stepped into the airlock. It wasn¡¯t a large one¡ªbarely big enough for the two of them to stand next to each other with no room behind them.


    Almost the moment the door behind them shut, the sensors reported that it was safe to open the door on our side, allowing the two of them into the cabin.


    Through the implant, I felt the dock remove its tethers from the side of the ship and saw through the sensors as the four lines and filmy walls merged into one line and withdrew into the cargo ship.


    Even as part of my brain saw that, another turned the ship toward Earth and began to accelerate, all of those parts working directly through my implant. The rest of me turned around in my seat as Haley did the same, watching as Kals¡¯ spacesuit absorbed her helmet. She smiled and I noticed another detail about her that I hadn¡¯t thought of in a while¡ªnothing about her hair or the makeup I assumed she was wearing was out of place or smudged.


    It was just as noticeable here as it had been out of place in a backwater colony out past the edge of civilization.


    Next to her, Katuk¡¯s helmet also melted into his suit, revealing that he, like every other Xiniti, looked like ¡°the grays¡± in Earth¡¯s alien conspiracy theories¡ªgray skin, big heads, and big, black eyes. The major difference between the reality and the theory was that the Xiniti had a mouthful of sharklike teeth and warrior culture while the grays seemed to spend a lot of time abducting people and using anal probes on them.


    Kals, meanwhile, had stopped looking at us to glance around the jet. Turning back to us, she said, ¡°It¡¯s been so long since I¡ªwe¡¯ve¡ªbeen in here. I can¡¯t believe it.¡±


    She smiled again, walking to the front to take a seat in the first row behind the cockpit. ¡°Nick, I¡¯m so glad to see you.¡±


    Before I could reply, she looked past me to my right and continued, ¡°Am I right in guessing that you¡¯re Haley? I¡¯m Kals.¡±

 From Far Away: Part 3

    In that moment, I realized that Kals wasn¡¯t speaking whatever they spoke in the Human Ascendancy. She spoke English and her accent sounded like the one out of old movies¡ªsomewhere between the US and British. I could only guess that wherever her implant downloaded it from had updated its language files in the 1950s.


    I hoped that it automatically adjusted with exposure to new variants in the language. If not, she might be able to pass for someone from India who¡¯d studied in the US and the UK. Hopefully, it wouldn¡¯t come to that.


    Katuk wouldn''t be able to pass for a human at all.


    Haley, of course, wasn¡¯t troubled by my memories of the group hiding our origins from everyone including the colonists, so she smiled at Kals and said, ¡°Hi Kals, Nick told me all about you. I¡¯dshake your hand, but I¡¯m running this thing.¡±


    She gestured toward the weapons console.


    Kals¡¯ eyes widened as she grinned, ¡°That¡¯s right! Everyone can touch each other here. I didn¡¯t know that until I met Nick. In the Human Ascendancy, people bow.¡±


    She gave a small bow to the degree that she could as she sat, ¡°My mom always told me that it wasn¡¯t polite to bow while sitting, but we¡¯re not that formal outside of the Ascendancy. The Ascendancy¡¯s manners are about showing who¡¯s more important¡ªnot showing respect.¡±


    Strapping herself in, she added, ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re going to Earth.¡±


    Haley looked over at me and turned around to her console.


    I wasn¡¯t sure I liked how Kals had phrased the bit about touching people, but I had told Haley the whole story. The Ascendancy had kept the Abominators¡¯ methods of breeding humans for specific powers alive. A core aspect was keeping different lines from mixing by an allergic reaction when different lines touched.


    It didn¡¯t work with relatively unmodified humans. Thus, Kals and I could have done just about anything, but we didn¡¯t.


    ¡°For obvious reasons, it doesn¡¯t seem too weird to us,¡± I said, turning the jet away from the gate, the Xiniti base, and the gate¡¯s approach area.


    ¡°Nor to me,¡± Katuk said. He¡¯d already strapped himself in behind Haley and to Kals¡¯ right. ¡°We expect to be stationed near the human homeworld at some point in our lives.¡±


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    He¡¯d spoken in English as well, but that wasn¡¯t so weird.


    Setting the course for Earth, I said, ¡°It does surprise me that you¡¯re here though. I didn¡¯t know that you were coming.¡±


    In a near monotone, Katuk replied, ¡°Based on our past mutual experiences, I was chosen to be her personal bodyguard. Under normal circumstances, there are more of us, but it was deemed that more than one of us would cause too much attention on Earth. It was also believed that you and the others would serve as appropriate substitutes for the rest of my unit.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°That works for me.¡±


    Then I brought the jet into nearspace. The stars turned into lines, crossing much of our solar system in minutes, coming out of nearspace near the moon¡¯s orbit.


    Kals looked out at Earth, its blue oceans, green and brown continents, and white clouds hanging against a background of darkness and stars, ¡°The Abominators had our Dominators set up an aversion to visiting Earth in their human servants to prevent them from messing up their breeding project. Our Dominators are still doing it. Mom and I had to remove it in the Hideaway colonists.¡±


    We dove toward reentry above North America, slowing to slip through the ozone layer instead of hitting it at high speed.


    As we entered the atmosphere, Kals asked, ¡°I know what you told me through the ansible. Your cousin has been manipulated by the Dominators and you¡¯d like me to free her if I can. But also, you have someone that you think might be a Dominator herself. Is there anything else you think I need to know?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ Honestly, I¡¯m not sure whether I can tell you some of what I want to know about,¡± I said, thinking back in my head to the book we¡¯d looked at. It had shown a drawing that might have been a machine, but not a machine from Earth, a machine that had been created by a race of creatures older than our universe that wanted to kill all sentient beings but themselves. Worse, my teacher Lee had stolen it and might have hidden it on Earth.


    I wanted to ask the Amethyst Archer, an associate of Martin Magnus and probable Dominator whether she knew anything about that. The problem was that it had potentially world-ending significance.


    Kals stared at me from the back seat, ¡°You know that¡¯s not going to help at all.¡±


    Haley laughed.


    ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°I think we should start with talking to Ana. You remember near the end of when I was on Hideaway and Tikki kind of became Kee. We¡¯re touching that territory now and it¡¯s important not to talk too much about it. If you can get our captured Dominator to answer questions, I¡¯ve got questions for her.¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kals take a breath, ¡°I wish I knew how good she is. Back in the Ascendancy, I could guess her skill level from what school she went to. On Earth, I don¡¯t know if your Dominators lost a lot or if they went in new directions. She might be better than I am.¡±


    Below us, the lower section of Lake Michigan came into view, the city of Chicago with its sprawling suburbs at its southern end. Aiming for a shiny complex on the water, I contacted the Midwest Defenders, letting them know that we¡¯d be landing in minutes.

 From Far Away: Part 4

    The Defenders¡¯ staff recommended a route for our approach that avoided air traffic from both O¡¯Hare and Midway. Following their advice, I brought the jet in. Hal, an AI that specialized in predicting how best to win battles between fleets of starships, probably could have worked out a more direct route through Chicago¡¯s many flight paths, but we weren¡¯t in that much of a hurry.


    Besides, it was best not to annoy people unless you needed to.


    Their advice had been to bring the jet down over the water and fly low on the way in. I did, flying toward Chicago with its skyline of buildings like the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower. Black with white antennas, it towered over everything else. Other buildings stood near it, one of them close to the same height, but I didn¡¯t know their names.


    To the south, I could see Soldier Field with its odd combination of 1920s concrete at the base with glass and shiny metal added as part of a later renovation. However much some people might not like the comparison, something about the shape reminded me of a toilet bowl.


    That¡¯s not where we went. The Midwest Defenders base was an island just offshore¡ªmaybe one hundred feet at most. It wasn¡¯t natural either. Earthmover had been brought in to create it more than thirty years ago.


    I landed the jet on a helipad next to the huge, silver dome. Leaving the jet on the tarmac, we walked toward the entrance, a section of wall with a rectangular outline that split in the middle, retracting into the wall around it. As it disappeared, I got a comm call identified as, ¡°Midwest Defenders,¡± and accepted it, hearing a male voice that said, ¡°Welcome to the Chicago Defenders base. Follow the arrows to reach the containment facility.¡±


    I don¡¯t know what I expected the Defenders'' base to be like, but I must have expected a more human touch and maybe a surprisingly normal block of cubicles. What I got was bare walls, all made out of the same silver material as we saw outside. My guess was that this was the entrance for prison deliveries¡ªwhich you¡¯d want to be as controlled as possible.


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    We walked down a featureless hall that ended in a circle of gray metal twenty feet across. The glowing arrows on the wall were painted toward the circle and we walked to the middle of it. Panels rose up around the edges and we shot downward, feeling a hum through the floor.


    Haley frowned as we dropped, possibly hearing something irritating on frequencies that I couldn¡¯t hear without my suit. Katuk stood unmoving, seemingly emotionless. Kals stood to my right, but not quite unmoving.


    She glanced over at Haley and me, took a breath, and tapped her foot before sighing, ¡°They never told us anything about the Dominators on Earth. I remember learning that we¡¯d had contact with them once in school, but no one knew anything. I never knew whether the rumors were true or if they¡¯d passed them on to test our responses.¡±


    ¡°They did that,¡± I asked, unsurprised. From the little I¡¯d seen of it, the Human Ascendancy had all the charm and humanity of Nazi Germany or Star Wars'' Empire.


    She nodded, ¡°If you were too curious about certain topics, you disappeared, and if you reappeared, you didn¡¯t ask as many questions.¡±


    The elevator stopped and a panel to our left sunk into the floor, opening into a hallway made of grey rock. I didn¡¯t know how far we were down, but the rock would have told me it was Earthmover¡¯s work even if I hadn¡¯t already known.


    I remembered a similar cellblock in Colorado where Haley and I had both been involuntary residents. We followed the hallway into a long room with hallways that extended out of it on all sides. Inside the room were four guards, all of them wearing sleek, red powered armor with the Defenders¡¯ ¡°D¡± on it. Along the walls were lockers and on the right side shelves filled with boxes.


    Greeting us, I saw Daniel¡¯s father, Mindstryke in his black uniform that between its jacket, slacks, and Greek ¦· always made me think of the TV show Babylon 5.


    He smiled, ¡°I¡¯m glad you made it. Kals and Katuk, welcome to Earth. I¡¯m a friend of the Rocket and Night Cat. We¡¯re hoping you can figure out how to undo what¡¯s been done to Ana and if we¡¯re very lucky, you¡¯ll find a way past our other prisoner¡¯s protections.¡±


    In response to my unspoken thought, he added, ¡°I¡¯m absolutely not going to call her by her codename. ¡®Amethyst Archer¡¯ sounds like something Stan Lee came up with on a bad day.¡±


    He pointed down the hall behind him, ¡°We¡¯ll start with Ana unless you¡¯d prefer not to. If it will help, I¡¯m willing to read Ana¡¯s mind to see how she reacts to whatever Kals tries.¡±


    Kals froze for a moment before responding, ¡°I¡¯ve never met a telepath before. The Human Ascendancy kills them whenever they discover them¡ªwhich means that you scare them. Let¡¯s try it.¡±

 From Far Away: Part 5

    Mindstryke grinned, ¡°Everything I¡¯ve heard about the Ascendancy is bad, so I can¡¯t say I¡¯m surprised. You¡¯ll be the first person with the skills of a Dominator that I¡¯ve worked with. The few times I¡¯ve encountered them, they¡¯ve been trying to kill me.¡±


    He nodded toward one of the hallways, ¡°We¡¯ve got them down this way. We can¡¯t keep them close enough that Ana would be in the range of the Dominator¡¯s voice. We¡¯ve got a buzzer to prevent that sort of thing, but we both know that accidents happen. Over here.¡±


    We followed him down the hall, stopping in front of a cell. Though the wall was all grey stone like the rest of what we¡¯d seen, this section had slats of stone going up and down like bars, allowing enough space that you could see inside. The cell could have passed for a studio apartment. All one room, there was a bed on one end and a living room on the other. It had a couch, a TV and green carpet over the rock floor.


    I assumed there must be a toilet and shower somewhere, but we couldn¡¯t see them.


    Ana lay on the couch.Black hair cut short in a bob and wearing a black t-shirt and shorts, she glanced toward the TV, but she wasn¡¯t watching it. On the TV, a couple was explaining to a woman, probably a real estate agent, exactly what they wanted in their ideal house.


    If Ana cared, it wasn¡¯t much. She turned away almost as quickly as she¡¯d looked.


    Pointing her head in our direction, she got off the couch, and walked over, separated only by the stone bars, ¡°Are you going to release me now? I don¡¯t know what kind of arrangement you have with the FBI, but I can¡¯t believe that any private citizen can legally keep another citizen in a cell for two weeks. Unless you plan to kill me, I¡¯m going to get out someday and when I do, I¡¯m going to hire a lawyer and we¡¯ll see what happens after that.¡±


    Mindstryke nodded, ¡°I¡¯m aware, but I believe that we¡¯ve got permission to do what we¡¯re doing, something that I¡¯ve explained to you before.¡±


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    Ana stared at him, her eyes narrowing, ¡°I remember, but you wouldn¡¯t tell me why it¡¯s legal.¡±


    Smiling for less than a second, Mindstryke said, ¡°That¡¯s correct and it¡¯s not because you wouldn¡¯t understand it. It¡¯s because the reason might hurt you more than we can fix.¡±


    She frowned, but then looked at Kals and Katuk, ¡°I know who the Rocket and Night Cat are, but who are they?¡±


    In our heads, Mindstryke said, I know she seems like anyone who¡¯d been kidnapped and then kept down here, but she¡¯s not. She¡¯s following implanted commands even now. Even worse, if she gets a hint that we know she¡¯s controlled by the Nine, another command might trigger and they have some that are worse than suicide.


    Kals replied I know where I¡¯ll start. I don¡¯t know how different techniques are here, but we have different techniques from school to school back home.


    To Ana, Mindstryke said, ¡°They¡¯re here to ask you some questions.¡±


    Ana¡¯s lips curled, ¡°I¡¯ve answered too many questions already. I have rights as a US citizen that you¡¯re not letting me use. I want to call my lawyer.¡±


    She put her hands on the bars and stared at us. I didn¡¯t know what to feel. Even though Mindstryke said she was still acting on orders, some part of her had to feel like she¡¯d been captured and put in a cell. The Defenders had kept her on my request. I hoped she understood why after Kals undid what she could.


    Ana opened her mouth to continue, but Kals said something that was more a note than a word. My suit¡¯s buzzer activated along with Haley¡¯s and Mindstryke¡¯s. If Katuk had an equivalent buzzer, assuming he needed one, it was too far ahead technologically for me to notice.


    Ana, though, stared at Kals, eyes wide and mouth open, seemingly unable to speak.


    I wanted to ask Kals what she¡¯d done, but I didn¡¯t need to. She used the link Mindstryke had set up between the group to say, We can use feelings in addition to words. I¡¯m trying to make her trust me and bring her to a point that she¡¯s unable to act against me even if her trigger tells her to.


    Haley thought back, If it¡¯s a trigger, would it even matter what their feelings are?


    Shaking her head, Kals thought, Yes, normally, but it¡¯s more complicated than that. The commands we write are still written in people and people don¡¯t act like computers. Strong emotions can prevent triggers from activating. I¡¯m the expert. Let me do my job.


    From the way Haley¡¯s lips twisted, I guessed that she didn¡¯t trust Kals.


    We watched as Kals kept on humming the note and Ana¡¯s arms dropped, hanging loose with Ana¡¯s eyes closed. Except then instead of relaxing, Ana lurched toward us, hitting the stone bars with a cracking noise that I hoped wasn¡¯t Ana¡¯s bones breaking.

 From Far Away: Part 6

    With a glance at her face, I realized that it wasn¡¯t her bones. She¡¯d been wearing glasses and the plastic frame broke. This wasn¡¯t as good news as you¡¯d expect. Blood ran down her cheek from the spot where the plastic dug into her skin.


    The glasses hung for a moment longer and then fell to the floor.


    Ana didn¡¯t seem to notice as she stood straight up and then moved her head back as if getting ready to hit the bars with her face.


    And then she didn¡¯t.


    Her face relaxed and she slowly sat down, looking out at us through the bars.


    Daniel¡¯s dad thought at us, I couldn¡¯t see it before, but someone hid a command deep down. I don¡¯t think she even consciously knew that she did it. Give me a second. Now that I¡¯ve seen it, I can take it out.


    I don¡¯t know how long it took before he was done, but her blood had stopped dripping down her face. It was at least five minutes. I suppose I could have timed it, but there was no point. Ana stared at us with a glazed look after that, but she wasn¡¯t trying to hit her head against the bars¡ªnot even when Mindstryke said, I¡¯m done.


    Kals nodded, thinking back, Let me know if you see anything.


    Then my buzzer buzzed again as she said, ¡°Tell me the commands you remember being given.¡±


    Ana looked into Kals eyes and began, ¡°I was told to trust anyone who said ¡®I¡¯m number ten¡¯ if they told me ¡¯18¡¯ when I asked about other numbers. I was told to await instructions when¡­¡±


    She went on for more than 20 minutes. She¡¯d been given a lot of commands over the last year, they included phone numbers to call if something happened, code words for different problems and emergencies, and names to ask for.


    I recorded all of it¡ªboth with my suit and my implant.


    She also asked if there were any more telepathic commands implanted or if anyone had implanted any kind of device in her body. Ana didn¡¯t know of any.


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    At my suggestion, Kals asked, ¡°Tell me about your mission at the last place you worked.¡±


    Without hesitation, Ana said, ¡°I was to tell my master if anyone I worked with suspected that something unusual was happening in the company, but my most important duty was to design mechs and other devices for the Nine.¡±


    Kals¡¯ smile widened, ¡°And who was your master?¡±


    ¡°I called her Colette,¡± Ana said, showing no more emotion than if she were giving directions.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Kals said, still smiling. ¡°Where would we find Colette?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s imprisoned here as well,¡± Ana looked down, feeling some emotion, but I could only guess which.


    ¡°You¡¯ve helped us and so we¡¯re going to help you,¡± Kals said and, as she continued, my buzzer became louder. ¡°None of the commands that you¡¯ve been given need to be followed any longer. They were all given to you by the Nine and you know what the Nine is. If someone tries to command you in the future or to use any of the triggers implanted in your brain either ignore them or pretend to obey, whichever you think is wisest. Then, contact¡­¡±


    She paused, no doubt realizing that she couldn¡¯t say my actual name or the one she¡¯d known me by on Hideaway, but that she couldn¡¯t think of my codename.


    The Heroes¡¯ League or the Rocket, Haley suggested through Mindstryke.


    ¡°The Heroes¡¯ League or the Rocket,¡± Kals said, nodding at Haley. ¡°For now, though,¡± she added, ¡°go and lie down on your bed and go to sleep. You¡¯ll feel better tomorrow.¡±


    Ana got up and walked away from us, going to the back of the unit where here bed was. When she¡¯d pulled the covers over herself, Mindstryke led us further down the hallway, far enough that she couldn¡¯t hear us.


    I looked over at Kals, ¡°I¡¯d assumed that she¡¯d be able to come home today.¡±


    Kals shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. What they set up in her head was complicated even without considering what Mindstryke had to fix. You heard all of the triggers she had set up? You didn¡¯t hear it, but I had to remove the emotional content associated with those triggers and I¡¯m sure you heard me asking questions but you didn¡¯t notice that I was listening for hesitations and hints of emotions. They¡¯d wrapped her up in a circle of fear, anger and direct commands. Whoever this Colette is, she¡¯s got a lot of experience.¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow, ¡°So the Dominators here know more than you thought?¡±


    Kals frowned, but shook her head, ¡°No. She was clever and experienced, but Colette, if she did all this, is hundreds of years behind the latest techniques. If she were up to date, I might have been here for weeks¡ªwhich I have done with other people.


    ¡°That¡¯s been my life for the last two years. I don¡¯t know what I thought my mom did, but I¡¯ve spent so much time freeing people¡¯s minds¡­You won¡¯t find many people better at it¡ªeven in the Ascendancy.¡±


    She frowned, ¡°But that might only be because almost no one in the Ascendancy is interested in undoing enslavement.¡±

 From Far Away: Part 7

    Kals stopped and looked into the cell where Ana lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. I didn¡¯t know what she was thinking and then she spoke into my head via my implant.


    That¡¯s your cousin? I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t do more. I think she¡¯s going to be back to normal unless there¡¯s another telepathic trigger in there or one of the other things you mentioned over the ansible connection. You told me there was magic and telepathy and unpredictable technology. I understood you, but I didn¡¯t get it until now. I understand why your people couldn¡¯t figure it out.


    Hidden by my helmet, I smiled, I get it. I at least know that no one¡¯s put anything like an implant into her head. We checked for that early in her stay. She doesn¡¯t seem to have anything inside her body that shouldn¡¯t be there.


    Haley tilted her head and looked over at us, ¡°Are you talking over your implants?¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I met her eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to leave everyone else out.¡±


    Mindstryke shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s not a problem. Kals, are you up for talking to Colette if that¡¯s her real name?¡±


    Kals grinned at him, ¡°I¡¯m ready for her, but,¡± she paused, ¡°have you checked her out?¡±


    Nodding, Mindstryke said, ¡°Yes. The Rocket checked for tech and I¡¯ve checked for any telepathic triggers or shields. She¡¯s got a basic shield, the kind you develop if you know a telepath. Whoever it was, she didn¡¯t know them well enough to have more than the basics. I slipped through and I could read her surface thoughts, but she¡¯s old¡ªvery old. She might be older than Dr. Transylvania and he was young during the Middle Ages. I don¡¯t know what language she spoke when she was younger, but it wasn¡¯t English. Memories are mingled with the language you think about them and I can¡¯t search through hers easily.¡±


    Kals didn¡¯t say anything for a moment but then said, ¡°I know how to handle that. Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Mindstryke regarded her and then said, ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s.¡±


    Waving us down the path, he added, ¡°It¡¯s going to be a little different from Ana¡¯s. We¡¯ve had to put buzzers outside her cell to cancel out any sound she makes. The inside is soundproofed and anyone who goes in wears soundproofed powered armor, but we have a system for sending in food without being exposed to her.¡±


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    Haley looked up at him, ¡°You sound prepared.¡±


    Mindstryke laughed, ¡°It¡¯s not the Defenders first time holding someone like her. The first time, someone they didn¡¯t realize was a Dominator walked out after seconds in the cell. The second time, they were better prepared, but the guy committed suicide after noticing the soundproofed room and the food delivery system. Both of them were captured before I started with the Defenders. The third time¡¯s the charm, right? Colette¡¯s the first Dominator we¡¯ve kept around.¡±


    My first thought was that the Defenders sounded like they couldn¡¯t be trusted to keep pets. I didn¡¯t say it aloud, but Mindstryke laughed anyway.


    Despite the invasion of privacy, it felt good, reminding me of visiting Daniel¡¯s family before we reformed the Heroes¡¯ League¡ªa houseful of telepaths, all of them reading each other¡¯s surface thoughts and commenting in each other¡¯s heads. Going deeper into each other¡¯s heads was rude¡ªwhich didn¡¯t mean that his younger siblings didn¡¯t try. The beginnings of my own shield came into being as a result.


    As warm and happy as those memories were, I didn¡¯t feel the need to say anything about them to Mindstryke¡ªhe knew already.


    We walked down the stone floor to another cell. This one was exactly like Ana¡¯s except that the open spaces between the rock bars were filled with a transparent substance. I had no trouble seeing through the gaps, but when I turned the sonics on it, I saw nothing. The computer reconstruction of the scene showed only a wall.


    Colette, if that was her name, watched us through the windows. Of average height, she had long, dark hair, a thin face, and piercing blue eyes that tracked our movements. Instead of normal clothes, she wore a fluorescent green unitard that covered her body. From the bulges around the joints, I recognized it as a prison uniform for supers that had become popular in the 1990s. Of normally flexible material, it hardened on someone¡¯s remote command and when someone attempted to use greater than human strength, immobilizing them.


    The ¡°standard¡± Dominator in the Human Ascendancy had better than human strength and limited regeneration as a result of the Abominators¡¯ genetic manipulation¡ªKals and even Julie from our team did too. From the fact that the Defenders put her in that uniform, I guessed that Colette needed that level of restraint.


    Kals looked her up and down, ¡°I feel like I should know her. She looks like half of my teachers at school.¡±


    Turning to Mindstryke, ¡°I don¡¯t know what those windows are made of, but if you want me to talk to her, I¡¯m going to have to go inside.¡±


    Thinking about all the things that could go wrong, I said, ¡°Maybe I should go inside with you?¡±

 From Far Away: Part 8

    Kals opened her mouth and began to say, ¡°I¡¯d like th¡ª¡° but then she stopped. ¡°You know what? I know I told you about techniques your buzzer doesn¡¯t block and that you fixed them, but if she knows techniques that I don¡¯t, I should probably take Katuk.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Yeah. She probably doesn¡¯t have experience with Xiniti.¡±


    Katuk added, ¡°We hear frequencies that you don¡¯t and our brains are different enough that few Dominators can manipulate us.¡±


    Plus, though neither of us said it, Katuk¡¯s armor was most likely years ahead of mine.


    Mindstryke regarded the two of them and then said, ¡°That sounds wise. If Kals is okay with it, I can pass on what she sees and hears to the Rocket and Night Cat.¡±


    Kals raised an eyebrow, ¡°Are you sure you won¡¯t pass on her attempts to take me over?¡±


    Mindstryke shook his head, ¡°I¡¯d be worried about that if I were using clairvoyance, but if Kals isn¡¯t affected, we¡¯re fine.¡±


    Glancing over at Colette, who was still watching, Kals said, ¡°You¡¯re going to be okay. She shouldn¡¯t be able to do anything to me. Between my mom and my teachers, I¡¯ve been training to fight since I was born.¡±


    She walked over to the door, which appeared to open into a chamber large enough for two people¡ªa kind of airlock.


    Mindstryke tapped a rectangular device on his belt and the metal door slid down into the ground. Kals and Katuk walked inside as the outside door slid up. I could hear the inside door slide down through Kals¡¯ ears and see it through her eyes.


    Mindstryke had been thoughtful enough to filter out any thought except for the ones where Kals deliberately addressed the group.


    Katuk stepped in ahead of her, keeping to her right, but seemingly ready to step in front of Kals if the situation demanded.


    Colette glanced at Katuk and then over at Kals. Her eyes looked down at Kals¡¯ body or more likely her armor. It wasn¡¯t strange as costumes for supers went, but anyone who¡¯d been to space would recognize the detailed ornamentation around her collar and sleeves as Ascendancy designs.


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    Colette¡¯s eyes narrowed.


    To be fair, Katuk¡¯s presence was more than a small hint that off-world origins were a possibility, but Ascendancy designs on a woman guarded by one of the Xiniti? That would make anyone with a basic understanding of our galaxy¡¯s political situation ask questions.


    From the blank expression on Colette¡¯s face, I guessed that she had a few. That guess was confirmed by the first thing she said.


    ¡°Who are you and what¡¯s he doing here?¡± Colette didn¡¯t seem to know who she was the most worried about¡ªKatuk or Kals. She kept her eyes on Kals, but they flickered toward Katuk every time she moved.


    Stepping backward to stand with her back to the wall, Colette asked, ¡°What do you want from me?¡±


    Next to me, Haley said, ¡°I can¡¯t understand anything.¡±


    That¡¯s the moment I realized that Colette had been speaking in Ascendancy, a language descended from whatever tribe of humans the Abominators first kidnapped. I¡¯d spoken it with my implant¡¯s help often enough that I no longer noticed.


    ¡°Colette wants to know who Kals is,¡± I said.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t understand that either,¡± Haley said, her voice getting louder.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I began, deliberately using English. I was about to translate except then Kals spoke.


    ¡°I¡¯m Kalsekafora of the Akri lineage, the third set of Dominators. Both my mother and father attended the College of Mind and Will in the Citizens¡¯ School. So did I.¡±


    I wouldn¡¯t have known what that meant without my implant, but Colette did because she grimaced and her muscles tensed.


    I told Haley, ¡°Kals just told her she went to a good college.¡±


    Haley raised her left eyebrow, ¡°That¡¯s all? Because Colette¡¯s preparing to fight for her life.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t all, but it was all I could get out. The College of Mind and Will taught the Human Ascendancy¡¯s greatest Dominators how to convert, control, and rule the Human Ascendancy. In the context of the Human Ascendancy, Kals had just told Colette that she¡¯d attended the Ascendancy¡¯s equivalent of Harvard crossed with a military academy. Plus, she was a legacy and old, old money.


    I knew also that her parents had rebelled against the Ascendancy, that both of them were dead, and that while she¡¯d learned a lot from her parents, she hadn¡¯t gotten to finish her school¡¯s program.


    Kals continued, ¡°We don¡¯t have to fight. Tell me what I need to know and I¡¯ll leave you alone.¡±


    Staring at Kals, Colette started talking, her voice low, but intense, ¡°You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re stepping into. You people are all the same. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve been trained well, but you don¡¯t understand this place. We on Earth have taken our own path. I don¡¯t know whether you¡¯re working with the Xiniti or manipulating one of them, but it doesn¡¯t matter. Go home. You might hear about what we¡¯re doing here someday, but if you do, you can join us then.¡±

 From Far Away: Part 9

    Kals laughed, ¡°Oh, really¡­ I can join you then? Do you think I¡¯ll want to? That I¡¯m desperate enough that I¡¯ll sit around waiting for something interesting to happen in my life? You¡¯re very impressed with yourself and whatever you¡¯re doing. I think you need to tell me everything about it.¡±


    I didn¡¯t need the buzz of the Defenders¡¯ protections to tell me that Kals had chosen violence (or mind control. The difference was arguable). I heard the tone of her voice take on an odd tone, but not quite the one I remembered.


    Of course, we were hearing through Kals¡¯ mind, so it might be different.


    As she spoke though, Colette opened her mouth, humming something akin to noise-canceling headphones or the buzzers I¡¯d designed.


    As Kals stopped to take a breath, Colette shouted, ¡°Surrender.¡±


    Kals didn¡¯t finish the breath, she responded with another word, ¡°No,¡± and blocked it with an inverted copy of the sound.


    That continued with one of them attacking and the other blocking in a cacophony of sounds that sometimes pierced the buzzers and activated the buzzers in our armor¡ªbecause the Defenders apparently hadn¡¯t updated the software of their buzzers with my most recent release.


    Between our armors¡¯ buzzers and the room¡¯s, none of us rushed in to worship either Kals or Colette. It didn¡¯t stop the noise, strange tones that reminded me of recordings of dolphins¡ªexcept that the Xiniti implant in my head translated the words I didn¡¯t know.


    How long it went on was hard to say¡ªless than a minute, but it felt longer. They started with words, but near the end, it was clear that neither of them would follow the other¡¯s commands. They resorted to blasting each other with sounds carrying a load of emotion¡ªa scream of fear, elation, love, or despair.


    I didn¡¯t know much about Dominator on Dominator duels. Even the Xiniti implant knew little more than that they happened. Still, it felt like they were tiring. Kals¡¯ eyes widened at Colette¡¯s scream while Colette backed away at one of Kals¡¯ before taking a step toward her.


    The big clue came when Colette started walking toward Kals.


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    She walked slowly and I knew why. The fluorescent green unitard she wore would immobilize her if she tried to use her full strength, but Colette might understand its limitations. I¡¯d never used it, but it might take a second to react. She might be able to distract Kals enough to get into her head.


    I realized this only as Colette leaned in with her head and pushed off with her feet, using the muscles in her legs and shouting as her forehead aimed for Kals¡¯ face. Katuk must not have realized it either. He reached out but missed her.


    I could only guess how Julie, formerly of Justice Fist, would have reacted. I doubted that Julie would have handled it as well. Kals swung out with her fist while making a wailing noise that hit many of the same frequencies as Colette¡¯s shout. Kals¡¯ fist hit Colette in the side of the head.


    While I knew that wasn¡¯t one of the best spots to hit if you were hoping to knock someone out, it worked for her. Colette stopped defending herself as Kals said, ¡°Silence!¡±


    Falling to the ground, Colette said nothing even when she hit the floor. Not giving her even a moment to lie there, Kals said, ¡°You may only talk when I ask you questions or tell you to say something. Until I tell you otherwise, you cannot use your abilities. You may only answer my questions or follow my orders. My first order is that you lie on the ground until I tell you get up. Do you understand?¡±


    Colette didn¡¯t try to adjust her position as a crumpled heap on the floor. She did say, ¡°I understand.¡±


    Kals turned toward us and grinned, ¡°You can come in if you want.¡±


    Frowning, Haley looked in through the window even though we were still receiving pictures from Mindstryke, ¡°How confident are you? I don¡¯t think we should go in unless you¡¯re absolutely sure she can¡¯t break free.¡±


    Smiling, Kals shook her head, ¡°Katuk?¡±


    Katuk let the helmet withdraw into the silver of his suit, ¡°I¡¯ve watched Kals subdue other Dominators before. This woman appears to be as controlled as any that she has fought. None of them have escaped.¡±


    Looking over at us through the window, she said, ¡°I¡¯m good at this. I¡¯ve had a lot of experience since taking over for my mom. If I wanted to, I could start to make her love me and turn her into my slave or a mole in your Dominators. I won¡¯t because it''s wrong, but you don¡¯t have anything to fear now.¡±


    Haley looked over at me.


    ¡°I trust her,¡± I said.


    ¡°From what I¡¯m sensing,¡± Mindstryke said, ¡°I think you can. Colette doesn¡¯t like it, but she¡¯ll follow any command Kals says right now.¡±


    Letting out a breath, Haley said, ¡°Alright.¡±


    I followed her to the door and we walked inside.


    Glancing back, I saw that Mindstryke wasn¡¯t coming in after us.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be staying out here,¡± he said. ¡°One person should stay outside.¡±


    Haley glanced back at me and then at Mindstryke before the door closed behind us, ¡°I know he wouldn¡¯t put us in danger, but that doesn¡¯t make me feel better.¡±


    Ahead of us, Kals told Colette, ¡°You may sit up now.¡±


    Colette did, staring at Kals the entire time.


    Turning toward us as we walked across the stone floor, Kals asked, ¡°What do you want to know?¡±

 From Far Away: Part 10

    What did I want to know? Everything? What she was about when she chose to turn Armory from a superhero into a purely profit-seeking weapons developer? How it happened that she had some kind of relationship with Bullet and why she did it? What did she know about Martin Magnus and what they¡¯d been using Master Martian for?


    We kind of knew the answers to those questions, but we only really had guesses and Master Martian¡¯s version of events.


    For that matter, did she know why Master Martian kidnapped my parents and asked them questions that sounded almost exactly as if he knew that both of them had the potential to develop abilities related to the Artificers and the Cosmic Ghosts? Did that have any relationship to the fact that they¡¯d kidnapped and brainwashed Ana?


    Also, and probably most important, did the diagram from Magnus¡¯ book mean that he was looking for the Artificer device that Lee had stolen from his people, hidden somewhere, and never given solid answers on?


    Specifically, was it hidden somewhere on Earth? Because that was my working theory and I didn¡¯t like it much.


    Anyway, those were all the thoughts that went through my head when she asked what I wanted to know. It wasn¡¯t a short list and I only stood there dropping my jaw¡ªnot that she could tell through my helmet.


    ¡°Nick,¡± she said¡ªexcept she didn¡¯t really say ¡°Nick.¡± She said the Ascendancy name I¡¯d used on Hideaway. It didn¡¯t even sound like Nick unless my implant translated it for me¡ªwhich it did, noting that it was the Ascendancy version.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ve got way too many questions to ask for the first one to just pop into my head¡­ Uh¡­ Let¡¯s go with the one she talked about. What are Earth¡¯s Dominators doing? What did she think you¡¯d beg to be a part of if you heard about it?¡±


    I didn¡¯t ask that on a whim either. I had a hunch.


    Kals gave a slow nod and grinned. Turning toward Colette, she said, ¡°A little while ago, you told me that Earth¡¯s Dominators had their own purpose. I¡¯d like to hear more and why you think that I¡¯d want to join up if you told me about it.¡±


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    Colette¡¯s jaw muscles tensed as if she might be trying to resist, but not for long, ¡°We don¡¯t work for either the Masters or the Human Ascendancy. We¡¯ve found our own path. The Human Ascendancy is thinking too small. It¡¯s little more than the caged remnants of the Master¡¯s empire. Our leader thinks bigger. The Masters wanted to rule the galaxy and even more. They wanted to rule the future. There¡¯s a time coming when the young races of the universe will rebel against the elder races and we will lead that rebellion.¡±


    Kals glanced back at me, the expression on her face asking, ¡°Do you know what she¡¯s talking about?¡±


    We hadn¡¯t told her anything about Lee, the Artificers, or how their species had divided into two factions, one of which intended to destroy all intelligent life except for themselves. Though Kals couldn¡¯t have caught any clues from me because of my armor, she did glance at Haley. Whatever she saw in Haley¡¯s expression or posture, she turned back to Colette.


    ¡°What elder races are you talking about? The Abominators are dead.¡±


    Colette laughed, ¡°That¡¯s the sort of small-minded thinking that we¡¯ve progressed away from. The Abominators are nothing. I¡¯m talking about the Artificers. At least that¡¯s what you call them. The Ascendancy knows them only as an ancient race that left dangerous ruins and technology all across the universe. We know better. Our leader has learned that they still live and that they¡¯ve retreated because of their fear of us. They know that someday we¡¯ll destroy them.¡±


    Kals nodded, ¡°Tell me more about that. How does your leader know and how will you destroy them?¡±


    ¡°Our leader knows because he has a touch of their power and he grows stronger all the time. He says that he can hear their conversations and he knows that one of them hid some of his power here. Magnus believes that he can use it if he can find it.¡±


    Haley and I looked at each other. We didn¡¯t need to say anything. I¡¯d told her everything I knew about the Artificers and my connection to them, the ¡°Galaxy Core Device¡± that Kee had made for the Artificers¡¯ Destroy faction, and that Lee had used it once and hid it. She also knew that the Artificers had split into the Live and Destroy factions after seeing visions about their future. Members of Destroy had seen visions of younger races killing them and decided to get them first. Live had decided to teach younger races.


    She also knew that Lee had seen someone very like me assisting him in fighting his own people in the future. He¡¯d even implied that it wasn¡¯t just me.


    I hadn¡¯t woken up this morning thinking that I¡¯d be worrying about a far future cosmic war, but life is unpredictable. Now I knew that there was little chance that it could have gone any other way.


    Kals looked over at Haley and I and then back at Colette, ¡°How do you fit into all of that?¡±

 From Far Away: Part 11

    ¡°I¡¯ve known Magnus for a long time. He trusts me to handle the details he doesn¡¯t have time for,¡± Colette said, her voice catching as she talked.


    I couldn¡¯t help but suspect that even though she answered Kals¡¯ questions, she was screaming inside.


    Kals sighed, ¡°What kind of things do you do? I need to know more details.¡±


    After a pause that might only have been Colette gathering her thoughts, she replied, ¡°I do projects for him. Sometimes this means running the Dominators for him. Sometimes it means acting as an ambassador to the Human Ascendancy. When Magnus was one of the leaders of the Cabal, I helped him run it and work with the other leaders. I also communicated with the Cabal¡¯s original creators when Magnus needed information and sometimes their assistance.¡±


    ¡°Original creators,¡± I said. ¡°Like, who? The Abominators?¡±


    Colette didn¡¯t say anything, staring at Kals.


    With a look back at me, she told Colette, ¡°Answer his question.¡±


    Colette took a breath, seeming to take extra time before answering, ¡°The Abominators didn¡¯t create the Cabal. Other immortals organized them to be soldiers that served them. Magnus was once one of them, but the others have drifted away into their own interests and projects. The leadership of the Cabal was still loyal to them, so I sometimes had to get permission from the others for things he wanted to do.¡±


    Haley and I looked at each other. While I couldn¡¯t read minds, I saw her eyes widen. She had to be thinking what I was thinking¡ªcrap (or some variation on the same concept). We¡¯d had no idea. Way back when we¡¯d fought Grand Lake¡¯s mayor, Daniel drilled into the guy¡¯s mind and I watched a conversation with the mayor and a representative of the Cabal. The man had made a reference to other people in the Cabal¡¯s leadership being slow to change. Now that I thought back to it, they could have meant other immortals.


    I wasn¡¯t sure how we¡¯d missed that, but the mayor might not have known himself and when the Cabal came for us, they were going after us on their own. We never asked if there were immortals behind the immortal warriors even though the organization had to come into being somehow. It just hadn¡¯t ever seemed important enough to ask about.


    Haley looked over at Kals, ¡°Ask her if the other immortals are involved in looking for the Artificers¡¯ device.¡±


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    Kals did.


    Colette tilted her head and frowned for a moment, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I know that he learned about the device from the others. I don¡¯t know if they are helping him look for it. They kicked him out of the Cabal¡¯s leadership, but there are still a few that are friendly to him.¡±


    Haley spoke up the second she stopped, ¡°Who are they? Where can we find them?¡±


    Kals stared at Colette, ¡°Answer her.¡±


    Colette opened her mouth, ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know. Magnus doesn¡¯t tell me everything. These are his personal friends. I know one name¡ªUrin. I don¡¯t know where he lives.¡±


    The name Urin rang a bell. That was the name of the person who¡¯d written the Sumerian tablets that Cassie read to us, assuming that they were true. Urin had been immortal and sensed Artificers, much as I could.


    Frowning, Haley said, ¡°You told us that you talked to these people. You have to know more names and you had to meet them somewhere.¡±


    ¡°Explain that,¡± Kals said, grinning at Haley and then Colette.


    The muscles in Colette¡¯s face tensed, ¡°I do know names and I have met with them, but I don¡¯t know if any of them are still friendly to Magnus. Urin¡¯s the only one and I¡¯ve never met him.¡±


    Haley looked over at Kals, ¡°Tell her to list the names of every immortal she¡¯s met and where she met them.¡±


    Then she looked over at me, ¡°You¡¯ll remember them?¡±


    I said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    The implant would anyway.


    ¡°You won¡¯t know any of these names,¡± Colette told us. ¡°They don¡¯t use them with everybody.¡±


    Then she started listing them in a near monotone. She was right. I didn¡¯t recognize any of them.


    When she was done, I told Haley, ¡°I¡¯ve got them.¡±


    I did. They were stored with thousands of years of history and everything else the Xiniti had given me.


    Haley narrowed her eyes and asked, ¡°Where¡¯s Martin Magnus? Even if that¡¯s not his real name, you know who I mean. If it¡¯s an alias, he used it for years.¡±


    Kals grinned and glanced back at Haley, ¡°I like your style. Colette answer the question.¡±


    Colette¡¯s eyes widened and she moaned, her body tensing.


    ¡°Oh, no,¡± Kals stepped forward toward Colette, ¡°If you¡¯re doing that, stop. Reverse the command. Don¡¯t kill yourself.¡±


    Then Colette fell forward, hitting the ground with a muffled cry followed by a scream that ended in a cough and rattle.


    ¡°Shit,¡± Haley said, ¡°she¡¯s dead.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I looked back toward Mindstryke. He responded to my unspoken thought.


    ¡°She didn¡¯t know it would happen. I reached into her brain to try to stop it, but she couldn¡¯t control it. I think I know what happened though. Some of the Nine¡¯s people have died in the same way. We haven¡¯t figured out how to stop it.¡±


    He shook his head and even though his mask covered his face, I could see him shake his head and hear him sigh. ¡°The one bright side,¡± he added, ¡°is that they don¡¯t do it to everybody, just those with critical secrets. There¡¯s no sign that Ana has any kind of trigger.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I looked down at Colette¡¯s body where it lay, limbs splayed out too far to be comfortable. ¡°I find it interesting that they didn¡¯t have any protection at all against us finding out about the other immortals¡ªjust Magnus.¡±

 Relative Uncertainty: Part 1

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


    It didn¡¯t seem likely that 80s dishwashers were that much better (or longer lasting) than present-day appliances. I¡¯d never taken it apart, but I wouldn¡¯t have put it past my grandfather to stick alien tech or his own tech inside. It beat having to fix or replace the dishwasher.


    I turned around to Vaughn, ¡°That¡¯s all of it. Colette¡¯s dead. I never did get to ask her what Magnus was looking for when he kidnapped my parents back before I was born. My assumption is that if he¡¯s part Artificer, he sensed it in my parents too.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head, ¡°Wait¡­ Did she say that?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I stopped, trying to remember her exact words. ¡°She said that he was connected to them, but I don¡¯t think she knew how. She did believe that he could use the device that Lee seems to have hidden on Earth or in some nearby alternate version of Earth? I have no idea where it is exactly.¡±


    Vaughn stopped leaning in the doorway and stood up straight, saying, ¡°You¡¯ve got to call a group meeting or something. This is pretty big.¡±


    I nodded, walking across the kitchen¡¯s wooden floor to stand in front of him, ¡°I know. I¡¯m writing a report that I¡¯m going to send to everyone. I¡¯m almost finished, but I got hungry.¡±


    ¡°I saw. Spaghetti, again? That¡¯s, like, the third time this week,¡± he grinned at me, but more in disbelief, I suspected, than amusement.


    I shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s easy and it¡¯s food. Also, it¡¯s better than ramen.¡±


    ¡°Barely. What are we doing next?¡±


    Throwing up my hands, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. It seems like our best lead is to go find all of the immortals that Colette mentioned to Haley. The problem with that is they¡¯re immortals. They may not want to be found. They might have powers and they definitely have more experience than any of us.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°maybe not more than all the past Bloodmaidens in Amy¡¯s head. Thousands of years worth of experience there. Plus, the early Bloodmaidens fought immortals. That¡¯s why they exist. Pull her in.¡±


    Stolen novel; please report.


    ¡°Good point,¡± I said. He¡¯d dated her long enough to know more than I did.


    Holding his index finger up, Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯ve got one more. Those immortals that Colette told you about? You know there have to be a few of them that hate Magnus and might be willing to go out of their way to screw him over.¡±


    I paused, staring at him for a second, ¡°Maybe you should handle all of that. I mean, seriously. I handed the names and last known locations over to Hal to find them, but you¡¯re already further on what to do once we find them than I was.¡±


    Vaughn grinned, ¡°It¡¯s a gift. If you really want me to, I¡¯m fine with it. I don¡¯t want to do it alone though.¡±


    ¡°Would you be okay with working with Amy on that?¡±


    With a small shrug, he said, ¡°We¡¯re fine. It was a little weird for a couple of days after we broke up, but we got over it. I kind of think you should be in on it too. That guy, Urin? He sounded like he was descended from Artificers too. Even if you¡¯re not in the room, I feel like you should be around just in case. Well, unless Lee shows up. Where is that guy?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°I heard that he came in through the jump gate, but I haven¡¯t seen him around. I saw Guardian after Colette died and he¡¯d heard that Lee had left again. I didn¡¯t see him at all.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± Vaughn frowned. ¡°I wonder if he was in here to check on his mystery device?¡±


    I opened my mouth, stopped, and finally said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but that¡¯s the best guess anyone¡¯s come up with.¡±


    We stood there for a moment, neither of us talking, both of us thinking.


    ¡°So,¡± he said, ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re alone. I¡¯d have expected to see Haley at least, but I thought Kals would be here if only to see Cassie, Jaclyn, and Marcus. You all went through war together.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Kals is in Chicago because she needs to talk to Guardian and a bunch of other heroes with interstellar connections. She¡¯ll be here for a day or two once that¡¯s done.¡±


    ¡°Cool. What about Haley? Are you two okay?¡±


    I looked at him, ¡°We¡¯re fine. She¡¯s still going to GLU. She had class this afternoon and another one from seven to ten tonight. The challenge for her was squeezing in League stuff.¡±


    Vaughn shook his head, ¡°Sorry. I¡¯ve got to remember that just because I don¡¯t see the two of you together, it doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯re not doing stuff.¡±


    ¡°We are,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s just mostly on weekends.¡±


    My phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that the call was labeled, ¡°Uncle Steve.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, and took the call.


    My mom¡¯s brother Steve was couch surfing at our house until his next contract started. Technically, he was in the guest bedroom and paying rent because he insisted. As an itinerant engineer who spent more time overseas than in the US, he did okay.


    ¡°Nick,¡± he said when I answered, ¡°do you have a minute for your favorite uncle?¡±


    Announcing that he was my favorite uncle seemed presumptuous, but he wasn¡¯t wrong.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m just hanging out at home. I didn¡¯t have big plans for tonight.¡±


    Well, other than finishing the report for the League and coordinating a discussion about our response.


    ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± he said, breathing into the phone. ¡°I¡¯m almost to your house. I don¡¯t want to get your mom worried, but you know how I was working for Armory? I¡¯m beginning to think that someone might be after me.¡±

 Relative Uncertainty: Part 2

    I considered asking him if visiting my house would help him. In my ¡°brilliant kid who¡¯s starting his own engineering firm¡± identity, it made sense. Why would he come to visit me in the first place? I couldn¡¯t help him.


    That would have led to questions that I didn¡¯t want to answer over the phone, especially if he¡¯d known that my grandpa, his father, was the Rocket.


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ¡°most of us are home tonight. So at least you won¡¯t be alone.¡±


    I walked out of the kitchen, through the dining room, and into the living room with its television, wooden floor, and mismatched chairs. Vaughn followed me.


    It wasn¡¯t dark, but the sun was setting. In Michigan in the fall, the sun set closer to six than you¡¯d hope. From the window, I could see a figure walking down the street toward the house. There weren¡¯t a lot of people walking down our block at night, so it almost had to be him.


    I wasn¡¯t wrong.


    The figure walked up to our front door and knocked. I opened it to find Uncle Steve on the front porch wearing a black leather jacket over a Fantastic Four t-shirt. At least four inches taller than me, Uncle Steve had a round face, a brown and white streaked beard, and thinning hair. The leather jacket didn¡¯t quite make him either cool or tough looking. It made him look like a geek with money.


    Stepping off to the side to let him in, I shut the door as he passed me.


    Noticing Vaughn, he held out his hand and said, ¡°I¡¯m Nick¡¯s Uncle Steve.¡±


    Looking at the two of them made an interesting contrast. Uncle Steve looked like a middle-aged engineer who sat at his desk and thought a lot. Since Dr. Nation¡¯s experimental program to activate minor powers at Stapledon, Vaughn had changed from being slightly on the pudgy side to subtly ripped. Vaughn was still shorter than Uncle Steve and had his long hair in a ponytail, but the t-shirt he wore made the lines of his muscles obvious.


    Shaking Uncle Steve¡¯s hand, Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯m Nick¡¯s friend Vaughn Hardwick-Jones. I live here too.¡±


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    Uncle Steve goggled, ¡°Hardwick? That¡¯s a surprise. Did you know that Giles Hardwick and Nick¡¯s grandfather were best friends?¡±


    Vaughn smiled, ¡°I¡¯ve heard that.¡±


    Nothing in his face even hinted that his grandfather¡¯s betrayal of the original Heroes¡¯ League had been a weight over his first years on the team.


    Uncle Steve paused and I guessed that he might be trying to figure out how to get Vaughn to leave in order to talk about the threat to his life privately. I wanted Vaughn here for that, preferably without outing him and the rest of us for what we were.


    Not having any good ideas for how to do that, I decided to be oblivious, ¡°You said that you think someone might be after you because you worked for Armory.Why do you think so?¡±


    Uncle Steve turned to me and said, ¡°It¡¯s a long story. Do you mind if we sit down?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I walked over to one of the chairs and sat down while Uncle Steve sat down on the couch and Vaughn sat down on a brown recliner that showed bits of stuffing at the seams.


    Uncle Steve looked around the room, ¡°It¡¯s weird to be here like this. I know you¡¯ve owned the house for a while now, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve been in here since we cleaned it out. There should be family pictures on the wall¡ªin my memory, anyway. Dad got it into his head to make a grandfather clock once. He wasn¡¯t much of a woodworker though and didn¡¯t want to learn. He made the casing out of metal and some kind of ceramic. I think my mom helped design the outside. That¡¯s the only reason it looked good at all. Dad was a great engineer, but he wasn¡¯t an artist. I think your Uncle Joe has it now.¡±


    He sighed.


    Then he said, ¡°I¡¯m a freelance engineer, but some of my contracting is for the government. It¡¯s not standard engineering work either. It borders on spying.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn sat up in his chair.


    Uncle Steve nodded, ¡°I know. It¡¯s not as exciting as it sounds. Mostly I just do my job as an engineer and pass on what I¡¯m doing to my handler. They put me into places where a regular agent won¡¯t have a clue what¡¯s going on. Maybe there¡¯s a genius inventor supervillain or someone working with alien tech? That kind of thing.¡±


    That sounded familiar. It sounded exactly like what Isaac Lim had done with me when he¡¯d found that I¡¯d made it to whatever list the government had of potential mad scientists.


    Vaughn looked over at me. I ignored it.


    Uncle Steve continued, ¡°You know what my last job was. I don¡¯t try to keep up with my co-workers after that for obvious reasons, but one of them texted me. He told me that he was nervous because two of the other engineers are dead. I googled them and he¡¯s right. They are. I texted him back and he didn¡¯t answer. He¡¯s dead too.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Did you contact your handler? It seems like whoever that is would want to know.¡±


    ¡°Nick, I think it¡¯s the Nine. Even if my handler¡¯s clean, someone around her might not be.¡±


    I thought about that, ¡°Then why are you asking me for help? I want to, but the Nine are¡­ kind of big.¡±

 Relative Uncertainty: Part 3

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


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, ¡°that¡¯s quite a guess if it¡¯s true.¡±


    Uncle Steve smiled while Vaughn managed a surprisingly credible poker face.


    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± my uncle said. ¡°If anyone in the family knows that he was the Rocket, you¡¯re the only credible candidate. Of all the grandchildren, you and Rachel were the only ones in Grand Lake. You especially spent a lot of time with him¡ªto the point that it seemed like you were always here. Plus, he gave you the house. That¡¯s an odd choice when you consider that he could have given you a trust fund for your education.


    ¡°Plus, there¡¯s one other thing that no one else in our family would know. For reasons that I¡¯m not going to explain and you¡¯re capable of making good guesses about, I¡¯ve seen the government¡¯s list of people who have shown unusual potential with technology. It¡¯s sometimes called the ¡®mad scientist list.¡¯ I know there are other names for it, but you¡¯re on it. So is Ana. I don¡¯t suppose you know where she is?¡±


    Not seeing any point in denying it any further, I said, ¡°Yes. She¡¯ll be able to go home soon. The Nine brainwashed her and it was only reversed this morning.¡±


    Uncle Steve blinked, ¡°You can do that?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I know someone who sometimes can. I asked her to help.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°Good. When her parents found out that the Nine owned her company and that the feds had taken her into custody, they didn¡¯t know what to think. They¡¯ve been worried sick about her.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± I said. ¡°The FBI said that they¡¯d keep her family informed. I haven¡¯t been checking on it. I didn¡¯t know what else to do beyond calling in a friend to help.¡±


    With a grin, Uncle Steve said, ¡°That¡¯s more than they¡¯d have been able to do on their own. Joe and Charlotte will finally be able to sleep.¡±


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    ¡°I hope. For all I know, she still might have leftovers of what happened in her head. She won¡¯t be controlled, but she¡¯ll still remember everything she did while under control. I don¡¯t know what that was, but it wouldn¡¯t surprise me if she regretted some of it.¡±


    From the chair to my left, Vaughn said, ¡°If you¡¯re going to talk about private family stuff, I can go.¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    Uncle Steve said, ¡°No. I¡¯m here to talk to Nick about whoever¡¯s coming after me¡ªif they¡¯re coming.¡±


    ¡°On that,¡± I said, ¡°do you know anything else? Anything more than that you know people who have died? I¡¯m wondering if anyone at Armory¡¯s lab seemed suspicious?¡±


    Uncle Steve leaned back into the couch and laughed, ¡°Armory hired some of the world¡¯s most brilliant and least ethical engineers. A lot of them seemed suspicious and for good reason. They were criminals, even the ones that had never been caught.¡±


    He shook his head, ¡°There wasn¡¯t anyone who was supposed to kill us all if we left. We designed and assembled armor. They didn¡¯t want us to just tell anybody, but they didn¡¯t say anything about killing us. I didn¡¯t get anything more from them than I¡¯ve gotten from normal, legitimate, businesses. Some of those people are crazy. Maybe you improved their can opener or something, That doesn¡¯t mean that you want to own the design.¡°


    Vaughn raised an eyebrow, ¡°Did that happen to you?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly that, but closer than you¡¯d think.¡± Uncle Steve¡¯s eyes drifted toward the windows. When I assume, he didn¡¯t see anything that worried him, he turned his attention back to me.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± he said, ¡°there weren¡¯t any people I remember that made me scared that they¡¯d come after me. The place had professional security. You expect raving maniacs or drug users, but they hired regular security people.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I frowned. ¡°Then I think the best we''re going to do for now is set up surveillance cameras around Mom and Dad¡¯s house. Then maybe we¡¯ll make it so that something on you broadcasts your location and makes it easy for you to send a distress signal. I just wish we had something specific to watch for.¡±


    I thought about calling Daniel in. If Uncle Steve were okay with it, maybe Daniel would pick up something from his memories that he couldn¡¯t find on his own.


    As I thought that, a woman¡¯s voice came from the kitchen, ¡°Do you mind if I listen in? I might notice something.¡±


    I turned to see a woman standing in the entrance. Taller than Uncle Steve with long, dirty blond hair, light brown skin, and a strong jaw, she looked like a woman from a superhero comic. Even if her muscles didn¡¯t bulge, they were defined. Where she¡¯d gotten a blue, ¡°Free Willy¡± t-shirt or why she¡¯d bought it, I had no idea.


    ¡°Come on in, Tara,¡± I said. With Daniel not in the house, Tara was our best option. Though she didn¡¯t have telepathy, she did have an incredible memory and ability to see patterns.


    Uncle Steve looked over at her and his eyes widened, whispering ¡°Do you know what she is?¡±

 Relative Uncertainty: Part 4

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


    ¡°I do,¡± I told him, watching his expression. ¡°Tara is the daughter of people who defected from the True.¡±


    His eyebrows furrowed, ¡°The True?¡±


    Tara sat down in a wooden chair, one with a leg that was just slightly shorter than the other three. ¡°Did you think we were all clones the Nine made?¡±


    He eyed her, ¡°I didn¡¯t know, but I knew you were the Nine¡¯s soldiers.¡±


    Tara nodded, ¡°That¡¯s true¡ªhere. I¡¯m not from this universe.¡±


    Uncle Steve stared at her, ¡°Other universes are real?¡±


    ¡°They are. I grew up in a city where they meet,¡± she grinned as his jaw dropped.


    ¡°This is beyond my security clearance. I¡¯ve heard rumors about Infinity City, but it¡¯s better if I don¡¯t know too much. I¡¯ve got a block, but it¡¯s better that I don¡¯t know too much.¡±


    With a nod, Tara said, ¡°I think you¡¯re right, but you should know that what I¡¯m good at is understanding a lot based on a surprisingly small amount of information. Could you please tell me everything you can about working for Armory? I¡¯m going to interrupt you to ask questions and it¡¯s important that you tell me everything you can. I know you¡¯ll be tempted to hold something back, but the small details are what will help me understand and help keep you alive.¡±


    She delivered the question in the warm, sometimes high-pitched voice she normally used instead of the monotone that she used when she let her most analytical side run the show. She might be keeping that less obvious since Uncle Steve didn¡¯t know her.


    Uncle Steve frowned, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t, but this isn¡¯t just about government secrets, it¡¯s about my family.¡±


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    Then he nodded, ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    She gave him a bright smile and had him walk through the whole process of starting to work there with special attention to details about what kind of attention they paid to him. Did they regularly have him pee in a cup to check for drugs? Did they take any other fluids? Yes, blood. Could he describe any visitors to the lab? He could. What were his coworkers like? Who were they? He answered in detail. Even though he didn¡¯t try to, he¡¯d gotten to know a few.


    It took more than an hour for him to get through the story when all of her questions were included.


    In the end, she said, ¡°You¡¯re very good at what you do. Then Nine had operatives planted in Armory¡¯s lab. They didn¡¯t realize that you were working for the government¡ªat least while you were working there. I don¡¯t know what they think now, but my guess is that they still don¡¯t know. They¡¯re still going after you, but not because they think you¡¯re a spy. It¡¯s because they¡¯re going after every engineer that worked for Armory to keep their designs secret.¡±


    Uncle Steve took a few breaths, becoming calmer as he did, ¡°That¡¯s what I was worried about. I was hoping it was just a worry. There isn¡¯t any chance that could affect your analysis, is there?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°I notice that kind of thing. In this case, it was Sven that was the Nine¡¯s observer in your group. He wasn¡¯t willingly doing it. He was controlled. That¡¯s why they killed him too. They couldn¡¯t risk it wearing off. They¡¯re going to send a team of supers specialized in cleaning up potential security leaks, probably a team of three that will definitely include a telepath or a Dominator.¡±


    Vaughn leaned toward me, talking in a low voice, ¡°That sounds like our other project might have to go on hold.¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I don¡¯t think it can. We need to find and contact those people. I think we¡¯ve got enough people here that we can handle a team of three even if you and Amy are out looking.¡±


    Uncle Steve glanced over at us. I decided not to go into more detail. He didn¡¯t need to know about the immortals.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said to him, ¡°we¡¯ve got at least one more thing going right now.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°I¡¯m sure that¡¯s true.¡±


    Meeting Tara¡¯s eyes, I asked, ¡°Do you know when they¡¯ll get here?¡±


    Tara shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. Steve said there were more than fifty engineers working there. I didn¡¯t get any hint that he¡¯s high on their list. It might be a few months from now. It might be tomorrow, but I think he has some time. At least a few weeks.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°I think that we can pull in the Mystic to see if he can get more. Plus, we can have you sleep here or even in the base itself. Assuming they don¡¯t have a way to sense where you are, that¡¯s not where they¡¯ll look.¡±

 Relative Uncertainty: Part 5

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


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


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


    I thought about that, ¡°How do you get jobs if no one knows each other¡¯s name?¡±


    Uncle Steve sighed, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t tell you, but now that I think about it, you should probably know. You know about Syndicate L and the Nine? Organizations that large need people that they know are willing to work for less than legal organizations. There are websites for recruiting people with different specialties¡ªincluding engineers.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± Vaughn said, his mouth dropping into a half-smile, ¡°there are supervillain job websites?¡±


    Uncle Steve nodded, ¡°I can show you them later, but that¡¯s why we¡¯re not going to have an easy time with it. Everybody goes by their username. There are recommendations from people you¡¯ve done jobs for. Plus, you¡¯ve got a reputation score that your former employers can give points to¡­ I don¡¯t even use my own account. I¡¯ve got accounts that another guy created for the government. The earliest recommendations were from a supervillain who later went straight¡­ Anyway, the important thing is that you recognize that we¡¯re never going to get a hold of any of those guys.


    ¡°Anyway, when I¡¯m sent in, it¡¯s to look at the technology. They¡¯re not expecting me to get to know everyone. The guy who contacted me was an exception. We¡¯ve worked together on a couple of different jobs. He¡¯s got the number of a voicemail I use for that kind of work¡ªnot my phone.¡±


    Tara leaned forward in her chair, brushing her hair out of her face and frowning, ¡°I need to think about that. I should have asked you how you got your jobs.¡±


    She closed her eyes for a few seconds, but then let out a breath and opened them, ¡°Do you know who owns the websites you mentioned?¡±


    Uncle Steve shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s not the sort of thing you ask about, but they looked professional and they work.¡±


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    Nodding, Tara said, ¡°I don¡¯t have enough information to know, but the Nine has funded large websites before. I think it¡¯s possible that they own or have invested in one or all of them. If they have, they¡¯ve had the opportunity to use them to figure out who the users are. If they know you¡¯re a federal agent, they¡¯ll make you a higher priority. If they know you¡¯re here, they might use you to work against the Heroes¡¯ League even without knowing your relationship to the Rocket.¡±


    Uncle Steve pursed his lips, saying nothing at first, but then, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have come home.¡±


    ¡°You couldn¡¯t have known,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, it¡¯s not as if the Nine weren¡¯t coming in this direction anyway. We¡¯ve been pissing them off lately.¡±


    He laughed, ¡°I¡¯ve been following the news.¡±


    ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°I guess Uncle Steve disappears, maybe into the basement. I just hope they didn¡¯t have anyone following him already.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, Uncle Steve said, ¡°The basement? I¡¯ve slept in worse places. And by the way, I know how to look for tails. I didn¡¯t see any. I¡¯ve also got equipment to detect bugs and other kinds of surveillance. I have been using it even at home because I¡¯m always using it.¡±


    While I didn¡¯t miss the last part of what he said, I found myself stuck on the first part. When I¡¯d said basement, I meant the headquarters under my house. He didn¡¯t know. I looked over at Vaughn and Tara and they were already grinning.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got something to show you,¡± I said, and stood up.


    He looked over at me, ¡°Sure.


    I led the group of us to the back of the house, down the stairs into the basement. It still contained boxes from my grandfather¡¯s engineering business, a desk that he¡¯d used, toolboxes, magazines, and metal filing cabinets. We walked down the path to the clear spot on the concrete floor. I waved him over, indicating that Steve should stand next to me in the spot with a square indentation.


    ¡°Sure,¡± he said. ¡°You know, I don¡¯t remember seeing this spot. I think dad covered it with¡­ something¡ª¡°


    As he said that, the retinal scanner flashed red light into my eyes, four walls shot up from the floor around us, and the elevator car sank into the floor.


    ¡°Whoa,¡± he said as we felt the drop begin.


    It would stop only when it reached headquarters. There, the door opened, giving him his first view of Heroes¡¯ League HQ. Different than when I¡¯d first seen it, the cardboard boxes had been removed, the clutter of the League¡¯s trophies had been reduced to a few of the more impressive ones, and the olive green carpet had been replaced.


    Now the table and desks in front of the giant screen on the other side of the room stood on a new, dark red carpet.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Uncle Steve said, ¡°I had no idea this was under our house.¡±


    We stepped out of the elevator and the doors shut behind us, humming its way upward.


    My phone, which doubled as a League communicator, began to ring. Even as I pulled it out of my pocket, my implant grabbed the caller¡¯s ID. It was Sean Drucker AKA The Power, leader of West Michigan¡¯s other hero team¡­ What was it called? I hoped it wasn¡¯t Justice Fist again.


    My implant gave me the answer. It was Justice Fist.

 Relative Uncertainty: Part 6

    I took the call even though my history with Sean wasn¡¯t great. Aside from being a bully to me until it was clear to him that he¡¯d be kicked out of the Stapledon program unless he stopped, he was Haley¡¯s ex-boyfriend, the kind that she¡¯d had to use her poison claw on to stop him from pushing to do more physically than she wanted to.


    He¡¯d apologized to me about that, but I wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d ever apologized to her.


    In the last few years though, he hadn¡¯t been a problem and he¡¯d even worked with us a couple of times. I owed it to him to at least give him a chance.


    Through the phone, I heard, ¡°Hey Nick, I¡¯m in our headquarters so this call is safe.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I told him, deciding that Uncle Steve had a block, so he was probably safe, but I muted the phone and told Uncle Steve, ¡°I¡¯m going to have to take this call.¡±


    He said, ¡°You bet,¡± as I turned to my right and started walking alongside the wall, passing the remains of a set of Nazi-made powered armor that Grandpa had taken down. Not even trying to check the name, I listened as Sean continued.


    ¡°You know we reformed Justice Fist, right?¡±


    ¡°I did hear that, yeah.¡± They¡¯d signed with one of the big companies that invested in and monetized superheroes¡¯ occupations¡ªFuture-men Capital. It was one of the big ones even though it sounded like a business name from 1950s science fiction novels. To be fair, the business was most likely that old.


    Sean said, ¡°You know how we signed up with Future-men Capital?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I hoped he wasn¡¯t about to try to recruit me.


    ¡°It¡¯s been great, but some weird shit happened when we signed. Some guy named Martin Magnus showed up. We didn¡¯t know it at the time, but Sydney used your computer to figure it out. Anyway, we had Mindstryke look at our contract. When he found out about Magnus, he offered us help to find out more because it looked like Magnus might have a connection to Future-men Capital.¡±


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    Mindstryke hadn¡¯t mentioned that to me, but Daniel''s dad was a lawyer. Even if it wasn¡¯t, strictly speaking, an example of attorney-client privilege, he might well treat it that way.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I thought about that. I wasn¡¯t completely confident about us fighting a guy that was thousands of years old, but I felt like Sean and his group might be a little more overmatched.


    ¡°Yeah. I mean that guy was part of the Cabal or something. Sydney told me I should tell you about it. Are you going up against the guy?¡±


    Did I want Sean¡¯s help? Even if we weren¡¯t on bad terms right now, our history might make him a little unpredictable. I said, ¡°It¡¯s more like he might be about to go after us and we¡¯re trying to beat him to the punch. Have you learned anything about Magnus?¡±


    Sean laughed, ¡°Nothing at all. We had that one weird thing when Magnus showed up, but then the next thing we heard was that he¡¯d resigned from the board. We looked online and we couldn¡¯t find anything about the guy other than he owned a bunch of stocks in the company. He was calling himself Martin Greatson. We did track down his LLC, but it was the address of a building that had been knocked down. I think they¡¯re building something there now, but it doesn¡¯t seem to have any connection to him. Like I said, weird shit.¡±


    I looked over at the wall. A series of photos and articles about the original League had been framed and hung there. Articles about their fight with the Abominators covered this spot from the floor to the ceiling. I wondered what they¡¯d have done if they found out that Magnus was trying to find the Artificer weapon that Lee had hidden here.


    It seemed bigger than anything they¡¯d faced.


    I responded to Sean, ¡°At least you know that Martin Greatson was an alias. It¡¯s better than not knowing.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sean said, ¡°but we knew that before we even started looking. Do you know anything more? Sydney thought you¡¯d want to know this.¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± I tried to think about how much I wanted to tell him. ¡°It¡¯s not enough to find the guy yet, but you know everything you¡¯ve seen in the news about us lately? That¡¯s all led us to Magnus. We¡¯re pretty sure he¡¯s connected to the Dominators and the Nine. I don¡¯t know if you have those buzzers I designed? Sydney might have given you some. It¡¯s more important than ever to wear them¡ªespecially if you¡¯re meeting with people from Future-men Capital. The only thing I can think of is that he used his board position to plant a mole or two in the company. I can¡¯t think of any better place for the Dominators to control. You¡¯d meet with a wide variety of supers regularly. They all mostly trust you and so if you didn¡¯t act very often, you¡¯d have your pick of supers to control. If you were careful about it, you could get a mole in the staff of some major teams.¡±


    Sean let out a breath and something in our connection buzzed. I hoped that he hadn¡¯t accidentally used his powers over magnetism to waste his phone.


    ¡°Shit,¡± he said, ¡°they could be anywhere.¡±

 Relative Uncertainty: Part 7

    ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯ve been worrying about for the last few weeks. They really could be. They¡¯ve had years to get into place. We don¡¯t know where. We can¡¯t trust our government contacts too far and even outside, any organization could have a silent observer from the Nine or the Dominators.¡±


    I stopped, unsure of how far to go. For all I knew, Sean might unwillingly be one of the Nine¡¯s brainwashed pawns.


    ¡°That¡¯s fucked. We don¡¯t have many government contacts, but there''s Future-men Capital and we can¡¯t get rid of them. Our contract says that a percentage of the profits from our merchandising pay back their investment in our group. There¡¯s no way we can pay enough to get out of the contract, not yet anyway,¡± he paused, but then continued.


    ¡°Like I told you, we knew that Future-men might be connected to Magnus and went ahead with it anyway. It seemed like it¡¯d be the right thing to do. If he¡¯s one of the bad guys, we want to get him, you know? That¡¯s the reason we¡¯re here, but right now it looks like we won¡¯t even know if the bad guys are there.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°that¡¯s why I mentioned the buzzers. If Sydney got you some, wear them. Every time they buzz, you¡¯ll know the Dominators are trying to get into your heads.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Sean said, ¡°I¡¯ll check with Sydney. That¡¯ll help. At least we¡¯ll know that they can¡¯t get at us. Oh¡­ There¡¯s one other thing. Sydney mentioned that you guys have been practicing with other teams. I can understand if you don¡¯t want to, but could you add us to the list? We¡¯re both here and you might have to work with us sometime.¡±


    He was right. If we were going to train with anyone, the team that shared the same city with us was the first team we ought to be talking with. ¡°Sure, but I should say that arranging all of that is really Cassie¡¯s thing. It was her idea, so she¡¯s making it happen. I¡¯ll pass it on to her that you want to and she¡¯ll call you. Out of curiosity, how¡¯s Jody doing these days?¡±


    Out of the three people that I knew were in Sean¡¯s new Justice Fist, Dayton was a great guy who¡¯d always been decent to me even after I beat the three of them in a fight. Instead of holding a grudge, he¡¯d asked who I trained with. Jody, on the other hand, had never been anything other than a jerk even after Sean started to change.


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    Sean laughed and then sighed, ¡°He¡¯s better. I don¡¯t want to get your hopes up too high, but in the last few weeks, since we signed with Future-men, he¡¯s been like he was on the basketball team. He shows up for practice, does his work, and doesn¡¯t get in trouble. He¡¯ll understand it¡¯s important to work together.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°if we can¡¯t work together, it¡¯ll be better to find out in practice than in the field, but yeah¡­ We¡¯ve already worked together during the Hrrnna attack as well as a bunch of Stapledon training sessions, so it should be possible. I¡¯ll pass it along.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Sean let out a breath. ¡°We¡¯ll be ready.¡±


    We said goodbye and I put my phone back in my pocket.


    While I¡¯d been talking, Vaughn and Tara had stepped out of the elevator, walking up to Uncle Steve who I¡¯d wandered away from to talk. It was nice that he hadn¡¯t followed me.


    Vaughn was pointing toward the locker room, bathroom, showers, and kitchen to our left and talking, ¡°We used to have to share one shower area. Now we¡¯ve set it up like the toilets¡ªseparate rooms for each one so we don¡¯t have to have men and women shower in shifts.¡±


    Tara shook her head, ¡°I know you do that, but I still don¡¯t get it. Everybody has a body and if you see a naked person it doesn¡¯t mean that it has anything to do with sex, but people here act as if it does.¡±


    Uncle Steve opened his mouth as if he was thinking of saying something but then chose not to. I hadn¡¯t told him about how Tara had grown up in Infinity City, a spot where an infinity of parallel universes met, and that comfort with nudity was the least of a million differences from growing up in Grand Lake, but it looked as though he was beginning to understand.


    The first rule of talking to Tara? Expect that she¡¯s comfortable with things you¡¯re not. Some of those things don¡¯t even exist in the universe you live in and can¡¯t.


    I¡¯d have walked over to the group of them except that the circular door on one of the tunnels swung open and Daniel flew in. The door shut behind him as if by its own strength, and he flew toward me. His black and silver costume absorbed his mask.


    With a look toward Uncle Steve, he said, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to find out he was here.¡±


    It was a given that Daniel had gotten the complete story from our heads already, but I added, ¡°It looks like he¡¯ll be staying here indefinitely.¡±


    He nodded, tight-lipped, ¡°And the bad news is that the danger to all of our families, not just yours, jumped upward. Whoever¡¯s coming for him knows enough to target our relatives.¡±

 Relative Uncertainty: Part 8

    ¡°Huh,¡± I considered that. ¡°It seems as if whoever''s sending people after Uncle Steve might be using it to terrorize us? Because there¡¯s no need to bother all the rest of you if they want Uncle Steve. They only need to go after my mom and dad¡ªthough I suppose going after everyone else¡¯s might be insurance.¡±


    Daniel nodded, ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking, but there¡¯s a wrinkle to it. I think they knew enough to target our families, but I don¡¯t think they know why.¡±


    ¡°Magnus,¡± Tara¡¯s face became expressionless. ¡°He knows who you are. He¡¯s made no effort to share it, but he has a reason to keep you distracted¡ªthe tablets Cassie translated.¡±


    Shaking his head, Daniel muttered, ¡°She has zero interest in Sumer, but she¡¯s fluent in Sumerian...¡±


    More loudly,he continued, ¡°I think you¡¯re right. I¡¯m not sure why Magnus would want to let them know that targeting our families would help, but not tell them why. Whoever is coming has to have suspicions, but I suppose he can only reveal our secrets once.¡±


    Uncle Steve let out a breath, ¡°This is the Nine. They¡¯re careful about who gets what information. It might be that they¡¯ve been implanted with the information and can¡¯t do anything with it, can¡¯t even think about it, until some condition comes up.¡±


    Tara looked at him and then me, ¡°I can¡¯t know whether or not that¡¯s true from what little information I¡¯ve got, but it seems possible, given what I know about the Nine and their methods. If we can, we¡¯ll have to take them out as soon as they show up, so that no conditions come up.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± Vaughn stared out into space, but then shook his head and said, ¡°This isn¡¯t a red, but it¡¯s got to be a yellow. We¡¯ve got to send this out to everybody¡ªmaybe even Sean¡¯s people. They might end up facing them and if we aren¡¯t coordinating, who knows what happens¡­¡±


    ¡°Funny thing you should mention that,¡± I looked around the group, ¡°I just got a call from Sean. He¡¯s been working with Daniel¡¯s dad and the Defenders because they think their investors, Future-men Capital have a connection to Magnus. They think this because Magnus used to be on the company¡¯s board, used that connection to visit them, and then disappeared. Also, Sean wants Justice Fist to get on our training schedule.¡±


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    I felt Daniel¡¯s surprise through the unintentional connection we sometimes shared.


    Aloud, he said, ¡°I had no idea my dad was working with them. He doesn¡¯t tell me much of what he does with the Defenders, so that¡¯s not unusual. Oh, and with regards to training with Justice Fist, I don¡¯t get a feeling that it¡¯s any worse than anything else we¡¯re doing.¡±


    Uncle Steve raised an eyebrow. Vaughn laughed, ¡°That¡¯s not much of a recommendation.¡±


    Frowning, Daniel said, ¡°It¡¯s not simple. Right now everything has a chance of going badly wrong for us¡ªincluding working with Justice Fist. There¡¯s also a chance that working with them will help us a lot. It¡¯s just that it isn¡¯t so good that I can recommend it.¡±


    I looked over at Tara. She shook her head, ¡°Not enough information.¡±


    Unable to think of a better idea, I said, ¡°Vaughn¡¯s right. We should tell everybody and I guess I¡¯ll tell Cassie about putting them on the list. We might find that we have to coordinate with them sooner than we expect. I did tell Sean I would. Maybe we¡¯ll get lucky.


    ¡°Oh, and one more thing, we should probably set up a cot for Uncle Steve.¡±


    Daniel met my eyes and I heard him think, Just a second.


    He closed his eyes, opening them a second or two later, ¡°He shouldn¡¯t stay here. I don¡¯t know it for sure, but I think that having him disappear must be a trigger condition. Everyone in the League¡¯s chances of survival go down drastically.¡±


    Uncle Steve looked from Daniel to me, ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    ¡°Daniel¡¯s right a lot,¡± I said. ¡°When he doesn¡¯t feel confident, it¡¯s one thing, but when he says something like that, I¡¯d bet on it.¡±


    Daniel met his eyes, ¡°You¡¯re going to want to trust me on this. I¡¯m not my grandfather, but I¡¯ve got as much talent in this area as he does.¡±


    Uncle Steve stared up at him, ¡°I want to make sure I¡¯ve got this. You¡¯re saying that if I don¡¯t go back to my sister¡¯s house, it gets bad for everyone in the Heroes¡¯ League? Do you know how?¡±


    Daniel shook his head, ¡°I get a general sense of whether the results will be good or bad and if they¡¯ll be bad, how bad. This is disastrously bad for a lot of us¡ªeveryone with parents in Grand Lake.¡±


    Uncle Steve nodded, ¡°Okay, what happens in the big picture if I go back then? How bad is that and who¡¯s it bad for?¡±


    Daniel closed his eyes, waiting a little longer than the last time before he opened them, ¡°Here¡¯s what I¡¯ve got. There¡¯s still a risk for everybody, but it¡¯s less likely that everybody and their parents die¡­¡±


    He stopped, not closing his eyes the way he sometimes did when sensing the future, but looking at Uncle Steve and biting his lip. I felt Daniel¡¯s uncertainty and then a flash of decision.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the thing,¡± Daniel said, ¡°you¡¯ve got a better chance of survival if you stay here. I don¡¯t know why. It¡¯s probably something like you stay out of the way, and escape in one of our vehicles after we die.¡±


    Uncle Steve¡¯s jaw dropped, ¡°I know I asked you, but I wish you hadn¡¯t told me that.¡±

 Relative Uncertainty: Part 9

    Daniel lowered his head, nodding, ¡°I get it, but I felt like it wasn¡¯t fair to hide that I knew you would be in more danger when I knew that it would benefit me.¡±


    Uncle Steve let out a breath, ¡°I get it. I appreciate your honesty and your willingness to let me decide for myself. I don¡¯t think I have much of a choice though. I can¡¯t survive at the expense of my sister, any of your parents who were my childhood friends, or you kids.¡±


    I wanted to say the same in return, but in my case telling him to take the safest route might theoretically kill everyone else I cared about.


    ¡°The future isn¡¯t permanent,¡± Daniel met his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s something my grandfather used to tell me and he¡¯s right. It changes. It¡¯s changed even during this conversation¡ªnot with regard to what we¡¯re talking about, but in small ways. An hour from now it will change even more. If we act at the right moment, the risk to your life and ours can disappear as if it were never there.


    ¡°What my grandfather also told me was that I should use my prescience to do the right thing and not let the easiest path through a problem become the right thing because it''s the safest way to go.¡±


    Uncle Steve smiled as Daniel mentioned his grandfather and as Daniel stopped said, ¡°I get it. I¡¯ve been in these situations before. I¡¯ve worried and worried that the supervillain in charge will recognize what I¡¯m really doing in his lab. Except then something changed and the guy got distracted. After that, he didn¡¯t care what I¡¯d done. Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll find a way to handle this. I¡¯m not completely defenseless.¡±


    Then he paused and said, ¡°How¡¯s your grandfather?¡±


    Daniel sighed, ¡°He has dementia of some kind. No doctor¡¯s been able to identify it¡ªin part because he¡¯s a telepath and he¡¯s still with it enough to pick out answers from people¡¯s minds. Privately, we think it¡¯s because he overused his prescience at some point. It¡¯s weird, even using our powers we sometimes can¡¯t find him in the present, future, or past. It¡¯s as if he¡¯s invisible to psychic scrying, but then a little later, he¡¯s back again.¡±


    Nodding as Daniel talked, Uncle Steve shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t think I have the background to make any sense of that. I think you¡¯d need a physicist specializing in quantum mechanics, but I¡¯m sorry to hear that he¡¯s having a hard time. He was always a kind man, even to his teammates¡¯ kids.¡±


    Daniel laughed, ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s having as hard a time as the rest of the family. He¡¯s as optimistic and happy as he ever was. We miss him or at least the version of him that we remember.¡±


    ¡°I think we all have a little of that. I miss my mom and dad. They missed Giles Hardwick and other members of the team that died over the years.¡± Uncle Steve stopped, but then said, ¡°I think I should get back to the house before the future changes in the wrong direction.¡±


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    Daniel and I walked him back, none of us saying very much. We wore clothes made of nanotech-based technology that could reconfigure itself into costumes on command or just act like armor.


    We walked on either side of him, Daniel sensing possible threats with telepathy and prescience. I made do with glasses that allowed me to see in the dark and improved my hearing.


    There wasn¡¯t much to see as we walked through the suburban streets. It was mid-October. That meant that the trees were mostly empty of leaves, some of which had been gathered into piles at the side of the road, only visible because of the streetlights. A few lawns had Halloween decorations on the lawn. The most noticeable was a nine-foot-tall skeleton. It hadn¡¯t been taken down since last Halloween and even had Christmas lights on it during the winter.


    Even as we passed a lawn with gravestones on it, the sort of place where comic book writers might choose to visually drive home the stakes of the conflict, no one attacked us. I felt Daniel¡¯s amusement as I imagined the gravestones exploding, but half a block later we were home. We didn¡¯t go inside, knowing that we had to get back.


    Less than 20 minutes later, we were back at my house and then at HQ, sitting at the table near the giant TV screen in front of the room. It didn¡¯t take long for everyone to show up. Tara and Vaughn joined us in person. Everyone else connected through their communicators. I threw up all their streams to the giant screen on the wall. Then, with almost everyone in the League looking on, we went through everything that happened, starting with visiting Chicago and how Kals had freed Ana, Colette¡¯s death, what we¡¯d learned about Magnus, Sean¡¯s call, Uncle Steve¡¯s problem, and our suspicions that we¡¯d soon be visited by mind-controlled hitmen that know that threatening our parents will help even if they don¡¯t know why.


    I watched as the faces on the screen went through emotions, starting with concern, grim understanding of Ana¡¯s state, surprise at Colette¡¯s death, interest in Sean¡¯s call, and finally worry as we talked about my Uncle Steve and what that meant for us.


    It felt both strange and normal to see everyone, ranging from Travis, Marcus, Jaclyn, Cassie, and Haley who¡¯d always been part of the team, to Sydney, Camille, and Julie who¡¯d been in Justice Fist with Sean, to Amy, Rod, and Samita, who we mostly knew from Stapledon. That wasn¡¯t everyone either. Courtney was listening, but couldn¡¯t be on screen.


    Rachel, of course, wasn¡¯t listening at all. She was still somewhere out among the stars with the Cosmic Ghosts.


    Letting Daniel finish telling what he¡¯d learned from sensing Uncle Steve¡¯s future, I said, ¡°So that¡¯s what we¡¯ve got. Vaughn, Cassie, and Amy, if she¡¯s willing, will be trying to find and contact Magnus¡¯ immortal former Cabal founders. The rest of us are going to be here in Grand Lake trying to make sure our families don¡¯t die.¡±


    At that moment, a text came from Uncle Steve that said, ¡°I knew this guy,¡± and linked to a news article about an electrical engineer who¡¯d died this morning in Columbus, Ohio. That was only five hours away by car from Grand Lake.


    I didn¡¯t even need to ask how Uncle Steve knew him. I¡¯d met him myself. Bald, short, and middle-aged, I¡¯d seen him under the arena where we¡¯d captured Armory and fought the Grey Giant. I  remembered him because Cassie had puked on him.

 Relative Uncertainty: Part 10

    ¡°Crap,¡± I muttered, realizing as I did it that everybody could hear me and not just Vaughn, Tara, and Daniel who were sitting at the table with me, but also everyone showing on the big screen.


    Up in the right corner of the screen, Travis said, ¡°What happened?¡±


    I looked up toward him, noticing that he was sitting in a van on a dark, city street somewhere wearing a dark suit. He was visiting a team in Philadelphia. He¡¯d told me, but I couldn¡¯t think of their name¡ªexcept that my implant then supplied it¡ªthe Bells.


    Taking in how everyone now seemed to be waiting for bad news, I gave them the bad news, ¡°You know how I made Cassie puke on one of the engineers back on Renewal Island? Well, that guy died. He died this morning and he wasn¡¯t far away¡ªhe died in Columbus, Ohio. That¡¯s half a day¡¯s drive from here. They could be on their way.¡±


    ¡°Someone should go down there,¡± Travis said, ¡°Izzy might find something.¡±


    On the bottom left, Izzy stood in her apartment¡¯s bathroom in front of the shower. She hadn¡¯t been taking a shower. She wore a green t-shirt and jeans from what I could see. Her long, dark hair wasn¡¯t wet. She must have taken the call there to increase her privacy. Taking off her glasses, she said, ¡°I can go. I didn¡¯t have plans tonight.¡±


    Her clothes reconfigured into her costume which was blue like her codename. As the mask covered her face, she said, ¡°I''ll go now and listen in.¡±


    The stream disappeared, replaced by a picture of her in costume.


    ¡°Unless Izzy discovers something, I don¡¯t have anything else,¡± I said. ¡°I just wanted everyone to know what¡¯s going on. If you¡¯ve got ideas for what we do next, that¡¯s great. Let me know. We don¡¯t have much of a target yet, so finding Magnus is the long-term plan, but obviously surviving whatever happens next is first.¡±


    People continued to throw out ideas as Izzy¡¯s view changed from her picture to stars and clouds and an ever-changing landscape. Traveling at several times the speed of sound, the view darkened as she flew toward Ohio, leaving California behind and crossing most of the country to arrive in Columbus, Ohio.


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    I wasn¡¯t familiar with what the city looked like at all, but I did see skyscrapers lit up in the night and a river.


    Hal had pulled the address of where Louis Starkey (the guy¡¯s name) had been killed as soon as we knew Izzy was going. Where he¡¯d pulled it from, I didn¡¯t know. He might not have even gotten it himself. As part of an informal association of the world¡¯s AIs, he might have asked a friend.


    Regardless, Izzy aimed to the east of the skyscrapers, descending to land in a residential area. It could have just as easily been a neighborhood in Grand Lake, one of the newer ones. In a nutshell, it had wide, mowed lawns, trees that would have been shady if the leaves hadn¡¯t fallen off, and two-story houses with long driveways and big garages.


    One house stood out from the suburban monotony, but more because of what it didn¡¯t have. It was missing the front door and the wall around the front door, all the way up to the second story. Wooden beams, insulation, metal ductwork, and electrical cables were visible through the destroyed section. White siding and chunks of drywall lay on the ground in front of the house.


    To be fair, the house also had things that the other houses didn¡¯t. First among them? Police tape and plastic sheeting covered the house¡¯s doorway and the missing bits of wall. There weren¡¯t any people around at this point except for Izzy and all the people staying in their houses and not coming out now that an obvious super had landed on the front lawn.


    Izzy whispered, ¡°I just looked through the house with sound. There¡¯s no one inside. Most of the damage seems to be in the hallway behind the door. I¡¯m going to pull open the plastic sheet and look inside.


    We watched as the view shifted to show the plastic sheet and then Izzy¡¯s blue-covered arms reached out to pull the plastic out of the way, revealing what lay behind the front door.


    The hallway would have been nice normally. Family portraits hung on the wall¡ªLouis, his head as bald as I remembered from Renewal Island, standing next to his curly-haired wife and their four children. The pictures followed the children from early childhood through to high school graduation. Some included even older people that I assumed must have been grandparents.


    If it had been just that, it wouldn¡¯t have been bad at all. Shrines to someone¡¯s family life might be boring, but they¡¯re not disturbing.


    You know what is disturbing though? If someone gets hit hard enough that bits of them are splattered all over the floor, walls, and ceiling of their house.


    Many strong supers have enough power behind them to hit someone hard enough that the person dies instantly or all but explodes. Most, even including supervillains, don¡¯t do that. Whoever killed Louis Starkey had. Blood and other bits of Louis stained the floor, walls, and ceiling.


    Along with Louis, fragments of wood also stuck out of the walls. I guessed that might be the remains of the door. That wasn¡¯t the only damage. The killer had left footprints in the wood of the shattered floor.


    Well, we knew that the killer was strong at least.

 Distractions: Part 1

    Over the team connection, Travis said, ¡°That¡¯s got to be the Cabal. Big? Strong? Messy? That¡¯s their MO.¡±


    In her dark grey costume balanced on the top of a building downtown, Haley said, ¡°At least it¡¯s not that guy who burned everybody.¡±


    I felt Daniel¡¯s queasiness at the memory of the burned bodies the man had left behind. I couldn¡¯t criticize him for that. I tried not to think about it very often myself.


    Travis¡¯ eyes widened, ¡°The burning hands guy. Shit. Whatever happened to him?¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°No idea. He brought me to the battle at the old radio station where Lee made the Cabal promise to leave us alone for a year. I haven¡¯t heard about him since.¡±


    From the bedroom of her apartment, Cassie shook her head, ¡°We lost track of that guy?¡±


    Over her comm, Izzy said, ¡°I wonder if the killer could be my grandfather? I don¡¯t like the idea, but it¡¯s possible. I don¡¯t know that he¡¯s dead. My grandmother never talked to him after she left.¡±


    Dixie Superman, one of our grandparents'' foes, had been as powerful as Izzy. He was a refugee from an alternate universe where the post-Civil War South had never integrated back into the US and was occupied by the military more than 100 years later.


    The best argument against his involvement was that the victim was white.


    ¡°I hope not,¡± I said. ¡°I feel like running into people from the original League¡¯s rogue¡¯s gallery leads to punching senior citizens.¡±


    Cassie laughed, ¡°Like Armory, Man-Machine, and Evil Beatnik¡¯s sidekick¡ªwhatever his name was.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I thought about that for a second. ¡°There are a bunch of really strong people out there. It might not be the Cabal, but they¡¯re a great candidate. Does anyone else have any ideas?¡±


    From an office chair in front of a shelf of old books, Amy, her red hair and body shorter than that of her alter ego, shook her head, ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound like anyone from my universe. The Elders made magical constructs like the Bloodmaiden construct I inherited, but theirs wouldn¡¯t have left any bloodstains.¡±


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    ¡°I don¡¯t have enough information,¡± Tara said. ¡°There are too many strong people to narrow it down.¡±


    Trying to avoid imagining Amy¡¯s contribution to the discussion, I paused as Izzy responded.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to deep scan the area to see if I notice anything else and use my suit¡¯s camera to record what I can.¡±


    Then she zoomed in on the damage¡ªthe blood, the footprints, the bits of splintered door, and shattered glass. We all watched. I think I may have heard Vaughn, Cassie, and others commenting on it. I found myself thinking about what we were seeing. Given the Nine and the Dominators, it didn¡¯t have to be a group of supervillains under the Nine that did this. It might have been a hero or even an unlikely civilian with powers who got the command to go kill one day.


    I was reminded of Prentkos, a Polish speedster on a European superhero team. He¡¯d been in Rook¡¯s base in Canada. I¡¯d left him stuck in goo. Shortly after that, Rook had released nerve gas in the base. I wasn¡¯t around to see if the man had died, but I¡¯d sometimes wondered if I¡¯d accidentally killed him. To be fair, he¡¯d been strong enough to damage my suit, killing me by letting nerve gas inside.


    When I looked him up in the Double V super database, I found that he was currently serving in Europe. I¡¯d looked him up last year and that was still true. Either he¡¯d escaped and that team now had someone friendly to the Nine as a member, or their version had never left. Certainly, there wasn¡¯t any record of him being gone.


    That might be worse because then the Prentkos I¡¯d met might be a clone.


    The original might have no idea that the Nine are using him. On the other hand, both the ¡°original¡± Prentkos and the one I¡¯d met might be clones put in place so far in the past that no one knew a switch had been done.


    That last option seemed possible, but unlikely.


    In my mind, Daniel responded, That¡¯s a better possibility than anything I¡¯ve come up with. I¡¯m beginning to wish that we¡¯d thought to have Izzy bring me over there. I might have been able to clairvoyantly sense the past. The only reason I haven¡¯t said anything is that it¡¯s probably too late. Too many people have been there in the last day, many of them with strong emotions. The past fades too quickly even without all of that.


    At least Izzy¡¯s filming it, I thought back. That should give us something.


    Aloud, I said, ¡°We might want to look into Prentkos. The Nine might have cloned or mind-controlled him.¡±


    I¡¯d have said more except that my comm registered that someone was trying to call me. A thought to my implant told me that I was receiving a call from the Midwest Defenders Chicago base.


    I took it.

 Distractions: Part 2

    My implant handled the call and Kals and Katuk appeared in my vision, standing against a background of beige cubicles. No longer wearing the green spacesuit she¡¯d been in earlier, Kals wore a black dress made of a material that added overtones of colors that slowly formed shapes that then turned into landscapes or animals. The movement was subtle enough that you wouldn¡¯t notice it if you didn¡¯t think about it, but obvious when you did.


    I¡¯d seen similar clothing on her mother and other people who were dressing formally in the Human Ascendancy.


    My implant offered me a history of fashion trends in the Human Ascendancy and I slapped it down. I didn¡¯t need to know that right now.


    Katuk still wore his silver, form-fitting powered armor. Alien powered armor was always appropriate when no one dared to tell you to take it off. His big black eyes were obvious through the overlay of his suit.


    Kals grinned at me, ¡°We¡¯re finally free.Do you mind if we visit? We won¡¯t be able to stay for long, but I¡¯m curious about where you come from.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ¡°but I should warn you that we may be beginning a fight for our lives. There are people literally targeting our families, starting with mine, it looks like.¡±


    Kals¡¯ grin disappeared and her mouth twisted, ¡°Now I want to stay. You did everything you could for us on Hideaway. I¡­ We¡­ in the resistance owe you everything. The problem is that we¡¯ve got something going back home and I can¡¯t skip it.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to. We can handle this. It¡¯s challenging, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s impossible. We¡¯re just at the beginning of it now. We¡¯ll figure it out.¡±


    She gave a half-smile, ¡°I¡¯m sure you will, but I want to help. I¡¯ll do what I can while I¡¯m here.¡±


    I tried to think of a way to say that she didn¡¯t have to, but she interrupted before I could come up with a way to say it.


    ¡°Guardian¡¯s going to open a portal to you. He says he won¡¯t have any trouble sending us, but he wants to make sure you¡¯ve turned off any anti-teleportation protection you¡¯ve set up first. He says he¡¯ll wait ten minutes from when this call is over. Bye!¡±


    She closed the connection before I had time to argue or respond in any way.


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    I came back to the real world to hear the group discussing Prentkos and noticed that more than half of the group had dropped off the call.


    Daniel thought at me, We noticed you were talking. Haley and Kayla are working out a system for keeping people close enough to respond in case any parents get attacked. Vaughn, Cassie, and Amy are talking with Hal to see if it¡¯s found any immortals to pester. Travis cut out so he could get back here. Rod and Samita left. Everyone left is just talking.


    I looked around, noticing Sydney, Julie, Camille, and Marcus talking.


    Tara looked over at me, ¡°I thought we¡¯d done enough talking and too little planning. We need to come up with plans in small groups¡ªnot everybody all at once.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± I said, thinking about who was running the small groups. I wished I could be with Haley, but she had a gift for assigning people where they¡¯d do the most good. Meanwhile, Cassie, Vaughn, and Amy were the best group to handle the immortals.


    Marcus waved at me from the screen. With less than half the group around, everybody that was left had much bigger faces. Marcus¡¯ rented room near Grand Lake University looked just as cheap in better detail. Next to the X-Men poster on the wall, a splotch of spackle covered the remains of a hole.


    Marcus leaned in, his dark face filling more of the screen, ¡°Were you talking to? Kals?¡±


    ¡°How¡¯d you guess?¡±


    He rolled his eyes, ¡°She¡¯s here. Of course, she¡¯s calling you. I¡¯m pretty sure she had a crush on you on Hideaway. She didn¡¯t do anything because she knew that you were taken, but she¡¯s still going to want to hang out.¡±


    All other conversations had stopped by then and everybody was watching this. I wanted to deny it if only to avoid starting rumors, but it was too late for that. Also, I couldn¡¯t argue he was wrong about Kals having a crush on me when I knew he was right.


    ¡°Guardian¡¯s porting her and Katuk in less than ten minutes,¡± I tapped through the menu on the nearest computer in order to turn off our anti-teleportation protections.


    Marcus blinked, ¡°Katuk? Whoa. Is he her bodyguard?¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± I said, finishing the last tap and setting the devices to inactive for the next twenty minutes. That ought to be enough time for the most powerful teleporter on the planet to send two people to a location he knew.


    ¡°Nick?¡± Julie waved for my attention. Between her light blond hair, red lipstick, and shoulder-baring shirt, her look reminded me for a moment of the popular, mean girl she¡¯d been in high school. What I hadn¡¯t known then was that her mother had been killed by the Cabal and that she¡¯d basically grown up hiding from them.


    It might not excuse her, but four years of Stapledon and an internship had made her into a different person than she¡¯d been when she¡¯d ordered Haley and I out of a coffee shop years ago. Hopefully, she¡¯d been put on another track than the alternate version of her that Rachel met in Infinity City. That one used her powers to enslave and sell people.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked her.


    Julie paused, took a breath, and said, ¡°Kals has the same powers I do. Stapledon didn¡¯t have anyone like me. Do you think she¡¯d be willing to teach me what she can while she¡¯s here?¡±

 Distractions: Part 3

    Despite remembering her worst, I said, ¡°You know, she might. If you want, I can bring it up. The thing is, she¡¯s going to leave soon. I don¡¯t know how much time she¡¯ll have to teach you, but I think she¡¯d be willing to teach you something. I think she wants to hang out with me and maybe relax for a second, though. So, she won¡¯t want to teach the whole time.¡±


    Waving her hand as if she were waving away my concerns, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I can¡¯t spend all day with her either. Anything she can show me will put me ahead of where I am now.¡±


    She stopped, staring at the camera and by extension at me, ¡°You¡¯re friends?¡±


    Catching the implication, I said, ¡°She¡¯s friends with everyone who helped the colony survive on Hideaway¡ªMarcus, Jaclyn, Cassie¡­ Even Hal, to the degree that¡¯s possible.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, eyes widening, ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to make it sound like that.¡±


    Guessing from her expression, she meant it, even if she may have been wondering without intending to hint at her thoughts, ¡°No worries. I¡¯ll pass your question on and let you know.¡±


    Then she said her goodbyes to everyone and dropped off the call.


    Now even larger on the screen, Marcus said, ¡°Jaclyn texted me that she was on the way to HQ.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± I thought about that, adding, ¡°it does make sense. Who knows when Kals or Katuk will be here next?¡±


    ¡°That,¡± Marcus said, ¡°and also, she still has to walk the dog. I might drop by myself.¡±


    Within another minute, he dropped off the call along with everyone else, leaving Daniel and I alone at the table in front of the big screen. Tara had left to drop by the two small groups and see how they were doing¡ªprobably using her comm from her room.


    As the big screen went black, Daniel turned to me, saying, ¡°3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­¡±


    A crackling noise came from behind and I turned to see a circle hanging in the air. The edges were distorted as if they were a ripple in the water, but with a golden glow coming from within the circle. Kals and Katuk stepped out of the circle with Katuk¡¯s silver suit reflecting the glow. Kals¡¯ black dress didn¡¯t reflect it in the same way. The shifting shapes took on a small glow, but nothing more.


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    A green, rectangular box the size of a large suitcase floated behind Kals. I¡¯d barely noticed it when they¡¯d boarded the jet, but that was probably Kals¡¯ luggage. Intricate, shifting patterns ran across it while the air below it shimmered.


    As two of them stepped onto the red-carpeted section of the floor, the circle shrunk and disappeared. Guardian may have waved as it went. Even with the implant¡¯s instant replay, I couldn¡¯t be sure due to the lighting on the other side.


    Kals looked around the room, taking in the grey concrete walls and polished, concrete floors, the big square of crimson carpet with computer workstations, and the group¡¯s table. What she thought of the twenty-foot screen, the can lights hanging from the ceiling, or the original League¡¯s trophies that stood in one corner, I could only guess.


    After a long look around the room, she turned away from it to look at Daniel and I. Crossing the carpet and stopping near where we sat at the table, Kals shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t know what I was expecting to see, but it wasn¡¯t this. What is this place? You don¡¯t live here, do you?¡±


    Replaying her words in my head told me that she¡¯d spoken in English instead of Ascendancy. I responded with, ¡°This is under my house. It¡¯s the team¡¯s base¡±


    She looked around the room again and her black hair brushed her shoulders, ¡°Oh, then it looks exactly like it should.¡±


    Turning toward Daniel, she gave a short bow, more of a nod of her head, ¡°We haven¡¯t been introduced, but I¡¯m going to guess that you¡¯re one of Nick¡¯s friends. I¡¯m Kals.¡±


    I grinned at the bow. It was a legacy of growing up in the Ascendancy where touching humans of different ancestries had the potential of an allergic reaction. However formal it seemed here, her bow actually represented an informal greeting.


    Daniel nodded back, doubtless catching my thoughts, and said, ¡°I¡¯m Daniel. It¡¯s good to meet you.¡± Looking over at Katuk, he gave another nod and said, ¡°It¡¯s good to meet you as well.¡±


    Katuk only said, ¡°I am Katuk of the Xiniti.¡±


    A smile tugged at the corner of Kals¡¯ mouth as she turned to me, asking, ¡°Where are we staying?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°Here? If you¡¯re staying for a while, we might want to change that. Do you know how long?¡±


    She let out a breath and shook her head, ¡°A few days at most. I didn¡¯t feel comfortable telling you except in person, but we¡¯re going to war with the Human Ascendancy soon.¡±


    I felt my eyes widen, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You gave your killbot to Four Hands. He and his people have reverse-engineered it, but because they know the Human Ascendancy will work up a defense after it¡¯s used, we¡¯re setting up an empire-wide attack. We¡¯re hoping to take out enough of the Ascendancy¡¯s leadership to have a fighting chance.¡±


    Meeting my eyes, she added, ¡°I¡¯ll have to get back before it all starts, but I¡¯m not planning it.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I hoped that by calling her in I wasn¡¯t jeopardizing something much bigger.


    She looked at me, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m more of a figurehead than a leader in this. They barely need me at all.¡±

 Distractions: Part 4

    Kals shook her head, ¡°Sometimes I think that all I am is a sad story for these people. You know, the orphaned daughter of the martyred mom who united the resistance¡­ Let¡¯s hear her speak and be inspired¡­ I get it. I really do. People need a flag to wave. They need a cause. I¡¯m available and I¡¯m ready to work for it because I think it needs to happen too.


    ¡°The Human Ascendancy is nothing more than a leftover of the Abominators¡¯ military bureaucracy and they rule with no more thought to humanity¡¯s good than the Abominators did. They need to go and I¡¯m willing to work to make it happen, but I¡¯m not in charge. The rebellion has a council and I go where they tell me to.¡±


    She let out a sigh and added, ¡°And that¡¯s what I¡¯ll be doing until this war is over, I give up, or die.¡±


    She stood there then, staring out into space or maybe inward, eyes drifting toward the floor. If this were Haley, I¡¯d have put my hand on her shoulder and tried to figure out whether she wanted to be held or whether she was too angry for that.


    It might send the wrong message to her, but except for the one time she¡¯d contacted me via ansible, she¡¯d never gone over the line.


    I walked over to her and put my hand on her shoulder, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    She looked up at me and over at Daniel, ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m sorry for unloading on you. I¡¯m not okay. I¡¯m the figurehead for a rebellion I don¡¯t really control and almost everybody I know is going to war in a few days and all I can do is root for them.¡±


    Flashes of all the battles we¡¯d fought in passed through my memory, ¡°They¡¯re not sending you in?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°Figurehead, remember? If I die, they¡¯ll have to find someone else and no one else has a better story. Besides, I¡¯d be lying if I said that I didn¡¯t want the Human Ascendancy to burn. They¡¯ve run my entire life even after we rebelled. When my family wasn¡¯t running from them, we were fighting them.¡±


    Reaching up with her hand, she touched my hand on her shoulder, ¡°We can¡¯t even touch people outside of our genetically engineered caste. The Ascendancy could have changed that. They chose not to.¡±


    Letting go of my hand as I brought it back to my side, she added, ¡°The most I can stay is three days. Then I¡¯ve got to go back.¡±


    Katuk stepped closer, ¡°That¡¯s true. The council requested that you be back two weeks from now. This was an unauthorized detour.¡±


    He stopped, turning his head to look at me with his black, alien eyes, and then added, ¡°I approve of the detour. It¡¯s good to assist former teammates.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, knowing that while he¡¯d said teammates he¡¯d meant a Xiniti word that could mean squad, team, or even family. The lack of distinction had everything to do with the fact that Xiniti were asexual most of the time, but when factors were right, they shifted to whatever sex was needed.


    With that, the conversation stopped as we all tried to figure out where things went from here. Even as I thought about grabbing cots for the two of them from one of our storage rooms, Daniel said, ¡°there¡¯s someone else who wants to say hi.¡±


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    Before any of us could question him, I heard the tapping of claws on concrete. We all looked over to our left where the massive metal doors hung that led to the hanger. They were open and standing in between them stood a dog. Shaggy, with loose stripes of black and orange in his fur, Tiger stood at more than six feet tall at the shoulder. A terrier the size of a large horse, we¡¯d brought him home from space after Jaclyn found the abandoned puppy.


    He saw Kals and Katuk and bounded toward them, barking, and stopping only to lick them with his massive red tongue. Katuk¡¯s suit of silver armor extended upward to encase his head, sparing him the worst of Tiger¡¯s drool. Kals either didn¡¯t have protection or couldn¡¯t turn it on in time.


    Tiger¡¯s tongue covered half of her face and left dog saliva not only there but also on her hair.


    Knowing how careful Kals was about her hair and how she dressed even on a colony world in the middle of nowhere, I didn¡¯t know how she¡¯d react.


    She laughed, sinking her hands into his fur and petting the dog, ¡°I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d remember me.¡±


    That got her more licks.


    Even as that was happening, I got a notification from the sensors that Jaclyn had entered through the hangar. I didn¡¯t have time to tell anyone before she appeared next to Kals in a blur of purple, saying, ¡°I am so sorry. Tiger, give her a chance to breathe.¡±


    Kals said, ¡°Jaclyn!¡±


    ¡°In the flesh. Marcus will be here in a few minutes and so will Cassie. Let¡¯s call this a reunion. Welcome to Earth. I¡¯ll get you a towel.¡±


    * * *


    In a kind of odd parallel to one of our first nights on Hideaway, we had a party¡ªnot a big one because we were still reeling from everything that happened with Uncle Steve. So, no drinking was allowed except for people like Cassie or Jaclyn whose metabolisms murdered the alcohol before it got a chance to do anything.


    Most of the team wandered through at one point in the evening or another even if they were picking up updates for their suits or bots to place around their parents¡¯ houses. That should have made it feel gloomy, but it wasn¡¯t.


    Kals got to meet everybody currently in the city, even people I hadn¡¯t imagined she¡¯d meet¡ªAmy, for example. How do you introduce the leader of an interstellar rebellion to a magical girl from an alternate universe? You tell them each other¡¯s first names and go from there.


    Kals even got to talk to Julie for a little while. I wasn¡¯t close enough to hear them, but I had a guess as to what the conversation had to be.


    I didn¡¯t get to ask either of them about it before the end of the night.


    I woke up with Haley the next morning. She¡¯d stayed after being drawn into a conversation that lasted to long for her to want to go back to her dorm.


    We lay there next to each other in what had many years ago been my grandparents¡¯ room. Outside the window, the first hints of sunrise were in the sky. In November in Michigan that meant it was nearing eight in the morning. Haley had classes, but not for a couple of hours. I wondered if I had any chance of not waking her up.


    Given her senses, I doubted it was more than one percent.


    I didn¡¯t have any more time to think about that before my implant notified me of a call that Major Justice left 30 minutes before. Major Justice, the guy who¡¯d been complaining about our irresponsibility to anyone who¡¯d listened over the last month, had apparently felt the need to move from complaining to direct contact.


    I opened the message.


    A gravelly, baritone voice said, ¡°Rocket, I and my team will be arriving in the next hour. When we get there you will justify your actions and associations over the past few years or there will be consequences.¡±


    So, he¡¯d be here half an hour from now or maybe less. Plus, it sounded like he was bringing his team. Plus, what was wrong with that guy? I didn¡¯t know him or have any reason to respect him. Why did he feel he had the right to be some kind of disciplinarian?


    As emotions rippled through me, Haley sat up in bed wearing one of my t-shirts, her eyes shifting from human pupils to catlike slits, claws extending from her hands, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

 Distractions: Part 5

    I explained it all to her. Her response was somewhere between a grunt and a growl, followed by, ¡°That¡¯s insane! He¡¯s got no right.¡±


    Taking a deep breath, she shifted back, her eyes becoming fully human and her claws disappearing. She pulled her phone out of her purse where it lay next to her yoga pants on the floor, ¡°I¡¯m going to send a yellow to everybody and see if anybody can make it in with us. How many do you think we should have?¡±


    I began to open my mouth to answer and then realized that I didn¡¯t have one. ¡°Um¡­ Maybe four? Plus maybe Daniel, but not in the room. I think it¡¯s weird that they showed up right after we found out that Uncle Steve was being targeted by the Nine. Ideally, I think we¡¯d hide Kals with Daniel, but I¡¯m not sure if she can test for Dominator mind control without making it obvious.¡±


    Haley frowned, ¡°If he¡¯s got some kind of suicide trigger like yesterday¡­ People would think we killed him.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t thought that far ahead, but yes. Having a known critic die seemingly at our hands might even be the Nine¡¯s plan.


    Haley slid off my bed and stood up, taking off the t-shirt she wore. My mind went in a different direction. She sniffed the air and turned to look at me, ¡°You¡¯re thinking about that, now?¡±


    ¡°Not intentionally,¡± I said, ¡°I blame you.¡±


    She laughed as we both pulled on clothes that would form into the underlayer of our costumes. I¡¯d pulled off my pajamas rather than let them be an uncomfortable underlayer to the underlayer.


    We pulled on our nanotech-infused clothes, feeling them adjust around us, and then ran for the elevator to the basement. Even as we did, I heard beeping noises from other rooms in the house, showing that Haley¡¯s yellow alert and my attached copy of Major Justice¡¯s message had reached everybody.


    They¡¯d catch up. As we dropped down the elevator shaft toward HQ, Haley muttered, ¡°We¡¯re both going to stink.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the only one who will notice,¡± I told her, feeling the elevator stop and watching the doors open.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make it better,¡± she stepped out, sprinting toward the locker room as I ran for the lab where the full Rocket suit waited for me. Putting on the stealth suit would have been faster, but I decided I felt better knowing that I had everything available.


    Fifteen minutes later, we were not only in full costume, but we¡¯d run up the tunnel to the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s public headquarters. Matching the colors of our actual headquarters, the public headquarters felt different. The crimson carpet on the floor combined with the grey concrete walls, black chairs, and black couches to make the place feel like the lobby of a hotel. There were pictures and even posters of past and present versions of the Heroes¡¯ League, but instead of feeling official, the pictures and articles just made it feel like a lobby with a theme.


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    I wondered how long before the next time we¡¯d renovate the place. I supposed that I could blow it up again. Then we¡¯d have no choice.


    Haley and I stood next to the counter with the coffee and expresso machine. Kayla had somehow arranged for donuts to be delivered in the almost non-existent time between now and when she¡¯d found out we were having company. Two boxes of more than a dozen each sat next to the coffee machines.


    Haley and I were already eating and we weren¡¯t alone. Amy was there as Bloodmaiden, meaning that she was around a foot taller and wearing armor made of black metal and glowing red gemstone. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder who got the donut when she changed back¡ªBloodmaiden Amy or normal Amy? I didn¡¯t ask her. Explanations that depended on magic theory always sounded like something from an overly detailed fantasy novel.


    Amy held her helmet in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.


    Daniel hung out with Katuk and Kals watching from the next floor up, but Cassie stood next to Amy, coffee in one hand and rainbow-colored gourmet donut in the other. Her blue costume combined with the flag on her chest made her the brightest object in the room¡ªnot counting her donut.


    It might have been more polite to wait for Major Justice to eat, but I was hungry and no one thought he¡¯d trust us enough to eat with us.


    As I neared the end of my glazed donut, the egg-shaped form of a Defenders podjet landed in the street in front of our building. I stuffed the last bit of donut in my mouth and set the helmet and my right gauntlet to reform over my head and hand respectively.


    ¡°There we go,¡± Cassie said, taking another bite of her own donut. Her mask only covered the upper half of her face.


    As we all watched through the darkened glass of our windows, the door on the side of the podjet opened. Major Justice stepped out first, his camouflage-patterned combat fatigues failing to fit aesthetically with the silver shield and belt filled with gadgets he carried.


    Major Justice looked up and then watched as a woman wearing a black wetsuit and balancing on a surfboard floated down to the sidewalk. From the woman¡¯s greying blond hair, I guessed that she was in her 50s, but I couldn¡¯t be sure. She might have been younger. It took a moment, but I did remember her name¡ªthe South Beach Surfer.


    Major Justice nodded to her, his own face hidden by a camouflage-patterned mask. As South Beach Surfer stepped off of the surfboard, a man exited the podjet. Between the black and white striped shirt, black pants, beret, and face covered with white makeup, his looks matched his name. His codename was literally Mime.


    The muscular woman with light brown fur who followed him out appeared to be a human-shaped lioness, but she could have been a human-shaped eagle as easily. She was called Shifter.


    As the group stepped up to our door, I tried to remember their histories. Except for South Beach Surfer who¡¯d been kicked off the SoCal Defenders, they all represented different teams. Major Justice was from the Arizona Defenders unit, Shifter from a private team in Oklahoma, and Mime¡­ He was associated with a circus-themed team from Florida.


    They might be here to beat us up, but in another sense, they were a multi-team delegation.

 Distractions: Part 6

    To the degree that they were a multi-team delegation, they weren¡¯t from what I¡¯d think of as the upper-tier teams. The Arizona Defenders had a reputation for being retirees from other teams. This wasn¡¯t all true. Probably half of the team was younger people. This wasn¡¯t all bad since the younger heroes would have competent advice, but also, Arizona wasn¡¯t a hotbed of supervillain activity either.


    Shifter¡¯s private team and Mime¡¯s circus-themed team? They were big in Oklahoma City and Tampa respectively but didn¡¯t make national news. I knew that Mime regularly fought someone named Florida Man, but couldn¡¯t name anyone else in their rogues'' galleries.


    Overall, the relative obscurity of the groups might be a good thing. It could mean that the big teams were fine with us. It might also mean that the Nine were willing to lose assets on the small teams, but were keeping any influence they had with the world¡¯s big teams quiet until the right moment.


    Major Justice reached out and opened the door, stepping inside with a stern look on the lower part of his face, his shield on his left arm. Despite the odd mix of medieval-style shield and modern combat fatigues, he had the look of a man who was accustomed to command. I could easily imagine that he felt that he was here to reprimand an underling.


    The man¡¯s air of command took a small ding as the man¡¯s silver shield knocked into the metal door frame with a clanging noise. Major Justice¡¯s natural instinct to step back, away from the door, had an unanticipated side effect in that the door began to close except that the right edge of the shield was past the door¡ªwhich it hit with a low clunking noise. That was followed by a higher-pitched ting as the other part of the shield hit the door frame again, but with less force this time.


    He tried to back up more, but he¡¯d somehow managed to get the left side of the shield past the door frame in his struggle, making it impossible to move backward.


    Major Justice muttered, ¡°Damn it,¡± followed by more words that I could have amplified with the Rocket suit¡¯s sensors, but he didn¡¯t seem to be spilling secrets, just frustration.


    From behind him, Shifter growled, ¡°Step forward! Just step forward.¡±


    Near me, Cassie stifled a laugh and took another bite of her donut. Haley managed to keep a polite smile on her face that only slid into a smirk for the briefest moment.


    Amy stood holding her spear in one hand and a donut in the other, but still managed to give the impression of an ancient, magical warrior. Unsure of whether that was the result of diplomatic skill she¡¯d acquired as a princess and potential heir or the millennia of memories of other lives, I was still grateful.


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    I didn¡¯t laugh at all and if I did smile, it was behind my helmet.


    All the same, Major Justice finally did step forward, followed by the rest. Before he could speak, Haley smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯m Night Cat. Welcome to the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s headquarters. You can sit down anywhere you¡¯d like. We¡¯ve also got coffee and donuts right over there if you¡¯d like them.¡±


    Major Justice frowned, ¡°I¡¯d like coffee.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s right over there next to the donuts,¡± Haley said, pointing at the counter where the coffee machines, paper cups, and donut boxes sat.


    It was probably the nicest way of telling him that he¡¯d have to get his own that any of us could have managed. Of course, she had years of handling restaurant customers behind her.


    A few minutes later, everyone sat in chairs next to small tables or taller ones next to the counter. Contrary to my expectations, Shifter had already downed two donuts by then, making up for Major Justice who only nursed his cup of coffee. South Beach Surfer drank water from her own water bottle having said, ¡°I don¡¯t use caffeine,¡± when offered coffee and declined donuts after Haley answered, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe eggs,¡± to her question, ¡°Do the donuts contain animal products?¡±


    Mime drank his coffee from a seemingly invisible mug that he¡¯d pulled off of an invisible shelf in an invisible cupboard. Seeing the coffee floating near his hand was a little weird.


    I wondered what would happen if he mimed throwing a grenade.


    Resisting the urge to check online for videos of his fights, I looked over at Major Justice, who¡¯d placed his cup of coffee on the small table next to him, ¡°Heroes¡¯ League, we have all the respect that any man could have for the achievements of the original team as well as what you¡¯ve been building on their legacy.


    ¡°You must understand that when you consider what we have to say next. We respect what you¡¯ve done in discovering the Cabal. We respect your actions as part of the force from Stapledon that repelled the aliens a few years as well as that dragon in Colorado, and whatever it was you did with that company¡ªHigher Ground¡ªhow you exposed their connection to the Nine.


    ¡°These were great and good things, representing the finest in what supers can attempt to do for those with lesser potential. What you need to understand is that you have lately been involved in wanton destruction both in the streets of the nation¡¯s capital and out in the nation¡¯s heartland.


    ¡°This risks everything. Our ability to do good for this country depends on their respect for us, and more to the point, that they don¡¯t fear us. As soon as they start to fear us, there¡¯s a danger that they¡¯ll regulate us, leave us unable to serve them without following crippling rules and regulations.¡±


    Cassie stared at him, ¡°We were fighting the Nine. When you fight the Nine, it gets messy. They have so much power and so many people under their control, that they can throw just about anything at you and they do.¡±


    Major Justice nodded, ¡°Captain Commando, if you were the first of that name, I wouldn¡¯t say this, but you lack the necessary experience to handle the Nine. You lack the necessary subtlety, not to mention resources. You¡¯d give them what they want, a demonstration of power that would frighten the rest of humanity into restricting us into being little more than powered police. You don¡¯t want that.¡±

 Distractions: Part 7

    Cassie smirked, ¡°Are you saying that you think the first Captain Commando was a quiet, subtle guy? Because that¡¯s not how I remember him. I remember him as the kind of guy who¡¯d go after the Nine and not give a damn what happened because they¡¯re a danger. He¡¯d be smart about it, but direct and he wouldn¡¯t wait for permission.¡±


    Major Justice¡¯s thin lips tightened and for the first time, I thought about how much of his face his helmet showed¡ªalmost all of it by way of a transparent faceplate. I pegged him as being in his late 50s, maybe early 60s, from his white hair, and lined face.


    With the smallest hint of a snarl, Major Justice said, ¡°I did have the pleasure of meeting the original Captain. You remind me of him.¡±


    And not, I guessed, in a pleasant way. Not giving him a chance to go further, I cut in, ¡°Major Justice, we¡¯re working on something. The Midwest Defenders know what¡¯s going on and they¡¯re fine with it. They helped us out with it just yesterday.¡±


    What I wasn¡¯t saying directly was that Guardian, one of the most powerful supers on the planet, and his team, which happened to include people connected with our team, were going to have issues with them if they pushed us to stop, but he¡¯d probably catch that.


    If he didn¡¯t, I¡¯d have to say it in words.


    South Beach Surfer put dropped her water bottle with a thump hard enough that a splash of water erupted from the open top. What was weirder was how it stopped there instead of rolling down the side of the bottle and hitting the counter below. Instead, it retracted into the bottle, not spilling at all.


    She turned to face me. She didn¡¯t wear a mask either, giving me a good view of her tanned face, graying blond hair, and blue eyes. I vaguely recalled that she¡¯d been a model or maybe still was. I couldn¡¯t at all remember why she¡¯d been kicked off the South California Defenders team. I¡¯d have to ask Alex. His dad had run that team for at least twenty years.


    ¡°I know your type,¡± her upper lip curled as she spoke. ¡°You¡¯ve been raised to be heroes from birth by heroes that are household names. You don¡¯t need to listen to us because you can call daddy and have everything taken care of.¡±


    Haley frowned, ¡°No. We don¡¯t.¡±


    South Beach Surfer continued as if she hadn¡¯t heard her, ¡°You¡¯re friends with Alex. I know what you pulled the last time you visited him. You and his friends caused millions of dollars of damage and none of you received any kind of punishment at all. Sure, they were ¡®punished¡¯ by bringing them on the SoCal team for more supervision. Some people aim to be on a Defenders team for their entire lives. What kind of punishment is that?¡±


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    Noting how stuck on Alex¡¯s actions she seemed to be, I set my implant to remind me to ask him if he had anything to do with her leaving the team.


    Continuing, she said, ¡°In the real world, there are consequences for your actions. That¡¯s why we¡¯re here. Supers police other supers. If you continue to be irresponsible, we¡¯re going to teach you to be responsible.¡±


    Haley tilted her head as she looked at South Beach Surfer, ¡°You¡¯re going to teach us to be responsible by beating us up?¡±


    Major Justice glanced over at South Beach Surfer, frowning, ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to bring that up so quickly, but yes. One of our options is to prove to you that we can physically and mentally best you if you continue to be irresponsible. That¡¯s not our first choice. Our first choice is to talk with you like reasonable people. We¡¯ll only resort to violence if you don¡¯t give us the respect we deserve.¡±


    Cassie laughed, ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that you¡¯ll only beat us up if we don¡¯t do exactly what you want us to. I don¡¯t know what the Rocket, Night Cat, and Bloodmaiden think, but as far as I¡¯m concerned, you just said that you¡¯re going to attack us. I mean, it¡¯s not as if we¡¯re going to stop going after the Nine.¡±


    Standing behind Major Justice, Shifter placed her coffee on the nearest counter and moved her arms forward and back, stretching her back, and watching all of us. Mime, meanwhile, added sugar and then stirred his coffee with an invisible spoon.


    South Beach Surfer leaned forward, ¡°We¡¯re here for your own good. If we have to throw down, we will and don¡¯t think we¡¯re alone. We have friends.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± I said, ¡°wait a second. Are you really here to tell us that you¡¯ll use your influence to bring in enough supers to take us down if we don¡¯t listen to you? Because we also have friends and that might expand into a much bigger fight. If you¡¯re really afraid of losing the public¡¯s confidence, I think it¡¯s more likely to happen that way.¡±


    Major Justice held up his right hand¡ªthe one without a shield, ¡°Wait, wait! Things appear to be getting heated. We can¡¯t let our emotions take over. We need to talk this out. Now, if everyone will take a moment and breathe, I think we can move forward.¡±


    He paused, took a breath, and said, ¡°That¡¯s better, right? All you need to do is consider our words. We need you to agree to back off on whatever you¡¯re doing for a little while, maybe a week. While you¡¯re taking that break, tell us about it, and let us guide your response.¡±


    In short, he was asking us to stop acting, give him all our information, and allow him to plan our strategy. I didn¡¯t know the motivation behind his actions, but it felt like they benefitted the Nine most of all.


    Of course, if he wasn¡¯t being controlled by the Nine, it might be the actions of a fading superhero desperate to put himself back into the limelight. At least, it wasn¡¯t impossible. I wondered how well Daniel was doing at determining whether or not we were dealing with the Nine¡¯s puppets.


    Not well, Daniel thought at me. Major Justice has a psi shield in his helmet. It leaks a little, but not in a way that conveniently explains anything. It doesn¡¯t block strong emotions. I¡¯ve sensed fear and jealousy most strongly from him. The others have shields of the same design. I¡¯m not sure where theirs are hidden, but I¡¯m getting anger and bitterness from South Beach Surfer and wariness from Shifter. I get flickers of emotion from Mime, but nothing strong enough to identify.


    That¡¯s bad, I thought back.


    I know. I¡¯d hoped to be more useful. I can tell you that there¡¯s a small but significant chance this ends in violence. Also, Kals has a few words for you to try that might force them to reveal if the Dominators messed with their heads.

 Distractions: Part 8

    I thought back to yesterday and what happened to Ana and Colette. Implanted commands might have unexpected side effects.Is Kals confident she can get to us if something goes wrong?


    We¡¯re only upstairs, Daniel thought back at me. Kals says she¡¯ll contact you via implant with the words.


    I felt him withdraw even though our connection was never completely closed.


    Even as it ended, I felt my implant accept a connection, which, now that I was paying attention, registered as a Xiniti implant. It was interesting how the Xiniti were more involved now.


    Kals¡¯ words sounded in my head, all of them translated from Ascendancy into English by my implant, Nick, try these words in my language first, but if they don¡¯t work, you can translate them into yours.


    Then she shot me a list of 20 different words and ended the connection. I became aware of my surroundings again, seeing Major Justice and the others. Major Justice tilted his head to look at me and said, ¡°Well, boy?¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I tried to remember what he¡¯d said before I contacted Daniel and then it came to me, ¡°I got a message over my comm. It¡¯s nothing big, just a distraction. Um¡­¡±


    Then I tried a word in Ascendancy. Kals had thought it was the most likely to be used of the 20. It passed for an unintelligible mumble and caused just as much of a reaction as if it had been an unintelligible mumble.


    ¡°Excuse me,¡± Major Justice leaned forward, ¡°I think I missed what you said.


    I shook my head, ¡°You didn¡¯t miss anything. I was talking to myself while I thought about what you¡¯d said.¡±


    I looked over our group¡ªHaley, Cassie, and Amy, ¡°Other people can argue with me, but I don¡¯t think any of us are willing to let you run the League, much less pass over the information we¡¯ve gathered. Some of it is personal, the kind of personal that might compromise members¡¯ personal identities and with them their families.¡±


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    I paused for breath, using the moment to pass everyone on the League channel the message that I might be about to start a fight, ¡°Think about it. If we give you that kind of information, you¡¯ll have everything you need to go after us on a personal level. We¡¯re fighting the Nine. You know what they¡¯re like. They¡¯ve got their fingers in far too many people¡¯s brains. Maybe you¡¯re working for the Nine. Maybe you¡¯re not, but if you were, you¡¯d be asking for all of that.¡±


    Major Justice¡¯s nostrils flared and he stood up. I let out a breath and relaxed, putting myself into the right headspace in case he attacked.


    From the way Major Justice¡¯s face reddened, I wasn¡¯t sure how to classify his headspace, but I didn¡¯t have to. He opened his mouth to tell me about it, ¡°Do you think that someone like me, a man who¡¯s fought for the people of this country for my entire life could be controlled by the Nine?¡±


    ¡°Hell, yes,¡± Cassie said. ¡°People all over the world are controlled by the Nine and we¡¯ve seen more this year than ever before. There¡¯s no reason that you¡¯d get a pass that I know about. They¡¯ve controlled better people than you.¡±


    Mime placed his invisible cup on the table in front of him and whatever had been holding its contents in place ceased to exist. The coffee fell to the table, some of it dripping over the sides and onto the carpet.


    Whatever. Someday we¡¯d blow up the building again and the carpet would go along with it.


    Mime didn¡¯t attack, but he¡¯d put his hands in his lap, barely moving as he watched all of us. Near him, South Beach Surfer had stood up, facing Cassie, ¡°You need to have more respect for him. He¡¯s done more for the people of this country than you ever will.¡±


    Cassie looked at her, ¡°I thought you controlled air and water. Do you also tell fortunes?¡±


    Under her breath, Haley muttered, ¡°Cap¡­¡±


    For me, that might have been enough to reconsider where this was going. Cassie didn¡¯t notice or didn¡¯t care. Also, unlike me, she wasn¡¯t dating Haley.


    Shaking her head, Cassie said, ¡°No. This is bullshit. They might be mind-controlled pawns of the Nine, but if they¡¯re not, they¡¯re washed-up busybodies who are butting into our business.¡±


    Shifter growled, reminding me of sounds I¡¯d heard while watching Animal Planet. South Beach Surfer¡¯s eyes bugged out and she opened her mouth, but Major Justice talked over her.


    ¡°You don¡¯t do the first Captain Commando any credit by talking to us like this.¡±


    Cassie rolled her eyes, ¡°I remember him talking about you. He said you were an uptight asshole. Now that I¡¯ve met you, I agree. Now, get out. You can take your donuts and coffee.¡±


    The muscles around Major Justice¡¯s mouth tightened. He turned to me, ¡°Do you agree with this?¡±


    ¡°Me? I think I already said that, didn¡¯t I? We¡¯re not going to come to any sort of agreement in which you get to tell us what to do. Since that¡¯s what you want, I don¡¯t know where we go from here. Um¡­ But you are welcome to the donuts.¡±


    Behind me, Amy muttered, ¡°Smooth.¡±

 Distractions: Part 9

    They left. Major Justice grunted as he stood up and grabbed a powdered donut. The sugar puffed into the air, leaving white spots on his fatigues.


    South Beach Surfer turned toward Cassie and I as she followed Major Justice out, ¡°You¡¯ll regret this. Remember later that we tried to talk you out of it.¡±


    Raising her voice from behind us, Amy said, ¡°Why will we regret it?¡±


    Staring at her, South Beach Surfer said, ¡°Because the Nine will destroy you and everything that matters to you and humans will destroy what little you manage to save.¡±


    Amy gave a half-smile, ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡±


    South Beach Surfer closed her eyes as she took a breath and then walked away. Mime and Shifter followed without saying a word¡ªthough in Mime¡¯s case it would have been more surprising if he had.


    Successfully getting through the door without getting stuck this time, Major Justice waited next to the podjet until the rest of them climbed up the steps to the hatch.


    As Major Justice turned to step into the podjet, Amy grunted and run over to the front door, pulling it open.


    Leaning out, she said, ¡°There¡¯s something you should think about. You might not like what we¡¯re doing, but if we succeed, not only does it help you, but everyone in the world. If you want that, the best thing you can do is help us. You need to think about why you aren¡¯t.¡±


    Major Justice¡¯s face tightened and he stepped through the podjet¡¯s hatch, letting it close behind him.


    Then it floated it upward and Amy shut the door. She turned back to us, ¡°Other Bloodmaidens have fought mind-controlled people before. Some of them have even been mind-controlled. Sometimes a question that makes people think about what they¡¯re doing can break it.¡±


    Daniel and Kals came down the stairway near the back of the room.


    Walking up to the rest of us, he took a donut from the box and said, ¡°You¡¯re right. It might help. They were using telepathic shields, but from the emotions that leaked through, Major Justice didn¡¯t feel quite right.¡±


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    Cassie looked over from Daniel to Kals, ¡°You think it could be that easy?¡±


    Kals and Amy said, ¡°No¡± simultaneously.


    Glancing over at Amy first, Kals said, ¡°If it helps, it will be because none of the commands they¡¯ve been given prevent them from thinking about that.¡±


    Amy nodded, ¡°It wasn¡¯t quick when any of the Bloodmaidens were affected. They knew that they weren¡¯t acting the way they normally acted and they figured out why.¡±


    Next to me, Haley sighed, ¡°So it might not work, and if it does, we might still end up fighting them before it happens.¡±


    Amy nodded, ¡°Or even kill them.¡±


    Before anyone could respond to that, a figure solidified next to the shadow of one of the room¡¯s concrete pillars. As bits of shadow turned into the form of a human being wearing a dark cloak that hid his face in its darkness, I had a guess as to who it might be.


    When he opened his mouth and began to talk, I knew that I was correct.


    If I didn¡¯t know him, the tenor voice wouldn¡¯t have fit his ominous form, but I knew Adam¡¯s voice. From what I understood, his powers came from the fey, but supers from the magic side of things had informed me that he¡¯d switched allegiances from one group of the fey to another.


    The new group wasn¡¯t as fussy about morality¡ªwhich was not a good thing. I remembered that he¡¯d shown a noticeable power upgrade in Washington DC when he¡¯d helped us against the Nine.


    In an odd, hollow tone, he said, ¡°I told you there was rot at the core of our teams and you didn¡¯t do anything about it, but it¡¯s good to see that you¡¯ve come around.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Cassie rolled her eyes at him, ¡°You remember that bit where you helped a dragon and an army of fairies take over the school? It¡¯s weird how we might not trust you after that.¡±


    The hooded face turned toward Cassie, ¡°I admit that the situation got out of hand. I never trusted the dragon, but I didn¡¯t expect him to bend our agreement as far as he did. Look, I¡¯m sorry for all of that.¡±


    Haley stared at him, ¡°The dragon hypnotized almost everyone into following him, nearly creating an outpost of faerie in the real world, putting everyone in Stapledon in danger of death, and the Rocket nearly lost half of his arm. That¡¯s more than an ¡®I¡¯m sorry, it got out of hand.¡¯ That¡¯s a near disaster.¡±


    He took a step toward her, his foot hitting the floor in what should have been a stamping noise, but turned out to be an echo of what it could have been.


    ¡°I know I made mistakes then, but I¡¯m better now. Remember how I helped you out in DC? Look, I owe you guys. You cleaned up my mess. You¡¯ve got another reason to trust me, though, and not just because I helped you out. You¡¯re the only people I can trust now.


    ¡°You figured out how to counter the Dominators and so you¡¯re the only ones I can trust to help me fight them. Everyone else might be helping them. You¡¯re free of their influence.


    ¡°I want to propose an alliance.¡±

 Distractions: Part 10

    Cassie shook her head, ¡°Oh, fuck no.¡±


    ¡°We might want to consider it,¡± Daniel said, looking around the group.


    I knew what that meant. His loose sense of possible futures included better ones if we allied with this guy. Of course, even knowing that, Daniel would admit that inevitably in an infinity of futures, Adam would betray us in an infinite number.


    But a smaller infinity, Daniel thought at me, and the sense I¡¯m getting is that even if he does we¡¯ll be better off than if we never allied with him.


    Crap, I thought back, undoubtedly sending Daniel a sense of my frustration at this turn of events. I think we¡¯re going to want to discuss this without him here. Is there any chance that you can read his mind and see if the offer is genuine?


    Daniel¡¯s mental link sent back a feeling of step-by-step analytical thought followed by his reply, I think the shadowy form is a projection of some kind. There¡¯s no brain in there that I can detect.


    Kals stepped forward around Daniel, looking Adam¡¯s form up and down, ¡°Who is this guy?¡±


    ¡°We know him from school,¡± I said. ¡°All that stuff Cap said about him loosing a dragon and an army of fairies on the school is true. He really did that.¡±


    Kals looked over at me and opened an implant to implant channel, My implant says that dragons and fairies are Earth myths. It¡¯s wrong?


    I thought back, I think they are myths, but they¡¯re real somewhere else and sometimes they visit here. Adam thought he could use them for his own ends, but lost control. He¡¯s got a history of going too far. He literally went and killed people who he thought killed his girlfriend, but ironically, she¡¯s not dead. I¡¯ve met her. She told me that he¡¯d been dropped by the good fairies and joined up with more questionable fairies. So now they could be warping him into who knows what.


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    Kals eyes widened for a moment, but then she turned toward Adam, asking, ¡°Are you telling the truth? Do you have any plans to betray the League?¡±


    My suit buzzed a counter to her Dominator-inflected vocal tones as the shadows creating Adam¡¯s presence flickered. Even if he wasn¡¯t here, he was hearing us somehow so it might work.


    His hooded face turned in her direction, ¡°That won¡¯t work on me¡­ Who are you?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s keep that a mystery,¡± I said, ¡°but she was trying to figure out something we¡¯re all wondering. ¡®Can we really trust you?¡¯ It¡¯s something that none of us are sure of.¡±


    ¡°I understand that,¡± he said. ¡°Let¡¯s go at this from another direction. I think you¡¯ll find that you can trust me and I¡¯ll tell you why. The fey are masters of trickery¡ª¡°


    ¡°Not helping,¡± Cassie spoke over him.


    ¡°¡ªwhich means that they can get into just about anywhere. I have information that you don¡¯t have and I¡¯ll share it with you to prove my goodwill.¡±


    He stopped to meet everyone¡¯s eyes and inside the shadowed hood, I thought I saw a smile.


    ¡°I know that you¡¯re wondering if the four dupes that you saw just now are working for the Nine. They are, but only a little. My sources tell me that none of them report directly to the Nine, but Dominators have made small changes to their perspective, heightening their jealousy of your inheritances and the goodwill and influence that comes along with it. So, yes, they¡¯ll make trouble for you, but not with a deliberate plan to help the Nine. They¡¯re more of a distraction even if they can make trouble for you with other supers.


    ¡°No. The real threat comes from elsewhere. The Nine are sending their best, one of the Nine¡¯s inner circle. Internally, he¡¯s known as Eight, but in the news, he¡¯s been known as Raze.¡±


    Adam paused and I filled the void, ¡°Raze? He¡¯s not that well known. He¡¯s a super, but less of a supervillain and more of a war criminal if I remember correctly. He¡¯s worked for governments and rebels in the Middle East, Africa, and South and Central America¡ªburned whole villages and worse. He¡¯s been at it since the late 80s.¡±


    A smile appeared in the shadow of Adam¡¯s hood, ¡°You know all that, but not the most crucial thing. He¡¯s one of the Nine¡¯s first Captain Commando clones.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It gets better. Johnny Destruction works with him now,¡± Adam¡¯s cloak didn¡¯t show any part of his face, but I heard the amusement in his voice.


    Daniel nodded, ¡°That explains where Johnny Destruction has been. People hoped he was dead or retired. Instead, he¡¯s been working for the Nine.¡±


    Letting out a sigh, Haley looked up at Adam, ¡°Who else does he have with him?¡±


    Adam shook his head, ¡°You need to make some decisions. Either I¡¯m working with you and you get to hear about what I¡¯ve discovered or I¡¯m not. In that case, I¡¯ll be keeping things to myself.¡±

 Distractions: Part 11

    Haley¡¯s lip curled, ¡°Then I think you need to get out of here and let us discuss it. You know that we¡¯re not the whole League. Some of us who aren¡¯t here are going to need a minute to talk about this.¡±


    ¡°Some of us who are here will too,¡± Cassie¡¯s hand brushed her gun.


    Adam glanced down at it, his face hidden in the shadows, but his mouth seemed to tighten, jerking into a smile, ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±


    The shadows that made up his body swirled into themselves and disappeared.


    Amy made a motion with her left hand and a drop of blood fell into the palm of the gauntlet on her right hand. In that one move, I found myself thinking both that it made complete sense that she¡¯d have a mechanism to draw blood in her gauntlet and how much of a nightmare the League¡¯s publicists said her powers were.


    She said a few words over the blood and a puff of red smoke exploded into every corner of the room.


    Glancing around the room, she said, ¡°I didn¡¯t trust him to leave, but I¡¯m glad to see that he¡¯s really gone.¡±


    I glanced around, not sure what I was supposed to be seeing. The red smoke seemed to have disappeared, ¡°What does that detect?¡±


    ¡°Magical creatures or people with a lot of magic flowing through them,¡± Amy waved toward the back of the room. ¡°He¡¯d have to end his connection with the fey he works with if he wanted to hide and the fey don¡¯t even have that out.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, ¡°that would have been useful back in Castle Rock.¡±


    ¡°I know. I only worked it out recently,¡± Amy stopped, and frowned. ¡°Topic change¡­ Who¡¯s Johnny Destruction?¡±


    ¡°Bad news,¡± Cassie said, shaking her head. ¡°The original League fought him a few times. He¡¯s the son of Destruction Lord who was a League villain for years and years. His big thing was fire¡ªvery hot. He could burn down city blocks. The original Rocket had to rework his armor to avoid being cooked inside. My dad had a bad time regenerating because Destruction Lord could cook so much of him at once. Even C had issues with his heat.¡±


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    I added, ¡°I told you about the time we fought Evil Beatnik. He managed to find a kid connected with them who called himself Destruction Boy. He wasn¡¯t even at full power but the one time I fought him directly, my rocket pack¡¯s fuel came close to exploding.¡±


    Kals raised an eyebrow, ¡°The Abominators didn¡¯t make any gene lines with those abilities¡ªat least none that survived... What are you going to do about that guy?¡±


    Letting out a sigh, Daniel said, ¡°Nick knows this already, but I think we¡¯re better off allying with him. We don¡¯t let him into everything, but we let him work with us.¡±


    Haley crossed her arms over her chest, ¡°I trust that you can sense enough of the future that you have a reason to recommend it, but I think we still need to think about what we¡¯re going to do if he betrays us, straight out murders somebody because he thinks they deserve it or turns out to be more influenced by evil fairies than he thinks he is.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to be any help at all,¡± Kals said, glancing over to where Adam had been standing. ¡°If he keeps on doing whatever that was, I can¡¯t put any control phrases in place.¡±


    Cassie checked out the window, as if expecting to see something outside, ¡°I want to say don¡¯t work with him at all, but knowing what his little friends can find out? I don¡¯t like to say it, but if we¡¯re going up against a clone of my dad and Johnny Destruction, it¡¯s good to know it ahead of time.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Plus whoever the rest of the group is. If those are the guys coming to kill Uncle Steve and maybe go after our parents, I think we want to know everything we can. The problem is that Haley has a good point. It¡¯s great that he has people to watch our enemies, but I feel like we need someone to watch him.¡±


    Amy used another drop of blood to send another puff of reddish smoke outward and into the rest of the building. Then she said, ¡°I can try to work something up. I might have to call in Samita for help, but tracking and killing monsters is what Bloodmaidens do. We¡¯ve had problems with the fey and people who have given themselves over to them before. So the past Bloodmaidens have ideas for things we can try.¡±


    Cassie eyed her, ¡°Can¡¯t you do the same things they did?¡±


    Shaking her head, Amy said, ¡°Not unless you¡¯ve got someone you¡¯re willing to sacrifice so you can drain their blood.¡±


    Cassie grinned, ¡°Do you think anybody would miss Major Justice?¡±

 Enforcers: Part 1

    The next day I found myself in the last place I wanted to be when almost everyone I knew was in danger¡ªwork.


    Chris and I had rented an old, one-story building in an industrial neighborhood in Grand Lake that consisted of old factories, dirt parking lots, a railway, and weeds. I didn¡¯t know when the building we were renting had been built, but it had last been renovated in the 1960s. Made of red brick, dark windows, and a flat, slanted roof, its only sign of life was a small sign above the door that said, ¡°Cannon & Klein Engineering.¡±


    Surrounded by a dirt parking lot, the building checked all of our boxes. It was cheap enough that it could plausibly be rented to college graduates with moderately wealthy relatives, still looked professional enough that clients wouldn¡¯t be scared away, and was far enough away from other buildings that no one would be killed if a supervillain bombed it or attacked us.


    The closest building was a used appliance store. Clear windows made up the walls on three of the four sides, revealing washers, dryers, and stoves from the last five years. I¡¯d never seen a customer or employee inside, making me wonder if it was permanently closed or a mob front.


    Either way, I wouldn¡¯t feel too bad if someone threw a dump truck at it someday¡ªwhich, let¡¯s face it, wasn¡¯t impossible.


    Stepping inside the door, I thought about the sign above me and smiled. It seemed like something out of Daredevil comic¡ªNelson & Murdock? Cannon & Klein? The business was more of a front than a job, but still, it was ours.


    I walked through the unmanned lobby and into my office and started work on one of our very real, money-making projects. It wasn¡¯t late¡ªyet. I concentrated on knocking out as much as I could in the next four hours, doing my best to avoid putting anything revolutionary into it.


    Around eleven, four hours after I got in, Chris leaned into my office, ¡°How are you doing?¡±


    Looking up from the screen, I said, ¡°I think I¡¯ve got the first draft. Let me know if I¡¯ve missed anything. Everything¡¯s in the project folder. I¡¯m pretty sure it all looks normal, but since it¡¯s ultrasound related, I don¡¯t want to let anything really good slip through.¡±


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    Chris laughed, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure we¡¯ve only got this contract because Vaughn¡¯s mom is hoping you will.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s mom had figured out who had restarted the Heroes¡¯ League less than a week after we¡¯d done it. Between sharing Red Lightning¡¯s resistance to mind wipes and taking the CEO position at Hardwick Industries, she knew more than she ought to and how to quietly exploit it.


    ¡°I don¡¯t doubt it. My grandfather gave them a ten-year head start on everybody else in ultrasound tech¡ª¡°


    I stopped talking to look at my phone, instantly connecting my implant to it when I saw the notification claimed to be a ¡°system notification¡±¡ªwhich in reality meant something League related. The system notification included a red dot which meant it was important.


    With the connection came instant knowledge that my spybots had detected a human shape running faster than 20 miles per hour¡ªspecifically more than 200 in this case¡ªoutside Grand Lake.


    You could make a reasonable argument that this represented an inappropriate level of surveillance over the general populace by me purely because I had the ability to do it. My opinion was that all the surveillance I did was designed to detect things that supervillains could do and normal people couldn¡¯t.


    Also, in this case, the running object was heading loosely in the direction of my house. Not only that, but from the size of the runner¡¯s stride, I could tell that he wasn¡¯t manipulating time. He was fast because he was strong. Thinking back to how Uncle Steve¡¯s former co-worker had died, I didn¡¯t have time to wait.


    Even if this person wasn¡¯t after Uncle Steve, it was probably good to know what they were up to anyway.


    ¡°Gotta go,¡± I said, watching Chris¡¯ eyes widen at my tone as well as the way that I jumped out of my chair and grabbed my backpack.


    Squeezing past him, I said, ¡°I¡¯ll pick up my van later.¡±


    Then I ran down the hall, opening the door to the backroom, a storage area where the hall¡¯s beige carpet changed to gray concrete. Reaching for the door, I activated my suit, the stealth suit hidden in my clothes turning into a lighter version of the Rocket suit with my backpack contributing extra material.


    Fully enclosed by the suit, I stepped outside the metal back door, my suit set to camouflage, and ran toward the trees behind the building. While the suit wasn¡¯t invisible, it blended in well enough that it wasn¡¯t easy to pick me out.


    All the same, I felt better being surrounded by trees when I activated the rockets and shot into the air, aiming myself in the direction of what was still my home even if I didn¡¯t sleep there anymore. Sending a yellow to the team, I compared my probable ETA with that of the mystery speedster. Unless he put on a burst of speed, I¡¯d arrive sooner.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said into my comm, ¡°possible assassin.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Kayla said. ¡°Changed your yellow to a red. They¡¯re responding.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± I said, seeing my parents¡¯ two-story house a few blocks ahead of me and aiming downward.

 Enforcers: Part 2

    Giving myself as much speed as I could while still having a hope of stopping close to my house, I asked myself what the best way to handle this was. Coming to the conclusion that the best place to fight the guy was far enough away from my house that he couldn¡¯t burst inside before I could react, I checked his position.


    He was still heading toward my parents¡¯ house. If he traveled at the same speed, he¡¯d run through a park a few blocks away¡ªwhich struck me as a better option for fighting him than the other options: home, an elementary school¡¯s playground, or a church parking lot.


    Using my implant, I summoned one of my floating pods. If I were lucky, I¡¯d be able to upgrade my stealth suit to a real rocket suit before the guy got here¡ªassuming it was a guy. The spybots only picked up a human-shaped blur. I might have to up the recording frame rate later.


    The park amounted to an open area with a playground and three baseball fields in a cluster on the far end. Running straight through the middle wouldn¡¯t be a challenge for the speedster. Even if the baseball diamonds had been in the way, I didn¡¯t hold out much hope that the chain link fence would provide much resistance.


    A quick look around the park gave me hope that I¡¯d made a good decision. No one was playing baseball in the middle of the day in November. Even the playground was empty.


    I landed on the far end of the park¡¯s bathrooms, sending out spybots to monitor the park and readying a few more in the trees for the moment that the speedster entered the park.


    Checking the pod¡¯s position, it would be close, maybe close enough that I couldn¡¯t use it for fear of revealing my position. Noting that it was moving at full speed, I decided to give it a shot. I could always tell the pod to stop if it appeared they¡¯d arrive too close.


    A quick look at my HUD via my implant gave me an overview of the team¡¯s positions. No one was close. Jaclyn and Izzy had already started the moment they got a red alert, but Izzy was in California and Jaclyn was in Ann Arbor. It would be ten minutes. Cassie had made it to her bike and was on the road, but still miles away. Like Cassie, Daniel and Haley were both in the air, but neither one was close.


    The closest person appeared to be Amy, but she wasn¡¯t the fastest flyer. Still, she was nearer than anyone else. I might not be alone in this.


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    I didn¡¯t have time to think much more about that because my pod notified me that it had arrived and began to descend, releasing materials above me that affixed to my suit, the nanotech reassembling into better armor, weapons, improved strength, and more bots of all kinds.


    We weren¡¯t fixed when the closest spybots showed that the speedster was heading toward the park. Hoping that I wouldn¡¯t be regretting this at my uncle¡¯s funeral, I let the suit finish assembly. As the last quarter knitted itself together, the speedster entered the park, a grey blur that threatened to blow through the place before I could do anything.


    Except, I wasn¡¯t a complete idiot, I¡¯d set goobots near the entrance to the park. Before the blur made it even ten feet down the black, asphalt trail, the bots shot forward and exploded all around him. With speedsters you didn¡¯t leave any holes. You hit them from all directions if you could.


    I¡¯d programmed them for something like this ages ago and watched it through multiple streams to my implant, some from the goobots themselves and others from spybots covering the park. From them I saw the goo expand at the speedster from all directions, overlapping threads expanding to fill the area, some even shooting above the speedster¡¯s head.


    He tried to dodge them anyway. He didn¡¯t manage to dodge all of them, but a lot more than I¡¯d have expected.


    Jumping into the air, he shot upward, avoiding most of the goo, but far from all of it. It coated his right leg from the knee down. His left leg got it worse, starting from the middle of his thigh and covering everything down to his boot.


    He fell to the ground outside of the gray, gooey, vaguely circular mess, and swung into the asphalt which cracked from the force.


    I could use the word ¡°he¡± to describe him by then. Not only had he slowed down enough to be obviously male, but I actually knew the guy. Well, sort of.


    I¡¯d been assaulted by him before. In fact, I¡¯d hit him with one of my earliest batches of goobots.


    Back when we¡¯d tried to rescue Cassie from being kidnapped, he¡¯d been in Rook¡¯s Canadian base. I¡¯d hit the guy with goobots and left him there. Shortly after, Rook had flooded his base with nerve gas, leaving me to wonder if I¡¯d killed the speedster indirectly.


    Except¡­ Prentkos (Speed in Polish) turned out to be alive and serving on the European Union¡¯s biggest superhero team. Even weirder, though I recognized the guy¡¯s square face, this version of Prentkos looked younger than he''d appeared on the EU¡¯s website. In their pictures, he had threads of gray in his hair. What hair this man¡¯s mask didn¡¯t cover was all brown. In addition, his skin didn¡¯t have any of a middle-aged man¡¯s creases. I pegged him as being around my age.


    I didn¡¯t know what that meant outside of the obvious possibilities¡ªtime travel, cloning, or¡­ selling out his morals for immortality? None of those options was a good thing.


    Worse, even as he began to pull himself up from the ground, he pulled a small spray can from his belt and aimed a mist at the goo.


    It began to dissolve.

 Enforcers: Part 3

    I didn¡¯t know who¡¯d figured out how to dissolve my goo, but knowing that this was connected to the Nine, my first thought was Rook. The guy seemed to have weird hero worship of my grandfather going despite being an example of everything my grandfather stood against.


    I wouldn¡¯t have put it past him to make a point of figuring out how to dissolve the glue after the last times we¡¯d fought him. Cassie had disintegrated his leg. In the fight before that, I¡¯d exploded his hand. He had every reason to hate both of us¡ªexcept he¡¯d been weirdly admiring both times we¡¯d met.


    All of that went through my head in a flash, most of it wordlessly. I had other things to deal with¡ªspecifically the fact that Prentkos was here to kill my uncle. It wasn¡¯t that I¡¯d come in with no plan, but my plan had been to slow the guy down with goobots long enough that Daniel could go into his head and put him to sleep.


    So as long as I was alone my best chance to keep him away from my family was to grab him and hold him in place until Daniel, Haley, or maybe Amy could knock him out.


    Well, short of killing him or beating him so badly that he couldn¡¯t run away, letting the rest of the team handle him was the best choice. Unfortunately, the rest of the team wasn¡¯t available for a little bit.


    I had to slow him down until then.


    Running out from behind the brown, brick building and passing the women¡¯s bathroom with less than three steps, I felt like I was flying without even turning on the rockets. In a few more steps, I¡¯d made it to the spot where Prentkos was spraying the last of the goo and pulling against it in a jerky motion that would have been too fast for a normal person to see more than a blur.


    Whether because of the Xiniti implant or because of some side effect of Artificer DNA and their relationship with time, I could see every jerk distinctly even if I couldn¡¯t move any faster than a normal human being wearing powered armor.


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    If I turned this into a wrestling match, he¡¯d almost certainly be able to wriggle out of it, meaning that grabbing him wasn¡¯t a realistic option. If I wanted to keep him around long enough for the others to catch up, I¡¯d have to hurt him either by knocking him unconscious or breaking at least one of his legs.


    From what I¡¯d seen of him in Rook¡¯s base, Prentkos powers seemed to be similar to Jaclyn¡¯s¡ªwhich meant that I could go all out without killing him. The only bad point being that he might still be able to kill me and follow it up with my uncle and maybe my mom.


    As one of the last strands of goo stretched and broke, I reached out, punching him in the stomach¡ªkind of.


    He twisted and my gauntleted fist hit but didn¡¯t sink into him so much as drag across his stomach, sliding off to the side. The force would have killed a normal person, but he wasn¡¯t dead. Still stuck to the remaining few threads on his right side, he punched at me with his left hand. I could see it, but I couldn¡¯t move enough to dodge it.


    It hit hard enough to knock me back to the ground while he pulled on the remaining strands, grunting as he yanked at them again, and glaring at me.


    Checking my inventory, I realized that I still had goobots. With luck, I might have more goobots than he could dissolve¡ªwhich in this case meant enough to dissolve six goobots. Even though I¡¯d been reinforced, I¡¯d sent most of those for him even before my armor finished assembling.


    I started with two goobots, aiming them at his legs. They exploded into grey strands, but he managed to dodge three-quarters of them. Even as they hit, he was already spraying them.


    On the other hand, he had to deal with being stuck in two places instead of one or technically three because the leg hit joined the left and right legs with strands.


    I¡¯d fired at him from the ground, so I had to pull myself up to have any chance of catching him if he got out of the goo. I only barely made it back on my feet in time to see him detach the strands from his hand. Now only the strands between his legs kept him in one place and he¡¯d sprayed even those in the time he¡¯d had.


    They weren¡¯t going to hold for more than seconds.


    I fired off another goobot. He caught it in his right hand and smashed it against the path before I could fire a follow-up. Then he stepped forward, ripping the weakened strands of goo with the motion of his legs.


    I gave the rockets fuel and blasted toward him.

 Enforcers: Part 4

    At the same time that I blasted toward him, I pulled my arm back as if I planned to punch him. Even if I couldn¡¯t move as quickly as he could or fully take advantage of the speeds that I could now observe, I could pull the arm back as I might if I had no special tricks and then fire off killbots as I closed with him.


    The speed of my punches was limited by my body, but firing off the killbots was done at the speed of thought plus electronics interfacing with alien technology in my brain.


    The killbots shot down toward the ground, curving upward to aim for his leg.


    I¡¯d fired off three of them, not intending to hit him with all of them, merely to make it hard to dodge. Even with his legs webbed in deteriorating goo, he could still move around¡ªwithin limits. He couldn¡¯t get a full step out of either leg, allowing him more of a sideways hop except there were a lot of sideways hops in all directions as the killbots ducked and weaved aiming for his lower legs.


    The speed of the hopping made it look like film run at twice the speed. It might have been funny to watch if lives didn¡¯t hang in the balance.


    Plus, I mean, I wasn¡¯t watching. I was directing the killbots and flying past Prentkos to land and then rushing back at him to punch him on the theory that it would be one thing too many.


    I didn¡¯t know it at the time, but Vaughn would later add the Benny Hill theme song, ¡°Yakety Sax¡± to footage of the fight.


    I couldn¡¯t deny that it felt right¡ªat least until the blood started flowing.


    Two of my killbots hit Prentkos, both of them cutting through his right leg, but splitting to cut through both of the bones in his lower leg, the tibia and the fibula. Given what had happened with the goo, I¡¯d wondered if Prentkos would be using Rook¡¯s anti-killbot material, but if he was, my newly refactored killbots chewed through it.


    Having seen the killbots work before and knowing that they used monomolecular technology to cut, it didn¡¯t surprise me that the expression on Prentkos¡¯ face didn¡¯t change. The killbots cut so cleanly that a person might not feel it.


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    Prentkos didn¡¯t. He¡¯d lifted his leg as they hit. The damaged goo stretched and broke. Then he put the down the foot on the floor and the bottom half of the leg bent sideways.


    That¡¯s when he screamed.


    I might have too in his position. Even beyond the bending as sharpened bone cut into the muscle around it, blood ran out of the holes. Some dripped, but some spurted.


    I didn¡¯t know the details of how Prentkos¡¯ powers worked, but if your speed depended on your strength, it seemed possible that your blood might be under a lot of pressure. The part of me that looked at situations like this objectively couldn¡¯t help but note that even though Prentkos¡¯ costume was red and white, the blood was a darker red than the uniform.


    The rest of my mind was going for the spray can full of skin substitute and wishing I¡¯d thought to make a version that could be delivered by goobots before this moment.


    Still, I ran over, ready to spray his wounds shut. I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised that he tried to bat my hands and the spray can away, but I was. He hit the spray can out of my hand and it rolled down the asphalt, wobbling due to the dent he¡¯d made.


    I pulled out another, this time blocking his attempts to knock it out of the way with my arm. It was easier this time. His face looked a little gray which was unsurprising when you considered that he might only have as much blood as a normal person and some of that had spurted as far as ten feet away.


    The fleshy foam covered both the outside and the inside of his wounds. I wasn¡¯t sure how that would affect his healing, but that wasn¡¯t my problem. All I needed to do was stop him from bleeding out and help him avoid infections.


    All the same, he didn¡¯t look like he was going anywhere for now. Though it was possible he healed more quickly than normal people, he wasn¡¯t doing more than lie on the asphalt for now.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± I told him, checking around me to see if anyone else on the team had arrived and then checking my HUD for their positions. Amy was only a block away.


    Below me, Prentkos stared out into the park, saying nothing and making me wonder if I had to worry about shock.


    I was about to message the group when Kayla said, ¡°Rocket, there¡¯s someone in the air moving toward you.¡±


    Using at the Rocket suit¡¯s 360-degree view, I knew she was right, but not entirely. No one was flying. A human shape in the sky dropped, landing almost at the moment I saw him. I didn¡¯t recognize him by name, but the bulky muscles made me think of the Cabal¡¯s soldiers.


    His fist hit me in the side, throwing me into the air for a good fifty feet, stopping only when I hit the chain link fence of one of the baseball diamonds. Strictly speaking, the fence stopped me in the sense that when I went through it, I slowed down. I stopped near third base.


    Knowing that even if I touched it, I wouldn¡¯t be safe, I pulled myself to my feet. As I did, the Cabal soldier scooped up Prentkos and jumped away.


    Noting that the Rocket suit¡¯s systems all showed up as green, I shot into the air, trying to follow them.

 Enforcers: Part 5

    I caught a glimpse of the Cabal soldier and Prentkos gaining altitude and then hitting the top of the arc and beginning to drop. He¡¯d been traveling the same way the strongest of the Cabal¡¯s soldiers always had¡ªjumping half a mile or more at a time.


    It made me regret that we couldn¡¯t cover the entire city with spybots. I placed the ones we had near roads where you could run at hundreds of miles per hour on outskirts and located them thicker near my parents¡¯ house¡ªwith the effect that this guy could avoid notice until he got close purely by accident.


    Prentkos had probably called him in somehow.


    Letting those thoughts go, I watched as the Cabal soldier and Prentkos disappeared through the trees followed by the sound of shattering and ripping wood.


    I¡¯d sometimes wondered if the Cabal had a system to control where they landed. This argued that they didn¡¯t worry about it because they didn¡¯t care what they hit.


    This soldier had hit a two-car garage that might have been a carriage house in the late 1800s. The undamaged side had been painted in red and gold that in someone¡¯s imagination resembled what it used to look like. They¡¯d hit the front left corner, turning the damaged side into a mix of paint, old, splintered wood, and a crushed, white jeep.


    Car alarms were going off for all the good that would do.


    Of course, they didn¡¯t stay on the ground. The soldier jumped off again, still carrying Prentkos before I even arrived. This time, though, he jumped eastward, aiming toward the freeway that ran through, the same freeway we¡¯d fought the Grey Giant on the first time we went out as a group. More importantly, it was full of cars in the early afternoon, ranging from business people out for lunch to semi-trucks to parents who¡¯d picked up their kids from kindergarten.


    In short, it wasn¡¯t the kind of place you wanted to see those guys land.


    Connecting to my suit¡¯s comm with my implant, I said, ¡°It looks like they¡¯re going down the highway. I¡¯m going to try to keep him off. We may need the jet.¡±


    That was a worst-case scenario because the jet¡¯s main gun would incinerate them both, but it might still be less deaths than if he took a chunk out of the freeway.


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    In the meantime, the Cabal soldier had come down again, this time landing in an alley, leaving smashed concrete and a circle of cracks before shooting into the air again, this time closing on the highway. Passing over the neighborhood of century-old houses, some of them with cars in the driveway, I was relieved that no one had been hit or even a house. It might be nothing to a two-thousand-year-old soldier, but your average person would be facing a nightmare of insurance companies, hotel stays, and hiring contractors.


    I had to end this before he used the freeway¡¯s relatively clear shot out of town, but he wasn¡¯t making it easy. According to the suit, I was flying at more than 300 miles per hour, which wasn¡¯t a situation in which the bots were at their best.


    As they hit a road between the freeway and a row of old brick factories whose glory days had passed before the 1950s, I went with my other option, a weapon I tried not to fire in populated areas¡ªmy laser.


    The Cabal soldier crouched in the road, preparing to leap again while a blue pickup truck screeched to a stop in front of him, the driver screaming out the window. That¡¯s when I fired.


    The laser burned blue, searing through the soldier¡¯s lower back, thigh, and lower leg. The man¡¯s black uniform offered no obvious protection.


    Falling to his side in front of the truck, he let go of Prentkos who seemed to be better enough to pull himself out of the soldier¡¯s grip and hit the pavement on his own terms. I missed the details, but he rolled into a crawl and dragged himself off the road and onto the grass and dirt parkway between the road and the sidewalk.


    This would have been perfect if it had occurred to the bearded man in the pickup truck that his way was being blocked by a 2000-year-old man who had no issues with the idea of turning him into a bloody paste. Unfortunately, it must not have and he kept on screaming. The Cabal soldier sneered at him, beginning to pull himself up.


    Not wanting to find out what would happen next, I dove, flipping over, turning around, and landing between the two of them with an agility that was more to the credit of my programming skill than my acrobatic skill.


    Now behind me, the man in the pickup took the hint and began to back up and go in the other direction. To my left, Prentkos pulled himself up to watch us mid-crawl. Ahead of me, the Cabal soldier¡¯s face grimaced in a mixture of pain and some other negative emotion. I wasn¡¯t sure what hate looked like but the man¡¯s glare might have been in the vicinity.


    I pointed the laser at him, ¡°Don¡¯t move. Whether I shoot you in the heart or the balls, you¡¯re not going to like it.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know if any of the other members of the Cabal¡¯s army ever mentioned how effective lasers were against them and their regeneration, but his limp and the holes in his body had to be a clue. He didn¡¯t charge me.


    With no warning, Kayla¡¯s voice came through my comm, ¡°Major Justice is shouting at us about how you need to stop and let him handle this.¡±


    At about the same time, I saw a podjet become visible in the sky above me while a woman on a surfboard dove toward me at a higher speed than I¡¯d have expected if she wanted to talk.

 Enforcers: Part 6

    One nice thing about allowing the Rocket suit to be controlled through my implant is that I didn¡¯t have to move to try to contact South Beach Surfer. Before my implant, I¡¯d have had to tap my the gauntlet¡¯s palm with my finger or worse, use the Rocket suit¡¯s mouthguard and tap with my tongue.


    For the record, texting with your tongue is tedious beyond my ability to explain.


    With the implant¡¯s connection, all I had to do was think to try to connect to her ID in the Defenders comm directory. Once the connection was made, I thought to her, ¡°Help me with these people. We¡¯ll sort this out afterward.¡±


    It couldn¡¯t be translated into audible words as soon as I could think of it. That might have explained what happened next. It¡¯s possible that she was concentrating too hard on what she was doing to process the words or that the translation was confusing.


    League members understood me perfectly, though, so it seemed more likely that she didn¡¯t want to listen.


    A blast of air threw me sideways, tilting the truck behind me, but not flipping it over. With the wind¡¯s angle changing from sideways to straight down from above me, the wind stopped pushing me and tried to pin me to the ground instead. As I rolled over and began to push myself up, I couldn¡¯t help but notice that the Cabal soldier had turned around, grabbed Prentkos, and jumped away. The pickup roared away at the same time.


    It didn¡¯t surprise me that she ignored them, but I still didn¡¯t feel good about it. Judging from the number of text messages on the channel, the rest of the team agreed with me¡ªnot that I tried to check the texts. If they wanted my attention, they¡¯d flag me.


    Not even bothering to try to contact her, I pushed myself up to a crawl. If I wanted to hurt her, my best shot would be the laser and I didn¡¯t want to do that. This was either a misunderstanding or mind control. Neither one justified the death penalty.


    Over the comm, Kayla said, ¡°I¡¯ve redirected part of the team to your parents¡¯ house. We¡¯re hoping to talk theDuhfenders down with the rest of the team.¡±


    ¡°Duhfenders?¡± I braced myself as water shot out of the storm grate to knock me sideways. It almost pushed me enough to lose my grip on the holes I¡¯d punched in the road.


    ¡°Storm King¡¯s name for Major Justice and company,¡± Kayla¡¯s tone made me almost certain she was shaking her head as she said it.


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    Thinking about my chances of getting out of her wind if I jumped and fired the rockets full blast, I said, ¡°Figures.¡±


    ¡°Bad news,¡± Kayla continued, ¡°Major Justice didn¡¯t like my answers to his questions. He¡¯s going to try to call you now.¡±


    I might have groaned in response, but I didn¡¯t have time. Major Justice¡¯s call appeared in my HUD. I took it because I didn¡¯t have any better ideas and knew that if I stalled long enough we¡¯d outnumber them.


    The first words I heard out of Major Justice¡¯s mouth were, ¡°Surrender! We outnumber you and we¡¯ve seen what you¡¯re doing. You nearly killed both of those men.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, watching the podjet above me lower itself to about 100 feet above me. The door slid open to reveal Mime sitting in the doorway, arms held as if he were aiming a machine gun down at me. I wondered if he created a real thing or if I were lucky enough that the beliefs of the observer affected what he¡¯d brought into being. On the off-chance that might be true, I chose to imagine it as a Nerf machine gun.


    If he created it for real, I hoped mimed guns didn¡¯t ricochet and misses disappeared. The people passing on the nearby freeway didn¡¯t deserve to be blown away.


    ¡°No,¡± I repeated. ¡°They were here to kill someone I¡¯m protecting. The Cabal soldier will be healed by tomorrow if not earlier. Give the other guy to any psychic you¡¯ve got and you¡¯ll find out his mission. At least you could do that if you go after him right now.¡±


    Up in the podjet, a figure moved, maybe looking in the direction where Prentkos and the Cabal soldier had disappeared.


    Major Justice, if that was him, said, ¡°Too late. They disappeared. Surrender to us. Explain everything you wouldn¡¯t before and we¡¯ll check it out.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not going to happen until we know we can trust you and we¡¯re not seeing any signs of that so far,¡± I said. ¡°What we are seeing is that you¡¯re interfering with our business without any right to.¡±


    Major Justice laughed, ¡°I¡¯m a vigilante. You¡¯re vigilantes. Butting into other people¡¯s business is what we do and now that you¡¯ve shown that you¡¯re impervious to reason, we¡¯re going to take you down and take you in.¡±


    Mime pulled his trigger finger toward himself, his hands shaking as if they were hanging onto a firing machine gun. A few of whatever missiles an imaginary machine gun fired hit me. Others hit the street around me, throwing bits of asphalt into the air.


    My armor could take the punishment, but for the record, they weren¡¯t Nerf missiles. They hit with enough force that I felt it.


    Deciding I couldn¡¯t stay in one place for a moment longer, I darted sideways toward the other side of the road and the freeway, guessing that there had to be a point where the winds stopped. I only needed seconds of that.


    I was right.


    The winds buffeted me on one side and then switched to another, trying to knock me over again, but this time I was expecting it. The Rocket suit could generate tons of force if I wanted it to and I used it, bracing myself whenever it hit.


    By the time I hit the other side of the road, I¡¯d moved outside of the blasting wind. Knowing I had seconds or less, I gave the rockets fuel and shot forward across the ground, aiming for South Beach Surfer and her surfboard, thankful that the freeway was above the ground inside the city.  Any bullets aimed at me would hit far below the cars.


    If I could take South Beach Surfer out, this would become easier.

 Enforcers: Part 7

    Thanks to the Rocket suit''s enhanced vision, I could see South Beach Surfer¡¯s eyes widen as I aimed myself in her direction. She¡¯d been in too many fights not to guess what I was planning.


    If only I knew. The smartest choice would be to aim the laser at her and just burn her. Her probably armored ¡°wetsuit¡± might help a little, but I¡¯d likely send her to an emergency room. If it turned out that she was mind-controlled or that her perception of the League had been subtly altered, she wouldn¡¯t deserve it.


    She might not deserve being punched unconscious either, but at least that wouldn¡¯t be permanent¡ªthough that depended on how hard I hit.


    She was also experienced enough to recover from her surprise that I¡¯d gotten out of the center of her winds. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at me, changing the wind¡¯s direction.


    That might have been a problem at one point, but I¡¯d spent years training to fight in storms. Knowing that changing direction wasn¡¯t instantaneous, I shot upward with as much force as I could manage without blacking out. Given that the suit now included alien tech, that meant more than three hundred miles per hour. The straight shot upward turned to an arc that aimed me at South Beach Surfer only now from above without in any way slowing down.


    Though I wasn¡¯t close to them, I couldn¡¯t help but notice Mime stop firing, stare, and aim the imaginary gun upward at me. With any luck, the imaginary bullets would disappear before they hit anything. If someone died from Mime¡¯s misses, I didn¡¯t know what I¡¯d do.


    Behind Mime, Major Justice stared for a moment, and only as I neared South Beach Surfer, he dove deeper into the podjet to do something I couldn¡¯t see.


    I was too busy to find out more because I¡¯d decided what to do. Lethal means and methods that could be deflected by the wind were out, but I had other options.


    As I came within ten feet of her, she aimed a gust of wind at me, but not enough and I¡¯d known that as I went in. When you¡¯re dependent on the wind to keep you up, you have the wind right there and available for use, but you don¡¯t want to use so much of it that you¡¯re no longer in the air.


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    I blew right through it. It pushed me a little bit away, but I continued to follow the half plan that I¡¯d come up with while barreling toward her¡ªwhich started with a blast through the wind. That was followed up with readjusting my direction so that as I flew behind her I could grab her¡ªwhich I did.


    That worked only because like Vaughn she didn¡¯t have much in terms of physical powers. She tried to pull away with a little more power than a normal human should, but that might have been her costume. Anyway, she didn¡¯t have tons of force to work with and I did. As I flew behind her, I grabbed her right arm with my right and put my left arm around her front.


    While being able to absorb data quickly enough that I could see speedsters didn¡¯t help me much by itself, it helped with the timing. As I put my left arm around her front, I aimed it up at her head and fired off a goobot.


    One nice feature of the goo is that the polymer it was made of separated into threads distant enough from each other that even if it covered someone¡¯s mouth and nose, they¡¯d be able to breathe through it.


    I was counting on that¡ªthat and another feature. Even if it covered someone¡¯s entire face, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see through it¡ªwhich was inconvenient if you wanted to aim wind at people. Hopefully, she didn¡¯t have some kind of ¡°wind sense.¡±


    The goobot exploded, coating every part of her face except for her hair.


    She shouted, saying nothing I could understand and adding a buzzing noise from the goo.


    It was probably for the best that I couldn¡¯t hear her. The only person in their group who hadn¡¯t said something annoying to me was Mime.


    I wondered what my chances were of gluing all of their mouths shut.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Amy said over the comm. ¡°I¡¯m behind the factory to your left. What¡¯s your plan?¡±


    ¡°I was trying to talk them down¡ª¡°


    ¡°By gluing their mouths shut?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not working,¡± I said.


    ¡°I can tell,¡± she replied. ¡°I¡¯ll go for Mime.¡±


    Major Justice¡¯s icon blinked and I let his voice through, ¡°What are you doing? Holding her captive? I expected better of you. Don¡¯t think this will make us stop. Mime!¡±


    Exactly what Mime was outlining in the air with his hands wasn¡¯t clear to me, but he seemed to be moving his hands a lot. That didn¡¯t bode well.


    Out of the corner of my eye, Amy rose into the air, all glowing red gems and black armor, her red hair waving in the wind. In one hand, she held a spear made of dark, pitted metal that in retrospect brought to mind Elric¡¯s sword Stormbringer.


    She threw it toward Mime.

 Enforcers: Part 8

    It was one of those slow-motion moments that work better in films than in real life. When you¡¯re watching a film, on some level you know that no matter what happens, you¡¯ll be able to walk out of the theater with no consequences. In real life, you might know that Amy¡¯s spear consumed souls, lifeforce, essence, or some other substance that science couldn¡¯t detect or measure.


    It had nearly consumed mine when Amy was hurt and needed healing I couldn¡¯t give. The only thing that stopped it from killing me was that Lee had shown up, stopped it, and somehow restored enough mystery substance that I could live.


    Knowing that, I could only worry as the spear flew toward Mime because I knew that absorbing Mime¡¯s essence and killing him in the process, wouldn¡¯t make this situation better.


    I could only hope that since Amy wasn¡¯t on the verge of death, she might be able to control what happened next¡ªthat, and I could watch.


    The spear flew toward the podjet, heading straight for Mime, ignoring that a normal human being couldn¡¯t throw a spear that distance or that height. It hit Mime dead center of his chest, halted there, and then emerged from the other side at the same speed it had been going when it hit, much as if I¡¯d paused a video game and then pressed play.


    It left no mark on Mime, not even the gushing blood that I¡¯d have expected to see when a spear passes through a human body.


    Nonetheless, Mime slumped forward, remaining inside the podjet only because of a strap around his body that appeared to be bolted to the floor of the podjet. As he slumped, the spear flew through the other side of the podjet without being stopped or leaving any damage.


    The spear then dipped toward the ground in an arc, flipping over and flying back to Amy¡¯s hand.


    Major Justice¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°What did she do to him?¡±


    Thanks to my suit, I could see that he was still breathing and maintaining a steady temperature. I didn¡¯t know what she¡¯d done, but he wasn¡¯t dead, ¡°No idea. I can ask.¡±


    South Beach Surfer struggled to pull away from me, pushing me with wind, but not so hard that the suit couldn¡¯t adjust. I had little doubt that she¡¯d have hit me harder if she could see me, but the goo wouldn¡¯t degrade any time soon.


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    I felt a kind of quiver somewhere and I knew that it wasn¡¯t physical. It was around me and I had only a loose idea of what it might be. The loose idea though was that I was feeling something through the Artificer senses that Kee had been training me to use. From the feel of it, I didn¡¯t think it could be the presence of an Artificer, but that was all I knew.


    ¡°Bloodmaiden,¡± I asked over my comm, noticing that the red gem on Amy¡¯s armor glowed a step brighter than usual and that the air around her black armor appeared to be extra shadowy for the middle of the day in direct sunlight. Even more interesting, the shadowy area appeared to be growing even as the red glow of her gem and the ruby accents on her armor were already brighter than the last time I looked.


    When she didn¡¯t reply, I added, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    Her voice wavered over the comm as she said, ¡°Give me a second. I tried something.¡±


    Major Justice¡¯s icon blinked. He¡¯d passed the limit of his patience and he was already pinging me. I ignored him.


    Amy took a deep breath and as she did, the shadows around her armor extended outward, not darkening the entire sky, but making themselves a presence that in combination with the red glow of her gems gave everywhere I could see an unearthly look.


    Letting out a breath, Amy continued, ¡°One of the past Bloodmaidens recognized what Mime was. He¡¯s a magical nexus. I diverted his power away from him and into me¡ªfor now. It¡¯ll last long enough to get them out of here. Do you have any plans for her or any of them?¡±


    Wondering where this was going, I said, ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Then let go of her,¡± she said.


    Deciding to trust Amy, I did.


    South Beach Surfer shot away on her floating surfboard, but then slowed as she must have realized that she didn¡¯t want to fly blind. She didn¡¯t get time to figure out how she was going to handle it. Shadows surrounded her, all of them tinged with red light. Then as the shadows wrapped around her legs, a red light flashed.


    When the red light was gone, so was she.


    I have to guess what would happen next. Major Justice¡¯s podjet wheeled around, turning toward us as gun barrels extended out of the podjet. Even as I considered my next step, shadows wrapped around the podjet and a red light flashed.


    Then the podjet was gone.


    In that second, the shadows and red light vanished and I hovered next to the highway on a normal Monday. Amy, however, shuddered in the air and drew in a breath over the comm. I didn¡¯t know for sure what would happen next, but on the off chance that she involuntarily transformed back into Amy, I flew toward her, managing to grab her arm as she slumped into me, her armor clanking as it touched mine.


    She didn¡¯t transform back, but she did sink into me, barely staying in the air. I gave the anti-gravity system power to help with the bulkiness of the load.


    Still breathing heavily, she said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Even with his power that took a lot out of me.¡±

 Enforcers: Part 9

    On the freeway, an SUV had stopped and three teenage girls stood by the concrete railing, all of them pointing their phones in our direction. I wondered how long they¡¯d been there and my implant flipped back to when Prentkos and the Cabal soldier landed in the road. They¡¯d seen everything they could.


    I wondered how all of that looked to an observer. I hadn¡¯t done anything I regretted, but that didn¡¯t matter. I needed to get the footage to Kayla so she could get it to the League¡¯s marketing and public relations team.


    The way Amy had made Major Justice, Mime, and South Beach Surfer disappear in red flashes wasn¡¯t going to look good¡ªnot to mention stabbing Mime. It was going to look especially bad if she¡¯d straight out disintegrated them.


    If we were lucky she¡¯d sent them to some kind of blood magic hell dimension that we could pull them out of immediately.


    Still hanging on to her as I turned toward HQ, I asked, ¡°What did you do to them?¡±


    She laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. They¡¯re not dead. I teleported them back to their respective homes. What did you think I did?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know. I thought you might have dumped them into an alternate dimension for safekeeping.¡±


    Amy turned to stare at me, ¡°I can¡¯t do that.¡±


    She stopped and frowned, ¡°Oh, I could have, but I couldn¡¯t have gotten them out unless we kept Mime with us. I know it looked like I¡¯d absorbed his abilities, but it was more complicated. I used the spear to tap his abilities without killing him, but as soon as he was gone, so was the tap.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, thinking about it. ¡°Could you have done that a few years ago with the dragon?¡±


    She sighed, ¡°No. I had the potential. I didn¡¯t have the skill. Red Hex and Reliquary gave me a new perspective on magic that changes everything¡ªeven my understanding of blood magic. I can do a lot more than the mages at home taught me.¡±


    Before I came up with a response, Major Justice¡¯s icon started flashing in my HUD. I considered telling the system to ignore his calls, but I decided that would be worse. Then I wouldn¡¯t know which bug was currently up his butt.


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    Bracing myself for his newest batch of irrationality, I took the call.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be happy to know that Mime is well and so far undamaged by your friend¡¯s little stunt even if he is tired. If there¡¯s permanent harm to him, though, we¡¯ll send your magical friend¡¯s ass back to her little fairy kingdom. Children like you have no sense of anything but their own power. You need to develop a sense of goddam responsibility and¡ª¡°


    ¡°Look,¡± I said, ¡°you came in out of nowhere, did not ask what was going on, and let a would-be assassin escape. You didn¡¯t do anything useful and you actively screwed up what we were trying to do. What¡¯s your problem? Did the old League reject you for membership or something?¡±


    I didn¡¯t wait for him to answer. I closed the connection, resolving not to answer if he called back to shout at me again.


    His icon lit up again less than a second after I hung up, but then stopped pulsing as if he¡¯d also realized that the conversation wasn¡¯t going anywhere. If we were lucky, he¡¯d give up completely, but given that we were only hours away by podjet, I wasn¡¯t holding my breath.


    Amy and I were flying over a residential area by then, houses in grids below us, all of them lived in by people who¡¯d likely hear about the events I¡¯d just been in through some filter. I hoped it would be more favorable than not.


    No longer breathing heavily, Amy said, ¡°I only heard one end of that conversation and it didn¡¯t sound good.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t great. Major Justice called to let me know that I¡¯m irresponsible and that if Mime¡¯s not okay, he¡¯s going to send you home.¡±


    She raised an eyebrow, ¡°Can he do that?¡±


    Checking around us with my suit¡¯s sensors, I didn¡¯t see any pursuit and replied, ¡°I have no idea. I¡¯d say no simply because his team doesn¡¯t have a wizard or anything, but we don¡¯t either and we could.¡±


    She let out a breath, ¡°I can¡¯t go back yet. It isn¡¯t time and besides, I want to see all of you through this mess.¡±


    Kayla¡¯s voice came over the comm, addressed to the whole group, ¡°We¡¯ve been receiving your feed and that didn¡¯t look good. I¡¯m sending it over to our people and they can try to figure out how to talk about this.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. I was going to send it to you, but if you¡¯ve got it, you¡¯ve got it.¡±


    With that, Amy and I were alone in the air again. I didn¡¯t need Kayla to tell me that everyone else she¡¯d scrambled was heading back to base. I could see it in my HUD.


    I was beginning to relax again, realizing that my heartbeat had been racing only now that it wasn¡¯t. Amy, meanwhile, had turned to look behind us as if expecting someone to come racing out of the distance. No one did. When she turned back to face me again, her mouth twisted and she asked, ¡°Do you think Major Justice has any connection to the North American Wizards¡¯ Council? Because they could send me home.¡±


    ¡°I doubt it,¡± I said. ¡°You know what they¡¯re like. They don¡¯t work with superheroes except when they¡¯ve got no choice.¡±

 Enforcers: Part 10

    ¡°Right,¡± Amy said, ¡°except they¡¯re terrified of blood magic and that means they¡¯re terrified of me because I¡¯m connected to the most powerful blood magic-based construct they¡¯ve ever heard of.¡±


    I thought about that, ¡°I¡¯m surprised they didn¡¯t go after you when we were done fighting The Thing That Eats.¡±


    She met my eyes or at least looked toward my helmet and laughed, ¡°Before they were too busy with The Thing That Eats and afterward Lee was right there keeping the both of us alive. They might not know what Lee really is, but I¡¯m sure they keep enough records to know not to mess with him or the people he¡¯s attached to.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope that continues,¡± I began to descend, aiming for the forest in the state park where we had an entrance to HQ. A quick check of the sensors showed that no one was in the vicinity.


    I asked Amy, ¡°Do you have enough strength left to manage invisibility?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m feeling better. I think I could,¡± she frowned, ¡°but not if I have to  fly at the same time.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do this,¡± she moved her hand, pricking herself, and then faded from view.


    I could still tell she was there both from the weight and the slight fuzziness in the air where she hung in the air next to me. I activated my suit¡¯s chameleon mode, matching the color in the sky above me or the ground below me depending on your angle.


    It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it worked well enough from a distance. By any reasonable measure, we winked out before we came anywhere near the forest and then invisibly dropped through the trees. When I didn¡¯t know the place, trees were a pain, but we kept a couple of spots branch free. In November that meant that it wasn¡¯t hard to find the spot because not only was it branch free, but all the trees around it were leaf free.


    Landing in a small clearing between big tree trunks, we stood among sparse grass, sandy soil, fallen leaves, and small bushes. Near us lay a concrete platform. A little over knee high, it appeared to be the remains of some old public works program or maybe a World War 2 era project. Maybe the original was, but this wasn¡¯t it.


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    As we walked toward it, the top slab slid back and we climbed down a ladder into a tunnel as the slab slid into place. Lights turned on as the outside disappeared and we walked down the tunnel, eventually stepping through a big iron hatch into the main room in HQ.


    We weren¡¯t alone. Kayla at one of the desks, monitoring her screens but giving us a wave as we stepped into the room. Haley, Kals, Katuk, and Julie were walking through the room¡¯s trophies toward us. Tiger followed them, the huge dog starting from the far end of the room.


    It was an odd group. Only a few years ago, Julie had used her voice to force Haley and me to leave a coffee shop where Sean¡¯s first version of Justice Fist had been meeting. Kals had been a little more interested in me than I¡¯d realized and now she was hanging out with Haley. Katuk, of course, was a Xiniti, one of the aliens that acted as the Galactic Alliance¡¯s shock troops and enforcers.


    Next to me, Amy said, ¡°I¡¯m going to drop this form.¡±


    In a flash of red, dark magical symbols, and even thumping medieval music, Amy transformed from being Bloodmaiden back into herself. Clad in armor, the Bloodmaiden form was a foot taller and could have passed as a fitness model. While both were red-haired and pale-skinned, Amy was a little over five feet and thin.


    She took a deep breath, ¡°I feel better now, but I need to let the construct rest for a little while.¡±


    I let the helmet of the Rocket suit turn into the open-face version, knowing I couldn¡¯t drop the rest until I got into the lab.


    Katuk reached us first. Between wearing the silver Xiniti combat suit, his grey skin, and large black eyes, he looked every inch the alien stereotype, ¡°Nick, I am grateful to see you alive. I was not allowed to assist. My mission is to protect Kals and I am not allowed to leave her side. Otherwise, I would have.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m okay,¡± I looked away from him as Haley stepped around him, looking up at me.


    From the way she was biting her lip, I guessed that she didn¡¯t have good news. Proving me right, she said, ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re okay, but Mindstryke called here. He wanted to talk to all of us when you got back and got out of your suit. It¡¯s about Major Justice. It sounds like he¡¯s trying to make this into a big deal.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, considering asking her for more information but realizing at the same moment that she wouldn¡¯t have any.


    At that moment, I realized that bright light was hitting my face. Glancing to my left, I realized that a small sphere was down here with us and had stopped in front of Amy and had begun to turn into a glowing face that reminded me of the moon.


    ¡°Blood sorcerer, we require your attention!¡±

 Fonts of Magic: Part 1

    Amy¡¯s mouth twisted as she eyed the glowing object. Part of me worried that she wasn¡¯t in costume, but given that the message had found her, it was too late to worry about revealing her identity. The North American Wizard Council had probably known from the moment she appeared on our world.


    In an accent that wasn¡¯t quite Irish, Scottish, or English, but some alternate universe¡¯s near relative, she said, ¡°I¡¯m Princess Amelia of the House of Sacrifice, current Bloodmaiden. You have my attention. What is your request?¡±


    Pausing before it responded, the face said, ¡°We sensed a great outpouring of magic and have sent representatives of our council to investigate your use of it. Be respectful and assist their investigation. Our last interaction left us with a more favorable impression of you than we had before. We hope that we¡¯ll have no reason to change our minds.¡±


    Amy smiled, ¡°Let¡¯s hope that we both leave each other with positive impressions.¡±


    The thin, artificial voice replied, ¡°We are in agreement. Expect our representatives soon.¡±


    Then the face lost its form, separating into puffs of smoke that disappeared into the air. I watched them go. Amy shook her head, ¡°Blood Lords put more power into their messengers, but that¡¯s fine. I can do without that particular taste of home.¡±


    She¡¯d switched back to a light Southern accent. I¡¯d asked her about it once. She¡¯d taken a bit of blood from a woman when she¡¯d arrived in our world, learning how to speak English, drive, and generally live in our world all at once.


    Katuk didn¡¯t say anything but watched the remaining wisps of magical power until they disappeared. In the meantime, Haley, Kals, and Julie had walked up, having heard at least part of the conversation with the rest of us.


    Haley looked away from where the face had been, telling me, ¡°There was nothing real there. No smell or even a hint of sound when it fell apart. I don¡¯t like it.¡±


    Kals and Julie stopped talking with each other long enough for Kals to say, ¡°I don¡¯t feel like I understand everything that¡¯s going on here, but it looks like it¡¯s getting more complicated. It makes me feel guilty about leaving.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°It makes sense and it¡¯s fine. You did what we asked you to do. I just didn¡¯t expect you to go so soon.¡±


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    She shook her head, ¡°Not today, but soon. Maybe as soon as tomorrow. It depends on when the Xiniti pick us up. There¡¯s good news too, though. Your friend, Julie? She¡¯s gifted. If she¡¯d been born in the Human Ascendancy, she¡¯d have been drafted into the best motivator schools and found herself running a planet somewhere.


    ¡°It¡¯s good that she¡¯s here instead. I¡¯ve been giving her a crash course in upper-level motivator skills. I think she¡¯ll be able to figure out the rest on her own. She¡¯s got a solid grasp of the basics and she was already beginning to figure out more on her own. If I didn¡¯t know you needed her, I¡¯d be trying to recruit her. We need more motivators in the resistance, especially ones that don¡¯t have any commands built in.¡±


    As Kals praised Julie¡¯s skills, Julie smiled¡ªup until the moment when Kals mentioned recruiting her. At that point, she blinked and smiled a little less.


    Kals flashed a grin, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to recruit you. They need you. If they didn¡¯t, I¡¯d do everything in my power to convince you to come along. Almost the moment I get back, we¡¯re going to hit the Ascendancy¡¯s leadership with Nick¡¯s killbots all over the Ascendancy. I¡¯m not one of the planners, but I have to be there as a figurehead. Nick can explain why. Anyway, for real, if you want to when you¡¯re done with whatever this is, I need the help. I can¡¯t be everywhere at once. If you did, I¡¯d be able to train you for real.¡±


    Julie nodded, not saying anything at first, ¡°I¡¯ll think about it. I might. I¡¯m not sure I want to leave Earth to fight in a war, but there¡¯s no one here who knows what you do.¡±


    ¡°Not only that,¡± Kals said, ¡°but you¡¯d be able to put what I teach you into practice. It wouldn¡¯t be just academic.¡±


    Haley frowned, ¡°I think Julie should think about it for the future, but we need her right now.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Kals laughed. ¡°That¡¯s what I do now. We¡¯re in a rebellion and we need people. Julie, let¡¯s find a room and get back to practicing.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re planning to use the killbot design I gave to Four Hands? I¡¯ve got a software update you need to install. They managed to figure out how to stop them here. This update is the fix.¡±


    Even as I said it, I wasn''t sure that I was happy that my design was going to be used to assassinate heads of state across this section of the galaxy, but I also wanted the rebellion to win. I wasn''t going to withhold the fix.


    Kals smiled at me, ¡°Thanks. Send it to my implant and I¡¯ll get it out as soon as I can.¡±


    It felt good to help her and her smile reminded me that she was attractive. It was nothing I planned to do anything about, but I still felt it.


    Kals, Katuk, and Julie walked away, leaving me with Haley and Amy.


    Glancing over at them, Haley said, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to go out there, but Julie might. Her mom died years ago and I don¡¯t think she gets along with her dad.¡±


    ¡°If she does go, I hope she at least stays long enough to help us with the Dominators,¡± as Haley nodded, I added, ¡°but on the bright side, it sounds like the wizards aren¡¯t as worked up as it sounded like at first.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Amy let out a breath, ¡°that¡¯s what they say now. For all I know, they¡¯re lowering my guard before the surprise attack. I did run into their team again a year or two ago and I think that killing The Thing That Eats impressed them. They might be willing to trust me.¡±

 Fonts of Magic: Part 2

    Haley frowned, ¡°I hope they¡¯d trust you. You nearly died killing The Thing and their team didn¡¯t get anywhere close to doing it. They were more of a problem and a distraction than they were a help.¡±


    Amy shook her head, ¡°I know. It¡¯s stupid, but blood magic is different here or at least the kind that they¡¯ve seen is. I wouldn¡¯t trust blood magic either if only vampires used it.¡±


    Haley¡¯s lip twitched, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t either, but the magic they do work with isn¡¯t all stuff I¡¯d be proud of either. There¡¯s Vengeance. His dagger sucks the life out of guilty people and turns them into his zombie servants until they work off their debt. Then there¡¯s the Graffiti Knight. He¡¯s just some guy who found magical armor and it¡¯s cursed. Now they use him to fight supernatural evil. Throw in that elf wizard who can change into a bird and that¡¯s their team. Is that less evil than blood magic?¡±


    Amy grinned, ¡°You sound angrier than I am. I was angry about all of it because it is all stupid, but that¡¯s not what I was unhappy about. I¡¯m unhappy because I¡¯m not home. My family¡¯s rule might be under threat and the people I came here with think I¡¯m a big threat because I¡¯m a throwback to the old style of Bloodmaiden. Whatever. I realized that don¡¯t have time to care what wizards here think. I¡¯m here to prepare to go home. Until then, I¡¯m going to do what I can to keep them out of my hair.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, ¡°then I guess we can look forward to talking with them and being cooperative.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Amy shook her head and sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I got their attention. You don¡¯t need this on top of everything else.¡±


    I grinned, ¡°I don¡¯t love it, but so far it doesn¡¯t seem like the wizards are out for blood. It seems like they¡¯re just cautious. This might be easy.¡±


    Haley shook her head, ¡°Don¡¯t say things like that. It¡¯s never easy.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. She wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡°You know what? I¡¯d like to go to the lab and get rid of most of my suit. I don¡¯t need it anymore.¡±


    Haley nodded, ¡°I believe you. I wouldn¡¯t want to wear that any longer than I had to. Oh, and taking a shower wouldn¡¯t hurt.¡±


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    I thought about that, ¡°With your sense of smell, everybody always needs to take a shower.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Haley said, ¡°Amy doesn¡¯t need to take a shower. You do.¡±


    Amy grinned at me, ¡°Technically, this isn¡¯t even the same body I used in the fight.¡±


    What I was about to say next disappeared as Kayla turned away from her desk to wave at us as she talked to us over our comm systems, ¡°There are people at the office.¡±


    At the same time, Haley and I asked, ¡°Who?¡±


    Crossing her arms over her chest, Amy didn¡¯t say anything, shaking her head as Kayla replied.


    ¡°A pointy-eared woman in medieval clothes, someone in plate armor covered in writing, and Vengeance. They¡¯re asking to talk to Bloodmaiden.¡±


    The three of us looked at each other. Even though I didn¡¯t want one, I knew I wasn¡¯t going to be taking a shower soon. Haley frowned, but responded, ¡°We¡¯re heading over there.¡±


    Amy glanced toward the tunnel to the office, ¡°The Bloodmaiden construct needs to rest. I¡¯m going to go as me. It might make them less worried.¡±


    Tapping the watch on her wrist, Amy told Kayla, ¡°Tell them I¡¯m coming.¡±


    I commanded the suit to recreate my helmet and the three of us left for the tunnel, Amy keeping up because she scratched her arm and used blood magic to fly, saying, ¡°I¡¯m still a blood mage when I¡¯m not using Bloodmaiden.¡±


    Minutes later, we were in back in our official, downtown headquarters. It felt as if we¡¯d just been arguing with Major Justice here. Except for the puffs of powdered sugar that had landed on the floor, it could have been a few days ago when that happened. There weren¡¯t any donuts today at all¡ªwhich was fine.


    Looking through the window, I could see Amothel, the elven wizard, the Graffiti Knight with his symbol-covered armor, and Vengeance standing next to the door. Vengeance looked like he always did¡ªstanding tall, seeming to check every direction, his beard covering half of his face, dagger on his belt, and camouflage pants.


    We let them inside.


    Within a few minutes, they were sitting in the office, asking Amy about how she¡¯d used Mime¡¯s magic. It seemed to be going okay. They weren¡¯t raising their voices. They were calm.


    Haley and I weren¡¯t even sitting with them. The discussion had turned technical and neither of us knew enough magic to follow it. We¡¯d withdrawn to the other side of the room, texting each other over our comms, sometimes answering questions on the League comm channel. As we sat, Major Justice¡¯s icon wobbled in my vision. I didn¡¯t answer. He wasn¡¯t likely to have anything to say that I wanted to hear.


    Then I noticed a new figure standing on the street. Halfway between a human woman and a large cat, it had to be Shifter. That or Grand Lake was hosting a furry convention.


    I didn¡¯t like where this appeared to be going.

 Fonts of Magic: Part 3

    ¡°Shit,¡± Haley muttered. ¡°We have to go out there.¡±


    She¡¯d noticed too, probably before I had.


    I asked, ¡°Are you okay with fighting her?¡±


    Haley looked up at me, ¡°She¡¯s not here to fight. We can take her and I think she knows it.¡±


    Remembering their visit, I didn¡¯t think Shifter knew it, but given that I was ignoring Major Justice¡¯s calls, it would make sense that he¡¯d sent her to give us a message verbally.


    Haley frowned, ¡°And if she does try to attack¡­ Do you have any goobots?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Not really. I¡¯ve got two. So if she¡¯s at all good at dodging, not enough.¡±


    Nodding, Haley said, ¡°I¡¯ll use my dewclaw if you can¡¯t get her, and I¡¯ll bite her if I absolutely have to.¡±


    Then she sighed, ¡°Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have told Blue and Accelerando to go home.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a lot to be said for overkill,¡± I agreed, ¡°but I can at least grab her.¡±


    ¡°That would help,¡± Haley took a step toward the door and I walked with her.


    We didn¡¯t need to talk about much more. We knew how we¡¯d handle the rest. I stepped out of the door first, ready to take a blow as Haley exited behind me all in grey with a cat¡¯s head in black on her chest. A little behind me and to my left, she was in a position to jump in while I engaged Shifter straight on.


    Shifter didn¡¯t attack, though her orange and black striped tail did twitch as she watched Haley and I step onto the sidewalk. Assuming Shifter could choose everything about the cat form she¡¯d chosen to use, she¡¯d decided on a tiger. Her orange, white, and black fur was visible in the afternoon sun.


    I considered making a joke about Tony the Tiger or maybe Frosted Flakes cereal, but couldn¡¯t come up with anything I felt was funny enough. Did she know that Kellogg¡¯s Frosted Flakes was made in Battle Creek, Michigan? Only an hour away? Or did she prefer Post cereals? They were also made in Battle Creek.


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    I did have one idea, but I couldn¡¯t convince myself that the risk of accidentally starting a fight over a joke comparing Frosted Flakes to expired Raisin Bran would be worth it.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said to Shifter, ¡°I¡¯m surprised to see you here.¡±


    She raised a furry eyebrow at me, ¡°Are you?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ just said I was,¡± I replied, wondering if she was just here to second guess me, but also watching to see if she was tensing to strike. She didn¡¯t.


    She looked from me to Haley as cars passed us, one of them making a U-turn and then stopping on the other side of the road as one of the passengers pointed his phone at us.


    ¡°I know Major Justice doesn¡¯t have a great bedside manner, but you need to listen to him. You kids grew up in this. You know how supers handle these things internally. We police ourselves. You¡¯re stepping out of line and risking losing the people¡¯s confidence. If you don¡¯t justify your actions to us, all four of us are going to bring in the rest of our teams,¡± Shifter stopped, waiting for either Haley or I to respond.


    The first thing that came to my mind was that she was just rehashing what we¡¯d already said no to, but I didn¡¯t feel like I could say it without sounding irritated.


    As I stewed, the door opened behind us. Haley glanced back. I checked my helmet¡¯s 360-degree view to see Vengeance stepping out through the door. The Graffiti Knight and Amothel followed him out. Not seeing Amy I guessed that either she still wasn¡¯t ready to change back into Bloodmaiden or that Vengeance and the others had somehow dealt with her before following us out.


    Meanwhile, Shifter¡¯s eyes widened as Vengeance spoke.


    Vengeance¡¯s dagger glittered on his belt as he said, ¡°We¡¯re here as representatives of the North American Wizards¡¯ Council investigating an incident in which one of your people attacked one of ours.¡±


    Unless Mime was somehow a member of the Wizards¡¯ Council and he was talking to us, that was not the direction I thought this was going to go.


    Shifter stared at him, ¡°Vengeance? What are you talking about?¡±


    Vengeance sighed, ¡°I am Vengeance, but I¡¯m also a champion of the North American Wizard¡¯s Council. We¡¯ve determined that the person you know as Bloodmaiden is eligible for provisional membership in the council. As you know, the Council does not involve itself in the affairs of superheroes and normal humans unless it has to. It does, however, protect its members from persecution. That includes provisional members. This means that if your people attack her, we¡¯ll be obligated to protect her or at the least avenge her.¡±


    Shifter¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°This is none of your business. Stay out of it. Don¡¯t think I¡¯m unaware of how little your council wants to stand up for anyone. The only people who ever take action are your little group of champions. We can handle the three of you.¡±


    Amothel¡¯s brittle voice cut in before anyone else, ¡°Don¡¯t assume that. There are conditions where the Council will intervene. You¡¯re nearing one of them. Take my advice, leave and avoid learning more.¡±


    The smile on the elf¡¯s slender face showed teeth, more of which seemed to be canines than I expected.


    I didn¡¯t like how this was escalating. We could use the support, but pulling the Council into this mess wasn¡¯t automatically a good thing.

 Fonts of Magic: Part 4

    It was hard to read Shifter¡¯s face. Cats didn¡¯t have the same facility with facial expressions that humans did¡ªat least not that I could see. For my family¡¯s cat, Grunion, you only had body position, ears, and tail to work with if you wanted to understand the animal.


    Shifter¡¯s ears weren¡¯t flat, but her tail twitched a little, almost as if she were an intelligent person capable of stifling most of it.


    ¡°This is none of your business,¡± Shifter barely moved, her arms loose, eyes not looking anywhere in particular¡ªthe kind of pose you might go with if you were expecting to be attacked at any moment and were trying to be aware of your peripheral vision.


    Continuing, she added, ¡°We¡¯re not attacking the Wizard Council. We¡¯re only fighting the Heroes¡¯ League if they continue to act irresponsibly. Bloodmaiden will only get hurt if she follows the rest of them. Tell her to stay out of it if you want to keep her safe.¡±


    Amothel laughed, but Vengeance said, ¡°We¡¯ll tell her, but she¡¯s not going to listen. From what I¡¯ve seen of her, she doesn¡¯t back down from much and she¡¯s loyal to her friends. That¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you that you need to get off her case and stay away from these kids. I already told you that it¡¯s because she¡¯s a provisional member and that¡¯s true. The other reason is that the Council says she¡¯s part of one of the most powerful and complex magical constructs they¡¯ve ever seen. She doesn¡¯t have full mastery of it yet, but when she does, you won¡¯t have a chance.


    ¡°Even now, from what I¡¯ve been told, she¡¯s dangerous not only because of it but also because she¡¯s a trained practitioner of magic nobody else in this world fully understands. What I¡¯m trying to tell you is that yes, we¡¯ll back her up, but if she goes all out, we don¡¯t think we¡¯ll have to. She¡¯s not like the rest of these kids. Her first instinct is to put down the threat, not send it to jail.¡±


    Shifter¡¯s tail twitched.


    Vengeance didn¡¯t stop talking, ¡°We chose not to have anything to do with her for years. Then she helped the rest of these kids take out a threat that could have killed everyone. You couldn¡¯t have done anything about it. Neither could we. After that, wiser heads decided we needed her on our side. Her construct was made to protect humans from danger. We need to point her at the real threats¡ªnot become a threat. Got it?¡±


    Shifter glanced to her left, either checking if she had backup or a clear route to escape.


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    Aside from parked cars and a few shops, the street was clear, but I didn¡¯t see any backup. She turned around and Vengeance¡¯s eyes, ¡°You decided she was too powerful and gave up?¡±


    ¡°Nah,¡± Vengeance shook his head, ¡°We decided that since she fights monsters, we didn¡¯t want to do the monsters any favors by fighting her. It¡¯s something you guys should learn.¡±


    It was a weird day when Vengeance turned into the voice of reason. You don¡¯t end up walking around wearing a necklace with a shriveled human ear on it by being a reasonable guy.


    I could do without the way he kept on calling the League kids, but this wasn¡¯t the time to bring it up.


    ¡°We don¡¯t want to fight you,¡± I said, pretty sure I¡¯d made that point multiple times already today.


    Shifter glared at me, ¡°Stay out of things you don¡¯t understand.¡±


    Giving no once a chance to respond, she jumped into the air, changing form, growing leathery wings, and flapping upward as a kind of lion/bat hybrid. I¡¯d thought that she was limited to loosely human-shaped mammals. Whatever she was now not only added two additional limbs but wasn¡¯t a real animal outside of mythology or maybe Dungeons and Dragons.


    She disappeared over a building, drifting to her right.


    I could have given chase. There was no chance that she¡¯d be able to flap her wings faster than a rocket, but it didn¡¯t seem worth it. I didn¡¯t want to spend more time talking to her. If anything, I might be willing to give back some of the time I had.


    ¡°Good riddance,¡± Haley muttered, ¡°I hope she isn¡¯t trying to sneak back into here while we¡¯re not watching. I don¡¯t think she is, but I don¡¯t trust her.¡±


    I flipped the vision in my helmet to show the cameras around our downtown office. She wasn¡¯t. Shifter had reabsorbed the wings and jumped from roof to roof before climbing down the side of a building and shifting back to a human form in an alley. Pulling out a thin, blue overcoat and covering her costume, she passed for a woman walking downtown.


    The other thing that struck me immediately was that assuming she only had one human form, we¡¯d just recorded her real face. Taking a look at her, I didn¡¯t know her at all, but given time we had a chance to identify her. Given that she appeared to be in her forties with dark hair, light brown skin, and average height, it wouldn¡¯t be quick. Physically, she only stood out by her broader-than-average shoulders and thick arms.


    It might not be worth finding out her real identity, but setting facial recognition to identify her if she came near our building as a civilian might be worth doing. I decided to pass it on to Hal and maybe the group as a whole.


    It might be rude to out her to the team, but she was attacking us.


    I opened up a channel to Hal, letting him know what I¡¯d seen. He¡¯d be able to pull Shifter¡¯s face from the footage himself. Over the connection, he sent me a message.


    [I¡¯ve made progress on finding Magnus¡¯ former colleagues in leading and forming the Cabal¡ªthe ones that left.]


    I asked, ¡°How much progress?¡±


    [Their locations and identities.]

 Fonts of Magic: Part 5

    I absorbed that, ¡°Wow. Have I heard of any of these people?¡±


    [None of them currently have public personas. Should I give you the data directly?]


    ¡°No. I¡¯ll take it with everyone else. I think we need to have a meeting about it and find out what to do. Give it to me as an email or a pdf or something that I can share with everyone,¡± I said, trying to let myself focus on the real world.


    [You may wish to know that one of them is associated with the North American Wizards¡¯ Council and thus with your current visitors.]


    ¡°I did want to know that. Thanks. Who¡¯s the one that works with them?¡±


    [Ruthie Shaw. She¡¯s spent the last hundred years located in various places in British Columbia, often accompanied by associates from the Council. Her association with it is at least one thousand years old. Prior to that, data on her life is fragmentary. There is evidence of her leading communities in Europe and the ancient Middle East. Fragmentary evidence points to the same in human prehistory.]


    Tempted to ask for Hal¡¯s full direct download, I decided that I didn¡¯t have time to understand it, and said, ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll look at the rest later.¡±


    The connection ended. Alien AIs didn¡¯t care about social niceties like saying goodbye.


    This was fine, but it left me on the street with Haley, Vengeance, his co-workers, and half a dozen stopped cars, all of them still pointing phones at us.


    Vengeance looked up and down the street, muttering, ¡°We¡¯d better get back inside before they get out of the cars and start asking questions.¡±


    A car door opened. I didn¡¯t pay attention to who it was. We were all pushing through the door, a task made a little harder by the fact that Graffiti Knight and I were both in armor.


    Ahead of me, I heard Amothel tell Graffiti Knight, ¡°Careful where you walk. That armor¡¯s heavy.¡±


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    Meanwhile, Haley raised her eyebrow and looked up at me as she stepped into the doorway. I let her pass and didn¡¯t try to get too close.


    Inside, Vengeance and the others sat with Amy who¡¯d apparently been watching us through the building¡¯s mirrored windows, still in civilian clothes¡ªwhich showed just how much the fight had taken out of her. She¡¯d have been outside normally whether we wanted her or not.


    More than a little tempted to ask my own questions, I decided I¡¯d be best off waiting for the end of their conversation. In the meantime, I told Haley what I¡¯d learned.


    ¡°What?¡± She kept her voice low, but I could still hear the alarm. ¡°She might have control of the Council.¡±


    I thought about that. It was a distinct possibility. I pinged Hal, ¡°Is there any hint that this Ruthie Shaw person controls the Wizards¡¯ Council?¡±


    [There is no evidence that Shaw has been manipulating them, but she does appear to be under their protection. If she does have some hold on them, it¡¯s subtle. There is no evidence of luxury in her life. Nor is the Council is acquiring wealth for her or killing her enemies. While the evidence isn¡¯t there for certainty, the overall pattern points more toward her being a kind of refugee.]


    I told Haley, ¡°Hal doesn¡¯t think so,¡± and looked over at the group around Amy, hoping Hal was right.


    I could try some of the trigger words that Kals had told me about, but they were all in Ascendancy and there was no reason to assume they¡¯d be used. As I wondered whether asking them was worth the risk, Vengeance stood up and the other two followed his example.


    Amy stood up with them, shook their hands, and walked toward us as Haley said, ¡°This is going to sound like a strange question, but do you know someone named Ruthie Shaw?¡±


    As she said it, she glanced over at me, either trying to get my attention or make sure that I was paying attention. By the time she¡¯d finished, I knew why.


    Vengeance¡¯s eyes narrowed. Amothel¡¯s face didn¡¯t change in a way that made it feel deliberate and controlled. Graffiti Knight stopped and cocked his head, saying, ¡°No. That name doesn¡¯t ring a bell, but you know, I forget a lot. Amothel? Vengeance? Do you know her?¡±


    A point in Haley¡¯s favor? They did not attack. If you thought about it, suspicion was a good sign. If I were in hiding and willing to control minds, my orders would be to show no sign of recognition if someone said my name. To be fair, it was possible that she¡¯d given that order and Vengeance and Amothel were terrible actors.


    Vengeance stared at Haley, ¡°Never heard of her.¡±


    Amothel shot him a look. I imagined she was thinking, ¡°Is that really how you think you¡¯ll handle this?¡±


    Haley looked at Vengeance, ¡°I don¡¯t need to hear your heartbeat go up or be able to tell that your scent changed to know you¡¯re lying, but you are.¡±


    Amy turned to watch the Council¡¯s team, her hands going down by her sides, free to grab a knife or cast spells.


    Amothel glanced over at Vengeance and shook her head, ¡°What do you want of her?¡±

 Fonts of Magic: Part 6

    Looking up at Amothel, Haley said, ¡°We want to talk to her. Everything that happened today from the Rocket and Bloodmaiden fighting downtown to Shifter showing up here connect to the Cabal and she used to run the Cabal.¡±


    Graffiti Knight, his voice muffled by his helmet, said, ¡°Really? Amazing. I imagine I¡¯ll forget that soon, but Ruthie¡¯s so old. She knows everything.¡±


    Vengeance sighed. Amothel shook her head, ¡°We can ask her if she wants to talk to you, but if she doesn¡¯t want to, we won¡¯t push and I wouldn¡¯t get my hopes up. She doesn¡¯t want to talk to anybody from the outside.¡±


    ¡°Tell her,¡± I said, ¡°that Magnus is trying to do something big. We think we know what it is, but he¡¯s been interested in it for quite a while and she might know more than we do. Also, if she knows where an object that he¡¯s looking for is, we¡¯re interested in knowing more.¡±


    Vengeance tilted his head to look at me, ¡°What¡¯s he looking for?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I thought about how much I¡¯d have to say for him to get it. Multi-dimensional aliens that predate our universe, a division between them that caused them to create a device for killing each other, and the unpleasant knowledge that Lee had hidden it somewhere on or around Earth. Plus, of course, the fact that telling people about it might attract their attention, causing a battle that would at the very least destroy Earth and maybe the whole solar system with it.


    Amy shook her head and looked at me.


    ¡°Let¡¯s put it this way,¡± I said, ¡°you¡¯ve probably already been told things that, if you passed them on, had the potential for huge, massively disastrous consequences? This is another one of those. Plus, this one comes with a target on your back and the potential to attract the attention of supernatural beings I don¡¯t dare to name.¡±


    Vengeance nodded and let out a sigh, ¡°Yeah, I get it. I could tell you a story or two myself except it wouldn¡¯t be worth the pain.¡±


    Amothel smiled, showing her teeth again, ¡°We¡¯ve all seen a few things we can¡¯t talk about and some of us know many. By any chance, does this device have any relationship to The Thing That Eats?¡±


    If you assumed that both the device and The Thing That Eats had connections to the Artificers, sure. I replied, ¡°Indirectly.¡±


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    Amothel gave a slow nod, ¡°That might pique her interest.¡±


    Both ¡°Ruthie Shaw¡± and The Thing That Eats were immortal or near to it. It wasn¡¯t impossible that they¡¯d known about each other. If Amothel wanted to help, I was fine with it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll pass that on,¡± she said and glanced over at Graffiti Knight and Vengeance, ¡°We should go.¡±


    Graffiti Knight started for the door, waving to us as he left, ¡°Well met, fellow heroes. Fight with honor and determination and I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll meet again in your¡­ coffee-filled halls.¡±


    Vengeance shook his head, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that if they target Bloodmaiden again, we will be back. If she happens to be attacked while someone targets the rest of you though, well, that most likely won¡¯t worry the Wizard¡¯s Council as much.¡±


    Amy raised a hand to wave them out, ¡°That¡¯s fine, thanks. I don¡¯t need you to watch me all the time.¡±


    Amothel followed Vengeance out, giving us all one last look as they stepped outside of the building.


    The door shut behind her. She stood next to Graffiti Knight and Vengeance as shadows swirled around them. They disappeared, much to the delight of the remaining people who¡¯d pointed their phones at the group the moment the door opened.


    With that, Amy, Haley, and I were together without outsiders. We looked at each other. Haley let her costume turn back into clothing. I had too much material for that, so my suit absorbed the helmet.


    I looked over at Amy who was leaning against one of the room¡¯s concrete pillars, ¡°Still tired?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s not bad in my real body, but when I think about the past Bloodmaidens, I can tell that they feel tired.¡±


    Haley raised an eyebrow at that, but still said, ¡°When they said you¡¯re a provisional member of the Council, what did they mean?¡±


    Amy raised her hands in the air, ¡°I don¡¯t know yet. The Council and Reliquary didn¡¯t use to get along because he was working with superheroes, but something happened and now they¡¯re okay with him. As his apprentices according to their system, Samita and I got grandfathered in with him. So now we¡¯re okay and because of everything that happened around The Thing That Eats, it¡¯s more than okay. I¡¯m still waiting on finding out what we get out of it, if anything.¡±


    ¡°It looks like you get protection out of it,¡± Haley glanced toward the windows as if expecting something to happen.


    Amy laughed, ¡°I never expected that. Here wizards need protection from normal people. In my world, normal people need protection from us.¡±


    Haley gave a faint smile, ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Then she turned around. Even as she did, I heard a crackling noise. I made the helmet reform on my head, noticing that Haley¡¯s clothes turned back into her costume. Deciding to follow her example, I saw that a circle of shadowy flame had appeared on the crimson carpet in front of us.


    A voice came out of it, ¡°The one known to the world as Ruthie Shaw has accepted your request for an audience. Step into this circle at your earliest convenience.¡±


    Haley and I looked back at Amy who¡¯d made a small motion with her hand, staring at the circle, ¡°It¡¯s really the Council. They want us right now.¡±

 Fonts of Magic: Part 7

    Through the eyehole of her grey mask, I could see Haley¡¯s eyebrow go up, ¡°So, we¡¯re going to just walk through into someplace, trusting people we don¡¯t know?¡±


    She had a point. I said, ¡°I guess?¡±


    Amy shrugged, ¡°They¡¯re the Council and they just decided they don¡¯t hate me. I¡¯m giving them the benefit of the doubt.¡±


    Haley glanced back toward the stairway that led to the basement and tunnel back to HQ, ¡°I¡¯m being paranoid, but I¡¯m going to make sure everyone knows we¡¯re going.¡±


    She looked at me, ¡°Do you trust anyone other than you to use the Starplate?¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°Chris, but if you¡¯re thinking he can pull us out, it¡¯s a little more complicated than you¡¯d think. You¡¯d have to pull us into another alternate world and then back here. There¡¯s a lot that can go wrong.¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯s still a chance,¡± she said, her words tumbling out of her mouth.


    The tone hinted that it wasn¡¯t worth arguing. Also, she might be right. I said, ¡°Yeah. Tell Chris. I¡¯ll tell Hal to be ready in case we need backup and an exit.¡±


    We¡¯d thrown the jet into alternate dimensions before. I told Hal what to expect and hoped that our GPS worked wherever it was we were going. Meanwhile, Haley talked with Chris and Amy waited for us, her arms crossed over her chest. She didn¡¯t tap her foot, but she didn¡¯t seem far from it.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Haley said, looking up from the communicator on her wrist, ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±


    I said, ¡°Me too.¡±


    ¡°Excellent,¡± Amy uncrossed her arms and stepped into the circle¡¯s grey flame, ¡°We¡¯re off to see the wizards¡­¡±


    Haley and I followed her through, hoping the wizards would turn out to be as wonderful.


    The grey flames rose and consumed us without heat. Surrounded by writhing grey and wondering if that was what we all now were, I felt a vibration, but not in my body. For lack of a better way to put it, I felt it in my soul¡ªthough it wasn¡¯t actually my soul. It reminded me of what I sensed while practicing exercises Kee had taught me. She¡¯d told me it would take a long time before I could do much with the energies I sometimes sensed.


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    So far, she was right. I had no idea how to manipulate these, and I didn¡¯t even try. It wasn¡¯t a good time for experimentation.


    The flames around us dispersed and if we¡¯d been flames ourselves at any point, there was no sign of it.


    With that over, it was time to figure out where we were. That turned out to be easier than it might have been on multiple levels. For one, GPS worked and it told me that we were somewhere near Smithers, British Columbia. That meant nothing to me, but the map showed me that we were in the mountains, more than one hundred miles inland from the coast.


    That was confirmed by that view from the living room. Reminding of the mountains in Colorado, I could see grey peaks covered with snow in the distance. Evergreens seemed to cover the mountains and even grew across the highway in front of the house we stood inside.


    The room wasn¡¯t amazing. It could have been in Grand Lake. Wood laminate covered the floor, reminding me of wooden boards, but not fooling anyone. Around the room were overstuffed couches and a couple of recliners, all of them facing the television. A wooden desk with a laptop and two screens sat in the corner next to two tall bookshelves.


    It felt less like the house of an immortal associated with a council of wizards and more like we¡¯d broken into a random house in rural Canada. Of course, that ignored a number of vital details.


    The first detail worth mentioning was that we stood in the middle of the room between one of the couches and the television. Not only were we in the middle of the room, but we were in the middle of a circle made of golden light. I couldn¡¯t tell whether the circle had been drawn on the floor and then infused with magic or created out of magic.


    Either way, I didn¡¯t plan to step on or over it until given permission.


    The other important detail was the woman on the couch. Not knowing anything about her, I¡¯d have pegged her as mid-sixties with a square face and graying blonde hair. She wore jeans and a pink sweatshirt saying, ¡°I¡¯m that grandma #sorrynotsorry.¡±


    That might have flipped my impression back toward getting the wrong house, but the unsheathed sword lying across her lap told me everything I needed to know.


    She nodded at us, ¡°Welcome to my house. I¡¯m sorry if I seem unfriendly, but I¡¯ve learned to be careful. It took me long enough. Please don¡¯t try to break out of the circle. I¡¯m not a trained wizard, but over the last few thousand years, I¡¯ve picked up a few things. I¡¯ll let you out when I feel I can trust you. Until then, don¡¯t forget that I still know how to use this.¡±


    She held up the sword with no sign of weakness and then placed it on her lap again.


    ¡°Mentioning the name Magnus doesn¡¯t make me trust you, but I¡¯d be lying if I said I didn¡¯t want to know more. Tell me what you know about Magnus and why you want to talk to me and I¡¯ll see what I can do about the circle.¡±

 Fonts of Magic: Part 8

    As I tried to figure out where to begin, Amy pointed at me, ¡°The Rocket¡¯s been the most involved with all of that. You¡¯ll want to ask him.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure out where to start. Here¡¯s the thing: when I just started to be the Rocket, Magnus called me on my personal cell phone¡ªnot as the Rocket. He wanted me to join him and convince my friends to do the same. So he¡¯s known about me for years now and he¡¯s been targeting me for some unknown reason.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t quite unknown since Magnus was trying to get Lee¡¯s device, created by Kee in the Artificers¡¯ civil war. Getting me on his side was his only chance to use it if he wasn¡¯t part Artificer and if he was (more likely), he might want help running it.


    Ruthie said, ¡°Go on.¡±


    ¡°We think that he¡¯s trying to find something. It¡¯s a device that I¡¯m assuming will give him power. I don¡¯t know how long he¡¯s been looking for it, but we read some cuneiform tablets and looked at a diagram that makes us wonder if people have been looking for this for thousands of years.¡±


    I watched her face for some kind of hint of what she thought of what I was saying, but didn¡¯t see one. Immortality gave someone time to develop their poker face and she hadn¡¯t wasted it.


    ¡°That was the explosion in the mountains in Pennsylvania¡ªthe Poconos,¡± she said, watching me.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, now knowing that either she or the Wizards¡¯ Council was watching what we¡¯d been doing more closely than I¡¯d thought.


    Then Ruthie said a few words. I recognized none of them and from the expression on Amy¡¯s face, neither did she. My implant, however, noted the similarity to words from Ascendancy, adding that if so, they were from an uncatalogued variant of that language.


    Ruthie stared at the three of us for a moment and then said, ¡°Good.You¡¯re not Magnus¡¯ creatures.¡±


    She said a few more words and gestured at us and the glowing circle around us disappeared, leaving only a circular indentation in the wood laminate floor around us where the circle had been. Part of my mind registered that the wood laminate was thicker than I¡¯d have expected, but the rest of me paid attention to Ruthie. She was talking.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you know about us, but I know a little about you. I know the Heroes¡¯ League. You¡¯re not the first products of the Abominators¡¯ tinkering that I¡¯ve encountered. Ever since the first League appeared, I¡¯ve been wondering if I knew any of their ancestors and I¡¯m sure I do even if none of them are recent. There was a navigator that worked for the Dutch East India Company. He had a certain mechanical talent, but that was back in the 1600s. I never knew what happened to him. And you,¡± she looked at Haley, ¡°you¡¯re nearly straight Ascendancy soldier stock. I¡¯d be surprised if your first ancestor on this planet were more than two generations away.¡±


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    Next to me, Haley shifted stance, bending her knees a little. It was subtle, but halfway to a fighting stance.


    Ruthie smiled and turned to Amy, ¡°By all rights, you should be the most surprising, but you¡¯re not the first Bloodmaiden I¡¯ve met.¡±


    Those are the kind of statements that remind a person that talking to immortals is like a child talking to an adult only far worse. While I¡¯d been spending time with immortals for my entire life, Lee and Kee were aliens. ¡®Ruthie Shaw¡¯ might have been directly created by the Abominators for all I knew but she was human.


    I saw Amy smirk and say, ¡°I¡¯m aware,¡± followed by a number of words in a language I couldn¡¯t place. It wasn¡¯t Ascendancy at least. I looked over at Amy. She muttered, ¡°I didn¡¯t know until I saw her. The Bloodmaidens didn¡¯t know her as Ruthie Shaw.¡±


    ¡°But,¡± the old woman said, ¡°Ruthie Shaw is good enough for here and now. Let the other name rest for a time.¡±


    ¡°As long as it doesn¡¯t become important,¡± Amy said.


    I glanced in her direction to see if Amy if was changing into Bloodmaiden, but she continued to be nothing more than a 20-something red-haired woman. That argued that Ruthie had been friendly the last time they met.


    I asked, ¡°What do you know about Magnus?¡±


    Ruthie stared at me without saying anything at first, but then said, ¡°He came to us later. We¡¯d formed what you call the Cabal. Urin came to lead us, but Magnus arrived after that¡ªlong after, but he had a plan. He never brought us in on it, but we knew that he was sending the soldiers to search for things that he never fully explained to either them or us.¡±


    Haley asked, ¡°What kind of things?¡±


    Ruthie said, ¡°He¡¯d send them to places without explanation and order them to bring back what they found whether it was people or things. And it was rarely things. He most cared about questioning people. He wouldn¡¯t tell us more. Over time, he took control of the Cabal. All of the original members left. We think that he¡¯s had a few of us killed, but we can¡¯t know it for sure. A few years ago, he was expelled from the Cabal. We haven¡¯t had any trouble from him since.¡±


    That was the beginning, but it felt like something was missing. I said the first thing that came into my head, ¡°Do you know anything about his plan at all? Did he ever give any hint about why he was doing what he was doing?¡±


    Ruthie nodded, ¡°Early on he told us about a dream he¡¯d had. He said he¡¯d seen the Earth destroyed by ¡®serpents¡¯ that in his words, ¡®crawled out of the heavens.¡¯ It was strange, but nothing he did ever had anything to do with serpents. From what I remember though, he was serious. I think he was even scared.¡±

 Fonts of Magic: Part 9

    Ruthie looked down for a moment and then said, ¡°That¡¯s when something changed in him. Urin found him. Back in those days, we took joy in finding new ones¡ªnew immortals. They were always so surprised to find out that there were more of us. We¡¯d bring them in slowly, showing them what we¡¯d done.¡±


    Haley crossed her arms over her chest, ¡°And what was that?¡±


    I barely noticed. I was thinking back to the former supervillain lair and government storage facility where Cassie had read us an account of Urin, possibly the king of the city-state Ur, and how he¡¯d encountered and taken over a group of other immortals. There was even a hint that he¡¯d once seen Lee on a road and felt that indefinable feeling that I felt when I met an artificer.


    Ruthie said, ¡°We were everywhere. We had people everywhere. We¡¯d refined our own formula based on information left by the Abominators that unlocked certain human potentials. We and our followers had what you now call superpowers. Some could communicate over great distances. Others were useful in a fight. We didn¡¯t rule, but we were the power behind thousands of thrones, temples, and village chieftains. Nothing in the ancient world could rival us.


    ¡°There were a few that tried. Over the millennia, some betrayed us, but Urin led us in putting them down.¡±


    Amy looked in Ruthie¡¯s direction, but her eyes weren¡¯t focused on her, possibly examining someone else¡¯s memories, ¡°What happened? You and what I remember of your followers don¡¯t seem like people who would let Magnus rule the Cabal.¡±


    Ruthie¡¯s face hardened and for a second I thought she might leap out of her chair and use her sword, but then Ruthie laughed, ¡°The same thing that will change you eventually¡ªage. Immortal or not, it changes everyone. We were too powerful for too long. We weren¡¯t alarmed enough when the short-lived began to create machines that matched or surpassed our followers. We didn¡¯t try hard enough to recruit all of the newly powered people who appeared and started dressing up in costumes. You saw the result. The Cabal was exposed and destroyed.¡±


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    Thinking back to the Cabal soldiers that we¡¯d fought, they had been overconfident. Despite that, they might have killed us several times over if Lee hadn¡¯t been there to teach us how to handle them.


    ¡°If we were going to go up against Magnus,¡± Haley said, ¡°how do you think we should handle him?¡±


    Ruthie froze and then said, ¡°If you do, I wouldn¡¯t follow my advice. I fought him and lost. I don¡¯t know how he did it, but he found Dominators, the Abominators¡¯ tools for managing their human servants, and turned them to his own use. You¡¯ll never beat him. He can turn anyone against you simply by having his servants talk to them¡ªyou, your friends, and even your parents can¡¯t resist it.¡±


    ¡°We have a defense,¡± I told her. ¡°I worked one up years ago when we were fighting the Cabal. Since then I¡¯ve gone to the Human Ascendancy and fought Dominators there, improving it.¡±


    Her eyes widened and she looked from one of us to the other, ¡°Then it¡¯s simple. Find him and kill him. Make it quick before he can call for help.¡±


    ¡°Except that we don¡¯t know where he is,¡± I said. ¡°If you know that or if the Wizards¡¯ Council does, it would make our lives easier.¡±


    ¡°The Wizards¡¯ Council isn¡¯t at my beck and call. We have an arrangement. I have my gifts and other things that I choose to share with them. I¡¯ve helped them avoid conflict with the Cabal and they¡¯ve helped me avoid the Cabal. And, ¡° she added, letting out a breath, ¡°I don¡¯t know where he is now. He takes precautions too. He has at least one wizard on his side and from what I¡¯m told, it¡¯s not easy to find him with magic. I can¡¯t complain about it because a similar charm protects me.¡±


    Amy watched her talk and said, ¡°I¡¯m sure there¡¯s someone capable of figuring out how to break through his protection against being scried. Do you have anything of his? A possession that he owned for a while? Dried blood would be the best, but I can¡¯t hope to get that lucky.¡±


    I thought back to the now-smashed government storage facility again. We¡¯d had an entire room full of Magnus¡¯ stuff in there. I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d taken anything, not even the book with Magnus¡¯ notes about the ¡°galaxy core device.¡± To be fair to us, we knew the storage facility had been targeted by missiles and were running for our lives at that point.


    Ruthie¡¯s reply mirrored my own thoughts, ¡°No.¡±


    Even though I doubted it would help, I asked, ¡°Do you know where we might find something of his? Or maybe you know someone who might know how to find him?¡±


    She closed her mouth and frowned, ¡°He always respected Urin and Urin¡¯s still alive. I might be able to make contact with him.¡±


    If Urin were also descended from the Artificers, I wondered if he would be strong enough for me to sense it or if he¡¯d be able to sense me.

 Fonts of Magic: Part 10

    ¡°If Urin can tell us where Magnus is, that would solve a lot of problems,¡± I said, unsure of how we¡¯d handle him, but knowing where would be a good first step.


    Ruthie smiled, but it didn¡¯t strike me as a happy smile, ¡°I¡¯ll try. I can¡¯t make any promises, but at this point I¡¯ll try anything to get that man off my back.¡±


    ¡°If you do find him,¡± Amy said, ¡°ask him if he¡¯s got any of Magnus¡¯ possessions. I can do a lot with the right connection.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll remember that,¡± Ruthie said, flicking her hand in our direction. ¡°I¡¯ll contact you if I find him, but for now, you have to go. Don¡¯t expect to find me here again anytime soon.¡±


    Below us, the lines in the floor flared again, not recreating the force field, but throwing us back into the in-between space where we merged with the flames all over again.


    Moments later, the three of us stood back in the League¡¯s public office, crimson carpet, concrete pillars, League memorabilia, and coffee machines. I looked over at a line of old articles on the wall, wondering if Grandpa and the others ever encountered Ruthie. If they had, it was all in the archives somewhere.


    Amy, Haley, and I looked at each other.


    Haley didn¡¯t wait for anyone else to speak, ¡°She hates him. Ruthie hates Magnus. She controlled her voice and how she looked, but she couldn¡¯t control her smell. She was angry every time she talked about him. It¡¯s not easy to tell exactly how angry because people don¡¯t smell the same, but if I had to guess, I think she¡¯d murder him if she had the chance.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, thinking back to the conversation. I hadn¡¯t seen any sign of that. ¡°On the bright side, I guess that means that she¡¯s extra motivated to help.¡±


    Amy shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s not all good. Believe me, I¡¯ve got a lot of experience to draw on. When someone hates another person more than they like you, a lot of them don¡¯t care how they win as long as they win.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, ¡°so as long as Magnus goes down, she doesn¡¯t care what happens to us. Is that a reason not to use what she tells us?¡±


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    Amy took a deep breath and shook her head, ¡°No. The other Bloodmaidens are telling me that they¡¯d trust her to get us to him. They think that if there¡¯s any reason letting us die would hurt Magnus more than helping us survive, we should expect betrayal.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s worse than I¡¯d thought,¡± I looked over at Haley who nodded, ¡°but we¡¯re going to have to let her help us and maybe just not keep her in the loop about our exact plans.¡±


    Haley pursed her lips, ¡°I think that¡¯s the only option we have.¡±


    Another thought passed through my mind, ¡°Half the time I hear the name Urin, I¡¯m tempted to make a joke about urine. With Urin, there¡¯s more emphasis on the ¡®ur¡¯ part of it¡ªlike the city¡ªbut it¡¯s still close enough.¡±


    ¡°Gross,¡± Haley looked up at me.


    Amy laughed, ¡°A princess doesn¡¯t make jokes like that¡ªin public. Did you notice she didn¡¯t pronounce it either way? It almost sounded like ¡®ir¡¯.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Do you suppose she might know Sumerian?¡±


    She shrugged, ¡°The Bloodmaidens don¡¯t go back that far, but we knew her three thousand years ago. So, maybe.¡±


    Crossing her arms over her chest, Haley asked, ¡°How did you know her? Was she trustworthy then?¡±


    Amy frowned, ¡°They haven¡¯t told me the whole story, but what she¡¯s said is that they were chasing a creature that escaped to this world. She helped them fight it. What they remember is that she was a competent warrior. She did her job. I don¡¯t have a lot of details. They won¡¯t always tell me everything. Sometimes, they don¡¯t think I¡¯m ready for it. Sometimes, I think they just want privacy. I hope it¡¯s not important because if it is, they¡¯re putting me and themselves in completely pointless danger.¡±


    ¡°Talking to yourself?¡± I asked.


    She laughed, ¡°You could say that. I wish it were that easy.¡±


    Haley looked over at Amy, ¡°Are you still tired? We don¡¯t have a car on this side and we¡¯re going to have to walk for a mile in the tunnel to get back to HQ.¡±


    Amy shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m fine. The magical construct is tired, but it¡¯s a little better. I don¡¯t want to fly back, but I can walk.¡±


    Haley frowned, ¡°Okay. I just hope you don¡¯t need to do any more than that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not worried,¡± Amy said. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be worried.¡±


    Haley watched her, but then said, ¡°Okay.¡±


    We walked down the stairs to the lower level and then down the concrete tunnel that replaced asewer line that the original League had claimed for their own purposes. I wasn¡¯t sure how they¡¯d arranged it so that the city never even tried to reuse it or authorize cutting through it, but the city hadn¡¯t.


    We walked together down the tunnel, slowing the Rocket suit down so that I wouldn¡¯t leave Amy behind. Haley may have had the same problem, but she had it even when she wasn¡¯t wearing a costume.


    Midway down the tunnel, Kayla called us, lighting up Haley and my HUDs along with Amy¡¯s phone. We all answered.


    Kayla said, ¡°We just got a communication from the man you fought earlier today¡ªthe Cabal soldier. He said that if you don¡¯t stop protecting his target, he¡¯ll kill a new person everyday until you do. He also says that you won¡¯t like the targets.¡±

 Friends & Family: Part 1

    I found myself remembering back to when we¡¯d faced Ray and the Cabal and Ray¡¯s method of terrorizing his targets¡ªkilling their families first, getting closer and closer, and then killing the target. From the way Haley¡¯s face tightened, I guessed that she was remembering the same. Back then, we¡¯d been able to rely on the FBI to guard our families. Knowing that the Nine likely had an ear there, we¡¯d have to do it ourselves.


    I said, ¡°Can you move more bots out? We need to cast a wider surveillance net around our families, but I think we might want to do the same around close friends.¡±


    Depending on their goals, we might even have to consider watching over more distant friends or even civilian co-workers. That expanded into a huge net. Maybe we needed to get Tara, Daniel, and Hal into a meeting, not only to figure out how to best deploy our resources but also to think ahead. We couldn¡¯t just sit here and let our families get attacked. We needed to go on the offense and find them first.


    That meant I¡¯d need more bots, especially more bots that could attack.


    Kayla¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°I¡¯ll check how many we¡¯ve got in the inventory. I think we used most of the ones with range when we first heard people might be coming for us.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to start building more.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell Chris,¡± Kayla responded.


    ¡°Good idea,¡± I said and the conversation ended.


    Haley started to walk faster as she talked, ¡°They¡¯re going to go after our families. We need to find them first.¡±


    Amy, still in her normal body, frowned as she tried to keep up, ¡°I know. We won¡¯t. I¡¯m beginning to feel better. I think I know where to find a little bit of the Cabal soldier¡¯s blood.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s got to be dried by now,¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s better than nothing,¡± she said.


    The rest of the walk felt like a meeting. Everyone on the League discussion channel had questions for us and we answered them. I used my implant to convert its recording of our conversation with Ruthie into a video file, giving everyone a look at that conversation and an account of the day¡¯s fight along with it. Over the walk, we developed a plan. Amy would find her blood. I¡¯d make more bots. Izzy would fly over Grand Lake to see if she could find anything. When one of us got a clue, we¡¯d follow it and find these people.


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    I hoped it would be enough. The message we¡¯d received left out details I wanted to know. Were the people coming after Uncle Steve going to try once a day and give up after taking their shot or were they going to make sure they killed someone even if it were a random person with no connection to us? Also, were they starting tomorrow or did we still have to worry about who they¡¯d kill today?


    Over the course of the walk, I learned one other thing: Travis was now home and staying at his and Haley¡¯s parents, meaning that we were all now back in Grand Lake except for Rachel who was still somewhere out there in space.


    When we walked out of the tunnel and into HQ¡¯s hangar, seeing the jet, the red, white, and blue Commandocycle, and the black, Corvette-styled Wolfmobile and went from there into the base¡¯s main room, it felt like an active superhero base. Kals was in the far corner of the room talking to Julie. Chris and Kayla stood talking next to the tables and desks near the wall with the big screen that showed the view from spybots across the city. Marcus, still in a hoodie and jeans, talked with Katuk near a trophy case. Tiger lay on the floor next to them. I hoped he didn¡¯t knock over the case. The dog was literally as large as a horse.


    Amy looked over at Haley and me, ¡°The construct feels normal now. I¡¯m going to go everywhere you fought the Cabal soldier and look for blood, starting with the park.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you should go alone,¡± I said, watching as her eyes narrowed.


    ¡°He¡¯s right,¡± Haley said. ¡°None of us should go out alone in costume right now. I¡¯ll go with you. We can take the Wolfmobile. It can blend in with traffic.¡±


    ¡°Like the van,¡± Amy nodded and her red hair brushed her shoulders.


    ¡°Better than the van,¡± Haley began to turn back toward the hangar, ¡°it¡¯s smaller.¡±


    ¡°I can follow, but I¡¯m down a lot of ammunition and I think I need to start making more bots.¡±


    Amy shook her head, ¡°We¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    Haley bit her lip, ¡°If it won¡¯t take long to get the bots started, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to follow us. I¡¯d feel better knowing we have backup if the guy from the Cabal shows up.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll hurry,¡± I said and took a few long steps with the armor. With the armor¡¯s strength, the steps were more than twenty feet long and I crossed the big room in seconds, stepping into my lab. There, Daniel and Tara were sitting on stools next to the counter then ran down the left side of the room. The screen on the wall near them showed a League text channel¡ªHal¡¯s.


    ¡°We¡¯re trying to figure out their next move,¡± Tara said, smiling at me.


    Daniel thought at me, Chris started making more bots. I have a feeling you¡¯ll want to follow them to the park.


    I thought back, Why didn¡¯t you tell me sooner?


    This is the best time for you to leave.

 Friends & Family: Part 2

    I looked between Daniel and Tara and then said, ¡°I guess I have to go then. I was thinking I¡¯d want to reload.¡±


    Daniel shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t think it will matter.¡±


    Tara looked up from her chair at me, ¡°I know I missed half of that conversation, but you know Daniel¡¯s guesses are good.¡±


    Saying, ¡°Yeah,¡± I turned, and ran out of my lab, leaving the potential repairs and ammunition behind me. To be fair, I still had a second floating repair pod capable of delivering more roachbots, but I would have felt safer already reloaded.


    Crossing the main room of the base at more than forty miles per hour, I chose the exit that allowed me to shoot out into the forest. The fake concrete opened above me and I shot up into the air, flying level with the tops of the trees before emerging over the state park and its beach. During the summer there would be campers and tents there, but in November, the campground was empty.


    I whipped around aiming toward the city park where I¡¯d fought Prentkos, ramping up to fighting one of the Cabal¡¯s reassigned and maybe mind-controlled soldiers this morning. We¡¯d brought the Cabal to the world¡¯s attention during my senior year of high school, but now I could only wonder if we¡¯d increased the deadliness of any organization that hired the ones that escaped capture.


    The Cabal had been overconfident and stuck in a pre-modern mindset with regard to strategy and tactics. Any organization that hired them wouldn¡¯t be.


    I didn¡¯t have time to dwell on that thought. Haley and Amy had taken the Wolfmobile, probably camouflaged as a normal car, and must not have driven at the maximum possible speed.


    I¡¯d beaten them.


    Stopping to hover above the park, I checked out the damage. I¡¯d tried to be careful, but the moment even one Cabal soldier shows up, there will be more damage than you expect. I couldn¡¯t blame the Cabal soldier for everything either. I mean, sure, I could see the damaged fence next to one of the baseball diamonds that the soldier had punched me through.


    Near the gate where I¡¯d set goobots as a trap for Prentkos, the sidewalk and cracks expanding outward from bootprints, showing either where the Cabal soldier had landed or where he¡¯d stepped particularly hard. Shriveled strings of goo from the goobots spread out around the trap, most of them on the sidewalk. Prentkos blood had sprayed across the sidewalk as well, some of it more than five feet from where he¡¯d been standing when I shot him. More of it had puddled around the spot.


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    I wasn¡¯t sure of the exact volume of that blood, but it looked like a lot. He hadn¡¯t died, but he could have if I hadn¡¯t sprayed his wounds shut.


    I began to descend. This was what Amy needed. If she could use his blood to find Prentkos, he¡¯d almost have to be with the main group¡ªwhich was exactly what we needed. Even supervillains wouldn¡¯t leave a wounded man alone, right? I could imagine Lee doing that deliberately, but he wouldn¡¯t be troubled by the idea of killing Prentkos indirectly if it turned out that his team let the guy die.


    As I landed, I noticed movement. It wasn¡¯t a car. It was a person and not someone walking their dog. This person was dressed in a silver costume that covered his whole body, not even leaving part of his face open. Black and white lines ran across his body, fading out on the edges as if to hint at the speed of the runner coming toward me.


    This was not going to go well. No matter how much I wished it wasn¡¯t true, I knew the guy and had been keeping track of his costume design as much in self-defense as curiosity. It was Jody, member of the new Justice Fist, Sean¡¯s group. Jody¡¯s general anger at the universe he¡¯d been born into sometimes centered on me in particular.


    There were people out there in the world who believed superheroes¡¯ lives of service meant that they were good people worthy of automatic respect. I¡¯d always felt that Jody was a solid counter-example. He¡¯d been a bully before getting powers and from my experience he was a bully after.


    I stood there, watching his blurry form close the gap between us.


    ¡°Blur¡± was literally his codename.


    Unsure of what was coming next, I took a breath, tried to relax and kept my arms loose in case I needed to move quickly. Jody was the kind of person who¡¯d stamp on the blood simply because he knew I needed it.


    Jody finally came into focus when he stopped next o me.I couldn¡¯t see his face through the mask, but I could imagine him sneering as he talked¡ªexcept then he started talking.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± he nodded at me. ¡°We heard that you had a fight here and I thought I¡¯d check out the scene and maybe learn something.¡±


    Armies of thoughts battled in my head for the chance to become spoken words. The first group wanted to point out that for a guy whose power is speed, he¡¯d arrived well after the fight ended. Another group couldn¡¯t help but notice that he was talking like a normal human being and wasn¡¯t attempting to belittle or insult me at all. Was something wrong?


    It was possible, of course, that he¡¯d grown up a little or at least gotten better at faking it.


    ¡°There¡¯s not much to learn,¡± I told him. ¡°I fought a couple of people here and they got away. You can probably find the end of the fight online by now.¡±


    ¡°Already saw it,¡± he said, spitting the words out in a way that felt more normal to me, continuing with, ¡°Whoa. That¡¯s a lot of blood. I can¡¯t believe you didn¡¯t kill that guy.¡±

 Friends & Family: Part 3

    In my HUD, I saw the Wolfmobile¡¯s dot superimposed over the map of this area. They were only a block or two away. I thought a text message through my implant, ¡°Talking with Jody in costume at the park.¡±


    Amy texted back, ¡°We¡¯ll change.¡±


    Paying attention to Jody as we both stood next the park¡¯s entrance, I said, ¡°he¡¯s fine. He¡¯s probably not happy, but he¡¯s got a healing factor¡ªnot like Captain Commando¡¯s but he¡¯ll be running around sooner than I¡¯d like.¡±


    Jody laughed, ¡°I didn¡¯t say I felt bad for the guy. I mean, if he dies it¡¯ll be a problem, but he¡¯s not one of the good guys, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m guessing he¡¯s a clone of Prentkos, a superhero on the EU team. He looked exactly the same but older. I ran into him when we were fighting Rook in Canada except he actually attended a press conference in France on the same day. We know the Nine cloned the original Captain Commando and they were trying to clone our Cap, so it seems likely.¡±


    ¡°I heard about them trying to clone Cap from the Power,¡± Jody said, his head blurring as he checked to our sides and behind himself.


    Having seen something, he turned to look down the block, watching as the Wolfmobile pulled up to the side of the street and Amy got out, standing around a foot taller and clothed in the Bloodmaidens¡¯ black and ruby red accented armor.


    Haley stepped out as Night Cat¡ªgrey costume with a black cat¡¯s head on her chest. Her stride reminded me of a tiger, smooth with strength behind it. She walked straight toward Jody and me. Amy stopped at the blood spots, pulling out her spear and sticking it into the blood.


    Even though it had dried, it appeared to be drawn into the spear, the squirts on the edges disappearing first and then finally the main puddle she¡¯d touched.


    Jody¡¯s eyes widened within his silver mask, ¡°Wow. You¡¯re not leaving anything behind.¡±


    Amy stared down at the spear she was holding, ignoring us except that she did reply, ¡°There¡¯s almost none of his essence left in this. I need as much as I can get.¡±


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    He blinked and looked over at me, ¡°I heard that we¡¯re going to train with you all sometime soon. I¡¯m looking forward to it. Gotta go!¡±


    He blurred, running away before either of us could do anything. Choosing to watch him, I saw that he wasn¡¯t even running. He was walking. He turned back to look at me, his eyes widened, and then he did start to run.


    As he disappeared around the corner of a block, obscured by a two-story house with white vinyl siding, I realized that I was using a touch of power to watch him, something I¡¯d done previously while preventing an Abominator tech-powered soldier from attacking me and also in exercises Kee taught me.


    That led me to think back to what I¡¯d seen while watching him run. I¡¯d noticed a little bit of a shimmer in the air around him. I didn¡¯t remember noticing that before. On the other hand, I hadn¡¯t been practicing any kinds of exercises when I¡¯d last seen Jody regularly at Stapledon.


    It might mean that Artificers could see when something was warping time. That made the most sense. It was also possible that Jody¡¯s power was related to Artificers, but a side effect of the Abominators'' genetic manipulation thousands of years back. I hadn¡¯t felt something odd the way I did when I first met Kee, though. That was a good thing. If there were anyone I didn¡¯t want to discover a relationship with the Artificers, Jody led the list.


    Haley looked up at me, ¡°That was strange.¡±


    Jarred out of my thoughts, I said, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°He was nice¡ªas nice as he gets. He wasn¡¯t hostile to you,¡± she sniffed the air. ¡°I think he might have been a little scared. I didn¡¯t notice anything while he was talking with you, but there¡¯s something in the air from when he was leaving.¡±


    I thought back to Jody¡¯s expression before he started to run and wondered what he¡¯d seen. Then I told Haley, ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure, but that might be because of me.¡±


    I used the implant to talk over the comm, telling her, ¡°He might have seen something about me that¡¯s related to Lee.¡±


    She frowned, ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡±


    I nodded.


    As I did, Amy lifted her spear away from the sidewalk, ¡°I¡¯ve got everything I can get. I don¡¯t know if it will be enough to find those guys, but I think it might. There¡¯s enough of his essence that I feel a little pull. I¡¯ll have to do a ritual to amplify it, but I think I¡¯ve got a good chance.¡±


    Haley let out a breath, ¡°Then we should go back to HQ.¡±


    They turned to get in the car as Daniel called me over my comm, asking ¡°How did it go?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. We ran into Jody. He was like a normal person. He didn¡¯t bother me, but he did seem a little weird in a memory that you¡¯ll want to look at directly.¡±


    Daniel might notice something I missed.


    ¡°Okay,¡± he said. ¡°Tara, Hal, and I are pretty sure that we¡¯re going to be facing something big in relation to Major Justice and all. It doesn¡¯t feel immediate, but we¡¯re thinking that he¡¯ll be pulling in more people. It might be the individual teams of everybody in Major Justice¡¯s group, but that¡¯s just a guess.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said.

 Friends & Family: Part 4

    Soon after that, we all went back to base. After asking Daniel, I stripped out of the full Rocket suit and showered. Haley had assured me that it was a necessity. I put on a real pair of jeans and a t-shirt because she¡¯d also assured me that my nanotech-produced clothing also needed washing.


    Daniel had assured me that the chance of anything happening in the next hour or two was extremely unlikely.


    I stepped out of the locker room to find that we weren¡¯t under attack. In fact, I stepped out to find that Daniel had stepped out of my lab and was walking toward the locker room. Between his prescience and the unintentional telepathic link we shared within a certain range, the convenience of his appearance was easily explained.


    Over on the far end of the room from us, Amy appeared to be performing a ritual among symbols she¡¯d drawn on the floor. Haley stood nearby, still in costume, watching. On the same side of the room, Kayla continued to sit at her desk, working and glancing in Amy and Haley¡¯s direction.


    ¡°What did you want to show me,¡± Daniel asked, walking up and waiting for my response.


    It was kind of him to ask. Thanks to the connection we¡¯d developed as children, he might have been able to get it without me even knowing.


    ¡°Jody seemed to be afraid when he looked at me. I¡¯d been watching him as he left and thanks to Artificer stuff, I could him walking away even though he was warping time. Something about his expression makes me think that he could tell that I could see him normally. It might just be a side effect of his power, but when Kee was pretending to be a human named Tikki, she had time powers. Anyway, take a look at my memory and see what you get.¡±


    Even though I didn¡¯t relive the memory, I felt something. Meanwhile, Daniel¡¯s eyes seemed to stare at nothing and his mouth dropped open a little, but then he asked, ¡°Do you mind if I look at your memories of Tikki?¡±


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± I said.


    Though those memories didn¡¯t flash before my eyes either, I found echoes of emotions that I¡¯d felt on Hideaway bubbling up¡ªfear, excitement, relief, and amazement.


    When he stopped, Daniel took a breath, shaking his head, ¡°I knew it was bad because I caught bits when you were thinking about it, but I¡¯ve never poked around. I should have asked about it. I wish I¡¯d been there.¡±


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    I shrugged, ¡°Lee said the Human Ascendancy has problems with telepaths and I haven¡¯t talked about it much.¡±


    Daniel nodded, ¡°Neither have Marcus, Jaclyn, or Cassie. I wish you had. That¡¯s not something to bottle up. Anyway, I don¡¯t see any sign that Jody¡¯s anything like Tikki. You didn¡¯t get the same feeling that you got off of Kee when you first met her and I don¡¯t think Jody was sensing anything like that in you. From your memory, it doesn¡¯t seem like Jody noticed anything until you watched him go. If I had to guess, it might be that you¡¯re unintentionally warping time to see him and he can see or feel it.¡±


    Then Daniel stopped, waiting for me.


    ¡°That¡¯s possible,¡± I said. ¡°I did consider it, but I was a little worried about why he could feel it. If we¡¯re lucky, it might not be directly related to the Artificers. It¡¯s just that everything seems to be pointing in their direction lately.¡±


    Nodding, Daniel said, ¡°I get it and I can¡¯t promise there are no connections but if I try to feel for Artificers in Jody¡¯s future, I don¡¯t feel a strong connection. Again, the future¡¯s always fuzzy, and Artificers are weird but I¡¯d bet on him being a normal guy before anything else,¡±


    I began to say, ¡°Then I guess we¡¯ve got nothing to worry about,¡± but I never finished the sentence.


    Amy¡¯s voice, amplified by some kind of magic, echoed through the base¡ª¡°I found him.¡±


    Daniel blinked, ¡°We probably ought to go over there.¡±


    I agreed and we started walking across the room, passing trophies from our grandparents on our right and Kayla¡¯s desk and the group conference table on the other. We weren¡¯t alone. Tara had stepped out of my lab. Kals and Julie appeared out of wherever they¡¯d been and were walking alongside Katuk whose silver suit glittered in the light.


    Dog curiosity piqued, Tiger followed everyone else, shedding bits of fur as he walked. I¡¯d had no idea how much fur a dog could lose before we got him. Of course, he was larger than most.


    Daniel and I arrived about the same time as everyone else, deliberately standing between Tiger and the symbols Amy had drawn in chalk and blood on the concrete floor. As the massive dog pushed in to sniff, I asked him not to touch the symbols and especially not to lick them. He tilted his head to look at me, didn¡¯t reply, but also didn¡¯t lick up the blood.


    In the middle of the symbols was a crudely drawn representation of the city of Grand Lake and the smaller cities around it. She¡¯d gone into more detail than I¡¯d have expected, including not only Grand Lake, but Lake Michigan, the highway that ran through downtown, and other major roads. She hadn¡¯t drawn buildings but used symbols that resembled our letters.


    Amy held out her hand over a spot outside of Grand Lake. It didn¡¯t seem to be part of any city, just a bit of countryside near a river small enough that I didn¡¯t know its name. Then she let a drop of blood fall. It hit the concrete and didn¡¯t spatter, staying together and glowing a dull red.


    Thinking about my parents, my uncle, and everyone else¡¯s families, I said, ¡°We¡¯ll need to scout it out, but I think we need to go in as soon as we can after that.¡±

 Friends & Family: Part 5

    Kals glanced in the direction of Katuk. She¡¯d arrived just after Tiger, and said, ¡°I¡¯d like to help.¡±


    Haley looked at her, ¡°Are you sure? You were training Julie.¡±


    Katuk spoke before Kals could reply, his voice level, ¡°I was instructed to warn you if you do something that put you at serious risk. I want to help Nick as well, but going with them would put you at serious and unpredictable risk. In addition, you know that you¡¯ll have to leave shortly. You¡¯ll need to be healthy to help with the invasion and you¡¯ll assist Nick more if Julie is capable.¡±


    Kals took a deep breath, ¡°I know we have to leave. I¡¯d like to help more.¡±


    Then she shook her head, ¡°I know you¡¯re right. I hate doing nothing.¡±


    Julie looked over at her, ¡°I think you¡¯re doing something. I was years away from figuring out anything I¡¯ve learned from you so far.¡±


    Kals nodded to her, ¡°Thank you. I wasn¡¯t saying that teaching you isn¡¯t important, but in my world, I¡¯m a symbol and I have to stay within certain boundaries. I¡¯ve been able to take a little vacation from it here, but as you can see, it¡¯s not complete.¡±


    ¡°What you¡¯re doing with Julie is important,¡± Daniel said from across the circle. ¡°We¡¯ve got a much better chance because you¡¯re teaching her and Katuk¡¯s also right. There is a chance that going with us will hurt your rebellion.¡±


    Kals raised an eyebrow, ¡°In the Ascendancy, almost all people with your powers were killed. I wish we had a few, but do you ever feel trapped by what you know?¡±


    Daniel shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know anything. All I see are possibilities. The future changes constantly and I don¡¯t always go with the option with the best chance of success. Sometimes the future I want isn¡¯t in that direction and there are things I¡¯m not willing to do even if it¡¯s got the best chance.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Kals¡¯ brow furrowed. ¡°It might be best that we don¡¯t have anyone like you. I work with people who might go for the easiest way to win if they knew what it was.¡±


    Haley stepped over the symbols and blood on the floor, getting into the middle of the group. The glowing bit of blood wasn¡¯t more than two feet away from her.


    Sweeping her head around the group to meet everyone¡¯s eyes or at least check if they were listening, she said, ¡°I¡¯ll have Kayla send in any bots we can spare. I think that¡¯s got to be the first step. Once we know what¡¯s there, we can decide what we do next.¡±


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    In the middle of her circle, Amy said, ¡°I¡¯ll need the time to figure out what I can prepare. I feel better than I did, but I¡¯m not going to be able to do anything big for another day or two¡ªunless I drain the life out of something big.¡±


    That started more discussion, but I missed it. My comm, in its disguise as an iPhone, sent a message to my implant. It appeared in my vision without blocking my view. I could envision it and knew the information in the note like I knew my shoe size.


    Though that led me to wonder (and not for the first time) how deeply the implant was in my brain, I didn¡¯t have time. I hadn¡¯t heard from Stephanie in a while.


    ¡°I just got a call,¡± I said, waving as I stepped away from the group and walked into the main group of trophies.


    I took the call with my phone, turning on the video because she had and because her phone marked her as out of costume. My phone subtly fuzzed out everything around me by default.


    Hers didn¡¯t.


    The last time I¡¯d seen her in person, she¡¯d been in the Coffeeshop Illuminati¡¯s mansion and headquarters. If I had to guess, she was still there. The red timber walls and windows that showed the mountains were the first big clue.


    The second big clue had to be that she had some kind of bedroom/lab combination. Her dressers and bed were on one side of the room. Various versions of her costume covered the tables and workbenches on the other side, all of them heaped with electronics and molded ceramics


    She still looked the same¡ªlong, black hair, light skin, and an amused smile. Her tendency to wear black clothes hadn¡¯t changed either to judge from her t-shirt.


    ¡°I hope you¡¯re somewhere private,¡± she said, eyes darting around as she looked at her phone.


    ¡°I am. Are you?¡± A room in the Coffeeshop Illuminati¡¯s headquarters wouldn¡¯t be normal, but she¡¯d been spying for the Michigan Heroes Alliance the last time I¡¯d spoken to her. I was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt.


    ¡°As secure as it can be,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m undercover, but there¡¯s no indication that anybody knows. I¡¯ve swept for bugs, insulated in the room in a way I¡¯m not going to try to explain right now, and done half a dozen other things including getting a ward on magical scrying from a friend.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± I added that to a mental list of things to ask Samita and Amy about.


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Stephanie said. ¡°I¡¯m not in a good place. I¡¯m investigating friends. I¡¯m 99% sure that the Coffeeshop Illuminati are being influenced by the Nine, but I¡¯m not sure how or by who and I¡¯m beginning to think I can¡¯t risk staying here long enough to get converted into one of their drones.¡±


    Or, I thought, maybe she already has and she¡¯s trying to lure us into something? Except she was competent enough at working undercover that I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt--for now.


    She let out a breath and looked into the camera, ¡°I meant to talk to you after you left, but it¡¯s been busy and hard enough to get out the reports that I have to get out¡­ Anyway, I¡¯m sorry, but this is something you need to know. Major Justice just walked in the door here. He¡¯s meeting with Bullet, Gordon, and a few other guys. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re talking about, but knowing what happened to you today, I bet we can both make some guesses.¡±

 Friends & Family: Part 6

    ¡°Knowing what happened to me today? Did something go viral?¡± I thought through what I¡¯d done. Fighting Major Justice had that potential, but I hoped that was the end of it.


    Stephanie laughed, ¡°No. The Grey Giant showed up in LA today. He stole an armored truck full of money. Your tiff with Major Justice got attention, but Major Justice is B-list at best. He gets less attention from criticizing you in the press than you¡¯d think¡ªeven if it¡¯s more than he normally gets.¡±


    Thinking about the Grey Giant, I shook my head. He hadn¡¯t been dead when we left Renewal Island so it made sense that he¡¯d be out there somewhere. At least he wasn¡¯t here.


    ¡°I,¡± Stephanie continued, ¡°set up a notification to alert me any time you all get mentioned online. And don¡¯t think it¡¯s because I¡¯m obsessed with you or something. I set it up after you visited our humble headquarters. Your team has an annoying tendency to stand in front of oncoming trains and I wanted some warning in case my investigation turned out to be one of them.¡±


    ¡°That never happens,¡± I said. ¡°Who are you working for?¡±


    ¡°This time?¡± She let out a sigh, ¡°Officially? Me.¡±


    She paused, ¡°I can¡¯t trust any big group. Even if all of the supers are clean, one of the staff members might be working for the Nine. I¡¯m loosely affiliated with the Michigan Heroes¡¯ Alliance. They know where I am but not what I¡¯m doing. The only people who do know are Red Bolt and Future Knight. They¡¯re getting regular reports in case something happens. I know they¡¯re a couple of dorks, but I can trust them. I used your designs to make them anti-voice tech.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure they¡¯d be my first choice as backup, but they¡¯d be extra motivated to avoid being mind-controlled.


    ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯ve got someone, but they¡¯re not close in case you want to get out,¡± I began thinking through what we¡¯d need to do to pick her up. Assuming they couldn¡¯t detect the jet when cloaked, it wouldn¡¯t be too hard.


    She smirked, ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about that. I¡¯m thinking they¡¯re about to sic the Coffeeshop Illuminati on you. If they bring me, my plan is to run away the first chance I get or betray them at a dramatically appropriate moment.¡±


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    I laughed, ¡°Cool. I hope you save us all. As surprises go, though, we¡¯re in the middle of a couple of different very big somethings, so we¡¯re going to need as much warning as you can get us if we¡¯re about to be attacked.¡±


    Despite her glasses, I could see that she raised an eyebrow as I finished, ¡°You¡¯re in the middle of two more things? Care to share?¡±


    I hesitated, but then said, ¡°One of them is that the Nine seems to be trying to kill somebody here and they might be targeting people we know too. The other one is so big I¡¯m only going to tell you after you get here, assuming that happens.¡±


    She frowned at that, but then said, ¡°None of that sounds good. Are you saying that the Nine is deliberately targeting people because you know them or by accident?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re thinking it¡¯s because,¡± I said, wondering if they would go after anyone but Uncle Steve. They hadn¡¯t yet.


    She shook her head, ¡°One thing that makes doing something like this easier is knowing that my civilian friends and my family aren¡¯t anywhere near me when I do it. I¡¯ll keep you posted on what I learn. I can¡¯t guarantee I¡¯ll get another chance to call you if they move quickly. This might be your only warning.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°If that¡¯s the way it happens, I guess we¡¯ll deal with it.¡±


    I looked back at the group. Amy was scowling at her drawing of Grand Lake and the glowing dot outside it. Julie and Kals were talking with Katuk accompanying them as they walked away. Daniel was talking into his comm and Haley had turned to look at me.


    ¡°If they don¡¯t take me along or something happens, I might have to hit you up for a flight out of here,¡± Stephanie pursed her lips.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be ready,¡± I said. ¡°We have a lot of people we can send.¡±


    How many would be available to fly the jet was still open, but we¡¯d find somebody.


    She gave a wave and we hung up.


    Haley walked up as I turned around, asking, ¡°Who was that?¡±


    To my ears, she didn¡¯t sound suspicious, but concerned.


    ¡°It¡¯s not exactly good news,¡± realizing as I said it that it made things much worse. ¡°Stephanie called. We might at any moment have the Coffeeshop Illuminati come out of nowhere and throw in alongside Major Justice. Also, she thinks that the Nine have their hooks into the Coffeeshop Illuminati, but she¡¯s not sure where. She¡¯s worried that they¡¯ll find her soon. So she may also want a quick exit with the jet, but it depends on how things go.¡±


    Haley glanced back at Amy and Daniel and back at me, ¡°How are we supposed to protect our families, fight the Coffeeshop Illuminati, and find out what Magnus is doing?¡±


    Daniel put away his phone, ¡°I just called Izzy and Jaclyn. They¡¯re coming. I think the Coffeeshop Illuminati is a big threat, but we might be able to find the Nine¡¯s hitmen first thanks to Amy. We¡¯ve got a lot of people to work with.¡±

 Friends & Family: Part 7

    As if to illustrate how many people we had to work with, Cassie and Travis stepped out of one of the tunnel doors on the wall of the main room. They¡¯d come through the forest entrance. Both of them were in civilian clothes, Travis, at least a foot taller than anyone in the room, had muscles to match. Somehow, he still managed to give the impression of an ambitious young businessman as opposed to a thug. It was probably the combination of his button-down shirt and short hair.


    Cassie wore a Georgetown hoodie and jeans, her blond hair in a ponytail. I wasn¡¯t sure what she did when she wasn¡¯t at the League and I suspected that being a superhero was all she did.


    I probably should have asked her at some point.


    I didn¡¯t then either. Even if I¡¯d wanted to, Travis had already walked up and asked, ¡°Has anything happened that hasn¡¯t made it to the League chat?¡±


    I started explaining to him everything since I¡¯d left work. I barely managed to get to chasing the Cabal soldier and Prentkos before Vaughn walked up and asked, ¡°Wait, I missed part of that. Could you start again?¡±


    I did and by the time I started to describe the fight with Major Justice, I realized that Marcus was there and he said, ¡°I missed where that started.¡±


    I began to summarize to catch him up when Izzy and Jaclyn joined the group along with Kals, Katuk, Julie, and Amy. Jaclyn said, ¡°I missed some of that.¡±


    At that point, I had the sense to say, ¡°Maybe we need to call a quick meeting for everyone here and anyone who wants to join online.¡±


    After people agreed, I went through everything that had happened one more time, this time with everyone in HQ¡ªincluding Haley, Chris, and Tara.  Even Tiger had followed us over to the big table.


    Amy chimed in at points and told the Major Justice fight from her perspective, but then we finished off the rest without interruption¡ªincluding our visit to Ruthie Shaw.


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    Once we got everyone up to speed with what Amy found, we brought in Kayla¡ªwho¡¯d flown spybots toward the spot from Amy¡¯s ritual as we¡¯d talked. On the big screen on the far wall, one spybot¡¯s view showed a two-story house with brick and white siding. The lawn didn¡¯t appear to have been mowed since summer with short plant stalks extending above the drooping grass. Scattered leaves had settled near the bottom of the overgrown shrubs around the house.


    If there were other houses nearby, they were obscured by the trees on either side of the lawn with one exception. A small river ran behind the house and a gray house stood above the bank on the other side.


    Kayla clicked the mouse and the spybot zoomed in, showing a man lying on the white couch in the living room. The red and white costume was open in the front, showing his chest, and the cowl was crumpled up under his head as a makeshift pillow.


    Bits of goo from my goobots still stained the costume with dark, splotchy stripes, accompanied by dried blood and my wound spray. It was, without doubt, the same Prentkos I¡¯d fought earlier, but where was the Cabal soldier who¡¯d been with him? Deeper in the house, maybe? I wondered if I could fit more sensors in the spybots, but discarded that train of thought as Kayla said, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen anyone else, but I haven¡¯t been watching very long.¡±


    Travis frowned, ¡°They might not be there. Is anyone watching the spybots near our parents'' homes?¡±


    ¡°Hal,¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯ll tell us if there¡¯s any hint of trouble.¡±


    I used my implant to check with Hal, ¡°I assume that there¡¯s no sign of anyone unusual near anybody¡¯s house or anyone watching?¡±


    Hal¡¯s response appeared in my mind.


    [No sign of anyone suspicious. They may not have anyone else there or they may be staying in different places to avoid being captured all at once. You may want to leave people here and at your parents¡¯ houses in case of a counterattack if you go in.]


    I passed Hal¡¯s advice on to the group.


    Izzy waved her hand to get our attention as if we¡¯d have a hard time noticing her. Wearing her Blue costume and standing more than six feet tall, she stood out.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± she said. ¡°Your parents are all here and in danger. Mine are safe and in LA. Go and take care of them.¡±


    We all looked at each other. I said, ¡°Are you sure? You¡¯re tough, but alone is never a good idea.¡±


    Jaclyn spoke before anyone else did, ¡°I¡¯ll go. As long as you¡¯re watching my parents¡¯ house, I can be back there if something goes wrong.¡±


    I looked over at Daniel, ¡°What do you think? Is it worth the risk?¡±


    Even as I said it, I realized that part of the nervousness I felt was Daniel¡¯s. He paused, but then said, ¡°Something just changed. There¡¯s a climbing risk no matter what we do right now, but the sooner we act, the better our chances.¡±

 Friends & Family: Part 8

    Standing next to Katuk and Kals, Tara spoke in the flatter voice I associated with her using her ability to create patterns from minimal data, ¡°Knowing that they¡¯re working for the Nine, they might be attempting to separate us and then attack your parents or us while we¡¯re separated.¡±


    ¡°Is that likely,¡± I asked.


    Tara tilted her head, but then said, ¡°I don¡¯t have enough to go on.¡±


    ¡°Chances of something bad happening just ticked up,¡± Daniel said.


    Travis raised his hand, ¡°Here¡¯s what we do. Izzy and Jaclyn go. They¡¯re the toughest and fastest. The rest of us have to be ready to go wherever we¡¯re needed. The rest of us need to be ready to respond if our parents get attacked.¡±


    ¡°Izzy and I can make this quick,¡± Jaclyn said, her clothes morphing from a facsimile of a blouse and pants to her purple costume. Izzy hadn¡¯t even changed into fake civilian clothes. Her costume was still blue.


    Izzy nodded and they left. I felt the wind of their passage and heard Jaclyn¡¯s footsteps on the concrete followed by the clank of the door as they stepped into the forest tunnel.


    Over at her computer, Kayla clicked and camera views from the two of them appeared on the wall screen next to the picture of Prentkos¡¯ house and spybots¡¯ views of our parents. On Izzy and Jaclyn¡¯s screens, the concrete walls of the tunnels blurred and then turned into the clearing in the forest where the tunnel opened up.


    Izzy shot through the forest, flying between trees until she came out over the children¡¯s playground next to the end of the campground and a small beach. Then they both started traveling northeast. Izzy flew over Grand Lake. Jaclyn ran over the lake because she could do that if she ran fast enough.


    I remembered her complaining in the past that it was like running on ice and all too easy to pitch forward into the water. Somewhere in between now and then she¡¯d gotten the hang of it. She didn¡¯t fall even once. Of course, the camera didn¡¯t show her from the side.We had only the occasional bit of spray on the edges of the camera¡¯s view to hint that her feet must be hitting the water with some strength. We only saw a blur of brownish-green water and empty docks.


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    It was November. All the speedboats and yachts had been taken out of the water, leaving only the Coast Guard and lake freighters (lakers) hauling cargo.


    Jaclyn¡¯s camera didn¡¯t show any lakers, but I saw one from Izzy¡¯s view above Grand Lake.


    As hypnotic as the view from either camera might be, I had other things on my mind. Part of me wanted to hover above my parents¡¯ house or my dad¡¯s office. While that didn¡¯t work for a host of reasons, it would put me nearby if they sent another person for Uncle Steve. If we all did that, though, we¡¯d not only highlight potential targets but also split the team into bite-sized groups if the Nine¡¯s people chose to attack.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°how are we going to handle an attack? They¡¯re really after Uncle Steve, but if they go after our parents, we have no idea who they¡¯ll go for or if we can get there in time.¡±


    Cassie leaned in, ¡°That¡¯s what I was going to say. I say we all get ready to fly wherever there¡¯s an attack.¡±


    Travis looked her in the eye, ¡°That sounds good, but how are we going to keep them off our parents while we''re on the way? I don''t want them to die because we''re not fast enough.¡±


    Haley looked up toward the screen, eyes flickering toward the pictures of the streets around her family¡¯s house, ¡°I know, but Nick¡¯s bots are everywhere.  They''ll buy us some time, right?¡±


    She looked over at me.


    I said, ¡°We¡¯re a little short on bots for me personally because a lot of my backup bots are set up to protect our families. Kayla¡¯s ready to fire them and she¡¯ll have help from Hal if she needs it.¡±


    ¡°Hal?¡± Travis raised an eyebrow. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say the AI¡¯s rebelled against the species that created him?¡±


    ¡°I get your concern, but it¡¯s okay. He likes us and he¡¯s literally made to do this without murdering everybody.¡± I looked around the group to find that no one was listening.


    Their eyes were on the screen. I turned to look upward with everyone else. Jaclyn and Izzy had made it to the house--almost. Izzy was in the air and through her camera, we could see the house. Its red brick and worn white siding fit the colors around it¡ªfaded red leaves, the lighter green of grass about to go dormant.


    Izzy¡¯s voice came over my comm and through the room¡¯s speakers, ¡°We¡¯re here. I swept through the house with my sonar. There¡¯s only one person inside, but more have been sleeping here. It looks like four from the used beds., but there¡¯s a lot of equipment in the garage and basement. I think there might be more people than those staying here.¡±


    I took a quick look over the wall screen. I didn¡¯t see anybody sneaking down the streets toward our parents¡¯ houses or workplaces.


    Jaclyn talked over her comm, ¡°If the only person there is Prentkos, I think we can go in.¡±

 Friends & Family: Part 9

    I didn¡¯t like that the Cabal soldier who came to help him wasn¡¯t with him, but I didn¡¯t say that over the comm.


    Over the comm, I said, ¡°If there¡¯s no one else around, you might as well. That said, The Nine have had teleporters in their bases before, so that might change.¡±


    Jaclyn groaned, ¡°That¡¯s right. And even if they don¡¯t have one here, Cabal soldiers can jump half a mile or more. Blue, keep on your guard.¡±


    I felt as if I could hear Izzy¡¯s frown as she replied, ¡°I couldn¡¯t stop listening to everything around me even if I wanted to.¡±


    ¡°Going in,¡± Jaclyn said.


    Jaclyn¡¯s view on the wall screen changed. She¡¯d been standing in the road a couple of houses down from the house where Prentkos was lying on the couch.It wasn¡¯t hard for her to stay out of view. It was a country road running next to a river. Trees covered the house lots, making it hard to tell that there were houses. If you hadn¡¯t been paying attention earlier on the road, you might not even realize there was a river. The small ridge that the houses rested on obscured it.


    The view on her screen changed as she jumped upward, past the trees and into Izzy¡¯s view of the scene. In Izzy¡¯s view, I saw Jaclyn begin to fall toward a tree, but at that moment, she moved sideways in a move that had nothing to do with gravity and everything to do with the small anti-gravity unit I¡¯d placed in her costume. It wasn¡¯t enough for high-speed flight, but it was all she needed to adjust her trajectory when she fell.


    She landed on the concrete porch in front of the door, slowing as she hit to a degree that would have been impossible but for the device in her costume.


    Over the comm, Izzy said, ¡°He hasn¡¯t heard anything. He¡¯s still on the couch. It will be to your right when you open the door.¡±


    Jaclyn began to raise her hand toward the door handle, thought better of it, and stepped through the door, hitting it with her shoulder. The wooden door exploded as she hit, but it didn¡¯t slow her down.


    She burst into the living room, making it inside to stand over Prentkos¡¯ couch before he had the chance to move.


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    He laughed and raised his hands, ¡°I surrender.¡±


    He¡¯d taken off his cowl, revealing his face. He had short brown hair, and a square, handsome face.I¡¯d been right to guess that he was our age, but something about him didn¡¯t seem quite right. It might have been the way he stared. Maybe the loss of blood was affecting his actions, but that didn¡¯t fit.


    Then he shook his head, ¡°I¡¯d have unlocked the door. I¡¯m not going to be able to fight you right now. Look at me.¡±


    He was still wearing his red and grey costume. Blood stained the leg around where my bots hit, the stains partly covered by the pink foam I¡¯d sprayed to plug up the wound.


    Jaclyn looked down at the wound, noticing I bet, that I¡¯d sprayed it into the wound. It would probably be fine. The substance was non-toxic and broke down as a result of the body¡¯s natural healing process. Still, it had been designed with shallow cuts in mind, not holes that went straight through a leg.


    She said, ¡°You need to see a doctor.¡±


    Prentkos smiled with his mouth, but it didn¡¯t reach his eyes, ¡°I know, but in case you somehow found us, I was given a message for you.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Jaclyn stepped back with her right foot, putting her into a fighting stance even if it wasn¡¯t obvious. Next to me in HQ, Haley tensed.


    Over the comm, Izzy told everyone, ¡°His heartbeat spiked. I think he¡¯s going to do more than talk. Oh, and I¡¯m not seeing anyone else getting closer to the house.¡±


    Prentkos nodded, ¡°That¡¯s right. The Nine want me to tell you that they want Steven Vander Sloot. If you continue to protect him, they¡¯ll not only kill you but the following people¡ª¡°


    At that point, he started listing the parents of everyone in the group, pausing between names, and ending with, ¡°¡ªI don¡¯t know who these people are and I don¡¯t care. Let us take Steve Vander Sloot and we won¡¯t hurt anyone else.¡±


    Kals, meanwhile, had been staring at the screen, ¡°Did you hear that hitch when he spoke? How he''s been pausing a little too often? Someone gave him contradictory commands or too many all at once. He¡¯s stopping because he¡¯s trying to keep it straight in his head.¡±


    Haley frowned and spoke into her comm, ¡°Watch out. Prentkos is mind-controlled.¡±


    Prentkos opened his mouth as if to say something more, but then his hands blurred, going for the belt around his waist and he lunged forward off of the couch.


    Despite being able to process information more quickly than normal people, it was still a blur to me. I could tell that he held something pointed and that Jaclyn backed up a step, but not what he was holding.


    Within less than a second, Jaclyn had moved forward again, hitting his arm, and knocking the device out of his hand. Prentkos didn¡¯t dive for it, but now there was a bloody spot on his neck. He hadn¡¯t cut the jugular. It wasn¡¯t spraying. It was just a dot with a bloody trickle.


    At the same time, one of the spybots near Haley¡¯s house showed the Cabal soldier I¡¯d fought standing across the street. He wasn¡¯t doing anything, but it made me feel nervous.

 Friends & Family: Part 10

    I was about to point him out to Haley, but I didn¡¯t need to. She and Travis had already noticed and had looked away from the screen to look at each other.


    Haley¡¯s fists clenched and I didn¡¯t doubt that she was restraining herself from changing form, ¡°We should go. Mom¡¯s at home¡ª¡°


    Travis shook his head, ¡°I¡¯ll go. You¡¯re running things here.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, Haley said, ¡°No. I don¡¯t run¡ª¡°


    ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± Daniel said. ¡°You¡¯ve got a better chance if I do.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m coming too,¡± Cassie said, hand on her bluish-green gun. ¡°Those guys go down hard.¡±


    Haley¡¯s face tightened, ¡°Okay. Go then.¡±


    I looked over at Daniel and felt his worry followed by his thoughts, Travis will die if he goes alone. Even now there¡¯s no guarantee. If we send too many people with him there are larger-scale bad results. I don¡¯t know what yet.


    I looked at the bot views around my parents¡¯ house and my dad¡¯s office but saw nothing special. Even so, my heart started to beat faster.


    Travis had already turned and begun to run toward the hangar, his clothes already morphed into his gray and black costume. Cassie followed him. She¡¯d changed midway through the call. I wasn¡¯t sure where her sword had come from, but it was on her back. Daniel flew after them.


    Even as they left, Kayla muttered, ¡°Oh, God,¡± and I turned to look at her, following her gaze up toward the screen.


    Prentkos had begun to disintegrate. While accurate, the word ¡°disintegrate¡± didn¡¯t convey the feeling of what we were seeing. The word calls up clean, bloodless images of people turning to dust¡ªpossibly because Marvin Martian pointed a cartoon gun at them.


    This image was one I wanted to wipe from my memory the moment I saw it. Prentkos started to disintegrate, expanding outward from the bloody spot on his neck. The skin around it began to thin and separate, dripping a dark liquid that might have been blood. As I watched, the skin puckered and turned papery, pulling away from the body, and revealing the inside of his neck.


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    It didn¡¯t stop falling apart, but that¡¯s when I stopped watching.


    Jaclyn¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°I grabbed the¡­ injector, I think. It¡¯s not a needle, but it does the same thing. How good is this costume against biological contaminants?¡±


    ¡°It should be great. It¡¯s got a good filtration system and it¡¯ll seal completely if you tell it to. It¡¯s got limits, but they¡¯re pretty wide limits.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Jaclyn backed up to the front door and stepped outside, ¡°I don¡¯t know what that is, but I don¡¯t want to find out that it¡¯s contagious.¡±


    In the background of her stream, I heard white noise. It might have been a fire as easily as a radio tuned to an empty station. Jaclyn ran away from the house, checking behind herself as she ran away. The house exploded, disappearing in a column of flame and smoke that turned into a cloud of smoke.


    Jaclyn stopped, checking around the house, ¡°I don¡¯t see if anything else has caught on fire. Blue, do you see anything?¡±


    Izzy replied, ¡°No one else seems to have been hurt and I don¡¯t think the fire is spreading. I¡¯ll call 911.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± Kayla said, ¡°you might need to handle something there.¡±


    As Izzy took a flight around the burning building, Tara stepped up to Haley and me, ¡°I think that the remaining members of the group the Nine sent are going to try to attack your parents¡¯ house again and that anything else going on is a distraction from that.¡±


    ¡°A distraction,¡± Haley asked, ¡°like my family?¡±


    Tara¡¯s face had been all straight lines and no emotions, but with that, her lips quivered, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I know you¡¯re worried and I know they¡¯re in danger. When I use my abilities, I see patterns and not much more.¡±


    Haley held up her hands, ¡°I know. I¡¯m worried. You¡¯re doing what we need you to do. Do you know who they¡¯ll hit first or how soon they¡¯ll attack Nick¡¯s house?¡±


    Tara stared out at nothing, ¡°They¡¯ll hit your parents first¡ªwithin the next five minutes. They¡¯re trying to draw our attention by placing the Cabal soldier we recognize there. They¡¯ll make it worse to draw more of us in and then hit Nick¡¯s parents¡¯ house.¡±


    Kals cut in, ¡°That man in the house? He died from Abominator tech. The Human Ascendancy used it. They can¡¯t just cut you with it. You have to already be taking the other part of the poison. The Ascendancy used to put it in the food of motivators or others that they thought might be too dangerous.¡±


    She paused for a breath and then said, ¡°They might have more Abominator tech.¡±


    On the screen, the Cabal soldier crossed the street and started walking toward Haley¡¯s parents¡¯ house.

 Misdirection: Part 1

    Once the Cabal soldier crossed the street, he stopped, standing on the sidewalk as if he were waiting for someone. It kind of worked. It wasn¡¯t as if he were wearing a purple, orange, or green skintight jumpsuit, the kind of thing that screams, ¡°I¡¯m a supervillain!¡±


    Bearing in mind that many of the Cabal had been Roman soldiers, he wasn¡¯t wearing either a toga or carrying a shield. That would have been out of place in a suburban, upper-middle-class neighborhood. He wore a grey coat and blue slacks that to my eye had the heaviness of materials used for armor. I doubted that a Cabal soldier needed armor, but no one wanted to run around naked and I supposed that was less likely with tougher materials.


    At any rate, he didn¡¯t stand out. With his short-cropped hair, square jaw, and muscular build, he passed for someone with a bodybuilding hobby or maybe a bodyguard.


    Anyway, he stood in front of the long, white, McMansion Haley¡¯s parents owned without instantly making the neighbors feel like they had to call the police.


    A quick look at the map in my HUD showed that Daniel, Travis, and Cassie weren¡¯t far away¡ªmaybe a mile, something only possible because the Wolfmobile didn¡¯t have to stop for traffic lights or traffic jams. The driver could slide out the wings, turn on the rockets, and fly over obstacles. With the anti-gravity assist I¡¯d added, the car remained stable for longer in the air and was less likely to hit traffic lights the way I had on my first time with the car.


    Cassie¡¯s motorcycle couldn¡¯t fly, but she didn¡¯t have any compunction against riding down the sidewalk. She wasn¡¯t as far behind as you¡¯d have thought.


    Next to me, Haley had called home with her comm, letting it interface with the phone system, faking a call from her cellphone, ¡°Mom, who¡¯s home right now?¡±


    She¡¯d changed, growing a little taller and muscular, and was extending and retracting the claws on her left hand as she talked. She looked up at the screen, watching the Cabal soldier as he stood before her family home, ¡°Dad¡¯s home too? Okay. This is bad. The man in front of the house is here to kill you. How do I know? Uh¡­ The police told me not to go home. They¡¯ve called in the Heroes¡¯ League. They¡¯re on the way.¡±


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    Even without super hearing, I could hear Haley¡¯s mom¡¯s voice grow louder. Haley said, ¡°Don¡¯t leave the house. Go upstairs and into your bedroom¡­ No. Tell Dad the shotgun won¡¯t do any good. No good at all¡­ Do you remember the Cabal from when I was in high school? Yes, they¡¯re still around. This is one of the bad ones¡ªthe kind that bulldozes everything. Shotguns won¡¯t hurt him.¡±


    It might not have been the best moment for it, but I couldn¡¯t think of anything else useful to do. I tapped the abilities that Kee had been teaching me to use. Though I could still hear Haley talking to her mom and then Daniel over her comm, my mind simultaneously existed elsewhere. Kee had told me that I wouldn¡¯t really understand it for at least one thousand years, but the best theory I had was that I was using some version of what starships used to travel faster than light and what ansibles tapped into to send messages in real-time across space.


    Overlying, the concrete walls and giant screen ahead of me, I saw stars stretching and blurring and among them I saw my sister Rachel flying. She wore her Ghost costume, all in white except for the black backpack¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t really part of her costume. She¡¯d used it as luggage for her trip abroad to France in university and now for her current interstellar internship.


    She turned to look at me, ¡°This isn¡¯t good news is it?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, no. The Nine are using a guy from the Cabal plus their own people to kill Uncle Steve, but maybe also Mom and Dad and the whole League¡¯s parents. If you can come home, we need you.¡±


    Her jaw dropped a little, ¡°Uncle Steve? How did he get involved in any of this?¡±


    I began to explain and she waved it away, ¡°Never mind. I¡¯ll get home somehow, but I¡¯m going to need help.¡±


    She turned toward a shimmering object shaped almost like a human being except that parts of it shifted between white and translucent, making the shape too inconsistent to be sure. After a few seconds, Rachel turned back to me, ¡°It won¡¯t be in minutes, but it might be in hours. Or days. We¡¯re close to the galactic core. It¡¯s complicated, but I¡¯ll be home as soon as I can.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t ask for more,¡± I told her.


    She stared as if trying to see what was behind me¡ªwhich she might have been able to do. Seeing home from half a galaxy away would pull at a person. We¡¯d talked but not all the time since she¡¯d left. It was harder at first than it was now.


    ¡°Stay safe,¡± She said. ¡°Oh, and the Ghosts can tell that you¡¯re stronger. Try not to attract the wrong kind of attention.¡±


    ¡°You stay safe,¡± I told her and faded fully into our reality.

 Misdirection: Part 2

    It hadn¡¯t changed at all from how I¡¯d left things. Haley was still talking to her mom. The Cabal soldier was still standing on the sidewalk in front of her house. Other people from our team were standing near us¡ªMarcus, Tara, Julie, Katuk, and Kals.


    Jaclyn¡¯s camera still showed the burning house, ¡°Hey,¡± she said, ¡°should Blue and I head over to the house? I don¡¯t like the looks of having a Cabal soldier there just waiting.¡±


    From above Jaclyn, Izzy said, ¡°I don¡¯t either.¡±


    Haley looked up at the screen, staring at the section where her parents¡¯ house showed, ¡°We¡¯ve got people on the way and I¡¯ve been told by the Mystic to keep people in reserve because they¡¯re going after Uncle Steve.¡±


    She flicked the claws on her left hand in and out again.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like it either,¡± I told them.


    At that moment, something bright appeared on Haley¡¯s parents'' screen. Johnny Destruction dropped into the frame from the sky. He looked like he did in every piece of video I¡¯d ever seen of him¡ªall black, faux leather clothes that were flame-resistant armor in reality. His hands and feet were shooting fire. He didn¡¯t wear a mask or helmet, revealing a thin face and curly, red hair. His sideburns, unchanged from the 1970s, made it halfway down his cheeks.


    He reminded me of a muppet, except his hair was on fire.


    I vaguely remembered reading that flight was somehow a limited resource for him, but I didn¡¯t know why or how it worked. Running quickly was his main mode of transportation. I didn¡¯t think he was faster than Jaclyn, but he was faster than anyone we¡¯d sent there.


    Maybe Daniel¡¯s prescience would make the difference.


    Tara looked over to Haley, ¡°They¡¯re trying to get us to over-commit.¡±


    Haley opened her mouth but didn¡¯t say anything, clenching her fists. I thought about putting my hand on her shoulder but decided not to. Meanwhile, Kayla spoke over the comm, ¡°Johnny Destruction has joined the Cabal soldier. They haven¡¯t yet started toward the house.¡±


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    ¡°Got it,¡± Daniel said, ¡°I¡¯ll try to drop Johnny. Cap and Night Wolf can go after the Cabal soldier.¡±


    The Wolfmobile¡¯s camera view showed the street they lived on. Travis was a few blocks down. Cassie¡¯s camera confirmed that she was traveling parallel one street over. Daniel¡¯s camera showed that he was traveling only a few feet higher and just behind Cassie. I wasn¡¯t sure how this helped, but I didn¡¯t doubt that Daniel was taking the best route he could predict.


    Over the comm, Travis said, ¡°Fine with me,¡± and Cassie grunted something that probably meant yes.


    It barely seemed to take any time after that for Travis and the Wolfmobile to pull into the view of the spybot watching the Cabal soldier and Johnny Destruction. Travis had set the Wolfmobile to appear as a white Corvette as opposed to Nightwolf¡¯s classic vehicle. It must have initially registered to the Nine¡¯s people as somebody driving a sports car faster than the speed limit.


    Even among the fanatics that edited the Wolfmobile¡¯s wiki entry at Double V, changing shape and paint color wasn¡¯t a known characteristic of the car.


    That meant that when Travis roared past, not even slowing down to jump out of the door of the car, he took them unawares. He swiped at Johnny Destruction with his claws on the way past. It didn¡¯t go through Johnny¡¯s armored jacket, but it was a nice try at taking him down. If the venom had gotten into Johnny¡¯s system, he¡¯d have been out.


    Travis did manage to sink his fangs into the Cabal soldier¡¯s neck, something I don¡¯t think we even tried the first time we fought them. It worked. The soldier fell down, hitting the grass off to the side of the sidewalk. As Johnny Destruction turned to point his flaming hands in Travis¡¯ direction, Travis jumped up, flipping over and landing in the street.


    Johnny didn¡¯t have time to adjust, firing off gouts of flame at the spot where Travis had been and hitting the lawn and sidewalk next to the Cabal soldier. The grass turned to ash, turning it and the ground under it grey. The sidewalk blackened and cracked, throwing bits of concrete into the air.


    The Cabal soldier, pushed himself up from the ground, his arms wobbling. Travis must have pumped a lot of poison into his body. It wouldn¡¯t last, but even a small delay in his entrance into the fight could save lives. I didn¡¯t know Daniel¡¯s ultimate plan, but I suspected it was for Travis to distract the Cabal soldier long enough for Daniel to put Johnny Destruction and the soldier to sleep. Physical damage alone wouldn¡¯t do it when you included their regeneration in the picture.


    Johnny Destruction aimed more fire at Travis, burning and cracking the road, but missing him.


    I liked the way this was going, but remembering what Daniel had said, I waited for the other shoe to drop.

 Misdirection: Part 3

    I didn¡¯t realize that even as I felt optimistic, the other shoe had already dropped. The tree in the front yard had started on fire and the mulch and one of the bushes in front of their house had started with it.


    Haley started talking to her mother over the comm again, ¡°You need to get out, but don¡¯t exit where they can see you. Go over to the neighbors. We¡¯ll figure out a way to get you out of there¡­ How? The police are coming. How do I know? Mom. You don¡¯t have time for this. Get Dad and get out. And be careful, okay? I love you too.¡±


    Haley and I looked at each other. I couldn¡¯t know what she was thinking, but I knew I was wondering how many people would be too many and cause inevitable disaster for Uncle Steve, my parents, and us. Cassie and Daniel weren¡¯t there yet and without them, Johnny Destruction and a Cabal soldier were more than Travis could handle.


    Even as I thought back to Daniel telling me that Travis would die if he didn¡¯t come along, but that even if he did, he couldn¡¯t make any promises,the situation changed again.Johnny Destruction turned toward where Travis stood in the street, aiming two streams of white flame at him.


    Travis had already jumped away, landing in the upper branches of the already burning tree¡ªwhich had to give him some cover even though all the leaves had fallen a month ago or more. Proving that what I¡¯d heard about Johnny Destruction wasn¡¯t quite accurate, the man started floating upward, flame sprouting from his feet and outlining his body. Even though it wasn¡¯t as fast as he¡¯d been going when he arrived, he¡¯d be high enough to fire at Travis soon enough.


    Travis jumped from the tree, landing on the grass next to the sidewalk on the side opposite Johnny Destruction. Johnny opened up with his flame, starting the middle section of the tree on fire. Travis jumped sideways to avoid the new blasts of flame, landing next to the street. Meanwhile, a small pile of leaves on their neighbor¡¯s lawn started on fire.


    Vaughn looked over at Haley and me, ¡°You okay with me creating a storm so your house doesn''t start on fire?¡±


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    ¡°Yes,¡± Haley and I both said at once, looking at each other and sharing brief smiles even as I hoped that sending Vaughn out wasn¡¯t the tipping point to end my family¡¯s lives.


    Vaughn gave us a thumbs up and flew out one of the exits.


    As he flew away, I noticed movement near my dad¡¯s office. He saw clients in a concrete and wood-paneled, four-floored office building. To me, it looked as though it had been built in the 1970s. His office was on the second floor. The office building was on the edge of the parking lot that in turn was next to multiple apartment buildings with a similar concrete and wood panel aesthetic.


    A long, blue van had stopped in front of the building and four people got out, all of them dressed in thick, gray bodysuits and helmets that covered their faces, belts full of pouches, and rifles on their backs. Though I couldn¡¯t see their faces, they were all the same height and had the same build.


    In short, they almost had to be True. I hoped they didn¡¯t have a better reason for sending four of them to kill my dad than simply expecting superpowered protection.


    I¡¯d have left at that moment if I hadn¡¯t seen movement in the pictures next to the ones of my father¡¯s office. Learning that a super in costume wouldn¡¯t get anywhere near my parents¡¯ house, they¡¯d driven a U-Haul truck up my parents¡¯ block and stepped out two houses down. I hadn¡¯t noticed that, but I did notice when people stepped out.


    I tagged the first one as a clone of Cassie¡¯s father not only because he had her father¡¯s muscular physique, square jaw, and blond hair, but also because someone had chosen to have him wear a modernized version of the man¡¯s costume¡ªblue with a flag over his chest. Accompanied by two more of the True, that wasn¡¯t all.


    Following him came an at least seven-foot tall woman with green, scaled skin, and claws, another woman, this one in green and black robes and carrying a black, metal, staff. I had a bad feeling that this made her a magic user of some kind.


    The last person to step out wouldn¡¯t have looked out of place in an expensive restaurant¡ªin the1920s. He wore a dark suit and carried a cane. Judging from his face, I doubted he could be older than his mid-thirties.


    ¡°Oh, shit,¡± Haley muttered.


    Tara said, ¡°Send Izzy to help his father. She¡¯ll be enough. Send Nick and a few others after his mother.¡±


    ¡°Going,¡± I said, setting my helmet to reform on my head and running across HQ for the tunnel that led to the forest exit.

 Misdirection: Part 4

    As I ran, I tried to think who the people I¡¯d seen might be. The tall woman with green skin came first. I¡¯d seen an alert about her from the FBI. She was called Rogue Croc¡ªwhich I guess was a reference to a film in addition to the fact that she¡¯d been recruited into the army and been activated by their version of the power impregnator before ¡°going rogue.¡± Also, she¡¯d grown up in a village of Cabal descendants, so she wasn¡¯t going down easy.


    My implant returned that the woman with the staff was called Magicka and that she¡¯d been around since the 1920s, mostly fighting members of the Mask family. As of my internship with the Motor City Heroes, Mateo/Blue Mask was a friend who had no chance to get here in time to help.


    I ran through the tunnel, seeing light on the floor ahead of me as the door leading to the forest opened. I reached it and the rockets took me straight up into the air, still trying to remember the name of the man with the suit and cane.


    Even as I turned, aiming toward my parents¡¯ house,I noted that Jaclyn, Marcus, and I had been given our own channel¡ªwith a slow blink next to the list of users that meant the add user interface was open and more people might still be added.


    Jaclyn said, ¡°I¡¯m going straight to the house and standing in front of it. Any better ideas?¡±


    ¡°That was my plan,¡± I had seconds to come up with a better one.


    Amy¡¯s name appeared on the channel¡ªgood. We had no one more qualified to deal with magic or anyone else. Her voice came over the comm, ¡°I¡¯m better, but not at my best. Shift and I are behind you.¡±


    The cameras showed that our opponents had moved one house down the sidewalk. The street was empty. All the children had either decided November was too cold to play outside or they were still in school.


    I barely had time to take that in and then I was at my parents¡¯ house. I flipped over in the air and landed on the walkway to our front door.


    ¡°Hey there,¡± I said, wishing I''d said something with a better chance of striking fear in the hearts of evildoers. ¡°You haven¡¯t noticed yet, but we¡¯ve got you surrounded. I mean¡­ Unless you¡¯re not here to murder people?¡±


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    Captain Clone, or so I was naming him in my head, walked a little bit ahead of his group with Rogue Croc a little behind and to his right. Magicka stood immediately behind him and Mystery Cane Guy stood off to the left of Magicka, making them into a supervillain diamond that happened to be walking across my family¡¯s lawn.


    Captain Clone grinned, ¡°No, you¡¯ve got it right. We are here to murder people.¡±


    He moved his hand toward the gun on his utility belt, ¡°Let¡¯s get to it.¡±


    Mystery Cane Guy reached out and grabbed his forearm, ¡°Wait a moment.¡±


    His voice had the tone I recognized from when both Kals and Julie used their abilities. If that weren¡¯t enough of a hint, my suit¡¯s internal buzzer hummed as he talked.


    Captain Clone¡¯s grimace showed teeth, but he let go of the gun.


    Letting go of Captain Clone¡¯s arm, Mystery Cane Guy said, ¡°You¡¯ve no reason to know me, but you can call me Number Eight.¡±


    Judging from the way that all three of the others looked at him as he spoke, I knew he was important regardless of his vocal abilities and that combined with the name he¡¯d given¡­ ¡°Number Eight. As in Eight out of Nine? No relation to Seven of Nine.¡±


    Number Eight paused for a moment before replying, ¡°Number Seven isn¡¯t a relative, but is one of the Nine¡¯s ruling council just like I am.¡±


    It struck me that I might have learned two things. The first and most important was that if this guy was on the Nine¡¯s ruling council, maybe the Dominators were a division of the Nine and this guy was the head Dominator. I didn¡¯t know where exactly Magnus fit into that since it sounded like he ran the Dominators, but it wasn¡¯t impossible that he might be Number One.


    The other thing I¡¯d learned was much less important. Number Eight was not a Star Trek fan.


    Rogue Croc smirked. Maybe she was.


    Number Eight tapped his cane, ¡°I¡¯ve been speaking to a mutual friend of ours¡ªMartin Magnus. He thought I should give you one more chance to hand Steve Vander Sloot over to us before a fight starts. Like you, our friend is all about minimizing the damage. We don¡¯t know who might get hurt if we have to go in.¡±


    I used my implant to text my Mom, ¡°Get out of the back door with Uncle Steve once the fighting starts.¡±


    Her return text appeared in my HUD, ¡°Grandpa left us a panic room.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know about any panic room, but I didn¡¯t have time to discuss it. Watching Number Eight, I said, ¡°I like the idea of minimizing damage. Are you sure you have to go after Steve? If he stole anything, we might be able to get it back.¡±


    As Number Eight began to reply, I saw movement between the houses across the street. Jaclyn talked into the task group channel, ¡°We¡¯re all in position. Shift and Bloodmaiden are in the air.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see them, but I also knew Amy could turn people invisible if she wanted to.


    I started listening to Number Eight again as he said, ¡°Simply returning anything he may have taken isn¡¯t acceptable. We need what¡¯s in his mind. We¡¯d accept yours if you were willing to trade yourself for him.¡±

 Misdirection: Part 5

    ¡°Tempting offer,¡± I said. ¡°I have a counteroffer. How about you leave without hurting anybody and we all get to skip a fight?¡±


    Number Eight smiled. That smile along with his bowler, cane, and the white shirt under his suit jacket made me think of the film A Clockwork Orange. Appearing to be in his mid-thirties, the man seemed a little too old for the role.


    I¡¯d never watched it, but it sounded disturbing.


    He laughed, ¡°I¡¯ve heard about you. You and your team are so young that you bought into the original League¡¯s good press. They were soldiers who recognized that they had to force the world around them to make sense. You¡¯re soft.¡±


    It was hard not to think back to the people I¡¯d killed while fighting on Hideaway or even on Manhattan Island when we fought the Hrrnna¡¯s mercenaries. If he wasn¡¯t trying to bait me, he hadn¡¯t been keeping up with my career. Of course, keeping up with the fighting on Hideaway would have been nearly impossible bearing in mind that it happened on a hidden planet half a galaxy away.


    I said, ¡°Understood. We¡¯re soft. If you could please clear out, it would improve both of our lives.¡±


    I wondered how Cassie, Travis, and Daniel were doing and if this conversation might be about stopping us from going to help them. That didn¡¯t fit with Tara¡¯s guesses, but I didn¡¯t see any benefit for him in prolonging the conversation¡ªunless he was also giving time for more allies to show up.


    Bearing that in mind, I might need to start the fight¡ªunless he was trying to manipulate me into that reaction? It seemed paranoid and unlikely.


    ¡°Right now,¡± I added.


    ¡°Very intimidating,¡± Amy whispered in my ear. I could feel her breath even though I wore a helmet. Magic.


    Captain Clone laughed, ¡°Or what? You¡¯ll attack? Your record says you don¡¯t do that.¡±


    Over the comm, I said, ¡°How about you all attack while I keep on talking?¡±


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    ¡°I¡¯ll take Rogue Croc,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Shift takes Captain Photocopy. Bloodmaiden versus Magicka. Number Eight is the Rocket¡¯s.¡±


    I didn¡¯t reply, not wanting to risk tipping the Nine¡¯s people off. Instead, I said, ¡°I guess I don¡¯t. On the other hand, if we¡¯re standing out here talking, you¡¯re not killing anyone and there¡¯s no reason to fight.¡±


    At almost the same time, multiple things happened. The first was that my implant reported back. Since I¡¯d started wondering who Number Eight was, it had been checking the databases we had access to for information, finding a picture of a similar man involved in a fight with Silver Mask during a riot in 1930s in Los Angeles. He¡¯d driven the crowd to fury with his voice, but then disappeared, reappearing some thirty feet away.


    As I absorbed that information, a purple blur hit Rogue Croc from the side, throwing her massive, green-scaled form halfway down the block. She landed in the middle of the street, unable to even get up before Jaclyn caught up and began to pummel her with a blur of her fists.


    Somewhere out there must have been a person willing to complain that it was unfair not to allow Rogue Croc to get up, but that person had no idea what they were talking about. Rogue Croc¡¯s attempts to strike back missed, but threw chunks of road in the air.


    In front of my house, Magicka waved her staff, and a hole opened in reality, allowing human-sized spiders to crawl out, pulling themselves through every available part of the ten-foot-high opening. Many dragged themselves through while hanging on to the spider under them and pushing against the edges of the opening, falling into a heap on either side when they had nothing to push against.


    With all of that going on, Captain Clone could be forgiven for being distracted, but he wasn¡¯t. He started to sprint toward my parents¡¯ house (toward me), only to be stopped by Marcus.


    Amy and Marcus had turned visible. Standing on the lawn next to Number Eight¡¯s group, Marcus shot his fists forward, stretching a good ten feet across the lawn, hitting Captain Clone, but then splashing almost like water, expanding to surround Captain Clone¡¯s arms.


    At the same time as all of that, Amy charged in from next to Marcus, using her spear to stab a spider in the head. It exploded in a blast of red fire and parts made of black goo and green ooze.


    With all of this going on, I wasn¡¯t standing there doing nothing. I absorbed the information about Number Eight even as he saw Jaclyn punch Rogue Croc into the air. As the massive spiders pushed into our reality and Captain Clone charged the house, Number Eight disappeared, reappearing in my parents¡¯ living room. Standing next to a coffee table covered with books, he got his bearings and ran deeper into the house.


    I turned around and finding the front door locked, I smashed it open, breaking into my childhood home.

 Misdirection: Part 6

    The living room always felt the opposite of living during my childhood. Mom kept it perfect for guests to the point that you could see the lines where the vacuum cleaner ran on the carpet, or if you chose to sit there, the footprints you left on the way to the couch.


    Mom wasn¡¯t obsessive enough to vacuum after seeing footprints appear, but there were times I felt like she¡¯d have preferred that I teleport into the room.


    In that sense, Number Eight was Mom¡¯s perfect guest. When you considered that he planned to kill Uncle Steve, maybe a bit less so.


    Number Eight had appeared next to the coffee table. With the crash of the door being thrown open, he¡¯d moved toward the doorway into the combined dining room, kitchen, and family room area of the house.


    I didn¡¯t bother to go into the living room. Unless he wanted to look at the books on the coffee table, his choices were doorways into the dining room or the hallway.


    I was in the hall, so that was right out.


    He ran past the refrigerator with its magnets, some of them still holding up pictures of Rachel and me as small children or the whole family camping.


    Number Eight didn¡¯t stop to look at them. He turned right, running into the kitchen, but also down the hall toward the doorways that led down to a bathroom, downstairs to the basement, and into the garage. It was an interesting choice if you assumed that he didn¡¯t know where anyone in the house was because it led away from the second floor, which was half of the house.


    If you assumed that he had some way to know where Uncle Steve was, it was bad news because if we had a safe room, I didn¡¯t know where it was and he did.


    I¡¯d run down the hall and turned right in time to see him open the door to the basement. I ran, knowing that I had the speed to catch him before he got more than a couple steps down the stairs.


    He disappeared.


    The part of my brain that cataloged this sort of thing noted that Number Eight had to see the spot before he could teleport there. The open questions were his maximum range, whether he could teleport to a spot he¡¯d seen, but wasn¡¯t in sight, and if he could carry someone along.


    The wrong answers to those questions could turn this into a disaster.


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    I ran down ten feet to the open door, hitting it with my shoulder when I turned. The wood cracked. Even including the front door, it wasn¡¯t the first damage I¡¯d ever done to the house, but it felt wrong.


    I didn¡¯t dwell on it, running down the carpeted stairs to the degree that I could. I didn¡¯t trust the wood beneath the carpet to hold up to powered armor capable of generating tons of force.


    At some point, after I moved into Grandpa¡¯s house full time, my parents had the basement renovated, turning it from hundred-year-old concrete only used for the furnace, storage, and hiding the cat¡¯s litter box into a second family room and home office.


    By the time I got downstairs, Number Eight had run across the fake wooden floor and white rug, past, the two desks along the nearest wall, the foosball table, bookcases, large TV, and framed family pictures toward the far end of the room, opening the door to the laundry room.


    Number Eight fumbled with the door, throwing it open with enough force that he pulled it away from the upper hinge entirely and partially out of the middle hinge. He tried to shut it behind himself, but it only hit the frame and he ran.


    If he knew the layout of the house, he had to know that he was rapidly running out of places to run or hide¡ªwhich bothered me. Unless he expected to grab or kill Uncle Steve instantly, he had a reason to believe that he¡¯d have time to do what he needed to. It seemed like a necessary corollary to what Lee often said, ¡°Anyone who attacks you has a reason to believe he¡¯ll win.¡±


    I followed him through the door, half-expecting him to shoot me, but pushing through because I felt he¡¯d have taken me down already if he could.


    I stepped into the laundry room ready to fire off paralysis beams, stepping through onto the carpet and only a foot or two from the white, matching washer and dryer.


    Number Eight wasn¡¯t standing next to it. Quick as a thought, he¡¯d disappeared from next to the door and reappeared in the far corner of the room. When I looked at the spot, I realized that I¡¯d never given it enough thought.That was the corner of the room with the entrance to the coal bin. It was a separate room maybe five by ten with a window that had been filled in with concrete before my parents bought the house.


    I couldn¡¯t see inside now, of course. The door was shut. It wasn¡¯t much of a door. On the inside, it was made of wooden boards. On the outside, it was a piece of bead board that had been painted white sometime in the last century. It didn¡¯t even fully fill the door frame. There was nearly half an inch of space on three of the four sides.


    Today though, that space was filled with bluish-green metal. I recognized the type. It had different names in different languages, but the Abominators called it scazz. It was still commonly used in starship construction due to its tensile strength and low mass.


    It¡¯d work as material for a safe room.


    The moment I got Number Eight in my sights, I fired off the paralysis beams. I''d worked up a version that used both of the common ways to do that--sound and electromagnetic radiation.


    He turned to look at me but didn''t fall. Apparently, he wore countermeasures against both. I decided to try something less subtle. I jumped him.


    I leaped to tackle Number Eight and he touched one of the cufflinks on his jacket. A shimmery sphere surrounded him, covering hard points like the floor and the wall. I hit it and bounced off.


    It was a force field. Annoying.

 Misdirection: Part 7

    I managed to avoid falling over after hitting the glowing shield but I wobbled as I moved my right leg back to stabilize myself. I still had to hold out my arms and wave them a little. It wasn¡¯t a good look. At any rate, it wasn¡¯t a look that communicated that I was an unstoppable force of justice that was only temporarily having trouble balancing in the basement laundry room.


    Number Eight smiled and then turned around to the wooden door, ignoring me.


    It said a lot for his confidence in the force field. If it turned out to be Rook¡¯s design, Rook might not have told him that I¡¯d gotten around Rook¡¯s inventions in the past.


    Number Eight picked up his cane and smacked it against the door. The wood splintered and pieces fell off onto the ground, some of the smaller bits flying backward into the force field.


    I had a gut feeling that Number Eight had gotten some version of the same power set ¡°motivators¡± did in the Ascendancy¡ªvoice powers, strength, and maybe also low-level self-healing. The teleportation thing wasn¡¯t standard, but people on Earth didn¡¯t come out of the Ascendancy¡¯s breeding system either.


    I decided to start with the most obvious choice¡ªpunching the force field. What it lacked in sophistication, it made up for in immediacy. If strength was enough to break the shield, I¡¯d know immediately and wouldn¡¯t have to take the time to come up with something clever.


    I pulled back my arm, pushing forward with my leg and twisting my body to throw my first punch. Putting tons of force into the blow, it hit the shield and my hand slowed, but still sank into it, reminding me of the feeling of coming down on a trampoline. Streaks of lightning ran across the surface of the shield.


    For a moment, I thought my hand might go through, but as the streaks of lightning disappeared, the shield pushed my hand back, resuming its normal shape.It didn¡¯t throw me back this time. This was more of a polite push¡ªthough to judge from the statistics running across my HUD, a polite push that might have broken my arm if I weren¡¯t wearing the Rocket suit.


    He turned his head to grin at me and took another swing at the door, shattering the upper three-quarters of the door, revealing a scaled sheet of blue-green metal underneath.


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    Had the shield turned the kinetic energy of my punch into power for the shield or absorbed the energy without using it like any physical shield might? There were potential benefits and drawbacks to both designs. For example, a shield that converted energy into power seemed more likely to explode if it converted too much. On the other hand, barring that, converting energy into power might allow it to last longer.


    How many types of energy could it convert? Light wasn¡¯t the same thing as a punch.


    I turned on my laser, aiming it at his leg because if it did go through, I wanted to be able to talk to him.


    The laser didn¡¯t go through, but the area around it where it hit changed color from a translucent golden glow to angry red and opaque, reminding me of pictures of molten lava. Threads of lightning extended from it, only disappearing halfway across the shield. In that moment, I felt more than 90% certain that it was using the energy instead of keeping it away from the target behind it.


    I couldn¡¯t have proved it based on the evidence in front of me, but if I¡¯d created a force field capable of that kind of flexibility, I¡¯d bet that it would suck energy. If I could find a way to recharge it on my opponents¡¯ dime, I would.


    The question now was whether I could overload the shield before the laser¡¯s battery went to zero or Number Eight made it through the barrier. That said, the laser got a stronger reaction than the punch.


    Instead of turning around to look at what happened when the laser hit, Number Eight started hitting the metal barrier with all his strength and as often as he could. The metal didn¡¯t ring when he hit it. It thumped as if it were much thicker than the half-inch or less that my implant suggested it likely was.


    On the off-chance it might help, I fired off a killbot, hoping that it might cut through the force field. It didn¡¯t. It ran out of energy halfway through. Well, it was worth a shot¡ªliterally.


    I didn¡¯t fire it and sit there watching it though. I¡¯d also aimed my laser at a different spot on the glowing sphere while the killbot was still trying to cut through. As part of the golden glow turned angry red filled with threads of lightning, Number Eight looked back at me, grimaced and pulled something out of the pocket on the inside of his suit coat.


    It wasn¡¯t ergonomic¡ªat least for the human hand.


    To my eyes, it appeared to be a blue rock with a knifelike spike shooting out of one end.


    My implant identified it as an Abominator tool. Made out of a processed form of scazz, the same metal as the one blocking the doorway, it could be used to cut through metal. It wouldn¡¯t cut through scazz with any great speed, but it could¡ªthough it would likely be destroyed in the process.


    Knowing that all Number Eight needed was to make one small hole to get in, I turned on the sonics as well, hoping that they¡¯d help.


    Number Eight stabbed at the metal, hitting it with the spike again and again until it stuck in the wall. Then he pulled it back, revealing a small hole a little lower than his eye level.


    At about the same time, the force field shattered.

 Misdirection: Part 8

    Number Eight turned his head to look back at me as the force field went down, his eyes wide and his mouth open in an expression that said, ¡°Oh, no.¡±


    He turned back to the hole he¡¯d made in the door and looked inside. I reached forward, trying to knock him away from the hole before he disappeared. I failed. I thought I felt his arm give and then my arm was flying through where his body had been.


    From the other side of the hole, though, I heard his voice give a short scream followed by, ¡°Wait till you see what I do to your mother, you little shit.¡±


    Then I heard Uncle Steve¡¯s voice saying, ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± followed by a sound that I can only describe as goosh except there were multiple gooshes gooshing simultaneously.


    My mom said, ¡°What is that?¡±


    ¡°A really weird polymer. I got it from a co-worker when I went undercover against an Italian supervillain on a NATO project with the AISI. I can¡¯t talk about it, but I got this. It just lasts long enough to run away and, if we¡¯re lucky, long enough for the Rocket to get in.¡±


    Uncle Steve paused, ¡°Can we open the room?¡±


    Mom said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know there was a room until I found out they were coming. I think the Mentalist tucked it away in my brain. I couldn¡¯t even think about it until I needed it. I can get in but not much more.¡±


    Uncle Steve sighed, ¡°Well, that seems a little short-sighted. Dad usually wrote that kind of thing down. Do you see a three-ring binder anywhere?¡±


    In the background as they talked came grunting noises that sounded like Number Eight followed by noises that combined a thud with a goosh.


    I, meanwhile, was checking my implant to find out if scazz had any known vulnerabilities¡ªaside from being stabbed by a cane. From the implant¡¯s account of the metal¡¯s properties, the cane couldn¡¯t be a normal cane. Scazz was, among other things, tough and not so much a metal as an alloy of metals, non-metals, and metalloids, combined by a method complex enough that I¡¯d have to think about it later.


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    It didn¡¯t translate into any kind of weakness I could turn into a practical method of getting in.


    Unable to think of a clever way to get in, I went with a more obvious method. I aimed my fists at the hole Number Eight had made under the assumption that making the hole weakened the area around it enough that it might be easier to get through.


    On the off-chance that they¡¯d help, I aimed the sonics on both of my arms at spots outside the hole, giving them maximum power and a narrow beam. I¡¯d have used the laser if the implant¡¯s data dump into my brain hadn¡¯t included the knowledge that the scaled shape of the alloy was used during wartime and was particularly effective against lasers and other energy weapons.


    Sonic weapons weren¡¯t commonly used in warfare and it didn¡¯t have data available¡ªor so it told me. To be fair, a lot of alien warfare took place in space, a place where sonic weapons wouldn¡¯t work.


    The upshot? It might be a waste of time, but it might not. I did it anyway.


    If they didn¡¯t work, it wasn¡¯t visually obvious, but when my punch hit, some of the alloy did give way. I punched again, widening the hole.


    At that point, I pumped up the release of energy in the Rocket suit¡¯s artificial muscles and began to batter the wall the way a boxer might hit a speed bag. The hole grew bigger. I hoped I wouldn¡¯t have to go into another fight after this one because I was going through the muscles¡¯ fuel faster than I wanted to.


    Still, I could fit my arm, shoulder, and head through, but nothing else. I needed to make it bigger if I wanted to go through, but I could at least see inside now.


    To my right stood a wall of what appeared to be cubes of silver jello that appeared to have been sprayed diagonally from my side of the wall to the far side. They reached from the ceiling to the floor of what appeared to be a ten-foot-long room. The far side of the jello wobbled, expanding into the room and then retracting just as far only to be hurled forward again by another gooshy thud noise.


    For an instant though, I thought I saw a glimpse of Number Eight¡¯s suit and a flash of his cane along with strings that held the cubes of jello together.


    Uncle Steve had said that it wouldn¡¯t last forever, but I had a feeling that it would fall apart sooner than usual under the blows of Number Eight¡¯s cane.


    I changed up my tactics, punching around the hole on one side, aiming the sonics at two spots about a foot away from each other in the middle of the area I¡¯d hit. After I did that, I stepped back and took a short run, and used my shoulder to hit in between the two spots I¡¯d tried to weaken with the sonics. The first time, the wall didn¡¯t break, but it did ring with a metallic screech that reminded me of a car crash.


    The second time, I crashed through into the room, stumbling through the now shattered metal wall, landing on my side, hearing the noise as Number Eight smacked the silver jello again.

 Misdirection: Part 9

    Uncle Steve sighed as he saw me come through the door, seeming to relax a little even if he went back to watching Number Eight within seconds. Mom, for the record, didn¡¯t look any less nervous. I turned toward the silver wall, standing directly in front of my mom, but ahead and to the right of Uncle Steve.


    I got in position even as Number Eight slashed a foot-long hole in the wall. I hadn¡¯t noticed before, but a six-inch long blade extended from the bottom of his cane. I supposed that made it a knife or spear cane because that was too short for a sword.


    Half of the rent closed up and I found myself grinning inside my helmet. No wonder he hadn¡¯t made it through yet. What made me lose the grin was noting that half of it hadn¡¯t sealed up again and showed no signs of doing so¡ªmeaning that the ¡°weird polymer¡± my uncle mentioned had limitations.


    I made a mental note to get a sample later.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, watching them through the 360-degree sweep of my helmet, ¡°if you get out of here, I can hold him off at the door.¡±


    Uncle Steve glanced back at Mom and then at Number Eight who had stuck his cane¡¯s blade into the rent and begun to cut down. ¡°Yeah,¡± Uncle Steve said, ¡°good plan. How is it outside?¡±


    I used my implant to check the spybots around my house. I couldn¡¯t see everyone, but two Cabal soldiers had entered the fight after I went into the house. Rogue Croc, the scaled, green-skinned Cabal descendant was down alongside Magicka, the sorceress who¡¯d summoned the crows. Amy had taken on Rogue Croc¡¯s scaled green skin, grown larger muscles, and was fighting the two Cabal soldiers with Jaclyn.


    Captain Clone and Marcus were both out of view, but GPS showed Marcus moving around the neighborhood in short sprints, stopping for a series of small movements, followed by another sprint¡ªas if Captain Clone might be trying to get away. I couldn¡¯t see details since on the map Marcus was little more than a dot.


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    I didn¡¯t like that there were more Cabal soldiers as backup, but overall we seemed to be winning. I quashed the urge to check in on Travis, Cassie, and Daniel. I didn¡¯t have time and Haley, Tara, or Kayla would be calling us if we needed to help them.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go outside,¡± I told Uncle Steve, ¡°but you can go into the rest of the basement. Just stay away from windows.¡±


    ¡°Go first,¡± Mom told him. ¡°They¡¯re after you.¡±


    Uncle Steve¡¯s mouth tightened, likely not wanting to leave my mom behind. Before he argued,I said, ¡°She¡¯s right.¡±


    That decided him. He stepped through the hole I¡¯d made in the scazz and out into the laundry room. Mom followed him but hesitated before going out. I was about to tell her to hurry up and leave, but then I saw what she saw.


    Number Eight had slashed all the way to the floor and even if the first foot was already healing up, he was using his cane to push open a hole he could see through¡ªand see targets through.


    I stood in front of the door, backed up to make it harder for him to see through the hole, aimed a killbot at him, and fired.


    It went straight for his chest, hit his white, dress shirt, and fell to the ground. The impact knocked him back a step and he let out a breath, but he didn¡¯t drop the cane or get stuck in the silver goo as it reknit itself smaller.


    That would have been too convenient. Instead, he slid his back foot a little farther back, keeping his balance holding the sharp blade of his cane between the two of us, and teleported through to the other side of the hole.


    He shouldn¡¯t have bothered to point the blade at me. It had no chance of getting through the Rocket suit. On the other hand, anyone who chooses to fight you has a reason to believe that they¡¯ll win. Rook created technology for the Nine and I knew that he¡¯d figured out killbot technology. It wasn¡¯t a big jump to guess why he thought he¡¯d win.


    I knew what I had to do as little as I liked it. I aimed the laser at him and fired. A beam of white light came from the barrel on my forearm, hitting the wall of silver cubes, but missing him. The beam didn¡¯t bounce off the cubes like it might have in a cartoon, but melted the cube where it hit while reflecting harmless light throughout the room.


    The moment he disappeared, I looked for him, half-expecting to discover him behind me in the laundry room already stabbing Uncle Steve. He wasn¡¯t. I¡¯d been successful enough at blocking his view that he¡¯d appeared to my left, thrusting his cane¡¯s blade at my chest.

 Misdirection: Part 10

    He hit.


    I saw the blade go into my chest straight through my armor. I¡¯d protected against that, as had Rook the last time I¡¯d seen him. Much as I had, he¡¯d upgraded. Right now though, his weapons could go through my armor whereas mine couldn¡¯t go through his.


    I needed to get a sample of that blade or ideally the whole device so I could study the mechanism¡ªassuming I survived.


    The police didn¡¯t like it when you took supervillains¡¯ stuff. Loss of evidence due to treasure hunting supers had resulted in supervillains going free instead of a conviction before.


    Fighting supervillains isn¡¯t a video game¡ªthough it might be nicer if it were. I¡¯d take points off my health any day over a sword penetrating my chest.


    The good news being that my armor¡¯s built-in defenses against mono-molecular blades did some good. It stopped the blade from going further in than a couple of inches.


    He pulled the blade out as I felt a wave of dizziness and stumbled. It struck me that I might be going into shock.


    In my HUD, error messages about the breach scrolled past followed by more about countermeasures and the release of internal flesh goo to fill the wound and give the body time to repair itself or at least prevent me from immediately bleeding out.


    Ahead of me, Number Eight smiled, recognizing that he could stab me while I wasn¡¯t thinking clearly.


    If that was his idea, he was right. I felt like I was about to faint. I could only guess how much blood I¡¯d lost or if he¡¯d managed to hit a large blood vessel or a lung.


    He pointed his cane higher, intending to go for my jugular. He wouldn¡¯t need to go too deep for a killing blow there.


    I needed to get out of here, but there was no safe place to retreat to for any of us.


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    He lunged forward and I managed to bat the cane sideways. I tried to grab it, but I couldn¡¯t make my hand move fast enough. He pulled back the moment I hit it and I was wobbling too much to keep up.


    ¡°What did I hit?¡± He held the cane between us, ready to lunge again, adding, ¡°I hit something. You¡¯re just about to fall over.¡±


    Behind me in the laundry room, Uncle Steve said, ¡°Joanie, get out of there!¡±


    Mom didn¡¯t say anything. My Xiniti implant on the other hand requested, ¡°Permission to release nanobots to assist your body in repair.¡±


    My mind flashed back to when we¡¯d killed the Xiniti in the battle on Manhattan Island. He¡¯d been full of cybernetic parts. I¡¯d assumed that they¡¯d been installed Darth Vader style, but remembering how the implant had burrowed into my body as a little ball and created an interface with my brain, it might be the installer.


    Waking up to find my body riddled with alien cybernetics that I didn¡¯t understand sounded like the beginning of a horror movie.


    I thought back, ¡°Only temporary help. Just fix stuff.¡±


    As I did, Number Eight lunged again and I tried to knock it back, catching the blade on my left forearm for my trouble, and starting the error messages going again¡ªincluding one that notified Kayla that I was injured.


    The blade was thin enough that I didn¡¯t feel pain from the cut and the armor adjusted to close the hole. That was the good news. The bad was that if the implants¡¯ nanobots had started work, I didn¡¯t feel any better yet.


    A drop of blood dripped off Number Eight¡¯s blade. ¡°Another cut,¡± he said. ¡°How many do you think it will take to finish you off? It can¡¯t feel good in there right now, can it? It has to be dripping inside. With enough small cuts, you can kill anyone.¡±


    Without looking at her, he added, ¡°You¡¯ll see your son die in front of you and then your brother¡ªunless you get in the way. Then you¡¯ll die earlier.¡±


    As he talked, he moved from one side of me to the other, looking for an opening, a moment where I wouldn¡¯t have time to block his thrust.


    Uncle Steve said, ¡°Joanie, get out!¡±


    Though I didn¡¯t have the energy to pay much attention, I noticed that my mom¡¯s mouth had turned into a thin line. Something small dropped out of her sleeve and into her hand.


    Number Eight saw his opening and lunged. He moved almost faster than I could process it, but I did, knocking the cane to the side again, my head clearing enough to realize that I should have counterattacked every time I struck his cane. I could have made my own opening.


    I didn¡¯t have to.


    Not looking at my mother turned out to be his mistake. He stepped back from my blow. He was strong, but the Rocket suit was stronger. As he struggled to keep his balance and his hold on the cane, she stepped in, her hand and the knife in it translucent. The knife sank into his back, traveling through his armored jacket as if it weren¡¯t there.

 Sudden Changes: Part 1

    Mom angled the blade and pulled it back. Number Eight¡¯s face turned white and he began to fall, trying to swing his cane back at her, but not with any real force. It fell out of his hand when he struck the concrete floor.


    He tried to say something, but I couldn¡¯t understand it. His eyes shut and he didn¡¯t move.


    Mom had stepped back as he fell, avoiding his body and stood over him staring down at it. Then she looked over at me, ¡°Nick, are you okay? Do we have to get you to the hospital?¡±


    I checked my HUD¡¯s medical status and queried my implant. The HUD couldn¡¯t show much. I hadn¡¯t designed its medical systems to be a mobile hospital, just to plug wounds and do ultrasounds of the wounded areas, do limited comparisons to normal, and send them up to HQ where they could send them on.


    My implant, on the other hand, reported back that I¡¯d lost blood both internally and externally, but more internally. It also reported that it had closed up blood vessels that had been cut by the the cane¡¯s blade and accelerated closing the hole in my skin.


    The cane had missed my right lung only because of the angle and because my defenses still kind of worked.


    My implant noted that the repairs were still fragile and that damage could still start me bleeding again. It had a list of modifications that the Xiniti had used with success on human allies. Some involved permanent changes to my DNA, others the direct creation of new structures in my body both biological and cybernetic.


    I said no. I might not always, but this didn¡¯t seem the time to make an irreversible decision.


    ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± I told her. ¡°My suit has medical systems that stopped the blood. Right now, I¡¯m close to normal.¡±


    Mom looked at me, saying the same voice she always used when she thought I might be lying, ¡°Close to normal?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not bleeding, but I¡¯ve lost blood. I¡¯m not going to be at normal after that, but I¡¯m not in danger,¡± I paused, adding, ¡°I need to check on everybody else. They¡¯re hitting Travis and Haley¡¯s parents and Dad and maybe more for all I know.¡±


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    She blinked, ¡°Dad?¡±


    Seeing her expression, I said, ¡°I¡¯m checking on him first,¡± even though I felt like he had less to worry about than anyone.


    Calling up Izzy¡¯s camera view gave me a scene I was not expecting. She was in flight over the city and carrying my dad in the air with her left arm.


    I could see his graying brown hair move in the breeze against the background of her blue costume. This was less unsafe than you¡¯d think because I¡¯d learned that her internally generated force field protected anyone she was carrying.


    I¡¯d moved myself onto my own private communication channel to avoid distraction as I went into the house, allowing people to pull me back to the main mission channel, if needed.


    It was time to switch back on my own, so I did, hearing Jaclyn¡¯s voice, ¡°We think we got everyone. We need to know. Blue, can you pick out anyone else? More people kept on showing up during the battle and if we¡¯re going to join Travis, we don¡¯t want another attack.¡±


    Izzy said, ¡°I¡¯ll do what I can. If there¡¯s more magic, I can¡¯t make any promises.¡±


    Amy spoke over the comm, ¡°Don¡¯t sell yourself short. Most wizards stop at invisibility. It gets complicated to roll silence into the spell at the same time. You can get around it with a spell that affects the minds of everyone in range but the kind of wizard that has the range to affect you from there would already be ruling the world.¡±


    Izzy came to a stop in the air, hovering a few hundred feet above my house. Dad looked down at the ground, shook his head and looked out at downtown Grand Lake. I couldn¡¯t blame him. It was a long way to fall.


    Izzy¡¯s sonic abilities dwarfed the Rocket suit¡¯s at all levels¡ªat least in terms of power. Her screams could shatter walls or even buildings. Her ability to passively listen and actively use echolocation hadn¡¯t been fully measured or understood.


    Given time, she¡¯d be able to locate every living object for blocks.


    As she hovered, muting her comm so we didn¡¯t have to hear any sounds she might make, Jaclyn said, ¡°Rocket, what¡¯s the situation down there? We saw your medical alert go on and then off again. A malfunction?¡±


    ¡°No. Number Eight¡¯s cane had a blade in it and he stabbed through my armor. My medical systems handled the stabbing and my implant handled the internal bleeding,¡± I said, pausing before I added, ¡°Oh, and Number Eight¡¯s dead.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that, but I get it,¡± she said. ¡°If he can go through your armor, you had no choice.¡±


    I considered not saying anything, but the group needed to know, ¡°I was still out of it. My mom killed him. I think we need to get them out of the house. Maybe put them in the downtown office or HQ. There¡¯s a dead body in my basement and I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll feel safe there. They¡¯re going to have to disappear for a little while.¡±


    Jaclyn let out a breath, ¡°Your mom took him down? I can guess how. Look, we need to cut this short, but it fits with what Ronin was saying before you came on. They¡¯re trying to kill us if they can, but she thinks they know Haley¡¯s one of the team¡¯s leaders. Choosing to target her parents and now you by Number Eight means that her self-confidence is also a target.¡±

 Sudden Changes: Part 2

    Izzy¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°I don¡¯t see anyone dangerous. One man must have pulled out a rifle during the fight, but right now he¡¯s putting it back into a locked cabinet.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Jaclyn didn¡¯t hesitate. ¡°Drop off Mr. Klein in the house and we¡¯ll grab Shift to go help Travis. Night Cat says the Rocket and Bloodmaiden can stay here in case something goes wrong. Rocket, are you sure you don¡¯t need medical attention?¡±


    I found myself frowning inside my helmet, ¡°Pretty sure. Alien tech says I¡¯m not in imminent danger.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± The words came out of Jaclyn¡¯s mouth the moment I finished, ¡°then we¡¯ve got to book. It¡¯s bad.¡±


    I was about to ask if she were sure, but she wasn¡¯t wrong. I shouldn¡¯t get into a big fight and someone needed to be here if something happened¡ªwhich was also why I shouldn¡¯t be alone.


    I might argue about taking Marcus as opposed to Amy, but they both had their strengths. Amy couldn¡¯t stay transformed forever and if they wanted speed, he was easy to bring along. Plus, he was easily as tough as Jaclyn and Izzy in his own way.


    Anyway, I had no time to complain. I heard the sound of Dad¡¯s footsteps on the floor upstairs and heard him shout, ¡°Joan! Joan! Where are you?¡±


    Mom shouted, ¡°The basement!¡±


    Standing behind her, Uncle Steve looked up from Number Eight¡¯s body and up to the sound of my dad running toward the stairway, ¡°This isn¡¯t good. He¡¯s not free of the block yet, is he?¡±


    Mom closed her eyes, ¡°No, but he¡¯s close and we¡¯re not going to be able to hide,¡± she pointed her finger downward, ¡°that.¡±


    Number Eight¡¯s body continued to bleed internally¡ªI could see it through the Rocket suit¡¯s sensors. Mom had cut his heart partly through along with the superior vena cava and aorta.


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    Uncle Steve looked down, ¡°I¡¯ve got to say, though, he looks nicer than some people I¡¯ve killed. Did Dad send you to Lee?¡±


    Mom nodded, ¡°As soon as we found out that I didn¡¯t quite have Mom¡¯s abilities, he had Lee teach me a fighting style that used what I could do. Plus, Mom helped. It all came back after my block came down and I¡¯ve done more work with Lee when he¡¯s around.¡±


    Uncle Steve let out a low whistle and turned his head toward me, ¡°Did you know?¡±


    ¡°I knew what she could do. I didn¡¯t know anything about Lee,¡± I didn¡¯t quite manage to keep the sound of surprise out of my voice.


    ¡°You never asked,¡± Mom said, ¡°and I¡¯m still not comfortable talking about it.¡±


    The thump of Dad¡¯s footfalls on the stair told me that whatever would happen next was about to happen. Mom¡¯s eyes widened as she turned around to look out of the hole in the scazz and into the laundry room.


    I squashed down an urge to pull up the spybots¡¯ view of the neighborhood around Travis¡¯ parents¡¯ house. I¡¯d have to be useful for whatever was about to happen here. Plus, if I were honest, anything that Izzy and Jalyn couldn¡¯t handle with Travis, Daniel, Cassie, Vaughn, and Marcus was also out of my league.


    Still, even with the dicey nature of my wounds, I couldn¡¯t ignore that fight. If I knew what was happening, I could maybe do something, even if it was from a distance.


    I opened up the GPS view of the fight in my HUD. Dots superimposed a map of the neighborhood would tell me who was still in the fight.


    Dad stepped into the laundry room, staring at the blue-green metal alloy covering the door and the hole, ¡°Joan, are you back there? Are you okay?¡±


    Mom stepped into view of the hole, ¡°I¡¯m fine. We were attacked, but we survived. I need to call the police.¡±


    Dad stepped through the hole in the metal wall, looking down at it and shaking his head. Then he looked past Uncle Steve to see me and his eyes widened, ¡°Oh.¡±


    He looked down at Number Eight¡¯s body, ¡°What happened? Is he dead?¡±


    I said, ¡°Yes. I¡¯m sorry. There was no other way to stop him.¡±


    He looked at the wall of silver goo still hanging in the room and the metallic walls. He wobbled on his feet, holding out his his hand and placing it against the wall to steady himself.


    Mom walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulder, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    He shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know. There¡¯s something wrong. There¡¯s something strange in my head. I feel dizzy, but not physically. I don¡¯t have the right words. I forgot something. I don¡¯t know what I don¡¯t know, but I feel as if it¡¯s right on the tip of my tongue. I¡¯m sorry. I know this doesn¡¯t make any sense. My head feels so full it might explode.¡±


    Uncle Steve looked from him and back to me.


    I didn¡¯t know what to say. What was I supposed to do?

 Sudden Changes: Part 3

    Was this a pull-off-the-bandage sort of situation? Because Dad seemed to be right on the edge of understanding everything. On the other hand, Mom had been captured by Ray and the Cabal when she remembered, very much a sudden change, and she¡¯d taken more than a year to talk to us about it.


    We needed cooperation right now and we were going to have to hide my family and maybe all of our families in HQ.


    There was no way we were going to avoid bringing up awkward memories there.


    I had the suit absorb my helmet and said, ¡°Dad. I¡¯m the Rocket.¡±


    Dad stared at me and wobbled on his feet. Uncle Steve rushed over to him and put his hand on Dad¡¯s shoulder, ready in case Dad began to fall. He didn¡¯t. He opened his mouth without saying anything and then closed it.


    Then he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡­¡±


    He stopped again.


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. Grandpa Vander Sloot was the first Rocket. In order to protect you and us, the Mentalist hid anything related to superheroes from your conscious mind, allowing you to not know and preventing any telepaths from catching it on a quick scan of your brain.¡±


    Dad managed to gasp out, ¡°That¡¯s not right.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t like it either. All of the grandchildren had something very similar that wore off a while back. It wore off on Mom too. We¡¯ve been waiting for it to finally break. I¡¯m sorry. We looked into removing it sooner, but we were told that it could damage your brain. The best thing we could do was to let it fall naturally.¡±


    I stopped, watching my dad¡¯s face for his reaction. His mouth still half-open, he turned from me to Mom who¡¯d walked up to him and held his hand, saying, ¡°He¡¯s right. I¡¯ve tried to tell you before and you couldn¡¯t hear it.


    Dad took a series of long breaths and then said, ¡°Where¡¯s Rachel really?¡±


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    ¡°On her way home,¡± I said, ¡°but she¡¯s in space. She¡¯s got roughly the same powers as Ghostwoman in the Heroes¡¯ League¡ªexcept it turns out that that was Grandma Vander Sloot and she had more powers than she knew, including the ability to fly faster than light in outer space under some circumstances.¡±


    Dad let out a breath, ¡°This is a lot to take in. I¡¯m going to need some time to think about it.¡±


    At that moment, we all heard footsteps coming down the stairway. I stepped forward, looking out of the laundry room¡¯s door to see Amy standing on the stairway on the other side of the room. Still in full Bloodmaiden armor, but holding Grunion, our family¡¯s cat in her arms, she said, ¡°The police are on the way. I think we need to get your family out of here unless you want to risk putting them under police protection.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t assume that the police were connected to the Nine, but I also couldn¡¯t assume that they had no connection, ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s get them out of here.¡±


    Dad looked over at me, ¡°Out of here?¡±


    I nodded, ¡°You were just attacked in your own home and we know the Nine were involved. The guy on the floor over there knew who I was. That means you¡¯ll have to disappear for a few days, hopefully not longer.¡±


    Dad stared out into space and then shook his head, ¡°I¡¯ve had to counsel people the Nine¡­ changed. Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Sirens in the distance began to grow closer.


    ¡°Crap,¡± I said, ¡°can you turn them invisible or something?¡±


    Amy looked up toward the noise, ¡°It sounds like I¡¯ll have to.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, and setting the helmet to expand and cover my head, I ran back into the backroom where Number Eight¡¯s body lay and grabbed his cane.


    As I came out, I found that my parents and Uncle Steve were following Amy up the stairs. Once we got upstairs and stood in the hallway, I held out the cane for Amy to grab, ¡°Could you make this disappear with them?¡±


    She took it, but said, ¡°The cops are going to be pissed.¡±


    ¡°I think I can work it out later. Besides, it¡¯s too late for them to prosecute Number Eight. He won¡¯t get out of a conviction because there¡¯s no evidence except for this cane.¡±


    Amy laughed, ¡°I¡¯m not worried. I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re not.¡±


    ¡°I am,¡± I said.¡± It¡¯s just that I¡¯m more worried that if I don¡¯t figure this one out, we¡¯re all going to die from Rook¡¯s latest version of my grandpa¡¯s tech.¡±


    Dad glanced at the refrigerator with its old pictures of our family with Rachel and me as children and then over to Amy, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re still holding him. He doesn¡¯t like strangers.¡±


    Amy shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s okay. I speak cat.¡±


    Grunion said nothing, staring at everybody with dark feline eyes.


    Then Dad looked back at me, ¡°Stay alive.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°Rocket, I know you¡¯re supposed to stay where you are, but we need you. Bloodmaiden wouldn''t hurt either if she can get away.¡±

 Sudden Changes: Part 4

    I thought about it. I wasn¡¯t sure how much help I¡¯d be, but,¡°Bloodmaiden¡¯s going to get my parents and our cat to HQ. I¡¯ll help if she thinks she can handle it.¡±


    ¡°Hurry,¡± Vaughn said and cut the connection.


    Not liking the implications of his call, I called Amy via the comm. Even though I could trust everyone in the room, it made things simpler. For one, if I wanted to I could call her Amy. Bloodmaiden was a long name. Calling her ¡°Blood¡± didn¡¯t feel right either.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°are you okay with taking everyone to HQ alone? Storm King wants me to help Travis.¡±


    Amy met my eyes, muttering, ¡°I thought they were better off than that.¡±


    I said, ¡°I guess not.¡±


    Amy shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m already tired, but I can get them to HQ.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I looked over at Mom and Dad, ¡°Bloodmaiden is going to get you somewhere safe. I have another problem to handle.¡±


    The sirens I¡¯d started hearing in the distance were growing closer.The group of us walked upstairs and I walked out the front door¡ªwhich despite the damage I¡¯d caused while getting in still stayed in the door frame.


    As I stepped out, Amy, my parents, and Uncle Steve disappeared. At the same time, I heard Amy¡¯s voice saying, ¡°Wait a second and I¡¯ll tell you when to close the door.¡±


    I heard footsteps pass me without seeing anybody, but it took almost no time before Amy said, ¡°We¡¯re past you. Go ahead.¡±


    I shut the door, wishing I had time to repair the damage. Maybe we could hire someone to do it? I¡¯d heard of companies that specialized in repairing damage after superhumans fought. Maybe Kayla could call one.


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    ¡°Is everyone clear?¡± I asked the unseen people around me and then, remembering what Amy had said about invisibility and magic before, I used my sensors, mapping people onto my HUD¡¯s screen with their body heat.


    They were halfway to the sidewalk, easily safe from the blast of my rockets. Amy said, ¡°You can take off,¡± even as I did it, shooting upward and aiming myself toward Haley and Travis¡¯ parents¡¯ house, the same place where I¡¯d picked Haley up from prom and too many dates to remember.


    Technically, it was on the edge of Grand Lake, almost into one of the nearest suburbs.


    As I flew, my direction must have become clear to Kayla because she called me, ¡°I thought you were staying with your parents.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t exactly excitement that I was coming. ¡°Storm King told me they needed help.¡±


    ¡°Look, it got worse than they expected. The Nine put a lot of people into the fight and Night Cat was relieved that you weren¡¯t coming after you got hurt. We¡¯re all trying to keep them off their parents. Check the bots. It will be different by the time you get there.¡±


    She shuffled me back to the main channel and the map view showed me how many of us were there and how quickly we were moving. Switching to the bots, it showed me a war zone. I¡¯d seen that Johnny Destruction had arrived with members of the Cabal, but I¡¯d never seen him in action before.


    Trees and swaths of grass had been burned to ash. Cars, sheds, and parts of houses were burned as well, prevented from burning down only by the constant rain that fell from the dark clouds above the block.


    Some houses had holes that hadn¡¯t been caused by fire. As I watched a Cabal soldier pulled his way out of the wreckage of a garage and the smashed car inside it. Throwing the handle of a lawn mower out onto the lawn, he jumped into the air, aiming down the block toward where the majority of the dots on the map.


    As his leap ended and he began to fall toward the ground, a blur of blue shot upward from the ground and with one punch shot him back into the air, but changing his direction. Now he flew toward Lake Michigan. I didn¡¯t know at first how much force she¡¯d hit him with, but between my suit¡¯s sensors, my HUD¡¯s computer and my implant I calculated the speed he was traveling and realized that he¡¯d be in the air for at least ten miles, putting him seven miles past the shore of the lake.


    White fire shot upward from the ground at that moment, enveloping Izzy. Another person would have died in the face of that heat. The Rocket suit, though better hardened against heat, would still take damage.


    Izzy rolled out of the stream of fire, shooting off to the side before he could refocus the beam on her. Then she dove toward the source of the flame, dodging it every time it swayed toward her, and hitting the ground hard enough that I thought I saw trees shake.

 Sudden Changes: Part 5

    As the trees shook, flame exploded outward and upward from the spot she hit. Flying upward out of the gout of flame, Johnny Destruction roared into the sky and then dropped toward the ground feet first with a trail of fire following him.


    Izzy shot into the air after him, diving as he changed direction, maybe catching him on the ground because there was another blast of fire and a moving trail of flame moving down the street.


    For a moment I worried about the potential for fire, but the constant drip from the sky reminded me of Vaughn¡¯s contribution. Where was he anyway? I half-expected to see lightning hit Johnny Destruction and the fact that it hadn¡¯t worried me too. On the other hand, it wouldn¡¯t be raining if Vaughn were dead and we definitely hadn¡¯t gotten an alert from his suit that he¡¯d been hurt.


    I needed to figure out the overall picture. Vaughn and Izzy were a distraction. They¡¯d figured out their role in this fight. I needed to find mine. Where was the center of the fight? Where would adding another person help most?


    My map view of the fight showed me that Travis, Cassie, and Haley were clustered around the same spot, sometimes moving only to stop again, moving, I realized as if they were stopping to fight, get out of view, or check what was ahead before moving forward again. Further out, Marcus, Jaclyn, Vaughn, and Daniel moved with them, but darted around, probably acting to keep people back.


    I needed to get my eyes on the situation, but I had a gut feeling that I¡¯d make the most difference with Haley, Cassie, and Travis. Aiming myself in their direction, I checked the spybots, first seeing Jaclyn and Marcus.


    Travis and Haley¡¯s family lived in a subdivision of large, lookalike houses on the edge of where city turned into country. Two blocks down from where Izzy fought Johnny Destruction, bodies lay on the street¡ªnot Jaclyn¡¯s or Marcus¡¯¡ªCabal soldiers, all of them burned. I didn¡¯t need my implant to label the damage with, ¡°Abominator weapon.¡±


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    I¡¯d seen enough of Cassie¡¯s gun in action on Hideaway and I knew what its kills looked like.


    Seeing five in my immediate view plus smashed cars and a house with a ten-foot wide hole in its side, I almost missed a blur run down the street in the direction where I knew Travis, Haley, and Cassie had to be.


    Another blur ran out of a side street, this one tinged with purple, hitting the original blur hard enough that it stopped, stumbling backward a few steps, giving me a full view of him. Around seven feet tall and muscular, he was shaved bald and wore a black jumpsuit with a ¡°9¡± on his chest.


    If I had to guess, he was a Cabal soldier who¡¯d been run through a power impregnator, getting an extra helping of speed in addition to his toughness and strength. Jaclyn, the purple blur, appeared to be faster, hitting him twice before he could do anything. The first punch made him wobble on his feet. The second threw him back almost a block.


    He lay on the street, but as he did two True popped out from behind two different houses and started firing at Jaclyn, one of them using a ¡°rifle¡± without a hole in the black, rectangular barrel. I identified it as a paralysis weapon. The other held a rifle attached to a backpack on the True¡¯s back¡ªa laser.


    The paralysis gun didn¡¯t work on Jaclyn. I¡¯d built paralysis resistance into the team¡¯s suits years ago. The laser worked just fine, its yellow-tinged beam visible even in the sun. It only grazed Jaclyn¡ªnot because she ran faster than light, but because she could run faster than the True could aim. Even with their talent for analyzing their opponents'' moves, that was enough.


    Her costume absorbed the small amount of light that hit it and she hit the True, leaving it on the ground unmoving with one punch.


    I expected her to go after the one with the paralysis gun then, but she didn¡¯t. The Cabal soldier had pulled himself up and darted down a cross street. Jaclyn took off after him, knowing as I did that he¡¯d be able to get around her and over to Travis if she didn¡¯t.


    As she did, Marcus dropped off the roof above the True with the paralysis gun, enveloping him entirely as a gray sheet, and tightening. The True fell over and Marcus reformed into a version of himself with wings, flying away, leaving the True on the ground with broken legs.


    With that, I stopped paying attention to anything but what was in front of me.


    I was closing in on Travis, Haley, and Cassie¡¯s position and paying attention to the channel for this part of the mission.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Haley said over the comm, ¡°are you sure you¡¯re okay?¡±

 Sudden Changes: Part 6

    I looked toward where the map showed me they had to be, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m looking for where I can best help.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see them. The subdivision ended in an unused factory and a forest. Haley had told me that the area had been rezoned for residential and that the factory would be torn down¡ªwhich was interesting since it didn¡¯t look more than 20 years old to me. Made of cinder blocks painted white and large, tinted windows next to a parking lot, it might have passed for a mall.


    They weren¡¯t in the factory or its parking lot. They were in the forest. I wasn¡¯t sure how far, but not more than twenty or thirty feet. Along with them, another object showed up on the map. I¡¯d been too distracted to notice it earlier¡ªone of my tote buckets.


    Every now and then people who could fly needed to carry more cargo or people than they could hold in their arms. Made from the same substances as my armor, the tote buckets were aerodynamic, tough, and had enough anti-gravity built in to fall slowly.


    I¡¯d named them with the idea that they were tote bags, but bigger. Not everyone liked the name, but they were useful. For example, if you wanted to carry your parents away from a house while being chased by supervillains, it would be a workable option.


    ¡°We¡¯re pinned down. We thought Blue or Accelerando could get my parents out, but they¡¯ve been too busy keeping people away from us. The jet¡¯s going to be here in a second. If you can run interference while we get the tote basket in, we¡¯re out of here. Watch out when you get close. They¡¯ve got people on the roof of the factory and more around hiding by the houses.¡±


    Haley¡¯s voice lowered, ¡°But be careful. Your med status was showing critical damage.¡±


    Cassie broke in, ¡°His implant fixed it. The Rocket won¡¯t be stupid. He can coordinate with Storm King and the Mystic.¡±


    Travis¡¯ name flashed in my HUD as he said, ¡°He¡¯ll be fine, but I still think we should go to that clearing a quarter mile down and put some trees between us and the factory.¡±


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    ¡°No,¡± Cassie said, ¡°too complicated.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Haley said simultaneously, ¡°I don¡¯t want to take the tote bucket deeper into the forest.¡±


    ¡°I,¡± Travis began, ¡°don¡¯t want us to run out of the forest to catch a plane and get shot.¡±


    ¡°Again,¡± Cassie added.


    By then, I was above the factory and the forest and they all had a point. Running out from the forest might still go wrong even if they used the jet to block the Nine¡¯s team¡¯s view. On the other hand, the tote basket was big enough that carrying it through a forest would be a pain. Plus, we knew where the Nine¡¯s troops were now. If they ran deeper into the forest, it would be more of a crapshoot since the Nine would follow them.


    Now that I was closer, I could see the whole picture. Around 20 True and Cabal soldiers were on top of the factory and more than that were using the nearest houses to hide themselves from view, waiting around the corners, guns in hand.


    Travis had a point. If they could sneak deeper into the forest, it might be better.


    Daniel¡¯s voice sounded over the comm, ¡°The plan is that when the jet lands, Captain Commando, Storm King and I go all out and distract the Nine¡¯s people while Night Cat and Night Wolf get their parents on the plane.¡±


    Despite having a question or two I said, ¡°Then I guess I¡¯m on Team Distraction.¡±


    Sensing my questions, Daniel replied via our mental link, ¡°Even though I can put people to sleep telepathically, the Nine came in prepared. They¡¯ve got mental shields of some kind. As for your other question, we thought about having Vaughn or I float the tote basket away, but it fails in most futures¡ª¡±


    He cut himself off, changing to the group comm channel, ¡°They¡¯re about to try something.¡±


    They did. One of the Cabal soldiers took a short run and jumped off the roof of the factory, aiming toward the forest. The moment he left the roof, becoming a small figure shooting through the air below me, a bright, white beam from the forest hit him. Though he wore black armor like the other Cabal remnants I¡¯d seen here, it didn¡¯t hold against Cassie¡¯s gun. The man¡¯s muscular body had been straight in the air, but when the beam hit, he began to tumble.


    He fell, landing twenty feet short of the forest, splayed out on the empty factory parking lot.


    At the same time, the True on the ground popped out from the corner of the nearby houses and fired lasers and bullets into the forest before retreating out of view.


    In my HUD, Hal texted the group, [I¡¯m descending. Be ready. They¡¯ll advance as soon as they realize that I¡¯m here.].

 Sudden Changes: Part 7

    ¡°We¡¯re ready,¡± Cassie said.


    Given what she¡¯d just done, I couldn¡¯t argue with her. As for myself, I charged up my laser and activated the remaining killbots and boombots. Back when we¡¯d first fought the Cabal, I¡¯d been relieved that we hadn¡¯t had to kill them. Part of me wished I were that version of myself now, but the more experienced version of me knew that even before the Dominators had turned them into the Nine¡¯s servants, they were willing to kill all of us.


    Tara¡¯s name flashed in my HUD as she spoke, ¡°The True will get suspicious something¡¯s about to happen now if they haven¡¯t already.¡±


    I glanced downward. The True on the ground by the houses and the ones on top of the factory both still had their guns out and pointed toward the forest and that didn¡¯t change. Since I hadn¡¯t stopped moving, I continued to fly as I had been before I knew Hal was coming¡ªtoward the forest with the intent of coming around. Assuming that they¡¯d noticed me already, that shouldn¡¯t set off any red flags.


    As I flew over the forest and began to turn, I saw the telltale shimmer of the jet¡¯s cloak. It was only visible close and only if you knew what to look for. For me it was one of those small flaws that bothered me, but that I hadn¡¯t yet figured out how to remove. No one we¡¯d faced had noticed it yet, making it a low enough priority that I hadn¡¯t dropped everything to work on it alone for a week.


    Contrary to what you might expect to happen next, the True didn¡¯t seem to either, continuing to be ready, but not making a move.


    Catching my thoughts, Daniel told me, I¡¯m surprised too. I expected them to notice something by now. In most futures, we¡¯re already in combat right now. And we¡¯re losing.


    I felt his nervousness through the link. It might be that waiting boded well. Maybe we were more likely to survive now.


    That¡¯s true, Daniel thought back, In general, the futures are better, but not much. Best case scenario I feel two big, negative events ahead of us in the near term, but we don¡¯t have time to think about it.


    I wanted to ask him for details but didn¡¯t. He probably didn¡¯t know them and anything could happen next. I did wonder if he could sneak into their minds and put as many of them to sleep as possible, starting from the back. He¡¯d done it before.


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    They¡¯ve got telepathic blockers of some kind. They came into this prepared, he told me.


    Jaclyn¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°The guy I¡¯ve been chasing just turned to run in your direction.¡±


    Izzy¡¯s name also flashed as Jaclyn talked, but when she finished, Izzy added, ¡°Johnny Destruction took off toward you too.¡±


    I had a flash of understanding. The True hadn¡¯t responded to the shimmer because Tara had been correct. The True had already predicted that we were calling in the jet and were waiting for the right moment. This was it or close to it.


    Neither the True nor the ex-Cabal soldiers on the factory or the ground were moving. My gut feeling was that they were going to wait until their most powerful members entered the fight and overwhelm us with chaos.


    I couldn¡¯t stop them from trying, but I could start first. Mind you, the smartest choice might have been to ask Daniel, Tara, or Hal if I was right, but if I¡¯d learned anything, I¡¯d learned that sometimes the best choice was choosing to act.


    I let myself drop toward the factory, preparing to fire the moment I got into range with my laser and setting my boombots to fire the moment the True on the ground moved far enough from the houses that the explosions wouldn¡¯t start them on fire.


    Almost as an afterthought, I loosed a series of boombots at the group on top of the factory too. It was already scheduled for demolition. Chances were that I¡¯d only hurry the process along.


    The boombots hit first, exploding like grenades. I¡¯d used a pattern that allowed blasts to overlap, hitting the same people more than once. I¡¯d often suspected that Tara had gotten something extra out of being the combination of True variants from alternate universes. Whether or not I was right about that, these True didn¡¯t anticipate the boombots. Fire engulfed them, throwing them outward from the blast, three of them off the roof.


    They lay on the ground, burned and unmoving. At least ten more on the roof had joined them in death or unconsciousness.


    The Cabal soldiers did better. The blasts threw only one of them from the roof. He hit the ground and pulled himself up, crouching as if he were thinking of leaping at me¡ªexcept then Cassie shot him in the head. He fell to the ground and didn¡¯t get up.


    The rest of them did better than that. Most managed to take the blast without falling over and even the ones that did fall didn¡¯t look burned.


    From the fact that Daniel didn¡¯t tell me to stop, I assumed that whatever I was doing was at least neutral to our chances.


    It made them better, he told me. The True predict based on past behavior. I don¡¯t know about Hideaway, but I don¡¯t think there are any records of you being proactively lethal on Earth.

 Sudden Changes: Part 8

    I thought back, I¡¯m not sure if that makes me proud or not. Either way, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll factor it in now.


    I felt a shot of nervousness from Daniel¡¯s end, Can¡¯t argue with that. Things are about to get dicey.


    Maybe the conversation would have continued longer, but he wasn¡¯t wrong about that. Two True behind the nearest houses popped out to fire at me. Unsure if Rook had developed killbots of his own, I shot sideways, weaving to make their chances to hit worse.


    My sensors showed that the bullets didn¡¯t adjust their paths to move in my direction, making it less likely that Rook had cloned that. One of their lasers did hit, but every recent version of the Rocket suit had protection against lasers. My integration of alien ceramics only made the suit more effective. It also didn¡¯t hurt that lasers were less effective at longer ranges.


    I still fired back, in that case with one of my few remaining goobots. I caught two in one gooey explosion, managing to stick a strand or two to the house behind them. It didn¡¯t take them out of the action completely. The True behind them pulled out a spray can of their belts and sprayed down the goo.


    I didn¡¯t see the end of that, but I knew what happened when Prentkos used the same tool. I was too busy with the jet. It had reached the ground, notifying the group in the forest that it was directly ahead of them.


    From my position in the air, I couldn¡¯t see the jet, but I could see the outline of the partially open door on the side. On my map, I could see Travis and Haley running forward with Travis carrying the tote bucket.


    It wasn¡¯t going to be able to fit through the door. The jet could take passengers, but it didn¡¯t take cargo. It had no cargo hatch. Travis and Haley would have to guard while their parents jumped out and ran for the jet¡ªwhich was fine, but more complicated.


    The Cabal and the True didn¡¯t make it any less complicated. The True that had been hiding by the side of the houses all ran forward, guns in hand, firing ahead of themselves.


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    At the same time, boombots fired from my suit. I wasn¡¯t even firing them. My implant was activating them, following the directions I¡¯d given it to fire when the True started to move forward. Part of me liked the fact that I could delegate that task. Another part worried that might be more control than a machine should have.


    The True didn¡¯t just stand there and watch my boombots explode around them. They spread out, making it hard to get more than a couple of them with the blast, but my implant fired off enough that all of the True got hit at least once, since for all of the True¡¯s talent for predicting people¡¯s actions, they were all running forward anyway.


    The series of blasts didn¡¯t kill everybody, but three-quarters of them went down, all of them with burns, but they weren¡¯t all from me. At almost the same time my bots hit, lightning came down from the sky, hitting more.


    I don¡¯t think any of them made it.


    Why they¡¯d tried or at least retreated wasn¡¯t obvious. They¡¯d seen what happened on top of the factory. I could only guess that they¡¯d been ordered to act, whether or not it made sense.


    All the talent for predicting people¡¯s actions in the world does you no good if your leadership orders you to do something stupid.


    Unfortunately, the Cabal soldiers weren¡¯t as easily handled. To judge from their actions, they¡¯d also been ordered to get Travis and Haley¡¯s parents no matter what¡ªexcept they had the benefits of being significantly stronger and tough, plus the ability to regenerate from almost any kind of damage except concentrated radiation.


    The group of them jumped from the top of the factory toward Haley, Travis, and the still invisible jet. None of them jumped into the forest toward Cassie, knowing that she could kill them, and given that they were working for the Nine unwillingly, maybe hoping that she would.


    She provided an object lesson in the possibilities from the moment the first one landed on the jet. Technically, ¡°landed¡± might not have been the best word. The Cabal soldier jumped off the factory, hit the spot where the jet was on the ground, and, for lack of a better word, slid into the jet¡¯s shield/cloak. A shimmer spread outward from the spot he hit, outlining the upper half of the jet for a moment.


    It made for an odd look. The man was in the shield up to his thighs, his legs fading into invisibility, and held above the ship¡¯s hull, preventing him from pushing off. Meanwhile, he moved his arms frantically in the upper layer of the shield, creating shimmery ripples in the cloak.


    Cassie shot him in the head and he slumped, still held up by the force of the shield.


    I might have complained about the unfairness if it weren¡¯t for the fact that the other Cabal soldiers landed on the ground with audible thumps and began to converge on Haley, Travis, and their parents.

 Sudden Changes: Part 9

    Upon landing, the Cabal soldiers were met with the jet¡¯s anti-personnel lasers, spraying laser beams everywhere with uncanny accuracy, hitting all of the Cabal soldiers.


    The jet¡¯s anti-personnel weapons hadn¡¯t been designed with the Cabal in mind. They¡¯d been designed more to slow and discourage than to kill. They could kill, but not Cabal soldiers.


    On the other hand, they were still lasers, however thin they might be, and in this case, they were being operated by Hal, our AI, whose primary purpose had once been to model space battles. Essentially, he¡¯d been created to assist aliens in how to most efficiently kill each other, and long before this battle, I¡¯d given him permission to listen to the rest of the team and help them as effectively as he knew how.


    He was doing that now.


    The thin beams raked across the Cabal soldiers, their attacks aimed most often at the face, centering on the eyes.


    Under other circumstances, I wouldn¡¯t feel right about permanently maiming them, but this was not one of those.


    A beam crossed both eyes of one of them and he threw his hands up to cover them, but it was too late. Others were luckier, losing only one eye or protecting both at the expense of having long strips burned on their skin.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, Daniel was using a combination of prescience and telekinesis to pick the right person to mentally throw out of the fight. Starting with the closest to Haley, Travis, and their parents, Daniel pitched them sideways, often into groups of trees.


    Making matters worse for them, Vaughn used the same tactic¡ªexcept his winds weren¡¯t anywhere close to Daniel¡¯s precision even if Vaughn could keep them in the air longer. That meant that he had to attack the ones on the edge or give Daniel¡¯s victims an extra long boost.


    Either way, the two of them made use of the greatest weakness of physical strength¡ªit¡¯s only useful when you have something solid to push against.


    They weren¡¯t the only ones acting. Cassie and I were firing at them, me from above and Cassie from the forest.


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    We didn¡¯t get everyone. Three of them jumped out as Cassie and I started to fire, but those three were the only ones that made it out undamaged. I couldn¡¯t see where they went. They¡¯d jumped out toward the forest and we were too busy firing on the others that were still fighting their way toward the jet.


    As all that was going on, Travis opened the tote bucket next to the open hatch. Their parents stepped inside.


    Travis let out a breath and looked out toward the falling, retreating, or blinded opponents, and the edges of his mouth curled upward. I knew what he was thinking. We¡¯d won. It wasn¡¯t over, but now all we had to do was get his parents out of there.


    Even as I fired on the remaining Cabal soldiers, barely paying attention to him, I saw Travis begin to frown. He¡¯d noticed something I hadn¡¯t yet. It was about to get more complicated.


    At almost the same time, I noticed a ball of fire off to my left side and heard, ¡°Rocket, he¡¯s aiming for you!¡±


    I hadn¡¯t been paying attention to Izzy fighting Johnny Destruction, but even though his flying was limited, he apparently hauled ass when he did fly because Izzy flew at several times the speed of sound¡ªslower than the jet, but still fast.


    I stopped firing at the Cabal soldiers and tried to shoot forward, come around, and fire at him, but that didn¡¯t work out. In the time it took me to notice him, stop firing, and begin to dodge, he¡¯d closed with me.


    Grabbing me, he flew forward, increasing the heat he radiated as he went. I¡¯d nearly lost my hand to a dragon a few years earlier, so I¡¯d had every motivation to improve my suit¡¯s protection against fire.


    That was good because it meant that I wasn¡¯t burning to death, accompanied by explosions as every bot inside my suit detonated. To judge from my suit''s error messages, it was still a near thing.


    The stream of errors said that the temperature was hitting dangerous levels and that the bots and my rocket fuel might explode at any time.


    Fortunately, at that moment Izzy caught up with him and punched him. This left the two of us tumbling through the air. As we did, I began to pull his arm away from me, firing the sonics into him after my first shot with the laser didn¡¯t seem to do anything.


    As much as I¡¯d always heard about the danger of being near Johnny Destruction while he burned at full power, I¡¯d heard very little about his strength. I should have. The Rocket suit could lift around ten tons and removing his grip from my body wasn¡¯t easy.


    An elbow to the man¡¯s face gave me the surprise I needed to break his hold and find myself tumbling downward out of his fiery aura and toward the forest that was now below us.


    I aimed myself toward Haley and Travis as the rockets kicked in, wondering how they were doing. Checking the GPS positions on the map, I realized that they were fighting, that the jet was gone, and that they needed help.


    How that happened I only knew later when we reviewed the fight, trying to see what we could have done differently.

 Sudden Changes: Part 10

    The first part wasn¡¯t hard to guess. They¡¯d gotten their parents on the jet and that¡¯s where it began to go wrong. The Cabal soldier that Jaclyn had been chasing made it to the jet and knowing that it was there, tried to destroy it even though it was cloaked.


    The soldier had run at the jet and punched, happening to hit a spot that had thinned so that sensors could work. The Cabal soldier¡¯s fist made it all the way through, slowed by the shield, and dented the hull. It didn¡¯t take much to fix it later and didn¡¯t affect the jet¡¯s structural integrity, but the fact that it made it through at all was scary.


    Worse, the punch moved the jet, hitting Travis. The armor built into his costume took most of it, but he still stumbled. Calculating the force needed to do that later, I knew that a normal person could have lost a leg.


    Haley glanced at him, but she¡¯d been far enough away that she didn¡¯t have to move and their parents were inside. With that, the hatch closed and the jet shot straight upward. In the sense that it meant the end of the Nine¡¯s attempt to kill their parents, it was a complete success.


    In the sense that it left Haley and Travis with nothing between them and a Cabal soldier that was just as fast as Jaclyn and at least as strong and tough¡ªplus, he regenerated? In that sense, it was an utter failure.


    Oh, and for the record? For my own sanity, I¡¯m going to stop calling him, ¡°the Cabal soldier who can run really fast.¡± I learned later that his codename was Insurgent after a fast, armored car in a video game.


    Insurgent ran straight at Travis who jumped out of the way, landing behind Insurgent and throwing a goo grenade at him. The goo grenade did exactly what you¡¯d expect¡ªexploded into the same grey goo used by my goobots, hitting Insurgent and the ground around him. It would have hit Haley if she hadn¡¯t jumped backward and out of the way.


    The goo covered Insurgent¡¯s body in gooey strands connected to each other and the ground below. Some of that ground was literally grass and dirt¡ªnot good news¡ªbut about a third of it touched the factory¡¯s parking lot. Assuming the goo didn¡¯t break, Insurgent would have to drag chunks of asphalt along.


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    You might criticize Travis at that point, but I wouldn¡¯t. Travis had to know that the goo grenade wouldn¡¯t stop Insurgent forever, but he also knew that he couldn¡¯t get through the Cabal soldier¡¯s hide. Lowering his mobility meant that Cassie would have every chance to shoot him.


    Unfortunately for him and for Haley, they weren¡¯t alone.


    One of the Cabal soldiers that Daniel or Vaughn had thrown out of the fight had come back. We learned later that this one had been codenamed Gish Yankee by someone on a Reddit forum devoted to discussing the Cabal. A trained fighter because he was part of the Cabal, he¡¯d been run through some version of the power impregnator, activating latent psychic powers. He¡¯d been the one preventing telepathic access to the minds of the Nine¡¯s team.


    In our later discussions, I learned that Daniel hadn¡¯t even noticed him jump back into the fight. Neither had Cassie.


    The first hint that anyone had that he was there was when Haley jumped to avoid the goo grenade. At the top of her arc, she thought that it sounded like she was about to hit something, so she held out her hands, ready to push off against a wall she didn¡¯t see and it worked.


    She pushed off instead of hitting and landed on the ground.


    Daniel told me later that it wasn¡¯t a force field. It was telekinetic force. The difference, as he explained it, was that a telekinetic didn¡¯t create an object. They had to constantly choose to create force pushing in a particular direction. For most people, the difference didn¡¯t matter, but it did to physicists and telekinetic psychics.


    Not that I knew any of that at the moment. All I knew then was that I was tumbling toward the forest, that Haley and Travis were fighting people below me, that Johnny Destruction was behind me, and that Izzy was behind him.


    I straightened out and turned away from the forest toward the open area between the forest and the parking lot where the jet had landed. Then I opened up with the rockets and lowered the overall weight they propelled through the air with the anti-gravity units I¡¯d embedded in the suit.


    At the same time, I could see behind me that Johnny Destruction was sending out a massive fiery plume behind himself while aiming blasts at Izzy. My suit¡¯s sensors, though were giving signs that there might be something hard between us and whoever Travis and Haley were fighting. The composite between sound and radar showed a dome that didn¡¯t appear to be hard in all places at any given moment.


    I aimed for one of the soft spots only to have it begin to harden as I closed with it. I swerved to avoid hitting it head on only to see Johnny Destruction shoot through as if there were only air.

 Sudden Changes: Part 11

    Izzy hit the dome fist first, obviously expecting it to work like a force field and shatter with the strength of her blow plus her momentum. It didn¡¯t. Through my HUD, I saw the spot where she hit give but turn into a kind of tunnel through the dome, adjusting her course to slide her out the side before she had time to adjust.


    Not anyone could have done that. Gish either had Daniel¡¯s prescience or practiced adjusting his shield a lot.


    At the same time that Izzy had tried punching the dome, I¡¯d tried my own experiment with punching it. As I did, I saw through my HUD that rather than moving out of the way of my punch, the shield darkened around my hand, becoming denser and holding it in place. I hadn¡¯t been hovering as I did it either.


    I¡¯d slowed down, but I was flying, held up by the anti-gravity with the rocket pack providing momentum. The force around my hand tried to pull me down and my gut reaction, trying to pull my arm away, pulled me closer.


    I realized it before I pulled myself into the roiling mass of dome-shaped force, which was good. What was bad is that I was now facing the same problem that the Cabal was when facing Daniel. I could move tons of force, but I had nothing to push against and the suit¡¯s rockets weren¡¯t as strong as the suit¡¯s artificial muscles were. The same could be said of the suit¡¯s anti-gravity modules, but they at least helped.


    I increased the anti-gravity, giving me a constant upward force.


    Knowing that the sonics had worked against force fields on Hideaway, I activated the sonics on my right arm, the one held in the dome. Through the suit¡¯s sensors, I could see that it was resonating and that some threads of force were breaking, but that it wasn¡¯t reacting the way a force field with a rigid structure would¡ªshattering.


    New threads of force were forming even as the old ones fell apart. At the same time, I felt my hand slip upward. I narrowcast sound from my left hand, aiming at the space around my right even as the force began to tighten again.


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    It hit and I felt its hold give as I gave the rockets and anti-gravity units more power and fuel respectively. While the Cabal psychic¡¯s hold held long enough for the rockets to make me think I might be about to dip into the dome of force, I adjusted and the suit¡¯s path pointed upward as the last bit of Gish¡¯s hold on me broke.


    I shot away, flipping around to give myself a view of the scene and figure out what I was going to do next.


    As I came around, my implant gave me a flash of what had been happening when I was too busy to pay attention. After Johnny Destruction had shot through the barrier, he¡¯d aimed himself straight at Travis and Haley, burning all the way.


    With reflexes faster than any animal, they¡¯d both jumped out of his way as Cassie fired her gun at Insurgent, the Cabal speedster. He fell, still caught in strands of the goo grenade that Travis had thrown at him.


    The moment Insurgent fell, dirt and grass shot upward from the ground, making the dome impossible to see through¡ªexcept that light from Johnny Destruction¡¯s fire shone through the cracks.


    As of that moment, I¡¯d caught up to the present and was about to tell Izzy to use her sonic yell¡ªexcept I didn¡¯t have to. Whether she¡¯d come to that on her own or Daniel sensed how I¡¯d solved my problem and passed it on, she screamed. If my sonic weapons were a Swiss Army knife, Izzy¡¯s scream was more of a nuclear bomb.


    My sensors showed the dome wobble and then break, dirt clods, and bits of grass dropping to the ground. On the edge of where the dome had been, Gish stood there, eyes wide and body tense as if he were in pain¡ªexcept then a purple blur ran through my field of vision and Gish wasn¡¯t anywhere to be seen.


    Izzy dove toward Johnny Destruction, who had turned to aim his body and its surrounding massive ball of flame toward Travis and Haley. They were running toward the forest where they¡¯d at least have a chance to avoid him even if he did start parts of it on fire. Thanks to my implant and suit¡¯s sensors, I knew that he¡¯d catch up to them before they could make it.


    I flew after him, firing my laser because it was the only thing I had that could reach him soon enough and hoping that with Gish gone, Daniel might be able to break into Johnny Destruction¡¯s mind or whack him with telekinesis.


    We needed some kind of game changer now because there wouldn¡¯t be a later.


    Travis changed course, turning to the right. I thought for a second that he was trying to sacrificially draw Johnny Destruction after him by splitting up. It wasn¡¯t a bad idea, but I was only half-right. He¡¯d chosen a different form of self-sacrifice.


    He turned right, but then completely around, jumping into the ball of fire surrounding Johnny Destruction, claws out and aimed at the man¡¯s throat.

 Sudden Changes: Part 12

    As ideas went, it was incredibly wrong. There were some that might say it was so wrong that it was right, but on a gut level, knowing what I did about my armor, his armor, and Johnny Destruction¡¯s power, I would never have done the same except in a desperate situation where it was the only way to protect someone I cared about.


    In short, the exact situation Travis was in.


    His claws sliced into the armored costume protecting Johnny Destruction¡¯s neck, but his claws were actually claw-like as opposed to being long knives that extended from his body.


    They couldn¡¯t slice Johnny¡¯s head off. They bit into the armor, pulling chunks of it off and yanking away pieces.


    Johnny Destruction¡¯s fire aura grew and he tried to get out of Travis¡¯ grip. I could see Johnny¡¯s arms strain, but Travis was stronger than the Rocket suit.


    I fired the Rocket suit¡¯s lasers as I flew, hoping that they¡¯d punch through before Travis¡¯ suit lost integrity¡ªwhich it would.


    It was already broadcasting errors as the heat rose. I wouldn¡¯t have been conscious at that temperature. Travis was, partly because of the suit, partly because even if he couldn¡¯t regenerate at Cassie¡¯s level, he still had something in him fixing things.


    Izzy reached them next, forcing me to stop firing the laser because even though the shield around her body held up against it, her energy was finite and she was using it to avoid being burned while fighting Johnny Destruction.


    Over the comm, Haley shouted, ¡°Night Wolf, let go! She¡¯s got him!¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure that Izzy did have him, but she was closer.


    Travis¡¯ reply had the roar of a fire in the background, but he spoke in a low rumble, ¡°No, I¡¯ve got him!¡±


    He did.


    Travis¡¯ claws bit into Johnny¡¯s neck, severing his head. In a motion that told me how little I knew about Johnny Destruction¡¯s biology, the head shot out of his flaming aura with a trail of fire behind it, landing in the middle of of the asphalt parking lot and rolling a few times before it stopped. It didn¡¯t move again after that.


    At the same time, the aura of fire expanded, exploding in all directions.


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    I¡¯d almost made it there by then, changing course as the body began to explode, aiming myself toward Haley who had a fast enough reaction that she leaped for me as she saw me coming.


    A wave of heat hit us, but nothing that our suits couldn¡¯t handle.


    It would have been the stuff of kids¡¯ television shows if it weren¡¯t for the string of messages and medical alerts coming from Travis¡¯ suit. Starting with the heat messages, the messages progressed to medical alerts, then at the moment I picked Haley up, the messages stopped.


    Haley noticed at the same time I did, asking, ¡°Travis, are you there,¡± over the comm.


    I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that didn¡¯t come from the speed of our ascent as I turned right and upward to get closer but not too close.


    ¡°Go down,¡± Haley shouted and I began to descend in time to see Izzy fly out holding Travis¡¯ body. He didn¡¯t look alive.


    His costume had been blackened as had the skin I could see from where we were above him.


    ¡°Izzy,¡± Haley asked, her voice calmer than I expected, but still rising, ¡°is he¡­¡±


    She paused, searching for a word or not wanting an answer.


    In that moment, Izzy said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t hear a heartbeat.¡±


    ¡°The medical machines back at HQ,¡± Haley said, ¡°Control, call in medical help.¡±


    ¡°I already did when the Rocket got hurt,¡± Kayla said, ¡°They¡¯re still here.¡±


    Izzy let out a breath and shook her head, ¡°I¡¯ll get him back there.¡±


    We had alien medical devices back in HQ. We¡¯d even given Haley¡¯s second cousin access to them and training in how to use them. I didn¡¯t know how miraculously far ahead of us alien technology was, but this seemed like time to find out.


    I thought about the Xiniti implant and how it had offered healing through becoming even more invasively part of my body. I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted that for Travis, but something like that was the only chance for him, I couldn¡¯t say no on his behalf.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± she said and here her voice caught, ¡°please take me back to HQ.¡±


    Her costume had an anti-gravity aided rocket pack, but like most of the team, she¡¯d opted for a smaller, lighter, and slower version.


    Though I doubted that even alien tech would do any good, I aimed us toward HQ and the forest entrance. The rest of the team could handle any cleanup needed.


    We were above the forest when the next alert came in. My spybots had detected movement near Daniel¡¯s parents¡¯ house. Pictures showed four True and a Cabal soldier exiting a van near the house.


    Jaclyn said, ¡°On it,¡± almost as the alert appeared and Izzy said, ¡°I¡¯m almost done.¡±


    Even though I wanted to stay with Haley, I found myself thinking of Daniel¡¯s family. His dad was in Chicago with the Midwest Defenders unless something was happening. His younger brother and sister were in high school and wouldn¡¯t be home yet.


    Only his mother and grandfather would be home. His mother¡¯s ability to go into people¡¯s dreams could reach worldwide, but her only offense was a pistol. His grandfather had been the Mentalist, but Alzheimer¡¯s or some disease unique to psychics clouded his mind.


    They wouldn¡¯t have a chance.


    ¡°Go,¡± Haley said, ¡°I can make it from here.¡±


    She pushed away from me, descending toward the trees. I released more fuel into the rockets, unsure that I could make it in time even now.

 Sudden Changes: Part 13

    As it turned out, I was right to worry because the situation evolved before my eyes¡ªassuming that watching through a window in my HUD counts.


    The True stood in front of Daniel¡¯s house on the sidewalk and pointed their their rifles toward it¡ªwhich was a good tactic. No one inside could prevent them from shooting up the house.


    Except then, they didn¡¯t.


    The Cabal soldier, yet another wearing a black costume with a nine on his chest, differed from most of them in that he was unshaven and had a mullet.


    Mullet held up his hand and said something, walking toward the front door¡ªwhich still wasn¡¯t a bad tactic in that he could kill anyone inside and they could take care of anyone who tried to sneak out the back.


    Two of them started walking toward the side of the house, probably with that exact idea in mind.


    And then the world turned topsy-turvy¡ªnot literally, figuratively.


    The bots I had stationed in the back saw a figure step out of the sliding glass door in the back and shoot upward quickly enough that to the eyes of a normal person he¡¯d have simply appeared floating above the front of the house.


    I say he because it wasn¡¯t Daniel¡¯s mom. Daniel¡¯s grandfather had appeared on the scene¡ªin costume as the Mentalist.


    It was the 1980s costume. Blue all over, it had his symbol in white on his chest, a complex design that worked ¡°M¡± for Mentalist and the Star of David into one symbol. He¡¯d wanted the Nazis to know he was Jewish.


    It didn¡¯t fit as well these days. Tight around his belly and loose around his chest and limbs, it hadn¡¯t been redesigned for his current physique. Age comes for us all eventually and it¡¯s wiser to stay out of fights when you¡¯re past your prime.


    I couldn¡¯t look away from his costume. Even though Daniel shared his grandfather¡¯s talent for using prescience to deflect or avoid attacks, Daniel still wore an armored costume. I knew for a fact that the Mentalist¡¯s costume wasn¡¯t armored at all. My grandfather had told me so with a certain amount of old frustration at the edges of his voice.


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    If I could have gone faster, I would have.


    All I could do was watch in horror as the Cabal soldier jumped at Daniel¡¯s grandfather at what my implant calculated as more than 1000 miles per hour.


    Even with prescience and telekinesis, Daniel didn¡¯t have the strength to stop that. I expected to see blood as Mullet punched him and Daniel¡¯s grandfather all but exploded.


    I was half-right. I did see blood. It was the Cabal soldier¡¯s.


    Three-quarters of the way to Daniel¡¯s grandfather, Mullet stopped in the air and started to become smaller. It wasn¡¯t the kind of smaller that you¡¯d see in a movie version of Alice in Wonderland. It was kind you saw in a car compactor.


    Mullet played the role of the car.


    Instead of steel plates, the Cabal soldier was crushed by telekinetic force. It was also messy since cars didn¡¯t contain blood. I¡¯m not going to give a full description but for a hint, be aware that I flashed back to the time I saw a woman¡¯s head explode on the planet Hideaway.


    For the second time that day, I saw the True respond to something that didn¡¯t fit into their calculations. This time they did a little better.


    They aimed their rifles at The Mentalist, correctly recognizing that if they got even one shot to the right place, he¡¯d be down.


    They didn¡¯t get that shot in.


    Faster than a speeding bullet, a blur passed all four of them, knocking each one to the ground while bending or breaking their rifles along with their bones.


    By then I was close enough to see a second blur join the first. The second one was purple. Jaclyn stopped in front of the first blur, her grandfather, C.


    He wore one of my suits as well as some special sunglasses my grandfather had designed for him, getting around C¡¯s blindness. As I landed, I noted that C wore red with a symbol on the chest. It wasn¡¯t his traditional color or his symbol¡ªwhich was likely intentional. So far as the world knew, C was retired and the Flash was owned by a very litigious corporation.


    I walked up to hear Jaclyn say, ¡°I thought you and the rest of our board were keeping out of our fights because getting involved might kill us all.¡±


    In his deep voice, C said, ¡°There are exceptions. This is one of them.¡±


    He let out a breath, ¡°I know what happened today. If we could have helped without ruining everything, we would have.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m not criticizing you. We were told why you¡¯re doing it. I¡¯m sure you did everything you could.¡±


    C put his hand on her shoulder, ¡°Not enough. Especially on a day like this, I wonder if we could have done more. I never wanted this for any of you.¡±


    He hugged his granddaughter and looked over at me, ¡°Tell Night Cat that I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    I said, ¡°I will.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s grandfather landed next to me, ¡°Tell her for me as well. May his memory be a blessing, but I wish Night Wolf could be more than a memory. I wish we had better choices to offer all of you.¡±


    As he talked, I felt my connection to Daniel strengthen and then he landed next to us along with Izzy.


    I felt his shock and a flicker of hope as he asked, ¡°Are you back to normal? Were you faking it?¡±

 Sudden Changes: Part 14

    Daniel¡¯s grandfather shook his head, ¡°I wish that were true. What you¡¯re seeing isn¡¯t Alzheimer¡¯s. It¡¯s the result of overuse of my powers. You might even call it the growth of my prescience without a growth in my ability to stay grounded in the world around me.¡±


    He stopped, looking from Izzy and Daniel to C, Jaclyn and me, ¡°I can pull it together for meetings, but not for too long.¡±


    C nodded, ¡°We can¡¯t talk too much about that. Not here.¡±


    The Mentalist smiled, ¡°I know, but I also know that there¡¯s no one listening now that I wouldn¡¯t want to hear it. Right now, I need to let the Mystic know that I¡¯m not living a life of constant confusion. I¡¯m paying attention to other things, not all of them in this time. I can chase down possibilities and even alter things a little.


    ¡°What I¡¯m trying to say is that it¡¯s not perfect, but there are compensations. I will grow enough, given time, that I¡¯ll be able to control my consciousness and not let it pull me where it will. I¡¯m still getting stronger. You¡¯ll find that you don¡¯t stop. I couldn¡¯t have destroyed that man that easily even ten years ago.¡±


    He looked up at Daniel, the two of them a study in contrasts. The Mentalist was old, wrinkled, bald and five inches shorter than Daniel. Daniel was in his early 20s, tall, dark-haired, and while no bodybuilder, in good shape for any age.


    Daniel didn¡¯t say anything at first. I felt a swirl of emotions from him¡ªdisappointment, surprise, relief, love, and more. When he did speak, he said, ¡°I hope you figure out how to pull yourself back longer. I¡¯d like to have you back. We all would.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s mom stepped out of the front door, automatic pistol pointed down at the ground, but otherwise passing for a 40-something suburban mom. Dark-haired with olive skin, she wore jeans and a magenta blouse.


    With a glance toward her, the Mentalist said, ¡°I know, but it won¡¯t be tomorrow. I¡¯ll do what I can, but while I am here, I want you to know that I¡¯m proud of you, all of you. Your team deserves to inherit our name and reputation even if you don¡¯t feel like it sometimes.


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    ¡°Also,¡± he stopped to look at Izzy where she stood next to Daniel, ¡°the two of you are good together and in the future, at least in the most likely ones. I¡¯ve seen them.¡±


    From their house¡¯s front porch, Daniel¡¯s mom cleared her throat.


    The Mentalist glanced over at her and nodded, ¡°That¡¯s my hint that I won¡¯t be able to keep this up forever. She¡¯s right. Before I go, I need to tell the Rocket something.¡±


    He met my eyes and I felt a mental connection between the two of us. It didn¡¯t feel the same as my connection to Daniel. For lack of a better word, it felt wider. Along with it came a hint of the kind of connection I felt while in contact with Kee.


    None of the defenses that Daniel created in my head responded at all.


    Before I could ask about that, Daniel¡¯s grandfather said aloud, ¡°After you fought the Cabal, you and I happened to talk. I was putting away the dishes, but I told you to something about a device and I told you to destroy it. I¡¯m sure you thought I meant the power impregnator at the time.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°It seemed the most likely possibility then, but I wasn¡¯t sure. It didn¡¯t fit exactly. Even by then, I knew that there were probably more devices along those lines than just one.¡±


    I didn¡¯t say it aloud, but I could think of another device that he might have meant and we were already chasing it. Despite talking to one of Magnus¡¯ former friends, we still didn¡¯t know exactly where it was.


    The Mentalist smiled, ¡°I wasn¡¯t all there at the time, but you¡¯re on the right track anyway. Keep on looking. You¡¯ll have opportunities to find it and you may have the power to use it. I think you¡¯ll find it calling to you when you get close enough, but don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re not the only one with that potential. Even though there aren¡¯t many who can say the same, the number of them that I¡¯d trust is even smaller.¡±


    The telepathic connection between us ended and he said, ¡°I have to go.¡±


    He stepped forward to hug Daniel and Daniel hugged him back. I felt a flash of happiness and loss mingled together as Daniel let go and his grandfather floated upward, hovering above the house for a few seconds before he disappeared.


    Viewing through the eyes of my spybots, I knew that he¡¯d floated down the back of the house and in through the sliding glass door. From the front, though, whether through the speed of his flight or some kind of telepathic manipulation, I only saw him disappear.


    It was so smooth.

 Simple Choices: Part 1

    When I got back to HQ, it was too full.


    My parents were there. Haley¡¯s parents were there. Haley¡¯s second cousins were there, both of them doctors and both of them trying to use the alien medical tech to save Travis¡¯ life.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, most of the team was there. By the time you got out of work for two or three fights plus helping Kayla handle law enforcement¡¯s questions, it wasn¡¯t worth going back to whatever you¡¯d been doing.


    And besides, Travis was there.


    Haley and his parents stood back from the oval capsule where they¡¯d placed Travis¡¯ body. Both doctors stood next to the bulbous alien machine talking to each other in low tones.


    If I hadn¡¯t already known they were brothers, I might have guessed it from their shared thin features, olive skin, and male-pattern baldness. That they¡¯d both chosen to wear white lab coats wasn¡¯t a feature of shared heredity, but it completed the look.


    They weren¡¯t twins, but they might as well have been.


    My mom had walked up to Haley¡¯s family as I walked into the main room, having left the Rocket suit in the lab and wearing only the stealth suit transformed into a t-shirt and jeans.


    I might have expected Dad to be standing with Haley¡¯s parents too, but he was sitting on one of the couches we¡¯d placed together with easy chairs in a kind of lounge area. It was next to the kitchen and the locker rooms, creating a spot that felt less like work than the rest of HQ.


    He nodded at me, but didn¡¯t wave me over.


    So far as I could tell, he didn¡¯t want to talk and I could respect that. He¡¯d just learned that I was the Rocket and if he hadn¡¯t figured out that Rachel was Ghost and that Mom¡¯s parents were the original Rocket and Ghostwoman, he would soon.


    Plus, he¡¯d talked about the problems with young adults becoming superheroes and the damage it caused them for years. Now he¡¯d learned that his kids had been superheroes for all that time. It would be a lot to process.


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    It wasn¡¯t impossible that part of his opposition came from the combination of the mental block that the Mentalist left in his head in combination with whatever he did absorb of the activities of all the superheroes around him.


    I didn¡¯t want to push him.


    I nodded back and watched for any other signs that he wanted to talk. He sunk into the couch, staring downward at the wooden coffee table which, like most of the lounge area¡¯s furniture, came from IKEA. It was easier to sneak furniture that came in pieces into my house than have fully assembled furniture delivered to a secret superhero base.


    The upshot of this? I left my dad sitting on cheap furniture designed by the descendants of Vikings as I walked toward Haley¡¯s family and my mom.


    As I walked closer, both Dr. D¡¯Onofrios had walked out from behind the machine, leaving Travis¡¯ unmoving body in the oval capsule. I didn¡¯t need to have superhearing to guess what they were telling Haley¡¯s parents.


    Haley¡¯s mom leaned into Haley¡¯s dad¡¯s chest, sobbing. Her father held his wife but stared at the capsule which one of the doctors walked back and opened.


    Haley and her parents, her father¡¯s arm on her mother¡¯s shoulders, all walked forward.


    The machine hadn¡¯t brought him back to life, but it had made an open-casket funeral an option. Despite that, the body didn¡¯t quite look like the man it had been.


    Travis had confidence and intensity when he talked¡ªhonestly when he did anything. I remembered how I¡¯d been nervous to ask Haley out because of him, how he¡¯d pushed us to become more professional as a team, and the time that he¡¯d come out in my defense when Sean had been about to throw a hotel¡¯s pop machine at me.


    Travis hadn¡¯t liked Sean when Haley was dating him. I¡¯d never asked if Travis had come to a higher opinion of Sean later.


    His face had a slack jaw and a vacant look. His skin, likely thanks to the process of regrowing it, had a reddish tinge that he hadn¡¯t in life.


    I passed my mom, who stared at the body with a hard-to-read expression and a glimmer in her eye that might have been a tear. She glanced at me as I stopped next to Haley.


    Unsure of what to say, I decided not to ask her how she was doing. The answer seemed obvious. She hadn¡¯t broken down in tears, but she had reached out to take Travis¡¯ hand.


    She probably wasn¡¯t doing well. I decided that the best thing I could do was wait for her to talk. She did turn to look at me when I stood next to her. Her smile didn¡¯t last long enough for me to feel confident that I¡¯d seen it, but she did step close enough that she brushed against me.


    We stood there together next to Travis¡¯ body and said nothing. How long we would have stayed, I never found out. My comm interrupted us, receiving a text that I took through my implant.


    It was a message from Kayla saying, ¡°Adam called to say he¡¯s coming. He wants your answer.¡±


    In the far corner of the room, a human figure emerged from the shadows. Adam was here.

 Simple Choices: Part 2

    Adam walked across HQ¡¯s main room like a man who knew where he was going. To be fair, except for being large enough to hold a regulation basketball court plus an audience, the room was basically a big square.


    Anybody would know that all they had to do was cross the room diagonally and that we were on the middle left.


    I¡¯m not trying to say that he had the necessary confidence to cross a big room, though. He had that kind of confidence anywhere. It led to some questionable choices. Even ignoring the dragon and fairy invasion he¡¯d unleashed on our school, there was the time he¡¯d thought the mob had killed his girlfriend and he snuck into mobsters¡¯ houses and killed their leaders until the FBI stopped him.


    He wasn¡¯t even right that his girlfriend had died. Nicole showed up at Stapledon after he disappeared. She seemed nice.


    And here he was in my team¡¯s base without even asking permission. Given his alliances with the worst sort of fairies, I would have expected that he¡¯d already hit the point where invitations to enter buildings owned by mortals were required.


    To my eyes, he didn¡¯t look unusual in any way. In fact, he looked like a normal person. He wasn¡¯t even wearing a costume. He wore beige slacks and a blue, satiny shirt that might have been a little extra, but it was typical for him. More to the point, he wasn¡¯t wearing the sort of Renaissance festival-style clothing that you might expect out of someone who escaped into Faerie¡ªwhich I was pretty sure he had.


    Spotting Haley and me, he nodded and smiled at the two of us when he was halfway across the room.


    Haley let go of Travis¡¯ hand, looked up at me, and began to walk around the capsule. I followed her.


    Her dad saw us beginning to leave and asked, ¡°Who is that?¡±


    Haley turned around and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about him, Dad. It¡¯s Heroes¡¯ League business, but it shouldn¡¯t take long.¡±


    He looked at her and then over at Adam, ¡°I don¡¯t like the look of him.¡±


    In a quieter voice, she said, ¡°Dad, not now.¡±


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    Looking away from her dad, I turned back toward Adam, wondering what exactly he was responding to. Between Adam¡¯s strong jaw, full lips, and grey eyes, he had the feel of a male lead in a romance novel¡ªthe kind the heroine is tempted by but doesn¡¯t end up with.


    I¡¯d like to think that I looked like a safer bet to her dad, but I wasn¡¯t sure that he thought I was good enough for Haley either. To be fair, after her experience with Sean and the police investigation that followed her poisoning him, I could imagine that the whole family would be paranoid.


    We walked away from them, meeting up with Adam in the middle of the room. He said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry to come at a time like this, but I know something that you need to hear.¡±


    Haley¡¯s lip curled, ¡°What?¡±


    Adam blinked, possibly surprised by her directness, but he answered anyway, ¡°Major Justice and his crew are calling in favors and generally contacting anyone they can to organize against you. They may not be at the top of the heap, but they know a lot of people. In your shoes, I¡¯d be worried. They don¡¯t know everything that happened today, but when they do, it¡¯ll be fodder for the story they¡¯re trying to tell¡ªthat you¡¯re out of control and crazy with power, that you won¡¯t be restrained by anything.¡±


    Haley looked up at him, ¡°We know that. They¡¯ve been telling us that they¡¯ll do that for the last few days.¡±


    Adam looked at each of us and said, ¡°Unless their plans change, they¡¯ll be coming today. Even if they don¡¯t come today, it¡¯s not good news for you. It means that they pulled someone in who¡¯s worth waiting a day or two for.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°We more or less knew that too.¡±


    Stephanie had said as much when they called. She¡¯d even known that Major Justice had called in Bullet and the Coffeeshop Illuminati. Despite the goofiness of the name, the group had massive funding in combination with the more powerful descendants of established superhero families.


    That would open up connections to teams that might not normally join up against the Heroes¡¯ League. Sure, they might respect our grandparents, but would that translate into not helping their kids fight us? I doubted it.


    Adam raised an eyebrow, ¡°Seriously? You¡¯re doing better at intelligence gathering than I¡¯d have expected. It makes me think you took my warning to heart. Did you think about my offer of an alliance? As you should have guessed, that¡¯s the other reason I¡¯m here.¡±


    He looked off to our side and I followed his gaze. Cassie and Amy were walking toward us, both still in costume. Grunion, my family¡¯s cat, trailed after Amy.


    ¡°I know you all have to be okay with it, but look, I think you know what we¡¯re facing¡ªthe Nine, the Dominators, and whatever else hides under their umbrella. You¡¯re not going to be able to take them on by yourself. Neither am I, but if we work together, I¡¯ll have allies I know aren¡¯t the Nine¡¯s dupes and you¡¯ll have an army of fairies gathering intelligence and providing extra muscle where you need it.


    ¡°I know you¡¯re strong, but the Nine just attacked your families. You can¡¯t be everywhere at once and you can¡¯t match the Nine one on one. With me, you can.¡±

 Simple Choices: Part 3

    I looked over at Haley. We were going to have to talk about this among ourselves and not just the two of us either¡ªthe whole team.


    Of course, we had almost the entire team here already with the exception of Daniel, Jaclyn, Izzy, and Marcus. They were still out handling the police at Daniel¡¯s house, or in Marcus¡¯ case, traveling back from the fight at the factory.


    It wouldn¡¯t be that long and we¡¯d have everybody whether we wanted them or not.


    Amy and Cassie arrived just as Adam stopped talking. Grunion didn¡¯t come too close. The cat stopped next to a trophy case and jumped up on top of it, sitting there and beginning to lick his nether regions.


    Amy glanced back at the cat and shook her head.


    Cassie¡¯s costume changed into jeans and a hoodie as she stopped next to Haley, ¡°Adam, it¡¯s been a while. The last time we talked you¡¯d made an alliance with a dragon that was supposed to help you somehow, but in the end all it managed to do was create a big mess that we had to clean up. I spent some of it fighting my own team, but I think you¡¯d left by then. Courtney was supposed to take the fall for you, right? The dragon made her take your form.¡±


    Adam¡¯s face tightened and then relaxed. He took a breath, ¡°Look, I know that was a mistake and I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be paying for it for a long time. I know that now, but even then I was sure of what you yourself know. The Nine have infiltrated superhero teams all over the world along with the world¡¯s governments. I didn¡¯t go about what I was doing in a way that made it obvious that the Nine and I are different, but we are. If we let the Nine win, we¡¯re setting up the world for a kind of quiet corruption that will destroy the world¡¯s institutions from within.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re aware,¡± Cassie said. ¡°We¡¯ve been fighting them for a while now. I¡¯m not saying that you¡¯re wrong. I¡¯m saying that we already trusted you once and it sucked. I¡¯m also saying that you haven¡¯t shown a lot of good judgement in the kind of people, fairies, or whatever you make deals with.


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    ¡°The way I heard it, you started out being champions of some good fairies. Then after you murdered those mobsters, you signed up with fairies that aren¡¯t as good. And that¡¯s when you brought in the dragon and his army to the school. Then in DC you showed up with fairy stuff that looked a lot meaner than I¡¯ve seen you with before. They way I see it, you had to sign away something for that kind of upgrade. Who is it now? Someone even nastier than the dragon and what do they want out of you?¡±


    As she talked, Amy watched, sometimes nodding. As Cassie stopped, Amy added, ¡°You know, I thought I might have to correct you about fairies somewhere in there, but that was exactly right.¡±


    Cassie glanced over at her, ¡°I¡¯m glad our magical princess approves.¡±


    Then she shrugged, adding, ¡°I took Supernatural Threats 101 after the fairy invasion.¡±


    Amy smirked, asking, ¡°With Reliquary?¡±


    Cassie nodded and Amy continued, ¡°He knows a lot. Anyway, Fairies make deals, and Adam, you¡¯re not as good at it as they are. What did you promise this time and who did you promise it to?¡±


    Adam took a long breath before he spoke, ¡°I¡¯m not saying I haven¡¯t made mistakes, but I¡¯ve got more experience with fairies than you.¡±


    ¡°Doubt it,¡± Amy said, using her original accent. I¡¯d never been able to place it. It held hints of British, Irish, and more.


    He gave her a look, but continued, ¡°I¡¯m not going to argue, but you don¡¯t have that exactly right. The first fairy council I worked with asked for nothing more than that I be their champion. I failed them and they cut me off, but I don¡¯t owe them anything. I did become the champion of a second fairy council, and yes I made promises, but they aren¡¯t controlling me. I¡¯m my own person. The dragon wasn¡¯t part of that and what I did in DC wasn¡¯t because I made more promises. That was the fey fulfilling promises that they¡¯d made to me.¡±


    Amy crossed her arms over her chest, ¡°I¡¯d like details. I doubt that you have a contract, but if you can remember the exact words of their promises, I¡¯ll know if I can trust you.¡±


    Much as he had since Cassie and Amy showed up, Adam didn¡¯t seem to know what to say. He opened his mouth, stopped, and opened it again, failing to make any noise.


    He did manage to say, ¡°Give me a second, I¡¯ll try to remember the exact words. It¡¯s not how I normally talk.¡±


    Taking a breath, he looked at us and then past us. His eyes widened and I heard footsteps coming from behind me. I turned to look, remembering something I hadn¡¯t thought about in a while.


    My Dad had been his therapist and now Dad was walking toward us.

 Simple Choices: Part 4

    I wasn¡¯t the only person who noticed. Adam stopped what he¡¯d been doing and his eyes widened.


    If that surprised him, he recovered quickly, ¡°Dr. Klein! I didn¡¯t expect to see you. I knew you were Nick¡¯s father. I just didn¡¯t think you¡¯d be here.¡±


    He gave a quick smile, ¡°It¡¯s a little weird to have different pieces of my life crossing like this.¡±


    Dad glanced over at me. I had a hard time classifying his expression. Sadness? Melancholy? I don¡¯t know, but his brief smile covered over some hidden emotion¡ªprobably more than one.


    Dad said, ¡°You¡¯re not the only one. I¡¯ve had a strange day. It¡¯s been a long time since we last saw each other. I hope you¡¯ve been doing well. Circumstances made it impossible for Nick to keep me updated. I didn¡¯t even know you knew each other.¡±


    Adam pursed his lips, possibly uncomfortable, possibly deciding what he could say or what he wanted to say.


    Dad hadn¡¯t ever explained it in detail, but there are rules for what therapists can say about their clients¡ªwhich basically amount to nothing. I remember Dad avoiding shops where former and current clients worked just to avoid the complications of dual relationships.


    When there was no choice, he kept it polite, positive, and vague, much like he was doing now.


    ¡°Superhero stuff,¡± Adam said, nodding. ¡°It does get weird even when you¡¯re on the edge of it. My parents still don¡¯t know. It makes it easier. I¡¯ve made sure that they¡¯re being watched over to keep them out of it.¡±


    Dad nodded as Adam finished, ¡°I¡¯m sure that¡¯s a challenge. People have done their best to keep me out of it and safe, but it¡¯s an unpredictable world.¡±


    Taking a breath, Dad didn¡¯t say anything for a moment, but added, ¡°This isn¡¯t my place and I don¡¯t know enough about anything going on to tell you what to do, but please be careful. Be careful of yourself, but also of the lives of my son and his friends. They¡¯ve already lost one of their own today.¡±


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    He stopped and said, ¡°I¡¯ll let you go.¡±


    Then he walked away to stand with Mom and Haley¡¯s parents, all of whom were still standing next to the capsule where Travis lay dead.


    I wasn¡¯t sure what to think. It had a little of the feel of your parents coming into the room when you¡¯re not sure if you want to explain what you¡¯re planning to do, but worse. Except for what the block covered¡ªsuperheroes and anything related to it, I¡¯d never lied to him about anything for years at a time.


    He¡¯d never come home to find dead supervillains in and around the house either.


    When I thought about things that had gotten me yelled at as a kid, none of them held a candle to breaking down the front door or fighting in the basement. To be fair, I hadn¡¯t killed Number Eight. Mom had. I could only wonder if they¡¯d had that conversation.


    Haley watched my father go and then turned back to Adam, ¡°We can¡¯t talk about this right now. Nick and I can¡¯t make this decision for the rest of the team. We have to talk it through. Give us an hour. We can make a decision by then.¡±


    Adam¡¯s mouth tightened and I thought he might argue, but then he looked over at my dad and said, ¡°I can wait for an hour. Just be aware that Major Justice might not.¡±


    Then he stepped backward into shadow, disappearing.


    Amy stepped in front of Haley and I. Cassie stepped into the group after her.


    Taking a quick look back to where Adam had been, Amy said, ¡°I got a good look at how he did it this time. He¡¯s using magic, but it¡¯s not a spell. He¡¯s tapping a bigger power. I don¡¯t know how big, but not the biggest¡ªnot one of the fairy queens, not a dragon. It feels like a combination of smaller powers combined in one. If I had to guess, it¡¯s not from the nicer end of Faerie.


    ¡°That¡¯s consistent with what we know of his history,¡± I said.


    Cassie shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s exactly what we already knew about him. He makes bad deals with fairies. We can¡¯t trust him or whoever¡¯s holding the end of his leash.¡±


    Haley let out a breath, ¡°We might need him. We don¡¯t know exactly who Major Justice is bringing in. We know he¡¯s got Bullet and the Coffeeshop Illuminati. That means that we¡¯ll be fighting people from school, people whose parents are also superheroes, and fighting on some of the country¡¯s big teams. They¡¯ll either be mind-controlled or mislead, but we don¡¯t want to kill them. An army of fairies might make a difference.¡±


    Cassie scowled, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re really considering this.¡±


    Haley¡¯s lip quivered, ¡°I don¡¯t want to lose. Losing is like this, but more of us die.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea either,¡± Amy looked from Haley to Cassie. ¡°The last time we trusted Adam, I got punched by Izzy. The only reason I survived was that I¡¯d absorbed part of one of the Cabal students.¡±


    Cassie nodded, but Amy didn¡¯t stop.


    ¡°But I think we need to consider it. The past Bloodmaidens would rather trust fairies than what they¡¯ve seen of Major Justice so far.¡±

 Simple Choices: Part 5

    ¡°I think we may have to,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea either, but I feel like having us on the front lines at all times might not be a good idea. We could use help even if it¡¯s Adam¡¯s help.¡±


    Cassie looked over at the medical capsule and then back to us, ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking. We just lost Travis and you and I both know that there¡¯s something out there that can kill any of us¡ªeven me. I¡¯m not sure this is the time to make this decision. I think we might find it too easy to say yes right now even though you know what Adam¡¯s like.¡±


    Letting out a sigh, Haley said, ¡°I know, but I don¡¯t know what else we can do. We need help and we need it to someone we know the Nine haven¡¯t infiltrated. We can call other heroes and we won¡¯t know who they¡¯re really working for. They might not even know. You know what happened with Bullet.¡±


    We¡¯d talked through what happened to Bullet. We¡¯d seen the woman who¡¯d manipulated him die only days ago¡ªnot to mention my cousin Ana who¡¯d been manipulated into fighting us.


    Cassie nodded, ¡°Point, but just because Adam says he¡¯s against the Nine, he might not be. I mean, think about it. If the Nine had him in their pocket, he¡¯d be a helluva recruiting tool. You want to make inroads into the Nine¡¯s opponents? Take over him.¡±


    That didn¡¯t quite work for me. Almost no one would work with him now that he was on the run. The only people that might would be people like us, people who¡¯d lucked into being hard for the Nine to crack. I¡¯d happened to invent a defense against Julie that worked against the Dominators¡¯ voice powers because Julie was a potential Dominator.


    It didn¡¯t seem likely that the Nine had seen far enough ahead to set Adam up as a potential lure. On the other hand, the Nine had access to the True now. The True might be capable enough to foresee an opportunity to recruit Adam within the past month. After our attack on the Nine¡¯s suit manufacturing facilities, they¡¯d be motivated to take us out.


    Amy listened to Cassie with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow, finally responding when Cassie stopped, ¡°The fey wouldn¡¯t let their champion be mind-controlled by the Nine. It wouldn¡¯t be an act of charity either. I¡¯m sure they want to make sure that if anyone mind-controls him it¡¯s them.¡±


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    By then a crowd had begun to gather. Vaughn, Marcus, Jaclyn and Jaclyn¡¯s dog, Tiger had walked up. Tiger sniffed the ground where Adam had stood, following his path across the room to where Adam had first stepped out of shadow.


    Around then, Daniel and Izzy walked in, followed by Chris and that wasn¡¯t all. Sydney, Sean¡¯s sister along with her former Justice Fist teammates Camille and Julie. Tara and Kayla had been in HQ all the time and joined the group.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, Kals and Katuk came in with the rest.


    We didn¡¯t get to talking about Adam immediately. Daniel, Izzy, Jaclyn, and Marcus all stopped on the way to talk to Travis¡¯ parents. After a time, we all migrated to the table in front of the giant TV screen and walked through what happened and what Adam was offering¡ªwhich meant a detour back into talking about the fairy invasion he¡¯d caused during a Stapledon training summer along with the creepy and effective assistance he¡¯d given us during the fight in DC when we¡¯d captured/rescued the Master Martian from being killed by the Nine.


    It seemed forever ago.


    Then we rehashed the arguments for and against that Cassie, Amy, Haley, and I had come up with.


    That took us a little over 40 minutes of the hour we¡¯d promised. Near the end, Vaughn held up his hands, ¡°Look, we should just do it. Adam and his fairies are our best shot at finding allies that we know aren¡¯t controlled by the Nine. If we¡¯re worried about him, we should have Daniel look through his brain.¡±


    Daniel shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. If the Dominators worked him over, they might use multiple forms of mind control¡ªsomeone with voice powers to set up triggers and commands followed by a telepath to wipe any memory they might have of who gave them the commands. My dad brought me in on a few of those. Even after he showed me what to look for, I could barely tell.¡±


    Standing up from the chair she¡¯d sat in, Kals looked over the group and said, ¡°Between the two of us, we should be able to find influence from Motivator abilities.¡±


    Through our unintentional connection, I felt Daniel¡¯s mind searching through an infinity of probabilities. I felt the same way I felt staring at the night sky or looking out the windows of our jet while in space.


    He let out a sigh, ¡°It¡¯s not guaranteed, but I think she¡¯s right. It¡¯s our best chance to find out if he¡¯s been influenced and a good tactic in general. Don¡¯t count on it to work every single time. Our chance of being betrayed by someone we thought was safe while fighting the Nine is nearly 100 percent. I checked.¡±

 Simple Choices: Part 6

    The discussion went on after that, but no one said anything new. In the end, we took a vote with almost everyone voting yes to working with him.


    Cassie spoke for everyone, though, when she said, ¡°Alright, it looks like we¡¯ll be working with him, but we don¡¯t have to trust him. He¡¯s got to pass Daniel¡¯s and Kals¡¯ testing. Plus, if Amy scans him with magic and finds something unexpected, we still ditch him.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea,¡± Daniel said, nodding. ¡°The Dominators have wizards and vampires working with them too. It¡¯s common for them to use multiple methods on their more important thralls. It makes for an unpleasant surprise when you think you¡¯ve cleared out everything and you¡¯re wrong.¡±


    Kals looked over at him, ¡°This is a hell world. We¡¯d never look for something like that.¡±


    Now back to her normal body, Amy said, ¡°A hell world? Don¡¯t you have magic wherever you¡¯re from?¡±


    ¡°Most people don¡¯t know for sure that we have magic here,¡± I said. ¡°They assume it¡¯s just superpowers.¡±


    Shrugging, Kals said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. The Human Ascendancy isn¡¯t much more than a giant prison colony ruled by a dictatorship. I was told all my life that there was no magic just like there was no rebellion. After my mom and dad joined the rebellion, we heard stories about magic, but we never met anyone like you.¡±


    For a second, it looked as if the meeting would devolve into a discussion about magic in space. My implant had already delivered a history of the Xiniti¡¯s experience with magic since expanding outward from their homeworld and joining the fight against the Abominators.


    From the topic headings alone, I knew that it looked interesting and that I didn¡¯t have time to go into it.


    I never got the chance. Kayla¡¯s workstation started beeping. She stepped away from the table to walk over to the cubicle that acted as the League¡¯s command center.


    When she got there, she turned back to look at the rest of us, saying, ¡°I think you¡¯re going to want to see this,¡± and throwing the call to the twenty foot tall screen in front of us.


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    A fist appeared in the middle of the screen, the hand pointed upward at the end of a muscular arm. I knew that logo. The whole group did. I could tell from the audible groans.


    To be fair to everyone in Justice Fist, it wasn¡¯t the original logo. That one had been designed by a guy in Hardwick Industries¡¯ marketing department on request from the then CEO and current prison inmate, Vaughn¡¯s Uncle Russ.


    I couldn¡¯t say how, but this one looked better, cleaner, the design of the hand simpler. Access to a better logo designer must have come along with their deal with Future-men Capital, one of the biggest venture capitalist firms investing in superhero groups.


    Justice Fist¡¯s logo disappeared and Sean¡¯s face appeared on the screen. If the background behind him was real or even if it wasn¡¯t, Future-men hired the best for their investments.


    Sean dominated the foreground of the screen¡ªwith curly blond hair, a lanky, muscular body, and a face that I¡¯d heard high school classmates giggling over, he looked the part of superhero. The background, though, was where the money went. It showed the city skyline.


    If it was real, they owned a tall building near downtown with a window that framed the skyline perfectly. If it weren¡¯t, their graphic design team had a great eye. Between the skyline, the window behind Sean, and the silver and white of the office, the visuals told the viewers that this team was new, modern, and in the middle of everything.


    Our visuals would have told the viewer that we had a bunker somewhere¡ªnot that they could see us. With most of us out of costume, we were only showing the Heroes¡¯ League logo.


    Without taking a breath, Sean started talking, ¡°I heard you guys got attacked and I saw where. I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d go after you at home¡ªyour parents¡¯ homes. That¡¯s crazy. You guys kept that separate from your superhero identity and you guys were the ones that were good at it¡­¡±


    He stopped, shaking his head, and then added, ¡°We just thought you should know that we¡¯re behind you. You want our help, we¡¯ll be there.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know what everybody else was thinking, but the biggest thing on my mind as he talked was that he didn¡¯t know that Travis was dead and I wasn¡¯t sure that I wanted to bring it up right now. In fact I was pretty sure I didn¡¯t.


    Vaughn spoke up, ¡°Hey, thanks. Almost all of us are here. We¡¯re in the middle of planning a response. Don¡¯t be surprised if we call you in when we figure out what we¡¯re going to do.¡±


    Sean¡¯s mouth dropped, ¡°Right. Of course you¡¯re making a plan. Call me once you¡¯ve got something. We¡¯re with you.¡±


    Less than a minute later, the call was over. It was nice that he thought to call, but he¡¯d told me that there was a connection between Future-men, Magnus, and the Nine.


    We couldn¡¯t assume that he was still acting out of his own free will.

 Simple Choices: Part 7

    Well, at least the call was over. It wasn¡¯t as if I hated Sean at this point, but I didn¡¯t love unpredictability and if Sean had been turned by the Dominators, it would definitely be a surprise.


    On the other hand, if they turned him and asked about me, they¡¯d know our history. If they knew that, they¡¯d know that he¡¯s not someone I¡¯d trust without question, making him a bad choice for betrayal. Still, if they could get him and couldn¡¯t get anyone closer, they¡¯d use him.


    The screen went blank and Haley and I looked at each other.


    I said, ¡°I still don¡¯t know what to make of him.¡±


    Haley shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t either.¡±


    From further down the table, and sitting next to Marcus which was an interesting development, Sydney looked over at us. Blond and light skinned like her brother, her mouth twisted, ¡°I know, but at least he¡¯s on your side now.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s better,¡± Haley met Sydney¡¯s eyes. ¡°It¡¯s better than it used to be. Travis used to hate him. I think he moved up to disliking him. I¡¯m still not sure what I feel.¡±


    Haley swallowed and became quiet.


    ¡°I know,¡± Sydney glanced across the room toward the medical equipment and Haley¡¯s parents. ¡°I still feel bad about how my dad got the police involved after everything ended. ¡±


    Camille nodded, her resemblance to her half-sister obvious as they sat next to each other despite her black hair and darker skin, ¡°I didn¡¯t hear anything about that until we were in Justice Fist. I barely believed it.¡±


    My dad cleared his throat and I turned around to find him standing next to the table with not only my mom, but also Haley¡¯s dad. Her mom was still talking to one of the two Drs. D¡¯Onofrio, possibly about what to do with Travis¡¯ body. If she was lucky, maybe they¡¯d moved on to other things.


    Dad looked over the table. We were all in street clothes by then, so that might have made it a little less weird¡ªjust a group of 20 somethings sitting in a giant underground bunker with a dog the size of a horse.


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    ¡°It¡¯s not my place to butt in, but was that the same Sean that you fought in high school?¡±


    ¡°Ben,¡± Mom began in a low voice.


    I replied, ¡°Yes,¡± and wondered where this was about to go.


    ¡°His father threatened me with a lawsuit after the fight. I wanted to punch the man myself, but never mind. You know that I was Adam¡¯s therapist. I don¡¯t think I ever told you, but it sounds like he did.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°He mentioned it.¡±


    Dad took a breath, ¡°I can¡¯t tell you what I talked about with him, but if you know his history, you can guess and I¡¯m sure some of your guesses will be good.


    ¡°I know what he went through because the government supported and encouraged him to become involved in fighting organized crime. I don¡¯t want that for you. I want to tell you not to become involved with him at all, but I also know that this is your decision. It¡¯s not mine. I don¡¯t know all the problems you face.¡±


    Mom squeezed Dad¡¯s hand, but then added, ¡°Do what you have to do to survive.¡±


    Dad looked at her as if he wanted to add something, but then nodded. Maybe he would have said more, but then Haley¡¯s dad started talking to me, ¡°You fought Sean? When was this?¡±


    In a low voice, Haley said, ¡°Dad¡­¡±


    ¡°Years ago,¡± I said. ¡°My senior year of high school. Haley¡¯s junior year.¡±


    ¡°Nick won,¡± Cassie said, ¡°and not just against Sean. Jody and Dayton were there too.¡±


    Vaughn grinned, ¡°This was before they got powers.¡±


    Mr. McAllister said, ¡°Good. I never liked that guy. Dayton wasn¡¯t bad, but Jody was a dick. What¡¯s wrong with that kid?¡±


    Then, looking over at Sydney, he added, ¡°I never had a problem with you, though. You¡¯re a good kid and a good friend.¡±


    A little louder then, Haley said, ¡°Dad, we¡¯re in the middle of something.¡±


    Mr. McAllister nodded and drew a breath. Normally, he reminded me of Travis even if he was almost a foot shorter. Now, though, he seemed much smaller, ¡°I know. You¡¯re trying to stay alive. Like Dr. Klein said, it¡¯s not my place to step in and tell you what to do, but I¡¯m going to give you some advice. Don¡¯t trust Sean and don¡¯t trust the shadowy guy either. You may have to work with them, right now, but expect betrayal. Watch them. Stay alive.¡±


    Looking up at her father, Haley said, ¡°We¡¯re going to be careful. We want to stay alive just as much as you want us to.¡±


    He turned to me, ¡°Take care of her.¡±


    Haley frowned, but I said, ¡°I will,¡± knowing what was behind his words.


    Her father smiled and backed away from the table, turning to walk back to his wife.


    As his feet hit the concrete floor, my Dad said, ¡°Please take care of each other, all of you.¡±


    Mom touched my shoulder and said, ¡°Good luck,¡± and then she walked away with my dad, following Mr. McAllister.


    A more negative part of me noted that one of the Block¡¯s good points was that our parents didn¡¯t know enough either to worry or feel the need to give advice.


    Another part of my brain was concentrating more on Amy¡¯s voice as she said, ¡°He¡¯s here.¡±


    As she said it, Adam stepped out of the shadows near the corner of the room.

 Simple Choices: Part 8

    Making a mental note to ask Amy if we could do something about him teleporting into HQ whenever he wanted, I stood up. I wasn¡¯t the only one. Jaclyn, Haley, and Izzy had beaten me to it. Izzy was already in the air, hovering above her seat.


    Tiger hadn¡¯t done much when Adam first appeared in HQ, but this time, he¡¯d made it to his feet and was already walking around the table.


    He wasn¡¯t growling, but watched as Adam walked toward the group, sometimes glancing over at Jaclyn as if wondering what she wanted him to do.


    Jaclyn held out her palm and the dog didn¡¯t go any further forward until she did. She only walked a few steps, joining Haley and I as we stepped away from the table and stood there. Seconds later, the entire group had left their seats to stand next to us.


    He¡¯d seen the group before, most of us anyway. Kayla and Chris hadn¡¯t gone to Stapledon weekends, so there was no way he¡¯d know them. Aside from them, Kals and Katuk grew up on other planets. Adam¡¯s eyes did linger on them a moment longer than the rest of us.


    Looking from one side of the group to another, he said, ¡°Wow. You got the whole group together for this. That makes me feel important. Since you¡¯re all in street clothes, I¡¯m going to guess that you¡¯re not here to fight me, right?¡±


    He smiled, but he didn¡¯t stop glancing around the group. People in Stapledon knew that I made costumes that changed form.


    Vaughn grinned at him, ¡°Not unless you want to. We do have a question or two that we want answered before we go through with this.¡±


    Adam met Vaughn¡¯s eyes and said to the group, ¡°Questions make sense. I expected a few. Before we start, I¡¯ve got one of my own, though. Where did you get that dog? I¡¯ve never seen anything like that.¡±


    Aside from being the size of a horse, Tiger¡¯s curly, orange, black, and white, striped fur didn¡¯t match any dog breed from Earth.


    Jaclyn shook her head, ¡°He¡¯s my dog and I¡¯m not going to say how we got him. It¡¯s private.¡±


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    Adam looked at Jaclyn and then over to the dog. Tiger eyes followed Adam¡¯s movement as he got closer, showing the same kind of intense interest that an ordinary dog might show a squirrel.


    With big dogs, that can lead to a dead squirrel.


    Adam seemed to understand that. He looked at the dog again, asking, ¡°Is he okay?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s fine,¡± Jaclyn said, reaching out to stroke the dog¡¯s side. ¡°He very smart, very big, and very interested in you right now, but don¡¯t worry, he also listens.¡±


    Daniel stepped out from the crowd. Kals followed him with Katuk managing to stay a little bit ahead of her at all times. His grey skin and large, black eyes even more obvious now that he¡¯d left the group.


    Adam stared, finally recognizing what Katuk was, ¡°You¡¯ve got a Xiniti on your team? When did that happen?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t,¡± Daniel stopped in front of Adam. ¡°He and his friend are just visiting, but, his friend is the one who needs to ask the questions. If we¡¯re going to trust you to help us fight the Nine, we need to know that you¡¯re not one of their puppets. She¡¯ll ask questions. I¡¯ll read your mind as you respond. If you¡¯ve got one of Nick¡¯s buzzers that block sound based powers, you¡¯ll want to turn it off for now. I¡¯ll know if you don¡¯t.¡±


    Adam froze. He looked at Kals and then over at Julie who stood in next to Camille and Sydney in the main group of us.


    Pointing at Kals, he said, ¡°She¡¯s got voice powers. I know you¡¯ve got Julie. What¡¯s going on here? Who is she?¡±


    Bits of shadow moved around him. I didn¡¯t know whether that meant he was going to fight or disappear, but neither one would make our lives better.


    Kals spoke first, ¡°I¡¯m from the Human Ascendancy. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re aware that the Dominators are the ruling class of the humans that the Abominators modified, but they are. I was raised to be one of them, but my family broke away. The Dominators here have turned into their own organization. They still use our methods and skills.


    ¡°I can test to see if they have any hooks in you.¡±


    Adam looked over at me, ¡°You don¡¯t need to test me for this. I¡¯ve kept a buzzer on me at all times for more than five years now.¡±


    Kals shook her head, ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean anything. You know who made the first devices like your buzzers? We did. We needed a way to prevent other motivators from modifying our servants.¡±


    ¡°Motivators?¡± Adam raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°Dominators by another name,¡± I said. ¡°You can trust her, but you,¡± I told Kals, ¡°kind of sound like a supervillain right now.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± she shrugged. ¡°You might say I went to school for it. Now I¡¯m using my training for good.¡±


    Looking toward Haley and me, he said, ¡°This is the only way you¡¯ll trust me? Because I¡¯ve been trying to avoid handing my brain over to a Dominator for years.¡±


    From my left, Cassie said, ¡°Yes. We know we can trust her. We don¡¯t know we can trust you.¡±


    ¡°Fine, then,¡± he stuck his hand into the collar of his shirt and pulled out a necklace. A grey, metal version of my earlier buzzer designs hung from it.

 Simple Choices: Part 9

    As Adam took off the necklace and handed it to me, Daniel thought at me, This is a good sign. In my dad¡¯s stories, this is the kind of thing that should have provoked violence and I don¡¯t sense any coming except in the least likely of futures.


    I took the necklace and looked at the buzzer. I¡¯d been right to think that it looked like one of my earlier designs, but it wasn¡¯t one of them. I¡¯d made them available to other people at points, but I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d done so with the model this appeared to be a copy of.


    Keon had the skill to do it. He¡¯d been at Stapledon before Adam disappeared and so had other techies.


    That might be worth looking into, Daniel thought at me. If someone¡¯s been producing buzzers and people have been using them, we might have a group of potential allies that we don¡¯t know about.


    Good point, I thought back. As the resident super genius, I should have thought of that one. You¡¯re stepping on my turf.


    I felt Daniel¡¯s amusement through the link, Remember that comment while you commune with ancient, supernatural entities with your mind.


    He wasn¡¯t wrong. That did seem like something that should be happening to the group telepath, especially if he happened to be named ¡°The Mystic.¡± Annoyingly, I hadn¡¯t had lessons with Kee lately. It seemed like she was busy¡ªwhich was interesting since I hadn¡¯t heard from Lee recently either.


    Kals stopped about six feet from Adam, ¡°I¡¯m going to start by testing you with tones and commands in both English and my native language.¡±


    I felt Daniel¡¯s concentration turn toward Adam and heard not only my buzzer go off, but those of everyone on the team.


    Tara laughed, ¡°Step back everyone. Nick, how far?¡±


    I thought about how much noise the buzzers would make if everyone in a group had one, and said, ¡°Fifteen feet back from here should be good enough. We can go back to the table if we want to be paranoid.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s be paranoid,¡± Cassie said, waving everyone back.


    Katuk didn¡¯t move, ¡°I use a different method.¡±


    As several pairs of eyes turned toward me, Jaclyn said, ¡°He¡¯ll be fine.¡±


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    I nodded as we all backed up, finding that Haley had slipped her hand into mine and was leaning against me as we sat down in our chairs next to the table.


    Since watching Adam get interrogated wasn¡¯t particularly romantic, it didn¡¯t take much to come up with another reason she might want the comfort of human touch.


    Ahead of us, Kals continued to talk, her words fuzzy because of our buzzers. Adam listened, sometimes nodding, sometimes joking.


    As Adam grinned at something he¡¯d said, Kals talked to me through her implant, It¡¯s looking good so far. I¡¯m trying a series of tones that are used in nonverbal commands. I would have tried more of them with Colette, but we didn¡¯t have time.


    Not wanting to distract her, I didn¡¯t reply as she made noises that might have passed for singing if she wanted. As I watched, my implant filled in details. Motivators could sing the nonverbal commands if they wanted to, but more often hid them between words in sentences, indicating where a verbal command began and where it ended.


    As Kals made noises, Adam responded with the kind of banter some supers actually used in fights, ¡°Hey that almost sounded like a word,¡± and ¡°Ribbit? You sounded like a frog.¡±


    Kals said, ¡°I did not sound like a frog,¡±, but she also smiled a little.


    Was he trying to flirt with her?


    Daniel said, Yes.


    Maybe that kind of thing worked for some guys. It didn¡¯t seem all that clever.


    She¡¯s not as distracted by him as you¡¯re assuming.


    Kals made a high pitched noise that reminded me of anime girls and even though Adam seemed just about to make a joke, he froze instead.


    Then he shook his head and said ¡°Oh, shit. They got me,¡± while stepping back and breathing heavily.


    At the table, Jaclyn and Izzy got back out of their chairs while Katuk stepped between Adam and Kals.


    In my head, Daniel said, That¡¯s a good sign. If they¡¯d done a good job, he wouldn¡¯t be able to recognize anything was wrong.


    Kals stepped to the side of Katuk, telling Adam, ¡°Picture in your head what you think of when you hear this noise.¡±


    Then she repeated the noise again. Adam froze again, but after a moment he took a series of deep breaths, closing his eyes, possibly to imagine better.


    Kals looked over at Daniel where he sat at the table, ¡°Do you see anything?¡±


    ¡°I wish this was a surprise,¡± Daniel said, ¡°but I¡¯m seeing the people from the Coffeeshop Illuminati along with Bullet¡ªonly not at their HQ¡ªat one of the bases Stapledon uses. The one in Nebraska. It seems to be from a few years ago.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡±


    Adam looked around the group, mouth hanging open, ¡°I didn¡¯t know! I thought I was clean.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not that bad,¡± Kals said. ¡°It¡¯s not even working right. That should have put you into a receptive mode for more commands, but it lasted only a few seconds.¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°Back on Hideaway, you tested if my buzzer blocked everything. I think this one might partly block some of the stuff I missed. Do you think that might explain anything?¡±


    Daniel¡¯s voice in my head said, From what I¡¯m sensing, it works. He pops out of what she¡¯s doing as she finishes the phrase that puts him into it.


    Kals smiled, ¡°I think that¡¯s it. I¡¯m going to try to erase the command. Julie, come here. This will be easier with two of us.¡±


    I hoped it worked better for Adam than it had for Colette¡ªor my cousin Ana, for that matter.

 Simple Choices: Part 10

    Kals talked with Julie in a low voice, using words that were a mixture of English and Ascendancy. The Ascendancy was straight jargon transliterated or translated into English. Even the Xiniti implants couldn¡¯t translate it very well, turning most of the words into sound waveforms¡ªwhich I could maybe figure out her strategy given time, but not in the moment. I still needed more context.


    The words themselves still didn¡¯t make it clearer. An example? Kals said, ¡°I¡¯ll need you to do eight high mind squirts in a row in the low mind zug pattern I taught you earlier.¡±


    Julie meanwhile, furrowed her brow at first, but then smiled and said, ¡°Got it!¡±


    It¡¯s enough to make me sympathize when people have a hard time listening to me talk with Chris.


    Soon afterward, Julie and Kals started talking to Adam at the same time, their voices blending and pulsing with the same rhythms. I couldn¡¯t call it singing, but that was the closest word I had.


    Even the Xiniti implant didn¡¯t have context for what I was seeing. The Human Ascendancy¡¯s motivators had managed to keep some secrets despite the Xiniti¡¯s efforts to collect and classify them.


    I couldn¡¯t think of a time that I¡¯d seen motivators work in concert even while I¡¯d been in space.


    It lasted for at least thirty minutes during which our buzzers worked continuously¡ªto the point that I suggested we back up further because I¡¯d never expected the buzzers to need to run that long without a break.


    I¡¯d have to do some more testing and maybe reassess the design if that were a possibility.


    Chris and I wandered off to my lab to set that up while they worked. Everyone else scattered into groups of their own. Haley and Kayla talked near Kayla¡¯s cubicle. Everyone else moved over the break room, kitchen, and locker room area.


    At least that¡¯s where I next saw them. Haley stepped into the doorway saying, ¡°They¡¯re done.¡±


    Chris and I followed her out and sat with everyone else at the tables there. Adam sat at the next the locker room, slumping on the table itself, pushing himself up as I walked over.


    Kals grinned at me as I walked up, ¡°It was one of the easiest I¡¯ve done in a while.¡±


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    Julie sat at a table with Camille, Sydney, Marcus, and Vaughn. She was leaning on the table with her head on her arms as if they were a pillow. I only knew that she was awake by seeing that her eyes were open and that she was watching.


    Shaking her head, Julie said, ¡°Easy?¡±


    Kals laughed, ¡°I¡¯ve done it for hours for two days, taking breaks to sleep and eat. This time I had help,¡± she squeezed Julie¡¯s shoulder, ¡°and he wasn¡¯t the main target. The motivator who did it was skilled, but not amazing. I¡¯m better.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m glad,¡± Adam glanced at Kals and then at me. ¡°That was my worst nightmare¡ªbecoming the Nine¡¯s tool without knowing it.¡±


    Kals shook her head, ¡°You weren¡¯t yet, but there was enough for them to pull you in and load you up with commands if they noticed, but they didn¡¯t.¡±


    Leaning on the table as if he wasn¡¯t sure he could trust himself not to fall asleep, Adam¡¯s grin came off less devil-may-care than he intended, but he said, ¡°Then if we¡¯re going to work together now, let¡¯s start talking. What are you plans for what¡¯s next?¡±


    ¡°Plans?¡± I shook my head. ¡°We don¡¯t have plans. We¡¯ve got goals, but we don¡¯t know exactly how we¡¯re going to fulfill them.¡±


    Adam laughed, ¡°Then what are your goals?¡±


    Even though I wasn¡¯t sure I should say it, I still answered, ¡°Survive whatever¡¯s going to happen with Major Justice and then somehow take out Magnus. We know he¡¯s after or he¡¯s got some kind of ancient alien device. If he learns how to use it, he¡¯ll become the master of the planet and maybe other planets as well.¡±


    Adam blinked, ¡°Is that what he¡¯s doing? We knew he was looking for something. Are you sure it¡¯s alien? If it is, it¡¯s old. The Nine have been infiltrating museums across the globe for years now. I¡¯d been assuming it was magic.¡±


    Marcus shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s alien.¡±


    Looking around the group, Adam asked, ¡°What kind of alien? Abominator?¡±


    We all looked at each other then. Everyone in the group was thinking the same thing I was. The moment we told Adam about Lee and the Artificers and how they¡¯d been waging a civil war and destroying new races whenever they learned about them, we¡¯d never be able to take that back.


    Daniel spoke up, ¡°That¡¯s a big secret. It¡¯s the kind of secret that won¡¯t ever let you see the world the same after you learn it and worse, you¡¯ll suddenly have the ability to destroy the world by accident if you make the right mistake. If you give us a little time, we¡¯ll be able to trust you with it, but let us wait on that, okay?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Adam let out a breath. ¡°I think I can give you a second with something like that. Let¡¯s start on the Nine then.¡±


    Kayla¡¯s communicator began to ring. From the fact that mine began to buzz as well, I knew it wasn¡¯t a coincidence. Someone was ringing the main Heroes¡¯ League line.


    Half the group pulled out their personal phones, all of which were connected to the League¡¯s system.


    Kayla took the call. Though I couldn¡¯t hear any clear words, I could hear a voice shouting. At the end of it, she said, ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll tell him.¡±


    She looked at me, ¡°Major Justice says this is your absolute last chance to surrender. He¡¯s bringing in a task force of supers from across the country. You won¡¯t have a chance, he says.¡±


    I wanted to scream, but didn¡¯t, ¡°Again? I feel like he¡¯s been saying the same thing for days now.¡±

 Simple Choices: Part 11

    Kayla laughed, ¡°You haven¡¯t spent half the time talking to him that I have. At least he¡¯s respectful to you. He thinks I¡¯m some kind of no name peon.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t imagine what he said to her that made the way Major Justice treated me seem respectful.


    She looked down at her phone, ¡°Oh, and he¡¯s gone. I guess he wanted to sneer at me one more time before they attacked.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me he was being nasty to you.¡±


    Raising her left hand, Kayla said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s not like he¡¯s the first. Some of the older supers see a 22 year old girl on the comm and assume I have to be an intern. The better ones are like C¡ªgenuinely good to me. There aren¡¯t a lot of jerks.¡±


    Meeting Kayla¡¯s eyes, Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯m going to punch that guy into next week.¡±


    With a shake of her head, Kayla said, ¡°Don¡¯t. That¡¯s what I didn¡¯t want. It¡¯s already tense between us and him. I don¡¯t want to make this worse.¡±


    Adam let out a breath, giving a snort, ¡°Too late now. If the Nine gave him an order, he¡¯ll find a way to justify it. It doesn¡¯t matter what we do.¡±


    ¡°It does matter,¡± Daniel¡¯s quiet voice cut through the silence. ¡°Unless the Nine have stripped him of any decision making ability in this situation, he can still decide how hard he¡¯s going to go. If we can lower the tension, it will still be better.¡±


    Giving a shake of his head, Adam said, ¡°I doubt it. If the Nine got their hooks into me, no matter how little it was, they got a lot more into them. Fairies can sneak into anything. From what I¡¯ve been told, the Nine have the Coffeeshop Illuminati under their thumb and it¡¯s not one person, it¡¯s everybody. They¡¯ve got a bunch of the small teams and solo heroes and from what I¡¯ve seen, I¡¯d be surprised if they didn¡¯t have a few of the Defender units completely sewn up¡ªwhich means not only access to Defender intelligence databases, but the ability to feed information into those databases.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think anybody knows how deep the rabbit hole goes when it comes to their influence even on supers.¡±


    Kals frowned at Adam, ¡°Take it from someone who knows more than you do about how controlling your assets works. You want to give them as much freedom as you can. If they notice they¡¯re being controlled, it¡¯s possible to fight it. When they don¡¯t know you¡¯re controlling them, they only think about how best to do it.¡±


    Staring at her, Adam said, ¡°You¡¯ve done a lot of that?¡±


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    The corners of Kals¡¯ mouth widened, ¡°I was trained at the best schools the Human Ascendancy has to offer motivators before we went into hiding. The Human Ascendancy is a cesspit of intrigue and backstabbing. I know how to govern a planet and how to destabilize a government, how to organize a planet¡¯s breeding program and how to destroy one, how to infiltrate a rival faction, and more. You¡¯re lucky I¡¯m on your side¡ªor at least on Nick¡¯s.¡±


    Haley looked at me and raised an eyebrow.


    I didn¡¯t know whether she was responding to Kals¡¯ obviously high opinion of herself or the fact that she¡¯d named me in particular. Probably both.


    I shrugged. We¡¯d talk about it later if it mattered to her.


    Smiling at Kals, Jaclyn said, ¡°I¡¯d like to think you¡¯re on my side too.¡±


    Kals laughed, ¡°Forever. I owe all of you¡ªCassie, Marcus, Katuk, and even Tiger.¡±


    The dog had curled up next to the concrete wall of the locker room. He looked up when she mentioned his name.


    Looking around, Adam had to guess that he didn¡¯t know the whole story. He didn¡¯t try to get it either, ¡°Look, all I¡¯m saying is that the Nine are going to use their tools to go all out against you. Expect a scorched earth policy from every direction. I¡¯m not going to argue specifics. We need to figure how we¡¯re going to hold them off and how we¡¯re going to win. I expect to be at war by tomorrow at the latest.¡±


    Daniel nodded, ¡°He¡¯s right about that. I don¡¯t know when it¡¯s going to happen, but it¡¯ll be soon.¡±


    Without knowing even what I¡¯d say, I began to open my mouth and then my phone rang, showing Stephanie as the caller.


    I stood up, walking away from the break area as the conversation continued without me as I took the call.


    Breathing heavily, Stephanie said, ¡°We¡¯ve got our marching orders. I¡¯m grabbing my go bag from my room. I don¡¯t know where I¡¯m going to be tomorrow, but Bullet just made a speech about how the Nine have infiltrated all corners of society and how sometimes it¡¯s our duty to fight even if we have to fight friends. We¡¯re going to save the country, ourselves, and even those we¡¯re fighting¡ªwhich means that if we¡¯re not fighting you, I don¡¯t know where we¡¯re going.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue with her logic¡ªespecially since it was the exact opposite of the actual situation, ¡°Crap. Do you know who¡¯s involved?¡±


    ¡°All of us,¡± Stephanie said, ¡°but I¡¯m sure you guessed that. All of Major Justice¡¯s friends in the Defenders for sure because Bullet mentioned them. I don¡¯t know who else, but Bullet mentioned that we have support in the super community¡ªbig guns. He didn¡¯t give any details.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I tried to think of anything worth asking. She¡¯d covered when (now), who (all of Major Justice¡¯s friends plus a mystery supporter), and what (an attack). How and where they¡¯d attack probably hadn¡¯t been revealed yet.


    ¡°That sucks,¡± I added.


    ¡°It does suck,¡± Stephanie replied. ¡°It also plays the jade flute, inhales the oyster, and eats the chicken.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m forever in awe of your command of sexual euphemisms,¡± I told her, hoping that meant that there was no possibility that she¡¯d been turned.


    ¡°I do what I can,¡± she said, the amusement disappearing from her voice. ¡°I think we can all use a laugh or two right now, but¡­ I have to go. Good luck. Check your security systems. Bullet didn¡¯t tell us where we were going, but he said he knew the way in.¡±


    The call ended, leaving me standing about ten feet from the rest of the team¡¯s conversation with Adam.


    I stood there for the moment, wondering which version of the anti-voice buzzer Stephanie was using. I¡¯d reconnected with her after my trip to Hideaway, which meant that she had to have the most recent design.


    She should be safe.

 Isolation: Part 1

    They didn¡¯t arrive to attack us that afternoon or even that evening or night. It was a little disappointing after all the warnings. We went on high alert for the night, taking turns staying up and not leaving HQ.


    We could have all slept and let HAL watch for intruders, but we decided it was better to have two people awake, armored, and ready for action. Besides we had a lot of people. No one had to stay up that long.


    Haley¡¯s and my parents stayed in HQ along with Uncle Steve, but they stayed out of our way.


    Were there discussions and tears about Travis? Of course, and not just by Haley and her parents.


    I may have shed a tear or two of my own while listening to Haley and wondering if I should try to contact Rachel as she flew home.


    Knowing how much of a crapshoot contacting someone traveling faster that light could be, I didn¡¯t. Besides, it had to be bad enough knowing that we were in enough trouble that I¡¯d called for help. Knowing that Travis, an ex-boyfriend, had already died and that she wasn¡¯t able to do anything about it would be worse.


    They¡¯d broken up a year before Haley and I got together, but they¡¯d managed to put together a friendship once the team got going.


    The only event of the evening worth writing down was that Guardian called. He called my comm directly.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± he began, ¡°I¡¯ve been talking to Defenders units, independent heroes, and more. Major Justice has been calling everyone to raise up a force to handle you. I wanted to bring in the Defenders on your side, but I can¡¯t. Mindstryke said that if we intervene, it will make things worse, not better. I¡¯m sure you know why I can¡¯t.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know everyone on the League¡¯s board, but Guardian might have been one of them. Daniel¡¯s father, Mindstryke, acted as the board¡¯s legal counsel, so he was definitely on it. Other people came and went as needed.


    They didn¡¯t keep us informed of every board member¡¯s status for the same reason that Guardian couldn¡¯t intervene. The board had been informed by the Mentalist that it couldn¡¯t help us until the time was right (maybe never) or we¡¯d all die.


    Knowing that the Mentalist was more capable than we¡¯d been aware, I didn¡¯t doubt that they got regular updates.


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    ¡°Here¡¯s what I can tell you,¡± Guardian continued. ¡°They¡¯re getting a lot of noes. Major Justice has friends, but all of the big Defenders units called me to complain about his calls. You won¡¯t be seeing the best of us show up on your doorstep tomorrow, but I don¡¯t know what you will be seeing.¡±


    He let out a sigh, ¡°I¡¯ve been seeing evidence of another team, maybe more than one. It¡¯s got funding, training, and it gets used quietly. From the reports we¡¯ve gotten, it¡¯s used both inside and outside the United States. I¡¯ve been guessing that it¡¯s a less publicized version of the Probationers. They¡¯ve been used against military targets in Africa and the Middle East, against terrorist groups, and organized crime.¡±


    He stopped talking and I heard steps. He might be pacing. I considered breaking the silence, but he started talking before I could.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know it¡¯s government,¡± he said, ¡°but it feels right. The targets tick all the boxes. It¡¯s no one that we¡¯d miss and the groups that got hit would have been watched by the military, intelligence or law enforcement agencies. I don¡¯t know that Major Justice would be able to call on them, but he got his start making weapons for the military super units. He¡¯s got the contacts.


    ¡°Plus,¡± he continued, ¡°let¡¯s be honest. We both know that you trashed one of the Nine¡¯s more important manufacturing facilities a month ago. You¡¯ve put yourself at the top of their list of supers to handle. If you can¡¯t be handled by the Dominators, all they have is force¡ªwhich means they might find a way to hand off the government¡¯s super secret squad to Major Justice.¡±


    I looked over the room. Vaughn, Haley, Marcus, Jaclyn, and Haley¡¯s and my parents were playing a card game. Tiger curled up into a giant fluff ball, napping behind Jaclyn¡¯s chair.


    I hadn¡¯t even known we had playing cards down here.


    Kals, Julie, Camille, and Sydney were talking at a table while Daniel and Izzy held a deep conversation two tables away. Adam and Amy were talking too. From their expressions, I wasn¡¯t sure how friendly it was.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I told Guardian. ¡°That¡¯s not even something that was on my bad things that might happen bingo card.¡±


    Guardian laughed, ¡°Well, I may not have more contacts than you in the superhero community, but a lot more of mine are the heads of current teams. I hear a lot more than most people, and don¡¯t take this wrong, but you hear less than you would in a more established group. A lot of information gets shared at the weekly Defenders briefings, some informally.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°That figures. We¡¯re not a Defenders unit.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡±Guardian told me, his voice getting louder as he talked, ¡°but it also gives you freedom I don¡¯t have. I need to keep teams all over the country happy. You can just do what you need to without getting permission. Count on me to pass on anything I think you¡¯ll need.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, finding this new wrinkle in our relationship interesting.


    As we hung up, I wondered how much of this newly helpful Guardian I¡¯d see. If you thought about it, he¡¯d just passed secret information my way, the kind that at least had the potential to get him in trouble with somebody.

 Isolation: Part 2

    Waking up the next morning wasn¡¯t great. HQ had a bunch of cots and I¡¯d slept in one even though I could have stayed in my bed upstairs.


    Even on high alert, I couldn¡¯t recommend it. I couldn¡¯t blame the soreness in my body completely on the cot, but I doubted that it helped. Still, it was safer than being in the house¡ªjust much less private, considering that all of the cots were in HQ¡¯s main room.


    I¡¯d barely pulled on clothes and sat down at one of the computer cubicles when we got the first call of the morning.


    Kayla had slept over with us and was taking a shower, so it fell to me to answer.


    The Justice Fist logo flashed when I took the call, meaning that this might be an official organizational call and not just a call from Sean.


    I checked the call¡¯s info. It came directly from the official line at 6:50 AM. I hit record on our comm software, deciding that the rest of the team should be able to watch it later even if they weren¡¯t up right now¡ªwhich most of them weren¡¯t.


    I took the call myself, using a function that superimposed a computer animation of the Rocket suit over me since they might be recording too.


    The screen showed Sean, Dayton, and Jody, all of them in costume¡ªSean tall and thin in green and white; Dayton, big and muscular, in blue and white; and Jody, short and thin, in silver, black, and white.


    All of their costumes showed the fist logo in the middle of their chests.


    Sean spoke first, ¡°Hey, you need to know this: Major Justice called us this morning. He wanted us to help him against you. We said ¡®no¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I looked over the three of them. Dayton stared into the camera, frowning. Jody nodded, his head bobbing at an uncomfortably fast speed.


    Sean¡¯s lip curled, ¡°Major Justice is a fucking tool. He told us that he had influence in the superhero community and the government and that if we went up against him, we¡¯d be doing our careers no favors.¡±


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    Laughing by then, Dayton said, ¡°We told him that he could suck it.¡±


    Jody glanced at Dayton and Sean, asking, ¡°How much power does that guy have?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°Our theory is that he¡¯s working for the Nine without knowing it, but he¡¯s the leader of a second string Defenders group. So the good news is that if he¡¯s just a jerk, not that much. If he¡¯s controlled by the Nine, he¡¯s got even less, but they have a lot.¡±


    Jody shook his his masked head, the silver fabric glinting in the glow of a ring light, ¡°He¡¯s a jerk for sure¡­ Hope that¡¯s all.¡±


    Nodding, Sean said, ¡°We¡¯re still on your side. Just tell us where you want us.¡±


    Giving a nod of his own, Dayton said, ¡°I already thought he was a dick when I saw the first YouTube video of him talking about you.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, meaning it. ¡°Did he happen to say anything about when he was goingto be here?¡±


    Shaking his head, Dayton said, ¡°No, but he said we needed to decide right now when he called this morning. So I think he¡¯s here or he will be soon.¡±


    Stephanie hadn¡¯t let us know that they¡¯d arrived, but she also might not have had the chance. When you¡¯re in the middle of infiltrating someone, you don¡¯t want to get caught.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have a plan yet,¡± I said, ¡°but we¡¯ll let you know how we¡¯re handling it if we get attacked. We might manage to calm things down. You never know.¡±


    On the screen, Jody cocked his head, ¡°Are you going to let us in to your base?¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°I think we¡¯d have to let you in¡ªthough you never know, we might all need to get out before it¡¯s all over. It depends on what they do.¡±


    With a grin, he said, ¡°Are you saying you don¡¯t trust us? You won¡¯t let us in right now?¡±


    Even knowing that they couldn¡¯t see my expression, I still tried to prevent myself from looking irritated, ¡°We¡¯re under lockdown. We¡¯ve literally shut every point of access to HQ and fully armed our security system. Turning it off will take a second¡ªliterally a good five minutes before we¡¯re sure that everything has turned off.¡±


    Sean eyed Jody, ¡°We don¡¯t need to get in there now. I don¡¯t even want to. We¡¯re better off out here.¡±


    Dayton shook his head. I thought I saw a hint of an eye roll.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Jody said, ¡°I was just joking.¡±


    Suppressing an urge to point out that he wasn¡¯t even remotely funny, I said, ¡°Cool. We¡¯ll keep you updated. With luck, nothing will happen anyway.¡±


    ¡°You bet,¡± Dayton said, giving a wave and the connection closed.


    I sat in the chair, thinking about that. It was good that they gave us warning and not good that Major Justice was calling ahead for allies. Had any other Michigan hero said yes?


    Also, what was up with Jody? Was that line of questions about trust a joke or something more? Some way to make relations between our groups worse?


    I shook my head. Reading something sinister into Jody¡¯s native dickishness probably wasn¡¯t worth it.

 Isolation: Part 3

    With that thought, I gave up on worrying about Jody until I had a more solid reason to worry about him. I considered asking Daniel or maybe Tara, but I knew that Daniel was sleeping without even looking.


    Our childhood link did that much even if it didn¡¯t allow me to borrow his powers while he was unconscious.


    Tara lay in one of the cots, not far from Cassie, and sleeping. She¡¯d taken one of the 3 or 4 am slots and deserved the chance to sleep. I wasn¡¯t going to wake her up, especially when there wasn¡¯t any rational reason to think she¡¯d have any special insight. I could show her the recording later. Maybe I could talk to Hal. He might not have any special insight on Jody either, but he¡¯d likely have some useful ideas as to how Major Justice would go about taking us out.


    As an AI, he¡¯d even be awake for it.


    So, that¡¯s how I spent the next half hour running thought experiments on how Major Justice would likely attack us and what we could do about it¡ªliterally using Hal for the purpose for which he¡¯d been designed.


    The big picture based on Major Justice¡¯s observed patterns was that he¡¯d attempt to isolate us and then attack. In Hal¡¯s simulations, he should still be collecting allies for the next day, but there were a percentage of times where he offered us a final deal this morning and attacked if we didn¡¯t immediately surrender.


    Hal footnoted these simulations with references to other times Major Justice had mobilized allies, noting that this increase in efficiency had only happened in the last five years so far as he could tell.


    I asked, ¡°Is there any date you can trace the difference to?¡±


    Hal¡¯s reply appeared in my HUD.


    [There was gap of six months in that year in which he did not need to gather allies as the resources of his own team were sufficient. If the change had a specific moment, the gap leaves too large of a window place it.]


    Still, if the change were the result of working with the Nine, it meant that Major Justice might have been recruited five years ago.


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    I texted back, ¡°Could you check for any other changes that started five years ago for Major Justice? Increased resources? New team members or meetings with other groups?¡±


    [I¡¯ll check, but be aware that I will be limited to what¡¯s available in the government databases that you have access to and whatever is available on the internet.]


    ¡°Good enough,¡± I wrote back.


    Then I walked to the kitchen to get breakfast, discovering that we were better stocked than I¡¯d expected. Not wanting to put together a real meal, I warmed up a frozen breakfast burrito.


    While the microwaved hummed, I found myself running through the simulations I¡¯d done with Hal in my head. The ones where we did best where ones where we took the initiative and attacked Major Justice first. Those scenarios were also the ones where events had the best chance of going chaotically wrong, isolating our group from outside support.


    Going a ¡°safer¡± route meant that Major Justice could still cut us off from help, but it happened less quickly. All the same, we still had a lower chance of success.


    The situation felt tailor made for analysis paralysis even though I knew better. Hal¡¯s simulation were dependent on the information he had. If he didn¡¯t have data, he¡¯d be wrong.


    I found myself wanting to wake everyone up immediately to start doing something while knowing that I didn¡¯t have a direction to send the group. I¡¯d be waking them up for no specific reason and hoping we¡¯d come up with a useful approach.


    What could I do? I took a breath, conscious of that fact that I was seated at one of the tables near the kitchen and had already taken a few bites from the burrito.


    It wasn¡¯t a bad burrito, but I couldn¡¯t remember tasting much of it at all.


    What could I do? I could call allies in Michigan to check if they were working with Major Justice. I could send some of my bots to find Major Justice. I could call Major Justice and try to persuade him to leave us alone.


    I didn¡¯t hold out much hope that he¡¯d talk to us. We¡¯d talked more than once and it didn¡¯t go anywhere.


    As I sat there, staring at my plate and thinking, Haley sat in the chair on the other side of the table. She wore an oversized hockey t-shirt that ended halfway down her thighs.


    ¡°I noticed that you got up,¡± she said. Tapping her nose, she added, ¡°And I could tell that you¡¯re worrying about something.¡±


    ¡°I am,¡± I tried to think of a way I could summarize what I¡¯d been thinking in a sentence or two.


    My phone started to ring and it wasn¡¯t ringing as a phone. It rang as a League communicator. Not only that, it was ringing through the secret account that I¡¯d set up for Isaac Lim, an account that allowed our official FBI contact to call us unofficially.


    That never meant anything good.

 Isolation: Part 4

    I held the phone up to my ear and said, ¡°Hi. What¡¯s the bad news?¡±


    Lim gave a small chuckle, ¡°It¡¯s good to know you¡¯re paying attention. That¡¯s what all of us involved in teaching you have been aiming for, but you¡¯re right. It¡¯s not good news. It also isn¡¯t terrible news, but it¡¯s bad in what it represents.¡±


    He let out a breath, ¡°You¡¯ve been temporarily locked out of the government databases that we share with the Defenders and other big names in the community. Officially, you¡¯ll find that it¡¯s temporary, an inconvenience as they recertify the group as eligible. Unofficially, Major Justice called in some favors and he¡¯s trying to make it permanent until he and others in the community think you¡¯re worthy of it.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t have enough power to make all of that happen at once, but he¡¯s got enough to shut off your access for a few days and hope that whatever he¡¯s got planned makes it permanent. Do you know what that might be?¡±


    Next to me, Haley, who¡¯d without doubt heard all of that, went motionless, watching me and waiting for the next shoe to drop.


    ¡°Yes and no. I¡¯ve run a few simulations based on Hal¡¯s observations. It looks like he¡¯s going to attack in the next day or two. Whatever he¡¯s going to do, he¡¯ll be trying to make us look dangerous and out of control.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Lim said. ¡°I don¡¯t know any details, but that¡¯s the line he¡¯s been taking for the last month. You can bet he¡¯ll stick to it¡ªespecially since there have been a few explosions, deaths, and even disappearances in Grand Lake recently.¡±


    ¡°Disappearances? Did I miss something?¡± I looked over at Haley and she shrugged.


    ¡°Your and Haley¡¯s parents,¡± Lim said. ¡°They disappeared when the police arrived and haven¡¯t showed up anywhere since. I know you had them call in so that the police know they¡¯re alive, but the fact that they weren¡¯t at the scene of the crime was noted by conspiracy theorists online. On the bright side, none of them are saying they¡¯re your parents, but people who like Major Justice are accusing you kidnapped them.¡±


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    ¡°That¡¯s crazy,¡± I looked over at Haley and we both shook our heads.


    ¡°It is,¡± Lim said, ¡°but they¡¯re trying to argue it¡¯s to cover up something about the deaths. They¡¯re also trying to connect it to the Mentalist showing up out of nowhere, but even people who like that idea think it sounds half-baked. I have seen remarks about Jewish conspiracies in the conversation though, so no matter how crazy it is, somebody will believe it.¡±


    I stared at the phone and let out a sigh, ¡°Wow. I wouldn¡¯t have guessed at any of that.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Lim said, ¡°don¡¯t underestimate the power of a few deaths at the hands of heroes who aren¡¯t known for killing. More heroes have killed supervillains than anyone would like to admit, but most of the time it¡¯s ambiguous as to whether the hero killed them or even if they died. These deaths were obvious. There were too many bodies to ignore. I¡¯m sure they deserved it and I think most people are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but no one can ignore it.¡±


    Haley¡¯s face tightened and for a moment I thought she might cry. Then she took a deep breath, followed by a couple more.


    Lim would have said something by now if he knew about Travis¡ªwhich meant that hadn¡¯t gotten out.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t see a way around it,¡± I said, taking Haley¡¯s hand and giving it a squeeze.


    Lim¡¯s tenor voice carried over the phone, ¡°I¡¯m sure you did the right thing. You can¡¯t control how people choose to use it. If it weren¡¯t that, it would be something else. I should probably go soon, but there¡¯s something I should mention. The military has teams of superpowered fighters. Some of them are special forces that are even more special than usual. Others are ex-supervillains hoping to work off their debt to society. Think of the Probationers, but these guys are even more expendable. There are signs when they¡¯re getting mobilized. I¡¯m not going to go into it, but I¡¯m on a list of people who get notified when they¡¯re about to move out.¡±


    He paused. It didn¡¯t take much to guess what he was about to say next, ¡°They¡¯re on their way to Grand Lake. I don¡¯t know the mission, but I think we can both make some good guesses.¡±


    Haley looked up at me and withdrew her hand, ¡°We need to wake everyone up.¡±


    ¡°Was that Night Cat,¡± Lim asked. ¡°She¡¯s right. I don¡¯t know when they¡¯ll reach you, but it could be any time, and if the military doesn¡¯t know exactly where HQ is, I¡¯ll be very surprised.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said, ¡°that¡¯s a lot worse than I expected when I picked up the phone.¡±


    Lim laughed, ¡°Yeah. Me too, but that¡¯s what I was saying when I read my email this morning. As for you, watch out. Stay safe. If you get an official notification that your access rights to the databases have been suspended, try to look surprised. I¡¯ll talk to you later, but for now, I have to go.¡±

 Isolation: Part 5

    Lim hung up, leaving Haley and me standing there together next to one of the cubicles in the command area of the main room, all of our friends and some family in cots on the other side of the room.


    We didn¡¯t have anywhere else to send them¡ªnowhere convenient anyway. Daniel¡¯s family had relocated to the Midwest Defenders¡¯ base in Chicago after the fight. I¡¯d been thinking about asking Guardian about that yesterday, but not until after we¡¯d talked last night.


    An attack on HQ wasn¡¯t out of the question. The simulations I¡¯d seen this morning included a few different attacks and that was one of them.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to text Guardian and get our parents out of here,¡± I told Haley.


    ¡°Good idea,¡± Haley glanced over at the sea of cots, ¡°I¡¯ll get people up.¡±


    She took a step and then jumped a quarter of the way there. I grinned. That was one way to get there sooner. Then I started texting Guardian, receiving what amounted to an automated response telling me that he¡¯d text me back as soon as he could.


    It was better than no response at all.I made a mental note to try again in a couple hours. He could easily be sleeping or halfway across the galaxy. His teleportation powers made the interstellar capabilities of my jet¡¯s drives look weak by comparison.


    Then I used my implant to text Hal that we were about to lose access to the government databases Lim mentioned. Hal texted back.


    [We already have. It¡¯s not a problem. I arranged my own access years ago. My friends had already set up their own back door. They gave me an account. I have more access than you do.]


    By friends, he meant the Earth¡¯s loose affiliation of AIs that occupied themselves with their own personal projects. The fact that they¡¯d hacked into the government¡¯s databases regarding supers probably wasn¡¯t a good thing.


    On the other hand, getting access to more information through their efforts wasn¡¯t a bad thing, ¡°Hey, Hal¡­ What do they have on military super teams, specifically the ones composed of former criminals?¡±


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    The reply appeared in my HUD.


    [Access to military superhero data is restricted and not given to supers affiliated with the government, but I have access. There are four special forces teams staffed by civilian superpowered criminals. Most of these criminals never had any kind of public identity or codename. Team Four has recently been activated and Major Justice has been given command for ashort duration mission.]


    ¡°Can you tell me about the people on Team Four? Maybe their powers and other important information?¡±


    In the background as I talked, Haley had clapped her hands, and said, ¡°Wake up! We need to suit up,¡± continuing to talk and prod when people didn¡¯t instantly pull themselves out of bed.


    [Different members of the team are used based on the mission. The current most common configuration of the team involves a telepath, a man who transforms into a beast, and a magical swordsman. There may be others. The database notes incomplete cooperation with the military on keeping the information updated.]


    ¡°I guess I couldn¡¯t expect the database to have everything,¡± I said. ¡°Are any of these people known supers?¡±


    [The magical swordsman, Yellow Mask, appears to be related to the Masks. The telepath was the mayor of Grand Lake. The man that transforms into a beast transformed at your high school dance. The telepath and beast man have had their powers fully activated.]


    That was a bombshell. I found myself staring into space, remembering when Logan had transformed into a monster during prom and how he¡¯d disappeared afterward. Plus, of course, Mayor Bouman had been the one who¡¯d brought our attention to the Cabal in the first place. He¡¯d been one of them.


    The fact that the military had seen fit to run them through some version of the power impregnator wasn¡¯t good at all.


    I felt my connection with Daniel grow more solid as he thought back, It isn¡¯t good.


    I hoped they weren¡¯t too much more powerful. The impression I¡¯d gotten was that people on the original power juice formula were only at 70% of their potential. How much of a practical change would that be? It would have to be noticeable.


    On the bright side, I could look up Yellow Mask. As one of the Masks, his powers would be documented. In a worst case scenario, I could call Mateo and see what he knew.


    As I turned to the computer in the cubicle and began to type Yellow Mask, a call came in. This one was an official Arizona Defenders communication.


    Crap. He was going with the ultimatum and attack scenario from Hal¡¯s simulation.


    ¡°Hey everybody,¡± I shouted across the room, ¡°I think we¡¯re about to be attacked.¡±


    I delayed accepting the call as long as I could, hoping it would buy us a little time, but watched the message status change from normal to important and then urgent within seconds.


    Major Justice didn¡¯t have any patience left. I took the call.

 Isolation: Part 6

    ¡°We¡¯ve done this a few times too often,¡± I said, realizing I was talking only as it came out of my mouth.


    ¡°You call, come up with some kind of ultimatum, compare me and everyone on the team to spoiled children, and then you attack us and get your ass handed to you. You should do something different and I don¡¯t mean attacking us with even more people.


    ¡°If you want to do something that surprises me, be kind and respectful of others. Treat me and the whole group as if we¡¯re capable of making reasonable choices and you¡¯ll probably get reasonable choices out of us.¡±


    Major Justice didn¡¯t say anything.


    Across the room, Haley and Izzy had turned to look in my direction¡ªwhich didn¡¯t surprise me. They both had hearing capable of hearing both sides of the conversation. In Izzy¡¯s case, she might even hear directly through the soil above HQ if Major Justice were within a mile or two.


    What tipped me off that I might be too loud was that it wasn¡¯t just Izzy and Haley, but everyone.


    Vaughn laughed¡ªwhich was a clue maybe that I wasn¡¯t making a great choice. Kals had laughed too, but by the time I¡¯d noticed, her expression had changed to the sort of half-open mouth you might have if you wanted to tell someone to stop, but suspected it was too late.


    My parents¡¯ wide-eyed expressions had more in common with Kals¡¯.


    I felt a little sick. I hadn¡¯t been trying to go off on the guy, but if I had to be honest, I didn¡¯t feel bad about saying any specific thing.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry,¡± Major Justice said over the phone, ¡°I¡¯ve done all the talking I¡¯m going to do¡ª¡±


    Part of my brain noted that wasn¡¯t true. He¡¯d already spoken at least a sentence or two and communicated almost nothing. Another, wiser, part of my brain stopped me from pointing that out.


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    ¡°Now,¡± Major Justice continued, and I could almost hear a smile, ¡°I have official backup to do it. I have the forces necessary to take you in so that so that you can be taught how to control yourself. Surrender now and we¡¯ll be merciful. If you don¡¯t surrender, you¡¯ll find that we know as much about your base as you do. We know better than to go in, but you won¡¯t be able to come out without being captured. Surrender and it will go better for you.¡±


    ¡°I doubt it,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m betting that you and some or all of the people working with you have been taken by the Nine. If I surrender to you, it¡¯s most likely that I¡¯ll have my brain redecorated. I can¡¯t take that chance.¡±


    Making a noise somewhere between a growl and a scream, Major Justice said, ¡°That¡¯s not true!¡±


    Quashing an urge to suggest that if he searched his feelings, he¡¯d know it was true, I only said, ¡°You¡¯re the one who should ask himself why he¡¯s getting so upset about something that couldn¡¯t possibly be true.¡±


    With a snarl, he said, ¡°You¡¯ll wish that the Nine controlled me,¡± and hung up.


    If he had still been on the phone, I might have been tempted to point out how unlikely it was that I¡¯d ever wish someone was controlled by the Nine and by extension how little sense what he¡¯d said made.


    All the same, this conversation had felt different. I couldn¡¯t put my finger on how except maybe that it was more focused. He¡¯d gotten his marching orders. Now he had to fulfill them.


    That¡¯s when the messages started.


    We started receiving texts through the message protocol supers used, all of them showing as official communications. Some came to our personal accounts, others to team accounts. Some were sent from small teams, some from large teams, some from obscure supers, others from well known, and others from people we knew, most of them Stapledon graduates.


    Some of the messages were as short as, ¡°Surrender!¡± Others were longer. For example, ¡°Back when we were at Stapledon, I admired your technical talent and your willingness to go against Earthmover and the others when the dragon controlled them, but now is not the time to do that. You¡¯ve been led down the wrong path. I don¡¯t know whether it¡¯s you or some corrupting influence, but you¡¯re out of control. Surrender yourself to the authorities¡ªKeon.¡±


    Keon had been at Stapledon when we were. He¡¯d been in Haley¡¯s class if I remembered correctly. I didn¡¯t know if we¡¯d given him a buzzer, but if we hadn¡¯t, he was being influenced by the Nine on some level.


    Of course, knowing supers, it wasn¡¯t impossible that someone might have figured out how to spoof the protocol and send all of these messages as if they were coming from people we knew.


    Either way, we had a terrifying security breach.

 Isolation: Part 7

    I could see how Major Justice or the Nine might have come up with the idea though. Having people barrage you with requests that you surrender, some of them people you know¡­ Well, it didn¡¯t feel good.


    Knowing that it had to be a ploy took a bit of the edge off, but I wondered if they¡¯d done this before and to whom.


    Then another thought hit me, ¡°If you all are getting deluged with texts like I am right now, forward them all to Hal.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°do you think they¡¯re all the Nine¡¯s puppets?¡±


    Finding him among the group, I said, ¡°I have no idea, but even if they aren¡¯t, Hal or Tara might be able to find a pattern. Even if they didn¡¯t just hand us their database of tools, they did show us who they can influence.¡±


    Tara smiled, ¡°Which might allow us to find common contacts and narrow down who the Nine is using to infiltrate the superhero community. It¡¯s a good idea.¡±


    Her approval was a relief¡ªshe was smarter about that kind of thing than I was.


    Meanwhile, the messages continued.


    Completely covered in his Storm King costume by then, Vaughn shook his head, ¡°Wow, this last one I got kind of hurt. There was a girl with water powers? We almost got together¡­ Anyway, her last message was kind of personal.¡±


    Cassie, now also in costume, laughed, ¡°That girl? She¡¯s got no filter. When she¡¯s angry she says anything.¡±


    Adam stepped out of the shadows next to Kayla¡¯s cubicle, ¡°Was that Sofia? I never saw her get angry.¡±


    Vaughn flicked his eyes in Adam¡¯s direction, ¡°Then you didn¡¯t know her very well.¡±


    Marcus grinned, ¡°Or she only got upset with you.¡±


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    Still herself instead of Bloodmaiden, Amy raised an eyebrow, ¡°Maybe we should compare notes?¡±


    With a glance down at the comm on his wrist, Vaughn said, ¡°You can do that, but right now all she¡¯s going to say is surrender.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to interrupt,¡± Adam said, ¡°but I know where they are. You don¡¯t see them in your spybots, right?¡±


    The different spybots and cameras all showed on the big screen on the wall. None of them showed anyone¡ªwhich had been worrying me.Major Justice had made it sound as if they had people waiting next to HQ¡¯s exits.


    At this point, all they showed was the November morning darkness. Dawn wouldn¡¯t be until after 8 AM.


    Watching Adam, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t see them.¡±


    He grinned, his face visible with the hood down, ¡°That¡¯s right. You know why? Major Justice does work for the military. He made a chameleon cloaking material for them and they¡¯re allowing him to borrow enough of what he made that his whole crew is invisible.¡±


    I asked, ¡°How did you find that out?¡±


    He crossed his arms over his chest, ¡°I have fairies in the right places.¡±


    Haley looked up at him, ¡°Do you know how many people we¡¯re facing?¡±


    Shaking his head, Adam said, ¡°Not really. Fairies aren¡¯t great at counting. It¡¯s got to be more than 5 or 10, but it might just as easily be 30 or 1000. To them it¡¯s all just ¡®lots¡¯ of people.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow at him, ¡°That¡¯s an important difference. Is that the way it is with all fairies or are there smarter ones out there?¡±


    He stared at me, ¡°Of course there are smarter ones out there, but I try not to ask favors of those fairies because I end up owing them favors. You don¡¯t want to owe favors to fairies. It¡¯s never as easy to fulfill them as it seems.¡±


    Part of me wanted to as him more about that, but the whole team was joining us now, everyone in costume or close to it.


    Fortunately, Cassie brought up the other line of questions I¡¯d been thinking of before I had the chance, ¡°We need to hit them before they hit us. If we sit here and wait, they¡¯re in the fight.¡±


    When she said ¡°they¡¯re,¡± she pointed in the direction of Haley¡¯s and my parents and Uncle Steve. They were sitting together at their cots, talking, but sometimes watching us.


    We all went silent at that. Allowing Major Justice and the Nine access to them opened up whole new avenues of bad possibilities. Of course, they weren¡¯t defenseless in here and both Chris and Kayla would most likely be with them.


    ¡°You should attack with as much force as you can,¡± Kals said. ¡°Katuk¡¯s supposed to keep me away from harm. We¡¯ll be down here with them.¡±


    Haley looked up at me without saying anything. I could guess what was going through her mind, but then she said, ¡°That will have to be enough. Everyone¡¯s right. We need to attack. Nick, can you tweak our suits so we can see Major Justice¡¯s team?¡±


    I said, ¡°Maybe.¡±

 Isolation: Part 8

    I thought about it a little longer and realized that it might be easy. Using my implant, I asked Hal, Do you have any data on camouflage or invisibility devices that Major Justice made for the military?


    Hal¡¯s reply appeared in my HUD.


    [I have access to records of every device Major Justice made for the military. I can send you the specifications and testing data.]


    I¡¯m guessing this comes from a place we don¡¯t officially have access to as opposed to the supers databases?


    [You¡¯re correct. I won access from a military AI.]


    You¡¯re¡­ gambling with secrets?


    [Information is the only currency that matters to us.]


    I get that, but what have you lost?


    [I only gamble with past employers¡¯ secrets and knowledge about galactic civilization. Your world should find it useful.]


    I felt Daniel¡¯s interest even as I saw his eyes widen as he stopped talking to Izzy to look at me. If it helps, he thought at me, I don¡¯t sense any direct and immediate danger from it. In fact, there¡¯s a short term increased chance of our survival in a lot of our futures¡ªmaybe even this one.


    I didn¡¯t have time to push on this and, honestly, improving our chances of survival sounded good.


    Hey, I told Hal, we need to talk about this later. If nothing else, I¡¯d like to know what information¡¯s gone out¡ªespecially if I don¡¯t know it.


    [Your implant knows all of it, but I can squirt you a list whenever you like.]


    Great. Please do, but for now I¡¯d like to knowabout Major Justice¡¯s inventions, starting with his invisibility work. Oh, and what kind of game was it?


    [Poker, but more complicated.]


    I wanted to know more, but my implant notified me of an imminent data dump from Hal¡ªwhich I accepted and ended the conversation, becoming more conscious of my surroundings again, specifically that almost the entire team had gathered near me.


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    I opened the data packet, seeing the entire list of projects Major Justice had done, most of which had gone to special forces¡ªboth mundane and metahuman.


    The invisibility device, though? Part of me hoped it was cloak, but it wasn¡¯t even if it was close. If anything, it reminded me of a plastic raincoat¡ªthe cheap kind. The ones that are a thin sheet of plastic with plastic buttons and fit in a pocket on your backpack.


    Major Justice¡¯s invisibility suit included pants in addition to the sheet, but aside from turning a person invisible, that was all the difference.


    Looking at the materials, I wasn¡¯t sure it would survive a fight, but I supposed that there were a lot of situations where you¡¯d only be wanting to sneak in somewhere.


    All the same, I realized that I could configure the team¡¯s sensors to detect them. It wouldn¡¯t even need a code update, just a change in the emphasis the HUD gave to displaying information.


    From the tests, it appeared that Major Justice¡¯s invisibility suit did well at making people disappear into the background, but didn¡¯t do as well with hiding heat. It did it, but there were limits. The material also appeared to absorb sound¡ªwhich was interesting.


    It might be paranoid, but it almost seemed as if it had always been intended to be used against me.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got it,¡± I said to everyone around. ¡°Everyone wearing one of my suits will get a notification of a configuration change in a second. You can revert it if you have to.¡±


    Jaclyn crossed her arms over her chest, ¡°Why would we revert it?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m placing more emphasis on heat and less on visuals and heat¡¯s all over. Plus humans don¡¯t always end up human-shaped in thermal images¡­ Basically, once the fighting begins and invisibility stops working, thermal images might be confusing. The sonics might help with definition, but not at the speeds you move.¡±


    Letting out at breath, Jaclyn said, ¡°Okay. I guess I¡¯ll work with it.¡±


    Adam looked around the group, ¡°I¡¯ll be able to help with that. The fairies I work with can¡¯t see them perfectly, but they can see them. We can lead you in.¡±


    Haley looked over at me, ¡°What about smell?¡±


    I ran through the information again, ¡°I don¡¯t see anything in Major Justice¡¯s specs that tries to prevent smells from getting out. It¡¯s kind of a forgotten sense.¡±


    She flashed a brief smile, ¡°Then I might be able to find them anyway.¡±


    Looking over at Adam, she added, ¡°Do you know where they are? If we can take out Major Justice, we might be able to end the fight before it gets going.¡±


    Adam shook his head, ¡°You know how I said fairies aren¡¯t very smart? They¡¯re not going to figure that out without seeing him.¡±


    ¡°I think I can,¡± Daniel said. ¡°We can go out in the direction where we¡¯re most likely to run into him for sure. If they haven¡¯t all loaded up on mental shields, it will be even easier.¡±


    Not speaking loudly, but still loudly enough, Haley said, ¡°I caught Major Justice¡¯s scent when he visited the office. As long as we can get close enough, I¡¯ll find him.¡±


    ¡°This still sounds iffy,¡± I said, ¡°but I think if Daniel leads us out the right direction, Haley might be able to catch his scent?¡±


    There were too many points of potential failure for me to be happy with the idea even as I said it, but it was something.

 Isolation: Part 9

    Jaclyn stepped forward, ¡°I don¡¯t want to be ¡®that guy,¡¯ but weren¡¯t we going to try to see what we could do to slow things down and give the Nine¡¯s puppets some space so they could be flexible? That was the plan last night.¡±


    ¡°I know. You¡¯re right. We were going to do that,¡± Haley said, ¡°And that¡¯s not the only thing we need to think about. Lim called this morning¡­ If we go in and people die, the public could end up on Major Justice¡¯s side just because they don¡¯t expect us to kill people.¡±


    Vaughn held up his hands, ¡°Look, we¡¯re being pulled in different directions. They¡¯re all right, but we¡¯re about to be attacked. We¡¯ve got to do more than sit and wait. I think we have to go in.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s fake them out and by that, I mean everybody,¡± Cassie said. ¡°The public doesn¡¯t want to see us kill people, but if we¡¯re attacked and we defend ourselves, they can¡¯t argue. So we send in a group¡ªtwo groups. One of them is bait. They¡¯re polite. They¡¯re obvious. They get attacked. The other one is is hidden. They go straight for Major Justice, but they don¡¯t hit him until he hits us. We film the whole time and release the whole thing.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, watching Cassie grin. She seemed to be pleased with herself. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. Team Hidden pretty much has to be Daniel and Haley plus some sneaky heavy hitters. Team Obvious tries to talk them down.Team Obvious needs to be able to talk them down, but also not get taken over and also not die if they attack. I volunteer for that, but someone else has to do the talking.¡±


    Vaughn gave a wave, ¡°I volunteer. You know me. I can bullshit him, and I¡¯m not Team Hidden material. I¡¯m definitely Team Obvious. I¡¯m more durable these days, remember?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue with that. For Vaughn, Dr. Nation¡¯s regimen for amping up latent powers had worked.


    ¡°I¡¯m with Team Obvious, too,¡± Cassie said. ¡°We¡¯ve got to put a bunch of people out there so they believe it¡ªMarcus, Jaclyn, and I don¡¯t know? Amy? Izzy?¡±


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    ¡°Not Jaclyn and Izzy,¡± I said. ¡°The two of them could take out the whole team if they get controlled, but of them could at least stop the other if they¡¯re separate.¡±


    ¡°Me,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°More people think of me as part of the team.¡±


    ¡°I think that¡¯s enough people for Team Obvious,¡± Haley looked around the group, ¡°unless someone has a good reason to go.¡±


    Amy spoke, her voice holding a hint of her actual, vaguely British or Irish accent, ¡°I should go. I¡¯ve made charms that Team Hidden can use, but I think I¡¯d add flexibility to Team Obvious.¡±


    Haley cocked her head, ¡°I think you¡¯re right. Let¡¯s get both teams ready to go.¡±


    Eyeing Vaughn, I said, ¡°If we¡¯re trying to make contact without escalating things, what¡¯s our line? Maybe we¡¯re considering surrendering and we want to discuss terms? I¡¯m not sure they¡¯ll believe that given our last conversation, but that¡¯s what they want.¡±


    As Amy passed out the charms she¡¯d mentioned, Daniel came closer to Vaughn and I. I asked him, ¡°Do you sense any change in our chances with this plan versus staying in HQ?¡±


    He shook his head, ¡°I¡¯m not sure. When I look at them in comparison to each other, I feel like there¡¯s a better chance trying the plan, but when I sense the future in general and consider our chances with different plans, I don¡¯t sense any difference in anything we try.¡±


    Vaughn peered at him, ¡°How does that work?¡±


    Letting out a breath, Daniel said, ¡°I think something else is happening right now that we can¡¯t easily stop. I¡¯ve seen similar things happen with natural disasters. I don¡¯t get anything clear until it¡¯s over.¡±


    Vaughn held up his hands, ¡°Are we having an earthquake or an early blizzard or something?¡±


    Daniel stared out into the distance, ¡°I don¡¯t think so, but it¡¯s not always a natural disaster. Sometimes I don¡¯t know what happened. I just know it¡¯s something big enough that nothing else comes out right until it¡¯s over.¡±


    ¡°How often does that kind of thing happen?¡± I tried to remember any other time he¡¯d mentioned something like it and couldn¡¯t.


    ¡°Pretty much never,¡± Daniel said. ¡°Maybe at most once a year and then it doesn¡¯t always matter.¡±


    Then he stared out into the distance again, ¡°Right now it¡¯s getting worse. I think this is the biggest one I¡¯ve felt in a while.¡±


    As he said it, I noticed a kind of low level hum. It wasn¡¯t from inside HQ. It wasn¡¯t even physical. At first, I wondered if I was getting some kind of bleed over from Daniel¡¯s prescience, but when I let myself feel it, I knew that it wasn¡¯t from our link.


    It was something that I could sense. I¡¯d felt something like it while doing exercises Kee assigned me.

 Isolation: Part 10

    Having recognized that, it became a different problem. What kind of exercise did it resemble? The exercises fell into different categories, but they all revolved around manipulating energy that I gathered and then using it for offense, defense, communication, and travel.


    So far, I wasn¡¯t doing any of them effectively. I was working on the building blocks that would eventually allow me to do something with them when I had enough energy to play with¡ªwhich wouldn¡¯t be any time soon.


    The most practical thing I¡¯d been able to do with them so far was making things based on Abominator technology stop working. I¡¯d also learned how to use it for communication, but only with Artificers and their near relatives, the Cosmic Ghosts.


    With that, I¡¯d also accidentally put myself in a situation in which I almost got caught by members of the Destroy faction of Artificers.


    Had they found me, they¡¯d almost certainly have killed me, destroyed Earth, and followed it up by destroying all of humanity and maybe our galaxy just to be sure.


    All of which meant that Kee and Lee both had regularly told me to do the exercises and not to experiment with them.


    Experimentation literally had the potential to end the world.


    Unfortunately, this wasn¡¯t an exercise and if I¡¯d learned anything from training with Lee, I¡¯d learned that improvising was better than doing nothing¡ªexcept when it killed you.


    Sometimes though, you had no choice.


    Going on my gut feeling that it felt closest to how I felt while using the Artificer Superhighway, my nickname for the network of pocket dimensions the Artificers used to communicate, I let myself connect with the stream.


    It worked.


    My awareness of League HQ and the people around me faded into to the background. Trails of energy filled the foreground of my awareness, the trails leading downward toward something that felt big.


    Random bursts of energy ran down the lines, making one bigger for another until the energy disappeared into the roiling mass of energy below.


    Was it somehow the Earth? That seemed unlikely when I had another candidate. The trails of fire reminded me of the ¡°galaxy core device¡± that I¡¯d seen pictured in the book we¡¯d found, a device that Lee had brought to Earth.


    Magnus was interested in it, which almost certainly wasn¡¯t a good thing. It would be irrelevant if it weren¡¯t for the hints we¡¯d encountered that Magnus might also have a bit of Artificer in his background.


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    That made it bad news because I felt another presence down there. In a better world, that presence would be Lee, the person who¡¯d stolen the device from the Destroy faction and brought it here.


    I doubted that Lee would be trying to contact the machine right now and in person¡ªwhich left everyone else in the world except one person.


    Regardless, I stood in nothingness, staring at a spot where the nothingness seemed to be a little thicker than everywhere else. In fact, I could see a little bit of a glow there and a brief flicker before the glow disappeared.


    Feeling came easier than seeing in that place. I felt power gather and then rush out of the glow. I couldn¡¯t say where I fell on the spectrum, but that being could do everything that I was trying to learn. If I had to guess, it could pull in more power than I could.


    Not sure whether or not I should intervene or even how I could, I tried to pull in power, but slowly, not all at once. As I did, I continued to watch the other being to see if it noticed, preparing to fade out of this place.


    It didn¡¯t. The focus of its energies appeared to be the nearest strand. As I pulled in energy, the world around me appeared to gain detail, the strands becoming brighter with more of a glow than I¡¯d noticed.


    Similarly, the being took on more detail. It had shimmery, scaled skin and little mouths near the spots on the outside where I¡¯d seen it glow.


    Several of the mouths were trying to suck at the glowing strand, maybe even trying to bite into it. On a gut level, that didn¡¯t seem to be a good thing. If it were the device Lee talked about, it had helped him kill members of his own kind permanently which was no small thing.


    If that thing were Magnus, I didn¡¯t want him to either siphon power from it or take control.


    I had to do something if that were the case and I couldn¡¯t think of what else it could be. The Artificers I¡¯d sensed when I¡¯d been unlucky enough to stumble into the wrong pocket dimension had been much larger than this thing.


    I concentrated on floating toward it, but also on being quiet as I did it¡ªif that meant anything here. The energy strands hissed without a break, but there weren¡¯t any other noises.


    I floated as close as I dared stopping behind another strand and steeling myself for the next dumb thing I was about to try. I pulled in more energy, as much as I could, feeling it dance and burn inside me. I had a gut feeling it could damage me if I kept it inside too long.


    This was fine because I intended to release it anyway. I aimed it in the direction of Maybe Magnus and let it out in a spray more akin to a garden hose than a laser. I¡¯d done what I could to direct it, holding a metaphorical thumb over the end of the hose, but even though most of the energy hit its target, I lost some to random spray that hit everywhere around the target.


    That¡¯s not to say that the device was in any danger. Those strands were meant to stand up to multi-dimensional titans of power. My garden hose did nothing to that.


    The Maybe Magnus blob? It didn¡¯t disintegrate, but it didn¡¯t have a good time either. It screamed. When my blast didn¡¯t stop, it moved, scrambling to get to the other side of the strand it had been investigating.


    As it did, I understood why it was screaming. My attack had left rents in the shimmery skin. Some of the little mouths had lost teeth and lips along with them.


    Already shielded by the nearest strand to me, I decided to disappear before the counterattack, pushing myself out of this space and back toward reality.

 Isolation: Part 11

    The problem with being more or less as powerful as a ¡°baby¡± Artificer was that I wasn¡¯t yet powerful enough to hurl energy at whatever that thing was and also snap back to my body.


    Unsure what good it would do, I moved as much of me as possible behind the strand, thinking it was better than nothing, and betting I wouldn¡¯t be able to do any of the defensive exercises I knew either.


    Pushing whatever of me was in this place out, I felt the barriers begin to thin as the blob came into my vision. It had left the security of its own strand to swing out to the side and fly in my direction.


    Glowing with spiderweb-like patterns inside where the creature must have been absorbing energy, it roared toward me, the broken mouths on its body open and ready to bite.


    Part of me wanted to attack or at least shield myself from it, but I knew that I was already going and the best thing I could do to avoid being attacked was to not be here.


    I put all of my effort into fading out, but maybe I didn¡¯t put in enough. Maybe I hesitated. I know I tried to get out, but I didn¡¯t know Kee¡¯s exercises the way I knew martial arts or the Rocket suit.


    It caught me.


    I couldn¡¯t say it was the worst pain of my life. The time a dragon almost burned my arm off was right up there, but this felt in its league.


    Many small mouths bit into me and I could feel myself losing something wet. Blood? In this setting, I didn¡¯t look much different from the blob. Ichor, maybe¡ªwhatever that was.


    Whatever I lost, it hurt. I wanted to scream and maybe I did. I didn¡¯t have time to pay attention because I was having a hard time concentrating on the most important task¡ªleaving.


    I pulled at the ambient energy that Kee had taught me to tap again, sending it directly into leaving and maybe a little into burning everything around me.


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    That last part wasn¡¯t intentional, but it happened. Whether some bit of my training had become reflexive or whether it was a side effect of throwing power through myself with abandon, the blob stopped its gurgling and sucking to screech.


    With that, I was gone, back into my body, and falling toward HQ¡¯s concrete floor. Hands reached out, catching me.


    In my mind, I felt Daniel¡¯s amazement and shock, What was that thing? I felt it as you came through.


    No idea, I thought back.


    Opening my eyes, I found that Haley and Amy were letting me down to the floor. Everyone else stood around us, all of them looking down.


    ¡°What was that?¡± Amy stood above me as Bloodmaiden. ¡°I saw something else with you¡ª¡°


    ¡°You¡¯re sure it¡¯s gone?¡± I asked.


    She clenched her gauntlet and the blood red gemstone portions of her armor glowed brighter. I felt something as she looked up and down my body.


    ¡°It¡¯s gone, but you¡¯re hurt. It took pieces out of you,¡± she peered at my chest and then further down¡ªspots that weren¡¯t much different from where I remembered hurt in whatever that other place had been.


    His hood now over his head, and partly faded, Adam said, ¡°She¡¯s right. You been bitten all over. That¡¯s as bad as some of the worst fey nightmare creatures¡­ Did it fly and try to tickle you?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I stared up at him. ¡°Tickle me? No. That¡¯s weird.¡±


    Adam faded back in and took off his hood, ¡°You¡¯re going to have to trust me, but there are nasty creatures out there and some of them tickle people.¡±


    Haley glared at Adam, and then back at me, ¡°You zoned out and then you screamed and fell. What happened and what attacked you?¡±


    I pushed myself upright, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I felt something related to what Lee told us about and then I was in another place. I assumed it was only in my mind, but there was something there. I thought it might be Magnus, but it could be something else. An otherworldly animal or something? Maybe some guy who can go wherever that was? Your guess is as good as mine.¡±


    At the point I mentioned Lee, Haley¡¯s eyes widened, but then she said, ¡°I guess my guess is as good as yours because I don¡¯t have any idea either. Do you think it could do something to you again?¡±


    I took a breath, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Not unless I go there again.¡±


    Adam looked from Haley and Amy to me, ¡°I¡¯m going to need more information on this if you expect me to help. What did Lee tell you about and what does it have to do with this? Also, what about Magnus?¡±


    ¡°You know how we told you that we didn¡¯t feel comfortable giving out information on something because it could end the world?¡± I looked over at him, ¡°It¡¯s more of that.¡±


    He met my eyes, ¡°If it can attack you out of nowhere and leave this kind of damage, I think I need to know.¡±

 Isolation: Part 12

    ¡°Uh¡­ Yeah. I can see how you¡¯d feel that way and, honestly, you¡¯re right,¡± I stood up, feeling the beginning of a headache and some pain as I stood, the spots where I hurt corresponding to where the creature bit me.


    Unlike almost everyone else, I¡¯d been too busy to throw on my costume, making me tempted to pull up my shirt or pull down my pants to check for physical marks.


    This wasn¡¯t the moment for checking. I could do that before I put on the Rocket suit, but I did want to know.


    Looking up from my pants to meet Adam¡¯s gaze, I said, ¡°I¡¯m trying to think of a way to tell you as safely as possible.¡±


    He looked around at the whole group around us, ¡°Does everybody know except for me? Because if that¡¯s true, I don¡¯t see why you¡¯re worried.¡±


    ¡°None of them have made deals with dragons that nearly burned my arm off,¡± I said.


    Vaughn bent over laughing.


    After giving Vaughn some side eye, Adam turned his attention to me, ¡°Okay. I get it, but I need to know what¡¯s going on here.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded, ¡°I know. Let¡¯s try this. There¡¯s a weapon hidden on Earth that people from a certain ancestry can use. Lee can use it no question. Magnus and I might be able to use it. Magnus is looking for it and I might have seen him when I extended my awareness just now. It might also have been someone or something else, but he¡¯s the only person I know would go after it other than Lee.¡±


    Haley pursed her lips as she listened, probably mentally critiquing what I¡¯d told Adam. I¡¯d ask her what she thought later.


    Adam looked around the group and then at me, ¡°I hope you¡¯re not leaving out anything I¡¯ll need to know, but it¡¯s something. Look, I can help you. We can help you and to encourage you to keep up sharing, I¡¯ll tell you something I don¡¯t have to tell you¡ªI can use a kind of magic sight because I¡¯m a champion of Faerie. In that sight, you don¡¯t look like other people. I¡¯m not sure exactly how to say it, but you look a little blurry around the edges. It¡¯s hard to notice. Not everybody will, but it¡¯s obvious if you know what to look for.


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    ¡°This is true of everybody that spends a lot of time with Lee, but more true for you than anybody else I¡¯ve seen. I¡¯ll watch to see if anyone else looks the same.¡±


    As he finished, most of the League looked anywhere but at him and some eyes widened.


    ¡°Tell Nick if that happens. Don¡¯t get their attention,¡± Kals¡¯ eyes widened. She didn¡¯t use her power, but the forcefulness of her voice said that she expected to be obeyed.


    Adam looked over at her and his face tightened, ¡°Okay, you¡¯re afraid. I¡¯m not sure I know enough yet, but I¡¯ll give you the benefit of the doubt. I¡¯ll leave them alone until Nick tells me otherwise.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s a bigger deal than we can explain for now. I¡¯ll tell you more when I feel like I can.¡±


    Adam¡¯s mouth twitched in what might have hinted at a smile or frustration, ¡°Please, do.¡±


    Unsure of what to say next, I was almost relieved when I got a text from Stephanie.


    She wrote, ¡°We¡¯re here. Couldn¡¯t call. Watched. They know I know you. Asked for advice on your personality. Tactics. Favorite exit from HQ. They knew your grandfather plus exits from his time. All watched now.¡±


    She added, ¡°Here with special forces supers, C-shop Illuminati, Major Justice and friends. More.¡±


    As I wondered if the ¡°more¡± meant more text or more people than what she¡¯d already said, she kept on writing, obscuring my unwritten response.


    ¡°They¡¯ll use me to hurt or distract you. Pretend or ignore. Don¡¯t trust me. I¡¯ll do what I can. Out.¡±


    For lack of a better response, I liked her final statement, leaving a thumb¡¯s up next to her announcement of involuntary betrayal. It felt inadequate somehow.


    ¡°Are you back there again?¡± Haley asked as I paid attention to the world around me.


    ¡°What? No,¡± I said, realizing that everyone was watching me with concern except Daniel¡ªwho gave me a thumb¡¯s up.


    I addressed everyone, ¡°I just got a text from Stephanie. Major Justice and his people are here with everyone we expected plus a military team. They¡¯re also going to use Stephanie to betray us if they can. Don¡¯t trust her, but don¡¯t kill her, obviously. She¡¯ll do what she can. Um¡­ I have to get my armor on.¡±


    I pushed through people and ran for my lab as Haley began talking through the plan that we¡¯d discussed with everyone. I felt a small twinge of pain with each step, manageable, but there. When I walked through the door to the lab, moving out of everyone¡¯s sight, I pulled up my shirt.


    I found multiple black and blue marks that could have been from bites even though none of them broke the skin. It didn¡¯t make a lot of sense, but what was I going to do, complain?


    I set my clothes to morph into a flight suit and walked over to the nearest bucket of Rocket suit bits, activating them and watching as the blocks enveloped me, changing into my suit.

 Roll the Dice: Part 1

    As the Rocket suit¡¯s systems registered and passed their tests, I thought about the black and blue marks on my body. The Rocket suit¡¯s medical technology was more about immediate first aid than internal diagnosis.


    The Xiniti implant on the other hand was all about being internal. It had detected and healed my sword wound. Even if it had wanted to fill me full of cybernetics, it seemed to have just closed the wounds, internal and external.


    I hadn¡¯t thought to check on that. It felt like it happened much longer ago than a day.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I asked it, ¡°do you know anything about the black and blue marks on my body?¡±


    The implant gave me access to reports of similar deaths and damage in Xiniti and Alliance territory. I looked for a pattern and found one. The majority of deaths were near Abominator or Artificer ruins or relics that had been taken from those ruins.


    The implant also made a 3D representation of my naked body appear in my mind with the damaged spots labeled. The stab wound made a guest appearance with the note that it was nearly healed, not the same, and only included for completeness.


    The black and blue marks were labeled ¡°phase-based energy wounds.¡± Wondering what that meant caused the explanation to appear in my mind. The energy came from another dimension. Only a trickle had made it through to this one or I¡¯d have been more hurt.


    The image of my body also included a spot in my head¡ªwhich was concerning. It might also explain the headache. I hoped that I hadn¡¯t lost anything. My implant classified the damage as minimal, but the human brain was complicated¡ªone reason I hadn¡¯t let the implant loose on it.


    I still understood how the Rocket suit worked and felt my connection to Daniel.


    With the suit¡¯s reassembly finished, complete with a full load of bots of every kind, I didn¡¯t have time for self-diagnosis. We were in the middle of what might be a defining moment or even a last stand.


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    All the same, I felt a flutter of anxiety inside as I stepped out of the lab to find everyone still talking.


    I walked toward the group, noting that Haley¡¯s and my parents were talking together and watching the group from off to the side at the tables in the break room area.


    I caught my dad looking off in my direction and waved at him. He smiled back, but something in his eyes or the way the smile faded made me think I saw a little fear around the edges. I wondered if they¡¯d seen me fall?


    Everyone had been around me and there had been furniture and cubicles in his line of sight.


    I¡¯d sometimes wondered if he¡¯d have preferred a more athletic, conventionally manly son¡ªthe kind of person he¡¯d been as a teenager. I¡¯d seen his football trophies and uniform in a box once.


    What he¡¯d ended up with was a kid whose high school activities were inventing things and fighting supervillains. If he¡¯d known back then, he might have asked me to stop. As of now, all he could do was watch and hope I didn¡¯t die.


    Knowing him, he¡¯d be happy as long as I was, but if he wished my life were less dangerous, I couldn¡¯t argue. I walked up to the group. Everyone was still talking, but they¡¯d separated loosely into Team Hidden and Team Visible¡ªTeam Visible being Vaughn, Cassie, Jaclyn, Amy, and me.


    Team Hidden was basically everyone else. Arguably, you might say there was a third team called Team Backup, but really, they were just more Team Hidden.


    Everyone looked at me as I stepped up to the groups.


    ¡°Ready?¡± Vaughn asked.


    My gut said no, but I said, ¡°Yes, more or less.¡±


    Amy held out a thin, red crystal, ¡°Yours, if you want it.¡±


    I looked down, watching it in the palm of her black gauntlet, ¡°What is it?¡±


    Holding it higher, she said, ¡°The invisibility charm I mentioned before. Adam says Team Hidden won¡¯t need them. He can hide them himself. So, now Team Visible can turn invisible if things go bad.¡±


    I took the crystal and put it in my pouch.


    ¡°If you need it,¡± Amy said, ¡°crush it and throw the powder on yourself. You have to use the whole thing. You can¡¯t break it in half and use the other half later.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°How long does it last?¡±


    ¡°Not long,¡± Amy said. ¡°Half an hour, maybe.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°is there anything new I should know about the plan? Are we still walking out into the arms of a vastly superior force?¡±


    Jaclyn grinned, ¡°That¡¯s still exactly the plan.¡±


    ¡°Aright,¡± I said, ¡°then I guess we¡¯d better get going.¡±

 Roll the Dice: Part 2

    Nodding, I said, ¡°Then I guess we¡¯d better go do something that¡¯s obviously stupid.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine,¡± Cassie said, ¡°Mr. Sparkles is looking forward to it. I don¡¯t think he quite understands that we¡¯re not going out there to slaughter them.¡±


    I eyed the alien gun in it¡¯s holster on her belt. Using it to its full potential would get us in more trouble than I wanted to imagine.


    Haley¡¯s mouth twisted as she glanced down at it, but she said, ¡°I think we need to get out there. Is everyone ready?¡±


    Everyone looked at each other as Jaclyn said, ¡°Yes. We¡¯re ready.¡±


    Izzy looked around the group, ¡°I think we¡¯ll all do fine as long as we remember that they¡¯re people too and most of them wouldn¡¯t be fighting us unless people meddled with their heads.¡±


    ¡°Which,¡± Adam said, ¡°shouldn¡¯t stop us from taking them down if we have to. I think we all know that some of their victims never come back to themselves.¡±


    Haley looked up at him, ¡°Don¡¯t kill anybody. All of these people are either innocent or misled. You¡¯ve got magic. You can do things we don¡¯t even know about.¡±


    He shook his head, ¡°My people can do a lot, sure, but you¡¯re still working with fairies here. I¡¯ll tell them what I want and I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll listen, but they¡¯ll still act according to their natures. Maybe they won¡¯t kill, but if they can¡¯t, people may still need therapy and lots of it.¡±


    ¡°As long as they¡¯re alive and they aren¡¯t lost in a fairy dream forever, I can live with that,¡± Haley said. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Adam blinked, ¡°Okay. I do want to point out though, that if those guys have one of the Masks, they¡¯ll have one guy who can handle magic.¡±


    Amy tapped the Bloodspear¡¯s butt end against the floor, making a dull clanking noise, ¡°He¡¯ll be too busy worrying about me.¡±


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    With a look at the spear, Adam said, ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m sure.¡±


    As we began to go to our respective tunnels, I looked over at Team Hidden¡ªwhich included both Daniel and Tara¡ªasking, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    Turning toward me, Daniel said, ¡°This plan is as good as any we came up with in terms of our chances.¡±


    Tara smiled at me, ¡°There are too many people with too many powers involved for me to predict everything. Sometimes you have to roll the dice.¡±


    Haley and I locked eyes for a moment, but she was too far away by then for anything more than a glance. That would have to be enough.


    I wanted to run it all by Hal. I wished again that I could contact Mateo to ask what he knew about Yellow Mask. I could at least ask Hal, so I did, ¡°What did you think of our plan?¡±


    [Send out an obvious group to draw their focus and keep a hidden group to take out the hidden assets from the other side? I told them it was good enough and suggested tweaks. I also told them the likely sequence of events. The other side will engage you in some way, attempt to capture you, and then attempt to bring any hidden assets of yours into the light by threatening your lives. Also, of course, any discovery of your hidden assets by their hidden assets will turn the whole thing into straight out battle. Past that, it¡¯s impossible to predict due to the personalities and powers involved.]


    ¡°Okay, I guess that¡¯s it then,¡± I said, following the rest of Team Obvious to the tunnel door, and commanding my helmet to form around my head.


    Vaughn, Cassie, Jaclyn, Amy and I stopped in front of the heavy, round tunnel door. Years ago, I¡¯d assumed that it was metal, but now I knew that it was a heavy duty alien ceramic made for combat applications. Despite that, it looked like something made for a World War 2 submarine when you combined the metal look with the round wheel on the outside of the door.


    Jaclyn put her hands on the wheel and began to turn. Watching her, you had no idea how much resistance it gave anyone who couldn¡¯t lift a few hundred pounds.


    She turned back to the rest of us, ¡°I feel like I should be making a speech, but this isn¡¯t the time. Let¡¯s get this done, Team Bait.¡±


    We laughed, but as we stepped into the tunnel, I remembered something. I hadn¡¯t contacted Sean to tell him we were going in. I said I would, but it had slipped my mind.


    I considered skipping it, but I didn¡¯t feel right about that. I composed a message in my head and had my implant send it as a text to Sean.


    It said, ¡°We¡¯re about to go meet with Major Justice and his crew. It¡¯ll be in the woods around League HQ. There will be lots of people. Don¡¯t get too close until fighting starts. You don¡¯t want the Nine to rearrange your head.¡±


    As I sent it, I felt a twinge of worry, but I¡¯d said I¡¯d do it. Besides, we needed the help.

 Roll The Dice: Part 3

    Sean gave me a digital thumbs up on my message as I pulled the door shut behind us. The door locked behind me as HQ¡¯s computer noted the zones of defenses going up behind us as we left.


    The tunnel had once been used to dump either sewage or industrial wastewater into Grand Lake¡ªmaybe both. We walked across the faded brick, the tunnel¡¯s height forcing me to lower my head.


    Looking back toward Amy and me and then forward to Cassie and Jaclyn, Vaughn said, ¡°Our best shot is to walk out looking confident.¡±


    ¡°Oh, really,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°and our confidence will stop them from attacking even though the Rocket said Major Justice was done talking and he called in everyone he knows?¡±


    ¡°The way I look at it,¡± Vaughn picked up his pace to keep up with her, ¡°Major Justice is just done talking to the Rocket.¡±


    Amy laughed and shook her head, ¡°I love your optimism.¡±


    He shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s worth trying. You guys thought it was okay back there.¡±


    Cassie didn¡¯t look back, staring down the tunnel ahead of us as she talked, ¡°I thought the part where we went out here was a good idea. If you can talk to them, that¡¯s a bonus. If you can talk sense into them, it¡¯ll be a miracle.¡±


    He let out a sigh, ¡°I know. Stupid Dominators.¡±


    We reached the door soon after that. This one hung above us, a manhole cover in a section where the tunnel widened into a square with the manhole in the center. The rest of the tunnel continued past us toward the lake.


    ¡°Ready?¡± Jaclyn stood in the middle, looking upward. ¡°The Mystic said that this was the best spot for us to exit, but he didn¡¯t know if they¡¯d be waiting outside.¡±


    ¡°If they are,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯ll at least have space to work with up there. This opens near the edge of the woods and the playground by the beach.¡±


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    Jaclyn raised an eyebrow, ¡°The playground? Well, it should be empty.¡±


    At seven in the morning in November, you¡¯d hope so.


    She reached out, put her palms on the bottom and pushed upward, moving the cover upward with no effort. Dirt fell in as she pushed it off to the side, took a breath and jumped up, landing nearby with a thump.


    ¡°Well, they haven¡¯t attacked yet,¡± she told us, ¡°but I don¡¯t see any of them either.¡±


    In a flash of red, white, and blue, Cassie jumped up after her, followed by Vaughn, Amy, and me.


    The place looked exactly like you¡¯d expect a playground to look on Saturday morning at 7 am in November. The swings swung empty in a light wind. The yellow, plastic slide had a thin, muddy puddle at the bottom, the combination of dew and dirt left by use.


    We stood on a brick and concrete block at the edge of the woods.I wondered again how Daniel¡¯s prescience worked. In the near future, he could feel what was about to happen, but past that it seemed like a game of Twenty Questions with his unconscious mind defining the words.


    For example, if he¡¯d actually used the word best to ask himself where we should go, he¡¯d defined it either as an empty spot or one with an unknown number of invisible enemies.


    Using the Rocket suit¡¯s sensors, I scanned the area around us, adjusting the sensors in a way that I thought might make sound absorbing materials stand out.


    Either I wasn¡¯t doing it right or they genuinely weren¡¯t here.


    As Vaughn said, ¡°Do you think we should try somewhere else¡ª¡± I registered movement in the sky and so did Jaclyn.


    ¡°Hey everybody,¡± she said, ¡°here we go.¡±


    I zoomed in on the dark figure who I recognized as he descended toward us¡ªGordon. Still resembling a character in a Nazi recruitment poster, Gordon¡¯s costume hid his blond hair and most of his face, but I could see his square jaw and cleft chin.


    The costume thankfully didn¡¯t recall German World War 2 military uniforms at all. It appeared to have been designed to recall the look of the moon and as a result was grey with a bright shimmer as he twisted his body, aiming toward us.


    Surprising myself, I remembered that he¡¯d taken on his late father¡¯s codename (Moonglider) as a homage.


    Coming to a stop in the air in front of us about twenty feet up, he said, ¡°None of you move. Don¡¯t go anywhere. Don¡¯t try to go anywhere!¡±


    Jaclyn crossed her arms over her chest and glanced over at Vaughn. Vaughn raised his hands above his shoulders, ¡°Hey Moonglider, don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯re not here to cause trouble. Major Justice wanted us to come out of the bunker and so we¡¯re here. As you can see, we¡¯re fine, right?¡±

 Roll the Dice: Part 4

    Still hovering, Gordon stared at Vaughn, breathing without saying anything as if he were having trouble composing himself¡ªor maybe he didn¡¯t know what to say.


    When he did talk, he barked out, ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± as if we hadn¡¯t gotten that message the first time.


    Then he added, ¡°I¡¯ve called in my team,¡± which was interesting because I hadn¡¯t seen him talking into a mic or typing anything.


    Did he have a system that allowed him to subvocalize or some form of technological telepathy? On the other hand, I might be overestimating their technical abilities. He might have the equivalent of a panic button built into his suit¡ªmaybe on his palm.


    My thoughts started a replay of my memories by my implant. In instants, it found a spot where one of Gordon¡¯s hands brushed the palm of the other.


    Even as I thought that it was nice to be right, I saw burning bodies approaching from both the ground and the sky. It was both surprising and not surprising at all to realize I knew both of them.


    I¡¯d known the burning man in the sky almost as long as I¡¯d been alive. Theo was calling himself Corona in costume which wasn¡¯t a bad name considering his power allowed him to cover himself with superheated plasma as well as to fire blasts of it at his enemies. Like his older brother Solar Flare, his codename was sun themed.


    I¡¯d never asked him if he had any trouble with the company that made the beer of the same name. On the other hand, for all I knew, maybe they sent him free samples.


    The other person was named Meteor. Despite her codename, she couldn¡¯t fly¡ªthough I imagined she could drop. Still, she could run at hundreds of miles per hour. So, metaphorically at least, Meteor still worked as a name.


    I didn¡¯t hang around her much at Stapledon, so I didn¡¯t know her personal name.


    In any case, I hadn¡¯t know either of them were involved with the Coffeeshop Illuminati¡ªwhich meant they might also have been mentally rewired by the Nine.


    I also didn¡¯t like the message their appearance sent. It might have been chance because they were both high mobility supers, but they were also people who had a realistic chance of taking Jaclyn out.


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    Theo didn¡¯t hesitate to get close either, landing only ten feet away. He did tamp down the flame to a low, reddish burn as his feet hit the ground and he said, ¡°Rocket, this is crazy. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll work it out. I know you¡¯re not the kind of guy who just goes off the handle and starts killing people.¡±


    He was sympathetic. That was good. It meant the Dominators might not have gotten to him¡ªunless that¡¯s what they wanted me to think.


    Meteor stopped near Theo and the flame around her body turned to small fires licking the outside of her costume. To my amusement, I discovered that whoever designed her current costume created a costume of a pitted material that resembled the surface of a meteor.


    She said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± to Jaclyn and I half-expected her to attack at that moment, but she didn¡¯t.


    Jaclyn nodded, ¡°Me too.¡±


    In that moment, I remembered that they¡¯d been on a team together when Stapledon did a public tournament for visiting VIPs.


    From above, Gordon shouted down, ¡°You¡¯re getting too close. We all know them, but right now they¡¯re the enemy. Step back and be ready to fight.¡±


    ¡°Relax,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°we¡¯re not going to do anything unless you attack. They can back off or they can stay close, but it doesn¡¯t change what we¡¯re here to do. We¡¯re here to cooperate and we¡¯re here to help settle this.¡±


    Tactically speaking, letting Gordon force them away from us might be the better choice in that it gave us more time if they were ordered to attack. I wanted to tell Vaughn that, but I reminded myself that there was a reason he was handling this.


    Next to Vaughn, Cassie looked from Meteor to Theo, ¡°We don¡¯t want to get you in trouble with Moonglider.¡±


    Theo glanced back toward Gordon, ¡°Moonglider is being a jerk. We¡¯re here to talk with you and find out what happened. We¡¯re not here to fight you. At least that¡¯s what I was told.¡±


    ¡°Just do as you¡¯re told,¡± the winds changed, moving Gordon closer to Theo, but only a few feet.


    Cassie caught my eye, sending a message through my implant, There we go. They¡¯re not united on this.


    Vaughn waved at Theo, ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were with the Coffeeshop Illuminati. I thought you¡¯d be with your family.¡±


    Turning away from Gordon, but not moving back, Theo said, ¡°I just started. My parents thought it would be good for me to get experience outside of the family team. You only call in a team full of plasma manipulators if you want to destroy everything in sight. I want to be more than that.¡±


    Gordon¡¯s voice rose, ¡°If you don¡¯t back off and stop talking to them, I¡¯m going to recommend that you be disciplined.¡±


    Theo turned toward Gordon, opening his mouth to reply, the fire around his body burning harder all of a sudden.


    He stopped mid-breath, noticing along with the rest of us that Bullet was flying over the trees behind us, carried by the bullet-shaped cylinders of force that gave him his codename. He wasn¡¯t alone. More than ten other people came after him, most carried by the cylinders as well.


    Gordon¡¯s brother Gifford flew in on his own, carried by the winds like his older brother. I didn¡¯t recognize all of Bullet¡¯s companions, but two stood out¡ªone was Hunter, Gifford¡¯s friend, who could generate animate life forms out of a substance his body secreted.


    The other person that stood out was Stephanie.

 Roll the Dice: Part 5

    This was it. We had the Coffeeshop Illuminati, but no Major Justice or the military special ops team that Lim had been talking about.


    Those were waiting in the wings in case we were too much trouble¡ªif Hal was correct.


    Bullet landed in front of us, the bullet-shaped bits of force disappearing as he stepped toward the ground, showing all the control his reputation had led me to expect. His dull grey costume evoked the look of a bullet even though his ¡°bullets¡± weren¡¯t made of metal.


    He landed the rest of his people in a half-circle facing us, including Gordon and Meteor loosely in the half-circle. Theo was too close. Still, if they did choose to fire on us, it allowed almost everyone to take a shot without hitting someone on their side by accident.


    With enough warning, even Theo would only need to pop into the air to avoid friendly fire.


    With their backs to the playground, this even meant they¡¯d avoid firing on it and the beach behind despite that both were empty. Their misses would land in the forest, meaning that they weren¡¯t environmentalists, I supposed.


    Glancing over at Gordon and then Theo, Bullet shook his head, ¡°There¡¯s no reason for anyone to be disciplined, but Corona, please stand aside.¡±


    Theo frowned, but looked back at Bullet and the formation behind him, blinked as he recognized the tactical implications and stepped off to the side.


    It might not have been a profile in courage, but I couldn¡¯t fault him.


    Bullet looked over the group of us and said, ¡°Major Justice isn¡¯t willing to talk to you any further, but I¡¯m willing to take your surrender. As someone you¡¯ve helped, I only want the best for you. I know that Major Justice wants to guide the Heroes¡¯ League, but I know you¡¯re capable. I do think you need some help with public relations right now. If you surrender, I¡¯d be willing to help you calm things down.¡±


    Vaughn looked over at me, winked, and turned back to Bullet. He¡¯d had an idea. I hoped that I¡¯d like it. The Rocket suit¡¯s 360 degree view allowed me to notice Amy let out a slow breath, the kind you might take to calm yourself down.


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    Amy dated Vaughn for a couple of years. I could only guess what triggered that reaction.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°We¡¯ll surrender, but only if Major Justice agrees to get scanned for the Nine¡¯s influence. If people with experience in finding their meddling pass him, we¡¯ll surrender after that.¡±


    This was the kind of plan that I¡¯d have loved to have a vote on because if he got scanned by someone working for the Nine, they weren¡¯t going find the Nine¡¯s influence and we¡¯d still be expected to surrender.


    Also, Major Justice might just be an asshole.


    ¡°And by the way,¡± Vaughn added, ¡°we won¡¯t accept just anybody to check him. As you should know, you need a team for this¡ªa telepath, a wizard, and if you can get one, someone with the skills to remove the Nine¡¯s influence. We want a say in who does it.¡±


    That was a little more hard-nosed than I¡¯d expected, but his family had built a multi-billion dollar (or more) business. You don¡¯t do that just by being friendly.


    Bullet¡¯s face twitched and he opened his mouth as if to begin, but then didn¡¯t. Much like me, he¡¯d expected a fight and he wasn¡¯t getting it.


    It was actually pretty clever, avoiding a super on super fight for the moment, if it worked, we might remove a cell of the Nine¡¯s influence on the community.


    I wished I¡¯d thought of it earlier, but I could help at least. Using my implant, I called Kayla, ¡°I hope you¡¯re watching this right now. Make sure Team Hidden knows not to attack unless they attack us. Also, make sure that you¡¯ve got a recording of this conversation available. We might need it again soon.¡±


    Her reply sounded in my head, ¡°Hal¡¯s already on it. He¡¯s setting up avenues to distribute the video.¡±


    I wanted to know more about that, but given that Hal had been studying up on how to manipulate humans for years now, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.


    Theo turned to Bullet, ¡°It seems like a reasonable request. You know what the Nine are like. Everyone knows they have influence in the superhero community. And you know what the Heroes¡¯ League is like. They¡¯ve been fighting them.¡±


    ¡°Corona,¡± Gordon¡¯s voice strained as if he were almost keeping it under control, ¡°let Bullet make his own decisions.¡±


    Bullet waved Gordon to silence, ¡°Corona is right. I¡¯ve seen on a personal level how the Nine can influence people and turn them into things they¡¯d never agree to become.¡±


    He had to be thinking of Armory. It had only been a month or two ago that we¡¯d captured Armory and proved to Bullet that the Nine had manipulated both of them.


    Gordon let Bullet speak, but the moment he stopped, Gordon flew closer to Bullet, trying to keep his voice down, but not successfully. The Rocket suit amplified it for me, but it was loud enough for everyone nearby to listen in.


    ¡°You can¡¯t seriously be thinking about it?¡± The Rocket suit noted that the wind speed in the area had ticked up by five miles per hour. Gordon might be losing control.


    A few of the figure behind Bullet stepped closer. I didn¡¯t like the look of it.


    Bullet didn¡¯t seem to think he was in danger, though, turning to Gordon and saying, ¡°Stand down. We¡¯ll talk about this later.¡±


    The wind speed grew another five miles per hour.

 Roll the Dice: Part 6

    Noticing the wind, I wondered about Gordon. He did have a temper. I remembered at least one time he¡¯d nearly lost it with me. All the same, this seemed different. I¡¯d never seen him lose control of his powers out of anger.


    Of course, maybe I¡¯d never seen him angry enough.


    On a gut level, I didn¡¯t quite believe he could be this angry at whatever offenses he imagined I¡¯d committed without also being goaded into that anger either by Dominator work in his head or something else.


    I looked over at Stephanie and wondered if she knew anything. She was watching Gordon and Bullet, but not trying to talk Gordon down¡ªwhich I understood. Even a couple of years after a breakup, residual feelings about it might make things worse instead of better.


    She might be able to calm him down with her technology, but it might be construed as an attack. Anyway, Gordon knew how her tech worked and might even have a way around it.


    I risked a quick look at her armor. Black with flat plates all over her body, the plates doubled as both armor and displays. Stephanie¡¯s area of research or maybe a weird talent was for creating symbols that created effects in the mind of the viewer. They made someone look away, freeze, or force them to feel any emotion she¡¯d designed the display to produce.


    None of the plates were open, meaning that Stephanie wasn¡¯t responsible. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have worried. We¡¯d worked together at Higher Ground to fight the creation of the True, but she¡¯d been spying then and never quite felt trustworthy.


    Given that she¡¯d been spying on the Coffeeshop Illuminati for us and warned us that they were coming, I was probably paranoid.


    Still, you couldn¡¯t deny that she¡¯d be a tempting target for the Dominators and she¡¯d been out of contact with me for at least a year before we saw her at the Coffeeshop Illuminati¡¯s compound.


    All the same, none of her displays were open.


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    Gifford, meanwhile, had landed next to Gordon and said, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    Gordon all but snarled at his younger brother, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Bullet¡¯s letting these people walk all over him because they¡¯re the Heroes¡¯ League.¡±


    Hearing that, reminded me that it was one of Gordon¡¯s issues. Despite being the son of a respected super and experiencing the side effects of that respect while growing up, he seemed to resent that it was also true for us except a little more so.


    Bullet turned to him again, ¡°I told you to stand down. If you¡¯re not going to listen to me, I¡¯m going to tell you to leave and meet us back at the eggs.¡±


    Cassie sent an implant-to-implant message, Gordon¡¯s about to explode. If we stay out of it until he attacks his own people, we at least win in PR.


    I responded, Yeah. I¡¯m beginning to think the Dominators upped his resentment toward the League.


    As if to make that point, Gordon told Bullet, ¡°If you don¡¯t show some backbone, I don¡¯t think I have to listen to you. The Coffeeshop Illuminati isn¡¯t supposed to be a top-down organization. We¡¯re supposed to be a superhero collective. We work together, but we each do what we think is right. You¡¯re here to advise but you don¡¯t run the place. That¡¯s old-school thinking. We represent a new way of thought.¡±


    Next to me, Amy raised an eyebrow. If she was thinking that this wasn¡¯t the place to go into a rant about your philosophy of superheroism and life, I couldn¡¯t argue.


    From the contingent of Coffeehouse Illuminati, I heard one cheer as Gordon talked.


    Bullet turned away from us to look at his own group, ¡°There¡¯s a danger in losing focus when you¡¯re in the middle of a job. We came here with a shared purpose. We can¡¯t lose that now. The Heroes¡¯ League made an excellent point¡ªthat they¡¯re in a battle with the Nine. If we act prematurely, we let the Nine use us and we can¡¯t risk that.¡±


    Gordon stepped up to Bullet, standing face to face with only inches between them, shouting, ¡°And what does that mean? Just do whatever the Heroes¡¯ League tells you?¡±


    Bullet shouted back, ¡°That¡¯s enough of that! I¡¯m trying to teach you something, but it does no good if you¡¯re unwilling to be taught. Go back to the transport eggs and wait for us.¡±


    Gordon laughed, ¡°Do you see what he is? He¡¯s just another fascist in the end.¡±


    Next to him, Gifford said, ¡°Moonglider, I don¡¯t think this¡ª¡°


    He didn¡¯t finish. Gordon paid no attention to him, summoning up enough wind to throw Bullet into the air, shooting him toward the side of the half-circle the Illuminati had arranged themselves in while they were still thinking about tactics.


    Bullet passed through the side of the half-circle without hitting anyone, and gained in altitude.


    I recognized why. Glints of light hit bullet-shaped bits of force collected around him and held him in the air.


    He stared at Gordon and more bullets gathered around his fist.

 Roll The Dice: Part 7

    A few of the bullets shot away from his hand toward Gordon as Gifford shouted, ¡°No!¡±


    The Rocket suit¡¯s sensors showed the air in front of Gordon becoming more dense, maybe not to force field levels, but enough to matter.


    The bullets hit the barrier and began to be blown to the left when they discorporated.


    Bullet pulled more bits of force together and then they transformed, surrounding him in a bullet-shaped container that shot forward toward Gordon even as Gordon and Gifford bodies¡¯ tightened up, pointing their arms toward Bullet.


    We felt the ensuing blast of wind. It pulled us forward and a few of the Coffeeshop Illuminati tumbled.


    More of the Coffeeshop Illuminati jumped in after him. A big guy in a purple costume styled to resemble plate armor landed on top of Bullet¡¯s force field, punching it, and leaving visible waves in the field, almost as if it were liquid.


    Another big guy, this one with horns on his head and wearing blue armor jumped up and started fighting the first guy, both of them balancing on the top of the bullet.


    Bullet himself ignored the both of them as he struggled in the wind.


    Jaclyn turned to the rest of us, ¡°I don¡¯t want to, but we might have to stop it.¡±


    If she didn¡¯t worry about what happened to them, she could probably take down everyone. Assuming she wanted to avoid breaking bones or even killing people, she needed us.


    Meanwhile, in the background one of the Coffeeshop Illuminati, a woman in a gold costume, whose long hair coiled in the air like snakes, shouted at all of them, ¡°Stop fighting each other!¡±


    At the same time, two of the Coffeeshop Illuminati stepped away from what remained of their half-circle (now a string of random dots) and stood in front of the group of us.


    Both were maybe five and half feet tall and wore blue costumes. Live electricity traveled all over their bodies. If I remembered correctly, they called themselves Live Wire and didn¡¯t have individual names.


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    I wasn¡¯t sure of the practicality of that, but they didn¡¯t seem in the mood to discuss it.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± they said in stereo.


    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to challenge you or anything,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but did you check out our known powers before coming over here? We¡¯re not trying to leave, but lightning isn¡¯t a huge threat.¡±


    ¡°Look behind you,¡± they said, one of them pointing past us.


    There wasn¡¯t anything behind us, but in the next moment humanoid figures grew out of the ground. If anything, they reminded me of sped up film of mushrooms growing. They had the grey color and skin texture of mushrooms combined with almost human features.


    They didn¡¯t scare me. I knew what they were. Hunter had run off to help Gifford, his best friend, and apparently left seeds for his fungus creatures behind us. In general, they weren¡¯t terribly tough, but he did have tough ones and had been known to include tough features even in weak ones.


    Ahead of us, another seed blossomed into another creature. This one grew 50 feet to tower over everything but the trees. It had mushroom-like skin as well, but this one was shaped like a Tyrannosaurus Rex.


    It roared and went after Bullet and the people defending him. At that, Theo, one of the few remaining Illuminati turned to me and said, ¡°You can take these guys,¡± and flew toward the Tyrannosaurus, blasting superheated plasma at it.


    It fell over, smashing into the swing set, but then the T. Rex pushed itself up despite its teeny mushroom arms.


    Though the plasma had burned it, it was still in one piece. Hunter¡¯s skills had improved since the last time I¡¯d paid attention to them. That wasn¡¯t good.


    ¡°I¡¯m taking down the T. Rex and getting Bullet out of here,¡± Jaclyn said, running forward and past Live Wires before they even had a chance to register her.


    Unable to stop Jaclyn, they threw lightning at us. Amy dove behind me, pulling out the Bloodspear to fight the mushroom zombies behind us.


    They shrieked and didn¡¯t stop shrieking when Cassie started firing her gun at them.


    There were more of them than I¡¯d realized. When I¡¯d first noticed them, I guessed there might be 20. Now I was thinking more than 100.


    Guessing that taking lightning blasts wasn¡¯t included in a Bloodmaiden¡¯s basic power set, I kept myself between her and the Live Wires¡¯ bolts. Electricity hit the Rocket suit and traveled down the outside into the ground.


    I blasted Live Wires with my sonics, causing them to stop throwing bolts as they fumbled to adjust their helmets. Vaughn, meanwhile simply redirected the lightning bolts into the ground or into the mushroom zombie army behind him.


    I was about to rush them when Stephanie stepped forward, the plates on her armor glowing. Remembering that she¡¯d told me not to trust her if I saw her, I knew what was coming next¡ªwe¡¯d be experiencing one of her visual brain stem hacks.


    I didn¡¯t need the automated text from our private channel that said, ¡°Take me out. I don¡¯t care how,¡± but it made what came next easier.


    In the pause where Live Wires¡¯ lightning bolts stopped, I opened up on her with a barrage of goobots.

 Roll The Dice: Part 8

    The goobots did what I¡¯d intended them to do¡ªhit and explode into goo that covered her suit, and most important, the symbols that glowed on the armored plates, all of them.


    I¡¯d switched off direct visuals the moment I saw the glow, viewing her with a composite of sonics and thermal. She was a bit fuzzy, but goobots, much like hand grenades, didn¡¯t demand precision.


    After she fell, I asked my implant if it could obscure any symbols on her while allowing me to see the glow.


    I felt it answer in the affirmative and turned my visuals back on. Noting a few spots where she still glowed, I fired off a few more goobots.


    With that, I received another text from her, ¡°If you¡¯re reading this, they got me. I hope you¡¯ve got people who can get their commands out of my head because otherwise I¡¯m going to be working full time for the bad guys now. Don¡¯t kill me unless you really, really have to, okay?¡±


    The next text added, ¡°I don¡¯t know how they got me. I used your buzzer design, but I couldn¡¯t keep it on me every second of every day. God knows I tried. My best guess is they got me before I started using it and planted commands that only needed to be activated with only a code word. I was with the Coffeeshop Illuminati for years before I saw through their BS. Another idea? They¡¯ve got a way past your buzzer and you¡¯re fucked. I know you¡¯re smart, but don¡¯t assume it works perfectly.¡±


    This was the first person The Nine had gotten that I knew. While I¡¯d never been able to completely trust her and she¡¯d definitely worked against us at first, she¡¯d been an ally against the True. She deserved better than this.


    I forwarded her messages to Kayla, telling her, ¡°Someone¡¯s got to pick her up and get her to Kals, but I can¡¯t right now. Maybe Team Hidden or Dark Cloak¡¯s army of fae?¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Kayla said, ¡°I¡¯ll check. It¡¯s getting weird for them too.¡±


    I wanted to ask how, but had to start paying attention to the fight again. In the seconds that had passed since I¡¯d fired the goobots, Vaughn had literally blown both Live Wires away. He¡¯d called up a wind that threw them into the T. Rex, hitting it with a flash of lightning, the sound of thunder, and a roar from the T. Rex that I felt through the suit.


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    It dove at the ground, trying to get at the human figures near it even though Bullet pelted it with force bullets large enough that it rocked back with every hit.


    I didn¡¯t get to pay it any more attention than that.


    From behind me, Amy said, ¡°Rocket, some help!¡±


    With that I realized Amy and Cassie were keeping back the mushroom zombie horde with a combination of Cassie¡¯s alien gun and Amy¡¯s spear. Amy would throw the spear which would pass through a line of zombies causing them to shrivel and turn to dust. Meanwhile, Cassie fired shot after shot, each one leaving the zombie it hit burnt, many of them in multiple pieces.


    If it were that simple, they wouldn¡¯t have needed help, but every now and then the less damaged zombies or parts of zombie would release a cloud of spores. Seconds later, there were more zombies growing to full size and charging toward us.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, Meteor, who¡¯d disappeared with most of the Coffeeshop Illuminati, came back now, aiming herself at Vaughn at more than 300 miles per hour.


    Even though Vaughn was tougher than he used to be and wearing one of my nanotech based self-repairing suits, I knew it would hurt.


    Even flying the Rocket suit, I couldn¡¯t physically react quickly enough to block her from hitting him. I knew situations like this might happen, though¡ªwhich was why I¡¯d taken advantage of the fact that I could process information faster than a normal person.


    I might not be able to move in time to aim my sonics at her, but I had time to fire off a burst of boombots even as I began to activate the jets and aim toward Vaughn.


    Set on full burn, the boombots flew away with more speed than a human body could take, hitting Meteor on the right side. The heat and fire of explosions did nothing to her. She might not be immune to fire, but she was close to it. The boombots¡¯ explosions generated more than heat and light.


    They generated force, specifically force that threw her to my left which happened to be the direction that the mushroom zombies were coming from.


    Lest you get the impression it was luck, it was less random than deliberately aiming Meteor at a cluster of mushroom zombies.


    They didn¡¯t seem to be able to infect people and few things kill fungus like fire.


    She did better than I expected. When she hit them, a blast of fire exploded outward from her, burning them to charcoal¡ªwhich was nice. If only I could get her to do that voluntarily, our lives would become so much easier.


    As Meteor pulled herself up from the ground, discovering the 20 foot wide circle of blackened everything around her, Haley called me, ¡°Does it look like Hunter¡¯s shroom zombies are self-replicating? He said he was thinking about it last year at Stapledon, but he never said he¡¯d done it!¡±


    Ahead of me, near one of the baseball diamonds, the T. Rex went down, exploding into a cloud of spores.

 Roll The Dice: Part 9

    ¡°Self-replicating?¡± I stared at the cloud of spores obscuring the baseball diamond.


    Supers emerged from it, most of them covered with a light dusting of spores. By most, I meant almost everybody but Jaclyn. Jaclyn wasn¡¯t covered because I¡¯d designed her suit to be as close to frictionless as I could.


    The other two exceptions were Bullet and Theo. Bullet flew out. He wasn¡¯t covered with spores because he floated upward in a bullet-shaped force field. Theo was spore-free for a more obvious reason¡ªalmost anything that touches superheated plasma burns.


    The rest of the supers, all of them Coffeeshop Illuminati, seemed to be acting normally. They didn¡¯t seem to be controlled by Hunter. They were running in all directions, showing no coordination at all.


    Also, the spores seemed to be inert. At any rate, none of them seemed to be growing and using their hosts for food, turning them into mini-mushroom dinosaurs.


    Even Hunter, Gifford, and Gordon seemed to be covered, making it unlikely to be part of a prearranged plan.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Haley said, ¡°he wouldn¡¯t shut up about it for an entire Stapledon weekend. He kept saying how it would up his power level. It was so irritating.¡±


    In the middle of her charred circle, Meteor stared out at the horde of mushroom zombies forming in the forest behind us, muttering, ¡°This is too big.¡±


    ¡°Self-replicating anything is a terrible idea,¡± I said, ¡°I haven¡¯t made any of my armor pieces self-replicating. There¡¯s always the risk, even if you¡¯ve programmed them perfectly, that they won¡¯t replicate themselves perfectly. Once that happens, maybe the whole world turns into grey goo.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± I could imagine the narrowed eyes that went along with Haley¡¯s tone of voice, ¡°You told me and I told him.¡±


    ¡°He didn¡¯t listen,¡± I watched as Cassie shot the first of a new group expanding out of the soil.


    ¡°I know,¡± Haley said again. ¡°He¡¯s an idiot¡­ Oh, and Dark Cloak says he can have a fairy cat get Stephanie out.¡±


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    ¡°A fairy cat?¡± I would have said more but at that moment a black cat stepped out from behind a bush and jumped onto Stephanie¡¯s restrained body, avoiding the goobot strands with uncanny grace.


    Then, the cat sat on her chest, staring at me. Then both the cat and Stephanie faded away. Only the cat¡¯s glowing amber eyes remained visible as it disappeared, staying for a moment after it was gone.


    I opened my mouth to tell Haley that I believed her now, but my attention moved from Stephanie¡¯s disappearance back to the baseball diamond.


    The cloud of spores had cleared. Gordon had shot into the sky where he and Bullet appeared to be engaged in a dogfight, a dogfight made more complicated by the figures in the air around them. I didn¡¯t care enough to identify them at the moment, but they made it impossible for either Bullet or Gordon to take each other out.


    I wasn¡¯t paying much attention to them because I was paying attention to what clearing the air had revealed.


    The T. Rex had fallen apart. Mounds of mushrooms grew on the pieces and around it on the diamond and the grassy areas around it. The mounds on the T.rex pieces were growing faster. Two were already six feet tall or higher. Feeding my suspicions, they attacked each other.


    Nearby, Gifford hovered near Hunter, directing winds with his hands and shouting downward at Hunter at the same time. What they were talking about wasn¡¯t obvious with Vaughn¡¯s thunder and lightning going nearby, but if I had to guess, my bet was a short conversation about how Hunter had lost control.


    With everything going on, I¡¯d lost track of the conversation I¡¯d been having with Haley.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, ¡°a fairy cat. Dark Cloak says it got her out.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I blew away a cluster of mushroom zombies with a boombot, worrying that I¡¯d need to conserve them, and added, ¡°I saw her disappear, but I think it¡¯s all about to get much worse. I think Hunter lost control of at least some of them.¡±


    One of the new T.rex (what¡¯s the plural of T.rex?) jumped up and attacked a group of mushroom zombies that were heading in Hunter¡¯s direction. The T.rex gave him long enough for Gifford to blow Hunter into the air, holding both of them 50 feet above the ground and out of the creatures¡¯ reach.


    Meanwhile, the T.rex bit one of the mushroom zombies in half, spreading spores everywhere¡ªincluding into the nearest T.rex mounds.


    Part of me wanted to know whether Hunter¡¯s zombies could cross-pollinate between the two species, but another part of me very much did not want to find out the answer.


    I fired off two boombots into the nearest T.rex mounds to the destroyed zombie, letting out a breath as they exploded. I hoped the fire was hot enough.


    Finally having the presence of mind to consider ending the conversation with Haley, I said, ¡°Hey¡ª¡±


    She said, ¡°I have to go. Zombies are leaving the park.¡±


    ¡°Crap!¡± I glanced toward Hunter. He was still floating in the air and shouting with Gifford. Didn¡¯t they have comms? ¡°I¡¯m going to see if Hunter can do anything.¡±


    Our connection clicked shut and I told the implant to call Hunter¡¯s comm.

 Roll The Dice: Part 10

    Despite being on ¡°the other side,¡± Hunter took my call. His shouted, ¡°What do you want,¡± made me wonder if he was paying attention when he took the call.


    ¡°This is the Rocket,¡± something he should already know, but if he didn¡¯t¡­


    ¡°Whoops,¡± he said, ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to shout at you. I¡¯m in the middle of something.¡±


    I considered saying, ¡°Yes, trying to capture me,¡± but if he wasn¡¯t thinking about it, I didn¡¯t want to remind him. ¡°By any chance,¡± I did ask, ¡°did you lose control of your fungus zombies?¡±


    As I talked, Theo flew down and threw a plasma blast that eclipsed anything I¡¯d seen from him before, engulfing one of the smaller T.Rex(es?) and burning it to charcoal along with the grass around it.


    It was a nice start even if it wasn¡¯t a good day for the grass.


    For a moment Theo wobbled in the air. He regained control before anything happened, but I wondered how many of those blasts he had in him.


    I couldn¡¯t help but notice that another T.Rex had emerged from the dead body of the first. This one was only four feet tall, but it was growing.


    Voice low, as if he didn¡¯t want to admit it, Hunter said, ¡°Yes. It wasn¡¯t this bad last time.¡±


    ¡°Last time?¡± I asked, trying to keep emotion out of my voice.


    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that,¡± he said. ¡°I tested them. I tried out all of my new designs. They¡¯ve even worked in the field. I just haven¡¯t made this many before. It looks like I lost control of a few.¡±


    ¡°A few?¡± This time I didn¡¯t try as hard to hide what I was feeling.


    ¡°A lot, okay?¡± His sigh came from everywhere in my helmet, ¡°Look, last time we had one and it was no big deal. My other zombies beat it down. I think maybe the more I make, the more mistakes I make.¡±


    Resisting the urge to point out how important testing was when creating something, especially something with as many potential problems as multiplying fungus creatures, I asked, ¡°What can they do? Anything special beyond exploding and spreading?¡±


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    His voice lifted, ¡°Oh, this is great. They evolve. I couldn¡¯t make them evolve a lot, but a little each time. So if you beat them to death, they don¡¯t become invulnerable to beatings, but they do get tougher. Basically, my problem is that I can only make so many fungus zombies at a time. If they keep destroying them, I can¡¯t keep up. I need to make them ahead of time. Of course, I made them ahead of time anyway today. Major Justice told Bullet we needed to pull out all the stops.


    ¡°This way, I can keep up no matter what and my creatures just get better.¡±


    I could hear the enthusiasm in his voice as he talked and I got it. I felt the same way when I figured out how to solve a problem.


    ¡°Super,¡± I said, ¡°so is there any kind of limit for how many generations of creatures they spawn?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± he paused, ¡°there¡¯s no special limit. The most I¡¯ve seen them get is ten generations, but no more than that and mostly not more than three. Crap. Major Justice is calling to scream at everyone again. Got to cut this off.¡±


    The connection closed.


    I took a look around me. For the moment, things seemed okay. The horde of mushroom zombies behind us in the forest seemed to have been destroyed for the moment. I doubted that they could change enough to cope with the combination of Cassie¡¯s gun, Amy¡¯s life force sucking spear, and Vaughn¡¯s command of the elements.


    Even Meteor had run back to join the fight with the T.Rex spawn. That one was still going. Jaclyn, though, had run back out of it and back to us.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure if they¡¯re even going after Bullet anymore,¡± she said as she got close. ¡°It looks like they¡¯re all working together against the T.Rexes and winning. What does everyone want to do when they can pay attention to us again? Are we still going to distract while Team Hidden finds the invisible people on their side?¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± I said. ¡°Things don¡¯t look too bad here. So we may have to go back to that, but I¡¯m a little worried that the other shoe¡¯s going to drop and everyone¡¯s going to have to join up or watch Grand Lake turn into a mushroom zombie wasteland.¡±


    Jaclyn raised an eyebrow, ¡°Is it really that likely?¡±


    I told everyone what Hunter said, finishing with, ¡°Hunter said there¡¯s a limit to how many times they can reproduce, but what if they evolve like cancer does? No limits. Then we¡¯ve got a problem.¡±


    ¡°You need to tell Control,¡± Jaclyn said.


    ¡°I know,¡± I said, ¡°but you¡¯re all here and I thought you should know first.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Cassie said, ¡°look at that,¡± and pointed her gun past us toward what been a patch of mushroom zombie remains that hadn¡¯t been doing anything.


    As of that moment, it had grown into a group of creatures that were mixed humanoid zombie and T.Rex zombies¡ªmixed as in different parts from each variety. One even had two heads, one humanoid and on T.Rex. It was already 15 feet tall and hadn¡¯t stopped growing.


    I¡¯d noticed that the clouds of T.Rex spores had landed on humanoid zombies earlier. The combined zombie spawn grew faster than the T.Rex spawn had.


    Cassie opened fire and Vaughn hit the spot with multiple lightning bolts. They left the spot blackened, but the bodies still gave off a puff of spores.


    Cassie burned the small cloud with a wider beam attack. Jaclyn turned to me and said, ¡°Call Control.¡±

 Roll The Dice: Part 11

    I called Kayla, telling her what I¡¯d learned in as few words as I could. I suggested that she might want to contact the offices of Major Justice and superheroes he led. He wasn¡¯t going to listen to me.


    Then she should make a more general announcement to regional and national groups about the situation and give them footage along with what Hunter said in our conversation.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try,¡± Kayla let out a sigh, ¡°it¡¯s not as if he likes me either, but maybe someone else will show up and make him see reason.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not optimistic, but if more people show up, we¡¯ve got a better chance to control it,¡± I said, firing off a boombot at a new cluster of mixed humanoid and T.Rex zombies.


    Though the cluster was no longer moving, Vaughn hit it with a lightning bolt. In this situation, I couldn¡¯t argue with overkill.


    ¡°I hope so,¡± Kayla dropped the connection.


    Jaclyn looked over at me, ¡°How much confidence do you have in our suits¡¯ filters? I don¡¯t want to find out what happens if the spores get in my lungs.¡±


    ¡°Pretty confident,¡± I said, ¡°I used ideas from alien tech meant for interstellar exploration for reference.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Jaclyn watched as Theo dropped a blast of flame on another cluster of expanding fungus creatures, blackening the cluster and everything around it.


    A quick look showed that members of the Coffeeshop Illuminati were cooperating in destroying the zombies. Hunter appeared to be using a third variety of zombie to combat them¡ªape-like human forms with clawed hands. The claws appeared to be of a denser material than the previous zombies, but maybe they were just denser mushrooms. The best way to find out was taking a sample to analyze.


    Short of that I had to go with my best guess¡ªnot that I had time for that.


    I scanned the playground and the surrounding field for more signs of mushroom growth, noticing that the blackened bits of ground included partially melted swing sets and a slide.


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    Our grandparents had literally taken members of the current league to play on that equipment during more than one of their group barbecues after retiring.


    I told my implant to remind me of this after the battle was over. We could donate money to help rebuild it. The city had to have a superhero rider on their insurance, but it would help make up for destroying things.


    ¡°Team Obvious,¡± Haley said over the comm, ¡°there¡¯s a big group of them leaving the park. We¡¯re not revealing everyone, but Blue is handling this. She might need help.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll help.¡±


    I checked Izzy¡¯s camera view. She was in the air, looking down on the west side of the park, an area where there was no reason for Hunter¡¯s fungus zombies to be in the first place¡ªunless he¡¯d placed them there to cut off an escape. HQ¡¯s garage exit came out on that side of the park and there were enough supers that gone through that entrance for people to know it existed.


    The west side of the park was mostly forest along with hiking trails and the rangers¡¯ access roads. Grand Lake bounded it to the north, but residential neighborhoods bounded it to the south.


    Haley and I had spent a bit of time making out in the Wolfmobile on one of the access roads early on in our relationship.


    The camera showed a crowd of grey, human-shaped creatures gathering near the wire fence that separated the park from the street. I couldn¡¯t tell how many, but based on the picture, my implant counted more than one thousand. The houses and people on the other side of street had no defenses.


    Cassie turned to Jaclyn, ¡°Can you get me there?¡±


    Jaclyn didn¡¯t reply directly, saying on the League¡¯s open channel, ¡°Blue, I¡¯m bringing Captain Commando. We can¡¯t just punch them without spreading the spores.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s going to need all of us,¡± Vaughn said.


    ¡°Plus everyone,¡± Amy said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll pass it on,¡± I told them as Jaclyn grabbed Cassie and ran away in a blur. Amy and Vaughn flew after them, leaving me alone.


    Sort of alone, anyway. Bullet and the Coffeeshop Illuminati were doing what they could to contain the remaining zombies¡ªplus the new clusters that erupted out of the ground.


    I shared a snapshot of the zombies beginning to tear down the fence and the location on the open comm channel assigned to West Michigan. They might not be using it to coordinate, but they¡¯d get notifications from it.


    I added, ¡°We¡¯re leaving to prevent your creatures from invading a residential neighborhood. If you can spare anyone, it would help.¡±


    Then I flew into the air, seeing the massed fungus creatures below. There were more than I¡¯d seen through Izzy¡¯s camera.


    ¡°This had better not be some kind of trick,¡± Major Justice said over the comm.


    ¡°Don¡¯t believe me. Check it out for yourself,¡± I said, turned on my rockets and flew away.

 Roll the Dice: Part 12

    Major Justice made a grunt that I nearly missed in the roar of my rockets shooting me skyward and then closed our connection.


    That was fine. I didn¡¯t want to talk to him either.


    Once in the air, I noticed something I hadn¡¯t from the ground¡ªa lot of things. For one, I noticed the helicopters in the air. That¡¯s helicopters as in the plural version, specifically three of them. There were two different news crews and a police helicopter.


    Also, police cars were rolling down the streets in our direction which was great. Maybe they¡¯d be able to keep the civilians safe.


    Maybe.


    This seemed less like a call in the police situation than a situation where you call in the National Guard. They had a base in Grand Lake. It wasn¡¯t big, but it existed.


    I hoped they had a protocol for responding to mass threats. After the Thing that Eats came to Grand Lake, you¡¯d hope that they¡¯d see the need.


    That wasn¡¯t all I saw. Civilians were leaving the area in cars, crossovers, trucks and mini-vans. All the explosions, lightning, and thunder worked in our favor in that sense. Warning sirens might not have gone off, but blasts of different kinds of energy had a way of communicating the possibility of imminent death.


    We were lucky in the sense that between seven and eight in the morning, people were already trying to leave for work or school anyway.


    Of course, stupid people still existed.


    I was reminded of that as I dipped downward toward the long stretch of fenced-in woods next to the state park.


    Despite the mass of mushroom zombies crowding the fence for a block or more, people had stopped to take pictures, some of them with professional cameras. It boggled my mind for many reasons.


    Among them? It seemed obvious to me that the second the zombies decided they wanted to push down the fence it would go down. No picture seemed worth dying for.


    Of the people with professional cameras, the journalists in the crowd might be idealistic enough to believe that uploading a great shot to their media organization before dying would be worth it.


    Grand Lake had been experiencing an increase in superhero paparazzi in the last few years and they seemed more profit-oriented. I recognized a couple of them in the crowd. I couldn¡¯t imagine their justification.


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    Least understandable? The parents taking shots with kids in the car. They were taking shots of the zombies and then of us. Some of the kids were too even though others were screaming at their parents to drive away.


    Smart kids.


    I decided to give them some help, hovering in the air, and and turning on the Rocket suit¡¯s public address system at its highest level. I said, ¡°This is the Rocket. We¡¯re in an emergency situation right now. If you have a car, get out of your house and get away from here. If you can¡¯t get away, do your best to hide. Whatever you do, don¡¯t go toward the state park. There are zombies. I repeat, there are zombies in the state park. Don¡¯t go there.¡±


    Knowing how powerful the suit¡¯s speakers were, I deliberately aimed over the nearest houses. The situation was bad enough. I didn¡¯t want to add a block¡¯s worth of shattered windows to the list of damages.


    ¡°Please drive in an orderly fashion. It won¡¯t do anybody any good to panic.¡±


    I set the suit to repeat it again, facing toward my left instead of my right.


    To my surprise, most of the civilians listened. Garage doors opened and cars drove away.


    A man with a mini-van full of kids didn¡¯t quite process the ¡°don¡¯t panic¡± part of the speech. His tires squealed and the engine roared down the block, but he didn¡¯t go toward the state park and he did stop for the stop sign at the end of the block.


    It gave me hope that he wasn¡¯t a complete idiot¡ªmaybe.


    I didn¡¯t hover there to watch it, however much I wanted to make sure everyone got out. I concentrated on finding our group.


    It wasn¡¯t hard. Izzy, Vaughn, and Amy hovered above the road. Jaclyn and Cassie stood beneath them. Jaclyn talked to me via her implant, Our best plan so far is that Cassie and Amy concentrate on destroying them while Izzy and I herd them. Vaughn¡¯s going to start by destroying as many as he can now but pinch hit after that.


    I didn¡¯t bother to ask why Izzy and Jaclyn wouldn¡¯t be doing the destroying. Physical hits would spread the spores.


    Unless you¡¯ve got a better idea, she continued, you¡¯re pinch-hitting too.


    Glancing over at the zombies, I noticed that the fence was shaking. They weren¡¯t even trying to get through. It was their combined weight as more joined from behind, pushing the crowd forward.


    I was about to suggest that Vaughn should start hitting them with lightning, but then I saw the clouds darkening above us. He was setting up a thunderstorm so that he could keep on hitting them without draining himself as quickly.


    It was a smart choice, but I couldn¡¯t help but worry that we were losing this moment.


    ¡°Give me a few seconds more,¡± Vaughn said over the comm, ¡°and I might get all of them.¡±


    Ahead of us, a section of fence near the middle of the block began to bow and then fell over. Mushroom zombies spilled out like water over a shattered dam.


    ¡°Well, shit,¡± Vaughn muttered. ¡°I guess not.¡±


    No one got to reply. Jaclyn might have been able to, but then lightning rained down from the sky, hitting the zombies that crossed the fence, but also hitting the zombies still behind it.


    No watcher could have confused this lightning with anything natural. Except for the cluster of hits where the zombies passed through, it hit the zombies in two parallel lines coming down from the sky.


    My helmet stopped it from blinding me, but it was still hard to see through what appeared to be a wall of electricity.

 Roll The Dice: Part 13

    When the lightning stopped, I could see smoking zombie bodies all the way down the road. Many of them were charred to the point that they were unrecognizable or at least they would have been if they were human.


    Had they been human, I¡¯d have been horrified at the devastation. Given that they weren¡¯t human, I could only feel disappointment that it wasn¡¯t worse.


    It was good that Vaughn had stopped the first wave, but that wasn¡¯t all of the zombies. There were more crossing over the downed section of fence and more zombies pushing down the sections on either side. More zombies than that massed in the forest behind them.


    The good things I could say for sure was that Vaughn had taken out a lot of them and lightning continued to kill the spores, at least that much of it did.


    The bad thing? Vaughn¡¯s mouth hung open, he appeared to be breathing heavily, and had dropped a few feet in the air¡ªnot enough to put him in reach of zombies, but still worrying.


    Even though setting up a storm might save him some power, putting that much into his first attack must have taken something out of him because he was too busy breathing to take another shot.


    We were lucky that Cassie and Amy did not stop.


    Cassie¡¯s gun burned anything nearby that made it to the road. She could have fired into the trees, but I was glad she didn¡¯t. We didn¡¯t need a forest fire on top of everything else.


    In a worst case scenario, though, it might be a good tactical choice.


    Amy¡¯s spear sucked the life out of every zombie it touched, turning them into shriveled piles of floppy, lifeless mushroom leather. It would have been a super weapon against them except that it took a moment to drain them of life¡ªnot long, but long enough that other zombies could move past while it was happening.


    As for myself, I helped. I couldn¡¯t punch them because I didn¡¯t want to spread spores. Ditto using the sonics because blasting them with sound was essentially bludgeoning. I had to be careful with using boombots because once I was out, I could only hope my flying resupply pods would make it through.


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    The same was true with using my laser, but I had a lot more energy than I did boombots.


    Unlike Cassie¡¯s gun, my laser couldn¡¯t shoot an effective wide beam and burn multiple zombie completely to ashes all at once. It shot a beam that could either be continuous or pulse¡ªmy choice.


    When another section of fence fell over, I shot forward with the rockets, landing next to a section that hadn¡¯t gone down, and aiming at their legs, separating them from their torsos and leaving the bodies in a pile of limbs.


    A few of the torsos still pulled themselves forward, but the loose legs only flopped around.


    The beam could cut through a battleship given time. Zombies weren¡¯t much of a hindrance. They could have been. If they¡¯d had more brains, they¡¯d have tried to go around me or straight at me. While I could still aim at them from the air, I needed to be on the ground shooting in a straight line to get the area effect that I was trying for.


    Even then it only worked because I wasn¡¯t alone. Izzy and Jaclyn ran up, pushed the poles holding the section of fence back up. Then Izzy pounded the poles back into the ground. The fence wasn¡¯t as high as it had been, but it was there and still holding zombies back.


    It would be nice to imagine in that moment that we¡¯d solved the problem.


    It was better and it gave me time to burn the zombies left on the road to ash, but it was so far from over that if I¡¯d thought it was, I might have cried in either anger or despair within seconds.


    Jaclyn and Izzy took advantage of Cassie, Vaughn, and Amy¡¯s work to push up the section of fence nearest to them as well.


    Anyone who looked at the fence had no illusions that it would hold forever¡ªnot against the horde gathering behind it. I couldn¡¯t imagine what Hunter had been thinking to seed the place with enough of whatever stuff he generated to get this many creatures.


    Of course, this could be a mutation. If so, I could only hope it didn¡¯t evolve into something even worse.


    I flew over the fence and aimed down the block. It wasn¡¯t as good as being on the ground, but with the right angle and distance, I could still hit a lot of them at a time. Cutting off their heads didn¡¯t have much of an effect, but cutting their arms off and torsos in half made it harder to scale or tear down a fence.


    Plus, I got lucky¡­ By then Vaughn had recovered enough to start throwing down lightning from the clouds he¡¯d gathered. I felt hope surge inside me even though I knew the fences were coming down. It was only a question of how long we (and by extension, all of the people left in the houses on the other side of the street) had.


    It was in the middle of that that Major Justice called back, ¡°I can see that this is a problem. I¡¯ll send people in.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, ¡°thanks. Please, though, if you¡¯re thinking you¡¯re going to keep a bunch of people in reserve for later, please don¡¯t. If you do, there won¡¯t be a later.¡±

 Roll The Dice: Part 14

    Major Justice sputtered, ¡°We¡­ We don¡¯t have anyone in reserve. Every available person is in the fight.¡±


    Except for the first word or two, he sounded honest. I said, ¡°Great, but if someone new arrives, please send them in. I¡¯m not sure how we win this.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re all here,¡± he grunted. ¡°We¡¯ll win this.¡±


    Then he closed the connection.


    It would have been better if we¡¯d coordinated how soon they¡¯d arrive and where they¡¯d appear, but they were coming and it wasn¡¯t all bad.


    I felt torn about it because I knew what I¡¯d been doing. We had people hidden in reserve. They had people hidden in reserve. If they kept even a small number out of the fight (like the military strike team) and had them attack us after we¡¯d fought off a zombie invasion, we¡¯d be tired and low on resources. They¡¯d be fresh and ready to go.


    If their reserves were as good as we were, we¡¯d be at a disadvantage. Plus, if they sent their reserves in, we¡¯d be able to send in all of our people.


    Without that, we had to keep Team Hidden in reserve. Actually, you could make an argument that we should keep as much of Team Hidden in reserve regardless. That way, we¡¯d be the one with the surprise fresh force.


    No doubt you could use the situation as some kind of allegory for the good of the group versus the good of part of the group and how mutual suspicion weakened society, but I was too tired to come up with that allegory in the moment.


    I kept on burning zombies with my laser, moving the beam from one side of the mob to the other, burning four or five at the once, but knowing I needed to be burning at least fifty to keep the horde at bay.


    Even though Jaclyn and Izzy kept on strengthening the wall, pulling it up and pushing the fence posts in deeper when it seemed about to fall, I knew it couldn¡¯t last. They couldn¡¯t cover the entire wall just like I couldn¡¯t thin the crowd enough¡ªeven with Vaughn¡¯s lightning hitting the ground every now and then.


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    It almost looked like we could. We managed some great saves where Jaclyn and Izzy noticed the wall falling down somewhere down the block and raced there to stop it while Vaughn used lightning to force them to back away from the fence.


    In the meantime, I burned away the closest zombies to the fences, sometimes shooting a boombot into the middle of large groups.


    Amy in many ways was the true star of some of those moments. From what she told me, the mushroom zombies didn¡¯t have much life to work with, but when she threw her spear through a crowd of them, she got more power out if it than she lost.


    Even better, she could shoot the spear down the block, turning a line of them to dust, draw a little blood, and throw a spell that caused a wave of fire to roll over the nearest group. With Cassie using her suit to hover above the fence too, that meant Cassie¡¯s gun added to the burning attacks¡ªso far without starting a fire.


    If the zombies were growing resistant to lightning and fire, it wasn¡¯t enough to tell. That was good because I couldn¡¯t see an end to them. Somewhere in the forest, they were producing more and even as we burned them to death, absorbed their life force, or pinned them back behind the fence again.


    After the third time, maybe more, that Izzy and Jaclyn pushed a fallen section of fencing back up, I was thinning out the zombies behind that section with my laser when a small object popped out of one zombie¡¯s head and shot through the air, hitting the Rocket suit and exploding into a cloud of spores.


    Aside from  raising my heart rate as I checked the suit¡¯s life support systems to make sure none of that was getting through, it did nothing.


    It slid off my suit and fell back down to the ground.


    I bookmarked the recorded footage for Kayla and told her to make sure everyone including Major Justice knew.


    As I did, I got a call from Haley, ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    Still firing at the nearby zombies I said, ¡°I think I am. We¡¯re holding our own for now.¡±


    Words rushed out of Haley¡¯s mouth, ¡°Alright. If you need help, don¡¯t wait. Team Hidden is taking out zombies in the forest now. There are too many not to. Dark Cloak says he can call on an army of Faerie, but only once. We need to wait until it¡¯s worth it.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow that she¡¯d never see, ¡°Aren¡¯t all those fairy creatures that show up around him an army?¡±


    I could imagine her shaking her head as she said, ¡°No. It¡¯s crazier than that. There are fairies who are part of the fairy circle he¡¯s a champion of, but I¡¯m talking about the army of a fairy lord. He can only call on them once unless he does the duke another favor.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, noticing a woman on a surfboard flying over the forest toward me. Other figures flew after her.


    The cavalry had arrived. I wondered how long they¡¯d be on our side.

 Roll the Dice: Part 15

    Among the figures flying along with South Beach Surfer were two women curled up as if somersaulting through the air. I knew them instantly¡ªIna and Leena, the Human Cannonballs.


    They were from Mime¡¯s team, a group with a Circus theme. I¡¯d never done the necessary research to know if someone just liked circuses or if they¡¯d been circus performers cursed (or blessed) with thematically appropriate powers.


    Either way, they were weird¡ªnot the people, their powers.


    South Beach Surfer pointed toward one of the larger groups of zombies and both Human Cannonballs hit the middle of the group, exploding. The blast of fire burned that group of zombies to cinders along with all the plants around them, starting one of the nearest trees on fire¡ªa large evergreen.


    That turned out to be no big deal because Mime had been flying along behind them, flapping his arms like wings, the same way we all pretended to fly when we were five.


    It was a ridiculous but flexible powerset. I¡¯d done a little reading about it. Mime could do almost anything as long as he successfully performed it. The vulnerability? If he had no observers, he had no powers.


    If they wanted to get the most out of him, they¡¯d train their team to recognize his moves. I could only imagine they played a lot of Charades.


    In this moment, he had all the observers he needed, zooming past South Beach Surfer while miming that he¡¯d lit a rocket on his back. Maybe he¡¯d a rocket coming out of his butt or maybe a fart?


    I wasn¡¯t clear on the details, but I could hear the roar as he flew down to the ground, mimed pulling a hose from a fire truck and started spraying the trees near where the Human Cannonballs hit with a stream of water that appeared where the end of the invisible nozzle would be if Mime were holding a hose.


    He aimed the stream of water at the fire in the nearest trees and began to douse them.


    At the same time all of this had been happening, another member of Mime¡¯s team appeared in the sky. ¡°Strongman,¡± a name so obvious it could only still be available because no one else wanted it, dropped out of the sky like a rock, hitting the road and throwing chunks of asphalt into the air.


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    He didn¡¯t stop there with the property damage. He pulled a chunk of road off the ground and and placed it in front of the fence, pushing it into to the ground. Don¡¯t ask me how he kept it together through the process. Pushing it into the ground should have shattered pieces off of it even beyond the impossibility of keeping it together while pulling it off the ground.


    Remembering the Stapledon class I¡¯d taken on magic and the supernatural, I could only guess that his powers might have some magical connection to the earth. He wouldn¡¯t even be the first superhero I¡¯d met that did.


    Whatever the case, he¡¯d moved on to yanking up the next section of road at about the same time Mime started pouring supernaturally sourced water on the fire.


    That they¡¯d been able to do so much so quickly gave me hope, making me feel like it was less likely that we¡¯d be overrun in the next few seconds.


    Looking down the road though, I saw that for the illusion that it was. The zombies were still pouring out of the forest.


    I¡¯d been burning them the whole time everything else was going on and it wasn¡¯t stopping them. We needed to destroy the source of this and I had a bad feeling that we¡¯d moved past the point where there was only one source.


    I called South Beach Surfer with my comm, ¡°Do you have a plan? Ours was killing them all, but we don¡¯t have enough people for that to work.¡±


    Amy¡¯s spear flew past me through the air, shriveling a line of zombies and then another as it flew back to her.


    The Human Cannonballs hit the ground again, taking out another mass of zombies.


    South Beach Surfer said, ¡°We have more people coming.¡±


    ¡°More fire? Fire¡¯s the only thing that kills the spores,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes. More fire. Give me a second,¡± she hovered, staring at a screen on the bracelet on her wrist. Then she talked into it.


    I didn¡¯t hear anything at first, but then she was back, ¡°Shifter¡¯s flying over a section of forest that way. She says there are thousands of them growing in one spot.¡±


    ¡°Thousands?¡± Switching to the League¡¯s channel, I said, ¡°Hal, are the repairs complete? I¡¯m going to need you to aim the main gun at a spot and then clean up anything that¡¯s left. Just don¡¯t get any spores into the main compartment. We don¡¯t need them in HQ.¡±


    [The cabin is again air tight. I¡¯m already in the air. Based on the bots¡¯ footage, I¡¯ve been anticipating this call. Where is the target?]


    ¡°Look for Shifter. I¡¯ll get you coordinates,¡± I switched away to the South Beach Surfer channel, but then received Hal¡¯s reply.


    [Never mind coordinates. I¡¯ve spotted her.]


    I told South Beach Surfer, ¡°Tell Shifter to move. That spot¡¯s about to stop existing.¡±

 Roll the Dice: Part 16

    South Beach Surfer blinked and pulled the bracelet up to her lips, talking into it.


    As she did, a lone zombie ran into the charred area below us and spat a glob of something out of its mouth. South Beach Surfer saw it even as I said watch out, pointing my laser at the zombie and cutting it in half and then widening the beam to burn more of it at once.


    The glob didn¡¯t hit her. Like Gordon and Gifford, she controlled air, aiming the gooey mess away and into my beam where it burned away.


    ¡°What was that?¡± She stared at the glowing sparks that fell down toward the ground.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but my theory is that it¡¯s a way to spread spores to us. I haven¡¯t seen them aim it at anything but human beings. This is only the second time I¡¯ve seen it used. So, I don¡¯t know that,¡± but I¡¯d already decided I¡¯d better pass it on to everybody.


    Using my implant, I sent everyone a clip of the attacks on both South Beach Surfer and myself, telling them, ¡°I think it¡¯s an attempt to spread the spores to people. Don¡¯t know what that would do, but let¡¯s not find out. Don¡¯t get close and make sure your life support systems are working. If they aren¡¯t, get out of range until they are.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll pass it on to everybody,¡± Kayla said.


    South Beach Surfer said, ¡°Shit, shit, shit!¡± Then she talked frantically into her bracelet, only looking up to say, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say this?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know. I saw the first one only a few seconds before you arrived. They might have just evolved the ability. Menagerie told you about what he can do, right?¡±


    ¡°No! This is a complete clusterfuck. What was he thinking?¡±


    I could see her fists clench and the muscles in her arms tense as if she were imagining punching him.


    She floated higher in the air.


    As she did, the jet fired. If I¡¯d ever viewed the jet¡¯s main gun fire from outside, I didn¡¯t remember it and I¡¯d like to think I would.


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    South Beach Surfer turned away, holding her left arm in front of her eyes. She wasn¡¯t the only one. Even the Human Cannonballs and Strongman turned away from the light and they were on the ground. Mime opened an imaginary umbrella and took shelter from the unbearable radiance.


    Between the brightness of the beam and the way my helmet dimmed the outside to prevent blindness, everything around the beam turned to grey.


    I could tell that the jet was moving the beam in a circle and then filling it in with ever smaller circles until everything inside burned into nothing. I couldn¡¯t see what was happening to the mushroom zombies inside, but maybe that was okay.


    The smoke rose into the air, but so far as I could tell the forest hadn¡¯t caught on fire. The initial wide circle might have been Hal¡¯s idea of a firebreak. If so, it seemed to have worked. Fire didn¡¯t seem to be spreading.


    I gave myself a little more height with the rockets and could see why. Any potential fire had no fuel to work with. The area within the circle had been charred to the point that I could only see ashes.


    That gave me hope. If that had been the main source of the zombies, we¡¯d at least stopped them from generating so many at once.


    The nearest zombies¡¯ behavior buttressed that hope. They stopped advancing, standing in one place and staring out into infinity. Could Hal have destroyed the zombies¡¯ consciousness? That seemed too much to hope for, but I could imagine the possibility.


    Even some normal mushrooms could spread for miles, seemingly separate but actually small parts of the same organism. By killing the center, we might have killed what mind it had.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Haley¡¯s voice came through the helmet¡¯s speakers, ¡°they just stopped moving.¡±


    ¡°If you can burn them down, do it,¡± I said. ¡°We might have destroyed the part that organized them. If we¡¯re lucky, it¡¯s all cleanup from here.¡±


    ¡°If we¡¯re lucky,¡± Haley said. ¡°It seems too good to be true.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s my worry,¡± I said, aiming for the nearest zombies and cutting them down. They did nothing but fall and char as I burned them until they were nothing but ash.


    Still, despite my worries, they were disappearing under the onslaught of Vaughn¡¯s lightning, my lasers, Amy¡¯s spear, and Mime¡¯s troop of circus performers.


    Izzy, Jaclyn, and Strongman had nothing to do but watch. I wondered if Strongman could put the pieces of road that he¡¯d used back on the road. It might not be as good as a normal road afterward, but it would be better than the dirt and gravel he¡¯d exposed to the world.


    Continuing to answer Haley, I said, ¡°I¡¯d think that if you cut off part of one of those giant mushrooms from the rest, the remaining mushrooms would just keep on growing.¡±


    We¡¯d been on the primary League channel, so it didn¡¯t surprise me that someone else heard.


    Tara said, ¡°I think you¡¯re right. We should make the best use of our time that we can. Resupply with anything that creates fire that we have and check in with the other groups if you can.¡±

 Roll the Dice: Part 17

    Jaclyn¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°Exactly that. If you¡¯ve got something that will let me destroy them, I¡¯ll take it. I feel useless. Building barriers is nice, but it¡¯s not enough.¡±


    I burned down another zombie and said, ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ve got something¡ªeven if it¡¯s the Burrito Gun.¡±


    Jaclyn gave a long pause before replying, ¡°The Burrito Gun? Does that even have a setting for fire?¡±


    ¡°Extra beans,¡± Kayla and I said at the same time.


    Kayla continued, ¡°I don¡¯t want to cause problems, but can I keep that one? I know how to use it.¡±


    ¡°Fine with me,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°It¡¯s not my first choice.¡±


    ¡°Keep it,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s a surprisingly flexible tool and if something gets into HQ and you can use it, I want it there. I¡¯ll send a list of things to put in my resupply pods and we¡¯ll get Accelerando something useful.¡±


    A rumble of thunder from Vaughn¡¯s lightning came over the connection as Vaughn said, ¡°The Genderswap Gun might be worth a try. Normal mushrooms have literally thousands of sexes, so many that they can pretty much mate with any mushroom, but these are Hunter¡¯s¡­ I mean, these are Menagerie¡¯s, so it might not work like that. It might really mess them up or I don¡¯t know, it might do nothing.¡±


    ¡°Or it might make them evolve more,¡± Jaclyn added. ¡°I don¡¯t like that idea, but if things get so bad it can¡¯t get worse, try it then.¡±


    In the distance, Hal began firing the jet¡¯s anti-personnel lasers. Nowhere near as powerful as the main gun, they¡¯d work well enough on stragglers, especially if the zombies below him were as purposeless as the ones near us.


    Izzy said, ¡°They¡¯re still fighting over by the playground. I¡¯m going to check it out.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t get close enough to get hit by their long distance spore shots,¡± I said, trying to get a look at the spot with my bots. I couldn¡¯t. The action had moved out of view. I sent the bots commands to adjust their positions.


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    She flew upward, away from a section of fence that she¡¯d been holding up with Jaclyn. The zombies there were ashes now.


    ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± Izzy said. ¡°I know what that could do¡­ If you find a weapon for Accelerando, get one for me too. I want to be able to help.¡±


    Izzy shot upward, disappearing from view as she flew over the forest. I considered opening a window to her camera, but then Tara spoke, ¡°It looks like you¡¯re about to get an offer.¡±


    I was about to ask her what she was talking about, but then I realized a few things in quick succession. First, that Tara had to be looking through my camera¡¯s view. Second, that South Beach Surfer was flying toward me and she wasn¡¯t moving quickly enough for it to be an attack. Third, I realized that I¡¯d completely ignored her for the last thirty seconds.


    ¡°Talking with your team?¡± She came to a stop ten feet away, floating on her surfboard. ¡°Tell them they¡¯ve done a great job. They have. I believed Major Justice when he said you were irresponsible. I only knew you as Paladin¡¯s friend from when you pranked Syndicate L.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± I thought back to the time I¡¯d helped Alex, Jenny, and Brooke pull a ¡°prank¡± on Syndicate L that put our lives in danger along with the life of one of the Defender¡¯s kids as well as the complex where they lived. To be fair to us, we¡¯d delivered Syndicate L an embarrassing defeat, but we¡¯d also been captured and caused upwards of seven figures in property damage.


    I didn¡¯t remember her there, though.


    She smiled at my response, ¡°I was in space at the time. Raptor filled me in when I got back.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, thinking back to that mess, ¡°I can imagine he wasn¡¯t complimentary. We were dumb.¡±


    Raptor was the SoCal Defenders second-in-command. The next time I¡¯d seen him was in space when I¡¯d pretended that I was about to bring a machine race hitchhiker through Earth¡¯s interstellar gate. I was really attempting to deliver it to the Xiniti, but Raptor never got to hear that part of the story.


    South Beach Surfer laughed, ¡°You were, but you haven¡¯t been since then and I should have seen it. Besides, I know Raptor gets fixated on what he doesn¡¯t like about people. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t work for the Defenders anymore.¡±


    ¡°No kidding?¡± I didn¡¯t continue with my next thought¡ªthat I¡¯d been wondering why the SoCal Defenders fired her. I went with my third thought, ¡°If you¡¯re okay with us now, is there any way we can get Major Justice to call off the main operation after this is over? I don¡¯t think any of us are going to be ready for a big fight.¡±


    She nodded, ¡°No one will want one. Getting him to call it off for today will be easy. Getting him to call it off forever will be harder. He¡¯s been talking about nothing else for weeks. I¡¯m going to have to point out the obvious. You¡¯re not going to get blamed for this. We are.¡±

 Roll the Dice: Part 18

    ¡°You really think it¡¯ll be easy to get him to call it off for today? From what I¡¯ve seen so far, it was a challenge to even get him to admit we were in the earliest stages of a zombie apocalypse,¡± I used my HUD to take a quick look to see where we were with that.


    There weren¡¯t any nearby at all¡ªnot even among the trees. I¡¯d adjusted the suit¡¯s sensors to detect them and set the implant to watch for movement.


    At this point, Vaughn had stopped hitting them with lightning and Amy hovered above the forest, staring downward, doubtless trying to detect them with magic much as I was with technology.


    Vaughn shouted something that sounded like, ¡°... see anything yet,¡± and Amy flipped him the bird.


    South Beach Surfer said, ¡°I know. At least it¡¯ll be easy by comparison. I don¡¯t think anyone will want to go into a fight after using up some of their best stuff on the zombies¡ªespecially with Accelerando and Blue on your side.¡±


    Jaclyn floated up to join us, the anti-gravity pack in her costume working without any noise at all, ¡°I¡¯d like to take that as a compliment, but I know that means you have a plan for dealing with us.¡±


    ¡°Menagerie and Bullet thought the zombies and Meteora would keep you too busy to handle anything else,¡± South Beach Surfer shook her head, ¡°but not this busy.¡±


    Over the comm, Izzy said, ¡°They¡¯re killing the last T.Rex spawn now. Meteora¡¯s burning it to death. Bullet¡¯s flying in your direction¡ªhim and a few more. The rest are checking the forest to make sure they didn¡¯t miss any. And by the way, I don¡¯t see anything moving that isn¡¯t a human being.¡±


    Cassie¡¯s icon blinked as she responded, ¡°I don¡¯t see any more either and neither does the gun. I¡¯m heading toward Team Obvious.¡±


    Down the block, Cassie floated into the air, still holding the gun in her hand and pointing it toward the forest and ahead of her in the air.


    It struck me that with all the distractions, I¡¯d hadn¡¯t responded to the last thing South Beach Surfer said. A look at her told me that she wasn¡¯t irritated at all. She¡¯d been snared in her own distraction, staring down at the screen of the bracelet on her wrist.


    She looked up and said, ¡°Sorry, I got a call. It looks like we¡¯ll find out if Major Justice will be able to let it go for today. He¡¯s coming here right now. Everyone¡¯s coming here.¡±


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    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. This wasn¡¯t the spot I¡¯d have chosen for a confrontation with Major Justice and everyone on his side. The way Mime, Strongman, and the Human Cannonballs had started walking toward us now felt less victorious and more ominous.


    Using my implant to translate my thoughts into words, I told everyone, ¡°It looks like we¡¯re about to have a conversation with Major Justice and close to everyone on his side. If you¡¯re not fighting zombies, it might be good if Team Hidden got into position to help.¡±


    Aloud, I said to South Beach Surfer, ¡°If everybody¡¯s coming, I guess we should land. Not everyone can fly.¡±


    A statement from Hal appeared in my helmet as I spoke, [In view of the possible options available to your opponents, I will be cloaking and putting myself into a position to act.]


    In the distance, the jet dipped below the trees as if leaving the spot it burned and heading in the direction of Grand Lake.


    South Beach Surfer looked downward toward Mime, Strongman, and the Human Cannonballs. I wondered if she was looking at this the same way I was¡ªlanding put us in blast range of the Cannonballs. It also put everyone in reach of Jaclyn in a way that they wouldn¡¯t be if she had to depend on anti-gravity to move.


    Whatever South Beach Surfer thought, Jaclyn followed my line of thought, saying, ¡°Good idea.¡±


    Then she turned off her anti-gravity, dropping thirty feet to the ground, bending her legs to absorb the force without any hint that it was unusual.


    I dropped, but with less speed, landing next to her and being joined in seconds by Vaughn, Cassie, Amy, and Izzy. Tactically it wasn¡¯t a perfect choice¡ªsome people could target all of us at once.


    Over the comm, Kayla said, ¡°Team Hidden is getting into position, but not all of them. No one has yet seen the special forces team. If they¡¯re here, they¡¯re being held in reserve. Night Cat is keeping some of ours in reserve too.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± I thought back, letting the implant translate it into speech for the League comm channel. At the same time, I watched as everyone from the Coffeeshop Illuminati including Bullet, Gifford, and Hunter landed in the street in two groups. Bullet¡¯s group was close but not quite next to the rest of the Illuminati¡ªwhich made sense.


    InfiniKlown got out of his little car and walked over to stand next to the rest of Mime¡¯s group. InfiniKlown¡¯s power involved creating more clowns, but I couldn¡¯t remember the details off the top of my head. He was probably a good person to have on your side in the face of rapidly reproducing mushroom zombies.


    Major Justice¡¯s team got out of a podjet that landed in the remains of the road. I didn¡¯t recognize any of them, but much like Major Justice, they all wore camouflage as their basic uniform.


    Shifter flew in and landed next to South Beach Surfer. If she¡¯d brought her team, they were still in reserve.


    Everyone seemed to be there, but no one started to talk, Major Justice looking over to Bullet, Mime, South Beach Surfer, Shifter, and then to me.


    As I decided that I might as well call this meeting to order, three more figures appeared. Sean and Dayton floated down from the sky, landing next to us. Jody appeared in a blur at almost the same time, standing between Sean and Dayton.


    Sean looked over at me, ¡°Dude, where did all those zombies come from?¡±

 Roll the Dice: Part 19

    I resisted an urge to shake my head. He couldn¡¯t know. It¡¯s not as if we¡¯d added him to the League¡¯s comm channel. Not looking over at Hunter, I said, ¡°Menagerie added some new features to his¡­ fungus things and they got out of control.¡±


    Even though I wasn¡¯t looking directly at him, I could still see Hunter standing with the rest of the Coffeeshop Illuminati. He didn¡¯t scream it out, but I still heard him say, ¡°Shroomoids. I call them shroomoids.¡±


    Jody snickered. Dayton nudged him, ¡°C¡¯mon man, I¡¯m sure he feels bad enough already.¡±


    Sean stared at Hunter, ¡°Are you kidding? Have you been paying attention? There¡¯s a national alert out for Grand Lake right now. Planes are being redirected. Planes that took off from here in the last half hour are being told to turn around and land at the Grand Lake airport. We¡¯re in quarantine. They¡¯re getting ready to burn us just like that town in New Mexico a few years back. That¡¯s bad.¡±


    Hunter stopped staring at the ground to stare at Sean, ¡°What? Everything¡¯s under control. They don¡¯t need to burn us.¡±


    Sean held up his hands, ¡°Not my fault. They got a bunch of zombie video from news stations and you know what the Feds do with that. They don¡¯t fuck around. We all learned the protocol¡ªrespond, quarantine, cure or burn. It¡¯s an extinction level threat. That was in¡­ whatever that class was.¡±


    Sean looked over at Dayton, who shook his head, and then over at me as if I was some kind of authority.


    I thought about it, ¡°It was called National Protocols. It was one of the mini-courses. They had us review and test on the material before internships.¡±


    Sean pointed at me, ¡°That. You should know it as well as the Rocket does. I can¡¯t remember the class, but the protocol¡­ It¡¯s important.¡±


    Finding Sean quoting bits of information from our class on national crisis protocols might have been the weirdest event of the day, fungus zombie T.Rexes included.


    Hunter¡¯s face reddened, but he didn¡¯t respond. Dayton, however, cleared up the mystery of how Sean could spontaneously lecture people on protocols that we all needed to know.


    ¡°Future-men¡¯s contract requires us to review them once a week,¡± Dayton looked over around the groups of heroes, smiling. ¡°It¡¯s good idea. I¡¯m sure I¡¯d have forgotten most of the protocols by now if they hadn¡¯t.¡±


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    Jody rolled his eyes, ¡°Thursday morning is the best day of the week.¡±


    Elbowing him, Dayton said, ¡°Not here.¡±


    Major Justice took a long breath and looked around the crowd. His voice amplified by the mic in his helmet and a speaker in his camouflage covered chest plate, Major Justice said, ¡°Thank you, er¡­ the Power¡­ for making us aware of the national alert¡­¡±


    Major Justice paused there and his eyes widened, likely fully considering what that meant. Defenders units had had their licenses removed for high profile screwups. Removing or demoting the leadership would be the first choice, but if no one in the unit had protested when the leadership made a series of blunders, there was no reason to stop at the leadership.


    ¡°Nonetheless,¡± Major Justice continued, his voice now steady and plodding forward, ¡°we are here for a reason. We¡¯re here because the Heroes¡¯ League has shown a casual disregard for the lives and wellbeing of both the general public and the criminals they¡¯ve been facing. I demand their surrender for now. After a period of appropriate supervision, they¡¯ll be allowed to resume their independence, but until then, we¡¯ll guide them.¡±


    I don¡¯t know how many of us were ready to argue (maybe everyone), but Jaclyn got there first.


    She stepped toward him and Major Justice moved his shield between the two of them, the kind of gesture you might make by reflex even if it was pointless.


    Jaclyn didn¡¯t attack, at least not physically, ¡°Whatever you think we¡¯ve done, you¡¯ve done worse. Even if you were right in what you said, we only hurt people who could handle it. People under your command released untested, self-replicating weapons, lost control of them, attacked each other and only stopped fighting internally when it became clear they wouldn¡¯t survive otherwise.¡±


    She turned toward Hunter, ¡°Tell me, did Major Justice know that you¡¯d placed a ¡®shroomoid¡¯ hive over there?¡±


    Hunter¡¯s lip curled and began to say, ¡°It¡¯s not a hive,¡± but as Jaclyn¡¯s eyes narrowed, he said, ¡°Yes. Of course, we had to okay everything with him. It was one of the most important pieces of the plan. There¡¯s no way we¡¯d have a chance against you without them. I even told him that there was a chance I¡¯d lose control and he said he¡¯d take it.¡±


    As he spoke, Major Justice¡¯s eyes darted from Hunter to Jaclyn with nervous energy, undoubtedly realizing that Hunter had just thrown him under the bus.


    ¡°Well,¡± Jaclyn met Major Justice¡¯s eyes, ¡°What do you have to say about that? Remember as you respond that we¡¯re recording now and have been recording everything since this started.¡±


    Major Justice shouted, ¡°That¡¯s blackmail¡ª¡°


    ¡°No,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°it¡¯s not. Blackmail would be if I promised to keep the footage secret if you left us alone. We¡¯re not keeping it secret. We¡¯re giving you the opportunity to avoid doing something unforgivable after already doing something terrible.¡±


    I felt like he¡¯d already done something unforgivable, but I wasn¡¯t going to argue. I liked the direction she was going.

 Roll the Dice: Part 20

    ¡°Wait just a second,¡± he began, but then lapsed into silence.


    From the way Major Justice¡¯s gauntleted right hand clenched, I guessed he wanted to say something, probably something loud and angry. Did he want to say that on a recording though? Did he want to say it when he knew that the board governing Defenders units would be watching it later?


    His career might be crumbling around him, but did he want to add gas and a lit match?


    I couldn¡¯t say it was fair, given that Hunter had a choice and Coffeeshop Illuminati wouldn¡¯t be disciplining him much at all. The Defenders were a national organization with standards and a system to enforce them. By contrast, the Coffeeshop Illuminati were a largely self-funded autonomous collective.


    Hunter¡¯s mom could handle a percentage of that budget.


    Major Justice stood there on the shattered remains of the road Strongman had torn up. The upper half of his face, the part uncovered by his helmet gave no hint to his emotions except that his eyes made me think of the phrase, ¡°thousand yard stare,¡± and wonder if I was seeing an example.


    One of his people stepped forward from the rest to stand next to Major Justice. Much like the rest of Major Justice¡¯s team, the man¡¯s costume used camouflage colors, but on this guy the costume was skin tight. It wasn¡¯t a mixture of green and brown either. Despite the camouflage pattern, it was off-white and beige. Maybe it was supposed to be desert colors since his team was from the southwest, but it might have been intended to be reminiscent of light colored marble.


    Why? The man¡¯s codename was Arete. According to what I¡¯d read in the Double V database, it was supposed to stand for the classical Greek ideal of physical, mental, and moral perfection. It listed his powers as being better than human physically and mentally, noting his inventions as evidence.


    Reading over a list of his inventions hadn¡¯t left me too impressed. I could imagine how to do all of them. Physically though, I could see it. He had an acrobatic fighting style that made effective use of his gadgets. Plus, I could easily imagine women and some men finding him attractive. He was muscular, but slim and a little over six feet tall with a face that had already gotten him modeling work.


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    He was Major Justice¡¯s second-in-command despite being our age, younger than the rest of Major Justice¡¯s team, and not having attended Stapledon.


    His every step seemed to be sure despite the loose gravel and chunks of tarmac left in the mix. He nodded to everyone and putting a hand on Major Justice¡¯s shoulder said, ¡°Let me try.¡±


    Major Justice let out a breath I hadn¡¯t known he was holding, ¡°Go ahead,¡± and slumped.


    I might have been able to work myself up to feeling sorry for him, but Arete started talking.


    With a smile, he looked all of us in the eye or at least the helmet, ¡°I¡¯m sorry we had to meet under these conditions. I can¡¯t say how much I¡¯ve always admired the Heroes¡¯ League, starting with the originals, of course, but all of you are better than anyone could have expected. From exposing the Cabal to defending the world from invasion, you¡¯re every bit the equal of the originals.¡±


    Through my implant, I heard Cassie think at Jaclyn and me, Is sucking up to people a superpower? Because if it is, add it to Double V¡¯s wiki. Too bad that he¡¯s hot. The universe could have given his face to someone who was less of a weasel.


    Glad that my helmet hid my expression, I gave no hint of what I¡¯d heard to Arete who was continuing to talk.


    He didn¡¯t seem to notice, but Amy did glance over at me.


    ¡°It was out of concern,¡± Arete continued, ¡°Major Justice didn¡¯t want to hurt you. He wants to help you. I think we can all agree though, that given the circumstances we¡¯ll be happy to withdraw the team without causing you any more trouble.¡±


    Jaclyn smiled, ¡°I think that¡¯s exactly what we¡¯d like, but not yet. We¡¯d like you to stick around until we know that we won¡¯t be seeing any more shroomoids.¡±


    South Beach Surfer nodded and looked over at Major Justice who didn¡¯t say anything.


    Arete smiled back, ¡°I completely understand. We want to give you every assistance. I do have one small question though. I understand that you are going to give the footage of this event to the Defenders¡¯ board. Is there any chance that you¡¯d be willing to skip that? Think of it as an act of professional courtesy. We¡¯d owe you a favor¡ªa big favor. What do you say?¡±


    He looked around to all of us and I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how he thought we¡¯d be able to keep the details secret with so many people here? The Coffeeshop Illuminati? Shifter? South Beach Surfer? Mime and his troop of circus weirdos? Sean and Justice Fist?


    I had an idea, but I didn¡¯t like it much.


    Jaclyn used her implant to send a message through the comms to the League¡¯s group chat, knowing that everybody would be watching the footage, ¡°I¡¯m going to tell him that he can take his professional courtesy and shove it up his butt. Does anyone have a good reason I shouldn¡¯t?¡±

 Courtesy: Part 1

    As Jaclyn finished, Vaughn frowned. Unless I missed my guess, he wanted to say something and couldn¡¯t because he was in the middle of the same crowd I was. Without a Xiniti brain implant, it¡¯d be as obvious as taking a call on a cell phone.


    ¡°Hey,¡± he said to Arete, ¡°can we have a second? You¡¯re asking us to hide something really big. We¡¯re going to need to talk amongst ourselves for a second¡ªwhich includes talking to people who aren¡¯t here and are just watching.¡±


    Arete gave him a big smile, ¡°That¡¯s not a problem. It¡¯s a big decision. You¡¯re trying to do the right thing. We all get that. If it helps, try to think of it this way. We all want to do the right thing. We¡¯re not asking you to hide it. Everyone knows what happened. We¡¯re just asking you not to push it as far as you can. Major Justice is a good man with a long record of doing the right thing. We don¡¯t want to lose everything he can contribute.¡±


    Flashing a smile in return, Vaughn said, ¡°I get it. That¡¯s a bunch of excellent points that we need to discuss. If you let us move over here a second, we¡¯ll do it.¡±


    Sean muttered to Vaughn, ¡°Are you guys really going to think about it? They caused a crap ton of damage and you don¡¯t even know if you¡¯re done yet.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Vaughn waved us off to the right to stand next to one of the chunks of road that Strongman had stuck into the ground in front of the fence. ¡°You too, Justice Fist.¡±


    Jody, Dayton, and Sean looked at each other, but followed the rest of us over to the side of the road. While I wasn¡¯t sure that I wanted Sean to be in on the discussion, I knew I didn¡¯t want to leave him alone with everyone else when he seemed to have decided that he was on our side on the off-chance that he might pick a fight.


    Also, I had a bad feeling about Arete. I had no evidence for it, but I thought he might be one of the Dominators.


    The guy was our age, hadn¡¯t been in Stapledon even though the government was recruiting hard for the program. Also, his verified powers were better than human agility, endurance, and strength¡ªthe same powers that Julie, Kals, and all of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s ¡°motivator¡± ruling class had in addition to being able to control people with their voices.


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    Sure, Arete also claimed to be able to invent things, but there was a reason that I hadn¡¯t been impressed with the things he¡¯d created. I could make all of them. They were standard equipment for superheroes¡ªgrappling hook guns, armored costumes, unusual grenades¡­


    He didn¡¯t need to be able to invent anything. All he needed to do was own something Rook invented, claim he¡¯d invented it, and be believed.


    Could I prove it? No. There were plenty of superheroes who¡¯d never been part of Stapledon out there¡ªmore now with power juice and the power impregnator out in the wild.


    Still, we didn¡¯t need to risk having Sean¡¯s brain and loyalties rearranged.


    We stood away from the crowd¡ªVaughn, Amy, Izzy, Cassie, Jaclyn and I¡ªplus Justice Fist. Much like Major Justice¡¯s task force, we stood there for a moment. I don¡¯t know about the others, but I didn¡¯t know where to start.


    Saving us the trouble of figuring it out, Vaughn glanced over at Arete and said, ¡°I think we¡¯ve got to give them a chance.¡±


    Sean stared at him, ¡°Why? They created this mess and attacked you guys for trumped up reasons. Major Justice wants to get you. If it¡¯s not today, it¡¯s tomorrow.¡±


    Vaughn glanced over at the crowd which was watching us or trying not to watch us, ¡°Yeah, but tomorrow we¡¯ll still have everything we collected and we won¡¯t be tired. Today someone might decide that they¡¯ve got nothing to lose and go all out.¡±


    Sean cocked his head, ¡°Like they¡¯d try to kill you?¡±


    ¡°The Nine and the Dominators,¡± Cassie said. ¡°We don¡¯t know who they¡¯ve got, but they have people. The question is who and how many. We don¡¯t want any surprises right now.¡±


    ¡°What,¡± Jody¡¯s jaw dropped into a half-smile, ¡°you think the Nine are behind this? Are you sure you¡¯re that important?¡±


    Jaclyn crossed her arms over her chest, ¡°Yes.¡±


    She might not have been trying to be intimidating, but Jody¡¯s smile faltered.


    Over the comm, Kals said, ¡°I¡¯ve been watching. I don¡¯t know who Arete is, but I think he¡¯s from the Ascendancy and he¡¯s a motivator.¡±


    I replied through my implant, ¡°I guessed he was a motivator, but I¡¯d assumed he was from Earth.¡±


    She let out a breath, ¡°From the way he stands, he was trained to fight like we were.¡±


    I glanced over at Arete, thinking back to the Ascendancy¡¯s motivators that I¡¯d fought on Hideaway. Some had Abominator weapons. I didn¡¯t need that right now.


    What drew my attention to him, I couldn¡¯t say, but I used my HUD to zoom in on Major Justice. I couldn¡¯t see much of his face through his helmet, but I could see that his eyes were darting around and that he was clenching and unclenching his right hand.


    Remembering what Daniel had told me about cumulative damage from regular mental manipulation, I wondered what a breakdown caused by vocal manipulation of the mind looked like.

 Courtesy: Part 2

    My mom had been depressed and unwilling to talk about the fact that Rachel and I were following in our grandparents¡¯ footsteps for months after her block had fallen. Of course, part of the process had included being kidnapped by Ray and the Cabal and freeing herself so that she couldn¡¯t be used as a hostage against Rachel and me.


    Linking mental manipulation with traumatic events couldn¡¯t be good for someone. Life as a superhero was filled with traumatic events and Major Justice had to live with that.


    Realizing that I had an expert on the call, I said, ¡°Kals, if you can see this, what do you think of Major Justice?¡±


    She paused for a moment, but when she started, the words came out in a torrent, ¡°It¡¯s hard to say from here. Oh shit¡ªhe¡¯s been overshaped and Arete is letting him stew. I don¡¯t think he has any idea what he¡¯s seeing. Never mind what I said earlier. He might have been trained by someone from the Human Ascendancy, but he¡¯s either half-trained or his teacher was a fool.¡±


    ¡°Overshaped,¡± Jaclyn said, glancing back toward the crowd of supers. They seemed fine¡ªfor now.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± Kals said, ¡°My implant went for the closest word it could find. It¡¯s technical. He¡¯s been given too many commands and they¡¯re fighting with each other. I don¡¯t know if any of you are tempted to test out trigger words on the group, but don¡¯t. If he recognizes one, you¡¯ve got no way to predict what he¡¯ll do.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s icon lit up, ¡°My dad¡¯s seen that in the Dominators¡¯ victims. They¡¯re unpredictably violent. We haven¡¯t been able fix it¡ªbut Preserver did once.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, ¡°that¡¯s a point in favor of ¡®professional courtesy¡¯.¡±


    Leaning on her spear, Amy nodded, ¡°It¡¯s just the smart choice. They¡¯ll owe you a favor later. Use it well and you might get more out of it than you expect. The past Bloodmaidens have suggestions for later. We don¡¯t have time to hear them now.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t,¡± Jaclyn stepped away from the group, ¡°I¡¯ll tell them.¡±


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    The rest of the group followed her, stepping over the mingled dirt, rocks, and bits of road. Behind me, Sean said to Dayton, ¡°I think we missed part of that conversation.¡±


    I turned back to say, ¡°Sorry, there were people listening in. I¡¯m giving your comms access to our channel for this event. You¡¯ll see it as Team Obvious.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Sean said, ¡°but no need, the fighting¡¯s over, right?¡±


    Part of me wanted to assume that he was being an idiot, but I could see the corner of his mouth curl up. Dayton laughed. Jody snickered.


    I played along, ¡°Just a courtesy. It probably won¡¯t matter at all.¡±


    Amy, Cassie, and Vaughn laughed too. Izzy didn¡¯t say anything. Small movements of her head made me suspect that she was listening all around us¡ªor at least to whatever caught her interest.


    That was probably a good thing.


    I sent a message to Kayla through my implant over the League¡¯s general channel, ¡°Control, I gave Justice Fist access to the Team Obvious channel. Could you give them more if it becomes necessary? I might be too busy.¡±


    Kayla said, ¡°I noticed. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said and added, ¡°One more thing. Could you ask Paladin to come here? I know he might be busy, but I think we might need him.¡±


    Kayla didn¡¯t answer, Alex did, ¡°Ronin already called me in. Portal, Flame Legion, and I are halfway there already. We¡¯re at a rest area in Nebraska right now.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I made a mental note to thank Tara. ¡°I don¡¯t know why she called you in, but we¡¯re going to need you.¡±


    Alex snorted, ¡°I was already watching when we got the zombie alert for Grand Lake. That¡¯s bad, but it¡¯s something I can handle.¡±


    ¡°Cool,¡± I said and would have asked what he knew about healing people damaged by the Dominators except that¡¯s when Jaclyn started talking to Arete.


    ¡°We¡¯ll do it,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re not going to pretend it didn¡¯t happen, but we won¡¯t broadcast the most incriminating footage the way we were planning to.¡±


    Arete¡¯s smile reminded me of his modeling and acting work. He could be cast as a Greek god. With a flash of white teeth, he said, ¡°That¡¯s all we can ask of you. Thank you. We¡¯ll always remember that you chose discretion. Don¡¯t forget that we owe you one.¡±


    Giving a nod, Jaclyn said, ¡°We won¡¯t forget,¡± and looked as if she were about to say something else except that Major Justice interrupted her.


    He¡¯d stopped clenching his fist, but his stare still seemed to be looking at someplace far behind any of us, ¡°There¡¯s a danger in saying nothing. It means that this¡­ continues.¡±


    Glancing over at Arete, Major Justice said, ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with me¡ª¡°


    At that, the smile on Arete¡¯s face faded, completely disappearing as Major Justice continued, ¡°¡ªand it¡¯s him. I¡­¡±

 Courtesy: Part 3

    Major Justice stumbled, but then recovered, putting his arm out and grabbing Arete¡¯s shoulder, steadying himself, but putting more force into the gesture than seemed necessary.


    Arete stumbled, turning his head and opening his mouth to shout something. His words made no sense to me, but my buzzer went off along with the buzzers of everyone on my team including Justice Fist¡ªplus Major Justice.


    It was too bad Major Justice hadn¡¯t used one whenever he¡¯d first encountered Arete, but using one now might mean Arete¡¯s influence was waning.


    Arete¡¯s jaw dropped as Major Justice moved his arm away from Arete¡¯s shoulder, either because he was surprised that Major Justice had a buzzer or because of what he¡¯d left attached to Arete¡¯s armor.


    One of the devices Major Justice designed for the military was a shaped charge, a small dome-like object that stuck to whatever you placed it on. A little smaller than a human palm, it wasn¡¯t a weapon you would use in combat (too unwieldy) as much as a tool you¡¯d use to create a hole in a wall.


    You could use it in combat if your opponent wasn¡¯t expecting an attack and if the upper part of their costume included a section styled to resemble the breastplate of Greek hoplites¡ªhard and flat, a good surface to stick a charge to.


    The charge exploded the moment Major Justice¡¯s hand was a foot away from it. Though the device was destroyed, most of the explosion¡¯s force went into Arete¡¯s armor and body.


    Whatever Arete¡¯s armor was made out of, it was strong enough to stay in one piece, but not strong enough to prevent the explosion from piercing the armor directly under it. Flame shot out of every opening, burning Arete¡¯s flesh. His head fell off, a chunk of Arete¡¯s blackened and burned spine coming with it.


    Then he fell to the ground, his burned insides spilling out the bottom, his pants literally on fire.


    I didn¡¯t feel any need to look more closely, but the Rocket suit¡¯s 360 degree view took in all of it peripherally, recording it for later, assuming I ever wanted to see it.


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    All of that had happened in less than two seconds, but it was far from everything that had happened. After Arete had said whatever it was he said to Major Justice, Kals broke in over the comm to shout, ¡°That¡¯s a trigger!¡±


    I didn¡¯t have time to ask what it was used for because even as the smoking pieces of Arete¡¯s body were falling to the ground, one of the men on Major Justice¡¯s team pointed a massive rifle at Major Justice.


    I hadn¡¯t paid much attention to him because on a team that could have passed for rejected G.I. Joe characters, he didn¡¯t stand out at all. Muscled like a professional bodybuilder, he wore camouflage and carried a gun with multiple barrels, the biggest of which probably fired grenades.


    I noticed him moving but knew that even if I fired off killbots with commands directly from my implant they wouldn¡¯t get there until after he pulled the trigger.


    Fortunately, Major Justice¡¯s survival didn¡¯t depend on my personal reaction time. It depended on Jaclyn¡¯s and she moved quickly enough that the gun changed before I had time to fire off killbots or ping her with my implant.


    In a flash of purple, the gun¡¯s barrels stopped being straight, bending into right angles. The guy, whose codename later turned out to be BFG, dropped his gun, possibly questioning his identity and purpose in life. If so, he handled his rootlessness well, he swung at Jaclyn.


    Thanks to my limited powers, I could see his fist move toward her without ever reaching her. Jaclyn blurred, stepping to the right and punching him, throwing him back twenty feet. BFG pulled out a grenade.


    What he planned to do with it, whether it was throw it at us or put it in his mouth, I never found out. Jaclyn closed the distance before it left his hand.


    She pulled it away and threw it into the air where it exploded harmlessly several hundred feet above us. Then she pummeled BFG unconscious.


    If anyone on Major Justice¡¯s team or among the other assembled heroes cared, they didn¡¯t say anything. Besides, if they did care, they only had to look at Izzy to know that we had someone just as powerful waiting in the wings.


    Jaclyn carried BFG back to his team, ¡°I did the least damage that I could to make him stop, but you need to get him out of here. All he is right now is a distraction.¡±


    When no one responded, she glanced over at Major Justice who was still staring off into space.


    Over the comm, Kals said, ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong without examining them, but I might be the only one who can help on this planet. I need to get out there¡ª¡°


    Katuk¡¯s voice interrupted, ¡°That would be unwise.¡±


    Both aloud and over the comm, Izzy said, ¡°Something is moving underground.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 4

    That¡¯s what we needed a new mystery attacker, ¡°Do you know what it is?¡±


    Izzy shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s coming in this direction. It feels extremely spread out.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not good,¡± I said. ¡°I think we need to be ready to take to the air at any second. If there¡¯s even a hint that it might be coming this way, tell everyone.¡±


    The curl of her lips hinted that I might have said something obvious, but she only said, ¡°Relax, I¡¯m watching.¡±


    Over the comm, Kals said, ¡°Katuk, I need to get out there.¡±


    Katuk replied in a raspy tone that I¡¯d come to associate with him being agitated, ¡°I am worried as well, but my people have entrusted me with your care. As a symbol of the resistance, you are worth too much to lose here.


    ¡°And besides,¡± he added, ¡°we are the only protection for the Rocket and his mate¡¯s progenitors. Outside of us, they have only themselves and a woman holding a gun that fires either food or small donkeys at enemies. I suspect this is metaphorical or my implant¡¯s translation is in error.¡±


    Haley¡¯s icon lit up, ¡°The Rocket and I are dating, but I¡¯m not his mate and the Burrito Gun is a weapon with attacks that look like food, but aren¡¯t. We never fire live animals at people.¡±


    Katuk¡¯s icon became active, but it took a few seconds before he said, ¡°Are your opponents hungry? Is the fake food some kind of trick?¡±


    Kayla broke in, ¡°We¡¯re going to have to take this discussion off the main channel.¡±


    Kals¡¯ and Katuk¡¯s icons winked out, leaving us standing on top of the shattered road without distractions. I decided to at least try to reduce one more variable.


    Hoping that Major Justice was enough there to answer a question that worried me, I said, ¡°We know you¡¯ve got military supers out there somewhere. I don¡¯t want more mushroom zombies to show up and then get attacked by supers¡ªespecially now that you know the Nine have been using you. Could you call them in and tell them what¡¯s going on? Maybe even not to attack us? If the mushroom zombies aren¡¯t gone, we¡¯ll need all the help we can get.¡±


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    Major Justice stared at me and said, ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Then he looked back at his team, his face devoid of expression except his eyes which glistened even if there were no tears.


    A woman stepped out of his group. Dressed in camouflage like the others, she had a light brown complexion and short, dark hair. Armed only with a blade short enough to be long knife and long enough to be a short sword, she kept her hands away from the weapon as she walked toward us.


    I knew her codename. It was Switchboard. She could communicate over long distances in some way that wasn¡¯t telepathy.


    She shook her head and words tumbled out of her mouth, ¡°I can¡¯t raise them. I could talk to them until the fight, but I can¡¯t any more.¡±


    Her eyes drifted toward Arete¡¯s burnt and still burning body. She jerked her head away to look at me. Right. She knew him, or the version of himself he wanted her to see, anyway.


    We needed to do something with the body, but I didn¡¯t have a body bag on me. We hadn¡¯t made that part of our standard equipment and with Travis¡¯ death, maybe we needed to think about it. We had them in the jet, but I wasn¡¯t going to reveal the jet until I had to.


    I pushed all of that out of my mind, asking Switchboard, ¡°I know you don¡¯t use telepathy, but what do you need to connect? Something visual? A feeling? Do you have a special sense for it? What has to change for you to lose your connection?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t know how it works. I create small portals in between people¡ªnot enough to walk through, but enough for sound. I used to think I connected to someone visually, but I haven¡¯t been able to connect to Major Justice in a month or two. I don¡¯t know why.¡±


    I had a wild speculation and if I was right, I knew why she couldn¡¯t connect to both Major Justice and the military supers. It might not be telepathy, but whatever she connected to had something to do with the person¡¯s patterns of thought or identity. Major Justice had been manipulated by the Nine, specifically by Arete. He¡¯d started criticizing us after we¡¯d destroyed one of the Nine¡¯s facilities a couple months ago.


    Maybe Arete¡¯s work on his head had eroded enough of him around then.


    As for the military supers¡­ Maybe they¡¯d been triggered by a command from Arete just before they disappeared. On the other hand, I thought back to the mushroom zombie¡¯s attempt to hit me with its spores.


    It couldn¡¯t get through the Rocket suit, but not everyone was using my costumes.

 Courtesy: Part 5

    I didn¡¯t love the idea that the military team might be puppets of the mushroom zombies, especially since they included (ex) Mayor Bouman, a telepath, and Logan who¡¯d been friends with Vaughn, Haley, Sean, Dayton, and Jody back when Haley was dating Sean.


    I wondered if the military team included anyone else. Three seemed too small of a group¡ªnot to mention underpowered vs our team. When Logan transformed in high school, we¡¯d beaten him with equipment smuggled in under our formal clothes.


    I also didn¡¯t like the idea that a wayward member of the Mask family might be mind-controlled as well, but no one around me knew him, decreasing the chances that anyone would do something stupid to try to save him. With Logan, that was a possibility.


    I knew Mateo (alias Blue Mask) from my internship. I wondered if I needed to call him either to let him know or selfishly, to ask him for advice.


    Switchboard peered at me, possibly wondering why I wasn¡¯t saying anything. I said, ¡°Sorry if I zoned out. I¡¯m trying to figure out what to do next.¡±


    Cassie turned away from watching Major Justice to say, ¡°If we¡¯re lucky, the problem¡¯s solved. The jet did a number on their main breeding ground.¡±


    Jaclyn glanced downward toward Cassie¡¯s hand which still held Mr. Sparkles, her gun, ¡°I notice you haven¡¯t put that away.¡±


    Cassie nodded, ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re that lucky.¡±


    Walking over from where he stood with the Coffeeshop Illuminati, Bullet said, ¡°Neither do I. We need to get the wounded and the damaged out of here before something else happens. I can talk to Major Justice¡¯s team. I think I can convince everyone that there¡¯s no reason for anyone but people who can fight Menagerie¡¯s zombies to be here.¡±


    With a glance over to the rest of us, Jaclyn said, ¡°I think we all agree with that.¡±


    As Bullet began to turn around, Izzy said, ¡°Everyone, get into the air! If someone can¡¯t fly, grab them. Something¡¯s coming to the surface.¡±


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    ¡°Where?¡± Bullet asked.


    ¡°Everywhere,¡± she said, lifting off and grabbing BFG where he lay on the ground.


    If she was wondering how she would get so many supers out of reach of whatever it would be, she didn¡¯t have to. The Coffeeshop Illuminati included not one but two aerokinetics¡ªGordon and Gifford. Even if they looked tired after fighting Bullet and then Hunter¡¯s rogue zombies, they had enough to blow people into the air and keep them there¡ªincluding Major Justice and the other teams.


    Vaughn had done the same with Jody and Dayton since they didn¡¯t have anti-gravity packs built into their costumes.


    Once everyone was all in the air, we waited.


    Nothing happened.


    Held up in the air only by wind, Jody looked down and then over to Vaughn, ¡°That¡¯s a long way down.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t wrong. We were at least 40 feet in the air and if Vaughn lost control, Jody wouldn¡¯t be able to do any comic book speedster tricks like flapping his arms so quickly that he dropped more slowly.


    He¡¯d just hit the gravel below.


    Vaughn flipped over in the air, ¡°Trust me, I¡¯m a master.¡±


    In some movies that would have been the moment where all hell broke loose. In our world, nothing continued to happen, but Bullet did say, ¡°Don¡¯t play around!¡±


    I expected Vaughn to point out that Bullet wasn¡¯t his boss, but instead Vaughn looked at Cassie and shook his head. Cassie gave a quick smile, but kept on pointing her gun down toward the ground.


    Turning his head to look at Izzy, Jody asked, ¡°Is something coming or not?¡±


    Izzy didn¡¯t get to respond. In that moment small, gray tendrils came out of the ground. It wasn¡¯t an eruption. It didn¡¯t feel like an attack. If anything it reminded me of a nature film, the kind where they condense days or weeks of growth into seconds.


    Thanks to the Rocket suit¡¯s sensors, I could even see the tendrils at that level of detail if I wanted to. The nature films make growth look beautiful. This growth had more of a feeling of doom.


    They grew everywhere in sight, starting below us and rippling outward, growing from tiny nubbins to three feet tall in seconds.


    Before anyone knew what was coming next, the stalks began to release spores and not casually either, not a small cloud. This was steady disciplined fire targeting the supers above.


    Almost as it began, we began to respond in kind. The Cannonballs expelled gouts of flame, but we had three different people controlling wind to keep people in the air. The flame never reached the ground, getting blown in three different directions on the way.


    On the bright side, lasers still worked. The only bad point was that I seemed to be the only person that used one. Still, that meant I could do something.


    I aimed at them one at a time, burning them to ash. Nearby, Amy threw her spear, taking out a tendril with each hit.


    It¡¯s the chaos surrounding combat that I blame for not noticing that some of us had begun to drop into the tendrils'' range.

 Courtesy: Part 6

    By the time I did notice that Gifford, Hunter, and other members of Major Justice¡¯s team as well as Shifter were sinking toward the ground, they were shouting at Gifford who was staring off into space.


    Was he too tired or had one of the mushroom tendrils gotten lucky and hit him? Either way they were dropping into range of not only the tendrils¡¯ shots (which might not get through the wind), but also the clouds of spores that puffed outward whenever the shots hit something.


    At ground level, the spores hung in the air, blown around by three heroes worth of air manipulation¡ªfour depending on how South Beach Surfer¡¯s powers worked.


    Near the ground they appeared as dust clouds. I could only guess how many were higher in the air where they couldn¡¯t be seen.


    If I had some time, I could reconfigure the suit¡¯s sensors to detect particles per million, but not identify specific particles.


    Fortunately, it didn¡¯t all depend on me.


    Shouting, ¡°Wake up,¡± at Gifford, Vuaghn directed his winds to push Gifford and the others upward.


    ¡°Try not to take the spores with them,¡± I suggested.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try,¡± Vaughn said, giving me a look.


    To be fair to him, it was easier said than done.


    As Gifford and his group began to float upward, he looked around in jerky motions, almost as if he were waking up from a nap. That was a good sign. It might be that the spores were something a person could choose to resist.


    Then he started talking, ¡°I have to go down. We need to go down. Down is where¡­ Down is where¡­ Down is where¡­ home is.¡±


    Next to him, Hunter started shouting back, ¡°Are you crazy? If we go down there, they¡¯ll use the pacification tendrils on us. You know what those are. What are you thinking?¡±


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    Gifford stared at him, ¡°We have to go down.¡±


    Making mental note of the fact that firing off spores at people from tendrils wasn¡¯t a new evolution, but a planned for feature of the mushroom zombies, I thought about my options for doing something about it.


    ¡°Hal,¡± I said over the comm. ¡°Now would be a great time to destroy as many of the tendrils as possible.¡±


    [If I have your permission,] he said, [I can, but be aware that my lasers aren¡¯t well designed for exterminating fungus. Also, I recommend that you move the spores away before they infect more of your companions.]


    Duh. I should have thought of that earlier or maybe they should have. ¡°Hey¡±, I said over the PA in my suit, ¡°anyone who can create a wind should blow the spore clouds away from us and toward the forest. I¡¯m beginning to think the spores allow the zombies to control you. Menagerie, am I right?¡±


    Hunter stopped shouting at Gifford long enough to reply, ¡°I don¡¯t know what they can do anymore. Look, we fight criminals. I was trying to come up with a way to take them down without a fight. I can make people confused, but that¡¯s it.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°I hope they don¡¯t take it further.¡±


    By then, I was feeling a breeze from behind me. South Beach Surfer flew from side to side in the air, turning her board around and throwing a gust of wind in this direction the same way she would have thrown a small wave in water.


    Held up in the air by Gordon¡¯s wind, Mime held both hands in the air as if he were gripping a fan or maybe a giant hair dryer, pointing downward.


    The clouds of spores started blowing toward the chunks of road that now ran parallel to the fence in front of the forest.


    Even better, the jet arrived and started firing its anti-personnel lasers, efficiently hitting tendril after tendril.


    This was good. We could win this.


    A message appeared on the main League channel from Hal, [I don¡¯t have enough evidence to predict this with confidence, but this may be a feint.]


    ¡°Understood,¡± I said.


    Next to me, Amy threw the Bloodspear again, hitting another tendril and draining its life. She let out a sigh as the tendril turned to dust.


    ¡°How are you doing?¡± I asked, firing the laser at a tendril. Cassie fired at the same time.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Amy said, ¡°There¡¯s enough life in them that I absorbed some power, but there isn¡¯t enough of a mind that I¡¯ve figured them out.¡±


    She paused, ¡°I did get enough out of them that I¡¯m immune to their spores.¡±


    That got my attention, ¡°Can you pass that on?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°Not any more than I can pass on any of my powers.¡±


    Her spear appeared in her hand again and she looked out toward the empty neighborhoods behind us and their police barricades, ¡°It¡¯s doing something.¡±


    In that moment, Kayla talked over the comm, ¡°The police at the barricades are reporting tendrils like the ones near you. They¡¯re saying that they¡¯re seeing humans with growths on their skins.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 7

    Jaclyn responded, ¡°What kind of growths?¡±


    ¡°The last report said smooth grey skin over their skin, and no eyes or mouth,¡± Kayla paused, ¡°Creepy.¡±


    Haley¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°Do you know where?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll send you coordinates,¡± Kayla¡¯s connection clicked to a close.


    It sounded like Haley hoped to do something to slow the spread. I wanted to ask her what, but this wasn¡¯t the time. We had other problems.


    Gifford wasn¡¯t putting up with Vaughn¡¯s attempt to keep him in the air. Gritting his teeth, he¡¯d used his own control over wind to push down harder and even to direct wind at Vaughn and Justice Fist, causing Jody and Dayton to grab toward Sean¡ªwho couldn¡¯t reach them. He¡¯d been blown a foot further than they.


    Not that any of them were following. They¡¯d been blown upward. As Vaughn clenched his fists and stared, they slowed and stopped drifting apart.


    Then the wind hit us¡ªJaclyn, Izzy, Amy, and I. Cassie had moved off to the side and avoided being in the path.


    In Izzy¡¯s case, the wind might as well have not existed. She didn¡¯t move. The rest of us did. I¡¯d written the software with the idea that it might have to handle wind.


    I hadn¡¯t designed it with the idea that it would have to keep people stationary in the face of hurricane force winds and that¡¯s what we were facing.


    We were all blown toward the forest, the trees becoming more visible by the second¡ªnot that we waited. We all flew upward which was good in that it pulled us out of the direct path of the wind, but bad in that we were flying away from the action.


    No doubt recognizing that she was the only one of us with a chance to act, Izzy flew toward Gifford, still holding the unconscious body of BFG with her left arm, and hit him in the abdomen, causing him to gasp for air. Then she hit him in the face, knocking him out.


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    To my surprise, Gifford, Hunter, and the other people he¡¯d been holding in the air (as well as his unconscious body) all floated upward.


    I understood why in almost the same moment¡ªVaughn¡ªbecause he and Justice Fist rose too. Not to mention that all the pressure on us ended.


    It couldn¡¯t have been easy, but Vaughn not only kept everyone in the air, but also brought them to a smooth stop despite Gifford¡¯s opposing force disappearing without notice.


    Surprising no one, Gordon shot forward to say, ¡°Why¡¯d you have to do that?¡±


    Behind him, the Coffeeshop Illuminati that his own wind kept in the air dropped a few feet, their expressions communicating the thought, ¡°I¡¯m gonna die,¡± even through their masks. I even heard a muffled scream.


    They didn¡¯t fall, but I understood their concern.


    Izzy didn¡¯t back down. Holding up her fist to show Gordon, she said, ¡°This.¡±


    I zoomed in as I descended toward the rest of the group. Stuck to Izzy¡¯s gauntlet was a piece of thin, grey film in the shape of the right side of Gifford¡¯s face.


    A quick look at Gifford showed a subtle difference in color in his face where the film had come off. The frayed edges helped too. There wasn¡¯t enough of a difference before the punch, but the contrast between normal skin and the film made it clear afterward.


    Gordon stared at it, his brow furrowed, ¡°What is that?¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s mushroom. The police are seeing people whose faces have disappeared under it. It might be the first stage of colonization, but it might also be designed to allow infected agents to go unnoticed,¡± Izzy stuffed the filmy mess in her hand in one of the sample containers on her utility belt, adding, ¡°I hope we can analyze this.¡±


    I didn¡¯t think we could, but I thought she was right in her guess.


    Gordon, though, must have stopped listening partway through. He turned his attention to Hunter, shouting, ¡°What is this shit? What did you do? You¡¯re his friend.¡±


    Hunter held out his hands, ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything! I didn¡¯t know they could make this stuff. They¡¯re changing it on their own now and that¡¯s not supposed to be possible. The League¡¯s jet destroyed the brain. They must have figured out how to make it earlier. Since it¡¯s dead now, they shouldn¡¯t be able to absorb and control people unless they grew a second brain.¡±


    Izzy looked at him, ¡°Is that possible?¡±


    Hunter looked up at her, ¡°I don¡¯t know. None of this should have happened. For all I know, they can do anything now.¡±


    To me, the fact that we didn¡¯t notice the film was on him hinted that we might be dealing with a second brain for the mushroom army. If I had the option, I¡¯d have set up a backup for my brain.


    Meanwhile, in the background, Hal had been using the jet¡¯s lasers to burn the tendrils away as Cassie and I both took shots at the tendrils we could see.

 Courtesy: Part 8

    The tendrils died at an alarming rate. Even though Hal downplayed the effectiveness of the anti-personnel lasers, he could fire off multiple beams at multiple targets. They wouldn¡¯t have been effective against the mushroom central brain he¡¯d destroyed, but against these tendrils it was good enough.


    The tendrils sizzled and stopped moving. Somewhere in the back of my brain, the part that distantly remembered breakfast, I wondered if these were edible mushrooms and hoped they weren¡¯t psychedelic.


    Psychedelic mushrooms did grow in Michigan. I¡¯d checked Wikipedia once.


    Amy, meanwhile, had floated closer to Gordon, Gifford, Hunter, and Izzy. As the Bloodspear flew back to her hand, she said, ¡°I think I can get it out of Gifford¡¯s system.¡±


    Gordon turned toward her, his eyes flicking downward toward the pitted, metal spear in her hand, ¡°You¡¯re not going to hurt him.¡±


    To be fair to him, her spear did look like it belonged in the hands of an anime villain or possibly on the the cover of a heavy metal album.


    Meeting Gordon¡¯s eyes, she said, ¡°I might hurt him, but unless you know how to get rid of all of the fungus, your choice is between letting him maybe get hurt a little or letting him live his life as an appendage of a giant mushroom monster. Which sounds better?¡±


    Gritting his teeth, Gordon said, ¡°How hurt?¡±


    Amy didn¡¯t back down, ¡°I¡¯m not going to stab him. I might scratch him. If he gets hurt, it will be because the zombies don¡¯t want to let him go, but I have more than a thousand years of magical expertise to handle that.¡±


    Gordon looked down where his brother floated in the air. His brow furrowed at the word thousand but said, ¡°Okay. Do it.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± she held up the spear, pointing it downward at Gifford¡¯s chest. ¡°It¡¯s going to look like I stabbed him, but I won¡¯t. The spear will turn intangible. If you watch, the only blood will be a scratch.¡±


    Then she chanted a few words, causing symbols on the Bloodspear to glow red. The chanting went on for long enough that I wondered how long it would go on and then she stopped¡ªby plunging the spear into Gifford¡¯s chest.


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    Consistent with what she¡¯d said, it passed through Gifford¡¯s armored costume without resistance as if the armor and the bones underneath it didn¡¯t exist.


    Then she held it there, the red symbols glowing brighter, and Gifford glowed red, the translucent mushroom skin around him burning off in a flash too short for Gordon to freak out.


    She withdrew the spear and Gifford opened his eyes. Looking from Hunter to Gordon, he said, ¡°Guys? I don¡¯t remember anything after we started fighting Bullet. Did that really happen?¡±


    From a few feet behind them, Bullet said, ¡°Yes, but we¡¯re going to forget about that for now. We have bigger problems.¡±


    Gifford looked over to Hunter as if for confirmation and Hunter said, ¡°Yeah, that happened.¡±


    Flipping himself upright with a little wind, he turned to absorb the scene around us¡ªthe destroyed road, burned mushroom people, Hal still blasting tendrils, and the smoking crater Hal had made with his main gun.


    Beyond that, the police, fire, and ambulance sirens wailed, all of them coming in this direction.


    ¡°I¡­ think I¡¯m remembering more. I was part of something¡­ I don¡¯t know what,¡± Gifford turned his head around, viewing the chaos as if hoping that it would put the pieces back into place.


    Bullet said, ¡°You were controlled by the mushroom zombies that Menagerie released.¡±


    At Gifford¡¯s look, Hunter nodded. Bullet continued, ¡°It¡¯s plain to me now that the Nine were using Major Justice and us to attack the Heroes¡¯ League. Major Justice killed Arete, one of the Dominators while you were out.¡±


    Gifford shook his head, ¡°I didn¡¯t see that coming. Where¡¯s the body?¡±


    I looked downward and didn¡¯t see it. A little more looking and I saw charred remains of what seemed to be intestines on the gravel. Not seeing any surviving tendrils, I dropped lower to take a closer look, and found nothing. Even his head was gone.


    Checking my implant¡¯s records from the last few minutes, I found him. The Rocket suit had a 360 degree view around me. It wasn¡¯t as good below or above me, but it was good enough to allow the implant to collect enough images to form a timeline.


    Tendrils had pulled it off to the side of the road and behind a cluster of bushes on the left side of the road¡ªthe one with houses.


    I pushed more fuel into the rockets until I hovered over the bushes. They ran the perimeter of one of my neighbors¡¯ yards, effectively acting as an organic fence.


    Aside from some greasy ashes, I found no sign of Arete and wondered what that meant. He¡¯d been dead. Major Justice¡¯s blast had destroyed the man¡¯s torso. Though I¡¯d learned that the original versions of the Dominators could regenerate, they mostly weren¡¯t as good at it as Cassie and I doubted that Cassie could regenerate from that.


    Of course, I hadn¡¯t tested that, so there was no way to know.


    The video that my implant collected didn¡¯t show any sign that Arete was alive or regenerating though.


    In order for Arete to be gone, someone had to be waiting on this side of the hedgerow to take him away. Maybe I¡¯d be able to find him in bot footage later, but I didn¡¯t have time right now.


    What did the mushroom zombies want with his body? The fact that his head was undamaged opened up some possibilities.

 Courtesy: Part 9

    Could the mushroom zombies replace Arete¡¯s missing parts or access his memory? The latter option would represent a major security leak both for the Defenders and the Nine.


    It didn¡¯t seem likely, but if it was possible, I didn¡¯t like it. From what I¡¯d seen of it, even acting collectively the zombies weren¡¯t very smart, but if they could integrate Arete in, maybe they could be. Plus, what if they could reproduce his powers in the mushroom zombies?


    We needed to end this, but we¡¯d have to figure out where to hit it. We¡¯d destroyed the ¡°brain.¡± We¡¯d need to figure out where the backup was or if it could operate as some kind of swarm without a center.


    I gave the rockets more fuel and shot upward past the tops of the nearest houses and into the morning sun, looking out across our newly evacuated neighborhood.


    Ordering my implant to alert me if it saw something that could be Arete¡¯s headless body or head, I did a quick flyover of the neighborhood. It didn¡¯t alert me of anything and it¡¯s not as if I could complain.


    We needed to know where the second brain was, assuming we could find it.


    Opening up my comm connection, I asked, ¡°Has anyone seen any sign of mushroom zombies gathering anywhere? Alternately, some of you know that Arete died, but not all of you know that he appears to have been taken away by the mushroom tendril, both his head and as much of his body as possible. So if you¡¯ve seen someone carrying a human head, that¡¯s also something to mention.¡±


    Camille responded, ¡°Arete? The cute one?¡±


    Sydney sighed, ¡°Seriously, Gravity Star, the ¡®cute one¡¯? His team¡¯s been dragging us through the mud in the media for a month.¡±


    It was, in a weird way, nice to know that Sydney and the sister she shared with Sean (by way of their dad¡¯s wandering eye) were comfortable enough with each other to have pointless disagreements on the team comm channel.


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    ¡°I know,¡± Camille said, unbothered, ¡°that¡¯s the disappointing part. He was cute and his team wasn¡¯t very nice.¡±


    As she talked, I could imagine Sydney eyeing Camille with disbelief, ¡°Very nice? They were a bunch of dicks.¡±


    Haley inserted her voice into the first available space, ¡°We haven¡¯t seen anyone. We got out where the police said they saw people with a layer of mushroom skin, but they left. I caught the scent and followed it to the curb. From the exhaust smell, I think they took a car and drove somewhere. I don¡¯t know where. A lot of cars drove away and their exhaust blended together.


    ¡°I think they might be heading for the freeway, but I can¡¯t guess which direction they¡¯re going.¡±


    I knew why. The nearest freeway entrance split into north and south. ¡°We can check the highway. Blue might be able to detect mushroom zombies from a distance.¡±


    Jaclyn cut in, ¡°They¡¯re driving. I don¡¯t like that.¡±


    Laughing, Cassie said, ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s terrifying. Fear the power of a zombie driving a Honda Civic.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Amy said, ¡°Accelerando is right. That means that the zombies can use their skills.¡±


    I thought about Gifford. When he¡¯d been affected, he¡¯d wanted to drop toward the ground, but he hadn¡¯t been using his powers in a sophisticated way. It might be that all he¡¯d needed to do was let the people he was keeping in the air get in range of the tendrils¡¯, but he didn¡¯t seem to have enough going on upstairs to do much more either.


    If Amy and Jaclyn were right, the fungi were growing more competent. Crap.


    ¡°Blue¡ª¡° I began, but didn¡¯t get to finish.


    ¡°I¡¯m already in the air, catch me if you can,¡± she added, knowing that I¡¯d never be able to.


    Working with friends didn¡¯t lead to military discipline, but it was okay. I gave the rockets fuel to follow her only to hear Amy say, ¡°Don¡¯t get too far ahead. I might be able to work up a spell to find them if we get close enough.¡±


    I let her catch up and Izzy whipped around to join us from behind.


    Over the comm, Daniel said, ¡°I¡¯m going to join you. I might be able to give you an edge one way or another.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue. Between telepathy and prescience, he might make all the difference. Besides, the time for Team Obvious and Team Hidden was over. Now we had all of League¡¯s best at gathering information in one group¡ªexcept for Haley, and of course, Travis.


    As we passed over the edge of the police line, Daniel flew up from the ground, thinking, Something¡¯s about to happen. I¡¯m not sure what or when, but you¡¯ll need me.


    That felt ominous and I was about ask more questions when I felt a telepathic contact. It felt like the link Daniel and I shared, but bigger. It reminded me a little bit of coming upon a radio station with nothing playing, but an active hum.


    Except you could feel this hum in your brain.

 Courtesy: Part 10

    The pressure in my head increased. It wasn¡¯t unbearable or even painful, but it felt like it filled my head.


    Over the comm, I asked, ¡°Is anyone else feeling this?¡±


    Everyone seemed to say yes at once with Kals¡¯ voice rising above the rest to say, ¡°It reminds me of an Abominator psi-bomb. I caught the edge of one once when the Ascendancy put down a rebellion we were involved in.¡±


    ¡°You think this is a psi-bomb,¡± Daniel asked.


    ¡°No,¡± Kals said. ¡°The blast was shorter and it hurt a lot more, but it filled your head the way this one does. I don¡¯t know what this is.¡±


    Daniel said, ¡°It feels organic, not like something produced by a machine. You¡¯ll note the diffuse separate consciousnesses around the edges.¡±


    I didn¡¯t notice that and suspected no one else did either.


    Over the comm, Amy said, ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s as if there are hundreds of nearly conscious personalities involved.¡±


    Sensing an interest in Abominator psi-weaponry, my implant began giving me a crash course in every kind of psi-weaponry they¡¯d faced when fighting the Abominators, complete with psychic replays of how they felt.


    I stopped it for multiple reasons. First, I couldn¡¯t handle the distraction. Second, after having experienced only a few, I realized that Daniel was correct. Organic attacks felt different from bombs.


    The only psi-weapon with a similar feel had been created using the harvested brains of human telepaths. It didn¡¯t take much to notice the key difference¡ªthat weapon projected madness, rage, and pain. Dropping it was a relief. The more I knew, the more it appeared to be pure nightmare fuel.


    As I prevented myself from being deluged with the memory of interstellar war, the hum progressed into a kind of communication. A voice projected into my head and it didn¡¯t communicate madness even if it didn¡¯t feel quite right.


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    The moment I heard it talk though, I had a thought that I¡¯d never have expected¡ªI was sure I knew the guy and it wasn¡¯t a stretch at all. Grand Lake¡¯s former mayor (Mayor Bouman) had gone into my head when he¡¯d revealed that he was a telepath.


    Knowing that he was here to help Major Justice and that the government had run him through their version of the power impregnator, he had more power to work with these days, but it seemed very unlikely that he had enough to broadcast across the entire city.


    Looking down, it was obvious that he was.


    The police officers and civilians on both sides of the yellow ¡°POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS,¡± were looking around, some gritting their teeth, some holding their ears. Others were leaving, some getting into cars and driving away while a few ran down the street, possibly wanting to get to their cars as soon as practical, but maybe panicking. From our altitude, it was hard to say.


    I didn¡¯t like to imagine the effects of that applied to a city with more than one million people when you included the suburbs.


    I didn¡¯t have time to worry about it because even as I wondered, he answered my question.


    ¡°Citizens of Grand Lake, you know me. I was once one of you, a man consumed by ambition and a need to prove myself the best of you. I thought I wanted to serve, but in reality, I was deluding myself. In my ambition, I sold my soul to forces with no concern for anything but their power.


    ¡°You know them as the Cabal and society rightly fought and destroyed them and me with them. I want you to know that I recognized that to be true on my own. I was wrong. I¡¯ve learned better. Since then, I¡¯ve been trying to do my best to serve the society I attempted to manipulate in their service.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been working for the military, called in to fight the worst of the worst, hoping that someday I can feel like I¡¯ve truly paid back the country I love for what I did.¡±


    Daniel had fully caught up by then and we both felt the same flicker of recognition and resignation that we¡¯d almost certainly have to fight him again.


    ¡°Today,¡± our former mayor continued, ¡°I felt my pain go and I knew that I¡¯d found my true purpose. It was pure chance, but it meant everything. We¡¯ve all done things that we regret, things that we can¡¯t change. Now, joining together, we can all work toward the same thing knowing that our intentions are good and to the benefit of everyone.


    ¡°I want to share this discovery with all of you. It¡¯s a new identity. We are Synergy. Working together we are more than the sum of all our parts. Relax, people of Grand Lake. Soon you¡¯ll know the peace that I¡¯ve found.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said over the comm, ¡°every time I think we passed the worst of this, I¡¯m proven wrong.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 11

    I heard a weary laugh from more than one person on the comm. A few more laughed a little too hard.


    Ex-Mayer Bouman, Synergy, or whatever he now called himselfkept on talking, ¡°People of Grand Lake, you might be afraid of what¡¯s coming, afraid maybe that you¡¯ll be absorbed and stop being you.


    ¡°Nothing could be further from the truth. You¡¯ll be you but fulfilled. You¡¯ll share your hopes, dreams, and worries with all your brothers and sisters in this city and sharing your burdens will make them light.¡±


    Over the comm, Cassie muttered, ¡°This guy does not understand how much it sounds like joining a cult.¡±


    Marcus popped into the call for the first time, ¡°He might not think it matters. I¡¯ve been going through my implant for ideas and this isn¡¯t the first time this kind of thing has come up. There are a bunch of species out there that live as parasites on others. The Abominators encountered and enslaved a few, harvesting their abilities and putting them into their human servants so they could make armies out of enemies. It¡¯s kind of like Starro, but real.¡±


    Jaclyn broke into the conversation, ¡°So, Hunter has them and he accidentally recreated them on Earth?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Marcus said, ¡°but maybe. I¡¯m thinking that everything he makes is a mix of multiple species. Check your implant and see what you think.¡±


    Deliberately avoiding opening myself up to a torrent of information about alien biology, I thought back to something I had direct experience of¡ªthe Xosk. Amy and I had killed one in Detroit. An alien vampire that appeared to be composed of multiple intelligences that fed on and absorbed other lifeforms (leaving whole worlds with nothing living but a single Xosk), I couldn¡¯t rule out a connection.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got to kill this thing,¡± I said.


    At that moment I noticed a new wrinkle that made my heart sink. Thanks to my view from the sky, I could see long tendrils climbing buildings to release clouds of spores. It wasn¡¯t just in the neighborhoods nearby, but everywhere in the city that I could see.


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    The haze billowed outward in all directions.


    Trying to ignore the voice in my head telling me that we¡¯d failed and that we should have guessed that it could spread that far, I asked myself what we could do and opened up my comm, ¡°Is anyone watching my feed right now?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re all in the air,¡± the flatness of Vaughn¡¯s voice hinted that he was feeling the same thing I was.


    ¡°Everyone in here is watching,¡± Kayla said with a hitch in her throat as she she talked. She added, ¡°My parents are at work by now.¡±


    We all knew what she wasn¡¯t saying. They were out in this and they¡¯d probably been exposed.


    Jaclyn said, ¡°Mine are at home with my brothers.¡±


    I thought about her two older brothers, both of them with the same powers she had. I didn¡¯t want to fight them.


    ¡°They¡¯re not,¡± C¡¯s voice came over the comm channel. ¡°Guardian got our family when he got the Mentalist¡¯s out.¡±


    Vaughn asked, ¡°What about my mom and dad?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± C said. ¡°They weren¡¯t viewed as being in any danger. We did get your grandmother.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Vaughn paused, finally saying, ¡°at least you got Grandma Hardwick. Well, my parents might be outside Grand Lake today.¡±


    Trying to focus us on the possible, I said, ¡°Is there any way all of you air manipulators can blow the spores toward the lake? We¡¯ve got four of you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m trying,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°but I¡¯m the only one with a big range and I¡¯m kind of bushed. It¡¯s been a busy morning.¡±


    In the background, I could see other conversations branching off from the main channel. Sydney and Sean had to be talking about their mother. She lived in a penthouse. Maybe she¡¯d be okay for now.


    I checked Alex¡¯, Jenny¡¯s, and Brooke¡¯s positions. Alex was my theoretical ace-in-the-hole, assuming we could get him into position¡ªwherever that turned out to be.


    They were in Chicago, but not at the Midwest Defenders offices. They were in an apartment complex nearby¡ªprobably because they didn¡¯t want to discuss whether or not they should come here with Guardian, Brooke¡¯s father.


    They were estranged the last I knew, but might have patched things up enough to work together.


    Even as I dismissed the GPS view from my sight, Guardian¡¯s name flashed and turned solid on the main League channel. Knowing Guardian¡¯s functions in Earth¡¯s defense, that didn¡¯t look good.


    ¡°Heroes¡¯ League,¡± he said, his tone all business, ¡°we¡¯ve heard about a telepathic communication from the military team Major Justice called in. It sounds as though they¡¯ve been absorbed into your potential extinction event and switched sides. We¡¯ve also got reports of a giant spore release that seems to be converting humans, possibly an entire city of humans into a city of fungus monsters.


    ¡°Do you have anything to tell me that I can use to argue that I shouldn¡¯t open up a portal to the sun and burn this entire city and everywhere around it to ash?¡±

 Courtesy: Part 12

    A year ago, I might have taken what Guardian said as a criticism or threat, but now I saw it for what it was¡ªhe didn¡¯t want to destroy the city even though it made a lot of sense.


    Looking over at Daniel as he flew next to me, I tried to give Guardian what he wanted, ¡°Well, first of all, you know what¡¯s under the League¡¯s base and in our storage rooms. Blasting the city won¡¯t destroy all of it and the rest will be available to anyone who comes by.


    ¡°Second, you¡¯d be destroying the current Heroes¡¯ League while we¡¯re actively working to stop the fungus and wearing suits that have so far successfully kept us from being infected.


    ¡°Third, we¡¯ve got more information about this problem than you do and we¡¯ve got a plan for handling it.¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s voice came into my head through a direct implant-to-implant connection, We do? I hope it¡¯s a good one.


    ¡°It¡¯s in the early stages,¡± I said. ¡°We need to settle some details, but we¡¯ve got one. Oh¡­ and fourth¡ª¡°


    I checked the GPS view of my HUD again, the pattern of dots against the background, showing what I suspected.


    ¡°The uh¡­ fourth reason is that Portal, Paladin, and Flame Legion are all in Grand Lake.¡±


    Brooke, Alex, and Jenny had all disappeared from the mystery apartment in Chicago and reappeared in our base.


    Over the comm, Guardian made a grunting noise that might have edged into a choking noise. Having heard similar noises from my parents in the past, it was easy to read frustration into the sound, but if Brooke still wasn¡¯t talking to him, maybe there might have been a touch of pain.


    It was hard to say. There¡¯s a limit to the amount of information you can read into a grunt.


    ¡°She sticks to him like glue,¡± Guardian muttered a sentence that might not have been part of our conversation as much as an ongoing conversation with himself.


    Not wanting to become part of what sounded like an intrafamily dispute, I didn¡¯t say anything, and neither did anyone else.


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    Guardian made another grunt, this one crossed with a sigh, ¡°That¡¯s enough. I know what I¡¯ll tell them, but look, I can¡¯t say no forever. We¡¯re risking the human race and not just because of the zombies. The Xiniti will step in if this gets free. They can¡¯t risk mushroom zombies getting loose in the Human Ascendancy.¡±


    ¡°Maybe. I mean, eventually, they¡¯ll do something, but right now there are five citizens of the Xiniti nation in Grand Lake, one of them on a specific mission to keep a friend of ours safe. You¡¯ll be destroying her too. That¡¯s probably a bad idea. They''ll back off if we call them, and it won¡¯t be hard. If you destroy us without giving us a chance to fix this, there will be problems.¡±


    As of that moment, we had Guardian as we saw him in the media¡ªwithout sighs, grunts, or parenting pain. He said, ¡°You should have led with that. No one on Earth wants to get on the bad side of the Xiniti.¡±


    Taking a breath, he continued, ¡°I¡¯m going to remind my people and the government officials who have been calling us that the League includes honorary Xiniti plus a visiting Xiniti. That will give you some time. I hope your plan includes containing them.¡±


    ¡°It does,¡± I said. ¡°Remember how the wizards contained The Thing That Eats in Grand Lake? I think they might be willing to do it again especially if we explain to them that we¡¯re releasing a whole kingdom¡¯s worth of fairy knights to help us fight.¡±


    Guardian took a long pause and then said, ¡°The less I know the better. Do what you have to. Good luck.¡±


    With that, he closed his connection.


    Vaughn started laughing, ¡°That¡¯s your plan? Call in the fairies, use the Wizard¡¯s Council to box them in,  and let them fight it out with the mushroom zombies?¡±


    ¡°Kinda,¡± I said, ¡°but it¡¯s better than that. I also called in Alex. If we can find the center of the fungus, we sic Alex on it. He can heal, but he can also do the opposite. It¡¯s all one organism. If he starts it dying, the whole thing goes. There are a few holes like, for example, the fact that we don¡¯t know where the center of the thing is, but I think we can find it. Between the Mystic, Ronin, Hal, and physically searching for it, we¡¯ll figure it out.¡±


    Adam¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°You realize that calling in my favor is a one-time thing, right? If I use it now, that¡¯s it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well,¡± Cassie said, ¡°if you don''t use it and we all get absorbed into the mushroom zombie worldwide empire and the Xiniti burn the planet, then you¡¯ll waste it.¡±


    Looking over at Amy who was flying just ahead of Daniel and me, I asked over the comm, ¡°I¡¯m assuming Bloodmaiden knows how to call in the North American Wizard¡¯s Council now that you¡¯re a member in good standing?¡±


    From the expression on Amy¡¯s face, I guessed that she didn¡¯t think they¡¯d owe her any favors, but she never got to reply.


    Over the comm, Samita (who I didn¡¯t even know was listening) said, ¡°I can do it and if they won¡¯t talk to me, they will talk to Reliquary.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, ¡°then that¡¯s the best idea I have. If anyone has a way to improve it, tell the group. Otherwise, we should start looking for the second brain, wherever that is.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 13

    ¡°For right now,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯ll be happy to keep everyone here in the air and uninfected¡ªextra bonus if I can also help the city, but I¡¯m not holding my breath there.¡±


    Sean¡¯s name blinked, ¡°I¡¯d be holding my breath if I didn¡¯t know I just fall unconscious. Do you guys have more of your suits?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll work for you,¡± I said. ¡°I designed them to resist electromagnetism, but any suit on you will be at ground zero all the time. We might have a suit that doesn¡¯t use nanotech back at base. There¡¯s probably a way to get it out safely. Nanotech suits should work for everyone else if we have enough.


    ¡°If we don¡¯t have enough, we need to get you guys far enough out of town that you¡¯re safe.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid,¡± Sean said, ¡°I want to help. We¡¯re supposed to be helping.¡±


    Even though I was flying over the city with Amy, Izzy, and Daniel, I could imagine Sean back with the group by the park and feel grateful I wasn¡¯t there.


    This was a better version of Sean than I remembered, but still irritating. Trying not to let any of that be heard in my voice, I said, ¡°I know you want to help, but we¡¯re going to have to first figure out where the second brain is. Until then, if you¡¯re at risk of being infected, your first duty is to stay free. I don¡¯t want to fight magnetic mushroom zombie Sean, but for all I know, the fey will have some charm to keep fungus away.¡±


    Dayton laughed, ¡°Exactly. I don¡¯t want to fight mushroom zombie Sean either.¡±


    ¡°About that,¡± Adam said as his name blinked, ¡°do you want me to call them in now or do you want me to wait?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I thought about it as I passed over a neighborhood covered in with fuzzy spores, ¡°will it take a long time?¡±


    Adam laughed, ¡°It¡¯s not much more complicated than if I said, ¡®Duke of the alabaster halls, duke of the mountains of skulls. I, the giver of aid, ask you to make good on promises made¡¯.¡±


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    ¡°Did you just do it,¡± I asked.


    ¡°No,¡± he said, as if it should be obvious, ¡°there are a few more verses to go.¡±


    Haley¡¯s name blinked, ¡°The mountain of skulls? Who is this?¡±


    ¡°Look,¡± Adam said, ¡°I¡¯m the champion of fairies loosely associated with the Unseelie court. They¡¯re not the cute fairies and they¡¯re not friendly. They¡¯re scary and I did a favor for Duke Metzul of the Alabaster Mountains¡ªwhich do happen to look like skulls. It wasn¡¯t anything bad. I retrieved a few items of his that mortals had stolen over the years.¡±


    ¡°Metzul?¡± Amy responded in the group, but looked over at me, shaking her head, ¡°He¡¯s no one I¡¯d want to help.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Adam said, ¡°but we had a common interest in getting him his stuff back. He wanted it back, but had no agent capable of moving around in the mortal world. Meanwhile, I was fighting occultists that I couldn¡¯t take down because they were siphoning his essence into themselves through his tools. You¡¯re going to have to believe me when I tell you that it¡¯s better when he has his stuff than when mortals are using it.¡±


    Amy nodded slowly, ¡°I believe it. We can do without occultists turning into little warped copies of him. As for this favor, how much control do you have over it? Can you talk with him or do you have to put it into verse?¡±


    ¡°I only need verse to summon him. We talk after that,¡± Adam said, ¡°and I¡¯m told he likes me as much as he ever likes mortals¡ªwhich means he¡¯s not going to try to deliberately pervert it.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± the blood red gems in Amy¡¯s armor shone a little brighter, ¡°then make sure he knows not to kill the fungus infected humans. Whatever he does to stop them can¡¯t be permanent. The effects need to end when Paladin kills the fungus. Oh, and if you can work in a charm to stop fungus infection for our team, that can only help.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got a good working relationship,¡± Adam said, ¡°I think he¡¯ll go for it.¡±


    Amy mouthed the words, ¡°Good working relationship?¡± at me, but said, ¡°Great. The sooner his army appears, the better. Maybe he can help us find the second brain. Oh, and whatever relationship you have, he¡¯s still a major lord of Faerie. Don¡¯t trust him.¡±


    ¡°I get it,¡± Adam said, ¡°I¡¯ll call him now, okay?¡±


    Then he dropped out of the conversation. He still showed up on the GPS with Haley and most of Team Hidden, though.


    Samita¡¯s name blinked and she started talking with rapid fire speed, ¡°I called the NAWC. They¡¯ve started setting up an anti-fungus barrier around the city.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said, ¡°that was easy.¡±


    The levels of Samita¡¯s voice turned even, ¡°I don¡¯t think they want it to spread either.¡±


    I was about to respond to that when Hal sent a message to the group chat.


    [Based on the pattern of expansion of tendrils and spores, I have a range of possible locations where the second brain might be based. They are all downtown Grand Lake within a block of City Hall.]


    Daniel added, ¡°I think we should try City Hall first.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 14

    I asked, ¡°Is that prescience or a guess?¡±


    ¡°Both,¡± Daniel said. ¡°It¡¯s the first place I imagined trying knowing that Bouman is now part of this mess, but then I directed my prescience at what would happen if we go there. I¡¯m feeling the potential for things to go very badly or very well. Because the potential is so extreme, I¡¯m thinking that it has to be the center of everything. We¡¯ve just got to go in knowing there are no guarantees.¡±


    ¡°Or at least going in with as much information as we can,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d think that would improve our chances.¡±


    ¡°Just as long as we don¡¯t think too long,¡± Daniel turned his head to look toward downtown.


    Steel, concrete, and glass high-rises dominated our view of it, but we knew what we were looking for. Grand Lake¡¯s city hall had been constructed in the late 1800s. Stone, wood, red brick, and iron, it spoke of another time, one in which the materials cost more than labor, allowing ornanamentation inside the building and outside.


    I couldn¡¯t see it yet, but I sent spybots ahead. I¡¯d see it soon.


    Izzy saw it before the rest of us and she wasn¡¯t even flying ahead. The range of her sonar put mine to shame.


    ¡°Your guess was amazing,¡± she turned back to smile at him and Daniel smiled back. ¡°But I wish you were wrong. City Hall is filled with fungus people and growths that fill whole rooms. They¡¯re growing more drones or whatever we¡¯re going to call the zombies that don¡¯t have people inside.¡±


    ¡°Can you see Bouman?¡± Daniel had to be wondering for the same reason I was. If we knew where he was inside, maybe we could target him without fighting our way through the building.


    ¡°From this distance and through walls every person covered in fungus looks like everyone else. Even if we were closer, I¡¯ve never met him.¡± I got Izzy¡¯s point. If she had met him, maybe he¡¯d have a hip replacement, fillings, or something that would make him stand out in a way that squishy flesh wouldn¡¯t.


    Though I couldn¡¯t hear it, I felt Daniel think at her. From the accompanying wash of emotion, I had to guess it was something affectionate, but aloud he only said, ¡°Then we¡¯ll have to wait until we¡¯re closer.¡±


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    ¡°True,¡± I said, ¡°let¡¯s hope they don¡¯t have mushroom missile launchers.¡±


    Around that time, my bots sighted City Hall. If I¡¯d been looking for support for the idea that Hunter had accidentally tapped into a hidden alien inheritance, possibly even the Xosk, I¡¯d have felt vindicated by what the bots showed me.


    Izzy had mentioned rooms full of mushroom fungus and fungus covered people. She hadn¡¯t mentioned how City Hall now had fungus growing all over it and tendrils extending outward, some of them still spreading spores.


    Even though she¡¯d mentioned that every human covered with fungus looked the same to her, she hadn¡¯t managed to convey the impact of it.


    From what I could see through the spybots, no human beings that hadn¡¯t been absorbed into the fungus still existed. Everyone in sight had grey skin, smooth facial features, and no eyes. I didn¡¯t doubt that their eyes still existed, but they¡¯d been covered over with grey skin.


    Beyond that, fungus grew everywhere around City Hall¡ªnot only on it, but on trees and surrounding buildings, covering them with a slick grey surface.


    I wondered how precisely we¡¯d have to place Alex. If he focused the death and decay aspect of his powers outside the building, would it be enough? It would be easier than getting him inside for sure.


    I could make a logical argument that outside the building might work, but I had a feeling that we¡¯d want to place Alex at the center and let the command to die pulse outward from there.


    Assuming that we¡¯d be have to fight (ex)-Mayor Bouman, I wondered where his unit was. It seemed too much to hope that they¡¯d be standing inside the Mayor¡¯s office where we could fly straight in, smash through windows, and pummel him unconscious.


    More likely, he¡¯d be in the basement.


    As I flew onward, staying with everyone else, but paying more attention to the images in my HUD, Amy said, ¡°Something¡¯s happening.¡±


    Her Bloodspear glowed a little brighter around the edges as she spoke.


    I peered through the spybots, not seeing anything special, but still asking, ¡°Are the mushrooms doing something?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Amy pointed her spear to the sky, ¡°look up.¡±


    The sky distorted into lines that ran from the edge of the city on all sides inward to the center above us. For a moment, I thought that was the end, but then the distortions stopped and as far as I could see, the sky acquired a dim, but noticeable, golden glow.


    The obvious cause came to mind. I asked Amy, ¡°That¡¯s the barrier from the Wizard¡¯s Council, right?¡±


    She looked at me, ¡°You can¡¯t feel it at all? That was a lot of power.¡±


    Daniel and Izzy said, ¡°No.¡± I was about to say the same, but then I tried to examine it the way Kee had been teaching me. I wasn¡¯t certain, but there might have been a hum above me.


    I said, ¡°Maybe. I don¡¯t remember the barrier being visible last time.¡±


    Amy glanced up at it, ¡°They might have been in more of a hurry this time.¡±


    I thought about that, ¡°Well, on the bright side then, step one of the plan is complete. We¡¯ve locked ourselves in here with them.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 15

    Over the comm, Vaughn said, ¡°I hope they got everybody inside because this is all for nothing if you get everyone except for one guy¡ªlike in horror movies.¡±


    Samita replied before I could, ¡°I told the Wizards¡¯ Council what the zombies do and the Council said they¡¯d figure it out.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s name blinked on the screen, ¡°As long as the Wizards¡¯ Council has it covered.¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Daniel speak, ¡°The impression I get is that they¡¯ve got it covered the vast majority of the time. I mean, we don¡¯t have any guarantees, but it¡¯s not because they¡¯re not paying attention.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°I¡¯m glad it¡¯s us instead.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly where things go wrong yet,¡± Daniel shot me a look, ¡°we¡¯ll have to get closer to the moment where it happens if it happens.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°Cool.¡±


    Adam¡¯s name flashed and a blinking hand appeared next to it, ¡°Everybody, I called in my favor and the Duke¡¯s assembling his forces. They¡¯ll appear more or less where we are and fight their way through. Is there anything specific you want them to do?¡±


    ¡°They know the situation, right?¡± I asked. ¡°Everyone they¡¯ll fight is an innocent so far as we know. They¡¯re all being mind controlled. If there¡¯s any way to avoid killing them, you told the Duke¡¯s forces to avoid it, right?¡±


    ¡°I get it,¡± Adam said. ¡°You already brought that up. They¡¯re the people we¡¯re trying to save. And yes, the Duke¡¯s forces can do temporary weird, fairy shit. I mean, I think most of them would rather do that than fight straight out. Don¡¯t get weirded out if you see people who now have donkey heads or whose pants got turned into a swarm of bees.¡±


    ¡°Bees?¡± I said, thinking about what that would be like, but following it up with, ¡°They¡¯ve got a way to avoid being sucked into the mushroom collective, I¡¯m assuming.¡±


    Adam sucked in a breath, ¡°I told him about it. He didn¡¯t seem concerned. All I can say is that they definitely know.¡±


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    Amy laughed, ¡°That¡¯s fairies for you. Whether he¡¯s misjudged or whether the zombies are simply nothing to him, we won¡¯t know until it happens because there¡¯s no way he¡¯ll tell mere mortals.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Adam said, ¡°that¡¯s pretty much it. I¡¯m going to tell myself I did everything I could and that Duke Metzul has thousands of years of experience. If he¡¯s not concerned, I shouldn¡¯t be either. Oh, wait, I¡¯ve got to go, they¡¯re beginning to come through the portal.¡±


    Then Adam added, ¡°One more thing, I¡¯ve got a general announcement for everyone. If you see fairies, give them a wide berth. Be polite if you have to talk to them, but it¡¯s wiser to leave them alone. Try not to get their attention.¡±


    Sean piped up at that point, ¡°They¡¯re supposed to be helping us. Are they going to attack us? Because I¡¯m going to defend myself if I have to. I¡¯ve kept a pouch of steel ball bearings on me ever since Castle Rock.¡±


    Adam let out a breath, ¡°That¡¯s not the right attitude¡­ Crap. I don¡¯t have time for this. Someone explain it to him. I¡¯m off the call for a bit.¡±


    Off the call, Amy turned to me and said, ¡°Sean¡¯s an idiot.¡±


    Unmuting herself, she said, ¡°They¡¯re fulfilling an obligation to Adam. They¡¯re only friendly to us because we¡¯re not his targets. The rest of the time they¡¯re the kind of fairies who curse and kidnap people. Give them a wide berth.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Sean said, ¡°I get it.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re coming through the portal now,¡± Jody said. ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere near them.¡±


    I wanted to check in on them. Haley, Adam and the rest of Team Hidden would all be near Sean by now. If he didn¡¯t figure this out, something was going to turn his pants into bees or worse.


    Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have time. We¡¯d made it downtown and didn¡¯t need the spybots to look at City Hall. I could see it with my own eyes (mediated by my HUD and various sensors).


    Spybots had their strengths, but they didn¡¯t give you the scope that eyes did. Mushroom goo expanded outward from City Hall, coating roads and nearby buildings with the slick sheen of whatever they were made of. Tendrils extended outward from all the buildings that I could see along with other growths, many of them circular, almost dome-like.


    I didn¡¯t know what the domes were for, but I doubted knowing would make me happier.


    This was bad all around. I¡¯d never imagined that the zombies could expand this far this quickly. I wondered if Alex activating the colony¡¯s internal kill switch would be enough. It had absorbed a lot of people and now that I was looking around, I could see animals and birds too.


    ¡°Blue,¡± I said, ¡°do you have any idea of where Bouman and the rest might be at this point?¡±


    Izzy didn¡¯t say anything for a few seconds, scanning the buildings below us with her sonics. Then she said, ¡°The City Hall¡¯s basement, but it extends into the lower levels of the parking garage next door. I think that¡¯s the center of it.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 16

    We all looked at City Hall and the parking garage next to it. As seeds of humanity¡¯s destruction went, it was unassuming. Little more than multiple floors of concrete with ornamentation styled to fit in with the buildings from the 1880s that stood around it¡ªsort of.


    It was still a big grey box.


    I wasn¡¯t sure whether the city owned the parking garage and allowed Grand Lake Parking to run it or whether Grand Lake Parking owned the building and rented the lower floors to the city on some kind of long term lease. Either way, the lower floors connected to City Hall below the ground.


    We all hovered there looking at them.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got some decisions to make,¡± Daniel said over the comm. ¡°We¡¯ve got to decide how we¡¯re going to go in. If I remember correctly from Stapledon, Portal needs to see the place that she¡¯s teleporting to, right?¡±


    Over the comm, Brooke said, ¡°That¡¯s right, but a telepathic image from someone else¡¯s head or even a picture will still work.¡±


    Even though I¡¯d known it for years, it still seemed weird to me that she was Guardian¡¯s daughter. She was friendly and I¡¯d never felt like he was.


    ¡°Good,¡± Daniel said, ¡°How much can it change from the picture before there¡¯s a problem?¡±


    Not giving her a chance to respond, I added, ¡°Do you step into nothingness or someplace that looks similar?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said, ¡°it¡¯s not a disaster. If it¡¯s too different, I just can¡¯t connect.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Daniel said, ¡°a bunch of us have been in City Hall, but it was in senior year of high school¡ªroughly six years ago. I¡¯ve been in the parking garage, but not the lower levels. Would a picture from Blue work?¡±


    Brooke and Izzy both said, ¡°No,¡± simultaneously and Brooke added, ¡°Sorry. We tried it at Stapledon.¡±


    Over the comm, Cassie said, ¡°Let¡¯s have Portal try someone¡¯s memory of City Hall and if it works, we¡¯re in. If not, your group fights your way in and we portal after you using the picture streaming from your cameras. Simple.¡±


    It was, actually.


    Kinda.


    It was a little more complicated in that in order to keep everyone in HQ safe, Brooke had to open a portal to somewhere outside the Wizard Council¡¯s wards¡ªwhich turned out to be completely possible, meaning that if she got infected, the world was screwed.


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    On the bright side, it also meant that it was no problem to get Alex, Brooke, and Jenny to Haley¡¯s team in the neighborhood near the park.


    Haley¡¯s team included not only Adam, but also an army of fairies and a Duke of the Unseelie Court at the moment. So when we looked at their streams, it looked like the cover of an urban fantasy novel.


    Next to the park, a portal to Faerie was still open and still shimmering with a green, otherworldly light as winged fairies, goblins, ogres, and elven soldiers on foot and horseback stepped out from somewhere else.


    It was a strange mixture of the beautiful and the ugly.


    For the record, even though I had names for some of what came through, that wasn¡¯t true of everything. Reptilian things that weren¡¯t dragons walked through with wet, horselike creatures, and dogs with a feral look about them.


    Plus, there were shadowy things that were obvious when they weren¡¯t directly in view of the camera, but only wispy when the streaming person looked at them directly.


    It almost made me feel bad for the mushroom zombies, but not very. Despite Adam¡¯s assurances, it did make me worry about what would happen to the people the fungus controlled.


    Brooke spoke into her comm, ¡°I tried to use Captain Commando¡¯s and Night Cat¡¯s memories of City Hall. It didn¡¯t work, but not the normal way. It felt blocked the way it feels when someone blocks teleporters.¡±


    We¡¯d moved to the top of a downtown highrise while we waited. There was no sense hovering where someone would see us and this building appeared to be mushroom free on the outside. We hadn¡¯t gone inside. There was no sense in pushing our luck.


    Alex¡¯ name blinked on my screen, ¡°There you go. Sounds like it¡¯s time for you to move in.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I said,¡± Cassie added.


    Then everyone at the park gasped, muttered, or stopped talking altogether. I didn¡¯t need to ask why. A group of elves in plate armor had ridden through the gate in the park on horses with a strange, silver sheen to their fur.


    In my imagination, elves were shorter than humans, but these seemed gigantic. The horses and the armor had to be part of it, but the elves themselves had to be tall to wear that armor¡ªaround seven feet, I guessed. The one in the center of the group was shorter, but only by a few inches.


    Just from his position, it didn¡¯t take much to guess that was Duke Metzul. His plate armor was silver with whorls of dull black metal. I wondered if the black metal had some kind of magical meaning.


    His helm didn¡¯t cover his face. Thin, handsome, and light skinned, he could have passed for a college student in a world where college students commonly had pointed ears and a predator¡¯s teeth.


    Next to me, Amy turned from watching City Hall to say, ¡°Metzul came through.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said,¡± directly into the park. He¡¯s powerful enough that it¡¯s that obvious?¡±


    Her lips twitched, ¡°Powerful enough that every practitioner in this hemisphere felt something.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said aloud, feeling like she wasn¡¯t saying something important. I went with the first thought that came to mind, ¡°Is this a problem?¡±


    She scowled, ¡°At least three Bloodmaidens fought him, but I didn¡¯t know it until now because they just told me.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I thought about it, ¡°does he hold a grudge?¡±


    She frowned, ¡°Some of the past Bloodmaidens say yes, others, no.¡±


    In my spybot¡¯s stream, Duke Metzul turned to Adam, his voice quiet, but loud enough that everyone in sight turned, asking, ¡°Where is the enemy?¡±

 Courtesy: Part 17

    Face hidden within his billowing, black cloak, the quaver in Adam¡¯s voice didn¡¯t quite match his ominous look, ¡°It¡¯s almost everywhere. The spores convert people from allies to minions of the¡­ fungus brain.¡±


    Duke Metzul waved him to silence, ¡°I understood that much from your summoning rhyme. I need specifics.¡±


    Brooke stepped out of the group of supers on the ground, her silver Xiniti-style armor hiding her features underneath form-fitting, constantly adjusting material.


    Briefly waving a circular portal into existence, she said, ¡°I can send you there.¡±


    The duke smiled, showing his teeth, ¡°Efficiency. I like it. I could use someone of your skills. Should you ever wish to live in Faerie, contact me. Dark Cloak will know how. You¡¯ll be appropriately compensated.¡±


    Brooke¡¯s costume couldn¡¯t hide her hesitation as she decided how to respond, ¡°Thanks for your offer. I don¡¯t anticipate needing to live in Faerie, but I¡­ appreciate the opportunity.¡±


    Metzul¡¯s smile widened, ¡°No one ever anticipates such a thing, but situations arise and I¡¯m always happy to assist¡ªand especially happy to assist those with talent.¡±


    Brooke nodded, ¡°Thank you.¡±


    A little behind her and to her right, Alex stood in his costume¡ªa white long coat over rigid silver material that suggested plate armor, making him a kind of cowboy knight. The rigidity of his normally expressive face suggested he might be reminding himself how stupid it would be to take issue with a fey duke¡¯s interest in his girlfriend.


    Metzul turned toward Alex, ¡°You¡¯re invited too if it comes to that, but never mind, I believe Dark Cloak has something to say.¡±


    Adam shook his head, ¡°No. I was merely hoping that you were prepared for the mushroom spores. That and given thought to the fact that you¡¯re fighting innocents.¡±


    Tilting his head in Adam¡¯s direction, Metzul said, ¡°There are no innocents, but I do take your point. Our opponents will be fighting unwillingly. There¡¯s little glory in killing such foes however entertaining it might be for the first few. Be assured that we¡¯ll be on our best behavior.


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    ¡°I have no wish for you to feel that I shirked my duty in fulfilling your boon. As such, I¡¯ve created a magical working that will assist in our mutual goals,¡± Metzul stopped, waving his his hand over not only his troops, but also the assembled supers.


    Sparkling bits of darkness flew from his hands as he said a word and raised his arms. They landed not only on his assembled host, but on the gathered supers, many of whom looked down at their bodies and at the people around them.


    I¡¯d never stopped to wonder what evil fairy dust might look like, but this was probably it.


    Scowling, Sean looked up at Metzul, asking, ¡°What did you do?¡±


    Dayton put his hand on Sean¡¯s right shoulder, simultaneously seeming to support his friend, but also making it a little harder (but far from impossible) for Sean to do something stupid.


    Metzul regarded him with a half-smile, ¡°Protected you and all the rest from fungus¡ªat least for a time. I have no use for allies that might turn into enemies. Thanks to a touch of necromantic power, you¡¯ll now find that no spore can survive your presence. They¡¯ll die before they affect you. You¡¯ll even find that your touch will make them unravel¡ªnot instantly, but eventually.¡±


    Next to me on the rooftop, Amy stared down at the comm on her wrist, ¡°Wow. You have no idea how hard it would be to protect that many people. Necromantic energies aren¡¯t easy to work with. I don¡¯t know how I¡¯d do it without side effects.¡±


    On the screen, Metzul turned toward the assembled crowd, ¡°There is something I should mention. Though I doubt there will be any opportunity for such activities, I recommend against doing anything that might create children. You might find they have odd proclivities as adults.¡±


    In the midst of the crowd, Major Justice stared dully at Metzul. He wasn¡¯t the only one.


    ¡°Well,¡± Metzul turned toward Adam, ¡°I think it¡¯s time to send us into the Lion¡¯s Den. I believe we¡¯re to clear the way so that you can attack the center? At least that¡¯s what you said in the summoning. Let us handle this efficiently. Open the portal.¡±


    Brooke opened up a wide half-circle of shimmering power near the faerie host and Duke Metzul waved his hand toward it.


    With that, the host walked toward the portal, stepped inside and disappeared from the spybots¡¯ view. No matter what the size of the creature, they still slipped through, a property I felt sure that Brooke¡¯s portals didn¡¯t normally have.


    They reappeared in the street in front of City Hall. Whether elf, goblin, ogre, creature of shadows, or wingless dragon, they poured out of the relatively small hole in reality Brooke created.


    As they did, the troops sounded their horns.

 Courtesy: Part 18

    There weren¡¯t a lot of people on the streets¡ªmushroom-controlled people that is¡ªbut the people that were there stopped and stared.


    I mean, sort of. With mushroom flesh covering their faces, they had no eyes or ears, merely slick skin. They pointed their heads at the fairy horde emerging from the portal and froze. Then as one, they retreated into City Hall, the parking garage, or any of the half-a-dozen office buildings nearby.


    I wondered for a second if this meant that they still felt fear, but couldn¡¯t help but note that they¡¯d disappeared as one, meaning that if they did, they had to wait for orders to express it.


    My next thought was surprise that the forces of fungus were offering no resistance to our allies and that calling in Adam¡¯s favor might have been a mistake, but I needn¡¯t have worried.


    I¡¯d noticed before that the ornate, 19th-century buildings and roads around City Hall all had an overlay of mushroom skin on them and that the buildings grew tendrils much like those I¡¯d seen back at the park. I also knew that spores had been raining all over the city and that we were now at the center of the fungus¡¯ organization.


    So, it didn¡¯t surprise me that they had more defenses than were obvious, but the timing and speed of response? That did surprise me.


    The slick flesh on the ground turned into tendrils that grabbed at legs. Distorted four-legged forms formed out of the flesh on the walls of buildings. While loosely shaped like animals, my sensors showed they were entirely fungus all the way through.


    Hunter stuck to shapes that resembled natural creatures or creatures from mythology. The sinuous movements of these creatures seemed better fitted to creatures with no bones inside, only harder or softer mushroom flesh.


    I remembered back to how Hunter said that the creatures could evolve, wondering if he¡¯d been correct or if they were shedding human expectations, and bit by bit becoming the creatures Hunter¡¯s powers had been shaped by.


    At the same time, the tendrils on City Hall and the buildings around it had begun to fire spores at them, but instead of firing the spores individually, they fired globules a foot across that burst into spores, making me think of snow.


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    Within less than three seconds of the fairy host appearing, they¡¯d gone from facing no resistance to becoming stalled in their tracks, peppered with spores, and seeing a host of fungus creatures advancing on them.


    I felt Daniel¡¯s concern through our link. Izzy turned toward the rest of the group, about to ask if we were going to help. Amy, however, smirked, knowing or noticing something that those of us without magic couldn¡¯t.


    I zoomed in on the fey host, trying to figure out what I¡¯d missed¡ªI had missed a lot.


    Even as I zoomed in, I realized that the whole host still sparkled with the silver and black of evil fairy dust. The tendrils grabbed and hung on, but at the first they froze for a moment, sometimes allowing the goblin to get away. Even if the tendril did hang on despite whatever stopped them, they kept on adjusting, as if trying to find a more comfortable spot.


    They couldn¡¯t hold on to the horses, the dragon-like reptiles or any of the larger beasts. They¡¯d pull out of the tendrils'' grip one way or another.


    Even the goblins found that when they grabbed the tendrils with their hands, the tendrils tried to squirm away. The goblins weren¡¯t stupid. They grabbed the tendrils wrapped around their legs and as the tendrils squirmed they pulled away.


    As for the spores falling like early November snowflakes? Instead of attaching to the goblins¡¯ clothes and growing to cover them, the spores seemed to shrink and fall to the ground. Even with zoom it was hard to tell precisely why, but necromancy allowed a wizard to manipulate life and unlife from what I understood. If there was such a thing as ¡°life force,¡± the evil sparkles must have been sucking it out of the spores.


    I was fine with that. It meant that they had a chance to survive¡ªat least until the spell ended.


    Aloud I said, ¡°Did the Duke say how long the spell would last?¡±


    Below us enough of the army was free that they were turning to engage the mushroom creatures surrounding them. The dragon-like reptiles tore into their opponents, ripping limb from limb or even bodies in two.


    Not seeing any blood, I could live with that.


    Daniel turned away from the scene below, ¡°I didn¡¯t hear him say a time limit. I¡¯m guessing until we win, but hopefully not much longer.¡±


    ¡°Hoping for victory sex?¡± Amy grinned, looking from Daniel to Izzy.


    Izzy glanced toward Amy, ¡°He didn¡¯t cast it on us. We weren¡¯t there.¡±


    Amy held up her left hand, the one that wasn¡¯t carrying a spear, ¡°Look at each other and then look at yourselves.¡±


    She was right. Even as she said it a silver and black sparkle appeared next to her face and winked out.I¡¯d been focused on the battle and hadn¡¯t noticed them spontaneously appearing and disappearing around all of us.


    ¡°Duke Metzul only gets to stay a Duke because he¡¯s powerful,¡± Amy said. ¡°We¡¯ll want to be very polite and very thankful after this is over--assuming we win.¡±


    ¡°Hey, everybody,¡± Jaclyn said over the comm, ¡°Hal thinks we should give them thirty seconds and portal to the door of City Hall.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 19

    ¡°That works for me,¡± I said. ¡°Is Hal saying we all go in at once?¡±


    Jaclyn¡¯s words came out in a rush, ¡°Not exactly. He thinks one group goes in hard and fast to attract attention. Another goes in quietly. A third stays in position here so Portal can move people in to help as needed.¡±


    Remembering what Brooke had said earlier about not being able to teleport inside City Hall thanks to interference, that meant as close as people could get.


    ¡°I assume we¡¯re going in hard and fast?¡± We seemed like good candidates. Even though Daniel wasn¡¯t in the rest of our group¡¯s league physically, we knew we¡¯d be facing a telepath and there, at least, he was an 800 pound gorilla.


    I felt his worry as he thought at me, Bouman¡¯s been run through a power impregnator in addition to being able to use the fungus¡¯ collective mind. He might be King Kong these days.


    You¡¯re still more skilled, I told him.


    He took a breath and looked down at the battle in front of City Hall, Let¡¯s hope so.


    ¡°The four of you plus Justice Fist and me. Hal chose the teams. We¡¯ll join you at City Hall,¡± Jaclyn said.


    All of us looked at each other. I couldn¡¯t deny that we might need more people, but in terms of working together seamlessly, Justice Fist wouldn¡¯t be my first choice.


    As we¡¯d talked, Duke Metzul¡¯s forces had managed to spread out, engaging the fungus army as they edged closer to City Hall. If they could take the area around it, we wouldn¡¯t have to deal with enemies coming at us from behind.


    Over the comm, Izzy asked, ¡°Does everyone have paralysis guns in their armor? They should be our first choice on the people absorbed into the mushroom¡­ collective.¡±


    I answered, ¡°Yes. They won¡¯t do much to any supers, but normal people won¡¯t have protection against it¡ªthough cops might.¡±


    ¡°Portal¡¯s sending us over right now,¡± Jaclyn said.


    We all took to the air as Daniel thought at me, Futures are generally more positive if they¡¯re with us, but they¡¯re definitely worse if they join the general melee outside City Hall or are part of the group that¡¯s sneaking in.


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    I sent back, It sounds like they¡¯re with us because they¡¯ll cause the least damage. Great.


    It took only seconds to fly to City Hall, finding that the doors were open and that Jaclyn and Justice Fist had stepped inside.


    We landed and followed them in. City Hall had been designed in the Neo-Gothic style. I couldn¡¯t tell you the characteristics of it if you put a gun to my head, but on a practical level in meant lots of arches, tall, thin windows, and lines.


    The tile floor had Grand Lake¡¯s city seal (complete with a motto in Latin) in the middle of the entry hallway. I¡¯d never learned what the city motto meant or why the designer thought everyone entering the building needed to both see the city¡¯s seal and step on it.


    The city motto means ¡®Stepping boldly forward.¡¯ Daniel told me.


    Onto the seal or into the lake? I thought back. He shrugged, but didn¡¯t reply. We did have better things to do than make fun of the trappings of government.


    All the same, it did explain the shoes on the seal even if it didn¡¯t explain where they were stepping boldly to.


    Not that it mattered.


    What mattered was that a thin gray film covered the floor, growing thicker the deeper we walked into the building. Jaclyn turned back to address Izzy, ¡°Hey Blue, which way to the second brain?¡±


    Izzy looked down toward the the floor, turning her head as if seeing through it to the other side¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t far from the truth. When Izzy looked up, she said, ¡°Both of the two bottom levels are almost solid with fungus. One of them connects to the parking garage, extending into its lowest levels. They look the same.¡±


    Nodding, Jaclyn said, ¡°I thought we might be fighting our way through.¡±


    A voice came from further down the hall, ¡°Please don¡¯t. I think we can work this out without more fighting.¡±


    Thin and over six feet tall, the man in the blue suit made me think of a giraffe. While he wasn¡¯t eating leaves from the tops of trees, his head was level with mine while wearing the Rocket suit.


    While I didn¡¯t know him, my implant did and supplied a name (Scott Walters) and an occupation (City Manager). My implant had apparently been picking up background information while I read the local news.


    Jody looked over to Dayton and Sean, ¡°Who¡¯s that guy?¡±


    For a moment, I thought that Scott might have gotten away without being absorbed into the fungus. That impression ended when, rather than walk, Scott slid down the hall, stopping in front of the group.


    Though it hadn¡¯t been visible from a distance, a thin layer of mushroom skin covered his face.


    In a way it made me respect him more. At least he didn¡¯t choose to work with it.


    Jody stepped back as he got close, telling Sean, ¡°I don¡¯t trust this guy.¡±


    Scott looked over us, ¡°I understand. I¡¯m not what you expected to see. The collective consciousness sent me to talk to you. Perhaps we¡¯ll be able to negotiate an end to these hostilities. I think there must be a deal that we can make.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 20

    My first instinct was to tell him that I doubted it strongly, that the fungus was a parasite that was warping his perception of the world, and that he wouldn¡¯t look back on what he was doing right now with pride later.


    Daniel, though, told me, Let¡¯s see where this goes. We heard Bouman. How much independence of thought do they have? Are they still individuals but now they want to preserve the fungus or is it a hive mind? Talking will let me feel him out mentally.


    Okay, I thought back at him, but we can¡¯t let it stall us.


    Agreed, Daniel thought back, but said, ¡°What kind of deal are you looking for? From what I¡¯ve seen, the collective consciousness doesn¡¯t take no for an answer¡ªwhich means trusting you to keep your end of the bargain is difficult.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t exactly politely ask if the city wanted to become part of your collective before spreading yourself everywhere,¡± I said.


    Jody blurred, moving forward to stand next to Daniel and I, ¡°You¡¯re not seriously going to try to negotiate with it, are you?¡±


    Sean put his hand on Jody¡¯s shoulder, ¡°I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re doing, but we should let them.¡±


    Behind me, Amy typed, ¡°I don¡¯t trust it either, but if this means we don¡¯t have to fight it all the way down, let¡¯s try it,¡± into the League channel.


    Scott said, ¡°I understand your hesitation, but try to see it from the collective¡¯s point of view. From the moment we came into being, you humans attempted to destroy us. Taking your city isn¡¯t aggression for us, but self-defense and it¡¯s temporary. We¡¯ve only taken your city to keep ourselves alive. You won¡¯t destroy your own people and we¡¯ll only stay within them if there¡¯s nowhere else to go. Once we¡¯re free to live, we will leave them.¡±


    As Scott talked, Jody glanced down at the screen on his forearm. It seemed to have been designed with a privacy screen¡ªwhich was a good thought.


    If he¡¯d read what Amy wrote, that decided him, he took a step back.


    As for myself, I had to admit that Scott had a point even if it was delivered to his brain in the service of an organism that for all that it might might think itself persecuted had only ever attacked human beings except when it possessed them.


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    ¡°Scott,¡± I said, ¡°you manage this city normally. What would your advice be if you weren¡¯t part of the¡­ group mind?¡±


    I felt a little fear from Daniel. He¡¯d probably intended to dance around the question of how influenced the guy was. If the Fungus Central Command decided to give up on us, we would end up fighting our way through. At the same time I also felt some curiosity. This is one thing we both wanted to know. What was our chance of getting at the human underneath the fungus? The right answer might make this easier.


    Scott didn¡¯t show any hint of indecision or doubt, ¡°I¡¯d tell you to cooperate. We just want to live. We mean you no harm.¡±


    Izzy shook her head, ¡°Are you sure? Could the fungus leave your mind alone for a little while and let the person inside talk?¡±


    Scott turned to stare at her, ¡°There is no way to do that right now, but be assured that I¡¯m still myself.¡±


    We¡¯d walked down the hall and Scott stopped at a spot where the hallway widened into a alcove where two elevators and the entrance to a stairwell each had their own wall.


    Scott stopped next to the door to the the stairwell, ¡°The elevators don¡¯t presently work. You¡¯ll have to take the stairway.¡±


    Remembering more than one running battle in a stairway over the last few years, I almost wanted to say no, but on the whole, I¡¯d rather fight on a stairway than in an elevator shaft.


    I thought over at Daniel, Do our odds get worse if we follow him down the stairway?


    No, he thought back, but the odds of Team Hidden getting in go up somehow.


    I wasn¡¯t sure how, but if I could give Haley a better chance, I would. Aloud, I said, ¡°Great, I guess we¡¯ll have to take the stairway then. Uh¡­ What¡¯s wrong with the elevators?¡±


    Scott turned to look at me with an unblinking stare that didn¡¯t seem human at all, ¡°We needed a direct route up from the basement. The elevator shaft filled that need, but now there is too much matter inside and no room for the elevator car to run.¡±


    That was creepy¡ªnot to mention bad for the elevators¡¯ electronics, but we followed him into the stairwell.


    Nothing happened at all.


    We walked. We followed Scott into the basement and nothing attacked us. Did it feel creepy? Very. Whole rooms in the basement were devoted to grey biological matter. I couldn¡¯t guess its purpose.


    We made it to the end of the hall and Scott stepped through the steel doors. The room they opened into could have passed for a basement parking garage anywhere in the world¡ªconcrete, yellow lines, red exit signs pointing the direction out, and rows of parked cars.


    Where it differed from a normal parking garage was the way any city in the world differs from other cities¡ªthe people. Directly in front of us amid cars and mushroom matter stood four people in superhero costumes. One of them was Grand Lake¡¯s ex-mayor.


    Bouman turned to greet us, his smile still perfect, his face still handsome if now six years older, and his eyes covered in grey mushroom goo.


    Strands of mushroom flesh led from a mushroom covered wall to his body. He stared at us.

 Courtesy: Part 21

    ¡°Welcome to City Hall,¡± our ex-mayor said. ¡°I may have said those very words to two of you only a few years ago.¡±


    Daniel gave a short nod, ¡°I think you did. A few things have happened between now and then.¡±


    At that Bouman laughed, sounding like a normal human being. If there were some area of his mind that the fungus had warped, Bouman could still manage normal human responses.


    I checked out the other three supers and felt a little more sick at every single one. The first two were no surprise. I knew they were in the same unit as Bouman.


    Yellow Mask didn¡¯t have mushroom tendrils connecting her to the wall, but she did have a thin layer of mushroom skin on her face and exposed skin¡ªnot on the namesake yellow mask that covered her upper face.


    That led to a double take on my part. I¡¯d assumed that Yellow Mask was a guy, but I hadn¡¯t known. If I¡¯d made a quick call to Mateo (Blue Mask), he¡¯d likely have corrected me on that among other things.


    Her wide brimmed yellow hat and jacket made me think of Zorro and black and white movies about swashbucklers¡ªwhich meant she wasn¡¯t different from the other members of the Mask family in costuming.


    Next to her stood a creature best described as a yeti, a mountainous humanoid creature with white fur. The creature wore a white and blue leotard with a flag on it. I didn¡¯t know his codename, but I did know his real one¡ªLogan. He¡¯d used the Cabal¡¯s formula to release super powers and turned into this thing at our senior prom in high school.


    I¡¯d never seen him again, but I¡¯d heard he¡¯d been inducted into the military and it appeared to be true.


    The final member of the group made me think of Travis. Back when we¡¯d first fought the Cabal, their second in command inherited the title Prime. Travis had fought him and been hurt. We¡¯d made a deal with Prime to take what was left of their group and leave us alone for a year. After that, we expected them to come back, but they never did.


    I probably should have guessed what happened based on how we¡¯d found former Cabal soldiers working for different people over the years, some of them for the government, others for supervillains.


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    They must have gotten caught or fallen apart. However it happened, Prime was now on Bouman¡¯s team and standing in front of us almost exactly as I remembered him¡ªbald shaven, built like a weightlifter, and taller than the Rocket suit.


    He wore a blue costume with a flag on it like Logan and our ex-mayor. Also, much like the rest of his team, a thin layer of mushroom skin covered his own skin. I couldn¡¯t see his eyes.


    Bouman didn¡¯t look at us so far as I could tell since his eyes were hidden by mushroom flesh.


    All the same, he addressed us, ¡°It¡¯s been a long time and a great deal has happened to all of us. I confess that I don¡¯t recognize all of you. I remember the Rocket, the Mystic, and Accelerando, but I didn¡¯t know the rest of you at all until my mission briefing. Major Justice wasn¡¯t as thorough as I¡¯d like¡ªnot that it matters.


    ¡°I owe all of you, but not in a negative way. It¡¯s all positive. If I hadn¡¯t lost, I¡¯d still be working for the Cabal today. In a sense, I now owe you doubly. Not only did you defeat the Cabal, but coming here released me to help the collective just when it needed me most.¡±


    Part of me wondered if Bouman and Scott realized that they were talking like they¡¯d been assimilated into the Borg. It probably wasn¡¯t intentional. Neither Scott or the ex-mayor seemed likely to be Star Trek fans.


    Amy looked at Bouman, ¡°If you owe them, is there a chance that you¡¯ll gather up your assembled fungus creatures, leave, and politely let everyone go?¡±


    Behind me Dayton snorted. Through my HUD, I could see him cover his mouth. He¡¯d tried to muffle it and almost succeeded.


    Bouman smiled, ¡°As your friend guessed, I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t do that.I have responsibilities. As Scott told you, the collective minds we serve want to survive and they¡¯ve tasked me with getting them that chance.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m going to have to give you the chance to help me and if you do, I¡¯ll do my very best to help you. I know what you want. The government¡¯s activated human extinction protocols and even the Wizard¡¯s Council have gotten off their butts and decided to help. You want to stop us, to keep us in here until you can destroy us somehow. I¡¯m not sure how, but you¡¯re smart and well trained. I¡¯m sure you have a plan.


    ¡°You should be able to guess that we do too. We control almost everyone in this city now and the few we don¡¯t control, we can kill. I¡¯m asking you to release even the tiniest bit of us from the Council¡¯s wards. It doesn¡¯t have to be a person¡ªjust a bit of dust. We¡¯ll do the rest.


    ¡°In fact, we¡¯ll make it easy for you. We¡¯ll give you a hard fight, but lose. No one will ever have to know that you let us out. I can edit the memories of my friends to forget this deal and let the fungus kill me. Your hands will be clean.


    ¡°That¡¯s if you say yes. If you say no, we¡¯ll kill anyone of your families we can reach. Don¡¯t forget. Major Justice knew who you were and passed it off to the trustworthy. Others of you have never had a truly secret identity.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 22

    Sean¡¯s comm started ringing. He stared down at the screen. Thanks to the Rocket suit¡¯s sensors, I¡¯d zoomed in on the screen and read it before I even had time to consider the question of his privacy.


    It said, ¡°Mom.¡±


    Bouman nodded, ¡°You¡¯ll want to get that.¡±


    Sean all but snarled at him, ¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to do. You¡¯re trying to scare me. Mom¡¯s either one of you by now and she¡¯ll say anything or she¡¯s surrounded. Either way, I can¡¯t stop you from doing whatever you want to her, but if you kill her, you don¡¯t have any hold on me at all.¡±


    Out of place with the threat, Bouman¡¯s tone was calm, ¡°That¡¯s true, but we can kill her to prove that we¡¯re serious and then move on to someone else, someone who cares.¡±


    At that, Sean¡¯s fists clenched and his body began to shake as if he didn¡¯t know what to do next, attack, run to save her or answer the call.


    Dayton put his hand on Sean¡¯s shoulder, muttering, ¡°You¡¯re doing the right thing.¡±


    Bits of concrete fell from above us¡ªnot big pieces, dust and bits no larger than a quarter. I understood why without even thinking about it. The garage was built from concrete strengthened with metal¡ªwhich Sean¡¯s magnetic powers affected.


    ¡°Calm down, big guy,¡± Dayton continued.


    Jody stared up at the ceiling, his body blurring around the edges, saying what everyone had to be thinking, ¡°Dude, we¡¯re in here.¡±


    At about the same time, Daniel, whose mind was on other things, spoke into my head, I haven¡¯t been getting much through Bouman¡¯s mental shields. He¡¯s got a lot of power to work with now, but at this moment I¡¯m sensing emotional leakage. Even if you can¡¯t see it, he hates this. He doesn¡¯t want to be used this way. I¡¯m watching for an opening. I¡¯ll see what I can do if I get one.


    I wasn¡¯t sure that Daniel could realistically hope to telepathically outmaneuver a fully activated version of the Bouman¡¯s powers backed up by whatever he got out of the fungus, but if he thought so, he had a reason. Good luck, I thought back.


    I hope luck won¡¯t be a factor, Daniel thought back.


    Just past Daniel, Izzy glanced up at the ceiling¡ªprobably checking its integrity. She muttered something to Jaclyn who shook her head.


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    ¡°You know,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°if you get the Power so worked up that he accidentally pulls City Hall down on us, the Fungus Collective will have to get a new publicist and whoever it is probably won¡¯t be as good at it.¡±


    Bouman cracked a smile, ¡°You make a good point. We¡¯re here to make a deal after all. Think of what I just said as an illustration of the fact that we¡¯re serious. We don¡¯t have any wish to harm anyone, but we want to survive. Help us survive and we¡¯ll be good to you too.¡±


    At that, Sean¡¯s comm stopped ringing. The best case scenario there was that Sean¡¯s mom was no longer under threat, but more likely, she¡¯d been taken. Now that having her call Sean didn¡¯t help, she¡¯d been told to stop and all that mattered was serving the fungus.


    It also told me that the fungus had an efficient communication system, reacting as if one organism even from a distance.


    Though useful to know, that wasn¡¯t the biggest question on my mind. We needed to decide what we were going to do next. Our goal was to be obvious and distract so that Team Hidden could get in and put Alex in place to wipe out the core and send the equivalent of self-destruct code. That would be easier if they could teleport in, something Bouman was likely preventing.


    Hopefully the self-destruct code would act instantly, but we probably shouldn¡¯t assume.


    As I thought that through, Amy and Jaclyn kept up the distraction. Amy seemed to be doing most of the talking¡ªwhich made even more sense when you knew that she¡¯d been raised in a royal family with a worldwide empire on her home world. Of course, the hundreds of previous lives she had access to, all of which were spent hunting monsters that threatened humanity, might have been even more relevant.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to have to sweeten the pot on this deal,¡± Amy said. ¡°You get to survive, but how do we know that you won¡¯t show up a few days later and start this all over somewhere else? We can¡¯t let you take overa city like this again. How do we know that you won¡¯t?¡±


    I missed Bouman¡¯s reply because Daniel spoke in my head, I¡¯ve got him. It¡¯s not perfect. It¡¯s an opening, not a knock out. It¡¯ll get me in the door to start the fight, but after that, I¡¯ll be too busy to fight physically. You¡¯ll have to keep me alive, but I think I can take out Bouman without killing him and maybe distract the whole organism.


    What are you going to do? I thought back.


    It¡¯s complicated and impossible to explain if you¡¯re not telepath, but we¡¯ll just say that Bouman¡¯s strength is massive, but he¡¯s still self-taught and there are chinks in his armor, among them, his guilt. I see where the fungus connects to him telepathically and I think I can camouflage a bomb as his thoughts and send it through him.


    Interesting idea, I thought, how?


    You, kind of, he said, I made a ¡°recording¡± of you when you were feeling down and telepathically painful to be near. Technically, it¡¯s a combination of you and Lee. I¡¯ll drop a bit of mind-altering elder god madness into the fungus¡¯ brain hidden under a layer of angst. It will have no choice but deal with it. The only question is when to do it.


    Knowing that I¡¯d weaponized my thoughts before, I decided not to complain that Daniel was.


    I¡¯ll check how Haley¡¯s doing, I said.

 Courtesy: Part 23

    I used my implant to connect to our comm channel, asking, ¡°Night Cat, how close are you to being in position?¡±


    ¡°Pretty close,¡± Haley said. ¡°I don¡¯t think that we¡¯re dead center, but we¡¯re maybe a floor away. After that we¡¯ll have to move inward.¡±


    I checked her camera. Through a silver haze that made me think of a camera filter, I saw a concrete ceiling and floor, parked cars, and grayish-white masses joined together by runners that crossed under the cars and over concrete barriers.


    I didn¡¯t see any people, but the masses had grey tendrils like all the other tendrils we¡¯d seen.


    ¡°If you can bring down the teleportation block,¡± Haley continued, ¡°Portal can send Paladin any time.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re about to try that,¡± I said. ¡°The Mystic¡¯s about to implant a recording of my brain and Lee¡¯s into the fungus¡¯ consciousness. So, it might go crazy. Also, I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve been listening in, but it¡¯s likely that the Power¡¯s mother is in some level of danger and so is anyone else whose parents are in reach of the fungus.


    ¡°It might get really weird and bad soon.¡±


    Haley frowned, ¡°Do you have any ideas that won¡¯t make it weird and bad?¡±


    I considered that, responding with, ¡°Weird and bad is as good as it gets. What¡¯s with the fuzz around you?¡±


    ¡°Dark Cloak. It¡¯s not as good as invisibility, but we used that earlier. This is close,¡± she paused and added, ¡°good luck. Stay safe.¡±


    I almost pointed out that it was too late to stay safe, but I¡¯d try to stay alive¡ªexcept then I thought about Travis. I said, ¡°I¡¯ll do my best. You stay safe.¡±


    We left it there. The channel had to stay open. Besides, the whole point of our group was making so much noise that they were left alone.


    I told Daniel, It sounds like you can drop it in whenever it works best for you, but giving them warning would probably be good.


    I felt Daniel extend his connection to everyone in sight¡ªIzzy, Jaclyn, and Amy¡ªI¡¯m about to drop a kind of psychic bomb into the Fungus Collective through Bouman. Be ready.


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    I felt everyone¡¯s assent and spoke into the general comm channel, ¡°We¡¯re about to release the bomb.¡±


    From Marcus¡¯ camera, I could see Haley tense. At the same time, Bouman was saying, ¡°¡­ There¡¯s no way to trust anyone completely, but you can trust us. Our will to survive will force us to keep your secret. Above all else, we don¡¯t want to be destroyed and we know now that you humans will stop at nothing to defend yourselves¡ª¡°


    That was the moment when I felt careful concentration from Daniel followed by relief. I didn¡¯t need to hear his whispered thought, It¡¯s in, but it did avoid ambiguity.


    Not that there was any ambiguity in what came next.


    It was funny in a way. I¡¯d used the alien nature of certain elements of my consciousness to hurt telepaths before, but I didn¡¯t have the control to point it where it needed to go.


    Daniel knew what he was doing. The biggest effect I¡¯d ever managed out of exposing a telepath to my mind on my own was shock, pain, and distraction. With Daniel¡¯s help, I¡¯d left a telepath unconscious, drooling, and out of the fight.


    This was somewhere in between.


    As Bouman talked to Amy, his jaw dropped and he stared into space for a moment before shaking his head. Pointing his mushroom flesh covered eyes in Daniel¡¯s direction, Bouman said, ¡°That felt strange. Did you do something?¡±


    Daniel¡¯s eyes gave our former mayor a quick once over, ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you mean. What happened?¡±


    Nearby, Yellow Mask moved her rapier into position in front of her as the massive, white furred form of Logan and the Cabal¡¯s former leader, Prime, came to attention. All three of them looked around with their mushroom flesh covered eyes, seemingly aware that something had happened, but not knowing what.


    Bouman ignored Daniel¡¯s question, turning his head slowly until he stared sightlessly at me, ¡°Did you do something?¡±


    At the same time, I felt light mental touches to my consciousness¡ªthe kind where the telepath is scouting the brain¡¯s defenses, but isn¡¯t yet trying to get in.


    I said, ¡°If you mean, did I do something to you? I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t have mental powers.¡±


    As I said it, I concentrated, using one of the skills I¡¯d been learning from Kee. Though Daniel had long ago set up defenses in my brain, this tapped into energies that I had access to as a ¡°baby¡± Artificer, making interacting with my mind uncomfortable for human telepaths.


    Daniel glanced my way as I did it, feeling something even though my brain didn¡¯t react to him as an intruder.


    Bouman, however, shuddered, jerking himself backward as if he¡¯d touched a hot stove burner. The mental touches stopped.


    Then he said, ¡°You¡¯ve changed a little since we¡¯ve last met. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing, but if this is the precursor to some attack, you need to remember what I said before. We control the city. Attack us and we¡¯ll attack you and everyone you care about.¡±


    Then he and his entire team started screaming uncontrollably while the mounds of mushroom flesh in the garage near us quivered, tendrils waving in spasms.


    For an instant, I wondered if my defense had hurt Bouman, passing along the pain to the creature he served, but then I realized the obvious¡ªDaniel¡¯s poison pill had made it into the Fungus Collective¡¯s mind.


    Time to build on the distraction. Haley¡¯s team needed all the help they could get.

 Courtesy: Part 24

    In my HUD, the screens from Haley¡¯s team showed similar scenes. The tendrils extending from the fleshy mushroom masses waved and jerked around spastically¡ªso much so that I wondered if the shock of Daniel¡¯s attack was making things better or not.


    Sure, the Fungus Collective might not be able to concentrate, but on the other hand, some of those tendrils were as thick as small trees and many of the people on Team Hidden weren¡¯t physically more powerful than a normal human.


    Still, many were and Haley waved the group forward toward the center of the organism¡¯s being. Weaving through the extended tendrils, they seemed to be doing okay.


    No doubt being in the center of Adam¡¯s ¡°Someone Else¡¯s Problem¡± field helped.


    I didn¡¯t have time to keep on watching, though, because we had our own problems.


    The nearby masses of mushroom flesh broke apart, turning into roughly human-shaped tendril creatures. Wobbling and sometimes falling over, they came at us as if they were the Keystone Cops.


    What acting like someone¡¯s drunken fungus uncles lost them in menace, they made up with sheer numbers. They came from all directions including forming out of the floor, the walls, and falling down from the ceiling.


    They dropped on me or at least tried to. I didn¡¯t notice in time to get out of the way. Anyway, there wasn¡¯t a direction to go to that didn¡¯t have fungus dropping from the ceiling.


    I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything about it if I¡¯d relied purely on my physical reaction time. Thanks to integrating my suit and implant, I could react with a thought. I fired off a single boombot into the mass of tendrils dropping from above.


    A boombot couldn¡¯t pack much in the way of explosives, but the most recent batch included charges with configurable shaping. This one directed the blast parallel to the ceiling, blasting the fungus above me into burned bits of itself and scouring the rest of the ceiling and upper walls of mushroom.


    It also left greasy burn marks across this section of the room, but I¡¯d kept the property damage to a minimum so far.


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    I supposed there was still time for us to accidentally bring down the whole complex¡ªCity Hall, the county and federal buildings next to it as well as the parking garage.


    A glance around the room showed that everyone else had also been busy. Two tendril monsters had fallen toward Daniel except that he¡¯d telekinetically knocked them upward at the moment my boombot exploded.


    Jaclyn and Izzy had punched an unknown number hard enough that they exploded into parts. The cars in that section of the garage were coated in ripped and splattered fungus bits. I found it interesting that, unlike the ones in the park, they hadn¡¯t exploded into spores.


    On the other hand, why would they need to do that at the center of the organism?


    As for Justice Fist? They¡¯d been efficient. Sean had used a bunch of ball bearing from a pouch in his uniform as a kind of chainsaw, turning the nearest tendril monsters into shreds. Dayton and Jody had pulled out knives¡ªfor Dayton two of them and Jody only one, but Jody¡¯s was a blur.


    While Dayton dodged, cut, and weaved, jumping off walls to change direction, Jody blurred, cutting off pieces of whatever he was fighting and moving out of the way before it could respond.


    Their knives had an odd sheen around the edges similar to Cassie¡¯s sword. I hadn¡¯t made those knives or been asked for a design. I knew that Rook had reverse engineered them. Had anyone else?


    Not that I could complain about them being useful in this situation, but, I didn¡¯t love the idea of having one in Jody¡¯s hands even if he was on my side.


    As all that was going on, Amy stabbed a tendril monster with her spear causing it to shrivel up and harden, turning black in the spot she hit.


    As she pulled back her spear and stabbed a new target, I found that two tendril monsters had grabbed me, getting a hold of my legs and arms. I used my laser to cut it in two, starting from a quarter of the way up its body.


    Half of its upper body fell off, blackened and burning, and the rest of it fell the other way, some of the severed tendrils rolling away.


    As for the other tendril monster, I stepped backward, pulling my arm upward, and yanking the tendril monster toward me as I changed devices, targeting it with a narrowcast sonic attack.


    I¡¯d only used it as an experiment because I didn¡¯t want to get stuck using the laser all the time, but it worked better than expected. Unlike the laser, it didn¡¯t instantly take the creature out.


    It did turn the section where it hit into a dark, mushy circle leaking fluid. As it fell forward, I gave it a kick, separating its lower half from its upper half, spattering my leg and the floor with gray-green fluid.


    Then Dayton stepped in, cutting it in two with his knife. The fluid splashed out onto the floor as Dayton jumped away toward another.


    Bouman, Prime, Logan, and Yellow Mask didn¡¯t move during any of it, staring into space as the less complicated creatures charged in.


    I supposed it made sense. The Fungus Collective might well be struggling to keep control of them while Daniel¡¯s attack rattled its concentration. Could we shatter it?

 Courtesy: Part 25

    And how would we do it if we could? All of these fleshy masses around us had to be part of the core of the organism. If we could cause massive damage to core systems, that would tend to throw the larger system out of whack.


    Even if it didn¡¯t work, it seemed like the kind of thing might make it easier for Haley and company.


    Over the comm, I said, ¡°The big masses look like parts of the Fungus Collective¡¯s internal systems. If we cause massive damage to them, we might free Bouman¡¯s team and maybe people in the city. So maybe we go all out on them?¡±


    I got that out as more tendril monsters formed out of mushroom flesh from deeper in the room¡ªcloser to the parking garage itself.


    As I fired at the oncoming horde with the laser, Jaclyn blurred, turning more into splattered parts, but also saying, ¡°Unless the teleportation block is down¡­ Is it?¡±


    In the brief pause that followed, Izzy took out three tendril monsters with the same punch, following it up with a targeted scream that caused two more to explode.


    The sound of Brooke¡¯s breathing came over the comm, ¡°Not yet. I tried. It¡¯s not as solid.¡±


    A glance at Bouman showed sweat on his cheek despite the addition of mushroom flesh. He was breathing heavily too, most likely because he¡¯d been resisting her attempt, but maybe because he¡¯d also been trying to free himself.


    I took the fact that there were now so many tendril monsters filling the parking garage as a kind of endorsement of my plan. If the Fungus Collective was comfortable with being here, would they be throwing their troops at us like this? I doubted it.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s a good idea,¡± Daniel said over the comm, throwing a group of tendril monsters into the ceiling with enough force to embed bits of them in the concrete while the rest fell to the floor. Letting out a breath, he added, ¡°It leads to better options.¡±


    ¡°Then let¡¯s do it,¡± Jaclyn said, turning a line of tendril monsters into splatters without even being slowed by their attempts to grab her.


    ¡°Cool,¡± I said. I¡¯d been scanning the room for hints of heat, electrical impulses or other cues as to where the most activity was and where it was moving.


    Heat turned out to be the biggest clue. It wasn¡¯t much, but it made the groups of root-like tendrils linking the larger masses more obvious. The bundles of long white threads became larger as they went further in the direction of the main garage.


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    ¡°We should focus on everything in that direction,¡± I said, burning down a few tendril monsters that had formed out of the floor by way of illustration.


    The larger room ahead of us appeared to be nothing but fleshy masses and tendril monsters now.


    I hoped we didn¡¯t get tired out before it was over. Daniel had been doing a lot. I could feel that I¡¯d been active even with the Rocket suit doing most of the work. Even Izzy and Jaclyn would get tired eventually.


    The fact that the tendril monsters still stumbled and didn¡¯t quite seem all there didn¡¯t change how many of them there were.


    Still, if we could make it easier for Haley¡¯s team to get Alex in, it would all be worth it. I just had to remember that this was a marathon and not a sprint while also remembering not to be too stingy to make a splash.


    ¡°I¡¯m starting the barrage,¡± I thought into my implant¡ªwhich reproduced it over the comm as I let fly with a series of boombots.


    I aimed the bots to allow Izzy and Jaclyn to get into position as easily as possible, going for the cluster of tendril monsters that blocked us from the main area of the room.


    Our section stood just off the main area. All of the parking spots were marked ¡°Reserved for City Hall Staff.¡± The opening between the two sections was wide enough for two large cars to pass through, but full of tendril monsters and an oozing fleshy mass.


    My bots turned that doorway into a circle of fire, burning the tendril monsters into ash-covered humanoid sculptures. I¡¯d shot five boombots into the fleshy mass, configuring the blast shapes so that the majority of the creature would fly away from us.


    I was more successful than expected. The mass did more than explode. It disintegrated and not into dust. It disintegrated into chunks that ranged in size from ground meat bits to fist-sized, some of them embedding themselves into the walls, others hitting tendril monsters that happened to be behind the mass, sometimes going straight through the monster.


    It also ended any streak I might have had at avoiding property damage, hitting more than one car in the garage with enough force to shatter windows, dent the body, and start car alarms.


    One of the damaged cars was a red Corvette. Multiple fist-sized chunks had embedded themselves in the fiberglass body. I felt bad about that one, but given the circumstances, insurance probably covered the damage.


    In the end, it was only a car.


    I wouldn¡¯t be able to use bots like that without running out before I wanted to, but it made for an intimidating opening on the main room. The Fungus Collective couldn¡¯t ignore this, could it?


    Izzy made it into the gap without me having to suggest it and screamed into the main room. I¡¯d seen her scream and destroy a building¡¯s structural integrity, but her control had gotten better since then¡ªwhich was good given that we were underground.


    With all of the tendril monsters and masses of mushroom flesh in the room, it was impossible for her to miss. Her scream was a sonic attack, but one that made my sonics look underpowered. Even controlled, the blast created a line through the middle of the room. In that line, nothing survived, the tendril monsters darkening to mushy goo as the sound pounded them.


    While still dying, the fleshy masses did better, their exposed flesh turning to goo, but the opposite side was solid. That said, the closest ones were annihilated, exploding into wet chunks, mushroom juice dripping on the floor.


    In that moment, I felt hope. We might be able to win this thing outright.

 Courtesy: Part 26

    That hope only grew as Daniel, Amy, and Jaclyn moved in behind us. Daniel stood next to me but turned around as if deciding that someone needed to be watching Bouman and the others directly.


    Sean and the others joined us, Dayton and Jody (with knives ready) choosing to stand with Daniel¡ªwhich was a good choice since more tendril monsters were entering from Bouman¡¯s side of the room.


    Amy stood to my right, but standing with her back to me, able to easily check both the room we might enter and the one we might leave.


    Jaclyn ran into the room as Izzy finished her scream, her arms a blur, punching tendril monsters into the monsters behind them with enough force that both monsters shattered, and parts of their bodies embedded themselves in the row behind that.


    Having taken out the front line of tendril monsters in a blur, she turned around when she reached Izzy¡¯s line of destruction. Having hit the easiest part of their front line, she started on the harder part¡ªthe blocky masses whose purpose we didn¡¯t yet know.


    As she did, Sean¡¯s floating circle of ball bearings flew forward, already spinning, toward the right side of the room, avoiding both Izzy and Jaclyn¡¯s areas of mass destruction.


    It was every bit as effective as it had been earlier, hitting the tendril monsters with a whir that made me think of a circular saw.


    That¡¯s not to say that the tendril monsters weren¡¯t trying to avoid the curved, metal line bearing down upon them. As if controlled by a central mind that wanted to test all the available options, some ducked under. Others extended their tendrils to stick to the ceiling and pull themselves above the line.


    The group that wasn¡¯t immediately next to the circling line of metal darted forward as one, trying to get around Sean¡¯s wheel of death before he could stop them.


    It turned out though, that all those years in the Stapledon program had done Sean some good. He adjusted the path of the swirling ball bearings into two separate circles, catching the ones on the ceiling and the floor simultaneously.


    Fungus bits rained down from the ceiling and sprayed across the floor¡ªand that didn¡¯t just include the tendril monsters. He also hit one of the masses.


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    The ball bearings had simply chewed through the tendril monsters, severing tendrils, and throwing pieces in all directions. With the first fleshy mass, the ball bearings hit with a grinding noise that made me think of a lawnmower hitting something hard.


    Whatever that one was made out of was tougher, but it didn¡¯t last. The pitch of the grinding noise moved up a few notches and I heard a popping noise, followed by a splash as a greenish-black liquid poured out of the mass.


    Then it began jerking around as if in pain and not just that mass, but also a few more of the closest behind it. Along with that came a sound somewhere between a rasp and a scream that wasn¡¯t loud, but seemed to come from all directions.


    Next to me, Amy said, ¡°That¡¯s done it. They¡¯re going to send everything they can now.¡±


    Her voice sounded distant and she stared at Bouman and the others behind us in the side room. I couldn¡¯t help but think about the faint grey sheen to her skin.


    The whole point of her powers was absorbing and using her enemies¡¯ powers against them, but I knew that could go wrong.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± If Bouman or maybe the Fungus Collective was getting into her head, I wanted to do something about it.


    ¡°Give me a second,¡± she said, her voice no longer dreamy, ¡°I¡¯ve almost got them out.¡±


    Guessing what she meant by that, I was willing to give her time. Unfortunately, optimism wasn¡¯t the only reason, I chose to give her the benefit of the doubt.


    Even though Sean hadn¡¯t done a bad job in his attack, the group of tendril monsters that had tried to go around his circle of ball bearings succeeded. The difficulty of getting through the fleshy mass'' armor along with splitting the circles into high and low had given them time.


    I hadn¡¯t missed it either. I¡¯d been firing lasers into them the moment I noticed they were making a break for it, even during my conversation with Amy.


    Unfortunately, waving the beam across the group wasn¡¯t as good as Sean¡¯s ball bearings or Izzy¡¯s scream. I cut through them, but I couldn¡¯t cut through as many at a time.


    Fortunately, I wasn¡¯t the only one who¡¯d noticed. Izzy moved to the side of the doorway, saying, ¡°I¡¯m moving right,¡± and shooting upward, flying over my laser and Sean¡¯s view of the scene.


    Then she screamed again, moving her head from the right to the left, and splattering the front line of the advance into the tendril monsters behind them.


    She couldn¡¯t go all out without shattering concrete, but this was good. Even seeing more tendril monsters pouring out of the stairway on the other side of the parking garage, I knew that we at least wouldn¡¯t be overwhelmed in the next few seconds.


    As Izzy¡¯s scream came to a close, Amy smiled and said, ¡°Got them.¡±


    At that moment, the mushroom strands holding Bouman in place released him. Even stranger, the mushroom flesh over Bouman and the rest of his team thinned, literally pulling itself off of their faces.


    For the first time, they¡¯d lost most of the grayish tinge to their skins and I could see everyone¡¯s eyes¡ªBouman¡¯s, Yellow Mask¡¯s, Logan¡¯s, and Prime¡¯s.


    With that, Prime looked around as if seeing all of this for the first time, his eyes falling on Daniel, myself, and Justice Fist.


    He raised his muscular arm to point a meaty hand at us, ¡°You!¡±

 Courtesy: Part 27

    That was not something I wanted to hear in that moment. He sounded angry and I could guess why. Since we¡¯d defeated them, we¡¯d seen Cabal soldiers a few different times¡ªguarding armored trucks, working for the Nine, and now working for the government.


    We had not seen them working together.


    Lee had set them up for a trap and put them in a situation where they had a choice¡ªagree not to fight us for a year or die.


    They¡¯d chosen to live, but it wasn¡¯t hard to guess that they¡¯d lost confidence in their leader and gone off to do their own thing. It wasn¡¯t as if he was the leader they¡¯d followed since the Roman Empire fell. Lee had decapitated that guy and I¡¯d taken his head away and dropped it in a small lake, preventing him from regenerating.


    That was Prime¡¯s father. If you thought about it, Prime had been doubly traumatized by us¡ªfirst by losing his father and then by having his band of brothers that he¡¯d been working with for thousands of years break apart.


    Viewed in a certain light, you could argue that it was all my fault.


    Personally, I¡¯d want to point out that thousands of years of murder on behalf of a secret group of immortals would be discovered and stopped at some point.


    Could he really blame the rest of humanity for not wanting to be manipulated, killed, or controlled?


    I might have said that, but we didn¡¯t get to talk. Prime had probably been planning to kill me for years and this was his first chance. He didn¡¯t waste it.


    He pushed himself off the floor with enough strength that he came down on two feet and reached me in two long strides.


    Given time, my dad might have helped Prime see that he didn¡¯t hate me. Instead, what he felt to be hate was displaced anger at a situation that neither he nor I could have controlled or predicted.


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    Of course, Dad wasn¡¯t here and Prime didn¡¯t seem to be ready to talk about his problems. He ran toward Dayton and Jody, our rear guard, a rear guard that worked okay for fungus, but would not be my first choice for Prime.


    To their credit, they recognized who he was and dodged out of his way. Maybe he recognized them too because he took a swipe at each of them.


    Jody had blurred far out of his reach and the punch met only air. Dayton dodged his first swipe, but he didn¡¯t leave, backing away from Prime¡¯s fist, but staying close enough that he could stab Prime if Prime went for me.


    I had enough training with knives to see it and Prime had thousands of years more. To be fair, when we fought them Prime and the Cabal¡¯s elite reserve units had been too lazy after years of being near invulnerable to worry about knives.


    In the last few years, Prime had been humbled more than once and he wasn¡¯t taking any chances.


    He lunged for Dayton in a blur. Dayton dodged him, tagging Prime¡¯s arm with a knife. Prime, however, like most supers with money to spare these days, was wearing a costume that was proof against my killbots and Dayton¡¯s knife.


    Dayton¡¯s other knife, however, made use of the fact that Prime wore no mask or cowl, cutting into Prime¡¯s neck.


    I missed whether he hit the jugular or something else, but it spurted. You could argue that he¡¯d attempted to kill Prime just then, but he hadn¡¯t. Being near invulnerable, strong, and regenerating at an alarming pace were Prime¡¯s core abilities.


    Despite losing blood, Prime struck back, hitting Dayton and knocking him backward. A normal person would have died. Dayton leaned back, allowing the punch to brush his chest, but not taking it full on.


    It had enough force to throw Dayton anyway, but Dayton turned the force into a backwards roll. Despite his agility, he had to leap and push himself away from the wall to avoid hitting it. I recognized the move. Haley used it.


    All of that had taken place so quickly that I didn¡¯t have time to move, much less respond. The only reason I had time to turn around was that Daniel had used telekinetic force to lift Prime into the air.


    It would have been nice if that were the end of the matter, but it wasn¡¯t. Prime knew how to handle telekinetics. Moving his torso with enough force to get his feet near the ground, he pushed off, hitting the ceiling with his hands and pushing off it to hit the ground running¡ªtoward me.


    The wound on his neck had stopped bleeding by then and I¡¯d pulled up my arm to aim my laser at him. Like Jaclyn, the Cabal¡¯s reserves didn¡¯t regenerate as quickly from cauterized wounds, the kind you¡¯d get from lasers or a fire.


    I might be able to kill him, but did I want to? We could use his help for this fight. I had to say something that might hook him.


    ¡°We can free your people from the Ni¡ª¡° I began, and then he hit me.

 Courtesy: Part 28

    It was good that I¡¯d improved the Rocket suit since we¡¯d first faced the Cabal because if I¡¯d been wearing the old suit that hit would have killed me.


    As it was, I still saw a slew of error messages run through my HUD, but not the kind that told me to expect an imminent systems failure¡ªthe kind that meant that the suit was repairing itself, but still intact.


    This was good because he¡¯d punched me hard enough that he threw me backward, hitting the concrete lip on the right side of the door.


    In terms of system repair, the only important thing that had been damaged was the rocket pack and it was cracked. It could have been a big deal in another fight, but we were underground in a parking garage.


    It limited my mobility, but not much.


    My major concern wasn¡¯t an inability to fly in that moment. It was that I¡¯d been thrown into the big room that Sean, Izzy, and Jaclyn were working on. This mattered on multiple levels.


    The first and most practical was that he¡¯d hit me hard enough that I was tumbling and struggling to catch myself. The second was I was now in the room with the monsters and not in a situation where I could fight. Third, friendly fire was a distinct possibility.


    Jaclyn might not be a problem¡ªshe was on the left side of the room and throwing punches¡ªbut I still had to worry about Izzy and Sean. Izzy¡¯s scream could do real damage and while I¡¯d never tested my armor against Sean¡¯s ball bearings, I didn¡¯t want to.


    Maybe it was the way I was tumbling at 70 miles per hour, but the phrase, ¡°attacked by Sean¡¯s balls,¡± struck me funny. Instead of laughing, I tried to get my head into the right place to stop flipping over.


    When my arms hit the ground again, I got them into position and pushed upward, throwing my body into the air. Still tumbling, but now in the air and able to take advantage of years of practice in aerial acrobatics, I got my legs under me as I hit the ground, successfully bracing myself and not falling over.


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    Engaging the small anti-gravity I had available plus control subroutines hadn¡¯t hurt either.


    They didn¡¯t stop me completely, though. Concrete cracked as my booted feet hit, shattering, and sinking into the floor. I had enough presence of mind to check behind me since I¡¯d ended up facing the room I¡¯d come from.


    As of that moment, Sean¡¯s balls were still acting as a circular sandblaster against the various mushroom monsters. So long as Prime didn¡¯t throw me into its path, I¡¯d be fine. I wasn¡¯t that close¡ª50 feet-but I was still closer than I wanted to be.


    Worse, Prime was running toward me and fully capable of throwing me into the stream of balls. I could hope that Sean would notice, but I couldn¡¯t assume.


    I did my best to get out of Prime¡¯s way, darting to my right, running over splattered mushroom bits, and aiming my arms at Prime to fire off the paralysis ray. Though supers¡¯ armor commonly protected against either the sonic or electromagnetic radiation-based method, designers generally didn¡¯t protect against both.


    In the first bit of good luck I¡¯d had since Prime attacked me, Prime stumbled, falling over, his right leg straight and useless. That meant that electromagnetism worked in his case. The sonic-based method was generally all or nothing, blocking the use of all of the victims¡¯ limbs at once. Electromagnetic radiation might block the use of one limb and not another.


    Lying on the ground, Prime wrenched a tire off a parked car and threw it at me. Even though I couldn¡¯t move with his speed, I recognized what he was doing in time to move a step to my left, allowing the tire to fly past and get caught in the same magnetic pull that pulled the ball bearings along.


    I checked around me to see how things were going for everyone else. Results were mixed. More tendril monsters had entered the room from the far end¡ªtoo many for Jaclyn, Izzy, and Sean to take out at once. Even though they¡¯d taken out a lot, the far end of the room was filling with creatures.


    They had to be about to make a push to reconquer the room.


    The same could be said of the room I¡¯d been thrown out of. Jody, Dayton, Daniel, and Amy were fighting wall-to-wall tendril monsters coming in from the other direction.


    The twist in that case? Bouman, Logan, and Yellow Mask were fighting on our side. The big, yeti-like creature that Logan had become ripped through three tendril monsters at a time. Yellow Mask¡¯s rapier burned with a piercing white light as she chopped off limbs.


    As for our former mayor, he¡¯d completely detached from the fungus that surrounded him and was stumbling forward into the bigger room where I was with Jody and Dayton acting as rear guard against the tendril monsters that were trying to follow them out.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I shouted at Bouman, ¡°you¡¯re the one blocking teleportation, right? You¡¯re not doing it anymore, are you? Because if you are, stop.¡±


    Because if he stopped, we could end this thing¡ªhopefully before a mass attack on us from all directions.

 Courtesy: Part 29

    ¡°I stopped it!¡± Bouman shouted back, his TV host handsome face showing more emotion than I¡¯d ever seen on it.


    I used my implant to think through to the League channel, ¡°Portal, you should be able to get through now.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Brooke said, her voice a little louder than I¡¯d expected. ¡°I¡¯ve been watching you. Give me a second.¡±


    That made sense. In her position, I¡¯d have been watching my camera stream too.


    I waited for her, noticing that Prime, though still unable to walk, had begun to experimentally lift the Honda Civic he¡¯d ripped the wheel off, probably with the intention of throwing the rest of the car.


    I gave him a double barrel (both arms) blast of paralysis ray, hoping that I¡¯d be able disable his arms next.


    It worked¡ªwith the right arm, causing the car to drop as the paralyzed arm flopped sideways, pulling his body with it, left side up.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I shouted at him, ¡°I get that you¡¯re pissed at me, but right now we need to survive. My choices are either work with you or burn you to death rather than let you become a mushroom zombie again. Can we make a deal? I¡¯m willing to help you get your people back from the Nine. Are you willing to let me?¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure if I could kill him in cold blood, but after Travis¡¯ death, I couldn¡¯t deny the risk of letting him lie there until the fungus reclaimed him.


    Prime didn¡¯t say anything at first, allowing him time to think on it while watching Jaclyn, Izzy, and Sean mow down tendril monsters.


    Over the League channel, Brooke said, ¡°It¡¯s still blocked.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I shouted at Bouman, ¡°We still can¡¯t teleport. Mystic, is he telling the truth?¡±


    Bouman glanced over at Daniel, who¡¯d just used telekinesis to turn a tendril monster inside out, throwing monster bits in all directions.


    At the same time, Daniel said, ¡°Yes,¡± and Bouman said, ¡°I am!¡±


    Crap. Was there someone else in town capable of doing that? Not Daniel¡¯s family. They¡¯d been teleported out of town and anyway, that was outside their power set. Of course, Grand Lake population surpassed a million people when you included the suburbs. It was always possible that someone else was out there.


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    Another possibility struck me. The Xosk had been telepathic even if it only worked by touch, absorbing people¡¯s minds and ingesting their bodies to make more of itself. If Hunter¡¯s creations included any Xosk, it might have the rudiments of what was necessary and might even be able to adapt enough to copy his power.


    Of course, that was pure speculation. I¡¯d studied biology, but only for fun and I¡¯d never studied the biological basis of psychic abilities. Still, the multiple consciousness element of a Xosk might even make for a kind of defense against Daniel¡¯s psychic nuke.


    No, Daniel thought at me, it¡¯s not just speculation. You had a good idea. The consciousness feels decentralized. We need to destroy as many of the big, blocky masses as we can¡ªassuming we survive the next bit. I think you¡¯re right that they¡¯re about to try to wipe us out.


    ¡°Hey everybody,¡± I said on the League channel, ¡°the Mystic thinks they¡¯re about to make a big push against us. I think we might want to get into a closer formation so that we can push closer to the center of the thing¡¯s consciousness. Destroying more of the masses is probably the only way to break the teleportation block.¡±


    ¡°Good idea,¡± Sean said as the group moved in my direction. I¡¯m getting tired.¡±


    That was not something I wanted to hear.


    ¡°Phalanx?¡± Jaclyn splattered the front line of tendril monsters before dropping back toward me with Izzy.


    She wasn¡¯t really proposing that we march forward like Greek soldiers, but Lee had taught us about the phalanx. For him, it was more an attitude than a strict formation. The idea was the same¡ªwe needed to position ourselves to both protect each other and enable each other¡¯s offensive abilities.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking. Um¡­ Someone¡¯s going to have bring Prime along or we¡¯ll have to come up with another idea,¡± I glanced over at him.


    Still unable to move, Prime continued to stare up from the floor at me.


    Izzy¡¯s lip curled as she landed next to me, ¡°You¡¯re not really going to kill him?¡±


    I met her gaze, ¡°I don¡¯t want to, but the alternatives aren¡¯t great either. Leaving him for the fungus zombies puts someone really dangerous on their side and I don¡¯t like that, but I also don¡¯t like the idea of bringing him along if he¡¯s going to murder me when he can move again.¡±


    She frowned and glanced over at Prime, ¡°I could carry him and keep him controlled.¡±


    ¡°Which takes one of our best fighters out of the fight and we¡¯ll need you,¡± I said.


    Daniel nodded, ¡°We will.¡±


    It struck me that if I cut off his arms and legs, we might be able to rig him up as a backpack. He regenerated. Technically, there¡¯d be no permanent harm done. It worked logically, but I didn¡¯t love the idea and I doubted that Izzy would either.


    Daniel raised an eyebrow, but he didn¡¯t argue with me.


    Prime said, ¡°I promise not to kill you. I¡¯ll work with you and my unit to win the fight. Do you promise to free my people from the Nine?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going to destroy the Nine,¡± I said, knowing as I said it that we¡¯d never decided as a group that that was the plan, but if we were going up against Magnus who seemed to be basically leading them, what else could our plan be in the end?


    ¡°Good enough,¡± Prime said, ¡°I can get behind that.¡±


    And with the scraping of thousands of tendrils across concrete, that¡¯s when the mushroom zombies made their attack.

 Courtesy: Part 30

    You know how I¡¯d said that a mass attack from all directions would be a bad thing? That¡¯s more or less what happened.


    The smaller room where we¡¯d met Bouman had been the point where the parking garage under City Hall connected to the basement levels of the parking garage next door that were reserved for staff of the city, county, and federal buildings.


    With more understanding of our psychology than I¡¯d realized they had, they¡¯d filled the smaller room with a mix of tendril monsters and office workers from City Hall and maybe other buildings too. I could tell from the business casual slacks and button down shirts combined with name tags hanging from lanyards. Between the name tags and the film of mushroom skin over their bodies and faces, I understood the whole situation.


    If we wanted to escape by way of City Hall, the way we¡¯d come, the most efficientmethods to use would be Izzy¡¯s scream, my bots, and Sean¡¯s buzzsaw of ball bearings. All of those would straight out murder other human beings now.


    We could carefully knock people out one at time, but it was slower. We¡¯d probably be overwhelmed by numbers.


    That left the other direction¡ªthe parking garage where we¡¯d been successfully clearing the room. Our entrance was on one end of the room. The far end sloped upward toward higher levels of the parking garage. About halfway down the room on our left was a ramp leading to lower levels of the garage.


    Having an exit in the middle of the level was odd for a parking garage, but the parking garage was new and the buildings around it were older. They did what they had to to make it fit.


    The only reason it mattered was that while we¡¯d been fighting, the Fungus Collective had been massing soldiers in both spots¡ªthe ramp up and one down. Thanks to the angle, I hadn¡¯t seen the ones coming from below, so that was a surprise.


    The ones from below weren¡¯t tendril monsters either.


    They were shaped like humans¡ªspecifically like Prime. Bearing in mind that Prime¡¯s size, bulging muscles and bald head were his most obvious traits, you could argue that any big humanoid that the Fungus Collective created would end up looking like Prime. It¡¯s not as if the mushroom zombies had fake hair. They all had featureless faces that differed only from the possessed humans in that the full mushroom zombies didn¡¯t have mouths either.


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    Any problems I might have with the uncanny valley, not quite human look, were secondary to another question. Why would the Fungus Collective make the new zombie model look like anyone at all unless maybe they¡¯d managed to duplicate Prime¡¯s abilities along with his look.


    Or at least they wanted us to think they had.


    That wasn¡¯t all though. Along with them came low, long bodied creatures that reminded me of alligators or crocodiles if either one had been crossed with mushrooms. Gray skin and rounded, blobby bodies weren¡¯t typical of reptiles, but they were typical of mushrooms.


    One more thing? They weren¡¯t limiting themselves to the ground. Both the Prime clones and the blobbygators also ran on the walls and ceilings.


    With all that said, remember how I said that they attacked with the sound of thousands of scraping tendrils? Feel free to add in hundreds of wet splat sounds as Prime clones and blobbygators ran across the ceilings toward us at the same time tendril monsters ran across the floor.


    Daniel thought at everyone, Our best chance to win is to go further underground and fight the new creations coming from the left. Our best chance to survive is to go back out City Hall or fight the tendril monsters and go up.


    Izzy thought back, Then we¡¯re going down?


    I felt Jaclyn, Dayton, and Daniel¡¯s agreement. Sean agreed too, but I felt a little fear there along with some weariness. Jody agreed, but his agreement was a layer above a boiling cauldron of terror. Logan¡¯s agreement came along with hunger for combat mixed with horror at his excitement.


    Amy agreed as well, but as she said, Down, I heard hundreds of additional voices whisper it with her.


    Glowing rapier in her hand, Yellow Mask thought back Down, but watched Amy.


    Bouman thought back Down too. Though I didn¡¯t feel his emotions strongly, Daniel felt a whisper of resignation escape Bouman¡¯s shields.


    Bunch up, then, I thought at everyone, Blue can clear the way and the rest of us should concentrate on keeping people off us. Plus, someone grab Prime.


    I¡¯ll take care of myself, Prime thought back at us. His left arm still hung from his shoulder, but he pushed himself up and his leg worked.


    His emotions were a whirlwind. Resignation and acceptance mixed with excitement and a hint of fear and enthusiasm for the upcoming fight.


    I made a mental note of the fact that paralysis didn¡¯t work very long on him and we began to run toward the Prime clones and blobbygators with Izzy¡¯s scream leading our way.


    Just like before, her voice wrecked everything it touched, but I couldn¡¯t help but note that with the Prime clones, it only turned the nearest ones into partially exploded mushroom slime. A few rows in, they were basically undamaged and in order to have an effect, she needed to point her voice in a direction and keep it there. She couldn¡¯t spray it across the oncoming fighters and expect to take any down.


    Meanwhile, the tendril monsters closed on our right flank.

 Courtesy: Part 31

    I¡¯d deliberately chosen to be our right flank, knowing that I¡¯d be in the front line. As they came toward us, I opened up with sonics, trying a medium width beam and aiming for their legs.


    My plan? Slow them down.


    While imperfect, it worked okay. Though a wider beam might not do as much damage as a narrow beam, it allowed me the luxury of poor aim. I wasn¡¯t terrible at aiming, but I was running, trying to keep aware of my teammates¡¯ positions, and also trying to point the sonics under each arm at something useful.


    The sonic beams crossed the legs and tendrils, causing them to drip liquid and sometime splatter bits of flesh. That had the intended result. Their front line of tendril monsters slowed down and the monsters behind them had no choice but either run into them from behind or stop and force everyone behind them to do the same.


    It didn¡¯t take down any of them, though, so you could reasonably argue that I was merely delaying the moment where they¡¯d overrun us.


    That, of course, was only inevitable if I were alone and I wasn¡¯t. Sean took advantage of how they¡¯d smashed into each other to reduce his circle of ball bearings to maybe five feet in diameter and cycle through them like a lawn mower, spraying bits of mushroom like grass clippings.


    Jody, despite the terror below the surface of his mind, darted out from the group, slashing with his monomolecular blade, cutting a tendril monster to a pile of ropey bits and a humanoid trunk in mere seconds.


    At the same time, Amy kept on throwing her spear into the crowd, leaving shriveled mushroom monsters in its wake.


    That left Dayton and Yellow Mask to chop off the longest reaching tendrils and ready their weapons for when the tendril monsters finally did get close.


    I couldn¡¯t help but note that Bouman wasn¡¯t doing much more than stare at the army of tendril monsters that stretched to the back of the room and the many more that appeared to be coming down the ramp from the level above.


    It¡¯s not his fault, Daniel thought at me, all he¡¯s got to work with is telepathy and they don¡¯t have much in the line of brains.


    Can¡¯t he try to contact its central brain or brains? He seemed to be okay at that when he was working for it, I asked.


    He¡¯s trying, Daniel said, that¡¯s pretty much the only thing he¡¯s good for right now. Oh, wait¡­


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    He stopped talking to pay attention to what was going on at the front of the group where it wasn¡¯t going as well as it was with fighting tendril monsters.


    It wasn¡¯t for lack of trying. That¡¯s where all of our heaviest hitters were.


    In addition to Izzy¡¯s scream, she was shooting forward to slam into the nearest prime clone and throw him backward over and into his own people. Jaclyn and Logan were doing much the same. Even Prime was pitching in, shattering his clones with single punches from his right arm even as his left swung uselessly at his side.


    The problem was that Izzy and Jaclyn were the closest they had to the ability to attack more than one person at a time¡ªwhich meant that there was no option to clear cut a group of prime clones and blobbygators out of existence.


    Izzy and Jaclyn might be able to grab and throw one of the prime clones or blobbygators back a few rows or even over the heads of the whole army, but it was only one person when they needed to be throwing five or ten people at once.


    Plus every now and then one of the prime clones would grab Jaclyn, Izzy, Logan, or Prime and then one of the others would step in and and rip that prime clones¡¯ head off. That worked well, but it meant that two people had stopped to fight the same person instead of fighting two, slowing us down as we moved toward the the side door.


    On one of those slowdowns, the tendril monsters charged in, getting close enough to reach us. Yellow Mask, Dayton, and Jody all went into action, chopping off limbs and leaving tendril monsters in bite-sized chunks.


    Sean and I also fought, but in that moment they¡¯d surrounded us on three sides. Sean¡¯s circle of balls had its work cut out for it. A group of tendril monsters were trying to reach in from our left while others were extending their tendrils from the right, creating a real risk that they¡¯d be able to pull someone out of the group.


    Bouman and Yellow Mask were at the biggest risk of this since they weren¡¯t protected by the Duke¡¯s evil sparkles, but the tendril monsters were still trying to attack the rest of us. Plus, it might have been my imagination, but we might have had less sparkles on us by then.


    Either way, two tendril monsters grabbed my legs and tried to pull them off the ground. I raked my laser¡¯s beam across one of set of tendrils and drilled a hole through the tendril monster behind them. Using my other hand as a blade, I hit the tendril monster¡¯s body with literal tons of strength, cutting the tendril monster in half. As it fell apart, releasing grayish-white goo, I realized that a group of three tendril monsters had successfully grabbed Jody.


    His knife lay on the ground, having lost the distinctive sheen on the edges of the blade that meant that it was active and capable of cutting through almost anything¡ªa good design feature.


    Pulling away from the dead monsters I¡¯d been fighting, I kicked the tendril monster that had grabbed Jody¡¯s left arm and encircled his neck.


    My kick went straight through the tendril monster¡¯s torso, breaking it in two. At the same time, Amy stabbed the other one, the one that had grabbed his right arm and wrapped three more tendrils around his chest.


    It turned into greasy ash as the Bloodspear hit, the runes on the dull metal body pulsing red.


    Jody bent down to grab his dagger and backed deeper into the group.


    Amy and I looked at each other. I didn¡¯t know for sure what she was thinking, but I suspected that she was thinking what I was¡ªwe couldn¡¯t keep on going like this.

 Courtesy: Part 32

    We didn¡¯t have much time to have a discussion about it either because the problem with fighting a hive mind (or at least a central intelligence that coordinates all the others) is that it constantly sees the big picture.


    The big picture in that moment was that it had us off-balance and it was time to capitalize on it.


    We¡¯d destroyed the ones holding Jody, but now all the rest of them had charged in while we were doing it, trampling the bodies of the ones that we¡¯d killed.


    It wasn¡¯t just the tendril monsters either.


    In the chaos, the Fungus Collective had managed to move a few prime clones and blobbygators into position to threaten our less physically powerful members.


    Two prime clones and a blobbygator were coming at Amy and me as tendril monsters leapt upward, sticking to the ceiling Spider-man style and reached in with their tendrils to grab at the inside of our group.


    The good news was that we weren¡¯t complete pushovers. Sean moved his circle of ball bearing death straight up to the ceiling, turning the tendril monsters into fungus confetti.


    While that was great in theory, it also meant that Sean was no longer using his circle as offense¡ªwhich meant it wasn¡¯t in the way of any prime clones that might be acting as the point of the spear when attacking the group.


    I couldn¡¯t complain about that, but it meant that Amy and I would take the brunt of it¡ªand we did.


    A prime clone rushed me, moving and swinging as quickly as the original. There was no way I could dodge the punch, but I¡¯d seen it coming in enough time that I could stand sideways and let it graze my chest.


    The force was closer to the actual Prime than I¡¯d hoped it would be, but I didn¡¯t take much of it and was able to take a step back and remain standing.


    Taking me out wasn¡¯t his goal though. He¡¯d been trying to get past me and take on our ex-mayor or Daniel¡ªat least that was my guess because he didn¡¯t try to stop to take me on. He kept running forward even as his fist brushed my chest.


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    I did the obvious and hoped everyone else was paying enough attention to adjust. I wrapped his arm in my right arm and pushed him forward with my left, twisting my body as I pushed him around me and away from our group, stumbling as he went.


    As I let go, I fired on him with my laser hitting him in the back of his neck, burning a hole through it and out the front.


    Jody blurred forward then, slashing through the remaining part of the prime clone¡¯s neck, beheading him. I let go of the body to watch it careen into a group of tendril monsters and still continue to to punch anything it could reach.


    The head rolled into the oncoming monsters.


    Meanwhile, the blobbygator had crawled up and grabbed my legs with its long, rounded head.


    Even if the fleshy, rounded mass of its body wobbled as it moved, whatever passed for teeth in its mouth were hard and its grip was strong enough to throw errors in my HUD.


    It had twisted its head sideways to grab my legs, so when it tried to make its head level again, I turned sideways, falling toward the concrete floor. Ignoring the oncoming legs and tendrils of all the creatures coming toward me, I pummeled the blobbygator¡¯s body, grateful to punch a hole in its side.


    Bending sideways, I got a grip on the blobbygator¡¯s jaw and ripped the upper jaw off, throwing it into the crowd of monsters.


    If it hurt any of them, I didn¡¯t notice.


    I was too busy scrambling to my feet. As I did, Dayton slipped in, cutting the body in two with his knives.


    Ahead of me, they appeared to be endless. We needed space. Knowing I had only a finite amount of juice for the laser, I decided that this would be a good time to spend some of it. I didn¡¯t stop there. I also fired off a series of boombots, shooting them over the front line and into the crowd so that the explosion could hit them from behind as my laser hit them from the front.


    It didn¡¯t go perfectly, but it went as well as I could expect.


    I aimed the lasers at the legs, hoping I could cut them off, and in a few cases I did. In other cases, I cut halfway through¡ªwhich was almost as good.


    I could see the half-cut legs wobble as the prime clones stepped forward and then fall over as a wall of fire from my boombots exploded behind them.


    Dayton and Jody darted out, chopping up the fallen and the wobbling.


    I¡¯d bought us a few seconds to come up with a better way to handle this, but wouldn¡¯t be able to do it forever. I only had a certain number of bots and if I didn¡¯t have any left when we got to wherever the central brain was, I¡¯d regret it.


    I looked over at Amy as she grabbed the Bloodspear out of the air, ¡°Any ideas?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, ¡°but it¡¯s going to take a lot out of me.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 33

    ¡°Are you okay with that?¡± I asked, watching as the next group of tendril monsters began to clamber over or around their dead predecessors.


    ¡°We need to get down there,¡± she said, squeezing her left hand in a way that I knew was drawing blood and power along with it.


    From the other side of our group, Yellow Mask, who¡¯d been stabbing tendril monsters with her rapier turned to stare at Bloodmaiden, ¡°Is that blood magic?¡±


    Amy turned to stare back, ¡°Go stab monsters and get off your high horse. You¡¯re a felon. Remember my name?¡±


    To be fair to Yellow Mask, in our universe blood magic was mostly used by vampires and necromancers. To be fair to Amy, she wasn¡¯t from our universe even if blood magic was used by the (living, not undead) vampires there. She was descended from them which made her a kind of dhampir.


    Yellow Mask all but snarled and stabbed a mushroom monster with her rapier, the blade erupting into a glowing white flame. Then she hacked into another, searing it as she cut.


    I was reminded once again that I should have checked in with Mateo and asked why she¡¯d ended up on probation as special forces. He might not tell me, but from what I understood, the mask was a family inheritance, so he¡¯d know.


    Amy held her left hand in the air. It dripped blood, but the blood seemed to be vibrating and even glowing. The way it illuminated her body made me think of her transformation sequence.


    The red, crystalline edges of her armor glowed and even the black metal sections seemed to take on a red aura. At that point, the otherworldly chanting began even though that didn¡¯t sound the same as when she transformed. The beat was faster, more insistent, more urgent.


    No one stopped fighting, but everyone was shooting her looks¡ªnot least of whom Dayton and Jody who were giving her a wider than normal berth as they darted around her to chop into the monsters around us.


    Yellow Mask stabbed another tendril monster and shouted, ¡°What¡¯s she doing,¡± at me as I grabbed the first tendril monster to land and threw him into the group behind him, turning on the sonics to slow them down more.


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    ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± I shouted back, ¡°entering the avatar state or something?¡±


    She glanced over at me as the fungus monsters began to seep mushroom goo, asking, ¡°Are you fucking kidding me?¡±


    It could only have been at that moment that red light expanded outward from Amy in a blast reminiscent of a nuclear explosion, but better controlled.


    We were unharmed, but the same could not be said of our opponents. Tendril monsters, prime clones, and blobbygators all died, hit first by the red light, but then by the same magic in Amy¡¯s spear, a cold magic that dried the fungus creatures into pitted, leathery versions of themselves that then turned to dust before our eyes.


    There was no comparison to what she¡¯d done before and she wasn¡¯t done.


    She turned toward the vast number of tendril monsters coming down the ramp toward us in the big room and pointed her spear at them. Her eyes flashed red as her gems and then she opened her mouth and red light poured out, rolling upward toward the top of the ramp.


    Feeling a whisper of power, I concentrated on using senses that Kee had been trying to teach me to use. It may have only been because there was more to see than normal, but it worked.


    For the moment, I saw Amy untransformed, smaller, and without armor, standing in the middle of a scaffolding of dull, pitted metal tinged with the red of her gems.


    The rolling red energy that issued out into the room came through a horn-shaped construct within the scaffolding. Where the energy came from wasn¡¯t obvious, but a fuzziness around the small end of the horn hinted that it came from another place. More than that, the rolling energy wasn¡¯t just going on its own. It seemed to be forming around a dark energy that Amy weaved with her hands.


    I knew better than to assume this was literally true. It was a completely nonhuman perception of reality filtered through my brain¡¯s need to make the world sensible¡ªwhich didn¡¯t mean it was untrue either.


    Almost every tendril monster in the big room had been destroyed. The only exceptions were a few on the far end who¡¯d been around the corner of the ramp.


    It wasn¡¯t just the tendril monsters either. We¡¯d been fighting toward the side exit except our way had been blocked by prime clones and blobbygators. Izzy, Jaclyn, Prime, and Logan hadn¡¯t been doing a bad job, but it had been slow going.


    The prime clones and blobbygators were gone too, their crisped bodies falling apart as I watched. Izzy, Jaclyn, Prime, and Logan stood in the middle of a sea of ash.


    Amy groaned and leaned on her spear. I stepped toward her, ready to grab her if she stumbled. The red tinge to her armor was gone and the jeweled edges of her armor only had their normal glow.


    Waving me off, she said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Give me a second.¡±


    Unseen through my helmet, I raised an eyebrow, ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± she said, nodding. ¡°I got more energy out of them than I expected. It took the edge off, but I¡¯m not going to be able to do it again.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 34

    She let out a breath and moved her hand up the spear, adjusting her grip. A little bit of red sparkled on the spear¡¯s blade, traveling in a line of sparks down her arm.


    Taking another long breath, she looked at me, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I will want to use the spear to build up energy, but we¡¯re not fighting anything I¡¯ll feel guilty about using it on.¡±


    She glared at me, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re thinking, but I¡¯m not taking donations. I don¡¯t want to explain it to Night Cat.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, waving away the suggestion, ¡°I don¡¯t want to explain that either.¡±


    Sean looked between the two of us, ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°He was stupid,¡± Amy said, frowning and looking away from me.


    I met Sean¡¯s eyes, ¡°She was dying after we fought The Thing That Eats. I stabbed myself with her spear to see if I couldn¡¯t save her except she wasn¡¯t conscious enough to stop it and Lee had to intervene.¡±


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Sean looked over at Amy who¡¯d turned away from the conversation, ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was that close.¡±


    ¡°Much too close,¡± she said. ¡°Close enough that I¡¯ve sometimes had moments where I understand how the Rocket suit works. That¡¯s nothing to hope for unless I want to kill someone.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Jaclyn turned toward us, ¡°we should get moving. Bloodmaiden bought us time. Let¡¯s not waste it.¡±


    She started walking toward the side exit and we followed, all of us feeling more drained than when we¡¯d walked into the room. Well, except maybe for Prime. He walked forward without any hint of tiredness or even that he¡¯d been regrowing his leg the last time we¡¯d fought him.


    Turning back toward me, Prime said, ¡°Where¡¯s Lee these days?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said, ¡°he¡¯s unpredictable.¡±


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    Dayton took a quick look behind us, and presumably not seeing anything that frightened him said, ¡°The last I saw him, he was on Earth, but he¡¯d been in space before that.¡±


    Prime grunted, ¡°Space? No kidding. I can¡¯t say I know the guy well, but I didn¡¯t know he had connections out there. My experience is that whenever people from off-planet get involved, it all goes to shit.¡±


    This was, I realized, the first time I¡¯d ever gotten to talk with Prime in a setting where he wasn¡¯t going to try to kill me (now). He¡¯d been with the Cabal for at least a couple thousand years and had to have known Magnus.


    I wouldn¡¯t be able to get too much out of him before whatever fight came next, but who knew if I¡¯d get this chance again? I should ask him something.


    If he knew that Magnus was seeking the device that Lee hid here somehow, I didn¡¯t want him to blab it in front of Sean and his team, but if nothing else, I needed to let him know I was serious about what I¡¯d said earlier.


    I asked the first thing I could think of, ¡°Did you know Magnus?¡±


    Prime gave a short bark of a laugh, ¡°That guy? He was part of the inner council for thousands of years. Yeah. I killed a lot of people for him, but I wouldn¡¯t call him a friend. You¡¯re asking because you¡¯re going after the Nine, right?¡±


    ¡°Pretty much,¡± I watched his face for a reaction, but he only nodded at my reply.


    ¡°Good,¡± he said, ¡°that¡¯s the only reason I stopped attacking you. If you¡¯re dumb enough to risk dying to convince me of it, I¡¯m figuring that you meant it. I want in on it. I want to be there at the end and get a shot at him. You beat us and humiliated us and I can¡¯t say I liked it, but he turned my people into mind-controlled slaves. If I get the chance, I¡¯m going to kill him for it.¡±


    I glanced over at Bouman and Yellow Mask, both of whom were watching, ¡°I can tell you when we¡¯re going in, but I hope your team can spare you. This stuff never goes on my schedule. Also, honestly, we¡¯re going to be a little leery about passing on any kind of notice given that we¡¯re pretty much assuming that the Nine are everywhere and that even some people who don¡¯t know they¡¯re assets of the Nine are assets.¡±


    Yellow Mask laughed, ¡°Tell us about it. That¡¯s why we¡¯re here. Arete had our number. He didn¡¯t have time to make us into the Nine¡¯s slaves, but people above us assigned us to assist him and Major Justice in whatever they asked for.¡±


    I wondered if she was telling the truth and Daniel thought at me, So far as she knows. Dominators can¡¯t erase memories with their voice powers, but a telepath under their control could. Bouman could if he were under their control, but I don¡¯t see any markers for memory modification in her head. Be aware though, that I can¡¯t be confident of that without a deeper scan.


    ¡°Look,¡± Prime said, ¡°if you tell me when you¡¯re going up against Magnus, I¡¯ll find a way to be there. People call the organization The Nine, but don¡¯t be fooled. They should call it The One. No one but him matters. Kill him and it all falls apart.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 35

    I hadn¡¯t been planning to kill Magnus, but if I was honest with myself, the guy was immortal. Short of killing him, what were we going to do, hand him over to courts or law enforcement that the Nine influenced or controlled? Get him put into jail for as long as there was a will to keep him?


    There might be a way to do that for 20 years, but what about 1000 or more? He could realistically outlive any government willing to put him away and if he did, he could pick up where he left off, possibly creating a whole new organization built on the immortal loyalists, hidden money, and maybe organizations we didn¡¯t yet know he controlled.


    Theoretically, I¡¯d be around to stop him if he got out, assuming Lee and Kee were correct about my potential. Cassie would too and maybe if I were lucky other members of the League or even our descendants. The way Lee talked, it sounded like he¡¯d gotten involved in Stapledon to build an army capable of taking on his fellow Artificers.


    That should have given me reason to hope, but I knew that Cassie¡¯s father had died and that I didn¡¯t even know where Lee was right now.


    ¡°We¡¯ll tell you,¡± I said, my boots stepping in the ashes of the destroyed fungus creatures as we stepped through the doorway into another section of the parking garage.


    Prime nodded, ¡°Good.¡±


    The room didn¡¯t look much different from the other section or any other parking garage level. If you imagined grey concrete, yellow lines, and parked cars, you had almost the whole thing. The only important differences were that it was almost full of cars, putting the ash all in the lanes and it only had one exit¡ªgoing downward to the next level.


    I also noted that the temperature ticked up two or three degrees as we descended. It wasn¡¯t much, but I¡¯d have expected the opposite.


    Of course, life made heat.


    I felt a notification from my implant and heard Haley¡¯s voice in my head, ¡°We¡¯re in position. Portal still can¡¯t portal into here. Flame Legion made a legion of herself and they¡¯re escorting Paladin through.¡±


    I checked Haley¡¯s group¡¯s camera feeds. A quick look over them showed another level of the parking garage¡ªwhich by itself wasn¡¯t exciting at all. The contents of the room made me think think of the cover of a science fiction novel; the kind where the science fiction is an excuse for body horror.


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    Only the walls and ceiling showed any grey concrete at all. Fungus covered the rest including the lights, but I had no difficulty seeing and it wasn¡¯t because of the cameras. I¡¯d used cameras designed to handle low light conditions, but this room didn¡¯t lack light. The fungus took care of it.


    It glowed. I saw greens, blues, reds, yellows, and purples.


    After the light, I noticed what the light showed: bodies, many bodies in many shapes. Not all the bodies were human. Four legged fungus monsters prowled the front and sides of the room. Oval-shaped, headless creatures, they had the angled back legs and front forelegs of most mammals, but no obvious inspiration except that they had a predator¡¯s claws.


    Other shapes were humanoid. There were prime-clones standing guard while others formed inside bulbous, glowing mounds that reminded me of the Abominator cloning chambers I¡¯d seen.


    Similar mounds were scattered all over the room, all of them guarded whether by prime-clones, the headless beasts, or blobbygators.


    I found the middle of the room interesting. It appeared to be a fortress.


    Around a quarter of the room had been walled off from the rest. Circular except for random bulges, the grey mushroom walls were sprinkled with color in no pattern I could decode. Thick runners expanded from the bottom and top of the walls, connecting the birthing chamber mounds, more mounds without an obvious purpose, and ran out of the room to unseen destinations.


    This wasn¡¯t going to be easy. Assuming that the system that prevented teleportation was inside the walls, Portal wouldn¡¯t be teleporting Alex in.


    Judging from the position of the cameras, Haley¡¯s group had snuck in and moved to the back on the right side of the room, something only made possible because of Adam¡¯s fairy invisibility.


    The moment Alex made it to the room, the fighting would start, and it was impossible that they didn¡¯t have defenses. The mystery mounds existed for a reason. Plus, remembering how the tendril monsters had formed out of fungus on the ceiling made it impossible to miss how fungus was everywhere in the room.


    ¡°One more thing,¡± Haley added, ¡°that I know you¡¯re not going to like because I know I don¡¯t. You know how Kals and Katuk argued about how she couldn¡¯t join in on this? Well, she insisted and Katuk doesn¡¯t have the authority to keep her there if she chooses to ignore his advice. So now they¡¯re with Paladin.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°Crap. They didn¡¯t bring anyone else, did they?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t see Uncle Steve or my mom or dad joining in, not to mention Haley¡¯s parents, but I¡¯d thought the responsibility of leading a rebellion might cause Kals to stay out of this too.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Haley¡¯s tone could have frozen drinks, ¡°they brought the dog.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, ¡°that might not be good for the dog, but it¡¯s not all bad for them. I just wish our parents had more protection.¡±


    Tiger was bigger than most horses, fast, and tough enough that his kind hunted dinosaur-sized creatures on his home world. I¡¯d made armor for him and we¡¯d included him in team trainings because it seemed inevitable that we¡¯d need him someday.


    ¡°I know,¡± Haley let out a breath and drew it in. ¡°I keep on reminding myself they¡¯re safe, that they¡¯re not alone, and that Guardian can get them out any time he wants.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 36

    ¡°Maybe we should ask him to get them out? I think he would,¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± Haley said. ¡°We¡¯re stuck here until you and Paladin reach us.¡±


    ¡°Do that,¡± Cassie added, reminding me that we were on the group channel. ¡°It¡¯s crazy to leave them there if you¡¯ve got a choice.¡±


    I frowned, ¡°I just hope Control won¡¯t be stuck there alone.¡±


    C¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about your parents. Guardian already got them out. I¡¯m here with Control and I know a few things we have in storage and how to use them.¡±


    Part of me wanted to ask more details on what he meant by the last bit. We had Abominator tech in storage that the original team had recovered from fighting them. If he knew how to use that, I had questions.


    We didn¡¯t have time for them now. Instead I asked, ¡°This is one of those times where you can intervene?¡±


    ¡°You could say that,¡± C¡¯s voice lowered, possibly more thoughtful or maybe careful. ¡°Let¡¯s say that it¡¯s important for me to stay in the background and make sure certain things don¡¯t happen.¡±


    I knew better than to ask more. Knowing that Daniel¡¯s grandfather was more mentally capable than we¡¯d been aware, C could have a very specific mission and he wasn¡¯t going to jeopardize it.


    I wondered if I¡¯d agree with the mission if I knew what it was. C was acting with the League¡¯s board to keep a future where as many of us survived as possible on track. Knowing that Travis was dead, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if we¡¯d agree on what we were willing to sacrifice.


    I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d really chosen to sacrifice Travis, but I knew how Daniel¡¯s prescience worked. Sometimes you could choose to take a higher risk to avoid something you truly couldn¡¯t handle. You might also take the safe choices, but accept certain sacrifices. Our acceptable sacrifices might not be the same as theirs, but this wasn¡¯t the time to start that conversation.


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    It isn¡¯t, Daniel thought at me, but you¡¯re right. It does feel like they think we¡¯re children. To be fair to them, though, they¡¯ve had longer to think this through and we know they care about not only us but everyone¡¯s future.


    I did know it, but if Travis¡¯ death were the result of playing it too safe, Haley for one might have issues with how they were doing it.


    Instead of arguing, I told C, ¡°Okay,¡± and looked ahead into the room we were walking through. Aside from the rows of cars we walked between, only the dust of the destroyed fungus creatures remained to menace us.


    How far were we away from the room Haley and her team were in? I asked the group, adding ¡°Does anybody know? I could send down a bot, but I don¡¯t want to risk them hearing it if I don¡¯t have to.¡±


    Izzy turned back to look at me, ¡°I think we¡¯re two levels above them, but I¡¯ve just been listening. When we were fighting them earlier, they noticed when I used sonar actively.¡±


    ¡°You use high pitches usually. So maybe they do too,¡± I nodded. ¡°They might already hear us.¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I think they use sonar, but not at long range.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m shut out,¡± Bouman said. ¡°Absolutely, completely shut out. I don¡¯t know what they did, but it feels like me on the other end. I set up their mental defenses when I was under their control and they¡¯re still my defenses, but they¡¯ve been changing them.¡±


    Aloud, Daniel said, ¡°It still feels like his defenses though. It¡¯s almost as if there are a few more of you, adding tweaks and shoring up weaknesses.¡±


    Tara¡¯s voice came over the comm, calm and even, ¡°I think I can explain it. I¡¯ve been watching while we were waiting. While you were talking with Bouman, one of the birthing chamber mounds opened up. The creatures inside weren¡¯t copies of Prime. They were too thin and small. They didn¡¯t look like Bouman either, but they did walk with his gait. I think they copied as much of him as they wanted while they had him.¡±


    Stopped as we had this conversation, I took a quick look around us for threats as I said, ¡°I did think it was odd that they were willing to sacrifice you so easily.¡±


    The unnatural evenness of Tara¡¯s voice disappeared, ¡°They can control the fungus copies better. He was disposable, poor guy.¡±


    Bouman, the ¡°poor guy¡± in question, didn¡¯t meet anyone¡¯s eyes, but to my surprise, Prime put his huge hand on Bouman¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s not your fault. You were manipulated and they¡¯ll get theirs soon.¡±


    Looking up, Bouman managed a smile, ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯ll try to remember that.¡±


    Even as I reflected on how weird it was to see Prime comfort anyone, Haley interrupted the scene with, ¡°Shit. I forgot to mention that when we were sneaking in here, I saw them put Arete¡¯s head into one of the birthing chamber mounds.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 37

    ¡°Huh,¡± I checked around us again for hostiles with the suit¡¯s sensors and didn¡¯t see anything while my mind raced.


    How much could they get out of Arete at this point? He¡¯d been dead for a bit by now. On the other hand, your opponent always did things for a reason. Best to assume that they were going to copy his voice, add it to the telepaths, and create some kind of super-influencer or add it to every fungus construct they could.


    ¡°Does everyone have buzzers? As in anti-voice control buzzers? Preferably my design?¡± I looked around the group for responses.


    Everyone on our team had them. Dayton volunteered that, ¡°We¡¯ve all got your design.¡±


    Looking up to face me, Bouman said, ¡°We¡¯ve got them, but not your design. Ours didn¡¯t stop Arete from giving us orders.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t an accident,¡± Prime said. ¡°Magnus wanted contacts in government even when he was in the Cabal. We had people with Dominator powers all along. It¡¯s not the first time I got handed a buzzer, but most of the time they just put wax in our ears.¡±


    Bouman gave him a sideways glance, ¡°Wax? That¡¯s all it took? I¡¯m surprised more people haven¡¯t tried that.¡±


    Prime shrugged, ¡°Hot wax. Most people don¡¯t want to.¡±


    I eyed Prime, ¡°Where did the Cabal get the buzzers?¡±


    ¡°They had off-planet contacts. That and leftover Abominator technology,¡± he looked down, opening one of the pouches on his belt and pulled out a small disk.


    Holding it out in front of me, ¡°This is a government buzzer.¡±


    I examined it with my suit¡¯s sensors, taking a picture of the inside. My implant identified it as an Abominator design with modifications by the Human Ascendancy. It placed the design elements as 150 years old.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I told Prime. ¡°You¡¯re right. You all need new buzzers. Competent Dominators can go around them.¡±


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    I reached into a pouch on my belt, pulling out four of mine. I¡¯d taken to bringing along backups. I could have had my suit manufacture them from materials in the suit, but since those materials could also become armor, I didn¡¯t.


    As I handed them out to Prime, Logan, Yellow Mask, and our former mayor, I said, ¡°They should be durable, but if they get damaged or you lose one, tell me. We¡¯ve been fighting the Nine lately, so I¡¯ve made a point of bringing spares.¡±


    I didn¡¯t bother to point out the fact that the government was handing out technology from the Human Ascendancy. It wasn¡¯t impossible that they¡¯d found it and copied it, but I¡¯d made my design available to anyone who wanted it. It felt wrong that they were choosing to use tech that well-trained Dominators could get past instead.


    Prime was undoubtedly right in guessing Magnus was involved. Unfortunately, it was nothing we had time to get to the bottom of even if the question of who Magnus controlled was important.


    Having added Prime¡¯s group to the League channel, I said, ¡°We should have a plan if we¡¯re going into the room. Our ultimate goal is to get Paladin in and have him touch the main brain of this thing and kill it.


    ¡°Given the size of the walled area in the middle, I¡¯m thinking it won¡¯t be a quick fight once we get in¡ªwhich means that if we were to just have Blue and Accelerando bring him in, it would probably stall. Worse, everything else in the room would probably attack them from behind while also making it hard for us to get to them.


    ¡°So, I¡¯m thinking we might want to take out everything we can before going in. Plus, we go in as a group and not just us, but Paladin¡¯s group too. Anyone else have an idea?¡±


    Amy frowned, ¡°You¡¯re making me wish I¡¯d come up with something else in the last room.¡±


    ¡°It passed through my mind,¡± I shrugged, ¡°but you got us this far.¡±


    Jaclyn looked over at Izzy, ¡°You¡¯re holding back to keep the ceiling from falling in. Maybe you could do it intentionally¡ªnot the whole ceiling, but part.¡±


    Cassie spoke over the comm, ¡°She could let us get out and then destroy the whole room.¡±


    Switching back to the even tone I associated with the True, Tara said, ¡°No. Fungus will survive that. We need to kill it all.¡±


    Nodding even though we were the only ones who could see it, Daniel said, ¡°I want to second that. It doesn¡¯t end if we bring the room down.¡±


    Vaughn spoke up from Haley¡¯s team, ¡°I¡¯m not at full power, but I can do a mass lightning blast or a tornado. Maybe both. I won¡¯t be good for much after that, but it¡¯s a start.¡±


    Camille, Sydney and Sean¡¯s half-sister, spoke up, ¡°You¡¯re forgetting me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. She wasn¡¯t wrong. I had. Haley¡¯s friends mostly worked with Haley and in retrospect, we could have used her.


    ¡°So¡­¡± She began, ¡°What if I start by changing the direction of gravity and pull everything to a wall? After that, everyone opens up on them.¡±


    We talked more, ironing out the details, but that was the shape of it.

 Courtesy: Part 38

    Having talked through our battle plan in a dark garage lit mostly by the lights on the far end, we started on stage one of the plan.


    By moving to the far end of the room and letting Izzy passively construct a picture of what was ahead, we learned that we had one level between us and the main event. That level, so far as we could tell was empty¡ªwhich was an interesting choice.


    To my mind, that meant that it was empty to make it more obvious when someone attacked or maybe because they had an area of effect weapon they planned to activate on intruders. Tara thought I had a good point. So, we waited.


    Why? Because if we were going to get Paladin in there, it would be better to have him with us. Dramatically speaking, it would be more exciting to have their group show up at a surprising moment during the battle, but expecting that to happen would be dumb.


    Fortunately, Paladin¡¯s group wasn¡¯t far behind us. They appeared within a few minutes. As expected from Jenny¡¯s Flame Legion codename, there was a group of identical women in red costumes accented with yellow and white markings.


    Along with them came Alex as Paladin in a brown ¡°leather¡± duster over shiny plate armor for a kind of cowboy/knight look. In the middle of the group with him were Katuk and Kals, both in silver Xiniti armor. Tiger trailed just behind them, a giant dog in Heroes¡¯ League armor.


    Once in sight of Jaclyn though, he bolted out of the group and didn¡¯t stop until he¡¯d reached her, putting both paws on her shoulders in a move that would have broken a normal person¡¯s bones.


    Unable to lick her through his helmet, he jumped up and down on her a few times, wagging his tail throughout.


    When he was done, she turned toward Paladin and his escort, asking, ¡°Why did you bring him into this?¡±


    Alex held up his hands in a shrug, ¡°I didn¡¯t bring him into this.¡±


    Kals faced her, ¡°He wanted to go. He put his armor on and stood next to the rest of us.¡±


    Stepping forward to stand closer to Jaclyn, Katuk said, ¡°I was told that on Earth dogs are loyal helpers to humans. His kind is good at fighting. It will be useful to have him along.¡±


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    Shaking her head as she rested her hand on the dog¡¯s side, she said, ¡°Yes, but I didn¡¯t want him in danger. I wanted him to be safe.¡±


    She looked down the room toward where it turned into the next level and back to everyone, ¡°Well, there¡¯s nothing we can do now.¡±


    She looked up at Tiger, ¡°Follow directions. Remember what we taught you in training, and stay alive, okay?¡±


    He grunted.


    I didn¡¯t know how smart he was, but it was smarter than your average dog. Smart enough that I could give him a version of the team¡¯s self-repairing suits and he could use it. Given his limited vocabulary, I couldn¡¯t know it for sure, but it seemed like he understood how to use the HUD.


    Jaclyn patted his armored side and turned to us, ¡°For the record, I don¡¯t like this. Let¡¯s not bring him in again.¡±


    The dog huffed and Jaclyn patted him. What he meant by that, we didn¡¯t have time to figure out. I hoped Jaclyn wouldn¡¯t be distracted by his presence in the fight. Could I honestly say that she¡¯d be more distracted by the dog than Haley or I would be distracted by each other, though?


    As Jaclyn had said, there was nothing we could do about it now.


    ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°I guess it¡¯s time to try the empty room. Anyone tough want to volunteer to spring whatever trap is in there if there is one?¡±


    Prime eyed the lower end of the room, ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    ¡°That works,¡± I looked over the group. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    As I started to walk, Jaclyn matched my stride, ¡°I¡¯ll go with him.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± from just ahead of me Izzy turned around, ¡°if it¡¯s fire or lasers, you¡¯ll be as hurt as he will. I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    Jaclyn opened her mouth, possibly to argue, but said, ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±


    When we reached the bottom of the room and looked around the corner, we saw the empty level. Devoid of cars or anything but bare concrete walls, I wondered what Hunter¡¯s rogue fungus had come up with.


    The only sign I could see of the fungus¡¯ presence was the far end. There, where the room turned one more time, the multi-colored light of the glowing fungus that I¡¯d seen through Haley¡¯s teams¡¯ cameras illuminated the floor, creating a multi-colored glow.


    It was beautiful but wasn¡¯t (as I worried for a second that it might be) capable of hypnotizing the whole team. It did hint that the fungus started just out of our sight.


    Prime nodded as he looked over the scene, ¡°All the way down or do you think maybe three-quarters of the way? If they don¡¯t have some kind of trap here, I¡¯m thinking that the fight starts at the entrance to the room.¡±


    ¡°All the way,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°even the slowest of us can get down there faster than you¡¯d think.¡±


    At that moment, the quality of the light at the end of the room changed, disappearing into a cloud of white.


    My first thought was spores, but it wasn¡¯t. It was finer. If anything, it reminded me of flour or smoke, billowing upward, filling the room, and moving toward us.

 Courtesy: Part 39

    Guessing what was going on, I shouted, ¡°Grain elevator explosion! Retreat!¡±


    Even if not everyone understood the details, they understood ¡°explosion¡± and ¡°retreat¡± and Jaclyn wasn¡¯t wrong about how quickly we could move if we had to.


    We¡¯d practiced retreats.


    The first duty of anyone who could get people out was to grab them. Everyone else¡¯s responsibility was to guard the retreat, if necessary, and get themselves out.


    Of course, we hadn¡¯t practiced with this group, but people caught the gist. Daniel grabbed Yellow Mask, Bouman, Dayton, Alex, and one of the Jennys with telekinesis. Izzy grabbed him. Everyone else ran or flew back around the corner¡ªincluding almost all of the Jennys¡ªall but one.


    In my HUD, I saw one of the identical women in a red costume running toward the cloud. I understood why.


    The powder, much like flour, could burn. If you had enough of it in the air, you could affect the entire room with the resulting explosion. How much of an explosion you got depended on a number of things including how concentrated the powder was.


    Jenny was choosing to explode the powder on her terms instead of how the fungus intended¡ªa great idea in theory.


    In practice, I didn¡¯t like it. Why? Among other possibilities what if the explosion now extended into the room where Haley¡¯s team was or caused a cave in?


    I didn¡¯t have time to explain any of that. I didn¡¯t even have time to shout, ¡°Wait,¡± into my comm and hope she heard it.


    A stream of flame extended from her finger, hitting the expanding cloud of white stuff.


    It didn¡¯t explode.


    For a moment, I didn¡¯t get it. Then I did. I¡¯d been thinking explosives because I had a lot of experience with explosives. What I should have been thinking about was mushrooms. What do mushrooms produce? Poison¡ªmany different kinds.


    ¡°Hey everyone,¡± I thought into my implant, directing it to the comm system, ¡°I was wrong about the explosion part, but the bad news is that I think we¡¯re dealing with poison¡ªunless it¡¯s just fog.¡±


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    That last possibility seemed unlikely.


    Then I added, ¡°I hope everyone has airtight costumes.¡±


    As everyone digested that, the nearest copy of Jenny did the obvious. She took off her helmet. Over my helmet¡¯s sensor, I heard her moan and then she fell to her knees.


    After that, she disappeared.


    Over the comm, Jenny¡¯s icon blinked and she spoke, taking a breath first, ¡°The poison¡¯s fast acting, works on contact with skin, and is hallucinogenic. I wanted to let it continue to work longer, but I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d be able to. It took only seconds before I was almost uncontrollably anxious and started hallucinating. I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got to get out,¡± Jody¡¯s words were clipped¡ªtoo short and with too little space between them. ¡°All of us have exposed skin!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s us too,¡± Bouman said.


    Prime made a growling noise that made me think of heavy machinery, ¡°We¡¯ll get out with them and then we all come back the moment it¡¯s clear.¡±


    ¡°Go,¡± I didn¡¯t want to find out what a paranoid, anxious, and hallucinating Prime would be like. The man made up for being vengeful and murderous by at least being rational enough to make a deal.


    The group of dots showing Justice Fist and the government group ascended, leaving us. Even though it was for the best, it didn¡¯t feel good. We could have followed them up, but Jaclyn said, ¡°This might be the best time to go forward. They¡¯re not going to expect it.¡±


    Daniel said, ¡°I get better potential futures out of going forward than waiting.¡±


    Alex grinned, ¡°Then let¡¯s go and get this done.¡±


    Stuffing down memories of how Alex¡¯s group and I had attacked Syndicate L and been captured for our trouble, I said, ¡°I guess.¡±


    With that half-hearted agreement, the remaining group got back into position and we all started down the empty level again. This time, though, we couldn¡¯t see ahead of us.


    The contact poison in the air obscured everything, but it wasn¡¯t a complete disaster. I¡¯d included sonar and heat sensing capabilities in the League suits and we all had them. Thermal imaging wasn¡¯t much help, but the sonar gave us workable outlines of the room around us.


    Except for the speed bumps, the room didn¡¯t have any obstacles to speak of.


    As we walked, I asked Amy, ¡°How are you doing?¡±


    Alone of the group, she didn¡¯t have one of my suits, relying on whatever made her the Bloodmaiden and magic.


    She laughed, ¡°Not feeling paranoid or hallucinating.¡±


    ¡°Wow. I assume there was no way to pass that on.¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°Not after what I did back there, but I feel it was almost worth it to not have Jody here.¡±


    I snorted, hoping that no one was sharing audio of this conversation with the League channel. I wasn¡¯t, and judging from how Jody didn¡¯t start telling us to go screw ourselves over the comm, no one was¡ªmaybe.


    We were a quarter of the way down the level by then and still in the middle of the cloud. Before I could note how surprised I was to regret that Prime and Sean weren¡¯t with us, Izzy said, ¡°They¡¯re coming.¡±


    At almost the same time, Haley opened up her comm connection to say, ¡°A birthing chamber mound opened and fungus clones of Prime stepped out. They¡¯re coming your way.¡±


    Tiger growled and then they were on us, bounding out of the clouds to attack.

 Courtesy: Part 40

    Remembering the last time we¡¯d fought these things, I couldn¡¯t forget that we¡¯d just sent a few of our heavy hitters away so that they could breathe safely.


    That time though we didn¡¯t face the prime clones plus a near-infinite number of mooks. It was just them and we¡¯d all trained together.


    Jaclyn shouted, ¡°Use the wall,¡± and everyone knew what she meant. Everyone who could go hand to hand with them went to the outside. Everyone else went toward the wall with us between the two.


    That meant that as the first three took huge leaps, bounding into our space, Izzy flew in, hitting the nearest one, throwing it backward hard enough that it flew in a straight line toward the wall on the far end, cracking the concrete.


    It fell to the ground.


    At the same time, Jaclyn ran forward, hitting the one next to it at the points where the legs and arms joined the body, severing them.


    Not as quick as Jaclyn, I followed her in because in this group, the Rocket suit made me a heavy hitter however fragile I felt underneath. As Alex, Daniel, Kals, and the crowd of Jennys ran toward the wall, I repeated Izzy¡¯s move, punching a prime clone hard enough that he flew 20 feet backward. It wasn¡¯t as far as Izzy, but it wasn¡¯t a contest.


    Besides, he didn¡¯t get up again. Amy threw her spear at him and he shriveled into dust. Meanwhile, a barrel formed underneath Katuk''s arm that was wider than his arm, but so thick that the open area was maybe as wide as a thumb.


    A white-hot ball of something fired out of it, incinerating the chest of the prime clone it hit, burning through the arm of another one, and burning into the wall on the other side of the room. The impact burned everything it hit and threw blackened chunks out of the wall.


    I didn¡¯t love the property damage, but if the city wanted to complain, they could take it up with the Xiniti nation.


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    They might pay. You never know.


    Without anyone saying anything, we fell into a loose formation as we continued to move forward next to the wall. Jaclyn and Izzy, as the most mobile and hardest-hitting stayed out the farthest, moving wherever necessary. Amy, Katuk, Tiger, and I, middleweight hitters who could switch off between hand-to-hand and ranged attacks, stayed on the outside of the main group.


    A couple of layers of Jenny stood behind us, all but one of which was expendable if we wanted to keep her in the fight. The ¡°original¡± Jenny was probably in California.


    Daniel, Kals, and Alex stood behind all of that¡ªwhich had its own benefits for all of us.


    As we¡¯d formed up, more prime clones and blobbygators bounded up the concrete toward us. A bunch of them jumped toward the front of the group where Tiger had taken point.


    I know that sounds weird, but he wasn¡¯t your average dog.


    Not all of them reached him. Izzy and Jaclyn took out four while they were still in the air. That meant that the first one that reached him faced the dog alone. The prime-clone reached back, winding up his arm for a punch that would hit the dog directly between the eyes.


    Except, of course, the dog didn¡¯t want to be hit and dodged, the punch scraping across the armor on the right side of his helmet¡¯s snout. As part of the same move, he turned his head toward the arm, opened his helmet¡¯s mouth, and bit down, severing the prime-clone¡¯s head, arm, and a chunk of his upper chest and then dropping all of it on the ground.


    Then Tiger lunged forward with more agility than you¡¯d think that an animal of his size would have and bit off the next nearest prime-clone¡¯s leg.


    As the prime clone hit the ground, he drew his front claw across the back of the fungus creature¡¯s neck severing it.


    On the whole, I counted it as a success on two levels¡ªfirst, we¡¯d taught him to fight alongside us. Second, my suit design worked for his natural fighting style. He wasn¡¯t biting people with his actual mouth. His helmet allowed him to manipulate the helmet¡¯s mouth in the same way the claws on his suit weren¡¯t his claws.


    They were a new variant of the same technology in Cassie¡¯s sword. His armor contained a few more options, but I¡¯d tried to design it so that he could fight as naturally as possible.


    I, meanwhile, used my laser to cut down one clone and then another, the bright white beam visible against the dust despite being almost the same color. Still worrying that I might use the laser¡¯s dedicated power too soon, I set it aside because we were so close to the end.


    All we had to do was take out a few more and we¡¯d be in the room with Haley¡¯s team and our best chance to end this.

 Courtesy: Part 41

    It took less time than I expected even though it seemed to be a disaster when it began.


    As I¡¯d stepped forward, burning through the legs of next nearest Prime clone, more barreled into the area all at once. Arms bashed me from more than one direction, knocking me sideways. Even as I began to push myself off the ground, I wondered if I¡¯d be able to do anything.


    With the speed of their attack, they¡¯d passed through both our front line and second and were already in the process of attacking the line of Jennys between danger and the squishy people next to the wall.


    I hadn¡¯t been the only one knocked over either. They¡¯d also hit Amy and Katuk.


    Tiger had four legs and outweighed every single one of them. Even as I tried to pull myself up, four of them were trying to flip Tiger on his side and his response was to behead and dismember anybody in reach.


    I didn¡¯t allow myself to hope too much because Tiger couldn¡¯t do it all himself. The rest of us were taking attacks from all directions since they¡¯d made it to either side of all of us.


    I pulled myself up only to be grabbed from behind by a Prime clone and then a blobbygator opened its mouth to grab my right leg from the knee down.


    Using my laser to sever the blobbygator¡¯s head, I struggled against the arm behind me for a moment. Getting my head in the right place, I dropped while leaning forward with the Rocket suit¡¯s full strength, sending the Prime clone who¡¯d grabbed my neck straight over me, hitting another Prime clone and dropping on the blobbygator.


    That¡¯s when the squishy people counterattacked.


    Kals¡¯ voice couldn¡¯t do anything to walking fungus, but physically she had all of Cassie¡¯s strength and agility even if her endurance and regeneration weren¡¯t even close. Kals pulled out a pistol that my implant classified as an ¡°Alliance military design influenced by Abominator technology.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t Cassie¡¯s gun but still seared any fungus creature it touched and burned holes in any she targeted. She shot three of them through the head within the first few seconds of taking action and didn¡¯t seem to be able to miss.


    She didn¡¯t seem to be the only one feeling inspired.


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    Daniel reached out with his mind, hitting the nearest Prime clones with telekinetic bolts that left them missing chunks out of their necks and chests, sometimes cutting off their arms.


    I¡¯d seen him try that before but never as effectively.


    Alex gave me a thumbs up and fired his pistol¡ªwhich appeared to be an Earth-made copy of the same kind of pistol Kals had. He made up for it with multiple precision shots¡ªsevering a leg that Kals'' gun could have taken out in one, but still taking it out.


    If that alone had been the only response, it would have slowed them down, but it wasn¡¯t. Jenny shot back too and when she fired, she fired from thirty bodies at once. She fired off guns similar to Alex¡¯s at the more distant Prime clones and blobbygators.


    The nearer Prime clones experienced dual flamethrower streams, one from each of her hands.


    Prime clones changed from actively dangerous foes to charred, actively burning foes.


    I grinned as I remembered why. Paladin, for lack of a better way to put it, exuded an aura of health. Allies¡¯ bodies worked better near him (including their brains) and for those that had them, their powers. It made all the sense in the world that those closest to him had already begun to feel the effects.


    Not that I sat still. While all that was taking place, I¡¯d shot the guy I¡¯d thrown over my head as he¡¯d landed on the blobbygator, the Prime clone that he¡¯d bounced off before he hit the gator, and picked off the blobbygator that he¡¯d fallen on as it struggled to get out from under the bodies on top of it.


    Looking up, still surprised at my own efficiency, I realized that we¡¯d cleared the room.


    The toxic particles were still in the air as a mist, but it was beginning to clear. I could see the glow at the far end of the room again. I didn¡¯t doubt that it would be normal by the time we got down there.


    The only problem was that our armor still had a coating of sticky grit on it. We¡¯d be exposed to whatever poison it was if our armor took enough damage for it to leak through¡ªwhich meant that we¡¯d need to wash it somehow.


    Maybe Vaughn could squeeze rain into our attack plan? Assuming the poison was water soluble, it might help.


    It reminded me of a street-level hero I¡¯d heard about¡ªSupersudz. His only power was to pull soapy water from another dimension, controlling the percentage of water to soap. From what I¡¯d heard, he could make a battleground nearly frictionless, making him more effective than you¡¯d think.


    I didn¡¯t expect to pull him out of retirement to help, though. He¡¯d grown rich off of a chain of carwashes.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have time to waste,¡± Jaclyn said, turning away from the bodies on the ground around her to face us. ¡°They have to be summoning more troops from the city to fight us and most of them are going to be mind-controlled human beings.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re ready,¡± Haley said over the comm. ¡°Are you?¡±


    Jaclyn let out a breath that might have been a suppressed laugh, ¡°I don¡¯t think we have time to change anything even if we aren¡¯t.¡±


    Izzy stared up at the ceiling, eyes closed within her helmet, ¡°You¡¯re right. I can hear the footsteps of thousands of people coming this way.¡±


    Alex held up his hand, ¡°Hey, the only thing that matters is if I¡¯m ready. Get me in there and I¡¯ll take the damn thing down.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 42

    Izzy laughed.


    Alex eyed her, ¡°What?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°You¡¯re confident.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m stating a fact. You brought me here to do a job and I¡¯m ready.¡± Alex looked over at a group of Jennys, possibly for support. More than one of them rolled their eyes.


    Over the comm, Brooke AKA Portal AKA Guardian¡¯s daughter and Alex¡¯s girlfriend said, ¡°Alex¡­¡±


    Daniel interrupted before the conversation went any further, ¡°Our chances of success start going down the longer we take here.¡±


    At that, Alex nodded, ¡°Let¡¯s get started then.¡±


    Sean¡¯s voice came over the comm and Alex¡¯s lip curled, ¡°Hey, what do we do? Can we get through yet?¡±


    ¡°Probably not,¡± I said, ¡°the mist is going down, but now it¡¯s moist on the floor and it¡¯s a contact poison. I¡¯d be surprised if it¡¯s not in the air, but if it isn¡¯t, the slightest touch on your skin might take you down.¡±


    Izzy spoke, her icon flashing blue in my HUD, ¡°Unless you can get through the parking garage¡¯s entrance to that level, you should go. I¡¯m sensing thousands of footsteps and hundreds of tires moving in this direction. I think I even hear tank treads. They¡¯re calling in everything they can to defend this level.¡±


    Tank treads? That was interesting. That meant that they¡¯d taken the local army reserve base. I wondered if they had any powered armor. If they did, it would get here sooner than the tanks.


    Jody¡¯s voice started with a small quaver, ¡°We should go. We¡¯re not going to be able to help.¡±


    Yellow Mask snorted, ¡°You can go if you want, but there has to be a way through.¡±


    Kayla¡¯s ¡°Control¡± icon lit up, ¡°Keep that discussion off the main channel. Tell me what you plan to do when you decide. I¡¯ll rely it to the group.¡±


    Dayton sent a thumbs up symbol and Justice Fist¡¯s icon disappeared along with Prime¡¯s team from the main channel.


    ¡°Is Team Hidden ready?¡± I asked, ¡°We¡¯re about to move.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re ready,¡± Haley whispered.


    Vaughn said, ¡°We hit the moment you become visible coming around the corner, right?¡±


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    ¡°Right,¡± I replied.


    His voice low, Adam added, ¡°Remember that the moment you do something to harm someone, you become visible¡ªall of you at once. You¡¯ve got to be ready to fight the moment that changes or so thorough you don¡¯t have to.¡±


    ¡°We know,¡± Haley said. ¡°You told us already, but it¡¯s still a good reminder.¡±


    I could almost hear Cassie¡¯s eye roll as she said, ¡°You heard the Mystic. Move it.¡±


    Jaclyn, Izzy, Amy, Daniel, Kals, Katuk, Alex, the various Jennys and I all looked at each other and ran forward, aiming to arrive at the corner at roughly the same time. Tiger walked next to Jaclyn.


    I¡¯d have preferred to arrive at this point less tired and beat up, but you do what you have to.


    Izzy and Jaclyn stepped around the corner first, followed by Tiger. The light from the glowing fungus in the room reflected off their costumes, adding a multi-colored glow.


    Amy and I came around after Tiger. As we did, the real show started. It was ironic in a way that the people we¡¯d put in Team Hidden were there because they were less physically powerful because in another sense, they were the most powerful people on the team.


    Take Camille AKA Gravity Star, for example. Being able to warp gravity to your will was no small thing.


    As I got a full view of the lowest level of the parking garage with my own eyes, Camille and the rest of Team (no longer) Hidden became visible off to my right as the rest of the room glowed in its bioluminescent glory.


    In that moment, the entire horde of fungus creatures charged in our direction¡ªPrime clones, the giant headless beasts, humanoid beings just released from their translucent fungal birthing chambers¡­


    Battle would have been joined then and there except that¡¯s when Camille flipped the situation on its head.


    Gravity changed. No longer pulling people to the floor, it now pulled them toward the far end of the left wall of the room. At least that was how it worked inside the room.


    I only felt a small tug¡ªwhich was fine.


    People inside the room felt more than that and they fell¡ªsideways. Giant headless fungus beasts rolled head over heels toward the room¡¯s various mounds, reaching out toward them with their claws, sometimes missing as they tumbled ¡°downward,¡± hitting the wall and splattering into chunks of beast-shaped fungus.


    Others were luckier, grabbing a mound with their claws or landing on one of the mounds. How lucky that turned out to be varied.


    Not all the mounds could handle the weight and lost their connection to the floor, falling along with the beast that hit it. Other times, the beast hung on with its claws, tearing a chunk of the side off of one of the birthing mounds, releasing a thick fluid that glowed a dim green.


    The fluid drained onto the beast and the floor, dripping and splattering on everything between it and the far wall, including other beasts, mounds, Prime clones, tendril monsters, and even the massive circular structure in the middle of the room.


    However bad the fungus was thinking that was, it became worse for it.


    Vaughn had been worried that he didn¡¯t have enough in the tank to be useful, and here used the least amount of effort he could, but it was the exact right amount.


    He created small gusts of wind that blew beasts or Prime clones that had fallen onto a mound off the mound. Was a fungus creature reaching out to grab a mound? A small wind blew it a few inches or feet away out of reach.


    It was Daniel¡¯s job to notice the right moment to enter the room and as the last beast fell, he said, ¡°Go!¡±


    Then Izzy grabbed Paladin and those of us who could fly aimed ourselves at the circular fungus structure in the middle of the level.

 Courtesy: Part 43

    ¡°Those of us who could fly¡± might not have been the best way to put it. Specifically, Daniel, Amy, and I followed Izzy (carrying Paladin) in. We¡¯d be joined by a couple more from Haley¡¯s group.


    Everyone else gathered outside under Tara¡¯s leadership.


    As great as Camille¡¯s control over gravity was, she didn¡¯t have infinite power in the tank which meant that all of the fungus creatures that hadn¡¯t been destroyed by the equivalent of a hundred foot fall would be attacking soon.


    They¡¯d be joined by the thousands of controlled citizens behind us. That¡¯s why we¡¯d left the majority of the group. Tara would be able to figure out how best to organize that fight.


    Izzy, Alex, and I landed first, waiting for the others because even if every second counted, we needed the flexibility.


    Daniel and Amy landed behind us with Haley and Cassie landing behind them.


    Izzy and I went first, stepping into the opening¡ªa hole in the gray flesh of the wall. It didn¡¯t feel right to step inside. The floor sank under my boots as it might if I¡¯d stepped inside a creature¡¯s mouth.


    I¡¯d read a story once where guests in a future hotel made of bioengineered matter kept on disappearing. Why? Because the rooms turned out to be the creature¡¯s stomach.


    I¡¯d forgotten whether that was an intentional design element or not, but I had little doubt it would be intentional if that turned out to be true here.


    The interesting question was whose design? A random design from the combination whatever alien and human elements it encountered since being released by Hunter? Maybe it was some element of Hunter¡¯s personality given free rein? We didn¡¯t have necessary information.


    It was best to keep my mind on what I was doing.


    Definitely, Daniel thought at me from behind.


    That¡¯s when I realized that I wasn¡¯t in a hallway. The ¡°hallway¡± we¡¯d been in was the gap between two of the mounds. As we stepped forward, the walls had changed from grey flesh to something else. The one to my right reminded me of the birthing chambers I¡¯d seen outside¡ªclear skin with liquid and shapes inside.


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    These shapes weren¡¯t humanoid. They had the whorls of brains, but were the shape brains might be if they grew in zero gravity and without a body. Though connected by curving, folded grey matter, sometimes it clustered, sometimes it spread apart, still connected by veins of pumping blood.


    On my left, the mound also appeared to be birthing chambers, but this one didn¡¯t contain brains. It was all bodies¡ªhumanoid bodies. On my first look, I thought they were actually humans who¡¯d been captured and were being modified into something else, but a closer look showed that they weren¡¯t finished.


    Where I could see inside, they were solid all the way through, but if some hadn¡¯t been still growing arms and legs, I¡¯d never have known it. They looked perfectly human other than that.


    If we didn¡¯t shut this down, they¡¯d blend into any city in the world.


    It wasn¡¯t the only mound like that, but I didn¡¯t have time to inspect every single one. They were all around the outside of the room and by the time we¡¯d passed three more, we¡¯d reached the middle.


    I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d expected to see there. A throne room, maybe? A giant brain or maybe a mushroom? Mario? A Smurf?


    What we found was a pool.


    Lit by multi-colored dots on the fleshy ceiling above us, mounds bordered the space, some of them growing people, others brains, and others seemingly only walls.


    Daniel spoke over the comm, ¡°We¡¯re in the middle of a single mind.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good, right?¡± Alex looked around the room. ¡°Can I just touch the floor or do I have to make for the pool and touch the liquid? There¡¯s no way it¡¯s really water.¡±


    ¡°I think we need more information before we move,¡± I said, taking a quick look around the room and not seeing anything move that wasn¡¯t us.


    Mentally I asked Daniel, Is there any chance that this means that we¡¯re past its mental defenses?


    I¡¯m trying to figure that out. Daniel closed his eyes.


    Not hearing the exchange, Alex spoke over me, ¡°You always think we need more information, but it doesn¡¯t just appear. Sometimes you have to push some buttons to get it.¡±


    He pushed his way past Izzy and walked toward the pool.


    Izzy stepped forward, keeping up with him, ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea. There¡¯s something happening in the pool.¡±


    Without stopping, Alex asked, ¡°What?¡±


    Izzy stared in the direction of the pool, ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s small.¡±


    The liquid bubbled and a child walked out of it, pulling himself over the pool¡¯s grey wall.


    Wearing a blue and white striped shirt, and blue pants, the blond haired boy could have passed for human anywhere.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to talk,¡± it said with a touch of a lisp.


    Alex glanced back at me, showing it was a good choice for the Fungus Collective. Most people hesitate when it comes to killing kids.

 Courtesy: Part 44

    Logically, I should have told him to shoot it. The longer we took with this, the more time the greater horde had to reach us. Plus, it was most likely an avatar for a larger entity that was willing to sacrifice human life without a thought.


    Why didn¡¯t I? First of all, Alex didn¡¯t take orders from anybody. Second, we didn¡¯t know where the core of the entity was and a conversation could give us time to find it that combat wouldn¡¯t. Beyond that, would the Fungus Collective simply hand us the core of its mental processes? Unlikely. If I had to guess, I¡¯d guess that the kid was intended to be a distraction for us.


    Also, there was the possibility, however small, that we were actually looking at a kid.


    I thought at Daniel, Can you figure out what Alex should touch? The kid? The pool? The floor (if we¡¯re lucky)? One of the mounds. My bet would be one of the mounds and most likely on the other side behind the kid.


    I felt agreement through our link.


    Daniel looked over the room as the child said, ¡°I know we got off to a bad start, but I¡¯m very young. I was born today. I¡¯ve learned a lot in my short time alive. I want to coexist.¡±


    Standing off to my right, Cassie laughed, ¡°I¡¯ve got thousands of footfalls coming this direction that says that you want to kill us.¡±


    The child said, ¡°If you want proof, I can stop them.¡±


    From behind me, Haley asked, ¡°Can you make them stop and retreat?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve already done it. Check if you wish.¡± The child looked over the group of us, not saying anything.


    Speaking into the main League channel, I asked, ¡°Control, is he telling the truth?¡±


    At the same time, I checked cameras from the bots I left outside the building. He wasn¡¯t lying.


    It looked like a battleground outside, specifically as if a fantasy background had been transported into modern Grand Lake.


    Elves on horses, draconic beasts, trolls, goblins and more stood in the street.


    Fungus monsters of all kinds lay on the ground, all of them hacked apart with medieval weapons. Fungus infected humans that had been ensorcelled stood near them, some staring into space, others endlessly dancing as a short, bearded fey played a violin.


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    The fey duke seemed to have taken Adam¡¯srequest not to kill humans seriously. From the frown he wore as he watched the fungus creatures withdraw to the other side of the street, making a barrier of fungus creatures between the controlled humans and the fey, I assumed that he was disappointed.


    He sheathed his sword and crossed his arms for a few seconds, but then started shouting to his troops, putting them into formation for fighting should the fungus creatures return to the fight.


    As I decided that I¡¯d seen enough, he raised his right hand, looked directly into the camera of the bot I was watching from, and gave a small wave with his fingers.


    I gave my attention back to the room with two new thoughts to add to the many on my mind¡ª1) don¡¯t mess with powerful fey and 2) take a cue from the fact that he expected the fight to continue.


    Over the comm, Kayla said, ¡°The bots show that all of the fungus and fungus controlled creatures have stopped fighting and withdrawn from the fight. That includes several units of National Guardsmen in tanks, Rocket suits, and mechs.¡±


    Haley stepped forward, ¡°Okay. We¡¯ve got confirmation that you retreated, but it¡¯s not far.¡±


    In my head, Daniel said, I¡¯m searching our best futures. If you can believe it, there are lot where talking to the child and not fighting ends this. I don¡¯t know how, but that¡¯s what I¡¯ve got. There are real futures where the fungus is an ally. On the other hand, there are more futures where we talk and then there¡¯s fighting. Some of those go bad, but overall it¡¯s still better than when we don¡¯t talk.


    Over the comm, Daniel added, ¡°Paladin, the child isn¡¯t your target. I¡¯m checking mound by mound right now. I¡¯ll tell you when I find it, but right now, it¡¯s better to talk.¡±


    Alex¡¯s eyes flicked toward the mounds behind the child and he said, ¡°Got it,¡± into the comm.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± the child looked around the room, hopefully unable to hear that exchange. ¡°I know you have every reason not to trust me, but as I said, I¡¯ve learned a great deal more about human beings since my creation¡ªeven since you freed my chosenspokesperson.¡±


    He paused, I assume taking in our response to that.


    ¡°It puzzled me,¡± he continued. ¡°I¡¯d made you an offer in what I considered good faith and even included the death of a useful tool to show how serious I was. Fortunately, I¡¯d recovered a number of dead bodies, one of which I have here.¡±


    Another humanoid form rose from the pool. This one had a grey, mushroom flesh body and Arete¡¯s head.


    The child smiled, ¡°I thought you¡¯d recognize him! I¡¯m sure you find the idea that he¡¯s dead disturbing, but getting access to his mind as well as that of the other deceased individuals gave me the insight I needed to understand why I shouldn¡¯t absorb all life. Traveling through the pathways that these individuals made over their lives, it struck me that absorbing these people before they die might be¡­ wrong.


    ¡±I think there¡¯s something useful about the way that you all go through your lives, alone, unable to feel the thoughts of the rest of your species. Absorbing you only after your deaths might allow me to think thoughts a composite being such as myself couldn¡¯t ordinarily think. For you, it offers immortality within me.


    ¡°Oh, and there is one other matter. From what I¡¯ve gleaned from inspecting Arete¡¯s consciousness, it appears that the Xiniti will exterminate all life on this planet if something like me takes over.


    ¡°For that reason, I propose an alliance.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 45

    Cassie piped up before anyone else, ¡°How do we trust you? You were literally trying to kill some of us less than a minute ago. Sure, you stopped, but what are we supposed to do with that? Right now you need us, but maybe in the future you decide that you don¡¯t. What¡¯s going to stop you from absorbing the whole world then?¡±


    The boy frowned, ¡°The Xiniti will burn this world. Isn¡¯t that correct?¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Cassie pointed at the mounds, ¡°but we see what you¡¯re up to. You¡¯re making replacements for us.¡±


    I thought about the mounds with fake people growing inside the birthing chambers. If the Xiniti didn¡¯t make an effort to check if everyone was real and fungus could control real people without obvious growths, the Fungus Collective could rule the planet invisibly.


    The boy froze¡ªwhich was interesting by itself since it meant that it had absorbed involuntary human movements. Then it said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Originally, I did intend to create human replacements that I¡¯d use to rule behind the scenes, but now I just want to survive.¡±


    Over the comm, I asked, ¡°Blue or Night Cat, is it easy to tell the difference between a human and fungus duplicate for you?¡±


    I¡¯d already checked with my sonar. The fungus needed a mechanical means to walk, but it didn¡¯t look the same¡ªtoo solid.


    Izzy nodded, ¡°Easily.¡±


    Staring at the ground as if trying to avoid sensing too much, Haley said, ¡°I can¡¯t try smell through the suit, but they don¡¯t sound right. I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell otherwise.¡±


    Not hearing our conversation through the helmet, the boy continued, ¡°The Xiniti have observers on the planet. The Nine are aware of them. They know they haven¡¯t found them all.¡±


    Muttering into her costume¡¯s mic, Cassie said, ¡°I don¡¯t trust this thing, but if it knows everything in Arete¡¯s head, I¡¯d consider a deal. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve ever captured a cooperative member of the Nine.¡±


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    I could feel a moment of hope in Daniel¡¯s thoughts as he told the League channel, ¡°I don¡¯t know how they subsume people into their larger consciousness, but the Dominators¡¯ commands probably wouldn¡¯t have any power over that many personalities.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Cassie said aloud pointing her gun at Arete, ¡°what do you know about the Nine? Do you know everything he knows?¡±


    The boy stared at her, ¡°Everything. He was an agent of the Dominators, tasked with infiltrating the superhero community. If you¡¯re willing to ally with me, I can share all of his activities and contacts.¡±


    I glanced over at Arete or at least at his head and his grey, fungus, replacement body, wondering how much of him was there.


    Thanks to my implant, I could run through its footage of him. From that, I could see that the Fungus Collective had given him a body physically equivalent to the old one. I couldn¡¯t speak to the details of what had been under clothes except to note that nothing major had been skipped¡ªwhich felt a little uncomfortable, but whatever.


    More interesting? He had the same look as when he¡¯d been alive, watching the conversation, his eyes tracking each person as they talked, arms loose by his side, ready for action.


    I had no way to tell, but Arete struck me as being alert and involved in the conversation even if he wasn¡¯t talking. Was that a good thing? I couldn¡¯t see Arete offering to give us his information on the Nine. So, I was probably being paranoid.


    Amy must have been thinking along the same lines, though, because she stepped forward, Bloodspear in her right hand, her eyes never leaving Arete as she asked, ¡°Is he okay with betraying the Nine?¡±


    The boy didn¡¯t even look at Arete, ¡°He¡¯s a small part of the collective whole. We are decided on our course of action. We mean to survive and the Nine mean nothing to us.


    ¡°I don¡¯t deny that his memory and his personality show them loyalty, but the will of the collective whole decides what¡¯s good for the collective and we don¡¯t see anything that the Nine have to offer.¡±


    Alex blinked and tilted his head as he looked over the child, ¡°Nothing? I¡¯m not saying that you should sign up with them, but I¡¯m sure they¡¯d love to have you.¡±


    The boy gave a curt nod, ¡°I¡¯m sure they would, but we¡¯d be little more than a tool to them and I¡¯m certain they¡¯d try to control us. You people, from what I understand, might not trust us, but I think we can earn our freedom with you.¡±


    The ruby red glow of the gems on Amy¡¯s armor seemed to glow a step brighter as she said, ¡°I¡¯ve got some experience with a collective of personalities. One personality can dominate the whole if it¡¯s sufficiently strong or dedicated.


    ¡°What if I could show you how to bind Arete so that he had no chance of taking control?¡±


    I may have been deluding myself, but I thought I saw the muscles on Arete¡¯s jaw tighten. Even with my implant¡¯s instant replay, it was hard to say.

 Courtesy: Part 46

    The boy froze again, his right hand curling into a ball. Then he smiled and said, ¡°I would like that. Is this something that you can teach me or would you place a spell on me?¡±


    ¡°A spell,¡± Amy said, glancing over at Arete, ¡°and I can¡¯t do it now because I¡¯m a little tired, but I think I could in ten minutes.¡±


    Uncurling his right hand, the boy smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t necessarily need it, but I¡¯ll think about it. I do sometimes have a little trouble with rogue personalities and a little help keeping them under control wouldn¡¯t hurt.¡±


    While I couldn¡¯t say I wanted Arete free, helping the Fungus Collective keep him controlled also felt wrong.


    On the other hand, I¡¯d seen Arete¡¯s expression and I¡¯d seen the boy freeze when Amy suggested the binding. It wasn¡¯t impossible that the Fungus Collective might be warring within itself over who controlled the group.


    I wondered if Amy knew and found Daniel¡¯s connection to me had expanded to include her.


    You¡¯re trying to push him, Daniel thought to Amy.


    Amy thought back, Yes. If Arete can take over, I want him to do it now when we¡¯re prepared to destroy this thing instead of later.


    Huh, I thought back, is that the best way to do this?


    I felt a surge of irritation from Amy¡¯s end of things that she quashed down, knowing I could feel it. I¡¯m sure I told you about this. The last Bloodmaiden¡ªthe last of the old-style Bloodmaidens before I got powers¡ªabsorbed a monster with more force of will than she could handle. Its personality ran the whole show until she recovered and ended it. She killed almost everyone she knew, throwing the throne over to my branch of the family.


    The past Bloodmaidens don¡¯t want to see that happen again even in other people. They don¡¯t want to be surprised.


    Was it even worth trying to argue? I doubted I¡¯d have much luck trying to persuade a composite being with thousands of years of service that I was right.


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    Besides, they might be right. That didn¡¯t stop me from asking, But if we avoid a crisis now, can the fungus handle Arete?


    Maybe, Amy¡¯s expression remained neutral, but they don¡¯t think we can trust the Fungus Collective past this crisis. They¡¯ll take any excuse to destroy it.


    My mask hid my facial expression¡ªwhich was good because I doubted it would help the situation.


    As Daniel closed the connection between the three of us, he said, While I can sense that engaging with the boy gives us the best chance, outcomes of the conversation are fuzzier than normal. The Fungus Collective might be the cause.


    Amy nodded, eyes narrowing. I couldn¡¯t argue. The thing already had enough psychic power to affect teleportation. Maybe it was deliberately fuzzing out the outcome.


    It didn¡¯t bode well for our alliance against the Nine¡ªthough it might go along with that because it wiped out a potential rival.


    Using the connection between us that never quite closed when we were in range, Daniel said, I¡¯m going to continue narrowing down the possibilities for Alex and pass this conversation on to the rest of the group.


    I agreed, knowing he understood even if I didn¡¯t put it into words.


    In that moment, before Daniel could have even told them, I saw Katuk and Kals emerge from the group of mounds behind us. Kals looked around as she followed Katuk, taking in the pool, the bioluminescent mounds around us, the boy, and Arete with his new body.


    Katuk, in his silver Xiniti armor, walked a little ahead of her, making the smallest movements of his head, but I had little doubt that he was scanning the room for threats.


    To my surprise, it wasn¡¯t Kals that started talking. Katuk said, ¡°I¡¯ve received direct orders from the Xiniti nation that I¡¯m to assist in handling this threat as my first priority.¡±


    ¡°Just now? We¡¯re not fighting,¡± I watched the boy for his reaction and he made none. I could only wonder what was happening underneath.


    Arete didn¡¯t move either, making me wonder if the Fungus Collective hive mind was now joined in pitched battle with itself.


    ¡°Kals,¡± Alex said, drawing out her name. Remembering what he¡¯d said about pushing buttons earlier, I had a bad feeling that he¡¯d taken Amy¡¯s plan to heart. ¡°If Arete gets out of control, you can take him out, right?¡±


    She eyed Arete¡¯s head on his new fungus body, ¡°If everything in his head is still human, he shouldn¡¯t be any match for me.¡±


    The boy fell over, landing on the concrete next to the pool, showing no sign that the body had once been animate. It lay there, one arm folded under its chest at an angle no human could stand for long.


    Arete didn¡¯t move either, but he didn''t fall. Despite Arete and the boy¡¯s immobility though, something was moving. I could feel rumbling in the floor through the Rocket suit.

 Courtesy: Part 47

    Views from the bots outside showed that the hordes of mushroom creatures had charged City Hall. The Duke smiled, the points of his teeth showing as he raised his sword and began cutting down the attackers even as his horse kicked and crushed them.


    His army followed him in, trolls, goblins, elves, and strange faerie monsters killing with ecstatic grins on their faces.


    The Duke¡¯s army only fully covered City Hall, though, and the Fungus Collective had more creatures to work with. They entered the far side of the parking garage near City Hall and poured down the ramps as a group.


    Near the front were the local National Guard base¡¯s mechs and Rocket suits. Even though the National Guard didn¡¯t get the newest and best designs, they weren¡¯t pushovers. We¡¯d be seeing them downstairs soon enough.


    ¡°Control,¡± I asked over the main League channel, ¡°it looks like the truce is over and the Fungus Collective is under new leadership. You should make sure the groups know.¡±


    ¡°I know. I know,¡± the sound of Kayla¡¯s typing almost matched her voice.


    I wanted to check if Daniel knew, but he had to. If we didn¡¯t have a target, we¡¯d be best off randomly having Alex attack everything in sight¡ªexcept that he¡¯d be too tired to affect much after a while.


    That¡¯s when Arete stopped staring at the floor and looked up at us. I couldn¡¯t find even a little bit of the minor superhero he¡¯d pretended to be in his face. Instead, he eyed us with a flat expression on his face as if he were preparing to spar with someone he knew was better than he was.


    What was our plan? For the moment, my plan was stall him until Daniel worked out what Alex had to destroy. I hoped everyone would be willing to follow my lead on that one.


    ¡°Hey Arete,¡± I said, ¡°did you just get promoted?¡±


    He began to laugh, but it didn¡¯t sound right. However his body was now designed, it came out as a series of spastic wheezes.


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    ¡°We got promoted,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m now part of a collective. The majority recognized that I have better insight in dealing with humans since I used to be one. That means that there will be changes in what you were being offered.


    ¡°Do you want to know the first one?¡± His face erupted into a toothy grin, ¡°You surrender now or you get nothing. We¡¯re not going to help you fight the Nine because we, as a collective have determined that working with the Nine is in our best interest. If you surrender, you get to live. If you don¡¯t surrender, well, I may not know who your families are, but I know there are people in the Nine who do. And do you know what? Since I¡¯m now a collective, I¡¯m calling the Nine right now. Thanks to whatever you did to shut off the city from the outside, they can¡¯t come in here, but everything outside the city is fair game. And do you know what? Everything and everyone inside the city is fair game for me. All they need to do is tell me where to look.¡±


    He stopped, adding, ¡°I already know a few places. I won¡¯t tell you where. I¡¯ll let it be a surprise.¡±


    We were back to, ¡°surrender or I¡¯ll kill or infect your families,¡± only now with the Nine¡¯s assistance.


    Though he couldn¡¯t see it, I blinked, and said, ¡°Well, I guess I liked the previous offer better.¡±


    Haley turned to watch me. Cassie had straight out laughed.


    Arete paused before he replied, probably expecting more servility, ¡°I just threatened your family and the families of everyone you know. I thought you¡¯d care more and even if you didn¡¯t, your team would.¡±


    Alex shrugged, ¡°Look, it¡¯s nothing personal, dude. I don¡¯t know exactly why the Rocket didn¡¯t give up, but it¡¯s got to be something like this. He doesn¡¯t like bullies. He knows what they look like because he¡¯s seen them up close and personal. As for myself, it¡¯s not that. I just think you¡¯re a shit negotiator. If you want people to work with you, there¡¯s got to be an upside, something they want. All you¡¯re offering is the chance to avoid being crushed beneath your boot. It¡¯s not enough.¡±


    It was easy for me to underestimate Alex. His tendency to act first and ask questions later was one of the reasons, but sometimes, he showed enough insight that I had to wonder if I was missing something. This was one of those moments.


    He wasn¡¯t necessarily wrong about the bullying part of the statement, but he¡¯d gone one better over my idea for handling Arete. I¡¯d been waiting to see if I could stall until Daniel figured out where to attack and hope people would follow my lead. Alex had just attacked the whole reason the Fungus Collective chose to follow Arete.


    If anything, I needed to follow his lead.


    I took a step toward Arete, ¡°I can¡¯t work with you.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 48

    I looked him in the eye (to the degree that I could through a helmet) and said, ¡°We¡¯re all going to die and you with us. If you get out, that means the whole planet goes. Whether people I care about die because of the Nine or because the Xiniti make the sun go nova, they¡¯re dead. So congratulations, you¡¯ve made this whole situation so bad that you have no hold on us because we don¡¯t have anything to lose.¡±


    In the moment, I meant it, but I knew that if we got reports of our parents dying at the hands of the Nine and we survived, it wouldn¡¯t feel like a victory.


    Arete¡¯s lip curled and his voice became louder, ¡°This isn¡¯t a no-win scenario. If the crisis ends and you declare victory, the Xiniti aren¡¯t going to destroy the planet. So far as they¡¯ll be able to tell, you won. All you need to do is surrender, let a few spores in, and become part of us.¡±


    Turning his gaze to Katuk, he said, ¡°That means you too. You¡¯ll either become part of us or be destroyed.¡±


    Katuk¡¯s voice took on an otherworldly quality with hard consonants making a brief high-pitched ring. Having spent weeks in close quarters with him, I knew this could happen when the Xiniti were amused.


    Knowing that the Xiniti had destroyed the Abominators after the Abominators found their home planet, inadvertently releasing them into the galaxy, I suspected that their amusement was something to avoid.


    It never meant anything good when we¡¯d played Monopoly.


    Aside from that, Katuk showed no emotion, meeting Arete¡¯s gaze, his wide, black eyes visible through his silver helmet, ¡°You¡¯re unfamiliar with the Xiniti. We don¡¯t back down when we have a mission. We fulfill the task or die. We start the task regarding ourselves as already dead.¡±


    Arete glanced over at me, the movement jerky. Integrating a human body part into a fungus body wouldn''t always work well.


    I said, ¡°It¡¯s a very functional idea for a culture of soldiers. It makes it easy to do whatever¡¯s necessary without worrying if you¡¯ll survive.¡±


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    ¡°And it makes them remorseless when you land on Boardwalk and it¡¯s got four hotels,¡± Cassie said, her gun still pointed in Arete¡¯s direction.


    Arete¡¯s mouth dropped open, asking Cassie, ¡°You play Monopoly with aliens?¡±


    Katuk talked over him, ¡°You said it was only a game. It is more than that, illustrating cultural assumptions and showing that humans have emotional responses even to fictional experiences.¡±


    ¡°Arete,¡± I said, ¡°you were killed, absorbed into a fungus, and you¡¯re now part of a creature with multiple minds. Maybe you should teach them Monopoly. It won¡¯t be any less weird.¡±


    Sure, that was a bit of verbal nonsense, but it might buy us time¡ªwhich we needed because Daniel hadn¡¯t yet pointed us toward the fungus¡¯ core.


    Gritting his teeth, Arete said, ¡°You¡¯re not taking this seriously. Do I need to give you a reason to take it seriously? Well, here¡¯s one, my troops will be down here soon. Then you¡¯ll either die or become part of us whether you want to or not. If you¡¯re willing, it will hurt less and everyone will live.¡±


    He was wrong about that. I was taking this very seriously. A quick check of my bots¡¯ cameras made me suspect that we needed to start destroying everything we could. His armies would be down here in less than a minute.


    Off to my right, Haley tapped on the keyboard on her arm. Though I couldn¡¯t see or hear the conversation, she had to be coordinating with the rest of the group outside the circle. They¡¯d be facing the fungus army first.


    Over the main League channel, Kayla said, ¡°Justice Fist turned around. They¡¯re coming back your way with the government unit. They couldn¡¯t get out. When they got close, the fungus army appeared. Out.¡±


    That wasn¡¯t good news. I decided to try for a long shot, telling Arete, ¡°I¡¯m taking this seriously. What I don¡¯t get is why your allies aren¡¯t. If they allowed you to take charge because you¡¯ve got the most experience manipulating humans, they should notice that when the humans are protected from your voice, you¡¯re completely useless at it.


    ¡°More than that, if you sold them on the idea that the Xiniti won¡¯t look too hard if everyone still looks and acts human, you were incredibly dumb when you explained that one right in front of one of the Xiniti. You may not know it, but Xiniti tech allows him to be in contact with the Xiniti base near Mars from here. From the base, they can contact all the Xiniti in the galaxy. This plan absolutely can¡¯t work now.


    ¡°If you sold them on the idea that the Nine were powerful and we aren¡¯t, you should remember this, the Xiniti sometimes listen to us. If the Fungus Collective were to put the other faction in charge again along with the old deal, we might be able to convince them that you should survive. They¡¯ll scan us to be sure we¡¯re not being influenced, but they¡¯ll at least listen to us.


    ¡°They¡¯ll never listen to the Nine.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 49

    Arete shook his head, ¡°You¡¯re bluffing. There¡¯s no way this Xiniti could pass that on to the rest. There¡¯s no Xiniti Mars base and even if there were there¡¯s no way they¡¯d find out for hours.¡±


    I don¡¯t know how often you encounter people whose understanding of the world is so far from yours that you absolutely despair of bridging the gap, but I hope it¡¯s never for anything important.


    In that moment though, I barely knew where to start. I tried, ¡°Look, there is a Xiniti base at the LaGrange point near Mars. It takes the speed of light more than three minutes to get there. If you¡¯re communicating back and forth to a Mars rover it might take 15 to 45 minutes to communicate back and forth, but that¡¯s partly just technology and it¡¯s not technology we¡¯re using.


    ¡°The general public doesn¡¯t know this, but an ansible near Earth provides faster-than-light communication to the Xiniti or wherever. Without question, the Xiniti high command knows about this by now. They may even be launching ships by now.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re lying! You¡¯re making this up to make us surrender so you can kill us. This conversation is over. You¡¯ll tell the truth when we open your armor¡ªwait¡­¡±


    He stopped and said, ¡°You know what, I¡¯ll believe you if one of you turns off your buzzer and let me ask you the same question.¡±


    From behind me, Kals said, ¡°No, don¡¯t. I know what I could do with that opening.¡±


    Off to my left, Katuk said, ¡°The Rocket isn¡¯t lying and he¡¯s correct in guessing that the Xiniti nation is readying rapid response ships in case you aren¡¯t contained. Comparable creatures have absorbed the populations of multiple planets.¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I noted that Alex¡¯ hand had moved, pointing his pistol at Arete.


    Behind us came a sound that reminded me of smacking lips and splashing noise. Not needing to turn my head to see what was happening in my helmet¡¯s screens, I saw that the mounds containing ¡°people¡± had opened.


    For a moment they looked like they had in the birthing chambers¡ªlike your average office worker, child, middle-aged parent, or grandparent. Then they changed, their clothes and skin turning into a hard, shell-like substance, their mouths widening until half of their faces could open, revealing jagged teeth.


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    Even though I doubted that teeth could go through my armor, I reminded myself that their Prime-clones had been a real threat and that they evolved.


    As I noted that there were a lot of them, Tara talked over the main League channel, ¡°I¡¯ve been watching through the bots. If we want to have a chance to survive, we need to move into the circle with you.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to be fighting on both sides,¡± I said.


    Her voice flattened into the True¡¯s monotone, ¡°You¡¯re not fighting yet and we still have a better chance to win.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have time to respond to her because Arete chose that moment to say, ¡°I gave you one more chance. Now it¡¯s time to die¡ª¡±


    He sounded like a poorly-written Bond villain and I wanted to tell him so, but I didn¡¯t get the opportunity. Katuk shot him.


    By shot him, I mean a spot formed out of nothing on Katuk¡¯s armor, the silver giving way to a glowing, white dome. White light, crackling with sparks, burst outward, hitting Arete, turning his fungus body to a piece of human-shaped ash, and charring his head.


    Katuk didn¡¯t just shoot him. He annihilated him, leaving ash and a shattered, blackened skull.


    I turned to look at Katuk and he answered my unspoken question, ¡°It seemed like a good first step.¡±


    Cassie turned around, pointing her gun at the figures behind us, all of whom had frozen, ¡°You beat me to it. Mr. Sparkles was disappointed. Do you think they¡¯re dead?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°There¡¯s no way we could be that lucky. My bet is that they¡¯re electing a new leader or something.¡±


    Over the Rocket suit¡¯s PA, I said, ¡°Hey Fungus Collective, assuming you¡¯re listening, we¡¯re willing to negotiate, we weren¡¯t willing to negotiate with him. The first deal you offered us was one we could consider. That worked out better for everyone including you.¡±


    Next to me, Haley, watched the frozen¡­ humonsters (for lack of a better name) as if they could attack at any time.


    I checked the body or abandoned avatar I''d thought of as ¡°the boy.¡± It didn¡¯t move or show any sign of moving. I considered asking Daniel how it was going but didn¡¯t bother. He could do without the interruption.


    Except¡­ Daniel thought back and not just to me¡ªto everybody, I¡¯ve had to do it differently than I expected. They can block direct prescience, so I¡¯ve had to think sideways. There¡¯s a mound across and to the left of the pool. We need to get Alex there. That won¡¯t be it, but that¡¯s the start¡ª


    Interrupting Daniel¡¯s thought, all of the humonsters started to talk as one voice even if it was at different pitches.


    ¡°Did you think you destroyed me?¡± Even at different pitches, I recognized the voice as Arete¡¯s, ¡°Did you think you could make the Collective reject me? I¡¯m part of it and we are one¡ªas you will be. Now, serve me!¡±


    As strange as it sounded from many mouths, the command became stranger as it took on the tones I recognized from hearing Julie, Kals, and various people we¡¯d met in space use them.


    Produced from a choir, the noise overwhelmed the sound of my buzzer. I could hear it, but only a little, and for the first time since I''d perfected the design, I could feel pressure to obey.

 Courtesy: Part 50

    It would have been over right there if it had never occurred to us that someday we might be exposed to a Dominator and be without a buzzer.


    The bad news, of course, was that we hadn¡¯t had access to Kals or anyone with Dominator training. We did have Julie, but unlike the Dominators in the Human Ascendancy or serving the Nine, she hadn¡¯t been taught from childhood. She¡¯d picked up what she could by experimentation and what the teachers in theStapledon program knew the Dominators could do.


    Still, it was something¡ªenough to practice with.


    All Arete¡¯s minions had said was, ¡°Serve me.¡±


    The great thing about that statement was that it wasn¡¯t an actionable command. If he¡¯d said, ¡°Serve me dinner,¡± it would have been specific. ¡°Serve me¡± was abstract.


    You could almost completely ignore that.


    We¡¯d done one better than that in our preparation. The Nine had trigger commands. We¡¯d built in a few ourselves, all of them around the theme of, ¡°If you¡¯re being commanded to do something, pretend to comply and watch for your shot.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t perfect. Kals would have come up with something better and a skilled Dominator could probably work around it if they knew it existed. Well, maybe. We¡¯d supplemented Julie¡¯s commands with Amy¡¯s magic and modifications to our telepathic blocks.


    We could only hope that Arete wasn¡¯t skilled enough to handle it.


    My major worry was that Kals didn¡¯t know about it (unless Julie told her) and that not everyone involved in this fight had access to it.


    I could solve part of that. Fighting my need to comply, I told my implant to send Kals my memories of the system¡¯s design. I wasn¡¯t rebelling against his commands. I followed Julie¡¯s commands and got Kals the information she needed to know.


    Meanwhile, the situation had kept on moving.


    None of us had attacked the humonster choir and Izzy asked, ¡°How do we serve you?¡±


    Hopefully, that meant that she was following our implanted commands instead of Arete¡¯s.


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    Kals sent back a reply through her implant, It¡¯s crude, but not bad.


    Through the humonsters, Arete said, ¡°Bow.¡±


    Except for Amy, we all bowed. Not wanting to make myself immobile, I bowed from the waist up and noticed that everyone else was too.


    The humonsters started laughing, all of them with a wheezing, dry laugh that made me think that their equivalent of lungs either didn¡¯t quite work right or was completely different in design.


    ¡°Hold still,¡± Arete said through his proxies. ¡°No one moves until I tell you to.¡±


    Feeling the words wash over me along with a need to obey, I kept my mind on Julie¡¯s command, ¡°... pretend to comply and watch for your shot¡­¡± I felt my anxiety go up in the face of possible conflicting commands, but I reminded myself that this was the one I wanted to follow.


    A group of humonsters stepped forward, throwing me down and Haley with me.


    They didn¡¯t get anywhere near Amy. The red accents on her armor glowed brighter and she held the Bloodspear at the ready.


    One of the humonsters stopped in front of her, but out of direct reach of her spear, for all the good that would do. ¡°I can feel you,¡± it said, its high-pitched voice a strange combination with Arete¡¯s baritone.


    The humonster¡¯s voice rang with compulsion, ¡°You¡¯re on the edges of our mind. Join us.¡±


    Amy responded, but not with her voice. Much like Arete, she responded with a choir of voices, but not in the same way. Though the sonar only showed the presence of one person standing there, I could see multiple faces and bodies, all of them in the same armor and holding the Bloodspear. All of them talked at once. I couldn¡¯t hear Amy¡¯s voice within the crowd.


    ¡°We will not join you, fungus creature. We were created to slay monsters and will slay you from the inside if we must.¡±


    Then she stared at the closest one, spear at the ready.


    Arete said nothing for a few seconds¡ªwhich I hoped meant that the Fungus Collective was rethinking its support of his ideas. I knew better when he continued to speak. If someone who was born yesterday was supposed to be naive and innocent of how the world works, the Fungus Collective had been born less than an hour ago and spent most of it fighting us.


    The humonster, its teeth flashing in the bioluminescent glow around us said, ¡°You¡¯re alone. You¡¯re the only one we can¡¯t command. You¡¯ll join us or you¡¯ll fight all of your friends first. Heroes¡¯ League destroy her.¡±


    Tara talked slowly as if fighting Arete¡¯s commands, ¡°We¡¯re coming too. They¡¯re letting us in.¡±


    I checked their cameras as I pushed myself up. The group outside was walking into the circle, trailed by the Prime clones they¡¯d been keeping under control and National Guardsmen in power armor. Behind them came Prime, former Mayor Bouman, Yellow Mask, Logan, and Justice Fist. They must have been caught on their way here.


    Haley had already flipped to her feet, but neither she nor anyone else was hurrying to attack. That gave me hope that we were all still on the same side.


    As we all began to circle Amy, Daniel spoke in everyone¡¯s heads, Alex needs to wither a mound across the circle from us. It¡¯s in the second ring.

 Courtesy: Part 51

    I can¡¯t read them very well, Daniel thought at us, but for lack of a better analogy, I think it¡¯s the heart, the center of the organism¡¯s circulation. I wish we had a biologist because then I could ask better questions, but I know that as long as we get Alex there, it¡¯ll die.


    Noticing, no doubt, that we hadn¡¯t started tearing Amy limb from limb, the humonsters shouted as one, ¡°Kill her now!¡±


    As the noise overwhelmed the sound of the buzzer again, I had to fight the urge to charge Amy, hearing Julie¡¯s command in my head again.


    Everyone else had to be feeling the same and that might have been why Daniel spoke in everyone¡¯s head, repeating his memory of Julie¡¯s command and following it up with, Remember, pretend until you have to fight back. It¡¯s time.


    Turning toward the humonsters felt like it took forever, especially since I wanted to make sure we were all turning. Reminding myself that we had two backup plans, I decided to concentrate on myself since the alternative was becoming a puppet.


    Feeling like I was pushing through sludge, I did it, deciding to start with fire and explosions and fire off a series of boombots. At least six of the humonsters were standing in clusters. They were asking for it. With the rest, I could get at least two per shot. It was something.


    The boombots exploded, burning the humonsters, knocking them backwards or sideways, but not taking any of them out. If they¡¯d been vulnerable to fire, they¡¯d evolved out of it.


    As I did it, I found myself wondering what everyone else was doing. I couldn¡¯t be the only one who made it through, could I?


    A beam of burning, white light from Cassie¡¯s gun answered that question and made an ashey hole in a humonster¡¯s chest at the same time. The humonster didn¡¯t go down, but it did stop to examine the damage, touching the edge of the hole with a taloned finger.


    Though it wasn¡¯t easy to read expressions on faces where the mouth extendedmore than halfway around the skull, the way they tilted their heads and stared made me think they were surprised by us.


    I opened up on them with my laser, noting that Alex and Jenny were already running away from us in the direction of the pool that the boy came out of. They weren¡¯t yet up to his body, but at least they were going in the direction Daniel pointed out.


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    Kals and Katuk followed them, Kals making a complex series of tones to counter the humonsters that were now shouting, ¡°Surrender!¡±


    At the same time, both Izzy and Haley burst into red flame the color of Amy¡¯s gems. This was bad, not because of what happened, but because of what it meant. Amy set up the spell on all of us to be triggered if we were controlled¡ªupon which it would wipe out whatever controlled us, but only once.


    She¡¯d have to do the spell again for it to work again. In a situation like this, she wouldn¡¯t have time. We did have one other failsafe¡ªa telepathic trigger.


    I burned a hole into one of the humonsters, aiming for the chest, hoping that I might at least be able to lower its lung capacity.


    At the same time, I reminded everyone, ¡°If the spell triggers, get out. It probably won¡¯t get better down here.¡±


    Daniel¡¯s telepathic trigger would put them into a temporary coma since that would be better than being used against the team.


    Haley jumped over the humonsters, ripping a leg off the nearest one as she landed. Izzy flew over them too quickly for any of them to respond, picking up Haley and flying toward the entrance where the team that had been outside the circle was already fighting the Prime clones. They¡¯d be able to do some good there.


    I¡¯d have to work out better soundproofing in case we ever fought enough Dominators to make this much noise again.


    For now though we needed to give Alex enough time to get away from the humonsters and maybe even take them down.


    No one needed to give the order. Amy, Cassie, and I knew it was our job. Daniel helped too, but he flew toward Alex, pausing only to telekinetically throw a group of three humonsters into another group of four.


    As the rest of the humonsters charged us, Cassie and I burned them, aiming at their legs. Unlike a normal human, they didn¡¯t go down when we hit, but if you cut off a leg, they couldn¡¯t follow anyone.


    Amy did what she¡¯d been doing since this fight started¡ªthrowing her spear. Whatever guidelines the Fungus Collective used to guide its evolution, they hadn¡¯t worked out a way around throwing living things at us.


    They did work something else out. As Cassie used her Abominator gun to burn straight through her third humonster, the remaining ones all targeted her with their voices, ¡°Stop!¡±


    She hesitated and then a burst of red light glowed all around her and she shook her head. I was about to remind her to go, but when she jumped upward, her suit¡¯s anti-gravity kicking in and moving her toward the ceiling.


    Even as I burned the humonsters with my laser, they didn¡¯t let up, barraging her with sound, ¡°Land!¡±


    As she slowed, floating next to the ceiling, I knew that her second trigger had kicked in. I didn¡¯t want to leave her there, but as I considered if I could grab her, Daniel thought, Don¡¯t at me.


    Amy and I turned around, flying after the rest as the humonsters chased us.

 Courtesy: Part 52

    The humonsters ran after us, ignoring Cassie and they didn¡¯t just run. They leapt. They tumbled. The talons that grew out of their hands and feet clacked against the floor.


    They weren¡¯t slow. Only the fact that Alex, Jenny, Kals, and Katuk had started first kept them from being caught¡ªthat and Katuk¡¯s shooting ability.


    Without looking, he pointed the gun under his forearm backward and fired, scattering blasts of white light behind him. The first two caught humonsters full on, severing the right arm from one and the entire lower half of the other.


    By the time the second one got hit, the humonsters had started leaping to the right and left, trying to get cover by the mounds, running into openings, and disappearing into the unseen rows between them.


    Alex glanced over at the humonsters, aiming a few shots at them and hitting them several times. The small unit of Jennys did the same, peppering the group. Their misses hit the mounds, causing them to shudder, but they hit more than they missed and the humonsters all disappeared into the mounds on that side of the room. I breathed out a sigh of relief. Forcing them to go the long way could only buy us time.


    Over the comm, Alex asked, ¡°Which way?¡±


    Daniel pointed toward an opening between two mounds that was across the room, but at the moment could have been in another state. Alex muttered, ¡°Damn,¡± and sprinted forward with multiple copies of Jenny running with him, Kals and Katuk just behind, and Amy, Daniel, and me following after.


    We flew past the body of the boy and the pool he¡¯d emerged from. He didn¡¯t move and the pool remained calm, reflecting the glow from the ceiling and mounds around us.


    With no one barking orders at us, we had a few moments to concentrate if we wanted them, but that could only slow us down. If we hurried, maybe we¡¯d find that there were no defenses ahead. I wouldn¡¯t hold my breath, but I could hope.


    That optimism didn¡¯t even make it across the room.


    Flying gave me a better view than I¡¯d get running¡ªthe kind of view that punctures illusions. In this case, it punctured my illusion that we¡¯d have an easy time.


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    I¡¯d known that the National Guardsmen in Rocket suits were coming, but I¡¯d assumed that they¡¯d have to go through the only entrance to the circle. What I probably should have assumed was that if the center of the Fungus Collective were about to be destroyed, the Collective would make new doors in itself because that¡¯s what happened.


    Holes appeared in the outside walls, showing us the parking garage around the circle. Rocket suits flew through the openings and dropped out of sight. I couldn¡¯t see them well enough to know where they were going. Most of the mounds reached the ceiling and the Collective wasn¡¯t or couldn¡¯t make them smaller so that the troops could fly through.


    We were three-quarters of the way across by then and had caught up to the rest of the group. I landed near the front near Katuk. ¡°National Guardsmen in Rocket suits are here. If we can, I¡¯d like to leave them alive. It¡¯s not their fault they¡¯re fighting us.¡±


    Katuk said, ¡°That sounds difficult.¡±


    ¡°I know. It might not be possible. We¡¯ll try.¡±


    That conversation took us to the opening Daniel had pointed to. Only a few inches wider than one person and between two nondescript mounds, Daniel¡¯s recommendation was its only distinguishing feature.


    If I¡¯d seen them on any other day, I wouldn¡¯t have thought so. They had fleshy, grey skin that glowed with green, bioluminescent light, pulsed every few seconds from some internal process, and quivered as if alive. On any other day, they¡¯d have worried me, but today, I checked in both directions for hostile mushroom people, didn¡¯t see any, and stepped into the corridor. Daniel said, ¡°Turn right,¡± over the comms as I did, answering my unspoken question.


    I did, Katuk following me in and everyone else following him.


    Over the comm, Alex asked, ¡°You said the second row. This thing to our left?¡±


    ¡°Further,¡± Daniel.


    It didn¡¯t look any different further down the row than it did at first. As we moved though, something did feel different. As someone who¡¯d used telepathy ever since discovering his best friend had it, I knew the feeling.


    If I had to bet, I¡¯d have bet that we¡¯d reached the generation point of the anti-teleportation signal in addition to the clairvoyant fuzz Danial had mentioned before.


    Now that we were near the point where it began, I could also feel its strength. For lack of a better phrase, the psychic pressure it created felt on par with Daniel¡¯s or better. I could even feel an undercurrent of pain in its thoughts. Remembering when Daniel released a psychic attack at it, I could at least guess at its cause.


    Ahead of me, another Rocket suit stepped into the corridor. This one had been in green, brown, and beige camouflage colors. The helmet obscured the face of the operator inside. I could only guess at his or her expression as he raised a massive automatic rifle and charged, firing.

 Courtesy: Part 53

    Unless I chose to fly upward, I had nowhere to go to dodge the shot. Even if I wanted to, that went against the whole point of being first. This was the kind of shot I was here to take so someone squishier didn¡¯t have to.


    Of course, Katuk was right behind me. His armor was every bit as good¡ªwhich turned out to be important because the Guardsman¡¯s rifle turned out to be automatic and not every shot hit me even if a lot of them did.


    They hit hard. I could thank the alien materials I¡¯d modified for my survival and couldn¡¯t be confident that previous versions of the Rocket suit would have done as well.


    With each hit a damage report appeared in my HUD along with the repair status. Meanwhile, I stumbled backward, figuring out my next move as a second soldier in powered armor stepped in behind him.


    We wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything with them blocking the way forward.


    Hoping it would be enough, I fired off a series of goobots. I had plenty. I¡¯d spent the day fighting things I could kill.


    The bots exploded into webbing, coating both of the opposing Rocket suits and hardening as the soldiers tried to escape. They couldn¡¯t, but a soldier behind them leaned in, pointing a rifle around the corner.


    I fired off more goobots, watching as they turned the corner, zeroing in on the next two soldiers and exploding into ropey, gray strands.


    Four soldiers were now ensnared and as much as they pulled and strained, they couldn¡¯t pull out of it.


    Now though, we couldn¡¯t get through that corridor without risking becoming stuck to them. On the bright side, the same problem applied to them. I fired off a few more goobots, targeting soldiers behind the ones I¡¯d hit.


    There were five of them. One had reached in to try to free the ones I¡¯d stuck together and become stuck himself. The rest were beginning to back up and go in the other direction.


    I didn¡¯t get all of them. Two were out of the area of effect, but the gooey strands splattered across three of the five, solidifying and pulling them together.


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    ¡°This way,¡± Daniel pointed backward and we went that way, putting Amy and a group of Jennys in front of the group.


    Not meeting any resistance, we ran down the corridor, finding another opening and using it to turn and go in the original direction we¡¯d been heading. On this side of the mound, though, I could see more light and a rainbow of colors further down the row.


    The bad news was that the color outlined two figures walking toward us, both in Rocket suits and pointing big barreled rifles at us.


    I couldn¡¯t use goobots or I¡¯d close off another route to our goal. I couldn¡¯t use the laser without jumping or firing off the rockets to get a shot because I was at the back.


    The great thing about being part of a team though is that it¡¯s not all on you.


    Kals shouted, ¡°Stop!¡±


    It didn¡¯t work as it should have. They should have stopped, and they did¡ªkind of. They stopped and then started moving again, dragging one foot after another as if forced. At least they began to. Kals shouted, ¡°Dive!¡±


    They halted completely. I could feel their confusion and indecision in the way they stared at the floor as if trying to decide where they could dive.


    In that moment Amy threw the Bloodspear and it hit the nearest one, symbols in the metal shaft glowing a dull red until Amy pulled her hand back and the Bloodspear flew into it.


    The second one fumbled to pull up his rifle and point it even as the first Guardsman fell to the ground. He never got to fire a shot. Before he had time to get it level, the Bloodspear was already sticking out of his chest.


    Amy pulled her arm back and he fell too. Then she turned back to look at me and said, ¡°They¡¯re still alive, just tired.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, noting that the red gem on her chest which had been duller than normal was now a touch brighter.


    Then she started walking forward again, spear in hand, stepping over the Rocket suits when she reached them. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little sorry for them. It wasn¡¯t their fault they fought us. Plus,I could remember the coldness setting in when I turned the Bloodspear on myself in order to save Amy¡¯s life.


    They were lucky she had control over the spear¡¯s hunger right now.


    Memories of Lee saving both of us from a situation neither wanted ran through my mind as we reached the mound Daniel had been leading us to.


    ¡°There,¡± Daniel said and no one needed clarification about what ¡°there¡± meant.


    This mound didn¡¯t look the same as the others. It wasn¡¯t just the variety of bioluminescent colors.It was the intricacy of the strands that composed it, some larger, some smaller, some in bundles like cables, others interweaving with each other in matrices made of thin lines.


    The colors made individual cables stand out, sometimes because the colors changed in order.


    So, we had a target. Now Amy, Kals, a bunch of Jennys, and Daniel had to get out of Alex¡¯s way so that he could touch whatever it was and tap the metaphorical domino that would start the process of tipping them all over.

 Courtesy: Part 54

    At that moment, I heard a noise or more accurately many small taps and thumps. A quick look around me explained it. The humonsters were back. They¡¯d scrambled over the mounds on either side and came down in front of us, behind us, and to the sides of us lying on top of the mounds.


    I¡¯d last seen roughly 25 of them scrambling for cover among the mounds, but here there were 50, maybe more.


    They opened their mouths and shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡±


    Thanks to my HUD, I could see that the volume was more than twice what they¡¯d done earlier. It rolled over the sound of my buzzer like it didn¡¯t exist.


    I could feel the command take hold and I couldn¡¯t move¡ªfor a second. Even as I went to plan B, activating bots and readying them for firing with my implant, I felt warmth and the beat of someone¡¯s heart (probably Amy¡¯s) as a red glow burst out of me.


    At the same time, similar glows burst out of Amy, Daniel, Alex, and Jenny (all of her), freeing all of them. Kals and Katuk hadn¡¯t trained with us and didn¡¯t have our triggers, but Kals was fine, making some a sound with her mouth.


    As for Katuk, my implant threw up an alarm, showing him as controlled. I¡¯d known that Xiniti had been affected by Dominators in the past, but not as easily as humans.


    Remembering how small a percentage of the Human Ascendancy¡¯s population seemed to be Dominators, it wouldn¡¯t have surprised me if the Xiniti simply never had to deal with that many Dominators at once. Still, at that moment, I wasn¡¯t doing too much speculation about the reason, I had another problem.


    Our failsafe allowed us to retreat or try for a Hail Mary before going comatose and this wasn¡¯t a situation where we could retreat.


    I started firing off boombots at the humonsters around us, trying not to get too close to us. I was getting low, but there wasn¡¯t any point in saving them for a later date.


    Even as the first two bots streaked away, one heading for the humonsters ahead of us and the other for the ones behind me, Daniel lifted Alex and began to move him over Amy, Kals, and the group of Jennys toward the glowing, strangely intricate mound.


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    Showing that between whatever was left of Arete and the Fungus Collective someone was paying attention to our defenses, the humonsters shouted, ¡°Do nothing,¡± at a volume that matched what they¡¯d managed before. Alex fell on top of the Jennys¡ªnone of whom disappeared. That was bad because Jenny¡¯s trigger was supposed to discorporate any affected copies so she could send more in.


    This meant that the command had penetrated deep enough that it affected her, all of her. Alex wasn¡¯t moving either and neither were Amy or Daniel.


    The only spark of hope I had was that Kals hadn¡¯t stood there when Alex fell, she¡¯d dodged out of his way.


    I say all that as if everything was fine with me. It wasn¡¯t that simple. I hadn¡¯t gone unscathed by the humonsters¡¯ attack. Their command cut into my mind as effectively as the first one had, triggering my second failsafe¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t exactly like everyone else¡¯s.


    Instead of going comatose, mine triggered an ability I¡¯d been working on with Kee, having mentioned the Dominators to her. Her comment had been, ¡°We can¡¯t let them control you. The potential consequences are catastrophic.¡±


    She¡¯d taught me how to use the energies available to me as a proto-Artificer to project enough of my consciousness outside my body to be unaffected by Dominator vocal attacks, cleansing my physical body of their effects. I¡¯d constantly run energy through myself in a much more sustainable way than I¡¯d been able to in the past.


    Assuring me that, ¡°It¡¯s a great exercise for a being at your level of development,¡± she¡¯d also added, ¡°but don¡¯t do it for too long unless you have no choice. And don¡¯t pull too much power in. Sip it. Pull in too much and you¡¯ll exhaust yourself like you did the first time.¡±


    Why shouldn¡¯t I use it except briefly? Why not trot it out the second I¡¯m aware there are Dominators in the area? The constant problem with using Artificer abilities¡ªthe possibility of attracting the attention of other Artificers, specifically the Destroy faction which would end the world. Even worse, knowing now that Lee hid one of their weapons here, I might also arm the Destroy faction with a weapon that could end the Live faction¡¯s chance to teach other sentient races enough for them to be able to fight back.


    In short, you could make a reasonable case for the idea that even saving my own life might not be worth the risk of using it.


    Unfortunately for the universe, I valued my family and friends'' lives enough that I was willing to take that risk.


    So, when Arete¡¯s minions shouted their command, I let the trigger put my mind into contact with all of myself, drawing on power I still didn¡¯t fully understand, letting the coolness of it flow into me and through me. On the edges of my consciousness, I felt the ¡°Artificer Superhighway,¡± a place that allowed faster-than-light communication between the universe¡¯s elder races.


    I kept my consciousness out of it and kept on firing off boombots, targeting humonsters. I needed to come up with something I could make work with just Kals and I.


    Maybe she could pull Alex or Amy out of their stupor.

 Courtesy: Part 55

    As I settled into ¡°Artificer consciousness,¡± I realized that my view of the world had shifted subtly. While it wasn¡¯t true, it was as if the world now had extra colors except not quite.


    If someone had telepathically looked through my eyes, it would have looked no different, but I knew somehow that I was sensing through something else. Through that sense or senses, I could feel that Amy¡¯s body contained more beings than it should. I could almost make out faces and bodies.


    With Daniel, despite his temporary coma, I could feel a core of power. With Alex, I could sense how far his field of health extended. Jenny only registered as one person despite her many bodies¡ªwhich made sense. For Kals and Katuk, I felt none of that. From an Artificer¡¯s perspective, they were nothing of note.


    The mounds though, and especially the one Alex needed to destroy, pulsed with power and life. They felt similar to Daniel except less focused, but with more depth of energy reserves.


    The humonsters didn¡¯t have any of that. From an Artificer perspective, they barely qualified as living beings. From my perspective though, they were a problem, mostly because there were nearly fifty of them and they now only had two opponents, Kals and me.


    I¡¯ll try to keep them off you while you wake someone up, I told her through my implant.


    Then you¡¯d better start soon, she thought back at me through the same connection.


    She wasn¡¯t wrong. All of the humonsters on top of the mounds had jumped down. Their targets? Us, the only humans standing.


    One thing it was easy to forget about Kals? She had all of Cassie¡¯s strength, agility, and a small part of her endurance in addition to Dominator voice abilities.


    The humonsters found that out to their surprise. With a dagger in each hand, she chopped off an arm here, a leg there, and then a head or two.


    I, meanwhile, was discovering something I hadn¡¯t known. I¡¯d known for a while that I thought faster and was able to absorb more data than most people, but I couldn¡¯t move faster¡ªwhich meant it didn¡¯t help me much in a fight.


    While tapping into Artificer abilities now, that wasn¡¯t true, I moved fast enough for it to matter. Whether it was only that or also the fact that I¡¯d been within Alex¡¯s field of being better long enough to be affected, I didn¡¯t know, but I was.


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    It didn¡¯t seem like I could miss. Not wanting to risk creating friendly fire by using more boombots, I¡¯d released two killbots. They hadn¡¯t been useful for much of the day because the Fungus Collective¡¯s creatures didn¡¯t have much in the way of organs.


    In this moment, though, I could control two at once, using them together to sever an arm as it reached for Kals while simultaneously punching a humonster that had dropped for me hard enough down the row that it dropped three more that had been running toward me.


    Using a strike with the edge of my hand to decapitate one while stepping over Daniel and Katuk to get closer to Kals, I cut the leg off a humonster that had been leaping for her with the killbots.


    It fell off the side of the mound that it had been jumping from and I hit it hard enough that I broke it in two, bits of fungus flesh spattering onto the floor.


    Stepping over the mess, I moved next to her and we were back to back. Taking stock of the situation, I realized we were doing well. In combination with my blasts a few seconds earlier, we¡¯d taken them from more than fifty humonsters to only a few more than thirty.


    It didn¡¯t even the odds, but we¡¯d done that in seconds. I had reason to hope.


    I exploded the two killbots inside the nearest humonster¡¯s head, blowing hardened teeth shaped fungus across the row while punching the middle of another hard enough that its chest exploded, throwing fungus bits twenty feet and causing it to fall in two, severed by the weight of its remaining body.


    Through Kals¡¯ implant connection, she asked, Why didn¡¯t you fight like that before?


    The humonsters paused, making me wonder if Arete was rethinking his strategy, but giving me time to reply,The longer I do it, the more likely I am to summon monsters that might destroy humanity and maybe all life.


    She glanced back at me, eyebrow raised and mouth partially open, Then let¡¯s get this over with.


    Bending over and touching her helmet to Alex¡¯s, she also used a private League channel, likely hoping that the combination would carry enough of what made her voice work to get him moving.


    It wouldn¡¯t have been necessary if I hadn¡¯t assumed that the Xiniti¡¯s success in defeating the Abominators meant that the assumptions in their suit design were a good guideline for protection against Dominators. I couldn¡¯t have realistically predicted that we¡¯d ever face more than fifty Dominators with perfect coordination of their voices at once, but we had.


    The Xiniti in hundreds of years of war had never met more than ten attempting to coordinate like that.


    Trying to ignore those thoughts, I watched the humonsters because there was no way that Arete would let her get Alex up.


    I wasn¡¯t wrong. The remaining humonsters jumped out of the rows as Rocket suited National Guardsmen entered them from both directions, running toward us.


    Don¡¯t get me wrong, I didn¡¯t let the humonsters leave without taking down a few. Every humonster I hit was one less voice, but as I did it, I was already planning how I¡¯d handle the controlled humans running toward us.

 Courtesy: Part 56

    I started with the obvious. I had no shortage of goobots since there was no point in trapping fungus creatures that even their creator regarded as disposable.


    Plus, they¡¯d worked before.


    I sent out a barrage of bots pointing my arms in both directions, setting the bots to explode where they clustered, but also targeting the first Guardsman in each group.


    The explosions of goo did what I wanted them to, spreading across the rows, touching the mounds on either side and turning into logjams. When I hit clustered Guardsmen, it was even better. In one case, the logjam was five people deep, all of them stuck to each other as well as the mounds on either side.


    Mixed with the surge of relief I felt came worry. I¡¯d created bottlenecks on both ends of the row, but I hadn¡¯t taken out all of the National Guardsmen. I hadn¡¯t even taken out a tenth of them.


    A tenth? My implant had counted them in the background as I was fighting and it had counted 102. That was a lot more than I¡¯d realized the National Guard¡¯s base had. I supposed that they might have come to the conclusion that having an internationally visible superhero team might require increased staffing because we might get targeted.


    When you considered that they were now targeting us, it seemed ironic.


    Still, they were stopped for now. I reminded myself of that and hoped that Kals would get Alex to move so that we could take this all down.


    As one Guardsman tried to fly over them, I fired off a goobot which reached him as he was lifting off, exploding into strands that stopped him above the Guardman in front, adding another layer above the first and making it even harder for someone to fly over that.


    Kals, meanwhile, talked to Alex. I didn¡¯t see any sign of movement on his part which reflected well on Julie and Daniel¡¯s collaboration, but wasn¡¯t convenient in the least.


    Observing in all directions with my helmet, I noticed that the humonsters were now creeping up over the far sides of the mounds with only their heads visible. They were going to do something. I didn¡¯t know what.


    I shot off a boombot, letting it explode within a group of them and watching the others. That turned out to be a good idea. I couldn¡¯t watch or shoot off boombots in all directions at once.


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    When the first boombot exploded, the rest of them crawled over the mounds, avoiding the goo-covered soldiers to aim for Kals. I recognized it from their path over the mounds and used boombots to blast them to bits.


    But they weren¡¯t only aiming for Kals. They¡¯d left the comatose bodies alone when we were running, but not anymore. They went straight for Daniel, Katuk, Amy, and the various copies of Jenny.


    They went for Alex and Kals as well, but Kals noticed, pulling out her pistol and burning the first one coming toward her even as it came over the mound. She only got the one next to it after it jumped, but she got it.


    My brain, meanwhile, was working on overdrive, recognizing this move as very human. The Fungus Collective wouldn¡¯t think to do it, but Arete would have.


    If he pulled my focus in too many directions, we¡¯d lose and I had every reason to let my focus get pulled. Even if Kals was having a hard time bring Alex up, what if Arete had a better approach or a worse approach but was able to brute force it by producing more humonsters and working on our people in isolation?


    I shot off boombots, and used killbots for precision strikes to remove limbs, keeping them off Daniel and Jenny. It turned out that I didn¡¯t need to do anything for Katuk. He didn¡¯t move and when a humonster grabbed him, Katuk¡¯s suit moved, grabbing the humonster¡¯s neck and severing its head.


    He didn¡¯t move after that, but they left him alone.


    For a moment I¡¯d hoped he was back, but it must have been a command built into the hardware of his cybernetic systems.


    As I whipped the killbots around, severing a hand from a humonster that was trying to grab a Jenny, Kals muttered a Human Ascendancy word that my implant translated as ¡°entrails.¡±


    In that moment, I realized that they¡¯d grabbed Amy. She¡¯d been on the other side of Kals and Kals had been focused on keeping Alex. She either hadn¡¯t seen them or she¡¯d had to make a choice, the kind of choice I¡¯d been trying to avoid.


    Except¡­ As the three humonsters that had her began to climb back over the mound, Amy moved. A bright red light washed over her and she jerked her arm out of the hands that held it, sticking the blade of the Bloodspear into the humonster holding her other arm.


    The humonster shriveled up into a thin, brittle remnant of itself.


    Then she stabbed and drained the other two in quick succession, making a strangled war cry each time. I¡¯d never heard her make that sound before and I¡¯d fought my way up a skyscraper full of vampires with her. She¡¯d had plenty of opportunity.


    I didn¡¯t know it for certain, but everything from the war cry to a new looseness in her stance told me that this wasn¡¯t Amy. One or more of the previous Bloodmaidens was now running the show.


    I could only hope that she or they were doing this as a last resort. If it were some kind of takeover, I wouldn¡¯t have the faintest clue about how to get Amy back in the driver¡¯s seat.


    As I understood this, the Bloodmaiden stepped around Kals to behead a humonster while simultaneously sucking its life force out. As the shriveled body fell, she¡¯d already speared two more, giving the Bloodspear a strong, red glow I didn¡¯t think I had seen in Amy¡¯s hands.


    If we ever got Amy back, I wasn¡¯t going to mention it, but I had a feeling that this Bloodmaiden was better.

 Courtesy: Part 57

    That knowledge gave me the confidence to let ¡°Amy¡± and Kals protect Alex while I did my best to protect Daniel and the various Jennys.


    Her ability to duplicate herself made it worse when every copy represented a tunnel into her brain.


    I fired off a series of armor piercing bots. They weren¡¯t as effective as killbots, but they were simpler and faster to produce. Plus, they didn¡¯t have monomolecular blades constantly sucking energy until they dulled.


    For fighting animate fungus creatures, they were arguably better. Where the killbots cut cleanly through, the armor piercing bots splattered innards outward, carrying more with them than they hit directly.


    I aimed for the legs, taking them off more often than not. If there weren¡¯t so many of them, it would have been easy. I blew the leg off one to realize that another had grabbed one of the copies of Jenny and was about to carry her off. I shot the legs off that one only to see another diving for Daniel.


    I punched through that one¡¯s chest to find two more humonsters grabbing copies of Jenny, one for each.


    I sent bots through the heads off of each one and then fired off a boombot to explode in the middle of a humonster cluster looking over the top of the mound to my right.


    They disappeared and the top of the mound near them blackened and burned.


    After that, I didn¡¯t see as many, but also, they stopped clustering. They dropped from over the side of the mounds four at a time, one going for Daniel and the other three for copies of Jenny. I sent armor-piercing bots through them, noticing as their legs exploded that two more had dropped down, grabbed a Jenny together and were pulling her up the side of the mound to my right¡ª30 feet down the row.


    The bots under my control were in the other direction and I couldn¡¯t fire off more without transferring the bots from individual control to group control. That would have taken longer than I felt I had.


    I fired off myself with the rockets, pulling Jenny out of the humonsters¡¯ grasp and flipping around to go back to my position.


    I expected to find that more humonsters were dropping down to grab Daniel and copies of Jenny. I¡¯d prepared to drop them with armor piercing bots but that¡¯s not what happened.


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    I saw one of the Guardsmen in Rocket suits spray a cluster of goo-covered Guardsmen and the goo drooped, turning to liquid and dripping onto the floor. A quick check behind me showed that the same thing was happening there.


    We were about to be attacked by 102 Rocket suits, all of them worse than mine, but containing people who didn¡¯t deserve to die for this. If goobots no longer held them, I might have to kill them in order for us to survive.


    Part of me knew that would be a small price to pay to save the city and arguably the world¡ªnot to mention my parents¡ªbut it still didn¡¯t feel good.


    In my heart, I doubted that either Kals or whoever controlled Amy¡¯s body right now would hesitate and part of me was thankful for that.


    At least it wouldn¡¯t be entirely on me.


    Even though I wasn¡¯t optimistic about it, I sent off a volley of goobots at both the people that were being freed and the ones freeing them. Despite my worse fears, I hit all of them and saw grey goo spread across the group and pull them toward each other as it tightened.


    Fulfilling my worst fears, as the ones that had already been sprayed were pulled close, the newly applied goo began to liquify. It didn¡¯t everywhere, but even one spot was enough for them to get enough space to push away from each other.


    Even the ones that couldn¡¯t push themselves away were sprayed by sprayers Rocket suited Guardsmen pulled from their belts. Behind them, Guardsmen who hadn¡¯t been hit sprayed themselves preemptively.


    Though part of me noted that this meant that the local National Guard had prepared to fight me specifically, most of me knew that goobots were now not an option.


    As a last ditch effort to be nonlethal, I fired off the sonics down the row at the Guardsmen, using both arms, and watching for sparks.


    It didn¡¯t stop the two in front from pulling themselves free and running down the row toward me followed by the whole mass of those behind them.


    More than one hundred boots hit the floor. Objects on their utility belts shattered, but the sonics didn¡¯t slow the suits down.


    Behind me, I could see ¡°Amy¡± turn to face the row of Guardsmen running toward her while Kals shouted something at them and then Alex.


    I readied my remaining killbots and aimed my armor piercing bots at the Rocket suits.


    As I did, I heard Sean¡¯s voice say, ¡°We¡¯re here!¡±


    All of the Rocket suited Guardsmen found themselves hurtling sideways toward the middle of the room¡ªthe direction we¡¯d come from. Stopped only by the mounds next to them, they couldn¡¯t move anywhere.


    Sean¡¯s form appeared, stepping out of one of the passageways between rows as Jody blurred down the row. Reaching Daniel, the Jennys, Kals, and ¡°Amy,¡± Jody cut humonsters to bits with his dagger as Dayton jumped over a mound, using his own daggers to do the same.


    My relief at not having to cut down the Guardsmen was mixed with surprise and annoyance at how they¡¯d prepared to face me, but hadn¡¯t worried about Sean¡¯s magnetism at all. Despite his improvement, it still seemed like misplaced worry.


    Next to Kals, Alex pushed himself to his feet.

 Courtesy: Part 58

    I didn¡¯t shed tears, but if I weren¡¯t having to again slaughter humonsters, I could have. I punched a humonster that jumped down from the top of a mound toward Alex in the face, splattering it across the side of the mound it jumped from.


    We might finally be done with this.


    Alex stumbled toward the glowing mound, shaking his head, his footing becoming more sure with each step. He only had to make it twenty feet, but I¡¯d seen how unpredictable twenty feet could be.


    Still, he had Kals and whatever Bloodmaiden was in control for help. It needed to be enough.


    Besides, except for the one I just killed, the humonsters had stopped jumping down and I¡¯d even seen one jump back up¡ªwhich did not bode well.


    It hinted at another change of tactics.


    I didn¡¯t even have time to explore that line of thought before the humonsters shouted another command, ¡°Betray them!¡±


    I half-expected our side to fall apart in a mixture of comas and infighting, but we didn¡¯t. Though I felt the strength of it, I could ignore it.


    Even better, Sean, Dayton, Alex, and Kals were completely unaffected. Jody, however, changed course.


    He turned his daggers, each of them monomolecular blades that I hadn¡¯t designed and turned toward Dayton, making a series of swipes at his body.


    Still running energy through Artificer portion of myself, I could keep track of every strike. To my eyes, Dayton moved slowly, but perfectly, dodging each one by distances too small for me to see without the suit¡¯s sensors.


    Whoever¡¯s movements he¡¯d copied to do it worked.


    Jody didn¡¯t even try to attack Sean who was both in the air and out of his immediate reach. Instead, he ran for his closest opponent¡ªme.


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    I felt as if the two of us existed outside of time. Everything else stood still. I fired off five goobots¡ªwhich should have been more than enough.


    They spread, none of them close to each other, but all of them set to arrive at the same time, forcing him to take them all at once.


    With speedsters, time was divided into smaller increments than the rest of us, including me in that moment, could perceive. Jody dipped down, cutting the lowest bots in two and coming up behind of the remaining ones. By then, I¡¯d already set them to explode pointing in his direction.


    He dodged all of them, every last strand of goo missed him despite coming within less than an inch of touching him.


    I¡¯d have been impressed if I weren¡¯t already preparing for his attack. He ran toward me, blurry less because of his speed than because he was partially out of phase with our universe.


    I decided not to send out more bots because I didn¡¯t want to waste them but also the timing for what I was about to try would be tricky and I didn¡¯t need the distraction.


    He ran towards me daggers in hand and he was smiling. If I was right and my understanding of monomolecular blades was ahead of everyone else, I¡¯d be fine. Otherwise, I hoped my distraction would work and that Alex would have time to heal people soon.


    When Jody came within ten feet of me, I turned on the sonics full blast, trying to blow out his eardrums and his balance with them. If I got lucky, I might also blow out his equipment.


    Alex could heal his ears later¡ªmaybe.


    Arete through the humonsters had ordered him to betray us. He hadn¡¯t ordered him to grin like a maniac while doing it.


    Jody cringed as the sound hit his ears and bent forward into a roll on the left side of the row, the best place to avoid the sound¡ªintentionally. If I timed it right, I¡¯d hit him on the way out of the roll.


    He came up with daggers in hand, ready to stab me in my side, relying on his speed and being out of phase to save him from getting hurt.


    I went with a simple side kick, aiming for his knee.


    He saw it and his smile drooped. He pulled up his knee into a kind of block. In a normal fight, it would have been better than leaving it on the ground. My kick might have slid off it. In this fight, it still slid, but I could generate tons of force with my leg and I wasn¡¯t holding back.


    His costume included well-designed armor, saving his leg from being snapped off, but I could see the armor break.


    It broke well, absorbing most of the impact into the armor itself and staying together even though I could see cracks and the lined imprint of my boot.


    Still quicker than I was, he hit me with both daggers, doing no damage to the Rocket suit at all. I grabbed at his arms, but cursing, he dodged me, showing a hint of a limp.


    The edges of his body blurring, he ran down the row toward Alex and Kals.

 Courtesy: Part 59

    I had good reason to think Kals would be fine but I didn¡¯t know if Alex had bothered to download and install the latest update. You could reasonably ask why that wouldn¡¯t be automatic, but even my updates had the potential of going wrong.


    You wanted to install when you had a backup suit available and not midway through a mission.


    In that moment, though, I didn¡¯t spend any time checking the update logs. I jumped for Jody and glancing behind at me, his eyes widened.


    I couldn¡¯t get anywhere close to his speed or reaction time in Stapledon and still couldn¡¯t, but in this small a space, the difference mattered less.


    I pushed off with my feet, grabbing for him, and catching his neck with my right hand. I wasn¡¯t planning to choke him, but his neck was a more stable target than his arms or legs.


    Choking him wasn¡¯t a bad plan, but given the armor around his neck, the necessary force to get past it might also decapitate him.


    He tried moving to the left, out of my grip, but I¡¯d brought up my left hand by then, grabbing his left arm near the shoulder. He couldn¡¯t go anywhere.


    Now it was time to secure him¡ªexcept¡­ Alex hadn¡¯t installed the update.


    I learned that while discovering how far we¡¯d moved. In the seconds Jody had since finding out he couldn¡¯t hurt me, he¡¯d caught up with Alex. I¡¯d been too focused on catching Jody to realize it, but as I¡¯d grabbed his neck, he¡¯d stabbed Alex in the side, making a gash more than four inches wide¡ªthough I only saw it for a second.


    Self-repairing armor made things weird. The cut in the armor healed up, leaving blood dripping from no obvious wound. Alex doubled over.


    I pulled Jody back as he slashed Alex¡¯s arm. Blood spurted as the armor knit itself shut.


    Through Alex¡¯s helmet, I could see his grimace. I wasn¡¯t sure why he wasn¡¯t healing himself, but then I understood that too.


    We¡¯d made it to the mound. It was off to my right in its multi-colored glory, intricate designs covering it, many of them growing brighter, dimming, and brightening again. Through my extra senses, I could feel that this spot was a hub with information going in and out.


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    Alex stumbled toward the mound, the energy around him different than it had been before. It wasn¡¯t as simple as life energy versus death energy. It felt pointed, focused. It had a mission.


    Jody might not have been able to sense it, but he tried to get away, moving back and forth, vibrating as I tried to hold him there, building up speed. As small as the distance was, I could feel his movements building up strength. With enough time, he would be able to get out.


    I grabbed harder, trying to keep him in place.


    Alex moved toward the mound, raising his hand toward the mound. Next to him the Bloodmaiden in Amy¡¯s body watched, the Bloodspear ready.


    Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, probably because my perceptions were halfway outside our universe. Maybe that was good, but of all the moments that might last forever, this was not one that I would choose.


    Then Alex touched the mound. Despite what I expected, it didn¡¯t go dark. The colors and their patterns changed, turning from a multitude of different colors to yellow. It pulsed, the shade of yellow changing from light to dark and back.


    I don¡¯t know if it was the distraction or that that Jody put out a burst of energy, but he slipped out of my hands.


    Daggers in hand, he stepped toward Alex, obviously intending to finish what he¡¯d started.


    He didn¡¯t make it. The Bloodspear reached his chest before he¡¯d finished his first step. For the first time, I could feel someone else being absorbed by the Bloodspear. I knew that it could from personal experience, but this time I could feel a cool wind despite being inside the Rocket suit. Worse, I could hear Jody¡¯s voice wailing.


    I shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t kill him!¡±


    Her accent impossible to place, the stranger in Amy¡¯s body said, ¡°I¡¯m not. I¡¯m taking enough.¡±


    She pulled the spear out of Jody¡¯s chest and he slumped, but kept on breathing. Around the same time, I heard a few notes of the transformation sequence Amy used to change into her Bloodmaiden form.


    Amy, now using a US accent that had a hint of the South, said, ¡°Dammit, if there¡¯s anyone I didn¡¯t want in my head.¡±


    Near her, Alex pulled his hand away from the mound and stood up straight, showing no sign he¡¯d been hurt except for the blood on his costume.


    ¡°It¡¯s done,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s not all dead, but I touched off the chain reaction. Careful, though. We still might get attacked before this is all over.¡±


    I checked above us for the humonsters. None of them were attacking anyone. The few I could see were lying on top of the nearest mounds as if sleeping or too tired to move.


    Sean landed next to me, followed by Dayton who was running to catch up, ¡°Jody¡¯s not dead, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s fine,¡± I said, ¡°Bloodmaiden?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s alive,¡± Amy said. ¡°He¡¯ll be tired for at least a day. Don¡¯t expect much out of him, but¡­ Look, I can¡¯t be clear on this. It wasn¡¯t me who drained him, but I don¡¯t think he was forced to betray us just now. I think he did it willingly.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 60

    Sean¡¯s face tightened. He took a short breath as if he were about to blow up at her, but instead let out a long breath, finishing with, ¡°Are you sure? Do you know it?¡±


    Amy shook her head slowly, ¡°No. I didn¡¯t absorb him. Another Bloodmaiden was in charge when he got hit with the Bloodspear. So she got more out of him than I did and she doesn¡¯t like answering questions. I don¡¯t have his thoughts, just a whisper of his feelings. He was happy and relieved when he got the order, the way you are when you¡¯ve been worrying about something and now you can finally do something about it.¡±


    Sean looked over at Dayton, then back at Amy, ¡°Couldn¡¯t that have been part of it? The Nine can manipulate your feelings too.¡±


    Amy frowned. Kals spoke before Amy could finish thinking it through, ¡°Yes. We can attach feelings to commands. Especially when you¡¯re talking about groups, manipulating feelings is better than a direct command. I don¡¯t know if  Arete tried to attach that one. I was busy defending myself and it didn¡¯t work on anyone else¡­¡±


    Sean looked Kals up and down, ¡°I know you¡¯ve been here for the whole fight, but who are you? Did you used to be a Dominator or something?¡±


    Kals shook her head, ¡°We don¡¯t have time to go into who I am and where I come from, but here¡¯s the short version. I was trained as Dominator, but it¡¯s not what I do now. I¡¯m not from Earth. I¡¯m a friend of,¡± and here she glanced at me and gave a small shake of her head, ¡°the Rocket.¡±


    Sean stared at me, ¡°You have friends from outer space?¡±


    Dayton nodded, ¡°You¡¯re from the ruling class of the Human Ascendancy? That¡¯s amazing. I didn¡¯t think they could come to Earth or even leave the Ascendancy.¡±


    Kals blinked, ¡°How did you know about that?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sean said, ¡°how did you?¡±


    Dayton shrugged, ¡°Stapledon. They lectured on it. It was in the one of the general history courses, but Jody and I got more about it because we were in the track that emphasized espionage skills. Plus, we spent time on the Jay and Kay during our internships. That was ¡®must know¡¯ material.¡±


    Even in high school, I¡¯d noticed that Dayton was more than his ¡°star athlete¡± looks or reputation. I didn¡¯t know how smart he was, but he worked hard.


    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± Kals looked from Dayton to Sean, ¡°Jody¡¯s your friend. You¡¯re not going to want to suspect him, but you need to watch him. Did he start acting differently recently? Does he have new friends? Does he disappear a lot? If he hasn¡¯t changed recently, think back. Was there a time where he changed?¡±


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    Dayton and Sean looked at each other, ¡°Look,¡± Sean turned away for a moment, ¡°we¡¯re already worried about him. He acted weird when we signed with Futuremen Capital, our investors, but he¡¯s been great since then. He¡¯s been better than normal. He¡¯s always had a temper and that hasn¡¯t changed, but he¡¯s hasn¡¯t gotten angry and disappeared as much this year. I haven¡¯t noticed new friends or disappearing or anything.¡±


    Dayton nodded along as Sean spoke, ¡°Right. He¡¯s gotten a little more mature, but that¡¯s it. We were watching Futuremen for anything weird.¡±


    Kals frowned and I heard her through my implant, We might have to fight them after my next question, but then she went on, asking, ¡°When you met with Futuremen, was there ever a time that they got you drunk? Was there a meeting where you know what happened, but when you think about the meeting, you don¡¯t have any images, you just hear the sound of someone¡¯s voice?¡±


    Dayton¡¯s brow furrowed, ¡°No. I don¡¯t think so. Sean?¡±


    Sean shook his head, ¡°No. I¡¯ve always worn a buzzer to those meetings and I made sure everyone else did too.¡±


    Kals held up her hands, ¡°Then I don¡¯t know. We don¡¯t have time for me to give you a full audit, but I should. I¡¯ll see if I can fit it in before I leave.¡±


    Amy looked up and down our row. The National Guardsmen in powered armor had pulled themselves out of the goo. One of them walked down the row toward us, holding his hands in the air.


    A male voice came from his PA, ¡°Are all of you okay? We have a medic and we aren¡¯t controlled anymore. If you¡¯re okay, we¡¯re going to withdraw. I¡¯m getting reports that¡­ those things¡­ are falling apart.¡±


    He pointed to one of the mounds. It was wasn¡¯t falling apart¡ªyet¡ªbut comparing it to my implant¡¯s memory showed that it was shorter. Unmistakable even to my memory, it was seeping fluid into the row. It wasn¡¯t the only one of the mounds doing that either.


    A thin layer of liquid covered the floor in all directions, sometimes becoming puddles.


    Switching on my suit¡¯s PA, I asked, ¡°Do you need any help? You¡¯ve got a lot of people.¡±


    The man shook his helmet, ¡°We¡¯ve got enough to get everyone out and more. You¡¯ve got people down.¡±


    ¡°You might want to ask people in the main room, but we¡¯ll be okay,¡± I said, reasoning that Jenny could discorporate her bodies when she woke up.


    I took a quick look at the views from the bots, seeing that the mushroom zombies were still fighting the fey on the streets above us, but they didn¡¯t all fight in an organized way. Some ran into the path of the Duke¡¯s knights screaming, but not trying to attack. Others ran. Still more stared in ahead as if unsure of what to do next.


    A few fell over for no good reason.


    I checked the cameras of bots in the circle around us. We needed to know if we were in for a fight.


    In the open area in the middle of the circle¡ªthe shortest way out of here¡ªwas empty except for the pool and the boy who¡¯d been our liaison to the sane faction of the mushroom entity.


    He raised his head as a chunk of mushroom flesh fell from the ceiling, splashing in the liquid on the floor and breaking into chunks.


    The boy pushed himself up.


    As I registered that, I heard Alex¡¯s voice through my comm, ¡°Hey everybody, we need to get the fuck out now.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 61

    I pushed the bot views into the background and paid attention to the world around me. Alex pointed at the mounds around us and the ceiling. All of them sagged and dripped viscous, brown goo. More liquid puddled beneath the withered skin.


    ¡°We should grab everybody,¡± I said. ¡°We might be able to get away with leaving Flame Legion. I know she doesn¡¯t exactly enjoy dying, though.¡±


    Alex nodded, ¡°Yeah. That hasn¡¯t changed, but she¡¯s more used to it. I¡¯d leave her.¡±


    Dayton stepped around me and put Jody over his shoulder, ¡°It¡¯d be nice to have a save point in real life.¡±


    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Alex said, ¡°I¡¯m standing next to her most of the time.¡±


    Katuk stood where he¡¯d been, still with a bit of humonster goo on his hand. Daniel lay further down the row.


    A thought struck me. Turning to Kals, I asked, ¡°Can you wake everyone up?¡±


    The mound across from the control mound that Alex had touched lost its structure. Half the mound collapsed, the walls falling outward, the top falling in, and brown goo splashing into the row with everything else.


    Three humonsters fell with it, none of them looking any better than the mounds. One turned to look at us. In Arete¡¯s voice but as scratchy as if he¡¯d spent a lifetime smoking, one of the humonsters whispered, ¡°Magnus knows you¡¯re looking for him. I wish I could be there when you find him.¡±


    The other two mouthed it, sometimes spitting on the hard consonants and staring at the floor. One didn¡¯t make it to the end, slumping and leaking from the cracks in its skin.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Alex said, ¡°but you won¡¯t be. The main mound over here sent out ¡®die, die, die¡¯ and so is everything else now.¡±


    ¡°Fucker,¡± Arete whispered and then the remaining two humonsters slumped and began to seep liquid of their own.


    Kals choked out a small laugh, ¡°This world is so messed up, but yes, I think I can get all of them up now. Figuring out Julie¡¯s system was the hard part. Can you disable their buzzers?¡±


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    ¡°Sure,¡± I disabled the security measures that prevented anyone else from doing it and turned them off.


    She stepped over to one of Jenny¡¯s copies and started talking in a low voice that vibrated with strange tones. I didn¡¯t understand what she said¡ªmy buzzer obscured it.


    Jenny¡¯s eyes opened and she pushed herself up, grabbing a long breath before saying, ¡°I was so useless, but I¡¯m telling Portal to get us out. The problem is they got other people too, so she¡¯s starting with the people who can¡¯t move and everyone near them.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± Alex said, ¡°Let¡¯s not stay at ground zero, okay?¡±


    ¡°We should get Captain Commando and Night Cat,¡± I said, ¡°so maybe we should go to the main room? Also, the boy¡¯s there and he¡¯s up.¡±


    ¡°Portal¡¯s creating an opening there. It¡¯s in the middle of everything,¡± Jenny frowned. ¡°I¡¯ll tell her about the boy. We don¡¯t want him going through, do we?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure it matters,¡± I checked my bots, ¡°he should be dying with the rest of them.¡±


    My bots views showed Izzy and Jaclyn collecting Haley and Cassie, carrying them to a spot on the far side of the middle circle where a spot had begun to sparkle.


    The boy had lain down again.


    ¡°They¡¯re on the far side of the circle. I¡¯m going to stop and at least check on¡­ whatever he, they, it, or whatever pronouns a group intelligence uses.¡±


    Plus, I wanted to know if he was dying or planning something.


    Amy eyed me, ¡°I¡¯m going with you.¡±


    Kals, who¡¯d stopped next to Daniel, shook her head,¡°I think you should leave it alone.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have time to talk about this,¡± Alex picked up Katuk and started walking down the row, his boots splashing in the accumulating fungus goo.


    I admired Alex¡¯s confidence that Katuk wouldn¡¯t behead him by reflex, but it wasn¡¯t I chance I¡¯d have taken. Still, he wasn¡¯t wrong.


    Asking Kals, ¡°Should I carry him?¡±


    With a sniff, she said, ¡°No,¡± and repeated what she¡¯d said to Jenny. Daniel¡¯s eyes opened and he pulled himself up, looking down at the brown liquid on his costume.


    ¡°Yuck,¡± he looked up. ¡°We should get out of here.¡±


    We followed Alex out, Kals hurrying to catch Alex. The sooner she released Katuk, the better.


    It didn¡¯t take before we¡¯d found the opening that we¡¯d entered through, making our way into the center of the circle again. The light was dimmer, the rainbow of colors replaced with a dull yellow.


    Brooke¡¯s portal glimmered on the far side of the circle and the group began to run except for Sean who flew next to Dayton. Jody still seemed to be unconscious.


    Chunks of shriveled, dripping fungus fell from the ceiling, more of it the closer it was to the mound Alex killed.


    Daniel spoke in my head, It might be worth talking to the fungus faction, but I still can¡¯t hear anything from it.


    ¡°Tell them to wait for me,¡± I said, running toward the boy and the pool. Amy ran next to me, Bloodspear in hand.


    It didn¡¯t take more than a few seconds to reach him. From the ground, he turned his head to look at us. He didn¡¯t look any better than the humonsters. Shriveled skin and pooling liquid seemed worse on a child, even a fake child.


    He whispered, ¡°I¡¯m sorry we lost control. I meant it. I would have allied with you.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 62

    ¡°For what it¡¯s worth,¡± I said, ¡°I was ready to take a chance on it. We will have to face the Nine and it would be easier with whatever you got out of Arete.¡±


    He gave a weak nod and coughed, ¡°There¡¯s another chance. I knew you had to destroy us completely. I created a spore, separated from us, and encased it as completely as I could. Look past me. I¡¯d give it to you, but I shouldn¡¯t touch it.¡±


    I stepped around him. Hidden from direct view, a ball made of a pearl-like hard substance sat on a bare spot of concrete.


    ¡°We put as much of ourselves into it as we could, taking Arete¡¯s knowledge, but not his faction. We understand that in order to live together, we have to respect your personhood. They did not. Please don¡¯t let this be our end.¡±


    Could I trust him? I had no idea. My gut said yes, but I didn¡¯t feel like I was amazing at reading normal humans, much less gestalt intelligences created earlier in the day by accident.


    Taking a quick look at Amy as I squatted, I pulled a hazardous waste container from a pouch on my belt. Amy didn¡¯t stop me, but if she had a caption over her head, it would have been, ¡°He¡¯s not really going to take it, is he?¡±


    The hazardous waste container didn¡¯t even look like a container. It looked like a ball. People familiar with my tech might have recognized it as similar material to my suit.


    I dropped it over the spore and the ball fell, expanding and absorbing the spore. The new golden ball was designed to contain hazardous waste of all kinds¡ªradioactive, chemical, or biological within a specified range of characteristics.


    It could also be reconfigured to be a water bottle in a pinch, but then it was best to pay close attention which container you were drinking out of.


    I set the ball¡¯s accent color to red (don¡¯t drink this!) and attached it to my belt.


    The boy watched me and as the ball clicked into position, he said, ¡°Thank you.¡±


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    ¡°We need to go,¡± Amy pointed her spear toward the portal. Tall enough to drive a truck through, the glowing, silver circle was wide enough for multiple people to go through at once and they were.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I took a last look at him lying on the decaying mushroom flesh that covered the floor. He didn¡¯t look much different from it. He¡¯d pass soon.


    The boy shook his head, ¡°You¡¯ve saved me in every way that¡¯s important.¡±


    Then he laid his head against the ground and watched as Amy and I flew across the room. I didn¡¯t go at full speed, turning on the anti-gravity and firing the rockets at a speed that wouldn¡¯t have kept me in the air by itself.


    I dropped out of the air about ten feet short of the main group. Alex and a group of Jennys were directly ahead of us.


    Amy eyed me, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you took it. You¡¯re such a softy.¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± I checked my HUD. The boy hadn¡¯t moved since we left, ¡°but we could use the information on the Nine. Besides, if everyone thinks it¡¯s too dangerous, I¡¯m sure Cap¡¯s gun will be happy to help us dispose of it.¡±


    Amy laughed, ¡°I¡¯m sure and it¡¯s not the only one. Some of the past Bloodmaidens think you¡¯re doing the right thing. A few others have been giving me suggestions about how to magically dissect it. They think we might be able to get Arete¡¯s memories of the Nine out without the risk of releasing the creature.¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°Is this a sure thing or speculation?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve never done it to whatever the Fungus Collective is, but they¡¯d like to try,¡± Amy shook her head. ¡°A few Bloodmaidens were mad scientists, but with magic. I wouldn¡¯t trust them with anything you¡¯d like to keep.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a no then,¡± I stepped toward Alex and the Jennys. Alex turned away from watching people step through the portal to point at the ball on my belt, ¡°You¡¯ve got coffee?¡±


    Watching the Jennys move to stand behind us, I said, ¡°I set it to red for hazardous material.¡±


    Alex cocked his head, ¡°I¡¯m never carrying hazardous material. I use red for hot coffee. It¡¯s better than a Yeti.¡±


    One of the Jennys said, ¡°I told you that would cause problems.¡±


    She turns away from Alex and asked me, ¡°What do you have in there?¡±


    ¡°Not coffee. It¡¯s worth a team discussion later, but I don¡¯t want to start one now.¡± I noted that Dayton was still carrying Jody, but that Jody¡¯s head had turned toward my voice.


    Then Dayton stepped through the portal and Sean followed him.


    A deep ripping noise came from behind me. Checking my HUD, I saw that the mushroom flesh on the ceiling of the far end of the circle had fallen in, pulling away from the concrete above it along with the  concrete it had been attached to. The fallen flesh covered the mounds like a decaying blanket.


    Ahead of me, standing next to Kals who carried Katuk, Daniel said aloud, ¡°Everyone hurry up. I don¡¯t know if everything will fall in, but it might.¡±


    Following his own advice, he stepped through the portal.

 Courtesy: Part 63

    More deep ripping noises came from all around us. I didn¡¯t see anything falling yet, but I didn¡¯t care to try my luck.


    Kayla¡¯s voice came over the League comm channel, ¡°Ronin and the Mystic both say go. Go!¡±


    There weren¡¯t many of us left¡ªAlex, Amy, various Jenny¡¯s, Kals carrying Katuk, Izzy, and me. Izzy stood next to the portal, waiting, I assumed, for the last person to go through before going herself.


    I¡¯d been planning to do the same, but realizing she was here let me off the hook. If you wanted someone here who could handle the entire parking garage collapsing, she was the better choice.


    More than twenty feet wide, the circular portal was big enough for three people at time to walk through and even more to fly. Izzy, Amy, and I floated upward, allowing Alex, Kals, and Katuk through¡ªthe Jennys hanging back, guns drawn and pointed out at the room.


    None of the Fungus Collective¡¯s remnants showed up to attack or flee at the last second, but the ceiling above us rumbled. Izzy pushed Amy and I forward and followed us through.


    The last sounds I heard from the parking garage were cracking noises and the screech of tearing metal.


    The portal closed behind us, its silver surface disappearing to leave Amy, Izzy, and I fifteen feet above the floor of the League¡¯s hangar. Everyone in the League plus Sean¡¯s group, and even Prime, Logan, ex-mayor Bouman, and Yellow Mask.


    I could only guess they¡¯d joined the main group outside the circle.


    If I had to choose a word to describe us, I would have had to go with battered. I didn¡¯t see any blood. The suits¡¯ repairs would have hidden it, but a quick look at the suits¡¯ stats showed that they¡¯d all received heavy damage.


    Almost everyone was sitting down or even lying on the floor¡ªnot to mention all of the people who¡¯d been frozen as part of our last ditch defenses against the Dominators.


    In addition to Cassie, Katuk, and Haley, Marcus, Jaclyn, and Vaughn all lay on the floor unmoving. I wouldn¡¯t have chosen the hangar with all of the tools on the walls, stains from oil (and other fluids) on the floor, and dirt from the tires of the various vehicles for medical care, but it was good enough.


    Kals and Daniel started working to bring people out of their artificial comas. Alex, after a quick hug from Brooke started healing anyone who needed it.


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    I landed near Haley and sat down next to her. I couldn¡¯t do anything, but at least I¡¯d be there when she came out of it.


    * * *


    Only a few hours later, I found myself alone in my lab.


    After Haley woke, I¡¯d told her what happened and then she¡¯d checked on the rest of the team as well as her parents. They¡¯d been evacuated to the Midwest Defender¡¯s Chicago base along with mine. We¡¯d checked in with them to make sure they were okay and then left the base to check on the city itself.


    The Fungus Collective was gone and the people they¡¯d controlled had been freed. There hadn¡¯t been any great loss of life so far as we knew, but information was still coming in.


    Still, it had been confusing for the average person. When we talked with them, people remembered the sense of urgency they¡¯d felt to defend the collective, but not why they cared and their memories felt jumbled and disjointed. I heard more than one person say it felt like a dream. Others said it felt like memories from childhood¡ªunclear images and emotions.


    We¡¯d helped people get home for a while and we weren¡¯t the only ones. Bouman¡¯s team helped as did Sean¡¯s new Justice Fist¡ªincluding Jody. Even the fairy army chipped in. Elven knights brought people home by horseback.


    I heard later that some people rode the dragon-like beasts home. None of them remembered telling the beasts where they lived or how they got up the nerve to climb on a dragon¡¯s back.


    I also heard that children that had been separated from their parents in the confusion of the day were found at home in their beds sleeping. Even stranger, a number of other people who¡¯d been listed as missing were also returned to their homes.


    When I¡¯d checked over the comm with Adam to make sure we weren¡¯t incurring debt to Duke Metzul, he¡¯d said, ¡°No. It¡¯s all part of the conflict. He agreed to help us fight and not to let anyone come to harm. Leaving children loose in the city puts them in danger.¡±


    ¡°Just making sure,¡± I said, ¡°I don¡¯t want those kids owing him anything either.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure they don¡¯t,¡± he said, his response quick, but then added, ¡°I should check on that.¡±


    When he closed the connection, I took a look around the city with my bots, making sure that I didn¡¯t see anyone wandering aimlessly or being guided into a forest by fey creatures.


    I didn¡¯t see any of that. I did see county sheriff cars and the National Guard patrolling the streets¡ªsince Grand Lake¡¯s police were not at their best.


    Aside from that, the streets were almost empty¡ªthough city workers were shoveling up broken glass and repairing shattered streets downtown. Apparently even being possessed by fungus didn¡¯t give them a day off.


    Footsteps and the word, ¡°Rocket? Are you busy?¡±


    I looked up from the computer in the lab to see Guardian walking through the door, ¡°Not really. I¡¯m just checking how the cleanup is going.¡±


    His silver, Xiniti¡ªmade suit sparkled in the light. Pulling out a chair next to me at the counter, he said, ¡°I¡¯m here on behalf of the Xiniti to send Kals and Katuk back to the Xiniti base near Mars. I also brought back your parents since it¡¯s over now.¡±


    ¡°Here?¡± I asked.


    He shook his head, ¡°I sent them to their homes.¡±


    The chair sank as he sat in it, ¡°I¡¯m also here because we need your input and testimony regarding Major Justice and Diva¡¯s son Hunter. I¡¯m coming to understand that he touched off all of this.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 64

    I thought back to the fight in the playground with the initial version of the mushroom zombies, trying to remember what Hunter had said that he¡¯d done.


    In that same moment, I had a flashback to talking to my grandfather in this space, gathering my thoughts to explain the logic of the design decisions I¡¯d made. Knowing that Guardian had interned with the Heroes¡¯ League at one point, he¡¯d probably had the same sort of conversations except about tactics instead of design decisions.


    Weird.


    Shaking off that memory, I said, ¡°I¡¯d have to output memories from my implant to prove it, but I get the impression it wasn¡¯t entirely Hunter¡¯s fault. On the one hand, yes, Hunter created self-repairing and evolving creatures with his power that could have destroyed the human race without testing what would happen if he released them, but also, Major Justice seemed to be involved in pushing him to do it.


    ¡°Arete on Major Justice¡¯s team was a Dominator. Bullet and others in the Coffeeshop Illuminati were influenced by the Nine. From what I can tell, there are a bunch of old-guard supers on the edges of things that probably need to be checked for Dominator influence. In any case, it looks to me as if the Nine were trying for something embarrassing. I doubt they were trying to destroy humanity, but they may not have anticipated how far Hunter¡¯s creations would mutate in the short time they existed.¡±


    Guardian nodded and then he said, ¡°You¡¯ve got a Xiniti implant? So do I. Package up the relevant memories and send them to me.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said and accessed my implant. It confirmed that another member of the Xiniti nation sat on the stool next to mine. It made sense that he would be, but if he were, wouldn¡¯t the entire original team have received them after they fought the Abominators?


    That was a question for another time.


    I started finding the relevant memories in the implant¡¯s storage, including not only what Hunter had said about creating them to evolve, how Major Justice had told him where to release them, and the history Marcus found in our implants. The Abominators had given some of their human servants the ability to recreate alien creatures. It wasn¡¯t unreasonable to think that Hunter had that power set.


    If true, I couldn¡¯t blame him for it.


    I sent the ball of memories to Guardian along with references to the history Marcus mentioned.


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    Guardian¡¯s eyes lost focus and he stared into nowhere, absorbing the mass of information.


    Then he shook his head as if shaking off the knowledge, ¡°I wish this weren¡¯t true. When you¡¯ve got something this big, people want a scapegoat. They don¡¯t want to find out that random superheroes anywhere in the world might be able to do the same thing. It¡¯s bad enough that he¡¯s got the same powers as his mother. If we make a big deal of this, she¡¯ll think we¡¯re going after her and pull in her friends in the superhero community.¡±


    What was I supposed to do with that? Should I be suggesting someone who could be blamed? Hunter needed help avoiding the Nine¡¯s influence, but I couldn¡¯t suggest more than that, ¡°There¡¯s Arete. If you want a scapegoat, he¡¯ll do. He¡¯s dead, so he won¡¯t argue about it. The Nine aren¡¯t going to show up to defend him. I¡¯d bet that he doesn¡¯t even have any known family members that will be hurt by association.¡±


    Guardian grunted, ¡°I hate this political shit. Arete will do, but we¡¯re going to have to do it in a way that doesn¡¯t make it obvious we know he was a Dominator. We¡¯re going to have to disassemble Major Justice¡¯s team, blame it on trauma, injuries, or something from this incident, and see if we can¡¯t purge the Nine¡¯s influence from them. Meanwhile, we¡¯ll paint Arete as a power-hungry manipulator whose backroom politicking compromised the team¡¯s effectiveness. It¡¯s close enough to the truth.¡±


    He frowned, ¡°I don¡¯t know what we do with the Coffeeshop Illuminati. I think we can get them deprogrammed if we do it one by one, but we can¡¯t disassemble the team. They aren¡¯t a Defender unit. They have their own funding sources separate from ours. I may be able to persuade Bullet to make them unofficially inactive for a month. That might be enough time. They¡¯re better for photo ops than fighting anyway. I doubt anyone will miss them.¡±


    Guardian stopped talking and sighed, ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone I said that. I don¡¯t need to make this worse. There have always been divisions in our community. Right now it¡¯s impossible to tell the real ones from disagreements the Nine manufactured and we don¡¯t need one more.¡±


    A knock came from the doorway. Amy stood there in her normal form¡ªnot as Bloodmaiden. You¡¯d never guess the short, red-haired woman in jeans and a t-shirt was an heir to an alternate universe British Empire, ¡°I¡¯m sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to Nick privately.¡±


    Guardian turned and nodded, ¡±I was done anyway. I¡¯ll go.¡±


    A silver line washed across his body and he disappeared. I hoped that I¡¯d be able to say goodbye to Kals before he sent her home, but I supposed that leading a revolt against the Human Ascendancy might not allow her the time.


    Shutting the door behind her, Amy said, ¡°I got word from the North American Wizard¡¯s Council. Ruthie Shaw told them to let us know that she¡¯s getting together the original leaders of the Cabal. They¡¯re willing to help us find Magnus.¡±


    It felt like I¡¯d last thought about her months ago, but images of meeting Ruthie in her house flashed into my mind. She¡¯d seemed more like an irritable grandmother than an immortal, but we¡¯d glimpsed a little bit behind the mask.


    ¡°Then I guess we¡¯ll have to meet with her.¡±

 Courtesy: Part 65

    ¡°Right,¡± Amy said. ¡°They¡¯re going to set something up for the end of the week. I asked why it couldn¡¯t be sooner and it¡¯s what you¡¯d think. They all live in fear of Magnus. They don¡¯t want it to be obvious that they¡¯re going anywhere and don¡¯t want it to be obvious that they returned. It takes time to set it all up.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I remembered how far Ruthie Shaw had been from anywhere. ¡°I knew they were on the run, but it makes me wonder how much of a risk it is to get them together.¡±


    Amy met my eyes, ¡°One that they¡¯re willing to take because they¡¯re afraid that not doing it will be worse.¡±


    I stepped out of the Rocket suit, leaving me in a grey flight suit that reformed into jeans and a t-shirt. Having a conversation where one of us was in civilian clothes felt weird.


    Then I asked, ¡°Did they give us any limits on who could come to the meeting?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m sure they don¡¯t want very many, but I think we should take people with a chance of beating Cabal soldiers and Dominators in case their precautions aren¡¯t good enough.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I looked past her toward the door, hoping we had a private conversation. ¡°I¡¯m thinking you, Jaclyn, Daniel, Cassie, Haley, and me. That¡¯ll be flexible and hopefully not too many people.¡±


    Amy shrugged, ¡°I can ask them, but don¡¯t assume anything. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve noticed, but wizards can be¡­ flaky and irrational.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow.


    Her mouth quirked, ¡°I¡¯m not a wizard. I¡¯m royalty with an extra helping of ¡®ancestral guardian of the realm¡¯. It¡¯s not the same.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m no expert on either one. I¡¯ll believe anything you say.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± she smiled, ¡°you should. Now I¡¯m going to go and talk with more flaky and irrational people.¡±


    With that she walked out the door, leaving me alone in the room. I could hear people talking in the main room¡ªmostly Cassie and Vaughn. They tended to be the loudest, but Camille gave them a run for their money. She might not be louder, but she wasn¡¯t quiet and managed to fit a lot of words in.


    I wasn¡¯t quite ready to go out. After the fighting, even with the Rocket suit doing the physical work, I still felt sore. Not all of it was physical either. I¡¯d used some of the techniques Kee had taught me. That left me metaphysically sore. I didn¡¯t quite have words for it. I felt frayed. The nearest thing I could think of was maybe being hungover, but I didn¡¯t have a headache.


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    I could think, but I didn¡¯t quite feel all there.


    What a massive detour the last few days had been. We¡¯d started with a plan to get in touch with Magnus¡¯ rivals in the Cabal and see if we could get them to help us find him and maybe the machine that Lee had hidden on or around Earth. We¡¯d succeeded on that, sort of. At least we¡¯d gotten in touch with Ruthie Shaw and she seemed to have decided we were worth trusting.


    It would have been simpler if we¡¯d been able to talk to Lee, but he didn¡¯t seem to be available¡ªwhich was disquieting. It either meant that something big was going down, or it meant that someone had captured or killed him.


    On a gut level, the second one seemed unlikely given that the world still existed, but it might not be that simple.


    Stifling a moment of panic, I reminded myself that I couldn¡¯t assume anything without evidence and that he might predate our universe. He¡¯d kept himself alive and free that whole time without me.


    I decided to go online and check prices on equipment and materials for my lab. It didn¡¯t fix anything, but I bookmarked a few items for later¡ªwhenever they felt comfortable shipping to Grand Lake.


    I also checked CNN and a few other news sites. All of them were covering Grand Lake. From what I could see, we appeared to be fantastically competent¡ªmore competent than I felt at the time.


    It didn¡¯t hurt that the only footage they got came from our social media people.


    If no one else, they were fantastically competent.


    I sank into reading the articles and more than 30 minutes passed without being aware of anything else.


    Rachel¡¯s voice pulled me out of it, ¡°Reading your own good press? That¡¯s a dangerous rabbit hole to go down.¡±


    She stood there looking like she always had, but not quite if you had eyes to see it. She wore a white, form-fitting uniform with a pistol on her right hip. A white mask hid most of her face, but not her short, dark hair.


    What normal people couldn¡¯t see was a shimmer of power around her, visible to me even without trying. I wondered what she saw in me.


    As I turned to look at her, she landed on the ground, solidifying, the power dimming. She squeezed my shoulder, ¡°What happened out there?¡±


    It was hard to know where to start. With Hunter releasing the spores to fight us? With Major Justice complaining about the damage we¡¯d caused while fighting the Nine?


    She¡¯d been away for months. I started with, ¡°It¡¯s a long story. I don¡¯t know if you want to hear it from the beginning. The short version is that we¡¯ve been fighting the Nine and you know how Hunter creates creatures? They got out of control. That¡¯s what caused the most destruction, but I should tell you something first. Travis¡ª¡±


    There I stopped¡ªnot because of nervousness, but because I felt something and because Rachel interrupted me.


    ¡°There¡¯s some kind of hum. I don¡¯t hear it. I feel it. Do you?¡±


    She met my eyes, ¡°You do, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I felt it through whatever sore, aching, metaphysical part I¡¯d been trying to ignore.


    My Xiniti implant said, ¡°Artificer energies. Most associated with newly activated Artificer creations.¡±

 Before Midnight: Part 1

    Grand Lake, Michigan, December 31, 1958: Ten Minutes before Midnight


    Snow fell outside. Joe watched from the seventh floor of the tallest private home in Grand Lake, wondering if it would be a blizzard. The big, white flakes meant that skiing wouldn¡¯t be great and neither would the shoveling. He wouldn¡¯t have to worry about either until tomorrow. Romy and he were staying over at Giles tonight anyway.


    He stood waiting in the music room because Giles¡¯ mansion had enough rooms that he could afford to devote one purely to music. A grand piano stood on one end and a pipe organ on the other. Along the walls were bookshelves filled with music, music stands, and enough instruments for a small orchestra.


    Joe pulled a string on the double bass, letting the deep thump fill the room.


    He probably shouldn¡¯t have touched it. He probably shouldn¡¯t ever touch anything in the entire place. He¡¯d always felt that way. As a child, the rooms in Giles¡¯ house had always felt like they were for better, wealthier people than he and his family.


    It still felt that way even though they were in the new section of the mansion¡ªGiles¡¯ own add-on. Giles¡¯ taste leaned toward the simple, elegant, modern style that Joe had mostly seen on television and in the interior design magazines Romy subscribed to.


    From the white, wall-to-wall carpet to the outside wall that was all windows, it wasn¡¯t a place he¡¯d ever own even if his engineering consultancy business did take off.


    For now, it was quietly supported by work from Giles¡¯ companies. They¡¯d been too busy fighting costumed madmen in the last few years for him to develop much of a client base¡ªwhich was fine for now, but he needed to broaden the business.


    In the distance, the sounds of a saxophone solo rang out. Giles had hired a big band with no idea who they were playing for. The guests were all superheroes and none in masks¡ªwhich meant no business could be discussed unless it was down the hall from the ballroom.


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    Footsteps came from the hall behind him and Joe turned to watch Gunther step through the door. Dressed in a black tuxedo, the tall, muscular man with a blond buzzcut looked every inch the former German soldier the press said he was and not at all the multi-dimensional dragon-like creature Joe had first seen trapped in a magic circle.


    In the 15 years since Joe had seen things that made him wonder if Gunther might have chosen not to break out of the circle because he knew Joe was coming.


    Gunther¡¯s smile widened and he said, ¡°I can teach you how to play it. No charge. No special deal. I owe you for getting me out.¡±


    Joe shook his head, ¡°That¡¯s what you¡¯ve told me. What do you get out of it?¡±


    Gunther shrugged, ¡°I like music. Improvised music isn¡¯t much different than fighting except that everyone gets to walk away happy. Well, unless you fucked up. Then you walk away in shame, but you¡¯ve got motivation to practice.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Joe sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it. What did you want to talk to me about?¡±


    Gunther turned away from him and stared out the window. That was interesting by itself. Gunther, whatever kind of strange alien he was, wasn¡¯t the kind of guy who stared out the window without saying anything. He was the kind of guy who kept up a never-ending stream of patter until you wanted to punch him.


    Was he embarrassed?


    Gunther turned away from the window and met Joe¡¯s eyes, ¡°I lost something.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Joe said, ¡°this isn¡¯t going to be something small like the keys to your car, is it? Because if it is, Giles will get you a locksmith or just buy you a new car. He¡¯s generous during the holidays, maybe a little too generous if you ask me.¡±


    Gunther laughed, ¡°I know what you mean, but no. It¡¯s not a small thing. It¡¯s not even recent by your standards, but I know you can find it.¡±


    Joe had never thought of himself as someone with ¡°good instincts.¡± He¡¯d always believed that everything that went right for him went that way because he worked at it. Right now, though, every part of him knew that whatever Gunther had lost, it was bad news.


    He asked, ¡°What is it? What did you lose?¡±


    Gunther¡¯s smile disappeared, ¡°A weapon and some friends, but I¡¯m not expecting you to find the friends. I lost the weapon around here.¡±


    The guy was playing with him. It was in the creature¡¯s nature. He knew that by now, but he still asked, ¡°In the house?¡±


    Gunther shook his head, ¡°In this universe and on Earth¡ªmostly. And I mean, strictly speaking, I lost it deliberately so that I wouldn¡¯t be tempted to use it. The problem is though, I¡¯ll need it eventually. I need you to find it. I know you can because a friend of mine came through here once. I set it so that he could get it back, but you¡¯re close enough. He¡¯s your distant ancestor. I¡¯m going to need you to find it and then pass it on to the right person. You¡¯ll know him. Trust me on this one.¡±

 Before Midnight: Part 2

    ¡°I¡¯ll know him?¡± Joe looked up at Gunther, mouth in a straight line, ¡°I¡¯m going to need more information than that.¡±


    Gunther shook his head, ¡°No, you won¡¯t. You¡¯ll need more information than that to find it, but not more when you¡¯ve got it and need to hand it off.¡±


    The creature¡¯s information had always been good even if ¡°his¡± true motives weren¡¯t obvious. If this thing that Gunther lost explained what Gunther was doing on Earth, Joe could live with it. He didn¡¯t enjoy having that hanging out there as a potential surprise.


    ¡°So¡­¡± Joe glanced out the window, watching the snow fall on the city. The kids were sleeping at their grandparents, ¡°when would this happen? Not tonight, I hope.¡±


    Gunther laughed, ¡°No, but soon. I don¡¯t want to pull you away from the party.¡±


    Joe¡¯s lip curled, ¡°Since you bring that up, tonight would be fine, but I think everyone else would like some time to relax.¡±


    Gunther grinned, ¡°I know the latest bout with Dr. Madness got to everyone, but you have one reason to relax. Now that you¡¯re all over the age of 30, you¡¯re immune to Evil Beatnik¡¯s influence.¡±


    Joe sighed, ¡°30 seems arbitrary. Why does it work that way?¡±


    Gunther shrugged, ¡°Magic. Evil Beatnik is a creature of chaos. All the rules will seem arbitrary.¡±


    Checking his watch, Joe said, ¡°I don¡¯t have much time before Romy comes looking, but I¡¯ve got a question, you¡¯ve made references to friends before and how I¡¯m descended from one of them. Who are they? Are they here too? Am I partially alien?¡±


    Gunther¡¯s smile made Joe think of the reptilian entity in the magic circle, ¡°You¡¯re all human¡ªphysically. We can assume the form of other creatures and so far as anyone can tell, that¡¯s all we are. I know that I have a few weirdnesses, but they¡¯re intentional. In a world where humans with strange powers exist, I¡¯m just one more.¡±


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    Then Gunther stopped, frowned, and stared out the window himself, leaving Joe to wonder why.


    Before Joe asked, Gunther said, ¡°But here¡¯s the problem, when we create a body for ourselves, we still need to connect to our core¡ªwhich means that we need to create a body that can do what we can do. That means that if we have children with one of you, the potential to tap into our powers exists. You can¡¯t live long enough, but one of you might be the right kind of accident.¡±


    Joe laughed, ¡°And then one of us finds your device and becomes a god?¡±


    Gunther stopped and met Joe¡¯s eyes, ¡°It¡¯s possible.¡±


    Thinking back over the years that he¡¯d known the creature, Joe had a hard time remembering when Gunther hadn¡¯t been making light of the situation no matter how bad. At the very least, he¡¯d always seemed amused. He did not seem amused at all.


    ¡°And if that happens,¡± Joe watched Gunther¡¯s face for hints, ¡°what next?¡±


    Face impassive, Gunther said, ¡°It depends. If he¡¯s powerful enough to control it, then he becomes the most powerful of us and maybe kills the remaining members of my species. After that, he might as well be a god because he¡¯ll rule this planet and as much of the universe as he cares about.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s likely. To understand how to use it, he¡¯d need training and none of us would train him. What¡¯s more likely is that he¡¯d barely be able to use it and attract the attention of the remaining members of my species. The best you could hope for there is that the Live faction would come here, destroy him, and leave with the device in their care. The worst case is that the Destroy faction would appear, kill him, take the device, and use it to hunt down the Live faction and any other species with potential, starting with yours.¡±


    ¡°Live and Destroy,¡± Joe shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s good that they don¡¯t hide what they¡¯re about. You¡¯ve told me about them before. Live wants to teach younger species and bring them up to your level over time and Destroy wants to destroy all sentient life except for your species. There was a writer who I liked. I even wrote him a couple of times as a teen and he wrote back¡ªH.P. Lovecraft. It makes me think of his stories. They were about mad gods that would destroy humanity if they ever woke up and they might not even notice they¡¯d done it.


    ¡°As bad as this sounds, there¡¯s no Live faction in his work. It¡¯s nice to know that in reality, we¡¯ve got a better chance.¡±


    Gunther did smile at that, but a slow smile that grew gradually wider, the kind Joe suspected many creatures had seen in their last moments.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Gunther said, ¡°and even better than the Live faction, I have plans to prevent all of that and they include you.¡±

 Before Midnight: Part 3

    Joe restrained his response, hoping that he wasn¡¯t grinding his teeth. The group didn¡¯t need more right now. Something was off about Giles. He couldn¡¯t put his finger on what. If that wasn¡¯t enough, new people with powers were appearing.


    Man-machine, of all people, had visited by his office to tell him about it. Wearing a cheap suit, the kid claimed to be starting a business that made auto parts. He couldn¡¯t hide his nervousness, constantly checking out the window.


    Like Giles, their powers appeared to be powered by a mixture of chemicals, but they didn¡¯t fling lightning like he did. Their powers appeared to be as unpredictable as any random supervillain¡¯s.


    It didn¡¯t surprise either Giles or himself. They¡¯d both known that Giles found the formula in an old book Giles¡¯ family had acquired. That book had been a copy of a copy. It said so inside, claiming that it had been translated into Latin for the ease of use by new members of the Cabal.


    Either the Cabal was still out there or someone else had found another copy of the formula. It was the underlying motive behind inviting all the superheroes they knew to the mansion for New Year''s.


    Tomorrow they planned to organize a response.


    ¡°I wish you¡¯d brought it up earlier,¡± Joe said. ¡°We have other things going on right now. We¡¯d have waited to bring up the potion people if we¡¯d known about an issue that might destroy the whole human race.¡±


    Gunther held up his hand, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. This can wait¡ªnot forever¡ªbut it can wait a year or two. I ¡®lost¡¯ it before the human race evolved into their current form. So, it¡¯s been a few millennia. Ordinarily, I think we could wait a few more, but here¡¯s the problem. I felt a flicker of power recently¡ªthe kind of thing I¡¯d feel when one of us is beginning to experiment with what we can do.¡±


    The creature let out a sigh, ¡°You¡¯ve got kids. Let¡¯s put it this way¡ªI thought I heard a toddler trying to walk and I just remembered I left a loaded gun somewhere in the room. We should find it before he does.¡±


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    ¡°Dammit,¡± Joe shook his head. ¡°If the whole human race is descended fromthis friend of yours, why¡¯d you set it so he and anyone related to him can use it?¡±


    Gunther frowned, ¡°I knew Nataw had come this way. I didn¡¯t know he¡¯d mated with anyone until after I hid the thing. It¡¯s not as if any of you can use it. There are only a few. You¡¯re one of them. Romy¡¯s another, but her family has something extra.¡±


    Thinking back, Joe couldn¡¯t remember Gunther trying to push them together, but Gunther had mentioned knowing ancestors of his¡­ He decided not to pursue it now.


    A knock came from the hallway and Romy stepped around the corner. Between her blond hair and red dress, she could have passed for a femme fatale from a movie poster or maybe the cover of a pulp magazine.


    ¡°Romy,¡± he sighed, ¡°Gunther has a new issue for the team for the new year.¡±


    Romy shook her head, ¡°And I thought you were sneaking away to get away from the noise. Let¡¯s go back, drink some champagne, and deal with tomorrow¡¯s problems tomorrow.¡±


    Heroes¡¯ League Headquarters, The Present Day


    We sat in a room that had endured many similar meetings over the last 50+ years. We¡¯d long ago removed the cardboard boxes full of memorabilia from the room, replaced the table with a new one, and carpeted this section of the concrete floor.


    Still, air molecules might be vibrating from words spoken by any of our grandparents back in the 1950s.


    Rachel and I sat next to each other at the table since we¡¯d called the meeting. Except for having short, dark hair instead of blond, Rachel might have passed for our grandmother¡ªRomy Vander Sloot. Unlike the rest of us, she was still in costume, wearing a simple white jumpsuit with a cartoon ghost on her chest.


    She¡¯d flown halfway across the galaxy to get here. The way she blinked her eyes made me wonder if she¡¯d make it through the meeting without falling asleep.


    Right then, she was saying, ¡°I felt it before I touched down on Earth. There¡¯s a low-level hum. Do any of you feel it?¡±


    I raised my hand, saying, ¡°For the record, I do. Anyone else?¡±


    Further down the table, Daniel shook his head. Tall, blond, and good-looking, he was also smart, calm in a crisis, and though he wasn¡¯t a rabbi like his grandfather, he¡¯d probably make a decent one.


    He said, ¡°I don¡¯t hear anything like that except secondhand through our telepathic link. I might do better once I¡¯m less tired. I don¡¯t know. I can tell you that the future just turned extremely volatile. Normally I can sense loosely whether what we¡¯re doing will lead to a good or bad outcome. Right now it changes by the second. I can¡¯t even tell whether we¡¯ll be alive 10 minutes from now with confidence and it started maybe an hour ago¡ªa little before Rachel reappeared.¡±

 Before Midnight: Part 4

    Rachel gave a quick grin, ¡°I hope you¡¯re not blaming it on me, but that¡¯s about right. I still can¡¯t navigate hyperspace on my own. The Cosmic Ghosts dropped me off over Earth and disappeared. I floated down from orbit on my own and as I floated down, I felt something. It wasn¡¯t a hum. It felt more like gathering energy. Then I felt a pulse. That¡¯s when the hum started.¡±


    I looked at her, ¡°I missed the pulse¡ªactually, I missed everything but the hum.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s because I¡¯m better than you,¡± she said, glancing over at me.


    The team laughed, but she continued, ¡°You¡¯re here getting lessons over Zoom. I¡¯ve been out there using everything they taught me to survive. That, and I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s true, but I¡¯ve been getting the impression that even if the Artificers and the Cosmic Ghosts are different versions of the same species, they¡¯re more different than humans and Neanderthals.¡±


    She frowned, ¡°From what Lee¡¯s said, it sounds like the Artificers live practically forever while the Ghosts live for a long time, but not as long. I think the Ghosts specialize in what they can do, but Lee¡¯s people seem to be able to command more power to do more things. That¡¯s what I overheard while living with the Ghosts, but we never talked about it directly.¡±


    Marcus leaned back in his chair and gave her a wave. Dark-skinned and wearing a hoodie showing a movie version of the X-Men, he said, ¡°What¡¯s living with them like? Is it anything like being in a Lantern Corps?¡±


    Rachel tilted her head, not saying anything at first, ¡°We spent a lot of time flying between the stars and then dropping into interstellar conflicts to convince them to stop.¡±


    Nodding, Marcus said, ¡°A lot like a Lantern Corps then.¡±


    From across the table, Jaclyn said, ¡°Let¡¯s get back to the hum. Can you triangulate it?¡±


    Tall and dark-skinned, Jaclyn wore a simple green shirt and black slacks. I remembered programming in those clothes, so she was wearing a stealth suit camouflaged as clothes. After today¡¯s fight, she probably hadn¡¯t had clothes to change into.


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    Rachel and I both said, ¡°No.¡± As I tried to figure out how to say it was too close to feel a direction, Rachel said, ¡°I feel it from all sides. It¡¯s like we¡¯re inside it.¡±


    I added, ¡°I tried to use my implant to track it down, but it can¡¯t give me a direction either. I have to get farther away for it to sense a change in difference¡ªmaybe orbit, but I don¡¯t know. The only thing I get is that the implant tells me that there are energies associated with Artificer relics.¡±


    I looked around the group, ¡°The best guess I have is that Magnus found Lee¡¯s device and now he¡¯s turned it on.¡±


    Sitting next to Vaughn, across the table from me, Cassie shook her head. Her blond hair in a ponytail, she said, ¡°Damn, that¡¯s bad. It¡¯s not a surprise, but it¡¯s still bad.¡±


    Vaughn nodded, ¡°We¡¯ve been looking for that thing for months. Knowing that it¡¯s the Artificers¡¯ ultimate weapon, shouldn¡¯t we have lost by now?¡±


    He looked around the group, ¡°I mean seriously, you told us that Lee escaped with it and all of the Destroy faction has been searching for him ever since.¡±


    In some ways, it was hard to believe he was the same guy who¡¯d broken in and used the power impregnator on himself. Between the shorter hair, loss of fat, and more obvious muscles, he looked the part of a superhero these days¡ªeven if he wasn¡¯t the tallest of us.


    On the right side of the table, Haley crinkled her nose, ¡°Maybe he doesn¡¯t control it yet? That means that we¡¯ve got a chance.¡±


    She looked over at me. I wanted to grab her hand. Her brother hadn¡¯t been dead for a day yet and we weren¡¯t going to get a break.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m hoping,¡± Amy replied, leaning over the table, red hair falling over her shoulders. ¡°The North American Wizards¡¯ Council is hosting a meeting between us and ex-Cabal leaders. They were saying a week from now, but it might be as soon as two days or ten minutes from now. They want to meet us, but they don¡¯t want to draw Magnus¡¯ attention. We need to be ready to go.¡±


    Jaclyn raised an eyebrow, ¡°Are we supposed to stay here and wait until then?¡±


    Amy shook her head, ¡°They¡¯re supposed to give me a warning. If anybody, you could get away with going wherever you want and get back on time.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°knock yourself out.¡±


    Raising her hand, Jaclyn said, ¡°I¡¯m not talking about going shopping. I don¡¯t want to miss a week of classes. I¡¯m sure everyone else has things they have to do too, but if no one else leaves, I¡¯m not going to.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like that,¡± Amy said. ¡°Some of the most powerful wizards in the world are on the Council. If they want any of us, they can teleport us to where they are¡ª¡±


    As she spoke the last word, glowing tears appeared in front of each of us, pulling me forward even though I never felt my body leave my chair.


    Not for the first time, I wondered if wizards might have worse social skills than engineers.

 Before Midnight: Part 5

    Of course, I wasn¡¯t dumb enough to ask that question of the actual, for real, wizards when I met them¡ªwhich was immediately.


    I fell through the tear (or at least it felt that way), appearing in a space filled with marble. While I didn¡¯t see the kind of pillars you¡¯d see in a Greek temple, it felt like a place that should have them. I saw white, gray, and black marble for both the ceiling and the floor.


    While the walls were also marble, they weren¡¯t cut by stonemasons unless ancient stonemasons were more competent than I¡¯d imagined. These walls curved outward from the floor and inward near the ceiling¡ªmore than ten feet above the ground.


    Not only that, windows filled the upper two-thirds of the wall. I couldn¡¯t remember any time I¡¯d seen windows in an all-marble building. I didn¡¯t know off the top of my head when see-through glass became the norm in buildings, but I felt like it had to be within the last two centuries.


    What¡¯s more, I couldn¡¯t ignore what was outside the windows. Forested mountains filled the view on one side of the room. On the other side, forested hills gave way to beaches and then the ocean.


    Where was I?


    I wasn¡¯t wearing the Rocket suit, so I couldn¡¯t check my HUD, but I was wearing a stealth suit in the form of clothes that my implant could access. GPS came back with no answer at all.


    If I had to guess where we were, I¡¯d have guessed somewhere outside of time, maybe a pocket universe. Given what I saw at that moment, it seemed possible. For all I knew, this was the basis of the myth of Olympus.


    More likely, they¡¯d teleported us somewhere and blocked GPS. That made the most sense but on the other hand? Wizards.


    They were subtle and quick to teleport you places you¡¯d never planned to go.


    One more thing worth mentioning? I was alone and I wasn¡¯t in contact with Daniel via our short-distance telepathic link or anyone else through the comm system. The comm system couldn¡¯t connect to anything, giving me the message I expected to see in that circumstance¡ª¡°No network found.¡±


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    I considered calling upon the abilities given by the Artificer side of my heritage, but given how Artificers caused anyone who knew about them to freak out, I decided to keep them as my ace in the hole.


    Better to have them, but not use them than to use them too early and find out that wizards could do a real-world equivalent to the Dungeons & Dragons ¡°Disintegrate¡± spell.


    For lack of a better idea, I looked around the empty room and said, ¡°Hello? Anybody? You went to a lot of bother to bring me here. It seems a shameto leave me alone in an empty room.¡±


    No one said anything.


    That didn¡¯t surprise me even if it was annoying.


    After a minute or two, a disembodied voice said, ¡°What are you?¡±


    The voice didn¡¯t ask who I was, so that was interesting. I wasn¡¯t going to answer back, ¡°What are you,¡± much less, ¡°I know you are, but what am I?¡±


    The second question didn¡¯t make any sense, but it did pop into my head. Instead, I said, ¡°I¡¯m in the process of figuring that out. What do you think I am?¡±


    The voice said, ¡°I think that you¡¯re more than a man.¡±


    ¡°I think so, too,¡± I said, ¡°but at this point in my life I¡¯m not much more.¡±


    Then it was the same voice, but different because as of that moment, it became an embodied voice. The man wore a black business suit. He had light brown skin, curly, gray hair, and a curly gray beard.


    He used a staff without showing any hint of a limp. As he walked across the room, I remembered feeling a presence once when a spaceship I¡¯d been flying passed the scene of an old battle.


    It had been one of Lee¡¯s race, a member of the Destroy faction, most likely, and had been trying to scare anyone with a connection to Lee to reveal themselves. This wasn¡¯t the same. It wasn¡¯t uneasiness or terror, but I felt something.


    Without a doubt, this man could make use of what I referred to by various names in my head, most recently, the Artificer Superhighway because the Artificers and Cosmic Ghosts used it to communicate in real-time across interstellar distances.


    ¡°You¡¯re one of us,¡± the man said, ¡°children of the gods or maybe creatures of the underworld? It¡¯s hard to say.¡±


    Deciding it was worth the risk, I drew on the power and Kee¡¯s teaching about how to use it. Nothing about the man changed, but I felt more. Whatever this man had inherited from the Artificers, he didn¡¯t have much of it. If you compared his potential to a fire, he had a small lighter.


    He looked me up and down, ¡°There¡¯s more of them in you than there should be. That¡¯s good. You¡¯re not the only one.¡±

 Before Midnight: Part 6

    I said, ¡°I assume you¡¯re talking about Magnus, but are you saying there are even more than that? Oh, and who are you?¡±


    He laughed, ¡°I¡¯ve had many names dating back farther than I care to explain. For now, call me Uri. It¡¯s nice to meet you finally, Nick, but let¡¯s skip the rest of the introductions. We don¡¯t want to waste time.


    ¡°Your friends are talking to other people right now. They¡¯ll cover the same topics, but I wanted to meet you.¡±


    I wanted to ask him why, but he didn¡¯t stop talking.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start with your question. You know about the Abominators, the aliens that your grandparents defeated. They decided that human beings had promise as servants, took some from Earth, and turned them into warriors.


    ¡°But why did they think humans held promise? I think it was because of other creatures¡ªthe beings that left bits of themselves, bits that make you and I different from most.¡±


    Thinking back to when I¡¯d talked to a doctor on Hideaway, a world of refugees from the Human Ascendancy, I said, ¡°That¡¯s not how I heard it. I was told by a doctor in the Human Ascendancy that the Abominators had captured and added in material from the Artificers.¡±


    Uri nodded, ¡°I think I have a wider perspective than your doctor. I was alive when the Abominators came to Earth and were already immortal. I didn¡¯t know what I was seeing then, but I met the results of their experiments. Through them, I eventually found the Abominators¡¯ settlement and laboratory. I saw them taking samples of us and sending the results home. I also remember the new variants they created and let loose here including the day the Abominators disappeared.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I didn¡¯t know how many years that had been but I did remember when we¡¯d found the book that showed the device Lee had stolen from the Destroy faction. We¡¯d also found cuneiform tablets that Cassie had been able to read through her Abominator gun¡ªwho¡¯d presumably been lost in or soon after the era of Sumer.


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    The tablets had been written by Urin or so my implant said. This could well be the same guy. In his case, I¡¯d have dropped the ¡°n¡± too. It was far too close to, ¡°Excuse me, is your name Urine?¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°if we don¡¯t have time to waste, my theory is that Magnus, a guy you probably know, has found the device he¡¯s been seeking for thousands of years and now we¡¯re either about to see him rule the world or accidentally attract the attention of ancient creatures that will destroy the Earth along with a chunk of the galaxy as collateral damage¡ªmaybe both. I don¡¯t know if you can help us with that, but if you can, we¡¯ll need help finding him.¡±


    He laughed, ¡°Ruthie told us what she told you and what she suspected you¡¯d figured out on your own. Good, but you don¡¯t quite have all of it.¡±


    He looked around the room, pointing his staff where he looked, ¡°Don¡¯t mind me, I thought I heard something. We¡¯re meeting with you in a place created by magic because Magnus shouldn¡¯t be able to find us, but Magnus is powerful. He¡¯s like you. He has a stronger connection to whatever makes us different than most people.


    ¡°When I first found him, thousands of years ago, Magnus wasn¡¯t as strong as you are now, but he had more potential than I did. The last time I saw him, he¡¯d grown metaphysically. I don¡¯t know how the two of you would compare.¡±


    ¡°What did you think you heard,¡± I said, feeling my breathing increase. Less than a day ago, before going out to face the Coffeeshop Illuminati, but actually dupes of the Nine, I¡¯d extended my Artificer senses out around me and been attacked by a creature I speculated might be Magnus.


    I couldn¡¯t guess what skills or tools he¡¯d acquired in the thousands of years he¡¯d lived. He might be here.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Uri peered past me, ¡°I¡¯ve taken precautions. Even if he¡¯s here, we have protection.¡±


    He didn¡¯t stop looking, but continued talking, ¡°I don¡¯t think he has control of whatever great machine it is, but I think he has partial control. If he had control, there would be more effects than a hum.¡±


    ¡°A lot of protection?¡± I considered expanding my Artificer senses but decided to hold off. If Magnus were nearby and searching for us, I might attract his attention.


    Uri had turned away from me to check behind him. There wasn¡¯t anything to see. It still looked like gray and white marble. The windows still showed forest and mountainous hills.


    ¡°Enough protection, but I think we should join the others. We may have to cut the meeting short, but we have something we were planning to pass on to the group of you.¡±

 Before Midnight: Part 7

    Around us, reality changed.


    We, and this we meant not just Uri and me, but also the rest of the team, now stood in a room with the same marble, the same forest on one side, and the same beach and ocean on the other.


    In addition, new people were also in the room¡ªguards who dressed in suits and wore guns, guards whose armor and weapons would have been at home on the cover of a Dungeons and Dragons rule book, and people with a mixture of the two styles¡ªplate mail, a sword, and an automatic rifle for example.


    It felt different too.


    Most human beings have never felt the absence of air on their skin. The exceptions to that are the few people who can fly in a vacuum and those who have experienced incomplete simulations of reality.


    In addition to the smell of the ocean, tropical warmth, and the coolness of the marble table that I found my hand touching, I felt air too¡ªmeaning that this was the real place I¡¯d experienced the magical copy of¡ªor possibly a better copy.


    When I thought about it, I still couldn¡¯t connect to GPS through my suit, but the implant did relay a list of password-protected Wifi networks which argued for a real place.


    Ruthie Shaw, still wearing jeans and a pink sweatshirt stood on the edge of the group, sword in hand, and grayish blonde hair falling on her shoulders.


    Stepping up to the marble table in the middle of the room, she struck it with the pommel of her sword, hitting it with a solid clank. Though no marble flew away that I could see, the divots in the marble testified that this wasn¡¯t the first time hitting the table had been used to get attention.


    Ruthie looked around the room. Satisfied that she¡¯d gotten our attention, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s handle this quickly. We¡¯re not making it obvious, but you¡¯re in the presence of more of the Cabal¡¯s former leadership than you can see. I called us together and though we¡¯re not all ready to expose ourselves to you, we are willing to give you help. Urin, please tell them what you know.¡±


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    Near me, I could see Vaughn¡¯s lip quiver as if he were considering saying something. Knowing my first thoughts about the name, I hoped he wouldn¡¯t.


    As I did, Cassie elbowed him.


    Urin, who¡¯d introduced himself to me as Uri said, ¡°We don¡¯t believe Magnus is in full control of the alien device as yet. We think he¡¯d be able to do more. The problem is that of all of us, he¡¯s the one with the greatest connection to whatever the Artificers are and he¡¯s had thousands of years to experiment with it.


    ¡°What he lacks is any real training in using those abilities. From what I see, Nick and Rachel''s secondary forms appear defined in a way that makes me think they are. Even more than that, Magnus still doesn¡¯t know how to get into the machine¡¯s physical presence. We think you might have that information. We think your grandparents collaborated with the creature that has taken forms that you¡¯re familiar with to hide the device.


    ¡°We assume that you know what Lee, Gunther, or whichever name he uses now truly is. We have our suspicions and won¡¯t say them.¡±


    Urin stuck in his pocket and fished around for something, sticking his arm further in than I thought should be physically possible¡ªat least up to his elbow without any physical bulge appearing his pants.


    ¡°Just a second, I¡¯ve nearly got it,¡± he gritted his teeth, and pushed his arm in nearly to the shoulder, his body bending and shrinking where it entered the pocket. Then he pulled out something hidden in his fist.


    ¡°Got it,¡± he grinned and opened his hand, revealing what might have been a flat white rock, rounded, thin, and perfect for skipping across a pond. It didn¡¯t seem to be a rock, though. The surface wasn¡¯t right. It could only have been a rock if the rock had been painted with a substance that filled in all the holes, making it smooth on all sides. After that, it would have been covered in a translucent substance.


    ¡°Magnus sent out people from the Cabal to find the device for years and I watched him for years. I managed to intercept this thing before it could be given to him. The courier who carried it died soon after, so Magnus never knew. I¡¯ve never been able to make it do anything, but Magnus believed that it would help him find the device or maybe use it. I never got clarification because I went into hiding soon after.¡±


    Urin held out the rock toward me, ¡°You may get more out of it than I¡¯ve been able to, but I wouldn¡¯t depend on it entirely. Talk to your grandparents. If you know where he is, maybe talk to Gunther, but maybe don¡¯t. I¡¯ve never trusted him.¡±

 Before Midnight: Part 8

    Urin dropped it into my hand. The outside felt as smooth as it looked and I felt a prickle of energy.


    I considered trying to interact with it more, but I wasn¡¯t skilled enough with anything Artificer-related to do it casually.


    Looking up from it, I asked, ¡°What is it? Do you know who made it?¡±


    Glancing up from my hand with a frown, he said, ¡°I was hoping for more of a reaction from it. Very well. I don¡¯t know anything for sure, but my assumption when I got it was that either the Abominators made it or that it had been made by the Artificers and found by the Abominators. It was supposed to help find the Artificers¡¯ creations.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I looked down at it again, thinking Great, and remembering how the Artificers'' creations were designed to warp any other species that found them into wiping themselves out. Even better, they were intended to be so enticing that other races would copy them, spreading the taint further.


    To be fair, Cassie had an Abominator gun and seemed okay and I had a room full of Abominator tech that so far hadn¡¯t warped me or our grandparents, the people that had collected it.


    Maybe the risk had been overstated. Maybe we¡¯d been lucky.


    ¡°Is that it?¡± Rachel asked Urin and then looked around the room. ¡°You¡¯re giving us a rock and suggesting we ask our grandparents? Most of our grandparents are dead and the rest seem to believe that we need to do this ourselves.


    ¡°Is there anywhere we should start? One of Magnus¡¯ former homes? Somewhere we can go?¡±


    Jacklyn gave Rachel a nod, ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I was thinking. If you¡¯re giving out hints, we could use a few more. We¡¯ve got a whole planet to search now, maybe even Mars or the moon.¡±


    Urin opened his mouth and let out a breath, ¡°I¡¯m sure we have hints, but we¡¯ve been hiding for years now. We¡¯re out of touch with day-to-day operations. Plus, we need to go. If we stay too long, Magnus will find us. You know who he works with. Given time, someone who doesn¡¯t even know they¡¯re a plant will betray you.¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I¡¯d been watching Ruthie Shaw. Even though she¡¯d never stopped listening to the conversation, she¡¯d been watching the room and the windows as much as any of the guards, her hand never leaving her sword.She broke from watching for attackers to say, ¡°We need to go. This is as long as we¡¯ve ever managed without being found with this little preparation.¡±


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    Urin¡¯s jaw tightened, ¡°What she says goes. Exit protocols, everyone. Wizard Zoli, send them home.¡±


    With that, all but two of the guards pulled away from the windows and closer to the tables. A man in a business suit (Wizard Zoli?) pulled out a necklace from under his vest. A chunky gold chain, it ended in a green gem with a barely visible glow.


    When the man¡¯s hand covered it, the glow increased, growing even brighter when he began to murmur words I didn¡¯t understand.


    Loud enough to be heard over booted feet and spoken orders, Daniel said, ¡°Armor up. Chances of a bad future just spiked.¡±


    By Amy¡¯s standards, it was a subtle transformation. Yes, there were voices, but they sang softly and didn¡¯t shout. There was a red light, but it didn¡¯t fill the room. It gave Amy a glow, without being a spotlight and the ominous black letters dancing in the air around her faded without burning themselves into anything.


    Amy turned around, Bloodspear in hand, checking for enemies.


    I didn¡¯t see any, but I was going through my own, much less impressive transformation. My clothes were transforming into the most basic version of the stealth suit possible. I hadn¡¯t brought my backpack along which meant no extra material, and even worse, no rockets.


    I had thin armor, a mask over my head, and sonics. Artificial muscles came as part of the stealth suit, but they didn¡¯t match the full version. With no working GPS, I wasn¡¯t going to be getting a load of nanotech-installed parts to upgrade and repair mid-battle either.


    A quick look showed that everyone was in the same position I was¡ªthe most minimal version of their suit. Cassie had her gun, though. I had no idea where she¡¯d hidden it.


    Turning toward Urin, I asked, ¡°What are we facing?¡±


    He shouted back, ¡°Nothing! We¡¯re sending you back.¡±


    Ruthie Shaw held her sword in front of her, blade up, and didn¡¯t look at me as she replied, ¡°It changes.¡±


    With that came a sound somewhere between breaking glass and the sizzle of electricity. Figures appeared in the room. Four of them were the familiar, muscular figures of Cabal soldiers.


    By themselves, that would have been tough for us to handle with only Cassie having a gun that could hurt them. As long as Jaclyn and Amy could keep them back, Rachel, Daniel, and Vaughn had a good chance of taking them out while Haley and I could¡­ struggle to be useful.


    They weren¡¯t alone though.


    In the middle of them stood an orange, glowing being in the shape of a man¡ªif men had eight arms. Muscled like the Cabal soldiers, he dipped his head to avoid hitting the ceiling.


    In all the time I¡¯d spent following supers, I¡¯d never seen anyone like this guy. I didn¡¯t have time to think about it either. Within a second or maybe less of when they appeared, Cabal soldiers were already rushing the guards, their legs throwing them forward.


    Then the orange man started to scream and I realized that I couldn¡¯t hear it through my ears only in my head. Recognizing that it was a psychic attack didn¡¯t help me concentrate enough to move my limbs. The scream blasted through any defenses I might have had, leaving me feeling as if I were nothing but the scream.


    Only ten feet from me, a Cabal soldier hit Wizard Zoli, exploding his head.

 Before Midnight: Part 9

    Though the scream consumed most of my mind, enough was free to notice the splatter of blood and brains and know that that it could be me next.


    Despite what I might have hoped, that knowledge did not give me the strength to pull my mind together and concentrate enough to resist it.


    Whatever shields Daniel and his parents put in and maintained in my mind weren¡¯t helping either. They were designed to prevent someone from breaking in. The orange man¡¯s scream was more of a psychic electrocution.


    Most poeple I could see weren¡¯t doing much better.


    Wizards didn¡¯t apparently do much work preparing for psychic screams and neither did their servants. Wizard Zoli wasn¡¯t the only one whose head exploded. Two of their guards died in an instant, one the same way as Zoli. Another died when a Cabal soldier punched through his chest.


    The eyes of the Cabal soldier who¡¯d killed Zoli darted around for his next target. They met mine, but moved on toward Jaclyn who stumbled forward to face him.


    Through the pain, I managed to find some fear for her life, but I could barely think of anything more than that.


    Then Amy¡¯s Bloodspear crossed my view, hitting the nearest Cabal soldier in the chest. He grabbed it and tried to pull it out, but when he grabbed the dull, pitted metal, the writing on the sides glowed a brighter red.


    I couldn¡¯t be sure from this distance, but I thought I saw spikes extend into his hands. At any rate, his hands bled, even if none of it reached the marble floor.


    I would have been stuck watching until one of the Cabal soldiers took my head off except that Amy wasn¡¯t the only person unaffected.


    Amid the pain of the scream, I felt Daniel¡¯s mind through our connection. While his shield didn¡¯t keep the scream entirely out, it dampened it to the point that he felt it only as background noise.


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    I would have wished that I could do the same, but I wasn¡¯t even to that point.


    I did feel that Daniel was gathering power and then felt him release it, followed by exhilaration and a moment of exhaustion.


    That exhaustion might have been disastrous if he¡¯d missed, but he hadn¡¯t.


    He¡¯d summoned as much telekinetic force as he could muster and aimed it at the orange giant, throwing him out one of the windows. With any luck there would be a cliff on that side.


    Either way, when the orange man began to tumble through the air, he must have lost his own concentration on his psychic attack.


    It stopped and I could think again.


    Taking a moment to check around me, I decided to figure out what I could do.


    The first thing that caught my eye was that one of the Cabal soldiers who seemed to have been heading toward the soldier being absorbed by the Bloodspear.


    He¡¯d changed direction, bounding toward Daniel. I wasn¡¯t going to be able to do much to one of those guys with a punch, but held up both arms aiming my sonic weapons at the soldier¡¯s head, hoping to break an eardrum. I¡¯d had success at that before.


    If it didn¡¯t work, I¡¯d at least have an ultrasound that might interest his dentist.


    Except¡­ It did work. A gush of blood dripped down his ear. That was more than I¡¯d expected. Those guys were practically invulnerable. I¡¯d learned something even if it were only about this specific Cabal soldier.


    In fact, I realized as he turned, I¡¯d been successful beyond my wildest dreams, he¡¯d stopped trying to target Daniel until he dealt with me.


    In short, maybe I ought to target my own head with the sonics. Assuming I survived, whatever surgeon got me might need the picture for reconstructive surgery.


    Even before I¡¯d first targeted the soldier, I¡¯d started the stealth suit on an additional command¡ªassemble my laser!


    The stealth suit contained enough parts to make a small one next to the sonics on my right hand. It came online as the soldier turned toward me.


    For the record, I didn¡¯t just stand there. I fired at his eyes, missing, and jumped sideways about 20 feet.


    That put me toward the side of the room and away from the main group¡ªwhich would have been great if I¡¯d been into self-sacrifice, but that wasn¡¯t the plan.


    If it had been, I¡¯d have been performing perfectly because even the laser ¡°miss¡± had only been a miss in the sense of doing no real damage. The burning beam had scored his cheek, the pain confirming in his mind, I guess, that I was a major threat.


    He wasn¡¯t going to let me go. He jumped after me, landing only three feet away, well within arm¡¯s reach.


    He didn¡¯t just reach either, he punched, arm blurring as the fist flew at me.


    I tried to bend away, but I wasn¡¯t moving fast enough except¡­ Something heavy hit me in the side. He missed. I felt the air as his fist passed my head.

 Before Midnight: Part 10

    I stumbled sideways, realizing that Haley crouched underneath the soldier¡¯s punch.


    She didn¡¯t stay there. Even as I realized what was happening, she was already punching back¡ªand upward.


    Hitting him in the middle of his diaphragm, she¡¯d have killed a normal person with her strength and winded even some of the tougher supers.


    He didn¡¯t gasp for air or bend over¡ªmuch¡ªbut as muscular as the Cabal¡¯s oldest and toughest soldiers were, most of them weren¡¯t more than a few hundred pounds, and very few had claws that could sink into marble and hang on.


    This guy wasn¡¯t one of the exceptions.


    When Haley hit him, he flew backward and hit the wall while still in the air. Even for her, it was a hard punch, the kind of thing I would have expected to see out of Travis.


    From the sweat and redness in her face, I could see that she felt it.


    As for myself, I couldn¡¯t think of anything better to do than aim my laser at the soldier¡¯s legs, knowing that they¡¯d heal, but that the Cabal¡¯s best didn¡¯t heal as quickly from heat and laser-based wounds.


    Beyond that, I could only hope everyone else was doing their part to keep people off us.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ruthie Shaw stand between one of the Cabal soldiers and Urin, slashing open the soldier¡¯s guts with more speed and strength than I¡¯d have expected out of a white-haired woman in a pink sweatshirt.


    The soldier jumped backward ten feet, pulling his intestines back into his body with both hands as the skin and muscles began to knit themselves back together. He¡¯d be back soon enough, but he¡¯d been forced to retreat, if only for a moment. That was better than we¡¯d ever managed the first time we¡¯d fought the Cabal.


    Meanwhile, the guy I whose legs I was burning with my laser chose not to sit there and get burned. At the same time, I can only guess that he was feeling whatever small amount of damage I was doing because he didn¡¯t charge me.


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    He broke the window next to him and jumped outside.


    I didn¡¯t doubt that he¡¯d only done it to get time to heal without being burned by a laser, but I still felt a wave of relief.


    That wave of relief was bolstered when the soldier that Amy stabbed with her spear finally fell over.


    She pulled it out of his chest, his arms falling away from the spear. He stared around him, glassy-eyed, but still breathing. I wasn¡¯t sure if that meant that Amy had taken enough out of him that he was too tired to move or if he was actively dying.


    Feeling like I had time, I checked around the room. There had been four of them with the orange glowing giant. Amy took down one. We and Ruthie had each forced one to retreat. Ruthie¡¯s still held his stomach together. Where was the fourth?


    I missed my HUD. I hadn¡¯t yet had a moment where I felt comfortable losing my sight while it formed, so I hadn¡¯t commanded it to.


    A quick look around without my HUD¡¯s assistance gave me the full picture.


    The room had been full of twenty or more servants, guards, and the implied presence of disguised former Cabal members. At least six of them lay on the ground. More were simply gone. I could only guess that the disguised ex-Cabal leaders had taken their bodyguards and left us to deal with it.


    As for the ¡°missing¡± Cabal soldier, he wasn¡¯t missing. Off to the side of what had been the main group of people, he stood in the middle of three bodies and an empty suit of dented plate armor, but he wasn¡¯t going anywhere.


    Jaclyn stood between him and the few remaining people in the room. Neither of them moved, both of them watching the other.


    I took advantage of the pregnant pause to command my helmet to form. After a moment of darkness, I found myself viewing the world with the Rocket suit¡¯s familiar 360-degree vision.


    Noting that the pregnant pause had not yet given birth, I congratulated myself for choosing the right time.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Haley said, ¡°the orange giant¡¯s coming back.¡±


    Daniel frowned, ¡°I didn¡¯t sense anything,¡± but he turned toward the window he¡¯d thrown the guy through.


    Haley wasn¡¯t wrong. The giant loomed outside the window and stepped into the room, ducking to keep his head from hitting the top of the window frame. I expected the giant to start a psychic scream again, but he didn¡¯t.


    The Cabal soldier who¡¯d jumped out of the window followed him in. The other Cabal soldier¡¯s intestines seemed to be inside again. He joined them.


    Unsure why the giant hadn¡¯t started to scream, I started to ask Daniel. The man had to have a reason and Daniel had a chance of figuring it out.


    Off to my right, Vaughn said, ¡°Shit,¡± and threw a lightning bolt toward the giant¡¯s chest.

 Before Midnight: Part 11

    The creature bellowed and all eight arms flailed, but it didn¡¯t fall. The lightning hit and the creature¡¯s body absorbed it.


    Bits of electricity whirled around its arms before disappearing.


    Still impossible to understand, the giant¡¯s mouth opened and shrieked, but that wasn¡¯t the attack. The attack came in the form of lightning thrown from its hands.


    We were lucky that we¡¯d been training with Vaughn for years¡ªmeaning that we were lucky that I¡¯d designed even our most basic suits to be Faraday cages and guide the current around our bodies instead of through them.


    The giant¡¯s lightning hit Cassie, Haley, Daniel, and me. Imagined or real, I thought I felt some heat, but no hint of electricity as sparks crossed our bodies.


    Jaclyn, Amy, and Rachel missed out¡ªRachel because she wasn¡¯t tangible. Jaclyn and Amy weren¡¯t targeted¡ªJaclyn because she was still facing off with a Cabal soldier who stood between her and the giant. Amy happened to be behind Vaughn and Cassie at that moment.


    Instead, the giant had targeted Urin, Ruthie Shaw, and the remaining guards. They missed Urin because the lightning dipped into the ground before it hit him. The lightning hit Ruthie and even though she shuddered, unable to do anything else, she didn¡¯t fall.


    When the lightning stopped, she stood there gasping for breath but then stumbled forward toward the giant, sword in hand.


    The guards weren¡¯t so lucky. It might be that wearing medieval armor worked against supernatural monsters, but it wasn¡¯t great against lightning. Three guards wearing chainmail fell to the floor after being hit. Whether they were alive or dead, I didn¡¯t know.


    Cassie pointed her gun at the giant, but at the last moment fired at one of the two Cabal soldiers running with him. She hit the soldier multiple times, burning him each time and the soldier fell forward, moaning.


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    And to think the guy¡¯s intestines had only healed up in time to be shot by an alien weapon.


    You might think I¡¯d be mystified as to why Cassie changed targets. I wasn¡¯t. I was relieved. I¡¯d worried that the giant might be one of those guys who absorbed certain kinds of energy and then repurposed it.


    You¡¯re right, Daniel told me. She guessed the same at the last moment.


    We didn¡¯t have time to say more. Haley spoke over the comm, ¡°Cap and Accelerando take out the Cabal soldiers. The rest of us need to concentrate on the giant.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t wrong, but I couldn''t do much against the giant. My mini-laser would help against the Cabal soldiers.


    There were two running with the giant. Cassie had taken out one. I shot the other, concentrating on his right knee, burning it.


    He stumbled, caught himself, realized who was holding the laser, and launched himself at me.


    I jumped sideways, wondering if it would even matter that I tried, given his velocity as reported by my HUD.


    It did matter, saving my life.


    I¡¯d moved maybe an inch out of his reach when he landed, trying to grab my arm, pull me in, and maybe crush me.


    That didn¡¯t happen. Cassie shot him in the side with her gun and he screamed, that side of his body (including his arm) burned and blackened. This was the same guy who¡¯d jumped out of the room when I¡¯d hit him earlier but this was worse.


    He tried to run away, but whatever damage I¡¯d done to his knee caught up with him and he fell. He didn¡¯t even try to get up, moaning, ¡°Leave me alone,¡± over and over as he lay on the ground.


    I wanted to find out what was going on with Jaclyn and the final Cabal soldier, but the giant had charged toward the main group.


    Cassie, Vaughn, Daniel, Haley, and I dodged to the side¡ªwhich only worked because Amy had used her spear to absorb the powers of the Cabal soldier she¡¯d stabbed.


    So, when the giant charged the rest of us, Amy charged in toward him. Though a regular Cabal soldier might have been worried about being burned by the giant¡¯s orange glow or whatever he could do with absorbed energy, Amy didn¡¯t.


    With two long steps, Amy bounded up to him, her last leap putting her fist level with the giant¡¯s face. The hit knocked him backward twenty feet, bloodying his nose.


    Her next punch made an audible crack when it hit. For a moment, I worried that she¡¯d broken the giant¡¯s neck.


    She hadn¡¯t. She¡¯d broken something else. The giant fell apart, glowing orange pieces of his body falling apart, some igniting, burning, and melting like wax.


    A normal-sized man lay unconscious on the floor in the middle of it all.

 If Found, Please Return: Part 1

    I wouldn¡¯t have given any thought to the man if I¡¯d seen him on the street¡ªbrown haired, shorter than average, wearing red sweatpants and a white t-shirt that advertised a brand of pop.


    I might have had a question about the sweatpants. They had stains.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jaclyn and the final mobile Cabal soldier. Somewhere in the middle of our fight, she and the Cabal soldier had stopped facing off and started fighting.


    He couldn¡¯t put a finger on her, but he wasn¡¯t slow either. He angled himself to give a sideways profile and moved enough that her hits slid across his body.


    Though Jaclyn was strong enough that even her grazes would rupture a normal person¡¯s organs and break bones, the guy grunted and went deeper into his stance.


    She put up with that twice before moving to the side and punching him in the face multiple times, a cascade of blows he couldn¡¯t dodge or defend against.


    I heard his jaw crack. That was a new thing. When we¡¯d first fought the Cabal, the only person capable of hurting them seemed to be Cassie when using her sword.


    We¡¯d had significant training since then and it had done the same for Jaclyn as everyone else.


    The blows left his face bloodied, skin broken, and his jaw hung lower on the left side than the right.


    It wouldn¡¯t be long before he started to heal if he was like the rest of them. Short of cutting him with my laser or shooting him with Cassie¡¯s gun, we didn¡¯t have a way to stop that¡ªand even then it was just slower.


    Slow as in days instead of hours or worse, seconds.


    He fell over.


    Before I could even ask myself if I were willing to mutilate him, Rachel appeared, pulling something off her utility belt and wrapping what appeared to be a string around the man¡¯s lower legs. Then she did the same to his arms.


    They turned transparent, but on a gradient, becoming more solid the further away from the point where the string was wrapped around.


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    His body was completely solid. As he became aware of something beyond how badly his face had been hurt, he held up his arms, noticing the string. He reached for the string on his left arm with his right and vice versa.


    His hands when through each other. The same thing happened with his legs and the ground.


    I stepped forward toward where Rachel stood, ¡°That¡¯s pretty cool.¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s not much more than futuristic handcuffs. You know how Marcus compares the Cosmic Ghosts to the Green Lantern corps? He¡¯s not all wrong. We use these when we want to handover someone we¡¯ve fought to the local authorities. The string fades away after a few hours, but by then they have them in custody.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll do with these guys, but I¡¯ve been wrapping their limbs when they¡¯ve gone down long enough for me to have time.¡±


    ¡°It is a cool idea,¡± I stared down at the dim white glow of each string, ¡°Do you think the Ghosts would mind if I reverse engineered them?¡±


    Rachel shook her head, ¡°I can ask, but I doubt it. They don¡¯t believe much in sharing. Besides, you need to be able to phase out in order to touch it. Even if you can, no one else on the team will be able to.¡±


    I shrugged, ¡°I might be able to get around it. You never know.¡±


    Rachel eyed me, ¡°Wait until I give the okay before you try anything. They¡¯ve been good to me. I don¡¯t want them to feel like I¡¯m giving away their secrets.¡±


    I nodded and that was all the time we had for that conversation.


    Urin waved for our attention as Ruthie Shaw said, ¡°We need to get out. Once they start coming, they keep on sending people.¡±


    Haley crossed her arms over her chest, ¡°Were you going to tell us more? It sounded like you might.¡±


    Urin shook his head, ¡°We¡¯ll find a way to get it to you, but Zoli was the one who knew the most.¡±


    He waved his hand, indicating the dead and damaged, ¡°I¡¯m going to send us all back before something else happens.¡±


    He murmured a few words and hit his staff against the ground. In that moment, the whole scene disappeared and we found ourselves sitting around the table in HQ.


    It would have felt like a dream and I might have wondered if it had even happened except that we were all in costume and all of our costumes were spattered with blood.


    Noticing it, I found myself thinking about the fight, about Zoli¡¯s death and the other dead bodies. What had we even gotten out of that?


    I felt like we knew a little more, but basically Urin had told us to go ask our grandparents what they¡¯d done with the device. Most of our grandparents were dead. The rest were probably right in believing that they couldn¡¯t help us without consequences.


    So the upshot of all those dead bodies was that we should go through the team¡¯s records and find out what they¡¯d done with it.


    They could have texted us that.


    ¡°It¡¯s not much,¡± Daniel said to the group, ¡°but I did catch something from the orange giant¡¯s head after he transformed back into a normal guy. He talked directly to Magnus before being sent over. He¡¯s scared of something. The guy didn¡¯t know what, but maybe we can find out more. I also got his name.¡±

 If Found, Please Return: Part 2

    ¡°His name?¡± I asked, ¡°who was that guy?¡±


    Daniel nodded, ¡°Constantine Doukas. He¡¯s Greek. He appears to have been raised in one of the Cabal¡¯s hidden colonies. The Nine had some kind of connection to that colony and he ended up fighting us, but here¡¯s the interesting thing¡ªthe Nine have their own power impregnators. He went through one and the ability to do that appeared.¡±


    ¡°No shit,¡± Cassie pushed back from the table. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I told you this, but the first time I fought the Nine, the time Nick picked me up in Washington D.C., I fought another orange guy. He wasn¡¯t the same. He was more spider-like with glowing orange legs that contained some kind of hot liquid? Think they¡¯re related?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± I said, glancing over at Daniel.


    Daniel raised his hands, ¡°I didn¡¯t get much more than what I¡¯ve told you, but if the Nine¡¯s got a pool of Cabal people, who knows? It¡¯s possible.¡±


    Looking up and down the table, Jaclyn said, ¡°What I¡¯m wondering is what Magnus was scared of. Didn¡¯t he just activate the device? That worries me.¡±


    Rachel leaned in, ¡°That¡¯s what I was wondering.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± I said. ¡°My best guess is that since he knows about the Artificers, he¡¯s afraid of attracting their attention with the device, but it¡¯s possible that¡¯s not it. Just before we went out to fight the mushroom zombies, I ended up fighting something in um¡­ whatever in-between space Artificers and Cosmic Ghosts use. My theory is that it was him.


    ¡°I can¡¯t say that I won that fight, but I did hurt him. So it might be that he¡¯s afraid of me. Thing is, I mostly ran and hid because his form as an Artificer is bigger than mine.¡±


    Vaughn made a noise that sounded like, ¡°snerk.¡±


    Haley shook her head while Cassie laughed.


    Raising her voice above the noise, Jaclyn said, ¡°If all we can do is look at the team¡¯s old records, let¡¯s start doing that. I¡¯m going to call my grandfather in case this is something he can talk about.¡±


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    * * *


    Thousands of Years Ago, Earth


    Thirty-one Abominators lay on the floor, all of them dead. Every single one of them had died from being stabbed or slashed by an edged weapon.


    Their grey, five-limbed, malleable bodies didn¡¯t look much better in life than death, but the gaping holes in their bodies tipped the scales toward worse.


    The dark fluids leaking from those holes didn¡¯t help.


    If it weren¡¯t for the bodies, the room would at least have looked like a lab. Exactly what kind of lab wouldn¡¯t have been obvious unless you were an Abominator.


    To the untrained eye, it appeared to be a room full of machines and screens. Many of the machines were made with the same blue-green metal.


    Lee didn¡¯t need to be trained to recognize the machines. As a member of a species that had seen them invented again and again, he had billions of years of observational experience behind him.


    He knew the look of certain eras and types of technology. The Abominators had species specific variations, of course. Their shapeshifting physiology allowed them to disregard ergonomics. Is a device you need blocked from view by another device?


    No problem. Grow a foot taller and look over the device in front.


    Does the device run from floor to ceiling? Still not a problem. Reach around the device in front with your arms and grow new eyes on your hands.


    Despite the cluttered mess of the room, most of the machines were for analyzing genetic structures of various species and chemical compositions, translating them to a different species¡¯ system, testing the converted version, and implanting it in a new species.


    The exception to the rule and the collection of supporting machines weren¡¯t about genetic manipulation at all.


    They¡¯d been designed to create a pocket universe and keep a multi-universal creature inside it, separate from most of itself, but still accessible for the purpose of conversation and genetic sampling.


    In the middle of the blue-green machines stood a silver and black disc. This one was around ten feet wide.


    It took no special insight to recognize that they¡¯d caught someone.


    A translucent dome extended from the disc. It wasn¡¯t a physical object. The product of some system that allowed energy to act like matter as long as the power ran, it gave the contents inside a smokey, grey tint.


    Inside stood a human by all appearances. In his twenties with dark brown hair, dark skin, and wearing a worn, brown robe, this human didn¡¯t look any different from any other.


    If he¡¯d seen him in the street, Lee might have ignored him.


    He didn¡¯t that day. He knew the guy.


    ¡°Nataw, dammit. I told you not to stick around. These assholes have been looking for us for ages and you¡¯re too trusting.¡±

 If Found, Please Return: Part 3

    Nataw smiled at him, ¡°I wasn¡¯t worried. I knew you¡¯d be by eventually. It isn¡¯t all about winning or losing. There are some things you only learn by mistake. Besides, even if they held me captive for a thousand years, what of it? What¡¯s a thousand years? It isn¡¯t even as if they had all of me. All I have to do is discorporate and embody myself again in this universe.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±


    Lee raised an eyebrow, ¡°You¡¯re fine? You can discorporate in the middle of that?¡±


    Nataw frowned and looked down at the silver and black disc, ¡°You know, now that you mention it, I can¡¯t. I hadn¡¯t gotten bored enough to try, but now that I am¡­ Hmm. They¡¯ve got me. You know, for young species, they¡¯re quite bright. I think it''s just the right kind of adaptable. They¡¯ve found so many of Destroy¡¯s traps and gotten around them. I mean, not all of their traps. They absorbed a number when they were too inexperienced to realize it and I don¡¯t think they even know it.¡±


    Lee nodded, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t surprise me. They¡¯re a little too internally competitive for a normal species. Those kinds of species flame out after a while. Remember the Tsaatz? I think they ended up eating each other by the time they were done. Destroy¡¯s traps only needed to give them a nudge.¡±


    His smile widening, Nataw said, ¡°Isn¡¯t it interesting? One species needs a nudge to destroy itself. Another takes many and still hasn¡¯t fallen thousands of years later. And which one would you say was better, more kind, more promising?¡±


    Lee sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t know. They were both on the edge. No, you know. The Tsaatz weren¡¯t as bad. I thought they were maybe a few thousand years away from sorting themselves out, but then they discovered a cache of Destroy¡¯s ¡®gifts¡¯ and it all fell apart.¡±


    ¡°I thought so too! The Abominators are broken but broken in the right way. Their internal competitiveness was balanced out by an ability to see the big picture. It looks as though they¡¯re about to go too far and then they self-correct. It won¡¯t last forever, but it¡¯s fascinating. I don¡¯t know how their story will end and I want to.¡±


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    Nataw¡¯s voice trailed off at the end as he glanced around the room at the many bodies Lee had left on the floor. The dark fluid leaking from their wounds pooled next to them.


    With a shrug, Lee said, ¡°I¡¯d say it ends when they come to our attention. Destroy probably loves them and might help them keep their insanity under control long enough to spread their contagion, but if they ever cause problems, Destroy will throw them out with the trash. They¡¯re a means to an end.¡±


    ¡°True enough,¡± Nataw stopped examining the bodies with his eyes and looked up, ¡°but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s that simple. I think these creatures are the seeds of Destroy¡¯s destruction. I don¡¯t think you can invest so much in ending life without risk¡ªwhich reminds me, what are you doing with the humans?¡±


    Shackled by human senses, Lee wondered how long he had. He could use his full self, but he¡¯d be taking a risk, ¡°Don¡¯t you think I ought to get you out?¡±


    He stepped over to the control panel next to the black and silver disc. He¡¯d figure it out. The crevices and buttons inside them showed that the devices had been designed to make it hard for anyone but Abominators or other shapeshifters to use them.


    Lee changed and a gray, five-armed form stood in his place. He was an Abominator of the line of some Abominator he¡¯d never heard about, but he¡¯d know if he was asked.


    He always had been. If the recording devices in the room checked what happened in the past, they¡¯d show an Abominator entering and killing the others.


    Nataw walked to the edge of the disc, touching the translucent substance that kept him contained, ¡°I suppose, but you¡¯re doing something with the humans.¡±


    Three of Lee¡¯s hands molded themselves to access the disc¡¯s controls. Lee said, ¡°The obvious. We all had visions of the future. Mine included them on my side fighting and destroying our people. I thought I¡¯d thought I''d be able to avoid it by siding with Destroy, but nothing changed. The future remained the same and even got worse.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re doing more than that,¡± Nataw said. ¡°Your presence here changes them. The device¡¯s presence changes them. It changes the ones you spend the most time with more.¡±


    A shapeshifter now, Lee grew new eyes and a mouth to keep up the conversation as he worked the controls, ¡°It does, but the Abominators you¡¯re so impressed by are copying parts of you, converting it to work within the human genetic system and using it to power their experiments with the species. That¡¯s how I figured out that you were here.¡±

 If Found, Please Return: Part 4

    Nataw¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°That¡¯s not good at all. I didn¡¯t mean¡­ Do we have to destroy them now? I don¡¯t want to.¡±


    Lee sighed, using his extended Abominator fingers to press the final series of buttons to turn the field off, ¡°No. It would cause too many problems. If we destroy the Abominators, we¡¯ll have to fly all over the galaxy to kill them all. No great loss, but it¡¯ll attract attention from Destroy and then it¡¯ll be a family thing and we don¡¯t need that. Besides, I¡¯ve already set up a species that should be able to handle them. It¡¯ll be untraceable and look like the natural consequence of poking around where you shouldn¡¯t.¡±


    Pressing the last button, Lee heard a whisper of white noise as the machine stopped working. He turned around, returning to the human form he¡¯d had before.


    Meeting Nataw¡¯s gaze, he said, ¡°We¡¯re not going to touch the Abominators. We¡¯re also not going to touch the humans. I don¡¯t know what you see when you look into the future, but I see humans that can keep up with us technologically and some can keep up with us physically.


    ¡°I never knew how it happened, but I think this is it. We let the Abominators¡¯ converted version of our genes make it into the human population. They¡¯re already there. Few will be able to use them, but the few that can? We¡¯ll guide them. They¡¯ll need a few thousand years to grow strong enough to be able to do anything. Humans shouldn¡¯t be able to reach that age soon, not in high numbers.¡±


    Nataw stepped off the silver and black disc, ¡°You allowed me access to the device. In a sense, they¡¯re my descendants. What if one of them grows enough in his understanding that he can use it?¡±


    Lee opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again, ¡°They¡¯re¡­ They¡¯re not you. The way Kee explained to me how its ability to identify people works, it¡¯s not the same even if they are your clones in a sense¡­ Shit. We need a failsafe, one that works even if I¡¯m not on the planet to prevent them from using it.¡±


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    Nataw nodded, ¡°You¡¯re not technical. I¡¯ll do it. We¡¯re not going to be able to prevent them from sensing it when they get strong enough, but I think we can make it inaccessible with a pocket dimension. If we set up the pocket dimensionso that they need you to get into it, you¡¯ll be there to prevent them from doing anything they shouldn¡¯t.¡±


    Pointing at a door on the far end of the room, Lee said, ¡°I like that idea. I want to be there to kill them if it comes to that.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Nataw frowned, ¡°I might be able to set up the pocket dimension so that anyone who enters at roughly the same time, no matter when they enter from the main universe.¡±


    Lee¡¯s smile grew, ¡°Then I can¡¯t miss them no matter what happens on this side of reality? I like it. I think we need to hide it so that neither of us can find it without the other. Can you do that?¡±


    As they began to walk toward the door, footsteps tapping on the hard floor, Nataw said, ¡°I think I can work that out too. It will still be possible to do use it a little bit, but to get full access, you¡¯ll need the two of us.¡±


    Present Day, Earth: Heroes¡¯ League Headquarters


    C, Jaclyn¡¯s grandfather, sat with us at the table. He¡¯d come after a short conversation with Jaclyn.


    He didn¡¯t wear a costume. Still tall with grey hair and dark skin, he wore a grey jacket over a button-down shirt and grey slacks. Dark glasses hid his eyes. He¡¯d placed his white cane on the table in front of him.


    Except that we¡¯d known him for our entire lives (except Amy), he could have been any old, blind man. Of course, that wasn¡¯t quite true. For example, a flicker of light from behind his glasses hinted at the reality. He might be blind, but the glasses allowed him to see.


    He turned his head, looking around the table, ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering when this day would arrive and how many of you would be alive when it did.¡±


    My mind flashed back to Travis, but he continued, ¡°I still can¡¯t help you as much as you¡¯d like, but I can point you in the right direction. Early in the Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s history, Lee told us that he¡¯d lost something. You know what it is by now. He helped us find it and then hide it again. I can¡¯t tell you where it is, but if you ask me, I can tell you if you¡¯re going in the right direction.¡±


    Vaughn laughed, ¡°So, twenty questions but with the fate of the world on the line?¡±


    C smiled, ¡°Isn¡¯t it always? You should be used to that by now.¡±

 If Found, Please Return: Part 5

    With a sigh, Vaughn said, ¡°Okay. It would be easier if you guys took a more active role than telling us we¡¯re on the right track.¡±


    C didn¡¯t hesitate, ¡°The Mentalist followed the futures where we took an active role. They didn¡¯t turn out as well as this one.¡±


    Haley looked up from the table toward him, ¡°This is one of the good futures?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he said, ¡°but yes. We¡¯re still wondering if we¡¯ve given you too much help so far.¡±


    Haley took in a breath and shook her head. I didn¡¯t see tears, but I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised. I let my hand brush hers and she took it¡ªa little too tight in the first moment, but she loosened her grip.


    Feeling the warmth of her hand in mine, I asked, ¡°What can you tell us?¡±


    With a nod, C said, ¡°Good question. I can give you the basics. Early on in the League¡¯s history, just as we were beginning to see the first attacks from Red Lightning¡¯s people, Lee talked to Joe and told him that he¡¯d lost something that he¡¯d need help finding it and then hiding it again¡ª¡±


    ¡°Wait, Grandpa,¡± with a small wave of her left hand, Jaclyn said, ¡°Do you know where he hid it? Because that would save us some time and might save the world.¡±


    C shook his head, ¡°No. Not knowing was part of the point. We agreed beforehand that if Isaac needed to wipe our minds of that, we¡¯d let him, but it never came to that. It was all confusing enough that he never needed to go to extra work to make it more confusing.¡±


    Cassie laughed, ¡°Oh good. I was worried it all might make sense.¡±


    C snorted, ¡°I know that¡¯s not what you wanted to hear, but I can tell you that what we did was in the records. You''ll find it if you go to the places we visited.¡±


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    Daniel nodded, ¡°That¡¯s what we were planning to do. Can you tell us any more?¡±


    ¡°Not very much, but a little. In the files, you¡¯ll find records of at least three different places we went. There are a few places we skipped. If you need to know anything about them, I¡¯ll tell you what I can if it comes up. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re wondering why we skipped them, but it¡¯s simple. We followed this one on and off for a few years. Sometimes it even came up in the middle of doing something else.¡±


    C stopped, staring maybe into the past, continuing with, ¡°Pardon me. I¡¯m trying to remember what I can say¡­ It all starts in the late 50s and continues through almost to Red Lightning¡¯s death. There are a few follow-ups afterward that shouldn¡¯t matter. Everything important was handled before Red Lightning died.¡±


    Letting go of my hand, Haley asked, ¡°Was anyone trying to stop you?¡±


    Giving the group of us a long look, C said, ¡°That¡¯s dangerously close to things I shouldn¡¯t tell you, but yes, there was opposition. It wasn¡¯t anyone we¡¯d ever seen before and we didn¡¯t try to find out more. Even then, Isaac told us that he¡¯d sensed that it would only make things worse for you.¡±


    C stopped, adding, ¡°I think that¡¯s everything I should say for now. Do your research, and ask me questions. I¡¯ll tell you if you¡¯re on the right track one way or another.¡±


    * * *


    We spent the next couple of hours diving into the original Heroes¡¯ League¡¯s records. We¡¯d digitized them and converted them into searchable text years ago, keeping the pictures of the pages available. Sometimes there were photos with the reports. Sometimes drawings.


    Giles/Red Lighting would draw faces, devices, and locations in a realistic, almost gothic, drawing style. Both Rachel and Marcus had commented on his skill. ¡°It¡¯s funny,¡± Marcus had said, ¡°if he¡¯d wanted to Grandpa could have drawn comics instead of becoming a superhero¡­ And then a supervillain.¡±


    Captain Commando doodled silly things on his reports. The phrase ¡°Kilroy was here¡± accompanied by a bald man with a long nose peering over a wall showed up more than once.


    I searched on Lee, Gunther, and a few other names he¡¯d used with the League. Half an hour later, we were looking at reports of what the group had done. Visiting Iran had turned out to be a waste of time. Lee couldn¡¯t find anyplace where he¡¯d lived in Sumer, including the cities, or what had then been wilderness.


    No one could be surprised that things were different 4000-5000 years later.


    The second trip in the series turned out to be juicier. They¡¯d flown the jet to our moon. From the report, it seemed that they¡¯d fought something there, but it didn¡¯t say what.


    ¡°The moon?¡± Vaughn shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not going to be much use, but I¡¯d like to go.¡±

 If Found, Please Return: Part 6

    Vaughn stopped, and frowned, ¡°I mean, I probably can¡¯t do much of anything up there except for throwing lightning inside the jet or my suit, but it¡¯s still the moon. It would be cool. It¡¯s just that the more I think about it, the more I think I¡¯ll be a lead weight¡ªno powers except where they could do more damage than help.¡±


    Looking up from my screen at the table, I said, ¡°We can think about it. It¡¯s probably a bad idea, but if there are¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ Selenites or something up there, for all we know there might be a secretly inhabitable area. It¡¯s not like that never happens in comics.¡±


    ¡°Or Nazis,¡± Vaughn said, shrugging.


    I thought about it, ¡°Not impossible. It would even be thematic given our grandparents¡¯ history. That said, we should go up with the people we most need and the people most likely to survive a fight up there.¡±


    ¡°Easy,¡± Vaughn said, ¡°that¡¯s the space crew¡ªJaclyn, Marcus, Cassie, you, and Rachel.¡±


    Haley frowned, ¡°I wanted to go, but Vaughn¡¯s right. They¡¯ve all got Xiniti implants and Rachel has more experience in space than anybody.¡±


    Sitting near Jaclyn across the table, Amy said, ¡°I don¡¯t know anything, but I don¡¯t think you should wait. If anyone sensitive to Artificer technology feels what Magnus has done, it¡¯s anybody¡¯s guess who¡¯s already on their way.¡±


    Rachel waited for Amy to finish and said, ¡°I haven¡¯t worked with you a lot, but you¡¯ve got good sense. Normally, I¡¯d want to find out more, but none of these records tell us where they found Lee¡¯s device or hid it. We do know that they went back to the moon more than once.¡±


    Jaclyn clicked a button on the computer in front of her, ¡°I¡¯ll call Grandpa.¡±


    She¡¯d sent her monitor¡¯s picture to the big screen on the wall. We could see it when the phone app appeared on the screen. When he picked up, she said, ¡°Time for the first question. Should we go to the moon?¡±


    He sighed, ¡°I can¡¯t say anything more, but it¡¯s worth a look.¡±


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    I leaned toward her across the table, ¡°Can he tell us where we should go there?¡±


    She relayed the question and he said, ¡°No. Sorry. Good luck.¡±


    Then he hung up.


    We all looked at each other. I said, ¡°I guess we have to go.¡±


    In terms of going to the moon, it was weird to consider how much thought, fear, work, and hope went into the original landings and the comparative casualness that we could take. This morning we weren¡¯t planning to go to the moon.


    Now we were preparing to go and by preparing, I mean that I told Hal, our AI to warm up the jet, logged into the door system to check on our exit to the lake, and started the preparations for take-off.


    Meanwhile, those of us who were going were pulling on our costumes¡ªwhich in my case meant powered armor. As I stood in my lab, letting my armor form around me, Daniel caught my attention telepathically.


    My grandfather contacted me mind-to-mind while we were talking to C. He cautioned me against using prescience to find Lee¡¯s device.


    I thought back, I¡¯d noticed that you weren¡¯t saying very much. Is he afraid that you¡¯ll give us too many hints too?


    Daniel didn¡¯t have to say no. I knew how he was feeling through the link. You know how telepaths and mystics that try to use clairvoyance on Lee tend to go mad?


    I remembered that pretty well. Daniel had copied a little bit of what Lee did and put it in my head. The Syndicate L telepath who¡¯d tried to break into my mind at Ray¡¯s direction had gone into a coma afterward. I wasn¡¯t sure if she¡¯d ever come out of it.


    In retrospect, the fact that it had worked that well should have been a clue that might share more with Lee than I realized¡ªthough it was interesting that Daniel wasn¡¯t affected by it.


    Daniel caught my train of thought in response to his question and said, All of that. My grandfather thinks that we¡¯re all affected by Lee¡¯s presence¡ªyou in that close association has activated potential abilities you might not have accessed otherwise. He thinks that I¡¯m affected too, adapting to him. That¡¯s not the reason he told me not to connect to the device.


    It¡¯s because I might be able to connect to it too, but without the right situation, whatever that is, I might not survive contact.


    I thought back, I hope we find out what the right situation is before we find the device.


    I felt his agreement through our connection, That¡¯s why I¡¯m not going along. I wish I could. On the bright side, if those of us who are still here help with the cleanup, that won¡¯t hurt.


    I thought about the city of Grand Lake. The mushroom parasite had taken over the entire city and then died all at once. Removing tons of mushroom growth would be the easy part. The people still hadn¡¯t even had time to discover how much they¡¯d experienced.


    Meanwhile, the last bits of the Rocket suit locked into place. I started walking toward the hangar.

 If Found, Please Return: Part 7

    Hey, I thought as I walked across the main room¡¯s concrete floor, did they say anything about clairvoyantly finding Magnus?


    I tried, Daniel thought back, he¡¯s obscured either by something Rook made or another telepath.


    I considered that, Any chance you might at least be able to predict when he figures out how to use the device? He¡¯s got some control over it, but he could get more even if he can¡¯t get full access unless he beats us to whatever mystery spot they left it at.


    I could feel Daniel consider it, I¡¯m not sure. He¡¯s fuzzy and the device is dangerous, but if I can come up with the right side effect, I might be able to predict that.


    I stepped into the hangar. Cassie, Jaclyn, and Marcus were waiting by the jet, talking with Vaughn and Haley next to the open hatch.


    Silver and cigar-shaped with small wings, the jet looked like it belonged on the cover of Popular Mechanics circa 1952.


    It had probably been on the cover of Popular Mechanics within that decade. The hangar felt modern if only because it looked used. Between the hanging cables, bright lights, tanks of liquid or gasses, spare parts, and tools on the walls, it felt like every garage.


    Passing a rack of spare rocket packs and a row of powered armor that wouldn¡¯t be identified as Rocket suits, I joined the group.


    ¡°We¡¯re only missing Rachel now,¡± Cassie told me.


    I gave the hangar a once over through the Rocket suit¡¯s HUD, ¡°She might already be here for all we know, but I¡¯m betting she¡¯s talking to our parents. She said she was going to give them a quick call.¡±


    Both Vaughn and Cassie laughed. Vaughn said, ¡°That¡¯s not going to be a quick call. She¡¯s been gone for like a year and we just had the mushroom thing where all of our parents got evacuated¡­ I¡¯d be on the phone with my parents for a day after that.¡±


    Cassie shook her head, ¡°My mom¡¯s been better lately, but she¡¯d freak out if I were gone that long. After what happened to Dad plus the League¡¯s board pretty much ordering her to let me put myself in danger, she¡¯s been seething pretty much since he died.¡±


    Haley stopped talking to interject, ¡°I didn¡¯t know the board told her that.¡±


    Cassie shrugged, ¡°She didn¡¯t want to put me in danger in any way after Dad¡¯s death. The board disagreed. So did the CIA. They had plans for me, so I went through the same super-soldier process they used on Dad. I¡¯m pretty sure no therapists were consulted by anybody the whole time, so Mom¡¯s and my relationship got weird.¡±


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    Jaclyn folded her arms across her chest, ¡°She seemed angry every time I saw her. I always wondered if it was me.¡±


    Cassie shook her head and said, ¡°I felt like that too, sometimes, but I knew itwas me.¡±


    They laughed.


    As they did, Rachel stepped into the hangar, walking up to the group and saying, ¡°I hope you haven¡¯t been waiting long. I called my parents and it took longer than I expected. You all went through the wringer while I was gone.¡±


    She glanced over at Haley and then at me.


    I wondered how much she¡¯d been told. She knew about Travis, but I hadn¡¯t told her about how Mom had to kill one of the Nine by phasing into him or that Dad¡¯s block broke and he knew everything. I should have, but it had been busy and when I¡¯d had a spare second, I¡¯d wanted to decompress.


    Jaclyn didn¡¯t look at Haley, but she did take a breath, adding, ¡°It was bad for everyone, but some of us had it worse than others. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here.¡±


    We were on the edge of going through everything she¡¯d missed. It probably wasn¡¯t a good idea at that moment, so I said, ¡°Since you¡¯re ready, I guess we should go.¡±


    As everyone agreed and Cassie stepped toward the hatch, Haley asked me, ¡°Can we talk for a second before you go?¡±


    ¡°Uh, sure,¡± I said, and Vaughn shrugged, ¡°I guess I¡¯ll go back into the main room.¡±


    Cassie, Jaclyn, Rachel, and Marcus headed for the hatch with Marcus stopping to add, ¡°I¡¯ll run through the pre-flight checklist.¡±


    Guessing that Haley would want to see my face, I absorbed my helmet and gloves into the Rocket suit.


    Looking up at me, she blinked, ¡°I wanted to insist on going along, but that¡¯s only because I¡¯m afraid. I know it¡¯s irrational and I don¡¯t want to be that kind of girlfriend, but we haven¡¯t even had Travis¡¯s funeral yet and we could still have anybody¡¯s¡­¡±


    I reached out and took her hand and she pulled me in despite my armor. Feeling the wetness on her cheek next to mine, I realized she was either sweating or crying, or maybe she¡¯d been crying earlier.


    ¡°I think it might be okay to be that girlfriend right now,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone would blame you.¡±


    She pulled her head back to look at me, ¡°It isn¡¯t. You¡¯re going somewhere that might be dangerous and you shouldn¡¯t be worrying about me. I¡¯m going to be here and responsible for anything that happens in Grand Lake. No one here should be walking on eggshells around me. We don¡¯t have that luxury. We could be attacked by Magnus at any time. Even if all we do is help with the mushroom cleanup outside, I still don¡¯t want them to realize what happened. We still haven¡¯t told the media about the second Night Wolf¡¯s death or figured out what we¡¯re doing about the name¡­¡±


    She kissed me. I kissed back, but when she pulled away, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t get hurt. I¡¯ll be checking in with you.¡±


    We held hands for a second and then she left.


    Stepping into the jet, I took a look at it while checking its repair log with my implant, learning that all the damage had been repaired. In the fight where Travis died, one of the Cabal soldiers managed to go partway through the ship¡¯s force field, damaging the hull.


    Walking between the seats on the way down to the front to sit next to Marcus at the weapons console where Haley often sat, I understood. Near the end of the fight, her parents escaped in the damaged jet. Travis had died within a few seconds after it flew away.


    I hoped I was doing the right thing in leaving. She¡¯d taken on a lot.

 If Found, Please Return: Part 8

    By then, Marcus had already gone through the checklist, and all systems showed green¡ªeven those that allowed interstellar flight.


    He glanced at me, ¡°Do you want to take control?¡±


    ¡°If you want to fly it,¡± I said, ¡°go ahead. You already got everything going.¡±


    He grinned and grabbed the joystick, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    The jet moved forward toward the airlock that led to the lake. The doors parted and then closed behind us with a clank. Then the water started to fill the room. Within a minute we were exiting the tunnel to the lake and traveling underwater, surfacing a distance from Grand Lake and erupting out of Lake Michigan.


    We might have surprised tourists on their boats in the summer, but it was November. We saw a lake freighter in the distance but didn¡¯t fly over it, choosing instead to leave Earth at the first opportunity.


    We didn¡¯t call our flight plan in, relying on the ship¡¯s energy-absorbing force field for stealth. In the current situation, we were best off assuming that the Nine had someone in place ready to ¡°accidentally¡± fire missiles on us or try to beat us to the moon if they knew we were going.


    Not long after that, we left Earth¡¯s atmosphere behind, seeing stars. Pinpricks of light in the blackness of space above the curve of the Earth never got boring. Even in the face of Travis¡¯ death and the possibility that Magnus might soon control a weapon surpassing nuclear bombs by a wide margin, I still owned a spaceship and could fly in space whenever I wanted.


    Even if circumstances didn¡¯t lend themselves to Sunday afternoon trips around the solar system, the fact that I could was still amazing¡ªassuming I didn¡¯t trigger Earth¡¯s planetary defenses¡ªsuch as they were. We¡¯d acquired a few used ships from friendly planets and secretly constructed an unknown number of hidden ships.


    I used my implant to interface with our sensor systems, learning that the Jay and Kay, Earth¡¯s best "refurbished" alien ships weren¡¯t currently patrolling between Earth and the Moon.


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    They weren¡¯t likely to detect and go after us, but it wasn¡¯t impossible.


    Cassie stood up as we neared the Moon and leaned toward the window above the dashboard, watching as the gray landscape grew closer. No secret green area of the Moon had become visible.


    She asked, ¡°Where are we going?¡±


    ¡°An Abominator base,¡± Marcus said, beating me to it.


    Cassie raised an eyebrow, ¡°Would that be a good place to hide access to a doomsday device? They were fighting the Abominators only a few years later.¡±


    I checked the ship¡¯s sensors for signs of the base, finding none. It wasn¡¯t on the side of the moon we were seeing, ¡°Technically,¡± I said, ¡°they didn¡¯t know the Abominators were still alive. If Lee did, he wasn¡¯t telling and it would be a few years until whatever woke up the last Abominators did it.¡±


    From behind me, Rachel said, ¡°Thanks, Mr. Well Actually¡­¡±


    Jaclyn laughed, but added, ¡°He¡¯s right, though. I read that entry too. I wouldn¡¯t leave an alien superweapon there, but if you were trying to hide it from other people, it would look good in the 1950s. Almost no one could have reached the moon back then, but Lee could. The Russians looted the base in the 1960s, grabbed some Abominator tech, and I don¡¯t know what happened after that. Grandpa told me about it. We might end up breaking into a Russian storage facility by the end of this.¡±


    ¡°No kidding?¡± Marcus began to loop around toward the Moon¡¯s opposite side. ¡°Grandpa didn¡¯t tell me that story.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jaclyn said, her voice trailing off, ¡°Grandpa wasn¡¯t there. He heard about it from the Rocket and didn¡¯t know any more than that. Did he tell you anything, Rachel? Nick?¡±


    ¡°Not a word on that,¡± Rachel said. ¡°Nick?¡±


    Still trying to follow the sensor data, I said, ¡°Remember Yoselin?¡±


    ¡°Yoselin?¡± Rachel frowned and then said, ¡°Oh! Larry¡¯s friend¡¯s daughter. I didn¡¯t see much of her. You played with her and you were both annoying.¡±


    ¡°Her father was Cuban and worked with a Russian, powered armor guy called Russian Victory--I think. They were the guys the Russians sent here. Grandpa and Larry fought them and then became friends, I guess. I don¡¯t know any more than that, but that was the second time Grandpa visited.¡±


    We rounded the moon then, moving from the dark side to the light. Relative to the Earth, we were on the dark side and Russia was below us, something I wanted to point out even though it didn¡¯t matter.


    The sensors distracted me. I¡¯d set them to examine the Moon, using my implant¡¯s extensive data on the Abominators. The sensors were showing multiple locations where there might be small amounts of Abominator alloys, but that wasn¡¯t all. In the middle of all the small hints of the Abominators¡¯ presence, it detected something big and dense under the surface near one of the Moon¡¯s mountains.


    Giving the data to Marcus through our implants, I said, ¡°Go there. I think I found it.¡±

 If Found, Please Return: Part 9

    Marcus¡¯ eyes glazed over as he absorbed the knowledge, but then he said, ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s got to be it. There isn¡¯t anything else like that. I¡¯ll head down¡­ Well, unless there are defenses. Then we go shields up, I guess.¡±


    We already had been because we were cloaked, but I upped the level of protection, saying, ¡°I¡¯d be surprised if someone else hasn¡¯t already visited. I think I remember Rook saying he¡¯d been to the Moon.¡±


    Jaclyn sighed, ¡°Great. We need to run into that psycho up here.¡±


    She may not have been able to tell it through my suit, but I shrugged, ¡°It sounded like he¡¯d gotten what he wanted out of the place, but I wouldn¡¯t be shocked if he left some surprises behind.¡±


    Marcus slowed the jet, coming to a stop and hovering as we talked, ¡°Looks like we¡¯re about to find out if there are defenses. Hal, is there a dock?¡±


    Hal¡¯s voice sounded in my head via implant as his words appeared in my HUD.


    [There is a public beacon for a hangar. Should I tell it to prepare for a landing?]


    Marcus glanced over at me, but said, ¡°Sure.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t confident that I wanted to trust Abominator-designed landing facilities when I wasn¡¯t in an Abominator-designed ship. Still, I also liked the idea of keeping the League jet out of plain sight while we were there.


    Besides, I couldn¡¯t help but be curious about what kind of landing facilities the Abominators would provide.


    I asked Hal, ¡°Are you confident you can get us a landing without triggering defenses?¡±


    [My main function was creating battle simulations. For my model to assist in fighting Abominators, my series was loaded with as much relevant data as possible including that relevant to infiltrating Abominator installations.]


    Or if I translated it from polite computer speak, ¡°Yes, you idiot.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, ¡°go ahead.¡±


    Marcus took us in, letting the jet drop slowly toward the ground. As he did, a hole opened up in the dusty, gray mountain ahead of us, one more than large enough for the League jet to land, and if they¡¯d been available, large enough for the Jay and Kay to land to our right and left with no real risk of hitting other ships in the process.


    The Jay and Kay weren¡¯t the size of Alliance dreadnoughts (which they wouldn¡¯t have sold us), but they weren¡¯t small. They were the size of aircraft carriers.


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    The size of the Abominators¡¯ hangar put them in context for me. Building a hangar large enough to hold Earth¡¯s largest spaceships on our planet¡¯s moon said a lot. First of all, it said that whatever this base was for, they wanted it to be close enough that Earth was easily accessible. Second, it said that they wanted it far enough away that they didn¡¯t have to worry about the planet¡¯s inhabitants dropping by. Third, it made me think the base was important¡ªthough I knew a Mars base also existed. If we visited there, I might have to reevaluate all of my conclusions.


    If I wondered what everyone else was thinking, I didn¡¯t have to wait to find out.


    As Marcus landed the jet inside the hangar, he said, ¡°Look at this place. It looks alien. I think it¡¯s the most alien thing I¡¯ve seen so far. Well, except maybe for that port that was a collection of connected asteroids. Some of the habitats inside were definitely not human.¡±


    ¡°K¡¯tepolu?¡± Rachel leaned forward toward the window. ¡°That place does get weird, but the Abominators are weirder. They had a section of K¡¯tepolu. It¡¯s not accessible to visitors. No one dares to go in, but they also don¡¯t dare to destroy it.¡±


    Jaclyn stared out the window nearest to her, ¡°Something wasn¡¯t right with these guys and I think we all know what.¡±


    I followed her gaze to the left side of the hangar. I couldn¡¯t argue with her. The Abominators didn¡¯t have any attachment to making their construction symmetrical. If humans had constructed the place, the room would have been box-shaped. It might have be shaped like more than one box, but the walls would have been parallel and the ceiling and floor would have been the same distance from each other throughout the room.


    The edges of this room reminded me of Escher paintings or the cover of an Emerson, Lake, and Palmer album Larry showed me once.


    For one, when I looked at the edges, the first word that came to mind was serrated¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t quite right. Jagged was a better word, but that still wasn¡¯t quite right.


    For lack of the best word, all I can say is that the walls on the right or left weren¡¯t flat at any point. In some spots, the wall curved in toward the ceiling. In other spots, the wall curved away from the ceiling, creating a passage upward or downward, sometimes both.


    In some spots, the wall and the floor curved together. In others, it was so covered in equipment (which expanded upward to the ceiling and downward to the floor) that what happened to the wall could be anybody¡¯s guess.


    It wasn¡¯t obvious what the equipment was either. Scaled tubes that writhed in the air might be for servicing vehicles, but might also be the limbs of a hidden creature.


    Hal connected to our implants.


    [The docking system asked if we needed to be refilled with fuel or life support. I took the liberty of saying no as our supplies are in no danger of running out.]


    ¡°Good plan,¡± I said. ¡°Even if the systems are compatible, I wouldn¡¯t trust anything in here.¡±


    The landing gear hit the ground with a thump and we were down.


    Jaclyn stood up, ¡°If we¡¯re going in, now¡¯s the time. Do you know where we¡¯re going?¡±


    Marcus and I looked at each other. Both of us said, ¡°No,¡± at the same time.


    Cassie laughed, but said, ¡°I¡¯m not worried. The entry didn¡¯t say much, but it sounded like it didn¡¯t take long before things started to happen. Besides,¡± she added, pointing her gun forward, ¡°Mr. Sparkles knows this place. I asked him if he¡¯s got any idea of where to look and he has one. Lee told us that the Abominators reverse-engineered Artificer tech. If there were a connection here,it might not be in the Artificer lab, but there might be a way to detect it.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I glanced in the direction she was pointing her gun. It led toward a dark hallway. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s a great idea or a terrible one.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m guessing both.¡±

 Moon: Part 1

    We stepped out of the hatch into the hangar. A thin layer of moon dust covered the floor, capturing our footprints. It wasn¡¯t a good sign if I were hoping to find working machinery, but it might be a good sign if I were hoping that the building¡¯s defenses were in bad shape.


    Given that the base was thousands of years old and that it had opened up the doors to the hangar with no issue, I decided not to be optimistic. The universe wouldn¡¯t be handing out that kind of favor unless it planned to collect on it with interest at the worst possible moment.


    At almost the same time, another thought struck me, ¡°Hey everybody before you start walking around, look at the ground. There¡¯s no wind so any footprints you see won¡¯t be disturbed by anything. We might see something useful.¡±


    Jaclyn spoke over the comm, ¡°You¡¯ve all got gravity packs. Float.¡±


    ¡°Pretend you¡¯re me,¡± Rachel said, floating above the ground. I could see the wall through her.


    Cassie, who¡¯d jumped out first said, ¡°You might have said that earlier.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think of it until now,¡± I said, activating my anti-gravity and floating upward.


    ¡°Whatever,¡± Cassie floated upward, still holding her gun. Mr. Sparkles was an Abominator relic she¡¯d once described as looking like an accessory for Space Soldier Barbie.


    She wasn¡¯t wrong. The gun¡¯s shimmery blue-green metal did have that vibe. The color scheme clashed with the blue in Cassie¡¯s red, white, and blue costume, but I didn¡¯t bring that up. I¡¯d already moved on to the next thought.


    In the background, I heard Rachel ask Cassie, ¡°Where do we go next? I assume the ominous dark hallway ahead, but is it a straight ahead or are we heading deep into the middle of the mountain?¡±


    Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯ll ask.¡±


    While they had that conversation, I¡¯d commanded my implant to help me identify all the footprints in the room. Then I checked on both sides of the jet. The implant noted several sets of footprints, drawing them to my attention.


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    The first set got out of a vehicle with the same landing gear we had¡ªto judge from the prints in the dust. Knowing how small the list of possible candidates was, I knew that had to be the original League in the same jet. The footprints leading from that had to be Grandpa and Grandma Vander Sloot, C, Night Wolf, and the Mentalist.


    That wasn¡¯t all. Another vehicle had left marks in the dust. This one didn¡¯t have wheels. I couldn¡¯t know for sure, but the landing gear appeared to be a flat line like the runner of a sled except wider. Boot marks extended outward from it. The boots were wide, making me think of early space suits or maybe powered armor.


    Was I seeing some unknown visitors? Could it have been Russian Victory and Yoselin¡¯s father? Despite the sled-like tracks, it couldn¡¯t have been Santa Claus.


    Looking further behind it revealed more tracks and wheel marks that might have been a third group from the League jet. From the position, it appeared to have stopped directly behind the Russian moon sled or whatever it was.


    ¡°Rocket?¡± Rachel waved her hand at me, ¡°What have you got?¡±


    ¡°No idea. It looks like boot and ship prints from two visits by the original team and one visit from someone else¡ªmaybe the Russians,¡± I held up my hands in  defeat.


    Rachel glanced toward the dark hallway at the end of the hangar and back to me, ¡°Anything that looks recent?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have any way of telling the age, but I doubt it.¡± I did a quick once-over of the room to see if there were any other footprints or vehicle marks. I found none.


    Cassie¡¯s voice came over the comm, ¡°Hey, everybody, I got the lights to turn on. All we have to do is follow them.¡±


    We all turned toward the hallway at the end of the hangar. It was no longer dark. A hazy glow came from the top of the hallway¡¯s arch.


    Marcus peered at it, ¡°You¡¯d think they¡¯d have a better lighting system. Maybe they didn¡¯t see the same as we do?¡±


    In that moment, everyone but Rachel downloaded information from their implants that let them know that the Abominators¡¯ visual spectrum didn¡¯t entirely match humans¡¯ visual spectrum, and neither did their lighting.


    Marcus shook his head, ¡°I guess not. We should go.¡±


    We did, floating toward the hallway which, in keeping with the idea that the alien architect may have been high all the time, the arch of the hallway did not stay in the center. It moved from one side to another with no pattern.


    The moon dust became thinner near the hallway, but not before I noticed a final set of footprints. These weren¡¯t human and I knew them. They were made by powered armor and I recognized the design¡ªRook¡¯s. If I were correct, it was reminiscent of a bird¡¯s claw, the kind used by Rook¡¯s minions.


    The prints came out of the hallway and then went back in¡ªso they¡¯d come in through another entrance.

 Moon: Part 2

    Daniel might have sensed how long it had been, depending on factors I mostly didn¡¯t know.


    I looked down the hall ahead of us. The lights didn¡¯t help much, but with our suits¡¯ sensors, everyone would be able to see what I did. The hall went on as far as I could see, but it wasn¡¯t straight.


    It curved enough that the small changes of its path made it impossible to see anything in the hall except for the distant glow coming from the ceiling.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, addressing everyone via my comm, ¡°it looks like Rook¡¯s people either were here or are here and I can¡¯t tell more from these¡­ bootprints. It also looks like they might have used a different entrance. So we have no idea how many it is.¡±


    I shared my pictures of the bootprints with the rest of the group.


    ¡°You know what?¡± Cassie floated over to look at the trail, ¡°I¡¯m going to see if Mr. Sparkles can check for security camera footage.¡±


    Assuming there were security cameras, that wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea.


    Through her facemask, I could see Cassie blink and shake her head, ¡°Turns out, yes, there are security cameras, but the gun¡¯s not authorized to see them and the base¡¯s AI wasn¡¯t very nice about it.¡±


    ¡°Nice?¡± Jaclyn eyed her, ¡°From the gun¡¯s point of view? Your gun? The gun that revels in insulting people¡¯s ancestry and burning things to cinders?¡±


    Cassie shrugged, ¡°I know, but there are appropriate forms of address based on seniority and gene line before you start insulting each other and the AI skipped all of them and went straight to the insulting¡ªwhich is an insult in itself.¡±


    ¡°Gene line?¡± I peered down the hallway and checked my suit¡¯s sensors in case the AI had mobilized the base¡¯s defenses.


    ¡°The gene line of a device¡¯s creator. The Abominators were partial or full clones of each other. After a certain point, they completely stopped reproducing naturally and ranked themselves based on similarity to a specific ideal individual¡¯s DNA except they didn¡¯t use DNA and the specific individual changed over time and by what faction of Abominator you were in¡­ You can do a deep dive into your implants for more, but I¡¯ve been hearing all of it from Mr. Sparkles¡¯ side.


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    ¡°He wants to teach the AI a lesson, but,¡± her head tilted toward the gun and her voice grew louder as if talking to a misbehaving child, ¡°we won¡¯t because¡­ That¡¯s. Not. The. Mission.¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°Be glad you can¡¯t hear him.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded, ¡°I have heard him. I¡¯m not arguing, but about the AI he talked to. Did it sound like it was sending out the troops?¡±


    Cassie tilted her head, staring down the hallway, ¡°I asked. Mr. Sparkles says that it didn¡¯t say so, but why would it warn us? If it does, it¡¯ll be trying for a surprise.¡±


    Though I hadn¡¯t realized she¡¯d been gone, Rachel faded back into view, ¡°I flew ahead a little bit. I¡¯m not seeing any attackers.¡±


    ¡°Given the place¡¯s age,¡± I said, ¡°it might be that its defenses don¡¯t work or maybe Rook took them out. We know he¡¯s been here.¡±


    Marcus glanced at the tracks, ¡°That might not be good, but it might save us some time.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°if we¡¯re going forward regardless, we should get moving.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± Jaclyn stepped inside the hallway without triggering any kind of response, ¡°let¡¯s get this done.¡±


    We all floated forward, passing through the curving passage¡ªwhich was not the only strange thing about it. It split off in literally, all directions at random points throughout the walk.


    Holes sloped downward alongside the passage, some up, others down or sideways, and still more twisted in a new direction even in the short distance we could see.


    Given that the Abominators were shapeshifters, it made sense. Part of me wanted to ask Marcus if he felt anything, given that his DNA included sections that were at the least ¡°inspired by¡± theirs, but I didn¡¯t. He¡¯d say something.


    Still, the hallways twists and turns did not feel right. Worse, they made weird echoes for my sensors, specifically the sonic-based sensors because there was an atmosphere. My suit described it as ¡°Earth-like¡± in elements and composition but also noted impurities that it could not recognize.


    We didn¡¯t even discuss taking our helmets off. I had it take samples. I could analyze them at home.


    We found the first group of bodies around a sloping corner of the wall¡ªwhich like every other piece of the wall wasn¡¯t flat. Ridges, piping, and sharp, flat finger-like pieces of ceramic jutted out with no pattern I could see.


    The bodies, though? They¡¯d been cut to pieces and worse, I knew them¡ªsort of. They were True, all of them with Tara¡¯s face, the male or female version, all of them wearing Rook¡¯s armor.


    I didn¡¯t love that development as logical as it might be. It made for harder fights in our future.


    I also didn¡¯t love looking at the bodies. Whatever was going on with the atmosphere, it didn¡¯t include enough water. Intentional or not, the bodies had dried out, resembling unwrapped mummies, their shrunken, leathery skin making my stomach roll.


    Whatever had done this had punctured their armor with no issue. Knowing that Rook copied both my grandfather¡¯s and my technology when he had the chance, I wondered which version of ceramic he was using.

 Moon: Part 3

    Marcus shook his head, ¡°That does not look good. I hope whatever did it is gone. Hey, Accelerando, any idea what killed them?¡±


    Shooting him a look, Jaclyn said, ¡°I¡¯m training to be a doctor, not a forensic pathologist. I have no idea. Without an internship in alien autopsies, I can¡¯t even guess whether it was the Abominators¡¯ defenses or another creature.¡±


    She leaned forward to inspect the bodies anyway and her eyes glazed over as she took what had to be a massive download from her implant.


    Then she shook her head, ¡°I asked the wrong question. I used the sensors to measure how deep the blade penetrated and asked the implant for possibilities. There were a lot¡ªcreatures from other worlds, robots, weapons¡­ Too many. A galaxy full of options. Then I asked for Artificer-related options. There are a lot of genetically engineered creatures, but only one might survive on the Moon this long.¡±


    Then, for lack of a better word, she sent us a link. It wasn¡¯t to the web¡ªit was to our Xiniti implants¡¯ internal libraries.


    All of our faces went slack as we absorbed the new information. On more than one world, the Xiniti documented boxes the Artificers left. Empty until opened, the boxes formed a composite being with both biological and mechanical components. Roughly the size and shape of a small monkey, the creature would leap out when the door opened, killing any thinking creatures and destroying property until something destroyed it.


    In an atmosphere, they lived indefinitely, but without food and water, they¡¯d make it for maybe three hours.


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said.


    Rachel glanced at me, ¡°What did you get? I don¡¯t have an implant.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°do the Ghosts have a name for killer cybernetic monkeys that materialize in Artificer boxes?¡±


    Rachel checked in all directions, ¡°Those little bastards? I hate those guys. I went to a planet once where they ate everything living and then each other.¡±


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    Marcus looked up from the bodies, ¡°What did you do then?¡±


    She shrugged, ¡°The Ghosts chucked the boxes into the nearest star. I don¡¯t know if it destroyed them, but not a lot of people will be able to go looking for them, much less get one out.¡±


    I looked around the group, ¡°We keep on going, right?¡±


    Marcus grinned under his faceplate, ¡°Don¡¯t open any boxes and we¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    Jaclyn shot a glance at Cassie, ¡°Cap?¡±


    Cassie rolled her eyes, ¡°I¡¯ll be shooting any box that looks funny at me.¡±


    Glancing over at me, Jaclyn said, ¡°I worry that someone else will open the box.¡±


    Standing amid the curved walls, random openings, and uneven space of the hallway, I said, ¡°Me too, but I don¡¯t know who that would be. Everyone seems to be dead so far. That might turn out to be good news.¡±


    Everyone laughed, but I pegged it more as a relief of tension than an appreciation of humor. I hadn¡¯t been trying for a joke.


    We kept on walking, following the glow of the overhead lights and watching for killer monkeys to jump out of the walls. With the clutter of pipes, splatters of superconducting material spreading out across sections of the walls, and extended ridges that contained unknown infrastructure for the building, it took time.


    More than thirty minutes later, we¡¯d walked into a big room that struck me as both cluttered and empty at the same time. Much like the hallway and hangar, equipment covered the walls, extending on to the floor and even the ceiling and spreading out to connect a spider¡¯s web of cables to one machine or another.


    At the same time, some spots on both the floor and the walls were empty. Something had been there, hanging cables and chunks of missing floor testified that someone wanted more than one machine enough to take part of the floor with it.


    Examining more closely made me aware of another pattern. The machines on the floor were arranged in clusters around a central point or more than one. I recognized a few machines between one cluster and the next, my implant naming them. Even given my familiarity with the Alliance¡¯s more current alien technology, I didn¡¯t know their purpose on sight.


    With my implant¡¯s help though, I began to understand what I saw. The devices¡¯ purposes were divided between a few different priorities. First of all? Interfacing Abominator technology with Artificer technology, allowing the Abominators to use the technology as if it were their own. Second, devices for analyzing that technology so they could use it. Thirdly, protective devices that prevented the Artificer¡¯s devices from fulfilling their true purpose¡ªinfecting and destroying any species that found them and reverse-engineered them.


    In many cases, the central point of the cluster, the Artificer device, was missing.


    It had to be somewhere, ideally long ago taken away by the Abominators after its secrets had been discovered.


    More likely, the Artificer devices were somewhere else, maybe on Earth.

 Moon: Part 4

    I couldn¡¯t rule out the possibility that some were literally in our basement or one of our storage rooms. The original team confiscated a lot of technology from supervillains that they didn¡¯t feel comfortable handing over to the government.


    I also hadn¡¯t forgotten that Yoselin¡¯s father and Russian Victory had also brought some home from the Moon.


    I¡¯d always assumed it had been Abominator tech, but seeing the room, it could have been Artificer tech. There were enough empty spots to be nervous about.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Cassie pointed her gun at one of the clusters, ¡°there¡¯s one of the psycho monkey boxes.¡±


    From the example my implant showed me, she wasn¡¯t wrong. The box was roughly three feet tall and had rounded edges and no rivets or hinges. The only part of it that wasn¡¯t completely smooth was an indented line that ran around the front.


    Pressing it might let out what was inside, but given the alien tech, those of us with implants might be able to open it with a thought.


    As that idea came into my head, my implant dumped data into my brain indicating that yes there was a publicly accessible ¡°open¡± command and that I could use it any time I wanted. There weren¡¯t any other publicly accessible commands especially not the ones I wanted, such as telling the monkey to go back inside and shut the door or self-destruct.


    Jaclyn, who must have gone through the same infodump, waved her hand to get our attention, ¡°Anyone can open the box. Check your implant and don¡¯t do it. Don¡¯t touch them.¡±


    Touch them? I''d checked with my implant and I must have missed it, but they opened automatically with any kind of touch.


    ¡°That¡¯s not all,¡± Marcus said, ¡°I see at least five more.¡±


    Cassie shook her head, ¡°There are 33. Remember the Citizen¡¯s Mark? Between my built-in Abominator ID card and Mr. Sparkles¡¯ direct-to-my-brain HUD, I¡¯ve got access to almost everything in this place.¡±


    Rachel floated upward, likely for a better view, asking, ¡°Almost everything? What are we looking at? I know it¡¯s a lab, but is it more than lab equipment and 33 psycho monkeys?¡±


    Nodding, Cassie said, ¡°It isn¡¯t much more than that. Do you want me to run over everything? I forgot for a second that you don¡¯t have an implant.¡±


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    Rachel shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t have a Xiniti implant, but the Cosmic Ghosts have their own tools. I don¡¯t need a list, but do you know when the missing objects went missing?¡±


    Cassie frowned, ¡°I¡¯ll check.¡±


    Her expression went blank as she concentrated, but then she opened her eyes and looked up, ¡°That wasn¡¯t what I expected. I assumed that most of the Artificer devices had been taken by the original League or the Russians, but they weren¡¯t. The Abominators took most of them when they evacuated. The Russians got a few. The League didn¡¯t take much at all.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, ¡°that¡¯s good. I was half expecting to discover that dozens of species killing traps had been placed deep in the Kremlin¡¯s vaults, but I guess there are only a few.¡±


    Cassie laughed, ¡°It¡¯s better than that. The Abominators only left the stuff they¡¯d already investigated, disarmed, and understood. So the Russians didn¡¯t get any traps at all--unless the Abominators missed them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good news, maybe,¡± I said.


    Rachel continued to look over the room as we talked, ¡°Cap, your gun said that we might be able to detect the device from something in this room. Where do we go next?¡±


    ¡°Duh,¡± Cassie shook her head, ¡°Maybe we should be working on the entire point of being here? I¡¯ll ask Mr. Sparkles.¡±


    While Cassie concentrated, Rachel turned to me, ¡°Do you sense anything? The Ghosts have been trying to teach me their way of sensing things which I can kind of do, but not like they can¡ªjust like I¡¯m beginning to get the hang of interstellar flight, but I still need help. They say I¡¯ll get it in a thousand years.¡±


    I laughed, ¡°I¡¯ve heard the same line. I¡¯ll take a shot at it.¡±


    Pulling energy from whatever source the Artificers used, I applied it to sensing around myself, not knowing what I was looking for, and hoping the Abominators didn¡¯t have any defenses that would be triggered.


    In return, I saw more than I¡¯d ever seen in the real world using Artificer senses¡ªwhich in the grand scheme of things still wasn¡¯t much.


    It was the same scene as before: a big room with clusters of equipment circled different spots, most of which were empty. Using the sense that I¡¯d been learning from Kee, I saw shadows in the empty spots. In some cases, I could almost see devices, none of which I recognized.


    In the spots where the Artificer device hadn¡¯t been taken, the shadows held a hint of light, the smallest of glows. They were spiderwebs hit by light that made it through a crack under the door.


    One, however, held more than that.


    It was more of a medium-small glow, but it came from the middle of a cluster. The shadows obscured whatever was there, so I dropped Artificer sight and zoomed in with the Rocket suit¡¯s sensors.


    I recognized the artifact. It was a silver and black disc that was ten feet wide. I had one just like it sitting in HQ. I¡¯d jokingly called it the Starplate because it was flat and could send someone to other worlds or even universes provided I had the coordinates.


    Between my grandfather¡¯s notes and my guesses, I¡¯d figured out how to use it. Beyond that, I could see a figure on the Starplate, but not well. Roughly the shape of a man, it didn¡¯t move. Moon dust had settled on it, helping outline the transparent shape.

 Moon: Part 5

    Zooming in with the Rocket suit¡¯s sensors, I realized something. I knew this guy. I¡¯d last seen him while fighting Rook and other operatives of the Nine at another lab analyzing alien technology, that one on Earth.


    I¡¯d worked for a company called Higher Ground and this guy, Victor, had been my co-worker, mentor, and semi-supervisor in an internship that was an undercover mission. Victor had seemed nice enough at first.


    After a little bit though, I realized he was harassing the administrative assistant. By the (explosive) end of the internship, he¡¯d not only used her DNA (without her consent) to create Earth¡¯s version of the True, but also used the Abominator birthing chambers to give himself an Abominator Citizen¡¯s Mark, and a transformation into a nine-foot-tall guy with purple-tinged skin and teleportation powers.


    I¡¯m sure there¡¯s a universe where that seems like a reasonable series of choices, but in mine, it seemed creepy and weird.


    He showed up in superhero news now and then. Superfans and the press referred to him as the Purple Legionnaire which might be clever in the same universe where making that transformation seemed reasonable.


    The Legionnaire name came from how he wore a breastplate and metal skirt resembling Roman soldiers.


    Cassie sighed over the comm, ¡°Hey this is weird, but Mr. Sparkles says that everything in this room is off limits. He can¡¯t get into any of the research equipment. He says there¡¯s someone else here with a Citizen¡¯s Mark and whoever that is outranks him and I¡¯ve got to turn access on again.¡±


    Jaclyn twitched, moving her gaze around the room, taking it in more quickly than I could, ¡°I don¡¯t see anyone in here but us. There isn¡¯t a leftover command from the Abominators is there?¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s Victor,¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯s got a Citizen¡¯s Mark and I don¡¯t know how, but he¡¯s here.¡±


    ¡°Where?¡± Cassie turned toward me, ¡°Show me where.¡±


    I send pictures to everyone. The first showed the room except with an arrow that pointed down toward the Starplate. The second showed the zoomed-in version of Victor as a dust-covered outline of himself.


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    ¡°Crap,¡± Cassie peered in his direction, ¡°I remember that guy. Why isn¡¯t he moving?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, watching in case he did.


    He didn¡¯t.


    ¡°Weirder yet,¡± Marcus said, ¡°did you notice what he¡¯s on? We¡¯ve got one of those and it¡¯s in the middle of a cluster. Do you think it¡¯s an Artificer relic?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, ¡°but that would be bad.¡±


    Rachel dropped to be closer to the rest of us, ¡°I¡¯ve seen a few of them over the past year. They might not be an Artificer thing, but they¡¯re spread out all over the galaxy.¡±


    ¡°Look,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°I don¡¯t know how it would work, but my gut feeling is that he¡¯s trapped there. I don¡¯t like this idea, but should we get him out if it means he can help us find the device?¡±


    Still watching Victor, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t like that idea. He teleported half the team into the middle of Lake Michigan the last we fought him. Plus, Rook can force Victor to do anything he wants courtesy of the Dominators. So I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s doing here, but he¡¯s got to have a mission.¡±


    Peering in Victor¡¯s direction, Jaclyn nodded, ¡°I remember the teleports. I knew it couldn¡¯t be simple, but I thought we needed to ask the question because we might not have another option.¡±


    Marcus started floating in not only Victor¡¯s direction but over the clusters of equipment, ¡°We need to do something. I¡¯m not going to go up to the guy, but my implant has directions for hacking into Abominator computers. I¡¯m thinking I might get something out of the first cluster.¡±


    ¡°Worth a shot,¡± Cassie pointed her gun in Victor¡¯s direction.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea,¡± Jaclyn dropped to the ground where her speed and strength would help, landing a few feet from the first cluster. ¡°Think about it. How did the moon dust get on Victor? There¡¯s no wind. What blew it into the air?¡±


    She had a point. I didn¡¯t have an answer, but there shouldn¡¯t have been dust on Victor unless someone kicked it up. And who¡¯d know how to trap Victor with a Starplate? I had theories, but I¡¯d never used it for something like that.


    Even more confusing, we¡¯d only seen evidence of Rook¡¯s people in addition to the visits by the original League in the 60s or the Russians in the 80s. In theory, Rook¡¯s people should be allies to Victor. If they trapped him, something had to be very wrong. But could they operate the Starplate? I doubted it.


    As all that rolled through my brain, I noticed a new thing. Victor moved. Dust fell and he turned to look at us. Then he started shouting¡ªor so I assumed. His mouth opened and closed with the kind of regularity you expect to see when someone¡¯s chewing you out. Plus, his eyes were wide open and staring at us, veins popping, bits of glowing energy sparking on his skin.


    Thanks to the atmosphere, I could hear him making noise, but I couldn¡¯t understand it. Though I might have understood him better if I opened my helmet, I did not plan to do that.

 Moon: Part 6

    I used the Rocket suit¡¯s sensors to see if I couldn¡¯t make the sound clearer. When I did, I learned something.


    It still didn¡¯t make sense.


    Querying my implant, I checked if it might be another language. My implant identified bits of Sumerian, a variant of pidgin Abominator used by their human servants, English, and several ancient human languages that must have been common when the Abominators were on Earth.


    Translated into modern English, the mass of words was still gibberish.


    I¡¯d been told that Abominator technology came with a risk of madness because it was based on Artificer technology designed to destroy the civilizations into which it was introduced. This might be my first in-person example.


    I¡¯d also been told that the Abominators had been unusually good at minimizing the risk, so the risks from Abominator technology were generally more subtle.


    This didn¡¯t seem subtle at all.


    Not having a better idea, I shouted at him through the suit¡¯s PA, ¡°Could you repeat that in English?¡±


    He stopped, eyes widening, and stared at me.


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Marcus said, ¡°that got a reaction.¡±


    Then Victor shouted, ¡°You! You¡¯re the second Rocket and the second Heroes¡¯ League.¡±


    His voice started hoarse but became clearer as he went.


    We all looked at each other. Jaclyn said, ¡°That¡¯s right. And who are you?¡±


    He frowned, ¡°Haven¡¯t we met yet? It¡¯s 2012. We should have met.¡±


    Clenching his fists, he shouted, ¡°We should have met by now! I serve the Nine. You fought me two years ago your time. Don¡¯t you remember me? It was on the shore of Lake Michigan.¡±


    Looking from one of us to the other, he stood there, trembling and mumbling, ¡°I thought I went to the right timeline. They matched. I know they did. They have to know me. I can¡¯t have wasted all of this time.¡±


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    Without taking a breath, he went back to shouting, ¡°You know me!¡±


    Implant to implant, Marcus said, ¡°This guy is crazy, but do you think he can time travel? Because that¡¯s kind of scary.¡±


    As Marcus finished, Rachel started talking, ¡°Of course we know you. You appeared after Higher Ground exploded.¡±


    Over the comm, she muttered, ¡°What¡¯s his name?¡±


    She¡¯d been on Earth, but not close enough to help with that one except by offering advice.


    ¡°Purple Legionnaire,¡± Marcus said.


    She gave him a look, ¡°That¡¯s a stupid name.¡±


    Marcus threw up his hands, ¡°It was the press.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know you,¡± Victor said, peering at her. Rachel was around three-quarters visible.


    Staring in her direction, he added, ¡°I didn¡¯t fight you. You weren¡¯t there. You can¡¯t be here. You should be dead by now! Dead! Stay away from me!¡±


    With his final shout, he became fully visible and the purple glow of his skin became brighter, pulsing as a blast of purple energy fired at Rachel.


    Knowing that Victor teleported people away with that move, I began to shout at Rachel that she should duck, but didn¡¯t get further than, ¡°Du¡ª¡± when the purple blast faded out. It had only made it as far as the edge of the Starplate, supporting the theory that he¡¯d been trapped.


    Not even flinching, Rachel said, ¡°That¡¯s not me. I¡¯m not Ghostwoman. She¡¯s been dead for years.¡±


    Breathing deeply, Victor took two more shots before slumping over. To be fair to him, Grandma¡¯s reputation in the superhero community during her lifetime could have been summarized by the word, ¡°scary.¡±


    If he¡¯d been around since the 1950s and fought the original League, it might explain his fear. They avoided killing people, but they also didn¡¯t play around in lethal situations. When they formed the civilian version of the Heroes¡¯ League in the 1950s, they¡¯d even killed a few mobsters. I didn¡¯t remember the exact circumstances, but I¡¯d heard the story as a kid and felt like I¡¯d have done the same.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Cassie waved her arm (the one that wasn¡¯t holding the gun) to get Victor¡¯s attention, ¡°have you been stuck here since the 1950s? Do you want out?If you help us, we might be able to let you out.¡±


    Jaclyn caught her eye and muttered, ¡°Not a good idea,¡± into her comm.


    I couldn¡¯t argue. The last I¡¯d heard, Victor worked for the Nine¡¯s inner circle these days, teleporting their people in or out to the frustration of most Defenders units. If he¡¯d sent himself back in time, he was on a mission. It didn¡¯t take too much imagination to guess that it might be the same as ours. He¡¯d just been sent back to locate the device in the 1950s before we¡¯d even be born.


    This meant that if we did let Victor out, Magnus would have two Victors at his disposal until he sent the original back in time to become the questionably sane version we¡¯d just met.


    Cassie glanced back at Jaclyn, moving her hand behind her back and crossing her fingers the way you might if you were five and didn¡¯t want your lie to count.


    Victor took a deep breath, pulled himself to his full height, and said, ¡°What do you want?¡±

 Moon: Part 7

    Cassie didn¡¯t hesitate to respond, treating a conversation with a time traveler (I guess) trapped on the Moon like a normal thing.


    ¡°We need to get into the equipment in this room. Someone¡¯s shut off access and I¡¯m assuming it¡¯s you.¡±


    Victor eyed her, ¡°Who sent you?¡±


    Furrowing her brow, Cassie said, ¡°Sent us? No one. We¡¯re here on our own.¡±


    Victor scowled, ¡°No one flies to the Moon for fun. You came here for a reason. Who sent you? Was it Rook? One of the others? The Dominators? The Cabal? Who is it?¡±


    Cassie glanced over at me, but said, ¡°No one. We¡¯re here on our own.¡±


    Victor chuckled, ¡°Sure you are. I¡¯ve spent over 50 years here and no one¡¯s here for themselves. They may not know it, but they¡¯re here serving one faction or another.¡±


    He sneered up at her, ¡°Red Lightning used the Cabal¡¯s potions. Russian Victory used a Dominator code phrase. I don¡¯t think he even knew it. The last visitors were the True, but they didn¡¯t know me. Rook warped them. He corrupted them just like he corrupted me.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh,¡± Jaclyn said over the comm. She didn¡¯t have to say more. Her tone said, ¡°He¡¯s nuts.¡±


    I didn¡¯t try to argue, but he wasn¡¯t completely wrong either. Red Lighting did use the Cabal¡¯s potions, but Victor had no way of knowing he wasn¡¯t in the Cabal.Russian Victory probably did get exposed to the Dominators. Grandpa told me that the Mentalist had to do something to Russian Victory¡¯s head. I¡¯d assumed that it had been to reverse Soviet brainwashing, but Dominator modification made just as much sense or more.


    As for Rook, I knew it was true. I¡¯d seen Rook use Dominator commands on him. Victor wasn¡¯t wrong about what he¡¯d seen, but the conclusion that factions in the Nine controlled everyone seemed paranoid.


    I had my doubts that I¡¯d be able to argue him out if it. If he¡¯d spent 50 years making up his paranoid universe, I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to talk him out of it in a few minutes.


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    Part of me wished Daniel had come along, but whatever Abominator design Victor had used on himself had to have included mental defenses. Daniel could easily have found himself in the same boat as the rest of us.


    We might have to trick Victor into it, but I didn¡¯t know how. If I listened to him, maybe I¡¯d be able to come up with something that fit into his delusions.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°how did Rook corrupt you?¡±


    Victor turned to stare at me, ¡°He made me impure. He corrupted me. He controlled me!¡±


    Transparent spit flew from his mouth, disappearing as it hit the edge of the Starplate, just like his purple energy blast. Was his spit an energy blast?


    Over the comm, Jaclyn asked, ¡°Do you have a plan?¡±


    ¡°Not really,¡± I said, watching Victor. ¡°I¡¯m fishing for something I can use.¡±


    Marcus had been moving the entire time we talked with Victor, landing next to the first cluster of Abominator machines, ¡°If you can distract him, I¡¯m going to hack into their network.¡±


    He¡¯d mentioned that his Xiniti implant had directions for doing it, he might as well. Besides, he¡¯d majored in computer science in college. Even with my nagging feeling that it should be me, he might well be the best qualified between the two of us.


    I said, ¡°Go for it.¡±


    Rachel said, ¡°Keep him talking. I¡¯ll help.¡±


    Over the PA, I said, ¡°How does Rook control you? From what I¡¯ve seen, you¡¯re more powerful than he is.¡±


    He started sobbing, big sobs, the kind where you¡¯re almost embarrassed to be watching, maybe especially so when you¡¯re about to screw the guy over. If the guy needed anything, he needed a therapist.


    He also needed all of the Abominator modifications removed from his body, but that was far out of my reach.


    Then Victor¡¯s sobbing stopped and he started screaming, ¡°I¡¯m nothing more than a tool! I can only do what they tell me. I have to stay. I can¡¯t leave until I come back with it. That¡¯s all that matters. Only I can find it here, so I have to stay. I can leave, but I can¡¯t make myself do it.¡±


    He pounded what appeared to be empty air at the edge of the Starplate, generating purple lightning and a lot of it with every hit. The light illuminated the room.


    My implant warned me that based on Xiniti battles with Abominator servants, the purple lightning might throw objects out of phase and into other universes. I might have scoffed at that except that I¡¯d built cross-dimensional positioning systems into the suits and mine was throwing up errors every time Victor hit whatever invisible barrier the Starplate had created.


    Rachel, meanwhile, had floated toward Victor and said, ¡°The Dominators did this to you.¡±


    He dropped his arms to his side and said, ¡°Yes,¡± and then stood there, doing nothing.


    Over the comm, Marcus said, ¡°It worked. I¡¯m on their network. This is crazy. I haven¡¯t touched anything yet, but¡ª¡±


    As he said that, Victor¡¯s body glowed a brighter purple and he shouted, ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    At that moment, lights glowed on Abominator equipment across the room. It was less like the light in a dark room turned on and more like standing in the dark in the center of a circle of glowing eyes.

 Moon: Part 8

    Over the comm, I asked, ¡°Was that you?¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± Marcus shook his head, ¡°No. I just connected.¡±


    Victor stared at me and looked over at Rachel. Then he shouted, ¡°I see you for what you are¡ªavatars of the Artificers. Die!¡±


    Then all the lights winked out as the doors on the boxes that Cassie called ¡°psychotic monkey boxes¡± opened. For the record, they weren¡¯t monkeys. They were bipedal, but they had two extra arms compared to regular monkeys. They also had tails, but that wasn¡¯t weird.


    What was weird is that they didn¡¯t have fur. They had dark, gray skin, glistening with what I assumed to be moisture, but didn¡¯t have to be water. My gut feeling was that it was some kind of oil.


    They also didn¡¯t have eyes, ears, noses, or anything more than vestigial heads¡ªat best, they had head nubbins.


    To the degree that they had heads, they were all mouth, mouths that expanded the head nubbin when they opened. Complete with gummy ridges, their open jaws delivered croaking noises that carried undertones that started my anti-Dominator defenses going.


    I didn¡¯t know for sure why, but from the way I flinched before my defenses kicked in, I guessed they were going for paralyzing fear.


    Thanks to prior preparation, I avoided being manipulated by them, only having to deal with my internal fear. Sure, I was in armor, but I¡¯d never seen these things before and from what my implant had said, they were dangerous even to the Xiniti.


    The creepy, gray monkey things leaped from the ground, landing on the lab equipment, and jumping again, aiming toward us with a speed that barely gave me time to pull up my arms and aim and loose a salvo of bots.


    Much like hand grenades, my bots weren¡¯t dependent on my ability to aim¡ªwhich was good because I didn¡¯t have time. Between my implant and the bots¡¯ programming, I essentially thought, ¡°Hit the small things jumping toward me,¡± and the computers translated it into targets.


    The result? Pretty awesome.


    As much as I¡¯d like to think that I didn¡¯t go into heroing out of a need to feel powerful, now and then, I could enjoy the ego boost. Every one of my bots hit and every one of them turned the psychotic flesh monkey it hit into splattered monkey bits.


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    Out of the 33 leaping monkeys, I killed 15¡ªalmost half.


    Everyone else was limited to one attack at a time¡ªthough to be fair, in Jaclyn¡¯s case, those attacks followed each other in a blur. She took out 10 by herself. Cassie and Rachel took out the other eight while Marcus continued to hack into the Abominators¡¯ computer logs.


    You could say it was on Victor¡¯s recommendation because all of the monkeys Jaclyn destroyed plus three of Cassie¡¯s had been aiming for Marcus. The rest had been aiming for Cassie or me.


    Her blur of destruction left Jaclyn standing near Marcus amid a cluster of Abominator tech and money splatter, ¡°I¡¯ll protect Shift. See if you can take out Victor.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t argue with her battle plan. Victor was the problem. Everything he threw at us would just be his weapons. Like her, I didn¡¯t doubt that there would be more.


    I wasn¡¯t wrong. As she said it, the monkey boxes flashed and 33 more monkeys leaped out toward us.


    Eyes glowing, they began to leap for us, but this time I was better. I fired as soon as their eyes appeared in the darkness, hitting eleven with the initial salvo, the bots exploding as they hit.


    It wasn¡¯t luck either. I tried to do that.


    I had a few hundred bots while Victor had infinite monkeys. If we took out the boxes, we¡¯d only have to fight a finite number of monkeys, turning it into a fight we could win.


    Beams of white-hot energy from Cassie¡¯s gun wiped out most of the rest of the monkeys, leaving only a few for Jaclyn and Rachel¡ªbut mostly Jaclyn.


    ¡°Nice work with the boxes,¡± Cassie said over the comm. ¡°I only got one. If I wanted more, I¡¯d have to shoot through things.¡±


    ¡°I hope we took them out,¡± I said, zooming in on the shattered boxes.


    Between the rounded edges and light gray color, they reminded me of iPhones. While I didn¡¯t think it would be above Steve Jobs to copy Abominator tech, it seemed unlikely.


    Zooming in further showed me the edges of one of the boxes that I¡¯d exploded. In the Rocket suit¡¯s HUD, the composite sensor view showed not only that the edges had a red tinge, but that they were hotter than the material next to them.


    I couldn¡¯t be sure from the visuals alone, but I thought the box was growing back. Noticing a crack glow red and then disappear confirmed that thought.


    ¡°The boxes are growing back, but the more pieces that they¡¯re in, the longer we¡¯ve got,¡± I said and ran forward, using my laser to cut the nearest untouched boxes in two and firing off more bots to blow up the others.


    With any luck, Marcus would get the time he needed. As for myself, I could serve him best by getting Victor¡¯s attention, ¡°Hey, you don¡¯t have to throw monkeys at us. We could talk. I know I¡¯ve got a connection to the Artificers, but I don¡¯t work for them.¡±


    Victor screamed. If he thought what he said made sense, he was wrong. It could have passed as the scream of someone being tortured, but I couldn¡¯t pick out a single word in the raw, throaty gasps and sobs.


    If it stopped there, it would have been bad enough, but it didn¡¯t. The artifact in the cluster next to him began to glow white. Blue sparks arced across its cone-shaped body.


    Since releasing psychotic monkeys hadn¡¯t solved the problem, he¡¯d gone to plan b.

 Moon: Part 9

    Plan b was to use an object that the Artificers had designed to end civilizations. It wasn¡¯t a question of whether that would be bad for us, but whether the effect would be to empower Victor or to infect us.


    ¡°Not good,¡± Jaclyn muttered and her hands twitched, activating a new feature of her suit, which I¡¯d described as ¡°essentially a gumball dispenser.¡±


    With a hand motion, she could cause dense balls of an alien-designed alloy to roll out of her suit and land in her hands. Then she could throw it.


    At that moment, I was relieved that I¡¯d thought to factor situations with minimal gravity into the design because the balls landed in her palms as intended.


    Then she threw them at the Artificer relic.


    They hit it with several tons of force, all centered on a spot only a little larger than a bullet. I wouldn¡¯t have wanted to take that hit. The Rocket suit could theoretically handle it, but with the force she generated any slight imperfection might kill me.


    I could only assume the device contained no imperfections because she didn¡¯t destroy it.


    Both balls hit, throwing off cascades of sparks. To her credit, they didn¡¯t bounce off. Both embedded themselves into the stone-like material, creating a spiderweb of cracks around them.


    Whatever material the device was made of, it had imperfections now.


    As the sparks flew, the device¡¯s white glow expanded, illuminating a quarter of the room. It might have blinded us all without our suits¡¯ ability to filter the light.


    The glow now included the Starplate.


    Victor had been almost impossible to see when we came into the room if not for the Moon dust on his body. He¡¯d become almost solid after that, but in the glow of the Artificers¡¯ strange cone, he became solid and the edges of a dome above the Starplate became visible.


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    I didn¡¯t know whether the dome above the Starplate represented a force field or an area in which the Starplate negated Victor¡¯s powers.


    Either way, Victor had now begun to glow with the same white light as the cone.


    I didn¡¯t like what that implied.


    Aiming at the cone, I fired off both my laser and a narrowcast sonic attack, hoping that one or the other would matter. Jaclyn, meanwhile, started throwing a series of balls at the cone.


    Cassie had been firing at the monkey boxes, buying us more time, but she fired at the cone now, her hits throwing off waves of blue sparks each time. I hoped the monkeys weren¡¯t reforming, but stopping what seemed to be a device that would supercharge Victor had a higher priority.


    All of this had taken place in seconds¡ªwhich matters because Victor caught my eye and accepted my offer to chat.


    Sort of.


    When he caught my eye, he screamed, ¡°Free me from Rook¡¯s control!¡±


    Not trusting yet another shift in Victor¡¯s attitude toward us, I shouted back, ¡°How?¡±


    As I asked, the dome I¡¯d seen outlined in the cone¡¯s white light wobbled and disappeared. Victor stood there with his mouth open, panting, a few beads of sweat rolling down his face.


    He laughed and then said, ¡°Kill me before I kill you and tell Magnus where to get full access to your device. You have the power. Kill me.¡±


    Then the white light that had been extending outward from Victor changed color, taking on the purple of his skin. In addition, the cone¡¯s white light and Victor¡¯s purple glow began to flash in time with each other.


    Over the last few seconds, Jaclyn had been hitting the cone with more balls, extending the spiderweb of cracks to cover half of it, some of the cracks glowing from the inside. In addition, the blue sparks began to shoot outward as far as 20 feet from the cone.


    I¡¯d only begun to think that it looked like it might explode when Cassie hit it with a beam from her gun. From experience, I recognized the highest setting, a wide, white beam that illuminated the room. The beam hit the cone, shattering it.


    Burning pieces flew in all directions, some hitting the lab equipment.


    Any lab equipment in its way shattered and exploded, making holes in the equipment next to it.


    With the cone¡¯s destruction, Victor flew, heading straight for the group.


    ¡°Wait,¡± I shouted, ¡°can we skip killing you?¡±


    Landing in front of me, he said, ¡°I have to kill you. Kill me or die!¡±


    Then he punched me and it wasn¡¯t a love tap. It set off error messages in my armor and threw me backward to hit Abominator lab equipment of unknown function.


    Judging from the force behind that punch, it was in Jaclyn¡¯s league. My armor wouldn¡¯t stand up to a lot of it. If that weren¡¯t enough, the moment I found myself within the range of Victor¡¯s purple glow, I felt queasy.


    I couldn¡¯t name what felt wrong, but I didn¡¯t feel like myself.

 Moon: Part 10

    Pushing myself up and jumping to the side, I dodged another punch from Victor, who¡¯d closed the distance in a step.


    I fired off two boombots at him. Both hit, throwing him backward into blue/gray metal device shaped like a doorless refrigerator.


    I didn¡¯t want to kill him. I also couldn¡¯t think of an obvious way to prevent it. I hadn¡¯t brought many goobots on this mission and didn¡¯t think they¡¯d do much good against someone with Jaclyn¡¯s strength.


    On the other hand, I realized, it might give me time to think of something better.


    I fired off a volley of goobots, watching the sticky strands expand outward and attach to the ¡°refrigerator¡± and the ground three times over.


    Then I slipped into the next cluster over, not because I thought it would stop him, but because it might give me a second.


    Once I was out of his glow, I felt better and had a theory. I tested it by tapping into the power that Artificers used and trying to view Victor and his glowing aura.


    I saw nothing, proving my theory correct.


    I wasn¡¯t blind, I could still see through my eyes and my technology, but everything within Victor¡¯s glow was gray nothingness.


    Whatever the device did, it allowed Victor to obscure himself from Artificers¡¯ view. From how I felt while inside the glow, it might even cut Artificers off from the energy needed to power their abilities.


    Why the Artificers left an artifact that allowed people to do that, I had another theory, but no time to think it through. I did know that the Abominators had harvested DNA from a captured Artificer and used it in their army of supers.


    And that meant, I needed to say, ¡°Don¡¯t go into the glow. Your powers might stop working.¡±


    I did, the words tumbling out of my mouth, knowing that speed could make the difference between living and dying.


    I wasn¡¯t wrong either because Victor didn¡¯t stand still. He pushed himself up and teleported.


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    Rachel had been chopping monkey boxes to bits with a great axe I¡¯d made by combining the technology in Cassie¡¯s sword with the nanotech ceramics I used to make our armor pass as clothes.


    I¡¯d given her a purse that could transform into not only a great axe but also an electric guitar¡ªpartly because she played guitar and partly because guitars are also called axes.


    It seemed funny at the time.


    Seeing Victor appear next to her did not make me laugh. The sinking feeling in my gut came from the knowledge that the Cosmic Ghosts were Artificers if they¡¯d taken a different path, meaning that Rachel¡¯s ability to go ghostly wasn¡¯t going to do her a bit of good.


    Rachel did better than expected.


    As Victor appeared, she ran, and Victor must have been off his game at the moment because his first punch missed. Unfortunately, Victor¡¯s strength was in Jaclyn¡¯s league while without powers Rachel was nothing more than a normal human.


    She had a suit, but it couldn¡¯t be as good as mine and still fit within the mass limit she could make intangible. I got as close as I could.


    I couldn¡¯t move fast enough to block his second punch, but I could fire off bots. I couldn¡¯t fire off bots as fast as Victor could punch, however.


    His second punch knocked her to the ground.


    A status report in my HUD showed her as alive and still breathing with no reports of a breach in her suit. My bots hit him as he raised a foot to stomp on her, throwing him sideways into a block of Abominator equipment taller than he was.


    He pushed himself off, rocking an object that made me think of a jagged tooth, raising his leg to try again. I was already running toward them, but I didn¡¯t make it.


    Jaclyn hit him out of nowhere, a purple blur moving at more than 300 miles per hour.


    She must have aimed her fist upward because he shot into the air, flying out of the cluster toward the ceiling, head over heels, entirely out of control.


    He never hit the ceiling. He disappeared, reappearing next to me and hitting me hard enough that I flew sideways into the wall, my vision going black for a second.


    Though my implant informed me that technically it was closer to three-quarters of a second, any fight that included Jaclyn could change in that time.


    My implant gave me a recap of what happened, showing Jaclyn rush forward and hit Victor into the air again only this time she jumped after him, grabbing his legs, using her momentum and her suit¡¯s anti-gravity to change Victor¡¯s direction, aiming him into a cluster of Abominator technology.


    Victor might have been Jaclyn¡¯s equal in strength, but not reflexes. He hit the equipment with a crash that I hoped wouldn¡¯t release a technological horror. If it did, it wasn¡¯t obvious as he pulled himself to his feet and teleported again even as Jaclyn ran to punch him again.


    By that time, I¡¯d caught up and was watching Victor disappear in real-time. When he did, I scanned my HUD, watching in all directions for movement and a purple glow.


    He appeared near Marcus, moving his arm backward to load a punch.

 Moon: Part 11

    Activating my rocket pack, I flew toward them as Jaclyn raced across the ground, moving slower and more carefully than usual to avoid launching herself into the ceiling.


    I¡¯d done the same with the rockets without thought.


    The Xiniti implants helped with that, implanting that skill along with all the other knowledge we had available.


    As good as that was, it meant we weren¡¯t moving as quickly as we could on Earth, giving us time to watch the inevitable.


    Victor¡¯s arm moved faster than we did, hitting Marcus in the middle of his chest and going through. With anyone else, blood and organs would have been shooting out the other side, but with Marcus it was different.


    Victor¡¯s hand exited the other side surrounded by gray strands, but no blood.


    He blinked, staring as Marcus moved sideways, freeing himself from being pierced by Victor¡¯s arm by sliding around it with Marcus¡¯ armor doing the same.


    As happy as I was that Marcus¡¯ powers (like Jaclyn¡¯s) worked within Victor¡¯s purple glow, I couldn¡¯t help but feel relief to see that his suit stayed on and moved with him.


    Making an armored suit that could adjust and move with a shapeshifter whose basic form was practically liquid had been an interesting challenge. Nanotech made it easier, but not trivial. I¡¯d learned things.


    What I didn¡¯t anticipate as part of my design was the Victor might freak out. Seeing the gray strands, he pulled back his hand to scream, ¡°Abominator!¡±


    His eyes were as wide as the first character in a horror movie that finds the monster. His body trembled.


    That¡¯s the point at which his right hand glowed a brighter purple tinged with white. Though I was closing, I knew he¡¯d be able to hit Marcus long before I or one of my bots knocked him out of reach.


    That¡¯s when Jaclyn hit him. I didn¡¯t do the math, but my gut feeling was that she hit him with everything she had and didn¡¯t hold back. Why? Because I heard her punch hit his diaphragm. More than that, it registered in my HUD as an area of effect attack.


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    Victor shot backward, taking a shot at her with his glowing hand, leaving silver-white sparkles in his wake¡ªwhich seemed a bit more Disney princess than I expected.


    He missed. He wouldn¡¯t have, but Jaclyn moved her head back as her fist drove him backward.


    The problem with teleporting opponents is that they don¡¯t have to keep on going in the direction you sent them. Victor disappeared, reappearing to the side of her, still flying backward with the momentum she¡¯d given him.


    This time he hit her. He didn¡¯t hit her hard. He flipped over in the air, catching her shoulder with a finger. It couldn¡¯t have hurt, but a purple glow surrounded her and she disappeared.


    Wondering where she¡¯d gone prompted my implant to answer. She was twenty miles away on the moon¡¯s surface, but that¡¯s as far as I got.


    I¡¯d fired off a few bots while flying toward Victor. They had to redirect after Jaclyn hit him and he teleported, but they hit him as Jaclyn disappeared, all three exploding, knocking him back¡ªexcept the killbot.


    Instead of cutting into him with monomolecular blades, he pointed his hand at it and it burned out before it reached him¡ªwhich made me optimistic. He¡¯d have ignored it if it couldn¡¯t hurt him.


    Despite the explosions from the boombots, he had enough presence of mind to teleport again, this time next to me. I saw his right hand coming and blocked with my left forearm, stopping his hand from touching me.


    He grunted as he hit my arm and now that he was within a couple feet of me, I could tell that we were hurting him. A red imprint of Jaclyn¡¯s fist swelled on his stomach, bleeding in a few spots. Red spots on the exposed skin of his face and chest might have come from being burnt, but my boombots were more likely.


    I¡¯d already started throwing a punch at him when I blocked his arm, barraging him with the sonics at the same time. At least I tried to.


    Despite cringing at the sound from the sonics, his right arm flared. I¡¯d been able to block teleports by tapping Artificer abilities the last time I fought Victor, but couldn¡¯t feel them now.


    I found myself alone in the air above the moon, aware of what was happening inside the Abominator base only because our comms were still in range and Cassie and Marcus broadcast it to our HUDs.


    My first image from Cassie showed her firing her gun¡¯s white beam at Victor, hitting him and making him screech. The beam left charred skin on his chest and arm.


    His face tight and eyes wide, Victor teleported to Marcus his screech of pain turning into, ¡°There¡¯s Abominator in you,¡± and grabbing for Marcus¡¯ shoulder. Victor¡¯s hand shot forward with enough strength and speed that his fingers sank three inches deep into Marcus¡¯ shoulder.


    Before Marcus could turn liquid and slip out of Victor¡¯s grip, Victor¡¯s hand flared again and the two of them disappeared, reappearing out on the surface of the Moon.


    I checked the distance. They were more than 80 miles away. Jaclyn and I might be able to make it, but realistically Marcus was on his own.

 Moon: Part 12

    Thanks to the camera on Marcus¡¯ suit, I could see what he saw¡ªgray mountains covered in dust surrounded where they stood, all free of greenery and life.


    The stars above hung in a black sky without clouds or a hint of water.


    They were on top of a mountain. The surface slanted without turning into a sheer drop. It wasn¡¯t a cliff there, but if he ran in any direction there would be a drop into the darkness below soon enough.


    The most shocking event came next. Victor didn¡¯t attack. He stared down at Marcus, ¡°You¡¯re an Abominator.¡±


    Marcus shook his head, ¡°I¡¯m not! Look I know they were shapeshifters, but they didn¡¯t hesitate to reverse-engineer their genetic code to solve problems in their servants. You inserted an implant full of Abominator history in your head along with your powers, right? Check it.¡±


    Victor¡¯s mouth set in a hard line, ¡°Not an implant, exactly. The Abominators made a biological equivalent. Certain¡­ imperatives come along with it. I wish you¡¯d said you were an Abominator because then I couldn¡¯t fight you. That supersedes everything unless there¡¯s an Abominator of a certain lineage to give me orders, but never mind that. You¡¯re not an Abominator, so I have other orders to follow.¡±


    Victor¡¯s eyes glowed purple and beams erupted from them.


    Marcus hadn¡¯t stayed still. The moment Victor¡¯s eyes began to increase their glow, he dove for the ground behind Victor on his left.


    I couldn¡¯t see him do it, only see the ground coming closer, followed by a moment of Marcus¡¯ chest, and then Marcus stood behind Victor, extending his arms toward Victor¡¯s shoulders.


    Victor wasn¡¯t just standing there, though. He turned, eyes still glowing, ready to burn Marcus down. Marcus hadn¡¯t been standing still though. He¡¯d gone straight for Victor¡¯s back, coating it in a layer of himself. Victor was more than eight feet tall so there was plenty of back to work with.


    Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t see much of anything.


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    Marcus hadn¡¯t been worrying about the camera nearly as much as he¡¯d been worried about survival. He¡¯d left the camera pointed upward, giving us a view of the sky,  its sea of darkness and unblinking stars. Thanks to the wide-angle lens, we also got a little of Victor¡¯s back, neck, and head.


    It wasn¡¯t a bad idea. Marcus couldn¡¯t beat Victor in a straight fight. He¡¯d have a hard time bringing his full strength to bear.


    Of course, it wasn¡¯t perfect. If Victor could think of something that would kill Marcus but not himself, he could teleport the two of them straight into it.


    Victor could also reach toward his back, much as he might if he were trying to scratch it. He might even be able to grab pieces of Marcus and rip them away from the rest of Marcus¡¯ body if he moved too quickly for Marcus to react¡ªexcept he didn¡¯t.


    Every time he reached a spot where Marcus was, Marcus thinned out and Victor¡¯s fingers went through him like water, his body slipping out of Victor¡¯s grasp.


    Victor snarled and reached out again, this time with both arms, and struck at his own back, hitting his skin while Marcus absorbed himself on either side of the spots Victor hit.


    Victor kept that up for a series of ever more frantic strikes. Twisting his body around threw moon dust into what passed for the Moon¡¯s (thin) atmosphere. The dust flew further and hung above the ground longer than I¡¯d have expected.


    Victor¡¯s modifications from the Abominator birthing chambers didn¡¯t include being able to turn his head 180 degrees, but he tried, firing off beams from his eyes that didn¡¯t do anything.


    They did pass over the camera and presumably into Marcus¡¯ field of vision, prompting him to use his implant, asking, ¡°Are you guys on your way? Because he¡¯s going to think of something eventually. I¡¯ve got no idea how to take him down.¡±


    ¡°Of course we¡¯re coming,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°we¡¯ll be there soon.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t lying. We¡¯d started moving toward him as we watched the fight even though it hadn¡¯t been easy. Every step Jaclyn made threatened to launch her upward. I was pretty sure she wouldn¡¯t reach escape velocity, but it wasn¡¯t an experiment I wanted to try, and neither did she.


    After a few unnerving steps that turned to leaps, I told her, ¡°Maybe use the anti-gravity pack to push you down again?¡±


    ¡°Is there a way to just have it push me down with Earth''s gravity all the time?¡± Jaclyn asked, her camera showing dust flying as she landed on the moon again.


    ¡°Duh,¡± I said, ¡°I should have thought of that. It¡¯s not designed to keep you on the ground, so it might act a little weird, but yes. I¡¯ll remote in and change some settings.¡±


    I did and she began to run toward Marcus with all the speed she¡¯d have had on Earth.


    Then I changed the settings on my own and shot into the air, flying over a massive crater toward the distant mountains where Marcus fought, hoping I¡¯d get there in time to make a difference.

 Moon: Part 13

    As I flew, Cassie contacted Jaclyn and I, ¡°After you help Shift, get back here. We¡¯re okay, but the stupid monkeys and their boxes reformed already.¡±


    She live-streamed a snippet of her firing at the weird, sludgy ¡°monkeys¡± while Rachel, stumbling but walking, phased in and out, cutting any monkeys that got close to Cassie into pieces with her axe. Cassie focused her attention on the creatures that weren¡¯t close.


    They looked like they¡¯d be okay for now, but the way the monkeys reformed, they¡¯d be outnumbered sooner than I wanted to imagine. A little damage to their suits and exposure to the wrong Abominator device had all the wrong kind of potential.


    Victor had been there for years and while I wanted to attribute his current mental state to years of isolation, I couldn¡¯t know it. I could know though, that he¡¯d managed to connect to the Abominator lab¡¯s systems.


    If he were somehow uninfluenced by them, it wasn¡¯t for lack of opportunity.


    For all I knew, he¡¯d been there before the original League showed up, ready and waiting.


    We had to end this soon. The distraction of going between the two scenes wasn¡¯t going to help me help them.


    As if to illustrate that point, Marcus¡¯ feed showed Victor¡¯s hand reaching back toward Marcus, coming in fast and with more strength than he¡¯d used before. As he hit, Marcus yelped over our connection.


    His body thinned and slid out of the spot where Victor hit, but dark liquid remained on Victor¡¯s fingers.


    ¡°I¡¯m okay, but that hurt,¡± Marcus said over our implant connection.


    Victor held up his hand, staring at the dark flecks on his fingers that had been liquid and had dried in the thin lunar atmosphere.


    ¡°I¡¯m getting closer,¡± Victor said, the rumble of his voice, carrying into Marcus¡¯ hearing through his body.


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    Victor said over a public channel our Xiniti implants monitored, ¡°I sense you coming. You¡¯ll want to hurry or be more stealthy.¡±


    Even with the Rocket suit¡¯s sensors, I couldn¡¯t see him in detail, but my HUD showed him as a dot on the peak of the mountain ahead of me. Better, Jaclyn was closer, running up the bottom of the slope with every step throwing grey dust through the air behind her for the mystification of future astronauts.


    Then came a visible purple flash around Victor¡¯s dot on the slope along with the stream from Marcus¡¯ camera. They were gone.


    It wasn¡¯t instant, but close. The location device in Marcus¡¯ suit reestablished contact with a ping and then the location flashed in my HUD along with a new view.


    They stood in an empty plain of gray. It wasn¡¯t completely flat. There were rocks and a ring in the distance around them. They were in the middle of a crater. Worse, they were 1000 miles away nearly on the other side of the Moon.


    Jaclyn and I both turned even though she had to be feeling the same way I was. Even if we told the League ¡°jet¡± to meet us, turned on the cloak, and flew down there, Victor had all the time in the world to kill Marcus. We had no hope of catching Victor without him doing this again.


    ¡°Ghost and Cap¡­ Can you make it to the ship?¡± It would add time, but not much in the grand scheme of things. They were close.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Cap said, aiming a bright, white beam at a group of monkeys.


    Rachel floated to her side, axe in hand, her mouth shut, face blank without any of the playfulness she typically brought to a fight. I guessed she might be pushing her way through pain.


    Over the public channel, Victor said, ¡°You can¡¯t catch me. I¡¯m going to kill this one and then I¡¯m going to grab another of you and kill you one by one until you either kill me or you¡¯re all gone. Then I¡¯ll go back to my master with what I know about the device and he¡¯ll do what he will.¡±


    Purple flashed. Victor disappeared and Marcus fell to the lunar soil, reforming into a humanoid form, looking around in case Victor reappeared.


    Marcus had good instincts. Victor reappeared behind him, eyes glowing, ready to fire.


    Not so much moving as reforming and aiming for Victor, Marcus changed from being a humanoid to a dark ribbon of material expanding toward Victor¡¯s face, entering through his nose and open mouth, exiting through the eyes.


    In his way, he¡¯d moved as fast as Jaclyn but concentrated all of that force into a smaller area than she could. We¡¯d talked about this as a possible attack in Stapledon. He¡¯d even practiced it. We¡¯d agreed that a situation where he might use it wasn¡¯t likely to come up.


    He withdrew from Victor¡¯s body, remaining a ribbon, poised to dive in again if necessary¡ªif Victor began to regenerate maybe.


    Victor didn¡¯t.


    He lay on the surface of the moon, his body leaking blood or whatever fluid had replaced it, darkening the gray soil until it dried out.

 Waning Moon: Part 1

    Abominator Moonbase, March 1979


    Joe stepped back from the controls of the Interdimensional Travel Plate (IDTP) and checked around the room for everyone else.


    In a room filled with madness, he had superheroes and villains to fall back on¡ªthough in this case the question of which was which depended on whether journalists from the USA or USSR wrote the story.


    Russian Victory lay on the ground. His bulbous powered armor reminded Joe of the Michelin Man if the Michelin Man were painted red, had a yellow hammer and sickle on his chest, and wasn¡¯t made of tires but instead spherical metal sections.


    Larry leaned forward to give him a hand up. Russian Victory took it and Larry pulled him to his feet.


    Larry wouldn¡¯t have been able to do it if he weren¡¯t in costume as the Rhino. The Rhino suit (this version) was grey, bulky, and had a stylized Rhino on the chest.


    The Rhino suit and Russian Victory¡¯s powered armor could have been siblings except for the colors. Even if Larry¡¯s suit wasn¡¯t as round, they were both broad-shouldered and bulky. Joe had his suspicions about the reason, and today, he was finally in a position to find out.


    Speaking in Spanish-accented Russian, the fourth member of their impromptu group stepped toward Russian Victory asking, ¡°Are you alright?¡±


    Joe waited for the answer, hoping that the language switch didn¡¯t mean that they were going to fight again.


    Russian Victory nodded, replying in the same language, ¡°I¡¯m alive, Alexis.¡±


    ¡°Alexis¡± wore blue powered armor with the Cuban flag on his right shoulder and ¡°M-26-7¡± written against a black and red flag. Joe had a feeling it had something to do with the Cuban revolution, but he didn¡¯t know it off the top of his head.


    He wasn¡¯t going to try to remember it either. He had enough to do translating the Russian in his head without giving away that he understood it.


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    Alexis said, ¡°Good. We¡¯re not going to go back to fighting them, are we?¡±


    ¡°Nyet,¡± Russian Victory let go of Larry¡¯s armored hand, ¡°they¡¯re good men.¡±


    Then Russian Victory switched to English. His accent had only a hint of Russian and more than a hint that whoever taught him spoke British English, ¡°My thanks to both of you. Had you not intervened, we might have died.¡±


    Alexis nodded his blue helmet, adding, ¡°I¡¯m sorry that we attacked you earlier. We were told that you were here to collect this treasure trove of alien technology. We had orders to attack you on sight.¡±


    ¡°Dammit,¡± Larry glanced back at Joe, ¡°we don¡¯t want any of it. We came up because we wanted to warn you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Joe said, ¡°We can¡¯t tell you everything, but we can tell you this. Abominator technology is made to create madness and destroy civilizations.¡±


    Alexis¡¯ helmet obscured most of his face, but Joe could see a frown, ¡°That does not make sense. They use this technology every day. Are they attacking themselves with madness?¡±


    Joe decided he had to give them more than he¡¯d intended, ¡°You can see where we are. It¡¯s a lab. They¡¯ve collected technology from other races, some of them much older. One of the universe¡¯s very early races decided that it didn¡¯t want any competition and seeded the galaxy with trapped technology. Sometimes the trap is obvious. Sometimes it¡¯s subtle.¡±


    Russian Victory pointed to the man they¡¯d captured, a man more than eight feet tall and capable of walking on the surface of the Moon wearing a metal skirt and no shirt. The man lay on the IDTP, a black and silver circular platform, the purple glow of his skin reflecting off the metal.


    Russian Victor asked, ¡°Where does he come from? Is he one of their projects?¡±


    Joe stepped back up to the controls of the IDTP and translated the Abominator symbols to the degree he could, ¡°It¡¯s difficult to say, but it seems to be the future. After the year 2000, but before 2050. The Abominators¡¯ writing is confusing and I don¡¯t read it very well. The control system registers him as an Abominator, but also as a servant. There¡¯s something I¡¯m not understanding. He can¡¯t be both.¡±


    From the distance, something exploded. It wasn¡¯t close. Still, Joe felt it in his feet and heard the boom through the Rocket suit. It didn¡¯t end with the boom. A series of crashes followed. Without being there, he couldn¡¯t know, but he could imagine rooms in the base collapsing.


    Larry turned toward the noise, ¡°I don¡¯t know what it is, but it¡¯s not natural.¡±


    Alexis shook his helmet, ¡°I think it must be our people. They were in another portion of the base. I think they were attacked.¡±


    Joe wanted to ask more details, but he couldn¡¯t. The Xiniti communicator he¡¯d installed in his helmet had begun to beep for his attention. The Soviets must have triggered something.


    Those fools.

 Waning Moon: Part 2

    The Xiniti had addressed the Soviets at the UN with everyone else after the last Abominators died. They¡¯d made it clear enough that developing Abominator technology could result in Earth¡¯s destruction.


    Joe had spoken a few words himself as the Rocket.


    Hadn¡¯t the Soviets been listening? On the other hand, it had been a secret session and the USSR¡¯s ambassador had been recalled shortly after. Some faction there might be keeping it a secret from the others.


    Idiots, Joe shook his head.


    The Xiniti communicator spoke directly into his brain. They¡¯d wanted to implant a computer into his body, but after fighting Abominators for years, no one in the League trusted aliens enough to try it. It puzzled the Xiniti who seemed to view the implant as a privilege and a way to even out a debt.


    Maybe Joe wondered if he could have trusted them. For aliens, they¡¯d seemed straightforward and trustworthy¡ªwhich was good because it looked like he might have to.


    He thought back to the communicator, ¡°Hello?¡±


    The voice in his head sounded as if it were speaking the precise English of radio announcers from his childhood, but Joe doubted it, ¡°Honored ally of the Xiniti, are you aware of the intrusion at the Abominator Moonbase.¡±


    Joe assumed they knew where he was. There was no sense in pretending otherwise, ¡°I¡¯m in the middle of the Abominators¡¯¡­ artifact lab. Do you want us to leave?¡±


    ¡°Not at all. The Xiniti High Command commends you for subduing and imprisoning the Abominators¡¯ time-traveling servant. Xiniti standing policy is that all time travelers be captured, killed, or returned to their own time. It recommends you to us that this appears to be your policy as well.


    ¡°No, our concern is that humans appear to be heading toward the Abominator armory on your moon. The Galactic Alliance requires us to destroy all life on your world if humans acquire Abominator weaponry and attempt to reproduce it. Given your service to us in destroying the last Abominators and our respect for your skills and character, we would prefer not to.


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    ¡°Can you keep these weapons out of their hands? We can assist indirectly, but not visibly enough that the Alliance decides they can¡¯t trust us with the fate of this planet.¡±


    Joe restrained himself from nodding as he said, ¡°I understand. I¡¯d like you to be able to continue to assist us when you believe the Alliance is being unreasonable. To get this straight, you want us to get them to leave, however we manage it, and then destroy the weaponry so that they can¡¯t come back and take it later?¡±


    A rumbling of musical tones impossible to make with a human throat came over the comm. The Xiniti said, ¡°If you could make them leave, we¡¯ll destroy the weapons ourselves. If they aren¡¯t there when we are, there¡¯s no risk that we¡¯ll have to fight and no risk that we¡¯ll have to revenge ourselves if one of us dies.¡±


    Joe thought it through, ¡°I think we¡¯d all be better off if there were no chance that one of you would be harmed.¡±


    ¡°Excellent. We agree. Inform us of what you do and its outcome. We¡¯ll be ready,¡± the voice said and then with no warning, the feeling of connection ceased.


    One of these days, Joe hoped to take the comms apart. He¡¯d checked with Isaac. It wasn¡¯t telepathy, but it felt like it. He could use that if he ever had time to figure it out¡ªnot that he did now.


    ¡°Everyone,¡± Joe said, ¡°I just got a communication from the Xiniti. It sounds as though your team is heading for the Abominator armory in the base. The Xiniti tell me that if humans duplicate Abominator weapons, they¡¯ll be forced to destroy all life on the planet. Russian Victory, do you have the authority to tell them to stop?¡±


    Alexis¡¯ tenor voice joined with Russian Victory¡¯s bass in laughter. After a moment, Russian Victory said, ¡°No. Not at all. I wanted this to be a civilian mission with scientists and engineers. Instead, it¡¯s mostly soldiers, us, a linguist, and an engineer. Being a hero of the people gets you enough respect to choose a direction to explore. It does not allow you to command the mission.¡±


    ¡°Damn,¡± Larry said, ¡°you get parades but no power?¡±


    ¡°Not here,¡± Russian Victory said, ¡°the man leading the mission is no friend to¡­ superheroes.¡±


    Alexis tilted his helmet toward Larry¡¯s Rhino suit, ¡°It is complicated. Your politics are complicated too, eh?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Larry looked over to Joe, ¡°but we don¡¯t work for the government. We¡¯rejust concerned citizens.¡±


    Joe felt the explosion through his feet. Muffled by the building and his suit, he couldn¡¯t hear it well, but it had to be big. ¡°Alright, I understand that you don¡¯t have power over those troops, but for their safety, could you help us get them out of there?¡±


    Russian Victory tilted his helmet to look at that floor and then up at Joe, ¡°Yes. We can. The commander is a fool. He will kill them all.¡±

 Waning Moon: Part 3

    Abominator Moonbase, Present


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened after that,¡± I said.


    We all stood in the lab next to the Starplate. Jaclyn had placed Victor¡¯s body there. It hadn¡¯t seemed right to leave it out on the surface. It didn¡¯t feel more right to bring him back here, but there were things I could do here that I couldn¡¯t do there.


    ¡°I mean, I know loosely, but not in detail. They scared the Soviets into leaving¡ªnot that it was too hard. Abominator booby traps killed a few of their men. The crazy thing is that Grandpa did say he fought a time traveler once, but he didn¡¯t say anything that made me think of Victor. At least, not until now.¡±


    I checked Victor¡¯s body with the suit¡¯s sensors. He was still at room temperature, and there were no signs of movement inside his body other than pooling blood and other fluids.


    Jaclyn shook her head, ¡°We all should have listened a little more closely. I wonder how many hints they dropped?¡±


    Sitting on the ground, his arms wrapped around his legs, Marcus looked up, ¡°Not a lot, I bet. They were all pretty careful. Our Grandpa¡¯s still careful.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded, ¡°He sticks to the plan if he thinks it¡¯s good.¡±


    Cassie scanned the room around us, gun in hand, eyes on lab machines, storage containers, and mystery artifacts. We¡¯d gathered up all the monkey boxes, put them in a pile, and then she¡¯d burned them to what we all hoped were their component molecules.


    Still, you never knew if we¡¯d missed one or if they could reform from even that level of damage.


    ¡°Hey,¡± she said, ¡°if you¡¯re ready, I¡¯m ready to see if I can overcome Victor''s hold on this place. Otherwise, Shift can try again.¡±


    Marcus shook his head, ¡°If you don¡¯t get through, I¡¯ll try it, but right now I need a second. My brain is still kind of scattered. If I close my eyes, I can see the inside of Victor¡¯s skull as I chop up his¡­ Anyway, I need a second.¡±


    Rachel lay back against a lopsided polygon that was almost a cube. My implant labeled it a storage container even though it had no seams or doors. Leaning forward to sit up straight, she gritted her teeth, ¡°I can help too. The Ghosts taught me a little about Artificer and Abominator technology. I can help avoid or maybe even disable some traps, but if Cassie can do it, I¡¯d prefer not to move.¡±


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    ¡°Are you okay?¡± The sensors in her suit had reported damage when she got hit but within normal human tolerances. I wasn¡¯t a doctor though. I¡¯d designed the suits to measure vitals, detect blood, and identify broken bones, but not everything.


    As I asked the question, Jaclyn watched Rachel, saying, ¡°I¡¯m not seeing anything that worries me in your vitals, but how are you feeling?¡±


    Rachel held up her hands, ¡°Not good, but no major pain. I can still walk, but I feel sore all over.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded, ¡°Tell me if anything changes. We¡¯ve got first aid plus a little in the jet. I¡¯d like to look at you there. After that, we can land in L.A. so Paladin or his dad can heal you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine with that,¡± I said. ¡°Cap, how long do you think it will take to get in?¡±


    Glancing over at me, Cassie said, ¡°No idea. It might be easy. It might be hard.¡±


    I¡¯d spent too much time answering questions I didn¡¯t know enough details to answer to give her a hard time and only said, ¡°Got it. I¡¯m going to check something while you dive in.¡±


    I stepped up to the Starplate¡¯s controls. Even though my Xiniti implant labeled them, I didn¡¯t need the help. I had one at home. The controls weren¡¯t meant for human hands. I had to extend the armor at the end of my fingers into a hole to activate it, but I still managed to start the temporal analysis of Victor¡¯s body.


    Between that and checking the logs, it appeared that Victor arrived in the 1950s, got trapped by the Starplate, accidentally released in the late 1970s when the Russians arrived, and then retrapped by Grandpa only minutes later. Checking the data from Victor¡¯s arrival showed that he¡¯d arrived from a time within two or three weeks of the present day. It couldn¡¯t get more exact than that.


    I turned away from the controls to face everyone else, ¡°Hey, it looks like Victor either left within the last few days or at most a couple weeks or¡­ he¡¯s just about to leave.¡±


    Marcus straightened up to look at me, ¡°Seriously? So if we go find him, we could change the past?¡±


    I thought about it, paused, and said, ¡°It depends on your time travel system. If we¡¯ve got a fixed past, then no effect. Everything continues as it has to no matter what. If the past is fluid, then maybe everything falls apart unless another time traveler fixes it.


    ¡°If we assume quantum mechanics and that every change spins off a new universe, Victor''s leaving creates a universe where he went back in time and another one where he chose not to. Weirder, by arriving he spins off a new universe where he arrives from one where he didn¡¯t. So, it¡¯s possible that if we run into him and he doesn¡¯t leave because of that, we¡¯ve spun off a new universe where he doesn¡¯t leave, but he still arrived and the universe where he left still exists.¡±


    ¡°You know,¡± Marcus stood up, ¡°I feel like my head should be spinning, but that kind of makes sense.¡±


    Jaclyn walked up and stood next to me, looking over the Starplate¡¯s controls, ¡°I¡¯ve spent too much time with both of you because that made sense to me too.¡±


    As she finished her sentence, the ominous dark hallway we walked through to get to the lab brightened, changing to the warm lighting of your average suburban living room.


    ¡°Got it,¡± Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯m in. Let¡¯s see if we have anything that can find Lee¡¯s device.¡±

 Waning Moon: Part 4

    ¡°You¡¯ve got an inventory list?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Close enough,¡± Cassie said. ¡°I¡¯ve got multiple inventory lists, all of them protected from the different Abominator clone lineages by security that we¡¯d never get through¡ªexcept now everyone¡¯s dead. Thanks to Abominator inheritance law, the property, including intellectual property, reverts to the eldest clone lineage within the same group of sublineages. With everyone dead, all of it reverts to the control of anyone left with a Citizen¡¯s Mark. As the last remaining representative of the Abominator civilization, I inherit everything.¡±


    ¡°Unless Victor¡¯s still here,¡± I said.


    ¡°Right,¡± Cassie nodded, ¡°unless Victor hasn¡¯t gone back in time yet, but it¡¯s no problem even then unless he shows up on the Moon.¡±


    ¡°So we won¡¯t call him,¡± Rachel let her arms fall to her sides and stretched out her legs. ¡°Get on with it, please.¡±


    The touch of sharpness in her voice reminded me that the sooner we got this over with, the sooner we could leave and get her healed. It must have reminded Cassie too because she closed her eyes and said, ¡°It¡¯ll be a second.¡±


    As Cassie looked through her lists, I asked Rachel, ¡°Are you okay? It¡¯s not getting worse, is it?¡±


    Rachel shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s not worse, but I¡¯m still sore and it¡¯s not better.¡±


    While she talked, Jaclyn took a few steps closer, ¡°We can still leave and come back.¡±


    Rachel shook her head, ¡°We can¡¯t. There¡¯s no time.¡±


    Frowning, Jaclyn didn¡¯t try to argue with her, ¡°You¡¯re right, but don¡¯t suffer if you¡¯re hurting.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Rachel said. ¡°I¡¯m not going to let myself die.¡±


    That chilled conversation for a few minutes as everyone thought about Travis. I did, at least. It wasn¡¯t in a guilty way, but three days ago he was alive. It seemed impossible that he was gone now. Especially in the group''s early days, he¡¯d pushed us to be more professional and take it seriously. It wasn¡¯t always realistic to expect that of high school students, but he wasn¡¯t wrong.


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    He also seemed to imagine that he might be the leader the team needed¡ªat least in the beginning. He wasn¡¯t pushing for it after the first few years. Maybe he could have been.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Cassie said, giving a wave. ¡°Over here, everybody. Bad news. When the Russians came through, they grabbed the best candidate. The Abominators had a device they made for finding Artificer technology, but according to the security logs, the Russians grabbed it when they came back in¡­ 1981, I think.¡±


    ¡°The Russians have it?¡± Jaclyn shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll let us borrow it.¡±


    I thought back to Stapledon, ¡°Remember when Blue almost fought that Russian team? Rhino got a message from a member through backchannels asking if it was us. We might go through him.¡±


    ¡°I remember it,¡± Marcus said, ¡°I was flying the jet. There was a wizard on a flying carpet, people in powered armor, normal super types, and we were flying over a desert on the other side of the world¡­ It was weird.¡±


    From her seat on the floor, Rachel said, ¡°Going through the Rhino¡¯s friend sounds good. We don¡¯t want to break into the Kremlin or wherever they keep it.¡±


    Cassie waved a hand in the air, ¡°Whoa, everyone, we¡¯ve got another option.¡±


    ¡°Better than sneaking into Russia?¡± Jaclyn asked, ¡°I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s possible.¡±


    Cassie laughed, ¡°They¡¯ve got another one, but it¡¯s not on the Moon. It¡¯s on Mars.¡±


    I raised my hand, ¡°The other Abominator base? I heard Victor tell Rook about it once.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Cassie said, ¡°I was there when you heard it, but yeah. When the Abominators moved out of the Moonbase, they went to their main base. The Artificers left tech on Mars which is what attracted the Abominators here. They removed some of it to the Moon to study, but not everything.¡±


    Marcus stood up from where he¡¯d been sitting near Rachel, ¡°Let¡¯s go, we shouldn¡¯t have to fight anyone on Mars. Russia could get messy. The Dominators and the Nine could be anywhere.¡±


    Glancing over at Rachel, Jaclyn said, ¡°We shouldn¡¯t have had to fight anyone here, but Shift still almost died. Ghost could have died too. I¡¯m not saying we absolutely shouldn¡¯t, but anything we found here could be on Mars. We¡¯ll be going from weird alien stuff to more weird alien stuff. Worse, Ghost is injured now. It shouldn¡¯t be a snap decision.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t feel that bad,¡± Rachel said. ¡°I feel sore, but I can handle it for a few hours. Let¡¯s go there and get it over with. Shift¡¯s right about Russia. The Dominators could have turned anyone. On Mars, it will be dangerous, but we won¡¯t have to worry about people betraying us.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°With the right kind of time travel shenanigans, Victor could be on Mars too. I mean, that''s obviously not likely, but Rook sounded like he wanted to go and that was a few years ago now. He¡¯s had all the time he needed if he wanted to loot the place.¡±

 Waning Moon: Part 5

    ¡°Look,¡± Rachel said, ¡°Accelerando said that my vitals aren¡¯t showing anything unusually wrong. If we¡¯re going to go to Mars, let¡¯s go. I¡¯d rather take my chances with alien tech. Except maybe for Magnus, we may be Earth¡¯s greatest alien tech experts now. We¡¯re not the greatest experts on the Nine. Let¡¯s go. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we meet with Paladin.¡±


    ¡°That,¡± Marcus said, ¡°she¡¯s right.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t like it, but you¡¯re making sense. I¡¯d still like to look at Rachel before we get to Mars.¡±


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s it then,¡± Cassie stepped over to stand with the rest of us. ¡°I reset all of the Abominator¡¯s security. The moment we¡¯re out of here, it all comes on again¡ªmonkeys and everything. I¡¯ve turned on a few things Victor didn¡¯t bother with. I¡¯m sure he hoped visitors would find him--so it was more for show.¡±


    ¡°I like the idea of preventing people from getting in here,¡± I said, opening up a connection to Hal through my implant. ¡°I¡¯ll ping Hal so we don¡¯t have to wait to leave.¡±


    I did it and fifteen minutes later we were in the air, or more technically, flying through the Moon¡¯s thin atmosphere.


    This time I took the controls and plotted the course to Mars. It wasn¡¯t in the most convenient spot, almost exactly but not perfectly, on the other side of the sun. Earth¡¯s current technology would have taken a year plus to get there. Our standard drives would take hours, maybe even a day if we wanted to be cautious.


    I cheated. One of our faster-than-light options allowed us to be out of phase but still connected to our universe, allowing us to hit a significant fraction of light speed.


    It took us a little over half an hour to reach Mars, the stars turning to long streaks of light¡ªwhich made me vaguely happy if only because of the resemblance to Star Trek.


    Slowing down so we could transition back to normal space took more time than the trip, but it was worth it. Why? Because even hitting a pebble at 40% light speed would ruin your day.


    Best to slow down.


    In the meantime, Jaclyn did a quick examination of Rachel¡ªwhich had its awkward elements. The League jet had essentially three rooms¡ªthe bathroom, engines, and passenger area. Only one of them had room for an exam. That meant that for privacy¡¯s sake, we all looked forward.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    We¡¯d spent more than a week together when we flew to Hideaway. It wasn¡¯t a new thing.


    Aside from that, it went well. Jaclyn ended the exam with, ¡°Nothing seems broken. You¡¯re turning black and blue all over your body, but you¡¯re not badly hurt. Rocket, is that the way it¡¯s supposed to work?¡±


    Watching our speed drop on the dashboard as our engines slowed the ship down, I said, ¡°The armor¡¯s designed so that any force that gets through will be spread out as much as possible. So, I guess you could say it¡¯s working perfectly?¡±


    Rachel sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t have any right to complain, but it looks like someone threw me down the stairs and every part of my body hit except for my head. It¡¯s better than being dead, but my version of ¡®working perfectly¡¯ is different.¡±


    Noticing that we¡¯d finally hit a safe speed, I started the transition out of ¡°near space¡± into what you might call real space¡ªphasing into our actual real universe.


    Mars changed from a fuzzy red disc into the red world I remembered from pictures, complete with craters and none of the straight lines that astronomers assumed were canals in the late 1800s. Mars¡¯ moons appeared to be on the other side of the planet.


    It reminded me of the Master Martian. The Mars of his universe must have had seas and canals. We¡¯d sent him back there only a few months ago. I wondered how he was doing. Hypothetically, we could have checked in with him using the Starplate on the Moon, but it wasn¡¯t the right time.


    The jet¡¯s systems registered a beacon for an Abominator base near the equator. I turned back to everyone else since Rachel had suited up, ¡°We¡¯re in normal space and making our descent. Hal detected an Abominator beacon that¡¯s still broadcasting. I assume we¡¯re going there. I might need Cap to negotiate with it.¡±


    Cassie sat down at the weapons console, ¡°Let¡¯s do it. I¡¯ll let you know when we¡¯re close enough for me to connect.¡±


    The planet grew closer as I aimed for the Abominator beacon, becoming bigger and redder by the second. I¡¯d visited the Moon already this today and now I was about to land on Mars only because I had to. How had I owned a spaceship for more than five years and not visited every planet in the solar system already?


    ¡°Hey,¡± Cassie said, ¡°I know you¡¯re focused on the beacon, but I¡¯ve been scanning ahead. Look at what I¡¯ve got.¡±


    She sent a link to what she¡¯d captured through the sensors and not just to me¡ªto everyone with implants¡ªbasically everyone but Rachel.


    The Abominators hadn¡¯t even tried to hide their presence on Mars. They created a wide disc out of Martian soil. Though piles of dust filled in the edges and small hills covered parts of the structure, there was no question that it was artificial.


    Worse, three spaceships stood in front of it. I might have felt better if I¡¯d seen the white, blue, and red striped flag of the Russian Federation on any of them. If that had been true, I¡¯d have a chance of finding a reasonable person there.


    Instead, I recognized the familiar cigar-with-fins shape of the League jet. Except these spaceships weren¡¯t silver, they were black. Outlined in grey, the logo of a crow-like bird appeared on the nose of each one of them¡ªa rook.


    ¡°Seriously?¡± Jaclyn shook her head, ¡°I was wondering just yesterday if we¡¯d ever see him again.¡±


    Rachel looked around the cabin, ¡°Do any of you think it''s even a little bit rude to leave me out of these conversations?¡±

 Waning Moon: Part 6

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Cassie threw the picture from her implant onto the feed for screens in the jet.


    I slowed the jet down further because now that we were no longer working at the speed of thought, we needed a second. I already had cloaking on. Hopefully, Rook hadn¡¯t figured out a way to detect it.


    He¡¯d figured out how to block Cassie¡¯s blade and Grandpa¡¯s monomolecular tech before our last fight. The cloaking tech wasn¡¯t on full display, so he might not realize we had it, but you never knew.


    His fascination and admiration for Grandpa¡¯s tech and even mine neared obsession as witnessed by creating his own version of the League jet in addition to his own Rook suits and weaponry.


    I wasn¡¯t sure whether it came from admiration or hatred. Maybe jealousy? All of those?


    Rachel peered at the screen in front of her chair, ¡°So¡­ Rook? The Rocket wannabe?¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I thought about our past interactions with him, ¡°I don¡¯t think you were around either time we fought him.¡±


    ¡°I was,¡± Rachel frowned, ¡°but I was out of town for an internship when you were at Higher Ground. The time Cap got captured, I flew along but with the nerve gas in his base, I didn¡¯t come into the fight until the end. I don¡¯t think I even saw him except maybe for a second.¡±


    ¡°It was probably for the best,¡± I stared ahead toward the flat disc, ¡°Rook¡¯s the kind of guy who¡¯d have the equipment to prevent you from phasing out.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to facing him then because that goes so well,¡± Rachel stretched out her right arm and grimaced from whatever pain or soreness remained.


    Jaclyn¡¯s suit absorbed her helmet, and she took a glance at the screen in front of her before saying, ¡°Do we want to sneak in or fight? We could talk, but we don¡¯t have the best talker with us.¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Cassie laughed, ¡°Rook would talk to the Rocket. He might even talk to me. He was very interested in the Citizen¡¯s Mark when he held me captive.¡±


    Shaking her head, Jaclyn said, ¡°Don¡¯t take this wrong, but I don¡¯t see either of you persuading Rook to do something. The Rocket might work as a distraction because of the whole techboy crush thing, but I don¡¯t think the Rocket will convince him to let us walk around inside.¡±


    Staring the jet in a wide circle around the Abominator red disc, I said, ¡°Techboy crush is pushing it. I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s straight, but was impressed by Grandpa¡¯s tech. Larry told me that he saw Rook get maced because he hit on a woman once.¡±


    Rachel shook her head, ¡°That was in the 80s. Hitting on women didn¡¯t mean you were necessarily straight. It could mean that you didn¡¯t want people to think you¡¯re gay. Ok, sure. Maybe he liked Grandpa¡¯s tech so much he patterned his whole life around recreating his own version, but is liking someone¡¯s technology enough to do that?¡±


    I thought about it as I let the jet slow. I¡¯d be using the anti-grav to keep it in the air eventually. Eventually, I said, ¡°It depends on how cool the technology is¡­ I have a hard time seeing it as a sexual thing.¡±


    From a couple of rows back, Marcus said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. If you look at Batman and the Joker, some people think it is at least on the Joker¡¯s end. It doesn¡¯t have to be creepy though. Think about Black Cat and Spider-man. For her, it¡¯s all about the persona of Spider-man that she¡¯s attracted to just like Joker is obsessed with Batman, but doesn¡¯t care about Bruce Wayne.¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jaclyn¡¯s face twitch, ¡°Unless we¡¯re going to have the Rocket seduce Rook, I don¡¯t see this as relevant.¡±


    Cassie turned away from the weapons console, looking back at everyone else, grinning, ¡°That sounds hot, but I have a better idea. It¡¯s simple. We sneak in. We¡¯ve got to land anyway. I¡¯m not getting enough of a connection up here. If we go down on the far side, I can get a connection and open something or you can break in. Simple. Done.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, Jaclyn said, ¡°It¡¯s never that simple.¡±


    Rachel laughed, ¡°It isn¡¯t, but let¡¯s try it. I can float in, scout, and let you in, or at least suggest the best place to break through. I think that¡¯s a good beginning.¡±


    Giving her a nod, Jaclyn said, ¡°I can work with that.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Cassie¡¯s smile widened, ¡°Now we can talk about the important questions. For example, what¡¯s the next limb Rook loses going to be? The Rocket blew up his hand. I got a leg. What¡¯s next?¡±


    Marcus raised his hand, ¡°Not a limb. It¡¯s got to be an eye or ear. Then he can give himself a super sense.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯re on the far side from Rook¡¯s ships. I¡¯m taking this down. There¡¯s an indentation that might be an entrance. We could start there.¡±

 Waning Moon: Part 7

    I let the jet drop toward the ground, landing on the red dirt of Mars, thinking again that I could have visited purely to visit at any time, and that I was now only here because of this.


    Behind me in the cabin, everyone set their suits to full coverage, helmets reforming over their heads.


    I checked outside. The circle-shaped structure that ascended from the ground, seemingly made of Martian dirt, felt taller now that I¡¯d landed. It wasn¡¯t quite a mesa, but it was at least 20 feet taller than it appeared when we sat inside the jet.


    Getting closer made it more obviously artificial. I was perfectly round except for the indentation I¡¯d suspected might be a door.


    I wasn¡¯t wrong either.


    The ¡°indentation¡± turned out to be a short alley inches wider than the door at the end, its walls smooth except for the dust that had accumulated at the bottom.


    A constant, low-level wind blew, sending bits of dust into the air.


    I only recognized it as a door from the seams in the wall. It had no hinges, appearing to be a flat slab of Martian stone. Something about it made me feel uneasy. I couldn¡¯t put a finger on it, but it didn¡¯t feel normal.


    To be fair, a door with no hinges, doorknob, or anything but a seam wasn¡¯t normal.


    Cassie looked over at me, ¡°What¡¯s up? Are you scanning it?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°It¡¯s weird for a door. I was wondering how to open it. Probably a Citizen¡¯s Mark or something.¡±


    She shrugged, said, ¡°I hope so,¡± and stood up.


    I followed her out, joining everyone else outside. Letting Hal know that he could do whatever he thought best to keep the jet hidden but available if we needed a quick exit, I walked with everyone else toward the door.


    As we moved, I did scan the area with the suit¡¯s sensors. I didn¡¯t have a specific reason to do it. This wasn¡¯t Dungeons and Dragons. I didn¡¯t expect to find a pit trap. The traps that worried me were more subtle.


    Subtle or otherwise, I didn¡¯t find any. Neither sonics nor radar gave me a hint of what might be behind the wall. If I learned anything, it was only that the structure extended below the surface, but that wasn¡¯t a surprise.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    We stepped into what I¡¯d seen as an ¡°indentation¡± from the jet. On the ground, it felt more like a short alley, the kind that led into the back of a small restaurant or coffee shop. This place, though had walls made of red, Martian rock or maybe hardened soil¡ªmaybe even a kind of concrete, all free of decoration.


    As we grew closer though, the feeling I¡¯d had in the jet grew, not to the point where it became overwhelming, but rather more distinct. If anything, it became easier to ignore in the same way that a bunch of multicolored lights might be distracting in the distance, but as you grow closer, you see each one separately.


    That¡¯s how I felt here except I couldn¡¯t see or hear anything.


    We stopped in front of the door¡ªwhich didn¡¯t look any different than it had from a distance except that it was bigger than I¡¯d realized. It was still smooth except for the seam. Cassie spoke to us over the comms, ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to connect to whatever the Abominators left here and I¡¯m getting nothing. I even checked with the gun and it says that there¡¯s an Abominator network on the other side of the building, but nothing here. Ghost? It¡¯s on you.¡±


    Rachel smiled, ¡°I¡¯ve got it, but it might get complicated.¡±


    Eyeing her, Jaclyn said, ¡°I don¡¯t like the sound of that.¡±


    Nodding Rachel turned to me, ¡°Rocket, you have to be sensing something.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, and realizing the obvious said, ¡°it¡¯s an Artificer thing, right? Should I be trying to focus on it?¡±


    Shaking her head, Rachel said, ¡°Not if you didn¡¯t recognize it. I haven¡¯t had time to tell you about everything I¡¯ve done with the Cosmic Ghosts, but one of the things they do is neutralize Artificer technology. This door is one of theirs. If I had to bet, this complex is one of theirs. I know how to get in, but we¡¯re going to have to be careful. The Destroy faction knows what we do and they don¡¯t make it easy for us.


    ¡°Rocket, Kee¡¯s taught you enough control that you can watch without touching, right? Because I need you to watch. I might not need your help now, but once we get in, I will. We get help from the Live faction sometimes. You¡¯re the closest we¡¯ve got.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± Jaclyn took a step toward Rachel, ¡°are you sure we should be doing this? We could still go to the front. No offense, Rocket, but from what you¡¯ve said, you¡¯re an Artificer baby, or maybe a toddler now.¡±


    ¡°None taken,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s about right.¡±


    ¡°We can,¡± Rachel pointed toward the door, ¡°I¡¯ve helped with three different Artificer sites in the past year. They¡¯re made to entice sapient creatures, but some of their defenses turn off when an Artificer is there. The Rocket doesn¡¯t need to know anything. For the rest, I¡¯m still trained.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ll just stand around and look Artificery then.¡±


    Giving a half-smile, Rachel said, ¡°I¡¯m going to need more than that, but you can handle it.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°let¡¯s go.¡±


    Rachel stepped forward, phased her arm into the door, and felt around for a few seconds. Then she withdrew it and the door slid into the ground.


    Turning back to the group, Rachel said, ¡°We¡¯re in,¡± and nodded her head toward the opening.

 Waning Moon: Part 8

    If I¡¯d been hoping to see what was inside, I¡¯d have been disappointed. I hadn¡¯t expected to see anything more than an airlock, but there was no airlock here.


    Instead, what appeared to be glass with a hazy golden sheen blocked our view of the inside. Between experience with alien technology and years of consuming science fiction, I felt sure it wasn¡¯t glass.


    ¡°Walk through the golden force field,¡± Rachel told us over the comms. ¡°There¡¯s an atmosphere in there. The Artificers usually set it to be similar to the atmosphere of the nearest planet with intelligent life, but it might have adjusted to the Abominators'' preferences. Those weren¡¯t always breathable.¡±


    My implant supplied the knowledge that the Abominators could adjust to a wide range of environmental conditions, much wider than unmodified humans.


    Jaclyn and I stepped through first.


    With my first glance around the room, I understood what Rachel meant when she said that the Artificers designed with the intent of enticing people.


    We¡¯d walked into a garden. Water flowed through a stream that wound across the room, zigzagging through dark brown soil. Bees buzzed their way from flower to flower, collecting pollen. At least that¡¯s what they¡¯d be doing if they were real bees as opposed to cleverly designed copies. Dragonflies flew around the river.


    I didn¡¯t recognize every insect, but I didn¡¯t recognize every insect on Earth. So, the ones I¡¯d never seen before didn¡¯t have to have come from other worlds.


    I looked over at her, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see a garden. I was imagining directly usable technology and I don¡¯t know, maybe an owner''s manual along with it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what you¡¯re seeing,¡± Rachel said. ¡°Imagine us leaving Earth and finding this place after years of painstaking work and a two-year flight. We¡¯re desperate to figure out how to colonize another world, maybe even Mars and we¡¯ve got a working biosphere here. What do you want to bet there are plans for how to terraform the planet inside?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Taking another glance around the place, I said, ¡°Nothing. You¡¯ve seen this before?¡±


    Rachel shrugged, grimaced, and replied, ¡°In all except one of the sites I visited. It¡¯s what they do with young species. I¡¯m not sure how it¡¯s supposed to go wrong here, but it will and it¡¯s different for different species. The Ghosts told me about one time when it allowed a species to colonize its solar system so quickly that it didn¡¯t have the resources to keep up with the growth. The whole species went extinct. There was another where the terraforming machines tested diseases on the population until it created one that couldn¡¯t be stopped. There are more.¡±


    Stopping to stare at her, Jaclyn asked, ¡°How would they get anyone to copy that technology and spread it?¡±


    Throwing up her hands, Rachel said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m repeating what I was told.¡±


    ¡°I suppose if you don¡¯t understand how something works and copy it perfectly,¡± I said, giving the room another look. ¡°Any idea where to go next?¡±


    Rachel shook her head, ¡°They all look different. If you didn¡¯t know what to look for, you wouldn¡¯t recognize they were made by the same people.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Marcus said, ¡°at least in that direction I don¡¯t see any greenery.¡±


    He waved his hand toward a hallway on the far side of the room. The greenery appeared to end at the entrance. In the other directions, I could only see grass, soil, and bushes.


    ¡°True,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s worth trying.¡±


    To Rachel, I asked, ¡°Is it safe to try to use ¡®Artificer vision¡¯ or would that attract attention in here?¡±


    She frowned, ¡°You might be safer if you don¡¯t. The Ghosts told me not to try it sometimes. They told me to use it in others. I don¡¯t know why it was okay sometimes and why it wasn¡¯t when it wasn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d have thought it would be safe,¡± I said, ¡°but I guess if the Destroy faction sees the Ghosts or the Live faction as enemies, they might boobytrap the place and use that as a trigger.¡±


    Rachel glanced toward the hallway, ¡°I know Destroy saw us as enemies. I wouldn¡¯t put it past them.¡±


    Cassie checked behind us, her gun ready, ¡°My gun isn¡¯t sensing Abominator networks of any kind. It says this place is a black hole for Abominator tech. We should have brought Blue. She could have seen something.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s keep on walking to the hallway,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°at least it¡¯s different.¡±


    For the record, I didn¡¯t pull on any of the skills Kee had been trying to teach me as I walked. The Ghosts knew something. I didn¡¯t have the illusion I knew more.


    Much as I knew that, I wanted to because I felt the same way I did when we were outside. It was the same intensity of presence. It wasn¡¯t a bad or good feeling, but something felt intensely ¡°there.¡±


    Worse, I began hearing voices, their words indistinct, but I thought I knew them. One of them sounded like my grandfather.

 Waning Moon: Part 9

    It wasn¡¯t Grandpa as I knew him either. It was Grandpa from old newsreels and recordings. I had a few in the lab¡ªaccidental recordings from when Grandpa was tinkering with various versions of the sonic systems and test recordings that he¡¯d used for years to assure consistency in the official Rocket suit voice.


    It also wasn¡¯t just Grandpa.


    I also heard the rest of the team¡ªCaptain Commando, Night Wolf, C, the Mentalist, and Grandma.


    We were close to the hallway, still walking across grass and pushing past shrubs. The voices hadn¡¯t grown any louder or clearer, but they also hadn¡¯t grown softer.


    On the off-chance that it wasn¡¯t all in my head, I¡¯d checked the HUD¡¯s screen for sonic system details. It didn¡¯t show anything in the range of the human voice, only the white noise associated with walking across the ground.


    Over the comm, I asked, ¡°Is anyone else hearing things?¡±


    Jaclyn held up a hand for us to stop walking, ¡°What are you hearing?¡±


    ¡°At this moment? Nothing,¡± the voices had stopped, ¡°but as we¡¯ve been walking I¡¯ve been intermittently hearing voices, and not just any voices, the original League.¡±


    Marcus blinked, ¡°That¡¯s so cool. Grandpa mentioned time travel adventures. Do you think they¡¯re here?¡±


    I checked my HUD¡¯s view of data from the device that measured my placement in time and alternate universes relative to ours. It hadn¡¯t set off any alarms, so it wasn¡¯t surprising that we were still in our home universe and timeline.


    Of the various statistics that the temporal sensors collected, none showed abnormal levels as Grandpa defined them. What was interesting though, was that none of them were set to zero.


    All showed levels that fit individually within random fluctuations, but most of the time it meant that the majority showed nothing while one had meaningless blips of activity.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± I said, ¡°but check the temporal stats in your HUD.¡±


    Marcus frowned, ¡°None of them are high enough to show nearby time travel.¡±


    Jaclyn broke in as he stopped talking, ¡°But all of them are active. That¡¯s weird.¡±


    ¡°And not from any particular direction from what I¡¯m seeing,¡± I turned around, giving the whole area a quick sweep.


    Rachel held up her hands, ¡°If you¡¯re looking for alien insights, I¡¯m fresh out and I¡¯m not hearing anything.¡±


    Marcus grinned at me, ¡°Hearing voices is supposed to be a bad thing.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m not going mad, but if I am, you¡¯ll be the first to know.¡±


    Stopping at the entrance to the hallway, Marcus said, ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±


    If I was expecting the hallway to be a revelation, it wasn¡¯t. Made of the same red substance as the rest of the building on the ceiling, walls, and floors, itcurved, going on for as far as I could see with no windows or doors.


    As we stepped into it, I felt the same thing I¡¯d felt outside again¡ªthe feeling that there was something here, but nothing I could see.


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Rachel said, ¡°do you feel something right now?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± My eyes swept the hall in case there was something to see.


    ¡°It¡¯s an Artificer control panel or a device you can operate. The Ghosts told me not to reach out to them unless I knew what they were. I recognized the controls that got us in, but nothing else.¡±


    Rachel shook her head, ¡°Some of them are traps. Ghosts have accidentally signaled the Destroy faction and barely escaped.¡±


    Ahead, Cassie pointed to the gun in her hand, ¡°That might explain something. The gun hasn¡¯t said a thing since we entered the hallway. I think he¡¯s scared.¡±


    ¡°Really, what¡¯s he seeing?¡± I stared down at the glittery blue-green weapon.


    ¡°Who knows? I think it¡¯s the first time he¡¯s shut up since I¡¯ve known him,¡± Cassie shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything special when I use ¡®gun-o-vision¡¯.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t figured out all the sources of the gun¡¯s view of the world. Cassie could tap into it through her link and from what she could sense, it was every bit as good as what I¡¯d included in the suits, but it might be that the gun was holding out on her.


    Turning her head toward Cassie, Jaclyn said, ¡°Can¡¯t you command him to tell you because of your Citizen¡¯s Mark?¡±


    ¡°Normally,¡± Cassie peered down at the weapon, ¡°but not with this.¡±


    We continued to walk as we talked, but as we passed a spot with a door-shaped line on the wall, I had the ¡°Artificer controls¡± feeling again. This time it was accompanied by a pulse followed by a voice.


    ¡°Nick,¡± Lee said, ¡°I¡¯m glad you made it here¡ªin more than one sense. I¡¯ve got a problem¡ªmultiple problems¡ªbut they come down to one in the end. I¡¯ve got a nice little pocket universe hideaway where I¡¯ve kept a few important things but I can¡¯t get out of it. You¡¯re in a position to help.¡±

 Waning Moon: Part 10

    As he spoke, I wondered how I could reply, but then realized that I felt the familiar feeling of being in the in-between space I¡¯d used to take lessons from Kee.


    I thought back, ¡°I¡¯d been wondering where you were. I was told you¡¯d returned to Earth after working with Kee for a while, but I hadn¡¯t seen you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well. I solved a small mystery I¡¯d been worrying about, but that meant visiting this place and now I can¡¯t get out. How long has it been for you?¡±


    I thought back to what Dayton had said. They¡¯d ridden back with Lee, ¡°Since you came back to Earth? Three months or so.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Lee paused, ¡°That could be a lot worse. This place exists outside time to a degree. So anyone who¡¯s ever visited is still kind of here. Most of the time you exit at almost the same time you got in, though I can exit more or less when I want to provided it¡¯s later than I came in. At least most of the time. Right now I can¡¯t leave at all.¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°If you can leave in the future, can you check ahead for when you¡¯ll next be able to?¡±


    Lee laughed, ¡°Not a bad idea, but that¡¯s not how it works. The pocket universe is connected to the galaxy core device and right now someone has control of the first layer¡ªwhich I¡¯d need to control if I wanted to leave. Whoever it is, it¡¯s one of you. If it were one of us, I¡¯d be fighting for my life already.¡±


    ¡°Magnus,¡± I said.


    A whiff of irritation came through the connection, ¡°That guy? I¡¯ve thought about killing him a couple of different times in the past thousand years. I guess I should¡¯ve.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said, ¡°what can he do with the first layer? From what I''ve seen, he can create a global field. Rachel felt the hum as she reentered.¡±


    Silence came from the other end, but I could feel Lee¡¯s presence. After a time he said, ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. He can¡¯t get full control of the first layer without coming in here and taking control of the second and third. And then he¡¯d be facing me plus a few additional surprises.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    He paused again, ¡°Well unless he recovered something from the Abominators that would allow him to get around that. They got around a few things Destroy didn¡¯t expect they¡¯d get around. We almost decided to destroy them despite how much of a success they were overall. Kee persuaded us not to¡­ That looks different in hindsight. Anyway, on a purely human level, a lot. The Abominators put enough of our tech into you that he should be able to use it directly for fighting¡ªthough that won¡¯t put him on the level of one of us.


    ¡°He¡¯ll be a challenge for one of you though. Worse, he might be able to fix himself.¡±


    I closed my eyes as a wave of fear passed through me.


    Rachel looked over at me, ¡°Is something wrong?¡±


    ¡°Lee¡¯s one of the voices. He¡¯s trapped. We¡¯re talking.¡±


    I tried to think of anything else I could add that wouldn¡¯t start a second conversation to pay attention to.


    Turning away from the door Marcus said, ¡°Lee¡¯s trapped? Does he need us to get him out?¡±


    Seeing an exit, I said, ¡°Yes. We¡¯re discussing that.¡±


    Eyeing Marcus, Jaclyn said, ¡°Don¡¯t let us distract you then.¡±


    ¡°Fix himself?¡± I thought back at Lee.


    ¡°Magnus became annoying,¡± Lee said. ¡°He united the Dominators. He couldn¡¯t do exactly what they can¡ªtell people to do something or force them to accept some fact is true. He can¡¯t fully control it, but people around him start to believe things that benefit him. He can¡¯t tell people what to do, but given time he gathers people around himself. Even the people that don¡¯t like him start to believe it¡¯s impossible to stop him.¡±


    The first time we¡¯d talked, Magnus mentioned that he used to have powered people around him, ¡°How is it that he doesn¡¯t rule the world?¡±


    ¡°Heh,¡± Lee snorted, ¡°you know the line about not being able to fool all of the people all of the time? Someone noticed his ability a while back and burned it out. I was barely involved at all. If I had been, I¡¯d have killed him. After that, he wasn¡¯t a threat. Sure, he was still involved with the Cabal, but he couldn¡¯t do as much. He¡¯s immune to the Dominators¡¯ influence as a side effect, but that¡¯s less of a problem.¡±


    I felt his sigh rather than heard it, ¡°Unfortunately, there are still embers of his ability left, just enough to affect maybe one person at a time and not much. With the device''s strength behind him, it¡¯s going to be worse. If he taps it, he can power up himself and his followers¡ªpermanently. I¡¯ve done it a few times myself.¡±

 Knock, Knock?: Part 1

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°who did you power up?¡±


    Lee laughed, ¡°Intentionally? No one you know. That risks the wrong kind of attention, but I do it when it¡¯s worth the risks. Unintentionally? Everyone who stayed near me with the right kind of ancestry¡ªincluding you and your friends. My kind are a nexus for power. If you can collect it, you¡¯ll get a little more than you normally would.¡±


    That opened up new lines of thought we didn¡¯t have time for right now, but maybe after we freed him, we might.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I spoke the word aloud, prompting the rest of the group to look at me. To forestall questions, I shook my head, ¡°I¡¯m going to want more details about that sometime, but for now, how do we get you out?¡±


    I didn¡¯t have to wait for Lee¡¯s reply.


    ¡°Easy. Find Magnus and kill him. It should be doable, but harder if he puts the rest of the Nine in your way. You might go to wherever he¡¯s moved the connection portal, attune yourself and take over if you can. You might not have the strength, but that¡¯s the other option.


    ¡°It¡¯s the one I¡¯d take if it were me, but I know I can use it. Your problem is that Magnus can use an entire criminal network against you before you get to him, so it won¡¯t be as easy as it should be. Worse, I¡¯d keep the connection portal close if I were him. So you might have to go through the Nine to find it.¡±


    The more Lee talked, the worse this sounded. There had to be some way to make it work. I ran through options, suggesting, ¡°Would having Rachel along help?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The two of you are human, but when it comes to this, you¡¯re a mix. The Ghosts are an alternate version of us, close enough that we could have interbred, but never did. It might help. The Ghosts don¡¯t have the same level of general power as we do, but I get the impression that their power is more precisely directed. Anyway, I should end this before Magnus notices. We don¡¯t want that guy listening in.¡±


    Lee cleared his throat, ¡°I covered everything I wanted you to know and maybe a little more. I know it sounds bad. It won¡¯t be easy, but I think you can do it. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re doubting it, but speaking as a near immortal, multi-dimensional, alien being who¡¯s put more than a millennium of work into you and your friends¡¯ families, I know what I¡¯m talking about. See you soon, kid.¡±


    I felt his presence disappear, leaving me fully aware of the barren red stone of the hallway and my friends watching to see when I finished.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Jaclyn noticed before anyone else, ¡°What did he have to say?¡±


    ¡°Not too much more than I already told you. He¡¯s trapped in a pocket dimension that¡¯s somehow related to the galaxy core device he hid on Earth. He told me that he¡¯d find the device, sneak in, and take control of it so Magnus can¡¯t do anything more with it, but he¡¯s not sure that we have what¡¯s needed to connect to it. His recommended plan, assuming that we can¡¯t is to find Magnus and kill him.¡±


    Nodding, Jaclyn said, ¡°That sounds like Lee.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°except that won¡¯t be easy either. It makes Magnus himself physically powerful and restores a Dominator-style power that affects people around him even when he¡¯s not speaking to them. Plus it discourages even the people who it doesn¡¯t affect from fighting him. If that wasn¡¯t enough, he can power up anyone he wants to and he¡¯s got the Nine at his disposal. So he¡¯s got a lot of potential candidates.¡±


    Rachel blinked, ¡°That sounds bad. It almost sounds like we might want to chance taking over the device ourselves.¡±


    ¡°Sneaking in and taking over an ancient alien device that threatens the world from the guy who thinks he controls it,¡± Marcus couldn¡¯t hide his grin. ¡°That would be amazing.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I thought,¡± I shook my head. ¡°But it''s pretty far from a slam dunk. The way Lee figures it, Magnus would keep something Lee called a ¡®connection portal¡¯ close. There¡¯s a good chance we¡¯d have to fight through everything that would protect him to get to the portal.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Marcus let out a sigh, ¡°imagine one of those Cabal guys with an additional power up and that might be what we¡¯re up against.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Or one of the True or one of the Nine¡¯s cloned superheroes or a bunch of the good guys who have had their hidden trigger activated and now they¡¯re working for Magnus or¡­¡±


    I let the thought hang in the air.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Marcus looked around at all of us, ¡°that doesn¡¯t just sound bad, but tragic for us and the rest of the world.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°That might be why Lee ended with a kind of a pep talk.¡±


    Rachel raised an eyebrow, ¡°A pep talk? ¡®Don¡¯t worry, kid. I know you can kill them all''.¡±


    ¡°That was surprisingly close,¡± I said, ¡°but in the context of the rest of the conversation, it sounded like he¡¯d implied that he knew we could do it because he¡¯d been subtly powering up our families for the last thousand years.¡±


    Shaking her head, Rachel said, ¡°I wish I could say it surprised me. Among the Ghosts, Lee¡¯s reputation is that he seems like he¡¯s impulsive, but he¡¯s actually playing a very long game.¡±


    Though my helmet hid it, I felt sure that my face showed utter disbelief, ¡°Do they think it¡¯s all an act?¡±


    Rachel shook her head, ¡°They think he¡¯s every bit as impulsive as he seems, but he sees so many steps in the future that his impulsiveness doesn¡¯t screw it up.¡±


    Jaclyn took a step forward and waved us to follow, ¡°We can¡¯t risk Rook or one of his people taking what we¡¯re looking for even if they don¡¯t know what it is.¡±


    Before anyone else could respond, Cassie, who¡¯d been looking further down the hallway during the entire conversation said, ¡°We should go there. My dad was here.¡±


    Marcus glanced down the hallway and then back at Cassie, ¡°How do you know that?¡±


    Cassie pointed toward a spot where the hallway began to turn, ¡°See the dark spot? He wrote on the wall.¡±


    Rachel laughed, ¡°What does it say, ¡®Captain Commando was here¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Close,¡± Cassie said, ¡°¡®Kilroy was here¡¯.¡±

 Knock, Knock? Part 2

    I zoomed in and so did everyone else. It was a small drawing of a man with a long nose peering over a wall. The words ¡°Kilroy was here,¡± were written below the drawing.


    Marcus said, ¡°There¡¯s one of those in the hangar at home.¡±


    Cassie nodded, ¡°Dad left them when he had the time.¡±


    With an eye roll, Jaclyn said, ¡°And even when he didn¡¯t, Grandpa told me about once when they were sneaking out of a supervillain¡¯s base and he had to return for Cap. They nearly got caught because of it.¡±


    Marcus turned to Jaclyn, ¡°I missed out on that story.¡±


    ¡°Ask him when we get home. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll tell it. He liked that one,¡± Jaclyn shook her head.


    Marcus raised an eyebrow, ¡°Is it better than the one about Evil Beatnik and the Hare Krishnas? Or the time they defeated some supervillain using Twinkies?¡±


    ¡°Different,¡± she said. ¡°Still funny.¡±


    Cassie caught my eye, ¡°It¡¯s not the first one on this trip. I saw one in the lab in the Abominator moon base too.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± I asked, ¡°You didn¡¯t mention it then.¡±


    ¡°You and Accelerando had been teleported out. Victor had Shift. Ghost and I were fighting slime monkeys. That¡¯s when I saw it,¡± she shrugged, ¡°and by the time you were all back I¡¯d forgotten.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I nodded, ¡°I can see how you might get distracted¡­ You know what¡¯s interesting, though? Nothing I saw in the records of helping Lee with the device ever mentioned going to Mars. I suppose they might have been here for some other reason.¡±


    Cassie glanced toward me, ¡°Or Dad could have been here without the team. He worked for the government and on his own for years after everyone else retired.¡±


    ¡°Also possible,¡± I said.


    ¡°Maybe I¡¯m crazy,¡± Marcus said, ¡°but could it have been someone else?¡±


    I thought about it, ¡°It was a World War 2 GI thing and it¡¯s a weird world, so if some other GI got transported to Mars, maybe.¡±


    Jaclyn pursed her lips, ¡°If we were being crazy paranoid, it could be a supervillain who knew Cap did it, but no one thinks far enough ahead to plant it for us.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    We all nodded and no one said anything until Rachel said, ¡°Lee might.¡±


    Jaclyn shook her head, ¡°We all remember picking him up after Hideaway.¡±


    Marcus let out a breath, ¡°Bits of my genetic material are now in the right place to throw the Human Ascendancy into slow but inevitable chaos.¡±


    ¡°Plus,¡± I said, ¡°that whole mess on Hideaway put the Xiniti, the Alliance, and the internal Ascendancy resistance into much closer communication. I gave them my updated monomolecular blade design and they¡¯re going to do something big shortly. There¡¯s no knowing how that ends, but he was involved in sending us to Hideaway somehow.¡±


    We all looked at each other. Rachel waved us all forward, ¡°Even if Cap left it on his own, Lee probably got him here indirectly.¡±


    ¡°So¡­¡± I said, ¡°we should assume that the graffiti is a message from Lee?¡±


    Rachel eyed me, ¡°I think we should.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I zoomed in on Cap¡¯s vandalism, ¡°I guess we should go see if there¡¯s a door there.¡±


    The trip down that short length of hall felt longer than it should have. I expected the floor to drop out, someone or some thing to attack, the Artificers or Abominators to appear out of nowhere.


    None of that happened.


    We walked across the floor, leaving footprints in the red dust that had accumulated throughout unknown eons. When we reached the drawing, I crouched to get a closer look. I couldn¡¯t be sure what Cap had written it with. Pen, maybe? It seemed the most likely possibility. I could see Grandpa designing special pens, if necessary, but not solely to vandalize alien ruins.


    I noticed another thing though¡ªa door. Much like the last one, it wasn¡¯t a door so much as a door-shaped indentation in the wall. Along with it came the feeling that Rachel had told me was an Artificer control system, one I still didn¡¯t know how to use.


    I turned to her, ¡°Are you going to get this one too?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°This one¡¯s yours.¡±


    Even if I could feel the controls¡¯ presence, I couldn¡¯t see them, ¡°Are you going to tell me how?¡±


    Through her facemask, I could see that Rachel smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t know if you can do it the way I do. I go out of phase and manipulate the controls that way. What you¡¯ve told me about using Artificer abilities is that you could touch something even though it was out of phase. There was a guy in powered armor with an Abominator thing, right?¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°when we were fighting outside Higher Ground. Plus, there¡¯s Jody. I grabbed him during the fight before you got here. I¡¯m pretty sure his speed is being out of phase like you but with a different effect.¡±


    Saying it at that moment gave me a different perspective on that event and what it could mean.


    Rachel caught it too and said, ¡°Oh. We¡¯re going to have to talk about that later, but for now, I¡¯d bet that all you have to do is reach out and touch it.¡±


    I let energy flow through me the way Kee taught me, reaching out toward the presence with my mind. I felt the resistance, the sort I might have felt on a physical button, but with no effort, it gave and the door slid into the wall.


    It had been so easy, but still, all that time I¡¯d spent practicing exercises had been useful. I wondered what Kee would say if I told her, whether she¡¯d see it as progress or scared that I was messing with Artificer ruins.


    ¡°There you go,¡± Rachel said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Cassie added, smirking, ¡°Congratulations Rocket. You opened a door all by yourself!¡±

 Knock, Knock? Part 3

    I heard her but didn¡¯t respond. I was too busy staring out the door.


    Before we entered the hallway, we¡¯d been in a room that I might have described as a biosphere (except technically speaking it wasn¡¯t spherical). This was bigger and though I hadn¡¯t measured it, if I had to guess, it was bigger than the building appeared outside.


    While that might mean some kind of Tardis-style ¡°bigger on the inside¡± weirdness, it might also mean that the hall dropped below the surface in a nonobvious way as we walked.


    Put simply, this room had its own lake.


    It wasn¡¯t a lake as in Lake Michigan¡ªthe kind of lake you can¡¯t see across, has a coastline covering hundreds of miles, a major effect on local weather patterns, and a whole history of shipwrecks that people write books about.


    This struck me more as an inland lake, the kind where someone would buy the land around it and build a campground, giving it a cringey, fake Native American name. I¡¯d seen a few.


    What it had in common with places like that was that the lake was big enough for waterskiing¡ªthough you¡¯d go around it every twenty minutes at most.


    It was free of campers, tents, and people except for us. Birds flew above the lake and as I watched, a fish splashed in the water.


    ¡°More terraforming fantasies,¡± Rachel said, walking toward the door. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any real dangers except maybe from an animal or two. The trap here will be in reverse engineering. If I¡¯m right, there will be a village and a control center. Young species are supposed to go to the control center and copy the information. The fun begins when they start to use it.¡±


    Marcus followed her in, ¡°So like you said before with the terraforming equipment manufacturing viruses and stuff?¡±


    Rachel stepped onto the grass and stopped, becoming a touch lighter in color, showing that she¡¯d gone a touch out of phase, ¡°Viruses, but also guiding their evolution, or even setting up circumstances that promote internal conflict like making some resources common in some places and rare in others. You know how that will go. Eventually, someone will decide to seize the resource.¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Shaking his head, Marcus said, ¡°The Artificers were messed up.¡±


    Rachel looked back at him as she took a step forward, ¡°You haven¡¯t seen the weapons caches.They also fake war-ravaged outposts and place weapons in them that young species won¡¯t be ready for. You know what¡¯s funny? The Artificers push nuclear weapons, but we invented them without help.¡±


    Holding her gun at the ready, Cassie stepped out the door to Rachel¡¯s left, ¡°Did any of you see movement in the trees across the lake? The gun tagged something for a second, but then it flickered out. Does Rocket tech get anything?¡±


    Jaclyn stepped out and I followed her, shutting the door behind me. I could still feel the presence of its controls. If we had to get out, it would only take an instant for the door to open. I tested it by opening it halfway and shutting it.


    Glancing back at me, Jaclyn said, ¡°That was you, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Testing we could get out,¡± I said, but I was also reviewing the last few seconds of footage from my cameras to see if I¡¯d missed something in the trees.


    ¡°Good,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°because I didn¡¯t see anything.¡±


    ¡°Me neither,¡± I said.


    Neither had anyone else.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make me feel more secure,¡± Cassie looked over the trees again, pointing the gun from one side of it to another.


    One of these days, I¡¯d have to see if Cassie would be willing to let me figure out more about the gun¡¯s systems.


    ¡°I agree,¡± Jaclyn appeared to be using her suit¡¯s sensors on the edges of the forest and the lake, covering wherever Cassie¡¯s mystery creature might have gone.


    I decided that this might be a good time to test using ¡°Artificer vision¡± on the off-chance that what Cassie had seen was something I could control, hoping this wasn¡¯t one of the times where using it would endanger all of us.


    Breathing deeply, I imagined pulling power into myself, regulating it by imagining a slow but steady draw.


    While it might be nice to imagine that seeing the world through the eyes of creatures older than our universe would include at the very least new colors or the ability to see into the fourth dimension and thus time itself, I had no such luck. If my abilities had that potential, I couldn¡¯t tell, possibly because they were being processed by the same old brain every Earth primate had its own variant of.


    So there was no secret color, secret chord or anything special.


    I did get a spot of blurry movement in the trees. Maybe a real Artificer would have seen it clearly, but I could see a shape. It was shaped like a bird, but didn¡¯t move like one, reminding me of Rook¡¯s bird-shaped drones, the ones I¡¯d nicknamed ¡°crowbots.¡±


    I let go of Artificer vision to check my suit¡¯s scanner and couldn¡¯t find the crowbot. So, it was invisible and maybe using Artificer/Abominator-derived technology? That didn¡¯t feel good.

 Knock, Knock? Part 4

    Of course, for all I knew, Rook initially drew on a connection to Abominator tech. If so, the shadowy shape I saw could be the thing that inspired him. It wasn¡¯t likely, but the world got weird sometimes.


    Into the comm, I said, ¡°I think I see a crowbot.¡±


    ¡°Really,¡± Marcus stared into the room, ¡°where?¡±


    ¡°Kind of in the trees across the lake,¡± I said, ¡°I think it¡¯s out of phase.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Marcus glanced over at me. ¡°New tech? Because we could all use that.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the other thing,¡± I scanned to either side of us, hoping there weren¡¯t more and that, if there were, I¡¯d have the skill to notice.


    ¡°Out of phase,¡± Jaclyn asked, ¡°that¡¯s not good. I¡¯m going to have a hard time fighting them.¡±


    Rachel floated upward, ¡°But I won¡¯t.¡±


    Looking across the lake, Cassie stopped to look down at her gun, ¡°This thing thinks he can adjust. He¡¯s telling me how it¡¯s technology from Dumbass of the Dumbass lineage or whatever and exactly what relationship they have to Magnetus the Purifier. Anyway, he¡¯s reconfiguring so he might be¡ª¡±


    Cassie¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°¡ªdown for a second. Fuck. Well, he¡¯ll be useless if he doesn¡¯t reconfigure.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t reconfigure,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°Shift and I will be dead weight.¡±


    ¡°Not to mention unable to see what¡¯s attacking us,¡± Marcus shook his head.


    Rachel faded from view except for her grin which was creepier with a live woman than a cartoon cat.


    ¡°That¡¯s messed up,¡± Marcus said, ¡°but kind of cool too.¡±


    She grinned wider, ¡°I¡¯ve been working on it. With this power set, you need to lean in on the mind games. Anyway, I¡¯m going to do some reconnaissance and see if there are any more.¡±


    ¡°Do you want me to fly above as backup?¡± I looked upward. I had all the headroom I needed to use the rocket packs.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Her grin faded into nothing, ¡°Not unless you can turn invisible. Watch where I go. Help me if I need it.¡±


    I was about to point out that I couldn¡¯t see her at all, but focused in using Kee¡¯s teaching and I could see a fuzzy outline of her.


    Wishing I was better at it, I said, ¡°Well, I can sort of see you.¡±


    ¡°If the comm can¡¯t get me, you can always contact me the way you do Kee,¡± Rachel said, beginning to float over the lake.


    Thinking back to how I¡¯d nearly called down members of the Destroy faction on myself the first time, I said, ¡°Sure.¡±


    I was better at it now.


    Nodding to her right, Jaclyn said, ¡°Let¡¯s start walking around the lake. If they¡¯re watching, we shouldn¡¯t look like we¡¯re standing around waiting for something.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll find you with the comms when I phase back in,¡± Rachel¡¯s icon blinked as she talked.


    ¡°Got it,¡± Jaclyn motioned that we should keep on going.


    I scanned around us with energy flowing through me, powering my observation of Rachel, hoping it wouldn¡¯t trigger anything in the room. It hadn¡¯t so far, so Iat least had that going for me.


    The landscape itself didn¡¯t have any red flags. It could have been on the marshy edges of an inland lake anywhere on Earth¡ªwell, anywhere with enough water to support grass and forests.


    We kept on walking, avoiding the swampier spots, but staying close to the lake. When we¡¯d gone about three-quarters of the way around, I saw what I could only describe as fuzz amid a group of trees past the lake.


    I stared at the spot, but if they were still there, they¡¯d moved behind the trees or I wasn¡¯t keeping my concentration consistent enough.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said over the comm, ¡°they might have just appeared in that copse of trees over there.¡±


    ¡°Copse?¡± Cassie pointed her gun in that direction, ¡°is that a real word?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I knew it was real. I hadn¡¯t used it a lot. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it means a group of trees."


    ¡°It¡¯s real,¡± Jaclyn said, ¡°I know I¡¯ve seen it before.¡±


    Focussing on the trees, I tried to keep the flow consistent even though I might be failing to notice a bunch of Rook¡¯s henchmen. Last time I¡¯d met them they were armed well enough that they could have killed me.


    Shadowy forms, much like Rachel¡¯s when she was out of phase, appeared within the group of trees. Though they were dark figures, the shape was different and told me what I¡¯d suspected. They were shaped like powered armor for humans except with the addition of claws for hands, a beak, and wings feathered with metal.


    Last time around, all of the henchmen had one of their hands replaced with a cybernetic claw to match their maimed leader. I couldn¡¯t tell from the shadowy forms, but I wondered if they¡¯d chopped off a leg to match Rook¡¯s newest injury.


    Either way, it showed a higher degree of fanaticism than I¡¯d have expected Rook could create through sheer charisma.


    He didn¡¯t have much from what I could see.


    A voice broadcast through the room. My suit indicated it came from multiple sources, all of them located on the far side of the lake, some from within the group of trees.


    It said, ¡°Intruders, you¡¯ve found a facility claimed by the Nine. Surrender or you¡¯ll have to face devices created by Rook, the greatest inventor on Earth, Mars, or any other planet.¡±


    Charismatic or not, Rook¡¯s ego appeared to be healthy.

 Knock, Knock? Part 5

    I felt like quibbling about the ¡°greatest inventor on this or any other planet¡± part of the statement if only because it might distract his attention from Rachel and everyone else.


    Despite generally believing that sassing your opposition was more trouble than it was worth, I turned the suit¡¯s PA to the maximum possible volume and said, ¡°Greatest inventor? You¡¯re nothing more than a second-rate copy of the original Rocket. Heck, you might even be a second-rate copy of me or the Rhino for that matter.¡±


    I also activated the sonics as weapons on the off chance it might do any good since I was pointing at the copse of trees anyway.


    As for the comment about the Rhino, I didn¡¯t know if Rook ever realized that Larry had taken him out during his visit to the Metafight Games, but I knew that Man-Machine was there. Man-Machine might not have revealed Larry¡¯s secret identity, but from Larry¡¯s description, it sounded like he might have been pissed enough to rub Rook¡¯s nose into which superhero he¡¯d been beaten by¡ªtwice: in person and powered armor.


    Honestly, I figured even if he hadn¡¯t, Rook might be angry to be compared to someone generally regarded as the Rocket¡¯s sidekick.


    It¡¯s an understatement to say that the Rocket suit¡¯s PA is loud. At maximum volume, I could see the branches of the trees move ahead of us, small ripples appearing in the lake to the left¡ªnot to mention the hum I could feel in my forearms where the sonics were attached.


    Still, for a moment I could only wonder if anyone heard. The announcement telling intruders how wonderful Rook was had sounded automated. Maybe no one was listening?


    It turned out that that was not true.


    For one, as I finished, I realized that I was hearing a cracking noise through my suit from the direction of the trees. They might have been out of phase in part, but enough of them had been in phase that the sonics broke something.


    Whether because I broke their phase modulation devices or the devices¡¯ power supplies, five figures in Rook suits appeared in the trees.


    ¡°Whoa,¡± Marcus said, ¡°there we are. By the way, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a copse. A copse is made of small trees, more of a thicket. Those are some decent-sized evergreens.¡±


    Jaclyn glared at him, ¡°I don¡¯t think this is the time.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    I might have said something, but I didn¡¯t get the chance.


    Rook¡¯s voice issued from the five guys in front of us and also spots all over the room, ¡°The Rhino? You¡¯re saying I¡¯m less than the Rhino?¡±


    Switching to the PA which was still on maximum, I responded, ¡°Well, I¡¯ve never seen you fight, so I don¡¯t know about that area, but in terms of straight-up creating things, the Rocket put a lot of time into teaching him. He¡¯s brilliant.¡±


    Given his spluttering earlier, I expected an immediate response but got only silence.


    In that silence, Cassie said, ¡°Oh my God, you¡¯re loud. My suit mutes it, but fuck¡­ Even the gun¡¯s complaining, but he¡¯s also impressed. Do you want to hear him?¡±


    Still watching Rook¡¯s henchmen in the trees who hadn¡¯t moved yet, but seemed to be talking, I said, ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°I get it,¡± Cassie said, pointing the weapon at the trees.


    Into that silence, Rook¡¯s voice blasted the room, ¡°I¡¯ll kill you! And I mean I will personally kill you! You don¡¯t deserve what you have. Whatever relation to the Rocket you are, whatever you have from him, I deserve it more than you.¡±


    Rook delivered every word in a nearly hysterical scream, telling me two things. First, that Man-Machine probably had told him that he¡¯d been defeated by the Rhino twice. Second, I¡¯d underestimated how much jealousy Rook felt at my (and Larry¡¯s) connection to Grandpa.


    As I realized that, Rook added, ¡°No one will ever find your bodies!¡±


    Rook must have been close to my volume because when he stopped it felt as if the world had descended into silence. Oh, and if it matters you know how we¡¯d been seeing animals and birds when we walked in? No animals could be seen and the birds were streaking across the lake away from us.


    I couldn¡¯t blame them.


    Checking the horizon, Jaclyn said, ¡°Everyone prepare to be attacked. Rocket, I hope you were trying to get him to murder you because if you weren¡¯t, you have a talent.¡±


    Cassie laughed.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ll have to explore that one later.¡±


    I must have absorbed enough of what Kee taught me because I hadn¡¯t fully dropped an Artificer¡¯s view of the world¡ªwhich was good because it meant that I had a good look at what was coming.


    Fuzzy shapes flew out of the forest aiming in our direction. My implant counted17. That wasn¡¯t all though. A fuzzy purple sphere appeared in my vision before it became fully visible in everyone¡¯s¡ªVictor: purple skin, breastplate and all, appearing to be in his 20s instead of 40s and not dead.


    Marcus sighed, ¡°Again?¡±


    Next to Victor stood Rook and five more of his henchmen, all of them wearing powered armor that made them appear to be large black feathered humanoid birds. Rook had a large ¡°R¡± on his chest.


    ¡°There are more in the air invisible,¡± I told everyone over the comms as Rook¡¯s group appeared and then sent a picture via implant.


    ¡°I see them too,¡± Cassie muttered.


    ¡°Not so talkative now, are you?¡± Rook laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the original Rocket taught you, but you¡¯re never going to see your death coming.¡±


    ¡°You mean the 17 invisible guys,¡± I asked. ¡°What about the five in the copse of trees back there? Why are you leaving them out?¡±


    Rook stared at me, ¡°Copse? You idiot, a copse is a group of small trees, more of a thicket. That¡¯s not a copse.¡±


    So, I punched him, hitting him in the head just above his beak. I already knew I wouldn¡¯t be talking my way out of this fight.

 Knock, Knock? Part 6

    I don¡¯t have a reputation for attacking people without warning. If I¡¯ve got a reputation as the Rocket, it¡¯s for the exact opposite.


    Rook didn¡¯t see the punch coming. I put as much into it as I could, knowing that his armor could take it and that he¡¯d kill all of us if he could.


    It was a solid punch, knocking him backward into the henchrook behind him, forcing them to fall over backwards.


    I wasn¡¯t the only one acting either.


    Always existing in a world where time ran slower than she¡¯d like, Jaclyn saw that I was punching Rook the moment I started and moved hundreds if not thousands of times faster.


    Even better, she thought tactically. Outside of Rook, who was the most dangerous person? Victor and she¡¯d already fought him once today.


    Running past Rook while he was flying backward, she punched the henchrook in her way hard enough that he flew out of the group, hitting another on the way out, knocking them both to the ground. The one she hit didn¡¯t get up.


    She didn¡¯t stop moving. She ran straight to Victor, hitting him with a punch that threw him out of the group, but not so far or so hard that she couldn¡¯t keep up.


    Her next punches threw him further out and then into the ground. She didn¡¯t stop punching him even then¡ªhard punches, the kind that threw chunks of soil and rocks out from under Victor and into the air.


    Despite punches that would have smashed tanks and destroyed buildings, Victor didn¡¯t go down. He was still conscious, firing off blasts of purple, some of them beams that burned through tree branches and one of Rook¡¯s henchmen, but others, wider and with a softer glow, must have been teleportation attacks.


    At least that was my assumption when one of the branches he¡¯d shot down disappeared into nowhere.


    None of them hit Jaclyn and she continued to attack, at one point grabbing Victor¡¯s legs and smashing him repeatedly face first into the ground.


    She wasn¡¯t the only one acting either.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Even if they weren¡¯t as fast as Jaclyn, Cassie and Marcus also started moving. Cassie didn¡¯t bother with the closest of Rook¡¯s henchmen, aiming her gun at one of the flying shimmers, dropping him from the air, and turning him visible with the same blast.


    He hit the ground with a thump and didn¡¯t get up. She kept on firing, hitting more.


    Before Stapledon, Marcus would have morphed into a combat-ready shape and started hitting his opponents. Since Stapledon, he¡¯d worked out subtler options for certain situations.


    Shooting forward as a line, he projected himself into the nearest henchrook, covering the powered armor and working his way into the crevices, expanding into them, forcing pieces of armor to split away from each other and fall off.


    He paid special attention to their claws which Rook had improved with the same technology as Cassie¡¯s sword. Even as the henchrook tried to claw toward Marcus¡¯ body, the gloves fell apart, followed by the rest of the henchrook¡¯s armor, leaving him in black and grey undergarments.


    The man, whose right forearm and lower left leg had been replaced with clawed prosthetics matching Rook¡¯s missing limbs, turned and ran, bits of his powered armor¡¯s exoskeleton still attached and banging against his back.


    At the moment, I wasn¡¯t paying attention to anyone else but Rook. I couldn¡¯t run fast enough to keep on punching him as I knocked him backward, but I had bots that could do almost the same thing.


    I started with two boombots, aiming one at Rook and the other at the henchrook he¡¯d been blown into, catching both in each other¡¯s blasts. The explosions turned into twin blossoms of fire that blew them away from each other in close, but not parallel lines.


    Then I fired off more, pelting them with explosive devices that hit them from all sides, throwing them randomly in every direction, reminding me of fish out of water.


    I didn¡¯t seriously expect to take out either of them with boombots, but I was wrong. Either the henchrook had cheaper armor than the original or I¡¯d aimed the bot at a weak spot.


    Either way, even though all of the henchrook¡¯s armor stayed on, the blasts dented the sides of his armor, leaving it pockmarked. The henchrook didn¡¯t move again.


    Rook hit the ground hard, scraping his armor against a cluster of rocks, and pushing himself up to aim his prosthetic arm at me only to find that whatever futuristic weapon he¡¯d built into it was missing. Only a quarter of the barrel remained, the casing had been blasted open, and wires and a circuit board hung partly out, still sparking.


    When he pulled the damaged arm in to inspect it, he found that the claw under the gun was also missing. It may have been my imagination, but in addition to oil and other fluids, I thought I saw blood.


    Could I possibly have blown up Rook¡¯s other hand? Maybe I''d blown up the prosthetic a second time.


    I couldn¡¯t see Rook¡¯s face but saw his helmet turn toward the unmoving henchrook. It may be that in that moment he realized that even though he¡¯d come to kill me, I might be willing to kill him too.


    ¡°Victor,¡± he shouted, his voice squeaking with some emotion. It might have been anger, but it might have been panic.

 Knock, Knock? Part 7

    ¡°Get me out of here!¡± Rook¡¯s helmet moved sideways as if he were trying to figure out the best direction to run.


    Assuming his wings had been damaged, it didn¡¯t look good for him. To the left stood the lake and aside from the <s>copse of</s> trees there wasn¡¯t anywhere to run to and trees were occupied.


    If that weren¡¯t enough, Victor appeared to be having a hard time concentrating under Jaclyn¡¯s assault because he wasn¡¯t even teleporting himself out, much less Rook.


    His purple beams flew randomly around, never hitting Jaclyn, but one hit me, heating my armor and knocking me sideways.


    Rook screeched, a long sharp piece of metal extending from above his hand, the edges showing the same blurriness as Cassie¡¯s sword.


    He brought the blade down toward the side of my head, where it hit with a thunk instead of carving in. It was nice to know that my current anti-monomolecular blade protections worked.


    I reached up, grabbed his arm, and rolled onto my back with all the strength I could manage.


    It was enough to pull him over and hit the ground to my side, rolling onto his back¡ªwhich made two of us for a second. I pushed myself up to my feet, showering him with sonic blasts as I aimed a punch at his left shoulder.


    I connected.


    Had he been unarmored, I¡¯d have killed him, but in armor, I only bent the frame a little and damaged the joint at the top of the arm. That was what I¡¯d been going for.


    He had no way to move that arm, much less aim the weapon hanging under it.


    He tried. The joint screeched and a whiff of smoke floated upward from it.


    It wasn¡¯t the only spot that smoked. Knowing that Rook studied Grandpa¡¯s and my tech, I hadn¡¯t tried the sonics at first, but having seen the damage from peppering Rook with boombots, I¡¯d given it a shot. Whatever insulation against sound he created couldn¡¯t be where it was supposed to be after that.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    It wasn¡¯t. The forearm that the boombot had destroyed smoked from the cracks and the hole where Rook¡¯s prosthetic claw should have been.


    Screaming at Victor, Rook tried to move his left side up enough to point the gun at something, probably me. I missed Rook¡¯s exact words as I tried to respond.


    As I bent over to flip him on his front, he disappeared in a blast of purple. Victor must have gotten himself together enough to teleport Rook out at least.


    I did a quick once-over of the area to get a sense of the situation. Cassie had taken out at least five of the 17 henchrooks I¡¯d seen in the air. It might have been more. Her gun had an impressive range. So she might have hit a few before they¡¯d even left the trees.


    More to the point, they¡¯d retreated into the trees or at least they were trying to. A few had gotten far enough across the lake that the best they could do was fly low toward the direction they¡¯d come from.


    Also, of course, the guy Marcus had stripped of his armor, hadn¡¯t stopped at the group of trees the (now visible) henchrooks had decided to hide behind. He was still running toward the far side of the lake.


    That left our nearest opponent.


    I turned toward where Jaclyn had been battering Victor against the ground. The ground looked worse than he did. Don¡¯t get me wrong, he didn¡¯t look good, but the ground had been beaten down more than a foot deep.


    By contrast, while dirt covered every part of Victor¡¯s body, he didn¡¯t look hurt. He wasn¡¯t smiling, and he cursed and spat out dirt every time Jaclyn smashed his body against the ground, but from the way he tried to protect his face with his arms and kick out of Jaclyn¡¯s grasp with his legs, it was clear he had full movement.


    If he could stand up to that, I wasn¡¯t sure how I¡¯d be able to help short of sending a killbot up his nose, mouth, or possibly butt. Marcus had the right idea when he went in through Victor¡¯s nose, mouth, and eyes.


    As I turned, Victor did the inevitable, teleporting away, reappearing close to the lake putting Marcus and Cassie between him and Jaclyn. Despite the dirt, I could see that he was beginning to glow a brighter shade of purple.


    Marcus faced him, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing, but I¡¯ve already killed you once today. I¡¯ll do it again if I have to.¡±


    Victor¡¯s brow furrowed and he asked a reasonable question, ¡°What?¡±


    Nodding, Marcus said, ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s right. You¡¯re going to be ordered to go to the moon in the past. I don¡¯t know how far, but you were still there this morning when we got there. We freed you, but then you tried to kill us. Here¡¯s the funny thing though. You asked us to kill you¡ªprobably because you¡¯re controlled by the Dominators and couldn¡¯t face going back and being controlled forever.¡±


    The purple glow faded and Victor¡¯s jaw dropped, and he said, ¡°No¡­¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± Marcus said, ¡°did you already get that order? Because if you did, it doesn¡¯t go well. You can go to the moon and see your body if you want.¡±


    In a flash of purple, Victor disappeared.


    Marcus glanced at me, ¡°I hope I didn¡¯t just destroy the space-time continuum.¡±

 Knock, Knock? Part 8

    I shrugged, ¡°No idea, but I¡¯m hoping that time travel only spins off a new universe now.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Rachel said over the comm, ¡°everybody¡¯s exiting through the back doors. I¡¯ve got a bad feeling about it.¡±


    I checked the stand of trees where Rook¡¯s backup group had been standing. They¡¯d started running and then took to the air.


    I thought through things Rook might be doing that would require people to evacuate the room. As angry as he¡¯d been, I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if he¡¯d ordered all his people to swarm us after he left.


    One terrible and obvious possibility came to mind, ¡°Rook might be about to nuke the building¡­ I¡¯m not sure if his urge to acquire technology is stronger than his need for vengeance, but¡ª¡°


    ¡°Let¡¯s bet on vengeance,¡± Jaclyn said. ¡°Remember Rook¡¯s base in Canada?¡±


    We all did.


    I couldn¡¯t say with absolute certainty that he¡¯d used an actual nuclear bomb because I hadn¡¯t gone back to check radiation levels, but I did know the explosion had wiped his base from the face of the planet.


    ¡°Go,¡± Rachel said, ¡°I¡¯ll phase out. Don¡¯t wait for me. Don¡¯t even wait for me to stop talking. Leave.¡±


    Watching her icon blink, I said, ¡°Phasing works, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Go!¡± She stopped talking.


    Jaclyn pointed toward the door, ¡°I¡¯ll grab Shift. You grab Cap.¡±


    No explanation was needed. We were the fastest way out for everyone. I turned toward Cassie to find she¡¯d turned on her anti-gravity pack and was floating toward me.


    I activated the program that extended handles on the Rocket suit¡¯s sides that I¡¯d designed for this situation. When she said, ¡°Ready,¡± I activated the rocket pack on my back, throwing us forward.


    We¡¯d left the door open, so at least I didn¡¯t have to think it open again. I did think it shut, hoping that it might act as a buffer.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    This was Artificer technology. Xiniti reports in my implant described hitting Artificer installations with fusion bombs to no noticeable effect. They¡¯d been successful other times, so I didn¡¯t feel like sitting around and assuming everything would be fine.


    From what the Xiniti had recorded, it was far from impossible that a bomb would kill everything inside, and then all the Artificer tech would recreate the place as if nothing happened, even removing the radiation.


    That was a nice trick that might be worth reverse engineering.


    It wasn''t as if I had time to do it, much less stay and observe the effects. We shot down the hall, Jaclyn running and me following in the air. When we reached the room we¡¯d entered the complex through, the animals ran in all directions to avoid us.


    We had to stop at the door as I found the controls in my mind, choosing the one that seemed most like the door control I¡¯d operated inside. There were more. Maybe I could have figured out what they did, but I didn¡¯t have the time.


    I had time to close the door as we left and called Hal, ¡°We¡¯re going to need an immediate pickup. There might be a nuke in the building.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m within a short distance. I placed the chance that Rook would explode the building at approximately 69%,¡± Hal replied over the comm.


    The ground rumbled. I felt it through my boots where I¡¯d landed next to Jaclyn. All of us¡ªJaclyn, Marcus, Cassie, and I¡ªlooked at each other, Jaclyn asked, ¡°Do you think we¡¯re far enough away?¡±


    We hadn¡¯t stopped directly outside. We were at least a mile out.


    ¡°I doubt it,¡± I said, ¡°but we still have to go back, and... Here comes the jet.¡±


    It uncloaked as it landed on the ground between us and the complex¡ªnot much help if the explosion were strong enough to blow it at us, but that wasn¡¯t likely.


    The hatch dropped open and we ran inside as the jet cloaked itself again. I reached out with my implant to the jet¡¯s systems, learning that the cloak was currently set to act as a shield at the 50% setting, which was good enough for now. No need to go to 100% and get practically shut off from the universe for now.


    Checking the sensors, I found that Rook¡¯s ships were flying upward and away from Mars. This was good on a couple of levels. For one, it meant that they didn¡¯t have any idea where we¡¯d entered the complex. For another, it meant they hadn¡¯t detected the cloaked jet.


    I sat down at the pilot console, finding that Cassie had sat down at the weapons console. ¡°Hey,¡± I looked back toward Marcus and Jaclyn, ¡°we still have to go back for Ghost, but we¡¯ve got another problem, we were coming here to use a device that might detect where Lee hid the connection portal on Earth and Rook just nuked the building. On the off-chance that he took the device, I¡¯m thinking we follow them back. If nothing else, we¡¯ll find Rook¡¯s current base.¡±


    ¡°Rocket,¡± Marcus began and I saw why in my HUD. Gouts of smoke spewed out of the Artificer complex. I couldn¡¯t help but note that the side we¡¯d come out of seemed to be fine, but Rook¡¯s bombs appeared to have made holes elsewhere.


    I hoped Rachel was okay and wondered how much of this was visible from Earth. The smoke billowed out, but it wasn¡¯t as if there¡¯d been an explosion.

 Knock, Knock? Part 9

    Hoping that Rook didn¡¯t have a final bomb capable of shattering the complex, I used anti-gravity to send us upward and then moved forward, aiming the jet toward the red building.


    Over the comm, I said, ¡°Ghost? We¡¯re heading in your direction. Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± she said, ¡°I don¡¯t feel more hurt than before, but I still don¡¯t feel good. Stop over the complex and I¡¯ll aim for the jet.¡±


    As we closed in on the complex, I checked the radiation levels of the smoke floating out of it, and they were high. I avoided them. The jet probably had enough shielding to handle it, but why take chances?


    Rachel floated up through the floor and phased in as we slowed down, sitting down in the second row.


    She shook her head, ¡°That was crazy. I don¡¯t know what kind of bomb it was, but I¡¯m betting on nuclear. It didn¡¯t destroy the building, but everything I could see inside was vaporized¡ªincluding some of their people. They left without them.¡±


    Moving the ship away from the smoking complex, I said, ¡°Did you see anything in there? A lab or maybe another ¡®Kilroy was here¡¯?¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°I didn¡¯t get far before the explosion hit, but there was a room with technology on the other side of the lake. They were taking anything they could on the way out. Don¡¯t ask me what they grabbed. I have no idea.¡±


    Sitting a few seats away from her, Jaclyn said, ¡°I think following them would be worth trying, but I don¡¯t think we can count on the device we need being in whatever they grabbed before leaving.¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°I feel like the best thing we can do once we get home is grab the Mystic and see if he can predict the best place to go or probe Rook¡¯s brain. Maybe finding Rook¡¯s place and having the Mystic read minds inside will get us what we want. All we need to know is where Magnus is. The connection portal will be close.¡±


    Marcus grinned and rested his arms on the seat ahead of him, saying, ¡°I like that one. If we¡¯re really lucky, they¡¯ll never even know we were there.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a thumbs up from me too,¡± Cassie said from the seat next to mine. ¡°We should keep them in scanner range.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, aiming upward to follow Rook¡¯s ships. They weren¡¯t too far away and unlike us, they weren¡¯t cloaked. I hoped they couldn¡¯t and as long as I was at it, I hoped our cloak was as good as I thought it was.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Rook had to have heard we had one by now. Plus, even a minimally active fan of science fiction would have encountered the idea. I could only hope he hadn¡¯t gone down the right avenues of research to reproduce it or detect ours.


    It didn¡¯t take long to leave the atmosphere (what there was of it), following Rook¡¯s two ships out. I lowered the level of our shield to make the cloaking better in the atmosphere. The better protected we were, the more likely that the shield would generate a shimmer effect on radar.


    Now hanging in the darkness of space, I was reminded of the Xiniti base. In terms of stellar distances, we weren¡¯t far from it and its associated interstellar gate. Rook had to know about it. Would he go there? It was an option.


    UN efforts had tried and failed to meet Alliance standards to be allowed to use the gates, making international news, but Rook might have a way to use them.


    I checked our sensor readings in the direction of the base and gate, wondering if I¡¯d see anything interesting. I didn¡¯t. Our sensors didn¡¯t pick up any traffic by the gate¡ªwhich was weird.


    Earth was a restricted system according to the Alliance, but since it was inside the Human Ascendency and the Ascendancy also banned travel to it, it did get used. Merchants, military, and even alien passenger liners popped in on the way to somewhere else because it was one of the few safe transfer points within Ascendancy space.


    I¡¯d almost always seen traffic the few times I was out this far.


    I considered actively scanning the area in addition to passive sensor use but dismissed it. Rook might notice that.


    As I thought through my options for investigating without losing Rook¡¯s ships or being detected, my implant notified me that I was receiving an ansible message from Xiniti high command and it wasn¡¯t just me that was receiving it, it was everyone.


    I didn¡¯t need to see Marcus¡¯ eyes widen, Jaclyn sit up straighter in her seat or Cassie let out a breath to know it.


    Rachel, though, did, glancing around the cabin and saying, ¡°Great. Don¡¯t forget to mention what you decided when you¡¯re done talking without me.¡±


    We, meanwhile, were hearing the voice of Iktak Magtuktar, General Group Leader of Irregular Forces. In short, the voice of the Xiniti responsible for alien members of the Xiniti nation within Ascendancy space and the sectors nearby.


    ¡°Citizens, we¡¯ve temporarily withdrawn from your home system and shut down your gate. There is currently civil war within the Human Ascendancy that already extends into Alliance territory.¡±


    That would be Kals and the resistance movement her mother created. She¡¯d gone home to lead them or at least be an inspirational figurehead.


    I hoped she was still alive.


    The general continued, ¡°You are now the only Xiniti unit active in your system. Because we detected activity around Artificer and Abominator installations in your system after we left, be aware that we have given you authority to scrub your planet should you need to.


    ¡°Be aware, this is not a command, but there are situations in which billions of lives may need to be sacrificed to save trillions. We know that we¡¯re talking about your home world and do not say this lightly, but keep in mind that many things the Artificers created were designed to destroy all intelligent life. Don¡¯t let your affection for your world let an infection spread and wipe out civilizations. Watch for the point of no return. If you reach it, you¡¯ll have the necessary tools available.¡±

 Knock, Knock? Part 10

    The Xiniti sighed, making a noise closer to a hiss which technically came from a nose-like orifice on the Xiniti¡¯s back, but whatever.


    He added, ¡°It¡¯s not our intention to leave you alone now. Communications will be accepted and answered, but all our troops are committed due to the nature of the current hostilities. Any assistance we give will require reassignment from somewhere else. Keep us appraised of any troop movements that pass your position.¡±


    Then the communication ended.


    Marcus shook his head, ¡°That¡¯s bad.¡±


    He turned toward Rachel, ¡°We just got a communication from a Xiniti General saying that there¡¯s Civil War in the Human Ascendancy spilling over into the Alliance. They¡¯ve withdrawn from their base here and want us to watch for troop movements.¡±


    Cassie laughed, ¡°You skipped the best part. They gave us permission to destroy the planet if Artificer tech gets out of control.¡±


    Nodding along, Jaclyn added, ¡°And no matter how bad it gets, we can¡¯t expect help from them. They said we could ask, but it¡¯s pretty strongly implied that they can¡¯t do anything unless there¡¯s an Ascendancy fleet here¡ªwhich means thatour solar system becomes a battlefield.¡±


    ¡°I can do without that,¡± Rachel stared out of the cockpit at the blackness ahead. ¡°You know it¡¯s possible, right? The Ascendancy is officially not allowed to visit Earth, but we¡¯re in their territory and if they reopen the gate, they can pop straight into the Alliance. The Alliance is funding and supporting the resistance, so the Ascendancy might think a surprise attack is worth it.¡±


    As people talked, I noticed that Rook¡¯s ships'' thrusters increasing their speed, throwing out gouts of yellow flame. The color of the flame hinted that the propulsion system might be less efficient than I¡¯d prefer, but that wasn¡¯t my main concern.


    I didn¡¯t like the timing. It seemed impossible to me that they¡¯d be able to decrypt the Xiniti¡¯s message, but they might have detected it. That might be enough to hint to Rook that we were behind him.


    On the other hand, we were all outside Mars'' atmosphere now¡ªwhich was the time to start piling on speed.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    I increased ours, watching for any sign that they might have a near space drive. If they didn¡¯t, I had options they¡¯d never see coming, assuming that they couldn¡¯t detect what was in near space.


    Rook¡¯s ships started their burn, flame trailing behind them in space. Once they reached a certain speed, they stopped. Using my implant to calculate it, they¡¯d take three hours to get to Earth from here.


    Hal recognized the drive. It used fusion to create thrust and was commonly used by the Zek, an Abominator ally race that lived out on the galactic rim. They weren¡¯t well regarded for their inventiveness. Rook must have found the drive or plans for it. It was a little disappointing. I expected him to have reverse-engineered more Artificer or Abominator tech by now.


    On the other hand, given what he¡¯d picked up on the way out, he might reverse engineer more soon. Worse, he might have grabbed something able to be used without reverse engineering.


    That in turn made me wonder if I shouldn¡¯t be cutting open his ships with our main gun.


    While we¡¯d protected resistance fighters on the way to the planet Hideaway, Lee had been helping the Xiniti fight an alien race that had found an Artificer cache, activated an artifact and been changed from a race of merchants to a race of expansionist warriors.


    That could be Earth and it was exactly why the Xiniti handed us the keys to the planet busters.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°is everyone okay with destroying Rook¡¯s ships if we get the opportunity? I¡¯m trying to work out a way to trash Rook¡¯s ships and all the Artificer-based tech on them while still using them to lead us to Magnus.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to kill anybody, but I don''t see a way to destroy the alien artifacts without destroying people¡ªat least if we¡¯re doing it in space which is our best chance. The problem is that we lose our chance to track him to Magnus. On the other hand, if we let them make it to Earth it¡¯ll be easier to be selective and we might find Magnus, but we also have a good chance of missing something. Then maybe Artificer tech gets out to the general population and we have to destroy the world.¡±


    Jaclyn nodded as I talked, finally saying, ¡°You¡¯re right. We¡¯re risking something either way. Blow them up in space and we lose a chance to maybe find Magnus. Blow them up on Earth, we risk the entire population of Earth. We need to choose our risk.¡±


    ¡°Look,¡± Cassie said from the front, ¡°if we hit them in space, we¡¯ll definitely miss our chance to follow them to Magnus. If we follow them to Earth, we only might have to destroy the planet.¡±


    Marcus leaned forward toward her, ¡°But infecting Earth with Artificer cooties is kind of a big deal.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Cassie said, ¡°but we only might infect the world with Artificer cooties.¡±


    Rachel waved a hand for our attention, ¡°How about this? We follow them down andAccelerando and I hit first, practically the second they touch down. We separate them from what they grabbed before they can get away. It¡¯s the best of both worlds.¡±


    Watching the two ships ahead of us as well all streaked through space, I said, ¡°We¡¯re making a lot of assumptions, but let¡¯s try that.¡±

 Castling: Part 1

    Jaclyn¡¯s idea solved the problem at the expense of letting Magnus know that we were there, but maybe we could devise a way to make it less obvious.


    I asked ¡°Is there any way we can make it look like it wasn¡¯t us? I feel like we have to minimize their exposure to Artificer tech. A beam from our main gun, while we¡¯re cloaked, would strongly suggest us, but they wouldn¡¯t know for sure. Ghost could be invisible the whole time. Accelerando could move too quickly to see¡­ Maybe both of you could also change your uniforms to something else? If they somehow caught a glimpse of you, it might confuse them at least.¡±


    Jaclyn grinned, ¡°Remember Derecho? The supervillain? I think she¡¯s white, but she¡¯s a speedster and if I use her colors and hide enough of my face, it might work. She¡¯s even worked with the Nine. I don¡¯t mind the idea of getting her in trouble.¡±


    When I looked over at Rachel, I found her frowning. When she looked up, she said, ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s an invisible, phase-shifting supervillain with my build, but remember Blink? She¡¯s a short-distance teleporter. I might be able to pull that off. She¡¯s even worked with Derecho before.¡±


    Jaclyn pursed her lips and said, ¡°I think we can work around using the main gun. Have Ghost and me carry boombots with us. When we get into the ships, the boombots blow up the fusion drives and we take or destroy the Artificer and Abominator tech. If Ghost or I can¡¯t destroy it, Cap does. There are a million supervillains with big guns. She just needs to choose one.¡±


    ¡°Are there any that have worked with Derecho or Blink?¡± I asked.


    Next to me, Cassie rolled her eyes, ¡°We¡¯ve got three hours. We¡¯ll figure it out, but you know what? I bet you and Shift could find a stretchy guy and power armor villain that you can fake. Then we can bring everybody in.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right.¡± Still watching the spaceships ahead of us, I started trying to think about who I could successfully impersonate.


    For the record, a three-hour spaceflight goes much more quickly when you¡¯re making up a plan for how you¡¯re going to incapacitate two spacecraft and steal dangerous alien artifacts from a hive of scum and villainy without losing your lives in the process.


    Throw in extra points for maybe starting a civil war in the supervillain organization you¡¯re fighting and it gets even better.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    By the end of the flight, Marcus and I were ¡°Clink¡± and ¡°Clank,¡± a duo of mercenary, power armor wearing inventors. They¡¯d done work for the Nine, random supervillains, a few warlords, and several dictators. From what I¡¯d read, they were also fans enough of National Public Radio¡¯s Car Talk show that they¡¯d ripped off and altered the hosts¡¯ names.


    The hosts, from what I¡¯d read, weren¡¯t fans of that.


    Clink and Clank sometimes worked with ¡°Burner,¡± another mercenary who used a futuristic energy weapon on her victims.


    None of them had ever worked with Blink or Derecho, but it wasn¡¯t a huge stretch that someone might hire them together. Plus, realistically, they¡¯d probably figure out it was us if they had time to investigate. If they didn''t have time or resources to spare for solving crimes, the ambiguity might last long enough to do us good.


    That was good because we wouldn¡¯t be perfect replicas¡ªonly as perfect as I could tweak the group¡¯s nanotech-based suits to match. For that, Rachel¡¯s art major was her real superpower. With her eye, we got more details on their costumes correct than I¡¯d have managed alone even if Cassie¡¯s gun found Rachel¡¯s stream of suggested tweaks to its look annoying.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t like his new look,¡± Cassie said as we neared reentry. ¡°Mr. Sparkles thinks Burner¡¯s gun is primitive and inelegant except he took much longer to say so than I did. Honestly, I think he¡¯s embarrassed.¡±


    I checked out the gun. It did look chunky¡ªlots of rectangular blocks stuck together into a shape that overall suggested a rifle. It might also have been for spraying paint.


    As Rook¡¯s ships burned their way into the atmosphere, I checked our systems. The shield should absorb enough of the energy that we wouldn¡¯t be too obvious and cloaking would theoretically take care of the rest.


    I let out a breath as we started, but it went okay. If someone were watching, they would have detected a temperature change and a shimmer in the air, but not much of one. More to the point, not enough of one to attract attention if you were concentrating on something else¡ªlike reentry, for example.


    That opened up a new question. Where was Rook going to land?


    At first, all I could tell was that it was most likely Earth¡¯s Western Hemisphere, but then Rook¡¯s ships dove toward the Caribbean Sea.


    For a second, I worried that we might be heading for an underwater base which would make our plan more complicated, but then they didn¡¯t.


    When they leveled out, they were flying low above the ocean, throwing up water behind them. If they were trying to evade radar, I could only hope our cloak held up because I wasn¡¯t going to copy them.


    Either way, it became obvious where we were going soon enough. An island appeared ahead of us. Covered in palm trees and lush greenery, I could imagine it being listed in a supervillain real estate guide under ¡°tropical island lairs.¡±


    The long, white building complex included towers, pillars, walls around the edges and an airport (spaceport?) with several long runways. The tall mountain in the middle of the island was a nice touch.


    An international supervillain group like the Nine should have its headquarters on a tropical island with a volcano.

 Castling: Part 2

    Rook¡¯s ships went straight for the runway to no one''s surprise.


    I flew a more direct route, aiming for the control tower at the end of the runway. Stopping there, we all stepped out of the hatch, floating downward with anti-gravity and our suits¡¯ camouflage engaged.


    It might not be invisibility, but if no one had anything specific trained on us, we might be able to pass it off as a teleport in. That at least was the theory behind all of us turning visible together as we touched the ground.


    Jaclyn, her colors now black with a swirling blue and white that suggested wind, shot forward toward one of Rook¡¯s ships as Derecho.


    They¡¯d taken parallel runways. Jaclyn hit the closest one, bending it inward, grabbing the hull, and ripping it in half, leaving sharp metal edges and broken plastic visible to all.


    It was easy to forget, given how much control she had, that Jaclyn lived in a world made of cardboard. This was a great reminder, had I forgotten it, of how much strength she held in check.


    She didn¡¯t stop there. She jumped over the shattered ship, landing on its other side and running straight for the second one.


    We¡¯d worried that the second ship might see what happened to the first and take to the air. She didn¡¯t leave that to chance, creating a sonic boom shortly after she hit the ground.


    When she hit the second one, she was moving fast enough that I didn¡¯t see whether she hit so hard that she ran through it or ripped it apart. Either way, with a screech of tearing metal, it ended up in two pieces just like the first.


    Meanwhile, Rachel had ¡°teleported¡± out, but in reality, turned invisible and flew into the first ship Jaclyn ripped apart. That gave all of us a view into both spaceships since Jaclyn immediately stepped inside.


    Jaclyn¡¯s attack had done everything we¡¯d wanted it to. Both ships worth of henchrooks were in disarray, many completely unconscious, and some awake but struggling to even get out of their seats, much less fight.


    That was good for them because the ones that were able to fight didn¡¯t last long. Jaclyn took each one out with a punch, throwing those punches quickly enough that the camera couldn¡¯t capture them as more than a blur.


    While we were planning, Rachel and I used our ¡°Artificer vision,¡± sensing the Artificer tech had been moved into one spot in the back of each ship. We assumed it was a closet or storage area and probably locked because Rook wouldn¡¯t be trusting random minions with ancient tech.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Jaclyn rushed down the hallway, ripping the door open and running into the storage room. Whatever they normally kept there had been moved somewhere else and ancient devices filled the place, all of them small enough to carry away one-handed. A few might have been weapons, but I didn¡¯t recognize the devices or the materials. They were a collection of strange shapes and odd colors, some pastels, others iridescent, and more that morphed from one to another.


    This time from the inside, Jaclyn ripped a hole in the wall and pushed the devices out, letting them fall to the ground.


    Meanwhile, the rest of us hadn¡¯t been sitting still. Cassie, as Burner, had been shooting holes through the hulls of the now damaged and unusable spaceships and chopping chunks out of them.


    The henchrooks that remained conscious didn¡¯t mount an organized resistance. A few did fire back, but more ran or cowered in their seats and the rows between them.


    Rook himself ejected in the cockpit of the ship Jaclyn was looting. The front half of the shattered hull rocked with the force of the cockpit shooting out of the front. It might have been an amazing escape if it had happened anywhere but his base.


    As it was, he shot forward down the runway toward the control tower and turned around to announce, ¡°I don¡¯t know who hired you people, but you won¡¯t get away with it!¡±


    That¡¯s when the sirens started.


    We hadn¡¯t just been standing there, however. Rachel reached the storage room at the back of the other ship and started phasing devices through the hull and dropping them. Even better, I¡¯d used my laser to cut a hole for the larger objects that didn¡¯t fit within the mass limit Rachel could phase out.


    Marcus and I put the fallen objects into heavy-duty trash bags that we kept on board the jet. They probably weren¡¯t rated to hold evil, ancient artifacts, but what on Earth was?


    Jaclyn joined us, having already filled her trash bags, ripping the hole I¡¯d cut in the hull wider, jumping in, and grabbing the rest of the stuff in a blur.


    Then she and Rachel jumped out and we all placed our bags into a larger "bag" made of repair material for our suits.


    Jaclyn grabbed the giant bag and we activated camouflage on our suits along with the giant bag''s. We were between the two spaceships, but if any cameras were at the right angle or one of the few conscious henchrooks had looked through the windows, we¡¯d seem to have disappeared.


    Then we ran down the runway and floated into the air, slipping into the jet¡¯s open hatch. I¡¯d chosen to face the hatch toward the ocean on the theory that there¡¯d be fewer cameras pointing in from the outside. With that, there would be a lower chance of recording a hole appearing in the air and shimmery movement as we slipped inside.


    Correct guess or not, we pulled ourselves through the hatch, closed it, and the jet floated upward as the Nine¡¯s security forces roared across the airfield toward the ships.


    Four flying shapes dove toward the ships, three dropping to the ground next to them and the fourth hovering above them.


    No one looked at us as the anti-gravity moved us away from the island. I didn¡¯t dare say so until we were far enough away to activate our main drive, but we¡¯d pulled it off.


    I¡¯d released some spybots as we floated away. Maybe listening in would help?

 Castling: Part 3

    Of course, you had to communicate with the bots to hear anything. Still, despite my fears, I got confirmation that my bots had connected to the available communication satellites far above us.


    I hoped to start listening in. The bots¡¯ cameras showed the damaged spaceships and henchrooks crawling out of the wreckage. I also caught a look at the three flyers who¡¯d landed on the ground.


    One wore navy blue and white powered armor with wings that resembled a fighter jet. I recognized him as ¡°Scream Eagle,¡± a mercenary who¡¯d stolen a suit intended for the military. I¡¯d heard worrisome things about the suit in Double V¡¯s powered armor forum.


    The other two were weirder. A woman wearing a green costume covered with designs of vines and animals. She also wore a dark green cape and a quiver with a bow and arrows. She called herself Artemis. Some people in Double V¡¯s forums said she believed she was the Greek goddess Artemis. Others thought she was performing a bit of schtick because why would a goddess be robbing banks and hiring out as a mercenary?


    Along the theme of debatable supernatural identities, the other person on the ground wore an unremarkable blue and gold costume, complete with a mask. The weirdness came from the person. A being of indeterminate gender, the person had blond hair, white wings jutting out of their back, and a soft golden glow to their skin.


    I¡¯d never heard of any super of that description.


    It was hard not to wonder about the origin. Was it a construct? A real, possibly amnesiac, angel that happened to be confused about who they served? A fallen angel? Most likely, I was looking at a normal super with the ability to present him or herself as an angel.


    On the other hand, life was strange and it might be none of the above.


    The angel reached out to touch a henchrook lying on the ground. Golden light extended from its hand and the henchrook shuddered and pushed itself off the ground, backing away from the angel as if afraid.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I filed that detail away for later but noted that the angel stepped inside the spaceship. Whatever happened when it healed, henchrooks started walking out of the ships unhurt even in broken and damaged armor.


    I checked the other bots'' feeds to see if any had a good shot of the fourth flyer, the one who¡¯d stayed in the air. It took a moment of scrolling back and forth in time, but one had.


    Much like the ¡°angel,¡± this one¡¯s costume didn¡¯t ring any bells. Like the angel¡¯s, it was blue, but unlike the angel¡¯s costume, it used red and white as accents. That made it red, white, and blue, but not in a patriotic sense. There were no flags or nods in that direction.


    If anything, it looked more like a military uniform than a superhero¡¯s, in part because he didn¡¯t wear a mask.


    Despite his light skin, his high cheekbones and the slight curl of his black hair reminded me of Izzy¡ªwhich meant a very bad possibility had been introduced. A quick check in my memory, assisted by my implant gave me a picture of Dixie Superman, Izzy¡¯s grandfather.


    This guy, whoever he was, wasn¡¯t wearing a Confederate flag on his armor, but his facial features matched up. The age didn¡¯t, but given the Nine¡¯s willingness to clone people, the age didn¡¯t have to.


    Plus, for all I knew, Dixie Superman could have other descendants. In fact, it was more likely than not. Izzy¡¯s grandmother had remarried. Dixie Superman spent his life trying to rally the South to revolt and preach the need for more white babies. It seemed almost impossible that he wouldn¡¯t create a few of his own.


    Listening in on the bots, I could hear the sounds of sirens and human chatter as soldiers rolled up in jeeps, some talking into walkie-talkies as they rolled up, others shouting at their men.


    The soldiers started helping henchrooks out of the ships, messing up the crime scene if they thought of it that way. As the ¡°criminal,¡± I couldn¡¯t complain.


    Aside from the ¡°angel,¡± the supers had started looking at the ships and then Artemis and Scream Eagle took to the air again, doing loops above the ships as if checking for us.


    Dixieclone (his nickname until I heard a real one) asked, ¡°Is there any sign of them?¡±


    Artemis shook her head, ¡°None. I don¡¯t see any footprints. It¡¯s as if they disappeared or flew away.¡±


    Scream Eagle hovered in the air, ¡°I talked to a few of Rook¡¯s minions. They say the attackers teleported in and out.¡±


    Artemis frowned, ¡°I don¡¯t like it. From the reports, they¡¯re all mercenaries and we¡¯ve hired every one of them at one time or another. It¡¯s a strange coincidence that they¡¯d show up here as Rook arrives especially with what leadership has been saying.¡±


    Dixieclone held up his hand to his lips and said, ¡°Don¡¯t talk about that.¡±

 Castling: Part 4

    Artemis flinched, ¡°Sorry, sir, but my point is that it feels like internal warfare. No one else would know.¡±


    I made a mental note that whoever Artemis was, she didn¡¯t believe she was the goddess. If she had, she wouldn¡¯t be quite so deferential.


    Dixieclone nodded and then sighed, ¡°That¡¯s not a good sign. The moment¡¯s too crucial to handle everything we need to and that too.¡±


    Artemis looked from side to side as if to check who was in earshot, saying, ¡°That¡¯s my worry.¡±


    Dixieclone raised his voice, ¡°If I hear that anyone unauthorized to share what Artemis said spreads her suspicion, I will personally execute that person.¡±


    The soldiers continued helping henchrooks out of the ships, but no one said more than a few words.


    Knowing that the bots¡¯ transmissions were being recorded, I turned my attention back to the jet I was sitting in. ¡°Hey, everybody, they might genuinely believe that other people in the Nine hired us¡ªor at least the people we were pretending to be. I would have been happy if they assumed we were who we appeared to be, but this is better.¡±


    ¡°Much better,¡± Rachel said, ¡°I¡¯ve been listening in too. They might not have time to target us if they start fighting each other. I know you were thinking of waiting here and using the Mystic to listen in and find Magnus. I¡¯d say that we should get home and get rid of that stuff as soon as we can.¡±


    While I¡¯d have assumed that everyone could guess what she meant by ¡°that stuff,¡± she didn¡¯t, gesturing to the heavy-duty trash bags of Artificer gear in the back of the jet. The bags sat next to the door to the bathroom but didn¡¯t block it because you don¡¯t block the bathroom.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, checking the jet¡¯s radar and other sensors to reassure myself that no one was following us or showing interest. It was pure paranoia given our cloaking system, but what you considered the world¡¯s collection of random, weird superpowers, paranoia made sense.


    For all I knew, someone out there in the world could unerringly detect soup, and we did have food supplies, including soup, on the jet. If that person worked for the Nine, we were screwed.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    My stomach rumbled and it struck me that it had been a bit since I¡¯d last eaten. I¡¯d been to Mars. We still had some food bars from when we¡¯d flown to Hideaway. They were probably still good, but if they had a ¡°best by¡± date, my implant could translate the alien script.


    The jet¡¯s sensors didn¡¯t show anything flying toward us. I asked, ¡°Hal, do you see any reason to believe we¡¯ll be discovered if we turn on the main drive soon? I can¡¯t think of anything that would detect us. Am I missing something?¡±


    Hal¡¯s reply appeared in my implant as well as the screen on the dashboard.


    [There¡¯s no reason except for the amount of Artificer and Abominator technology retrieved by Rook¡¯s crews. That technology has not been fully cataloged and can¡¯t be adequately accounted for in my calculations.]


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°then I guess I¡¯m going to head home. I know we were thinking about having Blue bring the Mystic here, but I¡¯m not going to feel good until we get all of the Artificer tech into the storage rooms.¡±


    Jaclyn laughed, ¡°I¡¯m not going to argue. I agree. I wish we didn¡¯t even have it on the planet.¡±


    ¡°Me either,¡± Marcus said, glancing back at the garbage bags.


    From the weapons console next to me, Cassie said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Go,¡± Rachel added.


    ¡°Great,¡± I said. ¡°Would anybody be willing to grab one of the food bars for me? One of the purple ones, maybe? If there aren¡¯t any left, I¡¯ll take red.¡±


    Marcus blinked, ¡°How long has it been since we ate?¡±


    ¡°Too long,¡± Jaclyn stood up and walked to the back, passing the garbage bags, sniffing, shaking her head, and opening up a storage locker on the wall. Grabbing a selection, she walked back to the front and handed them out to everyone.


    Rachel stared at the food bar before tearing off the wrapper, ¡°I think these things were the only solid food I had when I was with the Ghosts. They don¡¯t eat. They absorb¡­ It doesn¡¯t matter.¡±


    She started eating and so did the rest of us.


    After a moment, Jaclyn stopped eating to ask, ¡°Is it me or does it smell like lavender in here?¡±


    ¡°Is that what that is?¡± I asked, readying the jet¡¯s main engine. ¡°I didn¡¯t notice it until we got back. You¡¯re not thinking it¡¯s from the Artificer stuff, are you?¡±


    Cassie stopped eating and her eyes narrowed as she looked at me, ¡°I bought scented garbage bags for the jet. They smell like lavender. What¡¯s wrong with lavender?¡±


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know they were scented garbage bags.¡±


    Giving the engine power, I took the jet higher, aiming for home and higher altitudes where we wouldn¡¯t have to dodge passenger jets. It wasn¡¯t as if I were going log a flight plan.


    The jet responded perfectly, but something didn¡¯t feel right. I couldn¡¯t say how, but my gut feeling was that the air felt thicker. I checked the jet¡¯s speed and we weren¡¯t having any issue flying. We weren¡¯t going slowly, for sure. We¡¯d passed Mach 2.


    It had to be in my head.

 Castling: Part 5

    I watched the jet¡¯s stats as we climbed. It had no issues. Then I thought of a possibility, ¡°Ghost are you feeling anything?¡±


    Rachel said, ¡°No,¡± but she also gave the smallest shake of her head as if I shouldn¡¯t talk about it.


    Then she started tapping on her left forearm, using the ¡°keyboard¡± I¡¯d built into our suits. It was just a setting that made letters appear on either sleeve and turned the spots touch-sensitive.


    Her text appeared in my HUD.


    ¡°Someone¡¯s trying to find us. It feels like an Artificer, but clumsy. I¡¯m hiding. If Kee taught you how, use it. Otherwise, try not to think about anything unusual.¡±


    It was very like what Lee had said when we felt the presence of another Artificer at the site of an old battle during his race¡¯s civil war.


    As of that moment, I got it¡ªMagnus. And since Kee had taught me a technique for hiding from other Artificers, I started trying to use it¡ªthough ¡°use¡± might be an exaggeration. Most Artificer skills that I could master amounted to pulling in power and adjusting my relationship to my physical reality, either moving out of it or staying within and extending myself into the nearby realities around me.


    This was different. Instead of pulling power in, I was supposed to match the ambient energy around me, not unlike the camouflage mode of our suits. That meant sensing the relevant energy first of all and letting it flow through you so that there was no distinguishing what was inside you from the outside.


    It made me think of the heat death of the universe, which Kee caught from my thoughts, causing her to say, ¡°Oh, you¡¯re so young.¡±


    It felt very like hearing the same from an aunt when you were four and said something so naive that she found it cute. Given that Kee was old enough to have seen more than one universe end, I couldn¡¯t take offense at the implied condescension.


    Aloud, I said, ¡°Cap, you¡¯ll want to be ready to fly the jet. I¡¯m not going to be able to pay attention for a moment.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Not waiting for an answer, I extended my senses, but passively. I felt the energy of the reality around me and the others that existed only a twist of the mind away. Rachel and I existed in more than one, but I couldn¡¯t sense her at all.


    I could also sense another presence, this one sifting through the energies around us systematically, trying one section in a blast of energy and then the one next to it.


    I then knew what Rachel meant by clumsy. It had a pile of power behind it, but didn¡¯t close the gaps. Oddly, it reminded me of mowing the lawn.


    When you mow, you go over the edge of the line you last mowed. If you don¡¯t, you¡¯ll have a line of grass growing between the mowed sections. Also, to the degree that you can, you go across systematically so that you only travel to one spot once and don¡¯t have to detour over stuff you¡¯ve already mowed to get a spot you missed.


    The search pattern that I assumed was made by Magnus using Lee¡¯s device was even worse than that. If I wanted to compare a device that could destroy galaxies to a lawn mower, this felt like a riding lawn mower only barely under the control of the five-year-old operator, trying to stay on a straight line, but overcorrecting, traveling into the already mowed territory, whipping back into a completely unmowed area, and turning around to go back to more or less where they¡¯d left off.


    Weirdly, it reminded me of Ray after he¡¯d gone through the power impregnator. He had the power to copy other people¡¯s powers, but he¡¯d never trained to efficiently use them. So when we fought, I had that advantage¡ªmy only advantage.


    In the moment it gave me hope. I¡¯d beaten Ray. Maybe I could beat Magnus.


    Right then, however, the way to beat Magnus was to take a deep breath and let the energy of reality around me flow through me the way it would if I wasn¡¯t there.


    I concentrated on that flow, pretending I was part of it without drawing power in, letting it pass through. I didn¡¯t feel like I was becoming one with the universe, but I wished I could.


    What I did feel though, was a burning heat as Magnus sent a probe our way. It passed without ¡°touching,¡± but it felt close. I thought back to my fight with something I suspected might be Magnus just before fighting the mushroom zombie horde. I¡¯d hurt him then--if that creature lurking in the ¡°in-between¡± space had been him.


    I didn¡¯t know whether I¡¯d hurt his mind, soul, or an avatar, but that burning heat might be able to hurt me.


    Without opening my eyes, trying to keep myself within whatever state this was, I pointed in a direction Magnus had already searched and said, ¡°Go that way.¡±


    I kept my arm up for a while, hoping I was clear enough that Cassie would get it even if I wasn¡¯t talking clearly.


    At the same time, I worried that Magnus would make a poorly controlled sweep backward, putting us directly in his view.

 Castling: Part 6

    We couldn¡¯t blast away with the main engine without risking that Dixieclone might notice the sound and realistically there was no ¡°might¡± about it. Izzy would. If he had the same powers as her grandfather, so would he.


    Trying to stay conscious of what was around me and hoping I wasn¡¯t mumbling nonsense words, I said, ¡°Fly anywhere I point and quickly, but not too quickly. Use our anti-gravity systems.¡±


    Concentrating on the ambient energy around me, I couldn¡¯t tell what was going on outside my head, but I knew I wasn¡¯t dead. That would have to be enough.


    Magnus¡¯ line of energy appeared to be moving away from us for now. That was good, but a thought struck me. I followed Magnus¡¯ line back toward its origin, a spot fuzzy with what I assumed must be power.


    ¡°Don¡¯t follow my hand this time,¡± I said, pointing toward the direction where the line began. ¡°What¡¯s over there?¡±


    Through my implant, Jaclyn said, ¡°The island.¡±


    While she¡¯d guessed right about how to get through to me, she¡¯d also knocked me out of my trance. I was still in the pilot¡¯s seat, staring out at the ocean in front of the jet. We weren¡¯t in the middle of battle, but we weren¡¯t far from the island. I could see it on the jet¡¯s radar behind us.


    Glancing over to my right, I could see Cassie piloting.


    She noticed me, asking, ¡°Is it over? Are we safe?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said and closed my eyes. ¡°Keep on going, but follow my hand if I start pointing.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I was doing,¡± she said.


    I gave her a thumbs up and tried to concentrate on my breathing and on feeling the energy of the infinite realities around me. As I got into the right mindset again, I noticed that all the work I¡¯d done to keep the flow moving through me as if I weren¡¯t even there had vanished.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    As long as we were in this situation, I wouldn¡¯t be able to let go for even a few seconds. If Magnus had pointed his attention in our direction, he¡¯d have found me and still could.


    Thinking back to the kind of guided meditation I¡¯d done in martial arts classes with Lee (which had a new resonance now), I imagined water flowing through me. It was the same technique Kee had been teaching me to use for hiding and I¡¯d never realized.


    I supposed I¡¯d get to take it up with him if we managed to get him out of whatever pocket universe the galaxy core device created.


    It did leave me wondering if other lessons were hidden within his training, but I had no time to speculate.


    Magnus¡¯ burning column of energy had changed direction again. It wasn¡¯t quite in our direction, but it wasn¡¯t going in straight lines anymore. With another nudge, it could hit us.


    I couldn¡¯t ignore the possibility that Magnus might feel we were here even if he couldn¡¯t say where.


    I pointed right which kept us going away from the island, but out of the way of the column¡¯s current trajectory¡ªunless he changed direction.


    I felt the jet begin to turn, but as it began to pass out of the column¡¯s path, the beam changed direction again. It wasn¡¯t close enough to block us yet, but it was heading that way. I knew I didn¡¯t want to go through it.


    I pointed a hard left, wondering if it would change again.


    It did. The column began to move toward us. It wasn¡¯t moving quickly, but even if Magnus didn¡¯t know exactly where we were, he sensed us somehow. It had to be the Artificer artifacts, but wouldn¡¯t it be ironic if the galaxy core device had the power to sense lavender?


    I was beginning to hate the smell.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Rachel¡¯s voice carried into my mind.


    I knew from the feeling of the connection that she was using the in-between space the Ghosts and Artificers used to communicate with each other over long distances. I used it while taking lessons with Kee, but for me it was an immersive experience where I couldn¡¯t do anything else. She was using it as casually as Daniel and I used telepathy.


    Of course, she¡¯d spent a year in space. This might have been the only way to communicate with anyone.


    Deciding to ask her how later, I thought back, ¡°I hope you have an idea for how to get out of this.¡±


    ¡°I do. We work together. The Ghosts are more subtle. The Artificers have more straight power to work with. You draw in power. I¡¯ll manipulate it.¡±


    I¡¯d been specifically told not to draw in energy in this situation, but also, we didn¡¯t have a lot of time. Instead of explaining myself, I asked, ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    ¡°Mostly,¡± she said. ¡°Do you have a better idea?¡±


    I didn¡¯t.

 Castling: Part 7

    I would have asked how we would connect, but Rachel leaned forward and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to have to hold your hand.¡±


    I disassembled the glove with a command and she leaned forward to take my right hand.


    In my head, she said, ¡°This is how the Ghosts do interstellar flight¡ªat least when I¡¯m involved. I don¡¯t have enough power to manage it alone. Could you start pulling in power?¡±


    ¡°How much? A lot?¡±


    ¡°Everything you can. I¡¯ll tell you to slow down if I have to.¡±


    I considered asking her if maybe I should start slow, but we didn¡¯t have time for any in-depth discussion of anything. If I¡¯d learned anything during my lessons with Kee, I¡¯d learned to draw ambient energy from the multiverse.


    I wouldn¡¯t be able to start at full. She¡¯d have a little while before I got up to maximum speed. Hopefully, it would be enough.


    I stopped trying to hide,  extending myself into the realities around us with minimal effort and began to pull in everything I could. From what Kee told me, grown Artificers could pull in enough to live forever without obvious food, fly across the universe, punch through from one reality to another, and even extinguish or revitalize stars.


    What I was doing wasn¡¯t even a trickle by comparison--which is why she felt comfortable with having me do daily exercises designed to increase my capacity. In all honesty, even if I was continuing down a path that meant power akin to deities, it wasn¡¯t inspiring on any given day. I couldn¡¯t do much new from one day to the next. From what I understood, the cool stuff would only start to happen with a thousand years of practice.


    All the same, by comparison to the first time I¡¯d tried, it was a flood. If Kee had seen, it might have been enough to earn me a toddler appropriate, ¡°Good job,¡± and maybe a pat on the head.


    Rachel, though, said, ¡°This is what I was talking about. Why couldn¡¯t I have inherited more of these genes? You can draw almost as much as a Ghost¡ªnot the older ones, but the younger adults.¡±


    Then I felt her begin to manipulate it. She wasn¡¯t letting the flow of energy move through us. With the power I pulled in, she changed the flow of the landscape around us, hiding us in the turbulence of the interactions between nearby realities.


    I pointed a way around the column of Magnus¡¯ attention, and it didn¡¯t move much. As we passed it, it made a hesitant twitch in our direction, as if Magnus thought he saw something and then thought better.


    I felt the jet gain speed and the main engine re-engaged, carrying us toward the mainland.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    I thought to Rachel, ¡°How long do you think we should keep this up?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. How about as long as you can still sense Magnus searching for us?¡±


    We¡¯d begun to cross Florida, but I could still see the column of energy in my mind. Magnus was making circles that grew ever wider out from the island.


    Even though it was more than one hundred miles away now, I could still see it. He seemed to have realized we¡¯d gotten away, but he had a lot of power to work with and didn¡¯t seem to see any reason to stop.


    Over our connection, I said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ll be able to keep it up that long. I might be able to keep it up until we get home.¡±


    In my mind¡¯s eye, Rachel frowned, ¡°Don¡¯t do it so long you fall unconscious, but do what you can.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ll be able to make it all the way home, but we¡¯ll probably make it there before his giant search beam does. If we put the new artifacts in with the others, I¡¯m hoping he won¡¯t be able to sense them within the base.¡±


    As I said it, I checked behind us, sensing that the column was still circling outward from the island, not even having reached Florida yet. This was a good sign. Magnus didn¡¯t seem to have any idea it was us or he¡¯d be pointing his attention at Grand Lake.


    Knowing how quickly the jet could go, we might get home in less than 30 minutes, maybe even 10. I could hold out for that long, but it might be a challenge. It also might be worth it in case Magnus changed the beam¡¯s direction without warning.


    If I did make it, it would be the longest sustained use of my Artificer-related skills that I¡¯d ever managed. I told Rachel, ¡°I¡¯m going to have to put a little less into it if I¡¯m going to make it the whole way.¡±


    ¡°Do what you have to,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s still more than I¡¯d have to work with.¡±


    Adjusting to the idea that this was a marathon instead of a sprint, I cut what I was doing by a quarter and felt better. I hadn¡¯t felt bad, but this felt like something I could continue forever, or at least for the ride home.


    ¡°That was a dip,¡± Rachel said, ¡°but it¡¯s still good. If you could keep this up, I think I could fly the two of us out of the solar system if you could only shift out of phase.¡±


    ¡°Sounds great,¡± I said, ¡°what happens after we¡¯re out of the solar system?¡±


    ¡°Without a more powerful Ghost, we either wait for help or freeze to death. It¡¯s not a good idea, but with a Ghost, we link up and jump to the next planet. Maybe in one thousand years, you¡¯ll be able to try it.¡±


    After that, we didn¡¯t talk much. It felt like running cross country. Rachel kept me updated on where we were and I kept the power flowing, using a touch to  follow the patterns of energy around us.


    As we neared Grand Lake, I could no longer see a hint of Magnus¡¯ search. Grand Lake itself didn¡¯t stand out to Artificer senses at all. Lee had hidden himself perfectly, leaving no trace despite more than 50 years of visiting the city. Not even his apartment and martial arts studio glowed with a hint of his presence.


    Kee had pointed that out to me herself, adding that, ¡°Even though you know him,you have to remember that he¡¯s not just an impulsive fighter. He¡¯s been alive for billions of years and so have I.¡±


    My memory of Lee wasn¡¯t the only thing in my mind as we neared Grand Lake. Though the city showed no sign of Lee''s presence, I felt a wisp of power. It was there for a moment and then gone. It didn¡¯t feel like any Artificer I knew.


    It couldn¡¯t be Magnus and Lee''s device either, I knew what that looked like now.


    Though I was tired, I didn¡¯t think that I was deluding myself and mistook a stray bit of my power for something in the distance.


    I didn¡¯t like it.

 Castling: Part 8

    Part of the reason I didn¡¯t like it was because I had a good idea of who it might be. Even if I didn¡¯t have direct evidence, I had some strong hints. I think I could get almost anyone I knew to the answer just by asking, ¡°Of everyone in Grand Lake, who would be the worst person to have a useful amount of Artificer or Ghost DNA?¡±


    I¡¯d have answered, ¡°Jody¡± with barely a thought. As long as I¡¯d known him, he¡¯d hated me and seemed to enjoy petty cruelty. Lately, he hadn¡¯t seemed so bad and even appeared to be taking founding the new version of Justice Fist seriously, but a couple of small events during the big fight with mushroom zombies made me almost certain he was working with Magnus willingly.


    During one of those events, he¡¯d slipped out of my control and I wasn¡¯t sure how. It didn''t seem too weird on the face of it. We¡¯d been fighting and it wasn¡¯t hard to miss a detail like that with a speedster.


    If his abilities were related to Rachel''s though, phasing out would work even if it were only partially phasing out. Beyond that, I¡¯d only found my Artificer-related abilities useful when Artificer/Abominator artifacts were in play.


    In the fight, I¡¯d used them against Jody, making him the only human other than Magnus that I could use my abilities against.


    As of this moment, we had to promote the question, ¡°What are we going to do about Jody,¡± to the top of the list if we were going to collaborate with Sean and Dayton.


    The three of them had been friends since childhood and they wouldn''t give up on him easily.


    As I tried to think of how to bring up the subject, I felt the main engine turn off and realized we were descending via anti-gravity. That meant we were home.


    Rachel let go of my hand, thinking, ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± at me.


    I opened my eyes as Cassie flew the jet into Grand Lake and the base¡¯s underwater entrance. Moments later we were traveling through the tunnel and into the base itself.


    We sat there, waiting for the water to be pumped out of the airlock, not saying much of anything. That was fine because I felt tired, the deep tired from a long run, the kind of run where you wonder if you¡¯ll be able to walk afterward.


    I closed my eyes again, feeling outward with Artificer senses, and discovered nothing unexpected. I didn¡¯t sense Magnus searching for us. I did notice energy coming from the artifacts we¡¯d grabbed, but not much. I didn¡¯t at all notice energy from the storage rooms Grandpa made for Abominator devices.


    It gave me reason to hope he¡¯d gotten some help from Lee or was simply as brilliant an inventor as I¡¯d always imagined. Either way, I knew where we¡¯d be stashing the new stuff.


    I let the vision go, feeling more tired than normal from something so simple. I had a feeling that all I¡¯d be doing after I got back was eating some real food, sleeping until tomorrow, and hoping that nothing world-ending happened while I was unconscious.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Despite what I might have assumed, given the additional hit of lethargy, barely any time had passed. We were still waiting for the water to be drained, though the level was now lower than the jet.


    Resigned to waiting, I found that my implant had thrown up a notification in my brain. A message had come through the ansible near the Xiniti base. It was from Kals.


    A little surprised that I hadn¡¯t received it when the message came from Xiniti High Command, I checked the timestamp, finding that it had only arrived at the station¡¯s ansible less than ten minutes ago and been sent less than an hour ago.


    Unless this was a ¡°send in the event of my death¡± message, Kals was alive. I opened it. Given that she was in the middle of leading a revolution, a posthumous message was more likely than I¡¯d like to think.


    It wasn¡¯t a posthumous message.


    She sat behind a desk in a room that, even if my implant hadn¡¯t been calling out the various expensive bits, I would have recognized as representing an unachievable level of wealth for most people in our civilization or hers. If I were prone to purple prose, the words sumptuous, gilded, and maybe even glorious might have appeared in my description.


    I lean toward simplicity, so here¡¯s what you get: it was big.


    When I say big, I mean as large as the main floor of my Grandpa¡¯s bungalow. Red curtains inlaid with gold on the edges separated the room into sections. Pictures on the walls varied, some showing stern people in uniforms or formal robes. Another series of pictures showed people in different stages of undress. I didn¡¯t need the implant¡¯s help to figure out they were meant to be erotic.


    The bed behind her appeared large enough for at least three people. Across the room from the bed was a pool large enough to swim laps. Decorative, possibly living, plants surrounded it, including small trees.


    Kals grinned at the camera, dark hair hitting her shoulders. Still dressed in her silver, Xiniti-made protective suit, she¡¯d configured it into a more comfortable mode¡ªno helmet or hanging weapons.


    Her first words were, ¡°Ha! We won¡ªnot everything, but the first push. The military says we''ll be fighting for years, but we took the Minott subsector and its capital Seven Rings. Look out the window.¡±


    I followed where she was pointing¡ªan arched window wide enough to drive a compact car through. Three rings glowed gold in the dark, star-filled sky.


    Kals turned the camera back to herself after a few seconds. ¡°It¡¯s amazing. I¡¯ve never been here before, but I¡¯ve seen pictures all of my life. I know you can only see three rings, but trust me, there are four more.


    ¡°You can check your implant for why, but it¡¯s significant in many different ways. The most important for us is that it controls access to a gate and practically this entire sector. There are a lot of Alliance and Xiniti ships here to make sure it stays in our hands.


    ¡°Plus, as the movement¡¯s figurehead, they¡¯re placing me in the governor¡¯s mansion. This is his room. It¡¯s nice, but I¡¯m going to change the sheets. Someone will know where new sheets are.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯ve slept since I last saw you. I think it¡¯s been a day, maybe two? I went straight to the invasion fleet and into combat. Oh¡­ You know how you were worried your killbots¡¯ tech would already be dated and gave me a software update? I didn¡¯t get back in time to pass it on, but you know what? The old version worked¡ªvery well. We assassinated thousands of Ascendancy motivators at once on hundreds of different worlds. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll counter the first version, but we¡¯ve still got your update ready for phase two.¡±


    Pausing, she gave a half-smile.


    ¡°Well, I should go. I miss all of you. Tell everyone I said hi. Katuk¡¯s great, but he¡¯s here to keep me alive. And you know him, he doesn¡¯t talk just to talk. It would be nice to talk to someone about something other than security arrangements and how to run a planetary economy and a war. If any of you want to immigrate to the Ascendancy, let me know. We¡¯re remaking our whole civilization. It might be fun. Oh, and message me back, okay?¡±


    She winked and the message ended.

 Castling: Part 9

    Fun. That wasn¡¯t the first word I¡¯d apply to a multi-year fight for the future of your civilization, but as a way to keep your spirits up when facing a struggle you knew you could only begin to imagine, it was worth a shot.


    I was glad they¡¯d found my killbot tech useful even though I didn¡¯t love being partially responsible for political assassinations. The Human Ascendancy deserved what they got, but the precedent would linger. If Kal''s group were lucky enough to win and future generations celebrated their success, assassination might be viewed as a legitimate technique for people dissatisfied with their government.


    As the picture faded from my mind, I resolved to check in with her and also Katuk more often. You never knew what could happen next in a war or after.


    I knew from experience that unpleasant truth didn¡¯t only apply to her life. It was anyone¡¯s guess how long they¡¯d be cleaning up dead fungus in Grand Lake. Not to mention that we hadn¡¯t had Travis¡¯ funeral yet.


    Not long after that, the pumps removed the last water from the airlock and we floated into the base¡¯s hangar.


    We exited the hatch to find Haley and Vaughn waiting for us.


    Vaughn wasn¡¯t in costume, wearing black jeans and a grey t-shirt with ¡°Hardwick Industries¡± on it. The T-shirt showed traces of muscles he hadn¡¯t had four years ago.


    Marcus looked him up and down, ¡°Wearing family swag today?¡±


    Vaughn shook his head, his ponytail brushing across his back, ¡°I got roped into family stuff today. We did real work clearing away fungus crud downtown, but it was still a photo op. ¡®Look, the Hardwick family gives a crap about the city,¡¯ see? I mean, I do care, but this was all about being seen to care. A bunch of my cousins got roped in, even Lucas¡¯ family¡ªwhich feels a little weird since his dad¡¯s in jail for being involved with the Nine.¡±


    Jaclyn let out a breath, ¡°You¡¯d think that would give them an out.¡±


    Nodding, Vaughn said, ¡°With how involved the Nine was in making it happen, yeah. I don¡¯t think that detail has made it to the press yet. Well, unless I¡¯m forgetting something. We¡¯ve done so much stuff in the last couple of days that we could have made a general announcement and it would have blurred into everything else. We didn¡¯t, right?¡±


    I looked around the group, ¡°Not unless the board did and I doubt they would.¡±


    Haley frowned, ¡°I¡¯ll check with Kayla. What all did you do?¡±


    Marcus took a breath and said, ¡°You remember Victor from Nick¡¯s Higher Ground internship? I either killed him or an alternate-universe version of him this morning and then we met the real him this afternoon. Well, I might have met both the real him and an alternate universe version because, depending on how time travel works, they might not have split yet.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Haley looked from him to the rest of us, ¡°That made no sense at all. If it¡¯s a long story, maybe we should use the table in the main room.¡±


    Shaking her head Jaclyn said, ¡°I think we¡¯re in the opposite situation. We think we know where Magnus might be and we should go back there as soon as we can in case it changes.¡±


    ¡°I did leave bots there,¡± I said, checking back on them. They all still worked. The wounded henchmen had been removed from the damaged spaceships and workers were pulling out seats, cable, and even components of the control panel system from inside¡ªwhich was interesting. Bearing in mind that Jaclyn had ruined the hulls, I¡¯d have expected the Nine to throw the remains into the ocean.


    They didn¡¯t strike me as environmentalists, but I supposed they might be looking to see if we¡¯d missed anything during the heist. Also, they might have some kind of forensic team equivalent.


    ¡°Plus,¡± Cassie laughed, ¡°we might have started a civil war inside the Nine.¡±


    ¡°We should unload the Artificer and Abominator stuff before we do anything else,¡± Rachel said, looking back at the jet. ¡°Our best chance for keeping it hidden is inside the storage rooms. If all of that weaving around when we left is any indication, Magnus can sense Artificer tech inside the jet.¡±


    Haley looked around the group, ¡°I think we need to go over this in a meeting, maybe with remote team members listening in.¡±


    ¡°But no one who might let Jody listen in,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m about 99% sure he¡¯s part Ghost, Artificer, or both in addition to working with Magnus.¡±


    Sighing, Haley said, ¡°Let¡¯s unload first and you can tell me what happened as you do it. Maybe I can summarize it for everybody or at least skip to the important parts when we talk.¡±


    It didn¡¯t take long to unload the Artificer relics and explain what happened, maybe half an hour. It hadn¡¯t taken that long to steal them, but we had to move Abominator gear around to find space for them.


    By the time we were done, we¡¯d gone through the whole story with Haley and relocated to my lab. It felt less official than sitting in front of the giant screen at the original League¡¯s table, but cozier¡ªat least for me. I sat on a stool next to the counter on the wall where we¡¯d placed the computer where I did most of my work. Haley and Marcus sat with me at the counter and Rachel, Cassie, Vaughn, and Jaclyn sat at the nearest table where they tried not to knock on one of my bot assembly machines. I¡¯d already set it to make more.


    Jaclyn asked, ¡°Is anything happening on the island?¡±


    I checked and as the last half hour of footage flashed through my mind, I said, ¡°No. I think I should try to get the bots into the big building and try to find Magnus. From the way he searched, he almost had to be there. It might be worth seeing what I can find out about defenses though. I feel like we might have to send in everyone we can. If this is the Nine¡¯s secret HQ, we¡¯ll need the League plus more. I¡¯m willing to take a chance that the Midwest Defenders aren¡¯t controlled. Maybe there are more options¡­ The Probationers, maybe? And Prime wanted to be in on the end. We pretty much promised him he could.¡±


    Vaughn let out a sigh, ¡°If we¡¯re going to bring Sean and Dayton in on that, we¡¯ll have to handle Jody first. I know he¡¯s an asshole, but they like him. I think they suspected him themselves even before you told them. It might be easier than you think.¡±


    Remembering my run-ins with the three of them, I said, ¡°Or we could leave them alone?¡±


    Vaughn laughed. Rachel said, ¡°You know better. They¡¯ll get involved somehow.¡±

 Jody: Part 1

    Vaughn grinned, ¡°They¡¯re already involved. They were reporting to Daniel¡¯s dad about Futuremen Capital. They thought Magnus was involved.¡±


    ¡°I remember,¡± I said. ¡°Sydney wanted buzzers for them. I genuinely don¡¯t remember if I provided them at this moment. I know I provided people in the community with designs.¡±


    I hoped none of them got to the Nine, but chances were good that they might have. Plus, during the mushroom zombie fight, I learned that you could overwhelm them if you had enough people with voice powers.


    I needed to see where I could improve the design. Maybe I could call Julie to help test. My sonics might give her an equivalent volume boost. Whether they¡¯d convey the subtleties of her power was another question.


    Reminding myself of the current conversation, I decided to listen and forget the need to fix it.


    Vaughn was talking. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d missed too much of what he¡¯d said.


    ¡°¡ªI¡¯ll talk to Dayton first. He¡¯s generally reasonable and it¡¯s not like we didn¡¯t tell them. Amy told them her suspicion right after she absorbed part of Jody¡¯s soul, right?¡±


    Rachel looked around the group, ¡°I need to hear what happened while I was gone in more detail than I got it.¡±


    ¡°That would take a long time,¡± I said, ¡°but Jody tried to attack Alex when he used his powers to tell the fungus zombies¡¯ central brain to die. One of the previous Bloodmaidens was in control of Amy¡¯s body and she drained Jody. When Amy returned, she said that she¡¯d sensed that Jody wasn¡¯t controlled by anything. He attacked Alex on his own. She wasn¡¯t sure though, since she didn¡¯t absorb the energy directly.¡±


    Rachel¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°That doesn¡¯t leave me with fewer questions. I¡¯m going to talk to Amy and find out what she does remember and if she can ask the other Bloodmaiden. Did Daniel scan him?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Not deeply. He did a surface scan, but after being drained Jody¡¯s thoughts were fragmented and not in a way that conveniently explained everything. In a perfect world, we might have insisted on keeping him for observation, but Daniel was tired like everyone else. I don¡¯t know what we¡¯re hoping to do with Jody, but you¡¯re right, we should have Daniel probe his mind. If he¡¯s working for the Nine, though, there¡¯s no chance he¡¯ll be cooperative and plenty of reason to think that he might have a block like ours.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Vaughn let out a low whistle, ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s not the kind of thing you want to see from a speedster. You punched the mayor when he went into your head. Jody could throw a grenade or a bigger bomb and run out of range before it exploded.¡±


    ¡°Worse,¡± I said, ¡°he might have something Rook designed with the Heroes¡¯ League in mind¡ªsomething that would allow him to locate our base for example. From what I understand, they¡¯d have a hard time messing with the Stapledon Project¡¯s work in Jody¡¯s head, but they might be able to put in an additional command with Dominator voice stuff. We¡¯d probably have to bring in Julie to know for sure.¡±


    Vaughn leaned back in his chair. When he leaned forward, he said, ¡°Okay. This is more complicated than I thought. We¡¯re going to have to try to find out whether he¡¯s really a traitor, but also be ready for all hell to break loose the moment we begin and we don¡¯t want to do it here in case his costume¡¯s full of Abominator tech Rook salvaged from the Moon before he started his Mars project.¡±


    Jaclyn raised an eyebrow. ¡°I didn¡¯t even think about what Rook got out of the moon. I thought you were summarizing and then you dropped that in¡­ This is worse than I thought.¡±


    Leaning back to smack Jaclyn shoulder, Cassie said, ¡°People assume Vaughn¡¯s dumb because he¡¯s a people person, but he¡¯s not that dumb.¡±


    She smirked at Vaughn and he shook his head.


    ¡°He¡¯s smarter than I am,¡± Cassie added, ¡°but if you want my suggestion, we work it out so that when we scan Jody¡¯s brain, we do it on neutral territory, maybe even outside. We don¡¯t want to risk our base, but if we go to theirs, you never know what the Nine planted inside. I want to use our downtown office, but they know it¡¯s full of explosives from when we fought the Cabal.¡±


    Rachel raised her hand, ¡°All good points. We need to start. While Vaughn¡¯s talking to Dayton, why don¡¯t we come up with a few ideas for where to scan Jody? Maybe Dayton even has a suggestion. Nick can move the bots into better positions as we discuss. We don¡¯t want to lose track of whatever Magnus is doing.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll move the bots. I think I¡¯m also going to look into improving the buzzers.¡±


    Haley nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll talk to Kayla, update everyone on what you¡¯ve done, and check with Daniel, Julie, and Amy.¡±


    Rachel looked over the group, ¡°Does anyone else feel like we¡¯re missing something?¡±


    "Lots," Marcus said, "but I''ve got a bad feeling that we won''t know what until we try it."

 Jody: Part 2

    With that, the meeting was over, or at least my part.


    Vaughn left to call Dayton, and everyone else left to discuss how and where to probe Jody¡¯s loyalties best. I could have gone along, and I wanted to, but no one else could improve the buzzers.


    Chris might have, but he was out in a version of the Rocket suit helping with the fungus cleanup downtown. He¡¯d served as my double enough that some people might think something was off when they met me in the suit.


    Today though, it made it harder to figure out where the Rocket was while simultaneously making people feel like the Heroes¡¯ League was actively involved in the cleanup. He wasn¡¯t the only one of us out there, but it was good to keep the suit visible. Along with Daniel, it kept the original League in people¡¯s minds even when we were elsewhere in the solar system.


    Diving into the code associated with the current version of buzzers, I understood how to solve the problem¡ªsort of. Without changing the hardware, I wouldn¡¯t be able to solve it for people outside our group, but everyone on (or associated with) our team wore my suit technology, configurable armor with nanotech components.


    If my suits were available, I¡¯d be able to add components with software. Without a suit, they¡¯d need to add additional sound-deadening elements to their armor¡ªnot a trivial task. Hopefully, the Nine didn¡¯t know or have enough Dominators to blow past my buzzers.


    I didn¡¯t think Arete had time to notify the Nine of that particular weakness, but I couldn¡¯t know for sure. He¡¯d controlled the entire city before the end. He¡¯d have had the ability to assign someone to send an email at least.


    How long I spent working on it, I couldn¡¯t say exactly, but my implant could. It informed me that it had been an hour and 23 minutes since everyone else left the lab. I ignored the number of seconds.


    In any case, I was ready to test. Using my implant, I connected to my comm and called Julie.


    She answered the comm with, ¡°Are you calling me from the lab? I¡¯m here with everyone else.¡±


    I looked out of my doorway and she was. Sitting at the big table in the main room, she gave me a wave.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    I waved back, ¡°Sorry. I was focused on my work. I¡¯ve got something to test if you can leave the conversation.¡±


    ¡°The new buzzer? Sure,¡± she said and got up from the table, dropping the call and walking across the room to the lab.


    It still felt weird to have her here. In high school, she¡¯d been part of a clique of girls that I never spoke to and she¡¯d made fun of the fact that Haley and I were dating on social media. Add to that being part of Justice Fist,forcing Haley and me to leave a coffeeshop with her voice, and her high school crush on Travis gave me reasons to stay away from her.


    She was literally part of why I¡¯d invented the buzzer.


    After starting Stapledon, she¡¯d drifted into the Heroes¡¯ League. I couldn¡¯t put a finger on when she¡¯d fully become part of the group, but she wasn¡¯t that bad.


    It might be faint praise, but at least we were at a point where I didn¡¯t see any reason she¡¯d do what an alternate history version of her had done¡ªenslave people with her voice and sell them to the True.


    Like everyone else when we were in HQ, she¡¯d absorbed her mask into the (pink and white) costume, showing her light skin and blond hair. Her smile reminded me of the mean girl that she¡¯d been, but not because she was sneering at me. It was just my memories and she probably deserved a pass. The Cabal killed her mother and she¡¯d grown up wondering when they¡¯d come for her.


    As she stepped into the lab, she paused, eyeing the partially assembled Rocket suits, boxes of nanotech cubes, and the machines manufacturing bots. Then she walked toward me, asking, ¡°Have you heard anything from Kals?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, ¡°the Alliance and the rebel groups have taken a subsector capital and she¡¯s kind of the governor now. At least that¡¯s the impression I got.¡±


    Eyes wide, she said, ¡°She¡¯s our age, isn¡¯t she?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°but her mom was a high profile Ascendancy motivator who became a high profile resistance leader until her death. Kals seems to want to see it to the end.¡±


    Blinking, she said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know her mom died. Did the Ascendancy kill her?¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Her mom sacrificed herself to give everyone else a chance to survive.¡±


    Looking away from me, Julie stared off to my right at nothing, before saying, ¡°I knew she was a resistance leader, but I didn¡¯t know why. I¡¯m glad she¡¯s alive. She seemed nervous about going back when she was teaching me.¡±


    Thinking back to fighting Ascendancy soldiers and starships, I said, ¡°I get it. The Ascendancy is merciless and their soldiers are mind-controlled. Plus, people see her as a leader and they¡¯re willing to die for her. That¡¯s a weight.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t imagine it.¡± She paused, but then said, ¡°I know that¡¯s not why you called for me. You wanted me to test out a buzzer.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°but it¡¯s a little more complicated. I upgraded the buzzer system to withstand a bunch of motivators at once, but to test it we only have one motivator¡ªyou. So, I modified one of my sonic weapons to amplify your voice. Normally, motivators'' vocal tones are too complicated to reproduce effectively, but I think I can get you to a comparable volume and measure the effect.¡±


    Opening her mouth, she said, ¡°Oh. Can I keep it afterward?¡±

 Jody: Part 3

    ¡°Wow,¡± I said, considering it, ¡°I hadn¡¯t been trying to enhance your abilities, but that is obvious now that you mention it. It should be able to interface with your suit, but I think I¡¯d change the design to fit your needs specifically¡­ Let¡¯s start by making sure it reproduces your power and then after that, I¡¯ll see if I can¡¯t come up with something better.


    ¡°Provided it works, you can attach the spare sonic to your costume.¡±


    I handed her the sonic unit. It was loosely cylindrical except that the back end was rounded and the front flat. She held it under her right forearm and it attached.


    For the record, a gold cylinder hanging under the forearm of someone wearing a pink and white costume does not look good.


    From the way her lips twisted, I could see Julie agreed. While I could argue that pink might not be the best color for a superhero costume and that no one had to stick with a color they¡¯d chosen in high school, I said, ¡°If you look in your HUD, you can change the color the same way you change it for every other part.¡±


    The unit turned pink with black accents.


    She must have caught my expression because she laughed. ¡°Well, it matches. Sometimes I wonder if I should have gone with pink, but I still like it.¡±


    ¡°If you like it, that¡¯s good enough,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m choosing to go with my grandfather¡¯s identity. Daniel isn¡¯t. It¡¯s all okay. Here¡¯s something you should know though. I don¡¯t want this to get over to the Dominators if it works. So, I¡¯m giving you a self-destruct function you can use if you¡¯re captured.¡±


    She glanced over to look at the device, but hearing that, she looked at me, ¡°You can destroy it too, right? Because if I¡¯m captured, I might not be conscious.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°always. There¡¯s a lot of stuff in our current costumes that I don¡¯t want getting out there.¡±


    I waved for her to follow me to the back of the lab, leading her around the tables covered with random parts and bot factories to stand in front of a black cube roughly seven feet tall.


    Pointing a finger at the cube, I said, ¡°There¡¯s a League suit inside. Don¡¯t worry about that for now. The cube is the important thing. It¡¯s designed to test my sonic tech. Point the sonic weapon at it and run through the command tones you know at a normal volume. Oh, and put up your mask. Then reabsorb it and do the same thing with just your voice.¡±


    She took a breath and the mask formed over her face. Then she pointed her arm at the cube. It took about as long as it might take to say the alphabet. I didn¡¯t hear all of it, but my buzzer ran the entire time.


    Then, as requested, she repeated it with the mask down and no sonics.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Using my implant, I compared the waveforms of the two tests. While they weren¡¯t identical, it was the standard imperfection of being a human being repeating themselves. The sonics reproduced the command tones as she said them. I knew that what I should be doing was having her reproduce the sounds a few hundred more times and try both her voice and her voice mediated through my sonics to find out where the range of effective frequencies ended, but fortunately, I didn¡¯t have to.


    The Xiniti had long ago collected the necessary data on unassisted motivator command tones, and I had collected a bit myself since the new suits went into action.


    Comparing her tones with the examples available in my implant and the team¡¯s collected Dominator attack experiences showed that they were within normal margins.


    ¡°I think we¡¯re good,¡± I told her. ¡°Now, if you could place the end of the sonic weapon into the indentation here, we can test how much gets through the new version of the buzzer.¡±


    She stepped up to the cube, found the indentation near the corner, and said, ¡°Here?¡±


    ¡°Exactly. We¡¯ll try it at a few different levels. I¡¯ll tell you what they are as you go. We¡¯ll start at volume two,¡± I said.


    She did as I asked her, raising the levels when I asked. The numbers were good.The sensors inside the suit never detected a command clear enough to follow.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s it,¡± I said. ¡°It looks like we¡¯ll be okay even at the sonics maximum volume¡ªwhich is about the volume of 1000 motivators. While there may be that many out there, it doesn¡¯t seem likely that they¡¯ll be able to get together and focus on us. Well, unless they get sonic devices too.¡±


    I thought about it for a moment, ¡°You know what? I¡¯m going to make your version right now. It¡¯ll be the standard, but I think I can hide it in your suit so it¡¯s not obvious.¡±


    She blinked, ¡°Really? I¡¯d love that. Working with Kals showed me how much worse I am than she is. I know the Dominators are worse than she is, but they¡¯re trained by people who know what they¡¯re doing.¡±


    ¡°But you got trained by her,¡± I said.


    ¡°For part of a week,¡± she said, her lips twisting, ¡°I know that¡¯s better than nothing, but I could have used a year or more. With your sonics, I have more power even if don¡¯t have more skill.¡±


    She looked away from me toward the ground for a moment. When she met my eyes again, she said, ¡°I know this might be impossible, but Kals has an implant. She¡¯s been continuing to work on her skills using information from it. You and everyone who went to space have implants too. How do I get one?¡±


    She looked up at me, lips pursed, waiting for an answer.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said, ¡°you don¡¯t ask for much, do you? We got ours from the Xiniti. They¡¯re not even in the solar system right now.¡±


    She laughed, ¡°You sound like my dad. He says that if you give me an inch, I take a mile. Are you saying it¡¯s impossible?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°but it¡¯s complicated. I¡¯m going to look into it.¡±


    I could have said no, or maybe I should have, but I¡¯d been thinking the same thing. Having an implant helped me interface with my suit, and it would give everyone more options if they had one.


    More to the point, it was possible. My grandfather had acquired a device for making Abominator implants for humans. It was in our storage room. I¡¯d seen it again when we put away the new artifacts.


    Yoselin had one. Her father had turned off its ability to force the user to obey Abominator directives. The Xiniti had figured out the same thing. Their implants repurposed an Abominator design. If I connected to the Abominator device, I could write over its programming and force it to create Xiniti-friendly implants, but complete with any information the Abominators stored¡ªwhich would likely include training for people with ¡°motivator¡± skills. That was how they''d controlled their human slaves.


    I hoped I wouldn¡¯t regret it.

 Jody: Part 4

    ¡°We have a way to make implants. I have to make sure they¡¯re safe and assuming I can do that, I¡¯ll make them available to everyone.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Julie said. ¡°Is it one of the machines from the island?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Nope. It¡¯s older than that, but similar in origin. I¡¯m only going to pass them on if they¡¯re safe.¡±


    She¡¯d stopped smiling, ¡°I get it now. Do you have any other tests you want to run?¡±


    ¡°No. I might need something later, but for now, I think you can go back to the group or whatever you want to do. I¡¯ve just got to look things over and then send out an update to everyone¡¯s suits. That and work on your sonic unit.¡±


    She met my eyes, ¡°Thank you for the sonic unit and looking into implants. I genuinely don¡¯t think about all that you do. It¡¯s a lot. Let me know if you need to run another test.¡±


    I told her I would and she left.


    After that, I checked in on the island bots. They¡¯d made it to the big white building and none of them had been spotted. I¡¯d set them into ¡°sneak mode¡± because I didn¡¯t have time to pay attention to what they were doing.


    Their programming told them to find spaces where regular conversations were happening, listen in, and then follow up on leads that developed. I¡¯d passed off decision-making control over to Hal. He¡¯d likely do better than I would. I knew he¡¯d also notify me if anything interesting happened, but it was good to check on my own now and then.


    That considered, I rearranged Julie¡¯s sonic unit to disappear from her arm and inconspicuously relocate to her torso. I also made the settings that worked best with her voice the defaults. I didn¡¯t remove any options. With experimentation, she might discover things I might not think of. For example, what would she do with narrowcasting sound?


    With that finished, I arranged the sound protection update and tested it on hundreds of simulated suits and a couple of real ones. Satisfied that it wouldn¡¯t brick everyone¡¯s costumes, I added a note that the new update required additional material¡ªso have your extra cubes close.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Then I pushed out the update, including Julie¡¯s update with as part of the larger one,  but with a flag that only triggered it on her suit.


    A surprising number of suits started updating immediately and none reported errors, among them Travis¡¯¡ªwhich felt weird¡ªbut also Brooke''s, Alex''s, and Jenny¡¯s, all of them in California and atypical for Alex. He tended to put it off forever. Jenny and Brooke didn¡¯t, though.


    Everyone on our team updated too. Well, it would be a lousy time to be vulnerable to voice powers.


    As I watched the updates progress, noting when a new suit started the process, Vaughn stepped into the lab. ¡°Holy updates, Batman¡­ This is a biggie.¡±


    He was still in jeans and a Hardwick Industries t-shirt, though. It wasn¡¯t like he was wearing the suit. If he had been, it might have been uncomfortable.


    ¡°It is kind of big, yeah.¡±


    Vaughn chuckled, ¡°The sonic unit on Julie¡¯s arm got absorbed straight into her suit and disappeared. I think she¡¯s okay with it, but the rest of us were surprised. She¡¯d just told us what she could use it for. Anyway, that¡¯s not what I was here to talk about. We¡¯ve got a plan. I¡¯ve been talking with Dayton and he thinks we can swing a meeting with a few of us¡ªI¡¯m thinking Daniel and Julie, for sure.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°they¡¯re not using my suits. So Julie¡¯s amplified power should blow right through their buzzer.¡±


    Blinking, Vaughn said, ¡°Uh¡­ I thought Julie would be good because she and Jody got along back in the day. You¡¯re right though, she¡¯s a good backup in case Jody¡¯s so totally out there that we can¡¯t reach him.¡±


    I felt myself frown, raising an eyebrow as I said, ¡°Is reaching Jody on the table? From what I remember he willingly went after Alex with a knife that would have been lethal except that Alex could heal himself.¡±


    Vaughn raised his hands in the air, ¡°Sean¡¯s a lot of things, but one of them is loyal. He¡¯s more than halfway convinced that Jody¡¯s working for Magnus, but he wants to give the guy every chance to admit it and get right with the group. I know it sounds crazy, but they all grew up together, all hid from the Cabal, all went through sports, Justice Fist, and Stapledon¡­¡±


    Nodding along, I had to admit that he was right¡ªVaughn, that is. Sean was being unrealistically optimistic. Vaughn was dead-on in terms of understanding Sean and his group. I¡¯d probably learn a lot more about people if I listened to him. That¡¯s not what I asked about though, I asked, ¡°Am I in this meeting?¡±


    Vaughn shook his head, ¡°We¡¯re thinking Jody probably still hates you. The plan is an inside team that Jody doesn¡¯t instantly hate and an outside team that has a good chance of taking him out.¡±


    I smiled, ¡°Which puts me on the outside team. That works. I don¡¯t think my presence would make Jody think twice about betraying us to the Nine. If anything, I¡¯d expect the opposite.¡±


    Laughing, Vaughn said, ¡°I think we all agree on that.¡±

 Jody: Part 5

    I thought about our other options, ¡°What about Daniel?¡±


    Vaughn snorted, ¡°Well since Jody knows you¡¯re friends from Stapledon, it¡¯s probably best that he¡¯s outside too. He¡¯s checked though. Their base doesn¡¯t have any protection from telepathy¡ªnot regularly.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± I said, ¡°That seems like a bad idea. I admit that we don¡¯t have them on in our downtown office, but that¡¯s because it¡¯s only for show. I¡¯ve got telepathy and teleportation blockers for the rare meeting.¡±


    Frowning Vaughn said, ¡°I brought it up with Dayton. According to him, they¡¯re there, but they don¡¯t stay on. They¡¯ve had people in to look at them, but they haven¡¯t found a problem. They work for a while, but then they don¡¯t and no one on that team is a techie so they can¡¯t fix it themselves. They¡¯re trying to figure out who to call next, but they¡¯re turning them off and on again every day for now. Dayton said he¡¯d make sure they¡¯re off for the meeting.¡±


    That didn¡¯t seem right. ¡°In combination with Jody being maybe a traitor and what you just said, I¡¯m wondering if they¡¯re being sabotaged. I don¡¯t see Jody knowing enough to do that, but I could get help from the Nine¡­ Have they talked to Mindstryke? Weren¡¯t they working with him to watch Futuremen Capital or something?¡±


    Vaughn leaned back against the wall, ¡°The problem there is that the Defenders can¡¯t send anybody without possibly alerting the Nine. Dayton said the Defenders were arranging how to secretly send a tech.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I crossed my arms over my chest. ¡°I suppose that could blow their connection, especially with the Nine having an unknown amount of influence everywhere. I¡¯d be a good candidate to look at their problem if they agreed on it.¡±


    Tilting his head to the side as he grinned, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll pass it on. You understand those things as well as anyone. They might go for it.¡±


    ¡°Unless Jody¡¯s the saboteur,¡± I said. ¡°Then probably not. Uh¡­ When does this all happen?¡±


    ¡°Good question,¡± Vaughn said, pushing away from the wall to stand straight. ¡°It might be tonight. It might be tomorrow morning. It depends on when they have time.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t know what we¡¯re doing an hour from now. I¡¯m still waiting for the bots to get into a good position on the island. If I find out anything interesting there, we might be going back, but that said, right now I¡¯m thinking that we might have to call in all the favors we have when we go in there. If Magnus is there and he¡¯s got the device, this might be the final confrontation with all of the Nine¡¯s forces. In that situation, we¡¯ll need all the friends we can get. So I¡¯m hoping we have until tomorrow. That might be challenging to arrange.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    With a grin, Vaughn said, ¡°Works for me. If you don¡¯t think Magnus will take over the world by tomorrow, I can try to schedule a morning meeting.¡±


    That made me think of all the stuff that Magnus would supposedly be able to do even with his limited control of the device¡ªempower people and affect the minds of huge groups. That didn¡¯t even mention physical attack and defense. Sure, it wouldn¡¯t be the full power of the device, but it seemed likely to be more than the full power of the Rocket suit.


    Some of that must have shown on my face because Vaughn said, ¡°Are you really thinking that he might conquer the world by tomorrow morning?¡±


    I answered, ¡°I can¡¯t rule out the possibility that he¡¯s already conquered the world and no one¡¯s bothered to report on it because they haven¡¯t noticed.¡±


    ¡°I love your optimism,¡± Vaughn said. ¡°Does tomorrow work?¡±


    ¡°We might as well,¡± I said. ¡°If it turns out that we¡¯re not all doomed, it¡¯ll give me time to work out a couple of things before the meeting.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s forehead furrowed, ¡°Hey, are you okay? I know things are bad, but you¡¯re generally more optimistic.¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I feel like I¡¯ve been running from one thing to another since I got up. I literally went to the Moon and Mars and conducted a raid on the Nine¡¯s home base. Kals is in the middle of a revolution that might spill over here. Plus, the Xiniti gave us the ability to blow up the planet if the Artificer tech gets out of control. Plus, my mom killed someone to save my life. Plus, the mushroom zombies. Plus Travis. Plus Major Justice and friends. Plus Magnus. Plus Lee is in the device and I have to get him out. Plus, I¡¯ve got an idea or two involving using stuff from the storage rooms¡­ It¡¯s a lot.¡±


    He let out a low whistle, ¡°When you put it that way, I feel depressed¡­ Travis deserves more than we¡¯ve been able to give him. I¡¯ve seen his body in the medical pod, but I still don¡¯t feel like he¡¯s gone. The rest of it is chasing me, but hasn¡¯t caught up yet.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°We haven¡¯t had a funeral for Travis and when have we even had the chance? I suppose it¡¯s his parents¡¯ job, but I don¡¯t know when they¡¯re going to do it either. Plus the rest. It all happened over a few days and it¡¯s still going. I don¡¯t know when it will stop.¡±


    Vaughn nodded, ¡°If it stops too soon, it¡¯ll be because we lost. If it continues and we get the chance to breathe, We¡¯ll get to work it out after we win.¡±


    ¡°Was that a pep talk? After we win, we¡¯ll have time to grieve?¡± I grinned, ¡°You may want to work on that.¡±


    Vaughn laughed, ¡°It¡¯s not much incentive, is it? But you¡¯ll have the rest of it too. You and Haley seem solid. There¡¯s your engineering firm. How many people our age have that? Plus, your parents are alive. It could have worked out worse.¡±


    ¡°It still could,¡± I said, looking out the door past him to the table where Haley talked with a group of us. If we were going to survive, I needed to ignore everything that wasn¡¯t immediately relevant.


    ¡°On the bright side,¡± I added, ¡°we are still living¡ªmost of us. I need to concentrate on that. So tomorrow works. Let¡¯s go for it.¡±


    Vaughn¡¯s mouth twisted, but he didn¡¯t argue, ¡°Alright. Do whatever you¡¯re going to do, but get a decent night¡¯s sleep. You¡¯ll feel better.¡±

 Jody: Part 6

    I agreed with him and left it at that. He left a little bit later. I went back to checking the bots. I wanted to try a few new variations on bots. Plus, I probably had time to work on the implants.


    I grabbed the keys to storage rooms from the safe in the lab and left to grab the implant fabricator. I avoided touching the boxes full of recipe cards and three-ring binders that Grandpa had left with secrets, plans, and activation code words for weapons. If I needed it, I had material to blackmail specific individuals, destroy superhero teams, and overthrow the odd government.


    I¡¯d once told Chris that if I ever took those recipe cards or binders out, I¡¯d be planning to burn the world (metaphorically).


    While none of them were on the level of what the Xiniti had handed me (though a couple were Xiniti-related), they¡¯d be earthshaking if I ever chose to use them. We were closer to the point where I¡¯d consider using them than I wanted.


    Keys in hand, I stopped at the door of storage room three and unlocked it. Noting the shelves full of Abominator artifacts, some of which we¡¯d added today, along with the blue-green foam on the walls that supposedly stopped emanations from the devices from being noticed, I looked for the egg and found it.


    Ignoring the one-person Abominator birthing chamber near it, I picked up the egg. My implant officially named it as an ¡°Abominator implant constructor.¡±


    The glowing, gray/blue box on one of the upper shelves continued to hum as it always had, but as I picked up the egg, I noticed that it was louder than I remembered and had been since I¡¯d opened the door. In an accent that wouldn¡¯t have gotten a look anywhere in the American Midwest, it said, ¡°Danger. Artificer.¡±


    I asked, ¡°What? Could you explain that?¡±


    It didn¡¯t say anything. I wanted some clarification, ¡°Are you saying that there is an artificer so I¡¯m in danger or are you calling me an artificer and informing me that there is danger?¡±


    It continued humming.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, ¡°if you want to communicate, I¡¯m going to need more words to understand what you want.¡±


    It still didn¡¯t respond. I queried my implant to see if it could identify it. The implant responded, ¡°Unknown. Similar objects have been found in Artificer technology caches.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s everything?¡± I thought at the implant.


    It replied, ¡°The rest are in storage. None have been opened. None have attempted to communicate until now.¡±


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    I concentrated on calling up ¡°Artificer vision¡± and remembered how hard I¡¯d concentrated on the flight back. Concentrating felt like trying to sprint after running a marathon. It took longer than usual to get into the right mental space, but I got there, seeing faint glows on devices throughout the storage room, but not on the box.


    I couldn¡¯t see any hint that the box existed until I let go of my concentration.


    ¡°Last chance,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m going to close the door now. If you want me to understand what you were talking about, you¡¯ll want to say something before I shut the door.¡±


    It didn¡¯t say anything and after a minute or two, I shut the door behind myself, locked it, and wondered what that was all about.


    I considered asking Kee, but decided to wait until the soreness in my head went away. Thinking logically about the situation, it was either detecting me but wasn¡¯t smart enough not to warn me against my presence, or it was detecting something else that it thought I should be warned about. The latter seemed most likely. Off the top of my head, it could easily be detecting the Galaxy Core device. That seemed to be the most obvious threat to an Artificer. The other possibility was that it detected another Artificer or a threat to Artificers.


    I decided that the last possibility was extremely unlikely on account of how the world still existed. Plus, I didn¡¯t feel any hint of that when I looked at the box.


    The upshot? Asking Kee could probably wait until tomorrow.


    I walked back to the lab with the egg, noticing that while the egg appeared to be light green in the storage room, it shimmered with iridescent colors in the brighter light of HQ¡¯s main room.


    I wasn¡¯t sure whether that was functional or represented the Abominators'' decorative taste. My implant volunteered a massive infodump on Abominator aesthetics and I did not take the offer up. There¡¯s such a thing as too much information.


    Bringing the egg into the lab and placing it on the counter next to my computer, I asked the implant for the next step in reprogramming it.


    As if it had come from my mind, I knew that all I had to do was think about doing it, and a small white ball the size of a marble would appear in my mouth. If I spit it into my hand and touched the ball to the egg, the ball would be absorbed inside and start the process.


    Since there was no time like the present, I followed directions and watched as the ball sank in, leaving no trace on the egg¡¯s surface.


    Waiting for a success message, failure, or an explosion, I took the time to note that my implant could manufacture objects inside of me. I¡¯d already known that to a degree since it had volunteered to add cybernetic components to my body. Still, this was the first time it had used me as a factory¡ªthat I knew.


    I had barely any time to consider that when updates from the implant sounded in my mind.


    First, "The infiltration unit has found the implant constructor¡¯s primary control system. It is integrating itself into the system and preparing to take control.¡±


    Then, ¡°Integration successful. Infiltration of control systems has begun.¡±


    A few minutes went by and then half an hour. I had begun to wonder if I shouldn¡¯t consider plans for destroying the egg when my implant said, ¡°Infiltration successful. We have control. We will now replace the standard Abominator implant functionality with that of implants for local auxiliaries to Xiniti forces. We will keep the information contained in the original system. Restricted information will be available with your permission.¡±


    This was expected. I knew I couldn¡¯t make the rest of the League full citizens, but local auxiliary would allow us to act as a unit.


    I hoped there wouldn¡¯t be any hidden gotchas that would make me regret this later.

 Jody: Part 7

    In less time than I expected (no more than twenty minutes), my implant notified me, ¡°Project complete. The implant constructor will now create Xiniti implants.¡±


    I thought back, ¡°Including citizen implants? Not just local auxiliary?¡±


    ¡°There is no functional difference except in the information provided and access permissions. Should an auxiliary become a citizen, the changes will require downloads, not physical replacement."


    I began to wonder how exactly I¡¯d use the thing, but the implant placed the information in my mind even before I finished the thought. It wasn¡¯t complicated. All I had to do was connect to the egg and command it to produce a certain number of implants.


    If I wanted to, I could set permission levels for different kinds of information or simply take the defaults.


    With that kind of control, I could even consider giving Sean and his crew implants. It allowed me to effectively paralyze auxiliaries if they attacked¡ªwhich meant that if Jody took one, it would be much easier to take him down. It also meant that any Xiniti citizen could paralyze most of our team¡ªthough ¡°most¡± assumed that citizens weren¡¯t vulnerable.


    We probably shouldn¡¯t assume that. On the other hand, we weren¡¯t likely to go up against Xiniti for the foreseeable future. For now, we needed to focus on surviving Magnus. After that, we could worry about the side effects of implants.


    I sent a notification to everyone in the League, notifying them about the implants and explaining that it would make control of their suits instantaneous. I also added that it would make identifying Abominator relics easy which was good since Rook had visited the Moon long before we caught up with him on Mars. Worse, he¡¯d probably been looking for them to judge from what he¡¯d said when we¡¯d fought him during my internship.


    The first reply I got was from Julie. It was, ¡°Awesome! Thank you!¡±


    Rightly or wrongly, I felt like if she¡¯d written me that note, it would have been decorated, possibly with unicorns or hearts.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Daniel, who¡¯d arrived to talk with the team while I was working, thought, I don¡¯t sense the possibility of immediate disaster. From what I sense in the future, the results are more likely positive than not. The further out I go, the fuzzier it gets.


    I thought back, That¡¯s better than the alternative. What do you sense would happen if we give one to Jody?


    I felt Daniel concentrate and then heard his reply in my head. Don¡¯t do that.


    Whoa, I thought back, that¡¯s pretty direct.


    Daniel¡¯s agreement permeated our connection, The chance that goes horribly wrong is high. Oh, by the way, we¡¯ve got a plan and the whole group is coming.


    Haley stepped through the door first followed by Daniel. She glanced over at the egg and then at me. ¡°I know you¡¯re brilliant at what you do, but Abominator technology?¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± I said, noticing that Izzy, Rachel, Marcus, Cassie, Vaughn, and Jaclyn had all stepped into the room and more people were coming behind them.


    Addressing the crowd, I said, ¡°It¡¯s all originally Abominator technology, but the Xiniti figured out a way to rewrite it so that it¡¯s under the user¡¯s control not the Abominators¡¯.¡±


    Haley looked behind her out of the corner of her eye, ¡°I know. I think we should do it. Daniel said that our chances are overall better and we need every chance we can get.¡±


    Her voice louder than anyone else¡¯s, Cassie added, ¡°And you all need to recognize Abominator tech. It shouldn¡¯t be just me.¡±


    Jaclyn and I met each other¡¯s eyes, both of us fighting the urge to point out that technically she wasn¡¯t the only one and that Marcus, Jaclyn, and I could as well. We didn¡¯t though, because we knew that Cassie could do a lot more with Abominator tech than we could.


    I turned to Haley, ¡°Do you know if anyone¡¯s saying no?¡±


    Giving Cassie a look, Haley said, ¡°Kayla wants to hold off for now. She¡¯s right that she¡¯s in here most of the time, but she does go into the field and sometimes people make it into HQ. She doesn¡¯t have any powers. She needs every advantage she can get.¡±


    Holding up a hand, Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯ll talk to Kayla. She gets nervous about new things, but she gets over it. It¡¯ll work out. It¡¯s a little like when our basketball coach decided she wanted to do defense differently.¡±


    Jaclyn blinked and stared at her, ¡°How is inserting alien communication technology into your head like changing a basketball defense?¡±


    Letting out a breath, Cassie said, ¡°I¡¯m not going to argue, but it is.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll work out,¡± Vaughn said, squeezing past Cassie to stand at the edge of the group. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to hearing all the conversations the implant people have without me now.¡±


    Marcus laughed, ¡°Implant people?¡±


    ¡°You know what I mean,¡± Vaughn turned away from him to meet my eyes. ¡°About Jody? It¡¯s the plan I told you about. We¡¯ll be meeting with them tomorrow at 9 am.¡±

 Jody: Part 8

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ll be ready then.¡±


    The next hour was dominated by inserting implants into people. It wasn¡¯t much work, but the egg didn¡¯t spit out implants instantly. It made one at a time and each had to be physically manufactured, loaded with software, and tested.


    While I could describe the process in a sentence, each word encompassed thousands of actions, all of them culminating in a device that hooked into the body as, for all practical purposes, a secondary brain¡ªa support brain, maybe?


    In short, it wasn¡¯t casual even though any observer could be forgiven for thinking we were waiting for a gumball from an oddly shaped machine.


    For each member except for Jaclyn, Marcus, and Cassie, I picked the ball out of the tray, handed it to them, and told them, ¡°Hold it next to the skin under your chin.¡±


    Vaughn held the little silver ball in his hand, ¡°What if I swallow it?¡±


    Thinking about how the insertion process worked, I said, ¡°It could still work, but I wouldn¡¯t. The nearer to the brain, the better. If it gets too far down, it will have to travel back to the head. Plus, there¡¯s a small chance it might not activate in the digestive system and go¡­ uh¡­ all the way.¡±


    Raising an eyebrow, Vaughn said, ¡°Great,¡± and held the ball on the inside of his chin. It passed through, leaving no trace of its passage, either as a spot of blood or a visible lump.


    I¡¯d already told everyone that implants would take time to integrate into their bodies, so Vaughn only said, ¡°That was easy,¡± and got out of the way.


    Haley didn¡¯t ask any questions until after the implant passed through her skin, ¡°Does it ever go wrong?¡±


    ¡°In humans,¡± I said, ¡°so seldom that it¡¯s practically non-existent. There are more issues in aliens, depending on the type.¡±


    Her mouth quirked, ¡°Good. Well, unless you¡¯re the wrong kind of alien.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I thought back to Hideaway, ¡°they¡¯re particularly problematic for plants, I guess. I told you about Crawls-Through-Desert? I don¡¯t think he had an implant.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Haley laughed, ¡°the secret agent in a floating flower pot? I want to meet him someday.¡±


    ¡°You never know,¡± I said. ¡°There are places where he¡¯d blend in. There¡¯s no reason to send him here, though.¡±


    She shook her head, ¡°I hope not.¡±


    Haley stuck around for most of the insertions, but near the end left with Sydney, Camille, and Julie. They still had more details to hash out about tomorrow¡¯s meeting.


    Kayla came through as the second to last person with Cassie giving her a smile from a chair next to one of the tables.


    ¡°I¡¯m just going to get it over with,¡± she said, the slump of her shoulders making it obvious that she still didn¡¯t love the idea.


    When I handed her the implant, she didn¡¯t hesitate even if she did grit her teeth, holding it under her chin where it disappeared. As she realized that it had left her hand, she blinked, saying ¡°That was easy, but I don¡¯t feel anything.¡±


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    I shrugged, ¡°It¡¯ll be a few hours before it fully hooks into everything.¡±


    Her brow furrowed at that and she glanced down at her empty hand. ¡°I still don¡¯t like the idea of it hooking into anything. I¡¯m only doing this because Haley¡¯s right. I need every advantage I can get.¡±


    Cassie stood up from her chair and put her hand on Kayla¡¯s shoulder, ¡°It will be fine. We¡¯ve had implants for years now and we¡¯re all okay. They¡¯ve been useful constantly.¡±


    Shaking her head, Kayla said, ¡°I know. It¡¯s just¡­ The Thing that Eats wanted to take over our bodies. The Dominators want to control our minds. The mushroom zombies wanted both and now I¡¯m putting weird, alien technology inside myself. I don¡¯t know, you know?¡±


    She left with Cassie, but by the time they¡¯d left the lab, Cassie had said something that made Kayla laugh.


    Amy was last. She slipped in the door after they left. She was in her normal body¡ªa few inches shorter than I was, with a pale face, and red hair that almost reached her shoulders. Since the battle with the mushroom zombies ended, she¡¯d been wearing leggings and sweatshirts and today wasn¡¯t an exception.


    Sitting on a stool next to the counter where the egg had been placed, she said, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to make a scene, but I can¡¯t take an implant.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± I thought about it, asking, ¡°Do previous Bloodmaidens have a problem with it?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, drawing out the word, ¡°but not for the reason you¡¯re thinking.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°Why?¡±


    She let out a breath, ¡°My transformation. Every time I do it, I¡¯m remade into the form of the Bloodmaiden. The best-case scenario is that the implant will only exist when I¡¯m normal, but it¡¯s more likely that it will disappear from reality and go where ever invasive objects go when I transform. Transformation prevents disease, dispels most magic, and keeps me safe in ways I don¡¯t fully understand, but it won¡¯t be good for implants.¡±


    I considered it, ¡°You can keep objects like your communicator along if you want. So if it stays external, it should be fine, right?¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s a piece of jewelry, I can keep it on me during transformation. I keep the communicator in my hand while I transform because it¡¯s a little large. How big is this?¡±


    I checked with the egg for options and it had a few. ¡°What would you prefer? I could make it a ring, bracelet, or a necklace?¡±


    ¡°I already have a necklace.¡± She tapped her chest over the spot where her sweatshirt hid the dark silver necklace and red ruby that was a physical manifestation of the Bloodmaiden mantle when she wasn¡¯t transformed. The necklace was also an obvious invitation to would-be thieves.


    She glanced down at her right hand. ¡°Make it a ring. Can you make it match the necklace? It doesn¡¯t have to have a giant red gem, but a small one maybe, and don¡¯t make the metal gold.¡±


    ¡°Done,¡± I said, giving the egg the parameters. Not long after that, a ring fell out of the hole that opened (and closed) at the bottom of the egg.


    Amy stared at it for a moment but then picked it up and put it on, jerking and saying, ¡°Oh,¡± as she got it in place. ¡°I can feel it already. I thought it would take hours.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s different for the external version since it only has to connect to your nervous system instead of integrate into your body,¡± I said.


    She held up her hand to inspect the ring, ¡°I didn¡¯t think it would match the style of the necklace this well.¡±


    I peered at it. The egg matched the dark, silver metal and the ruby stone. The ornamentation around the gem reminded me of the necklace¡¯s links. ¡°It must have pulled that from my head. I told it to match the necklace. I didn¡¯t give specifics.¡±


    ¡°When are you going to give Haley a ring?¡± Amy asked.


    I blinked, realizing I had no answer for that. ¡°Not in the middle of this,¡± I said.


    ¡°No,¡± she said, ¡°but you should consider it. You¡¯ve been together for a long time.¡±


    * * *


    The question lingered in my head the next morning even though I should have been focusing on other things.


    I sat in my van with Daniel and Izzy in front of Justice Fist¡¯s headquarters. I¡¯d disguised the van, setting it to display the city seal on the doors with the words, ¡°City of Grand Lake.¡± The words ¡°Grand Lake Municipal Utilities,¡± ran along the side like half a dozen identical vans I¡¯d seen that day.


    I¡¯d tinted the windows enough that people couldn¡¯t see inside. We didn¡¯t need people knocking on the doors to ask why we weren¡¯t assisting in the ongoing mushroom goo cleanup.